Chapter XI: Part 11

As a recompence, he demanded and obtained the Deanery of Westminster. When the cry was raised against Lord Bacon, Williams took part with his enemies, at first secretly. When the Great Seal was taken from Bacon, and put into commission for a time, Williams, after some delay, carried off the prize in spite of numerous competitors,—the King and Buckingham being both in favour of this most unpopular choice. The lawyers were irate, that one who had never run in the race should win the garland! His installation was delayed, and he now set to work to educate himself for the post he had already attained, studying day and night, and scarcely allowing time for food or sleep. Indeed we are told that through life he never slept more than three hours at a time. He had not, said his Secretary, ‘one drop of lazy blood in his veins.’ He was raised to the See of Lincoln, and on becoming Lord Keeper, retained all his ecclesiastical preferment. ‘He had a whole diocese in his person,—Bishop, Dean, Prebendary, Parson, and Priest.’

Verily the Lord Keeper had feathered his nest! In his legal capacity he worked strenuously, and chose his advisers well, although at times an error in technical terms caused a titter in Court. There is a good story of a certain lawyer attempting a joke at the Lord Keeper’s expense, by making a sham motion, which was crammed like a grenade with obsolete words, of far-fetched antiquity, thinking to keep the new Judge in the dark, and take him at a disadvantage. But we are told it is dangerous to play with edged tools. The Lord Keeper discovered the plot, and rising, answered his antagonist in a long speech, in which the words categorematical and syn-categorematical were among the shortest and simplest of his polysyllables. The laugh, and the tables, were turned in an instant. So zealous and skilful was he in the prosecution of his new duties, that few complaints were heard; but Buckingham and Laud were both jealous of his growing power, and preferred charges against him, the latter especially, for betraying ‘the secrets of the Council.’ He was moreover in bad odour at this time, for the violent part he took against Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had accidentally shot Lord Zouche’s gamekeeper, instead of a deer at which he was aiming. There were whispers that Williams would not have disliked the post of Primate, but nothing came of it.

Buckingham returned about this time from Spain, and accused the Lord Keeper of having plotted against him during his absence. Williams humbled himself before the great man, who said, ‘I will not seek your ruin, though I shall cease to study your fortune.’

When King James lay on his deathbed, Williams ministered to him, closed his eyes, and preached his funeral sermon. Charles, on his accession, confirmed him in all his offices, but was soon persuaded by Buckingham to deprive him of the Great Seal. Williams therefore retired to his palace at Buckden, which, being in a dilapidated condition, he restored, and lived there in much state.

But he could not place a guard over the door of his lips, and he who had been accused of employing spies himself, seems to have been surrounded by them. It was reported at Court, how disrespectfully Williams spoke of high personages and their doings, and he was forbidden to appear at the forthcoming Coronation. Many slights and indignities were put upon him, but for all that, he kept his place on the bench of Bishops, and supported the popular cause, more especially the famous Petition of Right. He was now attacked on all sides, and grave charges were made against him, so that he was dismissed from his seat at the Council Board, and then brought to trial. Found guilty of manifold crimes and misdemeanours, he was sentenced to be fined, suspended, and imprisoned. Accordingly he was arrested and sent to the Tower. Before he was released, fresh accusations were brought against him, and the fines upon him were increased; Laud being always foremost in the rank of his adversaries, for he had no reason to love Williams. It was now proposed to the prisoner, voluntarily to resign all his offices, including his bishopric, and to accept an Irish See, but this offer he stoutly refused. Williams was at length released by the Long Parliament, and all proceedings against him cancelled. On his appearance at Court, he was received with open arms, and raised to the Archbishopric of York. Although professing to disapprove of the attainder of Strafford, he advised the King most cruelly, and Clarendon says was instrumental in Strafford’s death. He opposed the Bill for excluding the Bishops from the House of Lords, and took so active a part that he was once more sent to the Tower for a short time. During his second imprisonment, (Laud being then under the same gloomy roof,) the two Archbishops met, and were reconciled. On his release, Williams entered on a new career, that of arms, joining the Royal cause with all his heart, and working strenuously to advance it in Wales. He had a design of fortifying Carwood Castle in his See, but found the place untenable, being almost a ruin; and he was obliged to fly in the dead of night, on the approach of ‘those two traitors, Sir John Hotham and his son,’ with scarcely a change of raiment, without provisions, and not a coin in his purse. The next day, meeting his royal master by the way, this loyal subject gave up the best of the horsemen who rode with him, and proceeded to his native town, which he had left as a mere stripling, about fifty years before. The Archbishop continued to preach religion, morality, and loyalty among the Welsh, and repaired and fortified Conway Castle, for which good service King Charles (whom he joined at Oxford for a time) appointed him Governor of the same. This displeased Prince Rupert, who hated Churchmen, and he caused Williams to be superseded,—a circumstance which rankled deeply in the warlike prelate’s bosom.

He remained for a time inactive, but falling in with a Parliamentary force, the desire of revenge got the better of his loyalty, and he was persuaded by the General to assist him in the attack on Conway, still under the command of his successor. The assault succeeded, and Williams was once more for a short period installed in Conway Castle. Soon after this he retired to the house of his kinswoman, Lady Mostyn, where he remained till his death. He was horrified when he heard the King had left Oxford. ‘What!’ he said, ‘take the advice of a stranger, and trust the Scots! then all is lost.’ On being told of Charles’s execution, he fainted away, and said he would never take comfort more. He survived about a year, but spent most of his time in bed, rising at midnight to pray, ‘as that was the hour at which Christ would come to judge the quick and dead.’ He died on his sixty-eighth birthday, his last words being ‘Lord Jesus, come quickly,’ for he had long wished for death. His temper was fiery, owing, said his Secretary, to his Welsh blood. He was hospitable and charitable, had a great taste for building, and restored Westminster at his own expense, besides many munificent grants to both Universities. He gave much offence to the Puritans by his love of dramatic performances. One Sunday, the very day of an Episcopal ordination, he caused the ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to be represented, (on a stage erected in Buckden Palace,) for the edification of the young priests.

In person he was handsome; his countenance comely, his complexion fair, his gait stately. He was merry, and even facetious, until the time of the King’s death, after which he seldom opened his lips, except to call down vengeance on Cromwell and the Regicides.

He repurchased his family estate, and bequeathed it to his heir. He left several theological writings. Lord Keeper Williams, Archbishop of York, lies buried in a small church near Penrhyn, in Wales.

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No. 159.

SIR THEODORE MAYERNE.

PAINTER UNKNOWN.

BORN 1572-3, DIED 1656-7.

_Seated in an arm-chair. Dressed in a black gown. White collar and
cuffs. Black skull-cap. Grey beard and whiskers. His hand resting on
a bust of Hippocrates. A large clasped book on the table, inscribed
‘Hermes.’ The painting is on wood._

THEODORE TURQUET, Sieur de Mayerne, Baron D’Aumont, born at Geneva. His father was an author of no very great repute. Theodore was Physician-in-Ordinary to Henry IV. of France, and after his death, came to England, and occupied the same post at the courts of James I., Charles I. and his Queen, and Charles II. His name is specially remembered in connection with that of Henry, Prince of Wales, whose last illness was so sudden, but it was not for some days after the attack that Mayerne was called in to consult with Henry’s own medical adviser. There were rumours afloat that the hope of the nation, the darling of his father’s people, was the victim of poison, administered by Lord Rochester, the King’s favourite, through jealousy of the Prince’s supposed admiration for the beautiful but abandoned Countess of Essex, but Mayerne refuted the accusation, in an elaborate account of Henry’s illness, (which he published in English, French, and Latin,) proving that the Prince’s death was occasioned by natural causes.

He disagreed with the other physicians as to the treatment of the patient, and the King gave him a certificate, and the Lords in Council and the gentlemen of the Prince’s household expressed their entire satisfaction with the manner in which this able man had conducted the case.

Theodore Mayerne, Baron D’Aumont, received the honour of Knighthood from the hands of Charles I. His death was caused by drinking (though moderately) of bad wine when dining with a few friends at a tavern in the Strand. Bad wine is usually a slow poison, but in Sir Theodore’s case, advanced age, and consequent weakness, quickened the result. He foretold to his companions the exact hour at which death would ensue, and the prediction proved but too true. Mayerne had the credit of inventing many valuable medicines, and left behind him many receipts that were much esteemed. He was an excellent Latin scholar, and wrote several medical works in that language. He was moreover an admirable chemist, and Walpole tells us that the celebrated miniature painter Petitot owed the perfection of his colouring in enamel to some chemical secret imparted to him by the Court physician.

Sir Theodore was buried in the old church of St. Martin’s in the Fields. He had an only daughter, married to the Marquis de Cugnac, who died when only twenty. She was buried at Chelsea.

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No. 160.

SIR THOMAS CHICHELEY.

_Black dress._

WE have not been able to gain much information respecting him, but the fact that Lady Savile married him as her second husband will sufficiently account for his portrait being here. We believe him to have been a staunch Royalist, which may have recommended him in the lady’s eyes, though it is curious that her biographer, Dr. Barwick, makes no mention of this marriage, or, if at all, only in a scanty note. We find in Collins’s _Baronetage_, that Thomas Chicheley of Wimpole, county Cambridge, was recommended as qualified to be made a Knight of the Royal Oak, in 1660, and that Sir Thomas Chicheley was Master of the Ordnance to King Charles II. He sold the estate of Wimpole, in 1686, to Sir John Cutler.

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_INDEX OF PORTRAITS_.

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INDEX OF PORTRAITS.

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_The first page mentioned indicates the notice of the Life._

ALBEMARLE, GEORGE MONCK, DUKE OF, 231

... ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF, 137

ARLINGTON, HENRY BENNET, EARL OF, 234

ARUNDEL, HENRY FITZALAN, EARL OF, 167

BATH, FIRST MARQUIS OF, 70

... FIRST MARCHIONESS OF, 76, 336

... SECOND MARQUIS OF, 57, 249

... SECOND MARCHIONESS OF, 134

... FOURTH MARQUIS OF, 79, 133

... FOURTH MARCHIONESS OF, 58

BEAUCHAMP, LORD, 327

BEDFORD, JOHN RUSSELL, SIXTH DUKE OF, 250

BOHEMIA, KING OF, 281, 325

... QUEEN OF, 268

BUCKINGHAM, EDWARD STAFFORD, DUKE OF, 226

... GEORGE VILLIERS, SECOND DUKE OF, 145

CARNARVON, EARL AND COUNTESS OF, 130

CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, 160

CAVENDISH, ADMIRAL, THE CIRCUMNAVIGATOR, 315

CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES, 225

... THE FIRST, KING OF ENGLAND, 218, 303

... THE SECOND, 160

CHARTRES, VIDÂME DE, 122

CHICHELEY, SIR THOMAS, 360

CHILDREN OF CHARLES THE FIRST, 219

... OF SIR JOHN THYNNE THE BUILDER, 199

COLE, MR., 336

COLIGNY, ADMIRAL DE, 96

CONDÉ, PRINCE DE, 120

CONINGSBY, MR., 335

COVENTRY, THE HONOURABLE HENRY, 72

... SIR JOHN, 64

... THE LORD KEEPER, 79, 30

... SIR WILLIAM, 82

COVERT, SIR WALTER, 94

... LADY, 95

DEVEREUX, THE LADIES, 115

DIGBY, SIR KENELM, 250

DORSET, EDWARD SACKVILLE, FOURTH EARL OF, 31

DUNDEE, JOHN GRAHAME OF CLAVERHOUSE, VISCOUNT, 319

ELEANOR OF AUSTRIA, 200, 202

ESSEX, ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF, 102

FALKLAND, LUCIUS CAREY, SECOND VISCOUNT, 27

FERDINAND, DON, CARDINAL, INFANT OF SPAIN, 328

FINCH, THE HONOURABLE LEOPOLD, 327

FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, 166

GEORGE THE FIRST, KING OF ENGLAND, 134

GRANVILLE, GRACE CARTERET, COUNTESS, 116

GRESHAM, SIR RICHARD, 171

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, KING OF SWEDEN, 108

HAMILTON, WILLIAM, SECOND DUKE OF, 220

HARLEY, LADY MARGARET, 318

HENRIETTA MARIA, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, 219

HENRY THE EIGHTH, KING OF ENGLAND, 36

HENRY THE FOURTH, KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE, 225

HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, 307

HERTFORD, EARL OF, AFTERWARDS DUKE OF SOMERSET, 111

HOLLAND, HENRY RICH, EARL OF, 34

INNOCENT THE ELEVENTH, POPE, 139

JERSEY, EDWARD VILLIERS, FIRST EARL OF, 117

JUXON, ARCHBISHOP, 257

KELIFET, MR., 326

KEN, BISHOP, 5

LANSDOWNE, GEORGE LORD, 45

... LADY[4], 110, 78

LAUD, WILLIAM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 261

LEICESTER, ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF, 191

... DOROTHY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF, 340

LONSDALE, JOHN LOWTHER, VISCOUNT, 302

... VISCOUNTESS, 303

LUTHER, MARTIN, 224

LYNCH, SIR WILLIAM, 256

MACCLESFIELD, CHARLES GERARD, EARL OF, 286

MARY, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, 129

MAXIMILIAN, EMPEROR OF GERMANY, 203

MAYERNE, SIR THEODORE, 358

NEWCASTLE, WILLIAM CAVENDISH, FIRST DUKE OF, AND HIS DUCHESS, 239

NORTHUMBERLAND, ALGERNON PERCY, EARL OF, 286

NOTT, LADY, 190

NOTTINGHAM, HENEAGE FINCH, EARL OF, 227

... CATHERINE CAREY, COUNTESS OF, 150

... ESSEX RICH, COUNTESS OF, 325

OVERBURY, SIR THOMAS, 244

OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF, 330

PEMBROKE, PHILIP HERBERT, EARL OF, 265

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, 155

RICHELIEU, CARDINAL, 343

RICHMOND AND LENNOX, FRANCES HOWARD, DUCHESS OF, 53

ROSAMOND, FAIR, 129

RUBENS, PETER PAUL, WIFE AND CHILD, 167

RUSSELL, LORD JOHN, AFTERWARDS EARL RUSSELL, K.G., 333

SAVILE, THE HONOURABLE LADY, 118, 328

SEYMOUR, ELIZABETH, AFTERWARDS COUNTESS OF AILESBURY, 302

SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, FIRST EARL OF, 11

SHREWSBURY, ELIZABETH BRUDENELL, COUNTESS OF, 337

SIDNEY, SIR HENRY, 153

SOMERSET, DUKE OF, PROTECTOR, 21

... WILLIAM, DUKE OF,—A BOY, 304

SOUTHAMPTON, THOMAS WRIOTHESLEY, EARL OF, 42

STRAFFORD, THOMAS WENTWORTH, EARL OF, 209

ST. ALBANS, FRANCIS BACON, VISCOUNT, 276

STUART, LADY ARABELLA, 172, 116

SUDELEY, THOMAS LORD SEYMOUR OF, 36

SUFFOLK, CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF, 347

THURLOW, EDWARD, FIRST LORD, 47

_THE THYNNE FAMILY_—

THYNNE, SIR EGREMONT, 68

... SIR HENRY FREDERICK, 45, 77

... HIS WIFE, 94, 315

... THE HONOURABLE HENRY, 238

... THE HONOURABLE JAMES, 195

... JAMES, ESQ., 98

... SIR JAMES, 121, 73

... LADY ISABELLA, HIS WIFE, 89, 78

... SIR JOHN, THE BUILDER OF LONGLEAT, 66

... THE SECOND SIR JOHN, 115

... HIS WIFE, 114

... SIR THOMAS, OF RICHMOND, 71

THYNNE, SIR THOMAS, OF LONGLEAT, 122

... HIS FIRST WIFE, 87

... HIS SECOND WIFE, 88

... THOMAS, FATHER OF SECOND VISCOUNT WEYMOUTH, 83, 335

... TOM O’ TEN THOUSAND, 73, 95

TINTORETTO, GIACOMO ROBUSTI, 133

TÖCKOLI, HELENA, COUNTESS, 290

... COUNT EMERIC, 296

TORRINGTON, GEORGE, FOURTH VISCOUNT, 77

... VISCOUNTESS, 109

WEYMOUTH, FIRST VISCOUNT, 63, 5, 326

... HIS WIFE, 61

... SECOND VISCOUNT, 62, 110

... HIS FIRST WIFE, 61

... HIS SECOND WIFE, 70, 110

WILLIAMS, LORD KEEPER, 352

YORK, JAMES DUKE OF, 190

Footnote 4:

By inadvertence, Lady Lansdowne has been called ‘Viscountess’ in the
text of the book.

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_ERRATA_.

Page 290 and 296, _for_ (Emperor of) Austria _read_ Germany.
Page 331, _insert_ Langallerie _after_ Marquis de Guiscard.
Page 344, _for_ Palais Royal _read_ Bibliothèque du Roi.

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REST PRAY SLEEP
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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

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