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GIILBEMT BURNETT, B»I>.
BISHOFOF SALISBUIIT^
JiMishedofOe Off dirr-cts SuTl^JdlP. hiJfarker Oxford.
BISHOP BURNET'S
HISTORY
OF
HIS OWN TIME:
WITH THE
SUPPRESSED PASSAGES OF THE FIRST VOLUME,
AND NOTES
BY THE
EARLS OF DARTMOUTH AND HARDWICKE,
AND
SPEAKER ONSLOW,
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
To which are added
THE CURSORY REMARKS OF SWIFT,
AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS.
VOL. L
OXFORD,
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
MDCCCXXIII.
PREFACE
TO THIS EDITION.
IHE History of his Own Time by bishop
Burnet lays claim to our regard as an ori-
ginal work containing a relation of public
transactions, in which either the author or his
connexions were engaged. It will therefore
never lose its importance; but will continue
to furnish materials for other historians, and
to be read by those, who wish to derive their
knowledge of facts from the first sources of
information.
The accuracy indeed of the author's nar-
rative has been attacked with vehemence,
and often, it must be confessed, with success;
but not so often, as to overthrow the general
credit of his work. On the contrary, it has in
many instances been satisfactorily defended,
and time has already evinced the truth of
certain accounts, which rested on this single
authority. It has also had the rare fortune
of being illustrated by the notes of three per-
sons of high rank, possessing in consequence
a 3
vl PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
of their situations means of information open
to few others. That their observations on this
history are now at length submitted to the
public eye, is owing to the following fortunate
incident.
I. A resolution having been taken by the
delegates of the Clarendon press to reprint
the work, the present lord bishop of Oxford
expressed his readiness to communicate to
them a copy of it, in which his lordship had
transcribed the marginal notes written by his
ancestor the first earl of Dartmouth. The
offer was gratefully accepted, and the notes
ordered to be printed with the text.
Soon after, on an application to the earl of
Onslow, made through the late James Bos-
well,* esquire, of the Inner Temple, his lord-
ship was pleased to confide to the delegates
speaker Onslow's copy of Burnet's history ;
in which are contained the speaker's observa-
tions on this work, written in his own hand.
Besides these remarks, there appear in the
Onslow copy, in consequence of the permis-
sion of the second earl of Hardwicke, not
only this nobleman's notes on the second
folio volume, but also the numerous passages,
which were omitted in the first volume by the
original editors. The notes likewise of dean
Swift are there transcribed, taken from his
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. vii
own copy of the history, which had come
into the possession of the first marquis of
Lansdowne, and afterwards into that of Henry
James Brooke, esquire, F.R. S. It has since
perished by fire. We shall now lay before the
reader, for his greater satisfaction, a note pre-
fixed to the Onslow copy by George late earl
of Onslow, the son of the speaker.
** The notes in these two volumes marked
" H. were the notes in the present earl of
" Hardwicke's copy of this work written by
** himself, and which he permitted me to
" copy into this. The earl is the son and
" heir of that great man the chancellor. The
** others in the same hand- writing I had also
*' from him, and they are what are left
** out in the printed history, but are in the
** manuscript. All the rest of the notes are
" my father's own. Geo. Onslow, 177^- There
" are many errors of the copyist. The notes
" in red ink are by dean Swift, and are
" copied (from an edition of this work in
'* the marquiss of Lansdown's library, in the
" margin of which they are written in the
'* dean's own hand) by his lordship's order
** for myself O. 1788."
With respect to the notes written by the
earl of Dartmouth, it appears from sir John
Dairy mple's Memoirs of Great Britain and
a4
yiii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
Ireland, and from Mr. Rose's Observations
on Fox's History of the early part of the
reign of James II. that both these writers
had been favoured with the sight as well of
these notes, as of a collection of letters sent
by king James, when duke of York, and re-
siding in Scotland, to the first lord Dart-
mouth, the earl's father, and from which ex-
tracts are frequently made by the earl in his
notes. Seven or eight only of the notes have
been communicated to the public by the
abovementioned authors, and are pointed
out as they occur in the following pages. All
of them are now printed, with the exception
of three, which contained reflections on the
private character of as many individuals ir-
relevant to their public conduct. They have
been omitted, with the approbation of the
descendants of the noble writer.
As the earl of Dartmouth often treats his
author with great severity, it should be re-
membered, that he was of a party in the
state opposed to that which bishop Burnet
uniformly espoused. He appears also to
have entertained a great personal dislike to
the bishop. At the same time this noble-
man, who was secretary of state, and after-
wards lord privy seal in the latter end of
queen Anne's reign, never embraced, as may
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. ix
be collected from his notes, the absurd doc-
trine of non-resistance to government in all
supposable cases ; but was, what some have
called, a moderate tory; and like most of the
leading tories in the reign of the queen, was
attached to the Hanover succession. The
wiser members of this party held, that the
right of the people to govern depends on the
different laws and constitutions of different
countries ; but that their right to be well go-
verned is indefesible. The following charac-
ter of his lordship has been transmitted to us
by Swift, whilst eulogizing the chiefs of queen
Anne's last ministry, in the twenty-sixth num-
ber of the Examiner. '* My lord Dartmouth,''
he says, " is a man of letters, full of good
** sense, good nature, and honour, of strict
** virtue and regularity in his life ; but labours
" under one great defect, that he treats his
" clerks with more civility and good man-
" ners, than others in his station have done
" the queen." See also Macky's Characters,
p. 89. His lordship's notes on this work of
Burnet abound in curious and well told anec-
dotes.
The observations of speaker Onslow and
the earl of Hardwicke have likewise been hi-
therto unpublished, except twenty of the for-
mer, printed in the twenty-seventh volume of
X PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
the European Magazine. But more than
half of Swift's short and cursory remarks
have been already given to the public in that
and the two following volumes of the same
work, by the person who communicated the
others, yet often altered in the expression.
They are shrewd, caustic, and apposite, but
not written with the requisite decorum ; in-
deed, three of them are worded in so light a
way, that even modesty forbad their admission.
The speaker's notes, addressed more parti-
cularly to his son, contain many incidental
discussions on political subjects, and are sen-
sible and instructive. Those of the earl of
Hardwicke are so candid and judicious, that
one cannot but wish them to have been more
numerous. Lord Spencer, we are eager to
acknowledge, condescendingly and most ob-
ligingly endeavoured to procure the copy of
Burnet's history for our use, in the margin of
which the notes were originally written by lord
Hardwicke, it being desirable that some doubt-
ful passages of the transcript in the Onslow
copy should have been compared with it; but
unfortunately the book could not be found.
The earl of Dartmouth and dean Swift, al-
though both of them much younger than bi-
shop Burnet, may be considered as his con-
temporaries; and were, as has been already ob-
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xi
served of lord Dartmouthj opposed to him in
politics : but Arthur Onslow, speaker in four
successive parliaments in the reign of George
II. enjoyed the confidence of the whigs, and
with it a high reputation for integrity and
moderation. The remaining annotator, lord
Hardwicke, son of the lord chancellor Hard-
wicke, and one of the authors of those ele-
gant compositions the Athenian Letters, al-
ways adhered to the same party. Lord Dart-
mouth uses strong, and Swift much ill lan-
guage, on Burnet's supposed want of vera-
city ; and the excellent Latin verses of dean
Mos« on the same subject are now, we un-
derstand, in print. Yet the bishop's friends
need not be apprehensive of a verdict of wil-
ful falsehood against him in consequence of
the corrections of his narrative in the subse-
quent annotations. Lord Dartmouth indeed,
a man of honour, asserts, that this author has
pubHshed many things which he knew to be
untrue. See his note at the beginning of
vol. iv. His lordship, it must be allowed, had
better opportunities than we have for deter-
mining what Burnet knew; but, as he has
adduced little or nothing in support of this
charge, we may be permitted to think, that
strong prejudice, not wilful falsehood, occa-
sioned the bishop's erroneous statements. It
xu PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
ought to be recollected in his favour, that
he never professed a belief, either in the dis-
coveries of Oates, or in the alleged murder of
the earl of Essex, although articles of his
party's creed. And notwithstanding the idle
stories told by him, on the authority of others,
concerning the birth of the prince of Wales,
he no where, that we remember, explicitly
avows an opinion of his illegitimacy. Nor,
although an active and zealous opposer of
king James's measures, does he appear to have
been concerned in those two other infamous
falsehoods imposed at the same time on the
credulity of the nation ; the letter of the Je-
suits at Liege, which he mentions in vol. iii.
p. 169, and the intended massacre of the pro-
testants in this country. There is a story in-
deed, which used to be told on the authority
of the dowager countess of Nottingham, that
Burnet, in a conversation with her lord, ac-
cused him of having professed different sen-
timents in the house of peers on some sub-
ject from what he then did ; and on lord
Nottingham's denying that he had so ex-
pressed himself, the bishop, as it was stated,
rejoined, if his lordship had not, he ought
to have done so : and that, notwithstanding
this in Burnet's History of his Own Time
lord Nottingham is represented to have said
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xiii
that, which he denied he had said. All
this may be true, and yet the bishop might
not believe himself to have been mistaken.
It must however be confessed, that where
either party-zeal or personal resentment was
concerned, this author too frequently ap-
pears to have been no patient investigator
of the truth, but to have written under the
influence of both those feelings, even whilst
he was delineating the characters of some
of the most virtuous persons of the age in
which he lived. Amongst these are the
archbishops Sheldon and Bancroft, of whom
he frequently speaks with unpardonable se-
verity. He has also directed nmch indis-
criminate censure against public bodies of
men. Indeed it appears by the preface to
his work, that he himself suspected he had
treated the clergy in particular with excessive
harshness, irritated, he says, " perhaps too
*' much against them, in consequence of the
** peevishness, ill-nature, and ambition of
" many of them." Nay, from some particu-
lars, which will hereafter be mentioned, it
may be collected, that the author actually
omitted many passages of his history still
more highly reflecting on his brethren.
That he was by no means acceptable to
those prelates, who governed the church of
xiv PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
England in the reign of Charles II. is ex-
tremely probable, considering that, according
to his own account, he was an active oppo-
nent and open censurer of the bishops in Scot-
land, and a great meddler in English politics.
Besides this, he professed to regard episco-
pacy itself as no necessary, although a pre-
ferable form of church government ; and,
however averse from republicanism, seems to
have approved of the settlement made by the
Scottish covenanters in 1641 as the best sys-
tem of civil polity for Scotland. See vol. v.
p. 168. The author also, during the reigns of
William and Anne, was on very ill terms with
the majority of the English clergy, whom he
often accuses of inactivity, faction, and am-
bition. It may be urged on the other hand,
in favour of his impartiality, that he does by
no means spare the characters of those of
his own side in politics ; so little indeed, that
for the credit of human nature we would
hope, that he knew less of men and of busi-
ness than he himself supposed.
But whether his censures were just or un-
just, Burnet himself, as it must be acknow-
ledged even by his enemies, was an active
and meritorious bishop, and, to the extent
of his opportunities, a rewarder of merit in
others. He was orthodox in points of faith,
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xv
possessed superior talents, as well as very
considerable learning; was an instructive
and entertaining writer, in a style negligent
indeed and inelegant, but perspicuous ; a ge-
nerous, open-hearted, and, in his actions,
good natured man; and although busy and
intrusive, at least as honest as most partisans.
It is true, that his conduct to the duke of
Lauderdale after the breach between them
was, even in his own apprehension of it, ob-
jectionable. It lost him the favour of the
royal brothers, Charles and James ; who had
before this time paid particular attention to
him. His spleen and resentment against both
these princes is apparent in every part of this
history ; except that his final portrait of the
latter is less darkly shaded, than the harsh
and hideous one which he has drawn of the
former. It may be here observed, in con-
tradiction to the report of Burnet and other
writers, respecting the early reconciliation of
Charles to the church of Rome, that this
event, as it appears from authentic accounts
of the king's last moments, did not take place
till a short time before his death.
II. Thus much concerning the notes on this
work; and the accusation of wilful and de-
liberate falsehood brought against its au-
thor by lord Dartmouth and others. We
xvi PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
proceed to give an account of the passages
omitted in the first folio volume by the ori-
ginal editors, and now restored to their proper
places.
It is known to the readers of English his-
tory, that the editors of this posthumous
work, on the publication of the first volume
in 1724, promised to deposit the copy, from
which it was printed, in some public library ;
and they are apprised, that in the beginning
of the second volume, printed in 1735, there
appears the following declaration with the
signature of the bishop's youngest son, who
was afterwards sir Thomas Burnet, and a
judge. ** The original manuscript of both vo-
** lumes of this history will be deposited in
" the Cotton library by T. Burnett/' The ad-
vertisement in the former volume, which was
the only one prefixed by the editors to the
work, is conceived in these terms. " The
** editors of the following history intend, for
" the satisfaction of the public, to deposite
** the copy from which it is printed (corrected
*' and interlined in many places with the
** author's own hand) in some public library,
** as soon as the second volume shall be pub-
" lished."
Suspicions had very early arisen, nay, po-
sitive testimony had been adduced, that many
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xvii
passages of the original work were omitted
by the editors in both the volumes; (see note
in vol. iv. p. 552.) when at length, in the
year 17^5, the same person, who, accord-
ing to our preceding statement, inserted the
major part of Swift's, and a few of speaker
Onslow's notes, in the twenty-seventh volume
of the European Magazine, communicated
together with them twelve passages of the
text of Burnet, which, amongst numerous
others, had been omitted by the editors of
the first volume. They were, in all proba-
bility, published by him from either the
Onslow or Hardwicke copy of Burnet, as
he mentions the Hardwicke notes also, al-
though he has extracted none of them.
It has been already stated, that the Hard-
wicke copy is missing, and in this copy the
Onslow notes had been transcribed. Now
apart from actual testimony, that the omis-
sions were not confined to the first volume,
it appeared extremely probable to us, that in
proportion as the history drew nearer to their
own times, the caution which dictated these
omissions to the editors would acquire addi-
tional motives, and that as many, if not
more, instances of suppression would be
found to occur in the second volume.
We had therefore recourse to that noble re-
fa
xviii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
pository of literature and science, the British
Museum, of which the Cotton library, as it is
well known, is a constituent part. Henry
Ellis, esquire, one of the librarians of that
institution, very obligingly complied with our
request to make the requisite search for this
MS. and he subsequently reported, that, after
the most accurate examination, it did not ap-
pear that it had ever been deposited in the
library. He added, that " several collections
" of folio papers, written in various hands,
" and at different times, contained an imper-
" feet copy of bishop Burnet's History of his
" Own Times, with many variations from the
" printed editions. That some memorandums
*' on a single sheet at the beginning of this
" book, dated July 1699, are probably in
" the bishop's hand, as are also many cor-
** rections in the history. Finally, that Dr.
" GifFord has written several useful remarks
** in the volume ; among which is one, that
*' ' from many particulars it appears, that the
" printed editions are not taken from these
" loose papers : yet that though there is
" great variety of expression, the substance
" is generally the same.' " This is the ac-
count with which we were favoured by Mr.
Ellis. It should be further observed, that the
well known fire, by which the Cotton library
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xix
suffered considerable injury, happened in
1731, four years before the promise was pub-
licly given of depositing the original MS. in
that library.
These circumstances considered, it is pro-
bable, that the same reasons which induced
the editor, or editors, to omit certain pas-
sages in both volumes of the work, finally
determined them, although pointedly expos-
tulated with on the subject, to relinquish
their purpose of placing the original MS. in
an accessible library. It deserves notice, that
in page 8 of the second letter addressed by
Mr. Beach to Thomas Burnet, esquire, the
writer asserts, that he had in his own posses-
sion an authentic and complete collection of
the castrations. See Nichols's Literary Anec-
dotes, vol. i. p. 285. It is added by Beach,
as we have been informed by a gentleman
who inspected his two printed letters to the
younger Burnet, as well as Sinclair's Remarks
on the first letter, that these passages were
also in the hands of several persons of dis-
tinction. After all, we are induced by our
recollection of the restored passages to think,
that although they were unjustifiably omitted,
because against the author's express injunc-
tions in his last will, yet that it was not done
by the editors through party considerations,
b2 '
XX PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
but from a desire of abating the displeasure
certain to be conceived against their father, by
the friends or relations of those who suffered
by the severity of his censure. The editors
appear to have consulted their own feelings,
in the omission of several traits in the cha-
racter given by him of his uncle Warriston.
' But it must not be omitted, that previously
to the first publication of this work in 1724,
some extracts from the former part of it, con-
fessed to have been surreptitiously obtained
during the author's life, were actually printed ;
none of which appear either in the edited
work, or amongst the suppressed, but now
restored passages of the first volume. In a
tract found in the British Museum by a gen-
tleman, who has done much for the literary
history of this country. Dr. Philip Bliss, fel-
low of St. John's college, Oxford, four pas-
sages are brought forward by the author of
it, purporting to be extracts from Burnet's
history. The title of the pamphlet is, A spe-
cimen of the bishop of Sarunis Posthumous
History of the Affairs of the Church and State
of Great Britain during his life. By Robert
Elliot^ M. A. 3d. ed. London. 8vo. without
date. The bookseller in his preface says that
he received the contents, consisting of ex-
tracts from Burnet's history, and copious re-
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxi
marks upon them, from Mr. Elliot, a deprived
episcopal clergyman of Scotland. The ex-
tracts are asserted to have been privately
made by Elliot, whilst employed together
with others in transcribing a manuscript of
the work lent by the author to lord W. P.
(perhaps lord William Paulett). In support
of the credibility of the account, it may be
observed, that lord Dartmouth, in a note at
page 6. vol. i. mentions an offer made to
himself by the author, of inspecting his his-
tory ; a favour, his lordship adds, which the
bishop had conferred on several others. Of
these four extracts, the first is a relation of
the murder of archbishop Sharp, and agrees
in substance with that in the edited copy,
but much altered in point of expression.
The three others contain very severe and
acrimonious reflections on the English clergy.
It is observable, that in the preface by
Dr. Hickes to Three Treatises republished
by him in 1/09, some years before the death
of bishop Burnet, there appears a part of
the fourth and last of these extracts given
in the very words produced by Elliot ; and
that Hickes says, he had seen a short speci-
men of the bishop's anecdote perhaps com-
municated to him by this clergyman.
. Dr. Bliss is of opinion, in case the extracts
ba
xxii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
are authentic, that they were taken from a
copy of Burnet's work in its first state, and
before he altered, revised, and softened it.
That they are genuine, many internal marks
of authenticity lead us to suppose ; besides
the circumstance, that, when Elliot, after
finishing his extracts, proceeds to set down
what he recollects of the substance of nine
or ten other passages of the work, all that he
produces has a perfect agreement with what
was afterwards published as the bishop's.
It is proper to remark in this place, that no
additional charge of suppression or alteration
can fairly be brought against the editors of
Burnet's history in consequence of the dis-
covery of these extracts by Elliot, which were
made during the author's life, whilst he had
the power of altering and revising his own
work. On the other hand, to the possible
suggestion, that the passages restored by us
to the text had been in a similar way ex-
punged or altered by the author himself,
may be opposed the express testimony, that
many things in the copy from which his
work was printed, were omitted by the edi-
tors in both the volumes.
Before this account of the suppressed pas-
sages is entirely concluded, we shall take no-
tice, that amongst those which are restored.
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxiii
there is one, in vol. i. p. 517, containing a
severe attack on the character of king Charles
I. chiefly founded on that prince's letters to
the first duke of Hamilton, and on bishop
Burnet's acquaintance with the Hamilton
papers, the basis of his Memoirs of the two
dukes of that family. In favour of the king
it ought first to be stated, that the series of
letters addressed to him by the marquis, after-
wards duke of Hamilton, appears to have
formed no part of that collection of papers,
Burnet having in his Memoirs inserted few or
none of them. Again, that this nobleman so
conducted himself in those unhappy times,
that he was always suspected by the royalists
of treachery and treason against his bene-
factor and sovereign ; and was even charged
upon oath *' with raising the vilest reports to
** the dishonour of the king and queen, and
*' their whole court, as if it was a sink of
" iniquity." See, besides the histories of the
times, a4ract entitled Digitus Dei, p. 6. and
the Practices of the Hamiltons. From this
source apparently originated a report unfa-
vourable to the character of the queen, whether
true or untrue, which is mentioned in a note
by the earl of Dartmouth, vol. i. p. 63. Nei-
ther is any additional credit reflected on the
Hamilton papers themselves, in case they
b4
xxiv PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
contained, according to the assertion of some
persons, the following incredible vStory. That
in the year 1640 the king sent a warrant to
sir William Balfour, lieutenant of the tower
of London, to execute immediately the earl
of Loudon for the crime of high treason, al-
though, as it is well known, it had formerly
been pardoned in consequence of a general
act of grace ; which illegal warrant was to take
effect without any previous trial ; and that
Charles was diverted from insisting on Bal-
four's obedience to the order, solely by the
interference of the marquis of Hamilton. See
the Conclusion of Birch's Inquiry into King
Charles the First's Transactions with the Earl
of Glamorgan, Second Edition, where this
tale is brought forward against the king. Let
the duke of Hamilton however be heard in his
own defence, and at the same time in behalf
of his royal master. In his speech before his
execution, this nobleman has the following
expressions. ** I take God to witness, that I
** have constantly been a faithful subject and
** servant to his late majesty, in spight of all
" malice and calumny. I have had the ho-
*' nour since my childhood to attend and be
'* near him, till now of late, and during all
*' that time I observed in him as many vir-
** tues and as little vice, as in any man I ever
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxt
** knew." Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of
Hamilton, p. 398.
-"III. Thus much concerning the restored
passages. To the notes of the earls of Dart-
mouth and Hardwicke, speaker Onslow, and
dean Swift, several others have been added,
for the purpose of correction, and of fuller il-
lustration. They are drawn principally from
the professed answerers of Burnet, the his-
torians of particular periods of our history,
from writers of memoirs and of scarce tracts,
and occasionally from manuscript authorities.
They were selected and appended to the
text, whilst the press was going on, in the
course of the last year; and will, it is hoped,
as well as the strictures on some doctrines
and opinions in the other annotations, appear
to owe their situation in the following pages
to a zeal for truth, sincere, at least, however
mistaken. All these notes are interspersed
with the others, and included within a pa-
renthesis.
It is proper to apprise the reader, that
Ralph's History of the three first reigns con-
tained in bishop Burnet's work, namely,
those of Charles II. James II. and king Wil-
liam, was not procured for consultation be-
fore some part of the reign of James II. was
already printed. But this circumstance ap-
xxvi PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
peared afterwards to be of less consequence
than the perusal of the latter part of the
same history made us apprehend. This his-
torian has obtained from Mr. Fox the praise
of impartiality ; which he well deserves.
It should also be here acknowledged, that
a statement in bishop Burnet's work at pp.
31, 32, of the first volume, ought to have
been corrected from the earl of Cromarty's
Account of the Conspiracies of the Earls of
Gowry, pubhshed in 1713. The bishop af-
firms, that the last earl of Gowry was descend-
ed through a daughter of lord Methuen, from
Margaret daughter of king Henry the Seventh,
although this king's daughter had in reality
no issue by her third husband Henry lord
Methuen, whom our author erroneously calls
Francis Steward, father of a lord Methuen.
Gowry's grandmother was daughter of Henry
lord Methuen by his second wife, a daughter
of the earl of Athol, married to him after
Margaret the queen dowager of Scotland's
death. See the Earl of Cromarty's Account,
p. 8 — 12. As in this case the earl of Gowry
had no well founded claim to the succession
of the crown of England, if king James of
Scotland were removed out of the way, he
could scarcely be influenced by it to attempt
the assassination of that prince, according to
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxvii
the bishop's suggestion, not sanctioned, as
he himself owns, by any other historian.
On the other hand a confirmation of our
author's testimony has lately occurred, and
the question, so ably discussed by sergeant
Hey wood in his Vindication of Fox's Histo-
rical Work, as to the conduct of general
Monck during the pending trial of the mar-
quis of Argyle, has been finally set at rest. It
now appears, on the authority of sir George
Mackenzie, one of the assigned defenders of
the marquis, that Monck, when " advertised
" of the scantiness of the probation," did ac-
tually transmit to Scotland several official let-
ters formerly received by him from the mar-
quis for the purpose of procuring that no-
bleman's condemnation. See vol. i. p. 217,
and sir George Mackenzie's Memoirs of the
affairs of Scotland just published, p. 4.
In printing the text of Burnet, the first edi-
tion has been followed, and the alterations
of his style in subsequent editions have been
neglected. It is true, that in the title-page
of the first octavo edition, the whole work is
said to have been revised and corrected by
the editor, the bishop's son ; but allowing this,
the original MS. was still further departed
from, than even in the folio edition. The
xxviii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
few alterations which occur in the editor's
Life of his father have been adopted.
The Index to the text of Burnet has been
improved by Dr. Bliss, whose name we have
already had occasion ta mention ; the other
Index to the principal contents of the notes
was entirely prepared by the same gentleman.
The author finished his history of the
reigns of Charles II. and James II. about the
beginning of the eighteenth century ; that of
king William, and the former part of queen
Anne's reign in 17 10. The continuation of
the work to the conclusion of peace in 1/13
was completed by him in that year; less
than two years before his death. The pre-
sent year 1823 is nearly the hundredth since
the publication of the first volume in folio,
comprising the two first reigns above men-
tioned, together with a summary of public
affairs before the restoration. It appears to
have excited more interest than the second
volume, which followed in 1735, after an in-
terval of eleven years. But this is by no
means to be wondered at, considering the
author's frequent relations in the subsequent
volume of military and foreign affairs in a
general and perfunctory manner, and the
diminished influence of the good or ill qua-
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxix
lities of individuals on the public events and
transactions of this latter period.
The great influence which personal cha-
racter had formerly on events, together with
other causes, occasions the reign of Charles the
first, in which the contest for political power
commenced, to form the most interesting
period of English history, whether we are
disposed to triumph with the conquering
party, or to espouse and commiserate the
cause of high honour and suffering loyalty.
The frequent and remarkable changes of go-
vernment during the interregnum, as well as
the singular and energetic character of the
protector Cromwell, secure the attention of
every reader. The disputes, which arose be-
tween an unprincipled, but good humoured
monarch, regardless alike of his own honour
and the national interest, and a restless, vio-
lent, and merciless faction, are subjects of
deep concern, on account of their melan-
choly results. At the same time, the mind
feels consolation in the virtues of Ormond,
Clarendon, and Southampton. And, notwith-
standing the enormities of courtiers and anti-
courtiers, we reflect with pleasure on the free-
dom then first securely enjoyed, from every
species of arbitrary taxation, and from extra-
judicial imprisonment; on the provision made
XXX PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
for the meeting of parliament once in three
years at the least; in a word, on the posses-
sion of a constitution, which king William
admired so much, that he professed himself
afraid to improve it. The gloom of the next
reign, overcast and ruined as its prospects
were by folly and oppression, and finally
closed by means of intrigue, falsehood, and
intimidation, is in part enlivened by a view of
the courageous and disinterested conduct of
Bancroft, Hough, Dundee, Craven, and a few
others. Some of these persons, desirous of a
parliamentary redress of grievances, thought,
that instead of the force put upon the person
of the king, an accommodation might and
ought to have been effected with him ; as he
had a little before, when threatened with the
just and open hostility of his subjects for his
perversion of law, and maintenance of a
standing army, made very important conces-
sions. Yet it may reasonably be doubted,
whether a composition with a prince of his
disposition and feeble judgment, whatever
good qualities he was otherwise possessed of,
would eventually have been lasting, or even
reducible to practice. The appeal made by
him to his subjects immediately after his re-
treat to another country, was signed by a se-
cretary of state employed contrary to law.
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. xxxi
Times had now passed, which were che-
quered with great virtues and vices : but the
reigns of William and Anne exhibit to the
reader one uniform scene of venality and
corruption ; and the mind, instead of being
interested, is disgusted with the contests of
two parties for the government of the coun-
try, assuming, as it best suited their selfish
purposes, each others' principles. The long
contemplated change in the executive go-
vernment was at length effected; its power
being virtually transferred to combinations
of persons possessed of great influence in
parliamentary elections, and in parliament
itself. Hence what has been called the prac-
tice of the constitution differed widely from
its theory; and to this depression of the
crown and of its direct power, occasioned by
the seeming necessity for the almost constant
sitting of parliament, were added maxims to-
tally annihilating the will of the single person,
and, in conjunction with other causes, fi-
nally subversive of all dutiful and affection-
ate attachment to authority. These max-
ims, not recognised as constitutional by Cla-
rendon, Hale, or Locke, were advanced in
order to colour and justify the alteration. A
wider and more extensive field was now
opened for the exertion of talents, service-
xxxii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION.
able indeed to the advancement of the indi-
vidual, but full as often pernicious as useful
to the public. In these reigns also, contrary
to every principle of justice, were laid the
deep and broad foundations of a debt, which
no other than the political system then
adopted could have entailed on a nation.
It ought still however to be remembered,
that at, or soon after the revolution, a so-
lemn recognition was made of the liberties
of Englishmen ; the power of dispensing with .
the laws was abrogated in all cases ; the
judges were no longer dismissible at the sole
pleasure of the crown ; a provision was made
against the long continuance of parliaments ;
freedom of religious worship was secured to
the great body of protestant dissenters ; the
important and necessary measure of a union
with Scotland was effected ; the liberty of
the press established ; trials for treason bet-
ter regulated ; and a more exact and impar-
tial administration of justice generally intro-
duced in the kingdom. Which blessings, to-
gether with all other constitutional rights,
may God's providence, and a virtuous and
independent spirit, continue to us !
M. J. R.
1?-
THE
HISTORY
OF
MY OWN TIMES.
VOL. I. B
!i
. i . .' . /
THE PREFACE.
1 AM now beginning to review and write over
again the history of my own time, which I first un-
dertook twenty years ago ^, and have been continu-
ing it from year to year ever since : and I see some
reason to review it all. I had while I was very
young a greater knowledge of affairs than is usual
at that age ; for my father, who had been engaged
in great friendships with men of both sides, living
then retired from all business, as he took my edu-2!
cation wholly into his own hands, so he took a sort
of pleasure to relate to me the series of all public
affairs! And as he was a man so eminent for pro-
bity and true piety, that I had all reason to believe
him ; so I saw such an impartial sense of things in
him, that I had as little reason to doubt his judg-
ment as his sincerity. For though he adhered so
firmly to the king and his side, that he was the sin-
gular instance in Scotland of a man of some note,
who, from the beginning to the end of the war, never
once owned or submitted to the new form of go-
vernment set up all that while; yet he did very
freely complain of the errors of the king's govem-
^ This history he writ some beginning of the reign of king
time before the year 1705. but William and queen Mary he
how long, he has not any where dates the continuation of hb
told ; only it appears it was history on the first day of May,
then finished, because in the 1705. Origixai. Editors.
B 2
4 THE PREFACE.
ment, and of the bishops of Scotland. So that upon
this foundation I set out at first to look into the se-
cret conduct of affairs among us.
I fell into great acquaintance and friendships with
several persons, who either were or had been min-
isters of state, from whom, when the secret of affairs
was over, I studied to know as many particulars as
I could draw from them. I saw a great deal more
among the papers of the dukes of Hamilton than
was properly a part of their memoirs, or fit to be
told at that time : for when a licence was to be ob-
tained, and a work was to be published fit for that
family to own, things foreign to their ministry, or
hurtful to any other families, were not to be inter-
mixed with the account I then gave of the late
wars. And now for above thirty years I have lived
in such intimacy with all who have had the chief
conduct of affairs, and have been so much trusted,
and on so many important occasions employed by
them, that I have been able to penetrate far into
the true secrets of counsels and designs.
This made me twenty years ago write down a re-
lation of all that I had known to that time : where
I was in the dark, I past over all, and only opened
those transactions that I had particular occasions to
know. My chief design in writing was to give a
true view of men and of counsels, leaving public
transactions to gazettes and the public historians of
the times- I writ with a design to make both my
self and my readers wiser and better, and to lay
open the good and bad of all sides and parties, as
clearly and impartially as I my self understood it,
concealing nothing that I thought fit to be known,
and representing things in their natural colours with-
THE PREFACE. 5
out art or disguise, without any regard to kindred
or friends, to parties or interests : for I do solemnly
say this to the world, and make my humble appeals
upon it to the great God of truth, that I tell the
truth on aU occasions, as fully and freely as upon
my best inquiry I have been able to find it out.
Where things appear doubtful, I deliver them with
the same incertainty to the world.
Some may perhaps think, that, instead of favouring
my own profession, I have been more severe upon
them than was needful. But my zeal for the true
interest of religion and of the clergy made me more
careful to undeceive good and well meaning men of
my own order and profession for the future, and to
deliver them from common prejudices and mistaken
notions, than to hide or excuse the faults of those
who will be perhaps gone off the stage before this
work appear on it. I have given the characters of
men very impartially and copiously ; for nothing
guides one's judgment more truly in a relation of
matters of fact, than the knowing the tempers and
principles of the chief actors ^,
'' Bishop Burnet was a man pressing himself, which often
of the most extensive know- made him ridiculous, especially
ledge I ever met with; had in the house of lords, when
read and seen a great deal, with what he said would not have
a prodigious memory, and a been thought so, delivered in a
very indifferent judgment : he lower voice, and a calmer be-
was extremely partial, and rea- haviour. His vast knowledge oc-
dily took every thing for grant- casioned his frequent rambling
ed that he heard to the prejudice from the point he was speaking
of those that he did not like: to, which ran him into discourses
which made him pass for a man of so universal a nature, that
of less truth than he really was. there was no end to be expected
I do not think he designedly but from a failure of his strength
published any thing he believed and spirits, of both which he
to be false. He had a boister- had a larger share than most
ous vehement manner of ex- men ; which were accompanied
B 3
6 THE PREFACE.
If I have dwelt too long on the affairs of Scot-
land, some allowance is to be made to the affection
all men bear to their native country. I alter no-
thing of what I wrote in the first draught of this
work, only I have left out a great deal that was
personal to my self, and to those I am descended'
from : so that this is upon the matter the same work,
with very little change made in it.
: I look on the perfecting of this work, and the
carrying it on through the remaining part of my
life, as the greatest service I can do to God and to
the world ; and therefore I set about it with great
care and caution. For I reckon a lie in history to
be as much a greater sin than a lie in common dis-
course, as the one is like to be more lasting and
more generally known than the other. I find that
the long experience I have had of the baseness, the
malice, and the falsehood of mankind, has incUned
me to be apt to think generally the worst both of
men and of parties : and indeed the peevishness, the
iU nature, and the ambition of many clergymen, has
sharpened my spirits perhaps too much against
them : so I warn *^ my reader to take aU that I say
on these heads with some grains of allowance, though
I have watched over my self and my pen so carefully,
that I hope there is no great occasion for this apo-
logy-
I have shewed this history to several of my
friends'^, who were either very partial to me, or
with a most invincible assur- it was a favour he had granted
ance. Dartmouth. to several others, and if any
^ I will take his warning, part of it had been published
Swift. before its time, he might have
^ He offered to shew it to thought it came from me :
me, which I avoided, knowing though he was so civil as to
THE PREFACE.
they esteemed that this work (chiefly when it should 4
be over and over again retouched and polished ^ by
me ^ which very probably I shall be doing as long
as I live ^) might prove of some use to the world.
I have on design avoided all laboured periods or ar-
tificial strains, and have writ in as clear and plain a
style as was possible, choosing rather a copious en-
largement than a dark conciseness.
And now, O my God, the God of my life, and of
all my mercies, I offer this work to thee, to whose
honour it is chiefly intended ; that thereby I may
awaken the world ^ to just reflections on their own
errors and foUies, and caU on them to acknowledge
thy providence, to adore it, and ever to depend on
it.
tell me 1 would be the last he
should suspect ; and whenever I
did- read it, I should find ac-
counts both of persons and
things, that I did not expect
from him; but truth, he said,
must be followed by an histo-
rian, wherever it led him. D.
* Rarely polished; I never
read so ill a style. S.
^ I do not know who his
friends were, or how partial
they might be, but I believe
generally people will be of opi-
nion that this is the worst of his
performances ; in most others
that are of any value, the mate-
rials were ready furnished, and
he had only the putting of them
together ; in this, which is en-
tirely his own, he has exposed
his excessive partiality, and great
want of judgment. D.
g Mr. secretary Johnston,
who was his intimate friend
and near relation, told me, that
after a debate in the house of
lords he usually went home,
and altered every body's cha-
racter, as they had pleased or
displeased him that day. D.
^ This I take to be non-
sense. S.
B 4
i '.r.TfKf vr
THE
HISTORY
OF
MY OWN TIMES.
BOOK I.
A summary recapitulation of the state of affairs
in Scotland^ hoth in church and state ; from the
heginning of the troubles^ to the restoration of
king Charles the second, 1660.
X HE mischiefs of civil wars are so great and last-
ing, and the effects of them branching out by many
accidents, that were not thought on at first, much
less intended, into such mischievous consequences,
that I have thought it an inquiry that might be of
great use, both to prince and people, to look carefully
into the first beginnings and occasions of them, to
observe their progress, and the errors of both hands, 6
the provocations that were given, and the jealousies
that were raised by these, together with the excesses
into which both sides have run by turns. And
though the wars be over long ago, yet since they
have left among us so many seeds of lasting feuds
and animosities, which upon every turn are apt to
10 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
ferment and to break out of new, it will be an use-
ful as well as a pleasant inquiry to look back to the
first original of them, and to observe by what de-
grees and accidents they gathered strength, and at
last broke forth into a flame.
The dis- The reformation of Scotland was popular and
tractions .
during king parliamentary : the crown was, durmg that time,
nority.* "" either on the head of a queen that was absent, or of
a king that was an infant. During his minority,
matters were carried on by the several regents, so
as was most agreeable to the prevailing humour of
the nation. But when king James grew to be of
age, he found two parties in the kingdom. The one
was of those who wished well to the interest of the
queen his mother, then a prisoner in England :
these were either professed papists, or men believed
to be indifferent as to all religions. The rest were
her inveterate enemies, zealous for the reformation,
and fixed in a dependence on the crown of England,
and in a jealousy of France. When that king saw
that those who were most in his interests were like-
wise jealous of his authority, and apt to encroach
upon if, he hearkened first to the insinuations of his
mother's party, who were always infusing in him a
jealousy of these his friends ; saying, that by ruining
his mother, and setting him in her room while a
year old, they had ruined monarchy, and made the
crown subject and precarious ; and had put him in
a very unnatural posture, of being seized of his mo-
! ther's crown while she was in exile and a prisoner ;
adding, that he was but a king in name, the power
being in the hands of those who were under the ma-
nagement of the queen of England.
"' r '' Nonsense. S,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 11
Their insinuations W(9uld have been of less force. The prac-
^j -1 t o f^ • 1 t • • tices of the
the house oi Guise, who were his cosm germans, house of
had not been engaged in great designs, of transfer- ^"'*^"
ring the crown of France from the house of Bourbon
to themselves ; in order to which it was necessary
to embroil England, and to draw the king of Scot-
land into their interests. So under the pretence of
keeping up the old alliances between France and Scot-
land, they sent creatures of their own to be ambas-
sadors there ; and they also sent a graceful young
man, who, as he was the king's nearest kinsman by
his father, was of so agreeable a temper, that he be-
came his favourite, and was made by him duke of
Lenox. He was known to be a papist, though he 7
pretended he changed his religion, and became in
profession a protestant.
The court of England discovered all these artifices
of the Guisians, who were then the most implacable
enemies of the reformation, and were managing all
that train of plots against queen Elizabeth, that in
conclusion proved fatal to the queen of Scots. And
when the English ministers saw the inclinations of
the young king lay so strongly that way, that all
their applications to gain him were ineffectual, they
infused such a jealousy of him into all their party in
Scotland, that both nobility and clergy were much
alarmed at it.
But king James learnt early that piece of king-
craft ^, of disguising, or at least denying every thing
^ A mean expression, often derstanding, but suitable to the
made use of by king James the pedantic education they had
first; though little to the re- given him in his youth; which
putation of his integrity or un- the earl of Marr told me was
1* A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
that was observed in his behaviour that gave of-
fence, li
The main instance in which the French manage-
ment appeared was, that he could not be prevailed
on to enter into any treaty of marriage. It was not
safe to talk of marrying a papist ; and as long as
the duke of Guise lived, the king, though then three
and twenty, and the only person of his family, would
hearken to no proposition for marrying a protestant.
King James But whcu the dukc of Guisc was killed at Blois,
terest of and that Henry the third was murdered soon after,
England. ^^ ^j^^^ Hcury the fourth came in his room, king
James was no more in a French management : so
presently after he married a daughter of Denmark,
and ever after that he was wholly managed by
queen Elizabeth and her ministers. I have seen
many letters among Walsingham's papers that dis-
cover the commerce between the house of Guise and
him (king James) ; but the most valuable of these is
a long paper of instructions to one sir Richard Wig-
more, a great man for hunting, and for all such
sports, to which king James was out of measure ad-
dicted. The queen affronted him publicly. Upon
which he pretended he could live no longer in Eng-
land, and therefore withdrew to Scotland. But all
this was a contrivance of Walsingham's, who thought
him a fit person to get into that king's favour : so
that affront was designed to give him the more cre-
dit. He was very particularly instructed in all the
proper methods to gain upon the king's confidence,
done designedly, to make him chanan said, he would take care
contemptible both at home and to make him the lively image of
abroad : and that George Bu- his mother. D.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 13
and to observe and give an account of all he saw in
him; which he did very faithfully. By these in-
structions it appears that Walsingham thought that
king was either inchned to turn papist, or to be of
no religion. And when the corn-t of England saw that
they could not depend on him, they raised aU possi-
ble opposition to him in Scotland, infusing strong
jealousies into those who were enough inclined to
receive them.
This is the great defect that runs through archbi- 8
shop Spotswood's history, where much of the rude^f ^^p^^-*
opposition that king met with, particularly from the ^^^'^ •>'*-
assemblies of the kirk, is set forth; but the true
ground of all the jealousies they were possessed with
is suppressed by him. After his marriage, they stu-
died to remove these suspicions all that was pos-
sible ; and he granted the kirk all the laws they
desh-ed, and got his temporal authority to be better
estabhshed than it was before : yet as the jealousies
of his fickleness in religion were never quite re- >
moved, so they gave him many new disgusts : they
wrouglit in him a most inveterate hatred of presby-
tery, and of the power of the kirk ; and he fearing
an opposition in his succeeding to the crown of
England, from the papist party, which, though it
had little strength in the house of commons, yet was
very great in the house of lords, and was very con-
siderable in aU the northern parts, and among the
body of the people, employed several persons who were
known to be papists, though they complied out-
wardly. The chief of these were Elphinston, se-
cretary of state, whom he made lord Balmerinoch ;
and Seaton, afterwards chancellor, and earl of Dun- King James
, . studied to
fermhng. By their means he studied to assure the gain the
papists.
14
A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
And to se-
cure the
succession
to the
crown of,
England.
papists that he would connive at them. A letter
was also writ to the pope by him, giving assurance
of this, which when it came to be pubUshed by Bel-
larmin, upon the prosecution of the recusants after
the discovery of the gunpowder plot, Balmerinoch
did affirm, that he out of zeal to the king's service
got his hand to it, having put it in the bundle of
papers that were signed in course, without the king's
knowing any thing of it '^. Yet when that discovery
drew no other severity, but the turning him out of
office, and the passing a sentence condemning him
to die for it, (which was presently pardoned, and he
was after a short confinement restored to his li-
berty,) all men believed that the king knew of the
letter, and that the pretended confession of the se-
cretary was only collusion to lay the jealousies of
the king's favouring popery, which still hung upon
him, notwithstanding his writing on the Revelation,
and his affecting to enter on aU occasions into con-
troversy, asserting in particular that the pope was
antichrist.
As he took these methods to manage the popish
party, he was much more careful to secure to him-
self the body of the EngUsh nation. Cecil, after-
wards earl of Salisbury, secretary to queen Eliza-
beth, entered into a particular confidence with him :
and this was managed by his ambassador Bruce ^, a
younger brother of a noble family in Scotland, who
<^ See the life of king James
in the complete history of Eng-
land, vol. ii. page 666, in the
note thereto. Onslow.
•* Robert Cecil, great-grand-
son to the first earl of Salis-
bury, ^old nie that his ancestor
inquiring into the character of
king James ; Bruce's answer
was, " Ken ye a John Ape ?
" en I's have him, he'I bite you :
" en you's have him. he'I bite
" me." D,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 15
earned the matter with such address and secrecy,
that all the great men of England, without knowing 9
of one another's doing it, and without the queen's
suspecting any thing concerning it, signed in writing
an engagement to assert and stand by the king of
Scots right of succession. This great service was
rewarded by making him master of the rolls, and a
peer of Scotland : and as the king did raise Cecil
and his friends to the greatest posts and dignities,
so he raised Bruce's family here in England.
When that king came to the crown of England That kings
. --~, . . errors in
he discovered his hatred to the ' Scotish kirk on govem-
many occasions, in which he gratified his resentment ™
without consulting his interests^. He ought to <
have put his utmost strength to the finishing what
he but faintly begun for the union of both kingdoms,
which was lost by his unreasonable partiality in pre-
tending that Scotland ought to be considered in this
union as the third part of the isle of Great Britain,
if not more. So high a demand ruined the design.
But when that failed, he should then have studied
to keep the affections of that nation firm to him :
and certainly he, being secure of that kingdom,
might have so managed matters, as to have pre-
vented that disjointing which happened afterwards
both in his own reign, and more tragically in his
son's. He thought to effect this by his profuse
bounty to many of the nobility of that kingdom,
and to his domestic servants : but as most of these
^ The earl of Seafield told but now, he said, one kingdom
me that king James frequently would help him to govern the
declared that he never looked other, or he had studied king-
upon himself to be more than craft to very little purpose from
king of Scotland in name, till his cradle to that time, D.
he came to be king of England ;
16 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS ;
settling in England were of no further use to him
in that design, so his setting up episcopacy in Scot-
land, and his constant aversion to the kirk, how
right soever it might be in it self, was a great error
in policy ; for the poorer that kingdom was, it was
both the more easy to gain them, and the more
dangerous to offend them. So the terror which the
affections of the Scotch nation might have justly
given the English was soon lost, by his engaging
the whole government to support that which was
then very contrary to the bent and genius of the
nation.
He set up gy^ thouffh he set up bishops, he had no revenues
episcopacy ^ " ^ ^
in Scotland, to givc them, but what he was to purchase for them.
During his minority, all the tithes and the church
lands were vested in the crown : but this was only
in order to the granting them away to the men that
bore the chief sway. It is true, when he came of
age, he, according to the law of Scotland, past a
general revocation of all that had been done in his
infancy : and by this he could have resumed all
those grants. He, and after him his son, succeeded
in one part of his design : for by act of parliament
a court was erected that was to examine and se-
quester a third part of the tithes in every parish,
and so make a competent provision out of them to.
'"^ 10 those who served the cure ; which had been reserved
in the great alienation for the service of the church.
This was carried at first to a proportion of about
♦ thirty pounds a year, and was afterwards in his son's
time raised to about fifty pounds a year^; which,
considering the plenty, and way of living in that
country, is a very liberal provision, and is equal in
! Scotch pounds, I suppose. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 17
value to thrice that sum in the southern parts of
England. In this he had both the clergy and the
body of the people on his side. But he could not
so easily provide for the bishops : they were at first
forced to hold their former cures with some small
addition.
But as they assumed at their first setting up little with a de.
more authority than that of a constant president of J^^matters
the presbyters, so they met with much rough op-^*'*''*'^'
position. The king intended to carry on a con-
formity in matters of religion with England, and he
begun to buy in from the grantees many of the
estates that belonged to the bishoprics. It was also
enacted, that a form of prayer should be drawn for
Scotland : and the king was authorized to appoint
the habits in which the divine offices were to be
performed. Some of the chief holydays were or-
dered to be observed. The sacrament was to be
received kneeling, and to be given to the sick.
Confirmation was enacted; as also the use of the
cross in baptism. These things were first past in
general assemblies, which were composed of bishops
and the deputies chosen by the clergy, who sat all
in one house : and in it they reckoned the bishops
only as single votes. Great opposition was made to
aU these steps : and the whole force of the govern-
ment was strained to carry elections to those meet-
ings, or to take off those who were chosen ; in which
it was thought that no sort of practice was omitted.
It was pretended, that some were frighted, and
others were corrupted.
The bishops themselves did their part very iU. EiTorsof
__, the bishops.
They generally grew haughty : they neglected their
functions, and were often at court, and lost aU
VOL. I. c
1^' A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
esteem with the people. Some few that were
stricter and more learned did lean so grossly to
popery, that the heat and violence of the reform-
ation became the main subject of their sermons and
discourses. King James grew weary of this op-
position, or was so apprehensive of the ill effects
'■ that it might have, that, what through sloth or fear,
and what by reason of the great disorder into which
his ill conduct brought his affairs in England in his
latter years, he went no further in his designs on
Scotland.
Prince He had three children. His eldest, prince Henry,
Henry was . i» i ti
believed to was a prmcc of great hopes ; but so very little like
epoisone .j^.^ father, that he was rather feared than loved by
11 him. He was so zealous a protestant, that, when
his father was entertaining propositions of marrying
him to popish princesses, once to the archduchess,
and at another time to a daughter of Savoy, he in a
letter that he wrote to the king on the twelfth of
that October in which he died, (the original of which
sir William Cook shewed me,) desired, that if his
father married him that way, it might be with the
youngest person of the two, of whose conversion he
might have hope, and that any liberty she might be
allowed for her religion might be in the privatest
manner possible. Whether this aversion to popery
hastened his death or not, I cannot teU^. Colonel
Titus *^ assured me that he had from king Charles
! 8 If he was poisoned by the of Somerset's trial, " God knows
earl of Somerset, it was not " what went with the good
upon the account of religion, " prince Henry, but I have
but for making love to the " heard something." D.
countess of Essex ; and that was ^ Titus was the greatest rogu6
what the lord chief justice Coke in England. S.
meant, when he said at the earl
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 19
the first's own mouth, that he was well assured he
was poisoned by the earl of Somerset's means. It is
certain, that from the time of the gunpowder plot,
king James was so struck with the terror of that
danger he was then so near, that ever after he had
no mind to provoke the Jesuits ; for he saw what
they were capable of.
And since I name that conspiracy which the pa- The gun-
■ powder
pists in our days have had the impudence to deny ', plot.
and to pretend it was an artifice of Cecil's to en-
gage some desperate men into a plot, which he ma-
naged so that he could discover it when he pleased,
I will mention what I my self saw, and had for some
time in my possession. Sir Everard Digby died for
being of the conspiracy : he was the father of the
famous sir Kenelm Digby. The family being ruined
upon the death of sir Kenelm's son, when the ex-
ecutors were looking out for writings to make out
the titles of the estates they were to sell, they were
directed by an old servant to a cupboard that was
very artificially hid, in which some papers lay, that
she had observed sir Kenelm was oft reading. They
looking into it found a velvet bag, within which there
were two other silk bags : (so carefully were those re-
lics kept :) and there was within these a collection of
all the letters that sir Everard writ during his impri-
sonment. In these he expresses great trouble, because
he heard some of their friends blamed their undertak-
ing : he highly magnifies it ; and says, if he had many
lives, he would willingly have sacrificed them all in
carrying it on. In one paper he says, they had taken
that care that there were not above two or three
' See what Lord Stafford says of this plot, in his trial. State
Trials, vol. ii. pag^ 621. O.
c 2
20 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
worth saving, to whom they had not given notice to
keep out of the way : and in none of those papers
does he express any sort of remorse for that which
he had been engaged in, and for which he suffered.
King James Udou the discovcrv of that plot, there was a ee-
was afraid ^ . ' , P
of the je- neral prosecution of all papists set on foot : but king
James was very uneasy at it ; which was much in-
creased by what sir Dudly Carlton told him upon
12 his return from Spain, where he had been ambassa-
dor ; (which I had from the lord Hollis, who said
to me, that sir Dudly Carlton told it to himself, and
was much troubled when he saw it had an effect
contrary to what he had intended.) When he came
home, he found the king at Theobald's hunting in a
very careless and unguarded manner : and upon
that, in order to the putting him on a more careful
looking to himself, he told the king he must either
give over that way of hunting, or stop another hunt-
ing that he was engaged in, which was priest hunt-
ing : for he had intelligence in Spain that the priests
were comforting themselves with this, that if he
went on against them, they would soon get rid of
him : queen Elizabeth was a woman of form, and
was always so weU attended, that all their plots
against her failed, and were never brought to any
effect : but a prince who was always in woods or
forests would be easily overtaken. The king sent
for him in private to enquire more particularly into
this : and he saw it had made a great impression on
him : but wi'ought otherwise than as he intended. For
the king, (who) resolved to gratify his humour in
hunting, and in a careless and irregular way of life,
did immediately order all that prosecution to be let
fall. I have the minutes of the council books of the
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 21
year 1606, which are full of orders to discharge and
transport priests, sometimes ten in a day. From
thence to his dying day he continued always writing
and talking against popery, but acting for it. He
married his only daughter to a protestant prince,
one of the most zealous and sincere of them all, the
elector palatine ; upon which a great revolution
happened in the affairs of Germany. The eldest ^^^^ ^•^ctor
. . palatine's
branch of the house of Austna retained some of the maniage.
impressions that their father Maximilian II. studied
to infuse into them, who, as he was certainly one of
the best and wisest princes of these latter ages, so
he was unalterably fixed in his opinion against per-
secution for matters of conscience : his own senti-
ments were so very favourable to the protestant
doctrine, that he was thought inwardly theirs. His
brother Charles of Grats was on the other hand
wholly managed by the Jesuits, and was a zealous
patron of theirs, and as zealously supported by them.
Rodolph and Matthias reigned one after another,
but without issue. Their brother Albert was then
dying in Flanders : so Spain with the popish interest
joined to advance Ferdinand, the son of Charles of
Grats : and he forced Matthias to resign the crown
of Bohemia to him, and got himself to be elected
king. But his government became quickly severe :
he resolved to extirpate the protestants, and began
to break through the privileges that were secured
to them by the laws of that kingdom.
This occasioned a general insurrection, which was 13
followed by an assembly of the states, who, together of BoiirmL
with those of Silesia, Moravia, and Lusatia, joined in
deposing Ferdinand : and they offered their crown
first to the duke of Saxony, who refused it, and then
c 3
22 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS '
to the elector palatine, who accepted of it, being en-
couraged to it by his two uncles, Maurice prince of
Orange, and the duke of BuUion. (Bouillon.) But he
did not ask the advice of king James : he only gave
him notice of it when he had accepted the offer.
Here was the probablest occasion that has been of-
fered since the reformation for its full establishment.
The English nation was much inclined to support
it : and it was expected that so near a conjunction
might have prevailed on the king: but he had an
invincible aversion to war ; and was so possessed of
the opinion of a divine right in all kings, that he
could not bear that even an elective and limited
king should be called in question by his subjects : so
he would never acknowledge his son-in-law king,
nor give him any assistance for the support of his
new dignity. And though it was also reckoned on
that France would enter into any design that should
bring down the house of Austria, and Spain by con-
sequence, yet even that was diverted by the means
of De Luynes ; a worthless but absolute favourite,
whom the archduchess Isabella, princess of the Spa-
nish Netherlands, gained to oblige the king (of
France) into a neutrality by giving him the richest
heiress then in Flanders, the daughter of Peguiney,
left to her disposal, whom he married to his brother.
The disor- Thus poor Frederick was left without any assist-
ders in * *^
Holland. EDce ^. The jcalousy that the Lutherans had of the
^ The taie cause of his want created a power, not only for-
of friends to support his pre- midable to the house of Aus-
tensions to the crown of Bo- tria, but to all the princes in
hernia, was from an apprehen- Europe : and the prince of
sion that king James having Wales was then thought to be
but one son living, if the sue- of a very weakly constitution,
cession of Great Britain had D.
fallen to his wife, it must have
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 23
ascendant that the Calvinists might gain by this ac-
cession had an unhappy share in the coldness which
all the princes of that confession shewed towards
him; though Saxony only declared for Ferdinand,
who likewise engaged the duke of Bavaria at the
head of a cathoUc league to maintain his interests.
Maurice prince of Orange had embroiled Holland
by the espousing the controversy about the decrees
of God in opposition to the Arminian party, and by
erecting a new and illegal court by the authority of
the states general to judge of the aflfaii'S of the pro-
vince of Holland ; which was plainly contrary to their
constitution, by which every province is a sovereignty
within itself, not at all subordinate to the states ge-
neral, who act only as plenipotentiaries of the several
provinces to maintain their union and their common
concerns. By that assembly Bamevelt was con-
demned and executed : Grotius and others were con-
demned to perpetual imprisonment : and an assem-
bly of the ministers of the several provinces met at 14
Dort, by the same authority, and condemned and
deprived the Arminians. Maurice's enemies gave it
out, that he managed all this on design to make him-
self master of the provinces, and to put those who
were like to oppose him out of the way. But though
this seem a wild and groundless imagination, and not
possible to be compassed; yet it is certain that he
looked on Bamevelt and his party as men who were
so jealous of him and of a military power, that as
they had forced the truce with Spain, so they would
be veiy unwiUing to begin a new war ; though the
disputes about Juliers and Cleves had almost en-
gaged them, and the truce was now near expiring ;
at the end of which he hoped, if delivered from the
c 4
24 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
opposition that he might look for from that party,
to begin the war anew. By these means there was
a great fermentation over all the provinces, so that
Maurice was not then in condition to give the elected
king any considerable assistance ; though indeed he
needed it much, for his conduct was very weak. He
affected the grandeur of a regal court, and the mag-
nificence of a crowned head, too early : and his queen
set up some of the gay diversions that she had been
accustomed to in her father's court, such as baUs
and masks, which very much disgusted the good
Bohemians, who thought that a revolution made on
the account of reUgion ought to have put on a
greater appearance of seriousness and simpUcity.
These particulars I had from the children of some
who belonged to that court. The elected king was
quickly overthrown, and driven, not only out of
those his new dominions, but likewise out of his he-
reditary countries : he fled to Holland, where he
ended his days. I will go no farther in a matter so
well known as king James's ill conduct in the whole
series of that war, and that unheard-of practice of
sending his only son through France into Spain, of
which the relations we have are so full, that I can
add nothing to them.
Some pas- I wiU Only here tell some particulars with rela-
sages of the , _, -i-i-ii.. i • t»t
religion of tioH to Grcrmauy, that Fabncius, the wisest divine 1
priuces. knew among them, told me he had from Charles
Lewis the elector palatine's own mouth. He said,
j Frederick II. who first reformed the palatinate,
whose life is so curiously writ by Thomas Hubert,
of Liege, resolved to shake off popery, and to set up
Lutheranism in his country : but a counsellor of his
said to him, that the Lutherans would always de-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 25
•
pend chiefly on the house of Saxony : so it would
not become him who was the first elector to be only
the second in the party : it was more for his dignity
to become a Calvinist : he would be the head of that
party : it would give him a great interest in Swit-
zerland, and make the Huguenots of France and in 1 5
the Netherlands depend on him. He was by that
determined to declare for the Helvetian confession.
But upon the ruin of his family the duke of New-
burgh had an interview with the elector of Branden-
burgh about their concerns in Juliers and Cleves :
and he persuaded that elector to turn Calvinist ; for
since their family was fallen, nothing would more
contribute to raise the other than the espousing that
side, which would naturally come under his protec-
tion : but he added, that for himself he had turned
papist, since his little principality lay so near both
Austria and Bavaria. This that elector told with a
sort of pleasure, when he made it appear that other
princes had no more sense of religion than he him-
self had '.
Other circumstances concurred to make king King james
James's reign inglorious. The states having bor-thecau-'
rowed gi*eat sums of money of queen Elizabeth, they to°wnIf
gave her the Brill and Flushing, with some other
places of less note, in pawn, till the money should be
repaid. Soon after his coming to the crown of Eng-
land he entered into secret treaties with Spain, in
' The author might have the one and the other took a
added to these instances, that part different from their private
it was said, that prince Mau- sentiments, to serve their po-
rice was in his opinion an Ar- litical interests. The author
minian, and Barnevelt a Cal- does mention this afterwards,
vinist. But as these religious See page 316. O.
points became state divisions.
26: A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
order to the forcing the states to a peace : one ar-
ticle was, that if they were obstinate he would de-
liver these places to the Spaniards. When the
truce was made, Barnevelt, though he had promoted
it, yet knowing the secret article, he saw they were
very unsafe, while the keys of HoUand and Zealand
were in the hands of a prince who might perhaps
sell them, or make an iU use of them : so he per-
suaded the states to redeem the mortgage by repay-
ing the money that England had lent, for which
these places were put into their hands : and he came
over himself to treat about it. King James, who
was profuse upon his favourites and servants, was
delighted with the prospect of so much money ; and
immediately, without calling a parliament to advise
with them about it, he did yield to the proposition.
So the money was paid, and the places were eva^
cuated '^. But his profuseness drew two other
things upon him, which broke the whole authority
of the crown, and the dependence of the nation upon
it. The crown had a great estate over all England,
which was all let out upon leases for years, and a
King James smaU rent was reserved. So most of the great fa-
greatnes? milics of the nation were the tenants of the crown,
of the ^jj^ ^ great many boroughs were depending on the
estates so held. The renewal of these leases brought
in fines to the crown and to the great officers : be-
sides that the fear of being denied a renewal kept
all in a dependence on the crown. King James ob-
tained of his parliament a power of gi-anting, that is
selling, those estates for ever, with the reserve of the
old quit-rent : and all the money raised by this was
"^ An action more to be commended for its honesty than wis*
dom. O.
crown.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. «7
profusely squandered away. Another main part of 16
the regal authority was the wards, which anciently
the crown took into their own management. Our
kings were, according to the first institution, the
guardians of the wards. They bred them up in
their courts, and disposed of them in marriage as
they thought fit. Afterwards they compounded, or
forgave them, or gave them to some branches of the
family, or to provide the younger children. But
they proceeded in this very gently : and the chief
care after the reformation was to breed the wards
protestants. Still all were under a great depend-
ence by this means. Much money was not raised
this way: but families were often at mercy, and
were used according to their behaviour. King
James granted these generally to his servants and
favourites : and they made the most of them. So
that what was before a dependence on the crown,
and was moderately compounded for, became then a
most exacting oppression, by which several families
were ruined. This went on in king Charles's time
in the same method. Our kings thought they gave
little when they disposed of a ward, because they
made little of them. All this raised such an outcry, ,
that Mr. Pierpoint, at the restoration, gathered so
many instances of these, and represented them so
effectually to that house of commons that called
home king Charles the second, that he persuaded
them to redeem themselves by an offer of excise,
which indeed produces a much greater revenue, but
took away the dependence in which aU families were
held by the dread of leaving their heirs exposed to
so great a danger. Pierpoint valued himself to me
uiK)n this service he did his country, at a time when
j» A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
\. ■ things were so little considered on either hand, that
the court did not seem to apprehend the value of
what they parted with, nor the country of what they
purchased,
other er- Bcsidcs thcsc public actiugs, king James suffered
reign. much iu the opinion of aU people by his strange
way of using one of the greatest men of that age,
sir Walter Raleigh ; against whom the proceedings
at first were much censured, but the last part of them
was thought both barbarous and illegal. The whole
business of the earl of Somerset's rise and faU, of the
countess of Essex and Overbury, the putting the in-
ferior persons to death for that infamous poisoning,
and the sparing the principals, both the earl of So-
merset and his lady, were so odious and inhuman,
that it quite sunk the reputation of a reign, that on
many other accounts was already much exposed to
contempt and censure ; which was the more sen-
sible, because it succeeded such a glorious and happy
17 one. King James in the end of his reign was be-
come weary of the duke of Buckingham, who treated
him with such an air of insolent contempt, that he
seemed at last resolved to throw him off, but could
not think of taking the load of government on him-
self, and so resolved to bring the earl of Somerset
again into favour, as that lord reported it to some
from whom I had it. He met with him in the
night in the gardens at Theobald's : two bed-cham-
ber men were only in the secret : the king embraced
j him tenderly and with many tears : the earl of So-
merset believed the secret was not well kept ; for
soon after the king was taken iU with some fits of
H« death, an aguc, and died of it. My father was then in
London, and did very much suspect an iU practice
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. '29
in the matter : but perhaps doctor Craig, my mo-
ther's uncle, who was one of the king's physicians,
possessed him with these apprehensions ; for he was
disgraced for saying he believed the king was poi-
soned. It is certain no king could die less lamented
or less esteemed than he was. This sunk the credit
of the bishops of Scotland, who, as they were his
creatures, so they were obliged to a great depend-
ence on him, and were thought guilty of gross and
abject flattery towards him. His reign in England
was a continued course of mean practices. The
first condemnation of sir Walter Raleigh was very
black : but the executing him after so many years,
and after an employment that had been given him,
was counted a barbarous sacrificing him to the Span-
iards. The rise and fall of the earl of Somerset, and
the swift progress of the duke of Buckingham's
greatness, were things that exposed him to the cen-
sure of all the world. I have seen the originals of
about twenty letters that he wrote to the prince and
that duke while they were in Spain, which shew a
meanness as well as a fondness that render him very
contemptible. The great figure the crown of Eng-
land had made in queen Elizabeth's time, who had
rendered herself the arbiter of Christendom, and
was the wonder of the age, was so much eclipsed, if
not quite darkened, during this reign, that king
James was become the scorn of the age ; and while
hungry writers flattered him out of measure at
home, he was despised by aU abroad, as a pedant
without true judgment, courage, or steadiness, sub-
ject to his favourites, and delivered up to the coun-
sels, or rather the corruption of Spain.
The puritans gained credit as the king and the ^be puri.
" " tans gained
ground.
m A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
bishops lost it. They put on external appearances
of great strictness and gravity : they took more
pains in their parishes than those who adhered to
the bishops, and were often preaching against the
vices of the court ; for which they were sometimes
punished, though very gently, which raised their re-
ISputation, and drew presents to them that made up
their sufferings abundantly. They begun some par-
ticular methods of getting their people to meet pri-
vately with them : and in these meetings they gave
great vent to extemporary prayer, which was looked
on as a sort of inspiration : and by these means they
grew very popular. They were very factious and
insolent; and both in their sermons and prayers
were always mixing severe reflections on their ene-
mies. Some of them boldly gave out very many
predictions ; particularly two of them who were
held prophets, Davison and Bruce. Some of the
things that they foretold came to pass : but my fa-
ther, who knew them both, told me of many of their
predictions that he himself heard them throw out,
which had no effect : but all these were forgot, and
if some more probable guessings which they deli-
vered as prophecies were accomplished, these were
much magnified. They were very spiteful against
all those who differed from them ; and were want-
ing in no methods that could procure them either
good usage or good presents. Of this my father
had great occasion to see many instances : for my
great grandmother, who was a very rich woman, and
much engaged to them, was most obsequiously
courted by them. Bruce lived concealed in her
house for some years : and they all found such ad-
vantages in their submissions to her, that she was
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 31
counted for many years the chief support of the par-
ty : her name was Rachel Amot. She was daugh-
ter to sir John Arnot, a man in great favour, and
lord treasurer deputy. Her husband Johnstoun was
the greatest merchant at that time ; and left her an
estate of 2000/. a year, to be disposed of among his
children as she pleased: and my father marrying
her eldest grandchild saw a great way into all the
methods of the puritans.
Gowry's conspiracy was by them charged on the Gowry's
king, as a contrivance of his to get rid of that earl, '^^^^^^
who was then held in great esteem : but my father,
who had taken great pains to inquire into all the
particulars of that matter, did always beUeve it was -
a real conspiracy". One thing, which none of the
historians have taken any notice of, and might have
induced the earl of Gowry to have wished to put
king James out of the way, but in such a disguised
manner that he should seem rather to have escaped
out of a snare himself, than to have laid one for the
king, was this : upon the king's death he stood next
to the succession to that (the) crown of England; for
king Henry the seventh's daughter that was married
to king James the fourth, did after his death marry
Dowglas earl of Angus : but they could not agree :
so a precontract was proved against him : upon
which, by a sentence from Rome, the marriage wasl9
voided, with a clause in favour of the issue, since
bom under a marriage de facto and bona fide. Lady
Margaret Dowglas was the child so provided for.
I did peruse the original bull confirming the di-
vorce. After that, the queen dowager married one
Francis Steward, and had by him a son made lord
Methuen by king James the fifth. In the patent he
° Melvil makes nothing of it. S.
Sa A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
is called Jrater noster uterinus. He had only a
daughter, who was mother or grandmother to the
earl of Gowry : so that by this he might be glad to
put the king out of the way, that so he might stand
next to the succession of the crown of England.
He had a brother then a child, who when he grew
up, and found he could not carry the name of Ru-
then, which by an act of parliament made after this
conspiracy none might carry, he went and lived be-
yond sea ; and it was given out that he had the phi-
losopher's stone. He had two sons, who died withr-
out issue; and one daughter, married to sir Anthony
Vandike the famous picture drawer, whose children,
according to his pedigree, stood very near to the
succession of the crown. It was not easy to per-
suade the nation of the truth of that conspiracy :
for eight years before that time king James, on a
secret jealousy of the earl of Murray, then esteemed
the handsomest man of Scotland, set on the marquis
of Huntly, who was his mortal enemy, to murder him ;
and by a writing »', all in his own hand, he promised
to save him harmless for it. He set the house in
which he was on fire : and the earl flying away was
followed and murdered, and Huntly sent Gordon of
Buckey with the news to the king : soon after, all
who were concerned in that vile fact were pardoned,
( which laid the king open to much censure. And this
made the matter of Gowry to be the less believed.
King When king Charles succeeded to the crown, he
first a was at first thought favourable to the puritans ; for
[l,g°py*? his tutor and all his court were of that way ^ : and
P (Abp. Spotiswood calls it tial to the Scotish nation. Dr.
•• a comniission to apprehend Heylin, in his history of the
" and bring Murray to his Presbyterians, says, that a little
"trial." Hw^. b. vi. an. 1593.) before this breaking out into
1 He was always very par- rebellion the court might well
BEFORE THE RESTORATION, S3
Dr. Preston, then the head of the party, came up in
the coach from Theobald's to London with the king
and the duke of Buckingham ; which being against
the rules of the court gave great offence : but it was
said, the king was so overcharged with grief, that
he wanted the comfort of so wise and so gi'eat a
man. It was also given out, that the duke of Buck-
ingham offered Dr. Preston the great seal : but he
was wiser than to accept of it. I will go no further
into the beginning of that reign with relation to
English affairs, which are fiiUy opened by others.
Only I will tell one particular which I had from the
earl of Lothian, who was bred up in the court, and
whose father, the earl of Ancram, was gentleman of
the bedchamber, though himself was ever much
hated by the king. He told me, that king Charles 20
was much offended with king James's light and fa-
miliar way, which was the effect of hunting and
drinking, on which occasions he was very apt to
forget his dignity, and to break out into great inde-
cencies : on the other hand the solemn gravity of
the court of Spain was more suited to his own tem-
per, which was sullen even to a moroseness. This
led him to a grave reserved deportment, in which
he forgot the civilities and the affability that the
nation naturally loved, to which they had been long
accustomed : nor did he in his outward deportment
take any pains to oblige any persons whatsoever:
so far ft'om that, he had such an ungracious way of
shewing fevour, that the manner of bestowing it was
be called an academy of that very great use to them in being
nation ; most of the officers of constantly informed of his ma-
the household, and seven out jesty's most private transactions
of eight of the grooms of the during the civil war. D.
bedchamber, which proved of
VOL. I. D
34 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
almost as mortifying as the favour was obliging. I
turn now to the affairs of Scotland, which are but I
little known ^.
He de- The king resolved to carry on two designs that
recover the his father had set on foot, but had let the prosecu-
church tion of them faU in the last years of his reign. The
Sa.tiand to ^I'st of thcsc was about the recovery of the tithes
the crown, ^jj^ church lauds : he resolved to prosecute his fa-
ther's revocation, and to void aU the grants made
in his minority, and to create titular abbots as lords
of parliament, but lords, as bishops, only for life.
And that the two great families of Hamilton and
Lenox might be good examples to the rest of the
nation, he, by a secret purchase, and with English
money, bought the abbey of Aberbroth of the former,
and the lordship of Glasgow of the latter, and gave
these to the two archbishoprics. These lords made
a shew of zeal after a good bargain, and surrendered
them to the king. He also purchased several estates
of less value to the several sees ; and all men, who
pretended to favour at court, offered their church
lands to sale at a low rate. rJ') '3>tU
In the third year of his reign the earl of Nithis-
dale, then believed a papist, which he afterwards
professed, having married a niece of the duke of
Buckingham's, was sent down with a power to take
the surrender of aU church lands, and to assure all
who did readily surrender, that the king would take
it kindly, and use them all very well, but that he
would proceed with all rigour against those who
would not submit their rights to his disposal. Upon
his coming down, those who were most concerned
in those grants met at Edinburgh, and agreed, that
1 Not worth knowing. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 35
when they were called together, if no other argu-
ment did prevail to make the earl of Nithisdale de-
sist, they would fall upon him and all his party in
the old Scotish manner, and knock them on the
head. Primrose told me one of these lords, Bel-
haven, of the name of Dowglass, who was blind, bid
them set him by one of the party ; and he would 21
make sure "of one ^ So he was set next the earl of
Dunfrize: he was all the while holding him fast:
and when the other asked him what he meant by
that, he said, ever since the blindness was come on
him he was in such fear of falling, that he could not
help the holding fast to those who were next to
him: he had all the while a poniard in his other
hand, with which he had certainly stabbed Dunfrize,
if any disorder had happened. The appearance at
that time was so great, and so much heat was raised
upon it, that the earl of Nithisdale would not open
all his instructions, but came back to court, looking
on the service as desperate : so a stop was put to it
for some time.
In the year 1633 the king came down in person He was
to be crowned. In some conventions of the states ^^d!
that had been held before that, all the money that
* This brings to my remem- created a great disorder, and
brance a story I heard the first every body seemed preparing to
duke of Bolton tell of himself do the like : upon which the
before a great deal of com- duke of Bolton said he got as
pany : that when the bill of ex- near to the marquis of Halifax
elusion was debating in the as he could, being resolved to
house of lords, the old earl of make sure of him, in case any
Peterborow said that was a violence had been offered : and
cause in which every man in that there were more who had
England was obliged to draw taken the same resolution,
his . sword, and laid liis hand though he did not name them,
upon his own, as if he designed D.
to draw it immediately, which
D 2
36 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
the king had asked was given ; and some petitions
were offered setting forth grievances, which those
whom the king employed had assured them should
be redressed: but nothing was. done, and aU was
put off till the king should come down in person.
His entry and coronation were managed with such
magnificence, that the country suffered much by it :
all was entertainment and shew. When the parlia-
ment sat, the lords of the articles prepared an act
declaring the royal prerogative, as it had been as-
serted by law in the year 1606 ; to which an addi-
tion was made of another act passed in the year
1609, by which king James was impowered to pre-
scribe apparel to churchmen with their own consent.
This was a personal thing to king James, in consi-
deration of his great learning and experience, of
which he had made no use during the rest of his
reign. And in the year 1617, when he held a par-
liament there in person, an act was prepared by the
lords of the articles, authorizing all things that
should thereafter be determined in ecclesiastical af-
feirs by his majesty, with consent of a competent
number of the clergy, to have the strength and
power of a law. But the king either apprehended
that great opposition would be made to the passing
the act, or that great trouble would follow on the
execution of it : so when the rubric of the act was
read, he ordered it to be suppressed, though passed
in the articles. In this act of 1633 these acts of
1606 and 1609 were drawn into one. To this, great
opposition was made by the earl of Rothes, who de-
sired the acts might be divided : but the king said,
it was now one act, and he must either vote for it
or against it. He said, he was for the prerogative
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 37
as much as any man, but that addition was contrary
to the liberties of the church, and he thought no de-
termination ought to be made in such matters with- 22
out the consent of the clergy, at least without their
being heard. The king bid him argue no more, but
give his vote : so he voted, not content. Some few
lords offered to argue : but the king stopped them,
and commanded them to vote. Almost the whole
commons voted in the negative : so that the act was
indeed rejected by the majority : which the king
knew ; for he had called for a list of the numbers,
and with his own pen had marked every man's vote :
yet the clerk of register, who gathers and declares
the votes, said it was carried in the affirmative. The
earl of Rothes affirmed it went for the negative : so
the king said, the clerk of register's declaration must
be held good, unless the earl of Rothes would go to
the bar, and accuse him of falsifying the record of
parliament, which was capital : and in that case, if
he should fail in the proof, he was liable to the same
punishment : so he would not venture on that. Thus
the act was published, though in truth it was re-
jected. The king expressed a high displeasure at
all who had concurred in that opposition. Upon
that the lords had many meetings : they reckoned
that now all their liberties were gone, and a parlfei*-
ment was but a piece of pageantry, if the clerk of
register might declare as he pleased how the vote
went, and that no scrutiny were allowed. Upon that,
Hague, the king's solicitor, a zealous man of that
party, drew a petition to be signed by the lords, and
to be offered by them to the king, setting forth all
their grievances, and praying redress : he shewed Baimen-
this to some of them, and among others to the lord
D 3
38 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Balmerinoch, who liked the main of it, but was for
altering it in some particulars : he spoke of it to the
earl of Rothes in the presence of the earl of Cassilis
and some others : none of them approved of it. The
earl of Rothes carried it to the king ; and told him,
that there was a design to offer a petition in order
to the explaining and justifying their proceedings,
and that he had a copy to shew him : but the king
would not look upon it, and ordered him to put a
stop to it, for he would receive no such petition.
The earl of Rothes told this to Balmerinoch : so the
thing was laid aside : only he kept a copy of it, and
interlined it in some places with his own hand.
While the king was in Scotland he erected a new
bishopric at Edinburgh, and made one Forbes bi-
shop, who was a very learned and pious man : he
had a strange faculty of preaching five or six hours
at a time : his way of life and devotion was thought
monastic, and his learning lay in antiquity : he stu-
died to be a reconciler between papists and protest-
ants, leaning rather to the first, as appears by his
Considerationes modestce: he was a very simple
23 man, and knew little of the world : so he fell into
several errors in conduct, but died soon after sus-
pected of popery % which suspicion was increased by
his son's turning papist. The king left Scotland
much discontented, but resolved to prosecute the
design of recovering the church lands : and sir Tho-
mas Hope, a subtil lawyer, who was believed to
understand that matter beyond aU the men of his
' (Quam insigniter reverendo cuum est concione publica ab
viro (Guil. Forbesio) injurii eo habita Edinburgi coram rege
sint, qui eum Catholicum Rora. Carolo I. an. 1633. Vil, Jok,
praedicant, inter alia perspi- Forbesii ct Corse, p. 10.)
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 39
profession, though in all respects he was a zealous
puritan, was made the king's advocate, upon his un-
dertaking to bring all the church lands back to the
crown : yet he proceeded in that matter so slowly,
that it was believed he acted in concert with the
party that opposed it. Enough was already done to
alarm all that were possessed of the church lands :
and they, to engage the whole country in their quar-
rel, took care to infuse it into all people, but chiefly
into the preachers, that all was done to make way
for popery. The winter after the king was in Scot-
land, Balmerinoch was thinking how to make the
petition more acceptable : and in order to that he
shewed it to one Dunmoor, a lawyer in whom he
trusted, and desired, his opinion of it, and suffered
him to carry it home with him, but charged him to
shew it to no person, and to take no copy of it. He
shewed it under a promise of secrecy to one Hay of
Naughton, and told him from whom he had it. Hay
looking on the paper, and seeing it a matter of some
consequence, carried it to Spotswood, archbishop of
St. Andrews ; who apprehending it was going about
for hands, was alarmed at it, and went immediately
to London, beginning his journey, as he often did, on
a Sunday, which was a very odious thing in that
country*. There are laws in Scotland loosely
worded, that make it capital to spread lies of the
king or his government, or to alienate his subjects
from him. It was also made capital to know of any
that do it, and not discover them : but this last was
never once put in execution. The petition was
thought within this act : so an order was sent down
for committing lord Balmerinoch. The reason of it
* Poor malice. S.
D 4
^ A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
being for some time kept secret, it was thought done
because of his vote in parliament. But after some
consultation, a special commission was sent down for
the trial. In Scotland there is a court for the trial
of peers, distinct from the jury, who are to be fifteen,
and the majority determine the verdict: the fact
being only referred to the jury or assize, as they call
it, the law is judged by the court : and if the ma-
jority of the jury are peers, the rest may be gentle-
men. At this time a private gentleman of the name
of Steward was become so considerable, that he was
raised by several degrees to be made earl of Tra-
quair and lord treasurer, and was in great favour ;
24 but suJBfered afterwards such a reverse of fortune,
that I saw him so low that he wanted bread, and
was forced to beg ; and it was believed died of hun-
ger". He was a man of great parts, but of too
much craft : he was thought the capablest man for
business, and the best speaker in that kingdom. So
he was charged with the care of the lord Balmeri-
noch's trial : but when the ground of the prosecution
was known, Hague, who drew the petition, writ a
letter to the lord Balmerinoch, in which he owned
that he drew the petition without any direction or
assistance from him : and upon that he went over
to Holland. The court was created by a special
commission : in the naming of judges there appeared
too visibly a design to have that lord's life, for they
were either very weak or very poor. Much pains
was taken to have a jury ; in which so great partial-
ity appeared, that when the lord Balmerinoch was
upon his challenges, and excepted to the earl of
Dunfrise for his having said, that if he were of his
" A strange death : perhaps it was of want of meat. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. «
jury, though he were as innocent as St. Paul, he
would find him guilty, some of the judges said, that
was only a rash word : yet the king's advocate al-
lowed the challenge if proved, which was done. The
next called on was the earl of Lauderdale, father to
the duke of that title : with him the lord Balmeri-
noch had been long in enmity : yet instead of chal-
lenging him, he said he was omni exceptione Tuajor.
It was long considered upon what the prisoner
should be tried : for his hand interlining the paper,
which did plainly soften it, was not thought evidence
that he drew it, or that he was accessary to it : and
they had no other proof against him : nor could they
from that infer that he was the divulger, since it did
appear it was only shewed by him to a lawyer for
counsel. So it was settled on to insist on this, that
the paper tended to alienate the subjects from their
duty to the king, and that he, knowing who was the
author of it, did not discover him; which by law was
capital. The court judged the paper to be sedi-
tious, and to be a lie of the king and his govern-
ment : the other point was clear, that he knowing
the author did not discover him. He pleaded for
himself, that the statute for discovery had never
been put in execution ; that it could never be meant
but of matters that were notoriously seditious ; that
till the court judged so, he did not take this paper
to be of that nature, but considered it as a paper fuH.
of duty, designed to set himself and some others
right in the king's opinion ; that upon the first sight
of it, though he approved of the main, yet he dis-
liked some expressions in it ; that he communicated
the matter to the earl of Rothes, who told the king
of the design ; and that, upon the king's saying he
4ft A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS -.
25 would receive no such petition, it was quite laid
aside : this was attested by the earl of Rothes. A
long debate had been much insisted on, whether the
earl of Traquair or the king's ministers might be of
the jury or not : but the court gave it in their fa-
vour. When the jury was shut up, Gordon of
Bucky, who was one of them, being then very an-
cient, who forty-three years before had assisted in
the murder of the earl of Murray, and was thought
upon this occasion a sure man, spoke first of aU, ex-
cusing his presumption in being the first that broke
the silence. He desired, they would all consider
what they were about : it was a matter of blood, and
they would feel the weight of that as long as they
lived ; he had in his youth been drawn in to shed
blood, for which he had the king's pardon, but it
cost him more to obtain God's pardon : it had given
him many sorrowful hours both day and night : and
as he spoke this, the tears ran over his face. This
struck a damp on them all. But the earl of Tra-
quair took up the argument ; and said, they had it
not before them, whether the law was a hard law or
not, nor had they the nature of the paper before
them, which was judged by the court to be leasing-
making; they were only to consider, whether the
prisoner had discovered the contriver of the paper
or not. Upon this the earl of Lauderdale took up
the argument against him, and urged, that severe
laws never executed were looked on as made only to
i terrify people ; that though after the court's having
judged the paper to be seditious, it would be capital
to conceal the author, yet before such judgment the
thing could not be thought so evident that he was
bound to reveal it. Upon these heads those lords
BEFORE THE RESTORATION 4S
argued the matter many hours: but when it went He was
to the vote, seven acquitted, but eight cast him : so
sentence was given. Upon this many meetings were
held : and it was resolved either to force the prison
to set him at liberty, or, if that failed, to revenge his
death both on the court and on the eight jurors;
some undertaking to kiU them, and others to bum
their houses. When the earl of Traquair under-
stood this, he went to court, and told the king that
the lord Balmerinoch's life was in his hands, but the
execution was in no sort adviseable : so he procured But par.
his pardon, for which the party was often reproached
with his ingratitude : but he thought he had been
much wronged in the prosecution, and so little re-
garded in the pardon, that he never looked on him-
self as under any obligation on that account. My
father knew the whole steps of this matter, having
been the earl of Lauderdale's most particular friend :
he often told me, that the ruin of the king's affairs
in Scotland was in a great measure owing to that
prosecution ; and he carefully preserved the petition
itself, and the papers relating to the trial ; of which 26
I never saw any copy besides those which I have.
And that raised in me a desire of seeing the whole
record, which was copied for me, and is now in my
hands. It is a little volume, and contains, according
to the Scotch method, the whole abstract of aU the
pleadings, and all the evidence that was given ; and
is indeed a very noble piece, full of curious matter ".
When the design of recovering the tithes went '^ i'itmgy
prepared.
on, though but slowly, another design made a gi'eater
progress. The bishops of Scotland fell on the fram-
ing of a liturgy and a body of canons for the worship
" Puppy. S.
44 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
and government of that church. These were never
examined in any public assembly of the clergy : all
was managed by three or four aspiring bishops,
Maxwell, Sidserfe, Whitford, and Banautine, the
bishops of Ross, Galloway, Dunblane, and Aberdeen^
Maxwell did also accuse the earl of Traquair, as
cold in the king's service, and as managing the trea^-
sury deceitfiiUy ; and he was aspiring to that office*
Spotswood, archbishop of St. Andrews, then lord
chancellor, was a prudent and mild man, but of no
great decency in his course of life. [For he was a
frequent player at cards, and used to eat often in
taverns : besides that all his livings were scanda-
lously exposed to sale by his servants.] The earl of
Traquair, seeing himself so pushed at, was more ear-
nest than the bishops themselves in promoting the
new model of worship and discipline ; and by that
he recovered the ground he had lost with the king,
and with archbishop Laud : he also assisted the bi-
shops in obtaining commissions, subaltern to the
high commission court, in their several dioceses,
which were thought little different from the courts
of inquisition. Sidserfe set this up in Galloway:
and a complaint being made in council of his pro-
ceedings, he gave the earl of Argile the lie in full
council. He was after all a very learned and good
man, but strangely heated in those matters. And
they all were so lifted up with the king's zeal, and
so encouraged by archbishop Laud, that they lost all
temper; of which I knew Sidserfe made great ac-
knowledgments in his old age. lij.iu.
The feeble- But the unaccouutablc part of the king's proceed-
ings was, that all this while, when he was endea-
vouring to recover so great a part of the property of
ness of the
govern-
ment.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 4<5
Scotland as the church lands and tithes were from
men that were not like to part with them willingly,
and was going to change the whole constitution of
that church and kingdom, he raised no force to
maintain what he was about to do, but trusted the
whole management to the civil execution. By this
all people saw the weakness of the government, at
the same time that they complained of its rigour.
All that came down from court complained of the
king's inexorable stiffness, and of the progress popery
was making, of the queen's power with the king, of 27
the favour shewed the pope's nuncios, and of the
many proselytes who were daily falling off to the
church of Rome. The earl of Traquair infused this
piore effectually, though more covertly, than any
other man could do : and when the country formed
the first opposition they made to the king's pro-
clamations, and protested against them, he drew the
first protestation, as Primrose assured me; though
he designed no more than to put a stop to the credit
the bishops had, and to the fury of their proceed-
ings : but the matter went much farther than, he
seemed to intend : for he himself was fatally caught
in the snare laid for others. A troop of horse and
a regiment of foot had prevented all that followed,
or rather had by all appearance established an arbi-
trary government in that kingdom : but, to speak in
the language of a great man, those who conducted
matters at that time had as little of the prudence of
the serpent, as of the innocence of the dove : and,
as my father often told me, he and many others, who
adhered in the sequel firmly to the king's interest,
were then much troubled at the whole conduct of
affairs, as being neither wise, legal, nor just. I will
46 A SUMMARY OP AFFAIRS
go no farther in opening the beginnings of the trou-
bles of Scotland : of these a full account wiQ be
found in the memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton.
[Of which I shall take the boldness to set down the
character which sir Robert Moray (who had a great
share of the affairs at that time, and knew the whole
secret of them) gave, after he had read it in manu-
script, that he did not think there was a truer his-
tory writ since the apostles' days.] The violence
with which that kingdom did almost unanimously
J engage against the administration may easily con-
vince one, that the provocation must have been very
great, to draw on Such an entire and vehement con-
currence against it. ^ * ■' '■'
saviiie's After the first pacification, upon the new disputes
prevSed ^^^^ arose, when the earl of Lowdun and Dunferm-
ling were sent up with the petition from the cove-
nanters, the lord SaviUe came to them, and informed
them of many particulars, by which they saw the
king was highly irritated against them : he took
great pains to persuade them to come with their
army into England. They very unwillingly heark-
ened to that proposition, and looked on it as a de-
sign from the court to ensnare them, making the
Scots invade England, by which this nation might
have been provoked to assist the king to conquer
Scotland. It is true, he hated the earl of Strafford
so much, that they saw no cause to suspect him ^ :
so they entered into a treaty with him about it. The
* There had been great con- till he was created a viscount ;
tests between Saville and Went- upon which Saville changed
worth about elections in York- sides, and was as warm against
shire ; and upon Saville's being the court as the other had
made a lord, Wentworth ran been. D.
very violently against the court,
on the
Scots.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 47
lord Saville assured them, he spake to them in the
name of the most considerable men in England;
and he shewed them an engagement under their
hands to join with them, if they would come into
England, and refuse any treaty but what should be
confirmed by a parliament of England. They de-
sired leave to send this paper into Scotland ; to
which, after much seeming difficulty, he consented : 28
so a cane was hollowed, and this was put within it ;
and one Frost, afterwards secretary to the com-
mittee of both kingdoms, was sent down with it as
a poor traveller. It was to be communicated only
to. three persons, the earls of Rothes and Argile, and
to Waristoun, the three chief confidents of the co-
venanters. The earl of Rothes was a man of plea- The charac-
sure, but or a most obliging temper : his anairs were chief of the
low : Spotswood had once made the bargain between nantera.
the king and him before the troubles, but the earl
of Traquair broke it, seeing he was to be raised
above himself. The earl of Rothes had all the arts
of making himself popular ; only there was too much
levity in his temper, and too much liberty in his
course of Ufe. The earl of Argile was a more so-
lemn sort of a man, grave and sober, free of all
scandalous vices ^, of an invincible calmness of tem-
per, and a pretender to high degrees of piety : [but
he was a deep dissembler, and great oppressor in all
•his private dealings, and he was noted for a defect
in his courage on all occasions where danger met
him. This had one of its usual effects on him, for
he was cruel in cold blood:] he was much set on
raising his own family to be a sort of king in the
highlands.
y As a man is free of a corporation, he means. S.
m A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Waiistoun was my own uncle : [but I will not be
more tender in giving his character, for all that
nearness in blood :] he was a man of great applica-
tion, could seldom sleep above three hours in the
twenty-four : he had studied the law carefuUy, and
had a great quickness of thought, with an extraor-
dinary memory. He went into very high notions of
lengthened devotions, in which he continued many
hours a day. He would often pray in his family
two hours at a time, and had an unexhausted co-
piousness that way. [He was a deep enthusiast, for]
what thought soever struck his fancy during those
effusions, he looked on it as an answer of prayer,
and was wholly determined by it. He looked on
the covenant as the setting Christ on his throne,
and so was out of measure zealous in it ; [and he
had an unrelenting severity of temper against all
that opposed it.] He had no regard to the raising
himself or his family, though he had thirteen chil-
dren : but presbytery was to him more than aU the
world. He had a readiness and vehemence of speak-
ing, that made him very considerable in public as-
semblies; [but he had no clear nor settled judg-
ment, yet that was supplied by a fruitful invention'] ;
so that he was at all times furnished with expedi-
ents. [And though he was a very honest man in
his private dealings, yet he could make stretches,
when the cause seemed to require it.] To these
three only this paper was to be shewed upon an
oath of secrecy y: and it was to be deposited in
Waristoun's hands. They were only allowed to
'^ In the printed copy was ^ See my note in my printed
substituted : And he had a fruit- copy of Oldmixon's history of
ful invention. the Stuarts, page 145. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 49
•
publish to the nation, that they were sure of a very
great and unexpected assistance, which, though it
was to be kept secret, would appear in due time.
This they published : and it was looked on as an ar-
tifice to draw in the nation : but it was afterwards
found to be a cheat indeed, but a cheat of lord Sa-
ville's, who had forged all these subscriptions.
The Scots marched with a very sorry equipage : The Scots
every soldier carried a week's provision of oatmeal; England,
and they had a drove of cattle with them for their
food. They had also an invention of guns of white 29
iron, tinned and done about with leather, and corded
so that they could serve for two or three discharges.
These were light, and were carried on horses : and
when they came to Newburn, the English army that
defended the ford was surprised with a discharge of
artillery: some thought it magic; and all were
put in such disorder, that the whole army did run
with so great precipitation, that sir Thomas Fairfax,
who had a command in it, did not stick to own, that
till he passed the Tees his legs trembled under him.
This struck many of the enthusiasts of the king's
side, as much as it exalted the Scots; who were
next day possessed of Newcastle, and so were mas-
ters, not only of Northumberland and the bishopric
of Dure§me, but of the coalries ; by which, if they
had not been in a good understanding with the city
of London, they could have distressed them ex-
tremely : but all the use the city made of this was,
to raise a great outcry, and to complain of the war,
since it was now in the power of the Scots to starve
them. Upon that, petitions were sent from the city Great dis-
j ^ . 11' • contents in
and irom some counties to the king, praying a treaty England.
with the Scots. The lord Wharton and the lord
VOL. I. E
50 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
•
Howard of Escrick undertook to deliver some of
these ; which they did, and were clapt up upon it ^.
A council of war was held ; and it was resolved on,
as the lord Wharton told me, to shoot them at the
head of the army, as movers of sedition. This was
chiefly pressed by the earl of Straflford. Duke Ha-
milton spoke nothing till the council rose ; and then
he asked Strafford, if he was sure of the army, who
seemed surprised at the question : but he upon in-
quiry understood that very probably a general mu-
tiny, if not a total revolt, would have followed, if
any such execution had been attempted. This suc-
cess of the Scots ruined the king's affairs. And by
it the necessity of the union of the two kingdoms
may appear very evident : for nothing but a supe-
rior army, able to beat the Scots, can hinder their
doing this at any time : and the seizing the coalries
must immediately bring the city of London into
great distress. Two armies were now in the north
as a load on the king, besides all the other griev-
ances. The lord SaviUe's forgery came to be disco-
vered. The king knew it ; and yet he was brought
afterwards to trust him, and to advance him to be
earl of Sussex. The king pressed my uncle to de-
liver him the letter ^, who excused himself upon his
oath ; and not knowing what use might be made of
it, he cut out every subscription, and sent it to the
person for whom it was forged. The imitation was
so exact, that every man, as soon as he saw his hand
simply by itself, acknowledged that he could not
have denied it.
30 The king was now in great straits : he had laid
" Dignity of expression. S.
'' See my note as aforesaid with regard to this letter. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 51
up seven hundred thousand pounds, before the trou- The in
bles in Scotland began; and yet had raised no guards Mng*s°af- ^
nor force in England, but trusted a very illegal ad- ^*"^*'
ministration to a legal execution. His treasure was
now exhausted ; his subjects were highly irritated ;
the ministry were all frighted, being exposed to the
anger and justice of the parliament : so that he had
brought himself into great distress, but had not the
dexterity to extricate himself out of it. He loved
high and rough methods, but had neither the skill
to conduct them, nor the height of genius to manage
them. He hated all that offered prudent and mo-
derate counsels : he thought it flowed from a mean-
ness of spirit, and a care to preserve themselves by
sacrificing his authority, or from republican prin-
ciples : and even when he saw it was necessary to
follow such advices, yet he hated those that gave
them '^. His heart was wholly turned to the gaining
the two armies. In order to that, he gained the earl
of Rothes entu-ely, who hoped by the king's media-
tion to have married the countess of Devonshu'e, a
rich and magnificent lady, that lived long in the
greatest state of any in that age : he also gained the
earl of Montrose, who was a young man well learned,
who had travelled, but had taken upon him the port
of a hero too much, [and lived as in a romance;
for his whole manner was stately to affectation.]
When he was beyond sea, he travelled with the earl
of Denbigh ; and they consulted all the astrologers
they could hear of. I plainly saw the earl of Den-
bigh relied on what had been told him to his dying
day; and the rather because the earl of Montrose
*^ Not one good quality named. S.
E 2
S2 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
was promised a glorious fortune for some time, but
all was to be overthrown in conclusion. When the
earl of Montrose returned from his travels, he was
not considered by the king as he thought he de-
served : so he studied to render himself popular in
Scotland ; and [being vain and forward,] he was the
first [and fiercest] man in the opposition they made
during the first war. He both advised and drew
the letter to the king of France, for which the
lord Lowdun, who signed it, was imprisoned in the
tower of London. But the earl of Lauderdale, as
he himself told me, when it came to his turn to sign
that letter, found false French in it ; for instead of
rayons de soleil, he had writ raye de soleily which
in French signifies a sort of fish ; and so thef matter
went no farther at that time ; and the treaty came
on so soon after, that it was never again taken up.
The earl of Montrose was gained by the king at
Berwick, and undertook to do great services. He
either fancied, or at least he made the king fancy,
that he could turn the whole kingdom : yet indeed
he could do nothing. He was again trying to make
a new party : and he kept a correspondence with
the king when he lay at Newcastle ; and was pre-
31 tending he had a great interest among the covenant-
ers, whereas at that time he had none at all. All
these little plottings came to be either known, or at
least suspected. The queen was a woman of great
vivacity in conversation, and loved all her life long
to be in intrigues of all sorts'', but was not so secret
in them as such times and such affairs required.
She was a woman of no manner of judgment : she
'' Not of love, I hope, S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 53
was bad at contrivance, but much worse in the exe-
cution : but by the liveliness of her discourse she
made always a great impression on the king : and
to her little practices, as weU as to the king's own
temper, the sequel of all his misfortunes was owing.
I know it was a maxim infused into his sons, which
I have often heard from king James, that he was
undone by his concessions. This is true in some
respect : for his passing the act that the parliament
should sit during pleasure, was indeed his ruin, to
which he was drawn by the queen. But if he had
not made great concessions, he had sunk without
being able to make a struggle for it^; and could
not have divided the nation, or engaged so many to
have stood by him : since by the concessions that
he made, especially that of the triennial parliament,
the honest and quiet part of the nation was satisfied,
and thought their religion and liberties were se-
cured : so they broke off from ^ those violenter pro-
positions that occasioned the war.
The truth was, the king did not come into those
concessions seasonably, nor with a good grace : all
appeared to be extorted from him. There were also
grounds, whether true or plausible, to make it to be
believed, that he intended not to stand to them any
longer than he lay under that force that visibly drew
them from him contrary to his own inclinations k.
* In a letter of the earl of " the loss of the whole king-
Northumberland (printed a- " dom) the giving way to the
niong the Sydney papers, vol. " remove of divers persons, as
ii. p. 663.) to the earl of Lei- " well as other things, that will
cester, and dated Nov. 13th, "be demanded by the parlia-
1640, he says, " the king is in " ment." O.
" such a strait, that I do not ^ Dark nonsense. S.
" know how he will possibly e Sad trash. S.
" avoid (without endangering
E 3
U A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
The proofs that appeared of some particulars, that
made this seem true, made other things that were
whispered to be more readily believed : for in all
critical times there are deceitful people of both sides,
that pretend to merit by making discoveries, on
condition that no use shall be made of them as wit-
nesses ; which is one of the most pestiferous ways of
calumny possible. Almost the whole court had been
concerned in one illegal grant or another : so these
courtiers, to get their faults passed over, were as so
many spies upon the king and queen : they told all
they heard, and perhaps not without large additions,
to the leading men of the house of commons. This
inflamed the jealousy, and pushed them on to the
making still new demands. One eminent passage
was told me by the lord HoUis :
An account Thc earl of Strafford had married his sister : so,
of the earl
of straf- though in that parliament he was one of the hottest
given up'by mcu of the party, yet when that matter was before
the king. .|^^j^ he always withdrew. When the bill of at-
tainder was passed, the king sent for him to know
what he could do to save the earl of Strafford.
Hollis answered, that if the king pleased, since the
execution of the law was in him, he might legally
grant him a reprieve, which must be good in law ;
but he would not advise it. That which he pro-
posed was, that lord Strafford should send him a pe-
tition for a short respite, to settle his affairs, and to
prepare for death ; upon which he advised the king
to come next day with the petition in his hands,
and lay it before the two houses, with a speech
which he drew for the king; and Hollis said to
him, he would try his interest among his friends to
get them to consent to it. He prepared a great
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 58
many by assuring them, that if they would save
lord Strafford, he would become wholly theirs in
consequence of his first principles : and that he
might do them much more service by being pre-
served, than he could do, if made an example upon
such new and doubtful points. In this he had
wrought on so many, that he believed, if the king's
party had struck into it, he might have saved him.
It was carried to the queen, as if Hollis had en-
gaged that the earl of Strafford should accuse her,
and discover all he knew: so the queen not only
diverted the king from going to the parliament,
changing the speech into a message all writ with
the king's own hand, and sent to the house of lords
by the prince of Wales : (which Hollis had said,
would have perhaps done as well, the king being
apt to spoil things by an unacceptable manner:)
but to the wonder of the whole world, the queen
prevailed with him to add that mean postscript, if
he must die, it were charity to reprieve him till
Saturday: which was a very unhandsome giving
up of the whole message. When it was communi-
cated to both houses, the whole court party was
plainly against it: and so he fell truly by the
queen's means.
The mentioning this makes me add one particular
concerning archbishop Laud: when his impeach-
ment was brought to the lords bar, he apprehend-
ing how it would end, sent over Warner, bishop of
Rochester, with the keys of his closet and cabinet,
that he might destroy, or put out of the way, aU pa-
pers that might either hurt himself or any body
else. He was at that work for three hours, till
upon Laud's being committed to the black rod, a
E 4)
S6 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
messenger went over to seal up his closet, who came
after all was withdrawn. Among the writings he
took away, it is believed the original Magna Charta,
passed by king John in the mead near Stains, was
one. This was found among Warner's papers by
33 his executor : and that descended to his son and
executor, colonel Lee, who gave it to me. So it is
now in my hands ; and it came very fairly to me ''.
For this conveyance of it we have nothing but con-
jecture.
I do not intend to prosecute the history of the
wars. I have told a great deal relating to them in
the memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton. Rush-
worth's collections contain many excellent mate-
rials : and now the first volume of the earl of Cla-
rendon's history gives a faithful representation of
the beginnings of the troubles, though writ in favour
of the court, and full of the best excuses that such
ill things Were capable of. I shall therefore only
set out what I had particular reason to know, and
what is not to be met with in books.
The new The kirk was now settled in Scotland with a new
model of the . n i- ii i-ii
presbytery mixturc 01 rulmg cldcrs ; which, though they were
cot an . ^g^jjgjj f J.QJJJ tjie Geneva pattern to assist, or rather to
be a check on the ministers in the managing the
parochial discipline, yet these never came to their
assemblies till the year 1638, that they thought it
necessary to make them first go and carry all the
elections of the ministers at the several presbyteries,
'' There was reason enough tory of the Reformation) in
for the bishop's giving an ac- searching all records, private
count how he came by this most and public, gave good grounds
valuable piece of antiquity : his to suspect he had obtained it
having been trusted (especially in a less justifiable manner. D.
after his publication of the His-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 57
and next come themselves and sit in the assemblies.
The nobility and chief gentry offered themselves
upon that occasion : and the ministers, since they
saw they were like to act in opposition to the king's
orders, were glad to have so great a support. But
the elders that now came to assist them beginning
to take, as the ministers thought, too much on them,
they grew weary of such imperious masters : so they
studied to work up the inferior people to much zeal :
and as they wrought any up to some measure of
heat and knowledge, they brought them also into
their eldership ; and so got a majority of hot zealots
who depended on them. One out of these was de-
puted to attend on the judicatories. They had sy-
nods of all the clergy, in one or more counties, who
met twice a year : and a general assembly met once
a year : and at parting that body named some,
called the commission of the kirk, who were to sit
in the intervals to prepare matters for the next as-
sembly, and to look into all the concerns of the
church, to give warning of dangers, and to inspect
all proceedings of the state, as far as related to the
matters of religion : by these means they became
terrible to all their enemies. In their sermons, and
chiefly in their prayers, all that passed in the state
was canvassed: men were as good as named, and
either recommended or complained of to God as
they were acceptable or odious to them. This grew
up in time to an insufferable degree of boldness.
The way that was given to it, when the king and
the bishops were their common themes, made that
afterwards the humour could not be restrained : and 34
it grew so petulant, that the pulpit was a scene of
news and passion. For some years this was ma-
58 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
naged with great appearances of fervour by men of
age and some authority : but when the younger and
hotter zealots took it up, it became odious to almost
all sort of people, except some sour enthusiasts, who
thought aU their impertinence was zeal, and an ef-
fect of inspiration ; which flowed naturally from the
conceit of extemporary prayers being praying by the
Spirit.
The chief Hcndcrson, a minister of Edenburgh, was by
th'e°pa^.° much the wisest and gravest of them aU : but as aU
his performances that I have seen are flat and heavy,
so he found it was an easier thing to raise a flame
than to quench it. He studied to keep his party to
him : yet he found he could not moderate the heat
of some fiery spirits : so when he saw he could fol-
low them no more, but that they had got the peo-
ple out of his hands, he sunk both in body and
mind, and died soon after [the papers had passed
between the king and him at Newcastle.] The
person next to him was Douglas, believed to be de-
. scended from the royal family, though the wrong
way : [for he was, as was said, the bastard of a bas-
tard of queen Mary of Scotland, by a child that she
secretly bare to Douglas, who was half brother to
the earl of Murray, the regent, and had the keeping
of her in the castle of Lochlevin intrusted to him ;
from whence he helped to make her escape on that
consideration.] There appeared an air of greatness
in him, that made all that saw him inclined enough
to believe he was of no ordinary descent. He was
a reserved man : he had the scriptures by heart, to
^ the exactness of a Jew ; for he was as a concord-
ance : he was too calm and too grave for the furious
men, but yet he was much depended on for his pru-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 69
dence. I knew him in his old age ; and saw plainly
he was a slave to his popularity, and durst not own
the free thoughts he had of some things for fear of
offending the people.
I will not run out in giving the characters of the
other leading preachers among them, such as Dick-
son, Blair, Rutherford, Baily, Cant, and the two
GiUispys. They were men all of a sort: they af-
fected great sublimities in devotion : they poured
themselves out in their prayers with a loud voice,
and often with many tears. They had but an ordi-
nary proportion of learning among them ; some-
thing of Hebrew, and very little Greek : books of
controversy with papists, but above all with the Ar-
minians, was the height of their study. A way of
preaching by doctrine, reason, and use, was that they
set up on : and some of them affected a strain of
stating cases of conscience, not with relation to mo-
ral actions, but to some reflexions on their condition
and temper '. That was occasioned chiefly by their
conceit of praying by the Spirit, which every one
could not attain to, or keep up to the same heat in at
all times. The learning they recommended to theirxheirsta-
,. . -^ dies, and
young divuies were some German systems, some other me-
commentators on the scripture, books of controversy, *^°'^*'
and practical books : they were so careful to oblige 35
them to make their round in these, that if they had
no men of great learning among them, yet none
were very ignorant : as if they had thought an '
equality in learning was necessary to keep up the
parity of their government. None could be suffered
to preach as expectants, (as they called them,) but
' Great nonsense. Rutherford was half fool, half mad. S.
00 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
after a trial or two in private before the ministers
alone : then two or three sermons were to be
preached in public, some more learnedly, some more
practically : then a head in divinity was to be com-
mon placed in Latin, and the person was to main-
tain theses upon it : he was also to be tried in Greek
and Hebrew, and in scripture chronology. The
questionary trial came last, every minister asking
such questions as he pleased. When any had passed
through aU these with approbation, which was done in
a course of three or four months, he was allowed to
preach when invited. And if he was presented or
called to a church, he was to pass through a new set
of the same trials. This made that there was a small
circle of knowledge in which they were generally
well instructed. True morality was little studied
or esteemed by them. [They were proud and pas-
sionate, insolent and covetous.] They took much
pains among their people to maintain their autho-
rity : they aifected all the ways of familiarity that
were like to gain on them : [even in sacred matters
they got into a set of very indecent phrases.]
Their great They forced all people to sign the covenant : and
the greatest part of the episcopal clergy, among
whom there were two bishops, came to them, and
renounced their former principles, and desired to be
received into their body. At first they received all
that offered themselves : but afterwards they re-
pented of this: and the violent men among them
were ever pressing the purging the kirk, as they
called it, that is, the ejecting all the episcopal clergy.
Then they took up the term of malignants, by which
aU who differed from them were distinguished : but
the strictness of piety and good life, which had
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 61
gained them so much reputation before the war,
began to wear off; and instead of that, a fierceness
of temper, and a copiousness of many long sermons,
and much longer prayers, came to be the distinction
of the party. This they carried even to the saying
grace before and after meat sometimes to the length
of a whole hour. But as every new war broke out,
there was a visible abatement of even the outward
shews of piety. Thus the war corrupted both sides.
When the war broke out in England, the Scots had
a great mind to go into it. The decayed nobility,
the military men, and the ministers, were violently
set on it. They saw what good quarters they had
in the north of England. And they hoped the um-
pirage of the war would fall into their hands. The
division appearing so near an equaUty in England,
they reckoned they would turn the scales, and so be 36
courted of both sides : and they did not doubt to
draw great advantages from it, both for the nation
in general, and themselves in particular. Duke
Hamilton was trusted by the king with the ma-
nagement of his affairs in that kingdom, and had
powers to offer, but so secretly, that if discovered it
could not be proved, for fear of disgusting the Eng-
lish, that if they would engage in the king's side he <^onditions
would consent to the uniting Northumberland, Cum- the Scots.
berland, and Westmerland, to Scotland; and that
Newcastle should be the seat of the government;
that the prince of Wales should hold his court al-
ways among them ; that every third year the king
should go among them ; and every office in the
king's household should in the third turn be given to
a Scotchman. This I found not among duke Ha-
milton's papers : but the earl of Lauderdale assured
est A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
me of it, and that at the Isle of Wight they had all
the engagements from the king that he could give.
Duke Hamilton quickly saw, it was a vain imagina-
tion to hope that kingdom could be brought to
espouse the king's quarrel. The inclination ran
strong the other way : aU he hoped to succeed in
was to keep them neuter for some time : and this
he saw could not hold long : so after he had kept
off their engaging with England all the year 1643,
he and his friends saw it was in vain to struggle
any longer. The course they aU resolved on was,
that the nobility should fall in heartily with the in-
clinations of the nation to join with England, that so
they might procure to themselves and their friends
the chief commands in the army : and then, when
they were in England, and that their army was as a
distinct body separated from the rest of the king-
dom, it might be much easier to gain them to the
king's service than it was at that time to work on
the whole nation.
Montrose's This was uot a very sincere way of proceedinff :
ings. but it was intended lor the king s service, and would
probably have had the effect designed by it, if some
accidents had not happened that changed the face
of affairs, which are not rightly understood: and
therefore I will open them clearly. The earl of
Montrose and a party of high royalists were for
entering into an open breach with the country in
the beginning of the year 1643, but offered no pro-
bable methods of maintaining it; nor could they
reckon themselves assured of any considerable party.
They were fuU of undertakings : but when they
were pressed to shew what concurrence might be
depended on, nothing was offered but from the
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 63
Highlanders : and on this wise men could not rely :
so duke Hamilton would not expose the king's af-
fairs by such a desperate way of proceeding. Upon
this they went to Oxford, and filled aU people there 37
with complaints of the treachery of the Hamiltons ;
and they pretended they could have secured Scot-
land, if their propositions had been entertained.
This was but too suitable to the king's own inclina-
tions, and to the humour that was then prevailing
at Oxford. So when the two Hamiltons came up,
they were not admitted to speak to the king : and
it was believed, if the younger brother had not made
his escape, that both would have suffered ; for when
the queen heard of his escape, she with great com-
motion said, Abercom has missed a dukedom ; for
that earl was a papist, and next to the two bro-
thers'^. They could have demonstrated, if heard,
that they were sure of above two parts in three of
the officers of the army ; and did not doubt to have
engaged the army in the king's cause. But the fail-
ing in this was not all. The earl, then made mar-
quis of Montrose, had powers given him such as he
desired, and was sent down with them : but he could
do nothing till the end of the year. A great body
of the Macdonalds, commanded by one col. Killoch,
^ Before the civil war the familiarities with Harry Jer-
queen had a very particular myn ; after which she never
aversion to duke Hamilton, durst refuse the duke any thing
which he perceiving, prevailed he desired of her. This, sir
with Mrs. Seymour, who at- Francis Compton told me, he
tended upon her in her bed- had from his mother, the coun-
chamber, to let him into the tess of Northampton, who was
queen's private apartment at very intimately acquainted with
Somerset House, (the usual Mrs. Seymour, that was after-
place for her retirement,) where wards drowned in shooting
he surprised the queen in great London Bridge. D.
64 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
came over from Ireland to recover Kentire, the best
country of all the Highlands, out of which they had
been driven by the Argile family, who had possessed
their country about fifty years. The head of these
was the earl of Antrim, who had married the duke of
Buckingham's widow : and being a papist, and hav-
ing a great command in Ulster, was much relied on
by the queen. He was the main person in the first
rebellion, and was the most engaged in bloodshed
of any in the north : yet he continued to correspond
with the queen to the great prejudice of the king's
affairs. When the marquis of Montrose heard they
were in Argileshire, he went to them, and told
them, if they would let him lead them, he would
carry them into the heart of the kingdom, and pro-
cure them better quarters and good pay : so he led
them into Perthshire. The Scots had at that time
an army in England, and another in Ireland : yet
they did not think it necessary to call home any
part of either; but despising the Irish, and the
Highlanders, they raised a tumultuary army, and
put it under the command of some lords noted for
want of courage, and of others who wished well to
the other side. The marquis of Montrose's men
were desperate, and met with little resistance : so
that small body of the covenanters army was routed.
And here the marquis of Montrose got horses and
ammunition, having but three horses before, and
powder only for one charge. Then he became con-
siderable : and he marched through the northern
parts by Aberdeen. The marquis of Huntly was in
the king's interests ; but would not join with him,
38 though his sons did. Astrology ruined him : he be-
lieved the stars, and they deceived him : he said
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 65
often, that neither the king, nor the Hamiltons, nor
Montrose would prosper : he believed he should out-
live them all, and escape at last ; as it happened in
conclusion, as to outliving the others. He was na-
turally a gallant man : but the stars had so subdued
him, that he made a poor figure during the whole
course of the wars.
The marquis of Montrose's success was very mis- Good ad-
. . ty. . vices given
chievous, and proved the rum of the kmg's affairs : to the king.
on which I should not have depended entirely, if I
had had this only from the earl of Lauderdale, who
was indeed my first author : but it was fully con-
firmed to me by the lord Hollis, who had gone in
with great heat into the beginnings of the war : but
he soon saw the ill consequences it already had, and
the worse that were like to grow with the progress
of it: he had in the beginning of the year forty-
three, when he was sent to Oxford with the propo-
sitions, taken great pains on all about the king to
convince them of the necessity of their yielding in
time ; since the longer they stood out, the conditions
would be harder: and when he was sent by the
parliament, in the end of the year forty-four, with
other propositions, he and Whitlock entered into
secret conferences with the king, of which some ac-
count is given by Whitlock in his memoirs. They,
with other commissioners that were sent to Oxford,
possessed the king, and all that were in great credit
with him, with this, that it was absolutely necessary
the king should put an end to the war by a treaty :
a new party of hot men was springing up, that were
plainly for changing the government : they were
growing much in the army, but were yet far from
carrying any thing in the house : they had gained
VOL. I. F
m • A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS ■
much strength this summer : and they might make
a great progress by the accidents that another year
might produce : they confessed there were many
things hard to be digested, that must be done in
order to a peace: they asked things that were un-
reasonable : but they were forced to consent to those
demands : otherwise they would have lost their cre-
'•■ ^'- dit with the city and the people, who could not be
satisfied without a very entire security, and a full
satisfaction : but the extremity to which matters
might be carried otherwise made it necessary to
come to a peace on any terms whatsoever ; since no
terms could be so bad as the continuance of the
war : the king must trust them, though they were
not at that time disposed to trust him so much as
it were to be wished : they said farther, that if a
peace should follow, it would be a much easier thing
to get any hard laws now moved for to be repealed,
39 than it was now to hinder their being insisted on.
With these things HoUis told me that the king and
many of his counsellors, who saw how his affairs de-
clined, and with what difficulty they could hope to
continue the war another year, were satisfied. The
king more particularly began to feel the insolence of
the military men, and of those who were daily re-
proaching him with their services ; so that they
were become as uneasy to him as those of West-
minster had been formerly. But some came in the
interval from lord Montrose with such an account
of what he had done, of the strength he had, and of
his hopes next summer, that the king was by that
prevailed on to beHeve his affairs would mend, and
that he might afterwards treat on better terms.
But not This unhappily wrought so far, that the limitations
/oUoweii.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 67
he put on those he sent to treat at Uxbridge made
the whole design miscarry. That raised the spirits
of those that were akeady but too much exaspe-
rated. The marquis of Montrose made a great pro-
gress the next year : but he laid no lasting founda-
tion, for he did not make himself master of the
strong places or passes of the kingdom. After his
last and greatest victory at Kilsyth, he was lifted up
out of measure. The Macdonalds were every where
fierce masters and ravenous plunderers : and the
other Highlanders, who did not such military ex-
ecutions, yet were good at robbing : and when they
had got as much as they could carry home on their
backs, they deserted. The Macdonalds also left him
to go and execute their revenge on the Argiles
country. The marquis of Montrose thought he was
now master, but had no scheme how to fix his con-
quests : he wasted the estates of his enemies, chiefly
the Hamiltons J ; and went towards the borders of
England, though he had but a small force left about
him : but he thought his name carried terror with
it. So he writ to the king, that he had gone over
the land from Dan to Beersheba: he prayed the
king to come down in these words. Come thou, and
take the city, lest I take it, and it he called by my
name. This letter was writ, but never sent ; for he
was routed, and his papers taken, before he had de-
spatched the courier. [In his defeat, he took too
much care of himself; for he was never willing to
expose himself too much.] When his papers were
taken, many letters of the king, and of others at
j Which might have been an of the marquis of Montrose's
inducement for the bishop to transactions. D.
give so malicious an account
F 2
(f8 A SUMMARY OF AFf AHlS
Oxford, were found, as the earl of Crawford, one
appointed to read them, told me ; which increased
the disgusts : but these were not published. Upon
this occasion [the marquis of ArgUe and the preach-
ers shewed a very bloody temper ;] many prisoners
that had quarters given them were murdered in cold
blood : and as they sent them to some towns that
had been iU used by lord Montrose's army, the peo-
ple in revenge fell on them, and knocked them on
the head. Several persons of quality were con-
40 demned for being with them : and they were pro-
ceeded against both with severity and with indigni-
ties. The preachers thundered in their pulpits
against all that did the work of the Lord deceit-
fully ; and cried out against all that were for mode-
rate proceedings, as guilty of the blood that had
been shed. Thine eye shall not pity, and thou
shalt not spare, were often inculcated after every
execution : they triumphed with so little decency,
that it gave all people very ill impressions of them.
But this was not the worst effect of Lord Mon-
trose's expedition. It lost the opportunity at Ux-
bridge : it alienated the Scots much from the king :
it exalted all that were enemies to peace. Now
they seemed to have some colour for all those asper-
sions they had cast on the king, as if he had been
in a correspondence with the Irish rebels, when the
worst tribe of them had been thus employed by
him '^. His affairs declined totally in England that
summer : and lord HoUis said to me, all was owing
to lord Montrose's unhappy successes. -' <
Antrim's Upon this occasiou I will relate somewhat con-
correspond- *
encewith ccming the earl of Antrim. I had in my hand
the king
and queen. ^ Lord Clarendon differs from all this. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 69
several of his letters to the king in the year 1646,
writ in a very confident style : [for he was a very
arrogant, as well as a very weak man.] One was
somewhat particular : he in a postscript desired the
king to send the inclosed to the good woman, with-
out making any excuse for the presumption ; by
which, as foUows in the postscript, he meant his
wife, the duchess of Buckingham. This made me
more easy to believe a story that the earl of Essex
told me he had from the earl of Northumberland :
upon the restoration, in the year 1660, lord Antrim
was thought guilty of so much bloodshed, that it
was taken for granted he could not be included in
the indemnity that was to pass in Ireland: upon
this he (lord Antrim) seeing the duke of Ormond
set against him, came over to London, and was
lodged at Somerset House : and it was believed,
that having no children, he settled his estate on Jer-
myn, then earl of St. Alban's : but before he came
away, he had made a prior settlement in favour of
his brother. He petitioned the king to order a com-
mittee of council to examine the warrants that he
had acted upon. The earl of Clarendon was for re-
jecting the petition, as containing a high indignity
to the memory of king Charles the first : and said
plainly at council table, that if any person had pre-
tended to affirm such a thing while they were at
Oxford, he would either have been severely pu-
nished for it, or the king would soon have had a
very thin court. But it seemed just to see what he
had to say for himself: so a committee was named,
of which the earl of Northumberland was the chief
He produced to them some of the king's letters : but
they did not come up to a full proof In one of
F 3
*70 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
41 them the king wrote, that he had not then leisure;
but referred himself to the queen's letter ; and said,
that was all one as if he writ himself. Upon this
foundation he produced a series of letters writ by
himself to the queen, in which he gave her an ac-
count of every one of these particulars that were
laid to his charge, and shewed the grounds he went
on, and desired her directions to every one of these :
he had answers ordering him to do as he did. This
the queen-mother espoused with great zeal; and
said, she was bound in honour to save him. I saw
a great deal of that management, for I was then at
court '. But it was generally believed, that this train
of letters was made up at that time in a collusion
between the queen and him : so a report was pre-
pared to be signed by the committee, setting forth
that he had so fully justified himself in every thing
that had been objected to him, that he ought not to
be excepted out of the indemnity. This was brought
first to the earl of Northumberland to be signed by
him : but he refused it ; and said, he was sorry he
had produced such warrants, but he did not think
they could serve his turn; for he did not believe
any warrant from the king or queen could justify so,
much bloodshed, in so many black instances as were
laid against him. Upon his refusal, the rest of the
committee did not think fit to sign the report : so it
was let fall : and the king was prevailed on to write
to the duke of Ormond, telling him that he had so
vindicated himself, that he must endeavour to get
him to be included in the indemnity. That was
done ; and was no small reproach to the king, that
' (The bishop was born in 1643, and did not visit England
till 1663. See his Life, by his son, p. 674.)
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 71
did thus sacrifice his father's honour to his mother's
importunity. Upon this the earl of Essex told me, The origi-
1 1 , 1 , ,, 1 • , 11 • . nal of the
that he had taken aU the pains he could to mquire Irish mas-
into the original of the Irish massacre, but could *^^^'
never see any reason to believe the king had any
accession to if". He did indeed believe that the
queen hearkened to the propositions made by the
Irish, who undertook to take the government of
Ireland into their hands, which they thought they
could easily perform : and then, they said, they
would assist the king to subdue the hot spirits at
Westminster. With this the plot of the insurrection
began : and all the Irish believed the queen encou-
raged it. But in the first design there was no
thought of a massacre : that came in head as they
were laying the methods of executing it : so, as
those were managed by the priests, they were the
chief men that set on the Irish to aU the blood and
cruelty that followed.
I kno%^ nothing in particular of the sequel of the
war, nor of all the confusions that happened till the
murder of king Charles the first : only one passage
I had from lieutenant general Drumond, afterwards 42
lord Strathallan. He served on the king's side : but
he had many friends among those who were for the
covenant : so the king's affairs being now ruined, he
was recommended to Cromwell, being then in a
treaty with the Spanish ambassador, who was nego-
ciating for some regiments to be levied and sent
over from Scotland to Flanders : he happened to be
with Cromwell when the commissioners, sent from
Scotland to protest against the putting the king to
death, came to argue the matter with him. Crom-
"• And who but a beast ever believed it ? fc>.
r 4
n A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS ^
well bade Brumond stay and hear their confer-
ence, which he did. They began in a heavy languid
style to lay indeed great load on the king : but they
still insisted on that clause in the covenant, by
which they swore they would be faithful in the pre-
servation of his Majesty's person : with this they
shewed upon what terms Scotland, as well as the
two houses, had engaged in the war, and what so-
lemn declarations of their zeal and duty to the king
they all along published ; which would now appear,
to the scandal and reproach of the Christian name,
to have been false pretences, if when the king was
in their power they should proceed to extremities.
Cromwell Upon this, Cromwcll entered into a lonff discourse
argues with "
the Scots of the nature of the regal power, according to the
theTiog's^ principles of Mariana and Buchanan : he thought
^**''* a breach of trust in a king ought to be punished
more than any other crime whatsoever : he said, as
to their covenant, they swore to the preservation
of the king's person in defence of the true Religion :
if then it appeared that the settlement of the true
religion was obstructed by the king, so that they
could not come at it but by putting him out of
the way, then their oath could not bind them to
the preserving him any longer. He said also, their
covenant did bind them to bring aU mahgnants, in-
cendiaries, and enemies to the cause, to condign pu-
nishment : and was not this to be executed im-
partially? What were all those on whom public
justice had been done, especially those who suffered
for joining with Montrose, but small offenders
acting by commission from the king, who was
therefore the principal, and so the most guilty?
Drumond said, Cromwell had plainly the better of
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 73
them at their own weapon, and upon their own
principles". At this time presbytery was at its
height in Scotland.
In summer 1648, when the parliament declared The opposi-
they would engage to rescue the king irom his im- general as-
prisonment, and the parliament of England fromthTpad^i^-
the force it was put under by the army, the nobility "^"**
went into the design, all except six or eight. The
king had signed an engagement to make good his
offers to the nation of the northern counties, with
the other conditions formerly mentioned : and par- 43
ticular favours were promised to every one that
concurred in it. The marquis of Argile gave it out
that the Hamiltons, let them pretend what they
would, had no sincere intentions to their cause, but
had engaged to serve the king on his own terms :
he filled the preachers with such jealousies of this,
that though all the demands that they made for the
security of their cause, and in declaring the grounds
of the war, were complied with, yet they could not
be satisfied, but still said the Hamiltons were in a
confederacy with the malignants in England, and
did not intend to stand to what they promised. The
general assembly declared against it, as an unlawful
confederacy with the enemies of God; and called
it the unlawful engagement, which came to be the
name commonly given to it in all their pulpits.
They every where preached against it, and opposed
the levies all they could by solemn denunciations of
the wrath and curse of God on all concerned in
them. This was a strange piece of opposition to
the state, little inferior to what was pretended to,
and put in practice by the church of Rome.
" Aiid Burnet thought as Cromwell did. S.
an iDSurrec
tioQ.
T4 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS T
The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom
com enough to serve them round the year : and the
northern parts producing more than they need,
those in the west come in the summer to buy at
Leith the stores that come from the north : and
from a word whiggam, used in driving their horses,
all that drove were called the whiggamors, and
The minis- shortcr the whiggs. Now in that year, after the
news came down of duke Hamilton's defeat, the mi-
nisters animated their people to rise, and march to
Edenburgh : and they came up marching on the
head of their parishes, with an unheard-of fury,
praying and preaching all the way as they came.
The marquis of Argile and his party came and
headed them, they being about 6000. This was
called the whiggamors inroad : and ever after that
all that opposed the court came in contempt to be
called whiggs: and from Scotland the word was
brought into England, where it is now one of our
unhappy terms of distinction °.
The committee of their estates, with the force
they had in their hands, could easily have dissipated
this undisciplined herd. But they, knowing their
own weakness, sent to Cromwell, desiring his assist-
ance. Upon that, the committee saw they could not
stand before him : so they came to a treaty, and de-
livered up the government to this new body. Upon
their assuming it, they declared all who had served
° ^^Tiich unhappy distinctions it his business to rake all the
no man living was more ready spiteful stories he could collect
to foment than the good bishop together, in order to lessen their
himself; and the first inqiiiry he esteem in the world, which he
made into any body's character was very free to publish, with-
was, whether he were a whigg out any regard to decency or
or a tory : if the latter, he made modesty. D.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 75
or assisted in the engagement incapable of any em-
ployment, till they had first satisfied the kirk of the
truth of their repentance, and made public profes-
sions of it. All churches were upon that fuU of 44
mock penitents, some making their acknowledg-
ments all in tears, to gain more credit with the new
party. The earl of Lowdun, that was chancellor,
had entered into solemn promises both to the king
and the Hamiltons : but when he came to Scotland,
his wife, a high covenanter, and an heiress by whom
he had both honour and estate, threatened him, if
he went on that way, with a process of adultery, in
which she could have had very copious proofs : he
durst not stand this, and so compounded the matter
by the deserting his friends, and turning over to
the other side : of which he made public profession
in the church of Edenburgh with n\any tears, con-
fessing his weakness in yielding to the temptation
of what had a shew of honour and loyalty, for which
he expressed a hearty sorrow. Those that came in
early, with great shews of compunction, got easier
off : but those who stood out long, found it a harder
matter to make their peace. CromweU came down
to Scotland, and saw the new model fuUy settled.
Durinff his absence from the scene, the treaty of Tiie treaty
° . . •' in the isle
the isle of Wight was set on foot by the parhament, of Wight.
who seeing the army at such a distance, took this
occasion of treating with the king. Sir Henry
Vane, and others who were for a change of govern-
ment, had no mind to treat any more. But both
city and country were so desirous of a personal
treaty, that it could not be resisted. Vane, Pier-
point, and some others, went to the treaty on pur-
pose to delay matters, till the army could be brought
76 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
up to London. All that wished well to the treaty
prayed the king, at their first coming, to dispatch
the business with all possible haste, and to grant
the first day all that he could bring himself to grant
on the last. Hollis and Grimstone told me, they
had both on their knees begged this of the king.
They said, they knew Vane would study to di'aw
out the treaty to a great length : and he, who de-
clared for an unbounded Uberty of conscience, would
try to gain on the king's party by the offer of a to-
leration for the common prayer and the episcopal
clergy. His design in that was to gain time, till
Cromwell should settle Scotland and the north.
But they said, if the king would frankly come in,
without the formaUty of papers backward and for-
ward, and send them back next day with the con-
cessions that were absolutely necessary, they did not
doubt but he should, in a very few days, be brought
up with honour, freedom, and safety to the parlia-
ment, and that matters should be brought to a pre-
sent settlement. Titus, who was then much trusted
by the king, and employed in a negociation with
45 the presbyterian party, told me he had spoke often
and earnestly to him in the same strain : but the
king could not come to a resolution : and he still
fancied, that in the struggle between the house of
commons and the army, both saw they needed him
so much, to give them the superior strength, that he
imagined by balancing them he would bring both
sides into a greater dependence on himself, and
force them to better terms. In this Vane flattered
the episcopal party, to the king's ruin as well as
their own. But they still hated the presbyterians
as the first authors of the war ; and seemed unwiU-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 77
ing to think well of them, or to be beholding to
them. Thus the treaty went on with a fatal slow-
ness : and by the time it was come to some ma-
turity, Cromwell came up with his army, and over-
turned all. -^y* iur
Upon this I wiQ set down what sir Harbotle Cromweirs
Grimstone told me a few weeks before his death : tion.
whether it was done at this time, or the year before,
I cannot tell: I rather believe the latter. When
the house of commons and the army were a quarrel-
ling, at a meeting of the officers it was proposed to
purge the army better, that they might know whom
to depend on. Cromwell upon that said, he was
sure of the army ; but there was another body that
had more need of purging, naming the house of
commons, and he thought the army only could do
that. Two officers that were present brought an
account of this to Grimstone, who carried them with
him to the lobby of the house of commons, they be-
ing resolved to justifj^ it to the house. There was
another debate then on foot : but Grimstone diverted
it, and said, he had a matter of privilege of the
highest sort to lay before them : it was about the
being and freedom of the house. So he charged
Cromwell with the design of putting a force on the
house : he had his witnesses at the door, and desired
they might be examined : they were brought to the
bar, and justified all that they had said to him, and
gave a full relation of all that had passed at their
meetings. When they withdrew, Crontwell fell
down on his knees, and made a solemn prayer to
God, attesting his innocence, and his zeal for the
service of the house : he submitted himself to the
providence of God, who it seems thought fit to ex-
78 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
ercise him with calumny and slander, but he com-
mitted his cause to him : this he did with great
vehemence, and with many tears. After this strange
and bold preamble, he made so long a speech, justi-
fying both himself and the rest of the officers, except
a few that seemed incUned to return back to Egypt,
that he wearied out the house, and wrought so much
on his party, that what the witnesses had said was
so little believed, that had it been moved, Grimstone
46 thought that both he and they would have been sent
to the Tower. But whether their guilt made them
modest, or that they had no mind to have the mat-
ter much talked of, they let it fall : and there was
no strength in the other side to carry it farther.
To complete the scene, as soon as ever Cromwell
got out of the house, he resolved to trust himself no
more among them ; but went to the army, and in a
few days he brought them up, and forced a great
many from the house.
I had much discourse on this head with one who
knew Cromwell well, and all that set of men ; and
asked him how they could excuse all the prevarica-
tions, and other ill things of which they were visibly
guilty in the conduct of their affairs. He told me,
they believed there were great occasions in which
some men were called to great services, in the do-
ing of which they were excused from the common
rules of morality : such were the practices of Ehud
and Jael, Samson and David : and by this they fan-
cied they had a privilege from observing the standing
rules. It is very obvious how far this principle may
be carried, and how all justice and mercy may be
laid aside on this pretence by every bold enthusiast.
Ludlow, in his memoirs, justifies this force put on
BEFORE THE RESTOHATION. 79
the parliament, as much as he condemns the force
that Cromwell and the army afterwards put on the
house : and he seems to lay this down for a maxim,
that the military power ought always to be subject
to the civil: and yet, without any sort of resent-
ment for what he had done, he owns the share he
had in the force put on the parliament at this time.
The plain reconciling of this is, that he thought
when the army judged the parliament was in the
wrong, they might use violence, but not otherwise :
which gives the army a superior authority, and an
inspection into the proceedings of the parliament.
This shews how impossible it is to set up a com-
monwealth in England : for that cannot be brought
about but by a military force : and they will ever
keep the parliament in subjection to them, and so
keep up their own authority v.
I will leave all that relates to the king's trial and
death to common historians, knowing nothing that
is particular of that great transaction, which was
certainly one of the most amazing scenes in his-
tory ^. Ireton was the person that drove it on : for The men
chiefly en-
Cromwell was all the while in some suspense about gaged in
it. Ireton had the principles and the temper of a the king's
Cassius in him : he stuck at nothing that might ^'^^*
have turned England to a commonwealth : and
he found out Cook and Bradshaw, two bold law-
yers, as proper instruments for managing it. Fair-
P Weak. S. in Cromwell and most of them
1 And was most certainly a (with a mixture of enthusiasm)
murder, as his cause, at that for private ends, and security
time, was become the cause of to themselves ; and has the jus-
the nation, and the sense of it ; tification only of an highway-
and that of those who put him man, who kills, because he
to death, and were but few, was would not be killed. O.
m . A SUMMARY of AFFAIRS 'I
fax was much distracted in his mind, and changed
47 purposes often every day \ The presbyterians and
the body of the city were much against it, and were
every where fasting and praying for the king's pre-
servation. There was not above 8000 of the army
about the town : but these were selected out of the
whole army, as the most engaged in enthusiasm :
and they were kept at prayer in their way almost
day and night, except when they were upon duty :
so that they were wrought up to a pitch of fury,
that struck a terror into all people. On the other
hand, the king's party was without spirit : and, as
many of themselves have said to me, they could
never believe his death was really intended tiU it
was too late. They thought aU was a pageantry to
strike a terror, and to force the king to such con-
cessions as they had a mind to extort from him.
The king's The king himself shewed a calm and a composed
firmness, which amazed aU people : and that so
much the more, because it was not natural to him %
It was imputed to a very extraordinary measure of
supernatural assistance. Bishop Juxon did the duty
of his function honestly, but with a dry coldness
that could not raise the king's thoughts : so that it
was owing wholly to somewhat within himself that
he went through so many indignities with so much
^ Fairfax had hardly common where I stood by him during
sense. S. his supper; and he told me all
* Sir Philip Meadows told that had happened to him at
me he was at Newmarket when Feversham with as much im-
the army brought the king thi- concernedness as if they had
ther, and observed that the been the adventures of some
king's was the only cheerful other person, and directed a
face in the place; which put great deal of his discourse to
me in mind of the night king me, though I was but a boy.
James returned to Whitehall, D.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 81
true greatness, without disorder or any sort of aflfec-
tation. Thus he died greater than he had lived;
and shewed that which has been often observed of
the whole race of the Stewards, that they bore mis-
fortunes better than prosperity. His reign, both in
peace and war, was a continual series of errors : so
that it does not appear that he had a true judgment
of things. He was out of measure set on following
his humour, but unreasonably feeble to those whom
he trusted, chiefly to the queen. He had too high
a notion of the regal power, and thought that every
opposition to it was rebellion. He minded little
things too much, a,nd was more concerned in the
drawing of a paper than in fighting a battle. He
had a firm aversion to popery, but was much in-
clined to a middle way between protestants and
papists, by which he lost the one, without gaining
the other. His engaging the duke of Rohan in the
war of Rochelle, and then assisting him so poorly,
and forsaking him at last, gave an ill character of
him to all the protestants abroad. The earl of Lau-
derdale told me, the duke of Rohan was at Geneva,
where he himself was, when he received a very long
letter, or rather a little book, from my father, which
gave him a copious account of the beginning of the
troubles in Scotland : he translated it to the duke of
Rohan, who expressed a vehement indignation at
the court of England for their usage of him: of
which this was the account he then gave.
The duke of Buckingham had a secret con versa- 48
tion with the queen of France, of which the queen- ^^^^^^"[j^
mother was very jealous, and possessed the king
with such a sense of it, that he was ordered imme-
diately to leave the court. Upon his return to
VOL. I. G
8t A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
England, under this affront, he possessed the king
with such a hatred of that court, that the queen was
ill used on her coming over, and all her servants
were sent back. He told him also, that the protest-
ants were so ill used, and so strong, that if he would
protect them, they would involve that kingdom in
new wars ; which he represented as so glorious a
beginning of his reign, that the king, without weigh-
ing the consequence of it, sent one to treat with the
duke of Rohan about it. Great assistance was pro-
mised by sea : so a war was resolved on, in which
the share that our court had is well enough known.
But the infamous part was, that Richlieu got the
king of France to make his queen write an obliging
letter to the duke of Buckingham, assuring him
that, if he would let RocheUe fall without assisting
it, he should have leave to come over, and should
settle the whole matter of the religion according to
their edicts. This was a strange proceeding: but
cardinal Richlieu could turn that weak king as he
pleased. Upon this the duke made that shameful
campaign of the isle of Rhe. But finding next
winter that he was not to be suffered to go over
into France, and that he was abused into a false
hope, he resolved to have followed that matter with
more vigour, when he was stabbed by Felton.
A design of Thcrc is another story told of the king's conduct
™p\n°slNe. during the peaceable part of his reign, which I had
theriands a from Halcwyu of Dort, who was one of the judges
common- j ^ »; o
wealth. in the court of Holland, and was the wisest and
greatest man I knew among them. He told me he
had it from his father, who, being then the chief man
of Dort, was of the states, and had the secret commu-
nicated to him. When Isabella Clara Eugenia grew
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 83
old, and began to decline, a great many of her coun-
cil, apprehending what miseries they would fall
under when they should be again in the hands of
the Spaniards, formed a design of making them-
selves a free commonwealth, that in imitation of the
union among the cantons of Switzerland, that were
of both religions, there should be a perpetual confe-
deracy between them and the states of the seven
provinces. This they communicated to Henry Fre-
derick prince of Orange, and to some of the states,
who approved of it, but thought it necessary to en-
gage the king of England in it. The prince of
Orange told the English ambassador, that there was
a matter of great consequence that was fit to be laid
before the king ; but it was of such a nature, and
such persons were concerned in it, that it could not 49
be communicated, unless the king would be pleased
to promise absolute secrecy for the present. This
the king did : and then the prince of Orange sent
him the whole scheme. The secret was ill kept:
either the king trusted it to some who discovered
it, or the paper was stolen from him ; for it was
sent over to the court of Bruxells : one of the mi-
nistry lost his head for it : and some took the alarm
so quickly, that they got to Holland out of danger.
After this the prince of Orange had no commerce
with our court, and often lamented that so great a
design was so unhappily lost. He had as ill an
opinion of the king's conduct of the war ; for when
the queen came over, and brought some of the ge-
nerals with her, the prince said, after he had talked
with them, (as the late king told me,) he did not
wonder to see the affairs of England decline as they
did, since he had talked with the king's generals.
G 2
84 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
I will not enter farther into the military part : for
I remember an advice of Marshal Schomberg's, never
to meddle in the relation of military matters \ He
said, some affected to relate those affairs in all the
terms of war, in which they committed great er-
rors, that exposed them to the scorn of all com-
manders, who must despise relations that pretend to
an exactness, when there were blunders in every
part of them.
The ill ef- In the king's death the iU effect of extreme vio-
fects of ° ,
violent lent couuscls discovered itself. Ireton hoped that
counse . ^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^ conccmed in it would become irre-
concileable to monarchy, and would act as desperate
men, and destroy all that might revenge that blood.
But this had a very different effect. Something of
the same nature had happened in lower instances
before : but they were not the wiser for it. The
earl of Strafford's death made all his former errors
be forgot : it raised his character, and cast a lasting
odium on that way of proceeding ; whereas he had
sunk in his credit by any censure lower than death,
and had been little pitied, if not thought justly pu-
nished. The like effect followed upon Archbishop
Laud's death. He was a learned, a sincere, and
zealous man, regular in his own life, and humble
[but very rough and ungracious] in his private de-
portment; but was a hot, indiscreet man, eagerly
pursuing some matters that were either very incon-
j siderable or mischievous ; such as setting the com-
munion table by the east walls of churches, bowing
to it, and calling it the altar ; the suppressing the
Walloons' privileges, the breaking of lectures, the
encouraging of sports on the Lord's day, with some
' Very foolish advice, for soldiers cannot write. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 85
other things that were of no value : and yet all the
zeal and heat of that time was laid out on these.
His severity in the star-chamber and in the high 50
commission court, but above all his violent and in-
deed inexcusable injustice in the prosecution of Bi-
shop Williams, were such visible blemishes, that no-
thing but the putting him to death in so unjust a
manner could have raised his character; which in-
deed it did to a degree of setting him up as a pat-
tern, and the establishing all his notions as stand-
ards, by which judgments are to be made of men,
whether they are true to the church or not. His
diary, though it was a base thing to publish it, re-
presents him as an abject fawner on the duke of
Buckingham, and as a superstitious regarder of
di'eams : his defence of himself, writ with so much
care when he was in the Tower, is a very mean per-
formance. He intended in that to make an appeal
to the world. In most particulars he excuses him-
self by this, that he was but one of many, who either
in council, star-chamber, or high commission, voted
illegal things. Now though this was true, yet a
chief minister, and one in high favour, determines
the rest so much, that they are generally little better
than machines acted by him. On other occasions
he says, the thing was proved but by one witness.
Now, how strong soever this defence may be in
law, it is of no force in an appeal to the world ; for
if a thing is true, it is no matter how full or how
defective the proof is. The thing that gave me the
strongest prejudice against him in that book is, that
after he had seen the ill effects of his violent coun-
sels ", and had been so long shut up, and so long at
" All this is full of malice and ill judgment. S.
G 3
86 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
leisure to reflect on what had passed in the huiTy of
passion in the exaltation of his prosperity, he does
not, in any one part of that great work, acknowledge
his own errors, nor mix in it any wise or pious re-
flections on the ill usage he met with, or the un-
happy steps he had made : so that while his enemies
did really magnify him by their inhuman prosecu-
tion, his friends Heyhn and Wharton have as much
lessened him, the one by writing his life, and the
other by publishing his vindication of himself,
iiie ac- But the recoiUng of cruel counsels on the authors
e;»«» b«- of them never appeared more eminently than in the
«r/x/*«. death of king Charles the first, whose serious and
christian deportment in it made all his former er-
rors be entirely forgot, and raised a compassionate
regard to him, that drew a lasting hatred on the
actors, and was the true occasion of the great turn
of the nation in the year 1660. This was much
heightened by the publishing of his book called
E/Vwv BacriXiKy}, which was universally believed to be
his own : and that coming out soon after his death
had the greatest run in many impressions that any
book has had in our age ^. There was in it a noble-
51 ness and justness of thought, with a greatness of
style, that made it to be looked on as the best writ
book in the Enghsh language : and the piety of the
prayers made all people cry out against the murder
of a prince, who thought so seriously of all his affairs
in his secret meditations before God. I was bred up
with a high veneration of this book : and I remem-
ber that, when I heard how some denied it to be
his, I asked the earl of Lothian about it, who both
''I think it a poor treatise, and that tlie king did not write it, S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 87
knew the king very well, and loved him little : he
seemed confident it was his own work ; for he said,
he had heard him say a great many of those very
periods that he found in that book. Being thus
confirmed in that persuasion, I was not a little sur-
prised, when in the year 1673, in which I had a
great share of favour and free conversation with the
then duke of York, afterwards king James the se-
cond, as he suffered me to talk very freely to him
about matters of religion, and as I was urging him
with somewhat out of his father's book, he told me
that book was not of his father's writing, and that
the letter to the prince of Wales was never brought
to him. He said. Dr. Gawden writ it : after the
restoration he brought the duke of Somerset and
the earl of Southampton both to the king and to
himself, who affirmed that they knew it was his
writing ; and that it was carried down by the earl
of Southampton, and shewed the king during the
treaty of Newport, who read it, and approved of it
as containing his sense of things. Upon this he told
me, that though Sheldon and the other bishops op-
posed Gawden's promotion, because he had taken
the covenant, yet the merits of that service carried
it for him, notwithstanding the opposition made to
it. There has been a great deal of disputing about
this book : some are so zealous for maintaining it to
be the king's, that they think a man false to the
church that doubts it to be his : yet the evidence
since that time brought to the contrary has been so
strong, that I must leave that under the same un-
certainty under which I found it : only this is cer-
tain, that Gawden never writ any thing with that
force, his other writings being such, that no man,
G 4
$8 . A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
from a likeness of style, would think him capable of
writing so extraordinary a book as that is y.
The Scots Upon the king's death the Scots proclaimed his
wng^'*^' son king, and sent over sir George Wincam, that
Charles married my great aunt ^, to treat with him while he
the second. ^ o
was in the isle of Jersey. The king entered into a
negociation with them, and sent him back with
general assurances of consenting to every reasonable
proposition that they should send him. He named
the Hague for the place of treaty, he being to go
thither in a few days. So the Scots sent over com-
52 missioners, the chief of whom were the earls of Cas-
siles and Lothian, the former of these was my first
wife's father, a man of great virtue and of a consi-
derable degree of good understanding : [had it not
been spoiled with many affectations, and an obsti-
nate stiffness in almost every thing that he did:]
he was so sincere, that he would suffer no man to
take his words in any other sense than as he meant
' them : he adhered firmly to his instructions, but
y Notwithstanding all that is not to be disputed : but the
has been said or wrote upon duke of Somerset would readily
this subject, whoever reads the join in promoting Gawden for
book will plainly perceive that the share they knew he had in
nobody but the king himself publishing a book much to the
could write it : that Gawden honour of their old master, for
might transcribe, and put it whom they always professed
into the order it is in at present, the highest respect and duty,
and lord Southampton carry it This I know, that my grandfa-
to the king for his perusal and ther, who was many years of his
correction, is more than likely : bedchamber, and well known
but that Gawden should furnish to have been much trusted by
the matter is utterly impossible, him, always looked upon it to
That king Charles the second be authentic, and prized it ac-
or king James ever (never) ap- cordingly. D.
proved of the contents, or had ^ Was that the reason he
much veneration for their fa- was sent ? S.
ther's conduct or sentiments.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 89
with so much candour, that king Charles retained
very kind impressions of it to his life's end. The
man then in the greatest favour with the king was
the duke of Buckingham : he was wholly turned to
mirth and pleasure : he had the art of turning per-
sons or things into ridicule beyond any man of the
age : he possessed the young king with very ill prin-
ciples, both as to religion and morality, and with a
very mean opinion of his father, whose stiffness was
with him a frequent subject ef raillery. He pre-
vailed with the king to enter into a treaty with the
Scots, though that was vehemently opposed by al-
most all the rest that were about him, who pressed
him to adhere steadily to his father's maxims and
example.
When the king came to the Hague, William duke Montrose's
of Hamilton, and the earl of Lauderdale, who had
left Scotland, entered into a great measure of favour
and confidence with him. The marquis of Mont-
rose came likewise to him, and undertook, if he
would follow his counsels, to restore him to his king-
doms by main force : but when the king desired the
prince of Orange to examine the methods which he
proposed, he entertained him with a recital of his
own performances, and of the credit he was in
among the people ; and said, the whole nation would
rise, if he went over, though accompanied only with
a page. [The queen-mother hated him (Montrose)
mortally ; for when he came over from Scotland to
Paris, upon the king's requiring him to lay down
his arms, she received him with such extraordinaiy
favour, as his services seemed to deserve, and gave
him a large supply in money and in jewels, consi-
dering the straits to which she was then reduced.
. 90 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
But she heard that he had talked very indecently of
her favours to him ; which she herself told the lady
Susanna Hamilton, a daughter of duke Hamilton,
from whom I had it. So she sent him word to leave
Paris, and she would see him no more. He wan-
dered about the courts of Germany, but was not
esteemed so much as he thought he deserved.] He
desired of the king nothing but power to act in his
name, with a supply in money, and a letter recom-
mending him to the'king of Denmark for a ship to
carry him over, and for such arms as he could spare.
With that the king gave him the garter. He got
first to Orkney, and from thence into the Highlands
of Scotland ; but could perform nothing of what he
had undertaken. At last he was betrayed by one
of those to whom he trusted himself, Mackland of
Assin, and was brought over a prisoner to Eden-
And death, burgh. He was carried through the streets with all
the infamy that brutal men could contrive : and in
a few days he was hanged on a very high gibbet :
and his head and quarters were set up in divers
places of the kingdom. His behaviour under all
that barbarous usage was as great and firm to the
last, looking on aU that was done to him with a
noble scorn, as the fury of his enemies was black and
universally detested. This cruelty raised a horror
in aU sober people against those who could insult
over such a man in misfortunes. The triumphs that
53 the preachers made on this occasion rendered them
odious, and made lord Montrose to be both more
pitied and lamented, than otherwise he could have
been. This happened while the Scots commissioners
were treating with the king at the Hague. The
violent party in Scotland were for breaking off the
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 91
treaty upon it, though by the date of lord Montrose's
commission it appeared to have been granted before
the treaty was begun : but it was carried not to re-
call their commissioners : nor could the king on the
other hand be prevailed on by his own court to send
them away upon this cruelty to a man who had
acted by his commission, and yet was so used. The
treaty was quickly concluded : the king was in no
condition to struggle with them, but yielded to aU
their demands, of taking the covenant, and suffering
none to be about him but such as took it. He sailed
home to Scotland in some Dutch men of war with
which the prince of Orange furnished him, with all
the stock of money and arms that his credit could
raise. That indeed would not have been very great,
if the prince of Orange had not joined his own to it.
The duke of Hamilton and the earl of Lauderdale
were suffered to go home with him : but soon after
his landing an order came to put them from him.
The king complained of this : but duke Hamilton
at parting told him, he must prepare for things of a
harder digestion : he said, at present he could do
him no service : the marquis of Argile was then in
absolute credit : therefore he desired that he would
study to gain him, and give him no cause of jealousy
on his account. This king Charles told me himself,
as a part of duke Hamilton's character. The duke
of Buckingham took aU the ways possible to gain
lord Argile and the ministers : only his dissolute
course of Hfe was excessive scandalous ; which to
their great reproach they connived at, because he
advised the king to put himself whoUy into their
hands. The king wrought himself into as grave a
deportment as he could: he heard many prayers
98 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS !
and sermons, some of a great length. I remember
in one fast day there were six sermons preached
without intermission. I was there my self, and not
a little weary of so tedious a service ^. The king
was not allowed so much as to walk abroad on Sun-
days : and if at any time there had been any gayety
at court, such as dancing, or playing at cards, he
was severely reproved for it. This was managed
with so much rigour and so little discretion, that it
contributed not a little to beget in him an aversion
to all sort of strictness in religion. All that had
acted on his father's side were ordered to keep at a
great distance from him : and because the common
54 people shewed some affection to the king, the crowds
that pressed to see him were also kept off from com-
ing about him. Cromwell was not idle : but seeing
the Scots were calling home their king, and know-
ing that from thence he might expect an invasion
into England, he resolved to prevent them, and so
marched into Scotland with his army. The Scots
brought together a very good army : the king was
suffered to come once to see it, but not to stay in
it; for they were afraid he might gain too much
upon the soldiers : so he was sent away.
The defeat The army was indeed one of the best that ever
at Dunbar. , ,
Scotland had brought together : but it was ill com-
manded : for all that had made defection from their
cause, or that were thought indifferent as to either
side, which they called detestable neutrality, were
put out of commission. The preachers thought it
an army of saints, and seemed well assured of suc-
cess. They drew near Cromwell, who being pressed
• Burnet was not then eight years old. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. -95
by them retired towards Dunbar, where his ships and
provisions lay. The Scots followed him, and were
posted on a hill about a mile from thence, where
there was no attacking them. Cromwell was then in
great distress, and looked on himself as undone. There
was no marching towards Berwick, the ground was
too narrow : nor could he come back into the coun-
try without being separated from his ships, and starv-
ing his army. The least evil seemed to be to kill his
horses, and put his army on board, and sail back to
Newcastle ; which, in the disposition that England
was in at that time, would have been all their de-
struction, for it would have occasioned an universal
insurrection for the king. They had not above three
days' forage for their horses. So Cromwell called his
officers to a day of seeking the Lord, in their style.
He loved to talk much of that matter aU his life long
afterwards : he said, he felt such an enlargement of
heart in prayer, and such quiet upon it, that he
bade aU about him take heart, for God had cer-
tainly heard them, and would appear for them. After
prayer they walked in the earl of Roxburgh's gar-
dens, that lay under the hill: and by prospective
glasses they discerned a great motion in the Scotish
camp : upon which CromweU said, God is deUvering
them into our hands, they are coming down to us.
Lesley was in the chief command : but he had a
committee of the states to give him his orders,
among whom Waristoun was one. These were
weary of lying in the fields, and thought that Lesley
made not haste enough to destroy those sectaries ;
for so they came to call them. He told them, by
lying there all was sure ; but that by engaging in
action with gallant and desperate men, all might be
94 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
lost : yet they still called on him to fall on. Many
have thought that all this was treachery, done on
55 design to deliver up our army to Cromwell ; some
laying it upon Lesley, and others upon my uncle.
I am persuaded there was no treachery in it : only
Waristoun was too hot, and Lesley was too cold,
and yielded too easily to their humours, which he
ought not to have done. They were aU the night
employed in coming down the hill : and in the
morning, before they were put in order, Cromwell
fell upon them. Two regiments stood their ground,
and were almost all killed in their ranks : the rest
did run in a most shameful manner : so that both
their artillery and baggage were lost, and with these
a great many prisoners were taken, some thousands
in all. CromweU upon this advanced to Eden-
burgh, where he was received without any opposi-
tion ; and the castle, that might have made a long
resistance, did capitulate. So aU the southern part
of Scotland came under contribution to CromweU.
Stirling was the advanced garrison on the king's
side. He himself retired to St. Johnstoun. A par-
liament was called that sat for some time at StirUng,
and for some time at St. Johnstoun, in which a full
indemnity was passed, not in the language of a par-
don, but of an act of approbation : only aU that
joined with Cromwell were declared traitors. But
now the way of raising a new army was to be
thought on.
Disputes A question had been proposed both to the com-
about the . „ , , . . n i
admitting mittcc 01 statcs and to the commissioners oi the
sons to**^ kirk, whether in this extremity those who had made
serve their defection, or had been hitherto too backward in the
country. '
work, might not upon the profession of their re-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 95
pentance be received into public trust, and admitted
to serve in the defence of their country. To this,
answers were distinctly given by two resolutions :
the one was, that they ought to be admitted to
make profession of their repentance : and the other
was, that after such professions made they might be
received to defend and serve their country.
Upon this, a great division followed in the kirk :
those who adhered to these resolutions were called
the public resolutioners : but against these some of
those bodies protested, and they, together with those
who adhered to them, were called the protestors.
On the one hand it was said, that every government
might call out all that were under its protection to
its defence : this seemed founded on the law of na-
ture and of nations : and if men had been misled, it
was a strange cruelty to deny room for repentance :
this was contrary to the nature of God, and to the
gospel, and was a likely mean to drive them to de-
spair : therefore, after two years' time, it seemed
reasonable to allow them to serve according to their
birthright in parliament, or in other hereditary of-
fices, or in the army ; from all which they had been 56
excluded by an act made in the year 1649, which
ranged them in different classes, and was from
thence called the act of classes. But the protest-
ors objected against all this, that to take in men of
known enmity to the cause was a sort of betraying
it, because it was the putting it in their power to
betray it ; that to admit them into a profession of
repentance was a profanation, and a mocking of
God: it was visible, they were willing to comply
with these terms, though against their conscience,
only to get into the army : nor could they expect a
96 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
blessing from God on an army so constituted. And
as to this particular, they had great advantage ; for
this mock penitence was indeed a matter of great
scandal. When these resolutions were passed with
this protestation, a great many of the five western
counties, Cliddisdale, Renfrew, Air, Galloway, and
Nithisdale, met, and formed an association apart,
both against the army of sectaries, and against this
new defection in the kirk party. They drew a re-
monstrance against all the proceedings in the treaty
with the king, when, as they said, it was visible by
the commission he granted to Montrose that his
heart was not sincere : and they were also against
the tendering him the covenant, when they had
reason to beHeve he took it not with a resolution to
maintain it, since his whole deportment and private
conversation shewed a secret enmity to the work of
God : and, after an invidious enumeration of many
particulars, they imputed the shameful defeat at
Dunbar to their prevaricating in these things ; and
concluded with a desire, that the king might be ex-
cluded from any share in the administration of the
government, and that his cause might be put out of
the state of the quarrel with the army of the secta-
ries. This was brought to the committee of the
states at St. Johnstoun, and was severely inveighed
against by sir Thomas Nicholson, the king's advo-
cate or attorney general there, who had been till
then a zealous man of their party : but he had lately
married my sister, and my father had great influ-
ence on him. He prevailed so, that the remon-
strance was condemned as divisive, factious, and
scandalous : but that the people might not be too
much moved with these things, a declaration was
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 97
prepared to be set out by the king for the satisfying
of them. In it there were many hard things. The G'^** ''»'"<'-
. . . , ships put on
king owned the sm of his father in marrying into the king.
an idolatrous family : he acknowledged the blood-
shed in the late wars lay at his father's door : he
expressed a deep sense of his own ill education, and
the prejudices he had drunk in against the cause of
God, of which he was now very sensible : he con-
fessed all the former parts of his life to have been a 57
course of enmity to the work of God : he repented
of his commission to Montrose, and of every thing he
had done that gave offence : and with solemn protest-
ations he affirmed, that he was now sincere in his de-
claration, and that he would adhere to it to the end
of his life in Scotland, England, and Ireland.
The king was very uneasy when this was brought
to him. He said, he could never look his mother
in the face if he passed it. But when he was told it
was necessary for his affairs, he resolved to swallow
the pill without farther chewing it. So it was pub-
lished, but had no good effect ; for neither side be-
lieved him sincere in it. It was thought a strange
imposition, to make him load his father's memory in
such a manner. But, while the king was thus beset
with the high and more moderate kirk parties, the
old cavaliers sent to him, offering that if he would
cast himself into their hands they would meet him
near Dundee with a great body. Upon this the
king, growing weary of the sad life he led, made his
escape in the night, and came to the place ap-
pointed : but it was a vain undertaking ; for he was
met by a veiy inconsiderable body at Clova, the
place of rendezvous. Those at St. Johnstoun being
troubled at this, sent colonel Montgomery after him,
VOL. I. H
98
A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
who came up, and pressed him to return very rudely :
so the king came back. But this had a very good
effect. The government saw now the danger of
using him ill, which might provoke him to desperate
courses : after that, he was used as well as that
kingdom, in so ill a state, was capable of. He saw
the necessity of courting the marquis of Argile, and
therefore made him great offers : at last he talked
of marrying his daughter^. Lord Argile was cold
and backward : he saw the king's heart lay, not to
him : so he looked on all offers but as so many
snares. His son, the lord Lorn, was captain of the
guards : and he made his court more dexterously ;
for he brought all persons that the king had a
^ When the king came to
Scotland, the marquis of Argile
made great professions of duty
to him, but said he could not
serve him as he desired, unless
he gave some undeniable proof
of a fixed resolution to support
the presbyterian party, which
he thought would be best done
by marrying into some family
of quality, that was known to
be entirely attached to that in-
terest; which would in great
measure take off the prejudice
both kingdoms had to him upon
his mother's account, who was
extremely odious to all good
protestants; and thought his
own daughter would be the
properest match for him, not
without some threats, if he did
not accept the offer; which the
king told colonel Legge, who
was the only person about him
that he could trust with the se-
cret. The colonel said it was
plain the marquis looked upon
his majesty to be absolutely in
his power, or he durst not have
made such a proposal ; there-
fore it would be necessary to
gain time, till he could get out
of his hands, by telling him, in
common decency he could come
to no conclusion in an affair of
that nature before he had ac-
quainted the queen his mother,
who was always known to have
a very particular esteem for the
marquis and his family, but
would never forgive such an
omission. But that was an
answer far from satisfying the
marquis, who suspected colonel
Legge had been the adviser, and
committed him next day to the
castle of Edinburgh, where he
continued till the king made
his escape from St. Johnstoun,
upon which he was released,
the marquis finding it necessary
to give the king more satisfac-
tion than he had done before
that time. D.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 99
mind to speak with at all hours to him, and was in
all respects not only faithful but zealous. Yet this
was suspected as a collusion between the father and
the son. The king was crowned on the first of Ja-
nuary : and there he again renewed the covenant :
and tiow all people were admitted to come to him,
and to serve in the army. The two armies lay
peaceably in their winter quarters. But when the
summer came on, a body of the English passed the
Frith, and landed in Fife. So the king, having got
up all the forces he had expected, resolved on a
march into England. Scotland could not maintain
another year's war. This was a desperate resolu-
tion : but there was nothing else to be done.
I will not pursue the relation of the march to 58
Worcester, nor the total defeat given the king's
army on the third of September, the same day in
which Dunbar fight had been fought the year be-
fore. These things are so well known, as is also
the king's escape, that I can add nothing to the
common relations that have been over and over
made of them. At the same time that Cromwell
followed the king into England, he left Monk in
Scotland, with an army sufficient to reduce the rest
of the kingdom. The town of Dundee made a rash Scotland
and HI considered resistance : it was after a few dued b/
days' siege taken by storm: much blood was shed,' °° '
and the town was severely plundered : no other
place made any resistance. I remember well of
three regiments coming to Aberdeen. There was
an order and discipline, and a face of gravity and
piety among them, that amazed all people. Most
of them were independents and anabaptists : they
were all gifted men, and preached as they were
H 2
100 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
moved. But they never disturbed the public as-
semblies in the churches but once. They came and
reproached the preachers for laying things to their
charge that were false. I was then present : the
debate grew very fierce : at last they drew their
swords : but there was no hurt done : yet Cromwell
displaced the governor for not punishing this.
A body When the low countries in Scotland were thus
stood out in
the Higii- reduced, some of the more zealous of the nobility
lands. . .
went to the Highlands in the year 1653. The earl
of Glencaim, a grave and sober man, got the tribe of
the Macdonalds to declare for the king. To these
the lord Lorn came with about a thousand men : but
the jealousy of the father made the son be suspected.
The marquis of Argile had retired into his coun-
try when the king marched into England ; and
did not submit to Monk tiU the year fifty-two.
Then he received a garrison : but lord Lorn sur-
prised a ship that was sent about with provisions to
it, which helped to support their little ill-formed
army. Many gentlemen came to them : and almost
all the good horses of the kingdom were stolen, and
carried up to them. They made a body of about
3000 : of these they had about 500 horse. They
endured great hardships ; for those parts were not
fit to entertain men that had been accustomed to
live softly. The earl of Glencaim had almost spoiled
all : for he took much upon him : and upon some
suspicion he ordered lord Lorn to be clapt up, who
had notice of it, and prevented it by an escape :
otherwise they had fallen to cut one another's
throats, instead of marching to the enemy. The
earl of Belcarras, a virtuous and knowing man, but
somewhat morose in his humour, went also among
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 101
them. They differed in their counsels : lord Glen- 59
cairn was for falling into the low countries : and he
began to fancy he should be another Montrose.
Belcai'ras, on the other hand, was for keeping in
their fastnesses : they made a shew of a body for
the king, which they were to keep up in some re-
putation as long as they could, till they could see
what assistance the king might be able to procure
them from beyond sea, of men, money, and arms :
whereas if they went out of those fast grounds, they
could not hope to stand before such a veteran and
well disciplined army as Monk had; and if they
met with the least check, their tumultuary body
would soon melt away.
Among others, one sir Robert Murray, that had Sir Robert
married lord Belcarras's sister, came among them : character.
he had served in France, where he had got into
such a degree of favour with cardinal Richlieu, that
few strangers were ever so much considered by him
as he was. He was raised to be a colonel there,
and came over for recruits when the king was with
the Scotch army at Newcastle. There he grew into
high favour with the king; and laid a design for
his escape, of which I have given an account in
duke Hamilton's memoirs : he was the most univer-
sally beloved and esteemed by men of all sides and
sorts, of any man I have ever known in my whole
life. He was a pious man, and in the midst of ar-
mies and courts he spent many hours a day in de-
votion, [which was in a most elevating strain.] He
had gone through the easy parts of mathematics,
and knew the history of nature beyond any man I
ever yet knew. He had a genius much like Pei-
riski, as he is described by Gassendi. He was after-
H 3
102 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
wards the first former of the royal society, and its
first president ; and while he Uved, he was the life
and soul of that body. He had an equality of tem-
per in him that nothing could alter ; and was in prac-
tice the only stoic I ever knew. He had a great
tincture of one of their principles ; for he was much
for absolute decrees. He had a most diffused love
to all mankind, and he dehghted in every occasion
of doing good, which he managed with great dis-
cretion and zeal. He had a superiority of genius
and comprehension to most men : and had the
plainest, but with all the softest, way of reproving,
chiefly young people, for their faults, that I ever
met with. [And upon this account, as well as upon
all the care and affection he expressed unto me, I
have ever reckoned, that, next to my father, I owed
more to him, than to any other man. Therefore I
have enlarged upon his character; and yet I am
sure I have rather said too little than too much.]
Sir Robert Murray was in such credit in that little
army, that lord Glencaim took a strange course to
break it, and to ruin him. A letter was pretended
to be found at Antwerp, as writ by him to William
Murray of the bed-chamber, that had been whip-
ping-boy to king Charles the first, and upon that
had grown up to a degree of favour and confidence
that was very particular: [and, as many thought,
was as ill used, as it was little deserved.] He
had a lewd creature there, whom he turned off:
60 and she, to be revenged on him, framed this plot
against him. This ill forged letter gave an account
of a bargain sir Robert had made with Monk for
killing the king, which was to be executed by Mr.
Murray : so he prayed him in his letter to make
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 103
haste, and dispatch it. This was brought to the
earl of Glencau*n : so sir Robert was severely ques-
tioned upon it, and put in arrest : and it was spread
about through a rude army that he intended to kill
the king, hoping, it seems, that some of these wild
people, believing it, would have fallen upon him with-
out using any forms. Upon this occasion sir Robert
practised in a very eminent manner his true Chris-
tian philosophy, without shewing so much as a cloud
in his whole behaviour.
The carl of Belcarras left the Highlands, and went
to the king ; and shewed him the necessity of send-
ing a military man to command that body, to whom
they would submit more willingly than to any of
the nobiUty. Middletoun was sent over, who was a
gallant man, and a good officer : he had first served
on the parliament's side : but he turned over to the
king, and was taken at Worcester fight, but made
his escape out of the Tower. He, upon his coming
over, did for some time lay the heats that were
among the Highlanders ; and made as much of that
face of an army for another year as was possible.
Drumond was sent by him to Paris with an in- Messages
'' sent to the
vitation to the king to come among them : for they king.
had assurances sent them, that the whole nation
was in a disposition to rise with them : and Eng-
land was beginning to grow weary of their new go-
vernment, the army and the parliament being on
ill terms. The English were also engaged in a war
with the states : and the Dutch upon that account
might be incUned to assist the king to give a diver-
sion to their enemies forces. Drumond told me,
that upon his coming to Paris he was called to the
little council that was then about the king: and
H 4
104 A SUiMMARY OF AFFAIRS
when he had delivered his message, chancellor Hide
asked him how the king would be accommodated, if
he came among them ? He answered, not so well as
was fitting, but they would aU take care of him to
ftimish him with every thing that was necessary.
He wondered that the king did not check the chan-
cellor in his demand : for he said, it looked strange
to him, that when they were hazarding their lives
to help him to a crown, he should be concerned for
accommodation. He was sent back with good words
and a few kind letters. In the end of the year 1654
Morgan marched into the Highlands, and had a
smaU engagement with Middletoun, which broke
that whole matter, of which all people were grown
61 weary ; for they had no prospect of success, and the
low countries were so overrun with robberies on the
pretence of going to assist the Highlanders, that
there was an universal joy at the dispersing of that
little unruly army.
The state of After this the country was kept in great order :
Scotland i«itt'iiiii • ^ •
during the somc castlcs lu the Highlands had garrisons put in
usurpation. |.jjgj^^ ^^^^ wcrc SO carcful in their discipline, and
so exact to their rules, that in no time the High-
lands were kept in better order than during the
usurpation. There was a considerable force of
about seven or eight thousand men kept in Scot-
land; these were paid exactly, and strictly disci-
plined. The pay of the army brought so much
money into the kingdom, that it continued aU that
while in a very flourishing state. Cromwell built
three citadels, at Leith, Air, and Inverness, be-
sides many little forts. There was good justice
done, and vice was suppressed and punished; so
th^^t we always reckon those eight years of usurpa-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 105
tion a time of great peace and prosperity ''-. There
was also a sort of union of the three kingdoms
in one parliament, where Scotland had its repre-
sentative. The marquis of Argile went up one of
our commissioners.
The next scene I must open relates to the^'*P"*«»
. . among the
church, and the heats raised in it by the public re- covenant-
solutions, and the protestation made against them.
New occasions of dispute arose. A general assembly
was in course to meet ; and sat at St. Andrew's : so
the commission of the kirk wrote a circular letter to
all the presbyteries, setting forth all the grounds of
their resolutions, and complaining of those who had
protested against them; upon which they desired
that they would choose none of those who adhered
to the protestation to represent them in the next
assembly. This was only an advice, and had been
frequently practised in the former years : but now
it was highly complained of, as a limitation on the
freedom of elections, which inferred a nuUity on all
their proceedings : so the protestors renewed their
protestation against the meeting upon a higher
point, disowning that authority which hitherto they
had magnified as the highest tribunal in the church,
in which they thought Christ was in his throne.
Upon this a great debate followed, and many books
were written in a course of several years. The
public men said, this was the destroying of presby-
tery, if the lesser number did not submit to the
greater : it was a sort of prelacy, if it was pretended
that votes ought rather to be weighed than counted :
parity was the essence of their constitution : and in
<^ No doubt vou do. S,
lOer A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
this all people saw they had clearly the better of the
argument. The protestors urged for themselves,
that, since all protestants rejected the pretence of
infallibility, the major part of the church might fall
62 into errors, in which case the lesser number could
not be bound to submit to them : they complained
of the many corrupt clergymen who were yet among
them, who were leavened with the old leaven, and
did on all occasions shew what was still at heart,
notwithstanding all their outward compliance : (for
the episcopal clergy, that had gone into the cove-
nant and presbytery to hold their livings, struck in
with great heat to inflame the controversy : and it
appeared very visibly, that presbytery, if not held in
order by the civil power, could not be long kept in
quiet :) if in the supreme court of judicature the
majority did not conclude the matter, it was not
possible to keep up their beloved parity: it was
confessed that in doctrinal points the lesser number
was not bound to submit to the gi'eater : but in the
matters of mere government it was impossible to
maintain the presbyterian form on any other bot-
tom.
As this debate grew hot, and they were ready to
break out into censures on both sides, some were
sent down from the commonwealth of England to
settle Scotland : of these sir Henry Vane was one.
The resolutioners were known to have been more in
the king's interest ; so they were not so kindly
looked on as the protestors. Some of the English
juncto moved, that pains should be taken to unite
the two parties. But Vane opposed this with much
zeal : he said, would they heal the wound that they
had given themselves, which weakened them so
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 107
much? The setting them at quiet could have no
other effect, but to heal and unite them in their op-
position to their authority : he therefore moved,
that they might be left at liberty to fight out their
own quarrels, and be kept in a greater dependence
on the temporal authority, when both sides were
forced to make their appeal to it : so it was resolv^ed
to suffer them to meet still in their presbyteries and
synods, but not in general assemblies, which had a
greater face of union and authority.
This advice was followed: so the division went
on. Both sides studied, when any church became
vacant, to get a man of their own party to be chosen
to succeed in the election : and upon these occasions
many tumults happened : in some of them stones
were thrown, and many were wounded, to the great
scandal of religion. In all these disputes the pro-
testors were the fiercer side : for being less in num-
ber, they studied to make that up with their fury.
In one point they had the other at a great advan-
tage, with relation to their new masters, who re-
quired them to give over praying for the king. The
protestors were weary of doing it, and submitted
very readily : but the others stood out longer ; and
said, it was a duty lying on them by the covenant, 63
so they could not let it fall. Upon that the English
council set out an order, that such as should conti-
nue to pray for the king should be denied the help
of law to recover theu' tithes, or, as they called
them, their stipends. This touched them in a sensi-
ble point: but, that they might not seem to act
upon the civil authority, they did enact it in their
presbyteries, that since all duties did not oblige at all
times, therefore considering the present juncture, in
108 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
which the king could not protect them, they re-
solved to discontinue that piece of duty. This ex-
posed them to much censure, since such a carnal
consideration as the force of law for their benefices,
(which all regard but too much, though few will
own it,) seemed to be that which determined them.
Methods This ffreat breach amonff them being; rather en-
taken on ° ° ^ .
both sides, couragcd than suppressed by those who were m
power, all the methods imaginable were used by the
protestors to raise their credit among the people.
They preached often, and very long : and seemed
to carry their devotions to a greater sublimity than
others did. Their constant topic was, the sad defec-
tion and corruption of the judicatories of the church,
and they often proposed several expedients for
purging it. The truth was, they were more active,
and their performances were livelier, than (those of)
the public men. They were in nothing more sin-
gular than in their communions. In many places
the sacrament was discontinued for several years ;
where they thought the magistracy, or the more
eminent of the parish, were engaged in what they
called the defection, which was much more looked
at than scandal given by bad lives. But where the
greatest part was more sound, they gave the sacra-
ment with a new and unusual solemnity. On the
Wednesday before they held a fast day, with prayers
and sermons for about eight or ten hours together :
on the Saturday they had two or three preparation
sermons : and on the Lord's day they had so very
many, that the action continued above twelve hours
in some places : and aU ended with three or four
sermons on Monday for thanksgiving. A great
many ministers were brought together from several
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 109
parts : and high pretenders would have gone forty
or fifty miles to a noted communion. The crowds
were far beyond the capacity of their churches, or
the reach of their voices'^, [and the preaching beyond
the capacities of the crowd :] so at the same time
they had sermons in two or three different places :
and all was performed with great shew of zeal.
They had stories of many sequal (signal) conversions
that were wrought on these occasions ; [whereas
others were better believed, who told as many sto-
ries of much lewdness among the multitudes that
did then run together.]
It is scarce credible what an effect this had among
the people, to how great a measure of knowledge
they were brought, and how readily they could pray 64!
extempore, and talk of divine matters. All this
tended to raise the credit of the protestors. The
resolutioners tried to imitate them in these prac-
tices : but they were not thought so spiritual, nor
so ready at them : so the others had the chief fol-
lowing. Where the judicatories of the church were
near an equality of the men of both sides, there
were perpetual j anglings among them : at last they
proceeded to deprive men of both sides, as they
were the majority in the judicatories : but because
the possession of the church, and the benefice, was
to depend on the orders of the temporal courts, both
sides made their application to the privy council
that Cromwell had set up in Scotland: and they
were by them referred to CromweU himself. So
they sent deputies up to London. The protestors
went in great numbers: they came nearer both to
^ I believe the church had as much capacity as the minister. S.
110 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
the principles and to the temper that prevailed in
the army : so they were looked on as the better
men, on whom, by reason of the first rise of the dif-
ference, the government might more certainly de-
pend : whereas the others were considered as more
in the king's interests.
The resolutioners sent up one Sharp '^, who had
been long in England, and was an active and eager
man : he had a very small proportion of learning,
and was but an indifferent j^reacher : but having
some acquaintance with the presbyterian ministers
at London, whom Cromwell was then courting
much, by reason of their credit in the city, he was,
by an error that proved fatal to the whole party,
sent up in their name to London ; where he conti-
nued for some years soliciting their concerns, and
making himself known to all sorts of people. He
seemed more than ordinary zealous for presbytery.
And, as Cromwell was then designing to make him-
self king, Dr. Wilkins told me he often said to him,
no temporal government could have a sure support
without a national church that adhered to it, and he
thought England was capable of no constitution but
episcopacy ; to which, he told me, he did not doubt
but Cromwell would have turned, as soon as the de-
sign of his kingship was settled. Upon this, Wil-
kins spoke to Sharp, that it was plain by their
breach that presbytery could not be managed so
as to maintain order among them, and that an epi-
scopacy must be brought in to settle them : but
Sharp could not bear the discourse, and rejected it
with horror. I have dwelt longer on this matter,
^ Afterwards archbishop, and murdered. S.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. Ill
and opened it more fully, than was necessary, if I
had not thought that this may have a good effect
on the reader, and shew him how impossible it is in
a parity to maintain peace and order, if the magis-
trate does not interpose : and if he does, that will be 65
cried out upon by the zealous of both sides, as abo-
minable Erastianism.
From these matters I so next to set down some ^'^^^ °^
^ ^ Cromwell's
particulars that I knew concerning CromweU, that I maxims.
have not yet seen in books. Some of these I had
from the earls of Carlisle and Orrery : the one had
been the captain of his guards : and the other had
been the president of his council in Scotland. But
he from whom I learned the most was Stouppe, a
Grison by birth, then minister of the French church
in the Savoy, and afterwards a brigadier general in
the French armies : a man of intrigue, but of no
virtue : [but he was more a frantic deist, than either
protestant or Christian.] He adhered to the pro-
testant religion, as to outward appearance : he was
much trusted by CromweU in foreign affairs ; in
which CromweU was oft at a loss, and having no fo-
reign language, but the little Latin that stuck to
him from his education, which he spoke very vi-
ciously and scantily, had not the necessary means
of informing himself.
When CromweU first assumed the government,
he had three great parties of the nation aU against
him, the episcopal, the presbyterian, and the repub-
lican party. The last was the most set on his ruin,
looking on him as the person that had perfidiously
broke the house of commons, and was setting up for
himself He had none to rely on but the army :
yet that enthusiastic temper, that he had taken so
112 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
much pains to raise among them, made them very
intractable : many of the chief officers were broken,
and imprisoned by him : and he flattered the rest
the best he coUld. He went on in his old way of
long and dark discourses, sermons, and prayers. As
to the cavalier party, he was afraid both of assassi-
nation and other plottings from them. As to the
former of these, he took a method that proved very
effectual : he said often and openly, that in a war
it was necessary to return upon any side all the vio-
lent things that any of the one side did to the other.
This was done for preventing greater mischief, and
for bringing men to fair war : therefore, he said,
assassinations were such detestable things, that he
would never begin them : but if any of the king's
party should endeavour to assassinate him, and fail
in it, he would make an assassinating war of it, and
destroy the whole family : and he pretended he had
instruments to execute it, whensoever he should
give order for it. The terror of this was a better
security to him than his guards.
The other, as to their plottings, was the more
dangerous. But he understood that one sir Richard
Willis was chancellor Hide's chief confidant, to
whom he wrote often, and to whom all the party
submitted, looking on him as an able and wise man,
66 in whom they confided absolutely. So he found a
way to talk with him : he said, he did not intend to
hurt any of the party : his design was rather to
save them from ruin : they were apt, after their
cups, to run into foolish and ill concerted plots,
which signified nothing but to ruin those who en-
gaged in them : he knew they consulted him in
every thing : all he desired of him was to know all
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 113
their plots, that he might so disconcert them, that
none might ever suffer for them : if he clapt any of
them up in prison, it should only be for a little
time : and they should be interrogated only about
some trifling discourse, but never about the business
they had been engaged in. He offered Willis what-
ever he would accept of, and to give it when or as
he pleased. He durst not ask or take above two
hundred pounds a year. None was trusted with
this but his secretary Thurlo, who was a very dex-
terous man at getting intelligence.
Thus Cromwell had aU the king's party in a net.
He let them dance in it at pleasure : and upon oc-
casions clapt s them up for a short while : but no-
thing was ever discovered that hurt any of them.
In conclusion, after Cromwell's death, WiUis conti-
nued to give notice of every thing to Thurlo. At
last, when the plot was laid among the cavaliers for
a general insurrection, the king was desired to come
over to that which was to be raised in Sussex : he
was to have landed near Chichester, all by Willis's
management : and a snare was laid for him, in
which he would probably have been caught, if Mor-
land, Thurlo's under secretary, who was a prying
man, had not discovered the correspondence be-
tween his master and WiUis, and warned the king
of his danger. Yet it was not easy to persuade
those who had trusted Willis so much, and who
thought him faithful in all respects, to believe that
he could be guilty of so black a treachery : so Mor-
land's advertisement was looked on as an artifice to
create jealousy. But he, to give a fuU conviction,
5 Pox of his claps. S.
VOL. I. I
114 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
observed where the secretary laid some letters of
advice, on which he saw he relied most, and getting
the key of that cabinet in his hand to seal a letter
with a seal that hung to it, he took the impression
of it in wax, and got a key to be made from it, by
which he opened the cabinet, and sent over some of
the most important of those letters. The hand was
known, and this artful but black treachery was dis-
covered : so the design of the rising was laid aside.
Sir George Booth having engaged at the same time
to raise a body in Cheshire, two several messengers
were sent to him, to let him know the design could
not be executed at the time appointed : but both
these persons were suspected by some garrisons
through which they must pass, as giving no good
67 account of themselves in a time of jealousy, and
were so long stopt, that they could not give him
notice in time : so he very gallantly performed
his part : but not being seconded, he was soon
crushed by Lambert ^. Thus Willis lost the merit
of great and long services. This was one of Crom-
well's masterpieces.
As for the presbyterians, they were so apprehen-
sive of the fury of the commonwealth party, that
they thought it a deliverance to be rescued out of
their hands : many of the republicans begun to pro-
fess deism : and almost all of them were for destroy-
ing all clergymen, and for breaking every thing that
looked like the union of a national church. They
were for pulling down the churches, for discharging
the tithes, and for leaving religion free, as they
called it, without either encouragement or restraint.
•• See Echard's History of England, p. 729. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 115
Cromwell assured the presbyterians, he would main-
tain a public ministry with all due encouragement ;
and he joined them in a commission with some in-
dependents, to be the triers of all those who were
to be admitted to benefices. These disposed also of
all the churches that were in the gift of the crown,
of the bishops, and of the cathedral churches : so
this softened them.
He studied to divide the commonwealth party
among themselves, and to set the fifth-monarchy
men and the enthusiasts against those who pre-
tended to little or no religion, and acted only upon
the principles of civil liberty ; such as Algernoon
Sidney, Henry Nevill, Martin, Wildman, and Har-
rington. The fifth-monarchy men seemed to be
really in expectation every day when Christ should
appear : John Goodwin headed these, who first
brought in Arminianism among the sectaries, for he
was for liberty of aU sorts. Cromwell hated that
doctrine : for his beloved notion was, that once a
child of God was always a child of God : now he
had led a very strict life for above eight years toge-
ther before the war ' : so he comforted himself much
with his reflections on that time, and on the cer-
tainty of perseverance. But none of the preachers
were so thoroughpaced for him, as to temporal mat-
ters, as Goodwin was ; for he not only justified the
putting the king to death, but magnified it as the
gloriousest action men were capable of. He filled
' Archbishop Tillotson, who " believed himself to be the in-
had married his niece, used to " strument of God, in the great
say, " that at last Cromwell's " actions of his power, for the
" enthusiasm had got the better " reformation of the world." O.
" of his hypocrisy, and that he
I 2
116 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
all people with such expectation of a glorious thou-
sand years speedily to begin, that it looked like a
madness possessing them.
^^thr^" It was no easy thing for Cromwell to satisfy
kingship, those, when he took the power into his own hands ;
since that looked like a step to kingship, which
Goodwin had long represented as the great Anti-
christ, that hindered Christ's being set on his throne.
To these he said, and as some have told me, with
68 many tears, that he would rather have taken a
shepherd's staff than the protectorship, since nothing
was more contrary to his genius than a shew of
greatness : but he saw it was necessary at that time
to keep the nation from falling into extreme dis-
order, and from becoming open to the common
enemy : and therefore he only stept in between the
living and the dead, as he phrased it, in that inter-
val, till God should direct them on what bottom
they ought to settle : and he assured them, that
then he would surrender the heavy load lying upon
him, with a joy equal to the sorrow with which he
was affected while under that shew of dignity. To
men of this stamp he would enter into the terms of
their old equality, shutting the door, and making
them sit down covered by him, to let them see how
little he valued those distances that, for form's sake,
he was bound to keep up with others. These dis-
courses commonly ended in a long prayer. Thus
with much ado he managed the repubUcan enthu-
siasts. The other republicans he called the hea-
thens, and professed he could not so easily work
upon them. He had some chaplains of all sorts :
and he begun in his latter years to be gentler to-
wards those of the church of England. They had
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 117
their meetings in several places about London with-
out any disturbance from him. In conclusion, even
the papists courted him : and he, with great dissi-
mulation, carried things with all sorts of people
farther than was thought possible, considering the
difficulties he met with in all his parliaments : but
it was generally believed, that his life and all his
arts were exhausted at once, and that if he had
lived much longer, he could not have held things to-
gether.
The debates came on very high for setting up a
king. AU the lawyers, chiefly Glyn, Maynard, Foun-
tain, and St, Johns, were vehemently for this. They
said, no new government could be settled legally but
by a king, who should pass bills for such a form as
should be agreed on. Till then, all they did was
Hke building upon sand : stiU men were in danger
of a revolution : and in that case, all that had been
done would be void of itself, as contrary to a law yet
in being, and not repealed. Till that was done,
every man that had been concerned in the war, and
in the blood that was shed, chiefly the king's, was
stiU obnoxious : and no warrants could be pleaded,
but what were founded on, or approved of by, a law
passed by king, lords, and commons. They might
agree to tinist this king as much as they pleased,
and to make his power determine as soon as they
pleased, so that he should be d^felo de se, and con-
sent to an act, if need were, of extinguishing both
name and thing for ever. And as no man's person
was safe tiU that was done, so they said all the 69
grants and sales that had been made were nuU and
void : all men that had gathered or disposed of the
public money were for ever accountable. In short,
I 3
118 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
this point was made out beyond the possibility of
answering it, except upon enthusiastic principles.
But by that sort of men all this was called a mis-
trusting of God, and a trusting to the arm of flesh :
they had gone out, as they said, in the simplicity of
their hearts to fight the Lord's battles, to whom
they had made the appeal : he had heard them, and
appeared for them, and now they could trust him
no longer : they had pulled down monarchy with
the monarch, and would they now build that up
which they had destroyed : they had solemnly vowed
to God to be true to the commonwealth, without a
king or kingship : and under that vow, as under a
banner, they had fought and prevailed: but now
they must be secure, and in order to that go back
to Egypt : they thought, it was rather a happiness
that they were stiQ under a legal danger: this
might be a mean to make them more cautious and
diligent : if kings were invaders of God's right, and
usurpers upon men's liberties, why must they have
recourse to such a wicked engine? Upon these
grounds they stood out : and they looked on all
that was offered about the limiting this king in his
power, as the gilding the pill : the assertors of those
laws, that made it necessary to have a king, would
no sooner have one, than they would bring forth out
of the same storehouse all that related to the power
and prerogative of this king : therefore they would
not hearken to any thing that was offered on that
head, but rejected it with scorn. Many of them
began openly to say, if we must have a king, in con-
sequence of so much law as was alleged, why should
we not rather have that king to whom the law cer-
tainly pointed than any other ? The carl of Orrery
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 119
told me, that, coming one day to Cromwell, during
those heats, and telling him he had been in the city
all that day, Cromwell asked him what news he had
heard there : the other answered, that he was told
he was in treaty with the king, who was to be re-
stored, and to marry his daughter. Cromwell ex-
pressing no indignation at this, lord Orrery said, in
the state to which things were brought, he saw not
a better expedient : they might bring him in on what
terms they pleased : and Cromwell might retain the
same authority he then had, with less trouble.
CromweU answered, the king can never forgive his
father's blood. Orrery said, he was one of many
that were concerned in that, but he would be alone
in the merit of restoring him. Cromwell replied,
he is so damnably debauched, he would undo us all ;
and so turned to another discourse without any
emotion, which made Orrery conclude he had often 70
thought of that expedient.
Before the day in which he refused the offer of
the kingship that was made to him by the parlia-
ment, he had kept himself on such a reserve, that no
man knew what answer he would give. It was
thought more likely he would accept of it : but that
which determined him to the contrary was, that,
when he went down in the morning to walk in St.
James's park, Fleetwood and Desborough were wait-
ing for him : the one had married his daughter, and
the other his sister. With these he entered into
much discourse on the subject, and argued for it :
he said, it was a tempting of God to expose so many
worthy men to death and poverty, when there was
a certain way to secure them. The others insisted
still on the oaths they had taken. He said, these
I 4
laO A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
oaths were against the power and tyranny of kings,
but not against the four letters that made the word
Mng. In conclusion, they, believing from his dis-
course that he intended to accept of it, told him,
they saw great confusions would follow on it : and
as they could riot serve him to set up the idol they
had put down, and had sworn to keep down, so
they would not engage in any thing against him,
but would retire and look on. So they offered him
their commissions, since they were resolved not to
serve a king : he desired they would stay till they
heard his answer. It was believed, that he, seeing
two persons so near him ready to abandon him,
concluded that many others would follow their ex-
ample; and therefore thought it was too bold a
venture. So he refused it, but accepted of the con-
tinuance of his protectorship. Yet, if he had lived
out the next winter, as the debates were to have
been brought on again, so it was generally thought
he would have accepted of the offer. And it is yet
a question what the effect of that would have been.
Some have thought it would have brought on a
general settlement, since the law and the ancient
government were again to take place : others have
fancied just the contrary, that it would have engaged
(enraged) the army, so that they would either have
deserted the service, or have revolted from him, and
perhaps have killed him in the first fray of the tu-
mult ^. I will not determine which of these would
have most probably happened. In these debates
some of the cavalier party, or rather their children,
^ It has been said, that Pride shoot him through the head,
told him, if he took the crown, the first opportunity he had for
he would (if nobody else would) it. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 121
came to bear some share. They were then all zeal-
ous commonwealth's men, according to the directions
sent them from those about the king. Their busi-
ness was to oppose Cromwell on all his demands,
and so to weaken him at home, and expose him
abroad. 'SVhen some of the other party took notice
of this great change, from being the abettors of pre- 71
rogative to become the patrons of liberty, they pre-
tended their education in the court and their obli-
gation to it had engaged them that way ; but now
since that was out of doors, they had the common
principles of human nature and the love of liberty in
them. By this mean, as the old republicans assisted
and protected them, so [they secured themselves,]
at the same time they strengthened the faction
against Cromwell. But these very men at the re-
storation shook off this disguise, and reverted to
their old principles for a high prerogative and abso-
lute power. They said they were for liberty, when
it was a mean to distress one who they thought had
no right to govern ; but when the government re-
turned to its old channel, they were still as firm to
all prerogative notions, and as great enemies to li-
berty, as ever ^
' I suppose he means the li- and the revohition in 1688,
berty of plundering, which the sufficiently prove that the peo-
other party ever were, and al- pie he would asperse, and their
ways will be, much inclined to, children after them, were no
as acting altogether upon a friends to arbitrary government,
principle of self-interest ; which but enemies to what the bishop
is the true reason why they and his friends have ever had
constantly set themselves in most at heart, and which they
opposition to the established have never failed to put in
religion, it being a thing apt to practice, whenever they have
interfere with their pickpocket had an opportunity ; which li-
designs." But the establishment centiousness they are pleased
upon the restoration in 1660, to call liberty. D.
122 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
Cromwell's I go next to give an account of Cromwell's trans-
m«f(fwitii actions with relation to foreign affairs. He laid it
France. down for a maxim, to spare no cost or charge in
order to procure him intelligence. When he under-
stood what dealers the Jews were every where in
that trade that depends on news, the advancing
money upon high or low interests in proportion to
the risk they run, or the gain to be made as the
times might turn, and in the buying and selling of
the actions of money so advanced, he, more upon
that account than in compliance with the principle
of toleration, brought a company of them over to
England, and gave them leave to build a synagogue.
All the while that he was negotiating this, they were
sure and good spies for him, especially with relation
to Spain and Portugal. The earl of Orrery told me,
he was once walking with him in one of the galleries
of Whitehall, and a man almost in rags came in
view : he presently dismissed lord Orrery, and car-
ried that man into his closet ; who brought him an
account of a great sum of money that the Spaniards
were sending over to pay their army in Flanders,
but in a Dutch man of war : and he told him the
places of the ship in which the money was lodged.
Cromwell sent an express immediately to Smith, af-
terwards sir Jeremy Smith, who lay in the Downs,
telling him that within a day or two such a Dutch
ship would pass the channel, whom he must visit for
the Spanish money, which was conterband goods,
we being then in war with Spain. So when the
ship passed by Dover, Smith sent, and demanded
leave to search him. The Dutch captain answered,
none but his masters might search him. Smith sent
him word, he had set up an hour glass, and if before
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 123
that was run out he did not submit to the search,
he would force it. The captain saw it was in vain
to struggle, and so all the money was found. Next
time that Cromwell saw Orrery, he told him he had
his intelligence from that contemptible man he saw 72
him go to some days before. He had on all occa-
sions very good intelligence : he knew every thing
that passed in the king's little court : and yet none
of his spies were discovered, but one only.
The greatest difficulty on him in his foreign af-
fairs was, what side to choose, France or Spain.
The prince of Conde was then in the Netherlands
with a great many protestants about him. He set
the Spaniards on making great steps towards the
gaining Cromwell into their interests. Spain ordered
their ambassador to compliment him : he was es-
teemed one of their ablest men : his name was Don
Alonso de Cardenas : he offered, that if Cromwell
would join with them, they would engage them-
selves to make no peace till he should recover Calais
again to England. This was very agreeable to
Cromwell, who thought it would recommend him
much to the nation, if he could restore that town
again to the English empire, after it had been a
hundred years in the hands of the French. Mazarin
hearing of this, sent one over to negotiate with him,
but at first without a character : and, to outbid the
Spaniard, he offered to assist Cromwell to take Dun-
kirk, which was a place of much more importance.
The prince of Conde sent over likewise to offer
Cromwell to turn protestant : and, if he would give
him a fleet with good troops, he would make a de-
scent in Guienne, where he did not doubt but that
he should be assisted by the protestants ; and that
1^ A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
he should so distress France, as to obtain such con-
ditions for them and for England, as CromweU him-
self should dictate. Upon this offer CromweU sent
Stoupe round all France, to talk with their most
eminent men, to see into their strength, into their
present disposition, the oppressions they lay under,
and their inclinations to trust the prince of Conde.
He went from Paris down the Loire, then to Bour-
deaux, from thence to Montauban, and cross the
south of France to Lions : he was instructed to talk
to them only as a traveller, and to assure them of
Cromwell's zeal and care for them, which he mag-
nified every where. The protestants were then very
much at their ease : for Mazarin, who thought of
nothing but to enrich his family, took care to main-
tain the edicts better than they had been in any
time formerly. So Stoupe returned, and gave Crom-
weU an account of the ease they were then in, and
of their resolution to be quiet. They had a very
bad opinion of the prince of Conde, [as an impious
and immoral man,] as a man who sought nothing
but his own greatness, to which they believed that
he was ready to sacrifice aU his friends, and every
cause that he espoused. This settled CromweU as
to that particular. He also found that the cardinal
73 had such spies on that prince, that he knew every
message that had passed between them : therefore
he would have no farther correspondence with him :
he said upon that to Stoupe, Stultus est, et gm-ru-
>' lus, et venditur a suis cardinali. That Avhich de-
termined him afterwards in the choice was this : he
found the parties grew so strong against him at
home, that he saw if the king or his brother were
assisted by France with an army of Huguenots to
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 125
make a descent in England, which was threatened
if he should join with Spain, this might prove very
dangerous to him, who had so many enemies at
home, and so few friends. This particular consider-
ation, with relation to himself, made great impression
on him ; for he knew the Spaniards could give those
princes no strength, nor had they any protestant
subjects to assist them in any such design. Upon
this occasion king James told me, that among other
prejudices he had at the protestant rehgion this was
one, that both his brother and himself, being in
many companies in Paris incognito^ where they met
many protestants, he found they were all alienated
from them, and were great admirers of Cromwell :
so he believed they were aU rebels in their heart.
I answered, that foreigners were no other way con-
cerned in the quarrels of their neighbours, than to
see who could or would assist them : the coldness
they had seen formerly in the court of England with
relation to them, and the zeal which was then ex-
pressed, must naturally make them depend on one
that seemed resolved to protect them. As the ne-
gotiation went on between France and England,
Cromwell would have the king and his brother dis-
missed the kingdom. Mazarin consented to this;
for he thought it more honourable, that the French
king should send them away of his own accord, tharf
that it should be done pursuant to an article with
Cromwell. Great excuses were made for doing it :
they had sonie money given them, and were sent
away loaded with promises of constant supplies that
were never meant to be performed : and they retired
to Colen; for the Spaniards were not yet out of
hope of gaining Cromwell. But when that vanished.
lae A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
they invited them to Bruxells, and they settled
great appointments on them ; in their way, which
was always to promise much, how little soever they
could perform. They also settled a pay for such of
the subjects of the three kingdoms as would come
and serve under our princes : but few came, except
from Ireland : of these some regiments were formed.
But though this gave them a great and lasting in-
terest in our court, especially in king James's, yet
they did not much to deserve it.
The king Bcforc kinff Charles left Paris he changed his re-
turned pa- _ " ^ *-"
pist. ligion, but by whose persuasion is not yet known :
74 only cardinal de Retz was in the secret, and lord
Aubigny had a great hand in it. It was kept a
great secret. Chancellor Hide had some suspicion
of it, but would never suffer himself to believe it
quite™. Soon after the restoration, that cardinal came
over in disguise, and had an audience of the king :
what passed is not known. The first ground I had
to believe it was this : the marquis de Roucy, who
was the man of the greatest family in France that
continued protestant to the last, was much pressed
by that cardinal to change his religion : he was his
kinsman, and his particular friend. Among other
reasons one that he urged was, that the protestant
religion must certainly be ruined, and that they
could expect no protection from England, for to his
certain knowledge both the princes were already
changed. Roucy told this in great confidence to
his minister, who after his death sent an advertise-
ment of it to my self. Sir Allen Broderick, a great
confident of the chancellor's, who, from being very
^ See his vindication in the State Trials, vol. viii. p, 386. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 127
atheistical became in the last years of his life an
eminent penitent, as he was a man of great parts,
with whom I had Uved long in great confidence, on
his deathbed sent me likewise an account of this
matter, which he believed was done in Fontaine-
bleau, before king Charles was sent to Colen. As
for king James, it seems he was not reconciled at
that time : for he told me, that being in a monastery
in Flanders, a nun desired him to pray every day,
that if he was not in the right way, God would bring
him into it ; and he said, the impression these words
made on him never left him till he changed.
To return to Cromwell : while he was balancing
in his mind what was fit for him to do. Gage, who
had been a priest, came over from the West Indies,
and gave him such an account of the feebleness, as
well as of the wealth of the Spaniards in those parts,
as made him conclude that it would be both a great cromweii's
and an easy conquest to seize on their dominions, the wes"
By this he reckoned he would be supplied with such ^"^^*-
a treasure, that his government would be established
before he should need to have any recourse to a par-
liament for money. Spain would never admit of a
peace with England between the tropics : so he was
in a state of war with them as to those parts, even
before he declared war in Europe. He upon that
equipped a fleet with a force sufficient, as he hoped,
to have seized Hispaniola and Cuba. And Gage
had assured him, that success in that expedition
would make all the rest fall into his hands. Stoupe,
being on another occasion called to his closet, saw
him one day very intent in looking on a map, and
in measuring distances. Stoupe saw it was a map
of the bay of Mexico, and observed who printed it.
128 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
75 So, there being no discourse upon that subject,
Stoupe went next day to the printer to buy the
map. The printer denied he had printed it. Stoupe
affirmed he had seen it. Then, he said, it must be
only in Cromwell's hand ; for he only had some of
the prints, and had given him a strict charge to sell
none, till he had leave given him. So Stoupe per-
ceived there was a design that way. And when the
time of setting out the fleet came on, all were in a
gaze whither it was to go : some fancied it was to
rob the church of Loretto, which did occasion a for-
tification to be drawn round it : others talked of
Rome itself; for Cromwell's preachers had this often
in their mouths, that if it were not for the divisions
at home, he would go and sack Babylon : others
talked of Cadiz, though he had not yet broke with
the Spaniards. The French could not penetrate
into the secret. Cromwell had not finished his al-
liance with them : so he was not bound to give
them an account of the expedition. All he said
upon it was, that he sent out the fleet to guard the
seas, and to restore England to its dominion on that
element. Stoupe happened to say in a company, he
believed the design was on the West Indies. The
Spanish ambassador, hearing that, sent for him very
privately, to ask him upon what ground he said it :
and he offered to lay down 10,000/. if he could
make any discovery of that. Stoupe owned to me
he had a great mind to the money ; and fancied he
betrayed nothing, if he did discover the grounds of
these conjectures, since nothing had been trusted to
him: but he expected greater matters from Crom-
well, and so kept the secret ; and said only, that in
a diversity of conjectures, that seemed to him more
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 129
probable than any others. But ^ the ambassador
made no account of that ; nor did he think it worth
the writing to Don John, then at Bruxells, about it.
Stoupe writ it over as his conjecture to one about
the prince of Conde, who at first hearing it was per-
suaded that must be the design, and went next day
to suggest it to Don John : but Don John relied so
much on the ambassador, that this made no impres-
sion. And indeed aU the ministers whom he em-
ployed knew that they were not to disturb him with
troublesome news : of which king Charles told a
pleasant story. One whom Don John was sending
to some court in Germany, coming to the king to
ask his commands, he desired him only to write
him news: the Spaniard asked him, whether he
would have true or false news : and, when the king
seemed amazed at the question, he added, if he writ
him true news the king must be secret, for he knew
he must write news to Don John that would be ac-
ceptable, true or false : when the ministers of that
court shewed that they would be served in such a 76
manner, it is no wonder to see how their affairs
have declined. This matter of the fleet continued
a great secret. And some months after that, Stoupe
being accidentally with Cromwell, one came from
the fleet through Ireland with a letter. The bearer
looked like one that brought no welcome news.
And as soon as Cromwell had read the letter, he
dismissed Stoupe, who went immediately to the earl
of Leicester, then lord Lisle, and told him what he
had seen. He being of Cromwell's council went to
Whitehall, and came back, and told Stoupe of the
descent made on Hispaniola, and of the misfortune
A^OL. I. K
130 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
that had happened. It was then late, and was the
post night for Flanders. So Stoupe writ it as news
to his correspondent, some days before the Spanish
ambassador knew any thing of it. Don John was
amazed at the news, and had never any regard for
the ambassador after that ; but had a great opinion
of Stoupe, and ordered the ambassador to make him
theirs at any rate. The ambassador sent for him,
and asked him, now that it appeared he had guessed
right, what were his grounds : and when he told
what they were, the ambassador owned he had rea-
son to conclude as he did upon what he saw. And
upon that he made great use of Stoupe : but he
himself was never esteemed after that so much as he
had been. This deserved to be set down so parti-
cularly, since by it, it appears that the greatest de-
sign may be discovered by an undue carelessness.
The court of France was amazed at the undertak-
ing, and was glad that it had miscarried ; for the
cardinal said, if he had suspected it, he would have
made peace with Spain on any terms, rather than to
have given way to that which would have been such
an addition to England, as must have brought all
the wealth of the world into their hands. The fleet
took Jamaica: but that was a small gain, though
much magnified to cover the faihng of the main de-
sign. The war after that broke out, in which Dun-
kirk was indeed taken, and put in Cromwell's hand :
but the trade of England suffered more in that, than
in any former war : so he lost the heart of the city
of London by that means.
His zeal CromwcU had two signal occasions given him to
protestant shcw his zcal in protecting the protestants abroad.
religion.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 131
The duke of Savoy raised a new persecution of the
Vaudois : so Cromwell sent to Mazarin, desiring
him to put a stop to that; adding, that he knew
well they had that duke in their power, and could
restrain him as they pleased : and if they did not, he
must presently break with them. Mazarin objected
to this as unreasonable : he promised to do good of-
fices : but he could not be obliged to answer for the
effects they might have. This did not satisfy Crom-
well : so they obliged the duke of Savoy to put a 77
stop to that unjust fury : and Cromwell raised a
great sum for the Vaudois, and sent over Morland
to settle all their concerns, and to supply all their
losses. There was also a tumult in Nismes, in
which some disorder had been committed by the
Huguenots : and they, apprehending severe proceed-
ings upon it, sent one over with great expedition to
Cromwell, who sent him back to Paris in an hour's
time with a very effectual letter to his ambassador,
requiring him either to prevail that the matter might
be passed over, or to come away immediately. Ma-
zarin complained of this way of proceeding, as too
imperious : but the necessity of their affairs made
him yield. These things raised Cromwell's character
abroad, and made him be much depended on.
His ambassador in France at this time was Lock-
hart, a Scotchman, who had married his niece, and
was in high favour with him, as he well deserved to
be. He was both a wise and a gallant man, calm
and virtuous, and one that carried the generosities
of friendship very far. He was made governor of
Dunkirk and ambassador at the same time. But
he told me, that when he was sent afterwards am-
bassador by king Charles, he found he had nothing
K 2
132 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
of that regard that was paid him in Cromwell's
time ".
A great de- Stoupe told me of a ffreat design Cromwell had
sign for the . \ .......
interest of mtended to begin his kingship with, if he had as-
antrdi-^* sumed it: he resolved to set up a council for the
^'°°' protestant religion, in opposition to the congregation
de propaganda fide at Rome. He intended it
should consist of seven counsellors, and four secreta-
ries for different provinces. These were the first,
France, Switzerland, and the Valleys : the palatinate
and the other Calvinists were the second : Germany,
the North, and Turkey were the third: and the
East and West Indies were the fourth. The secre-
taries were to have 500/. salary apiece, and to keep
a correspondence every where, to know the state of
religion all over the world, that so all good designs
might be by their means protected and assisted.
Stoupe was to have the first province. They were
to have a fund of 10,000/. a year at their disposal
for ordinary emergencies, but to be farther supplied
as occasions should require it. Chelsea college was
to be made up for them, which was then an old de-
cayed building, that had been at first raised to be a
college for writers of controversy. I thought it was
not fit to let such a project as this be quite lost : it
was certainly a noble one : but how far he would
have pursued it, must be left to conjecture.
Stoupe told me a remarkable passage in his em-
' " No doubt Lockhart was that the king's minister was
not looked upon in France to not so much regarded as Crom-
be in the same degree of credit well's, which, if true, must
in king Charles's court, that he ha vie been personal to the man,
had been in Oliver's, whose not to his character as an am-
niece he had married : but the bassador. D.
bishop would gladly insinuate,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 135
ployment under Cromwell. Stoupe had desired all Some pas-
that were under the prince of Conde to let himcromw"iri
know some news, in return of that he writ to them, ilf^
So he had a letter from one of them, giving an ac-
count of an Irishman newly gone over, who had said
he would kiU Cromwell, and that he was to lodge
in King-street, Westminster. With this Stoupe went
to Whitehall. Cromwell being then at council, he
sent him a note, letting him know that he had a
business of great consequence to lay before him.
Cromwell was then upon a matter that did so en-
tirely possess him, that he, fancying it was only
some piece of foreign intelligence, sent Thurlo to
know what it might be. Stoupe was troubled at
this, but could not refuse to shew him his letter.
Thurlo made no great matter of it : he said, they
had many such advertisements sent them, which
signified nothing, but to make the world think the
Protector was in danger of his life : and the looking
too much after these things had an appearance of
fear, which did iU become so great a man. Stoupe
told him. King-street might be soon searched.
Thurlo answered, if we find no such person, how
shall we be laughed at? Yet he ordered him to
write again to Bruxells, and promise any reward
if a more particular discovery could be made. Stoupe
was much cast down, when he saw that a piece of
intelligence which he hoped might have made his
fortune was so little considered. He wrote to Brux-
ells : but he had no more from thence, but a con-
firmation of what had been writ formerly to him.
And Thurlo did not think fit to make any search,
or any farther inquiry into it : nor did he so much
as acquaint Cromwell with it. Stoupe, being un-
K 3
134 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
easy at this, told lord Lisle of it : and it happened
that, a few weeks after, Syndercomb's design of as-
sassinating Cromwell near Brentford, as he was go-
ing to Hampton court, was discovered. When he
was examined, it appeared that he was the person
set out in the letters from Bruxells. So Lisle said
to Cromwell, this is the very man of whom Stoupe
had the notice given him". Cromwell seemed amazed
at this ; and sent for Stoupe, and in great wrath
reproached him for his ingratitude in concealing a
matter of such consequence to him. Stoupe upon
this shewed him the letters he had received; and
put him in mind of the note he had sent in to him,
which was immediately after he had the first letter,
and that he had sent out Thurlo to him. At that
Cromwell seemed yet more amazed; and sent for
Thurlo, to whose face Stoupe affirmed the matter :
nor did he deny any part of it ; but only said, that
he had many such advertisements sent him, in which
till this time he had never found any truth. Crom-
well replied sternly, that he ought to have ac-
quainted him with it, and left him to judge of the
79ii^portance of it. Thurlo desired to speak in pri-
vate with Cromwell. So Stoupe was dismissed, and
went away, not doubting but Thurlo would be dis-
graced. But, as he understood from Lisle afterward,
Thurlo shewed Cromwell such instances of his care
and fidelity on aU such occasions, and humbly ac-
knowledged his error in this matter, but imputed it
wholly to his care, both for his honour and quiet,
° (Bevil Higgons in his Re- that he was a mortal enemy to
marks on Bp. Burnet's Hist, the king; which, he observes,
p. 64. says, that Syndercomb ill agrees with this account.)
was born in Hampshire, and
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 135
that he pacified him entirely : and indeed he was so
much in all Cromwell's secrets, that it was not safe
to disgrace him without destroying him ; and that,
it seems, Cromwell could not resolve on. Thurlo
having mastered this point, that he might farther
justify his not being so attentive as he ought to have
been, did so much search into Stoupe's whole de-
portment, that he possessed CromweU with such an
ill opinion of him, that after that, he never treated
him with any confidence. So he found how danger-
ous it was even to preserve a prince, (so he called
him,) when a minister was wounded in the doing of
it ; and that the minister would be too hard for the
prince, even though his own safety was concerned
in it.
These are all the memorable things that I have
learnt concerning Cromwell ; of whom so few have
spoken with any temper, some commending, and
others condemning him, and both out of measure,
that I thought a just account of him, which I had
from sure hands, might be no unacceptable thing.
He never could shake off the roughness p of his edu-
cation and temper : he spoke always long, and very
ungracefully. The enthusiast and the dissembler
mixed so equally in a great part of his deportment,
that it was not easy to tell which was the prevailing
character. He was indeed both, as I understood
from Wilkins and Tillotson, the one having married
his sister, and the other his niece. He was a true
enthusiast, but with the principle formerly men-
tioned, from which he might be easily led into all
the practices both of falsehood and cruelty : which
P Lord Clarendon and Sir Philip Warwick say quite otherwise. O.
K 4
136 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
was, that he thought moral laws were only binding
on ordinary occasions, but that upon extraordinary
ones these might be superseded. When his own de-
signs did not lead him out of the way, he was a
lover of justice and virtue, and even of learning,
though much decried at that time.
kis mode- He studicd to seek out able and honest men, and
govern- to employ them : and so having heard that my fa-
ther had a very great reputation in Scotland for
piety and integrity, though he knew him to be a
royalist, he sent to him, desiring him to accept of a
judge's place, and to do justice in his own country,
hoping only that he would not act against his go-
vernment ; but he would not press him to subscribe
80 or swear to it. My father refused it in a pleasant
way, [being a facetious man, and abounding in
little stories.] When he who brought the message
was running out into Cromwell's commendation, my
father told a story of a pilgrim in popery, who came
to a church where one saint Kilmaclotius was in
great reverence : so the pilgrim was bid pray to
him : but he answered, he knew nothing of him, for
he was not in his breviary : but when he was told
how great a saint he was, he prayed this collect;
O sancte Kilmacloti, tu nobis hactemis es incogni-
tuSf hoc solum a te rogo, ut si bona tua nobis non
prosintf saltern mala ne noceant. My father replied,
that he desired no other favour of him, but leave to
live privately, without the impositions of oaths and
subscriptions : and ever after, he lived in great quiet.
And this was an instance of it : Overton, one of
Cromwell's major-generals, who was a high repub-
lican, being for some time at Aberdeen, where we
then lived, my father and he were often together :
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 137
in particular they were shut up alone for about two
hours the night after the order came from Cromwell
to take away Overton's commissions, and to put
him in arrest. Upon that, Howard, afterward earl
of CarUsle, being sent down to inquire into all the
plots that those men had been in, heard of this long
privacy : but when with that he heard what my fa-
ther's character was, he made no farther inquiry
into it ; but said, Cromwell was very uneasy when
any good man was questioned for any thing.
This gentleness had in a great measure quieted His public
people's minds with relation to him. And his main-*"^'" '
taining the honour of the nation in all foreign coun-
tries gratified the vanity which is very natural to
Englishmen ^ ; of which he was so careful, that
though he was not a crowned head, yet his ambas-
sadors had aU the respects paid them which our
king's ambassadors ever had : he said, the dignity
of the crown was upon the account of the nation, of
which the king was only the representative head ;
so the nation being still the same, he would have
the same regards paid to his ministers.
Another instance of this pleased him much. Blake
with the fleet happened to be at Malaga before he
made war upon Spain : and some of his seamen
went ashore, and met the hostie carried about ; and
not only paid no respect to it, but laughed at those
who did : so one of the priests put the people on re-
senting this indignity ; and they fell upon them, and
beat them severely. When they returned to their
^ I presume the bishop every thing else ; but I believe
thought his countrymen had whoever reads this book will
no share in that character, think that one of them, at
though they claim a third in least, had his full proportion. D.
138 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
ship, they complained of this usage : and upon that
Blake sent a trumpet to the viceroy, to demand the
priest who was the chief instrument in that ill
usage. The viceroy answered, he had no authority
over the priests, and so could not dispose of him.
81 Blake upon that sent him word, that he would not
inquire who had the power to send the priest to
him, but if he were not sent within three hours, he
would bum their town : and they, being in no con-
dition to resist him, sent the priest to him, who jus-
tified himself upon the petulant behaviour of the
seamen. Blake answered, that if he had sent a
complaint to him of it, he would have punished
them severely, since he would not suffer his men to
affront the established religion of any place at which
he touched : but he took it ill, that he set on the
Spaniards to do it ; for he would have all the world
to know, that an Englishman was only to be pu-
nished by an Englishman : and so he treated the
priest civilly, and sent him back, being satisfied that
he had him at his mercy.
All the CromweU was much delighted with this, and read
afraid of** the letters in council with great satisfaction ; and
*""• said, he hoped he should make the name of an Eng-
lishman as great as ever that of a Roman had been.
The states of Holland were in such dread of him,
that they took care to give him no sort of umbrage :
and when at any time the king or his brothers came
to see their sister, the princess royal, within a day
or two after they used to send a deputation to let
them know that Cromwell had required of the states
that they should give them no harbour. King
Charles, when he was seeking for colours for the
war with the Dutch in the year 1672, urged it for
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 189
one, that they suflfered some of his rebels to live in
their provinces. Borel, then their ambassador, an-
swered, that it was a maxim of long standing among
them, not to inquire upon what account strangers
came to live in their country, but to receive them
all, unless they had been concerned in conspiracies
against the persons of princes. The king told him
upon that, how they had used both himself and his
brother. Borel, in great simplicity, answered : Ha !
sire, c'estoit une autre chose: Cromwell estoit un
grand homme, et il sejaisoit craindre et par terre
et par mer. This was very rough. The king's an-
swer was : Je meferay craindre aussy a mon tour:
but he was scarce as good as his word ■■.
Cromwell's favourite alliance was with Sweden.
Carolus Gustavus and he lived in great conjunction
of counsels. Even Algemoon Sydney, who was not
inclined to think or speak well of kings, commended
him to me ; and said, he had just notions of public
liberty ; and added, that queen Christina seemed to
have them likewise. But she was much changed
from that, when I waited on her at Rome ; for she
complained of us as a factious nation, that did not
readily comply with the commands of our princes.
All Italy trembled at the name of Cromwell, and
seemed under a panic fear as long as he lived. His 82
fleet scoured the Mediterranean : and the Turks
durst not offend him ; but delivered up Hide, who
kept up the character of an ambassador from the
■■ Borel might upon that oc- Oliver before the king, as a
casion represent Cromwell as a means to obtain his ends : but
tyrant that frighted people into Burnet was always ready to
doing unreasonable things ; but believe and to report any vul-
it is highly improbable that he gar stuff he heard, to the dis-
should be so simple a brute, as paragement of king Charles the
to fall into encomiums upon second. D.
140 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
king there, and was brought over and executed for
it. The putting the brother of the king of Portu-
gal's ambassador to death for murder, was the car-
rying justice very far ; since, though in the strict-
ness of the law of nations it is only the ambassador's
own person that is exempted from any authority
but his master's that sends him, yet the practice had
gone in favour of aU that the ambassador owned to
belong to him. CromweU shewed his good under-
standing in nothing more, than in seeking out capa-
ble and worthy men for all employments, but most
particularly for the courts of law, which gave a ge-
neral satisfaction.
The ruin of Thus hc livcd, and at last died, on his auspicious ^
his family, , , , .
third of September, of so slight a sickness, that his
death was not looked for. He had two sons, and
four daughters. His sons were weakS but honest
men. Richard, the eldest, though declared pro-
tector in pursuance of a nomination pretended to be
made by Cromwell, the truth of which was much
questioned, was not at all bred for business, nor in-
deed capable of it. He was innocent of all the ill
his father had done : so there was no prejudice lay
against him : and both the' royalists and the pres-
byterians fancied he favoured them, though he pre-
tended to be an independent. But aU the com-
monwealth party cried out upon his assuming the
protectorship, as a high usurpation ; since whatever
his father had from his parliaments was only per-
sonal, and so fell with him : yet in opposition to
this, the city of London, and all the counties and
» On that day he had defeated ter. Note in the 8vo edit. 1755.
the Scotch at Dunbar, and the * But see Henry Cromwell's
next year the king at Worces- letters in Thurloe's papers. O.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 141
cities almost in England, sent him addresses con-
gratulatory, as well as condoling. So little do these
pompous appearances of respect signify. TUlotson
told me, that a week after Cromwell's death he be-
ing by accident at Whitehall, and hearing there was
to be a fast that day in the household, he out of
curiosity went into the presence chamber where it
was held. On the one side of a table Richard with
the rest of Cromwell's family were placed, and six
of the preachers were on the other side : Thomas
Goodwin, Owen, Carril, and Sterry, were of the
number. There he heard a great deal of strange
stuff, enough to disgust a man for ever of that en-
thusiastic ])oldness. God was, as it were, reproached
with Cromwell's services, and challenged for taking
him away so soon. Goodwin, who had pretended
to assure them in a prayer that he was not to die,
which was but a very few minutes before he ex-
pired, had now the impudence to say to God, Thou
hast deceived us, and we were deceived. Sterry, 83
praying for Richard, used those indecent words,
next to blasphemy, make him the brightness of the
father's glory, and the express image of his per-
son. Richard was put on giving his father a pom-
pous funeral, by which his debts increased so upon
him, that he was soon run out of all credit. When
the parliament met, his party tried to get a recog-
nition of his protectorship : but it soon appeared,
they had no strength to carry it. Fleetwood, who
married Ireton's widow, set up a council of officers :
and these resolved to lay aside Richard, who had
neither genius nor friends, neither treasure nor
army to support him. He desired only security for
the debts he had contracted ; which was promised.
142 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
but not performed. And so without any struggle
he withdrew, and became a private man. And as
he had done hurt to nobody, so nobody did ever
study to hurt him ; by a rare instance of the insta-
bility of human greatness, and of the security of
innocence. His brother had been made by the fa-
ther lieutenant of Ireland, and had the most spirit
of the two ; but he could not stand his ground,
when his brother quitted his. One of Cromwell's
daughters was married to Claypole, and died a little
before himself: another was married to the earl of
Falconbridge, a wise and worthy woman, more
likely to have maintained the post than either of
her brothers; according to a saying that went of
her, that those who wore breeches deserved petti-
coats better, but if those in petticoats had been in
breeches they would have held faster ^. The other
daughter was married, first to the earl of Warwick's
heir, and afterwards to one Russel. [I knew both
lady Falconberg and that sister.] They were both
very worthy persons.
Great dis- Upott Richard's leaving the stage, the common-
orders fol- . IT,. 1.1
lowed. wealth was agam set up : and the parliament which
Cromwell had broke was brought together : but the
army and they fell into new disputes : so they were
^ She outlived the earl of year he married his highness
Falconbridge, who, by her pru- the then lord protector of Eng-
dent management, (as it was land's daughter; which sir Har-
generally thought,) was a privy ry told her, he feared might
counsellor to Oliver, Richard, give offence : she answered, that
king Charles the second, king nobody could dispute matters of
James the second, and king fact, therefore insisted that it
William the third. After his should be inserted. I do not
death she desired sir Harry know if it were ever erected.
Sheers to write an inscription but sir Harry told me the story,
for his monument, and would with some encomiums upon the
have it inserted, that in such a spirit of the lady. D.
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 143
again broke by the army : and upon that the nation
was like to fall into great convulsions. The enthu-
siasts became very fierce, and talked of nothing but
the destroying all the records and the law, which,
they said, had been all made by a succession of ty-
rants and papists : so they resolved to model aU
anew by a levelling and a spiritual government of
the saints. There was so little sense in this, that
Nevil and Harrington, with some others, set up in
Westminster a meeting to consider of a form of go-
vernment that should secure liberty, and yet pre-
serve the nation. They ran chiefly on having a
parliament elected by ballot, in which the nation
should be represented according to the proportion
of what was paid in taxes towards the public ex-
pense : and by this parliament a council of twenty-
four was to be chosen by ballot : and every year
eight of these were to be changed, and might not 84
again be brought into it, but after an interval of
three years: by these the nation was to be go-
verned : and they were to give an account of the
administration to the parliament every year. This
meeting was a matter of diversion and scorn, to see
a few persons take upon them to form a scheme of
government : and it made many conclude, it was
necessary to call home the king, that so matters
might again fall into their old channel. Lambert
became the man on whom the army depended most.
Upon his forcing the parliament, great applications
were made to Monk to declare for the parliament :
but under this the declaring for the king was gene-
rally understood. Yet he kept himself under such
a reserve, that he declared all the while in the most
solemn manner for a commonwealth, and against a
144 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
single person, in particular against the king: so
that none had any ground from him to believe he
had any design that way. Some have thought that
he intended to try, if it was possible, to set up for
himself: others rather believed, that he had no set-
tled design any way, and resolved to do as occasion
should be offered to him. The Scotish nation did
certainly hope he would bring home the king. He
drew the greatest part of the army towards the bor-
ders, where Lambert advanced towards him with
seven thousand horse. Monk was stronger in foot :
but being apprehensive of engaging on disadvan-
tage, he sent Clarges to the lord Fairfax for his ad-
vice and assistance, who returned answer by Dr.
Fairfax, afterwards secretary to the archbishop of
Canterbury, and assured him he would raise York-
shire on the first of January. And he desired him
to press upon Lambert, in case that he should send
a detachment into Yorkshire. On the first of Ja-
nuary, Fairfax appeared with about one hundred
gentlemen and their servants. But so much did he
still maintain his great credit with the army, that the
night after, the Irish brigade, that consisted of one
thousand two hundred horse, and was the rear of
Lambert's army, came over to him. Upon that
Lambert retreated, finding his army was so little
sure to him, and resolved to march back to London.
He was followed by Monk, who when he came to
Yorkshire met with Fairfax, and offered to resign
the chief command to him. The lord Fairfax re-
fused it, but pressed Monk to declare for a free
parliament : yet in that he was so reserved to him,
that Fairfax knew not how to depend on him. But
as Lambert was making haste up, his army moul-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 145
dered away, and he himself was brought up a pri-
soner, and was put in the tower of London. Yet
not long after he made his escape, and gathered a
few troops about him in Northamptonshire. But
these were soon scattered: for Ingoldsby, though 85
one of the king's judges, raised Buckinghamshire
against him. And so little force seemed now in
that party, that with very little opposition Ingoldsby
took him prisoner, and brought him into Northamp-
ton : where Lambert, as Ingoldsby told me, enter-
tained him with a pleasant reflection for aU his mis-
fortunes. The people were in great crowds ap-
plauding and rejoicing for the success. So Lambert
put Ingoldsby in mind of what Cromwell had said
to them both, near that very place, in the year
1650, when they, with a body of the officers, were
going down after their army that was marching to
Scotland, the people aU the while shouting and
wishing them success : Lambert upon that said to
Cromwell, he was glad to see they had the nation
on their side : CromweU answered, do not trust to
that ; for these very persons would shout as much
if you and I were going to be hanged. Lambert
said, he looked on himself as in a fair way to that,
and began to think Cromwell prophesied.
Upon the dispersing Lambert's army, Monk
marched southward, and was now the object of all
men's hope. At London all sorts of people began
to cabal together, royalists, presbyterians, and re-
pubUcans. Hollis told me, the presbyterians pressed
the royalists to be quiet, and to leave the game in
their hands; for their appearing would give jea-
lousy, and hurt that which they meant to promote.
He and Ashly Cooper, Giimstone and Annesly, met
VOL. I. L
146 A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
often with Manchester, Roberts, and the rest of the
presbyterian party : and the ministers of London
were very active in the city : so that when Monk
came up, he was pressed to declare himself. At
first he would only declare for the parliament that
Lambert had forced. But there was then a great
fermentation all over the nation. Monk and the
parliament grew jealous of one another, even while
they tried who could give the best words, and ex-
press their confidence in the highest terms of one
another. I will pursue the relation of this trans-
action no farther : for this matter is weU known.
All turn to The king had gone in autumn 1659 to the meeting
side. '°^* at the Pyrenees, where cardinal Mazaiin and Don
Lewis de Haro were negotiating a peace. He ap-
plied himself to both sides, to try what assistance
he might expect upon their concluding the peace.
It was then known, that he went to mass some-
times, that so he might recommend himself the
more effectually to both courts ; yet this was carried
secretly, and was confidently denied. Mazarin still
talked to Lockhart upon the foot of the old confi-
dence : for he went thither to watch over the treaty;
though England was now in such convulsions, that
no minister from thence could be much considered,
86 unless it was upon his own account. But matters
were ripening so fast towards a revolution in Eng-
land, that the king came back to Flanders in all
haste, and went from thence to Breda. Lockhart
had it in his power to have made a great fortune, if
he had begun first, and had brought the king to
Dunkirk. As soon as the peace of the Pyrenees
was made, he came over, and found Monk at Lon-
don, and took all the pains he coidd to penetrate
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 147
into his designs. But Monk continued still to pro-
test to him in the solemnest manner possible, that
he would be true to the commonwealth, and against
the royal family. Lockhart went away, persuaded
that matters would continue still in the same state :
so that when his old friend Middletoun writ to him
to make his own terms, if he would invite the king
to Dunkirk, he said, he was trusted by the common-
wealth, and could not betray it.
The house of commons put Monk on breaking
the gates of the city of London, not doubting but
that would render him so odious to them, that it
would force him to depend wholly on themselves.
He did it: and soon after he saw how odious he
was become by it. So conceiving a high indigna-
tion at those who had put him on such an ungra-
cious piece of service, he sent about all that night
to the ministers and other active citizens, assuring
them that he would quickly repair that error, if
they would forgive it. So the turn was sudden :
for the city sent and invited him to dine the next
day at Guildhall : and there he declared for the
members whom the army had forced away in the
year forty-seven and forty-eight, who were known
by the name of secluded members. And some hap-
pening to caU the body that then sat at Westmin-
ster, the rump of a parliament, a sudden humom-
run like a madness through the whole city, of roast-
ing the rumps of all sorts of animals. And thus the
city expressed themselves sufficiently. Those at
Westminster had no support : so they fell unpitied
and unregarded. The secluded members came, and
sat down among them. But all they could do was
to give orders for the summoning a new parliament
L 2
14« A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
to meet the first of May : and so they declared
themselves dissolved.
Care taken There was stiU a murmurinff in the army. So
to manage
the army, great carc w^as taken to scatter them in wide quar-
ters, and not to suffer too many of those who were
still for the old cause to lie near one another. The
well and the ill affected were so mixed, that in case
of any insurrection some might be ready at hand to
assist them. They changed the officers that were
ill affected, who were not thought fit to be trusted
with the commanding those of their own stamp:
and so created a mistrust between the officers and
the soldiers. And above all they took care to have
87 no more troops than was necessary about the city :
and these were the best affected. This was ma-
naged with great diligence and skill : and by this
conduct it was, that the great turn was brought
about without the least tumult or bloodshed, which
was beyond what any person could have imagined.
Of aU this Monk had both the praise and the re-
ward ; though I have been told a very small share
of it belonged to him". Admiral Montague was
then in chief command at sea, newly returned from
the Sound, where he and De Ruyter, upon the orders
they received from their masters, had brought the
two northern kings to a peace ; the king of Sweden
dying as it was a making up. He was soon gained
to be for the king ; and dealt so effectually with the
whole fleet, that the turn there was as silently
brought about, without any revolt or opposition, as
it had been in the army. The republicans went
^bout like madmen, to rouse up their party. But
» Malice. S,
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 140
their time was past. All were either as men amazed
or asleep. They had neither the skill nor the cou-
rage to make any opposition. The elections of par-
liament men run all the other way. So they saw
their business was quite lost, and they felt them-
selves struck as with a spirit of giddiness. And
then every man thought only how to save or secure
himself. And now they saw how deceitful the ar*
gument from success was, which they had used sO
oft, and triumphed so much upoiii For whereat
success in the field, which was the foundation of
their argument, depended much upon the conduct
and courage of armies, in which the will of man
had a large share, here was a thing of another na-
ture : a nation, that had run on long in such a
fierce opposition to the royal family, was now turned
as one man to call home the king.
The nation had one great happiness during the
long course of the civil war, that no foreigners had
got footing among them. Spain was sinking to no-
thing : France was under a base spirited minister :
and both were in war all the while. Now a peace
was made between them. And very probably, ac-
cording to what is in Mazarin's letters, they would
have joined forces to have restored the king. The
nation was by this means entirely in its own hands :
and now returning to its wits, was in a condition to
put every thing in joint again : whereas, if foreign-
ers had been possessed of any important place, they
might have had a large share of the management,
and would have been sure of taking care of them-
selves. Enthusiasm was now languid: for that,
owing its mechanical force to the liveliness of the
blood and spirits, men in disorder, and depressed,
L 3
ISO A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
could not raise in themselves those heats, with
88\yhich they were formerly wont to transport both
themselves and others. Chancellor Hide was all
this while very busy : he sent over Dr. Morley, who
talked much with the presbyterians of moderation in
general, but would enter into no particulars : only he
took care to let them know he was a Calvinist : and
they had the best opinion of such of the church of
England as were of that persuasion. Hide wrote
in the king's name to all the leading men, and got
the king to write a great many letters in a very
obliging manner. Some that had been faulty sent
over considerable presents, with assurances that they .
would redeem all that was past with their zeal for
the future. These were all accepted of. Their
money was also very welcome ; for the king needed
money when his matters were on that crisis, and he
had so many tools at work. The management of
all this was so entirely the chancellor's single per-
formance, that there was scarce any other that had
so much as a share in it with him. He kept a re-
gister of all the king's promises, and of his own ;
and did all that lay in his power afterwards to get
them all to be performed. He was also all that
while giving the king many wise and good advices.
But he did it too much with the air of a governor,
or of a lawyer. Yet then the king was wholly in
his hands ^.
" When the earl of Claren- ther to Breda, gave him strict
don's history was first publish- charge not to trust Hide with
ed, the lord Grandville, second any thing that related to his
son to the earl of Bath, told me own concerns, and desired the
that Monk had always a very same caution might be given
l)articular dislike to chancellor the king; and his father told
Hide, and when he sent his fa- him, the chief thing that stag-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 151
I need not open the scene of the new parliament, a new par-
(or convention, as it came afterwards to be called,''*"^"*'
because it was not summoned by the king's writ :)
such unanimity appeared in their proceedings, that
there was not the least dispute among them, but
upon one single point: yet that was. a very impor-
tant one. Hale, afterwards the famous chief jus-
tice, moved that a committee might be appointed to
look into the propositions that had been made, and
the concessions that had been offered by the late
king during the war, particularly at the treaty of
Newport, that from thence they might digest such
propositions as they should think fit to be sent over
to the king. This was seconded, but I do not re-
member by whom. It was foreseen, that such a
motion might be set on foot : so Monk was in-
structed how to answer it, whensoever it should be
proposed. He told the house, that there was yet,
beyond all men's hope, an universal quiet all over
the nation ; but there were many incendiaries stiU
on the watch, trying where they could first raise
the flame. He said, he had such copious informa-
tions sent him of these things, that it was not fit
they should be generally known : he could not an-
swer for the peace, either of the nation or of the
army, if any delay was put to the sending for the
king : what need was there of sending propositions
to him ? Might they not as well prepare them, and
offer them to him, when he should come over ? He 89
was to bring neither army nor treasure with him,
gered Monk in the whole trans- out, and endeavoured ever after
action was the necessity of to lessen Monk's merits as
having any thing to do with much as he could, and lord
him ; which Hide soon found Bath's for the same reason. D.
L 4
ISat .A SUMMARY OF AFFAIRS
either to fright them or to corrupt them. So he
moved, that they would immediately send commis-
sioners to bring over the king: and said, that he
must lay the blame of all the blood or mischief that
might foUow, on the heads of those who should still
insist on any motion that might delay the present
settlement of the nation. This was echoed with
such a shout over the house, that the motion was
no more insisted on.
They called 'j'j^jg ^^g indeed the ffreat service that Monk did.
home the o
king with- It-'was chiefly owinff to the post he was in, and to
outatreaty. t i i • i ^
the credit he had gained : for as to the restoration
itself, the tide run so strong, that he only went into
it dexterously enough, to get much fame, and great
rewards, for that which wiU have stiU a great ap-
pearance in history. If he had died soon after, he
might have been more justly admired, because less
known, and seen only in one advantageous light :
but he lived long enough to [have his stupidity
and other ill qualities weU known, (and to)] make
it known, how false a judgment men are apt to
make upon outward appearance. To the king's
coming in without conditions may be well imputed
all the errors of his reign. And when the earl of
Southampton came to see what he was like to
prove, he said once in gi*eat wrath to chancellor
Hide, it was to him they owed all they either felt
or feared ; for if he had not possessed them in aU
his letters with such an opinion of the king, they
would have taken care to have put it out of his
power either to do himself or them any mischief,
which was like to be the effect of their trusting him
so entirely. Hide answered, that he thought the
king had so true a judgment, and so much good na-
BEFORE THE RESTORATION. 153
ture, that when the age of pleasure should be over,
and the idleness of his exile, which made him seek
new diversions for want of other employment, was
turned to an obligation to mind affairs, then he
would have shaken off those entanglements. I must
put my reader in mind, that I leave all common
transactions to ordinary books. If at any time I say
things that occur in any books, it is partly to keep
the thread of the narration in an unintangled me-
thod, and partly, because I neither have heard nor
read those things in books ; or at least, I do not re-
member to have read them so clearly and so parti-
cularly as I have related them. I now leave a mad
and confused scene, to open a more august and
splendid one.
THE 91
HISTORY
OF
MY OWN TIMES.
BOOK II.
Of the first twelve years of the reign of hing
Charles II. from the year 1660 to the year
1673.
X DIVIDE king Charles's reign into two books, i66o.
not so much because, consisting of twenty-four
years, it fell, if divided at all, naturally to put
twelve years in a book : but I have a much better
reason for it, since as to the first twelve years,
though I knew the affairs of Scotland very authen-
tically, yet I had only such a general knowledge of
the affah's of England as I could pick up at a dis-
tance : whereas I lived so near the scene, and had 92!
indeed such a share in several parts of it, during the
last twelve years, that I can write of these with
much more certainty, as well as more fully, than of
the first twelve. I will therefore enlarge more par-
ticularly, within the compass that I have fixed for
156 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. this book, on the affairs of Scotland; both out of
the inbred love that all men have for their native
country*, and more particularly, that I may leave
some useful instructions to those of my own order
and profession, by representing to them the conduct
of the bishops of Scotland : for having observed,
with more than ordinary niceness, all the errors
that were committed, both at the first setting up of
episcopacy, and in the whole progress of its conti-
nuance in Scotland, till it was again overturned
there, I am enabled to set aU that matter in a fuU
view and in a clear light.
Many went As soou as it was fixcd that the king was to be
Hague. ** restored, a great many went over to make their
court : among these Sharp, who was employed by
the resolutioners of Scotland, was one. He carried
with him a letter from the earl of Glencairn to
Hide, made soon after earl of Clarendon, recom-
mending him as the only person capable to manage
the design of setting up episcopacy in Scotland :
upon which he was received into great confidence.
Yet, as he had observed very carefully the success
of Monk's solemn protestations against the king and
for a commonwealth, it seems he was so pleased
with the original, that he resolved to copy after it,
without letting himself be diverted from it by [anx-
ious] scruples, [or any tenderness of conscience :]
for he stuck neither at solemn protestations, both
by word of mouth and by letters, (of which I have
seen many proofs,) nor at appeals to God of his sin-
cerity in acting for the presbytery both in prayers
and on other occasions, joining with these many
" Could not he keep his inbred love to himself? S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 157
dreadful imprecations on himself, if he did prevari- 1660.
cate'\ He was all the while maintained by the
presbyterians as their agent, and continued to give
them a constant account of the progress of his ne-
gotiation in their service, while he was indeed un-
dermining it. This piece of craft was so visible, he
having repeated his protestations to as many per-
sons as then grew jealous of him, that when he
threw off the mask, about a year after this, it laid a
foundation of such a character of him, that nothing
could ever bring people to any tolerable thoughts
of a man, whose dissimulation and treachery was so
well known, and of which so many proofs were to
be seen under his own hand.
With the restoration of the king, a spirit of ex- The nation
travagant joy spread over the nation, that brought run with
on with it the throwing off the very professions of ^'^.^^j^^"^
virtue and piety : all ended in entertainments and "^*^-
drunkenness, which overrun the three kingdoms to
such a degree, that it very much corrupted all their
morals. Under the colour of drinking the king's
health, there were great disorders and much riot
every where : and the pretences of religion, both in
those of the hypocritical sort, and of the more ho-
nest but no less pernicious enthusiasts, gave gi*eat
advantages, as well as they furnished much matter,
to the profane mockers of true piety. Those who
had been concerned in the former transactions
thought, they could not redeem themselves from
the censures and jealousies that those brought on
them by any method that was more sure and more
easy, than by going into the stream, and laughing
^ Sure there was some secret personal cause of all this malice
against Sharp. S.
158 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. at all religion, telling or making stories to expose
character.
both themselves and their party as impious and ri-
diculous.
The king's The king was then thirty years of age, and, as
might have been supposed, past the levities of youth,
and the extravagance of pleasure. He had a very
good understanding. He knew well the state of
affairs both at home and abroad. He had a soft-
ness of temper, that charmed all who came near
him, till they found how little they could depend on
good looks, kind words, and fair promises ; in which
he was liberal to excess, because he intended no-
thing by them, but to get rid of importunities, and
to silence all farther pressing upon him. He seemed
to have no sense of religion : both at prayers and
sacrament he, as it were, took care to satisfy peo-
ple, that he was in no sort concerned in that about
which he was employed. So that he was very far
from being an hypocrite, unless his assisting at
those performances was a sort of hypocrisy, (as no
doubt it was ;) but he was sure not to increase that
by any the least appearance of religion. He said
once to my self, he was no atheist, but he could not
think God would make a man miserable only for
taking a little pleasure out of the way. He dis-
guised his popery to the last. But when he talked
freely, he could not help letting himself out against
the liberty that under the reformation all men took
of inquiring into matters of religion : for from their
inquiring into matters of religion, they carried the
humour farther, to inquire into matters of state. He
said often, he thought government was a much safer
and easier thing where the authority was believed
infallible, and the faith and submission of the people
OF KING CHARLES II. 159
was implicit: about which I had once much dis- iQ6o.
course with him. He was affable and easy, and
loved to be made so by all about him. The great
art of keeping him long was, the being easy, and
the making every thing easy to him*^. He had made
such observations on the French government, that 94
he thought a king who might be checked, or have
his ministers called to an account by a parUament,
was but a king in name. He had a great compass
of knowledge, though he was never capable of much
appUcation or study. He understood the mecha-
nics and physic : and was a good chemist, and much
set on several preparations of mercury, chiefly the
fixing it. He understood navigation well : but above
all he knew the architecture of ships so perfectly,
that in that respect he was exact rather more than
became a prince. His apprehension was quick, and
his memory good. He was an everlasting talker.
He told his stories with a good grace : but they
came in his way too often. He had a very ill opi-
nion both of men and women ; and did not think
that there was either sincerity or chastity in the
world out of principle, but that some had either the
one or the other out of humour or vanity. He
thought that nobody did serve him out of love : and
so he was quits with all the world, and loved others
as little as he thought they loved him. He hated
business, and could not be easily brought to mind
any : but when it was necessary, and he was set to
it, he would stay as long as his ministers had work
for him. The ruin of his reign, and of all his af-
fairs, was occasioned chiefly by his delivering him-
^ Eloquence. S.
160 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. self up at his first coming over to a mad range of
' pleasure. One of the race of the Villers, then mar-
ried to Palmer, a papist, soon after made earl of
Castlemain, who afterwards, being separated from
him, was advanced to be duchess of Cleveland, was
his first and longest mistress, by whom he had five
children '^. She was a woman of great beauty, but
most enormously vicious and ravenous ; foolish but
imperious, very uneasy to the king, and always car-
rying on intrigues with other men, while yet she
pretended she was jealous of him. His passion for
her, and her strange behaviour towards him, did so
disorder him, that often he was not master of him-
self, nor capable of minding business, which, in so
critical a time, required great application : but he
did then so entirely trust the earl of Clarendon, that
he left all to his care, and submitted to his advices
as to so many oracles.
Clarendon's The carl of Clarcudon was bred to the law, and
was like to grow eminent in his profession when the
wars began. He distinguished himself so in the
house of commons, that he became considerable, and
was much trusted all the while the king was at Ox-
ford. He stayed beyond sea following the king's
fortune, tiU the restoration ; and was now an abso-
lute favourite, and the chief or the only minister,
but with too magisterial a way. He was always
pressing the king to mind his affairs, but in vain.
' ^ He had her the first night her to be his, and left her his
he arrived at London ; she was estate when he died ; but she
then some months gone with was generally understood to be-
child of the late countess of long to another, the old earl of
Sussex, whom the king adopted Chesterfield, whom she resem-
for his daughter, though lord bled very much both in face
Castlemain always looked upon and person. D.
OP KING CHARLES II. 161
He was a good chancellor, only a little too rough, \66o.
but very impartial in the administration of justice. ~
He never seemed to understand foreign affairs well ^ :
and yet he meddled too much in them. He had too
much levity in his wit, and did not always observe
the decorum of his post. He was high, and was apt
to reject those who addressed themselves to him
with too much contempt. He had such a regard to
the king, that when places were disposed of, even
otherwise than as he advised, yet he would justify
what the king did, and disparage the pretensions of
others, not without much scorn ; which created him
many enemies. He was indefatigable in business,
though the gout did often disable him from waiting
on the king : yet, during his credit, the king came
constantly to him when he was laid up by it.
The next man in favour with the king was the omnond's
duke of Ormond : a man every way fitted for a
court : of a graceful appearance, a lively wit, and a
cheerful temper: a man of great expense, decent
even in his vices ^ ; for he always kept up the form
of rehgion. He had gone through many transac-
tions in Ireland with more fidelity than success.
He had made a treaty with the Irish, which was
broken by the great body of them, though some few
of them adhered stiU to him. But the whole Irish
nation did still pretend, that, though they had broke
c The author had not seen, the master of the rolls, (sir
I believe, the MS. History of Thomas Clarke,) that the lord
Lord Clarendon's Life, written Clarendon never made a decree
by himself. He at least under- in Chancery without the assist-
stood foreign affairs better than ance of two of the judges. O.
any other of the ministers. ' See Cartes History of the
None of them were much Life of this Duke of Ormond,
esteemed for that abroad, as vol. ii. p. 555. See also the
has been said. I was told by Biogr. Brit. p. 899. O.
VOL. I. M
162 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. the agi'eement first, yet he, or rather the king, in
whose name he had treated with them, was bound to
perform all the articles of the treaty. He had mis-
carried so in the siege of Dublin, that it very much
lessened the opinion of his military conduct. Yet his
constant attendance on his master, his easiness to him,
and his great sufferings for him, raised him to be lord
. steward of the household, and lord lieutenant of Ire-
land. He was firm to the protestant religion, and
so far firm to the laws, that he always gave good
advices : but when bad ones were followed, he was
not for complaining too much of them.
southamp- The carl of Southampton was next to these. He
ton's clia- . in 1
ratter. was a man 01 great virtue, and or very good parts.
He had a lively apprehension, and a good judgment.
He had merited much by his constant adhering to
the king's interest during the war, and by the
large supplies he had sent him every year during
his exile ; for he had a great estate, and only three
daughters to inherit it. He was lord treasurer : but
he grew soon weary of business ; for as he was sub-
ject to the stone, which returned often and vio-
lently upon him, so he retained the principles of
liberty, and did not go into the violent measures of
the court. When he saw the king's temper, and his
96 way of managing, or rather of spoiling business, he
grew very uneasy, and kept himself more out of the
way than was consistent with that high post. The
king stood in some awe of him ; and saw how po-
' pular he would grow, if put out of his service : and
therefore he chose rather to bear with his ill hu-
mour and contradiction, than to dismiss him. He
left the business of the treasury wholly in the hands
of his secretary, sir Philip Warwick, who was an
OF KING CHARLES II. 16a(
honest but a weak man; understood the common 1660.
road of the treasury; [but, though he pretended to
wit and politics, he was not cut out for that, and
least of all for writing of history. But] he was an
incorrupt man, and during seven years manage-
ment of the treasury made but an ordinary fortune
out of it s. Before the restoration, the lord treasurer
had but a small salary, with an allowance for a
table ; but he gave, or rather sold, all the subaltern
places, and made great profits out of the estate of
the crown : but now, that estate being gone, and
the earl of Southampton disdaining to sell places,
the matter was settled so, that the lord treasurer
was to have 8000/. a year, and the king was to
name all the subaltern officers. It continued to be
so all his time : but since that time the lord trea-
surer has both the 8000/. and a main hand in the
disposing of those places.
The man that was in the greatest credit with the shafts-
earl of Southampton was sir Anthony Ashly Cooper, racter.
who had married his niece, and became afterwards
so considerable, that he was raised to be earl of
Shaftsbury. And since he came to have so great a
name, and that I knew him for many years in a
very particular manner, I wiU dwell a little longer
on his character ; for it was of a very extraordinary
composition. He began to make a considerable
figure very early. Before he was twenty, he came
into the house of commons, and was on the king's
side ; and undertook to get Wiltshire and Dorset-
s He had been secretary then worth reading. O. (See Lord
when bishop Juxon was trea- Clarendon's testimony to the
surer, and made so by him. great worth of Sir Philip War-
His memoirs have some curi- wick, in the Continuation of his
osities in them that make them own Life, p. 325.)
M 2
164 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. shire to declare for him: but he was not able to
effect it. Yet prince Maurice breaking articles to a
town, that he had got to receive him, furnished him
with an excuse to forsake that side, and to turn to
the parHament. He had a wonderful faculty in
speaking to a popular assembly, and could mix both
the facetious and the serious way of arguing very
agreeably. He had a particular talent to make
others trust to his judgment, and depend on it : and
he brought over so many to a submission to his opi-
nion, that I never knew any man equal to him in
the art of governing parties, and of making himself
the head of them. He was, as to religion, a deist
at best ^. He had the dotage of astrology in him
to a high degree : he told me, that a Dutch doctor
had from the stars foretold him the whole series of
his Ufe. But that which was before him, when he
told me this, proved false, if he told me true : for he
said, he was yet to be a greater man than he had
'97 been. He fancied, that after death our souls lived
in stars. He had a general knowledge of the slighter
parts of learning, but understood little to the bot«
tom : so he triumphed in a rambling way of talking,
but argued sUghtly when he was held close to any
point. He had a wonderful faculty at opposing, and
'' A person came to make at last, " People differ in their
him a visit whilst he was sitting " discourse and profession about
one day with a lady of his fa- " these matters, but men of
mily, who retired upon that to " sense are really but of one re-
another part of the room with '* ligion." Upon which says.
her work, and seemed not to the lady of a sudden, " Pray,,
attend to the conversation be- " my lofd, what religion is that
tween the earl and the other " which men of sense agree
person, which turned soon into " in V " Madam," says the
some dispute upon subjects of earl, " men of sense never tell
religion ; after a good deal of "it." O.
that sort of talk, the earl said
HOT OF KING CHARLES II. 165
running things down; but had not the like force in 1660,
building up. He had such an extravagant vanity in
setting himself out, that it was very disagreeable.
•He pretended that CromweU offered to make him
-king. He was indeed of great use to him, in with-
-standing the enthusiasts of that time. He was one
of those who pressed him most to accept of the
kingship, because, as he said afterwards, he was sure
it would ruin him. His strength lay in the know-
ledge of England, and of all the considerable men
in it. He understood well the size of their under-
standings, and their tempers : and he knew how to
apply himself to them so dexterously, that, though
by his changing sides so often it was very visible
how little he was to be depended on, yet he was to
the last much trusted by all the discontented par-
ty '. [He had no regard to either truth or justice.]
He was not ashamed to reckon up the many turns
he had made : and he valued himself on the doing
it at the properest season, and in the best manner :
[and was not out of countenance in owning his un-
steadiness and deceitfulness.] This he did with so
much vanity, and so little discretion, that he lost
many by it. And his reputation was at last run so
low, that he could not have held much longer, had
he not died in good time, either for his family or for
his party : the former would have been ruined, if he
had not saved it by betraying the latter.
Another man, very near of the same sort, who Anglesey's
character.
' I was told by one that was found great benefit by all his
very conversant with him, that life ; and the reason he gave
he had a constant maxim, never for it was, that he did not know
to fall out with any body, let how soon it might be necessary
the provocation be never so to have them again for his best
great, which he said he had friends. D.
M 3
166 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. passed through many great employments, was An-
nesly, advanced to be earl of Anglesey ; who had
much more knowledge, and was very learned, chief-
ly in the law. He had the faculty of speaking in-
defatigably upon every subject : but he spoke un-
gracefully ; and did not know that he was not good
at raillery, for he was always attempting it. He
understood our government well, and had examined
far into the original of our constitution. He was
capable of great application : and was a man of a
grave deportment ; but stuck at nothing, and was
ashamed of nothing. He was neither loved nor
trusted by any man or any side : and he seemed to
have no regard to common decencies, [the common
decencies of justice and truth,] but sold every thing
that was in his power : and sold himself so often,
that at last the price fell so low, that he grew use-
less, [because he was so well known, that he was
universally despised.]
Houis's Hollis was a man of great courage, and of as
great pride : he was counted for many years the
head of the presbyterian party. He was faithful
and firm to his side, and never changed through the
whole course of his life. He engaged in a particular
opposition to CromweU in the time of the war. They
98 hated one another equally. Hollis seemed to carry
this too far : for he wovdd not allow Cromwell to
have been either wise or brave ; but often applied
Solomon's observation to him, that the battle was
not to the strongs nor favour to the man of under-
standings hut that time and chance happened to all
men. He was well versed in the records of parlia-
ment : and argued well, but too vehemently ; for he
could not bear contradiction. He had the soul of
OF KING CHARLES II. Wi
an old stubborn Roman in him. He was a faithful 1660.
but a rough friend, and a severe but fair enemy. He
had a true sense of religion : and was a man of an
unblamable course of life, and of a sound judgment
when it was not biassed by passion. He was made a
lord for his merits in bringing about the restoration.
The earl of Manchester was made lord chamber- Manches-
lain : a man of a soft and obliging temper, of no racter.
great depth, but universally beloved, being both a
virtuous and a generous man. The lord Roberts Roberts's
was made lord privy seal, afterwards lord lieutenant
of Ireland, and at last lord president of the council.
He was a man of a more morose and cynical tem-
per, just in his administration, but vicious under the
appearances of virtue : learned beyond any man of
his quality, but intractable, stiff and obstinate, proud
and jealous.
These five, whom I have named last, had the
chief hand in engaging the nation in the design of
the restoration. They had great credit, chiefly with
the presbyterian party, and were men of much dex-
terity. So the thanks of that great turn was owing
to them : and they were put in great posts by the
earl of Clarendon's means. By which he lost most
of the cavaliers, who could not bear the seeing such
men so highly advanced, and so much trusted ^.
^ The earl of Clarendon, upon (though he had as much as the
the restoration, made it his bu- king could well grant;) and the
siness to depress every body's people who had suffered most
merits to advance his own, and in the civil war were in no con-
(the king having gratified his dition to purchase his favour,
vanity with high titles) found He therefore undertook the
it necessary, towards making a protection of those who had
fortune in proportion, to apply plundered and sequestered the
himself to other means than others, which he very artfully
what the crown could afford ; contrived, by making the king
M 4
168 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. At the king's first coming over. Monk and Moun-
tague were the most considered. They both had
the garter. The one was made duke of Albemarle,
and the other earl of Sandwich, and had noble
estates given them. Monk was ravenous, as weU as
his wife, who was a mean contemptible creature.
They both asked and sold aU. that was within their
reach, nothing being denied them for some time ;
till he became so useless, that little personal regard
could be paid him. But the king maintained still
the appearances of it : for the appearance of the ser-
vice he did him was such, that the king thought it
fit to treat him with great distinction, even after he
saw into him, and despised him. He took care to
raise his kinsman GreenviU, who was made earl of
Bath, and groom of the stole, a [mean minded]
man, who thought of nothing but of getting and
spending money. [Only in spending he had a pecu-
liar talent of doing it with so ill a grace and so bad
a conduct, that it was long before those who saw
how much he got, and how little he spent visibly.
believe it was necessary for his Paiilett was an humble peti-
own ease and quiet to make tioner to his sons, for leave to
his enemies his friends ; upon take a copy of his grandfather
which he brought in most of and grandmother's pictures,
those who had been the main (whole lengths drawn by Van-
instruments and promoters of dike,) that had been plundered
the late troubles, who were not from Hinton St. George ; which
wanting in their acknowledg- was obtained with great diffi-
ments in the manner he ex- culty, because it was thought
pected, which produced the that copies might lessen the
great house in the Picadille, value of the originals. And
fiirnished chiefly with cavaliers' whoever had a mind to see
goods, brought thither for what great families had been
peace-offerings, which the right plundered during the civil war,
owners durst not claim when might find some remains either
they were in his possession, at Clarendon house or at Com-
In my own remembrance earl bury. D.
OF KING CHARLES II. 169
would believe he was so poor as he was found to be 1660.
at his death : which was thought the occasion of his
son's shooting himself in the head a few days after
his death, finding the disorder of his affairs ; for both
father and son were buried together.] The duke of
Albemarle raised two other persons. One was Clar- ciarges's
ges, his wife's brother, who was an honest butoo
haughty man. He became afterwards a very consi-
derable parliament man, and valued himself on his
opposing the court, and on his frugality in managing
the pubhc money ; for he had CromweU's economy
ever in his mouth, and was always for reducing the
expense of war to the modesty and parsimony of
those times. Many thought he carried this too far :
but it made him very popular. After he was be-
come very rich himself by the public money, he
seemed to take care that nobody else should grow
as rich as he was in that way. Another man raised
by the duke of Albemarle was Morrice, who was the Mornce's
person that had prevailed with Monk to declare for
the king. Upon that he was made secretary of
state. He was very learned, but full of pedantry
and affectation. He had no true judgment about
foreign affairs. And the duke of Albemarle's judg-
ment of them may be measured by what he said,
when he found the king grew weary of Morrice, but
that in regard to him (he) had no mind to turn him
out : [upon which the duke of Albemarle repUed,] he
did not know what was necessary for a good secre-
tary of state in which he was defective, for he could
speak French and write short hand.
Nicolas was the other secretary, who had been ^'''^''^^'*
"^ ^ character,
employed by king Charles the first during the war,
and had served him faithfully, but had no under-
170 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. standing in foreign affairs. He was a man of vir-
tue, but could not fall into the king's temper, or be-
come acceptable to him. So not long after the re-
Ariington's storatiou, Bcnnet, advanced afterwards to be earl of
Arlington, was by the interest of the popish party
made secretary of state ; and was admitted into so
particular a confidence, that he began to raise a
party in opposition to the earl of Clarendon. He
was a proud [and insolent] man. His parts were so-
lid, but not quick. He had the art of observing the
king's temper, and managing it beyond all the men
of that time. He was believed a papist. He had
once professed it : and when he died, he again re-
conciled himself to that church K Yet in the whole
course of his ministry, he seemed to have made it a
maxim, that the king ought to shew no favour to
popery, but that aU his affairs would be spoiled if
ever he turned that way ; which made the papists
become his mortal enemies, and accuse him as an
apostate, and the betrayer of their interests. [He
was a man of great vanity, and lived at a vast ex-
pense, without taking any c^re of paying the debt
he contracted to support it.] His chief friend was
Charles Berkeley, made earl of Falmouth, who, with-
out any visible merit "', unless it was the managing
the king's amours, was the most absolute of all the
king's favourites : and, which was peculiar to him-
' He was esteemed so good Lambert, (who died a prisoner
a courtier, that it was said he in the isle of Jersey,) declared
died a Roman Catholic to make a little before his death, he
his court to king James. But had always been of the church
whatever his religion might be, of Rome. D.
he always professed himself of ^ See the History of lord
the whig party, as many pa- Clarendon's Life, for part of this
pists had done before him : man's merit. O.
and particularly the famous
OF KING CHARLES II. 171
self, he was as much in the duke of York's favour as 1660.
in the king's. Berkeley was generous in his expense : "
and it was thought, if he had outlived the lewdness
of that time, and come to a more sedate course of
life, he would have put the king on great and noble 100
designs. This I should have thought more likely,
if I had not had it from the duke, who had so wrong
a taste, that there was reason to suspect his judg-
ment both of men a^d things. Bennet and Berkeley
had the management of the mistress. And all the
earl of Clarendon's enemies came about them : the
chief of whom were the duke of Buckingham and
the earl of Bristol.
The first of these was a man of noble presence. Bucking-
He had a great liveliness of wit, and a peculiar fa- xlcl^u ^
culty of turning all things into ridicule with bold fi-
gures and natural descriptions. He had no sort of
literature : only he was drawn into chemistry : and
for some years he thought he was very near the
finding the philosopher's stone ; which had the effect
that attends on all such men as he was, when they
are drawn in, to lay out for it. He had no prin-
ciples of religion, virtue, or Mendship. Pleasure,
frolic, or extravagant diversion, was all that he laid
to heart. He was true to nothing, for he was not
true to himself". He had no steadiness nor con-
duct : he could keep no secret, nor execute any de-
sign without spoiling it°. He could never fix his
thoughts, nor govern his estate, though then the
greatest in England. He was bred about the king :
and for many years he had a great ascendent over
him : but he spake of him to all persons with that
" No consequence. S. ° Nonsense. S.
172 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. contempt, that at last he drew a lasting disgrace
' upon himself. And he at length ruined both body
and mind, fortune and reputation equally. The
madness of vice appeared in his person in very emi-
nent instances ; since at last he became contempt-
ible and poor, sickly, and sunk in his parts, as weU
as in all other respects, so that his conversation was
as much avoided as ever it had been courted. He
found the king, when he cam^ from his travels in
the year forty-five, newly come to Paris, sent over
by his father when his affairs declined : and finding
the king enough inclined to receive ill impressions,
he, who was then got into all the impieties and
vices of the age, set himself to corrupt the king, in
which he was too successful, being seconded in that"
wicked design by the lord Percy. And to complete
the matter, Hobbs was brought to him, under the
pretence of instructing him in mathematics : and he
laid before him his schemes, both with relation to
religion and politics, which made deep and lasting
impressions on the king's mind. So that the main
blame of the king's ill principles and bad morals
was owing to the duke of Buckingham p.
Bristol's The earl of Bristol was a man of courage and
learning, of a bold temper and a lively wit, but of
no judgment nor steadiness. He was in the Queen's
101 interest during the war at Oxford. And he studied
to drive things past the possibility of a treaty, or
any reconciliation ; fancying that nothing would
' make the military men so sure to the king, as his
P The famous Butler (author " of vice." And says also of
of Hudibras) says in his Cha- this abominable man, " that
racters, lately published, " The " continual wine, women, and
" duke of Bucks is one that " music, had debauched his
" has studied the whole body " understanding." O.
OF KING CHARLES II. 173
being sure to them, and giving them hopes of shar- 1660.
ing the confiscated estates among them; whereas,
he thought, all discourses of treaty made them feeble
and fearful. When he went beyond sea, he turned
papist. But it was after a way of his own : for he
loved to magnify the difference between the church
and the court of Rome. He was esteemed a very
good speaker: but he was too copious, and too florid.
He was set at the head of the popish party, and was
a violent enemy of the earl of Clarendon.
Having now said as much as seems necessary to Ladder-
describe the state of the court and ministry at the racter.
restoration, I will next give an account of the chief of
the Scots, and of the parties that were formed among
4hem. The earl of Lauderdale, afterwards made
duke, had been for many years a zealous covenanter :
but in the year forty-seven he turned to the king's
interests ; and had continued a prisoner all the while
after Worcester fight, where he was taken. He was
kept for some years in the tower of London, in Port-
land castle, and in other prisons, tiU he was set at
liberty by those who called home the king. So he
went over to Holland. And since he continued so
long, and contrary to aU men's opinions in so high
a degree of favour and confidence, it may be ex-
pected that I should be a little copious in setting
out his character ; for I knew him very particularly.
He made a very iU appearance: he was very big:
his hair red, hanging oddly about him : his tongue
was too big for his mouth, which made him bedew
all that he talked to : and his whole manner was
rough and boisterous, and very unfit for a court.
He was very learned, not only in Latin, in which he
was a master, but in Greek and Hebrew. He had
174 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. read a great deal of divinity, and almost all the his-
torians ancient and modern : so that he had great
materials. He had with these an extraordinary
memory, and a copious but unpolished expression.
He was a man, as the duke of Buckingham called
him to me, of a blundering understanding. He was
haughty beyond expression, abject to those he saw
he must stoop to, but imperious to all others. He
had a violence of passion that carried him often to
fits like madness, in which he had no temper. If he
took a thing wrong, it was a vain thing to study to
convince him : that would rather provoke him to
swear, he would never be of another mind : he was
to be let alone : and perhaps he would have forgot
what he had said, and come about of his own ac-*
cord. He was the coldest friend and the violentest
enemy I ever knew : I felt it too much not to know
102 it. He at first seemed to despise wealth : but he
delivered himself up afterwards to luxury and sen-
suality : and by that means he ran into a vast ex-
pense, and stuck at nothing that was necessary to
support it. In his long imprisonment he had great
impressions of religion on his mind : but he wore
these out so entirely, that scarce any trace of them
was left. His great experience in affairs, his ready
compliance with every thing that he thought would
please the king, and his bold offering at the most
desperate counsels, gained him such an interest in
the king, that no attempt against him, nor com-
plaint of him, could ever shake it, till a decay of
strength and understanding forced him to let go his
hold. He was in his principles much against popery
and arbitrary government : and yet, by a fatal train
of passions and interests, he made way for the for-
OF KING CHARLES II. 175
mer, and had almost established the latter. And, 1660.
whereas some by a smooth deportment made the
first beginnings of tyranny less discernible and un-
acceptable, he, by the fury of his behavio^ur, height-
ened the severity of his ministry, which was liker
the cruelty of an inquisition than the legality of jus-
tice. With all this he was a presbyterian, and re-
tained his aversion to king Charles I. and his party
to his death.
The earl of Crawford had been his fellow prisoner Crawford's
for ten years. And that was a good title for main- '^ ^^^ ^^'
taining him in the post he had before, of being lord
treasurer. He was a sincere but weak man, pas-
sionate and indiscreet, and continued still a zealous
presbyterian. The earl, afterwards duke of Rothes, Rothes's
had married his daughter, and had the merit of a
long imprisonment likewise to recommend him : he
had a ready dexterity in the management of affairs,
with a soft and insinuating address : he had a quick
apprehension with a clear judgment : he had no ad-
vantage of education, no sort of literature : nor had
he travelled abroad: all in him was mere nature.
[But it was nature very much depraved; for he
seemed to have freed himself from all impressions
of virtue or religion, of honour or good nature.
He delivered himself, without either restraint or
decency, to all the pleasures of wine and women.
He had but one maxim, to which he adhered firmly,
that he was to do every thing, and deny himself in
nothing, that might maintain his greatness, or gra-
tify his appetites. He was unhappily made for
drunkenness. For as he drank aU his friends dead,
and was able to subdue two or three sets of drunk-
ards one after another ; so it scarce ever appeared.
176 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
.1660. that he was disordered; and after the greatest ex-
cesses, an hour or two of sleep carried them all oflf
so entirely, that no sign of them remained. He
would go about business without any uneasiness, or
discovering any heat either in body or mind. This
had a terrible conclusion ; for after he had killed aU
his friends, he fell at last under such a weakness of
stomach, that he had perpetual cholics, when he was
not hot within, and full of strong liquor, of which
he was presently seized ; so that he was always either
sick or drunk.]
Tweedaie's The carl of Twccdalc was another of lord Lauder-
dale's friends. He was early engaged in business,
and continued in it to a great age. He understood
all the interests and concerns of Scotland well : he
had a great stock of knowledge, with a mild and
obliging temper. He was of a blameless, or rather
an exemplary life in all respects. He had loose
thoughts both of civil and ecclesiastical government;
and seemed to think, that what form soever was up-
permost was to be complied with. He had been in
Cromwell's parliament, and had abjured the royal
family, which lay heavy on him. But the disputes
about the guardianship of the duchess of Monmouth
and her elder sister, to which he pretended in the
103 right of his wife, who was their father's sister, against
her mother, who was lord Rothes's sister, drew him
into that compliance which brought a great cloud
upon him : though he was in all other respects the
ablest and worthiest man of the nobility ; only he
was too cautious and fearful.
D.Hamii- A SOU of the marquis of Douglas, made earl of
raaer!'*^ Selkirk, had married the heiress of the family of
Hamilton, who by her father's patent was duchess
OF KING CHARLES II. 177
of Hamilton : and when the heiress of a title in 1660.
Scotland marries one not equal to her in rank, it is
ordinary, at her desire, to give her husband the title
for life : so he was made duke of Hamilton. He
then passed for a soft man, who minded nothing but
the recovery of that family from the great debts
under which it was sinking, till it was raised up
again by his great management. After he had com-
passed that, he became a more considerable man.
He wanted all sort of polishing : he was rough and
sullen, but candid and sincere. His temper was
boisterous, neither fit to submit nor to govern. He
was mutinous when out of power, and imperious in
it. He wrote well, but spoke ill : for his judgment,
when calm, was better than his imagination. He
made himself a great master in the knowledge of
the laws, of the history, and of the families of Scot-
land; and seemed always to have a regard to jus-
tice, and the good of his country : but a narrow and
selfish temper brought such an habitual meanness on
him, that he was not capable of designing or under-
taking great things.
Another man of that side, that made a good fi-Kincair-
gure at that time, was Bruce, afterwards earl otracter.
Kincairdin, who had married a daughter of Mr. So-
melsdych in Holland : and by that means he had
got acquaintance with our princes beyond sea, and
had supplied them liberally in their necessities. He
was both the wisest and the worthiest man that be-
longed to his country, and fit for governing any af-
fairs but his own ; which he by a wrong turn, and
by his love for the public, neglected to his ruin ; for
they consisting much in works, coals, salt, and
mines, required much care ; and he was very capa-
voi.. I. N
178 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. ble of it, having gone far in mathematics, and being
a great master of mechanics. His thoughts went
slow, and his words came much slower : but a deep
judgment appeared in every thing he said or did.
He had a noble zeal for justice, in which even
friendship could never bias him. He had solid
principles of religion and virtue, which shewed them-
selves with great lustre on all occasions. He was a
faithful friend, and a merciful enemy. I may be
perhaps inclined to carry his character too far ; for
he was the first man that entered into friendship
with me. We continued for seventeen years in so
104 entire a friendship, that there was never either re-
serve or mistake between us all the while till his
death. And it was from him that I understood the
whole secret of affairs ; for he was trusted with
every thing. He had a wonderful love to the king ;
and would never believe me, when I warned him
what he might look for, if he did not go along with
an abject compliance in every thing. He found it
true in conclusion. And the love he bore the king
made his disgrace sink deeper in him, than became
such a philosopher or so good a Christian as he was.
I now turn to another set of men, of whom the
earls of Midletoun and Glencairn were the chief.
The general They Were foUowcd by the herd of the cavalier
of tiie*^oid party, who were now very fierce, and full of courage
cjiraiiers. ^^^j. ^jjgjj. cups, though they had been very discreet
managers of it in the field, and in time of action.
^ But now every one of them boasted that he had
killed his thousands. And all were full of merit,
and as fuU of high pretensions ; far beyond what all
the wealth and revenues of Scotland could answer.
priraerose's fhc subtilcst of all lord Midletoun's friends was sir
clraracter.
OF KING CHARLES II. iiV 179
Archibald Primerose : a man of long and great prac- 1660.
tice in affairs ; for he and his father had served the
crown successively an hundred years all but one,
when he was turned out of employment. He was
a dexterous man in business : he had always expe-
dients ready at every difficulty. He had an art of
speaking to all men according to their sense of
things : and so drew out their secrets, while he con-
cealed his own : for words went for nothing with
him. He said every thing that was necessary to
persuade those he spoke to, that he was of their
mind; and did it in so genuine a way, that he
seemed to speak his heart. He was always for soft
counsels and slow methods : and thought that the
chief thing that a great man ought to do was, to
raise his family and his kindred, who naturally stick
to him ; for he had seen so much of the world, that
he did not depend much on friends, and so took no
care in making any. He always advised the earl of
Midletoun to go slowly in the king's business ; but
to do his own effectually, before the king should see
he had no farther occasion for him. That earl had
another friend, who had more credit with him,
though Primerose was more necessary for managing
a parliament : he was sir John Fletcher, made the Fletcher**
king's advocate, or attorney-general: for Nicolson
was dead. Fletcher was a man of a generous tem-
per, who despised wealth, except as it was necessary
to support a vast expense. He was a bold and fierce
man, who hated all mild proceedings, and could
scarce speak with decency or patience to those of
the other side. So that he was looked on by all
that had been faulty in the late times, as an inqui- 105
sitpr-general. On the other hand, Primerose took
N 2
180 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. money liberally, and was the intercessor for all who
■ made such effectual applications to him.
Advices of- The first thing that was to be thought on, with
scotish relation to Scotish affairs, was the manner in which
offenders in the late times were to be treated : for
all were at mercy. In the letter the king writ from
Breda to the parliament of England, he had pro-
mised a full indemnity for all that was past, except-
ing only those who had been concerned in his fa-
ther's death : to which the earl of Clarendon per-
suaded the king to adhere in a most sacred manner ;
since the breaking of faith in such a point was that
which must for ever destroy confidence, and the ob-
serving all such promises seemed to be a funda-
mental maxim in government, which was to be
maintained in such a manner, that not so much as a
stretch was to be made in it. But there was no
promise made for Scotland : so all the cavaliers, as
they were full of revenge, hoped to have the estates
of those who had been concerned in the late wars
For a ge- divided among them. The earl of Lauderdale told
deinnity. the king, on the other hand, that the Scotish nation
had turned eminently, though unfortunately, to serve
his father in the year forty-eight; that they had
♦" ' brought himself among them, and had lost two ar-
mies in his service, and had been under nine years'
oppression on that account; that they had encou-
raged and assisted Monk in all he did : they might
be therefore highly disgusted, if they should not
have the same measure of grace and pardon that he
was to give England. Besides, the king, while he
was in Scotland, had, in the parliament of Stirling,
. c< passed a very full act of indemnity, though in the
terms and with the title of an act of approbation.
/:v OF KING CHARLES II. rirr 181
It is true, the records of that parliament were not 1660.
extant, but had been lost in the confusion that fol-
lowed upon the reduction of that kingdom : yet the
thing was so fresh in every man's memory, that it
might have a very ill effect, if the king should pro-
ceed without a regard to it. There was indeed an-
other very severe act made in that parliament
against all that should treat or submit to Cromwell,
or comply in any sort with him : but he said, a dif-
ference ought to be made between those who during
the struggle had deserted the service, and gone over
to the enemy, of which number it might be fit to
make some examples, and the rest of the kingdom,
who upon the general reduction had been forced to
capitulate : it would be hard to punish any for sub-
mitting to a superior force, when they were in no
condition to resist it. This seemed reasonable : and
the earl of Clarendon acquiesced in it. But the earl
of Midletoun and his party complained of it, and de-
sired that the marquis of Argile, whom they charged IO6
with an accession to the king's murder, and some
few of those who had joined in the remonstrance
while the king was in Scotland, might be proceeded
against. The marquis of Argile's craft made them
afraid of him : and his estate made them desire to
divide it among them. His son, the lord Lorn, was
come up to court, and was well received by the
king: for he had adhered so firmly to the king's
interest, that he would never enter into any en-
gagements with the usurpers : and upon every new
occasion of jealousy he had been clapt up. In one
of his imprisonments he had a terrible accident from
a cannon bullet, which the soldiers were throwing
to exercise their strength, and by a recoil struck
N 3
182 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
J 660. him in the head, and made such a fracture in his
skuU, that the operation of the trepan, and the cure,
was counted one of the greatest performances of
surgery at that time. The difference between his
father and him went on to a total breach ; so that
his father was set upon the disinheriting him of aU
that was stiU left in his power. Upon the restora-
tion the marquis of Argile went up to the Highlands
for some time, tiU he advised with his friends what
to do, who were divided in opinion. He writ by
his son to the king, asking leave to come and wait
on him. The king gave an answer that seemed to
encourage it, but did not bind him to any thing. I
have forgot the words : there was an equivocating
in them that did not become a prince : but his son
told me, he wrote them very particularly to his fa-
ther, without any advice of his own. Upon that the
marquis of Argile came up so secretly, that he was
within Whitehall, before his enemies knew any
ii thing of his journey. He sent his son to the king,
Argile sent to bcg admittance. But instead of that, he was sent
tower. to the tower. And orders were sent down for clap-
ping up three of the chief remonstrators. Of these
Waristoun was one : but he had notice sent him be-
fore the messenger came : so he made his escape,
and went beyond sea, first to Hamburgh. He had
been long courted by Cromwell, and had stood at a
distance from him for seven years : but in the last
year of his government he had gone into his coun-
sels, and was summoned as one of his peers to the
other house, as it was called. He was after that put
into the council of state after Richard was put out :
and then he sat in another court put up by Lambert
and the army, called the committee of safety. So
OF KING CHARLES II. 183
there was a great deal against him. Swinton, one 1660.
of CromweU's lords, was also sent a prisoner to Scot-
land. And thus it was resolved to make a few ex-
amples in the parliament that was to be called, as
soon as the king could be got to prepare matters for
it. It was resolved on, to restore the king's author- 107
ity to the same state it was in before the wars, and
to raise such a force as might be necessary to secure
the quiet of that kingdom for the future.
It was a harder point, what to do with the cita- '^'^^ cita-
dels in
dels that were built by Cromwell, and with the Scotland
English garrisons that were kept in them. Many
said, it was necessary to keep that kingdom in that
subdued state ; at least till all things were settled,
and that there was no more danger from thence.
The earl of Clarendon was of this mind. But the
earl of Lauderdale laid before the king, that the
conquest Cromwell had made of Scotland was for
their adhering to him : he might then judge what
they would think, who had suffered so much and so
long on his account; if the same thraldom should
be now kept up by his means : it would create an
universal disgust. He told the king, that the time
might come, in which he would wish rather to have
Scotch garrisons in England : it would become a
national quarrel, and loose the affections of the coun-
try to such a degree, that perhaps they would join
with the garrisons, if any disjointing happened in
England against him : whereas, without any such
badge of slavery, Scotland might be so managed,
that they might be made entirely his. The earl of
Midletoun and his party durst not appear for so un-
popular a thing. So it was agreed on, that the cita-
dels should be evacuated and slighted, as soon as the
N 4
184 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. money could be raised in England for paying and
disbanding the army. Of all this the earl of Lau-
derdale was believed the chief adviser. So he be-
came very popular in Scotland.
Disputes The next thing that feU under consideration was
concerning ,,, iiii-t
episcopacy, the church, and Avhether bishops were to be re-
stored, or not. The earl of Lauderdale at his first
coming to the king stuck firm to presbytery. He
told me, the king spoke to him to let that go, for it
was not a religion for gentlemen. He being really
a presbyterian, but at the same time resolving to get
into the king's confidence, studied to convince the
king by a very subtle method to keep up presbytery
still in Scotland. He told him, that both king James
and his father had ruined their affairs by engaging
in the design of setting up episcopacy in that king-
dom : and by that means Scotland became discon-
tented, and was of no use to them : whereas the
king ought to govern them according to the grain
of their own inclinations, and to make them sure to
him : he ought, instead of endeavouring an uniform-
ity in both kingdoms, to keep up the opposition be-
tween them, and rather to increase than to allay
that hatred that was between them : and then the
Scots would be ready, and might be easily brought
to serve him upon any occasion of dispute he might
108 afterwards have with the parliament of England:
aU things were then smooth : but that was the ho-
ney-moon, and it could not last long : nothing would
keep England more in awe, than if they saw Scot-
land firm in their duty and affection to him : where-
as nothing gave them so much heart, as when they
knew Scotland was disjointed : it was a vain attempt
to think of doing any thing in England by means of
OF KING CHARLES IIJH T 185
the Irish, who were a despicable people, and had a 1660,
sea to pass : but Scotland could be brought to en-
gage for the king in a more silent manner, and
could serve him more effectually : he therefore laid
it down for a maxim, from which the king ought
never to depart, that Scotland was to be kept quiet
and in good humour, that the opposition of the two
kingdoms was to be kept up and heightened : and
then the king might reckon on every man capable
of bearing arms in Scotland, as a listed soldier, who
would willingly change a bad country for a better.
This was the plan he laid before the king. I cannot
teU, whether this was to cover his zeal for presby-
tery, or on design to encourage the king to set up
arbitrary government in England.
To fortify these advices, he wrote a long letter in
white ink to a daughter of the earl of Cassilis, lady
Margaret Kennedy, who was in great credit with
the party, and was looked on as a very wise and
good woman, and was out of measure zealous for
them. I married her afterwards, and after her
death found this letter among her papers : in which
he expressed great zeal for the cause : he saw the
king was indifferent in the matter : but he was easy
to those who pressed for a change : which, he said,
nothing could so effectually hinder, as the sending
up many men of good sense, but without any noise,
who might inform the king of the aversion the na-
tion had to that government, and assure him that, if
in that point he would be easy to them, he might
depend upon them as to every thing else ; and parti-
cularly, if he stood in need of their service in his
other dominions : but he charged her to trust very
few of the ministers with this, and to take care that
186 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. Sharp might know nothing of it : for he was then
jealous of him. This had all the effect that the earl
of Lauderdale intended by it. The king was no
more jealous of his favouring presbytery; but looked
on him as a fit instrument to manage Scotland, and
to serve him in the most desperate designs : and on
this all his credit with the king was founded. In
the mean time Sharp, seeing the king cold in the
matter of episcopacy, thought it was necessary to
lay the presbyterians asleep, to make them appre-
hend no danger to their government, and to engage
109 the public resolution ers to proceed against all the
protesters ; that so those who were like to be the
most inflexible in the point of episcopacy might be
censured by their own party, and by that means the
others might become so odious to the more violent
presbyterians, that thereby they might be the more
easily disposed to submit to episcopacy, or at least
might have less credit to act against it. So he, be-
ing pressed by those who employed him to procure
somewhat from the king that might look like a con-
firmation of their government, and put to silence all
discourses of an intended change, obtained by the
earl of Lauderdale's means, that a letter should be
writ ])y the king to the presbytery of Edenburgh, to
be communicated by them to aU the other presby-
teries in Scotland, in which he confirmed the general
assemblies that sat at St. Andrew's and Dundee while
he was in Scotland, and that had confirmed the pub-
■ lie resolutions ; in which he ordered them to proceed
to censure all those who had then protested against
them, and would not now submit to them. The
king did also confirm their (the) presbyterian govern-
ment, as it was by law established. This was signed.
VO' OF KING CHARLES II.IHT 187
and sent down without communicating it to the earl 1660.
of Midletoun or his party. But as soon as he heard
of it, he thought Sharp had betrayed the design ;
and sent for him, and charged him with it. Sharp
said, in his own excuse, that somewhat must be
done for quieting the presbyterians, who were begin-
ning to take the alarm : that might have produced
such applications, as would perhaps make some im-
pression on the king : whereas now all was secured,
and yet the king was engaged to nothing ; for his
confirming their government, as it was established
by law, could bind him no longer than while that
legal establishment was in force : so the reversing of
that would release the king. This allayed the eai'l
of Midletoun's displeasure a little. Yet Primerose
told me, he spoke often of it with great indignation,
since it seemed below the dignity of a king thus to
equivocate with his people, and to deceive them. It
seemed, that Sharp thought it not enough to cheat
the party himself, but would have the king share
with him in the fraud. This was no honourable
step to be made by a king, and to be contrived by a
clergyman. The letter was received with trans-
ports of joy : the presbyterians reckoned they were
safe, and began to proceed severely against the pro-
testers ; to which they were set on by some aspiring
men, who hoped to merit by the heat expressed on
tliis occasion. And if Sharp's impatience to get into
the archbishopric of St. Andrews had not wrought
too strong on him, it would liave given a great ad-
vantage to the restitution of episcopacy, if a general
assembly had been called, and the two parties had 110
been let loose on one another: that would have
shewn the impossibility of maintaining the govern-
188 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. ment of the church in a parity, and the necessity of
setting a superior order over them for keeping them
in unity and peace.
A ministry The king settled the ministry in Scotland. The
S:otLn'd! earl of Midletoun was declared the king's commis-
sioner for holding the parliament, and general of the
forces that were to be raised : the earl of Glencaim
was made chancellor : the earl of Lauderdale was
secretary of state : the earl of Rothes president of
the council : the earl of Crawford was continued in
the treasury : Primerose was clerk register, which is
very like the place of master of the roUs in England.
The rest depended on these. But the earls of Mi-
dletoun and Lauderdale were the two heads of the
parties. The earl of Miciletoun had a private in-
struction, which, as Lauderdale told me, was not
communicated to him, to try the inclinations of the
nation for episcopacy, and to consider of the best
method of setting it up. This was drawn from the
king by the earl of Clarendon : for he himself was
observed to be very cold in it, while these things
were doing. Primerose got an order from the king
to put up all the public registers of Scotland, which
CromweU had brought up, and lodged in the tower
of London, as a pawn upon that kingdom, in imita-
tion of what king Edward the first was said to have
done when he subdued that nation. They were
now put up in fifty hogsheads : and a ship was ready
to carry them down. But it was suggested to lord
Clarendon, that the original covenant, signed by the
king, and some other declarations under his hand,
^} \ were among them K And he, apprehending that at
* Dr. Montague shewed it me in the library belonging to Tri-
nity college in Cambridge. D.
/lOl OF KING CHARLES II. 189
some time or other an ill use might have been made 1660.
of these, would not suffer them to be shipped till
they were visited : nor would he take Primerose's
promise of searching for these carefully, and sending
them up to him. So he ordered a search to be made.
None of the papers he looked for were found. But
so much time was lost, that the summer was spent :
so they were sent down in winter : and by some
easterly gusts the ship was cast away near Berwick.
So we lost all our records. And we have nothing
now but some fragments in private hands to rely on,
having made at. that time so great a shipwreck of all
our authentic writings. This heightened the dis-
pleasure the nation had at the designs then on foot.
: The main thing, upon which all other matters de- a council
pended, was the method in which the affairs of Scot- sit at court
land were to be conducted. The earl of Clarendon Iffaire?*'***
moved, that there might be a council settled to sit
regularly at Whitehall on Scotish affairs, to which 111
every one of the Scotch privy council that happened
to be on the place should be admitted : but with this
addition, that, as two Scotch lords were called to the
English council, so six of the English were to be of
the Scotch council. The effect of this would have been,
that whereas the Scotch counsellors had no great
force in English affairs, the English, as they were
men of great credit with the king, and were always
on the place, would have the government of the af-
fairs of Scotland wholly in their hands. This pro-
bably would have saved that nation from much in-
justice and violence, when there was a certain me-
thod of laying their giievances before the king:
complaints would have been heard, and matters weU
examined : Englishmen would not, and durst not.
190 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. have given way to crying oppression and illegal
proceedings : for though these matters did not fall
under the cognizance of an English parliament, yet
it would have very much blasted a man's credit, who
should have concurred in such methods of govern-
ment as were put in practice afterwards in that
kingdom : therefore all people quickly saw how wise
a project this was, and how happy it would have
proved, if affairs had still gone in that channel. But
the earl of Lauderdale opposed this with aU his
strength. He told the king, it would quite destroy
the scheme he had laid before him, which must be
managed secretly, and by men that were not in fear
of the parliament of England, nor obnoxious to it.
' He said to all Scotchmen, this would make Scotland
a province to England, and subject it to English
counsellors, who knew neither the laws nor the in-
terests of Scotland, and yet would determine every
s ■ thing relating to it : and all the wealth of Scotland
would be employed to bribe them, who, having no
concern of their own in the affairs of that kingdom,
must be supposed capable of being turned by private
considerations. To the presbyterians he said, this
would infallibly bring in, not only episcopacy, but
every thing else from the English pattern. Men
who had neither kindred nor estates in Scotland
would be biased chiefly by that which was most in
vogue in England, without any regard to the incli-
nations of the Scots. These things made great im-
pressions on the Scotish nation. The king himself
did not much like it. But the earl of Clarendon
told him, Scotland, by a secret and ill management;,
had begun the embroilment in his father's affairs,
which could never have happened, if the affairs of
OF KING CHARLES II. 191
that kingdom had been under a more equal inspec- 1660.
tion : if Scotland should again fall into new disor-
ders, he must have the help of England to quiet
them : and that could not be expected, if the Eng-
lish had no share in the conduct of matters there. 112
The king yielded to it : and this method was fol-
lowed for two or three years ; but was afterwards
broke by the earl of Lauderdale, when he got into
the chief management. He began early to observe
some uneasiness in the king at the earl of Claren-
don's positive way. He saw the mistress hated him :
and he believed she would in time be too hard for
him : therefore he made great applications to her.
But his conversation was too coarse : and he had not
money enough to support himself by presents to her:
so he could not be admitted into that cabal which
was held in her lodgings. He saw, that in a council,
where men of weight, who had much at stake in
England, bore the chief sway, he durst not have pro-
posed those things, by which he intended to esta-
blish his own interest with the king, and to govern
that kingdom which way his pride or passion might
guide him. Among others, he took great pains to
persuade me of the great service he had done liis
country by breaking that method of governing it ;
though we had many occasions afterwards to see
how fatal that proved, and how wicked his design in
it was.
I have thus opened with some copiousness the be- The com-
n 1 • • • J^^ I'iii mittee of
gmnmgs of this reign; since, as they are little estates
known, and I had them from the chief of both sides, scouand.
so they may guide the reader to observe the progress
of things better in the sequel than he could other-
wise do. In August the earl of Glencairn was sent
192 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. down to Scotland, and had orders to call together
the committee of estates. This was a practice be-
gun in the late times : when the parliament made a
recess, they appointed some of every state to sit, and
Si' to act as a council of state in their name till the
next session ; for which they were to prepare mat-
ters, and to which they gave an account of their
proceedings. When the parliament of Stirling was
adjourned, the king being present, a committee had
been named : so, such of these as were yet alive
were summoned to meet, and to see to the quiet of
the nation, till the parliament should be brought to-
gether; which did not meet before January. On
the day in which the committee met, ten or twelve
of the protesting ministers met likewise at Eden-
burgh, and had before them a warm paper prepared
by one Guthery, one of the violentest ministers of
the whole party. In it, after some cold compliment
to the king upon his restoration, they put him in
mind of the covenant which he had so solemnly
sworn while among them : they lamented that, in-
stead of pursuing the ends of it in England, as he
had sworn to do, he had set up the common prayer
in his chapel, and the order of bishops : upon which
113 they made terrible denunciations of heavy judg-
ments from God on him, if he did not stand to the
covenant, which they called the oath of God. The
earl of Glencairn had notice of this meeting : and
he sent and seized on them, together with this re-
monstrance. The paper was voted scandalous and
seditious : and the ministers were aU clapt up in
' prison, and were threatened with great severities.
Guthery was kept still in prison, who had brought
the others together : but the rest, after a while's im-
OF KING CHARLES II. 193
prisonment were let go. Guthry, being minister 1660.
of Stirling while the king was there, had let fly at
him in his sermons in a most indecent manner;
which at last became so intolerable, that he was
cited to appear before the king to answer for some
passages in his sermons : he would not appear, but
declined the king and his council, who, he said,
were not proper judges of matters of doctrine, for
which he was only accountable to the judicatories of
the kirk. He also protested for remedy of law
against the king, for thus disturbing him in the ex-
ercise of his ministry. This personal affront had ir- I
ritated the king more against him, than against any
other of the party. And it was resolved to strike a
terror into them all, by making an example of him.
He was a man of courage, and went through all his
trouble with great firmness. But this way of pro-
ceeding struck the whole party with such a conster-
nation, that it had all the effect which was designed
by it : for whereas the pulpits had, to the great
scandal of religion, been places where the preachers
had for many years vented their spleen and ar-
raigned all proceedings, they became now more de-
cent, and there was a general silence every where
with relation to the affairs of state : only they could
not hold from many sly and secret insinuations, as
if the ark of God was shaking, and the glory de-
parting. A great many offenders were summoned,
at the king's suit, before the committee of estates,
and required to give bail, that they should appear
at the opening of the parliament, and answer to
what should be then objected to them. Many saw
the design of this was to fright them into a compo-
sition, and also into a concurrence with the mea-
VOL. I. O
194 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. sures that were to be taken. For the greater part
' they complied, and redeemed themselves from far-
ther vexation by such presents as they were able
to make. And in these transactions Primerose and
Fletcher were the great dealers.
Apariia- Jn the end of the year the earl of Midletoun
ment in ...
Scotland, came down with great magnificence ; his way of
living was the most splendid the nation had ever
seen : but it was likewise the most scandalous ; for
vices of all sorts were the open practices of those
about him. Drinking was the most notorious of aU,
114 which was often continued through the whole night
to the next morning : and many disorders happen-
ing after those irregular heats, the people, who had
never before that time seen any thing like it, came
to look with an ill eye on every thing that was
done by such a set of lewd and vicious men. This
laid in aU men's minds a new prejudice against epi-
scopacy : for they, who could not examine into the
nature of things, were apt to take an ill opinion of
every change in religion that was brought about by
such bad instruments. There had been a face of
gravity and piety in the former administration,
which made the libertinage of the present time
more odious.
1661. The earl of Midletoun opened the parliament on
the first of January with a speech setting forth the
blessing of the restoration : he magnified the king's
person, and enlarged on the affection that he bore
to that his ancient kingdom : he hoped they would
make suitable returns of zeal for the king's service,
that they would condemn aU the invasions that had
been made on the regal authority, and assert the
just prerogative of the crown, and give supplies for
OF KING CHARLES II. 195
keeping up such a force as was necessary to secure i66i.
,the public peace, and to preserve them from the re-'
turn of such calamities as they had so long felt.
The parliament writ an answer to the king's letter
full of duty and thanks. The first thing proposed
was to name lords of the articles. In order to the
apprehending the importance of this, I will give
some account of the constitution of that kingdom.
The parliament was anciently the king's court, The lords
where all who held land of him were bound to ap-cies.
pear. All sat in one house, but were considered as
three estates. The first was the church, represented
by the bishops, and mitred abbots, and priors. The
second was the baronage, the nobility and gentry
who held their baronies of the king. And the third
was the boroughs, who held of the king by barony,
though in a community. So that the parliament
was truly the baronage of the kingdom. The lesser
barons grew weary of this attendance : so in king
James the first's time (during the reign of Henry IV.
of England) they were excused from it, and were
impowered to send proxies, to an indefinite number,
to represent them in parliament. Yet they neglected
to do this. And it continued so till king James the
sixth's time, in which the mitred abbots being taken
away, and few of the titular bishops that were then
continued appearing at them, the church lands be-
ing generally in lay hands, the nobility carried mat-
ters in parliament as they pleased : and as they op-
pressed the boroughs, so they had the king much
under them. Upon this the lower barons got them- 115
selves to be restored to the right which they had
neglected near two hundred years. They were al-
lowed by act of parliament to send two from a
o 2
196 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. county: only some smaller counties sent but one.
This brought that constitution to a truer balance.
The lower barons have a right to choose, at their
county courts after Michaelmas, their commissioners,
to serve in any parliament that may be called within
that year. And they who choose them sign a com-
mission to him who represents them. So the she-
riff has no share of the return. And in the case of
controverted elections the parliament examines the
commissions, to see who has the greatest number,
and judges whether every one that signs it had a
right to do so. The boroughs only choose their
members when the summons goes out : and all are
chosen by the men of the corporation, or, as they
caU them, the town council. AU these estates sit in
one house, and vote together. Anciently the par-
liament sat only two days, the first and the last.
On the first they chose those who were to sit on the
articles, eight for every state, to whom the king
joined eight officers of state. These received all the
heads of grievances or articles that were brought to
them, and formed them into bills as they pleased :
and on the last day of the parliament, these were
all read, and Were approved or rejected by the whole
4 body. So they were a committee that had a very
extraordinary authority, since nothing could be
brought before the parliament but as they pleased.
This was pretended to be done only for the shorten-
ing and dispatching of sessions. The crown was
not contented with this limitation, but got it to be
carried farther. The nobility came to choose eight
bishops, and the bishops to choose eight noblemen :
and these sixteen choose the eight barons, (so the
representatives for the shires are called,) and the
:- OF KING CHARLES II. irr 197
eight burgesses. By this means our kings did upon 1661.
the matter choose all the lords of the articles. So
entirely had they got the liberties of that parliament
into their hands.
During the late troubles they had still kept up a
distinction of three estates, the lesser barons making
one : and then every estate might meet apart, and
name their own committee : but still all things were
brought in, and debated in full parliament. So now
the first thing proposed was, the returning to the
old custom of naming lords of the articles. The
earl of Tweedale opposed it, but was seconded only
by one person. So it passed with that small op-
position. Only, to make it go easier, it was pro-
mised, that there should be frequent sessions of par-
liament, and that the acts should not be brought in
in a hurry, and carried with the haste that had been
practised in former times.
The parliament granted the king an additional 116
revenue for life of 40,000/. a year, to be raised by pas^ed^in
an excise on beer and ale, for maintaining a small *^'*®^**'°°'
force: upon which two troops and a regiment of ,
foot guards were to be raised. They ordered the
marquis of Montrose's quarters to be brought toge-
ther : and they were buried with great state. They
fell next upon the acts of the former times that had
limited the prerogative: they repealed them, and
asserted it with a full extent in a most extraordi-
nary manner. Primerose had the drawing of these
acts. He often confessed to me, that he thought he
was as one bewitched while he drew them: for,
not considering the iU use might be made of them
afterwards, he drew them with preambles full of
extravagant rhetoric, reflecting severely on the pro-
o 3
198 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. ceedings of the late times, and swelled them up
with the highest phrases and fuUest clauses that he
could invent. In the act which asserted the king's
power of the militia, the power of arming and levy-
ing the subjects was carried so far, that it would
have ruined the kingdom, if Gilmore, (an eminent
lawyer, and a man of great integrity, who had now
the more credit, for he had always favoured the
king's side,) had not observed that, as the act was
worded, the king might require all the subjects to
serve at their own charge, and might oblige them,
in order to the redeeming themselves from serving,
to pay whatever might be set on them. So he
made such an opposition to this, that it could not
pass till a proviso was added to it, that the kingdom
should not be obliged to maintain any force levied
by the king, otherwise than as it should be agreed
to in parliament, or in a convention of estates.
This was the only thing that was then looked to :
for all the other acts passed in the articles as Prime-
rose had penned them. They were brought into
parliament : and upon one hasty reading them they
were put to the vote, and were always carried.
One act troubled the presbyterians extremely.
In the act asserting the king's power in treaties of
peace and war, aU leagues with any other nation,
not made by the king's authority, were declared
treasonable : and in consequence of this, the league
and covenant made with England in the year 1643
' was condemned, and declared of no force for the
future. This was the idol of all the presbyterians : so
they were much alarmed at it. But Sharp re-
strained all those with whom he had credit : he told
them, the only way to preserve their government
OF KING CHARLES II. 199
was, to let all that related to the king's authority 1661.
be separated from it, and be condemned, that so
they might be no more accused as enemies to mo-
narchy, or as leavened with the principles of rebel-
lion. He told them, they must be contented to let 117
that pass, that the jealousy which the king had of
them, as enemies to his prerogative, might be ex-
tinguished in the most effectual manner. This re-
strained many. But some hotter zealots could not
be governed. One Macquair, a hot man, and consi-
derably learned, did in his church at Glasgow openly
protest against this act, as contrary to the oath of
God, and so void of itself. To protest against an
act of parliament was treason by their law. And
Midletoun was resolved to make an example of him
for the terrifying others. But Macquair was as
stiff as he was severe, and would come to no sub-
mission. Yet he was only condemned to perpetual
banishment. Upon which he, and some others, who
were afterwards banished, went and settled at Rot-
terdam, where they formed themselves into a pres-
bytery, and writ many seditious books, and kept a
correspondence over all Scotland, that being the
chief seat of the Scotish trade ; and by that means
they did much more mischief to the government,
than they could have done had they continued still
in Scotland.
The lords of the articles grew weary of preparing ^n act re-
P .^ r r » scinding all
so many acts as the practices of the former times parliaments
„,,.- - , -,- held since
gave occasion lor ; but did not know how to meddle the year
with those acts that the late king had passed in the ^^^^'
year forty-one, or the present king had passed while
he was in Scotland. They saw, that, if they should
proceed to repeal those by which presbyterian go-
o 4
200 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. vemment was ratified, that would raise much oppo-
sition, and bring petitions from all that were for
that government over the whole kingdom ; which
Midletoun and Sharp endeavoured to prevent, that
the king might be confirmed in what they had
affirmed, that the general bent of the nation was
now turned against presbytery and for bishops. So
Primerose proposed, but half in jest, as he assured
me, that the better and shorter way would be to
pass a general act rescissory, (as it was called,) an-
nulling aU the parliaments that had been held since
the year 1633, during the whole time of the war, as
faulty and defective in their constitution. But it
was not so easy to know upon what point that de-
fect was to be fixed. The only colourable pretence
in law was, that, since the ecclesiastical state was
not represented in those parliaments, they were not
a full representative of the kingdom, and so not
true parliaments. But this could not be alleged by
this present parliament, which had no bishops in it :
if that inferred a nullity, this was no parliament.
Therefore they could only fix the nullity upon the
pretence of force and violence. Yet it was a great
strain to insist on that, since it was visible that nei-
ther the late king nor the present were under any
118 force when they passed them: they came of their
own accord, and passed those acts ^ If it was in-
sisted on, that the ill state of their affairs was in the
nature of a force, the ill consequences of this were
visible; since no prince by this means could be
bound to any treaty, or be concluded by any law
that limited his power, these being always drawn
^- Both kings were under a force. S.
7>;^ OF KING CHARLES II. i . i SOI
from them by the necessity of their affairs, which i66i.
can never be called a force, as long as their persons
are free. So, upon some debate about it on those
grounds, at a private juncto, the proposition, though
well liked, was let fall, as not capable to have good
colours put upon it : nor had the earl of Midletoun
any instruction to warrant his passing any such act.
Yet within a day or two, when they had drunk
higher, they resolved to venture on it. Primerose
was then ill. So one was sent to him to desire him
to prepare a bill to that effect. He set about it:
but perceived it was so ill grounded, and so wild in
all the frame of it, that he thought, when it came
to be better considered, it must certainly be laid
aside. But it fell out otherwise : his draught was
copied out next morning, without altering a word
in it, and carried to the articles, and from thence to
the parliament, where it met indeed with great op-
position. The earl of Crawford and the duke of
Hamilton argued much against it. The parliament
in the year forty-one was legally summoned : the
late king came thither in person with his ordinary
attendance, and without the appearance of any force:
if any acts then passed needed to be reviewed, that
might be well done : but to annul a parliament was
a terrible precedent, which destroyed the whole se-
curity of government ^ : another parliament might
annul the present parliament, as well as that which
was now proposed to be done : so no stop could be
made, nor any security laid down for fixing things
for the future : the parliament in the year forty-
eight proceeded upon instructions under the king's
. * Wrong arguing. S.
202 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. own hand, which was all that could be had, consi-
dering his imprisonment : they had declared for the
king, and raised an army for his preservation. To
this the earl of Midletoun, who, contrary to custom,
managed the debate himself, answered, that though
there was no visible force on the late king in the
year forty-one, yet they aU knew he was under a
real force, by reason of the rebellion that had been
in this kingdom, and the apparent danger of one
ready to break out in England, which forced him
to settle Scotland on such terms as he could bring
them to : so that distress on his affau's was really
equivalent to a force on his person ^ : yet he con-
fessed, it was just, that such an appearance of a
parliament should be a full authority to all who
acted under it : and care was taken to secure these
119 by a proviso that was put in the act to indemnify
them: he acknowledged the design of the parlia-
ment in the year forty-eight was good: yet they
declared for the king in such terms, and had acted
so hypocritically in order to the gaining of the kirk
party, that it was just to condemn the proceedings,
though the intentions of many were honourable and
loyal : for we went into it, he said, as knaves, and
therefore no wonder if we miscarried in it as fools ".
This was very ill taken by all who had been con-
cerned in it. The bill was put to the vote, and
carried by a great majority : and the earl of Midle-
toun immediately passed it without staying for an
I instruction from the king. The excuse he made for
it was, that, since the king had by his letter to the
presbyterians confirmed their government as it was
t It was so. S; " True. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 203
established by law, there was no way left to get out 1661.
of that, but the annulling all those laws.
This was a most extravagant act, and only fit to it was not
be concluded after a drunken bout. It shook all king,
possible security for the future, and laid down a
most pernicious precedent. The earl of Lauderdale
aggi-avated this heavily to the king. It shewed,
that the earl of Midletoun understood not the first
principles of government, since he had, without any
warrant for it, given the king's assent to a law that
must for ever take away all the security that law
can give : no government was so well established,
as not to be liable to a revolution : this would cut
off aU hopes of peace and submission, if any disorder
should happen at any time thereafter''. And since
the earl of Clarendon had set it up for a maxim
never to be violated, that acts of indemnity were
sacred things, he studied to possess him against the
earl of Midletoun, who had now annulled the very
parliaments in which two kings had passed acts of
indemnity. This raised a great clamour. And upon
that the earl of Midletoun complained in parlia-
ment, that their best services were represented to
the king as blemishes on his honour, and as a pre-
judice to his affairs : so he desired they would send
up some of the most eminent of their body to give
the king a true account of their proceedings. The
earls of Glencairn and Rothes were sent : for the
earl of Rothes gave secret engagements to both
sides, resolving to strike into that to which he saw
the king most inclined. The earl of Midletoun's
design was to accuse the earl of Lauderdale of mis-
* Wrong weak reasoning. S. _ ■■'
204 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. representing the proceedings of parliament, and of
belying the king's good subjects, called in the Scot-
ish law leasing making, which either to the king of
the people, or to the people of the king, is capital.
Thepresby- Sharp wcnt up with these lords to press the
great dis- spccdj Setting up of episcopacy, now that the great-
"''^^'^ .- g^ est enemies of that government were under a ge-
neral consternation, and were upon other accounts
so obnoxious that they durst not make any opposi-
tion to it, since no act of indemnity was yet passed.
He had expressed a great concern to his old bre-
thren, when the act rescissory passed, and acted that
part very solemnly for some days : yet he seemed to
take heart again, and persuaded the ministers of
that party, that it would be a service to them, since
now the case of ratifying their government was se-
parated from the rebellion of the late times : so that
hereafter it was to subsist by a law passed in a par-
liament that sat and acted in full freedom. So he
undertook to go again to court, and to move for an
instruction to settle presbytery on a new and undis-
puted bottom. The poor men were so struck with
the ill state of their affairs, that they either trusted
him, or at least seemed to do it; for indeed they
had neither sense nor courage left them. During
the session of parliament, the most aspiring men of
the clergy were picked out to preach before the
parliament. They did not speak out : but they all
insinuated the necessity of a greater authority than
was then in the church, for keeping them in order.
One or two spoke plainer : upon which the presby-
tery of Edenburgh went to the earl of Midletoun,
and complained of that, as an affront to the law and
to the king's letter. He dismissed them with good
OF KING CHARLES 11. 205
words, but took no notice of their complaint. The i66l.
synods in several places resolved to prepare ad-
dresses both to king and parliament, for an act
establishing their government. And Sharp dissem-
bled so artificially, that he met with those who were
preparing an address to be presented to the synod
of Fife, that was to sit within a week after: and
heads were agreed on. Honyman, afterwards bi-
shop of Orkney, drew it up with so much vehe-
mence, that Wood, their divinity professor, told me,
he and some others sat up almost the whole night
before the synod met, to draw it over again in a
smoother strain. But Sharp gave the earl of Midle-
toun notice of this. So the earl of Rothes was sent
over to see to their behaviour. As soon as the minis-
ters entered upon that subject, he, in the king's
name, dissolved the synod, and commanded the
ministers, under pain of treason, to retire to their
several habitations. Such care was taken that no
public application should be made in favour of pres-
bytery. Any attempt that was made on the other
hand met with great encouragement y. The synod
of Aberdeen was the only body that made an ad-
dress looking towards episcopacy. In a long pre-
amble they reflected on the confusions and violence
of the late times, of which they enumerated many
particulars ; and they concluded with a prayer, that
since the legal authority upon which their courts 121
proceeded was now annulled, that therefore the
king and parliament would settle their government,
conform to the scriptures and the rules of the pri-
mitive church. The presbyterians saw what was
>■ Does the man write like a bishop ? S.
206 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. driven at, and how their words would be under-
stood : but I heard one of them say, (for I was pre-
sent at that meeting,) that no man could decently
oppose those words, since by that he would insinu-
ate that he thought presbytery was not conform to
these.
In this session of parliament another act passed,
which was a new affliction to aU the party : the
twenty-ninth of May was appointed to be kept as a
holy day ; since on that day an end had been put to
three and twenty years' course of rebellion, of which
the whole progress was reckoned up in the highest
strain of Primerose's eloquence. The ministers saw,
that by observing this act passed with such a pre-
amble, they condemned all their former proceedings,
as rebellious and hypocritical. They saw, that by
obeying it they would lose aU their credit, and con-
tradict aU they had been building up in a course of
so many years. Yet such was the heat of that time,
that they durst not except to it on that account.
So they laid hold on the subtilty of a holy day ; and
covered themselves under that controversy, denying
it was in the power of any human authority to
make a day holy. But withal they feU upon a poor
shift : they enacted in their several presbyteries
that they should observe that day as a thanksgiving
for the king's restoration : so they took no notice of
the act of parliament, but observed it in obedience
to their own act. But this, though it covered them
! from prosecution, since the law was obeyed, yet
it laid them open to much contempt. When the
earls of Glencaim and Rothes came to court, the
king was soon satisfied with the account they gave
of the proceedings of parliament : and the earl of
OF KING CHARLES II. 207
Lauderdale would not own that he had ever misre- 1661.
presented them. They were ordered to proceed in
their charging of him, as the earl of Clarendon
should direct them. But he told them the assault-
ing of a minister, as long as he had an interest in
the king, was a practice that never could be ap-
proved: it was one of the uneasy things that a
house of commons of England sometimes ventured
on, which was ungrateful to the court : such an at-
tempt, instead of shaking the earl of Lauderdale,
would give him a faster root with the king. They
must therefore content themselves with letting the
king see how well his service went on in their
hands, and how unjustly they had been misrepre-
sented to him : and thus by degrees they would
gain their point, and the earl of Lauderdale would
become useless to the king. So this design was let 122
fall. But the earl of Rothes assured Lauderdale, he
had diverted the storm : though Primerose told me,
this was the ti-ue ground on which they proceeded.
They became aU friends, as to outward appearance.
Thus I have gone through the actings of the first
session of this parliament with relation to public af-
fairs. It was a mad roaring time, full of extrava-
gance. And no wonder it was so, when the men of
affairs were almost perpetually drunk. I shall in
the next place give an account of the attainders
passed in it.
The first and chief of these was of the marquis of Argiie's at.
Argile. He was indicted at the king's suit for a
great many facts, that were reduced to three heads.
The first was of his public actings during the wars,
of which many instances were given ; such as his
Ijeing concerned in the delivering up of the king to
208 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. the English at Newcastle, his opposing the engage-
ment in the year 1648, and his heading the rising
in the west, in opposition to the committee of
estates : in this, and many other steps made during
the war, he was esteemed the principal actor, and
so ought to be made the greatest example for terri-
fying others. The second head consisted of many
murders, and other barbarities, committed by his
officers, during the war, on many of the king's
party ; chiefly on those who had served under the
marquis of Montrose, many of them being murdered
in cold blood. The third head consisted of some
articles of his concurrence with CromweU and the
usurpers, in opposition to those who appeared for
the king in the Highlands; his being one of his
parliament, and assisting in proclaiming him pro-
tector, with a great many other particulars, into
which his compliance was branched out. He had
counsel assigned him, who performed their part very
weU.
The substance of his defence was, that during
the late wars he was but one among a great many
more : he had always acted by authority of parlia-
ment, and according to the instructions that were
given him, as oft as he was sent on any expedition
or negotiation. As to all things done before the
year 1641, the late king had buried them in an act
of oblivion then passed, as the present king had also
done in the year 1651 : so he did not think he was
bound to answer to any particular before that time.
For the second head, he was at London when most
of the barbarities set out in it were committed : nor
did it appear that he gave any orders about them.
It was well known that great outrages had been
6P ittN6 CHAfttES fl. m
committed by the Macdonalds : and he believed his 1661.
jieople, when they had the better of them, had
taken cruel revenges : this was to be imputed to the
heat of the time, and to the tempers of the people, 123
who had been much provoked by the burning of his
whole country, and by much blood that was shed.
And as to many stories laid to the charge of his
men, he knew some of them were mere forgeries,
and others were aggravated much beyond the truth :
but, what truth soever might be in them, he could
not be answerable but for what was done by him-
self, or by his orders. As to the third head, of his
compliance with the usurpation, he had stood out
till the nation was quite conquered: and in that
case it was the received opinion both of di\'ines and
lawyers, that men might lawfully submit to an
usurpation, when forced to it by an inevitable ne-
cessity. It was the epidemical sin of the nation.
His circumstances were such, that more than a bare
compliance was required of him. What he did that
way was only to preserve himself and his family,
and was not done on design to oppose the king's in-
terest. Nor did his service suiFer by any thing he
did. This was the substance of his defence in a
long speech, which he made with so good a grace
and so skilfully, that his character was as much
raised as his family suffered by the prosecution. In
one speech, excusing his compliance with Cromwell,
he said, what could he think of that matter, after a
man so -eminent in the law as his majesty's advo-
cate had taken the engagement? This inflamed
the other so much, that he called him an impudent
viUain, and was not so much as chid for that bar-
barous treatment. Lord Argile gravely said, he had
voi,. I. p
210 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. learnt in his affliction to bear reproaches: but if
the parliament saw no cause to condemn him, he
was less concerned at the king's advocate's railing.
The king's advocate put in an additional article, of
charging him with accession to the king's death, for
which all the proof he offered lay in a presumption :
Cromwell had come down to Scotland with his
army in September 1648, and at that time he had
many and long conferences with Argile ; and imme-
diately upon his return to London the treaty with
the king was broken off, and the king was brought
to his trial: the advocate from thence inferred, that
it was to be presumed that Cromwell and Argile
had concerted that matter between them. While
this process was carried on, which was the solemnest
that ever was in Scotland, the lord Lorn continued
at court soliciting for his father; and oljtained a
letter to be writ by the king to the earl of Midle-
toun, requiring him to order his advocate not to in-
sist on any public proceedings before the indemnity
he himself had passed in the year 1651. He also
required him, when the trial was ended, to send up
the whole process, and lay it before the king, before
I2!4the parliament should give sentence. The earl of
Midletoun submitted to the first part of this : so aU
farther inquiry into those matters was superseded.
But as to the second part of the letter, it looked so
like a distrust of the justice of the parliament, that he
said, he durst not let it be known, till he had a se-
■ cond and more positive order, which he earnestly
desired might not be sent ; for it would very much
discourage this loyal and affectionate parliament:
and he begged earnestly to have that order recalled ;.
which ,was done. For.^ome time there was £i stop
OF KING CHARLES 11. 211
to the proceedings, in which lord Argile was con- 1661.
triving an escape out of the castle. He kept his
bed for some days : and his lady being of the same
stature with himself, and coming to him in a chair,
he had put on her clothes, and was going into the
chair : but he apprehended he should be discovered,
and his execution hastened ; and so his heart failed
him. The earl of Midletoun resolved, if possible, to
have the king's death fastened on him. By this
means, as he would die with the more infamy, so he
reckoned this would put an end to the family, since 1
nobody durst move in favour of the son of one judged
guilty of that crime. And he, as was believed,
hoped to obtain a grant of his estate. Search was
made into all the precedents of men who had been
at any time condemned upon presumption. And
the earl of Midletoun resolved to argue the matter
himself, hoping that the weight of his authority
would bear down all opposition. He managed it
indeed with more force than decency : he was too
vehement, and maintained the argument with a
strength that did more honour to his parts than to
his justice or his character. But Gilmore, though
newly made president of the session, which is the
supreme court of justice in that kingdom, abhorred
the precedent of attainting a man upon so remote a
presumption ; and looked upon it as less justifiable,
than the much decried attainder of the earl of Straf-
ford. So he undertook the argument against Mi-
dletoun : they replied upon one another thirteen or
fourteen times in a debate that lasted many hours.
Gilmore had so clearly the better of the argument,
that though the parliament was so set against Ar-
gile, that every thing was like to pass that might
P 2
212 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. blacken him, yet, when it was put to the vote, he
was acquitted as to that by a great majority : at
which he expressed so much joy, that he seemed
little concerned at any thing that could happen to
him after that. All that remained was to make his
compliance with the usurpers appear to be treason.
The debate was like to have lasted long. The earl
of Lowdun, who had been lord chancellor, and was
counted the eloquentest man of that time, for he
had a copiousness in speaking that was never ex-
125hausted, (he was come of his family, and was his
particular friend,) had prepared a long and learned
argument on that head. He had gathered the opi-
nions both of divines and lawyers, and had laid to-
gether a great deal out of history, more particularly
out of the Scotish history, to shew that it had never
been censured as a crime : but that, on the contrary,
in all their confusions, the men, who had merited
the most of the crown in all its shakings, were per-
sons who had got credit by compliance with the
side that prevailed, and by that means had brought
things about again. But, while it was very doubt-
ful how it would have gone. Monk, by an inex-
cusable baseness, had searched among his letters,
and found some that were writ by Argile to himself,
that were hearty and zealous on their side. These
he sent down to Scotland. And after they were
read in parliament, it could not be pretended that
his compUance was feigned, or extorted from him.
Every body blamed Monk for sending these down,
since it was a betraying the confidence that they (had)
then lived in. They were sent by an express, and
came to the earl of Midletoun after the parhament
was engaged in the debate. So he ordered the let-
OF KING CHARLES II. ^8
tei*s to be read. This was much blamed, as contrary 1661.
to the forms of justice, since probation was closed
on both sides. But the reading of them silenced all
farther debate. All his friends went out: and he
was condemned as guilty of treason ^. The marquis
of Montrose only refused to vote. He owned, he
had too much resentment to judge in that matter.
It was designed he should be hanged, as the mar-
quis of Montrose had been : but it was carried that
he should be beheaded, and that his head should be -
set up where lord Montrose's had been set. He re-
ceived his sentence decently, and composed himself
to suffer, [with a courage that was not expected
from him.]
The day before his death he wrote to the king, And execu-
justifying his intentions in all he had acted in the
matter of the covenant -. he protested his innocence,
as to the death of the late king : he submitted pa-
tiently to his sentence, and wished the king a long
and happy reign : he cast his family and children
upon his mercy ; and prayed that they might not
suffer for their father's fault. On the twenty-se-
venth of May, the day appointed for his execution,
he came to the scaffold in a very solemn but un-
daunted manner, accompanied with many of the
^ (Many negative arguments perhaps sufficiently confirmed
tiave been brought against this by the similar statements of
charge on Monck, both by Baillie in his Letters, who lived
Campbell in the Biographia in those times, and of Cunning-
Britannica, and in his Lives of ham in his History of Great
the Admirals; and by Rose, in Britain, vol. i. p. 13, who is
his Observations on Fox's His- said to have been connected
torical Work. But they have with the Argyle family, and who
been ably discussed by Sergeant does not appear to have founded
Heyvvood in his Vindication of his report on the authority of
the last mentioned work ; and his contemporary, bishop Bur-
the truth of the acousatioq is net.)
P 3
214 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. nobility and some ministers. He spoke for half an
hour with a great appearance of serenity. Cun-
ningham, his physician, told me he touched his
pulse, and that it did then beat at the usual rate,
calm and strong. He did in a most solemn manner
vindicate himself from all knowledge or accession to
126 the king's death : he pardoned aU his enemies ; and
submitted to the sentence, as to the will of God : he
spoke highly in justification of the covenant, calling
it the cause and work of God; and expressed his
apprehension of sad times like to foUow ; and ex-
horted aU people to adhere to the covenant, and to
resolve to suffer rather than sin against their con-
sciences. He parted with all his friends very de-
cently. And after some time spent in his private
devotions he was beheaded^; [and did end his days
much better than those who knew him the former
part of his life expected. Concerning which the
earl of Crawford told me this passage : he lived al-
ways on ill terms with him, and went out of town
the day of his execution. The earl of Midletoun,
when he saw him first after it was over, asked him,
if he did not believe his soul was in hell ? He an-
swered, not at all. And when the other seemed
surprised at that, he said, his reason was, he knew
Argile was naturally a very gi-eat coward, and was
always afraid of dying. So since he heard he had
died with great resolution, he was persuaded, that
was from some supernatural assistance ; he was sure
it was not his natural temper.]^
The execn. ^ fg^ jj^ys after, Guthry suffered. He was ac-
tion of Gu- ^ ' ^
thry, a mi- cused of acccssiou to the remonstrance when the
king was in Scotland, and for a book he had printed
■* He was the greatest villain of his age. S,
nister.
OF KING CHARLES II. 215
with the title of the causes of God's wrath upon 1661.
the nation ; in which the treating with the king, "~~~"
the tendering him the covenant, and the admitting
him to the exercise of the government, were highly
aggravated, as great acts of apostasy. His declining
the king's authority to judge of his sermons, and his
protesting for remedy of law against him, and the
late seditious paper that he was drawing others to
concur in, were the matters objected to him. He
was a resolute and stiff man : so when his lawyers
offered him legal defences, he would not be advised
by them, but resolved to take his own way. He '
confessed, and justified all that he had done, as
agreeing to the principles and practices of the kirk,
who had asserted aU along that the doctrine deli-
vered in their sermons did not fall under the cogni-
zance of the temporal courts, till it was first judged
by the church ; for which he brought much tedious
proof. He said, his protesting for remedy of law
against the king was not meant at the king's per-
son, but was only with relation to costs and da-
mages. The earl of Midletoun had a personal ani-
mosity against him; for in the late times he had
excommunicated him : so his eagerness in the pro-
secution did not look well. The defence he made
signified nothing to justify himself, but laid a great
load on presbytery ; since he made it out beyond all
dispute, that he had acted upon their principles,
which made them the more odious, as having among
them some of the worst maxims of the church of
Rome ; that in particular, to make the pulpit a pri-
vileged place, in which a man might safely vent
treason, and be secure in doing it, if the church ju-
dicatory should agree to acquit him. So upon this
p 4
216 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. occasion great advantage was taken, to shew how
near the spirit that had reigned in presljytery came
up to popery. It was resolved to make a public
example of a preacher : so he was singled out. He
gave no advantage to those who wished to have
saved him by the least step towards any submission,
but much to the contrary. Yet, though all people
127 were disgusted at the earl of Midletoun's eagerness
in the prosecution, the earl of Tweedale was the
only man that moved against the putting him to
death. He said, banishment had been hitherto the
severest censure that had been laid on the preachers
for their opinions : he knew Guthry was a man apt
to give personal provocation : and he wished that
might not have too great a share in carrying the
matter so far. Yet he was condemned to die. I
saw him suffer. He was so far from shewing any
fear, that he rather expressed a contempt of death.
He spoke an hour upon the ladder, with the com-
posedness of a man that was delivering a sermon
rather than his last words. He justified all he had
done, and exhorted all people to adhere to the cove^
nant, which he magnified highly. With him one
Gouan was also hanged, who had deserted the army
while the king was in Scotland, and had gone over
to Cromwell. The man was inconsiderable, till they
made him more considered by putting him to death
on such an account at so great a distance of time.
Some others The gToss iniquity of the court appeared in no-
ceeded™ thing morc eminently than in the favour shewed
against. Maccloud of Assiu, who had betrayed the marquis
of Montrose, and was brought over upon it. He in
prison struck up to a high pitch of vice and impiety,
and gave great entertainments : and that, notwith-*
OF KING CHARLES II. -tU 217
standing the baseness of the man and of his crimes, 1661.
begot him so many friends, that he was let go with- '
out any censure. The proceedings against Waristoun
were soon despatched, he being absent ^ It was
proved, that he had presented the remonstrance,
that he had acted under Cromwell's authority, and
had sat as a peer in his parliament, that he had
confii'med him in his protectorship, and had like-
wise sat as one of the committee of safety : so he
was attainted. Swintoun had been attainted in the
parliament at Stirling for going over to CromweU :
so he was brought before the parliament to hear
what he could say, why the sentence should not be
executed. He was then become a quaker; and
4id, with a sort of eloquence that moved the whole
house, lay out all his own errors, and the iU spirit
he was in when he committed the things that were
charged on him, with so tender a sense, that he
seemed as one indifferent what they should do with
him : and, without so much as moving for mercy,
or even for a delay, he did so effectually prevail on
them, that they recommended him to the king, as a
fit object of his mercy. This was the more easily
consented to by the earl of Midletoun, in hatred to
the eai'l of Lauderdale, who had got the gift of his
estate. He had two great pleas in law : the one
was, that the record of his attainder at Stirling, with
^ that had passed in that pailiament, was lost : the
other was, that by the act rescissory that parliament 128
being annulled, all that was done by it was void:
but he urged neither, since there was matter enough
to attaint him anew, if the defects of that supposed
attainder had been observed. So tiU the act of in-
denmity was passed he was still in danger, having
^ Waristojun was an abominable dog, S.
218 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. been the man of all Scotland that had been the most
trusted and employed by Cromwell : but upon pass-
ing the act of indemnity he was safe.
Midietoun The scssion of parliament was now brought to a
count of all conclusion, without any motion for an act of indem-
paslelfui iiity. The secret of this was, that since episcopacy
parliament ^^g ^^ j^g gg^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ thoSC who WCrC mOSt Ukc
to the king. ^'
to oppose it were on other accounts obnoxious, it
was thought best to keep them under that fear, till
the change should be made. The earl of Midietoun
went up to court fuU of merit, and as full of pride.
He had a mind to be lord treasurer ; and told the
king, that, if he intended to set up episcopacy, the
earl of Crawford, who was a noted presbyterian,
must be put out of that post : it was the opinion of
the king's zeal for that form of government that
must bear down aU the opposition that might other-
wise be made to it : and it would not be possible to
persuade the nation of that, as long as they saw the
white staff in such hands. Therefore, on the first
day on which a Scotish council was called after he
came up, he gave a long account of the proceedings
of parliament, and magnified the zeal and loyalty
that many had expressed, while others that had
been not only pardoned, but were highly trusted by
the king, had been often cold and backward, and
sometimes plainly against the service. The earl of
Lauderdale was ill that day : so the earl of Craw-
ford undertook to answer this reflection, which he
thought was meant of himself, for opposing the act
rescissory. He said, he had observed such an entire
unanimity in carrying on the king^s service, that he
did not know of any that had acted otherwise : and
therefore he moved, that the earl of Midietoun might
speak plain, and name persons. The earl of Midle-
OF KING CHARLES II. 219
toun desired to be excused: he did not intend to 1661.
accuse any ; but yet he thought, he was bound to
let the king know how he had been served. The
earl of Crawford still pressed him to speak out after
so general an accusation : no doubt, he would in-
form the king in private who these persons were :
and since he had already gone so far in public, he
thought he ought to go farther. The earl of Midle-
toun was in some confusion ; for he did not expect
to be thus attacked : so to get off, he named the op-
position that the earl of Tweedale had made to the
sentence passed on Guthry, not without making in-
decent reflections on it, as if his prosecution had
flowed from the king's resentments of his behaviour 129
to himself: and so he turned the matter, that the
earl of Tweedale's reflection, which was thought
indeed pointed against himself, should seem as
meant against the king. The earl of Crawford upon
this said, that the earl of Midletoun ought to have
excepted to the words when they were first spoken ;
and no doubt the parliament would have done the
king justice : but it was never thought consistent
with the liberty of speech in parliament, to bring
men into question afterwards for words spoken in
any debate, when they were not challenged as soon
as they were spoken. The earl of Midletoun ex-
cused himself: he said, the thing was passed before
he made due reflections on it ; and so asked pardon
for that omission. The earl of Crawford was glad
he himself had escaped, and was silent as to the
earl of Tweedale's concern : so, nobody offering to
excuse him, an order was presently sent down for
committing him to prison, and for examining him
upon the words he had spoken, and on his meaning
S20 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. in them. That was not a time in which men dm-st
fft'etend to privilege, or the freedom of debate : so he
did not insist on it ; but sent up such an account of
his words, and such an explanation of them, as fuUy
satisfied the king. So after the imprisonment of
some weeks, he was set at liberty. But this raised
a great outcry against the earl of Midletoun, as a
thing that was contrary to the freedom of debate,
and destructive of the liberty of parliament. It
lay the more open to censure, because the earl of
Midletoun had accepted of a great entertainment
from the earl of Tweedale, after Guthry's business
was over : and it seemed contrary to the rules of
€' hospitality, to have such a design in his heart
against a man in whose house he had been so
treated : all the excuse he made for it was, that he
never intended it; but that the earl of Crawford
had pressed him so hard upon the complaint he had
made in general, that he had no way of getting out
of it without naming some particulars ; and he had
no other ready then at hand.
Another difference of greater moment fell in be-
tween him and the earl of Crawford. The earl of
Midletoun was now raising the guards, that were to
be paid out of the excise granted by the parliament.
So he moved, that the excise might be raised by
collectors named by himself as general, that so he
might not depend on the treasury for the pay of the
forces. The earl of Crawford opposed this with
great advantage, since all revenues given the king
did by the course of law come into the treasury.
Scotland was not in a condition to maintain two
treasurers : and, as to what was said, of the neces-
(Sity of having the pay of the army well ascertained
OF KING CHARLES II. IIT 2Xt
and ever ready, otherwise it would become a griev- iQ6\.
ance to the kingdom, he said the king was master, TTT
and what orders soever he thought fit to send to the
treasury, they should be most punctually obeyed.
But the earl of Midletoun knew, there would be a
great overplus of the excise beyond the pay of the
troops : and he reckoned, that, if the collection was
put in his hands, he would easily get a grant of the
overplus at the year's end. The earl of Crawford
said, no such thing was ever pretended to by any
general, unless by such as set up to be independent,
and who hoped by that means to make themselves
the masters of the army. So he carried the point,
which was thought a victory. And the earl of Mi-
dletoun was much blamed for putting his interest
at court on such an issue, where the pretension was
so unusual and so unreasonable.
The next point was concerning lord Argile's
estate. The king was inclined to restore the lord
Lorn ; though much pains was taken to persuade
him, that all the zeal he had expressed in his ser-
vice was only an artifice between his father and
him to preserve the family in all adventures : it was
said, that had been an ordinary practice in Scotland
for father and son to put themselves in different
sides. The marquis of Argile had taken very ex-
traordinary methods to raise his own family to such
a superiority in the Highlands, that he was a sort
of a king among them. The marquis of Huntly
had man-ied his sister : and during their friendship
Argile was bound with him for some of his debts.
After that, the marquis of Huntly, as he neglected
his affairs, so he engaged in the king's side, by which
Argile saw he must be undone. So he pretended.
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. that he only intended to secure himself, when he
bought in prior mortgages and debts, which, as was
bdieved, were compounded at very low rates. The
friends of the marquis of Huntly's family pressed
the king hard to give his heirs the confiscation of
that part of Argile's estate, in which the marquis of
Huntly's debts, and all the pretension on his estate
were comprehended. And it was given to the mar-
quis of Huntly, now duke of Gordon, then a young
child : but no care was taken to breed him a pro-
testant. The marquis of Montrose, and all others
whose estates had been ruined under Argile's con-
duct, expected likewise reparation out of his estate ;
which was a very great one, but in no way able to
satisfy aU those demands. And it was believed, that
the earl of Midletoun himself hoped to have carried
away the main bulk of it : so that both the lord Lorn
and he concurred, though with different views, to
put a stop to all the pretensions made upon it.
It was re- The poiut of the greatest importance then under
set up epi- consideration was, whether episcopacy should be re-
S?and.'^ stored in Scotland, or not. The earl of Midletoun
131 assured the king, it was desired by the greater and
honester part of the nation. One synod had as good
as petitioned for it : and many others wished for it,
though the share they had in the late wars made
them think it was not fit or decent for them to
move for it. Sharp assured the king, that none but
the protestors, of whom he had a very bad opinion,
- were against it ; and that of the resolutioners there
would not be found twenty that would oppose it.
AU those who were for making the change agreed,
that it ought to be done now, in the first heat of
joy after the restoration, and before the act of in-
OF KING CHARLES II. 220
demnity passed. The earl of Lauderdale and all 1661.
his friends, on the other hand, assured the king, that
the national prejudice against it was still very
strong, that those who seemed zealous for it ran
into it only as a method to procure favour, but that
those who were against it would be found stiff and
eager in their opposition to it, that by setting it up
the king would lose the affections of the nation, and
that the suj^porting it would grow a heavy load on
his government. The earl of Lauderdale turned aU r
this, that looked like a zeal for presbytery, to a
dexterous insinuating himself into the king's con-
fidence ; as one that designed nothing but his great-
ness, and his having Scotland sure to him, in order
to the executing of any design he might afterwards
be engaged in. The king went very coldly into the
design. He said, he remembered well the aversion
that he himself had observed in that nation to any
thing that looked like a superiority in the church.
But to that the earl of Midletoun and Sharp an-
swered, by assuring him that the insolencies com-
mitted by the presbyterians while they governed,
and the ten years' usurpation that had followed, had
made such a change in peoples tempers, that they
were much altered since he had been among them.
The king naturally hated presbytery : and, having
called a new parliament in England, that did with
great zeal espouse the interests of the church of
England, and were now beginning to complain of
the evacuating the garrisons held by the army in
that kingdom, he gave way, though with a visible
reluctancy, to the change of the chui'ch government
in Scotland. The aversion he seemed to express
was imputed to his own indifference as to all those
324 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. matters, and to his unwillingness to involve his go-
vernment in new trouble. But the view of things
that the earl of Lauderdale had given him was the
true root of all that coldness. The earl of Claren-
don set it on with great zeal. And so did the duke
of Ormond: who said, it would be very hard to
maintain the government of the church in Ireland,
if presbytery continued in Scotland ; since the north-
em counties, which were the best stocked of any
132 they had, as they were originally from Scotland, so
they would still follow the way of that nation.
Upon all this diversity of opinion, the thing was
proposed in a Scotch council at WTiitehall. The
earl of Crawford declared himself against it: but
the earl of Lauderdale, duke Hamilton, and sir
Robert Murray, were only for delaying the making
any such change, till the king should be better sa-
tisfied concerning the inclinations of the nation.
The result of the debate (all the rest who were
present being earnest for the change) was, that a
letter was writ to the privy council of Scotland, in-
timating the king's intentions for setting up episco-
pacy, and demanding their advice upon it. The
earl of Glencaim ordered the letter to be read, hav-
ing taken care that such persons should be present
who he knew would speak warmly for it, that so
others, who might intend to oppose it, might be
frightened from doing it. None spoke against it^
but the earl of Kincairdin. He proposed, that some
certain methods might be taken, by which they
might be well informed, and so be able to inform
the king, of the temper of the nation, before they
offered an advice, that might have such effects a»
might very much perplex, if not disorder, all their
Zu OF KING CHARLES II. 225
affairs. Some smart repartees passed between the ip6i.
earl of Glencairn and him. This was all the oppo-
sition that was made at that board. So a letter was
writ to the king from thence, encouraging him to
go on, and assuring him, that the change he in-
tended to make would give a general satisfaction to
the main body of the nation.
Upon that the thing was resolved on. It re- Men sought
. ^ ® . out to be
mained after this only to consider the proper me-bishops.
thods of doing it, and the men who ought to be
employed in it. Sheldon and the English bishops
had an aversion to all that had been engaged in the
covenant : so they were for seeking out all the epi-
scopal clergy, who had been driven out of Scotland
in the beginning of the troubles, and preferring
them. There was but one of the old bishops left
ahve, Sydserfe, who had been bishop of GaUoway.
He had come up to London, not doubting but that
he should be advanced to the primacy of Scotland.
It is true, he had of late done some very irregular
things : when the act of uniformity required aU men
who held any benefices in England to be episcopally
ordained, he, who by observing the ill effects of
their former violence was become very moderate,
with others of the Scotch clergy that gathered about
him, did set up a very indefensible practice of or-
daining all those of the Enghsh clergy who came to
him, and that without demanding either oaths or
subscriptions of them. Some believed, that this was
done by him, only to subsist on the fees that arose
from the letters of orders so granted; for he was
very poor. This did so disgust the English bishops 133
at him and his company, that they took no care of
him or them. Yet they were much against a set of
VOL. I. Q
226 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i60i. presbyterian bishops. They believed they could have
no credit, and that they would have no zeal. This
touched Sharp to the quick : so he laid the matter
before the earl of Clarendon. He said, these old
episcopal men, by their long absence out of Scot-
land, knew nothing of the present generation : and
by the ill usage they had met with they were so
irritated, that they would run matters quickly to
great extremities : and, if there was a faction among
the bishops, some valuing themselves upon their
constant steadiness, and looking with an ill eye on
those who had been carried away with the stream,
this would divide and distract their counsels, where-
as a set of men of moderate principles would be
more uniform in their proceedings. This prevailed
with the earl of Clarendon, who saw the king so re-
miss in that matter, that he resolved to keep things in
as great temper as was possible. And he, not doubt-
ing but that Sharp would pursue that in which he
seemed to be so zealous and hot, and carry things
with great moderation, persuaded the bishops of
England to leave the management of that matter
wholly to him. And Sharp, being assured of that
at which he had long aimed, laid aside his mask ;
and owned, that he was to be archbishop of St. An-
drews. He said to some, from whom I had it, that
when he saw that the king was resolved on the
change, and that some hot men were Like to be ad-
vanced, whose violence would ruin the country, he
had submitted to that post on design to moderate
matters, and to cover some good men from a storm
'»-< that might otherwise break upon them. So deeply
did he still dissemble : for now he talked of nothing
so much as of love and moderation.
OF KING CHARLES II. 227
Sydserfe was removed to be bishop of Orkney, 1661.
one of the best revenues of any of the bishoprics in
Scotland : but it had been almost in all times a si-
necure. He lived little more than a year after his
translation. He had died in more esteem, if he had
died a year before it. But Sharp was ordered to
find out proper men for filling up the other sees.
That care was left entirely to him. The choice was
generally very bad.
Two men were brought up to be consecrated in
England, Fairfoul, designed for the see of Glasgow,
and Hamilton, brother to the lord Belhaven, for
Galloway. The former of these was a pleasant and
facetious man, insinuating and crafty : but he was a
better physician than a divine. His life was scarce
free from scandal : and he was eminent in nothing
that belonged to his own function. He had not
only sworn the covenant, but had persuaded others 134»
to do it. And when one objected to him, that it
went against his conscience, he answered, there were
some very good medicines that could not be chewed,
but [these] were to be swallowed down, [Uke a pill
or a bolus ;] and since it was plain that a man could
not live in Scotland unless he sware it, therefore it
must be swallowed down without any farther ex-
amination. Whatever the matter was, soon after
the consecration his parts sunk so fast, that in a few
months he, who had passed his whole life long for
one of the cunningest men in Scotland, became al-
most a changeUng ; upon which it may be easily col-
lected what commentaries the presbyterians would
make. Sharp lamented this to me, as one of their
great misfortunes. He said, it began to appear in
less than a month after he came to London. Ha-
Q 2
228 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. milton was a good natured man, but weak. He was
always believed episcopal. Yet he had so far com-
plied in the time of the covenant, that he affected a
peculiar expression of his counterfeit zeal for their
cause, to secure himself from suspicion : when he
gave the sacrament, he excommunicated all that
were not true to the covenant, using a form in the
Old Testament of shaking out the lap of his gown ;
saying, so did he cast out of the church and com-
munion aU that dealt falsely in the covenant.
Bishop With these there was a fourth man found out,
character!' * who was then at London at his return from the
Bath, where he had been for his health : and on
' him I will enlarge more copiously. He was the son
of doctor Leightoun, who had in archbishop Laud's
time writ Zion's Plea against the Prelates; for
which he was condemned in the star-chamber to
1 f; have his ears cut and his nose slit. He was a man
of a violent and ungovemed heat*^. He sent his
eldest son Robert to be bred in Scotland, who was
accounted a saint from his youth up. He had great
quickness of parts, a lively apprehension, with a
charming vivacity of thought and expression. He
had the greatest command of the purest Latin that
ever I knew in any man. He was a master both of
Greek and Hebrew, and of the whole compass of
theological learning, chiefly in the study of the
scriptures. But that which excelled all the rest
was, he was possessed with the highest and noblest
sense of divine things that I ever saw in any man.
He had no regard to his person, unless it was to
*^ (In his book, which was all the bishops, and to smite
dedicated to the parliament, he them under the fifth rib.)
incited the members of it to kill
Kt OF KING CHARLES II. 229
mortify it by a constant low diet, that was like a 1661.
perpetual fast. He had a contempt both of wealth
and reputation. He seemed to have the lowest
thoughts of himself possible, and to desire that all
other persons should think as meanly of him as he
did himself: he bore all sorts of ill usage and re-
proach, like a man that took pleasure in it. He had
so subdued the natural heat of his temper, that in a
great variety of accidents, and in a course of twenty- 135
two years' intimate conversation with him, I never
observed the least sign of passion, but upon one
single occasion. He brought himself into so com-
posed a gravity, that I never saw him laugh, and
but seldom smile. And he kept himself in such
a constant recollection, that I do not remember that
ever I heard him say one idle word. There was a
visible tendency in aU he said to raise his own mind,
and those he conversed with, to serious reflections.
He seemed to be in a perpetual meditation. And,
though the whole course of his life was strict and
ascetical, yet he had nothing of the sourness of tem-
per that generally possesses men of that sort. He
was the freest from superstition, of censuring others,
or of imposing his own methods on them, possible.
So that he did not so much as recommend them to
others. He said there was a diversity of tempers ;
and every man was to watch over his own, and to
turn it in the best manner he could. [When he
spoke of divine matters, which he did almost per-
petually, it was in such an elevating manner, that I
have often reflected on these words, and felt some-
what like them within myself while I was with him.
Did Hot our hearts burn within us, ivhile he talked
ivith us hy the way f ] His thoughts were lively,
q3
230 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. oft out of the way, and surprising, yet just and ge-
nuine. And he had laid together in his memory the
greatest treasure of the best and wisest of all the an-
cient sayings of the heathens as well as christians,
that I have ever known any man master of: and he
used them in the aptest manner possible. He had
been bred up with the greatest aversion imaginable
to the whole frame of the church of England. From
Scotland his father sent him to travel. He spent
some years in France, and spoke that language like
one bom there. He came afterwards and settled in
Scotland, and had presbyterian ordination. But he
quickly broke through the prejudices of his educa-
tion. His preaching had a sublimity both of thought
and expression in it. The grace and gravity of his
pronunciation was such, that few heard him without
a very sensible emotion : I am sure I never did. [It
was so different from all others, and indeed from
every thing that one could hope to rise up to, that
it gave a man an indignation at himself, and all
others. It was a very sensible humiliation to me,
and for some time after I heard him, I could not
bear the thought of my own performances, and was
out of countenance when I was forced to think of
preaching.] His style was rather too fine*^: but
there was a majesty and beauty in it that left so
deep an impression, that I cannot yet forget the ser-
mons I heard him preach thirty years ago. And
yet with this he seemed to look on himself as so or-
dinary a preacher, that while he had a cure he was
ready to employ aU others : and when he was a bi-
shop he chose to preach to small auditories, and
would never give notice beforehand : he had indeed
'' Burnet is not guilty of that. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 2S1
a very low voice, and so could not be heard by a 1661.
great crowd. He soon came to see into the follies
of the presbyterians, and to dislike their covenant ;
particularly the imposing it, and their fury against
all who differed from them. He found they were
not capable of large thoughts : theirs were narrow,
as their tempers were sour. So he grew weary of
mixing with them. He scarce ever went to their
meetings, and lived in great retirement, minding
only the care of his own parish at Newbottle near
Edenburgh. Yet all the opposition that he made to 136
them was, that he preached up a more exact rule of
life than seemed to them consistent with human na-
ture: but his own practice did even outshine his
doctrine.
In the year 1648 he declared himself for the en-
gagement for the king. But the earl of Lothian,
who lived in his parish, had so high an esteem for
him, that he persuaded the violent men not to med-
dle with him : though he gave occasion to great ex-
ception ; for when some of his parish, who had been
in the engagement, were ordered to make public
profession of their repentance for it, he told them,
they had been in an expedition, in which, he be-
lieved, they had neglected their duty to God, and
had been guilty of injustice and violence, of drunk-
enness and other immoralities, and he charged them
to repent of these very seriously, without meddling
with the quaiTel, or the grounds of that war. He
entered into a great correspondence with many of
the episcopal party, and with my own father in par-
ticular; and did whoUy separate himself from the
presbyterians. At last he left them, and withdrew
from his cure : for he could not do the things im-
Q 4
232 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. posed on him any longer. And yet he hated all
contention so much, that he chose rather to leave
them in a silent manner, than to engage in any dis-
putes with them. But he had generally the reputa-
tion of a saint, and of something above human na-
ture in him : so the mastership of the coUege of
Edenburgh falling vacant some time after, and it
being in the gift of the city, he was prevailed with
to accept of it, because in it he was wholly separated
from all church matters. He continued ten years in
that post : and was a great blessing in it ; for he
talked so to aU the youth of any capacity or distinc-
tion, that it had great effect on many of them. He
preached often to them : and if crowds broke in,
which they were apt to do, he would have gone on
in his sermon in Latin, with a purity and life that
charmed all who understood it. Thus he had lived
above twenty years in Scotland, in the highest repu-
tation that any man in my time ever had in that
kingdom.
He had a brother well known at court, sir Elisha,
who was very like him in face and in the vivacity
of his parts, but the most unlike him in aU other
things that can be imagined : for, though he loved
to talk of great sublimities in religion, yet he was a
very immoral man, [both lewd, false, and ambitious.]
He was a papist of a form of his own : but he had
changed his religion to raise himself at court ; for
he was at that time secretary to the duke of York,
and was very intimate with the lord Aubigny, a bro-
ther of the duke of Richmond's, who had changed
his religion, and was a priest, and had probably been
a cardinal, if he had lived a little longer. He main-
137tained an outward decency, and had more learning
y.l: OF KING CHARLES II.
and better notions, than men of quality, who enter 1661,
into orders in that church, generally have. Yet he
was a very vicious man : and that perhaps made
him the more considered by the king, who loved and
trusted him to a high degree. No man had more
credit with the king ; for he was on the secret as to
his religion, and was more trusted with the whole
design that was then managed in order to establish
it, than any man whatsoever. Sir Elisha brought
his brother and him acquainted : for Leigh toun
loved to know men in all the varieties of religion.
In the vacation time he made excursions, and
came oft to London ; where he observed all the emi-
nent men in CromweU's court, and in the several
parties then about the city of London. But he told
me, he could never see any thing among them that
pleased him. They were men of unquiet and med-
dhng tempers : and their discourses and sermons
were dry and unsavoury, full of airy cant, or of bom-
bast swellings. Sometimes he went over to Flan- l
ders, to see what he could find in the several orders
of the church of Rome. There he found some of
Jansenius's followers, who seemed to be men of ex-
traordinary tempers, and studied to bring things, if
possible, to the purity and simplicity of the primitive
ages ; on which all his thoughts were much set. He
thought controversies had been too much insisted
on, and had been carried too far. His brother, who
thought of nothing but the raising himself at court,
fancied that his being made a bishop might render
himself more considerable. So he possessed the lord
Aubigny with such an opinion of him, that he made
the king apprehend, that a man of his piety and his
notions (and his not being married was not forgot)
234 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. might contribute to carry on their design. He fan-
cied such a monastic man, who had a great stretch
of thought, and so many other eminent qualities,
would be a mean at least to prepare the nation for
popery, if he did not directly come over to them ;
for his brother did not stick to say, he was sure that
lay at root with him. So the king named him of
his own proper motion, which gave all those that
began to suspect the king himself great jealousies of
him. Leightoun was averse to this promotion, as
much as was possible. His brother had great power
over him ; for he took care to hide his vices from
him, and to make before him a shew of piety. He
seemed to be a papist rather in name and shew than
in reality, of which I wiU set down one instance
that was then much talked of. Some of the church
of England loved to magnify the sacrament in an
extraordinary manner, affirming the real presence,
only blaming the church of Rome for defining the
138 manner of it; saying, Christ was present in a most
unconceivable manner. This was so much the mode,
that the king and all the court went into it. So the
king, upon some raillery about transubstantiation,
asked sir Elisha if he believed it. He answered, he
could not well tell ; but he was sure the church of
England believed it. And when the king seemed
amazed at that, he replied, do not you believe that
■ Christ is present in a most unconceivable manner ?
Which the king granted: then said he, that is just
transubstantiation, the most unconceivable thing
that was ever yet invented. When Leightoun was
prevailed on to accept a bishopric, he chose Dun-
blane, a small diocese, as well as a little revenue.
But the deanery of the chapel royal was annexed to
OF KING CHARLES II. 235
that see. So he was willing to engage in that, that 1661.
he might set up the common prayer in the king's
chapel; for the rebuilding of which orders were
given. The EngHsh clergy were well pleased witli
him, finding him both more learned, and more tho-
roughly theirs in the other points of uniformity, than
the rest of the Scotch clergy, whom they could not
much value. And though Sheldon did not much
like his great strictness, in which he had no mind
to imitate him, yet he thought such a man as he
was might give credit to episcopacy, in its first in-
troduction to a nation much prejudiced against it.
Shai'p did not know what to make of all this. He
neither hked his strictness of life nor his notions.
He believed they would not take the same methods,
and fancied he might be much obscured by him ;
for he saw he would be well supported. He saw
the earl of Lauderdale began to magnify him. And
so Sharp did all he could to discourage him, but
without any effect ; for he had no regard to him.
I bear still the greatest veneration for the memory
of that man that I do for any person ; and reckon
my early knowledge of him, which happened the
year after this, and my long and intimate conversa-
tion with him, that continued to his death for twen-
ty-three years, among the greatest blessings of my
life, and for which I know I must give an account
to God in the great day in a most particular man-
ner. And yet, though I know this account of his
promotion may seem a blemish upon him, I would
not conceal it, being resolved to write of all persons
and things with all possible candor. I had the re-
lation of it from himself, and more particularly from
his brother. But what hopes soever the papists had
236 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. of him at this time, when he knew nothing of the
design of bringing in popery, and had therefore
talked of some points of popery with the freedom of
an abstracted and speculative man ; yet he expressed
another sense of the matter, when he came to see it
was really intended to be brought in among us. He
139 then spoke of popery in the complex at much an-
other rate : and he seemed to have more zeal against
it, than I thought was in his nature with relation to
any points in controversy ; for his abstraction made
him seem cold in all those matters. But he gave all
who conversed with him a very different view of
popery, when he saw we were really in danger of
coming under the power of a religion, that had, as
he used to say, much of the wisdom that was earth-
ly, sensual, and devilish, but had nothing in it of
the wisdom that was from above, and was pure and
peaceable. He did indeed think the corruptions
and cruelties of popery were such gross and odious
things, that nothing could have maintained that
church under those just and visible prejudices, but
the several orders among them, which had an ap-
pearance of mortification and contempt of the world,
and with all the trash that was among them main-
tained a face of piety and devotion. He also thought
the great and fatal error of the reformation was,
that more of those houses, and of that course of life,
free from the entanglements of vows and other mix-
tures, was not preserved : so that the protestant
' churches had neither places of education, nor re-
treat for men of mortified tempers. I have dwelt
long upon this man's character. But it was so sin-
gular, that it seemed to deserve it. And I was so
singularly blessed by knowing him as I did, that I
■ , OF KING CHARLES II. 237
am sure he deserved it of me, that I should give so 1661.
full a view of him; which I hope may be of some'
use to the world.
When the time fixed for the consecration of the The Scotish
bishops of Scotland came on, the English bishops cons*-'
finding that Sharp and Leightoun had not episcopaP'^*^'''
ordination, as priests and deacons, the other two
having been ordained by bishops before the wars ^,
they stood upon it, that they must be ordained, first
deacons and then priests. Sharp was very uneasy
at this, and remembered them of what had hap-
pened when king James had set up episcopacy.
Bishop Andrews moved at that time the ordaining
them, as was now proposed : but that was overruled
by king James, who thought it went too far towards
the unchurching of all those who had no bishops
among them ^ But the late war, and the disputes
during that time, had raised these controversies
higher, and brought men to stricter notions, and to
maintain them with more fierceness. The Enghsh
bishops did also say, that by the late act of uniform-
ity that matter was more positively settled, than it
had been before ; so that they could not legally con-
secrate any, but those who were, according to that
constitution, made first priests and deacons. They
also made this difference between the present time
and king James's : for then the Scots were only in
an imperfect state, having never had bishops among
them since the reformation ; so in such a state of 140
things, in which they had been under a real neces-
* (The author of Archbishop History, pag. 514. O. (Com-
Sharp's Life, published in 1 723. pare Heylin's Hist, of the Pres-
agrees with this statement.) byterians, b. xi. c. 4. p. 514.)
' See Archbishop Spotiswood's
238 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. sity, it was reasonable to allow of their orders, how
defective soever : but that of late they had been in
a state of schism, had revolted from their bishops,
"- and had thrown off that order : so that orders given
in such a wilful opposition to the whole constitution
■ ' of the primitive church was a thing of another na-
ture. They were positive in the point, and would
not dispense with it. Sharp stuck more at it than
could have been expected from a man that had
swallowed down greater matters. Leightoun did
not stand much upon it. He did not think orders
given without bishops were null and void. He
thought, the forms of government were not settled
by such positive laws as were unalteral)le ; but only
by apostolical practices, which, as he thought, au-
thorized episcopacy as the best form. Yet he did
not think it necessary to the being of a church.
But he thoughts that every church might make
such rules of ordination as they pleased, and that
they might reordain all that came to them from
any other church ; and that the reordaining a priest
ordained in another church imported no more, but
that they received him into orders according to their
rules, and did not infer the annulling the orders he
had formerly received. These two were upon this
privately ordained deacons and priests. And then
all the four were consecrated publicly in the abbey
of Westminster. Leightoun told me he was much
struck with the feasting and joUity of that day : it
had not such an appearance of seriousness or piety,
as became the new modelling of a church. When
that was over, he made some attempts to work up
i
8 Think, thought, tliought, think, thought. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 239
Sharp to the two designs which possessed him most. ^66i.
The one was, to try what could be done towards
the uniting the presbyterians and them. He offered
Usher's reduction, as the plan upon which they
ought to form their schemes. The other was, to
try how they could raise men to a truer and higher
sense of piety, and bring the worship of that church
out of their extempore methods into more order;
and so to prepare them for a more regular way of
worship, which he thought was of much more im-
portance than a form of government. But he was
amazed, when he observed that Sharp had neither
formed any scheme, nor seemed so much as willing
to talk of any. He reckoned they would be esta-
blished in the next session of parliament, and so
would be legally possessed of their bishoprics : and
then every bishop was to do the best he could to
get all once to submit to his authority : and when
that point was carried, they might proceed to other
things, as should be found expedient: but he did
not care to lay down any scheme. Fairfoul, when
he talked to him, had always a merry tale ready at 141
hand to divert him : so that he avoided all serious
discourse, and indeed did not seem capable of any.
By these means Leightoun quickly lost all heart
and hope ; and said often to me upon it, that in the
whole progress of that affair there appeared such
cross characters of an angry providence, that, how
fully soever he was satisfied in his own mind as to
episcopacy itself, yet it seemed that God was against
them, and that they were not like to be the men
that should build up his church ; so that the strug-
gling about it seemed to him like a fighting against
God. He who had the greatest hand in it pro-
240 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. ceeded with so much dissimulation; and the rest of
the order were so mean and so selfish ; and the earl
of Midletoun, with the other secular men that con-
ducted it, were so openly impious and vicious, that
it did cast a reproach on every thing relating to re-
ligion, to see it managed by such instruments.
1662. All the steps that were made afterwards were of
ings of the a piece with this melancholy beginning. Upon the
forbilidmr* cousccration of the bishops, the presbyteries of Scot-
land that were still sitting began now to declare
openly against episcopacy, and to prepare protesta-
tions, or other acts or instruments, against them.
Some were talking of entering into new engage-
ments against the submitting to them. So Sharp
moved, that, since the king had set up episcopacy, a
proclamation might be issued out, forbidding clergy-
men to meet together in any presbytery, or other
judicatory, tiQ the bishops should settle a method of
proceeding in them. Upon the setting out this pro-
clamation, a general obedience was given to it : only
( the ministers, to keep up a shew of acting on an ec-
clesiastic authority, met once, and entered into their
books a protestation against the proclamation, as an
invasion on the liberties of the church, to which
they declared they gave obedience only for a time,
and for peace sake. Sharp procured this without
any advice : and it proved very fatal. For when
king James brought in the bishops before, they had
stiU. suffered the inferior judicatories to continue sit-
ting, tiU the bishops came and sat down among
them : some of them protested indeed against that :
yet they sat on ever after : and so the whole church
had a face of unity, while all sat together in the
OF KING CHARLES II. 241
same judicatories, though upon different principles. 1662.
The old presbyterians said they sat still as in a ~^
court settled by the laws of the church and state :
and though they looked on the bishops sitting among
them, and assuming a negative vote, as an usurpa-
tion, yet, they said, it did not infer a nullity on the
court : whereas now, by this silencing these courts,
the case was much altered : for if they had conti- 142
nued sitting, and the bishops had come among them,
they would have said, it was like the bearing with
an usurpation, when there was no remedy: and
what protestations soever they might have made, or
what opposition soever they might have given the
bishops, that would have been kept within their
own walls, but would not have broken out into such
a distraction, as the nation was cast into upon this :
all the opposition that might have been made would
have died with those few that were disposed to make
it : and, upon due care to fill the vacant places with
worthy and well-affected men, the nation might
have been brought off from their prejudices. But
these courts being now once broken, and brought
together afterwards by a sort of connivance, without
any legal authority, only as the bishop's assistants
and ofl&cials, to give him advice, and to act in his
name, they pretended they could not sit in them
any more, unless they should change their principles,
and become throughly episcopal, which was too
great a turn to be soon brought about. So fatally
did Sharp precipitate matters. He affected to have
the reins of the church wholly put into his hands.
The earl of Lauderdale was not sorry to see him
commit errors; since the worse things were ma-
naged, his advices would be thereby the more justi*
VOL. I. R
242 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. fied. And the earl of Midletoun and his party took
^no care of any business, being almost perpetually
drunk : by which they came in a great measure to
lose the king. For though, upon a frolic, the king,
with a few in whose company he took pleasure,
would sometimes run into excess, yet he did it sel-
dom, and had a very bad opinion of all that got into
the habit and love of drunkenness.
The new The bishops came down to Scotland soon after
came^dowii their consecration, all in one coach. Leightoun told
iand*^°* me, he believed they were weary of him, for he was
very weary of them : but he, finding they intended
to be received at Edenburgh with some pomp, left
them at Morpeth, and came to Edenburgh a few
days before them. He hated all the appearances of
vanity. He would not have the title of lord given
him by his friends, and was not easy when others
forced it on him. In this I always thought him too
stiff: it provoked the other bishops, and looked like
singularity and affectation, and furnished those that
were prejudiced against him with a specious appear-
ance, to represent him as a man of odd notions and
practices. The lord chancellor, with all the nobility
and privy-counsellors, then at Edenburgh, went out,
together with the magistracy of the city, and brought
the bishops in, as in triumph. I looked on ; and
though I was thoroughly episcopal, yet I thought
143 there was somewhat in the pomp of that entry, that
did not look like the humility that became their
i function : soon after their arrival, six other bishops
were consecrated, but not ordained priests and dea-
cons. The see of Edenburgh was for some time
kept vacant. Sharp hoped that Douglas might be
prevailed on to accept it : but he would enter into
OF KING CHARLES II. 243
no treaty about it. So the earl of Midletoun forced 1662.
upon Sharp one Wishart, who had been the marquis
of Montrose's chaplain, and had been taken prisoner,
and used with so much cruelty in the gaol of Eden-
burgh, that it seemed but justice to advance a man
in that place, where he had '' [been so near an ad-
vancement of another sort.]
The session of parliament came on in April 1662 : They were
111 1 brought
where the first thing that was proposed by the earl into par-
of Midletoun was, that since the act rescissory had '*™^" *
annulled aU the parliaments after that held in the
year 1633, the former laws in favour of episcopacy
were now again in force, the king had restored that
function which had been so long glorious in the
church, and for which his blessed father had suffered
so much : and though the bishops had a right to
come and take their place in parliament, yet it was
a piece of respect to send some of every state to in-
vite them to come, and sit among them. This was
agreed to : so upon the message, the bishops came
and took their places. Leightoun went not with
them, as indeed he never came to parliament but
when there was something before them that related
to religion or to the church.
The first act that passed in this session was for
restoring episcopacy, and settling the government of
the church in their hands. Sharp had the framing
of this act, as Primerose told me. [And it appeared
to be his ; for, according to the fable of the harpies,
he had an art of spoiling every thing that he
^ {where he had suffered so Jacobo Marchione Montisrosa-
much, was substituted in the rum in Scotia gestis. Paris,
printed copy. He was the au- 1648. See more of this able
thor of the book De Rebus a and good man, p. 236.)
R 2
244 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. touched.] The whole government and jurisdiction
of the church in the several dioceses was declared to
be lodged in the bishops, which they were to exer-
cise with the advice and assistance of such of their
clergy as were of known loyalty and prudence : aU
men that held any benefice in the church were re-
quired to own and submit to the government of the
church, as now by law established. This was plain-
ly the setting episcopacy on another bottom than it
had been ever on in Scotland before this time : for
the whole body of the presbyterians did formerly
maintain such a share in the administration, that
the bishops had never pretended to any more, than
to be their settled presidents with a negative voice
upon them. But now it was said, that the whole
power was lodged simply in the bishop, who was
only bound to carry along with him in the adminis-
tration so many presbyters, as he thought fit to sin-
gle out, as his advisers and assistants ; which was
the taking all power out of the body of the clergy :
church judicatories were now made only the bishop's
144 assistants: and the few of the clergy that must as-
sist being to be picked out by him, that was only a
matter of shew ; nor had they any authority lodged
with them, all that being vested only in the bishop :
nor did it escape censure, that among the qualifica-
tions of those presbyters that were to be the bishop's
advisers and assistants, loyalty and prudence were
only named ; and that piety and learning were for-
! got, which must always be reckoned the first quali-
fications of the clergy. As to the obligation to own
and submit to the government thus established by
law, they said, it was hard to submit to so high an
authority as was now lodged with the bishops ; but
OF KING CHARLES II. 245
to require them to own it, seemed to import an an- 1662.
tecedent approving, or at least a subsequent justify-
ing, of such an authority, which carried the matter
far beyond a bare obedience, even to an imposing
upon conscience. These were not only the excep-
tions made by the presbyterians, but by the episco-
pal men themselves, who had never carried the ar-
gument farther in Scotland than for a precedency,
with some authority in ordination, and a negative
in matters of jurisdiction. They thought, the body
of the clergy ought to be a check upon the bishops,
and that, without the consent of the majority, they
ought not to be legally empowered to act in so im-
perious a manner, as was warranted by this act.
Many of them would never subscribe to this form of
owning and submitting: and the more prudent bi-
shops did not impose it on their clergy. The whole
frame of the act was liable to great censure. It was
thought an unexcusable piece of madness, that,
when a government was brought in upon a nation
so averse to it, the first step should carry their
power so high. AU the bishops, except Sharp, dis-
owned their having any share in the penning this
act ; which indeed was passed in haste, without due
consideration. Nor did any of the bishops, no not
Sharp himself, ever carry their authority so high, as
by the act they were warranted to do. But all the
enemies to episcopacy had this act ever in their
mouths, to excuse their not submitting to it ; and
said, it asserted a greater stretch of authority in bi-
shops, than they themselves thought fit to assume.
Soon after that act passed, some of the presby- Scmpies
tenan preachers were summoned to answer before oath of su-
the parliament for some reflections made in their ^'^^'"**^^*
R 3
346 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. sermons against episcopacy. But nothing could be
made of it : for their words were general, and ca-
pable of different senses. So it was resolved, for a
proof of their loyalty, to tender them the oath of
allegiance and supremacy. That had been enacted
in the former parliament, and was refused by none
but the earl of Cassilis. He desired, that an expla-
nation might be made of the supremacy : the words
145 of the oath were large: and when the oath was
enacted in England, a clear explanation was given
in one of the articles of the church of England, and
more copiously afterwards in a discourse by archbi-
shop Usher, published by king James's order. But
the parliament would not satisfy him so far. And
they were weU pleased to see scruples raised about
the oath, that so a colour might be put on their se-
verities against such as should refuse it, as being
men that refused to swear allegiance to the king.
Upon that the earl of Cassilis left the parliament,
and quitted all his employments : for he was a man
of a most inflexible firmness. Many said, there was
no need of an explanation, since how ambiguous
soever the words might be in themselves, yet that
oath, being brought to Scotland from England,
ought to be understood in the same sense in which
it was imposed in that kingdom. On the other
hand, there was just reason for some men's being
tender in so sacred a matter as an oath. The earl
of Cassilis had offered to take the oath, provided he
* might join his explanation to it. The earl of Mi-
dletoun was contented to let him say what he
pleased, but he would not suffer him to put it in
writing. The ministers, to whom it was now ten-
dered^ offered to take.it upon the same terms ; 9,nd
OF KING CHARLES II. 247
in a petition to the lords of the articles they offered 1662.
their explanation. Upon that a debate arose, whe-
ther an act explanatory of the oath should be offered
to the parliament, or not. This was the first time
that Leightoun appeared in parliament. He pressed
it might be done, with much zeal. He said, the
land mourned by reason of the many oaths that had
been taken : the words of this oath were certainly
capable of a bad sense : in compassion to papists a
limited sense had been put on them in England :
and he thought there should be a like tenderness
shewed to protestants, especially when the scruple
was just, and there was an oath in the case, in
which the matter ought certainly to be made clear :
to act otherwise looked like the laying snares for
people, and the making men offenders for a word.
Sharp took this iU from him, and replied upon him
with great bitterness : and said, it was below the
dignity of government to make acts to satisfy the
weak scruples of peevish men : it ill became them,
who had imposed their covenant on all people with-
out any explanation, and had forced all to take it,
now to expect such extraordinary favours. Leigh-
toun insisted, that it ought to be done for that very
reason, that aU people might see a difference be-
tween the mild proceedings of the government now,
and their severity : and that it ill became the very
same persons, who had complained of that rigour,
BOW to practise it themselves; for thus it may be
said, the world goes mad by turns. This was illl46
taken by the earl of Midletoun and all his party :
for they designed to keep the matter so, that the
presbyterians should be possessed with many scruples
on this head; and that, when any of the party
R 4
ftm THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. should be brought before them, whom they believed
in fault, but had not fuU proof against, the oath
should be tendered as the trial of their allegiance,
and that on their refusing it they should censure
them as they thought fit. So the ministers' petition
was rejected, and they were required to take the
oath as it stood in the law, without putting any
sense upon it. They refused to do it, and were
upon that condemned to perpetual banishment, as
men that denied allegiance to the king. And by
this an engine was found out to banish as many as
they pleased: for the resolution was taken up by
the whole party to refuse it, unless with an expla-
nation. So soon did men forget all their former
complaints of the severity of imposing oaths, and
began to set on foot the same practices now, when
they had it in their power to do it. But how un-
becoming soever this rigour might be in laymen, it
was certainly much more indecent when managed
by clergymen. And the supremacy which was now
turned against the presbyterians was, not long after
this, laid much heavier on the bishops themselves :
and then they desired an explanation, as much as
the presbyterians did now, but could not obtain it.
The parliament was not satisfied with this oath :
for they apprehended, that many would infer, that,
since it came from England, it ought to be under-
stood in the public and established sense of the
words that was passed there, both in an article of doc-
\\: trine and in an act of parhament. Therefore an-
other oath was likewise taken from the English
pattern, of abjuring the covenant ; both the league
and the national covenant. It is true, this was only
imposecl on men in the magistracy, or in public em-
OF KING CHARLES I'l. 249
ployments. By it all the presbyterians were turned 1662.
out: for this oath was decried by the ministers as
little less than open apostasy from God, and a
throwing oflf their baptismal covenant.
The main business of this session of - parliament, Debates
now that episcopacy was settled, and these oaths act of in.
were enacted, was the passing of the act of indem- ^^'^^^'
nity. The earl of Midletoun had obtained of the
king an instruction to consent to the fining of the
chief offenders, or to other punishments not extend-
ing to life. This was intended to enrich him and
his party, since all the rich and great offenders
would be struck with the terror of this, and choose
rather to make him a good present, than to be fined
on record, as guilty persons. This matter was de-
bated at the council in Whitehall. The earls ofl47
Lauderdale and Crawford argued against it. They
said, the king had granted a fuU indemnity in Eng-
land, out of which none were excepted but the re-
gicides : it seemed therefore an unkind and an un-
equal way of proceeding towards Scotland, that had
merited eminently at the king's hands ever since
the year 1648, and suffered much for it, that the
one kingdom should not have the same measure of
grace and pardon that was gi'anted in the other.
The earl of Midletoun answered, that all he desired
was in favour of the loyal party in Scotland, who
were undone by their adhering to the king : the re-
venue of the crown was too small, and too much
charged, to repair their losses : so the king had no
other way to be just to them, but to make theu*
enemies pay for their rebellion. Some plausible
limitations were offered to the fines to which any
should be condemned ; as, that they should be only
250 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. for offences committed since the year 1650, and
that no man should be fined in above a year's rent
of his estate. These were agreed to. So he had
an instruction to pass an act of indemnity, with a
power of fining restrained to these rules. Th6re
was one sir George Mackenzie, since made lord
Tarbot and earl of Cromarty, a young man of great
vivacity of parts, but full of ambition, [and very
crafty,] and had the art to recommend himself to
all sides and parties by turns, and [is yet alive, hav-
ing] made' a great figure in that country now
above fifty years. He had great notions of virtue
and religion : but they were only notions, at least
they have not had great effect on himself at all
times. He became now the earl of Midletoun's chief
favourite. Primerose was grown rich and cautious :
and his maxim having always been, that, when he
apprehended a change, he ought to lay in for it by
courting the side that was depressed, that so in the
next turn he might secure friends to himself, he be-
gan to think that the earl of Midletoun went too
fast to hold out long. He had often advised him to
manage the business of restoring episcopacy in a
slow progress. He had formed a scheme, by which
it would have been the work of seven years [in a
slow progress.] But the earl of Midletoun's heat
and Sharp's vehemence spoiled aU his project. The
earl of Midletoun, after his own disgrace, said often
to him, that his advices had been always wise and
faithful : but he thought princes were more sensible
of services, and more apt to reflect on them, and to
reward them, than he found they were.
' The printed book substituted and has made.
OF KING CHARLES II. 251
When the settlement of episcopacy was over, the 1662.
next care was to prepare the act of indemnity, it ^as de-
Some proposed, that, besides the power of fining, ^JJJ|^*JJ^*j
they should move the kinsr, that he would consent ^^ »ncapa.
•^ ^ ^' _ _ citated.
to an instruction, empowering them likewise to put
some under an incapacity to hold any public trust.
This had never been proposed in public. But the 148
earl of Midletoun pretended, that many of the best
affected of the parliament had proposed it in private
to himself. So he sent the lord Tarbot up to the
king with two draughts of an act of indemnity, the
one containing an exception of some persons to be
fined, and the other containing likewise a clause for
the incapacitating of some, not exceeding twelve,
from all public trust. He was ordered to lay both
before the king : the one was penned according to
the earl of Midletoun's instructions : the other was
drawn at the desire of the parliament, for which he
prayed an instruction, if the king thought fit to ap-
prove of it. The earl of Lauderdale had no appre-
hension of any design against himself in the motion.
So he made no objection to it. And an instruction
was drawn, empowering the earl of Midletoun to
pass an act with that clause. Tarbot was then
much considered at court, as one of the most extra-
ordinary men that Scotland had produced, and was
the better liked, because he was looked on as the
person that the earl of Midletoun intended to set up
in the earl of Lauderdale's room, who was then so
much hated, that nothing could have preserved him
but the course that was taken to ruin him. So lord
Tarbot went back to Scotland. And the duke of
Richmond and the eaii of Newburgh went down
with him, by whose wild and ungovemed extra va-
253 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. gancies the earl of Midletoun's whole conduct feU
under such an universal odium, and so much con-
tempt, that, as his own iU management forced the
king to put an end to his ministry, so he could not
have served there much longer with any reputation.
One instance of unusual severity was, that a let-
ter of the lord Lorn's to the lord DufFus was inter-
cepted, in which he did a little too plainly, but very
truly, complain of the practices of his enemies in
endeavouring to possess the king against him by
many lies : but he said, he had now discovered
them, and had defeated them, and had gained the
person upon whom the chief among them depended.
This was the earl of Clarendon, upon whom the
earl of Berkshire had wrought so much, that he re-
solved to oi3pose his restoration no ;more : and for
this the earl of Berkshire was to have a thousand
pounds. This letter was carried into the parUa-
ment, and complained of as leasing-making ; since
lord Lorn pretended, he had discovered the lies of
his enemies to the king, which was a sowing dis-
sension between the king and his subjects, and the
creating in the king an ill opinion of them. So the
parliament desired, the king would send him down
to be tried upon it. The king thought the letter
very indiscreetly writ, but could not see any thing
in it that was criminal. Yet, in compliance with
149 the desire of so zealous a parliament, lord Lorn was
sent down upon his parole : but the king writ posi-
tively to the earl of Midletoun, not to proceed to
the execution of any sentence that might pass upon
Idnft'- Lord Lorn, upon his appearance, was made a
prisoner: and an indictment was brought against
him for leasing-making. He made no defence : but
OF KING CHARLES II. HI 253
in a long speech he set out the great provocation he 1662.
had been under, the many libels that had been
printed against him : some of these had been put in
the king's own hands, to represent him as unworthy
of his grace and favour: so, after all that hard
usage, it was no wonder, if he had writ with some
sharpness : but he protested, he meant no harm to
any person ; his design being only to preserve and
save himself from the malice and lies of others, and
not to make lies of any. In conclusion, he submitted
to the justice of the parliament, and cast himself on
the king's mercy. He was upon this condemned to Lom con-
die, as guilty of leasing-making : and the day of his ^"°^^*
execution was left to the earl of Midletoun by the
parliament.
I never knew any thing more generally cried out
on than this was, unless it was the second sentence
passed on him twenty years after this, which had
more fatal effects, and a more tragical conclusion.
He was certainly born to be the signalest instance
in this age of the rigour, or rather of the mockery,
of justice. All that was said at this time to excuse
the proceeding was, that it was certain his life was
in no danger. But since that depended on the
king, it did not excuse those who passed so base a
sentence, and left to posterity the precedent of a
parliamentary judgment, by which any man may
be condemned for a letter of common news. This
was not all the fury with which this matter was
. driven : for an act was passed against aU persons,
who should move the king for restoring the child-
ren of those who were attainted by parliament ;
which was an unheard-of restraint on applications
to the king for his grace and mercy. This the earl
254 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. of Midletoun also passed, though he had no instruc-
tion for it. There was no penalty put in the act:
for it was a maxim of the pleaders for prerogative,
that the fixing a punishment was a limitation on
the crown : whereas an act forbidding any thing,
though without a penalty, made the offenders cri-
minal : and in that case they did reckon, that the
punishment was arbitrary; only that it could not
extend to life. A committee was next appointed
for setting the fines. They proceeded without any
regard to the rules the king had set them. The
most obnoxious compounded secretly. No consi-
deration was had either of men's crimes or of their
estates : no proofs were brought. Inquiries were not
so much as made : but as men were delated, they
150 were marked down for such a fine: and all was
transacted in a secret committee. When the list of
the men and of their fines was read in parliament,
exceptions were made to divers ; particularly some
who had been under age all the time of transgres-
sion, and others abroad. But to every thing of that
kind an answer was made, that there would come a
proper time in which every man was to be heard in
his own defence : for the meaning of setting the
fine was only this, that such persons should have no
benefit by the act of indemnity, unless they paid
the fine : therefore every one that could stand upon
his innocence, and renounce the benefit of the in-
demnity, was thereby free from the fine, which was
•' only his composition for the grace and pardon of
the act. So all passed in that great hurry.
Some inca- The Other point, concerning the incapacity, was
ballot. carried farther than was perhaps intended at first ;
though the lord Tarbot assured me, he had from
OF KING CHARLES II. ^5
the beginning designed it. It was infused into all 1662.
people, that the king was weary of the earl of Lau-
derdale, but that he could not decently throw him
off, and that therefore the parliament must help
him with a fair pretence for doing it. Yet others
were very apprehensive, that the king could not ap-
prove of a parliament's falling upon a minister. So
lord Tarbot proposed two expedients. The one was,
that no person should be named, but that every
member should do it by ballot, and should bring
twelve names in a paper; and that a secret com-
mittee of three of every estate should make the
scrutiny ; and that they, without making any report
to the parliament, should put those twelve names
on whom the greater number fell in the act of in-
capacity ; which was to be an act apart, and not
made a clause of the act of indemnity. This was
taken from the ostracism in Athens, and seemed the
best method in an act of oblivion, in which all that
was passed was to be forgotten : and no seeds of
feuds would remain, when it was not so much as
known against whom any one had voted. The
other expedient was, that a clause should be put in
the act, that it should have no force, and that the
names in it should never be published, unless the
king should approve of it. By this means it was
hoped, that, if the king should dislike the whole
thing, yet it would be easy to soften that, by letting
him see how entirely the act was in his power.
Emissaries were sent to every parliament man, di-
recting him how to make his Ust, that so the earls
of Lauderdale, Crawford, and sir Robert Murray,
might be three of the number. This was managed
so carefully, that })y a great majority they were
^6 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1 662. three of the incapacitated persons. The earl of Mi-
. dietoun passed the act, though he had no instruc-
151 tion about it in this form. The matter was so se-
cretly carried, that it was not let out till the day
before it was done : for they reckoned their success
in it was to depend on the secrecy of it, and in their
carrying it to the king, before he should be pos-
sessed against it by the earl of Lauderdale or his
party. So they took great care to visit the packet,
and to stop any that should go to court post:
and all people were under such terror, that no cou-
rage was left. Only lord Lorn sent one on his own
horses, who was to go on in cross roads, tiU he got
into Yorkshire ; for they had secured every stage to
Durham. By this means the earl of Lauderdale
had the news three days before the duke of Rich-
The king mond and lord Tarbot got to court. He carried it
pleased with presently to the king, who could scarce believe it.
*^'*' But when he saw by the letters that it was cer-
tainly true, he assured the earl of Lauderdale, that
he would preserve him, and never suffer such a de-
structive precedent to pass. He said, he looked for
no better upon the duke of Richmond's going to
Scotland, and his being perpetually drunk there.
This mortified the earl of Lauderdale ; for it looked
like the laying in an excuse for the earl of Midle-
toun. From the king, by his orders, he went to the
earl of Clarendon, and told all to him. He was
amazed at it ; and said, that certainly he had some
secret friend that had got into their confidence, and
had persuaded them to do as they had done on de-
sign to ruin them. But growing more serious, he
added, he was sure the king on his own account
would take care not to suffer such a thing to pass :
or KING CHARLES II. ^7
otherwise no man could serve him : if way was 1662.
given to such a method of proceeding, he himself "
would go out of his dominions as fast as his gout
would suffer him.
Two days after this, the duke of Richmond and
lord Tarbot came to court. They brought the act
of incapacity sealed up, together with a letter from
the parliament, magnifying the earl of Midletoun's
services, and another letter signed by ten of the bi-
shops, setting forth his zeal for the church, and his
care of them all : and in particular they set out the
design he was then on, of going round some of the
worst affected counties to see the church estabUshed
in them, as a work that was highly meritorious. At
the same time he sent over the earl of Newburgh to
Ireland, to engage the duke of Ormond to represent
to the king the good effects that they began to feel
in that kingdom from the earl of Midletoun's admi-
nistration in Scotland, hoping the king would not
discourage, much less change, so faithful a minister.
The king received the duke of Richmond and lord
Tarbot very coldly. When they delivered the act
of incapacity to him, he assured them, it should ne-
ver be opened by him ; and said, their last actings 152
were like madmen, or like men that were perpe-
tually drunk. Lord Tarbot said, all was yet entire,
and in his hands, the act being to live or to die as he
pleased : he magnified the earl of Midletoun's zeal
in his service, and the loyal affections of his parKa-
ment, who had on this occasion consulted both the
king's safety and his honour : the incapacity act was
only intended to put it out of the power of men,
who had been formerly bad instruments, to be so
any more : and even that was submitted by them to
VOL. I. s
258 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. the king's judgment. The king heard them pa-
" tiently, and, without any farther discourse on the
subject, dismissed them : so they hoped they had
molUfied him. But the earl of Lauderdale turned
the matter upon the earl of Midletoun and lord
Tarbot, who had made the king believe that the
parhament desired leave to incapacitate some,
whereas no such desire had ever been made in par-
liament : and then, after that the king upon that
misrepresentation had given way to it, the parlia-
ment was made believe that the king desired that
some might be put under that censure : so that the
abuse had been equally put on both : honours went
by ballot at Venice: but punishments had never
gone so, since the ostracism at Athens, which was
the factious practice of a jealous commonwealth, ne-
ver to be set up as a precedent under a monarchy :
even the Athenians were ashamed of it when Ari-
stides, the justest man among them, feU under the
censure : and they laid it aside not long after.
Great pains The carl of Clarcndou gave up the thinff as inex-
takento . ° ^ inn*.
excuse Mi- cusablc : but he studied to preserve the earl of Mi-
dletoun. The change newly made in the church of
Scotland had been managed by him with zeal and
success : but though it was well begun, yet if these
laws were not maintained by a vigorous execution,
the presbyterians, who were quite dispirited by the
steadiness of his conduct, would take heart again ;
especially if they saw the earl of Lauderdale grow
upon him, whom they looked on as theirs in his
heart : so he prayed the king to forgive one single
fault, that came after so much merit. He also sent
advices to the earl of Midletoun to go on in his care
of establishing the church, and to get the bishops to
OF KING CHARLES II. 259
send up copious accounts of all that he had done. 1662.
The king ordered him to come up, and to give him
an account of the affairs in Scotland. But he re-
presented the absolute necessity of seeing some of
the laws lately made put in execution : for it was
hoped, the king's displeasure would be allayed, and
go off, if some time could be but gained.
One act passed in the last parliament that re- The pres-
1 1 • 1 c 1 1 • -byterian
stored the rights 01 patronage, the taking away of ministers
which even presbytery could not carry till the year *'^^°*^ *
1649, in which they had the parliament entirely 153
in their hands. Then the election of ministers
was put in the church session and the lay elders :
so that, from that time, all that had been admitted
to churches came in without presentations. One
clause in the act declared all these incumbents to be
unlawful possessors : only it indemnified them for
what was past, and required them before Michaelmas
to take presentations from the patrons, who were
obliged to give them, being demanded, and to get
themselves to be instituted by the bishops; other-
wise their churches were declared vacant on Mi-
chaelmas day. This took in all the young and hot
men : so the presbyterians had many meetings about
it, in which they aU resolved not to obey the act.
They reckoned, the taking institution from a bishop
was such an owning of his authority, that it was a
renouncing of all their former principles : whereas
some few, that had a mind to hold their benefices,
thought that was only a secular law for a legal
right to their tithes and benefices, and had no rela-
tioii to their spiritual concerns ; and therefore they
thought they might submit to it, especially where
bishops were so moderate as to impose no subscrip-
s 2
260 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. tion upon them, as the greater part were. But the
resolution taken by the main body of the presby-
terians was, to pay no obedience to any of the acts
made in this session, and to look on, and see what
the state would do. The earl of Midletoun was
naturally fierce, and that was heightened by the ill
state of his affairs at court : so he resolved on a
punctual execution of the law. He and all about
him were at this time so constantly disordered by
high entertainments and other excesses, that, even
in the short intervals between their drunken bouts,
they were not cool nor calm enough to consider
what they were doing. He had also so mean an
opinion of the party, that he believed they would
comply with any thing, rather than lose their bene-
fices. And therefore he declared, he would execute
the law in its utmost rigour. On the other hand,
the heads of the presbyterians reckoned, that if
great numbers were turned out all at once, it would
not be possible to fiU their places on the sudden ;
and that the government would be forced to take
them in again, if there were such a vacancy made,
that a great part of the nation were cast destitute,
and had no divine service in it. For that which all
the wiser of the party apprehended most was, that
the bishops would go on slowly, and single out some
that were more factious upon particular provoca-
tions, and turn them out by degrees, as they had
men ready to put in their room ; which would have
been more insensible, (defensible,) and more excusable,
if indiscreet zealots had, as it were, forced censures
from them. The advice sent over all the country, from
154 their leaders, who had settled measures at Eden-
burgh, was, that they should do and say nothing
OF KING CHARLES II. 261
that might give a particular distaste, but should 1662.
look on, and do their duty as long as they were
connived at ; and that if any proclamation should
be issued out, commanding them to be silent, they
should all obey at once. In these measures both
sides were deceived in their expectations. The bi-
shops went to their several dioceses : and according
as the people stood affected, they were weU or iU re-
ceived : and they held their synods every where in
October. In the northern parts very few stood out :
but in the western parts scarce any came to them.
The earl of Midletoun went to Glasgow before Mi-
chaelmas. So when the time fixed by the act was
past, and that scarce any one in aU those counties
had paid any regard to it, he called a meeting of
the privy council, that they might consider what
was fit to be done. Duke Hamilton told me, they
were all so drunk that day, that they were not ca-
pable of considering any thing that was laid before
them, and would hear of nothing but the executing
the law without any relenting or delay. So a pro-
clamation was issued out, requiring all who had
their livings without presentations, and who had
not obeyed the late act, to give over all farther
preaching, or serving the cure, and to withdraw
from their paiishes immediately : and the mihtary
men that lay in the country were ordered to pull
them out of their pulpits, if they should presume to
go on in their functions. This was opposed only by
duke Hamilton, and sir James Lockhart, father to
sir WiUiam Lockhart. They represented, that the
much greater part of the preachers in these counties
had come into their churches since the year 1649 ;
that they were very popular men, both esteemed
s 3
262 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. and beloved of their people: it would be a great
scandal, if they should be turned out, and none be
ready to be put in their places : and it would not be
possible to find a competent number of well qualified
men, to fill the many vacancies that this proclama-
tion would make. The earl of Midletoun would
hear of nothing, but the immediate execution of the
law. So the proclamation was issued out : and upon
it above two hundred churches were shut up in one
day : and above one hundred and fifty more were to
be turned out for not obeying, and submitting to
the bishops summons to their synods. All this was
done without considering the consequence of it, or
communicating it to the other bishops. Sharp said
to my self, that he knew nothing of it ; nor did he
imagine, that so rash a thing could have been done,
till he saw it in print. He was glad that this was
done without his having any share in it : for by it
he was furnished with somewhat, in which he was
155 no way concerned, upon which he might cast all the
blame of all that followed. Yet this was suitable
enough to a maxim that he and all that sort of peo-
ple set up, that the execution of laws was that by
which all governments maintained their strength, as
well as their honour ^. The earl of Midletoun was
surprised at this extraordinary submission of the
presbyterians. He had fancied, that the greatest
part would have complied, and that some of the
more intractable would have done some extraordi-
' nary thing, to have justified the severities he would
have exercised in that case ; and was disappointed
both ways. Yet this obedience of a party, so little
. . '' Dunce, can there be a better maxim? S.
y.i OF KING CHARLES II. 263
accustomed to it, was much magnified at court. It 1662.
was said, that all plied before him : they knew he
was steady : so they saw how necessary it was not
to change the management, if it was really intended
to preserve the church. Lord Tarbot told me, that
the king had expressed to himself the esteem he
had for Sheldon, upon the account of the courage
that he shewed in the debate concerning the execu-
tion of the act of uniformity at the day prefixed,
which was St. Bartholomew's : for some suggested
the danger that might arise, if the act were vigor-
ously executed. From thence, it seems, the earl of
Midletoun concluded, the zeal he shewed now would
be so acceptable, that aU former errors would be
forgiven, if he went through with it ; as indeed he
stuck at nothing. Yet the clamour of putting se-
veral counties, as it were, under an interdict, was
very great. So all endeavours were used to get as
many as could be had to fill those vacancies. And
among others, I was much pressed, both by the earl
of Glencaim and the lord Tarbot, to go into any of
the vacant churches that I liked. I was then but
nineteen ' : yet there is no law in Scotland limiting
the age of a priest. And it was upon this account
that I was let so far into the secret of all affairs :
' It is a little surprising that faculty he had in keeping a se-
a youth of nineteen should have cret; which I gave queen Ann
been let into the secret of all a proof of, by telling her be-
affairs. No doubt the great forehand I would tell the bishop
moderation, and zeal for epi- of Salisbury a particular story,
scopacy, which he mentions and enjoin him secrecy, which
with a singular degree of mo- he readily promised, but came
desty, which appeared early in two days after from London to
him, and continued to his dy- Windsor, to tell it her, which
ing day, must have been the in- made her laugh very heartily,
ducements : besides a notable D.
s 4
m^ THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. for they had such an imagination of some service I
might do them, that they treated me with a very
particular freedom and confidence. But I had
drunk in the principles of moderation so early, that,
though I was entirely episcopal, yet I would not
engage with a body of men, that seemed to have
the principles and tempers of inquisitors in them,
and to have no regard to religion in any of their
proceedings. So I stood upon my youth, and could
not be wrought on to go to the west ; though the
earl of Glencairn offered to carry me with him
under his protection.
There was a sort of an invitation sent over the
kingdom, like a hue and cry, to aU persons to accept
of benefices in the west. The livings were generally
well endowed, and the parsonage houses were well
built, and in good repair : and this drew many very
156 worthless persons thither, who had little learning,
less piety, and no sort of discretion. They came
thither with great prejudices against them, and had
A general many diflEiculties to wrestle with. The former in-
them. cumbents, who were for the most part protestors,
were a grave, solemn sort of people. Their spirits
were eager, and their tempers sour : but they had
an appearance that created respect. They were re-
lated to the chief families in the country, either by
blood or marriage ; and had lived in so decent a
manner, that the gentry paid great respect to them.
They used to visit their parishes much, and were
so full of the scriptures, and so ready at extempore
prayer, that from that they grew to practise extem-
pore sermons : for the custom in Scotland was after
dinner or supper to read a chapter in the scripture :
and where they happened to come, if it was accept-
OF KING CHARLES II. 365
able, they on the sudden expounded the chapter. 1662.
They had brought the people to such a degree of
knowledge, that cottagers and servants would have
prayed extempore. I have often overheard them at
it : and, though there was a large mixture of odd
stuff, yet I have been astonished to hear how co-
pious and ready they were in it. Their ministers
generally brought them about them on the Sunday
nights, where the sermons were talked over; and
every one, women as well as men, were desired to
speak their sense and their experience : and by these
means they had a comprehension of matters of reli-
gion, greater than I have seen among people of that
sort any where. The preachers went all in one
track, of raising observations on points of doctrine
out of their text, and proving these by reasons, and
then of applying those, and shewing the use that
was to he made of such a point of doctrine, both for
instruction and terror, for exhortation and comfort,
for trial of themselves upon it, and for furnishing
them with proper directions and helps : and this
was so methodical, that the people grew to follow a
sermon quite through every branch of it. To this
some added, the resolving of doubts concerning the
state they were in, or their progress pr decay in it ;
which they called cases of conscience : and these
were taken from what their people said to them at
any time, very oft being under fits of melancholy, or
vapours, or obstructions, which, though they flowed
from natural causes, were looked on as the work of
the Spirit of God, and a particular exercise to them ;
and they fed this disease of weak minds too much.
Thus they had laboured very diligently, though with
a wrong method and wrong notions. But as they
a66 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. lived in great familiarity with their people, and used
to pray and to talk oft with them in private, so it
can hardly be imagined to what a degree tliey were
157 loved ^iid reverenced by them. They kept scandal-
ous persons under a severe discipline : for breach of
sabbath, for an oath, or the least disorder in drunk-
enness, persons were cited before the church session,
that consisted of ten or twelve of the chief of the
parish, who with the minister had this care upon
them, and were solemnly reproved for it : for forni-
cation they were not only reproved before these, but
there was a high place in the church, called the
stool or piQar of repentance, where they sat at the
times of worship for three Lord's-days, receiving ad-
monitions, and making profession of repentance on
all those days ; which some did with many tears,
and serious exhortations to all the rest, to take
warning by their fall "'. For adultery they were to
sit six months in that place, covered with sackcloth.
These things had a grave appearance. Their faults
and defects were not so conspicuous. They had a
very scanty measure of learning, and a narrow com-
pass in it. They were little men, of a very indif-
ferent size of capacity, and apt to fly out into great
excess of passion and indiscretion. They were ser-
vile, and too apt to fawn upon and flatter their ad-
mii'ers. They were affected in their deportment.
*" This puts me in mind of a down, for his penance was
ridiculous story duke Hamilton over. " It may be so," said
told me of the old earl of Eg- the earl, " but 1 shall always
lington, who had done penance " set here for the future, be-
for fornication, and the fourth " cause it is the best seat in
Lord's day came, and set there " the kirk, and I do not see a
again, which the minister per- " better man to take it from
ceiving, called to him to come. " me." D.
OF KING CHARLES II. ^ S67
and very apt to censure all who differed from them, 1662.
and to believe and report whatsoever they heard to
their prejudice. And they were superstitious and
haughty ". In their sermons they were apt to en-
large on the state of the present time, and to preach
against the sins of princes and courts : a topic that
naturally makes men popular. It has an appearance
of courage : and the people are glad to hear those
sins insisted on, in which they perceive they have
no share, and to believe that all the judgments of
God come down by the means and procurement of
other men's sins. But their opinions about the in-
dependence of the church and clergy on the civil
power, and their readiness to stir up the people to
tumults and wars, was that which begot so ill an
opinion of them at this time in all men, that very
few, who were not deeply engaged with them in
these conceits, pitied them much, under all the ill
usage they now met with. I hope this is no imper-
tinent nor ungrateful digression. It is a just and
true account of these men and those times, from
which a judicious reader will make good inferences.
I will conclude this with a judicious answer that
one of the wisest and best of them, Colvil, who suc-
ceeded Leightoun in the headship of the college of
Edenburgh, made to the earl of Midletoun, when he
pressed him in the point of defensive arms to tell
plainly his opinion, whether they were lawful or
not. He said, the question had been often put to
him, and he had always declined to answer it : but
to him he plainly said, he wished that kings and
their ministers would believe them lawful, and so
govern as men that expect to be resisted; but he 158
° Strange inconsistent stuff. S.
208 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. wished that all their subjects would believe them to
be unlawful, and so the world would be at quiet.
Prejudices I do uow rctum to end the account of the state
infused n ^ 1 • • m-i
against 01 that couutry at this time. Ihe people were
episcopacy. j^^^Y^ troublcd, whcu SO many of their ministers
were turned out. Their ministers had, for some
months before they were thus silenced, been infus-
ing this into their people, both in public and pri-
vate ; that aU that was designed in this change of
church government was to destroy the power of
godliness, and to give an impunity to vice ; that
prelacy was a tyranny in the church, set on by am-
bitious and covetous men, who aimed at nothing but
authority and wealth, luxury and idleness ; and that
they intended to encourage vice, that they might
procure to themselves a great party among the im-
pious and immoral. The people, thus prepossessed,
seeing the earl of Midletoun, and all the train that
followed him through those counties, running into
excesses of aU sorts, and railing at the very appear-
ance of virtue and sobriety, were confirmed in the
belief of all that their ministers had told them.
What they had heard concerning Sharp's betraying
those that had employed him, and the other bishops,
who had taken the covenant, and had forced it on
others, and now preached against it, openly owning
that they had in so doing gone against the express
dictate of their own conscience, did very much
heighten all their prejudices, and fixed them so in
them, that it was scarce possible to conquer them
afterwards. All this was out of measure increased
by the new incumbents, who were put in the places
of the ejected preachers, and were generally very
mean and despicable in all respects. They were the
OF KING CHARLES II. 260
worst preachers I ever heard: they were ignorant 1662.
to a reproach : and many of them were openly yi- '■
cious. They were a disgrace to their orders, and
the sacred functions ; and were indeed the dreg and
refuse of the northern parts. Those of them who
arose above contempt or scandal, were men of such
violent tempers, that they were as much hated as
the others were despised. This was the fatal be-
ginning of restoring episcopacy in Scotland, of which
few of the bishops seemed to have any sense. Fair-
foul, the most concerned, had none at aU : for he
fell into a paralytic state, in which he languished a
year before he died. I have thus opened the first
settlement in Scotland : of which I myself observed
what was visible, and understood the more secret
transactions from those who had such a share in
them, that it was not possible for them to mistake
them : and I had no reason to think they intended
to deceive or misinform me.
I will in the next place change the climate, and 1660.
eive as particular an account as I can of the settle- ^^9
. . The affairs
ment of England both in church and state : which, of England.
though it will be perhaps imperfect, and will in
some parts be out of order, yet I am well assured it
will be found true ; having picked it up at several
times, from the earl of Lauderdale, Sir Robert Mur-
ray, the earl of Shaftsbury, the earl of Clarendon
the son of the lord chancellor, the lord HoUis, and
sir Harbottle Grimstone, who was the speaker of
the house of commons, under whose protection I
lived nine years when I was preacher at the rolls,
he being then master of the rolls. From such
hands I could not be misled, when I laid all to-
270 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. gether, and considered what reason I had to make
allowances for the different accounts that diversity'
of parties and interests may lead men to give, they
too easily believing some things, and as easily reject-
ing others, as they stood affected.
f'^ After the king came over, no person in the house
of commons had the courage to move the offering
propositions for any limitation of prerogative, or the
defining of any doubtful points. All was joy and
rapture. If the king had applied himself to busi-
ness, and had pursued those designs which he stu-
died to retrieve all the rest of his reign, when it was
too late, he had probably in those first transports
carried every thing that he would have desired, ei-
ther as to revenue or power. But he was so given
up to pleasure, that he devolved the management of
all his affairs on the earl of Clarendon ; who, as he
had his breeding in the law, so he had all along de-
clared himself for the ancient liberties of England,
as weU as for the rights of the crown. A domestic
accident had happened to him, which heightened
his zeal for the former. He, when he began to
grow eminent in his profession, came down to see
his aged father, a gentleman of Wiltshire : who, one
day, as they were walking in the field together, told
him, that men of his profession did often stretch law
and prerogative, to the prejudice of the liberty of the
Subject, to recommend and advance themselves : so
he charged him, if ever he grew to any eminence in
' his profession, that he should never sacrifice the
laws and liberties of his country to his own interests,
or to the will of a prince. He repeated this twice :
and immediately he fell into a fit of an apoplexy, of
which he died in a few hours. This the earl of Cla-
OF KING CHARLES II. 271
rendon told the lady Ranelagh, who put him often wdOi
in mind of it : and from her I had it. "
He resolved not to stretch the prerogative beyond clarendon's
what it was before the wars, and would neither set moderate
aside the petition of right, nor endeavour to raise ""*"'"*'
the courts of the star-chamber or the high commis-
sion again, which could have been easily done, if he
had set about it : nor did he think fit to move for
the repeal of the act for triennial parliaments, till
other matters were well settled. He took care in-
deed to have all tlie things that were extorted by
the long parliament from king Charles I. to be re-
pealed. And since the dispute of the power of the
militia was the most important, and the most in-
sisted on, he was very earnest to have that clearly
determined for the future. But as to all the acts
relating to property, or the just limitation of the
prerogative, such as the matter of the ship-money,
the tonnage and poundage, and the habeas corpus
act, he did not touch on these. And as for the
standing revenue, 1,200,000/. a year was all that
was asked : and, though it was much more than any
of our kings had formerly, yet it was readily grant-
ed. This was to answer aU the ordinary expense of
the government. It was believed, that if two mil-
lions had been asked, he could have carried it. But
he had no mind to put the king out of the necessity
of having recourse to his parliament. The king
came afterwards to believe that he could have raised
both his authority and revenue much higher, but
that he had no mind to carry it farther, or to trust
him too much. Whether all these things could
have been got at that time, or not, is above my con-
jecture. But this I know, that all the earl of Cla-
272 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. rendon's [court] enemies after his faU said, these
things had been easily obtained, if he had taken any
pains in the matter, but that he himself had no mind
to it : and they infused this into the king, so that
he believed it, and hated him mortally on that ac-
count. And in his difficulties afterwards he said
often, all those things might have been prevented, if
the earl of Clarendon had been true to him ".
Venner's The king had not been many days at Whitehall,
^^^' when one Venner, a violent fifth-monarchy man,
who thought it was not enough to believe that
Christ was to reign on earth, and to put the saints
in the possession of the kingdom, (an opinion that
they were all unspeakably fond of,) but added to
this, that the saints were to take the kingdom them-
selvesP. He gathered some of the most furious of
the party to a meeting in Coleman-street. There
they concerted the day and the manner of their ris-
ing to set Christ on his throne, as they called it;
But withal they meant to manage the government
in his name ; and were so formal, that they had pre-
pared standards and colours with their devices on
them, and furnished themselves with very good
arms. But when the day came, there was but a
small appearance, not exceeding twenty. However
161 they resolved to venture out into the streets, and
cry out, No king but Christ. Some of them seemed
persuaded that Christ would come down, and head
i * ° He himself is silent as to this great and lasting service ta
all this, in the history of his his country, has been, and is,
life; but that may be accounted the universal persuasion. Qui-
for without having any doubt que sui memores alios fecere me-
of its truth. If it is true of rendo. O.
him, how much are we all in- p This wants grammar. S.
debted to him? That he did
OF KING CHARLES II. 273
them. They scoured the streets before them, and 1660.
made a great progress. Some were afraid, and all
were amazed at this piece of extravagance. They
killed a great many, but were at last mastered by
numbers : and were all either killed, or taken and
executed. Upon this some troops of guards were
raised. And there was a great talk of a design, as
soon as the army was disbanded, to raise a force
that should be so chosen and modelled that the king
might depend upon it ; and that it should be so con-
siderable, that there might be no reason to appre-
hend new tumults any more. The earl of South-
ampton looked on a while : and when he saw how
this design seemed to be entertained and magnified,
he entered into a very free expostulation with the
earl of Clarendon about it. He said, they had felt
the effects of a military government, though sober
and religious, in CromweU's army : he believed vi-
cious and dissolute troops would be much worse :
the king would gi'ow fond of them : and they would
quickly become insolent and ungovernable : and then
such men as he was must be only instruments to
serve their ends. He said he would not look on,
and see the ruin of his country begun, and be silent :
a white staff should not bribe him. The earl of
Clarendon was persuaded he was in the right, and
promised he would divert the king from any other
force than what might be decent to make a shew
with, and what might serve to disperse unruly mul-
titudes. The earl of Southampton said, if it went
no farther, he could bear it; but it would not be
easy to fix such a number, as would please om'
princes, and not give jealousy. The earl of Claren-
don persuaded the king, that it was necessary for
VOL. I. T"
274 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. him to carry himself with great caution, tiU the old
army should be disbanded : for, if an ill humour got
among them, they knew both their courage and
their principles, which the present times had for a
while a little suppressed : yet upon any just jealousy
there might be great cause to fear new and more
violent disorders. By these means the king was so
wrought on, that there was no great occasion given
for jealousy. The army was to be disbanded, but in
such a manner, with so much respect, and so exact
an account of arrears, and such gratuities, that it
looked rather to be the dismissing them to the next
opportunity, and a reserving them till there should
be occasion for their service, than a breaking of
them. They were certainly the bravest, the best
disciplined, and the soberest army that had been
known in these latter ages : every soldier was able
to do the functions of an officer. The court was at
great quiet, when they got rid of such a burden, as
162 lay on them from the fear of such a body of men.
The guards, and the new troops that were raised,
were made up of such of the army as Monk recom-
mended, and answered for. And with that his
great interest at court came to a stand. He was
little considered afterwards.
The trial jn quc thing the temper of the nation appeared
and execu- " '■
tion of the to bc Contrary to severe proceedings : for, though
regici es, ^^^ rcgicidcs wcrc at that time odious beyond all
expression, and the trials and executions of the first
that suffered were run to by vast crowds, and aU
people seemed pleased with the sight, yet the odious-
ness of the crime grew at last to be so much flat-
tened by the frequent executions, and most of those
who suffered dying with much firmness and shew of
OF KING CHARLES II. 275
piety, justifying all they had done, not without a 1660.
seeming joy for their suffering on that account, that """"^
the king was advised not to proceed farther, at least
not to have the scene so near the court as Charing-
cross. It was indeed remarkable that Peters, a sort
of an enthusiastical buffoon preacher, though a very
vicious man, who had been of great use to Crom-
well, and had been outrageous in pressing the king's
death with the cruelty and rudeness of an inquisi-
tor, was the man of them all that was the most sunk
in his spirit, and could not in any sort bear his pu-
nishment. He had neither the honesty to repent of
it, nor the strength of mind to suffer for it, as all
the rest of them did. He was observed all the
while to be drinking some cordial liquors to keep
him from fainting. Harrison was the first that suf-
fered. He was a fierce and bloody enthusiast. And
it was believed, that while the army was in doubt,
whether it was fitter to kill the king privately, or to
bring him to an open trial, that he offered, if a pri-
vate way was settled on, to be the man that should
do it. So he was begun with. But, however rea-
sonable this might be in it self, it had a very ill ef-
fect : for he was a man of great heat and resolution,
fixed in his principles, and so persuaded of them,
that he had never looked after any interests of his
own, but had opposed Cromwell when he set up for
himself. He went through all the indignities and
severities of his execution, in which the letter of the
law in cases of treason was punctually observed,
with a calmness, or rather a cheerfulness, that as-
tonished the spectators. He spoke very positively,
that what they had done was the cause and work of
God, which he was confident God would own and
T 2
276 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. raise up again, how much soever it suffered at that
time. Upon this a report was spread, and generally
believed, that he said he himself should rise again :
though the party denied that, and reported the
words as I have set them down. One person escaped,
as was reported, merely by his vices : Henry Mar-
163 tin, who had been a most violent enemy to mo-
narchy. But all that he moved for was upon Ro-
man or Greek principles. He never entered into
matters of religion, but on design to laugh both at
them and all morality ; for he was both an impious
and vicious man. And now in his imprisonment he
delivered himself up to vice and blasphemy. It was
said, that this helped him to so many friends, that
upon that very account he was spared p. John Good-
win and Milton did also escape all censure, to the
surprise of all people. Goodwin had so often not
only justified, but magnified the putting the king to
death, both in his sermons and books, that few
thought he could have been either forgot or ex-
cused : for Peters and he were the only preachers
that spoke of it in that strain. But Goodwin had
been so zealous an Arminian, and had sown such di-
vision among all the sectaries upon these heads, that
it was said this procured him friends. Upon what
account soever it was, he was not censured. Milton
had appeared so boldly, though with much wit, and
great purity and elegancy of style, against Salmasius
j and others, upon that argument of the putting the
king to death, and had discovered such violence
against the late king and all the royal family, and
against monarchy, that it was thought a strange
P He censures even mercy. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 277
omission if he was forgot, and an odd strain of cle- 1660.
mency if it was intended he should be forgiven.
He was not excepted out of the act of indemnity ^.
And afterwards he came out of his concealment, and
lived many years, much visited by all strangers, and
much admired by all at home for the poems he writ,
though he was then blind ; chiefly that of Paradise
Lost, in which there is a nobleness both of contriv-
ance and execution, that, though he affected to write
in blahk verse without rhyme, and made many new
and rough words, yet it was esteemed the beautiful-
est and perfectest poem that ever was writ, at least
in our language ^
But as the sparing these persons was much cen- 1661.
sured, so on the other hand the putting Sir Henry ^('^"^^^t^j.
Vane to death was as much blamed : for the decla-
ration from Breda being full for an indemnity to all,
except the regicides, he was comprehended in that '^ ;
since, though he was for changing the government,
and deposing the king, yet he did not approve of the
putting him to death, nor of the force put on the
parliament, but did for some time, while these things
were acted, withdraw from the scene ^ This was so
'1 His life was spared by the Salmon's Examination of Bishop
means of the famous sir Wil- Burnet's Hist. vol. i. p. 506.
liam Davenant, whose life he But there was an address in his
had saved under the former favour after this by the parlia-
powers. O. ment, the prayer of which was
^ A mistake, for it is in Eng- assented to by the king.)
lish. S. ^ (" His hand was proved to
* ("In the Declaration from " a warrant issued out to the
" Breda, all those are excepted " oflicers of the navy to put the
" out of the indemnity, who " fleet in readiness, on that
" should afterwards be excepted " very 30th of January 1648.
" by parliament, and sir Harry " on which the king was niur-
" Vane was excepted by name." " dered. He was proved also
T 3
278
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. represented by his friends, that an address was made
by both houses on his behalf, to which the king gave
a favourable answer, though in general words. So
he reckoned that he was safe"; that being equivalent
to an act of parliament, though it wanted the neces-
sary forms. Yet the great share he had in the at-
I64tainder of the earl Strafford, and in the whole turn
of affairs to the total change of government, but
above all the great opinion that was had of his
parts and capacity to embroil matters again, made
the court think it necessary to put him out of the
way ^. He was naturally a very fearful man : this
one who knew him well told me, and gave me emi-
nent instances of it. He had a head as darkened in
his notions of religion, as his mind was clouded with
fear y ; for though he set up a form of religion in a
" to be an acting member in
" the rebels' council of state on
" the 13th of February, and
" the 23d of March following :
" and it was proved that he
" continued to act in their
" councils and armies until
•• the year 1659 inclusive."
Salmon, ibid. p. 507.)
" So did every body at that
time, and it was so designed : it
was a medium to accommodate
the diiference between the two
houses, upon his case. The
commons had expressly pro-
vided for the sparing of his life.
The lords disagreed to that,
and the commons only yielded
upon the proposal of this joint
address. The words of the ad-
dress, or rather petition, were,
" That, as his majesty had de-
" clared he would proceed
" only against the immediate
" murderers of his father, they
" (the lords and commons)
" not finding sir Henry Vane
" or colonel Lambert to be of
" that number, are humble
" suitors to his majesty, that if
" they shall be attainted, yet
" execution as to their lives
" maybe remitted." The king's
answer, as reported by the lord
chancellor, was, " That his ma-
" jesty grants the desires in
" the said petition." It is true,
in the next parliament, there
was an address to prosecute
them. Lambert was attainted
as well as sir Henry Vane, but
his life was spared. He lived
several years afterwards in pri-
son, and died a papist. O.
^ A malicious turn. Vane
was a dangerous enthusiastic
beast. S.
y See lord Clarendon's His-
OF KING CHARLES II. 279
way of his own, yet it consisted rather in a with- 166 1.
drawing from all other forms, than in any new or
particular opinions or forms ; from which he and his
party were called seekers, and seemed to wait for
some new and clearer manifestations. In these
meetings he preached and prayed often himself, but
with so peculiar a darkness, that though I have
sometimes taken pains to see if I could find out his
meaning in his works, yet I could never reach it.
And since many others have said the same, it may
be reasonable to believe he hid somewhat that was a
necessary key to the rest. His friends told me he
leaned to Origen's notion of an universal salvation of
aU, both of devils and the damned, and to the doc-
trine of pre-existence. When he saw his death was
designed, he composed himself to it, with a resolu-
tion that surprised aU who knew how little of that
was natural to him. Some instances of this were
very extraordinary, though they cannot be men-
tioned with decency '^. He was beheaded on Tower- And execu-
Hill, where a new and very indecent practice was
begun. It was observed that the dying speeches of
the regicides had left impressions on the hearers,
that were not at all to the advantage of the govern-
ment. So strains of a peculiar nature being ex-
pected from him, to prevent that, drummers were
placed under the scaffold, who, as soon as he began
story of the Rebellion, vol. iii. made upon her, if she proved
p. 544. O. with child : which occasioned
^ His lady conceived of him an unlucky jest when his son
the night before his execution, was made a privy-counsellor
S. He cohabited with his lady with father Peters in king
the night before he was exe- James's reign. The earl of
cuted, and declared he had Dorset said, he believed his fa-
done so, next morning ; for ther got him after his head
fear any reflection should be was off. D.
T 4
S80
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i6'di. to speak of the public, upon a sign given, struck up
'with their drums. This put him in no disorder. He
desired they might be stopped, for he understood-
what was meant by it. Then he went through his
devotions. And, as he was taking leave of those
about him, he happening to say somewhat with re-
lation to the times, the drums struck up a second
time : so he gave over, and died with so much com-
posedness, that it was generally thought the govern-
ment had lost more than it had gained by his
death ^.
The king The act of indemnity passed with very few ex-
feifupto ceptions; at which the cavaliers were highly dis-
sures/* satisfied, and made great complaints of it. In the
disposal of offices and places, as it was not possible
to gratify all, so there was little regard had to men's
merits or services. The king was determined to
» " Hamton courte, Saturday,
two in the afternoon.
" The relation that has
been made to me of sir H.
Vane's carriage yesterday in
the hall, is the occasion of
this letter, which, if I am
rightly informed, was so inso-
lent, as to justyfy all he had
done ; acknowledgeing no su-
preame power in England,
but a parliament: and many
things to that purpose. You
have had a true accounte of
all, and if he has given new
occasion to be hanged, cer-
taynly he is too dangerous a
' man to lett live, if we can
honestly put him out of the
way. Thinke of this, and
give me some accounte of it
tomorrow, till when I have no
more to say to you. C." In-
dorsed in Lord Clarendon's
hand. The King, yth June.
Sir Henry Vane was be-
headed that day sennight, viz.
14th of June, 1662. See among
the State Trials that of sir
Henry Vane, especially the lat-
ter end of what is printed there.
1 6th of April, 1766.
The above letter I had co-
pied from the original, which
is in the possession of — (James
West, of Covent Garden, Esq.)
and which I saw, the 24th of
June, 1759. Arthur Onslow.
I find this letter is lately
printed in Dr. Harris's Account
of king Charles the second.
But how he came by it, I do
not know. O.
Vane was beheaded for new
attempts, not here mention-
ed. S,
OF KING CHARLES II. 281
most of these by the cabal that met at mistress Pal- 1661.
mer's lodgings. And though the earl of Clarendon ^qk
did often prevail with the king to alter the resolu-
tions taken there, yet he was forced to let a great
deal go that he did not like. He would never make
applications to mistress Palmer, nor let any thing
pass the seal in which she was named ^, as the earl
of Southampton would never suffer her name to be
in the treasury books. Those virtuous ministers
thought it became them to let the world see that
they did not comply with the king in his vices. But
whether the earl of Clarendon spoke so freely to the
king about his course of life, as was given out, I
cannot tell. When the cavaliers saw they had not
that share in places that they expected, they com-
plained of it so highly, that the earl of Clarendon, to
excuse the king's passing them by, was apt to beat
down the value they set on their services. This
laid the foundation of an implacable hatred in many
of them, that was completed by the extent and com- The act of
prehensiveness of the act of indemnity, which cut J^^j^^'J^i^Jj
off their hopes of being reimbursed out of the fines,
if not the confiscations of those, who had, during the
course of the wars, been on the parliament's side. It
is true, the first parliament, called, by way of dero-
gation, the convention, had been too much on that
side not to secure themselves and their friends. So
they took care to have the most comprehensive
words put in it that could be thought of*^. But
b For which reason the hus- chamber to the queen. She
bandwas prevailed upon, though was not created duchess of
with difficulty, to accept of an Cleveland till about the year
Irish patent to be viscount Cas- 1670. O.
tlemain, that she might be qua- '^ In the interval between the
lifted to be a lady of the bed- two parliaments many persons
288 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. when the new parliament was called, a year after, in
which there was a design to set aside the act of in-
demnity, and to have brought in a new one, the
king did so positively insist on his adhering to the
act of indemnity, that the design of breaking into it
was laid aside. The earl of Clarendon owned it
was his counsel. Acts or promises of indemnity, he
thought, ought to be held sacred : a fidelity in the
' observation of them was the only foundation upon
which any government could hope to quiet seditions
or civil wars : and if people once thought that those
promises were only made to deceive them, without
an intention to observe them religiously, they would
never for the future hearken to any treaty. He
often said it was the making those promises had
brought the king home, and it was the keeping
them must keep him at home. So that whole work,
from beginning to the end, was entirely his. The
angry men, that were thus disappointed of all their
hopes, made a jest of the title of it. An act ofoh-
livion and of indemnity ; and said, the king had
passed an act of oblivion for his friends, and of in-
demnity for his enemies. To load the earl of Cla-
rendon the more, it was given out that he advised
the king to gain his enemies, since he was sure of
his friends by their principles. With this he was
often charged, though he always denied it ''. Whe-
l66ther the king fastened it upon him after he had dis-
obtained particular pardons un- '' He might deny the words,
der the great seal, for what but the practice was suitable to
was included in the act of in- such doctrine, and every body
demnity. My great grandfa- knew there was nothing done
ther had one, which I have at that time but by his ad-
seen. O. vice. D.
OF KING CHARLES II. 283
graced him, to make him the more odious, I cannot 1661.
tell. It is certain the king said many very hard
things of him, for which he was much blamed : and
in most of them he was but Uttle believed.
It was natural for the king, upon his restoration, 1662.
to look out for a proper marriage. And it was soon ^arri'^f.^
observed, that he was resolved not to marry a pro-
testant. He pretended a contempt of the Germans,
and of the northern crowns. France had no sister.
He had seen the duke of Orleans's daughters, and
Uked none of them. Spain had only two infantas :
and as the eldest was married to the king of France,
the second was to go to Vienna. So the house of
Portugal only remained, to furnish him a wife,
among the crowned heads. Monk began to hearken
to a motion made him for this by a Jew, that ma-
naged the concerns of Portugal, which were now
given for lost, since they were abandoned by France
by the treaty of the Pyrenees ; in which it appears,
by cardinal Mazarin's letters, that he did entirely
deliver up their concerns; which was imputed to
his desire to please the queen-mother of France,
who, being a daughter of Spain, owned herself still
to be in the interests of Spain in every thing in
which France was not concerned, for in that case
she pretended she was true to the crown of France.
And this was the true secret of Cardinal Mazarin's
carrying on that war so feebly as he did, to gratify
the queen-mother on the one hand, and his own co-
vetousness on the other : for the less public expense
was made, he had the greater occasions of enriching
himself, which was all he thought on. The Portu-
gueze being thus, as they thought, cast off by
Sm THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. France, were very apprehensive of falling under the
Castillians, who, how weak soever they were in op-
position to France, yet were like to be too hard for
them, when they had nothing else on their hands.
So, vast offers were made, if the king would marry
their infanta, and take them under his protection.
Monk was the more encouraged to entertain the
proposition, because some pretended, that, in the
beginning of the war of Portugal, king Charles had
entered into a negotiation for a marriage between
his son and this infanta. And the veneration paid
his memory was then so high, that every thing he
had projected was esteemed sacred. Monk pro-
mised to serve the interests of Portugal : and that
was, as sir Robert Southwell told me, the first step
made in that matter^. Soon after the king came
into England, an embassy of congratulation came
from thence, with orders to negotiate that business.
The Spanish ambassador, who had a pretension of
167 merit from the king in behalf of that crown, since
they had received and entertained him at Brussels,
when France had thrown him off, set himself much
against this match : and, among other things, af-
firmed, that the infanta was incapable of having
children. But this was little considered. The Spa-
niards are not very scrupulous in affirming any
thing that serves their ends : and this marriage was
like to secure the kingdom of Portugal. So it was
no wonder that he opposed it : and little regard was
had to all that he said to break it.
An alliance At this time mousicur Fouquet was araininff an
proposed ^ 100
from ascendant in the counsels of France, cardinal Maza-
Frauce.
^ See post p, 297. O.
OF KING CHARLES II. 285
rin falling then into a languishing, of which he died 1 662.
a year after. He sent one over to the king with a
project of an alliance between France and England.
He was addressed first to the earl of Clarendon, to
whom he enlarged on aU the heads of the scheme
he had brought, of which the match with Portugal
was a main article. And, to make all go down the
better, Fouquet desired to enter into a particular
friendship with the earl of Clarendon ; and sent
him the offer of 10,000/. and assured him of the re-
newing the same present every year. The lord
Clarendon told him, he would lay all that related to
the king faithfully before him, and give him his an-
swer in a little time : but for what related to him-
self, he said, he served a gi'eat and bountiful master,
who knew well how to support and reward his ser-
vants : he would ever serve him faithfully ; and,
because he knew he must serve those from whom
he accepted the hire, therefore he rejected the offer
with great indignation. He laid before the king
the heads of the proposed alliance, which required
much consultation. But in the next place he told
both the king and his brother what had been offered
to himself. They both advised him to accept of it.
Why, said he, have you a mind that I should betray
you ? The king answered, he knew nothing could
corrupt him. Then, said he, you know me better
than I do my self: for if I take the money, I shall
find the sweet of it, and study to have it continued
to me by deserving it. He told them, how he had
rejected the offer; and very seriously warned the
king of the danger he saw he might faU into, if he
suffered any of those who served him, to be once
pensioners to other princes : those presents were
286 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. made only to bias them in their counsels, and to
discover secrets by their means: and if the king
gave way to it, the taking money would soon grow
to a habit, and spread like an infection through the
whole court.
168 As the motion for the match with Portugal was
y^]^,j!^"„fjf carried on, an incident of an extraordinary nature
nage. happened in the court. The earl of Clarendon's
daughter, being with child, and near her time, called
upon the duke of York to own his marriage with
her. She had been maid of honour to the princess
royal : and the duke, who was even to his old age
of an amorous disposition, tried to gain her to com-
ply with his desires. She managed the matter with
so much address, that in conclusion he married her.
Her father did very solemnly protest, that he knew
nothing of the matter, till now that it broke out ^
The duke thought to have shaken her from claim-
ing it by great promises, and as great threatenings s.
f Lord Shaftsbury told sir had been informed, by the king's
Mich. Wharton, from whom I order, of the marriage, and
had it, he had observed a respect whilst it still remained a secret
from lord Clarendon and his from the public. King Charles's
lady to their daughter, that was conduct in this business was ex-
very unusual from parents to cellent throughout, that of Cla-
their children, which gave him rendon worthy an ancient Ro-
a jealousy she was married to man. See Continuation of the
one of the brothers, but sus- Life of the Earl of Clarendon,
pected the king most. D. (As by himself, p. 27 — 40.)
far as lord Clarendon's lady is s And a scandalous attempt
concerned in this story, sir Mi- was made to affect her repu-
chael Wharton's veracity is esta- tation, as my lord Clarendon
Wished by Locke's Memoirs of says, in a manuscript history,
the Earl of Shaftsbury. See written by himself, of his life,
Locke's Works, vol. iii. p. 493. or rather a continuation of it.
And it appears, from lord Cla- from the restoration to within
rendon's account of this trans- of his death. 1 had the
action, that his daughter resided reading of this manuscript, by
with him for some time after he the favour of the lord Corn-
OF KING CHARLES II. 287
But she was a woman of a great spirit. She said, she 1662.
was his wife, and would have it known that she '
was so, let him use her afterwards as he pleased.
Many discourses were set about upon this occasion.
But the king ordered some bishops and judges to
peruse the proofs she had to produce : and they re-
ported that, according to the doctrine of the Gospel,
and the law of England, it was a good marriage.
So it was not possible to break it, but by trying
how far the matter could be carried against her, for
marrying a person so near the king without his
leave. The king would not break with the earl of
Clarendon : and so he told his brother, he must
drink as he brewed, and live with her whom he had
made his wife. All the earl of Clarendon's enemies
rejoiced at this : for they reckoned, how much so-
ever it seemed to raise him at present, yet it would
raise envy so high against him, and make the king
so jealous of him, as being more in his brother's in-
terests than in his own, that they looked on it as
that which would end in his ruin. And he himself
thought so, as his son told me : for, as soon as he
knew of it, and when he saw his son lifted up with
it, he protested to him, that he knew nothing of the
matter, till it broke out ; but added, that he looked
on it, as that which must be all their ruin sooner or
later.
Upon this I will digress a little, to give an ac- The duke's
character.
count of the duke's character, whom I knew for
some years so particularly, that I can say much
bury that now is, (1748,) and king, his ministers, and court,
found in it great confirmations O. (This work was first pub-
of what is in this history within lished by the university of Ox-
ihat period, which relate to the ford, in 1 759.)
288 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. upon my own knowledge. He was very brave in
his youth, and so much magnified by monsieur Tu-
renne, that, till his marriage lessened him, he really
clouded the king, and passed for the superior genius.
He was naturally candid and sincere, and a firm
friend, tiU affairs and his religion wore out all his
first principles and inclinations. He had a great
desire to understand affairs : and in order to that
he kept a constant journal of all that passed, of
169 which he shewed me a great deal. The duke of
Buckingham gave me once a short but severe cha-
racter of the two brothers. It was the more severe,
because it was true : the king (he said) could see
things if he would, and the duke would see things
if he could. He had no true judgment, and was
soon determined by those whom he trusted : but he
was obstinate against all other advices. He was
• bred with high notions of the kingly authority, and
laid it down for a maxim, that aU who opposed the
king were rebels in their hearts. He was perpe-
tually in one amour or other, without being very
nice in his choice : upon which the king said once,
he believed his brother had his mistresses given him
by his priests for penance. He gave me this ac-
count of his changing his religion : when he escaped
out of the hands of the earl of Northumberland,
who had the charge of his education trusted to him
by the parliament, and had used him with great re-
spect, all due care was taken, as soon as he got be-
yond sea, to form him to a strict adherence to the
church of England : among other things, much was
said of the authority of the church, and of the tradi-
tion from the apostles in support of episcopacy : so
that, when he came to observe that there was more
OF KING CHARLES II.J . > i'
reason to submit to the catholic church than to one 1660.
particular church, and that other traditions might
be taken on her word, as well as episcopacy was re-
ceived among us, he thought the step was not great,
but that it was very reasonable to go over to the
church of Rome : and doctor Steward having taught
him to believe a real but inconceivable presence of
Christ in the sacrament, he thought this went more
than half way to transubstantiation. He said, that
a nun's advice to him to pray every day, that, if he
was not in the right way, God would set him right,
did make a great impression on him. But he never
told me when or where he was reconciled. He suf-
fered me to say a great deal to him on all these
heads. I shewed the difference between submission
and obedience in matters of order and indifferent
things, and an implicit submission from the belief of
infallibility. I also shewed him the difference be-
tween a speculation of a mode of Christ's presence,
when it rested in an opinion, and an adoration
founded on it : though the opinion of such a pre-
sence was wrong, there was no great harm in that
alone : but the adoration of an undue object was
idolatry. He suffered me to talk much and often
to him on these heads. But I plainly saw, it made
no impression : and aU that he seemed to intend by
it was, to make use of me as an instrument to
soften the aversion that people began to be pos-
sessed with to him. He was naturally eager and
revengeful : and was against the taking off any that
set up in an opposition to the measures of the court, 170
and who by that means grew popular in the house
of commons. He was for rougher methods. He
continued for many years dissembling his religion,
VOL. I. u
290 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1 660. and seemed zealous for the church of England : but
it was chiefly on design to hinder all propositions
that tended to unite us among ourselves. He was a
fi'ugal prince, and brought his court into method and
magnificence : for he had 100,000/. a year allowed
him. He was made high admiral : and he came to
understand all the concerns of the sea very particu-
larly. He had a very able secretary about him, sir
William Coventry : a man of great notions and
eminent virtues, the best speaker in the house of
commons, and capable of bearing the chief ministry,
as it was once thought he was very near it. The
duke found all the great seamen had a deep tinc-
ture from their education : they both hated popery
and loved liberty : they were men of severe tem-
pers, and kept good discipline. But in order to the
putting the fleet into more confident hands, the
duke began a method of sending pages of honour,
and other young persons of quality, to be bred to
the sea. And these were put in command, as soon
as they were capable of it, if not sooner. This dis-
couraged many of the old seamen, when they saw
in what a channel advancement was like to go;
who upon that left the service, and went and com-
manded merchantmen. By this means the virtue
and discipline of the navy is much lost. It is true,
we have a breed of many gallant men, who do dis-
tinguish themselves in action. But it is thought,
the nation has suffered much by the vices and dis-
' orders of those captains, who have risen by their
( '; quality more than by merit or service.
Thedu- The duchess of York was a very extraordinary
chess's cha- ''
racter. womau. She had great knowledge, and a lively
sense of things. She soon understood what belonged
OF KING CHARLES II. 991
^ a princess; and took state on her rather too 1660.
rnuch'^. She writ well; and had begun the duke's "
life, of which she shewed me a volume. It was
all drawn from his journal: and he intended to
have employed me in carrying it on. She was bred
to great strictness in religion, and practised secret
confession. Morley ' told me, he was her confessor.
She began at twelve years old, and continued under
his direction, till, upon her father's disgrace, he was
put from the court. She was generous and friendly;
but was too severe an enemy.
The king's third brother, the duke of Glocester, The duke of
was of a temper different from his two brothers, character.
He was active, and loved business, was apt to have
particular friendships ; and had an insinuating tem-
per, which was generally very acceptable. The
king loved him much better than the duke of York.
3ut he was uneasy, when he saw there was no post 1 71
left for him, since Monk was general. So he spoke
to the earl of Clarendon, that he might be made lord
treasurer. But he told him, it was a post below his
^ Her marriage with the duke dren : the duke said he believed
created great uneasiness in the it was not prudent, but she
royal family. The princess royal smelt so strong of her father's
could little bear the giving place green bag, that he could not
to one she thought she had ho- get the better of himself, when-
noured very much in having ad- ever he had the misfortune to
mitted into her service, and be in her presence. Queen-
avoided being in a room with mother, who hated the chan-
ber as much as she could; and cellor, was with great difficulty
Ihe duke of Gloucester could persuaded to see her, and gave
never be prevailed upon to shew it for a reason to induce the
her any sort of civility. My king to agree to the princess
grandfather (who loved him the Henrietta's marriage with the
best of all his old master's chil- duke of Orleans, that she might
dren) told him he feared it might avoid being insulted by Hyde's
prove prejudicial to him if the daughter. D.
king should die without chil- ' (The bishop of Winchester.)
U 2
29S THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. dignity. He would not be put off with that : for
he could not bear an idle life, nor to see his brother
at the head of the fleet, when he himself had nei-
ther business nor dependence. But the mirth and
entertainments of that time raised his blood so high,
that he took the small-pox ; of which he died, much
lamented by aU, but most particularly by the king,
who was never in his whole life seen so much trou-
, bled, as he was on that occasion. Those who would
not believe he had much tenderness in his nature,
imputed this rather to his jealousy of the brother
that survived, since he had now lost the only person
that could balance him. Not long after him, the
princess royal died likewise of the small-pox ; but
was not much lamented. She had lived in her wi-
dowhood for some years with great reputation, kept
a decent court, and supported her brothers very li-
berally ; and lived within bounds. But her mother,
who had the art of making herself believe any thing
she had a mind to, upon a conversation with the
queen mother of France, fancied the king of France
might be inclined to marry her. So she writ to her
to come to Paris. In order to that, she made an
equipage far above what she could support. So she
ran herself into debt, sold all her jewels, and some
estates that were in her power as her son's guar-
dian ; and was not only disappointed of that vain
expectation, but feU into some misfortunes, that
lessened the reputation she had formerly lived in K
!
^ Particularly in relation to was more favoured by king
young Harry Jermin, nephew William than any Roman Ga-
te the earl of St. Alban's, who tholic that had been in king
left him his heir, and was after James's service; in regard, as
created lord Dover by king was thought, to the favour he
James. At the revolution he had been in with his mother.
OF KING CHARLES II. , 293
Upon her death, it might have been expected, both 1660.
in justice and gratitude, that the king would in a
most particular manner have taken her son, the
young prince of Orange, into his protection. But
he fell into better hands : for his grandmother be-
came his guardian, and took care both of his estate
and his education.
Thus two of the branches of the royal family The pro-
_, „ - , .. A 1 1 • spect of the
were cut off soon after the restoration. And so ut- royai fami-
tle do the events of things answer the first appear- J.^j^'J^eJ
ances, that a royal family of three princes and two
princesses, aU young and graceful persons, that pro-
mised a numerous issue, did moulder away so fast,
that now, while I am writing, all is reduced to the
person of the queen, and the duchess of Savoy'.
The king had a very numerous issue, though none
by his queen. The duke had by both his wives, and
some irregular amours, a very numerous issue. And
the present queen has had a most fruitful marriage as
to issue, though none of them survive. The princess
Henriette was so pleased with the diversion of the 172
French court, that she was glad to go thither again
to be married to the king's brother, [a poor-spirited
and voluptuous prince ; monstrous in his vices, and
effeminate in his luxury in more senses than one.
who was suspected to have been the private marriages said to
rtiarried to him ; which king have taken place between these
William was willing to have be- parties.)
lieved, (rather than worse,) ' (Namely, queen Anne, and
though it was not proper for this duchess, who was daughter
her to own the marriage. And of Henrietta, duchess of Or-
the late behaviour of her mo- leans, the youngest daughter
ther with the earl of St. Alban's, of king Charles the first : the
and her aunt with the earl of bishop setting aside the other
Craven, seemed to countenance, children then living of the duke
if not justify, such a manage- of York, afterwards James the
ment. D. (His lordship means second.)
u 3
294 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660, He had not one good or great quality, but courage :
so that he became both odious and contemptible.]
Schomberg As the treaty with Portugal went on, France did
through engage in the concerns of that crown, though they
PortS.*° ^^^ ^y ^^^^^y promised the contrary to the Spa-
niards. To excuse their perfidy, count Schomberg,
a German by birth, and a Calvinist by his religion,
was ordered to go thither, as one prevailed with by
the Portugal ambassador, and not as sent over by
the orders of the court of France. He passed
through England to concert with the king the mat-
ters of Portugal, and the supply that was to be sent
thither from England. He told me, the king had
admitted him into great familiarities with him at
Paris. He had known him first at the Hague : for
he was the prince of Orange's particular favourite ;
but had so great a share in the last violent actions
of his Hfe, seizing the states, and in the attempt
upon Amsterdam, that he left the service upon his
death ; and gained so great a reputation in France,
that, after the prince of Conde and Turenne, he was
thought the best general they had. He had much
free discourse with the king, though he found his
mind was so turned to mirth and pleasure, that he
seemed scarce capable of laying any thing to heart.
He advised him to set up for the head of the pro-
testant religion : for though, he said to him, he
knew he had not much religion, yet his interests
led him to that. It would keep the princes of Ger-
many in a great dependence on him, and make him
the umpire of aU their affairs ; and would procure
him great credit with the Huguenots of France, and
keep that crown in perpetual fear of him. He ad-
vised the king to employ the military men that had
/' OF KING CHARLES II. W5
served under Cromwell, whom he thought the best 1661.
officers he had ever seen : and he was sorry to see,
they were dismissed, and that a company of wild
young men were those the king relied on. But
what he pressed most on the king, as the business
then in agitation, was concerning the sale of Dun-
kirk. The Spaniards pretended it ought to be re- Dunkirk
stored to them, since it was taken from them by p" ^^q^J ^"^^
Cromwell, when they had the king and his brothers
in their armies : but that was not much regarded.
The French pretended, that, by then* agreement
with Cromwell, he was only to hold it, tiQ they had
repayed the charge of the war : therefore they, of-
fering to lay that down, ought to have the place de-
Hvered to them. The king was in no sort bound
by this. So the matter under debate was, whether
it ought to be kept or sold? The military men,
who were believed to be corrupted by France, said,
the place was not tenable ; that in time of peace it
would put the king to a great charge, and in time
of war it would not quit the cost of keeping it'". 173
The earl of Clarendon said, he understood not those
matters; but appealed to Monk's judgment, who
did positively advise the letting it go for the sum
that France offered. To make the business go the
easier, the king promised, that he would lay up all
the money in the Tower ; and that it should not be
touched, but upon extraordinary occasions. Schom-
berg advised, in opposition to all this, that the king
'^ See D'Estrades's letters ; 399, 80. More of this will ap-
but see too my lord Claren- pear to the world, whenever
don's defence of himself, as to my lord Clarendon's history of
this matter. It is printed in these times shall be published,
the 8th vol. of State Trials, p. I have read it in MS. O.
U 4
296 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. should keep it; for, considering the naval power of
England, it could not be taken. He knew, that,
though France spoke big, as if they would break
with England unless that was delivered up, yet they
were far from the thoughts of it. He had consi-
dered the place well ; and he was sure it could ne-
ver be taken, as long as England was master of the
sea. The holding it would keep both France and
Spain in a dependence upon the king. But he was
singular in that opinion. So it was sold " : and all
the money that was paid for it was immediately
squandered away among the mistress's creatures.
Tangier a gy thig the kinff lost his rcputatiou abroad. The
part of the •' . ° ^
queen's por- court was beUcved venal. And because the earl of
Clarendon was in greatest credit, the blame was
cast chiefly on him ; though his son assured me, he
kept himself out of that affair entirely ". The cost
bestowed on that place since that time, and the
" There is some reason to they say : Carte, in his second
suspect, from some things in vol. p. 250, &c. Oldmixon, in
Carte's history of the first duke his History of the Stuarts, p.
of Ormonde, that the sale of 490. See also the General Die-
Dunkirk, as well as the Por- tionary, vol. vi. p. 337. and
tugal match, veere first settled Rennet's History of England,
between the king and the p. 224. See also a letter in
French king, by the interven- MS. of sir Robert Southwell to
tion only of the queen-mother the second earl of Clarendon,
of England and the court of at the end of my second vol.
Portugal; and my lord Claren- (8vo edition) of the Lord Chan-
don says, in his Defence above cellor Clarendon's Life. See
mentioned, " It is very well also Lord Clarendon's Life, p.
" known to his majesty, and to 201, &c. O.
" several persons yet alive, that ° In his opinion and advice,
! " the parting with Dunkirk was but not in his actings : an un-
•' resolved upon before I ever happy distinction of his, which
" heard of it." Carte does not went to other matters, and
indeed mention Dunkirk ; but made him to be called the au-
Oldmixon does, when he speaks thor of many things he was
of the errand of the queen-mo- really averse to. O.
ther to England. See what
OF KING CHARLES ILiUT 297
great prejudice we have suffered by it, has made 1661.
that sale to be often reflected on very severely.
But it was pretended, that Tangier, which was of-
fered as a part of the portion that the infanta of
Portugal was to bring with her, was a place of
much greater consequence. Its situation in the
map is indeed very eminent. And if Spain had
been then in a condition to put any restraint on our
trade, it had been of great use to us ; especially, if
the making a mole there had been more practicable
than it proved to be. It was then spoken of in the
court in the highest strains of flattery. It was said,
this would not only give us the entire command of
the Mediterranean trade, but it would be a place of
safety for a squadron to be always kept there, for
securing our West and East India trade. And such
mighty things were said of it, as if it had been re-
served for the king's reign, to make it as glorious
abroad, as it was happy at home : though since that
time we have never been able, neither by force nor
treaty, to get ground enough round the town from
the Moors to maintain the garrison. But every
man that was employed there studied only his own
interest, and how to rob the king. If the money,
that was laid out in the mole at different times, had
been raised all in a succession, as fast as the work
could be carried on, it might have been made a
very valuable place. But there were so many dis-
continuings, and so many new undertakings, that
after an immense charge the court grew weary of 174
it: and in the year 1683 they sent a squadron of
ships to bring away the garrison, and to destroy all
the works.
To end this matter of the king's marriage with
298 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. the infanta of Portugal all at once: it was at last
concluded. The earl of Sandwich went for her, and
was the king's proxy in the nuptial ceremony. The
king communicated the matter both to the parlia-
ment of England and Scotland. And so strangely
were people changed, that though they all had seen
the mischievous effects of a popish queen in the for-
mer reign, yet not one person moved against it in
either parliament, except the earl of CassUis in
Scotland ; who moved for an address to the king to
marry a protestant. He had but one to second
him : so entirely were men run from one extreme
to another.
1662. When the queen was brought over, the king met
ner^of the ^cr at Winchcstcr in summer 1662. The archbi-
riS* ^^'' ^^^P ^^ Canterbury came to perform the ceremony :
but the queen was bigoted to such a degree, that
she would not say the words of matrimony, nor
bear the sight of the archbishop. The king said
the words hastily : and the archbishop pronounced
them married persons. Upon this some thought af-
terwards to have dissolved the marriage, as a mar-
riage only de facto, in which no consent had been
given. But the duke of York told me, they were mar-
ried by the lord Aubigny according to the Roman
ritual, and that he himself was one of the witnesses :
and he added, that, a few days before he told me this,
the queen had said to him, that she heard some in-
'^ tended to call her marriage in question ; and that, if
that was done, she must call on him, as one of her
witnesses, to prove it. I saw the letter that the king
writ to the earl of Clarendon the day after their mar-
riage, by which it appeared very plainly, [if not too
OF KING CHARLES II. Jgg^
plainly,] that the marriage was consummated, and 1662.
that the king was well pleased with her p, [which "
convinced me of the falsehood of the reports that had
been set about ; that I was once persuaded of them,
that she was not fit for marriage.] The king himself
told me, she had been with child : and Willis, the
great physician, told doctor Lloyd, from whom I
had it, that she had once miscarried of a child,
which was so far advanced, that, if it had been care-
fully looked to, the sex might have been distin-
guished. But she proved a barren wife, and was a
woman of a mean appearance, and of no agreeable^
temper: so that the king never considered her
much. And she made ever after but a very mean
fiffure. For some time the king carried things de- The king
^^ . ... lived in aa
cently, and did not visit his mistress openly. But avowed
he grew weary of that restraint ; and shook it off so lewdness.
entirely, that he had ever after that mistresses to
the end of his life, to the great scandal of the world,
and to the particular reproach of all that served 175
about him in the church. He usually came from
his mistress's lodgings to church, even on sacrament
days. He held as it were a court in them : and aU
his ministers made applications to them. Only the
earls of Clarendon and Southampton would never so
much as make a visit to any of them, which was
maintaining the decencies of virtue in a very solemn
manner. The lord Clarendon put the justice of the
P Before he was married, he a bad. matter. She was very
told old colonel Legge (who he short and broad, of a swarthy
knew had never approved of complexion, one of her fore
the match,) that he thought teeth stood out, which held up
they had brought him a bat, in- her upper lip ; had some very
stead of a woman ; but it was nauseous distempers, besides ex-
too late to find fault, and he cessively proud and ill-huniour-
niust make the best he could of ed. D.
300 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. nation in very good hands; and employed some
who had been on the bench in Cromwell's time, the
famous sir Matthew Hale in particular.
1660. The business of Ireland was a harder province.
The settle-
inent of The Irish that had been in the rebellion had made
" *" * a treaty with the duke of Ormond, then acting in
the king's name, though he had no legal power
under the great seal, the king being then a prisoner.
But the queen-mother got, as they give out, the
crown of France to become the guarantee for the
performance. By the treaty they were to furnish
him with an army, to adhere to the king's interests,
and serve under the duke of Ormond : and for this
they were to be pardoned all that was past, to
have the open exercise of their religion, and a free
admittance into all employments, and to have a free
parliament without the curb of Poyning's law. But
after the misfortune at Dublin, they set up a su-
preme council again, and refused to obey the duke
of Ormond ; in which the pope's nuncio conducted
them. After some disputes, and that the duke of
Ormond saw he could not prevail with them to be
commanded by him any more, he left Ireland. And
Cromwell came over, and reduced the whole coun-
try, and made a settlement of the confiscated
estates, for the pay of the undertakers for the Irish
war, and of the officers that had served in it. The
king had, in his declaration from Breda, promised
■ to confirm the settlement of Ireland. So now a
great debate arose between the native Irish and the
English settled in Ireland. The former claimed the
articles that the duke of Ormond had granted them.
He in answer to this said, they had broken firgt on
OF KING CHARLES II. 801
their part, and so had forfeited their claim to them. 1660.
They seemed to rely much on the court of France,
and on the whole popish party abroad, of which
they were the most considerable branch at home.
But England did naturally incline to support the
English interests. And, as that interest in Ireland
had gone in very unanimously to the design of the
king's restoration, and had merited much on that
account, so they drew over the duke of Ormond to
join with them, in order to an act confirming Crom-
well's settlement. Only a court of claims was set
up, to examine the pretensions of some of the Irish,
who had special excuses for themselves, why they 1 76
should not be included in the general forfeiture of
the nation. Some were under age : others were
travelling, or serving abroad: and many had dis-
tinguished themselves in the king's service, when
he was in Flanders; chiefly under the duke of
York, who pleaded much for them, and was always
depended on by them, as their chief patron. It was
thought most equitable, to send over men from
England, who were not concerned in the interests
or passions of the parties of that kingdom, to try
those claims. Their proceedings were much cried
out on : for it was said, that every man's claim, who
could support it with a good present, was found
good, and that all the members of that court came
back very rich. So that, though the Irish thought
they had not justice enough done them, the English
said they had too much. When any thing was to
be proved by witnesses, sets of them were hired, to
depose according to the instructions given them.
This was then cried out on, as a new scene of wick-
edness, that was then opened, and which must in
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. the end subvert all justice and good government.
The infection has spread since that time, and
crossed the sea. And the danger of being ruined by
false witnesses has become so terrible, that there is
no security against it, but from the sincerity of ju-
ries. And if these come to be packed, then all men
may be soon at mercy, if a wicked government
should set on a violent prosecution, as has happened
oftener than once. I am not instructed enough in
the affairs of Ireland, to carry this matter into more
particulars P. The English interest was managed
chiefly by two men of a very indifferent reputation :
(l . the earls of Anglesey and Orrery. The chief ma-
nager of the Irish interest was Richard Talbot, one
of the duke's bedchamber men, who had much cun-
ning, and had the secret both of his master's plea-
sures and of his religion, for some years, and was
afterwards raised by him to be earl and duke of
Tirconnel. Thus I have gone over the several
branches of the settlement of matters after the re-
storation. I have reserved the affairs of the church
last, as those about which I have taken the most
pains to be well informed ; and which I do there-
fore offer to the reader with some assurance, and on
which I hope due reflection will be made.
The bishops At the restoration, Juxon, the ancientest and
then the most eminent of the former -bishops, who had as-
TtSu^ sisted the late king in his last hours, was promoted
I 'i'- *J There is a large account, in wrote from good materials ; and
Carte's fiistory before men- as far as they go, his history is
tioned, of the acts of settle- of use. It is the same with re-
ment for these lands, and of gard to his other historical per-
the execution of them, which, formances. See lord Claren-
and of other transactions in don's account, in the History
Ireland after the restoration, he of his Life. O.
OF KING CHARLES II. 803
to Canterbury, more out of decency, than that he i^^-
was then capable to fill that post ; for as he was ne-
ver a great divine, so he was now superannuated.
Though others have assured me, that after some
discourses with the king, he was so much struck 177
with what he observed in him, that upon that he
lost both heart and hope. The king treated him
with outward respect, but had no great regard to
him. Sheldon and Morley were the men that had
the greatest credit. Sheldon was esteemed a learned
man before the wars : but he was now engaged so
deep in politics, that scarce any prints of what he
had been remained. He was a very dexterous man
in business, had a great quickness of apprehension,
and a very true judgment. He was a generous and
charitable man. He had a great pleasantness of
conversation, perhaps too great. He had an art,
that was peculiar to him, of treating all that came
to him in a most obliging manner: but few de-
pended much on his professions of friendship. He
seemed not to have a deep sense of religion, if any
at all : and spoke of it most commonly as of an en-
gine of government, and a matter of policy. By
this means the king came to look on him as a wise
and honest clergyman, [though he had little virtue,
and less religion '.] Sheldon was at first made bishop
of London, and was, upon Juxon's death, promoted
to Canterbury. Morley had been first known to the
world as a friend of the lord Falkland's : and that
was enough to raise a man's character. He had
■■ (Echard, in his History of " learning and piety, he is par-
England, under the year 1677, " ticularly distinguished by his
in which year the archbishop " munificent benefactions." See
died, says of him, "Besides his further a note at p. 243.)
804 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. continued for many years in the lord Clarendon's
family, and was his particular friend. He was a
Calvinist with relation to the Arminian points, and
was thought a friend to the puritans before the
T . wars : but he took carfe after his promotion to free
himself from all suspicions of that kind. He was a
pious and charitable man, of a very exemplary life,
but extreme passionate, and very obstinate. He
was first made bishop of Worcester. Doctor Ham-
mond, for whom that see was designed, died a little
before the restoration, which was an unspeakable
loss to the church : for, as he was a man of great
learning, and of most eminent merit, he having been
the person that, during the bad times, had main-
tained the cause of the church in a very singular
manner, so he was a very moderate man in his tem-
per, though with a high principle ; and probably he
would have fallen into healing counsels. He was
also much set on reforming abuses, and for raising
in the clergy a due sense of the obligations they lay
under. But by his death Morley was advanced to
Worcester : and not long after he was removed to
Winchester, void by Duppa's death, who had been
the king's tutor, though no way fit for that post ;
but he was a meek and humble man, and much
loved for the sweetness of his temper; and would
have been more esteemed, if he had died before the
restoration ; for he made not that use of the great
wealth that flowed in upon him that was expected.
' Morley was thought always the honester man of the
2 78 two, as Sheldon was certainly the abler man.
Debates The first poiut in debate was, whether concessions
concerning ,,,, , ,. -it
the uniting should bc made and pams taken to gam the dis-
presbyteri- scntcrs, or not ; especially the presbyterians. The
OF KING CHARLES II. 305
earl of Clarendon was much for it; and got the 16^.
king to publish a declaration \ soon after his restora-
tion, concerning ecclesiastical affairs, to which if he
had stood, very probably the greatest part of them
might have been gained. But the bishops did not
approve of this : and after the service they did that
lord in the duke of York's marriage, he would not
put any hardship on those who had so signally
obliged him. This disgusted the lord Southampton,
who was for carrying on the design that had been
much talked of during the wars, of moderating mat-
ters, both with relation to the government of the
church, and the worship and ceremonies : which
created some coldness between him and the earl of
Clarendon, when the lord chancellor went off from
those designs. The consideration that those bishops
and their party had in the matter was this : the
presbyterians were possessed of most of the great
benefices in the church, chiefly in the city of Lon-
don, and in the two universities. It is true, all that
had come into the room of those who were turned
out by the parliament, or the visitors sent by them,
were removed by the course of law, as men that
were illegally possessed of other men's rights : and
that even where the former incumbents were dead,
because a title originally wrong was still wrong in
law. But there were a great many of them in very
* The house of commons See Journal of the House of
thanked the king for this decla- Commons, 6. 28 Nov. 1660.
ration, and ordered in a bill, at See also the latter part of the
the motion of sergeant Hales, lord chancellor's speech to the
(afterwards the famous chief parliament, on the 13th of
justice,) as may be gathered Sept. 1660. It is best to be
from the journal, for making it seen in the printed Journal of
effectual ; but the bill was the House of Conmions. O.
dashed after the first reading.
VOL. I. X
306 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. eminent posts, who were legally possessed of them.
Many of these, chiefly in the city of London, had
gone into the design of the restoration in so signal a
manner, and with such success, that they had great
merit, and a just title to very high preferment.
Now, as there remained a great deal of the old ani-
mosity against them, for what they had done during
the wars, so it was said, it was better to have a
schism out of the church than within it ; and that
the half conformity of the puritans before the war
had set up a faction in every city and town between
the lecturers and the incumbents ; that the former
took all methods to render themselves popular, and
to raise the benevolence of their people, which was
their chief subsistence, by disparaging the govern-
ment both in church and state. They had also
many stories among them, of the credit they had in
the elections of parliament men, which they infused
in the king, to possess him with the necessity of
having none to serve in the church, but persons that
should be firmly tied to his interest, both by princi-
ple, and by subscriptions and oaths. It is true, the
joy then spread through the nation had got at this
time a new parhament to be elected of men so high
179 and so hot, that, unless the court had restrained
them, they would have carried things much farther
than they did, against all that had been concerned
in the late wars : but they were not to expect such
j success at all times : therefore they thought it was
necessary to make sure work at this time : and, in-
stead of using methods to bring in the sectaries,
they resolved rather to seek the most effectual ones
for casting them out, and bringing a new set of men
into the church. This took with the king, at least
OF KING CHARLES 11. 307.
it seemed to do so. But, though he put on an out- 1660.
ward appearance of moderation, yet he was in an-
other and deeper laid design, to which the heat of
these men proved subservient, for bringing in of po-
pery. A popish queen was a gi*eat step to keep it
in countenance at court, and to have a great many
priests going about the court making converts. It
was thought, a toleration was the only method for
setting it a going all the nation over. And nothing
could make a toleration for popery pass, but the
having great bodies of men put out of the church,
and put under severe laws, which should force them
to move for a toleration, and should make it reason-
able to grant it to them. And it was resolved, that
whatever should be granted of that sort should go
in so large a manner, that papists should be compre-
hended within it. So the papists had this generally,
spread among them, that they should oppose all pro-;
positions for comprehension, and should animate the
church party to maintain their ground against all
the sectaries. And in that point they seemed zeal-
ous for the church. But at the same time they
spoke of toleration, as necessary both for the peace
and quiet of the nation, and for the encouragement
of trade ^ And with this the duke was so pos-
sessed, that he declared himself a most violent enemy
to comprehension, and as zealous for toleration. The
king being thus resolved on fixing the terms of con-
formity to what they had been before the war, with-
out making the least abatement or alteration, they
carried on still an appearance of moderation, till the
strength of the parties should appear in the new
parliament.
* This b inconsistent, S.
X 2
308 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. So, after the declaration was set out, a commission
A treaty in was granted to twelve of a side, with nine assistants
the Savoy. ^^ ^^^^j^ gj^^^ ^j^^ werc appointed to meet at the
Savoy, and to consider on the ways of uniting both
sides. At their first meeting, Sheldon told them,
that those of the church had not desired this meet-
ing, as being satisfied with the legal establishment ;
and therefore they had nothing to offer ; but it be-
longed to the other side, who moved for alterations,
to offer both their exceptions to the laws in being*
and the alterations that they proposed. He told
180 them, they were to lay all they had to offer before
them at once ; for they would not engage to treat
about any one particular, tiU they saw how far their
demands went : and he said that all was to be trans-
acted in writing, though the others insisted on an
amicable conference ; which was at first denied : yet
some hopes were given of allowing it at last. Pa-
pers were upon this given in. The presbyterians
moved that bishop Usher's reduction should be laid
down as a groundwork to treat on ; that bishops
should not govern their diocese by their single au-
thority, nor depute it to lay officers in their courts,
but should, in matters of ordination and jurisdiction,
take along with them the counsel and concurrence
of the presbyters. They did offer several exceptions
to the liturgy, against the many responses by the
people; and they desired all might be made one
continued prayer. They desu-ed that no lessons
! should be taken out of the apocryphal books ; that
the psalms used in the daily service should be ac-
cording to the new translation. They excepted to
many parts of the office of baptism, that import the
inward regeneration of all that were baptized. But
OF KINiG CHARLES II. 309
as they proposed these amendments, so they did also 1660.
offer a liturgy new drawn by Mr. Baxter. They
insisted mainly against kneeling at the sacrament of
the Lord's supper, chiefly against the imposing it ;
and moved that the posture might be left free, and
that the use of the surplice, of the cross in bap-
tism, of godfathers being the sponsors in baptism,
and of the holy days, might be abolished. Sheldon
saw well what the effect would be of putting them
to make all their demands at once. The number of
them raised a mighty outcry against them, as people
that could never be satisfied. But nothing gave so
great an advantage against them, as their offering a
new liturgy. In this they were divided among
themselves. Some were for insisting only on a few
important things, reckoning that if they were gained,
and a union followed upon that, it would be easier
to gain other things afterwards. But all this was
overthrown by Mr. Baxter, who was a man of great
piety; and, if he had not meddled in too many
things, would have been esteemed one of the learned
men of the age : he writ near two hundred books *■ :
of these, three are large folios : he had a very mov-
ing and pathetical way of writing, and was his whole
life long a man of great zeal and much simplicity ;
but was most unhappily subtle and metaphysical in
every thing. There was a great submission paid to
him by the whole party. So he persuaded them,
that from the words of the commission they were
bound to offer every thing that they thought might
" Very sad ones. S. (Dr. Baxter lie should read, he said,
Samuel Johnson was of a dif- ** Read any of them, they are
ferent opinion ; for when asked " all good." Boswell's Life of
by Mr. Boswell, what works of Johnson, vol. iv. p. 242.)
X 3
310 THE HISTOKY OF THE REIGN
1660. conduce to the good or peace of the church, without
-. Qi considering what was like to be obtained, or what
effect their demanding so much might have, in irri-
tating the minds of those who were then the superior
body in strength and number. All the whole matter
was at last reduced to one single point, whether it
was lawful to determine the certain use of things
indifferent in the worship of God? The bishops
held them to that point, and pressed them to shew
that any of the things imposed were of themselves
, unlawful. The presbyterians declined this ; but af-
firmed, that other circumstances might make it be-
come unlawful to settle a peremptory law about
things indifferent; which they applied chiefly to
kneeling in the sacrament, and stood upon it, that a
law, which excluded all that did not kneel from the
sacrament, was unlawful, as a limitation in the point
of communion put on the laws of Christ, which
ought to be the only condition of those who had a
right to it. Upon this point there was a free con-
ference, that lasted some days. The two men that
had the chief management of the debate, were the
most unfit to heal matters, and the fittest to widen
them, that could have been found out. Baxter was
the opponent, and Gunning was the respondent,
who was afterwards advanced, first to Chichester,
and then to Ely : he was a man of great reading,
and noted for a special subtilty of arguing : aU the
arts of sophistry were made use of by him on all oc-
casions, in as confident a manner as if they had been
sound reasoning : he was a man of an innocent life,
unweariedly active to very little purpose: he was
much set on the reconciling us with popery in some
point?: and because the charge of idolatry. seeiTie<J
OF KING CHARLES IL 311
a bar to aU thoughts of reconciliation with them, he \66o.
set himself with very great zeal to clear the church
of Rome of idolatry : this made many suspect him
as inclining to go over to them: but he was far
from it ; and was a very honest, sincere man, but of
no sound judgment, and of no prudence in affairs :
he was for our conforming in all things to the rules
of the primitive church, particularly in praying for
the dead, in the use of oil, with many other rituals :
he formed many in Cambridge upon his own no-
tions, who have carried them perhaps farther than
he intended. Baxter and he spent some days in
much logical arguing, to the diversion of the town,
who thought here were a couple of fencers engaged
in disputes, that could never be brought to an end,
nor have any good effect. In conclusion, this com-
mission, being limited to such a number of days,
came to an end, before any one thing was agreed
on. The bishops insisted on the laws that were still
in force, to which they would admit of no exception,
unless it was proved that the matter of those laws
was sinful. They charged the presbyterians with 182
having made a schism, upon a charge against the
church for things, which now they themselves could
not call sinful. They said there was no reason to
gratify such a sort of men in any thing; one de-
mand granted would di'aw on many more : all au-
thority both in church and state was struck at by
the position they had insisted on, that it was not
lawful to impose things indifferent, since they seemed
to be the only proper matter in which human au-
thority could interpose. So this furnished an occa-
sion to expose them as enemies to all order. Things
had been carried at the Savoy with great sharpness,
X 4
SI2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1660. and many reflections. Baxter said once, such things
"would offend many good men in the nation. Steam,
the archbishop of York ", upon that took notice, that
he would not say kingdom, but nation, because he
would not acknowledge a king. Of this gTeat com-
plaints were made, as an indecent return for the
zeal they had shewn in the restoration.
1661. The conference broke up without doing any good.
of'confom-It did rathcr hurt, and heightened the sharpness
hlrde?^^ that was then on people's minds to such a degree,
that it needed no addition to raise it higher. The
presbyterians laid their complaints before the king :
but little regard was had to them. And now aU the
concern that seemed to employ the bishops' thoughts
was, not only to make no alteration on their ac-
count, but to make the terais of conformity much
stricter than they had been before the war. So it
was resolved to maintain conformity to the height,
and to put lecturers in the same condition with the
incumbents, as to oaths and subscriptions ; and to
oblige all persons to subscribe an unfeigned assent
and consent to all and every particular contained
and prescribed in the book of common prayer ^^.
* He was then bishop of with a clause added to it, " de-
Carlisle. O. " daring the subscription of as-
^ In the session of parlia- " sent and consent, &c. should
ment, in the year 1663, a bill "be understood only as to
was sent from the commons to " practice and obedience;" but
the lords, for the relief of such the commons rejected the clause,
persons, as by sickness or other which the lords not insisting
impedimentswere disabled from upon, the bill passed without
subscribing to the declaration it ; when this clause was added
of assent and consent, to tlie by the lords, some of them
book of common prayer, re- dissented to it, and entered
quired by the act of uniform- their protestations against it, in
ity. The bill passed the lords these words ; " being destruc-
OF KING CHARLES II. 318
Many, who thought it lawful to conform in submis- 1661.
sion, yet scrupled at this, as importing a particular
approbation of every thing: and great distinction
was made between a conformity in practice, and so
full and distinct an assent. Yet men got over that,
as importing no more but -a consent of obedience :
for though the words of the subscription, which
were also to be publicly pronounced before the con-
gi'egation, declaring the person's unfeigned assent
and consent, seemed to import this, yet the clause
of the act that enjoined this carried a clear expla-
nation of it ; for it enacted this declaration as an as-
sent and consent to the use of aU things contained
in the book. Another subscription was enacted,
with relation to the league and covenant ; by which
they were requii'ed to declare it unlawful upon any
pretence whatsoever to take arms against the king, 183
renouncing the traitorous position of taking arms by
his authority against his person, or those commis-
sioned by him, together with a declaration, that no
obligation lay on them or any other person, from the
league or covenant, to endeavour any change or al-
teration of government in church and state, and that
the covenant was in it self an unlawful oath. This
was contrived against all the old men, who had both
taken the covenant themselves, and had pressed it
upon others. So they were now to own themselves
very guilty in that matter. And those who thought
it might be lawful upon great and illegal provoca-
tion to resist unjust invasions on the laws and liber-
ties of the subjects, excepted to the subscription,
" tive to the church of Eng- some few temporal lords ; but
"land, as now established." not one bishop. See .Tour nal of
The protest was first signed by the Lords of 25th of July 1663.
the duke of York, and then by O.
'314 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. though it was scarce safe for any at that time to
have insisted on that point. Some thought, that
since the king had taken the covenant, he at least
was bound to stand to it.
The act of Another point was fixed by the act of uniformity,
uni ormi y. ^j^'^j^ ^^g morc at large formerly : those who came
to England from the foreign churches had not been
required to be ordained among us : but now all, that
had not episcopal ordination, were made incapable
of holding any ecclesiastical benefice. Some few al-
terations were made in the liturgy by the bishops
themselves : a few new collects were made, as the
prayer for all conditions of men, and the general
thanksgiving. A coUect was also drawn for the
parliament, in which a new epithet was added to the
king's title, that gave great offence, and occasioned
much indecent raillery : he was styled our most re-
ligious king^. It was not easy to give a proper
sense to this, and to make it go well down ; since,
whatever the signification of religion might be in
the Latin word, as importing the sacredness of the
king's person, yet in the English language it bore a
signification that was no way applicable to the king.
And those who took great liberties with him have
often asked him, what must all his people think,
when they heard him prayed for as their most reli-
gious king ? Some other lesser additions were made.
* (The same expressions of ginning of which prayer, as far
our most religious and gracious as the words of our sovereign
king, as appear in the present and his kingdoms, and its con-
prayer for the parliament, oc- elusion. These and all other ne-
cur in that which was used for cessaries, &c. are exactly the
the same assembly in 1625. It same as in the present form,
is to be found in the Summary except in the late substitution
of Devotions compiled and used of dominions for kingdoms.)
by archbishop Laud. The be-
OF KING CHARLES II. 315
But care was taken that nothing should be altered, 1661.
so as it had been moved by the presbyterians ; for it
was resolved to gratify them in nothing. One im-
portant addition was made, chiefly by Guwden's
means y. He pressed that a declai'ation, explaining
the reasons of their kneeling at the sacrament,
which had been in king Edward's liturgy, but was
left out in queen Elizabeth's time, should be again
set where it had once been. The papists were high-
ly offended, when they saw such an express declara-
tion made against the real presence ; and the duke
told me, that when he asked Sheldon how they
came to declare against a doctrine, which he had
been instructed was the doctrine of the church,
Sheldon answered. Ask Gawden about it, who is a 184
bishop of your own making: for the king had or-
dered his promotion for the service he had done.
The convocation that prepared those alterations, as
they added some new holy days, St. Barnabas, and
the conversion of St. Paul, so they took in more les-
sons out of the Apocrypha, in particular the story of
Bell and the Dragon ^ : new offices were also drawn
for two new days, the thirtieth of January, called
king Charles the Martyr, and the twenty-ninth of
May, the day of the king's birth and return. San-
croft drew for these some offices of a very high
strain. Yet others of a more moderate strain were
preferred to them. But he, coming to be advanced
to the see of Canterbury, got his offices to be pub-
lished by the king's authority, in a time when so
high a style as was in them did not sound well in
y See the author's History of Rennet's Roister, p. 585. O.
the Reformation, vol. iii. page 5 ^1 think they acted wrong,
of the preface. See bishop S.
318
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. the nation ^. Such care waS taken in the choice and
returns of the members of the convocation, that
every thing went among them as was directed by
Sheldon and Morley. When they had prepared aU
their alterations, they offered them to the king, who
sent them to the house of commons, upon which the
act of uniformity was prepared by Keeling, after-
wards lord chief justice.
" But the words " grand re-
" hellion" were not put in, or
the other alterations made, till
king James came to the throne.
The word rebellion, 1 think, is
never used in any act of parlia-
ment, except in one. See the
act of 13. 14. of Charles II.
for the distribution of 6o,oool.
to the loyal and indigent offi-
cers, &c. See also the Journal
of the House of Commons, 3 1 st
of October, 1665. Note, I had
the above observation from lord
chancellor King, relating to the
former times. See with regard
to the services for the 30th of
January and 29th of May,
those in king Charles's time,
and those of king James's, and
compare them well. See my
folio Clarendon, vol. iii. page
last. When these services for
the 30th of January, and 29th
of May, in the two reigns, are
compared, it may perhaps be
deemed more prudent to re-
store those of Charles the se-
cond, than to abolish the reli-
gious observance of those two
days. The suffering of the
forms of king James to con-
tinue after the revolution, might
possibly be in some measure
owing to this author, who, in
his speech upon Sacheverel's
impeachment, says, the war be-
tween the king and the parlia-
ment was " plainly a rebellion"
in the latter. I say nothing of
his reasons, but see the whole
passage in the State Trials, vol.
V. pages 652, 653. For the
distinction between the war,
and the taking off the king's
head, see Journal of the House
of Commons, i3^thofMay t66o,
I have said that in some mea-
sure it might be owing to this
author, that the old forms for
the 30th of January and 29th
of May were not restored at the
revolution : but the chief rea-
son, no doubt, was the general
principle of policy that governed
that whole change, which was
to connect it as little as pos-
sible with what had happened
in the time of the former trou-
bles, against which the clergy,
and the body of the people, at
that time had very strong pre-
judices. O. (With respect to
the observation on the term re-
bellion, words explicitly con-
demning the lawfulness of the
war levied by the parliament
against the king, are to be foxmd
in the act of parliament, called
the militia act, which was passed
in the year 1662.)
OF KING CHARLES II. 3t7
When it was brought into the house, many did 1661.
apprehend that so severe an act might have ill ef-
fects, and began to abate of their first heat : upon
which reports were spread, and much aggravated as
they were reported to the house of commons, of the
plots of the presbyterians in several counties. Many
were taken up on those reports : but none were ever
tried for them ''. So, the thing being let fall, it has
been given out since, that these were forged by the
direction of some hot spirits, who might think such
arts were necessary to give an alarm, and by render-
ing the party odious, to carry so severe an act
against them. The lord Clarendon himself was
charged as having directed this piece of artifice:
but I could never see any ground for fastening it on
him : though there were great appearances of foul
dealing among some of the fiercer sort. The act
passed by no gi'eat majority ^, And by it all who
did not conform to the Uturgy by the twenty-fourth
of August, St. Bartholomew's day, in the year 1662,
were deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices, without
leaving any discretional power with the king in the
execution of it, and without making provision for
the maintenance of those who should be so deprived :
a severity neither practised by queen Elizabeth . in
the enacting her liturgy, nor by Cromwell in eject-
ing the royalists '^, in both which a fifth part of the
benefice was reserved for their subsistence. St. Bar-
tholomew's day was pitched on, that, if they were
then deprived, they should lose the profits of the 185
^ A common practice. S. not admitting any debate upon
^ See the Journal of the the amendments made by the
House of Commons, of i6th of convocation to the former Book
April, 1662, for a very extra- of Common Prayer. O.
ordi nar)- resolution, as to their ^ But by king William. S.
Sid THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. whole year, since the tithes are commonly due at
Michaelmas. The presbyterians remembered what
a St, Bartholomew's had been held at Paris ninety
years before, which was the day of that massacre,
and did not stick to compare the one to the other.
The book of common prayer with the new correc-
tions was that to which they were to subscribe. But
the corrections were so long a preparing, and the
vast number of copies, above two thousand, that
were to be wrought off for all the parish churches of
England, made the impression go on so slowly, that
there were few books set out to sale when the day
came^. So, many that were weU affected to the
church, but that made conscience of subscribing to
a book that they had not seen, left their benefices
on that very account. Some made a journey to
London on purpose to see it. With so much preci-
pitation was that matter driven on, that it seemed
expected that the clergy should subscribe implicitly
to a book they had never seen. This was done by
too many, as I was informed by some of the bishops.
But the presbyterians were now in great difficulties.
They had many meetings, and much disputing about
conformity. Reynolds accepted of the bishopric of
Norwich. But Calamy and Baxter refused the sees
' See the Journal of the some lords against the said
Lords, 25th of July 1663 ; and clause, in which none of the bi-
of the Commons the same day, shops did join ; and therefore it
relating to the bill for the relief may be presumed that they
of such as were disabled from were for the clause ; quod nota ;
subscribing the declaration in and also that the first person
the act of uniformity, and ob- who signed the protestation
serve the clause added by the was the duke of York : see the
lords to the said bill, but dis- provision ia4he act of uniform-
agreed to by the commons. Ob- ity enjoining the said declara-
serve also the protestation of tion. O.
OF KING CHARLES II. 319
of Litchfield and Hereford. And about two thou- 1661.
sand of them fell under the parliamentary depriva-
tion, as they gave out. The numbers have been
much controverted. This raised a grievous outcry
over the nation ; though it was less considered at
that time, than it would have been at any other.
Baxter told me, that had the terms of the king's
declaration been stood to, he did not believe that
above three hundred of these would have been so
deprived. Some few, and but few, of the episcopal
party were troubled at this severity, or apprehensive
of the very ill effects it was like to have. Here
were many men, much valued, some on better
grounds, and others on worse, who were now cast
out ignominiously, reduced to great poverty, pro-
voked by much spiteful usage, and cast upon those
popular practices that both their principles and their
circumstances seemed to justify, of forming separate
congi'egations, and of diverting men from the pub-
lic worship, and from considering their successors as
the lawful pastors of those churches in which they
had served. The blame of all this fell heaviest on
Sheldon. The earl of Clarendon was charged with
his having entertained the presbyterians with hopes
and good words, while he was all the while carrying
on, or at least giving way to the bishops' project.
When the convocation had gone through the book
of common prayer, it was in the next place pro-
posed, that, according to a clause in the king's li-
cence, they should consider the canons of the church. 186
They had it then in their power to have reformed
many abuses, and particularly to have provided an
effectual remedy to the root of aU those, which arise
from the poor maintenance that is reserved to the
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. incumbents. Almost aU the leases of the church
estates over England were fallen in, there having
been no renewal for twenty years. The leases for
years were determined : and the wars had carried
off so many men, that most of the leases for lives
were fallen into the incumbents' hands. So that the
church estates were in them : and the fines raised
by the renewing the leases rose to about a million
and a half. It was an unreasonable thing to let
those who were now promoted carry off so great a
The great trcasurc. If the half had been applied to the buy-
raised in" ing of tithes or glebes for small vicarages, here a
estate's"m^ fouudation had been laid down for a great and ef-
appiied. fectual reformation^. In some sees forty or fifty
thousand pound was raised, and applied to the en-
riching the bishops' families. Something was done
to churches and colleges, in particular to St. Paul's
in London : and a noble collection was made for re-
deeming all the English slaves that were in any
part of Barbary. But this fell far short of what
might have been expected. In this the loi'd Cla-
rendon was heavily charged, as having shown that
he was more the bishops' friend than the church's.
It is true, the law made those fines belong to the in-
cumbents. But such an extraordinary occasion de-
served that a law should have ])een made on pur-
pose. What the bishops did with those great fines
was a pattern to all the lower dignitaries, who gene-
rally took more care of themselves than of the
1 church. The men of merit and service were loaded
with many livings and many dignities. With this
great accession of wealth there broke in upon the
^ He judges here right, in my opinion. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 321
church a great deal of luxury and high livings on 1661.
the pretence of hospitality s ; while others made pur-
chases, and left great estates, most of which we have
seen melt away ^. And with this overset of wealth
and pomp, that came on men in the decline of their
parts and age, they, who were now growing into old
age, became lazy and negligent in all the true con-
cerns of the church : they left preaching and writing
to others, while they gave themselves up to ease and
sloth. In all which sad representation, some few ex-
ceptions are to be made ; but so few, that, if a new
set of men had not appeared of another stamp, the
church had quite lost her esteem over the nation •.
These were generally of Cambridge, formed under Divines
... . called
some divines, the chief of whom were Drs. Whitch- latitudi
na-
rians.
cot, Cudworth, Wilkins, More, and Worthington.
Whitchcot was a man of a rare temper, very mild
and obliging. He had great credit with some that 187
had been eminent in the late times ; but made all
the use he could of it to protect good men of all per-
suasions. He was much for liberty of conscience :
and being disgusted with the dry systematical way
of those times, he studied to raise those who con-
versed with him to a nobler set of thoughts, and to
consider religion as a seed of a deiform nature, (to
use one of his own phrases.) In order to this, he
set young students much on reading the ancient phi-
losophers, chiefly Plato, Tully, and Plotin, and on
8 Uncharitable aggravation, the successors of the Caroline
S. bishops equalled in munificence
^ A base inuendo. S. Sheldon, Cosin, Morley, and
(' To omit the mention of Warner, or surpassed in piety
several of the old clergy, distin- and learning, Sanderson, Pear-
guished by their erudition as son, and Fell ?)
well as their loyalty, veho among
VOL. I. Y
322 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. considering the Christian religion as a doctrine sent
from God, both to elevate and sweeten human na-
ture, in which he was a great example, as weU as a
wise and kind instructor. Cudworth carried this on
with a great strength of genius and a vast compass
of learning. He was a man of great conduct and
prudence : upon which his enemies did very falsely
accuse him of craft and dissimulation. Wilkins was
of Oxford, but removed to Cambridge. His first
rise was in the elector palatine's family, when he
was in England. Afterwards he married CromweU's
sister ; but made no other use of that alliance, but
to do good offices, and to cover the university from
the sourness of Owen and Goodwin. At Cambridge
he joined with those who studied to propagate better
thoughts, to take men off from being in parties, or
from narrow notions, from superstitious conceits, and
a fierceness about opinions. He was also a great ob-
server and a promoter of experimental philosophy,
which was then a new thing, and much looked after.
He was naturally ambitious, but was the wisest
clergyman I ever knew. He was a lover of man-
kind, and had a delight in doing good. More was
an open hearted and sincere Christian philosopher,
who studied to establish men in the great principles
of religion against atheism, that was then beginning
to gain ground, chiefly by reason of the hypocrisy of
some, and the fantastical conceits of the more sin-
cere enthusiasts.
Hobbs'8 Hobbs, who had long followed the court, and
passed there for a mathematical man, though he
really knew little that way, being disgusted by the
court, came into England in Cromwell's time, and
published a very wicked book, with a very strange
OF KING CHARLES II. 323
title, The Leviathan. His main principles were, 1661.
that all men acted under an absolute necessity, in
which he seemed protected by the then received
doctrine of absolute decrees. He seemed to think
that the universe was God, and that souls were ma-
terial ; thought being only subtil and imperceptible
motion. He thought interest and fear were the
chief principles of society : and he put all morality
in the following that which was our own private
will or advantage. He thought religion had no
other foundation than the laws of the land. And 188
he put aU the law in the will of the prince, or of the
people : for he writ his book at first in favour of ab-
solute monarchy, but turned it afterwards to gratify
the republican party. These were his true princi-
ples, though he had disguised them, for deceiving
unwary readers. And this set of notions came to
spread much. The novelty and boldness of them
set many on reading them. The impiety of them
was acceptable to men of corrupt minds, which were
but too much prepared to receive them by the ex-
travagancies of the late times. So this set of men
at Cambridge studied to assert and examine the
principles of religion and morality on clear grounds,
and in a philosophical method. In this More led
the way to many that came after him. Worthing-
ton was a man of eminent piety and great humility,
and practised a most sublime way of self-denial and
devotion. AJl these, and those who were formed
under them, studied to examine farther into the na-
ture of things than had been done formerly. They
declared against superstition on the one hand, and
enthusiasm on the other. They loved the constitu-
tion of the church, and the liturgy, and could M^ell
Y 2
SM THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. live under them : but they did not think it unlaw-
ful to live under another form. They wished that
things might have been carried with more modera-
tion. And they continued to keep a good corre-
spondence with those who had differed from them
in opinion, and allowed a great freedom both in phi-
losophy and in divinity : from whence they were
called men of latitude. And upon this men of nar-
rower thoughts and fiercer tempers fastened upon
them the name of Latitudinarians'^. They read Epi-
scopius much. And the making out the reasons of
things being a main part of their studies, their ene-
mies called them Socinians. They were all very
zealous against popery. And so, they becoming
soon very considerable, the papists set themselves
against them to decry them as atheists, deists, or at
best Socinians. And now that the main principle of
religion was struck at by Hobbs and his followers^
the papists acted upon this a very strange part.
They went in so far even into the argument for
atheism, as to publish many books, in which they
affirmed, that there was no certain proof of the
Christian religion, unless we took it from the au-
thority of the church as infallible. This was such a
delivering up of the cause to them, that it raised in
all good men a very high indignation at popery;
that party shewing, that they chose to make men
who would not turn papists, become atheists, rather
than believe Christianity upon any other ground than
infallibility.
189 The most eminent of those, who were formed
A character undcr those great men I have mentioned, were Til-*
tvTZ. lotson, Stillingfleet, and Patrick. The first of these
^ See Sir Phillip Warwick's Memoirs, page 89. O.
OF KING CHARLES 11. 325
was a man of a clear head and a sweet temper. 1661.
He had the brightest thoughts and the most correct
style of aU our divines ; and was esteemed the best
preacher of the age. He was a very prudent man ;
and had such a management with it, that I never
knew any clergyman so universally esteemed and
beloved, as he was for above twenty years. He was
eminent for his opposition to popery. He was no
friend to persecution, and stood up much against
atheism. Nor did any man contribute more to
bring the city to love our worship than he did.
But there was so little superstition, and so much
reason and gentleness in his way of explaining
things, that malice was long levelled at him, and in
conclusion broke out fiercely on him. Stillingfleet
was a man of much more learning, but of a more
reserved and a haughtier temper. He, in his youth,
writ an Irenicum for healing our divisions, with so
much learning and moderation, that it was esteemed
a masterpiece. His notion was, that the apostles
had settled the church in a constitution of bishops,
priests, and deacons, but had made no perpetual law
about it, having only taken it in, as they did many
other things, from the customs and practice of the
synagogue; from which he inferred, that certainly
the constitution was lawful, since authorized by
them, but not necessary, since they had made no
settled law about it. This took with many; but
was cried out upon by others, as an attempt against
the church. Yet the argument was managed with
so much learning and skill, that none of either side
ever undertook to answer it I After that, he wrote
' (The book itself was an- Catalogue of the Bodleian Li-
swered in the year 1680. See brary, v. Stillingfleet.)
Y 3
S26 THE HISTORY OP THE REIGN
1661. against infidelity, beyond any that had gone before
him. And then he engaged to write against popery,
which he did with such an exactness and livehness,
that no books of controversy were so much read and
valued as his were. He was a great man in many
respects. He knew the world well, and was
esteemed a very wise man. The writing of his
Irenicum was a great snare to him ; for, to avoid
the imputations which that brought upon him, he
not only retracted the book, but he went into the
humours of that high sort of people beyond what
became him, perhaps beyond his own sense of
things. He applied himself much to the study of
the law and records, and the original of our consti-
tution, and was a very extraordinary man, [too
much conceited of himself, and too much concerned
for his family.] Patrick was a great preacher. He
wrote much and well, and chiefly on the scriptures.
He was a laborious man in his function, of great
strictness of life, but a little too severe against those
who differed from him. But that was, when he
190 thought their doctrines struck at the fundamentals
of religion. He became afterwards more moderate*".
To these I sh^ll add another divine, who, though of
Oxford, yet, as he was formed by bishop Wilkins, so
he went into most of their principles ; but went far
beyond them in learning. Lloyd was a gi'eat critic
in the Greek and Latin authors, but chiefly in the
scriptures ; of the words and phrases of which he
carried the most perfect concordance in his memory,,
and ho^d it the readiest about him, of all men that
ever I knew. He was an e:j^act historian, and the
j" .Yes, for he turned a rank whig. S.
OF KING CHARLES II.
327
most punctual in chronology of all our divines. He
had read the most books, and with the best judg-'
ment, and had made the most copious abstracts out
of them, of any in this age : so that Wilkins used
to say, he had the most learning in ready cash of
any he ever knew. He was so exact in every thing
he set about, that he never gave over any part of
study, till he had quite mastered it. But when that
was done, he went to another subject, and did not
lay out his learning with the diligence with which
he laid it in. He had many volumes of materials
upon ail subjects laid together in so distinct a me-
thod, that he could with very little labour write on
any of them. He had more life in his imagination,
and a truer judgment, than may seem consistent
with such a laborious course of study". Yet, as
much as he was set on learning, he had never neg-
1661.
" Uoyd, after several trans-
lations, was bishop of Worces-
ter. In the year 17 12, he told
queen Ann he thought it his duty
to acquaint her, that the church
of Rome would be utterly de-
stroyed, and the city of Rome
consumed by fire, in less than
four years; which he could
prove beyond contradiction, if
her majesty would have the pa-
tience to hear him upon that
subject. The queen appointed
him next day in the forenoon ;
and a great Bible was brought,
which was all he said would be
wanting. The bishop of Lon-
don came with him ; and the
duke of Shrewsbury, lord Ox-
ford, lor(i Dartmouth, and Dr.
Arbuthnot were orjdered to at-
tend by the queen. He shewed
a rast memory and command
of the scriptures at that age;
(for he was then above eighty
years old ;) but the earl of Ox-
ford offering to give another
interpretation to one of his
texts than he did, though in
extreme civil terms, the bishop
turned to the queen in the
greatest passion I ever saw any
man, and told her, " So says
" your treasurer; but God say^
" otherwise, whether he like it
" or no." The queen seeing
him so angry and rude, called
for her dinner, after which he
said, that if what he had ad-
vanced was not true, he did not
know any truth, and was a very
unfit person to be trusted with
explaining the Gospel to other
people, and desired the queen
to dispose of his bishopric to
some man of greater abilities,
Y 4
9S8 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. lected his pastoral care. For several years he had
the greatest cure in England, St. Martin's, which
he took care of with an application and diligence
beyond any about him ; to whom he was an exam-
ple, or rather a reproach, so few following his ex-
ample. He was a holy, humble, and patient man,
ever ready to do good when he saw a proper oppor-
tunity : even his love of study did not divert him
from that. He did, upon his promotion, find a very
worthy successor in his cure, Tenison, who carried
on and advanced all those good methods that he
had begun in the management of that great cure.
He endowed schools, set up a public library, and
kept many curates to assist him in his indefatigable
labours among them. He was a very learned man °,
and took much pains to state the notions and prac-
tices of heathenish idolatry, and so to fasten that
charge on the church of Rome. And, Whitehall
lying within that parish, he stood as in the front of
the battle all king James's reign ; and maintained,
as well as managed, that dangerous post with great
courage and much judgment, and was held in very
high esteem for his whole deportment, which was
ever grave and moderate. These have been the
greatest divines we have had these forty years v :
and may we ever have a succession of such men to
ifwhathesaid did not prove true; thing man I ever knew. S.
and then spoke something to the p (No very accurate asser-
queen in a very low voice, that tion ; for Pearson, whom the
nobody else might hear ; which bishop allows to have been the
she told me afterwards was, greatest divine of the age, was
that after four years were ex- alive within thirty years of the
pired, Christ would reign per- bishop's own death, and within
sonally upon earth for a thou- twenty of his composing this
sand years. D. history. And doctors Cave and
•^ The dullest, good for no- South, both of whom were then
OF KING CHARLES II. 829
fill the room of those who have already gone off the 1661.
stage, and of those who, being now very old, cannot TTj
hold their posts long. Of these I have writ the
more fully, because I knew them well, and have
lived long in great friendship with them ; but most
particularly with TiUotson and Lloyd. And, as I
am sensible I owe a great deal of the consideration
that has been had for me to my being known to be
their friend, so I have really learned the best part
of what I know from them : [and of the services I
may have done the church, to them. And if I have
arrived at any faculty of writing clearly and cor-
rectly, I owe that entirely to them. For as they
(Tillotson and Lloyd) joined with Wilkins, in that
noble though despised attempt of an unwersal cha-
racter, and a philosophical language; they took
great pains to observe all the common errors of lan-
guage in general, and of ours in particular : and in
the drawing the tables for that work, which was
Lloyd's province, he looked further into a natural
purity and simplicity of style, than any man I ever
knew ; into all which he led me, and so helped me
to any measure of exactness of writing which may
be thought to belong to me.] But I owed them
much more on the account of those excellent princi-
ples and notions, of which they were in a particular
manner communicative to me. This set of men
contributed more than can be well imagined to re-
form the way of preaching ; which, among the di-
vines of England before them, was overrun with pe-
dantry, a great mixture of quotations from fathers
living, not to mention the bi- nant at Tenison's, if not at
shops Beverage, Hooper, and most of the others', being pre-
Kidder, would have felt indig- ferred to them.)
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1661. and ancient writers, a long opening of a text with
, _.'; . the concordance of every word in it, and a giving
all the different expositions with the grounds of
The way of them, and the entering into some parts of contro-
which then versy, and all concluding in some, but very short,
prevai e . ppg^^^^j^,^ applications, according to the subject or
the occasion. This was both long and heavy, when
all was pye-baUed % full of many sayings of different
languages. The common style of sermons was ei-
ther very flat and low, or swelled up with rhetoric
to a false pitch of a wrong subhme. The king had
little or no literature, but true and good sense ; and
had got a right notion of style ^; for he was in
France at a time when they were much set on re-
forming their language. It soon appeared that he
had a true taste. So this helped to raise the value
of these men, when the king approved of the style
their discourses generally ran in ; which was clear,
plain, and short. They gave a short paraphrase of
their text, unless where great difficulties required a
more copious enlargement : but even then they cut
off unnecessary shews of learning, and applied them-
selves to the niatter, in which they opened the na-
ture and reasons of things so fully, and with that
simplicity, that their hearers felt an instruction of
another sort than had commonly been observed be-
fore. So they became very much followed : and a
set of these men brought off the city in a great
measure from the prejudices they had formerly to
I the church.
1662. There was a great debate in council, a little be-
1 A noble epithet. S. ■■ How came Burnet not to learn this
style? S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 831
fore St. Bartholomew's day, whether the act of 1662.
uniformity should be punctually executed, or not. ^he act »f
Some moved to have the execution of it delayed ""'^"""j*?
•' executed
to the next session of parliament. Others were^'t'»"s°"'f-
for executing it in the main, but to connive at some
eminent men, and to put curates into their churches
to read and officiate according to the common
prayer, but to leave them to preach on, till they 1 92
should die out. The earl of Manchester laid all
these things before the king with much zeal, but
with no great force. Sheldon, on the other hand,
pressed the execution of the law : England was ac-
customed to obey laws : so while they stood on that
ground, they were safe, and needed fear none of the
dangers that seemed to be threatened : he also un-
dertook to fill all the vacant pulpits, that should be
forsaken in London^ better and more to the satisfac-
tion of the people, than they had been before : and
he seemed to apprehend, that a very small number
would fall under the deprivation, and that the gross
of the party would conform. On the other hand,
those who led the party took great pains to have
them all stick together : they infused it into them,
that if great numbers stood out, that would shew
their strength, and produce new laws in their fa-
vour ; whereas they would be despised, if, after so
much noise made, the greater part of them should
conform. So it was thought, that many went out ,
in the crowd to keep their friends company. Many
of these were distinguished by their abilities and
zeal. They cast themselves upon the providence of
God, and the charity of their friends, which had a
fair appearance, as of men that were ready to suffer
persecution for theii' consciences. This begot esteem.
33^ THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. and raised compassion : whereas the old clergy, now
""much enriched, were as much despised. But the
young clergy that came from the universities did
good service. Learning was then high at Oxford ;
chiefly the study of the oriental tongues, which was
much raised by the Polyglot bible, then lately set
forth. They read the fathers much there. Mathe-
matics and the new philosophy were in great esteem.
And the meetings that Wilkins had begun at Ox-
ford were now held in London too, in so public
manner, that the king himself encouraged them
much, and had many experiments made before him.
The royal The mcu that formed the royal society in Lon-
society,
don were, sir Robert Murray, the lord Brounker, a
profound mathematician, and doctor Ward, soon
after promoted to Exeter, and afterwards removed
to Salisbury. Ward was a man of great reach, went
deep in mathematical studies, and was a very dex-
terous man, if not too dexterous ; for his sincerity
was much questioned. He had complied during the
late times, and held in by taking the covenant : so
he was hated by the high men as a time-server.
But the lord Clarendon saw, that most of the bi-
shops were men of merit by their sufferings, but of
no great capacity for business. He brought Ward
in, as a man fit to govern the church : for Ward, to
get his former errors to be forgot, went into the
high notions of a severe conformity, and became the
193 most considerable man on the bishops' bench. He
was a profound statesman, but a very indifferent
clergyman. Many physicians, and other ingenious
men, went into the society for natural philosophy.
But he who laboured most, at the greatest charge,
and with the most success at experiments, was Ro-
OF KING CHARLES II. S3S
bert Boyle, the earl of Cork's youngest son. He 1662.
was looked on by all who knew him as a very per-
feet pattern. He was a very devout Christian,
humble and modest, almost to a fault, of a most
spotless and exemplary life in all respects. He was
highly charitable ; and was a mortified and self-de-
nied man, that delighted in nothing so much as in
the doing good. He neglected his person, despised
the world, and lived abstracted from all pleasures,
designs, and interests ^ I preached his funeral ser-
mon, in which I gave his character so truly, that I
do not think it necessary now to enlarge more upon
it. The society for philosophy grew so considera-
ble, that they thought fit to take out a patent, which
constituted them a body, by the name of the royal
society ; of which sir Robert Murray was the first
president, bishop Ward the second, and the lord
Brounker the third. Their history is writ so well
by doctor Sprat, that I will insist no more on them,
but go on to other matters.
After St. Bartholomew's day, the dissenters, see- consuita-
ing both court and parliament was so much set tliTpapUtsf
against them, had much consultation together what
to do. Many were for going over to Holland, and
settling there with their ministers. Others pro-
posed New England, and the other plantations.
Upon this the earl of Bristol drew to his house a
meeting of the chief papists in town : and after an
oath of secrecy he told them, now was the proper
time for them to make some steps towards the
bringing in of their religion : in order to that it
seemed advisable for them to take pains to procure
^ Boyle was a very silly writer. S.
534 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. favour to the nonconformists ; (for that became the
common name to them all, as puritan had been be-
fore the war :) they were the rather to bestir them-
selves to procure a toleration for them in general
terms, that they themselves might be comprehended
within it. The lord Aubigny seconded the motion.
He said, it was so visibly the interest of England to
make a great body of the trading men stay within
the kingdom, and be made easy in it, that it would
- have a good grace in them to seem zealous for it :
and, to draw in so great a number of those, who
had been hitherto the hottest against them, to feel
their care, and to see their zeal to serve them ; he
recommended to them to make this the subject of
all their discourses, and to engage all their friends
in the design. Bennet did not meet with them,
but was known to be of the secret; as the lord
^ Stafford told me in the tower a little before his
194 death.' But that lord soon withdrew from those
meetings : for he apprehended the earl of Bristol's
heat, and that he might raise a storm against them
by his indiscreet meddling. *
A deciara- The king was so far prevailed on by them, that
leration. in Deccmbcr 1662 he set out a declaration, that
was generally thought to be procured by the lord
Bristol : but it had a deeper root, and was designed
by the king himself. In it the king expressed his
aversion to all severities on the account of religion,
but more particularly to all sanguinary laws; and
gave hopes, both to papists and nonconformists, that
he would find out such ways for tempering the se-
verities of the laws, that all his subjects should be
easy under them. The wiser of the nonconformists
saw at what all this was aimed, and so received it
OF KING CHARLES II. 3S5
coldly. But the papists went on more warmly, and 1662.
were preparing a scheme for a toleration for them.
And one part of it raised great disputes among
themselves. Some were for their taking the oath of
allegiance, which renounced the pope's deposing
power. But aU those that were under a manage-
ment from Rome refused this. And the internuncio
at Brussels proceeded to censure those that were
for it, as enemies to the papal authority. A propo-
sition was also made for having none but secular
priests tolerated in England, who should be under a
bishop, and under an estabUshed government. But
that all the regulars, in particular all Jesuits, should
be under the strictest penalties forbid the kingdom.
The earl of Clarendon set this on ; for he knew Designed
well it would divide the papists among themselves. p'Jsts/ ***
But, though a few honest pyiests, such as Blacklow,
Serjeant, Caron, and Walsh, were for it, yet they
could not make a party among the leading men of
their own side. It was pretended, that this was set
on foot with a design to divide them, and so to
break their strength. The earl of Clarendon knew,
that cardinal de Retz, for whom he saw the king
had a particular esteem, had come over incognito,
and had been with the king in private. So, to let
the king see how odious a thing his being suspected
of popery would be, and what a load it would lay
on his government, if it came to be beheved, he got
some of his party, as sir AUain Brodrick told me, to
move in the house of commons for an act rendering
it capital to say the king was a papist. And,
whereas the king was made to believe that the old
cavaliers were become milder with relation to po-
pery, the lord Clarendon upon this new act inferred.
336 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. that it still appeared that the opinion of his being a
papist would so certainly make him odious, that for
that reason the parliament had made the spreading
195 those reports so penal. But this was taken by an-
other handle, while some said, that this act was
made on purpose, that, though the design of bring-
ing in popery should become ever so visible, none
should dare to speak of it. The earl of Clarendon
had a quite contrary design in it, to let the king see
how fatal the effects of any such suspicions were
like to be. When the earl of Bristol's declaration
was proposed in council, lord Clarendon and the
bishops opposed it. But there was nothing in it
directly against law, hopes being only given of en-
deavours to make all men easy under the king's go-
vernment: so it passed. The earl of Bristol car-
ried it as a great victory. And he, with the duke
of Buckingham, and all lord Clarendon's enemies,
declared openly against him. But the poor priests,
who had made those honest motions, were very iU
looked on by all their own party, as men gained on
design to betray them. I knew aU this from Peter
Walsh himself, who was the honestest and leam-
edest man I ever knew among them. He was of
Irish extraction, and of the Franciscan order : and
was indeed in all points of controversy almost wholly
protestant : but he had senses of his own, by which
he excused his adhering to the church of Rome:
and he maintained, that with these he could conti-
! nue in the communion of that church without sin :
and he said, that he was sure he did some good,
staying stiU on that side, but that he could do none
at all, if he should come over : he thought, no man
ought to forsake that religion in which he was born
OF KING CHARLES II. 387
and bred, unless he was clearly convinced, that he 1662.
must certainly be damned if he continued in it. He
was an honest and able man, much practised in in-
trigues, and knew well the methods of the Jesuits,
and other missionaries. He told me often, there
was nothing which the whole popish party feared
more than an union of those of the church of Eng- -
land with the presbyterians : they knew, we grew
the weaker, the more our breaches were widened ;
and that, the more we were set against one another,
we would mind them the less \ The papists had
two maxims, from which they never departed : the
one was to divide us : and the other was, to keep
themselves united, and either to set on an indiscri-
minated toleration, or a general prosecution ; for so
we loved to soften the harsh word of persecution.
And he observed, not without great indignation at
us for our folly, that we, instead of uniting among
ourselves, and dividing them, according to their max-
ims, did all we could to keep them united, and to
disjoint our own body : for he was persuaded, if the
government had held an heavy hand on the regulars
and the Jesuits, and had been gentle to the seculars,
and had set up a distinguishing test, renouncing all
sort oi power in the pope over the temporal rights 196
of princes, to which the regulars and the Jesuits
could never submit, that this would have engaged
them into such violent quarrels among themselves,
that censures would have been thundered at Rome
against aU that should take any such test ; which
would have procured much disputing, and might
have probably ended in the revolt of tiie soberer
* Rogue. S.
VOL. I. Z
338 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1662. part of that church. But he found, that, though
the earl of Clarendon and the duke of Ormond liked
the project, little regard was had to it by the go-
verning party in the court.
1663. The church party was alarmed at all this. And
designs.* though they were unwilling to suspect the king or
the duke, yet the management for popery was so
visible, that in the next session of parliament the
king's declaration was severely arraigned, and the
authors of it were plainly enough pointed at. This
was done chiefly by the lord Clarendon's friends.
And at this the earl of Bristol was highly dis-
pleased, and resolved to take all possible methods to
ruin the earl of Clarendon. He had a great sldU in
astrology, and had possessed the king with an high
opinion of it * : and told the duke of Buckingham,
as he said to the earl of Rochester, WUmot, from
whom I had it, that he was confident that he would
lay that before the king, which would totally alien-
ate him both from his brother and from the lord
Clarendon : for he could demonstrate, by the princi-
ples of that art, that he was to fall by his brother's
means, if not by his hand: and he was sure this
would work on the king. It would so, said the
duke of Buckingham, but in another way than he
expected : for it would make the king be so afraid
' It was always an objec- Flanders, who had a very great
- tion to his skill in astrology, esteem for him, and there was
i that he declared himself a pa- little prospect of the change
pist the year before the restora- that happened the year after,
tion, which had disqualified him nor had any almanack foretold
from any employment in Eng- it : but he took care to have his
land : but the truth was, he children brought up protest-
had turned, to qualify himself ants, that they might not lie
to serve under Don John, in under the like disadvantage. D.
OF KING CHARLES II.
of offending him, that he would do any thing rather 1663.
than provoke him. Yet the lord Bristol would lay
this before the king. And the duke of Buckingham
believed, that it had the effect ever after, that he
had apprehended : for though the king never loved
nor esteemed the duke, yet he seemed to stand in
some sort of awe of him.
But this was not all : the lord Bristol resolved to He accused
Clarendon
offer articles of impeachment agamst the earl ofin the house
Clarendon to the house of lords, though it was °
plainly provided against by the statute against ap-
peals in the reign of Henry the fourth. Yet both
the duke of Buckingham and the lord Bristol, the
fathers of these two lords, had broken through that
in the former reign. So the lord Bristol drew his
impeachment, and carried it to the king, who took
much pains on him in a soft and gentle manner to
dissuade him from it. But he would not be wrought
on. And he told the king plainly, that, if he for-
sook him, he would raise such disorders, that alll97
England should feel them, and the king himself
should not be without a large share in them. The
king, as the earl of Lauderdale told me, who said
he had it from himself, said, he was so provoked at
this, that he durst not trust himself in answering it,
but went out of the room, and sent the lord Au-
bigny to soften him : but all was in vain. It is
very probable, that the lord Bristol knew the secret
of the king's religion, which both made him so bold,
and the king so fearful. The next day he carried
the charge to the house of lords. It was of a very
mixed nature : in one part he charged the lord Cla-
rendon with raising jealousies, and spreading reports
of the king's being a papist : and yet in the other
z 2
340 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1663. articles he charged him with correspondence with
the court of Rome, in order to the making the lord
Aubigny a cardinal, and several other things of a
very strange nature. As soon as he put it in, he, it
seems, either repented of it, or at least was pre-
vailed with to abscond. He was ever after that
looked on as a man capable of the highest extrava-
gances possible. He made the matter worse by a
letter that he wrote to the lords, in which he ex-
pressed his fear" of the danger the king was in by
the duke's having of guards. Proclamations went
out for discovering him. But he kept out of the
way, till the storm was over. The parliament ex-
pressed a firm resolution to maintain the act of uni-
formity. And the king being run much in debt,
they gave him four subsidies, being willing to return
to the ancient way of taxes by subsidies. But these
were so evaded, and brought in so little money, that
the court resolved never to have recourse to that
method of raising money any more, but to betake
themselves for the future to the assessment begun
in the war. The convocation gave at the same
time four subsidies, which proved as heavy on them,
as they were light on the temporalty. This was the
last aid that the spiritualty gave : for the whole
proving so inconsiderable, and yet so unequally
heavy on the clergy, it was resolved on " hereafter
" By verbal agreement be- have constantly voted for mem-
tween archbishop Sheldon and bers of the house of commons,
lord Clarendon, and in conse- and although there be no ex-
quence of which, without the press laws for it. But see the
intervention of any express law, other volume, p. 281. O.
and contrary to a former reso- (Where there is a longer note
lution of the house of commons, on this subject.)
the inferior beneficed clergy
OF KING CHARLES II. 341
to tax church benefices as temporal estates were 1663.
taxed ; which proved indeed a lighter burden, but
was not so honourable as when it was given by
themselves. Yet interest prevailing above the point
of honour, they acquiesced in it. So the convoca-
tions being no more necessary to the crown, this
made that there was less regard had to them after-
wards. They were often discontinued and pro-
rogued : and when they met, it was only for form.
The parliament did pass another act, that was very
acceptable to the court, and that shewed a con-
fidence in the king, repealing the act of triennial
parliaments, which had been obtained with so much
difficulty, and was clogged with so many clauses, 198
which seemed to transfer the power from the crown
to the people, that, when it was carried, it was
thought the greatest security that the people had
for all their other liberties. But it was now given
up without a struggle, or any clauses for a certainty
of parliaments, besides a general one, [hereafter the
sitting and holding of parliament shall not be inter-
mitted or discontinued above three years at the
most, but] that there should be a parliament called
within three years after the dissolution of the pre-
sent parliament, and so ever afterwards ; but with-
out any severe clauses, in case the act was not ob-
served.
As for our foreign negotiations, I know nothing
in particular concerning them. Secretary Bennet
had them all in his hands : and I had no confidence
with any about him. Our concerns with Portugal
were public : and I knew no secrets about these.
By a melancholy instance to our private family it a plot dis-
covered.
appeared, that France was taking all possible me-
z 3
M2 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1063. thods to do every thing that the king desired. The
commonwealth's-men were now thinking, that they
saw the stream of the nation beginning to turn
against the court : and upon that they were meet-
ing, and laying plots to retrieve their lost game.
One of these being taken, and apprehending he was
in danger, begged his life of the king, and said, if
he might be assured of his pardon, he would tell
where my uncle Waristoun was, who was then in
Rouen : for the air of Hamborough agreed so ill
, with him, that he was advised to go to France ; and
this man was on the secret. The king sent one to
the court of France, desiring he might be put in his
hands : and this was immediately done : and no no-
tice was sent to my uncle to go out of the way, as
is usual in such cases, when a person is not charged
with assassinations, or any infamous action, but only
with crimes of state. He was sent over, and kept
some months in the tower of London ; and from that
was sent to Scotland, as shall be told afterwards.
The design of a war with Holland was now work-
The design ing. I havc bccu vcry positively assured by states-
withThe ^^^ of both sides, that the French set it on in a
states. ygj.y artificial manner: for while they encouraged
us to insist on some extravagant demands, they, at
the same time, pressed the Dutch not to yield to
them : and as they put them in hopes, that, if a
rupture should foUow, they would assist them ac-
cording to their alliance, so they assured us that
! they would do us no hurt. Downing was then em-
ployed in HoUand, a crafty fawning man, who was
ready to turn to every side that was uppermost, and
to betray those who by their former friendship and
services thought they might depend on him ; as he
OF KING CHARLES II. 343
did some of the regicides, whom he got in his hands 1663.
under trust, and then delivered them up. He had
been Cromwell's ambassador in HoUand, where he
had offered personal affronts both to the king and
the duke : yet he had by some base practices got 199
himself to be so effectually recommended by the
duke of Albemarle, that all his former offences were
forgiven, and he was sent into Holland as the king's
ambassador, whose behaviour towards the king him-
self the States had observed. So they had reason
to conclude he was sent over with no good intent,
and that he was capable of managing a bad design,
and very ready to undertake it^. There was no
visible cause of war. A complaint of a ship taken
was ready to have been satisfied. But Downing
hindered it. So it was plain, the king hated them ;
and fancied they were so feeble, and the English
were so much superior to them, that a war would
humble them to an entire submission and depend-
ence on him in aU things. The States had treated,
and presented the king with great magnificence, and
at a vast charge, during the time that he had stayed
among them, after England had declared for him.
And, as far as appearances could go, the king
seemed sensible of it : insomuch that the party for
the prince of Orange were not pleased, because
their applications to him could not prevail to make
him interpose, either in the behalf of himself or of
his friends, to get the resolutions taken against him
^ Sir George Downing mar- his good behaviour for the fu-
ried Frances Howard, sister to tare. But the bishop delights
the first earl of CarHsle of that in throwing dirt upon the duke
family, who had been very in- of Albemarle, and making a
strumental in the restoration of mystery of every thing, though
the king, who not only pro- never so plain and well known,
tected him, but answered for D.
z 4
344 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1663. to be repealed, or his party again put in places of
trust and command. The king put that off, as not
proper to be pressed by him at that time. But nei-
ther then nor afterwards did he bestir himself in
that matter. Though, if either gratitude or interest
had been of force, and if these had not been over-
ruled by some more prevalent considerations, he
must have been inclined to make some returns for
the services the late prince did him : and he must
have seen, what a figure he must make by having
the prince of Orange tied to him in interest, as
much as he was by blood *. France and popery were
the true springs of all these counsels. It was the
interest of the king of France, that the armies of
the States might fall under such a feebleness, that
they should be in no condition to make a vigorous
resistance, when he should be ready either to invade
them or to fall into Flanders; which he was re-
solved to do, whensoever the king of Spain should
die. The French did thus set on the war between
the English and the Dutch, hoping that our fleets
should mutually weaken one another so much, that
the naval force of France, which was increasing
very considerably, should be near an equality to
them, when they should be shattered by a war.
The States were likewise the greatest strength of
the protestant interest, and were therefore to be
humbled. So, in order to make the king more
considerable both at home and abroad, the court re-
200 solved to prepare for a war, and to seek for such
" (From lord Arlington's let- of the prince, so far as was
ters to sir William Temple, the consistent with the relations
king does not appear to have subsisting between England
been inattentive to the interests and the States.)
OF KING CHARLES II. 345
colours as might serve to justify it. The earl of i663.
Clarendon was not let into the secret of this design,
and was always against it. But his interest was
now sunk low : and he began to feel the power of
an imperious mistress over an amorous king, who
was so disgusted at the queen, that he abandoned
himself wholly to amour and luxury.
This was, as far as I could penetrate into it, the
state of the court for the first four years after the
restoration. I was in the court a great part of the
years 1662, 1663>^, and 1664; and was as inquisitive
as I could possibly be, and had more than ordinary
occasions to hear and see a great deal.
But now I return to the affairs of Scotland : the The affairs
earl of Midletoun, after a delay of some months,
came up to London, and was very coldly received
by the king. The earl of Lauderdale moved that a
Scotish council might be called. The lord Claren-
don got this to be delayed a fortnight. When itMidietoun
met, the lord Lauderdale accused the earl of Midle- by Lauder-
toun of many malversations in the great trust he*^^^^'
had been in, which he aggravated severely. The
lord Midletoun desired he might have what was ob-
jected to him in writing. And when he had it, he
sent it to Scotland ; so that it was six weeks before
he had his answer ready ; all on design to gain time.
He excused some errors in point of form, by saying,
that, having served in a military way, he under-
stood not so exactly what belonged to law and
form: but insisted on this, that he designed no-
>■ (This may be reconciled would be, according to the
with his son's account before reckoning of those days, called
mentioned, of the bishop's 1662 till the 25th day of March,
journey to England in 1663, sup- He was then nineteen years of
posing that he came hidher in age.)
the early part of that year, which
346 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1663. thing, but that the king's service might go on, and
that his friends might be taken care of, and his ene-
mies be humbled, and that so loyal a parliament
might be encouraged, who were full of zeal and af-
fection to his service; that, in complying with
them, he had kept every thing so entirely in his
majesty's power, that the king was under no diffi-
culties by any thing they had done. In the mean
while Sheldon was very earnest with the king to
forgive the lord Midletoun's crime, otherwise he
concluded the change so newly made in the church
would be so ill supported, that it must fall to the
ground. The duke of Albemarle, who knew Scot-
land, and had more credit on that head than on any
other, pretended that the lord Midletoun's party
was that on which the king could only rely: he
magnified both their power and their zeal ; and re-
presented the earl of Lauderdale's friends as cold
and hollow in the king's service : and, to support all
this, the letters that came from Scotland were fuU
of the insolencies of the presbyterians, and of the
dejection the bishops and their friends were under.
Sharp was prevailed on to go up. He promised to
201 all the earl of Midletoun's friends, that he would
stick firm to him ; and that he would lay before the
king, that his standing or falling must be the stand-
ing or falhng of the church. Of this the earl of
Lauderdale had advice sent him. Yet when he
came to London, and saw that the king was alien-
i ated from the lord Midletoun, he resolved to make
great submissions to the lord Lauderdale. When he
reproached him for his engagements with the earl of
Midletoun, he denied all; and said, he had never
gone farther than what was decent, considering his
post. He also denied, he had writ to the king in
OF KING CHARLES II. S4<1
his favour. But the king had given the original 1663.
letter to the lord Lauderdale, who upon that shewed
it to Sharp ; with which he was so struck, that he
fell a crying in a most abject manner. He begged
pardon for it ; and said, what could a company of
poor men refuse to the earl of Midletoun, who had
done so much for them, and had them so entirely in
his power. The lord Lauderdale, upon this, com-
forted him ; and said, he would forgive them all
that was past, and would serve them and the
church at another rate than lord Midletoun was ca-
pable of doing. So Sharp became whoUy his. Of
all this lord Lauderdale gave me a fuU relation the
next day; and shewed me the papers that passed
between lord Midletoun and him. Sharp thought
he had escaped well. The earl of Midletoun treated
the bishops too much as his creatures, and assumed
a great deal to himself, and expressed a sort of au-
thority over them ; which Sharp was uneasy under,
though he durst not complain of it, or resist it :
whereas he reckoned, that lord Lauderdale, know-
ing the suspicions that lay on him, as favouring the
presbyterians, would have less credit and courage in
opposing any thing that should be necessary for
their support. It proved that in this he judged
right : for the lord Lauderdale, that he might main-
tain himself at court, and with the church of Eng-
land, was reaUy more compliant and easy to every
proposition that the bishops made, than he would
otherwise have been, if he had been always of the
episcopal party. But aU he did that way was
against his heart, except when his passions were ve-
hemently stirred, which a very slight occasion would
readily do.
348 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1663. When the earls of Lauderdale and Midletoun had
been writing papers and answers for above three
months, an accident happened which hastened lord
Midletoun's disgrace. The earl of Lauderdale laid
before the king the unjust proceedings in the laying
on of the fines. And, to make all that party sure to
himself, he procured a letter from the king to the
council in Scotland, ordering them to issue out a
proclamation, for superseding the execution of the
act of fining tiU farther order. The privy council
being then for the greater part composed of lord
202 Midletoun's friends, it was pretended by some of
them, that, as long as he was the king's commis-
sioner, they could receive and execute no orders
from the king, but through his hands. So they
writ to him, desiring him to represent to the king,
that this would be an affront put on the proceedings
of parliament, and would raise the spirits of a party
that ought to be kept down. Lord Midletoun writ
back, that he had laid the matter before the king ;
and that he, considering better of it, ordered, that
no proceeding should be made upon his former let-
ter. This occasioned a hot debate in council. It
was said, a letter under the king's hand could not
be countermanded, but from the same hand. So the
council wrote to know the king's mind in the matter.
The king protested he knew nothing of it, and that
lord Midletoun had not spoke one word on the sub-
ject to him. He upon that sent for him, and chid
j him so severely, that lord Midletoun concluded from
it that he was ruined. Yet he always stood upon
it, that he had the king's order by word of mouth
for what he had done, though he was not so cautious
as to procure an instruction under his hand for his
OF KING CHARLES II. 349
warrant. It is very probable, that he spoke of it to i663.
the king, when his head was full of somewhat else, '
so that he did not mind it ; and that, to get rid of
the earl of Midletoun, he bid him do whatsoever he
proposed, without reflecting much on it. For the
king was at that time often so distracted in his
thoughts, that he was not af all times master of
himself. The queen-mother had brought over from
France one Mrs. Steward, reckoned a very great
beauty'^, who was afterwards married to the duke
of Richmond. The king was believed to be deeply
in love with her. Yet his former mistress kept her
ground still. And what with her humours and
jealousy, and what with this new amour, the king
had very little quiet, between both their passions
and his own.
Towards the end of May the king called many of
the English counsellors together, and did or(ter all
the papers that had passed between the earls of
Lauderdale and Midletoun to be read to them.
When that was done, many of them who were Mi-
dletoun's friends said much in excuse of his errors,
and of the necessity of continuing him still in that
high trust. But the king said, his errors were so
great and so many, that the credit of his affairs
must suffer, if he continued them any longer in such
hands. Yet he promised them he would be still
kind to him ; for he looked on him as a very honest
man. Few days after that, secretary Morrice was And turned
sent to him, with a warrant under the king's hand,
requiring him to deliver up his commission, which
he did. And so his ministry came to an end, after
* A pretty phrase. S.
350 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i663. 3. sort of a reign of much violence and injustice : for
~~ he was become very imperious. He and his com-
pany were delivered up to so much excess, and to
such a madness of frolic and intemperance, that as
Scotland had never seen any thing like it, so upon
this disgrace there was a general joy over the king-
dom : though that lasted not long ; for those that
came after him grew worse than ever he was like to
be. He had lived in great magnificence, which
made him acceptable to many * : and he was a firm
friend, though a violent enemy. The earl of Rothes
was declared the king's commissioner. But the earl
of Lauderdale would not trust him. So he went
down with him, and kept him too visibly in a de-
pendence on him for all his high character.
waris- Quc of the first things that was done in this ses-
cution. sion of parliament was the execution of my unfor-
tunate uncle, Waristoun^. He was so disordered
^ Hurt perhaps in his for- standing with brass plates upon
tune by that ; for he retired it, that had Midletoun Bridge
after his disgrace to the friery inscribed upon them. This gen-
near Guildford, to one Dalma- tleman Dalmahoy being much
hoy there, a genteel and gene- in the interest of the duke of
rous man, who was of Scotland, York, and a man to be relied
had been gentleman of the upon, and being a candidate
horse to William, duke Hamil- for the town of Guildford, at
ton, (killed at the battle of the election of the parliament
Worcester,) married that duke's after the long one in 1678, and
widow, and by her had this being opposed, as I think, by
house, and a considerable estate the famous Algernon Sydney,
adjoining to it, where, over the the duke of York came from
river, which nms through the Windsor to Dalmahoy's house
estate, this earl built a very to countenance his election,
handsome large bridge, calling and appeared for him in the
it by his own name, and was open court, where the election
the present he made to Mr. was taken. O.
Dalmahoy for entertaining him •> Was he hanged or be-
at this place. The bridge is headed ? A fit uncle for such a
now down ; but I remember it bishop. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 551
both in body and mind, that it was a reproach to a 1663.
government to proceed against him : his memory '
was so gone, that he did not know his own children.
He was brought before the parliament, to hear what
he had to say, why his execution should not be
awarded. He spoke long, but in a broken and dis-
ordered strain, which his enemies fancied was put
on to create pity. He was sentenced to die. [The
presbyterians came about him, and prayed for him
in a style like an upbraiding of God with services
he had done him.] His deportment was unequal, as
might be expected from a man in his condition.
Yet, when the day of his execution came, he was
very serene. He was cheerful, and seemed fully
satisfied with his death. He read a speech twice
over on the scaffold, that to my knowledge he com-
posed himself, in which he justified all the proceed-
ings in the covenant, and asserted his own sincerity ;
but condemned his joining with Cromwell and the
sectaries, though even in that his intentions had
been sincere, for the good of his country and the
security of religion. Lord Lauderdale had lived in
great friendship with him : but he saw the king was
so set against him, that he, who at all times took
more care of himself than of his friends, would not
in so critical a time seem to favour a man, whom
the presbyterians had set up as a sort of an idol
among them, and on whom they did depend more
than on any other man then alive.
The business of the parliament went on as the
lord Lauderdale directed. The whole proceeding in
the matter of the balloting was laid open. It ap-
peared that the parliament had not desired it, but
had been led into it by being made believe that the
35« THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1063, king had a mind to it. And of all the members of
^———' parliament not above twelve could be prevailed on
to own, that they had advised the earl of Midletoun
to ask leave of the king for it, whose private sug-
gestions he had represented to the king as the de-
sire of the parliament. This finished his disgrace,
204 as well as it occasioned the putting all his party out
of employments.
An act While they were going on with their affairs, they
conventi- undcrstood that an act had passed in the parliament
of England against all conventicles, empowering jus-
tices of peace to convict offenders without juries ;
which was thought a great breach on the security of
the English constitution, and a raising the power of
justices to a very arbitrary pitch. Any meeting for
religious worship, at which five were present more
than the family, was declared a conventicle. And
every person above sixteen, that was present at it,
was to lie three months in prison, or to pay 5l. for
the first offence ; six months for the second offence,
or to pay 20/. fine ; and for the third offence, being
convict by a jury, was to be banished to any planta-
tion, except New England or Virginia, or to pay an
100/. AU people were amazed at this severity '^.
But the bishops in Scotland took heart upon it, and
resolved to copy from it. So an act passed there,
^ ("This act was temporary; " agents also m London, and
" it was made upon occasion *' an oath of secrecy passed
" of that general disaffection " amongst them. They assured
" that appeared about this time " their friends, that the insur-
" among the dissenters in Eng- " rection would be general,
" land and Scotland. In the " and that they expected forces
" north the dissenters broke " from Holland and other coun-
" out into actual rebellion, £Hid " tries to join them." Salmon's
" assembled at Farnly wood in Examination of Bishop Burnet's
** Yorkshire. They had their Hist. p. 553. D.
OF KING CHARLES II. 353
almost in the same terms. And, at the passing it, 1663.
lord Lauderdale in a long speech expressed great
zeal for the church. There was some little opposi-
tion made to it by the earl of Kincardin, who was
an enemy to all persecution. But, though some few
voted against it, it was carried by a great majority.
Another act passed, declaring the constitution of The con-
j - stitution
a national synod. It was to be composed 01 the of a na-
archbishops and bishops, of all deans, and of two tOsy^'nod.
be deputed from every presbytery; of which the
moderator of the presbytery named by the bishop
was to be one : all things were to be proposed to
this court by the king or his commissioner. And
whatsoever should be agreed to by the majority and
the president, the archbishop of St. Andrews, was
to have the force of an ecclesiastical law, when it
should be confirmed by the king. Great exceptions
were taken to this act. The church was restrained
from meddling with any thing, but as it should be
laid before them by the king ; which was thought a
severe restraint, like that of the propone7itihus le~
gaits so much complained of at Trent. The put-
ting the negative, not in the whole bench of the bi-
shops, but singly in the president, was thought very
in'egular. But it passed with so little observation,
that the lord Lauderdale could scarce believe it was
penned, as he found it to be, when I told him of it.
Primerose told me. Sharp put that clause in with
his own hand. The inferior clergy complained that
the power was wholly taken from them ; since, as
one of their deputies was to be a person named by
the bishops, so, the moderators claiming a negative
vote in their presbyteries as the bishops' delegates,
the other half were only to consist of persons to 205
VOL. I. A a
S54 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1663. whom they consented. The act was indeed so pen-
' ned, that nobody moved for a national synod, when
they saw how it was to be constituted.
Two other acts passed in favour of the crown.
The parliament of England had laid great imposi-
tions on aU things imported from Scotland : so the
parliament, being speedily to be dissolved, and not
having time to regulate such impositions on English
goods, as might force the English to bring that mat-
ter to a just balance, they put that confidence in the
king, that they left the laying of impositions on aU
foreign merchandize wholly to him.
An act Another act was looked oif as a pompous compU-
offerin^ an ^ . i • i
army to mcut : and so it passed without observation, or any
°^ opposition. In it they made an offer to the king of
an army of twenty thousand foot and two thousand
horse, to be ready upon summons to march with
forty days' provision into any part of his Majesty's
dominions, to oppose invasions, to suppress insurrec-
tions, or for any other cause in which his authority,
power, or greatness was concerned. Nobody dreamt
that any use was ever to be made of this. Yet the
earl of Lauderdale had his end in it, to let the king
see what use he might make of Scotland, if he
should intend to set up arbitrary government in
England. He told the king, that the earl of Midle-
toun and his party understood not what was the
greatest service that Scotland could do him : they
had not much treasure to offer him : the only thing
j they were capable of doing was, to furnish him with
a good army, when his affairs in England should re-
quire it. And of this he made great use afterwards
to advance himself, though it could never have sig-
nified any thing to the advancing the king's ends.
OF KING CHARLES II. 355
Yet so easy was it to draw the parliament of Scot- i663.
land to pass acts of the greatest consequence in a
hurry, without considering the effects they might
have. After these acts were passed, the parliament
was dissolved ; which gave a general satisfaction to
the country, for they were a furious set of people.
The government was left in the earl of Glencaim's
hands, who began, now that he had little favour at
court, to set himself on all occasions to oppose
Sharp's violent notions. The earl of Rothes stuck
firm to Sharp; and was recommended by him to
the bishops of England, as the only man that sup-
ported their interests. The king at this time re-
stored lord Lorn to his grandfather's honour, of be-
ing earl of Argile, passing over his father ; and gave
him a great part of his estate, leaving the rest to be
sold for the payment of debts, which did not raise in
value above a third part of them. This occasioned
a great outcry, that continued long to pursue him.
Sharp went up to London to complain of the lord i664.
Glencaim and of the privy council ; where, he said, z'r
■^ •' Sharp
there was such a remissness, and so much popularity drove very
appeared on all occasions, that, unless some more
spirit were put in the administration, it would be
impossible to preserve the church. That was the
word always used, as if there had been a charm in
it. He moved that a letter might be writ, giving
him the precedence of the lord chancellor. This
was thought an inexcusable piece of vanity : for in
Scotland, when there was no commissioner, all mat-
ters passed through the lord chancellor's hands, who
by act of parliament was to preside in all courts,
and was considered as representing the king's per-
A a 2
356 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1G64. son. He also moved, that the king would grant a
■ special commission to some persons for executing
. the laws relating to the church. All the privy coun-
sellors were to be of it. But to these he desired
many others might be added, for whom he under-
took that they would execute them with zeal. Lord
Lauderdale saw that this would prove a high com-
Lauderdaie missiou court : yct he gave way to it, though much
gave way . ,
to it. agamst his own mmd. Upon these thmgs 1 took
the liberty, though then too young to meddle in
things of that kind, to expostulate very freely with
him. I thought he was acting the earl of Traquair's
part, giving way to all the foUies of the bishops, on
design to ruin them. He upon that ran into a great
deal of freedom with me : he told me many passages
of Sharp's past life : he was persuaded he would
ruin all : but, he said, he was resolved to give him
line : for he had not credit enough to stop him ; nor
would he oppose any thing that he proposed, unless
it were very extravagant : he saw the earl of Glen-
cairn and he would be in a perpetual war : and it
was indifferent to him how matters might go be-
tween them : things would run to a height : and
then the king would of himself put a stop to their
career : for the king said often, he was not priest-
ridden : he would not venture a war, nor travel
again for any party. This was all that I could ob-
tain from the earl of Lauderdale. I pressed Sharp
himself to think of more moderate methods. But he
j despised my applications : and from that time he
was very jealous of me.
Burnet, Fairfoul, archbishop of Glasgow, died this year :
archbishop
of Glasgow, and one Burnet succeeded him, who was a near
kinsman of the lord Rutherford's ; who, from being
OF KING CHARLES II. 357
governor of Dunkirk, when it was sold, was sent to i664.
Tangier, but soon after in an unhappy encounter,
going out to view some grounds, was intercepted,
and cut to pieces by the Moors. Upon Rutherford's
recommendation, Burnet, who had lived many years 207
in England, and knew nothing of Scotland, was sent
thither, first to be bishop of Aberdeen, and from
thence he was raised to Glasgow. He was of him-
self a soft and good natured man, tolerably learned,
and of a blameless life : but was a man of no genius :
and though he was inclined to peaceable and mo-
derate counsels, yet he was much in the power of
others, and took any impression that was given him
very easily. I was much in his favour at first, but
could not hold it long : for as I had been bred up
by my father to love liberty and moderation, so I
spent the greatest part of the year 1664 in Holland
and France, which contributed not a little to root
and fix me in those principles.
I saw much peace and quiet in HoUand, notwith- a view of
. !• ,i_ !• ., fi • • .1 the state of
standing the diversity or opimons among them ; affairs in
which was occasioned by the gentleness of the go-^j^p^^ce
vemment, and the toleration that made all people
easy and happy. An universal industry was spread
through the whole country. There was little aspir-
ing to preferment in the state, because little was to
be got that way. . [It was true, there seemed to be
among them too much coldness and indifference in
matters of religion. But I imputed that to their
phlegmatic tempers, that were not apt to take fire,
rather than to the liberty they enjoyed.] They
were then apprehending a war with England, and
were preparing for it. From thence, where every
thing was free, I went to France, where nothing
A a 3
858 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1664. was free. The king was beginning to put things in
great method, in his revenue, in his troops, in his
government at home, but above aU in the increasing
of trade, and the building of a great fleet. His own
deportment was solemn and grave, save only that he
kept his mistresses very avowedly. He was diligent
in his own counsels, and regular in the despatch of
his affairs : so that all things about him looked like
the preparing of matters for all that we have seen
acted since. The king of Spain was considered as
dying: and the infant his son was like to die as
soon as he : so that it was generally believed, the
French king was designing to set up a new empire
in the west. He had carried the quarrel at Rome
about the Corses so high with the house of Ghigi,
that the protestants were beginning to flatter them-
selves with great hopes. When I was in France,
cardinal Ghigi came, as legate, to give the king fuU
satisfaction in that matter. Lord Hollis was then
ambassador at Paris. I was so effectually recom-
mended to him, that he used me with great free-
dom, which he continued to do to the end of his
days. He stood upon all the points of an ambassa-
dor with the stiffness of former ages, which made
him very unacceptable to a high-spirited young
prince, who began even then to be flattered, as if he
had been somewhat more than a mortal. This esta-
blished me in my love of law and liberty, and in my
hatred of absolute power. AVhen I came back, I
208 stayed for some months at court, and observed the
scene as carefully as I could, and became acquainted
with all the men that were employed in Scotish af-
fairs. I had more than ordinary opportunities of
being well informed about them. This di'ew a jea-
OF KING CHARLES 11. 359
lousy on me from the bishops, which was increased i664.
from the friendship into which Leightoun received
me. I passed for one, who was no great friend to
church power, nor to persecution. So it was thought
that lord Lauderdale was preparing me, as one who
was known to have been always episcopal, to be set
up against Sharp and his set of men, who were much
hated by one side, and not loved, nor trusted, by the
other. r ,
In the mean while the earl of Glencairn died, sharp
which set Sharp at ease, but put him on new de- to be
signs. He apprehended, that the earl of Tweedale ^f s^cot-*"^
might be advanced to that post : for in the settle- '*°^'
ment of the duchess of Buccleugh's estate, who was
married to the duke of Monmouth, the best beloved
of all the king's children, by which, in default of
issue by her, it was to go to the duke of Monmouth,
and the issue he might have by any other wife, the
earLof Tweedale, though his children were the next
heirs, who were by this deprived of their right, had
yet given way to it in so frank a manner, that the
king was enough inclined both to oblige and to trust
him. But Sharp had great suspicions of him, as
cold in their concerns. So he writ to Sheldon, that
upon the disposal of the seals the very being of the
church did so absolutely depend, that he begged he
would press the king very earnestly in the matter,
and that he .would move that he might be caUed up
before that post should be filled. The king bid
Sheldon assure him, he should take a special care of
that matter, but that there was no occasion for his
coming up : for the king by this time had a very ill
opinion of him. Sharp was so mortified with this,
that he resolved to put all to hazard ; for he believed
A a 4
360 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1664. all was at stake : and he ventured to come up. The
king received him coldly ; and asked him, if he had
not received the archbishop of Canterbury's letter.
He said, he had : but he would choose rather to ven-
ture on his majesty's displeasure, than to see the
church ruined through his caution or negUgence :
he knew the danger they were in in Scotland, where
they had but few and cold friends, and many violent
enemies : his majesty's protection, and the execution
of the law, were the only things they could trust to :
and these so much depended on the good choice of
a chancellor, that he could not answer it to God and
the church, if he did not bestir himself in that mat-
ter: he knew many thought of himself for that
post : but he was so far from that thought, that, if
209 his majesty had any such intention, he would rather
choose to be sent to a plantation : he desired, that
he might be a churchman in heart, but not in habit,
that should be raised to that trust. These were his
very words, as the king reported them. From him
he went to Sheldon, and pressed him to move the
king for himself, and furnished him with many rea-
sons to support the proposition ; a main one being,
that the late king had raised his predecessor Spots-
wood to that trust. Sheldon upon that did move
the king with more than ordinary earnestness in it.
The king suspected Sharp had set him on, and
charged him to tell him the truth. The other did
it, though not without some uneasiness. Upon that
j the king told him what he had said to himself. And
then it may be easily imagined in what a style they
both spoke of him. Yet Sheldon prayed the king
that, whatsoever he might think of the man, he
would consider the archbishop and the church ;
OF KING CHARLES II. 361
which the king assured him he would do. Sheldon i664.
told Sharp, that he saw the motion for himself did
not take ; so he must think of somewhat else. Sharp
proposed, that the seals might be put in the earl of
Rothes's hands, till the king should pitch on a pro-
per person. He also proposed, that the king would
make him his commissioner, in order to the prepar-
ing matters for a national synod, that they might
settle a book of common prayer, and a book of ca-
nons. This, he said, must be carried on slowly, and
with great caution ; of which the late troubles did
demonstrate the necessity.
All this was easily agreed to : for the king loved Rothes had
the lord Rothes : and the earl of Lauderdale would power of
not oppose his advancement : though it was a very p!if|Q"'Jis
extravagant thing to see one man possess so many'"*"'^*-
of the chief places of so poor a kingdom. The earl
of Crawford would not abjure the covenant : so he
had been made lord treasurer in his place : he con-
tinued to be still, what he was before, lord president
of the council : and, upon the earl of Midletoun's
disgrace, he was made captain of a troop of guards :
and now he was both the king's commissioner, and
upon the matter lord chancellor. Sharp reckoned
this was his masterpiece. Lord Rothes, being thus
advanced by his means, was in aU things governed
by him. His instructions were such as Sharp pro-
posed, to prepare matters for a national synod, and
in the mean while to execute the laws that related
to the church with a steady firmness. So, when he
parted from Whitehall, Sharp said to the king, that
he had now done all that could be desired of him
for the good of the church : so that, if all matters
went not right in Scotland, none must bear the
362 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1664. blame, but either the earl of Lauderdale or Rothes.
* ^T7 And so they came to Scotland, where a very furious
scene of illegal violence was opened. Sharp governed
lord Rothes, who abandoned himself to pleasure :
[and was more barefaced in some indecent court-
ships, than that kingdom had ever seen before.]
And, when some censured this, all the answer that
was made was a severe piece of raillery, that the
king's commissioner ought to represent his person.
1665. The government of Scotland as to civil matters
sevTre pro- was vcry casy. All were quiet and obedient. But
sTo't'iand." ^^ those couutics that lie towards the west became
very fierce and intractable : and the whole work of
the council was to deal with them, and to subdue
them. It was not easy to prove any thing against
any of them, for they did stick firm to one another.
The people complained of the new set of ministers
that was sent among them, as immoral, stupid, and
ignorant. Generally they forsook their churches.
And, if any of them went to church, they said they
were little edified with their sermons. And the
whole country was full of strange reports of the
weakness of their preaching, and of the indecency of
their whole deportment. The people treated them
with great contempt, and with an aversion that
broke out often into violence and injustice. But
their ministers on their parts were not wanting in
their complaints, aggravating matters, and possess-
ing the bishops with many stories of designs and
plottings against the state. So, many were brought
before the council, and the new ecclesiastical com-
mission, for pretended riots, and for using their mi-
nisters ill, but chiefly for not coming to church, and
OF KING CHARLES II.
for holding conventicles. The proofs were often de- 1665.
fective, and lay rather in presumptions, than clear
evidence : and the punishments proposed were often
arbitrary, not warranted by law. So the judges and
other lawyers, that were of those courts, were care-
ful to keep proceedings according to forms of law :
upon which Shar^ was often complaining, that favour
was shown to the enemies of the church, under the
pretence of law. It was said that the people of the
country were in such a combination, that it was not
possible to find witnesses to prove things fully : and
he often said. Must the church be ruined for punc-
tilios of law ? When he could not carry matters by
a vote, as he had a mind, he usually looked to the
earl of Rothes ; who upon that was ever ready to
say, he would tak^ it upon him to order the matter
as Sharp proposed, and would do it in the king's
name. Great numbers were cast in prison, where
they were kept long, and ill used : and sometimes
they were fined, and the younger sort whipped about
the streets. The people grew more sullen on all
this ill usage. Many were undone by it, and went
over to the Scots in Ulster, where they were well 211
received, and had aU manner of liberty as to theu'
way of religion ^.
Burnet was sent up to possess the king with the
apprehensions of a rebellion in the beginning of the
Dutch war. He proposed that about twenty of the
chief gentlemen of those counties might be secured :
and he undertook for the peace of the country, if
they were clapped up. This was plainly illegal. But
the lord Lauderdale opposed nothing. So it was
done : but with a very ill effect. For those gentle-
^ The more the pity. S.
364 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. men, knowing how obnoxious they were, had kept
' measures a little better : but they being put in pri-
son, both their friends and tenants laid all to the
door of the clergy, and hated them the more, and
used them the worse for it. The earls of Argile,
Tweedale, and Kincardin, who were considered as
the lord Lauderdale's chief friends, were cold in all
those matters. They studied to keep proceedings in
a legal channel, and were for moderate censures.
Upon which Sharp said, they appeared to be the
friends and favourers of the enemies of the church.
Turner exe- Whcrcver the pcoplc had generally forsaken their
cuted the * / ^ -^
laws in a churchcs, the guards were quartered through the
way.*"^^ country. Sir James Turner, that commanded them,
was naturally fierce, but was mad when he was
drunk ; and that was very often. So he was ordered
by the lord Rothes to act according to such direc-
tions as Burnet should send him. And he went
about the country, and received such lists as the
ministers brought him, of those who came not to
church : and, without any other proof, or any legal
conviction, he set such a fine on them as he thought
they could pay, and sent soldiers to lie on them till
it was paid. I knew him well afterwards, when he
came to himself, being out of employment. He was
a learned man ; but had been always in armies, and
knew no other rule but to obey orders. He told me,
he had no regard to any law, but acted, as he was
commanded, in a military way. He confessed, it
went often against the grain with him to serve such
a debauched and worthless company, as the clergy
generally were ; and that sometimes he did not act
up to the rigour of his orders ; for which he was
often chid, both by lord Rothes and Sharp, but was
OF KING CHARLES II. 365
never checked for his illegal and violent proceedings. 1665.
And though the complaints of him were very high,
so that, when he was afterwards seized on by the
party, they intended to make a sacrifice of him ; yet,
when they looked into his orders, and found that
his proceedings, how fierce soever, fell short of these,
they spared him, as a man that had merited by be-
ing so gentle among them.
The truth is, the whole face of the government 212
looked liker the proceedings of an inquisition, than
of legal courts : and yet Sharp was never satisfied. So
lord Rothes and he went up to court in the first year
of the Dutch war. When they waited first on the king,
Sharp put him in mind of what he had said at his last
parting, that if their matters went not well, none must
be blamed for it, but either the earl of Lauderdale,
or of Rothes : and now he came to tell his majesty,
that things were worse than ever : and he must do
the earl of Rothes the justice to say, he had done
his part. Lord Lauderdale was aU on fire at this, but
durst not give himself vent before the king. So he
only desired that Sharp would come to particulars :
and then he should know what he had to say. Sharp
put that off in a general charge ; and said, he knew
the party so well, that, if they were not supported
by secret encouragements, they would have been
long ago weary of the opposition they gave the go-
vernment. The king had no mind to enter farther
into their complaints. So lord Rothes and he with-
drew : and were observed to look very pleasantly
upon one another, as they went away. Lord Lau-
derdale told the king he was now accused to his
face : but he would quickly let him see what a man
Sharp was. So he obtained a message from the
366 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. king to him, of which he himself was to be the
' bearer, requiring him to put his complaints in writ-
ing, and to come to particulars. He followed Sharp
home, who received him with such a gayety, as if he
had given him no provocation. But lord Lauder-
dale was more solemn ; and told him, it was the
king's pleasure, that he should put the accusation
with which he had charged him in writing. Sharp
pretended he did not comprehend his meaning. He
answered, the matter was plain : he had accused
him to the king: and he must either go through
with it, and make it out, otherwise he would charge
him with leasing-making : and spoke in a terrible
tone to him. Upon that, as he told me. Sharp feU a
trembling and weeping : he protested, he meant no
harm to him : he was only sorry that his friends
were upon all occasions pleading for favour to the
fanatics : (that was become the name of reproach.)
Lord Lauderdale said, that would not serve turn :
he was not answerable for his friends, except when
they acted by directions from him. Sharp offered
to go with him presently to the king, and to clear
the whole matter. Lord Lauderdale had no mind
to break openly with him. So he accepted of this,
and carried him to the king ; where he retracted all
he had said, in so gross a manner, that the king
213 said afterwards, lord Lauderdale was iU natured to
press it so heavily, and to force Sharp on giving
himself the lie in such coarse terms.
Sharp stu- This wcnt to Sharp's heart : so he made a propo-
dies to
bring Mi- sition to the earl of Dunfreis, who was a great
into°bu- friend of the lord Midletoun's, to try if a reconcilia-
^'"?* tion could be made between him and the earl of
again.
Rothes, and if he would be content to come into^
OF KING CHARLES II. 367
the government under lord Rothes. Lord Dunfreis 1665.
went into Kent, where the lord Midletoun was then
employed in a military command on the account of
the war : and he laid Sharp's proposition before
him. The earl of Midletoun gave lord Dunfreis
power to treat in his name; but said, he knew
Sharp too well to regard any thing that came from
him. Before lord Dunfreis came back, Sharp had
tried lord Rothes, but found he would not meddle
in it: and they both understood that the earl of
Clarendon's interest was declining, and that the
king was like to change his measures. So when
lord Dunfreis came back to give Sharp an account
of his negotiation, he seemed surprised, and denied
he had given him any such commission. This en-
raged the earl of Dunfreis so, that he published the
thing in all companies : among others, he told it
very particularly to my self.
At that time Leightoun was prevailed on to go to
court, and to give the king a true account of the
proceedings in Scotland; which, he said, were so
violent, that he could not concur in the planting
the Christian religion itself in such a manner, much
less a form of government. He therefore begged
leave to quit his bishopric, and to retire : for he
thought he was in some sort accessory to the vio-
lences done by othet^, since he was one of them,
and all was pretended to be done to establish them
and their order. There were indeed no violences
committed in his diocese. He went round it conti-
nually every year, preaching and catechising from
parish to parish. He continued in his private and
ascetic course of life, and gave all his income, be-
yond the small expense of his own person, to the
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
if)65. poor. He studied to raise in his clergy a greater
sense of spiritual matters, and of the care of souls ;
and was in all respects a burning and shining light,
highly esteemed by the greater part of his diocese :
even the presbyterians were much mollified, if not
quite overcome, by his mild and heavenly course of
life. The king seemed touched with the state that
the country was in : he spoke very severely of
Sharp: and assured Leightoun he would quickly
come to other measures, and put a stop to those
violent methods : but he would by no means suffer
him to quit his bishopric. So the king gave orders
that the ecclesiastical commission should be discon-
tinued ; and signified his pleasure, that another way
of proceeding was necessary for his affairs.
214 He understood, by his intelligence from Holland,
^2 ^n""^* that the exiles at Rotterdam were very busy, and
Scotland, ^jj^^ perhaps the Dutch might furnish the malecon-
tents of Scotland with money and arms: so he
thought it was necessary to raise more troops. Two
gaUant officers, that had served him in the wars,
and, when these were over, had gone with his let-
ters to serve in Muscovy, where one of them, Dal-
ziell, was raised to be a general, and the other,
Drumond, was advanced to be a lieutenant-general,
and governor of Smolensko, were now, not without
great difficulty, sent back by the czar. So the king
intended they should command some forces that he
was to raise. Sharp was very apprehensive of this :
but the king was positive. A little before this, the
act of fining, that had lain so long asleep, that it
was thought forgot, was revived. And aU who had
been fined were required to bring in one moiety of
their fines : but the other moiety was forgiven those
Y.^AOF KING CHARLES 11. 369
who took the declaration renouncing the covenant. 1665.
The money was by act of parliament to be given
among those who had served and suffered for the
king ; so that the king had only the trust of distri-
buting it. There was no more Scotish councils
called at Whitehall after lord Midletoun's fall.
But upon particular occasions the king ordered the
privy counsellors of that kingdom, that were about
the town, to be brought to him : before whom he
now laid out the necessity of raising some more
force for securing the quiet of Scotland : he only
asked their advice, how they should be paid. Sharp
very readily said, the money raised by the fining
was not yet disposed of: so he proposed the apply-
ing it to that use. None opposed this : so it was
resolved on. And by that means the cavaliers, who
were come up with- their pretensions, were disap-
pointed of their last hopes of being recompensed for
their sufferings. The blame of aU this was cast
upon Sharp, at which they were out of measure en-
raged, and charged him with it. He denied it
boldly. But the king published it so openly, that
he durst not contradict him. Many, to whom he
had denied that he knew any thing of the matter,
and called that advice diabolical invention, affirmed
it to the king. And the lord Lauderdale, to com-
plete his disgrace with the king, got many of his
letters, which he had writ to the presbyterians after
the time in which the king knew that he was nego-
tiating for episcopacy, in which he had continued to
protest with what zeal he was soliciting their con-
cerns, not without dreadful imprecations on himself
if he was prevaricating with them, and laid these
VOL. I. B b
370 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. before the king : so that the king looked on him as
one of the worst of men ^
215 Many of the episcopal clergy in Scotland were
1666. much offended at all these proceedings. They saw
Some emi- •!• n -,
nent cier- the prcjudiccs ot the people were mcreased by them.
Scotland" They hated violent courses, and thought they were
thesT^^ro!* contrary to the meek spirit of the Gospel, and that
ceedings. they aUenatcd the nation more from the church.
They set themselves much to read church history,
and to observe the state of the primitive church,
and the spirit of those times : and they could not
but observe so great a difference between the con-
stitution of the church under those bishops and our
own, that they seemed to agree in nothing but the
name. I happened to be settled near two of the
most eminent of them, who were often moved to ac-
cept of bishoprics, but always refused them, both out
of a true principle of humility and self-denial, and
also because they could not engage in the methods
by which things were carried on. One of these,
Mr. Nairn, was one of the politest clergymen I ever
knew bred in Scotland. He had formed clear and
lively schemes of things, and was the most eloquent
of aU our preachers. He considered the pastoral
function as a dedication of the whole man to God
and his service. He read the moral philosophers
much ; and had wrought himself into their equal
temper, as much as could consist with a great deal
' of fire that was in his own : but he turned it all to
melting devotion. He had a true notion of super-
^ Surely there was some se- lice against Sharp. S. (See be-
cret cause for this perpetual ma- low, p. 217.) -'
/i) OF KING CHARLES II.IIHT 371
stition, as a narrowness of soul, and a meanness of 1665.
thought in religion. He studied to raise all that
conversed with him to great notions of God, and to
an universal charity. This made him pity the pres-
byterians, as men of low notions and iU tempers.
He had indeed too much heat of imagination, which
carried him to be very positive in some things, in
which he afterwards changed his mind : and that
made him pass for an inconstant man. In a word,
he was the brightest man I ever knew among all
our Scotish divines. Another of these was Mr.
Charteris, a man of a composed and serene gravity,
but without affectation or sourness. He scarce ever
spoke in company, but was very open and free in
private. He made true judgments of things and of
men : and had a peculiar talent in managing such
as he thought deserved his pains. He had little
heat, either in body or mind : for as he had a most
emaciated body, so he spoke both slow, and in so low
a voice that he could not easily be heard. He had
great tenderness in his temper; and was a very
perfect friend, and a most sublime Christian. He
lived in a constant contempt of the world, and a
neglect of his person. There was a gravity in his
conversation that raised an attention, and begot a
composedness, in all about him, without frightening 216
them; for he made religion appear amiable in his
whole deportment. He had read all the lives and the
epistles of great men very carefully, [and delighted
much in the mystics.] He had read the fathers
much ; and gave me this notion of them, that in
specula^ve points, for which writers of controversy
searched into their works, they were but ordinary
men ; but their excellency lay in that, which was
B b 2
372 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. least sought for, their sense of spiritual things, and
of the pastoral care. In these he thought their
strength lay. And he often lamented, not without
some indignation, that, in the disputes about the
government of the church, much pains were taken to
seek out all those passages that shewed what their
opinions were ; but that due care was not taken to
set out the notions that they had of the sacred
function, of the preparation of mind, and inward
vocation, with which men ought to come to holy
orders, or of the strictness of life, the deadness to
the world, the heavenly temper, and the constant
application to the doing of good, that became them.
Of these he did not talk like an angry reformer,
that set up in that strain, because he was neglected
or provoked; but like a man full of a deep, but
humble sense of them. He was a great enemy to
large confessions of faith, chiefly when they were
imposed in the lump as tests : for he was positive in
very few things. He had gone through the chief
parts of learning : but was then most conversant in
history, as the innocentest sort of study, that did
not fill the mind with subtilty, but helped to make
a man wiser and better. These were both single
persons, and men of great sobriety : and they lived
K^i in a constant low diet, which they valued more
than severer fasting. Yet they both became mi-
serable by the stone. Nairn went to Paris, where
he was cut of a great one, of which he recovered,
but lived not many years after. Charteris lived to
a great age, and died in the end of the year 1700,
having in his last years suffered unspeakable tor-
ment from the stone, which the operators would not
venture to cut. But all that saw what he suffered.
OF KING CHARLES II. 373
and how he bore it, acknowledged that in him they 1665.
saw a most perfect pattern of patience and submis- ~~
sion to the will of God. It was a great happiness
for me, after I had broke into the world by such a
ramble as I had made, that I fell into such hands,
with whom I entered into a close and particular
friendship. They both set me right, and kept me
right ; though I made at this time a sally that may
be mentioned, since it had some relation to public
affairs. I observed the deportment of our bishops
was in fiU. points so different from what became
their function, that I had a more than ordinary zeal
kindled within me upon it. They were not only
furious against all that stood out against them, but 217
were very remiss in all the parts of their function.
Some did not live within their diocese. And those
who did, seemed to take no care of them : they
shewed no zeal against vice: the most eminently
wicked in the county were their particular con-
fidents : they took no pains to keep their clergy
strictly to rules, and to their duty : on the contrary,
there was a levity and a carnal way of living about
them, that very much scandalized me. There was
indeed one Scougal, bishop of Aberdeen, that was a
man of rare temper, great piety and prudence : but
I thought he was too much under Sharp's conduct,
and was at least too easy to him ^.
Upon all this I took a resolution of drawing up a Some of the
• ini • 1 111* It grievances
memonal of the grievances we lay under by the ill of the cier-
conduct of our bishops. I resolved, that no other Ifre^Ve bi-
shops.
B (See a high character of this Soul of Man, in bishop Bur-
bishop, and of his son, who net's preface to his Life of Be-
was the author of the book en- dell.)
titled. The Life of God in the
BbS
374 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
lee/j. person besides my self should have a share in any
trouble it might bring on me : so I communicated
it to none. This made it not to be in all the parts
of it so well digested, as it otherwise might have
been : and I was then but three and twenty. I laid
my foundation in the constitution of the primitive
church; and shewed how they had departed from
it, by their neglecting their diocese, meddling so
much in secular affairs, raising their famihes out of
the revenues of the church, and above all by their
violent prosecuting of those who differed from them.
Of this I writ out some copies, and signed them,
and sent them to all the bishops of my acquaint-
T '. ance. Sharp was much alarmed at it, and fancied
I was set on to it by some of the lord Lauderdale's
friends. I was caUed before the bishops, and treated
with great severity. Sharp called it a Ubel. I said
I had set my name to it, so it could not be called a
libel. He charged me with the presumption of of-
fering to teach my superiors. I said, such things
had been not only done, but justified in all ages.
He charged me for reflecting on the king's putting
them on his counsels : I said, I found no fault with
the king for calling them to his counsels. But with
them for going out of that which was their proper
province, and for giving ill counsel. Then he
charged me for reflecting on some severities, which,
he said, was a reproaching pubhc courts, and a cen-
suring the laws. I said, laws might be made in
terrorem^ not always fit to be executed : but I only
complained of clergymen's pressing the rigorous ex-
ecution of them, and going often beyond what the
law dictated. He broke out into a great vehe-
mence ; and proposed to the bishops, that I should
OF KING CHARLES -II. 375
be summarily deprived and excommunicated: but 1665.
none of them would agree to that. By this ma-
nagement of his the thing grew public. What I
had ventured on was variously censured : but the
greater part approved of it. Lord Lauderdale and 1666.
all his friends were delighted with it: and he gavc^^
the king an account of it, who was not ill pleased
at it. Great pains was taken to make me ask par-
don, but to no purpose : so Sharp let the thing fall^\
But, that it might appear that I had not done it
upon any factious design, I entered into a very close
state of retirement ; and gave my self wholly to my
study, and the duties of my function.
Thus I have run over the state of Scotland in the i664.
years 1663, 1664, 1665, and till near the end ofEngiand.
1666. I now return to the affairs of England ; in
which I must write more defectively, being then so
far from the scene. In winter 1664, the king de- The Dutch
clared his resolution of entering into a war with the
Dutch. The grounds were so slight, that it was
visible there was somewhat more at bottom than
was openly owned. A great comet, which appeared
that winter, raised the apprehensions of those who
did not enter into just speculations concerning those
matters. The house of commons was so far from
examining nicely into the grounds of the war, that
without any difficulty they gave the king two mil-
lions and a half for carrying it on. A great fleet
was set out, which the duke commanded in person ;
^ (Dr. Cockburn, a nephew Specimen of Remarks, &c. occa-
of Scougal, bishop of Aberdeen, sioned by Dr. BurneVs History
gives a different account of Bur- of his own Times, by John
net's conduct in this affair. See Cockburn, D. D. p. 33 — 43.)
B b 4
376 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. as Opdam had the command of the Dutch fleet.
The plague But as sooH as the war broke out, a most terrible
the slme ** plague brokc out also in the city of London, that
*""^' scattered all the inhabitants that were able to re-
move themselves elsewhere. It broke the trade of
the nation, and swept away about an hundred thou-
sand souls; the greatest havock that any plague
had ever made in England. This did dishearten
all people : and coming in the very time in which
so unjust a war was begun, it had a dreadful ap-
pearance. All the king's enemies and the enemies
of monarchy said, here was a manifest character of
God's heavy displeasure upon the nation ; as indeed
the iU Ufe the king led, and the viciousness of the
whole court, gave but a melancholy prospect. Yet
God's ways are not as our ways. What all had seen
in the year 1660 ought to have silenced those who
at this time pretended to comment on providence.
But there wiU be always much discourse of things
that are very visible, as well as very extraordinary.
Tiie victory Whcu the two flccts met, it is weU known what
at sea not .
followed, accidents disordered the Dutch, and what advan-
tage the EngUsh had. If that first success had been
followed, as was proposed, it might have been fatal
to the Dutch, who, finding they had suffered so
much, steered off. The duke ordered all the sail to
be set on to overtake them. There was a council
of war caUed, to concert the method of action, when
they should come up with them. In that council
, Pen, who commanded under the duke, happened to
say, that they must prepare for hotter work in the
next engagement. He knew well the courage of
the Dutch was never so high, as when they were
desperate. The earl of Montague, who was then a
OF KING CHARLES II. 377
volunteer, and one of the duke's court, said to me, 1665.
it was very visible that made an impression. And
all the duke's domestics said, he had got honour
enough : why should he ventiu-e a second time ?
The duchess had also given a strict charge to all
the duke's servants, to do all they could to hinder
him to engage too far. When matters were settled,
they went to sleep : and the duke ordered a call to
be given him, when they should get up to the Dutch
fleet. It is not known what passed between the
duke and Brounker, who was of his bedchamber,
and was then in waiting : but he came to Pen, as
from the duke, and said, the duke ordered the saU
to be slackened. Pen was struck with the order ;
but did not go to argue the matter with the duke
himself, as he ought to have done, but obeyed
it. When the duke had slept, he, upon his waking,
went out on the quarter-deck, and seemed amazed
to see the sails slackened, and that thereby all hope
of overtaking the Dutch was lost. He questioned
Pen upon it. Pen put it on Brounker, who said
nothing. The duke denied he had given any such
order. But he neither punished Brounker for car-
rying it, nor Pen for obeying it '. He indeed put
Brounker out of his service ^ : and it was said, that
he durst do no more, because he was so much in the
king's favour, and in the mistress's. Pen was more
' (It appears, from the ex- " him, and he did punish him."
tract given below by speaker Higgons's Remarks, page 144.
Onslow, from the Journal of Hume observes, that Burnet
the House of Commons, that sufficiently accounts for Broun-
the order was carried, not to ker's impunity, by informing
Penn, but to Harman.) us that he was a favourite of
^ (" This is as much as to the duchess of Cleveland, the
" say, that he did not punish king's favourite mistress.)
378 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. in his favour after that, than ever before, which he
continued to his son after him, though a quaker;
and it was thought, that all that favour was to
oblige him to keep the secret. Lord Montague did
believe, that the duke was struck, seeing the earl of
Falmouth, the king's favourite, and two other per-
sons of quality, kiUed very near him ; and that he
had no mind to engage again, and that Pen was
privately with him. If Brounker was so much in
fault as he seemed to be, it was thought, the duke,
in the passion that this must have raised in him,
would have proceeded to greater extremities, and
not have acted with so much phlegm. This proved
the breaking the designs of the king's whole reign :
for the Dutch themselves believed, that, if our fleet
had followed them with fuU sail, we must have
come up with them next tide, and have either sunk
or taken their whole fleet. De Wit was struck
with this misfortune: and, imputing some part of
it to errors in conduct, he resolved to go on board
himself, as soon as their fleet was ready to go to sea
again '.
' See T7th of April, 1668, in the enemy, and that there w]ere
the Journal of the House of but six or seven more of our
Commons. fleet near; that the discourse
This paper is transcribed between him and Cox, and the
from the originals among the lowering of sail, was occasioned
papers of the House of Com- by Mr. Brunckard's coming on
mons. the deck, and persuasion that
Sir John Harman being call- he being spent with the two
ed in and examined, says, the days' action before, desired rest ;
duke went off the deck about and left Cox as near the Dutch
ten of the clock, and gave or- as he could adventure ; that the
ders to bear up as close to the next morning he found the top-
Dutch as they could ; which sails lowered as he left them ;
they did, and were got up so that there were no orders given
close that night, that they were from the duke in the least ;
ready to run into the body of that if Cox had kept at the dis-
OF KING CHARLES II.
379
Upon this occasion I will say a little of him, and
of the affairs of Holland. His father was the de-
1665.
tance he left them, they might
have been close up with the
Dutch the next morning, but
they were cast behind, and fur-
ther off than he expected.
Sir John Harman, called in a
second time and examined, says,
he did give orders to Cox for
lowering the topsails, but did
not give orders to bring the
ship to, but Cox did it of
his own head ; that when Mr.
Bnmckard came up, he had a
conference with him, and asked
him, whether he was mad, to
run the duke's person into such
danger, and used all the argu-
ments he could to force him to
lower the sails, as that the duke
was heir to the crown, and the
like, and thinks he should have
done it in a short time after, if
Mr. Brunckard had not pressed
it: then the inconveniences
which were occasioned by low-
ering sail, and bringing the ship
to, were very great, as he per-
ceived the next morning.
Harman, called in last time,
said, that having been put in
mind of some passages by his
servant, and recollected him-
self, did remember, that Mr.
Brunckard did use the duke of
York's name to him, in a com-
manding way, that he should
slack sail.
Mr. Neve, called in and ex-
amined, said, that when' the
duke of York was going to He
down to rest, he heard him
give orders to captain Harman
and captain Cox, to keep up
close to the enemy, and near
the light, and appointed Mr.
220
An account
Brunckard to get tip, to see that of the affairs
they did make sail, and keep i° Holland,
near the enemy.
Captain Cox being examined,
said, that between eleven and
twelve of the clock, when the
duke went to rest, he gave or-
ders that our fleet should keep
close up with the enemy ; that
afterwards Mr. Brunckard came
upon the deck, and used many
persuasions with him to slack
sail, but could not prevail.
That Harman did give orders
to lower the topsails, but when
he went off did not give any
order for hoisting sail again ;
and that if they had not lower-
ed sail, they might have been
near up with the enemy, and
might have kept the weather of
them without danger.
That he told Mr. Brunckard,
he did wonder the duke's mind
should be soon altered, having
but little before given order to
the contrary.
That Mr. Brunckard did not
say, he had orders, but pre-
tended the safety of the duke's
person, and the like arguments,
and that Harman and he had
no consultation till after Mr.
Brunckard came upon the deck.
That the duke's ship lower-
ing sail was the occasion of the
other ships lowering sail, and
that our fleet was cast a mile
and a half astern of the ene-
my in the morning; and that
when the duke came up the
next morning, he was much
displeased with it.
That by lowering sail and
bringing the ship to, one or
380
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665.
puty of the town of Dort in the States, when the
late prince of Orange was so much offended with
two ships seemed in danger to
fall foul on each other, and
that much more might have
been done against the enemy,
if sail had not been lowered,
and the ships kept to ; says,
that Harman, when he went
off, gave no order to him to call
him again, though it was near
twelve of the clock when the
sails were lowered : denies that
Harman gave any orders for
keeping at the same distance
off the enemy that he was when
Harman left him ; and that the
sails were lowered above an
hour and a half; that Harman
said it was necessary to bring
the ship to, and gave direction
for it ; but that his opinion was
against it, for fear of any of our
ships falling foul of one an-
other.
That the night was dark, and
could not (sic) discern our fri-
gate (that carried the light)
from the enemy.
That he was hoisting sail the
next morning, when Harman
came up upon the deck.
Mr. Pearse, called in and
examined, says, that he was
on the deck when the duke
went off, about eleven of the
clock, and that he then gave
order to Harman and Cox to
keep up close to the enemy;
and that about half an hour
after, Mr. Brunckard came up,
and held discourse with Cox,
and persuaded him to lower
sail, but could not prevail, and
afterward went to Harman,
and used the same arguments
to him; as that the duke was
heir to the crown, and had ob-
tained a glorious victory the
day before; that the king would
not take it well they should
hazard the duke's person, our
ships being at a distance, and
the enemy so near; and after
some discourse, Harman said,
" Well, if it must be so, it must
" be so, then lower the sail."
He says, there was a frigate a-
head of the duke's ship, and
that he could plainly see the
Dutch fleet and our fleet, and
that our ships were about five
or six cables' length at distance
from each other ; that he was
walking to and fro on the deck,
and might not hear all that
passed ; that there were, as he
did guess, twenty of our ships
in sight, and near together.
Hill, the waterman, called in
and examined, said, that Mr.
Brunckard came up to Harman,
and told him, the duke gave
order to shorten sail, for he
would not engage in the night.
That Harman denied to do it,
and said he would go to the
duke himself: Mr. Brunckard
told him, he need not, he would
go again ; he went down, and
said he had been with the duke,
and brought the same orders
again ; and Harman gave or-
der to let run the topsails,
that the ship lay to about an
hour, till the enemy had got so
far that we could not overtake
them, and then the duke, when
he came up in the morning,
was very angry at it.
Duskberry, the waterman, ex-
amined, says, that presently af-
OF KING CHARLES II.
381
their proceedings in disbanding a great part of their
army : and he was one of those whom he ordered
1665.
ter the lowering of sail, he came
down to hinii and said, We are
like to do well, now major
Brimckard has brought orders
from the duke to shorten sail.
That when the ship brought to,
they were in a wood, like to be
lost, and fall foul of one an-
other, and lay musted in the
sea, till towards morning; that
all that squadron were close
round, and near one another,
and the white squadron were
gone in pursuit of the enemy,
and that they heard shooting all
night.
That we might have kept
near, as well as the other squa-
dron.
That he did acquaint him
with the passages between Mr.
Brunckard and Harman, and
repeats to the same effect.
Robert Sumner examined,
says, that captain Harman had
given orders for making more
sail, before Mr. Brunckard came
up : that when Mr. Brunckard
came up, he told him he came
from the duke with command,
that he must not make more
sail ; at which Harman was
much discontented ; said he was
sorry he must not make more
sail, but the duke's order must
be obeyed, retired (perhaps
Sumner) to his cabin, and took
tobacco : :
Harman and Cox quite con-
trary to each other about bring-
ing the ships to :
Pearce and Harman quite
about the number of
ships near.
AH agree that if had (sic)
bore up, might have been near
the Dutch in the morning.
That Tuesday next be given
to Mr. Brunckard to make his
further answer.
That the sergeant at arms
do apprehend sir John Har-
man, and bring him in custody
on Tuesday next, in order to
his further hearing.
21 April, 1 668.
Mr. Speaker, •
I am in the first place
to give this honourable house
thanks for the favourable opi-
nion of me, and kindness in
giving me this time to recollect
myself, and wish I had been so
happy to have asked it of you,
before I undertook to give an
account of what so long since
happened, by which I should
have prevented that great trou-
ble I have given you, and those
hard censures that are laid upon
me ; but I humbly hope, that
whatsoever probable reasons to
the contrary do appear, you
will believe what I now affirm
to be the truth. That winter
following, after the engage-
ment, 1 was sent to Crotten-
burg, where I had a sharp
sickness, of which I am not
yet recovered, either in memory
or hearing, and many relics are
yet upon me of that disease :
and have since been wounded,
of which I lay long, and en-
dured much pain, and have,
ever since my recovery, had a
great hurry of his majesty's af-
fairs upon me, besides my own,
and had been this last whole
382 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. upon that to be carried to the castle of Lovestein.
Soon after that, his design on Amsterdam miscarry-
ing, he saw a necessity of making up the best he
could with the States. But, before he had quite
healed that wound, he died of the small-pox. Upon
his death all his party fell in disgrace, and the
Lovesteiners carried all before them. So De Wit
got his son John, then but twenty-five years of age,
to be made pensioner of Dort. And within a year
after, the pensioner of Holland dying, he was made
pensioner of Holland. His breeding was to the civil
law, which he understood very well. He was a
great mathematician : and, as his Elementa Cur va-
rum shew what a man he was that way, so per-
haps no man ever applied algebra to all matters of
trade so nicely as he did. He made himself so en-
tirely the master of the state of Holland, that he
understood exactly all the concerns of their reve-
year in the West Indies, and ly, I should rather have suhmit-
was but that morning landed, ted myself to the mercy of this
I came to the house, having had house, than have accused any
no opportunity to speak with any wrongfully to save myself; but
that were with me at that time, having now recollected myself
and also considering my com- fully, and being resolved to
ing before such an assembly candidly and clearly, in
that I was wholly unacquainted speaking the whole truth as far
withal, having the greatest part as I know, 1 must affirm that
of my life been employed at sea. Mr. Brunckard, after I had de-
I hope you will excuse my nied to shorten sail upon his
speaking so disorderly, seeming arguments and persuasions,
to be in (sic) but do assure went down from me, and com-
you that all the reasons that ing up again, told me, he came
moved me say what I did, in from the duke, who command-
my two first examinations, was ed, as he said, it should be so :
no other than that I was not whereupon I gave order for the
fully satisfied in my own me- doing it. The truth of this I
mory and conscience of what I do affirm, and will not go from,
last said ; and had I not been Witness my hand this 20 of
by other circumstances brought April, 1668.
to remember the thing perfect- John Harman. O.
/Ol OF KING CHARLES II. 383
nue, and what sums, and in what manner, could be i66$.
raised upon any emergent of state : for this he had
a pocketbook full of tables, and was ever ready to
shew how they could be furnished with money. He
was a frank, sincere man, without fraud, or any
other artifice but silence : to which he had so accus-
tomed the world, that it was not easy to know,
whether he was silent on design or custom. He
had a great clearness of apprehension : and when
any thing was proposed to him, how new soever, he
heard all patiently, and then asked such questions
as occurred to him : and by the time he had done
all this, he was as much master of the proposition,
as the person was that had made it. He knew no-
thing of modem history, nor of the state of courts :
and was eminently defective in all points of form.
But he laid down this for a maxim, that all princes
and states followed their own interests : so by ob-;
serving what their true interests were, he thought,
he could without great intelligence calculate what
they were about. He did not enough consider how
far passions, amours, humours, and opinions, wrought
on the world ; chiefly on princes. He had the no-
tions of a commonwealth from the Greeks and Ro-
mans. And from them he came to fancy, that an
army commanded by officers of their own country
was both more in their own power, and would serve
them with the more zeal^ since they themselves had
such an interest in the success "^. And so he was
against their hiring foreigners, unless it was to be 221
common soldiers, to save their own people. But he
did not enough consider the phlegm and covetous-
" He ought to have judged the contrary. S.
384 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. ness of his countrymen ; of which he felt the ill ef-
fects afterwards. This was his greatest error, and
it turned fatally upon him. But for the administra-
tion of justice at home, and for the management of
their trade, and their forces by sea, he was the
ablest minister they ever had. He had an heredi-
tary hatred to the house of Orange. He thought it
was impossible to maintain their liberty, if they
were stiU statholders. Therefore he did all that
was possible to put an invincible bar in their way,
by the perpetual edict. But at the same time he
took great care of preserving the young prince's for-
tune; and looked well to his education, and gave
him, as the prince himself told me, very just notions
of every thing relating to their state. For he said,
he did not know, but that at some time or other he
would be set over them : therefore he intended to
render him fit to govern well ".
The town of Amsterdam became at that time
very ungovernable. It was thought, that the West
India company had been given up chiefly by their
means ; for it was in value so equal to the East In-
dia company, that the actions of both were often
exchanged for one another. When the bishop of
Munster began his pretensions on the city of Mun-
ster, and on a great part of Westphalia, they offered
themselves up to the States, if they would preserve
^ Old Mr. Inglish, who was^ nard, who was surgeon to queen
surgeon to Chelsea college, told Ann, told the last earl of Ayles-
]V. me he had it from very good ford and me, that he was at the
hands in Holland, that De Wit opening of King William ; and
corrupted the prince's nurse to observed something in relation
give him a pinch in his secret to his private parts, that he had
parts, that should hinder his never seen before in any man
ever having any children : and that was not an eunuch. D.
I remember Mr. Charles Bar-
OF KING CHARLES II. 385
them. But the town of Amsterdam would not con- i665.
sent to it, nor submit to the charge. Yet they ne-
ver seemed to set up for a superiority over the rest,
nor to break the credit of the court at the Hague.
Only they were backward in every thing that was
proposed, that increased the charge. And they were
become so weary of De Wit, that he felt how much
the late miscarriage at sea had shaken his credit ; "" ' "'
since misfortunes are always imputed to the errors of
those that govern. So he resolved to go on board.
De Ruyter often said, that he was amazed to see
how soon he came to a perfect understanding of all
the sea affairs. The winds were so long backward,
that it was not easy to get their great ships through
the Zuyder sea. So he went out in boats himself,
and plummed it all so carefully, that he found many
more ways to get out by different winds, than was
thought formerly practicable. He got out in time
to be master of the sea before the end of the season:
and so recovered the affront of the former losses, by
keeping at sea after the EngUsh fleet was forced
to put in. The earl of Sandwich was sent to the
north with a great part of the fleet, to lie for the
East India ships. But he was thought too remiss.
They got, before he was aware of it, into Berghen
in Norway. If he had followed them quick, he 222
would have forced the port, and taken them all.
But he observed forms, and sent to the viceroy of
Norway demanding entrance. That was denied him.
But while these messages went backward and for-
ward, the Dutch had so fortified the entrance into
the port, that, though it was attempted with great
courage, yet Tiddiman, and those who composed
that squadron, were beat off with great loss, and
VOL. I. c c
386 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. forced to let go a very rich fleet: for which lord
Sandwich was much blamed, though he was sent
ambassador into Spain, that his disgrace might be a
little softened by that employment. The duke's
conduct was also much blamed : and it was said, he
was most in fault, but that the earl of Sandwich
was made the sacrifice ".
An account Hcrc I wiU add a particular relation of a trans-
oftlieaffairs . , /¥> • i n
of Berghen. actiou rclatmg to that affair, taken from the account
given of it by sir Gilbert Talbot, then the king's en-
voy at the court of Denmark, in a MS. that I have
in my hands. That king did, in June 1665, open
, himself very freely to Talbot, complaining of the
States, who, as he said, had drawn the Swedish war
on him, on design that he might be forced to depend
on them for supplies of money and shipping, and so
,to get the customs of Norway and the Sound into
their hands for their security. Talbot upon that
told him, that the Dutch Smyrna fleet was now in
Berghen, besides many rich West India ships ; and
that they staid there in expectation of a double
East India fleet, and of De Ruyter, who was re-
turning with the spoils of the coast of Guinea. So
he said, the king of Denmark might seize those
ships before the convoy came, which they expected.
The king of Denmark said, he had not strength to
execute that. Talbot said, the king his master
would send a force to effect it : but it was reason-
able he should have half of the spoil. To which
the king of Denmark readily agreed, and ordered
him to propose it to his master. So he immediately
, ° " (The duke was at this time "Bergen in Norway." Hig-
" at London, above one hun- gons's Remarks on this Hist. p.
" dred and fifty leagues from 145.
7 ' OF KING CHARtES II. &dt
transmitted it to the king, who approved of it, and 1665.
promised to send a fleet to put it in execution.
The ministers of Denmark were appointed to con-
cert the matter with Talbot. But nothing was put
in writing ; for the king of Denmark was ashamed
to treat of such an affair, otherwise than by word of
niouth. Before the end of July, news came, that
De Ruyter, with the East India fleet, was on the
coast of Norway. Soon after he came into Berg-
heh. The riches then in that port were reckoned
at many millions. . :•
The earl of Sandwich wa^' flien in those seas. So
Talbot sent a vessel express to him with the news.
But that vessel fell into the hands of the Dutch
fleet, and was sent to HoUand. The king of Den-
mark writ to the viceroy of Norway, and to the go-
vernor of Berghen, ordering them to use all fair means 223
to keep the Dutch still in their harbour, promising
to send particular instructions in a few days to them ,
how to proceed. Talbot sent letters with these, to
be delivered secretly to the commanders of the
English frigates, to let them know that they might
boldly assault the Dutch in port; for the Danes
would make no resistance, pretending a fear that
the English might destroy their town : but that an
account was to be kept of their prizes, that the
king of Denmark might have a just half of all:
they were not to be surprised, if the Danes seemed
at first to talk high : that was to be done for shew :
but they would grow calmer, when they came to
engage. The earl of Sandwich sent his secretary
to Talbot, to know the particulars of the agreement
with the king of Denmark. But the vessel that
brought him was ordered, upon landing the secre-
c c 2
388 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. tary, to come back to the fleet. So that it was im-
possible to send by that vessel what was desired.
And no other ships could be got to carry back the
secretary. And thus the earl of Sandwich went to
attack the Dutch fleet without staying for an an-
swer from Talbot, or knowing what orders the go
vernor of Berghen had yet received : for though the
orders were sent, yet it was so great a way, ten or
twelve days' journey, that they could not reach the
place, but after the English fleet had made the at-
tack. The viceroy of Norway, who resided at Chris-
tiana, had his orders sooner, and sent out two gal-
leys to communicate the agreement to the earl of
Sandwich ; but missed him, for he was then before
Berghen. The governor of Berghen, not having
yet the orders that the former express promised
him, sent a gentleman to the English fleet, desiring
they would make no attack for two or three days ;
for by that time he expected his orders. Clifford
was sent to the governor, who insisted that till he
had orders he must defend the port, but that he ex-
pected them in a very little time. Upon Clifford's
going back to the fleet, a council of war was called,
in which the officers, animated with the hope of a
rich booty, resolved without further delay to attack
the port, either doubting the sincerity of the Danish
court, or unwilling to give them so large a share of
that, on which they reckoned as already their prize.
Upon this Tiddiman began the attack, which ended
fatally. Divers frigates were disabled, and many
officers and seamen were killed. The squadron was
thus ruined, and Tiddiman was ready to sink : so
he was forced to slip his cables, and retire to the
fleet, which lay without the rocks. This action was
OF KING CHARLES II. 389
on the third of August : and on the fourth the go- 1665.
vemor received his orders. So he sent for Clif-
fcwd, and shewed him his orders. But, as the Eng-
lish fleet had by their precipitation forced him to do 224
what he had done, so he could not, upon what had
"'appened the day before, execute those orders, till
he sent an account of what had passed to the court
of Denmark, and had the king's second orders upon
it. And, if the whole English fleet would not stay
in those seas so long, he desired they would leave
six frigates before the harbour ; and he would en-
gage, the Dutch should not in the mean while go
out to sea. But the English were sullen upon their
disappointment, and sailed away. The king of
Denmark was unspeakably troubled at the loss of
the greatest treasure he was ever like to have in his
hands. This was a design well laid, that would
have been as fatal to the Dutch, as ignominious to
the king of Denmark, and was, by the impatient
ravenousness of the English, lost, without possibility
of recovering it. And indeed there was not one
good step made after this in the whole progress of
the war.
England was at this time in a dismal state. The The pariia-
1 . p ment at
plague contmued for the most part of the summer Oxford,
in and about London, and began to spread over the
country. The earl of Clarendon moved the king to
go to Salisbury. But the plague broke out there.
So the court went to Oxford, where another session
of parliament was held. And though the conduct
at sea was severely reflected on, yet all that was ne-
cessary for carrying on the war another year was
given. The house of commons kept up the ill hu-
mour they were in against the nonconformists very
c c 3
390 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. high. A great many of the ministers of London
were driven away by the plague ; though some few
staid. Many churches being shut up, when the in-
hajsitants were in a more than ordinary disposition
to profit by good sermons, some of the non-conform-
ists upon that went into the empty pulpits, and
preached; and, it was given out, with veiy good
success : and in many other places they began to
preach openly, not without reflecting on the sins of
the court, and on the iU usage that they themselves
had met with. This was represented very odiously
at Oxford. So a severe bill was brought in, requir-
ing all the silenced ministers to take an oath, 4^
daring it was not lawful on any pretence whatsoev^
to take arms against the king, or any commissioned
by him ; and that they would not at any time en-
deavour an alteration in the government of the
church or state. Such as refused this were not to
come within five miles of any city, or parliament bo-
rough, or of the church where they had served.
This was much opposed in both houses, but more
faintly in the house of commons. The earl of South-
ampton spoke vehemently against it in the house of
225 lords. He said, he could take no such oath him-
self: for how firm soever he had always been to the
church, yet, as things were managed, he did not
know but he himself might see cause to endeavour
an alteration. Doctor Earl, bishop of Salisbury,
died at that time. But, before his death, he declared
himself much against this act. He was the man of
aU the clergy for whom the king had the greatest
esteem. He had been his subtutor, and had foK
lowed him in all his exile with so clear a character,
that the king could never see or hear of any obs
OF KING CHARLES II. 391
thing amiss in him. So he, who had a secret plea- 1665.
sure in finding out any thing that lessened a man '~~~~~"
esteemed eminent for piety, yet had a value for him
beyond aU the men of his order. Sheldon and Ward
were the bishops that acted and argued most for
this act, which came to be called the five mile act.
All that were the secret favourers of popery pro-
moted it : their constant maxim being, to bring all
the sectaries into so desperate a state, that they
should be at mercy, and forced to desire a toleration
on such terms, as the king should think fit to grant
it on. Clifford began to make a great figure in the
house of commons. He was the son of a clergyman,
bom to a small fortune : but was a man of great vi-
vacity. He was reconciled to the church of Rome
before the restoration. The lord Clarendon had
many spies among the priests : and the news of this
was brought him among other things. So, when
Clifford began first to appear in the house, he got
one to recommend him to the lord Clarendon's fa-
vour. The lord Clarendon looked into the advice
that was brought him : and by comparing things to-
gether, he perceived that he must be that man : and
upon that he excused himself the best he could. So
Clifford struck in with his enemies ; and tied him-
self particularly to Bennet, made Lord, and after-
wards earl of Arlington. While the act was before
the house of commons, Vaughan, afterwards made
chief justice of the common pleas, moved that the
word legally might be added to the word commis-
sioned hy the king : but Finch, then attorney -gene-
ral, said that was needless; since, unless the com-
mission was legal, it was no commission, and, to
make it legal, it must be issued out for a lawful oc-
c c 4
392 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. casion, and to persons capable of it, and must pass
in the due form of law. The other insisted that the
addition would clear all scruples, and procure an
universal compliance. But that could not be ob-
tained; for it was intended to lay difficulties in the
way of those against whom the act was levelled.
When the bill came up to the lords, the earl of
Southampton moved for the same addition ; but was
answered by the earl of Anglesey, upon the same
grounds on which Finch went. Yet this gave great
226 satisfaction to many who heard of it, this being the
avowed sense of the legislators. The whole matter
was so explained by Bridgman, when Bates with a
■• great many more came into the court of common
pleas to take the oath. The act passed : and the
nonconformists were put to great straits. They had
no mind to take the oath. And they scarce knew
how to dispose of themselves according to the terms
of the act. Some moderate men took pains to per-
suade them to take the oath. It was said by endea-
vour was only meant an unlawful endeavour ; and
that it was so declared in the debates in both houses.
Some judges did on the bench expound it in that
sense. Yet few of them took it. Many more re-
fused it, who were put to hard shifts to live, being
so far separated from the places from which they
drew their chief subsistence. Yet as all this severity
in a time of war, and of such a public calamity,
di'ew very hard censures on the promoters of it, so
I it raised the compassions of their party so much,
that I have been told they were supplied more plen-
tifully at that time than ever. There was better
reason, than perhaps those of Oxford knew, to sus-
pect practices against the state.
OF KING CHARLES Iljr. r
Algemoon Sidney, and some others of the com- 1665;
monwealth party, came to De Wit, and pressed him The desiRns
to think of an invasion of England and Scotland,*''*^®*'"'""
*-' monwealth
and gave him great assurances of a strong party: party,
and they were bringing many officers to Holland to
join in the undertaking. They dealt also with some
in Amsterdam, who were particularly sharpened
against the king, and were for turning England
again into a commonwealth. The matter was for
some time in agitation at the Hague. But De Wit
was against it, and got it to be laid aside. He said,
their going into such a design would provoke France
to turn against them : it might engage them in a
long war, the consequences of which could not be
foreseen : and, as there was no reason to think, that,
while the parliament was so firm to the king, any
discontents could be carried so far as to a general
rising, which these men undertook for ; so, he said,
what would the effect be of turning England into a
commonwealth, if it could possibly be brought about,
but the ruin of Holland ? It would naturally draw
many of the Dutch to leave their country, that could
not be kept and maintained but at a vast charge,
and to exchange that for the plenty and security
that England afforded. Therefore all that he would
engage in was, to weaken the trade of England, and
to destroy their fleet ; in which he succeeded the
following year beyond all expectation. The busy
men in Scotland, being encouraged from Rotterdam,
went about the country, to try if any men of weight
would set themselves at the head of their designs 227
for an insurrection. The earl of Cassilis and Lock-
hart were the two persons they resolved to try. But
they did it at so great a distance, that, from the
394 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1^5. proposition made to them, there was no danger of
" ^ misprision of treason. Lord CassUis had given his
word to the king, that he would never engage in
any plots : and he had got under the king's hand a
promise, that he and his family should not be dis-
turbed, let him serve God in what way he pleased.
So he did not suflfer them to come so far as to make
him any propositions. Lockhart did the same. They
seeing no other person that had credit enough in
the country to bring the people about him, gave
over all the projects for that year. But, upon the
informations that the king had of their caballing at
Rotterdam, he raised those troops of which mention
was formerly made.
The duke Au accidcut happened this winter at Oxford, too
of York's . . , , , 1 1 , . , .n .
jealousy, mcousidcrable and too tender to be mentioned, it it
were not that great effects were believed to have
followed on it. The duke had always one private
amour after another, in the managing of which he
seemed to stand more in awe of the duchess, than,
considering the inequality of their rank, could have
been imagined. Talbot was looked on as the chief
manager of those intrigues. The duchess's deport-
ment was unexceptionable, which made her author-
ity the greater. At Oxford there was then a very
graceful young man of quality that belonged to her
court, whose services were so acceptable, that she
was thought to look at him in a particular manner p.
This was so represented to the duke, that he, being
P Mr. Henry Sidney, after- Mary, in a good deal of com-
* wards earl of Romney. O. pany, as the earl of Jerssey,
Harry Sidney, since earl of who was present, told me;
Runiney. Bishop Burnet took only with this difference, that
the liberty to tell this story he did not conceal the gentle-
ODoe before her daughter queen man's name. D.
OF KING CHARLES II. 896
resolved to emancipate himself into more open prac- i665.
tices, took up a jealousy ; and put the person out of ''^'''^^
his court with so much precipitation, that the thing
became very public by this means. The duchess
lost the power she had over him so entirely, that no
method she could 'think on was like to recover it,
except one. She began to discover what his religion
was, though he stiU came not only to church, but to
sacrament. And upon that, she, to regain what she
had lost, entered into private discourses with his
priests ; but in so secret a manner, that there was
not for some years after this the least suspicion
given. She began by degrees to slacken in her con-
stant coming to prayers and to sacrament, in which
she had been before that regular, almost to supersti-
tion. She put that on her ill health : for she fell
into an ill habit of body, wliich some imputed to the
effect of some of the duke's distempers communi-
cated to her. A story was set about, and generally
believed, that the earl of Southesk, that had married
a daughter of duke Hamilton's, suspecting some fa- His amours.
miliarities between the duke and his wife, had taken
a sure method to procure a disease to himself, which
he communicated to his wife, and was by that means
set round till it came to the duchess, who was so
tainted witji it, that it was the occasion of the death
of all her children, except tbe two daughters, omr
two queens ; and was believed the cause of an iU-^
ness under which she languished long, and died so
corrupted, that in dressing her body after her death,
one of her breasts burst, being a mass of corruption.
Lord Southesk was for some years not iU pleased to
have this beUeved. It looked like a peculiar strain
of revenge, with which he seenjed much delighted.
S96 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1665. But I know he has to some of his friends denied the
whole of the story very solemnly. Another acted a
better part. He did not like a commerce that he
observed between the duke and his wife. He went
and expostulated with him upon it. The duke fell
a commending his wife much. He told him, he
came not to seek his wife's character from him : the
most effectual way of commending her, was to have
nothing to do with her. He added, that if princes
would do those wrongs to subjects, who could not
demand such reparations of honour as they could
from their equals, it would put them on secreter me-
thods of revenge : for some injuries were such, that
men of honour could not bear them. And, upon a
new observation he made of the duke's designs upon
his wife, he quitted a very ^ood post, and went with
her into the country, where he kept her till she
died ^. Upon the whole matter the duke was often
iU. The children were born with ulcers, or they
broke out upon them soon after: and all his sons
died young, and unhealthy. This has, as far as any
thing that could not be brought in the way of proof,
prevailed to create a suspicion, that so healthy a
child as the pretended prince of Wales could neither
be his, nor be bom of any wife with whom he had
lived long ^ The violent pain that his eldest daugh-
ter had in her eyes, and the gout which has early
seized our present queen, are thought the dregs of a
tainted original. Willis, the great physician, being
1 Countess of Chesterfield, after his dethronement, who
daughter to the dulce of Or- lived to twenty years of age.
inond. D. The bishop and his annotator
■■ (The duke, afterwards king lord Dartmouth mention some
James II. had a daughter, the ])articulars respecting her, vol.
princess Louisa, born in France ii. p. 602.)
OF KING CHARLES II. ri 897
called to consult for one of his sons, gave his opinion ^^^5.
in those words, mala stamina vittB ; which gave such
offence, that he was never called for afterwards.
I know nothing of the counsels of the year 1666, i^^-
nor whose advices prevailed. It was resolved on,
that the duke should not go to sea ; but that Monk
should command the great fleet of between fifty and
sixty ships of the line, and that prince Rupert should
be sent with a squadron of about twenty-five ships
to meet the French fleet, and to hinder their con-
junction with the Dutch : for the French had pro- 229
raised a fleet to join the Dutch, but never sent it.
Monk went out so certain of victory, that he seemed
only concerned for fear the Dutch should not come
out. The court flattered themselves with the hopes
of a very happy year : but it proved a fatal one.
The Dutch fleet came out, De Wit and some of the
States being on board. They engaged the English The fleet
fleet for two days, in which they had a manifest su- quite lost,
periority. But it cost them dear ; for the English pjy ^ved
fought welL But the Dutch were superior in num-^y pJJ^*^®
ber, and were so well furnished with chained shot,
(a peculiar contrivance of which De Wit had the
honour to be thought the inventor,) that the English
fleet was quite unrigged. And they were in no
condition to work themselves off. So they must
have all been taken, sunk, or burnt, if prince Ru-
pert, being yet in the channel, and hearing that
they were engaged by the continued roaring of
guns, had not made aU possible haste to get to
them. He came in good time. And the Dutch,
who had suffered much, seeing so great a force
come up, steered off. He was in no condition to
398 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. pursue them ; but brought off our fleet, which saved
us a great loss, that seemed otherwise unavoidable.
The court gave out that it was a victory : and pub-
lic thanksgivings were ordered, which was a horrid
Ah* mocking of God, and a lying to the world ®. We
had in one respect reason to thank God, that we
had not lost our whole fleet. But to complete the
miseries of this year: the plague was so sunk in
London, that the inhabitants began to return to itj
and brought with them a great deal of manufacture^
which was lying on the hands of the clothiers and
'' others, now in the second year of the war, in which
trade and all other consumptions were very low.
It was reckoned, that a peace must come next win-
ter. The merchants were upon that preparing to
go to market as soon as possible. The summer had
been the driest that was known of some years. And
London being for the most part built of timber filled
The fire of up with plaistcr, all was extreme dry. On the se-
cond of September a fire broke out, that raged for
three days, as if it had a commission to devour every
*^*J' thing that was in its way. On the fourth day it
stopt in the midst of very combustible matter.
I will not enlarge on the extent nor the destruc-
tion made by the fire : many books are full of it;
That which is still a great secret is, whether it was
casual, or raised on design. The English fleet had
landed on the Vly, an island lying near the Texel,
and had burnt it: upon which some came to De
Wit, and offered a revenge, that, if they were as-
' " Although the English by " certain who obtained the vic-
" their obstinate courage reaped " tory." Hume's Hist, of Great
" the chief honour in the en- Britain, Charles II. p. 1 70.
" gagement, it is somewhat un-
OF KING CHARLES II. t - 399
sisted, they would set London on fire: [if they iqqq.
might be well furnished, and well rewarded for it.]
He rejected the proposition : for he said, he would
not make the breach wider, nor the quarrel irrecon-
cilable. He said, it was brought him by one of the 230
Labadists^, as sent to them by some others. He
made no farther reflections on the matter till the
city was burnt. Then he began to suspect there
had been a design, and that they had intended to
draw him into it, and to lay the odium of it upon
the Dutch. But he could hear no news of those
who had sent that proposition to him. In the April
before, some commonwealth's men were found in a
plot, and hanged ; who at their execution confessed
they had been spoken to, to assist in a design of
burning London on the second of September. This
was printed in the gazette of that week, which I
my self read. Now the fire breaking out on the se-
cond, made aU people conclude, that there was a de-
sign some time before on foot for doing it.
The papists were generally charged with it. One it was
Hubert, a French papist ", was seized on in Essex, thrpapis*ts.
as he was getting out of the way in great confusion.
* (Followers of Labadie the " of the house of commons re-
mystic.) " ported him to be a papist, al-
"■ (" Hubert, who was known " though they allowed he pro-
" to all his countrymen here, " fessed himself to be a pro-
" as well as the whole town of " testant. But what is more
" Rouen in Normandy, to have " considerable, by the oath of
" been bom and bred a pro- " Lawrence Peterson, the mas-
" testant, lived a protestant, and " ter of the vessel, who brought
" owned himself to be a pro- " Hubert to England at this
" testant, on his examination " time, he was still on board,
" as well as at his execution, if a " and did not set his foot on
" man who was downright dis- " English ground, till two days
" tracted may be said to be of " after the fire began." Hig-
" one religion more than of an- gons's Postscript to his Remarks
" other. Yet the committee on this Hist. p. 342.)
400 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. He confessed he had begun the fire, and persisted in
his confession to his death ; for he was hanged upon
no other evidence but that of his own confession. It
is true, he gave so broken an account of the whole
i) matter, that he was thought mad. Yet he was
blindfolded, and carried to several places of the city :
and then, his eyes being opened, he was asked, if
that was the place : and he being carried to wrong
places, after he looked round about for some time,
he said that was not the place : but when he was
brought to the place where it first broke out, he af-
firmed that was the true place. And Tillotson told
me, that Howell, then the recorder of London, was
with him, and had much discourse with him ; and
that he concluded, it was impossible that it could be
a melancholy dream : the horror of the fact, and the
terror of death, and perhaps some engagements in
confession, might put him in such disorder, that it
was not possible to draw a clear account of any
thing from him, but of what related to himself.
'f^ Tillotson, who believed that the city was burnt on
design, told me a circumstance that made the pa-
pists employing such a crazed man in such a service
more credible. Langhorn, the popish counsellor at
law, who for many years passed for a protestant,
was despatching a half-witted man to manage elec-
tions in Kent before the restoration. Tillotson, be-
ing present, and observing what a sort of man he
was, asked Langhorn how he could employ him in
such services. Langhorn answered, it was a maxim
with him in dangerous services to employ none but
half-witted men, if they could be but secret and
obey orders : for if they should change their minds,
and turn informers instead of agents, it would be
OF KING CHARLES II. 401
easy to discredit them, and to carry off the weight 1666.
of any discoveries they could make, by shewing they ao-t
were madmen, and so not like to be trusted in cri*
tical things. -mi.c^
The most extraordinary passage, though it is but a strong
a presumption, was told me by doctor Lloyd and the tion of h.
countess of Clarendon. The latter had a great
estate in the new river that is brought from Ware
to London, which is brought together at Islington,
where there is a great room fuU of pipes that con-
vey it through all the streets of London. The con-
stant order of that matter was, to set all the pipes a
running on Saturday night, that so the cisterns
might be all full by Sunday morning, there being a
more than ordinary consumption of water on that
day. There was one Grant, a papist, under whose
name sir William Petty published his observations
on the biQs of mortality : he had some time before
applied himself to Lloyd, who had great credit with
the countess of Clarendon ^, and said, he could raise
that estate considerably, if she would make him a
trustee for her. His schemes were probable: and
he was made one of the board that governed that
matter : and by that he had a right to come, as oft
as he pleased, to view their works at Islington. He
went thither the Saturday before the fire broke out,
and called for the key of the place where the heads
of the pipes were, and turned all the cocks that were
then open, and stopped the water, and went away,
^ The countess of Clarendon gy : and the Revelations had
was a very weak woman, but a turned Lloyd's head, who was
great pretender to learning and naturally a jealous passionate
devotion ; which occasioned her man. D.
conversing much with the cler-
VOL. I. D d
402 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. and carried the keys with him. So when the fire
broke out next morning, they opened the pipes in
the streets to find water, but there was none. And
some hours were lost in sending to Ishngton, where
the door was to be broke open, and the cocks turned.
And it was long before the water got to London.
Grant indeed denied that he had turned the cocks.
But the officer of the works affirmed, that he had,
according to order, set them all a running, and that
no person had got the keys from him, besides Grant ;
who confessed he had carried away the keys, but
pretended he did it without design ". There were
many other stories set about, as that the papists in
several places had asked if there was no news of the
burning of London, and that it was talked of in
many parts beyond sea, long before the news could
get thither from London. In this matter I was
much determined by what sir Thomas Littleton, the
father, told me. He was a man of a strong head
and sound judgment. He had just as much know-
ledge in trade, history, the disposition of Europe,
and the constitution of England, as served to feed
and direct his own thoughts, and no more. He lived
all the summer long in London, where I was his
next neighbour, and had for seven years a constant
and daily conversation with him. He was treasurer
" (The following record is " member of the company has
produced by Bevill Higgons, p. " power to order the main to
149 of his Remarks, in contra- " be shut down ; nor can it
diction to this account. " Is- " ever be done without a par-
! " lington, March 3, 1724. Cap- " ticular direction of the board,
" tain John Grant admitted a " of which minutes are always
" member of the New River " taken ; and there are no mi-
" Company on Tuesday, Sep- " nutes of this, as will appear
" tember 25, 1666. (23 days " by the company's books.")
" after the fire.) No particular
OF KING CHARLES II. 403
of the navy in conjunction with Osborn, who was 1666.
afterwards lord treasurer, who supplanted him in 771
that post, and got it all into his own hands. He
had a very bad opinion of the king ; and thought
that he had worse intentions than his brother, but
that he had a more dexterous way of covering and
managing them ; only his laziness made him less
earnest in prosecuting them. He had generally the
character of the ablest parliament man in his time.
His chief estate lay in the city, not far from the
place where the fire broke out, though it did not
turn that way. He was one of the committee of
the house of commons, that examined all the pre-
sumptions of the city's being burnt on design : and
he often assured me, that there was no clear pre-
sumption made out about it, and that many stories,
which were published with good assurance, came to
nothing upon a strict examination. He was at that
time, that the inquiry was made, in employment at
court. So whether that biassed him, or not, I can-
not tell. There was so great a diversity of opinions
in the matter, that I must leave it under the same
uncertainty in which I found it. If the French and
Dutch had been at that time designing an impres-
sion elsewhere, it might have been more reasonable
to suppose it was done on design to distract our af-
fairs. But it fell out at a dead time, when no ad-
vantage could be made of it. And it did not seem
probable, that the papists had engaged in the design,
merely to impoverish and ruin the nation ; for they
had nothing ready then to graft upon the confusion
that this put all the people in. Above twelve thou-
sand houses were burnt down, with the greatest part
of the furniture and merchandise that was in them.
D d 2
404 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. All means used to stop it proved ineffectual ; though
the blowing up of houses was the most effectual of
any. But the wind was so high, that fleaks of fire
and burning matter were carried in the air cross se-
veral streets. So that the fire spread not only in
the next neighbourhood, but at a great distance.
The king and the duke were almost aU the day long
on horseback with the guards, seeing to all that
could be done, either for quenching the fire, or for
carrying off persons and goods to the fields all about
London. The most astonishing circumstance of that
dreadful conflagration was, that, notwithstanding the
great destruction that was made, and the great con-
fusion in the streets, I could never hear of any one
person that was either burnt or trodden to death.
The king was never observed to be so much struck
with any thing in his whole life, as with this. But
the citizens were not so well satisfied with the duke's
behaviour. They thought he looked too gay, and
too little concerned. A jealousy of his being con-
233 cerned in it was spread about with great industry,
but with very little appearance of truth. Yet it
grew to be generally believed, chiefly after he owned
he was a papist.
Disorders Jn Scotlaud the fermentation went very high.
in Scotland. _, . . , • /^ 1 i •
1 urner was sent again mto the west m October this
year : and he began to treat the country at the old
rate. The people were alarmed, and saw they were
to be undone. They met together, and talked with
some fiery ministers. Semple, Maxwell, Welsh, and
Guthry were the chief incendiaries. Two gentle-
men that had served in the wars, one a Ueutenantf
colonel, Wallace, and the other that had been a major,
Learmpth, were the best officers they had to rely on.
OF KING CHARLES II. 406
The chief gentlemen of those counties were all clapt 1666.
up in prison, as was formerly told. So that pre-
served them : otherwise they must either have en-
gaged with the people, or have lost their interest
among them. The people were told, that the fire
of London had put things in that confusion at court,
that any vigorous attempt would disorder all the
king's affairs. If the new levied troops had not
stood in theii* way, they would have been able to
have carried all things against them : for the two
troops of guards, with the regiment of foot guards,
would not have been able to have kept their ground
before them. The people, as some of them told me
afterwards, were made to beUeve that the whole
nation was in the same disposition. So on the
thirteenth of November they ran together : and two
hundred of them went to Dunfreis, where Turner
then lay with a few soldiers about him ; the greatest
part of his men being then out in parties for the
levying of finest . So they surprised him before he
could get to his arms: otherwise, he told me, he
would have been killed rather than taken, since he
expected no mercy from them. With himself they
seized his papers and instructions, by which it ap-
peared he had been gentler than his orders were.
So they resolved to keep him, and exchange him as
occasion should be offered. But they did not tell
him what they intended to do with him ; so he
thought, they were keeping him, tiU they might
hang him up with the more solemnity. There was
a considerable cash in his hands, partly for the pay
of his men, partly of the fines which he had raised
in the country, that was seized : but he, to whom
y (See above, p. 211.)
Dd3
406 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. they trusted the keeping of it, ran away with it.
They spread a report, which they have since printed,
and it passed for some time current, that this rising
was the effect of a sudden heat, that the country was
put in by seeing one of their neighbours tied on a
horse hand and foot, and carried away, only because
he could not pay a high fine that was set upon him;
and that upon this provocation the neighbours, who
did not know how soon such usage would fall to
234 their own turn, ran together, and rescued him ; and
that, fearing some severe usage for that, they kept
together, and that, others coming into them, they
went on and seized Turner. But this was a story
made only to beget compassion : for, after the in-
surrection was quashed, the privy council sent some
round the country, to examine the violences that
had been committed, particularly in the parish where
it was given out that this was done. I read the re-
port they made to the council, and aU the depositions
that the people of the country made before them :
but this was not mentioned in any one of them.
A rebellion The ucws of this rising was brought to Eden-
jfl the west. ...
burgh, fame increasing their numbers to some thou-
sands. And this happening to be near Carlisle, the
governor of that place sent an express to court, in
which the strength of the party was magnified much
beyond the truth. The earl of Rothes was then at
court, who had assured the king, that all things
were so well managed in Scotland, that they were
in perfect quiet. There were, he said, some stub-
bom fanatics stiU left, that would be soon subdued :
but there was no danger from any thing that they
or their party could do. He gave no credit to the
express from Carlisle : but, two days after, the news
OF KING CHARLES II. 407
was confirmed by an express from Scotland. Sharp 1666.
was then at the head of the government : so he ma-
naged this little war, and gave all the orders and di-
rections in it. Dalziel was commanded to draw all
the force they had together, which lay then dis-
persed in quarters. When that was done, he
marched westward. A great many ran to the rebels,
who came to be called whigs. At Lanarick, in Clid-
disdale, they had a solemn fast day, in which, after
much praying, they renewed the covenant, and set
out their manifesto : in which they denied that they
rose against the king ; they complained of the op-
pression under which they had groaned ; they de-
sired that episcopacy might be put down, and that
presbytery, and the covenant, might be set up, and
their ministers restored again to them ; and then
they promised, that they would be in all other things
the king's most obedient subjects. The Earl of
Argile raised fifteen hundred men, and wrote to the
council that he was ready to march upon order.
Sharp thought, that if he came into the country,
either he or his men would certainly join with the
rebels : so he sent him no order at all. But he was
at the charge of keeping his men together to no pur-
pose. Sharp was all the while in a dreadful con-
sternation, and wrote dismal letters to court, pray-
ing that the forces which lay in the north of
England might be ordered down : for, he wrote,
they were surrounded with the rebels, and did not
know what was become of the king's forces. He 235
also moved, that the council would go and shut
themselves up in the castle of Edenburgh. But that
was opposed by the rest of the board, as an aban^
doning of the town, and the betraying an. unbe-
D d 4
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. coming fear, which might very much encourage the
rebels, and such as intended to go over to them.
Orders were given out for raising the country:
but there was no mUitia yet formed. In the mean
while Dalziel followed the rebels as close as he
could. He published a proclamation of pardon, as he
was ordered, to all that should in twenty-four hours'
time return to their houses, and declared all that
continued any longer in arms rebels. He found the
country was so well affected towards them, that he
could get no sort of intelligence, but what his own
parties brought into him. The whigs marched to-
wards Edenburgh, and came within two miles of
the town. But finding neither town nor country
declare for them, and that all the hopes their leaders
had given them proved false, they lost heart. From
being once above two thousand, they were now come
to be not above eight or nine hundred. So they re-
solved to return back to the west, where they knew
the people were of their side ; and where they could
more easily disperse themselves, and get either into
England or Ireland. The ministers were very busy
in all those counties, plying people of rank not to
forsake their brethren in this extremity. And they
had got a company of about three or fourscore gen-
tlemen together, who were marching towards them,
when they heard of their defeat : and upon that they
The defeat dispcrscd thcmselvcs. The rebels thought to have
febds &t mai'ched back by the way of Pentland hill. They
pentiand ^gj.g jjq^ much conccmed for the few horses they
had. And they knew that Dalziel, whose horse was
fatigued with a fortnight's constant march, could not
follow them. And if they had gained but one night
more in their maich, they had got out of his reach.
OF KING CHARLES 11. 409
But on the twenty-eighth of November, about an 1666.
hour before sun-set, he came up to them. They
were posted on the top of a hill : so he engaged with
a great disadvantage. They, finding they could not
get off, stopt their march. Their ministers did all
they could by preaching and praying to infuse cou-
rage into them : and they sung the seventy-fourth
and the seventy-eighth Psalms. And so they turned
on the king's forces. They received the first charge
that was given by the troop of guards very resolutely,
and put them in disorder. But that was all the ac-
tion ; for immediately they lost all order, and ran
for their lives. It was now dark : about forty were
killed on the spot, and a hundred and thirty were
taken. The rest were favoured by the darkness of
the night, and the weariness of the king's troops, 236
that were not in case to pursue them, and had no
great heart to it : for they were a poor harmless
company of men ^, become mad by oppression : and
they had taken nothing during all the time they
had been together, but what had been freely given
them by the country people. The rebellion was
broken with the loss of only five on the king's side.
The general came next day into Edenburgh with his
prisoners.
The two archbishops were now delivered out of severe pro-
all their fears : and the common observation, that glLltThe
cruelty and cowardice go together, was too visibly p"*<"'^"-
verified on this occasion. Lord Rothes came down
full of rage : and that (sic) being inflamed by the two
archbishops, he resolved to proceed with the utmost
severity against the prisoners. Burnet advised the
hanging of all those who would not renounce the
2 A fair historian ! S.
410 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. covenant, and promise to conform to the laws for
the future : but that was thought too severe. Yet
he was sent up to London, to procure of the king
an instruction, that they should tender the decla-
ration renouncing the covenant to all who were
thought disaffected ; and proceed against those who
refused that, as against seditious persons. The best
of the episcopal clergy set upon the bishops, to lay
hold on this opportunity for regaining the affections
of the country, by becoming intercessors for the
prisoners and for the country, that was like to be
quartered on and eat up for the favour they had ex-
pressed to them. Many of the bishops went into
this, and particularly Wishart of Edenburgh, though
a rough man, and sharpened by ill usage'*. Yet upon
this occasion he expressed a very christian temper,
such as became one who had felt what the rigours
of a prison had been ; for he sent every day very
liberal supplies to the prisoners : which was indeed
done by the whole town in so bountiful a manner,
that many of them, who being shut up had neither
air nor exercise, were in greater danger by their
plenty, than they had been by all their unhappy
campaign. But Sharp could not be mollified. On
the contrary, he encouraged the ministers in the dis-
affected counties to bring in all the informations they
could gather, both against the prisoners, and against
aU those who had been among them, that they might
be sought for, and proceeded against. Most of those
I got over to Ireland. But the ministers in those
parts acted so iU a part, so unbecoming their cha-
racters, that the aversion of the country to them was
increased to aU possible degrees : they looked on
^ (See above, p. 143.)
OF KING CHARLES II. 411
them now as wolves, and not as shepherds. It was 1666.
a moving sight, to see ten of the prisoners hanged
upon one gibbet at Edenburgh : thirty-five more
were sent to their countries, and hanged up before 237
their own doors ; their ministers all the while using
them hardly, and declaring them damned for then*
rebellion. They might all have saved their Uves, if
they would have renounced the covenant : so they
were really a sort of martyrs ^ for it. They did all at
their death give their testimony, according to their
phrase, to the covenant, and to all that had been
done pursuant to it: and they expressed great joy
in their sufferings. Most of them were but mean
and inconsiderable men in all respects : yet even
these were firm and inflexible in their persuasions.
Many of them escaped, notwithstanding the great
search was made for them. Guthry, the chief of
their preachers, was hid in my mother's house, who
was bred to her brother Waristoun's principles, and
could never be moved from them : he died next
spring. One Maccail, that was only a probationer
preacher, and who had been chaplain in sir James
Steward's house, had gone from Edenburgh to them.
It was believed, he was sent by the party in town, and
that he knew their correspondents. So he was put
to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots;
for they put a paii* of iron boots close on the leg,
and drive wedges between these and the leg. The
common torture was only to drive these in the calf
of the leg : but I have been told they were some-
times driven upon the shin bone. He bore the tor-
ture with great constancy : and either he could say
nothing, or he had the firmness not to discover those
'' Decent term. S.
41« THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1666. who had trusted him. Every man of them could
have saved his own Ufe, if he would accuse any
other: but they were all true to their friends.
Maccail, for all the pains of the torture, died in a
rapture of joy : his last words were, Farewell sun,
moon, and stars, farewell kindred and friends, fare-
well world and time, farewell weak and frail body ;
welcome eternity, welcome angels and saints, wel-
come Saviour of the world, and welcome God the
Judge of all : which he spoke with a voice and
manner that struck all that heard it.
1667. His death was the more cried out on, because it
more gentle came to bc kuowu aftcrwards, that Burnet, who
bisTops! ^^^ come down before his execution, had brought
with him a letter from the king, in which he ap-
proved of all that they had done ; but added, that
he thought there was blood enough shed, and there-
fore he ordered that such of the prisoners as should
promise to obey the laws for the future should be
set at liberty, and that the incorrigible should be
sent to plantations. Burnet let the execution go on,
before he produced his letter, pretending there was
no council-day between. But he, who knew the
contents of it, ought to have moved the lord Rothes
238 to call an extraordinary council to prevent the ex-
ecution. So that blood was laid on him. He was,
conti-ary to his natural temper, very violent at that
time, much inflamed by his family, and by all about
) him. Thus this rebellion, that might have been so
turned in the conclusion of it, that the clergy might
have gained reputation and honour by a wise and
merciful conduct, did now exasperate the country
more than ever against the church. The forces
OF KING CHARLES II. 418
were ordered to lie in the west, where Dalziel acted 1667.
the Muscovite too grossly. He threatened to spit
men, and to roast them : and he killed some in cold
blood, or rather in hot blood; for he was then
drunk, when he ordered one to be hanged, because
he would not tell where his father was, for whom
he was in search. When he heard of any that did
not go to church, he did not trouble himself to set a
fine upon him : but he set as many soldiers upon
him, as should eat him up in a night. By this
means all people were struck with such a terror,
that they came regularly to church. And the clergy
were so delighted with it, that they used to speak
of that time, as the poets do of the golden age.
They never interceded for any compassion to their
people ; nor did they take care to live more regu-
larly, or to labour more carefully. They looked on
the soldiery as their patrons : they were ever in
their company, complying with them in their ex-
cesses : and, if they were not much wronged, they
rather led them into them, than checked them for
them. Dalziel himself and his officers were so dis-
gusted with them, that they increased the com-
plaints, that had now more credit from them, than
from those of the country, who were looked on as
their enemies. Things of so strange a pitch in vice
were told of them, that they seemed scarce credible.
The person, whom I believed the best as to all such
things, was one sir John Cunningham, an eminent
lawyer, who had an estate in the country, and was
the most extraordinary man of his profession in that
kingdom. He was episcopal beyond most men in
Scotland, who for the far greatest part thought that
forms of government were in their own nature in-
414 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. different, and might be either good or bad, according
to the hands in which they fell ; whereas he thought
episcopacy was of a divine right, settled by Christ.
He was not only very learned in the civil and canon
law, and in the philosophical learning, but was very
universal in all other learning : he was a great di-
vine, and well read in the fathers and in ecclesiasti-
cal history. He was, above all, a man of eminent
probity, and of a sweet temper, and indeed one of
the piousest ^ men of the nation. The state of the
church in those parts went to his heart : for it was
not easy to know how to keep an even hand be-
2I39tween the perverseness of the people on the one
side, and the vices of the clergy on the other. They
looked on all those that were sensible of their mis-
carriages, as enemies of the church. It was after
all hard to beHeve aU that was set about against
them.
A change of The king's affairs in England forced him to
counsel, and „ . .
more mode- softcu his govcrnmcnt every where. So at this
the govern- time the carls of Tweedale and Kincardin went to
'"^"*' court, and laid before the king the ill state the
country was in. Sir Robert Murray talked often
with him about it. Lord Lauderdale was more
cautious, by reason of the jealousy of his being a
presbyterian. Upon all which the king resolved to
put Scotland into other hands. A convention of
estates had been called the year before, to raise mo-
ney for maintaining the troops. This was a very
ancient practice in the Scotish constitution : a con-
vention was summoned to meet within twenty days :
they could only levy money, and petition for the re-
« Is that Scotch ? S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 41^
dress of grievances ; but could make no new laws ; 1667.
and meddled only with that for which they were
brought together. In the former convention Sharp
had presided, being named by the earl of Rothes as
the king's commissioner. In the winter 1666, or
rather in the spring 1667, there was another con-
vention called, in which the king, by a special let-
ter, appointed duke Hamilton to preside. And the
king, in a letter to lord Rothes, ordered him to
write to Sharp to stay within his diocese, and to
come no more to Edenburgh. He upon this was
struck with so deep a melancholy, that he shewed
as gTeat an abjectness under this slight disgrace, as
he had shewed insolence before, when he had more
favour. The convention continued the assessment
for another year at six thousand pounds a month.
Sharp, finding he was now under a cloud, studied
to make himself popular by looking after the educa-
tion of the marquis of Huntly, now the duke of Gor-
don. He had an order long before from the king to
look to his education, that he might be bred a pro-
testant ; for the strength of popery within that king-
dom lay in his family. But, though this was or-
dered during the earl of Midletoun's ministry. Sharp
had not all this while looked after it. The earl of
Rothes's mistress was a papist, and nearly related
to the marquis of Huntly. So Sharp, either to
make his court the better, or at the lord Rothes's
desire, had neglected it these four years : but now
he called for him. He was then above fifteen, well
hardened in his prejudices by the loss of so much
time. What pains was taken on him, I know not.
But, after a trial of some months, Sharp said, he
saw he was not to be wrought on, and sent him
416 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. back to his mother. So the interest that popery
had in Scotland was believed to be chiefly owing to
Sharp's compliance with the earl of Rothes's amours.
240 The neglect of his duty in so important a matter
was much blamed: but the doing it upon such a
motive was reckoned yet more infamous. After the
convention was over, lord Rothes sent up Drumond
to represent to the king the iU affections of the
western parts. And, to touch the king in a sensible
point, he said, the covenant stuck so deep in their
hearts, that no good could be done till that was
rooted out. So he proposed, as an expedient, that
the king would give the council a power to require
all whom they suspected to renounce the covenant,
and to proceed against such as refused it as traitors.
Drumond had yet too much of the air of Russia
about him, though not with Dalziel's fierceness : he
had a great measure of knowledge and learning, and
some true impressions of religion : but he [was am*
bitious and covetous, and] thought, that upon such
powers granted, there would be great dealing in
bribes and confiscations. A slight accident hap^
pened, which raised a jest that spoiled his errand.
The king flung the cover of the letter from Scot-
land into the fire, which was carried up all in a
flame, and set the chimney on fire : upon which it
was said, that the Scotish letter had fired White*
hall : and it was answered, the cover had almost set
Whitehall on fire, but the contents of it would cer-
) tainly set Scotland all in a flame. It was said, that
the law for renouncing the covenant inferring only
a forfeiture of employments to those who refused it,
the stretching it so far as was now proposed would
be liable to great exception. Yet in compliance
OF KING CHARLES II. 417
with a public message, the instruction was sent 1667.
down, as it was desired : but by a private letter lord
Rothes was ordered to make no use of it, except
upon a special command; since the king had only-
given way to what was desired, to strike terror in
the ill affected. The secret of it broke out : so it
had no effect, but to make the lord Rothes and his
party more odious. Burnet, upon Sharp's disgrace,
grew to be more considered. So he was sent up
with a proposition of a very extraordinary nature,
that the western counties should be cantoned under
a special government, and peculiar taxes, together
with the quartering of soldiers upon them. It was
said, that those counties put the nation to the
charge of keeping up such a force : and therefore
it seemed reasonable that the charge should lie
whoUy on them. He also proposed, that a special
council should be appointed to sit at Glasgow : and,
among other reasons to enforce that motion, he said
to the king, and afterwards to lord Lauderdale, that
some at the council board were iQ affected to the
church, and favoured her enemies, and that traitors
had been pleaded for at that board. Lord Lauder-
dale writ down presently to know what ground
there was for this; since, if it was not true, he
had Burnet at mercy for leasing-making, which was 241
more criminal when the whole council was con-
cerned in the lie that was made. The only ground
for this was, that one of the rebels, excepted in the
indemnity that was proclaimed some time before,
being taken, and it being evident that his brain
was turned, it was debated in council, whether he
should be proceeded against, or not: some argued
against that, and said, it woidd be a reproach to the
VOL. I. E e
418 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. government to hang a madman. This could in no
sort justify such a charge : so lord Lauderdale re-
solved to make use of it in due time. The proposi-
tion itself was rejected, as that which the king'
could not do by law. Burnet upon this went to the
lord Clarendon, and laid before him the sad estate
of their affairs in Scotland. He spoke to the king
of it : and he took care to set the English bishops
on the king, with whom Burnet had more credit,
as more entirely theirs, than ever Sharp had. The
earl of Clarendon's credit was then declining : and
it was a clear sign of it, when the king told lord
Lauderdale all that he had said to him on Scotish
affairs; which provoked him extremely. Burnet was
sent down with good words : but the king was re-
solved to put the affairs of Scotland under anotlier
management. Lord Kincardin came down in April,
and told me, that lord Rothes was to be stript of all
his places, and to be only lord chancellor. The earl
of Tweedale and sir Robert Murray were to have
the secret in their hands. He told me the peace
was as good as made : and when that was done, the
army would be disbanded; and things would be
managed with more temper, both in church and
state. This was then so great a secret, that nei-
ther the lord Rothes nor the two archbishops had
the least hint of it. Some time after this, lord
Rothes went to the north, [to visit his mistress, who
was obliged to live in the north;] upon which an
! accident happened that hastened his fall.
The Scots had during the war set out many pri-
vateers ; and these had brought in many rich prizes.
fleet came The Dutch, bciug provokcd with this, sent Van
Friti.!^'' Gheudt with a good fleet into the Frith, to burn the
OF KING CHARLES It^'^ i' 419
coast, and to recover such ships as were in that 1667-
part. He came into the PVith on the first of May.
If he had at first hung out English colours, and at-
tacked Leith harbour immediately, which was then
full of ships, he might have done what mischief he
pleased : for all were secure, and were looking for
sir Jeremy Smith with some frigates for the defence
of the coast, since the king had set out no fleet this
year. There had been such a dissipation of trea-
sure, that, for all the money that was given, there
was not enough left to set out a fleet. But the
court covered this by saying, the peace was as good
as concluded at Breda, where the lord Hollis and
sir Wilham Coventry '^ were treating about it as 242
plenipotentiaries : and, though no cessation was
agreed on, yet they reckoned on it as sure. Upon
this, a saying of the earl of Northumberland's was
much repeated : when it was said, that the king's
mistress was like to ruin the nation, he said, it was
she that saved the nation. While we had a house
of commons that gave aU the money that was asked,
it was better to have the money squandered away
in luxury and prodigality, than to have it saved for
worse purposes. Van Gheudt did nothing in the
Frith for some hours : he shot against Bruntisland
without doing any mischief. The country people
ran down to the coast, and made a great shew.
But this was only a feint, to divert the king from
that which was chiefly intended : for he sailed out
and joined De Ruyter : and so the shameful attack
was made upon the river of Medway : the chain at
the mouth of it, which was then all its security, was
. ^1 ^^^ went
broke : and the Dutch fleet sailed up to Chatham : to Chat-
ham, and
'^ Mr. H. Coventry. O. burnt our
E e 2 ''''■
420 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. of which I will say no more in this place, but go on
' " with the affairs of Scotland.
Lord Rothes's being out of the way when the
country was in such danger was severely aggra-
vated by the lord Lauderdale, and did bring on the
change somewhat the sooner. In June sir Robert
Murray came down with a letter from the king, su-
perseding lord Rothes's commission, putting the
treasury in commission, and making lord Rothes
lord chancellor. He excused himself from being
raised to that post all he could ; and desired to con-
tinue lord treasurer : but he struggled in vain, and
was forced to submit at last. Now all was turned
< to a more sober and more moderate management.
Even Sharp grew meek and humble : and said to
my self, it was a great happiness to have to deal
with sober and serious men ; for lord Rothes and
his crew were perpetually drunk. When the peace
of Breda was concluded, the king wrote to the
Scotish council, and communicated that to them ;
and with that signified, that it was his pleasure that
the army should be disbanded ^. The earl of Rothes,
Burnet, and all the officers, opposed this much. The
rebellious disposition of the western counties was
much aggravated : it seemed necessary to govern
them by a military power. Several expedients were
proposed on the other hand. Instead of renouncing
the covenant, in which they pretended there were
many points of religion concerned, a bond was pro-
! posed for keeping the peace, and against rising in
arms. This seemed the better test ; siace it secured
the public quiet, and the peace of the country, which
was at present the most necessary: the religious
* Four thats in one line. S.
OF KING CHARLES IL 421
part was to be left to time and good management. 1667.
So an indemnity of a more comprehensive nature 040
was proclaimed : and the bond was all the security
that was demanded. Many came into the bond :
though there were some among them that pretended
scruples : for, it was said, peace was a word of a
large extent : it might be pretended, that ohefying
all the laws was implied in it. Yet the far greater
number submitted to this. Those who were dis-
turbed with scruples were a few melancholy incon-
siderable persons. -
In order to the disbanding the army with more
security, it was proposed, that a county militia should
be raised, and trained for securing the public peace,
llhe two archbishops did not like this : they said,
the commons, of whom the mUitia must be com-
posed, being generally iU affected to the church, this
would be a prejudice rather than a security. But,
to content them, it was concluded, that in counties
that were ill affected, there should be no foot raised,
and only some troops of horse. Burnet complained
openly, that he saw episcopacy was to be pulled
down, and that in such an extremity he could not
look on, and be silent. He writ upon these matters
a long and sorrowful letter to Sheldon : and upon
that Sheldon writ a very long one to sir R. Murray ;
which I read, and found more temper and modera-
tion in it, than I could have expected from him^
Murray had got so far into his confidence, and he
seemed to depend so entirely on his sincerity, that
^ Sheldon was a very gi-eat of Canterbury, see, besides the
and excellent man. S. (Of article Sheldon in the Biogra-
this eminent prelate, who, as it phia Britannica, bishop Parker's
was said by sir F. Wen man, was work, De Rebus sui Temporis
born and bred to be archbishop Commentarios, p. 35 — 46.)
E e 3
422 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. no informations against him could work upon SheU
don. Upon Burnet's carrying things so high. Sharp
was better used, and was brought again to the coun-
cil board, where he began to talk of moderation :
and in the debate concerning the disbanding the
army, he said, it was better to expose the bishops to
whatsoever might happen, than to have the king-
dom governed, for their sakes, by a military power.
Yet in private he studied to possess all people with
prejudices against the persons then employed, as the
enemies of the church. At that time lord Lauder-
dale got the king to write to the privy council, let-
ting them know that he had been informed, traitors
had been pleaded for at that board. This was le-
velled at Burnet. The council, in their answer, as
they denied the imputation, so they desired to know
who it was that had so aspersed them. Burnet,
when the letter was offered to him to be signed by
him, said, he could not say traitors had never been
pleaded for at that board, since he himself had once
pleaded for one, and put them in mind of the parti-
cular case. After this, he saw how much he had ex-
posed himself, and gi'ew tamer. The army was dis-
banded : so lord Rothes's authority as general, as
well as his commission, was now at an end, after it
had lasted three years. The pretence of his com-
mission was the preparing matters for a national sy-
' 244, nod : yet in all that time there was not one step
made towards one : for the bishops seemed concerned
only for their authority and their revenues, and
took no care of regulating either the worship or
the discipline. The earls of Rothes and Tweedale
went to court. The former tried what he could do
by the duke of Monmouth's means^ who had married
V^i OF KING CHARLES IL
his niece : but he was then young, and was engaged 1667.
in a mad ramble after pleasure, and minded no busi-
ness. So lord Rothes saw the necessity of applying
himself to lord Lauderdale: and he did dissemble
his discontent so dexterously, that he seemed well
pleased to be freed from the load of business that
lay so heavy upon him. He moved to have his ac-
counts of the treasury passed, to which great ex-
ceptions might have been made ; and to have an ap-
probation passed under the gi'eat seal of all he had
done while he was the king's commissioner. Lord
Tweedale was against both ; and moved that he
should be for some time kept under the lash : he
knew, that, how humble soever he was at that time,
he would be no sooner secured from being called to
an account for what was passed, than he would set
up a cabal in opposition to every thing ; whereas
they were sure of his good behaviour, as long as he
continued.to be so obnoxious. The king loved lord
Rothes : so the earl of Lauderdale consented to all
he asked. But they quickly saw good cause to re-
pent of their forwardness.
At this time a great change happened in the a great
course of the earl of Lauderdale's life, which made Lauder-
the latter part of it very different from what the for- Je%er.
mer had been. Mr. Murray of the bedchamber had
been page and whipping boy to king Charles L ; and
had great credit with him, not only in procuring
private favours, but in all his counsels. He was
well turned for a court, very insinuating, but very
false; and of so revengeful a temper, that rather
than any of the counsels given liy his enemies should
succeed, he would have revealed them, and betrayed
both the king and them. It was generally believed,
E e 4
4«4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. that he had discovered the most important of all his
secrets to his enemies. He had one particular qua-
lity, that when he was drunk, which was very often,
he was upon a most exact reserve, though he was
pretty open at all other times. He got a warrant to
be an eai'l, which was signed at Newcastle. Yet he
got the king to antedate it, as if it had been signed
. at Oxford, to get the precedence of some whom he
hated : but he did not pass it under the great seal
during the king's Ufe ; but did it after his death,
though his warrant, not being passed, died with the
king. His eldest daughter, to whom his honour,
such as it was, descended, married sir Lionel Tall-
245 mash of Suffolk, a man of a noble family. After
her father's death, she took the title of countess of
Dysert. She was a woman of great beauty, but of
far greater parts. She had a wonderful quickness
of apprehension, and an amazing vivacity in con-
versation. She had studied not only divinity and
history, but mathematics and philosophy. She was
violent in every thing she set about, a violent friend,
but a much more violent enemy. She had a restless
ambition, lived at a vast expense, and was raven-
ously covetous ; and would have stuck at nothing by
which she might compass her ends. [She had ble-
mishes of another kind, which she seemed to de-
spise, and to take little care of the decencies of her
sex.] She had been early in a correspondence with
lord Lauderdale, that had given occasion to censure.
When he was prisoner after Worcester fight, she
made him believe he was in great danger of his Ufe,
and that she saved it by her intrigues with Crom-
well : which was not a little taken notice of Crom-
well was certainly fond of her, and she took care to
OF KING CHARLES II. HT 425
entertain him in it ; till he, finding what was said 1667.
upon it, broke it ofF^. Upon the king's restoration,
she thought that lord Lauderdale made not those
returns that she expected. They lived for some
years at a distance. But upon her husband's death
she made up all quarrels : so that lord Lauderdale
and she lived so much together, that his lady was
offended at it, and went to Paris, where she died
about three years after. The lady Dysert came to
have so much power over the lord Lauderdale, that
it lessened him much in esteem of all the world ; for
he delivered himself up to all her humours and pas-
sions. All applications were made to her : she took
upon her to determine every thing: she sold all
places, and was wanting in no methods that could
bring her money, which she lavished out in a most
profuse vanity. As the conceit took her, she made
him fall out with all his friends, one after another :
with the earls of ArgUe, Tweedale, and Kincardin,
with duke Hamilton, the marquis of Athol, and sir
Robert Murray, who all had their turns in her dis-
pleasure, which very quickly drew lord Lauderdale's
after it. If after such names it is not a presump-
tion to name my self, I had my share likewise.
From that time to the end of his days he became
quite another sort of man than he had been in all
the former parts of his life. Sir Robert Murray
had been designed by her father to be her husband,
and was long her true friend. She knew his inte-
grity was proof against all attempts. He had been
hitherto the lord Lauderdale's chief friend, and main
support. He had great esteem paid him, both by
the king and by the whole court : and he employed
s Cromwell hfid gallantries with her. S.
426 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
] 667. it all for the earl of Lauderdale's service. He used
great freedom with him at proper times ; and was a
faithful adviser, and reprover as much as the other
246 could bear it. Lady Dysert laid hold on his absence
in Scotland to make a breach between them. She
made lord Lauderdale believe, that Murray assumed
to himself the praise of all that was done, and was
not ill pleased to pass as his governor. Lord Lauder-
dale's pride was soon fired with those ill impressions.
Scotland The government of Scotland had now another
Si go- face. All payments were regularly made : there
verned. ^^^ ^^ ovcrplus of 10,000/. of the revenue saved
every year : a magazine of arms was bought with
it: and there were several projects set on foot for
the encouragement of trade and manufactures. Lord
Tweedale and sir Robert Murray were so entirely
united, that, as they never disagreed, so all plied be-
fore them. Lord Tweedale was made a privy coun-
sellor in England : and, his son having married the
earl of Lauderdale's only child, they seemed to be
inseparably united. When he came down from Lon-
don, he brought a letter from the king to the coun-
cil, recommending the concerns of the church to
their care : in particular, he charged them to sup-
press conventicles, which began to spread generally
through the western counties : for upon the disband-
ing the army, the country, being delivered from that
terror, did now forsake their churches, and got their
old ministers to come among them ; and they were
not wanting in holding conventicles from place to
place. The king wrote also by him a letter to Sharp
with his own pen, in which he assured him of his
zeal for the church, and of his favour to himself.
Lord Tweedale hoped this would have gained him
>!,. OF KING CHARLES II. 427
to his side : but he was deceived in it. Sharp quickly 1667.
returned to his former insolence. Upon the earl of
Tweedale's return, there was a great application to
public business : no vice was in reputation : justice
was inipartially administered: and a commission
was sent to the western counties to examine into all
the complaints of unjust and illegal oppressions by
Turner, Dalziel, and others. Turner's warrants had
been seized with himself; and though upon the de-
feat given the whigs he was left by them, so that,
beyond all men's expectations, he escaped out of
their hands, yet he had nothing to justify himself
by. The truth is, this inquiry was chiefly levelled
at lord Rothes and Burnet, to cast the odium of the
late rebellion on their injustice and ill conduct.
And it was intended that Turner should accuse
them : but he had no vouchers to shew. These
were believed to be withdrawn by an artifice of the
lord Rothes. But, before the matter was quite
ended, those in whose hands his papers were left,
sent them sealed up to his lodgings. But he was by
that time broken : so, since the government had
used him hardly, he, who was a man of spirit,
would not shew his vouchers, nor expose his friends. 247
So that matter was carried no farther. And the
people of the country cried out against those cen-
sures. It was said, that when by such violent pro-
ceedings men had been inflamed to a rebellion, upon
which so much blood was shed, all the reparation
given was, that an oflicer or two were broken ; and a
great man was taken down a little upon it, without
making any public examples for the deterring others.
Sir Robert Murray went through the west of Scot- Great com-
land. When he came back, he told me, the clergy Lui" of tiie
clergv.
428 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. were such a set of men, so ignorant, and so scanda-
lous, that it was not possible to support them, unless
the greatest part of them could be turned out, and
better men found to be put in their places. But it
was not easy to know how this could be done. Bur-
net had placed them all : and he thought himself in
some sort bound to support them. The clergy were
so linked together, that none of them could be got
to concur in getting proofs of crimes brought against
their brethren. And the people of the country pre-
tended scruples. They said, to accuse a minister
before a bishop was an acknowledging his jurisdic-
tion over his clergy, or, to use a hard word much in
use among them, it was homologating his power.
So Murray proposed, that a court should be consti-
tuted by a special commission from the king, made
up of some of the laity as well as the clergy, to try
the truth of these scandalous reports that went upon
the clergy : and he writ about it to Sheldon, who
approved of it. Sharp also seemed well pleased with
it, though he abhorred it in his heart: for he
thought it struck at the root of their authority, and
was Erastianism in the highest degree. Burnet said,
it was a turning him out of his bishopric, and the
declaring him either incapable of judging his clergy,
or unworthy of that trust. His clergy cried out
upon it ; and said, it was a delivering them up to
the rage of their enemies, who hated them only for
the sake of their functions, and for their obedience
to the laws; and that, if irregular methods were
taken to encourage them, they would get any thing,
true or false, to be sworn against them. The diffi-
culties that arose upon this put a stop to it. And
the earl of Lauderdale's aversion to sir Robert Mur-
I -) OF KING CHARLES II. 429
ray began a disjointing of all the counsels of Scot- 1667*
land. Lord Tweedale had the chief confidence :
and next him lord Kincardin was most trusted.
The presbyterians, seeing a softening in the execu-
tion of the law, and observing that the archbishops
were jealous of lord Tweedale, fancied he was theirs
in his heart. Upon that they grew very insolent.
The clergy was in many places ill used by them ^.
They despaired of any farther protection from the
government. They saw designs were forming to
turn them all out : and, hearing that they might 248
be better provided in Ireland, they were in many
places bought out, and prevailed on to desert their
cures '. The people of the country hoped, that, upon
their leaving them, they might have their old minis-
ters again ; and upon that were willing enough to
enter into those bargains with them : and so in a
very little time there were many vacancies made all
over those counties. The lord Tweedale took great
pains to engage Leightoun into the same counsels
with him. He had magnified him highly to the
king, as much the greatest man of the Scotish clergy.
And the lord Tweedale's chief aim, with relation to
church matters, was to set him at the head of them :
for he often said to me, that more than two parts in
three of the whole business of the government re-
^ (Salmon, in his Examina- " could not have been ap-
tionof Burnet's History, vol. i. " prehended from heathens,
page 586. produces a passage " From these things I
from the bishop's Four Con- " may well assume, that the
ferences, published in 1673, in " persecution lies mainly on the
which, after particularizing the " conformists' side, who, for
cruel usage the conforming " their obedience to the laws,
clergy met with from these peo- " lie thus open to the fury of
pie, the author says, "Believe " their enemies." p. 290.)
" me, these barbarous outrages ' So Ireland was well pro-
*' have been suchj that worse vided. S.
430 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. lated to the church. So he studied to bring in a set
of episcopal men of another stamp, and to set Leigh-
toun at their head. He studied to draw in Mr.
Charteris. But he had such sad thoughts of man-
kind, and such humble ones of himself, that he
thought little good could be done, and that, as to
that little, he was not a proper instrument. Leigh-
toun was prevailed on to go to London, where, as
he told me, he had two audiences of the king. He
laid before him the madness of the former adminis-
tration of church affairs, and the necessity of turn-
ing to more moderate counsels : in particular, he
proposed a comprehension of the presbyterian party,
by altering the terms of the laws a little, and by
such abatements as might preserve the whole for
the future, by granting somewhat for the present.
But he entered into no expedients : only he studied
to fix the king in the design that the course of his
affairs led him to, though contrary to his own incli-
nations, both in England and Scotland. In order
to the opening this, I must change the scene.
Affairs in The Dutch War had turned so fatally on the king,
Engian , ^^^Qi it made it necessary for him to try how to re-
cover the affections and esteem of his people. He
found a slackening the execution of the law went
a great way in the city of London, and with the
trading part of the nation. The house of commons
continued stiU in their fierceness, and aversion to all
moderate propositions ; but in the intervals of par-
ciarendon's liament the execution was softened. The earl of
•sgrace. darejjjjQji found his credit was declining, that all
the secrets of state were trusted to Bennet, and that
he had no other share in them than his post re-
quired. The lady Castlemain set herself most vio-
OF KING CHARLES II. fTlT 461
lently against him. And the duke of Buckingham, 1667.
as often as he was admitted to any familiarities with
the king, studied with all his wit and humour to
make lord Clarendon and all his counsels appear ri-
diculous. Lively jests were at all times apt to take 249
with the king. The earl of Clarendon fell under
two other misfortunes before the war broke out.
The king had granted him a large piece of ground
near St. James's to build a house on : he intended a
good ordinary house : but, not understanding those
matters himself, he put the managing of that into
the hands of others ; who run him into a vast charge
of about 50,000/. three times as much as he had de-
signed to lay out upon it ^. During the war, and in
the plague -year, he had about three hundred men
at work, which he thought would have been an ac-
ceptable thing, when so many men were kept at
work, and so much money, as was duly paid, cir-
culated about. But it had a contrary effect. It
raised a great outcry against him. Some called it
Dunkirk house, intimating that it was built by his
share of the price of Dunkirk. Otl>ers called it Hol-
land house, because he was believed to be no friend
to the war : so it was given out, that he had the
money from the Dutch. It was visible, that in a
time of public calamity he was building a very no-
ble palace. Another accident was, that before the
war there were some designs on foot for the repair-
^ His son, the earl of Ro- rest of his actions himself. D.
Chester, told me, when he left (The bishop's account is also
England, he ordered him to tell confirmed by that of lord Cla-
all his friends, that if they could rendon himself, in the Continu-
excuse the vanity and folly of ation of his Life, p. 512. Com-
the great house, he would un- pare also speaker Onslow's note
dertake to answer for all the below, at pi 354' )
432 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. ing of St. Paul's : and many stones were brought
thither. That project was laid aside during the
war. He upon that bought the stones, and made
use of them in building his own house. This, how
H slight soever it may seem to be, yet had a great ef-
fect by the management of his enemies.
Southamp- Another misfortune was, that he lost his chief
toil's death. . i i i .
fnend, to whom he trusted most, and who was his
greatest support, the earl of Southampton. The pain
of the stone grew upon him to such a degree, that he
had resolved to be cut : but a woman came to him,
who pretended she had an infallible secret for dis-
solving the stone, and brought such vouchers to him,
that he put himself into her hands. The medicine
had a gi'eat operation, though it ended fatally : for
he passed great quantities of gravel, that looked like
the coats of a stone sliced of. This encouraged him
to go on, till his pains increased so, that no man
was ever seen to die in such torments ; which made
him oft tremble all over, so that the bed shook with
it ; yet he bore it with an astonishing patience. He
not only kept himself from saying any indecent
thing, but endured all that misery with the firmness
of a great man, and the submission of a good chris-
tian. The cause of all appeared when he was
opened after his death: for the medicine had stripped
the stone of its outward sUmy coats, which made it
lay soft and easy upon the muscles of the bladder ;
whereas when these were dissolved, the inner and
harder parts of the stone, that were all ragged by
250 the dissolution that was begun, lay upon the neck of
the bladder, which raised those violent pains of which
he died. The court was now delivered of a great
man, whom they did not much love, and who they
OF KING CHARLES II. 4S3
knew did not love them. The treasury was put in 1667.
commission : and the earl of Clarendon had no in-
terest there. He saw the war, though managed by
other counsels, yet was like to end in his ruin : for
all errors were cast on him. The business of Chatham
was a terrible blow : and though the loss was great,
the infamy was greater. The parliament had given
above five millions towards the war : but, through
the luxury and waste of the court, this money was
so squandered away, that the king could neither set
but a fleet nor defend his coasts. Upon the news of
the Dutch fleet's being in the river, the king did not
ride down himself, nor appear at the head of his peo-
ple, who were then in such imminent danger. He
only sent the duke of Albemarle down, and was in-
tending to retire to Windsor. But that looked so
like a flying from danger, that he was prevailed on
to stay. And it was given out, that he was very
cheerful that night at supper with his mistresses,
wMch drew many libels upon him, that were writ
with as much wit as malice, and brought him under
a general contempt. He was compared to Nero, who
sung while Rome was burning. A day or two after
that, he rode through London, accompanied with the
most popular men of his court, and assured the citi-
zens he would live and die with his people, upon
which there were some acclamations : but the mat-
ter went heavily. The city was yet in ashes : and
the jealousy of burning it on design had got so
among them, that the king himself was not free
from suspicion ^ If the Dutch had pursued their
' (The house of commons " his majesty for his great care
resolved, " That the thanks of " and endeavour to prevent the
" that house should be given " burning of the city of Lon->
VOL. I. F f
43* THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. advantage in the first consternation, they might have
done more mischief, and have come a great way up
the Thames, and burnt many merchant ships : but
they thought they had done enough, and so they
sailed away. The court was at a stand what to do :
for the French had assured them the treaty was as
good as finished. Whether the French set this on,,
as that which would both weaken the fleet of Eng-
land, and alienate the King so entirely from the
Dutch, that he would be easily engaged into new
alliances to revenge this affront, as many believe, I
cannot pretend to determine.
The earl of Essex was at that time in Paris, on
his way home from the waters of Bourbon : and he
told me, the queen-mother of England sent for him,
as being one of her son's privy council ; and told
The Irish him, the Irish had sent over some to the court of
sought the
protectioa Fraucc, dcsiriug money and arms with some offi-
cers, and undertook to put that island into the
hands of the French. He told me, he found the
queen was in her inclinations and advices true to
her son's interest : but he was amazed to see, that a
woman, who in a drawing-room was the liveliest
woman of the age, and had a vivacity of imagination
that surprised all who came near her, yet after all
her practice in affairs, had so little either of judgment
or conduct : and he did not wonder at the miscar-
riage of the late king's counsels, since she had such
251 a share in them. But the French had then greater
" don." Salmon's Examination, net's account below, he accused
V. i. p. 602. It is observable, the papists of an intention to
that Gates makes use of the kill the king during the confla-
known fact of the king's activity gration, he said that they relent-
in preventing the progress of the ed upon seeing him so active in
fire ; for when, according to Bur- quenching it. See p. 427.)
of France
OF KING CHARLES II. 433
things in view. The king of Spain was dead. And 1667^
now, after the French had managed the war so,
that they had been at no part of the expense of it,
nor brought a ship to the assistance of the Dutch in
any engagement, and that both England and Hol-
land had made a great loss both in ships and trea-
sure, they resolved to manage the peace so, as to
oblige the king by giving him a peace, when he was
in no condition to carry on a war. I enter not into
our negotiation with the bishop of Munster, nor his
treacherous departing from his engagements, since I
know nothing of that matter, but what is in print.
As soon as the peace was made, the king saw
with what disadvantage he was like to meet his
parliament. So he thought the disgracing a pub-
lic minister, who, by his being long in so high a
post, had drawn upon himself much envy, and
many enemies, would cover himself and the rest of
his court. Other things concurred to set this for-
ward. The king was grown very weary of the
queen : and it was believed, he had a great mind to
be rid of her. The load of that marriage was cast
on the lord Clarendon, as made on design to raise
his own grandchildren. Many members of the house
of commons, such as Clifford, Osbom, Ker, Little-
ton, and Seimour, were brought to the king ; who
all assured him, that upon his restoration they in-
tended both to have raised his authority and to
have increased his revenue; but that the earl of
Clarendon had discouraged it, and that all his crea-
tures had possessed the house with such jealousies
of the king, that they thought it was not fit to trust
him too much nor too far. This made a deep im-
pression on the king, who was weary of lord Cla-
Ff 2
436 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. rendon's imposing way, and had a mind to be freed
from the authority, to wliich he had been so long
accustomed, that it was not easy to keep him with-
in bounds.
The duke of Yet the kiuff was so afraid to ena-affe himself too
Richmond's . . '=' . .
marriage, deep in his owu afFairs, that it was a doubt whe-
ther he would dismiss him or not, if a concern of
one of his amours had not sharpened his resent-
ment ; so that what other considerations could not
do, was brought about by an ill-gi'ounded jealousy.
Mistress Steward had gained so much on the king,
252! and yet had kept her ground with so much firm-
ness, that the king seemed to design, if possible, to
legitimate his addresses to her, when he saw no
hope of succeeding any other way *". The duke of
Richmond, being a widower, courted her. The king
seemed to give way to it; and pretended to take
such care of her, that he would have good settle-
ments made for her. He hoped by that means to
have broke the matter decently; for he knew the
duke of Richmond's affairs were in disorder. So
the king ordered lord Clarendon to examine the
estate he pretended to settle. But he was told,
whether true or false I cannot tell, that lord Cla-
rendon told her, that the duke of Richmond's af-
fairs, it was true, were not very clear ; but that a
family so near related to the king could never be
left in distress, and that such a match would not
come in her way every day ; so she had best consi-
"> The king was once so Charles could not forbear tell-
iftuch provoked as to tell her, ing the duke of Richmond,
he hoped he should live to see when he was drunk, at lord
her ugly and willing : but af- Townshend's in Norfolk, as n>y
ter she was married, she had uncle told mfe, who was pre-
more complaisance, which king sent. , D.
OF KING CHARLES IL 437
der well, before she rejected it. This was carried 1667.
to the king, as a design he had that the crown ^
might descend to his own grandchildren ; and that
he was afraid, lest strange methods should be taken
to get rid of the queen, and to make way for her.
When the king saw that she had a mind to many
the duke of Richmond, he offered to make her a
duchess, and to settle an estate on her. Upon this
she said, she saw she must either many him, or
suffer much in the opinion of the world. And she
was prevailed on by the duke of Richmond, who
was passionately in love with her, to go privately
from Whitehall, and marry him without giving the
king notice. The eaii of Clarendon's son, the lord
Combury, was going to her lodgings, upon some
assignation that she had given him about her af-
fairs, knowing nothing of her intentions. He met
the king in the door coming out full of fury. And
he, suspecting that lord Combury was in the design,
spoke to him as one in a rage, that forgot aU de-
cency, and for some time would not hear lord Com-
bury speak in his own defence. In the afternoon
he heard him with more temper, as he himself told
me". Yet this made so deep an impression, that
he resolved to take the seals from his father. The
king said to the lord Lauderdale, that he had talked
of the matter with Sheldon ; and that he convinced
him, that it was necessary to remove lord Clarendon
from his post. And as soon as it was done, the
king sent for Sheldon, and told him what he had
done. But he answered nothing. When the king
insisted to oblige him to declare himself, he said,
" Who told him r S. (Lord CJornbury, as it should seem.)
Ff3
438 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. Sir^ I wish you would put away this woman that
you keep. The king upon that replied sharply, why-
had he never talked to him of that sooner, but took
this occasion now to speak of it. Lauderdale told
me, he had aU this from the king: and that the
253 king and Sheldon had gone into such expostulations
upon it, that from that day forward Sheldon could
never recover the king's confidence ".
Bridgman The seals were sdven to sir Orlando Bridgman,
made lord ... .
keeper. lord chicf justicc of the common pleas, then in great
esteem, which he did not maintain long after his
advancement. His study and practice lay so en-
tirely in the common law, that he never seemed to
apprehend what equity was : nor had he a head
made for business or for such a court. He was a
man of great integrity, and had very serious im-
pressions of religion on his mind. He had been al-
ways on the side of the church p : yet he had great
tenderness for the nonconformists : and the bishops
having all declared for lord Clarendon, except one
or two, he and the new scene of the ministry were
inclined to favour them. The duke of Buckingham,
\ • Sheldon had refused the creature Sheldon was known to
sacrament to the king for living be. And this was the true
in adultery. S. The king had cause of lord Clarendon's dis-
asked Sheldon, if the church of grace, D. (Salmon, in his Ex-
England would allow of a di- amination of Burnet's History,
vorce, where both parties were remarks, " that if the archbi-
consenting, and one of them '• shop's friendship to the lord
lay under a natural- incapacity " Clarendon was one induce-
of having children ; which he " ment for his grace's using
took time to consider of, under " this freedom, as our author
astrictcommandof secresy: but "would insinuate, this rather
the duke of Richmond's clan- " advances than depresses Shel-
destine marriage, before he had " don's character.")
given an answer, made the king p What side should he be
suspect he had revealed the se- of? S.
cret to lord Clarendon, whose
OF KING CHARLES II. 439
who had been in high disgrace before lord Claren- 1667.
don's fall, came upon that into high favour, and set "'
up for a patron of liberty of conscience and of all
the sects. The see of Chester happened to fall va-
cant soon after: and doctor Wilkins was by his '■^'■
means promoted to that see. It was no small preju-
dice to him, that he was recommended by so bad a
man. Wilkins had a courage in him that could
stand against a current, and against all the re-
proaches with which ill-natured clergymen studied
^o load him. He said, he was called for by the
king, without any motion of his own, to a public
station, in which he would endeavour to do all the
good he could, without considering the iU effects
that it might have on himself. The king had such
a command of himself, that when his interest. led
him to serve any end, or to court any sort of men,
he did it so dexterously, and with such an air of
sincerity, that tiU men were weU practised in him,
he was apt to impose on them. He seemed now
to go into moderation and comprehension with so
much heartiness, that both Bridgman and Wilkins
believed he was in earnest in it : though there was
nothing that the popish counsels were more fixed
in, than to oppose all motions of that kind. But
the king saw it was necessary to recover the affec-
tions of his people. And since the church of Eng-
land was now gone off from him, upon lord Claren-
don's disgrace, he resolved to shew some favour to
the sects, both to soften them, and to force the
others to come back to their dependence upon him.
He began also to express his concerns in the af- P* French
*-' ^ king s pre-
fairs of Europe: and he brought about the peace tensions to
between Castile and Portugal. The French king
Ff 4
440 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i667. pretended that, by the law of Brabant, his queen, as
**~"^ the heir of the late king of Spain's first marriage,
though a daughter, was to be preferred to the
young king of Spain, the heir of the second venter,
254 without any regard to the renunciation of any suc-
cession to his queen stipulated by the peace of the
Pyrenees : and was upon that pretension like to
overrun the Netherlands. Temple was sent over to
enter into an alliance with the Dutch, by which
some parts of Flanders were yielded up to France,
but a barrier was preserved for the security of HoU
land. Into this the king of Sweden, then a child,
was engaged : so it was called the triple alUance. I
will say no more of that, since so particular an ac-
count is given of it by him who could do it best,
, Temple himself. It was certainly the masterpiece
of king Charles's life : and, if he had stuck to it, it
would have been both the strength and the glory of
his reign. This disposed his people to forgive all
that was passed, and to renew their confidence in
him, which was much shaken by the whole conduct
of the Dutch war.
Clarendon's ^jje parliament were upon their first opening set
jntegnty. *■ ^ . .
on to destroy lord Clarendon. Some of his friends
went to him a few days before the parliament met ;
and told him, many were at work to find out mat-
ter of accusation against him. He best knew what
could be brought against him with any truth ; for
' falsehood was infinite, and could not be guessed
j at. They desired, he would trust some of them
with what might break out, since probably no-
(h,i. ' thing could lie concealed against so strict a search.
And the method in which his friends must manage
for him, if there was any mixture or allay in him.
OF KING CHARLES II. iV: 441
was to be very different from that they could use, 1667.
if he was sure that nothing could be brought out
against him. The lord Burlington and bishop Mor-
ley both told me, they talked to this purpose to
him. Lord Clarendon upon that told them, that
if, either in matters of justice or in any negotiations
abroad, he had ever received a farthing, he gave
them leave to disown all friendship to him. The
French king, hearing he had sent for all the books
of the Louvre impression, had sent these to him,
which he took, as thinking it a trifle, as indeed it
was : and this was the only present he ever had
from any foreign prince : he had never taken any
thing by virtue of his office, but that which his pre-
decessors had claimed as a right ^5. But now hue
and cry were sent out against him : and all persons
who had heard him say any thing that could bear
an ill construction, were examined. Some thought,
they had matters of great weight against him : and,
when they were told these would not amount to
high treason, they desired to know what would
amount to it ^
When twenty-three articles were brought into He was im-
the house against him, the next day he desired his the house
second son, the now earl of Rochester, to acquaint J*
nions.
I And it has been said, that proof, the last eaxl of Carbery
he should say to sir Stephen told them, if they would but
Fox, " If my friends can but impeach him, he would under-
" forgive me the folly of the take to make out the fact after-
" great house, there is nothing wards : though I have heard
" they may not well defend me him since say, he did not know
*' upon against my enemies." any one thing against him, but
O. (See above, page 249.) knew he had so many enemies,
■■ When they made some dif- that he could never waut as-
ficulty, in the house of com- sistance to make good what he
mons, of accusing him without said, D.
44a THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. the house, that he, hearing what articles were
TTT brought against him, did in order to the despatch of
the business, desire that those, who knew best what
their evidence was, would single out any one of
the articles that they thought could be best proved ;
and, if they could prove that, he would submit to
the censure due upon them aU. But those, who
had the secret of this in their hands, and knew they
could make nothing of it, resolved to put the mat-
ter upon a preliminary, in which they hoped to find
cause to hang up the whole affair, and fix upon the
lords the denial of justice. So, according to some
few and late precedents, they sent up a general im-
peachment to the lords' bar, of high treason, without
any special matter ; and demanded, that upon that
he might be committed to prison. They had rea^
son to beHeve the lords would not grant this : and
therefore they resolved to insist on it; and reck-
oned, that, when so much money was to be given,
the king would prevail with the lords. Upon this
occasion it appeared, that the private animosities of
a court could carry them to establish the most de-
structive precedent that could have been thought
on. For if this had passed, then every minister
upon a general impeachment was to be ruined,
though no special matter was laid against him. Yet
the king himself pressed this vehemently. It was
said, the very suspicions of a house of commons, espe-
cially such a one as this was, was enough to blast a
man, and to secure him : for there was reason td
! think, that every person so charged would run away,
if at liberty. Lord Clarendon's enemies had now
gone far : they thought they were not safe till his
head was off: and they apprehended, that, if he
/ M OF KING CHARLES II. IX 443
were once in prison, it would be easy either to find, 1667.
or at least to bring witnesses against him. This '
matter is all in print : so I will go no further in the
particulars. The duke was at this time taken with
the small-pox : so he was out of the whole debate.
The peers thought, that a general accusation was
only a clamour, and that their dignities signified
little, if a clamour was enough to send them to pri-
son. All the earl of Clarendon's friends pressed the
king much on his behalf, that he might be suffered
to go off gently, and without censure, since he had
served both his father and himself so long, so faith-
fully, and with such success. But the king was
now so sharpened against him, that, though he
named no particulars, he expressed a violent and ir-
reconcileable aversion to him ; which did the king
much hurt in the opinion of all that were not en-
gaged in the party. The affair of the king's mar-
riage was the most talked of, as that which indeed
was the only thing that could in any sort justify
such a severity. Lord Clarendon did protest, as
some that had it from himself told me, that he had
no other hand in that matter, than as a counsellor : 256
and in that he appealed to the king himself. After
many debates, and conferences, and protestations,
in which the whole court went in visibly to that
which was plainly destructive both to the king and
to the ministry, the majority of the house stood
firm, and adhered to their first resolution against
commitment. The commons were upon that like
to carry the matter far against the peers, as deny-
ing justice. The king, seeing this, spoke to the The king
duke, to persuade lord Clarendon to go beyond sea, would go
as the only expedient that was left to make up the *^°°
444 THE HISTORY OF THE BEIGN
1667. breach between the two houses : and he let fall
some words of kindness, in case he should comply
with this. The earl of Clarendon was all obedi-
ence and submission ; and was charmed with those
tender words that the king had said of him. So,
partly to serve the king, and save himself and his
family, but chiefly that he might not be the occa^
sion of any difference between the king and the
duke, who had heartily espoused his interest, he
went privately beyond sea ; and writ a letter from
Calais to the house of lords, protestirig his innocence
in all the points objected to him, and that he had
not gone out of the kingdom for fear, or out of any
consciousness of guilt, but only that he might not
be the unhappy occasion of any difference between
the two houses, or of obstructing public business.
This put an end to the dispute. But his enemies
called it a confession of guilt, and a flying from jus-
tice : such colours wiU people give to the most in-
nocent actions.
He was ba- A bill was brought in, banishing him the king's
act of par. dominious, under pain of treason if he should re-
lamen . ^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ made treason to correspond with
him, without leave from the king. This act did
not pass without much opposition. It was said,
there was a known course of law when any man
fled from justice : and it seemed against the com-
mon course of justice, to make all corresponding
with him treason, when he himself was not at-
tainted of treason ^ : nor could it be just to banish
him, unless a day were given him to come in : and
then, if he did not come in, he might incur the pu-
* -V-- * Bishoj) of Rochester's case. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 445
nishment upon contempt. The duke, whom Ihe I007*
king had employed to prevail with him to withdraw
himself, thought he was bound in honour to press
the matter home on the king; which he did so
warmly, that for some time a coldness between
them was very visible. The part the king had
acted in this matter came to be known; and was
much censured, as there was just cause for it. The
vehemence that he shewed in this whole matter was
imputed by many to very different causes. Those
who knew him best, but esteemed him least, said to
me on this occasion, that all the indignation that 257
appeared in him on this head, was founded on na
reason at aU ; but was an effect of that easiness, or
rather laziness of nature, that made him comply
with every person that had the greatest credit with
him. The mistress, and the whole bedchamber,
were perpetually railing at him ^ This, by a sort of
infection, possessed the king, who, without giving
himself the trouble of much thinking, did commonly
go into any thing that was at the present time the
easiest, without considering what might at any other
' I have heard ray uncle say, Cleveland, who hated lord Cla-
(who was a groom of the bed- rendon most heartily, therefore
chamber,) the first proof the took care he should know what
courtiers had of his being out of a jest he was made of at court,,
favour, was Harry Killigrew's in hopes (knowing him to be a
mimicking of him before the very proud man) that it would
king ; which he could do in a have provoked him to have quit-
very ridiculous manner, by car- ted his post. D. In the MS. be-
rying the bellows about the fore spoken of, he intimates, that
room, instead of a purse^ and an- his misfortunes were chiefly
other before him with a shovel owing to the ladies and laugh-
for a mace, and could counterfeit ers at court. This MS. is now
his voice and style very exactly ; in print, which see, for the ac-
which the king was so much count of the prosecution against
pleased with, that he made him him. O. (Lord Clarendon's
do it before the duchess of Life and the Continuation.) v
446 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. time follow on it. Thus the lord Clarendon fell
under the common fate of great ministers ; whose
employment exposes them to envy, and draws upon
them the indignation of all who are disappointed in
their pretensions. Their friends do generally shew,
that they are only the friends of their fortunes : and
upon the change of favour, they not only forsake
them in their extremity, but, that they may secure
to themselves the protection of a new favourite,^
they wiU. labour to redeem all that is past, by
turning as violently against them as they formerly
fawned abjectly upon them^: and princes are so
little sensible of merit or great services, that they
sacrifice their best servants, not only when their af-
fairs seem to require it, but to gratify the humour
of a mistress, or the passion of a rising favourite.
Thecharac- J ^^jj g^d this relation of lord Clarendon's fall
ter of his
two sons, with an account of his two sons. The eldest, now
the earl of Clarendon, is a man naturally sincere r
[except in the payment of his debts ; in which he
had a particular art, upon his breaking of his pro-
mises, which he does very often, to have a plausible
excuse, and a new promise ever ready at hand : in
which he has run longer than one could think possi-
ble.] He is a friendly and good-natured man. He
keeps an exact journal of all that passes", and is
punctual to tediousness in all that he relates. He
was very early engaged in great secrets : for his fa-
ther, apprehending of what fatal consequence it would
have been to the king's affairs, if his correspondence
had been discovered by unfaithful secretaries, engaged
" Stupid moralist. S. volumes quarto, from the Cla-:
r « (It was published, together rendon press in 1763.)
with his State Letters, in two
OF KING CHARLES II. 447
Him when very young to write all his letters to Eng- 1667.
land in cipher; so that he was generally half the
day writing in cipher, or deciphering, and was so
discreet, as weU as faithful, that nothing was ever _
discovered by him. He continued to be still the'
person whom his father trusted most : and was the
most beloved of all the family ; for he was humble
and obliging, [but was peevish and splenetic ^.3
His judgment was not to be much depended on;
for he was much carried by vulgar prejudices and
false notions. He was much in the Queen's favour,
and was her chamberlain long y. His father's being
so violently prosecuted on the account of her mar-
riage, made that she thought herself bound to pro-
tect him in a particular manner. He was so pro-
voked at the iU usage his father met with, that he
struck in violently with the party that opposed the
court : and the king spoke always of him with great 258
sharpness and much scorn. His brother, now earl
of Rochester, is a man of far greater parts. He has
a very good pen '', but speaks not gracefully ^. He
was thought the smoothest man in the court : and
during all the dispute concerning his father, he made
his court so dexterously, that no resentments ever
appeared on that head. When he came into busi-
^ though sometimes peevish, knew a man that was so soon
was substituted by the editors. put into a passion, that was so
y much, much, much. S. long before he could bring
* I suppose it was of gold or himself out of it, in which he
silver. S. would say things that were
^ He was apt to give a posi- never forgot by any body but
tive assertion instead of an ar- himself: therefore had always
gument ; and when any objec- more enemies than he thought :
tion was made to it, all the an- though he had as many pro-
swer was, that he could not fessedly so, as any man of hb
help thinking so. And 1 never time. D. j
448 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1667. ness, and rose to high posts, he grew violent [and
insolent:] but was thought an incoiTupt man. He
has high notions of government, and thinks it must
be maintained with great severity. He delivers up
his own notions to his party, that he may lead them;
[and on aU occasions he is wilful and imperious.] He
passes for a sincere man, and seems to have toa
much heat to be false. [This natural heat is in-
fluenced by frequent excesses in drinking.] Morley
was long dean of the chapel : but he stuck so to the
lord Clarendon, that he was sent into his diocese J
and Crofts, bishop of Hereford, was made dean in his
room. Crofts was a warm devout man, but of na
discretion in his conduct : so he lost ground quickly.
He used much freedom with the king ; but it was iw
the wrong place, not in private, but in the pulpit.
The king The king was highly offended at the behaviour of
was much • i
offended most of the bishops : and he took occasion to vent
bishops, it at the council board. Upon the complaints that
were made of some disorders, and of some convent-
icles, he said, the clergy were chiefly to blame for
these disorders ; for if they had lived well, and
had gone about their parishes, and taken pains to
convince the nonconformists, the nation might have
been by that time weU settled. But they thought
of nothing but to get good benefices, and to keep a
good table. This I read in a letter that sir Robert
Murray writ down to Scotland : and it agrees with
a conversation that the king was pleased to have
with my self once, when I was alone with him in
his closet. While we were talking of the ill state
the church was in, I was struck to hear a prince of
his course of life so much disgusted at the ambition,
covetousness, and the scandals of the clergy. He
OF KING CHARLES II. 449
said, if the clergy had done their part, it had been 1667.
an easy thing to run down the nonconformists : but
he added, they will do nothing, and will have me do
every thing: and most of them do worse than if
they did nothing. He told me, he had a chaplain,
that was a very honest man, but a very great block-
head ^, to whom he had given a living in Suffolk,
that was fuU of that sort of people : he had gone
about among them from house to house ; though he
could not imagine what he could say to them ; for
he said he was a very silly feUow : but that, he be-
lieved, his nonsense suited their nonsense, for he
had brought them all to church : and, in reward of 259
his diligence, he had given him a bishopric in Ire-
land.
Bridgman and Wilkins set on foot a treaty, for a 1668.
comprehension of such of the dissenters as could be for^a^com-
brought into the communion of the church, and a Jf^^^jj*"*'^'^"
toleration of the rest. Hale, the chief justice, con-^'yterians.
curred with them in the design. Tillotson, Stilling-
fleet, and Burton joined also in it. Bates, Manton,
and Baxter were called for on the side of the pres-
byterians. And a project was prepared, consisting
chiefly of those things that the king had promised
by his declaration in the year I66O. Only in the
point of re-ordination this temper was proposed,
that those who had presbyterian ordination should
be received to serve in the church by an imposition
of hands, accompanied with words which imported,
that the person so ordained was received to serve as
a minister in the church of England. This treaty
" Bishop Woolly of Clonfert. S.
VOL. I. G g
450 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. became a common subject of discourse. AU lord
Clarendon's friends cried out, that the church was
undermined and betrayed : it was said, the cause of
the church was given up, if we yielded any of those
points, about which there had been so much disput-
ing : if the sectaries were humble and modest, and
would tell what would satisfy them, there might be
some colour for granting some concessions : but it
was unworthy of the church to go and court, or
treat with enemies ; when there was no reason to
think, that after we had departed from our grounds,
which was to confess we had been in the wrong,
(jt. that we should gain much by it, unless it was to
bring scorn and contempt on ourselves'^. On the
other hand it was said, the nonconformists could not
legally meet together, to offer any schemes in the
name of their party: it was well enough known,
what they had always excepted to, and what would
probably bring over most of the presbyterians : such
a yielding in some lesser matters would be no re-
proach, but an honour to the church ; that, how
much soever she might be superior both in point of
argument and of power, she would yet of her own
accord, and for peace sake, yield a great deal in
matters indifferent : the apostles complying with
many of the observances of the Jews, and the offers
that the church of Africk made to the Donatists
were much insisted on : the fears of popery, and the
progress that atheism was making, did alarm good
and wise men : and they thought, every thing that
could be done without sin ought to be done towards
the healing our divisions. Many books were upon
that account writ, to expose the presbyterians, as
^ I think so too. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. ' 451
men of false notions in religion, which led to Anti- 1668.
nomianism, and which would soon carry them into 26O
a dissolution of morals, under a pretence of being
justified by faith only, without works. The three
volumes of the Friendly Debate, though writ by a
very good man ^, and with a good intent, had an ill
effect in sharpening people's spirits too much against
them. But the most virulent of aU that writ against
the sects was Parker, afterwards made bishop of
Oxford by king James ; who was full of satirical vi-
vacity, and was considerably learned; but was a
man of no judgment, and of as little virtue, and as
to religion rather impious. After he had for some
years entertained the nation with several virulent
books, writ with much life, he was attacked by the
liveliest droll ^ of the age, who writ in a burlesque
strain, but with so peculiar and so entertaining a
conduct, that, from the king down to the tradesman,
his books were read with great pleasure. That not [
only humbled Parker, but the whole party : for the
author of the Rehearsal Transprosed ^ had all the
men of wit (or, as the French phrase it, all the
laughers) on his side. But what advantages soever
the men of comprehension might have in any other
respect, the majority of the house of commons was
so possessed against them, that when it was known
in a succeeding session, that a bill was ready to be
offered to the house for that end, a very extraordi-
nary vote passed, that no bill to that purpose should
be received.
An act passed in this session for rebuilding the The city of
. "* Writ by bishop Patrick, S. " Parker with pleasure, though built.
'^ What is a droll ? S. " the book it answers is sunk
'^ Andrew Marvel. O. ("We " long ago." Swift's Apology
" still read Marvel's answer to prefixed to the Tale of the Tub.)
G g 2
453 THE HISTORY OF THE HEIGN
1668. city of London, which gave lord chief justice Hale a
great reputation : for it was drawn with so true a
judgment, and so great foresight, that the whole
city was raised out of its ashes without any suits of
law ; which, if that bill had not prevented them,
would have brought a second charge on the city,
not much less than the fire it self had been. And
upon that, to the amazement of all Europe, London
was in four years' time rebuilt, with so much beauty
and magnificence, that we who saw it in both states,
before and after the fire, cannot reflect on it without
wondering where the wealth could be found to bear
so vast a loss as was made by the fire, and so prodi-
gious an expense as was laid out in the rebuilding
it. This did demonstrate, that the intrinsic wealth
of the nation was very high, when it could answer
such a dead charge.
Designs J return to the intrigues of the court. Lord Cla-
for putting '-'
away the rcudon's encmics thought they were not safe, as long
as the duke had so much credit with the king, and
the duchess had so much power over him : so they
fell on propositions of a strange nature to ruin them.
The duke of Buckingham pressed the king to own
a marriage with the duke of Monmouth's mother :
261 and he undertook to get witnesses to attest it. The
duke of York told me, in general, that there was
much talk about it : but he did not descend to par-
ticulars. The earl of Carhsle offered to begin the
matter in the house of lords. The king would not
consent to this : yet he put it by in such a manner,
as made them all conclude, he wished it might be
done, but did not know how to bring it about.
These discourses were all carried to the duke of
Monmouth, and got fatally into his head. When
OF KING CHARLES II. 453
the duke talked of this matter to me in the year se- '^68.
venty-three, I asked him, if he thought that the king
had still the same inclinations ? He said he believed
not: he thought the duke of Monmouth had not
spirit enough to think of it : and he commended the
duchess of Monmouth so highly as to say to me,
that the hopes of a crown could not work on her to
do an unjust thing. I thought he gave that matter
too much countenance, by calling the duke of Mon-
mouth nephew: but he said it pleased the king.
When the party saw they could make nothing ot
the business of the duke of Monmouth, they tried
next by what methods they could get rid of the
queen ; that so the king might marry another wife :
for the king had children by so many different crea-
tures, that they hoped for issue, if he had a wife ca-
pable of any. Some thought, the queen and he
were not legally married : but the avowing a mar-
riage, and the living many years in that state, did
certainly supply any defect in point of form. Others
pretended, she was barren from a natural cause, and
that seemed equivalent to impotence in men. But
the king often said, he was sure she had once mis-
carried s. This, though not overthrown by such an
evidence, could never be proved ; unless the having
no children was to be concluded a barrenness : and
the dissolving a marriage on such an account could
neither be justified in law nor conscience. Other
stories were given out of the queen's person, which
were false : for I saw in a letter under the king's
B (The earl of Arlingtoa, in a child, of which she had gone
letter to sir William Temple, twenty weeks. Salmon's Exar
informs him, that in this year mination, p. 6i6.)
her majesty miscarried of a
Gg3
4^4 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. own hand, that the marriage was consummated.
' Others talked of polygamy : and officious persons
were ready to thrust themselves into any thing that
could contribute to their advancement. Lord Lau-
derdale and sir Robert Murray asked my opinion of
these things. I said, I knew speculative people
could say a great deal in the way of argument for
polygamy and divorce : yet these things were so de-
cried, that they were rejected by all christian socie-
ties : so that all such propositions would throw us
into great convulsions ; and entail war upon us, if
any issue came from a marriage so grounded ^.
A divorce ^u accidcut happened at that time, that made
enacted for ^ _ ^ ^
adultery, the discoursiug of those matters the common subject
"^""^ of conversation. The lord Roos, afterwards earl of
Rutland, brought proofs of adultery against his
wife ; and obtained a sentence of divorce in the
spiritual court ; which amounting only to a separa-
tion from bed and board, he moved for a biU dis-
solving the bond, and enabling him to marry another
wife. The duke and aU his party apprehended the
consequences of a parliamentary divorce : so they
opposed this with great heat: and almost all the
bishops were of that side : only Cosins and Wilkins,
the bishops of Durham and Chester, were for it.
And the king was as earnest in the setting it on, as
the duke was in opposing it. The zeal which the
^ (There is extant a brief re- ginal, in the author's hand-writ-
■ solution by Burnet of two cases ing, was copied at Ham in 1680,
of conscience, viz. Is a woman's with duke Lauderdale's pennis-
barrenness a just ground for di- sion, by Paterson, archbishop of
vorce or polygamy ; and is poly- Glasgow, testified under his
gamy in any case lawful under episcopal seal, it being then in
the Gospel? The questions are the duke's possession. The cases
resolved affirmatively. The ori- were printed in 173 1.)
i:. OF KING CHARLES HJlilT ib5
two brothers expressed on that occasion made all 1668.
people conclude, that they had a particular concern
in the matter. The hall passed 1 and upon that
precedent some moved the king, that he would or-
der a bill to be brought in to divorce him from the
queen. This went so fai', that a day was agreed on
for making the motion in the house of commons, as
Mr. May of the privy purse told me ; (who had the
greatest and longest share in the king's secret coiw. P,^S*
fidence of any man in that time; for it was never
broke off, though often shaken, he being in his no-
tions against every thing that the king was for, both
France, popery, and arbitrary government : but a
particular sympathy of temper, and his serving the
king in his vices, created a confidence much envied,
and often attempted to be broke, but never with any
success beyond a short coldness :) but he added,
when he told me of this design, that three days be-
fore the motion was to be made, the king called
for him, and told him, that matter must be let
alone, for it would not do. This disturbed him
much J for he had engaged himself far in laying the
thing, and in managing those who were to under-
take the debate. l nr^im yd iaiii
At this time the court fell into mucH extrava- A great dis-
solution of
gance in masquerading; both king and queen, and aU morals lu
the court, went about masked, and came into houses
unknown, and danced there with a great deal of
wild frolic. In aU this people were so disguised,
that without being on the secret none could dis-
tinguish them '. They were carried about in hackney
chairs. Once the queen's chairmen, not knowing
' King George. S.
G g 4
^56 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1(5(58. who she was, went from her : so she was alone, and
was much disturbed, and came to Whitehall in a
hackney coach : some say it was in a cart. The
duke of Buckingham proposed to the king, that he
would give him leave to steal her away, and send
her to a plantation, where she should be well and
carefully looked to, but never heard of any more ;
so it should be given out, that she had deserted;
263 and upon that it would fall in with some princi-
ples to carry an act for a divorce, grounded upon
the pretence of a wilful desertion. Sir Robert Mur-
ray told me, that the king himself rejected this with
horror. He said, it was a wicked thing to make a
poor lady miserablCj only because she was his wife,
and had no children by him, which was no fault of
hers. The hints of this broke out : for the duke of
Buckingham could conceal nothing. And upon that
the earl of Manchester, then lord Chamberlain, told
the queen, it Was neither decent nor safe for her
to go about in such a manner as she had done
of late : so she gave it over. But at last all these
schemes settled in a proposition, into which the king
went ; which was to deal with the queen's confessor,
that he might persuade her to leave the world, and
to turn rehgious : upon which the parliament would
i have been easily prevailed on to pass a divorce. This
came to be known : but what steps were made in it
were never known. It was believed, that upon this
the duchess of York sent an express to Rome with
the notice of her conversion ; and that orders were
sent from Rome to aU about the queen to persuade
her against such a proposition, if any should sug-
gest it to her. She herself had no mind to be a nun :
and the duchess was afraid of seeing another queen :
OF KING CHARLES II. 457
and the mistress, created at that time duchess of 1668.
Cleveland, knew that she must be the first sacrifice
to a beloved queen : and she reconciled herself upon
this to the duchess of York. The duke of Bucking-
ham upon that broke with her, and studied to take
the king from her by new amours : and because he
thought a gayety of humour would take much with
the king, he engaged him to entertain two players
one after another, Davies and Guin. The first did not
keep her hold long ; but Guin, the indiscreetest and
wildest creature that ever was in a court, continued
to the end of the king's life in great favour, and was
maintained at a vast expense. The duke of Buck-
ingham told me, that when she was first brought to
the king, she asked only five hundred pounds a year :
and the king refused it. But when he told me this,
al30ut four years after, he said, she had got of the
king above sixty thousand pounds. She acted all
persons in so lively a manner, and was such a con-
stant diversion to the king, that even a new mistress
could not drive her away. But after all, he never
treated her with the decencies of a mistressJ, [but
rather with the lewdness of a prostitute ; as she had
been indeed to a great many : and therefore she
called the king her Charles the third. Since she had
been formerly kept by two of that name.] The king
had another mistress, that was managed by lord
Shaftsbury, who was the daughter of a clergyman,
Roberts ; in whom her first education had so deep a
root, that, though she fell into many scandalous dis-
orders, with very dismal adventures in them all, yet
a principle of religion was so deep-laid in her, that,
j Pray what decencies are those ? S.
458 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
.1668. though it did not restrain her, yet it kept alive in
~ 264 ^^^ ^"^^ ^ constant horror at sin, that she was never
easy in an ill course, and died with a great sense of
her former ill life. I was often with her the last three
months of her life. The duchess of Cleveland, find-
ing that she had lost the king'^, abandoned herself to
great disorders : one of which, by the artifice of the
duke of Buckingham, was discovered by the king in
person, the party concerned leaping out of the win-
dow K She also spoke of the king to all people in
such a manner, as brought him under much con-
tempt. But he seemed insensible : and though libels
of all sorts had then a very free course, yet he was
never disturbed at it. ,/ JKiftt^om MoS mmhitil
Many libels The thrcc most eminent wits of that time, on
best ^ite'of ^^^"^ all the lively libels were fastened, were the
that time, earls of Dorset and Rochester, and sir Charles Sid-
ley. Lord Dorset was a generous good-natured man.
He was so oppressed with phlegm, that till he was a
little heated with wine he scarce ever spoke : but he
was upon that exaltation a very lively man. Never
was so much iU nature in a pen as in his, joined
with so much good nature as was in himself, even
to excess; for he was against all punishing, even
of malefactors. He was bountiful, even to run him-
self into difficulties : and charitable to a fault ; for
he commonly gave aU he had about him, when he
met an object that moved him. But he was so lazy,
''The king made Will Legge 'Jack Churchill, since duke of
sing a ballad to her, that began Marlborough, who, the duchess
with these words — Poor AUin- said, had received a great deal
da's growing old ; those charms of her money for very little ser-
are now no more — which she vice done her, to a near relation
understood were applied to her- of hers, from whom I had it. D.
self. D.
>: OF KING CHARLES II. I HT 450
that, though the king seemed to court him to be 1668.
a favourite, he would not give himself the trouble
that belonged to that post. He hated the court, and
despised the king, when he saw he was neither ge-
nerous nor tender hearted. Wilmot, earl of Roches-
ter, was naturally modest, till the court corrupted
him. His wit had in it a peculiar brightness, to
which none could ever arrive. He gave himself up
to all sorts of extravagance, and to the wildest fro-
lics that a wanton wit could devise. He would have
gone about the streets as a beggar, and made love as
a porter. He set up a stage as an Italian mounte-
bank. He was for some years always drunk, and was
ever doing some mischief. The king loved his com-
pany for the diversion it afforded, better than his
person : and there was no love lost between them ™.
He took his revenges in many libels. He found out
a footman that knew all the court, and he furnished
him with a red coat and a musket as a centinel,
and kept him all the winter long every night at the
doors of such ladies as he believed might be in in-
trigues. In the court a centinel is little minded, and
is believed to be posted by a captain of the guards
to hinder a combat: so this man saw who walked
about, and visited at forbidden hours. By this means
lord Rochester made many discoveries. And when
he was well furnished with materials, he used to
retire into the country for a month or two to write 265
libels : once being drunk, he intended to give the
king a libel that he had writ on some ladies : but
by a mistake he gave him one written on himself.
He fell into an ill habit of body : and in several
•" A noble phrase. S.
460 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. fits of sickness he had deep remorses ; for he was
guilty both of much impiety and of great immo*
ralities. But as he recovered he threw these off,
and turned again to his former ill courses. In the
last year of his life I was much with him, and have
writ a book of what passed between him and me.
I do verily believe, he was then so entirely changed,
that, if he had recovered, he would have made good
all his resolutions. Sidley had a more sudden and
copious wit, which furnished a perpetual run of dis-
course " : but he was not so correct as lord Dorset,
nor so sparkling as lord Rochester. The duke of
Buckingham loved to have these much about him :
and he gave himself up to a monstrous course of
studied immoralities of the worst kinds : he was so
fuU of merciu'y, that he could not fix long in any
friendship, or to any design. Bennet, now made lord
Arlington, and he fell out : Bennet was all cunning
and artifice, and so could not hold long with him,
who was so open that he disclosed every thing. Lord
Arlington was engaged in a great intimacy with
CUfford, Litletoun, and Duncomb. I have already
given some account of the two first. Duncomb was
a judicious man, but very haughty, and apt to raise
enemies against himself: he was an able parliament
man : but could not go into aU the designs of the
court ; for he had a sense of religion, and a zeal for
the liberty of his country. The duke of Bucking-
ham's chief friends were the earls of Shaftsbury and
Lauderdale, but above all sir Thomas Osbom, raised
afterwai'ds [by him] to be lord treasurer and earl of
Danby, and since made duke of Leeds by the late king,
" No better a critic in wit than style. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. . ' 4f61
The king took sir William Coventry from the 1668.
Duke, and put him in the treasury. He was in a fair sirwiuiam
way to be the chief minister, and deserved it more ^^o^^t^y'*
'' ^ character.
than all the rest did. But he was too honest to en-
gage in the designs into which the court was re-
solved to go, as soon as it had recovered a little re-
putation ; which was sunk very low by the ill ma-
nagement of the Dutch war, and the squandering
away of the money given for it. He was a man of the
finest and the best temper that belonged to the
court". The duke of Buckingham and he fell out; I
know not for what reason : and a challenge passed
between them, upon which Coventry was forbid the
court P. And he upon that seemed to retire very
willingly : and he was become a very religious man
when I knew him. He was offered after that the
best post in the court, often er than once : but he
would never engage again^. He saw what was at bot- '^^Q
tom, and was resolved not to go through with it ; and
so continued to his death in a retired course of life*
^ Compare this with lord Cla- them, upon which Coventry
rendon's account of him, in the challenged him, as his nephew*
History of his own Life. Lord lord Weymouth, told me. D.
Clarendon and bishop Burnet ^ In any court office : but
wrote of him, at diiferent parts continued to attend the par-
of his life, and as they were dif- liament, acting a great part
ferently acquainted with him. there, in very able though de-
O. cent opposition to the court
P Sir William Coventry was measures, and those debates
the most esteemed and beloved were chiefly carried on ber
of any courtier that ever sat in tween him and his brother Mr.
the house of commons, where Henry Coventry, then secre-
bis word always passed for an tary of state, who however was
undoubted truth without further of a fair character in himself,
inquiry, which the Duke of and deemed the only honest mi-
Buckingham would have had nister the king had since my
him made use of to deceive lord Clarendon. O.
462 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. The duke of Ormond continued still in the go-
The govern- vcmment of Ireland, though several interests joined
T^Tnd together against him. The earls of Orrery and
changed. Rauelagh on the one hand, and Talbot on the other.
Lord Orrery [was a deceitful and vain man, who]
loved to appear in business ; but dealt so much un-
derhand, that he had not much credit with any side.
Lord Ranelagh was a young man of great parts, and
as great vices : he had a pleasantness in his conversa-
tion that took much with the king, and had a great
dexterity in business. Many complaints were secretly
brought against the duke of Ormond. The king
loved him : and he accommodated himself much to
the king's humour. Yet the king was, with much
difficulty, prevailed on to put an end to his govern-
ment of Ireland, and to put lord Roberts, afterwards
made earl of Radnor, in his place ; who was a [sul-
;,. len and] morose man, believed to be severely just,
and as wise as a cynical humour could allow him to
be^ The manner of removing the duke of Ormond
will give a particular character of the king's temper.
He sent Lord Arlington to him for his commission.
The duke of Ormond said, he had received it from
the king's own hands, and he would go and deliver
it to him. When he carried it to the king, the king
denied he had sent him any such message. Two
days after that, lord Arlington was sent again with
the same message : and he had the same answer :
and the king disowned it again to the duke. So the
king declared in the privy council the change of the
government of Ireland, and made Roberts lord-lieu4'
^ How does that hinder wisdom ?
KO OF KING CHARLES II. lUT 465
tenant. And it flew abroad as a piece of news. 166&,
The duke of Ormond hearing that, came to the *
king in great wrath, to expostulate upon it. But the
king denied the whole thing, and sent him away : (
but he sent for Fitzpatrick, who had married his
sister, and who told me the whole story, and sent
him to the duke of Ormond, to tell him, the king
had denied the matter, though it^ was true, for he
observed he was in such a heat, that he was afraid
he might have said indecent things : and he was re-
solved not to fall out with him : for, though his affairs
made it necessary to change the government of Ire-
land, yet he would still be kind to him, and continue
him lord steward. Lord Radnor did not continue long
in Ireland : he was cynical in his whole administra-
tion, and uneasy to the king in every thing : and in
one of his peevish humours he writ to the king, that
he had but one thing to ask of him, which if it
might be granted, he would never ask another, and
that was, to be discharged of his employment. The'
lord Berkeley succeeded him, who was brother tcf
the lord Fitzharding, and from small beginnings had 267
risen up to the greatest post a subject was capable
of. In the war he was governor of Exeter for the
king, and one of his generals. He was named by
him governor to the duke of York. He was now
made lord-lieutenant of Ireland; and afterwards
sent ambassador to France, and plenipotentiary to
Nimeguen. He was a man [bold and enterprising]
in whom it appeared with how little true judgment
courts distribute favours and honours. He had a
positive way of undertaking and determining in
every thing, [and looked fierce and big : and was a
464 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. very weak man% and corrupt without shame or de*?
""^ cencyS]
The com- The court delivered itself up to vice. And the
Brook- house of commons lost all respect in the nation ; for
house. ^j^^y gave stUl all the money that was asked. Yet
those who opposed the court carried one gi'eat
point, that a committee should be named to examine
the accounts of the money that was given during the
Dutch war. It was carried, that they should be all
men out of the house. Lord Brereton was the chief
of them, and had the chair. He was a philosophical
man, and was ^U his life long in search of the philo-
sopher's stone, by which he neglected his own affairs ;
but was a man of great integrity, and was not to be
gained by the flatteries, hopes, or threatenings of the
court- Sir William Turner was another of the com-
mittee, who had been lord mayor of London the for-
mer year, under whose wise and just administration
the rebuilding of the city advanced so fast, that he
would have been chosen lord mayor for the ensuing
year, if he had not decUned it. Pierpoint was like-
wise of this committee : so was sir James Langham, a
very weak man, famed only for his readiness of speakf
ing florid Latin, which he had attained to a degree
beyond any man of the age ; but [he was become a
pedant with it, and] his style was too poetical, and
full of epithets and figures. :/
Halifax's I name sir George Saville last, because he de-
character. ^
* I have read some letters ther's death. They are in the
of his, which shew him to be a custody of sir Robert Long of
man of no mean parts, though Wilts. O.
of very loose principles ; the * The editors substituted, but
letters were written to Long, was a very weak man, and not
secretary to Charles the second ; incorrupt.
both before and after his fa-
OF KING CHARLES II. 465
serves a more copious character. He rose after- 1668.
wards to be viscount, earl, and marquis of Halifax.
He was a man of a great and ready wit ; full of life,
and very pleasant ; much turned to satire ". He let
his wit run much on matters of religion : so that he
passed for a bold and determined atheist; though
he often protested to me, he was not one ; and said,
he believed there was not one in the world: he
confessed, he could not swallow down every thing
that divines imposed on the world : he was a Chris-
tian in submission : he believed as much as he could,
and he hoped that God would not lay it to his
charge, if he could not digest iron, as an ostrich
did, nor take into his belief things that must burst
him : if he had any scruples, they were not sought
for, nor cherished by him ; for he never read an
atheistical book. In a fit of sickness, I knew him
very much touched with a sense of religion. I was 268
then often with him. He seemed fuU of good pur-
poses : but they weht off with his sickness. He
was always talking of morality and friendship. He
was punctual in all payments, and just in all his
private dealings. But, with relation to the public,
he went backwards and forwards, and changed
sides so often, that in conclusion no side trusted
him. He seemed full of commonwealth notions :
yet he went into the worst pg,rt of king Charles's
reign. [He was out of measure vain and ambi-
tious.] The liveliness of his imagination was al-
^ I remember Burnet once none of that salt which sea-
made a very long impertinent soned all things ; if it had, he
speech in the house of lords, for was sure the bishop would
prohibiting the use of French have spoke more to the pur-
salt; which the marquis desired pose, though possibly less in
the house would excuse, it being quantity. D.
VOL. I. H li
466 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1668. ways too hard for his judgment. A severe jest was
preferred by him to all arguments whatsoever. And
he was endless in consultations : for when after
much discourse a point was settled, if he could find
a new jest, to make even that which was suggested
by himself seem ridiculous, he could not hold, but
would study to raise the credit of his wit, though it
made others caU his judgment in question ". When
he talked to me, as a philosopher, of his contempt
of the world, I asked him what he meant by get-
ting so many new titles, which I called the hanging
himself about with beUs and tinsel. He had no
other excuse for it, but this, that, since the world
were such fools as to value those matters, a man
must be a fool for company : he considered them
but as rattles : yet rattles please children : so these
might be of use to his family. His heart was much
set on raising his family. But, though he made a
vast estate for them, he buried two of his sons him-
self, and almost all his grandchildren. The son
that survived was an honest man, but far inferior to
him, [which appeared the more sensibly, because he
affected to imitate him; but the distance was too
wide.] I do not remember who besides these were
. "In the house of lords he into ridicule. In king James's
affected to conclude all his dis- time he told his lady he was
courses with a jest, though the sorry he must part with her,
subject were never so serious, but he designed to turn papist,
and if it did not meet with the She said, she hoped he would
applause he expected, would be consider better of it, but if he
extremely out of countenance did, where was the necessity of
and silent, till an opportunity parting fi'om her? He said,
offered to retrieve the approba- because he was resolved to be a
tion he thought he had lost ; priest, and having considered
but was never better pleased the matter fully, thought it was
than when he was turning bi- much better to be a coachman
shop Burnet and his politics than a coach -horse. D,
OF KING CHARLES XL ill 46^
of that committee, which, because it sat in Brook- 1668.
house, was called by the name of that house. i
The court was much troubled to see an inquiry 1669.
of this kind set on foot. It was said, the king was na^^^^'
basely treated, when all his expense was to be"yj£^'"^^
looked into. On the other hand it was answered, *^°"'^'
that the parliament did not look into his revenue,
but only to the distribution of that treasure that
was trusted to him for carrying on the war. I was
told, that, after all the most shameful items that
eould be put into an account, there was none offered
for about 800,000/. But I was not then in Eng-
land : so I was very imperfectly informed as to this
matter. The chief men that promoted this were
-taken off, (as the word then was for corrupting
members,) in which the court made so great a pro-
gress, that it was thought the king could never
have been prevailed on to part with a parliament so
much practised on, and where every man's price
was known ; for as a man rose in his credit in ,the
house, he raised his price, and expected to be
treated accordingly. In all this inquiry the care-
lessness and luxury of the court came to be so much
exposed, that the king's spirit was much sharpened 269
upon it. All the flatterers about him magnified fo-
reign governments, where the princes were absolute,
that in France more particularly. Many, to please
him, said, it was a very easy thing to shake off
the restraints of law, if the king would but set
about it. The crown of Denmark was elective, and
subject to a senate, and yet was in one day, without
any visible force, changed to be both hereditary and
absolute, no rebellion nor convulsion of state follow-
H h 2
468 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. ing on it. The king loved the project in general;
but would not give himself the trouble of laying or
managing it. And therefore, tiU his affairs were
V : made easier, and the project grew clearer, he re-
solved to keep all things close within himself; and
went on in the common maxim, to balance party
against party, and by doing popular things to get
money of his parliament, under the pretence of sup-
porting the triple alliance. So money-bills passed
easily in the house of commons : which by a strange
reverse came to be opposed in the house of lords ;
who began to complain, that the money-bills came
up so thick, that it was said, there was no end of
their giving. End signifying purpose, as well as a
measure, this passed as a severe jest at that time.
Sir John Coventry made a gross reflection on the
king's amours. He was one of those who struggled
much against the giving money. The common me-
thod is : after those who oppose such bills fail in
the main vote, the next thing they endeavour is, to
lay^the money on funds that will be unacceptable,
and win prove deficient. So these men proposed
the laying a tax on the playhouses, which, in so dis-'
solute a time, were become nests of prostitution.
And the stage was defiled beyond all example. Dry-
den, the great master of dramatic poesy, being a
monster of immodesty and of impurity of aU sorts.
This was opposed by the court : it was said, the
players were the king's servants, and a part of his
pleasure. Coventry asked, whether did the king's
pleasure lie among the men or the wonien that
^ As to his personal charac- are some of them the fullest of
ter, there was nothing remark- obscenity of any now extant,
ably vicious in it; but his plays Note in the 8vo edition, 1754.
OF KING CHARLES ILIIiT 469
acted? This was carried with great indignation to 1669.
the court. It was said, this was the first time that
the king was personally reflected on: if it was
passed over, more of the same kind would follow ;
and it would grow a fashion to talk so: it was
therefore fit to take such severe notice of this, that
nobody should dare to talk at that rate for the fu-
ture. The duke of York told me, he said all he
could to the king to divert him from the resolution
he took; which was to send some of the guards,
and watch in the streets where sir John lodged, and
leave a mark upon him. Sands and Obrian, and
some others, went thither; and as Coventry was
going home, they drew about him. He stood up to 270
the wall, and snatched the flambeau out of his ser-
vant's hands : and with that in the one hand, and
his sword in the other, he defended himself so weU,
that he got more credit by it than by all the actions
of his life. He wounded some of them ; but was
soon disarmed : and then they cut his nose to the Coventry's
bone, to teach him to remember what respect hecut.^^**
owed to the king : and so they left him, and went
back to the duke of Monmouth's, where Obrian's
arm was dressed. That matter was executed by
orders from the duke of Monmouth : for which he
was severely censured, because he lived then in pro-
fessions of friendship with Coventry ; so that his
subjection to the king was not thought an excuse
for directing so vile an attempt on his friend, with-
out sending him secret notice of what was designed.
Coventry had his nose so weU needled up, that the
scar was scarce to be discerned ^. This put the
^ Sir J. Coventry always pro- testant, and was much engaged
fessed himself a zealous pro- in the Whig partv, but in his
H h 3 '
470
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. house of commons in a furious uproar. They passed
a bill of banishment against the actors of it; and
put a clause in it, that it should not be in the king's
power to pardon them^. This gave great advan-
tages to all those that opposed the court : and was
often remembered, and much improved, by all the
angry men of this time. The names of the court
and country party, which tiU now had seemed to be
forgotten, were again revived.
When the city was pretty well rebuilt, they be-
gan to take care of the churches, which had lain in
ashes some years. And in that time conventicles
abounded in all the parts of the city. It was
thought hard to hinder men from worshipping God
any way as they could, when there were no
churches, nor ministers to look after them. But
A new pro-
secution of
ponventi-
ples.
0.,
will recommended his soul to
the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin, and desired his body
might be buried in Somerset
house chapel, and left most of
his estate to the English Je-
suits at St. Omer's ; to the great
surprise of all his family, (as
lord Wentworth told me, who
was his near relation, and pre-
sent at the opening of it,) there
never having been the least sus-
picion during his life. The will
was afterwards set aside by
I»w. D.
y And to perpetuate the me-
mory of this mean outrage,
there is a provision in the act
to make it felony without be-
nefit of clergy, maliciously to
maim or disfigure any person
in the manner there mentioned.
See, in the State Trials, that of
one Coke, convicted upon this
pet. The words spoken by
Coventry were indiscreet and
very indecent in the place
where he was, and the house
might well have censured him
for them ; but this method of
punishing him was of the high-
est concernment to both houses ;
and unnoticed, might have been
of the most dangerous conse-
quence with regard to their
privileges. The duke of York's
behaviour in this matter was
like that of a great man, and
the king's and duke of Mon-
mouth's Jthat of assassins. O.
(Salmon observes, that "should
" a man have asked such a
" question in some other reigns,
" as sir John Coventry did in
" this, whether the king's plea-
" sure lay among the men or
** women players, he doubts,
" whether the loss of a nose
" would have been considered
" a sufficient punishment for
" his insolence." Examination^
p. 619.)
OF KING CHARLES II. 4X1
they began to raise churches of boards, till the pub- 1669.
lie allowance should be raised towards the building
the churches. These they called tabernacles : and
they fitted them up with pews and galleries as
churches. So now an act was proposed, reviving
the former act against conventicles, with some new
clauses in it. One was very extraordinary, that if
any doubt should arise concerning the meaning of
any part of this act, it was to be determined in the
sense that was the most contrary to conventicles, it
being the intention of the house to repress them in
the most effectual manner possible. The other was,
the laying a heavy fine on such justices of the peace,
as should not execute the law, when informations
were brought them. Upon this, many, who would
not be the instruments of such severities, left the
bench, and would sit there no longer. This act was
executed in the city very severely in Starling's
mayoralty; and put things in such disorder, that
many of the trading men of the city began to talk
of removing with their stocks over to Holland. But 271
the king ordered a stop to be put to farther severi-
ties. Many of the sects either discontinued their
meetings, or held them very secretly with small
numbers, and not in hours of public worship. Yet
informers were encouraged, and were every where
at work. The behaviour of the quakers was more
particular, and had something in it that looked
bold. They met at the same place and at the
same hour as before. And when they were seized,
none of them would go out of the way : they went
aU together to prison; they staid there till they
were dismissed ; for they would not petition to be
set at liberty, nor would they pay their fines set on
H h 4
472 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. them, nor so much as the jail fees, calling these the
"^ wages of unrighteousness. And as soon as they
were let out, they went to their meeting-houses
again : and, when they found these were shut up
by order, they held their meetings in the streets,
before the doors of those houses. They said, they
would not disown or be ashamed of their meeting
together to worship God : but, in imitation of Da-
niel, they would do it the more publicly, because
they were forbidden the doing it. Some called this
obstinacy, while others called it firmness. But by
it they carried their point : for the government
grew weary of dealing with so much perverseness,
and so began with letting them alone.
The king Thc king had by this time got all the money that
Mioniy to he expected from the house of commons, and that
S^ic'ras.'*^ after great practice on both lords and commons.
Many bones of contention were thrown in, to create
differences between the two houses, to try if by
both houses insisting on them the money-bills might
' fall. But, to prevent aU trouble from the lords, the
king was advised to go, and be present at all their
debates. Lord Lauderdale valued himself to me on
this advice, which he said he gave. At first the
king sat decently on the throne, though even that
was a great restraint on the freedom of debate;
which had some effect for a while: though after-
wards many of the lords seemed to speak with the
more boldness, because, they said, one heard it to
whom they had no other access but in that place ;
and they took the more liberty, because what they
had said could not be reported wrong. The king,
who was often weary of time, and did not know
how to get round the day, liked the going to the
OF KING CHARLES II. 473
house, as a pleasant diversion. So he went con- 1669.
stantly. And he quickly left the throne, and stood
by the fire; which drew a crowd about him, that
broke all the decency of that house : for before that
time every lord sat regularly in his place : but the
king's coming broke the. order of their sitting as be-
came senators. The king's going thither had a
much worse effect : for he became a common soU- 272
citor, not only in public affairs, but even in private
matters of justice. He would in a very little time
have gone round the house, and spoke to every man
that he thought- worth speaking to. And he was
apt to do that upon the solicitation of any of the
ladies in favour, or of any that had credit with
them. He knew well on whom he could prevail :
so being once in a matter of justice desired to speak
to the earl of Essex and the lord Hollis, he said,
they were stiff and sullen men : but when he was
next desired to solicit two others, he undertook to
do it ; and said, they are men of no conscience, so I
will take the government of their conscience into
my own hands. Yet when any of the lords told
him plainly, that they could not vote as he desired,
he seemed to take it well from them. When the
act against conventicles was debated in that house,
Wilkins argued long against it. The king was
much for having it pass, not that he intended to
execute it, but he was glad to have that body of
men at mercy, and to force them to concur in the
design for a general toleration. He spoke to Wil-
kins not to oppose it. He answered, he thought it
an ill thing both in conscience and policy : there-
fore, both as he was an Englishman and a bishop,
he was bound to oppose it. The king then desired
him not to come to the house while it depended.
474 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. He said, by the law and constitution of England,
'■''"~'~~ and by his majesty's favour, he had a right to debate
and vote : and he was neither afraid nor ashamed
to own his opinion in that matter, and to act pursu-
ant to it. So he went on : and the king was not
offended with his freedom. But though he bore
with such a frank refusing to comply with his de-
*.; sire, yet if any had made him such general answers,
as led him to believe they intended to be compli-
ant, and had not in all things done as he expected,
he called that a juggling with him ; and he was apt
to speak hardly of them on that account. No
sooner was the king at ease, and had his fleet put
in good case, and his stores and magazines well fur-
nished, than he immediately feU to negotiating with
France, both to i*uin Holland, and to subvert the
government of England. The Brook-house busi-
ness, as well as the burning his fleet, stuck as deep
as any thing could do in his heart. He resolved to
revenge the one, and to free himself from the ap-
prehensions of the other's returning upon him :
though the house of commons were so far practised
on, that the report of Brook-house was let fall ; and
that matter was no more insisted on. Yet he ab-
horred the precedent, and the discoveries that had
273 been made upon it.
Jf^oraugr '^^^ prince of Orange came over to him in the
^me to the winter 1669. He was then in the twentieth year
of his age : so he came over, both to see how the
king intended to pay the great debt that he owed
him, which had been contracted by his father on
his account, and likewise to try what offices the
king would do in order to his advancement to the
stadtholdership. The king treated him civilly. He
assured him he would pay the debt: but did not
OF KING CHARLES II. . 475
lay down any method of doing it: so these were 1669.
only good words. He tried the prince, as the prince '
himself told me, in point of religion : he spoke of
all the protestants as a factious body, broken among
themselves ever since they had broken off from the
main body ; and wished, that he would take more
pains, and look into these things better, and not to
be led by his Dutch blockheads. The prince told all
this to Zuylesteyn, his natural uncle. They were
both amazed at it: and wondered, how the king
could trust so great a secret, as his being a papist,
to so young a person. The prince told me, that he
never spoke of this to any other person, till after his
death ^ : but he carried it always in his own mind,
and could not hinder himself from judging of all the
king's intentions after that, from the discovery he
had then made of his own sentiments. Nor did he,
upon his not complying with that proposition, ex-
pect any real assistance of the king, but general in-
tercessions, which signified nothing: and that was
all he obtained.
So far have I carried on the thread of the affairs The affairs
of Scotland.
of England, down from the peace of Breda to the
year 1670, in which the negotiation with the court
of France was set on foot. I am not sure, that
every thing is told in just order ; because I was all
the while very much retired from the world and
from company. But I am confident, I have given
a true representation of things ; since I had most
of these matters from persons who knew them well,
and who were not like to deceive me. But now I
return to my own country, where the same spirit
appeared in the administration.
* That is, his own death. S.
476 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i66y. The king was now upon measures of moderation.
J~[^^ and comprehension : so these were also pursued in
foranac- Scotlaud. Lciffhtoun was the only person among
tion with the bishops who declared for these methods : and he
the presby- .,,,.. .
teriaasin made uo step without talkmg it over to me. A
^ great many churches were already vacant. The
people fell off entirely from all the episcopal clergy
in the western counties : and a set of hot, fiery,
young teachers went about among them, inflaming
them more and more : so it was necessary to find a
remedy for this. Leightoun proposed, that a treaty
should be set on foot in order to the accommodating
our differences, and for changing the laws that had
274 carried the episcopal authority much higher than
any of the bishops themselves put in practice. He
saw both church and state were rent : religion was
like to be lost : popery, or rather barbarity, was like
to come in upon us : and therefore he proposed such
a scheme, as he thought might have taken in the
soberest men of presbyterian principles ; reckoning
that, if the schism could be once healed, and order
be once restored, it might be easy to bring things
into such management, that the concessions then to
be offered should do no great hurt in present, and
should die with that generation. He observed the ex-
traordinary concessions made by the African church
to the Donatists, who were every whit as wild and
extravagant as our people were : therefore he went
indeed very far in the extenuating the episcopal au-
thority : but he thought it would be easy afterAvards
to recover what seemed necessary to be yielded at
present. trm} vrsi <>j irinic :
He proposed, that the church should be governed
by the bishops and their clergy, mixing together in
OF KING CHARLES II. 477
the church judicatories : in which the bishop should 1669.
act only as a president, and be determined by the
majority of his presbyters, both in matters of juris-
diction and ordination : and that the presbyterians
should be allowed, when they sat down first in these
judicatories, to declare, that their sitting under a
bishop was submitted to by them only for peace
sake, with a reservation of their opinion with rela-
tion to any such presidency : and that no negative
vote should be claimed by the bishop : that bishops
should go to the churches, in which such as were to
be ordained were to serve, and hear and discuss any
exceptions that were made to them, and ordain
them with the concurrence of the presbytery : that
such as were to be ordained should have leave to
declare their opinion, if they thought the bishop was
only the head of the presbyters. And he also pro-
posed, that there should be provincial synods, to sit
in course every thii'd year, or oftener, if the king
should summon them ; in which complaints of the
bishops should be received ; and they should be cen-
sured accordingly. The laws that settled episcopacy,
and the authority of a national synod, were to be
altered according to this scheme. To justify, or ra-
ther to excuse these concessions, which left little
more than the name of a bishop, he said, as for their
protestation, it would be little minded, and soon for-
gotten : the world would see the union that would
be again settled among us, and the protestation
would lie dead in the books, and die with those that
made it : as for the negative vote, bishops generally
managed matters so, that they had no occasion for
it : but, if it should be found necessary, it might be
lodged in the king's name with some secular person, 275
478 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. who should interpose as often as the bishop saw it
was expedient to use it: and if the present race
could be but laid in their graves in peace, all those
heats would abate, if not quite fall off. He also
thought, it was a much decenter thing, for bishops
to go upon the place where the minister was to
serve, and to ordain after solemn fasting and prayer,
than to huddle it up at their cathedrals, with no so-
lemnity, and scarce with common decency. It seemed
also reasonable, that bishops should be liable to cen-
sure, as well as other people : and that in a fixed
court, which was to consist of bishops, and deans,
and two chosen from every presbytery. The hberty
offered to such as were to be ordained, to declare
their opinion, was the hardest part of the whole. It
looked like the perpetuating a factious and irregular
humour. But few would make use of it. All the
churches in the gift of the king, or of the bishops,
would go to men of other principles. But though
some things of an iU digestion were at such a time
admitted, yet, if by these means the schism could be
once healed, and the nation again settled in a peace-
able state, the advantage of that would balance all
that was lost by those abatements that were to be
made in the episcopal authority; which had been
raised too high, and to correct that was now to be
let fall too low, if it were not for the good that was
to be hoped for from this accommodation : for this
came to be the word, as comprehension was in Eng-
land. He proposed farther, that a treaty might be
set on foot, for bringing the presbyterians to accept
of these concessions. The earl of Kincardin was
against all treating with them : they were a trifling
sort of disputatious people, [that loved logic and
OF KING CHARLES II. 479
i
sophistry.] They would fall into much wrangling, \Q6q.
and would subdivide among themselves : and the
young and ignorant men among them, that were ac-
customed to popular declamations, would say, here
was a bargain made to sell Christ's kingdom and
his prerogative. He therefore proposed, that since
we knew both their principles and their tempers,
we ought to carry the concessions as far as it was
either reasonable or expedient, and pass these into
laws : and then they would submit to a settlement
that was made, and that could not be helped, more
easily than give a consent beforehand to any thing
that seemed to entrench on that which they called
the liberty of the church. Leightoun did fully
agree with him in this. But lord Lauderdale would
never consent to that. He said, a law that did so
entirely change the constitution of the church, when
it came to be passed and printed, would be construed
in England as a pulling down of episcopacy ; unless
he could have this to say in excuse for it, that the 2'^ 6
presbyterians were willing to come under that mo-
del. So he said, since the load of what was to be
done in Scotland would fall heaviest on him, he
would not expose himself so much, as the passing
any such act must certainly do, till he knew what
effects would follow on it. So we were forced to
try how to deal with them in a treaty.
I was sent to propose this scheme to Hutchinson,
who was esteemed the learnedest man among them.
But I was only to try him, and to talk of it as a no-
tion of my own. He had married my cousin-ger-
man; and I had been long acquainted with him.
He looked on it as a project that would never take
effect : so he would not give his opinion about it.
480 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. He said, when these concessions were passed into
laws, he would know what he should think of them :
but he was one of many, so he avoided to declare
himself. The next thing under consideration was,
how to dispose of the many vacancies, and how to
put a stop to conventicles. Leightoun proposed,
that they should be kept still vacant, while the
treaty was on foot; and that the presbyterians
should see how much the government was in ear-
nest in the design of bringing them to serve in the
church, when so many places were kept open for
them.
An indui- The earl of Tweedale thought the treaty would
gence pro- *-' ^ _
posed. run into a great length and to many niceties, and
would perhaps come to nothing in conclusion. So
he proposed the granting some of the outed minis-
ters leave to go and serve in those parishes by an
act of the king's indulgence, from whence it came to
be called the indulgence. Leightoun was against
this. He thought, nothing would bring on the pres-
byterians to a treaty, so much as the hopes of being
again suffered to return to their benefices : whereas^
if they were once admitted to them, they would
reckon they had gained their point, and would grow
more backward. I was desired to go into the west-
ern parts, and to give a true account of matters, as
"* I found them there. So I went, as in a visit to the
duke of Hamilton ; whose duchess was a woman of
great piety and great parts. She had much credit
among them ; for she passed for a zealous presby-
terian, though she protested to me she never entered
into the points of controversy, and had no settled
opinion about forms of government; only she thought
theu' ministers were good men, who kept the coun-
OF KING CHARLES II. 481
try in great quiet and order : they were, she said, i66g.
blameless in their lives, devout in their way, and di-
ligent in their labours. The people were all in a
phrensy, and were in no disposition to any treaty.
The furiousest men among them were busy in con-
venticles, inflaming them against aU agreements : so
she thought, that, if the more moderate presbyte-277
rians were put in vacant churches, the people would
grow tamer, and be taken out of the hands of the
mad preachers, that were then most in vogue : this
would likewise create a confidence in them : for
they were now so possessed with prejudices, as to
believe that aU that was proposed was only an arti-
fice to make them fall out among themselves, and
deceive them at last. This seemed reasonable : and
she got many of the more moderate of them to come
to me : and they all talked in the same strain.
A strange accident happened to Sharp in July An attempt
1668, as he was going into his coach in full day-sh^p.
light, the bishop of Orkney being with him. A
man came up to the coach, and discharged a pistol
at him with a brace of buUets in it, as the bishop of
Orkney was going up into the coach. He intended
to shoot through his cloak at Sharp, as he was
mounting up : but the bullet stuck in the bishop of
Orkney's arm, and shattered it so, that, though he
lived some years after that, they were forced to open
it every year for an exfoliation. Sharp was so uni-
versally hated, that, though this was done in fuU
daylight, and on the high street, yet nobody offered
to seize the assassin. So he walked off, and went
home, and shifted himself of an odd wig, which he
was not accustomed to wear, and came out, and
walked on the streets immediately. But Sharp had
VOL. I. I i
482 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. viewed him so narrowly, that he discovered him af-
terwards, as shaU be mentioned in its proper place.
I lived then much out of the world : yet I thought
it decent to go and congratulate on this occasion.
He was much touched with it, and put on a shew
of devotion upon it. He said with a very serious
^ look. My times are whoUy in thy hand, O thou God
of my life ! This was the single expression savour-
ing of piety that ever fell from him in all the con-
versation that passed between him and me ". Pro-
clamations were issued out with great rewards for
discovering the actor: but nothing followed on them.
On this occasion it was thought proper that he
should be called to court, and have some marks of
the king's favour put on him. He promised to
make many good motions : and he talked for a while
like a changed man : and went out of his way, as he
was going to court, to visit me at my parsonage
house, and seemed resolved to turn to other me-
thods. The king, as he had a particular talent that
way, when he had a mind to it, treated him with
special characters of favour and respect. But he
made no proposition to the king : only in general
terms he approved of the methods of gentleness and
moderation then in vogue.
278 When he came back to Scotland, he moved in
^osSihe' council that an indulgence might be granted to some
indulging Qf ti^e public resolutioners, with some rules and re-
some mini- ^
stersthat straiuts ; such as, that they should not speak or
conform, prcach again st episcopacy, and that they should not
admit to either of the sacraments any of the neigh-
bouring parishes without a desire from their own
"^ ■ Rank malice. S.
1 I
OF KING CHARLES II. 4SS
ministers; and that they should engage themselves 1669.
to observe these rules. He knew that his proposi-
tion, for aU the shew of moderation that was in it,
could have no effect : for the resolutioners and the
protestors had laid down their old disputes, and
were resolved to come under no discrimination on
that account ; nor would they engage to observe any
limitations that should be laid on them. They said,
the government might lay restraints on them, and
punish them if they broke through them : and they
would obey them, or not, at their peril. But they
laid down this for a maxim, that they had received
a complete ministry from Christ, and that the judi-
catories of the church had only power to govern
them in the exercise of their function. If the king
should lay any limitations on them, they might obey
these, as prudence should direct : but they would
not bind themselves up by any engagement of their
own. Burnet and his clergy, (for the diocese of
Glasgow is above the fourth part of all Scotland,)
came to Edenburgh full of high complaints, that the
churches were universally forsaken, and that con-
venticles abounded in every corner of the country.
A proclamation was upon that issued out, in imita-
tion of the Enghsh act, setting a fine of 50/. upon
every landlord, on whose grounds any conventicle
was held, which he might recover, as he could, of
those who were at any such conventicle. This was
plainly against law ; for the council had no power
by their authority to set arbitrary fines. It was pre-
tended, on the other hand, that the act of parliament
that had restored episcopacy had a clause in it, re-
commending the execution of that act to the privy
council by all the best ways they could think of.
I i 2
484 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. But the lawyers of the council-board said, that in
matters of property their power was certainly tied
up to the direction of the law : and the clause men-
tioned related only to particular methods, but could
not be construed so far as this proclamation carried
the matter. The proclamation went out, but was
never executed. It was sent up to London, and
had a shew of zeal ; and so was made use of by the
earl of Lauderdale, to bear down the clamour that
was raised against him and his party in Scotland,
as if they designed to pull down episcopacy. The
model of the county militia was now executed : and
above two thousand horse, and sixteen thousand
279 foot were armed, and trained, and cast into inde-
pendent regiments and troops, who were all to be
under such orders as the council issued out. All
this was against law : for the king had only a power
upon an extraordinary occasion to raise and march
such a body of men as he should summon together ;
and that at his own charge : but the converting this
into a standing miUtia, which carried with it a
standing charge, was thought a great stretch of pre-
rogative. Yet it was resolved on ; though great ex-
ceptions were made to it by the lawyers, chiefly by
sir John Nisbit, the king's advocate, a man of great
learning, both in law and in many other things,
chiefly in the Greek learning : he was a person of
great integrity, [only he loved money too much : but
he] always stood firm to the law. The true secret
of this design was, that , lord Lauderdale was now
pressing to get into the management of the affairs
of England. And he saw what the court was aim-
ing at. And he had a mind to make himself consi-
derable by this, that he had in his hand a great
OF KING CHARLES II. 485
army, with a magazine of arms, and a stock of 1669.
money laid up in Scotland for any accident that
might happen. So all his creatures, and lady Dy-
sert more than all the rest, had this up in all com-
panies, that none before him ever dreamt how to
make Scotland considerable to the king : but now it
began to make a great figure. An army, a maga-
zine, and a treasure, were words of a high sound;
chiefly now that the house of commons was Uke to
grow so intractable, that the duke of Buckingham
despaired of being able to manage them. He moved
the dissolving the parliament, and calling a new
one : and thought the nation would choose men less
zealous for the church; for these were all against
him. But the king would n6t venture on it. He
knew the house of commons was either firm to him
by their own principles : or by his management they
could be made so : and therefore he would not run
the risk of any new election. He had the dissenters
much in his power, by the severe laws under which
they lay at his mercy : but he did not know what
influence they might have in elections, and in a new
parhament : these he knew were in their hearts ene-
mies to prerogative ; which he believed they would
shew, as soon as they got themselves to be delivered
from the laws, that then put them in the king's
power.
Lord Tweedale was then at London : and he set Proposi-
n . . , 1 • 1 i tions for
on foot a proposition, that came to nothing, but the union
made so much noise, and was of such importance, tlngdoS!
that it deserves to be enlarged on. It was for the
union of both kingdoms ^. The king liked it ; be-
^ King William told the earl maxim in the Steward family,
of Jersey, that it was a standing (whatever advances they pre-
ii3
486 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
i66g. cause he reckoned, that, at least for his time, he
aoQ should be sure of all the members that should be
sent up from Scotland. The duke of Buckingham
went in easily to a new thing: and lord keeper
Bridgman was much for it. The lord Lauderdale
pressed it vehemently : it made it necessary to hold
a parliament in Scotland, where he intended to be
the king's commissioner. The earl of Tweedale
was for it on other accounts, both to settle the esta-
blishment of the militia, and to get some alterations
made in the laws that related to the church : and
he really drove at the union, as a thing which he
thought might be brought about. Scotland, he said,
was even then under great uneasiness, though the
king knew the state of that kingdom : but when
another king should reign that knew not Joseph, (so
he expressed it,) the nation would be delivered up
to favourites, and be devoured by them : rich pro-
vinces, like those that belonged to Spain, could hold
out long under oppression ; but a poor country
would be soon dispeopled, if much oppressed : and
if a king of deep designs against public liberty
should caress the Scots, he might easily engage
them ; since a poor country may be supposed willing
to change their seats, and to break in on a richer
one : there was indeed no fear of that at present ;
for the dotage of the nation on presbytery, and the
firmness with which the government supported epi-
tended to make towards it,) pend upon the crown for their
never to suffer an union be- subsistence ; but said he was
tween the two kingdoms, though not desirous the experiment
in his opinion it would be an should be made in his reign,
advantage ; for it could not be for he had not the good fortune
done without admitting a good to know what would .satisfy a
number of Scotch members Scotchman. D.
into both houses, who must de-
OF KING CHARLES II. ^"•' 48T
scopacy, set them so far from one another, that no 1669.
engagement of that sort could be attempted : but if
a king should take a dexterous method for putting
that out of the way, he might carry Scotland to
any design he thought fit to engage in. Lord
Tweedale blamed sir Francis Bacon much for laying
it down as a maxim, that Scotland was to be reck-
oned as the third part of the island, and to be treated
accordingly : whereas he assured me, Scotland for
numbers of people was not above a tenth part, and
for wealth not above a fortieth part of the island.
The discourse of the union was kept up, till it
was resolved to summon a new parliament in Scot-
land. Then lord Lauderdale made the king reflect
on the old scheme he had laid before him at the re-
storation : and he undertook to manage the parlia-
ment so, as to make it answer that end more effect-
ually than any before him had ever done. This was
resolved on in the summer 1 669. I being then at
Hamilton, and having got the best information of
the state of the country that I could, wrote a long
account of all I had heard to the lord Tweedale,
and concluded it with an advice to put some of the
more moderate of the presbyterians into the vacant
churches. Sir Robert Murray told me, the letter
was so well liked, that it was read to the king.
Such a letter would have signified nothing, if lord 281
Tweedale had not been fixed in the same notion.
He had now a plausible thing to support it. So my
principles, and zeal for the church, and I know not
what besides, were raised, to make my advice signify
somewhat. And it was said, I was the man that
went most entirely into Leightoun's maxims. So
this indiscreet letter of mine, sent without commu-
I i 4
488 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
l66g. nicating it to Leightoun, gave the deciding stroke;
And, as may be easily believed, it drew much hatred
on me from all that either knew it, or did suspect
it.
Tiie king The king wrote a letter to the privy council, or-
gave orders , , . x ^
for the in- dcnug them to mdulge such of the presbyterians as
"^^°*'^' were peaceable and loyal, so far as to suffer them to
serve in vacant churches, though they did not sub-
mit to the present establishment : and he required
them to set them such rules as might preserve or-
der and peace, and to look well to the execution of
them : and as for such as could not be provided to
churches at that time, he ordered a pension of
twenty pounds sterling a year to be paid every one
of them, as long as they lived orderly. Nothing fol-
lowed on the second article of this letter : the pres-
byterians looked on this, as the king's hire to be
silent, and not to do their duty : and none of them
would accept of it. But, as to the first part of the
letter, on the first council day after it was read,
twelve of the ministers were indulged : they had
parishes assigned them : and about thirty more
were afterwards indulged in the same manner : and
then a stop was put to it for some time. With the
warrants that they had for their churches, there
was a paper of rules likewise put in their hands.
Hutcheson, in all their names, made a speech to the
council : he began with decent expressions of thanks
to the king and their lordships : he said, they should
at all times give such obedience to laws and orders,
as could stand with a good conscience. And so
they were dismissed. As for those of them that
were allowed to go to the churches where they had
served before, no difficulty could be made: but
OF KING CHARLES II. ' 489
those of them that were named to other churches 1669.
would not enter on the serving them, till the church
sessions, and the inhabitants of the parish met, and
made choice of them for their pastors, and gave
them a caU (as they worded it) to serve among
them. But upon this, scruples arose among some,
who said the people's choice ought to be free;
whereas now they were limited to the person named
by the council, which looked like an election upon a
conge d'elire with a letter naming the person, with
which they had often diverted themselves. But
scruples are mighty things, when they concur with
inclination or interest : and when they are not sup-
ported by these, men learn distinctions to get free 282
from them. So it happened in this case: for
though some few were startled at these things, yet
they lay in no man's way ; for every man went,
and was possessed of the church marked out for
him. And at first the people of the country ran to
them with a sort of transport of joy. Yet this was
soon cooled. It was hoped, that they would have
begun their ministry with a public testimony against
all that had been done in opposition to what they
were accustomed to call the work of God. But
they were silent at that time, and preached only
the doctrines of Christianity. This disgusted aU
those who loved to hear their ministers preach to
the times, as they called it. The stop put to the
indulgence made many conclude, that those who
had obtained the favour, had entered into secret
engagements. So they came to caU them the
king's curates, as they had called the clergy in deri-
sion the bishops' curates. Their caution brought
them under a worse character of dumb dogs, that
could not bark. Those, who by their fierce beha-
490 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. viour had shut themselves out from a share in the
indulgence, began to call this Erastianism, and the
civil magistrates assuming the power of sacred mat-
ters. They said, this was visibly an artifice to lay
things asleep with the present generation ; and was
one of the depths of Satan, to give a present quiet,
in order to the certain destruction of presbytery.
And it was also said, that there was a visible de-
parting of the divine assistance from those preach-
ers : they preached no more with the power and
authority that had accompanied them at conventi-
cles. So many began to fall off from them, and
to go again to conventicles. Many of the preach-
;;, ers confessed to me, that they found an ignorance
and a deadness among those who had been the
hottest upon their meetings, beyond what could
have been imagined. They that could have ar-
gued about the intrinsic power of the church, and
episcopacy, and presbytery, upon which all their
sermons had chiefly run for several years, knew
very little of the essentials of religion. But the
indulged preachers, instead of setting themselves
with the zeal and courage that became them
against the follies of the people, of which they con-
fessed to my self they were very sensible, took a
different method ; and studied by mean compliances
to gain upon their affections, and to take them out
of the hands of some fiery men, that were going up
and down among them. The tempers of some
brought them under this servile popularity, into
which others went out of a desire to live easy.
283 The indulgence was settled in a huiTy. But
pitined'of wh^^ it came to be descanted on, it appeared to be
as against plainly agaiust law : for by the act restoring episco-
pacy none were capable of benefices, but such as
;:;) of king charles n.iiiT 491
should own the authority of bishops, aiid be insti- i66gi
tuted by them. So now the episcopal party, ^hat '
were wont to put all authority in the king, as long
as he was for them, began to talk of law. They
said, the king's power was bounded by the law ;
and that these proceedings were the trampling of
law under foot. For all parties, as they need the
shelter of law, or the stretches of the prerogative,
are apt by turns to magnify the one or the other.
Burnet and his clergy were out of measure enraged
at the indulgence. They were not only abandoned,
but ill used by the people, who were beginning to
threaten, or to buy them out of their churches, that
they also might have the benefit of the indulgence.
The synod of the clergy was held at Glasgow in
October: and they moved, that an address might
be drawn up, representing to the king the miseries
they were under, occasioned by the indulgence :
they complained of it as illegal, and as like to be
fatal to the church. This was, according to the words
in some of their acts of parliament, a misrepresent-
ing the king's proceedings, in order to the alienating
the hearts of his subjects from him ; which was
made capital, as may appear by the account given
in the former book of the proceedings against the
lord Balmerinoch '^, He that drew this address was
one Ross, afterwards archbishop, first of Glasgow,
and then of St. Andrew's ; who was [always a proud,
ill-natured, and an ignorant man, covetous^,] and
violent out of measure. So it was drawn full of
acrimony. Yet they resolved to keep it secret, till
advice should be taken upon it ; and accordingly to
' (See p, 22 — 25.) ^ The first editors printed only, an ig-
norant man.
492 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. present it to the privy council, or not. A copy of
■" this^ was procured by indirect methods : and it was
sent up to court, after the earl of Lauderdale was
come off, and was in his way to hold the parliament
in Scotland. Lord Lauderdale had left aU his con-
cerns at court with sir Robert Murray : for though,
at his mistress's instigation, he had used him very
unworthily, yet he had so great an opinion of his
virtue and candour, that he left all his affairs to his
care. As soon as the king saw the clergy's address,
he said, it was a new western remonstrance : and
he ordered, that Burnet should not be suffered to
come to the parliament, and that he should be pro-
ceeded against as far as the law could carry the
matter. It was not easy to stretch this so far as to
make it criminal. But Burnet being obnoxious on
other accounts, they intended to frighten him to
submit, and to resign his bishopric.
284 The parliament was opened in November. Lord
A pariia- Laudcrdalc's speech ran upon two heads. The one
ment in *■ '■
Scotland, was, the recommending to their care the preserva-
tion of the church, as established by law : upon
which he took occasion to express great zeal for
episcopacy. The other head related to the union of
both kingdoms. All that was done relating to
that was, that an act passed for a treaty about it^:
and in the following summer, in a subsequent ses-
sion, commissioners were named, who went up to
treat about it. But they made no progress : and
the thing fell so soon, that it was very visible it was
never intended in good earnest.
The supre- Thc two first acts that passed in parliament were
macy car-
ried very e j\f) act, passed also in the same purpose, 220! of Charles
^^^' English parliament, for the the second, chap. 9th. O.
OF KING CHARLES H. 493
of more importance, and had a deeper design. The i66g.
first explained and asserted the king's supremacy:
but carried it [as they are apt to do in Scotland]
in such general words, that it might have been
stretched to every thing. It was declared, that the
settling all things relating to the external govern-
ment of the church was a right of the crown : and
that all things relating to ecclesiastical meetings, ^
matters, and persons, were to be ordered according
to such directions as the king should send to his
privy council: and that these should be published
by them, and should have the force of laws. Lord
Lauderdale very probably knew the secret of the
duke's religion, and had got into his favour. So it
was very likely that he intended to establish him-
self in it, by putting the church of Scotland whoUy
in his power. But that was yet a secret to us aU in
Scotland. The method he took to get it passed was
this : he told aU those who loved presbytery, or that
did not much favour the bishops, that it was neces-
sary to keep them under, by making them depend
absolutely on the king : this was indeed a transfer-
ring the whole legislature, as to the matters of the
church, from the parliament, and vesting it singly
in the king : yet, he told them, if this were done, as
the circumstances might happen to be favourable,
the king might be prevailed on, if a dash of a pen
would do it, to change all on the sudden : whereas
that could never be hoped for, if it could not be
brought about, but by the pomp and ceremony of a
parliament. He made the nobility see, they needed
fear no more the insolence of bishops, if they were
at mercy, as this would make them. Sharp did not
like it, but durst not oppose it. He made a long
494. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669, dark speech, copied out of doctor Taylor, distin-
guishing between the civil and ecclesiastical autho-
rity ; and then voted for it : so did aU the bishops
that were present: some absented themselves. Leigh-
toun was against any such act, and got some words
to be altered in it. He thought, it might be
stretched to ill ends : and so he was very averse to
285 it. Yet he gave his vote for it, not having suffi-
ciently considered the extent of the words, and the
consequences that might follow on such an act ; for
which he was very sorry as long as he lived. But
at that time there was no apprehensions in Scotland
of the danger of popery. Many of the best of the
episcopal clergy, Nairn and Charteris in particular,
were highly offended at the act. They thought it
plainly made the king our pope. The presbyterians
said, it put him in Christ's stead. They said, the
king had akeady too much power in the matters of
the church : and nothing ruined the clergy more
than their being brought into servile compliances
and a base dependance upon courts. I had no
share in the counsels about this act. I only thought
it was designed by lord Tweedale to justify the in-
dulgence, which he protested to me was his chief
end in it. And nobody could ever tell me how the
words ecclesiastical matters were put in the act.
Leightoun thought, he was sure * it was put in after
the draught and form of the act was agreed on. It
was generally charged on lord Lauderdale. And
when the duke's religion came to be known, then
' all people saw, how much the legal settlement of
our religion was put in his power by this means.
Yet -the preamble of the act being only concerning
• gUiji H ,J. f Nonsense. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 495
the external government of the church, it was j66q.
thought that the words ecclesiastical matters were
to be confined to the sense that was limited by the
preamble.
The next act that passed was concerning the mi- An act for
litia : all that had been done in raising it was ap- mUitiT"*^
proved : and it was enacted, that it should still be
kept up, and be ready to march into any of the
king's dominions, for any cause in which his ma-
jesty's authority, power, or greatness should be con-
cerned ; and that the orders should be transmitted
to them from the council-board, without any men-
tion of orders from the king. Upon this great re-
flections were made. Some said, that by this the
army was taken out of the king's power and com-
mand, and put under the power of the council : so
that if the greater part of the council should again
rebel, as they did in the year 1638, the army was by
the words of this act bound to follow their orders.
But, when jealousies broke out in England of the ill
designs that lay hid under this matter, it was thought
that the intent of this clause was, that if the king
should call in the Scotish army, it should not be ne-
cessary that he himself should send any orders for
it ; but that, upon a secret intimation, the council
might do it without order, and then, if the design
should miscarry, it should not lie on the king, but
only on the council, whom in that case the king
might disown; and so none about him should be 286
blameable for it. The earl of Lauderdale valued
himself upon these acts, as if he had conquered
kingdoms by them. He wrote a letter to the king
upon it, in which he said all Scotland was now in
his power : the church of Scotland was now more
496 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1669. subject to him than the church of England was :
'■ this militia was now an army ready upon call : and
that every man in Scotland was ready to march,
whensoever he should order it, with several very ill
insinuations in it. But so dangerous a thing it is to
write such letters to princes : this letter fell into
duke Hamilton's hands some years after : and I had
it in my hands for some days. It was intended to
found an impeachment on it. But that happened
at the time when the business of the exclusion of
the duke from the succession of the crown was so
hotly pursued, that this, which at another time
would have made great noise, was not so much con-
sidered as the importance of it might seem to de-
serve. The way how it came into such hands was
this : the king, after he had read the letter, gave it
to sir Robert Murray : and when he died, it was
found among his papers. He had been much trusted
in the king's laboratory, and had several of his chy-
mical processes in his hands. So the king after his
death did order one to look over all his papers for
chymical matters : but aU the papers of state were
let alone. So this, with many other papers, fell into
the hands of his executors. And thus this letter
came into duke Hamilton's hands ; who would have
made use of it, if greater matters had not been then
in agitation. This is not the single instance, that I
have known, of papers of great consequence faUing
into the hands of the executors of great ministers,
that might have been turned to very bad uses, if
' they had fallen into ill hands. It seems of great
concern, that when a minister or an ambassador
dies, or is recalled, or is disgraced, all papers relating
to the secrets of his employment should be of right
OF KING CHARLES II. 497
in the power of the government. But I of all men 1 669.
should complain the least of this, since by this re-
missness many papers of a high nature have fallen
in my way.
By the act of supremacy the king was now mas- Burnet
1 • 1 1 rr^i • turned out,
ter, and could turn out bishops at pleasure. 1 his and Leigh-
had its first effect on Burnet; who was offered aarchbShop
pension, if he would submit and resign, and was ^'^ ^^**sow.
threatened to be treated more severely, if he stood
out. He complied, and retired to a private state of
life, and bore his disgrace better than he had done
his honours. He lived four years in the shade, and
was generally much pitied : he was of himself good-
natured, and sincere ; but was much in the power of
others : he meddled too much in that which did not
belong to him, and he did not understand ; for he 287
was not cut out s for a court, or for the ministry ^ :
and he was too remiss in that which was properly
his business, and which he understood to a good de-
gree ; for he took no manner of care of the spiritual
part of his function.
At this time the university of Glasgow, to whom The state
the choice of the professor of divinity does belong, thing" in at
chose me, though unknown to them all, to be pro- ^'^s""^ •
fessor there. There was no sort of artifice or ma-
nagement to bring this about : it came of themselves :
and they did it without any recommendation of any
person whatsoever'. So I was advised by all my
friends to change my post, and go thither. This
E A phrase of dignity. S. Burnet bishop of Salisburj' had,
•* It seems Bnrnet archbishop who was cut out for a court
of Glasgow, a good natured, and ministry, from nineteen
sincere man, had not the like years of age to seventy-two. D.
call to meddle in matters that ' Modest. S.
did not belong to him, that
VOL. I. K k
498 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
engaged me both into much study and in a great
deal of business. The clergy came all to me, think-
ing I had some credit with those that governed, and
laid their grievances and complaints before me.
They were very iU used, and were so entirely for-
saken by their people, that in most places they shut
up their churches : they were also threatened and
affronted on all occasions. On the other hand, the
gentlemen of the country came much to me, and
told me such strange things of the vices of some, the
follies of others, and the indiscretions of them all,
that, though it was not reasonable to believe all that
they said, yet it was impossible not to believe a great
deal of it. And so I soon saw what a hard pro-
vince I was like to have of it. Accounts of the
state of those parts were expected from me, and
were like to be believed. And it was not easy to
know what ought to be believed, nor how matters
were to be represented : for I found [lying and] ca-
lumny were so equally practised on both sides, that I
came to mistrust every thing that I heard. One
thing was visible, that conventicles abounded, and
strange doctrine was vented in them. The king's
supremacy was now the chief subject of declama-
tion : it was said, bishops were indeed enemies to
the liberties of the church, but the king's little finger
would be heavier than their loins had been. After
I had been for some months among them, and had
heard so much, that I believed very little, I wrote
to lord Tweedale, that disorders did certainly in-
crease ; but, as for any particulars, I did not know
what to believe, much less could I suggest what re-
medies seemed proper : I therefore proposed, that a
committee of council might be sent round the coun-
OF KING CHARLES II. 499
try to examine matters, and to give such orders as 1669.
were at present necessary for the public quiet; and
that they might prepare a report against the next
session of parliament, that then proper remedies
might be found out.
Duke Hamilton, lord Kincardin, Primerose, and 288
Drumond, were sent to these parts. They met first n^jtJ'^of
at Hamilton, next at Glasgow : then they went to gg^"jjj„„j
other parts ; and came back, and ended their circuit th* west.
at Glasgow. They punished some disorders, and
threatened both the indulged ministers and the
countries with greater severities, if they should still
grow more and more insolent upon the favour that
had been shewed them. I was blamed by the pres-
byterians for all they did, and by the episcopal party
for all they did not ; since these thought they did
too little, as the others thought they did too much.
They consulted much with me ; and suffered me to
intercede so effectually for those whom they had put
in prison, that they were all set at liberty. The
episcopal party thought I intended to make my self
popular at their cost : so they began that strain of
fury and calumny that has pursued me ever since
from that sort of people **, as a secret enemy to their
interest, and an underminer of it. But I was, and
still am, an enemy to all force and violence in mat-
ters of conscience : and there is no principle that is
more hated by bad, ill-natured clergymen, than
that.
The earls of Lauderdale and Tweedale pressed
Leightoun much to accept of the see of Glasgow.
He declined it with so much aversion, that we were.
^ A civil term for all who are episcopal. S.
K k 2
500 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
^66g. all uneasy at it. Nothing moved him to hearken to
it, but the hopes of bringing about the accommoda-
tion that was proposed ; in which he had all assist-
ance promised him from the government. The king
ordered him to be sent for to court. He sent for
me on his way ; where he stopt a day, to know
from me what prospect there was of doing any good.
I could not much encourage him : yet I gave him
all the hopes that I could raise my self to : and I
was then inclined to think, that the accommodation
was not impracticable. Upon his coming to Lon-
don, he found lord Lauderdale's temper was much
inflamed : he was become fierce and intractable.
But lord Tweedale made every thing as easy to him
as was possible. They had turned out an archbi-
shop : so it concerned them to put an eminent man
in his room, who should order matters with such
moderation, that the government should not be. un-
der perpetual disturbance by reason of complaints
from those parts.
1670. But now the court was entering into new de-
signs, into which lord Lauderdale was thrusting
himself, with an obsequious, or rather an officious
zeal. I will dwell no longer at present on that, than
just to name the duchess of Orleans's coming to Do-
ver, of which a more particular account shall be
289 given, after that I have laid together all that relates
to Scotland in the year 1670, and the whole business
of the accommodation. Leightoun proposed to the
king his scheme of the accommodation, and tlie great
advantages that his majesty's affairs would have, if
that country could be brought into temper. The
king was at this time gone off from the design of a
OF KING CHARLES II. 501
comprehension in England. Toleration was now 1670.
thought the best way. Yet the earl of Lauderdale '^^^^^.
possessed him with the necessity of doinff somewhat *'°°* **""
■T •' t' an accom-
to soften the Scots, in order to the great design hemodation.
was then engaging in. Upon that the king, who
seldom gave himself the trouble to think twice of
any one thing, gave way to it. Leightoun's paper
was in some places corrected by sir Robert Murray;
and was turned into instructions, by which lord
Lauderdale was authorized to pass the concessions
that were to be offered, into laws. This he would
never own to me, though Leightoun shewed me the
copy of them. But it appeared probable, by his con-
duct afterwards, that he had secret directions to
spoil the matter, and that he intended to deceive us
all. Lord Tweedale was more to be depended on.
But he began to lose ground with lady Dysert: and so
his interest did not continne strong enough to carry
on such a matter.
Leightoun undertook the administration of the
see of Glasgow : and it was a year after this before
he was prevailed on to be translated thither. He
came upon this to Glasgow, and held a synod of his
clergy ; in which nothing was to be heard, but conr-
plaints of desertion and iU usage from them all.
Leightoun, in a sermon that he preached to them, Leightoun's
and in several discourses, both in public and private, his'dergy.
exhorted them to look up more to God, to consider
themselves as the ministers of the cross of Christ, to
bear the contempt and ill usage they met with, as a
cross laid on them for the exercise of their faith and
patience, to lay aside all the appetites of revenge, to
humble themselves before God, to have many days
Kk3
502 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. for secret fasting and prayers, and to meet often to-
gether, that they might quicken and assist one an-
other in those holy exercises : and then they might
expect blessings from heaven upon their labours.
This was a new strain to the clergy. They had no-
thing to say against it : but it was a comfortless
doctrine to them : and they had not been accus-
tomed to it. No speedy ways were proposed for
forcing the people to come to church, nor for send-
ing soldiers among them, or raising the fines to
which they were liable. So they went home, as
little edified with their new bishop, as he was with
them. When this was over, he went round some
parts of the country to the most eminent of the in-
290dulged ministers, and carried me with him. His
business was, to persuade them to hearken to propo-
sitions of peace. He told them, some of them would
be quickly sent for to Edenburgh, where terms
would be offered them in order to the making up
our differences : all was sincerely meant : they would
meet with no artifices nor hardships : and if they
received those offers heartily, they would be turned
into laws : and all the vacancies then in the church
would be filled by their brethren. They received
this with so much indifference, or rather neglect,
that it would have cooled any zeal that was less
warm and less active than that good man's was.
They were scarce civil; and did not so much as
thank him for his tenderness and care : the more
artful among them, such as Hutcheson, said, it was
a thing of general concern, and they were but single
men. Others were more metaphysical, and enter-
t^ned us with some poor arguings and distinctions.
OF KING CHARLES II. 503
Leightoun began to lose heart. Yet he resolved to 1670.
set the negotiation on foot, and carry it as far as he
could.
When lord Lauderdale came down to hold a ses- a confe-
sion of parliament, letters were writ to six of thetween
presbyterian preachers, ordering them to come toj^^j^j^""^
town. There was a long; conference between Leieh- 1'.'^**'?*^'
<-' *-' nans.
toun and them, before the earls of Lauderdale,
Rothes, Tweedale, and Kincardin. Sharp would
not be present at it : but he ordered Paterson, after-
wards archbishop of Glasgow, to hear all, and to
bring him an account of what passed. Leightoun
laid before them the mischief of our divisions, and
of the schism that they had occasioned : many souls
were lost, and many more were in danger by these
means : so that every one ought to do all he could
to heal this wide breach, that had already let in so
many evils among us, which were like to make way
to many more : for his own part, he was persuaded
that episcopacy, as an order distinct from presbyters,
had continued in the church ever since the days of
the apostles ; that the world had every where re-
ceived the christian rehgion from bishops, and that
a pai'ity among clergymen was never thought of in
the church before the middle of the last century,
and was then set up rather by accident than on de-
sign : yet, how much soever he was persuaded of
this, since they were of another mind, he was now
to offer a temper to them, by which both sides might
still preserve their opinions, and yet unite in caiTy-
ing on the ends of the gospel and their ministry :
they had moderators amongst them, which was no
divine institution, but only a matter of order : the
king therefore might name these : and the making
Kk 4
504 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. them constant could be no such encroachment on
theu' function, as that the peace of the church must
291 be broke on such an account : nor could they say,
that the blessing of the men named to this function
by an imposition of hands did degrade them from
their former office, to say no more of it : so they
were still at least ministers : it is true, others thought
they had a new and special authority, more than a
bare presidency ; that did not concern them, who
were not required to concur with them in any
thing, but in submitting to this presidency : and, as
to that, they should be allowed to declare their own
opinion against it, in as full and as public a manner
as they pleased : he laid it to their consciences, to
consider of the whole matter, as in the presence of
God, without any regard to party or popularity.
He spoke in aU near half an hour, with a gravity
and force that made a very great impression on
those who heard it. Hutcheson answered, and said,
their opinion for a parity among the clergy was well
known : the presidency now spoke of had made way
to a lordly dominion in the church : and therefore
how inconsiderable soever the thing might seem to
be, yet the effects of it both had been and would be
very considerable : he therefore desired, some time
might be given them to consider well of the proposi-
tions now made, and to consult with their brethren
about them : and, since this might seem an assem-
bling together against law, he desired they might
j have the king's commissioner's leave for it. This
was immediately granted. We had a second con-
ference, in which matters were more fully opened,
and pressed home, on the grounds formerly men-
tioned. Lord Lauderdale made us all dine together.
OF KING CHARLES II. 505
and came to us after dinner: but could scarce re- 1670.
strain himself from flying out; for their behaviour
seemed both rude and crafty. But Leightoun had
prepared him for it, and pressed him not to give
them a handle to excuse their flying off, by any
roughness in his deportment towards them. The
propositions offered them were now generally known.
Sharp cried out, that episcopacy was to be under-
mined, since the negative vote was to be let go.
The inferior clergy thought, that if it took effect,
and the presbyterians were to be generally brought
into churches, they would be neglected, and that
their people would forsake them. So they hated the
whole thing. The bigoted presbyterians thought
it was a snare, and the doing that which had a fair
appearance at present, and was meant only to lay
that generation in their graves in peace ; by which
means episcopacy, that was then shaking over all
the nation, would come to have another root, and
grow again out of that. But the far greater part of
the nation approved of this design : and they reck-
oned, either we should gain our point, and then all 292
would be at quiet, or, if such offers were rejected by
the presbyterians, it would discover their temper,
and alienate all indifferent men from them ; and the
nation would be convinced, how unreasonable and
stubborn they were, and how unworthy they were
of any farther favour. AU that was done in this
session of parliament was, the raising a tax, and the
naming commissioners for the union with England ;
besides two severe acts passed against conventicles.
There had been a great one held in Fife, near New se-
Dunfermlin, where none had ever been held before, against
Some gentlemen of estates were among them: and^j*"^"^'
506 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1G70. the novelty of the thing drew a great crowd to-
■ gether; for intimation had been given of it some
days before. Many of these came in their ordinary
arms. That gave a handle to call them the rendez-
vous of rebellion. Some of them were taken, and
brought to Edenburgh, and pressed to name as
many as they knew of their feUow conventiclers :
but they refused to do it. This was sent up to
court, and represented as the forerunner of rebellion.
Upon which lord Lauderdale, hearing what use his
enemies made of it, was transported almost to fits of
rage. Severe acts passed upon it, by which their
fines were raised higher, and they were made liable
to arbitrary severities. The earl of Lauderdale with
his own hand put in a word in the act, that covered
The re- the papists, the fines being laid on such of the re-
lig^n, ^^' formed religion as went not to church. He pre-
tended by this to merit with the popish party, the
duke in particular ; whose religion was yet a secret
to us in Scotland, though it was none at court. He
said to my self, he had put in these words on design
to let the party know, they were to be worse used
than the papists themselves. All field conventicles
were declared treasonable : and in the preacher they
were made capital. The landlords, on whose grounds
they were held, were to be severely fined : and aU
who were at them were to be punished arbitrarily,
if they did not discover all that were present, whom
they knew. House conventicles, crowded without
the doors, or at the windows, were to be reckoned
and punished as field conventicles. Sir Robert Mur-
ray told me, that the king was not well pleased with
this act, as being extravagantly severe; chiefly in
that of the preachers being to be punished by death.
OF KING CHARLES II. 507
He said, bloody laws did no good; and that he 1670.
would never have passed it, if he had known it be-
forehand. The half of the parliament abhorred this
act. Yet so abject were they in their submissions to
lord Lauderdale, that the young earl of CassUis was
the single person that voted in the negative. [He
was heir to his father's stiffness, but not to his vir-
tues.] This passed in parliament so suddenly, that
Leightoun knew nothing of it, till it was too late. 293
He expostulated with lord Tweedale severely about
it : he said, the whole complex of it was so contrary
to the common rules of humanity, not to say Chris-
tianity, that he was ashamed to mix in counsels
with those who could frame and pass such acts;
and he thought it somewhat strange, that neither
he nor I had been advised with in it. The earl of
Tweedale said, the late field conventicle being a
new thing, it had forced them to severities, that at
another time could not be weU excused : and he as-
sured us, there was no design to put it in execution.
Leightoun sent to the western counties six epi-
scopal divines, all, except my self, brought from other
parts : Nairn and Charteris were two of them : the
three others, Aird, Cook, and Paterson, were the
best we could persuade to go round the country to
preach in vacant churches, and to argue upon the
grounds of the accommodation with such as should
come to them. The episcopal clergy, who were yet
in the country, could not argue much for any thing ;
and would not at all argue in favour of a proposition
that they hated. The people of the country came
generally to hear us, though not in great crowds.
We were indeed amazed to see a poor commonalty
so capable to argue upon points of government, and
508 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. on the bounds to be set to the power of princes in
matters of religion : upon all these topics they had
texts of scripture at hand; and were ready with
their answers to any thing that was said to them.
This measure of knowledge was spread even among
the meanest of them, their cottagers, and their ser-
vants. They were indeed vain of their knowledge,
much conceited of themselves, and were full of a
most entangled scrupulosity ; so that they found, or
made, difficulties in every thing that could be laid
before them. We staid about three months in the
country : and in that time there was a stand in the
frequency of conventicles. But, as soon as we were
gone, a set of those hot preachers went round all the
places in which we had been, to defeat all the good
we could hope to do. They told them, the Devil
was never so formidable, as when he was trans-
formed into an angel of light.
The pres- The outcd ministers had many meetings in several
rJsoived to parts of the kingdom. They found themselves under
offers made g^cat difficulties. The people had got it among
them. them, that all that was now driven at, was only to
extinguish presbytery, by some seeming concessions,
with the present generation ; and that if the minis-
ters went into it, they gave up their cause, that so
they themselves might be provided for during their
lives, and die at more ease. So they, who were
strangely subdued by their desire of popularity, re-
294 solved to reject the propositions, though they could
not weU tell on what grounds they should justify it.
A report was also spread among them, which they
believed, and had its full effect upon them : it was
said, that the king was alienated from the church of
England, and weary of supporting episcopacy in
OF KING CHARLES II. 509
Scotland; and so was resolved not to clog his go- 1670.
vemment any longer with it; and that the conces-
sions now made did not arise from any tenderness
we had for them, but from an artifice to preserve
episcopacy : so they were made believe, that their
agreeing to them was really a strengthening of that
government, which was otherwise ready to fall with
its own weight. And because a passage of Scripture,
according to its general sound, was apt to work much
en them, that of touch not, taste not, handle not, it
was often repeated among them. It was generally
agreed on to reject the offers made them. The next
debate among them was, about the reasons they were
to give for rejecting them ; or whether they would
comply with another proposition, which Leightoun
had made them, that, if they did not hke the propo-
sitions he had made, they would see, if they could
be more happy than he was, and offer at other pro-
positions. In their meetings [there was much sad
stuff;] they named [in some of them] two, to main-
tain the debate, pro and con. They disputed about
the protestation that they were allowed to make : and
protestatio contraria facto was a maxim that was
in great vogue among them. They argued upon the
obligation by the covenant to maintain their church,
as then established, in doctrine, worship, discipline,
and government : and so every thing that was con-
trary to that was represented as a breach of cove-
nant : and none durst object to that. But that they
might make a proposition, which they were sure
would not be hearkened to, they proposed that among
the concessions to be insisted on, one might be a
liberty to ordain without the bishops. When we
heard what their reasonings were, paj)ers were writ.
&m THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. and sent among them, in answer to them. But it is a
vain thing to argue, when a resolution is taken up,
not founded on argument ; and arguments are only
sought for, to justify that which is already resolved
on. We pressed them with this, that, notwithstand-
ing their covenant, they themselves had afterwards
made many alterations, much more important than
this of submitting to a constant moderator, named
by the king. Cromwell took from them the power
of meeting in general assemblies : yet they went on
doing the other duties of their function ; though this,
which they esteemed the greatest of all their rights,
was denied them: when an order came out to se-
quester the half of the benefices of such as should
still pray for the king, they upon that submitted,
295 though before they had asserted it as a duty, to
which they were bound by their covenant : they had
discontinued their ministry, in obedience to laws and
proclamations now for nine years : and those, who
had accepted the indulgence, had come in by the
king's authority, and had only a parochial govern-
ment, but did not meet in presbyteries : from all
which we inferred, that, when they had a mind to
lay down any thing that they thought a duty, or to
submit to any thing that they thought an invasion of
their rights, they could find a distinction for it : and
it was not easy to shew, why they were not as com-
pliant in this particular. But aU was lost labour :
hot men among them were positive : and all of them
were fuU of [contentious logic. Two passages of
' scripture were generally applied to them. To one
sort of them, that in the Proverbs, Thejhol rageth,
and is confident: and to the other that in Micah,
chap. vii. ver. 4. The best of them is as a brier:;
OF KING CHARLES II. 511
the most upright (of them) is sharper than a thorn- 1670.
hedge^.'\ ^
Duchess Hamilton sent for some of them, Hutche-
son in particular. She said, she did not pretend to
understand nice distinctions, and the terms of dis-
pute : here was plain sense : the country might be
again at quiet, and the rest of those that were outed
admitted to churches, on terms that seemed to all
reasonable men very easy : their rejecting this would
give a very ill character of them, and would have
very bad effects, of which they might see cause to
repent, when it would be too late. She told me,
all that she could draw from him, that she under-
stood, was, that he saw the generality of their party
was resolved against all treaties, or any agreement :
and that, if a small number should break off from
them, it would not heal the old breaches, but would
create new ones. In conclusion, nothing was like to
follow on this whole negotiation. We, who were
engaged in it, had lost all our own side by offering
at it; and the presbyterians would not make one
step towards us.
Leightoun desired another meeting with them at Some confe-
Pasley, to which he carried me and one or two that su^ect!
more. They were about thirty. We had two long
conferences with them. Leightoun laid out before
them the obligations that lay on them to seek for
peace at all times, but more especially when we al-
ready saw the dismal effects of our contentions :
there could be no agreement, unless on both sides
there was a disposition to make some abatements,
and some steps towards one another : it appeared,
>" The word contention was substituted for this clause.
512 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. that we were willing to make even unreasonable
ones on our side : and would they abate nothing in
theirs ? Was their opinion so mathematically cer-
tain, that they could not dispense with any part of
it, for the peace of the church, and for the saving
of souls ? Many poor things were said on their side,
which would have made a less mild man than he
was lose all patience. But he bore with all [their
trifling impertinencies,] and urged this question on
them. Would they have held communion with the
296 church of God at the time of the council of Nice, or
not ? If they should say, not, he would be less de-
sirous of entering into communion with them ; since
he must say of the church at that time, Let my soul
he with theirs : if they said, they would ; then he
was sure, they would not reject the offers now made
them, which brought episcopacy much lower than it
was at that time. One of the most learned among
them had prepared a speech fuU of quotations, to
prove the difference between the primitive episco-
pacy and ours at present. I was then full of those
matters : so I answered all his speech, and every one
of his quotations, and turned the whole upon him
with advantages that were too evident to be so
much as denied by their own party : and it seemed
the person himself thought so ; for he did not offer
at one word of reply. In conclusion, the presby-
terians desired that the propositions might be given
them in writing: for hitherto all had passed only
verbally ; and words, they said, might be misunder-
stood, misrepeated, and denied. Leightoun had no
mind to do it : yet, since it was plausible, to say
they had nothing but words to shew to their bre-
thren, he wrote them down, and gave me the ori-
OF KING CHARLES II.} Hi 513
ginal, which I still have in my hands; but suffered 1670.
them to take as many copies of it as they pleased. ^
At parting, he desired them to come to a final reso-
lution, as soon as they could ; for he believed they
would be called for by the next January to give
their answers. And by the end of that month they
were ordered to come to Edenburgh. I went thi-
ther at the same time upon Leightoun's desire.
We met at the earl of Rothes's house, where all At last they
this treaty came to a short conclusion. Hutcheson, accept of
in all their names, said, they had considered the pro-s|lfns,°"'^^^'
positions made to them, but were not satisfied in
their consciences to accept of them. Leightoun de-
sired to know upon what grounds they stood out.
Hutcheson said, it was not safe to argue against law.
Leightoun said, that since the government had set
on a treaty with them, in order to the altering the
laws, they were certainly left to a full freedom of
arguing against them : these offers were no laws :
so the arguing about them could not be called an
arguing against law : he offered them a public con-
ference upon them, in the hearing of all that had a
mind to be rightly informed: he said, the people
were drawn into those matters so far, as to make a
schism upon them : he thought it was therefore
very reasonable, that they should likewise hear the
grounds examined, upon which both sides went.
Hutcheson refused this: he said, he was but one
man ; and that what he said was in the name of his
brethren, who had given him no farther authority.
Leightoun then asked, if they had nothing on their 297
side to propose towards the healing of our breaches.
Hutcheson answered, their principles were well
enough known, but he had nothing to propose*
VOL. I. L 1
514 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. Upon this Leightoun, in a long discourse, told what
was the design he had been driving at in aU this,
negotiation ; it was to procure peace and to pro-
mote religion : he had offered several things, which
he was persuaded were great diminutions of the just
rights of episcopacy : yet since all church power
was for edification, and not for destruction, he had
thought, that in our present circumstances it might
have conduced as much to the interest of religion,
that episcopacy should divest itself of a great part of
the authority that belonged to it, as the bishops'
using it in former ages had been an advantage to re-
ligion : his offers did not flow from any mistrust of
the cause : he was persuaded episcopacy was handed
down through aU the ages of the church from the
Apostles' days : perhaps he had wronged the order
by the concessions he had made : yet he was confi*
dent God would forgive it, as he hoped his brethren
would excuse it : now they thought fit to reject these
concessions, without either offering any reason for
doing it, or any expedient on their side : therefore
the continuance of our divisions must lie at their
door, both before God and man : if iU effects followed
upon this, he was free of all blame, and had done his
part. Thus was this treaty broke off, to the amaze-
ment of all sober and dispassionate people, and to
the great joy of Sharp, and the rest of the bishops ;
who now for a while seemed even pleased with us,
because we had all along asserted episcopacy, and
had pleaded for it in a high and positive strain.
Censures I hopc this will bc thought an useful part of the
E whok " history of that time : none knew the steps made in
matter. j^ better than my self. The fierce episcopal men
will see, how much they were to blame for accusing
OF KING CHARLES II. )) i> 515
that apostolical man Leightoun, as they did, on 1.670,
this occasion ; as if he had designed in this whole
matter to betray his own order, and to set up.
presbytery. The presbyterians may also see, how
much their behaviour disgusted all wise, moderate,
and good men, [how little sincere and honest they
were in it, when the desire of popularity made them
reject "] propositions, that came so home even to the
maxims they had set up, that nothing but the fear
of offending, that is, of losing the credit they had
with their party, could be so much as pretended for
their refusing to agree to them. Our part in the
whole negotiation was sincere and open. We were
acted with no other principle, and had no other de-.
sign, but to allay a violent agitation of men's spirits,
that was throwing us into great distractions ; and to
heal a breach, that was like to let in an inundation
of miseries upon us, as has appeared but too evi-298
dently ever since. The high party, keeping still their
old bias to persecution, and recovering afterwards
their credit with the government, carried violent
proceedings so far, that, after they had thrown the
nation into great convulsions, they drew upon them-
selves such a degree of fury from enraged multitudes,
whom they had oppressed long and heavily, that, in
conclusion, the episcopal order was put down, [with
as much injustice and violence, as had been practised
in supporting it,] as shall be told in its proper place..
The roughness of our own side, and the perverseness-
of the presbyterians, did so much alienate me from
both, that I resolved to withdraw my self from any
^ when they rejected wsls substituted.
L 1 2
516 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1670. farther meddling, and to give my self wholly to
study. I was then, and for three years after that,
offered to be made a bishop : but I refused it. I
saw the counsels were altering above: so I resolved
to look on, and see whither things would turn.
1671. My acquaintance at Hamilton, and the favour and
The Me- . ,
moirs of the friendship I met with from both the duke and duch-
HamTiton ^ss, made me offer my service to them, in order to
m^aTtha/ *^^ scarch of many papers that were very carefuUy
time. preserved by them : for the duchess's uncle had
charged her to keep them with the same care, as
she kept the writings of her estate ; since in these a
full justification of her father's public actings, and
of his own, would be found, when she should put
them in the hands of one that could set them in or-
der, and in a due light. She put them all in my
hands, which I acknowledge was a very great trust :
and I made no ill use of it. I found there materials
for a very large history. I writ it with great sin-
cerity; and concealed none of their errors. I did
indeed conceal several things that related to the
king : I left out some passages that were in his let-
ters ° ; in some of which was too much weakness,
° The letters, if they had been '* majesties name to the asseni-
published, could not have given " bly, so strictly conscientious
a worse character. S. See those " was his majesty (Charles I.)
Memoirs, p. 379. O. (Salmon, *' that he wrote his sense of it
in his Examination, vol. i. p. 69 1. " in the following letter, which
points out a passage in these " is here subjoined." Speaker
Memoirs of the Dukeof Hamil- Onslow refers to p. 379. of the
! ton, p. 93. in which the bishop Memoirs, and in this page are the
thus expresses himself: "Be- following words : "Having
" cause of an ambiguous word " proposed to myself nothing
"which was in the paper the " more in this whole work, than
" marquis was to oflfer in his " to let the world see the great
OF KING CHARLES il. 517
and in others too much craft and anger. [And this 1671.
I owe to truth to say, that by many indications, that"
lay before me in those letters, I could not admire ei-
ther the judgment, the understanding, or the temper
of that unfortunate prince. He had little regard to
law, and seemed to think he was not bound to ob-
serve promises or concessions, that were extorted
from him by the necessity of his affairs. He had lit-
tle tenderness in his nature ; and probably his go-
vernment would have been severe, if he had got the
better in the war : his ministers had a hard time un-
der him. He loved violent counsels, but conducted
them so ill, that they saw they must all perish with
him. Those who observed this, and advised him to
make up matters with his parliament by concessions,
rather than venture on a war, were hated by him,
even when the extremities to which he was driven
made him follow their advices, though generally too
late, and with so ill a grace, that he lost the merit of
his concessions in the awkward way of granting
them. This was truly duke Hamilton's fate, who in
the beginning of the troubles went in warmly enough
into acceptable counsels ; but when he saw how un-
happy the king was in his conduct, he was ever after
that against the king's venturing on a war, which
he always believed would be fatal to him in the con-
clusion.] I got through that work in a few months.
When the earl a£ Lauderdale heard that I had
finished it, he desired me to come up to him ; for he
" piety and strictness of con- " had not formerly been seen
*' science that blessed prince " or known, I shall therefore
" carried along with him in all " insert a copy of verses writ-
" his affairs, and to publish " ten by his majesty in his cap-
" such remains of his pen ts '*,tivity.")
Lis
518 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
J 671. was sure he could both rectify many things and en-
large on a great many more. His true design was
to engage me to put in a great deal relating to him-
self in that work. I found another degree of kind-
ness and confidence from him upon my coming up,
than ever before. I had nothing to ask for my self^
but to be excused from the offer of two bishop-
rics. But whatsoever I asked for any other person
was granted : and I was considered as his favourite.
He trusted me with all secrets, and seemed to have
no reserves with me. He indeed pressed me to give
up with sir Robert Murray : and I saw, that upon
my doing that, I should have as much credit with
him as I could desire. Sir Robert himself appre-
299 hended this would be put to me : and pressed me to
comply with him in it. But I hated servitude, as
much as I loved him : so I refused it flatly. I told
lord Lauderdale, that sir Robert had been as a se-
cond father or governor to me, and therefore I could
not break friendship with him. But I promised to
speak to him of nothing that he trusted to me. And
this was all that ever he could bring me to, though
he put it often to me. [I was in great doubt, whe-
ther it was fit for me to see his mistress. Sir Robert
put an end to that; for he assured me, there was
nothing in that commerce that was between them
besides a vast fondness. Yet I asked lord Lauder-
dale how he had parted with his wife. He gave me
a better account of it than I expected. I knew that
] she was an imperious and ill-tempered woman. He
said that she herself deserved (perhaps desired) it;
and that she owned that she was not at aU jealous of
his familiarities with lady Dysert ; but that she could
not endure it, because she hated her. I was then per-
OF KING CHARLES II. 519
suaded to go to her, and was treated by them both?] 1671;
with an entire confidence. Applications were made
to me : and every thing that I proposed was done.
I laid before him the ill state the affairs of Scotland
were falling into, by his throwing off so many of his
friends. Duke Hamilton and he had been for some
years in ill terms. I laid down a method for bringing
them to a better understanding. I got kind letters
to pass on both sides, and put their reconciliation in
so fair a way, that upon my return to Scotland it was
for that time fully made up. I had authority from
him to try how both the earls of Argile and Twee-
dale might return to their old friendship with him.
The earl of Argile was ready to do every thing. But
the earl of Athol had proposed a match between his
son and lady Dysert's daughter, and he had an here-
ditary hatred to the lord Argile and his family : so
that could not be easily brought about. Lord Twee-
dale was resolved to withdraw from business. The
earl of Lauderdale had for many years treated his
brother the lord Halton with as much contempt as
he deserved ; for he was both weak and violent, in-
solent and corrupt. He had promised to settle his
estate on his daughter, when the lord Tweedale's son
married her. But his brother offered now every thing
that lady Dysert desired, provided she would get his
brother to settle his estate on him. So lord Halton
was now taken into affairs ; and had so much credit
with his brother, that all the dependance was upon
him. And thus the breach between the earls of Lau-
derdale and Tweedale was irreconcileable ; though I
did all I could to make it up.
As to church affairs, lord Lauderdale asked my
P / was treated by hitn, was substituted.
mo THE MISTOEY OF THE REIGN
1671. opinion concerning them. I gave it frankly to this
purpose : there were many vacancies in the disaf-
fected counties, to which no conformable men of
A farther any worth could be prevailed on to go : so I pro-
proposed, posed, that the indulgence should be extended to
them all ; and that the ministers should be put into
those parishes by couples, and have the benefice di-
vided between them; and, in the churches where
the indulgence had already taken place, that a se-
cond minister should be added, and have the half of
the benefice : by this means I reckoned that all the
outed ministers would be again employed, and kept
from going round the uninfected parts of the king-
dom : [I said, if this was done, either the parishes
would by gratuities mend their benefices, that so
the two, who had only the legal provision of one,
might subsist ; and if they did this, as I had reason
to doubt of it, it would be a settled tax of them, of
which they would soon grow weary; but if they
did not, it would create quarrels, and at least a
coldness among them.] I also proposed that they
300 should be confined to their parishes, not to stir out
of them without leave from the bishop of the dio-
cese, or a privy counsellor; and that, upon trans-
gressing the rules that should be set them, a pro-
portion of their benefice should be forfeited, and ap-
plied to some pious use. Lord Lauderdale heard
me to an end : and then, without arguing one word
upon any one branch of this scheme, he desired me
^ to put it in writing ; which I did. And the next
year, when he came down again to Scotland, he
made one write out my paper, and turned it into
the style of instructions. So easily did he let him-
self be governed by those whom he trusted, even in
>: OF KING CHARLES Il.ifrr 521
matters of great consequence. Four bishops hap- 1671.
pened to die that year, of which Edenburgh was
one. I was desired to make my own choice : but I
refused them all Yet I obtained a letter to be
writ, by the king's order, to lord Rothes, that he
should call the two ai'chbishops, and four of the of-
ficers of state, and send up their opinion to the king
of the persons fit to be promoted: and a private •;
letter was writ to the lords, to join with Leightoun
in recommending the persons that he should name.
Leightoun was uneasy, when he found that Char-
teris, and Nairn, as well as my self, could not be
prevailed on to accept bishoprics. They had an ill
opinion of the court, and could not be brought to
leave their retirement^. Leightoun was troubled
at this. He said, if his friends left the whole load
on him, he must leave all to Providence. Yet he
named the best men he could think on. And, that
Sharp might not have too public an affront put on
him, Leightoun agreed to one of his nomination.
But now I go to open a scene of another nature.
The court was now going into other measures. Foreign af-
The parliament had given the king all the money
he had asked for repairing his fleet, and for supply-
ing his stores and magazines. Additional revenues An aiMance
were also given for some years. But at their last set on foot.
sitting, in the beginning of the year 1670, it ap-
peared that the house of commons were out of
countenance for having given so much money, and
seemed resolved to give no more. All was obtained
under the pretence of maintaining the triple alli-
ance. When the court saw how little reason they
had to expect farther supplies, the duke of Buck-
^ For that very reason they should have accepted bishoprics. S.
522 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
J 671. ingham told the king, that now the time was come
in which he might both revenge the attempt on
Chatham, and shake off the uneasy restraint of a
house of commons. And he got leave from the king
to send over sir Ellis Leightoun to the court of
France, to offer the project of a new alliance and a
new war. Sir Ellis told me this himself: and was
301 proud to think that he was the iirst man employed
in those black and fatal designs. But, in the first
proposition made by us, the subduing of England,
and the toleration of popery, here was offered, as
that with which the design must be begun. France,
seeing England so inclined, resolved to push the
matter farther.
Js^of Or-' ^^^ king's sister, the duchess of Orleans, was
leans carae thought the witticst womau in France, [but she
had no sort of virtue, and scarce retained common
decency.] The king of France had made love to her,
[which she had readily entertained, but] with which
she was highly incensed, when she saw it was only a
pretence to cover his addresses to madamoiseUe la
Valiere, one of her maids of honour, whom he after-
wards declared openly to be his mistress : yet she had
reconciled herself to the king ; and was now so en-
tirely trusted by him, that he ordered her to pro-
pose an interview with her brother at Dover. The
king went thither, and was so much charmed with
his sister, that every thing she proposed, and every
favour she asked, was granted: [it did not pass
, without the severest censures ^] The king could
• "■ (" Before her death, it is " interview with her brother,
" said, that she sent for Mr. " swearing in the most solemi*
" Ralph Mountague, the Eng- " manner, that the suspicion of
" Hsh ambassador, and disco- " having entertained too fami-
" vered to him the object of her " liar attachment to any of her
OF KING CHARLES II. 523
deny her nothing. She proposed an alliance, in or- 1671.
der to the conquest of Holland ^ The king had a
mind to have begun at home. But she diverted
him from that. It could not be foreseen what dif-
ficulties the king might meet with upon the first
opening the design : as it would alarm aU his peo-
ple, so it would send a great deal of wealth and
trade, and perhaps much people, over to Holland :
and by such an accession they would grow stronger,
as he would grow weaker. So she proposed, that
they should begin with Holland, and attack it vi-
gorously, both by sea and land ; and upon their suc-
cess in that, all the rest would be an easy work.
This account of that negotiation was printed twelve
years after, at Paris, by one abbot Primi. I had
that part of the book in my hands in which this
was contained. Lord Preston was then the king's
envoy at Paris : so he, knowing how great a preju-
dice the publishing this would be to his master's af-
fairs, complained of it. The book was upon that
" own blood was utterly ground- " me if I had remembered what
*' less." Cunningham's History " she had said to me the night
of Great Britain, translated by " before, of your majesty's in-
J)r. Thomson, from the Latin " tentions to join with France
MS. vol. i. p. 25. Compare " against Holland ; I told her,
Burnet below, p. 612, Mr. "Yes. Pray then, said she, tell
Fox, in his Life of James the " my brother, I never persuad-
Second, observes, that though " ed him to it out of my own
Burnet more covertly, and Lud- " interest, or to be more con-
low more openly, insinuates " sidered in this country; but
that his fondness for his sister " because I thought it for his
was of a criminal nature, he " honour and advantage." Mon-
could never find that there was tague's Letter to the King, giv-
any ground whatever for such a ing an account of his sister's
suspicion ; and that the little death, added to the Earl of Ar-
that remains of their epistolary lington's Letters, addressed to
correspondence gives it not the sir fVilliam Temple, and pub-
smallest countenance, p. 71.) lished in 1701, p. 444.)
* (" She (the duchess) asked
524 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1671. suppressed; and the writer was put in the Bastille,
But he had drawn it out of the papers of Mr. le
Tellier's office : so there is little reason to doubt of
the truth of the thing. Madame, as this book says,
prevailed to have her scheme settled, and so went
back to France. The journey proved fatal to her :
for the duke of Orleans had heard such things of
her behaviour, that it was said he ordered a great
dose of sublimate to be given her in a glass of suc-
Soon after cory watcr, of which she died a few hours after in
ed!* poison- gj.^^^ torments : and when she was opened, her sto-
mach was all ulcerated \
Some of her Siuce I mcutiou her death, I will set down one
" ' story of her, that was told me by a person of dis-
tinction, who had it from some who were weU in-
302 formed of the matter^. The king of France had
courted madame Soissons, and made a shew of
courting madame. But his affections fixing on ma-
damoiselle la Valiere, she whom he had forsaken,
as well as she whom he had deceived, resolved to be
revenged : and they entered into a friendship in
order to that. They had each of them a gaUant ;
madame had the count de Guiche", and the other
had the marquis des Vardes, then in great favour
^Mountague (afterwards duke report, but finding there was
of) seems to think she was more in it than was fit to be
poisoned, as appears in some known, unless he had been in a
manuscript letters of his, which condition to resent it as a great
I have seen, and which are king ought, advised him to drop
now, (1756,) in the hands of the inquiry, for fear it should pre-
the earl of Cardigan. Mounta- judice her daughters, who were
gue was then our ambassador afterwards married to the duke
' in France, and, as he says in of Savoy and king of Spain. D.
one of these letters, was with ^ Poor authority. S.
her at the time of her death. O. " (Sir John Reresby, in his
Sir William Temple told me, Memoirs, as others also, men-
the king employed him in tions this count as a reputed Hi-
senrching into the truth of this vourite of the duchess, p. 10.)
OF KING CHARLES II. ,,iir 525
with the king, and a very graceful person. When 1671.
the treaty of the king of France's marriage was set
on foot, there was an opinion generally received,
that the infanta of Spain was a woman of great ge-
nius, and would have a considerable stroke in all
affairs. So, many young men of quality set them-
selves to learn the Spanish language, to give them
the more credit with the young queen. All that
fell to the ground, when it appeared how weak a
woman she was. These two were of that number.
Count de Guiche watched an occasion, when a let-
ter from the king of Spain was given to his daugh- ';<i
ter by the Spanish ambassador, and she tore the
envelope, and let it fall. He gathered up all the
parcels of it, together with the seal. From these
they learnt to imitate the king of Spain's writing.
And they sent to Holland to get a seal engraven
from the impression of the wax. When all was pre-
pared, a letter was writ, as in the name of the king
of Spain, reproaching his daughter for her tameness
in suffering such an affront as the king put on her
by his amours, with reflections fuU both of contempt
and anger against the king. There was one Spanish Some of ti.e
, , n ^ 1 intrigues.
lady left about the queen : so they forged another
letter, as from the Spanish ambassador to her, with
that to the queen inclosed in it, desiring her to de-
liver it secretly into the queen's own hand. And
they made a livery, such as the Spanish ambassa-
dor's pages wore : and a boy was sent in it with the
letter. The lady suspected no forgery ; but fancied
the letter might be about some matter of state. She
thought it safest to carry it to the king, who, read-
ing it, ordered an inquiry to be made about it. The
Spanish ambassador saw he was abused in it. The
526 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1671. king spoke to the marquis des Vardes, not suspect-t
ing that he was in it, and charged him to search
after the author of this ahuse that was intended to
be put on him. The two ladies now rejoiced, that
the looking after the discovery was put in the hands
of a man so much concerned in it. He amused the
king with the inquiries that he was making, though
he was ever in a wrong scent. But in all this time
madame was so pleased with his conduct, that she
came to like his person ; and had so little command
of herself, that she told madame Soissons, she was
303 her rival. The other readily complied with her.
And, by an odd piece of extravagance, he was sent
for: and madame Soissons told him, since he was
in madame's favour, she released him from all obli-
gations, and delivered him over to her. The mar-
quis des Vardes thought, this was only an arti-
fice of gallantry, to try how faithful he was to his
^ amours : so he declared himself incapable of chang-
ing, in terms fuU of respect for madame, and of pas-
sion for the other. This raised in madame so deep
a resentment, that she resolved to sacrifice Des
Vardes, but to save the count de Guiche. So she
gave him notice, that the king had discovered the
whole intrigue ; and charged him to hasten out of
France. And, as soon as she believed that he was
in Flanders, she told all to the king of France.
Upon which Des Vardes was not only disgraced,
but kept long a prisoner in Aigues Mortes. And
afterwards he was suffered to come to Montpe-
lier. And it was almost twenty years after, be-
fore he was suffered to come to court. I was at
court when he came first to it. He was much
broke in his health, but was become a philosopher.
OF KING CHARLES II. 527
and was in great reputation among all Des Cartes's 1671.
followers. Madame had an intrigue with another "
person, whom I knew well, the count of Treville.
When she was in her agony, she said, Adieu Tre-
ville. He was so struck with this accident, that it
had a good effect on him ; for he went and lived
many years among the fathers of the oratory, and
became both a very learned and devout man. He
came afterwards out into the world. I saw him
often ^. He was a man of a very sweet temper, only
a little too formal for a Frenchman. But he was
very sincere. He was a Jansenist. He hated the
Jesuits. And had a very mean opinion of the king,
which appeared in all the instances in which it was
safe for him to shew it.
Upon madame's death, as the marshal Bellefonds
came from France with the compliment to the court
of England, so the duke of Buckingham was sent The treaty
. 1 • 1 w'*'* France
thither on pretence to return the compliment, but negotiated.
really to finish the treaty. The king of France
used him in so particular a manner, knowing his
vanity, and caressed him to such a degree, that he
went in without reserve into the interests of France.
Yet he protested to me, that he never consented to
the French fleet's coming into our seas and har-
bours. He said, he was offered 40,000/. if he could
persuade the king to yield to it : and he appealed
to the earl of Dorset for this, who was on the secret.
He therefore concluded, since, after all the uneasi-
ness shewed at first, the king had yielded to it, that
lord Arlington had the money. Lord Shaftsbury laid
the blame of this chiefly on the duke of Bucking-
" Pretty jumping periods. S.
528 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1671. ham: for he told me, that he himself had writ a
aQ4 peremptory instruction to him from the king, to
give up all treaty, if the French did insist on the
sending a fleet to our assistance. And therefore he
blamed him^, as having yielded it up, since he
ought to have broke off all farther treaty, upon
their insisting on this. But the duke of York told
me, there was no money given to corrupt the king's
ministers ; that the king and he had long insisted
on having all their supplies from France in money,
without a fleet ; and that the French shewed them
it was not possible for them to find out funds for so
great an expense, unless we took a squadron of
their ships ; since they could not both maintain
their own fleet, and furnish us with the money that
would be necessary, if we took not their squadron.
It was agreed, that the king should have 350,000/.
a year during the war, together with a fleet from
France. England was to attack the Dutch by sea,
while the king of France should invade them by
land with a mighty army. It was not doubted, but
that the States would find it impossible to resist so
great a force, and would therefore submit to the
two kings : so the division they agreed on was, that
England should have Zealand, and that the king of
France should have all the rest, except Holland,
which was to be given to the prince of Orange, if
he would come into the alliance : and it should be
still a trading country, but without any capital
ships. Lord Lauderdale said upon that occasion to
me, that whatsoever they intended to do, they were
resolved to do it eff*ectually all at once ; but he
y Who blamed who ? (whom?) S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 599
would not go into farther particulars. That the 1671.
year 1672 might be fatal to other commonwealths,
as well as to the States, the duke of Savoy was en-
couraged to make a conquest of Grenoa'^; though
he afterwards failed in the attempt: and the king
of Denmark was invited into the alliance, with the
offer of the town of Hamburgh, on which he had
long set his heart. The duke of Richmond was
sent to give a lustre to that negotiation, which was
chiefly managed by Mr. Henshaw; who told me,
that we offered that king some ships to assist him
in seizing that rich town. But he was then in
those engagements with the states of HoUand, that
even this offer did not prevail on him. ^i
Lockhart was at this time brought to court byLockhart
lord Lauderdale, hoping that he would continue in France.
an entire dependance on him, and be his creature.
He was under so great a jealousy from the govern-
ment for his former actings, that he was too easy to
enter into any employment that might bring him
into favour, not so much out of any ambition to
rise, as from a desii'e to be safe, and to be no longer
looked on as an enemy to the court : for when a fo-
reign minister asked the king's leave to treat with
him in his master's name, the king consented ; but 305
with this severe reflection, that he believed he would
be true to any body but himself*. He was sent to
the courts of Brandenburgh and Lunenburgh, either
to draw them into the alliance, or, if that could not
be done, at least to secure them from all apprehen-
sions. But in this he had no success. And indeed
when he saw into what a negotiation he was en-
^ Geneva. S. » Does he mean Lockhart would not be trup to
Lockhart ? S.
VOL. I. M m
530 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1671. gaged, he became very uneasy: for though the
blackest part of the secret was not trusted to him,
as appeared to me by his instructions, which I read
after his death; yet he saw whither things were
going. And that affected him so deeply, that it
was believed to have contributed not a little to the
languishing he soon feU under, which ended in his
death two years after.
Pretended The War- being thus resolved on, some pretences
reasons for ,
the Dutch wcrc m the next place to be sought out to excuse
it: for, though the king of France went more
roundly to work, and pubhshed that he was so ill
satisfied with the conduct of the States, that it did
not consist with his glory to bear it any longer, yet
we thought it decent for us to name some particu-
lars. It was said, we had some pretensions on Su-
rinam, not yet completely satisfied; and that the
States harboured traitors, that fled from justice, and
lived in Holland : some medals were complained of,
that seemed dishonourable to the king ; as ako some
pictures : and, though these were not made by pub-
lic order, yet a great noise was raised about them.
But an accident happened, that the court laid great
hold o£ The Dutch fleet lay off* the coast of Eng-
land the former year : and one of the king's yachts
sailed by, and expected they should strike sail.
They said, they never refused it to any man of
war : but they thought that honour did not belong
to such an inconsiderable vessel. I was then at
court: and I saw joy in the looks of those that
were in the secret. Selden had, in his Mare clau-
sum, raised this matter so high, that he made it one
of the chief rights and honours of the crown of
England, as the acknowledgment of the king's em-
OF KING CHARLES II. 531
pire in the four seas. The Dutch offered all satis- 1671,
faction for the future in this matter : but they
would not send their admiral over as a criminal.
While France was treating with England, they
continued to amuse the Dutch : and they so pos-
sessed De Groot, then the Dutch ambassador at
Paris, or they corrupted him into a belief that they
had no design on them ^, that they were too secure,
and depended too much on his advertisements. Yet
the States entered into a negotiation, both with
Spain and the emperor, and with the king of Den-
mark, the elector of Brandenburgh, and the duke of
Lunenburgh. The king of Sweden was yet under 306
age : and the ministry there desired a neutrality.
France and England sent two ambassadors to them,
both men of great probity, Pompone and Coventry "^^
who were both recalled at the same time to be se-
cretaries of state. Coventry was a man of wit and
heat, of spirit and candour. He never gave bad
advices : but when the king followed the ill advices
that others gave, he thought himself bound to ex-
cuse, if not to justify them ''. For this the duke of
York commended him much to me. He said, in
that he was a pattern to all good subjects, since he
defended all the king's counsels in public, even
^ Who on whom ? S. would otherwise have been afraid
•= Henry Coventry. O. to have attempted. The trea-
^ A very unhappy practice of surer Southampton did not act
my lord Clarendon's, which so. But in one instance my
subjugated him to more censure lord Clarendon did very nobly
for what he was not the author oppose, in the house of lords, a
of, than what he really did ad- favourite measure of the king's,
vise procured him either blame It may be seen, in the printed
or approbation. It wrought his History of his Life. The part he
ruin with the people, and put acted on this occasion contri-
the king himself very likely up- buted very much to his" ruin
on venturing at measures he with the king. O.
M m 2
532 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1671. when he had blamed them most in private with the
king himself. [He had accustomed himself to the
northern ways of entertainment; and this grew
upon him with age.]
1672. Our court havinff resolved on a war, did now
The shut- , , ,,
ting up of look out for money to carry it on. The king had
chequtr. been running into a great debt ever since his restor-
ation. One branch of it was for the pay of that
fleet that brought him over. The main of it had
been contracted during the former Dutch war. The
king, in order to the keeping his credit, had dealt
with some bankers, and had assigned over the re-
venue to them. They drove a great trade, and had
made great advantage by it. The king paid them
at the rate of 8 per cent : and they paid those who
put money in their hands only 6 per cent : and had
great credit; for payments were made very punc-
tually. The king had in some proclamations given
his faith, that he would continue to make good all
^ his assignments, tUl the whole debt should be paid,
which was now growing up to almost a million and
a half. So one of the ways proposed for supplying
the king with money was, that he should stop these
payments for a year, it being thought certain that
hy the end of the year the king would be out of all
his necessities, by the hopes they had of success in
the war. The earl of Shaftsbury was the chief man
in this advice ^. He excused it to me, telling me
^ Clifford bad the merit of " cuted by tbe lord treasurer
this. S. (" Tbis counsel, sup- " Clifford ; though, considering
" posed to be the invention of " the impending evils from the
" the earl of Shaftsbury, then " Dutch, since it was war with
' ii " chancellor of the exchequer, " them, it might as well have
" was as unhappily given, as " pleaded necessity, as other
" desperately taken and exe- " steps in latter times have
OF KING CHARLES II. 538
what advantage the bankers had made, and how 1672.
just it was for the king to bring them to an account
for their usury and extortions : and added, that he
never meant the stop should run beyond the year.
He certainly knew of it beforehand ; and took all
his own money out of the bankers' hands, and warned
some of his friends to do the like ^. Lord Lauder-
dale did about this time marry lady Dysert upon his
own lady's death : and she writ me a long account of
the shutting up the exchequer, as both just and ne-
cessary. The bankers were broke ; and great mul-
titudes, who had trusted their money in their hands,
were ruined by this dishonourable and perfidious ac- 307
tion. But this gave the king only his own revenue
again. So other ways were to be found for an in-
crease of treasure.
By the peace of Breda it was provided, that, in The at-
order to the security of trade, no merchants' ships th^Dutch
should be for the future fallen on, till six months ^^^J*^"*
after a declaration of war. The Dutch had a rich
" done. It is plain enough Duncombe, who had a very
" that as matters stood, it was great sum of his own in the ex-
*' of evils the lesser; and the chequer, besides thirty thou-
" wrong done to the bankers sand pounds of the marquis of
'* and their creditors might Winchester's, that he drew out
" have been repaired by the before the stop ; which was
" parliament ; but ill humour the reason the duke of Bolton
" succeeded, and that could espoused his interest so zeal-
" not be obtained. But at . ously, upon his impeachment
" length the king himself, out in king William's reign: and
"of his great justice, made brought him off by one vote in
" amends by a perpetiial inter- the house of Lords ; though it
" est charged upon the here- was generally thought, not
" ditary excise." North's Ex- without some charge to Dun-
amen of the complete Hist, combe : besides some engage-
of England, p. 37. Compare ments in relation to another
History of Customs, Aids, &c. affair, then depending between
part i. p. 30. 8vo.) Carey and Bertie. D.
'He told it to sir Charles
M m 3
534 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. fleet coming from Smyrna, and other parts in the
■ Mediterranean, under the convoy of a few men of
war. Our court had advice of this. And [that at
the same time they might be equally infamous at
home and abroad,] Holmes was ordered to lie for
them, and to take them near the isle of Wight with
eight men of war. As he was sailing thither, he
met Spragge, who was returning from the Straits
with a squadron of our ships ; and told him, that he
had sailed along with the Dutch most of the way,
and that they would pass within a day or two.
Holmes thought he was much too strong for them ;
so did not acquaint Spragge with his design : for, if
he had stopped him to assist in the execution, pro-
bably the whole fleet had been taken, which was
reckoned worth a million and a half When they
came up, Holmes fell upon them : but their convoy
did their part so well, that not only the whole fleet
sailed away, while they kept him in play, but they
themselves got off at last, favoured by a mist : and
there were only a few ships taken, of so small a
value, that they were not worth the powder that
was spent in the action. This was a breach of faith,
such as even Mahometans and pirates would have
been ashamed of. The unsuccessfulness of it made
it appear as ridiculous as it was base. Holmes was
pressed to put it on the Dutch refusing to strike
sail. Yet that ^as so false, and there were so many
witnesses to it, that he had not the impudence to
affirm it-^.
PwnfoJ'' '^^ crown all, a declaration was ordered to be set
toleration.
8 (Of the unfairness and fail- field duke of Bucks, in his
lire of this transaction, a simi- short Memoirs. Works, vol. ii.
lar account is given by Shef- p. lo,)
OF KING CHARLES II. 535
out, suspending the execution of all penal laws, both 1672.
against papists and nonconformists. Papists were
no more to be prosecuted for their way of worship
in their own houses, and the nonconformists were
allowed to have open meeting houses ; for which
they were to take out licences, and none were to
disturb those who should meet for worship by virtue
of those licences. Lord Keeper Bridgman had lost
all credit at court : so they were seeking an occasion
to be fid of him, who had indeed lost aU the reputa-
tion he had formerly acquired, by his being advanced
to a post of which he was not capable. He refused
to put the seal to the declaration, as judging it con-
trary to law '\ So he was dismissed, and the earl of
Shaftsbury was made lord chancellor. Lord Clifford
was made lord treasurer : lord Arlington and lord
Lauderdale had both of them the garter : and, as
Arlington was made an earl, Lauderdale was made
a duke : and this junto, together with the duke of 308
Buckingham, being called the cabal, it was observed,
that cabal proved a technical Word, every letter in it
being the first letter of those five, Clifford, Ashly,
Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. They
had all of them great presents from France, besides
what was openly given them : for the French am-
bassador gave them all a picture of the king of
France set in diamonds, to the value of 3000/.
Thus was the nation, and our religion, as well as
the king's faith and honour, set to sale, and sold.
Lord Shaftsbury resolved to recommend himself to
'' (" The declaration for sus- " the 17th of November, 1^72 ;
" pending the penal laws was " being above eight months
*' pubhshed the 15th of March, " after the declaration was pub-
*' 167-1 ; ^"d sir Orlando " lished." Salmon's Examina'
" Bridgman resigned the seals tion, vol. i. p. 662.)
M m 4
W THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. the confidence of the court by a new strain never
before thought of. He said, the writs for choosing
the members of the house of commons might be is-
sued out in the intervals of a session ; and the elec-
tions made upon them were to be returned into
chancery, and settled there. So the writs were is-
sued out ; but whether any elections were made upon
them, and returned, I cannot tell'. I know, the
house of commons intended to have impeached him
for this among other things : but he had the fore-
sight and skill to prevent it. When the declaration
for toleration was published, great endeavours were
used by the court to persuade the nonconformists to
make addresses and compliments upon it. But few
were so blind, as not to see what was aimed at by it.
The presby- The dukc was uow kuowu to be a papist : and
tenans
gave the the duchcss was much suspected. Yet the presby-
for the*" terians came in a body : and Dr. Manton, in their
toleration, ug^j^jg^ thanked the king for it ; which offended many
of their best friends. There was also an order to
pay a yearly pension of fifty pounds to most of them,
and of an hundred pounds a year to the chief of the
party. Baxter sent back his pension, and would
not touch it. But most of them took it. All this
I say upon Dr. StiOingfleet's word, who assured me,
he knew the truth of it. And in particular, he told
" me, that Pool, who wrote the Synopsis of the critics,
confessed to him, that he had had fifty pounds for
two years. Thus the court hired them to be silent :
and the greatest part of them were so, and very
compliant. But now the pulpits were full of a new
' There were ; but the per- for those places by the house of
sons were not admitted to sit, commons. O.
and other writs were ordered
OF KING CHARLES II. 537
strain: popery was everywhere preached against, 1672.
and the authority of the laws was much magnified. '
The bishops, the bishop of London (Henchman) in par-
ticular, charged the clergy to preach against popery,
and to inform the people of the controversy between
us and the church of Rome. This alarmed the court,
as well as the city, and the whole nation. Clifford
began to shew the heat of his temper ; and seemed
a sort of enthusiast for popery. The king com-
plained to Sheldon of this preaching on controversy,
as done on purpose to inflame the people, and to
alienate them from him and his government. Upon
this, Sheldon called some of the clergy together, to 309
consider what answer he should make the king, if
he pressed him any farther on that head. Tillotson
was one of these : and he suggested this answer,
that, since the king himself professed the protestant
religion, it would be a thing without a precedent,
that he should forbid his clergy to preach in defence
of a religion which they believed, while he himself
said he was of it. But the king never renewed the
motion.
While things were in this fermentation, theTheducbes*
duchess of York died. It was observed, that for died.
fifteen months before that time, she had not received
the sacrament ; and that upon aU occasions she was
excusing the errors that the church of Rome was
charged with, and was giving them the best colours
they were capable of. An unmarried clergy was
also a common topic with her. Morley had been her
father confessor : for, he told me, she practised se-
cret confession to him from the time that she was
twelve years old : and, when he was sent away from
the court, he put her in the hands of Blanford, who
§m THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. died bishop of Worcester \ Morley also told me,
that upon the reports that were brought him of her
slackness in receiving the sacrament, she having
been for many years punctual to once a month, he
had spoken plainly to her about it, and told her
what inferences were made upon it. She pretended
ill health and business ; but protested to him, she
had no scruples with relation to her religion, and
was still of the church of England; and assured
^ him, that no popish priest had ever taken the confi-
dence to speak to her of those matters. He took a
solemn engagement of her, that, if scruples should
arise in her mind, she would let him know them,
and hear what he should offer to her upon all of
them. And he protested to me, that to her death
she never owned to him that she had any scruples,
though she was for some days entertained by him at
Famham, after the date of the paper which was af-
terwards published in her name. AU this passed
between the bishop and me, upon the duke's shew-
ing me that paper aU writ in her own hand, which
was afterwards published by Maimburg. He would
not let me take a copy of it ; but he gave me leave
to read it twice. And I went immediately to Mor-
ley, and gave him an account of it ; from whom I
had all the particulars already mentioned. And
upon that he concluded, that that unhappy princess
had been prevailed on to give falsehoods under her
hand, and to pretend that these were the grounds of
her conversion. A long decay of health came at
last to a quicker crisis than had been apprehended.
AU of the sudden, she fell into the agony of death.
Blanford was sent for, to prepare her for it, and to
' (He was at that time bishop of Oxford.)
OF KING CHARLES II. SS9
offer her the sacrament. Before he could come, the 1672.
queen came in, and sat by her. He was modest 777"^
and humble, even to a fault. So he had not pre-
sence of mind enough to begin prayers, which pro-
bably would have driven the queen out of the room.
But that not being done, she, pretending kindness,
would not leave her. The bishop spoke but little,
and fearfuUy ^. He happened to say, he hoped she
continued stiQ in the truth : upon which she asked,
what is truth : and then, her agony increasing, she
repeated the word truth, truth, often : and in a few
minutes after she died, very little beloved or la-
mented. Her haughtiness had raised her many ene-
mies. She was indeed a firm and a kind friend:
but the change of her reHgion made her friends
reckon her death rather a blessing than a loss at
that time to them all. Her father, when he heard
of her shaking in her religion, was more troubled at
it, than at all his own misfortunes. He writ her a
very grave and long letter upon it, inclosed in one
to the duke. But she was dead before it came into
England. I have set down all that I know concern-
ing the fatal alliance with France, and our prepara-
tions for the second Dutch war.
But that I may open the scene more distinctly, I
will give as particular an account as I was able to
gather of the affairs of the States of HoUand at this
time. And because this was the fifth great crisis,
under which the whole protestant reKgion was
brought, I will lead my reader through a fuU ac-
count of them aU ; since I may probably lay things
^ (He had just before been church of Rome. See Life of
infonned by the duke, that she king James, vol. ii. p. 453-)
had been reconciled to the
540 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. before him, that he may otherwise pass over, with-
^jjg g^j out making due reflections on them.
crisis of The first crisis was, when Charles V. by the de-
the pro- ^ •' ^ _
testant feating the duke of Saxony, and the getting him
and the landgrave of Hesse into his hands, had sub-
dued the Smalcaldick league ; in which the strength
of the protestant religion did then consist, having
been weakened by the succeeding deaths of Henry
VIII. and Francis I. Upon that defeat, all sub-
mitted to the emperor: only the town of Magde-
burgh stood out. The emperor should either not
have trusted Maurice, or have used him better : and
it seems, that he reckoned Maurice had neither reli-
gion nor honour, since his ambition had made him
betray his religion and abandon his party. When
Maurice had got the electorate, he made himself
sure of the army ; and entered into an aUiance with
France, and other princes of the empire ; and made
so quick a turn on the emperor, that he had almost
surprised him at Inchspruck, and of a sudden over-
turned all that design, upon which the emperor had
been labouring for many years. This ended in the
edict of Passau, which settled the peace of Germany
for that time.
311 The second crisis was towards the end of queen
IrisV"'"'* Mary's reign, when the protestant reKgion seemed
extinguished in England; and the two cardinals
of LoiTain and Granvell, then the chief ministers of
the two crowns, designed a peace for that very end,
that their masters might be at leisure to extirpate
heresy, which was then spreading in both their do-
minions. But, after they had formed their scheme,
queen Mary died, and was succeeded by queen Eli-
zabeth in England. Soon after that, the king of
OF KING CHARLES II. 541
France was accidentally killed: so that kingdom 1672.
fell under a long continuance of a minority and a
civil war. And the Netherlands felt from thence,
and from England, such encouragement, that they
made the longest and bravest resistance that is to
be found in all history ; which was in a great mea-
sure owing to the obstinate and implacable cruelty
of Philip II, and his great distance from the scene
of the war; and was past all possibility of being
made up, by reason of his perfidious breach of all
agreements, and his using those that served him
well in so base a manner, as he did both the duke
of Alva and the prince of Parma.
The third crisis lasted from 1585 to the year The third
1589- Then began the league of France. The
prince of Parma was victorious in the Netherlands.
The prince of Orange was murdered. The States
fell under great distractions. And Spain entered
into a design of dethroning the queen of England,
and putting the queen of Scots in her stead. In
order to that, they were for some years preparing
the greatest fleet that the world had ever seen,
which came to be called the invincible armada. AU
Europe was'' amazed at these great preparations :
and many conjectures were made concerning the
design of such a vast fleet. Some thought of Con-
stantinople. Others talked of Egypt, in conjunc-
tion with the Emperor of the Abissens. But that
which was most probable was, that king Philip in-
tended to make a great effort, and put an end to
the war of the Netherlands in one campaign. At
last the true intent of it was found out. Walsing-
ham's chief spies were priests : as he used always to
say, an active but vicious priest was the best spy in
the world. By one of these he had advice, that the
tm THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. king of Spain had fixed on a resolution with rela-
tion to his fleet ; but that it was not yet communi-
cated to any of his ministers in foreign courts. The
king himself had indeed writ a letter about it to the
pope : but it was not entered in any office : so this
was all that the intelligence from Madrid could dis-
cover. Upon this, one was sent to Venice, from
whence the correspondence with Rome was held.
And at Rome it was found out, that one of the
312 pope's chief confidents had a mistress, to whom
twenty thousand crowns were given for a sight and
copy of that letter. The copy of it was sent over
soon after Christmas, in the winter 1586. By it
the king of Spain had acquainted the pope, that the
design of his fleet was to land in England, to de-
stroy queen Elizabeth and heresy, and to set the
queen of Scots on the throne : in this he had the
concurrence of the house of Guise : and he also de-
pended on the king of Scotland. This proved fatal
to the queen of Scots. It is true, king James sent
one Steward, the ancestor of the lord Blantyre, who
was then of his bedchamber, with an earnest and
threatening message to queen Elizabeth for saving
his mother. But in one of the intercepted letters
of the French ambassador's then in Scotland, found
among Walsingham's papers, it appears, that the
king, young as he was then, was either very double,
or very inconstant in his resolutions. The French
ambassador assured him, that Steward had advised
the queen to put a speedy end to that business,
which way she pleased ; and that as for his master's
anger, he would soon be pacified, if she would but
send him dogs and deer. The king was so offended
at this, that he said, he would hang him up in his
boots, as soon as he came back. Yet when he came
OF KING CHARLES II. 543
back, it was so far from that, that he lay all that 1672.
night in the bedchamber ^ As for the pompous
embassy that was sent from France to protest
against it, Maurier has told a very probable story of
Henry III. writing a letter with them to the queen,
advising her to proceed with all haste to do that
which the embassy was sent to prevent. He saw,
the house of Guise built a great part of their hopes
on the prospect of their cousin's coming to the
crown of England, which would cut off all the
hopes the house of Bourbon had of assistance from
thence. I have seen an original letter of the earl
of Leicester's to the earl of Bedford, who had mar-
ried his sister, and was then governor of Berwick,
telling him, that, how high soever the French am-
bassadors had talked in their harangues upon that
occasion, calling any proceeding against the queen
of Scots an open indignity, as well as an act of hos-
tility against France, since she was queen dowager
of France ; yet all this was only matter of form and
decency, that was extorted from the king of France ;
and, how high soever they might talk, they were
well assured he would do nothing upon it. So that
unfortunate queen fell at that time, by reason of the
Spanish preparations to conquer England, under the
pretence of setting her on the throne. She died,
' (Archbishop Spotiswood, " his mind, and divert him
in his History of the Church of " from the war he had intended.
Scotland, says, that when queen " These working privately with
Elizabeth imderstood that her " the king's chief counsellors,
messenger, whom she had sent " and such of his chamber as
with a letter to the king, excus- " he was known to affect, dealt
ing the fact of his mother's " so as they kept off things
death, " was returned without " from breaking forth into open
" audience, she laboured by her " hostility, which was every day
" ministers, of whom she was "expected." Book vi. p. 359.)
'• ever well furnished, to pacify
544 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. much more decently than she had lived, in Febr.
1587 '".
313 But the court of England saw, that if king Phi-
I/sh fleet ^P'^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^" ^ condition to conquer England, he
came not would uot abaudon the design, for her being put out
intended, of thc Way *, and that he certainly intended to con-
quer it for himself, and not for another. So orders
were given to make all possible haste with a fleet.
Yet they were so little provided for such an inva-
sion, that, though they had then twenty good ships
upon the stocks, it was not possible to get them in
* a condition to serve that summer: and the design
of Spain was to sail over in 1587. So, unless by
corruption, or any other method, the attempt could
be put off for that year, there was no strength ready
to resist so powerful a fleet. But, when it seemed
not possible to divert the present execution of so
great a design, a merchant of London, to their sur-
prise, undertook it. He was well acquainted with
the state of the revenue of Spain, with all their
charge, and all that they could raise. He knew all
their funds were so swaUoWed up, that it was im-
possible for them to victual and set out their fleet,
but by their credit in the bank of Genoa. So
"^ There is one particular cir- portunities enough for it. The
cumstance of her life, that I do story of the countess of Shrews-
not remember any of her advo- bury's jealousy of her husband's
cates to have mentioned, which having that intercourse vfith
is, that during her being in her, was believed by nobody,
England, which was from the and thought to be a piece of
twenty-sixth year of her age to malice only in that strange wo-
the forty-fifth, there was not man. As to the necessity, and
the least imputation upon her indeed justice, of the proceed-
of any commerce of irregu- ings against the queen of Scots,
lar amours here; though from see the Hatfield Papers, espe-
the frequent accession of men cially the second volume, lately
to her, she was not without op- published. O.
OF KING CHARLES II. 545
he undertook to write to all the places of trade, and 1672.
to get such remittances made on that bank, that he
should by that means have it so entirely in his
hands, that there should be no money current there,
equal to the great occasion of victualling the fleet of
Spain. He reckoned, the keeping such a treasure
dead in his hands till the season of victualling was
over would be a loss of 40,000/. And at that rate
he would save England. He managed the matter
with such secrecy and success, that the fleet could
not be set out that year. At so small a price, and
with so skilful a management, was the nation saved
at that time. This, it seems, was thought too great
a mystery of state to be communicated to Cambden,
or to be published by him, when the instructions
were put in his hands for writing the history of that
glorious reign. But the famous Boyle, earl of Cork,
who had then a great share in the affairs of Ireland,
came to know it ; and told it to two of his children,
from whom I had it. The story is so coherent, and
agrees so well with the state of affairs at that time,
that it seems highly credible. And, if it is true, it
is certainly one of the curiousest passages in our
whole English history. I return from this digres-
sion, which I hope wiU be no unacceptable enter-
tainment to the reader : it is well known, how the
design of the armada miscarried: and soon after
that the duke of Guise was stabbed : not long after,
Henry III. was also stabbed : and Henry IV, suc-
ceeded, who broke the league, with which the gi'eat
designs of Spain fell to the ground. So happily did
this third crisis pass over.
The fourth crisis was from the battle of Prague 314
to the year 1630, in which, as was told in the first The fourth
,,,^^ , crisis.
VOL. I. N n
546 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. book, not only the elector Palatine fell, but almost
all the empire came under the Austrian yoke. AU
attempts to shake it off proved unsuccessful, and
fatal to those who undertook it, till the young and
great king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, engaged
in it. The wars of Rochelle, together with the loss
of that important place, seemed to threaten the de-
struction of the protestants of France. England feU
under those unhappy jealousies, which began a dis-
jointing between the king and his people. And the
States were much pressed by the Spaniards under
Spinola. Breda was taken. But the worst of all
was, a quarrel that was raised between prince Mau-
rice and Barnevelt, that wiU require a fuller discus-
sion than was offered in the former book. AU agree,
that WiUiam prince of Orange was one of the great-
est men in story, who, after many attempts for the
recovery of the liberty of the provinces, was in con-
clusion successful, and formed that republic. In the
doing of it he was guilty of one great error, unless
he was forced to it by the necessity of his affairs ;
which was the settling a negative in every one of
the towns of Holland, in the matters of religion, of
taxes, and of peace and war. It had been much
safer, if it had been determined that the two thirds
must concur ; by which the government would have
been much stronger. Some thought, that he brought
in so many little towns to balance the gi'eater, of
whom he could not be sure ; whereas he could more
i easily manage these smaller ones. Others have said,
that he was forced to it, to draw them to a more
hearty concurrence in the war, since they were to
have such a share in the government for the future.
uuus. .^wt, as he settled it, the corruption of anyone small
OF KIxNG CHARLES II. 547
town may put all the affairs of Holland in great 1672.
disorder. He was also blamed, because he laboured
to raise the power of the stadtholder so high, that
in many regards it was greater than the power of
the counts of Holland had been. But this was ba-
lanced by its being made elective, and by the small
appointments he took to himself. It seems, he de-
signed to have settled that honour in his family:
for after his death there were reversal (several) let-
ters found among his papers from the duke of An-
jou, when the provinces invited him to be their prince,
by which the duke engaged himself to leave Holland
and Zealand in the prince's hands. Before he died,
he had in a great measure lost the affections of the
clergy : because he was very earnest for the tolera-
tion of papists, judging that necessary for the en-
gaging men of all persuasions in the common con-
cerns of liberty, and for encouraging the other pro-
vinces to come into the union. This was much op- 315
posed by the preachers in Holland, who were for
more violent methods. Those, who but a few years
before had complained of the cruelty of the church
of Rome, were no sooner delivered from that, than
they began to call for the same ways of prosecuting
those who were of the other side. This made that
great prince lose ground with the zealots of his own
side before he died. With him all their affairs sunk
so fast, that they saw the necessity of seeking pro-
tection elsewhere. Their ministers did of them-
selves, without the concurrence of the States, send to
queen Elizabeth, to desire her to take them under
her protection, on such terms as she should pre-
scribe. And, though the States were highly of-
fended at this, yet they durst not at that time com-
N n 2
S4l^ THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. plain of it, much less punish it ; but were forced by
the clamour of their people to follow an example
that was so irregularly set them. This I had from
Halewyn of Dort, of whom I shall have occasion to
write afterwards. When the queen sent over the
earl of Leicester, with a new title, and an authority
greater than was either in the counts of Holland or
in the stadtholder, by the name of supreme go-
vernor ; he, as soon as he landed at Flushing, went
first to church, where he ordered prayers to be
offered up for a blessing on his counsels, and desired
that he might receive the sacrament next day : and
there he made solemn protestations of his integrity
and zeal. This pleased the people so much, that
Bamevelt and the States at the Hague thought it
necessary to secure themselves from the effects of
such a threatening popularity : so they sent for the
count, aflerwards prince, Maurice, who was then at
Leyden, not yet eighteen, and chose him stadt-
holder of Holland and Zealand. There had been
no provision made against that in their treaty with
the earl of Leicester. Yet he was highly offended
at it. I wiU go no farther into the errors of his
government, and the end that the queen put to it ;
which she did, as soon as it appeared that he was
incapable of it, and was beginning to betray, and to
sell their best places.
Differences Princc Mauricc and Barnevelt continued long in
l)6lW66Il
prince a perfect conjunction of counsels : tiU upon the nego-
orangrMd ti^tiou for a peace, or at least for a truce, they dif-
Barneveit. {qj-q^ gQ much, that their friendship ended in a most
violent hatred, and a jealousy that could never be
made up. Prince Maurice was for carrying on the
war, which set him at the head of a great army.
OF KING CHARLES II. 549
And he had so great an interest in the conquests 1672^
they made, that for that very reason Bamevelt in-
fused it into the States, that they were now safe,
and needed not fear the Spaniards any more; so
there was no reason for continuing the war. Prince 316
Maurice on the other hand said, their persecuted
brethren in the popish provinces wanted their help
to set them at liberty. The work seemed very
easy, and the prospect of success was great. In op-
position to this it was said ; since the seven provinces
were now safe, why should they extend their terri-
tories ? Those who loved their religion and liberty
in the other provinces might come and live among
them : this would increase both their numbers and
their wealth : whereas the conquest of Antwerp
might prove fatal to them : besides, that both
France and England interposed : they would not
allow them to conquer more, nor become more for-
midable. All the zealous preachers were for conti-
nuing the war : and those that were for peace were
branded as men of no religion, who had only carnal
and political views. While this was in debate every
where, the disputes began between Arminius and Go-
marus, two famous professors at Leyden, concerning
the decrees of God and the efficacy of grace; in
which those two great men, Maurice and Bamevelt,
went upon interest, to lead the two parties, from
which they both differed in opinion. Prince Mau-
rice in private always talked on the side of the
Arminians; and Bamevelt believed predestination
firmly. But, as he left reprobation out in his
scheme, so he was against the unreasonable severity
with which the ministers drove those points. He
found the Arminians were the better patriots : and
N n 3
650 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. he thought the other side out of their zeal were
engaged for carrying on the war, so as that they
called aU the others indifferent as to aU religions,
and charged them as favourers of Spain and popery.
I will go no farther into the differences that fol-
lowed, concerning the authority of the states general
over the several provinces. It is certain, that every
province is a separated state, and has an entire
sovereignty within itself; and that the states ge-
neral are an assembly of the deputies of the several
provinces, but without any authority over them.
Yet it was pretended, that extraordinary diseases
required extraordinary remedies : and prince Mau-
rice, by the assistance of a party that the ministers
made for him among the people, engaged the States
to assume an authority over the province of Hol-
land, and to put the government in new hands. A
court was erected by the same authority, to judge
those who had been formerly in the magistracy.
Bamevelt was accused, together with Grotius and
some others, as fomenters of sedition, and for rais-
ing distractions in the country. He was condemned,
and beheaded. Others were condemned to perpe-
tual imprisonment. And every one of the judges
had a great gold medal given them, in the reverse
317 of which the synod of Dort was represented, which
was called by the same authority. I saw one of
those medals in the possession of the posterity of
one of those judges. King James assisted prince
Maurice in all this : so powerfully do the interests
of princes carry them to concur in things that are
most contrary to their own inclinations. The pre-
vailing passion of that king was his hatred of the
puritans: that made him hate these opinions into
OF KING CHARLES II. 551
which they went with great heat : and, though he 1672.
encouraged all that were of the Arminian party in
his own dominions, yet he helped to crush them in
Holland: he hated Barnevelt upon another score;
for his getting the cautionary towns out of his
hands: and, according to the nature of impotent
passions, this carried him to procure his ruin. After
this victory that prince Maurice had got over the
party that opposed him, he did not study to carry it
much farther. He found quickly how much he had
lost the hearts of the people, who had before that
time made him their idol, and now looked at him
with horror. He studied to make up matters the
best he could, that he might engage the States in the
Bohemian war. But all that was soon at an end-
It was plain that he had no design upon their li-
berty ; though he could not bear the opposition that
he began to meet with from a free state.
His death put an end to all jealousies : and his Prince
brother, prince Henry Frederick, quickly settled the.ierkk'swLe
disputes of Arminianism, by the toleration that was ^^^^l"'
gi'anted them. He was known to be a secret fa-
vourer of their tenets : he conducted the armies of
the States with so much success, and left them so
much at liberty as to all their state affairs, that all
the jealousies which his brother's conduct had raised
were quite extinguished by him. The States made
him great presents. He became very rich. And his
son had the survivance of the stadtholdership. But His sons
his son had more of his uncle's fire in him, than of
his father's temper. He opposed the peace of Mun*
ster all he could. The States came then to see, that
they had continued too long in their alliance with
France against Spain, since France had got the ascen-
N n 4
652 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. dant by too visible a superiority. So that their in-
terest led them now to support Spain against France.
Prince William fell to be in ill terms with his mo-
ther. And she, who had great credit with the States,
set up such an open opposition to her son, that the
peace of Munster was in a great measure the effect
of their private quarrel. Prince William, being
married into the royal family of England, did all he
could to embroil the States with the new common-
wealth. But he met with such opposition, that he,
finding the States were resolved to dismiss a great
318P^rt of their army, suffered himself to be carried to
violent counsels. I need not enlarge on things that
are so well known, as his sending some of the states
prisoners to Lovestein, and his design to change the
government of Amsterdam : which was discovered
by the postboy, who gave the alarm a few hours be-
fore the prince could get thither.
These things, and the effects that followed on
them, are well known : as is also his death, which
followed a few weeks after, in the most unhappy
time possible for the princess royal's big belly ". For
as she bore her son a week after his death, in the
eighth month of her time, so he came into the world
under great disadvantages. The States were pos-
sessed with gi'eat jealousies of the family ; as if the
aspiring to subdue the liberties of their country was
inherent in it, and inseparable from it. His private
affairs were also in a very bad condition : two great
i jointures went out of his estate, to his mother and
grandmother, besides a vast debt that his father had
contracted to assist the king. Who could have
^ A pretty contrast. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 553
thought that an infant, brought into the world with 1672.
so much ill health, and under so many ill circum-
stances, was born for the preservation of Europe and
of the protestant religion ? So unlike do the events
of things prove to their first appearances. And,
since I am writing of his birth, I will set down a
story, much to the honour of astrology, how little
regard soever I my self have to it. I had it from
the late queen's own mouth ; and she directed me
to some who were of the prince's court in that time,
who confirmed it to me. An unknown person put
a paper in the old princess's hands, which she took
from him, thinking it was a petition. When she
looked into it, she found it was her son's nativity,
together with the fortunes of his life, and a full de-
duction of many accidents, which followed very
punctually, as they were predicted. But that which
was most particular was, that he was to have a son
by a widow, and was to die of the small-pox in the
twenty-fifth year of his age. So those who were apt
to give credit to predictions of that sort fancied,
that the princess royal was to die ; and that he was
upon that to marry the widow of some other per-
son. It was a common piece of raillery in the court,
upon the death of any prince, to ask what a person
his widow was. But when he was taken ill of the
small-pox, then the deciphering the matttjr was
obvious, and it struck his fancy so much, that pro-
bably it had an iU effect upon him. Thus was the
young prince born ; who was some years after barred
by the perpetual edict from aU hopes of arriving at
the stadtholdership. 319
The chief error in De Wit's administration was, ^f/'oe wira
that he did not again raise the authority of the coun- ^J^["'
554> THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. cil of state ; since it was very inconvenient to have
both the legislature and the execution in the same
hands. It seemed necessary to put the conduct of
affairs in a body of men, that should indeed be ac-
countable to the States, but should be bred to busi-
ness. By this means their counsels might be both
quick and secret ; whereas, when all is to be deter-
mined by the States, they can have no secrets : and
they must adjourn often to consult their principals ;
so their proceedings must be slow. During De Wit's
ministry, the council of state was so sunk, that it was
considered only as one of the forms of the govern-
ment. But the whole execution was brought to the
States themselves. Certainly a great assembly is a
very improper subject of the executive part of power.
It is indeed very proper, that such a body should be
a check on those, who have the executive power
trusted to them. It is true, De Wit found it so ;
which was occasioned by reason of the English am-
bassador's being once admitted to sit in that council.
They pretended, indeed, that it was only on the ac-
count of the cautionary towns; which moved the
States to give England a right to some share in their
counsels. After these were restored, they did not
think it decent to dispute the right of the ambassa-
dor's sitting any more there. But the easier way
was, thfe making that council to signify nothing, and
to bring all matters immediately to the States. It
had been happy for De Wit himself, and his country,
if he had made use of the credit he had in j;he great
turn upon Prince William's death, to have brought
things back to the state in which they had been an-
ciently; since the established errors of a constitution
and government can only be changed in a great re-
OF KING CHARLES II. 555
volution. He set up on a popular bottom: and so 1672.
he was not only contented to suffer matters to go
on in the channel in which he found them ; but in
many things he gave way to the raising the sepa-
rated jurisdiction of the towns, and to the lessening
the authority of the courts at the Hague. This
raised his credit, but weakened the union of the
provinces. The secret of all affairs, chiefly the
foreign negotiations, lay in few hands. Others,
who were not taken into the confidence, threw all
miscarriages on him ; which was fatal to him. The
reputation he had got in the war with England, and
the happy conclusion of it, broke a party that was
then formed against him. After that, he dictated to
the States : and all submitted to him. The conclud-
ing the triple alliance in so short a time, and against
the forms of their government, shewed, how sure
he was of a general concurrence with every thing
that he proposed. In the negotiations between the 320
States, and France, and England, he fell into great
errors. He still fancied that the king of England
must see his own interest so visibly in the exaltation
of the prince of Orange, that he reckoned that the
worst that could happen was to raise him to the
trust of stadtholder ; since England could not gain
so much by a conjunction with France, as by the
king's having such an interest in their government,
as he must certainly come to have, when his nephew
should be their stadtholder. So he thought, he had
a sure reserve to gain England at any time over to
them. But he had no apprehension of the king's
being a papist, and his design to make himself ab-
solute at home. And he was amazed to find, that,
though the court of England had talked much of
556 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. that matter of the prince of Orange when the States
' were in no disposition to hearken to it, and so used
it as a reproach or a ground of a quarrel ; yet when
it came more in view, they took no sort of notice of
it, and seemed not only cold, but even displeased
with it. The prince [was left so much to himself
in his education, that he was soon let loose to that
idleness, to which youth is naturally carried; nor
was he acquainted either with history or military
matters ; yet] as his natural reservedness saved him
from committing many errors, so his gravity, and
other virtues, recommended him much to the minis-
ters, and to the body of the people. The family of
De Wit, and the town of Amsterdam, carried still
the remembrance of what was passed fresh in their
thoughts. They set it also up for a maxim", that
the making of a stadtholder was the giving up their
liberty, and that the consequence of it would be the
putting the sovereignty of their country in him, or
at least in his family. The long continuance of a
ministry in one person, and that to so high a degree,
must naturally raise envy, and beget discontent,
especially in a popular government. This made
many become De Wit's enemies, and by consequence
the prince's friends. And the preachers employed
aU their zeal to raise the respect of the people for a
family, under which they had been so long easy and
happy.
The prince When the prince was of fuU age, it was proposed
madegene- 1^1 SO many placcs that he should have the supreme
^^' command of their armies and fleets, that De Wit
saw the tide was too strong to be resisted. So, after
" He can vary a phrase ; set up for a maxim, and lay down
for a maxim. S.
OF KING CHARLES II. 557
he had opposed it long, he proposed some limitations, 1672,
that should be settled previous to his advancement.
The hardest of all was, that he should bind himself
by oath never to pretend to be stadtholder, nor so
much as to accept of it, though it should be offered
him. These conditions were not of an easy diges-
tion. Yet it was thought necessary, that the prince
should be once at the head of their armies : that
would create a great dependence on him : and if
God blessed him with success, it would not be pos- 321
sible to keep him so low as these limitations laid
him: and the obligation never to accept of the
stadtholdership could only be meant of his not ac-
cepting the offer from any tumultuary bodies of the
populace, or the army ; but could not be a restraint
on him, if the States should make the offer, since his
oath was made to them, and by consequence it was
in their power to release the obligation that did
arise from it to themselves p. The court of Eng-
land blamed him for submitting to such conditions.
But he had no reason to rely much on the advices
of those who had taken so little care of him during
all the credit they had with the States, while the
triple alliance gave them a great interest in their af-
fairs. As soon as he was brought into the command
of the armies, he told me, he spoke to De Wit, and
desired to live in an entire confidence with him.
His answer was cold : so he saw that he could not
depend upon him. When he told me this, he added,
that he was certainly one of the greatest men of the
age, and he believed he served his country faith-
fully'J. De Wit reckoned that the French could
p Bad casuist. S. (See below, p. 326). ^ Yet the prince
contrived that he should be murdered, S.
558 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. not come to Holland but by the Maese. And he
t
had taken great care of the garrison of Maestricht ;
but very little of those that lay on the Rhine and
the Isel, where the States had many places, but none
of them good. They were ill fortified and ill sup-
plied. But most of them were worse commanded,
by men of no courage, nor practice in mihtary af-
fairs, who considered their governments as places of
which they were to make all the advantage that
they could.
The fifth Now I comc to givc an account of the fifth crisis
brought on the whole reformation, which has been
of the longest continuance, since we are yet in the
agitations of it ^ The design was first laid against
the States. But the method of invading them was
surprising, and not looked for. The elector of Colen
was all his life long a very weak man : yet it was
not thought that he could have been prevailed on to
put the French in possession of his country, and to
deliver himself with all his dominions over into their
hands. When he did that, all upon the Rhine were
struck with such a consternation, that there was no
spirit nor courage left. It is true, they could not
have made a great resistance. Yet if they had but
gained a little time, that had given the States some
leisure to look round them, to see what was to be
done.
The French The king of Fraucc came down to Utrecht like a
land flood. This struck the Dutch with so just a
terror, that nothing but gi'eat errors in his manage-
ment could have kept them from deUvering them-
selves entirely up to him. Never was more applause
■■ Under the queen and lord Oxford's ministry. S.
success.
OF KING CHARLES II. 559
given with less reason than the king of France had 1672.
upon this campaign. His success was owing rather 771
to De Wit's errors, than to his own conduct. There
was so little heart or judgment shewn in the ma-
nagement of that run of success % that, when that
year is set out, as it may well be, it will appear to
be one of the least glorious of his life ; though, when
seen in a false light, it appears one of the most glo-
rious in history. The conquest of the Netherlands
at that time might have been so easily compassed,
that, if his understanding and his courage had not
been equally defective, he could not have miscarried
in it. ^Vhen his army passed the Rhine, upon
which so much eloquence and poetry have been be-
stowed, as if all had been animated by his presence
and direction, he was viewing it at a very safe dis-
tance : [where he took the care that he has always
done, to preserve himself.] ^Vlien he came to
Utrecht, he had neither the prince of Conde nor
Mr. Turenne to advise with : and he was whoUy
left to his ministers. The prince of Conde was
slightly wounded, as he passed tlie Rhine : and Tu-
renne was sent against the elector of Brandenbvu'gh,
who was coming down with his army, partly to
save his own country of Cleve, but chiefly to assist
his allies the Dutch. So the king had none about
him to advise with, but Pompone and Louvoy, when
the Dutch sent to him to know what he demanded.
Pompone's advice was wise and moderate, and
would in conclusion have brought about all that he
intended. He proposed, that the king should re-
store aU that belonged to the seven provinces, and
* A metaphor, but from gamesters. S.
560 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. require of them only the places that they had with-
out them ; chiefly Maestricht, Bois Le Due, Breda,
and Bergen-op-zoom : thus the king would maintain
an appearance of preserving the seven provinces en-
tire, which the crown of France had always pro-
tected. To this certainly the Dutch would have
yielded, without any difficulty. By this he had the
Spanish Netherlands entirely in his power, separated
from Holland and the empire ; and might have
taken them, whensoever he pleased. This would
have an appearance of moderation, and would stop
the motion that all Germany was now in ; which
could have no effect, if the States did not pay and
But foi- subsist the troops. Louvoy on the other hand pro-
anTii ma- poscd, that the king should make use of the con-
nagenient. g^gj-^^tiou the Dutch wcrc then in, and put them
out of a condition of opposing him for the future
He therefore advised, that the king should demand
of them, besides all that Pompone moved, the pay-
ing a vast sum for the charge of that campaign ;
the giving the chief church in every town for the
exercise of the popish religion ; and that they
should put themselves under the protection of
France ; and should send an ambassador every year
with a medal acknowledging it; and should enter
323 into no treaties, or alliances, but by the directions of
France, [or till advice was asked and followed.]
The Dutch ambassadors were amazed, when they
saw th-at the demands rose to so extravagant a pitch.
One of them swooned away, when he heai'd them
read : he could neither think of yielding to them,
nor see how they could resist them. There was an
article put in for form, that they should give the
king of England full satisfaction. But all the other
OF KING CHARLES II. ^61
demands were made without any concert with Eng- 1672.
land, though Lockhart was then following the
court.
I say nothing of the sea-fight in Solbay, in which
De Ruyter had the glory of surprising the English
fleet, when they were thinking less of engaging the
enemy, than of an extravagant preparation for the
usual disorders of the twenty-ninth of May, which
he prevented, engaging them on the twenty-eighth,
in one of the most obstinate sea-fights that has hap-
pened in our age ; in which the French took more
care of themselves than became gallant men ; [but
it was believed] * they had orders to look on, and
leave the English and Dutch to fight it out, while
they preserved the force of France entire. De Ruy-
ter disabled the ship in which the duke was, whom
some blamed for leaving his ship too soon. Then
his personal courage began first to be caUed in ques-
tion ". The admiral of the blue squadron was burnt
* unless, was substituted by " person, and exposed him to
the editors. " the incessant fire from the
" Publicly, I suppose the au- " whole line of the enemy, who
thor means : for see page 219. "endeavoured to sink him;
O. (Higgons, in his Remarks, " but by a happy temerity he
p. 179, gives the following ac- " passed through them all, got
count of the duke of York's be- " on board a fresh ship, where ,j,
haviour. " The duke's ship " he hoisted his flag, restored
" was so disabled, that she lay " the fight, and renewed his
" a wreck on the water, upon " dangers. Whereas, if he had
*' which he went into the boat ; " continued in the disabled
" and though all about him " ship, he would have been
*' most earnestly intreated that " towed out of the battle, and
" he would strike his flag, he " falling back behind the line,
" would not consent; his cou- " have remained in perfect safe-
" rage surmounted his pru- " ty." This relation is confirmed
" dence; he displayed his co- by Sheffield, then lord Mulgrave,
" lours, and with a triumphant afterwards duke of Bucks, who
*' bravery insulted the foe in was present at the engage-
" his cockboat ; this distin- ment. His words are these :
" guished him to be there in " But the duke of York himself
VOL. I. 00
Om THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. by a fire-ship, after a long engagement with a Dutch
'~' ship much inferior to him in strength. In it the
earl of Sandwich perished with a great many about
him, who would not leave him, as he would not
leave his ship, by a piece of obstinate courage, to
which he was provoked by an indecent reflection the
duke made on an advice he had offered, of drawing
nearer the shore, and avoiding an engagement, as if
in that he took more care of himself than of the
king's honour. The duke of Buckingham came
aboard the fleet; though it was observed, that he made
great haste away, when he heard the Dutch fleet was
in view. The duke (of York) told me, that he said
to him, since they might engage the enemy quickly,
he intended to make sure of another world : so he
desired to know who was the duke's priest, that he
might reconcile himself to the church. The duke
told him, Talbot would help him to a priest. And
he brought one to him. They were for some time
shut up together. And the priest said, he had re-
conciled him according to their form. The duke of
Buckingham, who had no religion at heart, did this
only to recommend himself to the duke's confidence'^;
The Dutch It may be easily imagined, that aU things were at
extremities, this time iu great disorder at the Hague. The
French possessed themselves of Naerden : and a
" had the noblest share in this " lasted from break of day
" day's action; for when his " till sunset." Duke of Buck-
" ship was so maimed as to be ingham's Works, vol. ii. p. 14.)
" made incapable of service, he ^ (Of this fight off Southwold
*' made her lie by to refit, and bay see an interesting account
i " went on board another, that in the first volume of the Life
" was hotly engaged, where he of King James II. p. 461 — 477.
" kept up his standard, till she At p. 415 — 417. 422. 423. the
" was disabled also, and then duke's conduct in the engage-
" left her for a third, in order ment mentioned above, p. 219.'
".to renew the, light, which is completely vindicated.) ^ '
OF KING CHARLES IT. MHT 563
party had entered into Muyden, who had the keys 1672.
of the gates brought to them. But they, seeing it
was an inconsiderable place, not knowing the im-
portance of it, by the command of the water that 324
could drown all to Amsterdam, flung the keys into
the ditch, and went back to Naerden. But when
the consequence of the place was understood, an-
other party was sent to secure it. But before their
return, two battalions were sent from the prince of
Orange, who secured the place : and by that means
preserved Amsterdam, where all were trembling,
and thought of nothing but of treating and submis-
sion. The States were very near the extremities of
despair. They had not only lost many places, but
all their garrisons in them. Guelder, Overyssel, and
Utrecht, were quite lost : and the bishop of Munster
was making a formidable impression on Groninghen,
and at last besieged it. Ail these misfortunes came
so thick one after another, that no spirit was left.
And, to complete their ruin, a jealousy was spread •
through all Holland, that they were betrayed by
those who were in the government ; and that Pe
Wit intended all should perish, rather than the fa-
mily of Orange should be set up. Mombas, one of
their generals, who married De Groot*s sister, had [Z
basely abandoned his post, which was to defend the
Rhine where the French passed it: and when he
was put in arrest for that, he made his escape, and.
went to the French for sanctuary. Upon this the
people complained loudly: and the States- were so
puzzled, that their hearts quite failed them. When ,
they were assembled, they looked on one another
like men amazed ; sometimes all in tears. Once the
Spanisli ambassador came, and demanded audience.
002
50i<n THE HrSTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. And when he was brought in, he told them, that
out of the affection that he bore them, and the union
of his master's interest with theirs, he came to blame
41 their conduct : they looked sad : they never appeared
in the Vorhaut in their coaches : and upon all occa-
sions they looked like men despairing of their coun-
try : this quite disheartened their people : therefore
he advised them to put on another countenance, to
publish that they had good news, that their allies
were in march ; and to feed their people with pro-
bable stories, and so to keep up their spirits. They
thought the advice was seasonable, and followed it.
Ambassa- They scut two ambassadors, Dycvelt and Ha-
Engiand. lewyn, to joiu with Borel, who was stiU in England,
to try if it was possible to divide England from
France. And the morning in which they were des-
patched away, they had secret powers given them to
treat concerning the prince of Orange's being their
stadtholder : for lord Arlington had so oft reproached
Borel for their not doing it, that he in all his letters
continued still to press that on them. When they came
over, they were for form's sake put under a guard.
Yet Borel was suffered to come to them ; and was
transported with joy, when they told him what
325 powers they had in that affair of the prince. And
immediately he went to lord Arlington : but came
soon back, like one amazed, when he found that no
regard was had to that, which he had hoped would
have entirely gained the court. But he was a plain
man, and had no great depth. The others were
sent to Hampton court; and were told, that the
king would not treat separately, but would send
over ambassadors to treat at Utrecht. They met
secretly with many in England, and informed them-
V: OF KING CHARLES II. 565
selves by them of the state of the nation. They 1672.
gave money liberally, and gained some in the chief
offices to give them intelligence. The court under-
standing that they were not idle, and that the na-
tion was much inflamed, since all the offers that
they made were rejected, commanded them to go
back. The duke of Buckingham and lord Arling-
ton were ordered to go to Utrecht. And, to give
the nation some satisfaction, lord Halifax was sent
over afterwards. But he was not put on the secret.
The Dutch, hearing that their ambassadors were
coming over without making peace with England,
ran together in great numbers to Maesland sluice,
and resolved to cut them in pieces at their landing ;
for they heard they were at the Brill. But, as they
were crossing the Maes, a little boat met them, and
told them of their danger, and advised them to land
at another place, where coaches were staying to
caiTy them to the Hague. So they missed the
storm, that broke out fatally at the Hague the next
day, where men's minds were in great agitation.
De Wit was once at night going home from the The tragi-
States, when four persons set on him to murder him. Oe wit.
He shewed on that occasion both an intrepid cou-
rage, and a great presence of mind. He was wounded
in several places. Yet he got out of their hands.
One of them was taken, and condemned for it. All
De Wit's friends pressed him to save his life. But
he thought, that such an attempt on a man in his
post was a crime not to be pardoned ; though, as to
his own part in the matter, he very freely forgave it.
The young man confessed his crime, and repented
of it : and protested he was led to it by no other
consideration, but that of zeal for his country and
o o 3
THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. religion, which he thought were betrayed. And he
died as in a rapture of devotion, which made great
impression on the spectators. At the same time a
barber accused De Wit's elder brother of a practice
on him, in order to his murdering the prince. There
were so many improbabilities in his story, which
was supported by no cii'cumstances, that it seemed
no way credible. Yet Cornelius de Wit was put to
the torture on it, but stood firm to his innocence.
The sentence was accommodated rather to the state
326 of affairs, than to the strict rules of justice. In the
mean time, while his brother had resigned his charge
of pensionary, and was made one of the judges of
the high court, Cornelius de Wit was banished;
which was intended rather as a sending him out of
the way, than as a sentence against him. I love
not to describe scenes of horror, as was that black
and infamous one committed on the two brothers.
I can add little to what has been so often printed.
De Wit's going in his own coach to carry his brother
out of town was a great error: and looked like a
triumph over a sentence, which was unbecoming
the character of a judge. Some furious agitators,
who pretended zeal for the prince, gathered the rab-
ble together. And by that vUe action that followed
they did him more hurt, than they were ever able to
repair. His enemies have taken advantages from
thence to cast the infamy of this on him, and on his
party, to make them all odious ; though the prince
spoke of it always to me with the greatest horror
possible y : the ministers in Holland did upon this
occasion shew a very particular violence. In their
h:.^ ; . ,' . , yjfet he was guilty enough. S.. . -.. - .^J
/ OF KING CHARLES II.^Lri 567
sermons, and in some printed treaties, they charged 1672.
the judges with corruption, who had carried the
sentence no farther than to banishment : and com-
pared the fate of the De Wits to Haman's.
I need not relate the great change of the magi- The prince
stracy in all the provinces ; the repealing the per- madrstadt-
petual edict; and the advancing the prince of 0-^°^''^'^*
range to be stadtholder, after they had voided the '
obligation of the oath he had taken, about which he
took some time to deliberate. Both lawyers and di-
vines agj'eed, that those to whom he had made that
oath, releasing the obligation of it, he w^as no longer
bound by it. The States gave him, for that time,
the full power of peace and war. All this was car-
ried farther by the town of Amsterdam ; for they
sent a deputation to him, offering him the sove-
reignty of their town. When he was pleased to tell
me this passage, he said, he knew the reason for
which they made it was, because they thought all
was lost : and they chose to have the infamy of their
loss fall on him, rather than on themselves. He
added, that he was sure the country could not bear
a sovereign ; and that they would contribute more
to the war, when it was in order to the preserving
their own liberty, than for any prince whatsoever*
So he told them, that, without taking any time to
consult on the answer to be made to so great an
offer, he did immediately refuse it. He was fully
satisfied with the power already lodged with him,
and would never endeavour to carry it any farther.
The prince's advancement gave a new life to the
whole country. He, though then very young, and
little acquainted with the affairs of state or war, did 327
apply himself so to both, that, notwithstanding the
o o 4<
4fto THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. desperate state in which he found matters, he nei-
ther lost heart nor committed errors. The duke of
Buckingham and the lord Arlington tried to bring
the king of France to offer them better terms ; but
TheEng. iu vaiu. That prince was so lifted up, that he
sadors°were sccmcd to cousidcr the king very little. While he
tiie^iiterest ^^^ SO high ou the one hand, and the prince of
of France. Qraugc SO Steady on the other, the English ambas-
sadors soon saw, that aU the offices they could do
were ineffectual. One day the prince (who told me
this himself) was arguing with them upon the king's
conduct, as the most unaccountable thing possible,
who was contributing so much to the exaltation of
France, which must prove in conclusion fatal to
himself; and was urging this in several particulars.
The duke of Buckingham broke out in an oath,
which was his usual style, and said, he was in the
right; and so offered to sign a peace immediately
with the prince. Lord Arlington seemed amazed
at his rashness. Yet he persisted in it, and said po-
sitively he would do it. The prince upon that, not
knowing what secret powers he might have, ordered
the articles to be engrossed. And he believed, if he
could possibly have got them ready whUe he was
with him, that he would have signed them. They
were ready by next morning : but by that time he
had changed his mind. That duke, at parting,
pressed him much to put himself wholly in the
king's hands : and assured him he would take care
of his affairs, as of his own. The prince cut him
short : he said, his country had trusted him, and he
would never deceive nor betray them for any base
ends of his own. The duke answered, he was not
to think any more of his country, for it was lost:
/ OF KING CHARLES II. IHI 569
if it should weather out the summer, by reason of 1672.
the waters that had drowned a great part of it, the
winter's frost would lay them open : and he repeated
the words often. Do not you see it is lost? The
prince's answer deserves to be remembered : he said,
he saw it was indeed in great danger : but there was y-
a sure way never to see it lost, and that was to die
in the last ditch.
The person that the prince relied on chiefly, asThecharac-
-•-■ ter of Fa-
to the affairs of HoUand, was Fagel: a man verygei.
learned in the law, who had a quick apprehension,
and a clear and ready judgment. He had a copious
eloquence, more popular than correct : and was fit
to carry matters with a torrent in a numerous as-
sembly. De Wit had made great use of him : for
he joined with him very zealously in the carrying
the perpetual edict, which he negotiated with the
states of Frizeland, who opposed it most: and he
was made greffier, or secretary to the states general,
which is the most beneficial place in Holland. He 328
was a pious and virtuous man : only he was too
eager and violent, [and out of measure partial to
his kindred.] He was [vain, and] too apt to flatter
himself, [and not iU pleased when others flattered
him.] He had much heart when matters went
well ; but had not the courage that became a great
minister on uneasy and difficult occasions.
Prince Waldeck was their chief general: a manprinceWai.
of a great compass ^' and a true judgment : equally
able in the cabinet and in the camp. But he was
always unsuccessful, because he was never furnished
according to the schemes that he had laid down.
' i. e. very fut. S.
^m6 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. The opinion that armies had of him, as an unfor-
tunate general, made him really so: for soldiers
cannot have much heart, when they have not an
entire confidence in him that has the chief com-
mand.
Dickveit. Dickvelt, on his return from England, seeing the
ruin of the De Wits, w^ith whom he was formerly
united, and the progress the French had made in
Utrecht, where his estate and interest lay, despau'ed
.. too soon ; and went and lived under them. Yet he
did great service to his province. Upon every vio-
lation of articles, he went and demanded justice,
and made protestations with a boldness, to which
the French were so little accustomed, that they
were amazed at it. Upon the French leaving
Utrecht, and on the re-establishing that province,
he was left out of the government. Yet his great
abilities, and the insinuating smoothness of his tem-
per, procured him so many friends, that the prince
'c - was prevailed on to receive him into his confidence :
and he had a great share of it to the last, as he weU
deserved it. He had a very perfect knowledge of
all the affairs of Europe, and great practice in many
embassies. He spoke [as almost (all) the Dutch
do] too long, and with too much vehemence. He
was, in his private deportment, a virtuous and reli-
gious man, and a zealous protestant. In the ad-
ministration of his province, which was chiefly
trusted to him, there were great complaints of par-
tiality and of a defective justice.
And Hale- Halcwyu, a man of great interest in the town of
Dort, and one of the judges in the court of Holland,
was the person of them all whom I knew best and
valued most: and was the next to Fagel in the
wyn.
V, y OF KING CHARLES IL U r 571
prince's confidence. He had a great compass of 1672.
learning, besides his own profession, in which he
was very eminent. He had studied divinity with
great exactness ; and was well read in all history,
but most paiticularly in the Greek and Roman au-
thors. He was a man of great vivacity : he appre-
hended things soon, and judged very correctly. He
spoke short, but with Ufe. He had a courage and
vigour in his counsels, that became one who had
formed himself upon the best models in the ancient 329
authors. He was a man of severe morals. And as
he had great credit in the court where he sat, so he
took care that the partialities of friendship should
not mix in the administration of justice. He had
in him all the best notions of a great patriot, and a
true Christian philosopher. He was brought in very
early to the secret of affairs, and went into the bu-
siness of the perpetual edict very zealously. Yet he
quickly saw the error of bringing matters of state
immediately into numerous assemblies. He consi-
dered the States maintaining in themselves the
sovereign power, as the basis upon which the liberty
of their country was built. But he thought the
administration of the government must be lodged in
a council. He thought it a great misfortune, that
the prince was so young at his first exaltation ; and
so possessed with military matters, to which the ex-
tremity of their affairs required that he should be
entirely appUed, that he did not then correct that
error, which could only be done upon so extraordi-
nary a conjuncture. He saw the great error of De
Wit's ministry, of keeping the secret of affairs so
much in his own hands. Such a precedent was
very dangerous to public liberty, when it was in the
Sn THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. power of one man to ^ve up his country. Their
people could not bear the lodging so great a trust
with one, who had no distinction of birth or rank.
Yet he saw it was necessary to have such an author-
ity, as De Wit's merits and success had procured
him, lodged some where. The factions and animo-
sities, that were in almost aU their towns, made it
as necessary for their good government at home, as
it was for the command of their armies abroad, to
have this power trusted to a person of that emi-
nence of birth and rank, that he might be above the
envy that is always among equals, when any one of
them is raised to a disproportioned degree of great-
ness above the rest. He observed some errors that
were in the prince's conduct. But after all, he said,
it was visible that he was always in the true in-
terest of his country : so that the keeping up a
faction against him was like to prove fatal to all
Europe, as well as to themselves.
The prince The greatest misfortune in the prince's affairs
studied to ti- it -iii
correct the was, that the wiscst and the most considerable men
feiHn at in their towns, that had been acquainted with the
^** conduct of affairs formerly, were now under a cloud,
and were either turned out of the magistracy, or
thought it convenient to retire from business. And
many hot, but poor men, who had signalized their
zeal in the turn newly made, came to be called the
prince's friends, and to be put every where in the
magistracy. They quickly lost all credit, having
little discretion, and no authority. They were very
330 partial in the government, and oppressive, chiefly of
those of the other side. The prince saw this sooner
than he could find a remedy for it. But by degrees
the men of the other side came into his interest;
OF KING CHARLES II. STff
and promised to serve him faithfully, in order to 1672.
the driving out the French, and the saving their
country. The chief of those were, Halewyn of
Dort, Pats of Rotterdam, and Van Beuning of Am-
sterdam.
The last of these was so well known, both inVanBeun-
France and England, and had so great credit m his racter.
own town, that he deserves to be more particularly
set out. He was a man of great notions; [but
talked perpetually, so that it was not possible to con-
vince him, in discourse at least ; for he heard nobody
speak but himself.] He had a wonderful vivacity,
but too much levity in his thoughts. His temper
was inconstant ; firm, and positive for a while ; but
apt to change, from a giddiness of mind, rather than
from any falsehood in his nature. He broke twice
with the prince, after he came into a confidence
with him. He employed me to reconcile him to
him* for the third time: but the prince said, he
could not trust him any more. He had great know- P.
ledge in all sciences, and had such a copiousness of
invention, with such a pleasantness, as well as a va-
riety, of conversation, that I have often compared
him to the duke of Buckingham : only he was vir-
tuous and devout ; much in the enthusiastical way.
In the end of his days, he set himself wholly to
mind the East India trade. But that was an employ-
ment not so well smted to his natural genius. And
it ended fatally : for, the actions sinking on the
sudden on the breaking out of a new war, that sunk
him ^ into a melancholy, which quite distracted him.
The town of Amsterdam was for many years con-
r ti -'-'» Perspicuity. S; " '"»> Eloquent. S. ' ' "
574' THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. ducted by him as by a dictator. And that had ex-
Errors com- posed them to as many errors, as the irregularity
the^town'^ofOf his notious suggested. The breaking the West
d&vt^^' ^^^^ company, and the loss of Munster in the year
1658, was owing to that. It was then demonstrated,
that the loss of that town laid the States open on
that side : and that Munster, being in their hands,
would not only cover them, but be a fit place for
making levies in Westphalia. Yet Amsterdam would
not consent to that new charge ; and fancied, there
was no danger on that side. But they found after-
wards, to their cost, that their unreasonable ma-
nagery in that particular drew upon them an ex-
pense of many millions, by reason of the unquiet
temper of that martial bishop, who had almost
ruined them this year on the side of Frizeland.
But his miscarriage in the siege of Groninghen, and
the taking Coevorden by surprise in the end of the
year, as it was among the first things that raised
331 the spirits of the Dutch, so both the bishop's strength
and reputation sunk so entirely upon it, that he ,ne-
ver gave them any great trouble after that. Ju^viit
ij Another error, into which the managery of Am-
sterdam drew the States, was occasioned by the
offer that D'Estrades, the French ambassador, made
them in the year 1663, of a division of the Spanish
Netherlands, by which Ostend and a line from
thence to Maestricht, within which Bruges, Ghent,
and Antwerp were to be comprehended, was offered
j to them ; the French desiring only St. Omer, Valen-
ciennes, Cambray, and Luxemburgh : and the do-
minions that lay between those lines were to be a
free commonwealth ; as Halewyn assured me, who
said he was in the secret at that time.. This was
OF KING CHARLES II. 575
much debated aU Holland over. It was visible, 1672.
that this new commonwealth, taken out of the
hands of the Spaniards, must naturally have fallen
into a dependance on the States ; and have become
more considerable, when put under a better con-
duct* Yet this would have put the States at that
time to some considerable charge. And to avoid
that, the proposition was rejected, chiefly by the op-
position that Amsterdam made to it ; where the pre-*
vailing maxim was, to reduce their expense, to abate
taxes, and to pay their public debts'^. By such an
unreasonable parsimony matters were now brought J
to that state, that they were engaged into a war of
so vast an expense, that the yearly produce of their
whole estates did not answer all the taxes that they
were forced to lay on their people.
After the prince saw that the French demands The prince
, . . 1 • 1 11 • animates
were at this time so high, and that it was not pos- the states
sible to draw England into a separate treaty, he got the'^ww?"
the States to call an extraordinary assembly, the
most numerous that has been in this age. To them
the prince spoke near three hours, to the amaze-
ment of all that heard him, which was owned to me
by one of the deputies of Amsterdam. He had got
great materials put in his hands, of which he made
very good use. He first went through the French
propositions, and shewed the consequence and the ef-»
fects that would follow on them ; that the accepting
*^ The true reason of the op- purpose than they are, which
position made by the town of in all likelihood would have
Amsterdam, was an apprehen- drawn it back again to Ant-
sion that Antwerp, under a werp ; from whence they had
commonwealth, would soon re- it, upon the troubles in the
cover her lost trade; being Spanish Netherlands., D. 1
much better situated for that - - - ■■-■-'- /"^iJi^^
576 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. them woiild be certain ruin, and the very treating
about them would distract and dispirit their people :
he therefore concluded, that the entertaining a
thought of these was the giving up their country :
if any could hearken to such a motion, the lovers of
religion and liberty must go to the Indies, or to any
other country where they might be free and safe.
After he had gone through this, near an hour, he in
the next place shewed the possibility of making a
stand, notwithstanding the desperate state to which
their affairs seemed reduced : he shewed the force
332 of all their allies ; that England could not hold out
long without a parliament ; and they were weU as-
sured, that a parliament would draw the king to
other measures : he shewed the impossibility of the
French holding out long, and that the Germans
'' •; coming down to the Lower Rhine must make them
go out of their country as fast as they came into it.
.!,','.'„ In all this he shewed, that he had a great insight
into the French affairs. He came last to shew, how
it was possible to raise the taxes that must be laid
on the country, to answer such a vast and unavoid-
able expense ; and set before them a gi'eat variety
of projects for raising money. He concluded, that,
if they laid down this for a foundation, that reUgion
and liberty could not be purchased at too dear a
rate, and that therefore every man among them,
and every minister in the country, ought to infuse
into all the people, that they must submit to the
I . present extremity, and to very extraordinary taxes ;
by this means, as their people would again take
heart, so their enemies would lose theirs, who built
their chief hopes on that universal dejection among
them, that was but too visible to all the world.
OF KING CHARLES II. 577
Every one that was present seemed amazed to hear 1672.
so young a man speak to so many things, with so
much knowledge and so true a judgment. It raised
his character wonderfully, and contributed not a lit-
tle to put new life in a country, almost dead with
fear, and dispirited with so many losses. They all
resolved to maintain their liberty to the last ; and,
if things should run to extremities, to carry what
wealth they could with them to the East Indies.
The state of the shipping capable of so long a
voyage was examined : and it was reckoned, that
they could transport above two hundred thousand
people thither. ^
Yet all their courage would probably have served The French
them in little stead, if the king of France could bS to pa-
have been prevailed on to stay longer at Utrecht. '^'**
But he made haste to go back to Paris. Some said,
it was the effect of his amours, and that it was
hastened by some quarrels among his mistresses.
Others thought, he was hastening to receive the
flatteries that were preparing for him there. And
indeed in the outward appearances of things there
was great occasion for them ; since he had a run of
success beyond all expectation, though he himself
had no share in it, unless it was to spoil it, [by an
indecent care of himself, and a want of heart to
push forward that rapidity of success.] He left a
garrison in every place he took, against Turenne's
advice, who was for dismantling them aU, and keep-
ing his army stiU about him. But his ministers
saw so far into his temper, that they resolved to
play a sure game, and to put nothing to hazard.
Upon the elector of Brandenburgh's coming down.
Monsieur Turenne was sent against him : by which 333
VOL. I. p p
578 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. means the army about the king was so diminished,
that he could undertake no great design, besides the
siege of Nimeguen, that held out some weeks, with
so small a force. And though the prince of Orange
had not above eight thousand men about him, em-
ployed in keeping a pass near Woerden, yet no at-
tempt was made to force him from it. Another
probable reason of his returning back so soon was, a
suggestion of the desperate temper of the Dutch,
and that they were capable of undertaking any de-
sign, how black soever, rather than perish. Some
told him of vaults under the streets of Utrecht,
where gunpowder might be laid to blow him up, as
he went over them : and all these were observed to
be avoided by him. He would never lodge within
the town, and came but seldom to it. He upon one
or other of these motives went back. Upon which
the prince of Cond^ said, he saw he had not the soul
of a conqueror in him ; and that his ministers were
the best commis^ but the poorest ministers in the
world, who had not souls made for great things, or
capable of them.
If the king had a mind to be flattered by his peo-
ple, he found at his return enough even to surfeit
him. Speeches, verses, inscriptions, triumphal arches,
and medals, were prepared with a profusion, and ex-
cess of flattery, beyond what had been offered to the
worst of the Roman emperors, bating the cere-
mony of adoration. But blasphemous impieties were
j not wanting to raise and feed his vanity. A solemn
debate was hel^ all about Paris, what title should be
given him. Le Grand was thought too common.
Some were for Invincible. Others were for Le Con-
querant. Some, in imitation of Charlemagne, for
Of* KING CHARLES II. 679
Lewis le magne. Others were for Maximus. But 1^72.
Tres Grand sounded not so well: no more did
Maxime. So they settled on Le Grand. And all
the bodies of Paris seemed to vie in flattery. It ap-
peared, that the king took pleasure in it : so there
has followed upon it the greatest run of the most
fulsome flattery that is in history. Had the king of
France left such a man as Turenne at Utrecht, it
might have had ill effects on the resolutions taken by
the Dutch. But he left Luxemburgh there, [a
cruel, impious, and brutal man,] who had no regard
to articles ; but made all people see what was to be
expected, when they should come under [the ty-
ranny of] such a yoke, that was then so intolerable
a burden, even while it ought to have been recom-
mended to those who were yet free by a gentle ad-
ministration. This contributed not a little to fix
the Dutch in those obstinate resolutions they had
taken up.
There was one very extraordinary thing that hap- 334
pened near the Hague [and in sight] this summer : I saved by
had it from many eyewitnesses : and no doubt was o^dinr''*'^'
made of the truth of it by any at the Hague. Soon P^vidence.
after the English fleet had refitted themselves, (for
they had generally been much damaged by the engage-
ment in Solbay,) they appeared in sight of Scheveling,
making up to the shore. The tide turned: but they
reckoned that with the next flood they would cer-
tainly land the forces that were aboard, where they
were like to meet with no resistance. So they sent to
the prince for some regiments to hinder the descent.
He could not spare many men, having the French
very near him. So between the two the country was
given for lost, unless De Ruyter should quickly come
p p 2
580 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. up. The flood returned, which they thought was to
end in their ruin. But to all their amazement, after
it had flowed two or three hours, an ebb of many
hours succeeded, which carried the fleet again to the
sea. And, before that was spent, De Ruyter came in
view. This they reckoned a miracle wrought for
their preservation. Soon after that they escaped
another design, that otherwise would very probably
have been fatal to them.
?enS io' "^^^ ^^^^ ^^- ^ssory, eldest son to the duke of Or-
surprise mond, a man of great honour, generosity, and courage,
siuys. had been oft in Holland : and, coming by Helvoet-
sluys, he observed, it was a place of great conse-
quence, but very ill looked to. The Dutch trusting
to the danger of entering into it, more than to any
strength that defended it, he thought it might be
easy to seize and fortify that place. The king ap-
proved this. So some ships were sheathed and vic-
tualled, as for a voyage to a great distance. He was
to have five men of war, and transport ships for
twelve or fifteen hundred men. And a second
squadron, with a farther supply, if he succeeded in
the attempt, was to follow. He had got two or three
of their pilots brought out on a pretended errand :
and these he kept very safe to carry him in. This
was communicated to none but to the duke and to
lord Arlington : and all was ready for the execution.
Lord Ossory went to this fleet, and saw every thing
ready as was ordered, and came up to receive the
king's sailing orders. But the king, who had or-
dered him to come next morning for his despatch,
discovered the design to the duke of Buckingham,
who hated both the duke of Ormond and lord Os-
sory, and would have seen the king and all his af-
OF KING CHARLES II. 581
fairs perish, rather than that a person whom he hated 1 672.
should have the honour of such a piece of merit. He ""
upon that did turn all his wit to make the thing ap-
pear ridiculous and impracticable. He represented 335
it as unsafe on many accounts ; and as a desperate
stroke, that put things, if it should succeed, out of a
possibility of treaty or reconciliation. The king
could not withstand this. Lord Ossory found next
morning that the king had changed his mind. And
it broke out, by the duke of Buckingham's loose way
of talking, that it was done by his means. So the
design was laid aside. But when the peace was
made. Lord Ossory told it to the Dutch ambassadors,
and said, since he did not destroy them by touching
them in that weak and sore part, he had no mind
they should lie any longer open to such another at-
tack. When the ambassadors wrote this over to
their masters, all were sensible, how easy it had
been to have seized and secured that place; and
what a terrible disorder it would have put them in ;
and upon this they gave order to put the place in a
better posture of defence for the future. So power-
fully did spite work on those about the king : and
so easy was he to the man of wit and humour. The
duke stayed long at sea, in hopes to have got the
East India fleet. But they came sailing so near the
German coast, that they passed him before he was
aware of it. So he came back after a long and in-
glorious campaign. He lost the honour of the action
that was at Solbay ; and missed the wealth of that
fleet, which he had long waited for.
I will complete the transactions of this memorable An amy
year with an account of the impression that Luxem- Jedit came
burgh made on the Dutch near the end of it ; which "" Hoii'a^d.
P p 3
582 THE HISTORY OP THE REIGN
1672. would have had a very tragical conclusion, if a
happy turn of weather had not saved them. Stoupe
was then with him, and was on the secret. By many
feints, that amused the Dutch so skilfully that there
was no suspicion of the true design, aU was prepared
for an invasion, when a frost should come. It came
at last : and it froze and thawed by turns for some
time, which they reckoned makes the ice firmest.
At last a frost continued so strong for some days,
that upon piercing and examining the ice, it was
thought it could not be dissolved by any ordinary
thaw in less than two days. So about midnight
Luxemburgh marched out of Utrecht towards Ley-
den with about sixteen thousand men. Those of
Utrecht told me, that, in the minute in which they
began to march, a thaw wind blew very fresh. Yet
they marched on tiU day-light, and came to Sum-
merdam and Bodegrave, which they gained not
without difficulty. There they stopt, and committed
many outrages of crying lust and barbarous cruelty ;
and vented their impiety in very blasphemous ex-
pressions, upon the continuance of the thaw, which
336 now had quite melted the ice, so that it was not pos-
sible to go back the way that they came, where all
had been ice, but was now dissolved to about three
foot depth of water. There were causeways : and
they were forced to march on these. But there was
a fort, through which they must pass. And one
Painevine, with two regiments, was ordered to keep
it, with some cannon in it. If he had continued
there, they must all have been taken prisoners,
which would have put an end to the war. But,
when he saw them march to him in the morning, he
gave all for lost; and went to Tergow, where he
OF KING CHARLES II. 583
gave the alarm, as if all was gone. And he offered 1672;
to them, to come to help them by that garrison to a
better capitulation. So he left his post, and went
thither. The French army, not being stopt by that
fort, got safe home. But their behaviour in those
two villages was such, that, as great pains was taken
to spread it over the whole country, so it contributed
not a little to the establishing the Dutch in their re-
solutions, of not oijly venturing, but of losing all,
rather than come under so> cruel a yoke.
Painevine's withdrawing had lost them an advan-Painevine':
tage never to be regained. So the prince ordered a *^" ^°*^'
council of war to try him. He pleaded, that the
place was not tenable ; that the enemy had passed
it; so he thought the use it was intended for was
lost : and if the enemy had come to attack him, he
must have suiTendered upon discretion : and he
pleaded farther, that he went from it upon the de-
sire of one of their towns to save it. Upon this de-
fence, he was acquitted as to his life, but condemned
to infamy, as a coward, and to have his sword broke
over his head, and to be for ever banished the States'
dominions. Birt an appeal lay, according to their
discipline, to a council of war, composed of general
officers : and they confirmed the sentence. The
towns of Holland were highly offended at these
proceedings. They said, they saw the officers were
resolved to be gentle to one another, and to save
their feUow officers, how guilty soever they might- be.
The prince yielded to their instances, and brought
him to a third trial before himself and a court of
the supreme officers, in which they had the as-
sistance of six judges. Painevine stood on it, that
he had undergone two trials, which was all that
p p 4
584 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. the martial law subjected him to ; and in those he
was acquitted. Yet this was overruled. It was
urged against him, that he himself was present in
the council of war that ordered the making that
fort ; and he knew, that it was not intended to be a
place tenable against an army, but was only meant
to make a little stand for some time, and was in-
tended for a desperate state of affairs; and that
337 therefore he ought not to have left his post, because
of the danger he was in ; he saw the thaw began ;
and so ought to have stayed, at least till he had seen
how far that would go : and being put there by the
prince, he was to receive oi'ders from none but him.
Upon these grounds he was condemned and exe-
cuted, to the gi'eat satisfaction of the States, but to
the general disgust of all the officers, who thought
they were safe in the hands of an ordinary council
of war, and did not like this new method of prO'
ceeding.
They were also not a little troubled at the strict
discipline that the prince settled, and at the severe
execution of it. But by this means he wrought up
his army to a pitch of obedience and courage, of so-
briety and good order, that things put on another
face : and all men began to hope that their armies
would act with another spirit, now that the disci-
pline was so carefully looked to. It seems the
French made no great account of them : for they
released twenty-five thousand prisoners, taken in se-
J yeral places, for fifty thousand crowns.
Thus I have gone far into the state of affau's
of Holland in this memorable year*^, I had most of
^ Why, you called it so but just now before. S. See p. 335.
OF KING CHARLES II. 585
these particulars from Dyckvelt and Halewyn. And 1672.
I thought this great turn deserved to be set out with '
all the copiousness with which my informations
could furnish me. This year the king declared a a French
new mistress, and made her duchess of Portsmouth, m^rduch-
She had been maid of honour to madame, the king's ^outif ""^^
sister, and had come over with her to Dover ; where
the king had expressed such a regard to her, that
the duke of Buckingham, who hated the duchess of
Cleveland, intended to put her on the king. He told
him, that it was a decent piece of tenderness for his
sister to take care of some of her servants. So she
was the person the king easily consented to invite
over. That duke assured the king of France, that he
could never reckon himself sure of the king, but by
giving him a mistress that should be true to his in-
terests. It was soon agreed to. So the duke of
Buckingham sent her with a part of his equipage to
Dieppe ; and said, he would presently follow. But
he, who was the most inconstant and forgetful of all
men, never thought of her more : but went to Eng-
land by the way of Calais. So Montague, then ambas-
sador at Paris ^, hearing of this, sent over for a yacht
for her, and sent some of his servants to wait on her,
and to defray her charge, tiU she was brought to
Whitehall: and then lord Arlington took care of
her. So the duke of Buckingham lost the merit
he might have pretended to; and brought over a
* Montague told sir William " as if they loved me." Which,
Temple, he designed to go am- sir William told, he soon brought
bassador to France. Sir William about, as he supposed, by means
asked how that could be ; for he of the ladies, who were always
knew the king did not love him, his best friends, for some secret
and the duke hated him. "That's perfections, that were hid from
true," said he, "but they shall do, the rest of the world. D.
im THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. mistress, whom his own strange conduct threw into
338 the hands of his enemies. The king was presently
taken with her. She studied to please and observe
him in every thing : so that he passed away the rest
of his life in a great fondness for her. He kept her
at a vast charge. And she by many fits of sickness,
some believed real, and others thought only pre-
tended, gained of him every thing she desired ^
She stuck firm to the French interest, and was its
chief support. The king divided himself between
her and Mistress Gwyn : and had no other avowed
amour. But he was so entirely possessed by the
duchess of Portsmouth, and so engaged by her in
the French interest, that this threw him into great
difficulties, and exposed him to much contempt and
distrust.
The affairs I do now rctum to the affairs of Scotland, to give
ofScotian . ^^ accouut of a session of parliament, and the other
transactions there in this critical year. About the
end of May, duke Lauderdale came down with his
lady in great pomp. He was much lifted up with
the French success; and took such pleasure in
talking of De Wit's fate, that it could not be heard
without horror. He treated all people with such
scorn, that few were able to bear it. He adjourned
the parliament for a fortnight, that he might carry
his lady round the country ; and was every where
waited on and entertained with as much respect,
and at as great a charge, as if the king had been
there in person. This enraged the nobility. And
they made great applications to duke Hamilton, to
^ Lord Sunderland once stopt as to show the king that he
her going to the Bath, by asking could live without her. D.
of her, if she would be so silly
OF KING CHARLES II. 587
lead a party against him, and to oppose the tax 1672.
that he demanded, of a whole year's assessment. I "[^^^^
soon grew so weary of the court, though there was ^^^^"'^ ^'^^^^
insolence.
scarce a person so well used by him as I my self was,
that I went out of town. But duke Hamilton sent for
me ; and told me, how vehemently he was solicited by
the majority of the nobility to oppose the demand of
the tax. He had promised me not to oppose taxes in
general : and I had assured duke Lauderdale of it.
But he said, this demand was so extravagant, that
he did not imagine it would go so far : so he did not
think himself bound, by a promise made in general
words, to agree to such a high one. Upon this I
spoke to duke Lauderdale, to shew him the inclina-
tions many had to an opposition to that demand,
and the danger of it. He rejected it in a brutal
manner, saying, they durst as soon be damned as
oppose him. Yet I made him so sensible of it, that
he appointed the Marquiss of Athol to go and talk
in his name to duke Hamilton, who moved that I
might be present: and that was easily admitted.
Lord Athol pressed duke Hamilton to come into an
entire confidence with duke Lauderdale ; and pro-
mised, that he should have the chief direction of all
affairs in Scotland under the other. Duke Hamilton
asked, how stood the parliament of England affected 339
to the war. Lord Athol assured him, there was a
settled design of having no more parliaments in
England. The king would be master, and would
be no longer curbed by a house of commons. He
also laid out the great advantages that Scotland,
more particularly the great nobility, might find by
striking in heartily with the king's designs, and in
making him absolute in England. Duke Hamilton
^ THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. answered very honestly, that he would never engage
in such designs : he would be always a good and
faithful subject : but he would be likewise a good
country man. He was very unwiUing to concur in
the land tax. He said, Scotland had no reason to
engage in the war, since as they might suffer much
by it, so they could gain nothing, neither by the
present war, nor by any peace that should be made.
Yet he was prevailed on, in conclusion, to agree to it.
And upon that the business of the session of parlia-
ment went on smoothly without any opposition.
The duchess of Lauderdale, not contented with
the great appointments they had, set herself by all
possible methods to raise money. They lived at a
vast expense : and every thing was set to sale s. She
carried all things with a haughtiness, that could not
have been easily borne from a queen. She talked of
all people with an ungovemed freedom, and grew to
be universally hated. I was out of measure weary
of my attendance at their court, but was pressed to
continue it. Many found I did good offices. I got
some to be considered and advanced, that had no
other way of access. But that which made it more
sin a letter of the duke of " as she has clone for several
York's, from Scotland, he says, " years past, and got verj' con-
" I hear duchess Lauderdale is " siderable sums of money for
•* very angry with me, for the " this country." D, The let-
•' removes which have been made ters from the duke of York (to
" in the sessions ; I do not won- which lord Dartmouth so fre-
*' der at it, for some of them quently refers) were written by
** were her creatures, and she him to George lord Dartmouth,
j " received the last register's father to the author of these
• " pension, and some say, went notes, and are at present in the
** a share in the perquisites of collection of the earl of Dart-
*' his place. That which vexes mouth, at Sandwell. H. L.
*' her is, that she sees she can (Henry Legge.)
" no more squeeze this country,
OF KING CHARLES II. 589
necessary was, that I saw Sharp and his creatures 1672.
were making their court with the most abject flat-
tery, and all the submissions possible. Leightoun
went seldom to them, though he was always treated
by them with great distinction. So it was necessary
for me to be about them, and keep them right :
otherwise all our designs were lost without recovery.
This led me to much uneasy compliance ; though I
asserted my own liberty, and found so often fault
with their proceedings, that once or twice I used
such freedom, and it was so ill taken, that I thought
it was fit for me to retire. Yet I was sent for, and
continued in such high favour, that I was again
tried, if I would accept of a bishopric, and was pro-
mised the first of the two archbishoprics that should
faU. But I was still fixed in my former resolu-
tions, not to engage early, being then but nine and
twenty: nor could I come into a dependance on
them.
Duke Lauderdale, at his coming down, had ex- He expected
ciddrcssBS
pected that the presbyterians should have addressed for a toiera.
themselves to him for a share in that liberty which o^q
their brethren had now in England ; and which he
had asserted in a very particular manner at the
council table in Whitehall. One Whatley, a justice
of peace in Lincolnshire, if I remember the county
right, had disturbed one of the meeting houses, that
had got a licence pursuant to the declaration for a
toleration : and he had set fines on those that met in
it, conformably to the act against conventicles. Upon
which he was brought up to council, to be repri-
manded for his high contempt of his majesty's de-
claration. Some privy counsellors shewed their zeal
in severe reflections on his proceedings. Duke Lau-
590 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. derdale carried the matter very far: he said, the
king's edicts were to be considered and obeyed as
laws, and more than any other laws. This was
writ down by some that heard it, who were resolved
to make use of it against him in due time. He
looked on near two months after he came down to
Scotland, waiting still for an application for liberty
of conscience. But the designs of the court were
now clearly seen into. The presbyterians under-
stood, they were only to be made use of in order to
the introducing of popery. So they resolved to be
silent and passive. Upon this he broke out into
fury and rage against them. Conventicles abounded
in all places of the country. And some furious zea-
lots broke into the houses of some of the ministers,
wounding them, and robbing their goods, forcing
some of them to swear that they would never offi-
ciate any more in their churches. Some of these were
taken and executed. I visited them in prison ; and
saw in them the blind madness of ill-grounded zeal,
of which they were never fuUy convinced. One of
them seemed to be otherwise no ill man. Another
of them was a bold villain. He justified all that
they had done, from the Israelites robbing the
Egyptians, and destroying the Canaanites.
Designs That which gave duke Lauderdale a juster ground
ilndtoriise^f offcncc was, that one Carstairs, much employed
a rebellion gjjjce that time iu greater matters, was taken in
in Scotland. o
a ship that came from Rotterdam. He himself
escaped out of their hands : but his letters were
taken. They had a ^eat deal writ in white ink ;
which shewed, that the design of sending him
over was, to know in what disposition the people
were, promising arms and other necessaries, if they
OF KING CHARLES II. 591
were in a condition to give the government any dis- 1672.
turbance. But the whole was so darkly writ, much ~
being referred to the bearer, that it was not possible
to understand what lay hid under so many myste-
rious expressions. Upon this a severe prosecution
of conventicles was set on foot : and a great deal of
money was raised by arbitrary fines. Lord Athol
made of this in one week 1900/. sterling. I did all
I could to moderate this fury : but all was in vain. 341
Duke Lauderdale broke out into the most frantic
fits of rage possible. When I was once saying to
him, was that a time to drive them into a rebellion ?
Yes, said he, would to God they would rebel, that
so he might bring over an army of Irish papists to
cut all their throats. Such a fuiy as this seemed to
furnish work for a physician, rather than for any
other sort of men. But after he had let himself loose
into these fits for near a month, he calmed all on
the sudden : perhaps upon some signification from
the king ; for the party complained to their friends
in London, who had stiU some credit at court.
He called for me all on the sudden, and put me a farther
indulgence.
m mmd of the project I had laid before him, of
putting all the outed ministers by couples into pa-
rishes '^ : so that instead of wandering about the
country, to hold conventicles in all places, they
might be fixed to a certain abode, and every one
might have the half of a benefice. I was still of
the same mind : and so was Leightoun ; who com-
pared this to the gathering the coals that were scat-
tered over the house, setting it all on fire, into the
^ A Scotish project; instead of feeding fifty, you starve one hun-
dred. S.
592 THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN
1672. chimney, where they might bum away safely. Duke
Lauderdale set about it immediately : and the be-
nefit of the indulgence was extended to forty more
churches. This, if followed as to that of doubling
them in a parish, and of confining them within their
parishes, would have probably laid a flame that was
spreading over the nation, and was like to prove
fatal in conclusion. But duke Lauderdale's way
was, to govern by fits, and to pass from hot to cold
ones, always in extremes. So this of doubling
them, which was the chief part of our scheme, was
quite neglected. Single ministers went into those
churches : and those, who were not yet provided
for, went about the country holding conventicles
very boldly, without any restraint : and no care at
aU was taken of the church.
Leightoun Sharp and his instruments took occasion from
resolved to ^ ,
retire, and this to complaiu, that thc church was rumed by
see.*^ ' Leightoun's means. And I wanted not my share in
the charge. And indeed the remissness of the go-
vernment was such, that there was just cause of
complaint. Great numbers met in the fields. Men
went to those meetings with such arms as they had.
And we were blamed for aU this. It was said, that
things went so far beyond what a principle of mo-
deration could suggest, that we did certainly design
to ruin and overturn the constitution. Leightoun
upon all this concluded he could do no good on
either side : he had gained no ground on the pres-
byterians, and was suspected and hated by the epi-
342 scopal party. So he resolved to retire from all pub-
he employments, and to spend the rest of his days
in a comer, far from noise and business, and to give
himself wholly to prayer and meditation, since he
OF KING CHARLES II. 593
saw he could not carry on his great designs of heal- 1672.
ing and reforming the church, on which he had set
his heart. He had gathered together many in-
stances out of church history, of bishops that had
left their sees, and retired from the world : and was
much pleased with these. He and I had many dis- ,
courses on this argument. I thought a man ought
to be determined by the providence of God, and to
continue in the station he was in, though he could
not do all the good in it that he had proposed to
himself: he might do good in a private way by his
example and by his labours, more than he himself
could know : and as a man ought to submit to sick-
ness, poverty, or other afflictions, when they are laid
on him by the hand of Providence ; so I thought
the labouring without success was indeed a very
great trial of patience, yet such labouring in an un-
grateful employment was a cross, and so was to be
borne with submission ; and that a great uneasiness
under that, or the forsaking a station because of it,
might be the eifect of secret pride, and an indigna-
tion against Providence. He on the other hand
said, his work seemed to be at an end: he had no
more to do, unless he had a mind to please himself
with the lazy enjoying a good revenue. So he could
not be wrought on by all that could be laid before
him ; but followed duke Lauderdale to court, and
begged leave to retire from his archbishopric. The
duke would by no means consent to this. So he
desired, that he might be allowed to do it within a
year. Duke Lauderdale thought so much time was
gained : so to be rid of his importunities he moved
the king to promise him, that, if he did not change
his mind, he would within the year accept of his re-
VOL. I. Q q
594 HIST. OF THE REIGN OF K. CHARLES II.
1672. signation. He came back much pleased with what
he had obtained ; and said to me upon it, there was
now but one uneasy stage between him and rest,
and he would wrestle through it the best he could.
And now I am come to the period that I set out
, for this book. The world was now in a general
combustion, set on by the ambition of the court of
France, and supported by the feebleness and trea-
chery of the court of England. A stand was made
by the prince of Orange and the elector of Bran-
denburgh. But the latter, not being in time as-
sisted by the emperor, was forced to accept of such
conditions as he could obtain. This winter there
was great practice in all the courts of Europe, by
the agents of France, to lay them every where
343 asleep ; and to make the world look on their king's
design in that campaign as a piece of glory, for the
humbling of a rich and proud commonwealth ; and
that, as soon as that was done suitably to the dig-
nity of the great monarch, he would give peace to
the world, after he had shewn that nothing could
stand before his arms. But the opening the pro-
gress of these negotiations, and the turn that the
affairs of Europe took, belongs to the next period.
END OF VOL. I.
TABLE OF THE CONTENTS
OF THE FOREGOING
VOL UM E\
BOOK I.
A summary/ recapitulation of the state of affairs in Scotiand,
both in church and state ^ from tJie beginning of the trmi-
bks to the restoration of king Charles II. 1660.
■jL he distractions during king
James's minority page 6
The practices of the house of
Guise ibid.
King James in the interest of
England 7
A censure of Spotswood's his-
tory 8
King James studies to gain the
papists ibid.
And to secure the succession to
the crown of England ibid.
That king's errors in govern-
ment 9
He set up episcopacy in Scot-
land ibid.
With a design to carry matters
further 10
Errors of the bishops ibid.
Prince Henry was believed to
be poisoned ibid.
The gunpowder plot 1 1
King James was afraid of the
Jesuits ibid.
The elector palatine's marriage
12
The affairs of Bohemia 13
The disorders in Holland ibid.
Some passages of the religion
of some princes 14
King James parted with the
cautionary towns t 5
King James broke the greatness
of the crown ibid.
Other errors in his reign 16
His death 17
The puritans gained ground
ibid.
Go wry 's conspiracy 18
King Charles at first a friend
to the puritans 19
He designed to recover the
* ( The pages referred to are those of tlie folio edition^ which are
inserted in the margin of the present.)
596
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
tithes and church lands in
Scotland to the crown 20
He was crowned in Scotland
21
Balmerinoch's trial 22
He was condemned 25
But pardoned ibid.
A liturgy prepared 26
The feebleness of the govern-
ment ibid.
Saville's forgery prevailed on
the Scots 27
The characters of the chief of
the covenanters 28
The Scots came into England
ibid.
Great discontents in England 29
The ill state of the king's af-
fairs 30
An account of the earl of Straf-
ford's being given up by the
king 3 1
The new model of the presby-
tery in Scotland 33
The chief ministers of the party
34
Their studies and other me-
thods ibid.
Their great severity 35
Conditions offered to the Scots
.36
Montrose's undertakings ibid.
Good advices given to the king
38
But not followed 39
Antrim's correspondence with
the king and queen 40
The original of the Irish mas-
sacre 41
Cromwell argues with the Scots
concerning the king's death
42
The opposition of the general
assembly to the parliament
ibid.
The ministers made an insur-
rection 43
The treaty in the Isle of Wight
44
Cromwell's dissimulation 45
The men chiefly engaged in the
taking the king's life 46
The king's behaviour 47
The affair of Rochelle 48
A design of making the Spanish
Netherlands a conmionwealth
ibid.
The ill effects of violent coun-
sels 49
The account of 'Ekuv Boo-jXmc^
The Scots treat with king
Charles II. 51
Montrose's offers 52
And death ibid.
The defeat at Dunbar 54
Disputes about the admitting
all persons to serve their
country' 55
Great hardships put on the king
56
Scotland was subdued by Monk
A body stood out in the High-
lands ibid.
Sir Robert Murray's character
59
Messages sent to the king 60
The state of Scotland during
the usurpation 61
Disputes among the covenant-
ers ibid.
Methods taken on both sides 62
Some of Cromwell's maxims 65
His design for the kingship 67
Cromwell's engagement with
France 7 i
The king turned papist 73
Cromwell's design on the West
Indies 74
His zeal for the protestant reli-
gion y6
A great design for the interest
of the protestant religion 77
Some passages in Cromwell's
life ibid.
His moderation in government
79
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
597
His public spirit 80
All the world was afraid of him
81
The ruin of his family 83
Great disorders followed 83
All turn to the king's side 85
Care taken to manage the army
86
A new parliament 88
They call home the king with-
out a treaty 89
BOOK II.
Ofthejlrst twelve years of the reign of king Charles II.
from tlie year 1660 to the year 1673.
jyiANY went over to the
Hague 92
The nation was overrun with
vice and drunkenness ibid.
The king's character 93
Clarendon's character 94
Ormond's character 95
Southampton's character ibid.
Shaftsbury's character 96
Anglesey's character 97
Hollis's character ibid,
Manchester's character 98
Roberts's character ibid.
Clarges's character ibid.
Morrice's character 99
Nicolas's character ibid.
Arlington's character ibid.
Buckingham's character 100
Bristol's character ibid.
Lauderdale's character loi
Crawford's character 102
Rothes's character ibid.
Tweedale's character ibid.
Duke Hamilton's character 1 03
Kincairdin's character ibid.
The general character of the
old cavaliers 104
Priraerose's character ibid.
Fletcher's character ibid.
Advices offered in Scotish af-
fairs 1 05
For a general indemnity ibid.
Argile sent to the Tower 106
The citadels of Scotland demo-
lished 107
Disputes concerning episcopacy
ibid.
A ministry settled in Scotland
110
A council proposed to sit at
court for Scotish affairs ibid.
The committee of estates meet
in Scotland 112
A parliament in Scotland 113
1 661.
The lords of the articles 114
The acts passed in this session
116
An act rescinding all parlia-
ments held since the year
1633 117
It was not liked by the king
The presbyterians in great dis-
order ibid.
Argile's attainder 122
And execution 1 25
The execution of Guthry, a
minister 1 26
Some others were proceeded
against 127
Middleton gave an account of
all that had passed in parlia-
ment to the king 128
It was resolved to set up epi-
scopacy in Scotland 130
Men sought to be bishops 132
Bishop Leightoun's character
134
The Scotish bishops conse-
crated 139
S9«
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
1662.
The meetings of the presbyte-
ries forbidden 141
The new bishops came down to
Scotland 142
They were brought into parlia-
ment 143
Scruples about the oath of su-
premacy 144
Debates about an act of in-
demnity 146
It was desired that some might
be incapacitated 147
Lorn condemned 149
Some incapacitated by ballot
The king was displeased with
this 151
Great pains taken to excuse
Middleton 152
The presbyterian ministers si-
lenced ibid.
A general character of them 156
Prejudices infused against epi-
scopacy 158
1660.
The affairs of England 159
Clarendon's just and moderate
notions ibid.
Venner's fury 160
The trial and execution of the
regicides 162
1661.
Vane's character 163
And execution 164
The king gave himself up to
his pleasures ibid.
The act of indemnity maintain-
ed 165
1662.
The king's marriage 166
An alliance proposed from
France 167
The duke of York's marriage
168
The duke's character ibid.
The duchess's character 170
The duke of Glocester's cha-
racter ibid.
The prospect of the royal family
much changed 171
Schomberg went through Eng-
land to Portugal 172
Dunkirk sold to the French ibid.
Tangier a part of the queen's
portion 173
The manner of the king's mar-
riage 174
The king lived in an avowed
course of lewdness ibid.
1660.
The settlement of Ireland 175
The bishops who had then the
greatest credit 176
Debates concerning the uniting
with the presbyterians 178
A treaty in the Savoy 179
1661.
The terms of conformity made
harder 182
The act of uniformity 183
The great fines then raised on
the church estates ill applied
186
Divines called latitudinarians
ibid.
Hobbs's Leviathan 187
A character of some divines 189
The way of preaching which
then prevailed 191
1662.
The act of uniformity executed
with rigour ibid.
The royal society 192
Consultations among the papists
193
A declaration for toleration 1 94
Designed for the papists ibid.
1663.
Bristol's designs 196
He accused Clarendon in the
house of lords ibid.
A plot discovered 198
The design of a war with the
States ibid.
The affairs of Scotland 200
Middleton was accused by Lau-
derdale ibid.
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
599
And turtied out of all 202
Warriston's execution 203
An act against conventicles 204
The constitution of a national
synod ibid.
An act offering an array to the
king 205
1664.
Sharp drove very violently 206
Lauderdale gave way to it ibid.
Burnet archbishop of Glasgow
ibid.
A view of the state of affairs in
Holland and France 207
Sharp aspired to be chancellor
of Scotland 208
Rothes had the whole power of
Scotland put in his hands 209
1665.
Illegal and severe proceedings
in Scotland 210
Turner executed the laws in a
military way 211
Sharp studies to bring Middle-
ton into business again 213
More forces raised in Scotland
214
1666.
Some eminent clergymen of-
fended at these proceedings
215
Some of the grievances of the
clergy laid before the bishops
217
1664.
218
The Dutch war ibid.
1665.
The plague broke out at the
same time ibid.
The victory at sea not followed
ibid.
An account of the affairs in
Holland .220
The parliament at Oxford 224
The designs of the common-
wealth party 226
The duke of York's jealousy 227
His amours ibid.
Affairs in England
1666.
The fleet almost quite lost, and
happily saved by prince Ru-
pert 229
The fire of London ibid.
It was charged on the papists 230
A strong presumption of it 231
Disorders in Scotland 233
A rebellion in the west 234
The defeat given the rebels at
Pentland-hill 235
Severe proceedings against the
prisoners 236
1667.
The king is more gentle than
the bishops 237
A change of counsel, and more
moderation in the govern-
ment 239
The Dutch fleet came into the
Frith 241
And went to Chatham, and burnt
our fleet 242
A great change in Lauderdale's
temper 244
Scotland was very well governed
246
Great complaints made of the
clergy 247
Affairs in England 248
Clarendon's disgrace ibid.
Southampton's death 249
The Irish sought the protection
of France 250
The duke of Richmond's mar-
riage 25 1
Bridgman made lord keeper 253
The French king's pretensions
to Flanders ibid.
Clarendon's integrity 254
He was impeached in the house
of commons ibid.
The king desired he^would go
beyond sea 256
He was banished by act of par-
liament ibid.
The character of his two sons 257
The king was much offended
with the bishops 258
6oQ
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
1668.
A treaty for a comprehension of
the presbyterians 259
The city of London rebuilt 260
Designs for putting away the
queen ibid.
A divorce enacted for adultery
262
A great dissolution of morals
in court ibid.
Many libels writ by the best
wits of that time 264
Sir William Coventry's charac-
ter 265
The government of Ireland
changed 266
The committee of Brook-house
267
Halifax's character ibid.
1669.
Many parliament men gained
by the court 268
Coventry's nose was cut 270
A new prosecution of conventi-
cles ibid.
The king went commonly to
the house of lords 271
The prince of Orange came to
the king 273
The affairs of Scotland ibid.
A treaty for an accommodation
with the presbyterians in
Scotland ibid.
An indulgence proposed 276
An attempt to murder Sharp 277
Sharp proposed the indulging
some ministers that did not
conform 278
Propositions for the union of
the two kingdoms 279
The king gave orders for the
indulgence 281
This complained of as against
law 283
A parliament in Scotland 284
The supremacy carried very high
' ibid.
An act for the county militia 285
Burnet turned out, and Leigh-
toun made archbishop of
Glasgow 286
The state I found things in at
Glasgow 287
A committee of council sent
round the west 288
1670.
Instructions for an accommoda-
tion 289
Leigh toun's advice to his clergy
ibid.
A conference between Leigh-
toim and some presbyterians
290
New severities against conven-
ticles s. 292
The presbyterians resolved to
reject the offers made them
293
Some conferences upon that
subject 295
At last they refused to accept
of the concessions 296
Censures passed upon this whole
matter 297
1671.
The Memoirs of the Dukes of
Hamilton were writ by me at
that time 298
A further indulgence proposed
299
Foreign affairs 300
An alliance with France set on
foot ibid.
The duchess of Orleans came to
Dover 301
Soon after was poisoned ibid.
Some of her intrigues ibid.
The treaty with France nego-
tiated 303
Lockhart sent to France 304
Pretended reasons for the Dutch
war 305
1672.
The shutting up of the exche-
quer 306
The attempt on the Dutch
Smyrna fleet 307
A declaration for toleration ibid.
A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS.
60 1
The presbyterians gave the king
thanks for the toleration 308
The duchess of York died 309
The first crisis of the protestant
religion 310
The second crisis 311
The third crisis ibid.
The Spanish fleet came not, as
at first intended 313
The fourth crisis 314
DiflFerences between Maurice,
prince of Orange, and Bar-
neveld 315
Prince Henry Frederic's wise
government 317
His son's heat ibid.
The errors of de Wit's govern-
ment 319
The prince of Orange made ge-
neral 320
The fifth crisis 321
The French success ibid.
But followed by an ill manage-
ment 322
The Dutch in great extremities
323
Ambassadors sent to England
324
The tragical end of de Wit 325
The prince of Orange made
stadtholder 326
The English ambassadors were
wholly in the interest of
France 327
The character of Fagel ibid.
Prince Waldeck 328
Dykvelt ibid.
And Halewyn ibid.
The prince studied to correct
the errors he fell into at first
329
Van Beuning's character 330
Errors committed by the town
of Amsterdam ibid.
The prince animates the States
to continue the war 331
The French king goes back to
Paris 332
The Dutch saved by some ex-
traordinary providence 333
Ossory intended to surprise Hel-
voetsluys 334
An army from Utrecht came on
the ice to Holland 335
Driven back by a sudden thaw
ibid.
Painevine's sentence 336
A French mistress made duch-
ess of Portsmouth 337
The affairs of Scotland 338
Lauderdale's great insolence
ibid.
He expected addresses for a to-
leration 339
Designs from Holland to raise
a rebellion in Scotland 340
A further indulgence 341
Leightoun resolved to retire,
and to leave his see ibid.
VOL. I.
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