Chapter X: Part 10

THE eldest son of Sir William Graham of Claverhouse, county Forfar, N.B., by Jane, daughter of John Carnegie, first Earl of Northesk. The family was a branch of the noble house of Montrose, descended from William Lord Graham of Kincardine, by his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Robert III., King of Scotland.

John Graham studied at the University of St. Andrews, but went to France to finish his education, where he entered the army of the Great Monarch as a volunteer. Having resolved on the career of a soldier, he left France, and obtained a cornetcy in the Horse Guards of William Prince of Orange, by whom he was promoted to the command of a troop in 1674, in consideration of his bravery at the battle of Seneffe, in which engagement, indeed, he saved the Prince’s life.

Some time afterwards, Graham applied for the command of one of the Scotch regiments in the Dutch service, but being refused, the young soldier was so disgusted that he threw up his commission and went to England.

Now, although it did not suit the Prince of Orange to grant Graham’s request, he gave him the warmest recommendation to Charles II., who immediately made him commander of a body of horse just levied in Scotland to oppose the rising of the Covenanters, nominally under the orders of the Duke of Monmouth. Graham found himself vested with full power to act as he thought fit, and history and historical romance alike testify to the severity, and even cruelty, with which he carried out his measures.

He entertained a personal hatred to the Whigs, and his hot temper made him vindictive in public as well as private matters. He had no toleration for the opinions, or mercy for the disaffection, of these enthusiasts, numbers of whom he forced, at the point of the sword, to take an oath hateful to their consciences. In 1679, one of their conventicles having been attacked, the peasants rose and defeated a detachment of his troops with considerable loss. Exasperated beyond words at what he considered a disgrace, the General gave vent to his fury, massacring the unfortunate ‘hillside folk,’ who were unarmed; putting to death without a moment’s respite those who refused the test, and making for himself a road of carnage and desolation wherever his march was directed. Who can wonder that he gained for himself the name of ‘Bloody Claver’se’?

The Crown, however, rewarded his zeal by making him Sheriff of Wigtownshire in 1682, captain of a troop in the Royal Regiment of Horse, Privy Councillor in Scotland, together with a grant of the castle of Dudhope, and the office of Constable of Dundee.

Notwithstanding his cruelty to their countrymen, he was much favoured by the Scotch Episcopalians, until his marriage with the granddaughter of the Earl of Dundonald, ‘a fanatic,’ brought him into temporary disrepute.

On the accession of James II., the King was persuaded (on the plea of this marriage) to remove Claverhouse from his seat in the Council; but he was soon reinstated, and successively promoted to the rank of Brigadier and Major-General, and in 1688 created Viscount Dundee and Baron Graham of Claverhouse in Scotland. At the time of his elevation to the Peerage, Dundee was in attendance on the King in London, vainly endeavouring to prevail on the unhappy monarch to make a stand against the Prince of Orange, offering to collect 10,000 of the disbanded troops, and at their head to stem the torrent of invasion. But James was deaf to these manly and vigorous counsels, though one of the last acts of his Government was to intrust Dundee with the management of all military affairs in Scotland.

Thither Claverhouse (for by that name he is best known) repaired, and on arriving in Edinburgh took his seat at a Convention of the Estates then sitting. Here he endeavoured to carry matters with too high a hand, and finding that some of his arbitrary requests were refused, he left Edinburgh in dudgeon, at the head of a large body of horse. Prompt and energetic in all his measures, the General repaired to Stirling, called a parliament of the friends of the expatriated King, and considerably harassed and hampered the movements of his adversaries.

Receiving intelligence of the approach of a force sent by the Convention to seize his person, he retired to Lochaber, where a gathering of the clans soon placed him at the head of a large number of Highlanders, all enthusiastically devoted to his person and the Royal cause.

Dundee now made a fresh appeal to James, then in Ireland, entreating him to cross over to Scotland, where his presence would ‘fix the wavering and intimidate the fearful, and where hosts of shepherds would start up warriors at the first wave of his banner on the mountains.’

But once more his advice was thrown away. James sent him a small store of arms and ammunition, together with some feeble promises and faint words of praise.

Claverhouse had not only the qualities of a great commander, but in his cooler moments possessed the requisites for a ruler and administrator of justice.

On one occasion, at Inverness, he found the inhabitants of that town in arms against a body of neighbouring chiefs, to decide a quarrel respecting some question of debt. He sat in judgment on the matter, severely reproved both parties for drawing their daggers on each other, instead of uniting to support the cause of their royal master; and then, to the surprise and delight of the litigants, he drew the amount of the debt from his own purse and paid it on the spot. In an ecstasy of enthusiasm and gratitude the two adverse parties joined in hearty fellowship, and enlisted with one accord under his banner. Indeed, his influence throughout the country was wonderful, and he entered on a system of communication with all those whom he considered likely to advance the cause for which he worked so zealously. It is unnecessary to recount all his efforts to win adherents, but perhaps the most remarkable of his successes in this particular occurred in the case of a band of Highland vassals raised by Lord Murray on the estate of his father, the Earl of Athole.

While Murray was in the act of reviewing them they quitted their ranks, hastened to a neighbouring brook, filled their bonnets with water, drank the health of King James, and, with pipes playing, marched off to join Dundee. William III. now thought it time to take some decided measures, and he despatched General Mackay (who had distinguished himself in Holland) with a considerable force into Scotland, while James sent orders to his General to avoid a battle until the arrival of fresh reinforcements from Ireland. For these supplies the eager-spirited soldier had to wait two months in the mountains, keeping, however, (according to modern parlance,) his hand in during that time by spirited attacks and retreats. The delay must have been displeasing to the man of whom it was said that the first messenger of his approach was the sight of his army, and the first intelligence of his retreat that he was beyond the enemy’s reach.

No sooner did the raw and ill-provided recruits who formed the promised reinforcement arrive than Claverhouse prepared for active measures. Hearing that Mackay was marching on Blair Castle, in Athole, a fortress of much importance, he resolved to intercept him. Accordingly, when William’s General arrived on the plain at the mouth of the Pass of Killiecrankie, he found Dundee on the surrounding hills awaiting his arrival. He did all he could to incite the enemy to immediate action, but it suited the Scotch commander to delay for some hours.

As the sun of July the 27th, 1689, sank slowly to rest, the word was given, and the Highlanders, whose eager spirits had been controlled for so many hours, dashed down the hillside with even more than their usual impetuosity. It was but the work of a moment: William’s army was routed as if by magic. Dundee, who had fought on foot in the onset, now leaped on his horse and galloped to the mouth of the Pass to intercept the enemy’s retreat. In his hot haste he outstripped his men, and looking round, found himself almost alone, and he waved his sword to motion his men forward, when a musket-ball struck him in the arm-pit. He fell fainting from his horse, and was carried off the field, but soon rallied, and inquired how things went.

On receiving the answer, ‘All is well,’ the gallant soldier replied, ‘Then I am well also,’ and instantly expired.

When King William heard of his death, he said, ‘Then the war in Scotland is over.’

Surely never was countenance more indicative of the inner man than the comely face with which we are so familiar in the portraits of John Graham of Claverhouse. The faultless features, the fair complexion, the profusion of silken hair, and the slight moustache, convey an idea of refinement and delicacy, we should almost say gentleness. But a glance at the dark hazel eyes, full of latent fire, and (even plainer reading to a physiognomist) the determined lines of the exquisitely curved lip, bring us face to face with the obdurate, and (the true word must be spoken) cruel man of blood. He was verily ‘an eagle at assault and a maiden in the bower,’ and there have been few characters that inspired such extremes of love and hatred.

He was idolised by his soldiers, whose hardships he gladly shared in times of privation, often sending, to the sick and wounded among his troops, the dainties which had been provided for himself. Yet so strict was he as a disciplinarian, that for an officer at least, there seemed no slighter punishment for any military fault than death; and indeed he said all other punishment, in his opinion, disgraced a gentleman.

A striking anecdote is told, characteristic of the man himself, and of his system, and worthy of the days of Sparta: A young gentleman was observed by the General to fly in his first action. He had compassion on the boy, and pretended that he himself had sent him to the rear, but alas! on the next occasion the young soldier was again found wanting in courage, and Claverhouse, calling him to the front of the army, shot him with his own pistol, being loath, he said, ‘to let a youth of gentle blood fall by the hand of a common executioner.’

Walter Scott tells us another anecdote, of a less tragic nature, although he does not vouch for its authenticity. The story goes that the gallant Claverhouse had heard of the fame of a certain Lady Elphinstone, aged upwards of a century, and was very desirous to see her. Now the centenarian was a staunch Whig, and required some persuasion to induce her to receive the enemy of her party, but she, perhaps, had some feminine grain of curiosity in her composition, and was tempted by the notion of seeing the far-famed captivating monster.

In the course of conversation the soldier remarked that the lady, having lived so long, must have witnessed many wonderful changes. ‘Hout na, sir,’ answered the stout-hearted old Whigamore; ‘the warld is just wi’ me where it began. When I was entering life, there was ane Knox deaving[2] us a’ wi’ his _clavers_,[3] and noo I am ganging out, there is ane _Claver’se_ deaving us wi’ his knocks.’

Footnote 2:

_Deaving_, _i.e._ deafening.

Footnote 3:

_Clavers_, idle chattering.

There can be little doubt the old lady’s courage and humour were equally appreciated by the General.

Lord Dundee married Jane, youngest daughter of Lord Cochrane, and (as before mentioned) granddaughter of the first Earl of Dundonald, by whom he had an only son, James, who succeeded to his father’s titles, but died a few months after.

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No. 138.

FREDERICK, KING OF BOHEMIA.

_Profile. Oval. Armour. White Collar, blue Ribbon and Order._

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No. 139.

LADY ESSEX RICH, COUNTESS OF NOTTINGHAM.

BY SIR PETER LELY.

_Seated. Light blue dress. White sleeves._

SHE was the daughter, and one of the co-heirs of Robert Earl of Warwick. She married (as his first wife) Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham, who afterwards succeeded his father (the famous Chancellor) as Earl of Winchilsea. Lady Essex Rich had one daughter, married to the Marquis of Halifax.

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No. 140.

FIRST VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH.

DIED 1714.

_Black dress. Embroidered collar. Long hair. White sleeves._

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No. 141.

MR. KELIFET.

_Dressed in black. Ruff. Pointed beard. Arms of Kelifet in corner
of picture._

THIS portrait is supposed to be that of Richard Kelifet, Esq. of ‘The Place,’ Egham, county Surrey.

He was chief groom of Queen Elizabeth’s removing wardrobe, and yeoman of Her Majesty’s standing wardrobe, and a most faithful servant of Her Majesty, according to an inscription on his monument in Egham Church. His daughter Cicely married Sir John Denham, Baron of the Exchequer, to whom she brought ‘The Place,’ at Egham, as her dower.

In 1673 this house was occupied by a connection of the Longleat family, John Thynne, Esq., when (we are told) ‘it contained many valuable and curious pictures.’ This circumstance may possibly be a clew to the fact that the portrait above-named finds a place in the collection of the Marquis of Bath.

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No. 142.

HENRY LORD BEAUCHAMP.

BY SIR PETER LELY.

BORN 1628, DIED 1656.

_Brown coat. White sleeves. Red mantle._

HE was the eldest son of William, second Duke of Somerset, by his second wife, Lady Frances Devereux, eldest daughter of the Earl of Essex. He married Mary, daughter of Lord Capel, by whom he had one son, William, (who succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Somerset,) and three daughters. Two died in infancy, and the third married Thomas Lord Bruce, afterwards Earl of Ailesbury.

Lord Beauchamp died _vita patris_.

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No. 143.

THE HONOURABLE LEOPOLD FINCH.

DIED IN 1689.

_In black, with white band._

FIFTH son of Heneage Finch, second Earl of Winchilsea, by Lady Mary Seymour, daughter of William Duke of Somerset.

He was Warden of All Souls, Oxford. Married Lucy, daughter and co-heir of John Davie, of Ruxford, in the county of Devon, and died without children.

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No. 144.

THE HONOURABLE LADY SAVILE.

_Blue mantle. White dress. Ringlets. Leaning against a tree._

DAUGHTER of Lord Keeper Coventry, married first Sir William Savile, and afterwards Sir Thomas Chicheley of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire.

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No. 145.

DON FERDINAND, CARDINAL INFANT OF SPAIN.

AFTER RUBENS.

BORN 1609, DIED 1641.

_Scarlet robes and cap._

WAS the son of Philip III., King of Spain, by Margaret, daughter of Charles Archduke of Austria, and born at the Escurial.

When only ten years old he was created Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and other dignities were conferred on him, which brought in enormous revenues. His father on his deathbed sent for the little ecclesiastic, and admonished him on the sacred nature of his duties. Ferdinand was remarkable as a warrior, a politician, a connoisseur of art, a man of pleasure, and much given to hospitality. He kept open house at his country palace near Madrid, where he instituted a species of dramatic performance, half-pageant, half-operatic, which took the name of the Zarzuelas, from the country house in question. He studied foreign languages, mathematics, philosophy, and strategics; loved books and literary society, patronised the arts, studied painting himself under Vincenzo and Carducho, and sat for his portrait both to Vandyck and Rubens.

But the career in which he distinguished himself most was that of arms. He was an enthusiastic soldier and an able general, and did good service for Spain in the field, especially at the battle of Nordlingen, against the Imperialists. Upon the death of the Archduchess Clara Eugenia, Ferdinand Cardinal Infant succeeded to the government of the Low Countries, and continued his military career with honour and success. A parallel has been drawn between him and the Cardinal Ippolito de Medici, natural son to Julian of that house:—Both ecclesiastics by profession, and soldiers by choice; both remarkable for personal beauty, for accomplishments as well as learning, fond of the fine arts, of society and splendid living; both sat for their portraits in most unclerical costumes,—Ippolito to Titian in the dress of a Hungarian noble,—see the superb picture at Florence; the other to Rubens,—armed and mounted on his charger, ready for the field. It was his boast, among other successes, that he obliged the army of the Prince of Orange twice to raise the siege of Guelders. He died the 6th of November 1641, when his loving countrymen erected a gorgeous monument to his memory in the cathedral at Toledo, seventy feet high, the work of Lorenzo Fernandez de Salazar, with eulogistic inscriptions in various languages. The funeral was conducted with great pomp. Canon Antonio Calderon pronounced the funeral oration, speaking of him as one of Spain’s greatest men,—a hero, a skilful general, a virtuous citizen. Nor did the preacher forget to remind all good Catholics that the scene of Ferdinand’s most celebrated victory was Nordlingen, where ‘the heretic Luther had preached his most pestilent doctrines.’

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No. 146.

ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF OXFORD.

BY SIR GODFREY KNELLER.

BORN 1661, DIED 1724.

_Seated. Black coat and breeches. Wig. Star and ribbon of Garter.
Holding his wand of office. Left arm akimbo. Hat on table._

STUDIED under the famous Dr. Birch, who boasted of the number of statesmen he had educated; showed great promise. In 1688 he raised a troop of horse for the service of William of Orange, whom he joined, but who showed him no particular favour. Harley sat in Parliament, but waited for office till 1704, when Queen Anne gave him a seat in the Council, and made him Secretary of State. He was much opposed to Godolphin and Marlborough, and made common cause with the Queen’s new favourite, Mrs. Masham, to overthrow the power of the Whigs.

The Ministers insisted on his dismissal, but the Queen stood by him as long as she could. When Harley was compelled to resign, the Queen said to him: ‘You see the unfortunate condition of monarchs,—they are obliged to give up their friends to please their enemies;’ but so good was Anne’s opinion of Harley, that she constantly consulted him on public affairs, even when out of office.

On the downfall of the Whig Administration, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Treasurer.

He was much censured, even by his own party, for some of his financial measures, by which however he enriched the royal coffers. In March 1711 an event happened which made a great noise, and rendered Harley the hero of the day. A French adventurer called Bourlie, or the Marquis de Guiscard, was a shifty individual, who acted first as a spy of England against France, and then of France against England, being in the pay of both. His intrigues were discovered, and he was brought before the Privy Council. Believing that Harley had been instrumental in his detection, he resolved to be revenged. While waiting his turn for examination, he found means to secrete about his person a penknife which was lying on the table, among some papers. No sooner was he brought forward, than he rushed in a fury upon Harley and stabbed him several times, the Minister falling senseless on the ground, covered with blood. A scene of confusion ensued, and the Duke of Buckingham, drawing his sword, wounded the assassin, who was conveyed to Newgate, where he died in a few days, either from the effect of the sword-thrusts or by his own hand.

The event seemed to have revived Harley’s popularity; both Houses presented an address to the Queen, assuring her that Harley’s loyalty had brought this attack upon him, etc. etc., and when he reappeared in the House, a brilliant reception awaited him, and a Bill was passed making an attempt on the life of a Privy Councillor a felony, which deprived the offender of benefit of clergy. In the same year, Robert Harley, being then Lord High Treasurer, was created Baron Wigmore, and Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and next year he received the Garter, and became Prime Minister of England.

Lords Oxford and Bolingbroke at first worked together to withstand the power of the opposition, and to bring about the pacification of Europe, and the Peace of Utrecht added to the popularity of the ministerial party; but dissensions arose between Bolingbroke and the Premier, and recriminations and fresh intrigues, in which Mrs. Masham was implicated, all of which belongs to England’s political history.

Oxford was deprived of all his offices, and accused of plotting in favour of the Pretender. The Queen died, and in 1715 he was sent to the Tower, on an accusation of high treason. He was imprisoned for two years, and on his release gave himself up to the enjoyment of art and literature. He formed a magnificent library, which cost him a fortune, not only from the splendour of the works themselves, but on account of their sumptuous binding. His collection of MSS., called after him the Harleian MSS., which was afterwards greatly increased by his son, is now one of the glories of the British Museum, purchased by the Government after the second Lord Oxford’s death.

Few men have been more eulogised on the one hand and reviled on the other, but he has been unanimously described as a kind patron of men of letters.

It was Harley who brought into operation the measure known to posterity as ‘The South Sea Bubble,’ which entailed ruin on numbers, and in spite of much opposition he established State lotteries.

Lord Oxford was twice married, first to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Foley of Whitley Court, county Worcester, by whom he had one son, and two daughters; and, secondly, to Sarah, daughter of Thomas Myddleton, Esq., who was childless.

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No. 147.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL, AFTERWARDS
EARL RUSSELL, K.G.

BORN 1792, DIED 1878.

_As a young man. Resting his hand on the inner frame of the picture._

THE youngest son of Lord John Russell, afterwards sixth Duke of Bedford, by the Hon. Georgiana Elizabeth Byng. Born in the very crisis of the French Revolution, his uncle (the reigning Duke) was the champion of French ideas, and having been carried far beyond the opinions of his family, which for more than a century had been zealously Whig, both he and his brother, young Russell’s father, settled that on John’s leaving Westminster, he should go to the University of Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge being too Tory in their proclivities to suit the family traditions. By the time (we quote an able article in the _Times_ of 1878) the youth left College, his political faith had crystallised into something very like that in which he consistently lived, laboured, and died. A visit to the Peninsula, however, where the star of Wellington was then in the ascendant, modified his French ideas and inspired him with such an admiration for the hero, that ever afterwards, in the fiercest political struggle, John Russell maintained towards the Duke the attitude and language of profound respect, almost amounting to veneration. On his return to England, while still under age, he sat for Tavistock, and threw himself heart and soul into the Parliamentary fray at one of the most eventful periods of the history, not only of England, but of Europe, and of that history John Russell’s career forms a most important feature. But our limited space will only allow us to glance at the prominent events of his life. He was a zealous advocate for Catholic Emancipation, and all Liberal measures, and from the very first threw in his lot with those who demanded Parliamentary reform, in which cause he was the primary mover, and the draught for the first Bill of which was drawn up by his own hand. To his early efforts in this cause Macaulay refers with his usual eloquence, saying: ‘Those were proud and happy days, when amid the applause and blessings of millions, my noble friend led us on in the struggle for the Reform Bill; when hundreds waited round our doors till sunrise, to hear how well we had sped; when the great cities of the North poured forth their populations on the highway to meet the mails which brought tidings from the capital, whether the battle of the people had been lost or won,’ etc. etc. Lord John Russell sat for Tavistock, Hunts, Bandon, etc.; and was a member of the Lower House for forty-seven years, during many of which he was the leader of the Opposition. He filled at various times many of the highest offices of State, Home, Foreign, Colonial, Lord President of the Council, Commissioner to the Congress at Vienna, and First Lord of the Treasury from 1846 to 1852. Once more Foreign Secretary in 1859, and again at the head of the Government in 1865, he retired in 1866, having been raised to the Peerage as Earl Russell and Viscount Amberley in 1861, and receiving the Garter in 1862. He married, first, (in 1835,) Adelaide, daughter of Thomas Lister, of Armitage Park, widow of the second Lord Ribblesdale; she died in 1838, leaving two daughters. His second wife was Lady Frances Elliot, daughter of Gilbert, second Earl of Minto, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. Besides a drama, ‘Don Carlos,’ written in his youth, Lord Russell was the author of several literary works, political, historical, etc. etc. He died at Pembroke Lodge in 1878. His latter years had been much embittered by the premature death of his eldest son, Lord Amberley, and his wife (a daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley), within a few months of each other. They left two little children, of whom one is the present Earl Russell.

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No. 148.

A LADY.

_Seated. In a rich dress._

DOUBTFUL. Called the Countess of Stamford. Possibly Lady Ogle, married to Thomas Thynne of Ten Thousand.

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No. 149.

THOMAS THYNNE, ESQ.

BY SIR GODFREY KNELLER.

_Light brown coat. Long fair hair. Arm akimbo._

FATHER of the second Lord Weymouth.

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No. 150.

MR. CONINGSBY, USHER OF THE BLACK ROD.

_Red cloak. Black skull-cap. Embroidered vest and gauntlets. Gold chain
and medal. Ruff. Holding a wand. In the background is the coat of
arms of the Coningsby family._

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No. 151.

ELIZABETH, MARCHIONESS OF BATH.

HEAD BY SALISBURY.

BORN 1735, DIED 1825.

_White lace cap._

SHE was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Portland by Lady Margaret Harley. In 1754 she married Thomas Thynne, first Marquis of Bath, by whom she had a very large family. She survived her husband many years.

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No. 152.

MR. COLE, HOUSE STEWARD.

UNCERTAIN.

_Brown coat. White wig. Writing. A seal lying on a book on the table._

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No. 153.

PORTRAIT UNKNOWN.

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No. 154.

ANNE BRUDENELL, COUNTESS OF SHREWSBURY.

BY WISSING.

BORN 1621, DIED 1702.

_Brown dress. White sleeves. Blue mantle._

THE daughter of Robert Brudenell, second Earl of Cardigan, by Anne, daughter of Viscount Savage. She married Francis, eleventh Earl of Shrewsbury, as his second wife.

De Grammont, in describing the beauties of the Court of the new Queen, Catherine of Braganza, mentions Lady Shrewsbury in the first flight. She seems to have surpassed most of the members of the royal circle in vice and effrontery, and a long list is given by the author above quoted of those who did not sigh in vain, but De Grammont says she was even more remarkable for the misfortunes she brought on those with whom she had to deal than for her conquests. The well-known wit and courtier, Thomas Killigrew, after her desertion of him for the Duke of Buckingham, amused himself by writing lampoons and speaking of her in a most unrestrained manner. He had been admonished that such a proceeding would prove dangerous, but persisted in his invectives. He was attacked one evening on his return from the Duke of York’s at St. James’s by some assassins, who made several sword-thrusts through his chair, one of which pierced his arm. After this narrow escape he bridled his tongue and pen, but sought for no redress, well aware the attempt would be fruitless.

Pepys tells us the Duke of Buckingham took Lady Shrewsbury to his house, whereupon the Duchess, usually very sparing of her reproaches, remarked it was not fit for her and the other to remain together under the same roof, to which the Duke agreed, adding, ‘I have therefore, Madam, ordered your coach to take you to your father’s;’—a speech which honest Pepys designates as ‘devilish.’

Evelyn, in his account of his visits to Newmarket, ‘where was racing, revelling, and feasting with jolly blades’ during the King’s residence there, mentions the Duke of Buckingham with that abandoned woman, Shrewsbury, with fiddlers, and the like, ‘all of which,’ he said, ‘did ill become a Christian court.’

Her lover also installed her in his beautiful country house on the banks of the Thames, to which Pope alludes—

‘Cliveden’s proud alcove,
The bower of wanton Shrewsbury, and love.’

But the incident by which she is best remembered is the famous duel, which ended so fatally. Whether Buckingham’s boasts were too loud, when he expatiated on the constancy and devotion of the hitherto fickle beauty, or from some other cause, the patient husband’s indignation was at length roused, and he sent a challenge to the Duke. We subjoin Pepys’s account: ‘Much discourse of the duel between the Duke of Buckingham, Holmes, and one Jenkins on one side, and my Lord of Shrewsbury, Sir John Talbot, and one Bernard Howard, on the other. It was all about my Lady Shrewsbury, who is, and hath been for a long time, mistress to the Duke of Buckingham. The husband challenged him, and they met yesterday, January the 16th, 1667, in a close, near Barne Elmes, and Lord Shrewsbury is wounded, run through the body from the right breast, through the shoulder, and Sir John, all along one of his arms, and Jenkins is killed, and the rest all in a measure wounded.’ Pepys makes a sapient remark on the subject: ‘This will make the world think that the King has some good councillors about him, when the Duke, the greatest man, is a fellow of no more sobriety than to fight a duel about a mistress.’ He tells us that the King, having got wind of the matter, had sent a message by the Duke of Albemarle to Buckingham, forbidding him to fight, which message, like many others, was never delivered. ‘There was great talk of the business, and Lord Shrewsbury’s case was considered very bad, and if he should die, it might make it worse for the Duke of Buckingham, and I shall not be much sorry for it, as we may have some more sober man in his place, to assist in the Government.’

On the 16th of the ensuing March, Lord Shrewsbury died of his wounds. There is a story currently believed, that his shameless wife held her lover’s horse, during the duel, in the disguise of a page.

The Queen put herself at the head of a party that declaimed against the Duke and his wicked transactions; but she was soon silenced, and the whole matter hushed up.

Lady Shrewsbury lived to find a man adventurous enough to marry her, in the person of the son of Sir Thomas Brydges of Keynsham, county Somerset. She died at the age of eighty-one.

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No. 155.

DOROTHY PERCY, COUNTESS OF LEICESTER.

AFTER THE VANDYCK AT PETWORTH.

DIED 1659.

_Seated. White satin gown. Blue mantle. Pearl ornaments._

She was the eldest daughter of Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, by Dorothy, daughter of Walter, first Earl of Essex, of the Devereux family. She married in 1618 Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester.

Of her affection for her husband let her own letter speak, written eighteen years after their marriage, when Lord Leicester was Ambassador in Paris. She says, if she were not bound to entertain his messenger a little, ‘I would bestowe one side of this paper in making love to you, and since I maie with modestie expres it, I will saie that if it be love to think of you sleeping and waking, to discourse of nothing with pleasure, but what concerns you, to wishe myselfe everie hower with you, and to praie for you with as much devotion as for mie owne sowle, then sertainlie it maie be said that I am in love.’

Dorothy was indeed of a gentle and loving disposition, and of a character in all respects strongly opposed to that of her sister, the Countess of Carlisle, whom Sir Philip Warwick designates as ‘that busy stateswoman,’ with other observations by no means flattering. Dorothy’s tastes were of a more domestic kind, and her temper amiable and peaceable. She could not, however, prevent a dissension which arose between her brother Algernon Earl of Northumberland and her Lord, when the latter was in Holstein. A letter addressed by Lord Leicester to his brother-in-law shows plainly that he was not the implacable one in this matter. After many assurances of friendship he goes on to say: ‘I present a request to your Lordship, that you will make a visit to your sister, my dear wife, if she be at Penshurst. That poor place has not offended, that it should be forbidden the honour to receive you. She hath not offended, that she should be deprived of the consolation and delight that your Lordship’s company ever brings her;’ many more arguments and conciliatory expressions going to prove that Leicester, at least, desired to be reconciled; but Northumberland remained irate. We may gather this from another letter, from Dorothy to her husband. ‘I have not yet seen my brother,’ she writes, ‘he being full of the King’s business, as he pretends, neither have I perceived any inclination to drawe me from the solitarines I suffer in this place; for though I expressed a willingnesse to go to him, yet have I received no manner of invitation, which I take a little unkindlie. But I thanke God and you, mie dearest harte, that the obligations I have received from frendes have been small, and I hope mie necessities of the times maie not be encreased. But of this coldnesse in my brother I will take little notice, and content myself the best I can, with this lonelie life, without enveing others their greatnesse, their plenty, or their jollitie.... My best and most earnest praiers shall be offered for you, and with your owne, which I believe are better than mine, I hope the blessinges shall be obtained, which shall make us happy.’ We hear of her afterwards visiting her husband in Paris, when the Queen of France presented my Lady Leicester with a costly diamond.

During the civil war Lord Leicester’s well-known loyalty made him obnoxious to the Parliament, and his estates were sequestered. But the Countess drew up what Lodge designates as ‘a bold and dignified memorial,’ and which perhaps tended to the removal of the sequestration which followed shortly afterwards, enhanced, as it was, by the combined influence of her brother and her son.

Lord Northumberland, now partially reconciled to his sister, had been coquetting for a long time with the Royalist and the Roundhead parties, and was therefore thought worth winning over by both, while the young heir of Penshurst, Lord L’Isle, was very popular with the powers that were then in the ascendant, on account of his republican tendencies. So Lord and Lady Leicester were left in peaceful possession of their beautiful home, the ‘Arcadia’ of the Sidneys.

On the death of King Charles I., the care of the younger children, the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, devolved on the Countess, and we cannot doubt her guardianship was tender, though Lord Clarendon, who did not much affect the Lord and Lady of Penshurst, speaks rather slightingly on the subject. But the reduced allowance, the lessening of respect, the omission of titles, and the like, were not to be laid to the charge of the royal children’s guardians, but to that of the Government then in power. At all events, Princess Elizabeth evinced her affection for Lady Leicester by bequeathing to her a jewel of much value, on her death, at Carisbrook in the Isle of Wight, where she had been removed from the shades of Penshurst. This token of gratitude and friendship was grudged by the Parliament, who, questioning the validity of the will, instituted a suit against the Earl of Leicester, and after some litigation, (as might have been expected,) gained possession of this bone of contention.

Lady Leicester did not long survive her young ward. There is a letter extant, addressed by her husband, on her death, to her unkind brother, Lord Northumberland, which we do not transcribe, as the cringing, courtier-like style does not take our fancy, although speaking with much affection of the wife whose loss he no doubt so deeply mourned.

They had four sons and eight daughters.

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No. 156.

CARDINAL RICHELIEU.

BORN 1585, DIED 1642.

_Red dress and cap of Cardinal. Ribbon and Order._

ARMAND, the son of Francis Duplessis Richelieu, who was Captain of the Guard to Henry IV. of France. The family was originally of Poitou. Born at Paris, educated at the Sorbonne. Evinced great talent at an early age. Went to Rome, where he was elected Bishop of Luchon when only twenty-two. It is said that he gave himself out for two years older to Paul V., who, on discovering the deceit that had been practised, observed, ‘Ce jeune évêque a de l’esprit, mais ce sera un jour un grand fourbe.’

On Richelieu’s return to France, his insinuating manners and agreeable conversation, combined with more solid qualities, made him very welcome at the Court of the Queen-Mother, Mary of Medicis, Regent of the kingdom. The newly-made bishop was chosen as her Grand Almoner, and afterwards made Secretary of State. But the Queen fell into disgrace both with her son and the Government, and was exiled to Blois, where Richelieu followed her. He paved the way to his own aggrandisement by effecting a reconciliation between the young King and his mother, for which he was rewarded with the red hat of a Cardinal.

Louis XIII. in these early days disliked Richelieu, who stood so high in the Regent’s favour, and warned her: ‘Il est d’une ambition démesurée.’

This was his estimate of the man in whose hands he became later but a mere puppet.

The rise of Cardinal Richelieu to the zenith of power, and his administration as Prime Minister, the manner in which he fell and rose alternately, in the confidence of the Regent and the King, forms one of the most important pages in the history of France. He always knew how to right himself in an emergency, and as far as public affairs were concerned he advanced the power of France in a most eminent degree, and in so doing gratified his own personal ambition. He was one of the many who did not scruple to throw down the ladder on which he had risen, and that in several instances. He hated the Huguenots, and worked against them, but he hated Austria still more, and, to humble her power, he assisted the Protestant leaders in Germany, during the Thirty Years’ War, with supplies. He also loved to take down the pride of the French aristocracy, and no consideration of mercy or rectitude arrested him in his course, particularly where his own personal animosity urged him forward. He showed remarkable aptitude for military affairs, and beneath his rule, as we have said before, the glory of the French arms was much advanced. He also patronised the arts of peace, founded institutions, erected many splendid edifices, and built for himself a magnificent dwelling in Paris, which he called ‘Le Palais du Cardinal,’ now the Palais Royal, which he bequeathed to Louis XIII. Richelieu loved literature, and left numerous writings.

His cruel sentence in respect to Cinq Mars, and De Thou, accused of conspiracy, is a well-known episode in the life of this Minister. He did not long survive his victims, but died, after great suffering, with courage and firmness, protesting solemnly in his last hour that his whole aim in life had been the welfare of his king and country.

He was a man of gallantry, and was said to have presumed so far as to raise his eyes to the reigning Queen, Anne of Austria, who, however, much disliked him, and opposed him whenever it was in her power to do so.

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_PORTRAITS NOT PLACED_.

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PORTRAITS NOT PLACED.

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No. 157.

CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF SUFFOLK.

AFTER HOLBEIN.

BORN 1504, DIED 1545.

_Black and red dress. Black cap. Seated. Escutcheon of arms
in the corner._

HE was the son of Sir William Brandon, by Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Bruyn, and widow of one Mallory. Sir William had been a zealous adherent of Henry Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., one of the first assertors of that Prince’s right to the throne of England, and so much attached to his person, that he forfeited a good fortune to join his royal friend in Brittany. Brandon returned in Henry’s suite to England, and sealed his fidelity with his life-blood, dying on the field of Bosworth by the hand of Richard III. himself. The favour which could not be awarded to the father was extended to the son, and King Henry became friend and guardian to the young orphan, who was bred up at Court, and made the companion and playfellow of the royal Henry, afterwards the eighth of that name, on whose accession to the throne Charles Brandon was appointed Esquire of the body, and Chamberlain of the Principality of Wales.

In 1513 Lord Herbert thus makes mention of him:—‘The gallants of the Court, finding the King’s favour shine manifestly on Cardinal Wolsey, applied themselves much to him, and Charles Brandon especially, who for his goodly person, courage, and conformity of disposition, was noted to be most acceptable to Henry in all his exercises and pastimes.’

In these pursuits indeed he rivalled his royal master.

The year in which he attracted the notice of Lord Herbert, Brandon first served with distinction, in an engagement with a French squadron, off Brest. On his return he was raised to the Peerage by the title of Viscount L’Isle.

Later on, Lord L’Isle made the French campaign with the King, and fought at the battle of the Spurs, the siege of Terouenne, etc. etc., holding a high command in the English army. Thence they marched into Flanders, reduced Tournay, and were received with splendour and sumptuously entertained by the Emperor Maximilian. The goodly person and other noble gifts of Charles Brandon appear to have made an impression on the heart of the Archduchess Margaret, the Emperor’s daughter. Herbert says: ‘Find some overtures of a match between Lord L’Isle and the Princess Margaret, which, though they took no effect, were not yet without much demonstration of outward grace and favour on her part.’

But Brandon was reserved for a still happier fate. In the early part of the year 1514, having been created Duke of Suffolk, he formed one of the band of noble ‘jousters’ who graced the nuptials of Mary Princess of England, (the King’s sister,) with Louis XII. of France. Historians differ as to the time at which the germ of a deep attachment sprang up in the heart of Princess Mary for the captivating young noble. By some it is maintained that before political considerations had compelled her to consummate a union with the already aged and feeble King, she had nourished a tender feeling for her brother’s early playmate; while others affirm that it was on the occasion of her ill-assorted marriage that the courage, skill, and grace which he displayed in the chivalrous exercises, to which we have alluded, captivated her fancy. Be this as it may, the French King only survived his marriage a few months, and a day or two after his death the young widow secretly espoused the man she dearly loved. We have again recourse to Lord Herbert’s testimony. Speaking of the treaty of peace then pending with France, he says:—‘Together with the proposing of this treaty, our King sent a letter to the Queen, his sister, desiring to know how she stood affected as to her return to England, and desiring her not to match without his consent. She, on the other hand, who had privately engaged her affections to Suffolk, made no difficulty to discover herself to both Kings, (her brother Henry, and Francis I., who had succeeded her late husband as King of France,) entreating the latter to mediate the marriage, and our King to approve it, unto which Francis easily agreed. But our King, for the conservation of his dignity, held off a little; however, he had long designed her for Suffolk,’ the Queen observing, ‘that if the King would have her married in any place but where her heart was, she would shut herself up in a religious house.’ And no wonder she should so speak, being in fact already the wife of Charles Brandon. Mary took all the blame of this step on herself, striving to shield her beloved from Henry’s displeasure, who, with the good offices of Francis, soon restored the pair to his favour. Wolsey also stood their friend with the King, observing how much better it was that the Queen had not bestowed her hand on some Frenchman of quality.

They were publicly married, first at Calais, and afterwards at Greenwich in May 1515. Mary brought her husband enormous wealth. In addition to her other gifts, of birth and nature, her jointure was 60,000 crowns annually, besides personal property brought from France, estimated at 200,000, with a diamond of enormous price, entitled ‘Le Miroir de Naples.’

A disagreement shortly afterwards arose between Suffolk and Cardinal Wolsey, which caused the Duke to retire for a while into the country, whence Henry, who could not brook the loss of his society, soon recalled him. Suffolk reappeared at Court, and accompanied his august brother-in-law to France, where he was present at the world-famed interview between the French and English Kings, entitled ‘The Field of the Cloth of Gold.’ Some years later, Suffolk went again to France in command of an invading force, where, in spite of the successes which his courage and military skill insured to the English arms, he was compelled to retreat in consequence of the scanty manner in which his troops were provisioned, those being days when the commissariat department was little understood. This step was blamed by Henry, and it was some time ere the royal anger could be appeased.

In 1529 Suffolk was a witness in the inquiry on which Henry founded his plea for the desired divorce from Catherine of Aragon, was one of the peers who subscribed the declaration to the Pope, threatening the abolition of the Holy See, should Clement refuse to annul the marriage, and was also a party to the accusations preferred against Cardinal Wolsey. For these too ready proofs of his subservience to Henry’s wishes the Duke was rewarded by considerable grants of Church lands. He was again called into active service, in order to quell some disturbances in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and in 1544 made his last campaign in France, reducing the town of Boulogne, after a siege which lasted six weeks. Previous to his departure from England he made his will, containing some curious bequests; amongst others, desiring that a cup of gold should be formed out of his Collar of the Garter, and given to the King. He ordered that his funeral should be conducted ‘without outward pomp or pride of the world,’ and that his body should be interred in the Collegiate Church of Tattershall, in Lincolnshire. But the King’s special commands overruled his last wishes, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was buried with unusual magnificence in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. He was ‘Justice in Eyre’ of all the King’s forests, and Great Master or Steward of the royal household.

Charles Brandon was four times married. From his first wife, Margaret, daughter of John Melville, Marquis Montague, and widow of Sir John Mortimer, he was divorced at her suit, in consequence of his having previously signed a contract of marriage with Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Lieutenant of Calais. This lady became his second wife, and by her he had two daughters, who married Lords Powis and Monteagle. The Queen-Dowager of France brought him a son, created Earl of Lincoln, who died young, and two daughters, the eldest married to Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, and the younger, first to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and afterwards to Adrian Stokes. His fourth wife was Catherine, daughter and heir of William Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, by whom he had two sons, who both died on the same day, shortly after their father, of the sweating-sickness, at the Episcopal Palace of Buckden, county Hunts.

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No. 158.

LORD KEEPER WILLIAMS.

PAINTER UNKNOWN.

BORN 1582, DIED 1650.

_Painted on wood. Black eyes, moustaches, and beard. Low-crowned
broad-brimmed hat. Left hand rests on the case of the Great Seal. In
the corner a shield, with many quarterings, surmounted by a mitre.
Inscription: ‘Lord Keeper Williams, Archbishop of York, 1625.’_

JOHN, son of Edmund Williams, by Anne Wynne, (both names that testify to true Cambrian descent,) born at Aberconway, county Carnarvon, educated at a Grammar School, where it was said of him, ‘that he was a proficient in Greek, and Latin, but had little Sassenach.’ He then went to Cambridge, where all the Welshmen were proud of their countryman’s talents, although his accent and pronunciation caused an occasional laugh at his expense. He accepted a small living in Norfolk, and a better one in Northamptonshire, but still continued to reside for some time at the University. Lord Chancellor Ellesmere was so taken by his preaching and his good character that he appointed Williams his private chaplain, took him into his confidence, and made him his inseparable companion. Even in the Courts of Chancery and the Star Chamber the young man sat beside his patron, and as an earnest listener did the future Lord Keeper begin his legal education. He had the chief command of the Chancellor’s ecclesiastical patronage, which he dispensed with judgment, never losing sight for a moment of his own interests. He became a large pluralist, had two good livings, and stalls in four cathedrals, while a sermon he preached at Court, on the divine right of kings, insured him the favour of James I. Prince Henry also admired his preaching, and said he was ‘an honour to the Principality.’

Lord Ellesmere was now growing old, and made use of his chaplain in all his business transactions with the King, a fortunate circumstance for Williams, as James took a great liking for him. When the Chancellor was dying, he offered his chaplain a reward for his services. ‘I wish for nothing at your hands,’ was the reply, ‘you have filled my cup so full. Give me directions how to live in the world, if I survive you.’ ‘You are an expert workman,’ said the dying man; ‘take these tools, they are the best I have,’ at the same time giving him his own four treatises, on the manner of conducting business in the Courts of Chancery, Parliament, the Star Chamber, and Council.

Lord Bacon, on succeeding to the Woolsack, offered to continue Williams as his chaplain, but he chose rather to go to his living, and work there as parish priest, Justice of the Peace, etc. etc., with occasional visits to London to preach at Court, and keep up his interest there. Watching passing events, he soon made up his mind, that it was impossible to rise without the help of the all-powerful Buckingham. Fortunately for our wary Welshman, an opportunity soon offered to ingratiate himself into the Duke’s good books. The handsome courtier was a suitor for the hand of the beautiful heiress, Lady Catherine Manners, but her father, the Earl of Rutland, considered Buckingham ‘an upstart,’ and the lady was a strict Roman Catholic, and moreover much scandalised by her lover’s reputation as a man of gallantry. Williams lived near Belvoir, where he was a frequent and welcome visitor, and Buckingham asked his mediation. So successfully did he conduct matters, that ere long all scruples were overcome on the part of father and daughter, and the latter converted to the Protestant faith, according to the tenets of which Williams married the couple, having first himself drawn up the marriage settlements. He used to say, with reason, that this affair was the keystone in the arch of his fortune.