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Title: The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Second Marquis
of Worcester

Author: Henry Dircks

Release date: May 1, 2016 [eBook #51903]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE,
TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS OF THE SECOND MARQUIS OF
WORCESTER ***

Engraved by J. Cochran.

EDWARD SOMERSET, SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER,
Born about 1601. Died 3rd. April, 1667
WITH MARGARET, HIS SECOND WIFE, WHO DIED 26TH. JULY, 1681, AND THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER MARY, WHO
DIED AN INFANT.
Drawn by Henry Dircks, C.E. from the Original of Hanneman in the Collection of His Grace the
Duke of Beaufort

THE

LIFE, TIMES,
AND

SCIENTIFIC LABOURS

OF THE SECOND

MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
TO WHICH IS ADDED, A REPRINT OF HIS

CENTURY OF INVENTIONS,
1663,

with a Commentary thereon,
BY
H E N R Y D I R C K S, E S Q.,
CIVIL ENGINEER, ETC. ETC.

Inventas aut qui vitam excoluêre per artes.
Quinque sui memores alios fecere merendo.
Virgil.
How few men of genius are there who have not been the victims of misfortune!
Sir Egerton Brydges, Bart.

LONDON:
BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY.
1865.

TO

THE MOST NOBLE
Henry Charles FitzRoy,

DUKE OF BEAUFORT,
MARQUIS AND EARL OF WORCESTER,
EARL OF GLAMORGAN, VISCOUNT GROSMONT,
BARON HERBERT OF CHEPSTOW, RAGLAND, AND GOWER,
BARON BEAUFORT OF CALDECOT CASTLE, AND
BARON DE BATTETCOURT,
ETC. ETC. ETC.

My Lord Duke,
Throughout your Grace’s most ancient and regal line of ancestry it
would be impossible to name a more truly exalted character than Edward
Somerset, the sixth Earl and second Marquis of Worcester, father of Henry,
created first Duke of Beaufort by Charles the Second.
This pre-eminence, due to his high intellectual gifts in constructive
ingenuity, distinguishes him not only amongst the illustrious descendants of
Plantagenet, but renders it impossible to name his compeer, either among
the highest nobility, or the most eminent scientific celebrities of Europe,

during the last two centuries. Indeed, it may be justly said, that ancient
lineage, noble descent, illustrious titles, even when crowned with all the
glories of martial deeds, or senatorial honours, fade into comparative
insignificance before the enduring renown, which it is alone the prerogative
of original genius to confer on the memory of men remarkable for their
discoveries in arts conducive to the elevation of mankind in the scale of
being.
The History of Science from the days of Archimedes presents a vast
phalanx of men mighty in genius; but foremost in this intellectual group
ranks the Marquis of Worcester, the originality, independence, and grandeur
of whose mechanical conceptions have acquired a world-wide celebrity; for
he it was who first evoked that Titanic power, which, through successive
improvements, consequent on the accumulated ingenuity of two hundred
years, has given to the present age the modern Steam-engine.
It may be freely conceded that, stupendous as he himself pronounced the
parent engine to be, it was, nevertheless, only as the acorn compared to the
time-honoured monarch of the forest. Just as the existence of the plant is
dependant on that of the seed, so, had the Engine he constructed never
existed, we might have been unacquainted even to this day with the
mechanical application of steam.
Living at a period when Civil War convulsed this country, and unhappily
brought severe suffering on all who were conspicuous for their loyalty, the
Marquis of Worcester, in common with the Royalist party, had to succumb
to intolerant rulers. For while Cromwell enjoyed an income of £2,500 per
annum, derived from a portion of his Lordship’s princely estates, the
Protector proudly granted to The Inventor of the Steam Engine, a weekly
stipend of Three pounds!
Unfortunately, the Restoration of the monarchy contributed but little to
ameliorate his Lordship’s sad condition; while his enthusiasm led him to
sacrifice those personal comforts which his declining years would seem to
have absolutely required; rather than jeopardize operations depending on
his great invention.
In offering for your Grace’s approval this first effort to realize a
connected memoir of your Grace’s immortal ancestor, it is unnecessary to
dwell on the fact of its matter being chiefly derived from very scattered
sources, and often from but fragmentary materials, though in every instance
the very best available authorities have been consulted; among which, the

unique collection of Manuscripts, so freely and obligingly submitted for the
present purpose by your Grace, being given entire, forms the most valuable
and interesting portion. I sincerely regret my own insufficiency to do
complete justice to this comprehensive labour. The result of my researches,
however, may gratify your Grace’s curiosity, and prove interesting in
respect to many early family details. And if my own earnestness of purpose,
in prosecuting this attempt, does not mislead me, I may venture to hope,
that the Memoir will not only meet with your Grace’s favourable reception,
but prove, at the same time, acceptable to the general public.
With warm acknowledgments of heart-felt obligation to your Grace, for
the exceedingly handsome and liberal manner in which manuscripts and
paintings have been placed at my disposal,
I have the honour to be,
My Lord Duke,
Your Grace’s most obliged,
And most humble, obedient servant,
HENRY DIRCKS.
Blackheath, Kent,
January, 1865.

PREFACE.
That a Memoir of the Inventor of the Steam Engine, should appear for
the first time two hundred years after his decease, is an occurrence in our
literature, which, of itself, might almost be considered sufficient to arouse
public inquiry in respect to such a production. But far more solid ground
exists for believing that the great country which gave birth to the Inventor,
and his Invention of one of man’s noblest productions in art, will peruse it
with true national pride, when assured of the amount and strength of the
evidence now first adduced to establish those claims which, although never
entirely doubted, yet have hitherto borne too misty and mythical a character
to satisfy common comprehension. The labour encountered in carrying out
the required design may be appreciated from the fact, that the present work
has been to a great extent the study of thirty years, although literally
completed within only the last few years. This field of inquiry has been,
consequently, long open to more ambitious pens, and sooner or later would,
no doubt, have received, as it demands—the attention of men of letters and
of science.
Probably no other country furnishes so singular a fact, as that of being for
two centuries without information much better than tradition, and
accumulated diversities of opinions freely indulged in, respecting the
political and private character, and inventive talent of one of its most
remarkable, interesting, and glorious benefactors. And, during so long a
period, in consequence of such defective and conflicting information,
producing the most absurd and unreliable statements, even on the most
ordinary points of individual history. In the whole range of English
biography, within the same period of time, no important memoir has ever
been so mythical as that of Edward Somerset, second Marquis of Worcester.
So entirely unacquainted are his countrymen with the history of his life,
that a very plausible work might be written to disprove both his authorship
of the “Century,” and his invention of the steam-engine. Indeed Scotland
has already contributed materials for the former, and M. Arago, late
Astronomer Royal of France, has all but made out the latter! And such a
production would excite little suspicion and probably no hostility of feeling.

But this need not cause much surprise when it is mentioned, that it has not
yet been the good fortune of any writer, touching on the Life of the Marquis
of Worcester, to escape recording a mass of errors, such as occur in no other
biography in our language; although the period usually selected seldom
exceeds four or five years, out of a life of sixty-six. The reader, therefore,
who takes up the present volume, under impressions derived from such
dubious sources of information as those indicated, will find little to confirm
his preconceived opinions. The histories of men as of nations require facts
for their basis, judgment to guide in their arrangement, discretion to direct a
wise selection, and a knowledge of the whole to perfect the desired work.
The mixed character of the Marquis of Worcester has ever been a
stumbling-block to the purely classical scholar, the divine, the politician,
and the lawyer; while, on the other hand, the rapid advances in science
during the last fifty years, have deprived “The Century” of more than half
its interest. Science cannot hope to be advanced by discussing the automata
of the 17th century, its fountains, improvements in fire-arms, bows, keys,
stairs, boats, fortifications, and many other promising inventions. But a Life
of the Marquis of Worcester, without the “Century,” would be a drama
without its most important character. It is, therefore, no act of
supererogation to give a commentary on that little, but perplexing book; it is
something more than a mere amusement, it is a necessary adjunct, and is
not wholly useless considered as a matter connected with the history of
science. The commentator on the “Century” may hope to render the
biography of its noble author interesting from another and most important
point of view, which would be wholly lost by its omission, or by treating it
as secondary or unimportant. The “Century” is the exponent of the man; the
author without his pocket-journal of his life-long labours is reduced to a
nonentity, with nothing higher left to him to boast of than his descent from
royal blood, the unimpeachable character of his noble line of ancestry, and
his own spotless rectitude of character—an amiable, unintellectual man!
The “Century,” the only work he is known to have left to posterity, sorely
perplexed the fastidious Horace Walpole, was too much of a mechanical
production for the astute David Hume, and has thoroughly bewildered the
legal acumen of Mr. Muirhead, the biographer of James Watt. It has
challenged the skill of critics of every degree, from contributors to the
Gentleman’s Magazine to those of the Harleian Miscellany, and even in all
sketches of the history of the steam-engine, percolating thence through

biographies, and popular accounts of Raglan Castle, to the latest and best
illustrated works on our castles and abbeys. So many writers, so many
minds, whose judgments in a collected form, would afford a very discordant
and uninviting miscellany, a sad satire on the material and style of a certain
class of criticism, too much encouraged in our current literature. It is
painful to observe its constant want of sympathy with the pains and
penalties which unhappily are the too frequent lot of lofty, original,
inventive genius. The case might fairly be paralleled by supposing Voltaire
and others to have successfully established a clique against Shakespeare, to
misrepresent and malign the great dramatist up to the present time; when,
suddenly should appear, the first work, to settle his literary claims! Of
course it is declared impossible; and so it is, with a literary work; but it is
not so with Inventions. The fame of the Marquis of Worcester rests less on
his book than on his Water-commanding Engine. The book we see and read,
but probably not one man in ten thousand knows anything about the Engine.
Here is the weak point when the tide turns against the Inventor, against the
man, a man politically and religiously proscribed. A great man for his
Engine but hated by those politicians who side with the Stuart dynasty, for
his luckless association with Charles the First. And misunderstood by the
dilettanti Walpole, a connoisseur in paintings and works of vertu, but in
matters of science more ignorant of the Marquis of Worcester’s worth, than
Voltaire was of Shakespeare’s genius. But we regret there is a third
conspicuous offender in the field, and as he is the latest, so we hope he is
the last of the clan of vituperative critics.
Our largely gifted historian, Lord Macaulay, never wrote such feeble
lines as those in which he attempted to depict the Marquis of Worcester; but
the historian is a tower of strength, and his words may here be quoted
without a fear of our object being either mistaken, or open to
misrepresentation. Depreciation is not our object, and nothing could be a
greater folly than to attempt it on such ground; we give them in evidence, to
prove how little really is known, even in well-informed circles, respecting
this extraordinary inventor, when so brilliant a writer as Macaulay could be
at fault, from no other cause than defective information. Speaking of
Charles the Second’s reign, he says:—“The Marquess of Worcester had
recently[?] observed the expansive power of moisture rarified by heat. After
many experiments he had succeeded in constructing a rude steam engine,[?]
which he called a fire water-work, and which he pronounced to be an

admirable and most forcible instrument of propulsion.[?] But the Marquess
was suspected to be a madman[?] and known to be a Papist. His inventions,
therefore, found no favourable reception.[?] His fire water-work might,
perhaps, furnish matter for conversation at a meeting of the Royal Society,
[?] but was not applied to any practical purpose.[?]” These few lines
suggest seven inquiries, but we are satisfied Macaulay could never have
written thus upon the life of any great man of that period, much less on this
illustrious inventor, had the proper materials been at command. This
example is valuable, in as much as it is well known that Lord Macaulay was
master of much curious reading, particularly of the class referring to that
interesting period of our country’s history, and also that he possessed a
remarkably retentive memory. But he was here dealing with a shattered
monument; its goodly form wholly gone, and its fragments scattered in
every direction; here ground to dust, there altogether buried, and so
disfigured and dishonoured that he made the most he could of the faint
traces within his immediate reach, and unquestionably felt satisfied that,
considering the limit of these few lines, he had boldly, graphically, and
truthfully pourtrayed the character he had designed to delineate. How
infinitely superior to this rough draught would have been the sketch, had
Macaulay possessed proper documentary evidence. A more striking or
satisfactory instance than is here adduced could not be presented for
showing the paucity of information hitherto existing in a collected form;
and those readers who might otherwise have doubted the fact, will readily
gather from what is here brought forward, that the story of this singular
man’s life has hitherto remained untold.
The life of the Marquis of Worcester affords a tissue of the most violent
contrasts, romantic in many incidents, exceeding any that have ever been
experienced by any other descendant of our ancient nobility. He was a man
of rigid honour and probity, remarkable too for his modesty, virtue, and
genius, in an age distinguished for few excellencies, and notorious for many
vices. He was the favourite of his Sovereign, although in but little favour at
Court, and the very esteem which raises most men was his certain ruin;
obliged to flee his country, he returned only to be imprisoned; and on his
release, was allowed £156 per annum out of his own princely but
confiscated estates! As the subject of Charles the Second, he received back
his demolished castle, without the means to re-establish himself; and,
steeped in debt, he sought royal patronage in vain, although his genius was

perhaps of greater value to the state, than all the revenues of the Crown!
Neglected by contemporaries, his memory has been preserved rather
traditionally than by any literary effort (beyond fitful glimpses of doubtful
praise), to raise a monument to the indisputable inventor of the Steam
Engine—that greatest source of our country’s commercial and
manufacturing greatness; and universal, moral and intellectual progress.
Lord Macaulay has tersely and justly remarked that:—“The chief cause
which made the fusion of the different elements of society (in the 17th
century) so imperfect, was the extreme difficulty which our ancestors found
in passing from place to place. Of all inventions, the alphabet and the
printing press alone excepted, those inventions which abridge distance have
done most for the civilization of our species.” He then adds, speaking of
steam, that it has—“in our day, produced an unprecedented revolution in
human affairs, which has enabled navies to advance in the face of wind and
tide, and battalions, attended by all their baggage and artillery, to traverse
kingdoms at a pace equal to that of the fleetest race-horse.”
The general reader will be very likely to overlook one important fact, a
golden hinge on which more rests than at first appears in the following
narrative; and, therefore, a word of remark may not be altogether thrown
away, in calling attention to the circumstance. There are very many persons,
most intelligent and well informed on other matters, who have yet to learn
that all invention is progressive in a regular series. There may be a long
series of elementary principles developed without the occurrence of a single
practical result, practical as regards any useful application to supply man’s
wants. Then may arise a series combining these elements, so to speak, and
for the first time producing a new instrument, machine, or engine. When a
new machine is produced, we do not say, Why it only consists of a number
of wheels and cylinders, therefore, surely there is nothing new in it! All the
parts may be old, and yet the combination be quite new. To analyse an
invention into its several parts, would be equivalent to finding that a poem
was only composed of the letters of the alphabet, or the words in a
dictionary. But there is another point of view not lightly to be passed over.
Take this instance of the steam engine. We find a talented Scotch writer
wondering that Englishmen take the trouble to claim the invention of the
steam engine for the Marquis of Worcester, because of the “doubtfulness”
existing respecting it, at the same time that he accompanies this statement
with a large amount of evidence, but evidence which he does not fully

admit. He thus places himself very much in the position of a philosopher,
who should adopt as his theory some peculiar notion to the effect that the
letter A, or the numeral 1, could be dispensed with, in consequence of some
“doubtfulness existing” in respect to its value; and that, indeed, to retain
either any longer would only be evidence of a “little national rivalry.”
Although this may appear too absurd in this light, something very similar
has been proposed as a kind of compromise in the contest between England
and France, the “little national rivalry” between which countries might be
settled, would Englishmen but give up all further advocacy of the Marquis
of Worcester’s claim. This is not the reason given, but it is the happy result
which would follow; and it is urged against the invention, that there is so
much “doubtfulness existing” about it, that it is a wonder any one takes
further trouble in the matter. So far as we can see, its value is A, or 1, it is
the first of a series, it is the golden hinge, or link, on which all hangs; take
this away, and we sever the head from the main body. Will any one in future
be found to take up and maintain so foolish a line of argument? The
Marquis of Worcester was unquestionably the Inventor of the Steam Engine
in the first of its three stages, as a fire engine. Previous to the Marquis of
Worcester, all that had been done, was solely in the series developing a
principle, a mere idea, but still no invention, in the proper sense of such a
term, as applied to works of practical utility. All other early efforts were
purely elementary or experimental.
Let us take an illustration from another branch of science. It is not
unreasonable to suppose that Electricity, using the term in its most extended
sense, will some day or other supersede steam. We probably only require to
be able to collect it cheaply and to control it effectually, to employ the
artillery of heaven on the wide ocean, on our network of iron rails, and
throughout all our manufacturing establishments. A, we will suppose,
invents the first efficient Electric Engine, which with fifty horse power is
fully at work; and in the course of a few years we sit down to write the
history of this engine invented by A. Where shall we start in our history?
Did not Faraday years ago produce an electro-magnetic engine; then of
course Faraday invented A.’s engine! But we need not stop here; we have
the whole history of electricity before us. There is no end of machines and
engines; and a patent specification may come to light, the nearest possible
thing to A. But we have not done yet, we have to consider France, &c.,
where we may find some more elementary electrical models before

Faraday, and then of course before A. So that, on this system, as hitherto
adopted, in attempting to settle a claim for De Caus, and depreciating the
claim of the Marquis of Worcester, we may venture to predict an analogous
fate for the Electric Engine, hereafter to be invented by some inventor, A.
Here we must plainly see that all that has hitherto been invented in this
electrical line, does not go beyond model or elementary apparatus, and that
however nearly some of these may approach any plan hereafter to be
invented, it would be ridiculous and highly reprehensible to set up claims
based on no practical value, and only colourably similar in some single
particular, but otherwise of no greater concern than as amusing or
illustrative scientific toys. De Caus’ fountain was one of these pleasing toys,
and De Caus himself could never have thought otherwise of it, taking his
own large book and his own few lines of description; although it served the
purpose of M. Arago to assume for it a pre-eminence over the Marquis of
Worcester’s invention, merely because the latter came half a century later.
The author is not aware of any portion of his work that is open to
controversy, unless it be that relating to a second visit to Ireland, asserted to
have been made by the Earl of Glamorgan. However, should it be
contended, or proved, that his negotiations refer to a single visit there, the
circumstance would not affect the main story. The author has, however, had
one essential difficulty to deal with, arising from the quantity of
correspondence and documentary evidence, which, under the
circumstances, he was obliged to introduce, thus materially affecting the
text. It certainly was open to him to throw the greater part into the
Appendix, but with considerable drawbacks to all readers really interested
in such a work. The course adopted has been to introduce documents, of
whatever kind, in their order of date, and to modernise the orthography (and
that alone) to render them generally readable. The few pieces admitted in
their original style will satisfy any one how thoroughly unreadable the work
would have become, if largely occupied with such orthography. The prayer
(for example) is a strict copy of the original, which appears to be in the
handwriting of the Marchioness, with several interlinear corrections made
by the Marquis himself, which certify to its genuineness.[A] Every document
is given with its own date, and no deviations occur beyond the modern
spelling of words. The “Century,” however, being printed matter, has been
re-produced verbatim, with scrupulous accuracy.

The general reader will find that the really scientific portion of this
memoir, is restricted to the “Century,” which has relieved the biographical
portion of much technical detail: no more reference to inventions occurring
therein than appeared absolutely necessary to preserve uniformity in the
narrative.
It was very desirable in such a work as the present to steer clear of a
controversial strain, whether in reference to the past or the present. This has
been effected in a great measure, as regards the numerous detractors that
might be cited, who have given false views, both of the personal character
of the Marquis, and the merit of some or most of his inventions, until we
find the admiring biographer of the celebrated James Watt, as if blinded by
too much light, speaking of the Marquis in the most disparaging terms. And
lastly, it was impossible to escape recurring to the charge against Savery;
the dates and facts, now for the first time supplied, going far to strengthen
the belief, that the engine reputed to be Savery’s, is identical with that
invented by the Marquis of Worcester.
The materials of the present work are principally derived from original
sources with respect to Manuscripts; and from the highest published
authorities. All printed materials are scrupulously acknowledged in two
catalogues, one historical and literary, the other wholly scientific. Through
the kindness and liberality of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort, the entire
collection of Manuscripts in his Grace’s possession, relative to the Marquis
of Worcester, are here given at large. While at Raglan, on visiting Troy,
Osmond A. Wyatt, Esq., was especially obliging in affording information;
as well as John Cuxson, Esq., of Raglan; and at Badminton, John
Thompson, Esq., materially assisted in procuring the required manuscripts,
and affording facilities for copying them, for which kindly aid the author
can but insufficiently here express his obligations. The author is likewise
greatly indebted generally to the rich stores of the British Museum, and the
obliging attentions of its principal officers; to the State Paper Office, where
he was especially assisted through the kindness of Mrs. M. A. E. Green,
with the uncalendered papers given at pages 249, 270, 286, and 287, and to
John Bruce, Esq. Also to the excellent Libraries of the Royal Society; the
London Institution; and the particularly valuable scientific collection of the
Patent Office. At Oxford, the privilege of consulting works and manuscripts
at the Bodleian Library, was freely granted, and every facility afforded. The
author would especially notice among other contributions of information,

the able assistance of Bennet Woodcroft, Esq., F.R.S., &c. To the Rev. John
Webb, of Hay, he is particularly indebted for the papers at pages 64, 88, and
142, to which that gentleman directed his attention, and which he might
otherwise have overlooked. He has also received assistance from the
collections of Robert Cole, Esq., and of the late Dawson Turner, Esq.,
which are noted where they occur. When inquiring for the autograph of
“Glamorgan,” every possible effort to trace it, although unavailing, was
kindly employed by the Librarian of St. Cuthbert’s College, Durham, and
by the Rev. Dr. Grant, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark.
During the author’s visit to Dublin, Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King at
Arms, very obligingly searched for any documents referring to the Earl of
Glamorgan, that might be in Dublin Castle, but without success; and the
author is also much indebted for general information most courteously
given by the Rev. Dr. Todd, of Trinity College, Dr. R. G. Travers, Marsh’s
Library, and the Rev. C. P. Meehan; and likewise, through correspondence,
by the Rev. James Graves, of Stonyford.
It now only remains for the author to say, that in the event of any of our
nobility or gentry, or other collectors, possessing any manuscript whatever,
even although only a copy of matter here produced, he would esteem it a
very particular favour to be informed of it (through his publisher), and to be
permitted to examine any record, bearing either directly or indirectly on this
subject.

H. D.

Footnotes
[A] I am happy in being able to afford this testimony, were it only to
dissipate the inuendoes of Mr. Muirhead.

CONTENTS.
Page
Dedication iii
vii-
Preface xxi

1599–1628.
Chap. I.—Marriage of Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert of
Raglan 1–9

1601–1639.
Chap. II.—Birth, home, education, early career, times, and 10–
first marriage of Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert 29

1639–1642.
Chap. III.—Edward, Lord Herbert’s second marriage 30–
36

1641–1642.
Chap. IV.—Henry, Earl of Worcester—created Marquis of 37–
Worcester—Raglan Castle 54

1642–1644.
Chap. V.—Lord Herbert in his military capacity 55–
68

1644–1645.
Chap. VI.—Lord Herbert created Earl of Glamorgan—Irish 69–
affairs 94

1640–1645.
Chap. VII.—Raglan Castle—Royal visits 95–
111

1645–1646.
Chap. VIII.—The Earl of Glamorgan’s second visit to Ireland 112–
139

1646–1647.
Chap. IX.—Raglan Castle; its defence and surrender—Death of 140–
Henry, Marquis of Worcester 156

1645–1647.
Chap. X.—The Earl of Glamorgan’s transactions in Ireland, 157–
concluded 185

1646–1650.
Chap. XI.—The Marquis of Worcester in exile; resides in 186–
France 191

1643–1659.
Chap. XII.—Affairs affecting the Marquis of Worcester’s
family, in respect to Worcester House and other 192–
property in and near London 200

1651.
Chap. XIII.—The Marquis of Worcester’s son, and two daughters 201–
208

1651–1661.
Chap. XIV.—His return to England—Imprisonment, and
liberation—his “Century”—pecuniary difficulties
—petitions—at Charles the Second’s Coronation— 209–
Lord Herbert 233

1660–1662.
Chap. XV.—His prospects at the period of the Restoration—
Proceedings in Parliament respecting the Patent to
create him Duke of Somerset—Estates restored, 234–
&c.—Parliamentary duties 246

1660–1664.
Chap. XVI.—His Inventions—further Petitions—publication of
his “Century”—Charles II. visits Lord Herbert at 247–
Badminton—Worcester House, Strand 261

1664–1670.
Chap. XVII.—His operations at Vauxhall—Petitions and decease
—Caspar Kaltoff and family—M. Sorbière—
Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany—The Dowager 262–
Marchioness of Worcester 308

Chap. XVIII.—A brief retrospect of the Marquis of Worcester’s
Genealogy, and his private, political, and
philosophical character; including his own 309–
statement of expenditure during the Civil War 342

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
From Drawings and Sketches made, and Ciphers and Autographs traced,
by the author.
The steel engraved Portraits executed by Mr. J. Cochran, and the Wood
Engravings by Mr. Stevens, and Mr. J. H. Rimbault; and Coats of Arms by
Mr. Layton.

Steel Engravings.
A Family Group, being Portraits of the Marquis of Worcester, with
Margaret his second wife, and their infant daughter Mary. From a
painting by Hanneman. (See pages 30, 31.) To face title page.
Portrait of Elizabeth Lady Herbert, first wife of Edward Lord Herbert,
afterwards Marquis of Worcester. From a painting by
Vandyke Page 16.
Wood Engravings.
PAGE.
Armorial bearings of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort iii
Plan of the Castle and Citadel of Raglan, Monmouthshire xxiv
Baynard’s Castle, from Newcourt’s ancient Map of London, 1658 1
Worcester House, 1658 8
H. Herbert (autograph) Henry, 1st Marquis of Worcester 10
E. Worcester (autograph) Edward, 4th Earl of Worcester 12
Water-works side of the Citadel, Raglan Castle 20
Distant view of Raglan Castle 49
Ed. L. Herbert (autograph) afterwards 2nd Marquis of Worcester 77
The Earl of Glamorgan’s writing in the address of a Cipher letter 179
The letter written in his Cipher. [See also page 553.] 180
The Tower, Map of London, 1658. 211
Worcester [autograph, 1665–6, of the Author of the “Century”] 283
St. Cadocus, Raglan Church 296

—〃— east end and plan 297
Arms of the Marquis of Worcester, and his two wives 298
C. Somerset (autograph) Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester 309
One line of the Marquis of Worcester’s cipher writing 333
A Cipher Seal 377
Portrait of Edward Lord Herbert, afterwards second Marquis of
Worcester, from a painting by Vandyke, in the possession of his
Grace, the Duke of Beaufort 389
A one line Cipher 392
The Marquis’s Cipher 398
Ancient Paddle Boat 408
A Balance Water-work 417
A Bucket-fountain 418
A double-drawing Engine 424
A to and fro Lever 426
A most easy level Draught 427
Tobacco-tongs 446
A weighted wheel 454
A water-flowing and ebbing motion 457
A musketeer, 1643 465
De Caus’ Fountain 477
A forcer 483
Savery’s Engine, 1699 485
Engine to raise weights 532
Porta’s steam apparatus 541
A blowing Æolipile 542
A steam blow-pipe 543
A fire-blowing Æolipile 543
A weather glass 546
The Marquis of Worcester’s Engine 551
—his Cipher Alphabet 553
Construction of a water-screw 554
Christopher Copley (autograph) 570

REFERENCES TO THE PLAN OF THE CASTLE
AND CITADEL OF RAGLAN,
MONMOUTHSHIRE.
* *
* All other portions are named on the plan.
THE CASTLE.
1. Outer portcullis; 1. A second portcullis within the arched entrance.
2. Gateway.
3. The gate.
4, 4. Two barbican towers.
5. A guard room.
6. Parlour or ante-room.
7. Stair-cases; all marked 7.
8. The Closet or Library Tower.
9, 10. Sitting Room or Parlour, originally wainscoted with oak, and over
which was the Marquis’s Dining room.
10. Large bay-window looking towards the moat.
11. Broken porch.
12. Entrance from the courtyard to the vaults.
13, 13. Broken entrance to cellars.
14. Remains of a staircase.
15. This part is vaulted.
16. Suite of family apartments.
17. Gateway to the Bowling-green.
18. Bridge.
19. Bowling-green.
20, 20. Cellars.
21. Steps and door leading to—
22. Way to stable-yard.
23. One sipe of the outer wall of the Paved Court, where the first breach was
made by the Parliamentary forces, 1646.
24. Ruined tower.
25. The buildings formerly here completely obliterated, having suffered
most during the siege.
26. The bakery and remains of its ovens.
27. Entrance to the Wet Larder.

28. An outside high level walk.
29. Low ground.
30. Pier wall.
31. Deep space.
32. The Kitchen Tower, remarkable for its great strength, and remains of a
large fire-place.
33. A draw-well.
34. A long, narrow, vertical gap through former windows and door. The
building probably had a corridor at top.
35. Ruins of cellar or dry larder.
36. The uppermost window in this part indicates the situation of the
apartment occupied by Charles I.
37. The Buttery.
38. The Minstrels’ gallery was probably raised here.
39. Porch leading to—
40. The great Banqueting hall.
41. Spacious fire place, with centre window high above.
42. The large, handsome, and well-preserved bay-window, with a circular
opening or ventilator in the roof.
43. The recess.
44. The arms of the Beaufort Family, carved in stone, are inserted centrally
in the lofty wall on this side.
45. The Pantry.
46. Ruined entrance to the wine cellar.
47. End of the Picture Gallery, a narrow upper apartment of great length,
extending over and beyond the chapel.
48. Supposed to be the Bell tower.
49. The apartments above and below here were the ladies’ women’s rooms.
50. A through passage.
51. High watch tower.
52. An ancient Arbor Vitæ grows in the Fountain Court at this point.
53. Superior officers’ quarters, on the ground and upper floors.
54. Basin of the fountain.
THE CITADEL, OR KEEP,
called
The Melin-y-Gwent, or Yellow Tower of Gwent.
A. There was probably a drawbridge here.

B. B. Two broken bastions.
C. A temporary wooden bridge.
D. Site of arched bridge to the Keep.
E. The Water-works side of the Keep, presenting large grooves cut into the
stone work, probably to insert metal pipes, &c.
F. Stone stair-case to the top, in good preservation.
G. Outer entrance to F.
H. I. Ruins of the massy walls varying from 4 to 10 feet high; the upper
portion destroyed in 1646, by order of Parliament.
L. A well.

PLAN OF THE CASTLE AND CITADEL OF RAGLAN, MONMOUTHSHIRE, THE PROPERTY OF His Grace The Duke of
Beaufort, &c. &c.
From Drawings by H. Dircks, Civil Engineer 1865.

LIFE
OF

THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.

CHAPTER I.
MARRIAGE OF HENRY SOMERSET, LORD HERBERT OF RAGLAN.
Towards the close of the sixteenth century there was a rumour afloat in
London, among aristocratic circles, respecting a marriage in high life. At
that time Blackfriars was as much the seat of fashion, as St. James’s at a
later period; and was conveniently situated while Queen Elizabeth held her
court at Greenwich.
A contemporary correspondent,
writing in the usual quaint style of
the day, states in a letter dated
from Baynard’s Castle, the 23rd
of November, 1599:—“I hear that
the Lord Herbert, the Earl of
Worcester’s son, shall marry Miss
Anne Russell, and that it is
concluded upon.” This
announcement relates to no less a
person than the future Marquis of
Worcester, father of that Edward,
Marquis of Worcester, whose life
we shall hereafter have to detail,
and whose prowess was severely
tested by the evil times of his
closing career; it will be
interesting, at this early stage of
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW FROM MAP OF LONDON, 1658.
that eminent nobleman’s personal
history, to follow this same
correspondent through his future gossiping epistles touching the proposed
matrimonial alliance.
Writing to Sir Robert Sydney on the ensuing 22nd of December, he
acquaints him:—“This afternoon your little daughter was christened by
Edward, Earl of Worcester, the Lady Nottingham, and the Lady Buckhurst.

My Lord of Worcester sent his son, Henry Lord Herbert, because he himself
waited on the Queen, who rode abroad to take the air. Among the presents
were a very fair bowl and a cover from the Earl.”
After a lapse of nearly four months, we have again news from Baynard’s
Castle, under date the 19th of April, 1600, stating that—“The marriage
between Lord Herbert and Mrs. Anne Russell is concluded; for my Lady
Russell was at court, to desire the Queen’s leave, which is obtained.”
But on the 16th of May we are assured—“The marriage between Lord
Herbert and Mrs. Anne Russell is at a stay, till it please her Majesty to
appoint a day.” And further, that—“It will be honourably solemnized; and
many take care to do her all the possible honour they can devise. The feast,”
it is added, “will be in Blackfriars, my Lady Russell making exceeding
preparations for it.”
Her Majesty appears to have been somewhat deficient in considering
either the distraction she was occasioning the lovers, or the disarranged
domestic economy of the several attendants, for another month is allowed
to glide gloomily away, only to find on the 24th of May that—“My Lord of
Bedford is come to town, and his lady to honour the marriage of Mrs. Anne
Russell; but the day is not yet appointed by her Majesty, which troubles
many of her friends, that stay in town to do her service.”
Some weeks more pass on, when at length we learn from Greenwich,
under date the 14th of June:—“Her Majesty is in very good health, and
purposes to honour Mrs. Anne Russell’s marriage with her presence. It is
thought she will stay there (at Blackfriars), Monday and Tuesday. My Lord
Cobham prepares his house for her Majesty to lie in, because it is near the
Bridehouse. There is to be a memorable masque of eight ladies; they have a
strange dance newly invented; their attire is this: Each hath a skirt of cloth
of silver, a rich waistcoat wrought with silks, and gold and silver, a mantle
of carnation taffeta cast under the arm; and their hair loose about their
shoulders, curiously knotted and interlaced. These are the masquers. My
Lady Doritye, Mrs. Fitton, Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Onslow, Mrs. Southwell, Mrs.
Bess Russell, Mrs. Darcy, and my Lady Blanch Somersett. These eight
dance to the music Apollo brings; and there is a fine speech that makes
mention of a ninth, much to her honour and praise. The preparation for this
feast is sumptuous and great; but it is feared, that the house in Blackfriars
will be little for such a company. The marriage is upon Monday.”

Accordingly on Monday the 16th of June, 1600, her most gracious
Majesty Queen Elizabeth, arrived at Blackfriars in all possible state to grace
the marriage of the Lord Herbert and his wife. The Bride (the same
gossiping authority states) met the Queen at the waterside, where my Lord
Cobham had provided a Lectica, [used similar to a sedan chair] made like
half a litter, whereon she was carried to my Lady Russell’s by six knights.
Her Majesty dined there, and at night, went through Dr. Pudding’s house
(who gave the Queen a fan), to my Lord Cobham’s, where she supped.
After supper the masque came in; and delicate it was to see eight ladies so
prettily and richly attired. Mrs. Fitton led, and after they had done all their
own ceremonies, then eight lady masquers chose eight ladies more to dance
the measures.
Mrs. Fitton went to the Queen, and wooed her to dance.
Her Majesty asked her what she was.
“Affection,” she said.
“Affection!” said the Queen; “Affection is false.”
Yet her Majesty rose and danced. So did my Lady Marquis (of
Winchester).
The Bride was led to the Church by the Lord Herbert of Cardiffe, and my
Lord Cobham; and from the Church by the Earls of Rutland and
Cumberland.
The gifts given that day were valued at one thousand pounds, in plate and
jewels, at least.
The entertainment was great and plentiful, and my Lady Russell much
commended for it.
Her Majesty, upon Tuesday (following) came back again to the Court.
But the solemnities continued till Wednesday night. “And now the Lord
Herbert, and his fair lady are at Court,” (writes this pleasant correspondent
on the 23rd of the same month.)[28]
The bride’s portion, as a younger daughter, was said to be about two
thousand pounds in money; one hundred and fifty pounds a year in land;
and a reversion of one thousand marks.[106]
Thus was celebrated the marriage of Henry the young Lord Herbert, son
of Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, then Master of the Horse, who was
eminently distinguished alike for his noble and ancient lineage and courtly
attainments. Greatly was his son’s marriage honoured, not only by the
presence of royalty in the person of a queen of Elizabeth’s high-toned

feelings and sentiments, but, if possible, more so by her condescending to
participate in the dance on that festive occasion.
The particulars afforded by this domestic incident take us far back to a
most interesting period in our country’s history. The great Queen’s reign
was then within three years of its close. The Pope had published his bulls to
exclude King James from the throne of England. On the 19th of November
following, was born at Dunfermline in Scotland, Prince Charles, whose
future reign was destined materially to affect the family and fortunes of the
Somersets, Earls of Worcester.
The social habits of the aristocracy, as here briefly pourtrayed, evince a
peculiarly primitive character. Three days’ feasting shows a singular
lustihood of enjoyment in the revels attaching to such occasions of festivity.
But, notwithstanding we are treating of the most elevated society, in the
most flourishing period of the Augustan Age of our Literature, as it has
been not inappropriately styled, a comparative grossness of habit prevailed,
occasioning a particular relish for such carousals, during the period that
viands and wine were served without stint or stay.
Many of the modern common luxuries of the table were then unknown;
asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, and other edibles were not introduced;
while the finest clothing was costly, being of foreign manufacture.
Considerations like these should check the forming of hasty judgments in
reference to the manners and customs of olden times.
The lady whom Henry Lord Herbert had thus espoused was Anne, sole
daughter and heir of John Lord Russell, eldest son of Francis Russell, Earl
of Bedford. She bore him nine sons, of whom Edward was the eldest son
and heir, and four daughters, making in all a family of thirteen children.
Sir John Somerset, the second son, married Mary, daughter of Thomas
Arundel, Lord Arundel of Wardour; and, as will appear in the sequel, he
resided at Troy House, near Monmouth.
The fifth son, Thomas Somerset, lived at Rome, 1676; and his brother
Charles was governor of Raglan Castle in 1646, and afterwards died a
Canon at Cambray in Flanders.
Four other sons died in infancy; and another, later in life, died unmarried.
Kennet, the historian, records, in respect of one of the daughters, that
King James reprimanded the Earl, her father, for his sending her to Brussels
to be made a nun,[58] in 1620.

But it will be our chief business hereafter to treat especially of the life
and labours of the first-named son of this nobleman; only making such
allusions to the father, and relating such circumstances affecting him, as
serve to throw light on remote particulars of his son’s life.
Of the age of Henry Lord Herbert, at the time of his marriage, we are
afforded indirect evidence through Wood, who, speaking of him and his
elder brother William (who died unmarried during his father’s lifetime)
being at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1591, states the brothers to have
been of the respective ages of 15 and 14; so that Henry, being then only 14
years of age, would have been born on or about the year 1577, and
marrying in the year 1600, he would at that time be in his 23rd year.
His age has been very variously, and, as it appears, vaguely stated;
originating probably with hasty printed statements during the Civil War,
when no particular purpose had to be served by accuracy on such a matter.
Wood certainly was not likely to be ten years out of truth in recording the
ages of youths. It is also more likely that his Lordship in his circumstances,
and with his family, had married rather at 23 than at 33 years of age.
We meet with no accounts of the births or baptisms of his children, with
the exception of his seventh son, Frederick Somerset, who, according to the
Parish Registers of St. Dunstan’s in the West,[73] London, was baptized on
the 26th March, 1613, in the house of Lady Morrison in the Friars, she
being related through the Russells to Anne Lady Herbert.
James I. was proclaimed on the 24th of March, 1603. The same month
Lord Herbert was summoned to Parliament, being then 26 years of age. A
great plague was at that time raging in the metropolis, having destroyed
30,000 of the population, rendering his residence in town very perilous.
His Lordship’s father was, in 1604, invested with the Order of the Garter,
and on resigning his office of Master of the Horse, on the 1st of January,
1616, having retained it fifteen years, he was, on the 2nd of the same
month, made Keeper of the Privy Seal.
In a literary and scientific point of view, this was a period of great
historical interest. In December, 1608, Milton was born; while in April,
1616, Shakespeare died. In 1611 the new translation of the Bible was
published. Lord Napier, in Scotland, invented his system of logarithms; the
great Harvey was propounding his discovery respecting the circulation of
the blood; and Sir Hugh Myddleton had completed his great undertaking of

forming the New River. Such are a few among the prominent facts that
mark the intelligence and enterprise of those times.
It is possible that Henry Lord Herbert’s parliamentary duties, his
attendance at court, with other circumstances, might occasion prolonged
residence at Worcester House, in the Strand, the ancient family town
mansion, a locality which was occupied by many noble families above two
centuries ago. Nothing transpires to indicate his presence at Raglan Castle
at that period.
On the 24th of August, 1621, died
Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hastings, Earl
of Huntingdon; and on the 3rd of March,
1627, in the 79th year of his age, Edward,
fourth Earl of Worcester, the honoured
parents of Henry Lord Herbert, who
succeeded to his father’s dignities and
fortune. Their decease happened at their town
residence, whence each was conveyed with
great funeral solemnity to Raglan, where,
being interred in the family vault of Raglan
Church, suitable monuments were raised to
their memory.
Of Henry, now fifth Earl of Worcester, we
have less intelligence as resident in London
than as retired to his magnificent Castle of
Raglan, in Monmouthshire. On the 13th of
March, 1628, he obtained dispensation to be
absent from Parliament,[A] which appears to
have been the commencement of his
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW FROM MAP OF LONDON,
decreased attention to public business.
1658. He had then been married twenty-eight
years, being in the fifty-first year of his age.
Of his numerous family he lost five sons and three daughters. Edward, his
first born and heir was probably about twenty-six years old; Sir John
Somerset, his second son, most likely occupied Troy House, a few miles
off, while his next surviving and sixth son, Charles Somerset, he installed as
Governor of his Castle.

The noble Earl, inclined to a plethoric constitution, had not uniform good
health, being subject to gout, yet was he of a joyous, hearty, kind,
benevolent disposition. He was too a man of some learning, without being
distinguished for its application, otherwise than in some verbal polemical
discussions attributed to him by Dr. Bayly, the last chaplain in his service,
who has preserved many of his witty apophthegms, presenting us with
indications of his religious and political sentiments.
Although our interest in this memoir concerns us less in reference to the
father, than to be informed respecting his son, yet the intelligent reader
cannot fail to discover, that Edward, now Lord Herbert, during the early
years of his life, was necessarily so intimately associated with all matters of
domestic history, affecting the large family then resident at Raglan Castle,
that such relations as can be gathered respecting its several branches at that
early period, are invested with a degree of interest which they might not
under other circumstances possess.

Footnotes
[28] Collins.
[106] Wiffin, v. ii. p. 56.
[58] Kennet.
[73] J. B. Nichols, vol. vi. p. 371.
[A] Calendar of State Papers. Domestic Series. Charles I. 1628–
1629. Edited by John Bruce, Esq. 8vo. 1859.

CHAPTER II.
BIRTH, HOME, EDUCATION, EARLY CAREER, TIMES, AND FIRST
MARRIAGE OF EDWARD SOMERSET, LORD HERBERT.
As already related, Henry,[A] fifth Earl of Worcester, married in June,
1600, while yet attached to the Court of Queen Elizabeth, and, therefore,
most likely he was resident at Worcester House, in the Strand, a building of
some importance from its magnitude and position, as well as from the
princely character of the noble possessor of the property.
There, it is reasonable to conclude, was born Edward Somerset early in
1601, the son and heir whose eventful history will hereafter mainly occupy
our attention, first as Lord Herbert, afterwards as the Earl of Glamorgan,
and lastly, on succeeding to his father’s titles, as Earl and Marquis of
Worcester.
The birth of this Lord Herbert has never before been attempted to be
ascertained, wherefore the present assumed date requires confirmation. On
the 14th of July, 1609, when he would thus probably be only eight years of
age, we find him associated with his grandfather and father in a lease of
lands in the manor of Wondy, Monmouth, and of the fishing, or river of Usk
and Carlion, for their lives.[B]
His preceptor at Raglan Castle was Mr. Adams; but he does not appear,
like his father, to have been at any college in England; as, however, he
travelled much on the Continent at an early period of his life, it is possible
he also finished his education at some foreign university. In a
communication of singular interest, written late in life, hereafter given in
full, he specially observes:—“Amongst Almighty God’s infinite mercies to
me in this world, I account it one of the greatest that his divine goodness
vouchsafed me parents as well careful as able to give me virtuous
education, and extraordinary breeding at home and abroad, in Germany,
France, and Italy, allowing me abundantly in those parts.” This summary is
sufficiently explicit as regards the circuit of his travels, and the easy,
agreeable circumstances under which it was performed, but still leaves it
open to doubt whether he had completed his educational course before
entering on his continental tour. Wood expressly states, in reference to Lord

Herbert’s father, that after he had been two or three years at college he was
sent to travel in France, Italy, &c., where he presumes he changed his
religion for that of Rome.[109]
During the reign of James I., and while his grandfather was Keeper of the
Privy Seal, no mention occurs of Lord Herbert enjoying any favour at
Court, his courtier life commencing only in that of Charles I., according to
allusions made in the document before noticed. On the accession of the
latter monarch to the throne, Lord Herbert might be 24 years of age. In
alluding to his “education and breeding,” coupled with his travels, he adds:
“And since most plentifully at my master of most happy memory, the late
King’s Court;” making it almost conclusive that his education was
considered as completed shortly prior to the King’s decease, in 1625.
In 1627 his grandfather was at Worcester House, whence he wrote to the
Earl of Huntingdon on the 11th of June, informing him of his illness and
inability to leave his bedchamber.[C]
The first year of the reign of Charles I. was an auspicious one, therefore,
for the young Lord Herbert. His father, a stalwart, hale man, was in the
prime of life, only 48 years of age, lord of one of the finest castles in the
kingdom, whether considered for the beauty, strength and importance of its
structure and its commanding situation, or the extent of its parks, pastures,
plantations, and forests; it was a luxurious place well stored with paintings,
furniture, and plate, while it was surrounded with every embellishment of
fountains, fishponds, statuary, and gardens that art or wealth could
command. Lord Herbert himself was rich in acquired knowledge, and in
whatever way his natural genius then displayed itself, such a mind as he
possessed must have afforded many evidences of latent talent. One
important part of a young nobleman’s education in Elizabeth’s time, and
later, was that of horsemanship, particularly in the tilt-yard, a kind of
adjunct to noble residences, supposed by many to have existed even at
Raglan Castle, but such an opinion is not even authorised by any tradition.
Some interest he might take in tournaments, but we easily suspect without
aiming at, or succeeding in that skill in manœuvres so requisite in the fierce
and fiery jousts appertaining to such knightly contests, equipped in heavy
armour, wielding a ponderous lance, and mimicking all the maddest
encounters of the fellest enemies. We doubt if his talent lay that way. His
grandfather’s horsemanship has been greatly extolled by all writers, in
alluding to his character. In his youth (it is said) he was remarkable for his

athletic acquirements, distinguishing himself by the manly exercises of
riding and tilting, in which he was perhaps superior to any of his
contemporaries. But we have no reason to extol the grandson for like
success in these chivalric exercises.
We conceive he was otherwise disqualified, that he was too light of
weight and too short in stature. He appears to have been of slender figure,
and rather under than above the middle standard in height. In another point,
indirectly perhaps affecting this same matter, he did not possess that easy,
boisterous speech which armed assailants may often be called on to assume,
to strike terror into a foe, by throwing him off his guard. He himself
acknowledges, later in life, to this vocal defect, when, in writing to Charles
II. he admits that he takes up the pen, as he says,—“To ease your Majesty of
a trouble incident to the prolixity of speech, and a natural defect of
utterance which I accuse myself of.” “The prolixity of speech” any one may
imagine, both from the letter in which this passage occurs, as well as in the
noble lord’s general correspondence throughout his life; it seems to be a
style in which the close of each sentence, or its matter, suggests the next, to
be followed again in like manner, until the main subject becomes so
overlaid as to be lost in needless verbose amplification. But he could and
did write tersely enough on occasion. No man could then better display the
admirable art of compressing large meaning into small compass. If
eloquence in speaking “troubled” him, eloquent writing assuredly cost him,
it would appear, vastly more trouble in the labour of the pen. We suspect
that concentration of thought was natural to him, but its elaboration to
produce that roundness of period assumed necessary for the style of a
courtly gentleman, confused and perplexed him. We imagine the prosy
writer, being conversationally sententious; perhaps painfully so to the ears
of fashionable society, delighting as it does in the trivialties of such
conversation as that which would principally characterise the Court of those
days; rendered perhaps only the more irksome by his continuance in its
fashionable frivolities for three or more years.
A very fair specimen of the mechanical knowledge of the period, when
Lord Herbert was finishing his education, is afforded in the work of Henry
Peacham, published in 1627, entitled “The Compleat Gentleman.” In his
ninth chapter, treating of Geometry, he says: “Out of Egypt, Thales brought
it into Greece, where it received that perfection we see it now hath. For by
means hereof are found out the forms and draughts of all figures, greatness

of all bodies, all manner of measures and weights, the cunning working of
all tools; with all artificial instruments whatsoever. All engines of war, for
many whereof (being antiquated) we have no proper names; as, Exosters,
Sambukes, Catapultes, Testudos, Scorpions, &c. Petardes, Grenades, great
Ordinance of all sorts.
“By the benefit, likewise, of Geometry, we have our goodly ships,
gallies, bridges, mills, chariots and coaches, (which were invented in
Hungary, and there called Cotzki), some with two wheels, some with more;
pullies and cranes of all sorts. She (Geometry) also with her ingenious hand
rears all curious roofs and arches, stately theatres, the columns simple and
compounded, pendant galleries, stately windows, turrets, &c. And first
brought to light our clocks and curious watches (unknown unto the
ancients); lastly, our kitchen jacks, even the wheel-barrow. Besides
whatsoever hath artificial motion, either by air, water, wind, sinews or
cords, as all manner of musical instruments, water works and the like.
“Yea, moreover, such is the infinite subtilty, and immense depth of this
admirable art, that it dares contend even with nature’s self, in infusing life,
as it were, into the senseless bodies of wood, stone, or metal. Witness the
wooden dove of Archytas, so famous not only by Agellius, but many other
authors beyond exception; which by reason of weights equally poised
within the body, and a certain proportion of air (as the spirit of life
enclosed), flew cheerfully forth, as if it had been a living dove.”
This Cambridge Master of Arts appears much delighted with these and
certain minute automata, occupying two pages in describing Scaliger’s ship,
to swim and steer itself by means of the pith of rushes, bladder, and little
strings of sinews; a wooden eagle “which mounted up into the air, and flew
before the Emperor to the gates of Nuremberg;” an iron fly that flew about a
table; ants and other insects made of ivory, so small that the “joints of their
legs could not be discerned;” a four wheeled coach, which a fly could
“cover with her wings;” a ship with all its sails, “which a little bee could
overspread;” and, “of later times, Hadrian Junius, tells us that he saw with
great delight and admiration, at Mechlin, in Brabant, a cherry-stone cut in
the form of a basket, wherein were fifteen pair of dice distinct, each with
their spots and number, very easily of a good eye to be discerned;” how “the
Ilias of Homer written, was enclosed within a nut;” while, to conclude,
Scaliger, relates “of a flea he saw with a long chain of gold about its neck.”
The account of these wonders of art, winds up with descriptions of brazen,

glass, and silver models, or planetariums illustrating the situations and
motions of the heavenly bodies.
From this serious discourse, by a grave scholar, and contemporary,
relating to the labours of the first mathematicians of a bygone as well as of
the existing age, we may form a valuable conception of the state of science,
in its popular character, when Edward, Lord Herbert, entered upon his own
course of practical philosophical pursuits, affording the ground work of his
Century of Inventions, the accumulated digest of whatever he had effected
during the early, middle, and later years of his life. Viewed from any other
point than the period in which he lived, the means of information around
him, and the comparatively limited extent of scientific knowledge, the
modern reader would form a serious misconception of his singular abilities,
his versatile mechanical talent and the fecundity of his inventive ingenuity.
There can be little or no doubt but that he was well versed in the
mathematical knowledge of his times, and that it principally contributed in
aiding him to obtain those mechanical results, to which we consequently
find him restricting his attention.
Lord Bacon had died but the year before the publication of Peacham’s
work. Alchemy still ruled and had its adepts and votaries; and Ashmole
made a large collection of alchemical writings, for Chemistry was but just
faintly emerging from the mysticisms of its precursor, Alchemy.
In the year 1628 Edward Somerset, Lord Herbert, being then about 27
years of age, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Dormer, eldest son
of Robert Lord Dormer of Weng, and sister to Robert Earl of Carnarvon.[5]
She became in 1629 the mother of Henry[D] Somerset (afterwards created
first Duke of Beaufort); and had besides two daughters, Anne, who married
Henry Frederick, third Earl of Arundel of the Howards; and Elizabeth, who
married William Herbert, first Marquis of Powis.

Engraved by J. Cochran.

ELIZABETH, LADY HERBERT,
Died 31st. May, 1635.

FIRST WIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET, LORD HERBERT.
AFTERWARDS SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.

Drawn by Henry Dircks, C.E. from the Original of Vandyke in the

Collection of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort.
Published by B. Quaritch, Piccadilly, London, 1864.

No contemporary or other hand has recorded any details of Lord
Herbert’s marriage, or even any particulars of his early life; in the absence
of decisive information, we can only surmise from stray facts the possibility
of his having withdrawn from the Court, taken up his abode at Raglan
Castle, and there occupied himself in those scientific studies and pursuits
which were his special delight at that early period, and which were indeed
the solace even of his declining years.
Judging from a statement that occurs in his writings,[E] it is most likely
that in 1628, soon after his marriage, he engaged the services of “the
unparalleled workman both for trust and skill, Caspar Kaltoff,” of whom
we shall have occasion to speak more at length hereafter, and who, he says,
was “as in a school under me employed;”[F] by which we understand that
Kaltoff had the practical management of those mechanical and other
inventions which, then commenced, became the principal study and
employment of his Lordship’s leisure during the remainder of his life. He
must have set up a complete laboratory or workshop in which to operate on
the many varied ingenious contrivances and experiments, of only part of
which he has left us a most interesting catalogue raisonné.
The early genius of Lord Herbert would appear to have exhibited itself in
an attachment to mathematical studies, and a singular predilection, in a
young nobleman, for mechanical pursuits. He has himself mentioned two
instances which we consider may fairly be referred to his earliest
continental tour, accompanied by his tutor. Speaking of a certain
contrivance for a fountain, he explicitly declares:—“This I confess, I have
seen and learned of the great mathematician Claudius his studies at Rome,
he having made a present thereof unto a Cardinal.” And when, alluding to a
peculiar kind of lever, he pointedly remarks: “This I saw in the arsenal at
Venice;”[G] thus showing how early his mind was impressed with those
studies which became the distinguishing feature of his writings; and all the
more surprising in him, considering his birth, his times, and the originality
and fruitfulness of his inventive talent, which might have found ample
scope in some branch of literature, in agriculture, or in military works.
His employment of a foreign mechanic was quite in accordance with the
spirit of the age. National and private undertakings, as well as

manufacturing and other matters requiring engineering skill, were ordinarily
superintended by eminent Italian, Dutch, German, French, Swiss, or other
continental engineers.
During a period of seven years, from the time of his marriage, his life
appears to have borne an entirely studious and domestic character, spent,
most likely, principally at Raglan. To the ample leisure and quiet thus
afforded him we may attribute all his lesser inventions, such as the
numerous schemes for effecting and conveying secret correspondence,
which in early and troubled times were esteemed as highly useful; some of
his automata, amusive toys, drawing and other instruments and mechanical
devices. He appears to have taken considerable interest in multiplying these
comparatively minor inventions almost to exhaustion, as it were, of the
several subjects to which they apply. So fertile, indeed, was this inventive
faculty in him, that he himself has stated: “The more that you shall be
pleased to make use of my inventions, the more inventive shall you ever
find me, one invention begetting still another.”[H]
Among his larger works we must rank his water-raising engines, in which
his earliest efforts are exhibited in the water-works he erected in connection
with the Citadel or Keep of Raglan Castle; which, as will be more minutely
explained in a future commentary, belongs to this period. It probably
depended for its operation on the influence of heat from burning fuel acting
on a suitably constructed boiler containing water, and so arranged as to be
able to apply the expansive force of steam to the driving of water through
vertical pipes to a considerable elevation, which in this instance is supposed
to have been limited to a large cistern on the summit of the Citadel or
Donjon, known as the Tower of Gwent. This early work may, in fact, have
been the occasion of calling in the aid of Caspar Kaltoff; and once thus
employed, his after retention by such a master is readily conceivable. But
master, and man, and works have all disappeared, and no printed, written, or
drawn record or model remains of the waterworks there set up, to enable us
to point distinctly to precise particulars of arrangement. All that the
inquisitive and ingenious investigator can find to reward his most prying
curiosity, are certain strange mysterious grooves in the external wall of the
Citadel, on one side facing the moat and the castle, which point like a
hieroglyphic inscription to the precise place where once stood in active
operation the first practical application in a primitive form of a means of
employing steam as a useful mechanical agent.

The annexed engraving represents a view of that side of the Citadel
which looks across the moat towards the castle; that is, across the place
where a bridge once stood, and opposite the Fountain Court. Commencing
from below we observe a gothic doorway, which was the entrance to the
draw and the permanent bridges. Over the arched interior of this entrance is
a chamber or cell, measuring about seven feet by five feet, and better than
six feet high in the centre. On the outside front of the cell are seen
indications of two square places; and above them, one to each, two upright
channels or grooves, each one foot wide and the same in depth. Adjoining is
another groove but terminating at bottom in two lesser grooves of four
inches and a half in width, connected a little way up with the large groove.
This second portion has a distinct cell behind it, less in dimensions than the
first. From the summit of the three large vertical channels to the ground
measures forty-six feet.
Now it would have been quite possible to work a small steam boiler in
each cell, and the pipes from those boilers might have been enclosed in the
grooves described, entering inwards at top to discharge their contents into a
cistern on the Citadel roof. And the boilers might have been conveniently
supplied with water from the moat either by hand pumps, or by forming a
vacuum for that purpose. It is here, however, unnecessary to enter upon
mechanical details, as the subject will appear at large when describing his
matured Invention.
That inimitable portrait painter Vandyck, who was born 1598–9, studied
under Rubens, and was an especial favourite with Charles the First, has
undoubtedly left us a faithful portraiture of the features of both his Lordship
and of Elizabeth his first wife; the former dating probably between 1621
and 1626, the latter between 1628 and 1635.
The portrait of Lady Herbert, three-quarter size, is to be seen in the
dining-room at Badminton House. It displays an intellectual countenance of
a serious, dignified and most pleasing cast; her dark auburn hair is combed
close from the forehead backwards, but so as still to leave a fringe of small
curls in front; her hair braided and knotted behind is entwined with a string
of pearls, while a portion of her tresses from behind falls in abundant
ringlets about her neck and shoulders. She wears a large plain pearl
necklace; with single pearl-drops as ear-rings. Her dress is low-bodied, of
white satin, with the usual long tight stomacher, full short sleeves and large
white vandyked frills or cuffs; on her arms, near each elbow, are single

strings of pearls, like bracelets. Over her shoulders is thrown a light narrow
fur tippet with long ends terminating backwards in short tails. The artist has
represented her looking slightly aside as she might appear crossing her
drawing-room, in the highly graceful and becoming style which Vandyck
always so happily selected for the subjects of his magic pencil.
This may have been the period to which his Lordship later in life fondly
looked back as his “golden days.” He was, however, doomed to suffer his
first great bereavement in the decease of his young wife at Worcester House
in the Strand, on Sunday the 31st of May, 1635. She was buried at St.
Cadocus, the parish church of Raglan, within the family vault beneath the
Beaufort Chapel. He was thus left a widower with the charge of his son and
heir not above six years of age, and two daughters.
A singular error, as to the date, occurring in all genealogies and
biographical accounts that mention the decease of Lady Herbert, renders it
the more important to refer to the following certificate obtained from the
Heralds’ Office:—

“The right honourable Lady the Lady Elizabeth, late wife of the right
honourable Edward Somerset Lord Herbert, son and heir to the right
honourable Henry Earl of Worcester, and daughter of Sir William Dormer,
Knight, eldest son of Robert Lord Dormer, of Wing, (which Sir William
died in the lifetime of his father) and sister to the now Earl of Carnarvon,
departed this mortal life at Worcester House in the Strand, near London, on
Sunday the last of May, 1635, leaving issue, Mr. Henry Somerset, only son,
about six years of age, Mrs. Anne eldest and Mrs. Elizabeth youngest
daughter. Her body was honourably conveyed to Ragland, in the County of
Monmouth in Wales, there to be interred. This Certificate was taken by
George Owen Yorke, herald, the 1st day of June, 1635, to be registered in
the Office of Arms, and testified by the right honourable Lord,
“Edward Herbert.”

Among the family papers is a letter bearing date this year, alluding to
Lord Herbert, but addressed by Secretary Coke to his Lordship’s father:—

“Right Honourable,
“Upon a letter received from your noble son, the Lord Herbert, whereby
he signifieth, that the Deputation is now come from the Lord President of

Wales, I have according to his Lordship’s desire represented his
thankfulness to his Majesty, and have order from his Majesty to signify to
your Lordship that it is not only in this particular case; But hereafter also he
will be graciously mindful of your good service done heretofore, in the
Lieutenancies of Glamorgan and Monmouth, and your willing resigning of
them. And he hath also commanded me to tell the Earl of Bridgewater, that
he shall proceed therein with your Lordship in the same manner the Earl of
Northampton his predecessor did, and not otherwise: which accordingly I
have signified to his Lordship. And thus having imparted to your Lordship
both his Majesty’s gracious favour towards yourself and your son, who in
this business hath performed as much respect and duty as can be expected
from a worthy son, I humbly take leave and so remain,
“Your Lordship’s humble servant,
“John Coke.
“Whitehall, December 3rd. 1635.
To the right honourable the Earl of Worcester, &c.”
It is not at all unlikely that after the funeral his Lordship returned to
Worcester House. London would afford him many advantages for the
gratification of his scientific pursuits, not to be obtained in the country. It
appears, indeed, pretty evident that about this period he set up in the Tower
his large wheel for exhibiting self-motive power, which the learned assume
to be a mechanical fallacy, but which no one has yet proved to general
comprehension to be an impossibility. In a scientific point of view, but
particularly in connection with the life of this remarkable man, a subject of
this nature cannot be lightly passed over. It affects his reputation more than
appears on the surface, as we shall show in the course of our observations.
It was a machine, consisting of a wheel fourteen feet in diameter,
carrying forty weights of fifty pounds each,[I] and is supposed to have
rotated on an axle, supported on two pillars or upright frames. His Lordship
has been very precise in describing all the circumstances under which it was
shown. There were present Charles the First, accompanied by two
extraordinary Ambassadors, the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Hamilton,
with most of the Court; and Sir William Balfour was at the time Lord
Lieutenant of the Tower. Now the latter circumstance would fix the date as
not being later than 1641, while other facts make it reasonable to suppose
the experiment took place at least two or three years earlier. Up to 1638
Charles the First had reigned for ten years in comparative peace and leisure.

May it not have been during this lull in the portending storm of public
discontent that royalty deigned to inspect a singular piece of mechanism,
supposed to move of itself without any aid from external agency? In 1642,
Sir John Byron was made Lord Lieutenant of the Tower; and Sir William
Balfour[J] was in command of the Parliamentary forces at Edge-hill.
This wheel experiment may have been made in 1638–9, prior to the
decease of his lady, and during the most peaceable portion of his Majesty’s
reign; and indeed while his Lordship’s own domestic affairs were wearing
their most cheerful and agreeable aspect.
His Lordship has been charged with dealing in paradoxes, and none
greater than the one under consideration need be sought for. It relates to a
problem which for 2000 years has not only perplexed mathematicians, but
likewise been a stumbling-block to many ingenious mechanicians during at
least five centuries. What mathematicians fail to prove and what
mechanicians fail to produce, every modern philosopher demands shall be
stamped as an impossibility, as absurd as it is impossible. Now the dilemma
is, How has the author of the “Century of Inventions” fallen into the
common, vulgar error of believing in the possibility of perpetual motion;
and not only so, but publicly exhibiting a machine pretending to that
character?
We are not disposed to question either his talent, or his veracity, hence
the difficulty of offering any simple, direct, satisfactory reply to what
otherwise appears to be an easily answered interrogative. Eminent writers
of the seventeenth and previous centuries maintained that perpetual motion
was possible. Dr. Dee, in his very curious preface to the first translation of
Euclid into English, wrote favourably on this very topic; so that, however
the modern scientific sceptic may blame his Lordship for want of skill, or,
worse, of veracity, his opinion was quite in accordance with the estimation
in which the subject was viewed in his day. But he goes a step farther, he
speaks of a practical result. Hence he leaves us no alternative but to declare
that he propounds either a truth or a falsehood; and if false that he was
either himself mistaken, or deceived by others. But either way it is difficult
to arrive at a thoroughly satisfactory conclusion, even as to what his
Lordship actually intended and performed in this instance, owing to the
usual vagueness of his own statements.
At 38 years of age Lord Herbert had enjoyed seven years of matrimonial
felicity, and had been during four years a widower. In 1639, his son Henry

would be 10 years old, his two daughters much younger, so that as well for
their education as for the gratification of his own scientific investigations,
he may have continued for some time to reside at Worcester House: the
Strand and all that neighbourhood being then in the occupancy of families
of title, wealth and high position. During his father’s lifetime, the resident
housekeeper was James Redman, Esquire, as we learn from the list of his
household.
The private studies and pursuits in which Lord Herbert was indefatigably
engaged, must have occupied his attention from an innate love of physical
science. The society in which he moved had no tendency that way, while
the times in which he lived were far from affording any encouragement for
such investigations as those in which he was principally engaged. The
metropolis in his day was without coaches until 1625, when they were first
used by the gentry, and ten years later hackney coaches were considered to
have arrived at such a dangerous increase that their plying was restrained by
law; and London streets were either so bad, or the treasury so low, that
penalties were levied on all heavy vehicles passing over the highways. It is
characteristic of the state of our laws at that period, that Dr. Leighton was
for his writings sentenced to barbarous mutilations, as also happened in
1633 to the unfortunate learned Mr. Prynne, and four years later to John
Lilburn. The pillory, whipping culprits through the streets, cropping ears
and other mutilations and barbarities were ordinary punishments, and in
1636 the plague was raging throughout the metropolis and its suburbs, with
all its accustomed terrors.
But not in this view alone do we see little to inspirit him in the ardent
pursuit of mechanical employments, another and more serious obstacle
arose from his belonging, like his father and ancestors, to the Roman
Catholic faith. The laws against Papists were inconsistently stringent in
England on religious grounds; and strange to say, in imperial Rome, the
very seat of the papacy, absurdly severe denunciations were pronounced
against even the free discussion of scientific subjects. On the memorable
22nd of June, 1633, Galileo, prosecuted by the Inquisition at Rome, was
compelled to abjure his astronomical theories and discoveries as heretical!
The inquiry with its results must have deeply interested Lord Herbert; but
what could he hope to gain even from his own party, as the inventor of a
“semi-omnipotent engine?” Thus situated he was surrounded by
circumstances nowise calculated to stimulate his mental activity in the

peculiar occupations that employed his leisure and his fortune; but the fact
offers an invaluable proof of the intense satisfaction an inquiring mind
always experiences in the realization of its mental speculations.
There is every reason to believe that his studies were completed, his
tastes fixed, his experiments pretty well matured at this period, and that it
was, therefore, the occasion of stamping his future character. He was then
terminating his “golden days,” to enter upon a very different career. While,
therefore, most anxious to avoid every appearance of substituting fictions
for facts, we feel impelled to indulge in an attempt to account for his long
serious devotion to employments so apparently foreign to either his
education, his station in life, or the necessities of the times; while, indeed,
on the other hand, all operated against him, owing to the darkness,
ignorance, persecution and prevailing prejudices of the age.
It appears from his published work that Lord Herbert was better versed in
mathematical than in classical literature. His mental activity may have been
promoted by physical causes, assuming that from delicacy of constitution
he may have been thereby disposed to those studious habits, to which he
was ever after so much attached; the Vandyck portrait of him in his youth
would indicate that he was not constituted for undergoing much severity of
exercise in the fatiguing sports and pastimes then in vogue.
In 1639, his confidential workman, Caspar Kaltoff, would have expended
eleven years in constructing models and machines to establish the
practicability of the many novel schemes which his Lordship had, up to that
time, developed. Meanwhile, his own reading was no doubt pursued with
vigour, and we cannot believe him to have been unpossessed of the
celebrated authorities among English and foreign writers. He must have
studied with interest Ramelli’s very elaborate volume, 1588, on machines,
illustrated with one hundred and ninety-five large, finely executed copper-
plate engravings; the popular Spiritalia of Hero of Alexandria; with even,
perhaps, the works of the engineer and architect Solomon De Caus,
published in 1615; together with the labours of many kindred writers.
Judging, however, from internal evidence, there was one, among many
English authors, whose work especially gratified his taste, the “Mysteries of
Nature and Art,” by John Bate, which went through two editions, dating
1634 and 1635, containing a “Booke of Water-workes,” treating of
“evaporating water, and rarifying ayre.” The peculiarity of such studies was
sufficient to separate him from the fashionable society of Courts, and the

too frequently frivolous society attendant even at Raglan Castle. If he then
made few enemies, his conversation and pursuits were little calculated to
enlarge his social acquaintance, and may even have early inspired a belief
in his possessing equal eccentricity and enthusiasm. His memory, however,
cannot fail to be cherished by posterity as the illustrious possessor of a
highly cultivated intellect, displaying a singularly powerful, original,
protean inventive genius.

Footnotes
[A] The annexed specimen of his
Lordship’s autograph, during his father’s
lifetime, is from a MS. certificate in the
British Museum dated 21st May, 1604.
[B] Calendar of State Papers,
Domestic, 1603–1610. Edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green. 8vo. 1857, page
529.
[109] An. à Wood. Vol. 3, pp. 199–204.
[C] Bodleian Library, “Carte
Papers—Earl of Huntingdon’s
Papers, Temp. Eliz. Car. II. 77.”
No 120. The annexed engraving is
a facsimile of his autograph to the
letter in question.
[5] Atkyns.
[D] Henry, Duke of Beaufort, died in 1699, at 70 years of age, so
that he must have been born in 1629.
[E] Dedication to the “Century.”
[F] Ibid.
[G] “The Century,” articles Nos. 21 and 26.
[H] The “Century,” Dedication.
[I] The “Century,” Article No. 56.

[J] It is not certain how long Sir William Balfour was Lord
Lieutenant of the Tower prior to 1641.

CHAPTER III.
EDWARD, LORD HERBERT’S SECOND MARRIAGE.
In 1639 Lord Herbert entered a second time into the matrimonial state, a
prudential step as he was then situated, at the age of 38, having a young
family without any sufficient guardian. He married the Lady Margaret,
second daughter and co-heir of Henry O’Brien, Earl of Thomond; by which
alliance he obtained some possessions, as well as a connexion with many of
the best and most powerful families in Ireland. Of this, as of his first
marriage, no particulars have been preserved, not even their date, or where
celebrated; yet considering that both occurred during his father’s lifetime
and greatest prosperity, we can readily believe that they were accompanied
with all the usual demonstrations of joy, ceremony and feasting. They had
but one daughter, Mary, who died during her infancy. In a family group,
painted by Hanneman, a close imitator of Vandyck, Lord Herbert is
represented as a Roman general, seated by his lady attired in a modern
costume of pale blue satin, with their child standing before her in a
reclining position. He has a very aged appearance, although one might
presume that the portrait was executed when he was under forty-five. It is a
very thinly and sketchily painted performance. His Lordship presents a
singular appearance in a toga and tight fitting hose of deep scarlet, an
ornamented leathern jerkin, and wearing a wig streaming over his breast
and shoulders, sitting in a chair with his right hand resting on a walking
stick, while his left hangs negligently over the arm of the chair in proximity
with a mighty sheathed sword. His lady in ample folds of silk, with the
usual long, tightly fitting, jewelled stomacher, has her hair in a fringe of
small curls over her forehead, combed closely back, where it terminates in a
knot from which a few ringlets flow behind; she wears also pearl ear-drops
and a pearl necklace, which ornaments are repeated on her child.
The same year, on the 8th of April, he lost his mother, Anne, Countess of
Worcester, who was buried at Raglan. It is possible, therefore, that his
marriage was deferred during her illness, and not celebrated until some
months after her decease.

It was then the 15th year of Charles the First’s reign. Before the close of
the year following, the Long Parliament commenced its sittings, when
Lenthall was chosen Speaker. All projectors and monopolists were
denounced as incapable of holding office, several members, therefore,
withdrew, whose places were speedily supplied. What must have been his
Lordship’s impressions under the existing aspect of political affairs may
easily be conceived, while as yet “Royalist” and “Roundhead” could
scarcely be called popular terms of party distinction.
In 1641, that martyr of science, Galileo, died, whose case so far
assimilated with the Marquis’s own, that they were of the same religious
persuasion: the one proscribed at home for the peculiar heretical turn his
genius had taken, the other under the ban of suspicion for his papistical
persuasion and supposed consequent prejudices.
We now enter on the most critical era in the history of this great and good
man. He was then residing in London, where he continued for some length
of time, with the politic motive of avoiding as much as possible the
suspicion of Parliament; for through his father’s liberality he had already
commenced supplying Charles the First with heavy loans.
In the collection of manuscripts at Badminton, is an unpublished letter
from Charles the First, dated 3rd of August, 1641, and also copies, in an
ancient and probably contemporary hand, of letters, the originals of which,
according to Birch, form part of the Harleian collection.[A] In the first of
these, dated 7th of December, 1641,—Charles the First requires Lord
Herbert to repair to Whitehall, “not only for his own particular use, but
likewise for the good of the kingdom,” so early had his Majesty taken him
into his confidence and council. He had then not long returned from
Scotland, and soon after he retreated to Hampton Court. He writes:—
“Charles R.
“Right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin, We greet you well,—
whereas We have heretofore by many letters and messages signed by us,
given you testimony of Our favour and inclination to reward the good
service of you and yours: These are further to assure you, that neither the
times nor business shall ever make us unmindful of them: Yet upon
occasions when Our good intentions therein may be really manifested, We
desire to be put in mind that we may readily concur to a speedy
performance, of which you may be ever most confident. And being
[seeing?] your indisposition of body is such, that before Our intended

journey We cannot signify the same to yourself in person, We have thought
good to express it by these our Letters, Given at our Palace of Westminster,
3 day of August, In the seventeenth year of Our Reign and 1641.”
[Endorsed in an old handwriting, 1641.]
“To Our Right trusty and right well beloved Cousin, Henry Earl of Worcester.”

Next comes the following:—
“Herbert,
“Yours of the 1st of December has given me a just reason for your
absence but certainly I have juster cause for your attendance, for it is well
known how that you are to give me account of matters not only for my
particular use, but likewise for the good of the kingdom; wherefore I require
your repair hither with all convenient diligence; And the rather that you
may find out the authors of these lying and scandalous Pamphlets
concerning your father and you, touching [which] I not only promise you
protection to your innocency but justice against those offenders, assuring
you likewise that I shall be so mindful of you that, if I live, you shall neither
be a loser in, nor repent you for the services you have done me. And so I
rest
“Your assured friend,
“Charles R.
“Whitehall, the 7th December, 1641.[13]

“I send you herein the paper that I could not find when you were with
me.”
In his journey towards the north, his Majesty, on arriving at Royston,
wrote to Lord Herbert as follows:—
“Herbert,
“Your services are expressed to me in so noble a way that I cannot
but acknowledge to you under my own hand, and that I should think myself
very unhappy, if I did not live by real testimonies to express my gratitude to
you. And for your sister, Carnarvon, though I cannot punctually answer
your expectation therein, yet I hope you will be satisfied with the answer
you will receive by your cousin Sir John Byron, to whom, referring myself
for many things I have not time to write. I rest,
“Your most assured constant friend,
“Charles R.
“Royston, 6 March, [1641–2.]”

And again he addressed him a few lines, shortly before being refused
admittance to Hull:—
“Herbert,
“I entrusted your cousin Byron with the particular answers to your
letter, reserving only to myself to answer you, that I esteem your services
such as my words cannot express them; but by showing myself at all
occasions to be
“Your most assured constant friend,
“Charles R.
“York, 9 May, 1642.”

We have here the earliest communications on record between these two
remarkable individuals, whose personal histories have alike perplexed all
political, polemical, and philosophical writers.
Before setting out for Scotland, the King appears to have desired a
personal interview with his Lordship, who seems to have been prevented
from complying by some severe indisposition in July, 1641; his Majesty,
therefore, conveys to him in writing, his “favour and inclination to reward
the good service of you and yours.” His Lordship’s father had already made
to the needy monarch some of those munificent advances, which, as long as
he could obtain them, he was in the habit of repaying with ample promises
and abundant flattery.
In his second letter, he alludes to “lying and scandalous pamphlets
concerning” his Lordship’s father, but what these may have been has not
transpired; they may only have referred to him as connected with the
Roman Catholic party.
In another letter he expresses his “gratitude” for his Lordship’s noble
expression of services; and alludes to his sister Carnarvon. And in the last
of these letters, he flatteringly informs his Lordship, that,—“I esteem your
services such as my words cannot express them;” yet by words alone were
they ever, as then, expressed, only to be as conveniently repudiated.
Up to forty years of age, Lord Herbert had lived as became a gentleman
of ancient nobility, great expectations, and in the enjoyment of the most
friendly intercourse with his sovereign. Well educated, travelled,
accustomed to courtly life, devoted to learned studies and given to scientific
pursuits, he has been hitherto only presented to us, in his domestic relations,
as a dutiful son, a husband and father, having few engagements to withdraw

him from the management of his estates, or distract him from the enjoyment
of country sports and social intercourse. During this period, he had probably
nothing more serious on hand than an occasional change of residence, as he
passed some portions of the year at Raglan Castle, and occupied at others
the ample accommodations of Worcester House.
In a statement[B] he wrote long after, he incidentally remarks:—“I was not
privy, or present with his Majesty at Greenwich [26th February, 1641] when
he first took his resolution for the North, and removed, without the Queen,
to Theobalds; from which he was pleased to write me a lamentable letter by
the hands of Sir John Byron, averring that he had but £600, and £300 of
which was given to defray his horses, which the Marquis of Hamilton, then
Master of the Horse, refused to do, fearing to displease the Parliament.”
For awhile he was necessitated to act with consummate caution to
conceal his true political bias from the Parliamentary party. But the drama
of his life has now to change; his “golden days” are gone, and hereafter we
view him only in evil times, times so distracted and turbulent, that the
materials they afford us of his future life, are but like the fragments of a
terrible wreck.

Footnotes
[A] Inquiry, 1756, page 349.
[13] Birch, gives the date “11th of December, 1641.” p 356.
[B] See Chapter XVIII.

CHAPTER IV.
HENRY, EARL OF WORCESTER.—CREATED MARQUIS OF
WORCESTER.—RAGLAN CASTLE.
The general aspect of public affairs in 1641, foreshadowed the coming
storm. Charles the First had departed from Whitehall; civil war raged
through the length and breadth of the land, terminating in fearful
consequences to the monarch and all his wealthiest loyal supporters.
On the 2nd of November, 1642,[88] Henry was created Marquis of
Worcester, being the first of his family raised to that dignity. He would then
be 65 years of age, but does not appear to have enjoyed uniform good
health; he was corpulent in body, possessed a vigorous intellect, and was
remarkable for his flow of humour. It is recorded of him, but without
reference to any authority for the statement,[4] that he was singular for the
custom of wearing a coat of frieze, a coarse narrow cloth much in use; the
term being applied to garments having long wool, then said to be friezed.
Sanderson speaks of him as a plain man, especially in his apparel.
His great wealth enabled him to afford Charles the First early important
pecuniary assistance, which, together with his great loyalty, although a
papist, secured him all that esteem and favour, which the peculiar mental
constitution of his royal master, alone best knew how to turn to the largest
possible amount of personal profit, without being absolutely necessitated to
make any adequate return other than his word and honour. If the materials
for the personal character of Charles the First had to be drawn solely from
his treatment of the first two Marquisses of Worcester—the veteran Lord of
Raglan Castle, and his enthusiastic valorous son, the Lord Herbert,
sufficient evidence would be found to establish that monarch’s perfidious
nature, and the utter worthlessness of his plighted word and most solemn
protestations.
The Parliament took early notice of the proceedings of both the Earl of
Worcester and his son Lord Herbert. The Journals of the House of
Commons[A] inform us that on the 29th of January, 1640–41:—
“Die Veneris, 29 Jan., 1640.

“Mr. Treasurer acquaints this House, that his Majesty’s pleasure is, that
this House do attend his Majesty this afternoon, at two of [the] clock, in the
Banqueting House, and that he had intimated his pleasure likewise to the
Lords to attend him at the same time.
“Ordered, That the consideration of the commission granted to the Earl of
Worcester, and his eldest son the Lord Herbert, and the sub-commissions by
them granted to others, for the levying of forces in several Counties of
England and Wales, and all the circumstances depending thereupon, be
referred to the Committee appointed to draw up the charge against the Earl
of Stratford, &c.”

And on the 11th of February following, that:—
“Die Jovis, 11º Feb 1640.

“Mr. Reignolds reports from the Committee of the Earl of Worcester, the
substance of that business. * * * * * * (thus printed in Journal.)
“And then it was resolved, upon the question, That the particulars
reported by Sir W. Erle, Sir Jo. Clotworthy, and Mr. Reignolds, shall be the
heads of the Conference to be desired with the Lords, concerning the
disbanding of the new-levied Irish Army, and disarming of the Popish
Recusants here in England.”

Later we find a guard set on his residence in London.[B]
“Die Martis, 16º Nov. 1641.
“Mr. Wittacre, Sir John Francklin, Sir John Hippisley, Mr. Wheler, Mr. G.
Long, are appointed to go immediately, and take order to set a good guard
upon the house of the Earl of Worcester; and to search for persons suspected
of high treason.
“They are to take like care for setting a guard upon, and searching * * *;
and likewise upon such other houses, as they shall be informed; and that
they have power to search all such houses at such times as they shall think
fit.
“... To acquaint their Lordships, what this House has done for the
searching, and setting a guard upon, the Earl of Worcester’s house, and
upon what grounds.”

On the 5th of January, 1642, his Majesty addressed the following letter to
the Marquis, in which he says—
“The large expressions which you and your son have made unto us of
your forwardness to a service, shall never be forgotten.”
“Charles R.
“Right trusty and right entirely beloved Cousin, We greet you well.
Your son, the Lord Herbert, hath excused your not writing unto us; but
where we find so much royalty, there needs not ceremony, and your last
performance of our desires hath crowned the rest. And we would have you
confident that the mentioning of leaving few forces at Raglan, was not out
of any diminution of our care of you, or meant to lessen any provision
fitting thereto: For we well understand that there were never any of the
forces raised in the county, applied thereunto more than a private company
under servants of your own. But the Ward of Raglan was given as a general
ward attributive to the country, as that time we understood it. The large
expressions which you and your said son have made unto us of your
forwardness to a service, shall never be forgotten. He now commands in
chief in the absence of the Lord Marquis [of] Hertford, and besides his
dutifulness unto you, our command is, that his power and yours shall [be]
the same, as your hearts are to our service. The acceptance whereof we shall
not fail to make appear on all occasions, whereof you may rest assured.
Given under and signed at our Court at Oxford, the 5th day of January, in
the eighteenth year of our reign, 1642.[C]
“To Our Right trusty and right entirely beloved Cousin, Henry, Marquis of Worcester.”

The earliest direct intimation we have of money passing from the
Marquis to the King occurs in two letters from Sir John Byron. In his first
communication he says:—
“My Lord,
“The King is so oppressed with [a] multitude of business that he has
commanded me to write unto your Lordship this inclosed letter, not having
leisure himself to write more than a short postscript to give credit to what I
have written. I had thought to have sent some of my own servants to convey
the money hither, but Mr. Griffin tells me your Lordship would rather send
it by him and some other, whom you should think fit to trust, and then it
may be brought so privately to Newstead, where I shall be ready to receive

it, that none but such as your Lordship trusteth need to know of it. I humbly
desire your Lordship it may be sent with all possible speed, because his
Majesty hath allotted it for a service that must immediately be gone in hand
with all [speed]. I shall not need to trouble your Lordship any farther, and
therefore humbly kissing your hands, rest ever,
“Your Lordship’s most humble Servant,
“John Byron. [D]
“York, July 8, 1642.
“To the Earl of Worcester.”

On the 24th of the same month Sir John Byron[E] wrote a second letter as
follows:—
“My most honoured Lord,
“Your Lordship hath honoured me with a title which I value above
any other that can be given me, and of which I shall ever endeavour to
make myself worthy by all real expressions of faithful and humble service.
It was my misfortune to be from home when Sir John Somerset came, and
though I acquainted his Majesty therewith (upon whom I then attended), yet
he would not permit me to go to him for a day or two, having some other
service to employ me in by reason of his journey to Leicester, where it was
thought he would have had some opposition; but upon his Majesty’s
approach, his enemies fled, Hazelrick,[F] the chief of them, was said to be
lurking hereabouts, whereupon the King commanded me and some other
gentlemen, to go out and see if we could apprehend him; but, though we
used the best diligence we could, riding both day and night, yet we came
short of him.
“This is the cause of the delay in returning your Lordship an answer, for
which I hope your Lordship will pardon me; and now, since Sir John
Somerset is come hither, having left the £5000 your Lordship sent at
Newstead, my house, his Majesty hath commanded me to make use of it for
the levying of 500 horse, and withal, in his name, to return your Lordship
all possible thanks for your seasonable assistance both now and heretofore,
and that he hopes he shall not die in your debt. These are his own words,
and desires to be excused for not writing himself, by reason of the little
leisure he hath; for my own particular, I humbly beseech your Lordship to
believe that, as there lives not any body more deeply engaged for real and
noble favours to your Lordship than myself, so no man can be more

sensible of them, or more ready upon all occasions to express myself, my
Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most humble
“and faithful servant,
“John Byron.
“Leicester Abbey, this Sunday, being the 24th of July, 1642.”

Still later, and the House of Commons directs its attention to the
disarming of the Earl, and the requiring of his son’s attendance.[G]
“Die Sabbati, 20 Augusti, 1642. Post meridiem.

“Message from the Lords by Sir Robt. Riche and Mr. Page;
“That the Lords had sent them with Three Orders: 1. For the disarming of
the Earl of Worcester, and all Papists; wherein they desire the concurrence
of this House, &c. &c.
“Answer returned by the same messenger (as to two of the Orders); And
as to that of disarming the Earl of Worcester, will send an answer by
messengers of their own.”

And again on the following month:—
“Die Martis, 3º Septembris, 1642.
“That Mr. Speaker shall write his letter to the Lord Herbert, son of the
Earl of Worcester, to appear here, and attend the House.
“Mr. Glyn to prepare this letter.
“That the Lords be moved to send for the Earl of Worcester, to attend the
Parliament.”

In August, 1642, had commenced that series of national disasters, which
divided shires and even families into either Cavaliers or Roundheads—
Royalists or Parliamentarians—Protestants or Puritans, in short, Tories or
Whigs. It was then, or perhaps somewhat earlier, previous to his elevation,
that the Earl of Worcester garrisoned Raglan Castle, strengthening his
position by the raising of extensive earthworks on its most approachable
side, and maintained there 800 men entirely at his own expense.
In September, 1642, Lord Herbert was in personal communication with
his Majesty at Nottingham. He was then, although 41 years of age, a man
singularly inexperienced in the ways either of commerce or of courts. His
studies, pursuits, domestic habits, were not calculated to foster that spirit of

intrigue which a deep designing mind alone knows best how to conjure up
and apply with consummate art, and the exercise of which base quality his
position would seem to have frequently demanded. We have now to peruse
a minute report, drawn up by Lord Herbert, of what passed between himself
and the King in regard to a further loan.[H] The cunning and artfulness of the
royal negotiator is mirrored forth in this affair in most unmistakeable
characters. But the whole document is a striking example of the arts by
which Charles the First could practise on his unsuspecting victims. It is an
engrossed copy—not signed—but has been endorsed on the back, “Lord
Herbert’s Message from the King to be delivered to his father from
Nottingham, Sept. 9th, 1642,” and runs as follows:—

“The effect of the message your Majesty desireth I should deliver to my
father for your Majesty at Nottingham, the 9th of September, 1642.
“That your Majesty with many thanks expresseth yourself most sensible
of the great expense and charge his Lordship hath been at for your service,
far more than any man else, considering what I have had as well as Sir John
Byron’s [expenses], that it is most true at this time, much lieth at stake both
of your Majesty’s honour and power for want of a little money, since
£20,000, with what you have, would further your Majesty’s designs to a
most hopeful condition; for want whereof, your Majesty is enforced to dally
(though you will never yield), and at this present you offer that which is
worth £100,000 for £50,000, besides my Lord Capell, Sir William Savill
and others of good estates do offer also theirs for security;—yet no want nor
occasion can make your Majesty to press my Lord, who hath already done
so much, but if he and his friends could procure £10,000, your Majesty
would suddenly (if it please God to restore you) see it repaid, and would
presently in token of thankfulness send my father the Garter, to be put on
when he pleased, and also having the Great Seal in your Majesty’s own
custody you would pass a patent of Marquis of what title my father should
desire, and keep it private as long as he thought fitting; and to show that this
proposition is far from urging him to his inconvenience, and so much doth
your Majesty acknowledge yourself already beholding to him, as that even
without procuring his Majesty this unspeakable advantage, your Majesty is
graciously pleased that if he desire either or both these, your Majesty, at my
return unto you, will vouchsafe them; but if this could be possibly
performed, then the Crown, which hitherto your Majesty confesseth to stay

upon your head by his assistance, will be then confirmed by him, and your
Majesty; and your Majesty esteemeth so much of his understanding, as well
as passionate zeal to your service, that if he will send your Majesty his
advice (upon the relation of the state of business which your Majesty hath
commanded me to make unto him) your Majesty will as soon follow it as
any man’s, and the power you give, or intend to give me is, as I am
subordinate, and most dutiful unto him to whom your Majesty esteemeth it
to be given when it is to me; and your Majesty doth not only faithfully
promise on the word of a King but of a Christian, that you will punctually
perform your engagements advantageously to him and his, and never
forsake either, whilst you breathe, joining his safety with your own, which
is, and ever shall be your Majesty’s resolution.”

We have here a summary of the interview between Charles the First and
Lord Herbert at Nottingham. The King was no doubt very gloomy, and the
discourse between them most serious. There was on all occasions an
imperturbable dignity of manner about his Majesty, although his personal
appearance operated against him, his visage being long, with a narrow
forehead, large nose, grey eyes, thick lips, and peaked beard. He
stammered, too, in his speech, being also somewhat impetuous and hurried
amidst all the apparent coolness and calmness of his conduct and
conversation. Lord Herbert, on the contrary, in the very prime of life, was a
man of cheerful aspect, with small dark full eyes, and smooth, oval,
delicately formed features. Both wore the flowing locks in fashion, the one
in ample curls, the other in plain long wavy hair. The Marquis fastidiously
observed all courtly etiquette; without the accomplishment of fluency in
speech, his conversation would be deferential, simple, without any show of
boldness other than what conscious integrity of purpose might naturally
inspire; unaffected, direct, and straightforward; displaying much suavity
without any taint of selfishness, and profound zeal without the slightest
hypocrisy.
We almost see and hear again the wily financier, (such is the freshness of
the reported conversation) while the meek, unsophisticated Lord Herbert is
scrupulously noting each suggestion as it is dictated by his suppliant royal
master, anxious to give in their integrity the identical honeyed phrases the
Sovereign employs in depicting his obligations, his necessities, his
securities, with the readiest means for extricating the royal cause and

assuredly giving stability to the already tottering crown. His Majesty is
gracious to an extreme; he will in very “thankfulness send the Earl the
Garter,” and having “the Great Seal” in his “own custody,” he offers to
“pass a patent of what title the Earl should desire;” nay, should he desire
unconditionally to have either or both “his Majesty will vouchsafe them.” It
was by such unworthy arts in diplomacy that Charles the First drew the
loyal, warm-hearted, sincerely attached Lord Herbert into his toils, inducing
him by unremitting flattery, artfully simulated condescension, and
consummate sophistry to become instrumental in the ruin of both himself
and his father. There is not the slightest ground to suppose that from the
first to the last advance of money made by this family to the King, a single
offer in the first instance came direct from either the Earl or his son; but
there are abundant proofs that his Majesty held out from time to time every
possible inducement he could conceive to sap the wealth of the too-
confiding Earl of Worcester. Transparent as the craftiness of the present
transaction must appear to the reader, it was not so obvious to the peer
whom it interested, for he having once made his election to support the
royal cause magnanimously proceeded as he had begun, until he exceeded
even the bounds of common prudence.
It will be requisite, as we progress, to notice many particulars which
might at first appear irrelevant, as relating more considerably to the father
than to the son; but it is important to bear in mind, that Lord Herbert
becomes intimately associated with events then apparently only concerning
his father, but which really are those most seriously affecting that turn in
events which colour all his future history, whether as regards his early
military career or his later cheerless destiny.
Raglan Castle was then in its glory; it was often gay with numerous noble
visitors. Lord Herbert resided there with his lady, particularly at that
disturbed period; his father too had a numerous family and household.
Although rather isolated in position, it must have been a place possessing
considerable internal comfort. The good old Marquis was constituted to
make all around him as happy as circumstances would permit; with strong
religious and moral principles he combined the strictest possible sense of
honour, of a gentlemanly and military bearing, with a joyous temperament
that refused no source of accidental innocent amusement, turning the very
ills of life to sources either of merriment or moral reflection as the case
might be: which, with his princely means and liberal spirit, must have

largely contributed to the promoting of good feeling and hilarity within the
fortress of Raglan.
The Castle crowns one of the many broad low verdant hills occupying a
valley of immense extent in Monmouthshire. It is at present so embowered
in a forest of ancient lofty trees, as to be all but hid from view within the
circuit of a mile radius. There is just one point from which may be seen at
the same time towering above the foliage the Tower of Gwent or Citadel on
the right, and the Closet Tower on the left. The Citadel, which in reality
stands outside the Castle, as being the loftiest object, is visible from the
village, the Warrage, and other points of view. In its palmy days there were
attached to the Castle an extensive, well-wooded and highly picturesque
home-park, with a well-stocked red-deer park; also various gardens,
orchards, lawns, pleasure grounds, and fish-ponds artfully constructed,
affording islands here, fountains there, and summer houses where they
could be most advantageously placed. Thus were the demesnes of Raglan
characteristic of its noble possessor’s distinguished position.

DISTANT VIEW OF RAGLAN CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE.

The most ancient portions of the Castle itself, were probably raised in the
reign of Henry V., others are of more recent construction, but not much, if
any of it, dates later than that of Elizabeth. Its mixed styles of architecture
are very obvious. Among its later improvements were, no doubt, those large
windows, which were better suited for an elegant domestic mansion, than
for a fortress. The grand entrance was secured by its double portcullis, as
likewise by a gate, leading to the paved or pitched court; a portcullis also
protected the south-eastern entrance, leading from the fountain court to the
pleasaunce or bowling-green, supposed by some to have originally been the
tilt-yard; both of which entrances were further guarded by draw-bridges.
The tower of Gwent, citadel, or keep, stands before, and a little removed
from the castle, surrounded with a broad moat, which it would appear could
be crossed by two bridges; one permanent, connected with, and for the
special use of the castle, reaching to the walls of the bastions, whence
communication was kept up by a draw-bridge with the keep itself; the other
a draw-bridge only, in an opposite direction, whereby to pass over the moat
to the sunk walk, for ordinary use. The tower is of extraordinary strength,

its form hexagonal, its walls ten and a half feet thick, and its summit
reached by a stone staircase.
The Castle may be described as presenting two portions, distinguished by
two courts and two fortified arched entrances. The grand entrance between
two hexagonal towers leads to the paved court, with the closet tower or
library to the right, a withdrawing or ball-room over head, and the
banqueting or stately hall to the left, which last attracts much notice from its
size, nobleness, and state of preservation. It had a magnificent oak roof
lighted by a lantern or cupola window at the top; at one end is a large stone
carving of the arms of the Beaufort family, with their celebrated motto,
Mutare vel timere, sperno; at the opposite end rose the minstrels’ gallery.
One entire side is occupied with an ample fire-place, having large windows
above, and on the right hand side a magnificent bay window; the opposite
side of this great apartment is a mere lofty blank wall. Returning to the
court we see the kitchen-tower, larders, and other domestic offices. Passing
to the second, or Fountain Court, we observe a small chapel, marked only
by its foundation stones. Above it, on the same level and of no greater
width, ran the picture gallery, which may have been 126 feet long by 13 feet
wide. In it were, among others, many family portraits, particularly one of
Charles, the first Earl, and another of Henry, the second Earl of Worcester.
[93]
The Marquis’s private chamber was probably over the gate; but here, the
outer walls excepted and the grand staircase, few remains of the ruin rise
above the ground to distinguish their character.
The vaults and cellars are numerous, but not so large as is generally
supposed, although sufficiently capacious. Some were undoubtedly used as
cells for prisoners, others for various stores, while certain vaults are even
reputed to have served the purpose of underground stables.
The Fountain Court, derives its name from formerly possessing a
handsomely carved fountain which stood in its centre, supposed to have
been supplied with water by means of water-works erected by Lord Herbert,
in contiguity with the citadel, and sufficiently near for that purpose, as
already noticed.
Such then was Raglan Castle in the days of its magnificence, during the
life-time of its last munificent lordly resident. But the time had arrived to
protect it against the worst consequences of civil war. Its paved court
afforded ample scope for the drilling of recruits, and the reviews of the
regular soldiery, when the open ground could not be safely taken. A mill

was also erected for the home manufacture of gunpowder, in which we
imagine the combined skill of Lord Herbert and Caspar Kaltoff was actively
exercised. The clang of arms, the beat of drum, the constant firing of
artillery, with all the noise, the show, and circumstance of war, soon
transformed the once quiet homestead into a most mortifying scene of
discomfort, alarm, watchfulness, care, anxiety and activity.
Charles, Lord Somerset, the Marquis’s sixth son, officiated as governor
of the castle. The garrison, originally amounting to 300 foot,[93] was
considerably augmented to meet the threatening aspect of public affairs.[90]
Warfare, as at that time conducted, bore but a slight analogy to modern
practice. The bow and cross-bow, it is true, were entirely superseded by the
use of gunpowder, but that material was comparatively indifferent, and the
ordnance and arms employed of the clumsiest possible description. Great
guns weighing from 3½ tons to half and less that weight were denominated
cannon, demi-cannon, culvering, demi-culvering, saker, minion, drake, &c.
Then for small arms, they had the musket, carbine, arquebuse, blunderbuss,
pistol, &c. Their weapons were chiefly swords and pikes. Armour was
employed to a considerable extent. The curious in such military matters
may consult with advantage “The exercise of arms for Calivers, Musketts,
and Pikes,” in the masterly executed folio engravings by Jacob de Gheyne,
printed at the Hague in 1607. The soldiers of the 17th century had to carry
immense unwieldy fire-arms, requiring a crutch or rest on which to steady
them while taking aim, and had to fire with the ignited end of prepared
rope, used as a match for that purpose, and which for security against
accidental extinction was usually kept lighted at both ends.
In respect to the Marquis’s wealth, a contemporary authority informs us
in reference to that period, that,—“His whole estate ubique was esteemed
24 thousand pounds per annum.”[93] Indeed he was almost an universal
landlord in the county.[29] He had then altogether raised 1500 foot and near
500 horse, the command of which he gave to his son, Lord Herbert; thus
raising the first horse levied by the King.
The writer of a contemporary pamphlet published at Oxford, entitled
—“A short view of the late troubles,” states: “Moreover, within few days
following, one John Davis discovered [12th Nov.] to the House that the Earl
of Worcester had large stables under ground, at Raglan Castle, and a
number of light horse in them; likewise arms for a hundred and forty horse,

and two thousand men, whereof seven hundred were then in pay, and
ammunition proportionate.”[90]
We learn little more personally affecting the Marquis of Worcester for
about two years, during which his time must have been both fully and
painfully absorbed in superintending the warlike preparations which
environed his domicile.

Footnotes
[88] Sandford.
[4] Annual Register, 1769.
[A] 1640. 16 Car. I. vol. ii. p. 75.
[B] Journals of House of Commons, 1641. 17 Car. I. vol. ii. p. 317.
[C] From MSS. Badminton.
[D] From MSS. Badminton.
[E] Ibid.
[F] Sir Arthur Hazilrigge, Bart.
[G] Journal, House of Commons, 1642. 17 Car. I. vol. ii.
[H] From MSS. at Badminton.
[93] Symonds.
[93] Symonds.
[90] Somers.
[93] Symonds.
[29] Corbet.
[90] Somers.

CHAPTER V.
LORD HERBERT IN HIS MILITARY CAPACITY.
The sad necessities of the times and the perilous position in which his
tortuous policy had placed him, obliged Charles the First to court the
assistance and presence of the wealthiest among the nobility, than whom
none then ranked higher than the Marquis of Worcester, who, as we have
seen, his Majesty pressingly sues, through his son, Lord Herbert, at
Nottingham, for still further monetary supplies.
It is not surprising then to find Lord Herbert, even against his better
judgment, considering his tastes, habits and experience, taking an active
part in military affairs, and the mailed philosopher actually setting forth as
an enthusiastic Cavalier.
In one of the political tracts of the day, published at Oxford in 1642, the
writer gives as a reason for the Marquis of Hertford declining the service in
which the King had employed him:—“For that the King hath not only given
way to the raising of a popish army in the North, but hath granted
commission to the Marquis of Worcester, a known papist, to be general of
the forces in those parts, where he is; whose army consists of profest
papists.”[90]
As early as 1640, rumours had been falsely circulated against the
Marquis of Worcester, charging him with being concerned in a design to
raise a large popish army in Lancashire, as also another in Ireland. In 1642,
however, he did raise a great number of Welsh in support of the royal cause;
[105]
and the same year Lord Herbert was made General of South Wales.[95]
Thus Lord Herbert, in command of troops raised by his father, being in
favour with his sovereign, and generally esteemed both for his high nobility
and his wealth, held a most important influential position. Fully to prepare
himself for such a post, it appears most likely that he commenced the
requisite course of training even previous to his second marriage, for so
early as March, 1638, Lady Harley writes to inform her son:—“They say,
my Lord of Worcester’s son shall be general of the horse.”[46]
In his first considerable exploit he appeared before Gloucester, then in
the Parliamentary interest, stoutly defended by a company of volunteers,

who had raised very extensive fortifications. In February, 1642, it was
summoned by Prince Rupert, and again later, but without effect. About the
middle of the same month, Lord Herbert, with a body of about 1500 foot
and 500 horse, well armed, attempted the reduction of the garrison. His
eldest brother, Lord John Somerset, commanded the horse, while Sir
Jeremiah Brett was general of the foot. A third time the city not only refused
to surrender, but received with ridicule the summons from a Welsh brigade;
the Welsh troops therefore encamped at Highnam within the distance of one
mile and a half, where they lay still in their camp for five weeks in mistaken
security, not even attacking the outguards, or attempting any great action,
seemingly deluded by expectations of aid from Prince Rupert; who,
however, could not leave Bristol. Sir William Waller, crossing the river by
means of flat-bottomed boats, advanced on them with a body of light
troops, numbering about 2000. The Welsh, without taking the least
advantage arising from their strong position, sounded a parley, and
surrendered on conditions which were readily granted; in consequence of
which, 1300 foot and three troops of horse were led prisoners into
Gloucester, where several were kept for some time under strict
confinement. Rushworth states, under date 19th of March, 1642–3, that
Lord Herbert lost 500 men killed, and above 1000 taken prisoners. Lord
Herbert, we find from his own account, was not present on the occasion of
this defeat, for in reference to this disaster he says:—“God forgive those of
the King’s party, who were the occasion that 1500 gentlemen were
surprised, and I not despatched from Oxford until the day after. Yet at 14
days’ warning I brought 4000 foot and 800 horse to the siege of
Gloucester.” But Rushworth and others erroneously speak of his escaping to
Oxford.[87] From first to last the defeat cost his Lordship, according to his
own showing, £60,000.[90] Such was the unpromising result of his earliest
enterprise in his new career, offering a very gloomy foreboding of the
future. He had been untiring in his exertions to raise those troops
throughout Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and adjacent counties, in which,
as also in efforts to obtain sufficient stores for the garrison at Raglan, he
appears to have acted with extraordinary energy.[A]
During the progress of operations against Gloucester, Lady Harley in her
correspondence with her son, on the 14th of February, 1642, says:—“Nine
days past my Lord Herbert was at Hereford, where he stayed a week. There
was held a council of war, what was the best way to take Brompton [Castle

—her residence]. It was concluded to blow it up, and which counsel pleased
them all. The sheriff of Radnorshire, with the trained bands of that county,
and some of the Hereford soldiers, were to come against me. My Lord
Herbert had appointed a day to come to Preston, that so his presence might
persuade them to go out of their county. He had commanded them to bring
pay to victuals for 10 days. The soldiers came to Preston, but it pleased God
to call my Lord Herbert another way, for those in the Forest of Dean grew
so strong, that they were afraid of them.”[102]
We ascertain from his own later statement of expenditure that from
February, 1641, to October, 1642, or thereabouts, he was actively engaged
in dispensing his father’s immense loans in support of the royal cause; he
says,—“With as much privacy as might be, keeping good correspondence
with the Parliament; remaining in London, to avoid suspicion, being then
trusted both by King and Parliament.”
Taking amounts as stated by his Lordship, the dates may be pretty
correctly supplied from Iter Carolinum.[90]

Between 28th February, and 18th March, 1641, he sent to
Theobalds for the “pressing necessities of his dear master,” the
sum of £3,000
About the same time to Huntingdon, after the King’s departure
from Theobalds 3,000
On or after the 19th March, to York 8,000
On or after 21st July, 1642, to Nottingham, “where his Majesty
set up his royal standard.” [90] 4,000
Officers’ expenses to York 1,500
Besides, by his Majesty’s command, victualling the Tower, Sir
John Byron being Lord Lieutenant, for which purpose, he “sent
him in old plate, under pretence of coining it” 2,500
And further, obtaining through some pretence, leave of
absence, from the Parliament, he proceeded with their pass to
York, carrying to the King in ready money 15,000
And in bills and assurances 80,500
For these his Majesty giving his “note for ninety-five thousand
five hundred pounds,” his Lordship returned in two days.
Raising Sir John Byron’s regiment of Horse, the first completed 5,000

Representing a total of £122,500

Annexed to the record of this vast outlay, Lord Herbert has left us a short
piece of autobiography. “Things being thus set in order, (he says) between
his Majesty and me, I fairly took leave of the Parliament, to go down to my
father; where I no sooner arrived but there came directed unto me from his
Majesty a Commission of Array; whereof I presently, by a servant of my
own, sent word to the Parliament, with a letter to the House of Lords, which
I directed to my Lord of Holland, and to the House of Commons, to Mr.
Pym; in both which I offered to intercede to his Majesty, and conceived I
should prevail to suspend the Commission of Array, if they should make an
Act that their Militia should not come into my country. But they with civil
compliments and thanks replied that his Majesty’s [proceedings] was so
illegal, and theirs for the good of the kingdom so just and necessary, that by
no means would they waive the one for the other. At which I declared
myself irritated, to see that they durst tell me that anything commanded by
my master was illegal, and professed I would obey his Majesty’s
commands, and let them send at their perils. So immediately, and in eight
days’ time, I raised six regiments, fortified Monmouth, Chepstow, and
Raglan, fetching away the magazine [of powder and ammunition] from the
Earl of Pembroke’s town, Carlyon, and placed it in Raglan Castle, leaving a
garrison in lieu thereof. Garrisoned likewise Cardiff, Brecknock, Hereford,
Goodrich Castle and the Forest of Dean, after I had taken them from the
enemy.”
We have here a striking instance of his unflinching loyalty, of his first
public expression of his political sentiments, with a brief sketch of the
course he adopted in his first decisive military measures.
In the month of September several horses, the property of Lord Herbert,
being seized in Gloucestershire, the same was formally reported, as appears
first from the Journals of the House of Commons,[B] as follows:
“Diè Martis, 13º Septembris, 1642.

“A letter, from the city of Gloucester, from Mr. Perry, &c. concerning the
Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Worcester, seven horses of war stayed
there; and concerning some provisions they desire for the safety of the city;
was this day read: And

“It is ordered, that Sergeant Wilde do prepare an Order concerning both
these particulars.
“That Mr. Speaker shall write his letter to the Lord Herbert, son of the
Earl of Worcester, to appear here, and attend the House.
“Mr Glyn to prepare this letter.
“That the Lords be moved to send for the Earl of Worcester, to attend the
Parliament.”
And further, afterwards, from the particulars afforded by the annexed
document:—
“Die Jovis, 15º Septembris, 1642.

“Whereas information hath been given to the Lords and Commons
assembled in Parliament, that seven great horses or geldings, of the Lord
Herbert, son of the Earl of Worcester, were lately brought to the city of
Gloucester, to be by them employed (as is justly suspected) upon some
design against the Parliament; and that great endeavours are used by divers
commissioners of array, and other ill-affected persons, in the several
counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Brecknock, and
Radnor, to draw the said counties by way of association against the
Parliament, and their adherents, and in particular against the said city, as a
place the most advantageous for the furtherance of their malignant designs;
therefore upon the humble desire of the citizens of the said city of
Gloucester, and for the better preservation of the safety of the said city,
being a place of great importance, and of the counties and parts adjoining; it
is thought fit and Ordered by the said Lords and Commons, that the Mayor,
aldermen, and citizens of the said city, shall have the use and disposal of the
said horses, for the defence of the said city and parts adjacent, and the
services of the Parliament; and that, for the same purpose, they shall have
power to raise one or more troop or troops of horse and men, and to train,
exercise, and employ the same, and other forces of the said city, as by the
ordinance concerning the militia is appointed; and further, that, for their
better encouragement and assistance in this behalf, some such small pieces
of ordnance shall be forthwith sent down to the said city, to be used,
ordered, and employed for the uses and purposes aforesaid, as to them shall
seem most meet and expedient; and that they and every of them, in so
doing, shall be protected and assisted by the power and authority of both
Houses of Parliament.”

The records of Gloucester frequently allude to these seven great horses,
which were afterwards placed under the command of Lieutenant
Backhouse, and kept together till the close of the war.
In February, Lord Herbert wrote to Prince Rupert,[100] as follows:—
“May it please your Highness [Prince Rupert],
“Your commands came unto me but the last night late, and being
now upon making my entry into the Forest [of Dean], I cannot so suddenly
execute the same; but as soon as it is any way feasible, there shall be no
delay therein. Upon Thursday next, I have given order, that accordingly as I
shall receive intelligence from the other side of Severn (which when I have
taken order to receive), there shall be men sent over, hoping by that time to
master all on this side of Severn. And in what I may I shall ever most
readily obey your Highness’ commands, and remain, Sir,
“Your Highness’ most affectionately
devoted Servant,
“Ed. Herbert.
“Raglan Castle,
“This Tuesday morning, 7th Feb. 1643.”
A contemporary, a clergyman,[29] has preserved an interesting account of
Lord Herbert’s operations before Monmouth, on the 1st of April, 1643. Sir
William Waller having accepted the invitation of a number of resident
gentlemen, when he came near the town of Monmouth, where Lord Herbert
had begun to place a garrison, his presence occasioned the precipitate flight
of his Lordship’s troops. But Waller, although so far victorious, failed in
obtaining needful supplies, owing to the devotion of the stream of the
people, most of whom were the Marquis’s tenantry.
Lord Herbert afterwards united with Sir John Winter, the reputed plague
of the Forest of Dean, who had strongly fortified and defended his own
residence; he was, too, considered a most active enemy, as well as a chief
agent of the popish faction. His Lordship’s horse so materially assisted Sir
John’s operations as to compel the rebels to quit the forest, having made a
passage over the Severn, at Newnham.
Soon after this affair, rumours were current that forces were expected
from Oxford for Paineswick and Stroud, while the Irish it was believed
were to lie on one side of Berkeley, Lord Herbert and Sir John Winter
holding the Forest. The same chronicler assures us that the taking of
Monmouth gave a fearful alarm to the whole country, the Marquis of

Worcester calling in Prince Rupert’s horse to their assistance. The result of
these preparations was that Sir William Blaxton, with his brigade of horse,
joined the country train-bands, with the forces from Raglan and Chepstow,
making together about 500 horse and 1200 foot. They fell upon the enemy’s
horse quarters, where were lodged two troops and ten musketeers; while
150 musketeers speedily came from Monmouth to their assistance. With
these and further supplies of foot the Monmouth party routed the cavaliers,
of whom many were slain and threescore taken prisoners.
Sir John Winter, despairing of longer subsistence, at length deserted the
Forest, after first firing his house at Lidney, and somewhat revenging
himself for past disasters by spoiling the Forest itself.[29]
In June, Charles I. addressed the following letter[C] to the harassed
Marquis of Worcester, conveying promises as usual, after a personal
interview with his son:—
“Worcester,
“I am very sensible of the miseries and dangers which of late you
have been in, and do hope the time will come when I shall be able to requite
all my good subjects, and none sooner than you; concerning the changing of
your title, and other particulars, I leave to your son’s relation, who knows
my mind therein, who will ever remain
“Your most assured constant friend,
“Charles R.”
“Oxford, 19th, June, 1643.
“For the Marquis of Worcester.”

Lady Harley, writing on the 13th of June, 1643, observes:—“My Lord
Herbert and Colonel Vavasour, who is to be Governor of Hereford, is gone
up into Montgomeryshire to raise soldiers.”[46]
On the 25th of July, 1643, Lord Herbert, having sent a dispatch to Prince
Rupert,[D] in which he found he had omitted some important particulars,
afterwards transmitted the same day by letter, dated from Raglan Castle, to
the following effect:

“May it please your Highness,
“Since my dispatch to you this morning there occurs one thing
which I then omitted, which I thought fit to represent to your Highness; that
some Parliament ships now lie in and about Milford Haven, which hath

hitherunto so far countenanced the county of Pembroke, that they
(dissenting from all Wales besides) have only showed themselves refractory
to his Majesty’s commands; and could your Highness so dispose, that some
of the ships late come in might speedily (before notice be given them there
of their professing themselves for the King) surprise them, or draw them to
their allegiance that county would be soon reduced to its due obedience,
which otherwise by land will not without much difficulty and loss be done.
One other thing I likewise forgot in my last; that in case your Highness
became master of the city of Bristol, and the castle holding out, your
Highness should need pioneers, for undermining the same, which (the
situation considered) will easily be effected, upon notice from your
Highness I shall procure some of the forest miners, who being very expert
at those works shall speedily attend your pleasure. I wish all fortunate
success in all your attempts as becomes your Highness’
“Most obedient and humble servant,
“Ld. Herbert.[E]
“Ragland Castle, 25th July.
“After 10 of the clock in the morning.”
Lord Herbert (probably immediately after the defeat at Gloucester) raised
a regiment of foot and ten troops of cavalry, offering, however, according to
Sir William Vavasour, to act only under the command of Prince Rupert or
the King: the former writes:—[F]
“Whereas the Right Honourable Henry Marquis of Worcester hath by his
care and expenses long saved the town and county of Monmouth from the
hands of the enemies, and of late regained the said town from them; and in
regard likewise that the towns of Monmouth and Chepstow are belonging to
him of inheritance, and the interest he hath in the whole county, my desire
is, that the Commander-in-chief of the said county and the Governors of
both or each of those towns, or of any other garrison within the said county,
should be complying with or observing any desires of his, intimated unto
them: either concerning his Majesty’s service, the good of that county, or
the particular safety and interest of him and his (whereof I am very tender).
As also the High Sheriff, Commissioners of Array, Justices of the Peace, or
other officers of the said county, martial or civil (as they tender my
pleasure), and will answer the contrary at their perils. And for their so
doing, the sight of these, or a copy hereof, attested by that Right

Honourable Henry Marquis of Worcester, shall be their and either of their
warrant. Given under my hand at Oxford, the 5th day of January, in the
twentieth year of his Majesty’s reign.
“Rupert.” [G]
The accounts we have of Lord Herbert’s military operations are
extremely meagre; in a patent hereafter to be noticed, the sieges and battles
at which he was present are briefly announced; with what courage and
successful conduct he took Goodrich Castle, the Forest of Dean, and the
city of Hereford; indeed with what remarkable good fortune, with what
unhoped-for success, he made himself master of the strongly fortified town
of Monmouth.
The achievements, as thus recorded, are sufficiently high sounding, but
no contemporary historian seems to have considered them of sufficient
importance to put on record. Neither his own letters, nor those of his
numerous family and connexions, neither political nor religious partizans
nor opponents give us a glimpse of our general’s skill, bravery, and final
successes; while the few particulars actually recorded leave but a faint
impression as regards facts, and a most unfavourable one as regards results.
In short, in his military capacity he bears a most mythical character.
We have his own statement[H] that, through the means supplied by his
father and himself, the Marquis of Hertford, after his defeat in the West,
was supplied with recruits to attend his Majesty at Oxford, at a cost of
£8000. They also raised Sir John Byron’s regiment of horse, at an expense
of £5000.
He further expressly alludes to having rendered his Majesty’s army
considerable service before Edge-hill, by the men he furnished. And he was
likewise at the charge, if not personally engaged in the reducing of
Abergavenny and Carlyon to the service of the Crown.
His own troop of Life Guards, consisted of one hundred and twenty
noblemen and gentlemen, whose estates amounted to above sixty thousand
pounds per annum, most of whom he supplied with arms and horses. This
troop he acknowledges to have raised without consulting his father, who
reproving him said: “The consequence would be that the love and power he
had in the country would be perspicuous, although he should have thanks
from the King, yet others, though his Majesty’s well-wishers, through envy,
would hate him for it.” His Lordship adds:—“which I confess I have found

too true, my services having been more retarded by those who called
themselves the King’s friends, than obstructed by his enemies.”
It is certain that Lord Herbert acquired no military celebrity. He was
bold, determined, and energetic when acting on the defensive, but he was
not remarkable for any adventurous or brilliant aggressive successes. His
troops were formidable in number, well paid, and abundantly supplied with
every requisite; but in all his reputed sieges, in all his encounters with the
foe, we seek in vain for any return of the slain, the wounded, the prisoners
taken, the disasters surmounted and inflicted, and the splendid store of spoil
acquired. The red hand and unpitying slaughter of war are only shadowed
forth to us like shapeless forms, creations of the imagination rather than
even faint pictures of reality. His Lordship’s naturally studious habits would
seem to have incapacitated him from entering ardently into the wanton
destruction of human life and the infliction of severe injuries on multitudes,
regarded by him more as deluded neighbours than cruel adversaries. Above
forty years having passed over his head in the experience only of plenteous,
peaceful times, and scholarly pursuits, he was no longer like the pliant
sapling, but partook more of the stability of the sturdy oak. In perfect
agreement with his own noble and generous spirit, he no doubt expected, as
he desired, an early and complete compromise of the political differences
which were then spreading their baleful contagion over the land.
Nevertheless, it is rather remarkable that operations on so extensive a
scale, prosecuted at a large cost by a single family, should have obtained
comparatively so little renown in the annals of the civil war: among which
we search in vain for details characterising the martial deeds of Edward
Somerset, Lord Herbert of Raglan.

Footnotes
[90] Somers’ Tracts, vol. iv. p. 459.
[105] Whitelock.
[95] Thomas—also Clarendon.
[46] Harley.
[87] Rushworth.
[90] Somers’ Tracts, vol. v. p. 312.

[A] Rapin states that after thus relieving Gloucester, Sir William
Waller took first Chepstow, and afterwards Monmouth.
[102] Washbourn.
[90] Somers’ Tracts, vol v. ed. 1811, 4to. page 263.
[B] Journals of the House of Commons. 18 Car. I. 1642. vol. ii. page
763.
[100] Warburton.
[29] Corbet.
[29] Corbet.
[C] From MSS. Badminton.
[46] Harley.
[D] “Rupert’s correspondence, No. 18,980, vol. i.” Brit. Mus.
[E] The letter is in a clerk’s writing; the autograph in a different ink.
[F] From MSS. Badminton.
[G] Endorsed in the same hand—“Prince Rupert, his Warrant.” And
endorsed by a private hand,—“Prince Rupert’s Warrant to the Marquis of
Worcester, Oxford, January 5, 1644.”
[H] See Chapter XVIII, giving the entire statement.

CHAPTER VI.
LORD HERBERT CREATED EARL OF GLAMORGAN. IRISH
AFFAIRS.
Although many successes had early attended the Royalists’ arms, the
chances of war in 1643 were interminably perplexing to all parties. The
royal cause was becoming desperate, and the King, never over-scrupulous,
then endeavoured to obtain speedy assistance at all hazards. After taking the
sacrament at Oxford, in sacred repudiation of employing papists, yet was he
privately urging his generals to engage all who would serve. The fact of the
Marquis of Worcester being of the proscribed religion was no obstacle to
his maintaining correspondence with him, personally communicating with
his son, and constantly draining their fortunes and other resources.
The impoverished monarch was at least liberal in promises and niggardly
in fulfilling even those referring to mere dignities in acknowledgment of
immense services, so long as farther demands might thereby possibly be the
better secured; such was his insincerity in all social relations, and such his
intriguing policy in all his acts of sovereign power.
At home the battle of Edge-hill had just been fought, and in Ireland a
rebellion had to be suppressed, and troops to be raised to swell the royal
army. The King must have been much confounded how best to conciliate
friends and enemies, protestants and papists, until he could fearlessly assert
his claims in accordance with his own construction of regal rights.
In the early part of the year 1644, the King conferred on Lord Herbert,
during his father’s lifetime, the dignity of Earl of Glamorgan. “But,” says
Sir Harris Nicolas,[A] “great doubt exists whether the patent ever passed the
great seal.” And Mr. Nichols states that, on reference to the original
Docquet Book of grants made by the King at Oxford, commencing in
December 1642, and ending in June 1646, nothing of the kind occurs
among the numerous grants of Dignities there recorded.[74] Yet the title was
constantly employed by Charles the First in his several letters and
commissions, and later in a message to the Houses of Parliament; and the
following is a copy of the Patent he privily granted to his Lordship on the
1st April, 1644.[13]

“Charles, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and
Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. to our right trusty and right well-beloved
cousin, Edward Somerset, alias Plantagenet, Lord Herbert, Baron Beaufort
of Caldicote, Grismond, Chepstow, Ragland, and Gower, Earl of
Glamorgan, son and heir apparent of our entirely beloved cousin, Henry
Earl and Marquis of Worcester, greeting. Having had good and long
experience of your prowess, prudence, and fidelity, do make choice, and by
these nominate and appoint you, our right trusty and right well-beloved
cousin, Edward Somerset, &c. to be our Generalissimo of three armies,
English, Irish, and foreign, and Admiral of a fleet at sea, with power to
recommend your lieutenant-general for our approbation, leaving all other
officers to your own election and denomination, and accordingly to receive
their commission from you; willing and commanding them, and every of
them, you to obey, as their general, and you to receive immediate orders
from ourself only. And lest through distance of place we may be
misinformed, we will and command you to reply unto us, if any of our
orders should thwart or hinder any of your designs for our service. And
there being necessarily great sums of money to the carrying on so
chargeable an employment, which we have not to furnish you withal; we do
by these empower you to contract with any of our loving subjects of
England, Ireland, and dominion of Wales, for wardships, customs, woods,
or any our rights and prerogatives; we by these obliging ourselves, our heirs
and successors, to confirm and make good the same accordingly. And for
persons of generosity, for whom titles of honour are most desirable, we
have intrusted you with several patents under our Great Seal of England,
from a Marquis to a Baronet; which we give you full power and authority to
date and dispose of, without knowing our further pleasure, so great is our
trust and confidence in you, as that, whatsoever you do contract for or
promise, we will make good the same accordingly, from the date of this our
commission forwards; which for the better satisfaction, we give you leave
to give them, or any of them, copies thereof, attested under our hand and
seal of arms. And for your encouragement, and in token of our gratitude, we
give and allow you henceforward such fees, titles, preheminences, and
privileges, as do and may belong unto your place and command above-
mentioned, with promise of our dear daughter Elizabeth to your son
Plantagenet, in marriage, with three hundred thousand pounds in dower or
portion, most part whereof we acknowledge spent and disbursed by your

father and you in our service; and the title of Duke of Somerset to you and
your heirs male for ever; and from henceforward to give the Garter to your
arms, and at your pleasure to put on the George and blue ribbon. And for
your greater honour, and in testimony of our reality, we have with our own
hand affixed our Great Seal of England unto these our Commissions and
letters, making them patents.
“Witness ourself at Oxford, the first day of April, in the 20th year of our
reign, and the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred and forty-four.”

Under any ordinary circumstances there would appear to be no
possibility of obscurity respecting this title, and that any should exist only
occasions the more surprise, when considered in reference to a family so
eminently in favour with Charles the First. But the subtle Monarch might
have his own reasons for favouring any source of possible remote obscurity,
until assurance of the Earl of Glamorgan’s success in his new enterprise
should embolden him to make his title clear; for it has been well observed
of him, that he was not only a most unscrupulous but a most unlucky
dissembler.[67]
This much disputed title is, however, acknowledged by Charles the
Second in a royal warrant, bearing date the 6th of April, 1661, as one, he is
informed, “settled by our Royal Father, of blessed memory.”[74]

His Majesty gave the Earl the following instructions:[B]
“Oxford, this 2nd of January, 1644. Several heads whereupon you our
right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin Edward Earl of Glamorgan
may securely proceed in execution of our commands.
“First, you may engage your estate, interest and credit, that we will most
really and punctually perform any our promises to the Irish, and as it is
necessary to conclude a peace suddenly, whatsoever shall be consented unto
by our Lieutenant the Marquis of Ormond, We will die a thousand deaths
rather than disannul or break it; and if upon necessity anything be to be
condescended unto, and yet the Lord Marquis not willing to be seen therein,
or not fit for us at the present publicly to own, do you endeavour to supply
the same.
“If for the encouragement of the Lord Marquis of Ormond you see it
needful to have the Garter sent him, or any further favour demonstrated

from us unto him, we will cause the same to be performed.
“If for the advantage of our service you see fit to promise any titles, even
to the titles of Earls in either of our kingdoms, upon notice from you we
will cause the same to be performed.
“For the maintenance of our army under your commands, we are
graciously pleased to allow the delinquents’ estates where you overcome to
be disposed by you, as also any our revenues in the said places, customs or
other, our profits, woods, and the like, with the contributions.
“Whatever towns or places of importance you shall think fit to possess,
you shall place commanders and governors therein at your pleasure.
“Whatever order we shall send you (which you are only to obey) we give
you leave to impart the same to your council at war, and if they and you
approve not thereof, we give you leave to reply; and so far shall we be from
taking it as a disobedience, that we command the same.
“At your return we will accept of some officers upon your
recommendation, to the end no obstacle or delay may be in the execution of
your desires in order to our service, and our commands in that behalf.
“At your return you shall have the command of South Wales,
Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire of the Welsh side returned to you in as
ample manner as before.
“In your absence we will not give credit or countenance to anything
which may be prejudicial to your father, you, or yours.
“C. R.”

Next month his Majesty wrote the following letter:[C]
“Glamorgan,
“I herewith send you the rest of my dispatches for Ireland, whither I
pray hasten, time being most considerable. I am sensible of the dangers you
will undergo, and the great trouble and expenses you must be at, not being
able to assist you, who have already spent a million of crowns [£250,000] in
my service; neither can I say more than I well remember to have spoke and
written to you that already words could not express your merits, nor my
gratitude: and that next to my wife and children I was most bound to take
care of you, whereof I have, besides others, particularly assured your
Cousin Byron, as a person dear unto you.
“What I can further think at this point is to send you the Blue Ribbon,
and a Warrant for the Title of Duke of Somerset, both which accept, and

make use of at your discretion; and if you should defer the publishing of
either for a while to avoid envy, and my being importuned by others, yet I
promise your antiquity for the one, and your Patent for the other shall bear
date with the Warrants.
“And rest assured, if God should cross me with your miscarrying, I will
treat your son as my own, and that you labour for a dear friend as well as a
thankful master, when time shall afford means to acknowledge, how much I
am
“Your most assured, real, constant
“and thankful friend,
“Charles R.
“Oxford, Feb. 12th, 1644.”

The Earl being from some cause detained at home, his Majesty wrote in
March, as follows:—[D]

“Herbert,
“I wonder, you are not yet gone for Ireland; but since you have
stayed all this time, I hope these will overtake you, whereby you will the
more see the great trust and confidence I repose in your integrity, of which I
have had so long and so good experience; commanding you to deal with all
ingenuity and freedom with our Lieutenant of Ireland the Marquis of
Ormond, and on the word of a King and a Christian I will make good
anything, which our Lieutenant shall be induced unto upon your persuasion;
and if you find it fitting, you may privately show him these, which I intend
not as obligatory to him, but to myself; and for both your encouragements
and warrantise, in whom I repose my chiefest hopes, not having in all my
kingdoms two such subjects; whose endeavours joining, I am confident to
be soon drawn out of the mire, I am now enforced to wallow in; and then
shall I show my thankfulness to you both; and as you have never failed me,
so shall I never fail you, but in all things show how much I am...
“Oxford the 12th of March, 1644.”

The newly created Earl of Glamorgan was now just entering on what
afterwards proved to be the most perilous period of his life. He no doubt felt
the weighty importance of the duties he was undertaking, and one cannot
help imagining that it was under a lively impression of the possible change
in his fortune, which, whether for good or for evil, it was past human

wisdom to divine, that he addressed the following most reverential letter to
his honoured father, in August, 1644.[E]

“May it please your Lordship,
“Amongst other memorable expressions which have taken deep root
in my heart, I assure your Lordship, that those you were pleased to use
towards me on Sunday last, shall never be defaced out of my memory; for
you were pleased so to interlace terror and comfort, as that I knew not
whether joy or fear possessed me most, or whether you showed more justice
or clemency; but at last a tender fatherly affection appeared to steer your
words and deeds which shall be, God willing, answered with a filial duty
and tenderness, and your unparalleled goodness shall not, with God
Almighty’s grace, undo, but strengthen me in my duty to God and your
Lordship, with as much zeal and true-hearted devotion as can be witnessed,
with the uttermost endeavours of thought, word, and deed, lying in the
power and uttermost abilities which I can at any time attain unto, whose
ambition is not greater to anything in this world than really and entirely to
appear, my Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most dutifully obedient son,
“and most devoted servant,

“This 13th of August, 1644.”

His military career in Wales appears to have terminated late in 1644, at
which time the Parliament having protested against the cessation made by
the Marquis of Ormond with the Irish rebels, by the King’s express orders,
his Majesty determined not only on a speedy peace in Ireland, but also on
the raising of troops there to be sent over to England. Difficulties, however,

arising consequent on the demands made by the Irish Roman Catholics, the
King devised the expedient of engaging the services of the Earl of
Glamorgan in that hazardous negotiation. Adopting his customary narrow
policy, he planned and plotted alike with friends and foes. Ormond was to
be flattered and deceived, next Glamorgan, and in succession all his
ministers, council and court, yea, the very Parliament and the public were to
be hood-winked by a master-stroke of double-dealing. Such a net-work of
intrigue had he woven, before the least of his measures could be finally
executed, that Charles the First’s course of conduct throughout this affair,
has confounded early as well as later and most dispassionate politicians.
That the King was wavering and uncertain, at least in his decisions, is
admitted by all, and it is very evident that expediency was with him a
sufficient plea for the most perfidious treachery, without distinction of
parties. He first wrote to the Marquis of Ormond that well-known letter, in
which he says:[25]

“Ormond,
“My Lord Herbert having business of his own in Ireland (wherein I
desire you to do him all lawful favour and furtherance), I have thought good
to use the power I have, both in his affection and duty, to engage him in all
possible ways to further the peace there; which he hath promised to do.
Wherefore, as you find occasion, you may confidently use and trust him in
this, or any other thing he shall propound to you for my service; there being
none in whose honesty and zeal to my person and crown I have more
confidence. So I rest,
“Your most assured constant friend,
“Charles R.
“Oxford, 27 Decemb. 1644.
[F]
“His honesty or affection to my service will not deceive you; but I will
not answer for his judgment.”

In this letter we detect the artful arrangement of its matter, making Lord
Herbert’s real mission secondary to some private business of his own, to the
forwarding of which the wily monarch solicits the kind offices of his
minister. Yet, secondary as was his mission apparently, he is much lauded
for his “honesty and zeal” to the royal person and crown; while the same
hand adds a postscript in cipher,—“but I will not answer for his judgment.”

Yet he was not so insufficient in “judgment,” but that the royal adept in
deception could purpose his eventually superseding the Lord Lieutenant,
whom he was thus cajoling meanwhile.
On the 12th of January, 1644, his Lordship received a Commission under
the Great Seal from the King, empowering him to levy any number of men
in Ireland and elsewhere, with other considerable powers, requiring for their
exercise a man of no ordinary “judgment.” So that when the King wrote one
thing, he meant another, for his acts reversed his own statement, and offer
the best proofs of the want of truth, although he might consider himself
obliged to adopt this shallow species of subterfuge, in such an emergency.
The Commission is as follows:—[13]
“Charles R.
“Whereas we have had sufficient and ample testimony of your
approved wisdom and fidelity, so great is the confidence we repose in you,
as that whatsoever you shall perform, as warranted under our sign-manual,
pocket signet, or private mark, or even by word of mouth, without further
ceremony, we do on the word of a King and a Christian, promise to make
good to all intents and purposes, as effectually as if your authority from us
had been under the Great Seal of England, with this advantage, that we shall
esteem ourself the more obliged to you for your gallantry, in not standing
upon such nice terms to do us service, which we shall, God willing, reward.
And although you exceed what law can warrant, or any powers of ours
reach unto, as not knowing what you have need of; yet it being for our
service, we oblige ourself, not only to give you our pardon, but to maintain
the same with all our might and power; and though either by accident, or by
any other occasion, you shall deem it necessary to deposit any of our
warrants, and so want them at your return, we faithfully promise to make
them good at your return; and to supply anything wherein they shall be
found defective, it not being convenient for us at this time to dispute upon
them; for of what we have here set down you may rest confident, if there be
faith and trust in men. Proceed, therefore, cheerfully, speedily, and boldly;
and for your so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant.
“Given at our Court at Oxford under our sign-manual and private signet,
this 12th of January, 1644.”
The Warrant his Lordship received from his Majesty, to treat and
conclude with the Irish confederates, dated 12th of March, 1644, proceeds

as follows:—[13]

“Charles R.
“Charles, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to our trusty and right well-beloved
cousin, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, greeting. We, reposing great and
especial trust and confidence in your approved wisdom and fidelity, do by
these (as firmly as under our Great Seal, to all intents and purposes)
authorise and give you power, to treat and conclude with the confederate
Roman Catholics in our kingdom of Ireland, if upon necessity any be to be
condescended unto, wherein our Lieutenant cannot so well be seen in, as
not fit for us at present publicly to own. Therefore we charge you to
proceed according to this our warrant, with all possible secrecy; and for
whatsoever you shall engage yourself, upon such valuable considerations as
you in your judgment shall deem fit, we promise on the word of a King and
a Christian, to ratify and perform the same, that shall be granted by you, and
under your hand and seal; the said confederate Catholics having by their
supplies testified their zeal to our service. And this shall be in each
particular to you a sufficient warrant.
“Given at our Court at Oxford, under our signet and royal signature, the
12th of March, in the twentieth year of our reign, 1644.”

It is generally asserted that the visit of the Earl of Glamorgan to Ireland
was of a personal nature, having by his marriage become allied to some of
the first Irish families; but no one can doubt that the important commission
he had received from the monarch swayed all other considerations. He was
then about 43 years of age. His royal master was profuse in the professions
of the most sincere attachment to the person of his Lordship; his acts and
words being such as were best calculated to ensnare an honourable man
quite incapable of insincerity. But the King, after his own fashion, had
sound reasons for his conduct; the Marquis of Worcester was still rich, and
might continue his liberality; and, as belonging to the Roman Catholic faith,
the son might promote his measures in Ireland. He only felt it necessary to
flatter without serious meaning, and to promise without feeling the duty of
performing, should expediency cause him to change his views.
To Ormond, however, from whom he was not seeking any favour, yet
whose suspicion he desired not to awaken, the royal diplomatist made light

of this visit to Ireland—“having business of his own” there; spoke
sneeringly of the Earl—“I will not answer for his judgment;” and yet
employed him on matters of such vital importance for the success of his
own measures, that we at once detect the sophistry of such language.
The Earl of Glamorgan, it would appear, went to Ireland at the end of
1644 or commencement of 1645, as his Majesty addressed the following
letters to him in 1645;[G] the first in February:—

“Herbert,
“I am confident that this honest trusty bearer will give you good
satisfaction why I have not in every thing done as you desired, the want of
confidence in you being so far from being the cause thereof that I am every
day more and more confirmed in the trust that I have of you, for believe me
it is not in the power of any to make you suffer in my opinion by ill offices,
but of this and divers other things I have given so full instructions that I will
say no more, but that I am
“Your most assured constant friend,
“Charles R.
“Oxford, 26th Feb. 1645.”[H]

The next in June following:—

“Glamorgan,
“I am glad to hear that you are gone to Ireland, and assure you that
as myself is no wise disheartened by our late misfortune so neither this
country; for I could not have expected more from them, than they have now
freely undertaken, though I had come hither absolute victorious, which
makes me hope well of the neighbouring Shires. So that (by the grace of
God) I hope shortly to recover my late loss with advantage, if such succours
come to me from that kingdom which I have reason to expect, but the
circumstance of time is that of the greatest consequence, being that which is
chiefliest and earnestliest recommended you by
“Your most assured, real constant friend,
“Charles R.
“Hereford, 23rd June, 1645.”

The Earl wrote the annexed letter to the Marquis of Ormond, dated from
Kilkenny in February, 1645:—[I]

“May it please your Excellency,
“I need not give you a relation of the public audience given to the
Nuncio yesterday by the Assembly, nor of his addresses thereunto; all
which (I am confident) will be at Dublin before this can have the happiness
to arrive with your Excellency. Neither need I use many words to persuade
your Lordship, that the expectance of a more advantageous peace, wrought
by the powerful hand of her Majesty, soon wipes out the clandestine hopes
of my endeavours to serve this nation, to which any professions of mine
have never been other, and always in order to the King my master’s service,
which my duty commands me ever to have before mine eyes. And my zeal
unto that transports me beyond all other considerations. Neither was ever
anything of vanity in me to be esteemed the person that should contribute to
the satisfaction of this kingdom, which I have ever aimed more to do than to
seem to do (as the private way of my proceedings may well testify for me).
But the saying is, a burnt child dreads the fire; and, therefore, if I be
contented to withdraw my hands from meddling with concessions, I
conceive it is your Excellency’s own dictamen, not only as you are so great
a public Minister of State, but likewise as your Excellency is pleased in all
things to express yourself my noble friend. And sure I am in all things you
will find me a devoted servant unto you; and according unto the freedom
that your Excellency is pleased to give me in order to his Majesty’s service,
I must needs deal so plainly with your Excellency, as to put you in mind
how absolutely necessary it is not to disgust the Nuncio, since that the
supplies out of this kingdom unto the King can be but men. And certainly,
before I can put myself into a handsome posture to serve the King my
master by sea and land, and in some kind to supply his Majesty’s private
purse, I think it will stand me in little less than £100,000, within three
months; all which whence can I have it but out of Catholic countries; and
how cold I shall find Catholics bent to this service, if the Pope be irritated, I
humbly submit to your Excellency’s better judgment. And here am I
constrained, to your friends and mine here, absolutely to profess not to be
capable to do the King that service which he expects at my hands, unless
the Nuncio here be civilly complied with, and carried along with us in our
proceedings. Besides (if there be understanding or reality in me), it is
impossible to carry this nation, and make them do any notable service for
the King my master, against the hair, and contrary to the Nuncio’s
satisfaction. And (pardon me to tell you) he is not a friend to your

Excellency that will persuade to the contrary, knowing very well that you
place your happiness and contentment in serving his Majesty and this
kingdom, as far as any great and public Minister of State and real Protestant
can attain unto. According to which conditions I confess it is not fit for your
Excellency to appear in it yourself; but if you please to interest myself and
some others of your chief assured friends and servants here (even with
whom your Excellency must give me leave to vie in reality and zeal to
serve you), to deal with the Nuncio, I am most confident in a few days (if
not in a few hours), we shall bring him so far to comply in order to his
Majesty’s service, as may give your Excellency satisfaction. And for the
present I alone have dealt with him so efficaciously, as that he hath not only
given his consent and approbation for the 3000 men to go for Chester (for
the transporting whereof I shall find shipping sufficient ready); and if that
will not serve, he means to-morrow or the next day to make it his absolute
business. And I beseech your Excellency to take what I have said here into
your serious and speedy consideration, as proceeding from me, who am not
only transported with zeal to the King my master’s service herein, but also
to manifest myself how much I am
“Your Excellency’s, &c.
“Glamorgan.
“Kilkenny, the 8th of February, 1645.”

To which the Marquis replied from Dublin Castle on the 11th of
February:—[25]

“I hope the supplies your Lordship labours for with so much
diligence will yet come seasonably for the relief of Chester, notwithstanding
the rumours raised here of the taking of it; but of this and the rest of the
10,000 men I can say no more than I lately have done, in a letter
commended to Mr. Browne’s conveyance.”
And in a letter of the 26th of March, he observes:—
“By intercepted letters of the 16th (Feb.) of this month out of the North, I
find it confirmed that Chester held out, and was not delivered on the
second, as was confidently written hither out of North Wales by some that
desired it should not be relieved; but it will infallibly be lost if the succours
be not speedily sent.”

And also writes desiring to be informed when the shipping and men will
be in readiness.

Again the Earl addressed the Lord Lieutenant on the 24th:—[J]

“May it please your Excellency,
“I am now setting foot in stirrup for Waterford, having made an
embargo of all the shipping there, at Wexford, and all other places of that
coast, towards the exportation of six thousand men, and have likewise sent
an express to St. Ives and Falmouth for shipping, either to convoy or to help
to transport these men. And if your Excellency please to inform yourself
what may be done to forward this business out of Dublin, I shall not fail to
see performed any agreement your Excellency shall make, whose zeal to
the service I know to be such as that it were vanity in me to recommend it
unto you. I will, therefore, only desire to know your Excellency’s pleasure
as soon as may be, and as it is my part, so it is my affection always to obey
you, and ever to remain,
“Your Excellency’s, &c.
“Glamorgan.
“Kilkenny, the 24th Feb. 1645.”

These letters seem at variance with the statement made by Dr. Birch and
others, that “the Earl left Oxford, in March, 1644–5, in company with Sir
Brian O’Neile and some Romish Priests, and went to Wales;” [K] [22] unless
we suppose he went to Ireland in December or January, and returned to
England sometime in February or March, which, although not impossible,
yet was a matter not so easily accomplished in those times and under
existing circumstances.
It is possible, however, that his own private, and the urgency of public
affairs, might induce his setting out early to arrange the one, and to settle
preliminaries in the other; for this latter purpose he would certainly require
his commissions of the 6th and 12th of January, 1644–5.
Then in March, 1644–5, being returned from Ireland, he waits on his
Majesty at Oxford, and receives from him his Warrant of the 12th of March,
and on the 1st of April his extraordinary and ever-memorable patent; than
which nothing could possibly show more convincingly his Majesty’s
surpassing confidence in the newly-created Earl, and his determination to
“answer for his judgment.”

But this last favour had to be sent to him, as we find from his instructions
to Edward Bosdon, accompanied by a letter to his Majesty, dated the 21st of
March, 1644.
We are here enabled to clear up a mystery which has hitherto hung over
this portion of his personal history, through a very humble source,
fortunately preserved in the Letter Book of Sir William Brereton, now in the
British Museum, wherein is the copy of a letter from John Bythell,
apparently the commander of the “Peter,” bound for Dublin. The
circumstance is too interesting to epitomise, and might suffer in graphic
description by any attempt to curtail its minute particulars intended to
interest his father and family.
From this document we learn that the party left Carnarvon for Dublin on
the 25th of March, 1645:—
[L]
“John Bythell his letter to his father Rich: Bythell, in Wyre hall.
Wherein the much admired Providence of God is to be observed in
commanding the seas, &c.
“Loving Father and Mother,—
“My duty remembered unto you, and my love to my brother Peter
and my sister. These are to certify you that I am in health, but am very sorry
that I have such an occasion as this to write to you of. But I pray you be not
dismayed nor discouraged, for I trust that that God that hath preserved me
from my child-hood, and brought me into these troubles, will in his good
time deliver me from them again. For when I went into a place into Wales,
called Carnarvon, with a small barque laden with corn, intending to go for
Dublin, which [where] it was my fortune to stay some six weeks for a wind;
in the interim there came some great men from Oxford, and pressed the
barque for the King’s service to carry them to Dublin, and said if I did deny
they would throw my corn overboard; and they being of that power forced
the barque to go out with them. There was the Lord Herbert, and the Lord
John Somerset, the Lord Herbert’s brother, and many knights and colonels
and captains, all being strangers to me. But as it seemed, and so it fell out,
God was not pleased to grant them a passage, for we left Carnarvon upon
the 25th day of March, being our Ladyday, with a very fair wind, although
north-east, and as fair a day as possibly could be. But when we came over
the bar of Carnarvon the wind began to calm, and to come to the south and
south-east. And when we had not sailed past three or four leagues, but the

wind came to the south-west, and began to blow very hard about two or
three of the clock in the next morning, so that we could not possibly get the
Holyhead; and it increased more and more still, insomuch that when we
came to the Skerries the storm grew to that [remorselessness?] that the
barque had much ado to recover for being swallowed up in those great
waves. But when we had passed the Skerries the wind grew greater and
greater, and with much ado we recovered the shore with the [ship], but
could not possibly gain any harbour, but were driven to the main sea. And
seeing the danger we were now in, the passengers threw over some of my
corn and cheese, so we lay on the sea Tuesday and Wednesday; and on
Thursday we could not gain any land but in the North of England, at a place
called Pillen; there we came to anchor on Thursday about five of the clock
in the afternoon. But Lord Herbert would not go on shore, nor suffer any
that was in the barque to land before him. But on the Friday the storm
increased more and more, insomuch that no man did expect life, but every
man prepared himself for death. But God (out of his great mercy) was
pleased to spare our lives for that time most miraculously; for about ten of
the clock in the morning, about one hour before full sea, the barque not
being able to ride, we were forced to cast our main-mast overboard, and
presently after cut both her cables, and committed ourselves to God’s
mercy. But it pleased God we run on a part of the sand called Cockram
Sand, near to Pillen, but she struck many times before she came near any
shore; but at the last we recovered shore, but had neither anchor nor cable to
hold her, so she did [lie] all a-dry, and as soon as she did ebb a-dry all the
great men went away that were papists, and are got to some garrison under
the king’s command. But one Mr. Nutterfield and his wife, and one Mr.
Argent and his daughter, and one Mr. Collour and his wife, and myself,
went to Pillen with some few men more, to comfort ourselves with the fire
and to refresh ourselves. And the next morning being Saturday, Mr. Collour
and one Mr. Hambleton and myself hired horses from Pillen to go to the
governor of that place to make him acquainted with our landing. His name
is Colonel George Doddinge, and when we came to him and told him our
cause, he said he could not do any less than commit us to Lancaster, where
now I am, at a very good place, one Capt. Rippendshoupe’s. The Colonel
was pleased to remove me out of the Castle to his house, a very good place,
where I am well used; but it has pleased the Colonel to seize on all my corn,
and to take it from me, so that I cannot tell what course to take; for all our

names are sent up to the Parliament, and the Colonel cannot release any till
he receives an answer, how we must be disposed of. The best course that
you can take to have me released will be to make some friends to Sir Wm.
Brereton and Colonel More, and to procure their answer to Colonel
Doddinge, and to inform him where I lived, and that I never took up any
arms on either side, but have lived in Ireland this ten years. And so I hope
that will be answer to procure my enlargement, for here I am a stranger, and
am not known by anybody, so I desire this truly may be certified, and by the
hands of Sir Wm. Brereton and Colonel More; and I hope that will give
satisfaction. I desire my brother Peter to use his best endeavour herein for
my liberty, and to come to see me. The Colonel hath granted Mr. Collour
and me the favour [and me sic] to send to his friends, being at Namptwich,
and the same messing [messenger?] to come down from thence to you with
my letter for fear [if] ours were sent before [they] should miscarry, so we
sent letters by the Colonel’s directions to Namptwich from hence on
Wednesday, being the first of April; my letters were inclosed in Mr.
Collour’s letters, and he desired his father-in-law, Lieut.-Col. Jones, Sir
Wm. Brereton, Lieut. Coa, that as soon as his letters came to his hands, to
send my letters down to you. But for fear these should miscarry, we have
sent the bearer to you with this letter. I had all my money taken from me,
therefore I pray you to make shift to procure me four or five pounds, for I
have not a penny but what I do borrow. I pray you to send a shirt and two or
three bands, for I have none left me. I hope my brother Peter will not fail to
come and to bring these things along with him, that I have written for; so
desiring you to remember my love to all our friends, especially to Mr.
Glegg and Mrs. Gregg, to Capt. Edw. and Capt. John Glegg, and to Capt.
Robert, and to Mr. Wm. and Mrs. Elizabeth and Miss Jones, and all the rest;
so desiring a happy meeting, I rest,
“Your loving and obedient son, till death,
“Jo. Bythell.
“Lancaster, 6 April, 1645.

“I pray you give the bearer hereof, Mary Goadfine, 2s and 6d, and make
much of her. But let her make what haste she can back again to me.”
We have next:—[M]
“A list of their names that were aboard the ‘Peter,’ bound for Dublin and
distressed by storms, and cast upon the coast of Lancashire, and [who]

afterwards escaped to Skipton Castle.”
(The name of the Prisoners taken at Lancaster, 1st April, 1645.)
The Earl of Glamorgan, the Lord Herbert.
The Lord John his brother.
Sir Brian, uncle of Sir Francis Edmonds.
Sir Charles Hayward, the Duke of Norfolk’s grandchild.
Lieut. Vivian Mouelex, a man who was very decrepid.
Col. Cave, Col. Mitchell (Irish).
Mr. F. Flemmia, a Lancashire man.
Captain Mulbrian, Captain Bacon.
Mr. Peters, the Lord Peters’ brother, Mr. Poynes.
Mr. Hutton, Col. Pristoe, Captain Butler.
“Some two or three more whose names are not known to any passenger,
but they were men of ordinary quality.
“The Protestants that are now prisoners at Lancaster, and went of their
own voluntary will, and not taken by force, and hired horses.
“Mr. Collham, Mr. Jones, James Hambleton, Jo. Bythell, Mr. Rob.
Noterfield, his wife and children and three servants; not siding with the
papists, Mr. Argent a gentleman, his daughter, and Boyes, and his maid; Mr.
Barker, Mr. Floyde, a minister.
“Two of the Lord Herbert’s men who were taken in their escape after
their Lordship; two poor sailors.”
Mr. Carte, in his Life of the Duke of Ormond,[22] and Dr. Birch,[19]
following the same authority, assert that—“The Earl of Glamorgan, having
embarked on board a small vessel, was near being taken by a Parliament
ship, which pursued him till he took refuge in a port of Cumberland.” This,
however, must refer to his second, and not to his first, attempt to set sail
from Wales.
We can now understand the occasion of delay previously unaccounted
for; thus, Dr. Birch, after informing us through Mr. Trevor’s letter of the 9th
of April, 1645,[N] that the Earl has actually “gone into Ireland,” proceeds in
the next page to quote a passage from Lord Digby’s letter, dated Dublin, 8th
of May, 1645:—“Though I have no full knowledge of what Lord Herbert
was to bring with him; yet by his letter to me out of Wales, I guess his
missing this place (Dublin) was a great misfortune to the King’s service,
even in relation to the credit I found the Irish were apt to give to his

services and undertakings; and therefore if he be where he can get once
more to the water’s edge, and will venture over, I am very confident the
little frigate I now send to stay the return of the bearer, will land him in
some safe port of Ireland.”
In consequence of this arrangement he at length arrived at Dublin about
the end of July or beginning of August,[22] 1645, being a space of about six
months from the time of his leaving Oxford.
An incident with which the Earl of Glamorgan was connected occurred
during his stay in Wales, affords an amusing episode illustrating the
prevailing superstition of the age, against which his Lordship was by no
means proof. Dr. Bayly states that: “The Earl, accompanied by officers,
knights, and gentlemen of high rank, all of the red letter, as they were in
their journey for Ireland, quartered in the town of Carnarvon, a sea-port in
North Wales, where they were entertained with discourse at their table by
some of the gentlemen of the country, who informed them of the fulfilling
of an old Welsh prophecy, at that very time and place.” The legend related
to the building of nests in the crown on the head of King Edward I., over
the gate of Carnarvon Castle, and was interpreted as significant of the
times. “Dinner being ended, they all went to the castle gate.” Thereon the
Earl of Glamorgan “commanded the nest to be pulled down, which was
done accordingly; and being thrown down, they found the materials of the
nest to be such, as wherewith never any bird did build her nest, viz. with
white thorn, which, for a memorandum or rarity, every one of them stuck a
thorn in his hat-band, and wore it.”[7]
But we must now, however, revert to Raglan Castle, to keep in view what
had been passing there in the interim.

Footnotes
[A] Synopsis of the Peerage.
[74] Nichols.
[13] Birch and others.
[67] Macaulay.
[74] Nichols.
[B] From MSS. Badminton.

[C] From MSS. Badminton.
[D] From MSS. Badminton.
[E] From MSS. Badminton.
[25] Carte, Birch and others.
[F] Several lines of numerals have been deciphered as here given.
[13] Birch and others.
[13] Birch and others.
[G] From MSS. Badminton.
[H] Birch, p. 359, gives the date 28 Feb. 1645.
[I] Bodleian Library, MS. Vol. “Carte Papers, 1634–57, Ireland,”
No. 159.
[25] Carte, vol. vi. p. 353.
[J] Bod. Lib. MS. Vol. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63,” Nos.
160 and 161.
[K] Birch’s Inquiry, p. 56.
[22] Carte.
[L] Additional Manuscripts, Brit. Museum, 11,331, Plnt. CLXXIII.
E, 3 vols. folio. Lettered—“Letter-Book of Sir W. Brereton, 1645.” 3
vols. folio. Vol. I. (old page, 13; pencil page, 15.) Indexed—“From John
Bythell to his father Richard Bythell in Wyrehall, wherein the providence
of God, in commanding the seas, is observable.”
[M] From additional MSS. Brit. Museum, 11,338–3. “Letter Book
of Sir W. Brereton, 1645.” 3 vols. folio, Vol. 1, page 69.
[22] Carte.
[19] Birch.
[N] Birch’s Inquiry, p. 58.
[7] Bayly, Ap. XIX.

CHAPTER VII.
RAGLAN CASTLE—ROYAL VISITS.
While the Earl of Glamorgan was zealously prosecuting Charles the
First’s designs in Ireland, he had left his Countess under his father’s
protection at Raglan Castle. At the commencement of this period the noble
Marquis would be in about the 63rd year of his age, rather feeble, and a
martyr to gout, which his fondness for claret may have aggravated; a
pleasant story being related by his chaplain, that on the physician
recommending abstinence from his favourite beverage, he declared that he
would rather incur the attacks of his old enemy than abandon his favourite
claret.[7]
Between the years 1640 and 1641 Raglan Castle had been strongly
garrisoned, when much activity was evinced in providing and securing
stores, arms, and the munitions of war. It must, therefore, have worn a very
animated and impressive appearance, occupied as it was by hundreds of
soldiers, with a large number of war-horses. The exercising of the troops
would most likely take place daily in the extensive paved or pitched court,
under full view of the drawing-room windows, a spacious upper apartment,
ranging behind the hexagonal towers of the grand entrance, all of which
remain to this day.
A contemporary writer[93] states that in the hall windows of this princely
castle might be seen the ancient arms:—Argent, a lion rampant, sable,
within a garter. Thomas Lord Morley, died 1416; and an old carving on the
outside walls, representing three lions rampant, impaling, a fess, in chief
three martlets.
In the adjoining village of Raglan the old parish church of St. Cadocus
had its large pedestal sun-dial perfect, its yew-tree flourishing, and its
burial-ground hedged in with trees. Within the sacred edifice, the Worcester
chapel possessed its funeral ornaments in varieties of fine marble,
sculptured with artistic skill. Against the north wall was the statue of an
armed knight, in parliamentary robes, decorated with the Garter, in memory
of William Somerset, who died 21st of March, 1589, aged 61 years.
Another fair monument consisted of two statues, male and female, under an

arch between the chancel and this chapel; he in parliamentary robes, garter,
badge, sans gloire, an earl’s crown, and the privy-seal purse. Edward
Somerset died 1627–8.[93]
Dr. Bayly, in his capacity of chaplain to the then Marquis of Worcester,
appears to have resided in the Castle from 1643 to 1646. His collection of
the Marquis’s sayings and family anecdotes, under the title of
“Apophthegms,” includes some antecedent matters related on the authority
of others. He expressly remarks:—“I have lived in Raglan Castle three
years, and in all that time I never saw a man drunk, nor heard an oath
amongst any of all his servants; neither did I ever see a better ordered
family.”
He describes from hearsay, in his usual gossiping strain, the ceremony of
a mock wedding, which was conducted as a kind of masque at the Castle
some years previously, on the occasion of the marriage of the Marquis’s
fourth daughter Elizabeth to Francis Brown, Viscount Montagu, the
particulars of which graphically illustrate the domestic manners and
customs prevailing in those times, affording also a fair example of the
Marquis’s own peculiar humour, and further offering a scene in which there
can be little doubt that the then Lord Herbert fully participated: for he
would scarcely have absented himself on so important an occasion as that
of his sister’s marriage.
Dr. Bayly expresses himself as not being sure whether the mock
ceremony happened on the occasion of Lord Herbert’s marriage, or on that
of his fourth sister Elizabeth.[23] However, it seems that no sooner had the
marriage party been seated at the feast provided for the occasion, than, as
the chaplain states, “Tom Deputy, an old bachelor, chanced to cast his eye
upon a pretty piece of waiting woman, one of the appurtenances of this
honourable bride. He, this jovial Tom, having whetted his wits by the sides
of the marriage bowl, fixes upon her, being enabled sufficiently thereby to
follow any humour, as a fit subject to make their lordships some sport;
which happened to be so suitable to the occasion and so well performed,
that it soon captivated the ears also.” Tom, being informed he may have the
lady for asking, makes that request of the fair bride, remarking, “I protest I
will marry her, and fancy myself to be a lord, and herself a lady. My mind to
me a kingdom is, which shall make her a sufficient jointure.”
“Tom, Tom,” said the Marquis, “such men as you and I, whose joints are
enfeebled with the strokes of many years, must not think to win young

maids, by promising to make them jointures of the mind, but will you make
her Deputy of Deputy Hall? and landlady of all the land that is belonging to
it? and mistress of all the stock that is upon the land, and goods that are
within the house, and then you shall hear what my daughter[A] and her
waiting woman will say unto you.”
“With all my heart,” said Tom, “and all the hogs and poultry that are
about the house to boot, and she shall lie upon six feather-beds the first
night.”
Matters being arranged after some jocular preliminary promises, Tom
telling the bride that they were agreed, the lady drank to him, he promising
to marry her after dinner; the only difficulty appearing to arise from the
want of wedding clothes. The Marquis, willing to remove that obstacle, told
Tom that he thought his clothes would fit him, and bid him go into his
wardrobe, and take what he had a mind to.
“Give me your key,” said Tom; and receiving it, went up, and equipped
himself with the Marquis’s beaver hat, satin cloak laid with plush, daubed
with a gold and silver lace, suit of the same, silk-stockings, with roses and
garters suitable, inside and outside, cap-a-pie, all as brave as if he carried a
lordship on his back.
“The lady bride takes her woman aside, and dresses her in one of her
richest and newest gowns, with all things answerable thereto, not without
some store of slight jewels, and brings her down as glorious as the morn
that breaks from the eastern hill, and chases night away.
“Tom acted this scene of mirth in the Hall, which proved to be a thing of
that convenience, as if it had been an act of some set policy to keep the
crowd out of the parlour, that the Masquers might have room enough to
dance in. At last, when the Masque was ended, and Time had brought in
supper, the Cushion led the dance out of the Parlour into the Hall,[B] and
saluted the old new-made bridgroom and his lady, leading them into the
parlour to a table which was furnished with the same allowance that was
allotted for all the nobles; where they were soon forced to sit down,” and
were bountifully served.
“Supper being ended, the Marquis of Worcester asked the Lady, his
daughter, if she had a hundred pounds about her. No, my Lord, she
answered, but I can send for as much. I pray do, said the Marquis, but it
must be all in gold. She sent for it accordingly, presenting it to her father,
who pulled out another purse of a hundred pieces; and put the two hundred

pieces in the basin, saying—‘Madam, if you do not give earnest, Deputy
will tell you in the morning, that he married your woman but in jest.’
Whereupon some gave fifty, others forty, some twenty, others ten, the least
gave five pieces, who sat at the table, in all seven hundred pounds; the
apparel and other gifts amounting to no less value than one thousand
pounds, which so transported the old man, that he protested, that now he
was in the humour, he would marry all the waiting gentlewomen they had;
one every day in the week, as long as the wedding lasted.”
Thomas, however, was at that period of the entertainment overcome with
the potent effects of the good wine of which he had freely partaken. The
Marquis, desirous of making the practical experiment of trying whether
Thomas could be persuaded that the past was all a dream; had him carried
to his old lodging in the Porter’s Lodge, and disrobed of his fine clothes,
which was done accordingly. Next morning the experiment realized all their
expectations; and the Marquis, after many good exhortations to both parties,
delivered unto them the money that had been collected.
During the troubles preceding the civil war, a circumstance occurred at
the castle which establishes the early attachment of the Earl of Glamorgan
to scientific and mechanical pursuits, whilst it affords tolerably conclusive
proof of his having actually constructed the identical invention which has
immortalized his name.
Dr. Bayly informs us, to quote his own words, that “At the beginning of
this Parliament (Nov. 1640), there were certain rustics who came into
Raglan Castle to search for arms, his Lordship being a Papist.” The Marquis
met them at the castle gate, desiring to know whether they came to take
away his money, seeing they intended to disarm him. They stated that they
made the application merely in consequence of his being a recusant. To
which he replied, “he was a peer of the realm, and no convict recusant,
therefore the law could not in reason take notice of any such things.”
Finding some sharp and dubious expressions coming from the Marquis,
they were at last willing to take his word; but he, not wishing to part with
them on such easy terms, had before resolved to return them one fright for
another. With that view he conveyed them up and down the castle, until at
length he “brought them over a high bridge that arched over the moat, that
was between the castle and the great tower,[C] wherein the Lord Herbert had
newly contrived certain water-works, which, when the several engines and
wheels were to be set a-going, much quantity of water, through the hollow

conveyances of the aqueducts, was to be let down from the top of the high
tower; which, upon the first entrance of these wonderful asinegoes, the
Marquis had given order that these cataracts should begin to fall, which
made such a fearful and hideous noise, by reason of the hollowness of the
tower, and neighbouring echoes of the castle, and the waters that were
between, and round about, that there was such a roaring as if the mouth of
hell had been wide open, and all the devils conjured up, occasioning the
poor silly men to stand so amazed, as if they had been half dead; and yet
they saw nothing. At last, as the plot was laid, up came a man staring and
running, crying out, Look to yourselves, my masters, for the lions are got
loose. Whereupon the searchers tumbled so over one another escaping
down the stairs, that it was thought one half of them would break their
necks, never looking behind them until out of sight of the castle.”[23]
It was probably not long after the commencement of the civil war that the
occurrence we have next to notice happened at the castle, affecting the then
Lord Herbert, which is related by the family chronicler in his 48th
Apophthegm thus:—“My Lord Herbert of Raglan (eldest son of the
Marquis) came into Raglan Castle, attended with 40 or 50 officers and
commanders; and his business with his father being about procuring from
the old man more money for the King, the Lord Herbert in his request unto
his father (unhappily and unawares) chanced to use the word must; which
his father (the Marquis) laying hold on, asked him, Must you? I pray take it;
and threw him the keys of his treasury, out of his pocket; whereat his son
was wonderfully out of countenance, and abashed (being otherwise ever a
dutiful and respectful son to his father) replied: ‘Sir, the word was out
before I was aware, I do not intend to put it in force; I pray will you put up
your key again?’
“To which the Marquis returned his son these words. ‘Truly, son, I shall
think my keys not safe in my pocket, whilst you have so many swords by
your side; nor that I have the command of my house whilst you have so
many officers in it; nor that I am at my own disposal, whilst you have so
many commanders.’
“My Lord (replied the son), I do not intend that they shall stay in the
castle, I mean they shall be gone.
“I pray let them (said the Marquis), and have care that must do not stay
behind.

“Whereat, after my Lord Herbert was gone out of the room, there were
some who, as mannerly as they could, blamed the Marquis for his too much
severity to his son, after that he had seen him express so much of sorrow for
that over-slip; whereupon the Marquis replied:—‘Hark ye, if my son be
dejected, I can raise him when I please; but it is a question, if he should
once take a head, whether I could bring him lower when I list. Ned was not
wont to use such courtship to me, and I believe he intended a better word
for his father; but must was for the King.’”[23]
In August, 1644, Charles the First wrote to the Marquis, in the following
gracious and flattering terms:[D]

“Worcester,
“I am sensible of the great affection which you and your son have
expressed unto me, by eminent services, and of the means he may have of
doing me more in that way wherein he is now engaging himself, that I
cannot choose, before his going, but express unto you, in a very particular
manner, the value I have of you both, and to assure you, that if God bless
me, I will not be behind-hand with either of you. In the meantime, finding
your son so much more desirous that there should be placed upon you some
mark of my favour, rather than upon himself, I have thought fit to let you
know that as soon as I shall confer the Order of the Garter upon any, you
shall receive it as a testimony of my being,
“Your assured constant friend,
“Charles R.
“Liskeard, Aug. 2nd, 1644.”

And again, the same month, he further assured and promised him as
follows:—[E]

“Worcester,
“Yours and your son’s daily endeavours to serve me, makes me
think which way to give you assurance of my gracious acceptance. And,
therefore, as a further testimony, I have sent you this enclosed, only known
to him and me, and fit, for several reasons of importance to you and me, to
be kept private, until I shall esteem the time convenient, when, as God shall
enable me, I will show my tender care of you and yours; as, by a match
propounded for your grandchild, you will easily judge; the particulars I
leave to your son, Glamorgan his relation, which I have commanded him to

make to you only; and you may be confident that I so much esteem your
merits, and your upholding your son in my service (wherein no subject I
have equals either of you), as that I cannot think anything too much that lies
in my power; though, as yet, some considerations hinder me from doing all
I would towards you and yours. But, by your son’s endeavours, I make no
question but in short time to pass them so over, as that I shall make good
the intentions I have, to manifest that I esteem your services such as my
words cannot express them; nor I, but by showing myself at all occasions,
and in all things to be,
“Your assured friend,
“Charles R.
“For the Marquis of Worcester.”

Which communication conveyed the following enclosure, prepared some
time previously.[F]

“Charles R.
“Our will and pleasure is, that you prepare a bill for our signature,
for creating our right trusty and entirely-beloved cousin, Henry, Marquis of
Worcester, Duke of Somerset, to him and the heirs male of his body issuing,
with all the privileges and immunities thereunto belonging, and with a grant
of an annuity of fifty pounds yearly, to be paid to him and them, out of our
customs of Swansea, in our county of Glamorgan, for the support of the
said dignity, for which this shall be your sufficient warrant. Given at our
Court in Oxford, the sixth day of January, in the twentieth year of our reign.
“To our Attorney or Solicitor-General
“for the time being.”

After the fatal battle of Naseby, 14th June, 1645, the position of Charles
the First becoming desperate, he early sought the repose and security
afforded by Raglan Castle, with the equally or more important purpose of
stimulating a further drain on the fast diminishing resources of its
munificent proprietor. It will be requisite to relate some particulars in
reference to these royal visits from their connection with this memoir,
incidentally proving the position and prospects of the Earl of Glamorgan;
while they account for much of both his father’s and his own misplaced
confidence in the fickle monarch and false friend, whose obligations to the
aged Marquis of Worcester and his noble minded son were equally of

personal as well as political importance to him, during the many
mischances of his career at that most critical period of his reign.
On Thursday, the 3rd of July, 1645, late in the afternoon, Charles the
First arrived at Raglan Castle, where he was received with all possible state
and ceremony. We are informed that:—When the King first entered the
castle, the Marquis having kissed the King’s hand, on rising, he saluted his
Majesty with the compliment—Domine non sum dignus. The King replied:
—“My Lord, I may very well answer you again; I have not found so great
faith in Israel; for no man would trust me with so much money as you have
done.” To which the Marquis rejoined:—“I hope your Majesty will prove a
defender of the faith.”[23] He was entertained to supper on the occasion,
remaining at the castle until Wednesday, the 16th of the same month, when
his Majesty left to proceed to Cardiff.
From a Warrant issued on the 5th of July, 1645, we learn the losses
sustained by and the situation of the Earl of Glamorgan’s regiment of horse.
It is a manuscript in the Harleian Collection, as follows:—[G]
“Whereas the Earl of Glamorgan’s regiment of horse being over at least
200, is now by reason of continual duty, 2 troops taken from it, and 60: (sic)
more lost in fight, much weaker, therefore it is desired that the remainder of
this horse may be by order secured in Colonel Lingen’s regiment; till such
time the rest of the money by the said Earl, appointed for the raising of his
regiment, may be received.”
On Friday, the 18th of July, his Majesty returning to the Castle dined
there, continuing his visit until the 22nd, when he set out for a place called
The Creek. In the evening, however, he had supper at the Castle, and
remained there until Thursday, the 24th. He purposed going to Bristol, but
apprehending the approach of the Scots, on arriving at The Creek, he went
thence to Newport, Cardiff, Radnor, and Ludlow Castle. After a lapse of six
weeks, his Majesty, on Sunday, the 7th of September, paid his third visit to
Raglan Castle in time to partake of supper. He staid until Monday, the 15th
of September,[H] when he took a final leave of his bountiful host. During this
last visit his Majesty appears, on different occasions, to have gone to
Abergavenny on the 8th and 11th, attended with his guards.[56]
Much misapprehension prevails respecting these royal visits, which it is
clear were made on three distinct occasions, his Majesty staying the first
time thirteen days, on the second six days, and on the last eight days.

A singular instance of the Marquis’s freedom in addressing the King
occurs in the following statement made by his chaplain:—[23]
“The Marquis had a mind to tell the King as handsomely as he could, of
some of his (as he thought) faults; and thus he contrived his plot against the
time that his Majesty was wont to give his Lordship a visit, as commonly he
used to do, after dinner. His Lordship had the book of John Gower[I] lying
before him on the table; the King, casting his eye upon the book, told the
Marquis that he had never seen it before.
“Oh,” said the Marquis, “it is a book of books, which if your Majesty had
been well versed in, it would have made you a King of Kings.”
“Why so, my Lord?” said the King.
“Why,” said the Marquis, “here is set down how Aristotle brought up and
instructed Alexander the Great in all his rudiments, and the principles
belonging to a prince.”
“And under the persons of Alexander and Aristotle, he read the King such
a lesson, that all the standers by were amazed at his boldness; and the King,
supposing that he had gone further than his text would have given him
leave, asked the Marquis whether he had his lesson by heart, or whether he
spoke out of the book.
“Sir,” the Marquis replied, “if you could read my heart, it may be you
might find it there; or if your Majesty please to get it by heart, I will lend
you my book.”
“Which latter proffer the King accepted, and did borrow it.
“Nay,” said the Marquis, “I will lend it you upon these conditions: 1.
That you read it; and 2. That you make use of it.”
“But perceiving how some of the new made Lords fretted and bit their
thumbs at certain passages in the Marquis’s discourse, he thought a little to
please his Majesty, though he displeased them, the men who were so much
displeased already, protesting unto his Majesty that no man was so much for
the absolute power of a King as Aristotle. Desiring the book out of the
King’s hand, he told the King he would show him one remarkable passage
to that purpose; turning to that place that had this verse, viz.:—
“A king can kill, a king can save,
A king can make a lord a knave,
And of a knave, a lord also, &c.”

“Whereupon there were divers new-made Lords who slunk out of the
room, which the King observing, told the Marquis—
“My Lord, at this rate you will drive away all my nobility.”
“I protest unto your Majesty,” the Marquis replied, “I am as new a made
lord as any of them all, but I was never called knave and rogue so much in
all my life, as I have been since I received this last honour; and why should
they not bear their shares?”
An incident is related as occurring during one of the entertainments given
to the royal visitor, which is too characteristic to be omitted. A dessert of
Welsh grown fruit having been provided, had to be presented to the King.
Sir Thomas Somerset, the Marquis’s brother, living at Troy House, five
miles from Raglan, delighted much in fine gardens and orchards, ordering
and replenishing them with all the varieties of choicest fruits. He sent his
brother a present of fair, ripe fruit, which the Marquis could not suffer to be
presented to the King by any other hands than his own, the particulars of
which are circumstantially detailed by Dr. Bayly, who was very likely an
eye-witness. He says:—“In comes the Marquis to the King, at the latter end
of the supper, led by the arm, having such a goodly presence with him, that
his being led became him, rather like some ceremony of state, than show of
impotence; and his slow pace, occasioned by his infirmity, expressed a
Spanish gravity rather than feebleness. Thus, with a silver dish in each hand
filled with rarities, and a little basket upon his arm, as a supply in case his
Majesty should be over-bountiful of his favours to the ladies that were
standers by.” Making his third obeisance, he, in his own peculiar mode of
pleasantry, presenting the fruit, observed: “I assure your Majesty that this
present came from Troy.”
The royal reply was no less witty. The King, smiling, said, “Truly, my
Lord, I have heard that corn now grows where Troy town stood, but I never
thought there had grown any apricots there before. ”[23]
During his stay at Raglan the King made the tour of neighbouring towns.
At the Castle he was sumptuously entertained; the apartment he occupied is
still marked by its fine large remaining window, and its proximity to the
picture gallery; also the Pleasaunce or Bowling-green, where he sought
amusement and exercise.
It was most likely about or soon after the King’s last visit that the next
circumstance occurred we shall have to record affecting the Earl of
Glamorgan, which is related as follows by Dr. Bayly:—[23]

“My Lord Herbert, after that he had sufficiently exhausted his father, by
all the means he could possibly use, for his Majesty’s relief, and had taken
up all his father’s moneys far and near, where he could either prevail with
force or argument, he chanced to hear of a sum of money to the value of
£6000, which the Marquis had committed to the Lord John (his son), his
care and trusty preservation abroad. This money my Lord Herbert happened
to hear of, and acquaints the King therewith, engaging the King in the
business, and tells the King, that if he would send for his brother the Lord
John, to come unto him, and would say but thus and thus unto him, that he
would undertake he might have the £6000. The King’s occasions were then
urgent (being then before Gloucester, and hard pinched for lack of money);
through my Lord Herbert’s persuasion, my Lord John was sent for, came,
and the business took effect; the King promising to repay it by such a time.
When time and suspicion persuaded the Marquis to call in his money,
excuses made delays for a time, but at last all excuses being set apart, by
importunity, the Marquis wished his son John to go and fetch the money, or
else never to see his face any more; part of which injunction the Lord John
performed, but never the other. Not long after the Lord Herbert coming to
his father, his father received him with wonted, but unexpected,
cheerfulness. It so happened that my Lord Herbert began to excuse himself
unto his father, concerning this business; on whom the father bestowed this
language:—‘Son, I pray save yourself the labour, for I do not blame you at
all, neither am I angry with you; for I never trusted you with the money. I
love no man the worse for following his profession; and you have made it
your profession (all along) to deceive your father, to help the King; but I do
not love a man that will take away another man’s profession from him, and
deceive his own father of his money, and his brother of his calling.’”
In 1650, the chronicler of this anecdote dedicated his book to the subject
of it, in the following strain:—“The many favours which I received from
your noble family, especially from your Lordship, wrought upon a
disposition, some-deal a pretender unto gratitude, how it might, in some
measure or other, answer the respect and clear the heart, that had lain
charged so long with benefits.” Such expressions seem to qualify the sense
in which the affair just related should be taken, coming as it does from no
unfriendly hand, and certainly could never have been indited in the way of
serious censure on the prevailing character of Lord Herbert. While we
cannot omit relating so striking a family incident, it evidently should not be

too rigidly construed, when the recorder of it dedicates the recital to Lord
Herbert himself at a future day, without offering any apology for
introducing a narrative, which, to modern ears, reads exceedingly harsh and
offensive; but it is clear that the Sub-Dean of Wells, never contemplated any
unfavourable construction, relying probably on the generally well known
character of his Lordship at the time of publication.

Footnotes
[7] Bayly.
[93] Symonds.
[93] Symonds.
[23] Bayly, Ap. XX.
[A] Elizabeth, his fourth daughter.
[B] The Banqueting Hall. See plan, preceding Chapter I.
[C] The Citadel, or Yellow tower of Gwent. The bridge crossing the
moat was a gothic arched bridge, terminating with a drawbridge, leading
direct from the tower to the bridge. See Plan of the Castle, preceding
Chapter I.
[23] Bayly, Ap. LI.
[23] Bayly, Ap. XLVIII
[D] From MSS. Badminton.
[E] From MSS. Badminton.
[F] From MSS. Badminton.
[23] Bayly, Ap. VIII.
[G] Mus. Brit. Bibl. Harl. 6852. Plut. LXIV. F.
[H] Symonds in his Diary states that, on “Sunday, 14th [Sep.],
About noon his Majesty left Raglan, and marched to Monmouth; thence
that night to Hereford.”
[56] Somers’ Tracts,—Iter Carolinum.

[23] Bayly, Ap. XIV.
[I] Gower, the poet.
[23] Bayly, Ap. IX. and Ap. XLIX.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN’S SECOND VISIT TO IRELAND.
The Earl of Glamorgan, actuated by private claims and public business
visited Ireland early in 1645, as already stated. Returning to England he
again set out for Ireland in March of the same year, but being defeated in
his intentions, he had to delay his departure until some months later,
arriving at length in Dublin either in July or August.
The Marquis of Ormond had been fully apprized of his Lordship’s
mission through Charles the First’s letter from Oxford, dated the 27th of
December, 1644, as also by personal communications with his Lordship
during his first visit. The powers granted by the Crown to the Earl of
Glamorgan and the nature of his patent, dated 1st of April, 1644–5, are
matters of history, so remarkable as to have been already made the subject
of distinct treatises, and their peculiar features ably discussed by Dr. Birch
and others.
The dates of his Lordship’s several commissions and powers are:—I. On
the 6th of January, 1644–5, a commission, of which a Latin translation is
given in the Nuncio’s Memoirs.[A] II. Another commission dated the 12th of
January, 1644–5.[B] III. Another warrant dated the 12th of March, 1644–5.
And IV. a patent granting him, as Earl of Glamorgan, most extensive and
extraordinary powers, dated the 1st of April, 1644–5.
At this period the Marquis of Ormond addressed a letter to the Earl, as
follows:—[C]

“My Lord,
“Mr. O’Neill hath with him, to be delivered to the Commissioners
that treated here, two kinds of dispatches, the one an answer to their paper
of the 11th of November, which contains likewise conditional answers to
the several requests made upon the propositions that were, for the most part,
debated on in your Grace’s presence. This is drawn and sent with the full
approbation of the Council; the other contains some observations of mine,
together with undertakings in some points wherein I held it unseasonable to
press the Council to a concurrence, considering that, in the paper

transmitted by their advice, there is a clear and full obligation, both upon
them and me, to transmit as bills whatsoever his Majesty shall hereafter
direct for the good of his subjects. In these two I have stretched my
authority to the uttermost that, either with safety to the treaty or myself it
will endure, which meeting with equal desires of accommodation there, I
doubt not will produce the intended effects of seasonable succour to his
Majesty; and therein of safety to his kingdom. Having told your Grace that I
am at the highest I will venture on in this great affair, I should beseech your
Grace for accomplishment of those noble ends that induced you through so
great and apparent dangers to undertake this your journey, now to set all
your strength upon bringing it to a good (that is a speedy) conclusion; but
my experience of your judgment and indefatigable industry informs me that
such a request is needless.
“We have here reports (made I believe without ground of truth) of the
manner of the Italian Bishop’s reception at Kilkenny; but though I believe
not all here said of his errand, yet I conceive your Grace may observe
something, the knowledge whereof might direct me how to govern myself,
in the account I take myself obliged to give his Majesty of the coming of so
unbidden a guest into his kingdom.
“I have not yet had time to put your commands touching the parties
mentioned in your last letter, received by Col. Fitzwilliams, into a way of
execution; but I shall not fail to satisfy your Grace, either in doing the
things or in giving such reasons why I could not, as shall still manifest my
being
“Your Grace’s most faithful Kinsman,
“and humblest servant,
“Ormond.
“Dub. Cast. 22 of Novem. 1645.”

This communication contains the Marquis’s remarkable expression of
confidence in the Earl of Glamorgan, when he says—“my experience of
your judgment and indefatigable industry.” Only that courtiers are as little
to be put faith in as princes, one might take this as sufficient evidence of the
King’s false estimate of his Lordship’s “judgment,” as expressed in his
letter to the Marquis.[D]
His Lordship’s negotiations with the Irish related to the raising of a body
of 10,000 men to be transported to England in the royal cause; their first
destination being for the relief of Chester, which measure was to be

promoted through certain arrangements to conclude a peace with the
rebellious party in Ireland: to be mainly effected through important
concessions being made to the Irish Roman Catholic Clergy, to afford
extended religious liberty to their cause in Ireland.
It had been arranged that the political articles of peace, to be made with
the Lord Lieutenant, should be published at once; but other articles,
affecting the Roman Catholic religion, concluded with the Earl of
Glamorgan, were meanwhile to be kept secret, until ratified by his Majesty
himself. The Lord Lieutenant was disposed to act liberally; but the Earl of
Glamorgan, from his political and religious bias, combined with his warm,
enthusiastic disposition, was fully disposed to approve and support
demands in which he saw no extravagance, but, on the contrary, anticipated
much real benefit to his own party.
All his Lordship’s negotiations, treaties, plans, promises, all his well laid
schemes, and all the plottings of his party broke down through delays and
repeated disasters, further promoted by the pertinacity with which the
clergy held out to the last for the entire acceptance and complete settlement
of their every demand; indeed the Nuncio went so far as to insist on the
necessity of having a Roman Catholic Lord Lieutenant.
On the 24th of December, 1645, the Earl of Glamorgan went from
Kilkenny to Dublin to confer with the Marquis of Ormond. On the 25th he
was received by the Lord Lieutenant with the greatest possible civility, and
every assurance of regard for his Lordship. But on the 27th, the whole
course of events had changed, causing his Excellency to adopt a totally
different line of conduct; an unexpected circumstance having meanwhile
brought to light transactions of which he was not previously cognisant,
which naturally aroused his worst suspicions, at so critical a period.
Dr. Birch has very lucidly narrated the particulars. The Popish
Archbishop of Tuam, President of Connaught, and one of the Supreme
Council at Kilkenny, going into Ulster to visit his diocese, and put into
execution an order for arrears of his Bishopric, granted to him by that
Council, met with a body of Irish troops marching to besiege Sligo, and
joined with them. When they came near that town, the garrison made a sally
on the 17th of October, charged the troops, utterly routed them, killing the
Archbishop of Tuam in the encounter; among whose baggage was found an
authentic copy, attested and signed by several bishops, of the treaty
concluded with them by the Earl of Glamorgan; together with an order from

the Supreme Council for the arrears of his Archbishopric; a bull of the
Pope; and several letters between the Archbishop and his agents at Rome,
Paris, and other places.[E]
The result of these disclosures was, that when the Council was assembled
at Dublin on the 26th of December, 1645, the Lord Digby came to the
board, and charging the Earl with suspicion of high treason, moved that his
person might be secured. This done, he proceeded to substantiate the charge
on most irrefragable evidence; wherefore the Lord Lieutenant and Council
gave a warrant for the commitment of the Earl to the custody of the
Constable of Dublin Castle, in condition of a close prisoner.[13]
We have uninterruptedly, thus far, followed Lord Herbert, seen him
created Earl of Glamorgan, and eventually engaged by Charles the First in
an extraordinary and extra-official capacity in Ireland; where he was
delegated by the King to act in certain matters intended to promote the royal
cause. So secret and so unheard of was this mysterious affair, that it is
without a parallel in history. A Protestant monarch and a Roman Catholic
nobleman are the sole actors in this strange drama; a monarch whose crown
was tottering to its fall consequent on successive losses, opposed to
surprising successes continually accruing to his enemies; for the battle
fields of Marston Moor and of Naseby were alone sufficiently disheartening
to have paralysed even a stouter heart; yet he finds in addition that, to the
surrender of Bristol, he may soon have to add that of the strong city of
Chester. His immediate necessities, added to the increasing expenses of the
long continued war, were rapidly impoverishing not only his nobles but the
country. While his own and the public distress thus gradually lessened every
prospect of success, one last ray of hope seemed to present itself to the
unhappy monarch. There was still a chance of succour from Ireland, the
acceptance of which, however, was fraught with many difficulties. The
loyalty of the Irish, it was quite evident, could only be ensured by nothing
short of conciliatory measures of a more than ordinary nature, especially if
desired to bring over to his service ten thousand of his Irish subjects.
The King had written from Liskeard, in August, 1644, to the enfeebled
Marquis of Worcester, respecting himself and his son, of “the value I have
of you both,” assuring him, “that if God bless me, I will not be behindhand
with either of you.”
The most ordinary delays pressed heavily on his Majesty, whose nerves
seem to have been completely unstrung by successive misfortunes and the

pitiable state of his entire kingdom. In June, 1645, he expressed himself to
the Earl of Glamorgan, “I am glad to hear that you are gone to Ireland;” so
keenly alive was he to the importance of the mission on which he had
engaged him, and in one short sentence expresses the sincere trust of his
heart, when he says—“So that, by the grace of God, I hope shortly to
recover my late loss with advantage, if such succours come to me from that
kingdom, which I have reason to expect, but the circumstance of time is that
of the greatest consequence, being that which is chiefliest and earnestliest
recommended you.”
No one better knew than Charles the First himself, that he was incurring
great risk, that he was adopting a bold, daring course, which success would
scarcely palliate, which nothing but his own ideas of expediency could
extenuate, and from the effects of which, at best, he could only hope to
escape by artifice or by some strange amplification of his royal prerogative.
Whatever might be the issue, the King well knew that the means he had
taken would divide the opinions of all classes, and leave the final decision
open to endless litigation. Such, indeed, has been the result even of its
failure, but the success of the Earl’s negotiations would have brought far
more important interests to bear on the questions involved in such strange
transactions, than has ever yet occupied the pens of historians or
biographers.
The plan for realizing this last hopeful event appeared well arranged. The
agent employed was unexceptionable, he was eminently loyal, he had laid
his fortune in his royal master’s lap, and zealously offered to do his bidding
to the utmost of his power. The King was not wanting in condescension,
affability and every gracious expression in the acknowledgment of the
money and means raised by, and the energetic operations throughout, of the
Earl of Glamorgan. He and his father were further each offered a dukedom;
and a matrimonial alliance was to rivet their future connexion. But the King
had his confidence in this singular mission strengthened materially by his
intimate knowledge that both as being in accordance with his religious and
political sympathies, the Earl was the most fitting instrument he could
employ in so delicate an undertaking. In what respect the Earl of
Glamorgan acted inconsistently or over-zealously in this perilous affair does
not appear; while, on the contrary, his wonderful tact, patient submission,
and judgment throughout make his remarkable discretion in every act
conspicuous.

The Earl of Glamorgan, on the 5th of January, 1645–6, was formally
examined before the Lord Lieutenant and the Council of Ireland, a copy of
which proceeding the Committee forwarded to Secretary Nicholas, the
nature of which will be understood from the following copy of
interrogations put to him, with his replies annexed:—[F]
1. “Did your Lordship enter into Articles of Agreement with the Rt. Hon.
Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret, Donogh Lord Viscount Muskerry,
Alexander McDonnell, and Nicholas Plunkett, Esq.; Sir Robert Talbott,
Bart; Dermott O’Bryen, John Dillon, Patrick Darcy and Geffry Browne,
Esqs., for and on the behalf of his Majesty’s Roman Catholic subjects, and
the Catholic Clergy of Ireland, or with any of them, and with which of them
in the month of August last, or at any time since your Lordship’s coming
into Ireland, for or concerning any grants, or commissions, to be made on
behalf of his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to his Roman Catholic
subjects, or their clergy; or did your Lordship make any articles or
agreement with any other person or persons, for or concerning any such
grants or commissions?”
Earl of Glamorgan’s Answer. “That being at Kilkenny, he did before
Michaelmas last (but knows not the exact time), enter into Articles of
agreement with the Lord Viscount Mountgarret, and for and on the behalf,
&c.; for and concerning certain grants or concessions made on the behalf of
his Majesty, &c.; and he did not make any Articles or agreements with any
other person or persons for or concerning any such grants or concessions
other than those in this his examination mentioned, for the matter of which
he refers himself to the Articles; and that an oath of secrecy was taken by
himself and the others to keep the said Articles secret, and conceives he
hath done nothing but what he hath warrant for; and done without intention
of prejudice to his Majesty’s peace and service, or to the Protestant religion,
all circumstances considered.”
2. “Was there any counterpart of the said Articles delivered by the
persons above named, or any of them, or by any other, unto your Lordship?
And if so what have you done therewith? Who were the witnesses at the
signing, sealing and delivering thereof; and where or in whose custody or
keeping are the said Articles or counterpart? And were not John Somerset,
Geffry Brown and Robert Barry present at the signing, sealing, and
delivering of the said Articles, and subscribed their names?”

Answer. “That there was a counterpart to deliver to him, and it remains
among his things at Kilkenny or Bonretty; he remembers not all witnesses,
but refers to the counterpart, only he remembers Geffry Brown (who was
entrusted to write the Articles), signed as a witness, and so did Lord John
Somerset, whom he called to sign, but he did not read the Articles.”
3. “What is the substance of the said Articles?”
Answer. “He refers to the Articles for the substance.”
4. “Did your Lordship grant, conclude, and agree on the behalf of his
Majesty, his heirs, and successors, to and with the persons in the first
interrogatory named, or any of them, or any others, that the Roman Catholic
Clergy of the said kingdom should and might from thenceforth for ever hold
and enjoy all, and every such lands, tenements, tithes, hereditaments
whatsoever by them respectively enjoyed within this kingdom, or by them
possessed at any time since the 23rd of October, 1641, and all other such
lands, tenements, tithes, and hereditaments belonging to the Clergy within
this kingdom, other than such as are now actually enjoyed by all his
Majesty’s Protestant Clergy; or did your Lordship make any grant,
conclusion, or agreement to the like effect.”
Answer. “He refers as before, but conceives the Articles are not
obligatory to his Majesty (to which he afterwards desired might be added
these words, and yet without any just blemish of my honour, my honesty, or
my conscience.)”
5. “Did the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret and the rest of the
persons above named, or any of them, or any others agree with your
Lordship on the behalf of the Confederate Roman Catholics of Ireland, that
two parts in three parts to be divided of all the said lands, tithes, and
hereditaments whatsoever mentioned in the precedent question, shall for
three years next ensuing the feast of Easter, which shall be A. D. 1646, be
disposed of and converted for and to the use of his Majesty’s forces,
employed or to be employed in his service; and the other third part to the
use of the said Clergy respectively; and so the like disposition to be
renewed from three years to three years by the said Clergy during the wars?
Or, did your Lordship make any agreement to that or the like effect?”
Answer. “Refers to the Counterpart.”
6. “Did your Lordship agree for and in the behalf of his Majesty, his heirs
and successors, that the Lord Marquis of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, or any other or others authorised by his Majesty, should not disturb

the professors of the Roman Catholic religion in their present possession
and continuance of the possession of their churches, lands, tenements,
tithes, and hereditaments, jurisdiction, or any other of the matters aforesaid,
until his Majesty’s pleasure were signified for confirming and publishing
the said grants? Or, did your Lordship make any agreement to that or the
like effect?”
Answer. “That (for aught he knows), he did not agree for, &c.; but saith
that he promised to use his best endeavours therein with the Lord
Lieutenant.”
(And so on to the 15th Interrogatory.)
16. “Did your Lordship take an oath in these following words, viz.: I,
Edward Earl of Glamorgan, do protest and swear faithfully to acquaint the
King’s most excellent Majesty, with the proceedings of this kingdom,
&c.”[G]
Answer. “He remembers something to this effect, but refers to original or
copy, which he will produce.”
The proceedings involved by this affair, the Earl’s examination before the
Council, the documents in evidence against him, his own counter-
statements, the correspondence between parties, and especially Charles the
First, who entirely repudiated and ignored the acts of his duped agent;
together with the proceedings in Parliament, and opinions expressed there,
with others published in the political tracts of those agitated times, have
been handled by every eminent historian, and still afford abundant matter
for dispute. Those who take up the cause of the King, censure the Earl of
Glamorgan in most unmeasured terms: Hume assails his intellect, Carte
charges him with forgery. While those who see in the whole transaction but
another instance of the King’s duplicity, of his contempt of every obligation
(which a Christian feels bound to respect), so long as he fancies expediency
offers him, in his high position, a sufficient excuse for the boldest
tergiversation, exonerate the Earl from the charge of having acted on his
own responsibility.
Indeed it requires a large amount of credulity to believe that any subject,
much less a man of the mild and honourable tone characteristic of the Earl’s
whole conduct, could have acted as he did, otherwise than with a full and
perfect previous understanding with his misguided sovereign, and
empowered with sufficient proofs, if even legally insufficient instruments
under his hand and seal to warrant his proceedings. That he had such

powers is well authenticated, and that he did not abuse them is his highest
merit. He did not coin money, or appropriate property, or commit any other
extravagance, such as a man deficient in “judgment” possibly would have
done, under the grant of similar powers.
We cannot be mistaken as advocates of his acts in the Irish affairs, by
merely showing that those acts were in strict conformity with the
injunctions of the Royal will; for so long as troops were required, no means
were to be spared that were found absolutely requisite to gain the desired
end. We rejoice that the warm-hearted Earl did not succeed, that all his
negotiations failed, and that the exorbitant demands made on him destroyed
the measures they were intended to render unbounded and permanent; at the
same time, as a Roman Catholic, the Earl of Glamorgan acted honestly,
consistently, and by no means extravagantly. The folly and blame and entire
shame of the whole affair weighs heavily on the King’s memory.
While the death of the Archbishop of Tuam in October, 1645, led to this
exposure in Ireland, very different circumstances conveyed the intelligence
to England.
Sir Thomas Fairfax, having some dragoons at Padstow in Cornwall,
boarded a packet boat from Ireland, and seized Captain Allen, one of the
passengers, who threw a parcel and some loose papers overboard; among
those recovered were the Earl of Glamorgan’s articles of agreement with the
Confederate Irish Roman Catholics, and letters from himself. These were
published by order of Parliament, the 17th of March, 1645–6[43]: viz.
“Articles of Agreement made and concluded between the Right Honourable
Edward Earl of Glamorgan, in pursuance, and by virtue of his Majesty’s
authority under his signet and royal signature, bearing date at Oxon, the
12th day of March, in the 20th year of his reign, signed, sealed and
delivered by the Earl, 25th August, 1645, in the presence of John Somerset,
Jeffrey Browne, and Robert Barry.”
To this document was appended his declaration as follows:—
“I, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, do protest and swear faithfully to acquaint
the King’s most excellent Majesty with the proceedings of this kingdom, in
order to his service and in the endearment of this nation, and punctual
performance of what I have (as authorized by his Majesty) obliged myself
to see performed, and in default not to permit the army intrusted to my
charge to adventure itself, or any considerable part thereof, until conditions
from his Majesty, and by his Majesty, be performed.

“Glamorgan.
“Sep. 3. 1645.”

From the same source we have a letter addressed to Lord Culpepper, in
which the Earl says:—
“My Lord,
“Having overpassed many rubs and difficulties, the expected work is
at last compassed, which by what means it was retarded, your Lordship,
perhaps, before hath learned; and will be more faithfully and amply related
by the bearer, Captain Bamber, whom I have employed to his Highness the
Prince, to give an account of the state of affairs here, and in what a mist we
are for want of intelligence, whereby we might be ascertained of the King’s
and Prince’s condition, which one Allen, a merchant of Waterford,
proposeth to undertake a course for. And —— his Highness desire, which
moved for 300 men for the Prince’s Life Guard, which the Irish party is
willing should be sent him, by the return of such shipping as I have humbly
desired from his Highness, might be sent hither to Waterford for to waft
over the men, whereof six thousand are in readiness for the relief of
Chester, which yet we hear holds out, and the other four thousand by the
first of May are to follow. Your Lordship would extremely further the
service by your representing to his Highness the necessity of a course of
intelligence, that we might not [be] as we are now, buried in ignorance of
his Majesty’s and the Prince’s being and condition: of which I hope your
Lordship will vouchsafe me some light, that our motion may be according
thereunto; by which likewise to be ascertained of your Lordship’s welfare
and happiness would be most welcome news to,
“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most affectionate
“and humble servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, the 27th of Febr. 1645.”

Also to Lord Hopton he wrote as follows:—
“My noble Lord,
“If the report of the many difficulties wherewith I have struggled in
compassing the designs of his Majesty’s service, have not before this
reached you, a faithful relation of the whole will be made to you by the

bearer hereof, Captain Allen, whom I desire your Lordship to present unto
the Prince his Highness as an honest man, and one that proposeth a course
of intelligence to pass between this country and his Majesty’s quarters,
whereof there is great need. Now (God be thanked) the business is brought
to that upshot, that the 10,000 men are designed for his Majesty’s service,
6000 whereof are ready for transportation; the means for which are
wanting, unless your Lordship will please to solicit his Highness the Prince
for transmitting what shipping those parts are furnished with, that all
possible expedition may be used. We hear, God be thanked, that as yet
Chester holds out, to relieve which the 6000 men are ready are
transportation. This bearer hath intimated the Prince’s desire for having 300
men hence for his Highness’ Life-Guard, which may be transported to his
Highness by the return of such shipping as shall be sent hither, for the
aforesaid service. By his return I desire to learn from your Lordship, the
King’s present state and being, that we may shape our designs accordingly.
Thereby I should be most glad to know the Prince’s and your Lordship’s
good success and prosperity, for which none can be more solicitous than I
who am,
“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most affectionate
“humble servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, 28 Feb. 1645.”

In the same publication appears Fairfax’s communication to the
Parliament, that he had given Captain Moulton of the Lyon, cruising on the
Irish Seas, intimation of the enemy’s intentions, which resulted in his
capturing a barque from Dublin, taking her into Milford Haven, and seizing
various letters intrusted to one of the passengers.
Among these are copies of a long undated letter from his Lordship to his
Lady, the Countess of Glamorgan, then resident at Raglan Castle. He writes:
—[43]
“My dear Heart,
“I hope these will prevent any news shall come unto you of me,
since my commitment to the Castle of Dublin, to which I assure thee I went
as cheerfully and as willingly as they could wish, whosoever they were by
whose means it was procured; and should as unwillingly go forth, were the

gates both of the Castle and Town open unto me, until I were cleared: as
they are willing to make me unserviceable to the King, and lay me aside,
who have procured for me this restraint; when I consider thee a Woman, as I
think I know you are, I fear lest you should be apprehensive. But when I
reflect that you are of the House of Thomond, and that you were once
pleased to say these words unto me, That I should never, in tenderness of
you, desist from doing, what in honour I was obliged to do, I grow
confident, that in this you will now show your magnanimity, and by it the
greatest testimony of affection, that you can possibly afford me; and am
also confident, that you know me so well, that I need not tell you how clear
I am, and void of fear, the only effect of a good conscience; and that I am
guilty of nothing, that may testify one thought of disloyalty to his Majesty,
or of what may stain the honour of the family I come of, or set a brand upon
my future posterity. Courage (my heart), were I amongst the King’s enemies
you might fear; but being only amongst his friends and faithful subjects,
you need doubt nothing, but that this cloud will be soon dissipated, by the
sunshine of the King my Master; and did you but know how well and merry
I am, you would be as little troubled as myself, who have nothing that can
afflict me; but lest your apprehension might hurt you, especially since all
the while I could get no opportunity of sending, nor yet by any certain
probable means, but by my Cousin Brereton’s, Master Mannering’s, our
Cousin Constable of the Castle, and my Lord Lieutenant’s leave: and hope
you and I shall live to acknowledge our obligations to them, there being
nothing in this world that I desire more, than you should at least hear from
me. And believe it (sweet heart), were I before the Parliament in London, I
could justify both the King and myself in what I have done. And I pray
acquaint my father, who I know so cautious, that he would hardly accept a
letter from me, but yet I presume most humbly to ask his blessing, and as
heartily as I send mine to pretty Mall; and I hope this day or to-morrow will
set a period to my business, to the shame of those who have been
occasioned of it. But I must needs say from my Lord Lieutenant, and the
Privy Council here, I have received as much justice, nobleness, and favour,
as I could possibly expect. The circumstances of these proceedings are too
long to write unto you, but I am confident all will prove to my greater
honour. And my Right Honourable accuser, my Lord George Digby, will be
at last rectified and confirmed in the good which he is pleased to say he
ever had of me hitherto, as the greatest affliction that he ever had, did do

what his conscience enforced him unto; and indeed did wrap up the bitter
pill of the impeachment of suspicion of high treason in so good words, as
that I swallowed it, with the greatest ease in the world, and it hath hitherto
had no other operation than that it hath purged melancholy: for I was not at
the present any way dismayed, so have I not since been any way at all
disheartened. So I pray let not any of my friends that’s there, believe
anything, until ye have the perfect relation of it from myself. And this
request I chiefly make unto you, to whom I remain a most faithful, and
most passionately devoted husband and servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Remember my service to my brother, my cousin Browne, and the rest of
my good friends.”

There is also a letter from her Ladyship’s relative in Dublin, Mr. Roger
Brereton, probably very near the same date, being the 5th of January, 1645–
6.[43]
“Madam,
“I presume that some rumours of my Lord of Glamorgan’s being
confined in the Castle of Dublin for some matters laid to his charge by the
Lord George Digby have before this time come to your Ladyship’s hearing;
I thought fit therefore by these few lines to let you know that my Lord is in
perfect health, hearty and very cheerful, not doubting to give a satisfactory
answer to what may be laid to his charge, I have so much confidence in
your Ladyship’s accustomed discretion, that I know there needs no
dissuasive arguments to your Ladyship from either grieving or taking any
reports you may receive to heart too much, not doubting but his Lordship
will ere long see your Ladyship, when you may partake of all things more
fully than may be by writing. My Lord your uncle is in health at Bunraly,
and with him there the Earl of P. my Lord John and my Lady Honora. I
wish your honour all health and happiness, and am,
“Your Ladyship’s still faithful servant
“and kinsman,
“Roger Brereton.”
Mr. Brereton likewise wrote, as follows, to Colonel Pigot:—
“Worthy Cousin,

“I have here enclosed sent two letters to the Countess of Glamorgan
at Raglan, her Lord being lately confined here to the Castle of Dublin; and
lest her Ladyship may take things too much to heart, these letters are sent to
add some comfort. Both my Lord and I shall acknowledge our thankfulness
unto you, if you be pleased to use the best and speediest course you may,
for conveying them to my Lady.***
“Yours, &c.,
“Roger Brereton.
“Dublin, January 5, 1645–6.”

The King in his message of the 29th of January, 1645–6, to Parliament,
as Sir Thomas Fairfax and others believed, and as Vittorio Siri declares,
—“thundered against the Earl in his Declaration only in appearance, that he
might be thought not to have been privy to the obnoxious concessions made
by the Earl in his Majesty’s name to the Irish Roman Catholics.”[13]
The next day the King addressed a private letter to the Lord Lieutenant,
affording sufficient evidence of the shifts to which he had recourse to
uphold his miserable policy, which no experience of ensuing hazards and
vexations could induce him to abandon.

“Ormond,[13][25]
“I cannot but add to my long letter, that, upon the word of a
Christian, I never intended Glamorgan should treat anything without your
approbation, much less without your knowledge. For besides the injury to
you, I was always diffident of his judgment (though I could not think him
so extremely weak) as now to my cost I have found, which you may easily
perceive by the postscript in a letter of mine to you,[H] that he should have
delivered you at his coming into Ireland, which if you have not had, the
reason of it will be worth the knowing; for which I have commanded
Digby’s service, desiring you to assist him. And albeit I have too just cause,
for the clearing of my honour, to command (as I have done) to prosecute
Glamorgan in a legal way; yet I will have you suspend the execution of any
sentence against him, until you inform me fully of all the proceedings. For I
believe it was his misguided zeal, more than any malice, which brought this
great misfortune on him and on us all. For your part, you have in this, as in
all other actions, given me such satisfaction, that I mean otherwise, more
than by words, to express my estimation of you. So I rest
“Your most assured,

“constant, real friend,
“Charles R.
“Jan. 30, 1645–6.”

On the 31st of January, 1645, Secretary Nicholas wrote to the Lord
Lieutenant and Council of Ireland, as follows:—[13a][25a]
“My Lords,
“His Majesty having, with the Lords of the Privy Council here,
heard and duly weighed your Lordship’s [letter] to me of the 5th present,
concerning your prudent and grave proceedings, in the business of the Lord
Edward Herbert of Raglan, so highly importing his Majesty, hath
commanded me to send your Lordships his royal thanks, as well for your
affectionate expressions of your tenderness of his honour, as your just
resentment, how scandalous and disadvantageous such the said Lord
Herbert’s proceedings might have been to his Majesty’s affairs and service
here, and on that side, if the wise course your Lordships have taken to
vindicate his Majesty, had been deferred. Your Lordships will, by the King’s
own letter herewith sent, receive the particulars of all, that his Majesty can
call to mind or imagine he may have done or said to the Lord Herbert in
that business. And since the Warrant, whereby his Lordship pretends to be
authorised to treat with the Roman Catholics there, is not sealed with the
signet, as it mentions, nor attested by either of his Majesty’s Secretaries, as
it ought, nor written in the style that Warrants of that nature used to be;
neither refers to any instructions at all; your Lordships cannot but judge it to
be, at least, surreptitiously gotten, if not worse; for his Majesty saith, he
remembers it not. And as the Warrant is a very strange one, so hath been
also the execution of it. For it is manifest, the Lord Herbert did not acquaint
the Lord Lieutenant with any part of it, before he concluded with the said
Roman Catholics, nor ever advertised his Majesty, the Lord Lieutenant, or
any of the Council here or there, what he had done in an affair of so great
moment and consequence four months before, till it was discovered by
accident. This doth not sound like good meaning; and I am sure is not fair
dealing. But his Majesty having, by his letter to your Lordships, left the
charge against the Lord Herbert, to be prosecuted by your Lordships, I shall
say no more of that unhappy subject.”
To the Lord Lieutenant he wrote the same day another and separate letter,
viz.—[25][13]

“We are all here much amazed at the news of the Lord Herbert’s
imprudent action (to say no more of it) which hath most extremely
prejudiced his Majesty and his affairs here. Your Excellency, and the
Council there, will herewith receive a full and particular relation from his
Majesty, of all that he can call to mind concerning that business, wherein as
the Lord Herbert hath dealt very unworthily with his Majesty, so it is
believed, that even the Roman Catholics themselves will condemn him for
his imprudent proceeding therein. For if his pretended Warrant had been
authentic, yet to do anything thereupon without your Excellency’s privity,
was a madness, rather than a folly; and the concealing so long what he had
done argues something worse. The King hath commanded me to advertise
your Lordship, that the patent for making the said Lord Herbert of Raglan
Earl of Glamorgan is not passed the Great Seal here, so as he is no Peer of
this kingdom; notwithstanding he styles himself, and hath treated with the
rebels in Ireland, by the name of Earl of Glamorgan, which is as vainly
taken upon him, as his pretended Warrant (if any such be) was
surreptitiously gotten. And I am sure, that honour cannot be conferred upon
him under the signet (as firmly as under the Great Seal, to all intents and
purposes) as his Lordship’s pretended warrant and power is alleged to be,
though there be no signet to it.”
In a letter from the King dated Oxford, March 22nd, 1645–6, addressed
to the Queen while in France, he says:—[16]
“Dear Heart,
* * * “I find that Sir Edw. Nicholas his gloss upon Lord
Glamorgan’s business hath made thee apprehend that I had disavowed my
hand, but I assure thee I am very free from that in the understandings of all
men here, for it is taken for granted the Lord Glamorgan neither
counterfeited my hand, nor that I have blamed him more than for not
following his instructions, as Secretary Nicholas will more at large show
thee.”

On the 3rd of February, 1645, the King addressed the Earl himself, by his
title, which we have just seen disputed:—
“Glamorgan,
“I must clearly tell you, both you and I have been abused in this
business; for you have been drawn to consent to conditions much beyond

your instructions, and your treaty hath been divulged to all the world. If you
had advised with my Lord Lieutenant (as you promised me), all this had
been helped. But we must look forward. Wherefore, in a word, I have
commanded as much favour to be shown to you as may possibly stand with
my service or safety; and if you will yet trust my advice (which I have
commanded Digby to give you freely), I will bring you so off, that you may
be still useful to me; and I shall be able to recompense you for your
affection. If not, I cannot tell what to say. But I will not doubt of your
compliance in this; since it so highly concerns the good of all my Crowns,
my own particular, and to make me have still means to show myself
“Your most assured friend,
Charles R.[I]
“Oxford, 3rd Feb. 1645.”

But this letter was no doubt written by the King under some restraint, as
it might be read both by Ormond and Digby. Yet no further evidence need
be required of Charles the First’s consummate duplicity, or how thoroughly
he could make a convenience of his subjects to serve his own subtle and
deceitful policy.
The tone of these last three letters sufficiently shows the weakness of the
cause in which they were interested; if we credit the statements they contain
we are required to believe that Lord Herbert presumptuously assumed the
title of Earl of Glamorgan; and that his treaty with the Irish Catholic party
was without the privity, much less instructions of his sovereign!
Lingard says, “I have in my possession the original warrant itself, with
the King’s signature and private seal; bearing the arms of the three
kingdoms, a crown above, and C. R. on the sides, and endorsed in the same
handwriting with the body of the warrant,—‘The Earl of Glamorgan’s
especial warrant for Ireland.’”[62]
The Earl’s imprisonment created great sensation, many insisting on his
release by force of arms. The General Assembly of the Confederate
Catholics pressed for his being liberated, as absolutely necessary for the
relief of Chester, then besieged, and in distress; for which service 3000 men
were reported as being ready to embark, waiting only for the ships
contracted for by the Earl, for their transport; the expedition being thus
delayed through his imprisonment, and likewise the treaty of peace
frustrated.

The Earl of Glamorgan was set at liberty on the 21st of January, on
giving up to the Lord Lieutenant the Instrument by which the Confederate
Catholics obliged themselves to the articles of their treaty; but he would not
resign the command of the Irish troops, for England, intended for the King’s
service; bail being accepted in £20,000, on his own recognizance, and the
Marquis of Clanricarde, and the Earl of Kildare, for £10,000 each, to appear
on thirty days’ notice.
Returning to Kilkenny, he zealously endeavoured to obtain from the
Confederate Catholics acceptance of the Lord Lieutenant’s offer of terms to
conclude a peace; but they, persisting in their exorbitant demands, refused
to accept the slightest modification of their own views, so that the Earl was
at length compelled to abandon his own measures in despair, only to fall
under the suspicion of his own party as well as of his opponents. On the
11th of March, he wrote the following letter to the Marquis of Ormond:—[J]

“May it please your Excellency,
“The perfect knowledge I have of your Excellency’s desire to
perform what may be of most advantage to the King our master’s service,
makes me confident to lay before you what I humbly conceive may most
conduce thereto; my duty and affection obliging me not only to adventure
my life and fortune therein, but also plainly to declare my sense thereof;
which being made known to your Excellency, I shall ever most willingly
and readily submit to your better judgment. I, therefore, take the boldness to
acquaint you, that as I intend (God willing) to go into France, without
which journey I cannot possibly bring things to that height of advantage to
his Majesty’s service, either in the business of shipping, ammunition or
money, as I have designed to myself, and can (God willing) infallibly
perform; yet if, before my own return, and during my abode in any of those
places, the Articles of Peace should be proclaimed here, and not appear so
really advantageous, as is by them in other countries expected. It would not
only prove a cooling card to many, whose zeal otherwise would transport
them to supply me gallantly in order to his Majesty’s service, but also
perhaps render me incapable thereof; for which reason of great importance,
I should humbly beseech that the cessation should be continued until about
the middle of June next; yet so as that the condition of having the residue of
the ten thousand men by the first of May next may be enforced by your
Excellency, against which time, though I return not myself, yet shipping

shall be provided, and that service no way neglected. But with this motion
of mine I have not acquainted the Commissioners that are gone to Dublin,
nor the Supreme Council, lest in some I might have raised a spirit I could
not lay down: who might have taken a rise at this my inclination for the
furtherance of his Majesty’s service, to countenance their backwardness in
preparing the supplies, or in their unwillingness to submit to a perfect
peace; than which nothing is more heartily desired or aimed at by me, to the
end that, under your Excellency’s most judicious and wise conduct, all
things may unanimously proceed to the furtherance of the King my master’s
service, and the happiness and contentment of this kingdom. And to receive
your Excellency’s commands hereupon I have sent Sir Vivien Molineux,
who goes with me into France. And give me leave to tell you that the
continuance of the cessation upon the terms above mentioned (without
which I cannot resolve to go myself into France), will be likewise
advantageous to your Excellency and this kingdom; since during it, the
Nuncio (whose mission is only to the Confederate Catholics) will
plentifully contribute here to the maintenance of the war against the
common enemy. And your Excellency, giving me a power to engage your
word with mine, I will promise you at my return, to bring for the King’s
service and the good of this kingdom, ten, if not twenty thousand pounds
sterling; which, if managed by you, I conceive will be better than £60,000,
as hitherto moneys have been disposed. And of this business, if you please,
you may acquaint my Lord Digby, to whom I have intimated something
thereof in my letter. But your Excellency, nor my Lord Digby, need not be
told with what secrecy my intended journey ought to be kept, though I fear
not the Parliament, since I have bought a gallant ship at Galway, with 16
pieces of ordnance, and victualled for two months, manned with 34 good
seamen, an excellent captain, and good pilots, of 300 tons, English built,
and a good sailer. And for my return, I intend (God willing) it shall be with
a fleet, which how it is to be left under your Excellency’s command, I hope
you are already well assured, as you may be of anything within my power,
who am,
“Your Excellency’s, &c. &c.
Glamorgan.
“Kilkenny, 11th of March, 1645–6.”

Ormond wrote from Dublin Castle, 4th March, 1645, naming “the sad
certainty of the loss of Chester,”—the men, long expected, he hopes will
arrive “seasonably for some other service;” and says, “there are many
reasons against the prolonging of the cessation till the midst of June,” but
especially “the inevitable ruin that must in the meantime come upon all his
Majesty’s true servants,” promising in his next to send the “authority to
engage me for such money as you shall be able, upon so small an assurance
as mine, to get.”
On the 29th of September, 1645–6, the Earl addressed a letter of
explanations to the Lord Lieutenant.
“For to endear myself to some, the better to do his Majesty service, it is
true I did declare a promise from the King of the assent that after your
Excellency’s time he would make me Lord Lieutenant. But it is no meaning
of mine but to keep your Excellency in during your life, and not really to
pretend unto it, or anything in discrimination of your Excellency’s honour
or profit; or derogating from the true amity and real service which I have
professed, and will ever make good towards your Excellency. And my
intention was ever to acquaint your honour herewith, and I once intended to
do it before my going to Kilkenny, but never to conceal it totally from you,
though for some reasons it being hitherto omitted, I think it not necessary
for the present but as an obligation upon me thereunto. And in witness of
my true intent and meaning, I leave this sealed in your Excellency’s hands
this 29th of September, 1645, at Dublin.
Glamorgan.”

The Earl being thus bound to continue his residence in Ireland,
notwithstanding the unpromising aspect of affairs, we shall proceed, in
order of date, to consider the position of his father, at Raglan Castle.

Footnotes
[A] Fol. 713. Also Carte, vol. i. p. 557.
[B] Nuncio’s Mem. fol. 715; and Carte, vol. i. p. 554.
[C] From MSS. Badminton.
[D] See page 78.
[E] Husband’s Collection, p. 787, &c. edit. London, 1646, fol. and
Rushworth, Part IV. Vol. I. p. 239.
[13] Birch, p. 94.
[F] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–57, Ireland, 63.” No. 150.
[G] See page 124.
[43] Glamorgan.
[43] Glamorgan.
[43] Glamorgan.
[13] Birch, p. 121, and p. 124–5.
[13] Birch, p. 121, and p. 124–5.
[25] Carte, vol. ii. Append. No. xxiii. p. 12.
[H] See page 78.
[13a] Birch, p. 121, and p. 124–5.
[25a] Carte, vol. iii. No. 426, p. 446.
[25] Carte, vol. iii. p. 447.
[13] Birch, p. 133.
[16] Bruce.
[I] Harl. libr. 163, c. 3, 147. Birch, p. 356.
[62] Lingard, 5th edition, Vol. vii. p. 627.
[J] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63.”

CHAPTER IX.
RAGLAN CASTLE: ITS DEFENCE AND SURRENDER. DEATH OF
HENRY, MARQUIS OF WORCESTER.
From the close of 1645 to the middle of 1646 the military operations
within and surrounding the strong fortress of Raglan were conducted with
untiring energy. Parties from the castle were continually annoying the
enemy, while they on their part pushing their works with vigour at several
points caused many disasters, keeping the favourably situated garrison in a
state of constant agitation and watchfulness; finding their course of
operations gradually limited to acting entirely on the defensive, not being in
sufficient force to disperse the stronger besieging army, against whom it is
next to a miracle how they maintained their position so long, Raglan Castle
having held out longer than any other.
The Marquis of Worcester, the last lord of Raglan Castle, usually
occupied, as is supposed, a handsomely carved oak wainscotted parlour or
sitting room in the ground floor of the south side of the castle, nearly the
whole side of which was a large, handsome window looking over the moat
towards the tall, massive tower or citadel. Over that chamber was his dining
room, and from his table the various dishes would be conveyed to the grand
banqueting hall, the most complete and spacious apartment within the
present ruin.
The great state in which the noble Marquis was accustomed to live may
be gathered from the following authentic account of the order of his
household:—[A]
At 11 o’clock the Castle gates were shut and the tables laid—two in the
Dining Room, three in the Hall, one in Mrs. Watson’s apartment where the
Chaplains eat (Sir Toby Mathews being the first), in the Housekeeper’s
room for the Ladies’ women.
The Earl came into the Dining Room attended by his gentlemen. As soon
as he was seated Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward of the House retired, the
Comptroller, Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, the Sewer, Mr.
Blackburn, the Daily Waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby and Mr. Scudamore,
with many gentlemen’s sons, from £2. to £700. a year, bred in the castle.

My Lady’s Gentleman Usher, Mr. Harcourt. My Lord’s Gentlemen of the
Chamber, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Fox.
At the first table sat the noble family and such of the nobility as came
there.
At the second table in the dining room sat Knights and honourable
gentlemen attended by footmen.
Sir Ralph Blackstone, Steward.
The Comptroller. The Secretary.
The Master of the Horse, Mr. Delaware.
The Master of the Fish ponds, Mr. Andrews.
My Lord Herbert’s preceptor, Mr. Adams,
with such gentlemen as came there under the degree of a knight, attended
by footmen and plentifully served with wine.
At the second table in the Hall, served from my Lord’s table and with
other hot meat—The Sewer, with the gentlemen waiters and pages, to the
number of twenty-four or more.
At the third table in the Hall—The Clerk of the Kitchen, with the Yeomen
Officers of the House, two Grooms of the Chamber, &c.
Chief Auditor, Mr. Smith.
Clerk of the Accounts, George Wharton.
Surveyor of the Castle, Mr. Salisbury.
Ushers of the Hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Cook.
Closet Keeper.
Gentleman of the Chapel, Mr. Davies.
Keeper of the Record.
Master of the Wardrobe. Master of the Armory.
Master Groom of the Stables for the war horses, twelve.
Master of the Hounds. Master Falconer
Porter and his Men, two Butchers, two Keepers of the Home Park, two
Keepers of the Red Deer Park, Footmen, Grooms, and other menial servants
to the number of 150. Some of the footmen were butchers and bakers.
Out Officers.
Steward of Raglan, Wm. Jones, Esq. Governor of Chepstow, Sir Mich.
Keneys, Bart. Housekeeper of Worcester House in London, James Redman,
Esq. Bailiffs thirteen; two Counsel for the Bailiffs to have recourse to.
Solicitor, Mr. Jos. Smith.

His Lordship appears to have been very indifferently informed respecting
his son’s operations in Ireland. The conveyance of communications of any
kind was difficult, hazardous, and uncertain. Of this a rather romantic
instance occurs in the relation given of his adventures, by Allen Boteler, in
his documentary evidence entitled:—“A most true account of my business
from his Majesty at Oxford, intended for the most honourable the Marquis
of Ormond, it being the last of my [engagements in?] these employments.”
It is a long, prolix account, but sufficiently interesting from the facts it
details to be given in extenso. He states:—
“On Friday night being the 22nd of February, 1646, I was conveyed to
Abbington by Sir George Lisle, and a party under his command, and from
thence near Cisseter, where I parted from them, took a guide and went to Sir
William Pooles, from whence by night I was carefully guided to Sir Robert
Poyntz’s at Acton, which his Majesty conceived to be the safest way; there
by Sir Robert was I exceedingly welcomed as coming from his Majesty, and
in that employment, and for the space of five days I was concealed in Sir
Robert’s house whilst he did continually employ some of his trusty servants
to endeavour a way for my passage over Severn, which both by land and
water was very strongly guarded; yet having disguise from him I hired a
boat for Black Rock, and passed as a grazier, and a farmer, a friend of his
with me, to assist me; but no sooner had we landed but we had, by a grazier,
intelligence that in the village, and in all that country of the Moors, were
Parliament forces driven by his Majesty’s party from Newport and Carlisle.
Thereupon the farmer brought me to a church on a rock [a] few yards from
the sea side, into which rock I conveyed my dispatches, and myself and
horse into the porch, whilst the farmer bought [brought?] me a guide, a man
of his acquaintance, well known to the enemy’s party but honest to his
Majesty’s; and after night he conveyed me through their guards by the name
of a butcher of Bristol, and on the break of day, three Parliament officers,
newly landed at Gouldcliffe from Bristol, seeing me riding fast, charged me
in a lane and questioned me who I was for; and I answered that it was then
no time to ask impertinences, by my being here you may judge who I am
for; I intended for Newport or Carleon in business for the States, but my
guide tells me that there is my Lord Charles Somerset with 300 horse, for
God’s sake tell me how I shall avoid them. Whereupon they being as much
affrighted with my word, as I with their summons, hastily pointed me out a
way, and ran themselves another way into the Moors. By this means I came

to Carleon, from whence the King’s party were marched two days before;
and being then within four miles of Raglan I came (as I thought)
undiscovered to Colonel Richard Herbert’s, and finding the passage full of
dangers, by reason of Langibby Castle and many soldiers quartered in the
way, I sent to the Lord Charles, desiring a convoy, and acquainting him with
what business I was in. His Lordship returned me answer that by one of the
clock, the next day, by a windmill on Christ Church hill, a party should
meet me punctually; and so there did, but it was of the enemy, who having
foot with the horse made me distrust and betake myself to a wood
adjoining; and when they were past, no convoy coming, nor intended, as it
appeared afterwards, I returned to the Lady Mary Herbert’s, who then lay
in, and some intelligence being given to the enemy, so soon as it was dark, a
party being sent to take me, my Lady Mary secured the despatches in or
under her bed, commanded a servant of hers to go with me, called my horse
hers; and [I] going on foot all night in most bitter weather and bad way, full
of danger, I came to the Castle about the day’s dawning, where I presently
appeared myself to my Lord Charles, made my relation, and besought him
for a present convoy. His answer was that that house was their own, and not
as other garrisons, they must look on their own securities, and had done
more than they had thanks for, but would bring me to his father, so soon as
he was ready. His Lordship did so, and in the first place my Lord asked me
whether in my despatches I had any letters from his Majesty to his son
Glamorgan. I answered, not that I knew of, but there might be within the
Lord Marquis of Ormond’s; on that I delivered to his
That message I Lordship his Majesty’s most gracious and comfortable
well remember and
so will his Majesty, message concerning my Lord his son, with thanks for
I having set it down their former loyal expressions; unto which my Lord
so soon as I went Marquis answered that it was the grief of his heart that,
out of the bed
chamber. he was inforced to say that the King was wavering and
fickle, and that at his Majesty’s last being there, he lent
[B]
him a book to read in his chamber, the beginning of which he knows he
read, but if he had ended, it would have showed him what it was to be a
fickle prince; for was it not enough, said his Lordship, to suffer him, the
Lord Glamorgan to be unjustly imprisoned by the Lord Marquis of Ormond
for what he had his Majesty’s authority for; but that the King must in print
protest against his proceedings and his own allowance, and not yet recall it.

But I will pray for him, and that he may be more constant to his friends,
saith my Lord; and so soon as my other employments will give leave, you
shall have a convoy to fetch securely your despatches; that I daily pressed
and expected, sometimes it was delayed with fair language and sometimes
with such as was very unwelcome to me, both from the father and the son;
it being invectives against his Majesty and the Lord Marquis of Ormond,
and after fourteen days delay,[C] I advised with Colonel Ratcliffe Jarrard,
Colonel Thomas Butler, Major Hugh Butler, and William Watkins, Receiver
General for South Wales, being all Protestants, and of the Council of War,
who agreed in opinion that the delay was of purpose, and caused by
jealousy, conceiving that if I got over before Captain Bacon who was then
attending for a despatch to his Lord the Lord Glamorgan, my despatch
might tend to the prejudice of his said Lord. On this I took occasion to wait
on my Lady Glamorgan, and remembering her of the King’s gracious
intentions towards her Lord, I besought her assistance, to which she
answered that my going so hastily was not material whatsoever I considered
of it, for that there were others gone with duplicates of business to her
Ladyship’s knowledge, of whom her cousin Will. Winter was one, and he
had no relation to the Lord Marquis of Ormond, but was her husband’s
friend. To which I answered that my Lord was her Lord’s very good friend,
as I was very much his servant, but if his Majesty’s business be done I care
not by whose hand it is; but I thank your honour, for now I know wherefore
I am stayed here; and from her Ladyship I went to my Lord Charles, and
told him that by his neglect his Majesty might be undone, and that to acquit
myself I must lay the blame on those that deserved it; but if his Lordship
would yet give way Captain Spite would undertake to do the business with
twenty horse. His Lordship answered, that he took my importunity ill, but
would impart it to the Council of War, and take their advice, which he did
indeed, but that caused so general a knowledge, that the country was laid
for me and my business, as I had very good intelligence; and thereupon the
Protestant party showed themselves to be much discontented, insomuch that
Colonel Butler, Major Butler, and others quitted the Castle the next day,
being the nineteenth of my stay there. My Lord sent a party, who bringing
the despatches, I desired my Lord, in obedience to his Majesty’s Warrant to
afford me a convoy, or if not, two guides, one to ride before me to discous
[discover or discourse?] and the other to direct me in my way, both which
he refused because, as he said, I had no letters to his brother. Thereupon I

went discontentedly away to Aburgainy [Abergavenny] with Colonel
Ratcliffe Jarrard, Colonel Butler, and Major Butler, with whom I advised,
and sent with their approbation for a woman who was continually employed
betwixt the Castle of Denby in North Wales and Raglan in South Wales. I
agreed with her to go to Denby, Conway, or Harlo Castles, with the letters
quilted up in a truss of linen and tied next to her body, and with her my own
man disguised to receive them from her, and to go over with them, if I could
not make my way to overtake him, but directed him by the Governors to
whom I wrote. The man and woman were taken and carried before Howell
Gwynn, then High Sheriff; but what became of the despatches, or how the
woman concealed or made them away, I know not, nor dare enquire, but she
saw the man taken, being a great distance from her, as I had directed them,
to keep in sight one of the other, but not to go together; and she was not
taken in two or three hours after, so that by all likelihood she conveyed
them away, otherwise the Parliament pamphlets would have told us of it as
they did not, for with much fear, I expecting it, perused all the diurnals for
more than a quarter of a year. This is all I can deliver of it, and the
particulars of these will be punctually justified by those several parties
formerly meant, some of them being now about the Court, and for the truth
of this I am ready to make Oath when I shall there unto be called.
“Allan Boteler.”[D]

Boteler or Butler’s evidence would appear to have been taken during the
Marquis of Ormond’s temporary sojourn in England, after his leaving
Dublin in June, 1647, previous to his shortly after going to Paris for six
months, when he returned to Ireland to assume his post of Lord Lieutenant.
[13]
The document derives considerable interest from its conveying to us the
sentiments of the Marquis of Worcester, in his reflections on the King’s
conduct affecting himself and his son. It was on no light grounds he charged
Charles the First with being “wavering and fickle;” declaring his son to
have been “unjustly imprisoned;” and bitterly lamenting that the King
should, in print, “protest against his [son’s] proceedings;” being no doubt
well satisfied through his Majesty’s own discourse and his after written
instructions, that the Earl of Glamorgan had, in every sense, been most
unworthily used from first to last by his royal master. The upright old
Marquis, touched in a tender part, was not disposed to overlook the injury
done to his family, although coming from so high a quarter, for he must

have felt it as nothing short of a gratuitous maligning and blackening of his
son’s character from the most sordid, selfish motives, reckless of all risks
and hazards. No considerations swayed him to conceal his utmost anger at
the indignity put on himself and his house, rendered perhaps all the keener
by the presence of the unsuspecting messenger from that prince who had so
utterly deceived him, and that peer who had aided in his dishonour. The
blunt Boteler adds, in a marginal notification, “That message I well
remember, and so will his Majesty; I having set it down, as soon as I went
out of the bed chamber.”[E]
The Marquis, a shrewd, observant man, appears to have expressed his
wrath not only by words but acts; not caring that the messenger should
return with any favourable account of his reception or dismissal, for after
having so unequivocally expressed his mind to him, he is left to shift for
himself, is long detained, and at length departs at his own expense.
The siege of Raglan Castle was maintained by Colonel Morgan, Major
General Laughorne, Sir Trevor Williams, Baronet, and Colonel Robert
Kirle, with about 5000 horse and foot.
It became necessary for the besieged, in their extremity, in the pleasant
month of May, 1646, to destroy every shelter or advantage the enemy might
derive from the houses in the village, or its old church. They, therefore,
levelled the goodly tower of the latter, as also the houses near, burning
likewise whatever might in any way have been likely to prove available.
Sir Trevor Williams, at the same time, was arranging to blockade Raglan,
garrisoning his men in the town of Usk. On the other side, Colonel Kirle,
with his force, was stationed within two miles of Raglan; while Laughorne
occupied Abergavenny; and Colonel Birch, besieging Gutbridge Castle, left
Raglan without hope of relief.
In their skirmishes with the enemy, posted in these positions, the
Royalists lost 16 killed, and 20 taken prisoners; while Sir Trevor Williams
seized 80 horses grazing under the castle walls. Colonel Morgan, then at
Worcester, shortly after, joining the army, made Landenny his head-
quarters, within a distance of three miles.
A domestic incident may be here mentioned, not only as showing the
discomfort of the place, but as connected with the wife of the subject of this
memoir; and also as characteristic of the Marquis’s religious sentiments. Dr.
Bayly states that:—

“One evening, during the hottest period of the cannonade, there came a
musket ball in at the window of the withdrawing room, where my Lord
used to entertain his friends with his pleasant discourses after dinners and
suppers, which, glancing upon a little marble pillar of the window, from
thence hit the Marquis upon the side of his head, and fell down flattened
upon the table, which breaking the pillar in pieces, it made such a noise in
the room, that his daughter-in-law, the Countess of Glamorgan, who stood
in the same window, ran away as if the house had been falling down upon
her head, crying out, ‘O Lord! O Lord!’ But at length, finding herself more
afraid than hurt, she returned back again, no less excusing her—as she was
pleased to call it—rudeness to her father, than acknowledging her fears to
all the company. To whom the Marquis said, ‘Daughter, you had reason to
run away, when your father was knocked on the head.’ Then pausing some
little while, and turning the flattened bullet round with his finger, he further
said, ‘Gentlemen, those who had a mind to flatter me, were wont to tell me
that I had a good head in my younger days; but, if I don’t flatter myself, I
think I have a good head-piece in my old age, or else it would not have been
musket proof.’”
It shows how closely Raglan Castle was besieged, when on the 26th of
May, about 11 o’clock at night, some of the Parliamentary soldiers could be
drinking at a public house, but a little distance from the Castle, having
alighted from their horses, and sent a scout to reconnoitre: who bringing
them favourable news, they refreshed themselves at their ease. Meanwhile,
having been observed, 60 or 80 horse were sent from Raglan to surprise
them, and they succeeded in seizing three or four of their horses; but some
of the Roundheads escaped in a cornfield, while most of their companions
quickly mounted; some riding off were lost in the darkness, while the
remainder, in a skirmish of half an hour, took two prisoners and rescued
their lost horses. Many fruitless skirmishes appear to have been thus made;
often as many as 150 horsemen rushing forth, only to return with the report
of bootless labour.[83]
On the part of the besiegers, Captain Hooper was employed to conduct
the mining approaches, which were pushed forward with great vigour.
The garrison of Raglan (estimated when in full force at 800 strong, in
horse and foot) made several desperate sallies on Colonel Morgan’s forces:
their bold commander often personally encountering the hostile party with
marked gallantry, losing on one occasion a colour; and a cornet his life.

While on the Royalist side a major and a captain were slain, besides many
wounded. But when General Fairfax, sending reinforcement from Oxford,
had raised Colonel Morgan’s regiment of 1500 to 3500 men, such sallies
became less frequent.[92] The General, who had been at Bath to recruit his
health, hastening to Raglan, put life into the siege by his presence, and, on
the 7th of August, he sent in his summons to the Castle; in consequence of
which, numerous messages passed between the Marquis and the General,
the Marquis reminding him in one of his replies how well he was known “in
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon’s time, unto your [the General’s] noble
grandfather at York;” at the same time inviting some propositions to be
made; specially requiring on his own behalf to have any acts of his first
approved by the King, through whom, moreover, he was “above £20,000
out of purse.” The conditions offered, required, among others, that the
Marquis should submit to the mercy of the Parliament; while those affecting
the garrison and inmates of the Castle were honourable to all parties. In
consequence of these negotiations, the Marquis, on the 13th of August, sent
out a drum, desiring leave for his Commissioners to meet the next day, to
arrange articles of peace; which being approved, the drum was returned
with safe-conduct for the Commissioners’ coming forth, and orders given
for five hours cessation of arms.
The Marquis must have been fully alive to the jeopardy in which he was
placed, after ten weeks of close siege, hemmed in on every side, stores fast
diminishing, the cannon ball of the enemy knocking down turret and tower,
and demolishing the weaker portions of his castle, never originally intended
to withstand more than the ravages of time, with the exception of a very
limited portion, the Citadel itself. The main work of the enemy’s
approaches, too, was then within 60 yards of the garrison’s works, and a
breach already made in the eastern wall, near the library or closet tower;
besides which, four mortar pieces had been advantageously planted, capable
of carrying grenado shells of 12 inches diameter; also two mortar pieces in
another position, capable of delivering similar shells. Captain Hooper, the
engineer, expressed his expectation to be in a few days within ten yards of
the castle, with trenches, which he was constructing very exact and secure;
from these he purposed making galleries, mines, and numerous batteries.
The General himself, not only took great interest in these military works,
visiting them daily, but at that very time had designed a new approach.

On the 15th of August, final terms were to be concluded; for which
purpose the meeting of the Commissioners was appointed to take place at
Keventilla House, the residence of Mr. Oates, about a mile and a half from
Raglan.[84]
The terms of peace being concluded on the 17th of August, the Castle
was to be surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax for the use of the Parliament,
the articles of the treaty, among others, stipulating:—That all the officers,
soldiers, and gentlemen of the garrison, should march out with horses and
arms, colours flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, matches lighted at
both ends, bullets in their mouths; and every soldier with twelve charges of
powder and ball; with permission to select any place within 10 miles of the
Castle, for the purpose of delivering up their arms to the General in
command; after which the soldiers were to be disbanded and set at liberty;
and safe-conduct and protection given to all the gentlemen and others who
had sought refuge within the walls of Raglan Castle.
Wednesday, the 19th of August, 1646, in conformity with the treaty, the
Castle was taken possession of by General Fairfax. The Marquis of
Worcester, bordering on 70 years of age, infirm and careworn as he was,
accosted Fairfax in a pleasant, jocose mood; yet it must have been but a
melancholy cortege by which he was attended, on abandoning that roof
which was soon to be destined to irreclaimable ruin. It must have appeared
to the bystanders more like a military funeral procession than any other
conceivable spectacle, in which, however, the glistening of arms and
armour, the rustling of banners, the blast of trumpets, and the roll of drums
must have been felt by all alike, as though more in mockery than evincing
any cause of exultation.
The Marquis was accompanied by his son, the Lord Charles Somerset,
governor of the Castle; the Countess of Glamorgan; Lady Jones and Sir
Philip Jones; Dr. Thomas Bayly, the chaplain, who had also acted as one of
the Commissioners from the Castle; Commissary Guilliam; together with 4
colonels, 82 captains, 16 lieutenants, 6 cornets, 4 ensigns, 4 quarter-masters,
and 52 esquires and gentlemen; including also his Lordship’s numerous
visitors, household, and retainers.
The General, having thus secured the last stronghold that had withstood
the power of the Parliamentary army, went to Chepstow to take part the
same night in a splendid entertainment, returning thence the following day
to recruit himself at Bath.

There were found in Raglan Castle, a mill for the manufacture of
gunpowder, 20 pieces of ordnance, only 3 barrels of powder, good store of
corn and malt, beer, and various wines; not many horses, and but little hay
or oats. The apartments, however, were amply supplied with rich furniture,
and well stored with goods. All these the General committed to the charge
of Mr. Herbert, the Army Commissioner, and others to be inventoried.
Thus far the articles of capitulation were punctually performed with
regard to all matters, except only the Marquis himself. We are not very
precisely informed respecting his removal, but only assured that he was in
the custody of the Black Rod; and next hear of him as being in Covent
Garden, probably at that official’s residence, where he was repeatedly
visited by his former chaplain, the loquacious Dr. Bayly.[7] It was a base
violation of the conditions in the treaty, on the part of the Parliament, to
keep the Marquis in confinement, and still worse considering his age,
corpulency, and bad state of health, aggravated no doubt by the excessive
toils and troubles of the last few years, together with the more recent
fatigues of his journey from Wales to London. Harassed, afflicted, and a
prisoner, he died within the space of four months, in the custody of the
Parliament’s Black Rod, in Covent Garden, on the — of December, 1646.[88]
The House of Commons, on the 20th of December, proposed allowing
£500[105] for the funeral, out of the Marquis’s estate; the votes being 168 for,
and 92 against so much liberality. It was resolved—“That the £500 be
raised out of the plate and other goods of the Earl of Worcester, brought up
by Mr. Thomas Herbert; and that the disposing of it be referred to his care,
to be accountable for it to the House; and especially to take care that the
said Earl of Worcester may be buried according to the Directory, and not
otherwise.”[57]
In dedicating to the son his collection of the father’s “Apophthegms,” Dr.
Bayly observes—“I laid your noble father in his grave, with my own
hands.” He was interred in the vault of the Chapel of our Lady, now known
as the Beaufort Chapel, in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, near his
great ancestor, Charles first Earl of Worcester.
Among the property at Raglan Castle, the most interesting to the
biographer was that respecting which an order passed the House of
Commons, on the 25th of August 1646, to the effect:—“That Mr. Thomas
Herbert be enjoined to deliver all the letters and papers found at Raglan
Castle, and remaining in his hands, to the Committee of the Army: Who

have hereby further power to send for all such other letters and papers,
found at Raglan Castle, which they shall have information of to be in the
hands of any other Committee or persons; and are to report the whole to the
House.”
The fate of Raglan Castle was decided by an order of the House the same
day, when it was resolved:—“That the Castle of Raglan, the works about it,
and the house and buildings thereof, be forthwith pulled down and
demolished.” And further, “That it be referred to the Committee of the
county of Monmouth, to take care that the same may be totally demolished,
and all the materials thereof sold and disposed of for the best advantage of
the state; deducting the charges for pulling it down; and a due account
rendered for the same.”
Various orders were passed regarding the sale of estates, and disposition
of the funds, sometimes to raise money for the service of Ireland, at others
for reparation of losses through depriving certain noblemen of the Court of
Wards, with other and numerous demands. But we must return to review the
closing scene of affairs in Ireland.

Footnotes
[A] From MSS. Badminton.
[B] See page 107.
[C] Note opposite sentence commencing “after fourteen days
delay.”—“After myself, Colonel Butler and the rest were gone, Lord
Charles threatened to take from Mr. Watkins £800 which was in the
Castle (his Majesty’s money) for siding with us, as he now present is
ready to testify.”
[D] In MS. Index entitled, “No. 145. Boteler’s Account of his
business at Oxford, 1646. f. 210.” The MS. vol. containing above is
lettered at back, “Carte Papers, 1604–1660. 30.”
[13] Birch, p. 262.
[E] It is generally believed that this chamber was over the south-
west gate.
[83] Raglan Castle.

[92] Sprigge.
[84] Raglan Castle.
[7] Bayly.
[88] Sandford.
[105] Whitelock states £1000.
[57] Jo. Ho. of Comm. Vol. V. p. 20.

CHAPTER X.
THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN’S TRANSACTIONS IN IRELAND—
CONCLUDED.
We left the Earl at Kilkenny after his enlargement. That his own
confidence in his position was not misplaced all his acts clearly prove, and
no attempt has been successfully made by his adversaries to show him in
any other light than that of being a too ready instrument in the hands of his
prince to work out his mystified political schemes.
It requires considerable calmness and consideration on the part of the
biographer while undertaking to become the apologist of the Earl’s conduct,
particularly when wholly differing in political and religious views. But
sincerity will always command respect. That he was strictly conscientious
in all his conduct there cannot be the shadow of a doubt; nor can he be
accused of rather tempting the monarch than being tempted by him, a man
open and most anxious to adopt any measures to regain his despotic
authority over the people. Charles the First was all things to all men who
offered him service; he was a Catholic to the Catholics, and a Protestant to
the Protestants; and it was this duality of character, united with unbounded
selfishness and a fatal attachment to secrecy, that perplexed his most
discreet ministers. No man’s life or property was safe in his hands. No
engagements were held sacred or inviolable, all being artfully contrived to
conceal some mental reservation, which expediency always found it
convenient to be shifting to serve some opposite purpose or other. All this
subtle strategy was perfectly consistent with the possession of the most
distinguished domestic affections and habits, and tastes most refined for art
and literature, which, after all, may have been but the consummation of that
all-grasping selfishness which shows but little integrity beyond the confines
of self and home. His Majesty united so many inconsistencies of character
that he completely deluded not the Earl alone but the entire Roman Catholic
party throughout the land. He had succeeded in draining the Marquis of
Worcester of his enormous wealth, and had not blushed to degrade his son,
the Earl, by a public accusation (which his private conduct repudiated) to
give colour to his own sophisms.

A letter written by the Earl to the Nuncio, in February, together with the
oath he afterwards took, are not a little remarkable.[13]
“Most illustrious and most reverend Lord,
“There is no occasion for me to employ any further protestations to
persuade your Lordship, how sincerely I desire that the whole glory of the
advantages, which this nation and we poor Catholics of England may attain,
should, as it ought, be ascribed to his Holiness, through your Lordship’s
intervention; whom I beseech to consider the authority granted your
Lordship by his Holiness, and to recall to your memory the letter written by
the King my master to your Lordship, and my powers for treating with your
Lordship. These things being laid down as a foundation, let us not sleep
over our cause, but finish all the conventions made or to be made between
his Holiness and our Queen (though without suffering them to be
published), till your Lordship shall have received the original instruments
themselves, or till an answer shall be returned from the King by means of
my brother, who shall be sent to his Majesty in the name of your Lordship
and myself. During which interval, though there be only a cessation of
arms, yet our peace will be secure, and depend only on such conditions, as
shall be acceptable to his Holiness; for it will not be such a peace, as the
Pope disapproves of in his letters, but the same which your Lordship
desires. But while the articles are agreed upon and concluded between your
Lordship and me, and no change is made in the government, or in any other
respect, till the peace shall be published, and the ratification transmitted
hither by the King from England, no danger will arise either on your
Lordship’s or my part, since the seven thousand soldiers will not pass over
into England, till the peace be concluded and published, nor ever depart, till
I shall return from Italy, and there shall be a certainty concerning his
Holiness’ pleasure.”
He proceeds to suggest the conclusion of the peace at the end of three
months; the signing of the articles by the Nuncio and himself, on the part of
the Pope and the King respectively; thus satisfying the Irish, while affording
the King security, the articles not being published; the safety of the
kingdom ensured, and the Nuncio at ease in having thus conformed to the
Pope’s instructions.
He afterwards signed, on the 18th February, 1646, an engagement to the
Nuncio; and the next day took the following oath.[13]

“I, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, promise and swear to your most
illustrious and most reverend Lordship, that I will adhere to your party, not
only against the Marquis of Ormond, and all his relations and favourers, but
likewise against all others, who shall oppose the Pope’s treaty and your
measures for the good of the Catholic Religion, and the service of the King
my master, to supply your Lordship with—
200,000 crowns,
10,000 arms for foot,
2,000 cases of pistols,
800 barrels of powder,
and 30 or 40 ships well provided, over
which your Lordship shall name an Admiral. For I esteem your cause to be
the cause of God, and of the King my master, in whose name I make all the
concessions agreed upon between your Lordship and me; and am therefore
ready, if your Lordship pleases, to confirm this my resolution before the
most holy sacrament. In the mean time I subscribe my name, and affix my
seal, this 19th day of February, 1646.
“Glamorgan.”

The Earl, in conformity with the power granted him on the 1st of April,
by the King, agreed with the Nuncio to create, at his recommendation, one
Earl, two Viscounts, and three Barons, hoping thereby to gratify the Irish.
But previously, on his arrival in Waterford, he wrote to the King:[87][13]—

“May it please your Majesty,
“I am now at Waterford, providing shipping immediately to
transport 6000 foot; and 4000 more are by May to follow them. I hope these
will yet come opportunely to the relief of Chester. What hath been the
occasion of so long delays, and yet suffers not your Majesty’s service herein
to proceed with that advantage it might do, I conceive not so fit to commit
to paper; but I will shortly send my brother, who shall fully inform your
Majesty with all particulars, and thereby rectify your opinion, and give you
true knowledge, who are your faithful servants. I hope long ere this Captain
Bacon hath arrived with you since my enlargement; and, therefore, I need
only tell your Majesty that, my further services intended for you will, I
hope, without further crosses, be suffered to go on; though strange is the
industry used by many seeming friends to hinder me therein. But I am

confident it shall not lie in their power, your Majesty remaining still
constant, as I doubt not but you will, to your favourable opinion, and right
interpretation of my poor endeavours; which, if they may take place, will
procure you to be a gracious and happy prince, I having no other ends, but
to approve myself,
“Sir, your sacred Majesty’s
“Most dutiful, obedient subject,
“and passionately devoted servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, Feb. 23, 1645–6.”

The same month, however, Chester surrendered to the Parliamentary
forces, after a stubborn siege; while in March following news arrived at
Kilkenny of his Majesty’s message of the 29th of January, addressed to the
Parliament, denying any participation in and unreservedly disavowing all
knowledge of the Earl’s treaty of the 25th of August, 1645. The Roman
Catholics were astounded; all their labour and expense, all their
negociations at once appeared worse than vain, being only calculated to
arouse public indignation.
But the Parliamentary party appeared pretty well satisfied that the Earl’s
imprisonment was a merely colourable affair, suspecting that the King was
merely sacrificing a devoted friend to clear himself and appease the public
wrath.
Notwithstanding this state of affairs in Ireland, the Earl was, on the 4th of
March, 1646, created “Duke of Somerset and Beaufort,” which title he
afterwards resigned, but the original patent, still existing at Badminton, is
translated as follows:—
“Charles, by the grace of God of England, France, and Ireland King,
Defender of the Faith, &c. To all our Archbishops, Dukes, Marquesses,
Earls, Viscounts, Bishops, Barons, Knights, Governors of Towns, Freemen,
and all other Officers, Ministers, and subjects to whom these Presents shall
come Greeting.
“We esteem the greatness of our Royal Dignity not only to be highly
adorned but even to be augmented and enlarged when men eminent for their
nobility and virtue, who have deserved well of their country, and by notable
achievements and particularly by trophys and other monuments of military
valour acquired at home and abroad and distinguished and adorned by any
illustrious accession of Honour, Dignity, or Titles.—And Whereas our right

trusty and well beloved Cousin Edward Somerset, alias Plantagenet, Knight
of the most noble order of the Garter, Earl of our County of Glamorgan, son
and heir apparent of our right trusty and well beloved Cousin Henry Earl
and Marquess of Worcester, Baron of the Honours of the castles of Raglan,
Chepstow, and Gower, a man eminent for the nobleness of his blood, and
his approved attachment and fidelity to us, (by always furnishing the most
ready supplies out of his own fortune to us in these most calamitous times)
Hath in a special manner recommended himself to our favour: as he is
rendered illustrious by a long train of noble ancestors, and by the high
nobility transmitted by paternal succession from John of Gaunt Duke of
Lancaster, and his son John Plantagenet Duke of Somerset, from the place
of his nativity surnamed Beaufort—and by other connections of blood with
the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York, to Charles the first Earl of
Worcester; All which dignity of birth and accumulated honours he hath
himself greatly surpassed by his own personal virtues and inviolable fidelity
to Us.
“For with what integrity, with what constancy, with what expense, he did
execute the royal command of President of the six counties of South Wales
and the places adjoining to the Severn coast? He was present at sieges and
battles.—With what courage and successful conduct did he take Goodridge
Castle, the Forest of Dean and the city of Hereford? In short, with what
remarkable good fortune, with what unhoped for success he made himself
master of the strongly fortified town of Monmouth? And not content with
the confined limits of one kingdom, go to the most distant places beyond
the seas, through the midst of hostile forces and the dangers of shipwreck,
yet at his own private expense, regardless of all dangers, at the loss of his
own private fortune, that he might raise succours for the support of the
tottering crown of his King. These things, &c.”
Endorsed—“1646, 4 March. 21 Charles I. Creation of Edward, Earl of
Glamorgan, Duke of Somerset and Beaufort, 4 March, 1646, and 21 C. I.”
This patent, worthless as it proved for confirming the title it was intended
to convey, may well serve to seal the duplicity of the monarch who could
thus intend to honour one whom he charged with treasonable acts, if not
with absolute forgery of warrants in his own name.
In March 1646, the Earl committed to writing the following
memorandum:—[13]

“Considerations and conclusions concerning the present state of my
affairs, 29 March, 1646.
“1. As the King has published such a Declaration, I think myself at
present incapable of serving him. Yet I am persuaded, that he has done this
unwillingly, and through the violent impulse of others, and on account of
the bad situation of his affairs. For which purpose, I am desirous to send
express to him a person of rank, and my relation; by whose means I shall
propose to his Majesty a method, by which he may enable me, under the
authority of the Great Seal, to proceed further, both in promoting the
interest of this nation, and his Majesty’s own, in such a manner, that his
forced renunciation shall not be openly touched upon, and yet my
justification, as far as it shall conduce to the good of this kingdom, so
sincerely desired by me, may attain its wished-for effect. The safety even of
the lowest person of this nation, is so truly at my heart, that I would not
expose the life of one man to danger on my own account, nor press the
transportation of the soldiers, till the return of the messenger to be sent to
the King.
“2. As I have received such instructions from the King as these, viz. If by
any unfortunate accident we should be involved in any counsels, in
appearance contrary to the powers given by us to you, you shall make no
other account of them, but by putting yourself in a condition to help us, and
set us free; I do not find any more expeditious way of relieving his Majesty
from his distress, than by taking no notice of anything which he has done
through compulsion, and by supporting this nation. But if the Supreme
Council will engage to adhere firmly to me, I will likewise oblige myself to
employ the ships and money, which I had before designed for England, to
the assistance of this nation, and devote my labours and endeavours to the
service of this kingdom, till we can all jointly succour his Majesty in
England. I desire, that the most illustrious and most reverend Nuncio of the
Apostolic See will first of all subscribe this treaty of ours.
“But in this affair, I require nothing of the Supreme Council, but their
private faith, till I shall return, by God’s blessing, with all things necessary.
And though I am sensible, how little this concerns my own interest, yet my
zeal prompts me to it. But I am extremely desirous, that General Preston
should march the troops, designed for me, into Munster, to compose the
commotions there, as well as to take care of this kingdom, whose safety is
greatly concerned in it, as that when, through God’s blessing, I return with

the subsidies, I may find an army ready. I desire, that our mutual
engagement may be committed to writing, and signed and sealed, and kept
under the most profound secrecy.”

The Earl of Glamorgan had designed a visit to Rome, anticipating
important assistance there, as well as the especial favour of the King in that
matter. But the Supreme Council, wearied by the expense of keeping a large
army, intended for the relief of Chester, finding no vessels were supplied
from England for that purpose, and being further discouraged by his
Majesty’s recent proceedings, finally resolved against sending any troops
out of Ireland. The critical state of affairs had become so acutely distressing
to the Earl, that in a letter addressed to Father Robert Nugent at Kilkenny,
he expressed the bitterness of his anguish in the most unrestrained
language, such as we find no example of in any other portion of his varied
correspondence.
To Father Robert Nugent, he thus wrote:—[13]
“Reverend Sir,
“I return you thanks for the messenger sent me on purpose, and your
letter; and desire you to signify to the Nuncio, that if all the devils on earth
and in hell had not conspired against me, I should not have been reduced to
these difficulties and distresses; and that the loss of life itself would have
been more tolerable to me, being now tired of it on account of the present
difficulty, and I can think of nothing but redeeming myself; assuring you,
that the misfortunes of my whole life have not perplexed me so much as
this: to remedy which, though I am pressed by letters and most urgent
business to go to Limerick, I still continue here. I swear to you, that I have
been disappointed of seven thousand pounds sterling, which I thought as
entirely my own as if the money had been actually paid to me; and all this
since the resolution was published against sending the soldiers to England. I
do not think it necessary to remind the Nuncio, that my enemies in Ireland
are exasperated against me, because they perceive me so warmly and
sincerely affected towards him, and know, that I shall always continue so;
and because I should not hesitate to expose my life and fortune to the
utmost danger, in order to bring to an issue his commission and business in
this kingdom. This seems to me to deserve, that some pity and toleration
should be shown towards me, especially in an event unforeseen by me, and

forced upon me, and which has given me a vexation, than which I can
imagine nothing more severe to me.
“I remain, in great affliction,
“Your affectionate Cousin and Servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, 3 May, 1646.”

His operations in Ireland were virtually terminated, every measure had
signally failed, and he was without hope, after the Parliamentary
publications, of regaining confidence with any party. Much as has been
written on this subject, and ably as it has been investigated by Dr. Birch and
other writers, it must be admitted that we gain little from the mass of
evidence accumulated to enlighten us in respect to the personal character of
the Earl of Glamorgan, beyond entire satisfaction that he acted solely as his
sovereign’s agent, at his instigation, and entirely under such authority as he
could alone give him under all the circumstances of such an important
secret mission. Charles the First’s confidence in him was by no means
misplaced, and he had no doubt well weighed his character before taking
him into his confidence. For this inquiry he had sufficient opportunity while
the Earl was at his court, and again while himself a guest at Raglan. He well
knew the weak side of the father and the son, the one expectant that his
Majesty would be “a defender of the faith,” the other warm-hearted, and
generous, to an extraordinary and enthusiastic degree. Not alone were the
Marquis and Lord Herbert deceived by the machinations of the wily
monarch, but so likewise were the whole Roman Catholic community. Had
it been otherwise we might suspect undue measures would have been
adopted, but wherever such were carried into effect they were on the side of
the Crown and not of the subject. Charles the First’s duality of character in
this respect has never been, nor can be, successfully refuted. Embarking,
therefore, in his Majesty’s cause, in Ireland, we cease to be surprised that
the Earl of Glamorgan should, consistently with his faith, be in constant
consultation with the Nuncio and conform to proffered oaths. In short, had
he adopted any other course than that which he pursued, his negociations
would from the first either have ceased, or merged into the dilatory
measures attending the Lord Lieutenant’s previous course, which it was
expected by the King that the Earl would be able to out-run and overmatch.
But his utmost diplomatic skill was insufficient to grapple with and satisfy
the grasping party on his own side; and he was equally unsuccessful placed

in opposition to such practised politicians as Ormond, Digby, and others.
And above all, a supreme difficulty must have been, the conducting of his
entire system to accord with the subtleties and secrecies of the King’s
personally communicated and private counsels. He was thus placed in many
painful straits, but which his ardent, vigorous temperament determined him
to overcome. In his position, however, the Earl felt a compulsory necessity
to maintain great secrecy; negociating with many mental reservations. He
had to satisfy the King, while he did not wish to disoblige Ormond, and
although there was a natural bond of sympathy between himself and the
Roman Catholic party, he could neither wholly accede to the Nuncio’s
measures nor satisfy the Council. To the best of his ability he consistently
and conscientiously employed the vast powers delegated to him for the
good of his King and his country through his own party; so that no
historian, not his most bitter, sarcastic enemies, can point to any single fact
that could cast the slightest taint on the rectitude of his conduct throughout
the unfortunate and unhappy transactions into which it was his misfortune
to be drawn by a too sanguine, hopeful, but helpless monarch.
On the 3rd of April the Earl wrote to the Marquis of Ormond:—[A]

“May it please your Excellency,
“With many thanks for your letter delivered me by Sir Vivien
Molineux, give me leave to congratulate your Excellency’s happy escape
from the mischievous intentions against you by the wicked enterprise for
the taking of the castle of Dublin. And as nobody joys more in your
deliverance than I do, so cannot any one wish more heartily than I, that all
the warnings which your Excellency hath had might prevail to persuade
you, in whom you might totally best confide, and of whom to beware; and
then with a stedfast resolution to adhere to your truest and most real friends.
Amongst whom, if your Excellency afford me not a place, I dare boldly say
that it is not for want of having already endeavoured to deserve the same by
serving you, with as great expressions, both public and private, as my wish
and will could possibly obtain unto. Neither shall my future actions be
inferior to what is past, but shall (God willing) enact those things wherein
my good will only can yet be seen: for upon the ground work of my
professed reality and affection unto your Excellency, and of your noble and
friendly acceptance thereof, have I ever thought to build a fabric of my
future services to his Majesty and most real friendship to yourself, whose

subsistence I tender as mine own. And if your Excellency’s first begotten
and expressed confidence in me had not been retarded by some unknown
means unto me, though I humbly and thankfully acknowledge you never
suffered it to be extinguished; give me leave to aver with truth, that your
Excellency ere this should have seen the remarkable effects thereof. But this
is so copious a theme, as that I fear already I have been too prolix, I will
therefore abridge myself, and not extend unto the latitude, which the truth
of this subject prompts me unto.
“And to the second part of your Excellency’s letter, give me leave to
thank you for your tenderness in not accepting the £2500 from me; but also
your Excellency may know, that it is upon a reliance thereon, that the
Council offered you the £3000, and for the performance thereof I am
enforced to this journey, without which against the prefixed time I could not
have supplied them with the money. Now to the latter part of your letter,
wherein you promise I should at large hear farther from you, as upon Friday
last; but yet have received no other your commands, which I expected,
before I thought it necessary to answer yours of the 24th of March. But
receiving no other your directions, I think it opportune to let your
Excellency know, that, of three vessels which I sent for a convoy unto the
Prince, Sir Nicholas Crispe, and Mr. Hasendanke, the merchant, I have but
one return, Captain Allen being taken and stript. And I hear a packet of your
Excellency’s, as well as letters, thrown overboard without weight, were
taken up; which I look for shortly to have in print.[B]
“By the sole return which came unto me, I received notice from the
Prince and those about him, in how ill a condition he was enforced to retire
into the Isle of Scilly, where he now is; and made use of Hasendanke’s
frigates to transport himself, whereby I was not only disappointed of what I
hoped for by the Prince, but also of his.
“Sir Nicholas Crispe indeed offers to send me three, but they were not
then with him, and he desires a return from me first, so that only my Lord
of Antrim’s frigates are come; and a ship with 18 pieces of ordnance, which
is hourly expected, and bought by me at Galway. Two Hollanders there are
likewise at Waterford, and two frigates likewise of Captain Antonio’s, and
the Spanish agents, which carry ordnance. These are all of force, and truly I
conceive, might, for so short a cut, be a sufficient convoy, were not Chester
taken, the Prince in so bad a condition, and some defeat of my brother’s
forces in Glamorganshire spoken of. But upon these considerations, how

hazardous it will be to send away a part of the army only. I humbly offer to
your Excellency, not speaking anything of a great disheartening and
discouragement some take at a pretended declaration of his Majesty against
me, though I myself value it so little, as that, could I, without shortening
much more advantage to his Majesty’s service, go myself in person with
6000 men, I should no ways boggle thereat. And as it now stands, to give
testimony that my zeal is not lessened to his service, and that you may have
further assurance of my care to your person, I make this offer, that if you
please to join, and together with the Supreme Council assure me, that
against my return I may have 10,000 men in readiness for his Majesty’s
service, I will immediately go and bring back with me twenty sail of good
shipping at the least, well furnished for men of war; £40,000 ready money;
10,000 musquets, 2,000 case of pistols, 800 barrels of powder, and a gallant
train of artillery.[C] For I shrink not at this instant from pain and expenses
out of diminution of zeal to his Majesty’s service, as by the present
difficulties propounded may perchance be surmised by others, though not
by your Excellency, who (I am confident) will make a right construction,
and how I only would willingly retire myself from further present charge, as
a ram doth to take a greater vease. For I am not so much frightened at the
bugbear declaration, but that, if I could go myself with a considerable force
and provisions, it should not any ways deter me, from the confidence I have
in his Majesty’s justice and goodness. It is true that two days since I have
sent to take myself off from paying demurrage, which would have
amounted to one hundred or two hundred pounds a day. But the shipping
are still under an embargo, and the soldiers designed for England no other
ways disposed of, who may in the interim until my return be useful unto
this kingdom, assisted by the Nuncio’s purse. If therefore your Excellency
resolve upon my journey, I pray send me immediate word by this
messenger, whom I have sent of purpose, assuring that the shipping I speak
of shall also attend this coast. And if (which God forbid) the King should be
already joined with the Parliament, and that my services for him there be
consequently rejected, I shall endeavour to serve his Majesty at my return in
preserving your Excellency and this kingdom for him; and nothing but an
extraordinary confidence in your Excellency’s goodness, and an infinite
zeal unto my master’s service, could make me take this resolution; which I
humbly submit to your better judgment, and ever remain,
“Your Excellency’s, &c.

“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, the 3rd of April, 1646.”

The reply made by the Marquis of Ormond,[D] to this noble offer, only
three days after, shows that he did not esteem it as being in any way
extravagant or impossible; he writes:—
“My Lord,
“I receive your gratulations and devices for my future security as
evident testimonies of your continued favour to me; and I am much joyed to
find, that the accidents fallen out concerning your Lordship have not left
any impression on you, to the prejudice of the real affection you give me to
bear you.
“My Lord, I had, according to my promise, given you a larger account of
things here; but that, at the concluding of the articles, we found ourselves so
straitened in time, that many material parts of the agreement were fain to be
put in another way than was first thought of; and at this instant I am so
pressed with important despatches from Kilkenny, that I shall be able but
shortly and confusedly to give you a return to the main parts of your
Lordship’s [letter] of the 3rd of this month, which came to my hands
yesterday about noon. Touching the noble and large offer you are pleased to
make of shipping, arms, ammunition, and a train of artillery for the King’s
service, in case you may receive assurance from those in power among the
confederates, and from me, that ten thousand men shall be ready against
your return, to be transported to serve the King in England. I return your
Lordship this answer, that I shall, and by this letter do, cheerfully oblige
myself for as much as shall lie in my power, either in my public or private
capacity, to have that number of men in the readiness you expect; and to
compass it, am contented all the remainder of my fortune should stand
engaged. If your Lordship can procure as much as this from the other party,
I conceive you will proceed in your intended voyage with satisfaction, and
return (I hope) with success; which is earnestly wished by
“Your Lordship’s, &c.
“Ormond.
“Dublin Castle, the 6th of April, 1646.”

The following letter from the King, dated the 20th of July, 1646,[E]
originally written in cipher, while it shows the estimation in which he justly
held the Earl of Glamorgan, only throws a darker shade on his own

mysterious and inexplicable line of policy. The Earl’s zeal and unbounded
confidence in his Royal Master (determining rather to die in his service than
to break faith with him), served, as they well might to continue him in his
favour:—
“Glamorgan,
“I am not so strictly guarded, but that if you send to me a prudent
and secret person, I can receive a letter, and you may signify to me your
mind, I having always loved your person and conversation, which I ardently
wish for at present more than ever, if it could be had without prejudice to
you, whose safety is as dear to me as my own. If you can raise a large sum
of money by pawning my kingdoms[F] for that purpose, I am content you
should do it; and if I recover them, I will fully repay that money. And tell
the Nuncio, that if once I can come into his and your hands, which ought to
be extremely wished for by you both, as well for the sake of England as
Ireland, since all the rest, as I see, despise me, I will do it. And if I do not
say this from my heart, or if in any future time I fail you in this, may God
never restore me to my kingdoms in this world, nor give me eternal
happiness in the next, to which I hope this tribulation will conduct me at
last, after I have satisfied my obligations to my friends, to none of whom
am I so much obliged as to yourself, whose merits towards me exceed all
expressions, that can be used by
“Your constant Friend,
“Charles R.
“From Newcastle, July 20th, 1646.”

On receipt of this letter in Ireland, a copy of it was sent to the Pope, who
is related to have shed tears, with mingled feelings of gratification and
sorrow, the King’s circumstances being so desperate; while at the same time
his determination to favour the Irish and English Roman Catholics in all
their demands was, to all appearance, proportionably increased. The Earl of
Glamorgan, on his part, sent his suggestions and devised a plan for his
Majesty’s safe conduct to Ireland; but the scheme either failed or was
abandoned.
On the 30th of August, the Earl addressed a long letter to the Lord
Lieutenant,[G] when he must have been unaware of the fate of Raglan
Castle:—

“May it please your Excellency,
“I have this long time expected your commands, which to receive,
having sent two expresses, I verily believed would have come ere this into
my hands; trusting likewise to Mr. Walsingham’s solicitations; but as yet I
have neither heard from him nor your Excellency, one word since his
departure, and receiving an earnest desire from the Nuncio to speak with
me; as understanding likewise how prejudicial it might be to me, and
especially to my brother who is in Italy, if the dean whom he hath sent
thither, should depart without satisfaction from me of so pressing an
occasion, as was by my Lord Nuncio pretended unto me. I repaired thither
on Saturday last, with so much the more contentment as that I persuaded
myself that your Excellency would be at Kilkenny, and I so much the nearer
to kiss your hands; but I now return to the county of Clare, there to expect
your commands. Yet let me not forget to give you an account of the
business I was sent for. The rumour being spread that the Concessions
(which some call mine) were to be printed and published at Kilkenny, as I
have absolutely disowned any such thing to my Lord Nuncio, and denied to
patronise the same; so I think myself bound to acquaint your Excellency,
and by your means the Council Table, how mindful I am of the favours I
there received, so as not to incur the least censure of yours and theirs by
enacting anything, for which I had already a check. And certainly it cannot
be imagined that the Supreme Council which was, could expect or desire
any such thing at my hands, since they never urged to take off my
recognizance, which through innocency I also neglected, and I joy to be
disengaged from so perilous a business, protesting before Almighty God,
that since that time I have entered into no new engagements unto them; and
what hath passed before (conditions not having been held with me), none of
the Commissioners themselves can think them obligatory, all other reasons
also considered. Besides, when they had first thought to make use of them,
it was resolved, that after the completing of conditions with your
Excellency, they might bear a true date subsequent thereunto; and how
invalid they are without the same is sufficiently evident, abstracting from
the King’s declaration, which (though enforced upon him), I esteem it yet a
warning for further proceedings therein, and fit only for great persons, who
can maintain the same, to go contrary to the intimation of his Majesty’s
pleasure, though never so compulsorily granted. For as I never have, nor
will esteem, and be frighted at the contradiction of any others, when the

intimation of his Majesty’s pleasure continues to me in any particular
unrevoked; so, on the contrary, can I never be drawn, for any man’s
pleasure, to go immediately contrary to what proceedeth from him, deeming
it not my part to enter into dispute which way his Majesty is induced, when
I see his positive act extant. Let this, therefore (I beseech your Excellency),
give you and the world satisfaction, that I no ways countenance the standing
upon any articles heretofore treated of by me, who am no more tied to make
anything thereof good, than any man is to deliver up the possession of his
lands for which he never received the consideration agreed upon. Besides,
in order to the King’s subsistence, one man was then more considerable
than three now. In fine, having washed my hands of that business, verify I
will that proverb that the Child burned dreads the fire. And those noble
Lords, who stand my bail, may be confident, I shall never deservedly put
them in fright, or myself in danger to save them further harmless; or to
show such ingratitude to your Excelleney and the Council as to own those
concessions which they so much endeavoured to prevent. And thus fearing
to have been too tedious, I abruptly kiss your Lordship’s hands and ever
remain
“Your Excellency’s, &c.
“Glamorgan.
“Waterford, the 30th of August, 1646.”

Ormond replied under date, Dublin Castle, the 2nd of September, 1646,
saying—“I must profess myself exceedingly satisfied with the prudence of
your Lordship’s carriage at Waterford, and with the wisdom of the
resolution you have taken in the particular of those things now endeavoured
to be fastened upon you;” ... and which course he designates “a thing so
much to your Lordship’s honour and advantage.”
Under date of 11th of September, the Earl again addressed the Lord
Lieutenant:[H]

“May it please your Excellency,
“I think myself very happy in that the resolution which appeared in
my letter unto you proved so acceptable, as by the noble expressions of
your letter and of my Lord Digby’s I find it is, and do humbly acknowledge
infinite thanks for your Excellency’s great desire of seeing me; and had the
self-same letter informed me of any service I could have done you, I should
have been far from taking the resolution which I now have put on,

correspondent unto my expressions in my last unto your Excellency, and
unto the sense for which the commendations given me by you (I conceive)
do proceed: which was to keep myself free from having any part in those
most unfortunate and newly occasioned distractions, from which the further
I withdraw myself, and the sooner, suits best with my disposition. Besides,
my intentions wherewith I came into this kingdom were first to serve his
Majesty and it; and next to serve your Excellency above all his subjects,
and my own friends, which being now frustrated, that part only remains
which can only die with myself, which is Omnibus viis et modis, to
endeavour to promote his Majesty’s service, finding myself more capable
and more probable for to do it elsewhere for this present, than in this
kingdom. I hasten towards the sea-side, where I am informed some
conveniency of shipping will afford; ... yet I could not omit to send a person
of trust and confidence, by whom your Excellency may send unto me
before my departure such notions as perhaps you may think not fit to put to
paper. And if, either by word of mouth or writing sent by so trusty a person
as Mr. Joyner (by whom I have sent you the reasons, that debar me of the
happiness to kiss your Excellency’s hands in transitu), I find myself thought
capable by you to serve his Majesty or your Excellency longer in these
parts, and more advantageously than what I am now going about, you may
be confident to receive such a return from me as may best stand with my
duty to his Majesty and my affection to your person, to whom my
professions have been ever real; and had my ambition and only thoughts
taken place, I dare boldly say, I should have vied with the nearest person in
blood or affection you have in Ireland, in the reality of being ever,
“Your Excellency’s most really
“affectionate kinsman and
“devoted servant,
“Glamorgan.
“Limerick, the 11th of September, 1646.”

Among the Carte MSS. in the Bodleian Library, from which the
foregoing letter is taken, there occurs a curious undated letter written in
cipher, which it is just possible may be the writing above named “sent by so
trusty a person as Mr. Joyner.” The annexed engraving is a facsimile of an
endorsement at the back of it in the Earl’s own hand-writing, affording the
only specimen approaching to an autograph exemplifying his use of the title
of Glamorgan[I] yet made public: every effort to obtain it in any other form
having proved unavailing. And on page 180, an exact copy is given of the
letter itself, as traced from the original.

Facsimile of a letter written by the Earl of Glamorgan, September, 1646–7.

The Nuncio wrote from Kilkenny on the 21st of September, 1646, to
Cardinal Pamphilio at Rome,[J] as follows:—

“Among other patents and commissions signed by the King, and brought
by the Earl of Glamorgan from England, there is one, appointing him Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, upon the expiration of the Marquis of Ormond’s term
of holding that post, or in case the Marquis should, by any fault, deserve to
be removed from it. For this reason, I was of opinion, that the Earl, who had
designed to go to Rome, should stay for the present in this kingdom,
imagining, that a way might perhaps be opened for accomplishing this
affair. And in fact the way seems open for us, since the Marquis of Ormond
is now publicly negotiating with the Parliamentarians, and consequently
making a treaty with the King’s enemies. Upon which occasion, the Earl,
being desirous of advancing himself to the Marquis’s post, has begun to
solicit the consent of the kingdom, and believes, that he has the interest of
the two Generals, and all the Congregation of the Clergy and the New
Council. I have thought it the more proper to promote this affair, since when
Dublin shall be taken, it will be immediately necessary for the kingdom to
provide a Lord Lieutenant. And it is a point of no small importance to the

present situation of affairs, to begin with appointing to that post a Catholic,
so highly beloved by this kingdom and the King himself. Besides it is to be
considered, that the King’s inclination and pleasure concurs with this
design; for though his Majesty has appointed the Earl by his lesser seal
only, yet that is sufficient for the Irish, since they have just reason to
consider that appointment as legal and valid. Add to this, that as the
Confederates of Ireland have it in their view to transport the Holy Faith into
England by their arms, no person appears to be more fit for the execution of
such a purpose, than the Earl, in whom two characters are united, that of a
faithful servant to the King, and a perfect Catholic; and who, the winter
before, was ready to carry over to the King from that country ten thousand
men for the same purposes. Some, and those but a few, oppose this design,
upon this single consideration, that the Earl being both an Englishman and
of a very mild temper, will not be favourable enough to Ireland, nor exert
the firmness necessary in this case. But I believe no better choice can now
possibly be made, and that the appointment of a Catholic Lord Lieutenant,
who is in so many respects attached to the Apostolical See, and bound to it
by oath and promises, which the Earl has a hundred times repeated to me, is
sufficient to weigh down every other doubt.”

And about the 28th of the same month the Earl took the following Oath[K]
to the Nuncio:—
“I, Edward Earl of Glamorgan, &c. faithfully promise and swear,
that I will do nothing of moment without the consent and approbation of the
most illustrious Nuncio; and if I shall happen to do anything imprudently,
which shall not be approved by him, I will correct my error upon the first
intimation of his pleasure, and obey his commands. If it should be more
conducive to the praise and glory of God, the splendour of the Catholic
Church, and the happiness of this kingdom, that the post of Lord Lieutenant
be conferred upon another person rather than myself; I swear, that I will
readily and without reluctance resign it, at the command of the most
illustrious Nuncio. And in all things I vow a perfect, voluntary, and
religious obedience to his Holiness, saving any secular obligations towards
my most serene King. And if I fail in any part of the oath taken by me, I
consent, that the said oath be published, and myself exposed; otherwise the
said oath shall be communicated only to the Bishop of Fernes, Chancellor
of the Congregation, and Father Robert Nugent, Superior of the Jesuits in

Ireland. In confirmation of this oath voluntarily taken by me, I have written
all this with my own hand, subscribed my name, and affixed my seal, the
28th of September, 1646.
“Glamorgan.”
These various letters and documents make us familiar with the Earl of
Glamorgan’s Irish treaties,[L] and to a great extent with the cause of their
failure: a most happy and provident circumstance for himself, his family,
and above all for his country. His conduct throughout, notwithstanding the
many temptations in his way, and his own naturally enthusiastic conduct in
every enterprise in which he engaged, bears none of the distinguishing traits
of intolerant bigotry. The King had already sapped the Earl’s available
property, and was continually tantalising him with the prospect of coming
fortune and ample honours. He fawned on the old Marquis and flattered his
son; inducing the one to place his wealth, and the other his honour and
happiness at his disposal. Perhaps in the whole course of his political
scheming he never succeeded so completely, as in this instance, in
thoroughly victimising any single noble family.
On the 1st of October, 1646, the House of Lords ordered, That a pass be
granted to the Lady Herbert, Countess of Glamorgan, into Ireland, with
thirty of her menial servants, etc.[M][74] So that from August, when she left
Raglan Castle, with the other inmates, to this period, she must have been a
wanderer.
Towards the close of the year 1646, it was decided between the Earl and
his own party, to send his brother, the Lord John Somerset, a zealous
Catholic, on a mission to the Pope. The Earl’s complicity with the clergy in
these affairs, which had been conducted with great secrecy, occasioned
much suspicion, creating for him many enemies among the Protestant party.
In August, 1647, the Marquis of Ormond, leaving Ireland, waited on
Charles the First at Hampton Court: Dublin being besieged, and likely to
fall into possession of the English Parliament.
While affairs were in this distracted state the Earl was apprised of his
father’s decease, in December, 1646; and as Marquis of Worcester, he wrote
from Galway to the titular Bishop of Fernes:—[26]
“My noble Lord,
“Although the place whither I go be now changed upon serious
consideration, and my Lord Nuncio’s concurrence therein, as most

advantageous super totam materiam, yet are my intentions the same they
were when I left your Lordship; and I hope a shorter way contrived to them
than I then imagined, having found a probable (I may call it even a certain)
way to bring the Queen about to befriend this nation. In the interim, I
beseech your Lordship, together with the Lord Bishop of Clogher and Mr.
Rochfort, to be mindful of your promises to me, and to be sure that General
O’Neile dissent not from the letter which you approved; the contents
whereof I have not failed accordingly to recommend to his Majesty: and if I
should deceive him therein, I must betake myself unto your Lordship’s
advice and approbation, given thereupon. The copy of the original letter,
together with the Nuncio’s recommendation, are to be delivered to General
O’Neile by Father Definitor; and I have no more to say than that your
Lordships (as I have said before), with Mr. Rochfort are the Triumvirate and
the pillars upon whom I build, making no question of the goodness of that
foundation; and I hope none of you do of my affection, which is not only
devoted to yourselves, but as you shall further apply it to such persons as
may be useful to God’s service, the King my master’s, and the good of this
kingdom. And so, with my service to you all, I ever remain,
“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most humble
“and devoted Servant,
“Worcester.
“Galway, 12th Oct. 1647.”

His Lordship ultimately left Ireland in company with Father George
Leyburn, a Roman Catholic priest, with whom he went to France in March,
1647–8.[61]

Footnotes
[13] Birch, p. 175.
[13] Birch, p. 182; Nuncio’s Memoirs; and Siri, Mercurio, Vol. viii.
[87] Rushworth, Part IV. vol. I. p. 249.
[13] Birch, Inq. p. 184.
[13] Birch, p. 188.
[13] Birch, p. 192.

[A] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63.” No. 172.
[B] See page 124.
[C] This statement agrees pretty nearly with that occurring at page
160, and in “The Earl of Glamorgan’s instructions to me, to be presented
to your Majesty,” signed by Edward Bosden, 21st of March, 1644, viz.:
—
“That, God willing, by the end of May or beginning of June, he will
land with 6000 Irish, &c. &c.
“That to advance these his undertakings, he hath £30,000 ready,
10,000 muskets, 2000 case of pistols, 800 barrels of powder, besides his
own artillery; and is ascertained of £30,000 more, which will be ready
upon his return.” See the “King’s Cabinet opened,” 4to. 1645. And
Birch’s Inquiry, 1756, p. 57.
[D] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63.” No. 175.
[E] A Latin copy is in the Nuncio’s Memoirs, and in Italian in
Vittorio Liri’s Mercurio, Vol. vii. p. 97, 98. Translation in Birch’s
Inquiry, 8vo. 1756, p. 244.
[F] Being empowered by the King’s Commission of the 1st April,
1644
[G] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63.” No. 202.
[H] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers, 1634–1657, Ireland, 63.” No. 207.
[I] The autograph of Glamorgan is said by Dr. Lingard to have
attested a copy of his Warrant of 12th January, 1644; possibly the one
originally handed by him to the Marquis of Ormond. It is not, however,
among his papers at St. Cuthbert’s College, Durham.
[J] Nuncio’s Memoirs, fol. 1376–1379. Birch, Inq. p. 253–256.
[K] See his previous Oath, page 159.
[L] See his own explanations, given in a letter to the Earl of
Clarendon, dated 11th June, 1660.
[M] Lords’ Jour. VIII. 507.
[74] Nichols.

[26] Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 380.
[61] Leyburn, p. 61.

CHAPTER XI.
THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER AN EXILE; RESIDES IN FRANCE.
The Earl of Glamorgan, succeeding to his father’s title and honours in
December, 1646, while he was yet in Ireland, very soon after, as we have
seen, went to France, a voluntary exile. His countrymen had heaped on him
(in common with the entire Roman Catholic adherents to the royal cause)
all the acrimonious abuse which political and religious intolerance is always
too ready to disseminate, with a zealous ardour which defies discrimination.
His fate, it is true, was the general fate of hundreds of noble families,
condemned in like manner to suffer for their loyalty. While we are prone to
praise what is gained by a rebellion, we are apt to overlook whether the
civil war entered upon for effecting it, might not have been avoided; and
while lauding times which bring to light some great military and naval
spirits or still greater statesmen, we overlook entirely the possibility of
altogether destroying the mental energies of men of brighter intellects,
doomed to fall in the flower of their age on the field of battle. The blessings
of good government all readily admit, but sad indeed is it, when wholesome
changes in a state have to be effected through convulsions that paralyse a
nation’s advance in civilization.
It is clear, on a retrospect, that much has been delayed, much missed, and
more possibly lost that otherwise might have arisen from energies
sacrificed, alas! to the sword, and fortunes turned into other and wasteful
channels. In this nineteenth century we can calmly look with some wonder
and astonishment on the indifference of the seventeenth, in failing to realize
at least some of the Marquis of Worcester’s remarkable Inventions, of
which we shall shortly have to treat more at large.
On the 18th of September, 1646, the House of Commons “Ordered, That
the Lady Herbert, wife of the Lord Herbert of Raglan, shall have Mr.
Speaker’s pass to go into France, only according to the pass given her by
Sir Thomas Fairfax.”
Mr. Carte,[24] in his life of the Duke of Ormond, incidentally alludes to the
Marquis of Worcester, as being at Paris a few months before March, 1648;
he says:—

“In 1648, the Duke of Ormond considered the Parliament was grown
jealous of him, and wanted a pretext to seize his person. He had notice
likewise given him, that a warrant was actually issued out for that purpose,
though in breach of the articles.[A] Upon this advertisement, he quitted
Acton—ten miles from Bristol, where he was then residing,—and crossing
the country to Hastings in Sussex, he took shipping for France, and landed
happily at Dieppe in Normandy. From thence he went in the beginning of
March [1648] to Paris, there to wait upon the Queen and Prince, and assist
with his advice in the present conjuncture of affairs, when matters of the
greatest consequence, the most intricate nature, and the most embroiled
circumstances, were under their consideration, and resolutions to be taken
therein for his Majesty’s service:”—he having just previously escaped from
the Isle of Wight.
“The Earl of Glamorgan[B] had come to Paris a few months before him,
recommended by the Nuncio Rinuccini to Cardinal Mazarine, and to the
Pope’s Nuncio in that place, on account of his attachment to the Holy See,
though unfortunate in all his undertakings, and not endued with that
prudence which was necessary to the post he desired. His business there
was to solicit the Queen to make him Governor of Ireland, but he met with
so ill a reception at Court, that he soon despaired of succeeding. His Lady,
to whom the Marquis of Ormond had once made his addresses, (before he
had hopes of marrying his cousin, and uniting the estate of his family)
resented the neglect shewed of her Lord, and imputed it, as well as his
imprisonment at Dublin, to the influence and power of the Marquis. She
carried her resentment so far, that when he waited upon her after his arrival
at Paris, and offered to salute her, she turned away her face with great
disdain. The Marquis thereupon made her a reverence, and with great
presence of mind, said, ‘Really, Madam, this would have troubled me
eighteen years ago;’[C] and then went to the next, the company present being
of his acquaintance, and much pleased with what he had said.”
We may here pause to remark that, from the close of the year 1640, when
the Long Parliament commenced its memorable sittings, the prominent
events affecting the history of art and science in England are comparatively
meagre, as might be expected, while the public mind was being perpetually
distracted and disturbed not by intestine war alone, but also by plague and
pestilence in fearful forms.

Of remarkable events of the period we especially notice the fortifying of
London in 1643, and the delivering up of Charles the First to the Parliament
by the Scots in January 1647, followed by his execution on the 30th of
January 1649, the establishment of the Commonwealth on the 6th of
February following, and of the Protectorate under Cromwell in 1654.
Under the new regime, public taste either was greatly changed, or was to
be compulsorily directed into new channels, for, in 1647, theatrical
performances were prohibited, actors were declared rogues and vagabonds,
and all places usually employed for theatrical performances were ordered to
be demolished. Such was the narrow-minded and furious puritanical zeal of
the then governing power.
Charles the Second held his Court at Paris, where alone the Marquis of
Worcester associated with the libertine monarch; at least no circumstance
occurs to show that he ever removed with the Court in its several changes to
Cologne, Bruges, Brussels, and other continental towns.
Sir Richard Browne, ambassador at Paris, in his correspondence with
John Evelyn, when writing from Paris, the 3rd of August, 1648, incidentally
observes in a postscript:—“Our Court wants money, and lives very quietly
at St. Germains: where no peer appears but my Lord Jermin. The Marquis
of Worcester, the Lords Digby and Hatton, though yet in France, yet live for
the most part in Paris.”[37]
The Marquis had been little more than a year in France, when he seems
to have written to the exiled King, then at Jersey, for some confirmation of
his titles; to which request he received the following courtly compliments
and vain empty promises:—[D]

“My Lord Worcester,
I am truly sensible of your great merit and sufferings in the service
of the King my father, and I shall never be wanting to reward and encourage
as well that kindness to his person as that zeal to his service which you have
expressed in all your actions, and which I doubt not but you will still
continue to me. I fear that in this conjuncture of time it will not be
seasonable for me to grant, nor for you to receive the addition of honour
you desire; neither can I at this time send the order you mention concerning
the Garter, but be confident that I will in due time give you such satisfaction
in these particulars and in all other things that you can reasonably expect
from me, as shall let you see with how much truth and kindness I am

“Your affectionate friend,
“Charles R.
“I do not send the letter to Monsieur Monbrun till I understand more
particularly from you what the intention of it is, which I do not yet well
understand.
“Jersey, 21/31 of Octob. 1649.
“For the Marquis of Worcester.”

The Marquis was probably for four or five years a refugee in France,
intimately associated with the exiled Court; “Paris and indeed all France
(says Evelyn[37]), being full of loyal fugitives,” in 1650. Many vague
surmises have originated with different writers to account for the manner in
which he passed his time abroad, all alike fallacious, being inconsistent
with facts. It is certain that his finances were equally straitened with those,
not only of the nobility around him, but likewise of the King himself. He
could have had but few, if any, opportunities for leisurely engaging in his
usual studies, much less for any practical pursuits in experimental natural
philosophy. That he was not wholly idle, however, we may well conceive;
yet it is more consistent to suppose that it was a period in his life which he
would most likely employ to investigate the works of those writers whose
labours he most affected, rather than engage himself in productions which
might only add to the danger as well as the difficulties of his uncertain
journeyings, surrounded as the Court was with political spies.
During the Marquis’s absence on the continent, we proceed to trace the
progress of events at home.

Footnotes
[24] Carte, vol. 2. p. 16.
[A] He had liberty by his articles to stay twelve months in England
—but the Parliament was jealous of his doing them a disservice.
[B] See Nuncio’s Memoirs, fol. 1818. Ireland, iii. 100.
[C] See her Marriage in 1639, page 30.
[37] Evelyn. The Editor of the Diary erroneously indexes the
Marquis as—“Henry Somerset, &c.,” instead of “Edward Somerset, &c.”
[D] From MSS. Badminton.

[37] Evelyn.

CHAPTER XII.
AFFAIRS AFFECTING THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER’s FAMILY,
IN RESPECT OF WORCESTER HOUSE AND OTHER PROPERTY IN
AND NEAR LONDON.
Worcester House, in the Strand, was of course early in possession of the
Parliament, who used it for the state paper and other public offices. The
mansion had gardens to the water-side.[A] In the reign of Henry VIII. it had
belonged to the see of Carlisle; it was afterwards inhabited by the Earls of
Bedford, being then known as Bedford and Russell House, from whom it
came to the Earls of Worcester, when it assumed their name. It also figured
as the temporary residence of the great Earl of Clarendon,[37] who is
represented to have paid for it a rental of £500[2] per annum, probably taking
it furnished.
On the 21st of April, 1643, the House of Commons had[57] ordered, “That
the iron seized in Worcester House, be forthwith sold; and the proceeds
delivered to the collectors in the county of Middlesex, appointed by the
ordinance for seizing the estates of Papists, and notorious malignants; to the
end that they may be accountable to the Committee for it: And that no
Committee, or other person, do grant out Warrants for seizing the estates of
malignants, without the knowledge of that Committee; in regard there is an
ordinance settled to that purpose, and a Committee armed with power for
the execution of the said Ordinance, in all the points and circumstances
hereof.”
In pursuance of an Ordinance of Parliament,[B] passed the 11th of
September, 1646, contracts were concluded by the Government with
various purchasers of houses, stables, sheds and plots of ground, the joint
property of the Marquis of Worcester and his brother, Sir John Somerset,
some situated in the parish of Clements Danes in the Strand, a part in Drury
Lane, and smaller tenements in Fish-Street Hill, Cross Lane, and Coppings
Court, in the City; together with a house, farm and land in Stepney, “alias
Stebunheath;” also the manor of Acton, with its farm-house, buildings, and
805 acres of land; the whole for the sum of £12,584. 12s.—Nearly half this
amount arose from the purchases of “William Pennoyer and Richard Hill of

London, merchants,” to whom the Government was indebted in the sum of
£9,402. 5s.—which was to be paid out of such sales of this property, and
any amount remaining was to bear “interest after the rate of £8. per centum
for a year.” And they had further the option of claiming any purchases of
the property not paid for within ten days; so that either out of purchases or
by forfeitures they were secured for their balance of £3,199. 13s. over and
above their own purchases.[C]
That Worcester House became a depot for the security of treasure seized
by the Parliament, we learn from a Resolution passed by the Commons [57]
on the 10th of January, 1650.
“Resolved, That Colonel Berksted be, and is hereby, required to appoint
four of his soldiers to lodge every night at Worcester House; and four other
of his soldiers to lodge every night at Guildhall; for the better securing the
treasuries there, from time to time, as the Treasurers at War shall appoint.”
On the 11th of February following, the House,[57] among other business—
“Ordered, That it be referred to the Council of State, to dispose of
Worcester House, and the yards and gardens thereunto belonging, for the
best carrying on of the public service of the Commonwealth.”
The Marchioness of Worcester, being deprived of other sources of
property, petitioned the Parliament in respect to the only likely means of
obtaining pecuniary consideration. A copy of her petition, being a printed
folio fly-leaf, probably as then in use for members of the House, preserved
in the Library of the British Museum, has upon it the MS. date “October
1654,” but it is more probable that it was not presented to Parliament before
the end of 1656 or early in 1657. It is as follows:—

“To the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and
Ireland.
“The humble Petition of Margare[t Somerset] Countess of Worcester.
“Sheweth,
“That your Petitioner having been married to Edward, now Earl of
Worcester, in the year 1639, with a considerable portion, to the value of
twenty thousand pounds, and not having received out of the whole estate
but four hundred pounds these nine neares [years], in lieu of jointure, fifths,
or thirds. Notwithstanding her claim and four years’ attendance: and finding
now only Worcester House unsold, and in pursuit to discover some other
little thing.

“Your Petitioner humbly prayeth your Honours, to grant her
the benefit of the said House, and such other things as may
be discovered.
“And your Petitioner shall ever pray, &c.”

Every circumstance connected with this petition acquires interest from
the peculiar position of the times, and of all parties interested. The Marquis
of Worcester had rendered himself highly obnoxious to the dominant party,
he was beyond their power, a recusant and a papist, and here was his noble
Lady petitioning the Cromwellian Parliament in respect to her rights, a
papist demanding her fifths at the hands of her husband’s bitterest enemies.
We need, therefore, offer no apology for tracing rather more particularly
than might otherwise seem requisite, the course pursued in this simple
affair.
On Monday, the 30th of March, 1657, Mr. Burton[22] reports from the
Committee, to whom the Petition of Margaret Countess of Worcester was
referred;
“A Bill for settling the messuage in the Strand, called Worcester House,
on Trustees, for the life of Edward, Earl of Worcester, in trust, for Margaret,
Countess of Worcester, in lieu and satisfaction of the arrears of her fifths,
was this day read the first time; and, upon the question, ordered to be read
the second time, on Thursday morning next.”
On Saturday, the 2nd of May, 1657.
“The Bill for settling Worcester House upon Margaret Countess of
Worcester, and some discoveries, in lieu of the arrears of her fifths, was this
day read the second time; and, upon the question, committed to Mr. Nath.
Bacon, Mr. Franc. Bacon, Mr. Burton, and 29 other members, to meet on
Tuesday next.”
On Friday, the 16th of June, 1657, “a Bill for settling of Worcester House
upon Christofer Copley, Esquire, and William Hawley, Esquire, during the
life of Edward, Earl of Worcester, and also such monies as were due to the
said Earl or Margaret his Countess, from Barnaby, Earl of Thomond; in
trust for the said Countess, was this day read the third time.
“The humble petition of Barnaby, Earl of Thomond, was this day read:
“A Proviso was tendered to this Bill, in these words; viz. ‘Provided that
this shall not impeach or invalid the sale of the Gate-house of the said
Worcester House, by the trustees appointed for the sale thereof.’

“Which was read the first and second time; and, upon the question,
agreed to be part of the Bill.
“And the said Bill, with the Schedule annexed, being put to the question,
passed.
“Ordered, That this Bill be tendered to the Lord Protector, for his
consent.”
After other business, the Speaker, with the whole House, repaired to the
Painted Chamber, to present the Bills to his Highness, who gave his assent
to this, along with other Bills.[57]
After much delay, from unexplained postponements and references, it
was at length, on the 24th of March, 1658–9, resolved, to agree with the
Committee’s recommendation.[22] We, therefore, find on the 14th of April,
1659,[57] after prayers—
“Mr. Terill reports from the Grand Committee of the House of
Grievances, the state of the case, upon the petition of Margaret, Countess of
Worcester, concerning her interest in Worcester House in the Strand.
“Resolved, &c. That Margaret, Countess of Worcester, have the actual
possession of Worcester House in the Strand delivered up to her on the 25th
day of March next: and that, in the meantime, the rent of £300 be paid to
her for the said house, for this year, commencing from the 25th day of
March last, out of the receipt of the Exchequer, half yearly, by equal
portions, if her interest therein shall so long continue.
“Resolved, &c. That the sum of £400 be paid to Margaret, Countess of
Worcester, or her assignees, out of the receipt of the Exchequer, in
recompense of all demands for the detaining of Worcester House from her
since her title thereto, by virtue of the late act of Parliament, until the 25th
day of March last.
“Sir George Booth, Sir William Wheeler, Mr. Raleigh, Sir William
Doyley, Mr. Annesley, or any three of them, are appointed a Committee to
wait on his Highness, the Lord Protector, from this House, to desire his
Highness to give direction for a Privy-Seal to be issued for the payment, as
well of £400 allowed to the Countess of Worcester, for her recompense of
all demands for detaining of Worcester House from her since her title
thereunto, by the late act of Parliament; as of the rent of £300 appointed to
be paid to her for this present year, for the said house, to end on the 25th of
March next.

“Resolved, &c. That it be referred to a Committee, to consider how to
remove, and where to place, the conveyances, records, and other writings,
now remaining at Worcester House, so as they may be disposed for their
safety, and the service of the Commonwealth. “A Committee accordingly
appointed.”
“Tuesday, the 19th of April, 1659[D]

“Mr. Annesley reports from the Committee appointed to attend his
Highness about the payment of £400 to the Countess of Worcester, in
satisfaction of all demands due to her, for the use of Worcester House, till
the 25th day of March last; and of £300 more for the rent of the said house
for this present year, to end the 25th day of March next; that the Committee
had attended his Highness, and acquainted him with the Orders of this
House in that behalf: that his Highness was pleased to give the Committee
this answer, That he assured himself the House had considered of her
interest; and that himself was therewith satisfied; and did take notice of the
Orders; and would give speedy direction for her satisfaction accordingly.”
“Saturday, August 20th, 1659.[E]
“Ordered, That the sum of £6 by the week shall be paid unto Margaret,
Countess of Worcester, or her assigns, so long as Worcester House shall be
made use of by the Commonwealth; to be paid to her, or her assigns, out of
the contingencies of the Council of State: and the acquittance of the said
Margaret, Countess of Worcester, testifying the receipt thereof, shall be a
sufficient discharge in that behalf.
“Ordered, That the Commissioners for removing of obstructions, trustees,
contractors, and other officers, at Worcester House, do quit the said house,
as soon as they can conveniently, without prejudice to the service of the
Commonwealth: and that when the said house shall be quitted, that the
same shall be settled upon the Countess of Worcester, or upon trustees to
her use, during the life of Edward, Earl of Worcester: And it is “Ordered,
That it be referred to a Committee, to set out some rooms in Worcester
House, for the use of the said Countess of Worcester in the meantime: And
it is further—
“Ordered, That the said Committee do also examine whether it is
necessary for the Commonwealth to continue to make use of Worcester
House for the service of the Commonwealth; or whether it be best to take

some other course for the accommodation of the said Commissioners, &c.
at Worcester House, &c.”
“Wednesday, 14th March, 1659. Afternoon.[F]

“An act for settling Worcester House in the Strand upon trustees, for the
use of Margaret, Countess of Worcester, during the life of Edward, Earl of
Worcester; and also such monies as are due to the said Earl or Countess,
from Barnaby, Earl of Thomond, was this day read the first time.
“Ordered, That the pension of six pounds a week formerly ordered to
Margaret, Countess of Worcester, be continued until the Parliament take
further order; and that the same be forthwith paid, with all arrears thereof,
from the time of the granting thereof unto her the said Margaret, Countess
of Worcester, or her assigns, out of the contingencies of the Council of
State: And that the Council of State be, and are hereby, authorized and
required forthwith to pay the same, accordingly: And that the Council of
State be repaid the same money out of the public revenue of the Exchequer.
“Ordered, That the possession of Worcester House in the Strand, in the
county of Middlesex, be forthwith delivered up to Margaret, Countess of
Worcester: And the Council of State are hereby authorized and required, to
take care, that the possession of the said house be delivered up to her, or her
assigns, accordingly.”
“Wednesday, 14th March, 1659. Afternoon.[G]
“A Bill empowering the trustees for sale of lands forfeited to the
Commonwealth for treason, to convey Worcester House to trustees in trust
for Margaret, Countess of Worcester, was this day read the first and second
time; and, upon the question, passed.”

Thus it occupied above two years to obtain anything approaching an
equitable arrangement of the Countess’ very obvious claim, concluding at
last with a “pension of six pounds a week,”—a pension in arrear in March,
1659, but to be “continued until the Parliament take further order.”

Footnotes
[A] See engraved view, page 8.
[37] Evelyn.

[2] Allen’s London.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. iii. p. 54.
[B] See “Ordinances of Parliament,” 1641–46, 4to. Brit. Mus. 517,
K. 11–36.
[C] See also Miscellaneous MSS Brit. Mus. No. 5501.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vii. pp. 523, 533.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vi. pp. 523, 533.
[22] Burton.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vii. p. 512, 529, 576.
[22] Burton.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vii. p. 512, 529, 576.
[D] Page 642.
[E] Page 763.
[F] Page 875.
[G] Page 876.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER’s SON, AND TWO DAUGHTERS.
With a view to giving completeness to the preceding domestic narrative
(affecting the Marchioness of Worcester, in respect to Worcester House),
our remarks have extended to the early part of the year 1659, thus going
some years beyond the time of the Marquis of Worcester’s flight to and
residence in France.
We come next, in the order of family claimants, to consider the several
petitions, first of his son, Henry Lord Herbert; and next of his daughters,
Ladies Anne and Elizabeth.
On Wednesday, the 23rd of April, 1651, the humble petition of Henry,
Lord Herbert, was read in the House of Commons,[57] when it was—
“Ordered, That it be referred to a Committee, to consider what interest
the Petitioner hath in any of the lands, late the Earl of Worcester’s, settled
by Act of Parliament on the Lord General, and the value thereof, and to
report the whole state of the business to the Parliament. And, in case they
find the Petitioner hath any good title to any of the said lands, that then they
bring in a proviso, for excepting out of sale, by this Act, so much of the
lands of the said Earl, now in the power of the Parliament to dispose of, as
may be of like value; to be disposed of as the Parliament shall see cause.”
After naming a Committee—
“Ordered, That the business of the delinquency of the Lord Herbert of
Raglan, as to the matter of fact, be referred to this Committee; to send to the
Commissioners at Goldsmiths’ Hall, for what evidence they have against
him; and to report the state of the business touching the delinquency
charged on the said Lord Herbert, to the Parliament.”
This was succeeded, on Wednesday, the 21st of May, 1651,[A] by an
inquiry into the state of the case of the Lord Herbert of Raglan, reported as
follows:—
“Manors and lordships of Tidenham in the county of Gloucester;
Chepstow Barton, and Hardwick Chepstow, Burgus, and Frythwood, in the
county of Monmouth; the seigniory of Gower in the county of Glamorgan;
by force of two several indentures, one of them dated 3º Junii, 3º Caroli, the

other dated 10º Novembris, 1631, for good and valuable considerations, in
the said indentures mentioned, were settled upon the Earl of Worcester, for
and during his life only; the remainder thereof to the said Lord Herbert, and
the heirs male of his body; with divers remainders over; which said
lordships and manors are, by Act of this present Parliament, settled upon the
Lord General Cromwell and his heirs; and are of the yearly value of one
thousand seven hundred and seven pounds, fifteen shillings and two pence.
“And that the manors of Monmouth, Wisham, Pelleny, Purcasseck,
Trellacks Grange, the demesnes of Grosmond, Skewfreth, and Monmouth,
Bettus, and Per Lloyd, in the county of Monmouth, the manor of Crookham
in the county of Berks, the manor of Kendall in the county of Westmorland,
the manor of Shopden in the county of Hereford, by force of several
conveyances thereof made, are settled upon the Earl of Worcester, and the
heirs males of his body; with divers remainders over; all which said manors
and lands are forfeited, for treason of the said Earl; and are in the power of
the Parliament, to settle or dispose of; and are of the yearly value of one
thousand seven hundred pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence.
Monmouthshire.
£. s. d.
The manors of Monmouth and Wyesham 186 0 10
The manor of Pellenny 38 18 0
The manors of Purcasseck, and Trellecks Grange 443 0 8
The demesnes of Grosmont, Skenseth, and Monmouth 160 0 0
Bettus and Per Lloyd 110 0 0
Berks.
The manor of Crookham 392 6 10
Westmorland.
The manor of Kendal 220 6 6
Hereford.
The manor of Shobdon 150 0 0
Sum £1700 12 10

“Lands disposed of by the Parliament to my Lord General Cromwell, and
entailed on my Lord Herbert:—

Gloucester.
£. s. d.
The lordship of Tyddenham 356 3 11
Monmouthshire.
The lordships of Chepstow Barton, and Hardwick 510 1 10
Chepstow Burgus 68 13 8
Frithwood, near unto Chepstow, conceived to be equivalent to
£100 per annum 100 0 0
Glamorganshire.
The seigniory of Gower 672 15 9
Sum £1707 5 2

“The question being put, That the House do take into debate the business
of delinquency, concerning the Lord Herbert of Raglan.
“It passed with the negative.
“Resolved, That it be sent back to the Commissioners for compounding,
to proceed touching the point of delinquency charged on the Lord Herbert
of Raglan; and give judgment therein; and to report their judgment, and the
grounds of it, to the Parliament, forthwith.”
Again, on Thursday, the 30th of October, 1651.[57]
“The humble Petition of Henry, Lord Herbert, of Raglan, was this day
read.
“Ordered, That this Petition be referred to the former Committee,
touching the Lord Herbert, to consider of this business; and if they find the
Petitioner hath just title to the land, to present some lands to the Parliament
for the Petitioner’s satisfaction, in consideration thereof.
“Ordered, That it be referred to the same Committee, to consider of the
lands settled upon Mr. Peters, to which the Lady Anne Somerset maketh
title; and if they find her title thereunto to be just, that then the said
Committee do present some other lands to be settled upon the said Lady, in
lieu and satisfaction of her title to those lands.”
And on Friday, the 9th of January, 1651–2.[B]
“Mr. Say reports from the Committee, to whom the business touching the
Lord Herbert of Raglan was referred, several resolutions of that Committee,
as followeth:—

“Resolved, That the houses and lands conveyed by Act of Parliament
unto Mr. Pennoyer and Mr. Hill, were, by indenture, dated 3º Caroli,
conveyed by Edward, then Earl of Worcester, unto the Petitioner and his
heirs, after the decease of Edward, now Earl of Worcester, who is but tenant
for life thereof.
“Resolved, That the yearly value of the said houses and lands are, and
were, before the beginning of these wars, £786.
“Resolved, That it be humbly presented to the Parliament, as the opinion
of this Committee, That the several manors and lands, the inheritance
whereof is by this present Parliament settled upon the Petitioner and his
heirs, and are of the yearly value of £1700; that the present possession
thereof be granted unto the Petitioner, he paying to the trustees for sale of
delinquents’ lands, the sum of £800.
“Resolved, That it be presented to the Parliament, as the opinion of this
Committee, that the trustees and contractors for sale of delinquents’ lands,
do convey the said manors and lands to the said Petitioner, during the life of
Edward, Earl of Worcester; the said Petitioner paying to them therefore the
said sum of £800.
“Resolved, by the Parliament, That in satisfaction and discharge of the
title and claim of the Lord Herbert of Raglan unto the houses and lands
settled by ordinance of Parliament on Mr. Pennoyer and Mr. Hill, the
trustees for sale of several lands and estates forfeited to the Commonwealth
for treason, be authorized and required to convey unto the said Lord Herbert
of Raglan, and his assigns, all the manors and lands, the inheritance
whereof is, by this present Parliament, by an Act, intituled, An Act for Sale
of several Lands and Estates forfeited to the Commonwealth for Treason,
settled on the said Lord Herbert, and his heirs, during the life of Edward,
Earl of Worcester; the said Lord Herbert paying for the same, to the
Treasurers of the receipt, the sum of £800. And that the present possession
of the said manors and lands be thereupon delivered unto the said Lord
Herbert: And that the Commissioners for compounding be authorized and
required, upon a certificate of the said Treasurers, to take off the
sequestration thereof.”
The Marquis’s two daughters were, like their mother-in-law, petitioners
to Parliament for the restoration of their rights in their proportionate share
of their father’s property. On the 17th of March, 1647, after other business
before the House of Commons, “The humble petition of Anne and

Elizabeth, daughters of Edward, Earl of Worcester, was read.” And it was
ordered, “That this petition be referred to the consideration of the
Committee, where Mr. Wheeler has the chair.”
On the 9th of July, 1649, after a lapse of two years and a quarter, this
matter was again before the House, when, “The humble petition of the
Ladies Anne and Elizabeth, daughters of the Earl of Worcester, was read:—
“Whereas, according to an order of the Committee of Lords and
Commons for sequestrations, of the 17th of March, 1646, the Committees
of Monmouth, Brecknock, Glamorgan, Gloucester, and Berks, have sent
out, and assigned, unto the Petitioners, a fifth part of their father’s estate in
those counties, towards their respective maintenance: It is ordered by the
Commons assembled in Parliament, That the Petitioners shall have and
receive the profits of the said fifth part, so allotted unto them, from the time
of their demand, according to the said order of the Lords and Commons,
until this House take further order: And the several Committees of the said
counties are hereby authorized and required forthwith to pay the same, or
permit the Petitioners to receive the same accordingly.”[57]
The period from the surrender of Raglan Castle in August, 1646, down to
the close of 1651, extending over five years, must have been one of the
most galling and trying nature to the Marquis of Worcester. From a state of
ease and affluence he was suddenly plunged into a condition the most
mortifying possible to a noble and independent mind; without any other
than the barren consolation that his Prince, the Court, and men of all ranks
shared a similar fate. He did not stand alone, a monument of ruin amidst
plenty. In September, 1649, Charles the Second had quitted the Continent
for Jersey, and the next year he arrived in Scotland; in 1651, his romantic
career in England terminated, and in November he was once more in
France, without credit, as Clarendon asserts, to borrow twenty pistoles.
The Marquis’s extensive property in Middlesex and in Wales enabled the
Government to discharge many heavy claims; but among its claimants, its
very good friends, its warmest and most needful supporters had first to be
considered; while charitable acts, and the asserted claims of persons related
to recusants, and persons specially proscribed by Parliament, and all who
were even remotely related to them would have to submit to long delays
and hard wrung submissions, when the object was to obtain the least
assistance from an already depressed treasury.

That the Marquis’s wife and family received any assistance whatever,
through appeals to the Commonwealth Parliament, is significant of the high
estimation in which he himself must have been held, simply for his moral
worth, and his not overstrained political bias: marking his acts with extreme
humanity in war, and good sense in avoiding the risk of launching into any
of those extraordinary measures, for which the late King had granted him
the ample powers already considered. Indeed the Nuncio,[C] as early as
1646, had correctly estimated his Lordship’s character, designating him “an
Englishman of a very mild temper.”

Footnotes
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vi. p. 565.
[A] Page 577. The same inquiry also supplied an interesting notice
of Lord Herbert’s early life.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vii. p. 33.
[B] Page 67.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. v. p. 504; vi. p. 256.
[C] See page 182.

CHAPTER XIV.
HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND—IMPRISONMENT, AND LIBERATION
—HIS “CENTURY”—PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES—PETITIONS—AT
CHARLES THE SECOND’S CORONATION—LORD HERBERT.
We find that in the House of Commons, on the 14th of March, 1648,
“The persons reported to be banished, and their estates confiscated, being
fourteen in number, were every one particularly put to the question;” when
it was resolved, &c. “That Charles Stuart, eldest son of the late King, be
one of that number; also James Stuart, his second son;” then follow the
Earls of Bristol, and Newcastle, along with Witherington, Digby, Musgrave,
Langdale, Greenvill, and Dodington. After which it was—
“Resolved, &c. That the Earl of Worcester be one other of that number.”
Likewise were added the names of Winter, Culpepper, Byron, the Duke of
Buckingham; and finally, “all that have been plotting, designing, or
assisting, in the Irish rebellion,” shall be proscribed, as enemies and traitors
to the Commonwealth; and shall “die without mercy, wherever they shall be
found within the limits of this nation; and their estates employed for the use
of the Commonwealth.”[57]
It appears, on the authority of Dr. White Kennet,[58] the historian, that
while Charles the Second was a refugee in the Court of France, the King of
France, Louis XIV., was in himself disposed not only to assist, but if
possible to restore the royal family of England. His commanding minister,
the Cardinal Mazarine, however, was always averse to any such measure; so
that all the exiled prince could do was to send abroad his envoys and agents,
to solicit for justice and relief, although without effect, as the result proved.
He sent to England, says Kennet, “the noble Marquis of Worcester for
private intelligence as well as for supplies; but the Marquis was taken up
prisoner in London, and committed to the Tower in September[?]; where he
was threatened with a speedy trial, and worse punished with a long
confinement.”
We are brought by this circumstance to an interesting period in the
adventurous life of the Marquis of Worcester. His visit to England was
every way extraordinary for its boldness or apparent recklessness; as he was

a marked man, one who could have no reason for expecting to be able to
conciliate the reigning power, which had already stigmatized him as an
“enemy and traitor to the Commonwealth,” his estates to be confiscated,
and himself, wherever taken, doomed to “die without any mercy whatever.”
The Marquis’s son sat in the Cromwellian Parliament; Cromwell enjoyed
the Monmouthshire estates of the Marquis, to the value of £2500 per
annum, and allowed Lord Herbert a pretty liberal income. From Edinburgh,
Cromwell wrote on the 12th of April, 1651, a letter to his wife:—“My
dearest, Beware of my Lord Herbert his resort to your house; if he do so
may occasion scandal, as if I were bargaining with him: indeed be wise; you
know my meaning.”[A][23]
The Marquis might have some private object in view, equally with that of
serving his prince, and might have been better assured than history
determines, that his life, at all events, would be safe. It is stated in the
History of the Tower,[6] in noticing the Marquis of Worcester being added to
the number of distinguished persons confined there in 1652, that the wants
and distresses to which he had been subjected on the continent had driven
him to seek shelter in his own country.

BIRD’S-EYE VIEW FROM MAP OF LONDON, 1658.

On the 28th of July, 1652, the House of Commons, immediately after
prayers, “Resolved, That the Earl of Worcester do stand committed to the
Tower of London, in order to his trial.” And, “That it be referred to the
Council of State to consider, in what way the Earl of Worcester may be
tried, and who hath harboured him; and to consider of all circumstances in
his business, and to report their opinion thereon to the House, on Friday
morning next.”
A year later, being on the 29th of August, 1653, Colonel Rous reports
from the Committee of Petitions, “The most humble Petition of Edward
Somerset, Earl of Worcester, now prisoner in the Tower.
“As also, the humble Petition of Margaret, Countess of Worcester; which
were both read.”
Followed, on the 3rd of October, by repetitions of the same report, when
it was “Resolved that this Petition be laid aside.”

While, on the 5th of October, 1654, one year later, after other business,
the Earl’s petition was again read, and it was thereon “Resolved, That the
Earl of Worcester have his liberty for the present upon bail, until the
Parliament take further order. And that the Lieutenant of the Tower do take
sufficient bail: And that a Warrant do issue under Mr. Speaker’s hand, to
that purpose.”[57]
In Burton’s highly valuable and interesting Diary of Oliver Cromwell’s
Parliament, when noticing the foregoing business in respect to the
Marquis’s petition, it is added:—“The Petitioner was alleged to be a papist,
in arms in England, who had headed a party in Ireland, making a most
dishonourable peace there, and had done many other disservices, for which
he was excepted from all mercy and pardon; his whole estate ordered to be
sold, and all such to be banished. Yet, it was urged, he was an old man, had
lain long in prison, and the small-pox then raging under the same roof
where he lay. And he had not, as was said, done any actions of hostility, but
only as a soldier; and in that capacity had always shown civilities to the
English prisoners and protestants. It was, therefore, ordered, that he should
be bailed out of prison.”[22]
Consequently he was a close prisoner for at least two years and a quarter,
assuming that he was then liberated; which is the more likely, as we find
that a Warrant was given by Cromwell, dated the 26th of June, 1655, to pay
his Lordship the sum of three pounds a week, for his better maintenance.[B]
He would be about or verging on 53 years of age, and must have suffered
very seriously from fatigue, disease, and severe mental disquietude,
prolonged through at least eight years passed in every diversity of honour
and disgrace, wealth and poverty, high hopes and aspirations, terminating in
blank disappointment; he thus united in his own person and history the most
violent contrasts, enough to have broken down and utterly destroyed any
enthusiasm less than is due to the conscious possession of surpassing
mental wealth. It would be difficult to find in the voluminous history of
scientific biography a parallel case of so much self-reliance on the
promptings of a great and noble mind, under anything like such an
unmitigated burden of uncontrollable evils, as fell to the share of this
extraordinary man in the very decline of life, when tired nature seeks calm,
repose, and competence.
It would seem as if, while still a prisoner, he was treating for Vauxhall,
where we shall find he was afterwards actively engaged with his Water

Engine; for Samuel Hartlib, well known from his acquaintance with Milton,
writes to the Honourable Robert Boyle on the 8th of May, 1654, signifying
that, the Marquis is buying Vauxhall from Mr. Trenchard.[14]
The next incident we meet with, of which any record occurs, after his
enlargement, is a melancholy evidence of his extreme necessities and
indeed absolute poverty. It consists in the following, taken from the original
acknowledgment:—[C]

“Receaved and borrowed of my Honored friend Sr David Watkins the full
somme of Twenty pownds sterling wch I faythfully promise to repaye at or
before the second day of February next ensueing to wch I oblige myselfe my
Hayre Executor Administrator or assign in a dubble somme or forfeiture
Witnesse my hand and seale this eight of De: 1655.
“Worcester.
“Witnessed by Lancelot Hodshon.”

We have thus far traced the career of the Marquis of Worcester from
youth to manhood; the scholar, husband, father, general of armies, a
wealthy nobleman, an impoverished exile, in danger of his life by war and
shipwreck, twice imprisoned, now a freeman, oppressed by pecuniary
difficulties and earnestly striving against the pressure of his own
misfortunes and the weight of public prejudice, to which his political life
and religious persuasion subjected him: sometimes through court intrigue,
but mostly from the rooted bigotry of those gloomy times.
Whatever interest the history of the life of the Marquis of Worcester may
derive from other sources, the philosopher will dwell alone with delight on
that period which divulged the extraordinary inventive mental capabilities
of such a singular scholar and early man of science. He now first produced,
as he himself states, his remarkable little work, of which the full title runs
thus:—“A century of the names and scantlings of such Inventions, as at
present I can call to mind to have tried and perfected, which (my former
notes being lost) I have, at the instance of a powerful friend, endeavoured
now, in the year 1655, to set these down, in such a way as may sufficiently
instruct me to put any of them in practice.” That small book, then only in
manuscript, and not published until eight years afterwards, has sealed his
fame; for through all time the “Century” will be regarded as a great

curiosity in scientific literature, for its variety of subjects, and its author’s
versatility of genius in pursuits then but little cultivated.
The first year of his release, appears, therefore, to have been mainly
distinguished by this valuable contribution, as he says, “at the instance of a
powerful friend.” We think that that friend was no other than Colonel
Christopher Coppley, or Copley,[D] who had served in the Parliamentary
army of the North, under the command of General Fairfax; a sufficient
reason for the author omitting to particularize him by name. That he and the
Marquis were, however, on terms of close friendship, is evident from the
annexed letter;[98] alluding to previous kind offices accorded by his
“powerful” now his “dear” and his “honoured friend.”

“Dear Friend,
“I know not with what face to desire a courtesy from you, since I
have not yet paid you the five pounds, and the main business so long
protracted, whereby my reality and kindness should with thankfulness
appear; for though the least I intend you is to make up the sum already
promised, to a thousand pounds yearly, or a share amounting to far more,
which to nominate, before the perfection of the work, were but an
individuum vagum; and, therefore, I defer it, and upon no other score. Yet,
in this interim, my disappointments are so great as that I am forced to beg if
you could possibly, either to help me with ten pounds to this bearer; or, to
make use of the coach, and to go to Mr. Clerke, and if he could this day
help me to fifty pounds, then to pay yourself the five pounds I owe you out
of them. Either of these will infinitely oblige me. The alderman has taken
three days’ time to consider of it. Pardon the great troubles I give you,
which I doubt not but in time to deserve by really appearing,
“Your most thankful friend,
“Worcester.
“28th of March, 1656. To my honoured friend,
“Colonel Christopher Coppley.”

This epistle the Colonel endorsed, “My Lord of Worcester’s letter about
my share in his engine.” What was the result of these negociations remains
untold; but eight months later it would seem that, for some reason or other,
he entered into a solemn obligation with the Colonel, in the terms
following:—[E]

“I, under written, do confess and acknowledge to have received of
Colonel Christopher Copley so great civilities and obligations as that I do
take him into so strict bonds of kindness, as that, if at any time the
adventure of my life and fortune may bestead him, I do, upon the word of a
gentleman, and the faith of a Christian, engage myself not to stick thereat,
but cheerfully to run the same fortune with him. And upon the same ties I
vow never to deceive or delude him in thought, word, or deed; and to
declare the truth at all times unto him, using neither hyperbole nor
equivocation concerning my water-work; or any promise made or to be
made between us; which, as I am a gentleman, a Christian, and Roman
Catholic, I will even keep inviolable, and that (if I should do any thing to
the contrary), I may appear a most dishonest and perjured person; I have
signed these with my hand, and affixed on them my seal at Stems (?), the
18th day of November, 1656,
“Worcester.”

On the 28th of December, 1656, he wrote a short letter to Mr. Secretary
Thurloe. Politicians have generally supposed that it had reference to some
great state secret, which he was bargaining to disclose; while, how contrary
must have been his views is now transparent, from seeing what really was
the one absorbing subject of his daily meditation, arising out of his arduous
endeavours to obtain assistance, and to carry out the working of his “water-
commanding engine.” The letter is in every sense remarkable and
interesting, both from the mistiness that has for so long a time clouded its
meaning, and from the circumstances under which it was dictated. The
Marquis writes:—[F]
“28th of December, 1656.

“Right Honourable,
“I do confess, that the old saying is, that proffered service is not
valued, and in that respect I wonder not to have my endeavours so little set
by. In a word, I am very well pleased to acquiesce, if his Highness nor your
Honour think me not worthy of one quarter of an hour’s audience; yet I
must needs say, that if esteemed of, I am able to do his Highness more
service than any one subject of his three nations; and though, after a
message by Mr. Noell, and a letter of mine delivered by my own hands to
Mr. Owng, and as he told me, by him to your Honour, I cannot get a time

assigned me to wait upon you. I here send you a true copy of Don Alonzo,
his answer to me, and do assure you, that I have in readiness a person whom
you yourself will confess Don Alonzo cannot except against: so that there
only resteth needful your approbation. When your Honour shall have read
this, and the copies of the Don’s letter, I have entreated and enjoined Mr.
Noell to bring them me back, and in his presence I will burn them, and
remain silent for the future in anything of this nature, but in all things else,
your Honour’s most affectionate friend and humble servant,
“Worcester.”[G]

The noble inventor’s proceedings could have been no secret at Court,
surrounded by spies of every description to report all his operations; and his
principal object being one of a large and costly character, would be better
known for its nature than its construction. It would also become known
from the manuscript of his Century, copies of which seem to have been
privately circulated, that his inventions extended to improvements in fire-
arms, cannon, and general naval and military improvements. Now it is not
in the least improbable that some foreign party or parties communicated
with him in reference to some particular invention, but particularly his
much commended novelty of a “water-commanding engine,” while the
Marquis might feel it a delicate as well as an imprudent act on his part, to
make arrangements with foreigners before he had confided his secret and
rendered it available in his own country. That his object in desiring an
interview with Cromwell, or with his haughty Secretary, bore no political
cast, is next to self-evident, from their perfect indifference to his
communication; while for any political ends, either would have shown
some tokens of regard, and not have left the author of the slightest thread of
interested intelligence craving for a few minutes’ audience. Besides, we
have the inferential evidence that the communication referred to scientific
inventions, rather than to political intrigues, from the context—“proffered
service is not valued, and in that respect (he says) I wonder not to have my
endeavours so little set by.” And what could those endeavours be, at that
particular crisis more than any other, but the possible requirement of
patronage from the Protector, and probably also the Parliament, before
committing himself to foreigners for that aid which he rightfully considered
he would soon merit from his countrymen. But he still further says, “I am
able to do his Highness more service than any one subject of his three

nations.” Will any one pretend to assume that such language had reference
to political plottings, of which he possessed the secret knowledge to such an
extent of national importance, without being either listened to, or at once
seized and consigned to the dreaded chambers of that fortress, from which
he had been only three years released? Admit that the language is inflated, it
still would be very significant if it bore at all on the state of public affairs at
home or abroad. But its true significance may be found in its counterpart in
the Dedications appended to the first edition of the “Century,” printed in
1663. The promise to burn the returned copies of papers, in the presence of
Mr. Noell, would seem merely another way of showing, that, come what
might of the matter, he would break off all negociations with others than his
countrymen. The communication can only be read as alluding to one
subject, and not as introducing anything forced and irrelevant. It can only
be reconciled as being wholly political, or wholly affecting his special
scientific engagements. Besides, had it been otherwise, it would not have
escaped the historian, or some court spy to record the wonderful discovery
of a plot of frightful magnitude, with all particulars. But no plot ever came
to light; and the Marquis never did Cromwell or the Commonwealth any
service beyond anything accomplished by the humblest citizen. We must,
therefore, for ever abandon the opinion of there being any political
character attached to this supposed mysterious communication.
The Marquis of Worcester’s son and heir, Lord Herbert, married Mary,
Lady Beauchamp, on the 17th of August, 1657. The following certificate on
a small square piece of parchment is preserved among other family
documents at Badminton House:—

“These are to certifie: It being desired by the p’ties concerned, that,
Henry Somerset Lord Herbert and Mary Lady Bochampp, both of the parish
of St. Clements Danes, Middlesex, were Legally married before me Richard
Powell of Clerkenwell, Middle Sq: one of the Justices for the said County,
authorized soe to doe by vertue of an Act of Parliam_{t.} bearing date the
ffower and twentieth day of August 1653. There then being pre’te Charles
Price and Edward Gibbes, dated this Seaven tenth day of August 1657.
“Richard Powell.”

The Marquis of Worcester’s private affairs were year by year growing
more and more desperate, we continually find him and the Marchioness

petitioning the Parliament for pecuniary assistance out of the confiscated
estates. He seems to have been on friendly terms with John Lenthall,
Speaker of the House of Commons, from whom we find the following
letter:—[H]

“My Lord,
“I will ever acknowledge that your Lordship hath dealt most
honourably with me, and with all hearti[ness] I will profess that to all; and
will endeavour to show my thankfulness to your Lordship, and to your
honourable Lady; and do assure you both that, if I may do you any service
to my brother speaker, about your business in Parliament, I will endeavour
my uttermost to act for you. My wife takes your promise of half a buck
exceeding thankfully, and also some great belles here. We shall all
endeavour to make a requital; and I shall ever acknowledge myself to be
“Your Honour’s most humble Servant,
“John Lenthall.
“8th July, 1659.

“I have received from your Lordship 20 marks in full of all your
Lordship’s fees, which I hereby acknowledge, and acquit your Lordship of
that and all other demands at this day.
“To the Right Honourable the
Lord Marquis of Worcester—these presents.”

His manuscript of his wonderful “Century” had been four years written,
copies passing probably from hand to hand, and himself urging the great
and noble of the land to patronise his efforts. In the British Museum is the
only MS. of the Century extant, having on the top of its title page the dates
“From August ye 29th to Sep. ye 21st, 1659,” which may, however, merely
refer to the date of copying, or to a period granted for lending it. The 88th
article alludes to a Stamping Engine, while in the printed edition this is
omitted and a Brazen Head substituted; there are also some slight verbal
differences; only an abbreviated title page; and no dedication.
Among other petitions a rough draft exists of one evidently prepared by
the Marchioness herself; whether sent or not cannot now be ascertained, but
of its authenticity as a family record of distress there can be no doubt
whatever. It is so negligently and imperfectly written, that an entire copy
cannot be advantageously given. It runs thus:—[I]

“Master Speaker, I beseech you not to stand so much upon an order of the
House as to forget God Almighty’s precepts, to do as you would be done by.
Most of the honourable House I conceive have wives, and if any of you
would be contented his wife should suffer as I do, then let me still endure; if
otherwise, be pleased to consider me, if not according to my sex or
quality”—yet, “in consideration of seven years attendance, and millions of
court sueings, and my heart almost broken with supplications and vain
promises to them, and at last instead of many thousand pounds,” out of the
estates, “all now ending in a ruined house, and that but for an uncertain
time, not for my own life, rather but this poor pittance for his life, who is
near three score.” She also seems to allude to fever, and the breaking up of
his health, concluding, “I, therefore, most humbly seek this honourable
House to make an end of it.”

We find the Marquis with noble perseverance contending against every
difficulty, evincing an elasticity of mind that cannot but excite surprise.
Writing to the Earl of Lotherdale,[J] he says:—

“My thrice honourable Lord,
“The two predominant powers which reign over my soul, and do
chiefly guide and govern my actions, are love and gratitude; the one
begotten in me towards your Lordship by the knowledge I had in the Tower
of the virtues and excellent parts, the other by a certain and most true
information of some passages vouchsafed by your Lordship in your
servant’s behalf, and even in his absence yesterday, before his Majesty at
Hampton Court. The particulars I set not down, because (?) they seemed so
obliging to me as that Colonel Charles Groger, telling them me but at nine
of the clock this night, yet I could not defer till morning this most humble
acknowledgment; but before I go to rest, as a little token of great
thankfulness, I promise your Lordship a box, with such conveniences and
rarities as that which you saw had, and though it were presumptuous in me
to say, I would give a subject a better qualified present than I gave my
Sovereign; yet the King must pardon an humour I have, never to be
contented to produce any invention the second time without appearing
refined; this doth not also content me, but I do likewise engage myself that
as soon as with security and satisfaction, by Act of Parliament, I may put in
practice the greatest gift of invention for profit that I ever yet heard of

vouchsafed to a man, especially so unworthy and ignorant as I am (I mean
my water-commanding engine). I offer to your Lordship’s disposal the
accruing benefit of five hundred pounds; and that your Lordship may not
think it improbable to rise thence, I beseech you to vouchsafe to read over,
but to keep it to yourself, this enclosed, which shall be made good to a tittle
by me,
“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most really affectionate
“and ever obliged servant,
“Worcester.
“Saturday night, 26th of January, 1660, be therefore pleased to pardon the scribbling, and regard
but my real meaning. For the Right Hon. the Earl of Lotherdale, &c. these.”

(Copy of the enclosure.)
“The name and the truly significant definition of a most admirable and
most stupendous invention, through the providential dispensation of the
Almighty God’s infinite mercy and goodness, found out, and perfected by
the sole expenses, ingenuity, knowledge, and mathematical insight of the
Right Hon. Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, and by his Lordship
deservedly termed, and pithily defined to be—
“An Imperial, or a Water-commanding Engine, boundless for height and
quantity, and requiring no external, nor even additional help, or force to be
set, or continued in motion, but what intrinsically is afforded from its own
operation, nor yet the twentieth part thereof, and the engine consisteth of
these following particulars:—
“1. A perfect counterpoise for what quantity of water soever.
“2. A perfect countervail for what height soever it is to be brought unto.
“3. A primum mobile, commanding both height and quantity, regulator-
wise.
“4. A vice-gerent, or countervail, supplying the place, and performing the
full force of man, wind, beast, or mill.
“5. A holme, or stern, with bit and reins, wherewith any child may guide,
order, and control the whole operation.
“6. A particular magazine for water, according to the intended height and
quantity.
“7. An aqueduct, capable of any intended quantity, or height of water.
“8. A place for the original fountain, or even river, to run into, and
naturally of its own accord to incorporate itself with the rising water, and at

the very bottom of the same aqueduct, though never so big or high.”

This communication affords the earliest distinct reference to the Water-
commanding Engine, and renders it reasonable to suppose that similar
written copies of the “Definition” were in circulation at the same period, if
not earlier.
The letter itself is peculiarly interesting for the insight it gives us into a
distinguishing trait in his mental constitution, when he observes:—“a
humour I have, never to be contented to produce any invention the second
time without appearing refined.” He seems to have had no idea of cessation
in invention. It was in this self-same spirit that he dedicated his “Century”
to the Houses of Parliament:—“The more you shall be pleased to make use
of my inventions, the more inventive shall you ever find me, one invention
begetting still another.”
It is rather remarkable that, with this exception, his inventions are never
named either in his own or his family’s correspondence; indeed the latter
may have considered the circumstance as more marking his misfortune,
than calculated to bring him enduring fame.
The death of Cromwell, the short reign of his son, and the proclamation
of Charles the Second on the 8th of May, 1660, followed by his triumphal
entry into the metropolis on his birth-day, the 29th of the same month, must
have had their influence on the Marquis in his most distressing condition.
He was, no doubt, one among the privileged to congratulate his Majesty in
private, at Whitehall, while bonfires blazed, fireworks glared, and cannon
roared; what conflicting emotions must have revelled in his own breast,
broken down as he was by disasters on every hand, which through more
than thirteen years he had borne with magnanimous fortitude.
His son, Lord Herbert, resided at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, but
being in London, on his way to Dover, after the proclamation, he wrote to
his wife, as follows:—[K]
“My Dear Heart,
“We have this night received our instructions, and to-morrow begin
our journey towards the King, whom we are commanded to acquaint with
what great joy and acclamation he was here proclaimed; and to let him
know that the Parliament hath enjoined all ministers in England and Ireland
to pray for him, the Duke of York, and the rest of the Royal progeny; and
ordered that the Arms of the Commonwealth, wherever they are standing,

be taken down, and that his Majesty’s be set in the place. We are further to
beseech his Majesty to return with speed to his dominions and government;
and finally, to acquaint him that the Parliament hath given order to the
Admiral to obey his commands with the navy, and to desire that he will
please to signify to us when and where he will land, and whether he will
come from Dover by land, or to London by water; where lodged, and how
his pleasure is to be received.
“I hope we shall soon return with him we go for, and so have nothing
wanting for my particular satisfaction (as when he is here, there will not be
to the general). I desire you would begin and come this way some time next
week, that I may find you here at my return, in order to which I have given
order that lodgings, such as can be found, be taken, where you may be till
you can choose yourself a house to your mind, for I cannot be anywhere
with my contentment without you,
“Your most affectionate husband,
“Herbert.
“London, the 9th of May.”

Charles the Second had not been many days on the throne, when the
Marquis of Worcester wrote a long letter to Lord Clarendon,[* 26] explanatory
of his instructions from his late Majesty, and the powers he granted to him
to negotiate with the Irish Roman Catholics. It very fully and lucidly
explains the whole of that affair, showing how completely he was in the
King’s confidence; and it was, no doubt, written to answer all doubts that
his Lordship might entertain. It bears internal evidence of coming from a
strictly conscientious character, and its truthfulness has never been
disproved.
“The Marquis of Worcester (late Earl of Glamorgan), to the Earl of
Clarendon.
“My Lord Chancellor,
“For his Majesty’s better information, through your favour, and by
the channel of your Lordship’s understanding things rightly, give me leave
to acquaint you with one chief key, wherewith to open the secret passages
between his late Majesty and myself, in order to his service; which was no
other than a real exposing of myself to any expense or difficulty, rather than
his just design should not take place; or, in taking effect, that his honour
should suffer. An effect, you may justly say, relishing more of a passionate

and blind affection to his Majesty’s service, than of discretion and care of
myself. This made me take a resolution that he should have seemed angry
with me at my return out of Ireland, until I had brought him into a posture
and power to own his commands, to make good his instructions, and to
reward my faithfulness and zeal therein.
“Your Lordship may well wonder, and the King too, at the amplitude of
my commission. But when you have understood the height of his Majesty’s
design you will soon be satisfied that nothing less could have made me
capable to effect it; being that one army of ten thousand men was to have
come out of Ireland through North Wales; another, of a like number at least,
under my command-in-chief, have expected my return in South Wales,
which Sir Henry Gage was to have commanded as Lieutenant-General; and
a third should have consisted of a matter of six thousand men, two thousand
of which were to have been Liegois, commanded by Sir Francis Edmonds,
two thousand Lorrainers to have been commanded by Colonel Browne, and
two thousand of such English, French, Scots, and Irish as could be drawn
out of Flanders and Holland. And the six thousand were to have been, by
the Prince of Orange’s assistance, in the associated counties; and the
Governor of Lyne, cousin-german to Major Bacon, major of my own
regiment, was to have delivered the town unto them.
“The maintenance of this army of foreigners was to have come from the
Pope and such Catholic Princes as he should draw into it, having engaged to
afford and procure £30,000 a month; out of which the foreign army was
first to be provided for; and the remainder to be divided among other
armies. And for this purpose had I power to treat with the Pope and Catholic
Princes, with particular advantages promised to Catholics, for the quiet
enjoying their religion, without the penalties which the statutes in force had
power to inflict upon them. And my instructions for this purpose, and my
powers to conclude and treat thereupon, were signed by the King under his
pocket signet, with blanks for me to put in the names of Pope or Princes, to
the end the King might have a starting hole to deny the having given me
such commissions, if excepted against by his own subjects; leaving me as it
were at stake, who for his Majesty’s sake was willing to undergo it, trusting
to his word alone.
“In like manner did I not stick upon having this Commission inrolled or
assented unto by his Council, nor indeed the seal to be put upon it in an

ordinary manner, but as Mr. Endymion Porter[L] and I could perform it, with
rollers and no screw-press.
“One thing I beseech your Lordship to observe, that though I had power
by it to erect a mint any where, and to dispose of his Majesty’s revenues
and delinquents’ estates, yet I never did either to the value of a farthing,
notwithstanding my own necessities, acknowledging that the intention of
those powers given me, was to make use of them when the armies should be
afoot; which design being broken by my commitment in Ireland, I made no
use of those powers; and consequently, repaying now whatever was
disbursed by any for patents of honour, as now I am contented to do, it will
evidently appear that nothing hath stuck to my fingers, in order to benefit or
self-interest; which I humbly submit to his Majesty’s princely
consideration, and the management of my concerns therein to your
Lordship’s grave judgment, and to the care of me, which your Lordship was
pleased to own was recommended unto you by the late King, my most
gracious Master, of glorious memory: And the continuance thereof is most
humbly implored and begged by me, who am really and freely at your
Lordship’s disposal, first, in order to his Majesty’s service, and next to the
approving myself,
“My Lord,
“Your Lordship’s most really affectionate,
“and most humble servant,
“Worcester.
“June, 11th, 1660.”

Within a fortnight after writing this letter, no doubt encouraged by the
Lord Chancellor’s reception of it, he petitioned the Crown as follows:—[M]
“To his most excellent Majesty, &c.
“The most humble petition of Edward Somerset, Earl and Marquis
of Worcester, &c.
“Sheweth,—That your Petitioner’s father and himself, having in ready
money expended incomparably more for the service of the Crown than any
subject of England, for which your Petitioner is possessed of sundry
promises of extraordinary reward and satisfaction, as well under the Great
Seal of England, as likewise voluntarily under his late Majesty the King,
your Majesty’s father of blessed memory, his own handwriting and private
signet set down in a most gracious ample and kind manner, it being all that

in those necessitous times his Majesty, your Petitioner’s most graciously
obliging master, could afford or be rationally demanded from him, yet in
these perhaps may not be so fit to be ratified, lest they should draw upon
your Petitioner the envy of others, and prove prejudicial to your Majesty.
“Your Petitioner, therefore, most willingly layeth all these grants and
promises to his father, or to your Majesty’s Petitioner made (as far as they
concern himself) at your Majesty’s feet, without any the least capitulation,
expecting no more in his own behalf for his loyalty therein than that your
Majesty will be graciously pleased (in consideration of his dutiful zeal
thereby manifested) effectually and through your Majesty’s innate and
transcending goodness, feelingly to recommend to your Majesty’s most
dutiful Houses of Parliament the speedy re-investing of your Petitioner in
his due and proper estate, according unto the laws of the land, and so by
your Majesty’s most gracious assistance, this his Petition of right (as he
humbly conceives) shall be by your Petitioner most really acknowledged as
a grant of favour and remunerating grace from your sacred Majesty.
“And he shall ever pray,” &c.
The Marquis, in November, 1660, signed what appears to be a circular
note to certain of his creditors, of which the following is one written in an
official hand, but concludes, “Your most humble servant, Worcester,” in his
own handwriting:—

“Madame,
“Those Commissioners whom I have appoynted to take care of my
affayres are now enquiringe into ye state of my debts, and I have given
directions to the bearer to wayte upon you and receive your propositions
about what is due unto you from him who is,
“Madame, Your most humble servant,
“Worcester.
“November 22, 1660.”

Mr. Secretary Nicholas, writing to Sir Henry Bennet, 3rd of January,
1660, states: “The King joins the Queen and Princess at Guildford, and in
two days they go to Portsmouth. On New Year’s day, the ceremony of
christening the young Earl of Cambridge—for this is to be his title—was
performed at Worcester House; the King and Duke of Albemarle
godfathers; the Queen and Marchioness of Ormond godmothers. The Duke

and his Duchess then came to Court, and the Queen received them very
affectionately. The Coronation is deferred to St. George’s day.”[N]
The Lord Bishop of Peterborough,[79] in his ecclesiastical and civil
register and chronicle of the period, records the following particulars in
reference to the order of proceedings at the Coronation of Charles the
Second, April the 23rd, 1661: “The Marquis of Dorchester, the Marquis of
Worcester, in their robes, with their coronets in their hands.”
Then as to the homage paid by the nobles; after the oath given by the
Archbishop of Canterbury; and other Bishops, saluting the King; among
others came up the Marquises of Worcester and Dorchester.
That even at the Restoration the Marquis’s religion presented some
obstacles to his progress may be inferred from the resolution of the House
of Lords, that the indulgence to be granted to the Roman Catholics should
not be extended to the Jesuits. Whereupon that Society drew up a paper,
entitled, “Reasons why the Jesuits hope that they should partake of the
favours shown to other priests, in taking away the sanguinary laws.” And it
is noticed that, “As for noble persons who lost great estates, and endured
much hardship for his Majesty, the late Duchess of Buckingham, the late
Marquis of Worcester,[O] and the late Earl of Shrewsbury were Penitents of
the Society, as other prime nobility yet in being.”[79]
For some reason or other it now became the son’s lot to be committed to
the Tower, of which, however, he makes very light, as will be seen by his
letter to his Lady announcing his position; which, however, has no other
immediate interest than as making us acquainted with the last occurrence of
the kind affecting this noble family. He writes:—[P]

“My Dear,
“I have now sent according to your desire to let you know of my
being safely arrived at London. I was last night examined, and am now in
the Tower. I have already so well satisfied you of my innocence that I am
sure my being lodged here cannot fright you, neither can I imagine my
restraint should be long, for I think I only owe it to my Lordship. I desire
you would not resolve upon your journey hither till you hear further from
me, for I hope yet you may lie in, in the country, and not have the trouble of
any journey to bring us together. If these hopes fail me, and that I see
myself like to continue longer than I can yet fancy, I will let you know it,
and send the coach down for your women, and (if you think fit) your

children to come up in; to whom in the meantime I send my blessing, and
remain
“Your most affectionate husband,
“Herbert.
“Aug. the 20th.
“For my dear wife the Lady Herbert.”

It does not fall within our province to enter particularly into any
circumstances relating to Lord Herbert, but it may not be out of place to
mention here that, he was then about 23 years of age, and had not long been
constituted Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.

Footnotes
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vi. p. 165.
[58] Kennet.
[A] Brit. Mus. Cole MSS. Vol. xxxiii. p. 37.
[23] Carlyle.
[6] Bayley.
[57] Jo. H. C. Vol. vii. pp. 309, 373.
[22] Burton.
[B] Appendix F.
[14] Boyle, Vol. v. p. 264.
[C] Robert Cole, Esq. had the original receipt lithographed in
facsimile.
[D] See Appendix E.
[98] Walpole. Mr. Bliss’ states that he discovered the MS. among
the papers of Wm. Wilcox of St. John’s College, Oxford.
[E] From MS. collection of the late Dawson Turner, Esq., of
Yarmouth.
[F] Bod. Lib. “Thurloe’s Papers, Vol. xlv.”—“Rawl. MS. A. 45.”

[G] This letter is dated 28th of December, but might be mistaken for
18th. See Thurloe’s Papers.
[H] From MSS. Badminton.
[I] Brit. Mus. Harleian MS. No. 2428.
[J] From MS. collection of the late Dawson Turner, Esq. of
Yarmouth.
[K] From MSS. Badminton.
[* 26] Clarendon, Vol. ii. p. 201.
[L] One of the King’s attendants, who had formerly accompanied
him to Spain. Clayton’s Charles II. Vol. i. p. 136. 1859.
[M] Cal. of State Papers, Dom. Series, 1660–61. Edited by Mrs. M.
A. E. Green, 8vo. 1860.
[N] Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series, Charles II. 1660–1661, Vol.
xxviii. p. 466.
[79] Peterborough.
[O] Henry Somerset.
[P] From MSS. Badminton.

CHAPTER XV.
HIS PROSPECTS AT THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION—
PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT RESPECTING THE PATENT TO
CREATE HIM DUKE OF SOMERSET—RECOVERY OF ESTATES,
ETC.—PARLIAMENTARY DUTIES.
Charles the Second was only thirty years of age when he ascended the
throne, the Marquis was verging on sixty. Charles, gay, lively,
accomplished, and fascinating in his manners, well knew from bitter
experience the pain of leading a courtly life on straitened means; and the
Marquis had been too closely associated with him on the continent, not to
be aware of his exact position then, and his now brilliant change of
circumstances. The Marquis of Worcester too, was one of those happily
constituted men who do not grow misanthropic on every fresh instance of
the world’s ingratitude. His own nobleness and goodness of heart found a
thousand excuses for the cold, callous, calculating society around him; and
with his enlarged views, and greatness and purity of mind, he never
despaired that the day would arrive, when he should be able to move at least
in ease, if not in plenty. As regarded his Majesty, he enjoyed the fullest
confidence in his behaving towards him with more than ordinary
consideration; he might not be able to be magnificent, but at the very least
he dared not to doubt that the word of the King would be realized, who had
written to inform him[A]—“I am truly sensible of your great merit and
sufferings in the service of the King my father, and I never shall be wanting
to reward and encourage as well that kindness to his person as that zeal to
his service which you have expressed in all your actions.” But he was then
only nineteen years of age, unseared by the eleven years of profligacy, the
expiration of which found him on the throne of his ancestors.
The Marquis’s political position had been unpopular, making him many
enemies, which even altered times could not wholly obliterate. It was not
merely a question whether he was justified in acting in concert with the late
King, but it was manifestly imprudent and unwise, to say the least, his
becoming the champion of his church in so dangerous an enterprise as that
in which he engaged in Ireland. Consequently he found comparatively few

who sincerely sympathised in his sufferings, amidst the crowd of suffering
humanity distinguishing those unhappy times.
On the 9th of May, 1660, being the day after the King’s proclamation, the
House of Lords had before them a petition from the Marchioness of
Worcester,[B] the subject of which was strange enough, being no other than
to complain “That Colonel Christopher Copley, doth undermine Worcester
House.” Wherefore it was ordered, “That stop be made to further
proceedings therein.”
His Lordship early solicited the kind offices of Lord Clarendon, offering
him gratuitously the use of his mansion in the Strand.[26] He says:—

“My Lord Chancellor,
“The world speaks you to be a person of honour, and I know your
Lordship to be so, and that if you say the word your Lordship will make
good the same. My humble suit, therefore, to your Lordship is, but to tell
me freely whether you will be my friend in all things honourable, just, and
fitting; and when I ask of your Lordship anything contrary to either of
these, then do not only deny it me, but spit in my face, having afforded me
only patience first to give you my reasons.
“Nothing, I am confident, can set an obstacle to your Lordship’s granting
me this reasonable request, but an apprehension of the obnoxiousness of my
religion, as for that, such are my abilities to serve not only my Prince but
the whole kingdom, that when once known in Parliament, and his Majesty
looking but as favourably upon me as the tenth part of my deserts (pardon
me if I say so) doth require, I will undertake, within few days, there shall be
a vote in the very House of Commons to make me capable of any service
whereof I may be thought worthy. Another Remora doth perhaps forcibly
lie in the way, which is my son the Lord Herbert’s underhand working by
false suggestions; but I shall soon blow them over. In a word, if your
Lordship please to accept of me, I am the most real and affectionate servant,
and as a little token of it, be pleased to accept of Worcester House to live in,
far more commodious for your Lordship than where you now are, though
not in so good reparation; but such as it is, without requiring from you one
penny rent (yet that only known between your Lordship and me). It is
during my life at your service, for I am but a tenant in tail; but were my
interest longer, it should be as readily at your Lordship’s command, and I
believe I may serve you in some things of ten times the value; yet I never

desire word or deed from your Lordship other than according to what I first
began with. Be but pleased to deal plainly with me, and I desire to show
your Lordship in the King’s presence or ... if you please, what I intend to
produce or say, having had a dearly bought experience what it is to trust to
Princes alone. So preventing your Lordship further trouble, and asking
pardon for what I have put your Lordship unto, I only desire to receive a
verbal answer by this most deserving person, Mr. White, my ancient
acquaintance, into whose hands I would deposit the greatest imaginable
treasures untold, and intrust the greatest secrets, without other tie than his
acceptance of them.
“My Lord,
“your Lordship’s,
“Most really affectionate and humble servant,
“Worcester.
“June 9th, 1660.
“For the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor, present these.”[C]

It is painful to find the Marquis of Worcester compelled by the
theological tendencies of that age, to allude in his letter to “the
obnoxiousness of his religion.” But it is in just accordance with all that we
have seen of his progress through life, his “having had a dearly bought
experience what it is to trust to princes alone,”—that is, without witnesses
or other sufficient legal evidence. This last observation is called forth by his
“desire to show” Clarendon, as he states—“what I intend to produce or
say.” This might possibly have reference to his long written statement of his
losses, amounting to £918,000, intended for the King’s inspection, if not
also to form the basis of an address to the House of Lords, as given in the
last chapter. If this surmise is correct, it would clearly establish how
severely pressing were his pecuniary affairs, the King having then only
been eleven days at Whitehall; so early, would it seem, was he a suitor for
the royal favour.
The House, on the 20th of June,[D] upon the reading of the Marquis’s
Petition, “That he hath been dispossessed of his estate in the late unhappy
wars, and hath undergone many pressures in the same,”—ordered, “That he
be put into possession of his estate, which is not sold; and a stop and stay of
waste, and cutting wood upon his land sold; and the rents to be stayed in the
tenants’ hands; and to have a view of the writings and evidences which
concern him, which are in the custody of the trustees at Drury Lane.”

And further, on the 11th of September,[E] the said order was ratified and
confirmed, with the exception that, it was not to “extend to any manors or
lands sold unto or enjoyed by Henry Lord Herbert, son and heir apparent of
the said Marquis.”
But previously, on the 9th of July,[F] the House of Lords, “Upon
information given, That Elizabeth Cromwell, widow, the relict of Oliver
Cromwell; Richard Cromwell, Esquire; and Henry Lord Herbert, have
many deeds, evidences, and writings belonging to the Lord Marquis of
Worcester,”—it was ordered that “all such deeds, evidences, conveyances,
court-rolls, surveys, patents, fines, recoveries, rentals, plates, papers,
memorials, and writings, whatsoever,” in their hands, should be delivered
up unto his Lordship.
Among other purchasers of his estates under the authority in power, in
1651, was one Ann Tisser, a widow, whose husband had become possessed
of the Gatehouse attached to Worcester House. On the 27th of July the
House had ordered possession to be given up, but Ann Tisser refusing,
another order was issued on the 20th of August, requiring possession within
two days, but with no better effect; so, on the 29th, the refractory widow
“was brought to the Bar, to hear what she can say, why she does not deliver
up the Gatehouse.” To which she answered, “She bought it of the trustees
that did sell the Marquis of Worcester’s lands in 1651.” Her plea, however,
was only met by the House directing the Lord Chancellor to inform her,
“That the House expected that she should deliver up the said Gatehouse
forthwith; or else she must expect to undergo the displeasure of the House,
for contempt of their Lordships’ order.” Three days were allowed her to
obey this mandate, and as we hear no further account of Ann Tisser, she,
like many others in the same pitiable plight, was doubtless speedily ejected.
In August, 1660, the House of Lords[G] discussed the subject of his Patent
creating him Duke of Somerset, declared to be in prejudice to the Peers; and
therefore the following particulars will prove interesting, taken in
connexion with the copy of this Patent given at page 162.
On the 18th of August, “upon information to the House, by the Marquis
of Hertford, that a patent is granted to the Marquis of Worcester, which is a
prejudice to the Peers:—
“It is Ordered, That the consideration of the said Patent is referred to the
consideration of these Lords following:—
D. of Gloucester.

Marq. of Winton.
Marq. of Dorchester.
L. Steward.
Comes South’ton.
L. Chamberlain.
L. Great Chamberlain.
Comes Derby.
Comes Portland.
Comes Peterborough.
Comes Bolingbrooke.
Comes Bristol.
Comes Devon.
Comes Winchilsea.
Comes Dorset.
Comes Scarsdale.
Comes Berks.
Comes Rivers.
Viscount Stafford.
Viscount Paget.
Viscount Fynch.
Viscount Lucas.
Viscount Arundel.
Viscount Robertes.
Viscount Seymour.
Viscount Mohun.
Viscount Wharton.
Vis. Howard de Charlt.
Viscount Tenham.
“Their Lordships, or any five, to meet on Monday next, in the afternoon,
at 3 of the clock; and to have power to send for such persons as they think
fit, to give them information concerning this business; and to send for the
Patent.”
On the 20th of August, it was ordered, “That the Lord Chancellor and Mr.
Attorney General do attend the Lords Committee, which are to meet this
afternoon, to advise them, in point of law, concerning the Marquis of
Worcester’s Patent.”[H] Then on the 23rd of August, the Marquis of
Dorchester reports from the Committee, “That the Marquis of Worcester

confessed to their Lordships, that a Patent was made, and left in his hands,
by the King, to create him Duke of Somerset, upon certain conditions,
which never yet were performed; that he made no use of it; that the said
Patent is in the hands of his son the Lord Herbert; and his Lordship is
willing to deliver it up to his Majesty.”
A message was sent to the House of Commons, by Justice Tyrrell and
Justice Turner:
“To let them know, that the Marquis of Worcester hath acknowledged that
the Patent of the Dukedom of Somerset was made to him upon conditions
on his part to be performed, which he hath not performed; and that therefore
he hath not assumed the place or title, and is willing to submit it to be
surrendered, or otherwise disposed, as the King should appoint; but that it is
in the hands of his son the Lord Herbert, who is a member of the House of
Commons; and therefore to desire that the Lord Herbert may deliver it up to
the Marquis of Worcester.”[I] Then it was on the—
1st of September, “Ordered, That the Committee formerly appointed to
examine the business concerning the Marquis of Worcester’s patent do meet
on Monday next, in the afternoon, peremptorily: And these Lords following
are added to that Committee:—
Comes Bristol.
Comes Bridgwater.
Comes Clare.
Viscount Montagu.
Viscount Maynard.
Viscount Petre.
Viscount Culpepper.
Viscount Clifford.
Viscount Craven.
“The Marquis of Worcester is to have notice hereof; and if his Lordship
be not present in the House on Monday morning, then witnesses are to be
examined upon oath in the business, by the Committee.”[J]
On the 1st of September it was “Ordered, That the said Committee do
meet on Monday next in the Prince’s lodgings;” but in repeating the names
the Earl of Bristol was omitted.
On the 3rd of September, the Lord Arundel of Warder signified to the
House, “That the Marquis of Worcester hath delivered up the patent to his

Majesty, for the Dukedom of Somerset.” When it was—
“Ordered, That the same Committee prepare a Bill, that all patents and
grants obtained since the beginning of the late wars shall be brought within
a short time to be limited, or else the same to be vacated.”
In consequence of this order, on the 5th of September, Lord Roberts
reported the Draught of a Bill for bringing in of grants and patents, which
was twice read and committed; and being read a third time on the 6th, it
was duly passed.
It is very humiliating to find the Marquis of Worcester stripped, not only
of his great wealth, but of even empty titles; and this latter act not by
professed enemies, but through his peers conjointly with his very sovereign!
There is something so utterly contemptible in the whole proceedings, which
deprive without substitution, and sap the wealth of any man without an
adequate effort at remedial measures, that we feel perplexed how to account
for treatment so heartless and discreditable; whether considered in reference
to Charles the First, or his son and successor, or the reformed Parliament. In
all the relations of private life the conduct of Charles the First was as
commendable as that of his son was reprehensible; and if Charles the
Second had viewed the Marquis’s case only in respect to his father’s private
debts, he must have felt bound in honour and in common gratitude to assist
and uphold the Marquis of Worcester in every way and by every means
consistent with existing circumstances. It is true that his property was
restored along with the very deeds held by Cromwell, but his Castle was an
untenantable ruin, and his estates denuded of their wood; so that without
fortune, and in debt, his possessions were almost valueless. Besides, the
Marquis was remarkably modest and fastidiously considerate in all he
urged; yet he sought royal patronage in vain, for the gay monarch was not
to be won from his levity by the philosopher’s most plausible petitions.
On the 14th of December, 1661, Lord Herbert and other members
brought a message to the Lords, with several Bills, one being “An Act for
confirming the Marquis of Hertford to the Dukedom of Somerset,” which
had passed the House of Commons; and on the 17th, having then been read
a third time, it also passed the House of Lords.
As Courthope[70] observes, although the Marquis of Worcester thus
resigned his claim on the Dukedom of Somerset he still retained the titles of
Earl of Glamorgan and Baron Beaufort, as will be seen hereafter in the copy
given of his funeral certificate.

The Marquis seems to have attended the House of Lords for the first time
after the Restoration, on the 13th of June, 1660, continuing very regularly
for some months. The only others of his rank were the Marquises of
Winton, Hertford, Dorchester, and Newcastle, and later, the Marquis of
Winchester, seldom more than one or two of these being present on the
same occasion. Between this date and the 30th of August, he sat in the
House on thirty-seven days. Then after an absence of more than two months
he is again present on the 6th of November, from which to the 24th of
December he attended twenty-five meetings, the King being in the chair on
the last occasion. He was not again in his place until the 29th, when his
Majesty in person adjourned the House; which, meeting again on the 8th of
May, “his Majesty, being arrayed in his regal robes with his crown on his
head, ascended his seat of state, the Peers being in their robes. On the right
hand of his Majesty stood the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, the
Marquis of Winton, bearing the cap of state, and on his left hand stood the
Earl of Brecknock, Lord Steward of his Majesty’s household, bearing the
sword.
“And the Commons being below the bar, his Majesty made a short
speech, declaring the cause and the reasons for his summoning this present
Parliament.”
In all this august assembly the Marquis of Worcester, robed as were the
other Peers, claims our special notice. He sat there in strange contrast with
that gorgeous company, and the formalities which marked every process of
action or language. Was it possible for him to be too expectant, seeing what
he then saw and hearing what he then heard? Here was one who was no
obscure individual, no questionable professor, or undeserved claimant on
the patronage and smallest available favours often solicited by him from the
crowned monarch in whose presence he then sat.
We again miss his attendance until the 11th of May, and the 8th of June,
from which time he attended twenty-nine meetings, the last being on the
30th July, when his Majesty in person adjourned the House, and again
recalled it on the 20th November, when the Marquis was present, as before.
He again attended in his place on the 26th of November, 1661, from
which time to the 17th of May, when Parliament was prorogued, until the
18th of February, 1662, he attended thirty-two meetings with much
irregularity, being on one occasion absent for above a month; and he did not
appear on the re-opening of Parliament, when the House being called, he

was declared absent; wherefore, it would seem he attended on the next
meeting of the House, on the 25th of the same month, when he was elected
one of a Committee to report on Petitions, occasioning his further more
regular attendance.
These particulars satisfactorily show his residence in or near London,
while they likewise account for the nature of a large share of the
employments that then engaged his active mind. But a change in the
Government had brought him little if any alleviation in a pecuniary point of
view, for on the 2nd of July, 1661, his petition was read in the House of
Peers,[K] showing “That he having contracted many debts in the service of
his late Majesty’s wars, and some of his creditors have obtained judgments
against his estate, and are now extending his lands, being contrary to the
privilege of Parliament, he being a Peer of this Realm.
“It is Ordered, That there shall be no further proceedings, by any of the
Marquis of Worcester’s said creditors, against him, during the time of the
privilege of this Parliament: And hereof all counsel, attornies, and solicitors
herein employed, or to be employed, are to take notice, and yield obedience
to this Order, as the contrary will be answered to this House.”
And as affecting his property, on the 7th of August, 1660, he had leave
granted him by the House to bring in a Bill,[L] “for restoring him to his
estate, as other Lords have.” Accordingly, on the 13th of that month an Act
for the same was read. But in consequence of the petitions of certain
creditors, his Lordship had leave granted him on the 28th of February,
1661–2, to withdraw his Bill; and on the 10th of March following he
brought forward an amended Bill, entitled—“An Act on the behalf of
Edward, Marquis of Worcester, and of the creditors of the said Marquis, for
vesting and settling upon the feoffees, in trust, certain manors, lands, and
tenements, for payment of the debts of the said Marquis.” In fact, the estates
were heavily encumbered, the petitioners, among others, alleging, that
“They have bought lands and houses of the Marquis of Worcester, for which
they have as good assurances as the law can give;” and being heard by
counsel at the bar of the House, they succeeded in their object, as just
stated.
It was in the midst of such distractions as these Parliamentary details
serve to illustrate, that this talented inventor and noble benefactor to his
species, had to maintain his social position; and at the same time, struggle
to convince a bigoted age that he was master of a power of such magnitude

for the abridging of human labour, as the mind of man had never before
conceived.

Footnotes
[A] See page 190.
[B] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 19.
[26] Clarendon.
[C] The Lord Chancellor was at this time occupying Dorset House,
in Salisbury Court, once the residence of the Bishops of Salisbury, one of
whom alienated it to the Sackville family.
Notwithstanding this offer (free of rent), it is stated by Lord
Clarendon, that he paid for Worcester House a yearly rent of £500. (T. H.
Lister’s Life of Edward, first Earl of Clarendon.)
[D] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. pages 70 and 302.
[E] Ibid. Vol. xi.
[F] Ibid. p. 85.
[G] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 133.
[H] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 135.
[I] Jo. H. of Lords, 1660. 12 Car. II.
[J] Ibid. p. 152.
[70] Nicholas.
[K] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 296.
[L] Ibid, pages 119, 125, 149, 150, 348, 386, 393, 395.

CHAPTER XVI.
HIS INVENTIONS—FURTHER PETITIONS—PUBLICATION OF HIS
CENTURY—CHARLES II. VISITS HIS SON AT BADMINTON—
WORCESTER HOUSE, STRAND.
The preamble of an Act for awarding £60,000 to poor cavaliers sets forth,
that “Whereas there was a loyal party which through all hazard and
extremities in the defence of the King’s person, crown, and dignity, the
rights and privileges of Parliament, the religion, laws, and honour of the
English nation, did bear arms by command of his late Majesty of ever
blessed memory, according to their duty, and the known laws of this land,
and did with an unwearied courage, faith, and constancy, with their lives
and fortunes, oppose the barbarous rebellion raised against his most
excellent Majesty in the year 1642, &c. &c.”[A] But means so inadequate
could really benefit few, particularly so large a claimant as the Marquis of
Worcester, who had sacrificed more than fifteen times the whole amount of
that fund.
And although he received back a large portion of his estates, the very
deeds held by Cromwell being at this day in the family’s possession, his
own debts had accumulated to a most ruinous extent, less from
improvidence on his own part, than from the precarious course of life his
necessities had obliged him to lead, especially during the last ten or twelve
years.
But his indomitable spirit rose superior to every calamity, whether public
or private, and we find him in the midst of all his personal grievances
having a patent sealed on the 15th of November, 1661, for four several
inventions; 1. a watch or clock; 2. guns or pistols; 3. an engine applicable
for giving security to a coach; and 4. a boat to sail against wind and tide. No
description is afforded to guide the mechanic in constructing such
inventions, being a mere statement of their nature and properties, as detailed
probably in the first written copy of the Century in 1655, and still preserved
in the printed edition. There is not the slightest connection between these
inventions, and their incongruity would rather dishearten than encourage
modern enterprise, variety of employments being contrary to the proverbial

recommendation of all traders. It may be as well, therefore, to remark that
this brief and strange assemblage of inventions in the same inventor, and in
his single patent, was customary long before and after this period; so that,
considered in this respect alone, the circumstance wore no air of singularity
in the 17th century. Nothing occurs to throw the least light on the effect of
this first publication of these inventions, we are consequently led to suppose
that they proved of but little value to him, as regarded watches or firearms;
and in respect to coaches and paddle-boats we should certainly have heard
more about them had the one perambulated the streets or the other sailed on
the Thames.
He appears, previous to his patent, probably immediately after his release
from the Tower, to have circulated a written statement of such of his
inventions as he conceived most likely to attract public notice. In the
Library of the British Museum[B] there is a small quarto half sheet of paper,
closely written on both sides in a clerk’s hand, bearing the title of
“Inventions of ye Earle of Worcestr,” enumerating eight subjects, viz.
improvements in a watch, vessel, artificial bird, hour ball, coach engine,
raising weights, raising water, and to stay motion.[C]
A matter of slight consequence at the time makes us acquainted with a
small matter passing in reference to the recovered estates. Sir Robert Mason
writing, on the 10th of November, 1661, to Mr. Secretary Nicholas, states
that the person whom he has taken into custody is Edward Herbert, late of
the Grange, near Magor, Monmouth, where he was Cromwell’s tenant of
part of the Marquis of Worcester’s estate; but since the Marquis had power
to recover it, he retired to Bristol. He further says, that he was Cromwell’s
right hand, and is an Independent.[D]
The Marquis of Worcester must have been very fully occupied at this
time, with the various incidents portending a change in his domestic affairs,
yet he appears never to have forgotten, or considered it any trouble, to assist
and relieve the necessities of others. In this humane spirit we find him
addressing two long letters to the Secretary of State, the first in respect to
Captain William Foster, a prisoner in the Tower; the other relating to the
Captain’s servant. They derive a further interest from the allusion he makes
to his own former captivity in the same fortress:—[E]

“Right Honourable,

“Though I bear as great a reverence to the Act of Oblivion as any,
yet methinks justice also requires it at my hands to make a great difference
between those who in their then actings carried a respect and afforded
kindness to us their poor prisoners for his Majesty’s cause; I think myself
therefore bound in honour and gratitude to give such a testimony in Captain
William Foster’s behalf to my own knowledge, and was an eye-witness
thereof to the very saving some prisoners of quality and merit [from?] their
greatest hazards, who I believe (if they were in town, or present with you)
would not deny it: the favour he only begs, and I in his behalf, is, that upon
sufficient bail, he may follow his own calling, and provide for many
children of his wife’s relict, of one once a soldier for his Majesty; and some
little ones of his own, now by her ever a most Lady Cavalier. And if my
intercession may be of stead to him, and of value to you, I shall take it for a
good obligation upon one who am confident his accusations are of some
priest animosities, and will prove so when rightly understood: for before his
Majesty’s happy restoration his commission was upon that account taken
from him to his damage, and that he should now likewise suffer for his
Majesty does seem very hard. But I submit all this to your Honour’s best
judgment towards him, and create an obligation from you upon me, though
not very personally known to you, yet a great admirer of your great parts
and merit; and shall ever approve myself
“Your Honour’s
“most affectionate and most humble servant,
“Worcester.
“November 18th, 1662.
“For the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bennett, One of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State,
these.”

And the month following he wrote:—
“Right Honourable,
“Had not my indisposition hindered my attendance at Court, I
should in one of the first places waited upon you to give humble thanks for
your extended favour upon my letter, in taking bail for Captain Foster’s
servant; and I hope his Honour is now satisfied so well at the sessions, as
not to detain him any longer, in whose behalf, had I thought him in the least
guilty, I should rather have suffered myself than have appeared for him; but
my six years’ experience of him during my imprisonment in the Tower,
made me confident, and if you please now to crown your favour to me by

his despatch, it shall be, ere long, most thankfully acknowledged by me,
who do not long for any one reason more to be at Court, and haste thither,
than to be an eye-witness of so bright a star showing there; and that I may
have occasion to appear
“Your Honour’s
“most humble and obliged servant,
“Worcester.[F]
“December 13th, 1662.

“For the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bennett, One of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State,
these.”

We learn from the latter communication that he was in attendance at
Court, though at the time, through indisposition, obliged to discontinue. His
expression—“my six years’ experience of him, during my imprisonment in
the Tower,” will bear two or three constructions, unless certain particulars
are well noted. He may be considered to have been a state prisoner from
July 1652, to May 1660. But he may have been confined in the Tower only
from July 1652, until 5th of October 1654, when an order passed for his
liberation on bail, but yet virtually a prisoner. As we have for the longest
period the term of nearly eight years, the preceding “six years”
acquaintance may have commenced only shortly before his discharge on
bail, which appears to be the most reasonable construction, as he is not
speaking of the precise term of his own imprisonment but of that of his
“experience of him during my imprisonment.” From the time of his
enlargement to the termination of the Protectorate was five years and seven
months, still leaving five months to accomplish the acquaintance within the
precincts of the prison, and which he might fairly date to the period of
Charles the Second’s accession, as the full term of his “imprisonment,”
whether within or without its precise locality; for he was certainly not at
liberty, like any other subject of the Commonwealth, to leave the kingdom.
It has generally, however, been supposed that he suffered many years of
absolute close confinement, and most romantic fictions have grown out of
the interesting fable of a philosopher incarcerated in some dungeon-like
chambers within the Tower, experimenting on culinary vessels, led by the
explosion of a pot-lid to study the nature of steam, thereon applying his
great discovery to practice, and forthwith writing a book, a true picture of
science struggling under the most excruciating difficulties. The fable lost

nothing of interest by repetition, being of a nature which left much to the
imagination whether of readers, writers, or artists, all of whom have
exercised almost unlimited indulgence in picturing the Marquis of
Worcester, under circumstances purely mythical and absurdly ingenious.
We now approach the great event of the Marquis of Worcester’s life, that
for which alone, through all time, he will be distinguished, as pre-eminent
among the luminaries who have advanced those branches of science which
have most contributed to promote and extend the necessaries, conveniences,
and comforts of mankind, thereby giving a decided impulse to civilization.
The new reign was marked by highly favourable circumstances
connected with the advance of science, giving rise to the institution of the
Royal Society, in 1660, for “improving natural knowledge,” which was
incorporated by Royal Charter two years later.
As early as January 1660–61, the Marquis had intimated his intention to
proceed practically to work, so soon, as he expresses himself,—“as with
security and satisfaction, by Act of Parliament, I may put in practice the
greatest gift of invention for profit, that I ever yet heard of vouchsafed to a
man, especially so unworthy and ignorant as I am (I mean my Water-
commanding Engine).[G]
Two years later the House of Peers, and afterwards the House of
Commons, had this subject before them, and therefore, in a matter which
has grown to be one of national importance, we shall proceed to afford the
fullest particulars of what transpired, to obtain for the Marquis the long
contemplated Act.
In the House of Lords, on the 16th of March, 1662–3, the Marquis of
Worcester being present, his Bill was read the first time, for—“An Act to
enable Edward Marquis of Worcester to receive the benefit and profit of a
Water-commanding Engine, by him invented; one tenth part whereof is
appropriated for the benefit of the King’s Majesty, his heirs and
successors.”[H]
It was read a second time, and committed on the 19th following, his
Lordship again attending, when a Committee of 14 members was
appointed.[I]
“His Lordship was again present on the 28th of March, 1663, when the
Bill was reported with amendments and recommitted; and he also attended
on the 30th, when the Report was received with a proviso, which was read

twice, agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be engrossed. And on the 31st of
the same month it was read a third time and passed.”[J]
On the 2nd of April[K] the House of Lords sent the Bill, with the
following message, to the House of Commons, by Sir Thomas Bennett and
Sir Justinian Lewyn, Knights:—
“Mr. Speaker, The Lords have sent you down a Bill to enable Edward
Marquis of Worcester to receive the benefit and profit of a Water-
commanding Engine, by him invented; one tenth part whereof is
appropriated for the benefit of the King’s Majesty, his heirs and successors;
to which they desire the concurrence of this House.”
After other business, in the House of Commons,[L] on the 4th of April, the
Bill was read a second time and committed, and it was recommended to the
Committee[M] to provide, “That after the death of the Lord Marquis, the
benefit of the Water-commanding Engine may come to the Lord Herbert his
son.”
“And they are to meet on Tuesday next, in the Exchequer Chamber, at
two of the clock in the afternoon: And to send for persons, papers and
records.”
The Commons’ Committee[N] reported on the 5th of May following,
through Mr. Hungerford, “That the Committee had accordingly prepared a
proviso for the purpose aforesaid: which he read in his place; and after,
delivered the same in at the clerk’s table.
“The said proviso being twice read;
“Resolved, &c. That the words ‘raising and’ be inserted in the proviso,
after the word ‘the,’ and before the word ‘carriage,’ in the fourth line of the
proviso.
“Which was done accordingly.
“The proviso, thus amended, was read the third time.
“Resolved, &c. That the proviso, so amended, be agreed to.
“Resolved, &c. That the Bill, with the amendments and proviso, agreed
to, be returned to the Lords, for their concurrence.
“And the Lord Herbert is to carry the same up to the Lords.”
In the House of Lords,[O] on the 7th of May, “A message was brought
from the House of Commons, by the Lord Herbert and others: To return a
Bill formerly sent down, concerning the Lord Marquis of Worcester’s Water
Engine; wherein they have made some amendments and alterations, and
desire their Lordships’ concurrence therein.”

On the 8th of May, after other business:—“Next, was read the alterations
and proviso brought up from the House of Commons, which are to be added
to the Bill concerning the Marquis of Worcester’s Water-commanding
Engine; and being thrice read over, and considered of,—
“The question being put, ‘Whether this Bill, with the alterations and
additions now read, shall pass?’
“It was resolved in the affirmative.”
On these three last occasions the Marquis was likewise present.
On the 12th of May[O] their Lordships, in their message,[P] by Sir William
Child and Sir Toby Woolrich, to the House of Commons, acquainted them
that they agreed to their alterations; and, on the 3rd of June, the royal assent
was given to “An Act to enable the Marquis of Worcester to receive the
benefit and profit of a Water-commanding Engine, by him invented, &c.”—
in these words:—
“Soit fait come il est desiré.”
But the Marquis was not in attendance, as on former occasions, to watch
the proceedings.
We have thus traced the progress of this remarkable Act through
Parliament; from the 16th of March to the day of its receiving the royal
assent on the 3rd of June. It will have been remarked that the Marquis was
in constant attendance, and that it was his son who was deputed by the
Commons, on the 3rd of May, to present the amended Bill to the Peers. It is
impossible to imagine what might have been the feelings of the Marquis
himself throughout the period of these prolonged proceedings, but he
unquestionably had set his mind on this measure as the palladium of his
inventive rights and the forerunner of brighter prospects.
In a memorandum relating to various grants, among others, occurs one to
the Marquis of Worcester, thus noticed:—“March, 166¾. That by Act of
Parliament his Invention of a Water-commanding Engine, granted him for
ninety-nine years, one tenth reserved to the King. The King remitted the
tenth to the Marquis upon a surrender of a Warrant dated at Oxford, 5th Jan.
20 Car. I. by which his then Majesty did grant the Marquis lands to the
value of £40,000, in consideration of a debt due to the Marquis from his
Majesty.”[Q][R]
The prospect of better days had now fairly set in; he had at least
succeeded in securing his invention to himself and to his family after him,
as a property in the value of which he felt unbounded confidence, roundly

estimating it at not less than £400,000. Shortly after the passing of this Act
he published his ever memorable and extremely curious and ingenious little
work, entitled “A Century of the names and scantlings of Inventions.”[S]
It is dedicated to Charles the Second, and also to both Houses of
Parliament; in addressing the latter he expresses himself as being—“by the
Act of the Water-commanding Engine (which so cheerfully you have
passed) sufficiently rewarded;” and as the work bears date on the title page,
1663, it must have been published after the passing of the Act, in May, that
year. This edition, only duodecimo size, consisting of 98 pages, is now very
scarce, but it has been frequently reprinted. This small volume was most
likely only intended for private distribution, particularly among members of
Parliament, and persons whose support might be solicited; for it is generally
believed that a company was being organised for bringing the invention into
public use.
During this state of affairs in London an agreeable episode was being
enacted at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, the seat of his son, Lord
Herbert. In September, 1663, Charles the Second and his Queen visited
Bath, Badminton, Cirencester, and other places, in their progress to Oxford.
Mr. Godolphin, writing from Bath on the 18th of September, 1663, to his
brother, says:—[T]“We were waiting on the King to Badminton, a house of
my Lord Herbert of Raglan, where the King dined, and was handsomely
entertained.” From Oxford, he again writes to his brother, on the 28th
September, 1663, in which he informs him that, among other matters, he
will “receive the account promised of our progress through Bath, hither.” A
news-letter, dated “Oxford, 28th” [1663,] which is no doubt the one alluded
to, commences:—
“On Tuesday, the 22nd instant,.[?] the King and Queen left Bath, and at
their entrance into Gloucestershire were met by the High Sheriff; and a little
after by the Lord Herbert of Raglan, Lord Lieutenant of that County, with a
brave appearance of the gentry of that County, who all conducted their
Majesties to the Lord Herbert’s house, at Badminton, where their Majesties
were nobly entertained at dinner.”
They went thence to Cirencester, where they supped at Lord Newburgh’s,
and lodged that night.
An obvious discrepancy occurs in the two accounts of the dinner, Mr.
Godolphin on the 18th writes of it as having taken place, whereas the
Oxford news-letter names the 22nd.

From 1660, we find Lord Clarendon making a temporary residence of
Worcester House in the Strand, where, in December, the same year, Evelyn
paid a visit to the Lord Chancellor’s newly married daughter. And four
years later he dined there, being afterwards taken in their coach by the
Chancellor and his Lady, to see their palace, building at the upper end of St.
James’s Street.[37]
The Marquis’s own residence never transpires, but it is more than
probable he would reside near to, or within easy access of Vauxhall, where
we have next to trace his very different, exceedingly arduous, and most
trying undertaking.

Footnotes
[A] Bod. Lib. “Carte Papers. Lord Wharton’s Papers, 81.”
[B] Brit. Mus. Birch MSS. No. 4459.
[C] See Appendix A.
[D] Col. State Papers, 1661–1662; Domestic Series. Edited by Mrs.
M. A. E. Green, page 141. 8vo. 1861.
[E] Col. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1662. [Nos. 28 and 60. Vols. 63
and 64.]
[F] This and the former letter are holographs.
[G] See page 222.
[H] Jo. H. of Lords. Vol. xi. p. 493, 494.
[I] It was “Ordered, That the consideration of this Bill is committed
to these Lords following; videlicet,
Lord Privy Seal.
Marquis of Dorchester.
Comes Bridgwater.
Comes North’on.
Comes Bollingbroke.
Comes St. Albans.
Viscount Say et Seale.
Bp. London.
Bp. Winton.

Bp. Ely.
Bp. Sarum.
Bp. Petriburgh.
Bp. Carlisle.
Ds. Berkeley de B.
Ds. Pagett.
Ds. Chandos.
Ds. Hunsdon.
Ds. Craven.
Ds. Loughborough.
Ds. Byron.
Ds. Colepeper.
“Their Lordships, or any other five, to meet on Saturday next, in the
afternoon at three of the clock, in the Prince’s Lodgings.”
[J] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 499, 501, 502.
[K] Ibid. p. 504.
[L] Jo. H. of Com. Vol. viii. p. 464.
[M] The following Members were on the Committee:—
Lord St. John,
Sir Geo. Probert,
Sir Robert Atkyns,
Mr. Clifford,
Sir John Goodrick,
Sir Tho. Meres,
Mr. Wm. Sandis,
Mr. Chichley,
Sir Tho. Ingram,
Mr. Crouch,
Mr. Culleford,
Serjeant Charlton,
Lord Herbert,
Lord Bruce,
Mr. Hen. Coventry,
Sir Lanc. Lake,
Mr. Birch,

Sir Tho. Tompkins,
Mr. John Vaughan,
Sir Rich. Braham,
Sir John Birkinhead,
Mr. Wren,
Sir Rowland Berkley,
Colonel Fletchvile,
Sir Geo. Downing,
Mr. Westphaling,
Mr. Waller,
Sir Cha. Harbord,
Mr. Wm. Montague,
Colonel Windham,
Mr. Hungerford,
Mr. Sprye,
Sir Wm. Lewis,
Sir Rich. Onslow,
Mr. Gaudy,
Mr. Prideaux,
Sir Tho. Littleton,
Sir Humphrey Bennet,
Colonel Gilby,
Sir Wm. Fleetwood,
Sir Solomon Swale,
Mr. Geo. Montague,
Mr. Morice,
Sir John Low,
Sir John Holland,
Sir Roger Bradshaigh,
Sir Nich. Steward,
Mr. Whorwood,
Sir John Denham,
Sir John Norton,
Mr. Cornwallis.
[N] Jo. H. of Com. Vol. viii. p. 475, 476.
[O] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. pages 517 and 519.

[P] Jo. H. of Lords, Vol. xi. p. 522 and 533; and Jo. H. of Com. Vol.
viii. p. 480.
[Q] See Calendar of State Papers, 1663–1664. Domestic Series,
Charles II. edited by Mrs. M. A. E. Green, referring to Vol. 95, and
papers between Nos. 101 and 102. The same memorandum, in another
form, appears also in Domestic Correspondence, Feb. 1664. Vol. 93, No.
83,—thus:—
“Water Engine Invented. The tenths of the benefit remitted to the
Marquis of Worcester, the Inventor, in lieu of lands to the value of
£40,000, granted by warrant from his Majesty for that sum disbursed in
his service.”
[R] See Appendix F.
[S] Mr. Thomas Baker, a talented engineer, and withal a poet, has
very gracefully epitomized the character of the Century in his poem on
“The Steam Engine; or the Powers of Flame,” published in 1857. As the
work is now extremely scarce, and not likely to be met with by the
general reader, the following extract may prove acceptable:—
The Vision of the Marquis of Worcester.
With hopes now high, now with despair oppress’d,
As Phœbus sunk, he also sunk to rest;
When lo! uprose before his mental view
A hundred Engines of devices new!
In slow procession he their forms survey’d;
In each recondite fabric were display’d
Rare works of art, and such as far surpass
Ought erst beheld in iron, steel, or brass;
While gems with gold and silver’s polished sheen
Blended their hues in this artistic scene:

Resplendent seals were there in groups arranged,
Which by a touch their rare devices changed,
And secrets in all languages convey’d
From man to man, nor once their trust betray’d.
Such were the seals to Eastern Magi known,

By which of old their wond’rous feats were shown.
Nine engines next in slow succession came,
Explosive from the slightest touch of flame,
Replete with missiles, used in various ways:

A floating garden, gay, with verdant bowers,
And redolent with blooming trees and flowers,
Drew its own moisture, moved its pleasing form,
Spontaneous met the sun, and shunn’d the storm;
Such scenes of fair delight, are wont to smile
From age to age in Hainan’s palmy isle!
Nine splendid founts their varied forms display’d,
Whence cooling streams, abstrusely winding, stray’d;
In one, tall jets bright Iris’ colours show’d;
In one, the waters ever ebb’d and flow’d:

Next there came forth a vast abstruse machine,
Where motions of ten thousand worlds were seen;
Th’ æthereal vault around was wide display’d,
As by bright Phœbus from his car survey’d;
Here scenic splendour and rich art outshone
All Orreries to modern science known!
A new variety, in number vast,
Of ever-changing forms before him pass’d:
Not Proteus’ self could with their antics cope,
Nor modern scenes of gay Kaleidoscope:
Their graceful symmetry and rainbow-hues
A rapt’rous wonder o’er his mind diffuse!
To vary these abstruse artistic scenes,
There pass’d along a group of fresh machines;
Many there were that in these days impart
Essential aid to various schemes of art:
One was a globe buoy’d by a crystal well,
Which night or day the passing hour could tell,
With the elapsing minutes, seconds too;

And, like the dial, to the heaven true;
The famed Clepsydra, in its artifice,
Was but a bauble when compared with this!
Martial designs came next, in size immense,
Adapted for attack, and for defence:

To crown these shows of wonder and delight,
A Being rose of superhuman might:

At every motion from his nostrils came
A mounting vap’rous breath like subtle flame!
At once it beam’d on Worcester’s mental eye,
That Steam alone might this great power supply:
And lo! as ’twere this thought to realize,
He saw it, fuming, from vast cauldron rise;
From whence this prodigy his spirit drew,
Achieving thus what met the wondering view!
[T] Cal. State Papers, Dom. Series, 1663–64, edited by Mrs. M. A.
E. Green, 8vo. 1862.
[37] Evelyn.