a "Igwe th'/e JlaUs , fpi- Hut founding if a ColUgt r, . hi* Coh if DEPOSITED BY THE LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY MEMOIRS LIFE, WORKS, AND CORRESPONDENCE SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, BART. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS PEREGRINE COURTENAY IN TWO VOLUMKS. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOU LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMAN, PATF.RNOSTEB-IIOW. 1836. London I'i'inted by A. Spottiswoode, New-Stroet-Square. CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER XXII. 1678—1679. PAGE Temple again sent to the Hague. — Concludes a Treaty. — Affair of De Cros. — Temple goes again to Nimeguen. — Peace of Nimeguen 1 CHAPTER XXIII. 1678—1679. Intrigues of Montagu against Danby and Temple. — Secretaryship of State again offered to Temple. — He comes to England. — Declines the Offer. — State of Affairs at Home ------ 20 CHAPTER XXIV. 1679. Temple's Scheme of a Privy Council adopted. — Lord Shaftesbury made President. — The Members. — Reception of the New Plan - - - - 34 a 2 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. 1679—1680. TAOE Proceedings of the New Council. — Temple unites with Sunderland, Essex, and Halifax. — Renewed Offers of the Secretaryship. — Intrigues of Shaftes bury and Monmouth. — Parliament Dissolved. — King's Illness and Return of the Duke. — Disgrace of Monmouth and Shaftesbury. — Temple separated from his Friends - - - - - -45 CHAPTER XXVI. 1679—1680. Prorogation of Parliament. — Temple's Remon strances. — Essex quits the Treasury. — Succeeded by Hyde. — Retirement of Russell. — Duke of Ormond. — Temple nominated Ambassador to Spain. — Speaks in the House of Commons. — Parliament Dissolved. — Temple Retires. — Put out of the Council ------ 56 CHAPTER XXVII. 1674—1679. Miscellaneous Matters. — Temple's Ambassadorial Table. — Diplomatic Etiquette. — Temple and Sir Joseph Williamson. — Danby. — Letter from Sir John Temple. — The Plot. — Diplomatic Presents. — Letters to Lord Essex. — Milton - - - 83 CHAPTER XXVIII. 1677—1681. Temple's Works. — First Part of Miscellanea. — Essay on the Cure of Gout. — His own Memoirs - 100 CONTENTS. V CHAPTER XXIX. 1680—1689. Temple loses his Daughter. — His Life at Sheen. — Marriage of his Son. — Retires to Moor Park. — Audience of King James. — The Revolution. — Temple refuses Office under William - - - 113 CHAPTER XXX. Death of Temple's Son. — Temple's Opinion on Sui cide. — Swift. — Temple consulted by King William. — Swift Leaves him ; and returns - - - 129 CHAPTER XXXI. 1690. Lady Giffard writes the Life and Character of Sir William Temple 144 CHAPTER XXXII. 1685—1692. Publication of the Second Part of Temple's Memoirs. — Miscellanea, Second Part : On Gardening. — On Heroic Virtue. — On Poetry - - - - 1 52 CHAPTER XXXIII. 1692—1696. Essay on Ancient and Modern Learning. — Contro versy with Bentley. — Boyle - - - 176 CHAPTER XXXIV. 1692—1693. Pamphlet of De Cros. — The Answer. — Anonymous Reflections - - - 195 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXV. PACE Temple's Posthumous Works. — On Popular Discon tents. — On Health and Long Life. — Heads of Unfinished Essays. — Introduction to the History of England ------- 215 CHAPTER XXXVI. 1694 — 1699. Death of Lady Temple. — Lady Giffard. — Temple makes his "Will. — His Acquaintance and Society. — Dies. — Errors as to his Will. — Portraits - - 226 CHAPTER XXXVII. Posthumous Publications of Temple's Letters and Memoirs. — Swift's Communications with the Tem ple Family. — The Collected Works - 238 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Character of Sir William Temple, as a Statesman, a Writer, and a Man 251 SUPPLEMENT. Letters from Dorothy Osborne, afterwards Lady Temple, to Mr. Temple, afterwards Sir William - 273 Essays written by Sir William Temple at an early Age 338 APPENDIX. A. A Family Prayer, by Sir William Temple - - 373 B. Diplomatic Instructions, viz. : — 1. June 22. 1665 377 2. Nov. 25. 1667 - - 381 3. Jan. 1. 1667-8 984 4. Jan. 24. 1667-8 r__N l r 5. Aug. 10. 1668 - 6. Jan. 7. 1669 - 7. Oct. 11. 1669 - 8. Nov. 22. 1669 - 9. May 30. 1674 - 10. June 25. 1675 11. June 28. 1678 - 12 a. July 23. 1678 - 12 b. — — - 12 c. — — _ VU PAGE - 387 - 389 - 396 - 400 - 404 - 405 - 410 - 412 - 420 421 - 421 C. Treaties, viz. : — 1. Pyrenees, Nov. 7. 1659 - 424 2. Breda, England, and France, July 21. 1667 - 431 3. Breda, England, and the Dutch, July 21 . 1667 433 4. Commercial Articles between the same, July 21. 1667 434 5. Eventual Treaty between Louis XIV. and the Emperor Leopold, Jan. 1. 1668 - 436 6. The Triple Alliance, Jan. 23. 1668 - - 440 7. Commercial Treaty between England and the Dutch, April 15. 1668 - - - - 451 8. St. Germain-en-Laye, April 15. 1668 - 453 9. Aix-la-Chapelle, May 2. 1668 - - - 457 10. Guaranty, England, Holland, and Sweden, May 7. 1669 459 11. Westminster, Peace between England and the Dutch, Feb. 19. 1674 - - - - 460 12. Marine Treaty, between the same, Dec. 1. 1674 461 13. Lawrence Hyde's Treaty with the Dutch, Jan. 10. 1678 463 14. Temple's Treaty with the same, July 26. 1678 470 15. Nimeguen, 1678 472 Vill CONTENTS. PACE D. Official Papers, viz. : — 1. Order in Council for Precedency of the Prince of Orange, Aug. 8. 1668 - - -480 2. Order in Council concerning the Honours to be paid to Envoys, Aug. 26. 1668 - - 481 3. Warrant, recalling Sir William Temple from the Hague, Feb. 14. 1673 - - - 482 4. Warrant, determining his Appointment, July 11. 1679 , - - - 483 E. Sir William Temple's Will - - - 484 Postscript, — being Extracts from the Letters of M. ^~ Maralt, and from Swift. - - 487 Index - - 493 THE LIFE SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. CHAPTER XXII.. TEMPLE AGAIN SENT TO THE HAGUE CONCLUDES A THEATY. — AFFAIR OF DE CROS. — TEMPLE GOES AGAIN TO NIME GUEN. — PEACE OF NIMEGUEN. 1678—1679. So soon as it was known that the States were about to sign a treaty upon the terms proposed by France, the King determined to send Sir William Temple to the Hague, with instructions * to con sult with the Prince of Orange as to the means of rendering the peace (into which the Prince most reluctantly entered) as little hurtful as possible to the common interests. They were to consider " how to prevent any counsels in Spain for the ex change of Flanders," and by what alliances and * Appendix B. VOL. II. B 2 THE LIFE OF guaranties that country might be preserved. "As we could not have consented to the peace," said Charles, in this statesmanlike paper, "otherwise than obliged to it by their pressing and repeated instances, so we shall, now that the peace is by them (the States-General) finally agreed to, con cur with them in the best and most effectual ways and means of preserving it, and Flanders in par ticular, by the utmost guaranties we can give it." While these instructions, in the spirit of the Triple Alliance, were yet in preparation, the Dutch am bassadors at Nimeguen accidentally learnt, just as they were on the point of signing the treaty, that Louis had no intention of evacuating the towns which he agreed to restore, until Sweden should have recovered what she had lost in the war. The States at once refused to acquiesce in this preten sion, for which, indeed, there was no plausible ground, and called once more upon Charles " to stand by them." The instructions to Temple were upon this application enlarged, so as to enjoin him to give to the Dutch the fullest assurance of sup port, apprising them nevertheless, that the King remained in the same mind, " rather to end and close all in a general peace." In case of "the worst," that is, of an inevitable rupture, he was in structed to concert with the Prince of Orange three essential points ; the prohibition of French com modities, the forces to be employed, and the pro mise to make no peace but by common consent. Of these, the point upon which he was to lay the greatest stress was the prohibition, probably because SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 3 it had been urged by the House of Commons ; and avowedly, because "some thought that it would be sufficient of itself to bring France to reason." However, he was to conclude a treaty, even though he could not attain these conditions, provided only that the terms should not be below those of Mr. Hyde's treaty. Upon this new mission *, so much more congenial to his sentiments than that which he had lately declined, Temple went over in July, repaired im mediately to Homslerdyke, and received a hearty welcome from the Prince of Orange; who did not conceal his joy at the unexpected obstacle which had been placed in the way of peace, t He listened with great pleasure to Temple's reasons for believing that Charles was really out of humour with France, justly ascribing the eagerness in Holland for the peace to the impossibility of relying upon English counsels. To Temple's present proposition, how ever, William saw many objections. In order to obviate them, Temple got Van Lewen, who had also come over, to make a dinner at his country * It is remarkable that all historians, including Temple himself (Memoirs, ii. 452, 453.), have ascribed the determination to send him to the Hague entirely to the new hitch in the treaty between France and Holland ; but it is manifest from the instructions themselves, that the resolution to employ him was anterior to the knowledge of that occurrence. It is distinctly affirmed in the instructions (which were dated June 28. 1678 ; Longe Papers, v.) that the information came while they were in preparation ; and the Duke of York apprised the Prince of Orange, on June 7., of the intention to send Temple. — Dalr. i. 229. On June 14th he was hastily summoned to adjust his instructions and depart ; " so great does his Majesty apprehend the haste to be of your being on the other side." f To Williamson, July 14.; iv. 347. B 2 4) THE LIFE OF house, where Temple met some of the powerful burgomasters who had been eager for the peace : some of these he persuaded of the present sincerity of England; but others resisted all his eloquence, and the good cheer of his host. The Commissioners of Secret Affairs, with whom he treated, laid a great stress upon the King's choice of Temple as his agent : " His coming they es teemed like that of the swallow, which always brought fair weather with it." * In six days Temple accomplished the object of his mission. He concluded a treaty t with the States, " by which France was obliged to declare, within fourteen days after the date thereof, that they would evacuate the Spanish towns ; or, in case of their refusal, Holland was engaged to go on with the war, and England immediately to declare it against France, in conjunction with Holland and the rest ofthe confederates." t The Prince of Orange now prepared with great alacrity for the renewal of the war ; and Temple was in high spirits, and very proud of his treaty, by which " the King," Temple thought, " was once more at the head of all the affairs of Christendom ;" while William, who had begun to lose ground in Holland, was again in his own opinion a happy man, and in all others "a great Prince once more."§ * II. 454. f July 26. 1678. Appendix C. Dumont, vii. part i. p. 348. See iv. 353—370. J II. 456. The treaty said nothing of the prohibition of French commodities, and was not particular as to the *' concert of forces;" but it contained a stipulation against a separate peace. « IV. 365. ' SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 5 Still Temple, " considering how well he knew his court," was not without his misgivings. He wrote anxiously to Hyde * and Godolphin t, to learn how the treaty was taken at home ; and to his friend Ormond t, he betrayed some anxiety as to " the use which England would make of the conjunc ture." Laurence Hyde, who, as we have seen, had no love for Temple, probably gave him no light as to what passed in England ; nor are we informed whether Godolphin,. who had said, that if he made the treaty according to his instructions he would de- serveto have his statue set up {, now deemed him en titled to this great reward. But the official and un friendly channel of secretary Williamson conveyed to him some very sharp rebukes ; particularly for the omission ofthe prohibition of commerce, and of a specification of forces. Temple defended himself, with reference to the discretion left by his instructions* " But since the greatest service," he continued, "I could ever hope to do his Majesty or the crown of England proves to be a fault, I hum bly ask his Majesty's pardon ; and shall learn here after to tie myself as strictly to my orders as a clerk in the office ought to do ; though I am, I confess, of opinion that no prince or state can ever tie up so strictly either a servant or ambassador, or give them reason to act in perpetual fear, without losing the greatest occasions in the world, either in treaties * IV. 365. f P. 367. t P- 369- § P- 368- B 3 THE LIFE OF or in war. And so I end this unpleasant sub ject."* He appealed to the Lord Treasurer, and turned the tables upon Williamson, by exposing " the lameness of his instructions." t . ..." It is nothing new from that hand. These lashes and mystifica tions are as little so too, having very often befallen me from him, but never once from my lord Arling ton, Secretary Trevor, or Secretary Coventry, in the ten years' service under their correspondence. I should be very glad to know from your lordship, whether I am mistaken or no in believing this usage personal from him : for, if it be from his Majesty, I shall take it for another sign, and make another use of it." t Complaining, in the same letter, of the want of regular intelligence from the secretary's office, he mentions a rumour, " which has made a great buz among the half-witted people," of a certain " over ture from De Cros," and this buz soon reached the Hague, and was followed by a pretty sharp sting. " No man," Temple thus prefaces his narrative of the transaction, " No man since Solomon ever enough considered how subject all things are to time and chance ; nor how poor diviners the wisest men are of future events, how plainly soever all things may seem laid towards the producing them ; * August 1. 1678; iv. 370. f Not those signed by Charles, which we have noticed — they are very clear — but others contained in Williamson's Letters. | August 2., iv. 376. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 7 nor upon how small accidents the greatest counsels and resolutions turn, which was never more proved than by the course and event of this affair." * About a week before the day fixed by Temple's treaty for the determination of France, he learnt from Pensionary Fagel, that the Swedish ambassa dors had written to the French king, to desire that the peace of Christendom might be no longer de layed on account of Swedish interests ; a request, as Fagel felt assured, which was not made without previous concert with Louis, who was determined, as the Pensionary thence concluded, to evacuate the towns. Soon afterwards, M. Meredith, the secretary of the embassy, came over to the Hague with fresh instructions t to the ambassador. These purported that an intimation had been conveyed to the King by M. De Cros, the envoy of the Duke of Hol stein, in London, that if England would guarantee the peace, so that no assistance might be given by Spain or Holland to the enemies of Sweden, Sweden would request France to recede from her preten sion of detaining the towns. Charles saw no dif ficulty in giving the proposed guaranty. " For, considering on the one hand, that this point of Spain and Holland not assisting the enemies of Sweden is one of the very articles of the treaty between France and Spain and Holland, and so agreed to and accepted of as well by Spain as Hol- * II. 457. f July 23. (O. S.) 1678. (Appendix B.) Temple to Williamson, Aug. 5.; iv. 381. B 4> 8 THE LIFE OF land, and considering on the other hand that already it is understood and laid down as a fundamental between us and the States, that we shall enter to gether into a strict guaranty of that peace when made, we see no manner of difficulty for us imme diately to make this promise and declaration, and we are confident the States will be of the same mind likewise." Temple was accordingly enjoined to go to Nimeguen, to effect this arrangement with the representatives of Sweden there. De Cros' paper, upon which these instructions were founded, was also sent to Temple. In this, that little diplomate offers to endeavour to persuade Sweden to withdraw her pretensions, provided the King will guarantee the neutrality of Spain and Holland, will endeavour to procure from France an augmentation of the Swedish subsidy, and will permit the Swedes secretly to levy troops in England as well as to purchase ships and warlike stores. He was also to do his best towards getting back for Sweden all that she had lost, and to think seriously of the restoration of De Cros' more immediate master the Duke of Holstein. De Cros soon followed his memorial, much pleased with its success, and hoped soon to see Temple at the place of congress, to second him in the assurances which he was to give to the Swedes. But Temple did not like either the business or the agent. He somewhat moderated De Cros' trans ports, when he told him, (upon Fagel's informa tion,) that the Swedes had already done that to which he was about to persuade them, and proved SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 9 that this could not be in consequence of Du Cros' own letters, as the busy man pretended. Notwithstanding what he had lately written, about implicitly obeying orders, Temple determined to remain at the Hague until he should have heard from his court *, to which he reported what he had heard from Fagel, and probably relied upon that as a new circumstance, justifying the postponement of a compliance with his instructions. And he told Williamson plainly, that some of the King's concessions, especially " the liberty not only of levying our mariners and soldiers, but of buying our ships and men-of-war, were of as great im portance as could be to the crown of England. . . . What effect M. de Cros' discourses may have here, I cannot tell, as to the peace, but as to his Majesty's measures and intentions to it, they have I am sure had a very ill one. For my part, I neither under stand the counsels upon which they were grounded, nor will pretend to judge of the event." t It would appear, that upon reconsideration, and a communication of Fagel's t opinion, who saw that, after what had happened, there was no chance of carrying on the war with vigour, Temple thought it his duty to proceed to Nimeguen. There, what he learnt from Sir Leoline Jenkins and the Swedish ambassadors satisfied him that the self-denial of Sweden was not brought about by the communica tions of which De Cros was the bearer, but was the result of previous arrangement. * IV. 382. t AuS- 5> iv- 380, \ Fagel to Temple, Aug. 6., p. 383. 10 THE LIFE OF From the Dutch ministers he learnt, that the French ambassadors were aware of Temple's orders to come to Nimeguen, had boasted of the 200,000 soldiers in their master's employ, and said that Charles was so bound to France as to be unable to perform what Temple had stipulated for him. On the 9th of August, the Dutch deputies de clared their readiness to sign the treaty with France : the French were equally ready. * But previously to the signature of the treaty, the French ambassadors at Nimeguen made a formal requisition to Temple and Jenkins for their signa ture to it in the capacity of mediators. They were answered, that having come to mediate a general peace, they could not assist in a separate one ; and the Dutch ministers received the same answer to a similar application. The refusal of the English appeared to cause some hesitation among their late allies, but Beverning, deeply and not unnaturally impressed with the unsteadiness of England, was bent upon a conclusion ; and his counsel prevailed. The treaty was executed on the 10th, so as just to come within the period prescribed. " And thus," says Templet, " were eluded all the effects of the late treaty at the Hague, and the hopes con ceived by the confederates of the war's going on." If the only effect of the separate treaty had been * On comparing Temple's letter to Williamson of August 9. with his Memoirs, there is a, little confusion as to the moves made by the French and Dutch immediately previous to the signature ; but it is of no importance. See iv. 391., and ii. 460. See also, for a sketch of the whole transaction, Temple to Ormond, Aug. 30., iv. 414. f II. 462. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 11 to prevent the renewal of the war, England would have had no cause for lamenting it. There was no reason to expect, from any war undertaken by Charles and his parliament, more satisfactory terms of peace than those which France had already ac cepted. Temple, indeed, zealous in the interests, and confident in the vigour, of the Prince of Orange, had not yet learned to appreciate correctly the weak and wavering policy of Charles, and even now thought it possible to make him a glorious king, the arbiter of the affairs of Europe. These were idle dreams ; but the honour and interests of Eng land were truly disparaged, by the rupture of her alliance with Holland and Spain, and the super- cession of the treaty so recently negotiated by Temple. The affair of De Cros too, developed the ineffi ciency of the English counsels. The acquiescence of the Swedes was purchased by the King of Eng land with concessions of considerable importance, and yet it came out that that which " M. de Cros sold so dear to his Majesty *," had already been promised to France, and probably concerted with her. And the motives for it, assigned in the me morial t of the Swedish ambassadors, were unfa vourable, and even offensive, to England and her allies. Temple heard afterwards, that the instruc- * IV. 391. f The dissolution of the connection between England and Holland was one of the motives, as well as the glory which the King of France would acquire from bringing about the peace, and defeating the in trigues of his enemies. — Longe Papers, v. 12 THE LIFE OF tions " were agreed and despatched one morning in an hour's time, and in the Duchess of Ports mouth's chamber, by the intervention and pursuit of M. Barillon * ; " this was denied by De Cros t ; but the language of the French ambassadors at Nimeguen would shew that their court was conu sant of the transaction, and probably served the purpose of its ally, at the moment of appearing to abandon him. " The rogue De Cros," said Charles afterwards to Temple, " has outwitted us all ;" alluding probably to his playing that off as a new suggestion of his own, which had in truth been elsewhere devised, and selling to England a con cession which in truth had already been made. Temple was once more puzzled by the tenor of the despatches from England. On the night of the 13th of August, arrived an express from England with the ratification of his own treaty, and a press ing order to exchange them ; " a counterpace," as he thought it, " to the instructions by De Cros," which exceedingly surprised him. t It required all his activity to get back to the Hague in time for the exchange on the 15th, the last day stipulated for it. He did not consider his treaty as rendered altogether useless by the separate peace ; for he thought it might induce France to conclude with Spain ; but the discourses of De Cros had impressed him with a notion of the entire union of counsels * II. 458. -f- As we shall see presently, when mentioning a controversy which arose some years afterwards. J II. 463.; and Temple to Danby, August 16., iv. 398. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 13 between Charles and Louis. If Danby, to whom he poured forth his doubts and lamentationSj is to be credited, this was one of the points in which "the rogue De Cros" had tricked him: and Charles was at this moment firm to the late treatv, and had given to De Cros no commission * beyond that which was avowed in Temple's instructions. " I have forborne," adds Danby, on the 22d of August, " saying any thing of those things you have desired me concerning yourself, believing you will be in better humour, and knowing by my own expe rience that we must bear with a great many wrong paces, to prevent worse which would follow to his Majesty, in the hands of such as would pursue their own humours, and seek their ease at any hazard of our master or his concerns." For an earnest of the King's firmness, Laurence Hyde was again sent over, instructed t to remon strate against a separate treaty, and to re-assure the States of the King's co-operation with them, if they would refuse to ratify their late treaty with France. Although this mission was followed by the actual transport of more troops into Holland, its effect, if any, was to accelerate the peace. The Prince ob served justly, that England was " too hot and too cold;" and he again called in aid a nautical illustra- tration, recommending an obedience to the word given often to the steersman at sea, Steady, Steady. ,t * Danby's Letters, 256. and 286. f See Danby, as above; and Temple to Danby, iv. 411.; and Memoirs, ii. 474. $ II. 476., iv. 422. 14 THE LIFE OF After much desultory communication, the peace between France and Spain was signed about the middle of September. * Temple's views of the course of French policy, by which the separation of Holland was brought about, are worthy of record, t " The truth is, 1 never observed, either in what I had seen or read, any negotiation managed with greater address and skill than this had been by the French, in the whole course of the affair ; especially since the Prince of Orange's match, which was thought to have given them so great a blow, and by force of conduct was turned so much to their advan tage. It is certain and plain, they never intended to continue the war, if England should fall with such weight into the scale of the confederates, as the force of that kingdom and humour of the people would have given to such a conjunction ; and con sequently that his Majesty might have presented what terms he pleased of the peace, during the whole course of his mediation." France, he thought, had a great respect for our troops ; but their appre hension of a war in which England should be united against them with the Dutch and the north ern powers, consisted chiefly in their dread of a non-consumption agreement, a measure which, in Temple's opinion, as well as in that of the English court and parliament, "must in two or three years time reduce them to such weakness in those sinews of the war, by so general a poverty and misery among their people, that there would need * Dumont, vii. part i. p. 365. f II. 464. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 15 no other effect of such a general confederacy, to consume the strength and force of this nation. This they very prudently foresaw, and never in tended to venture ; but having reason to apprehend it from the Prince of Orange's match in England, they took it without resentment ; nay, improved it rather into new kindness than quarrel, making use ofthe king's good nature to engage him in the pro rogation ofthe parliament* immediately after, which made it appear, both at home and abroad, that they had still the ascendant at our court. They checked the effects of the message sent by Lord Duras with his Majesty's scheme of the peace by drawing it out into expostulations of kindness, and so into treaty. During this amusement of our court, they plied their business in Holland with greater art and in dustry, poisoned the people there with jealousies of the Prince's match in England, and of designs of both upon their liberties by a long and unnecessary continuance of the war When they had gained their point with the several deputies in Holland, they acquainted the King with their being sure ofthe peace on that side, and by his ambassador at Paris made offers of mighty sums, both to himself and his chief minister t, only for his consent to such a peace as Holland itself was content with. When the States had absolutely resolved on the peace, by the particular faction of Amsterdam and general terror upon the French taking of Ghentt and threatening * The good nature of Charles required a gentle stimulant. See Vol. I. p. 516. f See Vol. I. p. 509. X February 1678, ii. 442. If) THE LIFE OF Antwerp, they esteemed the humour in Holland so violent towards the peace, and so unsatisfied with the fluctuations of our counsels in England, that they thought they might be bold with them upon the interests of Spain, and so raised the pretence of not evacuating the towns before the satisfac tion of Sweden Nor had they reason to believe that either our court or Holland would re sent it as they did, or that they could have fallen into such close and sudden measures, and with such confidence, as they happened to do upon this occasion by the treaty of July at the Hague. They poisoned it by the despatch of Du Cros, and by his instructions as well as artifices and industry, to make the contents of it public at the Hague, which were pretended at court to be sent over to me with the greatest secrecy that could be. At the same time they made all the declarations of not receding from the difficulties they had raised, otherwise than by treaty, and thereby laid asleep all jealousies of the confederates, as well as to prevent a blow they did not believe could arrive, where the honour of France seemed so far engaged, and thus they con tinued till the very day limited for their final de claration. The secret was so well kept that none had the least umbrage of it that very morning. When they declared it, they left not the Dutch ambassadors time enough to send to their masters ; fearing, if they had, the States would have re fused to sign without Spain, which could not be ready before the time must have elapsed for incur ring the effects of the late treaty." SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. V7 " Thus the peace was gained with Holland ; his Majesty was excluded from any fair pretence of en tering into the war, after the vast expense of rais ing a great army and transporting them into Flanders, and after a great expectation of his people raised, and as they thought deluded ; Spain was ne cessitated to accept the terms that the Dutch had negotiated for them ; and thus left the peace of the empire wholly at the mercy and discretion of France, and the restitution of Lorraine (which all had con curred in) wholly abandoned and unprovided. So that I must again conclude the conduct of France to have been admirable in the whole course of this affair, and the Italian proverb to continue true — Gli pazzi Francesi sono morti." * Without any desire to depreciate the skilfulness of Louis XIV. in taking advantage of the weakness of his neighbours, it may be observed that he would not have been able to break the alliance which his ambition had provoked, if it had not been equally true, according to Temple's next remark, that " the counsels and conduct of England were like those of a floating island, driven one way or the other according to the winds or tides." And yet, considering the great power of France, and the ability of her commanders, and remem bering the result of the grand alliance at the com mencement of the eighteenth century, it may be doubted whether any terms obtained by the most * " The French fools are dead." VOL. II. C 18 THE LIFE OF vigorous and consistent government would have been equivalent, in the security which they would have afforded, to the exertions and sacrifices which a long war with France would have required. The treaties with Holland and Spain were at length followed by a general pacification. In the winter of 1678 Sir Leoline Jenkins gave notice that the peace was nearly concluded, and Temple was commanded to go to Nimeguen, " and there assist as a mediator in the signing of the peace, which then appeared to be general." Unwillingly, in reference to the uselessness of his signature to an instrument in which he had really no concern, and still more to the inclemency of the weather, Temple made his last journey to Nimeguen in January, 1679 ; and there found, as he had indeed foreseen, that the refusal of the Imperial ambassadors to yield precedence to the mediators rendered his presence useless. The treaty * was concluded without his interference or signature. Sir William Temple rejoiced at the excuse for withholding his name from an instrument, founded upon the rup ture of the alliance of which he had the chief glory ; and confirming France in the usurpations which it had been the object of his life to resist, t * Feb. 5. 1679 ; Dumont, vii. part 1. p. 376. •f- We subjoin the posthumous remarks of Sir James Mackintosh. " The object of the Prince and the hope of his confederates was, to re store Europe to the condition in which it had been placed by the treaty of the Pyrenees. The result of the negotiation at Nimeguen was to add the province of Franche Comte, and the most important fortresses ot the Flemish frontier, to the cessions which Louis at Aix-la-Chapelle had extorted from Spain. The Spanish Netherlands were thus further SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 19 stripped of their defence, the banner of Holland weakened, and the way opened for the reduction of all the posts which face the most defenceless parts of the English coast. The acquisition of Franche Comte broke the military connection between Lombardy and Flanders, secured the ascendant of France in Switzerland, and, together with the usurpation of Lorraine, exposed the German empire to new aggression, the ambi tion ofthe French monarch was inflanjed, and the spirit of neighbouring nations broken by the ineffectual resistance, as much as by the long submission of Europe. — View of the Reign of James II., p. 327. c 2 20 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXIII. INTRIGUES OF MONTAGU AGAINST DANBY AND TEMPLE. — SECRETARYSHIP OF STATE AGAIN OFFERED TO TEMPLE. — HE COMES TO ENGLAND DECLINES THE OFFER STATE OF AFFAIRS AT HOME. 1678—1679. While Temple remained abroad, matters were in progress in England deeply affecting him, and his patron Danby. Mr. Montagu, who has been mentioned as one of Temple's friends, who offered in the year 1674 * to assist him with the money required for his becoming Secretary of State, had now become himself a can didate for that office, and a solicitor of the Trea surer's influence towards obtaining it, though he was aware that Temple stood in his way.t In June, 1678, he renewed his application to Lord Danby, adding, in a strain not quite consistent with friend ship for Temple, " I presume the measures Sir William Temple may have given his Majesty of late in the politics may have a little worked off that engagement which I am sure your favour only made the King think he had to him ; and without * Vol. I. p. 423. f Montagu to Bertie, March 29. and April 11. Danby's Letters, pp. 78. 83. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 21 flattering you as to your wisdom, you have shown yourself too good a Lord Treasurer to advise the King to give 10,000Z. for Sit William Temple ; so that now his chief merit is your lordship's great nicety of your word, which I am sure any strict casuist in honour would in this case absolve you from." * From a later letter t, it would appear that Danby had replied, that he must adhere to his engage ments to Sir William Temple, — a determination which converted Montagu into the enemy, not of Temple only, but of the Treasurer himself. In November, Lord Danby, after acquainting Temple with the committal of Sir Joseph Wil liamson to the Tower by the Commons, and his release by the King t, says, " I was in hopes to have seen you in the house by this time, to have had the help of so^ able a physician in so desperate a distemper ; but we are like to be deprived of that also by the ingratitude of a corporation to his Ma jesty, and the ill practices qf Mr. Montagu to de- * Montagu to Lord Danby, June 4. 1678, p. 88. f July 1. p. 90. X Nov. 18. 1678. Pari. Hist. iv. 1038. The parliament which had been prorogued on July 15. 1678 (see Vol. I. p. 516.), had met again on Oct. 21., when the King said, " The part which I have had this sum mer in the preservation of our neighbours, and the well securing what was left of Flanders, is sufficiently known and acknowledged by all that are abroad ; and though for this cause I have been obliged to keep up my troops (without which our neighbours had already despaired), yet will the honour and interest of the nation have been so far improved by it, that I am confident no man here would repine at it, or think the money raised for their disbanding to have been ill employed in their continuance." The rest of this speech, and almost all the proceedings ofthe session, related to the Popish plot; and it was for countersigning commissions to Popish recusants that Williamson was committed. — See Pari. Hist., iv. 1016—1053. C 3 22 THE LIFE OF fraud them, since his coming to the house. I have heard more of his ill practices of other kinds, and some of them particularly against yourself, which I am hunting as well as I can to find out." * He then charges Temple to obtain all the information he can from M. Olivencrantz (the Swedish minis ter) concerning Mr. Montagu and " his plots." In his answer, Temple took no notice of the ac cusations against Montagu, confining himself to his own defence. " For Mr. Montagu, I have neither deserved such offices your lordship speaks of, nor shall trouble myself about making such returns. I am infinitely obliged to your lordship for the in quiries you say you will make, and shall be very glad to know my faults from my enemies as well as my friends ; because, what way soever I find them, I shall make the same use — that is, to mend them. I stand always upon the ground of never having done an unjust or an ungentlemanly action in my life, or an unfaithful one to the service of my master or my country ; and whoever may be per suaded otherwise of me, by whisperers or malice, I shall leave to their own opinions till they please to make fair inquiries, and concern myself no fur ther in them, nor the consequences, having, thank God, at heart neither hopes to serve, nor faults to answer for." t Upon the reports furnished by Temple and Sir * Nov. 19. 1678. Danby, p. 263. + Hague, Dec. 6. 1678, iv. 451. In Danby's Letters, p. 268., there is a version of this letter, somewhat differing from that which is in Temple's works, SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 23 Leoline Jenkins, founded especially on the inform ation of M. Olivencrantz, the Swedish minister, the papers of Mr. Montagu were seized by the King's order.* But some of them, probably by his contrivance, came into the hands ofthe House of Commons, and among them was the letter from Danby t, concerning money from France, upon which he was immediately impeached. The King, without delay, terminated these proceedings by a prorogation, and in less than a month he dissolved " The Long Parliament." t Unaffected by this accusation, Danby continued at the head of the ministry, into which Temple was now once more invited to enter, as secretary of state. § The resolution thus to employ him must have been rather sudden, as he had received, but a few days before, a commission as sole media tor at Nimeguen, where he was to attend for the short remaining life of the Congress. Although the King, in spite of the sneer of Mr. Montagu, offered to lay down a part of the money required by Mr. Coventry, Temple once more de clined the secretaryship. " The sensible decays," he wrote to the Treasurer, " I feel of late in myself, and which must increase every day with my age, and ill health, make me absolutely despair of ac quitting myself as I ought, and would be necessary for his Majesty's service, in a post that requires not only great abilities, but good health, and all * Dec. 16^J_678. Pari. Hist. iv. 1053. f P. 1060. 1069. See the letter (March 25. 1678) in Danby, p. 72. X Jan. 24. 1679. Pari. Hist., iv. 1072. J II. 488. and iv. 460. c 4 24 the life of the application that can be; neither of which I can either ways promise either his Majesty or myself. And I may pretend to be so honest a man as never to make so ill a bargain for so good a master ; which would be like selling him a horse very dear that I knew to be old and restive, and not at all fit for the service he designed him. I beg your lordship to represent this to his Majesty, not as a speaker's form of disabling himself when he is chosen." * But Danby was very anxious to have Temple in his cabinet, and Lady Temple and her son gave him hopes that the dismissal of Williamson t might remove a great obstacle to his acceptance of the office. The King also preferred Temple to Sir Leoline Jenkins, who had been thought of upon his refusal. The order, therefore, to Jenkins was stopped, and a letter of recall t was sent to Temple, with a yacht, which brought him to England, about the latter end of February, I679. The intention to appoint Temple was to be kept a secret; "because otherwise," said Danby, "it might receive a prejudice which you shall know hereafter." § As Sunderland was in this secret, * Jan. 24. 1679., iv. 459. t Danby, Feb. 11. 1679. p. 281. Williamson was on the 9th of Feb. 1679 succeeded as secretary of state by Robert Spencer, second Earl of Sunderland. He had been ambassador at Madrid and Paris, pleni potentiary at Cologne, and became privy councillor in 1674. He was a politician of considerable talents, but very little principle. Collins, i. 406. Burnet, ii. 17.. X Dated Feb. 11. 1679, and countersigned by Sunderland. It is therein stated that Sir Leoline Jenkins was appointed to succeed him as ambassador ; but this appointment apparently did not take place. Longe. Papers, iii. Danby says that he was not to be recalled, but to come home on leave. The variance perhaps arose only from the irre gularity of business. § P. 282. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 25 which was known only to Danby, to Temple's family, and to the Prince of Orange, the appre hension of the Treasurer probably applied to some intrigue of Montagu against Temple, or perhaps of the Duchess of Portsmouth and Barillon. Temple hesitated ; at least he did not peremp torily repeat his refusal, and apparently did for a time entertain the hope that the policy which he and the Treasurer approved might be pursued.* But finding, on his arrival in London, that this was a vain hope, he finally made up his mind to decline, or rather to evade, the offer ofthe secretaryship of state. Certainly the state of the King's affairs at this period was not such as to tempt any man to take part in the administration. Nevertheless, although he did not become secretary of state, Temple was now destined, for a short time only, to have an ac tive share in the government ; and for this reason we must now pay some attention to domestic poli tics, the state whereof, as they appeared to Temple when he arrived in England, cannot be better de scribed than in the passage wherewith he concludes the second part of his Memoirs. " I found the King had dissolved a parliament that had sat eighteen years, and given great testi monies of loyalty and compliance with his Majesty, till they broke first into heats upon the French al liances, and at last into flames upon the business of the Plot, t I found a new parliament was * Hague, Feb. 28. Danby, p. 283. f It is unnecessary to say more of the Plot here than to give a few 26 the life qf called, and that to make way for a calmer ses sion, the resolution had been taken at court for the Duke's going over into Holland *, who embarked the day after my arrival in London. The elections of the ensuing parliament were so eagerly pursued, that all were in a manner engaged before I came over; and by the dispositions that appeared in both electors and elected, it was easy to presage in what temper the houses were likely to meet : my Lord Shaftesbury f, my Lord Essex t, and my Lord Hali fax §, had struck up with the Duke of Monmouth, resolving to make use of his credit with the King, and to support it by theirs in the parliament ; and though the first had been as deep as any in the counsels of the cabinet while he was chancellor, yet all three had now fallen in with the common humour against the court and the ministry, endea- dates. The first mention of it was in August, 1678. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was found dead on the 17th of Oct. On the 1st of Nov. the two houses affirmed the Plot by a vote. — Pari. Hist. iv. 1006. 1025. Temple gives no opinion upon the subject. " Though it was generally believed by both houses, by city and country, by clergy and laity ; yet when I talked with some of my friends in private, who ought best to know the bottom of it, they only concluded that it was yet mysterious; that they could not say the King believed it ; but, however, that the par liament and nation were so generally and strongly possessed with it, that it must of necessity be pursued as if it were true, whether it was so or not ; and that without the King's uniting with his parliament upon this point, he would never gain either ease at home, oi consideration abroad," ii. 505. Mr. Hallam's remarks are judicious. Const. Hist. ii. 570. * See James's Life, i. 540. -j- See pp. 148. 342. 418. X Husband of Lady Essex, to whom Temple's letter on the loss of her daughter is addressed. He had been ambassador in Denmark in 1670, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1672. He was of a royalist family, but violent against Popery. See Vol. I. pp. 403. and 411.; and Collins, iii. 481. Biog. Brit. ii. 1164. Burnet, ii. 99. § See Vol. I. p. 181. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 27 vouring to inflame the discontents against both, and agreed among, themselves that none of them would come into court unless they did it all together, which was observed like other common shams of court friendships. Sir William Coventry * had the most credit of any man in the House of Commons, and, I think, the most deservedly, not only for his great abilities, but for having been turned out of the council and treasury to make way for my Lord Clifford's greatness, and the designs of the Cabal. He had been ever since opposite to the French al liances, and bent upon engaging England in a war with that crown, and assistance ofthe confederates, and was now extremely dissatisfied with the con clusion of the peace, and with the ministry that he thought either assisted, or, at least, might have prevented it ; and in these dispositions he was like to be followed by the best and soberest part of the House of Commons. For my Lord Treasurer and my Lord Chamberlain t, I found them two most admirable emblems of the true and so much admired felicity of ministers of state : the last, notwithstand ing the greatest skill of court, and the best turns of wit in particular conversation that I have known there, and the great figure he made in the first part of these memoirs X, was now gone out of all credit and confidence with the King, the Duke, and the Prince of Orange, and thereby forced to support himself by intrigues with the persons most discon- * See Vol. I. pp. 30. and 48. f Arlington still occupied this post in the household- X This part was destroyed by Temple, as we shall see in ch. xxviii. 28 THE LIFE OF tented against my Lord Treasurer's ministry, whose greatness he so much envied, and who was yet, at this time, in much lower condition than himself, though not so sensible of it; for he had been very ill with the late parliament, on account of a tran saction with France, which, though he had not approved, yet he durst not defend himself from the imputation, for fear of exposing his master. He was hated by the French ambassador *, for endeavour ing, as he thought, to engage the King in a war with France ; he was in danger of being pursued by his enemies, next parliament, for having, as they pretended, made the peace, and endeavoured to stifle the plot ; and yet I found, within a fortnight after he arrived, that he sat very loose with the King, his master, who told the several reasons of that change, whereof one was his having brought the business ofthe Plot into the parliament against his absolute command t ; and to complete the happy, envied state of this chief minister, the Duchess qf Portsmouth and Lord Sunderland were joined with the Duke qf Monmouth and Lord Shaftesbury, in the design qf his ruin. What a game so con ducted, and played on all sides with so much heat and passion, was likely to end in, no man could tell; but I that never had any thing so much at heart as the ujjipn of my country, which I thought the only way to its greatness and felicity, was very unwilling to have any part in the divisions of it ; the deplor- * Barillon. f The King had said in his speech that he would leave the matter to the law ; but Danby is said to have opened it at length to the House of Lords, and produced the informations. See Hume, viii. 78. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 29 able effects whereof I had been too much acquainted with in the histories of Athens and Rome, as well as of England and France ; and, for this reason, though I was very much pressed to enter upon the secre tary's office, immediately after my arrival, yet I delayed it, by representing to his Majesty how ne cessary it was for him to have one of the secretaries in the House of Commons, where it had been usual to have them both ; and that, consequently, it was very unfit for me to enter upon the office before I got into the house, which was attempted, and failed." * He avows that, during the canvass for parliament, he purposely " ordered his pretensions so as they came to fail, and gladly returned the money which his friends had provided for his share of the pay ment to Coventry." t "I concluded it," he says, " a scene unfit for such actors as I knew myself to be, and resolved to avoid the secretary's place, or any other public employment at home, my cha racter abroad still continuing." t Sir William Temple adhered to his determination of refusing the office of secretary of state. He had now an additional motive in the loss of his only warm friend in the government. For though the proceedings against Lord Danby had been arrested by the prorogation and dissolution ofthe Long Par liament, and that minister had received a free pardon from the King §, the new House of Commons, * II. 490. f P- 505. X Ib- § The pardon was granted in an unusual manner, which might have given rise to a nice constitutional question. The King sent for the Chancellor, ordered him to put down the great seal, so that he con- SO the life of which assembled in March, 1679, * revived the impeachment, and refused to acknowledge the par don. After much discussion, Danby, who had at first got out of the way, surrendered to the Lords, and was committed to the Tower. Although he had many deficiencies, Danby was, on the whole, the best minister Charles had em ployed since the fall of Clarendon. He was con sistent as a royalist and churchman, English in his foreign policy, and would willingly have kept the King in the right course, though neither he, nor any statesman of that age, thought it necessary to quit the King's service because his advice was not taken.t We hear of no farther intercourse between Temple and Danby ; and we know not whether sidered it for the time as out of his keeping. The purse-bearer then affixed the seal to the instrument, by the King's command. Thus was legal effect given to an act of state, without the intervention of a responsible minister. Surely if Finch thought that the seal had been taken away from him, he ought to have deemed himself no longer chancellor, until the seal had been again delivered to him ; such appears to us the law ofthe case; and certainly, as a constitutional minister, upon the princi ples which we now profess, Finch ought not to have resumed it at all, after he had been thus superseded in the high functions belonging to it. See Pari. Hist. iv. 1114. * Pari. Hist. iv. 1122. The new parliament met in March 6., but was postponed for two days, to get rid of a dispute about the confirm ation of the speaker by the King, and met again on the 15th. It was in this second session that the proceedings against Danby were revived. f From our expression in the text, an opinion might possibly be in ferred favourable to Clarendon's superiority to Danby as a statesman and minister. As Clarendon has scarcely been included within the scope of these memoirs, and new means of forming an opinion of his merits will soon be before the public (see Vol. I. p. 132.), we desire to give no opinion upon his merits here. As for Danby, the remarks in the text are borne out by Mr. Hallam (ii. 538.) ; who adds, however, what we do not deny, that he was a little too arbitrary in his domestic politics. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 31 they met again. From the habits of the times, perhaps, and from the silence of the memoirs, it appears improbable that Temple visited his friend and patron while in disgrace ; but whether Danby took this as a matter of course, or it produced any resentment, we have not ascertained. Danby had been Temple's steady friend, and certainly deserved his gratitude. From this time, Temple appears to have acknow ledged no patron. To Sunderland, the new secre tary of state, he wrote in a strain of more qualified flattery, than that which he had used towards Ar lington, Buckingham, and Danby : — "I cannot forbear assuring you that nothing could be welcomer than a short one I received from my Lord Sunder land, by which I found he was pleased with the new employment, and not unsatisfied with the prospect of our affairs. I take your lordship to be so good and universal a judge, that I cannot easily believe you should be deceived in what concerns either the public or yourself; and, therefore, can not choose but raise from it good presages to both : otherwise, I confess I see nothing to change my opinion of public affairs, or my resolution as to my own part in them."* We do not much object to these compliments, being satisfied that Temple, who had not, at the time, returned to England, was then ignorant of the part which Sunderland had in the attacks upon * Hague, Feb. 28. 1679, iv. 468. 32 THE LIFE OF Danby * ; whom he assured, on the same day, " how infinitely sensible he was of the obligations he had to his lordship." t But if Temple was afterwards aware that Sun derland was concerned in intrigues against the Treasurer, his colleague in the administration, we cannot hold him entirely blameless, without modi fying considerably our modern notions of political honour. Although there was not always, in the days of which we speak, an acknowledged first minister, Danby may be reckoned among the statesmen who have filled that office. He had no immediate suc cessor. Lord Essex was put at the head of the Treasury, by the influence, says Temple, of Mon mouth and Sunderland, t Chancellor Finch, and other colleagues of Danby, retained their offices. But Temple suspected that those who had com bined against Danby had a design to bring in Lord Shaftesbury, " who was in confidence with the Duke of Monmouth and Lord Essex, and had a near relation to the Earl of Essex ; and that Mon mouth contemplated the formation of a ministry in his own interests." § Such was .the state of the government when * In the third part of his Memoirs, Temple, after saying that "the counsel of the Treasurer's removal had been carried on by the Duke of Monmouth, in conjunction with the Duchess of Portsmouth and Lord Essex .... I found my Lord Sunderland at least in compliance with ths knot." — Apart, certainly, very consistent with Sunderland's character, 11. 507. Of these alleged intrigues we know no more; but assuredly the proceedings of Ralph Montagu and the House of Com mons are quite sufficient to account for the removal of the Treasurer. Charles protected him as long as he could. t IV. 469. X II- 507. § lb. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. St Temple commenced the frequent discourses witl the King, to which his foreign employments intro duced him. " I never saw any man," he tells us " more sensible of the miserable condition of hi: affairs ; but nothing he said to me movec me more, than when upon the sad prospect of then all, he told me he had none left with whom hi could so much as speak of them in confidence since my Lord Treasurer's being gone. And thi gave, I suppose, his Majesty the occasion of enter ing into more confidence with me than I coulc deserve or expect." * Temple made use of this confidence to proposi a new and strange scheme of government ; thi last great act of his political life. * II. 507. VOL. II. 34 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXIV. TEMPLE'S SCHEME OF A PRIVY COUNCIL ADOPTED. — LORD SHAFTESBURY MADE PRESIDENT. THE MEMBERS. — RECEP TION OF THE NEW PLAN. 1679. The confidence of Charles emboldened Temple to advise his Majesty upon the formation of his government. He dreaded the influence of the Duke of Mon mouth, for whom the King had a great affection, which might lead to changes even in the succession of the crown, affecting the interests of the Duke and of the Prince of Orange. This project Temple was determined to defeat, while at the same time he could propose no fit men of whom an admini stration could be formed with advantage. The parliament became daily more and more violent ; while the King's authority was so low, that it might be difficult either to dissolve parlia ment, or to carry on the government without call ing another. Temple's scheme therefore consisted in the nomination of " a new council, of such a constitution, as might either gain credit enough with the present parliament by taking in so many persons of those who had most among them, and thereby give ease and quiet both to the King and SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 35 his people ; or if, on the other side, the humours should grow outrageous, and beyond opposing, the King might yet at the head of such a council, with more authority and less hazard of ill consequences, either prorogue or dissolve them, as any necessities of his own, or extravagancies of theirs, should require. " For these ends it seemed necessary to take into the council some Lords and Commoners who were of most appearing credit and sway in both houses, without being thought either principled or interested against the government, and mix them with others of his Majesty's more general choice, for making up one half ofthe council; whilst the other half, being fifteen, were ever to be the present chief officers of his crown and household, who being all of his Majesty's own trust as well as choice, would be sure to keep the council steady to the true interests of his Majesty and the crown. " One chief regard, necessary to this constitu tion, was that of the personal riches qf this new council, which in revenues of land or offices was found to amount to about three hundred thousand pounds a year, whereas those of a House of Com mons are seldom found to have exceeded four hun dred thousand pounds. And authority is found much to follow land ; and, at the worst, such a council might out of their own stock, and upon a pinch, furnish the King so far as to relieve some great necessity ofthe crown." Such is Temple's own account* of his project, * II. r.07. D 2 36 the life of which, he assures us, was " consulted and deduced upon paper only between the King and him, and lasted in the debate and digestion," without the interven tion of any third person, " about a month," during which the persons as well as the plan were settled. The King, we are assured, had acquiesced in all Temple's suggestions, and it was at the projector's own desire that he was authorised to communicate the project to Finch, Sunderland, and Essex, one by one, and under a charge of secrecy. " My Lord Chancellor said, it looked like a thing from heaven, fallen into his Majesty's heart; Lord Essex, that it would leave the parliament and nation in the same dispositions to the King which he found at his coming in." The approbation of Lord Sun derland, who was a very good approver, is less par ticularly stated. Every thing went smoothly ! But when Temple and the three lords attended the King, on the very next day, the difficulties began to arise. Charles had reluctantly consented to the ad mission of Halifax ; in Temple's language, he had " kicked at" the name ; perhaps from some old grudge, arising in the time when this trimming lord " took the worst side." He was recommended by the whole party, for " his family, his abilities, his estate and credit, as well as talent to ridicule and unravel whatever he was spited at;" and the King consented. Temple's success on this point was more than counterbalanced by his defeat on another. The King proposed Lord Shaftesbury, observing, SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 37 in language which indicates one prominent motive of this extraordinary measure, that " if he were left out he might do as much mischief as any." The three lords concurred, and proposed that this fac tious demagogue, who would not be content with one place among thirty councillors, should be added to the council as its Lord President. Temple urged arid protested in vain, disclaiming any part in the admission of Lord Shaftesbury, while " the King laughed, and turned his anger into a jest." The scheme was promulgated by a declaration made in council, and published on the 21st of April 1679-* This curious document set forth the incon venience sustained from the great number of the Privy Council, which made it unfit for secrecy and despatch, and obliged the King to use a foreign committee, and sometimes to take the advice of a few among them ; to these causes the ill posture of affairs was to be ascribed, t To avoid them in future, the King " hath resolved to lay aside the use he * See the declaration in Temple, ii. 571. +¦ The functions actually exercised by the Privy Council, at differ ent periods of our history, have not been precisely ascertained. In the time of Elizabeth and James L, the council appears to have not only deliberated, as the cabinet now does, on all important matters in what ever branch of the administration, but to have carried the result into execution by framing and signing the despatches. (See Lodge's Illus trations, Winwood's Memorials, and other collections of the time, passim.) According to Hallam, tlie name of a cabinet, as distinguished from the larger body, may be found as far back as the reign of Charles I., but still, until the time of Charles II., the resolutions ofthe cabinet were afterwards communicated to the council, and not carried into effect with out their assent. Clarendon in vain endeavoured to preserve this form of the Privy Council under Charles II., who governed by the cabinet, Committee for Foreign Affairs, or Cabal, only. Hallam acknowledges that the Privy Council had become too numerous for practical adminis tration. It was an object of Sir William Temple's scheme to bring back the ancient course. Hallam, ii. 593., and iii. 249. D 3 38 THE LIFE OF may have hitherto made of any single ministry, or private advices or foreign committees, and to con stitute such a Privy Council as may not only by its number be fit for the consultation and digestion of all business both domestic and foreign, but also, by the choice of them out of the several parts this state is composed of, may be the best informed in the true constitution of it, and thereby the most able to counsel him in all the affairs and interests of this crown and nation. And by the constant advice of such a council his Majesty is resolved hereafter to govern his kingdoms, together with the frequent use of his great council qf parliament, which he takes to be the true constitution of this state and government." The number of the coun cil was to be thirty *, and thus to be classed : — For the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury! and the Bishop of London, t For the Law, the Lord Chancellor §, and one of the Chief Justices. || Then came the First Lord of the Admiralty If and * The actual number nominated was thirty-three, because the order provided for princes of the blood royal, and for the secretary of Scot land separately. Under this rule, Prince Rupert and Lord Lauderdale were admitted. Shaftesbury made the thirty-third. t William Sancroft, known afterwards as one of the Seven Bishops, and as resigning his see rather than take the oath to King William. Biog. Diet, xxvii. 99. X Henry Compton, son of the Earl of Northampton, formerly a cornet of horse; according to Burnet (ii. 90.) he was attached to Lord Danby. Biog. Diet. x. 123. § Heneage Finch, Lord Finch, afterwards created Earl of Nottingham. Burnet, ii. 36. Collins, iii. 387. Biog. Diet. xiv. 304. || Sir Francis North, chief justice of the Common Pleas, a younger son of Dudley, Lord North ; afterwards Lord Keeper, and created Lord Guilford; a royalist. Died 1685. Collins, iv. 471. Burnet iii 89. Biog. Diet, xxiii. 231. f Sir Henry Capel, brother to Lord Essex. Collins, iii. 480. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 39 the Master-General of the Ordnance * ; the First Lord of the Treasury t, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer t; the Privy Seal§; the two Secretaries of State || ; and five Officers of the Household ; namely, the Master of the Horse 1, the Lord Steward**, the Lord Chamberlain tf, and theGroom of the Stole, # These were the fifteen official members. Then came ten §§ out of the several ranks of the nobility, * Sir Thomas Chicheley. He had married Lord Halifax's mother. Burnet, ii. 483. f Earl of Essex. See p. 26. X Sir John Ernly ; from his speeches in parliament he appears to have been an adherent of Danby. § Arthur Annesley, first Earl of Anglesea, a zealous adherent of Charles II. He had been Privy Seal since 1673. Banks, iii. 12. || Earl of Sunderland (see p. 24.), and Henry Coventry (see Vol. I. p. 31.) f Duke of Monmouth. ** Duke of Ormond. See Vol. I. pp. 3. 338. ++ Lord Arlington. . :+ John Granville, first Earl of Bath, son of Sir Bevil Granville, killed at Lansdown on the King's side. Died 1701. Banks, iii. 58. §§ 1. George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, son ofthe General. 2. William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, who, as Marquis, com manded the army of Charles I. Banks, iii. 547. 3. Charles Poulett, Marquis of Winchester, afterwards created first Duke of Bolton, of whose former history we know nothing. Collins, ii. 380. Burnet, iv. 413. 4. Henry Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, afterwards created Duke of Beaufort ; son of the celebrated Earl of Glamorgan and Marquis of Worcester, known for his transactions with the Irish rebels, and the " Century of Inventions ; " a distinguished royalist, as his family are to this day. Collins, i. 237. Burnet, i. 284. 5. James Cecil, third Earl of Salisbury; said to have been an exclu- sionist, though he afterwards turned papist. Collins, ii. 492. 6. John Egerton, second Earl of Bridgewater. He had been a Privy Councillor from 1666. Collins, iii. 196. 7. Thomas Belasyse, Viscount Fauconberg. See Vol. I. p. 372. 8. George Savile, Viscount Halifax. See Vol. I. p. 181. 9. John Roberts, Lord Roberts, afterwards Earl of Radnor, a pres- byterian who had served the Parliament, but had, nevertheless, been Privy Seal and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under Charles II. Banks, iii. 616. Burnet, i. 489. 10. Denzil Holies. See Vol. I. p. 83. D 4 40 THE LIFE OF and five * commoners of the realm, whose known abilities, interests, and esteem in the nation, shall render them without suspicion of either mistaking or betraying the true interest of the kingdom, and consequently of advising him ill." These were the specious terms in which the new council was announced to the public ; they are such as were very likely to emanate from the spe culative mind of Temple. The formal declaration could not avow that which has been always considered as the leading motive to this extraordinary measure, — the conciliation of the popular leaders in the House of Commons ; and it is remarkable that Temple's own explanation of his views is not distinct upon this point. Charles's expressions, however, about Shaftesbury, and the names of the councillors, sufficiently prove that it was intended to unite all parties, giving to the King's interests, as Temple suggests, a preponder ance, through the official members of the council. Ofthe non-official members, three ofthe common ers were undoubtedly of the popular party t ; Lin gard § ascribes the same political character to the ten lords, but apparently, as to most of them, without good grounds. * 1. William Lord Russell, the well-known popular leader. 2. William Lord Cavendish. See Vol. I. p. 255. 3. Sir William Temple. 4. Sir Edward Seymour, the head of that noble family, had promoted the impeachment of Clarendon, but was now Treasurer of the Navy and a Privy Councillor ; notwithstanding, the King, in consequence, as it is said, of a quarrel with Lord or Lady Danby, had refused to accept him as Speaker. Collins, i. 195. Burnet, ii. 72. 5. Mr. Henry Powle, certainly a member of opposition. f Russell, Cavendish, Powle. § XIII. 140. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 41 On the other hand, some of the members hold ing high offices (especially the First Lord of the Admiralty) had been hostile to the court. There was thus little prospect of carrying the King's measures in this council ; and this is one ofthe circumstances from which it maybe inferred that the scheme was really Temple's, and Temple's only. He probably contemplated with satisfaction an alteration in the King's policy, and a new spirit in his councils ; and he probably flattered himself with the hope that Shaftesbury being excluded, and the Capels placed in office, the uncourtly coun cillors might act moderately, and join with the court in resisting the more violent demagogues. Yet, how a man of Temple's experience could fancy that he had selected none but persons " neither principled or interested against the go vernment *," is quite beyond calculation ! The King's declaration in favour of Shaftesbury's admission, was not made until Temple was accom panied by the three ministers t ; and their instant concurrence in the opinion might give colour to the notion that other politicians were in the scheme besides the well-meaning and single-hearted Temple. But we are on the whole inclined to believe that Charles did not mention the subject, until after the names had been settled between his Majesty and Temple ; that he then, and perhaps not until the eve of this joint conference, acquainted Monmouth with his plan ; and that from him, possibly after * II. 508. t Finch, Sunderland, and Essex. 42 THE LIFE OF communications with the others, of which Temple was ignorant, the suggestion about Shaftesbury proceeded. * If it be true that the admission of that unprincipled and exasperated man altered the character of the measure which Temple had projected, it may be fairly said that his original scheme went too far, in the same course, to stop safely just at that point. Temple himself states that, previously to the conference at which Shaftesbury was proposed, the King had communicated the matter to Monmouth, and it became the common talk. " It was re ceived," says the sanguine author of the scheme, " with general applause in the country, with bon fires in the city, and the same in Ireland : in Hol land the actions of the East India Company rose upon it immediately, and very much ; and the States designed one of their best and most considerable men, M. Van Lewen, to come over as minister into England upon this occasion." t " France alone was unsatisfied with it, and M. Barillon said, it was making Des Etats, and not Des Conseils," a criticism equally just and pithy : for it might reasonably be doubted whether this council was an enlarged cabinet, or a contracted parliament : if the former, it wanted unity ; if the latter, strength and popularity, t * Burnet's account of the formation of the new council makes no mention whatever of Sir William Temple. He notices the King's objection to Halifax, which Monmouth told the Bishop he had great difficulty in removing. Burnet, ii. 203. -|- P. 511. X Of this new council, see Hallam, ii. 593. Ralph, i. 437. Hume, viii. 100. Lingard, xiii. Fox, 41. Lord John Russell, p. 89. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 43 We have no information as to the mode in which the King's intention, to call them to his councils, was communicated to the eminent persons who had so little reason to expect them. No pains were taken, so far as we know, to conciliate Shaftesbury, or even Russell and Cavendish, who might be more suscep tible of conciliation, by a gracious mode of ac quainting them with the plan, and desiring their co-operation. They had no opportunity of con sulting their friends, and the mere acceptance of a seat in the council "made some of them suspected." Accordingly when the King, in a speech having that object only, communicated the measure to the two houses*, not one word of thanks or observation proceeded from either. The Commons went on with their proceedings against the four popish lords t, and it was within a week of his nomination to the council that Lord Russell t (without actually using the word) recommended the exclusion ofthe Duke of York. * April 21. Pari. Hist. iv. 1122. j In the Parliamentary History, which is necessarily our only au thority, the single allusion to this grand measure was in a speech of Colonel Birch : " Are we come here to give money for some few men being put into the Privy Council, and shall we do such things as we have done before ? I hope the King will not leave one of the council that was at the giving such advice as we have had." P. 1126. X " If we do not something relative to the succession, we must resolve, when we have a prince ofthe popish religion, to be papists or burn. And I will do neither. We see now by what is done wider a protestant prince, what will he done under a popish. This is the deciding day between both religions." Then after some expressions of contempt, which his liberal descendant might not approve, for " such a ridiculous and nonsensical religion" . . . . " The King, I believe, will do his part in this matter, if we do ours I hope this house will neither be bribed, corrupted, nor cajoled, nor feasted, into the giving up the grand concerns of our re ligion and property. Therefore I desire that a committee may be ap pointed to draw up a bill to secure our religion and properties, in case of a popish succession." April 27. 1127. 44 THE LIFE OF The cold reception of his plan by the House of Commons greatly disconcerted Temple ; he laid everything to that part of it which was not his — the admission of Lord Shaftesbury ; and such was his disappointment, that he seriously entertained the thought of disqualifying himself from sitting in the council by omitting to take the sacrament, and it was not until after long debate upon it with his wife and sister, that he abandoned that singular and discreditable intention. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 45 CHAPTER XXV. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW COUNCIL. TEMPLE UNITES WITH SUNDERLAND, ESSEX, AND HALIFAX. — RENEWED OFFERS OF THE SECRETARYSHIP. INTRIGUES OF SHAFTESBURY AND MONMOUTH. PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. KING'S ILL NESS, AND RETURN OF THE DUKE. DISGRACE OF MON MOUTH AND SHAFTESBURY. — TEMPLE SEPARATED FROM HIS FRIENDS. 1679—1680. However, the council proceeded, and Temple took part in it. How it set to work we know not ; but it was very soon found necessary that a small and secret junta should prepare and originate the business.* Sunderland proposed to Temple, through Henry Sidney, that they two should act together, and suggested that Essex should be admitted into their secret counsels. Temple had been the friend and confidential correspondent of Essex. But he had now entertained an unfavourable opinion of * Notwithstanding what is said in the declaration against governing by committees, the Council Register shows that, on the 22d of April, secret committees were formed, one of which, " the Committee for in telligence, for opening and considering all advices as well foreign as domestic, and to meet where and as often as they shall see fit," was apparently intended to be, like the former committees for foreign affairs, a Cabinet. The members of this committee were, the Lord Chancellor, Lord President, Sunderland and Coventry as Secretaries of State, Mon mouth, Arlington, Essex, Halifax, Temple. Three made a quorum. So far from carrying on the government by one independent council, there was a great council, one lesser, and one still more select. 46 the life of his politics, which he communicated to Sunder land : yet he finally acquiesced. Halifax then became jealous ; and he, too, at Temple's desire, and against Sunderland's opinion, was admitted into this committee of four. They had great matters soon in hand : the satisfaction of the parliament, so as to enable the King to take a becoming tone abroad ; foreign affairs, on which it was necessary to secure Flan ders, and to answer the States on their proposal of a guaranty for Spain ; and Scotland, where Lau derdale had made himself so unpopular that his removal seemed the only complete remedy. On this last point the King objected. There was no difficulty as to the treaty with Holland, wherein Monmouth and Shaftesbury were called into consultation. But it was not easy to satisfy the parliament, " where there were no eyes but for the dangers of a popish successor." The King proposed limitations instead of exclusion. The House of commons, in fluenced, as Temple says, by Shaftesbury, purposely rejected all expedients. The whole Council de bated the matter, and agreed upon a set of limit ations. According to Temple, all the Privy Councillors agreed to this expedient, excepting only himself and Lord Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury declared plainly, and not without reason, that there could be no secu rity against the Duke, if once possessed ofthe crown. Temple's objections were different : first, he de spaired of making anything that should emanate from the King acceptable to the Commons ; a com- SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 4SJ mentary, it may be observed, not very favourable, upon the new plan of government. But he felt, also, as a friend to the monarchy, that the shackles imposed upon the Duke when King would not easily be thrown off by his suc cessor.* This was a reasonable and sound objection; and it may be fairly argued that the total exclu sion of the person was less hurtful to the interests of the monarchy, than the limitation, even tempo rary, of the prerogatives of the crown, t But Temple, it would appear, was against the exclusion also. "We know not how he would have provided against the dangers, which he could scarcely fail to apprehend. The four councillors, for a while, acted so well together as to occasion a remark from Temple, that " they were either the four honestest men or the four greatest knaves in England, since they made each other believe that they were the honest est men." Parliament rejected the expedients proposed by the King and Council.^ Shaftesbury, though Presi dent of the Council, did his utmost to inflame the Commons ; and Temple's three colleagues, seeing no other method of pacifying the treacherous demagogue, proposed that Shaftesbury and Mon- * 11.516. + See Lord John Russell, p. 134. Fox, p. 36. X Pari. Hist. iv. 1128. 1131—5. The Commons came to no par ticular vote on the subject of expedients, but superseded the discussion raised by the Chancellor's speech (which hinted at such expedients), by voting in the bill of exclusion. Lord Cavendish suggested in this debate the propriety of trying gentler measures first. His feeble speech was the only visible fruit of the new system of government. 48 the life of mouth should be admitted into their private com mittee, on an understanding that the Duke of York should be limited for a certain term, or during the King's life. Temple peremptorily rejected both parts of this proposal ; he would neither associate with Mon mouth and Shaftesbury, nor " enter into matters of difference between the King and his brother." This refusal separated Temple from his three friends, who began to confer with the Duke and Earl without him. They soon got tired of their new colleagues, whose plan seemed to be to force the King to con cede everything to the parliament. Associating, therefore, once more with his three friends, Temple suggested that a prorogation of parliament should be proposed, and debated in council ; and so it was re solved among them. Returning to London after two days' absence, Temple found that it had been arranged with the King that, in order to prevent commotions, the prorogation should be effected without the inter vention ofthe council. And the session was thus terminated on the 26th of May.* The new council had now had one month of existence ; and it may be safely affirmed that at this period, the experiment had completely failed. The junto nevertheless continued to discuss all the affairs of government : they now resumed the attempt to supersede Lauderdale in the adminis- * Pari. Hist. iv. 1149. The King assigned, as his reason for the prorogation, the differences between the two houses, alluding probably to the discussions concerning the popish lords. In this session the Habeas Corpus Act was passed. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 49 tration of Scotland; and they concluded their measures* with Holland. On one point only Temple differed from his colleagues. They proposed to let an old obsolete law, which had lain dormant through three reigns, take its course upon some Romish priests, upon the accusation of being priests only.t This Temple opposed so vehemently, as to produce a threat from Halifax, that " if he would not concur in points that were so necessary for the people's satisfaction," he would expose him as papist. " The plot," said this practised trimmer, " must be handled as if it were true, whether it were so or no, in those points which were so gene rally believed by city and country, as well as both houses." Temple answered — that he would have nothing to do with the plot ; it was on foot before he came to England; that he did not understand it. This unwillingness to take his share in the general delusion had nearly caused a rupture; yet he stood so well with Sunderland, as well as Halifax, that they once more pressed him urgently, but in vain, to take the office of Secretary of State, which Coventry then held. Yet, though he speaks now of the confidential consultations, there could be but little of cordiality or true confidence between him and Halifax, when he speaks of him as pretending to be desirous of seeing him in office. A little later, Temple communicated to the King himself * We know not what those measures were. The Corps Diplo matique contains no new treaties. + II. 521. Temple's opposition was unsuccessful. See Lingard, xiii. 177. VOL. II. E 50 THE LIFE OF his unwillingness to accept this high post ; for that ill health, increasing with his age, made him unable to go through the toils of the office ; and he offered to name three fitter persons. The King would not hear him, and the matter dropped.* But the new constitution presented much more startling anomalies. The President of the Council, if Temple's memoirs are correct, was the leader of the opposition ; and, while he continued to assist in the King's council, was engaged " in preparing fuel for the next session," for raising heats against the King's measures. No wonder that there was "some appearance of ill humour at council, which often broke into spiteful repartees between Shaftesbury and Lord Halifax." " In this condition of affairs," ill calculated, cer tainly, for meeting a great difficulty, "the rebellion in Scotland broke out t ; and it was pleasant," observes Temple, " to observe the counterpaces that were made." The King desired to send the Duke of Monmouth, now in great favour, with troops to suppress it. Shaftesbury, though willing that Monmouth should acquire glory, wished that his friends in Scotland should have the credit of putting it down, so that it might lead to the re moval of Lauderdale ; and with a view of increasing the influence of Monmouth, he projected a new corps of guards, to be composed of gentlemen and * II. 524-5. t II. 522. This was the insurrection of the Covenanters, in which Archbishop Sharp was murdered (May 3.), and was ended by the battle of Bothwell Bridge (June 23.), so well known to the readers of Sir Walter Scott. See Hurae, viii. 513. Ralph, i. 457. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 51 officers out of employment. This dangerous pro ject was successfully resisted by Temple and his friends. But Monmouth had the honour of sup pressing the rebellion. As the period for the meeting of parliament approached*, the four councillors began to dread its violence. The newly acquired greatness of Mon mouth, and the activity of Shaftesbury, so aug mented their apprehensions ofthe parliament, as to induce them to advise the King to dissolve it. The King, who would have been glad to anni hilate the parliament altogether, readily adopted their advice that he should propose the question in council, having previously communicated his mind to the Chancellor and the official councillors. It had been calculated that not more than six of the Privy Council would oppose a dissolution. But when the council-day came, Temple ascertained from Lord Sunderland that the previous commu nication of the King's intention had not even been made to the Chancellor. When the King proposed the question, prorogation or dissolution, the Chan cellor was the first to argue against a dissolution. Shaftesbury, as might have been foreseen, took the same line, which was also espoused by Anglesea, Privy Seal ; by Arlington, Chamberlain ; "Worcester ; and every man present, from the top to the bottom ofthe table, excepting only the three lords, who, appa rently dismayed by this formidable opposition, spoke shortly and weakly. Temple, who tells us that he * It was to meet on August 14. This council must have been held between 23d June and that day. E 2 52 THE LIFE OF was prepared with a better speech, was so put out by the negligence of his friends in preparing for the discussion, and despairing ofthe effect of argument, rested his advice for calling a new parliament wholly on the King's despair of an agreement with the present. And his Majesty, notwithstanding his published determination to govern by his coun cil, forthwith ordered the Chancellor to draw the necessary proclamation ; and the council separated in general and reasonable discontent, which, in Shaftesbury, Russell, and their friends, broke out into a violent rage.* A new parliament was sum moned for October, 1679- It is difficult to imagine what Temple found in the present state of affairs to induce him to come into parliament now, having purposely failed at the last election ; but he stood for Cambridge Uni versity, and though unsupported by the Duke of Monmouth as Chancellor, gained his election easily. The only opposition to him was raised by the Bishop of Ely t, in consequence of " the chapter on Re ligion t, in the Observations upon the Netherlands, which gave him the opinion, that Temple was for such a toleration of religion as is there described to be in Holland." § During the summer of 1679 the council was adjourned, and Temple remained chiefly in the country. But his quiet was disturbed by the dan gerous illness of the King, whom, in the first period of his convalescence, he visited at Windsor ; where * P. 527. + Peter Gunning. Beatson, i. 186. X See Vol. I. pp. 294-7. § P. 528. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 53 he was glad to find his three friends in close attend ance. Going soon afterwards to London, to solicit the payment of his arrears at the Treasury, he found that the Duke of York had arrived in England.* Lord Essex affected to think it strange that he should come without leave ; but instead of betraying the alarm which Temple expected, knowing how ill Essex stood with the Duke, he puzzled him by a sneering smile, upon a countenance which this lord was not clever at disguising. Halifax exhibited dismay in his looks, as well as his conversation. And Temple waited upon the Duke, in the hope of doing good offices to his friends. James received him kindly, and listened patiently to his story of further occurrences. Tem ple made, on this occasion, a declaration of his own political views, which must be remembered in his after life. " I did not know what our present distempers might end in, if the next parliament should prove ofthe same humour with the two late, nor what measures his Highness would fall into about staying or going away again. I could only say, that what ever would befall the King's affairs or his High ness's, he might always reckon upon me as a loyal man, and one that would always follow the court as became me ; nor could anything make the least scruple in this resolution, unless things should ever be so desperate as to bring in foreigners, which, if * The King fell ill on the 22d of August. The Duke landed on the 1 1th of September. Life of James, i. 564. E 3 54 THE LIFE OF ever it should be, would be a new case, and that he knew not what to think of." * " Upon this," Temple continues, " the Duke laid his hand upon mine, and bid me keep there, and said, that he would ask no more of me or of any man." He afterwards tried Lord Sunderland, at whose house he expected to meet the other lords, but they kept out ofthe way : he and Sunderland " talked deep into nothing ; " * and he departed in the ig norance which he brought with him. Within a few days, Temple was surprised to hear that the Duke of Monmouth, who at the moment of James's return had been in the height of glory and favour, was now in disgrace. Hoping to obtain some intelligence, Temple visited Halifax, who pretended to be ill in body, but apparently unquiet in mind. " All the talk was by snatches, — sickness, ill humour, hate of town and business, ridiculousness of human life; and whenever," says Temple, "I turned anything to the present affairs after our usual manner, nothing but action of hands or eyes, won der, and signs of talk, and then silence." All these conversations satisfied Temple that something was wrong between him and his friends, though he knew not " whence it came or whither it went." At last the truth came out. Essex and Halifax, fearing what Monmouth and Shaftesbury might do upon the King's death, had, with his Majesty's leave, sent for the Duke of York ; but as the King * P. 532. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 55 had recovered before his brother arrived, it was agreed that the journey should pass for spon taneous. Temple was deeply mortified at the behaviour of his friends, in keeping their secrets from him, and leaving him to solicit the Duke of York on their behalf, while, in truth, they were in his Highness's confidence, and Temple was not. And to make the matter worse, these, his faithless friends, finding that the Duke had no fancy for the new council, laid the whole blame upon Temple. This, surely, was not a very reasonable cause of complaint, if Temple had the share in the matter which he him self relates ; but he says that if the Chancellor, Sunderland, and Essex had not cheerfully adopted and helped to complete it, the scheme would have come to nothing ; and he adds, that when he could not prevent the admission of Shaftesbury, he would have been well content to lose it. He carried to Lord Sunderland his griefs, and his resolution not to meddle henceforward in public affairs, otherwise than in attending general councils ; but though he made but one more confidant, (whose name is unknown to us), the two lords who had offended him soon came to the knowledge of his "resentments," * and there was an end of com merce between them. Nothing memorable is re lated of the proceedings of Temple, or of the coun cil, during the winter of 1679-80. # II. 535. E 4 56 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXVI. PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. — TEMPLE'S REMONSTRANCES. ESSEX QUITS THE TREASURY. SUCCEEDED BY HYDE. RETIREMENT OF RUSSELL. — DUKE OF ORMOND TEMPLE NOMINATED AMBASSADOR TO SPAIN. SPEAKS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. — PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. — TEMPLE RETIRES. PUT OUT OF THE COUNCIL. 1679—1680. The return of the presumptive heir brought mat ters to extremity between the two Dukes. Mon mouth was deprived of the command of the army, and ordered to go to Holland ; and James was per mitted to reside in Scotland.* In October, Parliament was to meet. The ministers being still afraid of that turbulent as sembly, a short prorogation was expected, when a council was held, which Temple attended in ex pectation of ordinary business only. He saw the King and Lord Sunderland, who were both kind in their manner, but said not a word upon business. The council proceeded, when the King declared his absolute resolution to prorogue the Parliament for a twelvemonth. Except a few who were in the secret, and held * Hume, viii. 122-3. Shaftesbury was succeeded as President by Lord Roberts, now Earl of Radnor. Oct. 25. 1679. Beatson, i. 349. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 57 their tongues, the whole Council was in dismay ; several members rose with their objections, but Charles would not hear a word of. debate. Temple at last obtained a hearing for the sensible observ ations which follow : — " As to the resolution which his Majesty had taken, I would say nothing, because he was re solved to hear no reasoning upon it ; therefore I would only presume to offer him my humble advice as to the course of his future proceedings : which was, that His Majesty in his affairs would please to make use of some council or other, and allow freedom to their debates and advices, after hearing which his Majesty might yet resolve as he pleased ; that if he did not think the persons or number of this present council suited with his affairs, it was in his power to dissolve them, and constitute another of twenty, of ten, or of five, or any number he pleased, and to alter them again when he would : but to make counsellors that should not counsel, I doubted whether it were in his Majesty's power or no, because it implied a contradiction ; and, so far as I had observed either of former ages or the present, I questioned whether it was a thing had been practised in England by his Majesty's predecessors, or were so now by any of the princes of Christendom ; and therefore I humbly advised him to constitute some such council as he would think fit to make use of, in the digestion of his great and public affairs." Charles heard all this very graciously, as he 58 THE LIFE OF generally heard that to which he intended to pay no attention.* But Sunderland did not contain his wrath ; and told Temple plainly that nothing further should be done in the settlement of his claims upon the Treasury. While he stood thus ill with the King's prin cipal minister, he heard from the Prince of Orange, who wrote him word that the Duke of York was out of humour with him, for the impressions which he erroneously supposed him to have given to the Prince of affairs in Europe. Temple was thus now upon ill terms with all the leading men ; with the Duke of York, with Monmouth and Shaftesbury, with Essex and Halifax ; and though he had " great civility" from the King's ministers, he had no communication with them ; and the King treated him with a gracious reserve. He had then no resource but in his nectarines ; and reverting to " his own native humour, born for a private life, and par ticular conversation or general leisure." It would be expected that these reflections would be fol lowed by a permanent retirement ; but at present his resolution went no further than " coming no * This occurrence probably took place on the 15th of October, on which day a commission for proroguing parliament (according to an order made on the 24th Sept.) was presented to the King, when he ordered that a new commission should be prepared, leaving out the name of Lord Shaftesbury, and proroguing parliament to the 26th of Jan. 1680. Lord Shaftesbury's name was on the same day struck out of the list of Privy Councillors. — Council Register. The prorogation was often repeated, and the day ultimately fixed for the meeting was October 21. 1680. Pari. Hist. iv. 1154. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 59 more to court or council for a month's time, which he spent chiefly in the country." Soon after this occurrence, Essex quitted the Treasury, and Halifax went into the country; Laurence Hyde became First Lord of the Trea sury*, and Sidney Godolphin became a Commis sioner of that board, and both became Privy Councillors. Temple was upon good terms with both, but kept chiefly at home ; while they, with Lord Sunderland, had the chief direction of affairs. Russell, Cavendish, and Powle, and moreover Sir Henry Capel, the First Lord of the Admiralty, now went to the King in a body; and "pretend ing," as Temple expresses it, — though he surely acknowledged the reasonableness ofthe feeling, — " to despair of being able to serve the King, in a conduct of affairs so disagreeable to the humours of the people," requested to be excused from further attendance at council, " which the King," who must long since have begun to wonder why they came at all, "very easily consented to."t Lords Salisbury, Essex, and Halifax, had taken a less formal leave. These numerous defections, Temple tells us, and an unwillingness to be thought to act in concert with the retiring councillors, induced him to renew occasionally his attendance at the Council. X * Nov. 19. 1679. Coun. Reg. t Jan. 28. 1680. Lord John Russell (p. 120.) says that the King answered, " With all my heart." Capel was succeeded at the Admiralty by Daniel Finch, afterwards Earl of Nottingham ; a distinguished Tory at the Revolution, and in the reign of Queen Anne. X II. 540. 60 THE LIFE OF His pecuniary claims upon the government had always prospered best in the hands of his wife ; and it was now through Lady Sunderland and Lady Temple that he received an offer from Lord Sunderland to assist him in his business at the Treasury, and he at last obtained a settlement of the most difficult point. Sunderland renewed his kindness, but without any confidence as to public matters. Henry Coventry having at last retired, Sir Leoline Jenkins * succeeded him. The King paid Temple the compliment of a previous inti mation of his intention, in which Temple readily acquiesced, and made acknowledgments which were well taken. Temple now availed himself of his situation in the Council to serve his old and good friend the Duke of Ormond, who had been restored in l677t to the government of Ireland. Essex, who was ambitious of returning to that high post, now re sumed his attendance at council, with the view of objecting to the measures which Ormond sent over for approval, in preparation for a meeting of the Irish Parliament ; and he introduced a project, not clearly explained, but looking sadly like a job, for farming the revenue of Ireland to Sir James Sheen, who, as Temple was persuaded, truly or otherwise, was to represent Essex's appointment to the lieutenancy as essential to the fulfilment of his contract. * April 14. 1680. Beatson, i. 401. f August 24. 1677. Beatson, iii. 302. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 61 Essex obtained the support of Laurence Hyde, the First Lord of the Treasury, and was opposed only by Temple and Jenkins. By perseverance, and some encouragement from the Duke of York, they contrived to protract the affair ; and it ulti mately fell to the ground. During these dis cussions Temple was upon friendly terms with Sunderland and Hyde ; when one day, as he was upon his favourite topic of an intended journey to Florence, the ministers proposed that if he had a mind to a hot country, he should go into Spain as the King's ambassador. He demurred at the pecuniary losses which experience gave him reason to expect, and wondered what an am bassador could have to do in Spain. He found that it was again intended to cajole the Parliament as to foreign affairs, by making new alliances against France with Spain, Denmark, and the other former confederates ; and Temple's name was to give an appearance of sincerity to this spe cious procedure. Temple had seen too much to expect this good effect upon Parliament ; but he undertook, if the King would make his alliance with the Spanish ambassador in London, he would go over and culti vate it in Spain. He was accordingly nominated Ambassador Extraordinary at Madrid ; he received his equipage, and was prepared for his departure in September 1 680, when the King desired him to remain for the meeting of Parliament. There were many indications of a troublesome session. Before the houses met, the Duke of 62 THE LIFE OF York came home for a short time with permission ; whereupon Monmouth came over without per mission. Then was enacted the famous interlude, in which Lord Shaftesbury, accompanied by Lord Russell and other lords, appeared in the Court of King's Bench to present the Duke of York as a popish recusant — a proceeding without effect in law, but intended to excite the already strong feelings of the people. * It was debated in council whether the Duke should be desired to go back into Scotland ; but Temple attended not this council, remaining in the country with his thoughts towards Spain, and resolved never to enter into any matters personal between the royal brothers.t The Duke departed, and the Parliament met ; the House of Commons soon passed the Exclusion Bill, which the Lords rejected. Temple's late colleagues were divided, as Essex joined Shaftes bury in supporting the bill ; while Halifax, who had taken up the open defence of the Duke's interests, took the lead in opposing it. In the debates of the House of Commons upon the bill Temple took no part. His opinion, given to the King, was, that it was useless to oppose the bill in that house ; the King, he thought, should reply to all addresses in favour of it, that when a bill came from both houses he would answer them. Then, if obliged to dissolve the parliament, he would do it with more advan- * June 16. 1680. f II. 548. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 63 tage upon a difference between the two houses, than upon his own disagreement with the Com mons. The ministers did not concur in this opinion ; he therefore pressed them to bring for ward their expedients, that they might give them a vigorous support in the House : but these ex pedients were not produced. " I went not often," Temple tells us, " to the house or council ; but when I did, and thought it to any purpose, I endeavoured to allay the heats on either side, and told the King I expected to be turned out of the house in the morning, and out of the council in the afternoon. Mr. Hyde asked me one day in the Council Chamber, why I came so seldom to the house or council. I told him it was upon Solomon's advice, neither to oppose the mighty, nor to go about to stop the current of a river; upon which he said, I was a wise and quiet man, and if it were not for some circumstances he could not help, he would do so too." * In his history of this session, Temple introduces some remarks of a personal character, which we give as highly characteristic, and nearly the last of the sort which he published, though we do not exactly know how they found their place where they are. " As I never entered into public business by my own choice or pursuit, but always called into it by the King or his ministers, so I never made the common use of it, by ever asking either * P. 552. 64 THE LIFE OF money, lands, or honour, of his Majesty, though I have been often enough urged to it by my friends, and incited by so great degrees of con fidence and favour as I have stood in with his Majesty, both often and long. I never had my heart set upon any thing in public affairs, but the happiness of my country, and greatness of the crown, and in order to that the union of both, by which alone, I thought, both could be achieved. "When I fell first into a despair of this, I fell first into a distaste of all public affairs, which has been nourished by a course of such accidents and turns at court, and personal inconstancies and infide lities, as I have related. By what means I came to be so long engaged as to see this session of parliament I have told, but it is not to be told the vexation and trouble which the course of it gave me. I knew very well, that all the safety of Flanders and Holland depended upon the union of his Majesty with his parliament, which might enable him to make such a figure in Christendom as the crown of England has done, and ought always to do." * But the House of Commons were too much bent upon domestic matters to attend to " Spanish leagues, or alliances with Holland." One speech of Temple's in this Parliament is recorded.! The King had requested a supply from the House of Commons for the support of Tangier, which had come to the crown as part of * P. 550. t Nov. 17. 1680. ii. 552.; and Pari. Hist. iv. 1211—1221. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 65 Queen Catherine's dower. Even out of this message arose a debate upon the dangers of popery : notice was taken that Lord Bellasis, one of the popish lords in the Tower, had been governor of the fortress, and that a popish regi ment was still there. Lord Russell, as usual, made a strong protestant speech, and argued against giving money which might increase the power ofthe Duke. Temple followed Lord Russell. His speech exhibits no great share of oratorical talent, but it is not deficient in ministerial tact. After giving some reasons why Tangier ought to be maintained, he said, " But I must confess it is not the con sideration of Tangier that makes me press you to it, but the deplorable state ofthe protestants abroad. Sir, I have had the honour to serve his Majesty abroad in some public employments, and by that means may be a little more sensible of the state of affairs in reference to our neighbours than others may be, having not only had the advantage of information, but was also under a necessity of using my best endeavours to get a true account of them. Sir, I am confident the eyes of all Europe are upon this parliament * : not only the protestants abroad, but many catholic countries (who stand in fear of the power of France), do think themselves as much concerned in the suc cess of this parliament, as this House, and will be * It is fair to Temple to observe, that this phrase was not at this time so hackneyed as it has since become, having been repeated in twenty King's speeches. VOL. II. F 66 THE LIFE OF as much perplexed to hear any ill news thereof. This, Sir, as well as the necessities of our affairs at home, makes me trouble you at this time, to desire you to be careful what you do, that we may not occasion, in his Majesty, any dislike to this House. " "Whatever you do as to the business of money for Tangier, I pray, Sir, let there be no notice taken in your address of the Lords having cast out your bill ; for we have no reason to think the King was any ways concerned therein. To throw out a bill of so great importance, without a con ference, was, in my humble opinion, very strange, and contrary to the usual proceedings of that House. But pray, Sir, let it lie at their doors that did it ; for the King could not be concerned in a parliamentary way. For by this means we may obviate all misunderstandings with his Ma jesty about this affair ; and, I hope, create in him a good opinion of this House, upon which the welfare, not only of this nation, but of Europe, doth much depend. " Sir, his Majesty, in his. message, puts you in mind of giving advice, as well as money. I think if we make that expression the ground of our ad dress, we may naturally graft very good things thereon, especially what may conduce to the pre servation of a fair correspondence. Sir, though a king alone cannot save a kingdom, yet a king alone can do very much to ruin it ; and, though parliaments alone cannot save this kingdom, yet parliaments alone may do much to ruin it ; and SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 67 therefore we cannot be too circumspect in what we do. It is our fortune to sit here in a critical time, when not only the affairs of this nation, but the protestant religion abroad, need our continuance ; and, for the same reason, we may justly fear that there are those who endeavour to contrive the putting off this parliament. I pray, Sir, let us not give them any advantage ; and then I doubt not but his Ma jesty's care and goodness will at last overcome all difficulties, and bring this session to a happy conclusion." If speeches are now too long, they were formerly often too short for clearness. Temple's object ap pears to have been, to persuade the House that un less they supported the King, he would not be entitled to support the protestant interest against Louis XIV. He could not be surprised that the House should deem that interest in England liable to greater danger from Charles II. and his brother. But the more effective topic was the threat, for so, in the mouth of a confidential counsellor, it was, of a prorogation or dissolution of the parliament. In requesting that the House would not, in its dealings with the crown, take any notice ofthe rejection of the Exclusion Bill by the Lords, Temple spoke constitutionally — more constitutionally than those who, in our days, would wield against the other house of parliament the weapons destined for their defence against the King. The House of Commons of 1680 was regard less of the ministerial menace, and, instead of voting money for Tangier, addressed the crown f 2 68 THE LIFE OF upon " the dangerous state and condition of the kingdom." The Commons now made an attack upon Hali fax, as the author of the last dissolution ; and Temple argued, in the House, against a proceeding grounded upon common fame.* But in the debates of the council on the same subject, he pressed, as earnestly, the necessity of conciliating parliament, as he had in parliament the desirableness of con ciliating the King. He had, unquestionably, a sincere and patriotic desire to keep the several branches of the government in constitutional har mony ; if he possessed not the talents for accom plishing that end, the same must be said of every statesman of his time. The best advice was thrown away upon a king who could neither see the right way, nor consent to be led in it ; who, regardless of the past and reckless of the future, would sacri fice his friends, his word, and his country, to the gratification of the present moment. Nor was it more easy to manage a House of Commons, in which those who had a sincere and laudable zeal for the protestant religion, and for civil liberty, were led and controlled by persons whose religion was alto gether political, and who would obtain power indif ferently, through a despot or a mob. * So he says in his Memoirs, ii. 552. See Pari. Hist. iv. 1221. 1223. Temple also mentions having opposed on the same ground the impeachment of Lord Chief Justice North, who was attacked for advising the proclamation against tumultuous petitioning (p. 1229. ; and North's Examen, pp. 546. 551.). The charge against North was silently dropped. The King told the House that they had shown no ground for dismissing Halifax. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 6Q Neither King nor Commons had that sort of mind in which alone a man like Temple could acquire influence. His sincerity, moderation, ho nesty, and candour, were no recommendations to Charles or to Shaftesbury ; yet the last mat ter in which Temple was concerned, in parlia ment or council, may fairly be cited as a proof of the estimation in which his character was held in both. It had been determined in a coun cil, at which, as would appear, Sir William Tem ple was present, that the King should send a message to the House of Commons, declaring his resolution not to pass the Bill of Exclusion ; and Jenkins, the Secretary of State, was to be the bearer ofthe message. It was afterwards determined, in the King's closet, that Jenkins was an unacceptable messenger ; and Sir Robert Carr and Mr. Godol phin successively declining, the King himself re quested Temple to carry the message. " I did not very well understand," said this coun sellor to his master, " why a thing, agreed upon last night at council-table, should be altered in his cham ber ; but that I was very willing, however, to obey him, and the rather upon others having excused themselves, and to show his Majesty that I intended to play no popular 'games : upon which I took the paper, and told the King that I was very sensible how much of his confidence I formerly had, and how much I had lost, without knowing the occasion ; or else I might have had part in the consulting this change of what was last night resolved, as well as in executing it ; and I would confess to his Majesty, F 3 70 THE LIFE OF that I had not so good a stomach in business, as to be content only with swallowing what other people had chewed." * Temple gives not the King's reply, but continues : — "I went away, and carried my message to the House." t "I tell this passage freely, as I do all the next, as the only thing I could imagine the King could ever take ill of me ; and yet I know not how it could be a fault, more than in a point of manners, or the homeliness of the expression." The message was received "just as was ex pected ; " and produced nothing but violent votes against Popery and the Duke of York.t Seeing the violence of the two parties, " who agreed in nothing but in bringing things to the last extremity," Temple despaired of an accommodation. He saw that the ministers, totally incapable of managing parliaments, fostered the King's distaste of them, in order that no more might be called. This motive, as he conceived, induced his colleagues in the Foreign * II. 553. + Jan. 7. 1681. Pari. Hist. 1278. X The Commons resolved to grant no supplies without an Exclusion Bill ; and addressed the King to remove Lords Worcester, Clarendon, and Feversham, Laurence Hyde, and Edward Seymour, from his pre sence and councils for ever. Clarendon was the elder brother of Hyde. He was a hot protestant, and had been much in opposition. Burnet, i. 472. Clar. Corr. Lord Russell was silent in this debate; but it is remarkable that Lord Cavendish again made a moderate speech. " See ing that we are not like to have the bill at this time, I am for going on with these other bills that are afoot, that we may try if we can get them. Seeing we cannot do all the good we would, let us endeavour to do all the good we can." P. 1282. The Commons also resolved, that no person should lend money to the Crown, and three days afterwards passed violent votes against the advisers ofthe last prorogation, and/or restoring the Duke of Monmouth to his offices and covimands, from which he had been removed by the influence ofthe Duke of York. P. 1294. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 71 Committee to over-rule him, when he deprecated, as we have seen*, a positive declaration of the King to parliament against the Bill of Exclusion ; on which occasion, in recommending an approximation of king and parliament, he used the now trite illus tration of Mahomet and the mountain. But although the King was persuaded to take the step which parted him for ever from this par liament, he could not be induced to dissolve it t without calling another. Temple's constituents at Cambridge asked him whether he intended to stand again for the Uni versity. With a somewhat too courtly complaisance, he consulted the King, who, when pressed for an opinion, told him that considering how matters stood, he doubted whether he could do much good in the house. This was said " in a manner kind and familiar ;" but it appeared to Lord Sunderland, to whom Temple related it, as an indication of the King's resolution to come to no compromise with his parliament. Temple returned to Sheen, and sent a message to the King, by his son, " that he would pass the rest of his life like as good a subject as any he had, but that he would never meddle any more with public affairs X ;" and, although now little more than fifty years of age, he kept steadily to this re solution. * P. 62. ¦f- It was dissolved on the 10th of January, 1681, and a new one sum* moned to meet at Oxford. Pari. Hist. iv. 1295. X P. 556. F 4 72 THE LIFE OF The King, in answer, disavowed all displeasure ; but this gracious answer was followed by a rather ungracious proceeding. Temple had scarcely been a week at Sheen, when Lady Northumberland * came over one morning from Sion, with intelligence that the name of Temple, with those of Lords Sun- f derland and Essex, had been struck out ofthe list of privy counsellors. He could not understand why he was joined with these two ministers, with whom he had not agreed in council, t Lord Sunderland's removal, he found, had arisen out of an outrageous quarrel with Lord Halifax, who suspected him of intriguing with Lord Shaftes bury. Sunderland himself told Temple of another cause of quarrel. Sunderland had, in council, stoutly advised the King against complying with the address of the Commons against Halifax, but had afterwards told the accused minister, in private, that if such * Probably Elizabeth, Countess Dowager, widow of Algernon Earl of Northumberland (see p. 66.), and daughter of Theophilus Howard, Earl of Suffolk. + In referring to Temple's discontinuance of his attendance at court and council, where the printed life refers to the third part of the Me moirs, Lady Giffard' s manuscript runs, — "the particulars of which may in time be public, but are never to be made so by me." The following is his account of his final exclusion from the Council, which occurred on the 24th of January, 1681. (Cour. Reg.) : — " The famous (Exclu sion) Bill was, after long contests, thrown out, and the parliament dis solved ; and it was upon his Majesty's taking this resolution, without the advice of his Privy Council, that Sir William Temple spoke so boldly there, and was so used for taking that liberty, by some of those friends who had been most earnest in promoting the last change. Upon this he grew quite tired with public business ; refused the offer he had of serving again for the University in the next parliament, that was soon after called, and met at Oxford ; and was so uneasy with the name of a Privy Counsellor, that he proposed ways to be rid of it, but his friends could not be prevailed with to agree to ; soon after the King did it for him," The words in italics are not in the printed life. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 73 an address had been passed against him, he would have retired, as thinking that best for the King's service : whereupon Halifax flew into a passion — quite unreasonably, if the story be correct — and a quarrel ensued. " The refiners," as Temple styles the nice speculators in politics, ascribed Halifax's conduct to his observation that the King was ob stinate in rejecting the Exclusion Bill, and that as while Sunderland deserted the court on that vital point, Halifax himself might, by a direct compli ance with the King's pleasure, become the sole head of the administration. For the King's dismissal of Sunderland there was ample ground. With our modern notions, we wonder that it had not occurred before. He had voted in the House of Lords for the Exclusion Bill " against fhe King's express command, which, for a person in his service, and in such a post as secre tary of state, appeared extraordinary enough." * For Essex's removal the reason was obvious, in asmuch as he had acted avowedly with the Duke of Monmouth. His own exclusion, as Temple thought, might be owing to his friendship with Sunderland, or his attachment to the Prince of Orange. And as Charles was now evidently taking his measures for a determined opposition to the great object of the Commons, it is more probable that * P. 558. Temple also mentions a memorial from the Dutch go vernment, which Sunderland was suspected of having encouraged, re commending the King to conciliate his parliament for the sake of his allies and of the protestant religion. 74 THE LIFE OF Temple was removed for his conciliatory politics, than that his name was struck out, simply because, like Lord Salisbury (who was put out at the same time), he had forborne from attending the council. Thus ended Sir William Temple's concern in the administration ; and thus was formally abandoned the scheme of government, by which he had pro posed to heal all the wounds which the conflicting faults of king and parliament had inflicted upon the country. The experiment had, in truth, completely failed, from the first month of the trial : and it never pre sented the slightest probability of success. Cer tainly, if the thirty counsellors had acted cordially together as a body ; if they had agreed upon mea sures by way of compromise, or if the minority had consented, after a free discussion, to act in par liament according to the decision ofthe majority; if the King also had abided by the resolutions of his council — the government would have possessed strength and influence which no other cabinet could possibly attain. But to ensure this result, there must have been a previous agreement among all the several members of the council, a full share of moderation and of patriotism in all of them, and in every one a confidence in the honour and good intentions of the others. The very first of these requisites was wanting — an agreement that all the counsellors should concur in carrying into effect, and supporting in parlia ment, the decision of the majority ; and that at the least they should abstain from parliamentary oppo sition. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 75 Apparently, no explanation upon these points was either given or required. It is not at all pro bable that even if Shaftesbury had been excluded, such men as Russell would have assented to this, the ordinary principle upon which cabinets are formed. Even if there had been no demagogue unwilling to neutralize his voice, there would have been men who, honestly dreading the mea sures of a court inclined to popery, would not have subjected themselves to the chance of a de feat by numbers. Mr. Fox*, a great admirer of Sir "William Tem ple, in objecting to Mr. Hume's designation of the scheme, as "a feeble remedy" for the disorders of the state, lays the whole blame of failure upon the King. The experiment, he says, was never fairly tried ; inasmuch as the King's confidence was withholden from some of the most considerable members, and the most important decisions were taken without consulting the council. This is quite true; and it is with equal justice observed by Mr. Fox, that " the King's views, in adopting Temple's advice, were totally different from those of the ad viser ; whose only error in this transaction seems to have consisted in recommending a plan, wherein confidence and fair dealing were of necessity to be principal ingredients, to a prince whom he well knew to be incapable of either." This was the nature, but not the full extent, of the error which arose from the sanguine disposition * Hist, of James II. p. 41. 76 THE LIFE OF and honest heart of Temple. Mutual confidence among the counsellors was as little to be expected, as confidence between the Council and the King ; and if it be true that Charles, at a very early period, evinced a disposition to govern without his council, it is equally true that, even at an earlier period, some of the counsellors, acting quite independently of the council, proposed measures in parliament which the council would not sanction, and the King abhorred. Lord Russell had entered into no compact with the court, and cannot be blamed for the course which he took ; but the continued want of confi dence in the King which his proceedings displayed, may perhaps exonerate Charles from the blame of withholding confidence from his counsellors. The right course would have been, to have seized the opportunity of coming to a precise understanding as to the principles of the government, and the mode of conducting it ; but in the court of Charles II. precision was not. Neither was it, we are compelled to own, in the mind of Sir William Temple, who shone more in general advice than in detailed administration. In this, indeed, he had had no practice ; nor was he, even on the present occasion, a minister empowered to carry into effect his own advice. Had his sagacity and his power been equal to his patriotism, he might perhaps have done more ; yet we have seen that he was not pre pared to meet the most pressing difficulty — the popish successor. We know not how things might have been ; but we must own that, as they were, SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 77 the scheme of the Privy Council was an entire failure.* With this memorable event in Temple's life, his private memoirs are closed. In taking leave of him as his ow7n biographer, we subjoin the observations with which he himself takes leave of public affairs, foreign and domestic. " Nor was this resolution of mine taken in any heat, or rashly, but upon the best considerations and knowledge I had gained, both of the world and of myself: by which I found, as Sancho did by governing his island, that he was not fit to govern any thing but his sheep ; so, by serving long in courts or public affairs, I discovered plainly that I was, at my age, and in the present conjunctures, fit for neither one nor the other. " I considered well the world in the present pos ture of affairs abroad and at home." — He then traces the progress and success of French ambition, beginning with Cardinal Richelieu, who had en deavoured to obtain, by private negotiation, the acquiescence of Charles I. in the conquest of Flanders ; and, when Charles declared his reso lution of opposing it to the utmost of his power, took his revenge by raising discontents in Scotland, # Lady Giffard, in saying that this new council was the greatest point ever gained by any minister, adds, " and is not lessened since (whatever appeared then) that it has been found to be so much against the interest his Majesty must ever have intended to favour." This is not quite intelligible. It has been observed (p. 42.) that Burnet does not mention Temple with the council scheme. Lord Dartmouth, afterwards Secretary of State to Queen Anne, says, in his note upon the passage in Burnet, " This sudden short-lived turn always went by the name of Sir William Temple's scheme ;" but Dartmouth was only seven years old in 1679. Burnet, ii. 202. 78 THE LIFE OF and thence began the French plan of fomenting di visions in England. Cardinal Mazarin took up the plan of his predecessor ; but Cromwell also was prepared, at the time of his death, to take part against France, whereupon Mazarin made the match between Louis and Maria Theresa, and the Pyrenean Treaty with Spain. Louis XIV. took up the plan of the Cardinal, and began by purchasing Dunkirk : he augmented his navy, and sided against England in the first Dutch war; he then invaded Flanders, seizing Douay, Lisle, and Tournay on the one side, and Charleroyand Aeth on the other. These events pro duced the Peace of Breda, and the Triple Alliance, and ultimately the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, where by the Spaniards chose the alternative which left the frontiers of Flanders in the French hands. Louis then, " by corruption of our ministers and the French practices upon the disposition of our court," engaged us jointly with France, in I672, in the second Dutch war : this brought forth the Emperor and Spain ; after which, the discontents of the English parliament occasioned the Peace of "West minster in 167^, and the King's mediation of a general peace, which was effected at Nimeguen in I678 ; " whereby a portion was left to the Spanish Netherlands on the Brabant side, by restitution of Aeth and Cherburg to satisfy the Dutch ; but all that remained on the side of Flanders after the Peace of Aix, as Cambray, Aix, St. Omer, with many others taken by France in this last war, were left in their possession, besides great pretences by SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 79 dependencies held in Flanders and Alsace ; so as Flanders was left at their mercy, whenever we or Holland should abandon its defence." France afterwards procured the succession of Prince William of Furstenberg, who was devoted to their interests, to the electorate of Cologne : she had hopes also of Liege. " France will thus sur round the frontiers of Brabant, and cut off all com merce or means of defence between them and Luxemburg. One campaign will then suffice for the reduction of the rest of Flanders, and Hol land will become, at best, a maritime province of France. "It is easy to conjecture in what condition England will then be, but hard to conjecture how it can be prevented, but by a vigorous conjunction of counsels and interests among all the late allies, and a firm union between the court and the nation at home. " Yet, in fact, the nation is divided into two strong factions, with the greatest heats and animosities ; and the King involved in such necessities as, if he could not obtain supplies from parliament, would throw him upon France, which would end in such measures with that crown as would leave them at liberty to pursue their great designs " Upon the survey of all these circumstances, con junctures, and dispositions, at home and abroad, I concluded in cold blood that I could be of no further use or service to the King my master and my country, whose true interests, I always thought, were the same, and would be both in danger when 80 THE LIFE OF they came to be divided, and for that reason had ever endeavoured the uniting them ; and had compassed it, if the passions of some few men had not lain fatally in the way, so as to raise difficulties that I saw plainly were never to be surmounted ; therefore, upon the whole, I took that firm reso lution in the end of the year 1680, in the interval between the Westminister and Oxford parliaments, never to charge myself more with any public em ployments ; but retiring wholly to a private life, in that posture take my fortune wtih my country, whatever it should prove ; which, as no man can judge, in the variety of accidents that attend human affairs, and the chances of every day, to which the greatest lives as well as actions are sub ject, so I shall not trouble myself so much as to conjecture : fata viam invenient. "Besides all these public circumstances, Iconsi- dered myself in my own humour, temper, and dispo sitions, which a man may disguise to others, though very hardly, but cannot to himself. I had learned, by being long in courts and public affairs, that I was fit to live no longer in either. I found the arts of a court were contrary to the frankness and open ness qf my nature, and the constraints of public business too great for the liberty of my humour and my life. The common and proper ends of both are the advancement of men's fortunes ; and that I never minded, having as much as I needed, and, what is more, as I desired. The talent of gaining riches I ever despised, as observing it to belong to the most despisable men in other kinds ; and I SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 81 had the occasions of -it so often in my way, if I would have made use of them, that I grew to dis dain them, as a man does meat that he has always before him ; therefore, I never could go to service for nothing but wages, nor endure to be fettered in business when I thought it was to no purpose. I know very well the arts of a court are to talk the present language, to serve the present turn, and to follow the present humour of the prince, whatever it is ; of all these I found myself so incapable, that I could not talk a language I did not mean, nor serve a turn I did not like, nor follow any man's humour wholly against my own. Besides I have had, in twenty years' experience, enough ofthe un certainty of princes — the caprices of fortune — the corruption of ministers — the violence of factions — the unsteadiness of counsels, and the infidelity of friends ; nor do I think the rest of my life enough to make any new experiments. " For the ease of my own life, if I know myself, it will be infinitely more in the retired than it has been in the busy scene : for no good man can, with any satisfaction, take part in the divisions of his country that knows and considers as I do what they have cost Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Florence, Germany, France, and England : nor can the wisest man forsee how ours will end, or what they are like to cost the rest of Christendom as well as ourselves. I never had but two aims in public affairs : one, to see the King great, as he may be, by the hearts of his people, without which I know not how he can be great by the disposi- VOL. II. G 82 THE LIFE OF tions of this kingdom ; the other, in case our factions must last, yet to see a revenue established for the constant maintaining a fleet of fifty men of war, at sea or in harbour, and the seamen in con stant pay ; which would be at least our safety from abroad, and make the crown still considered in any foreign alliances, whether the King and his parliaments should agree or not in undertaking any great or national war. And such an establish ment I was in hopes the last parliament at West minister might have agreed in with the King, by adding so much of a new fund to 30,000/. a year out ofthe present customs. But these have both failed, and I am content to have failed with them. " And so I take leave of all those airy visions which have so long busied my head about mend ing the world, and at the same time of all those shining toys or follies that employ the thoughts of busy men, and shall turn mine wholly to mend myself; and, as far as consists with a private con dition, still pursue that old and excellent counsel of Pythagoras — that we are, with all the cares and en deavours of our lives, to avoid diseases in the body, perturbations in the mind, luxury in diet, factions in the house, and seditions in the state." SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 83 CHAPTER XXVII. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. — TEMPLE'S AMBASSADORIAL TABLE. DIPLOMATIC ETIQUETTE. — TEMPLE AND SIR JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. DANBY. LETTER PROM SIR JOHN TEMPLE THE PLOT. — DIPLOMATIC PRESENTS. — LETTERS TO LORD ESSEX. — MILTON. 1674-1679. In reference to the frequent complaints which Sir William Temple was accustomed to make on the subject of his diplomatic emoluments, it may be observed that, if the ambassador's historian be correct, his allowances during his second embassy to the Hague enabled him to maintain his dignity, and to gratify the palates of his company. " He had 100/. sterling per week, besides a very rich buffet of plate, with the King of Great Britain's arms upon it ; so that there was not any other am bassador's table where so much was to be seen, nor that was covered with such large dishes, and such fine contrivances for fruit and for sweetmeats." * The same writer says, that " Temple had been commanded to yield at home the place of honour to the Pensionary of Holland;" and adds, "Sir William Temple had at this time published his remarks on the state of the United Provinces : so that it is to be wondered at that he could suffer his instructions * Wicquefort, book i. ch. 23. p. 207. G 2 84 THE LIFE OF to be clogged with an article which might have been the cause of infinite disorders."* The con nection between this publication and the compli ment paid to the Pensionary is not obvious. The meaning probably is, that Temple must have known that the republican magistrates and ministers of Holland did not arrogate to themselves personally the honours due to princes ; but we have doubts whether the order was really issued. t We have already spoken of the ill feeling towards Temple, betrayed by Mr. Williamson, when Under Secretary of State.}" Now that he was at the head ofthe office, and the ambassador's official superior, this feeling soon began to appear in the corre spondence. After making some complaints, which we must admit to be reasonable, of the Pensionary's delay in executing the treaty of I674 in regard to Surinam, with a hint that he might have been urged to delegate that duty — " It is my duty," Williamson adds, " to be a little plain and express in this matter, because I foresee it is in great danger to miscarry; and it must fall amongst us if * B. i. ch. 22. p. 201. f Among diplomatic matters it may be mentioned that the Danish ambassador at Nimeguen insisted upon the use of the Latin tongue, in the full powers mutually passing between him and the French ; and pro posed that each should put them in his own language. The French stood stoutly upon precedents, and ultimately prevailed ; but the Dane gave a curious reason for his claim. " His master had more right to do it than any former king, being now successive in that crown, which was before elective, and being more absolute in his dominions than any king of Christendom, for there was nownothing in Denmark, but la volonte du roi." II. 400. The claim was very reasonable, though urged upon bad grounds. Mr. Canning established for England the right of using her own language. X See Vol. I. p. 358. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 85 it do fall." * Temple defended himself in a letter, which a secretary has correctly docketed " in dis pleasure," and which evinces the same irritability which appeared in his earlier communications with secretaries of state. Arlington, he said, had been satisfied with the Pensionary's excuses : — " Though perhaps, with out these justifications, I might be allowed to under stand the forms of a scene I am upon ; or if I do not, I am sure I cannot be allowed to have the honour of serving his Majesty here or any where else in the character I bear. . . . For what you please to tell me, that- if this matter falls, it must fall amongst us, I will only say, that I am very ready at all times to answer for all parts that I have ever had in his Majesty's affairs, and particularly of this, and to bear the blame to the full for any thing I have ever done ill: though I never pretended re ward for any thing I have had the fortune to do well. I shall trouble you no further." t Of Temple's expressions of devoted attachment, we have perhaps had already too much ; those ad dressed to Danby were well deserved, and probably sincere. " I find by my wife's discourses, as well as by many other more material testimonies, how infinitely I am obliged to your lordship's favour in all that concerns me. The less I can pretend to deserve it, the more reason I have to acknowledge it ; and since your lordship's care of me alone * Dec. 8. 1674. Longe Papers, iii. f Dec. 25. Ib. G 3 86 THE LIFE OF preserves me from a certain ruin, to which a man in my condition would otherwise be exposed by these employments, I may say with perfect truth that I never received any where so much kindness, or ever owed any where so much service." * We have not during this period many of Temple's familiar letters. Having given many addressed to his father, we are glad to have one which his father addressed to him.t After some passages concerning some contem plated sales and purchases of property, he speaks of 5000/. " I shall freely leave it you, with her (his sister's) good liking to dispose of it as you please, without laying any restrictions upon you as to time or place ; only I shall desire you not to be too hasty in laying out either the whole or any part of it upon that which you call Temple Hallt, which I think is the most inconvenient purchase for you that you can fix upon : for first it is so ancient that it has quite lost the name, as well as the house, which is so ruinous as a great sum of money will not re pair ; and it is only now known by another denomi nation, which I have forgot. § Then the gentleman that bought it not long since, and paid twenty years' purchase for it, I believe, will not part with it but for advantage. But that which sticks most with me is that it is 100 miles from London, and that neither you nor your son will ever leave Sheen to live there; and * Nimeguen, Nov. 6. 1676. Danby, p. 249. T Dublin, March 10.1676. — Coddenham. It commences " Sonne." j See Vol. I. p. 1. 5 We cannot find any mention of it in the county histories. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 87 yet in honour you must be bound to bestow several thousands upon the house, or else you had a great deal better let it alone, and never bring it back into the family again, which is all I shall say to that particular ; and leave you farther to consider what inconveniences may fall out if you should have a mind to go on with that purchase, and not come to be able to compass it. I do not doubt but that you will take my advice in good part, and be ready to give me the same satisfaction which you did about preserving the memorials of the three * treaties of peace wherein you have been so great an instrument, and keep them by you in such order as that you may, when time and your leisure may permit, present them to the public view, and so leave them to posterity. I should be very glad to hear that you had any thoughts or endeavours to procure for yourself a settlement in England, in some good place according to your own mind. You have served his Majesty long enough abroad; and I am confident he is so well satisfied with you, as that he will be ready to take you into his service nearer his own person at home as soon as an oppor tunity shall be offered, and your friends at court lay hold of the occasion. I do heartily wish an end of your employment, so you were otherwise provided for. I much apprehend things may fall out so ill, as that you will not be able to get your entertainments as hitherto you have constantly done, and so you may come to be left in a great arrear, * Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668, and Westminster, 1674. — Is Nimeguen intended for the third, by anticipation ? G 4 88 THE LIFE OF as I have known several ambassadors have been before you." . . . After mentioning his own age, and preparation for his approaching end — "Letme have your prayers to assist me in so great a work. In the mean time you have mine, which I daily send up to the great God of heaven for a blessing upon all your great undertakings, and that he will con tinue you a glorious instrument in his service, and for the good of his church and people ; and so I rest and shall always remain your most loving father. " J. Temple." We can assign no date to the following anecdote given by St. Simon. * "In a voyage of amuse ment which Temple made in France, the Duke of Chevreuse, who knew him by his works, saw him frequently. They met one morning in the gallery of Versailles, and began to talk about machinery and mechanics. M. de Chevreuse, who knew not how time passed when he argued, kept him so long that the clock struck two. Temple instantly in terrupted him, and taking him by the arm, ' / assure you, Sir,' he said, ' that of all sorts of machines, I know none so admirable, at this time of day, as a jack, and I shall go as fast as I can to try its effect.' Whereupon he turned his back upon Chevreuse, and left him in astonishment that he could possibly think of dinner." We have seen t that Temple kept himself free from the difficult and interminable controversy * Oeuvres, iv. 67. -J- p, 48. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 89 about the Popish Plot. While at the Hague, he sought information respecting it from Hyde ; of whose unkindly feeling towards him he appears to have been ignorant, or to have met it in a spirit of more than usual conciliation. " I asked you a question in the postscript to my last *, which I doubt you do not care for answer ing ; and to make you amends will ask you another, which is, what in general you think of the plot, — not what the town talks, or court, or one side or the other in it, but what, upon the whole, you think of it at bottom, — at least, whether any thing or nothing, little or much, or a thing likely to be improved or lessened by personal circumstances or dispositions ? By Mr. Secretary's letters I am as well informed of it, and know as much what to think, as the man in the moon. You will excuse my recourse to you upon such occasions, and put all upon the confidence in which we parted, and are, I doubt not, like to meet whenever that will be." t The absence of Hyde's letter, which produced the following rather mysterious observations, is much to be regretted : — " I am to acknowledge your kindness to me in two of your letters of the 18th and 28th past since my last, and the very useful lights you give me in your last in a matter which, whatever it proves, will not in my opinion * "For God's sake say one word to me what you think (for I ask not what any body else says) of the Duke of Buckingham's return tO' court, and so much countenance, if not favour, upon his late return from France, which people here are mighty apt to reflect upon, and think some mystery in it." Oct. 9. 1678. f Clar. Corr. i. 27. 90 THE LIFE OF fail of having some great consequences; but whether good or bad, God of heaven knows. If the thing be true, and the proofs beyond doubt, it might pos sibly have one great effect, but yet I doubt too great for one man to bring about ; and yet I should be apt to think somebody would take the occasion of attempting it. Do you remember three books I recommended to you for one of your friends to read, and which I thought made it plain that matter would not bear the weight that was laid upon it?" * The biographer of Sir Leoline Jenkins t takes credit, on his account, and at the expense of Sir "William Temple, for his refusal of the presents offered to him by the King of France, and by other princes, at the conclusion of the Treaty of Nime guen ; and for his return ofthe plate delivered to him on the occasion of his embassy. Temple, it would appear, availed himself of all these advantages. We have seen that these presents, whicli are ac cording to diplomatic usage only lately abandoned X, were always contemplated by Temple as a part of his emoluments, without which he could not sustain the necessary expenses of his embassy ; and we have seen that he was distinguished for doing well the honours of his high station. Jenkins held * Nov. 1 1. p. 30. There are many more of Temple's letters in Singer's book, but they relate generally to the details of the negotiation, of which we have already enough. In one of Hyde's letters, Jan. 18. 1677, he says, " I went to see the Lord Ambassador, where the Prince came quickly after. I see the Prince is no stranger there, for he was enter tained with one dish at a time, and the business was dull enough. The company was my Lady Giffard, M. Odyke, M. Bentham, the Colonel of the Guards, and favourite." I. 629. f Life, i. liv. X See Vol. I. p. 356. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 91 other high offices, and was thereby placed in better circumstances ; and as his habits were more retired, his expenses were probably less. We cannot ad mit that any blame justly is attached to Temple, for availing himself of customary advantages, pub licly avowed, and appropriately used.* Temple had kept up a constant correspondence with Lord Essex, while he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.t His letters, for the most part, relate to the state of foreign affairs, and contain nothing that we have not elsewhere. Some of them are interesting, as illustrating the relation between Temple and Essex, previously to the formation of the new council. " Sheen, Sept. 24. 1672. " From a man so buried in the country, and whose thoughts go very little out of his own do mestique, your Excellency can expect very little worth your knowledge ; and to a person posted as your lordship is, a man had need have something * Temple continued to complain of short and ill-paid allowances. When ordered to go to Nimeguen, in July, 1676, he writes : — " His Majesty shall be obeyed, nor shall I follow so good an example as others set me, who I know are wiser than I, and succeed better. But I have never yet made difficulties in what the King has commanded me, and 1 will not do it now, how hard soever it go with me; and I never remember, since I first entered his Majesty's service, to have been put to so great straits in point of money as I am upon this removal, for it is not only that / am refused equipage, which one of my colleagues has, and money for my journey which the other has, but it happens at a time when I am out of purse all the extraordinaries of last year I most humbly beg his Majesty will at this pinch speak one word to the Lord Treasurer to despatch the payments that are due to me, or else I shall have neither heart nor head left for any thing." To Williamson, July 7. 1678. — Danby stood his friend, and he received what was due. f He had succeeded Lord Berkeley on August 5. 1672. Beatson, iii. 302. 92 THE LIFE OF to bear him out, which is the best, because the true account, of my not writing since you left England ; and indeed I think I should hardly have done it now, but only to come in for my share of those applauses that I hear are so generally given your lordship from all hands since your arrival there, but from none more than those persons upon your scene with whom my correspondence lies. " Mr. Saville's * despatch into France is no news to your lordship, and has not, I suppose, surprised you more than it has my Lady Northumberland and my Lord Sunderland ; but a man of so much merit could not be denied what he had a mind to. I hope these journeys of health, either sought or pretended by so many into France, will be turned into Ireland by the credit I hear my Lady and my Lady Betty have done that air, both in their health and looks as well as humour. Nothing but such a turn would make me consent to be sick, that I might seek my cure in that which would bring me near your lordship, and thereby give me the occa sion of assuring you, that nobody is with more passion and truth than I am yours." The following refers to the accusation against Arlington in the House of Commons : — " London, January 21. 1674. f . ..." I thought the best service I could do your Excellency was to give you no trouble ; nor should * We do not know to whom or what this alludes. ¦f- Some of these letters might have been more properly placed else where j but they were only obtained while this sheet was at press. They were in the collection of MSS. belonging to the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 93 I do it now, but to tell you how far two of your friends have been concerned in the affairs of this day, which I think my Lord Arlington ought to esteem the happiest of his life. After five days' debate, he at length passed a negative * upon that question wherein the affirmative went so deep with the two Dukes t ; and the other question for his impeachment was the thing wholly pursued and carried for him by his friends as that which must fall, or, if it proceeded, must end with honour to him. I will assure your Lordship I think no man in the house has been of so much weight in this matter as your brother X, or carried himself more like a gentleman and a friend, and yet like a prudent and worthy man, and one that stands upon the true grounds of a commoner of England, both in his respect of the King and his country ; nor is any man in the house better heard, nor perhaps better deserves it. I am still of opinion your lord ship cannot do better than leave him to himself in the actions qf this scene §, though perhaps some of your friends will invite you to something else They say that as one of your friends has reason to be very well pleased to-night, so many of them are but very little so ; among whom we have * Pari. Hist. iv. 649 — 657. The motion for an address to remove him was negatived, 166 to 127. f Buckingham and Lauderdale. X Sir Henry Capel. The Parliamentary History takes no notice of this gentleman in any of the debates upon these attacks upon the Mi nisters. § Capel was in opposition to the Government, under which his elder brother was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Temple apparently advises against the use of Lord Essex's influence to restrain him. 94 THE LIFE OF Shaftesbury, Lord Orrery *, Lord Halifax, Lord Ranelagh t, Sir William Coventry, and the Speaker X, who all made weight in this day's affair." " London, March 10. 1674. . . . . " They say now that Buckingham § will certainly go into the country, and Lauderdale will not come to town. 'Tis certain theLord Treasurer's a very great man, in conjunction with the Duke and Lady Shrewsbury \\ . . . . The Duke is fixed, and has great power. The Keeper does not seem to grow." % The following is somewhat remarkable : — " Sheen, June 29. 1674. .... "I think of all persons I need make you the least professions, because your lordship knows very well upon what titles you are long since possessed of my service and esteem, and how particular a man I have ever been in the choice qf those persons * Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, and afterwards Earl of Orrery, fifth son of Richard, the great Earl of Cork. We know nothing of the part which this accomplished person took in these transactions ; but he had had a quarrel with the Duke of Ormond, and had been deprived of the presidency of Munster. Biog. Brit. ii. 895. Collins, vii. 172. I Richard Jones, first Earl of Ranelagh. Edward Seymour. It had been proposed in the preceding session that he should be put out of the chair, because he was a gamester, and because he was a Privy Counsellor. Pari. Hist. iv. 589. § All these names in italics are in cipher, explained on the MS. || We are assured that this letter is correctly deciphered. We were not aware that the lightsome Countess had any particular connection with Danby. IT Temple had not at this time become intimate with Danby. In March, he had renewed his acquaintance, but had not met him often, or in confidence. See his letter to his father, March 27. 1674. IV. 19. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 95 to whom I profess them. How I do it to your lordship on all occasions were better told you by any other man ; 'tis enough for me to say how con fident I am you will ever keep them by the same qualities they were at first acquired, and that how often or seldom we may meet in the course of our lives, yet whenever we do we shall be the same we parted Because I see in a letter of his lady's to my sister what opinion she has received from the talk which has been here of Lauderdale * succeeding Essex, and suddenly. I shall tell your lordship that I cannot believe we are at all ripe for such revolutions, though some perhaps may have had it in design, as of a piece with more of that kind ; there are others would perhaps be glad to see Essex provoked to do some peevish thing to anger the King, which might be made use of to remove him, and clap Orrery in ; but this I have answered to one of my friends will not be done, and without it I do not see how either of the others can. Upon many discourses that concern your lordship here, I re solved to take occasion to know the King's thoughts of you in general before I sent what I thought might be for your satisfaction (and the King's sincere) to know at a time when I find you are entertained from other hands with discourses very different. The last time I saw the King, upon his saying that when he went to look for a person that was both a wise and an honest man, he did not know where to find him, I took occasion to * We have not met with any other hint of Lauderdale's being de signed for Ireland. 96 THE LIFE OF say I was sure he had one in his service that was both, and that deserved to be valued the more for these qualities that were so seldom met with, and named my Lord of Essex. The King said he was as worthy a man as any he knew, and served him as well as any man in his service. I said I was sure he was not only fit and able to join his Majesty there, but here too, whenever there was occasion. The King said he was of my mind, and should be very glad to have him here, but he did not know how to spare him in Ireland. I tell your lordship thus much of the very words that passed. By this and by the rest, I am confident you are what you desire to be in his Majesty's esteem ; and that is the point I think you had best trust to, and to the preserving it by the same means you have gained it. For the rest, to make court as much and as personally as one can to the King, to live fairly with all the ministers in the changes of a court, but to stand upon one's own legs and the merits qf serving well ; and when all these will not carry one, to alight and be quiet at home. The man ofthe court and ambition can talk of other ways, but none into which I believe your lordship's tem per and thoughts can run ; and, besides, the servi tude in them is not to be endured by a man who has bread enough at home." The readers of Temple's letters to his friends or patrons may perhaps smile at one paragraph of the foregoing letter, nor will the smile be altogether one of pleasure to those who have admired the SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 97 manliness of Temple's character. The concluding passage, however, may be more satisfactory. It represents correctly the feelings of the man, who avowedly carried his complaisance to the King and ministers as far as he possibly could, without sacri ficing his independence. Some years previous to the establishment ofthe new council, when Temple unwillingly consented to act secretly and confidentially with Essex, he had certainly been his personal friend and political ad mirer. But Essex, who in 1679 had ceased for two years to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland *, was very intimate with Lord Russell ; and it is certain that, liberal as Temple was in his notions, he dif fered widely from that Whig nobleman as to the means of ensuring good government. While the one sentiment induced him to approve of Essex's nomination to the council, the other reluctantly and properly disinclined him to act with him in the private committee. ': Hague, Jan. 22. 1675. . ..." It will be known in England upon the return of the Lords t who parted last week from hence, that the effect of their business here has not proved at all answerable to the noise it made." After mentioning that the Marquis of Monceras, a Spaniard of very high rank, had been named as * He had been succeeded on August 24. 1677, by the Duke of Or mond. t See Vol. I. p. 441. VOL. II. H 98 THE LIFE OF a plenipotentiary to the congress at Nimeguen, and that England ought to have a man of comprehend ing qualities : — " Hague, Sept. 3. 1675. .... "I doubt whether my Lord of Berkeley will be this sort of person in all points, or whether he will think of this northern journey, after having made one to so much a better scene and climate as he is now going to : and being myself a great deal concerned in what kind of persons I am joined to, both for what concerns his Majesty's honour and service as well as my own ease, I am wishing to myself that my Lord Marquis of "Wor cester * might think, and be thought of for the first person of this embassy I thought this fit to say to your lordship, and leave you to use it as you please, — if you think fit, first to my Lord Mar quis ; and if you both agree with me in it, then to my Lord Treasurer, with whom I suppose you may enter upon greater matters than this, and with more freedom than this will need, considering the terms I left you upon." While Temple was absent from the Hague, his secretary of embassy, Mr. Meredith, received from Secretary "Williamson a letter, of which, although Temple had no concern in it, we subjoin an extract, as illustrative ofthe life of a more eminent person : — " Jan. 19. 1676-7. " His Majesty is informed of a pernicious book, of that late villain Milton, now about to be printed * See Vol. I. p. 39. ante. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 99 at Leyden. I am commanded to signify to you, that you immediately apply yourself to find out, by the best means you may, if there be any such, who is the printer, and by what orders he is set on work. There is one Skinner, a young scholar of Cambridge, that some time since did own to have had such a thing in his intention ; but being made sensible, as he seemed to be, of the danger he ran into in having a hand in any such thing, he pro mised for ever to lay aside the thoughts of it, and even to give up his copy. I know not whether this may be the same thing, and whether it came from his hand, or some other ; but you are to use what means possibly you can to find out what there is of it true, to the end timely care may be taken for preventing the thing, by seizing the impression, or otherwise." * * The further pursuit of the subject of this letter belongs to the biographers of Milton. The Skinner mentioned here is not Cyriack Skinner, of whom there is an account in Bishop C. R. Sumner's pre face to his translation of Milton's Christian Doctrine ; because Cyriack was, in 1676, more than forty years old, and could not be called " a young scholar of Cambridge." But possibly that religious treatise was the harmless work of which the too busy ministers of Charles II. were afraid. The bishop's book contains a letter from a Mr. Perwick, at Paris, to the Secretary of State's Office, dated March 15. 1677; by which it appears that Skinner was followed to the French capital, and the desired communication made to him there, probably with effect, as the manuscript found its way to the State-Paper Office. We are at a loss to imagine why the late Mr. Lemon concluded from the expression superior of his college, that Skinner must necessarily be a monk. The person introduced was probably the head of his college in Cambridge, whose authority the English government had invoked, and who had in vain recalled Skinner from his travels. It may be ob served that Milton's State Letters were printed at Leyden, in 1676. But for the date we should think that this was the publication appre hended ; and even now we think it possible that it was of these letters that Skinner left the MS. in Holland, and that they were printed in his absence. H 2 100 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXVIII. TEMPLE'S WORKS FIRST PART OF MISCELLANEA. — ESSAY ON THE CURE OF GOUT. TEMPLE'S OWN MEMOIRS, IN THREE PARTS. 1677—1683. During the Session of 1679. some time before Temple's retirement, he heard of an intention en tertained in the House of Commons of impeaching him, " as one that had been an instrument of making the general peace." * To frame an accu sation out of this fact would have puzzled the most factious of demagogues, and the most inge nious of lawyers, and it is therefore not surprising that we hear no more of this intention, which was probably confined to Ralph Montagu, the disap pointed enemy of Sir William Temple. He cir culated a story that Temple, being a man of arbitrary principles, was the author of several anonymous publications, against the constitution qf parliament, and in favour of popery ! And although nothing came of the accusation, yet Lord Sunder land and Henry Sidney f advised him to publish the several pieces of which he really was the author, and which had already obtained some circulation * 11.518. t See Vol. I. p. 423. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 101 in manuscript. These, his friends thought, would prove that he was not a man of the dangerous principles supposed ; and he accordingly collected them, under the title of Miscellanea. * Lord Halifax, however, had misgivings as to his treatise upon government ; and warned him against carrying too far the principle of paternal dominion, which he had developed in his treatise, " for fear of de stroying the rights of the people." We have shown that Temple's deduction of government from the fathers of families was merely historical, and that the most fastidious Whig of the old school could not reasonably object to his principles; but it was necessary to be upon his guard, " so tender was every body of these points at that time." All the pieces which were now published have been already noticed t, except An Essay upon the Cure of the Gout by Moxa X, addressed in June, 1677_ to M. de Zulichem. This piece is a good specimen of the pleasing style of the author, and those whom the subject does not deter from reading it will find in it much that is agreeable. Temple tells us that, in his day, the gout was an increasing disorder, so as to have visited almost every governor, minister, and ambassador. And he justly considers this as a public evil, inasmuch as the greatest public affairs may be affected by the * Miscellanea : the first Part, containing Survey of the Constitution of the Empire, &c. ; on Government ; on the Trade of Ireland ; to the Duke of Ormond, 1673 ; to Lady Essex ; on the Cure of the Gout.'— In the octavo edition of 1814 (which we use) these pieces are dispersed. t In Chapter XVI. Vol. I. p. 380. X III. 246. H 3 102 THE LIFE OF state of health of a man who conducts them. He had known a fleet disabled for two months, because the admiral was neither well enough to exercise, nor ill enough to leave the command ; the fate of a campaign determined by the infirmities of the general, inducing an excess of caution. The councils of a great country often fluctuate with the health of its leaders, and " the pulse of a govern ment beats high or low with that ofthe governor." * "With the view of obviating these evils, elderly men should be excluded from public employments. Out of twenty-one ambassadors at Nimeguen, he observes, there were but three above fifty years old : a fact which he claims as showing that his opinion is entertained by the princes of the earth. But, surely, the negotiation could scarcely have travelled more languidly, if Europe had been re presented by a score of gouty old men ; and it appears that Count Kinski, who beat the sober Jenkins in a race for the chair of honour f, was himself a sufferer from the gout. Sir William Temple, although he had confidently prescribed for others X, was free from this trouble some disease until the year 1676, when he was in the forty-seventh year of his age. The pain seized him while he was enjoying the sociable meal of supper ; and after trying, so long as he could, to pass it over for a strain happening in the youthful game of tennis, he was obliged to plead guilty * P. 250. Voltaire, if we recollect truly, somewhere says that the destinies of Europe may be changed by a grain of calomel. f See Vol. 1. p. 487. X See Vol. I. p. 377. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 103 of the disease, which he himself deems the con sequence of age and intemperance. All his friends came to see him ; but none but he felt the pain, and none therefore but he was in ill humour. In deed, some of these kind friends made a jest of him ; some treated him with a gentle reproof for his imprudence ; others, and these probably were the most annoying, were " serious in their mirth." They could not help laughing a little at his wry faces, but they told him that the gout was the hap piest of all possible accidents. And the Spaniards asked him albricias *, for telling him the good news that he certainly had a real, undoubted, unmitigated gout. At last came Monsieur Zulichem, a man who abhorred the commonplaces with which the rest had entertained the suffering ambassador ; and as this remarkable Dutchman never went into com pany without saying something that was new, so now, instead of laughing at Temple, or congratu lating him, he took the eccentric course of sug gesting a remedy. This was moxa, an Indian moss, of which a small quantity, made to assume the pyramidal form, in which Temple delighted +, having a base as broad as two-pence, was to be placed upon the part affected. It was then to be ignited by a per fumed match, made also in the Indies, when it would burn itself out by degrees, and at last come * " A reward or gratuity to one that brings good news." — Stevens. t See Vol. I. p. 403. H 4 104 THE LIFE OF down to the skin, and then away would go the pain of the gout. All this was set forth in an ingenious little book, composed for the express purpose in Dutch by a representative of that nation in Batavia, to whom a Javanese female had imparted the secret, and cured his gout. And much indeed is it to be la mented that having once all Java in her posses sion, England should have abandoned the colony before her enterprising governor had secured all the moxa in the island, as a present to his coun trymen, infinitely more valuable than the splendid but inefficacious Rafflesia. Temple considered well, before he tried this new remedy ; he called to mind all the cases in which burning is used as a remedy in Africa and Ame rica, as well as in Asia and in Europe. He made his family physician try the effect upon his hand (though innocent of gout), and he finally con structed and fired the pile upon his own offending member. Once, twice, and thrice, he made his little bonfire ; and he generated a pain for a time more excruciating than that which he had felt, and he created a sore which lasted him six weeks, but he soon began to walk, and he finally beat his gout. The fame of the cure spread abroad ; M. Serin- champs, the minister from Lorraine, burnt his gout out of his foot, and was unreasonably dissatisfied that it re-appeared in his elbow. Moxa then arro gated to itself the character of universal medicine ; and cured Temple's housemaid of a toothache. Temple himself repeated the experiment with SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 105 admirable success. Still he did not trust altogether to it ; but took care to drink no wine, and eat little meat, living chiefly upon milk, and taking regular exercise. Whether the moxa or its accompani ments effected the cure, is a question for physicians. Something useful may be gathered from the re marks which Temple makes, after mentioning a variety of plans for curing the gout. " All these things put together, with what a great physician writes of cures by whipping with rods, and another with holly, and by other cruelties of cutting and burning, made me certainly conclude that the gout was a companion that ought to be treated as an enemy, and by no means as a friend ; and that grew troublesome chiefiy by good usage ; and this was confirmed to me by considering that it haunted usually the easy and the rich, the nice and the lazy, who grow to endure much, because they can endure little : that make much of it as soon as it comes, and yet leave not making much of them selves too : that take care to carry it presently to bed, and keep it safe and warm, and indeed lay up the gout for two or three months, while they give out that the gout lays up them. On the other hand, it hardly approaches the rough and the poor, such as labour for meat, and eat only for hunger ; that drink water, either pure, or but discoloured with malt ; that know no use of wine, but for a cordial, as it is, and perhaps was only intended : or if such men happen by their native constitutions to fall into the gout, either they mind it not at all, having no leisure to be sick, or they use, it like a 106 THE LIFE OF dog ; they walk on, or they toil and work as they did before ; they keep it wet and cold ; or if they are laid up, they are perhaps forced by that to fast more than before ; and if it lasts they grow impatient, and fall to beat it, or whip it, or cut it, or burn it, and all this while perhaps never know the very name of the gout." This curious essay, in the midst of some absurd doctrines too doubtfully rejected, contains much upon temperance which would be fit to be extracted by the Temperance Society, if that aristocratical body had not exempted Burgundy and Champagne from their list of proscribed liquors. Whether, notwithstanding the habitual abstinence which we have his own authority and his sister's for ascribing to him, Temple's diplomatic habits associated him too closely with French wines, or whether the gout be a disorder which defies either prevention or cure, we know not ; but we know that after the publica tion of this essay Temple's gout returned, and we fear that it retained the mastery during his life. It is said to have been in the year 1679 * that the little volume of " Poems by Sir "W. Temple t " was privately printed. Neither these, nor the poet ical pieces which have long been published, have * Boyer, p. 408. \ See Vol. I. p. 22. The pieces contained in this volume will be found (with others) in Temple's works, iii. 549., with the exception of five : 1. Virgil's " O fortunati," noticed in Vol. I. p. 22. 2. The first of Horace's Sermons, being a translation, or rather imitation, of his way of writing ; upon the desire of my Lady Temple, and my Lady Giffard. 3. Upon Mrs. Philipps's death, made at the desire of my Lady Temple. 4. Upon my Lady Giffard's Loory. 5. Arista_us, drawn from the latter part ofthe fourth book of Virgil's Georgics. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 107 considerable merit. The best that can be said of them is, that if a fantastic conceit * sometimes be trays the age in which they were composed, it is never by unpardonable grossness that you trace them to the reign of Charles II. "We cordially agree with the plain and honest chronicler of Temple's life t, that the first place among his poetical writings is due to the verses written " Upon the Approach of the Shore at Har wich, in January, 1668 ; begun under the Mast, at the Desire of my Lady Giffard." X Some extracts from this piece are all that we shall give of Temple's poetry. Those who partake of his attachment to our father-land will be pleased with the sentiments, though they should perceive none of the higher flights of a poetical imagin ation : — " Welcome, the fairest and the happiest earth, Seat of my hopes and pleasures, as my birth ! Mother of well-born souls and fearless hearts, In arms renowned, and flourishing in arts ; The island of good nature and good cheer, That elsewhere only pass, inhabit here ; Region of valour, and of beauty too, Which shows the brave are only fit to woo : No child thou hast, ever approached thy shore, That loved thee better, or esteemed thee more. js * * * Spited and vexed that winds, and tides, and sands Should all conspire to cross such great commands * Yet there are not many of these ; some few in the verses upon Loory (a bird of paradise). We hold it quite pardonable, in speaking of Proteus in the story of Aristfeus (p. 67.), thus to amplify and ap propriate Virgil's In sese redit : — " Come to himself, — he is himself no more." t Boyer. J III. 553., and private vol. p. 38. 108 THE LIFE OF As haste me home, with an account that brings The doom of kingdoms to the best of kings *; Yet I respire at thy reviving sight, Welcome as health, and cheerful as the light. # # * # Thy cliffs so stately, and so green thy hills — This with respect, with hope the other fills All that approach thee, who believe they find A spring for winter which they left behind. Thy sweet inclosures, and thy scattered farms, Show thy secureness from thy neighbours' harms. Their sheep in houses, and their men in towns, Sleep only safe; thine rove about their downs, And hills, and groves, and plains, and know no fear Of foes, or wolves, or cold throughout the year. Their vast and cruel woods seem only made To cover cruel deeds, and give a shade To savage beasts, who on the weaker prey, Or human savages more wild than they. Thy pleasant thickets and thy shady groves Only relieve the heats and cover loves, Sheltering no other thefts or cruelties But those of killing or beguiling eyes." But enough ; he who may deem these praises of England too partial, must ask himself what country of Europe, possessing in 1668, with a tolerable soil and climate, a hardy and handsome people, and freedom from brigands and wild beasts, existed without danger from an invading enemy, and had even so much of civil liberty as Englishmen then enjoyed. In April, 1683, Temple commenced writing his own Memoirs. We have seen that his father pressed him to preserve the records of his negotiations * This was at the time when he was passing between Holland and England on the business of the Triple Alliance. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 109 abroad ; and his son repeatedly urged him to leave behind him some memorials of his political trans actions. His concern in public affairs extended from 1665 to 1680; during which period, as he him self says *, " The confidence of the King my mas ter, and of his chief ministers, as well as that of others abroad, gave me the advantage to discern and observe the true springs and motives of both, which were often mistaken in court and parliament, and thereby fastened many suspicions, confidences, applauses, reproaches, upon persons and at times where they were very undeserved." These Memoirs are very valuable, as explaining the impressions which Temple had, not long after the several events, of transactions in which he had a share, or which passed under his observation. And any historian of his time would write imper fectly, who should not carefully examine the Memoirs, and still more the Letters of Sir William Temple ; but he will not obtain much of secret history, or much elucidation of the motives of statesmen. The knowledge which Temple's con temporary ministers had of his openness did not induce them to be open with him ; nor did their opinion of his honesty cause them to confide acts or motives to him, which they knew he could not approve. Temple's work is very valuable, but it has not all the value which Temple ascribes to it. The Memoirs originally commenced with the year 1665 ; the first part extended to the author's * Address to his Son, prefixed to the second part of the Memoirs, ii. 246. 110 THE LIFE OF recall from his embassy at the Hague, in I67I, and included the Munster Treaty, the Triple Alliance, and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. This first part was, at some period of the author's life, designedly burned by him. Dean Swift * (of whose connexion with Sir William Temple we shall hear presently), ascribes the voluntary destruction of these Memoirs to the change of policy in Lord Arlington, and Temple's consequent estrangement from him. Temple speaks of this minister, in his second part, as having " made so great a figure in the former part of these Memoirs ;" and Swift conjectures, that as Arlington was deeply concerned in the Dutch war, the French alliance, and all the ruinous mea sures which followed, Temple thought it not fit to celebrate the more glorious part which he had taken in the Triple Alliance, and other commend able transactions. We can make no more probable conjecture ; but Swift's affords a very insufficient reason for Temple's destruction of the Memoirs, more espe cially as he did not intend that they should be pub lished in his lifetime, t There was no ground for withholding any part ofthe truth. From the terms in which Swift expresses his conjecture, it would seem that the suppression did not originate in a kindly feeling towards Arlington. If Swift is mis taken, or we have misunderstood him, and Temple was unwilling to publish the inconsistencies of his * Preface to the third part ofthe Memoirs, ii. 500. t " As I intend them for your use, so I desire no other may be made of them during my life." — Address to his Son, ii. 248. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. Ill early patron, the motive is more amiable ; but the offence against historical truth is great. We leave Swift's conjecture without admission or denial. The second part of Temple's Memoirs, embrac ing a period from I672 to I679, was prefaced by an address to his son. After stating that his public service extended over twenty years, from the age of thirty-two to the age of fifty-two — " the native love of my country, and its ancient legal * constitutions, would not suffer me to enter into any public affairs till the way was open for the King's happy restoration in 1 660." He refers to his retirement in 1680 : " All the rest of my age, before and since that period, I have taken no more notice of what passed upon the public scene, than an old man uses to do of what is acted on a theatre, where he gets as easy a seat as he can, entertains himself with what passes upon the stage, not caring who the actors are, or what the plot, nor whether he goes out before the play be done. . . . I am the gladder, and it is but just, that my public employments should contribute something to your entertainment, since they have done so little to your fortune, upon which I can make you no ex cuses : it was a thing so often in my power that it was never in my thoughts, which were turned always upon how much less I needed, rather than how much more. If yours have the same turn, you will be but too rich ; if the contrary, you will be ever poor." * This word was accidentally omitted in Vol. I. p. 24. The passage is repeated, because Temple laid much stress upon this word. 112 THE LIFE OF Having elsewhere * defended Temple against an insinuated charge of rapaciousness, for accepting the legitimate emoluments of his diplomatic posts, we must now express a doubt whether he is jus tified in taking the credit which he appears to assume for neglecting opportunities of enriching himself. We know not that he neglected any opportunities, but those of which he could not honestly avail himself: yet it is true that in reject ing the proffered liberality of the French King, he distinguished himself honourably from the most eminent politicians of his day. The title prefixed to these Memoirs, which described them, rather presumptuously, as relating what passed in Christendom from 1672 to 1679, was not authorized by Temple. The sequel was entitled, " Memoirs, the third Part, from the Peace concluded 1679 to the Time ofthe Author's Retirement from Public Business." This short notice was prefixed : — " Written for the satisfaction of my friends hereafter, upon the grounds of my retirement, and resolution never to meddle again in any public affairs, from this pre sent February, 1680-1." Neither part of the Memoirs was published by the writer. The circumstances of their publication will be noticed presently. P. 91. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 113 CHAPTER XXIX. TEMPLE LOSES HIS DAUGHTER HIS LIFE AT SHEEN. — MAR RIAGE OF HIS SON. RETIRES TO MOOR PARK. AUDIENCE OF KING JAMES. THE REVOLUTION. TEMPLE REFUSES OFFICE UNDER WILLIAM. 1680—1689. In the midst of the important transactions in which Temple was engaged as a Privy Councillor, " a cruel blow" happened in his family, by the loss of an only daughter, fourteen years old, of the small-pox ; " a child," says Lady Giffard, " he was infinitely fond of, and none ever deserved it more from a father." May we be pardoned for insert ing a letter * from this poor girl, certainly not writ ten for publication, and therefore the more fit for it? " Sir, — I deferred writing to you till I could tell you that I bad received all my fine things, which I have just now done ; but I thought never to have done giving you thanks for them. They have made me so very happy in my new clothes, and every body that comes does admire them above all things, but yet not so much as I think they deserve ; and now if papa was near I should think myself a per- * At Coddenham. VOL. II. I 114 THE LIFE OF feet pope, though I hope I should not be burned as there was one at Nell Gwyn's door, the 5th of November, who was set in a great chair, with a red nose half a yard long, with some hundreds of boys throwing squibs at it. Monsieur Gore and I agree mighty well, and he makes me believe I shall come to something at last ; that is, if he stays, which I don't doubt but he will, because all the fair ladies will petition for him. We are got rid of the workmen now, and our house is ready to enter tain you : come when you please, and you will meet with nobody more glad to see you than your most obedient and dutiful daughter, " D. Temple." " He left her," continues Lady Giffard, " with her mother and the rest of her friends, at the first apprehension of danger ; but his being engaged in this great affair ( the Privy Council scheme ) soon forced him to town, though most unwillingly, which his friends were not displeased with, in hope it might divert the trouble from seizing so much upon him, though in this and all other accidents ( for he was yet reserved for greater trials) his reason after some struggle was always the master ; and he was not so well able to teach and comfort his friends in all such accidents, without having the same power over himself. " With this " — we are still copying Lady Giffard's manuscript — " ended the train of good fortunes which, though he lost seven children before, almost all in their cradle, still made him pass for so fortunate a man ; and after which he SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 115 was often heard to say, how happy his life had been, if it had ended at fifty, which he was about this time ; though I am sure," she says, " his friends had been miserable, as well as so many others that he supported and relieved." Our information respecting Temple's life, after his retirement from the council, through the re mainder of the reign of Charles IL, and the short reign of James, is lamentably scanty. Until 1685 he lived entirely at Sheen, " without ever seeing the towrn or court." His gout ( notwithstanding the moxaj and other infirmities grew upon him, and " he had the privilege," we are told, " of not returning any visits that were made him from Lon don by persons of the best quality, who during these five years frequented his house and table." Never theless, he waited occasionally upon the two Kings at Richmond, and was received with marked atten tion, especially by James. In 1684, his son, John Temple, married a rich heiress in France, the daughter of Monsieur Du- plessis Rambouillet, a French Protestant gentle man.* Mr. Temple brought his wife to Sheen, and for about a year the two families lived together ; but as Sir William grew older, the increased resort of company, which was now more general, having hitherto consisted of his particular friends and * Charles II. expressed with his own hand his readiness to use his best offices with the King of France, to make the match as easy to young Temple as he could. Jan. 10. 1684. Coddenham. — Lady Giffard ob serves here, " His qualities and fortunes might make a story by itself, but impossible for me to tell." T 2 116 THE LIFE OF acquaintance, became too much for him, and Lady Temple disliked the place for its too great publicity. He therefore divided his estate, which (exclu sive of the Mastership of the Rolls) was never more than 15001. a-year, between his son and him self; left his son in possession of his house at Sheen, and retired, with his wife and sister, to a greater distance from London. It was now that he settled at Moor Park, in Surrey, a small place which he had recently purchased, and where he either built or improved the house. To this place he removed in November, 1686, taking "Windsor in his way, where he waited for the last time upon King James. " He begged his favour and protection to one that would always live a good subject, but, whatever happened, never enter again upon any public employment ; and de sired his Majesty never to give credit to whatever he might hear to the contrary. The King, who used to say that it was Sir William Temple's cha racter always to be believed, promised him what he desired, and made him some reproaches for not coming into his service." At Moor Park, Temple passed one year very quietly. He grew attached to the place, and found the air healthful ; the neighbourhood was at that time very thin of inhabitants, and he saw only those particular friends, who would come twenty or thirty. miles to see him. We lament, for several reasons, the want of any information as to the names of the friends with whom he now associated. Temple had, in Ireland, been a country gentle- SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 117 man ; at Sheen he had little of rural occupation beyond his garden : but he now betook himself again to the occupations of the country ; and he and his friends regarded this year, for what peculiar reason we know not, as the best of their lives. But in the midst of this quiet, in which he was willing to pass the rest of his life, there happened the surprising * Revolution of 1688. From Temple's intimacy with the Prince of Orange, it was natural to expect that he would know something of his design of coming over ; and some persons, who knew him very well, could not be con vinced that it was a secret to him ; ' ' and yet there is nothing surer," as we learn from Lady Giffard's distinct affirmation, as well as from known circum stances, " not only that he was not acquainted with the Prince's intention, but that he was one of the last men that believed it." Moor Park, lying in the way of both armies, be came unsafe; and Temple therefore rejoined his son at Sheen. John Temple had in vain attempted to obtain his father's permission to meet the Prince upon his landing. Of this refusal, says Lady Gif fard, " in telling his principles of never engaging in any thing illegal, or that seemed to divide the royal family, I have already given the best and truest reason." The abdication of King James, the happiest in cident in this happy revolution, apparently so far * In the print, happy revolution. We have restored Lady Giffard's word because it is her word, though we cordially admit the propriety of the other. I 3 118 THE LIFE OF removed Temple's scruples, as to allow of his wait ing upon the Prince, who was now settled at Windsor ; and he carried his son with him.* We know not at what period of the Revolution Temple first saw the Prince t ; but we learn that William, though still unsatisfied not to have met him sooner, now pressed him to enter into his service, as Secre- ^.tary of State, observing, that " it was in kindness to him that he had not been acquainted with his i design." William came to him two or three times I at Sheen ; and on the 14th of January, after he had been charged with the administration of the govern ment, but before he became king, he dined with Sir William Temple at his own house. These in terviews, however indicative of mutual regard, produced no change in Temple's resolution, although " it was forcibly represented to him by some of his friends, how much the Prince, who was his friend, his country, and his religion, must suffer from his obstinate refusal to engage in their defence ; which might give the world an ill opinion of this great undertaking, and make them mistrust some ill * Lady Giffard says, that this visit to Windsor was subsequent to the abdication ; she probably means the second and forced flight of the unhappy King. He had dismissed his army, and quitted London with the intention of leaving the kingdom, on the 1 1th of December ; but returned on the 16th, and did not finally quit the kingdom till the 23d, after the Dutch guards had occupied the palace, and he had received a message from William desiring him to withdraw. On the 25th and 26th, an irregular meeting of Lords, and one of former members of parliament, with some ofthe corporation of London, addressed the Prince to take the government upon him. But Parliament did not meet until the 22d of January, nor did the vote for giving the crown to William and Mary pass before the 13th of February. Lingard, xiv. 267. 277. 280.; 281. ; and Pari. Hist. v. 23, 24. 26. 108." -j- Clarendon's Diary, Gar. Corr. ii. 245. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 119 design at the bottom, which a man of his truth and honour did not care to be concerned in. And Temple himself, though he continued unshaken in his resolutions, and so firm in keeping the promises he had made King James as not to consent his son should engage in what he had given his word never to do himself, yet his heart was a great deal broken at the trouble and uneasiness the Prince and all his friends expressed at it ; and was the gladder to rec tum to his retirement at Moor Park, about the end of the year 1689, to be out of the way of any more solicitation of this kind." This contemporary statement of Lady Giffard * furnishes all that we know of Temple's opinion of the Revolution. We have no letters written after this period, nor do his subsequent writings contain observations upon this or any other political topic. A conjecture might be made as to Temple's opi nions, if we knew who were now his associates and friends. But of those with whom his former his tory has made us familiar, Essex, Arlington, and Ormond were dead. It is not probable that he had kept up an intimacy with Halifax, of whose beha viour he complained when they were both in the Privy Council.t This chief of the Trimmers had been President of the Council during the first part of James's reign X, but had been removed, as un willing to forward the projects of the King ; and had afterwards united against the Court with Not- * Written in 1690. t See P- 55- X Beatson, i. 350. See Mackintosh, p. 8. Hallam, iii. 68. 96. 14-0. i 4 120 THE LIFE OF tingham *, the head of the Tories : they had both been early in the overtures to the Prince ; of which Temple was certainly ignorant. Halifax was very prominent in the Whig and predominant division ofthe Revolutionists, and was probably among the friends who complained of Temple's inactivity. Sunderland had succeeded Halifax in the ministry of James, and had remained with that King (whose religion he pretended to adopt) almost to the last moment. If we may believe Swift t, Temple con tinued to his death in the most intimate friendship with Sunderland, but he could not possibly be in fluenced by so changeable a statesman. X It is certain that there was no friendship between Rochester § and Temple. Henry Sidney || appears to have been, more than any other of his contemporaries who have been mentioned, the private friend of Temple (as indeed were all the Sidneys) ; he was doubtless among those whom Temple saw at Sheen during the in terregnum. But Danby was the most considerable actor in the Revolution who had been Temple's friend. We have already stated our ungratified anxiety to know whether their intercourse continued after * Daniel Finch; had succeeded Capel at the Admiralty, and became Earl on the death of his father, the Chancellor, in 1682. A firm and zealous Tory and High Churchman. See Mackintosh, p. 216., and Burnet, iv. 4. f Preface, ii. p. 497. X See Mackintosh, p.5. 54. 225. 229. Lingard, xiv.241. 296. Hallam, iii. 82. 96. § Laurence Hyde. See Mackintosh, p. 7, 8. 98. || Mackintosh, p. 280. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 121 the Treasurer's disgrace. Danby had been dis charged from the Tower in 1684 *, was among the earliest applicants to the Prince of Orange, and was one of those who signed the formal invitation whereupon William came to England.f His general politics were, more nearly than those of any states man of the day, the politics of Templet ; and he would have been more likely to influence him, had their friendly correspondence continued. But Temple probably acted entirely for him self. We believe that partly from the philosophical calmness to which he had brought his mind, and partly from constitutional doubtfulness at a period of opposing difficulties, he was, more than any other considerable man in England, impartial, or rather indifferent, upon this great occasion. It is at least certain that he was not a violent par tisan on either side. The promise to James §, upon which he laid so much stress, amounted to this — that he would never be engaged in any illegal measure in opposition to the Crown, with a reserve of the case of the introduction of foreigners into this country ; in which case, however, he had not made up his mind what to do. As the Revolution, assuredly, exhibited " a * Lingard, xiii. 364. ; xiv. 178. t June 30. 1688. Hallam, iii. 111-12. The others were the Earls of Shrewsbury and Devonshire, Lord Lumley, the Bishop of London, Admiral Russell, and Henry Sidney. Hallam names Lord Delamere instead of Sidney. These names are taken from Dalr. ii. 107. X On this particular occasion he had a notion of his own, namely, that the Crown had devolved upon the Princess of Orange ; but he after wards concurred in the Commons' vote. Moore's Revolution, p. 250. Hallam, iii. 130. Hume, viii. 314. § See p. 53. ante. 122 THE LIFE OF vigour beyond the law," Temple could not take part in it without a breach of this promise ; though probably not one single statesman besides himself, who is mentioned in the history of these times, would have been influenced by a similar engage ment. The promise was not lightly . given ; it sprang from feelings and opinions which had influ enced him from the time of Cromwell *, and which are pre-eminent in all his writings, though always in company and consistency with the most liberal principles of government. With these opinions he must necessarily have seen with regret the King frightened from his throne, and a new king elected by two branches of the legislature ; nor could he have approved of the famous vote +, by which this great change was introduced, affirming a principle of which he had publicly exposed the absurdity ; or rather, perhaps, an allegation of which he had demonstrated the falsity. Nor, probably, had Temple that enthusiastic ab horrence of popery (except as it was connected with Louis XIV. and his projects) which produced the almost general concurrence of the nation in this Revolution, or at least in the earlier stages, from which the rest necessarily followed. On the other hand, Temple decidedly disap proved of the system of government which Charles * See p. 111. f " That King James the Second, having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the government ; and that the throne is thereby become vacant." Pail. Hist. v. 50. Sec ante, Vol. I. p. 402. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 123 and James had attempted to introduce ; and he must have seen the utter hopelessness of obtaining content for the people, under the bigoted, head strong, and arbitrary prince who now reigned. He had a personal regard for the Prince of Orange, and great confidence in his good intentions and manliness of character ; and would certainly ex pect from him a wise and popular administration. And all the enthusiasm which was in his nature ran eagerly in that course of foreign policy, which William had, from his youth, pursued. When he contemplated, as a possible and embar rassing event, the introduction of foreigners into England, he thought probably of French troops, brought over to effect the vile purposes in which French money had failed ; but it may be supposed that not all his attachment to William and to Hol land, could reconcile this true and zealous English man to the sight of Dutch guards occupying the palace of his king. Nor could he, in the first moments of the strug gle, have foreseen that it would be easy and blood less : that could scarcely have escaped him, which we, who only read of these events, are apt to forget, that those who embarked in the enterprize of Wil liam were committed in a contest of indefinite duration and doubtful issue, which they might have to sustain with their lives and properties, amidst confiscation and carnage : they might have been required to act over again the scenes of "tlie great rebellion," not those of " the glorious Revolu tion." 124 THE LIFE OF Not knowing how much of these conflicting con siderations occurred to Temple, we may safely conclude that he joyfully withdrew from them into his determination to have no share in these trans actions: we think it possible for a man who resolves to take no side, to avoid also the pain of forming an opinion ; and this we verily believe to have been Temple's condition.* Whatever may have been thought by Temple, or by any other moderate man, of this great Revo lution at the time at which it occurred, his patriot ism and liberality of principle must have led him afterwards to acknowledge that it richly deserved the epithet of happy. Of all the evils which it might have occasioned, it scarcely produced one ; the good which it effected was more than the most sanguine could foresee. In the operation, some treachery was developed, some nonsense was talked and voted ; the one was in its nature transitory, the other in effect harmless. Bloodshed there was none at the moment, little in the sequel ; nor did the protracted claim of the deposed family at any time subject to serious inconvenience either the government or the people. The change of dynasty, probably essential to the establishment of freedom, has not impaired the kingly power, or endangered * Mr. Macaulay says, in his review of Sir James Mackintosh's book — " Every man who then meddled with public affairs took his life in his hand. The consequence was, that men of gentle natures stood aloof from contests in which they could not engage without hazarding their own necks and the fortunes of their children. This was the course adopted by Sir William Temple, by Evelyn, and by many other men who were, in every respect, admirably qualified to serve the state." Edin burgh Review, lxi. 318. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 125 the monarchical constitution. There have been, since 1688, at times and in degrees, in the courts and parliaments and people of England, faction, corruption, folly; sometimes a tendency to des potism, much oftener an inclination to sedition. It was not through any skilful act of legislation, or by any formal and recorded principle, that, in spite of all these dangers, the constitution of England stood for one hundred and forty-four years * ; — com bining the greatest share of personal freedom with the steadiest and strongest government ; the purest and most efficient church, with the largest share of toleration ; the highest public revenue, with the most of individual wealth ; the boldest and bravest democracy, with the most refined, yet manly, ari stocracy. The republican spirit, which was neces sarily brought into action in 1688, did its work in the suppression of tyranny, and then spread itself in equal and harmless proportions through the system ofthe constitution. The foreign dynasty was another of the transi tory evils ofthe Revolution. William, the son and the husband of English princesses, and almost the legal heir to the throne, and English in his prepos sessions and affections, could scarcely be deemed a foreigner : the German kings were less grateful to English feelings, and not quite inoffensive to En- * The nature and effect of this great Revolution, and the gentleness of its beneficial operation, have never been more ably, candidly, or truly stated, than by Mr. Hallam. With onlyjust the allowance that is neces sary for the difference between a moderate Whig of the old school and a liberal Tory of modern times, we can subscribe to almost all that Mr. Hallam has written. See Const. Hist. iii. 113—128, 126 THE LIFE OF glish interests ; but they too have passed away, and for eighty years our kings have boasted of their British birth.* Our kings and our nobles have harmonized with the people ; their several functions have been performed without collision : while arts and arms, trade and literature, have been through the whole period flourishing and progressive. Pro perty has been uniformly secure ; and gradual, im perceptible, but solid improvements, have been made in our practical constitution ; so that civil and religious freedom has, without new violence, and by the force ofthe constitution of 1688 alone, been continually and largely augmented. Could the true and patriotic Englishman, whose memoirs we write, have seen England in 1831, he wouldhave been neutral no longer, — hewould surely have taken part with the constitution of 1688. And if his inquiring mind had perceived, that while much good was progressive, some evils had arisen ; that abuses had crept into the best of our institutions, and that the administration of our complicated affairs was still capable of improve ment; he would have applauded the wisdom of those ministers and legislators who had begun reso lutely but cautiously to reform ; to amend our laws, to reduce our taxes, and to remove all grievances whereby the happiness and comfort of the people were truly and unnecessarily impaired: above all, he would have acknowledged their wisdom, in re- * " Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton." First speech of George the Third after his accession. Nov. 18. 1760. Pari. Hist. xv. 98 1 . SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 127 taining the constitution itself, in Church and iu State. He would have seen with satisfaction the co operation in this work, of statesmen bearing indif ferently the names of Whig and Tory ; and he would have hailed, with patriotic joy, the approach between the moderates of the one party and the liberals of the other, affording a hope that there would soon be no parties but the friends of the constitution and its enemies. And what would Sir William Temple have felt if, just at this auspicious moment, he had seen a House of Commons threatening to subvert at once its own constitution, under which the " Glorious Revolution " had been effected, and its benefits obtained ; deluding with this view the people, by the hope of unattainable benefits ; pro claiming principles incompatible with that consti tution, and inviting the support of all who had been denounced as its enemies ; and finally succeeding in their work of destruction, by intimidating the peers who resisted it, and the King who would have left to the peers the voice which the constitu tion had allowed to them? With what feelings would he have regarded the men, who brought into con tempt that native affection with which their coun trymen regarded the works of their fathers ; concen trated that popular spirit, healthful when diffused, poisonous when simple, which had hitherto pervaded the system ; and ventured to alter the proportions of that pyramid of government, of which the strength and the beauty had been equally admired ! Looking back to the weak and bad men with 128 THE LIFE OF whom he had lived, he would have compared them with the leaders of this House of Commons : and he would have turned in pity and disgust from that mischievous perversion, intermediate between wickedness and folly, before which, if the result be alone considered, the weakness of Russell, and the bitterness of Sidney ; the carelessness of Arlington, and the violence of Shaftesbury; the easiness of Danby, and the dishonesty of Clifford ; the inconsistency of Halifax, and the reckless ness of Buckingham ; the bigotry of Nottingham, and the profligacy of Sunderland — would stand in advantageous comparison. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 129 CHAPTER XXX. DEATH OF TEMPLE'S SON. TEMPLE'S OPINION ON SUICIDE. — SWIFT. TEMPLE CONSULTED BY KING WILLIAM. SWIFT LEAVES HIM — AND RETURNS. 1689—1694. J\fter King William and Queen Mary were act ually placed on the throne, Sir William Temple permitted his son to accept the office of Secretary at War. Within a week afterwards, he drowned himself in the Thames, leaving this writing behind him: — " My folly in undertaking what I was not able to perform, has done the King and kingdom a great deal of prejudice. I wish him all happiness, and abler servants than John Temple." * The causes of this unhappy occurrence remain in obscurity. They are generally believed to have had no reference to the business of the War Office, but rather to have originated in an undertaking on the part of Mr. Temple, to induce Lord Tyrcon- nel, James's Lieutenant in Ireland, to submit to * April 14. 1689. Boyer, 415. No notice of John Temple appears in the books of the War Office, nor was his commission issued- VOL. II. K 130 THE LIFE OF King William ; and especially in an engagement for the fidelity of a certain General Richard Hamil ton, who being employed to negotiate with Tyr- connel, betrayed the trust reposed in him. As Sir William Temple had no part in the transaction, it is unnecessary to pursue the enquiry.* Some of Temple's biographers have asserted, that Sir William Temple bore the loss of his son " with the firmness of a Stoic, being of the opinion of that sect, that a wise man might dispose of himself, and make his life as short as he pleased." t We shall presently notice a writer who styles Sir William Temple an Epicurean; it is hard to charge him with the opinions of Epicurus and Zeno both. But surely Temple's recorded opinion upon suicide outweighs the random imputation of the doctrine of any heathen philosopher, and justifies us in believ ing, that if he bore his son's death with resignation, the nature and the motive of his submission to this calamity were such as he had himself incul cated in his letter to the Countess of Essex. There he not only teaches and illustrates resigna tion upon the true principles of the Christian reli- * See Boyer (414-17.), and the works which he quotes. Lady Gif fard, mentioning " the cruel blow which happened in the family," adds, " And which that I may never again have occasion to remember the sad circumstances of, I have somewhere, upon the desire of his friends, set down upon paper, and shall leave with this, when I am gone, to make what use of they think fit." No such paper is now at Coddenham. + Boyer, 417., from " Collier's Preface to the Emperor Marcus An- toninus's Conversation with himself." In Stanley's History of Philo sophy (folio, 1701, p. 324.) Zeno's maxim is thus stated : "A wise man upon occasion will die voluntarily for his country and friends : or, in case he be seized by some excessive pain, loss of his senses, or in curable diseases." Collier is quoted only for Zeno's dictum, not for Sir William Temple's adoption of it. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 131 gion, but condemns the shortening of life, even by the indulgence of grief. After observing that the excesses of grief may lead to the destruction of life, — " Perhaps, Madam," he goes on, " you will say this is your design, or if not, your desire ; but I hope you are not yet so far gone, or so desperately bent : your ladyship knows very well your Ife is not your own, but His that lent it you to manage, and preserve the best you could, and not throw it away, as if it came from some common hand. It belongs, in great measure, to your country and your family ; and therefore, by all human laws as well as divine, self-murder has ever been agreed upon as the greatest crime, and is punished here with the utmost shame, which is all that can be inflicted upon the dead. ... If we do it, and know that we do it, by a long and continual grief, can we think ourselves innocent ?" * Could this come from a disciple of Zeno ? On what ground can we impute opinions to Sir William Temple of which she who lived constantly with him was evidently ignorant? Lady Giffard, in alluding to young Temple's death, thus concludes her interesting memoir: — " With this deplorable accident, ended all the good fortune so long taken notice of in our family ; and but too well confirmed the rule, that no man ought to think his life happy till the end of it. With this load of his affliction, and my own, and all of us with our hearts op pressed, we returned at the end of that year (1689), * II. 527. See Vol. I. p. 410. K 2 132 THE LIFE OF with Sir William Temple and his desolate family, to Moor Park ; which his daughter-in-law, her mother, and two young children (both daughters), then made a part of: and he had so firm a resolution of passing his life there, that I believe such another revolution itself would not have altered it. God Almighty only knows how he shall please to dispose of what remains to him, who, upon all the dismal accidents that happened in his life, I have so often heard repeat these words, God's holy name be praised ! " i It was about the period of the Revolution that the connection commenced between Sir William Temple and Jonathan Swift.* Swift, who was at this time in his 23d year, was recommended to Sir William by his mother, who is said to have been connected with the Osborne family, t Temple took him into his family, as reader and amanuensis. The manners of Swift were at at all times disagreeable, and at this period he must have been quite unpolished. It was quite natural that, at first, the young clerk should not be admitted to any intimacy with his patron, or sit at his table. Swift soon tried to propitiate his patron by compliments in verse. The ode X which he ad dressed to him in June 1689, we leave, as to its poetical merit, to the biographers of its author; * Life of Swift, prefixed to Scott's edition of his works, i. 25 — 36. + She was Abigail Ericke, of Leicestershire. The Swifts were known in Ireland to Sir John Temple; anda Thomas Swift had been, as is said (and certainly was at a later period), in Temple's family, probably as chaplain. t. Scott, xiv. 3. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 133 but the topics are not uninteresting in a life of Temple. The burthen of the song is, that Temple was the first man who was learned without pedantry. Most men, the young poet says — " in. " Purchase knowledge at th' expense Of common breeding, common sense, And grow at once scholars and fools ; Affect ill-manner'd pedantry, Rudeness, ill-nature, incivility. * # # * " IV. " Thrice happy you have 'scap'd this general pest : Those mighty epithets, learn'd, good, and great, Which we ne'er join'd before, but in romances meet, We find in you at last united grown. You cannot be compar'd to one ; I must, like him who painted Venus' face, Borrow from every one a grace. Virgil and Epicurus will not do, Their courting a retreat like you, Unless I put in Cas sar's learning too j Your happy frame at once controls This great triumvirate of souls." Other topics of praise are, his detection of po litical intrigues and machinations — " vn. " The wily tricks of state, those jugglers' tricks, Which we call deep designs, and politics;" his success in peaceful negotiations ; and his deser tion ofthe politics and courts for the pleasures ofthe country. This choice of topics shows the character of that reputation which Temple desired and obtained, from his contemporaries as well as from posterity. k 3 134 THE LIFE OF It will not escape notice, that Epicurus is one of the heroes, of whom the triple hero of Moor Park is compounded. After two years, Swift went to Ireland for his health, and it was not until after his return that his talents, greatly improved by copious reading, and his powers of observation, did obtain for him a share of Sir William's confidence. Indeed, he was certainly now treated as one of the family, and occasionally made one of the party when the King himself, who occasionally visited Moor Park, was present. There is, unfortunately, little record of what passed between Temple and his royal acquaintance, or even of the subjects upon which King William consulted him ; but his advice was asked occa sionally, upon matters of high importance. For the Earl of Portland * came to consult him by the King's command, on the expediency of refusing the royal assent to the bill for triennial parliaments. Sir William Temple's advice was, that the bill should pass ; and he employed Swift to draw up reasons for it, taken from English history. Temple's opinions in favour of a conciliatory treatment of parliament, would doubtless have in duced him to advise that a bill which had passed both houses should be accepted by the King ; and he might easily have satisfied WiUiam from history that, in point of fact, short parliaments had been * William Bentinck, the well-known and apparently deserving favourite of King William ; created Earl of Portland in 1689, died in 1709, aged 61. Collins, ii. 29. Buvnct, iv. 7. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 135 usual ; and that the two parliaments of longest duration (1640 and 1661) were by no means fa vourable to the monarchy. Swift, who was sent to the Earl of Portland with the reasons for passing the bill, says that the King had been persuaded that Charles I. lost his crown by passing one of the same purport ; whereas the truth was, that Charles's ruin was rather owing to the bill which put it out of his power to dissolve the parliament.* It was the long parliament which went to war with him. The reasonings of Temple and Swift did not prevail ; the King would not at that time pass the bill.t About this time Temple, who was an habitual sufferer from gout and other painful disorders, felt seriously ill. On his recovery Swift made another copy of verses. X He now abandoned the Pin daric stanza, and, with his measure, in some degree changed his tone : his compliments were accom panied with something like complaint. As our business is not with Swift, we will pass over the * Swift's MS. in Scott, i. App. xiv. As to the bill last mentioned, see Pari. Hist. ii. 783. 787.; and Hallam, ii. 153., where it is not suffi ciently reprobated. •f- We have supposed in the text that this application to Temple was in the session of 1692-3, in which session the bill which had passed the Lords was also passed by the Commons, on the 9th of Feb., but did not obtain the royal assent. In the next session, 1693-4, it was re jected by the Commons ; but in 1694-5, it was passed, and continued the law of the land till the Whigs repealed it in 1715. See Pari. Hist. v. 756.763.787.820.824.860. Burnet, iv. 191. Hallam, iii. 201. Mr. Nichols conceives that Burnet has confounded the Triennial Bill with the Place Bill, and that the latter, not the former, was rejected by the King. The Place Bill was rejected ; but the Triennial Bill also, though it passed both houses, was dropped, in Feb. 1693. X Scott, xiv. 45. K 4 136 THE LIFE OF lines intended perhaps as a delicate compliment to the admirer of Cowley, where " Deduction's broken chain, Meets and salutes her sister link again ;" and dwell on the lines in which Lady Temple is introduced : — " As parent earth, burst by imprison'd winds, Scatters strange agues o'er men's sickly minds, And shakes the Atheist's knees ; such ghastly fear Late I beheld on every face appear. Mild Dorothea *, peaceful, wise, and great, Trembling, beheld the doubtful hand of fate; Mild Dorothea, whom we both have long Not dared to injure with our lowly song, Sprung from a better world, and chosen then The best companion for the best of men : As some fair pile, yet spared by zeal and rage, Lives pious witness of a better age ; So men may see what once was womankind, In the fair shrine of Dorothea's mind." But he apostrophizes himself in lines which have been supposed, and with reason, to refer to the uncomfortable state of his mind and prospects while residing with Sir William Temple : — ..." An abandon'd wretch by hopes forsook; Forsook by hopes, ill fortune's last relief, Assign'd for life to unremitting grief. For let heaven's wrath enlarge these weary days, If hope e'er dawns the smallest of its rays." And, . . . . " Thy few ill-presented graces seem To breed contempt where thou hadst hoped esteem." * In Nichols's edition (x. 36.) Dorothea is said to be "a sister of Sir William Temple's ;" but the name and the verses equally designate Dorothy Lady Temple. Lady Giffard, whose name of Martha is not poetical, is mentioned as Dorinda. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 137 A complaining dependent, especially if he com plains in verse, will generally obtain compassion ; his readers are apt to think him in the right, par ticularly if they are themselves literary men : these not only sympathise with the sufferer, but record his griefs. Swift's biographers accordingly, includ ing the last and most eminent, Sir Walter Scott, have deemed him ill-used by Sir William Temple, at least at this period of their connection. But it is at least as probable that Swift was unreasonable in his expectations, as that Temple was lukewarm in his patronage. Swift's complaints began as early as 1692, when he was about twenty-five years old, and had been with his patron scarcely two years. Having made up his mind to go into the church, he had re ceived from Sir William Temple a promise of his influence in obtaining preferment : — "I am not to take orders," he says in a letter of 29th November, 1692 *, " until the King gives me a prebend ; and Sir William Temple, though he promises me the certainty of it, yet is less forward than I could wish, because, I suppose, he believes I shall leave him, and upon some accounts he thinks me a little necessary to him." Such is Swift's representation ; in the absence of Temple's, we must recollect that Swift had no claim upon him but that of service, and that however valuable the services of the Se cretary might have been, it was not unreasonable to expect that they should be continued a little * Scott, xv. 226. 138 THE LIFE OF longer, before they were rewarded by a provision for life. But we do not know that Sir William Temple had already had it in his power to procure this prebend, or had neglected any opportunity of obtaining it. When Swift himself became a cour tier, and liable to the solicitations of all his Irish cousins, he must have learned that the most pow erful influence cannot at all times command even the smallest preferment. Nearly two years afterwards, in which period, no doubt, Sir William had perceived his talents and usefulness, and had accordingly put him forward even in his intercourse with the King, Swift left Moor Park, and thus announced * his departure : " I forgot to tell you I left Sir William Temple a month ago, just as I foretold it to you, and every thing happened thereupon exactly as I guessed. He was extremely angry I left him, and yet would not oblige himself any farther than upon my good behaviour, nor would promise any thing firmly to me at all, so that every body judged I did best to leave him." Swift might certainly forget to tell his cousin of his leaving Moor Park ; but when his memory re turned, he ought to have told the story fully and fairly. He has told it elsewhere t : — " Although his fortune was very small, he had a scruple of en tering into the church merely for support ; and Sir William Temple, who was then Master of the Rolls * To Mr. Deane Swift, Leicester, June 3. 1694. Scott, xv. 227. t Anecdotes of the Family of Swift.written by Dr. Swift. The manu script, in his own hand, is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Scott, i. App. xiv. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 139 in Ireland, offered him an employ of about 120/. a year in that office, whereupon Mr. Swift told him, that having now an opportunity of living without being driven into the church for a maintenance, he was resolved to go to Ireland to take holy orders * .- he was recommended to the Lord Capel t, then Lord Deputy, who gave him a prebend in the north worth about 100/. a year." Surely, consider ing that Swift had come to Sir William Temple a very few years before, for 20/. a year and his board, this offer, with the alternative of remaining longer in his service, and then obtaining prefer ment in the church, was not illiberal. Whether Temple was angry, as Swift avers, or cold, as She ridan assumes, we know not ; but he gave Swift no substantial ground of complaint, still less if, as is probable, he gave him the recommendation to Lord Capel X, which procured him the prebend in the north. Some months after his departure, being about to take orders, Swift applied to Sir William Temple for the necessary testimonial. " I entreat your honour will please to send me some certificate. of my behaviour during almost three years in your family, wherein I shall stand in need of all your * These words are not in the Anecdotes, as given either by Nichols or Scott. Sheridan cites them; and Dr. Sadleir of Trinity College enables us to say that they are in the manuscript. f Sir Henry Capel was so created in 1693. Banks, iii. 146. X Sheridan presumes, from the smallness of the preferment, that the recommendation could not have proceeded from Sir William Tem ple. This opinion may probably be assigned to the same ignorance, as to the powerfulness of patronage and the plentifulness of good things, which misled Swift, his biographers, and nine-tenths of the solicitors for preferment in all ages. 140 THE LIFE OF goodness to excuse my many weaknesses and over sights, much more to say any thing to my advan tage. The particulars expected of me are what relate to morals and learning, and the reasons for quitting your honour's family; that is, whether the last was occasioned by any ill actions. They are all left entirely to your honour's mercy, though in the first I think I cannot reproach myself any far ther than for infirmities." * Sir William Temple, who probably thought him self the injured party, received this as a sufficient atonement, and gave a testimonial so prompt and satisfactory, that Swift obtained orders within twelve days t of his application. Surely nothing in Swift's character makes it improbable that his patron had something to forgive, whether of unbe coming behaviour, or unreasonable expression of disappointment. It is to the credit of both parties that the breach was not irreparable. Swift took possession of the prebend of Kilroot, found it intolerably dull, and, after an absence of about a year, readily accepted an invitation to return to Moor Park, where he * Dublin, Oct. 6. 1694. Scott, xv. 229. Respect for Sir William induces us to subjoin his note, though we cannot admit its correctness. " It is a painful circumstance to reflect how much the haughty mind of Swift must have been bent, ere he could humble himself to solicit an attestation of good conduct, from a patron so selfish and cold-hearted as in this instance Sir William Temple unfortunately approved himself" Scott's remarks are all in the same strain, and show more zeal for a literary precursor than fair judgment. Without any other ground than the dates, he supposes Swift to have hesitated for five months before he resolved to make the application. His letter is at Coddenham, en dorsed by Mr. Temple, " Swift's humble petition to Sir William Tem ple in a penitential letter." t Oct. 18. Scott, i. 38. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 141 remained during the life of the proprietor. From this time there was no acknowledged disagreement between these two eminent persons ; and Swift, whose salary and situation in the family had pro bably been improved, does not appear to have com plained that he was not preferred in the church, or indeed to have wished to alter his condition. The journal addressed by Swift to Stella was not commenced until after Sir William Temple's death ; but there are passages in it which illustrate the feelings of Swift towards his patron, even when he was most in his confidence. " April 3. 1711. — I called at Mr. Secretary's (St. John), to see what the devil ailed him on Sunday ; I made him a very proper speech ; told him I observed he was much out of temper ; that I did not expect he would tell me the cause, but would be glad to see he was in better ; and one thing I warned him of, never to appear cold to me, for I would not be treated like a schoolboy ; that Ihad felt too much of that in my life already (meaning Sir William Temple) ; that I expected every great minister who honoured me with his acquaintance, if he heard or saw any thing to my disadvantage, would let me know in plain words, and not put me in pain to let me know or guess by the changes of his countenance or behaviour, for it was what I would not bear from a crowned head, and no subject's was worth it " " April 4. — Don't you remember how I used to be in pain when Sir IHlliam Temple would look cold, and be out qf humour for three or four days, 142 THE LIFE OF and I used to suspect a thousand reasons ? I have plucked up my spirits since then, faith : he spoiled a fine gentleman ! " * Perhaps those only who have been in the situa tions of private secretary and minister, client and patron, can duly appreciate these remarks upon the coldness of manner and insufficient encouragement of the retired statesman. But it is very probable that Sir William, polished gentleman as he was, had faults of manner and temper, which we may charitably ascribe to gout, or to that other still less manageable disorder, of which, we fear, the name only has quitted us, — the spleen. Had these faults been very glaring, Swift would not have remained so quietly at Moor Park. A later passage in the journal gives Sir Walter Scott another occasion for censuring Sir William. " Oct. 9. 1712. — I was playing at thirty-one with him (Harley) and his family the other night ; he gave us all twelvepence a-piece to begin with ; it put me in mind of Sir William Temple." t " Sir William's stingy patronage seems," in the eyes of Sir Walter Scott, «' to have justified this sarcasm." No imputation is more frequently groundless than that of stinginess. Temple, who had taken no pains to enrich himself, and some times waited long for what was legally due to him, was probably at no time in circumstances of afflu ence X; he might have to maintain an establish ment so much beyond that ofthe secretary, as to * Scott, ii. 215-16. t Scott, iii. 107. X See p. 1 1 6., ante. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 143 create the notion of boundless resources, while in truth his income might come so near to his expen diture, as to leave him in effect a poorer man than his dependant. Between two men, each aware of his own merit, each sensitive, — the one a patron in ill health, and the other a dependant of offensive manners, — -some discontents must necessarily have arisen. There is no ground for imputing blame to Temple rather than to Swift. Nothing could be more natural than that when, in after life, Swift became acquainted with all the great men of the age, he should think less grandly of his first patron. " I am thinking," he tells Stella *, " what a veneration we used to have for Sir William Temple, because he might have been Secretary of State at fifty ; and here is a young fellow t hardly thirty in that employment." And, " Nov. 3. 17H. — The Secretary is as easy with me as Mr. Addison was. I have often thought what a splutter Sir William Temple makes about being Secretary of State. I think Mr. St. John the greatest young man I ever knew." X * Nov. 11. 1710. Scott, ii. 77. f Henry St. John, the famous Lord BoUngbroke. X Scott, ii. 395. 141 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXXI. LADY GIFFARD WRITES THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF SIR WILLIAM TEiMPLE. 1690. Having thought it convenient to bring together all that related to Swift, we again revert to the period immediately following the Revolution. It was at this period, after Sir William Temple was once more seated in retirement at Moor Park, having refused, for the last time, the office of Secre tary of State, that Lady Giffard wrote those me moirs of her brother of which we have made plenteous use. She affixed to them a " character," for which we think this the best place, because it describes him as he was in the year 1690 ; and although we know not that her observation of the remainder of his life would have induced Temple's sister to alter her portrait of him, it may be thought more correct, if viewed at the moment in which it was drawn. * — We copy verbatim. " I think nothing harder than to write any body's character, and that of a friend is still more difficult. * This character is the original of that which is prefixed to the folio 1731, and the octavo 1770, as written by a particular friend ; but the whole is now, for the first time, taken from the manuscript at Codden- ham, in the hand-writing of Lady Giffard ; and the passages which we have printed in italics are omitted in the former publications. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 145 If one tells truth, it is thought partiality ; and if one does not, it is a real piece of injustice. I will try (by saying little) to avoid both imputations. " Sir William Temple's person is best learnt by his pictures and prints. He was rather tall than low ; his shape, when young, very exact ; his hair a dark brown and curled naturally, and, whilst that was esteemed a beauty, nobody had it in greater perfection ; his eyes grey, but lively ; and his body lean, but extremely active, so that none acquitted themselves better at all sorts of exercise. " He had an extraordinary spirit and life in his humour, with so agreeable turn of wit and fancy in his conversation, that nobody was welcomer in all sorts of company ; and some have observed, that he never had a mind to make any body kind to him without confessing his design. " He was an exact observer of truth, thinking none that had failed once ought ever to be trusted again ; of nice points of honour ; of great humanity and good-nature, taking pleasure in making others easy and happy ; his passions naturally warm and quick, but tempered by reason and thought ; giving liberty only to those [passions] he did not think worth the care and pains it must cost to restrain them. His humour gay, but very unequal, from cruel fits of spleen and melancholy, being subject to great damps from sudden changes of weather ; but chiefly from the crosses and surprising turns in his business, and disappointments he met with so often in his endeavours to contribute to the honour and service of his country, which he thought VOL. II. L 146 THE LIFE OF himself two or three times so near compassing, that he could not think with patience of what had hindered it, or of those that he thought had been the occasion of his disappointments : he grew lazy and easier in his humour as he grew older. " He never seemed busy in his greatest employ ments, and was such a lover of liberty, that I re member, when he was young, and his fortunes low, to have heard him say he would not be obliged, for five hundred a year, to step over a gutter that was in the street before his door. He hated the servi tude of courts ; said he could never serve for wages, nor be busy (as one is so often there) to no pur pose ; and never was willing to enter upon any employment but that of a public minister. " He was a great lover of music, seldom without it in his family ; fond of pictures and statues, as far as his fortune would reach; sensible extremely to good air and good smells, which gave him so great an aversion to the town, that he once passed five years at Sheen without seeing it. The entertainments of his life were, the conversation of his friends, and scenes he had made pleasant about him in his garden and house .- riding and walking were the exercises he was most pleased with, after he had given over tennis ; and, when he was disabled from these too by the gout, passed much qf his time in airing in his coach, that was not spent in his closet. " He had been a passionate lover, was a kind husband, a kind and indulgent father, a good master, and the best friend in the world, and the most constant ; and, knowing himself to be so, was SIR WJLLIAM TEMPLE. 147 impatient of the least suspicion or jealousy from those he loved : often reflected his own happiness in a wife that was always pleased to see him so, and in return was easy to consent to any thing she liked. He was ever tied to the memory of those he had once loved and esteemed ; wounded to the heart by grief upon the many losses of his children and friends, till recovered by reason and philosophy, and that perfect resignation to Almighty God which he thought so absolutely a part of our duty; upon these sad occasions of his, saying, ' His holy name be praised ! His will be done !' " With this warmth in his kindness, he was not without strong aversions, so as to be uneasy at the first sight of some he disliked, and impatient of their conversation ; apt to be warm in disputes and expostulations, which made him hate the one and avoid the other, which he used to say might some times do well between lovers, but never between friends : he turned his conversation to what was more easy and pleasant, especially at table, where he said ill humour ought never to come, and that those who could not leave it behind for the time, ought to stay away with it. "I have been sometimes reproached, and have often repented to have been able to collect no more of what I am sure would have been very entertaining to those that should read it, as it was to many that heard it, but the frequency qfit discouraged me from so great a task. He had a very agreeable way of conversing with all sorts of people, from the greatest princes to the meanest servants, and even children, l 2 148 THE LIFE OF whose imperfect language, and natural and innocent talk, he was fond of, and. made entertainment out of every thing that could afford it ; when that he liked best failed, fhe next served turn. " He never ate abroad when he could avoid it, and at home of as little as he thought fit for his company, always of the plainest meats, but the best chosen, and commonly dining himself off the first dish, or what ever stood next him ; and said he was made for a farmer, and not a courtier, and understood being a shepherd and a gardener better than an ambassador. If he was ever inclined to excess, it was in fruits, which by his care and application he was always furnished with the best of, from his own garden. He loved the taste of good wines, and those best that were least kind to him, and drank them constantly, though never above three or four glasses : thought life not worth the care many were at to preserve it, and that t'was not what we ate or drank, but excess in either, that was dangerous. "He naturally loved play, and very deep too, without any application ; and by reckoning his losses several years found himself every one of them so consider able a loser, lie resolved to give it quite up. " He lived healthful till forty-two, then began to be troubled with rheums upon his teeth and eyes, which he attributed to the air of Holland ; andwhich ended, when he was forty-seven, in the gout, upon which he grew very melancholy, being then am bassador at the Hague. He said, a man was never fit for any thing after it, and though he continued in business near three years longer, 'twas always SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 149 with design of winding himself out as fast as he could, and making good his own rules, — that nobody should make love after forty, nor be in business after fifty. And though from this time he had frequent returns of ill health, he never cared to consult physicians, saying, he hoped to die without them, and trusted wholly to the care and advice of his friends, which he often expressed himself so happy in, as to want nothing but health, which, since riches could not help him to, he despised them. " His fortune was never great, but very different at the different parts of his life ; he began the world and had several children with but 5001. a year, yet had always money by him ; after his father's death it increased to 1400/., which was the most he ever had coming in, besides the. Master of the Rolls' place of Ireland, which King Charles the Second gave him the reversion of, after his father, who kept it during his life. And the presents made him in his several embassies were laid out in the purchase and building his three houses, of which that in London was wholly for his wife ; and in what he laid out, considered nothing of shew, no more than in any thing else, but what he thought fittest for his family, and most convenient to that and himself. Nothing was ever spared, so that those who knew him little, thought him rich ; to whom he used to answer pleasantly, that he wanted nothing but an estate; and was really so, in having all he cared for, nobody being less expensive upon themselves, wore always the plainest stuffs, and for many years L 3 150 THE LIFE OF the same colour. But nobody was ever more ge nerous to his friends, or more charitable to the poor, in giving often to those that wanted it, except com mon beggars, who he chose rather to relieve by giving to the parish, than be troubled with crowds of at his doors, though with such he was often moved too. I have known him give three hundred pounds at a time, often one hundred. He always rewarded his servants when they did well, and parted with them when they did not ; conversed with the meanest of them, was all the life of his family, that looked as if they had no life when he was out qf it, which no man, I believe, was ever so seldom, from the youngest I ever remember him. " As he never did injuries, so he was very hard to bear them from any man, and not less to receive obligations, unless from those he loved and esteemed. I have seen him, upon the most inconsiderable pre sents, never quiet till he had found out something of greater value lo return them with ; but was pleased with the least that could be made him from his friends. Impatient of pain, which he has lately great and frequent returns of, and chose to pass alone, or only with a servant; but returning with the least interval of ease, to his natural good humour, and sending for his friends to give them their share qfit. " His religion was that ofthe Church of England, in which he was born and bred, and thought nobody ought to change, since it must require more time and pains than one's life can furnish to make a true judgment of that which interest and folly were com monly the motives to. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE, 151 " But Sir William Temple's character will be best known by his writings, and to that picture of him I leave those who care either to know or imitate him. He has now passed the age of sixty, which he used to say there was nothing worth living for after ; that a man had nothing to hope for more, and could only expect to be weary himself and to tire his friends. The last I am sure can never' happen to him, and I hope the first never will. God Almighty give them and him patience for whatever is reserved for us ! " l 4 152 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXXII. "PUBLICATION OF THE SECOND PART OF TEMPLE'S MEMOIRS. MISCELLANEA, SECOND PART. — ON GARDENING. — ON HEROIC VIRTUE. — ON POETRY. 1685—1692. In 1691 *i the second part of Temple's Memoirs was published by some person to whom one of the copies (for there were probably more than one) had been lent by a friend. The editor acknowledges that the author intended that the Memoirs should not be published during his life ; and makes no excuse but that the manuscript had not been asked for since he first had it. The Memoirs " look," he says, " as though they had never been reviewed by the author, but just as they fell from his pen." It has been surmised that, as Temple made no specific complaint of this publication t, it was, in all probability, at least not displeasing to him. In- * So says the folio, 1731 ; but the General Dictionary says 1689. •J- The following advertisement, however, was prefixed by the pub lisher to one of the editions of the Miscellanea, part i. : — "The au thor of these essays having heard that since the first publishing of them, as well as before, several books that in the great licence of printing have come forth without names were, either by mistake or otherwise, given out to be his, upon this edition gives me leave to set his name to this, and at the same time to give this public assurance, that since the first SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 153 deed, the great changes that occurred between 1679 and 1691 had made the publication harmless. During the whole period of his final retirement, but at what particular time we know not, Temple composed a variety of miscellaneous pieces, of which a collection was published in 1691 *, under the title of Miscellanea, the second part, t Of the tracts herein contained, one, Upon the Gardens of Epicurus, or, of Gardening, is said to have been written in 1685. X A love of gardening appears throughout Temple's correspondence, even from an early period ; and his gardens at Sheen became objects of attention to those who visited the neighbourhood. § The present treatise is a curious and character istic production. Like his works in general, it is various and desultory ; full of illustrations from printing his observations upon the United Provinces, nothing of his has been published besides these papers, nor shall be at any time hereafter, without his name." — See Temple's Works, folio, 1731, i. 81. * The author of the General Dictionary (ix. 510.) says, it was published seven years after the first. This would bring it to 1686; but Bishop Monk, in his Life of Bentley, gives 1692 as the date ofthe pub lication of Ancient and Modern Learning (which is one of the essays in the second part), and, at the earlier period, the provocation had not been given. _f The Miscellanea are thus dedicated to the University of Cam bridge : — " Almse Matri Academia? Cantabrigiensi, has qualescunque nugas, at rei literariae non alienas, D. D. Dque alumnus olim, et sem per observantissimus, W. Temple." The motto was, Juvat antiquos ac- cedere fontes. X General Dictionary. § On 24th March, 1688, Evelyn dined with Sir Charles Littleton, at his house at Sheen. " After dinner we went to see Sir W. Temple's, near to it ; the most remarkable things are his orangery and gardens, where the wall-fruit trees are most exquisitely nailed and trained, far better than I ever noted. There are many good pictures, especially of Vandyck, in both these houses, and some few statues and small busts in the latter." — Evelyn's Memoirs, iii. 240. 154 THE LIFE OF ancient history and the classics ; with some strange perversions, yet evidently written in sincerity and warmth of feeling. He treats his subject histori cally, philosophically, and practically. Gardening he places among the more refined pleasures, sought by men who have grown tired in the pursuit of power or riches. Of the great men who have become fond of this species of pleasure, Temple gives a catalogue, in which are some persons whose claims might perhaps be disputed if we had time to investigate them ; but the Assyrian Kings are eminent in the list, as well as Henry II. and Louis XIV. of France, and the King of Morocco, who gives audience in an orange-grove, planted among purling streams.* We doubt whether the decrees issued from this delightful hall of justice, by the dusky monarch, were such as to illustrate exactly the effect of a garden in refining the mind ; or whether the ambitious sovereign of France was not actuated in his improvements of the royal parks and gardens by a feeling more akin to that in which he conquered provinces and subdued princes, than to the sentiments with which Temple watched his pears at Sheen, or Lord Grenville his pines at Dropmore. We are sorry to perceive in Sir William a fault, which, however, we have known in other men who ought to have been above it, — that of depreciating knowledge which he did not himself possess. He indulges in a discursive and wanton attack upon * III. 205. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 155 natural philosophy and astronomy ; claiming Solo mon, Socrates, and Marcus Antoninus as the cham pions of his doctrine. Solomon, assuredly, in his Ecclesiastes, exposes the imperfection and insuffi ciency of human knowledge, but certainly not of the natural sciences in particular. In truth, our author jumbles together those inquiries which can be brought to demonstration by experiment and observation, and to a practical use by human skill, and those which must be always only specu lative ; he confounds physics and metaphysics ; the invention of gunpowder with the consciousness of existence. In moral philosophy he disports himself more agreeably, though not without some offence against the doctrines of Ecclesiastes. And here he intro duces Epicurus ; and as the name of this famous philosopher of the garden is prefixed to this treatise, and has often been connected with that of Temple, we must attend to his views of the Epi curean philosophy. Moral philosophers " all con cluded that happiness was the chief good, and ought to be the ultimate end of man ; that as this was the end of wisdom, so wisdom was the way to happiness. The question then was, in what this happiness consisted ? The contention grew warmest between the Stoics and Epicureans The Stoics would have it to consist in virtue, and the Epicureans in pleasure; yet the most reasonable of the Stoics made the pleasure of virtue to be the greatest happiness, and the best of the Epicureans made the greatest pleasure lo consist in virtue; and 156 THE LIFE OF the difference between these two seems not very easily discovered. All agreed the greatest temper, if not the total subduing of passion, and exercise of reason, to be the state of the greatest felicity : to live without desires or fears, or those pertur bations of mind and thought which passions raise ; to place true riches in wanting little rather than in possessing much, and true pleasure in temper ance rather than in satisfying the senses ; to live with indifference to the common enjoyments and accidents of life, and with constancy upon the greatest blows of fate or of chance ; not to disturb our minds with sad reflexions upon what is past, nor with anxious cares or raving hopes about what is to come ; neither to disquiet life with the fear of death, nor death with the desires of life, but in both, and in all things else, to follow nature ; — seem to be the precepts most agreed among them." * Now we confess that we are very little acquainted with the ancient philosophers, and cannot pronounce upon the correctness of this statement of the con clusion at which both the great sects arrived, after wandering in their several paths ; but this we will aver, that the philosophy taught in this extract, whether it be the doctrine of Epicurus, of Zeno, or of Temple, is consistent with Christian truth. And if these were the views of Epicurus, we agree in the wonder which is expressed, " how such sharp and violent invectives came to be made so generallyagainsthim by the sages that followed him, * P. 209. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 157 " whose admirable wit," — here we quote without concurrence or dispute, — " whose admirable wit, felicity of expression, excellence of nature, sweet ness of conversation, temperance of life, and con stancy of death, made him so beloved by his friends, admired by his scholars, and honoured by the Athe nians. ..." * " Epicurus passed his life wholly in his garden : there he studied, there he exercised, there he taught his philosophy ; and, indeed, no other sort of abode seems to contribute so much to both the tranquillity of mind and indolence of body, which he made his chief ends." It would appear that Epicurus did not carry his love of a garden so far as to take up the spade or hoe. We suspect that Temple was an Epicurean here ; and that, though very active when he had business on hand, as witness his Munster journey, his enjoyment of the country was independent of bodily exertion. Perhaps the quiescence of body, upon which he lays so much stress, is in itself more conducive than violent exercise to the entire quiet ness of the mind ; yet if, by digging his own bor ders, or even by fox-huntingt, Temple could have kept off the gout, his mind as well as body would have been the better for it. It would appear that as well the gardens of Al- * Among the passages which we are here compelled to omit, there are characters of Caesar and Atticus, and observations upon Homer, "Virgil, and other writers, which are well worthy of perusal. f The Prince of Orange was very fond of hunting; and when he was coming to England, Temple apprehended that he would visit Mr. Co ventry rather than him, because he got no hunting at Sheen. 158 THE LIFE OF cinous imagined by Homer * in Corfu, as those of the old Corycian, described by Virgil t, were cul tivated chiefly with a view to the luxuries of the table ; and Temple himself tells us that it was to the kitchen and fruit gardens that he paid attention X : flowers he considers as the ladies' part, rather than the men's. § We are led by this remark to observe, that gar dening is a pursuit peculiarly adapted for recon ciling and combining the tastes of the two sexes, and indeed of all ages. It is therefore of all amuse ments the most retentive of domestic affection. It is perhaps most warmly pursued by the very young, and by those who are far advanced in life, — before the mind is occupied with worldly business, and after it has become disgusted with it, as Sir William Temple's now was. There is nothing in it to re mind ofthe bustle of political life ; and it requires neither a sanguine disposition, nor the prospect of a long life, to justify the expectation of a beautiful result, from the slight and easy care which it exacts. Is it too much to say, that the mind which can, * Odys. lib. vii. See No. 173. of the Guardian, by Pope, a translation ofthe passage ; with some remarks on the formal taste prevailing in his day, which he has also ridiculed in the well-known lines, — " Grove nods at grove," &c. Moral Essays, 1. 117. + Fourth Georgic, 1. 225. X The essay contains many details upon this subject, well worthy of the gardener's perusal. Writers on gardening thus describe a nectarine, bearing Temple's name : — a medium size ; pale red and yellowish colour ; ripens in the middle of September ; flavour rich and juicy. — Loudon's Encyc. of Gardening, p. 806. § P. 231. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 159 with genuine taste, occupy itself in gardening, must have preserved some portion of youthful purity; that it must have escaped, during its passage through the active world, its deeper contaminations ; and that no shame nor remorse can have found a seat in it ? But we return to Temple's essay. No one of his writings displays more abundantly the love of his country, and jealousy of her reputation ; which never left him, whether negotiating a treaty, or pruning a peach tree. " I may truly say. that the French, who have eaten my peaches and grapes in no very ill year, have generally concluded that the last are as good as any they have eaten oiaJFrance on this side Fontainbleau, and the first as good as any they have eaten in Gascony. . . . And thus much I could not but say in defence of our climate, which is so much and so generally decried abroad, by those who never saw it, or if they have been here, have yet perhaps seen no more of it" (it now means the country generally) " than what be longs to inns, and to taverns and ordinaries ; who accuse our country for their own defaults, and speak ill not only of our gardens and houses, but of our humours, our breeding, our customs, and manners of life, by what they have observed qf the meaner and baser sort of mankind; and of company among us, because they wanted themselves eitlier fortune or birth, either quality or merit, to introduce them among the good." What follows has been often quoted, but it must not be neglected in its original 160 THE LIFE OF position. " I must needs add one thing more in favour of our climate, which I heard the King * say, and I thought new and right, and truly like a King of England, that loved and esteemed his own country : it was in reply to some of the company that were reviling our climate, and extolling those of Italy and Spain, or at least of France : he said, he thought that was the best climate where he could be abroad in the air with pleasure, or at least with out trouble and inconvenience, the most days ofthe year, and the most hours of the day; and this, he thought, he could be in England, more than in any country he knew of in Europe. And I believe it is true^ggt_onljr of the hot and the cold, but even among our neighbour^ in France, and the Low Countries themselves ; where the heats or the colds, and changes of seasons, are less tractable than they are with us." t The gardens at Moor Park (not at that time pur chased by Temple) are highly praised. They were made by the Countess of Bedford X, esteemed among the greatest wits of her time, and celebrated by Dr. Donne. § These favourite gardens were laid out in that regular style which was then the favour ite, with terraces, steps, statues, and fountains ; but Temple had a glimmering of something still more beautiful, with more irregularity. He had occasionally seen an attempt at this kind of beauty, * Probably Charles II. + P. 227. X Lucy, daughter of John Lord Harrington, and wife of Edward third Earl of Bedford. Collins, i. 273. § See Donne's Poems. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 161 and heard of it among the Chinese. They scorn the regular way of planting in which " Every alley has its brother;" and say, a boy that can tell a hundred may plant walks of trees in straight lines, and over against one another, and to what length and extent he pleases. But their greatest reach of imagination is employed in contriving figures, where the beauty shall be great and strike the eye, but without any order or disposition of parts that shall be com monly or easily observed; and though we have hardly any notion of this sort of beauty, yet they have a particular word to express it, and where they find it to hit their eye at first sight, they say the sharawadgi is fine, or is admirable, or any such expression of esteem." Although an eminent Chi nese scholar, to whom we have applied, does not acknowledge this word, we should take it to mean picturesque beauty, but a little puzzled by Tem ple's referring us to the screens and earthenware of China for specimens of this irregular beauty. Cer tainly we do not recognise the superiority of the Chinese or their tea-cups ; but since Temple's time it has become the style of English gardening, and has been carried to great perfection.* Re cently the adoption of the Italian style immediately around, or at least before one of the fronts of a house of any considerable size, with more of irre gularity and wildness as the statues and vases dis appear, has rendered an English garden and plea- * See Loudon, p. 64. and 102. VOL. II. M 162 THE LIFE OF sure ground, with the unrivalled verdure of which Temple justly boasts, a possession * which, we suspect, the Celestial Empire cannot surpass for beauty or enjoyment. Next follow two essays — On Heroic Virtue \, and On Poetry, — which we mention together, because the author tells us that " of all the endowments of nature or improvements of art, wherein men have excelled and distinguished themselves most in the world, these two only have had the honour of being called divine." Of the first of these essays we feel incompetent to give a correct analysis, because candour obliges us to own that we have not entirely mastered it. If the truth must be told, we have not read it ; we have made many attempts, but never could get quite through it without skipping. It is very glibly written ; it contains many things curious, and furnishes a great deal of information ; it is considerately divided into sections ; it has all the characteristics of Temple's style. But whether it be that we have not perceived the aim of the writer, or that we lack interest for the heroes whom he has brought before us, or that there is a great fault in the work itself, we know not. Dulness there is certainly somewhere — whether in Sir William Temple or in us, those * One of the first of these, though not on a large scale, was com pleted a few years ago by Lord and Lady Farnborough, at Bromley Hill, in Kent. + III. 313. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 163 who have the courage to read both must deter mine. The fault is not in the subject. What constitutes a her0 ? — who among men have been heroes ? — are very interesting objects of inquiry. Our author starts well. " Though it be easier to describe heroic virtue by the effects and examples than by causes or definitions, yet it may be said to arise from some great and native excellency of temper and genius, transcending the common race of man kind in wisdom, goodness, and fortitude. These ingredients, advantaged by birth, improved by edu cation, and assisted by fortune, seem to make that noble composition which gives such a lustre to those that have possessed it, as made them appear to common eyes something more than mortals, and to have been of some mixture between divine and human race ; to have been honoured and obeyed in their lives, and after their deaths bewailed and adored." The first part of this passage gives clearly and pointedly Temple's notion of what is necessary to constitute a hero. It would have been an interesting inquiry, whether all his predica ments are essential ; whether heroism must be native, of noble birth, well educated, andfortunate ? This inquiry, illustrated by examples from among persons well known to us, whose valets-de-chambre we could cross-examine, would be agreeable and useful. But the conclusion of the passage takes us too much into fable and indistinct antiquity ; and the same fault pervades the essay. m 2 164 THE LIFE OF It is true that Sir William Temple gives us three classes of heroes from Virgil*: — " Hie manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi, Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per arfes, Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo." But he gives little chance to the cultivators of the arts ; his heroes are all mighty kings, or sainted law givers, chiefly heathen Asiatics, and Americans. Upon one hero we must dwell a little, because for him, as well as for Epicurus, Sir William Temple has been made unfairly responsible : — " Somewhere about two thousand years ago t_" — we really have not selected the most ancient of Temple's heroes, — " lived Confucher (Confucius), the most learned, wise, and virtuous of all the Chi- nesse, and for whom both the. king and magistrates in his own age, and all of those in the ages since, seem to have had the greatest deference that has anywhere been rendered to any mortal man The sum of his writings seems to be a body or di gestion of ethics, that is, of all moral virtues, either personal, economical, civil, or political; and- framed for the instruction and conduct of men's lives, their families, and their government, but chiefly of the last : the bent of his thoughts and reasonings run ning up and down this scale, that no people can be happy but under good governments, and no go vernments happy but over good men ; and that for * iEneid, 6. 1. 660. Temple omits the Priests and Poets whom ./Eneas found in the shades below. t III. 331. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 165 the felicity of mankind, all men in a nation, from the prince to the meanest peasant, should endea vour to be good, and wise, and virtuous, as far as his own thoughts, the precepts of others, or the laws of his country can instruct him In the perfection of natural reason consists the perfection of body and mind, and the utmost or supreme hap piness of mankind. The means and rules to attain this perfection are chiefly not to will or desire any thing but what is consonant to his natural rea son, nor any thing that is not agreeable to the good and happiness of other men, as well as our own. To this end is prescribed the constant course and practice of the several virtues, known and agreed to generally in the world, among which courtesy or civility and gratitude are cardinal with them. In short, the whole scope of all Confucius has writ aims only at teaching men to live well and to go vern well ; how parents, masters, and magistrates should rule, and how children, servants, and sub jects should obey." After this commendation of the great lawgiver of China, Temple details, upon what authority we know not, the constitution of the Chinese empire ; and he makes the remark, which has been made a hundred times, — whether justly or not we do not stop to enquire, — that the very long duration of this constitution, even through several invasions and changes of dynasty, is a proof of the excellence of the form of government. After Confucius, Temple introduces Mango m 3 166 THE LIFE OF Copac, the founder of the Peruvian monarchy ; Tamerlane * ; our German ancestors ; William the Conqueror; Mahomet; Almanzort, the Arabian hero ; and a vast variety of personages and topics, upon which, for reasons already assigned, we forbear to dilate. In treating of poetry, Temple has been so far more successful than in describing heroism, that he has given us a readable essay. X If he has not conveyed a perfect idea of the nature of poetical excellence, and of the source of the pleasure we derive from it, he has failed in common with almost all writers who have attempted it. If his essay has less of warm poetical feeling than some of theirs (for Temple was himself no poet), it has also less of affectation and obscurity. His remarks are gene rally clear and judicious, and sometimes original. We shall make a few selections from a catalogue of the qualities necessary in a poet, which may rival that of Imlac in Rasselas. " In poetry are to be assembled all the powers of eloquence, of music, and of picture. . . . The true art of poesy is, that * P. 359. Temple makes a great hero of this Tartar chief, on which Gibbon remarks, — " The writer who has the most abused this fabulous generosity (of the Christians to Tamerlane) is our own ingenious Sir William Temple, that lover of exotic virtue. After the conquest of Russia, &c. and the passage of the Danube, his Tartar hero relieves, visits, admires, and refuses the city of Constantinople. His flattering pencil deviates in every line from the truth of history ; yet his pleasing fictions are more excusable than the gross errors of Cantemir." — Gibbon's Roman Empire, xii. 53., edit. 1790. +¦ P. 384. Here again Gibbon ridicules our credulous and sanguine author. Gibbon's Works, 8vo., v. 554. X HI- 406. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 167 such contraries must meet to compose it — a genius both penetrating and solid ; in expression both de licacy and force ; and the frame and fabric of a true poem must ha-ve something both sublime and just, amazing and agreeable. There must be a great agitation of mind to invent, a great calm to judge and correct; there must be upon the same tree both flowers and fruit. . . . There must be a general knowledge both of nature and of art; and, to go the lowest that can be, there are required genius, judgment, and application ; for without this last, all the rest will not serve him, and none ever was a great poet that applied himself much to any thing else." . . . " I know not whether, of all the numbers of mankind that live within the compass of a thousand years, for one man that is born capable of making such a poet as Homer and Virgil, there may not be a thousand born capable of making as great generals of armies, or ministers of state, as any the most renowned in story." * Upon this observation we would remark, first, that the rarity of an accomplishment does not al ways increase its excellence, — it would be easier to pick out of a crowd a general than a rope-dancer ; and, secondly, that Turennes and Marlboroughs (we will mention no living name) are as rare as Homers and Virgils. Temple holds, that although verse was the more ancient form of writing, poetry is not necessarily in verse. And he mentions iEsop's Fables as one * P. 417. M 4 168 THE LIFE OF ofthe earliest books of poetical prose.* He might have selected a better example. JEsop has nothing of poetry but the boldness ofthe fiction. Poetical fiction is either terrible or delightful. Had Temple lived to our times, the interest which he took in Epicurus would have led him to read, in the " Epicurean," by Thomas Moore, one of the most beautiful works of poetry in prose which our lan guage has produced. Among the incidental remarks which we find in this curious and discursive piece, we find an expla nation of some very common terms. " Mara, in old Runic t, was a goblin that seized upon men asleep in their beds, and took from them all speech and motion. X Old Nicka was a sprite that came to strangle people that fell into the water. Bo was a fierce Gothic captain, son of Odin, whose name was used by his soldiers when they would fright or surprise their enemies § ; and the proverb of rhym ing rats to death came, I suppose, from the same source." ..." There were, not longer since than the time I have mentioned, some remainders ofthe Runic poetry among the Irish. The great men of their septs among the many officers of their family, which continued always in the same races, had not only a physician, a huntsman, a smith, and such like, * P. 424. + Temple says much of Runes and the Runic language. It strikes us that we have seen a remark somewhere, and we are inclined to con cur in it, that he had no acquaintance with the ancient literature of the North. t Johnson quotes this, under night-mare. 9 Is this the personage whose name a timid man will not mention to a goose ? SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 169 but a poet, and a tale-teller : the first recorded and sung the actions of their ancestors, and entertained the company at feasts ; the latter amused them with tales when they were melancholy, and could not sleep. And a very gallant gentleman of the north of Ireland has told me, of his own experience, that in his wolf-huntings there, when he used to be abroad in the mountains three or four days together, and lay very ill a-nights, so as he could not well sleep, they would bring him one of their tale tellers, that when he lay down would tell him a story of a king, or a giant, a dwarf and a damsel, and such rambling stuff, and continue it all night long in such an even tone, that you heard it going on whenever you awaked ; and he believed nothing any physicians give could have so good and so in nocent effect, to make men sleep in any pains or distempers of body or mind." * Temple very much objects to a vein of conceit, which, though proper enough for a poetical scrap, is ill suited to a poem ; and his natural benevolence leads him to object still more strongly to satirical poetry. There is not so good a foundation for his criticism upon the pains taken by modern poets to give smoothness to their language, with a sacrifice of spirit and strength. These he ascribes to the French Academy; but he admits that the effect has been a great refinement of the language in prose * Upon this Mackintosh says: — " Observe the nature of the real Celtic tales m Ireland, as well as Scotland. How different from the pretended Ossian ! " We are not competent to this controversy, but we think that we could get some very sound sleep out of Fingal. 170 THE LIFE OF as well as in poetry ; nor do we see that either spirit or strength is necessarily lost, in a correct and polished diction. Temple mentions Spenser, with Ariosto and Tasso, as " the only moderns who have made any achievements in heroic poetry worth recording." * At this time, the Paradise Lost had been published more than twenty years ; and in the first eleven of them, that is, before Temple retired to his garden and library, three thousand copies had been sold. Dr. Johnson vindicates the English public of this time from the charge of neglecting this great poem. " The call for books was not in Milton's age what it is at present. To read was not then a general amusement ; neither traders, nor often gentlemen, thought themselves disgraced by ignorance. The women had not then aspired to literature, nor was every house supplied with a closet of know ledge. Those indeed who professed learning were not less learned that at any other time; but of that middle race of students who read for pleasure or accomplishment, and who buy the numerous pro ducts of modern typography, the number was then comparatively small." All this is true : it were a curious though vain enquiry, whether Temple had seen the poem, had thrown it aside unread, or having read it, had not considered it as an achieve ment in the art of poetry. Temple was certainly one of those few persons who were readers even in the days of Charles II. ; and even his wife (of * P. 433. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 171 whom we shall know more presently) was a de- vourer of folios. And although we are bold enough to say, that Paradise Lost is not an attractive book, it is hardly credible that, either from their book sellers, or from some of their numerous visitors at Sheen, Sir William and Lady Temple should not have heard of Milton's work. We do not know when the Essay on Poetry was written, or whether it was one of the works in which Swift acted as ama nuensis. Swift became " an admirer of Milton * ;" but he says, that when the first edition came out, " few either read, liked, or understood it." t We apprehend that Temple did hear of the book, and possibly had it in his hands ; but that it was not particularly recommended to him by the name of its author or by any literary friend, and that he had not that rapid perception of poetical merit, which told him at once that he handled an im mortal poem. Although he neglects Milton, Temple does mention Shakspeare, in a passage in which, after ascribing to the ancients the superiority in almost every other branch, he gives it to the moderns in dramatic poetry. " In this the Italian, the Spanish, and the French, have all had their different merit, and received their just applauses. Yet, I am de ceived if our English has not in some kind excelled both the modern and the ancient, which has been by force of a vein natural, perhaps, to our country, * Letter to Sir Charles Wogan, 1732. Scott, xvii. 438. f Ibid. 17^ THE LIFE OF 9» and which, with us, is called humour ; a word pe culiar to our language too, and hard to be expressed in any other ; nor is it (that I know of) found in any foreign writers, unless it be Moliere, and yet his itself has too much of the farce to pass for the same with ours. Shakspeare was the first that opened this vein upon our stage, which has run so freely and so pleasantly ever since that I have often wondered to find it appear so little upon any others, being a subject so proper for them, since humour is but a picture of particular life, as comedy is of general ; and though it represents dispositions and customs less common, yet they are not less natural than those that are more frequent among men ; for if humour itself be forced, it loses all the grace, which has been, indeed, the fault of some of our poets most celebrated in this kind." * Though it may be true, as Swift i admits, that the word humour is peculiar to the English lan guage, the names of Rabelais, Cervantes, and the modern novelists, are fairly adduced in disproof of the opinion that the thing itself was peculiar to the English nation. Besides Spenser and Shakspeare, Temple men tions three English writers, Butler X, Cotton §, and Sir John Mince II, all distinguished in the line * P. 437-8. f Scott, ix. 293. X Samuel Butler, author of Hudibras ; born 1612, died 1680. $ Charles Cotton, the friend of Isaac Walton; born 1630, died 1687. In Campbell's specimen he is a lively and not very delicate narrator of journeys, always a fruitful source of humourous adventures. Brit. Poets, iv. 293. || Sir John Mcnnis, born in 1598, was a vice-admiral; who amused himself, with making verses on a cat who ate up his lutestrings. Ib. 144. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 17^ of burlesque. The last two certainly do not deserve the distinguished place assigned to them. If Temple was not a very accurate or discrimi nating judge of poetical excellence, his opinion of the general merits of his countrymen is expressed in a passage which, considering the time which the writer had spent abroad, the warm love of country which it displays, and its own agreeable style, we venture to extract. " There is a sort of vanity among us, which arises from our climate, and the disposition it naturally produces. We are not only more unlike one another than any nation I know, but we are more unlike ourselves too at different times, and owe to our very air some ill qualities as well as many good. We may allow some distempers incident to our climate, since so much health, vigour, and length of life have been generally ascribed to it ; for among the Greek and Roman authors themselves, we shall find the Britons observed to live the longest, and the Egyptians the shortest, of any nations that were known in those ages. Besides, I think, none will dispute the native courage of our men, and beauty of our women *, which may be elsewhere as great in particulars, but nowhere so in general ; they may * We once heard a sea captain, who had been round the world, ob serve, that the two countries of which the women were most beautiful, were England and Otaheite. It is very agreeable to an Englishman to read in th 2 delightful volume of the Remains of Mrs. Brunton (an enthu siastic Scottish woman), that on passing the Scottish border, she knew that she was in England, not only by the shoe-defended feet, but by the beautiful faces. We have heard that the Emperor Alexander, no mean judge, was struck as much by the number of pretty faces in Lon don, as he certainly was by the number of cannon balls in store at Woolwich. 174 THE LIFE OF be (as is said of diseases) as acute in other places, but here they are epidemical. For my own part, who have conversed much with men of other na tions, and such as have been both in great employ ment and esteem, I can say very impartially that I have not observed, among any, so much true genius as among the English ; nowhere more sharp ness of wit, more pleasantness of humour, more range of fancy, more penetration of thought, or depth of reflection among the better sort; nowhere more goodness of nature and of meaning, nor more plainness of sense and of life, than among the com mon sort of country people ; nor more blunt cou rage and honesty than among our seamen." There is a darker shade in what follows, in which Temple paints as truly from his own consciousness, as before from his observation : — " But, with all this, our country must be confessed to be, what a great fo reign physician called it, the region of spleen ; which may arise a good deal from the great un certainty, and many sudden changes, of our weather in all seasons of the year. And how much these affect, the heads and hearts, especially ofthe finest * tempers, is hard to be believed by men whose thoughts are not turned to such speculations. This makes us unequal in our humours, inconstant in our passions, uncertain in our ends, and even in our desires." The essay concludes with an urgent recom mendation of poetry and music, which he puts * Bj finest he means the most sensitive; there is a blunter and much more enviable temper, which defies heat or fog. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 175 together, though it is contended that the two tastes have a separate existence ; of which a few sentences will suffice. " They must be confessed to be the softest and sweetest, the most general and most innocent amusements of common time and life : they still find room in the courts of princes, and the cottages of shepherds. They serve to revive and animate the dead calm of poor or idle lives, and to allay or divert the violent passions and per turbations of the greatest and busiest of men."* * Two passages in the Essay on Poetry are selected by Blair for their badness ; the one in p. 407. as a puzzled sentence, the other, in p. 436. for the too frequent use of the conjunction copulative. See Blair, i. 278. and 290. 176 THE LIFE OF CHAPTER XXXIII. ESSAY ON ANCIENT AND MODERN LEARNING. — CONTROVERSY WITH BENTLEY. BOYLE. 1692—1699. Sir William Temple was accustomed to give to the ancients the preference over the moderns in all branches of learning. This appears in the essays already noticed ; but his essay Upon the Ancient and Modern Learning * drew him into a contro versy, which must have greatly disturbed the serenity of his latter years. The dispute had its origin in France ; where, about the year 1688, the lively and witty Fon teneUe, the author of the " Plurality of Worlds," affixed to his Pastoral Poetry a dissertation, in which he claimed for the moderns a general superiority over the illustrious names of antiquity ; making his principal stand upon the ground least favourable to his own clients — that of genius. The same hy pothesis found other advocates among the French savans, particularly Perrault, who, in his " Parallel between the Ancients and Moderns," sought and obtained the assent and applause of his countrymen, * III. 444. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 177 by matching some individual Frenchmen against each ofthe most illustrious ancients.* Temple's essay itself is not otherwise interesting than as it belongs to this famous controversy. t The superiority of the ancients is argued, or rather assumed, from the number of books which ancient libraries are said to have contained, and from the names of great persons who are said to have " been the first conquerors of ignorance in the world, and to have made greater progress in the several em pires of science than any of their successors have been since able to reach." But, really, among the literary and philosophical heroes, paraded by Sir William Temple X, there are some who are only remembered among the curiosities of literature ; others who have taught nothing but what we wish to forget. He seems to have been in some degree aware, that, in the sciences, the pretensions of the moderns were plausible, and he makes an answer in a pas sage which proves, we are afraid, nothing, but that he himself had not the excellence in know ledge which he denies to the moderns generally. * For instance, Balsac was opposed to Cicero ; Boileau to Horace ; Voltaire to Pliny; and Corneille to ._Eschylus, Sophocles, and Eu ripides combined. T The Life of Bentley, by Dr. James Henry Monk, Bishop of Glou cester, 4to. 1830 (pp.45 — 107.), contains a very clear and full aceount of this controversy. We have sometimes borrowed even the words of Dr. Monk, whose learning renders him a much better judge than we are of the merits of the controversy. We might have contented ourselves with extracting some pages of his book, if we had not, as Temple's bio graphers, thought it right to give more of his own writing ; and there are points in which we think that the Bishop judges a little too harshly of Temple. X Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus. III. 460. VOL. II. N 178 THE LIFE OF " What are the sciences in which we pretend to excel ? I hear of no new philosophers who have made entres upon that noble stage for fifteen hundred years past, unless Des Cartes and Hobbes could pretend to it ; of whom I shall make no critique here, but only say, that by what appears of learned men's opinions in this age, they have by no means eclipsed the lustre of Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, or others of the ancients. In grammar or rhetoric no man ever disputed it with them ; nor for poetry that ever I heard of, besides the new French authors I have mentioned .... There is nothing new in astronomy to vie with the ancients', unless it be the Copernican system ,- nor in physic, unless Harvey's circulation qf the blood. But whether either of these be modern discoveries, or derived from old fountains, is dis puted ; nay, it is so too whether it be true or no ; for though reason may seem to favour these more than the contrary opinions, yet sense can very hardly allow them, and to satisfy mankind both these must concur. But if they are true, still these great dis coveries have made no change in the conclusions of astronomy, nor in the practice of physic, and so have been qf little use to the world, though perhaps of much honour to their authors." * If our duty in transcribing this passage has been painful, from the conviction that Temple dogma tized upon subjects which he did not understand, we transcribe what follows with a smile as well as a tear. * P. 469. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 17 ant^ X We know not whence either Temple or Burnet took. his notion of Confucius's doctrines. Whether or not he taught of God's providence, or inculcated anything appertaining to true religion, is a matter of dis pute. s 4 264 THE LIFE OF the Peruvians to worship the sun ; for that leader also occupies a prominent place in the array of heroes. With how little thought or investigation Temple assigned to his ancient worthies a place in his catalogue, appears in his choice of Almanzor, " the imaginary hero of an imaginary empire." * On these grounds we dismiss the evidence of Burnet, as to Temple's religion ; but he adds, to the effect that Temple was an Epicurean in prac tice, and a corrupter of all that came near him. We set little value upon Burnet's testimony ; yet we do not believe that he would have written thus, unless he had heard something of the freedom of Temple's conversation : it is very probable that the author of desultory essays, the superficial his torian of the dark ages, would speculate freely and injudiciously in conversation. We must go one step further : we have in this work, for the first time, shown that, in early youth, Temple was suspected of loose principles.! And though the suspicion came from an enemy, and was certainly not justi fied in the extent to which it was hazarded, it pro bably arose out of something that dropped from Temple, inconsistent with a strong religious feeling. Dorothy Osborne herself, though she indignantly repudiated her brother's insinuations, was not satis fied with the state of her lover's mind in respect of religion. But Temple was then a single man of # " I can scarcely refrain from smiling at his Almanzor, the most ac complished of the western caliphs, who reigned in Arabia, Egypt, Africa, and Spain ; but is, in fact, the imaginary hero of an imaginary empire!" Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, 8vo. v. 554. No. 14. of Index Expur- gatorius. + Sec Vol. I. p. 15—17. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 265 twenty-four: may it not be said now, — might it not still more have been said thirty years ago, — that the female of an engaged couple has usually more of devotion than the male ? The only other piece of evidence, in proof of the charge of irreligion, consists in Temple's ob servations on the religion of the Dutch. We have admitted * that the tone of these observations im plies rather too much of indifference to religious matters : and that is all which the whole of the evidence supports, t On the other hand, there is abundant evidence ofthe soundness of Temple's belief, when he was called upon to declare it. In disproof of deliberate infidelity, the family prayer X is decisive: surely this, with the History qf Divine Revelation §, and, above all, the truly Christian advice to Lady EssexW, * Vol. I. p. 396. •j- It would, perhaps, not be fair to omit the following, apparently from Bishop Ken : — " Sir William Temple and Sir Leoline Jenkins being to gether at the Hague, after the conclusion of their embassy, Sir William sent a message to the Princess of Orange, for leave to receive the com munion the next day in her chapel. Accordingly, her Highness was pleased to give orders to her chaplains to make every thing ready ; ' for though I am persuaded,' says she, ' he does not intend it, and, by the mor row, will bethink himself of some business or excuse, yet my lord am bassador Jenkins, I doubt not, will be there, though he has not sent so formally to- me.' Thus remarkable and well known was his piety and devotion to that discerning princess ; and it happened exactly according to her conjectures. This passage I have often heard spoken of, as well as many others, to the credit and honour of Sir L. Jenkins, by a right reverend prelate, now living, who was, at the time, chaplain to her Royal Highness, and from whose judicious mouth I confess to have received the most early and strongest impressions of his character." Wynne's Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins, i. lxiii. t See Vol. I. p. 28., and Appendix A. § P. 193., ante. || Compare with Temple's letter, one from Servius Sulpicius to Cicero on the loss of a daughter. Archbishop Whateley cites this and the answer in his View ofthe Scrpiture Revelations concerning a Future State, 3d edit., p. 366. 266 THE LIFE OF affords ample proof of Temple's adherence to the great truths of Christianity. Without the know ledge of a single passage in Sir William Temple's life which shows that he was peculiarly indulgent of his passions or appetites ; with testimony to his religion and virtue from Swift, his domestic secre tary, and with our knowledge of his writings and actions, we cannot admit, on the word of Burnet, that Temple was an Epicurean, a follower of Con fucius, or an atheist: such, indeed, was, long ago, the judgment of impartial critics.* The testimony of Lady Giffard is assuredly par tial ; but she would not have pointedly referred to her brother's repeated expressions of resignation to God's will, if she had known that he thought that reliance vain ; nor could he have possibly con cealed from her his sentiments upon a subject so important. One passage t in Lady Giffard's cha- * See the review of the Memoirs of Cudworth, in the " Present State of the Republic of Letters" for Jan. 1736. [xvii. 25,]: — " Amongst those who were committed to his tutelage (at Emanuel College) were Mr. (since Sir) William Temple, who, by his fine talents and prudent negotiations as a statesman and an ambassador, made so conspicuous a figure afterwards, both in the literary and political world." In a note to this passage, the reviewer mentions the injurious character given by Burnet of " this accomplished gentleman ; " and quotes the passage in which he speaks of Confucius. He thinks it probable that Burnet only heard this " from somebody, who, perhaps, heard it from somebody else.". . . " The atheistical principles he charges upon this great man do not appear in any of his writings, in which there are many expressions to be found which have a quite contrary savour. He has spoke, in deed, of Epicurus and Confucius in terms of high veneration and applause ; but with none that are too extravagant for a Christian philo sopher, who had a just value for revelation, with a very delicate taste, at the same time, of ancient wisdom and polite literature. I can't see that he has adopted any of their false and impious tenets, or that he recommends them ; but he might praise men whose principles he did not, in all instances, approve of: and a man of true judgment, who will not do this, must hardly commend any body at all." f See p. 150., ante. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 2&7 racter of Sir William Temple shows, certainly, that he was not deep in theology ; and that he pursued no elaborate researches, for the vindication of the peculiar doctrines, wherein the church in which he was bred differed from other Christian sects. It is impossible, consistently, to give a more extensive meaning to this passage. Devout laymen and theological readers were rare in the age in which Temple lived. He was not distinguished for the seriousness of his deport ment ; and the devotion of his habits was perhaps not commensurate with the conviction of his mind. Is it small praise, that, in writings voluminous and discursive, composed in the seventeenth century, in letters familiarly addressed to the courtiers of Charles IL, by a man very fond of society, a mis cellaneous reader, actively engaged in politics, not one word can be found qf scoff or scorn, and many in acknowledgment of God's providence ? Surely, the tenor of Temple's correspondence proves, either that the imputation of corrupt conversation was absolutely false, or that taste and deliberate judg ment corrected the improprieties, into which social heedlessness may have sometimes betrayed him. Burnet's concluding paragraph describes Sir William Temple as " giving himself wholly up to study, ease, and pleasure." If to this we add the faithful, zealous, and in corrupt discharge of public duties, and the affec tionate fulfilment of private relations, with a strict regard to truth and honesty, under a deep sense of God's providence, but no zeal or activity in de- 268 THE LIFE OF votion, a social disposition, but temperate habits*, the Bishop's description will be correct. And we would ask, to what other statesman of his day the same character could be justly applied? — how many of our day surpass it ? Vanity is imputed to Temple by all writers, and not unjustly : even his sister admits that his temper was variable ; and Swift, that his humour was sometimes disagreeable to those about him t : and we have seen that he had a morbid sensibility to fancied slights. Yet he was sometimes diffident of his own powers, and had not that conceit which generates self-delusion. If he prided himself upon the qualities which he had, he pretended to none which he had not. He had, apparently, a modest consciousness of his unfitness for the high and responsible offices of domestic government. Per haps this modest feeling may serve to excuse the expressions of devotion to successive patrons, which, indeed, were in no degree disgraceful, seeing that he was not, in a single instance, tempted into a mean action, or an unworthy compliance. Nothing is more remarkable than the boldness with which Temple asserted himself, when his ho nour was concerned, as contrasted with the humble * For Sir William Temple's temperance, we have Lady Giffard's au thority, as well as his own. Addison says, in the Spectator, No. 195. : — " Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple, — ' The first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humour, and the fourth for my enemies.' " We remember to have seen a bold emendation, bottle for glass, but we are sure that Temple wrote glass, though we cannot find the passage. f See p. 141., ante. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 269 and submissive tone which he adopted on ordinary occasions. Reading some of his letters, in which he professes devotion and unqualified allegiance to the ministers of Charles IL, one would say, This, surely, is not a high-minded man ; yet, when we observe the spirit with which he insisted upon re deeming the pledge which he had given to De Witt*, and his determined refusal to participate in the King's corrupt transactions with France, we recognise the manliness which no patron could sub due. The circuitous mode which he sometimes took, or contemplated, to save himself from impor tunities with which he could not comply, evinces, perhaps, a deficiency of moral courage ; but this weakness itself arose from the gentleness of his na ture, and the hardness of those with whom he dealt. He was, indeed, as Mr. Onslow remarks, " too honest for the times in which he lived." t This chapter would be interminable, if we were to insert all the commendations of Sir William Temple which we find in writers of acknowledged merit X ; but the acuteness and historical acquire ments of Mr. Fox, and his especial conversance with the reign of Charles II. forbid the omission of his testimony : — " Even Sir William Temple, who appears to have been one of the most honest as well as the most enlightened statesmen of his time, could not * Vol. I. p. 192. and 514. + Burnet, ii. 203. X In addition to those cited, see Mr. Onslow's note on Burnet [ii. 62.], and Lord Mountmorres, i. 347., and ii. 173. 270 THE LIFE OF believe his treachery to be quite so deep as it was in fact, and seems occasionally to have hoped that he was in earnest in his professed intentions of fol lowing the wise and just system that was recom mended to him. Great instances of credulity and blindness in wise men are often liable to the sus picion of being pretended, for the purpose of jus tifying the continuing in situations of power and employment longer than strict honour would allow. But to Temple's sincerity his subsequent conduct gives abundant testimony. When he had reason to think that he could no longer be useful to his country, he withdrew wholly from public business, and resolutely adhered to the preference of phi losophical retirement, which, in his circumstances, was just, in spite of every temptation which oc curred to bring him back to the more active scene. The remainder of his life he seems to have em ployed in the most noble contemplations and most elegant amusements ; every enjoyment heightened, no doubt, by reflecting on the honourable part he had acted in public affairs, and without any regret on his own account (whatever he might feel for his country) at having been driven from them." * — Again : " Sir William Temple, whose life and character is a refutation of the vulgar notion, that philosophy and practical good sense in business are incompatible attainments . . . ." t Nor can we dispense with the evidence of Sir James Mackintosh : — "Sir William Temple was * Fox, p. 26. f P. 41. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 271 a most admirable person. He seems to be the model of a negotiator, uniting politeness and address to honesty. His merit as a domestic poli tician is also very great : in an age of extremes, he was attached to liberty, and yet averse from endan gering the public quiet. Perhaps diplomatic habits had smoothed away his turbulence too much for such a government as England."* Foreigners also perceived, in union with great diplomatic address, the simplicity and moderation of his character f : and for these, as much as for his politics, King William, when Prince of Orange, preferred him to all other ambassadors.} Mental capacity is even more difficult of estima tion than moral character. Temple's was above par, yet his genius was not of the highest order, nor had his understanding that quality of precision, as often and as lamentably wanting in the mind as in the language. Neither in science nor in politics, were his opinions founded upon an accurate com bination of facts and principles ; hence, the rashness of his judgment upon the ancients and moderns, * Life of Mackintosh, ii. 199. T " L'Angleterre en 1689 perdit dans un simple particulier un de ses principaux ornemens ; je veux dire le Chevalier Temple, qui a egale ment figure avec la premiere reputation dans les lettres et dans les sciences, et dans celles de la politique et du gouvernement, et qui s'est fait un grand nom dans les plus grandes ambassades, et dans les pre mieres mediations de paix generale. C'etait, avec beaucoup d'esprit, d'insinuation, et d'adresse, un homme simple d'ailleurs, qui ne cherchait point a paraitre, et qui aimait a se rejouir, et a vivre libre, en vrai Anglais, sans aucun souci de 1' elevation de bien ni de fortune. II avait partout beaucoup d'amis, et des amis illustres, qui s'honoraient de son commerce." CEuvres de St. Simon, iv. 67. X Mr.Bentinck to Lord Danby, July 16. and Aug. 16.; and the Prince, Aug. 23. and Dec. 21. 1677.— Danby's Letters, 141. 145. 149. 168. 272 THE LIFE OF and the wildness of his suggestions in domestic government. Temple's eminence in the lighter qualities of humanity, and the agreeableness of his manner and conversation, would be inferred from the style of his letters, even if his sister had not claimed them for him. We have not presented a faultless hero: but he must, indeed, be a fastidious critic and unreasonable moralist, upon whom the blemishes which have been discovered in Sir William Temple have made a deeper impression than his virtues. We might pardon in a statesman or writer, many more of the failings of which Temple is accused, for the honesty, the sincerity, and the patriotism, which characterise his life and works. 273 SUPPLEMENT. Letters from Dorothy Osborne, afterwards Lady Temple, to Mr. Temple, afterwards Sir William. We are aware that the sentiments of our readers may, perhaps, be divided on the propriety of in serting these letters ; but we are inclined to believe that the majority, especially of those whose tastes and sentiments render their opinions more valuable, will be glad to see more of the letters of which we gave a few specimens in the text. We lament that the almost entire want of dates, either of time or place, and the absence of Mr. Temple's answers, prevent us from making of these letters a connected and continuous story. All that we can do is, to avoid placing any letter after one which was obviously written before it. We believe that these letters were all written in the years 1653 (new style) and 1654. During the period of the correspondence, Mrs. Osborne was partly, perhaps for the greater part of it, at her father's house at Chicksands, sometimes at other places in the country, sometimes for a short time in London. Temple was apparently, at the com- VOL. II. t 274 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S mencement, for a short time in Holland, chiefly in London, and in Ireland ; and paid her, it would appear, some clandestine and some acknowledged visits. The letters have been copied or extracted from the originals, in Mrs. Osborne's handwriting, now at Coddenham Vicarage. Mere expressions of affection have been generally omitted : possibly the selection, accomplished faithfully but hastily, for extract and copy respectively, has not always been the best ; too much may be given of some letters, too little of others ; yet the collection, as it is, is submitted to the reader, in the full confidence that the number of Dorothy Osborne's devoted servants, in which list we enrol ourselves, will be greatly augmented by the perusal. N° 1. In January, 1653 (new style), Mrs. Osborne appears to have been at Chicksands, and Temple to have gone to Holland ; she " wonders," in a very affectionate letter, "why he went, why no further, and why she was not to know he went so far?" N°2. " Who would be kind to one that reproaches one so cruelly ? Do you think in earnest I could LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 275 be satisfied the world should think me a dissembler, full of avarice or ambition ? No, you are mistaken ; but I '11 tell you what I could suffer, — that they should say I married where I had no inclination, because my friends thought it fit, rather than that I had run wilfully to my own ruin in pursuit of a fond passion of my own. To marry for love were no reproachful thing, if we did not see that, often thousand couples that do it, hardly one can be brought for an example that it may be done and not repented afterwards. Is there any thing thought so indiscreet, or that makes one more contemptible ? It is true, that I do firmly believe that we should be, as you say, toujours les mdmes ; but if, as you confess, it is that which hardly happens once in two ages, we are not to expect the world will dis cern we are not like the rest. " I'll tell you stories another time, you return them so handsomely upon me! Well, the next servant I tell you of shall not be called a whelp.* If it were not to give one a stick to beat myself with, I would confess that I looked upon the im pudence of this fellow as a punishment upon me for my over care in avoiding the talk of the world ; yet the case is very different, and no woman shall ever be blamed that an inconsiderable person pre tends to her, when she gives no allowance to it, whereas none shall 'scape that owns a passion, though in return of a person's much above her. * Temple appears to have written impatiently of one of his rivals ; but it has been in vain attempted to identify this lady's numerous suitors. T 2 276 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S The little tailor that loved Queen Elizabeth was suffered to talk out, and none of her council thought it necessary to stop his mouth ; but the Queen of Sweden's kind letter to the King of Scots * was intercepted by her own ambassador, because he thought it was not for his mistress's honour (at least, that was the pretended reason, and thought justifiable enough). But to come to my beagle again. I have heard no more of him, though I have seen him since. We meet at Wrest t again. I do not doubt but I shall be able to resist his im portunities better than his tutor was. But what do you think it was that gave him his encourage ment ? He was told that I had thoughts of mar rying a gentleman that had not more than 200£ a year, out of a liking to his person ; and upon that score his vanity allows him to think he may pretend as far as another. Thus you see it is not altogether without reason that I apprehend the noise of the world, since it is so much to my disadvantage. . ..." It is not likely, as you say, that you should much persuade your father to what you do not desire he should do ; but it is hard if all the tes timonies of my kindness are not enough to satisfy, without my publishing to the world, that I can * Christina was, perhaps, more likely than any queen of Sweden to commit a vagary of this sort ; but we never heard of her letter to Charles II., even if we are to suppose that he is designated as King of Scots. f Wrest, in Bedfordshire, was, at this time, the seat of Anthony Grey, eleventh Earl of Kent, and is now that of his descendant, the Earl de Grey. Britton says that there is a picture there of Sir William Temple, copied from Lely, which does not appear to be that from which any of the prints have been taken. Beauties of England, &c, i. 66. Banks, iii. 423. LETTERS.] - SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 277 forget my friends and all my interests to follow my passion : though perhaps it will admit of a good sense, 't is that which nobody but you or I will give it ; and we that are concerned in it can only say, it was out of great kindness and something of romance, but must confess it had nothing of pru dence, discretion, or solid counsel in it. It is not that I expect, by all your father's offers, to bring my friends to approve it. I do not deceive myself thus far ; but 1 would not give them occasion to say that I hid myself from them in the doing it, nor of making my action appear more indiscreet than it is. It will concern me that all the world should know what fortune you have, and upon what terms I marry you, that both may not be made to appear ten times worse than they are. . . . As all are more forcibly inclined to do ill than good, they are much apter to exceed in detraction than in praise. Have I not reason, then, to desire this from you ? and may not my friendship have deserved it ? I know not ; it is as you think ; but if I be denied it, you will teach me to consider myself. " It is well the side ended here. If I had not had occasion to stop there, I might have gone too far, and showed that I had more passions than one ; yet 't is fit you should know all my faults, lest you should repent your bargain when 't will not be in your power to release yourself. Besides, I may own my ill-humour to you that cause it. The discontents my crosses in this business have given me, make me thus peevish. Though I say t 3 & 278 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S it myself, before I knew you I was thought as well an humoured young person as most in England. Nothing displeased, nothing troubled me : when I came out of France, nobody knew me again, I was so altered ; from a cheerful humour that was always alike, never over merry but always pleased, I was grown heavy and sullen, froward and discom posed ; and that country, which usually gives peo ple a jolliness and gaiety that are natural to the cli mate, had wrought in me so contrary effects, that 1 was as new a thing to them as my clothes. If you find all this to be sad truth hereafter, remem ber that I gave you fair warning You must give Nan leave to cut off a lock of your hair, too. Oh my heart, what a sigh was there ! I need not tell you how many this journey* causes." N° 3. " I have been reckoning up how many faults you lay to my charge in your last letter, and I find I am severe, unjust, unmerciful, and unkind ! O me ! how should one do to mend all those ! 'T is work for an age, and I fear that I shall be so old before I am good, that 't will not be consider able to any body but myself whether I am so or not You ask me how I pass my time here.t * Temple was then going to visit his father in Ireland. j Probably Chicksands. In Vol. I. p. 5. it was said that this ancient seat of the Osbornes had been sold. We have great satisfaction in acknowledging an error here. It is still in the family (though not, at this moment, occupied by any member of it), and will, we trust, here after be inhabited by a young friend of ours, who has lately married the heir, and who will, we have no doubt, prove worthy of the name, which was borne by the wife of Sir William Temple. LETTERS.] SIR WILLTAM TEMPLE. 279 I can give you a perfect account, not only of what I do for the present, but what I am likely to do this seven years if I stay here so long. I rise in the morning reasonably early, and before I am ready I go round the house till I am weary of that, and then into the garden till it grows too hot for me. I then think of making me ready ; and when that 's done I go into my father's chamber ; from thence to dinner, where my cousin Molle and I sit in great state in a room and at a table that would hold a great many more. After dinner we sit and talk till Mr. P. comes in question, and them I am gone. The heat of the day is spent in reading or working ; and about six or seven o'clock I walk out into a common that lies hard by the house, where a great many young wenches keep sheep and cows, and sit in the shade singing of ballads ; I go to them, and compare their voices and beauty to some ancient shepherdesses that I have read of, and find a vast difference there ; but, trust me, I think these are as innocent as those could be. I talk to them, and find they want nothing to make them the hap piest people in the world but the knowledge that they are so. Most commonly, while we are in the middle of our discourse, one looks about her, and spies her cows going into the corn, and then away they all run as if they had wings at their heels. I that am not so nimble stay behind, and when I see them driving home their cattle think it is time for me to return too. When I have supped I go into the garden, and so to the side of a small river that runs by it, where I sit down and wish t 4 280 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S you with me {you had best say this is not kind, neither). In earnest, it is a pleasant place,, and would be more so to me if I had your company, as I sit there sometimes till I am lost with thinking ; and were it not for some cruel thoughts of the crossness of my fortune, that will not let me sleep there, I should forget there were such a thing to be done as going to bed. Since I writ this, my company is increased by two, my brother Harry, and a fair niece, my brother Peyton's * daughter. She is so much a woman that I am almost ashamed to say I am her aunt, and so pretty, that if I had any design to gain a servant I should not like her company ; but I have none, and therefore I shall endeavour to keep her here as long as I can per suade her father to spare her, for she will easily consent to it, having so much of my humour (though it be the worst thing in her) as to like a melancholy place, and little company My fa ther is reasonably well, but keeps his chamber still ; but will hardly, I am afraid, ever be so per fectly recovered as to come abroad again. N° 4. " It will not be for your advantage that I should stay here long, for in earnest I shall be good for nothing if I do. We go abroad all day, and play all night, and say our prayers when we have time. * Sir Thomas Peyton, of Knowlton in Kent, married Anne, the elder sister, by five years, of Dorothy Osborne. Betham, ii. 206. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 281 Well, in sober earnest, now I would not live thus a twelvemonth, to gain all that the King has lost, unless it was to give it him again." N° 5. " Sir, Having tired myself with thinking, I mean to weary you with reading, and revenge myself that way for all the unquiet thoughts you have given me ; but I intended this a sober letter, and therefore sans raillerie let me tell you I have seri ously considered all our misfortunes, and can see no end of them, but by submitting to that which we cannot avoid, and by yielding to it break the force of a blow which if resisted brings a certain ruin. I think I need not tell you how dear you have been to me, nor that in your kindness I placed all the satisfaction of my life ; 't was the only hap piness I proposed to myself, and had set my heart so much upon it, that it was therefore made my pu nishment, to let me see that how innocent soever I thought my affection, it was guilty in being greater than is allowable for things of this world. 'T is not a melancholy humour that gives me these apprehensions and inclinations, nor the persuasions of others ; 't is the result of a long strife with myself before my reason could overcome my passion, or bring me to a perfect resignation to whatever is allotted for me ; 'tis now done I hope, and I have nothing left but to persuade myself to that which I assure myself your own judgment will approve 282 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S in the end, and your reason has often prevailed with you to offer. That which you would have then done out of kindness to me, and point of honour, I would have you do out of wisdom, and kindness to yourself; not that I would disclaim my part in it, or lessen my obligation to you ; no, I am your friend as much as ever I was in my life, I think more, and I am sure I shall never be less. I have known you long enough to discern that you have all the qualities that make an ex cellent friend, and I shall endeavour to deserve that you may be so to me ; but I would have you do this upon the justest grounds, and such as may conduce most to your quiet and future satisfaction ; when we have tried all ways to happiness, there is no such thing to be found but in a mind conformed to one's condition, whatever it be, and in not aiming at any thing that is either impossible or improbable ; all the rest is but vanity and vexation of spirit, and I durst pronounce it so from that little know ledge I have had of the world, though I had not Scripture for my warrant. The shepherd that bragged to the traveller who asked him what weather it was like to be, that it should be what weather pleased him, and made it good by saying that it should be what weather pleased God, and what pleased God should please him, said an ex cellent thing in rude language, and knew enough to make him the happiest person in the world, if he made a right use of it. There can be no plea sure in a struggling life, and that folly which we condemn in an ambitious man, that 's ever labouring: LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 283 for that which is hardly got and more uncertainly kept, is seen in all according to their several humours ; in some 't is covetousness, in others pride; in some a stubbornness of nature that chooses always to go against the tide, and in others an un fortunate fancy to things that are in themselves innocent, till we make them otherwise by desiring them too much. Of this sort, I think, you and I are ; we have lived hitherto upon hopes so airy, that I have often wondered how they could support the weight of our misfortunes : but passion gives a strength above nature ; we see it in mad people, and (not to flatter ourselves) ours is but a refined degree of madness ; what can it be else, to be lost to all things in the world but that single object that takes up one's fancy, to lose all the quiet and repose of one's life in hunting after it, when there is so little likelihood of ever gaining it, and so many more probable accidents that will infallibly make us miss of it, and (which is more than all) it is being mastered by that which reason and religion teach us to govern, and in that only gives us a pre eminence above beasts ? This soberly considered is enough to let us see our error ; and consequently to persuade us to redeem it. To another person, I should justify myself that it is not a lightness in my nature, nor any interest that is not common to us both, that has wrought this change in me ; to you that know my heart, and from whom I shall never hide it, to whom a thousand testimonies of my kindness can witness the reality of it, and whose friendship is not built upon common grounds, I 284 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S have no more to say, but that I impose not my opinions upon you, and that I had rather you took them up as your own choice than upon my en treaty ; but if, as we have not differed in any thing else, we could agree in this too, and resolve upon a friendship that will be much the perfecter for having nothing of passion in it, how happy might we be, without so much as a fear of the change that any accident could bring ; we might defy all that fortune could do, and putting off all disguise and constraint with that which only made it neces sary, make our lives as easy to us as the condition of this world will permit. I may own you as a person that I extremely value and esteem, and for whom I have a particular friendship, and you may consider me as one that will always be your faithful ." N° 6. " I am to seek what to say that is not too little or too much. I would fain let you see that I am extremely sensible of your affliction, that I would lay down my life to redeem you from it ; but that 's a mean expression, my life is of so little value that I will not mention it. No, let it be rather what in earnest, if I can tell any thing I have left that is considerable enough to expose for it, it must be that small reputation that I have amongst my friends ; that 's all my wealth, and that I could part with to restore you as you lived when I first knew LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 285 you : but on the other side I would not give you hopes of that I cannot do. If I loved you less I would allow you to be the same person to me, and I would be the same to you, as heretofore ; but to deal freely with you, that were to betray my self, and I find that my passion would quickly be my master again if I gave it any liberty ; I am not secure that it would not make me do the most ex travagant things in the world, and I shall be forced to keep a continual war alive with it as long as there are any remainders of it left. I think I might as well have said, as long as I lived. Why should you give yourself over so unreasonably to it ? Good God ! no woman breathing can deserve half the trouble you give yourself. If I were your's from this minute I could not recompense what you have suffered from the violence of your pas sion, though I were all that you can imagine, when God knows I am an inconsiderable person, born to a thousand misfortunes which have taken away all sense of any thing else from me, and left me a walking misery only. I do from my soul forgive you all the injuries your passion has done me ; though, let me tell you, I was much more at my ease whilst I was angry : scorn and despite would have cured me in some reasonable time, which I despair of now. However, I am not displeased with it, and if it may be of any advantage to you, I shall not consider myself in it. But let me beg that you will leave off these dismal thoughts : I tremble at the desperate things you say in your letter : for the love of God consider seriously 286 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S with yourself what can enter into comparison with the safety of your soul ? Are a thousand women or ten thousand worlds worth it ? No, you can not have so little reason left as you pretend, nor so little religion. For God's sake let us not ne glect what can only make us happy for a trifle. If God had seen it fit to have satisfied our desires we should have had them, and every thing would not have conspired thus to cross them ; since he has decreed it otherwise (at least as far as we are able to judge by events) we must submit, and not by striving make an innocent passion a sin, and show a childish stubbornness. I could say a thousand things more to this purpose if I were not in haste to send this away, that it may come to you at least as soon as the other. Adieu. " I cannot imagine who this should be that Mr. D. meant, and am inclined to believe 't was a story made to disturb you, though perhaps not by him." N° 7. " I could tell you such a story, (it is too long to be written,) as would make you see what I never discovered in my life before, that I am a valiant lady. In earnest, we have had such a skirmish and upon so foolish an occasion, as I cannot tell which is strangest. The Emperor * and his pro- * From other letters, it is clear that Sir Justinian Isham, of Lam port, in Northamptonshire, is here intended. He was born in 1610, and was now a widower. Though he did not please Dorothy Osborne, he is said to have been an accomplished person, and he was a good royalist. — Betham, i. 302. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 287 posals began it ; I talked merrily on it till I saw my brother put on his sober face, and could hardly then believe he was in earnest. It seems he was ; for when I had spoke freely my meaning it wrought so with him, as to fetch up all that lay upon his stomach : all the people that I had ever in my life refused were brought again upon the stage, like Richard the Third's ghosts, to reproach me withal, and all the kindness his discoveries could make I had for you was laid to my charge ; my best qua lities, if I have any that are good, served but for aggravations of my fault, and I was allowed to have wit, and understanding, and discretion, in all other things, that it might appear I had none in this. Well, 'twas a pretty lecture, and I grew warm with it after a while. In short, we came so near to an absolute falling out that 't was time to give over, and we said so much then that we have hardly spoken a word together since. But 't is wonderful to see what courtesies and legs pass between us, and as before we were thought the kindest brother and sister, we are certainly now the most complimental couple in England : it is a strange change, and I am very sorry for it, but I'll swear I know not how to help it." .... She prefers his coming openly to prac tising concealment ; and refers to his mentioning Mr. Freeman as her servant. " He is a pretty gen tleman, but she was not aware of it, or it must be some time ago." 288 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S N° 8. " Have you read the story of China, written by a Portuguese, Fernando Mendez Pinto * I think his name is ? — 't is as diverting a book of the kind as ever I read, and is as handsomely written. You must allow him the privilege of a traveller, and he does not soar above it. His lies are as pleasant and harmless as lies can be, and in no great num ber, considering the scope he has for them." N° 9. cc I was heartily sorry to find you in so much disorder ; I would not have you so kind to me as to be cruel to yourself, in whom I am more con cerned. No, for God's sake let us not make afflic tions of such things as these ; I am afraid we shall meet with too many real ones. I am glad your journey holds, because I think it will be a good diversion for you this summer ; but I admire your father's patience that lets you rest with so much * It seems that when Dorothy Osborne had devoured all the ro mances of Scuderi and Claparede, she had recourse to those books of travels or history which claimed also the designation of romantic. This Pinto visited many parts of the East, then little known, and pro fesses to have landed in the gulf of Pekin. What he wrote of the Chinese is said to agree with what late observers have reported ; yetit is a little suspicious that he relates convervations which were carried on among the Chinese, of whose language he did not understand one word. Mrs. Osborne probably read the French quarto of 1628. See Biog. Univ. xxxiv. 481. — Mrs. Osborne speaks in this letter of being near to Brickhill. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 289 indifference when there is such a fortune offered.* I'll swear I have great scruples of conscience my self in the point, and am much afraid I am not your friend if I am any part of the occasion that hinders you from accepting it ; yet I am sure my intentions towards you are very innocent and good, for you are one of those whose interests I shall ever prefer much above my own, and you are not to thank me for it, since, to speak truth, I secure my own by it, for I defy my ill fortune to make me miserable unless she does it in the persons of my friends. I wonder how your father came to know I was in town, unless my old friend your cousin Hammond should tell him. Pray for my sake be a very obedient son ; all your faults will be laid to my charge else, and alas ! I have too many of my own. You say nothing how your sister does, which makes me hope there is no more of danger in her sickness ; pray, when it may be no trouble to her, tell her how much I am her servant, and have a care of yourself this cold weather. I have read your Reine Marguerite t, and will return it to you when you please ; if you will have my opinion of her, I think she had a good deal of wit, and a great deal of patience for a woman of so high a spirit. She speaks with too much indiffer- * It appears that Sir John Temple wished to marry his son to a Mrs. Ch., as we make it out from other letters. As Henry Temple, the third son of Sir John, married a rich lady named Chambers, it is probable that the parents who managed these matters transferred her from the elder to the younger brother. t The Memoirs, written by herself, of Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry IL, and wife of Henry IV., who prevailed upon her to consent to annul the marriage, were published in 1661. Biog. Univ. xxvii. 23. They are in Petitot's collection, vol. xxxvii. VOL. II. U 290 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S ence of her husband's several amours, and com mends Bussy as if she was a little concerned in him. I think her a better sister than a wife, and believe she might have made a better wife to a better hus band. But the story of Mademoiselle de Tournon * is so sad that when I had read it I was able to go no further, and was fain to take up something else to divert myself withal. Have you read Cleo patra t ? I have six tomes of it here that I can lend you if you have not. There are some stories in it that you will like I believe, but what an ass am I to think you can be idle enough at London to read romances. I '11 keep them till you come hither ; here they may be welcome to you for want of better company. Yet that you may not imagine we are quite out of the world here, and so be frighted from coming, I can assure you we are seldom without news, such as it is. And at this present we do abound in stories of Lady Sunder land X and Mr. Smith, with what reverence he ap proaches her, and how like a gracious princess she receives him ; that they say 't is worth one's going twenty miles to see it. All our ladies are mightily * A young lady of Margaret's Court, who died in consequence of a disappointment in love. See Petitot 121. Margaret certainly writes of the handsome Bussy in an alarming style. f A romance by Claparede, which was about this time published, in twelve volumes. Our reading does not enable us to say whether this big book was judiciously recommended. See Dunlop's Hist, of Fic tion, iii. 239. X Saccharissa ; Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Robert Earl of Leices ter, married, in 1639, to Henry, first Earl of Sunderland, who was killed at the battle of Newbury, in 1643. She was again married, in 1652, to Robert Smyth, Esq., of Bounds in Kent. Collins, i. 396. See Evelyn's Diary, July 9. 1652, iii. 59. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 291 pleased with the example, but I do not find that the men intend to follow it ; and I '11 undertake Sir Solomon Justinian (Isham) wishes her in the Indies for fear she should pervert his new wife. Your fellow servant kisses your hands, and. says if you mean to make love to her old woman this is the best time you can take, for she is dying ; this cold weather kills me I think, it has undone me I 'm sure in killing an old knight, that I have been waiting for this seven year, and now he dies and will leave me nothing I believe, but leaves a rich widow for somebody ; I think you had best come a woo ing to her, I have a good interest in her, and it shall be all employed in your service, if you think fit to make any addresses there. — But to be sober now again, for God's sake send me word how your journey goes forward, when you think you shall begin it, and how long it may last : when I may expect your coming this way, and of all things remember to provide a safe address for your letters when you are abroad." N° 10. " Since you are at leisure to consider the moon, you may be enough to read Cleopatra. Therefore I have sent you three tomes There is a story of Artemise that I will recommend to you ; his disposition I like extremely. It has a great deal of gratitude in it, and if you meet with the Bri- tomart, pray send me word how you like him." u 2 292 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S N° 11. cc I have another fault to chide you for ; you doubted whether you had not writ too much, and whether I could have the patience to read it or not. Why do you dissemble so abominably ? you cannot think these things ; how I should love that plainheartedness you speak of, if you would use it; nothing is civil but that among friends." N° 12. After saying that she valued his letter more than a big diamond, unless " such a Jewell would make me rich enough to dispute you with Mrs. Ch., and perhaps make your father like me as well. I like him I '11 swear, and extremely too, for being so calm in a business where his desires were so much crossed. Either he has a great power over himself, or you have a great interest in him, or perhaps both. If you are pleased it should end thus I cannot dislike it ; but if it would have been happy for you I should think myself strangely un fortunate in being the cause that it went no fur ther J. B. cries on me for refusing him, and choosing his chamber fellow, yet he pities me too, and swears I am condemned to be the miserablest person on earth. With all his quarrel to me he does not wish me to be married to the proudest, imperious, insulting, ill-natured man that ever was ! I have sent you the rest of Cleopatra LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 293 You will meet with a story in these parts of Cleo patra that pleased me more than any I ever read in my life. 'T is of one Delie: pray give me your opi nion of her and her prince." Her brother (of whom she speaks as going into Gloucestershire) asked her after him very kindly. N" 13. " The lady was in the right ; you are a very pretty gentleman, and a modest. Were there ever such stories as those you tell ? The best of it is, I believe none of them, unless it be that of my Lady Newport, which, I must confess, is so like her, that if it be not true, 't was at least excellently fancied. But my Lord Rich * is not caught, though he was near it. My Lord Devonshire, whose daughter t his first wife was, has engaged my Lord Warwick to put a stop to the business. Otherwise I think his present want of fortune, and the little sense of honour he has, might have been prevailed on to marry her. It is strange to see the folly that pos sesses the young people of this age, and the^liberty they take to themselves. I have the charity to believe they appear very much worse than they are, and that the want of a Court to govern themselves by, is in great part the cause of their ruin : though * Robert Lord Rich, son of Robert, second Earl of Warwick. His second wife was a widow Rogers. His mother was the daughter of Sir William Hatton, alias Newport ; but this does not help us to an ex planation of the allusion. Banks, iii. 734. f Anne, daughter of William Cavendish, second Earl of Devonshire. u 3 294 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE's that was no perfect school of virtue, yet vice there wore her mask, and appeared so unlike herself that she gave no scandal. Such as were really as dis creet as they seemed to be, gave good example, and the eminency of their condition made others strive to imitate them, or, at least, they durst not own a contrary course. All who had good prin ciples and inclinations were encouraged in them, and such as had neither were forced to put on a handsome disguise, that they might not be out of countenance at themselves. * It is certain what you say, that, where divine or human laws are not positive, we may be our own judges ; nobody can hinder us, nor is it in itself to be blamed. But sure it is not safe to take all the liberty is allowed us ; there are not many that are sober enough to be trusted with the government of themselves; and because others judge us with more severity than our indulgence to ourselves will permit, it must necessarily follow, that it is safer being ruled by their opinion than by our own. I am disputing again, though you told me my fault so plainly. I'll give it over, and tell you that Parthenissa t is now my company. My brother sent it down, and I have almost read it. It is handsome language ; you would almost know it to be writ by a person * We are compelled to admit that, when the Court was restored, six years after this letter was written, no disguise was required or worn. But these remarks from a sensible and modest young woman may re mind us of the great influence of a well-regulated Court, such as we have seen and see ; and ought to warn those who are concerned not to allow of exceptions on any consideration whatsoever. t Written by Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill. (Dunlop, iii. 448.) We fear that we should not have discovered the nobility ofthe author. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 295 of good quality, though you were not told it: but, on the whole, I am not very much taken with it. All the stories have too near a resemblance with those of other romances; — there is nothing of new or surprenant in them. The ladies are all so kind they make no sport ; and I met only with one that took me by doing a handsome thing of the kind. She was in a besieged town, and persuaded all those of her sex to go out with her to the enemy (which were a barbarous people), and die by their swords, that the provisions of the town might last the longer for such as were able to do service in defending it ; but how angry was I to see him spoil this again, by bringing out a letter this woman left behind her for the governor of the town, where she discovers a passion for him, and makes that the reason why she did it. I confess I have no patience with our faiseurs de romance, when they make women court. It will never enter into my head that it is possible any woman can love where she is not first loved, and much less that, if they could do that, they could have the face to own it. Methinks, he that writes I'Mustre Bassa * says well in his epistle, that we are not to imagine his hero to be less taking than those * Ibrahim, or Plllustre Bassa, the earliest of Madame Scuderi's romances. Ibrahim was grand vizier to Solyman the Magnificent. We apprehend that these works continued for a long time after that of Dorothy Osborne to form part of the studies of the young ladies of England : but we know of a case, which occurred about thirty years ago, when a father bribed his daughter, a remarkably intelligent person, to get through l'lllustre Bassa; and we apprehend that this must have been nearly the latest admittance which he of three tails obtained into an English boudoir. Dunlop, iii. 260. u 4 296 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBOHNe's of other romances, because the ladies do not fall in love with him whether he will or not. It would be an injury to the ladies to suppose they would do so, and a greater to his hero's civility if he should put him upon being cruel to them, since he was to love but one. Another fault I find on him is the style : it is affected. Ambi- tioned* is a great word with him, and ignore : my concern, or, of great concern, is, it seems, properer than concernment; and though he makes his people say fine handsome things to one another, yet they are not easy and vain like the French; and there is a bitter harshness in some of the discourses that would take to be the fault of a translator rather than of an author. But perhaps I like it the worse for having a piece of Cyrus t by me that I am hugely pleased with, and that I would fain have you read : I'll send it you ; at least read one story that I'll mark you down, if you have time for no more. I am glad you stay to wait on your sister ; I would have my gallant civil to all, much more where it is so due, and kindness too. I have the cabinet, and it is in earnest a pretty one. Though you will not own it as a present, I'll keep it as one, and 'tis like to be yours no more, but as 'tis mine. I'll warrant you would ne'er have thought of mak- * This word, as offensive to our ear as to that of Mrs. Osborne, lay dormant until some modern novelists revived it. Generally speaking, the adoption of nouns as verbs ad libitum is an Americanism. f Artamenes, or the Grand Cyrus, is another of Madame Scuderi's romances. An English translation, in three or four volumes folio, came out about this time. Dunlop, iii. 263. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 297 ing me a present of charcoal, as my servant James * would have done ; to warm my heart I think he meant it ; but the truth is, I had been inquiring for some (as it is a commodity scarce enough in this country), and he hearing of it told the Baily he would give him some if it were for me. But this is not all : I cannot forbear telling you that t'other day he made me a visit ; and I, to prevent his making discourses to me, made Mrs. Goldsmith and Jane sit by me all the while ; but he came better provided than I could have imagined : he brought a letter with him, and gave it me as one that he had met with directed to me : he thought it came out of Northamptonshire. I was upon my guard ; and, suspecting all he said, examined him so strictly where he had it, before I would open it, that he was hugely confounded, and I confirmed that it was his. I laid it by, and wished when they would have left us, that I might have taken notice of it to him. But I had forbid it them so strictly before that they offered not to stir further than to look out of window, as not thinking there was any ne cessity of giving us their eyes as well as their ears ; but he, that thought himself discovered, took that time to confess to me (in a whispering voice, that I could hardly hear myself), that the letter (as my Lord Broghill says) was of great concern to him, and begged I would read it, and give him my an swer. I took it up presently as if I had meant it, * From another letter, it appears that the name of the suitor so con temptuously treated was Fish. 298 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNe's but threw it sealed as it was into the fire, and told him (as softly as he had spoke to me) I thought that the quickest and best way of answering it. He sat a while in great disorder without speaking a word, and so rose and took his leave. Now, what think you; shall I ever hear of him more? You do not thank me for using your rival so scurvily, nor are not jealous of him ; though your father thinks my intentions were not handsome towards you, which, methinks, is another argument that one is not to be one's own judge, for I am very con fident they were, and, with his favour, shall never believe otherwise. I am sure I had no ends to serve of my own in what I did : it could be no ad vantage to me that had firmly resolved never to marry; but I thought it might be an injury to you to keep you in expectation of what was never likely to be, as I apprehended. Why do I enter into this wrangling discourse ? " Let your father think me what he pleases. If he ever comes to know me, the rest of my actions shall justify me in this. If he does not, I'll begin to practise upon him (what you have so often preached to me), to neglect the report of the world, and satisfy myself in my own innocency. It will be pleasinger to you, I am sure, to tell you how fond I am of your lock. Well, in earnest now, and setting aside all compliment, I never saw finer hair, nor of a better colour ; but cut no more of it. I would not have it spoiled for the world ; if you love me be careful of it; I am combing and curling and kissing this lock all day, and dreaming LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 299 of it all night. The ring too is very well, only a little ofthe biggest. Send me a tortoiseshell one to keep it on, that is a little less than that I sent for a pattern. I would not have the rule absolutely true without exception, that hard hairs are ill-natured, for then I should be so ; but I can allow that all soft hairs are good, and so are you, or I am deceived as much as you are, if you think I do not love you enough. Tell me, my dearest, am I ? You will not be if you think I am not yours." N° 14. The former part of this letter is in Vol. I. p. 15. " All was in as civil language as it would permit ; and parted in great anger, with the usual ceremony of a leg and a courtesy He came into her room, and they got upon religion, the discourse qf which brought them into good terms together." N° 15. " I do not use to forget my old acquaintance. Almanzor * is as fresh in my memory as if I had visited his tomb but yesterday, though it be at least seven years ago since. You will believe I had * The allusion is probably to the Spanish romance of which Gibbon speaks, where we have quoted him, in p. 264. Lady Temple ought to have prevented her husband from making a real man of this fabulous hero. 300 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S not been used to great afflictions when I made his story such a one to me as I cried an hour together for him, and was so angry with Alcidiane, that for my life I could never love her after it." Speaking of " my dear Lady Di.* " she says, " she is acquainted with your aunt, my Lady R.t, and says all that you say of her. If her niece has so much wit, will you not be persuaded to like her? or say she has not quite so much, may not her for tune make it up ? . . . . If your father does not use all his kindness and all his power to make you consider your own advantage, he is not like other fathers. Can you imagine that he that demands 5000/. besides the reversion of an estate, will like bare 4000/. Such miracles are seldom seen, and you must prepare to suffer a strange persecution unless you grow conformable." She proceeds to urge him to accept the offer, and speaks of the way in which she is catechised about him. They speak respectfully of Temple, and cannot discover what his resolution is . ..." I shall not blush to tell you that you have made the whole world besides so in different to me, that if I cannot be yours they may dispose of me how they please. H. C. X will be as acceptable to me as anybody else." * Lady Diana Rich, daughter of Henry Earl of Holland. She died unmarried. She had brothers and sisters married ; but we know not to which of these the niece belonged whom Mrs. Osborne kindly offers to her lover. Banks, iii. 737. t We have met with no aunt of Temple's to whom this designation belongs. X Henry Cromwell. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 301 N° 16. " I know not how I stumbled upon a news-book this week, and, for want of something else to do, read it. It mentions my Lord L.'s * embassy again. Is there any such thing towards ? I met with something else in it that may concern anybody that has a mind to marry. It is a new form for it, that sure will fright the country people extremely, for they apprehend nothing like going before a jus tice.! They say no other marriage will stand good in law : in conscience, I believe, the old one is the better; and, for my part, I am resolved to stay till that comes in fashion again. X " Can your father have so perfectly forgiven already the injury I did him (since you will not allow it to be any to you, in hindering you of Mrs. Ch.) as to remember me with kindness ?" * Lisle, thought of for the embassy to Sweden. I In Aug. 1653, an act passed for marrying by justices of the peace. We must not impute irresolution to Dorothy Osborne, for having so far conformed to the bad times in which she lived as to consent to marry the husband of her choice without waiting for the restoration of the ancient worship. The subject has some interest now, when ques tions have arisen as to that which the state shall require as the act and evidence of marriage. We know not whether reluctant conformers, as the Temples were, to the new system, obtained for their union a reli gious sanction, by calling in aid the service or ministers of the church after they had ratified their civil contract before a justice of the peace. We trust that, if anything like the act of 1653 were to pass now, all church-people would be married as at present : they might then permit dissenters of all sorts to be married in the civil form only, or with the addition of any form of religious service, as the members of each sect might think fit. 802 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE's N° 17. This letter, with a great deal of praise of " Lady Diana," refers to some story about her which Mrs. Osborne disbelieves, as she cannot think she could ever have done anything that was unhandsome "I should have guessed Alger. Sydney as the other person concerned, but that I cannot see in him that likelihood of a fortune which you seem to imply, by saying 't is not present ; but if you should mean by that, that it is possible that his wit and good parts may raise him to one, you must pardon me if I am not of your opinion, for I do not think these are times for anybody to expect preferment in that deserves it ; and, in the best, it was ever too uncertain for a wise body to trust to ; but I am altogether of your mind, that my Lady Sunderland is not to be followed in her marrying fashion For God's sake do not say she has the spleen. I shall hate it worse than ever I did ; not that it is the disease of the wits. I shall think you abuse me, for then I am sure it would not be mine ; but, were it certain that they went together always, I dare swear there is nobody so proud of their wit as to keep it upon such terms, but would be glad, after they had endured it awhile, to let them both go as they came." N° 18. " I was offered a new servant the other day, and they told me he had as good as 2000?. a year in pre- LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 80S sent, and 1000/. more to come. I had not the curi osity to ask who he was, which they took so ill, that I think I shall hear no more of it." Nu 19. She speaks of taking up her story from their parting at Goreing House.* " I came down hither not half so well pleased as I went up, with an engagement upon me that I had little hope of ever shaking off." She says she got her brother to go and see the house, and he found it in so bad a condition that she " took hold of this, and made it considerable enough to break the agreement. I had no quarrel to his person or his fortune, but was in love with neither, and much out of love with a thing called marriage, and have since thanked God I was so for his sake, since one of my brothers sent me word that he was killed in a duel, though since I hear it was the other that was killed, and he fled upon it, which does not mend the matter much." Soon after this her mo ther died ; then her aunt sent for her, and pro posed Sir Justinian. " He had a great estate, was as fine a gentleman as ever England bred, and the very pattern of wisdom. I that know how much I wanted it thought this the safest place for me to appear in, and was mightily pleased to think I had met with one at last who had enough for himself and me too; but still I tell you what I thought * A residence, apparently, in the neighbourhood of London. Some of Lord Arlington's letters are dated there. 304 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S when I knew him. He was the vainest, imperti nent, self-conceited, learned coxcomb that ever yet I saw. To say more were to spoil his marriage, which I hear is towards with a daughter of Lord Coleraine, but for his sake I shall take heed of a fine gentleman as long as I live. Before I had quite ended with him, coming to town about that and some other occasions of my own, I fell in Sir Tho mas's way ; and what humour took him I cannot imagine, but he made very formal addresses to me, and engaged his mother and my brother to appear in it, and this bred a story pleasanter than any I have told you, but so long a one that I must reserve it till we meet " She then went to drink the waters, on account of " the spleen " at her coming home after the summer. " I found that a gentle man, who has some estate in this country, had been treating with my brother, and it yet goes on fair and softly. I do not know him so well as to give you much of his character. 'Tis a modest, melan choly, reserved man, whose head is so taken up with little philosophical studies, that I admire how I found a room there. 'T is sure by chance, and unless he is pleased with that part of my humour which other people think the worst, 't is very pos sible the next new experiment may crowd me out again. Thus you have all my late adventures." N° 20. After mentioning some letters which she does not like, — " In my opinion those great scholars are LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 305 not the best writers (of letters I mean, of book's perhaps they are) ; I never had, I think, but one letter from Sir Jus., but 't was worth twenty of any body's else to make me sport. It was the most sublime nonsense that in my life I ever read, and yet I believe he descended as low as he could to come near my weak understanding. 'T will be no compliment after this to say I like your letters in themselves, not as they come from one that is not indifferent to me, but seriously I do. All letters, methinks, should be free and easy as our discourse, not studied as an oration, nor made up of hard words like a charm ; 't is an admirable thing to see how some people will labour to find out terms that may obscure a plain sense, like a gentleman I know, who would never say the weather grew cold, but that winter began to salute us. I have no patience at such coxcombs, and cannot blame an old uncle of mine that threw the standish at his man's head because he wrote a letter for him, when, instead of saying (as his master bid him) that he would have writ himself but that he had the gout in his hand, he said, that the gout in his hand would not permit him to put pen to paper. The fellow thought he had mended it mightily, and that putting pen to paper was much better than plain writing " She mentions translations of French romances, Po- lexandre *, lTllustre Bassa, and Prazimene. " Lord Saye t, I am told, has writ a romance since his re- * Dunlop, iii. 230. f James Fienes, second Viscount Say and Sele. Mrs. Osborne pro bably was misinformed ; at least, the work never came to light. To compose a romance in the island of Lundy, a man must have much of VOL. II. X 306 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S tirement in the Isle of Lundy ; and Mr. Waller, they say, is writing one of our wars, which, if he does not mingle with a great deal of pleasing fiction, cannot be very diverting, since the subject is so sad." N° 21. " I concluded from what you said of your indis position that it was the spleen ; but perhaps I fore saw you would not be willing to own a disease that the severer part of the world hold to be merely imaginary and affected, and therefore proper only to women I cannot excuse you, that profess to be my friend, writing to me every week, and yet never sending me any of the new phrases of the town Pray> what is meant by wellness and unwellness f and why is to some extream better than to some extremity ? I believe I shall live here till there is quite a new language spoke where you are, and shall come out like one of the seven sleepers, a creature of another age ; but 't is no matter, so you understand me." the romantic in himself. Sea and solitude may develope romantic notions, but will hardly create them. Lord Say was a man of the world, able and ambitious ; a violent opponent of the court ; and, from his hostility to the church, " the oracle of the puritans in the worst sense." No wonder if his broodings among the rabbits did not produce a folio of love and gallantry. Collins, vii. 22. Clarendon, i. 317. Mr. Waller's work is equally unknown to us. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 307 N° 22. " I have no reason to take it ill that you endea vour to preserve me a liberty, though I am never likely to make use of it ; besides that, I agree with you, too, that it is much better that you should owe my kindness to nothing but your own merit and my inclination, than that there should be any other necessity upon me of making good my word to you I have but one [picture]] that 's any thing like, and that 's a great one ; but I will send it some time or other to Cooper or Hoskins *, and have a little one drawn by it. Let me ask you one question seriously ; pray resolve me truly, — Do I look so stately as people apprehend ? I vow to you I made nothing of it when Sir Emperor said so, because I had no great opinion of his judgment; but Mr. Freeman makes me distrust myself ex tremely (not that I am sorry that I did appear so to him, since it kept me from the displeasure of refusing an offer which I do not perhaps deserve, but that it is a scurvy quality in itself), and I am afraid I have it in great measure if I shewed any of it to him, for whom I have so much respect and esteem. If it be so you must needs know it, for though my kindness will not let me look so upon you, you can see what I do to other people ; and besides, there was a time when we ourselves were indifferent to one another : did I do so then, or * A portrait painter, who died in 1664. Bryan, i. 563. x 2 308 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S have I learned it] since ? " — She speaks of these verses, which somebody had made upon her : — " Of stately and majestic brow,. Of force to make Protectors bow." N° 23. " Let me ask you whether it be possible that Mr. Grey makes love ? they say he does to Lady Jane Seymour.* If it were expected that one should give a reason for their passion, what could he say for himself? He would not offer, sure,, to make us believe my Lady Jane a lovelier person than Lady Anne Percy, t I did not think I should live to see his frozen heart melted. 'T is the greatest conquest he will ever make ; may it be happy to her My Lady Anne Wentworth X I hear is marrying, but I cannot learn to whom ; nor is it easy to guess who is worthy of her. In my judg ment she is, without dispute, the finest lady I know (one always excepted §) ; not that she is at all hand some, but infinitely virtuous and discreet ; of a sober and of a very different humour from most of * Mr. Grey was unsuccessful : Lady Jane Seymour, one of the daughters of William, second Duke of Somerset, married Lord Clifford of Lonesborough. (Collins, i. 182.) We do not know who, of all the numerous and still flourishing Greys, is here intended. j He was not more fortunate with Lady Anne Percy, one of the elder sisters of Lady Essex. She married Lord Stanhope, heir to Lord Chesterfield, and died in 1654. X Anne, daughter of the unfortunate Earl of Strafford, married Ed ward Watson, Lord Rockingham, ancestor of the late marquis. Banks iii. 639. . ' ' § Probably Lady Sunderland. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 309 the young people of these times, but has as much wit and is as good company as anybody that ever I saw." N° 24. " I take it kindly that your father asked for me, and that you are not pleased with the question he made ofthe continuance of my friendship. I can pardon it him, because he does not know me. My lady has writ me word that she intends very shortly to sit at Lilly's for her picture for N° 25. In another she excuses herself from seeing Tem ple, being " engaged lo sup and play at the Three Kings." She speaks of " the long walk at Du., and of Will. Spencer * marrying a fortnight before, and of intending to have her picture drawn by Mr. Cooper, "t N° 26. " I sent you a part of Cyrus last week, where you will meet with one Doralezi, in the story of Alcadate and Panthee ; the whole story is very good, but her humour makes the best part of it. I * Probably William, brother of the first Earl of Sunderland, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Gerrard. Collins, i. 394. f Samuel Cooper, pupil of Hoskins, born 1609, died 1672. There is a faded miniature of Lady Temple at Coddenham. Bryan, i. 299. x 3 310 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S am of her opinion in most things that she says in her character of Vhonn4te homme that she is in search of, and her resolution of receiving no heart that had been offered to anybody else. Pray tell me how you like her, and what fault you find in my Lady Car. letter. Methinks the hand and the style both shew her a great person, and 't is writ in the way that's now affected by all that pretend to wit and good breeding ; only I am a little scan dalised, I confess, that she uses that word faithful, she that never knew how to do so in her life.* I have sent you my picture, because you wished for it ; but pray let it not presume to disturb my Lady Sunderland ; put it in some corner, where no eye may find it out but yours, to whom it is only in tended. It is no very good one ; the best I shall ever have drawn of me, for, as my lady says, my time for pictures is past." N° 27. "I am glad you are an admirer of Telesile as well as I.t In my opinion 'tis a fine lady, but I know you will pity poor Amestris X, when you have read her story. I'll swear I cried for her when I read it first, though she were but an imaginary person ; and sure, if anything of that kind can * We know not who this faithless lady was. + One ofthe heroines ofthe romance of Cyrus. X Another, who marries the wrong man, the right one having gone away in a fit of mistaken jealousy. All comes right at last, according to the laws of romance. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 311 deserve it, her misfortunes may. God forgive me, I was as near laughing yesterday where I should not : would you believe that I had the grace to go hear a sermon upon a week-day ? In earnest, 't is true, and Mr. Marshall was the man that preached, but never any body was so defeated. He is so famed that I expected rare things from him, and seriously I listened to him at first with as much reverence and attention as if he had been St. Paul. And what do you think he told us ? why, that if there were no kings, no queens, no lords, no ladies, no gentlemen or gentlewomen in the world, it would be no loss at all to God Almighty, this he said over some forty times, which made me remem ber it, whether I would or not. The rest was much at this rate, entertained with the prettiest odd phrases, that I had the most ado to look soberly enough for the place I was in that ever I had in my life. He does not preach so always, sure ; if he does, I cannot believe his sermons will do much towards the bringing anybody to heaven more than by exercising their patience ; yet I'll say that for him, he stood stoutly for tithes, though in my opinion few deserve them less than he, and it may be he would be better without them. Yet you say you are not convinced that to be miserable is the way to be good ; to some natures I think it is not ; but there are many of so careless and vain a temper that the least breath of good fortune swells them with so much pride, that if they were not put in mind sometimes by a sound cross or two that they are mortal, they would hardly think it possible ; * 4 312 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S and though it is a sign of a servile nature, when fear produces more of reverence in us than love, yet there is more danger of forgetting one's self in a prosperous fortune than in the contrary; and affliction may be the surest though not the plea santest guide to heaven. What think you, might I not preach with Mr. Marshall for a wager ? . . . . Is it true that my Lord Whitlock * goes ambassa dor where my Lord L. t should have gone ? I know not how he may appear in a Swedish court, but he was never meant for a courtier at home, I believe. Yet 't is a gracious prince ; he is often in this country, and always does us the favour to send for his fruit hither. He was making a purchase of one of the best houses in the country. I know not whether he goes on with it, but 't is such a one as will not become any thing less than a lord, and there is a talk as if the Chancery were going down ; if so, his title goes with it. I think 't will be sad news for my Lord Keble's son X ; he will have nothing left to say when ' my lord my father' is taken from him." * Bulstrode Whitelocke did go ; and distinguished himself as a di plomatic courtier. See his account of his embassy, and Foreign Quar terly Review, xiii. 27. t Lisle. X Joseph Keble, a well-known law reporter, was the son of Richard Keble, who was one of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal from 1648 -to 1654. And there was " some debate whether they should be styled Commissioners or Lords Commissioners; and though the word lords was far less acceptable at this time than formerly, yet that they might not seem to lessen their own authority, nor the honour of their officers constituted by them, they voted the title to be Lords Commissioners." What apity that these republicans had not heard Mr. Marshall's sermon! There were about this time various plans for reforming the Chancery, and even superseding it by the common law .(See Whitelocke's Memorials, edit. 1732, p. 379. 621.) LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 313 N° 28. " There are a great many ingredients must go to the making me happy in a husband. My cousin Fr.* says our humours must agree, and to do that he must have that kind of breeding that I have had, and used that kind of company ; that is, he must not be so much a country gentleman as to understand nothing but hawks and dogs, and be fonder of either than of his wife ; nor of the next sort of them, whose time reaches no farther than to be justice of peace, and once in his life high sheriff, who reads no book but statutes, and studies nothing but how to make a speech interlarded with Latin, that may amaze his disagreeing poor neigh bours, and fright them rather than persuade them into quietness. He must not be a thing that began the world in a free school, was sent from thence to the university, and is at his farthest when he reaches the inns of court ; has no acquaintance but those of his form in those places; speaks the French he has picked out of old laws, and admires nothing but the stories he has heard ofthe revels that were kept there before his time. He must not be a town gallant neither, that lives in a tavern and an ordinary ; that cannot imagine how an hour should be spent without company unless it be in sleeping ; that makes court to all the women he sees, thinks they believe him, and laughs and is laughed at equally. Nor a travelled Monsieur, whose head is feathered inside and outside, that can talk of * Franklin. 314 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S nothing but of dances and duels, and has courage enough to wear slashes, when every body else dies with cold to see him. He must not be a fool of no sort, nor peevish, nor ill-natured, nor proud, nor courteous ; and to all this must be added, that he must love me, and I him, as much as we are capa ble of loving. Without all this his fortune, though never so great, would not satisfy me, and with it a very moderate one would keep me from ever re penting my disposal. " I have been as large and as particular in my description as my cousin Molle, in his of Moor Park Would you had sent me your father's letter ; it would not have been less welcome to me than to you I should be pleased, too, to see something of my Lady Carlisle's * writing, because she is so extraordinary a person." .... She refers to a picture of herself. " I do not know whether it be very like me or not, though 't is the best I have ever had drawn for me ; and Mr. Lilly t will have it that he never took more pains to make a good one in his life He is now at my Lord Paget's, at Marlow, where I am promised he shall draw a picture of my lady for me." * Lady Lucy Percy, daughter of Henry, ninth Earl of Northumber- land, married, in 1617, at eighteen years old, to James Hay, Earl of Carlisle. She was an active, but, according to Clarendon, not a very judicious partizan of Charles I. (Collins, ii. 343. See Clarendon's Re bellion, u. 13. 603.; and a grand account of her prefixed to Sir Toby Matthews's Letters, 1660.) Waller addressed verses to her. Whitting- hame, xix. 88. f Sir Peter Lely. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 315 N° 29. After speaking of the loss of a letter, she says, " It may be numbered among our misfortunes, all which an inconsiderate passion has occasioned. You must pardon me ; I cannot be reconciled to it ; it has been the ruin of us both. It is true that nobody must imagine to themselves ever to be absolute masters of it, but there is great difference between that and yielding to it ; between striv ing with it, and soothing it up till it grows too strong for one. Can I remember how ignorantly and innocently I suffered it to steal upon me by degrees ; how, under a mask of friendship, I cozened myself into that, which, had it appeared to me at first in its true shape, I had feared and shunned? Can I discern that it has made the trouble of your life, and cast a cloud upon mine, that will help to cover me in my grave ? Can I know that it wrought so upon us both as to make neither of us friends to one another, but agree in running wildly to our own destruction, and that perhaps of some more innocent persons, who might live to curse our folly, that gave them so miserable a being ? Ah I if you love yourself or me, you must confess that I have reason to con demn this senseless passion, that whensoever it comes destroys all that entertain it : nothing of judgment or discretion can live with it, and puts every thing else out of order before it can find a place for itself. What has it not brought my poor 316 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S Lady Anne Blunt * to ? she is the talk of all the footmen and boys in the street, and will be com pany for them shortly, and yet who is so blinded by her passion as not at all to perceive the misery she has brought herself to ; and this fond love of hers has so rooted all sense of nature out of her heart, that they say she is no more moved than a statue with the afflictions of a father and mother that doted on her, and had placed the comfort of their lives in her preferment. With all this, is it not evident to the whole world that Mr. Blunt could not consider any thing in this action but his own interest, and that he makes her a very ill return for all her kindness ? If he had loved her truly, he would have died rather than have been the occasion of this misfortune to her I take it a little ill, that you should conjure me by any thing, with a belief that it is more powerful with me than your kindness. No, assure yourself that what that alone cannot gain will be denied to all the world. You would see me, you say ; you may do so, if you please, though I know not to what end. You deceive yourself if you think it would prevail upon me to alter my intention. Besides, I can make no contrivances ; it must be here, and I must endure the noise it will make, and undergo the censures of a people that choose ever to give the worst interpretation that any thing will bear ; yet, if it can be any ease to you to make me more miserable, never spare me ; consider yourself only, * We have in vain endeavoured to discover this unhappy lady. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 317 and not me at all. This is no more than I deserve, for not accepting what you offered me whilst it was in your power to make it good, as you say it then was. You were "prepared, it seems ; but I was surprised, I confess it : it was a kind fault, though, and you may pardon it with more reason than I have to forgive it myself. And let me tell you this, too, as lost and as wretched as I am, I have still some sense of my reputation left in me ; I find that to the last I shall attempt to preserve it as clear as I can, and to do that I must, if you see me thus, make it the last of our interviews. What can excuse me if I should entertain any person that is known to pretend to me, when I can have no hope of ever marrying him ; and what hope can I have of that, when the fortune, that can only make it possible to me, depends upon a thousand incidents and contingencies, the uncertainty of the place 't is in, and the government it may fall under; your father's life or his success, his disposal of him self and then of his fortune; besides the time that must necessarily be required to produce all this, and the changes that it may probably bring with it, which it is impossible for us to foresee. All this considered, what have I to say for myself, when people shall ask what it is I expect ? can there be any thing vainer than such a hope upon such grounds ? You must needs see the folly of it jrourself, and therefore examine your own heart what it is fit for me to do, and what you can do for a person you love, and that deserves your compas sion, if nothing else ; a person that will always 318 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S have an inviolable friendship for you, a friendship that shall take up all the room my passion held in my heart, and govern there as master till death come to take possession and turn it out. Why should you make an impossibility where there is none ? A thousand accidents might have taken me from you, and you must have borne it : why would not your own resolution work as much upon you as necessity and time does infallibly upon all people ? Your father would take it very ill, I believe, if you should pretend to love me better than he did my lady ; yet she is dead, and yet he lives, and perhaps may do to love again. There is a gentle woman in this country that loved so passionately for six or seven years, that her friends who kept her from marrying, fearing her death, consented to it, and within half a year her husband died, which afflicted her so strangely nobody thought she would have lived ; she saw no light but candles for three years, nor came abroad in five ; and now that it is some nine years past, she is passionately taken again with another, and how long she has been so nobody knows but herself. This is to let you see *t is not impossible what I ask, nor unreasonable : think on it, and attempt it, at least, but do it sincerely, and do not help your passion to master you. As you have ever loved me, do this. I long to hear from you, but if you should deny me the only hope that 's left me, I must beg you will defer it till Christmas-day be passed ; for, to deal freely with you, I have some devotions to perform then, which may not be disturbed with any thing, and nothing LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 319 is like to do it so much as so sensible an affliction. Adieu." N° 30. " If to know I wish you with me pleases you, 't is a satisfaction you may always have, for I have it perpetually ; but were it really in my power to make you happy I could not miss being so myself, for I know nothing else I want towards it. You are admitted to all my entertainments, and it would be a pleasing surprise to me to see you amongst my shepherdesses. I meet some there sometimes that look very like gentlemen, for 't is a road, and when they are in good humour, they give us a compliment as they go by; but you would be so courteous as to stay, I hope, if we entreated you. 'T is in your way to this place, and just before the house; 't is our Hyde Park, and every fine evening, anybody that wanted a mistress would be sure to find one there. I have wondered often to meet my fair Lady Ruthin there alone * ; methinks it should be dangerous for an heir ; I could find in my heart to steal her away myself; but it should be rather for her person than her fortune. My brother says not a word of you nor your service, nor do I expect he should. If I could forget you, he could not help my memory. You would laugh, sure, if I could tell you how many servants he has * Susan, daughter and heiress of Charles Longueville, Lord Grey de Ruthyn. She afterwards married Sir Harry Yelverton. Banks, ii. 241. 320 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S offered me since he came down, but one above all the rest, I think he is in love with himself, and may marry him too if he pleases ; I shall not hinder him. 'T is one Talbot, the finest gentleman he has seen this seven years ; but the mischief of it is, he has not above 1500/. or 1600/. a year, though he swears he begins to think one might bate 500/. a year for such a husband. I tell him I am glad to hear it, and if I were as much taken as he with Mr. Talbot, I should not be less gallant, but I doubted the first extremely. I have spleen enough to carry me to Epsom this summer, but yet I think I shall not go. If I make one journey I must make more, for then I have no excuse ; and rather than be obliged to that, I '11 make none. You have so often reproached me with the loss of your liberty, that, to make you some amends, I am contented to be your prisoner this summer, but you shall do me one favour this summer into the bargain. When your father goes into Ireland, lay your commands upon some of his servants to get you an Irish grey hound. I have one that was the General's, but it is a female, and they are always much less than the males. I got it in the time of my favour there, and it was all they had. H. C. * undertook to write to his brother Fleetwood for another for me, but I have lost my hopes there ; whomsoever it is that you employ, he will need no other instructions, but to get the biggest he can meet with. 'Tis all the beauty of those dogs, or of any, indeed, I think. * Henry Cromwell. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 321 A mastiff is handsomer to me than the most exact little dog that ever lady played withal. You will not offer to take it ill that I employ you on such a commission, since I have told you that the General's son did not refuse it; but I shall take it ill if I do not take the same freedom, whensoever I am capable of serving you. ... I am told that R. Spencer is a servant to a lady of my acquaintance, a daughter of my Lady Lexington's * ; is it true ? and if it be, what is become of the 2500/. lady ? Would you think it, that I have an ambassador from the Emperor Justinian, that comes to renew the treaty. In earnest 't is true, and I want your counsel extremely what to do in it ; you told me once that of all my servants you liked him the best; if I could so too, there were no dispute in it : well, I' 11 think of it, and if it succeed I will be as good as my word ; you shall take your choice of my four daughters, t Am not I beholden to him, think you ? He says he has made addresses, 't is true, in several places since we parted, but could not fix anywhere, and in his opinion he sees no body that would make so fit a wife for himself as I. He has often inquired after me to know if I were not marrying ; and somebody told him I had an ague, and he presently fell sick of one too, so natural a sympathy there is between us, and yet * One of the three wives of Robert Sutton, first Lord Lexington. f Sir Justinian Isham (see p. 286.) had four daughters by his first wife. His two daughters, by his second wife (of whom we shall hear presently) were remarkably learned. We know not whether their elder sisters, whom Dorothy Osborne recommends to her lover, were equally distinguished. vol. ii. y 322 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S for all this, on my conscience we shall never marry. He desires to know whether I am at liberty or not. What shall I tell him, or shall I send him to you to know? I think that will be best. I'll say that you are much my friend, and that I am resolved not to dispose of myself but with your consent and approbation ; therefore he must make all his court to you, and when he can bring me a certificate under your hand that you think him a fit husband for me, 't is very likely I may have him ; till then I am his humble servant, and your faithful friend." N° 31. A letter of much devotion, urging him to tell her faults, — justifying herself for not seeing him on some occasion: — " I cannot promise that I shall be yours, because I know not how far my misfor tunes may reach, nor what punishments are reserved for my faults ; but I dare almost promise you shall never receive the displeasure of seeing me another's: no ; in earnest I have so many reasons to keep me from that, besides your interest, that I know not if it be not the least of the obligation you have to me. Surely the whole world could never persuade me (unless a parent commanded it), to marry one that I had no esteem for." N° 32. " The judgment you made of the four lovers I recommended to you does so perfectly agree LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 323 with what I think of them, that I hope it will not alter when you have read their stories. L'Amant absent *, has, in my opinion, a mistress so much beyond any of the sort, that to be in danger of losing her is more than to have lost the others. L'Amant non aime" was an ass, under favour (not withstanding the Princess Cleomline's letter) ; his mistress had caprices that would have suited better with our Amant jaloux than with anybody else, and the Prince Arlike was much to blame that he outlived his belle Leontine ; but if you have met with the beginning of the story of Amestris and Agletede, you will find the rest of it in this book I send you now, and 't is to me one of the prettiest I have read, and the most natural. They say the gentleman that writes this romance has a sister t that lives with him as maid, and she furnishes him with all the little stories that come between, so that he only contrives the main design, and when he wants something to entertain his company withal, he calls to her for it. She has an excellent fancy, sure, and a great deal of wit, but I am sorry to tell it you, they say it is the most ill-favoured creature that ever was born : and it is often so. How seldom do we see a person excellent in any thing but they have some great defect with it, that puts them low enough to make them equal with other people ; and there is justice in it. Those that have fortune h ave nothing else, and those that want it deserve * Still from Cyrus. f The romances were, in fact, written by Madame Scuderi, though published under the name of Monsieur S. Y 2 324 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S to have it : that 's but small comfort though, you '11 say. 'Tis comfort, but there is- no such thing as perfect happiness in this world. Those that have come the nearest it, had many things to wish, and . Oh me ! where am I going. Sure 't is the death's head I see stand before me put me into this grave discourse. (Pray do not think I meant that for a conceit neither.) How idly have I spent two sides of my paper." She speaks of his father in terms of kindness, and would appear to allude to his going to Ireland, as also Lady Ormond. Men tions a daughter of Lord Valentia * married to an old man, with a miserable house and small fortune. " Ah I 't is most certain I should have chosen a handsome chain to lead my apes in before such a husband, but marrying and hanging go hy destiny, they say. It was not mine, it seems, to have an Emperor. The spiteful man, merely to vex me, has gone and married my countrywoman, my Lord Lee's daughter, f What a multitude of willow garlands shall I wear before I die ! I think I had best make them into faggots this cold weather; the flame they would make in a chimney would be of more use to me than that which was in the hearts of all those that gave them to me, and would last as long." N° 33. " What a sad story you tell me ofthe little Mar quise ! poor woman ! yet she's happy, she's dead ; * Father of Lord Anglesea, mentioned in p. 39. ante. We know not which of his sons-in-law was this ill-housed old man. f In 1653 Sir Justinian Isham married his second wife Vere da,,,... ter of Thomas Lord Leigh, of Stoneleigh. ' ' Ugh" LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 325 for sure her life could not be very pleasing to her. When we were both girls I had a great acquaint ance there ; they lived by us at Chelsea, and as long as his son lived, Sir Theodore did me the honour to call me daughter; but whilst I was first in France he died, and with him my converse with the family, for though my mother had occasion to be often there, yet I went very seldom with her ; they were still so passionate for their son that I never failed of setting them all a crying, and then I was no company for them. But this poor lady had a greater loss of my Lord Hastings *, who died just when they should have been married, and sure she could not think she had recovered it at all by mar rying this buffle headed Marquis t ; and yet one knows not neither what she might think ; I re member I saw her with him in the Park, a little while after they were married, and she kissed him the kindliest that could be in the midst of all the company. I shall never wish to see a worse sight than 't was." N° 34. " Jane was so unlucky as to come out of town before your return, but she tells me she left my * Henry Lord Hastings, eldest son of Ferdinando sixth Earl of Huntingdon, died unmarried at the age of nineteen. Not Elizabeth Mayerne alone mourned for his death, which was wept in ninety-eight elegies published in 1650. Banks, iii. 400. f Having in vain endeavoured to find in the peerage of Charles II., a Maj-quis to whom this disrespectful epithet might be applied, we are glad to have satisfied ourselves that it is the property of a Frenchman. Peter de Caumont, Marquis de Cugnac, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Theodore Mayerne, the well-known physician, who resided at Chelsea, She died in 1653. See Lysons's Environs of London (2d edit.), ii. 63. Y 3 326 THE LIFE OF £MRS. OSBORNE' letter with Nan Stacy for you. I was in hope she would have brought me one from you, and because she did not, I was resolved to punish her, and kept her up till one o'clock telling all her stories. Surely if there be any truth in the old observation your cheeks glowed notably, and 't is most certain that if I were with you I should chide notably. What do you mean, to be so melancholy ? By her report, your humour is grown insupportable. I can allow it not to be altogether what she says, yet it may be very ill too. But if you loved me you would not give yourself over to that which will infallibly kill you if it continue. I know too well that our fortunes have given us occasion enough to complain, and to be weary of her tyranny. But alas 1 would it be better if I had lost you, or you me ? unless we were sure to die both together it would but in crease our misery, and add to that which is more already than we can well bear. You are more cruel than she in hazarding a life that 's dearer to me than that ofthe whole world besides, and which makes all the happiness I have or ever shall be capable of. Therefore by all our friendship I conjure you, and by the power which you have given me command you, to preserve yourself with the same care that you would have me live; 't is all the obedience I require of you, and will be the greatest testimony you can give me of your love. When you have promised me this it is not impos sible but I may promise you shall see me shortly. ... I must find you pleased and in good humour- merry as you were wont to be, when we first met, LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 327 if you will not have me show that I am nothing akin to my cousin Osborne's lady. But what an age it is since we first met, and how great a change it has wrought in both of us ! if there had been as great a one on my face, it would be either very handsome or very ugly. For God's sake, when we meet, let us design one day to remember old stories in, to ask one another by what degrees our friend ship grew to this height 't is at. In earnest I am lost sometimes in thinking of it, and though I can never repent of the share you have in my heart, I know not whether I gave it you willingly or not at first. No ; to speak ingenuously, I think you got an interest there a good while before I thought you had any, and it grew so insensibly and yet so fast, that all the traverses it has met with since have served rather to discover it to me than at all to hinder it." N° 35. " Let me tell you that if I could help it I would not love you, and that as long as I live I shall strive against it, as against that which has been my ruin, and was certainly sent me as a punishment for my sins, but I shall always have sense of your misfor tunes equal if not above my own ; I shall pray that you may obtain quiet I never hope for but in my grave, and I shall never change my condition but with my life ; nothing can ever persuade me to enter the world again ; I shall in a short time y 4 328 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S have disengaged myself of all my little affairs in it, and settled myself in a condition to apprehend nothing but too long a life, and therefore I wish you to forget me, and to induce you to it let me tell you freely that I deserve you should ; if I re member any body 't is against my will ; I am pos sessed with that strange insensibility that my nearest relations have no tie upon me, and I find myself no more concerned in those that I have heretofore had great tenderness of affection for, than if they had died long before I was born ; leave me to this, and seek a better fortune : I beg it of you as heartily as I forgive you all those strange thoughts you have had of me ; think me so still if that will do any thing towards it, for God's sake do, take any course that may make you happy, or if that cannot be, less unfortunate at least than your friend and humble servant, D. Osborne." N° 36. " Let me ask you if you have seen a book of Poems lately come out, made by my Lady New castle * ; for God's sake if you meet with it send * Margaret, sister of Lord Lucas, and second wife of William Ca vendish, Marquis and afterwards Duke of Newcastle, distinguished as a Royalist General, a Poet, and a rider of the Great Horse. Mrs. Osborne alludes to her "Poems and Fancies," published in 1653;' but her works were almost endless. After an inspection of that volume, one cannot wonder at the charge of insanity ; not so much, perhaps, for the poetry itself (which is a characteristic but exaggerated specimen of the taste ofthe age), as for the publication, and some ofthe observations in prose. She had not the motive to publishing which is pleaded for some ladies of high rank in our days, who write in magazines and LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 329 it me. They say it is ten times more extravagant than her dress. Sure the poor woman is a little distracted. She could never be so ridiculous else as to venture at writing books, and in verse too ! " N° 37. " You need not send me my Lady Newcastle's book at all — for I have seen it, and am satisfied there are many soberer people in Bedlam ? " I have a squire now that is as good as a knight. He was coming as fast as a coach and six horses could bring him, but I desired him to stay till my ague was gone, and give me a little time to recover my good looks, for I protest if he saw me now he would never desire to see me again ; O me ! I cannot think how I shall sit like the lady of the lobster and give audience at Babram * ; you have been there I am sure, nobody at Cambridge scapes it, but you were never so welcome thither as you shall be when I am mistress of it. In the mean time I have sent you the first tome of Cyrus to read." annuals : Lady Newcastle tells us that she wrote for fame only. We are not much afraid of being accused of severity in the character vvhich we have given to " Poems and Fancies;" but it would be unjust not to give to our noble poetess the benefit of a paper in the Connoisseur (No. 69.), in which not only are some of her best lines quoted, but Milton is supposed to be jealous of her, as having anticipated, in a dia logue between Mirth and Melancholy, the ideas which he embodies in L' Allegro and II Penseroso. — See Banks, iii. 547. Biog. Diet. viii. 492. As to this strange lady, see also Grammont, i. 183. * Babrams, in Cambridgeshire, is now the seat of Mr. Adeane. We believe that about 1653 it was inhabited by a family named Bennett. 330 THE LIFE OP [MRS. OSBORNE'S N° 38. " Because you mention Lord Broghill and his wit, I send you some of his verses. My brother urged them against me to-day in a dispute, when he would needs make me confess that no passion could be long lived, and that such as were most in love forget that ever they had been so, within a twelvemonth after they were married ; and in earnest the want of examples to bring for the con trary puzzled me a little, so that I was fain to bring out these pitiful verses of my Lord Biron t to his wife, which was so poor an argument that I was e'en ashamed out of myself." N° 39. " It is never my humour to do injuries, nor was this meant as any to you. No, in earnest, if I Could have persuaded you to have quitted a pas sion that injures you, I had done an act of real friendship, and you might have lived to thank me for it ; but since it cannot be, I will attempt it no more. I have laid before you the inconveniences it brings along, how certain the trouble is ; and * V - do not know howthe poems of Lord Broghill were brought to assise the anti-matrimonial side of this argument, nor do we under stand the allusion to the verses of Lord Biron. William, the third Lord Byron, who married a Miss Chaworth [Collins, vii. 108.], was now living, but we cannot find that he anticipated the poetical fame of his descendant, by addressing to her either such verses as Mrs. Osborne mentions, or such — in no sense pitiful — as the late Lord addressed to his ill-used lady. Perhaps, Biron was an invented person. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 331 how uncertain the rewards ; how many accidents may hinder us from ever being happy, and how few there are, and these so unlikely to make up our desires. All this makes no impression on you, you are still resolved to follow your blind guide, and I to pity where I cannot help. It will not be amiss though to let you see that what I did was merely in consideration of your interest, and not at all of my own, that you may judge of me accord ingly, and to do that I must tell you that unless it were after the receipt of those letters that made me angry, I never had the least hope of wearing out my passion, nor, to say truth, much desire; for to what purpose should I have strived against it? 'twas innocent enough in me that resolved never to marry, and would have kept me company in this solitary place as long as I lived without being a trouble to myself or any body else ; nay, in ear nest, if I could have hoped that you would be so much your own friend as to seek out your happi ness in some other person, nothing under heaven could have satisfied me like entertaining myself with the thought of having done you service in diverting you from a troublesome pursuit of wrhat is so uncertain, and by that giving you the occasion of a better fortune ; otherwise, whether you loved me still or whether you did not was equally the same to me, your interest set aside. I will not re proach you how ill an interpretation you made of this, because we '11 have no more quarrels ; on the contrary, because I see 'tis in vain to think of curing you, I '11 study only to give you what care 332 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S I can, and leave the rest to better Physicians, to Time and Fortune. Here then I declare that you have still the same power in my heart that I gave you at my last parting ; that I will never marry any other, and that if ever our fortunes will allow us to marry you shall dispose me as you please ; but this, to deal freely with you, I do not hope for. No, it is too great a happiness, and I that know myself best must acknowledge that I deserve crosses and afflictions, but can never merit such a blessing. You know 'tis not a fear of want that frights me ; I thank God I never disputed his pro vidence, nor I hope never shall; and without attributing any thing to myself, I may acknowledge he has given me a mind that can be satisfied within as narrow a compass as that of any person living of my rank, but I confess that I have a humour will not suffer me to expose myself to people's scorn; the name of love is grown so contemptible by the follies of such as have falsely pretended to it, and so many giddy people have married upon that score and repented so shamefully afterwards, that nobody can do any thing that tends towards it without being esteemed a ridiculous person ; now, as my young Lady Holland says, I never pretended to to wit in my life, but I cannot be satisfied that the world should think me a fool, so that all I can do for you will be to preserve a constant kindness for you which nothing shall ever alter or diminish. I '11 never give you any more alarms by going about to persuade you against that you have for me, but from this hour will live quietly, no more LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 333 fears, no more jealousies ; the wealth ofthe whole world by the grace of God shall not tempt me to break my word with you, nor the importunity of all the friends I have. Keep this as a testimony against me if ever I do, and make me a reproach to them by it. Therefore be secure and rest satis fied with what I can do for you. You should come hither but that I expect my brother every day ; not but that he designed a longer stay when he went, but since he keeps his horses with him 'tis an infallible token that he is coming ; we cannot miss fitter times than this twenty in a year, and I shall be as ready to give you notice of such as you can be to desire it ; only you would do me a great pleasure if you could forbear writing, unless it were sometimes on great occasions. This is a strange request for me to make that have been fonder of your letters, than my lady protector is of her new honour, and in earnest could be so still but there are a thousand inconveniences in it that I could tell you ; tell me what you can do ; in the mean time think of some employment for yourself this summer. Who knows what a year may produce ? If nothing, we are but where we were, and nothing can hinder us from being at least perfect friends. Adieu." N° 40. March 18. 1653-4 She mentions her father's death, and her deep regret ; especially as she is left to kindred that are not friends. Her brother 334 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S has been unkind — " whom I am afraid I shall never look upon as a brother more." N° 41. After many expressions of affection, and refer ence to suspicions entertained at Moor Park, &c. of their engagement. " I shall endeavour and accustom myself to the noise of it, and make it as easy to me as I can, though I had much rather it were not talked of till there was an absolute necessity of discovering it ; and you can oblige me in nothing more than in concealing it. I take it very kindly that you pro mise to use all your interest in your father to per suade him to endeavour our happiness, and he ap pears so confident of his power that it gives me great hopes. Dear, shall we ever be so happy think you ? Ah 1 I dare not hope it yet ; 't is not want of love gives me these fears, as in earnest I think, nay I am sure I love you more than ever.'* N° 42, i> I was carried yesterday abroad to a dinner that was designed for mirth, but it seems one ill- humoured person in the company is enough to put all the rest out of tune, for I never saw people perform what they intended worse, and could not forbear telling them so ; but to excuse themselves and silence my reproaches they all agreed to say that I spoiled then jollity by wearing the most LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 335 unseasonable looks that could be put on for such an occasion. I told them I knew no remedy but leaving me behind them ; that my looks were suit able to my fortune though not to a feast. Fie, I am got into my complaining humour that tires my self as well as every body else, and which (as you observe) helps not at all ; would it would leave me and that I should not always have occasion for it, but that's in nobody's power, and my Lady Tal- mash *, that says she can do whatever she will, can not believe whatsoever she pleases. 'T is not unpleasant, methinks, to hear her talk how at such a time she was sick, and the physicians told her she would have the small pox and showed her where they were coming out upon her, but she be thought herself that it was not at all convenient for her to have them at that time ; some business she had that required her going abroad, and so she resolved she would not be sick nor was not. Twenty such stories as these she tells, and then falls into discourses of the strength of reason and power of philosophy till she confounds herself and all that hear her. You have no such ladies in Ire land. Oh me ! but I heard to-day that your cou sin Hammond is going thither to be in Ludlow's place ; is it true ? You tell me nothing that is done there ; but it is no matter, the less one knows of state affairs I find it is the better. My poor Lady Vavasor t is carried to the Tower, and her situation • Probably Elizabeth, heiress of Dysart and widow of Sir Lionel Tollemache, who married the Duke of Lauderdale. (Collins, ix. 306.) We have not met with any account of her eccentricities in print. j Probably Ursula Gifford of Staffordshire, the wife of Sir Thomas Vavasour, the first Baronet. Both families were Roman Catholic. 336 THE LIFE OF [MRS. OSBORNE'S could not excuse her, because she was acquainted by somebody that there was a plot against the Pro tector, and did not discover it. She has told now all that was told her, but vows she will never say from whence she had it ; we shall see whether her resolutions are as unalterable as those of my Lady Talmash. I wonder how she behaved herself when she was married ; I never yet saw anybody that did not look simply and out of countenance, nor ever knew a wedding well designed but one, and that was of two persons who had time enough I confess to contrive it, and nobody to please in it but themselves. He came down into the country where she was upon a visit, and one morning mar ried her ; as soon as they came out of the church, they took coach and came for the town, dined at an Inn by the way, and at night came into lodg ings that were provided for them, where nobody knew them, and where they passed for married people of seven years' standing. The truth is I could not endure to be Mrs. Bride in a public wed ding, to be made the happiest person on earth ; do not take it ill, for I would endure it if I could, rather than fail, but in earnest I do not think it were pos sible for me ; you cannot apprehend the formalities of a treaty more than I do, nor so much the suc cess of it. Yet in earnest your father will not find my brother Peyton wanting in civility (though he is not a man of much compliment unless it be in his letters to me), nor an unreasonable person in Betham, i. 357. See her examination, May 30. 1654, in Thurlow's State Papers, ii. 33. LETTERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 337 any thing so he will allow him, out of his kindness to his wife to set a higher value upon her sister than she deserves. I know not how he may be prejudiced upon the business, but he is not deaf to reason when it is civilly delivered, and is as easily gained with compliance and good usage as any body I know, but no other way ; when he is roughly used he is like me ten times the worse for it. I make it a case of conscience to discover my faults to you as fast as I know them, that you may con sider what you have to do : my aunt told me no longer ago than yesterday, that I was the most wilful woman that ever she knew, and had an ob stinacy of spirit nothing could overcome. Take heed, you see I give you fair warning. I have missed a letter this Monday, what is the reason ? By the next I shall be gone into Kent, and my other journey is laid aside, which I am not dis pleased at, because it would have broken our inter course very much. Here are some verses of Cow ley's ; pray tell me how you like them. It is only a piece taken out of a new thing of his. The whole is very long, and is a description of, or rather a paraphrase upon, the friendships of David and Jonathan.* 'T is I think the best I have seen of his, and I like the subject because it is that I would be perfect in. Adieu ! " * The first edition, now known, of Cowley's Davideis, was published in 1656; which is rather after the time at which we believe Dorothy Osborne to have been married. But there may have been a separate, perhaps private impression of this, as of the other poems contained in the same collection. Or Mrs. Osborne may have been permitted by Cowley, like herself, a distinguished royalist, to peruse these verses in manuscript. VOL. II. Z 338 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. ESSAYS WRITTEN BY SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE AT AN EARLY AGE. According to an intimation given at the outset of this work *, we give some specimens of Essays, written by Sir William Temple, as there is reason to believe, at the age of twenty-four or thereabouts, and never before published. Upon a more atten tive perusal, we find these Essays more worthy than we formerly thought them, of the commend ations bestowed upon them by Lady Giffard. They really have too much of originality, if not of eccentricity, to deserve the appellation of School- themes ; some of them display a knowledge of the human mind, and a bold examination of hu man motives, which the most Scottish of metaphy sicians may not despise. There are fewer conceits, and less of pedantry, than in most of the later writings of this copious author. That these are the Essays which Temple composed at Brussels before his marriage, we have no doubt. They are distinguished by the hand-writing, as well as by the style, from his published works ; and they are endorsed, in the old hand-writing in which other * Vol. I. p. 7. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 339 papers are found at Coddenham, " Essays by Sir W. T., written in his youth at Brussels in 1652, when he was about 24." The remembrance of past good, and the appre hension of future evil, are our greatest torments ; no account but has a right hand as well as a left, and it is in a wise man's choice which he will take ; but in the Fear of evils, if there be any aspect can be said to have the air or the shadow of good, it is the glimmering of Hope which always bears it company; for Fear destitute of Hope sinks into despair. Now, this very hope, instead of an ease, proves part of the torment, and like water in a fever feeds the thirst instead of quenching it, in creases the disease instead of relieving it. It will easily appear that Fear is the simplest of evils, being of such a viperous nature, that it converts the sovereign balsam of our souls into poison. It is vain Hope, that hinders from coming to a firm reso lution, which is the only triumpher over all dis astrous accidents, which, like basilisks, if the man falls not, are killed themselves : if they overcome not our patience, they are overcome by it. It is Hope shakes the settled constancy of mind where with we should stand the shock, receive the charge of assured evils ; thus cowards tremble at the danger while it is yet uncertain, but rush into it when it is not to be avoided, and, losing their fears together with their hopes, many times, by an excess of vice, receive the rewards of virtue, praise z 2 340 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. and victory. For I am noways of opinion, that can with reason be termed valour, which springs from the root of Fear ; and that a company of men who flying out of the battle and in their course falling into a sudden ambush fight like Alexanders, deserve more praise for the last action than the first. No, they are greater cowards than they were before ; for if their fear had left them sense enough to have known the way, or to turn their backs, they would doubtless have fled again. An excess of Fear renders men stupid, and they who are really void of any sense of danger, can no more be called valiant for any action they achieve, than a blind man for going upon the mouth of a cannon, than a deaf man can be called constant, for being unmoved at an alarum, or a man cast into a dead sleep, patient for not groaning at the cutting off of a limb. This may be the reason, if there be truth in the observation, that commonly the greatest wits are cowards, for they seeing dangers clearest, are easiest dazzled by them ; and as the more one knows of good the more one desires it, so the more one knows of evil the more one fears it, unless that be restrained by continence, this by prudence or constancy. Take away all acts of stu pidity, rashness, despair, vanity, and ignorance, we should have few other histories besides romances, so crowded with heroical actions and attempts. The most part of what the world calls valour springs out of one of these roots, and that many beasts have in a greater measure than any man ; whereas, to be truly valiant is not only to see ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 341 danger, but as it were to feel or handle it before we approach it ; and knowing the worst of death, yet, upon discourse, to prefer it before the stain of our honour, the neglect of our friend or our country's profit, the declining of our prince's com mands. And to have this kind of heart, man must have a head too, to be first cool in examining a dangerous attempt, and afterwards hot in achieving it ; for methinks the Stoic's garb, to be as unmoved and reposed in the assault of a breach as in rising from one's table, might better pass for a Platonic idea than a philosophical precept. Hope does not only thus cause the continuance of fear in a coward, but often shakes the constancy of a courageous man ; no man but sits firmer upon one stool than he does upon two ; that mind must needs waver that is placed between hope and fear. Now it is very difficult for the firmest and best ma naged mind, in the midst of dark apprehensions, not to apply or divert itself towards the glimpse of hope, if any appear ; as it is hard for a man in a dun geon not to cast his eye upon the light that through some little crevice crowds in, rather to disease than comfort him, by keeping alive in him the regret and desire of light, which would soon die in a con tinued darkness, or at least by custom come to be as weak in him as they are by nature in a blind man, being created in the one by an imperfect re membrance, in the other by an imperfect fancy. Propension rather to good than evil, is as natural to man's mind (I mean that which it esteems good and evil) as descent is to heavy bodies or ascent to z 3 342 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. light. There is not any one that, where they both bear the same price of honour and profit, would not prefer peace before war, security before dan ger ; as long as a man can with any appearance think of avoiding evil, he cannot be wholly vacant for the thoughts of sustaining it. Patience is our last refuge, and, I think, cannot justly be called a virtue, being always the child of necessity, and we can neither deserve blame nor praise from actions produced by that. Many an one that has staggered and changed colour at the hearing his sentence, has walked to the block with as reposed a gait and countenance as he would have done to a careless visit. The weakest hope serves to undermine our resolutions ; but if we grow strong and equal our fears, the very delay of assurance is an unparalled torment. When in a man's body the strength of death and nature come to grasp, then are the pangs ; whereas the victory of either brings us ease. I have been all this day, or rather all this year, (upon such leaden minutes has it rolled away), in an excess of perplexity about the miscarriage of a letter which I would not stand with the post for though he should ask me one of my ears : the sun and my hopes of it set together, and are succeeded by a time of rest ; as I could not sleep while the sun was in my eyes, so could not my mind repose while there was hope in my fancy. It is a good kind of expression to say I am now satisfied that it is lost, that is, undoubtedly believing that it is lost. I am now satisfied, and do really feel as much dif ference between now and four hours ago, as between a rough and a calm sea : so, fear of pain makes ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 343 many a man sickened, when feeling the pain he feared brings him to life again. Yet with all per sons it is not so, nor so with one in all kinds of crosses. I have known a case where for the whole earth I would not have had my suspicion lasted, but for heaven and earth both I would not have it prove a truth ; so uncertain is the mind, and the frame ofthe world, that who will fix a judgment of one's actions, or t' other's passions, must venture to be deceived, or else stay till they are past. It is strange that such variety of motives and passions, so many degrees of capacity and understanding, should be incident to souls which are all formally alike, and have no other than an incidental differ ence, so that such diversity of opinion should pro ceed from one reason, which is the same in all men, but only * yet the first may be easily comprehended by similitudes of sense, as ofthe same water issuing forth in various forms if conducted through engines of divers shapes, of the same breath issuing several sounds if or ganised by different instruments ; one high, an other low ; this clear, that confused : the other I suppose is meant only of potential not actual reasons, but methinks, where potentials are incapable of being ever put forth into act, they are but empty and vain sounds. It is a quarrel that I have to our common philo sophy that a great part of it is mere child's play, or rather playing with words, which I take to be occa sioned by a vicious inclination in most men's na- * MS. illegible. z 4 344 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. tures, more diligent to seek doubts than to resolve them, to start the game rather than take it, and, as I find it very much myself, rather to search what is false than what is true, contenting ourselves to know what is to be shunned without examining what is to be followed ; and this is it makes the obscure and tedious prolixity of treatises concern ing arts and sciences, the principles of which are out few and easy, and makes controversy so volu minous. . . . Some persons, impatient of being ri valled, think they know nothing because others have known as much as they did. In pursuit of this design, they raise batteries against those known truths, they give assaults where there is no breach, and because they cannot with any likeli hood of success do this in a direct line they do it obliquely ; they undermine by raising probable doubts, or such as were made so by gaining im pression in weak minds ; then, as the French in their rebellions against their king always set up a prince of the blood, so they set up one truth against another ; if the opposition be hardly to be made in the light, by crowded and confused ar guments they raise a mist between the camps, by which means parties come to clash, contrary to the intentions of the general, that is, contrary to the original meaning of the principlesor assertions. Thus, the party formed, men being more apt to follow than lead, it never wants favourers and upholders ; where one sheep breaks a hedge the whole flock rushes after and makes a gap ; so that which at first was in one an error of ambition, becomes after wards in many an error of judgment, and in pro- ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 345 cess of time the common error by its authority causes particular ones, as at first a particular one caused the common. The other ground is the impertinency of ignorants, who sure should be kept from handling what they can do nothing but pol lute ; as we see the ancient sages wrapt up the sciences in poetical fables and mysterious allegories. ... I think Plato was the first who, desirous to pro pagate and enlarge science*, released it from one of its fetters, that of verse or measured numbers, to which all before him had confined it ; but yet he kept to the other of fables and allegorical discourses. But after Aristotle's ambition wholly* it, producing his philosophy wholly loosened from the constraints both of verse and fable, she became afterwards a hackney to every unskilful horseman that could but make a shift to get up. Neither do I believe this philosophical tyrant, who governs all by his arbitrary word, knew more than any of those before him, but only set open the door which they had always kept locked, and stripping their no tions published them to us ; and so, though per haps he knew no more than they yet made us know, yet he made us know a great deal more than they would. Now since science has been made so common, it is so strangely corrupted, or rather con fused or made intricate, that he knows most who knows as much as the ancients taught us.t Every * MS. illegible. f It is remarkable that at the early age at which these Essays were- written Temple had imbibed the notion that nothing had been added by the moderns to the knowledge of the ancients. This would have been less unaccountable, if Temple had pursued his studies at Cam- 346 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. fool that cannot comprehend a reason can raise a doubt ; and as many times a mongrel cur starts a hare which the noble greyhounds course, so witty men undertake the patronage of foolish and imper tinent opinions, either to exercise their own wits or our patience, or perhaps to please themselves with making a fool of the world, when they find themselves able, by the force of their wit, to impose upon them what belief they please. Then besides, things being naturally prone to soil and corrupt, whereas 'tis art and labour that cleanses and re fines, 't is one age's work to unravel what the for mer has woven ill ; rust grows upon iron by ill usage, and by none ; 't is not brightened but by pains and filing I remember a witty charge one drew up against Socrates, who in person discours ing of his own innocence, the other told him, he was guilty of the most pernicious art that was prac tised in the state, which was, by the force of his wit and eloquence to persuade men what he pleased, to make truth seem falsehood and falsehood truth, good evil and evil good ; indeed there is nothing so purely good that a luxurious wild fancy is not able to veil over with a shade of ill, and nothing so singly evil, that it cannot varnish with some shine or gloss of good. It is true this, like a picture, is to be examined only at a distance. Fancy is but a cobweb, which to the eye is the finest of all works in nature, but if once you come to touch it you break. This came into my head the other morn- bridge with the true zest of an academic. Perhaps, as a gentleman and a royalist, he was disgusted with the puritanism of his times, and turned to Plato to avoid Pym. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 347 ing as I lay on my bed, and put me upon the trial of what such a blockhead as I could say for two things, both of which I dislike; one by a natural aversion, the other by a reasonable persuasion : they are, a stooping gait, and taking tobacco. I con ceived some of my thoughts, though they were in the dark, were worth the light, not because they were good, but only extravagant, which is com monly the greater cause of regard, though the other be the greater of respect. I cannot hope my memory should reach my past fancies, when both it and my pen together cannot keep pace with my present ones. Such a strange runaway imagination I have that when 't is once in my pen, I can follow it but at a large distance, and most by the track ; and yet commonly I do but glean after it. I lose half my thoughts between my fancy and my tongue ; but 't is well I do, for otherwise I should be an un conscionable father. Perhaps I should find and utter them all if I spoke through the nose, they being lost between my forehead and mouth. But whither am I run ? so much from my purpose that it is almost quite run from me. Stooping puts a man in mind of the earth, his object, and so is a moral meditation ; 'tis the posture of humility, and so is a virtuous action ; 't is the expression of re spect, and so is a sign of civility ; 't is the action of drawing one's sword, and so an argument of cou rage ; 't is a guard for one's throat, and so a means of safety ; it keeps us from stumbling, and so secures our walking; from losing one's way, and so hastens one's journey ; it helps us to find what 348 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. is lost, so is a precept of fortune ; 't is doing as we would be done to, so the command of heaven ; 't is the way to our graves, and so obedience to nature : for example, it is used by old men, who are known to have most wisdom ; by crooked men, who are observed to have most wit ; and by poets, who seem to have most patience Tobacco gets a man a stomach to his meat, and digests what he has eaten ; 't is meat to a poor man, and sauce to a rich man ; it makes a man melancholy in com pany, and is company to him that is alone ; it makes a sick man well and a well man sick, a sober man drunk and a drunken man sober ; 't is an excuse for silence, and subject for discourse ; taking it makes a fool pass for a wise man, and a wise man for a fool, by concealing the one's wis dom, and impressing the other's folly ; it makes rich men poor, and poor men rich ; it cools men in summer, and heats them in winter; it dwells in the air, but holds correspondence by the smoke with heaven, by the ashes with earth ; that makes one's mouth black, these one's teeth white ; 't is some men's pastime, and 't is other men's business ; it spoils a good breath, but conceals an ill ; it con sumes other paper, but it saves this ; and in fine I should think it were an omnipotent thing, but that it cannot make me like it. Now 1 defy any fool to say so much against these two virtues, for that dis course would have reason in it, and such I am sure no fool can make. Thus, as breath in our lungs has only a cooling quality, but in our mouths blows either hot or cold ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 349 as we please, so we can think but one thing, though we speak two ; no man is double-hearted ; that we call so is to be only double-tongued. Reason is one, though fancy be infinite. Neither can we persuade ourselves what we can persuade another. A juggler that makes us see strange sights and admire them knows we are abused, laughs at us, and believes nothing of it himself. There is no authority but that of seeming reasonable to range opinion under its laws ; therefore methinks 't is too magisterial, even in matters of religion, to impose any thing upon man's belief: faith must be purely an inspir ation of heaven, or an operation of custom ; not a work either of force or reason, it being out of both their spheres. To say these articles, these miracles you must believe, when perhaps I can no more make myself believe them than I can that 3 and 4 make 8, that water will scorch me, that air will devour me ; 't is e'en as much as to say, Sir, you have a wry nose ; it does not become you by any means ; you must lay it aside, and take one straight and well-shaped : or, you have a grey hollow eye ; leave it off, and put in a full black one. Alas, I can do neither ! I can, if that will serve turn, put in a glass eye, put on a false nose, take up a seeming belief, but not a real one ; that must grow right of itself, or continue as it is. To say you can believe it, signifies nothing to me ; so perhaps you can see a mile off, when I am purblind and cannot see an ell. I know some men's faiths are weathercocks ; they turn with every breath : not that it is in their power to change their own belief as they please ; for if that were, it would be equally in their power 350 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. to fix and keep it from changing. Their reason is like an open and unarmed fort ; who assaults it first takes it, but keeps it no longer than till the next assault is given. This kind of imperfection is of a general as well as a particular prej udice, for men are always desirous and industrious to pro pagate their own opinions, engaging sometimes the credit of their word or oath where the strength of their argument will not prevail ; so that what their own weakness persuaded them, their authority persuades another. These kind of men are well, if amidst so many other opinions they come to be convinced of their weakness, and so wise in de clining conflicts which they are unable to maintain. 'T is no small expression of the serpent's wisdom to stop its ears against the charms which it cannot otherwise resist, holding it better to suspend one sense than to lose all ; 't is easier avoiding the en counter, than sustaining the shock. It is wisdom indeed, where the consideration of future evil is more prevalent than that of present pleasure ; this being certain, the other appearing through the perspective of hope, either very distant, or very small. Charming of serpents seems to denote that wise men are subject to be overcome by flattery ; of which virtue and worth are the proper objects, greatness and riches the common ones. The serpent stops one ear with its own tail, the other with the earth ; this may point out humility, which is the only fortress able to hold out siege against the force of flattery and insinuation, which it does only by lying under their shot. They are adversaries indeed, better fought with after the Parthean man- ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 351 ner, by flying ; and the more dangerous because hardliest discovered : none can do like enemies so much as they that look like friends. He is happy that never meets with false ones ; and next he that always has them, for they will be sure to leave him if he prove miserable. The serpent's stopping one ear by laying it on the ground may yet teach us, that men whose brains are fixed on earth, which imports wealth and treasure, such are commonly proof against flatterers ; ambition and vanity lie open, avarice always upon its guard. — " Come, come, leave off all your fine words, pay me money," — was not ill said of an old thrifty lord, whom a young courtier thought to have paid with a set of well-turned words, whereas he thought counting money much the better music. I must confess there is no voice so sweet as that of praise, where a man thinks he deserves it ; and that 't is the right kind of praise which rewards worth and virtue, not tat basta rd one, which sooths greatness and for tune. On the other side, where a man knows him self unworthy it seems rather a hard sound ; for it makes a man either suspect an irony in those that give it, or puts a man upon the thoughts of his own imperfections, which is seldom a pleasing medita tion : indeed, in my eye, others' good opinion seems only pleasant, so far as it tends to the begetting of a good opinion in a man's self, which is the main root of contentment. Let who will have the honour of an action, so I have the conscience, and know the want of the other proceeds only from men's envy or ignorance : if the price of virtue were to be rated 852 ¦ THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. by vice, it would run very low ; and few men would traffic for it, were it not of use at home as well as value abroad. To the composing of true praise there must be worth in the giver as well as in the receiver ; whereas he that commends me for what I have not, does it out of ignorance or interest : in fine, the pleasure of an undeserved reputation is but like that of a dream ; this when / wake, that when others. I find so little ease and satisfaction by giving my thoughts full scope and liberty of rambling, that I must e'en recall them; but they are passed it already, no sooner out of hand but out of sight : besides, they take such airy paths, and are so light them selves, leaving neither impression nor scent behind them, that it is impossible to follow them by the track of either. Well, let them go, they are not worth an hue and cry. Should my memory over take them, I question whether she would know them at a good interview; though indeed they have all my marks of folly and lightness upon them, but that is so common in one, that if I did I should be ashamed to own them. All they have robbed me of is but a little idle time, and to one that has so great comings in as I, that loss may be easily endured. I know not what it is makes me so prone to this posture of musing, which is between melan choly fits and those doting visions that use to rock men asleep whose souls or bodies are distempered with disease or passion ; 't is properly what the French call reverie, and we, in my opinion, more ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 353 properly thinking I know not what. Whether it be a faintness in my mind complying with the weather, which may render it like my body disabled or unfit for any vigorous action (as indeed I find it hath most hold of me in this season), or whether it be rather a discomposure caused by a mMee of several passions, whereof none is strong enough entirely to gain the field, and none so weak as to quit it ; for if that were, the current being turned one way would confine itself to some continued channel ; but this I speak of is a crowd of restless, capering, antique fancies, bounding here and there, fixing nowhere ; building one half hour castles in Ireland, monasteries in France, and palaces in Vir ginia ; dancing at a wedding, weeping at a burial ; enthroned like a king, enragged like a beggar ; a lover, a friend, an indifferent person ; and some times things of as little relation one to another as the Great Turk and a red herring : to say the most, it is at least a painless posture of mind, if not some thing more, and why not ? The misery of a bitter passion is sweet, if it be suddenly calmed, as a light touch of a thorn is but a tickling ; 't is handling and groping makes the wound. These thoughts are all by snatches ; as one begins to rear, another staves it off; the reign of each is so short as it hath not time to play the tyrant. The best of it is, if they please not my fancy, neither do they burden my memory; they ride post through one, but fly through the other. Of all I ever had, I remember no more than I do of my last year's dreams; yet I have been at it an hour this afternoon, and I believe these go VOL. II. A A 354 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. as many to the hour as there are feathers to the pound : the lightness of each makes the comparison proper enough ; though they differ in this, that a pound of feathers weighs as much as a pound of gold, but millions of these can never balance one serious thought. I put myself upon this task of writing, not out of a desire to preserve my fancies, but to destroy them ; weeds wither as soon as they are gathered, though corn lasts the longer by it. My reveries dread paper as another element, know ing they have nothing to do in a place which is intended only for the best of thoughts ; life is their death, order and continuance dissolve their being ; their independency will suffer nothing of law or constraint. It were happy if by this or any other invention I could reduce or refine my thoughts in such measure as I might remember them myself without regret, and without shame expose them to another's eye ; but as it would be vanity in me to hope it, so perhaps it would be impertinent in any one to desire it ; for to think nothing is to be a beast or something equivalent, nothing but good is to be an angel ; I may add, to think nothing but ill is to be a devil, and that to be a man is to have something of all three. It is not the worst soil that brings forth weeds, the best does it if not ma nured ; barren ground is only that which bears no price; art wants in the other, but nature in this; and as art is the perfection of nature, so is nature the foundation of art ; they run well hand in hand, for, being asunder, the one can hardly end his career and the other hardly begin. . . . But all ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 355 this would not acquit me from the guilt of these empty luxurious reveries, if I were before any judge but myself; as it is, I am like to be quit for being undiscovered ; yet this is e'en the right train of this world's justice. Darkness makes innocence ; theft or murder is no crime to those that can con ceal it ; so that it is not want of honesty, but want of wit or fortune, that is punished. Let this pass; for if I ever should begin to be angry with the world, God knows when I should end ; for my part, I believe never, unless the passion should end before the cause. I observe all these thoughts (which none could be so idle as to talk on besides he that is idle enough to think them), though they have no sub stance, I mean material, yet they have a form, and needs must they be thus imperfect, produced like meteors, without any influence from the sun of understanding ; their form is Like and Dislike. Neither is there one individual among them, not the smallest insect, but has this stamp ; they are children of the brain ; none that are born alive come forth with a settled countenance, all laughing or crying, and the most with the last ; some die in the birth, and they cost the most pain : it is such a perplexity as a man finds himself in who longs to call something to mind which is not above half an inch out of his memory ; 't is at his tongue's end, and yet he cannot spit it out. These two suckling passions of Like and Dislike first drench them and then drown them ; for those that are not destroyed by their brothers, ordinarily die, stifled with swal- A A 2 356 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. lowing down so much of those which come in upon my mind like a tide ; not only overflow it, but leave it wet for a good while after it is ebbed away. Many times, having had these^, waking dreams be fore my sleep, at my waking next day either a pleasing or a sad disposition of mind gives me good morrow ; whilst at first I cannot imagine any cause of either, and at last can find out no other but that the night before such a fancy tickled me, or such an one pinched me. *T is strange to consider how all men's thoughts are inseparable from these two shadows of inclination or aversion ; for my part, my very senses are so. I never saw any sight, heard any sound that was purely indifferent, but I could say I would rather have it continue or rather have it cease ; perhaps it is that being satisfied there is so little positive pleasure, I take all for pleasure that is not pain ; and no marvel this is so often in the senses, when it is so often in the mind without reason : not only I cannot see two pins or two feathers (always meant there be a difference), but I shall more like one; nor read of two persons in a known fiction, without giving one my better wishes. But let me hear two men only named and no more, presently my fancy must give one the place ; e'en with the same reason, and perhaps no more right, than place is disposed of amongst us, that is, only by the sound of empty titles. I speak this in the first person, because I can hardly believe others so foolish as rather than lay hold of nothing to catch at the wind. I know not whether any body else have their ears placed so forward, that is, so near ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 357 their fancies, as I have. I make as determinate a judgment upon persons by their names, where I know no more, as I do afterwards by a year's ac quaintance. I never heard of an Arabella but I thought her handsome ; nor of a Marmaduke with out fancying a proper man, valiant, and of free open disposition. Nay, in comparisons which are not very serious, this comparison bears the force of a reason, so weak is my mind : never shall I gain so much of myself as to believe Ccesar superior to Pompey in any thing but fortune, equal perhaps in virtue and vice ; or that Charles Stock * was as brave a fellow as Gustavus Adolphus, though this never made (I think) other than two expeditions into Germany, one of which was his tomb ; while the other made two voyages into England, two into Africa, four into France, six into Spain, seven into Italy, nine into Germany, ten into the Low Coun tries, and after all one into a monastery, which, through the perspective of my fancy, appears the most glorious of the whole, in regard all his other exploits raised his pride, and this pulled it down ; those he did in company who shared the honour, this alone ; in warlike actions he had had many equals ; this only methinks leads him out of crowd, and gives him a seat by himself; and, in * The two voyages to Africa, two to England, and the retirement into a monastery, leave no doubt into our minds, but that Charles Stock is Charles V., though we never heard of that soubriquet as attached to his name. The whole life of Charles was spent in moving about between Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries, and Temple appears to have counted up all his moves, though some of them are very in accurately compared with the expeditions of Gustavus Adolphus. Charles was certainly four times in France. A A 3 3^8 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. fine, as the boasting Athenian crowed of his vic tories, in this, fortune had no part. But to return to my story. Whatever a man with a great beard in a chimney corner may aver to me upon his own knowledge, I cannot allow Bess Tidder* worthy to be a maid of honour to her pre decessor Boadicea. I was in Paris at that time when it was besieged by the King, and betrayed by the Parliament t, when the Archduke Leopoldust- advanced far into France with a powerful army, feared by one, suspected by another, and invited by a third ; in short, that his name filled every one's mouth (and indeed it might the biggest in France); this, and his being of Austria, was all I knew of him before I came into Flanders : such towering titles gave me occasion to draw his picture like the knight that kills the tyrant in a romance. Upon my coming to Brussels I was impatient to see him, which I did last night, and that in a posture (if any does) commanding respect and reverence ; in his chapel, before the altar, under his pavilion, * An ingenious friend has furnished us with a conjecture which we believe to be correct ; Tidder is a bantering corruption of Tudor, and the female so disrespectfully described, is no less a personage than our Queen Elizabeth. We have no great fancy for that famous woman, whose great qualities cannot blind our eyes to her hypocricy and selfish tyranny ; but she is hardly used here. She would have fought against the Duke of Medina Sidonia as bravely as the illustrious Welshwo man against Suetonius ; and if she had not poisoned herself when de feated, would have been deterred not by fear, but by religious principle. f The allusion is apparently to the transactions of August 1648, in the minority of Louis XI V., and the regency of Anne of Austria ; Broussel, a popular leader in the days of La Fronde, had been seized by the Regent's order, which produced two or three days of barricades. The Parliament of Paris was violent in its remonstrances. See the Memoires de Motteville in Petitot, xxxvii. 421., and xxxviii. 1. X Leopold William, brother ofthe Emperor Ferdinand III. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 359 his pages on one hand, priests on the other, the knights of the order before him ; and yet for all this methinks he looks as like Tom or Dick as ever I saw any body in my life : his nose or beard, or uprightness of gait, give him some air of our late King. I found it not alone ; and yet I am apt to believe it might be his dignity or pomp, more than countenance or person, that abused our fancies to draw a resemblance : we are resolved to find some likeness between those who are given us for bro thers when there is none, and perhaps no reason why there should be any ; but many other things may be said more to the Archduke's advantage than this. He is certainly a person that has many vir tues and few defects ; only his ill luck is, that his virtues consist in such things as value a pri ate person, his defects in such as accomplish a prince. Nature and fortune were out of counsel together when they made him, — one a man, and the other a ruler of men. In a meaner condition, he had been a great personage, whereas in this he appears a mean one ; so, the same planet which shines a sparkling glorious light 'in a lower sphere, were it advanced to the sun's height would not be gazed at, or if it were, it would be to despise its dimness, not to admire its light. He is so excellent a lin guist, that it would be hard to judge by his language whether High Dutch, Italian, or Spanish were his mother tongue ; ready and eloquent in the Latin, not conversed in the French, only his master's quarrel forbids him the use : this seems to me no small perfection, that speak none well, but still as a a 4 360 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. much as I gain in another language I lose in my own ; and use to flatter myself with the belief, that when a tongue is cloven, no part can retain the force of a whole tongue. He is a good philosopher, better divine, understands chemistry well, and I am apt to believe that he understands it the better, in that he doth not practise it ; eminent in the theory of music, both to judge and compose ; ex quisite in that of peinture, and rather ashamed than ignorant of using the pencil : for the virtues ofthe mind, devout even to superstition, temperate in all meats but eggs ; and if his riot in that be any thing but rumour, 't is thought to proceed rather from a necessity of his constitution than from any luxury of his palate : personally very valiant, and yet not stupidly hardy, to charge with the first, and yet not run with the last ; witness the battle of Lans.* Neither did I ever hear his justice taxed for the rigour of severity, or the abuse of clemency. What can be said more ? Sure any modest man will take this in payment: but yet what can commend a prince that wants strength of judgment able to shock the wheel of fortune ; a quick and reaching foresight to discover the storm while clouds are gathering ; height of spirit to scorn any guide but reason ; active courage and able conduct to manage a war as well as to fight a battle ; a generous oblig ing carriage to enslave men's minds, as well as govern their bodies and dispose their fortunes ? I am confident the Archduke's mind was never so * Aug. 20. 1648. Diet, des Sieges, &c. iv. 60. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. S6l intent upon ordering a pitched field, as a concert of music ; his eye never so curious in viewing a fortification as a landscape. He is more pleased with his image in wax made by a nun, than he would be with his statue in brass set up by the States of Flanders ; more proud of preparing a new air for his choir, than of subduing a new province for his King. Whilst he sits under line, affairs are bandied about by the two court rackets, Count Schomberg and Fuensaldagra ; this the King's, that the Arch duke's minion. He is liberal to none but his pic ture dealers ; to bring one of Titian's master-pieces into his gallery, is an equal merit as it would be to bring one of nature's master-pieces into the Turk's seraglio : while his Italian capons are fed fat in the court, the brave Spanish cocks are famished in the very pit ; so that for my part I admire all his soldiers are not long since turned musicians, that being the only way to be duly paid ; 't would be something yet, if he would but pay the drums and trumpets for their affinity to music ; but, alas ! point des nou- veautes, there is no news for them but for the siege of Dunkirk and ammunition bread. The truth of it is, however he purchased it I know not ; but he hath no man's good word, and all women's bad ; yet all their tongues seem to be guided more by general fancy and example than by any particular reason ; in fine, I do not know what better to compare him to than his mistress, Fortuna, upon which all peo ple that suffer exclaim and cry out, accusing her for doing all the evil that arises in the world, while, alas ! the poor wretch does nothing at all. 362 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. It is unreasonable that I should give fortune so a great a space in my thoughts, while she gives me so small an one in hers. I have often said I could never adore a disdainful face, never smile upon a frown unless in scorn, never pursue a fugitive unless for revenge ; in fine never love anything that hated me ; and yet while I most unjustly detain the tribute of my thoughts from a kinder mistress, why do I thus unjustly lavish them away upon this cruel and yet common strumpet, for the last is the word that most speaks her disgrace or rather mine, to be at tbe pains of courting her, and after all at the shame of a refusal ? Sure, 't would create a gall in a dove, beget despite in a Stoic, and so it would in me, could my passion find anything to seize upon ; but to rail at fortune were to scold against an echo : as one has no voice, so t' other has no power but what we give it. I might fret at my spleen, wear out my lungs, but to as little purpose as I do my pens. Fortune is nothing, and my thoughts e'en as empty as if they were so too. We say she is blind, when the truth of it is 't is we that are so. Our ignorance gives her a name, when we cannot discover the cause of any effect, either because the way is dark, or we are purblind ; 't is but believing there is none, and then in comes fortune like a cypher that signifies nothing, and yet you may make it stand for whatever you please. Sure he were a wise man would conclude there were no sea further than he could see, or there were no bottom because his line were at an end. Never any huntsman said the hare was vanished where his ESSAYS*] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 363 hounds came to a loss. What hounds are we, that with our noses grovelling on the earth and sensible objects, presume to trace that eternal order and series of things, which though it soon leaves us at a loss yet mounts up by the links of a certain chain, the end of which is in the hand of its Maker ! We believe that Nilus has a head, though by dividing itself into so many streams it deludes the search of all that seek it out ; that no drop of water but comes from some stream, no stream but comes from the sea, though some are derived through visible channels, and others invisibly conveyed into the bowels of the earth or into the womb of a cloud ; but I begin to fly out of my sphere : the application and our folly is easily found. If I should soar high, I should be forced to make a stoop : 't is easier running upon plain ground, than rises and descents. Indeed, I distaste and avoid nothing more than a swelled style, having observed it commonly proceeds from a swelled mind (which makes scholars and youth its only patrons), and that naturally the emptiest things make the greatest sound : in heaven's thunder the vapour, in earth's thunder the powder only, make the noise ; while the bolt and the bullet pass silently, but give the blow. Metals that have most pores give most sound, fools the greatest talkers ; and I have sel dom heard a man speak very loud and much to the purpose ; though I must confess myself no com petent judge, having a general and innate aversion from a loud voice. This makes me much more apprehensive of provoking a woman than a man, as 364 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. who without difficulty would choose rather to be beaten than rated? Yet there may be another reason in being careful of observing a particular complaisance to women, in that men's injuries may be revenged with honour, women's not without shame. Besides that the tone of anger and dis sension becomes not friendly discourses, loud talk ing appears in my eye an effort of vanity or pre sumption, rather than any natural imperfection of necessity. There is no man but can make a shift to whisper what he is ashamed should be public ; as on the other side he must be very far gone in a consumption, whose lungs will not serve him to shout a witty saying to the farther end of the room, if there be no echo near him to convey it, which seldom fails. I have known some throats as very wind-guns as any made at Utrecht, and that carry a charge if not so dangerous yet sure as painful. I hate a loud beggar, because he robs me of my money and my charity too, which is lost by pro ceeding from a desire to relieve myself and not him, from compassion for my own worth, and not of his misery. It is at most men's ears as at their doors, which are opened to them that knock loudest, not to them who come first or have most business. Yet reason is on their side. Methinks 't is strange (if it be true) that in our Parliament upon some votes, the determination passes without examining further than the sound of the ayes or noes. Why, at this rate, with a score of High Germans, I would undertake to carry every vote in spite of the whole house. Indeed, the Almain is a ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 365 language I should never learn unless it were to fright children when they cry; yet methinks it should be good to clear a man's throat that were hoarse with a cold. I have heard some speak it so as to make one expect their words should break down then teeth as they rushed out of their mouth. There are no soldiers like the Germans where the interest of the army is, in a dark engagement to make a few seem many ; where to talk with a good will they may well pass for 100. Flemish is a lower, yet to my ear a worse sound ; I never could esteem any woman handsome while she spoke, and I believe the ladies are generally conscious of it, for in company none of them will ever use it : the tone is the more displeasing, because it sounds as if they who speak it were always displeased, and something arrogant withal. They talk as if a man owed them money and would not pay them. To conclude with ill sounds, — if I were to make a concert of music to entertain the devil, it should be composed of a child, a cat, a screech-owl, an ass, and Mynheer Vanderberg. The Duke of Nemours *, general of the French, was of opinion not to fight the same day he arrived in sight of the enemy ; the causes that moved him to go against his own and I think true judgment in it were, the heat of his soldiers, perhaps proceed ing from that ofthe weather, and the weariness of * Louis of Armagnac, the last of his race ; this was when Louis XII. of France, and Ferdinand the Catholic, leagued together for the invasion of Naples, and then quarrelled about the spoil. Mezeray, iii. 49. 4to, Amsterdam. 366 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. their painful march, which "made them desire to end the day by purchasing a lasting repose, either in death or victory; and the opinion of the Swiss general whom he durst not disoblige, which he had done by slighting his counsel ; and that his army before the battle might not be discouraged by the news of Aubeni's* defeat, which he knew would be divulged next morning; and the despite of M. Alegre's having reproached him for declining to engage more out of fear than counsel ; which I believe was the most pressing motive, by his an swer, that seeing they were of opinion to fight, he would that day exchange the loss of his life for the vindication of his honour. It was a fault in him to take advice from his private spleen in the ma nagement of a public action ; he fought for his country, his King, and not for himself. Better his officer should call him coward for deferring, than his master should call him traitor for hastening the battle. But it may be that a general who fights for another, though he be not concerned in the profit ofthe action, yet he is in the glory ; and so that he be not to bias himself by any private in terest of life or fortune, yet he may be pardoned for considering his honour. They are rarely found that are content to purchase the good of their country for the service of their prince with the loss of their own honour, though a thousand would do it with the loss of their fortunes, lives, and some of their souls. I have heard a story of a great person in our Henry the Seventh's court, who * Aubigny. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 367 having been long an Atheist, when he lay desper ately ill, the zeal and arguments of religious men about him, or the pangs of approaching death within him, forced him to recant his obstinate error, and resolve, if God would continue his life, to change that and his belief, by beginning this and ending that in a monastery. But he could never be induced to begin in his sickness, because he would not be thought a coward, or to have changed his opinion merely out of fear of hell ; and thus he died, though a Christian in his heart, yet an Atheist in his mouth, resolved rather to suffer the loss of his soul than a stain on his honour. This was certainly to overshoot, which is as great an error as falling short. 'T is an action a bar's length beyond any of the Romans, but I fear he gave himself a shrewd strain in the throw. 'T was a gross error in judgment to prefer the accident before the sub stance ; nay, supposing the soul and honour of equal value, 'twas want of discerne* ; honour lost being to be recovered, but the soul never. In the battle of Cerignolet the sun was near set ting when the Duke of Nemours began to charge ; and that which most induces me to believe that he had no reason to engage that night is, because the Gran Capitan X had not put his army in a posture for it, who certainly, if it had been their best play, was too wise not to have foreseen it, and too dili gent not to have provided against it. Nemours, riding to charge, unexpectedly found a ditch that forced him to a stop ; where- amusing to find out * Sic. t D'ct. des Sieges, ii. 617. J Gonsalvo de Cordova. 368 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. some place for his passage, lying open and within distance of his enemy's shot, he was killed by a musket bullet. In those occasions where honour is most deserved, and is seldom most acquired, without question there is required more true valour to stand, boldly and yet unmoved, the volley of an enemy's squadron, than to make the most desperate charge, where motion and passion heat the courage, and many times thaw fear itself; yet for a man to stand or fall undaunted in the front posture makes no noise at all, when to die in the heat of the feat, and in the midst of his enemies, is an epitaph might become even Mausolus his tomb. 'T is but to play with words, to say virtue is the middle of two vices, and that by going too far it ceases to be so. In that which is truly virtuous, the defect is only ill ; neither is that truly virtue which, by the highest flood, by the greatest ex ercise, turns into vice. We cannot reach to an excess, when we cannot reach to perfection. For example, fortitude, we say, is between cowardice and temerity : why, temerity is so far from being an excess of valour, that 't is no valour at all ; nay, 'tis often caused by an excess ofthe contrary vice, fear, which is then in the greatest extreme, when it makes men fight, having so blinded their sense and reason that they forget their danger ; and he that is past the knowledge of danger must needs be past the apprehension : so„ impatient men, that swoon at the sight of an approaching torment, come by that means to sustain it with a miracle of con- ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 369 stancy and patience. One extreme passes into an other, stupidity into rashness, as the cold fit of an ague into the hot, without touching the mean of good temper. Two opposite points may pass into one another by a crooked line as well as a straight, by the circumference as well as the centre. We must not judge things to be the same by pro ducing the same effects ; an excess of pain or pleasure makes women faint, of grief or joy, makes them cry. Besides, sometimes we are deceived by false appearances ; so an extreme swift motion seems standing still. 'T is not going too far in the paths of virtue leads to vice, but going out of the way ; not the excess but the corruption of it. Superstition is not an excess of devotion, but a misapplication of it ; so flattery of civility, suspicion of prudence, credulity of that we call good nature, and prodigality of liberality. Pie is not prodigal who gives away his money by handfuls, but he that gives it without just occasion, or to an undeserving subject. The brave Gonsalvo hearing some of his soldiers who had got honour and wounds in the as sault of the castle complain they had got nothing in the sack of it, bid them go and sack his own palace, which they did, and left it as bare as a haunted house. This had sure been a prodigal act upon any other occasion ; whereas placed as it was it appears noble and gallant, being the way to enrich his king, though it beggar himself. In some accidents fortune seems to have eyes, and to take reason by the hand ; or rather Heaven, VOL. II. B B 370 THE LIFE OF [ESSAYS. using some men's folly, passions, or unreasonable actions to be instruments of its unexpected justice, gives fortune a name, and sometimes a name of reasonable. Whereas indeed 't is no strange thing, nor by wise men unexpected thing, that a foolish, passionate, or unreasonable action should intervene to break or disorder the train of a likely and well- laid counsel : so where the rashness or imprudence of a general, the untimely cowardice of a regiment, the treachery of a commander, overthrew a power ful army by the means of one much inferior to it, we say 't was unfortunately lost and 't was valiantly won ; but say both unjustly. Pope Alexander * being invited to a collation by some cardinals to whom Duke Valentine wished no good besides being in heaven, the Duke gave the butler some bottles of wine, encharging him to fill out of them only to the cardinals, and not to the Pope nor himself. Sitting down, the butler having forgot some peaches which the Pope had com manded, and going for them, his head being full with the default of his memory, left the care of filling wine to another, but forgot to tell him how the bottles were disposed. In his absence, the Pope and Duke calling for wine were presented with that which was intended for the cardinals ; the Pope dies, strength of youth and remedies re cover the Duke. Here the butler's forgetfulness * Alexander VI., Borgia, must be here intended; but the story of the poison rests upon no authority ; and as it is generally told, the Pope himself prepared the beverage for the cardinals. Valentine is the Duke of Valentinois, Ccesar Borgia. ESSAYS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 371 and negligence were occasions of the accident ; yet methinks there is something purely of fortune, which is, the substitute's filling out of one bottle rather than another, being equally ignorant of both. 'Tis a strange mSlSe of guilt and innocence, justice and fortune. The butler was innocent of the mur der, and yet as guilty as if he had filled the wine ; he that filled it was guilty of the murder, and yet as innocent as if he had not touched it. The Pope, instead of being feasted, is poisoned; the cardinals, instead of being poisoned, are feasted. The Duke, who was guilty only in intention, is punished only by the fear of death. In fine, the Pope dies by the Duke's occasion, a just judgment for having got such a son ; the Duke recovers by the strength of nature, a just recompence for having freed the world of such a father. B B 77 373 APPENDIX A. A Family Prayer made in the Fanatic Times, when our Servants were of so many different Sects ; and composed with the Design that all might join in it, and so as to contain what was necessary for any to know or to do.* Oh, Lord God ! eternal and infinite in thy being, wonderful in thy works, but most of all in thy mercies, which are above all thy works, we are here before thee, a poor handful of thy creatures, raised up by thy eternal decree, and daily upheld by thy good Providence from falling again to the dust from whence we were taken. We bless and praise thy name that thou hast fashioned us in a better mould than the rest of thy creatures ; that, having ordained them for our service, thou hast set us apart for thine own ; that thou hast revealed thy will to us in thy holy words and command ments ; that when we were lost by that covenant of works, thou gavest thy Son to satisfy for our disobedience, and by the virtue of his blood hast raised us up again to the hopes of immortal life * From the original at Coddenham, in the hand-writing of Sir Wil liam Temple. This prayer was probably composed between 1654 and 1660. B,B 3 374 THE LIFE OF [FAMILY and glory. What are we, oh Lord ! for whom thou shouldst do so great things ! It is the desire of our souls to be so affected with the sense and ac knowledgment of them, that we may continually set forth thy praises and never forget thy works. But, oh Lord ! our hearts sink within us at the thoughts of our own unworthiness, when we con sider thee in the majesty of all thy glorious attri butes, and look back upon ourselves in the de- pravedness of our natures, in the pollutions of our lives. We are ashamed to lift up our hands or our voices unto thee. We cannot call to mind thy favours and the blessed privileges thou hast offered us, but at the same time we must remember how we have forfeited them all by our unbelief, our im penitence, and our daily transgressions, so as we confess thou mayst justly enter into judgment against us, and close our eyes in everlasting dark ness, and fill our mouths with lamentations and woes, instead of these prayers and praises we are offering up unto thee. Yet, oh Lord! we are thy creatures and the work of thy hands ; and why shouldst thou con tend with us, since we are but dust ; besides, thine own Son has suffered for us, he has paid our ransom, he has satisfyed thy justice, he has endured the fulness of thy wrath that we may partake the fulness of thy grace. We desire to strip ourselves of all our own raggs, and to appear before thee as cloathed in his righteousness, as washed in his blood ; as justified and redeemed by his alone merits and satisfaction. It is in his name, oh PRAYER.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 375 Lord I we are now before thee, and for his sake we lay claim to all thy promises of grace and favour towards us ; that we beg of thee the pardon of all our past sins, all our transgressions of thy laws, all our disobedience to thy commands, the original stains of our natures, and the iniquitys of our ways. Blot them, we beseech thee, out of thy remem brance, that they may never rise up in judgment against us, either to blast the comfort of our enjoy ments here or the hopes of that blessedness thou hast prepared hereafter for such as thou hast chosen. To this end, plant and cherish in our hearts all the fruits of thy Holy Spirit ; enlighten our under standings in the search of thy truths, that we may come to know how to love, how to fear, how to serve thee in our measure as we ought to do. Guide our wills into a perfect conformity with thy holy will in all tilings. Temper our affections ; fix and settle them on thyself and heavenly things, that our hearts may be there, where our treasure is. Strengthen our faith daily, fasten our reliance upon thee. Oh Lord ! we believe ; help thou our un belief. Encrease our charity, build up our hope, and at length perfect our joy in the assurance of thy favour towards us. Make us prudent in the choice of such ends as deserve our pursuit while we are here below ; constant in well-doing, and in suffering for it when thou shalt see fit to call us thereunto ; faithful in discharging the duties of those several stations thou hast placed us in ; just and peaceable towards all men ; sober towai ds our own bodys ; and, above all, pious towards thee our b b 4 376 THE LIFE OF [PRAYER. Maker. Moderate our desires after the things of this life ; give us hearts thankful for the possession of them, and patient under the loss, whenever thou that gavest shall see fit to take away, and to leave us naked as thou madest us. Mind us often both of our beginning and our latter end, the shame and nakedness of our birth, the frailty of our natures, the corruption and the worm that wait us in the grave. Let these considerations serve to humble us in our lives, and prepare us for our deaths, that when thou callest us hence we may be ready for thee, and go forth to meet thee in the full as surance that when our bodies lie down in the dust, our spirits shall return to God that gave them. Accept, oh Lord ! our humble thanks and praises for all th}' gracious dealings towards us, even in temporal things ; for the mercys of our lives past, for those of the day past ; for the continuance of our health, our strength, our senses, our reasons ; for the daily repairs of our wasting bodies. In thee, oh Lord ! we live, and move, and have our being. We depend upon thee for the rest and refreshment of this ensuing night, for the light of another day, for all the good we hope for in the re maining part of our lives. Oh Lord ! we receive all from thee, we desire to return all to thee, and to leave all with thee ; for thou alone art infinitely great, and good, and glorious, both now and for evermore. Amen. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 377 APPENDIX B. INSTRUCTIONS, N° 1.* Instructions to William Temple, Esquire, going to His Highness the Bishop of Munster. Charles R. With these our instructions there is delivered to you a letter of credence to the Bishop of Munster, together with the treaty made between us and him + ; the execution and performance whereof, on his part, is the scope and in tention of your journey, towards which you must apply yourself with all care, industry, and secrecy, transmitting hither, to one of our principal Secretaries of State, an exact and particular account of all things that occur to you with relation to the effect above-mentioned. You shall concert your departure from hence with the Baron of Wreden, and, together with him, or separate from him, as you shall agree, make all possible haste to the Bishop of Munster, and there deliver to him your letters of credence; and, offering the exchange of the ratification of our treaty, enter upon these following discourses, in which you are hereby instructed; which being finished, with all convenient speed you shall press the Bishop to empower one of his servants to return with you to Bruges ; where, upon the expedition of his power and liking accord ingly, a receipt from him for it, you shall pay to him the * Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p. 34. f Arl., p. i. 378 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- 200,000 dollars, which Alderman Backnell is transporting in specie, or by bills, according to our appointment ; which being performed, you shall return to reside with, or near the person of, the Bishop, according as you shall be by him directed, to be in a readiness towards all those func tions which are incumbent upon you in the performance of this present service, and especially in representing weekly to us, and by all other convenient occasions, the progress and improvement thereof. You shall principally direct your discourses to the Bishop, in exposing to him how the value and esteem we have of his person and virtue hath prevented with us to meet his proposition with those advances of confidence and money on our part, towards the performance of the treaty made betwixt us : assuring him it shall be inviolably executed and performed on our part, with all possible regard and advantage to him (even beyond the things stipulated), if it shall please God to continue to bless us with success in this great undertaking against the Dutch ; a great part of which, we assure ourselves, will be improved by his vigorous application to that part which depends on him. And with this occasion you shall represent to him the strength of our naval forces ; the wonderful alacrity with which our people concur to the support of it, together with the success it has pleased God to have given us already ; discoursing to him all things of this nature, which may warm and animate him to a more eager prosecution of the war on his part, with the fruits and advantages he shall acquire thereby ; all which will be entirely left to him, or those other princes with whom he may associate himself in this engagement. Above all things enforcing his present tak ing the field, with the troops he shall gather together, and doing something considerable with all possible speed; that so we, on our part, may receive some present fruit by this diversion, for the improvement of that impression, which, by the success it has pleased God to give ns, is already and TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 379 may in the future be further made upon the Dutch go vernment by our naval force. In the next place, you shall inquire of him, and accord ingly give us an account thereof, what disposition there is in the princes, his neighbours, to join with him; whether he will negotiate that conjunction himself, or expect it from us ; what he hopes or fears, in the prosecution of this business, from France, Spain, and the empire ; adding to this your own observations and judgment thereupon, toge ther with the progress made by him, that we may accord ingly take our measures here. And if the Bishop shall judge it convenient, you shall offer to visit, in our name, the Elector of Mentz, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Duke of Nieuburg, or any of them, as he shall direct you. To which purpose there shall be delivered to you here with distinct letters of credence for each of them ; to whom you shall frame your discourses according as the Bishop shall instruct you, indicating to them our particular esteem of their persons, and the benefits they may receive in a con junction with us in this undertaking ; making the found ation thereof the treaty we have made with the Bishop of Munster, which we shall further and distinctly satisfy- to them, if they shall so require it, though we foresee the time will scarce permit it before the undertaking be begun; all which, as is said before, you must first submit to the Bishop's judgment, always assuring him that, whatever the success be of this negotiation with these princes, he may depend upon it that the payment of the succeeding months shall be as effectually complied with as this first ; and advising with him to what place or places the bills or mo nies may, in the future, be most conveniently transmitted, giving early notice to us thereof. Upon the whole matter, you must always keep in your eye the treaty as the foundation of this correspondence betwixt us ; and, accordingly, press the exact performance of it, not allowing yourself the latitude of any interpre- 380 THE LIFE OF [iNSTRUC- tation, or recession from it, without first consulting us ; but assuring him, in the general, of the likelihood of finding a great facility in us of dispensing with any circumstances which, in the execution thereof, may be found very difficult or impracticable ; although we do not foresee any can happen to be so. In case the Elector of Mentz, the Elector of Branden burg, or the Duke of Nieuburg, one or more of them, shall join in the association desired, then you shall, adver tising us thereof, govern yourself in making the deduction of the payments according to what is expressed in the treaty : suspending (even though you should find yourself ready for it) the second payment until you are in your judgment convinced that some fair and reasonable progress is made by the Bishop in his preparations upon the first, but so discreetly, and with such fair pretences, as he may not suspect we distrust his performance. Upon occasion, you shall discourse with his Highness the Bishop the satisfaction we have had in the person of the Baron of Wreden, and manner of his negotiating with us, offering and rendering to him all the good offices which shall lie in your way. The whole government of your own person we leave entirely to your own discretion, observing to you only this caution, that with all possible care you disguise and cover from all the world your employment, and so pass up and down as led by your own curiosity to the making of this journey, and accordingly make your addresses to the Bishop, in which upon conference with the Baron of Wreden you will be the best directed. — Given at our Court at White hall this 22d day of June, 1665, in the seventeenth year of our reign. C. R. By his Majesty's command, Arlington. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. S81 N°2. * Instructions to our trusty and well-beloved Sir Wil liam Temple, Baronet, our Resident at Brussels. Given at Whitehall the 25th November, 1667. Charles R. Immediately upon receipt of this, you shall acquaint the Marquis Castel-Rodrigo that a sudden domestic occasion forces you to beg his leave that you may immediately go to England, but with an intention to return quickly thither ; and therewith press him to tell you all things that may relate to the advantage of these countries, Don Juan de Austria's coming thither, the provisions of men and money they expect from Spain, the succours they hope from the Emperor, the inclination of the several princes of Germany towards them, the part Sweden is like to take, and, finally, what he does hope from Holland ; to the end that by in forming us truly of all these things you may the better incline us to concur to the succour of these countries. You shall further tell the Marquis (if you judge it fit to proceed so with him) that your opinion is to pass into Holland, and there to embark for England in the packet boat, as being safer than that of Nieuport ; and that if you find a good opportunity for it, being at the Hague, you will endeavour to discourse again with M. de Witt, to take from him (the Marquis) all future umbrage, if he should chance to hear you had been there. These compliments being thus performed to the Mar quis, you shall make all possible haste to the Hague, where having found M. de Witt, you shall discourse with him to the effect following, showing for the credential, if you shall need any towards him, the letter we have appointed my Lord Arlington to write to you in French upon this subject; * Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p. 143. 382 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- and, in fine, telling him plainly, that his personal honour and engagement is the best security we are willing to depend on in the negotiation now depending between the States-General and us, and that accordingly we would satisfy ourself by send ing you to discourse with him upon the matters now de pending. The Dutch ambassadors say their masters earnestly desire we would join with them in mediating the peace between the two crowns of France and Spain ; and insinuate that the only means of making our mediation effectual, is to threaten that crown with a conjunction of our forces against it, which shall refuse the peace upon fair conditions. You shall discourse to M. de Witt how fallacious this funda mental proposition appears to us, and how it behoves him to take from us all umbrage therein, if he does sincerely desire the peace we have made should be lasting and in violable, according as the good of both nations seems to require it. You shall further explain yourself, that, con sidering the strict ties which have lately been between France and the States, and the visible interest the latter have in seeing the peace made, we cannot but suspect the design ofthe States in pressing us to the aforesaid declaration is to force France to accept the peace with our exclusion, leaving us in a quarrel with them for that declaration; as it has been hinted to us out of France. Now, because it is probable the Dutch ambassadors here may not so clearly know their masters' sense in this matter, you shall plainly tell M. de Witt the scope of our sending you to him is to be informed whether the States will really and effectually enter into a league offen sive and defensive ivith us for the protection of the Spanish Netherlands, and if the interests of both nations shall re quire it, even against France itself, whose successful progress in these countries the States have so much reason to appre hend, as well as the daily improving strength of their force by sea, from both which they can no way be secured but by a firm union with England, upon the old foundations TIONS. J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 383 of amity betwixt this crown and them, and not the parti cular advantages gained in the last treaty of peace. On the other hand you must remonstrate with De Witt, that, despairing to agree the two crowns, it will behove us, in those disorders amongst our neighbours, to secure our own interests the best we can. Accordingly let him bethink himself what an accession it would be to the French king's strength if we should lend him from hence a considerable body of foot the next campaign ; and in that case what would become of Flanders, and even Holland itself? In conclusion, when you have heightened these discourses with what will easily occur to you on this subject, you shall charge M. de Witt with the care of seeing their ambassadors here in England perfectly and effectually instructed upon the offensive and defensive union, in case the States embrace the pro position of it ; and tell him further, if need be, ye will return to Brussels by way of Holland, and discourse with him again upon the subject, if we shall be pleased with the errand you bring from him. It will be obvious to M. de Witt to suspect that our partial kindness towards our nephew the Prince of Orange will make us affect, unreason ably, the recommending him to the possession of those charges and employments in the States' service which his predecessors enjoyed. Therefore, as you see occasion for it, you may plainly tell him, that though we have all possible kindness for our nephew, yet that the consideration of his in terest at this time shall not at all interfere with or disturb the great interest betwixt the nations which must always be superior to that particular one. That, notwithstanding, we do not doubt the States will always remember what they owe to that family, and in due time not only give the Prince of Orange"" those employments which will consist with the in terest of their government, but in the mean time advise and assist us in freeing his paternal estate from these en cumbrances and disadvantages under which it lies for want of good conduct. This discourse of the Prince of Orange 384 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- you shall wholly suppress till you find M. de Witt inclin able to the main proposition, and then introduce it as he shall give you occasion for it, or your own prudence shall better suggest it to you. Having finished this your conference with M. de Witt, you shall make all possible haste hither; and being arrived, let the Spanish ambassador and every body else here believe ¦that your own occasions have obliged you to this hasty journey. According to which caution, your speaking to M. de Witt may be as private as may be, and are a part of all those hints suggested to you in these instructions, as your discourse with him shall lead you, apprising him, in conclusion, of our friendship and value of his person. C. R. By his Majesty's command, Arlington. N°3.* Instructions to our trusty and well beloved Sir William Temple, Baronet, going our Envoy Ex traordinary to the States-General of the United Provinces, and after to the Marquis of Castel- Rodrigo. Given at Whitehall the 1st day of Ja nuary, 1667-8. Charles R. You shall transport yourself with all possible diligence into Holland upon the yacht we have assigned you for that purpose, which you are to detain there till you are ready to send to us an account of your success in the business upon which you are now employed. Immediately upon your arrival you shall press your * Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p. 149. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 385 having an audience of the States-General, and there de liver our letter of credence to them, accompanying it with such compliments as shall occur to you upon the occasion of your errand. But if you shall think it most proper to visit M. de Witt first, as we think it may be, you shall be gin by the assuring him of our accepting well the discourses and overtures that passed between him and you at the late conferences, and offer yourself to be directed by him in your address to the States, adding the value and esteem we have constantly had for his person, and our dependence on his honour and integrity in the prosecution of the nego tiation ; and if you shall see cause for it, even in this entrance, you shall endeavour to quiet all jealousy and apprehension he may have of our wishing to lessen his credit in that government, or of our concerning ourself for our nephew the Prince of Orange, to the prejudice thereof, in the manner you were directed in your former instructions, bearing date the 25th November last. In this your conference with M. de Witt you shall let him know how willing we are to enter into a more strict defensive league with the States-General, in the manner he has already specified to you in your late discourses together, according to which you shall offer him the pro ject following. [Here follows a project of one treaty, for the defensive alliance, and compelling terms of peace also. Substantially the project agrees with the treaties after wards concluded. There is to be a mediation : — 1. "To oblige France to accept the peace upon the terms already proposed by that King, both to the States, several Princes of Germany, and to the Emperor, being, either to retain the conquests of last campaign, or to receive instead of them Aix, St. Omer, Cambray, Douay, and either Luxem burg or the county of Burgundy. 2. " To oblige France to stop all further progress of the war upon the first proposal of that mediation, and in case qf VOL. II. C C 386 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- a difficulty in Spain to accept it, that it should be left wholly to the mediators to persuade lor to force *] them to it. " 3. That the mediators shall become jointly the warran ties of this agreement, with a particular specification of what forces each of them shall furnish to maintain it against the first breach offered by either side."] And if it shall so happen that you are pressed upon any thing which it has not occurred to us to direct you in, if it be of that importance, you shall immediately despatch an express to us for our further instructions. Although we cannot foresee there is like to be any such need, and would much rather have you oblige the States to a speedy con clusion upon the forementioned project for fear of any dis turbance may be given it from France, adding thereunto one or more articles that may refer to future stipulations and agreements betwixt us, as to the manner and time of our arming for the common defence and guaranty, in case no peace be made, or be too long deferred between the two crowns of France and Spain. And that this may be effected with all possible despatch, we have herewith caused to be delivered to you a power under our great seal of England, to conclude finally the aforesaid treaty, wliich you are to acquaint M. de Witt withal, and to expose it to the Commissioners appointed you by the States-General, to whom you shall discover all things relating to this treaty, as you are directed to do to M. de Witt, and that he may give you full credence in what relates to himself, you shall deliver him the letter we have directed the Lord Arlington to write to him. Having finished the aforesaid treaty with the States, you shall let them know we have supposed it will import much the common ends between us, that you make all pos sible haste to the Marquis Castel- Rodrigo, to dispose him to the acceptance of one ofthe alternatives above mentioned, and endear to the said Marquis as much as you can our * For the undecency of the word force, I would willingly have it left out. C. R. — Marginal note by the King. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 387 endeavours to join Holland and us to the advantage of his Catholic Majesty's affairs, and the defence of the Spanish Low Countries, relating to him the success of your nego tiation, and demanding of him what present monies he can effectively furnish us withal, to enable us to perform our part in the common defence, and particularly minding him of the overture made you by M. de Witt in the last conference of furnishing them with five or six millions of gilders to be transported to us for the end aforesaid. But if it should so fall out that you could not conclude with the States- General upon the foregoing terms, you shall then represent to him the Marquis how willing we are to do our utmost towards the relief of those countries, but withal how un able we are without more considerable and speedy supplies of money to be presently transmitted hither ; and thereupon receive what overtures he can make you to this effect, and immediately transmit them hither to be acted upon with the Spanish ambassador. It will easily occur to you, to incline the Marquis as much as you can, in case of an adjustment with Holland, to accommodate himself to the alternative qf France's retaining lohat they have gotten this last campaign rather than the other equivalents offered for it. C. R. By his Majesty's command, Arlington. N° 4. Instructions for our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Temple, Baronet, returning from the Hague to Brussels. * Jan. 24.^1667-8. Charles R. Having exchanged the ratifications of our treaties at the Hague, and performed all offices else to establish a * From the original in the British Museum. Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p. 200. c c 2 388 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- good and entire correspondence betwixt us and the States- General, and particularly with M. de Witt, you shall transport yourself with all convenient speed to the Marquis Castel-Rodrigo, and endear as far as you can to him the part we have had in bringing the States-General to these last resolutions so favourable to the affairs of Spain, and conjuring him to all possible facility on his part, in the accomplishing those points which are the foundation of our union, and the only human means left to preserve to our good brother, the Catholic King, the dominion of his countries. You shall further represent to him the disabilities we are under towards the providing and setting to sea sixty capital ships, which will be of absolute necessity in our conjunction with the States-General, and that we must expect from him the means of effecting it, which cannot be done without the speedy supply of 4OO,000Z. or 500,000Z. ; that now in the beginning there must be a considerable part advanced to us, which we suppose he may be furnished with out of those moneys the States-General are content to send him upon part of some towns and places in the Pays de Geldre. If he the Marquis shall press you to en gage us to a levy of land forces, you are to reply to him that while we are in the state of mediator we cannot pro perly furnish nor indeed enter into agreement thereupon, but by joint advice with the States after the King of France shall have refused the peace; that our coming in the mean time strongly by sea puts us in as considerable a state of defending the Spanish Low Countries, as can be wished without giving umbrage to France ; that the expense of it will be very vast, and cannot be so much as entered into till we see means from thence wherewithal to promote it. That in conclusion you shall insist upon at least 300,000?. if you cannot prevail for the greater sums, and lay your whole stress upon this ; declining for the present all condi- tionsfor the benefit of trade, which must of course be subject TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 389 to long and tedious discussions, and resorts to the council of Spain ; finally, with all speed some agreement for the aforesaid sum, according to the powers herewith sent you ; and if you meet any difficulties herein, you shall with all speed transmit it to us, that we may clear it the best we can from hence. C. R. By his Majesty's command, Arlington. N°5. # Instructions for our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Temple, our Ambassador ordinary to the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries. Given at Whitehall the 10th of August, 1668. Charles R. Upon your arrival at the Hague, you shall in your first audience assure the States- General of our firm resolution to observe inviolably and in all parts the several treaties and alliances lately contracted with them, especially that concerning the defensive league between the two nations, and the other of the Union and Triple Alliance with the Court of Sweden, for the peace and defence ofthe Spanish Netherlands ; adding that you have it in charge to advise with them in what manner and by what instruments the guaranties shall be given to both the crowns, and exposing such reasons as shall best occur to you upon the subject, why they ought to be given equally ; and at the same time asking them further, or as the occasion shall be better fur nished to you for it, whether it will not be fit to make a new concert among the principals (leaving room for other princes and states to enter therein), in what manner and * Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p. 271. C C 3 390 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- with what force they shall oppose the infringement of the peace, and by either crown, since neither seems entirely satisfied with it; and in the mean time to qualify them selves to demand a reference of such disputes as shall arise, to be justly and amicably determined by them (the referees), without which there is not any likelihood of see ing the peace subsist long, but the breach of it attempted by one or the other. 2. You shall give the same assurances upon occasion of discourse to the several ministers of all states with whom you shall converse, or be appointed to treat with, as your Commissioners, possessing them with ah you can of the belief and confidence of our steadiness in the present coun sels we have taken, upon the foundation ; and more par ticularly you shall endeavour to continue M. de Witt in this opinion ; letting him know how much we esteem his personal qualities and friendship, and how kindly we take the expressions he made in his two late letters to you upon the subject of our present alliance; and as you see occasion for it, sound his opinion in what manner you shall open the propositions of the East India Company, as illustrative of the Marine Treaty, which shall be apart transmitted to you in a very short time ; avowing further that in this and all other matters relating to the good correspondence we are desirous to perpetuate with the States, you have our order to communicate fully and confidentially with him, and to govern yourself much by his advice. 3. You shall further tell him how well we are satisfied with his offer to induce the States-General to interpose their offices to obtain an equality with you in all the cus toms and privileges of commerce in the Baltic Sea, and for preventing all present and future disputes with the King of Denmark ; and we have rather chosen to refer the present controversy to the mediation and interposition of the said States than seek any other *, or prosecute our * At tins place is a marginal note as foUows: — Because the interests TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 391 satisfaction by any violent way ; assuring him they cannot give us a better security and confidence, in our present alliance, than by showing their inclination in this and all other points to pursue those ways and courses which admit or produce an equality in trade between the two nations. 4. You must make it your principal care to watch narrowly all the endeavours and practices of France (if any such shall be) to obstruct the Triple Alliance, possess ing the ministers and members of that commonwealth of their security and advantage in the same, and the preju dice they would receive in hearkening to any overtures contrary to it ; engaging with you herein M. Appleboom, or any other minister that shall be there from the crown of Sweden, and professing a resolution to walk hand in hand, and in an entire confidence with him, in all your progress towards this end; advising and consulting with him in all propositions between the States-General and you for the effectual payment of these moneys we have undertaken to secure from Spain for the benefit of that crown ; and in case any difficulty shall arise in the Spanish affairs, or irresolution in their counsels, to frustrate our expectations in the performance of the same (which we cannot fairly suppose), you shall sound the States how far they would willingly give of their own to the content and satisfaction of Sweden, offering the like on our part ; but remembering always that we be not engaged in any new payments, since we have the last year lent that crown 50,0007. sterling, which debt we will be content to sink and extinguish for our part in any such payment, keeping to yourself the declining it in this manner till the occasion of the English and Dutch trade may interfere on such an equality, it may perhaps be better to trust the Dutch only with inducing the King of Denmark to send hither, than with the whole matter oi- points ia difference betwixt us, in whicli they may not be so fair arbitrators. Arlington, c c 4 392 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- shall oblige you to it ; on the other side, you shall ever frankly offer all possible offices on our part to procure the payment from Spain, and, if need be, propose your acting or going to negotiate the same with the Marquis Castel- Rodrigo, Don Juan de Austria, or any other chief go vernor in Flanders for his Catholic Majesty; for which purpose letters of credence shall be sent to you as soon as it is known who is to remain there in that quality. 5. You shall early apply yourself to know the mind of the States upon the most Christian King's demands of Conde, Fort Lynk, and other dependencies upon the con quered places, by virtue of the late treaty of peace; en deavouring to engage them to join with us in getting these and all other disputes arising therefrom to be determined by the interposition of us the mediators, or at least a sus pension of those disputes till it shall be seen what effect our joint offices have gained therein ; professing that we shall not act any thing but by a mutual agreement and communication with the crown of Sweden and them : to which purpose you will endeavour to call early on M. Appleboom, to see himself possessed of an entire power to act concurrently with you therein, and upon the guaranties we are to give to both the crowns, or sign a concert as mentioned in the first article of these your instructions, in case the States fall into the opinion of it. 6. For this purpose you must inform yourself what negotiations are on foot in that state, with the Cantons of Switzerland, either with the whole body of tbem, or with the Protestant ones only, declaring to the States, or their minister (as the occasion requires it), our liking to admit them into the present Triple Alliance ; and if you shall find any agent of theirs upon the place you shall declare to him our willingness to receive any such proposition by a person with a public character from themselves ; insinu ating to him, as from yourself, that to render such a one more welcome to us, he shall do well to advise his masters TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 393 to oblige the regicides to retire out of their protection ; and what is said to them with relation to the Swissers, you shall readily apply towards any of the Protestant princes of the empire, especially those of Brandenburg, Luxemburg, or Saxony, declaring our desire, above all other alliances, to see ourselves united more particularly with those that pro fess the Protestant religion. 7. In case either the States or M. de Witt put you upon the discourse of the pavilion, you shall tell them that it is a point so delicate that you know not how to handle it, wishing there might be no further occasion of touching it ; and that the States having declared and expressed their readiness to comply with the custom of former times, and we desiring nothing but what has hitherto been practised, we have no reason to doubt any unkindness or further disputes likely to arise in that matter. 8. You must apply yourself to live with all possible respect with our nephew the Prince of Orange, waiting frequently upon him, yet not so as to give any unnecessary jealousy to the States; which caution you must especially observe towards that which is called the Prince of Orange's party, by whom you may be privately informed of many things relating to their government, which you will not always so easily learn from others, but taking heed not to be put by them upon any thing that may disturb our good correspondence with the States ; advising our nephew to depend rather upon their good will than any particular faction, and yet with such a temper and discretion as not to lose the friendship and dependence any considerable person hath upon his family ; upon the whole assuring him (our nephew), that our tender affection and kindness for him shall incline us to improve all occasions that may be for his advantage, and that we do not forget the debt we owe to his house, which we shall take care to see paid in convenient time; and upon this occasion we cannot forbear to bid you thank M. de Witt for the affection he professes 394 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- to the Prince of Orange's person, which he cannot express better at present than by putting the care and conduct of our nephew's private affairs and revenue (which we hear are running into great disorder) into a better method; and as you see occasion, offer him to join with him (M. de Witt) in the considering these ways by which the estate may be best preserved, especially in case the Princess Dowager offers to lay down the tutele, as has been of late suggested to us in letters from thence : but you will best know her mind herein when, by waiting on her with our compliments, you find an occasion to put her upon the dis course of this subject ; remembering that nothing must be concluded herein without acquainting the Elector of Bran denburg, who shall be spoken to on this subject by the person we have designed to go to compliment him upon his marriasre. o 9. You must not omit to maintain a good correspondence with all public ministers and ambassadors upon the place, especially those of France and Spain ; interposing fairly betwixt them if any disputes arise, without affecting a par tiality for either, but where the right of the thing in dispute shall seem to carry you. 10. You shall give frequent accounts of all things that occur to you there upon these particulars, or whatever else you shall think worth our knowledge, unto the Secretary of State with whom you correspond, and from whom you shall receive our directions and commands, in pursuance of these or any other instructions we shall send to you. 11. And although we have enjoined you to have an especial care in maintaining all the rights belonging to your character we have given you, and in yielding the hand and precedency to nobody, yet considering the Prince of Orange is our nephew, we have thought fit to forbid you to take it of him upon any occasion, according as you see it expressed in our order of Council of the 8th inst.* * Appendix C. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 3Q5 12. And whereas there hath happened of late some dis putes in Guinea between the Factories and Agents of the English and Dutch Guinea Companies concerning certain factories and other rights upon that coast, the particulars of which, as they have been by order examined and stated by the Lords of our Council, you will have delivered to you by our Secretary of State, you are to take the first opportunity you can to discourse that matter with the States, or at least with M. de Witt, and to represent the inconvenience there may be to suffer such differences to grow up ; and that therefore we desire that that and all other disputes of that kind that may arise may rather be referred to be fairly determined by Commissioners here, than to be left to be prosecuted by the agents and servants of the two Companies upon the place ; and accordingly you shall press that Commissioners shall be forthwith ap pointed by the States on the behalf of the Dutch West India Company, who may meet here with a like number from us on the part of the Royal Company, finally to de termine all questions and disputes that have or may arise concerning that matter, which you shall say we choose as the best means to preserve and confirm that good amity and correspondence which is between us. And this we would have you take your first occasion to press to them as a thing of present necessity for the consequences it may have. But for the other matter relating to East India trade, in which you shall be hereafter instructed at large, you may move in that more at leisure, and as you shall find a reasonable opportunity, not pressing for Commis sioners therein, but accepting them in case -they shall offer them to you. You are already acquainted with the points in difference between the King of Portugal and the States-General, so that as occasion offers you may more properly interpose all good offices on our part towards the accommodation of them, and particularly press the States not to take any 396 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- new resolution or measures therein till they hear of the success of the project carried by Don Francisco de Melos to that King, and accordingly press the prolongation of the time given him, if there be need for it. C. R. By his Majesty's command, Arlington. N°6.* Additional Instructions to Sir William Temple, Knight and Baronet, our Ambassador at the Hague. You shall enter into conference, either at the Hague or at Brussels, or at what other place shall by common consent be agreed upon, with such ministers of Spain, Sweden, and the States-General, as you shall find authorised and fur nished with powers respectively for determining the present disputes concerning the payment of the subsidies promised to Sweden, and giving the guaranty to Spain upon the peace of Aix ; to wliich end we have sent you full powers to act in our name, together with those instructions and our letter of credence to the Constable of Castile, which is already in your hands. 2. You shall declare in our name the constant sincerity of our desire to preserve and confirm our Triple Alliance ; and to that end we have, with all readiness, employed you in this conference, to contribute, on our part, all that shall be necessary in the removal of all disputes and uncertain ties that may weaken or hinder the progress of said alli ance, and also to enter into such further' councils as may tend to the security of our mutual interests, and preserve the peace of Christendom. * Longe Papers, i. See Vol. I. p- 309. TIONS.J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 397 3. You shall use your utmost endeavours to convince the ministers of Spain how much that crown is obliged, both in justice and in prudence, to make speedy payment of those subsidies prqmised to Sweden, and of how much importance to that crown their entry into our alliance was in that conjuncture ; that their continuance in it is no less necessary at this time to the peace of Europe, and par ticularly to the security of the monarchy of Spain ; that we and the States-General did, with the participation and consent of the ministers of Spain in our court, promise and agree, in their name, and for their benefit, the said subsidies to Sweden, and did, by our instances, prevail with the Count de Dhona, then minister of Sweden in our court, to enter into and sign the said alliance upon the faith of that promise; you shall argue that neither that sum of money nor the cession ofthe places upon the peace of Aix, if truly considered and weighed, will appear a price too dear in that conjunction for that redemption and security wliich that crown did receive, and doth yet con tinue to enjoy, upon that peace ; and therefore we and the States-General shall have cause to think our offices and mediation very ill considered, if Spain, after the benefit received, shall think it reasonable to recede from the de clared and respective consent of their ministers, though in regard of the passing conjuncture of that time, it could not pass by authentic treaty, and so devolve on us all our part of that payment in which bona, fide they themselves know we were only negotiators for them, and for their im mediate preservation. If it be at any time replied to you, that Spain can, upon cheaper terms, enter into treaty with France, to deliver up the rest of Flanders into her hands, you may, as your reason and prudence shall direct you on that occasion, as freely tell them that if Spain shall retract her engagement, and think to impose upon us the continual charge of their preservation, we know well enough that we can 398 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- find our own safety in other counsels, and shall be absolved in the duty we owe to our friendship with that crown. 4. You shall at the same time as freely declare, on our part, that we are ready to observe a\l promises that have been made by us, or our ministers on our behalf, for giv ing our guaranty to Spain, in conjunction with the States- General, in as large extent as the treaty of Aix itself, which, extending mutually to all the estates and kingdoms on both parts, we understand the guaranty ought to be as large as the peace; that if Spain will perform what is promised to Sweden, we believe we shall be able to engage that crown in the same guaranty with us, without which we fear we may be found too weak to perform the effect of that which Spain may expect from us all. 5. If you succeed in this endeavour, and that Spain be brought to perform the payment of the subsidies, upon condition that Sweden will declare to join with us in the same guaranty, you shall then use your utmost endeavours to dispose Sweden to it, and convince them that if this payment be performed to them, they are engaged to no less by the Triple Alliance itself, into which they entered, to make the peace of Aix, in which this guaranty is in cluded, and all parties equally obliged to give it. 6. After this payment of the subsidies is well established to the satisfaction of Sweden, you shall then proceed to any proposition that shall be made to you for the future defence of this alliance, and the public peace of Christen dom, upon such conditions and upon such terms as may be agreeable to our present interests and engagements ; and if any difficulty shall arise hereupon, you shall resort to us for further instructions therein, still continuing the conference, if you see cause to hope it may end to our satis faction, and with a consonance to our interests. 7. If it shall at any time be urged by the minister of Spain that the guaranty which we are to give may be ex- TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 399 tended to an admission of Spain into a quadruple alliance, you shall constantly reject it, letting them know that we consider it as that which must draw us indirectly into a rupture with France, and involve us further than will con sist with the faith we owe to France upon the peace of Aix ; that we consider we owe the same guaranty to France by an article of that treaty, if they shall ask it, which we have promised to Spain ; and if we make a quadruple alliance with Spain, in order to a mutual defence, further than to the preservation of the peace of Aix, it is to violate the faith of that treaty, and unfairly and unadvisedly to give cause of quarrel to that crown. 8. Because we count of how great importance it will be to us and the peace of Europe that this conference may not end without a satisfaction and agreement among the parties upon those disputes, and how far it may encou rage attempts upon the public peace if the prospect of any differences remaining among us shall diminish the reputa tion of our Triple Alliance, we think fit to instruct you further, and give you power, that if after all your endea vours you shall find that either the disability or the ill counsels of Spain shall make it impossible to obtain from them the full performance of the 400,000 crowns, and that thereby the subsistence of our Triple Alliance is in danger to be shaken, you shall then enter into concert with the ministers of Holland distinctly, and propose to them, that if Spain can be induced to pay one half, or a greater part ofthe said sum, that then, in consideration ofthe value we have for the amity of Sweden, and to prevent the ill effects which we foresee may arise from the unsuccessful dissolu tion of this meeting, we shall be content, and think it advisable, if the States-General shall concur with us in it, to pay the remaining part of the said subsidies to Sweden, by equal portions between us, and upon such terms, and at such times, as we can agree, to the satisfaction of Sweden. But in this and all parts of the negotiation we intend that 400 THE LIFE QF [INSTRUC- you proceed with the full commonition and concurrence of the States-General, with whom we desire to keep our union firm and unshaken. Given at our Court at White hall the 7th day of Jan. 1668*, in the 20th year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, C. R. J. Trevor. N° 7-t Instructions to John Werden, Esq., sent by us to Sir William Temple, our Ambassador with the States General. Charles R. You shall, with all convenient speed, embark yourself for Holland, and repair to our Ambassador, Sir William Tem ple, at the Hague ; when you shall let him know that we have thought fit to send you on purpose to inform him fully in our thoughts and resolutions on the affair now depending concerning the guaranty to Spain, and the pay ment of the subsidies to Sweden ; in which we have thought necessary, in regard of the weight and importance of the affair, to transmit our directions to you, who, according to those instructions, and what other light you shall have re ceived from our Secretaries of State, may be better able to inform our said Ambassador of the rules and measures we desire he should hold in this affair. You shall acquaint our ambassador that we have read and considered all the letters and memorial which he has, from time to time, sent concerning this matter, and having * O. S.,or, 17th Jan. 1668, N. S. T From a copy in the British Museum, certified by Mr. Werden. Longe Papers, ii. See Vol. I. p. 322. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 401 weighed all the parts and progress of it till this time, we think fit to give these directions : — That our Ambassador do continue firmly to demand the observance of the agreement in May last, signed and sealed by the Spanish Ambassador, and since ratified by the Queen his mistress, and to press the States-General to join with him in the same demand, from which we see no colour of reason to depart ; and do consider very well of how ill consequence it may be, even to the dissolution of our whole alliance, if treaties, made and ratified between all parties, shall be so easily and so lightly changed; nor do we know whither this may extend, or where these demands will terminate ; and, therefore, we do desire you to let our Ambassador know, that it is our will that he continue to disavow that paper which he sent us last, called the Project of the 15th October, 1668, which we find the Spanish Ambassador repeats so often in his memorials, and makes the only pretence and foundation for this de mand of a specification of forces, to be given with the guaranty at the same time, and to prevent even the first payment of the Swedish subsidies, which is contrary to the express act delivered by the Ambassador himself, and since witnessed by the Queen. ; and that upon no pre tence he suffer himself to be persuaded either to avow that paper, or to engage us in any proposition of the like nature, which may oblige us to the payment of any part of the sub sidies to be secured to Sweden for the future. And that our said Ambassador may have the more light, and be the better instructed to bring this affair to a conclusion, according to these measures, you shall acquaint him that we having, by our Minister now residing in the Court of Spain, made complaint of these delays in the payment of the subsidies, and in this inobservance of the treaty of May last, he received answer from the Conde de Penande, that the orders from that Court were despatched for the present and absolute payment of the subsidies, to Sweden ; VOL. II. D D 402 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- and that they knew nothing of any previous demand to hinder the observance of that treaty ; but were ready to agree further, and to give security also for the future payments (in case of war) to the crown of Sweden ; the extract of which letter shall be delivered to you, to be com municated to our said Ambassador : from whence we do, with too much reason, suspect that this last difficulty has been contrived at the Hague, and arises from the Spanish Ambassador there, and not without some encouragement from some of the States Ministers themselves, who may have an interest apart to persuade Sweden to refuse the securities of Spain for his future subsidies, and to give them hopes of a security from us and Holland ; that so at last, when that shall fail, it may necessitate Spain to give them possession of Guelders, as a certain security for these payments : an occasion which it is visible they have long sought for. Besides, we have reason to believe, that as Spain is willing to draw us and the Confederates into a war, to be made at our expense, before any condition made to indemnify us for the charge we shall be at, so we fear that our confederates are not upon equal terms with us in this particular. The Swede having provision already for his payments, and the Hollander being obliged always to have an army on foot, for his defence in times of peace as well as war, as being nearer the danger than Spain itself, is always ready to propose or accept any proposition that may lead us into the same charge, that he may be the safer at our expense. This we have observed, and this we require you fully to instruct our Ambassador in; whom we direct also to observe, for the future on all occasions, how far such propositions which have or shall be made may be derived from any of these indirect interests, where we expect that he shall always govern himself so as to decline all such irregularities and disadvantages, and rather to avoid them there upon the TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 403 place, than put us to the positive refusal here, which may, in some cases, put us to a disadvantage. You shall tell our Ambassador there, that if he cannot, upon this new instance, prevail with the Ministers of Spain to pay the subsidies, and to perform the late agreement, without this novelty now pretended to ; that he declare to them that we cannot receive, much less make, any pro position to the breaking of the treaty, and setting loose the agreement which was, after so many debates and con siderations, happily fixed in May last; and that we think it is not for the common interest of the alliance to do it. He shall then desire the States-General to join with us to make our joint interest to the Court of Spain, to give their orders to their Ministers in these parts to perform the payment and accept the guaranty according to the late treaty, without further delay or pretence ; and also to adjudge the security to Sweden for their future payment; declaring withal, that our firm resolution is to make good the guaranty we have promised, and which we are ready to give to Spain, by such a concert with our confederates for their specification of sums to be employed respectively in case of a war, and with such other circumstances of time, number and quality of assistance, as shall fully and sincerely answer the ends of that guaranty, and the necessity of the occasion when it shall arrive. You shall tell our Ambassador that we shall expect an early and particular account from him what he observes, and how he proceeds, in this negotiation, to be sent to one of our Secretaries of State ; upon which he shall receive our further instructions, as we shall see cause. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 11th of October, 1669, in the one and twentieth year of our reign. C. R. D D 2 400 THE LIFE QF [INSTRUC- you proceed with the full commonition and concurrence of the States-General, with whom we desire to keep our union firm and unshaken. Given at our Court at White hall the 7th day of Jan. 1668*, in the 20th year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, C. R. J. Trevor. N° 7-t Instructions to John Werden, Esq., sent by us to Sir William Temple, our Ambassador with the States General. Charles R. You shall, with all convenient speed, embark yourself for Holland, and repair to our Ambassador, Sir William Tem ple, at the Hague ; when you shall let him know that we have thought fit to send you on purpose to inform him fully in our thoughts and resolutions on the affair now depending concerning the guaranty to Spain, and the pay ment of the subsidies to Sweden ; in which we have thought necessary, in regard of the weight and importance of the affair, to transmit our directions to you, who, according to those instructions, and what other light you shall have re ceived from our Secretaries of State, may be better able to inform our said Ambassador of the rules and measures we desire he should hold in this affair. You shall acquaint our ambassador that we have read and considered all the letters and memorial which he has, from time to time, sent concerning this matter, and having * O. S.,or, 17th Jan. 1668, N. S. f From a copy in the British Museum, certified by Mr. Werden. Longe Papers, ii. See Vol. I. p. 322. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 401 weighed all the parts and progress of it till this time, we think fit to give these directions : — That our Ambassador do continue firmly to demand the observance of the agreement in May last, signed and sealed by the Spanish Ambassador, and since ratified by the Queen his mistress, and to press the States-General to join with him in the same demand, from which we see no colour of reason to depart ; and do consider very well of how ill consequence it may be, even to the dissolution of our whole alliance, if treaties, made and ratified between all parties, shall be so easily and so lightly changed; nor do we know whither this may extend, or where these demands will terminate ; and, therefore, we do desire you to let our Ambassador know, that it is our will that he continue to disavow that paper which he sent us last, called the Project of the 15th October, 1668, which we find the Spanish Ambassador repeats so often in his memorials, and makes the only pretence and foundation for this de mand of a specification of forces, to be given with the guaranty at the same time, and to prevent even the first payment of the Swedish subsidies, which is contrary to the express act delivered by the Ambassador himself, and since witnessed by the Queen ; and that upon no pre tence he suffer himself to be persuaded either to avow that paper, or to engage us in any proposition of the like nature, which may oblige us to the payment of any part of the sub sidies to be secured to Sweden for the future. And that our said Ambassador may have the more light, and be the better instructed to bring this affair to a conclusion, according to these measures, you shall acquaint him that we having, by our Minister now residing in the Court of Spain, made complaint of these delays in the payment of the subsidies, and in this inobservance of the treaty of May last, he received answer from the Conde de Penande, that the orders from that Court were despatched for the present and absolute payment ofthe subsidies, to Sweden ; VOL. IT. D D 406 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- the States-General, and therein acquaint them how kindly we take the sending of their Ambassadors, and the pro fessions sent by them of their firm resolution to adhere inviolably to the late peace made betwixt us : that the same resolutions are firmly rooted in us, and that we are resolved to improve this peace to the safety and advantage of both nations all we can. And for the better settling of it, we will immediately name Commissioners, men of affec tions and interests suitable to the joint concern of the two nations, for an immediate regulating all things in difference betwixt us concerning trade, especially that of the East Indies ; which good work, once finished, will undeceive all such as either hope or endeavour any new differences be twixt us. You may assure them that we shall with great alacrity receive any propositions from them that may tend to procure a good and lasting peace to Christendom, and in particular for the securing of the United Provinces, and those other neighbouring provinces under the jurisdiction of his Catholic Majesty ; and that we shall concur in the warranting such a peace, when made, in the most substan tial and solid manner that can be advised : and that a great reason of our thus speedily despatching you, before having had more particular conferences with their Ambassadors, is to try and find out what effectual means may be had to prevent the great inundation like to fall upon these coun tries by the return of the Most Christian King, and the attempts of the Prince of Conde, from their armies being so good, numerous, and victorious ; and how far the vigour of that King may improve them, the preparations against them appearing not as yet in any method like to give him cheque, gives just apprehension to us. You shall in the next place, when you wait on the Prince of Orange, desire a private audience ; where, after you have delivered our letter, and represented to him the preat" joy and satisfaction we have in the advantages he has ac quired, you shall let him know that we cannot, but with TIONS.J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 407 great trouble to ourself, entertain the least apprehension of a disturbance in this his so mended condition. But tliat though we cannot but acknowledge that the war hath given the occasion to his own active generosity and good fortune to work him up to that exalted station he is now in, so in all appearance it must be peace that must give him a solid possession and confirmation of it. For if, after having rescued that people out of so dangerous a war by his con duct, they acquire a lasting and well-grounded peace by his prudence, his worst enemies will not dare to oppose the deserved affections for his people, and the entire con fidence which we hope will be ever hereafter between us and himself, by which he may upon all occasions be sure of the utmost of our assistance, joined to the power he is now legally invested in, will, we suppose, humanly secure him against all attempts ; but if, having so miraculously recovered so much of his lost state that he may upon ho nourable terms have it all, he will rather choose to put all his own in the hazard than not get another neighbour more than what legally or by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle belonged to him, if the fate of war prove contrary (as he hath no reason to presume much on victory), all those ap plauses and affections of his people, which attend him now as their redeemer, will be turned into reproach and hate, for the having exposed them to such a destiny, when he might have received them with more honour to himself, and splendour to them, than any of his ancestors ever did their predecessors. In the next place, put him in mind how little reason he hath to confide in the Emperor's exposing his force in his behalf. Did he not the first year receive their money, and only march, but refuse to engage, and so lost him the Elector of Brandenburgh ? How did he treat him at Bonn ? Did he not expose him and his troops to the hazard, and himself keep the town ? Hath his con junction with the Spaniard been more successful ? What were the efforts of Charleroy, and their joint march against D u 4 408 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- the Duke of Luxemburg, but the ruin of his army ? Is he not now forced to garrison their towns ; and yet do they bring any army according to promise, in time or number, to the field ? Without doubt, the best thing he can do for the Spaniard is to procure an honourable and good peace, in order to which he shall have all the assist ance we can give ; and the worst thing he can do for him self is to let slip the occasion of a glorious and safe peace, and embrace that of a hazardous and expensive war. After having laid open to him, according to these and such other arguments as your reason shall suggest to you, the little reason he hath to be confident of any sudden and great success in the war, and as little to expect any long unanimity between allies indignant and wearied, and of different interests, to weary out the King of France, you shall propose to him what gain he himself would expect from this war, if the allies should prove victorious. A total suppression of the Most Christian King, only to raise the interests of the house of Austria, doubtless cannot be judged his or his country's interest. But to this, perhaps, he may reply, that all they desire is, to reduce that King to the Treaty of the Pyrenees. This proposition, if it could be effected, were, without doubt, somewhat more for the security of Flanders, and consequently Holland, than a peace made upon the foundation of Aix-la-Chapelle ; but if well considered, nothing can appear more impracti cable : for to suppose that the Most Christian King, whilst in the condition of a victor, and in the possession of so many places yet, got this last war, should not only quit them, but restore those others that he was, solemnly and by a treaty with consent of the King of Spain, and guaranty of England , Sweden, and Holland, possessed of, is to mis apprehend both the temper and condition of that King beyond all imagination. On the other hand, if he pretend by war to force him (of which, for the reasons afore urged, there is little ground to presume), that will appear as im- TIONS. J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 409 practicable, according to the Prince's design, as the other : for if it should please God that the Allies should obtain a full and complete victory over the French, so that an inroad into France were open, and they masters of the field, that the Emperor and Spain would not pursue their blow, and, being in a condition to carve for themselves, would not demand other terms, and so great as would be no way suitable to the Holland interest for them to have, is as little to be imagined. In conclusion, you must strive to make him sensible that the success of the armies ap- peareth more probable for the French than him; that in case he should succeed, the advantage will be but small to himself and country ; nay, possibly, a too great success of the house of" Austria, would be as prejudicial as that of France: and, on the other side, if France should prove vic torious, but in one great battle, he must expect a second part of the same great deluge he lately saw in his own country, but hardly hope to see such a resource again. In the next place, you must strive to soften him all you can upon a point which some malicious men have made great use of to alienate his affection from us — our forbidding his making levies. You must in the first place let him know that we have done no more to him than what we have done to France, the prohibition having been ge neral to all; and that we are very well satisfied that by private means there have gone very many to Holland, and none to France ; that we have not only not sent men into France, but recalled all such as were soldiers in our own service. In the last place, you must conjure him to consider how much the obligations of State, of bond, and affection, de mand an exact union and correspondence between us and him, and, in virtue of that, betwixt the two nations ; which we shall contribute, you may assure him, all we can to cement, and we cannot doubt the same on his part. You have it in your disposal to remove from the Hague 410 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- to the Prince, whether in the army or elsewhere, as often as you shall judge it convenient for our affairs. You are to live well and friendly with all Ambassadors and Ministers of foreign Princes and States in amity with us, whom you shall find resident at the Hague ; and, in your converse with them, to gain what lights you can which may relate to our service, or the interest of our affairs. You shall upon all occasions protect and countenance our merchants and subjects trading in these parts, procur ing them good and speedy justice, and giving them such assistance in their concerns there, as may best contribute to the security and encouragement of their trade. You shall observe and follow such further instructions and directions as you shall receive from us, or our Prin cipal Secretaries of State. You shall give frequent ac counts to us, or our Principal Secretaries of State, of your regulations, and also of such matters as shall come to your knowledge, which may be of concernment to us and our kingdoms. Given at our Court, at Windsor, the 30th day of May, 1674, in the six and twentieth year of our reign. C. R. By his Majesty's command, H. Coventry. N° 10.* Instructions to our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Temple, Baronet, our Ambassador Ex traordinary to the States-General, now returning to Holland. At the Court at Whitehall, the 25th of June, 1675. Charles R. Immediately upon your arrival at the Hague, whither * Longe Papers, iii. See Vol. I. p. 454. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 411 we will that you return with what diligence may be ; after you shall have passed the usual compliments to the Presi dent of the States-General, delivering him the letter you will herewith receive from us to the States, you are imme diately to address yourself to the President; and having said that which is fit to him on our part, of the good opinion and esteem we have of him, and of his affection to the mutual friendly and good understanding between us and the States, you shall proceed to acquaint him with the great concernment you left us in for the present state of things on your side ; how heartily we continue our thoughts and cares for the general peace, and for whatever might facilitate the way to it; and particularly how desirous we are now in the mean time to take measures with the States, not only for the warranting and receiving in the most effectual manner it may to the peace that, by the blessing of God, shall be made, and especially as to the special safety and preservation of the Spanish Netherlands, but likewise to enter into a nearer alliance with the States for the mutual defence and preservation of each other in general. And for this purpose, you have orders forthwith to propose on our part to the States, — ¦ 1. That over and above the advantages and general warranty that shall be given of the whole treaty of peace, when made, we are desirous as to Flanders to enter jointly with the States into a particular warranty of the Spanish Netherlands, with a condition ever of a rupture against whomsoever shall invade them, &c. 2. Besides which, for the general safety and defence of each other in our respective countries' rights, and against whatsoever aggression or violence, we desire at the same time to enter into a defensive alliance with the said States; the one and the other of these particulars to be formally executed at the same time the general peace is made, according to such projects as shall be for that pur pose in the meantime framed and prepared between us and 412 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- the States. Given at our Court at Whitehall the 25th day of June, 1675. C. R. N° 11.* Instructions for our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Temple, Baronet, our Ambassador Ex traordinary to the States-General of the United Netherlands, and one of our Ambassadors Ex traordinary and Plenipotentiary for the Treaty of Peace at Nimeguen. Given at our Court at White hall, June 28. 1678. Charles R. Having received advice that the States- General had sent orders to their Ministers at Nimeguen, to sign the Treaty of Peace with France, upon the terms of the project given in by the Most Christian King some months since at Nime guen, we have thought fit you should forthwith, and with all convenient speed, repair to the Hague, where being arrived, you are in the first place to address your self to our most dear nephew the Prince of Orange, and let him know we have directed you to consult with him in confidence upon the following heads, viz.: — 1. What the best measures are that can be taken to prevent any coun sels in Spain for the exchange of Flanders. 2. Whether he conceives that any new alliances between us and the States may be necessary towards the preserving it after the peace. 3. What sort of guaranties may be expected, or given, most effectually to that end. After you have discoursed upon these particulars with oui- said most dear nephew, you shall, according as he shall advise, report the same to the Pensioner, the Sieur Tage], and then take the first opportunity of letting the States * Longe Papers. See Vol. II. p. 1. TIONS.J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 413 know, and assuring them, that as we could not have con sented to the peace, otherwise than obliged to it by their pressing and repeated instances, so we shall, now that the peace is by them finally agreed to, concur with them in the best and most effectual ways and means of preserving it, and Flanders in particular, by the utmost guaranties we can give it. That we conceive one of the strongest to be a firm union and perfect intelligence between us and them, for the defence of one another and of Flanders ; and that, in order thereto, we are firmly resolved to observe invio lably the alliances we have already made with them, and shall be ready to enter into such new ones as the occasion of affairs may require : acquainting them likewise that we have directed you to go forthwith to Nimeguen, to your function there, as one of our plenipotentiaries and ambas sadors extraordinary, and have constituted our trusty and well-beloved Roger Meredill, Esq., our Secretary of Em bassy at the Hague, to take care of our affairs in your ab sence, whom you shall say we therefore desire they shall receive as such. Your stay at the Hague shall be for as few days as may be; and thence you are to repair to Nime guen, and there, jointly with our Ambassador, Sir Leoline Jenkins, use your best offices and endeavours for adjusting and concluding the points in difference between France, and Spain, and Holland, so as no just pretence may be left for the progress of the French arms in Flanders ; and also the difference subsisting between the other parties concerned in this war, according to such instructions as we have formerly given ; so as you shall find our said Am bassador to have received during your absence thence, or as we shall think fit from time to time to send, according to the exigency and dispositions of affairs, in the usual offices of a mediator. We have thought fit that, after the peace shall be signed, you do jointly, with our said Ambassador, Sir Leoline Jenkins (to whom you are upon your arrival to communi- 414 THE LIFE OF [iNSTRUC- cate these our instructions, and from whom you will receive information at large of the state of affairs there), give our guaranty in such form as is usual, and as shall be desired by the parties. You shall constantly advertise us of all occurrences, and what passes in your negotiations, by the hands of one of our principal secretaries of state. Whilst your despatches were thus preparing, upon the foot of the foregoing instructions, a most unexpected inci dent happens, as to the matter of the peace, viz., that the French Ambassadors at Nimeguen have declared to those of the States, that absolutely the King their master's meaning and intention is, not to quit or evacuate such of the towns in the Spanish Netherlands as by the terms of the peace are to be given up, till the Crown of Sweden be actually restored to whatever it has lost during this war; which being represented to the States by their Ambassa dors, we find the States, after serious debates of the thing, have resolved peremptorily to repel this new condition imposed by France, and to direct their Ambassadors at Nimeguen firmly to insist upon the rendition of the towns in the Spanish Netherlands, immediately upon the signing of the treaty, and even not to go on with the treaty but upon that condition. And the States having at the same time directed their Ministers here to communicate the same to us, and to desire our approbation of that their resolution, and that we would stand by and support them in it, you shall immediately upon your arrival, and in the first place, take notice of this matter to the States, giving them to understand how infinitely we are surprised at this new and unexpected pretension of France, how entirely we approve of their resolution in the thing, and how we are resolved, in case the Most Christian King shall finally persist in that demand of delivering the towns, to stand by them, the States, to the utmost, rather than to yield to so unreasonable a point ; that we cannot think it TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 415 at all fit, or indeed tolerable, to sit down under so forced a condition as this would be upon the most essential and important part of this peace. And therefore you shall assure them of our resolution absolutely to stand by them in this matter; and that in order to it, should France finally oblige us upon this point of the towns to come to an ex tremity, we are ready forthwith to enter into measures with them. They remember upon what points that mat ter rested, when there was occasion last to deal with them in this kind; and it were but fit, in case they see things dispose themselves otherwise than well, to resume the points of the late negotiation of the General Alliance, and to proceed without further loss of time to prepare for the worst, which, you shall say, you leave to them chiefly to judge of, according to what shall arise to them upon the place, from the proceedings of the French with relation to the peace. This is the sum of what we would have you say to the States upon this last great point, which you are, however, first to communicate to the Prince, and to let him know, that however, as matters have of late fallen out, we remain still in the same mind, rather to end and clear all in a general peace, even upon the terms offered by France to them, yet that absolutely we cannot think fit this new pretension of the French, as to delivering the towns, should be submitted to ; and that almost any extremity is to be run, rather than to suffer so vast a change in so very essential a point of the peace as this is : and that we are resolved, in case there should be cause for it, to stick to the States in this resolution, as we desire him to take care the States may early provide to stand close and firm to us in it. And here you must represent to the Prince and the Pensioner, how necessary it will be, in order to preparing for the worst, that the States should forthwith come to an agreement with us upon these main points, which remained in difference in the last negotiation of an alliance with the Emperor and 416 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- Spain, viz., that of the prohibition, that of fixing and settling the particular numbers of men and forces of all kinds to be maintained by each party, and then that other of not making peace but by common consent, &c, which it were fit should be immediately agreed between us; and therefore you must press to know the States' mind forth with upon these points especially, so that we may not be to seek as to the measures to be gone upon between us, in case France should persist thus to force us to it; and in this no time must be lost to know certainly the mind of the States, and to acquaint us with it, as the foundation of all the measures that are to be taken between us. And to the end you may not in the interim be unprepared forthwith, without further loss of time, to enter upon the business of the treaty, in case you find the States so disposed, you are to know, that as to the point of not making peace but by common consent, we look upon that condition as so generally reasonable, and indeed necessary, in all engage ments of this kind, that we could wish the States would be brought to agree to it, in the further alliances it may be found fit hereafter to make between us and them, and the rest of the Allies. But whatever the States' mind may be as to this point, with relation to any treaty we shall have cause to make with the Allies, yet, as to the intended alliance between us and the States, which is the thing now in question, we cannot but think it absolutely necessary, that the tie and obligation should be such between us, that neither should have it in his power to make peace but with the consent of the other. And this we judge to be of that essential importance to the strength and security of the treaty, that you might insist upon it to the utmost. But in case it should so fall out that the States do finally refuse to agree to this condition ; in that case, rather than that the whole should miscarry, we are content the treaty should be put upon the other foot, of not making peace but upon such particular and express conditions : and that TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 417 as to the conditions, in case the States cannot be brought to go higher, that at least they be the same that were agreed in by our offensive treaty of the 16-26 of January last; inserting, if it may be, a clause whereby we shall be obliged, either to these conditions, or to such other condi tions more advantageous for the safety and preservation of Flanders, as shall hereafter be agreed between us and the States, according to the success it shall please God to bless us with in the war ; and this is the sum of our mind as to that first and great point of the treaty. As to the second, the prohibition of all French commo dities, &c, that is a point we find judged by all of that absolute necessity to the effectual carrying on of a war against France, that that alone almost (were it thoroughly put in execution) is thought capable, in time, to reduce France to reason ; at least, that, without such a prohibition, all other ways whatever to do it will be very long, and, it may be, not so certain. And this point of the prohibition having been all along, for these several years passed, vehe mently urged and pressed here, as the great and funda mental maxim by the States' Ambassador ; and that, as he says, by the particular order of the States his masters, we cannot doubt but that the States will at last give into it. Only we find it may require some care and discretion, as to the way and manner of making and pressing the de mand of it ; that is, whether now at once positively to demand it as a necessary condition to make part of the treaty proposed, and to continue now immediately to in sist upon it; or that, if that point be not granted, the whole to be at a stand : or, whether it were not more advisable, rather to reason them into it, by letting them know we rest upon it, as so absolutely necessary to the suc cess of a war against France, that in case they cannot be otherwise brought to agree to it with us now in the treaty, we must be forced to compass it by other ways ; that is to say, to take all their shipping, be they what they will be, VOL. II. E E 418 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- that shall be found trading to or from any the country or territory of the Most Christian King ; and that you shall say we are peremptorily resolved to do, not only towards them, but towards any other nation or country whatsoever that shall trade with France. That declaration thus made, we are told, will not fail, with a little patience, to bring them at last to agree the point with us. But this is a matter we must leave to your discretion, to manage in the best way you can, according to what disposition you shall find the matter in on the other side. It is enough for the present you know what our mind and intention in it is in the general. As to the last of the three main points, that of the spe cification of forces, we would not willingly discourage the States by larger demands than the necessity of the under taking should require; but, on the other hand, they nor we must not, in prudence, think of engaging in so great a work as this is without such a suitable provision of strength as may, by the blessing of God, be able in a good measure to secure the success of it; and, therefore, we cannot think that we ought reasonably to go on with a less force at sea and land than that we formerly proposed, and agreed to on our part; at least, as to the land forces, we think they cannot be less. But because we foresee that the States will be hardly brought to these preparations of forces, especially not by sea, we shall be content, for their ease in the point of expense, to bear one third more than they in the sea forces, upon condition they furnish one third more than we of the forces necessary to be employed by land. And this, we thought, ought to be taken as a fair and kind offer from us, considering how much more ex pensive the sea force is than that of the land. Thus you know our mind as to the three main points of the treaty, in which we can reasonably expect any difficulty is likely to arise with the States. Upon all which, if it shall happen that the States do entirely come up to our TIONS. J SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 419 mind, and agree with us, in that case we allow you, if you shall find the matter require that dispatch, immediately to proceed to sign with them, according to the power you will herewith receive for that purpose, without expecting fur ther orders from hence. But in case the States shall make difficulty upon what we have told you is our mind and in tention in any one of these points ; or that any new case arise, in which you shall not find yourself already suffi ciently instructed by these instructions, in such case you are to represent the same hither, and request our further orders upon it. You must remember, that to the conditions of the peace laid down in the late treaty of 16-26 January last, in case you find the alliance must be put upon that foot, there must be one further case now added with relation to our selves ; and that is, that neither shall make peace till the other be restored to whatever he held and was possessed of at the time of the signing of this intended alliance, which is but a necessary precaution to be taken in this case, and, being mutual, ought not to meet with any difficulty on the part of the States. You see of what important consequence it is, in this state of things, to come to a speedy issue with the States in this matter ; . and, therefore, you must above all things press them as to the point of dispatch ; and take care to return us, with all speed possible, an account of your diligence herein, as well as an account from time to time of what shall press upon any of the points of your commission, through the hands of one of our Principal Secretaries of State, from whence you are to expect what further commands of any kind we shall find cause to give you. Charles R. E E 2 4/20 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- N° 12 a* Instructions sent by Secretary Williamson to Sir William Temple, July 23. 1678. You are to speak with the Ambassadors of the King of Sweden at Nimeguen, and let them know that we are so careful of their interests, as well as desirous to promote the peace of Christendom, and so sensible that the continuance ofthe war must necessarily have ill effects upon that crown, that, for prevention of them, we desire that they will con sent that the towns which, by the project of peace given at Nimeguen in April last, ought to be given up to Spain and Holland, may accordingly be delivered, so that there may be no further delay in signing the peace betwixt France, Spain, and Holland. That they will signify such their consent to the French Ambassadors at Nimeguen. And to the end they may not be less seeure in having their satisfaction provided for according to the first article of the aforesaid project at Nimeguen, you may let them know that we are willing to enter into a present treaty with them, whereby we will be engaged to assist Sweden, in case Spain and Holland shall, during this war, give any assistance, directly or indirectly, to Sweden ; and when the towns shall be surrendered, and the peace ratified between France, Spain, and Holland, we will enter into a further treaty with France and Sweden for procuring satisfaction to Sweden. You may assure them, also, that we will assist the King of Sweden by our best offices to obtain from the French King an increase of their subsidies, and of such other * To this paper there is no heading, date, or signature ; but it is in dorsed by Temple, " Instructions sent by Secretary W." These are apparently the instructions referred to in the next document. Longe Papers, v. See Vol. II. p. 7. TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 421 succours as may be fitting to support them in the war, in case that shall happen. We having great reason to believe that France does already intend the delivery of the towns, only that the manner of doing it will be without any consideration of our offices in the matter, we leave it to your prudence to conduct so with Sweden, as to possess them with the ne cessity of taking England along with them in all the paces they shall make, and without which they shall want so con siderable a help towards their satisfaction. N° 12 b. Charles R. After you shall have acquainted the Swedish Ambassadors with what you are directed by those instructions you have received from Secretary Williamson, you shall further let them know that, when the towns shall be surrendered to Spain and Holland, according to the project of peace given at Nimeguen in April last, and the peace shall be ratified between France, Spain, and Holland, we shall be willing, if desired, to enter into a further treaty with France and Sweden, for procuring a satisfaction from Sweden; but you are to let them know that you say this to them as -a matter which we expect to be kept secret, till such time as it shall be necessary to make the said treaty, if it shall be then desired by the King of Sweden. C. R. Whitehall, July 23. 1678. N° 12 c. Additional Instructions to our trusty and well-be loved Sir William Temple, Baronet, our Ambas sador Extraordinary to the States-General of E E 3 422 THE LIFE OF [INSTRUC- the United Netherlands, and one of the Pleni potentiaries for the treaty of peace at Nimeguen. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 23d day of July, 1678. Charles R. In the interim of the great crisis drawing on, or of the final declaration of the mind of France by the 1st of August, with relation to the evacuating or not evacuating of the places upon which is to depend the peace or the war, it hath happened that an intimation hath been given us, and though but by a third hand, yet accompanied with great assurances of success, and in a manner undertaken for by an absolute certainty by him that proposed it, viz. the Sieur du Cros, Envoye from the Duke of Holstein, that in ease we will promise to be garant of the peace now to be made between Spain and Holland and France, on the terms proposed by the French at Nimeguen, so as that if Spain or Holland shall, contrary to that treaty, directly or indirectly assist the enemies of Sweden, we will in that case assist the Crown of Sweden ; that upon such a pressure and declaration made on our part, the Swedes Ambassadors will themselves go off, and even prevail with France to recede from their present pretension of detaining the towns till Sweden be restored, and that consequently the towns shall be effectually evacuated and delivered up immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications. This is the sum of the proposition that hath been insinuated to us, which having weighed and considered of, we cannot see any dif ficulty there should be for us, in case that would really remove the present obstacle to the peace, immediately to make such a declaration as is desired ; for, considering, on the one hand, that this point of Spain and Holland not assisting the enemies of Sweden is one of the very articles of the treaty between France and Spain and Holland, and so agreed to and accepted of as well by Spain as HoUand ; and considering, on tlie other hand, that already it is un- TIONS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 423 derstood and laid down as a fundamental between us and the States, that we shall enter together into a strict guaranty of that peace when made ; we see no manner of difficulty for us immediately to make this promise and de claration; and we are confident the States will be ofthe same mind likewise ; so we have thought fit that, immediately upon receipt hereof, you do apply yourself to the Pensioner, and likewise to the Prince of Orange, in case he happen to be then upon the place ; and, having acquainted them with our mind and resolution upon this point, you shall desire the Pensioner, in such way and manner as he shall think fit, to communicate the same to the States, as a thing we no way doubt they will readily concur with us in: which having done, you shall immediately repair to Nime guen ; and 'there meeting with the Swedes Ambassadors, you shall acquaint them with the aforesaid insinuation which has been made us, with the resolutions we have taken "upon it ; and that we have authorised you, as we do hereby authorise and direct you, in case they the Swedes do them selves go off, and likewise prevail with France to recede from their present pretension of detaining the towns, so as that the towns be effectually evacuated and delivered up immediately upon the exchange of the ratification of the peace between France and Spain and Holland, that in that case you do in our name pass the promise and declaration above said, and, if it be insisted on, even give it in writing under your hand. In case the Prince of Orange happen not to be at the Hague at the arrival of this despatch, you must take care to dispatch an express to him, with an account of this matter, and of the orders you have received upon it, which. you shall say we should have given him the first know ledge and communication of, even before we had done it to the States, had the straitness of the time to which all this matter is tied allowed it. C. R. E E 4 424 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. APPENDIX C. Treaties in which Sir William Temple had a share, or which are frequently referred to in this work. N° 1.* Treaty ofthe Pyrenees, between Louis XIV. of France, and Philip IV. of Spain, Nov. 7. 1659. In the name of God the Creator. To all present and to come ; he it known, That whereas a long and bloody war hath many years since caused great miseries and oppres sions to be suffered by the people, kingdoms, countries, and dominions under the obedience of the most high, most excellent, and most potent Prince Lewis XIV., by the Grace of God most Christian King of France and Navarre, and of Philip IV., by the Grace of God Catholic King of Spain : in which war other princes and republics, their neighbours and allies, having also taken part, many towns and countries of both the parties have been exposed to great evils, miseries, ruins, and desolations. And though at other times, and by several ways, divers overtures and negotiations for an accommodation have been made ; yet none of them, through the mysterious secrets of the Divine Providence, eould take the effect most earnestly desired * From Treaties, 1732, i. 39. This and other treaties, which are very long, and only incidentally interesting to the subject of Temple's Life, will not be given at length. Such parts are selected as are neces sary for the illustration of the text, and often, perhaps, for their special importance or singularity. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 425 by their Majesties, till at length that Supreme God, who hath in his hand the hearts of Kings, and hath particularly reserved to himself alone the precious gift of peace, hath had the goodness, through his infinite mercy, to inspire at the same time both the Kings, and so to guide and direct them, that without any other interposition or motives, but the only sense of compassion they have had of the suffer ings of their good subjects, and of a fatherly desire of their good and relief, and of the peace of all Christendom ; they have found the means to put an end to so great and long calamities, to forget and extinguish the causes and the seeds of their divisions, and to settle to the glory of God, and the exaltation of our holy Catholic Faith, a good, sin cere, entire, and lasting peace and fraternity between them and their successors, their allies and dependants, by means whereof the damages and miseries suffered might quickly be repaired in all parts ; which to attain, both the said Lords and Kings having given order to the most eminent Lord Messire Julus Mazarine, Cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Duke of Mayenne, head of the Most Christian King's Councils, &c, and to that most excellent Lord, the Lord Don Lewis Mendez de Haro and Gusman, Marquis of Carpier, Count Duke of Olivares, perpetual Governor of the Royal Palaces, and of the arsenal or magazine of the city of Seville, great Chancellor perpetual of the Indies, one of his Cathohc Majesty's Council of State, great Com mander of the Order of Alcantara, Gentleman of his Ma jesty's Chamber, and Gentleman of his Horse ; these two first and principal Ministers to meet upon the confines of both the kingdoms, towards the Pyrenean mountains, as being the two persons who are best informed of their holy intentions, of their interests, and of the most intimate se crets of their hearts; and consequently the most able to find out the necessary expedients to end their differences : And to that end having given unto them most large powers, both the aforesaid principal Ministers, by virtue of their 426 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. said powers, acknowledged on both sides to be sufficient, have granted, established, and concluded the following Ar ticles : — I. and II. Peace. III. Neither King to assault the ally of the other; as sistance given to an ally shall not be deemed a breach of treaty. IV. to XXXII. These articles contain provisions for the renewal of amicable relations, the regulation of com merce, neutrality, and so forth. The subjects of each King are to enjoy in the dominions of the other all privileges acceded to the English or Dutch. XXXIII. Stipulations for the marriage of Louis XIV. with Maria Theresa, eldest daughter to the King of Spain. XXXIV. Because the length of time, and the difficul ties that would have met in case the several rights and pre tensions of the said Lords and Kings should have been put to a particular discussion, might have much retarded the conclusion of this treaty, and put off the good that all Christendom doth expect and will receive by it ; it hath been concluded and agreed, in consideration of the peace, touching the retention and restitution of the conquests made during the present war, that all the differences of the said Lords and Kings shall be ended and composed after the manner following. XXXV. Imprimis, It hath been concluded and agreed, concerning the Low Countries, that the lord the Most Christian King shall remain seized, and shall effectually enjoy the places, towns, countries, and castles, dominions, lands, and lordships following : — First, Within the county of Artois, the town and city of Arras, and the government and bailiwick thereof; Hesdin, and the bailiwick thereof; Bapaume, and the bailiwick thereof; Bethune, and the government or bailiwick there of; Lillers, and the bailiwick thereof; Lens, and the bai liwick thereof; the county of St. Pol ; Teroane, and the TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 427 bailiwick thereof; De Pas, and the bailiwick thereof; as also all the other bailiwicks and chastellanies of the said Artois, whatsoever they be, although not here particularly named and mentioned, except only the towns, bailiwicks and chastellanies or governments of Ayre and St. Omer, with their appurtenances, dependencies and annexes, which shall all remain to his Catholic Majesty ; as also the place of Renty, in case it be found to be of the said dependencies of Ayre, or St. Omer, and not otherwise. XXXVI. Secondly, Within the province and county of Flanders, the said Lord the Most Christian King shall re main seized, and shall effectually enjoy the places of Grave ling, the Forts Philip, of the Sluce, and Hannuin Bour- burg, and the chastellany thereof; and St. Venant, whether it belongs to Flanders or to Artois, and their dominions, appurtenances, dependencies and annexes. XXXVII. Thirdly, Within the province and county of Hainault, the said Lord theMost Christian King shall remain seized, and shall effectually enjoy the places of Landrecy and Quesnoy, and their bailiwicks, provostships, or chas tellanies, dominions, appurtenances and dependencies. XXXVIII. Fourthly, Within the province and duchy of Luxemburg, the said Lord the Most Christian King shall remain seized, and shall effectually enjoy the places of Thionville, Montmedy, and Damvilliers, their appur tenances, dependencies and annexes, provostships and lord ships ; the provostship of Ivoy, Chavancy, Chasteau and the provostship thereof; and the place and post of Mar- ville, situate upon the small river called Vezin, and the provostship of the said Marville : which place and provost ship did formerly belong, partly unto the Duke of Luxem burg, and partly unto the Dukes of Bar. XXXIX. Fifthly, His Most Christian Majesty having strongly declared that he could never consent to the resti tution of the places of la Bassee, and Bergh St. Wynox, chastellany of the said Bergh, and the Royal Fort erected 428 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. upon the Channel hard by the town of Bergh ; and his Catholic Majesty having condescended that they should remain to the French, unless an exchange of the said places, with others of the like consideration and mutual conveni ences could be agreed upon ; both the said Lords Plenipo tentiaries have at last agreed, that the said two places of la Bassee and Bergh St. Wynox, the chastellany and Royal Fort ofthe said Bergh, should be exchanged with the places of Marienburg and Phillippeville, situate on the rivers Sambre and Maze, their appurtenancies, dependencies, an nexes and dominions. And therefore his said Most Chris tian Majesty restoring, as it will be said hereafter, to his Catholic Majesty the said places of la Bassee, Bergh St. Wynox and the chastellany thereof, and the Royal Fort, with their appurtenancies, dependencies, annexes, and do minions, his Catholic Majesty shall at the same time put into the hands of his Most Christian Majesty the said places of Marienburg and Philippeville; his said Most Christian Majesty to remain seized of them, and effectually to enjoy them, and their appurtenances, dependencies, an nexes, and dominions, in the same manner, and with the same rights of possession, sovereignty, and others which his Majesty shall enjoy, or may enjoy, by the present treaty, in such places as have been gained by his arms during the war, and which are to remain unto him by this peace. And even in case hereafter his Most Christian Majesty should happen to be troubled in the possession and enjoyment of the said places of Marienburg and Philippeville, by reason of the pretensions of other Princes, his Catholic Majesty doth bind himself to concur in their defence, and to do on his pai't whatsoever shall be necessary, that his Most Christian Majesty might peaceably and without dispute enjoy the said places, in consideration that his Majesty hath yielded in exchange the said la Bassee and Bergh St. Wynox, which his Most Christian Majesty might have kept and possessed without trouble, and with all security. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 429 XL. Avennes is ceded to France. XLI. The said places of Arras, Hesdin, Bapaume, Be- thune, and the towns of Lillers, Lens, county of St. Pol, Teroane, Pas, and their bailiwicks ; as also all the other bailiwicks and chastellanies of Artois (except only as afore said the towns and bailiwicks of Ayre and St. Omer, their appurtenances, dependencies, annexes, and dominions) as also Renty, in case it be not found to be any of the depen dencies of Ayre or of St. Omer ; together with the places of Graveling, and the Forts Philip, the Sluice and Hannuin, Bourburg and St. Venant, in Flanders ; the places of Lan- drecy and Quesnoy, in the Hainault; as also those of Avennes, Marienburg and Philippeville, which are to be put into the hands of the Most Christian King, as afore said : and likewise the places of Thionville, Montmedy, and Damvilliers, the town and provostship of Ivoy, Cha- vency, Chasteau, and the provostship thereof, and Marville in Luxemburg, their bailiwicks, chastellanies, governments, provostships, territories, dominions, lordships, appurten ances, dependencies, and annexes, shall remain, by the pre sent treaty of peace, unto the said Lord the Most Christian King, and to his successors and assigns, irrevocably and for ever. — The remainder of this article is ancillary to the former part. XLII. to LIX. relate to the cessions on the side of the Pyrenees, Burgundy, Italy, Catalonia, and contain some minor provisions with respect to some of the cessions in the Netherlands. LX. If France cannot within three months arrange the affairs of Portugal so as to satisfy Spain, he will meddle no more in the affairs of Portugal, and will not directly or indirectly assist that kingdom. LXI. Confirmation by the King of Spain of the article ofthe Munster Treaty concerning Alsace. LXII. to. LXXVIII. Affairs of Lorraine. LXXIX. to LXXXVIII. Prince of CondeV 430 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. LXXXIX.— XC. Treaty of Vervins, Art. 21. and 22., confirmed. XCI. to C. Savoy, Modena, Parma, and other powers of Italy. CI. Affairs of Germany and the North. CII.— III. Switzerland. CIV. Monaco. CV. Duchess of Chevreuse. CVI. — VII. Prisoners to be restored. CVIII. — IX. Treaty of Vervins confirmed, and Com missioners to be named to settle disputes which have arisen. CX. The said Commissioners shall likewise have care, by virtue of their powers, to regulate the limits, as well be tween the dominions and countries that of old have be longed to the said Lords and Kings, about which there have been some debates, as between the dominions and lordships that are to remain to each of them, by the present treaty, in the Low Countries. And particularly a separa tion shall be made by the said Commissioners of the chas tellanies and other lands and lordships that are to remain to the said Lord the Most Christian King, from such chas tellanies, lands, and lordships as are to remain to the said Lord the Catholic King ; so that hereafter there may arise no dispute about the same, and that the inhabitants and subjects on both sides might not be disturbed. And in case they cannot agree touching the contents of the present Article, and of the next foregoing, arbitrators shall be ap pointed by common consent, who shall take cognizance of whatsoever shall remain undecided between the said Com missioners ; and the judgments that shall be rendered by the said arbitrators, shall be executed on both sides without any delay or difficulty. CXI. Expences of Prisoners of War. CXII. to CXX. Make provision for the periods of exchange and cession, and other requisites in the execu tion of the treaty. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 431 CXXI. The same as to the Duke of Lorraine. CXXII. — III. Besides Savoy, Modena, and Monaco, included in this treaty as being allies of France, there shall also be included, by common consent, the Pope, the Princes of the Empire who are allies of the King of France for maintaining the peace of Munster, viz., the Electors of Mentz and Cologne, and others, Venice, the Cantons of Switzerland, and all others whom the King of France may name ; and Spain shall not molest any of them. CXXIV. Publication and Ratification. N° 2* Treaty of Breda between Charles II. of England, and Louis XIV. of France, July 21. 1667. To all those in general, and to every one in particular, of them that are concerned, or who may in any manner of way whatsoever : Be it known to them, that after the war that has been kindled between the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince Lewis XIV., King of France and Navarre, on the one part, and the Most Serene and the Most Potent Prince Charles IL, King of Great Britain, on the other ; upon the account of the war that was on foot between him, the King of Great Britain, and the High and Mighty Lords the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, things at last through the Divine goodness have been brought to that pass, as to make them entertain thoughts of a peace ; the Most Serene and Most Puissant Prince, Charles King of Sweden, and of the Goths and Vandals, having interposed his good and sincere offices by * From Treaties, 1732, i. 127. 432 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. way of mediation, to which he was inclined by the love and particular esteem he has for the forementioned Kings in war with one another, and for their kingdoms, and also animated with the zeal he hath for the good of Christen dom, and for restoring and securing the repose and tran quillity thereof: And that in order to attain to this end, the parties concerned have by mutual consent and agree ment pitched upon and named the town of Breda to be the place where their ambassadors and plenipotentiaries were to meet. For the promoting of which affair and ne gotiation, and in order to bring the same to the so much desired perfection, the Ambassadors Extraordinary of his Sacred Royal Majesty of Sweden, [viz. The Baron of Liebelitz, the Count of Dhona, and the Lord Peter Jules Coyet. For France, D'Estrades and Courtin. . For Eng land, Lord Hollis and the Hon. Henry Coventry.] I.— III. Peace. IV. Freedom of Navigation. V. Prisoners to be restored. VI. Hostile Edicts to be revoked. VII. to IX. The Most Christian King shall give up to the King of Great Britain, or to those who shall be au thorised and receive orders from him under the Great Seal of England, that part of the Isle of St. Christophers which the English were in possession of, the first day of January 1665, before the declaring of the last war. The remainder is detail. X. — XI. England is to restore to France the country called Acadia *, situate in North America. XII. France to restore to England Antigua and Mont- serrat, and all other islands and places which she may have conquered; and England is reciprocally to restore to France all conquests made since 1st January 1665. XIII. to XVIII. Contain details concerning the in- * Now called Nova Scotia. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 433 habitants ofthe eeded countries, restoration of goods taken after the peace, provisions for the event of a rupture. XIX. Sweden included. XX. Ratification. N° 3.* Treaty of Breda, between Charles II. and the States General of the United Provinces; July 21. 1667. I. to X. Peace, and oblivion of differences. XI. That the said King of Great Britain, and the said States General, remain friends, confederate, united, and allied, for the defence and preservation of the rights, li berties, and immunities of either ally and their subjects, against all whomsoever who shall endeavour to disturb the peace of either's state by sea or land, or such as living within either's dominions shall be declared public enemies to either. XII. to XVIII. Neither party shall assist or countenance the rebellious subjects of the other. XVIII. Mutual commerce. XIX. That the ships and vessels of the said United Provinces, as well men of war as others, meeting any men of war of the said King of Great Britain's in the British seas, shall strike the flag, and lower the topsail in such manner as the same hath been formerly observed in any times whatsoever. XX. to XXI. No pirates to be harboured or hostilities suffered in the ports of either. XXII. That in case the said King of Great Britain, or the said States General, do make any treaty of amity or alliance with any other kings, republics, princes, or states, * From Chalmers's Treaties, i. 137. VOL. II. F F 434 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. they shall therein comprehend each other and their domi nions, if they desire to be therein comprehended; and shall give to the other notice of all such treaties, or friend ship and alliance. XXIII. to XXXVI. Provision in case of rupture, free access of merchants, &c. XXXVII. Sweden included. XXXVIII. Ratifications. N° 4.* Articles of Navigation and Commerce, between Charles II. and the States General. — Bieda, July 21, 1667. + It is provided, by Art. 3., that commissioners shall meet as soon as possible, " to resolve and agree about specifying and circumscribing the species of commodities and the laws of navigation, and may set the same down in new and mutual covenants. Meanwhile, the articles of the Treaty of Commerce between France and the States General, from the 26th to the 42nd inclusive, may provisionally serve for a rule and law, and, so made, was for the perfecting of a larger and fuller treaty concerning maritime commerce." The provisional articles follow : — 26. French ships may trade freely with all countries, notwithstanding that such countries may be at war with the Dutch. 27 to 29. Nothing but utensils of war shall be contra band. 30 to 33. Regulation of visitation and search. 34. And in case any merchandize and commodities of those kinds which are before declared to be contraband * From Chalmers's Treaties, i. 151. t These are the stipulations concerning commerce, mentioned as The Provincial Articles of Breda. See Vol. I. p. 166. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 435 and forbidden, shall by the means aforesaid be found in the French vessels and barques bound for the ports of the said States' enemies, they shall be unladen, and declared confiscate before the judges of the admiralty of the United Provinces, or other competent officers: but so that the ship and barque, or other free and allowed goods, merchan dize, and commodities found in the same ship, may not for that cause be in any manner seized or confiscate. 35. It was furthermore agreed and covenanted, that whatsoever shall be found laden by his Majesty's subjects upon a ship of the enemies of the said States, although the same were not contraband goods, shall yet be confis cate, with all that shall be found in the said ship, without exception or reservation ; but on the other side also, all that shall be and shall be found in the ships belonging to the Most Christian King's subjects, shall be free and dis charged, although the lading or part thereof belong to the said States' enemies; except contraband goods, in regard whereof such rule shall be observed as hath been ordered in the precedent articles. 36. All the subjects and inhabitants of the said United Provmces shall reciprocally enjoy the same rights, liberties, and exemptions in their trade and commerce, within the ports, roads, seas, and estates of his said Majesty (as hath been newly said), which his said Majesty's subjects shall enjoy in those ofthe said States, and in open sea; it being to be understood, that the equality shall be mutual every way on both sides : and even in case the said States should hereafter be in peace, amity, and neutrality with any kings, princes, and states, who should become enemies to his said Majesty, either of the parties are mutually to use the same conditions and restrictions expressed in the ar ticles of this present treaty, which regard trade and com merce. 37 to 42. Provision for avoiding violations of this treaty, for adjudication of prizes, &c. F F 2 436 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. N° 5. Eventual Treaty between Louis XIV. and the Emperor Leopold.® No complete copy of this treaty has been published ; but the following abstract of it is taken from Details sur le Traite Eventual de Partage des Etats de la Monarchic Espa- gnole, conclu le 19°" Janvier, 1668, entre Louis XIV. and V Empereur Leopold, which is part of a manuscript history of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by M. de St. Pret, at that time chef du depot des affaires etrangeres.f The King empowered the Chevalier Gremonville to sign articles containing the following conditions, for ac commodating the existing differences ; that is to say, That the Catholic King should make peace with Portugal, treat ing as between king and king, and upon other conditions on which the parties had agreed. That to satisfy the King as to the rights devolved upon the Queen in the Nether lands by the death of the late King her father, the Catholic King should cede to his Majesty and his successors for ever the sovereignty and property of all the places, forts, and dependent countries, which his arms had occupied during the last campaign, rendering for ever all his rights upon such places, in the same terms in which the cessions and renunciations were reciprocally made in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, with a salvo of the rights of the Emperor and Empire, of whom his Majesty is willing to hold these places, in the same manner as the King of Spain held them : unless the Catholic King should prefer, instead of ceding to the King his conquests, to cede in the same man ner the Duchy of Luxemburg, Cambrai and the Cam- * See Vol. I. p. 126. t CEuvres de Louis XIV., vi. 402. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 437 bresis, Douai, Acre, St. Omer, Berg, and Nismes, and their bailiwicks, territories, and dependencies ; in which case his Majesty will restore to the Catholic King the port of Charleroi, after having destroyed the fortifications, and all the other places and countries which his arms have occupied during the last campaign, or which they may oc cupy before the signature of the peace. In regard to the eventual treaty for the partition of all the States of the Spanish Monarchy, the King was pleased that the Chevalier Gremonville, after having laid it down as a fundamental principle that, in matters of partition, the more they are equal the more they are just and likely to last, proposed, in the first place, that the Emperor should bear for his share the Kingdoms of Spain (with the exception of Navarre and its dependencies, and of Rosas), all the West Indies, the Canary Islands, all the places in Africa, the Kingdoms of Sicily, Sardinia, Majorca and Minorca, and Ivica ; and that the King should have for his share all the remainder of the Netherlands, after that part assigned to his Majesty by the present accommodation, — Franche Comte, the Duchy of Milan,, the Kingdom of Naples, the ports in Tuscany, including Palolongese, which is in the Isle of Elba, Final, Navarre with its dependencies, Rosas, and the Philippines in the East Indies. Although this division was very unequal, to the advantage of the Emperor, and injury of the King; yet, if the Chevalier Gremonville could not persuade the ministers of the Em peror to accede to it altogether, and if he should perceive that the negotiation would break off thereupon, his Ma jesty gave him power to relax, but only by degrees ; first, as to the Philippines; secondly, Rosas; thirdly, Navarre, and its dependencies. And in case the Emperor should still make a difficulty of abandoning to the King the Duchy of Milan and Final, under the pretence of preserving a communication between Spain and his States in Ger- F F 3 438 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. many, his Majesty, in the last instance, rather than break off upon this point consented that the Chevalier Gremon ville should abandon to him yet further the Duchy of Milan and Final, provided that he should have, in ex change, the Kingdoms of Sicily and Sardinia, although he did not estimate them near so highly as Milan and Final. The King thought that the sovereignty of the Siennese should belong to the power which should have Milan The King permitted the Chevalier Gremonville to promise to the Prince d'Aversberg (who treated on the part of the Emperor) to employ his offices with the Pope, to obtain for him a cardinal's hat The Prince d'Aversberg at first made a difficulty in admitting the first article, which imported that the King of Spain should make peace with Portugal, as between king and king; but he finally consented, having learned that the Spaniards had agreed to it. The Emperor also wished to exclude Luxemburg, Douai, Cambray, and the Cambresis, from the King's share of the Netherlands, in case the King of Spain should not elect the alternative by which the King was to keep all that he had conquered in the year before. In the re sult, he agreed to leave to the King Cambrai and Cam bresis, and at last Douai and Luxemburg: so that he conceded to the King all that he had asked, and that he had agreed upon with the States General Or, from the partition of the Spanish Monarchy, the Prince of Aversberg wished to substract from the King's share Franche Comte, Milan and Final, and Naples, which, he said, were more suitable to the Emperor than Spain, the Indies, all the islands and the places in Africa; and he pro posed that the King should take for himself the share which he destined for the Emperor : to which the Chevalier Gremonville replied, that Spain and the Indies alone were worth more than all that was in the King's lot, which d'Aversberg wished to reduce to the remainder of Flanders, TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 439 the Philippines, Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, and the the places in Africa. The Emperor agreed to add to the King's share, successively, Navarre and Rosas ; and Gre monville conceded to the Emperor Milan, Final, and Sienna, provided that the King should have in his lot Naples and Sicily, which the Emperor refused, offering in their room Sardinia and Catalonia, Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica. D'Aversberg afterwards gave up Sicily, and, finally, on the 19th of January, the kingdom of Naples, on condition that the treaty should be signed on that very day. The assurances which the Chevalier Gremonville had given to the Prince of Aversberg, that the King would employ his offices urgently to engage the Pope to give him the cardinal's hat, contributed very much to en gage the Emperor to consent to cede to him Naples and Sicily. They worked the same day, 19th January, in preparing the treaty. Gremonville wished to put in a word concern ing the invalidity of the Queen's renunciation, in order to give a greater sanction to the rights of the King by the acknowledgment of it which the Emperor would thus make; but he desisted when, among other reasons, the Prince of Aversberg alleged that the King completely acknowledged the right of the King in concluding the treaty with him. It was thus agreed by the treaty, which was signed on the 1st of January, 1668, that the Kings of Spain and Portugal should treat as between king and queen; that the King, to terminate his differences with the King of Spain, should have, as he had agreed with the States Ge neral, either the countries which he had conquered during the last campaign from the Spaniards, with their dependen cies, or the Duchy of Luxemburg, Cambray and the Cam bresis, Douai, Aire, St. Omer, Berg and Furnes, with thei dependencies. The King gave to the Emperor the whole F F 4 440 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. month of March to obtain the consent of the Spaniards. The Emperor promised, that if their refusal should occa sion the continuation of the war, he should give them no succours to attack the Kingdom of France, or the pro vinces which were incorporated with it, and should not even send them to the Netherlands ; and they agreed that, notwithstanding the continuation of the war, the articles concerning the eventual partition should continue in force; but so, that if the King should take any places which were in the Emperor's lot, he should give them to the Emperor as soon as peace should be made. In respect of the eventual partition, the King should have in his share the remainder of the Low Countries, Franche Comte, Navarre, Rosas, Naples and Sicily, the Philippines, and the places in Africa; and the Emperor should have the rest of the Spanish Monarchy. The rati fications were exchanged on the 19th of February, 1668. N° 6.* THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. The Defensive Alliance between England and the States General. Whereas, by the late treaty concluded at Breda, between the King of Great Britain and the States General of the United Netherlands, both nations have been restored, through the blessing of God, to that ancient friendship and good correspondence which was between them . and in order to cut off all occasions of farther differences, and to prevent all new accidents, which might tend to the dis turbance ofthe said amity and good correspondence ofthe subjects on either part, some articles and rules of naviga- * See Temple's Works, 1. 343. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 441 tion and commerce were there agreed ; and particularly, by the eleventh article of the said treaty, it was ordained, that the said King, and the said States General, shall be obliged as friends, allies, and confederates, mutually to defend the rights and immunities of each other's subjects, against all such as shall endeavour to disturb the peace of either State by sea or by land, or such as, living within the dominions of either, shall be declared public enemies by the one or the other : and because it is not particularly determined in what way and manner the said confederates stand obliged mutually to succour each other ; and that it is the fixed resolution of the said King of Great Britain, and of the said States General, more and more to corro borate and accomplish the said agreement : therefore in the first place, and above all other things, they consent to confirm the said treaty concluded at Breda, together with the said laws of navigation and commerce relating to the same, as by these presents they are confirmed, under a mutual and indissoluble obligation to observe and accom plish them truly and faithfully, and to command the sub jects on both sides exactly and religiously to observe and fufil them according to the genuine sense and tenor of the said treaty and articles : and for the better ascertaining the mutual assistance that the parties are to give each other, which was omitted in the preceding treaty ; for increasing amity and friendship between the said King and States General, and that full provision may be made by a nearer alliance and union, for the safety and mutual defence of both States, against the pernicious endeavours and hostile attempts of any enemy under any pretext whatever : We whose names are underwritten, in virtue of the orders and. full powers granted to us, and hereunder to be inserted, do covenant and agree, that the said King of Great Britain, and the said States General of the United Netherlands, shall be mutually obliged, united, and confederated together, as they are by the force and virtue of these presents mutually 442 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. obliged, united, and confederated in a perpetual league defensive, in the manner, and under the conditions fol lowing: — I. That, if any Prince, State, or other person whatever, without exception, shall under any pretext, invade, or at tempt to invade, the territories, countries, or any places that lie within the dominions of the said King of Great Britain, or shall exercise any acts of hostility by sea or by land, against the said King or his subjects, the said States General shall be obliged, as by virtue of these presents they are obliged, to send forty ships of war, well furnished with all things necessary, to assist the said King to oppose, suppress, and repel, all such insults and ads of hostility, and to procure him due reparation for any damages sus tained : that is to say, fourteen of the said ships shall carry from sixty to eighty great guns, and four hundred men, a just allowance and computation being made, as well with respect to those ships that carry a greater, as those that carry a lesser number of men; fourteen other ships shall carry from forty to sixty guns, and, one with another, three hundred men at the least, allowance to be made as before ; and none of the rest to carry less than six and thirty guns, and a hundred and fifty men. Besides which, they shall assist him with six thousand foot soldiers, and four hundred horse, or shall pay a sum of money with due regard to the just value of such an assistance, either for the whole or a part, at the choice of the said King. All these aids shall be furnished within six weeks after they shall be demanded ; and the said King shall reimburse tbe whole charo-e to the said States, within three years after the conclusion of the war. II. That, if any Prince, State, or other person whatever, without exception, shall, under any pretext, invade, or at tempt to invade, the United Provinces, or any places situated within the jurisdiction of the said States General, or gar risoned by their soldiers ; or shall exercise any act of hosti- TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 443 lity by land or by sea against the said States General or their subjects ; the said King shall be obliged, as by virtue of these presents he is obliged, to send forty ships of war well furnished wiCh all things necessary, to assist the said States General, to oppose, suppress, and repel, all such insults and acts of hostility, and to procure due reparation for any damages sustained by them : that is to say, fourteen of the said ships shall carry from sixty to eighty great guns, and four hundred men, a just allowance and computation being made, as well with regard to those ships that carry a greater, as those that carry a lesser number of men ; four teen other ships shall carry from forty to sixty guns, and, one with another, three hundred men at the least, allow ance to be made as before ; and none of the rest to carry less than six and thirty guns, and a hundred and fifty men. Besides which, he shall assist them with six thousand foot soldiers, and four hundred horse, or shall pay a sum of money, with due regard to the just value of such an assist ance, either for the whole or a part, at the choice of the said States. All these aids shall be furnished within six weeks after they shall be demanded : and the said States shall reimburse the whole charge to the said King, within three years after the conclusion of the war. III. The said ships of war, and the said auxiliary forces of horse and foot, together with the commanders of the ships and forces, and all the subaltern officers of both, that shall be sent to the assistance of the party injured and at tacked, shall be obliged to submit to his pleasure, and be obedient to the orders, of him or them who shall be ap pointed to command the armies in chief, either by sea or by land. IV. Now, that an exact computation may be made of the charges that are to be reimbursed within the space of three years after the conclusion of the war ; and that the value of such assistance may be adjusted in ready money, which possibly the party attacked may choose, either for 4$4 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. the whole or a part of the said ships, horse and foot ; it is thought expedient, that the fourteen ships carrying from sixty to eighty pieces of cannon should be valued at the sum of eighteen thousand six hundred and sixty-six pounds Sterling, or of English money ; the other fourteen, which carry from forty to sixty guns, at fourteen thousand pounds Sterling ; and the remaining twelve, at six thousand pounds of the same money ; six thousand foot, at seven thousand five hundred pounds Sterling ; and four hundred horse, at one thousand and forty pounds, for one month : the money to be paid by the said King of Great Britain at London, and by the said States General at Amsterdam, according as the course of the exchange shall be at the time when pay ment is to be made. But, in consideration of the six thou sand foot soldiers, the sum of six thousand pounds Sterling shall be paid within the first month, to defray the expence of listing and providing the men. V. This league, with all and every thing therein con tained, shall be confirmed and ratified by the said King of Great Britain, and the said States General of the United Provinces, by letters patents of both parties, sealed with their great seal in due and authentic form, within four weeks next ensuing, or sooner, if it may be ; and the mutual instruments of ratification shall be exchanged on each part within the said time. Here follows a copy of the powers granted by the Most Serene King of Great Britain, &c. Charles, by the grace of God, King of England, Scot land, France, and Ireland, Defender ofthe Faith, &c. To all, &c. A copy of the powers granted by the High and Mighty Lords, the" States General ofthe United Netherlands. The States General of the United Provinces of the Ne therlands, to all those, &c. In witness and confirmation of all and every part of this treaty, we, whose names are underwritten, have subscribed TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 445 and sealed the same, at the Hague in Holland, the 23d of January, 1668. Signed on the King of England's part, W. Temple. On the part of the States, Gellicom. Unkel. Asperen. Jac. Van Coeverden. J. de Witt K. Isbrants. Crommon. The Treaty for the Pacification qf France and Spain. The King of Great Britain, and the States General of the United Netherlands, having with great grief considered, and maturely weighed, the miseries and calamities of the late war between the two crowns, which raged in their neighbourhood; and having observed that the flames of that fire have insinuated themselves among their neigh bours, which, by inevitable necessity, will involve the greatest part of the Princes and States of Christendom in the same calamities, unless they may be timely extinguished, before they gather greater force ; have thought that they could not discharge the duty of that trust, and the respec tive offices, wherein they are placed by God, if, after the re-establishment of a mutual friendship and alliance be tween the nations of Great Britain and the United Nether lands, and the conclusion of a peace between the four powerful States that were parties in that bloody war, they should not apply their minds with the utmost diligence and industry, to compose the differences that have arisen be tween the said two crowns, and more especially to take care that the flames of that war, which have been kindled in their neighbourhood, may be extinguished : Therefore the Most Serene King of Great Britain, and the High and Mighty States of the United Netherlands, having with much labour and earnest entreaty induced the Most Chris tian King to profess solemnly to the said States General, that he would immediately lay down his arms, if the Spa- 446 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. niards would either consent to yield up to him, in due form and manner by a treaty of peace, all those places and forts, together with the chastellanies and their dependencies, which he possessed himself of in the expedition of the last year ; or will be persuaded to transfer and make over to him all the right that remains to them in the Duchy of Luxemburg (or else in the County of Burgundy) together with Cambray and the Cambresis, Doway, Aire, St. Omer, Winoxbergen, Furnes, and Lincken, with their bailiwicks, chastellanies, and other dependencies ; and, in case they accept the alternative last mentioned, the Most Christian King will restore to the King of Spain all such places and territories as the French have possessed by their arms since they entered Flanders: provided the High and Mighty States General shall on their part promise, and render themselves guarantees to the Most Christian King, that they will, by their reasons, and other effectual means, in duce the Spaniards to agree to these conditions. The said King of Great Britain, and the said States General, jointly conclude and judge that they can do no better service in this conjuncture and state of affairs, either to the two Kings before named, or to the rest of the neighbouring Princes and States, than by their joint counsels and utmost endea vours to exhort, and, as much as in them lies, oblige the said two crowns to make peace, upon the terms and condi tions before mentioned. To which end we, whose names are hereunto subscribed, having received full power to that effect, have, by virtue of those injunctions, concluded and agreed the following articles : — I. That the King of Great Britain, and the States Ge neral of the United Netherlands, shall either jointly or separately (provided their intentions be mutually commu nicated, and no way repugnant to this agreement) use their utmost endeavours and industry with the Most Christian King, to persuade him to promise and engage in the best form, and by a solemn treaty, to the King of Great Britain, TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 447 and to the States General of the United Netherlands, that he will conclude a peace and alliance with the King of Spain, without any exception or reserve, under whatever pretext, or for whatever cause ; if the King of Spain shall be induced or persuaded, by the King of Great Britain and the confederated States, to yield to the Most Christian King, either the places he possessed himself ofthe last year in the Low Countries, or to give him an equivalent, by delivering up the places above mentioned, or others in lieu of them, as shall be mutually agreed between the parties concerned. II. That the Most Christian King be induced to consent that the present cessation of arms in the Low-Countries may be prolonged to the end of the month of May, to the end that the King of Great Britain and the confederated States may, in the meantime, employ themselves with all diligence, care, and industry, to procure the consent of the King or Queen of Spain, and their Council, to the afore said terms and conditions. III. But that the Most Christian King may have no just occasion to refuse to prolong the cessation of arms, the King of Great Britain and the confederated States shall oblige themselves, by the same treaty, to take effectual care that the Spaniards shall yield to France all that was taken the last year by the French, or give them an equi valent, as shall be agreed with the consent of both parties. IV. That the Most Christian King shall be induced and persuaded to give entire credit to, and put full confidence in, the aforesaid promise, that his arms may not, for the future, disturb the quiet of the Low Countries : so that if it should happen, contrary to all hope and expectation, that the King of Great Britain and the confederated States shall not be able by their exhortations and earnest solici tations to persuade the Spaniards to give their consent to the conditions above mentioned, before the end of the next ensuing May ; and that it become necessary to use more 448 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. effectual means to that purpose : nevertheless the French shall not move or introduce their arms within, or upon, the limits of the Low Countries ; but the King of Great Britain and the confederated States shall engage, and take upon themselves such necessary provision, as may effectually oblige the Spaniards to accept the foresaid conditions of peace : and it shall not be left to the discretion of the Most Christian King, either to exercise any acts of hostility in the said countries, or to possess himself of any town, though by voluntary surrender ; unless the King of Great Britain and the confederated States shall cease and omit to prose cute the things above mentioned. V. That, when the peace is made between the two Crowns, not only the King of Great Britain, and the con federated States, but likewise the Emperor, and all the neighbouring Kings and Princes, who shall think them selves concerned that the quiet ef Christendom remain unshaken, and the Low Countries be restored to the enjoy ment of their former tranquillity, shall be guarantees and conservators of the same : to which end, the number of forces, and other means to be used against either of the parties that shall violate or infringe the said peace, shall be determined and agreed, that the injury may cease, and the party offended receive satisfaction. VI. That this agreement, with all and every thing therein contained, shall be confirmed and ratified by the said King of Great Britain, and the said States General of the United Provinces, by letters patents on both sides, sealed with the great seal in due and authentic form, within four weeks next ensuing, or sooner if it can be done ; and within the said time the mutual instruments of ratification shall be exchanged on both sides. In witness and confirmation of all which, we, whose names are underwritten, have subscribed and sealed the same. At the Hague in Holland, the 23d of January, 1668. J (Signed as before.) TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 449 Separate Articles, which shall be of the same Force and Au thority, as if they had been inserted in the Treaty concluded this Day between the King of Great Britain and the States- General ofthe United Netherlands. I. If, in the procuring of a peace between France and Spain, any difficulty should arise about the point of the renunciation ; it is to be so contrived, that either no men tion at all is to be made of it in the treaty ; or, at least, the form is to be conceived and set down in such words, as nothing may accrue to either of the two Crowns, on account of the said renunciation; nor any prejudice be created to either of them in point of right ; but, if either the King of Spain, or the Most Christian King, refuse their consent to this expedient; then the King of Great Britain, and the confederated States, shall proceed against the refuser, as is agreed by the third and fourth article of the treaty, and in the last of these articles respectively ; with this condition, however, that, in case such refusal pro ceed from the King of Spain, the Most Christian King shall oblige himself not to make war in the Low Countries, according to the tenor of the fourth article. II. That the King of Great Britain, and the States- General of the United Netherlands, to the end that all parties may be satisfied, shall oblige themselves to use their utmost endeavours that a peace may at the same time be established between the Kings of Spain and Portugal ; but with this condition, that the Most Christian King shall also oblige himself, in case this negotiation cannot be so soon accomplished, that such a delay shall no way hinder, on his part, the peace between him and Spain ; except only, that it shall be free for the said Most Christian King to give succour and aid to the King of Portugal, his ally, either by way of attack, that he may draw the enemy from other parts, or by any other means which he shall judge to be most convenient and advantageous. And, if the VOL. II. G G 450 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. Spaniards can be brought to consent to a peace under the said condition, and the same be concluded accordingly ; then the Most Christian King shall be obliged wholly to abstain from the Low Countries, as possessed of peace, and not involved in the disputes of either party. Neither shall it be lawful for him to form any designs against them, either by open force or clandestine practices ; nor to re quire any satisfaction, under the pretext of charges and expenses to be sustained on account of the war in Portugal, either for raising men, or any other burden of that war. And, if it should happen that, during the said war, the auxiliary forces of the Most Christian King should possess themselves of any places in Spain or Italy, the said Most Christian King shall restore them to Spain, as soon as the peace with Portugal shall be made. But if, beyond and contrary to expectation, Spain should refuse to make peace with the King of Portugal, and also with the Most Christian King, under that exception, of leaving him free to assist his confederate, as has been already said ; in this unexpected case, the King of Great Britain, and the confederated States, shall be bound to employ themselves effectually to procure the consent of the Spaniards : yet with this provision, that the Most Christian King do also oblige himself not to make war in the Low Countries, as in the former case is already said. III. But if, beyond all expectation, the Most Christian King should entertain such thoughts as shall induce him to refuse to promise that he will sign the treaty of peace as soon as the Spaniard shall consent to give up all those places which have been acquired by him in his last expe dition, or such an equivalent as shall be agreed by mutual consent ; or in case he shall not accomplish his promise, or shall disallow or reject the cautions and provisions that are expressed in the said treaty, which are so necessary to obviate the fears and jealousies that are most justly con ceived of the Most Christian King's intentions to make a TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 451 farther progress with his victorious arms into the said Low Countries, so often already mentioned : In all these cases, and also if he should endeavour by any subterfuges or oblique practices to hinder or elude the conclusion of the peace; then England and the United Netherlands shall be bound and obliged to join themselves to the King of Spain, and with all their united force and power to make war against France; not only to compel him to make peace upon the conditions aforesaid ; but, if God should bless the arms taken up to this end, and favour them with success, and if it should be thought expedient to the parties concerned to continue the war till things shah be restored to that condition in which they were at the time when the peace was made upon the borders of both kingdoms, in the Pyrenean mountains. IV. These separate articles, with all and every thing therein contained, shall be confirmed and ratified by the said King of Great Britain, and the said States- General of the United Provinces, by letters patents of both parties, sealed with their great seal in due and authentic form, within four weeks next ensuing, or sooner if it may be ; and within the said time, the mutual instruments of ratifi cation shall be exchanged on both sides. Done at the Hague in Holland, the 23d of Jan. 1668. (Signed as before.) N° 7.* The Treaty of Commerce 1668. f Seeing that, by the grace of God, and for their mutual good, as well as for the benefit of Christendom, and the * From treaties 1732, i. 146. f See Vol. I. pp. 168. and 189—196. G G 2 452 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. necessity of the times, a defensive alliance has been con cluded and signed on the 23d day of January last, between the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince Charles IL, King of Great Britain, and the high and mighty Lords the States-General of the United Provinces; by which they were to grant strong succours to one another by sea and land ; and that by another instrument on the same day, the said King and States- General covenanted and entered into an agreement about securing the peace and tranquillity of Christendom; and that there seems nothing more to remain, that can at any time interrupt the union and friendship that has so readily on both sides been made and restored between them, unless some disputes may perhaps arise about traffic and merchants' goods carried from one place to another, which may also be promoted more out of an uncertain and doubtful judgment made of the same on either side : The said King, and the said States, being de sirous to cultivate the friendship newly contracted between them, not only for the present, but future also, and so not only to pluck up all seeds of dissension and altercation, but even quite to cut off all manner of hopes and expect ations of whatever may tend to the weakening or dissolving the said friendship by new strifes ; both parties have agreed on the following articles, which shall mutually and con stantly be observed as a rule to guide them in maritime affairs and traffic, or until such time, as by the common consent of both sides, Commissioners shall be appointed to settle and agree upon a fuller treaty concerning all these things and the laws of navigation, as by farther experience may be found of most use and advantage to both parties. I. to XVII. are similar to the Provisional Articles of Breda, in No. 4. XVIII. But seeing the conveniences and inconveni ences of all pacts and conventions cannot be thoroughly discerned, but in process of time, and by mutual experience and discoveries ; it is therefore agreed between the said King of Great Britain, and the said Lords the States of TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 453 the United Provinces, that at what time soever both parties shall think fit by common consent, Commissioners shall be delegated and appointed, whose business and care it shall be to supply whatever defects shall be found in the afore said articles, and also to alter and limit whatever shall be thought incongruous and inconvenient to both parties, and justly to settle and conclude a fuller treaty concerning all these things, and the rules of navigation. XIX. Ratification. N° 8. Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, April 15. 1668. * The King of Great Britain, and the Lords the States- General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, having, in the end of February, sent M. Van Beuninghen, and Sir John Trevor, their respective Ambassadors and Extraordinary Envoys to the Most Christian King, with an offer to employ their endeavours and good offices for the speedy reestablishment of the public tranquillity, by con cluding a good peace between him and the Catholic King : And the said Most Christian King having, thereupon kindly received the offers of the said King of Great Britain, and the said Lords the States, and declaring at the same time to the said Lords Ambassadors Van Beuninghen and Trevor, that, out of respect to their masters, he would still continue and rest content to make a peace upon the same foundation of either of the two alternatives, upon which he had explained himself at the end of the campaign last year, viz. either with the Spaniards yielding up to him all the places, forts, and posts which his armies had taken during the said campaign, and their dependencies ; or else an equi valent, by surrendering to him the Franche Compte (or * From Treaties, 1732, i. 152. See Vol. I. p. 216. GG 3 454 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. the Duchy of Luxemburg in lieu of it), Cambray and Cambresis, Douay, comprehending the Fort of Scarpe, Aire, St. Omer, Berg, Furnes and Link, with their de pendencies. Things upon this being brought so about, by the endeavours and offices of the said King of Great Bri tain, and the said Lords the States, that the Marquis de Castelrodrigo, Governor of Flanders, by virtue of the full power given him to treat of a peace, should, in the Catholic King's name, accept of the first part of the two alternatives above named, and declare he was ready to sign a treaty of peace, or cause the same to be signed by those delegated by him, in conformity to the project that had been given him by the Ministers of the King of Great Britain, and of the said Lords the States residing at Brussels. In pur suance of this the said Ambassadors and Envoys Extraordi nary, seeing the affair succeed so well, made lively instances to his Most Christian Majesty, that he would agree to a cessation of arms to the last day of May next, that so there might be sufficient time allowed for finishing the said treaty, according to the usual forms. And his said Majesty having upon their instances declared, that he could not upon the present foot of things, without very great prejudice to his affairs, agree to it, unless the said King of Great Britain, and the said Lords the States, gave him all the assurances he should think necessary, that the peace should be infal libly accomplished upon the said conditions, and within the said time ; the said Ambassadors and Envoys Extraordinary having thereupon offered to his Most Christian Majesty, that the King of Great Britain, and the Lords the States would be a guarantee for what they had offered on the behalf of the Marquis of Castelrodrigo, as to the accepting of the first part of the alternative, and said that by this guaranty which they had power to promise, they were fully authorised and in a condition to give his Most Christian Majesty all imaginable satisfaction and security as to what he desired, and in respect to the infallibility of the success : TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 455 the Most Christian King had thereupon named and deputed Monsieur le Tellier, Counsellor of State, Commander of the King's Orders, Secretary of State, and of his Majesty's Commands ; the Lord du Lionne, likewise Counsellor of State, Commander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State, and of the King's Commands; and Monsieur Colbert, Counsellor of State, Comptroller-General of the Finances, Treasurer of the King's Orders, and Superin- tendant of his Buildings ; furnished with full powers to treat with the said Lords Van Beuninghen and Trevor, who had also the like power, and to agree together about the said securities, as also upon the surest and readiest means to conclude a peace ; and after the said plenipotentiaries had held several conferences together, they at last agreed to, settled, and concluded upon these following articles : — I. The treaty of peace between France and Spain shall be accomplished, according to the foresaid project, which is now in the hands of the said Lords Ambassadors Van Beuninghen and Trevor ; and the ratification of Spain shall be sent to his Most Christian Majesty at St.Germain- en-Laye, by the last day of May inclusively ; as the Most Christian King shall in like manner put the ratification of the said treaty, within the compass of the same time, into the hands of the Governor of Flanders, and sooner if possible. II. The Most Christian King doth on his part consent to a cessation of all manner of hostilities and attacks upon the fortresses of the Spaniards, upon condition the Spa niards do the same on their side ; and that till the last day of May inclusively. III. If it should so happen, contrary to all expectation, that Spain should refuse to make a peace according to the said project, or that the ratification of Spain should not be put into the hands of the Most Christian King by the last day of May inclusively ; the Most Christian King being not then bound to make a peace upon the terms of the G G 4 456 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. above said alternatives, his Majesty declares that he will be still content to make a peace in the months of June and July, upon the conditions of the two new alternatives here following ; viz., that either to the cession of the conquests made in the last summer's campaign, Spain shall add to and yield up the Franche Comte, Cambray, and the Cam bresis; or else to the cession ofthe other equivalent before named, add that of Luxemburg, or Lisle and Tournay instead thereof. IV. In the mean time, if it should happen that the peace be not concluded, and the ratifications not sent within the said term, through the fault of Spain ; and that thereupon the Most Christian King, after the expiration of the said cessation, shall attack the Spaniards, and endeavour to force them to a peace, upon the conditions of either of the two new alternatives ; the King of Great Britain and the said Lords the States, shall be obliged to perform the pro mise made in their fore-mentioned guaranty, and conse quently employ all their forces without any delay, both by sea and land, to oblige Spain to make a peace upon the conditions above declared. V. In case the peace cannot be made in the said months of June and July, upon the terms before named, and that through the fault of Spain ; their Majesties and the said Lords the States shall then agree upon such new terms as they shall judge most expedient for putting an end to the war. But to the end that, when their said Majesties and the said States shall come to employ their respective arms in the case expressed, they may avoid the inconveniences which might arise from a concurrence in the same enter prises, by each party's choosing the same designs ; it has been concluded that his Most Christian Majesty's arms shall be confined to act on this side the rivers and canals that run by or along these towns and places following ; viz., Argentiers, Malines, Rupelmond, Dendermond, Ghent, TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 457 Plassendale and Ostend ; and shall attack none of the said towns or places : and that the arms of the King of Great Britain, and the said Lords the States, shall be obliged to act beyond the said rivers and places, and shall not attack any towns or places on this side. All the said points and articles above named have been in this manner agreed on, settled, and concluded, on the one part between M. Le Tellier, De Lionne, and Colbert, in the name of the said Most Christian King ; and the said Lords Ambassadors Van Beuninghen and Trevor, respect ively in the name of the King of Great Britain and of the Lords the States- General ; who have promised to procure the ratifications of their Majesties and of the said Lords the States-General, by the last day of this month of April inclusively, and sooner if it can be done. In witness whereof they have with their own hands signed this present treaty, and put their seals to it. Done at St. Germain-en-Laye, April 15. 1668. (Signed) Le Tellier. Van Beuninghen. De Lionne. Trevor. Colbert. N° 9- Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, May 2. 1668.* In the name of God the Creator : be it known to all present and to come, as by the authority and paternal care of our most Holy Father the Pope Clement IX., now hap pily seated in the Holy Chair, for the good government of our Holy Mother the Church, and by the continual exhort ations and most lively instances of his Holiness, as well by sundry and divers letters writ with his own hand, as by the * From Treaties, 1732, i. 156. See Vol. I. p. 222. _________ 458 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. agency and negotiations of his own nephew Cardinal Ros pigliosi, and of his extraordinary Nuncio's , the Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Potent Prince Lewis, by the Grace of God the Most Christian King of France and Navarre, and the Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Potent Prince Charles IL, by the Grace of God Catholic King of Spain, and the Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Potent Princess Marie Anne of Austria, Catholic Queen of Spain, his mother, as Regent, Guardian, and Governess of his Kingdoms and States, have agreed and concluded to make choice of the Imperial city of Aix-la- Chapelle, there to treat of a peace, by the interposition of his Holiness's Plenipotentiary, as also of the Ministers of several other Kings, Potentates, Electors, and Princes of the Holy Empire, who have so kindly employed their en deavours and good offices to accomplish this grand affair. Appointment of Plenipotentiaries ; the Sieur Colbert for France, and the Baron de Bergeyk for Spain. I. II. Peace. III. to IV. France to keep the places which his arms have taken during the last campaign ; viz., the fortress of Charleroy, the towns of Binch and Aeth, Douay, the fort of the Scarp, comprehending Tournay, Oudenarde, Lisle, Armentiers, Courtray, Bergues, and Furnes, with their dependencies. V. VI. The King of France shall withdraw his troops from the county of Burgundy, commonly called the Franche Comte; and shall in good earnest restore that county to Spain, as well as all places which are not to be ceded to him by this treaty. VII. Their Majesties do agree, that all Kings, Princes, and Potentates, who have a mind to enter into the like engagement, may give Unto their Majesties their promises and assurances of guaranty, and of the execution of all that is contained in this present treaty. VIII. It is covenanted, agreed, and declared, that there TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 459 is no intention hereby to make void the Pyrenean Treaty (saving that which appertains to Portugal, with which the said Catholic King hath since made a peace) any further than matters have been otherwise settled by this treaty, by the cession of the foresaid places ; insomuch that neither party hath acquired any new right, or can receive any prejudice in their respective pretensions, as to any thing whereof there is no express mention made by this present treaty. IX. Ratification, Publication, &c. N° 10.* TREATY OF GUARANTY. Convention between the Ministers of England, Sweden, and the States-General. The Hague, May 7. 1669. f The three powers have promised irrecoverably, in the strongest and most solemn manner, that the two Kings and the States-General, all together and every one for himself, to guarantee the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; and in case it should happen that the King of France should fail in the observance of the treaty, and particularly if he should attack any of the dominions of the King of Spain in any part of the world, the three powers will employ all their forces, or such part of them as may be necessary, not only to oppose such attacks, but to obtain reparation; and in case the attack shall be made in distant parts, so that they cannot resist it on the spot, they will use all their power, by the employment of their arms elsewhere, where they can most effectually annoy the aggressor, and oblige him to desist from his attack, and to make reparation : and imme- * Dumont, vii. part i. p. 107. f See Vol. I. p. 315. 460 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. diately after such attack the said powers will enter into a particular concert as to the means and forces to be employed, for resisting the attack and obtaining reparation, according to the proportion and expenses which by common accord may be found necessary. Signed by Sir William Temple, and the Ministers of Sweden, and the States- General. By a separate instrument, Don Estevan de Gamarra, the Spanish Ambassador at the Hague, undertook for the payment of a subsidy of 480,000 crowns to Sweden, ac cording to a convention of 25th April, 1668, between England, the States, and Sweden. N° 11.* Treaty of Peace, at Westminster, between Charles II. of England, and the States- General of the United Provinces, 19 February, 1674. I. to III. Peace. IV. That the aforesaid States- General of the United Provinces, in due acknowledgment on their part of the King of Great Britain's right to have his flag respected in the seas hereafter mentioned, shall and do declare and agree, that whatever ships or vessels belonging to the said United Provinces, whether vessels of war or others, or whether single or in fleets, shall meet in any of the seas from Cape Finisterre to the middle point of the land Van Staten in Norway, with any ships or vessels belonging to his Majesty of Great Britain, whether those ships be single or in greater number, if they carry his Majesty of Great Britain's flag or jack, the aforesaid Dutch vessels or ships shall strike their flag and lower their top-sail, in the same * From Chalmers's Treaties, i. 172. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 461 manner and with as much respect as hath at any time, or in any place, been formerly practised towards any ships of his Majesty of Great Britain or his predecessors, by any ships of the States-General or their predecessors. V. Surinam. VI. It is agreed and concluded, that whatever country, island, town, haven, castle, or fortress, hath been or shall be taken by either party from the other, since the beginning of the late unhappy war, whether in Europe or elsewhere, and before the expiration of the times above limited for hostility, shall be restored to the former owner in the same condition it shall be in at the time of the publishing this peace ; after which time there shall be no plundering of the inhabitants, or demolishing of the fortifications, or carrying away the artillery and ammunition belonging to any fort or castle at the time of its having been taken. VII. Confirmation of the Treaty of Breda, and former treaties. VIII. Marine Treaty of 1668 to be continued for nine months; Commissioners to settle a new one. IX. Commissioners to settle disputes which have arisen in the East Indies : points in difference to be submitted to the arbitration of the Queen of Spain, who shall nominate eleven Commissioners ; and the decision of a majority of them shall be final. N° 12.* Marine Treaty, between England and the Dutch, December 1. 1674. The articles of this treaty are very nearly similar to those of the Commercial Treaty of 1668. (No. 7.) The following is the Explanatory Declaration signed by Temple : — * From Chalmers, i. 177. 462 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. Whereas some difficulty hath arisen concerning the in terpretation of certain articles, aswell in the Treaty Marine which was concluded the first day of December, 1674, as in that which was concluded the 17th of February, 1667-8, between his Majesty of Great Britain on the one part, and the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries on the other, relating to the liberty of their re spective subjects to trade unto the ports of each other's enemies ; We, Sir William Temple, Baronet, Ambassador Extraordinary from his said Majesty of Great Britain, in the name and on the part of his said Majesty: and We William Van Heuckelom, Daniel Van Wyngaerden, Lord of Werckendam, Gaspar Fagel, Counsellor and Pensioner of Holland and West Friesland, John de Mauregnault, John Baron of Reede and Renswoude, William de Haren, Gretman of the Biit, Henry Ter Borgh, and Luke Alting, Deputies in the Assembly of the said States-General for the States of Guelderland, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Friesland, Overissell, Groningen, and the Omlands, in the name and on the part of the said States- General, have de clared, as we do by these presents declare, that the true meaning and intention of the said articles is and ought to be, that ships and vessels belonging to the subjects of either of the parties can and might, from the time that the said articles were concluded, not only pass, traffic, and trade from a neutral port or place to a place in enmity with the other party, or from a place in enmity to a neutral place, but also from a port or place in enmity to a port or place in enmity with the other party, whether the said places be long to one and the same Prince or State, or to several Princes or States, with . whom the other party is in war. And we declare, that this is the true and genuine sense and meaning of the said articles ; pursuant whereunto we un derstand that the said articles are to be observed and exe cuted on all occasions, on the part of his said Majesty and the said States-General, and their respective subjects ; yet TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 463 so, that this declaration shall not be alleged by either party for matters which happened before the conclusion of the late peace in the month of February, 1673-4. And we do promise, that the said declaration shall be ratified by his said Majesty, and by the said States- General, and that ¦within two months, or sooner if possible, reckoning from the day and date of this declaration, the ratifications of the same shall be brought hither to the Hague, to be here ex changed. In witness whereof we have signed these pre sents at the Hague, this 30th day of December, 1675. W. Temple. W. Van Heuckelom, John Baron van Reede D. Van Wyngaerden, vry Heer van Renswoude, Gasp. Fagel, W. Haren, Jo. Mauregnault, H. Ter Borgh, L. Alting. N° 13. LAWRENCE HYDE'S TREATY. Defensive Alliance between Charles II. of Eng land and the States-General of the United Provinces, January 10. 1678.* The Most Serene and Most Potent Prince Charles IL, King of Great Britain, seriously weighing the deplorable state of Christendom, and the absolute necessity there is for an entire union of counsels, in order to hinder the farther progress of a miserable war, that hath spread itself far and near, and at this day harrassed almost all Europe ; and at the same time considering with himself, the little success his mediation, which for the space almost of three years he # From Treaties, 1732, i. 177. See Vol. I. p. 508. 464 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. has offered with much care and concern, has met with for procuring a general peace : he at last has judged it neces sary to have recourse to more effectual means ; and to that end, to enter into a strict alliance with the High and Mighty Lords the States- General of the United Provinces; by the virtue and efficacy of which, the two neighbouring Kings may be sincerely excited to make a peace, upon such ar ticles and conditions as may conduce to the universal benefit of Christianity; especially, in settling the security and barrier of the Netherlands, wherein his Majesty and the said Lords are greatly interested. To which end, we whose names are under written, pursuant to the powers given to us, have in the name and on the part of the said King, and the States- General, respectively deputed by them, agreed on the following articles : — I. That the said King of Great Britain, and the said Lords the States-General of the United Provinces, shall stand by and mutually defend each other with all their power and strength, in such a way and manner as shall be most efficacious, on which they have more particularly agreed, that so the two neighbouring Kings may be brought to conclude a general peace on these terms. As for France and Spain, the towns and places called Charleroy,"Aeth, Oudenarde, Cour tray, Tournay, Conde, Valenciennes, and St. Guislain, shall be restored to the Catholic King, together with the other places which the French have at any time since the taking of St. Guislain possessed themselves of. The County of Burgundy shall remain in the hands of France ; but all the towns and places which the French now or hereafter may seize in the kingdom of Sicily, shall be restored. As to France and the United Provinces, everything in Europe shall be restored on either side. And forasmuch as those things which the Ambassador Extraordinary of the King of Great Britain hath received in command, concerning the terms of peace relating to the TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 465 Emperor and empire, are not so clearly set forth, so as to put the finishing stroke to them at this time, and are neither of such moment as to put a stop to the present treaty ; the said Ambassador takes upon himself to procure clearer intimations of the King his master's intentions as to that affair : and the underwritten Ambassadors have promised, and do promise, that the said King, and the said States, will perform what is agreed on as to that affair between his said Majesty and the States, and between the Emperor and the States, and what shall be accounted just and equitable. As to the Duke of Lorraine, his duchy shall be restored to him. As to Sweden, there shall be a cessation of arms, till the terms of the peace are particularly agreed on. II. To this end, the King of Great Britain shall use all his endeavours and interest with the Most Christian King, to bring him to agree and promise, by a solemn treaty, in the best and most authentic form, that he will consent to and acquiesce in the aforesaid conditions of peace, without any exception or reservation, under any pretence or for any cause whatsoever, provided the Catholic King can be induced and persuaded by the said King of Great Britain, on his part, to consent also to the same terms. III. The said King of Great Britain shall moreover use the same endeavours and interest with the Most Christian King, to bring him to consent to a cessation of arms for three months ; that in the mean time the said King of Great Britain may use all sorts of good offices and endea vours, to bring the Catholic King to give his consent to the said conditions. IV. As the Most Christian King can have no just reason to refuse such a cessation of arms, the King of Great Bri tain doth oblige himself by the said treaty, to bring things so about, that the Catholic King shall acquiesce with the said conditions. V. In case the Most Christian King shall be induced by VOL. II. H H 466 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. the said King of Great Britain to comply so far, as that he may be able fully to perform the aforesaid promise, and that the same may be depended on ; and farther, that he shall undertake nothing more by his arms in the Nether lands ; but so also as that the King of Great Britain, be yond all hope and expectation, can neither by his exhorta tions and endeavours excite the said Catholic King, before the expiration of the said three months, to give his consent to the conditions above mentioned; but that there shall be a necessity of coming to more efficacious methods : nevertheless, the Most Christian King shall not move or make any progess with his arms, in the borders of the said Netherlands; but the King of Great Britain takes upon himself to supply the defect, so as that the Catholic King shall be bound to accept of the said terms : and so the most Christian King shall not be at liberty to commit any acts of hostility in the said countries, nor seize any town, though the same yields of its own accord, unless the King of Great Britain fails in the performance of that before promised. VI. Moreover, it is agreed on and concluded, that in the treaty to be made, as aforesaid, between the King of Great Britain and the Most Christian King, the said States-Ge neral of the United Provinces shall, in respect to all and every thing which the said King of Great Britain happens any way to consent to and promise to the Most Christian King, be obliged thereto together, and in conjunction with the said King ; and in that case they do declare themselves to be bound by these presents, and that in such a manner as if they were directly engaged in the said treaty, and had signed it. VII. In like manner the said King, and the said States, shall at the same time conjointly or separately, as maybe most convenient, use all their endeavours, instances, and interest with the Catholic King, that he shall also give his consent to the said conditions of peace. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 467 VIII. And if the said Most Christian King shall finally refuse his consent to the said articles, it is agreed, by virtue of this league between his said Majesty and the said States, that they shall forthwith, and without any manner of delay, endeavour, with joint and utmost power, to bring the Most Christian King to a compliance with them, pursuant to the counsels and methods upon which they shall mutually agree amongst themselves. IX. As the said States are assuredly persuaded, and even very certain, that the said Catholic King will agree to the said terms ; so they take it upon and oblige them selves, in conjunction with the said King of Great Britain, most effectually by their endeavours and good offices to bring it so to pass, that the said Catholic King shall con sent to the said conditions ; and that the peace on his Ma jesty's part shall not be retarded. X. When the peace is made between the two Crowns, not only the King of Great Britain and the said States shall be the conservators and guarantees thereof, in the best, plainest, and safest form, but even all kings and neigh bouring princes, who may think themselves interested therein, that so the repose of Christendom may remain undisturbed, and the Netherlands be restored to and main tained in tranquillity ; to which end, the number of forces and other matters shall be ascertained, which are to be employed against either of the parties who shall disturb or violate the peace, that the injury may be repaired, and the party satisfied. XI. But if it should so happen, that any of those friends thus confederated shall (which God forbid) entertain si nister and wrong thoughts of matters ; and that from thence such inconveniences might arise, either from revenge, or even war made by some one of the present warriors, either to him or them who shall take their part, or to the other States of the confederates ; the said King and the said States shall hold themselves mutually engaged to withstand H H 2 468 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. all attacks made upon their kingdoms, provmces, and do minions, stoutly to defend their rights and liberties both by sea and land, and not cease to give assistance to one another, till they have reciprocally obtained the satisfaction and security they aim at. XII. All these articles, and all and every thing contained therein, shall, by the said King of Great Britain, and the said States-General of the United Provinces, within the space of four weeks after the date hereof, and sooner if possible, in due and authentic form, be confirmed and ra tified, and the instruments of ratification shall mutually be exchanged within the time aforesaid. Done at the Hague, and signed and sealed, December the 31st, 1677, and 10th of January, 1678. L. Hyde. Johan. Baron de Rheede. W. van Heukelom. Vry Heer van Rensvoude. D. van Wingarden. E. Ende van Bootsma. Gaspar Fagel. Baron de Palant. J. de Mauregnault. G. Grays. As it is not particularly and by name expressed in the first article of the treaty concluded this day, between the Ambassador Extraordinary of the King of Great Britain, and the Deputies of the States-General of, the United Pro vinces, that the bailiwicks, chastellanies, territories, govern ments, and provostships, with their appurtenances, de pendencies, and every thing else annexed to the towns which, by the said first article, are to be restored to the Catholic King ; and that there is also no mention made of the duchy of Limburg, and the town of Binch : we the Deputies of the States-General, whose names are under written, do hereby declare, that it was the intention of the said States-General, that the bailiwicks, chastellanies, territories, governments, and provostships, together with their appurtenances, dependencies, and every thing that belongs to the towns whichf by virtue of the said first TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 469 article, are to be restored to the Catholic King of Spain, be included, even as it was provided for by the treaty of peace in 1668, concluded between the two Crowns; and that, among other things that are to be restored, the said duchy of Limburg and the town of Binch were compre hended ; and that we the underwritten have signed the said treaty, being in hopes that the said King of Great Britain will concur in the same intentions with the States, seeing that the said Ambassador Extraordinary has signified to us, that he had no commands about the same, but that he would give the said King an account of this declaration of the said deputies, and use all good offices, that his Ma jesty may concur in the same design with them. Done at the Hague, December the 31st, and the 10th of January. (Signed) W. van Heukelom and the others. Separate Article. Seeing that in the first article of the treaty concluded this day it is set down that the Duke of Lorraine shall be restored to the duchy of that name; and that as to Sweden, there shall be a cessation of arms there, till all the terms of the peace are agreed on : we whose names are underwritten, by virtue of these presents do declare, that it is the intention of the King of Great Britain, and of the States-General of the United Provinces, that the said King shall do his utmost, that the duchy of Lorraine be restored to the Duke, with the fortifications in the state they are now; but if this cannot be obtained ofthe Most Christian King, in the condition he found when they were taken by him : And as to Sicily it is pi-oposed, that those towns the Most Christian King is in possession of in that kingdom, or any thing else without the Netherlands, shall, by way of caution and security, remain in his hands till such time as the articles of peace shall be agreed on and H H 3 470 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. concluded in respect to Sweden. Done at the Hague, Dec. 31. 1677, and 10th of Jan. 1678. (Signed) L. Hyde. W. van Heukelom, &c. N°14.* TEMPLE'S TREATY. Treaty of Alliance between Charles II. and the States-General, 26th of July, 1678. f The preamble recites, that the States, and the Kings of France and Spain, had agreed upon the terms of peace, but that the ministers of France refused to restore the places which belonged to Spain and the States, without a previous restitution to Sweden of the places taken from her during the war; and that the King and the States had agreed, that if they cannot induce the King of France to declare, before the 11th of August, that he will restore those places to Spain and Holland upon the ratification of the proposed treaty, the two powers would declare war against France : and the two powers being of opinion that repose cannot be given to Christendom, unless France restore to Spain Charleroy, Aeth, and the other towns stipulated ; and to the Emperor and empire all that she has taken from them, and to the Duke of Lorraine his duchy. I. His said Majesty, and the Lords the States Ge neral, promise to do their utmost, and to use all their forces, and to constrain the Most Christian King to consent to those terms of peace, and shall not make peace with the said King before he has consented to those terms, or * Although this treaty was Temple's own work, yet, as it is given at length by Mr. Trevor (I. 403.), an extract may be sufficient here. f See Vol. II. p. 7. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 471 such others as shall be agreed upon between his Majesty and the States, according to the success of the war. II. His Majesty and the States- General do engage themselves to operate with their whole force, that the said conditions, or such others as may be agreed upon by the parties, may be obtained from the Most Christian King ; and for that purpose, that his Majesty shall have one third more force by sea, and one third less in the Low Countries, than the Lords the States; and this is pro visionally, until a more complete concert of forces shall be agreed upon. III. It is also stipulated that if a war shall arise be tween his Majesty the King of Great Britain and the Most Christian King, it shall not be in the power of one of the allies to suspend his arms, without the mutual consent of both. IV. If the congress at Nimeguen should be broken up, and it should be proposed to negotiate elsewhere, such negotiation shall not be commenced by one ally withou the participation of the other, nor unless he that desires peace shall procure passports for the other ally, at the same time with his own, and from time to time communicate to him all that passes in the negotiation. But neither shall consent to peace or truce except upon the conditions of article I., or others agreed upon by mutual consent, or unless his ally be restored to all the territories and rights in Europe which he enjoyed at the signature of this treaty, unless it be otherwise agreed upon between the King and the States. V. If the peace should be made with France upon the terms agreed upon, the King and the States, and all other princes who are willing, shall be guarantees of it, to which end the King and the States shall agree upon the forces and other means to be employed. VI. Ratification within three weeks. W. Temple. W. Van Heukelom, &c. H H 4 472 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. N° 15.* PEACE OF NIMEGUEN. Treaty between Lewis XIV. and the States-General, 10$ of August, 1678. In the name of God the Creator : To all present and to come, be it known ; that as during the course of the war that has been stirred for some years between the Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Mighty Prince Lewis XIV. by the Grace of God Most Christian King of France and Navarre, and the Lords the States-General of the United Provinces, his Majesty always maintained a sincere desire to give back to the said States his principal friendship, and they all the sentiments of respect for his Majesty, and of acknowledgment for the obligations and considerable ad vantages which they have received from his Majesty, and the Kings his predecessors, it is at last come to pass that these good dispositions, seconded by the powerful offices of the Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Mighty Prince the King of Great Britain, who, during these troublesome times, wherein almost all Christendom has been in war, hath not ceased by his counsels and good persuasions to contri bute to the public weal and repose, induced as well his Most Christian Majesty and the said States- General, as also all other the Princes and Potentates that are interested in this present war, to consent that the town of Nimeguen should be made choice of for the treaty of peace. [Plenipo tentiaries for France, D'Estrades, Colbert, and D'Avaux ; for the States-General, Beverning, Odyck, Van Haren.] I. to VI. Peace, and oblivion. VII. Each shall continue seised of, and shall actually enjoy the countries, towns, places, lands, islands, and seig niories, within Europe and without, which they now hold and possess, without being disturbed or molested, directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever. * From Treaties, 1732, i. 193. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 473 VIII. But his Most Christian Majesty, willing to give back to the Lords the States-General his principal friend ship, and to give them a singular proof thereof upon this occasion, will immediately after the exchange of the ratifi cations put them into possession of the town of Maestricht, with the county of Vronof, and the counties and countries of Fauquemond, Aalhem, and Rolleduc beyond the Maeze, together with the villages of Redemption, Banc d' St. Ser- vais, and whatever is belonging to the said town. IX. to XII. Prisoners to be restored : other details. XIII. The said Lords the States-General have and do promise, not only to maintain a perfect neutrality, without being at liberty to assist, directly or indirectly, the enemies of France or its allies ; but also to guarant all such engage ments as Spain shall enter into, by the treaty that is to be betwixt their Most Christian and Catholic Majesties, and especially that whereby the Catholic King shall be held to the same neutrality. XIV. XV. Provision for the care of disputes or rupture. XVI. Prince of Orange's interests : reference to an act this day signed.* XVIL And as his Majesty, and the Lords the States General, acknowledge the powerful offices that the King of Great Britain has incessantly employed, by his good counsels and persuasions, for the public weal and repose ; so it is agreed on both sides, that his said Majesty of Great Britain, and his kingdoms, be comprehended by name in this present treaty, according to the best form that may be. XVIII. Within this present treaty of peace and alliance shall be comprehended, on the part of the said Most Christian King, the King of Sweden, the Duke of Hol stein, the Bishop of Strasburg, and Prince William of Fur- stemburg, as interested in the present war : and there shall * This act restored to the Prince the principality of Orange, and all other lands belonging to him in France, and other countries subject to the king. 474 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. likewise be comprehended, if they will themselves, the Prince and Crown of Portugal, the Duke and Seigniory of Venice, the Duke of Savoy, the thirteen Cantons of the League-Switzers and their allies, the Elector of Bavaria, Duke John Frederick of Brunswick Hanover, and all Kings, Potentates, Princes, and States, towns and particular per sons, to whom his Most Christian Majesty shall grant, at their request, to be comprehended within this treaty on his part. XIX. And on the part of the Lords the States-General, the King of Spain, and all other their allies that within six weeks, to be computed from the exchange of the ratifi cations, shall declare their acceptance of the peace, as also the thirteen laudable Cantons of the League-Switzers and their allies and confederates, the town of Embden, and moreover all Kings, Princes, and States, towns and parti cular persons, to whom they shall grant, at their request, to be comprehended on their part. XX. The said King, and the said Lords the States- General, do consent that the King of Great Britain, a Mediator, and all other Potentates and Princes that shall be willing to enter into the like engagement, may give his Majesty and the said States-General their promise, and tie themselves to guarant the performance of all that is con tained in this present treaty. XXI. Ratification.* Treaty between France and Spain, I'lth Sept. 1678. The preamble, after the usual expressions, recites, that " it hath happened through the effect of the bounty of God, who would make use of the confidence their Majesties continued to take in the said Lord the King of Great Bri- * There was also a Treaty of Commerce between France and Hol land, by which the principle Free Ships Free Goods was again esta blished, and the Dutch were exempted from the droit d'aubaine. TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 475 tain, that at last the said Ambassadors " have agreed, &c. [D'Estrades, Colbert, and D'Avaux, for France; Doria, Venazuca, Pedro Ronquillo, and Christin, for Spain.] I. II. Peace. III. In consideration of the peace, his Most Christian Majesty, immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this present treaty, shall return to the Catholic King's power, the place and fortress of Charleroy, the city of Binch, the cities and fortresses of Aeth, Oudenard, and Courtray, with their provostships and chastellanies, appur tenances and dependencies, as they were possessed by his Catholic Majesty before the war in the year 1667. All which towns and places were left to the said Lord the Most Christian King, by the Catholic King, at the treaty signed at Aix-la-Chapelle the second of May, 1668, from which by this present treaty it has been positively derogated, as for what regards the said towns and places, their appurte nances and dependencies : in consequence whereof, the said Lord the Catholic King shall re-enter into the possession thereof, for to enjoy them, he and his successors, fully and peaceably, except the verge of Menin, and of the city of Conde, which, though it has been pretended formerly by his Most Catholic Majesty, as member of the chastellany of Aeth, shall nevertheless be left to the crown of France, with all its dependencies, by virtue of the present treaty, as shall be said hereafter. IV. The said Lord the Christian King obliges himself also, and promises to return into the hands of the said Lord the Cathohc King, immediately after the exchange of the ratifications, the city and duchy of Limburg with all its dependencies, and the country on the other side the Meuse, the town and citadel of Ghent also, with all its dependen cies ; the town and place of St. Guislain, the fortifications of which nevertheless shall be rased ; and the city of Pui- cerda in Catalonia in the state it is at present ; with their countries, places, castles, forts, lands, lordships, domains, 476 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. bailiwicks, appurtenances, dependencies and annexes, with out reserving or retaining any thing for to be possessed by his Catholic Majesty and his successors, as they enjoyed before the present war. V. to IX. Details. X. The said Lord the Most Christian King shall retain, remain possessed, and enjoy effectively, all the county of Burgundy, commonly called the Franche Comte, and the towns, places, and countries depending, comprising the city of Bezancon and its district, as also the towns of Va lenciennes and its dependencies, Bouchain and its depend encies, Conde and its dependencies, notwithstanding they were formerly pretended to be a member of the chastellany of Aeth ; Cambray and the Cambresis, Aire, St. Omer, and their dependencies, Ipres and its chastellany, Warvick and Warneton on the Lys, Poperinghen, Pailleul and Cassel, with their dependencies, Bavay and Maubeuge, with their dependencies. XI. to XXIV. Details. XXV. It has been covenanted, agreed, and declared, that nothing is meant to be revoked from the Pyrenean Treaty, except what concerns Portugal, with whom the Catholic King is now in peace, nor from the Treaty of Aix- la-Chapelle, as in what hath been otherwise disposed of in this, by the surrender of the above-said places, unless the parties have acquired any new right, or might have received any prejudice in their respective pretensions in all things which have not been positively mentioned by this present treaty ; and consequently all that was not stipulated by the said Pyrenean Treaty concerning the interest of Mantua, the Duke of Savoy, and the dowry of the late illustrious In fanta Catherine, shall be observed, saving that this particular expression shall not hurt or prejudice the general stipula tion made in this present article of the execution of the said Treaties of the Pyrenees and Aix-la-Chapelle. XXVI. Although their Most Christian and Catholic TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 477 Majesties contributed all their care for the re-establishing of a general peace, and that, by the good means of a general cessation of arms, they ought to hope it will be followed by a prompt conclusion of all which is to secure the tranquil lity of all Christendom ; nevertheless, since the said Lord the Christian King has insisted, that the said Lord the Catholic King should oblige himself not to assist any Prince, now in war against France and its allies, his Ca tholic Majesty has promised and promises to remain in an exact neutrality, during the course of this war, without assisting, directly or indirectly, his allies against France and its allies. XXVII. And since their Most Christian and Catholic Majesties acknowledge the powerful offices of the King of Great Britain, who has constantly contributed, by his counsels and good advertisements, to the welfare and tran quillity of the public, it has been agreed on both sides, that his Britannic Majesty, with his kingdoms, shall be nominally comprised in this present treaty, after the best manner that may be done. XXVIII. to XXX. Sweden, Holstein, Bishop of Stras burg, and Prince William of Furstemburg, and all others who may be nominated by the King of Spain, are included in this arrangement, and all Princes may be admitted to guarantee this treaty. XXXI. Publication and ratification. Treaty between France and the Emperor, 3d of February, 1679. In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Tr inity: Be it known to all and every one whom it doth or may any way concern, that whereas, from the beginning of the war commenced some years ago, between the most Se rene and Mighty Prince and Lord Leopold, Elect Emperor of the Romans, always august, King of Germany, Hungary, 478 THE LIFE OF [TREATIES. &c. &c. on the one part ; and the most Serene and Mighty Prince and Lord Lewis XIV. the Most Christian King of France and Navarre, on the other part; their Imperial and Most Christian Majesties have desired nothing more passionately than the prevention of the desolation of so many countries, and the further effusion of blood, by re storing a peace never to be broken : it hath, by the blessing of Almighty God, been at length brought to pass, that by the endeavours of the most Serene and Mighty Prince and Lord Charles II. King of Great Britain, who, being re ceived as a general mediator by all the parties, hath in these difficult conjunctures of Christendom, to his immortal glory, with indefatigable care, employed his utmost offices and councils for the public tranquillity and general peace f their Imperial and Most Christian Majesties have agreed^ that the Congress for treating of the peace should be held at Nimeguen in Guilderland ; in which place, Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaries, in due form author ised, having appeared on both sides, viz. [for the Emperor, the Bishop of Gurgg, Count Khinscky, and Theodore Stratman ; for France, D'Estrades, Colbert, and D'Avaux, who] with the interposition and pains of the most Illustrious and Excellent Lords, Lawrence Hyde, Esq., Sir William Temple, Baronet, and Sir Leoline Jenkins, Knight, Am bassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaries of his Ma jesty of Great Britain, who, from the year 1675 till this pre sent, have, with great impartiality, industry, and prudence, performed the office of mediators, in order to the restoring the public tranquillity, to the glory of God and welfare of Christendom, they have mutually agreed on the following conditions of peace and friendship. I. Peace. II. Treaty of Munster, 1648, confirmed. III. to XI. The King of France gives up his right to keep a garrison in Philipsburg, and the Emperor renounces Friburg and its dependencies. France shall have a free TREATIES.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 479 passage from Brisac to Friburg ; which town, however, shall be restored to the Emperor if an equivalent can be found. XII. to XXII. The Duke of Lorraine shall be restored to the States which his uncle Duke Charles possessed in ] 670, except that Nancy shall belong to France (with highways leading to it), as alsoLongwic; and Toul is given to the Duke. XXIII. The Emperor consents that the Bishop of Stras burg, his brother Prince William of Furstemberg, and his nephew Prince Anthony of Furstemberg, shall be restored to all their possessions, and Prince William set at liberty. XXIV. Details. XXV. Confirmation of an agreement made between the Emperor and Empire, the Kings of France and Sweden. XXVI. The Emperor and the King of France shall use their best offices towards restoring peace between France and Sweden on one part, and Denmark, Branden burg, Lunenberg, and Munster on the other ; and the Em peror and Empire promise not to assist the enemies of France and Sweden; and the King of France promises not to assist the present enemies of the Emperor and Empire. XXVII. to XXXI. Details. XXXII. Their Imperial and Most Christian Majesties, retaining a grateful sense of the offices and continual endea vours the most Serene King of Great Britain hath used to restore a general peace, and the public tranquillity, it is mutually agreed between the parties, that he with his king doms be included in this treaty, after the best and most effectual manner that may be. XXXIII. XXXIV. Admission of other Princes ; and all may guarantee the treaty. XXXV. XXXVI. Ratification. 480 THE LIFE OF [OFFICIAL APPENDIX D. N° 1.* At the Court at Whitehall, the 8th of August, 1668: Present, The King's most Excellent Majesty, His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Lord Keeper, Earl of Middlesex, Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Carbery, Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Arlington, Duke of Albemarle, Earl of Ossory, Duke of Ormond, Lord Berkeley, Lord Chamberlain, Mr. Treasurer, Earl of Bath, Mr. Vice-Chamberlain, Earl of Craven, Mr. Secretary Morice, Earl of Lauderdale, Sir John Duncombe. His Majesty this day acquaints their Lordships, that he is sending Sir William Temple Ambassador into Holland, and that there having been no ambassador from this Crown sent into Holland since the House of Orange had so near a relation to his Majesty as it hath at present, did there fore desire their Lordships' advice, how he should settle the matter of precedency between the Prince of Orange and his Ambassador. Upon serious debate and deliberation thereof his Majesty did, by their Lordships' advice, order that his said Ambassador, Sir William Temple, should have directions to give precedence on all occasions to the Prince of Orange, as his Majesty's nephew ; and that an * Longe Papers, I., see Vol. I. p. 275. and p. 281. PAPERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 481 entry should be made in the Council Book, declaring that his Majesty had required his said Ambassador to give place and precedency to the Prince of Orange, as nephew to his Majesty, and a grandchild of England, but in no regard as he is Prince of Orange.* John Nicholas. Nd 2. At the Court at Whitehall, the 26th of August, 1668 : By the King's most Excellent Majesty, and by the Right Honourable the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council. His Majesty being informed that of late the French Ambassadors in foreign parts have refused to admit the Envoys, either ordinary or extraordinary, or other Ministers of Kings and Princes, unless they will yield the hand to him in his own house, which course the Ambassadors of some other Princes have lately followed, although the usage in treating such Ministers is conceived to have been otherwise, the Ambassador giving the hand in his own house, not only to public Ministers, but even to private * Wicquefort mentions another order, which we have not seen. " Sir William Temple coming to the Hague in the year 1668, in the quality of Ambassador Extraordinary, had orders from the King of England to give the hand to the Prince of Orange every where, even at his High ness's house and at his table; which was by so much the more reason able, that, as the Prince was the King's nephew, the Ambassador ought to respect him as a prince of the blood of England, and, as such, could not do him too much honour. In the year 1674' he had procured an other order, which was not so reasonable, nor so easy to be executed. He was commanded to yield, at home, the place of honour to the Coun sellor Pensionary of Holland. Sir William Temple had already, at that time, published his remarks on the state ofthe United Provinces; so that it is to be wondered at that he would suffer his instructions to be clogged with an article which might have been the cause of infinite disorders." Book i. ch. 2. p. 201. t Longe Papers, i, VOL. II. I I 482 THE LIFE OF [OFFICIAL persons of other nations than their own, who come to visit them, his Majesty hath in Council declared his dislike of this course newly taken up, of the Ambassadors not giving the hand in their own houses to the public Ministers of other Princes, as being an innovation, and tending to debar and obstruct that course and correspondence which is necessary to be between the public Ministers of Princes ; and doth therefore order that Sir Willam Temple, his Majesty's Ambassador to the States General ofthe United Provinces, now being at the Hague, should declare this his Majesty's dislike to such of the Ambassadors or other public Ministers there as he shall think fit ; and that if the other Foreign Princes or their Ambassadors shall be willing to treat the Envoys of other Princes as heretofore hath been used upon visits made to the Ambassadors, his Ma jesty is willing that his Ambassadors shall do so likewise ; but in the mean time that Sir William Temple observes the same course in his own house upon visits by Foreign Ministers as the French Ambassadors now do, not to give to any Envoy, Resident, or otlier Minister than an Ambas sador, the right hand or precedency in his own house ; but he is to use any fitting expedient for meeting and treating with the "Envoys, Residents, or Deputies of other Princes or States in any third place, where the right hand and precedency will still be his : and this rule his Majesty commands his Ambassadors to observe with all other Courts. Edward Walker. N° 3. Charles R. Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Having thought fit, for considerations relating to our own service, to recall you from the employment you now bear as our Ambassador Extraordinary with the States General of the United Netherlands, and one of our Ambassadors Extra- PAPERS.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 483 ordinary and Plenipotentiaries for the Treaty of Peace, in all which you have served us to our entire satisfaction, we do hereby give you the knowledge of it, directing you forthwith upon receipt hereof to prepare yourself to return hither, together with your family and equipage, with what speed may be, we having appointed our trusty and well- beloved Sir Jeoline Jenkins, your colleague at Nimeguen, to succeed you as our Ambassador with the said States. And so we bid you farewell. — Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 14th day of February, 1679, and in the one and thirtieth year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, Sunderland.* N° 4. Charles R. Right trusty and well-beloved Counseller, we greet you well. Having thought fit to determine your Embassy with the States General of the United Netherlands, in which you have served us to our entire satisfaction, we do give you this notice of it, that ye may with what speed may be send for your servants and equipage home, which at your late coming over you left at the Hague, we having appointed our trusty and well-beloved Henry Sidney, Esquire, to succeed you there, with the character of our Envoy Extra ordinary; and we bid you farewell. — Given at our Court at Windsor, the 11th day of July, 1679, in the thirty-first year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, SuNDERLAND.f # Longe, v. It is not easy to follow all the changes and contem plated changes of these diplomatic appointments. There is a letter from Secretary Williamson, dated Feb. 4. 1678-9, that the king has recalled Sir Leoline Jenkins, and made Sir William Temple sole and single mediator in the execution ofthe first powers of mediation. f Longe, v. II 2 484 THE LIFE OF [TEMPLE'S APPENDIX E. Sir William Temple's Will.* Moreparke, March 8. 1694-5. After having made several other wills in more form, I shall make this as short as I can, to avoid those cruel re membrances that have so often occasioned the changing of them : God's holy name be praised, his will be done ! Be ing therefore in perfect health and sense at the writing hereof, I leave to my sister Giffard my lease of Blansby "in Yorkshire, from the Crown, for three lives, now in being, as likewise my College lease of lands near Armagh in Ireland, with all right, title, and interest I have therein, or shall have at the time of my decease, to be held and en joyed by her my said sister during her life, and after her death I leave both the said leases to my nephew John Temple. I leave my house in the Pell-Mell, with my right and title therein, unto my daughter-in-law Mrs. Mary Temple during her life, and after her death to her two daughters, Elizabeth and Dorothy Temple. I leave my College lease of Clownes, in Ireland, to my nephew John Temple. I leave to my grandchild Elizabeth Temple my inlaid cabinet, my gold watch and seals, with all the gold or silver I shall leave in my closet at the time of my death. I leave all my goods, stock, and furniture whatsoever at Moore Parke, with pictures, statues, books, porcelain, to go along and remain with the said house; that is, to the use of my sister Giffard during her life, and after that, successively to those persons to whom I have or shall by deed dispose the said house and lands, with the rest of my * From the registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. It was proved by Sir John Temple and Lady Giffard, March 29. 1699. WILL.] SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 485 estate, late in jointure, to my dear wife, desiring and ap pointing that my said house may be transmitted to them in the same condition I shall leave it, and as a possession or jewel I most love and esteem for many reasons. I leave all the rest of my money, debts, goods, plate, or other per sonal estate not used commonly at More Parke, nor dis posed of by this or any succeeding will, in the first place, to the discharge of what debts I shall leave unpaid at the time of my death, or what legacies I shall leave by this or any succeeding will ; and the whole remainder of any and all such personal estate I leave and appoint to be divided into four equal parts, whereof I leave one to my sister, one to each of my two grandchildren, and a fourth to my two brothers, and of this last, three parts to Sir John Temple, and two to Mr. Henry Temple. I leave for a legacy to Bridget Johnson, Ralph More, and Leonard Robinson, twenty pounds a piece, with a half year's wages to them and all my other servants, and twenty pounds to the poor of the parish of Farnham. I leave a lease of some lands I have in Monistown, in the county of Wicklow, in Ireland, to Esther Johnson, servant to my sister Giffard. I leave and appoint my brothers, Sir John Temple and Henry Temple, and my sister, Dame Martha Giffard, executors and executrix of this my last will and testament. I desire my body may be interred at Westminster Abbey, near those two dear pledges gone before me, but with as much privacy and as small expense as my executors shall find convenient ; and I desire and appoint that my heart may be interred six feet under ground, on the south-east side of the stone dial, in my little garden at More Park. In wit ness of all which, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 8th day of March, 1694. W. Temple. Signed and sealed in the presence of Thomas Swift, Leonard Robinson, Ralph More. II 3 486 THE LIFE OF [WILL. Upon this 2d of Feb. 1697-8, I have thought fit to add this codicil to my will : Whereas by a clause of my said will and testament, one fourth part of my personal estate, above debts and legacies, is left between my two brothers ; and whereas it has pleased God that I have since outlived one of them, I do now appoint and leave out of the said fourth part one hundred pounds to my cousin, William Dingley, student at Oxford, and another hundred pounds to Mr. Jonathan Swift, now dwelling with me : and to free my executors from the trouble of choosing where to lay me, I do order it to be in the west aisle of Westminster Abbey, near those two dear pledges that lie there already, and that, after mine and my sister's decease, a large stone of black marble may be set up against the wall, with this inscription : Sibi suisque Charissimis Dianae Temple dilec- tissimae filiae, Doro these Osborne conjunctissimae conjugi, et Martha? Giffard optimae sorori, hoc qualecunque monu- mentum poni curavi Gulielmus Temple, Baronettus. W. Temple. Signed and sealed in presence of M. Giffard, B.Johnson, ~ Wi'.'„.ft^r Leonard Robinson. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 487 POSTSCRIPT. When this work was on the eve of publication, we were furnished, by the kindness of Sir Egerton Brydges and Sir Frances DTvernois, with some ex tracts from letters written by M. Maral, a Swiss gentleman, who visited England about the year 1695. These letters were published in 1725 ; but the book is extremely scarce, and we inquired for it in vain in Paris as well as in London. As the writer visited Sir William Temple at a period of his life in reference to which our accounts of him are very scanty, we thought it right to add these extracts to our book. The work is entitled, "Lettres sur les Anglois et les Frangais, et sur les Voyages, 1725;" and a letter prefixed, from a friend of the author, states that the letters were written by a Swiss gentle man, about thirty years before. And Sir Egerton Brydges informs us, that the writer was M. Louis de Mar alt* "Such as I have described this country to you, the English are extremely fond of it ; they are never tired of praising it, and they prefer it to all # This name, or one very nearly similar, and perhaps mis-spelt, occurs in Temple's Memoirs. See Vol. I. p. 442. I I 4 488 THE LIFE OF the countries in the world, as they prefer them selves to all other nations. I wish that I could de scribe to you the life that they lead in it, but I have never dared to inform myself thoroughly of it. I am told that they make frequent and long visits, which are passed in the chace, and at table ; that their chase consists in riding as fast as they can, and their entertainments in drinking hard ; with this peculiarity among others, that there are occasions on which those who pique themselves in doing things in a proper manner get only half drunk with the master ofthe house, in order that they may after wards finish the good cheer with the servants* They have other usages sufficiently peculiar, which I do not state here, because I only know of them by hearsay ; I am contented with this sort of know ledge, because I suspect that these are mysteries into which one cannot penetrate with impunity. "I have recently made a little tour in the country; but, excepting the retreat of the chevalier Temple, and one other house not quite so retired, I have seen nothing in this trip worthy of being described. I found myself, by chance, in the neighbourhood of that celebrated negotiator and philosopher ; and it came into my mind, at the same time, that I had * It were vain to deny that English gentlemen of the period of which M. Maralt writes, and of a period much later, committed great excesses in drinking ; but Maralt's account agrees with none which has ever come to our ears. We have little hesitation in disbelieving it entirely, and classing it with the extravagances of a person who, in a late libel upon English ladies, styles himself An Englishman by the Act of a Re formed Parliament ; insinuating, we presume, that only a parliament elected by the new constituency would have adopted him. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 489 read, a few days before, is one of his books, that England was only decried in the world because strangers who go there often know it only through their inn, and through persons of no consideration, who are probably without merit, birth, or fortune, to enable them to mix among persons of condition. It occurred to me that a man who thus reproached strangers could hardly fail to receive kindly those who might visit him, and that I had not to appre hend pleasures too violent. I went to his house, and received there every sort of attention ; from which, however, it appears to me, "no conclusion is to be drawn as to the nation in general. Besides that we find few chevalier Temples in England, any more than elsewhere, persons of his description prove nothing for their country ; one finds in them all the good qualities of the nations with which they have been acquainted.* "I spoke to him of his works. He asked me whether I had read them in English or in French ; and on my telling him that I had read them in French, he complained of the translation, and told me that the work was cruelly disfigured. " It was in his house that I saw the model of an agreeable retreat : far enough from the town to relieve it from visits, the air wholesome, the land good, the view confined but pretty ; a small rivulet which runs near to the house makes the only noise # This is a little hard. This Swiss gentleman professes to have derived all his knowledge ofthe faults of Englishmen from hearsay; in one instance he has the evidence of his own senses to the contrary, of his information, and he gives the greater weight to the hearsay. 490 THE LIFE OF which is heard there. The house is small, but con venient and neatly furnished ; the garden propor tioned to the house, and cultivated by tbe master himself, who is without business, and apparently without projects, few servants, and a few reason able people to keep him company — one of the greatest pleasures of the country, to him who is fortunate enough to possess it. I saw also the effect of all this, — I saw Sir William Temple healthy and gay ; who, although gouty and of an advanced age, tired me in walking, and but for the rain, would, I suspect, have obliged me to ask for quarter. You will believe that I did not perceive all this without sighing more than once, or without asking myself why I came there, — why I disturbed the retreat of other people. " This good old man thought that I should not be reconciled to my trouble in seeing only his small house ; and though I assured him that I was more curious about men than about buildings, that it was enough for me to have had the honour of seeing him, he insisted upon it that before returning to London I should go to Petworth, the country seat of the Duke of Somerset.* He furnished me with horses and servants to conduct me thither; and fear ing that the Duke might be gone to London, he desired Lady Temple to write to the Duchess. The Duke of Somerset received me politely. He gene- * Charles Seymour, " the proud " Duke of Somerset. Petworth is now the seat of the Earl of Egremont, having come into that family by the marriage of the celebrated Sir William Wyndham with the daughter of the Duke. SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 491 rally lives retired in the country ; if we can desig nate as retirement a magnificent style of life, where there are more than an hundred servants, a palace fairer than that of the king, and a table well sup plied. For my own part, I consider a moderate income as essential to retirement as retirement is essential to a happy life, and that a very rich man has a hard task to perform. " In this magnificent palace, the quiet house and small garden of Sir William Temple continually occurred to my mind, and made me dream of the pleasure of a secluded and quiet life. I could no longer think of any thing else; and I hastily returned to London, to arrange for my departure. Adieu. I shall think that I have not made this lone. journey altogether in Vain, if my letters please you, and if they prevent you, being so near to this country, from being tempted to come over and to perform that ordinary and useless work which they call a tour in England." — Letter VI. The following character of Sir William Temple by Swift has been accidentally omitted. — "He was a person ofthe greatest wisdom, justice, liberality, politeness, eloquence, of his age and nation ; the true lover of his country, and one that deserved more from it for his eminent public services than any man before or since ; besides his great deserving of the commonwealth of learning, having been usually esteemed the most accomplished Writer of his time."* * Scott, i. 43.; from a memorandum copied by Thomas Steele. INDEX. Achitophel, Dryden's, i. 342. Admiralty, First Lord of, ii. 38. iEschylus, ii. 177. iEsop, ii. 167. 183, 184. 186. 192. 259. Aix-la-Chapelle, Temple Me diator at, i. 213 ; goes there, 219 ; difficulties about the signature of the treaty, 222 ; peace concluded, 223. 226. Albemarle,George Monk, Duke of, i. 76. 148. , Christopher, Duke of, ii. 39. Alegre, M., ii. 366. Alexander VI., Pope, ii. 370. , the Emperor, ii. 173. Almanzor, ii. 264. 299. Alphonso VI. of Portugal, i. 74. Alternative, Spain makes her election for the, iii. 207. Ambassadors at Nimeguen, age of, ii. 102. Amestris, ii. 310. 323. Ancient and modern learning, Temple's Essay on, ii. 175. 345. Anglesea, Arthur Annesley, Earl of, ii. 39. 51. Anne of Austria, ii. 359. Arbuthnot, Dr., his anecdote of Temple, ii. 231. Archilochus, ii. 187. Architecture, ancient and mo dern, ii. 180. Ariosto, ii. 170. Aristotle, ii. 177, 178. 190. 345. Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of: Temple's introduction to him, i. 30 ; praises Temple, 38 ; Temple's devotion to him, 39, 40. 51. 233 ; chides Temple for ingenuousness, 55; letters to Temple, 108. 114. 137. 190. 208. 213. 223. 308. 311. 317. 333. 359 ; his reception of De Witt's first overtures, 222 ; his dislike ofthe Dutch, 300; his change of policy, 317. 329.331; ii. 110 ; his mysti fication, i. 337 ; signs the Dover Treaty, 342 ; calls Temple home, 339; receives him coldly, 342; puts an end to the embassy, 348 ; his feelings towards Temple, 356; their correspondence, 357. 359; his difference with 494 INDEX. Buckingham, 363. 418 ; ac cused by the Commons, 418; ii. 92; Lord Chamberlain, i. 423 ; his special mission to the Hague, 441 ; his dif ferences with Danby, 441. 453 ; offends the Prince of Orange, 448 ; Temple ex cuses him, 449; dissatisfied with the Prince's match, 504; his character by Ha milton, 505 ; by Dryden, 506 ; out of credit, ii. 27 ; in the new Council, 39. 45. 51. 85 ; dies before the Re volution, 119. 128. 203. Ashley, Lord, see Shaftesbury. , Lady Isabella, i. 342. Atterbury, Bishop, ii. 189. Aubigni, M., ii. 366. Austria, 113. 126. see Leopold, Kinski. , Don John of, i. 136. 145. ¦ , Marianne of, Queen of Philip IV. of Spain, i. 68. Babrams, ii. 329. Backwell, Alderman, i. 35. 40. Bacon, Lord, ii. 183. 223. , Nicholas, marries Do rothy Temple, ii. 236. Ball at the Hague, i. 186. Balsac, ii. 177. Barillon, M., i. 514. 516.; ii. 24. 42. 195. Baronetcy, Temple's, i.73,231. Barzillai, Dryden's, i. 29. Bath, George Granville, Earl of, ii. 39. Bathurst, Allen, first Earl, ii. 243. Battle ofthe Books, ii. 190. Bedford, Lucy, Countess of, ii. 160. Bellarmine, ii. 190. Bentinck, M., see Portland. Bentley, Dr. Richard, ii. 177. 186. 188. 190. 192. ¦ against Boyle, ii. 191. Berjeyck, Baron, Spanish Mi nister at Aix, i. 220. 223. Berkeley, George, Lord, i. 464. 472; French Ambas sador's account of him, 492 ; Temple's, 493 ; ii. 98. Beuninghen, M. Van, i. 83. 196. 325. 334, 335. Beverning, Jerome, i. 220 ; Dutch Ambassador at Ni meguen, and his behaviour, 484. 487. Beverwaert, Mademoiselle, (Lady Arlington,) i. 234; her sister, 442. Birch, Colonel, his speech on the new Council, ii. 43. Biron, Lord, ii. 330. Blair, Hugh, i. 412. 413; ii. 175. 182. 258. Blood, circulation of the, ii. 177. Blunt, Lady Anne, ii. 312. Bo, ii. 168. Boccacio, ii. 182, Boileau, ii. 177. 185. 187. 190. BoUngbroke, Lord, i. 175. Borgia, Alexander and Csesar, ii. 366. Boyer, Abel, i. 4 ; ii. 130. 229. 247. 261. 331. INDEX. 495 Boyle, Roger (Lord Broghill and Earl of Orrery), ii. 94, 95. 294. 297. 329. , Charles (Earl of Or rery), his controversy with Bentley, ii. 187. 189. 190 against Bentley, iii 191. Brandenburg, i. 83. 145. 439. Breda, Treaty of, i. Ill ; ii. 433. Bridgeman, Sir Orlando (Lord Keeper), i. 148. 201. 262. 267. 270. 298. 301 ; put out of the Foreign Commit tee, 338. 341. 343. Bridgewater, John Egerton, Earl of, ii. 39. Bristol, George Digby, Earl of, i. 129. Bromley Hill, ii. 162. Brouncker, M., i. 35. , Lord, ii. 231. Broussel, M., ii. 359. Brown, Thomas, On theHuman Understanding, ii. 231. Brunton, Mrs., ii. 173. Brussels, Temple resident at, i. 67 ; in danger from the French, 113. Buchanan, George, ii. 190. Buckingham, George Villiers, second Duke of, i. 29. 95. 129. 148. 298. 343. 345; Temple's letter to him, 363 ; his difference with Arling ton, 365; accused, 418; ii. 89. 93, 94. 128. Budgell's Lives of the Boyles, ii. 192. Bulstrode, Sir Richard, i. 430. Burgundy, County of, see Franche- Com td. Burke, Edmund, i. 178. 402; ii. 215. 224. Burlesque, disliked by Temple, ii. 191. 212. Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Sa lisbury, i. 174; ii. 42. 77. 135. 232. 261. 263, 264. Butler, Samuel, ii. 172. Cabal, the, i. 343. Camden, William, ii. 190.223. Cambray, i. 172. 490. Campbell, Thomas, ii. 172. Canning, George, one of his expressions found in Dryden, i. 87. 391. Canterbury, Archbishop of, ii. 38. Capel, Sir Henry, ii. 38. 59. 93. Capital punishments, ii. 218. Carleton, Sir Dudley, i. 354. Carlingford, Lord, i. 41. 46. Carlow, county, i. 22. 25. 27. , borough, i. 27. Carr, Sir Robert, ii. 69. Carrol, Armand, quoted, i. 175. Carte, Thomas, quoted, i. 445. Castel-Rodrigo, Marquis (Go vernor of the Spanish Ne therlands), i. 41.68.70, 71. 103. 137; consents to the suspension of arms, 204 ; chooses the alternative, 207; discontented with the Triple Alliance, 214. Cavendish, William, Lord (Earl and Duke of Devon- 496 INDEX. shire), ii. 40. 43. 47. 59; his moderate speech, 70. 121. 197. Cavendish, Mary, Lady, 255. Cerignole, battle of, ii. 365. Cervantes, ii. 172. 182. Cessation, the Duke of Or- mond's, i. 25. Chaldeans, their magic, ii. 180. Chamberlain, Lord, ii. 39. Chancellor, Lord, ii. 38. Charles II. of England : Temple first sees him, i. 28 ; letter of thanks to him, 78 ; his personal advantages, 93 ; his engagements with Louis XIV. in 1667, 112; his re solution leading to the Triple Alliance, 148 ; his alteration of the instructions thereon, 149 ; his excuses to France, 217; the Dover Treaty with Louis, 1670, 338 ; reception of Temple, 343. 351 ; de ceitful announcement of Temple's recall, 349 ; sends Downing to the Hague, 415 ; Temple's conference with him, 425 ; new bargain with Louis, 439. 497 ; Temple's freedom with him, 448 ; anxious for peace, 452. 514. 516 ; letters to Temple, 455; Temple's description of him, 499 ; inclined to war with France, 513; fluctuates, 516 ; sends Temple over, ii. 1 ; and De Cros, 6 ; sends troops to Holland, 13 ; dissolves the Long Parlia ment, 23. 25 ; forms a new Privy Council, 37 ; makes Shaftesbury President, ib. ; his favour to Monmouth, 50 ; dissolves parliament, 52 ; prorogues the new parlia ment for a year, 56 ; pre tends to make alliances against France, 61 ; tells parliament that he will not pass the Exclusion Bill, 69 ; dissolves parliament, 71 ; puts Temple out of the Council, 72 ; remarks on his conduct towards the Council, 76. Charles II. of Spain, i. 68. Charles XI. of Sweden, i. 438. Charles Stock (supposed Charles V.), ii. 352. Chicheley, Sir Thomas, ii. 39. Chicksands, Bedfordshire, i. 5. 11; ii. 274. 278. China, gardens of, ii. 161. ¦ , government of, ii. 165. Christchurch, Oxford, ii. 188. Christian V. of Denmark, i. 439. Cicero, ii. 177. 189. 239. Claperede, ii. 288. Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, i. 30. 32. 73. 127 to 133. 139. , Henry Hyde, Earl of, ii. 70. Cleopatra, a romance, ii. 290. Cleves, Treaty of, i. 59. Clifford, Sir Thomas, after wards Lord Clifford of Chud leigh, i. 148. 248. 255. 261 ; one of the cabal, 343, 344. INDEX. 497 CTifford,of Lanesborough,Lord, ii. 308. Climate of England, ii. 160. Coach, Lord Arlington's, i. 234. Colbert, M., French Ambas sador at Aix, i. 220. 223; at Nimeguen, 475. Coleraine, Lord, ii. 300. Cologne, Congress of, i. 418. Commercial questions and sti pulations, i. 190. 287. 297. <299. 315. Committee for Foreign AflPairs, or Cabinet, i. 30. 420 ; ii. ¦37. 45. Commons, House of, their votes, i. 35. 94. 138. 498. 513. 516; ii. 67, 68. 70. 122. Compton, Henry, Bishop of London, ii. 38. 121. Concert of forces, i. 203. 271. 322, 323. 327. Confucius, ii. 164. 261. 263. Constable of Castile, i. 327. Contract, original, i. 401. Cooper, Samuel, ii. 307. 309. Copac, Mango, ii. 165. Copernican system, ii. 178. Corelli, Arcangelo, ii. 180. Corneille, Pierre, ii. 177. Corney, Mr., i. 237. Cosmo III., Duke of Tuscany, i. 323. 369. Costume, national, contem plated by Charles II., i. 239. Cotton, Charles, ii. 172. Council, see Privy Council. Coventry, Sir William, i. 30. 148; ii. 27. 94. VOL. II. K Coventry, Henry, i. 31. 497; ii. 23. 39. 45. 49. 60. Cowley, Abraham, i. 251 ; iu 190. 337. Cramer, ii. 179. Crofts, Lord, i. 254. Cromwell, Oliver, dissolves the Long Parliament, i. 19. 194. , Henry, i. 11; ii. 296. 320. , Mrs., i. 20. Cros, M. de : his mission in 1678, ii. 6 ; controversy with Temple, 195. — , , answer to his pamphlet ; question whether Temple wrote it, 205. Cudworth, Dr. Ralph, i. 4 ; ii. 266. Cugnac, Marquis de, ii. 324. Cyrus, ii. 183. , Artamenes, or the Grand, ii. 296. 323. 329. Dalrymple, Sir John, quoted, i. 387. 439. Danby, Sir Thomas Osborne, Earl of, and afterwards Duke of Leeds, i. 420. 423. 441. 453. 496.516; ii. 21. 85. 94. 98. 108. 120. 128. 204; his published letters, i. 469; impeached, ii. 23; envied by Lord Arlington, 23 ; his irregular pardon, 29; committed, 30 ; Temple's grateful letter to him, 85. Danes, tenacious at Nimeguen upon points of etiquette, i. 487. Daniel, Samuel, his history, iL 222. K 498 INDEX. Dante, ii. 190. Dartmouth, William Legge, Earl of, ii. 77. 232. D'Avaux, French Ambassador at Nimeguen, i. 475. De Cros, see Cros, De. Delamere, Henry Booth, Lord, ii. 121. Democritus, ii. 177. Denham, Sir John, i. 255. Denmark, i. 83, 84. 114. 439. Des Cartes, ii. 178. 190. Deserters, five, saved by Temple, i. 436. D'Estrades, Count, i. 121. 154. 184. 188. 312; sent privately to the Hague, 322. 437 ; French Ambassador at Nimeguen, 475. 495. Devonshire, Anne, Countess of. i. 254. , Earl of, see Cavendish. De Witt, -see Witt, De. Dhona, Count, Swedish Minis ter at the Hague, i. 161. Dieren, Temple's interview with the Prince at, i. 490. Diplomacy, and diplomatic etiquette, i. 54. 70. 99. 152. 222. 272. 368. 464. 487; ii. 83, 84. Diplomatic presents, i. 355; ii. 90. DTsola, Baron, Austrian Mi nister at the Hague, i. 310, 311. 329, 330. 333. Donne, Dr., ii. 160. Dortmund, proposed meeting at, i. 54. Douglas, Captain, i. 251. Downing, Sir George, i. 117. 264. 269. 410, Downton, Thomas, ii. 238, 239. Drake, Dr. Nathan, ii. 259. Drinking, singular mode of, i. 57 ; Temple's rules for, ii. 268. Dryden, John, i. 64. 87. 181. 342; ii. 190. Duncombe, Sir John, i. 142. Duras, Lewis, Lord (after wards Earl of Feversham), i. 507; ii. 70. Dutch, their interests and poli tical relations, i. 52. 67. 90- 300. 406. 428; sign the concert of forces, 327 ; se cond Dutch war, 416; peace, 420; will not desert their allies at Nimeguen, 487 ; agree upon separate terms with France, 517; ii. 49. , curious speculations of Temple respecting, i. 387. Dutchman, Temple's idea of a, i. 391. Dutch war, the first, i. 32. 65; the second, 416. 421. Dutchwoman, never in love, i. 393. East IndiaCompany, i. 287. 337. Ecclesiastes quoted, ii. 155. Egyptians, their magic, ii. 1 80. Eliab, in Absalom and Achi tophel, i. 506. Elizabeth, Queen, ii. 276. Emperor, Leopold, not admit ted into the Triple Alliance, INDEX. 499 i. 329; his political relations, England, climate of, ii. 160. , Temple's Introduction to the History of, ii. 221; had recommended a history on the plan of Kennett's, ib.; some mistakes, 224. English language and wits, ii. 182. Englishmen, character of, H. 173. Englishwomen, beauty of, ii. J73. Epicurean, by Moore, ii. 168. Epicurus and Epicureans, ii. 130. 155, 156. 177, 178. 261, 262, 263. Ernly, Sir John, ii. 39. Essays, Temple's youthful, i. 7 ; ii. 338. Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of, i. 2. Essex, Arthur Capel, first Earl of, i. 403 ; ii. 26 ; First Lord of the Treasury, 31. 36. 39. 41. 45. 53, 54, 55. 58, .59. 60 ; supports the Exclusion, 62; put out of the Council, 72, 73; Temple's correspondence with him, 91. 97 ; died before the Re volution, 119. 247. , Elizabeth, Countess of, Temple's letter to her on the death of her daughter, notable for the style, the feeling, and the indication of religious principles, i. 410; ii. 130. 260. 265. Estrades, see D'Estrades. Etiquette, see Diplomacy. Euclid, ii. 190. Euripides, ii. 177. Europe, Temple's Survey of the Constitutions and In terests of the Principal Powers of, i. 385 ; contains curious and reprehensible suggestions as to the Dutch, 386. Eustace, Sir Maurice, i. 27. Evelyn, John, ii. 124. 153. 230. Exchequer, stoppage of, i. 407. , Chancellor of, ii. 39. Exclusion Bill, ii. 43. 46; passed by the Commons, 62. Expedients, in lieu of Exclu sion, ii. 47- 63. Fagel, the Pensionary of Hol land, i. 428. 437. 455. 488.; ii. 7. 9. 84. , Henry, Baron, i. 428. Falconbridge, see Fauconberg. Fanshaw, Sir Richard, i. 73. 230. Farnborough, Charles Long, Lord, ii. 162. Fauconberg, Thomas Belasyse, second Viscount, i. 372 ; ii. 39. Fear and Hope, Temple upon, ii. 339. Filmer, Sir Robert, his Patri- archa, i. 401. Finch, Heneage, Lord (after wards Earl of Nottingham), Chancellor, i. 420; ii. 36. 38. 41. 54. x 2 500 INDEX. Finch, Daniel, Earl of Notting ham, ii. 119. 128. Fingal, Ossian's, iL 169. Flag, rights and claims of the English, i. 208 ; the King's instructions thereon, 209. 309. 349. 420; an observa tion, 421. Flanders, its interests and im portance, i. 67. 73. 74. 134; De Witt's proposal of a re public, 89 ; conquests of Louis, 113; proposed terms of accommodation, 146; Temple's opinion on, 265. Flassan, M., quoted, i. 177. 178. FonteneUe, M., ii. 176. Fortune, Temple upon, ii. 362, Fox, Charles James, i. 391 ; ii. 75. Fox-hunting, ii. 157. France, i. 53. ; war with, 82; money received from, 407 ; her interests at Nimeguen, 474 ; see Louis XIV. Franche-Comte (sometimes styled County of Burgundy) i. 126. 189. 454. 459. Free ships, free goods, i. 194. 433. Freeman, Mr., ii. 287. 303. French Ambassadors at Nime guen, i. 475 ; their account of Temple, ib. 481. commodities, suggested prohibition of, i. 335. language and wits, ii. 182. Frenchmen, supposed direction in Temple's will respecting, ii. 229. Gallicisms inTemple's writings, i. 71. 161 ; ii. 259. Gardening, Temple's Essay on, ii. 153; treats the subject historically, philosophically, and practically, 154; attacks natural philosophy, ib. ; in troduces Epicurus, 155 ; modern taste in gardening, 158 ; Moor Park garden, 160; Chinese, ib. Gardens, Temple's, at Sheen, ii. 153; at Moor Park, 160. Gassendi, ii. 190. Geese are swans, ii. 231. George III. : his first speech, ii.126; his select library, 260. Germany, Temple unwilling to serve in, i. 47. Ghent, Admiral Van, i. 350. Gibbon, Edmund, i. 385. Giffard, Sir Thomas, i. 29. Lady, i. 5. 7. 27. 29. 38. 79. 115. 148. 354. 480; ii. 90. 236. 242. 243. , her manuscript, ii. 72. 77. 113, 114, 115. 117.118. 249 ; her character of Sir William Temple, 144. Giffard, Ursula, ii. 338. Glanville, Mr., i. 235. 239. Godolphin, Sir William, i. 339. , Sidney (afterwards Earl), his mission to the Hague, i. 509 ; ii. 59. 69. 247. Goring House, ii. 299. INDEX. 501 Gourville, M., i. 180; Iris strange story of the Triple Alliance, 181. Gout, Temple's notion of the treatment of, i. 377 ; his Essay on the Cure of, ii. 101. Government, Temple's Essay on, i. 400 ; affected by cli mate,, ib. ; traced to patri archal authority, but not in conformity with Sir Robert Filmer, ib. ; compared to a pyramid, 403. Grafton, Henry Fitzroy, first Duke of, i. 342. Grammont, quoted, L 30. 505. ii. 329. Grenville, Rt. Hon, Thomas, i. 22. , Lord, it. 154. Grey, Mr., ii. 303. Grief, Temple on the Excesses of, i. 410. Guaranty of Spanish Nether lands and other possessions, negociations concerning, i. 304, 305. 466; treaty of May 7. 1669,315. Guavara, ii. 182. Guelderland, i. 450.. Guicciardini, ii, 190. Guiche, Count de, i. 85. Guinea Companies, L 27 1 . Gustavus Adolphus, ii. 357. Habit, for Englishmen, con templated, L239. Halifax, George Savile, Vis count (afterwards Marquis), i. 181 ; ii. 26. 36. 39. 45, 46. 49, 50. 53, 54, 55. 58, 59 ; • KK opposes the Exclusion, 62; attached by the Commons, 68. 128; quarrels with Sun derland, 72, 73. 94. 119, 120. 249. Hallam, Henry, i. 401 ; ii. 26. 30. 37. 42. 120, 121. 125. 135, Hamilton, General Richard, ii. 130, Hammond, Dr. Henry, ma ternal uncle of Sir William Temple, i. 3. ; educates him, ib. ; dies, 26. , Colonel, i. 7. Harris, James, ii. 256. Harvey, Dr., ii. 178. 190. Harwich, Temple's verses on approaching, ii. 107. Hastings, Lord, ii. 321. Hayward, Sir John, his History. ii. 223. Health and Long Life, Tem ple's Essay on, ii. 220. Heiresses, suggestions as to the marriage of, ii. 219. Herbert, Lord, his History, ii. 223. Herodotus, ii. 190. Heroic Virtue, Temple's Essay on, ii. 162. 211 ; definition, 163 ; Confuchis, 164. Heydukes, i. 57. Hippocrates, ii. 177- 190. Hobbes, Thomas, ii. 183, 190. Holbein, Hans, i. 79. Holland, see the Dutch. , province of, i. 153. Holland, Lady, ii. 328. Holies, Denzil,Lord, i. 83. 107; ii. 339. 502 INDEX. Homer, ii. 167. 187. 190. Hook, Theodore, i. 8. Hooker, John, i. 402. Hope and Fear, Temple upon, ii. 335. Horace, ii. 177. ; quoted, i. 95, 363. Horse, Master of the, ii. 39. Horse-races in Ireland, Tem ple's suggestions for, i. 404. Hume, David, i, 174 ; ii. 75. 219. Humour, ii. 172, Hyde, Laurence (afterwards Earl of Rochester), i, 493 his sneers at Temple, 403-4 sent to the Hague, 502 his treaty, 508 ; ii. 5 ; sent again, ii. 13 ; First Lord of the Treasury, 59. 63. 70. 89. 120. 247. Ibrahim, or l'lllustre Bassa, ii. 295. 301. Instructions to Temple on his mission to Munster, i. 34 ; on going to Brussels as Re sident, none issued, 67 ; to come home, seeing De Witt in his way, i. 143 ; prepa ratory to the Triple Alliance, i. 149 ; on returning to Brussels, i. 200 ; on his first embassy to the Hague, i. 271 ; additional of Jan. 7. 1669, to Mr. Werden Oct. 11. 1669, additional Nov. 22. 1669, 323; on his second embassy to the Hague, i. 428 ; additional, 454 ; ii. ] . 7; see appendix B. ii. 377. Ireland, Temple's tract on, not in his collected works, i, 380; recommends an ex clusively English govern ment, 383; Essay on the Trade of, L 403; recom mends minute and fanciful regulations, Hk , revenue of, Sir James- Sheen's project concerning,. ii. 60. Irish people, Temple's opinion of, i. 383. rebellion, Sir John Tem ple's History of, i. 2. chieftains, how put to sleep, ii. 169. • Catholics to be kept down, i. 382. Isham, Sir Justinian, ii. 286i. 299. 301. 303. 317. Isola, see D'Isola. Italian language and wits, ii- 122. James, Duke of York (after wards James IL), i. 35. 431 ; ii. 53. 55, 56. 58; quits England, 62. 70. 94 ; abdi cates, 117. Jenkins, Sir Leoline, i. 351, 464. 470. 486; Temple's account of him, 502 ; ii. 24 ; Secretary of State, 60. 90. 265. Jews, Dutch, their compli ments to England, i. 373. Johnson, Dr. Samuel, quoted,. ii. 170. 256. , Mr. Samuel, ii. 211. Johnson, Esther, ii. 228. INDEX. 503 Jones, David, his collection of Temple's letters, ii. 241. Jotham, in Absalom and Achi tophel, i. 181. Joyce, Cornet, Temple order ed to arrest him in Holland, i. 374. Justices, Chief, ii. 38. Keble, Lord Commissioner, ii. 308. Kennett, Bishop, i. 174. , , his History of Eng land, ii. 224. Kew, Bishop, ii. 265. King's speeches, see speeches. Kinski, Count, i. 487 ; ii. 102. Koch, Adrian, quoted, i. 174. Latimer, Lord, i. 442. Latin language, ii. 181. Languages, ancient and modern ii. 181. Lauderdale, John Maitland, Earl of (afterwards Duke), i. 343; accused, 418; ii. 38. 46. 48. 93. 95. 203. Laughter,, it. 216. Learning, ancient and modern, Temple's Essay on, produces a controversy, ii. 176 ; his ancient heroes, 177; sciences, 178; Newton not named,181; ideas on language and style, 182; modern writers, 182; does include Bacon, 183; iEsop and Phalaris, ib.; Wot ton, 185; Bentley, 186; Boyle, 187 ; Battle of the Books, 191; his thoughts on K K reviewing this esssay, 191 ; divinity of ancients and mo derns, 192. Leicester, Robert Sidney, first Earl of, i. 2. . , second Earl of, i. 31. 66. Lely, Sir Peter, his portraits of Sir William Temple, ii. 236. Leopold, Archduke, ii. 354. ¦ , Emperor, i. 94. 126. L'Estrange, Sir Roger, ii. 1 90. Letters, collections of Sir Wil liam Temple's, ii. 238. 260. Lewen, M. Van, L 513. Lexington, Lady, ii. 317. Liberal, Temple so in politics, i. 382 ; a liberal Tory, ii.253. Like and dislike, ii. 351. Lingard, Dr., i. 175. Lionne, M. de, i. 83. 111. 124; tells D'Estrades to live in gaiety whatever he sees hap pen, 125. 141 ; writes ano ther remarkable despatch to D'Estrades, 157. 188. 199. Lisle, Philip Sidney, Lord, i. 19. 249; ii. 297. 308. Lister, Thomas Henry, i. 132. , Mr. and Mrs., i. 8. Literary men, Temple not in timate with, iL 230. Livy, ii. 190. Loadstone, invention of the, ii. 181. Lock, Matthew, ii. 179. Locke, John, i. 402. London, Bishop of, ii. 38. Long, Sir Robert, i. 66. Longe, Rev. Robert, i. vi. 4 504 INDEX. Lords,, reject the Exclusion Bill, ii. 62. Lorraine, seized by Lous XIV. L 339. 487. Louis XIV. at war with Eng land, i. 53. 82 ; his designs on Flanders, 98 ; Letters to the States-General and the Queen of Spain, 106 ; his conquests in Flanders, 113; invades Franche-Comtt.,189; his secret treaty with Charles, 338 ;, seizes Lor raine,. 339 ; obtains undue influence in Holland* 509 ; offers money to Charles and to Danby, ib. ; Temple's view of his policy, iL 78. (see Charles II. an.d#Tenaple); his policy between the Triple Alliance and the peace of Aix, 210 ; his skilful ma nagement at Nimeguen, ii. 14 ; his general policy, 78. Louvois, Marquis de, i. 3Q9. Lucan, quoted, ii. 237. Lucian, ii. 184. Lucretius, quoted, ii. 188. Lumley, Richard, Lord (after wards Earl of Scarborough), ii. 121. Lunenburg,. L 83. 145. 439. Macaulay, Thomas- B., quoted, ii. 124. Machiavel, ii. 182. Mackintosh, Sir James, quoted, i. 394. 399; iL 18. 120. 169. 222. Macpherson, James, quoted, i. 181. Maestricht, i. 459. Magic of the ancients, ii. 180- Malone, Edmund, ii. 257- Mango Copac, ii. 165. 263, Mara, ii. 168. Mavast(or Maralt), M., i. 442. Marechal, M., Swedish Mi nister at the Hague, i. 321. Mariana, ii. 190. Marine Treaty between Eng land and Holland, i. 193. 287. 295,297. 299. 421. 433. Marriage Act, 1653, ii. 297. Marshall, Mr., a preacher, if. 307. Mary, Princess,. L 467; as Queen, ii. 227. Match between the King of Spain and Mademoiselle D'Orleans proposed, i. 465. • between the Prince of Orange and the Princess Mary, i. 431.467—469. 503. 508. Maurice of Nassau, Prince, i. 435. Mayerne, Sir Theodore, ii. 325^ Mazarin, Cardinal, ii. 78. Mediation, between Spain and France, in 1667, offered, L 123. between Holland and France in 1674, i. 429. at Nimeguen, Temple destined for, L 447. inoperative, i. 458, Meerman, M., i. 127. 156. Memoirs,. Temple commences his, ii. 108 ; the first part burned, 110; second part written, 111; published, INDEX. 505 152; third part, 112; pub lished, 242. 248; recom mended for perusal, 260. Mennis, or Mince, Sir John, ii. 172. Merchants, English, protected by Temple, i. 437. Meredith, Mr., ii. 98. Metternich, Prince, alluded to, i. 330. Mezeray, ii. 223. Milton, John, ii. 98. 170. 171. 224. Ministry, English,, composition of, i. 30. 148. 338. Miscellanea, Temple's first part published, ii. 101 ; se cond part, 153. Moliere, ii. 172. Monceras, Marquis of, ii. 97. Monk, General, i. 25 ; see Al bemarle. , Bishop, his Life of Bent ley, ii. 177. 183, 184. Monmouth, Duke of, ii. 26. 28. 39. 41. 45. 47, 48. 50, 51. 54. 56; Temple on ill terms with, 58. 70. 73. — — , Anne, Duchess of, i. 255. Montagu, Ralph (afterwards Duke), Temple's friend, i. 423 ; his intrigues, ii. 20 ; his papers seized, 23 ; threatens to impeach Temple, 100. Montaigne, ii. 182. Monument, Temple's, ii. 229. 255. Moore, George, on the Revo lution of 1688, L 402. , Thomas, his Epicurean, ii. 168. Moor Park, i. 88; ii. 117. 160. 236. More, Sir Thomas, his history, ii. 222. Moreland, Sir Samuel, i. 190. Morice, Sir William, i. 30. 267. Moulin, M. du, i. 432; ii. 229. Mounteath, Earl of, i. 27. Mountmorres, Earl of, quoted, i. 29 ; ii. 256. Moxa, see Gout. Munster, Bishop of, and Temple's mission to him, i. 32. 33—38. Music, Temple, a lover of, ii. 146. ' of the ancients and mo* derns, ii. 179, 180. Musical notation invented, ii. 180. Names, influence of, ii. 353. Natural Philosophy attacked, ii. 154. Naturalisation, facilities of, re commended, ii. 219. Nemours, Duke of, ii. 361. Netscher, Gaspar, ii. 237. Neutrality, i. 434. Newton, Sir Isaac, ii. 181. Nichols, John (Editor of Swift), ii, 135, 136. Nicka, old, ii. 168. Nimeguen, proposed for the Congress, i. 447 ; Temple nominated Ambassador, 451. 458; goes there, 471, 472 French account of his con duct, 475. 481 ; his own, 50f> INDEX. 481 ; general peace of, ii. 18; Mackintosh's remarks, ib. North, Roger, his criticism upon Temple, i, 398. , Sir Francis, Chief Jus tice, ii. 38 ; attacked by the Commons, 68. Northumberland, Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of, i. 66. 241. see Percy. , Elizabeth, Countess of, ii. 72. Nottingham, Earl of, see Finch. Office, plurality of, ii. 219. Ogle, Elizabeth, Countess of, ii. 230. Olivencranz, M., ii. 22. Orange, Prince of, see William III. Ordnance, Master-General of the, ii. 39. Orleans, Henrietta, Duchess of, i. 217. , Mademoiselle d', i. 446. Ormond, James Butler, the great Duke of, i. 3. 28. 229 ; obtains for Temple the re version of the Rolls, and a Baronetcy, 230, 231. 240; put out of the Foreign Com mittee, 338 ; Temple's ad vice addressed to him in 1673, 406; consistent and clear, ib. ; recommends a vigorous war, or peace, 409 ; letters to him, i. 229 ; ii. 5. 39. 60; died before the Revolution, 119. , Lady, ii. 329. Osborne, Dorothy (afterwards Lady Temple), becomes ac quainted with Temple, i. 5 ; admired by Henry Crom well, 11 ; her letters, 9 — 21. and ii. 279 ; ill of the small pox, i. 21 ; married, 22 loses several children, 23 goes over to Brussels, 79 sent home, on the invasion of Flanders, 113; a letter to her husband from the Hague, 345; her spirited behaviour at sea, 349 ; so licits payment of her hus band's allowances, 355; ii. 24. 116. 136. 264; her im puted stateliness, 303 ; her requisites in a husband, 309 ; desires Temple to give her up, 21 1 ; dies, 226 ; cha racter, 227. Osborne, Sir Peter, i. 5; ii. 329. Ossian, iL 169. Ossory, Lord, i. 442. Overkirk, M_, praises Temple, i. 325. Oxford, Parliament summoned at, ii. 71. Packington, Lady, i. 26. Paganini, ii. 179. Palgrave, Sir Francis, ii. 224. Palmerston. Henry Temple, first Viscount, ii. 236. — — , third Viscount, i. 356. 499. Pamphlet, Temple's first, i. 90. Paracelsus, ii. 190. Paradise Lost, ii. 170. INDEX. 507 Pardon, Lord Danby's irregu lar, ii. 29. Parliament, dissolution of the Long, by Cromwell, i. 19. , Irish, Temple an active member of, L 27. , English, meets in Oc tober, 1666, i. 94; October, 1667, 133; February, 1668, 201 ; October, 1669, 352; February, 1670, ib. ; Octo ber, 1670, ib. ; February, 1673, 417; April, 1675, 452; December, 1677, and Janu ary, 1678, 508; addresses the King for the reduction of France to the Pyrenean treaty, 510; meets in Oc tober, 1678, ii. 21 ; dissolved, 23 ; new one meets in March, 1679, 30; rejects the expe dients, 47 ; prorogued, 48 ; proceedings of KingWilliam's parliament on the Triennial and Place Bills, 135. -, Temple desirous of a seat in, i. 133. 240 ; sits for Cambridge University, ii. 52.; declines are-election, 71. Parrot, wonderful, i. 435. Parthenissa, ii. 290. Paul, Father, ii. 182. Pear, Temple's, ii, 158. Peerage, one desired for Tem ple, i. 259. Peerages, Temple's sugges tions respecting, ii. 219. Perceval, Sir John, his remark on Temple, i. 27. Percy, Lady Anne, ii. 304. Percy, Lady Lucy, it. 310. , Elizabeth, heiress of, ii. 230. Perpetual edict repealed, L4 17, Perrault, M., ii. 176. 185.187. Peyton, Sir Thomas, ii. 280. Phalans, ii.183, 184. 192. 259, Pictures and Statues, Temple fond of, ii. 145. Pindar, ii. 190, Pinto, Fernando Mendez, ii, 288. Pitt, William, L 391. Place Bill, ii. 135. Plague, the great, i. 79. Plato, ii. 177, 178. 189. 190. 341. Play, Temple naturally fond of, ii. 146. Pliny, ii. 177- Plot, Popish, ii, 25. 49, Ploughing by the tail, i. 405. Poetry, by Temple, i. 8. 23. Temple's Essay on, ii,166; requisites for, ib. ; not neces sarily in verse, 167 ; among the Irish, tales used to put men to sleep, 169; vein of conceit objected to, ib. ; no mention of Milton, 171 ; Shakspeare, Spenser, 1 72 ; English praised, 173 ; music recommended, 174. , Runic, ii. 168. • in prose, ii. 168. Poleron, island of, i. 107. Polexandre, ii. 301. Political economy, Temple's speculations in, L 374. 405 ; Temple ignorant of, ii. 253. Pomponne, M. de, i. 371. 508 INDEX. Popular discontents, Temple's Essay on, ii. 215 ; his observ ations are sensible, 216 ; his suggestions show no forward ness in political science,217. Portland, William Bentinck, Earl of, ii. 134. Portraits of Temple, ii. 236. Portsmouth, Duchess of, ii. 24. 28. Portugal, Alphonso, King of, i. 74. , its political relations, i. 74. 205. , Temple mediates be tween Holland and, i. 373. Powel, Henry, ii. 40. 59. Prazimene, ii. 305. Prayer by Temple, i. 23 ; ii. 373. Privy Council, its Committee for Foreign Affairs, i. 30 ; a new council formed by Tem ple's advice, ii. 34 ; Shaftes bury President, 36 ; the members, 38 ; Barillon's re mark on it, 42 ; coldly re ceived in parliament, 43 ; committee of it formed, 45; agrees u^aalimitationsin lieu of exclusion, 46 ; parliament prorogued without its inter vention, 48 ; dissolved against its advice, 51 ; a new one prorogued without debate,57; Temple's remonstrance, ib. ; Shaftesbury dismissed, 58 ; other changes, Russell and his friends resign, 59 ; pro ceedings respecting the Irish revenue, 60; debate as to the Duke's being sent away, 62; resolves that the King shall refuse to pass the Exclusion Bill, 69 ; Sunderland, Essex, and Temple put out, 72 ; and Salisbury, 74 ; entire failure of the scheme, ib. Protest, intended, against se parate peace at Nimeguen, i. 491. Proverb, Spanish, i. 58; Italian, ii. 17. PuffendorfF, M., i. 314. Pun of the seventeeth century, i. 49. Purcell, ii. 180. Pym, John, i. 21 ; ii. 335. Pyramid, government com pared to a, i. 403. Pyrenean Treaty, i. 174. 305. 428. Pythagoras, ii. 177.183. Rabelais, ii. 172. 182. Racine, ii. 185. Raciness, ii. 183. Raffles,Sir Stamford, i. 316 ;ii. 104. Rafflesia, ii. 104. Raleigh, Sir Walter, his cor dial, i. 80. Ralph, James, i. 175. 445. 504. Rambouillet, Mademoiselle, married to John Temple, ii. 115. Ranelagh, Lord, ii. 96. Rapin, i. 174. Reform Bill, alluded to, ii. 1 27. s, economical, some re ferred to, i. 231. INDEX. 509 Regiomontanus, ii. 190. Registry of securities recom mended, iL 218. Religion, Temple's, see Temple. ¦ among the Dutch, i. 394 ; imposition of faith in, ii. 345. Resentment, Temple's use of the word, i. 161. Restoration of Charles II., i. 23. Revelation, Divine, Temple's History of, ii. 193.265. Revolution of 1688, ii. 117. Rich, Lady Diana, ii. 296. 298. Lord, ii. Richelieu, Cardinal, ii. 77. Roberts, John, Lord (after wards Earl of Radnor), ii. 39. Rochefoucault, ii. 182. Rolls in Ireland, mastership of, i. 230., ii. 234. Romances written by Temple, i. 7, 8. read by Dorothy Osborne, i. 8.10; ii. Runic poetry, ii. 168. Russell, William, Lord, in the new Council, ii. 40 ; suggests the exclusion, 43. 59. 62. 65. 70. 76. 97. 128. Admiral, iL 121. Lord John, L Russell's Modern Europe, i. 174. Ruthyn, Susan, Baroness Grey de, ii. 319. Ruvigni, M. de, L 71. 97. 445. ii. 201. St. Didier, M., his account of Temple, ii. 198. St. John, Henry (Lord BoUng broke), ii. 431. St. Pret, M. de, quoted, i. 177. St. Simon, ii. 88. Salisbury, James Cecil, third Earl of, ii. 39. 59. 74. Salt, new method of making, i. 378. Sancroft, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, ii. 38. Sandwich, Edward Montagu, first Earl of, i. 73. Sandys, Sir Edwin, his View of Religions in the Western World, ii. 257. Savage, Rev. Mr., preaches on Temple's death, ii. 235. Saye and Sele, William Fienes, first Viscount, ii. 305. Scaliger, ii. 191. Scotland, insurrections in, i. 239 ; ii. 50. Scots, the best planters of co lonies, i. 368. Scott, Sir Walter, i. 8; ii. 140. 142. Scotus, ii. 190. Scuderi, Madame, ii. 288. 296. 323. Sea-fights, Lowestoft", L 35; four days' fight, 85. Seal, Great, question concern ing it, ii. 29. , Lord Privy, ii. 39. Secretaries of State, ii. 39 ; see Arlington, Coventry, Wil liamson, Jenkins, Sunder land, Temple. , Private, ii. 142. Selden, John, ii. 183. Seneffe, battle of, i. 432. 510 INDEX. Serinchamps, M., ii. 104. Settlement, Act of, in Ireland, i. 28 ; Temple's opinion of it, 381. Seymour, Sir Edward, ii. 40. 70. 94. , Lady Jane, ii. 304. Shaftesbury, Anthony, Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of, i. 148. 342 ; one of the cabal, 343 ; joins the opposition, 418 ; ii. 26. 28 ; President of the new Council, 36. 41. 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48; acts against the Court, 50, 51. 54. 58 ; presents the Duke of York as a Popish re cusant, 62. 128. Shakspeare, ii. 171. 172. 179. Sharawadgi, i. 161. Sharp, Archbishop, murdered, ii. 50. Sheen, Temple's residence at, i. 31. 253. 347. 427. Sheen, Sir James, ii. 60. Ships, Temple recommends fifty to he kept up, ii. 218. Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot, twelfth Earl (afterwards " Duke) of, ii. 121. , Anna Maria, Countess of, ii. 94. Shrubland Hall, ii. 236. Sidney, Sir Philip, i. 2 ; ii.126. , Algernon, L 19. 241 ; ii. 128. 233, 234. 298. , Henry, i. 423 ; ii. 45. 120. Silvius, Sir Gabriel, i. 442 ; his mission, 461. Skinner, Cyriac, ii. 99. Smyrna fleet, attack on, i. 416. Socrates, ii. 342. Soesdyke, Temple meets the Prince of Orange at, i. 480. 485. Solomon, quoted, i. 218. Sophocles, ii. 177. Southey, Robert, ii. 258. Southwell, Sir Robert, i. 437. Southwold Bay, sea-fight of, L 73. 417. Spain, her interests and poli tical relations, i. 67. 74, 75. 121. 198. 271. 303—305. 315. [327. 334. 339. 406. 429. 438. . , Queen of, her letter on the questions between her and Louis, i. 334. , embassy to, proposed to Temple, ii. 61. SpeechjTemple's, to the States- General on his first embassy, i. 301. — — , , in the House of Commons, ii. 64. Speeches, King's, to parlia ment, Feb. 10. 1668, i. 201; Feb. 4. 1673, 417 ; March 27. 418; Jan.24. 1674,419; Jan. 23. 1678, 508 ; Oct. 21. 1678, ii. 21 ; April 21. 1679, 43. Spencer, William, ii. 305. Spencer, Edmund, ii. 170. 172. Spleen, the, i. 38. 48 ; ii. 302. Sprat, Bishop, ii. 230. Stafford, William Howard, Lord, i. 219. States-General, i. 145 ; con clude the Triple Alliance INDEX. 511 "without reference to their constituents, ; their opinion of Temple, 179. 189. Steward of the Household, Lord, ii. 39. Stoics, the, ii. 1 55. Stole, Groom of the, ii. 39. Storm, violent, i. 432. Stooping gait, ii. 343. Subsidies to Sweden, i. 304. 327. Suicide, Temple's opinion of, probably misrepresented, ii. 130. Style, Temple's, ii. 254. . , imitation of another's, iL 257. , new, censured by Mrs. Osborne, ii. 301, 302. Sunderland, Robert Spencer, Earl of, Secretary of State, ii. 24 ; cabals against Danby, 28 ; Temple's complimentary letter to him, 31 ; his remarks upon him, 32. 36. 39. 41. 45, 46. 49. 54, 55. 59 ; put of the Council, 72, 73. 120.128. 245. 247. Sun-dial, Temple's heart buried under a, ii. 235. Surinam, Temple's speculations concerning, i. 366. Sweden, i. 63. 84. 159. 161. 226. 271. 203—205.315; agrees to the concert of forces, 327. 438. ; ii. 2 ; instructions con cerning, by De Cros, ii. 6. 9. Swedes at Nimeguen, tena cious of etiquette, i. 487. Swift, Jonathan, ii. 110. 120. 171 ; comes to Sir William Temple, 132; addresses an ode to him, ib. ; goes to Ire land and returns, 134; sees King William, ib. ; employed politically, 135; verses on Temple's recovery, ib. ; his complaints of Temple, 137; leaves him ; his application for a testimonial, ib. ; his various accounts of Temple, 141, 142, 143. 228.238.266; his quarrel withLadyGiffard, 242. 248., see Postscript. Swift, Thomas, ii. 221. Swiss cantons, i. 271. Talbot, Mr., ii. 316. Tale of a Tub, ii. 190. Tangier, Temple's speech on, ii. 64. Tasso, ii. 170. Telesile, ii. 306. Tellier, M., intercepted letter from M. Lionne to, i. 111. Temple, Sir William, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, i. 2. , Sir John, father of Sir William, author of the His tory ofthe Irish Rebellion, L 2, 3. 10. 25- 347. 422, 423 ; his letter to his son, ii. 86. Temple, Sir William; his birth and education, i. 1 — 4; brought up in loyalty, 5 ; travels, courtship, and mar riage, 5 — 22 ; writes essays and romances, 7 (see ii. 334) ; Mrs. Osborne's let ters to him, 9 (see ii. 273) ; not employed in the 512 INDEX. Interregnum, 24; in the Irish Convention, 25 ; and Parlia ment, 27 ; sent over to Eng land as a Commissioner, 28 ; sees Charles II., ib. ; recom mended, to Ormond, by Clarendon and Arlington, 30; declines a mission to Sweden, 31 ; commences his diplomatic service as Envoy to the Bishop of Mun ster, 31 ; his conduct ap proved, 38 ; wishes for a seat in parliament, 40 ; takes offence at Lord Carlingford's mission, 41 ; expression of devotion to Arlington, 51. 232 ; his second and adven turous journey to Munster, 56 ; his observations on the first Dutch war, 65 ; be comes Resident at Brussels, 67; created a Baronet, 76. 231 ; recommends that the restoration of the Prince of Orange should be insisted upon, 82 ; and that Portugal and Spain should be com pelled to make peace, 88 ; thinks De Witt the enemy of England, ib. ; writes a pamphlet, 91 ; some Dutch men propose a private nego tiation with him, which he declines, 96 ; remonstrates against sending English mi nisters into Holland, 99 ; his speculations as to the ma nagement ofthe negotiation, 101 ; observations on his diplomacy, 104 ; becomes suspicious of a secret under standing between the En glish and French Courts, 109 ; suggests a union with Holland, in a mediation be tween France and Spain, 1 10 ; goes into Holland after the peace of Breda, 115; becomes acquainted with De Witt, 116; finds fault with Clarendon's policy, 127; his remarks on Clarendon's dis missal, and views of foreign and domestic policy, 128 ; presses his recommendation of joint measures with the Dutch for procuring peace, 134 ; instructed lo sound De Witt upon it, and to go to England, 143 ; his first dis cussion with De Witt, 145 ; makes a favourable report, and is instructed to nego tiate the alliance and inter ference between France and Spain, 149 ; returns to Hol land in a storm, 151 ; nego tiates and concludes the Triple Alliance, 151 to 170 ; his undertaking as to the Marine articles, 168; his merit in it, 174 to 178; the States-General give him the glory, 179 ; his own letter to Gourville thereon, 180; and to Lord Halifax, 181 ; not highly rewarded by the Crown, 183 ; his communication with D'Es trades upon the Triple Al liance, 1 85 ; attends a ball in INDEX. 513 honour of the treaty, 187 ; insists, with Arlington, upon being permitted to redeem his pledge in reference to the Marine articles, 189; quits the Hague on very good terms with De Witt and the States, 197; in structions for treating with the Spanish Governor, Castel-Rodrigo, 200 ; men tioned as Secretary of State, 201 ; destined for the em bassy at Aix, 202; discus sion with the Marquis at Antwerp, 203; views of French and Spanish policy, 205. 208. 211, 212, 213. 215 ; difficulty with Spaniards and Dutch, 206 ; disappoint ed at the Marquis's choice of the alternative, 206 ; writes about the flag, 209 ; Am bassador at Aix without in structions ; unites with De Witt in promising a Gua ranty to Spain, 214. 218; letter to the Marquis, 221 ; signs the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle, 223 ; observations on the Spanish government, 225 ; difficulties about the subsidies from Spain to Swe den, 226 ; his letter to Or mond on foreign policy, 230 ; returns to Brussels, 257 ; nominated Ambassador at the Hague, and goes to Eng land, 258 ; remarkable lan guage of Clifford, 261 ; Tem ple accepts the embassy, VOL. II. L 262; difficulties about his outfit, 263 ; prepares his own instructions, 265 ; va ledictory letter to Arling- ton, 270 ; arrives at the Hague, 272 ; interviews with De Witt, 276. 287 ; and the Prince, 283 ; remarkable conversation with De Witt, 288 ; his conduct exposed, 297 ; his public entry and speech, 300; his view of affairs, 301 ; suggests a gua ranty of all the possessions of Spain, 305; difficulties occasioned by his orders from home, 306. 308; re monstrates, 309; warned of the secret arrangements be tween France and Louis, 314 ; complains of the per tinacity of the merchants on the Marine questions, 315; Arlington imputes to him partiality to De Witt, 317; his manly remon strance, 318; Werden sent over to him, 320 ; receives new instructions, 323 ; Tre vor encourages him, 324 ; writes despondingly, 325 ; but firmly, 325. 332 ; con cludes the concert of forces, 327 ; which is barely op posed, 331 ; justifies him self, ib. ; and the Dutch government, .334 ; ordered home, 339 ; avows to De Witt his suspicions of his own government, 341 ; re ceived coldly by Arlington, 514 INDEX. 341 ; portentous conversa tion with Clifford, 343 ; pre pares to retire, 346 ; formally recalled, 348 ; audience ofthe King, 351; his movements when in retirement, 427 ; visits Ireland, ib. ; progress of his estrangement from Lord Arlington, 356. 363; writes various tracts in his retirement, 380 (see Works) ; succeeded at the Hague by Sir George Downing, 415 ; second Dutch war, 416 ; Temple named to the Com mons as the maker of the Triple Alliance, 419; des tined to the Hague to make peace, 419; concludes it at Westminster, 420 ; has an offer ofthe embassy to Spain, 421 ; declines it, 422 ; also the Secretaryship of State, 424 ; again appointed Am bassador at the Hague, ib. ; curious preliminary convers ation with the King, 425 ; goes over, 428 ; his instruc tions, ib. ; the Prince avoids him, 430 ; Temple writes to him, with a hint of the match, 431 ; his discussions on the neutral question, 433 ; conciliates the Prince, 437 ; saves the lives of five En glishmen, 434 ; negotiates concerning the mediation, 437. 447 ; his view of af fairs, 438 ; frankness of the Prince, 440 ; Lord Arling ton's mission, 441 ; Temple's conduct on that occasion, 444 ; espouses the project of marrying the King of Spain to Mademoiselle D'Or leans, 446; increasing inti macy with the Prince, 448 ; suddenly called home, 451 ; vainly endeavours to recon cile Arlington and Danby, 453; sent back again with proposals for the peace, 454 ; his letter to his father on its prospects, 459 ; Arlington's insinuations against him, 460 ; discussions thereof, 456 ; Temple destined for Nimeguen, 457 ; not san guine of success in the me diation, ib. ; fruitless mission of Sir Gabriel Silvius, 461 ; the Prince's continued con fidence in Temple, 461 ; who writes in discontent, and for the last time, to Arlington, 462 ; Temple ap prehends a separate peace, 466; consulted by the Prince about the Princess Mary, 467 ; arrives at Nimeguen, 472; instructions, ib. ; still not sanguine, 474 ; French Ambassador's account of his proceedings, 475 ; his own account, 481 ; he confers with William at Soesdyke, 485 ; mediation makes no progress, 487; he visits William at the Hague, 488 ; warns Williamson of the danger of a separate peace, 489; but objects to a pro- INDEX. 515 test against it, 491 ; another conference with the Prince at Dresden about terms sent from England, 492 ; Tem ple's account of Lord Berke ley, 493 ; Hyde's anec dote of Temple, ib. ; another conference at Soesdyke, 495 ; Secretaryship of State again offered to Temple, 497; he goes to England, and sees the King, 497 ; enters into public affairs with the King and Danby, 501. 506; declines going again to press the Prince to the King's terms, 502; his ac count of Jenkins, ib. ; the Prince's marriage, 503 ; Temple finally breaks with Arlington, 504 ; destined for a special mission to Paris, but Lord Duras is sent, 507 ; declines a mission to Holland for a new league, ib. and 510; Temple pre pares a speech for the King, which is not spoken, 510; Charles reproaches him for popular notions, 513 ; and desires him to treat for money with Barillon, which he declines, 514 ; his letter to Danby, offering to resign, ib.; the Dutch agree to a separate peace, 507 ; Tem ple sent again to the Hague in July, 1678, ii. 1.; con cludes a treaty, 4 ; his an swer to William's rebuke, 5 ; appeals to Danby, 6 ; L L instructions to him by De Cros, 6 ; refuses to sign the separate treaty, 10 ; puzzled by contradictory instruc tions, 12; his observations on the cleverness of French diplomacy, 14; Montagu's intrigues against him, 20 ; declines the Secretaryship of State, 23 ; his observa tions on the state of affairs in 1679, 25 ; avoids com ing into parliament, and still declines the Secretaryship, 29 ; his remarks on Sunder land, 32; consulted by the King, 33 ; his scheme for the Privy Council, 34 ; a member of it, 40; in the Foreign Committee, 45 ; acts with Sunderland, Essex, and Halifax, ib. ; his opinion on the Exclusion, 46. 62; differs from his friends, 48 ; opposes the execution of priests, 49; has nothing to do with the plot, ib. ; his opinion in Council on the dissolution, 51 ; in parliament for Cam- • bridge University, 52 ; his declaration to the Duke of York, 53. 121 ; resolves to attend little at Council, 55 ; his bold speech there, 57 ; on ill terms with leading men, 58 ; renews his at tendance, 59 ; nominated Ambassador to Spain, but detained, 61 ; conversation with Hyde, 63 ; his re flections in 1680, 63 ; speaks 116 INDEX. in parliament, 64. 68 ; car ries a message to the House, 69 ; his message to the King on retiring, 71 . put out of the Council, 72 ; wanted precision, 76; his reflections on quitting public life, 77 ; unpleasant correspondence with Williamson, 84 ; a let ter of attachment to Danby, 85 ; to Essex, 94 ; corre spondence with Hyde, 88 ; intimacy with the Prince, 90; correspondence with Essex, 91 ; estrangement from him, 97 ; threatened with im peachment, 100; publishes his Miscellanea, 101 ; gouty, 103. 106; prints some poems, 106 ; commences his Memoirs, 108; second part, 111; third part, 112 loses his daughter, 113 his life in retirement, 115 takes no part in the Revo lution, 117. 121 ; accused of Stoicism, 130 ; and of Epicurism, ib. ; his advice on the Triennial Bill, 134 (see Swift) ; falls ill, 1 35 ; his character by Lady Gif fard, 144; loved music, pictures, and play, 146 — 148 ; and fruits, 148 ; healthy till forty-two, 148 ; the se cond part of Temple's Me moirs surreptitiously pub lished, 152 ; his Miscel lanea, second part, written and published (see Works) ; produces a controversy con cerning ancient and modern learning, 176; his contro versy with De Cros, 195; his tracts, published posthu mously, as Miscellanea, third part, 215 (see Works); his letter to Lady Giffard, 227; makes his will, 228; his geese were swans, 231 ; his opinion of Algernon Sid ney, 233; dies, 235; his posthumous Memoirs and Letters, 238 ; his collected Works, 249 ; his character as a statesman, 251 ; as a political economist, 253; as Whig or Tory, 253 ; his vanity, 253. 268 ; as a writer, by Swift, 254 ; by Hume, ib. ; by Lord Mountmorres, and Johnson, 256 ; by Blair, 258 ; by Mackintosh, 260 ; his religion, 261 ; his tem perance, 268 ; his honesty, 268, 269; character by Fox, 269; by Mackintosh, 270; St. Simon, 271 ; King Wil liam's opinion of him, ib. ; his capacity, ib ; concluding remark, 272., see Postscript. Temple, Sir William : his re ligion, i. 15, 16. 23. 396. 411., ii. 130. 150. 261 ; his charity, ii. 150; his temper ance, 268 ; his regard for his word, i. 193 ; reproached for ingenuousness, 55 ; blamed by the editor of Arlington's Letters for presumption, 66 ; and by De Cros, ii. 198; his health begins to suffer INDEX. 517 in his eyes, i. 256 ; subject to the spleen, 38 ; and gout, ii. 102. 135 ; his political maxims, i. 178. 180. 240. 293. 410 ; his observations on domestic affairs, 1 28. 242. 244. 303.326. 410; on the management of Ireland, 382. his speculations on foreign af- fairs,L92— 93. 1 00— 1 1 0. 1 28. 139. 224.301. 320.385, 386. (very objectionable as to the Dutch), 406 ; his political economy, i. 374. 397. 403 ; remarks on his official re- ports,146.159; his patrons — Ormond, i. 29 ; Arlington, 30 ; Danby, 420 ; none after Danby, ii. 31 ; his letters on the subject of grievances, and disclaimers of merit, i. 38. 41. 47, 48. 50. 216. 235. 237. 258. 316. 321. 325. 328. 332. 347. 356. 462 ; his of ficial allowances and pe cuniary affairs, i. 246. 263. 267. 347. 354. 415. 423., ii. 83.90. 142. 149 ; his letters in a familiar and lively strain, i. 48, 49. 57. 249. 257. 263. 378 ; his letters of con dolence, i. 353 ; his let ters to Charles II., i. 78 ; his complimentary letter to the Prince of Orange, i. 432 ; compliments and honours paid to him, L 71. 219. 223. 227 ; profeses not to desire a peerage, 259 ; anecdotes respecting him, ii. 88. 23 1 ; his poetical pieces, i. 8. 22., ii. 107 ; his early writings in prose, L 7; ii. 338. Temple, Lady, see Osborne, Dorothy. , John, brings letters from Lord Danby to his father, i. 497 ; marries a French wo man, ii. 117 ; not permitted by his father to join the Prince at the Revolution, 119; drowns himself, 129. ¦ , Diana, dies, her letter to her father, ii. 113; other children, i. 81. , Sir John, brother to Sir William, i. 27., ii. 277 ; dies, 236. 248. , Henry, another brother, brings over the Triple Al liance, i. 182; dies, 228. , Martha, see Giffard, Lady. , Dorothy, marries Nicolas Bacon, ii. 236. Hall, the ancient seat of the Temples, i. 1 ; ii. 86. Terence, ii. 258. Terms of peace proposed, i. 171. 204.207; forNimeguen, L 507. 511.,ii. 18. Thales, ii. 177. Thynne, Mr., ii. 230. Tidder, Bess (Tudor, Queen Elizabeth ?), ii. 358. Tillotson, Archbishop, ii. 258. Toleration, among the Dutch, misstated by Temple, L 395 Tollemache, Lady, ii. 331. Tories, ii. 120. Tory, Temple a liberal, ii. 253. 518 INDEX. Treasury, First Lord of the, ii. 39. Treaties : Cleves, i. 59 ; Breda, 111 ; eventual, between Louis XIV. and the Em peror, 126. 438., ii. 436; Triple Alliance, i. 174; com merce, 1668, 168. 189 ; St. Germain-en-Laye, i. 216 ; Aix-la-Chapelle,i.220 — 223; between Spain and Portugal, 1 668, 205 ;guaranty of Spain, 1669, 315 ; Concert and Subsidy, 1670, 327 ; West minster, 1674, 620; Marine Treaty,421;LaurenceHyde's Treaty, 508 ; Temple's, ii. 4 ; Nimeguen, 14. Trevor, Sir John, i. 216. 234. 305, 306. 324 ; put upon the Foreign Committee, i. 339. 343 ; Secretary of State, 356. 358. 364. Triennial parliaments, bill for, ii. 134. Triple Alliance : first steps to wards it, L 148 ; negotia tion of it, 151 — 170 : ob servations on it, 171 ; its reception by France and Spain, 184. 210. 214. 220; in danger, 309. 323. 329; mentioned in parliament^ 1 9. Turenne, Marshal, i. 113. 125; his view of the Spaniards' choice of the alternative, 207.456. Turner, Sharon, ii. 224. Tuscany, Prince of, Temple's letters to him, i. 323., see Cosmo. United Provinces : Temple's observations upon the, i. 389. 450., ii. 260; Dutch character, i. 391 ; religion, 394; rise and progress, 397; trade, ib. ; causes of their fall, 398. Utrecht, province of, i. 153. , cathedral of, suffers in a storm, i. 433. Valentia, Lord, ii. 320. Valentinois, Duke of (Caesar Borgia), ii. 370. Vandevelde, the elder, i. 85. Vandergucht, ii. 237- Vandrebanc, ii. 236. Vavasour, Lady, ii. 332. Vergil, Polidore, ii. 190. Villiers, Theresa, i. 132. Virgil, quoted, i. 77., ii. 164. 177; Temple's translations of, i. 22. Virtue, heroic, Temple's Essay on, i. Voiture, ii. 182. Voltaire, ii. 177. Vdssius, ii. 190. Waller, Edmund, i. 252. 255. ; ii. 301.310. Warton, Dr., ii. 7 91. Warwick, Robert Rich, second Earl of, ii. 289. Wentworth, Lady Anne, ii. 304. Werden, Sir John, i. 322, 323. Whigs, ii. 120. 127. 135 ; new, i. 383. Whitelock, Bulstrode, ii, 308. INDEX. 519 Wicquefort, quoted, i. 196. 378. Wilkins, Bishop, ii. 1 90. Will, Sir William Temple makes his, ii. 228. William, Prince of Orange, af terwards William III., i. 75. 164. 271.281.283; Temple's account of him, 285. 293. 296 ; avoids Temple, on his coming the second time to the Hague, 430 ; battle of Seneffe, 432 ; soon becomes friendly to Temple, 435 ; their conferences at Soes- dyke, 485 ; the Hague, 488 ; Dieren, 490 ; Soesdyke, 495 ; prepares to renew the war in 1678, ii. 4 ; diffident of Charles's co-operation, 13 ; writes to Temple, 58 ; in England for the Revolution, 117; visits Temple at Sheen, 118. Williamson, Sir Joseph, i. 264; on ill terms with Temple, 358. 423. 452 ; rebukes Temple, 482., ii. 5. 84 ; re ceives coldly his representa tions, i. 489 ; committed, ii. 21 ; dismissed, 24. Winchester, Charles Poulett, sixth Marquis of, ii. 39. Withers, George, ii. 190. Witt, John de, i. 75. 82. 89 ; his declaration of his politics, 88; Castel-Rodrigo's opinion of them, 115. 137; Temple visits him, 116 ; objects to the propositions of Louis, 121. 123; his policy, 137. 141 ; negotiates the Triple Alliance with Temple, 151 — 170 ; his opinion of the En glish Ministers, 160. 366; of Temple, 179. 207 ; and con fidence in him, 191 ; dances well, 187; conferences with Temple subsequent to the Triple Alliance, 190; his difficulties between France and Spain, 211. 215. 227. 288. 297. 299 ; Temple's opinion of him, 307 ; D'Es trades complains ofhim,312; warns Temple of the in trigues with Louis, 314. 319. 321 ; alarmed at Temple's recall, 340; loses his wife, 343 ; Temple's regard for him, ib. ; confidence between them, 353; relies upon Ar lington and Bridgeman, 366; massacred, 417. Worcester, Henry Somerset, third Marquis of, ii. 39. Works, Temple's: his essays written in youth, i. 7 ; his first pamphlet, 91 ; his tract on Ireland, 380 (see Ire land); his survey ofthe con stitutions and interests of the powers of Europe, 385 (see Europe) ; his Observa tions upon the United Pro vinces, 389 (see United Provinces) ; his Essay upon Government, 400 (see Go vernment) ; his Letter to Lord Essex on the Trade of Ireland, 403 (see Ireland) ; to the Duke of Ormond on 520 INDEX. public affairs in 1673 (see Ormond); his Letter toLatly Essex on the loss of her daughter, 410 (see Essex); Miscellanea, first part pub lished, with the Essay on the Cure of the Gout, ii, 100; Poems privately printed, 106 ; his own Memoirs writ ten, 108; second part, 111 ; third part, 112 ; second part surreptitiously published, 152; Miscellanea, secondpart published, 153 : viz. On Gardening, ib. (see Garden ing); On Heroic Virtue, 162 (see Heroic Virtue) ; On Poetry, 166 (see Poetry); and On Ancient and Modern Learning, 176 (see Learning); Answer to De Cros, 205 ; Essay on Popular Discon tents, 215 (see Popular Dis contents) ; On Health and Long Life, 220; heads of Essays, on the different Con ditions of Life and Fortune, and on Conversation, ib. ; Introduction to the History of England, 221 (see Eng land). Workhouses recommended, ii, 218. Wotton, William, his book upon Ancient and Modern Learning, ii. 185. Wreden, Baron, i. 33. 48. Wrest, in Bedfordshire, ii. 276. York, Duke of, see James. Zeno, ii. 130. 156. Zimri, in Absalom and Achi tophel. Zulichem, M. de, ii. 101. 103. THE END. I_UNDON : Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street- Square.