The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (red scrolls of magic .TXT) 📖
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Mansuete A
Cordelier Friar." Mansuete, a Cordelier, was then James's
confessor. To Mansuete therefore it peculiarly belonged to remind
James of a sacred duty which had been culpably neglected. The
writer of the broadside must have been unwilling to inform the
world that a soul which many devout Roman Catholics had left to
perish had been snatched from destruction by the courageous
charity of a woman of loose character. It is therefore not
unlikely that he would prefer a fiction, at once probable and
edifying, to a truth which could not fail to give scandal.
(1856.)
It should seem that no transactions in history ought to be more
accurately known to us than those which took place round the
deathbed of Charles the Second. We have several relations written
by persons who were actually in his room. We have several
relations written by persons who, though not themselves
eyewitnesses, had the best opportunity of obtaining information
from eyewitnesses. Yet whoever attempts to digest this vast mass
of materials into a consistent narrative will find the task a
difficult one. Indeed James and his wife, when they told the
story to the nuns of Chaillot, could not agree as to some
circumstances. The Queen said that, after Charles had received
the last sacraments the Protestant Bishops renewed their
exhortations. The King said that nothing of the kind took place.
"Surely," said the Queen, "you told me so yourself." "It is
impossible that I have told you so," said the King, "for nothing
of the sort happened."
It is much to be regretted that Sir Henry Halford should have
taken so little trouble ascertain the facts on which he
pronounced judgment. He does not seem to have been aware of the
existence of the narrative of James, Barillon, and Huddleston.
As this is the first occasion on which I cite the correspondence
of the Dutch ministers at the English court, I ought here to
mention that a series of their despatches, from the accession of
James the Second to his flight, forms one of the most valuable
parts of the Mackintosh collection. The subsequent despatches,
down to the settlement of the government in February, 1689, I
procured from the Hague. The Dutch archives have been far too
little explored. They abound with information interesting in the
highest degree to every Englishman. They are admirably arranged
and they are in the charge of gentlemen whose courtesy,
liberality and zeal for the interests of literature, cannot be
too highly praised. I wish to acknowledge, in the strongest
manner, my own obligations to Mr. De Jonge and to Mr. Van Zwanne.
221 Clarendon mentions this calumny with just scorn. "According
to the charity of the time towards Cromwell, very many would have
it believed to be by poison, of which there was no appearance,
nor any proof ever after made."-Book xiv.
222 Welwood, 139 Burnet, i. 609; Sheffield's Character of
Charles the Second; North's Life of Guildford, 252; Examen, 648;
Revolution Politics; Higgons on Burnet. What North says of the
embarrassment and vacillation of the physicians is confirmed by
the despatches of Van Citters. I have been much perplexed by the
strange story about Short's suspicions. I was, at one time,
inclined to adopt North's solution. But, though I attach little
weight to the authority of Welwood and Burnet in such a case, I
cannot reject the testimony of so well informed and so unwilling
a witness as Sheffield.
223 London Gazette, Feb. 9. 1684-5; Clarke's Life of James the
Second, ii. 3; Barillon, Feb. 9-19: Evelyn's Diary, Feb. 6.
224 See the authorities cited in the last note. See also the
Examen, 647; Burnet, i. 620; Higgons on Burnet.
225 London Gazette, Feb. 14, 1684-5; Evelyn's Diary of the same
day; Burnet, i. 610: The Hind let loose.
226 Burnet, i. 628; Lestrange, Observator, Feb. 11, 1684.
227 The letters which passed between Rochester and Ormond on
this subject will be found in the Clarendon Correspondence.
228 The ministerial changes are announced in the London Gazette,
Feb. 19, 1684-5. See Burnet, i. 621; Barillon, Feb. 9-19, 16-26;
and Feb. 19,/Mar. 1.
229 Carte's Life of Ormond; Secret Consults of the Romish Party
in Ireland, 1690; Memoirs of Ireland, 1716.
230 Christmas Sessions Paper of 1678.
231 The Acts of the Witnesses of the Spirit, part v chapter v.
In this work Lodowick, after his fashion, revenges himself on the
"bawling devil," as he calls Jeffreys, by a string of curses
which Ernulphus, or Jeffreys himself, might have envied. The
trial was in January, 1677.
232 This saying is to be found in many contemporary pamphlets.
Titus Oates was never tired of quoting it. See his Eikwg
Basilikh.
233 The chief sources of information concerning Jeffreys are the
State Trials and North's Life of Lord Guildford. Some touches of
minor importance I owe to contemporary pamphlets in verse and
prose. Such are the Bloody Assizes the life and Death of George
Lord Jeffreys, the Panegyric on the late Lord Jeffreys, the
Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys's Elegy. See also
Evelyn's Diary, Dec. 5, 1683, Oct. 31. 1685. I scarcely need
advise every reader to consult Lord Campbell's excellent Life of
Jeffreys.
234 London Gazette, Feb. 12, 1684-5. North's Life of Guildford,
254.
235 The chief authority for these transactions is Barillon's
despatch of February 9-19, 1685. It will he found in the Appendix
to Mr. Fox's History. See also Preston's Letter to James, dated
April 18-28, 1685, in Dalrymple.
236 Lewis to Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
237 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
238 Barillon, Feb. 18-28, 1685.
239 Swift who hated Marlborough, and who was little disposed to
allow any merit to those whom he hated, says, in the famous
letter to Crassus, "You are no ill orator in the Senate."
240 Dartmouth's note on Burnet, i. 264. Chesterfleld's Letters,
Nov., 18, 1748. Chesterfield is an unexceptional witness; for the
annuity was a charge on the estate of his grandfather, Halifax. I
believe that there is no foundation for a disgraceful addition to
the story which may be found in Pope:
"The gallant too, to whom she paid it down,
Lived to refuse his mistress half a crown."
Curll calls this a piece of travelling scandal.
241 Pope in Spence's Anecdotes.
242 See the Historical Records of the first or Royal Dragoons.
The appointment of Churchill to the command of this regiment was
ridiculed as an instance of absurd partiality. One lampoon of
that time which I do not remember to have seen in print, but of
which a manuscript copy is in the British Museum, contains these
lines:
"Let's cut our meat with spoons:
The sense is as good
As that Churchill should
Be put to command the dragoons."
243 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
244 Barillon, April 6-16; Lewis to Barillon, April 14-24.
245 I might transcribe half Barillon's correspondence in proof
of this proposition, but I will quote only one passage, in which
the policy of the French government towards England is exhibited
concisely and with perfect clearness.
"On peut tenir pour un maxime indubitable que l'accord du Roy
d'Angleterre avec son parlement, en quelque maniere qu'il se
fasse, n'est pas conforme aux interets de V. M. Je me contente de
penser cela sane m'en ouvrir a personne, et je cache avec soin
mes sentimens a cet egard."-Barillon to Lewis, Feb. 28,/Mar.
1687. That this was the real secret of the whole policy of Lewis
towards our country was perfectly understood at Vienna. The
Emperor Leopold wrote thus to James, March 30,/April 9, 1689:
"Galli id unum agebant, ut, perpetuas inter Serenitatem vestram
et ejusdem populos fovendo simultates, reliquæ Christianæ Europe
tanto securius insultarent."
246 "Que sea unido con su reyno, yen todo buena intelligencia
con el parlamenyo." Despatch from the King of Spain to Don
Pedro Ronquillo, March 16-26, 1685. This despatch is in the
archives of Samancas, which contain a great mass of papers
relating to English affairs. Copies of the most interesting of
those papers are in the possession of M. Guizot, and were by him
lent to me. It is with peculiar pleasure that at this time, I
acknowledge this mark of the friendship of so great a man.
(1848.)
247 Few English readers will be desirous to go deep into the
history of this quarrel. Summaries will be found in Cardinal
Bausset's Life of Bossuet, and in Voltaire's Age of Lewis XIV.
248 Burnet, i. 661, and Letter from Rome, Dodd's Church History,
part viii. book i. art. 1.
249 Consultations of the Spanish Council of State on April 2-12
and April 16-26, In the Archives of Simancas.
250 Lewis to Barillon, May 22,/June 1, 1685; Burnet, i. 623.
251 Life of James the Second, i. 5. Barillon, Feb. 19,/Mar. 1,
1685; Evelyn's Diary, March 5, 1685.
252 "To those that ask boons
He swears by God's oons
And chides them as if they came there to steal spoons."
Lamentable Lory, a ballad, 1684.
253 Barillon, April 20-30. 1685.
254 From Adda's despatch of Jan. 22,/Feb. 1, 1686, and from the
expressions of the Pere d'Orleans (Histoire des Revolutions
d'Angleterre, liv. xi.), it is clear that rigid Catholics thought
the King's conduct indefensible.
255 London Gazette, Gazette de France; Life of James the Second,
ii. 10; History of the Coronation of King James the Second and
Queen Mary, by Francis Sandford, Lancaster Herald, fol. 1687;
Evelyn's Diary, May, 21, 1685; Despatch of the Dutch Ambassadors,
April 10-20, 1685; Burnet, i. 628; Eachard, iii. 734; A sermon
preached before their Majesties King James the Second and Queen
Mary at their Coronation in Westminster Abbey, April 23, 1695, by
Francis Lord Bishop of Ely, and Lord Almoner. I have seen an
Italian account of the Coronation which was published at Modena,
and which is chiefly remarkable for the skill with which the
writer sinks the fact that the prayers and psalms were in
English, and that the Bishops were heretics.
256 See the London Gazette during the months of February, March,
and April, 1685.
257 It would be easy to fill a volume with what Whig historians
and pamphleteers have written on this subject. I will cite only
one witness, a churchman and a Tory. "Elections," says Evelyn,
"were thought to be very indecently carried on in most places.
God
Cordelier Friar." Mansuete, a Cordelier, was then James's
confessor. To Mansuete therefore it peculiarly belonged to remind
James of a sacred duty which had been culpably neglected. The
writer of the broadside must have been unwilling to inform the
world that a soul which many devout Roman Catholics had left to
perish had been snatched from destruction by the courageous
charity of a woman of loose character. It is therefore not
unlikely that he would prefer a fiction, at once probable and
edifying, to a truth which could not fail to give scandal.
(1856.)
It should seem that no transactions in history ought to be more
accurately known to us than those which took place round the
deathbed of Charles the Second. We have several relations written
by persons who were actually in his room. We have several
relations written by persons who, though not themselves
eyewitnesses, had the best opportunity of obtaining information
from eyewitnesses. Yet whoever attempts to digest this vast mass
of materials into a consistent narrative will find the task a
difficult one. Indeed James and his wife, when they told the
story to the nuns of Chaillot, could not agree as to some
circumstances. The Queen said that, after Charles had received
the last sacraments the Protestant Bishops renewed their
exhortations. The King said that nothing of the kind took place.
"Surely," said the Queen, "you told me so yourself." "It is
impossible that I have told you so," said the King, "for nothing
of the sort happened."
It is much to be regretted that Sir Henry Halford should have
taken so little trouble ascertain the facts on which he
pronounced judgment. He does not seem to have been aware of the
existence of the narrative of James, Barillon, and Huddleston.
As this is the first occasion on which I cite the correspondence
of the Dutch ministers at the English court, I ought here to
mention that a series of their despatches, from the accession of
James the Second to his flight, forms one of the most valuable
parts of the Mackintosh collection. The subsequent despatches,
down to the settlement of the government in February, 1689, I
procured from the Hague. The Dutch archives have been far too
little explored. They abound with information interesting in the
highest degree to every Englishman. They are admirably arranged
and they are in the charge of gentlemen whose courtesy,
liberality and zeal for the interests of literature, cannot be
too highly praised. I wish to acknowledge, in the strongest
manner, my own obligations to Mr. De Jonge and to Mr. Van Zwanne.
221 Clarendon mentions this calumny with just scorn. "According
to the charity of the time towards Cromwell, very many would have
it believed to be by poison, of which there was no appearance,
nor any proof ever after made."-Book xiv.
222 Welwood, 139 Burnet, i. 609; Sheffield's Character of
Charles the Second; North's Life of Guildford, 252; Examen, 648;
Revolution Politics; Higgons on Burnet. What North says of the
embarrassment and vacillation of the physicians is confirmed by
the despatches of Van Citters. I have been much perplexed by the
strange story about Short's suspicions. I was, at one time,
inclined to adopt North's solution. But, though I attach little
weight to the authority of Welwood and Burnet in such a case, I
cannot reject the testimony of so well informed and so unwilling
a witness as Sheffield.
223 London Gazette, Feb. 9. 1684-5; Clarke's Life of James the
Second, ii. 3; Barillon, Feb. 9-19: Evelyn's Diary, Feb. 6.
224 See the authorities cited in the last note. See also the
Examen, 647; Burnet, i. 620; Higgons on Burnet.
225 London Gazette, Feb. 14, 1684-5; Evelyn's Diary of the same
day; Burnet, i. 610: The Hind let loose.
226 Burnet, i. 628; Lestrange, Observator, Feb. 11, 1684.
227 The letters which passed between Rochester and Ormond on
this subject will be found in the Clarendon Correspondence.
228 The ministerial changes are announced in the London Gazette,
Feb. 19, 1684-5. See Burnet, i. 621; Barillon, Feb. 9-19, 16-26;
and Feb. 19,/Mar. 1.
229 Carte's Life of Ormond; Secret Consults of the Romish Party
in Ireland, 1690; Memoirs of Ireland, 1716.
230 Christmas Sessions Paper of 1678.
231 The Acts of the Witnesses of the Spirit, part v chapter v.
In this work Lodowick, after his fashion, revenges himself on the
"bawling devil," as he calls Jeffreys, by a string of curses
which Ernulphus, or Jeffreys himself, might have envied. The
trial was in January, 1677.
232 This saying is to be found in many contemporary pamphlets.
Titus Oates was never tired of quoting it. See his Eikwg
Basilikh.
233 The chief sources of information concerning Jeffreys are the
State Trials and North's Life of Lord Guildford. Some touches of
minor importance I owe to contemporary pamphlets in verse and
prose. Such are the Bloody Assizes the life and Death of George
Lord Jeffreys, the Panegyric on the late Lord Jeffreys, the
Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys's Elegy. See also
Evelyn's Diary, Dec. 5, 1683, Oct. 31. 1685. I scarcely need
advise every reader to consult Lord Campbell's excellent Life of
Jeffreys.
234 London Gazette, Feb. 12, 1684-5. North's Life of Guildford,
254.
235 The chief authority for these transactions is Barillon's
despatch of February 9-19, 1685. It will he found in the Appendix
to Mr. Fox's History. See also Preston's Letter to James, dated
April 18-28, 1685, in Dalrymple.
236 Lewis to Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
237 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
238 Barillon, Feb. 18-28, 1685.
239 Swift who hated Marlborough, and who was little disposed to
allow any merit to those whom he hated, says, in the famous
letter to Crassus, "You are no ill orator in the Senate."
240 Dartmouth's note on Burnet, i. 264. Chesterfleld's Letters,
Nov., 18, 1748. Chesterfield is an unexceptional witness; for the
annuity was a charge on the estate of his grandfather, Halifax. I
believe that there is no foundation for a disgraceful addition to
the story which may be found in Pope:
"The gallant too, to whom she paid it down,
Lived to refuse his mistress half a crown."
Curll calls this a piece of travelling scandal.
241 Pope in Spence's Anecdotes.
242 See the Historical Records of the first or Royal Dragoons.
The appointment of Churchill to the command of this regiment was
ridiculed as an instance of absurd partiality. One lampoon of
that time which I do not remember to have seen in print, but of
which a manuscript copy is in the British Museum, contains these
lines:
"Let's cut our meat with spoons:
The sense is as good
As that Churchill should
Be put to command the dragoons."
243 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
244 Barillon, April 6-16; Lewis to Barillon, April 14-24.
245 I might transcribe half Barillon's correspondence in proof
of this proposition, but I will quote only one passage, in which
the policy of the French government towards England is exhibited
concisely and with perfect clearness.
"On peut tenir pour un maxime indubitable que l'accord du Roy
d'Angleterre avec son parlement, en quelque maniere qu'il se
fasse, n'est pas conforme aux interets de V. M. Je me contente de
penser cela sane m'en ouvrir a personne, et je cache avec soin
mes sentimens a cet egard."-Barillon to Lewis, Feb. 28,/Mar.
1687. That this was the real secret of the whole policy of Lewis
towards our country was perfectly understood at Vienna. The
Emperor Leopold wrote thus to James, March 30,/April 9, 1689:
"Galli id unum agebant, ut, perpetuas inter Serenitatem vestram
et ejusdem populos fovendo simultates, reliquæ Christianæ Europe
tanto securius insultarent."
246 "Que sea unido con su reyno, yen todo buena intelligencia
con el parlamenyo." Despatch from the King of Spain to Don
Pedro Ronquillo, March 16-26, 1685. This despatch is in the
archives of Samancas, which contain a great mass of papers
relating to English affairs. Copies of the most interesting of
those papers are in the possession of M. Guizot, and were by him
lent to me. It is with peculiar pleasure that at this time, I
acknowledge this mark of the friendship of so great a man.
(1848.)
247 Few English readers will be desirous to go deep into the
history of this quarrel. Summaries will be found in Cardinal
Bausset's Life of Bossuet, and in Voltaire's Age of Lewis XIV.
248 Burnet, i. 661, and Letter from Rome, Dodd's Church History,
part viii. book i. art. 1.
249 Consultations of the Spanish Council of State on April 2-12
and April 16-26, In the Archives of Simancas.
250 Lewis to Barillon, May 22,/June 1, 1685; Burnet, i. 623.
251 Life of James the Second, i. 5. Barillon, Feb. 19,/Mar. 1,
1685; Evelyn's Diary, March 5, 1685.
252 "To those that ask boons
He swears by God's oons
And chides them as if they came there to steal spoons."
Lamentable Lory, a ballad, 1684.
253 Barillon, April 20-30. 1685.
254 From Adda's despatch of Jan. 22,/Feb. 1, 1686, and from the
expressions of the Pere d'Orleans (Histoire des Revolutions
d'Angleterre, liv. xi.), it is clear that rigid Catholics thought
the King's conduct indefensible.
255 London Gazette, Gazette de France; Life of James the Second,
ii. 10; History of the Coronation of King James the Second and
Queen Mary, by Francis Sandford, Lancaster Herald, fol. 1687;
Evelyn's Diary, May, 21, 1685; Despatch of the Dutch Ambassadors,
April 10-20, 1685; Burnet, i. 628; Eachard, iii. 734; A sermon
preached before their Majesties King James the Second and Queen
Mary at their Coronation in Westminster Abbey, April 23, 1695, by
Francis Lord Bishop of Ely, and Lord Almoner. I have seen an
Italian account of the Coronation which was published at Modena,
and which is chiefly remarkable for the skill with which the
writer sinks the fact that the prayers and psalms were in
English, and that the Bishops were heretics.
256 See the London Gazette during the months of February, March,
and April, 1685.
257 It would be easy to fill a volume with what Whig historians
and pamphleteers have written on this subject. I will cite only
one witness, a churchman and a Tory. "Elections," says Evelyn,
"were thought to be very indecently carried on in most places.
God
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