"Surely," said the Queen, "you told me so yourself." "It is impossible that I have told you so," said the King, "for nothing of the sort happened."It is much to be regretted that Sir Henry Halford should have taken so little trouble ascertain the facts on which he pronounced judgment. He does not seem to have been aware of the existence of the narrative of James, Barillon, and Huddleston.
As this is the first occasion on which I cite the correspondence of the Dutch ministers at the English court, I ought here to mention that a series of their despatches, from the accession of James the Second to his flight, forms one of the most valuable parts of the Mackintosh collection. The subsequent despatches, down to the settlement of the government in February, 1689, Iprocured from the Hague. The Dutch archives have been far too little explored. They abound with information interesting in the highest degree to every Englishman. They are admirably arranged and they are in the charge of gentlemen whose courtesy, liberality and zeal for the interests of literature, cannot be too highly praised. I wish to acknowledge, in the strongest manner, my own obligations to Mr. De Jonge and to Mr. Van Zwanne.
221 Clarendon mentions this calumny with just scorn. "According to the charity of the time towards Cromwell, very many would have it believed to be by poison, of which there was no appearance, nor any proof ever after made."--Book xiv.
222 Welwood, 139 Burnet, i. 609; Sheffield's Character of Charles the Second; North's Life of Guildford, 252; Examen, 648;Revolution Politics; Higgons on Burnet. What North says of the embarrassment and vacillation of the physicians is confirmed by the despatches of Van Citters. I have been much perplexed by the strange story about Short's suspicions. I was, at one time, inclined to adopt North's solution. But, though I attach little weight to the authority of Welwood and Burnet in such a case, Icannot reject the testimony of so well informed and so unwilling a witness as Sheffield.
223 London Gazette, Feb. 9. 1684-5; Clarke's Life of James the Second, ii. 3; Barillon, Feb. 9-19: Evelyn's Diary, Feb. 6.
224 See the authorities cited in the last note. See also the Examen, 647; Burnet, i. 620; Higgons on Burnet.
225 London Gazette, Feb. 14, 1684-5; Evelyn's Diary of the same day; Burnet, i. 610: The Hind let loose.
226 Burnet, i. 628; Lestrange, Observator, Feb. 11, 1684.
227 The letters which passed between Rochester and Ormond on this subject will be found in the Clarendon Correspondence.
228 The ministerial changes are announced in the London Gazette, Feb. 19, 1684-5. See Burnet, i. 621; Barillon, Feb. 9-19, 16-26;and Feb. 19,/Mar. 1.
229 Carte's Life of Ormond; Secret Consults of the Romish Party in Ireland, 1690; Memoirs of Ireland, 1716.
230 Christmas Sessions Paper of 1678.
231 The Acts of the Witnesses of the Spirit, part v chapter v.
In this work Lodowick, after his fashion, revenges himself on the "bawling devil," as he calls Jeffreys, by a string of curses which Ernulphus, or Jeffreys himself, might have envied. The trial was in January, 1677.
232 This saying is to be found in many contemporary pamphlets.
Titus Oates was never tired of quoting it. See his Eikwg Basilikh.
233 The chief sources of information concerning Jeffreys are the State Trials and North's Life of Lord Guildford. Some touches of minor importance I owe to contemporary pamphlets in verse and prose. Such are the Bloody Assizes the life and Death of George Lord Jeffreys, the Panegyric on the late Lord Jeffreys, the Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Jeffreys's Elegy. See also Evelyn's Diary, Dec. 5, 1683, Oct. 31. 1685. I scarcely need advise every reader to consult Lord Campbell's excellent Life of Jeffreys.
234 London Gazette, Feb. 12, 1684-5. North's Life of Guildford, 254.
235 The chief authority for these transactions is Barillon's despatch of February 9-19, 1685. It will he found in the Appendix to Mr. Fox's History. See also Preston's Letter to James, dated April 18-28, 1685, in Dalrymple.
236 Lewis to Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
237 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
238 Barillon, Feb. 18-28, 1685.
239 Swift who hated Marlborough, and who was little disposed to allow any merit to those whom he hated, says, in the famous letter to Crassus, "You are no ill orator in the Senate."240 Dartmouth's note on Burnet, i. 264. Chesterfleld's Letters, Nov., 18, 1748. Chesterfield is an unexceptional witness; for the annuity was a charge on the estate of his grandfather, Halifax. Ibelieve that there is no foundation for a disgraceful addition to the story which may be found in Pope:
"The gallant too, to whom she paid it down, Lived to refuse his mistress half a crown."Curll calls this a piece of travelling scandal.
241 Pope in Spence's Anecdotes.
242 See the Historical Records of the first or Royal Dragoons.
The appointment of Churchill to the command of this regiment was ridiculed as an instance of absurd partiality. One lampoon of that time which I do not remember to have seen in print, but of which a manuscript copy is in the British Museum, contains these lines:
"Let's cut our meat with spoons:
The sense is as good As that Churchill should Be put to command the dragoons."243 Barillon, Feb. 16-26, 1685.
244 Barillon, April 6-16; Lewis to Barillon, April 14-24.
245 I might transcribe half Barillon's correspondence in proof of this proposition, but I will quote only one passage, in which the policy of the French government towards England is exhibited concisely and with perfect clearness.
"On peut tenir pour un maxime indubitable que l'accord du Roy d'Angleterre avec son parlement, en quelque maniere qu'il se fasse, n'est pas conforme aux interets de V. M. Je me contente de penser cela sane m'en ouvrir a personne, et je cache avec soin mes sentimens a cet egard."--Barillon to Lewis, Feb. 28,/Mar.
