Diary of the times of Charles II

Volume 1

THE HONBLE HENRY SIDNEY

Drawn by G. P. Harding F.S.A. FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE COLLECTION OF LORD DE LISLE

DIARY OF THE TIMES

of

CHARLES THE SECOND

by the

HONOURABLE HENRY SIDNEY

(AFTERWARDS EARL OF ROMNEY)

INCLUDING HIS CORRESPONDENCE

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Dedication

DEDICATION.

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CHICHESTER.

My dear Lord,

Preface

PREFACE.

Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney, who died in 1704, appointed his nephews, Thomas Pelham, Henry Pelham, and John Sidney, his executors; and, among other things, he bequeathed to Thomas Pelham his cabinets and his papers.

Thomas Pelham, who was the eldest son of Sir John Pelham, married, for his first wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir William Jones. His second wife was Grace, the daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, sister of John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, who died in 1700. Their eldest son was Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, the minister. He was created Baron Pelham, of Laughton, and died in 1712. Henry Pelham, the second brother, married Frances, daughter and coheir of John Bynde, Esq. He died in 1712; and from him the present Earl of Chichester, the possessor of the Sidney and the Pelham Manuscripts, is directly descended.

In selecting and preparing these papers for publication, and in searching for cotemporary notices illustrative of facts and persons, I have met with that assistance from my friends which I take this opportunity gratefully to acknowledge. From the Rev. Philip Stanhope Dodd, the rector of Penshurst, who, eighteen years ago, aided and encouraged me in a kindred pursuit, and whose offices of kindness and friendship have never been relaxed, I have again received much valuable information; and to him, to Mr. Serjeant D'Oyly, Mr. Markland, and Mr. Herman Merivale, I feel grateful, not only for encouragement to proceed, but for matter which has much improved the work.

To Mr. Upcott I beg to offer my best thanks for the liberal manner in which, upon my application to him, he opened to me all those valuable stores of manuscripts from which I have drawn so largely. Nor should I do justice to my feelings, if I did not take this opportunity of testifying my obligation to Lord Stanley of Alderley, Sir Henry Ellis, Mr. Ormerod, and Mr. Brooke, for the trouble they have taken to assist me in my inquiries. For the portrait of the Honourable Henry Sidney prefixed to the first volume of this work, I am indebted to the courtesy of Lord de Lisle, who kindly permitted a copy to be made from the original picture in his possession.

R. W. B.

12, Hereford Street, May 20, 1843.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION.

The first of Sidney's correspondents, whose letters are now offered to the public, in point of age, is his sister, the Dowager Countess of Sunderland, the eldest daughter of Robert, Earl of Leicester, and of Dorothy, the daughter of Henry, Earl of Northumberland.

Dorothy Sidney was born in 1617, at Sion House, the seat of her grandfather, the Earl of Northumberland, who at the time of her birth was a prisoner in the Tower, on suspicion of having been acquainted with the intention of one of the parties engaged in the Gunpowder Plot.

Her mother seems to have watched over her early years with the greatest care and tenderness; and, as she grew up gifted with great personal attractions, and the object of flattery from the most popular poet of his day, it is not a little creditable to her head and heart that she does not appear to have been at all spoilt by it. There never was a mother more anxious to settle her daughter in life than Lady Leicester, and many and most amusing are the passages in which, writing to her absent Lord, who was the Ambassador at Paris, she communicates her speculations, hopes, and disappointments on this subject: and happy indeed she must have been, when at length one of the best and noblest youths of England, the young Lord Spencer, afterwards created Earl of Sunderland, declared himself her suitor. They were married under every propitious omen, but their happiness was short-lived. He was killed at the battle of Newbury, fighting gallantly on the King's side, with "those melancholy forebodings of danger from the victory of his own party which filled the breasts of the more generous royalists, and which on the same occasion saddened the dying moments of Lord Falkland."

The following extract from a letter of her father's, in which he attempts to give some comfort to his daughter, does honour to the writer, and proves how heavily the blow had fallen on them all.

"I know you lived happily, and so as no one but yourself could measure the contentment of it. I rejoiced at it, and did thank God for making me one of the means to procure it for you. That now is past, and I will not flatter you so much as to say I think you can ever be so happy in this life again; but this comfort you owe me, that I may see you bear this change and your misfortune patiently…

"I doubt not but your eyes are fall of tears, and not the emptier for those they shed. God comfort you, and let us join in prayer to Him, that he will be pleased to give his grace to you, to your mother, and to myself, that all of us may resign and submit ourselves entirely and cheerfully to his pleasure. So nothing shall be able to make us unhappy in this life, nor hinder us from being happy in that which is eternal."

At the time of Lord Sunderland's death, they had three children; Robert, whose letters to his uncle are now published, and two daughters, the eldest of whom was afterwards married to Lord Halifax. And for the wardship and care of her son, his widow thus feelingly pleads to Charles I., through the intercession of her father:

"My Lord,

"The affections of my spirit and the weakness of my body will scarce suffer me to write; but the consideration I have of my poor orphans makes me force myself to desire your Lordship that you will be pleased in my behalf to beseech his Majesty to join your Lordship with me in the wardship of my son; for, except I receive your care and assistance in this business, I cannot hope to live or die with any satisfaction in what concerns my children's fortune. They are nearest to your Lordship if I should fail, and I cannot rely with confidence on any but yourself.

"What the King has graciously promised I cannot doubt, and therefore I make no request for that which I conceive is already given; but I hear that some of my dear Lord's kindred have endeavoured to injure me, which I did as little expect as I do now apprehend anything which may contradict a declaration of his Majesty's justice to one who am by this loss the unhappiest of all creatures.

"The wardship will be of so little value for some years, as, were I not full of affection for my son, I should not wish the trouble which I believe this business will bring to me.

"I would have written to the King myself, but the distempers I am in have so dulled the little sense I had, as I dare not say anything to his Majesty. Wherefore I do again beseech your Lordship to present my request with that humility which becomes me, and if it be possible for me to take any comfort in this world, it will be in know that my son shall remain in your Lordship's care, if it should please God to take me from him.

"I have written with much pain, and yet I must add to it a protestation of being so long as I breathe, with all sincerity of heart, your Lordship's

"Most humble, obedient daughter,

"D. Sunderland."

Lady Sunderland, during the first years of her widowhood, lived with her parents at Penshurst; but Lord Leicester tells us in his journal, that in September, 1650, "she went from thence to London, and from London to dwell by herself at Althorpe." During her residence there she is said to have endeared herself to the country round by acts of charity and hospitality; and Lloyd, in his Memoirs of the Loyalists, says, "She is not to be mentioned without the highest honour in this catalogue of sufferers, to many of whom her house was a sanctuary, her interest a protection, her estate a maintenance, and the livings in her gift a preferment."

In 1652 she was married a second time to Sir Robert Smythe, son and heir of Sir John Smythe, by whom she had one son. From the dry and concise way in which Lord Leicester has recorded this fact, it may be doubted whether he altogether approved of this marriage. He writes thus : 'On Thursday, the 8th of July, my daughter Spencer (Sunderland) was married to Sir Robert Smith, at Penshurst; my wife being present, with my daughters Strangford and Lucy Pelham, Algernon, and Robin Sidney, &c., but I was in London."

At the period of this correspondence with her brother Henry, Lady Sunderland was in her 62d year. Her letters breathe that kindly spirit for which she was distinguished in her youth, and are amusingly dashed with that love of scandal and taste for politics which we might expect to find in a lady of sixty-two, who had seen so much of the world, and who was intimately related to several of the leading statesmen of the day.

Lady Sunderland survived her second husband, and was buried in the vault of the Spencer family at Brighton, in 1684.

Henry Sidney, the younger brother of Lady Sunderland, who was afterwards created Viscount Sidney and Earl of Romney, by William III., the author of the Diary, and the centre, as it were, of the correspondence now published, was born at Paris, in the year 1640, during his father's embassy at that court.

The first notice we have of him is that contained in his father's, journal, in which he gives an interesting account of the last hours of Lady Leicester, who died in 1669, when Henry Sidney was eighteen years old, from which it may be inferred that he was her favourite son; whilst it is equally clear from his sister's letters that he was the brother she loved best.

When next we hear of him we find him at the age of twenty-five attached to the Court as Groom of the Bedchamber in the household of the Duke of York, an object of envy to the one sex and of admiration to the other, being confessedly the handsomest and most graceful man of his day. Whilst in this situation, he became deeply enamoured of his royal mistress, the Duchess of York. He had allowed his affections to soar too high, and he fell, for the Duke, being made aware of this, dismissed him abruptly from Court. Whether his love was requited or not is doubtful. If we trust to the scandalous chronicle of Hamilton it was amply returned, whilst Sir John Beresby says, "She was kind to him and no more." It is a fact, however, that, besides being the occasion of much public scandal, it led to important results; for the Duke of York, whether really jealous, or pretending to be so, threw off all the restraints and appearances of decency in his own intrigues; and the Duchess, finding that she had lost all hold on the affections of her husband, sought to recover it by adapting herself to his views in matters of religion. She entered into private discourse with his priest, and soon declared herself a Roman Catholic.

Ten years after this, the first Duchess of York having died in the interval, Sidney appears again at Court, having obtained from the King a grant, during his life, of the office of Gentleman and Master of the Robes. In 1678 he had the command of a regiment, and in the following year he was appointed Envoy to the States of Holland, having previously declined going as Ambassador to Paris.

In this situation, Sidney remained about two years, high in the favour and affection of the Prince of Orange; daring which time he made frequent visits to England, and it is to these periods that the most interesting portions of his journal refer.

Daring his absence at the Hague, he was elected member for Bramber, in the Parliament which met in October, 1680, and though he does not mention it himself, Rapin states that he took an active part in the great question of the exclusion of the Duke of York, both voting and speaking in favour of it. In so doing, he acted in direct opposition to his master's wishes, and we cannot be surprised to find, that when he called upon the King next day he should find him, as he says he did, in a very bad humour. He was allowed, however, to return to the Hague, but the part he afterwards took in forwarding to the government at home the strong memorial of the States upon the rejection of the Bill of Exclusion by the Lords, and which it was generally believed he did at the suggestion of Lord Sunderland, determined his recall. He returned to England in June, 1681, and, contrary to his expectations, was kindly received by the King, with whom probably he was personally a favourite, for in some of their habits and pursuits they very much resembled each other.

It appears from the Journal that Sidney had applied to the Prince of Orange for the command of the British forces in the service of the States, which had become vacant by the death of the Earl of Ossory; which the Prince would willingly have given him if the appointment were sanctioned by the King. Charles preferred the Duke of Al , and proposed him to the Prince in the following letter.

"Whitehall, 8th December, 1682.

"I have formerly proposed a thing to you in which I am every day more confirmed in my opinion as a thing which in many respects is necessary to be done, and therefore I think it proper now to renew to you. It is to have a Commander in Chief of all my subjects who are or who shall be in the service of the States. I am satisfied it will tend to their better discipline and obedience; that it is for my honour and dignity, as well as for that of the nation, and that it will be advantageous to you in particular, in order to your greater influence upon them, to have such men from time to time set at the head of them, as shall make it their business to be serviceable to you; besides, you will find that either in case of recruits or other levies of men in England, it will be no small encouragement for men to go over when it shall be known that a man of quality and interest here is to have the immediate commandment of them under you, and by that the opportunity of access to you, to do them right upon all occasions that shall arise.

"Of this the late Lord Ossory is a very good instance, and you find so good an effect of the credit he had both here and amongst the men under his command, that I need no other argument to convince you of how good use it will be to have that place filled as it ought to be. The man I think upon is the Duke of Albemarle, who hath all the qualifications that are necessary, to make himself to succeed the other, who was so well approved by every body, and particularly by yourself. If it should be said that the States will not be ready to do it because it may draw some charge upon them, that objection might very well be answered, yet to take it off entirely, I am content there should be neither pay nor salary tied to the place, but that whosoever hath it shall discharge it upon their own expense, without expecting any thing more than the name and character of commander under you of the English, with the same powers 'that were enjoyed by the late Lord Ossory.

"I do not doubt but you will be of my opinion when you have well considered it, so as I will say no more but to assure you that I will ever be yours,

"C. R."

The Prince of Orange, however, was not of the same opinion with the King; and what is more extraordinary, considering the relative positions of the three parties, did confer the command upon Sidney, who certainly continued to hold it till he was deprived of it by James, a few months after his accession.

We are told by Collins, that on the day of that King's coronation, when the crown was accidentally about to fall from his head, (a fact that has been stated by several writers,) Sidney stepped forward to fix it there, saying, that it was not the first time that a Sidney had supported the crown. Whether this be true or not, certain it is that, before three years had passed away, no hand in England was more zealously engaged to tear it from his brow, and place it on that of another.

Though deprived by James of the command of the British forces in Holland, he does not appear at that time to have distrusted him, for, after the defeat of Monmouth, he was sent back with Bentinck to the Prince of Orange: but this confidence did not last long. The decided favour of the Prince soon rendered his continued stay in England something more than painful and irksome to him; and Burnet says, "he was so apprehensive of the dangers that he might be cast into, that he travelled nearly a whole year in Italy."

As matters however ripened in England, and prepared the way for the Prince of Orange, Sidney moved nearer to the scene of action, and fixed himself in Holland. He became the chief agent of communication with the disaffected in England, and the great promoter of the Revolution. Notwithstanding which, he hazarded a return to England so late as June, 1688, when he wrote the letter to the Prince, advising him to secure the services of Mareschal Schomberg; and he accompanied Zuleystein, who had been sent to congratulate the King on the birth of the Prince of Wales, on his return to the Hague. It was upon this occasion that he carried with him the invitation and declaration of adherence to the Prince, signed by the members of the Association, which consisted of the Earls of Shrewsbury and Devonshire, Lord Lumley, the Bishop of London, Admiral Russel, and himself.

Sidney, with Burnet, Herbert, Schomberg, and others, accompanied the expedition into England, and, upon its successful termination, the honours and rewards which he had earned by his great services in the cause were lavished upon him by a generous master. The day after the proclamation of the King and Queen, he was appointed one of the Privy Council and Gentleman of the Bedchamber; soon afterwards he was made Colonel of the King's regiment of foot-guards, and upon the coronation of William and Mary he was created Viscount Sidney and Baron Milton; and in the following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant, Vice-Admiral, and Commissary of the County of Kent.

He accompanied the King in his campaign in Ireland, and was with him at the battle of the Boyne; and, on the King's leaving that country, he was made one of the Lords Justices of Ireland. Soon afterwards he was recalled, and appointed one of the chief Secretaries of State, having, if Lord Dartmouth is correct in his statement, received grants of the confiscated estates in that country to the value of seventeen thousand pounds a year.

In 1692 he was again sent as Lord Lieutenant-General and Governor to Ireland, a post of great difficulty, in the management of which he seems to have entirely failed. Burnet says, "that a Parliament had been summoned there by the Lord Sidney, but they met full of discontent, and were disposed to find fault with every thing; and there was too much matter to work upon, for the Lord Lieutenant was apt to excuse or justify those who had the address to insinuate themselves into his favour, so that they were dismissed before they brought their Bills to perfection. The English in Ireland thought the Government favoured the Irish too much; some said this was the effect of bribery, whereas others thought it was necessary to keep them safe from the persecutions of the English who hated them, and were much sharpened against them. * * * * There were also great complaints of an ill administration, chiefly in the revenue, in the pay of the army, and in the embezzling of stores. * * * * * So the King called back Lord Sidney, and put the government into the hands of three Lords Justices, Lord Capel, Sir Cecil Wyche, and Mr. Duncomb."

Sidney's ill success in Ireland was no bar to his further honours. Upon his return he was made Master-General of the Ordnance; and in the following year he was created Earl of Romney, and Lieutenant-General of the Forces; and, on the resignation of the Earl of Portland, Groom of the Stole and first Gentleman of the Bedchamber.

Burnet, speaking of Sidney, describes him as "a graceful man, and one who had lived long in the Court, where he had some adventures that became very public. He was a man of a sweet and caressing temper, had no malice in his heart, but too great a love of pleasure." This sweet and caressing temper, combined with great personal attractions, produced their full effect; and there are many proofs, is the present collection of papers, of the influence they gave him over the hearts of women; of which influence he appears to have been withheld by no principle from taking every advantage.

The adventures referred to by Burnet, that became very public at Court, besides his reported intrigue, when quite a young man, with the Duchess of York, and to which allusion is made in a letter of Montague's in this collection, appear to relate chiefly to the case of a Mrs. Worthley, a person of an ancient family and highly connected, who, unfortunately for herself, upon the death of her husband, fell in Sidney's way, and lived with him as his mistress for twenty years. At length, deserted and in distress, having in vain applied to Sidney, she threw herself at the feet both of Charles and James, and published her case and her injuries to the world.

From among many of her letters of appeal to him, the two following have been selected as written in a milder and quieter spirit of remonstrance than many others.

"June 18th. 1689.

"My Lord,

"I wish some good angel would instruct my pen to express something that would incline your Lordship to moderate your hate towards me that have loved you only too well, and would increase that slender portion of love you have for your own honour.

"Could your Lordship make cripples of my tongue and pen, by confining me to a jail, as well as my limbs, you might then hope for a conquest; but, my Lord, though I am perfectly lame, and have in a manner quite lost the use of my limbs, yet my pen will never lose its vigour, nor will my tongue be silent. How happy should I now esteem myself if I could say or do any thing that would make you reassume your former good-nature! but do not misconstrue me, my Lord; I mean only that part of your good-nature that would oblige you to do what is reasonable, 'and not to return to your embraces. Your Lordship must pardon me if I still am perfectly yours without desiring your conversation. I am the best-natured fool living, but it is not to that degree as to be a silent fool neither. I would willingly, if your Lordship pleases, take a little fresh air between this time and Michaelmas, and all that at present I desire your Lordship to do is to let me have half a year's money next Monday. You know that I have lately begged that you would be pleased to send me a £100 to pay some small debts, …

"Pray, my dear Lord, do not deny me so poor a business as a little money now at Midsummer, for fear it may again transport me to do something that will go very much against the grain with me to do towards the man that in my soul I do adore and still love too well. I wish I did not. I am sure you never loved money well enough to deny me or any body any reasonable sum out of a meanly miserable esteem for dross, but you have no other way to be revenged on me but to strip me naked and confine me; but, my Lord, how poor and how ignoble a revenge is this of yours to me, a poor, deluded woman, that hath loved you above myself, nay, above heaven or honour, and hath generously spent my youth with you in discontent and suffering! Whereas I might have had plenty and ease with others; and, if my too great confidence in your great worth and honour and generosity has betrayed me to irrecoverable ruin, yet, my Lord, you must certainly pity me, though you hate me: but I will not yet despair but that I may live to hear my Lord Sidney say, that he hates himself because he hated her, without any just cause, who is sincerely yours,

"G. Worthley.

"P.S. My Lord, though there was too much noise in King Charles's and King James's Court, let me humbly beg of your Lordship not to be, by your continued cruelty to her (who is not envious, but happy in seeing you so), the author of any new noise in King William's and Queen Mary's Court; for I assure your Lordship I do not desire it, for I am now wholly inclined to peace, love, and Christian amity. I hope you do not forget your hopeful son in Holland; and that you had my letter, with the inclosed bill, that came to me from him."

"July 6th, 1694.

"My Lord,

"My creditors' unreasonable proposals, which I hope Colonel FitzPatrick has acquainted you with, have obliged me to withdraw from London for the present, till I know what your Lordship would have me to do; and I wish you would consider that you must one day come to die, and that it will be too late when you come to lie upon a deathbed to wish you had been more kind and considerate of my sufferings for so many years together, and that now I must abscond or else bring your name upon the public stage, which you, if you please, may see I am very unwilling to do, I must now beg of your Lordship to order me another quarter's money, or I must return to London sooner than I am willing.

"How I wish I were to accompany King William in his progress into Cheshire; that I might once before I die make a visit to the good old wooden house at Stoak, within three miles of Nantwich, where I was born and bred; and, if your Lordship does attend on the King in his progress, let me beg of you to make a step to Stoak; 'tis but fourteen miles from West Chester, and I hear the King goes to Chester. You will find my cousin, Edward Mynshull, will give you a very generous entertainment, and so will my cousin, Sir Thomas Mainwaring, of Badelly; and Stanley, of Houghton; and Chemley, of Vale Royal; and forty more of my relatives there, if you please to do them the honour of visiting their innocent, clownish habitations; and when you have viewed Stoak Hall, where I was born (for so it is vulgarly called), then I must beg of your Lordship to tell me whether you don't think it was an agreeable portion for me to be attended from your door by a Constable and a Beadle. Gaysworth, too, will be able to entertain you—that was my great grandfather's: but my Lord Macclesfield complains that the old house is ready to fall upon his head. I love Gaysworth, because my mother was born there. I remember you told me you had been at Brewerton Green. I like Stoak as well—you will find my Lady Brewerton and her daughters at the good old house on Brewerton Green—the young ladies live there like nuns. I wish Queen Mary would make them courtiers, and I wish your Lordship would incline to do what is reasonable by me, that I might go into Cheshire and there end my days. I should enjoy more happiness in one month in Cheshire than I have done in all the twenty-five years I have misspent in London. "My Lord, I wish you a pleasant progress, and that you may meet with as much satisfaction as you desire. And if your Lordship will please to order me a £100 as I have desired, it will be a satisfaction to me to pay poor people that want bread.

"If, my Lord, you will be so kind as to make a visit to Stoak, pray ask my cousin Ned Mynshull whether the heir of Pool be likely to outlive me or not, for if he were dead the estate comes to me, and, though it be but £400 a year, yet it will be acceptable to me, if it be but to pay her debts who is sincerely yours till death,