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BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
OF THE
Alfred E. Perkins Fund

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON

First Published in 1921

IlEXRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
From the picture at Euston

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
1663-1690
VICE-ADMIRAL OF ENGLAND AND
LIEUTENANT OF THE ADMIRALTY,
NAVIES AND SEAS OF ENGLAND,
MASTER OF THE TRINITY HOUSE,
COLONEL OF THE let REGIMENT
OF FOOT GUARDS

BY -Vijiliin-n
SIR ALMERIG, FITZROY,
K.C.B., K.C.V.O.,
Clerk of the Council

LONDON
CHRISTOPHERS
22 BERNERS STREET, W. 1

"The most popular and ablest of the sons of
Charles II. : his strong and decided character, his
reckless daring and rough but honest temperament,
caused him to be widely lamented." — DiCT. Nat. Bigg.

INTRODUCTION
THE object of this memoir, which draws its
source from the instinct of family piety, is to
display to the curious in personal history the record
of a life conspicuous for adventure and achievement
during the brief span allotted to its active years.
Contributors to the main stream of national
story, annalists of some of its special aspects and
contemporary letter writers in public and private
correspondence have all noticed the Duke of Grafton,
but to the bulk of those who have heard his name he
is probably known through the medium of a popular
book of reference as one who, after risking his Hfe with
great gallantry in a minor episode of Monmouth's
rebellion, was " among the first to desert his royal
master for the Prince of Orange," in whose service
he was mortally wounded at the storming of Cork.
It has seemed to the present writer, in studying
the material for a fuller presentation of a remarkable
career, that it deserves a wider publicity both on
the score of its intrinsic interest and as an exhibition
of somewhat outstanding qualities in an age to
which indolence and profligacy have been attributed
as its chief concern.

INTRODUCTION
The hero of these pages was the contemporary
of two great soldiers, John Churchill and Charles
Mordaunt (Peterborough), men whose energy and
daring dazzled their own age and whose exploits
have left their mark on history, but if either of them
had died at twenty-seven, the record in each case
would have been negligible by the side of Grafton's.
It is his unusual precocity in a particular phase
of character that it is one aim of this narrative to
establish. What other Englishmen of twenty-six
had claims to the command of a great fleet at a
critical moment in naval history ? What other,
after untiring devotion to the aff'airs of the two
great combatant professions, emerged at that age a
master of both ?
A subsidiary object is to exonerate him from the
charges, rashly brought and inconsiderately sup
ported, of failure in his duty to the Sovereign, so
long as national interests could be maintained con
sistently therewith, and on this score it is submitted
that the exoneration is complete.
Quick to seize the moment of action and happy
in drawing from it the reward of effort, he associated
it will be seen, with his military gifts, a glow of
chivalrous sentiment which won the enthusiastic
loyalty of those with whom he served.
vi

CONTENTS PAGE
INTRODUCTION . . . . v
I. EARLY LIFE  I
II. SERVICE UNDER JAMES II. . . .26
III. DYNASTIC REVOLUTION .... 56
IV. EPITAPH OF FAME .... 78
NOTE — ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON . 92
INDEX . . .... 99

Vll

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Henry Duke of Grafton in Garter Robes, from the
picture at Euston. . . . Frontispiece
Charles II., as a young man, from a picture, probably
painted in Holland, in the possession of the Duke of
Grafton ........ 6
Countess of Arlington, from the picture at Euston, by
Sir P. Lely ........ 12
Isabella Duchess of Grafton, from a picture {circa 1679)
at Ickworth, in the possession of the Marquess of
Bristol ........ 18
Henry Duke of Grafton, from a picture {circa 1679) at
Ickworth, in the possession of the Marquess of
Bristol ........ 22
Charles 1 1., from a miniature on the patent of the Duke
of Grafton ........ 30
Siege of Luxemburg, 1684, from a picture at Ammer-
do-wn, in the possession of Lord Hylton ... 36
Charles II., from a picture in possession of Sir Almeric
FitzRoy ........ 40
The George Inn, Norton St. Philip, occupied by
Monmouth ........ 46
Earl of Arlington, from the picture at Euston, by Sir
P. Lely  54
Isabella Duchess of Grafton, from the picture at
Hardwick, attributed to Mary Beale ... 60
ix

ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Henry Duke of Grafton, Vice-Admiral of England . 66
Euston Hall AND Church (1717), from an old dra-wing . 72
Isabella Duchess of Grafton -vdth her son (circa 1696),
from the picture at Euston ..... 76
Euston Hall, West Front (171 7), from an old dra-wing. 80
Charles Second Duke of Grafton, Lord Chamberlain
1724 — 1757, from the picture by Hoare in the
National Portrait Gallery ..... 84

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
I
Early Life
(1663— 1685)
HENRY FITZROY (afterwards Duke of Graf
ton) was born September 28th, 1 663 , the second
son of Charles II. by Barbara daughter of William
Villiers, Lord Grandison, who died of wounds
received in the siege of Bristol, September, 1643.
His features, which are preserved to us in one of
Vandyke's most authentic paintings, justify his
reputation as a soldier and cavalier. The daughter,
who in an atmosphere of social disorder was early
left to shift for herself (her mother having remarried
twice), combined with great beauty the determina
tion to use it for the gratification of every want.
The boy's recognition was mysteriously delayed,
but he was not long left in the care of his mother ;
the removal to suitable guardianship marking the

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
King's interest in his development. This was
further emphasised when, towards the end of his
ninth year, his marriage took place with Isabella
Bennet, Arlington's only daughter, the bride —
strange experience for a child — ^being then only five
years old. The event is thus recorded in Evelyn's
diary : "I was at the marriage of Lord Arlington's
only daughter (a swete child if ever there was any)
to the Duke of Grafton " (this was an anticipation of
three years), " the King's natural son bythe Duchess
of Cleaveland. The Archbishop of Canterbury,
the King, and all the grandees were present. I had
a favour given me by my Lady,^ but tooke no great
joy at the thing for many reasons." Looking to
what followed, this ceremony can hardly have been
a complete creation of married status, and Evelyn,
who was a great friend of the Arlingtons, no doubt
reflects their anxiety at giving their daughter to a
lad, the foundations of whose character and disposi
tion had yet to be laid. The bridegroom's promise
of the ultimate succession to Arlington's estates was
carried yet further, in ten days' time, by his being
granted the Earldom of Euston.
1 Lady Arlington, Isabella, daughter of Lewis de Nassau, Lord
of Beverwaert, Count of Nassau, a descendant of Prince Maurice,
son of William the Silent.

EARLY LIFE
The next step in his advancement took place
September nth, 1675, when he was created Duke
of Grafton.^ His elder brother had been made
Duke of Southampton in 1674, ^^^ t^^ son of the
Duchess of Portsmouth received his Dukedom on
August 9th, 1675. The letters patent conferring
Grafton's dignity, contain some personal touches of
special significance, notably in the words which
follow the formal opening, " Whereas our natural
son Henry Earl of Euston has shown many indications
of a remarkable genius and We have deemed it most
fit that those who are connected with us by the
closer relations of nature should be exalted and dis
tinguished by the highest honours and titles."
^ The " honour " of Grafton therewith bestowed has a long and
distinguished history in the record of royal manors, the term being
used of a seignory of several manors held in ca-pite under one lord
paramount. Thus (14 Edward III.) the honour was vested in John
de St. Maura by the service of keeping one white bracket ha-vdng red
ears {bracco, a lesser Hnd of dog, used to scent out game). Later it
came into the hands of the Wydvils, of which family was Richard de
Wyd-vil, successively squire of the body of Henry V., Seneschal of
Normandy and Govemor of Calais. He fell into disgrace by
marrying the widow of John Duke of Bedford, and -was fined ;^i,ooo,
but subsequently saw service in Normandy and under Richard Duke
of York in France, for which he was made Lord Rivers (26 Henry VI.).
His daughter Ehzabeth, -widow of Lord Grey of Groby, became the
¦wife of Edward IV., who carried on his courtship at Grafton. On the
death -without issue of the ultimate heirs of the Wydvils, the honour
reverted to the Crown, and was finaUy granted by Charles II. to
Henry FitzRoy, as the chronicler says, " out of a natural affection to
his son, in whom he observed a -virtuous disposition."

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
A letter from John Verney to Sir R. Verney
states that Grafton and Richmond would have had
their patents earlier, " had not my Lady Cleaveland
opposed it, for she is resolved that her younger sons
shall not take place of her elder, nor the Duke of
Richmond of either." The last point was settled
against her by the smartness of the Duchess of Ports
mouth, for in a later letter Verney proceeds : " The
Duke of Richmond's patent was sealed on Monday
last by the industry of his solicitor, who got a doquett
signed at 12 o'clock at night by my Lord Treasurer,^
and my Lady Cleaveland 's soUicitor came next
morning, but Lord Treasurer was gone to Bath, so
that Richmond will now take place, to the great
grief, etc. M. L. was so cautious of disobliging,
supposing that my Lord Southampton's patent had
been ready also, that he stayed while the Duchess
of Portsmouth's soUicitor went to know the King's
pleasure. The King being as wary as he (without
saying which should be sealed first), writ a letter to
my Lord with his own hand, signifying only that
as soon as the Duke of Richmond's patent came to
him he should seal it." Charles had a way of his
own in dealing with Barbara's violence in pressing
1 Thos. Osborne, Earl of Danby (later first Duke of Leeds),
Treasurer 1673-1679.

EARLY LIFE
her claims. Four years later, in a letter to Lord
Montagu, then Ambassador at Paris, the writer,
after telling him that " Nell Guin's mother was
found drowned in a ditch near Westminster," pro
ceeds to say : " The Duchess of Cleaveland is lately
come over and will shortly to Windsor, if not there
already. H.M. gave the Commissioners of the
Treasury fair warning to look to themselves, for she
would have a bout with them for money, having
lately lost ;^20,ooo in money and jewels in one night
at play." In the autumn of 1676 Grafton was sent to Paris
under the charge of the Ambassador, afterwards
Lord Montagu, in order to equip himself with a
complete knowledge of the French language and to
acquire those social graces of carriage and conversa
tion which, in the opinion of the seventeenth century,
Paris and the Court of Louis XIV. alone could give.
Montagu, writing to Arlington in February, 1677,
proclaims the success of the step in terms which
must have gratified Arlington's pride and helped to
reduce his misgivings on the score of his son-in-law.
At any rate, the report on the next person mentioned
is not wanting in candour. " The Duke of Grafton
does mend every day in everything as much as you
could wish, and really more than you could have
5

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
expected. Mr. Perwich's ' headde ' is at a stand,
tho' he can seldom stand, for he is most eternally
drunk." It was during this year that his mother strove
actively to break his marriage, having another
candidate for his hand in the person of Lady E.
Percy, heiress of the last Earl of Northumberland.
Henry Saville, writing to Lord Roos at Belvoir,
says : " The Duchess of Cleaveland is coming out of
France to break the match of her son, the Duke of
Grafton, with Lord Arlington's daughter, if she
can ; " and Lady Chaworth repeats the same story.
However, the King's determination, based, as
we may believe, upon a shrewd discernment of his
son's capacity, overbore these intrigues and the
hesitation of the bride's parents, to which Evelyn
again testifies, and what is described, in a letter of
H. Thynne to Ormond, as the confirmation of the
earlier ceremony, now took place. It is thus cele
brated in Evelyn's diary of September 6th, 1679 : —
" Was this evening at the remarriage of the
Dutchesse of Grafton to the Duke, she being now
twelve years old. The ceremonie was performed
in my Lord Chamberlain's (her father's) lodgings
at Whitehall by the B : of Rochester. H.M. being
present : a sudden and unexpected thing when
6

CHARLES II. AS A YOl'XG 5L\X
Fmiii a pirtvre in the pos.ses.s/on of the Duke of Ch-afton

EARLY LIFE
everybody beUeved the first marriage would have
come to nothing ; but the measure being deter
mined, I was privately invited by my Lady, her
mother, to be present. I confessed I could give her
little joy, and so I plainly told her, but she said the
K. would have it so and there was no going back.
This sweetest, hopefuUest, most beautiful child, and
most vertuous too, was sacrificed to a boy that had
been rudely bred, without anything to encourage
them but his Maj""s pleasure. I pray God the
swete childe finde it to her advantage, who, if my
augury deceive me not, will in few years be such a
paragon as were fit to make the wife of the greatest
prince in Europe. I staled supper, where His
Maj'' sat between the Duchess of Cleaveland (the
mother of the Duke of Grafton) and the swete
Dutchesse the bride : there were several greate
persons and ladies without pomp. My love to
my Lord Arlington's family and the swete child
made me behold all this with regret, though as
the D. of Grafton affects the sea, to which I find
his father intends to use him, he may emerge a
plaine, useful and robust officer and, were he
polished, a tolerable person, for he is exceeding
handsome, far surpassing any of the King's other
issue." 7

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
The disgrace of Monmouth,^ who had identified
himself with the Protestant extremists in the effort
to exclude the Duke of York from the succession,
had the effect of bringing to the front the claim of
the King's younger sons to public employment. In
the Dartmouth MSS. is preserved a letter from
James at Edinburgh, in which he says : " I see both
by other letters as well as yours, that the D. of M.
continues doing things every day as occasion offers
itself, to exasperate H.M. against him ; sure it
must be very great indiscretion in him, or under
valuing to the last degree the Government, to behave
himself as he does, and if the D. of Grafton be made
Master of the Horse, the world will be satisfyed
H.M. is still displeased with him, which is but neces
sary, because people begin to think he was coming
into favour again."
As a matter of fact, the Duke of Richmond
became Master of the Horse, and Grafton obtained
the more palatable appointment of Colonel of the
Guards. Evelyn's discernment, however, had hit upon the
King's true intentions for this son's behoof.
With his natural capacity for the selection of
the right men, if the business in which he was
1 December 6th, 1679.
8

EARLY LIFE
engaged interested him, Charles, no mean seaman
himself, had determined to place the naval educa
tion of his son in the most efficient hands at his
disposal. Sir John Berry, to whom Grafton was
entrusted, was one of the most distinguished sailors
of the day. At the battle of Solebay (1672) he
commanded the Resolution, and for the succour
brought to the Duke of York at the height of the
action was knighted by the King on the return of
the fleet to the Nore. The death of Sandwich in
that battle gave him additional opportunities of
service, and he took a prominent part in all the
engagements with de Ruyter which signalised the
following year. His reputation had already marked
him for the highest place. So great was his credit
with the King that from 1676 to 1677 he was sent
in a civil capacity to Virginia as president of a body
of commissioners charged with an inquiry into
certain grievances of the colonists and effected a
composition, which answered the wishes of all con
cerned. In 1679, his ship, the Henrietta, was em
ployed in the Mediterranean, and Grafton, proceed
ing thither, did not return till early in 1681. This
period was perhaps the most salutary and formative
during his days of tutelage ; it fostered self-reliance
and encouraged an instinctive repugnance to the
9 b2

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
compliances of politicians. The roughness of which
Evelyn complained, already toned by residence in
Paris, was here transmuted into that energy which is
the hall-mark of vigorous character, freed from irk
some restraint but still fortified by discipline to the
finer channels of purpose. He was at last in an
atmosphere to which he felt himself native, and on
the threshold of exploits tinged with the unfamiliar.
The Mediterranean at this time gave to the navy
its principal opening for active service. The occupa
tion of Tangier, which Portugal with some craft
had included in the dowry of Catherine of Braganza,
created a British interest at the gate of the sea, and
it was an important theatre of France's restless
ambitions at the expense of her decadent rival Spain.
The duty, moreover, of protecting the track of
British trade to the Levant from the depredations
of the Moorish and Algerian fleets, which lay along
its southern flank, was rarely without opportunities
of maritime enterprise. In October, 1680, Sir
Palmer Fairborne, Governor of Tangier, fell in
battle with the Moors who were besieging the port,
and in its relief Sir John Berry's squadron was
actively engaged. Here Grafton first gave proof
of his coolness under fire and evinced an intuitive
grasp of naval warfare in the multiple aspects of
10

EARLY LIFE
action and adventure. His was the age of the
evolution of the soldier into the sailor, and Grafton's
experience of the two services was to equip him
with the best qualities of both.
Charles was not slow to recognise his obligations
for the care taken of his son and the value of the
training, which no one was better qualified to appraise.
In July, 1683, instructions under the King's own hand
were issued to Sir John Berry, Knight, commander
of the Henrietta, directing him, " in the event of
the death, sickness or other disability of Lord
Dartmouth, to execute all things committed to his
lordship on the sea."
Grafton, during his absence, had received the
Garter, his installation taking place by proxy, and
on his return his reputation for practical seamanship
was recognised by his election as an Elder Brother
of the Trinity House,^ in the following year to
become Master ; and upon the death of Prince
Rupert^ he succeeded that great man as Vice-
Admiral of England. The contemporary chronicler
thus records the appointment : "H.M. observing
the extraordinary inclination with which His Grace
the Duke of Grafton had apply'd himself to Sea
Affairs and the successful progress he had made
1 1681. 2 1682.
II

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
therein, to encourage this Disposition in him, was
graciously pleased to confer upon him the oflice of
Vice-Admiral of England."
The next step was to identify him still more
closely with the great profession he had adopted,
for he became the captain of the Grafton,^ a vessel
of seventy guns which he had fitted out at his own
expense, thus giving to the fleet a name which has
ever since been found in the long and stirring muster
roll of the British Navy.
Later in the year he was in command of a squad
ron. An order of the Lords of the Admiralty (Lord
Brouncker, the first President of the Royal Society,
Sir E. Hales and Henry Savile) desires the Duke of
Grafton, Admiral of the Narrow Seas, to hold a
court-martial to try some mutineers on board the
Bonaventure, and also the boatswain of the Mary
Rose, who is said to have killed a man. Speculation
was rife as to the destination of the ships. A letter
to Lord Preston, Ambassador at Paris, where no
doubt the matter was of some interest, contains
some surmises on the point. Commenting on the
fact that Lord Dartmouth is not going as first
intended, the writer announces that the Duke of
Grafton has retumed from the Downs, " and it
1 1683. 12

COUXTESS OF ARLINGTON, BY LELY
From the picture at Euston

EARLY LIFE
appears from the number of ships and provisions
on board that he goes to Tangier at least, and not to
survey the westem coast and the isles of Jersey and
Guernsey, as was given out."
This same year was signalised by the birth of
Grafton's only son, who saw the light on Octo
ber 23rd, the sole issue of his marriage. A con
temporary letter describes its birth, " with which,"
the writer says, " Lord Arlington is so joy'd that
some say he will smother itt with kisses." Ormond,
too, declares " My Lord Chamberlain is the happiest
man in England."
John Evelyn records in his diary of October 26th :
" I went to compliment the Duchesse of Grafton,
now laying in of her first child, a sonn, which she
called for, that I might see it. She has become
more beautiful, if it was possible, than before, and
full of vertue and sweetnesse. She discoursed with
me of many particulars, with greate prudence and
gravity beyond her years." The young mother was
not yet seventeen, and yet a year before she had
suffered from an abortive effort at childbirth, for
ArUngton, writing to Ormond from Euston, Octo
ber 2nd, 1682, betrays the anxiety he had passed
through in these terms : " I cannot omit teUing you
what an alarm we were under last week by my Lady
13

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
Grafton's miscarriage, which, tho' it proved so, yet
she is now, God be thanked, in good health." A
picture in the possession of Lord Bristol at Ickworth
depicts her as she was about this time, with all the
shining graces of character which illuminated and
adorned her candour.
Siege of Luxemburg.^ — ^Ever solicitous to pro
mote the education of a son, who had by this time
taken the place of Monmouth in his affections, and
in glad response to his restless thirst for adventure,
Charles now formed the plan of sending Grafton
to the French court at Conde, in close proximity to
the Spanish Netherlands, where Louis XIV. watched
the operations of Crequi against Luxemburg so as
to be ready when the time was ripe for the formal
capitulation, whereby the credit of his marshal's
exploits was made contributory to the glory of the
great King.
There was a good deal of fanfaronade in those
days about a siege, with its ceremonial opening and
the curtain rung down with carefully staged formali
ties. A letter to Charles from the Ambassador,
Lord Preston, whose present representative is Sir
Richard Graham of Netherby, gives a full account of
Grafton's reception and subsequent movements :
1 1684.

EARLY LIFE
" May loth. Valenciennes. I humbly presume
to acquaint Your Maj'' that I had the honour to wait
upon the Duke of Grafton the next day after his
arrival here to Conde, where he was received with
many particular marks of favour and esteem by the
most Christian King, and with all expressions of
honour by this court. When His Grace had de
livered Your M*'"s letter, this King told him that
Luxembourg was now invested and that since Y"
M"' had sent him over to see action, he thought
he would do well to go thither. His Grace replied
that he came over with the design of serving his
most Xtian M'^ and that he was resolved to go
thither with diligence. When My L** Duke was
going out of the room, this King was pleased to tell
me that he hoped Y"' M''' would approve of the
counsel which he had given the Duke of Grafton of
going to Luxembourg since action was now begun
there. I answered that I was assured that His
Most Xtian M'^ might dispose of his Grace as he
pleased and that Y' M''' would very willingly
approve of any counsel which he should be pleased
to give him. Upon Monday his Grace took leave
of the King, of Monseigneur the Dauphin, and of
Madame la Dauphine. His Majesty advised him
on parting not to take the shortest way by the forest
15

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
of Ardennes to Luxembourg, for fear of boores who
lie in wait in those great woods for passengers, and
of some parties of the enemy, which might entrap
him. His Grace resolved to make a tour and to keep
himself as near the French frontier as he can till he
reach Verdun. My Lord Duke hath been received
and treated whilst he remained here with great
respect by Mons. Magalotti, the Governor of this
place, and Mons. de Croissy told me he had the
King's orders to write to Luxembourg to the Marshal
de Crequi, to hinder his Grace from exposing him
self too much at that siege. I answered that my
Lord Duke was infinitely obliged to his Most
Xtian M''' for the care which he had of him, but
that he came over with a design to render him ser
vice and that I believed he would endeavour to
acquit himself as might become him there. I will
not pretend to recount to Y" M''' the particular
instances of the Duke of Grafton's behaviour during
his short stay in the Court, or to say more than it
was in every way equal to his birth and quality."
The experience of his own degenerate offspring
had not prepared Louis to find in his cousin's son
a true descendant of Henri Quatre and one no more
likely to brook interference with his chances of
winning distinction on the field of battle, and there
i6

EARLY LIFE
is no reason to believe that on this occasion Grafton
spared himself personal risk any more than at the
subsequent stages of his career.
Charles, in his reply dated from Windsor, says :
" I received y^ letter in which you give me the
account of the kinde reception that Harry has re
ceived from the King of France ; he has done very
well to go to Luxembourg, for I hope there will be
action to be scene, but at that siege the States of
Holland having showed so much inclination for
peace, will end the matter with the loss of it, upon
Mons. d'Avaux's ^ last proposals."
Luxemburg fell in June, and a truce having
followed, Grafton did not long delay his return.
Writing from Paris (July 26th) to Lord Sunderland,
the Secretary of State, Lord Preston says : " The
Duke of Grafton having taken leave of the Court,
leaveth this place this night or to-morrow morning,
in order to embark himself at Dieppe for England.
His Most Xtian M''' hath presented him with a
sword set with diamonds."
It is curious to reflect that the occupation of
Luxemburg was at this moment the touchstone of
European politics. The " Chambers of Re-union "
^ Jean Antoine de Mesmer, Comte d'Avaux (1640 — 1709), Pleni
potentiary at the Congress of Njrmegen, then Ambassador in
Holland and (1683) Ambassador in London.
17

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
set up under the treaty of Nymegen, to delimit the
new frontier, had, under a somewhat forced inter
pretation of the Treaty of Westphalia, declared
certain areas dependencies of France. In pursu
ance of such a declaration, Strasburg had been
occupied in 1681, and the claim to Luxemburg was
in suspense. Charles, without having actually given
his consent to Louis's occupation, had refused to
assist William of Orange and the Spaniards in armed
opposition, but knowing the sensitiveness of English
opinion upon the point, he was emphatic in profess
ing to believe Louis's assurance that he merely
wished to dismantle the place, not to use it "as a
point whence to attack others," and did his best to
reassure Louis's opponents, insisting meanwhile that
Louis should not proceed to any rigorous blockade
of the fortress. Spain supported the Dutch, but
the Emperor was engaged with the Turks, where
upon Louis, with great apparent magnanimity,
withdrew his troops altogether from Luxemburg,
proclaiming that he would do nothing to embarrass
a Christian power involved in a death struggle with
the Infidel.
However, when Sobieski had saved Vienna in
the autumn of 1683, the Spaniards at once proceeded
to declare war on France, and Louis seized the
18

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTOX
From a picture at Ickworth

EARLY LIFE
moment to lay serious siege to Luxemburg, with
the result above described. There was, therefore,
as Leopold von Ranke says, a close connection
between the siege and the internal affairs of England,
thus rendering Grafton's participation in the action
a fact of some European significance.
The next six months, the last of Charles's life,^
were spent in England, and Grafton, when his
father died, took his place in that memorable death
bed scene, as the crowned sceptic, at once profound
politician and easy-going epicurean, accomplished
his destiny and crossed the threshold of history.
No end ever fitted the man with such consummate
artistry : it was indeed worth taking " an uncon
scionable time adying " if, in the very article of
death, spirit and its shadow will were to attain such
a mastery over the fleeting sources of life.
The message to the grief-stricken wife : " Alas !
poor woman ! She beg my pardon ! I beg hers
with all my heart." The tender farewells to his
sons, whom he blessed, one by one, drawing them
down to him on the bed. The ceremonial blessing
pronounced on those who crowded the chamber,
when the King, raising himself in the bed, asked
pardon if he had neglected anything or acted con-
1 Ob. February, 1685.
19

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
trary to the best rules of good government, which so
moved the company that scarce an eye was dry.
The prayers of Bishop Ken, in which the King
earnestly joined, swelling from time to time in
broken ejaculations above the whispered hum of
the darkened room. And the last touch of pathos
when, with the first flickering light of a February
morning, the man who so loved the open air and the
caress of nature asked that the curtains of his bed
should be drawn aside and the windows opened, so
that he might gladden dying eyes for the last time
with the glory of the risen sun and feel the breath of
dawn upon his brow.
This is not the place for any detailed estimate of
the disposition and achievements of Charles II. , but
so far as certain aspects of his character come to
light in the present narrative, it is perhaps not amiss
to offer some observations of a more personal
significance than have appeared in the preceding
pages. He was undoubtedly one of the ablest of
our sovereigns, as well as among the most successful,
and few men in his position have shown themselves
so sagacious in the choice of instruments, but the
malice and misunderstanding of historians have
obscured his policy and miscalculated its fruits.
However, Securus judical orbis terrarum, and
20

EARLY LIFE
there is no denying the universal regret which
greeted his disappearance, nor the conditions of
peace and prosperity which he bequeathed to a
grateful people. It is true that modern writers have
done him greater justice. Mahan has exercised the
authority of a high reputation to vindicate the
national character of his naval and colonial aims.
Dr. Shaw, in his luminous introductions to the
" Calendar of Treasury Books " (1660 — 1675), has
conclusively disproved the charges of extravagance
and shown that Charles's difficulties were due to
the failure of Parliament to maintain his revenue at
the figure fixed at the Restoration ; and he has also
exposed the current fallacy that the French subsidies
were devoted to anti-British ends. On the contrary,
but for frequent appropriations from this quarter,
national services which Parliament systematically
starved would have suffered. It was, in fact,
Louis's money which enabled Charles in the long
run to pursue a policy which was neither Dutch nor
French, but essentially British, or, in a larger sense ^
Europeanv No English sovereign had hitherto brought so
practical a skill to the concern of the navy. Samuel
Pepys, no mean authority, ascribes to him " a trans
cendent knowledge in all maritime affairs," and his
21

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
sense of their importance is well reflected in a passage
from his speech to Parliament (1671) : " There is
not so lawful or commendable a jealousy in the world
as an Englishman's of the growing greatness of any
prince at sea."
The present writer, while superintending the
preparation for the press of the Colonial Acts of the
Privy Council (1613 — 1783), had occasion to note
the industry of the King in giving close personal
attention to this side of the administration. The
care shown in the selection of colonial govemors
was far more conspicuous than under the parlia
mentary regime which succeeded, and the patience
with which causes of quarrel were composed lest the
outbreak of war should interrupt peaceful develop
ment, would have done credit to Walpole himself.
Nor is this a solitary instance. Hardly a topic, no
matter what its character, but yields the same result
to the investigator. It was not long since that the
exercise of the dramatic censorship under the
Restoration was the subject of some notice. The
right of a certain play to public representation being
in doubt, Charles appears to have treated the prob
lem with his usual sagacity : two highly competent
authorities — Sir John Denham and Edmund Waller
— ^were asked for a report, but in remitting the matter
22

henry DUKE OF GRAFTON
From a picture at Ickworth

EARLY LIFE
to them, the King laid down the principles to which
they should seek to give effect with conspicuous
judgment and precision.^
In the latest example — Mr. Bell's monumental
history of the Fire of London — ^the hero of the fight
with the devouring flames was the King, and he was
not second to Wren in the contribution to the
rebuilding of the ruined city. On " the day of
London's tragedy " — the culminating episode of
the ordeal — Charles was in the city on horseback or
afoot from early morning to midnight. He rode from
place to place, by word and example stimulating
the workers ; bespattered with mud and dripping
with water, blackened with the universal fire dust
but always alert and tireless, he proved himself a
man of splendid courage and resource and won the
universal admiration of his people. His " sublime
good sense " against every provocation to resort
to vengeful measures did much to calm them ;
nor is his credit diminished by the fact, with which
we are now familiar, that his government had know
ledge of certain plotters' designs to fire the city,
as cover for the assassination of the King.
Upon the work of reconstruction, Mr. Bell shows
that apart from St. Paul's and the city churches,
1 See Note, p. 25.
23 c

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
London owed more to Charles II. than to Wren.
Charles II. " was the active, agitating mind. His
hand was seen everywhere," from the suggestions
made to the Committee of Council appointed
to confer with the city representatives, to the
dramatic punishment that overtook Captain Valen
tine Knight for publishing a scheme of a canal
through the city which, besides a large capital
sum, should bring to the King an annual income
of 5^222,000, whom Charles flung into prison in
his anger at the proposal that he should " draw a
benefit to himself from so public a calamity of his
people." The contributors to the Cambridge Modern
History, though to some extent hampered by
traditional timidities, have gone far to clear the
way for a finer appreciation of this reign : one
of these writers has not hesitated to describe
Charles as the most eflicient professional man of
his time.
The mere parliamentarian will still find much to
criticise and excite discontent ; but Charles realised
there were things which transcended in values a
faction-ridden legislature. He may even have con
sidered the Royal Society as good a title to fame as
the Habeas Corpus Act. 24

EARLY LIFE
He stood for three things : scientific investiga
tion, religious toleration, and colonial expansion.
In each he was in advance of his time ; it was given
to the succeeding centuries to make good his aims
and vitalise his dreams.
NOTE TO CHAPTER I.
"There is a minute, dated March 22, 16623, by Henry
Bennet, afterwards better known as Earl of Arlington, of
the despatch of a letter to Killigrew signifying the King's
pleasure that The Cheats ' be no more represented ' till it
had been reviewed by Sir John Denham and Mr. Waller.
" The letter to Waller follows :—
S' His Ma'y beeing informed that there ware in a. new Comedy
latly acted at y= Theater many things of a scandalous offensive nature
hath Commanded mee to Signifie his Pleasure to you y' you and Sir
John Denham immediately send for y= saide new play and reading
it over together give jointly to his Ma'J- yo'; Opinion of it, that if there
bee cause for it it may be supieesed. Y= pretended approbation it is
said to haue had from his Ma's- having I can assure you noe further
ground thenn That a matter of twen-ty or thirty lines of it being
showed him w'='' had been excepted against his Ma'y -was pleased to say
if there had been nothing worse it may bee acted, adding further to the
player, that their Company should take heed in this as in all their
other Playes, to expose upon y= Stage any thing y' was either prophane
Scandalous or Scurrilous observing which they should be protected &
no longer." — From an article on "Stage Censorship under Charles II."
Literary Supplement to the Times, Apr. 15, 1920.

25 C2

II
Service under James II
(1685— 1688)
UPON the new reign Grafton's relations with
the Crown underwent a complete change.
Except for his reputation as a sailor, now almost
submerged beneath the tortuous passions of a
gloomy proselytism, James's character presented no
attractions to the bold and straightforward tempera
ment of his nephew ; but for a time their inter
course was cordial, and Grafton did not prove slow
to render signal service when the occasion offered.
His first public charge was to figure as Lord
High Constable at the Coronation of the King and
Queen on April 23rd. A few weeks later, Mon
mouth (landing at Lyme Regis, June i8th) made
his desperate bid for the Crown — an adventure as
brief as it was bloody — and Grafton won his spurs
for knightly prowess. An undated and unsigned
paper among the MSS. at Dra}i:on House, which
purports to be written by an eye-witness, gives a
26

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
detailed account of the movements on both sides
terminating in the Battle of Sedgemoor, and it has
in the main been followed here, as the internal evi
dence seems to justify its trustworthiness. Mon
mouth was proclaimed King at Taunton on
June 20th, and upon the same Saturday James's
commander, Lewis de Duras, a naturalised French
man who had inherited through his wife the Earl
dom of Feversham, granted to her father, left
London and marched to Maidenhead, whence, de
spatching Colonel Oglethorpe with a party to feel
for the enemy on his left front by Andover and War
minster, he proceeded vid Newbury and Chippen
ham to Bristol. He arrived by noon on Tuesday
23 rd, and " spent that afternoon with the Dukes of
Beaufort and Somerset, viewing the city." Thence,
having determined to concentrate at Bath, he fell
back to that town, where he was joined by some
horse under Lord Oxford, and learning from Ogle
thorpe " that the Rebbells lay the last night at
Shepton Mallet," sent him back with reinforce
ments to Philips Norton, which occupies an elevated
position where the road between Frome and Bath is
joined by a crossroad from Shepton Mallet. Here
he came out himself in the afternoon, when the
information reached him that Monmouth's army,
27

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
extending itself across the north of Somerset, had
entered Frome and fixed up the Pretender's pro
clamation, only to be torn down the following day
when the place was temporarily re-occupied by
Lord Pembroke with the Wiltshire militia. At
midnight came information that the main body of
Monmouth's army was at Pensford, six miles south
of Bristol, where Feversham " marched back the
horse under his command with great expedition
and occupied the meadows to the S. of the city with
his vedettes." Monmouth meanwhile moved on
Keynsham, the bridge at which he had secured the
morning before, " in order to attack Bristol or pass
for Gloster." This daring stroke was baffled by the
news that Feversham was already in Bristol and that
his army commanded the communications with
Bath to the north of the Avon. A brisk affair
between Oglethorpe and the rebels who had passed
Keynsham decided Monmouth to remain on the
south side. The skirmish is thus described by
Charles Bertie, writing from London to the Countess
of Rutland : " Our last intelligence from the West
this morning gives us an account that Oglethorpe
with his troop of Guards had engaged about one
hundred of the enemy, whereof he had killed nearly
80 with the losse only of one man and my Lord
28

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
Newburgh shott into the belly. Afterwards my
Lord Churchill fell on the enemies rear and killed
near 200 and took as many prisoners. This action
happened near Gainsome (Keynsham) — Sir Thomas
Bridge's house — ^within five miles of BristoU and we
are every moment expecting a further account and
an intire defeat of Monmouth and the rebells, who
would fain fight their way to Gloucester — if possible
— but we have reason to believe they will cutt them
off in the march and put an end to this shameful
insurrection." Monmouth, however, moved east
ward towards Bath, which he summoned by trumpet
to surrender. " The towne refusing," he fell back
to Philips Norton, while Feversham was returning
by the north side of the river to Bath, " where he
was met by the Duke of Grafton with the foot and
the forces under Lord Churchill." Feversham
having thus completed his immediate concentration,
began to move south, preceded by a large troop of
horse and 500 musketeers under Grafton, towards
Philips Norton. His scouts declared that the place
was strongly held, and a party sent forward to
reconnoitre reported that the rebels were marching,
or preparing to march. The intention being to
clear the way to Frome, it was not certain that more
could be attempted, when a man returned with an
29

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
account that the advanced body was engaged. This
was enough for Grafton, who at once pushed for
ward to its support.
The approaches from the north-west to Norton
St. Philip, as it is now called, are to this day obscured
by the height of the hedges and the sunken and
devious character of the roads, while the buildings
are of the solid Mendip type, ahnost like block
houses in strength. The information the General
wanted could only be obtained at close quarters
by a reconnaissance which promised a fierce struggle.
Here was an enterprise dear to Grafton's daring and
spirit of adventure ; the blood of the great Con-
dottiere, Giovanni of the Black Bands,^ was in his
veins, and we may believe that impatience with
Feversham 's dilatory tactics fired his zeal. At any
rate, though the force detailed for the thmst was
below the standard of his military rank, he placed
himself at the head of the party with the daredevil
zest by which he was prompted on service by land
or sea. The more desperate the job, the more
determined his mood.
Forcing his way through a narrow lane held on
both sides by the enemy, he reached the barricade
^ Son of Caterina Sforza and father of the first Grand Duke of
Tuscany, whose granddaughter, Marie de Medici, married Henry IV.
of France, and -was the grandmother of Charles II.
30

CHARLES II
From a miniature on th.e patent of the Duke of Grafton

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
in the town under a heavy fire from the surrounding
buildings. A squad of horse grenadiers and some
musketeers were sent to his relief, but " the Rebells
had by this time brought both horse and foot into
the lane as well as the fields and passages that led to
it," while with the force at his disposal no impression
could be produced on the barricade. Thus cut off,
Grafton and his men had to charge with the bayonet
through the enemy's horse and foot, till they reached
passages into the fields by which the musketeers
could withdraw, Grafton and the mounted men
forcing a highway directly through the lane.
Feversham, in his despatch to James from Brad
ford on the following day, thus refers to the episode :
" Le Due de Grafton, qui commandoit le detachement
s'y est comporte avec un fort grande valeur. . . .
Comme il revint a la barriere ou j'estois, il estoit fort
essoufle et avec raison, car il alia a la teste de la com-
pagnie des grenadiers du regiment des gardes, qu'il
commande, qui alia jusques a I'entree du viUage ou
il trouva un fort grand feu ; " during the retirement
the Duke had his horse killed, whereupon, as the
report proceeds, a quartermaster " voyant le Due
dans ce danger I'y offert son cheval, qu'il ne voulut
pas prendre, mais trouva un autre cheval, qui estoit
blesse, je crois, car quand il revint a la barriere, le
31

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
cheval boitoit." It was fitting that such a display
of valour was not without the crowning touch of
knightly grace.
So ended an exploit through which the leader
passed unscathed, and had to his credit the only
display of energy that marked the King's forces.
To this hour the scene of the struggle after the lapse
of 235 years bears the name of the Duke's alley.
The remainder of the day's operations is best de
scribed in the language of the Drayton House
narrator. " In the meanwhile my Lord Churchill, by my
Lord Feversham 's order, having secured the mouth
of the Lane with his Dragoons and lyned the hedges
on each side with foot, my Lord Feversham drew
his horse up in Battaill in an open ground that joyned
to the Lane, and there commanded my Lord
Churchill to come off with the foot and Dragoons.
The rest of our foot, together with the Somerset
shire, Dorsetshire and Oxfordshire Militia, com
manded by my Lord Fitzharding, Sir William Port-
man, CoUonel Strangnidge and Captain Barton, as
they came in were drawne up and posted to the best
advantage, while our canon which were planted on
the left hand of the way, play'd on the Rebells, who
having brought theirs behind a hedge by the mouth
32

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
of the Lane, with horse and foot to defend it, both
plaid upon one another for divers howers in the raine,
killing some men on both sides.
" The ground being wett, and our Armes too by
the abundance of Raine that fell that day, prevented
my Lord Feversham from encamping there that
night as he intended, and having then no tents,
about four in the evening drew off in order, without
any interruption from the enemy, and marcht that
night for Bradford after he had taken care of the
wounded men and sent CoUonell Oglethorpe with a
party of loo horse to observe the enemies motion.
" We lost in this dayes action 20 men and some
horses, and we have reason to conclude by the num
ber of the dead buried there, the Rebells lost more,
who that night after we were gon marcht away from
Frome. We lay all Sunday in Bradford to cleare
our armes and recover the fategue of the foregoing
day." The next morning, Monday 29th, on news from
Oglethorpe that Monmouth contemplated a move
on Warminster, Feversham summoned his siege
artillery from Devizes, the absence of which and of
the means to encamp on the spot had decided him
not to press the attack on Norton St. Philip, and
marched to Westbury in order to frustrate the
33

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
expected flank movement, for its success would
have given the enemy the command of the Wylye
valley and opened the way to Salisbury. On hearing
this, Monmouth changed his direction to Shepton
Mallet, retiring thither by Kilmersdon and the
eastern Mendips, and withdrawing at the same time
his outposts from Frome. It appears by a letter
to Lord Dartmouth, from Westbury, under the hand
of an artillery officer named Shere, that the guns
were left at Devizes deliberately, " for," as he says,
" the enemy motions are so irregular in a very bad
and enclosed country, that it would be a great
impediment to take them." In a letter dated the
next day from Frome, Shere throws some interesting
sidelights on the operations. " We thought to
have marched this morning at day breake and
accordingly our cannon and appurtenances were
drawn out, but new counsels have begotten new
measures, and I believe we shall not move till
night. This has often been our lot of the artillery,
to the unspeakable toil and harassing of both people
and horses, and this we only endure of all the army,
but we are bound to suffer it. The tents came very
seasonably, for unless we encamp the country will
be ruined, for we have been hitherto much their
greater enemies than the rebels. In plain EngUsh,
34

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
I have seen too much violence and wickedness
practised to be fond of this trade, and trust we may
soon put a period to the business, for what we every
day practise among this poor people cannot be
supported by any man of the least morality. The
enemy lay in Wells last night, where they took a
waggon of Kirke's with arms, ammunitions and
money, which he pretends now he left there because
he was forced to lend us his horses for the cannon,
which is the greatest lie in the world and therefore,
if any such thing be intimated, let this be an evidence
against it. They marched to-day by 3 o'c. and are
come to Glastonbury, and we believe are returning
from whence they came, to Bridgewater. We learn
by gentlemen that were prisoners that we did extra
ordinary execution with our cannon the other day."
Shere's reflections on the barbarity of war do
him infinite credit and would have adorned a later
age. It is clear from the last sentence that the
affair at Norton St. Philip was the turning point of
the campaign.
His project for moving east finally balked, Mon
mouth must have felt the game was up ; with no
large force of mounted men and an army of peasants
who were reluctant to go far from their homes,
there was nothing left but to make such defence as
35

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
was possible in that part of the country least favour
able for the operations of cavalry. From Shepton
Mallet he accordingly retired across the marshes
east of Bridgewater, closely followed by Feversham,
who occupied Shepton on July 5th, having entered
Frome, as we have seen, with all his artillery two
days before. Moving thence by Glastonbury to
Somerton, it was ascertained that the enemy was
preparing to hold Bridgewater, and on Sunday,
July 5th, the march thither was resumed along the
southem border of Sedgemoor, a wide expanse,
stretching from east to west for ten miles below
the Polden HiUs, and, as its name impUes,
mainly composed of moss and swamp. The King's
forces amounted to some 2,500 regular troops, of
which 700 were cavalry with eighteen guns and a
contingent of Wiltshire militia under Lord Pem
broke ; while the rebels had at least 7,000 under
arms, but inferior in equipment and deficient in
horse and artillery. However, the disparity of
numbers made it pmdent for Feversham to take
every precaution against surprise, and this he did
by securing the approaches across the marshy land
in the direction of his camp now echeloned along
the south-western extremity of Sedgemoor.
Oglethorpe, ever anxious to know what the enemy
36

SIEGE OF LUXEJIBOl-RG, 1684
From a picture at Ammerdown in the possession of Lord Hylton

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
was doing, and acting, as there is reason to think,
on Grafton's suggestion, spent the early hours of
the night scouting on the road to Bridgewater. In
so doing he got behind Monmouth, who in the short
summer darkness had made a detour to his left and
was now threatening Feversham from the north by
the narrow way which crosses the western end of
the marsh. Oglethorpe, discovering the situation,
when he reached the sentries left outside Bridgewater,
turned at once to his right rear, from which quarter
he was ultimately able to make an effective attack
on the enemy's right flank. Meanwhile Lord Grey,
in command of the bulk of Monmouth's horse, had
come into touch with a portion of the King's cavalry
under Sir Francis Compton, son of Lord Northamp
ton, the heroic cavalier leader who died at Hopton
Heath. Compton fell, shot in the breast, but his
troops broke the attack and, assisted by the fire of
an infantry detachment, threw all the rebel horse
into disorder. To quote the eye-witness, who
appears to have been in this part of the field, " We
perceived them afterwards on the left of the foot in
great confusion, endeavouring to forme, but could
not, while two battalions of their foot (before whom
they were designed to charge), came up within half
musket shot of our camp ; but they having passed
37

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
thro' a defile, where but a few could go abreast,
were forced to halt a considerable tyme, to draw up
themselves and the other three battalions with their
three pieces of cannon in order." Grey's defeat, by
some attributed to cowardice, determined the failure
of Monmouth's offensive.
At this juncture the King's foot, with Churchill
in supreme command and Grafton immediately
under him directing the movements of the guards,
were hurled upon the enemy's centre, which decided
the fortunes of the day. Oglethorpe, who had now
come up, at the same time charged the enemy's
right, and the rest of the King's horse assailed their
left flank. The test was too high for untrained and
undisciplined troops, who had been marching all
night and were not yet cheered by the full light of
day. Two of their battalions, which had stood
hitherto very well, gave ground in a body, and soon
after fled, " leaving all their cannon in the hands of
the attack." The authority we have been following
continues : " While the Rebells mn after the rest of
their foot that had been scouring away for some
tyme in the rear in great disorder and confusion,
which only our troops near them were sensible off
who durst not pursue them until 'twas light for
fear of being knocked on the head by our own men,
38

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
else but few of them had escaped us, for most of
those who did escape were within an hour so dis
persed that you could not see anywhere ten of their
men living."
Oglethorpe, who in recognition of his signal
services was charged with Feversham's message to
the King, was able to report some 1,500 killed and
200 prisoners, which with the wounded must have
represented a loss little short of half the combatant
strength. Monmouth, who had hoped to preserve
a retreat to Bristol, where he had many friends, and
to that end had sent his carriages and one cannon to
Axbridge, now realised the impossibility of the plan.
Seeing his horse routed, he most unfortunately for
his fame and that of Lord Grey, who followed his
example, stripped himself of his armour and fled,
" leaving most of the foot, especially the two
battalions commanded by CoUonell Fookes and
CoUonell Holmes, to be cut to pieces."
Monmouth was taken a few days later in the
abject plight of a hunted fugitive, and upon July 15th
expiated his offence on Tower Hill. Mr. Charles
Bertie, writing to his niece the Countess (afterwards
Duchess) of Rutland, gives a moving picture of the
last scene. " Yesterday, about eleaven of the clock,
the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth was executed
39

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
on Tower Hill, having been assisted with Dr.
Tenison and severall other divines and Bishops the
night before. The Dutchesse his wife had the
liberty to see him, in the presence of the Earl of
Clarendon, whom he received very coldly, com
plaining that she had not done the part of a wife
towards him at the late King his father's death, and
told her he thought she did not show any great con
cern for him under his present misfortunes, and
indeed seemed little desirous to speak or discourse
with her, for his affections were chiefly sett upon my
Lady Harriett Wentworth, with whom he confessed
he had lived these two years as man and wife and
thought himself the most happy man in the world
saying that the Dutchesse was imposed upon him
when he was very young and not by his own choice,
and that she was his wife in law, but the other was
his wife before God and in his own conscience,
commending her vertue publickly on the scaffold
and talking many things in her commendation. He
also charged his servant to give her his ring as soon
as he could. Yesterday morning before he died,
they prevailed with him to speak to the Dutchesse
and his children, which he did more freely than the
day before, and charged his son to obey his mother,
who would carefully bring him up in the Protestant
40

CHARLES II
From a picture in the possession of Sir A. FitzRoy

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
religion, and thus he took his leave of them. Sir
Stephen Fox, standing by, told him he was sorry to
see him in this sad condition, to whom he replied,
' And so I am too, but since it is God Almighty's
pleasure, I am going to perform his will.' The
Divines refused to give him the Sacrament because
of his converse with Lady Harriette. He openly
declared a great assurance he had of being very
happy as soon as this life was ended and was full of
those enthusiasticall conceits. He carried himself
with great sedateness of mind on the scaffold and
told them he was not afraid of death and called for
the axe and ran his thumb over the edge and believed
it was sharp, praying the executioner not to mangle
him as he did Lord Russell, but the rogue served
him much worse, for striking two blows at him, he
lay'd down the axe and was faine to take it up again
and give him three more before he could sever his
head from his body."
Thus closed an enterprise rashly undertaken and
badly executed. Not that Monmouth's strategic
conceptions were in the main faulty — witness the
attempt to pierce the enemy's front by crossing
the Avon at Keynsham, the later design to turn
his left by a movement on Warminster, and
the final effort to surprise Feversham by a night
41 d2

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
attack from an unexpected quarter. What failed
him were the resources and the boldness to clothe
initiative with tactical effectiveness. The last act
of the tragedy was, it is true, ennobled by the sacri
fice of hundreds whose heroism went unrecorded,
but it lacked the final touch which would have sur
rounded the catastrophe with imperishable renown,
if the leader of these obscure peasants and humble
country gentlemen had selected to escape the igno
miny of the scaffold by dying on the field with those
he had conducted to an ineluctable doom.
On the royalist side two reputations had emerged
conspicuously. The news letter published from
Whitehall on the arrival of Oglethorpe's report, after
eulogising Feversham's activity in being " every
where present to give the necessary orders," pro
ceeds : '' My Lord Churchill, who commanded
under him, gave all possible proof of courage and
conduct. The Duke of Grafton, who commanded
the foot, and all the officers and soldiers behaved
themselves with all imaginable resolution and
bravery." For the remainder of Grafton's brief
career his name was to be closely associated with
that of Churchill in political and military action.
A fortnight after Sedgemoor Grafton was back in
London, for we learn from Evelyn that on July 20th
42

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
he presided over a meeting of the Trinity House at
which important privileges were granted, and " Mr.
Pepys, Secretary to y° Admiralty, was a second time
chosen Master," the others present being Lord
Dartmouth, Master of the Ordnance, the Commis
sioners of the Navy and brethren of the Corpora
tion. " We went to church," Evelyn proceeds,
" and then took barge to the Trinity House, where we
had a great dinner, above 80 at one table."
Subsequently Grafton took his seat in Parlia
ment on November 19th.
The ensuing winter saw the only burst of gaiety
which gladdened the social life of I,ondon during
the political storms of James's reign. In these
festivities a leading part appears to have been taken
by the young Duchess, who, now on the threshold
of her twentieth year, had fully realised the fond
anticipations of Evelyn. By the death of Arlington
the preceding summer, she had succeeded to his
titles with the fair domain of Euston, and her beauty
and spirit attracted the universal homage of society.
Bridget Noel ^ writes to her sister Lady Rut
land : " The Dutchesse of Grafton is counted the
finest woman in town. I hear the Dutchesse has
lodgings in Whitehall."
1 Sister of the first Earl of Gainsborough.
43

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
In a letter two months later (February, 1686) to
the same lady, her uncle, Peregrine Bertie,^ relates
that " the great Ball or Masque att Court " has to
be put off owing to Lady Anne Spencer being ill
with small-pox," and goes on to tell the arrange
ments which were to have formed part of it. " There
was to be in all twelve couple and the men to have
the habits of the same country as their partners.
The Duke of Northumberland and my Lady
Grafton, Spaniards ; my Lord Manchester and my
Lady Derby, Grecians ; my Lord Dunblane and
Miss Fox, Moors ; my Lord Litchfield and Lady
Walgrave, shepherds. I have not yet heard of the
other habits, but they were all given them by the
Queen." A sinister shadow was cast upon this mirth by
the outbreak of an epidemic of duelling ; " many
bloody and notorious duels," as Evelyn puts it,
" were fought about this time." Grafton was
implicated in two affairs, both with fatal results,
one in which a brother of Lord Shrewsbury was
involved and another, scarcely a month later, with a
brother of Lord Derby. Of the first, in the letter
above quoted Peregrine Bertie says : "I just now
heare of a great misfortune which has happened :
1 Second son of second Earl of Lindsay, Vice-Chamberlain 1695.
44

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
'tis that the Duke of Grafton and Jack Talbot have
fought this morning at Chelsey Fields about some
words that passed last night. Poore Mr. Talbot
was runne through the heart and fell dead upon the
place. The Duke was saved by a little buckle
belonging to his belt, or some little picture hee wore
about him. It seems they both thrust at the same
time, Mr. Talbot's sword hitting on the buckle
missed going through the Duke's body and ripped
up his side. Duncombe was second to my Lord
Grafton and Fitzpatrick to Mr. Talbot. I hear
Duncombe is wounded, but, however, they say they
are aU fled."
In a second letter, dated February nth, Pere
grine Bertie adds : " As to publicke news, I heare
the Duke of Grafton was yesterday bailed, and some
say has already got his pardon." This is confirmed
by the official abstract of Royal Pardons. Charles
Bertie about the same time informs Lady Rutland :
" Since the killing of Jack Talbot by the Duke of
Grafton and another man by Harry Wharton, we
hear of no more such sad misfortunes " — a prema
ture exultation as it turned out, for on February 19th
there occurred the fatal encounter with Mr. Stanley.
In connection with this affair Evelyn declares that
the victim was guilty of "an almost insufferable
45

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
provocation," and piously adds : "It is to be hoped
His Maj'^ will at last severely remedy this un
christian custom." No direct proof of the provoca
tion is forthcoming in either case, but as the offender
in each was a member of one of the oldest patrician
houses, it is a plausible supposition that some slight
was offered to Grafton's birth, an affront his daring
and impetuous temper would be quick to resent.
Life at home in quiet times must have sorely
fretted his restless spirit, and we find him a little
later the leading agent, with his brother Northumber
land,^ in an attempt to spirit away the latter's wife,
1 Of this brother Evelyn formed a favourable opinion. Upon
their first meeting, October 24.th, 1684, at the table of Sir Stephen
Fox, he describes him as " a young gentleman of good capacity, well
bred, civil and modest. Of all His Maj'^'s children this seemed the
most accomplished and worth the owning. He is extraordinarily
handsome and well shaped."
Two months later he writes : "I went with Lord Cornwallis to
see the young gallants at their exercise, M. Faubert (provost master
of the Academie) having newly railed in a manage and fitted it for
the Academy. There were the Dukes of Norfolk and Northumber
land, Lord Newburgh and a nephew of Duras, Earle of Feversham.
The exercises were : i, running at the ring ; 2, flinging a javelin at a
Moor's head ; 3, dischargeing a pistol at a mark ; lastly taking up a
gauntlet at the point of a sword ; all these performed in full speed.
The Duke of Northumberland hardly missed of succeeding in every
one, a dozen times, as I think. The Duke of Norfolk did exceeding
bravely. Lord Newburgh and Duias seemed nothing so dextrous.
Here I saw the difference of what ye French call ' belle homme h
cheval' and 'bon homme a cheval,' the Duke of Norfolk being the
first, rather a fine person on a horse, the Duke of Northumberland
46

THE GEORGE INN, NORTON ST. PHILIP, OCCUPIED BY MONMOUTH

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
a woman of lowly birth of whom her husband was
tired. Again Peregrine Bertie, in a letter to Lady
Rutland, supplies some information : " We have
received an account of the two Dukes (Northumber
land and Grafton) having safely arrived at Ostende.
As soon as they return they will be taken into custody
by the Lord Chief Justice's warrant and must give
bail for their appearance or go to prison." Some
compromise, however, was reached, as nothing more
is said of the affair beyond a note in a letter to the
Duke of Albemarle : " Our two Dukes of Grafton
and Northumberland are returned from Flanders,
where they have left the new Duchess in a nunnery.
They say she was willing to stay, and her friends her6
are willing she should do so." At any rate, Grafton's
position in his uncle's esteem was not seriously
shaken by the escapade, and in the summer of 1687,
upon the Duke of Somerset refusing to have any
thing to do with the introduction of Monseigneur
D'Adda, the Papal Nuncio, he gratified James by
accepting the charge and conducted the Nuncio
through London.
James was now to provide him with a commis
sion which flattered his ambitions and suited his
being both, in perfection, namely a graceful person and exceUent
rider. But the Duke of Norfolk told me he had not been at this
exercise these twelve years before."
47

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
seafaring tastes. Tangier had been surrendered to
the Moors owing to the expense of maintenance
before Charles's death, but the step was not intended
to cover any relaxation of Britain's hold on naval
interests in the Mediterranean, and when James,
following his brother's example, determined to send
a fleet into those waters, he naturally turned to
Grafton as its commander in what had been the
theatre of his naval education. Possibly in some
fear of prematurely exciting the suspicion of the
Mediterranean powers, secrecy was observed upon
the destination of the fleet, for the idea was " put
about " that the western coast and the islands of
Jersey and Guernsey were to be the objects of the
cruise. However, the number of ships collected at
Portsmouth and the amount of stores put on board
discredited that rumour, and all doubt was removed
by Grafton's appointment on July 5th as Admiral
of the Fleet ordered to the Mediterranean. Lord
Dartmouth, First Commissioner of the Admiralty,
thus intimated the arrangement to Sir Roger Strick
land, commanding on that sea : " The Duke of
Grafton goes from Lisbon to command in the
straits, and you come home to command in the
narrow seas, where you cannot fear of a squadron
fit to wear your flag." 48

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
Grafton's first duty was to convoy Maria Sophia
of Neuburg, the betrothed Queen of Pedro II. ,
King of Portugal, from Rotterdam to Lisbon. On
the 1 2th the Duke with the yachts reached Brill
after a very stormy and uncomfortable passage, and
having received the Queen on board, sailed for Por
tugal, but was obliged, on encountering foul winds
at the mouth of the Channel, to put into Plymouth
upon the 23rd of the same month. The wind hauling
to the north the next day, Grafton, his flag hoisted
on the Anne, again sailed with his royal charge and
entered the Tagus after a passage of seven days.
The only incident of note on the passage was the
encounter on the 30th with a vessel plying between
the Burlings and the shore which by her manner of
working excited some suspicion. The Duke de
tached the frigates Hampshire and Sedgemoor to dis
cover what she was, when she proved to be the
Orange Tree of Algiers, a new ship of forty guns,
with 350 men on board, commanded by the brother-
in-law of the Dey of Algiers ; but on the production
of their pass signed by the English Consul, the ships
parted with the usual marks of friendship, receiving
and returning salutes. Grafton was received at
Lisbon with the highest honours, " as well," accord
ing to one chronicler, " in consequence of the
49

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
personal respect borne to his character and rank, as
to the consideration of the national compliment paid
by the Court of Great Britain to that of Portugal."
The London Gazette thus records the fashion of
what passed : " The Master of the King's house
hold was sent to escort his Grace the Duke of
Grafton ashore to an appartment provided for him,
which he excused upon the directions he had from
his M"' to continue on board. On August 4th
His Grace had his audience of His Maj*'', which
was deemed then a particular mark of esteem, none
of the foreign ministers having been till after that
time admitted to see the King. Don Juan de Souza
was sent to bring the Duke in one of the King's
barges, the Portuguese Men-of-War saluting him
as they passed. The Duke, with Mr. Fitzjames ^
and Lord O'Brien, the commanders of the squadron,
and the other gentlemen, landing at the new bridge
made for the Queen, were conducted to the King's
appartment, the guards standing at arms and the
drums beating. His Grace was welcomed by the
King with great kindness, and his compliments re
turned with large expressions, how sensible the King
was of the marks of his Maj'^'s friendship, particu-
' James Fitzjames Duke of Berwick (1670 — 1734), son of
James II. and Arabella ChurchiU. 50

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
larly of his last obliging instance of it in sending his
Grace to conduct the Queen. The Duke then
presenting Mr. Fitzjames, the King directed himself
more particularly to him, and received also very
kindly Lord O'Brien, the Commanders of the ships
and the rest that were presented to his Maj''' at the
same time. Thence the Duke was conducted to
his audiences of the Queen and Infanta ; none
being admitted with him but Mr. Fitzjames and the
officers belonging to the ceremony ; which being
done, they were all carried in the King's coaches to
the Palace, where there was a very noble entertain
ment provided, the King's servants attending, and
on the same night there was a great quantity of all
sorts of fresh provisions sent on board to be distri
buted among the ships. The Duke had several
other invitations given him, all which he excused.
On the 8th the King's presents were sent, which
were a sword and cane set with diamonds for the Duke
and a jewel of value for Mr. Fitzjames. On the loth
his Grace was conducted to his audiences of leave
with the same ceremonies and entertainments."
It is manifest from this account that Grafton
governed his action by the strictest regard of his
obligations to the fleet under his command and did
not allow the seductions of Portuguese hospitality
51

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
to interfere with the primary duty of one charged
with an important naval and political mission.
Having fulfilled his immediate object, the Duke
sailed with his squadron for Gibraltar on August 13th,
where he met one who was to be his opponent on a
great occasion, for a French squadron entered the
Bay under the Chevalier de Tourville, and the
commanders exchanged complimentary visits. At
the conclusion of a short stay, he proceeded to
Algiers. He was received with the greatest respect
and attention. His forceful and impressive per
sonality captured the Oriental imagination, " the
Dey giving him every assurance of his wish to con
tinue in peace and friendship with the EngUsh and
presenting him with several English persons who
had been made prisoners during the former war."
In a case heard before the House of Lords in
1692, it appeared that one of the parties, having
suffered detention and the confiscation of his ship
at the hands of the Dey, owed his release to the
spirited action of the Duke of Grafton, who, on
hearing of his plight, " manned his boat and sent
to the Governour demanding the surrender of the
man, which so alarmed the country," that he was
immediately given up.
This pacific and liberating part of his instruc-
52

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
tions thus happily fulfilled, Grafton sailed on Octo
ber 6th in order to complete the execution of his
orders. At Tunis, and afterwards at Tripoli, he
received the same honours and met with the same
success. In proceeding from one to the other a
detour was made to Cagliari in the island of Sardinia
to take in fresh water. Here the Viceroy, the Duke
of Monteleone, a Neapolitan, extended marked
honour to Mr. Fitzjames, receiving him with the
discharge of twenty-one guns, and understanding
it to be His Majesty's birthday he was desirous to
solemnise it with a great entertainment and a ball,
to which he would have invited the Duke of Grafton
and his principal officers, but the " wind presenting
fair " the Admiral with his habitual sense of nautical
duty insisted on sailing that evening, his departure
being saluted with the discharge of forty pieces of
cannon. On his return voyage, at Malta, at Messina,
at Malaga, and at every other port where the squad
ron touched, the governors and inhabitants of each
place seemed to vie with each other which should
most distinguish themselves by the honour and
attention paid to the illustrious representative of
the English King.
From Messina to Malaga the course lay by Leg
horn, where Grafton's arrival was saluted by the
53

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
discharge of lOo guns, in compliment it may be to
his Florentine descent. The visit to Malaga has a
special description quite in the modern style from
a " reporter " on board the Anne. The party from
the fleet was received on landing by the Governor
and magistrates with whom were a dozen coaches,
a guard of honour of thirty horse and the town
militia consisting of eight companies. A reception
took place at the Consul's house and on the departure
of the Governor, the Bishop of Malaga (natural son
of Philip IV.) with several persons of the first rank
and quality presented themselves. The official
visits were subsequently returned and the Governor
completed his courtesies by sending on board " a
very handsome present of fresh provisions." On
reaching Gibraltar, the report proceeds, " His Grace
meeting there with the confirmation of the happy
news of Her Majesties being with child, for joy
thereof commanded the same evening that all the
ships should fire their cannon, which being done
the commanders came on board the Duke to express
their congratulations upon this solemn occasion."
Grafton's reception from James at his retum,
which took place on March 19th, 1688, was as
flattering as that accorded him by foreign nations
duiing his absence. In a voyage lasting nearly
54

EARL OF ARLINGTON, BY LELY
From the picture at Euston

SERVICE UNDER JAMES II
nine months and covering the stormiest part of the
year, he had traversed 5,000 miles of sea without,
as it appears, a casualty to his ships or even the loss
of a single spar.
A social event recorded in Peregrine Bertie's
correspondence with Lady Rutland about this time
may refer to an entertainment designed in compli
ment to his success. " There was a ball," he says,
" lately at my Lord Sunderland's (the Secretary of
State) ; the women were the D^'^ of Grafton, my
Lady Brandon, Mrs. Mason and two of the Maids
of Honour : the men, the Dukes of Grafton and
Northumberland, Lord Arran, Mr. Boyle, and one
Camell, a Scottish man."
James's relations with his people had in the past
year undergone a great change for the worse. There
was now little disguise of his intention by arbitrary
and, if necessary, illegal means to impair the autho
rity of Parliament and give to the adherents of the
Catholic Church a position at variance with statutory
right, and Grafton, though, as Burnet said, not
much of a politician, still less of a churchman, had
the good sense to see that such courses, if continued,
would endanger the throne. The instinct for
national safety drove a man of his straightforward
mind into the ranks of the opposition.
55

Ill
Dynastic Revolution
(1688— 1690)
THE popular enthusiasm which hailed the
acquittal of the seven bishops had behind it
all the material of a dynastic revolution, which
nothing but James's blindness and infatuation could
have failed to discover. The birth of a son to the
King and Queen on June loth had already stimu
lated the negotiations of the Whig lords with William,
and they now sent him a formal invitation, to which
Compton, Bishop of London, one of the acquitted
prelates and a brother of Lord Northampton, set
his hand. As the year wore on the situation became
daily more menacing. By the beginning of October
it was known in London that William had collected
a fleet in readiness to act, and that Dartmouth was
in command of the King's ships assembled at the
Nore to dispute his passage. James, at last alive to
the pUght to which his follies had reduced him, and
staggered by the conviction that there was little
56

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
support in the country upon which he could rely,
began hastily by Proclamation and Orders in Council
to revoke the illegalities and abuses of prerogative
to which he had resorted, but it was too late ; the
fidelity of both army and navy had been too severely
shaken, and James was not the man to recover lost
ground. Perhaps his most memorable effort to put himself
right with his people was the summons of a special
meeting of the Privy Council, to which was added a
number of prominent peers (including the Arch
bishop of Canterbury, the Dukes of Norfolk, Grafton
and Ormond, and the Marquess of Halifax), the
Lord Mayor of London, the Judges and the Law
Officers of the Crown, before whom the King made
a solemn declaration affirming in the most emphatic
terms the legitimacy of the Prince of Wales, which
was further attested by the swom depositions of no
less than forty persons, from the Queen Dowager to
the midwife and her attendants.
There was some pathos in the King's avowal
that as he had often aforetime ventured his life for
the nation, he thought himself more obliged thereto
now he was King and intended to go in person
against the invader and might thereby be exposed
to accidents, and therefore wished this done in order
57 =2

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
to satisfy the minds of his subjects and prevent the
kingdom being engaged in blood and confusion
after his death.
Emerging from her retirement, Queen Catherine
was present to testify " that when the King sent for
her to attend the Queen's labour she came as soon
as she could and never stir'd from her until she was
delivered of the Prince of Wales."
Lady Sunderland ^ told the Council that, it being
Trinity Sunday, she went to St. James's Chapel in
order to receive the sacrament at eight o'clock, when,
so urgent was the call, a second messenger reached
her on the steps of the altar, and she at once repaired
to the Queen's bedchamber, whom she found already
in labour. It is doubtful whether these announcements had
the expected effect, so diligently had the perversion
of fact been instilled into the public mind.
On the very day of this meeting, October 22nd,
Dartmouth, in a letter to the King from the Resolu
tion at Ouze Edge, after describing the victualling
of the fleet and the filling up of stores, towards
which, at a meeting of " the Flagges and Captaines "
on board his own ship, he had urged all despatch,
^ Anne Countess of Sunderland, daughter of George Digby,
second Earl of Bristol, by Anne, daughter of fourth Earl of Bedford.
58

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
proceeds to discuss the state of the fleet. " I had
some hints," he says, " of dissatisfaction in some
young men," and mentions one or two of whom he
is distrustful. " The Duke of Grafton," he adds,
" was down here among them a little after my coming,
though he would not let me know it." A curious
confession on the part of the Commander-in-Chief,
and inconsistent, we shall see later, with the
Admiralty record. He concludes with these signi
ficant words : " I look upon most of the commanders
to be men of honour and will peek ^ them that we
are to be steady to your service, tho' I feare they have
other advices and still think all our mischiefes
spring directly or indirectly from the old conduct
at Whitehall. This I believe Your Maj''' suffers
more of, and it is fitt I should endure my share ;
but nothing shall discourage me from doing my
utmost wherever I am, and by God's help all will be
well. We are generally in good heart."
The suspicion of Grafton's good faith here
insinuated becomes a definite charge in a confession
alleged to have been made by the Duke to Lord
Dover, that the visit paid by him to the fleet just
before the landing of the Prince was for the express
purpose of influencing the several commanders to
^ Obsolete = pique, excite to action, challenge.
59

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
declare against King James, in which he was so
successful as to gain the positive promise of two-
thirds. He is, moreover, said to have owned to
being privy to Churchill's design of seizing the person
of Dartmouth and carrying the fleet over to the
Prince. Clarke's " Life of James II. ," a sour
polemic with an inadequate hero, adopts the alleged
confession to Lord Dover and fits it into the laboured
statement of King James's memoirs that Grafton,
in vexation at not obtaining command of the fleet,
went down before the Prince of Orange sailed and
endeavoured to corrupt the commanders, with the
result stated, and that he had formed the design of
entrapping Dartmouth on board Captain Hastings'
ship (where he was serving as a volunteer) and
having him seized.
This unsupported fiction and the subsequent
hesitancies of Dartmouth — the conflicts which
Lady Dartmouth discloses between his religion and
loyalty — are quoted as sufficient evidence of Grafton's
cold-blooded treachery.
Charnock, in his " Biographia Navalis " (pub
lished 1795), makes these comments : " We do not,
however, think an implicit belief is to be paid to the
truth of this pretended confession, for it does not
appear to have been made public till after the Duke's
60

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON
From the picture ai Hardwick

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
decease, or to have been properly confirmed by the
open testimony of those officers with whom he is
said to have tampered. If the confession alluded
to was really made by the Duke of Grafton, he cer
tainly must have possessed a much greater share of
hypocrisy and deceit than we can think could ever
obscure so great, so gallant and so noble a character
in every other sphere. On that ground we hope,
for the honour of human nature. Lord Dover's
report was at least exaggerated."
We are not, however, left to the inconsistency of
such action with all we know of Grafton's repug
nance to furtive methods, a repugnance which found
expression in an honesty of temper that some
described as rough, for the Historical Manuscripts
Commission have brought to light an official minute
to Lord Dartmouth signed by Samuel Pepys and
dated October 27th : "I just now find by the
King's discourse with me and directions for the
immediate supplying of the Duke of Grafton with
a shallop, that the Duke has his leave to go on board
Capt. Hastings^ ship as a volunteire, to be present at
whatever action shall arrive at sea, with a promise
(if he escapes it alive) to get ashore as soon as the
Dutch can and be in timely readiness to discharge
his duty to the King there also." Nothing could
61

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
be clearer or more conclusive. Grafton, with his
invincible elan and thirst for adventure in either
service, was ready to take his chance in a naval
action against superior forces, and if he escaped (a
characteristic touch) to risk his life a second time
ashore, and James, it is obvious, believed him. It
does not surprise us to learn from his memoirs that
James, with this incident fresh in his mind, when
urged to send both Grafton and Churchill to Ports
mouth under lock and key, " upon further considera
tion thought fit not to doe it."
Further confirmation of this view is to be found
in Dartmouth's official reply of October 28th to
Pepys' minute of the previous day, which acknow
ledges the intimation of the Duke's design and
proceeds : "I doubt not he will acquaint himself
of his duty, but whether it will not be a probable
impediment to the service — he hopes also to be
ready for shore — I vrill not pretend to judge of."
There is no repetition here of the suspicious tone
manifest in the earlier letter to James. Grafton did
not pay two visits to the fleet, and Dartmouth's
eariier misgiving must be dismissed as based upon
mere gossip, with which the atmosphere was rife.
A lively letter from Katherine Powlett to Lady
Margaret Russell at Woburn dated November 3rd
62

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
gives a faithful picture of the state of feeling in
London, " for everybody missing but for two or
three dayes we say heare is gon to the P. of Orange."
She advises her friend to come to London instead
of going to Chenies, where Lady Essex, whose
house is not far off, says there are so many soldiers
about, " she talked of coming to London for fear of
them." The writer continues that Lady Sunder
land, whose husband had been suspected of betraying
the King, had gone to Althorpe with her daughter,
" and sighs and groans sadley the P. of O. has undone
the nation," and then proceeds : " The wind has
been so long fair for them and we heare nothing of
them, that I begin to think we shall not see them at
all, though the newse is that they sett saile on Tues
day, some say not till Wed'', and that we can't
probably heare of them before to-morrow. Some
will nott beleve theare losses (in a storm) have been
soe great as was saide. Lord Dartmouth has
positive orders to fight them. Duke of Grafton is
gon downe to the fleet a voUantare."
Dartmouth prudently did not fight, but pro
ceeded in the wake of the Dutch fleet till it reached
Torbay on November 3rd, and then bore up for
Portsmouth, of which the Duke of Berwick was
governor. Disgusted at inaction, Grafton returned
63

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
to London on the 12th, which he found a prey to
divided counsels and abject fears. He at once
determined that only through the expression of the
national will by the recognised means lay any hope
of safety, and, with the two Archbishops and the other
Protestant peers in London, signed a petition to
King James, which they presented in person :
" That in deep sense of the miseries of war they
thought themselves bound in conscience and out of
the duty they owed to God and their holy religion,
most humbly to offer to his Majesty that in their
opinion the only visible way to preserve H.M. and
his Kingdom would be the calUng of a Parliament
regular and free in all respects."
James replied with great acrimony, especially
towards the prelates, and turning upon Grafton,
whose name stood next to Sancroft, addressed him
most violently :
" You know nothing about religion, you care
nothing about it, yet forsooth you must pretend to
have a conscience." Grafton repUed with ready
frankness : " It is tme, Sir, I don't pretend to much
conscience, but I belong to a party that have a great
deal." Charnock, discussing his subsequent conduct,
regards his action here as a moderate step inconsistent
64

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
with the character of a man violent enough at another
time to act in the manner described, " and so forms
a sufficient ground to doubt the authenticity of that
particular narration, while that part of his conduct
which immediately followed was much more recon
cilable to the character of a man of honour than the
former would have been."
The action of Grafton in this respect, and
indeed in his whole public conduct at this date, is
that of a man who eagerly sought some middle term
between unqualified support of James and his violent
deposition ; even to the last, on the debate in the
House of Lords " whether the throne being vacant
it ought to be filled up by a regent or a king," at
the risk of offending the Prince, to whom alone he
could look for employment and promotion, he was
one of the forty-nine who voted for a regent. Young
in years — ^just twenty-five — and inexperienced in
politics, he was governed by the straightforward
instincts of a soldier seaman to cut the tangle in
the most direct manner. At the Council of Officers
held in London on the eve of James's departure for
Salisbury, at which the unhappy King made a
moving appeal to their fidelity, Grafton joined
Churchill in strong expressions of loyalty. In the
case of Grafton there is no reason to doubt their
65

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
sincerity. A few days with the army stripped him
of the last vestige of confidence that anything was
to be achieved through its agency ; the keen eye of
the soldier saw its hopelessness as an instrument of
force, or even of negotiation, and we are justified in
believing that, as before he had been disgusted with
the failure of the fleet, he now left Salisbury with
Churchill because of his contempt for the pusil
lanimity and confusion which reigned supreme in
the counsels of James. The King, indeed, had
reached a point when all capacity for direction
vanished. His doubts and hesitations, the resolu
tion to act and the recoil from action, his vacillations
and misgivings, were the sinister proceeds of a
darkened spirit brooding over its own distempers.
At any rate, the Prince of Orange was a man who
knew his own mind and was guided by high policy,
bringing promptitude and resolution to the grasp of
its fruits. It was the decision of the Council of General
Officers to fall back on London, with its inevitable
effect of dissolving the loyal elements in the army,
which, whatever the value of Churchill's formal
plea of conscientious scruples based " on a high and
necessary concern for Religion," finally determined
Grafton's conviction that the game was up and that
66

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HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
Yice- Admiral of England
DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
the only chance of securing what the nation desired
was to rally to the Prince of Orange.
The example thus set was soon followed by such
devoted adherents of the House of Stuart as the
chivalrous Ormond, and Dartmouth himself, not to
mention another of James's nephews in the person
of the Duke of Northumberland.
Desertions are always odious, but moments
arrive when considerations of national safety over
ride all others, and the flight from Salisbury was at
least free from the implications of calculated treachery
which gave Henry VII. the victory on the field of
Bosworth. On Grafton's arrival at Axminster, the Prince of
Orange treated him vrith marked confidence, and
when James withdrew the first time from White
hall, the Duke was despatched from the Prince's
camp at Henley to take possession of Tilbury fort
with his regiment of foot guards, a service per
formed with creditable smartness.
Pending the election of the new Parliament, the
House of Lords, as the only branch of the legis
lature in being, appears to have exercised the func
tions of Government, and we find Grafton's name
attached with others to a notice published in the
London Gazette of December 22nd in these words :
67

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
" We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal
assembled in this Extraordinary Conjuncture Do
appoint Francis Gvs^n, Esquire, for Us and in Our
names to sign and subscribe such Orders as shall be
from time to time by Us made."
About this time he was fired at by a drunken
trooper, who was immediately shot. He was next
concerned with the surrender of Portsmouth, the
only strong place still faithful to the fugitive King.
A letter informs Lord Dartmouth that the Duke of
Berwick, governor of Portsmouth for King James,
having intimated that he had the King's orders to
deliver up the town as soon as any of the Prince's
troops came, the Duke of Grafton's quartermaster
brought news that twenty-one companies of the
guards under the Duke were to be there that night
to relieve the garrison, upon which all the regiments
were drawn up on parade expecting orders, but none
came. Early in January some 250 discharged
dragoons were brought into the town under escort,
and it was stated that the Duke of Grafton, who was
expected in a day or two, would send them to the
Isle of Wight. All the work of this kind entmsted
to him seems to have been efficiently and faithfully
discharged, his great popularity with the army
facilitating the transfer of allegiance. Insensibly he
68

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
was won over to the conviction that the sense of the
country was against any compromise. Too wise
and too honourable to oppose or intrigue against the
popular wish, he hesitated no longer, and with every
appearance of being actuated by the highest con
siderations of public policy, he resolved to acknow
ledge the Prince and Princess of Orange as King
and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, thereby
refuting all the gossip that imputed disaffection. At
the coronation of their Majesties on April nth,
Grafton carried the orb.
Subsequently, by the machinations of persons
interested in prejudicing his position with the King,
he was deprived of his honourable and lucrative
command, and then showed of what magnanimity
he was capable. " Though severely mortified,"
says Macaulay, " he behaved like a man of sense
and spirit ; bent on proving that he had been
wrongly suspected and animated by an honourable
ambition to distinguish himself in his profession,"
he obtained the King's permission to return to the
sea at least in command of his old ship the Grafton.
William knew his value on this element, and the
alacrity with which he accepted an inferior position
removed the last shadow of the King's distrust.
So complete was the restored confidence, that a
69

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
news letter of May 7th, 1690, states : " The Duke
of Grafton was last night four hours in private with
the King, and this morning went to view the fleet
in harbour." This was probably the last time they met. The
King was henceforward immersed in fitting out and
equipping the expedition to Ireland, while Grafton,
on board his command, was nursing his impatience
at Torrington's dilatory preparations to meet the
French fleet. William embarked on June 20th,
and on the following day Tourville put out to sweep
the narrow seas, effectuaUy stopping WilUam's
convoy of six ships, which, on the arrival of the
expedition at Carrickfergus, were directed to join
Torrington with all possible despatch. If French
naval strategy had been equal to the conception of
intercepting the communications between England
and Ireland, Tourville 's fleet might have been
utilised with more decisive effect in the Irish Sea.
As it was, Tourville found Torrington, who was
lying off the Isle of Wight, so unprepared to meet
him that the English admiral spent the first days at
sea in withdrawing to the eastward in order to pick
up such reinforcements as he could. Compelled
by peremptory orders from William in Ireland to
bring the French fleet to action, he had no choice
70

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
but to risk an encounter, though his fleet at the most
numbered sixty sail against seventy of the enemy.
However wanting to the credit of the British com
mander and his fleet as a whole, the events which
ensued covered Grafton with renown as a daring
seaman and no mean naval tactician.
Torrington was one of those careful and meticu
lous commanders whose greatest ingenuity lay in
finding excuses to avoid serious action ; a contem
porary critic describes him as "a man of good
understanding, but profoundly luxurious and on
every occasion so sullen and peevish that it was
plain he valued himself much and expected the same
from others ; and it was thought his private quarrel
with Lord Dartmouth, for having more of the King's
confidence than himself, was the root of his resent
ment against His Majesty. The reputation he had
gained with the people of England and his skill in
naval affairs, made it necessary to endeavour to keep
him in good temper, so far as homage and observ
ance could do." This character study affords some
clue to the obscure situation created by Torrington's
long inactivity. A note of impatience had been
sounded nine months before in a news letter of
September i6th, 1689 : " Our fleet continues at
Torbay, having taken in several Dutch forces, with
71 F

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
whom the E. of Torrington is going again to sea
upon some great enterprise." This enterprise never
came off, and as months of inaction passed, the air
was full of suspicions of the admiral's loyalty and
rumours were rife of his impending supersession,
if not arrest. No step of the kind was indeed taken,
but in the light of what followed there may have been
more in these rumours than William at the moment
cared to take note of. At any rate, after Beachy
Head, upon five commissioners being sent down to
examine the captains on oath, a news letter informs
the public, " it is assured that some of them charge
the Earl of Torrington with neglect and want of
conduct, having had four hours' opportunate time
to come to close fight which would have ruined the
enemy." On July loth, Torrington, according to his
orders, came in touch with the French, and being
to windward with the wind N.E., formed his fleet
in line abreast and bore down upon the enemy, who
were proceeding across his front with their van
converging somewhat towards his right and their
centre inclined to bulge outwards. Tourville
awaited the attack in single column line ahead, with
fore-topsails aback or nearly motionless.
The movement of the allies in line abreast
72

EUSTON HALL AND CHURCH (1717)
From an old drawing

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
resulted in an irregular and ill-concerted approach ;
the Dutch on the right were the first in action with
the French van, but Torrington failed to attack
vigorously with the centre, " refusing " it with a
view, it is supposed, to arrest any design ofthe French
to double on his rear. " If that were his purpose,"
says Mahan, " his plan, though tolerably conceived,
was faulty in detail," its only effect being to create
a large gap in his line, separating him not only from
the Dutch, now hotly engaged, but from his own
starboard vessels under Ashby. Meanwhile Tour-
viUe made the most of the want of pressure on the
rest of his line to send six of his ships ahead, when
they went about and placed the Dutch between two
fires. Grafton, whose position was towards the
right of the centre, had with his usual impetuosity
outstripped his consorts, and, under all the sail he
could carry, now found himself with one other ship
practically isolated. Without a moment's pause,
satisfied that he could not do better than put his
ship into the flash and fury of the battle, he hauled
to the wind and went to the assistance of the sorely
pressed Dutch, bursting upon the enemy's ships,
which now surrounded them, with headlong onset
and fine tactical audacity. One captain followed
him, and their intervention undoubtedly saved from
73 ^2

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
destruction what remained of the Dutch squadron.
Happily the wind fell to a dead calm, and the allied
ships, knowing the direction of the tides better than
their opponents, had the inspiration to anchor with
sails set, when the strength of the ebb, which was
setting S.W., carried the French out of action.
Tourville finally anchored a league from the enemy.
With the flood the allied fleet stood to the east.
Tourville proved too circumspect in his pursuit,
preferring to maintain his line instead of ordering a
general chase, when many of the allied ships must
have been captured. It was his first general action
as Commander-in-Chief ; he had won what an
English expert on board the flagship called the most
complete naval victory ever gained, and, like Hotham,
a century later, but with much more reason, thought
that he had done enough. Tourville, however,
amply vindicated his claim to be a great commander
when, a year later, with a force half the strength of
the allies, he came out of the Battle of La Hogue
without the loss of a single ship.
Torrington took his fleet into the Thames and
evaded further pursuit by removing the buoys : he
had lost sixteen ships and the French one. Among
the slain on board the flagship was Torrington's
favourite dog, which prompted the irreverent to
74

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
say the dog died like an admiral but the admiral
Uved like a dog.
There was little to gratify English pride in the
event, and public applause at once fastened upon
Grafton as the hero of the day. Lady Nottingham,
wife of the second Earl, at that time Secretary of
State, writing to her father, Lord Hatton, declared
ecstatically that he had won immortal glory. John
Verney, who was present, in a letter to his father.
Sir Ralph, says : " The Dutch could not keep so
near the wind to the East, so the enemy ships lay
upon them ; seven of them were disabled and one
they sank themselves, but they took out three boat
loads of men. The Duke of Grafton gave them
great assistance ; the Duke and one Captain Dorvell
fought most bravely. I've thought we fought at
too great distance ; the enemy's brass guns carry
further than our iron ones."
On the evening of the day of the action a news
letter from Dover states : " The Duke of Grafton
reports that if the whole fleet had engaged, we had
certainly beaten the French."
It is interesting to speculate what might have
happened if William had shown the boldness, or
perhaps the magnanimity, to give Grafton the
supreme command : we may at least feel sure that
75

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
the only conflict which stains the annals of the long
maritime struggle with France would have had a
different result. Charnock sums up Grafton's con
tribution to the fight in these words : "He distin
guished himself during this unfortunate and unequal
conflict in no less eminent a degree than might well
be expected from a man of his well-known courage
and gallantry."
Torrington was deprived of the command and
committed to the Tower. He was eventually tried
by court martial and obtained a verdict of acquittal,
but was never employed again. The evidence was
of the usual contradictory character. John Neville,
commanding the Sovereign, which carried Torring
ton's flag, said in evidence : " About eleven we saw
some French ships had weathered the Dutch. I
asked the Admiral whether he would suffer them to
weather him also. He answered, not if he could
help it, and ordered the fore-tack aboard and that
we should luff to the eastward : by these means we
got to w^indward of the Grafton and hardly cleared
the Albemarle." It was also affirmed on behalf of
the Admiral that during part of the action he was
engaged at half cannon shot. On the other hand,
suspicions were entertained of disloyal conduct.
One contemporary letter says roundly : "As soon
76

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON WITH HER SON
From the picture at Euston

DYNASTIC REVOLUTION
as the Dutch ships engaged, it feU calm and the rest
of the Fleet could not come up to assist them. Our
Fleet was separated by design and treachery."
Grafton's services were recognised, as we shall
see later, by an autograph letter from WilUam,
which seems to have been expressed with more
warmth than that frigid person generally allowed
himself. Popular appreciation was displayed by a
paragraph in the London news letter of July 12th :
" It is believed that the Duke of Grafton, Sir R.
Haydock and Sir John Ashby are to exercise the
office of Admiral on Commission."
That, however, was not to be, perhaps fortun
ately, though two months later, when a naval expedi
tion was despatched to Ireland with the military
forces assigned for the reduction of Cork and Kin-
sale under Marlborough, Grafton was entrusted
with the command of a part of the fleet, and ChurchiU
paid him the compliment of selecting his ship for his
own quarters and issued his orders therefrom.

77

IV
Epitaph of Fame
THE shadows are now about to draw over the
brilliant career we have been at some pains to
depict. After Grafton had spent a fortnight with
his wife at Euston, the last episode opens with an
entry in Evelyn's diary of August ist. " The Duke
of Grafton came to visite me, going to his ship at
the mouth of the river on his way to Ireland, where
he was slain." The ship, after the hard knocks
received in the late battle, was undergoing a complete
overhaul and her captain threw himself into the work
of preparing her for sea with his customary energy.
This completed, he joined the rest of the fleet at
Portsmouth, where it was detained by contrary
winds for some time. William had meanwhile
retumed to London, where the call of the situation
on the Continent created by the League of Augsburg
required his presence. His impatience to see the
results of the Boyne completed in the south-west of
Ireland is reflected in a message from Marlborough
dated October i6th, on board H.M.S. Grafton, to
78

EPITAPH OF FAME
the Admirals of the Fleet, Haydock, Killigrew and
Ashby : " Ordered by the King to send him express
intelligence of the time appointed for the sailing of
the Fleet from St. Ellins " (three miles S.E. from
Spithead). " On receiving this intelligence H.M.
will send immediately to Ireland."
A change of wind enabled the fleet to sail on the
1 8th ; two days later the expedition arrived before
Cork. Grafton's fiery spirit scorned detention on board
while there was stern work to be done ashore, and
he at once placed his services as a volunteer at the
disposal of the Commander-in-Chief, a step most
welcome to Marlborough, who knew his value as a
leader. On the 23 rd he headed the troops landed
at Passage, which commanded the approaches to the
city. This position seized, and " being come next
day within a mile of the Town of Cork, they began,"
says Kennett, " to mount their cannon and to lay
formal siege." Marlborough pressed the attack
with the utmost vigour, outwork after outwork fell
in quick succession, and on the 28th a breach in the
main defences was declared practicable. Grafton,
with several naval officers, inspired by his influence,
took their place among the stormers. It was a
desperate service, as the advance had to be made
79

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
through a waterlogged bog known as the Rape
Marsh, now the seat of some of the principal build
ings in the city. As the story is told in Kennett's
history, " the Grenadiers led the van and marched
forward with incredible bravery, having an example
of glory set them by the Duke of Grafton."
In spite of the heavy fire now concentrated on
the column, the four EngUsh regiments detailed for
the assault, up to their shoulders in water, pressed
on to the foot of the breach. " Grafton, ever fore
most in danger," to cite Macaulay, " while struggling
through the quagmire was struck by a shot from the
ramparts and carried back desperately wounded."
A musket ball had broken two ribs and penetrated
the body.
The work, however, was done, for the attack in
which he had so brilliantly shared accomplished
the surrender of the city, as soon as the breach was
reached. Four thousand men laid down their arms.
Within an hour of the capitulation, with such
tremendous momentum did Marlborough carry on
war, his cavalry were half way to Kinsale.
But for the hero of this record, with whom the
end left no jewel wanting to his pride, time was now
over. The last honour bestowed upon him living,
which indeed he was never able to accept, was the
80

EUSTON HALL, WEST FRONT (1717)
From an old drawing

EPITAPH OF FAME
command of the naval forces left on the Irish coast,
a tardy gift from the Sovereign he had served so
well. His death, however, brought to light one act
of reparation from the royal hand. Dr. Clarke,
from 1680 — 1736 Fellow of All Souls and for the
last twenty years of his life M.P. for the University
of Oxford, whose autobiography contains many
details of these times, reveals that he was told by
Lord Inchiquin (the Lord O'Brien of the Mediter
ranean cruise), " who was with the Duke when he
fell and had the perusing of his papers after his
death, that he found a most kind letter of the King's
to him upon occasion of his behaviour in the sea
fight of Beachy Head, when he acted as a private
captain tho' before the Revolution he had been Vice-
Admiral of England and would, if he had lived, have
made a great figure in our naval affairs." It is
significant that this letter was not made public in
the Duke's lifetime, a trait of reticence in personal
matters which fits in with the estimate of fine
character we are permitted to form.
A more substantial act of royal bounty, which
belongs to the same year, lay in the grant to the
Duke of a piece of land extending from St. James's
Street to the Park, and from the Palace to Park
Place, for the sale of which his son and successor
81

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
obtained an act of Parliament in order to discharge
the liabilities of his marriage settlement.
The life of one Joseph Pike sheds a curious side
light upon the popular feeling for Grafton's part in
these operations, besides affording evidence of the
resolution of the defence. Pike appears to have
come to Cork to attend a meeting of the Society of
Friends, a moment obviously ill-chosen, and betrays
much anxiety at the prospect of the town being
taken by assault. " The siege," he says, " presently
came on ; for the Governor would not surrender
on summons : the paving of the streets were pulled
up to deaden the bombs of which many fell in the
town. The cannon from without roared, and they
made a breach in the wall on the east side towards
South Gate. The Duke of Grafton commanded
the marines and approached to Dunscombe Marsh
over the river, intending to storm the breach ; and
in all human probability would have carried the town,
but that he was mortally wounded from the walls
and died in about a week."
For a time contradictory rumours were rife as to
the state of the wounded man. A report brought
by the captain of the Greyhound frigate to Milford
Haven states : " It is much to be feared that the
Duke of Grafton is dead, there being letters that
82

EPITAPH OF FAME
mention it particularly." On the other hand, a
news letter of about the same date declares : " Mr.
Hutton is also arrived from Cork, who says he left
the Duke of Grafton on Sunday night so well that
he could walk about the streets," and so late as
October 14th a ship reached Plymouth confirming
this report. It was not, however, to be ; the surgery
of that date was not equal to the task, with all the
vitality contributed by the patient. Authentic in
formation contained in a news letter of October 13th,
set all doubt at rest in these terms : " The last
advice from Ireland dated the loth (he died on the
9th) gave a full account of the death of the Duke of
Grafton and the great remorse and penitence he had
before his death, being sensible for two days before
it would ensue." A news-letter of November 6th
brings the sorrowful tale to a close. " The Grafton
arrived from Ireland the ist, and on the 2nd the
Duke's corpse was brought into port by a smack
under mourning colours and received by Mr. Hugh
Morris, a gentleman belonging to the family." Thus
in the vessel which bore his name and, in the end, had
the baptism of his blood, the hero's body was restored
to the land which on both elements he had fought so
resolutely to defend, there to receive the homage pre
pared by a people's love to consecrate a nation's loss.
83

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
All contemporary evidence goes to show that his
death, like his life, impressed the popular imagina
tion and was the occasion of widespread and demon
strative grief. He had that daredevil charm which
disturbs the circumspect ceremonial of life with the
recklessness of high emprise.
No thought of his own safety ever troubled his
courage, no counsel of caution ever compromised
his valour : his disposition was as generous as com
bative ; the hazards of conflict were the inspiration
to action, the risks of enterprise the ransom of tame-
ness. No life was possible that did not present the
large opportunities of adventure, no death could
satisfy whose setting fell short of a challenge to the
highest achievement. And so in the absence of the
last phase, the heroic pitch of this hazardous life
would have been without complement and comple
tion. His was one of those natures which in
moments of extreme peril burst into their fullest
flower. Audacity then breathed its native air.' And
with it all, that touch of chivalrous self-abnegation
so necessary to the ideal of knightly service.
There was something of the " esprit empan-
ache " about him, inherited from a long line of French
ancestors, which but a century before had blossomed
in the headlong charge of Henry of Navarre.
84

CHARLES SECOND DUKE OF GRAFTON
From the picture by Hoare in the National Portrait Gallery

EPITAPH OF FAME
It is this popular strain in his character and
exploits to which the rude ballad-makers of the day
responded in their efforts to celebrate his death and
funeral ; and so they fashioned the simple garlands
of poesy hung upon his bier. Two of the most
notable are printed below from the copies, one sadly
mutilated, in the British Museum.
As popular elegiacs these lines from the more
complete are not wanting in the note of personal
grief, nor in some felicity of phrase :
" And he whose eyes bedew his sacred Urn
Each pious drop into a Pearl will turn
To adorn his Hearse. But he, who none can vent,
Doth bring more marble to his monument.
Him Heaven a Pattern did for Heroes form,
Quick in advice and eager to perform.
In counsel calm, fierce as a storm in fight.
Danger his Sport and Labour his delight ;
To him the Fleet and Camp, the Sea and Field,
Did equal harvest of bright glory 3deld."
Grafton's remains were laid to rest at Euston, in
the Uttle church (now full of mural tributes to his
descendants) which the care of Arlington had be
stowed on the home he loved, but not before the
people of the metropolis had been given the oppor
tunity of paying homage to an illustrious memory.
A stately pageant, with all the pompous accessories
85

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
of equipage and ceremonial wherein the age delighted
was organised for the reception of the embalmed
body at Westminster Abbey, where the office for the
dead was attended by Queen Mary, Regent of the
kingdom, the great Officers of State, the Knights of
the Garter and representatives of the two Services
which the valour of the fallen had adorned and
sustained.
" The Valiant never taste of death but once." fulius Cessar.
The Noble Funeral of that Renowned
Champion
THE DUKE OF GRAFTON,
who was SLAIN AT THE SIEGE OF CORK AND ROYALLY
INTERRED IN WESTMINSTER AbBEY.^
To the tune of " Fond Boy " or " Love's a Sweet Passion."
As two men was walking down by the seaside
And the rare Duke of Grafton was shot in his side.
They stepped unto him, and thus did they say :
" Oh, the rare Duke of Grafton is now cast away " :
They sent him to Portsmouth with Royal Renown,
And thence to fair London, being near the crown.
1 stanzas four and six are too mutilated for reproduction.
86

EPITAPH OF FAME
They divided his bowels and laid at his feet.
Whilst they embalmed his body with spices so
sweet
Six weeks together they kept him from the clay.
While the nobles appointed his funeral day.
Twelve lords went before him, six bore him to
ground,
While the drums and the trumpet did solemnly
sound.
In Westminster Abbey, it's now called by name,
The rare Duke of Grafton was bury'd in Fame,
They sighed and sobbed and spent their whole day
While our gracious Queen Mary came weeping
away.
When the rare Duke of Grafton lay deep in the
clay,
Then his soldiers went wandering every way.
But Death, that grim King, now hath took him
away
And left us in sorrow and sadness this day,
And sent him a while for to lye in the dust.
Till angels shall place him with saints 'mongst the
just.
Then let the brave Actions and Deeds be extoU'd
Of the stout Duke of Grafton, that champion bold.
87

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
Elegy on the Death of his Grace the Duke
OF Grafton.
October 27th, 1690.
When first around our Isle the News was spread
(Ah, dismal news !) the noble Duke was dead,
Such was the sudden Transport of our fears.
We were unwilling to believe our Ears ;
But when the confirmation of it came, —
Ah, doleful News ! Ah, dismal word of Fame ! —
Like men entranced we stood, and in a maze
With ghostly eyes did on each other gaze.
But he is gone 
And he whose Eyes bedew his sacred Urn,
Each pious drop into a Pearl will turn
To adorn his Hearse : But he who none can vent,
Doth bring more marble to his Monument.
Him Heav'n a Pattern did for Heroes form.
Quick in advice and eager to perform ;
In counsel calm, fierce as a Storm in Fight ;
Danger his sport and Labour his delight ;
To him the Fleet and Camp, the Sea and Field,
Did equal Harvests of bright glory yield.
Who can forget how valiantly, how free.
He did assert the empire of the Sea.
88

EPITAPH OF FAME
The Gallic Fleet endeavour'd but in vain
The tempest of his fury to sustain ;
Shattered and torn before his Flag they flew.
Like Doves that the exalted Eagle view.
Ready to stoop and seize them from on high.
With all the wings of fear and haste do fly.
The glorious feats this valiant Duke hath done
Has England's highest admiration won ;
And though in deepest grief we mourn him gon.
We may rejoice that he was ours so long.
And if the Immortal dead do see or know
The various actions of mankind below,
Sure his bright soul with kind concern looks down
And breathes auspicious wishes to the Crown.
How blest were we, had we the blessing known
When we had Princely Grafton for our own ;
But Heaven, that we our mighty Happiness
Might truly understand, did make it less
And did his noble soul from us remove
To swell the number of the Bless'd above.
Ye partial Heavens, must Princely Heroes thus,
Though they have lived like Gods, yet die like us ?
Patience in endless evils must be shown.
But oh ! such grief as this admits of none.
In vain we Hope and Sigh, in vain we Pray,
If what we love must thus be torn away ;
89 g2

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
But we confess with Grief that Princes' Breath
Is frail like ours, like us they stoop to Death ;
And we must own how fondly we began
To fancy Grafton somewhat more than man.
'Twas he whose flaming courage did disdain
The slow advances of a vulgar man ;
His early years in bloody wars did show
What riper age might for his country do.
'Twas he who did in raging Fire and Storms
Defend the Crown our Gracious King adorns ;
'Twas he made the Irish Rebels quake
And trembling French their trenches to forsake.
But ah ! he's gone 
Excelling Prince, oh, once our Joy and Care,
Now our eternal Grief and deep Despair,
Whither were all those careful angels fled
That were entmsted with thy sacred Head ?
Where were they then ? how did they misemploy
Their time, when thou didst on thy Death-bed ly
And bow'd thy head to awful Destiny !
Impartial Death like Tarquin's wand,
The soonest reaches those that highest stand.
Letting ignoble useless shrubs alone
And strikes the stately, full-grown Poppy down.
But when a noble Heroe yields to Fate,
Then sorrow rises in the greatest state ;
90

EPITAPH OF FAME
The suUen'st Mortal then wiU shed a Tear
As death in all its grandeur doth appear.
But oh ! I've done, for whilst to mind I call
His Godlike worth, the Tears like rivers fall
From my swell'd Eyes, half languished now with
cares.
Shaded with grief and almost quench'd in Tears.

91

NOTE
Isabella Duchess of Grafton
(1690— 1723)
THIS record is hardly complete without a note
on the later life of the widowed Duchess, who
after her husband's death seems to have lived by
inclination aloof from the public eye. Three years
passed before her attentive friend Evelyn has any
thing to say of her. On June nth, 1693, there
occurs the brief entry : " I din'd at Sir W° Godol
phin's and after evening prayer visited the Dutchesse
of Grafton." In December of the same year he
notes : " The Dutchesse of Grafton's appeal to the
House of Lords for the Prothonotaries place given
to the late Duke and her son by King Charles, now
challenged by the Lord Chief Justice. The judges
were severely reproved on something they said."
The case appears to have attracted considerable
attention, for Lord Russell, afterwards second Duke
of Bedford, writing to his sister Lady Roos,^ says :
" For this week there has been no talking of any-
^ Afterwards second Duchess of Rutland.
92

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON
thing but of the Duchesse of Grafton's and my Lord
Chief Justice's cause which has been before the
House of Lords, and where I was three or four times,
and there was every day the D"^ of Grafton and
the D''* of Ormond, but this day (December 21st)
the D''^ of Grafton and the Lord Chief Justice
have agreed and the D^'^ is to have ;£ 1,500."
The matter is thus described in a series of news
letters among the Denbigh MSS., addressed by a
certain Frenchman to a correspondent at the Hague,
and seems at one time to have threatened a constitu
tional crisis of some gravity.
" II y aun grand procez commence entre la belle
Duchesse de Grafton and my Lord Chef de Justice ,
dont les mal intentionnez se servent pour tacher de
forme une brouillerie entre les deux chambres
touchant leurs privileges." The Chief Justice, he
proceeds, had gained his cause before three of his
colleagues, but on appeal to the House of Lords,
" il est survenu un incident qui donne occasion au
Chef de Justice de dire que c'est une affaire originelle
et que les Seigneurs ne peu-vent n'y ne doivent en
conoitre sans faire prejudice au droit de peuple
represente dans la chambre des Communes. . . .
Sur le premier examen il y a eu une division parmy
les Seigneurs 43 contre 28 qui n'a pas ete favorable
93

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
au trois juges, car on a ete sur le point de les envoyer
a la tour."
A week later he resumes : " L 'affaire de la
Duchesse de Grafton dont je vous ecrit le com
mencement occupe depuis trois jours la Chambre
des Seigneurs jusques a huit heures du soir et on
ne I'a pas encore finie." Referring again to the
malicious intentions to embroil the two branches of
the legislature, he declares " On n'y reussira pas,"
and adds, " My Lord Portland par ordre de Roi a
tache d'accommoder le different mais le Chef de
Justice n'y a pas encore voulu consentir." It seems
from what Lord Russell says, the parties ultimately
agreed to go halves.
A couplet in the poems of George Granville,i
afterwards Lord Lansdowne, thus describes the
plaintiff's appearance during the proceedings :
" Secure she looks, as certain none can see
Such beauty plead and not her captive be."
Although Evelyn lived for another twelve years
and kept up his diary to the end, no further mention
is made of the Duchess. Even her remarriage in
October, 1698, to Sir Thomas Hanmer, passes
unnoticed. The fourth holder of a Welsh baronetcy,
1 Grandson of Sir Bevil Granville, who fell in the arms of victory
on Lansdowne Hill, Bath, July 5th, 1643.
94

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON
he represented Thetford, Flintshire and Suffolk in
Parliament 1701 — 1727, and in the year 17 13 was
unanimously elected Speaker for the last Parliament
of Queen Anne. He was well known as a man of
literary tastes, of which his edition of Shakespeare
is the most abiding memorial.
A select and cultivated society gathered around
them at Euston, and that favoured spot spread its
ample lawns and grateful shade for the enjoyment
of those who loitered in good company along the
placid waterways.
The Duchess's charm did not yield to the jealous
years, and up to her death on February 7th, 1723,
at the age of fifty-five, she retained the strong regard
and admiration of her friends and preserved to the
last a character for all the virtuous graces of spirit
and conduct.
Before her life closed she saw her son Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland (August, 1721 — August, 1723) :
he took to Dublin, as Chaplain, and in the following
year appointed to the deanery of Dromore, one
whose fame, as Bishop Berkeley, was to become
memorable among British philosophers. The Duke
had to deal with the national ferment arising out of
the patent for Wood's halfpence and left it to be
composed by the stronger hand of Carteret. Subse-
95

HENRY DUKE OF GRAFTON
quently he held office of Lord Chamberlain for
thirty-three years, until indeed his death in 1757,
being a member ex officio, as was then the custom, of
every cabinet during that period. He also acted as
one of the Lords Justices of the Kingdom upon
each occasion of the Sovereign quitting the realm.
As Lord Chamberlain he was induced by Walpole,
who had been lampooned in the " Beggar's Opera," to
forbid the representation of its sequel, a play entitled
" Polly," but he redeemed this act of harshness
when later in concert with Garrick he was instru
mental in bringing to London a famous French
company and, the venture not proving a financial
success, he met the loss out of his own pocket.
In his day was founded the Grafton Hunt,
which for two centuries has maintained fox-hunting
in South Northamptonshire. It was in Whittlewood
Forest that Princess Amelia, the King's second
daughter, established herself for the sport, and the
Duke, whose wife, a sister of the second Duke of
Beaufort, had died in 1726, was credited by the
scandalmongers of the day with the possession of
the lady's intimate friendship.
He acquired a remarkable influence over
George II. by his shrewd judgment and jesting
treatment of politics and enjoyed the King's con-
96

ISABELLA DUCHESS OF GRAFTON
fidence to a fuller extent than any contemporary
statesman. " Though," says Lord Waldegrave, " he
had never applied himself to business and as to
books was totaUy illiterate, yet from long observa
tion and great natural sagacity, he became the ablest
courtier of his time with the most perfect knowledge
both of King and ministers." He was the god
father of Horace Walpole and earned the bitter
hatred of John Lord Hervey.

97

INDEX

Algiers, 49
Arlington, Earl of, 2, 6, 13, 43
Augsburg, League of, 78
Barton, Captain, 32
Berry, Sir John, 9
Bertie, Charles, 39
Bertie, Peregrine, 44, 45, 55
Berwick, Duke of, 63, 68
" Biographia Navalis," 60
Bridge, Sir Thomas, 29
Bridgewater, 37
Burnet, Bishop, 55
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 57
Catherine, Queen, 58
Charles II. , 7, 9, 14, 17
death of, 19
Churchill, Lord, 29, 32, 42, 62,
66
Clarendon, Earl of, 40
Cleaveland, Duchess of, 5, 6
Compton, Sir Francis, 37
Cr6qui, Mar6chal de France, 14,
16
Danby, Earl of, 4
Dartmouth, Lord, 11, 34, 43,
48, 56, 63, 67, 71
Devizes, 33
DorveU, Cptn., 75
Essex, Lady, 63
Euston, 43, 85
Evelyn, John, 2, 6, 13, 43, 93

Feversham, Earl of, 27, 31, 33
Fitzharding, Lord, 32

Fitzjames, James, 50 — 53
Fookes, Colonel, 39
Grafton, Henry Duke of —
birth, I
marriage, 2
visit to Paris, 5
confirmation of marriage, 6
naval education, 9
Master of Trinity House,
II
Vice-Admiral of England,
II
birth of son, 10
at Siege of Luxemburg,
High Constable, 26
at Sedgemoor, 38
seat in Parhament, 43
duels, 44 — 46
command in Mediterra
nean, 48
entertained by King of
Portugal, 50
vote for Regent, 65
adheres to Prince of
Orange, 16
deprived of command, 69
returned to sea, 69
action ofi Beachy Head,
73
leads troops near Cork, 79
death in action, 82
Grafton, Charles Duke of, 95 —
97
Grafton, Duchess of, 2, 7, 13,
43. 93. 94
Grafton Hunt, 95

99

INDEX

Grey, Lord, 37
Gwynn, Francis, 68
Halifax, Marquis of, 57
Hanmer, Sir Thomas, 93
Holmes, Colonel, 39
Hopton Heath, 37
Inchiquin, Lord, 81
[See also O'Brien.)
Ireland, 70
James II. —
unpopularity of, 55
attempts to recover lost
ground, 56
flight of, 68
Keynsham, 28
" Life of James II. ," 60
" Life of Joseph Pike," 81
Louis XIV., 5, 14 — 19
Luxemburg, Siege of, 14, etc.
Malaga, 53
Malta, 53
Marlborough, Duke of, 77, 79
(See also Churchill.)
Messina, 53
Monmouth, Duke of —
disgrace of, 8
bid for the crown, 26
rout at Sedgemoor, 33 — 38
execution, 40
Montagu, Lord, 5
Neuburg, Maria Sophia of, 49
Norfolk, Duke of, 57
Northumberland, Duke of, 67
Norton St. PhiUp, 27, 29, 30, 33

Nottingham, Countess of, 75
O'Brien, Lord, 50, 51
Oglethorpe, Colonel, 27, 33, 36,
38
Orange, Prince of, 63, 66, 67
coronation, 69
expedition to Ireland, 70
Ormond, Duke of, 57, 67
Oxford, Earl of, 27
Pedro II. , King of Portugal,
49—51 „ „
Pembroke, Earl of, 28
Pepys, Samuel, 21, 43, 61
PhiUps Norton. See Norton
St. Philip.
Portman, Sir WilUam, 32
Portsmouth, surrender of, 68
Powlett, Katherine, 62
Preston, Lord, 14, 17
Sedgemoor, battle of, 27
Shrewsbury, Earl of, 44
Strangridge, Colonel, 32
Sunderland, Anne Countess of,
58
Tangier, 48
Torrington, Viscount, 70 — 76
Tourville, Count de, 52, 70 —
74
Tripoli, 53
Tunis, 53
Verney, John, 4, 75
Warminster, 33
Wentworth, Lady Harriett, 40
Westbury, 33

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