Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

66

many greate confiderable matters guiven it "both against my fence, and, as the King conceiveth, against him; efpecially that he will be

66

[ocr errors]

pleafed henceforward either to give it accord"ing to my fence, by which I know he fhall gaine good opinion from the King, and not "at all prejudiffe himfelf with his owne party, " and oblidge me very much: otherwise, I shall "beg this favour of him, that he will be pleafed "to guive me my vote againe, or else to make

noe use of it at all; and that I fhall ever re"mane his true fervant and loving fonne to the "death. I fhall be very farrie after I have beene "all my life time with the haffard of life, "fortune, industry, and after laboured to guive

one mefs of good milke, and fhall at laft kicke "it downe with my foote. I had never guiven 66 your father my vote, but that I conceived he

66

mought have mad that ufe of it that would "have very moutch have advantaged him one

،،

way, and not prejudifed him in any other. My "deare hart, pray love mee but as much as I "fhall ever love you, which fhall alwaies be "above my life, and bee the greatest happiness

[ocr errors]

can redound to him that loves you above his "life.

"CARNARVON *."

Indorfed by Mr. Grenville," Found in a truncke at

"Lady Carnarvon's, when her house was searched."

LORD STRAFFORD.

LORD STRAFFORD is thus defcribed by Sir Philip Warwick in his Memoirs:

[ocr errors]

"Lord Strafford was every waie qualified "for bufinefs; his natural faculties being very ftrong and pregnant. His understanding, aided by a good phanfy, made him quick in difcern"ing the nature of any bufinefs; and through "a cold brain he became deliberate and of found

This letter appears, from Mr. Grenville's indorsement, to have been feized in a box belonging to Lady Carnarvon, when her house at Wing near Aylefbury was fearched by him November 29, 1642, under the order of the Committee of Safety. Robert Lord Dormer of Wenge or Wing, the writer of this letter, was the head of that noble family, whofe poffeffions in Bucks, belonging to the different branches established at Wing, at Peterley, at Lee Grange, and at Dorton, were very large: all these poffeffions, fave what belonged to the branch established at Peterley (the prefent Lord Dormer), have paffed into other familics, or have been alienated. The Manfion-Houfe at Wing was pulled down about fifty years ago by Sir William Stanhope, and the Eftate now belongs to the Earl of Chesterfield.

Robert Lord Dormer was created Earl of Carnarvon 2d Auguft, 4 Car. 1. He married Anne Sophia, daughter of Philip Earl of Pembroke, by whom he had Charles his fon and heir, who was killed at the battle of Newbury. Sept. 20, 1643.

[ocr errors][merged small]

66

[ocr errors]

.

"judgment. His memory was great, and he "made it greater by confiding in it. His elo"cution was very fluent, and it was a great part "of his talent readily to reply, or freely to harangue, upon any fubject. All this was lodged "in a foure and haughty temper, fo (as it may probably be believed) he expected to have more obfervance paid to himself than he was "willing to pay to others, though they were of "his own quality; and then he was not like to "conciliate the good-will of men of leffer ftation. "His acquired parts, both in Univerfity and "Inns of Court learning, as likewife his foreign "travels, made him an eminent man before he "was a confpicuous one; fo as when he came "firft to fhew himself in the House of Commons, "he was foon a bell-wether in that flock. As "he had these parts, he knew how to fet a value upon them, if not to over-value them; and he "too foon difcovered a roughness in his nature.

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

(which a man no more obliged by him than I "was would have called an injuftice); though many of his confidants (who were my good friends, when I, like a little worm being trod 66 on, could turn and laugh, and under that dif guife fay as piquant words as my little wit could "help me to) were wont to fwear to me, that he "endeavoured to be just to all, but was refolved 66 to be gracious to none but to those whom he "thought

66

10

"thought inwardly affected him; all which "never bowed me, till his broken fortune, and, " as I thought, very unjustifiable profecution, "made me one of the fifty-fix who gave a nega❝tive to that fatal bill which cut the thread of " his life.

"He gave an early specimen of the roughness "of his nature, when, in the eager pursuit of "the House of Commons after the Duke of

[ocr errors]

Buckingham, he advifed or gave counsel against "another, which was afterwards taken up and "pursued against himfelf. Thus, preffing upon "another's cafe, he awakened his own fate; for "when that Houfe was in confultation how to "frame the particular charge against that great

Duke, he advised to make a general one, and to accufe him of treafon, and to let him get "off afterwards as he could, which really befell himself at laft.

"In his perfon he was of a tall ftature, but "ftooped much in the neck. His countenance "was cloudy whilft he moved or fat thinking; "but when he spake seriously or facetiously, he "had a lightfome and a very pleasant ayre; and

66

indeed, whatever he then did, he did gracefully. Unavoidable it is but that great men give great discontents to fome; and the lofty "humour of this great man engaged him too

❝ often,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"often, and against too many, in that kind "and particularly one with the old Chancellor Loftus, which was fullied (as was fuppofed) "by an intrigue betwixt him and his daughter"in-law. But with thefe virtues and infirmities we will leave him ruling profperously in Ireland, until his own ambition or prefumption brings him over to England in the year 1638, to take up a loft game, wherein he loft him

[ocr errors]

"felf."

When Lord Strafford was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he made an order, that no Peer fhould be admitted into the Houfe of Lords in that kingdom without leaving his fword with the door-keeper. Many Peers had already complied with this infolent order, when the Duke, then Earl, of Ormond being asked for his fword, he replied to the door-keeper, " If you make that "request again, Sir, I fhall plunge my fword "into your body." Lord Strafford hearing of this faid, "This Nobleman is a man that we "muft endeavour to get over to us."

Defection in party was perhaps never more feverely punished than in the fate of this extraordinary Perfonage. On quitting the Country Party, he told his old fellow-labourer Mr. Pym, "You fee, Sir, I have left you."-" So, I fee, "Sir Thomas,” replied Mr. Pym; "but we will 66 never

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »