Charles Harding Firth

“ In July 1670 Charles sent Buckingham to Versailles to negotiate a second treaty with Louis XIV, which was to be a repetition of the first so far as concerned the war with Holland, but to omit the provisions relative to religion. Louis received Buckingham with the greatest distinction, gave him a pension of ten thousand livres a year for Lady Shrewsbury, and promised to stipulate that he should command the English auxiliary forces in the intended war. ‘I have had more honours done me than ever were given to any subject,’ wrote Buckingham to Arlington. ”

“ In his defence Saye not only complained that the climate of New England was cold and the soil barren, but attacked the whole organisation of the colony, both as to church and state. ‘No wise man would be so foolish as to live where every man is a master and masters must not correct their servants, where wise men propose and fools deliberate.’ Their liberty was not ‘the desirable liberty such as wise men would wish to enjoy and live under’ (Massachusetts Historical Collection, i. 297) . ”

“ Hutchinson describes Gell's soldiers as ‘good, stout-fighting men, but the most licentious, ungovernable wretches that belonged to the parliament. He himself nor no man knows for what reason he chose that side, for he had not understanding enough to judge the equity of the cause, nor piety nor holiness, being a foul adulterer all the time he served the parliament, and so unjust that without any remorse he suffered his men to plunder both honest men and cavaliers’ (Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, i. 180) . ”

“ If a protector were to be chosen other than one of Cromwell's sons, no one had stronger claims than Fleetwood. He was the officer highest in rank in the armies of the three kingdoms. The military services of Lambert and Harrison might have made them dangerous rivals, but both had been distinguished by their opposition to the existing government, and neither was at present a member of the army. Fleetwood's connection with the Cromwell family furnished a guarantee to the adherents of Cromwell, and he was at the same time trusted by the extreme sectaries. ”

“ He was a man of excellent natural parts for affection and oratory, but not well seen in the principles of his religion; of a sanguine complexion, naturally of such a vivacity, hilarity, and alacrity, as another man hath when he hath drunken a cup too much; but naturally also so far from humble thoughts of himself that it was his ruin.’ Baxter was standing by Harrison at Langport when the royalists began to run, and heard him ‘with a loud voice break forth into the praises of God with fluent expressions, as if he had been in rapture’ (Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, 1696, pp. 54, 57) . ”

“ Clare then obtained the king's leave to go to London to look after his private affairs, and took his seat in the House of Lords again. During his stay with the parliament, says Clarendon, he ‘never concurred in any malicious counsel against the king, but was looked upon as a man not only firm to the principles of monarchy, but of duty to the person of the king. He was a man of honour and of courage, and would have been an excellent person if his heart had not been set too much upon the keeping and improving his estate’ (ib. vii. 187) . ”

“ He was undoubtedly one of the chief instigators of their establishment, and in the parliament of 1656 no one was more eager for their continuance. ‘I wish,’ he said, ‘any man could propound an expedient to be secure against your common enemies by another way than as the militia is settled. The quarrel is now between light and darkness, not who shall rule, but whether we shall live or be preserved or no. ”

“ Clarendon attributes the failure of the rising partly to the defects of Goring's leadership and lack of experience. ‘The earl was a man fitter to have drawn such a body together by his frolic and pleasant humour, which reconciled people of all constitutions wonderfully to him, than to form and conduct them towards any enterprise’ (Rebellion, xi. 55) . Carter, who acted as quartermaster-general under Goring, admits his inexperience, but praises his prudence, his courage, and his indefatigable energy, and throughout defends his conduct. ”

“ His personal courage was so conspicuous that his enemies denied him the other qualities of a general. Walker styles him ‘a gentleman of an irrational and brutish valour’ (Hist. of Independency, ed. 1660, i. 29) . But Fairfax had also signal merits as a leader. He was remarkable for the rapidity of his marches, the vigour of his attacks, and the excellence of the discipline which he maintained. In his Yorkshire campaigns, though always outnumbered, he continually took the offensive. ”

“ When the 'little parliament' surrendered its powers back to Cromwell, Lambert was the leading spirit in the council of officers who now drew up the instrument of government and offered the post of protector to Cromwell. ”

“ Hopton was distinguished among the royalist commanders for the good order which he maintained among his soldiers. Under his command the Cornish army was so disciplined ‘as the fame of their religion and devotion was no less than their courage’ (ib. vi. 248, vii. 98) . He was remarkable also for the rare self-abnegation and fidelity with which he sacrificed his own claims and his own wishes to the good of the king's cause (ib. vii. 148) . No royalist leader was so much respected by his opponents. ”

“ Without possessing great abilities, he enjoyed as much reputation and influence as if he had done so. ‘Though his notions were not large or deep, yet his temper and reservedness in discourse, and his unrashness in speaking, got him the reputation of an able and a wise man; which he made evident in his excellent government of his family, where no man was more absolutely obeyed; and no man had ever fewer idle words to answer for ”

“ Clarendon was well aware of one cause of its superiority. 'It is not,' he says, ' a collection of records, or an admission to the view and perusal of the most secret letters and acts of state [that] can enable a man to write a history, if there be an absence of that genius and spirit and soul of an historian which is contracted by the knowledge and course and method of business, and by conversation and familiarity in the inside of courts, and [with] the most active and eminent persons in the government' (Tracts, p. 180) . ”

“ Nothing stirred the spleen of satirists more than the great house which he built for himself in St. James's, and his own opinion was that it contributed more than any alleged misdemeanours to 'that gust of envy' which overthrew him. ”

“ Fairfax was willing to command against the Scots if they invaded England again, but resigned rather than attack them. ‘Human probabilities,’ he said, ‘are not sufficient grounds to make war upon a neighbour nation, especially our brethren of Scotland, to whom we are engaged in a solemn league and covenant.’ A committee of the council of state was sent to persuade him to retain his post, but he adhered to his conscientious scruples (Whitelocke, ff. 460–2) . ”

“ Guizot, in the valuable life and criticism prefixed to his edition of the ‘Memoirs,’ describes Ludlow's mind as ‘naturally limited and obtuse,’ and Ludlow as ‘incapable of comprehending events and men.’ Nevertheless his faithful adherence to his principles compels respect, and his stubborn courage excellently qualified him to maintain untenable positions and lost causes. The republicans and advanced whigs of the next century cherished his memory, and adopted his views of Cromwell and the Commonwealth. ”

“ In forwarding the resolution of the council of war to parliament Fairfax earnestly begged the latter to adopt a more moderate course, and defined his own attitude: ‘I intreat you that there may be ways of love and composure thought upon. I shall do my endeavours, though I am forced to yield something out of order, to keep the army from disorder or worse inconveniences’ (Old Parliamentary Hist. xv. 383–90) . Three days later the seizure of the king by Joyce took place, 3 July, an act which showed how completely the army had thrown off the control of the general. ”

“ From that period he began to change his policy, and became prominent among those who strove to patch up a peace with the king in the summer of 1648. Saye ‘had not the least thought of dissolving the monarchy, and less of levelling the ranks and distinctions of men ... he was as proud of his quality, and of being distinguished from other men by his title, as any man alive,’ and he ‘well foresaw what would become of his peerage if the treaty proved ineffectual, and the army should make their own model of the government’ (Clarendon, Rebellion, vi. 409, xi. 155) . ”

“ Jones made a sudden sally, drove the besiegers out of Baggotrath, fell on Ormonde's camp at Rathmines, and took camp, artillery, baggage, and eighteen hundred prisoners. ‘There never was any day in Ireland like this,’ says Whitelocke, ‘to the confusion of the Irish, and raising up the spirits of the English, and restoring their interest, which from their first footing in Ireland was never in so low a condition as at that time.’ A few days later Ormonde wrote to Jones for a list of his prisoners. ”

“ Grenville died in 1658; of the last four years of his life Lord Lansdowne writes (with some exaggeration) : ‘He retired from all conversation with mankind, shut himself up from the world to prepare himself seriously for another, never so much as suffering his beard to be shaven from that moment to his dying day, which followed soon, his great heart not being able to hold out any longer. He lies buried in a church in Ghent, with this inscription only upon a plain stone, “Sir Richard Granville, the King's general in the West”’ (Lansdowne, Works, i. 560) . ”

“ During the king's campaign in the west Lisle commanded one of the three divisions of his infantry (Symonds, Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army during the Great Civil War, p. 160) . At the second battle of Newbury he commanded the division which bore the brunt of Manchester's attack. ‘We profess,’ says ‘Mercurius Aulicus,’ ‘it troubles us; we want language to express his carriage, for he did all things with so much courage, cheerfulness, and present dispatch, as had special influence on every common soldier, taking particular care of all except himself. ”

“ Sympathising less strongly with the native Irish than the king did, he yet supported the settlement-commissioners against the clamour of the Irish parliament. 'No man,' he wrote to the Earl of Anglesey, 'is more solicitous to establish Ireland upon a true protestant English interest than I am, but there is as much need of temper and moderation and justice in the composing that establishment as ever was necessary in any affair of this world' (ib. iii. App. xxxiv, xxxvi) . ”

“ Lady Carlisle was in truth very like Sempronia, ‘the great stateswoman’ of Jonson's ‘Catiline.’ ‘She felt a woman's pride in attracting to her the strong heads by which the world was ruled,’ and sought to inspire statesmen and guide events (Gardiner, History, ix. 86) . Scandalmongers have hinted that she was the mistress of Strafford and Pym, but with little probability. ‘She cannot love in earnest,’ says Toby Matthew, ‘so contenting herself to play with Love as with a child. ”

“ In March 1603, Carey made a flying visit to the court, and this became a spectator of Elizabeth's last illness, which he carefully observed and described. He speedily became alarmed for his own fortunes, remembering that most of his livelihood depended on her life. At the same time he called to mind the favour with which the King of Scots had treated him, and determined to inform him at once of the queen's state. ”

“ During the king's negotiations with the parliament and the army Hyde's great fear was that Charles should concede too much. 'Let them,' he wrote, 'have all circumstantial 'temporary concessions, .... distribute as many personal obligations as can be expected, but take heed of removing landmarks and destroying foundations. ... Either no peace can be made, or it must be upon the old foundations of government in church and state' (ib. ii. 326, 333, 379) . ”

“ Lucas was reputed to be one of the best cavalry leaders in the king's army. Even Clarendon, who judges him with undue severity, describes him as 'very brave in his person, and in a day of battle a gallant man to look upon and follow' (Rebellion, xi. 108) . According to his sister, Lucas 'naturally had a practical genius to the warlike arts, as natural poets have to poetry, but his life was cut off before he could arrive at the true perfection thereof.' He left a 'Treatise of the Arts of War,' but being written in cipher it was never published (Life of Newcastle, ed. Firth, p. 282) . ”

“ In 1653 Overton, who had now succeeded to the family estate at Easington, returned to England, and again became governor of Hull. Deeply imbued with the views of the fifth monarchy men, and dissatisfied with the slow progress of the work of reformation under the rule of the parliament, he hailed with enthusiasm Cromwell's forcible dissolution of that body. ”

“ Grenville's reasons for abandoning the opposition are obscure. In 1639, when the king raised an army against the Scots, he manifested the greatest alacrity in his cause. ‘I go with joy and comfort,’ he wrote, ‘to venture a life in as good a cause and with as good company as ever Englishman did ; and I do take God to witness, if I were to choose a death it should be no other but this’ (Thurloe State Papers, i. 2 ; cf. Nugent, Life of Hampden, ii. 193) . In the Long parliament Grenville again represented the county of Cornwall, but took no part in its debates. ”

“ By his will, according to the epitaph on his monument in Shrivenham church, he directed ‘that if his executors should think fit there should be some stone of small price set near to his ashes, to signify, without foolish flattery, to his posterity, that in that age there lived a man who spent the best part of his days in prisons, without crimes, being conscious of no offence towards man, for that he so loved his God that he could serve no man's will, and wished the liberty and happiness of his country and all mankind’ (Lysons, Magna Britannia, ‘Berkshire,’ p. 367) . ”

“ Our gracious and most excellent king, he wrote in after years, is not only the handsomest and most comely horseman in the world, but as knowing and understanding in the art as any man (New Method and Extraordinary Invention, p. 7) . The outbreak of the Scotch rebellion enabled the earl to show his loyalty. He lent the king 10,000/., and raised a volunteer troop which consisted entirely of knights and gentlemen of quality (Life, p. 9) . In defence of the dignity of this troop Newcastle challenged the general of the horse, the Earl of Holland, to a duel to be fought when the war was over. ”