Elizabeth in English Pag. 516. NOT many days passed before a far greater and more choice Army was raised in England into which many Noblemen and Gentlemen voluntarily listed themselves For a constant rumor grew every day stronger and stronger That the Spaniard with all his might and main prepared for War against England and Ireland encouraged the rather because he was now in possession of Calice from whence it was but a short cut over into England Hawkin's and Drake's voyage had had ill success and the Irish Rebels earnestly urged the succours out of Spain The queen to scatter this Storm that was gathering supposed it the best course to set upon the Enemy in his own Ports and to that end rigged a Fleet of 150 Ships whereof 17 were of her Navy-Royal 22 Low-Country Ships which the Confederate Estates joyned with hers the rest Pinnaces and Victualers In these were 6360 Souldiers under pay Volunteer Gentlemen 1000 Seamen 6772 besides Low-Country-men Robert Earl of Essex and Charles Howard Lord Admiral of England who were at great Charges towards this expidition out of their own Estates were made Commanders in chief with equal Authority under the title of Generals yet so as the Lord Admiral should have the principal Authority and Dignity at Sea the Earl of Essex at Land To these were joyned for a Council of War the Lord Thomas Howard Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Vere Sir George Carew and Sir Coniers Clifford The whole Fleet was divided into four Squadrons the first the Lord Admiral commanded the Earl of Essex the second the Lord Thomas Howard the third and Sir Walter Raleigh the fourth The Officers of the Army were Sir Francis Vere Lieutenant-General or Marshal Sir John Wingfield Quarter-master-general Sir George Carew Master of the Ordnance Sir Coniers Clifford Serjant-major The Colonels were Robert Earl of Sussex Sir Christopher Blunt Sir Thomas Gerrard Sir Richard Wingfield Sir Edward Wingfield Captain of the Volunteers and Anthony Astley Secretary of the Council of War who was to register the Councels with every Man's Reasons and to record all their Actions and Enterprises Again out of the same Pag. 518. UPON Sunday the 20th of June betimes in the Morning they cast Anchor near Saint Sebastian's Chappel on the West side of the Island Essex full of courage and youthful heat was of opinion That the Forces were presently to be Landed Raleigh and especially the Lord Admiral were of a contrary mind which Lord never approved of rash and heady Councels yet upon much intreaty he consented that some should make trial Whether they could conveniently Land there but all in vain the Sea beating violently with vast Waves upon the Shoar Again out of the same Pag. 519. THE English Ships which by reason of the shallowness of the Chanal could not hitherto come near them now when it was flood came in with great alacrity Essex also with his Ship thrust himself into the midst of the Eight as likewise did the Admiral himself with his Son In the Miranora they Fought smartly from break of day till noon when the Spaniards their Galleons being shot through and through and miserably torn and many Men slain in them resolved to fire their Ships or run them a ground Many of the Seamen for fear cast themselves over-board some whereof got to the shoar some were taken some drowned others as they swam cried for Quarter and the Admiral pitying them many of them were saved Again out of the same Pag. 520. AT the same instant almost the Lord Admiral with the Lord Thomas Howard Sir William Paget Raleigh Sir Robert Southwell Richard Levison Philip Woodhouse Robert Mansfield and the Sea-men Sir Edward Hobby bearing the Flag before them following hastily entred the Town Now did the Spaniards give over Fighting and retired into the Castle and Town-house The Town-house was presently yielded the other the next day after upon these conditions That the Citizens should depart in safety with the Garments they wore and the rest should go to the Souldiers for pillage That 520000 Ducats should be paid for their ransom and for the payment thereof Forty of the principal Citizens should be sent as hostages into England Shortly after Proclamation was made That no Man should offer violence to the Spaniards The Women Church-men and Citizens were conveyed to Porta Santa Maria. Again out of the same Pag. 521. ABout Sixty Military Men were Knighted for their Valour viz. Robert Earl Sussex Count Lodowick of Nassan Don Christophero a Portuguese King Antonio's Son Sir William Herbert Sommerset Bourk an Irish-man William Howard the Admiral 's Son Robert Dudley George Devereux Henry Nevill Edwin Rich Richard Levison Anthony Astley Henry Lennard Horace Vere Arthur Throgmorton Miles Corbet Edward Conway Oliver Lambert Anthony Cook John Townsend Christopher Heydon Francis Popham Philip Woodhouse Alexander Clifford Morrice Barkley Charles Blunt George Gifford Robert Cross James Scudamore Vrian Leigh John Lea Richard Weston Richard Wainman James Wotton Richard Rudal Robert Mansell William Mounson John Bowles Edward Bowes Humphrey Druell Amias Preston Robert Remington Alexander Ratcliffe John Buck John Morgan John Aldrige William Ashinden Matthew Brown Thomas Acton Thomas Gates John Stafford Gillie Merrick Thomas Smith William Pooly Thomas Palmer John Lovell John Gilbert William Harvey John Grey John Vanduvenvord Melchior Lebben Peter Regemort Nicholas Medkirk A Patent constituting Charles Lord Howard of Effingham Earl of Nottingham ELizabetha Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina c. Universis singulis Archiepiscopis Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus Vice-comitibus Episcopis Baronibus ac omnibus aliis ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint Salutem Cum hi quos divina providentia in Monarchia Regali solio constituit collocavit ut in terris quasi Vicarii coelestis illius Majestatis benè justè piè decent salutariter praesint regno atque quaecunque suae custodiae gubernationi regimini divinitùs mandatae commissae sunt Ipsique monarchae in monarchia sua idem repraesentant quod oculi in corpore quorum officium est dirigere omnia corporis membra ita summi monarchae principes tanquam oculi reipublicae intentivè circumspicere perlustare debeant omnes status ordines imperii sui sine quibus haud dubiè nullam civilem administrationem nullam politiae gubernationem institui aut fieri posse fatendum est Atque usque necessaria est ordinum in magnis imperiis conservatio postquam viderint statum ordinem nobilitatis temporis diuturnitate antiquitate vel aliter convulsum immunitum conquassatum aut ut multa humaniter accidunt morte afflictum debilitatum maturè resarcire instaurare augere amplificare ita quòd aliis quos cum virtutis suae tum generis majorum suorum gloria nobilitavit ad nobilitatem honorem accitis ordinem statum in nitore splendore suo perpetuatim conservent Jam idcirco videntes illustrem ordinem
Anno Regni nostri quadragesimo quinto Per billam Curiae Wardorum Liberationum de data praedicta authoritate Parlamenti Egerton Norr d Coram Auditoribus Curiae Wardorum Liberationum dominae Reginae termino Michaelis Anno Regni ejusdem dominae Reginae quadragesimo quinto 1602. Examinatur per Walterium Took Auditores Examinatur per Will. Curles Auditores In Memorandis Scaccarii de anno quadragesimo quarto Reginae nunc Elizabethae videlicet inter Recorda de termino Sancti Michaelis rotulo ex parte Remembratorum Thesaurarii Charta Caroli Comitis de Nottingham Magni Admiralli Angliae Capitalis Justiciarii ac Justiciarii itinerans omnium Forestarum Chacearum Parcorum Warrenarum Domini Regis citra Trentham CArolus Comes Nottingham Baro Howard de Effingham magnus Admirallus Angliae c. Capitalis Justiciarius ac Justiciarius itinerans omnium Forestarum Chacearum Parcorum Warrenarum Domini Regis citra Trentham Omnibus ad quos praesentes pervenerint Salutem Sciatis me praefatum Carolum Comitem Nottinghamiae pro diversis causis rationibus me specialiter moventibus constituisse ordinasse per praesentes in loco meo posuisse ac deputasse dilectum mihi perhonorabilem Henricum Dominum Mordaunt de Drayton in Comitatu Northamptoniae meum verum legitimum Deputatum ad exercendum exequendum occupandum officium Justiciarii itinerantis in per totum illam Forestam Domini Regis nunc vocatam per nomen de Rockingham Forest in dicto Comitatu Northamptoniae ac metas limites ejusdem Et ad faciendum peragendum quicquid ad officium praedictum pertinet durante solummodo beneplacito meo Dans concedens dicto meo Deputato plenam autoritatem meam ad agendum exequendum perficiendum perimplendum omnia fingula concernentia Forestam praedictam ac omnia alia spectantia ad officium praedictum loco vice mea ad omnes intentiones proposita ac in tam amplis modo forma prout ego legitimè facere seu exequi possim per leges hujus Regni si personaliter ibidem interessem In cujus rei Testimonium sigillum officii mei praedicti praesentibus apposui Data decimo nono die Junii 1603 Anno Regni serenissimi Domini nostri Jacobi Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regis primo F. Rich. Bellingham CAROLVS COM NOTING BARO HOWARD DE EFFINGHĀ CA LIS IVSTICI VS OMNIVM FORES VM ET MARCA VM TRENTAM An Indenture Tripartite for the Settlement of the Estate of Henry Lord Mordaunt THIS Indenture Tripartite made the Fourth Day of January in the Year of our Soveraign Lord James by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defendor of the Faith that is to say Of England France and Ireland the Sixth and of Scotland the Two and fortieth between the Right honourable Henry Lord Mordaunt on the the First Part and Thomas Lock of Grays-Inn in the County of Middlesex Gentleman and John Rowe of London Gentleman on the Second Part and the Right honourable Edward Earl of Worcester of the most Noble Order of the Garter Knight Master of the King's Majesty's Horse and one of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council Roger Earl of Rutland Sir Francis Fane Knight Sir Edward Ratcliff Knight Sir Thomas Compton Knight and George Sherley Esquire on the Third Part Witnesseth That the said Lord Mordaunt as well for and in consideration of the natural Love and Fatherly Affection which he beareth to his Children hereafter in these Presents named and for the continuance of all and singular the Maners Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of him the said Lord Mordaunt hereafter in these Presents mentioned in the name and blood of him the said Lord Mordaunt so long as it shall please God And for the better supportation of the Honour and Dignity of him the said Lord Mordaunt in the Heirs of his Body as also for the better Maintenance and Provision in living and Portions to be had made and raised for the Younger Children of the said Lord Mordaunt both Sons and Daughters and for the payment of the Debts which the said Lord Mordaunt shall owe or any others shall stand chargeable for the said Lord Mordaunt at the time of his Death and for other causes and considerations him thereunto specially moving Doth for him his Heirs Executors and Administrators and every of them Covenant and Grant to and with the said Earls Sir Francis Fane Sir Edward Ratcliff Sir Thomas Compton and George Sherley in manner and form following that is to say That he the said Lord Mordaunt shall and will leave and suffer to descend unto such person and persons as shall happen to be Heir or Heirs of the said Lord Mordaunt at the time of the Death of the said Lord Mordaunt all these his Lordships and Maners of Netherbery Collesden Carlills and Throgmorton in Roxton and the Maner of Woodend and the Maner or Farm of Kempstonborn and his other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in Roxton Cranfield and Bereford in the County of Bedford with their and every their Appurtenances Rights and Members to the said Maners Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and to either of them belonging and to the Advowson of the Church of Meppersall in the said County of Bedford and the Maners of Thrapston Gale Ringsted and Raundes and of Much-Addington Luffwick Islip and Slipton in the County of Northampton with their and every and either of their Appurtenances Royalties and Commodities to the same Maners and to every of them belonging and appertaining and the Chauntries of Much-Addington aforesaid and Luffwick-Mills and the Maner of Drayton and all the demeasne Lands to the said Maner belonging or appertaining in the said County of Northampton The Capital or Mansion-House of the said Lord Mordaunt in Drayton aforesaid and the Parks called Drayton and Sudburgh-Parks and one Close called the Great Pasture and another Close called the Mile-close one Close called the Lymekill-Close another called Clay-Close another called the Warren-Close and another called the Horse-Close leading from Drayton-house to Luffwick only excepted And one Free Rent of Thirty three Shillings two Pence half penny or thereabouts issuing out of certain Lands in Barton and another Free Rent of Thirty eight Shillings and eight Pence issuing out of certain Lands in Stanwick in the aforesaid County of Northampton and also the Maner of Clifton Reynes with the Appurtenances in the County of Buckingham to the end That the King's Majesty his Heirs and Successors of the same Maners Lands Tenements Rents and Hereditaments before mentioned shall and may have and receive the full benefit of Wardship primer Seisure and Livery as the case shall require happening or to happen by or upon the decease of the said Lord Mordaunt Which said Maners Lands Tenements amounting to the full third part of the aforesaid Lord Mordaunt's Maners Lands Tenements and Revenues the said Lord Mordaunt doth for that
Whereupon at the coming of this Deponent to Drayton his seid Lord was deed and buryed and diverse of his fellowes both Yomen and Gromes of the Chamber now decessed without asking of eny question by this Deponent seid to him that their Lord and Master had yeven and bequethed to the Erle of Shrewsbury and to his heires for ever his Manoir of Drayton with all his other Fee simple Landes after his Detts paid and his Wyll performed And that the seid Erle of Wiltshyre had requyred the seid Erle of Shrewesbury to be good Lord and Master to them as he trusted verelye he would be Whereupon this Deponent tooke his Horse and returned to Wynfeld foresaid where this Deponent shewed to the seid Erle of Shrewsbury how the seid Erle of Wilteshyre had bequeathed and wylled to him Drayton with other his Fee simple Landes in manner and forme as he hath above deposed And more he cannot depose Deposition of William Boyes WIlliam Boyes Yoman of the age of eight and forty yeares and more sworne and examyned seith that he was Servant to the seid Erle of Wilteshyre as beyng Usher of his Hall and keeper of his Parke at Drayton by the space of twenty yeres and more whyche was to the tyme of his decesse Also this Deponent seith that the seid Erle aboute two dayes before he leyd him downe of the sycknesse whereof he dyed walked into his Parke of Drayton and seid to this Deponent that his mynde and last Wyll was and shuld bee that his Cossyn Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have his Manoir of Drayton with all his other Landes in Fee simple to have to hyme and to his Heyres for ever after his Detts payde and his Wylle performyd whyche words this Deponent as he seith hath herd the seid Erle speke above forty tymes commandynge this Deponent to beer wytnesse thereof sayeing also that he would have his seid Cossyn Shrewsbury to socor and help this Deponent and other his feloes if theye shuld nede of Mastershyp or Lordshyp and so he woold require his seid Cossyn soo to doo Alsoe he seith that he never knewe or herd that the seid Erle any tyme changed his seid mynde and Wylle in eny poyent thereof but that he ever contynewed in the same mynde duryng his lyfe And more he knoweth not Deposition of Chrystopher Myddylton CHrystopher Myddylton of the age of forty five yeres and above sworne and examyned seith in vertue of his othe that he was Grome of the styrop to the Erle of Wilteshyre by the space of six yeres or more whyche was to the tyme of his decesse Also he seith thet he herd the seid Erle as well in takeing his journeye towerd Blackhethe feeld as after his returnynge from thence at Drayton Bakenall and in other places dyvers times reporte and seye that noone of the heyres of Veer shuld inherit his Manoir of Drayton or any other his Fee-simple Landes though he shuld be drawen in Hell But that his last Wylle was and ever shuld be that his Cossyn Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have the seid Manoir and all his Fee simple Landes to him and to his heyres for ever after his Detts payd and his Wylle performed whyche he woold yeve to his seid Cossyn for a remembrance trustyng he woold be good Lord to his Servauntes whyche Erle to the knowlege or understandyng of this Deponent never changed his seid Wylle or myend in that behalfe Also he seith that aboute a wyke or more after the burying of the seid Erle Thomas Mountegue one of the Feoffees and Executors of the seid Erle came to this Deponent at a place in Drayton called the Bareheed demaunding of this Deponent how he woold doo whereunto this Deponent aunswering seid that he knew not howe to doo nether whether to goo as yeat whyche Mountegue then seid that he thought that William Merbury his old Master woold have this Deponent this Deponent seid that Master Mordaunt Serjaunt had desired his Servys and had offered to him good wages but he had not agreyed to take them nor knewe not whether he so woold And whyche Mountegue then seid to this Deponent thou knowest that I am oon of the Feoffees in my Lordes Landes and alsoe oon of his Executors and knew as moche of his myend as summe other did and yeat I am not callyd to Councell for there is now in the towre here in the place at Drayton Master Mordaunt Serjaunt Sir Thomas Cheneye William Merbury and other suche as plesyth them which wyll not let me bee pryveye what they doo there But what they doo or intend to doo I cannot tell or whether they wyll change my Lordes Wylle in any thing But this I know of troth that oure Lord and Master's myend was at the tyme of his deth that his Cossyn Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have this Manoir here of Drayton and all other his Fee simple Landes after his Detts payde and his Wylle performyd And then this Deponent seid to the seid Mountegue that he dyverse tymes hath herd his seid Lord sey and reporte the same And more he knoweth not Deposition of Thomas Cade THomas Cade Clarke Parson of Buckworth in the Diocesse of Lincolne of th'age of forty eight yeres and more sworne and examyned the first day of the Moneth of Marche in the fifth yere of the Reigne of King Henry the Eight upon the testament and last wyll of Edward late Erle of Wiltes seith and deposeth that he knew well and perfetly the seid Erle insomoche this Deponent was his household Chaplayne by the space of seven yeres and more And as concernyng the makyng of the Testament and last Wyll of the seid Erle this Deponent seith that he can nothing depose of the contents thereof but affirmeth the twenty fourth day of Marche then being Palm-Sonday in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand four hundred ninety and eight this Deponent was present at the Manoir of Drayton the day and yere aboveseid in a high Chamber in whyche Chamber the seid Erle lay sick and there in the presence of this Deponent the seid Testament and last Wyll was engrosed in Parchment by one Philip Foster and presented and delyvered unto the Handes of the seid Erle and then and there in presence of this Deponent the seid Testament and last Wyll was soe sealed with his accustomed square Signet graved with a ramping Bere upon a Berewerdes Staffe then being present at the sealing of the seid Testament and last Wyll John Mordaunt Serjeaunt at the Law Robert Wittelbury William Marbury Philip Foster James Walbef Master William Hylde then Master of the College of Foderinghay this Deponent and others more whose names he perfetly remembreth not Also this Deponent affirmeth that the seid Testament and last Wyll of the seid Erle soe Sealed was his last Wyll and Testament and that he never made after that tyme any other Testament neither solempne in wryting nor nuncupative by word and that he renounced all other Wylls and
concern of a great Author who has transfer'd to Posterity the Memorials of the Baronage of England I shall undertake to write nothing but what may immediately appertain to those Latimers that were Lords of Duntish in the County of Dorset and in whose Lands and Blood by an Hereditary Descent the House of Mordaunt has had so near an Interest For an Introduction hereunto I must notwithstanding relate how in the Reign of King Edward the First there flourished in this Realm a famous Baron called William Latimer who had divers great Possessions devolv'd unto him by right of his Ancestors and sundry others by the Acquisition of his own Valour and Virtue He had been bred a Companion in Arms to that Prince from the time he was first made Knight and served with him in his Fathers Defence during all the Civil Wars of that Kings Reign He assum'd in his Company the Sacred Cross and became Partaker of his Journey to the Holy Land and after King Henry's Death he continued with his Famous Master under the greatest Esteem for Valour and all Military Virtue of any Knight in his time This William Latimer was one of the Kings Chief Captains in those Wars which produc'd the final Subduction of Wales and particularly in that occasion where the Isle of Anglice was won in the eleventh year of his Reign and when his Affairs in Gascony began so to sink as it seemed necessary for their Support to employ the Experience and Vigour of a great Commander the Lord William Latimer was Chosen by the King in the twenty second year of his Reign to be joined to the Youth and Heat of his Nephew the Lord John of Brittain in the Government of that Country and the Forces to be sent into it he being upon this occasion termed in the History of Henry Knighton Canon of Leicester de Eventibus Angliae Miles ille strenuissimus Willielmus le Latimer The year following he attended thither again the King himself in his great Expedition as he did in most of his Wars against the Scots particularly at Faukerk where he was Victorious After which he was appointed Commissioner to fortify the Castles of that Realm And as he was Eminent in all the happy Actions of War atchieved in that Age we find him so no less in every great Affair of State It appearing he signed amongst the great Barons of the Kingdom several publick Instruments as particularly that Letter written to Pope Boniface the Eighth about the Kings Right to be Superiour Lord of the Kingdom of Scotland He Married Alicia de Ledet one of the Heirs of Walter de Ledet a great Baron of that time and that was Lord of Braybrooke in the County of Northampton who brought into his Family her part of a large and rich Inheritance Their Issue William Lord Latimer Baron of Corby Sir John Latimer Lord of Duntish Estpullham and other Lands and Lordships Thomas Latimer that died without Issue Nicholas Latimer to whom his Mother after the Death of her Husband gave all the Lands of her Inheritance in the Counties of Leicester and Northampton THE Descent of the Latimers that were Lords of Duntish and Estpullham being the business of my Intention I shall here proceed with Sir John Latimer the second Son of the aforementioned Lord William who flourished in the Reign of King Edward the Second in Possession of several Noble Lordships that were left to his Inheritance by the Care and Kindness of his Father he had Lands in Eastshene in Mortlac and in Wimbledon in the County of Surrey in Wolwich in Kent besides great Possessions in Dorsetshire which latter did devolve to him in the Right of the Lady Joan de Govis his Wife who was one of the Daughters of Sir William de Govis a Lord of a Noble Patrimony in the Kingdom of France and that had likewise fair Lands in England which he Inherited from his Mother the Lady Beatrice of Lincoln one of the Heirs of a great House that had been very famous in the foregoing Ages From this Marriage arose the most notorious Contention of that time between this Sir John Latimer and Sir Peter Desmonstiers of the Dutchy of Normandy about the Fief and Lordships of Govis in that Country having been the Chief Seat and part of the Inheritance of Sir William de Govis that was Father-in-Law to them both Whereupon divers Transactions past in the Courts of Judicature of either Kingdom and there are Extant relating to this difference several Orders Grants and Instruments under the Seals of both the Kings Edward the Second and King Philip. Their Issue Sir Robert Latimer William Latimer Nicholas Latimer ROBERT the Son of Sir John Latimer after the Decease of his Father became possest of all his Estate and Interests To which by his Marriage with Catharine the Daughter and Heir of Sir Robert Hull he did join divers other fair Possessions as the Mannor of Childeckford and Estpullham in the County of Dorset and Estoket in Somersetshire all which in the thirty second year of Edward the Third he did receive from John Gurthop and Edward Mundeine who it should seem were possess'd thereof in trust on Condition that if he should die without Issue of the said Catharine they would then return to her right Heirs This Robert Latimer had very honourably served King Edward the Third in several Military Occasions wherein he atchieved the Honour of Knighthood and having returned in safety from the Battel of Poictiers Deceased at his Mannor of Duntish in the thirtieth year of that Kings Reign leaving Issue Sir Robert Latimer Margaret Latimer SIR ROBERT LATIMER being under Age at the Death of his Father was by King Edward the Third granted in Wardship with all the Lordships of his Inheritance to Ralph of Ergum then Bishop of Salisbury who transmitted the same to William Latimer the Uncle of this Robert The King afterwards ignorantly as is supposed granted again the Wardship to Sir John de Lee who was at that time Steward of his House which Sir John presuming of his Credit and Power in Court sent for William Latimer to London and by Duress of Imprisonment forc'd him to Surrender the Estate in that Wardship unto him William Latimer complained to the Parliament then sitting in the forty second year of that King unto which Sir John would have excused himself from the Grant that had been made him by his Master but it was not allowed because William Latimer was not put out by due Process of Law for which and other things Sir John de Lee was Committed to the Tower afterwards when it had born several Debates in the Council it was Ordered that the Wardship should be reseized into the King's hands and delivered to William Latimer according to the Grant made by the Bishop and that all Recognizances and Conveyances made by this William to the said Sir John should be void saving to the King his Right When Robert Latimer came at Age he Entred
finish in Writing the said Bargain And Smith by his Letter dated the fourteenth day of September sent Answer to John Mordaunt and disclosed upon what ground he had made such Agreement and Bargain to John Mordaunt and William and then disclosed his Bargain made to him by Sir John Turbervile which he had under his Sign Manual and his Seal and upon that in Michaelmas Term following Anno xviij o John Mordaunt and Smith ingrossed their Indenture and accomplished their Bargain and their Bargain was known and spoken of both in Court and other places also And the Kings Grace nothing said nor did nor shewed any thing to John Mordaunt till Hilary Term then next In Hilary Term Anno xviij o the King took displeasure with Mordaunt that he would intermeddle with the Lands and make not him privy thinking that John Smith at the Death of Turbervile had stood seized of the Lands to the use of Turbervile in Fee for lack of Issue Male of Latimer then living and said That Turbervile ought him great Money and that he would have the Reversion in recompence of his Money and willed John Mordaunt to forsake his Bargain which he would not do Wherefore the King was sore displeased with him and caused Smith to come by Privy Seal to make a Feoffment to the Kings use of the Lands which he would not but disclosed to the King all the Premisses that be here in Writing as he hath said and reported And the same Smith sometime threaten'd and sometime entreated gave Attendance upon the King till he agreed to make a Feoffment as the King would desire Whereupon a Deed was devised in Paper by which John Smith should Enfeoffe Lord Daubeny Master Lovell Master Bray and Master Seymore in Fee and Sir William Seymore would have had it to the Kings use whereto John Smith would not agree then it was drawn and no use expressed and at the desire of John Mordaunt the Copy was sent to William Mordaunt to see and he entertained To the same use that John Smith then was seized And with great difficulty the Deed was so made by Smith and sealed in Trinity Term Anno decimo octavo About Michaelmas Anno decimo nono Lord Aubeny and Master Lovell took a State by that Deed at that time Master Bray and Master Seymore being dead And thus it continued all the Life of John Mordaunt who died in September Anno vicesimo and all the Life of Sir Nicholas Latimer who died without Issue Male at Lent Anno vicesimo From the Death of Sir Nicholas by Colour of the said Feoffment and by Colour that the Kings Grace said Sir John Turbervile should owe him much Mony at his Decease without any Title and against Law and Conscience of his Royal Power the Kings Grace took the Profits of these Lands till Summer Anno vicesimo primo in Trinity Term. And because the Heir and William Mordaunt and William Gascoigne Executors to John Mordaunt were so far in Debt to the King and sued and on Exigent for the same were so troubled with the King and about the Testament of John Mordaunt that they minded not Latimers Lands to trouble the King nor them by Suit till they had somewhat pacified their other troubles And in Trinity Term Anno vicesimo primo the Lord Aubeny and others sued several Writs of Subpoena against the said Executors and Heir and against John Smith to have compelled them to deliver the Evidences upon Livery of which Writs upon Sute made to the King by the Executors the King Commanded them to sue to Dudley and though the Executors shewed the King that they had as good leave the Land for the hard dealing they knew of Dudley the King compelled them to sue to Dudley who Ordered them to pay the Kings Majesty and to pay two hundred pounds yearly or else they must have delivered the Evidences and abidden the Kings Displeasure as Dudley said and also must have Released and for Surety of Payment thereof there was Land recovered by my Lord of Winchester and Sir Robert Throgmorton and others named for the Heir of Mordaunt Of which Money the Executors paid to the King four hundred pounds whereby the Will of John Mordaunt is yet not performed whereof they are now to have Restitution and to be discharged of two hundred pounds more residue And that my Lord of Winchester and others may Release to the persons named in the Recoveries to the use of the Heir of Mordaunt according to Right and good Conscience And Dudley said expresly the Deed was to the Kings Use and the Executors fearing whether Smith had made any new Deed or not and also not knowing whether the Estate had been delivered by the Deed in which the use was express'd or not desired to see the Deed and he shewed it and thereby it appeared the use was to the same use as Smith was Enfeoffed and that notwithstanding by the Menaces and Craft of Dudley they were compelled to agree and indent to give the King c. The Report of Richard Eliott the Kings Serjeant at Law John Erneley the Kings Attorney and of John Porte the Kings Sollicitor upon the sight of the Evidence of Sir John Mordaunt for all such Mannors Lands and Tenements as were late Sir Nicholas Latimer's Knight FIrst It appears that Sir Nicholas Latimer Knight by his Deed Enfeoffed William Hardyng of the same Mannor above-written in Fee Dated decimo sexto die Januarii Anno Edwardi quarti decimo quarto Item After that by his Indenture bearing date the same Year and the seventeenth day of January rehearsing the said Feoffment The said William Harding granted that if the said Sir Nicholas within twelve Years then next following paid to the said William Hardyng one hundred and twenty pounds that then the said Sir Nicholas should have again the said Mannor to him and to his Heirs Item the Premisses notwithstanding The said Sir Nicholas by Indenture bargained and sold the said Mannor to Sir John Mordaunt Knight and Edith his Wife Daughter of the said Sir Nicholas and to the Heirs of their Body begotten for lack of Issue Male of the Body of the said Sir Nicholas lawfully begotten c. Dated the second of Richard the Third Memorandum That Sir John Mordaunt after bargained with the same William Hardyng and Nicholas his Son for their Interest and Title that they had in the said Mannor of Devilish as by Indenture thereof made plainly may appear For the Mannors of Devilish For the Mannors of Duntish For the Mannors of Estpullham For the Mannors of Estoket First It appeareth that the said Sir Nicholas Latimer bargained and sold all these said Mannors above-written to Sir John Turbervile and his Heirs for the sum of a thousand Marks upon Condition That if the said Sir Nicholas died without Heir Male of his Body lawfully begotten And upon the same Bargain it was Covenanted That John Smith should recover the said Mannors and Execute the Estates
The Wife of Sir Henry Greene was Katharine the Daughter of Sir John and Sister of Sir Simon of Drayton Their Issue Sir Thomas Greene Lord of Norton that Married Mary Daughter of Richard Lord Talbot and Sister to John the first Earl of Shrewsbury from whom were those Greenes that for several generations flourished afterwards at that place in great reputation Henry Greene Lord of Drayton Margaret Greene Married to William Lord Zouch of Totnes Nicholas Greene. Richard Greene. Amabila Greene Married to Sir Ralph Reynes Lord of Clifton HAving only exposed the descent and succession of those Greenes that were Lords of Drayton I shall proceed to HENRY the second Son of Sir Henry Greene who in his Father's life-time and by his procurement was invested by his Cousin Sir John of Drayton in the chief seat and Lordship of that place with all the Towns Lands Liberties and Priviledges belonging thereunto upon condition that from thenceforth he should bear his Name and his Arms according as to that purpose the same Sir John had formerly covenanted with Sir Henry the Father of this Sir Henry Greene. Now this being among his other Children the delight and hopes of his old Father he was by him endowed with great and noble possessions as besides the Mannor of Drayton of which were parcels the Towns of Luffwick Islip and Slipton with certain Lands in Titchmarsh and Aldwincle those of Wolston Wamingdon Chalton Haughton Batteshaseall with Lands in Harringworth Cottington Middleton Carlton Isham Pichteley Harrowden Hardwick Raunds Ringstead Coates Titchmarsh and sundry other places and he was moreover by his provident care Married to Matilda Daughter and sole heiress of Sir Thomas Mauduit that was Lord of Werminster Westbury Lye Grateley Dychurch and other fair Possessions all which with the blood and Arms of that Antient and Noble House by this Alliance devolved into his Family The ambition of the young Henry Greene fomented by these favours of fortune drew him to the Court where he resolutely joyn'd his hopes and expectations to the fate of that unhappy Prince King Richard the Second at whose hand he had received the honour of Knighthood The merits of his person soon acquired him the nearest favour of this King and those of his mind the approbation and encouragement of all his Council into the number whereof he was chosen for his great faithfulness and abilities And when the Conspiracies of divers of the turbulent and seditious Lords had obliged the King to condemn some and banish others he conferr'd several parcels of their confiscated Lands upon Sir Henry Greene as the Mannors of Kibworth Cotgrave and Preston Capes that appertained to Thomas Earl of Warwick those of Knighton Cuvelle and Bulkington in the County of Wilts by reason of the attainder of Richard Earl of Arundell and the Place of the Lord Cobham in London with all its furniture to the end he might secure the fidelity of those about him by exemplary satisfaction for their services and hazards And indeed had not the perversness of this Kings Planet which obstinately prosper'd the Rebellion of his Enemies overwhelm'd all his hopes there was not any greatness unto which the deserts of this Sir Henry might not have well attained But at last when the Duke of Lancaster's fortune came like a torrent bearing down all before it Sir Henry Greene that had possessed himself of the Castle of Bristol and meant to defend it for his Master to the uttermost was taken by his perfidious Garrison and delivered bound to the Duke who knowing his constancy to be dangerous and unchangeable caused him to be beheaded the next day with the Earl of Wiltshire and Sir John Bushey His Issue Ralph Greene Lord of Drayton John Greene who by his Brothers death without Issue became after Lord of that place Mary Greene Married to Sir Jeffrey Lutterill Eleanor Greene Married to John Fitz-Williams of Sprofsburgh SIR Henry Greene had in his life-time made such generous use of his fortune and the favour of King Richard as found its reward from the gratitude of several great men he had obliged who contributed their instigations to the inclination of the succeeding King which was much bent to favour the unfortunate Family of the deceased Gentleman whose person fidelity and gratitude had been so exemplary and who lost his life but for his adherence to a King that had been his Master and Benefactor In the very first year therefore of King Henry the Fourth his eldest Son RALPH GREENE was restored by Act of Parliament to the Lordship of Drayton and all the rest of those Lands that were the inheritance of his Father or his Mother the Lady Matilda de Mauduit And several Instruments are extant of the grace and clemency of this Prince to himself and the other Children of Sir Henry Greene. This Family coming again to flourish in the County of Northampton Ralph Greene was in the eight year of King Henry the Fourth chosen to serve in the then considerable Office of High Sheriff for that Shire and he is found to have been employed in divers important occasions for the service of King Henry the Fifth and particularly in the first year of his Reign to have been joyn'd in Commission with William Lord Roos of Hamlock for suppressing the Rebellion and Insurrections of William Perwich and his adherents who in a Hostile manner had fallen upon several of the Kings Subjects and Officers more especially on James Bellers in his return from the last Parliament where he had served for Knight of the Shire as also to have been again Sheriff in the second of that King At last having by a provident care and many generous endeavours restored his Family to its ancient splendor and those great Possessions belonging thereunto he dyed in the sixth year of Henry the Fifth without any Issue of his Wife who was Catharine the Daughter of Ankitell Malliory Lord of Winwick and that took after to her second Husband the famous Sir Simon Felbrigg who in the Reign of King Henry the Fifth was one of the Knights and Companions of the most Noble Order of the Garter JOHN GEENE for want of Issue from his Brother Ralph came to possess the Lands and Lordships belonging to that Family except what was comprehended in the Jointure of the Lady Felbrigg who had been his Brothers Wife Concerning whom there are extant divers transactions as testimonies of the considerable provision had been made for her in that Estate and as one whom his Fathers misfortunes had prepared for the love of a private life he applyed himself to enjoy the happiness of his House and Country living in a free Estate and fortunate Marriage with Margaret the Daughter of Walter Greene of Bridgnorth till he departed this life in the eleventh year of King Henry the Sixth He left Issue Ralph Greene that dyed in his youth Henry Greene afterwards Lord of Drayton Margery Greene Married to Sir Henry Huddlestone Isabella Greene Married to Sir Richard
premisses whansoever it pleas the Kings Highnes and your Lordship to comande me And Almighty God ever preserve your good Lordship to your most hertes pleasure Written at Haroweden the fower and twentyeth Day of October By your own Servant Nicholas Vaus The Answer of Henry Vere Esquire to the Bill of Complaint of Thomas Watts THE said Henry saith by protestation That the said Bill of Complaint is insufficient and compriseth matter slaunderous For the declaration of the trouth of the premisses the said Henry saith That the said Thomas Watts before the said twentye sixthe day of August specified in the said Bill that the said Compleynent in the dayes of King Richard late in dede and not in right King of England took from the said Henry riotously with thirty persons defensibly arrayed certeyn Timber Hey-Rekes Peese-Rekes with much other Stuff of Howshold to the value of eleven Marks and more And alsoe the said Thomas in lyke riotous wise resevyd of the Rents of the said Henry ten Mark in Ekton Barton and Wouleston within the Counte of Northampton for the whyche the said Henry compleyned to the Kings Grace imediately after his first feld And it pleased the Kings Grace among other of his Highnes Comandemenâ—s to comand the said Henry to bring the same Thomas to him to answer to the premisses And the said Henry by reason of the same Comandement with two persons harnessed came from his first Feld unto the House of the said Thomas to the entent to execute the Kings said Comandements then and there being John Tresham Esquier the Viccar of the said Town of Rothewell John Dove and one Cowper and many others and they knowing the premisses and knowing for trouth that the said Thomas of and in the premisses and many other had offended the said Henry desired the said Henry to take some reasonable weye and end with the said Thomas in eschewing further expences and troubles At the whych time the said Viccar and John Dove by the special desire of the said Thomas brought unto the said Henry ten Mark And the said Thomas by his Servant sent the same Black Horse specified in his said Bill to the said Henry in full recompence of such injuries as been afore rehersed All which matters and every eche one of them the said Henry is ready to prove as this Court will award and prayeth to be dismissEd out of this Court with his reasonable Costs and expence for his wrongful vexation Fuller's History of the Worthies of England Page 296. HEnry Vere was High Sheriff of the County of Northampton in the first Year of Henry the Seventh To the Right Worshipful Maister Vere Shrese of Northamptonshire be this Letter delivered c. MAister Shrefe After due recommendation with my service in my most herty manner I pray yow that for as mikyl as the Ferme of all th' assarts within the Forest of Rokyngham was granted to my Brother Sir William Stoke and Richard Burton yontly and to other of them longer lyffing and my sayd Brother whom God hath called from this World nothyng medled with the gadryng up of the deutes of the same but onely Richard Burton like as he said unto yow at Stamford but lately that he would charge himself with them and discharge my Brother in that behalfe It may please yow in that manner-wise and after that Forme to make returne of your Writte And as for my Brothers Lyvelode within the Shyre it is but littyl he purchased and bought two Cottages in Rokyngham of lityl value and a Meese in Kyrtby also two Closes one beside Pipwell and one at Brigstock and here is all the livelode that he had in the Shyre for that livelode that was my Moders in Warmington and elsewhere she gaf hit to me twenty Yere ago and my Broder had never ado the with but by myn assignement and for myn behofe In this and in other thinges concerning me and myn I pray yow shew your kindly favor and I shall so dele with yow at our next meetyng in Northamptonshyre that ye shall hold yow ryght well content From Lincoln the twentyeth Day of March. And as for Newys with us This day my Lady of Northumbyrland came to the King to Lincoln and brought to the Kings Grace with hyr hyr eldest Sonne a goodly yong Lord. On Munday cum sevenyght the Kyng is preposed toward Nottingham there to tary six or seaven dayes and from thence to take his journay toward York c. Yours to his power Thomas Stoke To his Worshipful Brother Henry Vere be this Bill delivered at Addington RYght Worshipful Brodyr I recommend me unto yow and to my Sister your Wife hertily desiring to here of your welfares the which Almightie God preserve to his plesure and yowr hertes desire Sure I have spokyn with Maister Catesby and he hath promissed me to be as frendly to yow in yowr matter as he can He is ryding with my Lord Chamberlyn this Morning toward the Kyng Watts calleth for the processe and therefore I went to Maister Catesby this morning when he took his Horse and fete a Tokyn from him to Watts that he shuld cale noe more on the processe till he come to Towne ayene and that shall be when the King come and that shall be within fourteen dayes and if ye come up then he will see an end betwix you and the other Gentilman the Jewe and so I think best yow doe for anoder man cannot labour your mattir soe well to yowr intent as yowr self sure As for your Suite against Beke they have yeven yow none Answere as yet There is an Exigent out against Parson Edward Davy sure I pray yow remember my Brother Barners for I sent him word That ye would send him ten Pounds within fourteen dayes after Alhallow-Day Brother whereas yow wrote unto me that ye were not in hertes ese ye have made me very hevye of that tydings but I trust to God in the next Bill ye shall send me better comforte And sure at the reverence of God whatsoever adverfityes befall yow take them lytely and set them not to yowr herte and then remedye them as ye think best for if ye set them to yowr herte ye shall hurt your selfe and that shall plese syche as be the causes thereof and all syche as love yow not and shall discomforte all syche as be yowr frendes and Lovers Wherefore I will avise yow to take that way that may comforte yowr frendes and lovers and displese yowr foes No more to yow at this tyme but I shall be at yowr comandement both here and elswhere be God's Grace who have yow in his kepeing At London on Symond Jude is Evyn Be your Brother and Servant Baldwyn Vere To my Right Trusty and Welbeloved Henry Vere Gentilman RYght Trusty and Welbeloved I commend me unto yow And whereas I have perceived by my Right Welbeloved Sir Thomas Thornton Parson of Addington in the County of Northampton how that he of
the Accidents of the precedent Age had made in the Estate of his Ancestors was not induc'd by the discontent thereof to neglect what Providence had left him There remain'd to his support his Antient Lordships of Turvey that of Brayfield the Lordships of Clifton and Chellington with the Lands appertaining to the Mannor of Bottellers in Walden in the County of Suffolk He had Married Margaret the Daughter of John Peck Lord of Copull a Person of great Oeconomy and Virtue and they strove together by a provident and frugal proceeding to repair those breaches the over liberal ways of his Father had made in the Fortune of his Family Their endeavours did succeed and as an approbation thereof and a blessing thereupon Providence sent them to enjoy the fruits of their worthy Cares Three Children whose merits from their Natures and good Education made them all have as well as deserve excellent Fortunes They were Sir John Mordaunt Lord of Turvey William Mordaunt Lord of Hempstead Married to the Heir of Huntington Elizabeth Mordaunt Married to Sir Wiston Brown of Abessroading Sir JOHN MORDAVNT Knight Lord of Turvey Staggesden Chellington Clifton Brayfield and many other Lands and Lordships Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and Privy Councellor to King Henry the Seventh CHAPTER XI JOHN MORDAVNT Son and Heir of William Mordaunt that was Lord of Turvey being a Youth of a particular Ingenuity such as did promise both Spirit and Capacity the appearances thereof were taken hold of by his judicious Father who after his Son had received what the Method and Discipline of a Free-School could give sent him to learn the Knowledge of the Laws and to be instructed in those ways that might enable him for the most useful and publick Callings These applications were so successful as he became betimes very considerable in that way But happening to live in those days of War and Tumult and his flourishing Youth subsisting in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth he gave great proof of his Valor in matters of that nature also His Temper and Inclinations being in truth Tam Marte quam Mercurio And indeed he was an Officer in Arms as well as a Councellor in Civil Matters to Richard Nevill the great Earl of Warwick into whose Affairs he was introduc'd by the Lady Anne Beauchamp Countess of Warwick his Wife a Princess most Eminent in that Age for great Birth and Qualities and that in his Last Will he reckons a great Benefactress He was with this Earl at the Battel of Barnet where his Patron was Slain himself much Wounded and the Fortune of King Henry for ever overthrown After this he retired to his Studies and particularly to those of the Law whereunto he had at first design'd his applications and therein he became very Eminent His Father dying afterwards about the Fourteenth Year of King Edward the Fourth and he becoming Master of his House and his Inheritance his Prudence thenceforth and his Worthiness made him so considerable in the County of Bedford where was his usual Residence and chief Establishment as by his Interest and Reputation he govern'd that Country very much This is evident by Letters directed to him from divers Princes who required his aid to several of their Wars by his Attendance with his following of Tenants and Friends which he did successfully afford to King Henry the Seventh both at Bosworth afore he was King and at Stoake Field afterwards against the Earl of Lincoln where he resorted to him in person accompanied with a numerous Assembly of his Relations and Dependants His Services to this King with the knowledge of his Abilities were the grounds of a singular esteem his Majesty had for him which he testified in the Fifteenth Year of his Reign by taking him to live in his own Palace for the use of a private and particular Councellor and after that having received the honour of Knighthood he was made Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster with a considerable Pension a place at that time when the Lands belonging to that Dutchy were more than what does now appertain unto the Crown of great Honour and Emolument And he was made at the same time one of that King 's Privy Council Sir John Mordaunt was very notorious for his advice in matching the King's Eldest Daughter to the King of Scotland and had a great part in the direction of drawing up the Articles of that Treaty between the Two Kings a Copy whereof is yet Extant under his own Hand In fine there were few Men upon whose Counsel that Wise King depended more nor that had done him more useful and agreeable Services from whence proceded the improvement of his Fortune in this Reign For though the King was a sparing Giver unless upon great deserts yet Sir John Mordaunt had very many advantagous benefits at his Hands as may appear in the Proofs by the several Royal Gifts and Offices he bestow'd upon him So as having disengaged several Lordships that had been Morgaged or Encumbred by his Grandfather made new Acquisitions of many others by his own industry and become Master of a large Patrimony in behalf of his Wife who was the Daughter and Heir of Sir Nicholas Latimer Lord of Duntish in the County of Dorset and divers other Noble Possessions in the West of England as the head of a very Antient Family He was in the way to all the Greatness could be coveted by the Ambition of a reasonable Man But near the One and twentieth Year of King Henry the Seventh he was grown old and much wasted through the Cares and Labours incident to a Man busied in three Active Reigns So as falling Sick at London after having receiv'd particular testimonies of the care and concern of his Royal Master he departed this Life and was carried to rest with his Fathers and lyeth Buried in his own Church of Turvey under a fair Tomb of white Marble He had Issue by his Wife the Lady Edith Latimer Sir John Mordaunt first Lord Mordaunt Robert Mordaunt William Mordaunt Joane Mordaunt Married Giles Strangeways of Melbury in the County of Dorset Sir JOHN MORDAVNT Knight Peer of England Lord Mordaunt Lord Baron of Turvey and Privy Councellor to King Henry the Eighth CHAPTER XII JOHN the Eldest Son of Sir John Mordaunt that from his good Qualities was the joy of his Father's Heart as well as the hopes of his House was not like to want good Education under the Conduct of so knowing a Parent he was bred to every thing of which an ingenious Nature could be capable to Learning to Arms to Courtship attending much upon Prince Arthur till he died The first fruit of his Father's great Care towards him was the procuring of his Establishment in Marriage with Elizabeth the Eldest of the Coheirs of Sir Henry Vere that was Lord of Addington which were the noblest and most considerable Inheritrixes of that Age the Wardship of which Sir John Mordaunt his Father had obtain'd of the
but their happening a conjuncture which rendered those of his profession under much suspicion and jealousy from the Proceedings of that Conspiracy called The Gunpowder Treason which if it had succeeded would have been of so cruel a consequence This worthy Lord was envolv'd in the unhappy troubles it produc'd to most of his perswasion For upon surmise of his holding correspondence with the Traytors the innocent Lord in the Seventh Year of King James the First was seized in his House and committed Prisoner to the Tower for which there could be never produc'd other grounds than his professed Religion his being absent from that Parliament which was upon leave and some neighbourly correspondences he had held with Sir Everard Digby and certain others of the conspirators which were but slender Reasons for so large Sufferings His Lordship thereupon was severely Fined and so long kept a Prisoner that by the distruction of his Health it brought him finally to his Grave after which his Innocency sufficiently appear'd to convince his persecutors of the Injustice of their severe dealings His Issue John Lord Mordaunt first Earl of Peterborow James Mordaunt first married to Mary Tirringham after to ....... Gostwick from whom is descended John Mordaunt of ...... in the County of Leicester Lewis Mordaunt that dyed without Issue by his Wife ...... Smith the Widow of Sir Robert Throgmorton Frances Mordaunt married to Sir Thomas Nevill Eldest Son of the Lord Abarganey Elizabeth that dyed unmarried Margaret that dyed unmarried Anne that dyed unmarried JOHN Earl of PETERBOROW Peer of England Lord Mordaunt Lord Baron of Turvey and Lord Lieutenant of the County of Northampton CHAPTER XVI JOHN Lord Mordaunt being young and under years at the Death of his Father and remaining in the care and government of his Mother the Lady Margaret Mordaunt who was a Zealous as well as a Publick Professor of the obnoxious and suspected Religion after he came of an age capable of taking important impressions was by the command of King James the First as an act of State taken out of that Lady's custody and committed to be brought up in the House and under the direction of his Grace George Abbot at that time Archbishop of Canterbury Where he lived for a while till he was thought fit to be sent to improve his Studies at Oxford In this University this young Lord flourished in the liking and esteem of every body He enjoy'd many perfections of Body and Mind He was very Beautiful Ingenious Affable and Applicable to all was good and useful and there he remain'd the Star of the University till King James the First coming to Oxford in a Progress took him from that place to follow the Court designing him to such kind of farther improvement as might render him in time more useful to his Service and the Government The first testimony he gave him of his Favour was to quit him of the Fine had been imposed upon his Father of Ten Thousand Pounds for his being suspiciously absent from the dangerous Parliament and to set him at liberty from any burthens of Obligations might come upon him by reason of his Wardship of which by the King's Command he was discharg'd He commanded his attendance in his first Journey he made back to Scotland during which that Gracious King gave him so many particular marks of his Favour and Kindness As to standers by Fortune and occasion never seem'd to present themselves to any with more fairness to be taken hold upon than to this young Lord. But in fine he was not born to the advancement of his House and a humor he had which was averse to Constraint and indulgent to all his own Passions gave way afterward to anothers entrance into Favour who was design'd for all the Greatness England could give Notwithstanding the Great and Unfortunate Charles Son and Successor to this King conferr'd upon him the Dignity of an Earl under the Title of Peterborow gave him the Lieutenancy and Government of the Province where he lived besides many invitations to his nearest Affairs and Councils But the destiny of this Lord carried him to other purposes for having Married Elizabeth Howard the Daughter of William Lord Howard of Effingham and sole Heir to that Family which had bred so many Admirals and Great Officers of State he was invited by her that had receiv'd some disgust at Court and was a Lady of a very haughty Spirit to take part with those unhappy Reformers who at last destroy'd all they pretended to amend and this Lord with much regret for having been engag'd among those unfortunate Politicians at last ended his life of a Consumption in the Second Year of the Civil War leaving Issue Henry Earl of Peterborow John Lord Viscount Mordaunt Married to Elizabeth Cary. Elizabeth Mordaunt Married to Thomas Lord Howard of Escrick HENRY Earl of PETERBOROW Peer of England Lord Mordaunt Lord Baron of Turvey Groom of the Stole and First Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber to King JAMES the Second Lord Lieutenant of the County of Northampton and One of the Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council CHAPTER XVII HENRY Lord Mordaunt although at his coming into the World he found the greatest part of Men enclined to Rebellion and defire of change both in the Government of Church and State Yet having been bred under well principled Masters in the Royal College of Eaton in the Company of several young Lords of great Quality whose Education was inspected by the Learned and Memorable Sir Henry Wotton at that time retired from sundry Embassies and Employments to the Provostship of that place He received such a tincture of Duty to his Prince and Love to the Monarchy as neither Hazards Disappointments Hard Usage nor any difficult Circumstances could ever afterward extinguish I leave the particulars of his Childhood and early Youth and come to meet him at his first appearance in the City of York where he accompanied his Father who came to attend the King at his Great Council which he had called in order to take Resolutions about the Scotch War and the ensuing Parliament The English Army that had been Raised for the Defence of the Kingdom lay Encamped about the Town among the Souldiers this young Lord continually appear'd at the Musters at the Reviews and at the Exercises whereat he was always present and being not then in his Seventeenth Year he intended if the War had proceeded to have personally engaged in all the Actions and Successes of it In the Assemblies of the Council he did ever constantly attend to hear the Debates of the most important matters were agitated there being admitted thereunto in Quality of a Peer's Son who had all place behind the King as in Parliament But at last the Cessation being made and a Parliament resolv'd upon the King return'd to London and the Young Lord with his Father to his House in order to â—â—ake preparation for their attendance in that occasion The time come for the
and his Horse was shot in the shoulder The end and consequences of this Fight is known in Story The King return'd to Oxford the Earl of Essex to London and the Lord Mordaunt remain'd at Court the ensuing Winter The young Lord had not attained the full age that might capacitate him to sit in Parliament but the Earl his Father being deceased and he succeeding to his dignity of Earl of Peterborow it pleased his Majesty to dispense with a year of that time and by Writ to call him to fit in the Oxford Parliament It was in this Assembly the Earl of Peterborow shew'd the fruits of a Generous Education his Manners were grave and decent his Judgment sound his Learning above his Years and his Quality and he spoke so as satisfied much and affected those that heard him In fine the Great and Unfortunate Charles took such an impression from his proceedings as had the King out-liv'd the disorders of that Age the Earl of Peterborow had been certainly both employ'd and cherish'd by him After this Session he follow'd the King in the Expeditions of the succeeding Summer He was engag'd in the Fight at Cropradey he was with him in the West at Exeter and in Cornwall where the Parliaments Army was Besieg'd their Generals shifted for themselves by Sea and their Troops passed by the King's Army on conditions The Winter following was employ'd by this Earl in an Action very considerable to him which was his Marriage with a beautiful young Lady of great birth called Penelope Obrien only Daughter to Barnaby Earl of Thomond part of whose Portion was at that time very useful to him his Mother being then alive and in possession of most of his Estate and the rest sequester'd and in the Parliament Quarters The next Spring he carried his Lady to Bristol a place in appearance of most safety and farther from the Scene of the War which was likely as it did fall out to be more Northward Here he happn'd to be about the time of the Fight at Leicester where the good King was worsted and from whence his greater misfortune began to flow Upon the King's retreat Westward the Earl of Peterborow to be more free to follow him in all his Fortunes got a Pass for his Lady to go to London to agitate among his Relations some supplies towards enabling him for his subsistance and to furnish him towards certain designs he had for his Majesty's Service He went with the King after this for Wales but losses and defections coming now more and more upon his Majesty every day he retired again to Oxford and Winter drawing nigh the Earl took that Season to pass into Ireland where was a considerable remainder of his Wife's Portion with which he intended to pass into France unto the Queen being then at Paris to Negotiate the interests he had at Court and after to return Unto all this he had not only the King's leave but such Passes and Letters of Recommendation from his Majesty and the Principal Secretary the Earl of Bristol as will for ever bear honourable testimony of this Earl's behavior He did then prosecute his journey which was in all things very fortunate though full of particular adventures too long for this relation He pass'd into Ireland came into Thomond in the Province of Munster where his Father-in-law lived and carried thence the Moneys he did demand Embark'd at Galloway in Cannaught for France after extraordinary sufferance and hazards at Sea landed at Saint Mallows and came afterwards to Paris where he was received by the Queen with that kindness and concern as was due to a Man who had adher'd so faithfully and so long to the King her Husband and all his Interests By this time every Post brought news of the King's misfortunes who having been at last forced to quit Oxford and the few Troops he had left had cast himself upon the Protection of the Scotch Army Here to well judging people seem'd to be an end of all the hopes of the Royal Party who had reason to fear what was the present Interest and was like to be the resolution of that People After some time then every one as in a Shipwrack seeking for a Plank whereon they might save themselves the Earl of Peterborow upon discourse with the Queen and the King's Secretary that was then in France had not only their leave but their advice to make it his business to get admission to come home into England and compound for his Estate as the rest of the Cavaliers in England did The Earl's Mother that always liv'd in the Parliament Quarters and had many Friends among them procur'd his desire So that with the young Countess his Wife at that time with him in France he repair'd home and at last by a very severe composition in Money for which he was fain to sell and mortgage many of his Lands he made such a kind of Peace as that wherewith the Lords and Gentlemen of the King's Party were at that time forc'd to be contented In the care then of his Fortune composing of domestick differences and providing as well as he could against future accidents the Earl of Peterborow spent his time till the King came to be abandon'd by those false Scots and deliver'd into the hands of the Parliament He happn'd to be residing upon his Noble Lordship of Turvey at the time the King was taken from Holmby and brought on his way towards London His Majesty happn'd one Night in his journey to be lodg'd at Ampthill where it was design'd he should rest a day or two at hearing hereof the Earl's House not being above seven Miles from thence he thought it his duty to endeavour to see his Sacred Master and try if he could have occasion to be useful to him in any kind He rose then and by Eleven of the Clock came to the House where the King lay Not without some difficulty he got to be admited where he was and he found his Majesty going to the Prayers usual before his Dinner After they were perform'd he kneel'd down for the honor of his Majesty's Hand but had only opportunity for the ordinary Complements being overlook'd by the Officers appointed to observe the addresses and behavior of all that did approach him Chearfulness there was not much in the King's looks but no disorder grave they were but distinguishing to any he took for Friends and injur'd goodness appear'd in every motion The Dinner was soon brought up during which the Earl waited by him and near the end of it the Officers withdrew and all except the Guards of the Door The Earl quickly took the opportunity of asking his Majesty If there were any thing wherein he might be serv'd with the hazard of his Life and Fortune The King Answer'd He was not in a place to take any measures but would have him advise with those that were his Friends The Earl said no more by reason of the Villainous Jaylers returning so
he took his leave and departed home full of indignation against the Times the Nation and Fortune resolving though he were at ease and had made his peace to expose Wife Estate Quiet and his Life upon any undertaking wherein there should be a reasonable appearance of relieving the best of Kings What ensued after this is the King's Story and that of other Men. I shall only relate that after his being at Hampton-Court his escape thence and unfortunate detention in the Isle of Wight the Transactions with the Army and many other Contrivances there came at last to be designed a Rising in his favour to be begun in Surrey of which Henry Earl of Holland was to be General To this there was much contributed in Money and Counsels by the Presbyterian Party and herein under assurances of great partakers the Earl of Peterborow was again engaged who on his part fail'd not to be at the Rendezvous according to appointment in the head of a Hundred Horse well Arm'd and provided that came to follow him out of his own Country But of such numbers as others had undertaken there were so many fail'd as at the Muster and Survey of that Rendezvous it gave a great discouragement to those that did appear which caus'd divers that came in to the first Meeting even of the Surrey Gentlemen after the recess of one Night never to return again The Earl of Holland notwithstanding still in hopes from the great promises wherewith he had been deluded marched on into the Country and the first Night Quarter'd at Darking expecting for the next day great supplies and accession of of Men out of that Country and the City but the succeeding Morning produced no more armed Men nor any change to his desperate condition And being now past any retreat from his Engagement he march'd back towards Kingston in order by passing the River at that Bridge to procede Northward into such Countries wherein he hoped he should find more zealous and trusty Friends But in the Afternoon as he made a small halt upon the way he had Intelligence That Sir Michael Lucy's Regiment of Horse and some other Forces were on their march to overtake and Charge him and by that time he reached Kingston Heath their Scouts appear'd as he was ready to march into the Town The Enemies Troops arriving thereupon he had not time to draw up his few Forces as he should have done but they were Charged and routed in a short time the Lord Francis Villiers Brother to the Duke of Buckingham was killed in the Lane and most of the rest dispers'd to shift for themselves the best they could be able The Earl of Peterborow with Five or Six Gentlemen Volunteers of his Troop had Charged quite through the Enemies Men and were so far engaged That the Enemy being got between them and the Town it was unpossible for them to reach back unto the Bridge or their own flying Party and Night being come on they shelter'd themselves in a Gentleman's House near by and by means of good Guides got the next Night to London where they lay conceal'd in expectation of hearing how and where they might meet with their Friends again The Fortune of the Earl of Holland and the rest of the Party which got from Kingston every body knows and how he was taken at St. Needs and afterwards lost his Head The hopes of this Design being thus unfortunately disappointed and Messengers and Spies employ'd every where to seek and seize all the considerable Persons engag'd or suspected to have contributed to this attempt the Earl of Peterborow whom they did intend to make an example was forc'd to abscond as well as he was able He did it in a Chirurgeon's House called Mr. Lowe by whom he was very faithfully served till by the frequentation of the Earl's Mother the House began to be suspected and there was then procur'd for him a lodging at the Printers in Black-Friars where he lay till a safe passage was provided for him to get below Gravesend where he was received into a small Fisher's Boat which conveighed him to Flushing in Zealand There escaped with the Earl John Mordaunt his Brother afterwards Viscount Mordaunt and Mr. William Stafford of Blatherwick a young Gentleman of Fortune who both follow'd him in this occasion and having presented themselves to the Prince of Wales who was then at the Hague they were all receiv'd by his Highness the Princes of Orange his Sister and his Aunt the Queen of Bohemia and all the Princes their Children with that consideration that appertain'd to persons who were Martyrs for their Service having lost their Estates ventur'd their lives and expos'd all their Friends to vindicate the Honor and Authority of their House and relieve the King out of Prison Winter now did approach and it was in that dead time when the King's Affairs were in their last and worst condition The Duke of Hamilton had been routed and taken the Scotch Army dissipated Colchester was surrendred Lord Capell a Prisoner and Lisle and Lucas Executed In fine to this succeeded the Tryal of the Lords Hamilton Holland and Capell their Murder and after that never to be execrated enough of the King himself and in consequence a seeming settlement of that horrid power of the succeeding Common-wealth At this time the Earl of Peterborow was retired to the City of Antwerp because his Estate being all for the second time sequestred he could withdraw no such subsistance as might enable him to follow the young King as he did desire and the Prince was not Master of so much Treasure and Revenues as he might spare wherewith to maintain such Men without Employment in his Service and the expectation of his remaining hopes lying then in Scotland he was forc'd to employ the Moneys he had to entertain and encourage the Men of interest in that Nation The Earl of Peterborow then being from the young King whom he was not able to follow and in a condition very necessitous useless to his Prince and unprofitable to himself he was advised by all his Friends to try if at any expence he could make way with some of power in England to be admitted to a second Composition His Wife the Countess being an Ingenuous and Industrious Lady found means to obtain it upon notice whereof the Earl acquainting the King and his Ministers therewith had his Majesty's leave and approbation to provide for himself the best he could and to submit to the general Fortune and Condition of his Party He return'd then and after many extreme and perverse difficulties paid another great Composition and was once again settled in the possession of his Fortune In the retirement then to his own House the payment of great Debts acquir'd upon Publick accounts and settlement of his Fortune this Earl spent those years which remain'd between the King's Murther and the Restoration of his Son But upon the return of King Charles the Second the Lord Viscount
Mordaunt the Earl's Brother and the Lady his Wife called before her Mariage Mrs Elizabeth Cary had by much officiousness and many endeavors during the King's Exile acquired a great share in his favour but most of all with the King 's Chief Minister the Lord Chancellor Hide afterwards Earl of Clarendon and having great and incomposable differences with the Earl of Peterborow about the settlement of his Estate whereunto against his will they pretended to Inherit they had to encline them to their partiality in case the decision of any of the differences should come to depend on them done sundry ill offices to the Earl so as at the King 's first Arrival he receiv'd marks enough of the King's coldness and the ill impressions they had taken But the Earl of Peterborow who could speak well having means by some Friends of the contrary Faction to have access to the King soon dispersed those Clouds and convinced his Majesty of the Art and Malice of his Enemies and of the untruth of those suggestions which were partly the cause that enclin'd the King and his Minister to suffer the remainders of Rygate to be taken out of the Crown by which the Earl lost one of the Noblest Houses in the South of England and such Lands and Revenues belonging to that Priory as were worth a Thousand Pound of yearly Revenues The King after this promised proportionable Recompence to the Earl and by the interposition of the Lord Chancellor had given him a Commission for Captain General of the King's Forces to be sent into Africa and to be Governor of the City of Tangier To this undertaking then the Earl of Peterborow wholly applied himself and although from the Division of the Councel which did at that time consist of two very powerful Factions neither of them much favouring what ever the other did propose great obstructions and difficulties did arise unto the Earl both in the preparations that were necessary and in the after performance of several things that were undertaken yet with his industry and diligence he overcame the envy and secret opposition of that affair Embarking the ...... of ...... with Three Thousand Three Hundred Men under his conduct and proportionable Provisions for them of every sort and landing at Tangier the ...... of ...... took possession of it for the King of England and establish'd himself Governor thereof The History of his Government there being too long for this place I shall only say That for the time he stay'd there was never place kept in better order better paid better provided for nor where all sorts of Men had better Justice or Protection It is true Two reasons made him desire to be recall'd the first That his spirit and his endeavours were so limited as that little Honor was to be obtain'd by his residence in that place having not Troops enough to march or attempt any thing into the Country nor Money enough to design such Fortifications or so proceed with the business of the Mole as might render the Town safe against an undertaking Army or the Sea advantageous to a Trading Fleet. But the chief Thorn in his Foot was the Envy and Malice of some considerable Enemies at home who endeavor'd to support an under Officer of his own in his pretension of competition to some powers that were incompatible with his Honor and Authority And they engaged the best and otherwise the justest Prince in the World so to favor what that Officer did aim at as the Earl must have submitted to his Adversaries or encurr'd the last enmity from that person for whom he had the greatest service and veneration that could be Seeing it was like to come to that extremity the Earl of Peterborow desired leave to lay down his Government and return It was so agitated by his Friends as that he had it granted with all the circumstances of honor and kindness that could be as appears by a Letter of Thanks under the King's Hand for his faithful and good Services and in consideration thereof he had under the Great Seal of England a Pension granted him for his life of a Thousand Pound by the Year Upon his return he found the King engag'd in a War that was like to prove very fierce between himself and the States of the United Provinces And resolving to acknowledge the King's Bounties on every occasion that should present it self by the constant offer of his Service he desired the Command of a Ship to serve in that conjuncture and it was granted with acknowledgments for the Example But upon notice thereof among the Men of Quality it was so much and so suddenly followed as it put a necessity upon the King to refuse it to others of as great merit and zeal as could be or to have his Fleet commanded for the most part by Men of greater Quality than Experience This put a stop even to the Earl's pretension But since he could not serve in that capacity he was resolv'd to go a Volunteer which he hid in the Ship and company of the Noble Earl of Sandwich they first setting to Sea from Portsmouth But the Fleet soon returning by reason of the lateness of the Season his Lordship did so too remaining that Winter making his court to the Princes The next Expedition which the succeeding Summer did produce he went again to Sea in good earnest and because it was a Second-rate Ship of good force and accommodation he was order'd aboard the Vnicorn Commanded by one Captain ...... Tidiman wherein he remain'd during that great Fight of the Third of June in the Year .... where to his immortal glory the present Great King James the Second shew'd more personal Valor and Conduct than any other Prince of the House of England since the Conquest who had kill'd by his side the Earl of Faymouth his Brother's Favorite and his own his first Gentleman of his Bed-Chamber the Lord Muskery the generous Mr. Boyle with many other Gentlemen and Souldiers The behavior of the Earl in the Ship where he Sail'd was not unsuitable to his Quality and the other actions of his life He encouraged the Souldiers with his Actions and his Words too and the Captain in truth of not too forward a Nature did perhaps more than otherwise he would to hide from his Men the great difference there was between the intrepidity of the Earl and his own circumspection In fine there was nothing scandalous but his Lordship did not look upon it as good Fortune to have accompanied a Man no more sollicitous to get Glory in so great an occasion for that purpose The Earl of Peterborow after his Engagement by Sea had it intimated to him by a private Friend about the Duke That if he thought he could apply himself to a Court-life wherein attendance would be necessary and a particular devotion to all the interests of his Master he believed his Highness would not be unwilling to engage his Lordship in his Service even in
his enemies wish'd that he should be and objections were not wanting from many of them that were in place to speak and in right to be heard in Occasions and Councels of that nature against any seem'd proper to his Friends for his Alliance Some of them 't was said wanted Fortune others were not of Quality enough and there were those that were not bred in the Religion of the Country which in certain Men was not easie to digest At last the good King who it were to have been wish'd had in more things follow'd his own good nature and judgment accepted the proposition made from Spain by Sir Mark Ogniaty at that time Agent here out of Flanders of a Marriage and Treaty to that purpose with the Young Archduchess of Inspruk which was believed would have answered all the objections of Honor Fortune and Fruitfulness more than any Princess that had been propos'd This could not apparently be refused by the Ministers who found the King did himself desire his Brother's Marriage and that the Duke was resolv'd to have a Wife at any rate Therefore the expedient for its hindrance was to propose a Creature of their own one that follow'd the Court and the favor of it by birth a Stranger not concern'd what became of the Succession of England to be sent over in quality of Negotiator of this business This Man was engaged in the affair whom they did manage as they pleased they made him advance it one day and retard it another and at last he did contribute by his skill to so long delays as it became apparent by divers signs of the Empress's ill health that she was not like long to live From that time the Emperor who thought it just he should provide for his own happiness in the first place began to cast his thoughts upon this Princess and his Council for his satisfaction as well as the interest of his House by reuniting the concerns of Inspruk that had been the Appennage of those Archdukes did wholly give their approbation of that conditional intention in case of the Empress's death So that when the Court of England was in expectation of a final conclusion of this Treaty the cunning Negotiator did procure the appearance of it to stop the Mouths of dissatisfied Men and the clamors would have been upon a rupture after a years suspence and chargeable Treaty so as the Duke being then upon the Sea immediately after his Engagement of Sole Bay in the last Dutch War the Envoy at Vienna sent word The Treaty was now ended and there wanted only an Extraordinary Embassador from the King to come to demand and Marry the Archduchess according to the forms towards bringing her into England contenting the King in that affair and making the Duke happy Hereupon his Royal Highness who had long in his mind pitch'd upon the Earl of Peterborow to undertake and manage this great trust not only as the first person about him for his Birth and Quality but as a Man whom he knew could never be corrupted to act or omit any thing might prove contrary to his intention or his service did now declare he should with the King's leave be alone employ'd and trusted as Extraordinary Embassador in perfecting this matter which so nearly did concern him The Earl did at that time attend the Duke in his own Ship He had been with him the whole Expedition and was particularly participant of all the Honors and Hazards of that bloody Battel wherein the Noble Earl of Sandwich lost his life and so many brave Gentlemen in either Party And from off this Fleet it was he commanded the Earl to repair to the King and entreat his orders to the Ministers for preparing Monies Instructions and Instruments that might enable him to proceed upon his journey in order to bring home the Princess had been so much desired At his arrival and first Audience of the King upon this affair he found His Majesty not so warm as he did expect he would not trust the Earl entirely with his indifference but let fall some doubtful words as it were to sound Whether he would comply with more delays But when he found by the steddiness of his Lordship's Answers That he did expect an ingenuous proceeding for his Master's satisfaction His Majesty a little abruptly broke off the Discourse and bid him repair to the Ministers who should have orders to dispatch him with as much speed as the preparations would admit He address'd himself in the first place to the Lord Treasurer who for all his concurrence with the Duke to other ends and enterests by which he had gain'd a most particular share in his Credit and Favour yet he was certainly no friend to this nor wish'd success to any other Foreign proceeding and did comply with if not foment the King's inclination to a farther delay in the affair Whether it was that he would not appear to the approaching Parliament author of a Match of which he thought they were not like to approve or that he hoped the over-long delays would weary the Duke and make him at last content to take up with some Lady for whom this Lord had a favor in the Court at home Certain it is That he receiv'd the Earl's pressing desires for a dispatch with a colder kind of moroseness than he could have imagin'd and in a way as did seem to expect from the Earl an understanding of some thing he was not willing plainly to express The Duke seem'd to believe the obstructions did proceed from the insinuations of another Minister with whom he had long been out upon many other accounts but he being in most things competitor with the Lord Treasurer was glad to have occasion to justifie himself in a thing so tender to the Duke at the reasonable cost of the other and to set the Saddle on the right Horse The account the Earl of Peterborow gave to his Highness of these Affairs brought him with as much hast as matters would admit from the Fleet to the Town And when he arrived the business was so pressed on his side as the Ministers were driven to break or comply with his desires But it is most true That in all the matters expected from the Treasurer he was more dry more stiff and more scarce than was agreeable to the good opinion it was necessary for him to preserve in the Duke's Mind and the Earl of Peterborow was fain to make use of his competitor who had a desire at that time to justifie himself to the Duke and had also much interest with the King to procure from his Majesty upon reasons of publick honor more large allowances than the Treasurer would otherwise have made who thought to have pinch'd the Earl and made his business uneasie on that part for not complying with him in an indirect sufferance of those delays to take place which might have obstructed the Duke's Marriage in any Foreign part whatsoever However those difficulties were
of Peterborow to see the Lady and to send him his opinion thereof And to this if it had been any way adviseable His Royal Highness himself would not have been averse from the partiality he ever had to the House of Boullion and principally to Monsieur de Turene whose Niece the Lady was But in truth she was so very young not having fully attain'd Thirteen Years and so little a Woman of that Age too as when it was really represented it was found wholly unproper for the Duke's circumstances and the business of England But to favor it she and her creatures had in the mean time done what they could to detract from the Princess Mary Anne of Wirtenbergue to whom notwithstanding from the first impressions he had receiv'd he stood so well enclined as by the return of the next Express after the account of the Princess of Newburgh he commanded the Earl to go back in diligence to Paris where he assured him he should meet all the orders necessary to bring away that Lady The Earl obey'd with much satisfaction esteeming this next to the Italian Alliance the most suitable of any that had ever been proposed So with all the haste he could he came to his first station and not doubting of the performance of what had been so earnestly assured him he lighted at the Monastery where the Princess Mary Anne lived as soon as he came to Paris and acquainted her with the orders he had reason to believe did attend him at his House after the receipt of which he should have but to call her as he said his Mistress and pay her the respects due to the Quality that did attend it He could not but confess the moderation which in other things did appear in her temper was not great enough to conceal her joy in this occasion and she was not to be blamed considering the provision it would have been for an Orphan Maid to Marry a Prince so great both in the circumstances of Fortune and Merit but after he had taken his leave and was return'd home with what a reverse of Fortune did he meet The Agent that did at that time Negotiate in absence of the Embassador had order to watch the Earls approach to Paris that he might deliver his Letters with new orders to him before he arrived thereby to obviate his communication to the Peincess of the last he received at Cullen before he could be forewarned of it or forbiden but by neglect or taking a wrong way to meet him the Earl had seen her and made her complements upon the orders he had so great reason to expect before he could receive his new directions So as coming home and being there saluted by this unwary Minister he received from his Hands such Letters as quite changed all his methods by the total forbidding to proceed any farther in Treaty or Demand of the Princess of Wirtenbergue and directing him to expect instruments and instructions by the following Post to proceed with all haste to Italy to demand according to the forms the young Princess of Modena This last order Reducing the Earl to his first Opinion and Enclination did comfort him against the dissatisfaction of so uncertain and changeable a proceeding He found a way to acquaint the Princess Mary Anne with the unexpected change in the Fortune was design'd her and turn'd the event upon the resolutions of State Ministers from the Duke's changeableness or any dissatisfaction taken from her character Much a do there was to appease a mind disappointed to that degree and there were of those to whom she had seem'd a rival that forbore not to recoyce if not to insult upon this reverse of Fortune But at last she was forc'd to appease her discontents and though the Earl durst see her no more yet he wish'd her much happiness as she did deserve in any other proceeding His Lordship was after this employ'd in preparation for his Voyage to Modena expecting in a Post or two the necessaries should enable him to proceed in that Negotiation In ten days they arrived to his Hands with particular recommendation from the Duke his Master to use that Expedition and diligence which was done capable to establish his Marriage beyond the contradiction or dissolution of a Parliament which it being now the Month of July was like to fit in November and if it were not before that past obstruction would leave no Stone unturn'd that might contradict or hinder any Catholick Alliance He dispatch'd then away his Train and his Equipage under the conduct of his Officers and himself took Post with intention of giving a sudden end to this affair It had been hinted to him That he would find no difficulty in his undertaking all things having been prepar'd by the power and offices of the King of France in whose interests the Princess of this House had of a long time been and that Monarch finding the Match with his Cousin not like to take nor the other of the Princess of Newburgh did not think it adviseable to let His Royal Highness escape into the Alliance of any Family unfavourable to France and therefore he used all the force of his Councels and perswasions to make this Marriage succeed The Earl then receiv'd wings from the Interest and Commands of his Master and came to Lyons in three days but he was no sooner entred into his Inn and began to repose himself believing from the care he had taken to be concealed and his little Equipage that he was there wholly unknown when a Servant of the Inn brought him word There were Two Gentlemen below that desired admittance to speak with him on the part of the Dutchess of Modena He could not refuse to see them not knowing upon what account they came and upon their approach they delivered his Lordship a Letter Signed by one Nardi that stiled himself a Secretary wherein he wrote to acquaint his Excellency That they had heard of his intentions to come into those parts in order to treat of a Marriage with the young Princess of Modena But the Dutchess knowing her Daughters intentions to be entirely against any obligation of that kind and that she was perfectly settled in the resolution of taking upon her a Religious life she thought it reasonable to give him timely advertisement thereof that the King his Master not being unacquainted therewith might desist from exposing himself or his Lordship by pursuing a design which though it was very honourable and advantageous to her her Daughter and the House of Esté yet was unpracticable and by no ways to be brought about The Earl's surprise was infinite in this occasion but he thought it most prudent to seem amaz'd at the cause of such a Letter and to disown to these persons any concern of that nature or orders to proceed in the business they did surmise he told them he was a private Traveller that came upon his own account only to satisfie his curiosity and the
desire of seeing Italy so as there was no occasion for her Highness or any others concerning themselves in his motions The Gentlemen departed and the Earl immediately gave an account to the King and the Duke his Master of what had happen'd and the discouragement he had met and though he directed his Servants and Equipage to remain at Lyons till farther orders yet he resolv'd himself to proceed as far as Turnin where resided an Embassador of France who had the reputation of presiding over the French affairs in Italy to whom he might communicate what had happen'd and to take some measures with him about his farther proceeding He repaired immediately to the Embassador's House after his arrival at that City and enquired of him Whether he had any orders to assist him in the affair in question wherein the World esteem'd the King his Master the chief mover The Embassador assur'd his Lordship he had never been made acquainted with that business and that if his Master were concern'd in it it was likely he design'd to send some Man of Quality on purpose who would be particularly instructed in the management thereof But he said that to his particular surprise he had two days before receiv'd a Letter from the Dutchess of Modena wherein she pray'd him That if his Lordship came to Turin and did confer or advise with him upon that matter he would signifie to his Lordship an impossibility in the accomplishing of it for the reasons had been before expressed in the Letter his Lordship had at Lyons received from Nardi This second appearance of an averse proceeding began very much to discourage the Earl of Peterborow and after he had given an account thereof to the Court he was in doubt what to do or how to make any farther advances But the French Embassador who though unimploy'd in this affair did now believe his Master much concern'd in bringing it about advised the Earl to a little patience and that continuing the pretence of a casual Traveller he would advance his Journey down the Po to an agreeable City called Plaisance where he might find occasion to remain and entertain himself till he had farther orders The Earl follow'd his Counsel arriv'd at the place agreed on and lodged himself as conveniently as he could to the appearance of a private Traveller but for all his caution the Second or Third day after he came to Plaisance one of the Servants brought him word one Morning how there was a Gentleman desired the favor of being admitted to him who came from the Dutchess of Modena The Earl sent immediately to have him introduced and it proved the same Nardi himself who had written the first Letter to his Brother at Lyons He had the appearance of an ingenious Man who spoke well and was practised in all Italian civilities He presented now to his Lordship a Letter from the Dutchess her self wherein she wrote That having heard of his Journey into those parts with the end and causes thereof she thought it her part before a great King and his Minister should expose themselves in the demand of a thing which could not be accomplish'd out of respect to them to manifest the reasons of it that she might be excused from seeming any ways the cause of their dissatisfaction There was likewise in her Letter repeated what was contain'd in hers to the Embassador with something more but to all she added That indeed there were other Princesses besides her Daughter to one of which if the King his Master did think fit it was possible he might be admitted to address himself And however in the mean time if his Lordship would come and divert himself in that Court she should esteem her self favour'd by his reception and he should be very welcome The Earl after having excused himself to the Dutchess from the trouble his coming into those parts seem'd to cause unto her Highness and thanked her for the Honor she did in the rest with a fair excuse he told her again There was no cause for the first because he was but a private Traveller without design or orders to disquiet any body with pretences were not agreeable to them nor indeed with any of that nature which might answer the latter also So Nardi return'd with a seeming satisfaction at that time But the next day his Lordship receiv'd a Letter from the French Embassador at Turnin whereby he acquainted him That there was now by the King of France's Order upon the way the Marquess of Angeao design'd by his Majesty to come with most pressing desires to the Dutchess for a consent and conclusion to this Match and to assist his Lordship with all the offices and endeavours imaginable This did much satisfie the Earl of Peterborow if on the neck thereof there had not come an Express out of England to assure him of the same as to the part of Monsieur d' Angeao but with direction That when he came instead of the young Princess from whom they took it all the difficulties did arise they should demand an Aunt of hers which in all manner of circumstances was inferior to her and from divers considerations improper for the Duke's occasions This sudden change in the Affair did infinitely mortifie the Earl whose Head turn'd round under this variety of uncertainties But he had but to obey and be patient And now some days after came Nardi again with new Complements from the Dutchess and Expressions how glad that Court should be if the Honor was supposed to be intended to the Daughter might be transferr'd on any other Princess of that Family for it seems they had been enform'd that something of that kind had been listned to in France The Earl that was in expectation of his French assistant who was not yet near continued still upon his first guard owning no Orders at all but alledged the cause of his stay to be a little Indisposition which he expected should soon pass and return'd the Dutchess his Duty and humble Thanks for the honor of her Civilities About a week after this another new Express came out of England countermanding again the last directions and assuring the sudden arrival of Monsieur d' Angeao who was to use the uttermost power of the King of France's mediation in demand of the Princess's Daughter and no other Whereof if at last they should come to fail the Earl was then commanded to return to Paris without any farther delay Accordingly about a week after the Marquess of Angeao came and the Morning of his arrival hastned to Visit and Complement the Earl at his Lodging acquainting him That his Commission was to assist him in his Negotiation with all the offices of France which he would improve with his best industry This Marquess was a Man of good appearance very cunning and bred to all the Arts and Confidence of Courts It was soon concerted between them That this Envoy should go first to Modena having had formerly some acquaintance with
that Dutchess when as one of the Cardinal 's Neices she remain'd in France and there try the power of his Reasons and Perswasions to which if the Dutchess proved inflexible the Earl from the knowledge thereof might return without exposing either himself or his Character And if he did succeed it would make way for his Lordship to declare his pretences to assume his Character and be receiv'd into that Court with the Honor and Respect due to his Dignity and Business The Marquess departed the next Morning and with such dexterity did demonstrate to the Princes of that House their true interest both in constantly deserving the Protection of the King his Master and the Alliance of England that all the Court and Council became desirous of it except a cunning Jesuit that was Confessor to the Dutchess and indeed her chief Minister one Father Garimbert that was a Subject born of the Duke of Parma's and always much influenced by that Family This Garimbert whether it were that he desired to make the Match with the other Princess who was Daughter to a Lady of the House of Parma or else that he was engaged as some did suspect to cross this Match at the secret desire of that Family who thought so Royal an Alliance would advance a Neighbour Prince in Honor and Power above that balance whereunto they wish'd it should be kept unto their own Italian Princes being not only very jealous and emulous of their Neighbors but subtle too He did all he could to make averse unto it both the Dutchess and the Princess her self But the reason of the thing was so strong in it self as at last it did over-rule the Dutchess and all that were concern'd in her Service and Councels The Marquess of Angeao wrote then to the Earl of Peterborow how all difficulties being overcome he might now take off the mask and advance to Modena where his addresses would be receiv'd and the Dutchess wrote to him also to the same effect with all the respectful Invitation that was suitable They declar'd there remain'd now only one difficulty which was in obtaining a Dispensation from the Pope for Celebration of a Marriage with a Catholick Princess to a Prince not declar'd of the same Religion of which notwithstanding they did not seem to doubt But the Earl not knowing the delays or even the repture might proceed from this pretence refused to appear publickly in that Court till that difficulty were overcome but consented to come privately thither where he might incognito see and converse with the Princes and their Ministers The Abbot of Angeao Brother to the Marquess being gone to Rome to negotiate the Dispensation with his Holiness and the Cardinal Nephew in the mean time His Lordship advanced then privately to Modena and about a Mile out of the Town was met by Nardi the under Secretary with a Coach and Six Horses into which the Earl being receiv'd he was carried into the City and set down at the Palace of ............ who was Brother to the Bishop of Modena of which he was put in possession in the name of the Dutchess there to remain till his Lordship should think fit to appear in publick and assume his Character The Earl did expect to have had a House where he might have lived at his own Expence and under the care and government of his proper Officers But he found there several appartments all nobly furnish'd for himself and the rest of his followers according to the quality of every Man and each Office full of the Dutchess's Servants with Provisions suitable for keeping a noble House and at the time of Supper there was a Table for himself another for his Steward and superior Attendants with a third for Livery-Men and others all nobly provided with that plenty and magnificence as at first did not please his Lordship seeming contrary to his intentions of being private and giving cause of discourse to Men of a proceeding that was not ordinary The Earl told Nardi That this was contrary to what he had desired but he reply'd That though the Dutchess in publick at his Lordship's instance omitted to pay him the respects that were due to him yet she was not tyed from serving him her own way in all the accomodations were necessary to his living and subsistance wherein he would have found difficulty his Servants being strangers and wanting the advantage of the Language In the mean time the Abbot was at work in his Negotiation at Rome to procure a Dispensation the Earl of Peterborow was receiv'd incognito to the sight and conversation of the Dutchess He was led thither the first time by Nardi alone who fetch'd him up to the Palace in a private Coach and by a back way led him up into an appartment where he found the Dutchess standing with her Back to a Table whom he approach'd with the Respect was due to a Soveraign Princess in her own House she received him likewise with much courtesie and Chairs being set the Earl began to expose the true cause of his coming and how he was furprized to find a difficulty in a thing the World judged to be so advantageous to all the Parties The Dutchess did seem to excuse her self much upon the aversion her Daughter had to a Married life and the great desire she had to be Religious she said likewise That the Princess was young and of a Constitution not very strong and that besides the Italian Princes depending much upon the reputation of Zeal for the Catholick Religion there would be difficulties in obtaining a Dispensation for an Alliance with a Prince though never so great that was not declar'd of the same Church let the Opinion of his true Faith be what it would To every particular of these his Excellency answer'd what he thought proper and so as her Highness confessed to have appeased the greatest difficulties of her own thoughts and so much as if the Abbot's Negotiation in obtaining the Dispence did prove successful she knew not but that they might proceed to a happy conclusion This first Conversation ended with the Earl's desire of being favour'd with a sight of the young Princess whose possession he had so long thought necessary for his Master's happiness and the Dutchess's having promised it for the succeeding Evening So he retired home in the same manner and way as he arrived But now from Rome there was advice by the Abbot of Angeao of great difficulties that arose in the consultations of this Affair The French Embassador the Duke d' Estrée favour'd the Marriage with all the Power of the French Faction so did the Cardinal Barbarin and the other Friends and Allies of the House of Esté But his Holiness himself was very averse and Cardinal Altieri who was the governing Nephew a profest and violent opposer Various pretences were alledged for excuse of this obstinacy but the true cause was the jealousie of the See of Rome concerning any encrease of Greatness to the
of Parliament The Duke had much to do to get an exemption for himself as a respect to the advantage of his High Birth The Lords Powis Stafford Arundell and Petres were after accused of High Treason and many others In fine Hell was broke loose Malice Revenge and Ambition were supported by all that Falsehood and Perjury could contrive And lastly it was the most deplorable time that ever was seen in England But during all these Troubles the Earl of Peterborow continued firm industrious and diligent to all that could be of use and service to the Duke his Master he exposed himself in Parliament by perpetual opposition of that party he got the ill-will of the City and he made himself obnoxious to the Enemies of the Duke and his Religion in all the Provinces of England he stood up for the Innocent he to his power supported the oppressed and he declared for publick justice against publick malice and publick partiality After this things came to that height as the King was induced to send his Brother out of England whether it were he thought he was not able to protect him against the aversion of the People and Parliament or that he was weary of being urged to those generous ways of defending his Interest and Prerogative which the Duke was always ready to suggest unto him And to this he was urged by his Ministers his Minions and his Mistress The Duke then was forced to retire into Holland and after into Flanders the Earl of Peterborow remaining behind to serve his Master in what might occur in Parliament but at the instance of the prevailing party he was immediately with the rest of his Royal Highness's Friends excluded out of the Privy Council whereof before he had of some years been a Member he fell then to working by himself and all his Friends to strengthen the interest his Master had left behind he endeavour'd to make him Creatures he disabused several that had taken prejudices upon false suggestions And in fine braved his Enemies by all the important oppositions he could make against them and when the Parliament was up and that there was no more opportunity to serve him here his Lordship follow'd him into his Exile with his Wife and Family resolved to run his Fortune and support as well as he could the consequences of their displeasure who were like to be offended at such an adherence And indeed he was no sooner gone than he began to feel the weight of their resentment for there was a Pension he had given him from the King under the Great Seal of England of a Thousand pound by the Year for valuable consideration and which he had constantly received for divers Years from the date thereof that was immediately stopp'd and forbid farther to be paid by the influencing malice of the Earls of Essex and Shaftsbury He constantly then attended his Royal Highness during his stay in those Countries and at an expence as did no dishonor to his Master his Country nor the Quality of which he was and upon his Highness's notice of the King his Brother's being sick and the resolution he took thereupon to repair into England he with the Lord Churchil alone came over with him unto Windsor leaving the Dutchess and the Court at that time behind them I mention this as an introduction to an accident which after happen'd wherein his Lordship and his Royal Master had like to have been much concern'd which was effectually as shall be here set down Upon the Earl of Peterborow's arrival at London after a day or two he went to visit a noble Lady of his acquaintace the Countess of Powis who with her Family were in affliction by reason of the unjust Imprisonment and Oppression of the Earl her Husband at that time in the Tower After some discourses of the times and of the straits wherein it was believed the King the Duke and the Royal Family were all by reason of the seditious proceedings in Parliament and the disaffection had been raised towards them by the wicked Arts of their Enemies her Ladiship ask'd Whether his Lordship did not believe it might be a service to His Majesty and his Highness if some of the considerable leaders in those proceedings and designs could be taken off from their Malice and introduc'd into the King's Service and the endeavours of honestly astssiing the Crown The Earl gave his approbation of the proposition and said He did believe it would be so and that encouragement ought to be given to those that were capable to effect any such matter Her Ladiship told him then she knew an ingenious Woman who from the Calling of a Mid-wife had opportunity of frequenting domestically many considerable Families and that was intimately acquainted even with the Earl of Shaftsbury from whom she had been sometimes trusted with messages if not propositions to his Royal Highness himself although nothing had succeeded thereupon This Woman she said was passionately concern'd for the King and the Duke and had every where made it her business to soften their Enemies and make them Creatures She acquainted her Ladiship That she found divers of them susceptible of reason and to be taken off but they all feared an imaginary implacability in the Duke's Nature and that advancing his power they should but promote their own prejudices by giving him thereby opportunities of revenging the injuries they might formerly have done him So as if by receiving one or two of them into grace from the submissions they should make the rest might be disabused of the error they were in from the conceit of his revengeful Nature she did much believe it would prove of very good effect The Earl of Peterborow told the Countess of Powis he would willingly see this Woman and if the Men she named were considerable enough he would undertake upon due submissions beginning with one to make the rest see the Duke was the most gracious Prince in the World the most ready to forgive and the gladest to reclaim any Gentleman out of an ill proceeding wherein he might have been engaged through mistakes evil Counsel or Company or other Accidents that sometimes have influence over humane nature This Woman whose name was Cellier met the Earl at the same place the next day and affirming all the Countess had said told his Lordship That the fittest Man to begin withal was one Sir Robert Payton The Earl knew this Gentleman had been a Factious a Turbulent and a Discontented Man he had been turn'd out of some Employments by the endeavours and power of certain Ministers which he did after resent and endeavour to revenge upon the Government He had grown very popular presided at dangerous Clubs and carried the being Knight of the Shire for Middlesex against all the endeavours of the Court and the Loyal Party He was dangerously bold and industrious in the Parliament and his Lordship thought it not an ill service to take him off A time was appointed for
Relief gave him out of his Pocket Ten Guinneys and so he was for that time dismiss'd Immediately his Highness acquainted the King with the whole particulars and circumstances and delivered the Paper into his Majesty's Hands but desired he would not admit a Man of that Character for whom no body could answer into his presence but rather send him to be examined by his Secretary and farther directed as he should see occasion But the King found something extraordinary enough in this adventure to give him a curiosity to see and speak with Willoughby himself and after unknown to the Duke commanded Mr. Halsey to bring him to him How he behaved himself to the King or what he said is not well known but his Majesty was then so satisfied as he order'd him to the care of the Secretary of State from whom he had several Summs of Money for his incouragement and had him after by the admission of Mr. Cheffin into more private and secret discourses with him The Earl of Peterborow thought now having perform'd what was incumbent upon him in this occasion that he was wholly out of the affair having left it in the natural channel of such matters the Secretary's Office and expected no more trouble upon that account when one Morning Dangerfield came to his Lodging and under pretence of a great dissatisfaction complained That there was no care taken at the Secretary's for enabling him to perform the great service of discovery he had undertaken since he was deny'd a General Warrant to search where he should think fit or indeed any House or Lodging unless he would positively swear he knew to be therein such Papers or Instruments as would import to the purpose he did alledge His Lordship told him then that he had done what appertained to him he had brought him into the hands of the Ministers who had their own methods and whom he could not direct so as now he could interpose no more in that affair but left him to his Applications and Good Fortune He seem'd unsatisfied and went muttering away and after this his Lordship heard no more of him till one Evening the poor Cellier whose meaning and intentions were certainly very good came to the Earl's Lodging in great disorder to acquaint him that this Willoughby or Dangerfield was come in the Messenger's hands before the Council accused for having convey'd Papers into the Lodging of one Mansell and pretended to have found them there and indeed not having been able to procure the Warrant he would have had he made a pretence of coming to search for forbidden Goods and it is to be doubted would have play'd some such trick for his justification if the whole was not rather a design of the Earl of Shaftsbury to give him means by the access he had to the Duke and the Earl of applying the Scandalous Accusation he did afterwards contrive The Earl told Mrs. Cellier That if he had done any indirect thing or used any means he could not justifie he would not endeavour to support him nor countenance any proceeding that was not according to Justice and to Truth and he must expect to stand or fall by his own merits The poor Woman that was still in hopes he was honest and zealous in what he did pretend caused her Husband and her Son to give Bail for his appearance the next Council In the mean time he came again that Night after the Earl was in bed asserted his intentions for the King's Service and desired care might be taken to prevent his suffering for a desire to serve his Majesty The Earl told him He had taken unjustifiable ways that gave Men occasion to suspect the Truth of his Information and had waved all the methods whereby he had at first undertaken to proceed so as he was oblig'd to desert him and he had now only to provide for his safety as he should think fit He retired with utterance of some passionate words and if he did not understand with them before without doubt went then immediately into the interests and directions of Shaftsbury Oates Waller Mansell and the rest of the Authors of that pretended Popish Plot upon whose instigation he undertook the placing that sham contrivance in the Meal-Tubb of Mrs. Cellier that it might be found by them where the Earl was accused of intending the Assassination of the Earl of Shaftsbury and the Scandals and Accusations were to be cast upon divers other persons of Quality This he undertook at the next meeting of Council and with great pretensions of Repentance own'd himself for the obtaining of more credit to have been a Popish Instrument His Royal Highness unto whom it was a mortification to have been induced to speak or give any appearance of belief to such a wretch was by this time upon his first Journey into Scotland but the Earl remain'd behind that he might not seem to fly from any of their Aspersions and to be ready to serve the Duke in the approaching Parliament in every of those occasions wherein his interest might be concern'd But as soon as he was gone the Earl of Shaftsbury complain'd of the Earl of Peterborow to the King in Council for having been Abettor if not Author of a Contrivance wherein several great Men were intended to have been involved and a Murther that was particularly designed for himself His Lordship was summon'd to come and answer the Accusation which he did at the day appointed in the Council-Chamber and had the fortune so to overthrow the Impudence of his accuser by his ingenuous and candid Narration as he was dismiss'd by his Majesty and the major part of the Council to the shame of those would have had him sent to the Tower and the particular honor of his Lordship After this came on the Parliament the hardships against the Lords in the Tower did encrease Dangerfield exhibited a new Accusation and a Narrative the first to the Parliament the other to the People The Earl of Peterborow contested for the protection of Innocence and after defended himself and his Master Among other things the Villain accus'd the Duke to have given him Twenty pounds to kill the King and the Earl to have been privy and conscious of the offer The knowledge the World had of the Duke's Vertue and Loyalty made the credit of it to be detested by most of his very Enemies And the Earl so satisfied the House of Lords and the King by his plain and generous Defence as it obliged them to dismiss the Accusation to the shame and confusion of Dangerfield and all those that did abet and set him on And his Majesty standing by him at the time of this Contest told his Lordship openly That for all that had been said he would always trust his life sooner in his hands than in any of theirs who had been so ready to abet and countenance his Enemies In the same day was brought in afterwards by the Lord Russel that impudent Bill of
Exclusion from the Succession to the Crown against his Royal Highness It endur'd a strong and long debate Of powerful Eloquence and great parts were the Duke's Enemies who did assert the Bill but a Noble Lord appear'd against it who that day in all the force of Speech in Reason in Arguments of what could concern the publick or the private interests of Men in Honor in Conscience in Estate did out-do himself and every other Man and in fine his conduct and his parts were both victorious and by him all the wit and malice of that party was overthrown After this Henry Lord Viscount Stafford was brought to his Tryal as the chief of those Lords that had been accused of so many Treasons in the particulars of whose Impeachment there appear'd so many improbabilities in the Witnesses such reasons to render them of no belief and in the Prosecutors so much Malice Interest and Partiality as it was impossible to the Earl of Peterborow for Conscience sake not to endeavour his justification though to the uttermost offence of so powerful and prevailing a party He came to the House the last day of his Tryal and would go down into the Hall to exercise his right of Judicature though he were sick of a Fever from the pain of his Arm that was out of joint though he was perswaded and threatned from it and in scorn of that iniquity did not remove till he had voted for publick Justice against popular Tyranny and Oppression This Parliament after this Lords Condemnation came to be Dissolv'd and the Earl being then no more either of Council or Court retired to Drayton in Northamptonshire where his Master had commanded him to stay till the approaching Parliament was to meet that had been appointed for to sit at Oxford It was about this time the Faction began to prepare for Action They began to find the King more sensible of his danger and their intentions than ever he had been They began to lose the hold they had upon his Mistresses and his Ministers and that the false Minions of his Court began many of them to lose their esteem and be suspected by him whilst he began to harken to honester Men and that were better instructed in the True principles of his Interest and Government They believed the Assembling of the Parliament of Oxford was calculated for to evade their power in London and that at last they were like to find the King not so complying to his own Ruine as they might desire and possibly were made to expect some Months before They thought themselves then ready and ripe for violence they intended to put the end of their Assosiations into practice and a Man of their party came not to Oxford without more Friends and Arms than had been needful for them at any other time Upon noise whereof the Lords and Friends of the Crown did in some measure do so on the other side being willing to secure themselves from insults of their Adversaries if they should be attempted and it look'd in a degree like one of those Parliaments call'd in the Barons days The Earl of Peterborow came to this Assembly from his House more provided than ordinary in proportion to the care and intentions of the other honest Lords And I have heard him say That meeting the King by chance at his first arrival to the Town he thought him better attended and under an appearance of more Resolution and Majesty than ever he had seen in him before The King entred then upon the Parliament and indeed such was his love to quiet and the publick peace as he was ready to have granted more than had ever been fit for them to ask But they were now as it pleased God so exalted in their opinion of their power and interest as they would have all and were resolved to leave him but the empty name of King and without power to maintain that longer than it should seem convenient He was forc'd then and on a sudden to dissolve this Parliament also and to betake himself to their Councels who undertook to make him live without it And so he came to spend at London and Windsor the ensuing Summer Enrag'd the Party became at this and look'd upon him to have escaped their hands by the Art and Contrivance of his new Cabinet and so as by the methods they took for his subsistance he was not like to come suddenly into their power again And now the Faction found that both the Brothers were to be destroy'd before they could attain the power was thought necessary for them so they then fell to the fatal consultations of plain Rebellion open Murther and such other pious Expedients as did suit with their refined Consciences which the Year after broke out by the discovery of the Enterprise of Rye and publick appearance of the Rebellions of Monmouth and Argile But upon the dissolution of this Parliament the Earl of Peterborow went back to his House and employ'd the rest of that Summer in disabusing many Gentlemen of the opinion they had receiv'd of the candor and innocence of that Parties intentions and in procuring Addresses to encourage the King and discountenance the disloyal Faction In October his Royal Highness sent for his Lordship to come and attend him in Scotland which he did with all his Family and with that affection as made it doubtful whether his Journey might not have proved a means to have excluded him from ever returning home again Indeed in this fluctuation of affairs where not only the Court and Council were divided but even the King 's own Thoughts and Inclinations it was dangerous to be so far distant from the Court and many of the Earl's Enemies whereof he had some were very potent did afford him such ill offices to his Majesty as when his Royal Highness did write to the King about any of the Earl's interests he could never procure any answer during all the time of his absence But the Winter wore out at last and the Duke was invited home Those that had least interest in the Council were for his return those that had most were against it under specious pretences But the true reason was They had a mind to keep their Power which they thought his Quality his Parts and Inclination to business would if not at first yet in some time very much diminish or eclipse He Embark'd the _____ of March at Leith in his own Yatcht and attended by the Earl of Peterborow and divers other Noble Lords of both the Kingdoms and setting Sail from thence under the sufferance of very tempestuous weather landed at Yarmouth where with the applause and duties of that Town and all the adjacent Countries he was received and thence passed to New-market meeting there the King and with that joy which was natural to him because he truly loved his Brother above all other things It was from hence he accompanied his Majesty to London but having left the Dutchess at Edenburgh
he was forc'd to depart once more from thence to conduct her home according as he had engaged himself to do In order to this he Embarked upon the Friggat the accomodations as well as the safety whereof was esteem'd more proper for both the Voyage and the Company difficulties having been experienced in the last passage aboard the Yatchts which were esteem'd would not have been so dangerous in this other sort of Embarkation His Highness proceeded then but Providence shew'd that all pre-cautions are vain and let the wise take what care they can the event and success of all things are ever in her power For the Duke had not sailed far being over or near the Coast of Yarmouth when from many circumstances of negligence or ill conduct in those who had the leading of that sailing affair the Duke's Ship struck upon a Sand and in a short time sunk down to rights all perishing in this occasion except such as could swim or had the extraordinary fortune to be saved by Boats which may be thought to have had enough to do in so distracted and divided a conjuncture But the Duke himself was preserv'd with a few in his own Pinnace by the care and Loyalty of the Seamen who would neither intrude themselves nor suffer others for their safeties to expose that of a Prince so considerable His Highness came after safely to Land at Leith and once again into the Arms of his incomparable Dutchess who was half dead though she saw him live at the fears of that which though it was now past she had heard had been once so near After some days stay they together left Scotland for the last time and came together to London where they were received with all the joy honest Men could express The Summer they spent with the King at which time was discovered the first part of the desperate Phanatick Plot divers Accusations there were and the Lord Russel was Tryed Condemned and Executed Many were Imprison'd and a great consternation appear'd upon all that Party The Earl of Peterborow was in the mean time restor'd to his place in Council and his part in the Summers actions consisted in causing Presentments to be made and Indictments in his own Country for examples sake of such as had been of Shaftsbury's Party and appear'd disaffected to the Crown with settling the Magistracy and Offices of the Militia in faithful hands so as by the end of the Year of one of the most perverse and worst enclin'd Countries of all England he did with the pains care and diligence that he apply'd render it the most exemplary and readiest to serve the King of any other In October ensuing he attended the Duke his Master to New-market and was with his Highness at the time when that fortunate Fire broke out which burnt that Town and preserv'd the King and his Brother by hastening their return to London sooner than was intended By which the assault of Rye was prevented and those measures disconcerted which in consequence were design'd to the ruine of the Kingdom and all those that loved the Royal House and the Government He continued to serve his Master with the same zeal and concern the rest of the days of King Charles at whose Sickness and sudden Death he was present and a witness of that tenderness wherewith the dying King resign'd his Dominions and all his Interest to his loving Brother as the right of his inheritance by all the Laws both of God and Man After the King's decease great endeavours were used to prevent the Earl of Peterborow from succeeding to the place under the new King wherein he had served his Majesty while he was Duke the space of twenty years together but his Master was too just and generous not to stick to his old Servant that had run so many fortunes and hazards with him He did then give his Lordship the Gold Key and thereby establish'd him Groom of the Stole and First Gentleman and Governor of his Bed-Chamber The Earl served his Majesty afterward at his Royal Coronation in bearing before him St. Edward's Scepter and after the ensuing Parliament and the passing the Bill of Attainder against the Duke of Monmouth one Evening when his Lordship expected nothing less his Majesty with a bounty and graciousness never to be forgotten took him aside and ask'd If he did not remember a promise that had once been made him to which the Earl replied He had a memory only for what pleased his Majesty who answered He had not forgotten the Garter he should have had after his attendance on him at the Sole-Bay Fight and he should find he was as mindful of old Promises as ancient Service Some days being past the King commanded the Earl's attendance at a Chapter in Whitehall and there caused him to be Invested with the George and Garter after which his Lordship was sent into the Country to raise Troops against the Rebellion wherein he did very exemplary Service to his Majesty and upon his return he with the Duke of Norfolk and the Lord Treasurer was Installed in the Royal Castle of Windsor to all the purposes and privileges which do appertain to the Noble Order of the Garter Henry Earl of Peterborow had Issue by his Wife the Lady Penelope Obrien two Daughters Elizabeth Mordaunt that dyed in the Twelfth year of her Age. Mary Mordaunt Married to Henry Howard Duke of Norfolk OSBERT le MORDAUNT a Norman Knight Osmond le Mordawnt Elena Fortis Baldwin Mordaunt Eustace le Mordaunt Alice of Alne Robert Mordaunt William de Mordaunt Amicia de Olney Agnes Mordaunt William de Merdaunt Rese de Wake Richard Merdaunt William Merdaunt Rebert de Mordaunt Ieane de Bray Nichalas Mordaunt Richard Mordaunt Edmund de Mordaunt Elena de Broc Rebert de Mordaunt Agnes le Ejlrange 〈◊〉 Mordaunt 〈◊〉 Cheney 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Boys Edmund Fettyplace Margaret Mordaunt John Denton John Radney of Radney Stoak Anne Mordaunt John Fisher Robert de Mordaunt Elizabeth de Holdenby Cassandria Mordaunt a Nun in the Monestery of Elnestow Elizabeth Mordaunt William Mordaunt Margaret Pec. Maud Mordaunt Willm. Mordaunt Ld. of Hempsted Anne Huntington Sr. John Mordaunt Edith Latimen Eliz Mordaunt Sr. Willm. Brown Ld. of Abess Reading in Essex William Mordaunt John 1st Lord Mordaunt Elizabeth Vere Robert Mordaunt Amye de Vere Johanna Mordaunt Giles Strangway Ld. of Melborne in Com Dorsell Edith Mordaunt Iohn Elmes Ld. of Lilford George Mordaunt of the Hill Cicely Harding John 2d. Lord Mordaunt Elly Fitzlewes Edmund Mordaunt Willm. Mordaunt Ld. of Oakley Agness Booth 〈◊〉 Mordaunt 〈◊〉 Strangway 〈◊〉 Melborne 〈◊〉 Dorsell 〈◊〉 Mordaunt 〈◊〉 of Oakley 〈◊〉 Booth Dowthy Mordaunt Thomas Moore Ld. of Bampton Eliz Mordaunt Silvester Danvers Anne Mordaunt Clement Tanfield Eliz Mordaunt George Monox Lewes Lord Mordaunt Elizabeth Darcy Margaret Mordaunt Willm. Acclam Ursula Mordaunt Tho Welbore of Clavering in Essex Mary Mordaunt Thomas Mancell Lord of Morgan Henry Lord Mordaunt Margaret Compton Catherine Mordaunt Iohn Honingham
our Reign A Letter from King Henry the Eighth to Sir John Mordaunt To our trusty and welbeloved Sir John Mordaunt and Sir William Paulet Knights our Counsellors Henry R. By the King TRusty and welbeloved we greet you well And will and command you That for the enstoring the Park of our Right trusty and welbeloved the Lord Hastings ye deliver or cause to be delivered unto him or his Assigns in that behalf Three hundred of quick Deer to be taken of our Gift in our Chace of Leicester and within our Park there called Leicester Fryth And these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge in that behalf or at all times hereafter any restraint or commandment heretofore made or had the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Given under our Signet at our Maner of Greenwich the Seventh Day of April the Seventeenth Year of our Reign A Letter from King Henry the Eighth to Sir John Mordaunt To our trusty and right welbeloved Counsellor Sir John Mordaunt Knight Master and Surveyor of our Woods and Wood-sales Henry R. By the King HEnry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England and of France Defender of the Faith and Lord of Ireland To our trusty and Right welbeloved Counsellor Sir John Mordaunt Knight Master and Surveyor of our Woods and Wood-sales within our County of Hertford and in his absence to his Deputy or Deputies there Greeting Forasmuch as we have not only commanded our welbeloved Servant Hector Asheley Master and Controuler of our Works at our Maner of Hunesdone in our said County of Hertford to fell and cut down or to cause to be felled and cut down with all diligence in either of our said Parks there such and as many Oaks as he from time to time shall think needful and expedient as well for Pale for the inclosing of a Paddok within our old Park of Hunesdone for a Winter pasture there as also for the empaling of the Parsons ground within our new Park at Hunesdone but also we by these presents for certain causes and considerations us specially moving have freely given and granted unto our said Servant all the Lops and Tops of the said Oaks and of every of them without any thing therefore paying or accompt yeilding unto us or our use at any time hereafter We will therefore and command you and every of you to permit and suffer the said Hector Asheley to have use and enjoy the whole effect of this our commandment and gift without any your challenge lett or interruption to the contrary as ye tender our pleasure And these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge in that behalf Given under our Signet at our Maner of Beaulieu the Twelfth day of August the Nineteenth Year of our Reign Charta Regis Henrici Octavi HEnricus Octavus Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Rex Fidei Defensor Dominus Hiberniae Omnibus dilectis fidelibus suis Majori Civitatis suae Londini Johanni Mordaunt militi Conciliario nostro Christophero Hales Solicitori nostro Rogero Wygston Armigeris Salutem Quia accepimus quod Johannes Gysours filius Johannis Gysours Armigeri Fatuus Idiota in vita sua fuit quod regimen sui ipsius terrarum tenementorum suorum non sufficit quod ipse in fatuitate sua magnam partem terrarum tenementorum suorum alienavit in exheredationem suam nostri prejudicium manifestum nos indemnitati nostrae perspicere volentes vobis mandamus quod ad loca ubi terrae tenementa illa infra civitatem Londinum existunt in propriis personis vestris accedatis de statu suo qualis ille erat dum in humanis agebat viis modis quibus poteritis informari omnes affines cognatos vicinos suos circumspectè examinetis Et nihilominus per Sacramentum proborum legalium hominum de civitate praedicta per quos rei veritas melius sciri poterit diligenter inquiratis utrum idem Johannes Gysours junior fatuus idiota in vita sua fuisset nec ne si sic utrum à nativitate sua seu ab alio tempore si ab alio tempore à quo tempore qualiter quomodo si lucidis gaudebat intellectualibus si idem Johannes in eodem statu existens terras tenementa aliqua vendiderit seu alienaverit nec ne quid pro eisdem recepit si sic vendiderit tunc quae terrae tenementa ubi vel in vel quibus in quorum vel cujus manibus terrae tenementa sic alienata existunt qualiter quo modo quae terrae quae tenementa haeredibus suis adhuc remanent de quo vel de quibus tam terrae tenementa sic alienata quam terrae tenementa sibi retenta teneant per quod servicium qualiter quomodo quantum valeant per annum in omnibus exitibus quis propinquior haeres ejus sit cujus aetatis inquisitionem inde distinctè apertè factam nobis in Cancelaria nostra sub sigillis vestris sigillis eorum per quos fuerit sine dilatione mittatis hoc breve c. Teste meipso apud Westmonasterium quarto die Maii Anno Regni vicesimo Newman Charta Regis Henrici Octavi HEnry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England and of France Defender of the Faith and Lord of Ireland To our Right welbeloved Counsellors Sir John Mordaunt Knight and Roger Wigston Esquire and to our welbeloved Robert Harward Thomas Borett and John Duke greeting Know ye that we having Trust and Confidence in your Wisdoms Fidelities and Circumspections have appointed deputed and authorised you and by these presents give unto you and two of you and to such Persons bringers hereof as ye shall substitute name and assign in your place and absence full Power and Authority to take and provide to and for the use of our Fortifications Munitions Buildings and Reparations of our Ordnances and other things concerning as well the Safeguard Defence and Tuition of our Town and Marches of Caleys the Castles of Guysnes Hammes and Newnambrigge as also other necessaries and requisites of and for the same purpose to be taken and had not only within our Lordships Maners Woods and Parks and other Grounds within our Counties of Kent Sussex and Essex but also to be taken and had within any Lordships Maners Lands and Tenements of any other Person or Persons within the said Counties of Kent Sussex and Essex at convenient and reasonable prices and by this we give unto you and two of you full Power and Authority in manner and form above-specified to take Carpenters Workmen Artificers and Labourers apt and convenient for Felling and Squaring of the said Timber and Trees to the use aforesaid and also all manner of Carriages as well by Sea and Salt-Waters as also by Fresh-Waters
that time had Interest in the Moiety of the Premises as in the right of his Wife agreed with the Executors of the said Earl for the Premises And so after that the same Sir Thomas had the said Drayton-Park in which Sir Thomas's days none of the said Keepers did fell or take any such Wood at that time growing of and upon the said Ditches And also the Keepers of the said Sir Thomas walked their Ring-walk within the said Little Park of Brikestock all the said Sir Thomas Cheyne's time And after that Sir Thomas Cheyne deceased then came the premises into the Hands of the Lord Mordaunt and his Co-partners who entred into the premises and also into the Maner of Drayton then being in the Tenure of Robert Marburn Gentleman and the said Lord would have occupied the said Maner of Drayton and put out the said Robert Marburn wherewith the said Robert took displeasure with the said Lord Mordaunt And the said Robert Marburn to the intent he would occupy the said Maners still in his Hands Entitled George late Earl of Salop to the premises by a false Will nuncupative which the same Robert Surmised that the said Edward Earl of Wilts should make Whereupon the said Maner of Drayton-Park and other Premises were in contention divers Years And after that the said Lord Mordaunt and his Co-partners agreed with the said Earl of Salop and so had the said Maner Park and other the Premises quietly without any Interruption Claim Challenge or Demand to the Premises or any part or parcel thereof made thereunto by any of the King's Keepers or Officers of the said Little Park of Brikestock and walked the Ring-Walk within the said Park of Brikestock and made the Hedges Pale Ring unto the time that one John Allen Keeper of the King's Park of Brikestock by the commandment of the Lord Parre that now is caused certain Wood to be felled whereof some of the said Wood did grow within the bottom of the Ditch and some otherwise which Wood was carried by the Lord Mordaunt's Servants to Drayton-Maner And after that one Richard Slade otherwise called Richard Smith Brother to one Rowland Slade did fell a Tree in the bottom of Drayton-Park-Ditch by the commandment of the said Rowland at that time being Keeper of the said Nether-Park of Brikestock Whereupon the said Lord Mordaunt shewed the said Lord Parre and the said Lord Parre said That Rowland did it by his commandment and that he the said Lord Parre might lawfully command the said Rowland so to do for two parts which he assured belonged to the Browns parts as well as the Lord Mordaunt did command his Servants to meddle for his Two parts and so the Lord Parre from time to time did permit and suffer the said Keepers for to do all the displeasures to the said Lord Mordaunt and his Servants that might be devised or imagined for that intent and purpose that the said Lord Parre would have had the rule of Drayton-Park himself And James Stevenson saith That at another time which was about the time of the Insurrection in Lincolnshire that the said Rowland did fell certain Wood growing in the bottom of Drayton-Park-Ditch Whereupon the said James went to the Lord Parre for to know his pleasure who made answer to the said James as followeth videlicet What have you to do therewith Then said James Sir I come to know your pleasure and whether it be your pleasure that your Servants shall so enterprize upon my Master's Ground or not No said the Lord Parre I shall make your Master and you answer also So the said James departed from the Lord Parre at that time And where the said Drayton-kark since the first making of the said Park hath been always Ditched and Hedged and so did continue all the days and time of Sir Simon de Drayton and Sir Henry Greene Knight Henry Greene Son of the said Sir Henry Greene Sir Ralph Greene Knight John Greene and Henry Greene Esquires and also in the days of John Stafford and Edward Stafford late Earls of Wilts and in the days of Robert Wittlebury William Marbury and Thomas Mountague Esquires Executors of the Testament and Last Will of the said Edward Stafford and always used to be Hedged and the Ditches scowred by the Owners of the said Drayton-Park and in all their days and time no default found in the said Freebord Hedges and Ditches by any of the Keepers of the said little Park of Brikestock but that the owners of Drayton-Park did scowre the Ditches and Hedges of the same used their Freebord took profits of all manner of Wood and Thorn growing in and upon the said Ditches and Freeborde unto the time that the said Drayton-Park came to the Possession of one Sir Thomas Cheyne Knight who had the said Drayton-Park as in the right of his Wife And in the days and time of the said Sir Thomas Cheyne the Keeper of the said little Park found default in the said Sir Thomas Cheyne for not scowring of the said Ditches and for not well repairing of the Hedges of the same Drayton-Park forasmuch as the Hedges of Drayton-Park at that time were thinly made and very low And also the said Keeper of the little Park surmised That the said Sir Thomas Cheyne and his Keeper of Drayton-Park did stand between both the Hedges of Drayton-Park and Killed the King's Deer which were accustomably used for to Feed in the said little Park and did train the King 's Deer out of the said little Park into Drayton-Park and surmised and laid to the said Sir Thomas Cheyne and his Servants charge divers Misdemeanours as Breaking into the said little Park of Brikestock with their Bows Arrows Hounds and Grey-hounds over and beside that the said Keepers of the said little Park of Brikestock complained in the King's Court of Swanymote upon the said Sir Thomas Cheyne and upon his Servants as well for Killing of Deer as also for to mend the said Ditches and Hedges by a day prefixed and said to the said Sir Thomas Cheyne that If the said Ditches and Hedges were not amended that then they would inform the King's Grace King Henry the Seventh of their misdemeanours Whereupon the said Sir Thomas Cheyne considered to himself and among his Friends That he would not have the King's displeasure in that behalf by the advice of his Friends caused a Pale to be set upon the top of Drayton-Park Ditch which was the first Pale that ever was set there after the making of the said Park for before that pale so set there the said Drayton-park was ever Ditched Quickset and Hedged which Pale so set by the said Sir Thomas Cheyne continued all the life of the said Sir Thomas and long time after without any default found thereat or at any of the Freeborde Ditches and Hedges of the said Drayton-Park unto the Tenth Year of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lord of Famous Memory King Henry the Eighth at which time
several maintenances until their several Marriages I do Will Give Bequeath and Devise by this my Last Will and Testament unto my loving Friends Edward Watson and John Wake Esquires and to their Heirs for ever Two parts of my Maners of Carleton and Chillington in the County of Bedford in Three parts to be divided which I lately purchased of the Lord Vaux the Land Meadow and Common thereto belonging lying in the Fields of Turvey only excepted Also I will give and bequeath unto the said Edward Watson and John Wake and to their Heirs for ever Two parts of my Maner of Stacheden otherwise called Delwike in the County of Bedford in three parts to be divided lately by me purchased of Master William Cornwallis Esquire and Lucy his Wife one of the Daughters and Heirs of Sir John Nevill Knight Lord Latimer deceased and also two parts of my Maner and Closes of Snelson in the Parish of Lawenden in the County of Buckingham commonly called Snelson-Pastures in three parts to be divided or as much of my said Maners of Carleton and Chillington Stacheden called Delwike and Snelson-Pastures as shall amount unto two full parts of all the said Maners Closes and Pastures in three parts to be divided To the intent and purpose and upon special Trust and Confidence That if my Son Henry Mordaunt and his Heirs do not yearly pay to each of my Daughters for their several maintenances until their several Marriages the foresaid Summs of Fifty Pounds a piece with their several Meat Drink and Lodging or One hundred Marks a Year a piece without Meat and Drink so that each of them may quietly have and receive Fifty Pounds a Year and Meat and Drink or a Hundred Marks a piece without Meat and Drink according to my true meaning as aforesaid Then I will That the said Edward Watson and John Wake my said Executors for this purpose and their Heirs shall yearly after my death levy and receive the Rents Issues Profits of the Premises and pay unto my said two Daughters yearly as aforesaid to each of them the Summ of One hundred Marks for their several maintenance until the several days of their several Marriages and the rest remaining to deliver unto my Son Henry Mordaunt and his Heirs And to the intent and purpose and upon special Trust and Confidence That if my said Son Henry Mordaunt his Heirs Exccutors or Assigns shall not pay the said several Summs and every part and parcel of them before by me in this my Will to my Daughters and others bequeathed at such days and times as in this my Last Will is devised mentioned declared or intended according to my true meaning as I trust and assuredly hope he will Or shall resuse make denial or use detraction or delays Then I will That the said Edward Watson and John Wake or the Survivor of them and their Heirs shall bargain and sell to any person or persons their Heirs or Assigns for ever the said two parts of my said Maners Closes and Pastures with all and singular their Appurtenances in Carleton Chillington Stacheden called Delwike and Snelson aliàs Snelson-Pastures in three parts to be divided or as much thereof and of every part and parcel thereof as shall amount or fully extend unto the just value of two parts in three parts to be divided the Land in the Field of Turvey belonging to Carleton and Chillington only excepted for and towards the payment of their said several Portions before bequeathed And my intent is That if any Summ of Money shall be remaining over and besides the Legacies aforesaid which I will first to be satisfied then within convenient time after my Executors shall have received the same my said Executors and their Heirs shall deducting their reasonable Charges pay the same over unto my Son or to such other as shall be at that time my Heir Male of my House of Drayton And for that purpose only I mean for the maintenance of my Daughters and for the sale of my said Land as aforesaid if need so require I will that Edward Watson and John Wake Esquires and I will that _____ shall be my Supervisors for whose care in that behalf I give _____ And if my Son Henry depart this World without Heir Male my Daughters or any of them then surviving then my will is That my Daughter Katherine shall have in Augmentation of her Portion Five hundred Pounds more over and above her former Legacies And my Daughter Elizabeth also shall have Five hundred Pounds more beside her former Legacies And Arthur Maunsell if he be then alive shall have the like Summ of Five hundred Pounds otherwise I will the same to be divided between my Daughter Mary's two Sons Arthur and Henry Maunsell and that Edward Watson and John Wake and their Heirs my Executors also for this purpose shall stand seized of two parts of my Fee-simple Lands until such time as my Daughters be paid their Legacies by the next Heirs to whom my Son shall leave the same if my Son die without a Son But if my Son Henry have a Son that shall survive him then these three last Legacies bequeathed unto my Daughters Katherine and Elizabeth and the Children of my Daughter Mary touching their last bequests of Five hundred Pounds a piece shall be meerly void Nevertheless my Will is That though he have a Son my Daughters shall have their former Legacies and Portions according to my true meaning as aforesaid And my full Meaning and Will is That the Charges of my several Daughters Marriages in Meat Drink and Apparel according to their degrees shall be defrayed and born at the Costs and Charges of my Son Henry Mordaunt and his Heirs or such other to whom my Lands by vertue hereof shall descend Which if he or they shall refuse or not do Then I Will That Edward Watson and John Wake my Executors or the Survivor of them or their Heirs shall see performed out of such Lands as before and hereafter I have willed and devised to them and their Heirs as occasion shall serve And thus having disposed of my worldly Goods and taken order for my Daughters Portions and Debts which I wish to be first paid having a special care that all and every Person or Persons to whom I have sold any manner of Lands Tenements or Hereditaments shall quietly and peaceably enjoy the same according to my true intent and meaning Although my trust and hope is my Son and Heir and his and their Heirs and all those that are or shall be Heir or Heirs Males to John Lord Mordaunt my late Grandfather to John Lord Mordaunt my Father deceased to my self or to my Son Henry Mordaunt shall and will quietly and peaceably permit and suffer all those Person and Persons and their Heirs to whom I have sold any Maners Lands or Tenements as aforesaid to have hold and enjoy the same and every part and parcel of them to them and their Heirs for ever
seid Erle my Lord for Gods love remember that ye put not your soule in charge in yevynge your Landes from the heires Whereunto the seid Erle at all tymes answered and said to this Deponent Robert I may as well yeve these Landes where I will as I may yeve the Gowne of my back For as for the heirs of Veere they shall never inherit them Also this Deponent seith that at suche tyme that the seid Erle was sick this Deponent contynewelly abode with him by whyche seasson this Deponent never knew the seid Erle chaunge his mind in this behalfe And this Deponent also seith that on Pahne-Sunday eve whyche was the eve of our Lady-daye of the Annuntiation and also whyche was the daye next before the decesse of the seid Erle this Deponent asked of the seid Erle whether he had made his Wyll or nay whyche Erle then seid that he had made noon as yet but that he would doe And that this Deponent asked how his Lordship was minded with Drayton and with all his Fee simple Lands whereof he commaunded this Deponent before that tyme to bere witnesse whyche Erle then seid that it was oon of the greatest causes why he would chaunge his Wyll for as his mind had been to his Cossen Erle of Shrewsbury soe should it contynewe for ever commaunding this Deponent and other there present to testifye that his last Wyll was and should be that his Cossen George Erle of Shrewsbury should have his Manoir of Drayton and all other his Fee simple Landes to him and to his heires for ever after the detts payd and the Wyll of the seid Erle performed Then present at the speaking of the seid wordes William Pemberton yet lyving and divers others decessed Whereupon the seid Erle went to other cogitations at what tyme noe man thought that the seid Erle should have decessed so shortly as he did but trusted that the seid Erle shuld have lyved muche longer than he did albeit on the morrow about ten of the clock what tyme the Preist was at Masse and reding of the Passion the sed Erle departed to Gods mercy without any chaungyng of his Wyll or mind concernyng the premisses as far as this Deponent knewe or understood But this Deponent seith that about seven of the Clock in the mornyng of the seid Palme-Sunday John Mordaunt Serjeaunt at Law came to the seid Erle and asked him how he did whyche Erle then seid well as it pleaseth God and then the seid Mordaunt departed againe from thence And about ten of the Clock then next followyng the seid Mordaunt came againe to the seid Erle with a Wyll made in the name of the seid Erle whyche Wyll the seid Mordaunt then red to the seid Erle when he was anoyled and in extreme peynes of deth soe that the seid Erle neither herde nor understode what the said Mordaunt red wherein as by the seid redyng it appeared to this Deponent that nether the Manoir of Drayton nether any parte of the Fee simple Landes of the seid Erle were expressed in the seid Wyll And after the seid redyng of the seid Wyll the seid Erle was deed or a man perfetly might seye a Pater Noster and Ave Maria and oon Crede And more he knoweth not Deposition of William Pemberton WIlliam Pemberton Gentilman of the age of forty yeares or more sworne and examined seith that he was brought up of a chyeld with Edward Stafford late Erle of Wiltshyre and in his servyse as sume tyme his kerver and sume tymes lay in bed with the seid Erle when it pleased him by the space of twenty yeres and more whyche was to the tyme of his decesse Also he seith that many and divers tymes the seid Erle shewed and reported to this Deponent that noon of the chylderen or heires of Vere shuld inheret his Manoir of Drayton or eny parte of his other Fee simple Landes but that his Cossen the Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have to him and to his heires for ever the seid Manoir with all his other Fee simple Lands all his detts payd and his Wyll performed Also this Deponent seith that the day next before the decesse of the seid Erle the seid Erle rehersed the seid wordes before this Deponent Robert Merbury and others now decessed wyllinge and charging them to bere witnesse whensoever ever they shuld be called that his full myend and last Wyll was and shuld be that his Cossyn George Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have his Manoir of Drayton with all his other Fee simple Landes to him and to his heires for ever after his detts paid and his Wyll performed And he seith in vertue of his othe and as he shall answere before God he was continewelly present with the seid Erle from the seid tyme of the foreseid speking of the seid wordes by the seid Erle unto that the seid Erle was deed about ten of the Clock before noon on Palm-Sondaye and whyche was our Lady day Annuntiation aboute whyche tyme the Preist beyng at Masse was redyng of the Passion by all whyche seasson this Deponent never knewe herd or understoode that the seid Erle changed his wyll or myend ether in word or dede in that behalfe And more he knoweth not Deposition of Henry Caine. HEnry Caine Yoman of the age of eight and forty yeres and more sworne and examyned seith that he was Grome of the Chamber to the seid Erle by the space of seven yeres and after that this Deponent was Yoman of the Chamber with the seid Erle by the space of other seven yeres and more whyche was to the tyme of the decesse of the seid Erle by whyche seasson after Blackhethe Feld as well at Drayton as at Palenall and divers other places this Deponent divers and meny tymes hath herd the seid Erle openly declare for his wyll before this Deponent and divers others of his fellowes bothe Yomen and Gromes of the Chamber that his Cossyn Erle of Shrewsbury shuld have to him and to his heires for ever the Manoir of Drayton and other his Fee simple Landes after his Detts payd and his Wyll performed commaundnig this Deponent and other his fellowes to record and testifye the premysses Also this Deponent seith that the seid Erle aboute a moneth before his decesse gave lycense to this Deponent to goe to Newark upon Trent for suche besinesses as this Deponent there had to doe about whyche seasson this Deponent came to the Erle of Shrewsbury lyeing at Wynfeld at whose coming the seid Erle demaunded of this Deponent how his Cossyn Erle of Wiltshyre did Whereunto this Deponent aunswering seid that at his departing from the seid Erle of Wiltshyre he was metely in goode helthe whyche Erle of Shrewsbury then seid that the understode that the seid Erle of Wiltshyre shuld be decessed And then this Deponent seid that he would ryde streyht to his seid Lordes place to knowe the certente and to bryng redy word againe to the seid Erle of Shrewsbury
between the power of the Queen and her Kindred and the Ambition of his Brothers as it was not strange that Wise Men should desire to withdraw from the difficulties of keeping well with both or the danger of disobliging either In this condition remained the House of Howard at the death of Edward the Fourth and for some time after till the Ambition of King Richard with the Arts and Practices subservient thereunto had through Blood and Violence made way unto the Crown and that the Young King was destroyed with his Brother and as many of the great Lords as were like to have taken part with the unhappy Prince The new King after this being one of the most Politick as well as the most daring Princes in the World was not ignorant of the ill Actions he had committed nor of the consequences they were like to have he knew all the Friends he could make would be little enough to sustain him against the potent Enemies he had created And therefore he made it now his business to gain among the Nobles and among the People every Man that had Parts or Interests suitable to his occasions To this end knowing the Lord Howard and his Son had from the latter Years of King Edward been retired from the Court not oversatisfied and in no good Correspondence with the Queens Kindred which he had been forced to suppress He thought from the great interest they had and their exceeding reputation for Wisdom and Valour they were the sittest persons to be gained and the likeliest to adhere to him of any other He therefore invited them to Court and as an earnest of his Favour and dependance he created the Father Duke of Norfolk with the restitution of the Lands of his Mother's Inheritance and makes the Son at the same time Earl of Surrey They were also from thenceforth the chief in all his Councils and with this proceeding he captivates their grateful Hearts and makes them resolve to stand by him in every Fortune After King Richard had Reigned two years in all the endeavours that could be practised by a Wise Ruler to get his faults to be forgotten and to oblige his People by doing Justice and making good Laws and favouring particulars as far as was in his power he found notwithstanding from every part Clouds a-gathering in order to a Storm Abroad the Earl of Richmond sought for Aid at Home the Duke of Buckingham and other great Lords prepared to assist him In fine towards the end of the Second Year of his Reign that Earl Landed in England and at last the King was forced to see his Crown set at Com-promise in the Fortune of a Bloody Battel at Bosworth was the Fatal Field whereat this Criminal King was as prodigal of his own Blood as he had been of other Mens All that could be performed by the conduct of a Captain or the Valour of a Souldier he put in practice to save that Crown which had cost so many Crimes And when by the overthrow of some Troops and desertion of others he found it could not be as one that scorned to out-live his Power and his Fortune he threw himself into the Arms of Death as the only refuge against humane miseries John Duke of Norfolk his faithful Friend and Subject with his Son the Earl of Surrey Fought both this day in behalf of their Benefactor and the Duke who led on the Archers and had his post at the head of the Foot was there slain upon the place in performing that duty to which he was called by his Honor and his Gratitude The Earl toward the end of the day overcome by his own Valour which had spent his strength and spirits in continual exercise of Heroick Actions but that disdained to save his Life by flying from the Fortune of his Friends was taken by his Enemies and brought a Prisoner to the Victorious King The Earl of Surrey was at this time in the vigor of his youth Tall Strong and Graceful of a flourishing Health and Constitution and esteemed one of the best Men of Arms of that Age He was of a high Spirit but had a sober Aspect and was nothing dejected by his ill Fortune King Henry was surprized though not undelighted with the sight of a Man so extraordinary and after having said some thing to the other Prisoners of Quality he called for the Earl and ask'd him How he durst engage in the Service of so Vnjust and Cruel a Tyrant To whom the Earl Replied That King Richard was in the Throne before he came into his Interest and if he had found the Crown of England upon a Bush he would have Fought for it The King did not seem exasperated with so bold an Answer and with the rest he did dismiss him to the charge of those in whose custody he was to be conveyed to the Tower Within these fatal Walls which seemed built for the restraint of Hero's the Earl of Surrey was detained Three Years During which Imprisonment he often with gratitude acknowledged the Goodness and Care of the Duke his Father who had given him such a share of Learning as did enable him during that solitude to divert himself with the Records and Notions of Philosophy and other useful and esteemable Studies He had acquiesced in the determination of Heaven and the destruction of his Master who leaving no Heir to pretend a right to his farther Services this Earl did believe he might well submit to his Authority whom God had made a Conqueror who was now Crown'd and whose Royal Virtues did deserve that he should Reign He therefore refused all the invitations were made him by the King's Enemies and the Malecontents of that time of which there were many and those very potent to enter into the intriegues of their Faction He would not hear of the Dutchess of Burgundy nor of the Earl of Lincoln And when a great Consternation arose upon that Prince's Invasion and the Armies approach towards Stoake in Lincoln-shire in order to Fight with the King and his Forces the Lieutenant of the Tower offer'd the Earl his Liberty to have gone where he pleased but he generously refused it and said He would never leave to be a Prisoner but by his consent that had thought him worthy of such a punishment And so he continued till the King's return from the Battel of Stoake who having been informed of his submissive and modest behaviour during so long an Imprisonment and of the other great Capacities of the Earl which would render him very useful to any Prince that should imploy him he took him out of the Tower and made him one of his Privy-Council being as Polidore the Historian says Vir Prudentia Gravitate Constantia summa In the Fourth Year of this King he was restored by Act of Parliament to the Title of Earl of Surrey and to all those Lands that were of his Wife's Inheritance But after this he began to be set at the head of
every important business this Wise King believing he might trust a Man who had proved so faithful to another Master There having then happned a great Commotion in the North occasioned by the raising of a Subsidy and of that importance that the Earl of Northumberland was slain therein who was the greatest Lord of all those parts The King raising a great Army for suppressing of the same he gave the whole Command thereof to the Earl of Surrey and sent under his Obedience the greatest Lords and the best Captains of his Court as the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lord Hastings Sir William Stanly his Chamberlain Sir Rice ap Thomas Sir John Bourchier Sir John Savage Sir John Risely and divers others And he was after in the Eighth of the same King imployed again for suppressing the Incursions of the Scots His Deserts and great Abilities appearing every day more and more to this Sagacious King in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign he conferr'd upon him the great Office of Lord High-Treasurer of England and in the Two and twentieth of his Reign finding the Earl worthy of all the acknowledgments he could make King Henry granted him a special Livery of all the Lands whereof his Father died Seized Mowbrays Howards and what ever he had acquired This put him in a condition to support his great Merit his great Blood and his great-Condition And after the death of this King which soon succeeded his Young Successor King Henry the Eighth found the Earl of Surrey in a condition of Fortune and Reputation as much to do as to receive Honor from the Court or any Imployment whereunto he could be called He therefore chose him into the number of his first Counsellors renewed his Patent for Lord High-Treasurer and constituted him Earl Marshal of England for his Life In the Fourth Year of this King there happned a great Crisis of State The King was Engaged with an Army consisting of the flower of England to go for France where he Besieged and took several Towns At the same time he had cause to believe the King of Scots would enter England with his utermost Power the Defence whereof would be enough for the greatest Captain he could appoint He thereupon chose the Earl of Surrey under whose Protection he left all that could be dear to him his Country and his Wife and it falling out as he did apprehend and the Scottish King entring the Kingdom with a mighty Army the Earl with all power he could make Marched to meet him He found the King had taken Norham Castle and being resolved now to do something should render him worthy of the Trust he had received or to die in the endeavour he brought by several industries of which the Historians are very particular the Scottish Army to a necessity of Fighting Which they did under the Example and Sight of their Valiant King with all the Valour and Resolution that was possible But such was the Conduct the Valour and the Ascendant of this Earl as their Resistance did prove fruitless the whole Scottish Army was overthrown and their King who for his Valour deserved a better Fortune was slain Fighting upon the Field If ever the Action of any Subject was opportunely Fortunate to a King or his Affairs this Victory proved so to King Henry at that time Engaged in the War with so Potent an Enemy as the King of France and the consequence would have proved of the last misfortune if the Earl had otherwise succeeded The applauses of the Court of the King and Kingdom were of mighty satisfaction to the great and publick Spirit of this Earl but the Generous King forbore not to add Rewards suitable to the Great Merits of his Service He did him several Honors but as the greatest was his restitution to the Illustrious Dignity of his Ancestors the Dukedom of Norfolk of which his Father was possessed and that by his Grandmother had Descended to him from the Mowbrays in former times Dukes of that Country He gave him for the support of this Dignity many Mannors and great Lordships and continued him during the rest of his Life in the greatest Honours of the Kingdom But at last loaden with Years as well as with Felicities he yielded to Death in the Castle of Framingham the Twenty first of May in the Year 1524. in the Sixteenth Year of King Henry the Eighth Having Married Two Wives The First Elizabeth Daughter and Heir of Sir Frederick Tilney Knight Widow of Humphrey Burcher Lord Barners The Second Agnes Daughter of Sir Philip Tilney Knight Issue by his First Wife Thomas afterwards Duke of Norfolk The Lord Edward Howard Knight of the Garter Edmund Howard And Five that died young Elizabeth Married to Thomas Viscount Rochford Muriell Married to John Viscount Lisle Mary Married to Henry Fitz-Roy Duke of Richmond and Sommerset Issue by his Second Wife William Lord Howard of Effingham Knight of the Garter Lord Privy-Seal and Lord High-Admiral of England Thomas who Married Margaret Dowglas Daughter to the Queen of Scots which Thomas died in the Tower Richard who died young Anne Married to John Earl of Oxford Dorothy Married to Edward Earl of Darby Elizabeth Married to Henry Earl of Sussex And Katharine first Marrid to Sir Rice ap Thomas and afterwards to Henry Daubeny Earl of Bridgwater WILLIAM Lord Howard Lord Baron of Effingham Lord-High-Admiral of England Lord Chamberlain Lord Privy-Seal and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter and Privy-Counsellor to Henry the Eighth to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and eldest Son by his Second Wife to Thomas the Second Duke of Norfolk CHAPTER II. WILLIAM Lord Howard though he had the advantage of so great and so fortunate a Father yet it was not to that he owed the least part of his Fame or of his Fortune The Duke his Father loved Virtue and Industry and to a Son that would have been Great without Care or Labour he would have afforded little assistance The Earl of Surrey the Lord Howard and the Lord Edmund were the Sons of his Prudence by his Dutchess Elizabeth Daughter to Sir Philip Tilney who brought her Husband a great Inheritance But the Lord William was the Son of his Love and Born of Agnes Tilney his Second Wife that was a young Virgin Cousin to the former Dutchess and who brought in partage but her Beauty her Virtue and her Fruitfulness To this young Lord the Duke had indeed a secret partiality but his great Lands were already all to be inherited by the Children of his First Wife and it was the principle in those days for Great Men to do little in detriment of them that were to sustain their Names and Dignities He resolved then so to cultivate the Virtue and noble Inclinations of the young William as should make him deserve any Fortune what ever his own were like to be He gave him therefore admirable Education and thrust him betimes into the World He made use of his Inclination