Earl of Rochester

“ He welcomed his younger brother-in-law, the Earl of Rochester, who came to Ireland as lord-lieutenant in 1701, and was a lord justice on the retirement of Rochester in 1702. He was commissioner for the lord chancellor of Ireland in 1710. ”

“ Carr was made Earl of Rochester in 1610. Their intimacy continued so close that men about court cringed to Overbury with a view to gaining Rochester’s favour, but now came a bitter feud. Rochester involved himself in a liaison with the Countess of Essex, a woman of altogether abandoned character, and she obtained a divorce with a view of marrying Rochester. But against this marriage Overbury raised an indignant protest, and entreated his friend to abandon the idea. ”

“ So he resorted to Hounslow Heath, where he robbed the Duke of Monmouth, and was captured in so doing and was conveyed to the prison then called the Poultry Compter, from which mansion of sorrow and tribulation he broke out; and, resuming the road, met the Earl of Rochester coming from his seat at Woodstock, accompanied by his chaplain, two footmen, and a groom. The association of the riotous Earl of Rochester, the wittiest and most dissolute nobleman of the age, with a chaplain is a distinctly humorous touch. Dudley robbed my lord of a hundred guineas. ”

“ The rotting bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were dug up in the night, and their heads fixed on poles over Westminster Hall. Ladies went to see these disgusting sights; the good Evelyn applauded them; the courtiers made songs on them. These people were fallen so low, that they did not even turn sick at it. Sight and smell no longer aided humanity by producing repugnance; their senses were as dead as their hearts.
From carnage they threw themselves into debauchery. You should read the life of the Earl of Rochester, a courtier and a poet, who was the hero of the time. ”

“ Not so, however, the advance in favour of one of the first minions whom the King thought fit to honour in England, Robert Carr, afterwards Earl of Rochester, one of the most despicable of those who were proud to fill the infamous place of king's favourite. This man, by birth a Scotchman, had passed some time in France, and had added the advantages of a graceful carriage, and good taste and skill in dress, to that of a remarkably handsome person. ”

“ WALLER.
THE Earl of Rochester's Name is universally known. Mr. de St. Evremont has made very frequent mention of him, but then he has represented this famous Nobleman in no other Light than as the Man of Pleasure, as one who was the Idol of the Fair; but with regard to my self, I would willingly describe in him the Man of Genius, the great Poet. Among other Pieces which display the shining Imagination his Lordship only cou'd boast, he wrote some Satyrs on the same Subjects as those our celebrated Boileau made choice of. ”

“ Rochester is served by four lines of the Boston & Maine railroad. The rivers furnish excellent water-power for various manufactures. Rochester, named in honour of Lawrence Hyde, earl of Rochester, was incorporated as a town by a royal charter in 1722, but no settlement was made here until 1728. From parts of the original town Farmington and Milton were erected in 1798 and 1802 respectively, and in 1846 part of Rochester was annexed to Barrington. It was the birthplace of John Parker Hale. Rochester was chartered as a city in 1891. ”

“ His second appointment did not arouse any enthusiasm either in the man or in the country he was called upon to govern, and it was not until the following September that he landed in Ireland. As a relative of the queen's—his sister, Anne Hyde, was her mother—the Earl of Rochester carried greater authority than many of his predecessors; but he was no statesman, and at sixty years of age he was not inclined to try experiments. ”

“ The male line ceasing, Charles II. conferred the title of earl of Rochester on Lawrence viscount Killingworth, a younger son of Edward earl of Clarendon.
We might now enumerate his lordship's writings, of which we have already given some character; but unhappily for the world they are too generally diffused, and we think ourselves under no obligations to particularize those works which have been so fruitful of mischief to society, by promoting a general corruption of morals ”

“ He ascribes any incompleteness in the way of redress to the transference of the government to the Earl of Rochester, through the pressure of the opposition party, which compelled the king to dismiss his favourite ministers. ”

“ For this nobleman Rochester had long entertained a bitter animosity, which had arisen from rivalry, and had been intensified from the fact that Rochester, refusing to fight him, had been branded as a coward. Not daring to attack the peer, Rochester resolved to avenge himself upon the poet. In order to effect his humiliation, the earl at once bestowed his favour on Elkanah Settle, a playwright and poet of mean abilities. He had originally been master of a puppet-show, had written verses to order for city pageants, and produced a tragedy in heroic verse, entitled "Cambyses, King of Persia." ”

“ Gideon's fleece having been moistened, when all the ground was dry around it. The Earl of Rochester was the more proper patron for the "Duke of Guise," as he was a violent opponent of the bill of exclusion. He was Lord High Treasurer in the reign of James II., and died in 1711. ”

“ Rochester Castle—the stately ruins of which, hard by the Medway, still attest its ancient grandeur, and recall the days when it stood in feudal pride, guarded by moat, and rampart, and lofty battlements—was deemed a place of immense importance; and Robert Fitzwalter and his confederates had intrusted it to the keeping of William Albini, Earl of Arundel, a great noble whose family had long maintained feudal state at Castle Rising, in Norfolk, and whose ancestor had acquired Arundel with the hand of Adelicia of Louvaine, the young widow of Henry Beauclerc. ”

“ A contemporary of the respectable Bishop of Rochester, at Wadham, was the wicked Earl, who bore the title of Rochester. He went up in 1660, at the age of twelve; he was dubbed a Master of Arts when he was fourteen, and he eloped with a very rich wife at the age of eighteen, to die, when he was thirty-two, owing bad debts to everybody, even to posterity. He was, perhaps, too young in his Wadham days to have developed a great deal of evil, although no doubt he tried his best to be wicked even then. ”

“ After the death of the Prince, Rochester was more powerful than ever. As principal Secretary, Carr managed all the King's correspondence, and on more than one occasion he answered letters without consulting either King or Council. The King, if he was aware of this, had reached such a pitch of infatuation that he submitted to everything. Carr was given a new title in 1613 and the Viscount Rochester was made Earl of Somerset. In 1614 the King made him Lord Chamberlain "because he loved him better than all men living." ”

“ The King, who was not likely to be deterred by any sense of rectitude from the weak pleasure he found in complying with any demand that Rochester might make, not only connived at the passing of the divorce, but created Carr Earl of Somerset, as he was not considered of sufficiently high rank to marry one who had been a Countess. ”

“ Proceeding down the Medway, it flows past the city of Rochester, the river being crowded with vessels and crossed here by a bridge with a swinging draw. Rochester has a fine old cathedral, rather dilapidated, and in part restored, but its chief attraction is the castle towering above the river, its Norman keep forming a tower over seventy feet square and rising one hundred feet high, its masonry disclosing vast strength and impressive massiveness. Cobham Hall, the residence of Earl Darnley, is near Rochester, standing in a nobly wooded [Pg 480] park seven miles in circumference. ”

“ That was given her by Rochester. Davenant was in despair at her dulness; but he acknowledged the dignity of her manners. At three separate periods managers rejected her. "She will never be an actress!" they exclaimed. Rochester protested that he would make her one in six months.
The wicked young Earl, who lived in Lincoln's Inn Fields, near the theatre, became her master, and, of course, fell in love with his pupil. The pains he bestowed upon his young mistress were infinite. ”

“ Nay, take themselves for injur’d, when we dare
Make ’em think better of us than we are:
And, if we hide our Frailties from their Sights,
Call us deceitful Jilts, and Hypocrites:
They little guess, who at our Arts are griev’d,
The perfect Joy of being well deceiv’d.
Inquisitive, as jealous Cuckolds, grow;
Rather than not be knowing, they will know,
What being known, creates their certain Woe. ”

“ To make your self the Fiddle of the Town:
To find th’ ill-humour’d Pleasure at their Need;
Curst when you fail, and scorn’d when you succeed.
Thus, like an arrant Woman, as I am,
No sooner well convinc’d Writing’s a Shame,
That Whore is scarce a more reproachful Name
⎫
⎬
⎭ Than Poetess—
Like Men that marry, or like Maids that woo,
because ’tis th’ very worst thing they can do:
Pleas’d with the Contradiction, and the Sin,
Methinks I stand on Thorns till I begin. ”

“ Whilst thy tame Hand’s unmov’d against thy Foes.
On Men disarm’d, how can you gallant prove?
And I was long ago disarm’d by Love.
Millions of dull Men live, and scornful Maids:
We’ll own Love valiant when he these invades. ”

“ The Knaves will all agree to call you Knave.
Wrong’d shall he live, insulted o’er, opprest,
Who dares be less a Villain than the rest.
Thus here you see what Human Nature craves,
Most Men are Cowards, all Men shou’d be Knaves. ”

“ Nature contriv’d the Fool should be a Knight.
How wise is Nature when she does dispense
A large Estate to cover Want of Sense.
The Man’s a Fool, ’tis true, but that’s no Matter,
For he’s a mighty Wit with those that flatter,
But a poor Blockhead is a wretched Creature. ”

“ The Lust of Pow’r, to which he’s such a Slave,
And for the which alone he dares be brave:
To which his various Projects are design’d,
Which makes him gen’rous, affable, and kind:
For which he takes such Pains to be thought wise,
And scrues his Actions in a forc’d Disguise:
Leads a most tedious Life in Misery,
Under laborious, mean Hypocrisy. ”

“ With Teeth and Claws, by Nature arm’d, They hunt
Nature’s Allowance, to supply their Want:
But Man with Smiles, Embraces, Friendships, Praise,
Inhumanly his Fellow’s Life betrays;
With voluntary Pains works his Distress;
Not thro’ Necessity, but Wantonness.
For Hunger, or for Love, They bite, or tear,
Whilst wretched Man is still in Arms for Fear ”

“ Great Negative, how vainly wou’d the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise?
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies.
XI.
Is, or is not, the two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate.
[Pg 52] XII.
When they have rack’d the Politician’s Breast,
Within thy Bosom most securely rest,
And, when reduc’d to thee, are least unsafe and best.
XIII.
But, Nothing, why does Something still permit,
That sacred Monarchs should at Council sit,
With Persons highly thought at best for nothing fit. ”

“ Mispender of our Time, our Strength and Wealth;
The Enemy of Valour, Wit, Mirth, all
That we can virtuous, good, or pleasant call:
By Day ’tis nothing but an endless Noise,
By Night the Eccho of forgotten Joys:
Abroad the Sport and Wonder of the Crowd,
At Home the hourly Breach of what they vow’d:
In Youth it’s Opium to our lustful Rage,
Which sleeps awhile, but wakes again in Age:
[Pg 27] It heaps on all Men much, but useless Care;
For with more Trouble they less happy are. ”

“ For Rebels, vanquish’d once, are vilely us’d.
Beauty’s no more but the dead Soil, which Love
Manures, and does by wise Commerce improve:
Sailing by Sighs, thro’ Seas of Tears, he sends
Courtships from foreign Hearts, for your own Ends:
Cherish the Trade, for as with Indians we
Get Gold and Jewels for our Trumpery:
So to each other for their useless Toys,
Lovers afford whole Magazines of Joys. ”

“ To ev’ry Rule their musty Customs spawn?
But Men may censure you, ’tis two to one
Whene’er they censure they’ll be in the wrong.
There’s not a thing on Earth, that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common Fame:
It calls the Courtier Knave; the plain Man rude;
Haughty the Grave; and the Delightful lewd;
Impertinent the Brisk; morose the Sad;
Mean the Familiar; the Reserv’d one mad.
Poor helpless Woman, is not favour’d more,
She’s a sly Hypocrite, or publick Whore.
Then who the Dev’l wou’d give this to be free
From th’ innocent Reproach of Infamy. ”

“ The best Good Man with the worst-natur’d Muse.
For Songs and Verses mannerly obscene,
That can stir Nature up by Springs unseen,
And, without forcing Blushes, warm the Queen;
⎫
⎬
⎭
Sedley has that prevailing, gentle Art,
That can with a resistless Pow’r impart
The loosest Wishes to the chastest Heart ”

“ That my jealous Heart wou’d break,
Should we live one Day asunder.
II.
Melting Joys about her move,
Killing Pleasures, wounding Blisses;
She can dress her Eyes in Love,
And her Lips can arm with Kisses. ”

“ Wherein Man’s Wisdom, Pow’r, and Glory join;
The Good he acts, the Ill he do’s endure,
’Tis all from Fear, to make himself secure.
Meerly for Safety, after Fame they thirst;
For all Men would be Cowards, if they durst:
And Honesty’s against all common Sense,
Men must be Knaves ”

“ Pretends to like a Man that has not known
The Vanities or Vices of the Town:
Fresh in his Youth, and faithful in his Love,
Eager of Joys which he does seldom prove:
Healthful and strong, he does no Pains endure,
But what the Fair One he adores can cure.
Grateful for Favours does the Sex esteem,
And libels none for being kind to him.
Then of the Lewdness of the Town complains,
Rails at the Wits and Atheists, and maintains
’Tis better than good Sense, than Pow’r or Wealth,
To have a Blood untainted, Youth and Health. ”