the necessity of frequent meetings together, for
which taverns were the most secure places, had
spread itself very far in that classis of men, as well
as upon other parts of the nation, in all counties;
and had exceedingly weakened the parts, and broken
the understandings of many, who had formerly com-
petent judgments, and had been in all respects fit for
any trust ; and had prevented the growth of parts
in many young men, who had good affections, but
had been from their entering into the world so cor-
rupted with that excess, and other license of the
time, that they only made much noise, and, by their
extravagant and scandalous debauches, brought
many calumnies and disestimation upon that cause
which they pretended to advance.
which taverns were the most secure places, had
spread itself very far in that classis of men, as well
as upon other parts of the nation, in all counties;
and had exceedingly weakened the parts, and broken
the understandings of many, who had formerly com-
petent judgments, and had been in all respects fit for
any trust ; and had prevented the growth of parts
in many young men, who had good affections, but
had been from their entering into the world so cor-
rupted with that excess, and other license of the
time, that they only made much noise, and, by their
extravagant and scandalous debauches, brought
many calumnies and disestimation upon that cause
which they pretended to advance.
Edward Hyde - Earl of Clarendon
Y
322 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. upon, from their own sufferings or those of their
fathers, and their constant adhering to the same
principles, as of the king's party; who with joy
waited to kiss his hand, and were received by him
with those open arms and flowing expressions of
grace, calling all those by their names who were
known to him, that they easily assured themselves
of the accomplishment of all their desires from such
a generous prince. And some of them, that they
might not lose the first opportunity, forced him to
give them present audience, in which they reckoned
up the insupportable losses undergone by themselves
or their fathers, and some services of their own ; and
thereupon demanded the present grant or promise
of such or such an office. Some, for the real small
value of one, though of the first classis, pressed for
two or three with such confidence and importunity,
and with such tedious discourses, that the king was
extremely nauseated with their suits, though his
modesty knew not how to break from them ; that
he no sooner got into his chamber, which for some
hours he was not able to do, than he lamented the
condition to which he found he must be subject ;
and did in truth from that minute contract such a
prejudice against the persons of some of those, though
of the greatest quality, for the indecency and incon-
gruity of their pretences, that he never afterwards
received their addresses with his usual grace or
patience, and rarely granted any thing they desired,
though the matter was more reasonable, and the
manner of asking much more modest.
Monk re- B u t there was another mortification, which im-
commends . .
a list of mediately succeeded this, that gave him much more
Si? ! * the trouble, and in which he knew not how to comport
king.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 323
himself. The general, after he had given all neces- 1 660.
sary orders to his troops, and sent a short despatch ~~
to the parliament of the king's being come to Can-
terbury, and of his purpose to stay there two days,
till the next Sunday was passed, he came to the
king in his chamber, and in a short secret audience,
and without any preamble or apology, as he was not
a man of a graceful elocution, he told him, " that he
" could not do him better service, than by recom-
" mending to him such persons who were most
" grateful to the people, and in respect of their
" parts and interests were best able to serve him;"
and thereupon gave him a large paper full of names,
which the king in disorder enough received, and
without reading put it into his pocket, that he
might not enter into any particular debate upon the
persons ; and told him, " that he would be always
" ready to receive his advice, and willing to gratify
" him in any thing he should desire, and which
" would not be prejudicial to his service. " The .
king, as soon as he could, took an opportunity,
when there remained no more in his chamber, to
inform the chancellor of the first assaults he had
encountered as soon as he alighted out of his coach,
and afterwards of what the general had said to him ;
and thereupon took the paper out of his pocket and
read it. It contained the names of at least three-
score and ten persons, who were thought fittest to
be made privy counsellors; in the whole number
whereof, there were only two who had ever served
the king, or been looked upon as zealously affected
to his service, the marquis of Hertford and the earl
of Southampton ; who were both of so universal
reputation and interest, and so well known to have
Y 2
324 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. the very particular esteem of the king, that they
"needed no such recommendation. All the rest were
either those counsellors who had served the king,
and deserted him by adhering to the parliament ; or
of those who had most eminently disserved him in
the beginning of the rebellion, and in the carrying
it on with all fierceness and animosity, until the new
model, and dismissing the earl of Essex : then, in-
deed, Cromwell had grown terrible to them, and
disposed them to wish the king were again possessed
of his regal power ; and which they did but wish.
There were then the names of the principal persons
of the presbyterian party, to which the general was
thought to be most inclined, at least to satisfy the
foolish and unruly inclinations of his wife. There
were likewise the names of some who were most
notorious in all the other factions ; and of some who,
in respect of their mean qualities and meaner quali-
fications, nobody could imagine how they could come
to be named, except that by the very odd mixture
any sober and wise resolutions and concurrence
might be prevented,
with which The king was in more than ordinary confusion
he is dis-
pleased, with the reading this paper, and knew not well
what to think of the general, in whose absolute
power he now was. However, he resolved in the
entrance upon his government not to consent to
such impositions, which might prove perpetual fet-
ters and chains upon him ever after. He gave the
paper therefore to the chancellor, and bade him
" take the first opportunity to discourse the matter
" with the general," (whom he had not yet saluted,)
" or rather with Mr. Morrice, his most intimate
" friend ;" whom he had newly presented to the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 325
king, and " with both whom he presumed he would 1660.
" shortly be acquainted," though for the present ~~
both were equally unknown to him. Shortly after,
when mutual visits had passed between them, and
such professions as naturally are made between per-
sons who are like to have much to do with each
other, and Mr. Morrice being in private with him,,
the chancellor told him " how much the king was
" surprised with the paper he had received from the
" general, which at least recommended (and which
" would have always great authority with him) some
" such persons to his trust, in whom he could not
" yet, till they were better known to him, repose
" any confidence. " And thereupon he read many of
their names, and said, " that if such men were made
" privy counsellors, it would either be imputed to
" the king's own election, which would cause a very
" ill measure to be taken of his majesty's nature and
" judgment ; or (which more probably would be the
" case) to the inclination and power of the general,
" which would be attended with as ill effects. " Mr.
Morrice seemed much troubled at the apprehension,,
and said, " the paper was of his handwriting, by the
" general's order, who, he was assured, had no such
" intention ; but that he would presently speak with
" him and return ;" which he did within less than
an hour, and expressed " the trouble the general
"was in upon the king's very just exception; and
" that the truth was, he had been obliged to have
" much communication with men of all humours
" and inclinations, and so had promised to do them
" good offices to the king, and could not therefore
" avoid inserting their names in that paper, without
" any imaginations that the king would accept them;
Y 3
326 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. "that he had done his part, and all that could be
~ " expected from him, and left the king to do what
" he had thought best for his own service, which he
" would always desire him to do, whatever proposi-
" tion he should at any time presume to make to his
" majesty, which he would not promise should be al-
" ways reasonable. However, he did still heartily
" wish that his majesty would make use of some of
" those persons," whom he named, and said, " he
" knew most of them were not his friends, and that
" his service would be more advanced by admitting
" them, than by leaving them out. "
was abundantly pleased with this good
Monk's ex- temper of the general, and less disliked those who
he discerned would be grateful to him than any of
the rest : and so the next day he made the general
knight of the garter, and admitted him of the coun-
cil ; and likewise at the same time gave the signet
to Mr. Morrice, who was sworn of the council, and
secretary of state ; and sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,
who had been presented by the general under a spe-
cial recommendation, was then too sworn of the
council ; and the rather, because having lately mar-
ried the niece of the earl of Southampton, (who was
then likewise present, and received the garter, to
which he had been elected some years before,) it was
believed that his slippery humour would be easily
. restrained and fixed by the uncle. All this was
transacted during his majesty's stay at Canterbury.
SUm'hlnt Upon the 29th of May, which was his majesty's
entry into birthday, and now d the day of his restoration and
triumph, he entered London the highway from Ro-
d now] now again
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 327
Chester to Blackheath, being on both sides so full of 1660.
acclamations of joy, and crowded with such a multi-~
tude of people, that it seemed one continued street
wonderfully inhabited. Upon Blackheath the arm^
was drawn up, consisting of above fifty thousand
men, horse and foot, in excellent order and equi-
page, where the general presented the chief officers
to kiss the king's hands, which grace they seemed to
receive with all humility and cheerfulness. Shortly
after, the lord mayor of London, the sheriffs, and
body of the aldermen, with the whole militia of the
city, appeared with great lustre ; whom the king
received with a most graceful and obliging counte-
nance, and knighted the mayor, and all the alder-
men, and sheriffs, and the principal officers of the
militia : an honour the city had been without near
eighteen years, and therefore abundantly welcome
to the husbands and their wives. With this equi-
page the king was attended through the city of
London, where the streets were railed in on both
sides, that the livery of the e companies of the city
might appear with the more order and decency, till
he came to Whitehall ; the windows all the way be-
ing full of ladies and persons of quality, who were
impatient to fill their eyes with a beloved spectacle,
of which they had been so long deprived. The king
was no sooner at Whitehall, but (as hath been said)
the speakers and both houses of parliament pre-
sented themselves with all possible professions of
duty and obedience at his royal feet, and were even
ravished with the cheerful reception they had from
him. The joy was universal ; and whosoever was
e of the] of all the
Y 4
3528 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. not pleased at heart, took the more care to appear
Excessive as ^ ne was ' an( ^ no v i ce was heard but of the
joy upon highest congratulation, of extolling the person of
the restora- &
tion. the king, admiring his condescensions and affability,
raising his praises to heaven, and cursing and de-
testing the memory of those villains who had so
long excluded so meritorious a prince, and thereby
withheld that happiness from them, which they
should enjoy in the largest measure they could de-
sire or wish. The joy on all sides was with the
greatest excess, so that most men thought, and had
reason enough' to think, that the king was even al-
ready that great and glorious prince which the par-
liament had wantonly and hypocritically promised
to raise his father to be.
Both houses The chancellor took his place in the house of peers
menTmeet. with a general acceptation and respect ; and all those
lords who were alive and had served the king his fa-
ther, and the sons of those who were dead and were
equally excluded from sitting there by ordinances of
parliament, together with all those who had been cre-
ated by this king, took their seats in parliament with-
The charac- out the least murmur or exception. The house of
ter of the , . _, . , , . -
house of commons seemed equally constituted to what could
>ns ' be wished ; for though there were many presbyterian
members, and some of all other factions in religion,
who did all promise themselves some liberty and in-
dulgence for their several parties, yet they all pro-
fessed great zeal for the establishing the king in his
full power. And the major part of the house was of
sober and prudent men, who had been long known
to be very weary of all the late governments, and
heartily to desire and pray for the king's return.
And there were many who had either themselves
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 329
been actual and active malignants and delinquents 1660. .
in the late king's time, or the sons of such, who in-"~
herited their fathers virtues. Both which classes of
men were excluded from being capable of being
elected to serve in parliament, not only by former
ordinances, but by express caution in the very writs
which were sent out to summon this parliament ;
and were notwithstanding made choice of, and re-
turned by the country, and received without any
hesitation in the house, and treated by all men with
the more civility and respect for their known malig-
nity : so that the king, though it was necessary to
have patience in the expectations of their resolu-
tions in all important points, which could not sud-
denly be concluded in such a popular assembly, was
very reasonably assured, that he should have nothing
pressed upon him that should be ungrateful, with
reference to the church or state.
It is true, the presbyterians were very numer- Particularly
ous in the house, and many of them men of good byterian^
parts, and had a great party in the army, and a party 1D ltf
greater in the city, and, except with reference to
episcopacy, were desirous to make themselves grate-
ful to the king in the settling all his interest, and
especially in vindicating themselves from the odious
murder of the king by loud and passionate inveigh-
ing against that monstrous parricide, and with the
highest animosity denouncing the severest judg-
ments not only against those who were immediately
guilty of it, but against those principal persons who
had most notoriously adhered to Cromwell in the
administration of his government, that is, most emi-
nently opposed them and their faction. They took
all occasions to declare, " that the power and in-
330 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660- " terest of the party f had been the chief means to
bring home the king;" and used all possible en-
deavours that the king might be persuaded to think
so too, and that the very covenant had at last done
him good and expedited his return, by the causing
it to be hung up -in churches, from whence Crom-
well had cast it out; and their ministers pressing
upon the conscience of all those who had taken it,
" that they were bound by that clause which con-
" cerned the defence of the king's person, to take up
" arms, if need were, on his behalf, and to restore
** him to his rightful government ;" when the very
same ministers had obliged them to take up arms
against the king his father by virtue of that cove-
nant, and to fight against him till they had taken
him prisoner, which produced his murder. This
party was much displeased that the king declared
himself so positively on behalf of episcopacy, and
would hear no , other prayers in his chapel than
those contained in the Book of Common Prayer,
and that all those formalities and solemnities were
now again resumed and practised, which they had
caused to be abolished for so many years past. Yet
the king left all churches to their liberty, to use
such forms of devotion which they liked best ; and
such of their chief preachers who desired it, or were
desired by their friends, were admitted to preach
before him, even without the surplice, or any other
habit than they made choice of. But this conniv-
ance would not do their business; their preaching
made no proselytes who were not so before ; and
the resort of the people to those churches where the
f the party] their party
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 331
Common Prayer was again introduced, was evi- 1660.
dence enough of their inclinations ; and they saw ~~
the king's chapel always full of those who had used
to possess the chief benches in their assemblies ; so
that it was manifest that nothing but the supreme
authority would be able to settle their discipline :
and therefore, with their usual confidence, they were which
very importunate in the house of commons, " that settlement
" the ecclesiastical government might be settled and f j, c ^* ias
" remain according to the covenant, which had been Ternn nt
. according
" practised many years, and so the people generally to the c -
" well devoted to it ; whereas the introducing the
" Common Prayer (with which very few had ever
" been acquainted or heard it read) would very
" much offend the people, and give great interrup-
** tion to the composing the peace of the kingdom. "
This was urged in the house of commons by emi-
nent men of the party, who believed they had the
major part of their mind. And their preachers
were as solicitous and industrious to inculcate the
same doctrine to the principal persons who had re-
turned with the king, and every day resorted to the
court as if they presided there, and had frequent
audiences of the king to persuade him to be of the
same opinion ; from whom they received no other
condescensions than they had formerly had at the
Hague, with the same gracious affability and ex-
pressions to their persons.
That party in the house that was in truth devoted
to the king and to the old principles of church and
of state, which every day increased, thought not fit
so to cross the presbyterians, as to make them despe-
rate in their hopes of satisfaction ; but, with the
concurrence with those who were of contrary fac-
332 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. tions, diverted the argument by proposing other sub-
jects of more immediate relation to the public peace,
(as the act of indemnity, which every man impa-
tiently longed for, and the raising money towards
the payment of the army and the navy, without
which that insupportable charge could not be less-
ened,) to be first considered and despatched ; and
the model for religion to be debated and prepared
by that committee which had been nominated before
his majesty's return to that purpose ; they not doubt-
ing to cross and puzzle any pernicious resolutions
there, till time and their own extravagant follies
should put some end to their destructive designs.
In the mean time there were two particulars
which the king, with much inward impatience,
though with little outward communication, did most
desire ; the disbanding the army, and the settling
the revenue, the course and receipt whereof had
been so broken and perverted, and a great part ex-
tinguished by the sale of all the crown lands, that
the old officers of the exchequer, auditors or re-
ceivers, knew not how to resume their administra-
tions. Besides that the great receipt of excise and
customs was not yet vested in the king ; nor did the
parliament make any haste to assign it, finding it
necessary to reserve it in the old way, and not to
divert it from those assignments which had been
made for the payment of the army and navy ; for
which, until some other provision could be made, it
was to no purpose to mention the disbanding the
one or the other, though the charge of both was so
vast and insupportable, that the kingdom must in a
short time sink under the burden. For what con-
cerned the revenue and raising money, the king
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 333
was less solicitous; and yet there was not so much 1660.
as any assignation made for the support of his~
household, which caused a vast debt to be con-
tracted before taken notice of, the mischief of which
is hardly yet removed. He saw the parliament
every day doing somewhat in it; and it quickly
dissolved all bargains, contracts, and sales, which
had been of any of the crown lands, so that all that
royal revenue (which had been too much wasted and
impaired in those improvident times which had pre-
ceded the troubles) was entirely remitted to those to
whom it belonged, the king and the queen his mo- ^_
ther ; but very little money was returned out of the
same into the exchequer in the space of the first
year: so difficult it was to reduce any payments,
which had been made for so many years irregularly,
into the old channel and order. And every thing
else of this kind was done, how slowly soever, with
as much expedition as from s the nature of the af-
fair, and the crowd in which it was necessary to be
agitated, could h reasonably be expected ; and there-
fore his majesty was less troubled for those incon-
veniences which he foresaw must inevitably flow
from thence.
But the delay in disbanding the army, how una- The nature
111 1*1 1*1 /vi i 11 iilu ' inclina-
voidable soever, did exceedingly afflict him, and the tion of the
more, because for many reasons he could not urge it ari
nor complain of it. He knew well the ill constitu-
tion of the army, the distemper and murmuring that
was in it, and how many diseases and convulsions
their infant loyalty was subject to ; that how united
soever their inclinations and acclamations seemed
8 from] Not in MS. h could] as could
334 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. to be at Blackheath, their affections were not the
same : and the very countenances then of many offi-
cers as well as soldiers did sufficiently manifest, that
they were drawn thither to a service they were not
delighted in. The general, before he had formed
any resolution to himself, and only valued himself
upon the presbyterian interest, had cashiered some
regiments and companies which he knew not to be
devoted to his person and greatness ; and after he
found it necessary to fix his own hopes and depend-
ence upon the king, he had dismissed many officers
who he thought might be willing and able to cross
his designs and purposes when he should think fit to
discover them, and conferred their charges and com-
mands upon those who had been disfavoured by the
late powers ; and after the parliament had declared
for and proclaimed the king, he cashiered others,
and gave their offices to some eminent commanders
who had served the king ; and gave others of the
loyal nobility leave to list volunteers in companies
to appear with them at the reception of the king,
who had all ' l met and joined with the army upon
Blackheath in the head of their regiments and com-
panies : yet, notwithstanding all this providence, the
old soldiers had little regard for their new officers,
at least had no resignation for them ; and it quickly
appeared, by the select and affected mixtures of sul-
len and melancholic parties of officers and soldiers,
that as ill-disposed men of other classes were left as
had been disbanded ; and that much the greater
part so much abounded with ill humours, that it
was not safe to administer a general purgation. It
' who had all] all who had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 335
is true that Lambert was close prisoner in the 1660.
Tower, and as many of those officers who were" 1
taken and had appeared in arms with him when he
was taken were likewise there, or in some other
prisons, with others of the same complexion, who
were well enough known to have the present settle-
ment that was intended in perfect detestation : but
this leprosy was spread too far to have the conta-
gion quickly or easily extinguished. How close
soever Lambert himself was secured from doing
mischief, his faction was at liberty, and very nu-
merous ; his disbanded officers and soldiers mingled
and conversed with their old friends and compan-
ions, and found too many of them possessed with
the same spirit; they concurred in the same re-
proaches and revilings of the general, as the man
who had treacherously betrayed them, and led them
into an ambuscade from whence they knew not how
to disentangle themselves. They looked upon him
as the sole person who still supported his own model,
and were well assured that if he were removed, the
army would be still the same, and appear in their
old retrenchments ; and therefore they entered into
several combinations to assassinate him, which they
resolved to do with the first opportunity. In a
word, they liked neither the mien nor garb nor
countenance of the court, nor were wrought upon
by the gracious aspect and benignity of the king
himself.
All this was well enough known to his majesty,
and to the general, who was well enough acquainted
and not at all pleased with the temper and disposi-
tion of his army, and therefore no less desired it
should be disbanded than the king did. In the
336 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. mean time, very diligent endeavours were used to
~~ discover and apprehend some principal persons, who
took as much care to conceal themselves ; and every
day many dangerous or suspected men of all quali-
ties were imprisoned in all counties : spies were em-
ployed, who for the most part had the same affec-
tions which they were to discover in others, and re-
ceived money on both sides to do, and not to do, the
work they were appointed to do. And in this me-
lancholic and perplexed condition the king and all
his hopes stood, when he appeared most gay and ex-
alted, and wore a pleasantness in his face that be-
came him, and looked like as full an assurance of
his security as was possible to be put on.
Disunion of There was yet added to this slippery and uneasy
the king's . . ,. .
friends. posture of affairs, another mortification, which made
a deeper impression upon the king's spirit than all
the rest, and without which the worst of the other
would have been in some degree remediable; that
was, the constitution and disunion of those who
were called and looked upon as his own party,
which without doubt in the whole kingdom was
numerous enough, and capable of being powerful
enough to give the law to all the rest ; which had
been the ground of many unhappy attempts in the
late time ; that if any present force could be drawn
together, and possessed of any such place in which
they might make a stand without being overrun in
a moment, the general concurrence of the kingdom
would in a short time reduce the army, and make
the king superior to all his enemies ; which imagi-
nation was enough confuted, though not enough ex-
tinguished, by the dearbought. experience in the
woful enterprise at Worcester. However, it had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 337
been now a very justifiable presumption in the king, icco.
to believe as well as hope, that he could not be long ~
in England without such an apparency of his own
party, that wished all that he himself desired, and
such a manifestation of their authority, interest, and
power, that would prevent, or be sufficient to sub-
due, any froward disposition that might grow up in
the parliament, or more extravagant demands in the
army itself. An apparence there was of that people,
great enough, who had all the wishes for the king
which he entertained for himself. But they were A review of
so divided and disunited by private quarrels, fac-thisdis-*
tions, and animosities; or so unacquainted with each ""^ s n t ^," ie
other; or, which was worse, so jealous of each other ; restoration -
the understandings and faculties of many honest
men were so weak and shallow, that they could not
be applied to any great trust; and others, who
wished and meant very well, had a peevishness,
frowardness, and opiniatrety, that they would be
engaged only in what pleased themselves, nor would
join in any thing with such and such men whom
they disliked. The severe and tyrannical govern-
ment of Cromwell and the parliament had so often
banished and imprisoned them upon mere jealousies,
that they were grown strangers to one another,
without any communication between them : and
there had been so frequent betrayings and treach-
eries used, so many discoveries of meetings privately
contrived, and of discourses accidentally entered
into, and words and expressions rashly and unad-
visedly uttered without any design, upon which
multitudes were still imprisoned and many put . to
death ; that k the jealousy was so universal, that
k that] so that
VOL. I. Z
338 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. few men who had never so good affections for the
king, durst confer with any freedom together.
Most of those of the nobility who had with con-
stancy and fidelity adhered to the last king, and had
greatest authority with all men who professed the
same affections, were dead; as the duke of Rich-
mond, the earl of Dorset, the lord Capel, the lord
Hopton, and many other excellent persons. And of
that classis, that is, of a powerful interest and un-
suspected integrity, (for there were some very good
men, who were without any cause suspected then,
because they were not equally persecuted upon all
occasions,) there were only two who survived, the
marquis of Hertford and earl of Southampton ; who
were both great and worthy men, looked upon with
great estimation by all the most valuable men who
could contribute most to the king's restoration, and
with reverence by their greatest enemy, and had
been courted by Cromwell himself till he found it
to no purpose. And though the marquis had been
prevailed with once and no more to give him a visit,
the other, the earl, could never be persuaded so
much as to see him ; and when Cromwell was in
the New Forest, and resolved one day to visit him,
he being informed of it or suspecting it, removed to
another house he had at such a distance as exempted
him from that ^visitation. But these two great per-
sons had for several years withdrawn themselves
into the country, lived retired, sent sometimes such
money as they could raise out of their long-seques-
tered and exhausted fortunes, by messengers of their
own dependence, with advice to the king, " to sit
" still, and expect a reasonable revolution, without
" making any unadvised attempt;" and industriously
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 339
declined any conversation or commerce with any 1660.
who were known to correspond with the king: so
that now, upon his majesty's return, they were to-
tally unacquainted with any of those persons, who
now looked as men to be depended upon in any
great action and attempt. And for themselves, as
the marquis shortly after died, so the other with
great abilities served him in his most secret and im-
portant counsels, but had been never conversant in
martial affairs.
There had been six or eight persons of general
good and confessed reputation, and who of all who
were then left alive had had the most eminent
charges in the war, and executed them with great
courage and discretion ; so that few men could with
any reasonable pretence refuse to receive orders
from them, or to serve under their commands.
They had great affection for and confidence in each
other, and had frankly offered by an express of
their own number, whilst the king remained in
France, " that if they were approved and qualified
" by his majesty, they would by joint advice intend
" the care of his majesty's service ; and as they
" would not engage in any absurd and desperate
" attempt, but use all their credit and authority to
" prevent and discountenance the same, so they
" would take the first rational opportunity, which
" they expected from the divisions and animosities
" which daily grew and appeared in the army, to
" draw their friends and old soldiers who were ready
" to receive their commands together, and try the
" utmost that could be done, with the loss or hazard
" of their lives :" some of them having, beside their
experience in war, very considerable fortunes of their
7. 2
340 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. own to lose, and were relations to the greatest fami-
lies in England. And therefore they made it their
humble suit, " that this secret correspondence might
" be carried on, and known to none but to the mar-
" quis of Ormond and to the chancellor ; and that if
" any other counsels were set on foot in England by
" the activity of particular persons, who too fre-
" quently with great zeal and little animadversion
" embarked themselves in impossible undertakings,
" his majesty upon advertisement thereof would
" first communicate the motives or pretences which
" would be offered to him, to them ; and then they
" would find opportunity to confer with some sober
" man of that fraternity," (as there was no well-af-
fected person in England, who at that time would
not willingly receive advice and direction from most
of those persons,) " and thereupon they would pre-
" sent their opinion to his majesty; and if the de-
" sign should appear practicable to his majesty, they
" would cheerfully embark themselves in it, other-
" wise use their own dexterity to divert it. " These
men had been armed with all necessary commissions
and instructions, according to their own desires ; the
king consented to all they proposed; and the cyphers
and correspondence were committed to the chancel-
lor, in whose hands, with the privity only of the
marquis of Ormond, all the intelligence with Eng-
land, of what kind soever, was intrusted.
Under this conduct, for some years all things suc-
ceeded well ; many unseasonable attempts were pre-
vented, and thereby the lives of many good men
preserved: and though (upon the cursory jealousy
of that time, and the restless apprehension of Crom-
well, and the almost continual commitments of all
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 341
who had eminently served the king, and were able 1 660.
to do it again) these 1 persons who were thus trusted,"
or the major part of them, were seldom out of pri-
son, or free from the obligation of good sureties for
their peaceable behaviour; yet all the vigilance of
Cromwell and his most diligent inquisitors could
never discover this secret intercourse between those
confidants and the king, which did always pass and
was maintained by expresses made choice of by
them, and supported at their charge out of such
monies as were privately collected for public uses,
of which they who contributed most knew little
more than the integrity of him who was intrusted,
who did not always make skilful contributions.
It fell out unfortunately, that two of these princi-
pal persons fell out, and had a fatal quarrel, upon a
particular less justifiable than any thing that could
result from or relate to the great trust they both
had from the king, which ought to have been of
influence enough to have suppressed or diverted all
passions of that kind : but the animosities grew
suddenly irreconcilable, and if not divided the affec-
tions of the whole knot, at least interrupted or sus-
pended their constant intercourse and confidence in
each other, and so the diligent accounts which the
king used to receive from them. And the cause
growing more public and notorious, though not
known in a long time after to the king, exceedingly
lessened both their reputations with the most sober
men ; insomuch as they withdrew all confidence in
their conduct, and all inclination to embark in the
business which was intrusted in such hands. And
1 these] and so these
z 3
342 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. which was worse than all this, one person amongst
""them, of as unblemished a reputation as either of
them, and of much better abilities and faculties of
mind, either affected with this untoward accident,
or broken with frequent imprisonments and despair
of any resurrection of the king's interest, about this
time yielded to a foul temptation ; and for large
supplies of money, which his fortune stood in need
of, engaged to be a spy to Cromwell, with a latitude
which he did not allow to others of that ignominious
tribe, undertaking only to impart enough of any de-
sign to prevent the mischief thereof, without expos-
ing any man to the loss of his life, or ever appear-
ing himself to make good and justify any of his dis-
coveries. The rest of his associates neither sus-
pected their companion, nor lessened their affection
or utmost zeal for the king ; though they remitted
some of their diligence in his service by the other
unhappy interruption.
This falling out during his majesty's abode in
Cologne, he was very long without notice of the
grounds of that jealousy which had obstructed his
usual correspondence ; and the matter of infidelity
being not in the least degree suspected, he could not
avoid receiving advice and propositions from other
honest men, who were of known affection and cou-
rage, and who conversed much with the officers of
the army, and were unskilfully disposed to believe
that all they, who they had reason to believe did
hate Cromwell, would easily be induced to serve the
king : and many of the officers in their behaviour,
discourses, and familiarity, contributed to that be-
lief; some of them, not without the privity and al-
lowance of Cromwell, or his secretary Thurlow.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 343
And upon overtures of this kind, and wonderful 1660.
confidence of success, even upon the preparations"
which were in readiness, of and by his own party,
several messengers were sent to the king; and by
all of them sharp and passionate complaints against
those persons, who were so much and still in the
same confidence with him, as men who were at ease,
and uninclined to venture themselves upon dan-
gerous or doubtful enterprises. They complained,
" that when they imparted to them or any one of
". them," (for they knew not of his majesty's refer-
ence to them, but had of themselves resorted to
them as men of the greatest reputation for their af-
fections and experience,) " a design which had been
" well consulted and deliberated by those who meant
" to venture their own lives in the execution of it,
" they made so many excuses and arguments and
" objections against it, as if it were wholly unadvis-
" able and unpracticable ; and when they proposed
" the meeting and conferring with some of the offi-
" cers, who were resolved to serve his majesty, and
" were willing to advise with them, as men of more
" interest and who had managed greater commands,
" upon the places of rendezvous, and what method
" should be observed in the enterprises, making no
" scruple themselves to receive orders from them,
" or to do all things they should require which
" might advance his majesty's service, these gentle-
" men only wished them to take heed they were
" not destroyed, and positively refused to meet or
" confer with any of the officers of the army : and
" hereupon," they said, " all the king's party was so
" incensed against them, that they no more would
" have recourse to them, or make any conjunction
z 4
344 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " with them. " They informed his majesty at large
~~ of the animosity that was grown between two of the
principal persons, and the original cause thereof, and
therefore desired " that some person might be sent,
" to whom they might repair for orders, until the
" king himself discerned that all preparations were
" in such a readiness, that he might reasonably ven-
" ture his royal person with them. "
Though he was not at all satisfied with the grounds
of their expectation and proceedings, and therefore
could not blame the wariness and reservedness of
the other, and thought their apprehension of being
betrayed, (which in the language of that time was
called -trepanned,) which befell some men every day,
very reasonable ; yet the confidence of many honest
men, who were sure to pay dear for any rash under-
taking, and their presumption in appointing a per-
emptory day for a general rendezvous over the king-
dom, but especially the division of his friends, and
sharpness against those upon whom he principally
relied, was the cause of his sending over the lord
Rochester, and of his own concealment in Zealand ;
the success whereof, and the ill consequence of those
precipitate resolutions, in the slaughter of many
worthy and gallant gentlemen with all the circum-
stances of insolence and barbarity, are mentioned in
their proper places.
But these unhappy and fatal miscarriages, and
the sad spectacles which ensued, made not those
impressions upon the affections and spirits of the
king's friends as they ought to have done ; nor ren-
dered the wariness and discretion of those who had
dissuaded the enterprise, and who were always im-
prisoned upon suspicion, how innocent soever, the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 345
more valued and esteemed : on the contrary, it in- 1 660.
creased the reproaches against the knot, as if their"
lachete* and want of appearance and engaging had
been the sole cause of the misfortune. And after
some short fits of dejection and acquiescence, upon
the shedding so much blood of their friends and
confederates, and the notorious discovery of being
betrayed by those, who had been trusted by them,
of the army ; they began again to resume courage,
to meet and enter upon new counsels and designs,
imputing the former want of success to the want of
skill and conduct in the undertakers, not to the all-
seeing vigilance of Cromwell and his instruments, or
to the formed strength of his government, not to be
shaken by weak or ill-seconded conspiracies. Young
men were grown up, who inherited their fathers
malignity, and were too impatient to revenge their
death, or to be even with their oppressors, and so
entered into new combinations as unskilful, and
therefore as unfortunate as the former ; and being
discovered even before they were formed, Cromwell
had occasion given him to make himself more ter-
rible in new executions, and to exercise greater
tyranny upon the whole party, in imprisonments,
penalties, and sequestrations ; making those who
heartily desired to be quiet, and who abhorred any
rash and desperate insurrection, to pay their full
shares for the folly of the other, as if a. 11 were ani-
mated by the same spirit. And this unjust and un-
reasonable rigour increased the reproaches and ani-
mosities in the king's friends against each other : the
wiser and more sober part, who had most experi-
m and who abhorred] and who as much abhorred
346 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. ence, and knew how impossible it was to succeed in
~~ such enterprises, and had yet preserved or redeemed
enough of their fortunes to sit still and expect some
hopeful revolution, were unexpressibly offended, and
bitterly inveighed against those, who without reason
disturbed their peace and quiet, by provoking the
state to fresh persecutions of them who had given
them no offence : and the other stirring and enraged
party, with more fierceness and public disdain, pro-
tested against and reviled those who refused to join
with them, as men who had spent all their stock of
allegiance, and meant to acquiesce with what they
had left under the tyranny and in the subjection of
Cromwell. And thus they who did really wish the
same things, and equally the overthrow of that go-
vernment, which hindered the restoration of the
king, grew into more implacable jealousies and viru-
lencies against each other, than against that power
that oppressed them both, and " poured out their
" blood like water. " And either party conveyed
their apologies and accusations to the king : one in-
sisting upon the impertinency of all such attempts ;
and the other insisting that they were ready for a
very solid and well-grounded enterprise, were sure
to be possessed of good towns, if, by his majesty's
positive command, the rest, who professed such
obedience to him, would join with them.
It was at this time, and upon these reasons, that
the king sent the marquis of Ormond into England,
to find out and discover whether in truth there were
any sober preparations and readiness for action, and
then to head and conduct it ; or if it was not ripe,
to compose the several distempers, and unite, as
far as was possible, all who wished well, to con-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 347
cur in the same patience for the present, and in the 1660.
same activity when it should be seasonable. And"
he, upon full conference with the principal persons
of the most contradictory judgments, quickly found
that they who were accused to be lazy and unactive
were in truth discreet men, and as ready vigorously
to appear as the other, when the season should be
advisable, which he clearly discerned it was not
then ; and that the presumption of the other, upon
persons as well as places, was in no degree to be
depended upon. And so, after he had done what
was possible towards making a good intelligence
between tempers and understandings so different,
the marquis had the same good fortune to retire
from thence and bring himself safe to the king ;
which was the more wonderful preservation, in
that, during the whole time of his abode in London,
he had trusted no man more, nor conferred with
any man so much, as with that person of the select
knot, who had been corrupted to give all intelli-
gence to Cromwell : and as he had now blasted and
diverted some ill laid designs, so he had discovered
the marquis's arrival to him, but could not be pre-
vailed with to inform him of his lodging, which was
particularly known to him upon every change, or to
contrive any way for his apprehension : on the con-
trary, as in all his conferences with him he ap-
peared a man of great judgment and perspicacity,
and the most ready to engage his person in any
action that might be for his majesty's advantage, so
he seemed best to understand the temper of the
time, and the parts, faculties, and interest of all the
king's party ; and left the marquis abundantly satis-
fied with him, and of the general good reputation
348 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. he had with all men : which had afterwards an ill
"effect, for it kept the king and those who were
trusted by him from giving credit to the first infor-
mation he received, from a person who could not be
deceived, of his tergiversation ; his late fidelity to
the marquis of Ormond weighing down with them
all the intimations, until the evidence was so preg-
nant that there was no room for any doubt.
After all these endeavours by the king to dis-
countenance and suppress all unseasonable action
amongst his party, and to infuse into them a spirit
of peace and quiet till he himself could appear in
the head of some foreign forces, which he looked
upon as the only reasonable encouragement that
could animate his friends to declare for him, the
generous distemper and impatience of their nature
was incorrigible. They thought the expectation of
miracles from God Almighty was too lazy and stu-
pid a confidence, and that God no less required their
endeavours and activity, than they hoped for his be-
nediction in their success. New hopes were enter-
tained, and counsels suitable entered upon. Mr.
Mordaunt, the younger son and brother to the earls
of Peterborough, who was too young in the time of
the late war to act any part in it, had lately under-
gone, after Cromwell himself had taken great pains
in the examination of him. a severe trial before the
high court of justice ; where by his own singular ad-
dress and behaviour, and his friends having wrought
by money upon some of the witnesses to absent
themselves, he was by one single voice acquitted;
and after a longer detention in prison by the indig-
nation of Cromwell, who well knew his guilt, and
against the rules and forms of their own justice, he
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 349
was discharged, after most of his associates were pub- 1 550.
licly and barbarously put to several kinds of death.
And he no sooner found himself at liberty, than he
engaged in new intrigues, how he might destroy
that government that was so near destroying him.
The state of the kingdom was indeed altered, and he
had encouragement to 'hope well, which former un-
dertakers, and himself in his, had been without.
Cromwell had entered into a war with Spain ; and
the king was received and permitted to live in
Flanders, with some exhibition from that king for
his support, and assurance of an army to embark for
England, (which made a great noise, and raised the
broken hearts of his friends after so many distresses,)
which his majesty was contented should be generally
reputed to be greater and in more forwardness than
there was cause for. He had likewise another ad-
vantage, much superior and of more importance
than the other, by the death of Cromwell, which fell
out without or beyond expectation, which seemed
to put an end to all his stratagems, and to dissolve
the whole frame of government in the three king-
doms, and to open many doors to the king to enter
upon that which every body knew to be his own.
And though this reasonable hope was, sooner than
could be imagined, blasted and extinguished by an
universal submission to the declaration that Crom-
well had made at his death, " that his son Richard
" should succeed him ;" upon which he was declar-
ed protector by the council, army, navy, with the
concurrence of the forces of the three kingdoms,
and the addresses of all the counties in England,
with vows of their obedience ; insomuch as he ap-
peared in the- eyes of all men as formidably settled
350 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
IGGO. as his father had been : yet Mr. Mordaunt proceeded
"with alacrity in his design, contrary to the opinion
and advice of those with whom he was obliged to
consult, who thought the conjuncture as unfavour-
able as any that was past, and looked upon Mr. Mor-
daunt as a rash young man, of a daring spirit, with-
out any experience in military affairs, and upon
themselves as unkindly treated by those about the
king, in being exposed to the importunity of a gen-
tleman who was a stranger to them, and who was
not equally qualified with them for the forming any
resolution which they could concur in. n
But the intermission of the severe persecution
which had been formerly practised against the royal
party, in this nonage of Richard's government, gave
more liberty to communication ; and the Presby-
terian party grew more discontented and daring,
and the Independent less concerned to prevent any
inconvenience or trouble to the weak son of Oliver,
whom they resolved not to obey. Mr. Mordaunt,
who had gained much reputation by his steady car-
riage in his late mortification, and by his so brisk
carriage so soon after, found credit with many per-
sons of great fortune and interest ; as sir George
Booth and sir Thomas Middleton, the greatest men
in Cheshire and North Wales, who were reputed
Presbyterians, and had been both very active against
the king, and now resolved to declare for him ; sir
Horatio Townsend, who was newly become of age,
and the most powerful person in Norfolk, where
n who was not equally quali- qualified with them for the form-
fied with them for the forming ing any resolution which they
any resolution which they could could not concur in.
concur in. ] who was equally
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 351
there were many gallant men ready to follow him ; 1CGO.
and many others the most considerable men in most "~
of the counties of England : who all agreed, in so
many several counties of England, to appear upon a
day, in such bodies as they could draw together;
many considerable places being prepared for their
reception, or too weak to oppose them. And Mr.
Mordaunt secretly transported himself and waited
upon the king at Brussels, with that wariness that
he was known to none but to them with whom he
was to consult. The king received by him a full
information of the engagement of all those persons
to do him service with the utmost hazard, and of
the method they meant to proceed in, and the pro-
bability, most like assurance, of their being to be
possessed of Gloucester, Chester, Lynne, Yarmouth,
all Kent, and the most considerable places in the
west, where indeed his own friends were very con- t
siderable.
Upon the whole matter the king thought it so
reasonable to approve the whole design, that he ap-
pointed the day, with a promise to be himself, with
his brother the duke of York, concealed at Calais or
thereabout, that they might divide themselves to
those parts which should be thought most proper for
the work in hand. Mr. Mordaunt lamented the
wariness and want of confidence in those persons
upon whom the king depended, and acknowledged
them most worthy of that trust, and of much repu-
tation in the nation ; and imputed their much re-
servation to the troubles and imprisonments which
they had been seldom free from, and their observa-
tion how little ground there had been for former
enterprises, without the least suspicion of want of
352 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 GGO. affection and resolution in any one of them, and less
~of integrity. But the king was by this time fully
convinced where the treachery was, without any
blemish to any one of the rest, who needed not to
be ashamed of being deceived by a man whom all
the kingdom would have trusted. The ridiculous
dethroning of Richard by the army, and the reas-
sembling that part of the old parliament which was
called the Rump, and which was more terrible than
any single person could be, because they presently
returned into their old track, and renewed their
former rigour against their old more than their new
enemies, rather advanced than restrained this com-
bination ; too much being known to too many to be
secure any other way than by pursuing it. So the
king and duke, according to their former resolution,
went to Calais and Boulogne, and prepared as well
to make a descent into Kent with such numbers of
men as the condition they were in would permit.
How many of those designs came to be wonderfully
and even miraculously disappointed, and sir George
Booth defeated by Lambert, are particularly set
down by those who have taken upon them to men-
tion the transactions of those times. And from
thence the universality of all who were, or were
suspected to be, of the king's party, wqre, according
to custom, imprisoned, or otherwise cruelly entreat-
ed ; and thereupon a new fire kindled amongst
themselves : they who had done nothing reproach-
ing them who had brought that storm upon them ;
and they who had been engaged more loudly and
bitterly cursing the other, as deserters of the king,
and the cause of the ruin of his cause through their
want of courage, or, what was worse, of affection.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 353
And so all men's mouths were opened wider to ac- 1 600.
cuse and defame each other, than to defend their ~"
own integrity and their lives.
I have thought myself obliged to renew the me- Theun -
mory of all these particulars, that the several vicissi-stitution of
tudes and stages may be known, by which the jea- friend" at"
lousies, murmurs, and disaffections in the royal party ^2".
amongst themselves, and against each other, had em P lified -
mounted to that height which the king found them
at when he returned ; when in truth very few men
of active minds, and upon whom he could depend in
any sudden occasion that might probably press him,
can be named, who had any confidence in each
other. All men were full of bitter reflections upon
the actions . and behaviour of others, or of excuses
and apologies for themselves for what they thought
might be charged upon them. The woful vice
drinking, from the uneasiness of their fortune,
1 . n t drinking.
the necessity of frequent meetings together, for
which taverns were the most secure places, had
spread itself very far in that classis of men, as well
as upon other parts of the nation, in all counties;
and had exceedingly weakened the parts, and broken
the understandings of many, who had formerly com-
petent judgments, and had been in all respects fit for
any trust ; and had prevented the growth of parts
in many young men, who had good affections, but
had been from their entering into the world so cor-
rupted with that excess, and other license of the
time, that they only made much noise, and, by their
extravagant and scandalous debauches, brought
many calumnies and disestimation upon that cause
which they pretended to advance. They who had
suffered much in their fortunes, and by frequent im-
VOL. i. A a
354 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF -
1660. prisonments and sequestrations and compositions,
""expected large recompenses and reparations in ho-
nours which they could not support, or offices which
they could not discharge, or lands and money which
the king had not to give ; as all dispassioned men
knew the conditions which the king was obliged to
perform, and that the act of indemnity discharged
all those forfeitures which could have been applied
to their benefit : and therefore they who had been
without comparison the greatest sufferers in their
fortunes, and in all respects had merited most, never
made any inconvenient suits to the king, but mo-
destly left the memory and consideration of all they
had done or undergone, to his majesty's own gra-
Thosewho cious reflections. They were observed to be most
least the importunate, who had deserved least, and were least
portunat~e. capable to perform any notable service; and none
had more esteem of themselves, and believed prefer-
ment to be more due to them, than a sort of men,
who had most loudly began the king's health in ta-
verns, especially if for any disorders which had ac-
companied it they had suffered imprisonment, with-
out any other pretence of merit, or running any
other hazard.
Though it was very evident, humanly speaking,
that the late combination entered into, and the brave
attempt and engagement of sir George Booth, how
unsuccessful soever in the instant, had contributed
very much to the wonderful change that had since
ensued, by the discovery of the general affections
and disposition of the kingdom, and their aversion
from any kind of government that was not founded
knew] who knew
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 355
upon the old principles; and the public or private 1 660.
engagement of very many persons, who had never ~~
been before suspected, whereof, though many of
the most considerable persons had been, by the
treachery heretofore mentioned, committed to seve-
ral prisons, yet many others of equal interest re-
mained still in liberty, and had a great influence
upon the counsels both in the parliament and army:
yet, I say,' notwithstanding this was notorious, a
greater animosity had been kindled in the royal
party, and was still pursued and improved amongst
them from that combination and engagement, than
from all the other accidents and occasions, and gave
the king more trouble and perplexity. It had in-
troduced a great nuniber of persons, who had for-
merly no pretence of merit from the king, rather
might have been the objects of his justice, to a just
title to the greatest favours the king could confer ;
and which, from that time, they had continually
improved by repeated offices and services, which,
being of a later date, might be thought to cloud and
eclipse the lustre of those actions, which had before
been performed by the more ancient cavaliers, espe-
cially of those who had been observed to be remiss
in that occasion : and therefore they were the more
solicitous in undervaluing the undertaking, and the
persons of the undertakers, whom they mentioned
under such characters, and to whom they imputed
such weakness and levities as they had collected from
the several parts of their lives, as might render them
much disadvantage; and would by no means ad-
mit, " that any of the good that afterwards befell
the king, resulted in any degree from that rash more
enterprise; but that thereby the king's friends
A a 2
356 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " were so weakened, and more completely undone,
~~" that they were disabled to appear in that conjunc-
" ture when the army was divided, and in which
" they might otherwise have been considerable
" enough to have given the law to all parties. "
Mr. Mordaunt, whom the king had created a vis-
count before his return into England, and had P been
most eminent in the other contrivances, in a time
when a general consternation had seized upon the
spirits of those who wished best to his majesty ; for
when he resumed his former resolutions, so soon
after his head was raised from the block, and when
the blood of his confederates watered so many
streets in the city and the suburbs, the most trusted
by the king had totally withdrawn their correspond-
ence, and desired, that for some time no account or
information might be expected from them ; and
therefore it must not be denied, that his vivacity,
courage, and industry, revived the hearts which
were so near broken before Cromwell's death, and
afterwards prevailed with many to have more active
spirits than they had before appeared to have : this
gentleman, I say, most unjustly underwent the
heaviest weight of all their censures and reproaches.
Particularly He was the butt, at which all their arrows of envy,
of Mr. Mor- m i -i i i
daunt, who malice, and jealousy, were aimed and shot ; he was
signally" the object and subject of all their scurrilous jests,
served the an( j depraving discourses and relations; and they,
who agreed in nothing else, were at unity and of one
mind, in telling ridiculous stories to the king him-
self of his vanity and behaviour; and laying those
aspersions upon him, as were most like to lessen the
v and had] and who had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 357
king's opinion of him; and to persuade him, that 1660.
the recompenses he had already received were""
abundantly more than the services he had per-
formed : which kind of insinuations from several
persons, who seemed not to do it by concert, toge-
ther with some prejudice the noble person did him-
self by some unseasonable importunities, as if he
thought he had deserved very much, did for some
time draw a more ungracious countenance from the
king towards him, than his own nature disposed him
to, or than the other's singular and useful activity,
though liable to some levity or vanity, did deserve ;
and which the same persons, who procured it, made
use of against those who were in most trust about
the king, as arguments of the little esteem they had
of those who had done the king most service, when
a man of so eminent merit as Mr. Mordaunt was so
totally neglected; and did all they could to infuse
the same apprehensions into him. When the truth
is, most men were affected, and more grieved and
discontented for any honour and preferment which
they saw conferred upon another man, than for be-
ing disappointed in their own particular expecta-
tions ; and looked upon every obligation bestowed
upon another man, how meritorious soever, as upon
a reproach to them, and an upbraiding of their want
of merit.
This unhappy temper and constitution of the This per-
royal party, with whom he had always intended to state erf the
have made a firm conjunction against all accidents fr \ends
and occurrences which might happen at home or" t c s h h *[~
from abroad, did wonderfully displease and trouble s P irit '
the king; and, with the other perplexities, which
are mentioned before, did so break his mind, and
A. a 3
358 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. had that operation upon his spirits, that finding he
""could not propose any such method to himself, by
which he might extricate himself out of those many
difficulties and labyrinths in which he was involved,
nor expedite those important matters which de-
pended upon the good-will and despatch of the par-
liament, which would proceed by its own rules, and
He gives with its accustomed formalities, he grew more dis-
tdTb piea. posed to leave all things to their natural course, and
God's providence ; and by degrees unbent his mind
from the knotty and ungrateful part of his business,
grew more remiss in his application to it, and in-
dulged to his youth and appetite that license and
satisfaction that it desired, and for which he had
opportunity enough, and could not be without min-
isters abundant for any such negociations ; the time
itself, and the young people thereof of either sex
having been educated in all the liberty of vice,
wickedness without reprehension or restraint. All relations
introduced were confounded by the several sects in religion,
^ which discountenanced all forms of reverence and
respect, as relics and marks of superstition. Chil-
dren asked not blessing of their parents ; nor did
they concern themselves in the education of their
children; but were well content that they should
take any course to maintain themselves, that they
might be free from that expense. The young wo-
men conversed without any circumspection or mo-
desty, and frequently met at taverns and common
eatinghouses ; and they who were stricter and more
severe in their comportment, became the wives of
the seditious preachers, or of officers of the army.
The daughters of noble and "illustrious families be-
stowed themselves upon the divines of the time, 7>r
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 359
other low and unequal matches. Parents had no 1660.
manner of authority over their children, nor children
any obedience or submission to their parents; but
" every one did that which was good in his own
" eyes. " This unnatural antipathy had its first rise
from the beginning of the rebellion, when the fa-
thers and sons engaged themselves in the contrary
parties, the one choosing to serve the king, and the
other the parliament ; which division and contradic-
tion of affections was afterwards improved to mutual
animosities and direct malice, by the help of the
preachers and the several factions in religion, or by
the absence of all religion : so that there were never
such examples of impiety between such relations
in any age of the world, Christian or heathen, as
that wicked time, from the beginning of the rebel-
lion to the king's return ; of which the families of
Hotham and Vane are sufficient instances ; though
other more illustrious houses may be named, where
the same accursed fruit was too plentifully gathered,
and too notorious to the world. The relation be-
tween masters and servants had been long since dis-
solved by the parliament, that their army might be
increased by the prentices against their masters con-
sent, and that they might have intelligence of the
secret meetings and transactions in those houses and
families which were not devoted to them ; from
whence issued the foulest treacheries and perfidious-
ness that were ever practised : and the blood of the
master was frequently the price of the servant's
villany.
Cromwell had <i been most strict and severe in the
i had] who had
Aa 4
360 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. forming the manners of his army, and in chastising
~~all irregularities; insomuch that sure there was
never any such body of men so without rapine,,
swearing, drinking, or any other debauchery, but
the wickedness of their hearts : and all persons
cherished by him, were of the same leaven, and to
common appearance without the practice of any of
those vices which were most infamous to the people,
and which drew the public hatred upon those who
were notoriously guilty of them. But then he was
well pleased with the most scandalous lives of those
who pretended to be for the king, and wished that
all his were such, and took all the pains he could
that they might be generally thought to be such ;
whereas in truth the greatest part of those who
were guilty of those disorders were young men, who
had never seen the king, and had been born and
bred in those corrupt times, " when there was no
" king in Israel. " He was equally delighted with
the luxury and voluptuousness of the presbyterians,
who, in contempt of the thrift, sordidness, and af-
fected ill-breeding of the independents, thought it
became them to live more generously, and were not
strict in restraining or mortifying the unruly and
inordinate appetite of flesh and blood, but indulged
it with too much and too open scandal, from which
he reaped no small advantage ; and wished all those,
who were not his friends, should not only be infected,
but given over to the practice of the most odious
vices and wickedness.
In a word, the nation was corrupted from that
integrity, good nature, and generosity, that had been
peculiar to it, and for which it had been signal and
celebrated throughout the world; in the room where-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 361
of the vilest craft and dissembling had succeeded, j 660.
The tenderness of the bowels, which is the quintes-
sence of justice and compassion, the very mention of
good nature was laughed at and looked upon as the
mark and character of a fool ; and a roughness of
manners, or hardheartedness and cruelty was af-
fected. In the place of generosity, a vile and sordid
love of money was entertained as the truest wisdom,
and any thing lawful that would contribute towards
being rich. There was a total decay, or rather a
final expiration of all friendship ; and to dissuade a
man from any thing he affected, or to reprove him
for any thing he had done amiss, or to advise him
to do any thing he had no mind to do, was thought
an impertinence unworthy a wise man, and received
with reproach and contempt. These dilapidations
and ruins of the ancient candour and discipline were
not taken enough to heart, and repaired with that
early care and severity that they might have been ;
for they were not then incorrigible ; but by the re-
missness of applying remedies to some, and the un-
wariness in giving a kind of countenance to others,
too much of that poison insinuated itself into minds
not well fortified against such infection : so that
much of the malignity was transplanted, instead
of being extinguished, to the corruption of many
wholesome bodies, which, being corrupted, spread
the diseases more powerfully and more mischiev-
ously.
That the king might be the more vacant to those
thoughts and divertisements which pleased him best,
he appointed the chancellor and some others to
have frequent consultations with such members of
the parliament who were most able and willing to
362 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
J660. serve him; and to concert all the ways and means
~by which the transactions in the houses might be
carried with the more expedition, and attended with
the best success. These daily conferences proved
very beneficial to his majesty's service ; the mem-
bers of both houses being very willing to receive ad-
vice . and direction, and to pursue what they were
directed ; and all things were done there in good
The old order, and succeeded well. All the courts of justice
justice re- * n Westminster hall were presently filled with grave
and learned judges, who had either deserted their
practice and profession during all the rebellious
times, or had given full evidence of their affection
to the king and the established laws, in many
weighty instances : and they were then quickly sent
in their several circuits, to administer justice to the
people according to the old forms of law, which was
universally received and submitted to with all pos-
sible joy and satisfaction. All commissions of the
peace were renewed, and the names of those per-
sons inserted therein, who had been most eminent
sufferers for the king, and were known to have en-
tire affections for his majesty and the laws ; though
it was not possible, but some would get and con-
tinue in, who were of more doubtful inclinations, by
their not being known to him, whose province it was
to depute them. Denied it cannot be, that there
appeared, sooner than was thought possible, a gene-
ral settlement in the civil justice of the kingdom ;
that no man complained without remedy, and
" every man dwelt again under the shadow of his
" own vine," without any complaint of injustice and
oppression.
The king exposed himself with more condescen-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 363
sion than was necessary to persons of all conditions, 1660.
heard all that they had a mind to say to him, and~
gave them such answers as for the present seemed
full of grace. He was too well pleased to hear both
the men and the women of all factions and fancies
in religion discourse in their own method, and en-
larged himself in debate with them ; which made
every one believe that they were more favoured by
him than they had cause : which kind of liberty,
though at first it was accompanied with acclama-
tions, and acknowledgment of his being a prince of
rare parts and affability, yet it was attended after-
wards with ill consequences, and gave many men
opportunity to declare and publish, that the king
had said many things to them which he had never
said ; and made many concessions and promises to
them which he had never uttered or thought upon.
The chancellor was generally thought to have
most credit with his master, and most power in the
counsels, because the king referred all matters of
what kind soever to him. And whosoever repaired The chan -
cellor prin-
tO him for his direction in any business was sent tocipaiiy en-
the chancellor, not only because he had a great con-u,," 6
fidence in his integrity, having been with him so*"
many years, and of whose indefatigable industry he
and all men had great experience ; but because he
saw those men, whom he was as willing to trust,
and who had at least an equal share in his affections,
more inclined to ease and pleasure, and willing that
the weight of the work should lie on the chancellor's
shoulders, with whom they had an entire friendship,
and knew well that they should with more ease be
consulted by him in all matters of importance. Nor
was it possible for him, at the first coining, to avoid
trans-
tlODS.
364 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. the being engaged in all the counsels, of how dis-
tinct a nature soever, because he had been best ac-
quainted with all transactions whilst the king was
abroad; and therefore communication with him in
all things was thought necessary by those, who were
to have any part in them. Besides that, he conti-
nued still chancellor of the exchequer, by virtue of
the grant formerly made to him by the last king,
during whose time he executed that office, but re-
solved to surrender it into the king's hand as soon
as his majesty should resolve on whom to confer it ;
he proposing nothing to himself, but to be left at
liberty to intend only the discharge of his own office,
which he thought himself unequalto, and hoped
only to improve his talent that way by a most dili-
gent application, well knowing the great abilities of
those, who had formerly sat in that office, and that
they found it required their full time and all their
faculties. And therefore he did most heartily desire
to meddle with nothing but that province, which
though in itself and the constant perquisites of it is
not sufficient to support the dignity of it, yet was
then, upon the king's return ; and, after it had been
so many years without a lawful officer, would un-
questionably bring in money enough to be a foun-
dation to a future fortune, competent to his ambi-
tion, and enough to provoke the envy of many, who
believed they deserved better than he. And that
this was the temper and resolution he brought with
him into England, and how unwillingly he departed
from it, will evidently appear by two or three in-
stances, which shall be given in their proper place.
However, he could not expect that freedom till the
council should be settled, (into which the king ad-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 365
mitted all who had been counsellors to his father, 1660.
and had not eminently forfeited that promotion by -
their revolt, and many of those who had been and
still were recommended by the general, amongst
whom there were some who would not have been
received upon any other title,) and until those officers
could be settled, who might take particular care of
their several provinces.
The king had upon great deliberation whilst he
was beyond the seas, after his return appeared in
view, firmly resolved to reform those excesses which
were known to be in great offices, especially in
those of his household, whilst the places were va-
cant, and to reform all extravagant expenses there ;
and first himself to gratify those, who had followed
and served him, in settling them in such inferior
offices and places, as custom had put in the disposal
of the great officers, when they should become va-
cant after their admission. And of this kind he had
made many promises, and given many warrants
under his sign manual to persons, who to his own
knowledge had merited those obligations. But most
of those predeterminations, and many other resolu-
tions of that kind, vanished and expired in the jol-
lity of the return, and new inch* nations and affections
seemed to be more seasonable. The general, who The general
was the sole pillar of the king's confidence, had by ' '
the parliament been invested (before the king's re- ^ g j]y d tlie
turn) in all the offices and commands which Crom- P arliament -
well had enjoyed. He was lieutenant of Ireland,
and general of all the armies and forces raised, or to
be raised, in the three kingdoms; and it was not fit
that he should be degraded from either upon his
majesty's arrival : therefore all diligence was used
366 * CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. in despatching grants of all those commands to him
Also sworn under the great seal of England. And that he might
ofthe'bed ^ e bh"ged to be always near his majesty's person, he
chamber, was presently sworn gentleman of the bedchamber ;
and master
of the horse, and might choose what office he liked best in the
court, whilst titles of honour were preparing by the
attorney, and particulars of lands inquired after by
the auditors and receivers, which in all respects
might raise him to that height which would most
please him. He made choice to be master of the
horse, and was immediately gratified with it ; and
thereby all those poor gentlemen, who had promises
and warrants for several places, depending upon that
great officer, were disappointed, and offered the
king's sign manual to no purpose for their admission.
The general in his own nature was an immoderate
lover of money, and yet would have gratified some
of the pretenders upon his majesty's recommenda-
tion, if the vile good housewifery of his wife had
not engrossed that province, and preferred him, who
offered most money, before all other considerations
or motives. And hereby, not only many honest
men, who had several ways served the king, and
spent the fortunes they had been masters of, were
denied the recompenses the king had designed to
them ; but such men, who had been most notorious
in the malice against the crown from the beginning
of the rebellion, or had been employed in all the
active offices to affront and oppress his party, were
for money preferred and admitted into those offices,
and became the king's servants very much against
his will, and with his manifest regret on the behalf
of the honest men, who had been so unworthily re-
jected. And this occasioned the first murmur and
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 367
discontent, which appeared after the king's return, i860,
amongst those who were not inclined to it, yet~
found every day fresh occasions to nourish and im-
prove it.
The settling this great officer in the stables made
it necessary to appoint a lord steward of the house-
hold, who was a necessary officer for the parliament,
being by the statute appointed to swear all the
members of the house of commons; and to this Themar -
t quis of Or-
charge the marquis of Ormond had been long de- mond made
signed, and was then sworn. And they had b0tfcofth
their tables erected according to the old models, and household
all those excesses, which the irregular precedents of
former times had introduced, and which the king
had so solemnly resolved to reform, before it could
be said to trench upon the rights of particular per-
sons. But the good humour the king was in, and
the plenty which generally appeared, how much
soever without a fund to support it, and especially
the natural desire his majesty had to see every body
pleased, banished all thoughts of such providence ;
instead whereof, he resolved forthwith to settle his
house according to former rules, or rather without
any rule, and to appoint the officers, who impatiently
expected their promotion. He directed his own
table to be more magnificently furnished than it had
ever been in any time of his predecessors ; which
example was easily followed in all offices.
That he might give a lively instance of his grace
to those who had been of the party which had been,
faulty, according to his declaration from Breda, he
made of his own free inclination and choice the earl'rheeariof
-_,. _ Manchester
ot Manchester (who was looked upon as one or the lord cham-
principal heads of the presbyterian party) lord cham-
368 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1C60. berlain of his house; who, continuing still to per-
""form all good offices to his old friends, complied
very punctually with all the obligations and duties
which his place required, never failed being at
chapel, and at all the king's devotions with all ima-
ginable decency ; and, by his extraordinary civilities
and behaviour towards all men, did not only appear
the fittest person the king could have chosen for
that office in that time, but rendered himself so ac-
ceptable to all degrees of men, that none, but such
who were implacable towards all who had ever dis-
served the king, were sorry to see him so promoted.
And it must be confessed, that as he had expressed
much penitence for what he had done amiss, and
was mortally hated and persecuted by Cromwell,
even for his life, and had done many acts of merit
towards the king ; so he was of all men, who had
ever borne arms against the king, both in the gen-
tleness and justice of his nature, in the sweetness
and evenness of his conversation, and in his real
principles for monarchy, the most worthy to be re-
ceived into the trust and confidence in which he was
placed. With his, the two other white staves were
disposed of to those, to whom they were designed,
when the king was prince of Wales, by his father :
and all other inferior officers were made, who were
to take care of the expenses of the house, and were
a great part of it.
And thus the king's house quickly appeared in
its full lustre, the eating and drinking very grateful
to all men, and the charge and expense of it much
exceeding the precedents of the most luxurious
times ; and all this before there was any provision
of ready money, or any assignation of a future fund
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 369
to discharge or support it. All men were ready to 1660.
deliver their goods upon trust, the officers too remiss
in computing the disbursements; insomuch as the
debts contracted by those excesses in less than the
first year broke all the measures in that degree, that
they could not suddenly be retrenched for the fu-
ture; and the debt itself was not discharged in
many years.
The king had in his purpose, long before his re-
turn, to make the earl of Southampton (who was the
most valued and esteemed of all the nobility, and
generally thought worthy of any honour or office)
lord high treasurer of England ; but he desired first
to see some revenue settled by the parliament, and
that part of the old, which had been sold and dis-
persed by extravagant grants and sales, reduced into
the old channel, and regularly to be received and
paid, and the customs to be put in such order, (which
were not yet granted, and only continued by orders
as illegal as the late times had been accustomed to,
and to the authority whereof he had no mind to ad-
minister,) before he was willing to receive the staflf.
And so the office of the treasury . was by commission
executed by several lords of the council, whereof
the chancellor, as well by the dignity of his place,
as by his still being chancellor of the exchequer,
was one ; and so engaged in the putting the cus-
toms likewise into commissioners' hands, and settling
all the other branches of the revenue in such man-
ner as was thought most reasonable ; in all debates
whereof his majesty himself was still present, and
approved the conclusion. But after a month or two
spent in this method, in the crowd of so much bu-
siness of several natures, the king found so little
VOL. I. B b
370 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. expedition, that he thought it best to determine
The eari of that commission, and so gave the staff to the earl of
Southamp- Southampton, and made him treasurer. And the
ton lord
high trea- chancellor at the same time surrendering his office
of chancellor of the exchequer into the king's hands,
his majesty, upon the humble desire of the earl, con-
And sir feiTed that office upon sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,who
Ashiey Dy had married his niece, and whose parts well enough
Sanceiior qualified him for the discharge thereof; though
of the ex- some other qualities of his, as well known, brought
chequer. . . . .
no advantage to Ins majesty by that promotion.
And from this time the chancellor would never in-
termeddle in the business of the exchequer, nor ad-
mit any applications to him in it: however, the
friendship was so great between the treasurer and
him, and so notorious from an ancient date, and
from a joint confidence in each other in the service
of the last king, that neither of them concluded any
matter of importance without consulting with the
other. And so the treasurer, marquis of Ormond,
the general, with the two secretaries of state, were
of that secret committee with the chancellor ; which,
under the notion of foreign affairs, were appointed
by the king to consult all his affairs before they
came to a public debate ; and in which there could
not be a more united concurrence of judgments and
affections.
Yet it was the chancellor's misfortune to be
thought to have the greatest credit with the king,
for the reasons mentioned before, and which for
some time seemed to be without envy, by reason of
his many years service of the crown, and constant
fidelity to the same, and his long attendance upon
the person of his majesty, and the friendship he had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 371
with the most eminent persons who had adhered to
that interest. Yet he foresaw, and told many of his
friends, " that the credit he was thought to have
" with the king, and which he knew was much less
" than it was thought to be, and his being obliged
" by the king to conduct many affairs, which were
" foreign to those which principally concerned and
" related to his office, would in a short time raise
" such a storm of envy and malice against him, that Thechan -
" he should not be able to stand the shock. " All sees a storm
men's impatience to get, and immodesty in asking, h,g against"
when the king had nothing to give, with his ma- him<
jesty's easiness of access, and that " imbecillitas fron- .
" tis" which kept him from denying, together with
rescuing himself from the most troublesome impor-
tunities by sending men to the chancellor, could not
but in a short time make him be looked upon as the
man that obstructed all their pretences ; in which
they were confirmed by his own carriage towards
them, which, though they could not deny to be full
of civility, yet he always dissuaded them from pur-
suing the suits they had made to the king, as unfit
or unjust for his majesty to grant, how inclinable
soever he had seemed to them. And so, instead of
promising to assist them, he positively denied so
much as to endeavour it, when the matter would
not bear it ; but where he could do courtesies, no
man proceeded more cheerfully and more unasked,
which very many of all conditions knew to be true"';
nor did he ever receive recompense or reward for
any such offices. Of which temper of his there will
be occasion to say more hereafter.
The first matter of general and public importance, A discovery
f . of the duke
and which resulted not from any debate in parlia-ofYork's
B b 2
372 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. ment, was the discovery of a great affection that the
marr iage duke had for the chancellor's daughter, who was a
chancellor's m ^ ^ honour to the king's sister, the princess
daughter, royal of Orange, and of a contract of marriage be-
tween them : with which nobody was so surprised
and confounded as the chancellor himself, who being
of a nature free from any jealousy, and very confi-
dent of an. entire affection and obedience from all
his children, and particularly from that daughter,
whom he had always loved dearly, never had in the
least degree suspected any such thing; though he
knew afterwards, that the duke's affection and kind-
ness had been much spoken of beyond the seas, but
without the least suspicion in any body that it could
ever tend to marriage. And therefore it was che-
rished and promoted in the duke by those, and only
by those, who were declared enemies to the chan-
cellor, and who hoped from thence, that some signal
disgrace and dishonour would befall the chancellor
and his family ; in which they were the more rea-
sonably confirmed by the manner of the duke's living
towards him, which had never any thing of grace
in it, but very much of disfavour, to which the lord
Berkley, and most of his other servants to please
the lord Berkley, had contributed all they could ;
and the queen's notorious prejudice to him had
made it part of his duty to her majesty, which had
been a very great discomfort to the chancellor, in
his whole administration beyond the seas. But now,
upon this discovery and the consequence thereof, he
looked upon himself as a ruined person, and that
the king's indignation ought to fall upon him as the
contriver of that indignity to the crown, which as
himself from his soul abhorred, and would have had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 373
the presumption of his daughter to be punished 166 -
with the utmost severity, so he believed the whole
kingdom would be inflamed to the punishment of it,
and to prevent the dishonour which might result
from it. And the least calamity that he expected
upon himself and family, how innocent soever, was
an everlasting banishment out of the kingdom, and
to end his days in foreign parts in poverty and mi-
sery. All which undoubtedly must have come to
pass upon that occasion, if the king had either had
that indignation which had been just in him ; or if
he had withdrawn his grace and favour from him,
and left him to be sacrificed by the envy and rage
of others ; though at this time he was not thought
to have many enemies, nor indeed any who were
friends to any other honest men. But the king's
own knowledge of his innocence, and thereupon his
gracious condescension and interposition diverting
any rough proceeding, and so a contrary effect to
what hath been mentioned having been produced
from thence; the chancellor's greatness seemed to
be thereby confirmed, his family established above
the reach of common envy, and his fortune to be in
a growing and prosperous' condition not like to be
shaken. Yeti after many years possession of this
prosperity, an unexpected gust of displeasure took
again its rise from this original, and overwhelmed
him with variety and succession of misfortunes/
q Yet] And since but as some portion is omitted,
r misfortunes. ] An account the following relation, as it is
of the entrance of the chancel- given in this part of the latter
lor's daughter into the family of manuscript, is here inserted,
the princess royal, compiled part- it is very reasonable to relate
lyfrom the MS. of the Life, and from before this time all the pas-
par tlyfrom that of the Continu- sages and circumstances, which
ation, will be found at page '300; accompanied or attended that
Bb3
374 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. The chancellor, as soon as the king was at White-
~ hall, had sent for his daughter, having a design pre-
lady's first promotion in the ser-
vice of the princess royal, in
which the extreme averseness
in her father and mother from
embracing that opportunity, and
the unusual grace and impor-
tunity from them who conferred
the honour, being considered,
there may appear to many an
extraordinary operation of Pro-
vidence, ii> giving the first rise
to what afterwards succeeded,
though of a nature so trans-
cendent as cannot be thought to
have any relation to it.
When the king resolved [as
in page 300, line 5. to page 302,
line 14. ] Mrs. Killigrew was
dead of the smallpox.
O'Neile came in the instant
to the chancellor with very much
kindness, and told him, that if
he desired the king to speak to
his sister to receive his daughter
into the place of Mrs. Killigrew,
he was most confident she would
do it very willingly, but that she
expected the king should speak
to her, because the queen had
writ to bestow the place that
should first fall vacant to an-
other ; and when he found him
not inclined to move the king in
it, saying, he would not be any
occasion to increase the jea-
lousies which were already be-
tween their majesties, nor to dis-
pose the princess to displease
her mother, he frankly offered
to move the king without the
other's appearing in it. Where-
upon the chancellor thought it
necessary to deal freely with him,
and told him, that his daughter
was the only company and com-
fort that her mother had, and
who he knew could not part
with her; and that for him-
self he was resolved, whilst the
king's condition continued so
low, he would not have his
daughter in that gayety, which
was necessary for the court of
so young a princess; and there-
fore he conjured him by all the
friendship he had for him, since
he saw to what resolution he
was fixed, to use all his dexterity
and address to divert the princess
from the thought of a bounty
that would prove so inconveni-
ent to her, and to engage the
lady Stanhope in the same office.
O'Neile on the contrary used
many arguments to him for his
compliance with an opportunity
that offered itself so much for
[his] daughter's advantage, and
which would probably, by the
generosity of such a mistress,
be attended with benefits and
advantages which might absolve
him from any further charges
for her preferment. He remain-
ed not to be shaken, and the
other desisted from his impor-
tunity. Shortly after, the king
took notice of the vacant place
in his sister's family, which he
said he thought might in many
respects be convenient for his
daughter, and therefore offered
to move his sister in it on her
behalf. The chancellor, after
he had acknowledged his ma-
jesty's goodness, with all humi-
lity besought him not to inter-
pose his authority with his royal
sister ; made him a full relation
of all that had passed between
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 375
sently to marry her ; to which purpose he had an i '60.
overture from a noble family, on the behalf of a well- "~
O'Neile and him, and of his
resolution not to separate his
daughter from his wife, and that
one should not live in lustre,
whilst the other must be neces-
sitated to continue in so much
security; and thereupon humbly
entreated the king to refuse to
interpose in that affair. The
king told him with a very gra-
cious freedom, that his 'sister
had directly spoken to him to
move in it, because of the letter
she had received from the queen ;
that she herself had seen his
daughter, and was so well pleas-
ed with her nature and her hu-
mour, which she had oppor-
tunity to observe a week toge-
ther, that she had taken a re-
solution within herself, and
communicated it to the lady
Stanhope, that she would take
her into her service when there
should be opportunity; and
therefore his majesty wished
him to consider, whether he
would not accept a benefit with
all these circumstances ; how-
ever advised him to wait upon
his sister, and acknowledge so
much grace, if he did not in-
tend to make use of it. Though
the chancellor was exceedingly
perplexed with the knowledge
of all these particulars, and un-
derstood to what misinterpre-
tation and disadvantages this
obstinacy might make him lia-
ble, yet he changed nothing of
his resolution, and waited upon
the princess with hope that he
might convert her purely upon
the inconvenience that might
follow upon the conferring a
grace, in that conjuncture, upon
a family so inconsiderable to
her service.
After he had attended the
princess, and with all the expres-
sions which his gratitude could
suggest to him magnified the
many favours he had received
from her, and the gracious in-
clination he was informed shehad
now for his daughter; and he
knew no better way (he told her)
to return his most dutiful ac-
. knowledgments, than by taking
care that she should undergo the
least prejudice by her bounty to
him, and therefore that he was re-
solved not to receive the honour
she was inclined to bestow upon
his daughter: that he had the
misfortune to be ill understood
by the queen her mother, who
would be the more incensed
against him, and offended with
her highness, if the recom-
mendation she had given on the
behalf of another lady should be
rejected on his behalf, and that
in truth he was not able to
maintain his daughter in such a
condition as that relation did
require ; and concluded how in-
convenient it would be to sepa-
rate her from her mother, who
would be desolate without her.
Her royal highness, who heard
him with great patience till he
had alleged all the arguments
why she should not persist in
her gracious disposition, and
why he could not receive the
obligations, answered, " that
" she knew well the long and
" faithful service he had per-
" formed towards the king her
B b 4
376 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. bred hopeful young gentleman, who was the heir of
~~it. His daughter quickly arrived at her father's
house, to his great joy, having always had a great
" father, and the confidence his
" majesty had in him at his
" death; that he had continued
" the same fidelity to the king
" her brother, who was very.
" sensible of it, and that she was
" the more troubled, that her
" mother had entertained any
" prejudice towards him, which
" she was assured proceeded
" from some false information,
" which would shortly appear
" to be so; that for her own
" part, she had always paid all
" duty to her, and would be
" ready to gratify any worthy
" person who came recom-
" mended by her majesty, but
" that she would not exclude
" her own judgment, and be
" bound to have no servants
" about her person but such
te who should be recommended
" by her mother, who she could
" not believe could ever be of-
" fended with her for taking
" the daughter of a person who
" had been of so eminent fide-
" lity to the crown : that for the
" maintenance of his daughter
" he should take no further
" care; she well enough knew
" his condition, and how it
" came to be such, and that
" she took the care of that upon
" herself: for what related to
" his wife's unwillingness to
" part with her daughter, her
" highness said, she was con-
" tented to refer it entirely to
" her ; as soon as she came
" home she would send for her
" to Breda, and if her mother
" would not permit her to come
" to her, she had done her part,
" and would acquiesce. " There
remained nothing for the chan-
cellor to reply, and he remained
still confident that his wife (to
whom he had written to confirm
her in her former resolution of
having her daughter still with
her) would continue of the mind
she had been of; but when she
was informed of all that had
passed, she concluded that all
those unusual circumstances in
an affair of that nature were not
without some instinct of Provi-
dence ; and so when the princess
royal sent for her daughter, she
went herself likewise, and pre-
sented her to her highness ; to
which possibly it was some mo-
tive, that there would then re-
main no objection against her
own residence with her hiis-
band ; and so she presently re-
moved to him to Cologne, where
the king then was, and remained
for some years. Having now set
down (not improperly I think)
the true rise and story of his
daughter's going into that court,
with all the particulars which
preceded it, I shall now return
to that place from whence this
digression led us, of the public
discovery of the duke's affection,
and shall continue the relation
till an end was put to that great
affair, by the consent and ap-
probation of the royal family,
and, for ought appeared to the
contrary, to the general satis-
faction of the kingdom.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 377
affection for her ; and she being his eldest child, he j 660.
had more acquaintance with her, than with any of
his children ; and being now of an age fit for mar-
riage, he was well pleased that he had an opportu-
nity to place her in such a condition, as with God's
blessing was like to yield her much content. She The duke's
had not been long in England, when the duke fo-ofHtotb*
formed the king " of the affection and engagement kl " 8 '
" that had been long between them ; that they had
" been long contracted, and that she was with
" child :" and therefore with all imaginable impor-
tunity he begged his majesty's leave and permission
upon his knees, " that he might publicly marry her,
" . in such a manner as his majesty thought necessary
" for the consequence thereof. " The king was much
troubled with it, and more with his brother's pas-
sion, which was expressed in a very wonderful man-
ner and with many tears, protesting, " that if his
"majesty should not give his consent, he would
" immediately leave the kingdom, and must spend his
" life in foreign parts. " His majesty was very much
perplexed to resolve what to do : he knew the chan-
cellor so well, that he concluded that he was not
privy to it, nor would ever approve it ; and yet that
it might draw much prejudice upon him, by the jea-
lousy of those who were not well acquainted with
his nature. He presently sent for the marquis ofrhe king
Ormond and the earl of Southampton, who he well oflhe cban-
knew were his bosom friends, and informed them at^j^V^
large, and of all particulars which had passed from to P eD the
matter to
the duke to him, and commanded them presently toim-
see for the chancellor to come to his own chamber
at Whitehall, where they would meet him upon a
business of great importance, which the king had
378 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. commended to them for their joint advice. They
no sooner met, than the marquis of Ormond told the
chancellor, " that he had a matter to inform him of,
" that he doubted would give him much trouble ;"
and therefore advised him to compose himself to
hear it : and then told him, " that the duke of York
" had owned a great affection for his daughter to
" the king, and that he much doubted that she was
" with child by the duke, and that the king re-
" quired the advice of them ancj of him what he was
" to do. "
The chan- The manner of the chancellor's receiving this ad-
wittTittr vertisement made it evident enough that he was
the heart : struc k w j t j, j t to tne heart, and had never had the
least jealousy or apprehension of it. He broke out
into a very immoderate passion against the wicked-
ness of his daughter, and said with all imaginable
earnestness, " that as soon as he came home he
" would turn her out of his house, as a strumpet, to
" shift for herself, and would never see her again. "
They told him, " that his passion was too violent to
" administer good counsel to him, that they thought
" that the duke was married to his daughter, and
" that there were other measures to be taken than
" those which the disorder he was in had suggested
" to him. " Whereupon he fell into new commo-
tions, and said, " if that were true, he was well pre-
And breaks pared to advise what was to be done : that he had
out into a
very immo- " much rather his daughter should be the duke's
ion. " whore than his wife : in the former case nobody
" could blame him for the resolution he had taken,
" for he was not obliged to keep a whore for the
" greatest prince alive ; and the indignity to him-
" self he would submit to the good pleasure of God.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 379
" But if there were any reason to suspect the other, 1660.
" he was ready to give a positive judgment, in which
" he hoped their lordships would concur with him ;
" that the king should immediately cause the wo-
'* man to be sent to the Tower, and to be cast into
" a dungeon, under so strict a guard, that no per-
" son living should be admitted to come to her ;
" and then that an act of parliament should be im-
" mediately passed for the cutting off her head, to
" which he would not only give his consent, but
" would very willingly be the first man that should
" propose it :" and whoever knew the man, will be-
lieve that he said all this very heartily.
In this point of time the king entered the room,
and sat down at the table ; and perceiving by his
countenance the agony the chancellor was in, and
his swollen eyes from whence a flood of tears were
fallen, he asked the other lords, " what they had done,
" and whether they had resolved on any thing. "
The earl of Southampton said, " his majesty must
" consult with soberer men ; that he" (pointing to
the chancellor) " was mad, and had proposed such
" extravagant things, that he was no more to be
" consulted with. " Whereupon his majesty, look-
ing upon him with a wonderful benignity, said,
" Chancellor, I knew this business would trouble
" you, and therefore I appointed your two friends
" to confer first with you upon it, before I would
" speak with you myself: but you must now lay
" aside all passion that disturbs you, and consider
" that this business will not do itself; that it will
" quickly take air ; and therefore it is fit that I first
" resolve what to do, before other men uncalled pre-
" sume to give their counsel : tell me therefore
380 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " what you would have me do, and I will follow
~~" your advice. " Then his majesty enlarged upon
the passion of his brother, and the expressions he
had often used, " that he was not capable of having
" any other wife, and the like. " Upon which the
chancellor arose, and with a little composedness
said, " Sir, I hope I need make no apology to you
" for myself, and of my own in this matter, upon
" which I look with so much detestation, that
" though I could have wished that your brother
" had not thought it fit to have put this disgrace
"upon me, I had much rather submit and bear it
" with all humility, than that it should be repaired
" by making her his wife ; the thought whereof I
" do so much abominate, that I had much rather
" see her dead, with all the infamy that is due to
" her presumption. " And then he repeated all that
he had before said to the lords, of sending her pre-
sently to the Tower, and the rest ; and concluded,
" Sir, I do upon all my oaths which I have taken to
" you Jto give you faithful counsels, and from all the
" sincere gratitude I stand obliged to you for so
" many obligations, renew this counsel to you ; and
" do beseech you to pursue it, as the only expedient
" that can free you from the evils that this business
" will otherwise bring upon you. " And observing
by the king's countenance, that he was not pleased
with his advice, he continued and said, " I am the
" dullest creature alive, if, having been with your
" majesty so many years, I do not know yoiir infirm-
" ities better than other men. You are of too
" easy and gentle a nature to contend with those
" rough affronts, which the iniquity and license of
" the late times is like to put upon you, before it
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 381
" be subdued and reformed. The presumption all 1660.
" kind of men have upon your temper is too noto-~~
" rious to all men, and lamented by all who wish
" you well : and, trust me, an example of the
" highest severity in a case that so nearly concerns
" you, and that relates to the person who is nearest
" to you, will be so seasonable, that your reign, dur-
" ing the remaining part of your life, will be the
" easier to you, and all men will take heed how
" they impudently offend you. "
He had scarce done speaking, when the duke of
York came in ; whereupon the king spake of some
other business, and shortly after went out of the
roOm with his brother, whom (as was shortly known)
he informed of all that the chancellor had said, who,
as soon as he came to his house, sent his wife to
command his daughter to keep her chamber, and
not to admit any visits ; whereas before she had al-
ways been at dinner and supper, and had much
company resorting to her : which was all that he
thought fit to do upon the first assault, and till he
had slept upon it, (which he did very unquietly,) and
reflected upon what was like to be the effect of so
extravagant a cause. And this was quickly known
to the duke, who was exceedingly offended at it,
and complained to the king, " as of an indignity of-
" fered to him. " And the next morning the king
chid the chancellor for proceeding with so much
precipitation, and required him " to take off that re-
" straint, and to leave her to the liberty she had
" been accustomed to. " To which he replied, " that
" her having not discharged the duty of a daughter
" ought not to deprive him of the authority of a
" father ; and therefore he must humbly beg his ma-
1660. "jesty not to interpose his commands against his
~" " doing any thing that his own dignity required :
" that he only expected what his majesty would do
" upon the advice he had humbly offered to him,
" and when he saw that, he would himself proceed
" as he was sure would become him :" nor did he
take off any of the restraint he had imposed. Yet
he discovered after, that even in that time the duke
had found ways to come to her, and to stay whole
nights with her, by the administration of those
who were not suspected by him, and who had
the excuse, " that they knew that they were mar-
" ried. "
This affair This subject was quickly the matter of all men's
not those discourse, and did not produce those murmurs and
murmurs discontented reflections which were expected. The
and discon-
tents the parliament was sitting, and took not the least no-
chancellor
expected, tice of it ; nor could it be discerned that many were
scandalized, at it. The chancellor received the same
respects from all men which he had been accus-
tomed to : and the duke himself, in the house of
peers, frequently sat by him upon the woolsack,
that he might the more easily confer with him upon
the matters which were debated, and receive his ad-
vice how to behave himself; which made all men
believe that there had been a good understanding
between them. And yet it is very true, that, in all
that time, the duke never spake one word to him
of that affair. The king spake every day about it^
and told the chancellor, " that he must behave him-
" self wisely, for that the thing was remediless ; and
" that his majesty knew that they were married,
" which would quickly appear to all men, who
" knew that nothing could be done upon it. " In
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON 383
this time the chancellor had conferred with his 1660.
daughter, without any thing of indulgence, and not"
only discovered that they were unquestionably mar-
ried, but by whom, and who were present at it,
who would be ready to avow it ; which pleased him
not, though it diverted him from using some of
that rigour which he intended. And he saw no
other remedy could be applied, but that which he
had proposed to the king, who thought of nothing
like it.
At this time there was news of the princess
royal's embarkation in Holland, which obliged the
king and the duke of York to make a journey to
Dover to receive her, who came for no other reason,
but to congratulate with the king her brother, and
to have her share in the public joy. The morning
that they began their journey, the king and the
duke came to the chancellor's house ; and the king,
after he had spoken to him of some business that
was to be done in his absence, going out of the
room, the duke stayed behind, and whispered the
chancellor in the ear, because there were others at a
little distance, "that he knew that he had heard of
" the business between him and his daughter, and
" of which he confessed he ought to have spoken
" with him before ; but that when he returned
" from Dover, he would give him full satisfaction :
" in the mean time," he desired him, " not to be of-
" fended with his daughter. " To which the chan-
cellor made no other answer, than " that it was a
" matter too great for him to speak of. "
When the princess royal came to the town, there
grew to be a great silence in that affair. The duke
said nothing to the chancellor, nor came nor sent to
384 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. his daughter, as he had constantly used to do : and
it was industriously published about the town, that
that business was broken off, and that the duke was
resolved never to think more of it. The queen had
before written a very sharp letter to the duke, full
of indignation, that he should have so low thoughts
as to marry such a woman ; to whom he shewed
The quen the letter, as not moved by it. And now she sent
in- the king word, " that she was on the way to Eng-
censed at f( \ an ^ t o prevent, with her authority, so great a
" stain and dishonour to the crown ;" and used
many threats and passionate expressions upon the
subject.
322 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. upon, from their own sufferings or those of their
fathers, and their constant adhering to the same
principles, as of the king's party; who with joy
waited to kiss his hand, and were received by him
with those open arms and flowing expressions of
grace, calling all those by their names who were
known to him, that they easily assured themselves
of the accomplishment of all their desires from such
a generous prince. And some of them, that they
might not lose the first opportunity, forced him to
give them present audience, in which they reckoned
up the insupportable losses undergone by themselves
or their fathers, and some services of their own ; and
thereupon demanded the present grant or promise
of such or such an office. Some, for the real small
value of one, though of the first classis, pressed for
two or three with such confidence and importunity,
and with such tedious discourses, that the king was
extremely nauseated with their suits, though his
modesty knew not how to break from them ; that
he no sooner got into his chamber, which for some
hours he was not able to do, than he lamented the
condition to which he found he must be subject ;
and did in truth from that minute contract such a
prejudice against the persons of some of those, though
of the greatest quality, for the indecency and incon-
gruity of their pretences, that he never afterwards
received their addresses with his usual grace or
patience, and rarely granted any thing they desired,
though the matter was more reasonable, and the
manner of asking much more modest.
Monk re- B u t there was another mortification, which im-
commends . .
a list of mediately succeeded this, that gave him much more
Si? ! * the trouble, and in which he knew not how to comport
king.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 323
himself. The general, after he had given all neces- 1 660.
sary orders to his troops, and sent a short despatch ~~
to the parliament of the king's being come to Can-
terbury, and of his purpose to stay there two days,
till the next Sunday was passed, he came to the
king in his chamber, and in a short secret audience,
and without any preamble or apology, as he was not
a man of a graceful elocution, he told him, " that he
" could not do him better service, than by recom-
" mending to him such persons who were most
" grateful to the people, and in respect of their
" parts and interests were best able to serve him;"
and thereupon gave him a large paper full of names,
which the king in disorder enough received, and
without reading put it into his pocket, that he
might not enter into any particular debate upon the
persons ; and told him, " that he would be always
" ready to receive his advice, and willing to gratify
" him in any thing he should desire, and which
" would not be prejudicial to his service. " The .
king, as soon as he could, took an opportunity,
when there remained no more in his chamber, to
inform the chancellor of the first assaults he had
encountered as soon as he alighted out of his coach,
and afterwards of what the general had said to him ;
and thereupon took the paper out of his pocket and
read it. It contained the names of at least three-
score and ten persons, who were thought fittest to
be made privy counsellors; in the whole number
whereof, there were only two who had ever served
the king, or been looked upon as zealously affected
to his service, the marquis of Hertford and the earl
of Southampton ; who were both of so universal
reputation and interest, and so well known to have
Y 2
324 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. the very particular esteem of the king, that they
"needed no such recommendation. All the rest were
either those counsellors who had served the king,
and deserted him by adhering to the parliament ; or
of those who had most eminently disserved him in
the beginning of the rebellion, and in the carrying
it on with all fierceness and animosity, until the new
model, and dismissing the earl of Essex : then, in-
deed, Cromwell had grown terrible to them, and
disposed them to wish the king were again possessed
of his regal power ; and which they did but wish.
There were then the names of the principal persons
of the presbyterian party, to which the general was
thought to be most inclined, at least to satisfy the
foolish and unruly inclinations of his wife. There
were likewise the names of some who were most
notorious in all the other factions ; and of some who,
in respect of their mean qualities and meaner quali-
fications, nobody could imagine how they could come
to be named, except that by the very odd mixture
any sober and wise resolutions and concurrence
might be prevented,
with which The king was in more than ordinary confusion
he is dis-
pleased, with the reading this paper, and knew not well
what to think of the general, in whose absolute
power he now was. However, he resolved in the
entrance upon his government not to consent to
such impositions, which might prove perpetual fet-
ters and chains upon him ever after. He gave the
paper therefore to the chancellor, and bade him
" take the first opportunity to discourse the matter
" with the general," (whom he had not yet saluted,)
" or rather with Mr. Morrice, his most intimate
" friend ;" whom he had newly presented to the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 325
king, and " with both whom he presumed he would 1660.
" shortly be acquainted," though for the present ~~
both were equally unknown to him. Shortly after,
when mutual visits had passed between them, and
such professions as naturally are made between per-
sons who are like to have much to do with each
other, and Mr. Morrice being in private with him,,
the chancellor told him " how much the king was
" surprised with the paper he had received from the
" general, which at least recommended (and which
" would have always great authority with him) some
" such persons to his trust, in whom he could not
" yet, till they were better known to him, repose
" any confidence. " And thereupon he read many of
their names, and said, " that if such men were made
" privy counsellors, it would either be imputed to
" the king's own election, which would cause a very
" ill measure to be taken of his majesty's nature and
" judgment ; or (which more probably would be the
" case) to the inclination and power of the general,
" which would be attended with as ill effects. " Mr.
Morrice seemed much troubled at the apprehension,,
and said, " the paper was of his handwriting, by the
" general's order, who, he was assured, had no such
" intention ; but that he would presently speak with
" him and return ;" which he did within less than
an hour, and expressed " the trouble the general
"was in upon the king's very just exception; and
" that the truth was, he had been obliged to have
" much communication with men of all humours
" and inclinations, and so had promised to do them
" good offices to the king, and could not therefore
" avoid inserting their names in that paper, without
" any imaginations that the king would accept them;
Y 3
326 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. "that he had done his part, and all that could be
~ " expected from him, and left the king to do what
" he had thought best for his own service, which he
" would always desire him to do, whatever proposi-
" tion he should at any time presume to make to his
" majesty, which he would not promise should be al-
" ways reasonable. However, he did still heartily
" wish that his majesty would make use of some of
" those persons," whom he named, and said, " he
" knew most of them were not his friends, and that
" his service would be more advanced by admitting
" them, than by leaving them out. "
was abundantly pleased with this good
Monk's ex- temper of the general, and less disliked those who
he discerned would be grateful to him than any of
the rest : and so the next day he made the general
knight of the garter, and admitted him of the coun-
cil ; and likewise at the same time gave the signet
to Mr. Morrice, who was sworn of the council, and
secretary of state ; and sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,
who had been presented by the general under a spe-
cial recommendation, was then too sworn of the
council ; and the rather, because having lately mar-
ried the niece of the earl of Southampton, (who was
then likewise present, and received the garter, to
which he had been elected some years before,) it was
believed that his slippery humour would be easily
. restrained and fixed by the uncle. All this was
transacted during his majesty's stay at Canterbury.
SUm'hlnt Upon the 29th of May, which was his majesty's
entry into birthday, and now d the day of his restoration and
triumph, he entered London the highway from Ro-
d now] now again
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 327
Chester to Blackheath, being on both sides so full of 1660.
acclamations of joy, and crowded with such a multi-~
tude of people, that it seemed one continued street
wonderfully inhabited. Upon Blackheath the arm^
was drawn up, consisting of above fifty thousand
men, horse and foot, in excellent order and equi-
page, where the general presented the chief officers
to kiss the king's hands, which grace they seemed to
receive with all humility and cheerfulness. Shortly
after, the lord mayor of London, the sheriffs, and
body of the aldermen, with the whole militia of the
city, appeared with great lustre ; whom the king
received with a most graceful and obliging counte-
nance, and knighted the mayor, and all the alder-
men, and sheriffs, and the principal officers of the
militia : an honour the city had been without near
eighteen years, and therefore abundantly welcome
to the husbands and their wives. With this equi-
page the king was attended through the city of
London, where the streets were railed in on both
sides, that the livery of the e companies of the city
might appear with the more order and decency, till
he came to Whitehall ; the windows all the way be-
ing full of ladies and persons of quality, who were
impatient to fill their eyes with a beloved spectacle,
of which they had been so long deprived. The king
was no sooner at Whitehall, but (as hath been said)
the speakers and both houses of parliament pre-
sented themselves with all possible professions of
duty and obedience at his royal feet, and were even
ravished with the cheerful reception they had from
him. The joy was universal ; and whosoever was
e of the] of all the
Y 4
3528 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. not pleased at heart, took the more care to appear
Excessive as ^ ne was ' an( ^ no v i ce was heard but of the
joy upon highest congratulation, of extolling the person of
the restora- &
tion. the king, admiring his condescensions and affability,
raising his praises to heaven, and cursing and de-
testing the memory of those villains who had so
long excluded so meritorious a prince, and thereby
withheld that happiness from them, which they
should enjoy in the largest measure they could de-
sire or wish. The joy on all sides was with the
greatest excess, so that most men thought, and had
reason enough' to think, that the king was even al-
ready that great and glorious prince which the par-
liament had wantonly and hypocritically promised
to raise his father to be.
Both houses The chancellor took his place in the house of peers
menTmeet. with a general acceptation and respect ; and all those
lords who were alive and had served the king his fa-
ther, and the sons of those who were dead and were
equally excluded from sitting there by ordinances of
parliament, together with all those who had been cre-
ated by this king, took their seats in parliament with-
The charac- out the least murmur or exception. The house of
ter of the , . _, . , , . -
house of commons seemed equally constituted to what could
>ns ' be wished ; for though there were many presbyterian
members, and some of all other factions in religion,
who did all promise themselves some liberty and in-
dulgence for their several parties, yet they all pro-
fessed great zeal for the establishing the king in his
full power. And the major part of the house was of
sober and prudent men, who had been long known
to be very weary of all the late governments, and
heartily to desire and pray for the king's return.
And there were many who had either themselves
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 329
been actual and active malignants and delinquents 1660. .
in the late king's time, or the sons of such, who in-"~
herited their fathers virtues. Both which classes of
men were excluded from being capable of being
elected to serve in parliament, not only by former
ordinances, but by express caution in the very writs
which were sent out to summon this parliament ;
and were notwithstanding made choice of, and re-
turned by the country, and received without any
hesitation in the house, and treated by all men with
the more civility and respect for their known malig-
nity : so that the king, though it was necessary to
have patience in the expectations of their resolu-
tions in all important points, which could not sud-
denly be concluded in such a popular assembly, was
very reasonably assured, that he should have nothing
pressed upon him that should be ungrateful, with
reference to the church or state.
It is true, the presbyterians were very numer- Particularly
ous in the house, and many of them men of good byterian^
parts, and had a great party in the army, and a party 1D ltf
greater in the city, and, except with reference to
episcopacy, were desirous to make themselves grate-
ful to the king in the settling all his interest, and
especially in vindicating themselves from the odious
murder of the king by loud and passionate inveigh-
ing against that monstrous parricide, and with the
highest animosity denouncing the severest judg-
ments not only against those who were immediately
guilty of it, but against those principal persons who
had most notoriously adhered to Cromwell in the
administration of his government, that is, most emi-
nently opposed them and their faction. They took
all occasions to declare, " that the power and in-
330 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660- " terest of the party f had been the chief means to
bring home the king;" and used all possible en-
deavours that the king might be persuaded to think
so too, and that the very covenant had at last done
him good and expedited his return, by the causing
it to be hung up -in churches, from whence Crom-
well had cast it out; and their ministers pressing
upon the conscience of all those who had taken it,
" that they were bound by that clause which con-
" cerned the defence of the king's person, to take up
" arms, if need were, on his behalf, and to restore
** him to his rightful government ;" when the very
same ministers had obliged them to take up arms
against the king his father by virtue of that cove-
nant, and to fight against him till they had taken
him prisoner, which produced his murder. This
party was much displeased that the king declared
himself so positively on behalf of episcopacy, and
would hear no , other prayers in his chapel than
those contained in the Book of Common Prayer,
and that all those formalities and solemnities were
now again resumed and practised, which they had
caused to be abolished for so many years past. Yet
the king left all churches to their liberty, to use
such forms of devotion which they liked best ; and
such of their chief preachers who desired it, or were
desired by their friends, were admitted to preach
before him, even without the surplice, or any other
habit than they made choice of. But this conniv-
ance would not do their business; their preaching
made no proselytes who were not so before ; and
the resort of the people to those churches where the
f the party] their party
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 331
Common Prayer was again introduced, was evi- 1660.
dence enough of their inclinations ; and they saw ~~
the king's chapel always full of those who had used
to possess the chief benches in their assemblies ; so
that it was manifest that nothing but the supreme
authority would be able to settle their discipline :
and therefore, with their usual confidence, they were which
very importunate in the house of commons, " that settlement
" the ecclesiastical government might be settled and f j, c ^* ias
" remain according to the covenant, which had been Ternn nt
. according
" practised many years, and so the people generally to the c -
" well devoted to it ; whereas the introducing the
" Common Prayer (with which very few had ever
" been acquainted or heard it read) would very
" much offend the people, and give great interrup-
** tion to the composing the peace of the kingdom. "
This was urged in the house of commons by emi-
nent men of the party, who believed they had the
major part of their mind. And their preachers
were as solicitous and industrious to inculcate the
same doctrine to the principal persons who had re-
turned with the king, and every day resorted to the
court as if they presided there, and had frequent
audiences of the king to persuade him to be of the
same opinion ; from whom they received no other
condescensions than they had formerly had at the
Hague, with the same gracious affability and ex-
pressions to their persons.
That party in the house that was in truth devoted
to the king and to the old principles of church and
of state, which every day increased, thought not fit
so to cross the presbyterians, as to make them despe-
rate in their hopes of satisfaction ; but, with the
concurrence with those who were of contrary fac-
332 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. tions, diverted the argument by proposing other sub-
jects of more immediate relation to the public peace,
(as the act of indemnity, which every man impa-
tiently longed for, and the raising money towards
the payment of the army and the navy, without
which that insupportable charge could not be less-
ened,) to be first considered and despatched ; and
the model for religion to be debated and prepared
by that committee which had been nominated before
his majesty's return to that purpose ; they not doubt-
ing to cross and puzzle any pernicious resolutions
there, till time and their own extravagant follies
should put some end to their destructive designs.
In the mean time there were two particulars
which the king, with much inward impatience,
though with little outward communication, did most
desire ; the disbanding the army, and the settling
the revenue, the course and receipt whereof had
been so broken and perverted, and a great part ex-
tinguished by the sale of all the crown lands, that
the old officers of the exchequer, auditors or re-
ceivers, knew not how to resume their administra-
tions. Besides that the great receipt of excise and
customs was not yet vested in the king ; nor did the
parliament make any haste to assign it, finding it
necessary to reserve it in the old way, and not to
divert it from those assignments which had been
made for the payment of the army and navy ; for
which, until some other provision could be made, it
was to no purpose to mention the disbanding the
one or the other, though the charge of both was so
vast and insupportable, that the kingdom must in a
short time sink under the burden. For what con-
cerned the revenue and raising money, the king
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 333
was less solicitous; and yet there was not so much 1660.
as any assignation made for the support of his~
household, which caused a vast debt to be con-
tracted before taken notice of, the mischief of which
is hardly yet removed. He saw the parliament
every day doing somewhat in it; and it quickly
dissolved all bargains, contracts, and sales, which
had been of any of the crown lands, so that all that
royal revenue (which had been too much wasted and
impaired in those improvident times which had pre-
ceded the troubles) was entirely remitted to those to
whom it belonged, the king and the queen his mo- ^_
ther ; but very little money was returned out of the
same into the exchequer in the space of the first
year: so difficult it was to reduce any payments,
which had been made for so many years irregularly,
into the old channel and order. And every thing
else of this kind was done, how slowly soever, with
as much expedition as from s the nature of the af-
fair, and the crowd in which it was necessary to be
agitated, could h reasonably be expected ; and there-
fore his majesty was less troubled for those incon-
veniences which he foresaw must inevitably flow
from thence.
But the delay in disbanding the army, how una- The nature
111 1*1 1*1 /vi i 11 iilu ' inclina-
voidable soever, did exceedingly afflict him, and the tion of the
more, because for many reasons he could not urge it ari
nor complain of it. He knew well the ill constitu-
tion of the army, the distemper and murmuring that
was in it, and how many diseases and convulsions
their infant loyalty was subject to ; that how united
soever their inclinations and acclamations seemed
8 from] Not in MS. h could] as could
334 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. to be at Blackheath, their affections were not the
same : and the very countenances then of many offi-
cers as well as soldiers did sufficiently manifest, that
they were drawn thither to a service they were not
delighted in. The general, before he had formed
any resolution to himself, and only valued himself
upon the presbyterian interest, had cashiered some
regiments and companies which he knew not to be
devoted to his person and greatness ; and after he
found it necessary to fix his own hopes and depend-
ence upon the king, he had dismissed many officers
who he thought might be willing and able to cross
his designs and purposes when he should think fit to
discover them, and conferred their charges and com-
mands upon those who had been disfavoured by the
late powers ; and after the parliament had declared
for and proclaimed the king, he cashiered others,
and gave their offices to some eminent commanders
who had served the king ; and gave others of the
loyal nobility leave to list volunteers in companies
to appear with them at the reception of the king,
who had all ' l met and joined with the army upon
Blackheath in the head of their regiments and com-
panies : yet, notwithstanding all this providence, the
old soldiers had little regard for their new officers,
at least had no resignation for them ; and it quickly
appeared, by the select and affected mixtures of sul-
len and melancholic parties of officers and soldiers,
that as ill-disposed men of other classes were left as
had been disbanded ; and that much the greater
part so much abounded with ill humours, that it
was not safe to administer a general purgation. It
' who had all] all who had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 335
is true that Lambert was close prisoner in the 1660.
Tower, and as many of those officers who were" 1
taken and had appeared in arms with him when he
was taken were likewise there, or in some other
prisons, with others of the same complexion, who
were well enough known to have the present settle-
ment that was intended in perfect detestation : but
this leprosy was spread too far to have the conta-
gion quickly or easily extinguished. How close
soever Lambert himself was secured from doing
mischief, his faction was at liberty, and very nu-
merous ; his disbanded officers and soldiers mingled
and conversed with their old friends and compan-
ions, and found too many of them possessed with
the same spirit; they concurred in the same re-
proaches and revilings of the general, as the man
who had treacherously betrayed them, and led them
into an ambuscade from whence they knew not how
to disentangle themselves. They looked upon him
as the sole person who still supported his own model,
and were well assured that if he were removed, the
army would be still the same, and appear in their
old retrenchments ; and therefore they entered into
several combinations to assassinate him, which they
resolved to do with the first opportunity. In a
word, they liked neither the mien nor garb nor
countenance of the court, nor were wrought upon
by the gracious aspect and benignity of the king
himself.
All this was well enough known to his majesty,
and to the general, who was well enough acquainted
and not at all pleased with the temper and disposi-
tion of his army, and therefore no less desired it
should be disbanded than the king did. In the
336 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. mean time, very diligent endeavours were used to
~~ discover and apprehend some principal persons, who
took as much care to conceal themselves ; and every
day many dangerous or suspected men of all quali-
ties were imprisoned in all counties : spies were em-
ployed, who for the most part had the same affec-
tions which they were to discover in others, and re-
ceived money on both sides to do, and not to do, the
work they were appointed to do. And in this me-
lancholic and perplexed condition the king and all
his hopes stood, when he appeared most gay and ex-
alted, and wore a pleasantness in his face that be-
came him, and looked like as full an assurance of
his security as was possible to be put on.
Disunion of There was yet added to this slippery and uneasy
the king's . . ,. .
friends. posture of affairs, another mortification, which made
a deeper impression upon the king's spirit than all
the rest, and without which the worst of the other
would have been in some degree remediable; that
was, the constitution and disunion of those who
were called and looked upon as his own party,
which without doubt in the whole kingdom was
numerous enough, and capable of being powerful
enough to give the law to all the rest ; which had
been the ground of many unhappy attempts in the
late time ; that if any present force could be drawn
together, and possessed of any such place in which
they might make a stand without being overrun in
a moment, the general concurrence of the kingdom
would in a short time reduce the army, and make
the king superior to all his enemies ; which imagi-
nation was enough confuted, though not enough ex-
tinguished, by the dearbought. experience in the
woful enterprise at Worcester. However, it had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 337
been now a very justifiable presumption in the king, icco.
to believe as well as hope, that he could not be long ~
in England without such an apparency of his own
party, that wished all that he himself desired, and
such a manifestation of their authority, interest, and
power, that would prevent, or be sufficient to sub-
due, any froward disposition that might grow up in
the parliament, or more extravagant demands in the
army itself. An apparence there was of that people,
great enough, who had all the wishes for the king
which he entertained for himself. But they were A review of
so divided and disunited by private quarrels, fac-thisdis-*
tions, and animosities; or so unacquainted with each ""^ s n t ^," ie
other; or, which was worse, so jealous of each other ; restoration -
the understandings and faculties of many honest
men were so weak and shallow, that they could not
be applied to any great trust; and others, who
wished and meant very well, had a peevishness,
frowardness, and opiniatrety, that they would be
engaged only in what pleased themselves, nor would
join in any thing with such and such men whom
they disliked. The severe and tyrannical govern-
ment of Cromwell and the parliament had so often
banished and imprisoned them upon mere jealousies,
that they were grown strangers to one another,
without any communication between them : and
there had been so frequent betrayings and treach-
eries used, so many discoveries of meetings privately
contrived, and of discourses accidentally entered
into, and words and expressions rashly and unad-
visedly uttered without any design, upon which
multitudes were still imprisoned and many put . to
death ; that k the jealousy was so universal, that
k that] so that
VOL. I. Z
338 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. few men who had never so good affections for the
king, durst confer with any freedom together.
Most of those of the nobility who had with con-
stancy and fidelity adhered to the last king, and had
greatest authority with all men who professed the
same affections, were dead; as the duke of Rich-
mond, the earl of Dorset, the lord Capel, the lord
Hopton, and many other excellent persons. And of
that classis, that is, of a powerful interest and un-
suspected integrity, (for there were some very good
men, who were without any cause suspected then,
because they were not equally persecuted upon all
occasions,) there were only two who survived, the
marquis of Hertford and earl of Southampton ; who
were both great and worthy men, looked upon with
great estimation by all the most valuable men who
could contribute most to the king's restoration, and
with reverence by their greatest enemy, and had
been courted by Cromwell himself till he found it
to no purpose. And though the marquis had been
prevailed with once and no more to give him a visit,
the other, the earl, could never be persuaded so
much as to see him ; and when Cromwell was in
the New Forest, and resolved one day to visit him,
he being informed of it or suspecting it, removed to
another house he had at such a distance as exempted
him from that ^visitation. But these two great per-
sons had for several years withdrawn themselves
into the country, lived retired, sent sometimes such
money as they could raise out of their long-seques-
tered and exhausted fortunes, by messengers of their
own dependence, with advice to the king, " to sit
" still, and expect a reasonable revolution, without
" making any unadvised attempt;" and industriously
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 339
declined any conversation or commerce with any 1660.
who were known to correspond with the king: so
that now, upon his majesty's return, they were to-
tally unacquainted with any of those persons, who
now looked as men to be depended upon in any
great action and attempt. And for themselves, as
the marquis shortly after died, so the other with
great abilities served him in his most secret and im-
portant counsels, but had been never conversant in
martial affairs.
There had been six or eight persons of general
good and confessed reputation, and who of all who
were then left alive had had the most eminent
charges in the war, and executed them with great
courage and discretion ; so that few men could with
any reasonable pretence refuse to receive orders
from them, or to serve under their commands.
They had great affection for and confidence in each
other, and had frankly offered by an express of
their own number, whilst the king remained in
France, " that if they were approved and qualified
" by his majesty, they would by joint advice intend
" the care of his majesty's service ; and as they
" would not engage in any absurd and desperate
" attempt, but use all their credit and authority to
" prevent and discountenance the same, so they
" would take the first rational opportunity, which
" they expected from the divisions and animosities
" which daily grew and appeared in the army, to
" draw their friends and old soldiers who were ready
" to receive their commands together, and try the
" utmost that could be done, with the loss or hazard
" of their lives :" some of them having, beside their
experience in war, very considerable fortunes of their
7. 2
340 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. own to lose, and were relations to the greatest fami-
lies in England. And therefore they made it their
humble suit, " that this secret correspondence might
" be carried on, and known to none but to the mar-
" quis of Ormond and to the chancellor ; and that if
" any other counsels were set on foot in England by
" the activity of particular persons, who too fre-
" quently with great zeal and little animadversion
" embarked themselves in impossible undertakings,
" his majesty upon advertisement thereof would
" first communicate the motives or pretences which
" would be offered to him, to them ; and then they
" would find opportunity to confer with some sober
" man of that fraternity," (as there was no well-af-
fected person in England, who at that time would
not willingly receive advice and direction from most
of those persons,) " and thereupon they would pre-
" sent their opinion to his majesty; and if the de-
" sign should appear practicable to his majesty, they
" would cheerfully embark themselves in it, other-
" wise use their own dexterity to divert it. " These
men had been armed with all necessary commissions
and instructions, according to their own desires ; the
king consented to all they proposed; and the cyphers
and correspondence were committed to the chancel-
lor, in whose hands, with the privity only of the
marquis of Ormond, all the intelligence with Eng-
land, of what kind soever, was intrusted.
Under this conduct, for some years all things suc-
ceeded well ; many unseasonable attempts were pre-
vented, and thereby the lives of many good men
preserved: and though (upon the cursory jealousy
of that time, and the restless apprehension of Crom-
well, and the almost continual commitments of all
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 341
who had eminently served the king, and were able 1 660.
to do it again) these 1 persons who were thus trusted,"
or the major part of them, were seldom out of pri-
son, or free from the obligation of good sureties for
their peaceable behaviour; yet all the vigilance of
Cromwell and his most diligent inquisitors could
never discover this secret intercourse between those
confidants and the king, which did always pass and
was maintained by expresses made choice of by
them, and supported at their charge out of such
monies as were privately collected for public uses,
of which they who contributed most knew little
more than the integrity of him who was intrusted,
who did not always make skilful contributions.
It fell out unfortunately, that two of these princi-
pal persons fell out, and had a fatal quarrel, upon a
particular less justifiable than any thing that could
result from or relate to the great trust they both
had from the king, which ought to have been of
influence enough to have suppressed or diverted all
passions of that kind : but the animosities grew
suddenly irreconcilable, and if not divided the affec-
tions of the whole knot, at least interrupted or sus-
pended their constant intercourse and confidence in
each other, and so the diligent accounts which the
king used to receive from them. And the cause
growing more public and notorious, though not
known in a long time after to the king, exceedingly
lessened both their reputations with the most sober
men ; insomuch as they withdrew all confidence in
their conduct, and all inclination to embark in the
business which was intrusted in such hands. And
1 these] and so these
z 3
342 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. which was worse than all this, one person amongst
""them, of as unblemished a reputation as either of
them, and of much better abilities and faculties of
mind, either affected with this untoward accident,
or broken with frequent imprisonments and despair
of any resurrection of the king's interest, about this
time yielded to a foul temptation ; and for large
supplies of money, which his fortune stood in need
of, engaged to be a spy to Cromwell, with a latitude
which he did not allow to others of that ignominious
tribe, undertaking only to impart enough of any de-
sign to prevent the mischief thereof, without expos-
ing any man to the loss of his life, or ever appear-
ing himself to make good and justify any of his dis-
coveries. The rest of his associates neither sus-
pected their companion, nor lessened their affection
or utmost zeal for the king ; though they remitted
some of their diligence in his service by the other
unhappy interruption.
This falling out during his majesty's abode in
Cologne, he was very long without notice of the
grounds of that jealousy which had obstructed his
usual correspondence ; and the matter of infidelity
being not in the least degree suspected, he could not
avoid receiving advice and propositions from other
honest men, who were of known affection and cou-
rage, and who conversed much with the officers of
the army, and were unskilfully disposed to believe
that all they, who they had reason to believe did
hate Cromwell, would easily be induced to serve the
king : and many of the officers in their behaviour,
discourses, and familiarity, contributed to that be-
lief; some of them, not without the privity and al-
lowance of Cromwell, or his secretary Thurlow.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 343
And upon overtures of this kind, and wonderful 1660.
confidence of success, even upon the preparations"
which were in readiness, of and by his own party,
several messengers were sent to the king; and by
all of them sharp and passionate complaints against
those persons, who were so much and still in the
same confidence with him, as men who were at ease,
and uninclined to venture themselves upon dan-
gerous or doubtful enterprises. They complained,
" that when they imparted to them or any one of
". them," (for they knew not of his majesty's refer-
ence to them, but had of themselves resorted to
them as men of the greatest reputation for their af-
fections and experience,) " a design which had been
" well consulted and deliberated by those who meant
" to venture their own lives in the execution of it,
" they made so many excuses and arguments and
" objections against it, as if it were wholly unadvis-
" able and unpracticable ; and when they proposed
" the meeting and conferring with some of the offi-
" cers, who were resolved to serve his majesty, and
" were willing to advise with them, as men of more
" interest and who had managed greater commands,
" upon the places of rendezvous, and what method
" should be observed in the enterprises, making no
" scruple themselves to receive orders from them,
" or to do all things they should require which
" might advance his majesty's service, these gentle-
" men only wished them to take heed they were
" not destroyed, and positively refused to meet or
" confer with any of the officers of the army : and
" hereupon," they said, " all the king's party was so
" incensed against them, that they no more would
" have recourse to them, or make any conjunction
z 4
344 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " with them. " They informed his majesty at large
~~ of the animosity that was grown between two of the
principal persons, and the original cause thereof, and
therefore desired " that some person might be sent,
" to whom they might repair for orders, until the
" king himself discerned that all preparations were
" in such a readiness, that he might reasonably ven-
" ture his royal person with them. "
Though he was not at all satisfied with the grounds
of their expectation and proceedings, and therefore
could not blame the wariness and reservedness of
the other, and thought their apprehension of being
betrayed, (which in the language of that time was
called -trepanned,) which befell some men every day,
very reasonable ; yet the confidence of many honest
men, who were sure to pay dear for any rash under-
taking, and their presumption in appointing a per-
emptory day for a general rendezvous over the king-
dom, but especially the division of his friends, and
sharpness against those upon whom he principally
relied, was the cause of his sending over the lord
Rochester, and of his own concealment in Zealand ;
the success whereof, and the ill consequence of those
precipitate resolutions, in the slaughter of many
worthy and gallant gentlemen with all the circum-
stances of insolence and barbarity, are mentioned in
their proper places.
But these unhappy and fatal miscarriages, and
the sad spectacles which ensued, made not those
impressions upon the affections and spirits of the
king's friends as they ought to have done ; nor ren-
dered the wariness and discretion of those who had
dissuaded the enterprise, and who were always im-
prisoned upon suspicion, how innocent soever, the
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 345
more valued and esteemed : on the contrary, it in- 1 660.
creased the reproaches against the knot, as if their"
lachete* and want of appearance and engaging had
been the sole cause of the misfortune. And after
some short fits of dejection and acquiescence, upon
the shedding so much blood of their friends and
confederates, and the notorious discovery of being
betrayed by those, who had been trusted by them,
of the army ; they began again to resume courage,
to meet and enter upon new counsels and designs,
imputing the former want of success to the want of
skill and conduct in the undertakers, not to the all-
seeing vigilance of Cromwell and his instruments, or
to the formed strength of his government, not to be
shaken by weak or ill-seconded conspiracies. Young
men were grown up, who inherited their fathers
malignity, and were too impatient to revenge their
death, or to be even with their oppressors, and so
entered into new combinations as unskilful, and
therefore as unfortunate as the former ; and being
discovered even before they were formed, Cromwell
had occasion given him to make himself more ter-
rible in new executions, and to exercise greater
tyranny upon the whole party, in imprisonments,
penalties, and sequestrations ; making those who
heartily desired to be quiet, and who abhorred any
rash and desperate insurrection, to pay their full
shares for the folly of the other, as if a. 11 were ani-
mated by the same spirit. And this unjust and un-
reasonable rigour increased the reproaches and ani-
mosities in the king's friends against each other : the
wiser and more sober part, who had most experi-
m and who abhorred] and who as much abhorred
346 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. ence, and knew how impossible it was to succeed in
~~ such enterprises, and had yet preserved or redeemed
enough of their fortunes to sit still and expect some
hopeful revolution, were unexpressibly offended, and
bitterly inveighed against those, who without reason
disturbed their peace and quiet, by provoking the
state to fresh persecutions of them who had given
them no offence : and the other stirring and enraged
party, with more fierceness and public disdain, pro-
tested against and reviled those who refused to join
with them, as men who had spent all their stock of
allegiance, and meant to acquiesce with what they
had left under the tyranny and in the subjection of
Cromwell. And thus they who did really wish the
same things, and equally the overthrow of that go-
vernment, which hindered the restoration of the
king, grew into more implacable jealousies and viru-
lencies against each other, than against that power
that oppressed them both, and " poured out their
" blood like water. " And either party conveyed
their apologies and accusations to the king : one in-
sisting upon the impertinency of all such attempts ;
and the other insisting that they were ready for a
very solid and well-grounded enterprise, were sure
to be possessed of good towns, if, by his majesty's
positive command, the rest, who professed such
obedience to him, would join with them.
It was at this time, and upon these reasons, that
the king sent the marquis of Ormond into England,
to find out and discover whether in truth there were
any sober preparations and readiness for action, and
then to head and conduct it ; or if it was not ripe,
to compose the several distempers, and unite, as
far as was possible, all who wished well, to con-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 347
cur in the same patience for the present, and in the 1660.
same activity when it should be seasonable. And"
he, upon full conference with the principal persons
of the most contradictory judgments, quickly found
that they who were accused to be lazy and unactive
were in truth discreet men, and as ready vigorously
to appear as the other, when the season should be
advisable, which he clearly discerned it was not
then ; and that the presumption of the other, upon
persons as well as places, was in no degree to be
depended upon. And so, after he had done what
was possible towards making a good intelligence
between tempers and understandings so different,
the marquis had the same good fortune to retire
from thence and bring himself safe to the king ;
which was the more wonderful preservation, in
that, during the whole time of his abode in London,
he had trusted no man more, nor conferred with
any man so much, as with that person of the select
knot, who had been corrupted to give all intelli-
gence to Cromwell : and as he had now blasted and
diverted some ill laid designs, so he had discovered
the marquis's arrival to him, but could not be pre-
vailed with to inform him of his lodging, which was
particularly known to him upon every change, or to
contrive any way for his apprehension : on the con-
trary, as in all his conferences with him he ap-
peared a man of great judgment and perspicacity,
and the most ready to engage his person in any
action that might be for his majesty's advantage, so
he seemed best to understand the temper of the
time, and the parts, faculties, and interest of all the
king's party ; and left the marquis abundantly satis-
fied with him, and of the general good reputation
348 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. he had with all men : which had afterwards an ill
"effect, for it kept the king and those who were
trusted by him from giving credit to the first infor-
mation he received, from a person who could not be
deceived, of his tergiversation ; his late fidelity to
the marquis of Ormond weighing down with them
all the intimations, until the evidence was so preg-
nant that there was no room for any doubt.
After all these endeavours by the king to dis-
countenance and suppress all unseasonable action
amongst his party, and to infuse into them a spirit
of peace and quiet till he himself could appear in
the head of some foreign forces, which he looked
upon as the only reasonable encouragement that
could animate his friends to declare for him, the
generous distemper and impatience of their nature
was incorrigible. They thought the expectation of
miracles from God Almighty was too lazy and stu-
pid a confidence, and that God no less required their
endeavours and activity, than they hoped for his be-
nediction in their success. New hopes were enter-
tained, and counsels suitable entered upon. Mr.
Mordaunt, the younger son and brother to the earls
of Peterborough, who was too young in the time of
the late war to act any part in it, had lately under-
gone, after Cromwell himself had taken great pains
in the examination of him. a severe trial before the
high court of justice ; where by his own singular ad-
dress and behaviour, and his friends having wrought
by money upon some of the witnesses to absent
themselves, he was by one single voice acquitted;
and after a longer detention in prison by the indig-
nation of Cromwell, who well knew his guilt, and
against the rules and forms of their own justice, he
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 349
was discharged, after most of his associates were pub- 1 550.
licly and barbarously put to several kinds of death.
And he no sooner found himself at liberty, than he
engaged in new intrigues, how he might destroy
that government that was so near destroying him.
The state of the kingdom was indeed altered, and he
had encouragement to 'hope well, which former un-
dertakers, and himself in his, had been without.
Cromwell had entered into a war with Spain ; and
the king was received and permitted to live in
Flanders, with some exhibition from that king for
his support, and assurance of an army to embark for
England, (which made a great noise, and raised the
broken hearts of his friends after so many distresses,)
which his majesty was contented should be generally
reputed to be greater and in more forwardness than
there was cause for. He had likewise another ad-
vantage, much superior and of more importance
than the other, by the death of Cromwell, which fell
out without or beyond expectation, which seemed
to put an end to all his stratagems, and to dissolve
the whole frame of government in the three king-
doms, and to open many doors to the king to enter
upon that which every body knew to be his own.
And though this reasonable hope was, sooner than
could be imagined, blasted and extinguished by an
universal submission to the declaration that Crom-
well had made at his death, " that his son Richard
" should succeed him ;" upon which he was declar-
ed protector by the council, army, navy, with the
concurrence of the forces of the three kingdoms,
and the addresses of all the counties in England,
with vows of their obedience ; insomuch as he ap-
peared in the- eyes of all men as formidably settled
350 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
IGGO. as his father had been : yet Mr. Mordaunt proceeded
"with alacrity in his design, contrary to the opinion
and advice of those with whom he was obliged to
consult, who thought the conjuncture as unfavour-
able as any that was past, and looked upon Mr. Mor-
daunt as a rash young man, of a daring spirit, with-
out any experience in military affairs, and upon
themselves as unkindly treated by those about the
king, in being exposed to the importunity of a gen-
tleman who was a stranger to them, and who was
not equally qualified with them for the forming any
resolution which they could concur in. n
But the intermission of the severe persecution
which had been formerly practised against the royal
party, in this nonage of Richard's government, gave
more liberty to communication ; and the Presby-
terian party grew more discontented and daring,
and the Independent less concerned to prevent any
inconvenience or trouble to the weak son of Oliver,
whom they resolved not to obey. Mr. Mordaunt,
who had gained much reputation by his steady car-
riage in his late mortification, and by his so brisk
carriage so soon after, found credit with many per-
sons of great fortune and interest ; as sir George
Booth and sir Thomas Middleton, the greatest men
in Cheshire and North Wales, who were reputed
Presbyterians, and had been both very active against
the king, and now resolved to declare for him ; sir
Horatio Townsend, who was newly become of age,
and the most powerful person in Norfolk, where
n who was not equally quali- qualified with them for the form-
fied with them for the forming ing any resolution which they
any resolution which they could could not concur in.
concur in. ] who was equally
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 351
there were many gallant men ready to follow him ; 1CGO.
and many others the most considerable men in most "~
of the counties of England : who all agreed, in so
many several counties of England, to appear upon a
day, in such bodies as they could draw together;
many considerable places being prepared for their
reception, or too weak to oppose them. And Mr.
Mordaunt secretly transported himself and waited
upon the king at Brussels, with that wariness that
he was known to none but to them with whom he
was to consult. The king received by him a full
information of the engagement of all those persons
to do him service with the utmost hazard, and of
the method they meant to proceed in, and the pro-
bability, most like assurance, of their being to be
possessed of Gloucester, Chester, Lynne, Yarmouth,
all Kent, and the most considerable places in the
west, where indeed his own friends were very con- t
siderable.
Upon the whole matter the king thought it so
reasonable to approve the whole design, that he ap-
pointed the day, with a promise to be himself, with
his brother the duke of York, concealed at Calais or
thereabout, that they might divide themselves to
those parts which should be thought most proper for
the work in hand. Mr. Mordaunt lamented the
wariness and want of confidence in those persons
upon whom the king depended, and acknowledged
them most worthy of that trust, and of much repu-
tation in the nation ; and imputed their much re-
servation to the troubles and imprisonments which
they had been seldom free from, and their observa-
tion how little ground there had been for former
enterprises, without the least suspicion of want of
352 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 GGO. affection and resolution in any one of them, and less
~of integrity. But the king was by this time fully
convinced where the treachery was, without any
blemish to any one of the rest, who needed not to
be ashamed of being deceived by a man whom all
the kingdom would have trusted. The ridiculous
dethroning of Richard by the army, and the reas-
sembling that part of the old parliament which was
called the Rump, and which was more terrible than
any single person could be, because they presently
returned into their old track, and renewed their
former rigour against their old more than their new
enemies, rather advanced than restrained this com-
bination ; too much being known to too many to be
secure any other way than by pursuing it. So the
king and duke, according to their former resolution,
went to Calais and Boulogne, and prepared as well
to make a descent into Kent with such numbers of
men as the condition they were in would permit.
How many of those designs came to be wonderfully
and even miraculously disappointed, and sir George
Booth defeated by Lambert, are particularly set
down by those who have taken upon them to men-
tion the transactions of those times. And from
thence the universality of all who were, or were
suspected to be, of the king's party, wqre, according
to custom, imprisoned, or otherwise cruelly entreat-
ed ; and thereupon a new fire kindled amongst
themselves : they who had done nothing reproach-
ing them who had brought that storm upon them ;
and they who had been engaged more loudly and
bitterly cursing the other, as deserters of the king,
and the cause of the ruin of his cause through their
want of courage, or, what was worse, of affection.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 353
And so all men's mouths were opened wider to ac- 1 600.
cuse and defame each other, than to defend their ~"
own integrity and their lives.
I have thought myself obliged to renew the me- Theun -
mory of all these particulars, that the several vicissi-stitution of
tudes and stages may be known, by which the jea- friend" at"
lousies, murmurs, and disaffections in the royal party ^2".
amongst themselves, and against each other, had em P lified -
mounted to that height which the king found them
at when he returned ; when in truth very few men
of active minds, and upon whom he could depend in
any sudden occasion that might probably press him,
can be named, who had any confidence in each
other. All men were full of bitter reflections upon
the actions . and behaviour of others, or of excuses
and apologies for themselves for what they thought
might be charged upon them. The woful vice
drinking, from the uneasiness of their fortune,
1 . n t drinking.
the necessity of frequent meetings together, for
which taverns were the most secure places, had
spread itself very far in that classis of men, as well
as upon other parts of the nation, in all counties;
and had exceedingly weakened the parts, and broken
the understandings of many, who had formerly com-
petent judgments, and had been in all respects fit for
any trust ; and had prevented the growth of parts
in many young men, who had good affections, but
had been from their entering into the world so cor-
rupted with that excess, and other license of the
time, that they only made much noise, and, by their
extravagant and scandalous debauches, brought
many calumnies and disestimation upon that cause
which they pretended to advance. They who had
suffered much in their fortunes, and by frequent im-
VOL. i. A a
354 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF -
1660. prisonments and sequestrations and compositions,
""expected large recompenses and reparations in ho-
nours which they could not support, or offices which
they could not discharge, or lands and money which
the king had not to give ; as all dispassioned men
knew the conditions which the king was obliged to
perform, and that the act of indemnity discharged
all those forfeitures which could have been applied
to their benefit : and therefore they who had been
without comparison the greatest sufferers in their
fortunes, and in all respects had merited most, never
made any inconvenient suits to the king, but mo-
destly left the memory and consideration of all they
had done or undergone, to his majesty's own gra-
Thosewho cious reflections. They were observed to be most
least the importunate, who had deserved least, and were least
portunat~e. capable to perform any notable service; and none
had more esteem of themselves, and believed prefer-
ment to be more due to them, than a sort of men,
who had most loudly began the king's health in ta-
verns, especially if for any disorders which had ac-
companied it they had suffered imprisonment, with-
out any other pretence of merit, or running any
other hazard.
Though it was very evident, humanly speaking,
that the late combination entered into, and the brave
attempt and engagement of sir George Booth, how
unsuccessful soever in the instant, had contributed
very much to the wonderful change that had since
ensued, by the discovery of the general affections
and disposition of the kingdom, and their aversion
from any kind of government that was not founded
knew] who knew
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 355
upon the old principles; and the public or private 1 660.
engagement of very many persons, who had never ~~
been before suspected, whereof, though many of
the most considerable persons had been, by the
treachery heretofore mentioned, committed to seve-
ral prisons, yet many others of equal interest re-
mained still in liberty, and had a great influence
upon the counsels both in the parliament and army:
yet, I say,' notwithstanding this was notorious, a
greater animosity had been kindled in the royal
party, and was still pursued and improved amongst
them from that combination and engagement, than
from all the other accidents and occasions, and gave
the king more trouble and perplexity. It had in-
troduced a great nuniber of persons, who had for-
merly no pretence of merit from the king, rather
might have been the objects of his justice, to a just
title to the greatest favours the king could confer ;
and which, from that time, they had continually
improved by repeated offices and services, which,
being of a later date, might be thought to cloud and
eclipse the lustre of those actions, which had before
been performed by the more ancient cavaliers, espe-
cially of those who had been observed to be remiss
in that occasion : and therefore they were the more
solicitous in undervaluing the undertaking, and the
persons of the undertakers, whom they mentioned
under such characters, and to whom they imputed
such weakness and levities as they had collected from
the several parts of their lives, as might render them
much disadvantage; and would by no means ad-
mit, " that any of the good that afterwards befell
the king, resulted in any degree from that rash more
enterprise; but that thereby the king's friends
A a 2
356 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " were so weakened, and more completely undone,
~~" that they were disabled to appear in that conjunc-
" ture when the army was divided, and in which
" they might otherwise have been considerable
" enough to have given the law to all parties. "
Mr. Mordaunt, whom the king had created a vis-
count before his return into England, and had P been
most eminent in the other contrivances, in a time
when a general consternation had seized upon the
spirits of those who wished best to his majesty ; for
when he resumed his former resolutions, so soon
after his head was raised from the block, and when
the blood of his confederates watered so many
streets in the city and the suburbs, the most trusted
by the king had totally withdrawn their correspond-
ence, and desired, that for some time no account or
information might be expected from them ; and
therefore it must not be denied, that his vivacity,
courage, and industry, revived the hearts which
were so near broken before Cromwell's death, and
afterwards prevailed with many to have more active
spirits than they had before appeared to have : this
gentleman, I say, most unjustly underwent the
heaviest weight of all their censures and reproaches.
Particularly He was the butt, at which all their arrows of envy,
of Mr. Mor- m i -i i i
daunt, who malice, and jealousy, were aimed and shot ; he was
signally" the object and subject of all their scurrilous jests,
served the an( j depraving discourses and relations; and they,
who agreed in nothing else, were at unity and of one
mind, in telling ridiculous stories to the king him-
self of his vanity and behaviour; and laying those
aspersions upon him, as were most like to lessen the
v and had] and who had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 357
king's opinion of him; and to persuade him, that 1660.
the recompenses he had already received were""
abundantly more than the services he had per-
formed : which kind of insinuations from several
persons, who seemed not to do it by concert, toge-
ther with some prejudice the noble person did him-
self by some unseasonable importunities, as if he
thought he had deserved very much, did for some
time draw a more ungracious countenance from the
king towards him, than his own nature disposed him
to, or than the other's singular and useful activity,
though liable to some levity or vanity, did deserve ;
and which the same persons, who procured it, made
use of against those who were in most trust about
the king, as arguments of the little esteem they had
of those who had done the king most service, when
a man of so eminent merit as Mr. Mordaunt was so
totally neglected; and did all they could to infuse
the same apprehensions into him. When the truth
is, most men were affected, and more grieved and
discontented for any honour and preferment which
they saw conferred upon another man, than for be-
ing disappointed in their own particular expecta-
tions ; and looked upon every obligation bestowed
upon another man, how meritorious soever, as upon
a reproach to them, and an upbraiding of their want
of merit.
This unhappy temper and constitution of the This per-
royal party, with whom he had always intended to state erf the
have made a firm conjunction against all accidents fr \ends
and occurrences which might happen at home or" t c s h h *[~
from abroad, did wonderfully displease and trouble s P irit '
the king; and, with the other perplexities, which
are mentioned before, did so break his mind, and
A. a 3
358 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. had that operation upon his spirits, that finding he
""could not propose any such method to himself, by
which he might extricate himself out of those many
difficulties and labyrinths in which he was involved,
nor expedite those important matters which de-
pended upon the good-will and despatch of the par-
liament, which would proceed by its own rules, and
He gives with its accustomed formalities, he grew more dis-
tdTb piea. posed to leave all things to their natural course, and
God's providence ; and by degrees unbent his mind
from the knotty and ungrateful part of his business,
grew more remiss in his application to it, and in-
dulged to his youth and appetite that license and
satisfaction that it desired, and for which he had
opportunity enough, and could not be without min-
isters abundant for any such negociations ; the time
itself, and the young people thereof of either sex
having been educated in all the liberty of vice,
wickedness without reprehension or restraint. All relations
introduced were confounded by the several sects in religion,
^ which discountenanced all forms of reverence and
respect, as relics and marks of superstition. Chil-
dren asked not blessing of their parents ; nor did
they concern themselves in the education of their
children; but were well content that they should
take any course to maintain themselves, that they
might be free from that expense. The young wo-
men conversed without any circumspection or mo-
desty, and frequently met at taverns and common
eatinghouses ; and they who were stricter and more
severe in their comportment, became the wives of
the seditious preachers, or of officers of the army.
The daughters of noble and "illustrious families be-
stowed themselves upon the divines of the time, 7>r
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 359
other low and unequal matches. Parents had no 1660.
manner of authority over their children, nor children
any obedience or submission to their parents; but
" every one did that which was good in his own
" eyes. " This unnatural antipathy had its first rise
from the beginning of the rebellion, when the fa-
thers and sons engaged themselves in the contrary
parties, the one choosing to serve the king, and the
other the parliament ; which division and contradic-
tion of affections was afterwards improved to mutual
animosities and direct malice, by the help of the
preachers and the several factions in religion, or by
the absence of all religion : so that there were never
such examples of impiety between such relations
in any age of the world, Christian or heathen, as
that wicked time, from the beginning of the rebel-
lion to the king's return ; of which the families of
Hotham and Vane are sufficient instances ; though
other more illustrious houses may be named, where
the same accursed fruit was too plentifully gathered,
and too notorious to the world. The relation be-
tween masters and servants had been long since dis-
solved by the parliament, that their army might be
increased by the prentices against their masters con-
sent, and that they might have intelligence of the
secret meetings and transactions in those houses and
families which were not devoted to them ; from
whence issued the foulest treacheries and perfidious-
ness that were ever practised : and the blood of the
master was frequently the price of the servant's
villany.
Cromwell had <i been most strict and severe in the
i had] who had
Aa 4
360 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. forming the manners of his army, and in chastising
~~all irregularities; insomuch that sure there was
never any such body of men so without rapine,,
swearing, drinking, or any other debauchery, but
the wickedness of their hearts : and all persons
cherished by him, were of the same leaven, and to
common appearance without the practice of any of
those vices which were most infamous to the people,
and which drew the public hatred upon those who
were notoriously guilty of them. But then he was
well pleased with the most scandalous lives of those
who pretended to be for the king, and wished that
all his were such, and took all the pains he could
that they might be generally thought to be such ;
whereas in truth the greatest part of those who
were guilty of those disorders were young men, who
had never seen the king, and had been born and
bred in those corrupt times, " when there was no
" king in Israel. " He was equally delighted with
the luxury and voluptuousness of the presbyterians,
who, in contempt of the thrift, sordidness, and af-
fected ill-breeding of the independents, thought it
became them to live more generously, and were not
strict in restraining or mortifying the unruly and
inordinate appetite of flesh and blood, but indulged
it with too much and too open scandal, from which
he reaped no small advantage ; and wished all those,
who were not his friends, should not only be infected,
but given over to the practice of the most odious
vices and wickedness.
In a word, the nation was corrupted from that
integrity, good nature, and generosity, that had been
peculiar to it, and for which it had been signal and
celebrated throughout the world; in the room where-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 361
of the vilest craft and dissembling had succeeded, j 660.
The tenderness of the bowels, which is the quintes-
sence of justice and compassion, the very mention of
good nature was laughed at and looked upon as the
mark and character of a fool ; and a roughness of
manners, or hardheartedness and cruelty was af-
fected. In the place of generosity, a vile and sordid
love of money was entertained as the truest wisdom,
and any thing lawful that would contribute towards
being rich. There was a total decay, or rather a
final expiration of all friendship ; and to dissuade a
man from any thing he affected, or to reprove him
for any thing he had done amiss, or to advise him
to do any thing he had no mind to do, was thought
an impertinence unworthy a wise man, and received
with reproach and contempt. These dilapidations
and ruins of the ancient candour and discipline were
not taken enough to heart, and repaired with that
early care and severity that they might have been ;
for they were not then incorrigible ; but by the re-
missness of applying remedies to some, and the un-
wariness in giving a kind of countenance to others,
too much of that poison insinuated itself into minds
not well fortified against such infection : so that
much of the malignity was transplanted, instead
of being extinguished, to the corruption of many
wholesome bodies, which, being corrupted, spread
the diseases more powerfully and more mischiev-
ously.
That the king might be the more vacant to those
thoughts and divertisements which pleased him best,
he appointed the chancellor and some others to
have frequent consultations with such members of
the parliament who were most able and willing to
362 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
J660. serve him; and to concert all the ways and means
~by which the transactions in the houses might be
carried with the more expedition, and attended with
the best success. These daily conferences proved
very beneficial to his majesty's service ; the mem-
bers of both houses being very willing to receive ad-
vice . and direction, and to pursue what they were
directed ; and all things were done there in good
The old order, and succeeded well. All the courts of justice
justice re- * n Westminster hall were presently filled with grave
and learned judges, who had either deserted their
practice and profession during all the rebellious
times, or had given full evidence of their affection
to the king and the established laws, in many
weighty instances : and they were then quickly sent
in their several circuits, to administer justice to the
people according to the old forms of law, which was
universally received and submitted to with all pos-
sible joy and satisfaction. All commissions of the
peace were renewed, and the names of those per-
sons inserted therein, who had been most eminent
sufferers for the king, and were known to have en-
tire affections for his majesty and the laws ; though
it was not possible, but some would get and con-
tinue in, who were of more doubtful inclinations, by
their not being known to him, whose province it was
to depute them. Denied it cannot be, that there
appeared, sooner than was thought possible, a gene-
ral settlement in the civil justice of the kingdom ;
that no man complained without remedy, and
" every man dwelt again under the shadow of his
" own vine," without any complaint of injustice and
oppression.
The king exposed himself with more condescen-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 363
sion than was necessary to persons of all conditions, 1660.
heard all that they had a mind to say to him, and~
gave them such answers as for the present seemed
full of grace. He was too well pleased to hear both
the men and the women of all factions and fancies
in religion discourse in their own method, and en-
larged himself in debate with them ; which made
every one believe that they were more favoured by
him than they had cause : which kind of liberty,
though at first it was accompanied with acclama-
tions, and acknowledgment of his being a prince of
rare parts and affability, yet it was attended after-
wards with ill consequences, and gave many men
opportunity to declare and publish, that the king
had said many things to them which he had never
said ; and made many concessions and promises to
them which he had never uttered or thought upon.
The chancellor was generally thought to have
most credit with his master, and most power in the
counsels, because the king referred all matters of
what kind soever to him. And whosoever repaired The chan -
cellor prin-
tO him for his direction in any business was sent tocipaiiy en-
the chancellor, not only because he had a great con-u,," 6
fidence in his integrity, having been with him so*"
many years, and of whose indefatigable industry he
and all men had great experience ; but because he
saw those men, whom he was as willing to trust,
and who had at least an equal share in his affections,
more inclined to ease and pleasure, and willing that
the weight of the work should lie on the chancellor's
shoulders, with whom they had an entire friendship,
and knew well that they should with more ease be
consulted by him in all matters of importance. Nor
was it possible for him, at the first coining, to avoid
trans-
tlODS.
364 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. the being engaged in all the counsels, of how dis-
tinct a nature soever, because he had been best ac-
quainted with all transactions whilst the king was
abroad; and therefore communication with him in
all things was thought necessary by those, who were
to have any part in them. Besides that, he conti-
nued still chancellor of the exchequer, by virtue of
the grant formerly made to him by the last king,
during whose time he executed that office, but re-
solved to surrender it into the king's hand as soon
as his majesty should resolve on whom to confer it ;
he proposing nothing to himself, but to be left at
liberty to intend only the discharge of his own office,
which he thought himself unequalto, and hoped
only to improve his talent that way by a most dili-
gent application, well knowing the great abilities of
those, who had formerly sat in that office, and that
they found it required their full time and all their
faculties. And therefore he did most heartily desire
to meddle with nothing but that province, which
though in itself and the constant perquisites of it is
not sufficient to support the dignity of it, yet was
then, upon the king's return ; and, after it had been
so many years without a lawful officer, would un-
questionably bring in money enough to be a foun-
dation to a future fortune, competent to his ambi-
tion, and enough to provoke the envy of many, who
believed they deserved better than he. And that
this was the temper and resolution he brought with
him into England, and how unwillingly he departed
from it, will evidently appear by two or three in-
stances, which shall be given in their proper place.
However, he could not expect that freedom till the
council should be settled, (into which the king ad-
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 365
mitted all who had been counsellors to his father, 1660.
and had not eminently forfeited that promotion by -
their revolt, and many of those who had been and
still were recommended by the general, amongst
whom there were some who would not have been
received upon any other title,) and until those officers
could be settled, who might take particular care of
their several provinces.
The king had upon great deliberation whilst he
was beyond the seas, after his return appeared in
view, firmly resolved to reform those excesses which
were known to be in great offices, especially in
those of his household, whilst the places were va-
cant, and to reform all extravagant expenses there ;
and first himself to gratify those, who had followed
and served him, in settling them in such inferior
offices and places, as custom had put in the disposal
of the great officers, when they should become va-
cant after their admission. And of this kind he had
made many promises, and given many warrants
under his sign manual to persons, who to his own
knowledge had merited those obligations. But most
of those predeterminations, and many other resolu-
tions of that kind, vanished and expired in the jol-
lity of the return, and new inch* nations and affections
seemed to be more seasonable. The general, who The general
was the sole pillar of the king's confidence, had by ' '
the parliament been invested (before the king's re- ^ g j]y d tlie
turn) in all the offices and commands which Crom- P arliament -
well had enjoyed. He was lieutenant of Ireland,
and general of all the armies and forces raised, or to
be raised, in the three kingdoms; and it was not fit
that he should be degraded from either upon his
majesty's arrival : therefore all diligence was used
366 * CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. in despatching grants of all those commands to him
Also sworn under the great seal of England. And that he might
ofthe'bed ^ e bh"ged to be always near his majesty's person, he
chamber, was presently sworn gentleman of the bedchamber ;
and master
of the horse, and might choose what office he liked best in the
court, whilst titles of honour were preparing by the
attorney, and particulars of lands inquired after by
the auditors and receivers, which in all respects
might raise him to that height which would most
please him. He made choice to be master of the
horse, and was immediately gratified with it ; and
thereby all those poor gentlemen, who had promises
and warrants for several places, depending upon that
great officer, were disappointed, and offered the
king's sign manual to no purpose for their admission.
The general in his own nature was an immoderate
lover of money, and yet would have gratified some
of the pretenders upon his majesty's recommenda-
tion, if the vile good housewifery of his wife had
not engrossed that province, and preferred him, who
offered most money, before all other considerations
or motives. And hereby, not only many honest
men, who had several ways served the king, and
spent the fortunes they had been masters of, were
denied the recompenses the king had designed to
them ; but such men, who had been most notorious
in the malice against the crown from the beginning
of the rebellion, or had been employed in all the
active offices to affront and oppress his party, were
for money preferred and admitted into those offices,
and became the king's servants very much against
his will, and with his manifest regret on the behalf
of the honest men, who had been so unworthily re-
jected. And this occasioned the first murmur and
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 367
discontent, which appeared after the king's return, i860,
amongst those who were not inclined to it, yet~
found every day fresh occasions to nourish and im-
prove it.
The settling this great officer in the stables made
it necessary to appoint a lord steward of the house-
hold, who was a necessary officer for the parliament,
being by the statute appointed to swear all the
members of the house of commons; and to this Themar -
t quis of Or-
charge the marquis of Ormond had been long de- mond made
signed, and was then sworn. And they had b0tfcofth
their tables erected according to the old models, and household
all those excesses, which the irregular precedents of
former times had introduced, and which the king
had so solemnly resolved to reform, before it could
be said to trench upon the rights of particular per-
sons. But the good humour the king was in, and
the plenty which generally appeared, how much
soever without a fund to support it, and especially
the natural desire his majesty had to see every body
pleased, banished all thoughts of such providence ;
instead whereof, he resolved forthwith to settle his
house according to former rules, or rather without
any rule, and to appoint the officers, who impatiently
expected their promotion. He directed his own
table to be more magnificently furnished than it had
ever been in any time of his predecessors ; which
example was easily followed in all offices.
That he might give a lively instance of his grace
to those who had been of the party which had been,
faulty, according to his declaration from Breda, he
made of his own free inclination and choice the earl'rheeariof
-_,. _ Manchester
ot Manchester (who was looked upon as one or the lord cham-
principal heads of the presbyterian party) lord cham-
368 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1C60. berlain of his house; who, continuing still to per-
""form all good offices to his old friends, complied
very punctually with all the obligations and duties
which his place required, never failed being at
chapel, and at all the king's devotions with all ima-
ginable decency ; and, by his extraordinary civilities
and behaviour towards all men, did not only appear
the fittest person the king could have chosen for
that office in that time, but rendered himself so ac-
ceptable to all degrees of men, that none, but such
who were implacable towards all who had ever dis-
served the king, were sorry to see him so promoted.
And it must be confessed, that as he had expressed
much penitence for what he had done amiss, and
was mortally hated and persecuted by Cromwell,
even for his life, and had done many acts of merit
towards the king ; so he was of all men, who had
ever borne arms against the king, both in the gen-
tleness and justice of his nature, in the sweetness
and evenness of his conversation, and in his real
principles for monarchy, the most worthy to be re-
ceived into the trust and confidence in which he was
placed. With his, the two other white staves were
disposed of to those, to whom they were designed,
when the king was prince of Wales, by his father :
and all other inferior officers were made, who were
to take care of the expenses of the house, and were
a great part of it.
And thus the king's house quickly appeared in
its full lustre, the eating and drinking very grateful
to all men, and the charge and expense of it much
exceeding the precedents of the most luxurious
times ; and all this before there was any provision
of ready money, or any assignation of a future fund
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 369
to discharge or support it. All men were ready to 1660.
deliver their goods upon trust, the officers too remiss
in computing the disbursements; insomuch as the
debts contracted by those excesses in less than the
first year broke all the measures in that degree, that
they could not suddenly be retrenched for the fu-
ture; and the debt itself was not discharged in
many years.
The king had in his purpose, long before his re-
turn, to make the earl of Southampton (who was the
most valued and esteemed of all the nobility, and
generally thought worthy of any honour or office)
lord high treasurer of England ; but he desired first
to see some revenue settled by the parliament, and
that part of the old, which had been sold and dis-
persed by extravagant grants and sales, reduced into
the old channel, and regularly to be received and
paid, and the customs to be put in such order, (which
were not yet granted, and only continued by orders
as illegal as the late times had been accustomed to,
and to the authority whereof he had no mind to ad-
minister,) before he was willing to receive the staflf.
And so the office of the treasury . was by commission
executed by several lords of the council, whereof
the chancellor, as well by the dignity of his place,
as by his still being chancellor of the exchequer,
was one ; and so engaged in the putting the cus-
toms likewise into commissioners' hands, and settling
all the other branches of the revenue in such man-
ner as was thought most reasonable ; in all debates
whereof his majesty himself was still present, and
approved the conclusion. But after a month or two
spent in this method, in the crowd of so much bu-
siness of several natures, the king found so little
VOL. I. B b
370 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. expedition, that he thought it best to determine
The eari of that commission, and so gave the staff to the earl of
Southamp- Southampton, and made him treasurer. And the
ton lord
high trea- chancellor at the same time surrendering his office
of chancellor of the exchequer into the king's hands,
his majesty, upon the humble desire of the earl, con-
And sir feiTed that office upon sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,who
Ashiey Dy had married his niece, and whose parts well enough
Sanceiior qualified him for the discharge thereof; though
of the ex- some other qualities of his, as well known, brought
chequer. . . . .
no advantage to Ins majesty by that promotion.
And from this time the chancellor would never in-
termeddle in the business of the exchequer, nor ad-
mit any applications to him in it: however, the
friendship was so great between the treasurer and
him, and so notorious from an ancient date, and
from a joint confidence in each other in the service
of the last king, that neither of them concluded any
matter of importance without consulting with the
other. And so the treasurer, marquis of Ormond,
the general, with the two secretaries of state, were
of that secret committee with the chancellor ; which,
under the notion of foreign affairs, were appointed
by the king to consult all his affairs before they
came to a public debate ; and in which there could
not be a more united concurrence of judgments and
affections.
Yet it was the chancellor's misfortune to be
thought to have the greatest credit with the king,
for the reasons mentioned before, and which for
some time seemed to be without envy, by reason of
his many years service of the crown, and constant
fidelity to the same, and his long attendance upon
the person of his majesty, and the friendship he had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 371
with the most eminent persons who had adhered to
that interest. Yet he foresaw, and told many of his
friends, " that the credit he was thought to have
" with the king, and which he knew was much less
" than it was thought to be, and his being obliged
" by the king to conduct many affairs, which were
" foreign to those which principally concerned and
" related to his office, would in a short time raise
" such a storm of envy and malice against him, that Thechan -
" he should not be able to stand the shock. " All sees a storm
men's impatience to get, and immodesty in asking, h,g against"
when the king had nothing to give, with his ma- him<
jesty's easiness of access, and that " imbecillitas fron- .
" tis" which kept him from denying, together with
rescuing himself from the most troublesome impor-
tunities by sending men to the chancellor, could not
but in a short time make him be looked upon as the
man that obstructed all their pretences ; in which
they were confirmed by his own carriage towards
them, which, though they could not deny to be full
of civility, yet he always dissuaded them from pur-
suing the suits they had made to the king, as unfit
or unjust for his majesty to grant, how inclinable
soever he had seemed to them. And so, instead of
promising to assist them, he positively denied so
much as to endeavour it, when the matter would
not bear it ; but where he could do courtesies, no
man proceeded more cheerfully and more unasked,
which very many of all conditions knew to be true"';
nor did he ever receive recompense or reward for
any such offices. Of which temper of his there will
be occasion to say more hereafter.
The first matter of general and public importance, A discovery
f . of the duke
and which resulted not from any debate in parlia-ofYork's
B b 2
372 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. ment, was the discovery of a great affection that the
marr iage duke had for the chancellor's daughter, who was a
chancellor's m ^ ^ honour to the king's sister, the princess
daughter, royal of Orange, and of a contract of marriage be-
tween them : with which nobody was so surprised
and confounded as the chancellor himself, who being
of a nature free from any jealousy, and very confi-
dent of an. entire affection and obedience from all
his children, and particularly from that daughter,
whom he had always loved dearly, never had in the
least degree suspected any such thing; though he
knew afterwards, that the duke's affection and kind-
ness had been much spoken of beyond the seas, but
without the least suspicion in any body that it could
ever tend to marriage. And therefore it was che-
rished and promoted in the duke by those, and only
by those, who were declared enemies to the chan-
cellor, and who hoped from thence, that some signal
disgrace and dishonour would befall the chancellor
and his family ; in which they were the more rea-
sonably confirmed by the manner of the duke's living
towards him, which had never any thing of grace
in it, but very much of disfavour, to which the lord
Berkley, and most of his other servants to please
the lord Berkley, had contributed all they could ;
and the queen's notorious prejudice to him had
made it part of his duty to her majesty, which had
been a very great discomfort to the chancellor, in
his whole administration beyond the seas. But now,
upon this discovery and the consequence thereof, he
looked upon himself as a ruined person, and that
the king's indignation ought to fall upon him as the
contriver of that indignity to the crown, which as
himself from his soul abhorred, and would have had
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 373
the presumption of his daughter to be punished 166 -
with the utmost severity, so he believed the whole
kingdom would be inflamed to the punishment of it,
and to prevent the dishonour which might result
from it. And the least calamity that he expected
upon himself and family, how innocent soever, was
an everlasting banishment out of the kingdom, and
to end his days in foreign parts in poverty and mi-
sery. All which undoubtedly must have come to
pass upon that occasion, if the king had either had
that indignation which had been just in him ; or if
he had withdrawn his grace and favour from him,
and left him to be sacrificed by the envy and rage
of others ; though at this time he was not thought
to have many enemies, nor indeed any who were
friends to any other honest men. But the king's
own knowledge of his innocence, and thereupon his
gracious condescension and interposition diverting
any rough proceeding, and so a contrary effect to
what hath been mentioned having been produced
from thence; the chancellor's greatness seemed to
be thereby confirmed, his family established above
the reach of common envy, and his fortune to be in
a growing and prosperous' condition not like to be
shaken. Yeti after many years possession of this
prosperity, an unexpected gust of displeasure took
again its rise from this original, and overwhelmed
him with variety and succession of misfortunes/
q Yet] And since but as some portion is omitted,
r misfortunes. ] An account the following relation, as it is
of the entrance of the chancel- given in this part of the latter
lor's daughter into the family of manuscript, is here inserted,
the princess royal, compiled part- it is very reasonable to relate
lyfrom the MS. of the Life, and from before this time all the pas-
par tlyfrom that of the Continu- sages and circumstances, which
ation, will be found at page '300; accompanied or attended that
Bb3
374 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. The chancellor, as soon as the king was at White-
~ hall, had sent for his daughter, having a design pre-
lady's first promotion in the ser-
vice of the princess royal, in
which the extreme averseness
in her father and mother from
embracing that opportunity, and
the unusual grace and impor-
tunity from them who conferred
the honour, being considered,
there may appear to many an
extraordinary operation of Pro-
vidence, ii> giving the first rise
to what afterwards succeeded,
though of a nature so trans-
cendent as cannot be thought to
have any relation to it.
When the king resolved [as
in page 300, line 5. to page 302,
line 14. ] Mrs. Killigrew was
dead of the smallpox.
O'Neile came in the instant
to the chancellor with very much
kindness, and told him, that if
he desired the king to speak to
his sister to receive his daughter
into the place of Mrs. Killigrew,
he was most confident she would
do it very willingly, but that she
expected the king should speak
to her, because the queen had
writ to bestow the place that
should first fall vacant to an-
other ; and when he found him
not inclined to move the king in
it, saying, he would not be any
occasion to increase the jea-
lousies which were already be-
tween their majesties, nor to dis-
pose the princess to displease
her mother, he frankly offered
to move the king without the
other's appearing in it. Where-
upon the chancellor thought it
necessary to deal freely with him,
and told him, that his daughter
was the only company and com-
fort that her mother had, and
who he knew could not part
with her; and that for him-
self he was resolved, whilst the
king's condition continued so
low, he would not have his
daughter in that gayety, which
was necessary for the court of
so young a princess; and there-
fore he conjured him by all the
friendship he had for him, since
he saw to what resolution he
was fixed, to use all his dexterity
and address to divert the princess
from the thought of a bounty
that would prove so inconveni-
ent to her, and to engage the
lady Stanhope in the same office.
O'Neile on the contrary used
many arguments to him for his
compliance with an opportunity
that offered itself so much for
[his] daughter's advantage, and
which would probably, by the
generosity of such a mistress,
be attended with benefits and
advantages which might absolve
him from any further charges
for her preferment. He remain-
ed not to be shaken, and the
other desisted from his impor-
tunity. Shortly after, the king
took notice of the vacant place
in his sister's family, which he
said he thought might in many
respects be convenient for his
daughter, and therefore offered
to move his sister in it on her
behalf. The chancellor, after
he had acknowledged his ma-
jesty's goodness, with all humi-
lity besought him not to inter-
pose his authority with his royal
sister ; made him a full relation
of all that had passed between
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 375
sently to marry her ; to which purpose he had an i '60.
overture from a noble family, on the behalf of a well- "~
O'Neile and him, and of his
resolution not to separate his
daughter from his wife, and that
one should not live in lustre,
whilst the other must be neces-
sitated to continue in so much
security; and thereupon humbly
entreated the king to refuse to
interpose in that affair. The
king told him with a very gra-
cious freedom, that his 'sister
had directly spoken to him to
move in it, because of the letter
she had received from the queen ;
that she herself had seen his
daughter, and was so well pleas-
ed with her nature and her hu-
mour, which she had oppor-
tunity to observe a week toge-
ther, that she had taken a re-
solution within herself, and
communicated it to the lady
Stanhope, that she would take
her into her service when there
should be opportunity; and
therefore his majesty wished
him to consider, whether he
would not accept a benefit with
all these circumstances ; how-
ever advised him to wait upon
his sister, and acknowledge so
much grace, if he did not in-
tend to make use of it. Though
the chancellor was exceedingly
perplexed with the knowledge
of all these particulars, and un-
derstood to what misinterpre-
tation and disadvantages this
obstinacy might make him lia-
ble, yet he changed nothing of
his resolution, and waited upon
the princess with hope that he
might convert her purely upon
the inconvenience that might
follow upon the conferring a
grace, in that conjuncture, upon
a family so inconsiderable to
her service.
After he had attended the
princess, and with all the expres-
sions which his gratitude could
suggest to him magnified the
many favours he had received
from her, and the gracious in-
clination he was informed shehad
now for his daughter; and he
knew no better way (he told her)
to return his most dutiful ac-
. knowledgments, than by taking
care that she should undergo the
least prejudice by her bounty to
him, and therefore that he was re-
solved not to receive the honour
she was inclined to bestow upon
his daughter: that he had the
misfortune to be ill understood
by the queen her mother, who
would be the more incensed
against him, and offended with
her highness, if the recom-
mendation she had given on the
behalf of another lady should be
rejected on his behalf, and that
in truth he was not able to
maintain his daughter in such a
condition as that relation did
require ; and concluded how in-
convenient it would be to sepa-
rate her from her mother, who
would be desolate without her.
Her royal highness, who heard
him with great patience till he
had alleged all the arguments
why she should not persist in
her gracious disposition, and
why he could not receive the
obligations, answered, " that
" she knew well the long and
" faithful service he had per-
" formed towards the king her
B b 4
376 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. bred hopeful young gentleman, who was the heir of
~~it. His daughter quickly arrived at her father's
house, to his great joy, having always had a great
" father, and the confidence his
" majesty had in him at his
" death; that he had continued
" the same fidelity to the king
" her brother, who was very.
" sensible of it, and that she was
" the more troubled, that her
" mother had entertained any
" prejudice towards him, which
" she was assured proceeded
" from some false information,
" which would shortly appear
" to be so; that for her own
" part, she had always paid all
" duty to her, and would be
" ready to gratify any worthy
" person who came recom-
" mended by her majesty, but
" that she would not exclude
" her own judgment, and be
" bound to have no servants
" about her person but such
te who should be recommended
" by her mother, who she could
" not believe could ever be of-
" fended with her for taking
" the daughter of a person who
" had been of so eminent fide-
" lity to the crown : that for the
" maintenance of his daughter
" he should take no further
" care; she well enough knew
" his condition, and how it
" came to be such, and that
" she took the care of that upon
" herself: for what related to
" his wife's unwillingness to
" part with her daughter, her
" highness said, she was con-
" tented to refer it entirely to
" her ; as soon as she came
" home she would send for her
" to Breda, and if her mother
" would not permit her to come
" to her, she had done her part,
" and would acquiesce. " There
remained nothing for the chan-
cellor to reply, and he remained
still confident that his wife (to
whom he had written to confirm
her in her former resolution of
having her daughter still with
her) would continue of the mind
she had been of; but when she
was informed of all that had
passed, she concluded that all
those unusual circumstances in
an affair of that nature were not
without some instinct of Provi-
dence ; and so when the princess
royal sent for her daughter, she
went herself likewise, and pre-
sented her to her highness ; to
which possibly it was some mo-
tive, that there would then re-
main no objection against her
own residence with her hiis-
band ; and so she presently re-
moved to him to Cologne, where
the king then was, and remained
for some years. Having now set
down (not improperly I think)
the true rise and story of his
daughter's going into that court,
with all the particulars which
preceded it, I shall now return
to that place from whence this
digression led us, of the public
discovery of the duke's affection,
and shall continue the relation
till an end was put to that great
affair, by the consent and ap-
probation of the royal family,
and, for ought appeared to the
contrary, to the general satis-
faction of the kingdom.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 377
affection for her ; and she being his eldest child, he j 660.
had more acquaintance with her, than with any of
his children ; and being now of an age fit for mar-
riage, he was well pleased that he had an opportu-
nity to place her in such a condition, as with God's
blessing was like to yield her much content. She The duke's
had not been long in England, when the duke fo-ofHtotb*
formed the king " of the affection and engagement kl " 8 '
" that had been long between them ; that they had
" been long contracted, and that she was with
" child :" and therefore with all imaginable impor-
tunity he begged his majesty's leave and permission
upon his knees, " that he might publicly marry her,
" . in such a manner as his majesty thought necessary
" for the consequence thereof. " The king was much
troubled with it, and more with his brother's pas-
sion, which was expressed in a very wonderful man-
ner and with many tears, protesting, " that if his
"majesty should not give his consent, he would
" immediately leave the kingdom, and must spend his
" life in foreign parts. " His majesty was very much
perplexed to resolve what to do : he knew the chan-
cellor so well, that he concluded that he was not
privy to it, nor would ever approve it ; and yet that
it might draw much prejudice upon him, by the jea-
lousy of those who were not well acquainted with
his nature. He presently sent for the marquis ofrhe king
Ormond and the earl of Southampton, who he well oflhe cban-
knew were his bosom friends, and informed them at^j^V^
large, and of all particulars which had passed from to P eD the
matter to
the duke to him, and commanded them presently toim-
see for the chancellor to come to his own chamber
at Whitehall, where they would meet him upon a
business of great importance, which the king had
378 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. commended to them for their joint advice. They
no sooner met, than the marquis of Ormond told the
chancellor, " that he had a matter to inform him of,
" that he doubted would give him much trouble ;"
and therefore advised him to compose himself to
hear it : and then told him, " that the duke of York
" had owned a great affection for his daughter to
" the king, and that he much doubted that she was
" with child by the duke, and that the king re-
" quired the advice of them ancj of him what he was
" to do. "
The chan- The manner of the chancellor's receiving this ad-
wittTittr vertisement made it evident enough that he was
the heart : struc k w j t j, j t to tne heart, and had never had the
least jealousy or apprehension of it. He broke out
into a very immoderate passion against the wicked-
ness of his daughter, and said with all imaginable
earnestness, " that as soon as he came home he
" would turn her out of his house, as a strumpet, to
" shift for herself, and would never see her again. "
They told him, " that his passion was too violent to
" administer good counsel to him, that they thought
" that the duke was married to his daughter, and
" that there were other measures to be taken than
" those which the disorder he was in had suggested
" to him. " Whereupon he fell into new commo-
tions, and said, " if that were true, he was well pre-
And breaks pared to advise what was to be done : that he had
out into a
very immo- " much rather his daughter should be the duke's
ion. " whore than his wife : in the former case nobody
" could blame him for the resolution he had taken,
" for he was not obliged to keep a whore for the
" greatest prince alive ; and the indignity to him-
" self he would submit to the good pleasure of God.
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 379
" But if there were any reason to suspect the other, 1660.
" he was ready to give a positive judgment, in which
" he hoped their lordships would concur with him ;
" that the king should immediately cause the wo-
'* man to be sent to the Tower, and to be cast into
" a dungeon, under so strict a guard, that no per-
" son living should be admitted to come to her ;
" and then that an act of parliament should be im-
" mediately passed for the cutting off her head, to
" which he would not only give his consent, but
" would very willingly be the first man that should
" propose it :" and whoever knew the man, will be-
lieve that he said all this very heartily.
In this point of time the king entered the room,
and sat down at the table ; and perceiving by his
countenance the agony the chancellor was in, and
his swollen eyes from whence a flood of tears were
fallen, he asked the other lords, " what they had done,
" and whether they had resolved on any thing. "
The earl of Southampton said, " his majesty must
" consult with soberer men ; that he" (pointing to
the chancellor) " was mad, and had proposed such
" extravagant things, that he was no more to be
" consulted with. " Whereupon his majesty, look-
ing upon him with a wonderful benignity, said,
" Chancellor, I knew this business would trouble
" you, and therefore I appointed your two friends
" to confer first with you upon it, before I would
" speak with you myself: but you must now lay
" aside all passion that disturbs you, and consider
" that this business will not do itself; that it will
" quickly take air ; and therefore it is fit that I first
" resolve what to do, before other men uncalled pre-
" sume to give their counsel : tell me therefore
380 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1660. " what you would have me do, and I will follow
~~" your advice. " Then his majesty enlarged upon
the passion of his brother, and the expressions he
had often used, " that he was not capable of having
" any other wife, and the like. " Upon which the
chancellor arose, and with a little composedness
said, " Sir, I hope I need make no apology to you
" for myself, and of my own in this matter, upon
" which I look with so much detestation, that
" though I could have wished that your brother
" had not thought it fit to have put this disgrace
"upon me, I had much rather submit and bear it
" with all humility, than that it should be repaired
" by making her his wife ; the thought whereof I
" do so much abominate, that I had much rather
" see her dead, with all the infamy that is due to
" her presumption. " And then he repeated all that
he had before said to the lords, of sending her pre-
sently to the Tower, and the rest ; and concluded,
" Sir, I do upon all my oaths which I have taken to
" you Jto give you faithful counsels, and from all the
" sincere gratitude I stand obliged to you for so
" many obligations, renew this counsel to you ; and
" do beseech you to pursue it, as the only expedient
" that can free you from the evils that this business
" will otherwise bring upon you. " And observing
by the king's countenance, that he was not pleased
with his advice, he continued and said, " I am the
" dullest creature alive, if, having been with your
" majesty so many years, I do not know yoiir infirm-
" ities better than other men. You are of too
" easy and gentle a nature to contend with those
" rough affronts, which the iniquity and license of
" the late times is like to put upon you, before it
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 381
" be subdued and reformed. The presumption all 1660.
" kind of men have upon your temper is too noto-~~
" rious to all men, and lamented by all who wish
" you well : and, trust me, an example of the
" highest severity in a case that so nearly concerns
" you, and that relates to the person who is nearest
" to you, will be so seasonable, that your reign, dur-
" ing the remaining part of your life, will be the
" easier to you, and all men will take heed how
" they impudently offend you. "
He had scarce done speaking, when the duke of
York came in ; whereupon the king spake of some
other business, and shortly after went out of the
roOm with his brother, whom (as was shortly known)
he informed of all that the chancellor had said, who,
as soon as he came to his house, sent his wife to
command his daughter to keep her chamber, and
not to admit any visits ; whereas before she had al-
ways been at dinner and supper, and had much
company resorting to her : which was all that he
thought fit to do upon the first assault, and till he
had slept upon it, (which he did very unquietly,) and
reflected upon what was like to be the effect of so
extravagant a cause. And this was quickly known
to the duke, who was exceedingly offended at it,
and complained to the king, " as of an indignity of-
" fered to him. " And the next morning the king
chid the chancellor for proceeding with so much
precipitation, and required him " to take off that re-
" straint, and to leave her to the liberty she had
" been accustomed to. " To which he replied, " that
" her having not discharged the duty of a daughter
" ought not to deprive him of the authority of a
" father ; and therefore he must humbly beg his ma-
1660. "jesty not to interpose his commands against his
~" " doing any thing that his own dignity required :
" that he only expected what his majesty would do
" upon the advice he had humbly offered to him,
" and when he saw that, he would himself proceed
" as he was sure would become him :" nor did he
take off any of the restraint he had imposed. Yet
he discovered after, that even in that time the duke
had found ways to come to her, and to stay whole
nights with her, by the administration of those
who were not suspected by him, and who had
the excuse, " that they knew that they were mar-
" ried. "
This affair This subject was quickly the matter of all men's
not those discourse, and did not produce those murmurs and
murmurs discontented reflections which were expected. The
and discon-
tents the parliament was sitting, and took not the least no-
chancellor
expected, tice of it ; nor could it be discerned that many were
scandalized, at it. The chancellor received the same
respects from all men which he had been accus-
tomed to : and the duke himself, in the house of
peers, frequently sat by him upon the woolsack,
that he might the more easily confer with him upon
the matters which were debated, and receive his ad-
vice how to behave himself; which made all men
believe that there had been a good understanding
between them. And yet it is very true, that, in all
that time, the duke never spake one word to him
of that affair. The king spake every day about it^
and told the chancellor, " that he must behave him-
" self wisely, for that the thing was remediless ; and
" that his majesty knew that they were married,
" which would quickly appear to all men, who
" knew that nothing could be done upon it. " In
EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON 383
this time the chancellor had conferred with his 1660.
daughter, without any thing of indulgence, and not"
only discovered that they were unquestionably mar-
ried, but by whom, and who were present at it,
who would be ready to avow it ; which pleased him
not, though it diverted him from using some of
that rigour which he intended. And he saw no
other remedy could be applied, but that which he
had proposed to the king, who thought of nothing
like it.
At this time there was news of the princess
royal's embarkation in Holland, which obliged the
king and the duke of York to make a journey to
Dover to receive her, who came for no other reason,
but to congratulate with the king her brother, and
to have her share in the public joy. The morning
that they began their journey, the king and the
duke came to the chancellor's house ; and the king,
after he had spoken to him of some business that
was to be done in his absence, going out of the
room, the duke stayed behind, and whispered the
chancellor in the ear, because there were others at a
little distance, "that he knew that he had heard of
" the business between him and his daughter, and
" of which he confessed he ought to have spoken
" with him before ; but that when he returned
" from Dover, he would give him full satisfaction :
" in the mean time," he desired him, " not to be of-
" fended with his daughter. " To which the chan-
cellor made no other answer, than " that it was a
" matter too great for him to speak of. "
When the princess royal came to the town, there
grew to be a great silence in that affair. The duke
said nothing to the chancellor, nor came nor sent to
384 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1 660. his daughter, as he had constantly used to do : and
it was industriously published about the town, that
that business was broken off, and that the duke was
resolved never to think more of it. The queen had
before written a very sharp letter to the duke, full
of indignation, that he should have so low thoughts
as to marry such a woman ; to whom he shewed
The quen the letter, as not moved by it. And now she sent
in- the king word, " that she was on the way to Eng-
censed at f( \ an ^ t o prevent, with her authority, so great a
" stain and dishonour to the crown ;" and used
many threats and passionate expressions upon the
subject.
