DUPL
D 412029
tl.QUERIS-PENINSULAM AMO NAM
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
LIBRARY
MOLL
918 7
OSHIDHAN
01HHLIHIN
SCIENTIA
ARTES
VERITAS
OF THE
HILIN
LLUNDE
TCEROR
CIRCUMSPICE
IIIIIIIIIIHIIII..7
IIIIIIIIIIII
38น
163
/
• -
45
t
}
:
(
+
1
1
t
}
[
-
Pork
}
.
}
1
|
:
.
{
}
:
}
}
1

M E MO I R S
OF THE
LIFE
OF
Sir Stephen Fox, Kt .
FROM HIS
First Entrance upon the Stage of Action
under the Lord Piercy, till his Decease.
Wherein are inserted, many Curious Incidents
and Passages not mention'd in the Great Earl
of Clarendon's History, during the Reigns of
King Charles and King James the Second,
King William, and the late Queen Anne; as
also during the two First Years of his present
Majesty King George: With an Account of
that most excellent Patriot's diffusive Chari-
ties and Benefactions.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A succinct Account of his Will and Testament, with the Par-
ticulars of the Legacies bequeath'd therein to his Relations
and Friends; together with some memorable Transactions
relating to his Son Charles For, Esq; likewise deceas'd; with
a Copy of the Schedule annex'd to his Last Will and Testa-
ment, wherein are also contain'd the respective Legacies he
left behind him; faithfully extracted from the Prerogative
Office in Doctors Commons.
Quis fructus generis tabula juctare capaci
Corvinum, posthac multa deducere virga
Fumosos equitum cum Dictatore Mugistros,
Si coram Lepidis male Vivitur ? Juv. SAT. 8.
LONDON: Printed for John Sackfield, in Lincoln's-Inn-Square,
and Sold by J. Roberts, near the Oxford-Arms, in Warwick-
Lane. MDCCXVII.
Reprinted for J. CAULFIELD, and sold by all the Booksellers.
į
(iii)
1
1
THE
PREFACE.
1
THE Advertisements published in the
Post-Boy, and Dayly-Courant, from
a certain Quarter, without the knowledge
of the Persons more immediately concern'd
in the Narrative hereafter written, make it
necessary that something be premised in
Vindication of the following. Undertaking,
which has been manag’d with as great Care,
and as tender a Regard for Truth, as any
Thing of this Nature, where so many Ob-
stacles have been invidiously laid in our
Way, could possibly be.
Our
A 2
iv
The PREFACE.
Our Readers are therefore to be told, as
they will find by its Perusal, that the Author
of this little Work, contrary to the Assur-
ances given out to the contrary, has been
furnish'd with proper Materials; and that,
as far as in him lay, he has been not only
Just to the Memory of the deceas'd Person,
and Persons he treats of, but also to the
Reputation of those that survive; and if
he is any Ways deficient, it has not been
for want of due Inquiry, from those who
were most able to set him Right; but their
Backwardness to communicate such Pas-
sages as might have been of Use and Illus-
tration to so laudable and praise-worthy
a Design.
Not that it is to be presum'd) there will
be the least Ground for any Offence to be
taken, or any Prosecution, which we have
been imaginarily threatned with by the Ex-
ecutrix, and Trustees, in Print, (for we
rather expect their Thanks, than Trouble
from
The PREFACE:
V
1
from them), but we would give the Publick
to understand, that we have had such Lights,
even from Sir Stephen's Family it self, and
some very well known to that of the Earl
of Northampton, and Lord Cornwallis, as
will not only skreen us from Pursuits at
Law, but justifie us in every part of the
Performance. Since Malice it self is here-
by defyd to contradict any one Particular
alledg’d to be true, thro’ the whole Con-
duct of this little History; and no Pains
have been omitted to consult the Herald's
and the Prerogative Offices, where there
has been Occasion, thro' the Retentiveness
of some of Sir Stephen's Relations, and the
self-willd Obstinacy of others, in whose
Power it was to have favour'd Us, and the
Publick, with many more Occurrences and
Facts of Importance.
}
As for the Author, howsoever misrepre-
sented by a certain Person, whom he could
name with some Disadvantage to his Pro-
fession
B
vi
The PREFACE.
fession and character, for one of Mr. Curle's
Hacks, he is not asham'd of having it
known, that he is the very Man that wrote
Dr. Radcliff's, the Earl of Halifar, and
Dr. South's Life, which have not met with
so ill a Reception, (notwithstanding Things
have been crowded into the last for Post-
humous Works, which he does not hold him-
self answerable for) as to fling him into the
List of Triobularian Scriblers.
Thus much in Justification of the Writer
and his honest Intentions; there remains
no more, than to set aside an Objection
that may be rais'd against one Part of the
Performance, which at too precipitate and
hasty a View, may be look'd upon as di-
gressive from, and foreign to, the Matter in
Hand: And this is an Account of King
Charles the Second's Entertainment and
Reception in Holland, before his Embarka-
tion from thence, for the Possession of his
own Hereditary Kingdoms. A Narrative
· SO
i
.
The PRE FACE..
vii
so Scarce and Valuable, that the Reader
will be at a Loss to find it elsewhere; and
in Justice must own, to have been Worthy
of being inserted amongst other Incidents
in the Great Earl of Clarendon's History of
those Times; and which, having some Re-
lation to other Incidents of Sir Stephen
Fox's Life, can be truly look'd upon no
otherwise, than a very delightful Transition.
For, as that gentleman, in Conjunction
with Sir Edward Walker, adjusted the Cere-
monies to be observ'd in his Majesty's Pas-
sage from Breda into Holland, so to have
omitted the Manner of his Publick En-
trance and Entertainment would have been
as improper, as the Length of it, by some
supercilious Pretenders to Criticism may be
accounted tedious.
MEMOIRS

C
J. Baker binx.
Fiche torlom Foot
SIR STEPHENS
FOX, KNT

we
1. Baker proc.
Richd Earlom Fait.
TheRighi Hens. Stephen
to King Chartes y 2? during his
Off Treasury for 22 Years in this
Fox K "Demostick Servant
Exile & one of the Lord (omissioners
Majol the three Succeſsive Reigns
. .
Aged 75.
Anno 1701.
1
MEMOIRS
OF THE
1
LIFE
· OF
Sir Stephen Fox, Kt.
&c. &c. &c.
I
::
T
1
HO' Persons of High Birth and Dis-
tinction have a peculiar Advantage
of coming into the world, with the
Recommendation of their Noble Ancestors'
Blood and Atchievments; yet, are not Men,
who owe their Descent to honest and
ap-
proved Parents, of a middle Station, and
who, by a long uninterrupted Course of In-
tegrity and Loyalty, have a just Claim to
everlasting
.
С
1
2
Memoirs of the Life
everlasting Honour and Applause, to be
pass’d by in silence: For notwithstanding
it is said in Holy Writ, that, There is no Re-
membrance in the Grave; and the great and
good Men that are at rest there, from all
their Labours, have no Benefit from the
Honours that are done them, in our En-
deavours to transmit their Names to Poste-
rity; yet there is a REMEMBRANCE beyond
it, which, for the sake of After-Ages, we
ought to cultivate and improve; that the
present may be excited to pursue the like
Steps, and give Increase to the bright Ex-
amples we, that live in it, have been Eye-
witnesses of.
Tis from this consideration, that the Au.
thor of these Memoirs (who could have
wish'd a more able Pen had been employ'd,
to digest them into proper Circumstances
and Periods of Time) has undertaken this
Work; which he holds himself very un-
equal to perform ; and for this end, with-
out
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
3
out any previous Flourishes, that rather
suit an Orator than an Historian, gives him-
self the liberty of letting the Reader know,
That the Gentleman (Sir STEPHEN FOX)
whose Occurrences of Life are now in Hand,
was the Son of Mr. William Fox, of Farley
in the County of Wilts, near Salisbury; and
born on the 27th day of March, 1627. As
it is not material to enter into the Genea-
logy of the Family, on the side of his Father,
who was of Substance enough to breed up
this his Son in a Liberal Education, there-
by to impregnate and manure those Seeds
of Virtue and Honesty which he had re-
ceived from his Birth; so it is altogether
needless to ransack the Heralds-Office for
the Origin and Descent of his Mother, who
was Elizabeth, Daughter of Thomas Pavey
of Wilts. Let it suffice, that we have tra-
ced this Great Man's Pedigree so nearly
and closely, as to find it had no contempt-
ible Rise (tho' if it had, by so much the
more would it have redounded to the Ag-
grandizement
!
4
Memoirs of the Life
1
!
grandizement of his Character, by how
much the more he had given à Lustre to its
Obscurity, by the Brightness of his Con-
duct almost through every Incident of Life)
and that the Annals of our Times give an
Account, that he had an elder Brother,
whose name was John, and who was after-
wards Clerk of the Accatries to K. Charles
II. which elder Brother had an Estate at
Averbury, in the County before-nam’d, and
by Elizabeth, Daughter of Henry Smart,
of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, had
for issue, Mary, the Wife of Edward Thorn-
borough, Esq; Son and Heir of Sir Thomas
Thornborough; Elizabeth, married to Thomas
Dunkley, Closet-Keeper to his Majesty
K. Charles II. Margaret, the Wife of Sack-
vile Whittle, Esq; one of his said Majesty's
Surgeons; John, his only Son, and Jane,
married to Richard Ridge of Portsmouth,
Father to Thomas Ridge, Esq; of Ports-
mouth, a Person of great Wealth and Af-
fluence, and very irregularly turn'd out of
his
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
5
his Seat in Parliament, for Pool in Dorset-
shire, for fictitious Mismanagements, at the
latter end of the late Q. Anne's Reign.
At the Age of Fifteen, after he had run
thro' the usual Exercises preparatory to the
understanding of Accounts perfectly well
· (for his Genius led him wholly and solely
to the Acquisition of some Publick Station
that way) he, for the Beauty of his Person,
and Towardliness of his Disposition, was
recommended to some Employment or
other under the then great Earl of North-
umberland; who, notwithstanding his De-
fection from his Majesty's Service, after-
wards, had the greatest Influence at Court,
and was possest of the greatest and most
important Posts about the King, of any Sub-
ject whatever; insomuch, that the Lord
Clarendon, in his Excellent History of the
Civil Wars, very justly observes, that Prince
himself said, He courted him rather like a
Mistress, than used him as a Subject.
Intestine
.
D
1
6 MEMOIRS of the Life
Intestine Feuds and Dissentions were
now breaking out like a Flood, upon the
Kingdoms of Great-Britain and Ireland,
and pretended Mismanagements amongst
the best of Subjects, gave a handle to the
worst (not to say Subjects) to commit those
which were real; so that having broke thro'
all the Ties of Religion and Loyalty, Oaths
and Asseverations, natural Affection to their
Liege Lord, and their regard to Conscience,
a Moiety of both Houses of Parliament,
most insolently had recourse to Arms,
against the most gracious and most tender
Father of his Country that ever Reign'd
upon a Throne: What the Issue of these
unnatural Distractions was, and how God,
for the Sins of these Nations, gave Permis-
sion to those Miscreants to bind his own
Anointed and Vicegerent in Chains of
Irons; and having used their King worse
than a private Captive, to make him pour
out his precious Life with his Blood at his
own Palace Gates, by the Hands of an in-
famous
I
1
11
s
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 7
famous Executioner, remains so fresh and
astonishing in our Historical Relations, that
for Decency's sake, and the Love that a
Man must bear to his Native Country, I
omit speaking farther about it. -
Mr. Fóx, at the Martyrdom of the King,
was in the 21st Year of his Age; and hay-
ing some time before quitted the Earl of
Northumberland's Service, for that of the
Lord Piercy, that noble Peep's Brother,
who was constant in his Attachment and
Eidelity to his Successor when Prince of
Wales, had an Opportunity of signalizing
his Zeal for his Majesty King Charles the
Second's Interest, upon divers weighty and
very difficult Occasions;, particularly by
his Attendance on that Prince at Worcester,
where, tho' he was not actually in the Fight,
he had the Supervision of the Ordnance-
Board under the Lord Piercy, then Master
thereof, which he managed so well, not-
withstanding his Master had contracted
the ill-will of the King and the whole Court
by
8
MEMOIRS of the Life
.
+
by the Neglect of it, that he was particular-
ly made known to his Majesty, who not
only gave him Assurances of his Favour,
but had thence-forward a gracious Eye
upon him in order to his further Promotion.
.
The King's Affairs being rendered des-
perate by the Defeat of his Forces at Wor-
cester, every one was forced to shift for
himself, and among these the Lord Piercy,
who left Orders with Mr. Fox to follow him
to the Coast of Sussex, where his Majesty
himself was desired to take Shipping for
France, and from whence that Royal Fugi-
tive, who was hunted from Place to Place,
as a Partridge on the Mountains, at last
made his Escape, tho' not before he had
undergone almost insuperable Hazards, and
wearied his Royal Person with Fatigues
next to incredible, he fortunately made his
Escape; tho' not before Mr. Fox had again
distinguished himself by his wise Conduct,
in his Instances with the Master of the
Ship’s Wife, who had a Knowledge of the
Royal
1
.
:
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
9
/
Royal Passenger, from the Discovery of her
Husband, to keep. Matters secret.
Things were in this Situation, when his
Majesty, after he had in vain applied to
the Courts of the several Princes in Europe,
for Supplies of Money and Men, to retrieve
the ill Condition of his Circumstances,
found himself deserted by France it self,.
by the Means of the Cardinal, its. Prime.
Minister, who postponed the Rules of Equi-
ty, Justice, and: Right, to Reasons of
State, that had no manner of conscientious
Grounds for them, and a League being struck.
up, maugre all the Queen-Mother could do
(who even her self began to cool in her Af-
fection to the exiled Court, because of the
Stedfastness of those that composed it, in
their Protestant Principles) between the
Common-wealth of England and that King-
dom, Offensive and Defensive, against
Spain, the French were no longer at Liber-
ty, by a separate Article therein, to give
the King Refuge in their Territories.
This
..1
1
E
10 MEMOIRS of the Life
This the King was advertised of with an
Air of Discontent from the Cardinal, who,
in a Visit to his Majesty, seemed to
• lament his Inability of affording that
• Prince and his Followers any longer Shel-
* ter, through the great Power of Oliver
* the Protector, who had rendered himself
• formidable at Sea and Land, thro' a con-
• tinued Series of most surprizing Successes;
• and at the same time made very courtly
• Promises of being Assistant, as far as in
him lay to render his Way of Living com-
• fortable, since he could not prosper in
any Place of Retirement his Majesty
• should fix his Choice upon.' Hereupon
his Majesty, who had a very penetrating
Judgment himself, and did not want for
the best Advisers, such as the then Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, afterwards Earl of
Clarendon, and Lord High Chancellor of
England, &c. having returned the Compli-
ment, as if he regretted the Cardinals In-
ability to serve him, set himself at work to
make
of Sir Stephen Fox.
11
make choice of such Servants, whose co-
nomy and good Management, might be of
use under the pressure of his narrow Cir-
cumstances, after his Removal from Paris
to Germany, in the Year 1654. Nor was
his Majesty's Foresight in the least unne
cessary; for such had been the disorder of
his Finances, almost ever since the Death
of his Royal Fathers and such the Perplexi-
ty those who had the Charge: of his little
Exchequer laboured under; that it wanted
the most able Hand, whereby to restore it
to the Credit and Reputation, which that
of so great a. Prince, with so small a Re-
venue ought to have.
Therefore, says the greatest of Histo-
rians, the Earl of Clarendon, in pag. 410,
411. of the Folio Edition of his History of
the Rebellion: • The Charge of Governing
the Expences of the Family, and of Pay-
"ment of the Wages of the Servants; and,
• indeed, of issuing out all Monies, as well
. in Journies, as when the Court resided
.
6 any
ma
12 Memoirs of the Life
6
any where, was committed to Stephen Fox,
. a young Man, bred under the severe Dis-
cipline of the Lord Piercy, afterwards
• Lord Chamberlain of the King's Hous-
• hold. This Stephen Fox was very well
qualified with Languages, and all other
• Parts of Clerkship, Honesty and Dis-
* cretion, that were necessary for the Dis-
charge of such a Trust; and, indeed, his
great Industry, Modesty and Prudence
• did very much contribute to the bringing
• the Family, which for so many Years had
• been under no Government, into very
* good Order; by which his Majesty, in the
pinching Streights of his Condition, en-
joy'd very much Ease from the time he
• left Paris.'
Such an Encomium, from so undoubted
and irrefragable an Authority, carries so
great a Weight with it, that it would be
the highest Act of Supererogation, to at-
tempt an Addition to it: But since the
Illustrious Person that gives it, has by ap-
plauding
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
13
plauding Mr. Fox his Modesty, given an
Instance of his own, uncommon to any
Writer but himself, it may not be improper
to elucidate and clear up that Part of his
History, wherein he has industriously avoid-
ed the Honour of that Patronage, whereof
the Gentleman, who ow'd his Preferment
wholly to his Interest with the King, re-
tained very grateful Sentiments to the Day
of his Death. For notwithstanding it may
be justly said, that he received very great
Impressions of Industry, Skill, and Fru-
gality from so tenacious a Practitioner of
all those Vertues, as the prudent Lord
Piercy; yet that Minister being, at the
very Juncture wherein Mr. Fox obtained
this important Trust, out of Favour with
his Majesty, on Account of his Brother the
Earl of Northumberland's discovering some
Letters of his to a Committee of the Rebel-
Parliament, by which the King's Affairs
were very much perplexed and embarass-
.ed, his Admission into it must be judged
naturally
3
1
F
--
1
I
14 MEMOIRS of the Life
naturally to proceed from other Motives,
than his faithful Services under the said
Lord.
The Detail of this Matter, as it came
from Sir Stephen's own mouth, runs thus:
Some Persons of Quality, soon after the
Publication of the Earl of Clarendon's His-
tory, at paying him a Visit at his Lodgings
at Whitehall, amongst other Discourse,
were pleased to take Notice of that cele-
brated Work, and more particularly of the
Passage relating to himself above-recited.
At which Sir Stephen, with a becoming
Sense of his own Unworthiness of so great
a Commendation, from so unquestionable
a Pen, signified to them, that he should be
taxed with the highest Injustice, were he to
impute his Introduction to Court, to any
other Interest, than that of the Lord Clar-
endon. • It's undeniably true, my Lords,
! said he, that no One can owe more to my
'good Lord Piercy than I do; my first
• Rudiments of Knowledge, in the Exercise
• of
N
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.. 15
>
6
6 of all the Offices I have served in, were
imbibed under him; and was it not for
my
Reception into his Family, I had been
• destitute of Means to be admitted into his
• Majesty's Favour, especially to serve in
• such a Post as that wherewith I was then.
• honoured: But, my Lords, added. he,
* should I acknowledge more than: Justice
* and Gratitude bids me hold due to his
Lordship's Patronage, I should not only
*do Violence to the Memory of a Person
that took more Pleasure in acts of Good-
ness themselves, than in Applauses, the
natural Consequences of them, but highly
6 injure the Beneficence of that most Excel-
*·lent Man, who, without any Application
to him on my Part, thought me capable
of discharging a Duty, which I undertook
6 with the greatest Anxiety and Fearfulness.
- Your Lordships may observé, that Sir
Edward Hyde (our noble Historian) then
• Chancellor of his exiľa Majesty's Exche-
quer, makes mention in the same Book,
• wherein
6.
1
16
MEMOIRS of the Life
1
• wherein he is pleased to speak of me, be-
yond what in me is, of his falling under
• the Queen Mother's Displeasure; nay,
goes farther, and instances in a particular
• Conference between her Majesty and him,
wherein her Majesty, thoshe is at last
prevailed upon to give him her Hand to
• kiss, in Compliance with a Request from
* the King her Son, does it so coldly, and
(with such a Reserve, as to leave him in
' no manner of Doubt concerning her
Thoughts of him. Wherefore, since this
• wise Minister of State, could not be in-
duced by any Slights or Hardships to dis-
cover the true Reasons of his. Disgrace
with the Parent of his Sovereign Lord,
and chase rather to hide them under a
· Veil, thro' his Deference to her Majesty,
! and the Sacred Character. of his Royal
• Master, than to make them stand confess-
'ed to open Light, I hope I shall no
ways offend the Ashes of the one or the
other, if I set before the Readers of that
History
6
B
6
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
17
6
History, who may otherwise be in the
· Dark, the true Motives of that Princess's
Displeasure towards him.
• The Queen, who had ever been the
greatest of Bigots to the Roman Catholick
Persuasion, even during her Residence in
England, was more and more solicitous
. for the Advancement of it, at her Return
• to her Native Country; where she judged
• it an Act meritorious of Salvation, to re-
concile those the Church established there,
' call'd Hereticks, to the Popish Faith. To
* this Purpose, no sooner was, the Royal
· Family arrived in France, and settled
' there, but her Majesty, by the Means of
- her Confessor, and other Priests her Do-
ó mesticks, was not only urgent with the
King, for the Education of the Duke of
· Glocester, but were assiduous in their Sol-
• licitations with the Duke of York to em-
• brace their Communion. What Success
their Endeavours had with the latter, the
• melancholy History of our present times
1
3
G
6 suf-
18
MEMOIRS of the Life
1
sufficiently discover, from the Wars that
* have thereby risen among the Generality
' of the Princes of Europe; tho' it seem'd
• to have little or none then, from the Pre-
* cautions of the Chancellor of the Exche-
· quer, and the immoveable Regards which
his Master had for his Advice and Coun-
• sels. Hereupon Representation upon Re-
presentation was made to the Queen of
the Remora, that occasioned their luckless
• Instances with the princes; and the Chan-
. cellor was pointed out as the only Ob-
stacle to her Majesty's Hopes and Wishes;
• which enraged her to such a Degree, as
* to leave no Stratagem untry'd, whereby
she might compass that most faithful Mi-
6 nister's Ruine.
• In a word, these, and those Suspicions
of his Conduct, were whisper'd in the
• King's Ear, who had too true a Sense of
• his unshaken Loyalty, to receive any other
Impressions from them, than what en-
deard him more and more to his affec-
• tionate
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.. 19
6.
6
G
C
• tionate Sentiments; insomuch that the
· Priests perceiving nothing was to be done
with the Chiefs of our distracted Family,
- they chose rather to make their Attacks
upon the inferior Branches of it, than to
be altogether beat back and repulsed,
' without making any Proselytes: Nor did
they in this fail of their
purposes, since
• two or three of us were so unhappy, as to
quit the Principles wherein they had been
Educated, for a strange Worship in a
• strange Land. Amongst others, I was
· laid siege to with uncommon Ardor; but
• what through the Grace of God, with the
remembrance of those Instructions I had.
6 received from the most Orthodox and tru-
· ly Primitive Divines, and what through
• an innate Aversion I had always enter-
• tain’d for Popish Superstition, I was no
ways to be prevail'd upon; but so irritated
the Father, who had made sure of my
· Perversion, that he gave a very untoward
• Report of my Obstinacy to the Queen;
6. which
6
6
1
20 MEMOIRS of the Life
6
• which would have had very ill Conse-
quences, had not the Chancellor of the
Exchequer stept in between me and the
Danger that threat'ned me, and spoke so
* much in favour of me to the King, that
. instead of giving ear to the Whispers that
were dealt about to lessen me in his Ma-
* jesty's Esteem, that Good and Gracious
• Prince was pleased to overlook my want
of Abilities, and to entrust me with the
• Care of the Disbursements, the noble His-
•torian has done me the Honour to think
me worthy of his Notice, the Occasion of
my unexpected Promotion being this:
• When his Majesty was upon the Dis-
* patch of several Envoys to the Courts of
several Potentates, to sollicite Aids, not
only for the support of the Royal Family,
' and its indigent Followers, under their un-
happy Circumstances, but for the Re-
covery of his Usurped Kingdoms, (if it
should so enter into the Hearts of Chris-
tain Princes to commiserate the unpre-
• cedented
6
6
6
:
8
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 21
cedented Circumstances of a Monarch,
6 who was ally'd by Blood and the most
solemn Engagement, to most of the Po
tentates of Europe) he was pleas’d, before
the departure of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer and Sir William Godolphin for
• Spain, at their receiving their last Instruc-
«tions, to ask the former, Where he could
• fix his Choice upon a Person fit to manage
• the Domestick Cash; and to do it in
• such a manner, as the Servants of inferior
• Rank might be paid their respective Sa-
« laries, and the necessary Expences of the
Houshold carefully and faithfully defray-
ed? Upon which that best of Ministers,
• without any Sollicitation, or Expectation
on my party had me in his Thoughts, and
from the Goodness of his Nature spoke
so advantageously of me to the King, that
. within a few days after I had the Honour
' to kiss his Majesty's Hand for that Post;
being then told by that most Gracious of
• Masters, that a faithful Discharge of it
1
1
H
6 was
22 MEMOIRS of the Life
6 was expected from me, not only on his
own Account; but those of whose Sub-
“sistence and Wages I then had the Dis-
bursements of. Not that this wise Prince
gave the least Hint, at the time of my
• Admission into his Royal Presence, of the
Chancellor's Recommendation in my Pa-
vour; but Sir Willian Godolphin, many
• Years since his Majesty's most happy Re .
.stauration, let me into this Secret of my
• first Publick Post immediately under the
King, to which I must, in Gratitude to
my deceased Benefactor, owe the rest of
mý subsequent Preferment; wherewith
that Prince's Royal Successors have been
pleas’d to Honour and Distinguish me.?
So much for Sir Stephen's own Account
of his first Rise, which was communicated,
as near as could be, by one of the Noble
Ear-witnesses, in his own Words. The next
thing we have to do, is, to proceed as regu-
larly as possible, and to pursue the Thread
of our Narration, from Year to:Year, with
the
6
3
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 23
)
the mention of such Occurrences, as bear
a mote particulár Relation to his Life and
Character..
Whiether Mr. Fox was married to Mrs.
Eliz. Whittie; Daughter of Mr. William
Whittle, of the County Palatine of Lancas-
ter, at the time of this new Promotion; or,
whether that Ceremony was perform'd in
England before it, or in France after it,
our Advices do not tell us ; but the Heralds:
Office Books'assure us, that his Father, Mr.
William Fox, of Farley, dy'd in the Year
1652, from which we may reasonably infer,
that 'upon coming upon something of a
small Estate, which fell to him by that De-
cease, he' might have chang'd his Condi-
tion; for the same Book gives an Account,
that his eldest Son Stephen was buried in
France, without naming the Year of his
Birth; which, in all probability, must have
happen'd before the King's Removal to
Germany, where that Illustrious and Royal
Exile sojourned, till his Invitation from
the
24 MEMOIR$ of the Life
!
.::
the Court of Spain to Brussels; so that it
is to be concluded, that he entered into
the State of Matrimony in or before the
Year 1654, when these Preparations were
making for the English Courts. Departure
from France.
Be that as it will, we find Mr. Fox dis-
charging the Trust seposed in him with
great Fidelity, from his first Entrance into
it in France, through every Residence his
Majesty was pleased to take up in Cologn
and elsewhere, in the Territories adjacent,
till his making choice of Brussels to hold
his little Court in, insomuch that at the
Interview between that Monarch, and her
Royal Highness the Princess of Orange,
his Majesty's Sister, at the first of those
Places, that very judicious Lady was so
surprizingly affected with a sense of his wise
Conduct in the Management of the whole
course of her Entertainments there, as to
shew him more particular Marks of Esteem
than
any other of the King's Domesticks,
by
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 25
by a Present of a Diamond Ring, valued at
more than 501. and by recommending him
as the most grateful Messenger, to be sent
to her from her Royal Brother, upon any
emergent occasion; which had such an
Effect with his Majesty, that he was after-
wards employ'd in several important Dis-
patches to that Princess's Court in Holland,
and so negociated Affairs with her Royal
Highness there, that he not only obtain'd
frequent Supplies of very handsom Sums
for his Majesty's Occasions, but got a set-
tled Annuity of 10000l. per Annum, which
was constantly paid him, from his first Ar-
rival at Brussels, till his return from Breda
into his own Hereditary Dominions.
What a Figure his Majesty made at Brus-
sels, and how far he was from being treat-
ed, during his Residence, there, with the
Respects due to his High Rank and Dig-
nity, as one of the Greatest Potentates in
Europe, the History of those Times, written
by the best of Pens, sufficiently discovers;
insomuch
1
I
26
Memoirs of the Life
1
1
!
insomuch that it will be needless to recount,
how little the Governour-General of the
Spanish-Netherlands came up to the Assur-
ances he had given that Royal Exile, of a
Support and Entertainment suitable to his
Quality. Tis sufficient, that the King
lived very uneasie there, and more like a
private Man, than one invested with a
Sovereign's Authority; and could not have
maintain'd his little Court, which was then
reduced to very few Attendants (by reason
of the Absence of the Principal Persons
that would have otherwise compos'd it, in
those of Foreign Princes) had not Mr. Fox,
who we find then went by the Title of
Clerk of his Majesty's Kitchen, distinguish-
ed himself by such thrifty Precautions, as
to make the Expences of the Family so far
from being superior to the Revenue, that
when his Majesty was once put to a Pinch,
by losing a Sum of Money to a Walloon
Count, and in vain apply'd to him that had
the care of his Privy-Purse, to keep his
Honour
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
27
Honour with that Nobleman; the King
was agreeably surprized with the Tender
of that, and as much more, by this frugal
Servant; who told his Majesty that he ac-
counted himself very fortunate, in having
it in his power to give back so much of his
own Money (for he had sav'd it for none
but his Majesty's own use) on so necessary
an Occasion as the Preservation of his
Royal Credit: whereupon the King was so
sensibly touch'd with this signal Instance
of his Zeal and Fidelity, that being incap-
able of making him a Pecuniary Reward,
he commanded Sir Edward Walker, then,
Garter. King at Arms, and One of the
Clerks of his Majesty's Council, to make
him a Grant of Arms; which was dated at
Brussels, Oct. 30. 1658, and contain:d,
Ermin on a Cheveron Azure. Three Foxes
Heads erased Or; and on a Canton of the
Second a Flower de Liz of the Third. Crest,
on a Chapeau Azure turned up Ermin, a
Fox sitting Or; hereby to admit him into
the
!
28 MEMOIRS of the Life
the number of the Gentility of his King.
dom, who had exceeded even the Nobility,
by his Generous and Loyal Deportment
to his Distressed Sovereign.
Nor did the Duties of his Office alto-
gether ingross his Care (though not one
could be more diligent in the Discharge of
it) but his leisure Hours were employ'd in
Meditations for his Royal Master's Interest
in another Capacity. He had been too
conversant with Persons throly vers'd in
Affairs of State, not to have a very good
Taste of things of that Nature, and kept a
constant Correspondence with the Royalists
in London, who gave him such quick In-
telligence of Occurrences, that he was very
well appriz'd of things of moment, before
they came to the Ears of the King or any
of his Courtiers. Amongst other Matters,
when there was no seeming possibility of a
happy Turn to the King's Affairs, during
the Life of the Usurper Oliver; who by his
Negociations at the Courts of all the con-
siderable
1
-
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 29
siderable Princes in Europe (and even that
of the King of Spain himself, who made the
greatest shew of Friendship to his Majesty)
had made them desperate, Mr. Fox receiv-
ed the News of that Monster's Death, six
Hours before any Express reach'd Brussels ;
and while the King was playing at Tennis
with the Archduke Leopold, Don John, and
other Spanish Grandees, he very dutifully
accosted his Majesty, upon his Knee, with
the grateful Message ; and begg'd leave to
call him really King of Great Britain, &c.
since he that had caus'd him to be only Titu-
lary so, was no longer to be number'd among
the Living; which so ingratiated him afresh
with that Prince, who received him with
an Air of Pleasantry, that from thencefor-
ward he was admitted into the King's most
secret Thoughts, and was advised with
more like a Privy-Counsellor, than a Ser-
vant of an inferior Rank.
During the Mock-Protectorship of Rich-
ard, who succeeded his Father for a short
K
i
space
30 MEMOIRS of the Life.
1
1
space of Time, and the Government of
Lambert and his Adherents, Mr. Fox pass'd
frequently from the Netherlands to London,
on Messages of the last Moment from the
King; and was even so adventurous, as to
charge himself with Letters to Mr. Monk,
from that Prince, even before that General
had made any Discovery of his Inclination
to Loyalty; and gave him a Pacquet into
his Hands, to excite him thereunto, in his
March with the Army from the North,
when he seem'd most averse to the King's
Service. Nor did ill Success attend so
surprizing an Act; for, notwithstanding the
said General received him with Tokens of
Reserve, and would, at that time, send no
Answer by him to the Dispatches he brought,
yet, by his not committing the Messenger,
but suffering him to go away unmolested,
it was easie for him to observe, that what
he brought made an Impression on the Per-
son it was directed to, and from thence na-
turally to conclude, that his Master's Cir-
cumstances
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.. 31
1
cumstances were in a fair Way of putting
on a better Aspect, tho’ it was not judged
convenient at that time for the General to
intrust him with any part of the Secret.
Mr. Fox was also intrusted with other
Letters; in particular with one to. Mr.
Lenthal, the Speaker of the Parliament,
which he delivered with his own Hands;
and which (tho' our Historians make no
mention of it) contributed very much to a
good understanding between General Monk
and him, and made it less difficult to march
the Army up to London; and by the
Means of the Awe it had upon the City,
and House of Commons, most happily,
some time after, to bring about the Re-
storation: of his Majesty to the Throne of
hiş Ancestors.
In 1659, the Year before the Accom-
plishment of all Loyal Subjects Wishes and
Vows, by the dutiful Return of these Na-
tions to their wonted Allegiance, his Wife
was brought to Bed of a Second Son, who,
in
32
Memoirs of the Life
in Honour to his Majesty, was christned
Charles, and was his only Son living in the
Year 1713, by his first Lady, out of Six
which God had been pleased to bless his
Nuptial Bed with, viz. William, Edward,
James, and John, (besides the Son before-
mentioned to be born and buried in France)
all Four of them brought into the World
after the Royal Family's Arrival in Eng-
land. We may likewise add here, that
Mr. Fox had Three Daughters by his said
Wife, viz. Elizabeth, Margaret, and Jane;
but the time of their Birth being uncertain,
we shall hold our selves contented in giv-
ing the Publick to understand, that the
first is deceased, after having been the
Consort of the Right Honourable John, late
Lord Cornwallis, by whom she had the
present Lord of that Name, with several
other Children; the Second died unmarri-
ed, and the Third is the fruitful Spouse of
the Right Honourable George, Earl of
Northampton, by whom she had Ten Chil-
dren
1
33
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
-
i
dren now living, to the great increase of
that ancient and noble Family, which has
several other collateral Branches by late
Inter-Marriages.
The King's Affairs, soon after the Birth
of Mr. For, his Son Charles, were brought
to such a happy. Crisis, that many Princes
and States, who before had turned a deaf
Ear to his Complaints and Proposals, were
now ready to come into any Measures with
him; and even the Dutch themselves, who
had shewn little or no Regard to his un-
happy Circumstances before, when they
saw no manner of likelyhood of his sitting
on the Throne of his Ancestors, now he
was invited to come and possess it, most
officiously sent their Congratulations there-
upon to Breda, where the King and the
Two Princes, his Brothers, then were; and
not only most humbly besought him by
Deputations for that purpose, to honour
their Territories with his Royal Presence,
but made him Tenders of large Sums for
the
.
L
34 MEMOIRS of the Life
)
the better Support of his high Dignity and
Character, till such time as Supplies should
arrive from England with the Fleet, that
was fitting out under Admiral Montague,
afterwards Earl of Sandwich, for his Ma-
jesty's Convoy.
The Court was then very numerous, at
the Return of several of his Majesty's Mi-
nisters from several Courts, who hearing
of the Disposition in England for his Ma-
jesty's Restoration, came to be Eye-wit-
nesses, and partake of a Blessing they had
so long and ardently desired; and his Ma-
jesty, in Compliance with the Invitation of
the States-General, but more particularly.
with the Instances of her Royal Highness
the Princess of Orange, agreed to make a
Publick Entry into those Provinces, after
he had, preparatory thereunto, sent his
trusty Servant Mr. Fox, jointly with Sir
Edward Walker, to the Hague, there to
adjust the Ceremonies of his Majesty's Re-
ception.
Matters
I
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 35
1
Matters being thus settled, it may not
be foreign to our Purpose, tho' something
digressive from our Subject, to give the De-
tail of the Procedure thereupon; and since
the Noble Historian, the late Earl of Clar-
endon, has had less Regard to Particulars.
of this Nature, than other: Incidents that
were more adapted to his instructive Genius,
and has made little or no mention thereof,
we shall take the liberty of consulting other
Records of those Times, and of shewing
the Reader what an amazing Alteration
there was in the Countenance and Beha-
viour of a People, who in less than two
Years past would have made a Sacrifice of
that Prince, whom they now strived to
outvie each other, in doing Homage to:
which being taken from no common, AC-
counts, and handed to us by an Eye-witness
of it, will sufficiently justifie its Insertion,
by its Novelty and Variety.
On the Eighth of May, after it had been
resolved by the Estates General for their
Part.
36 MEMOIRS of the Life
Part of the Magnificence, that the King's
Charges should be defray'd during the.whole
Time he stay'd in the United. Provinces,
the Deputies appointed to conduct that
Prince, his two Royal Brothers, with his
Sister the Princess Royal of Orange, and
their several Retinues, arrived at Breda;
where the King sent the Lord Gerrard to
introduce them in the Castle, and the Duke
of Ormond met them on the Stair-Head,
and brought them into the Royal Presence.
His Majesty was standing in the midst of
his Bed-Chamber covered, but as soon as
he saw them he uncovered himself, and
came two or three Paces forward to meet
them. After they had made low Obeis-
ances, and could not be prevailed upon by
the King to put on their Hats, because they
were not in the Quality of Ambassadors
(by reason of their being in their own
Country:) his Majesty likewise remained.
uncovered, whilst Monsieur Riperda, as
Spokesman for the rest, addressed him after
this
of Sir STEPIEN Fox. 37
6
this manner, and besought him for Leave
to tell him, That the States-General of
• the United Provinces had understood
with extreme Joy the Alteration of Affairs
. in England ; that they knew the good
God had so well touched the hearts of his
Subjects, that there was not any Person
almost that cried not out on the Name
* of the King, and wished not passionately
' to see him returned to the Exercise of the
regal Power. That upon certain Advices,
which the States-General had thereof,
* they thought fit to send their deputies to
· his Majesty, to witness to him the Part
they take, to congratulate him on so im-
* portant an Occasion, and to wish him
6 and all his Royal Family the choisest
Blessings of Heaven, with all the Prospe-
rity he could hope for, from God, after so
long and such bitter Afflictions. That the
• States-General made those Prayers with
• so much the more Ardour, because they
· know the Repose of their Commonwealth
• depended
6
6
M
38
MEMOIRS of the Life
S.
6
depended in some kind on that of it's
· Neighbours. That they would not wil-
• lingly enjoy the Amity of the English but
• under the Monarchical Government of his
Royal House. That they hoped still for
• the future under his Majesty's happy
Reign, and to this Purpose, they desired,
• that of his Goodness he would be pleased
6 to renew, with the United Provinces, the
Alliance which they had always consider-
ed as one of the Chief Points of State,
• towards the foundation of preserving the
Common Interests of both Nations. That,
moreover, they had Orders from their
• Superiors to remonstrate to his Majesty,
that the Town of Breda was inconvenient
* and distant, and to beseech him most
humbly to choose one in their Provinces,
• that he should think most proper in this
• Juncture of Affairs, for his Residence, and
• for his . Embarkment: that the States-
• General had commanded them to follow
• his Majesty in his Voyage, and to serve
6 him
6
}
of Sir Stephen Fox.
39
1
6
6
him with what the United Provinces
were possessed of, for his more commo-
dious Entertainment.'
In answer to this, the King held himself
extremely indebted to them for their Civi,
lities and Testimonies of Affection, saying,
in very obliging Words; · I love this Com-
monwealth, not only because the Princess
• Royal, my Sister, and the Prince of Orange
· her Son, two Persons who are extremely
. dear to me, reside here, but also thro'
· Interest of State for the good of my King-
doms, and thro' a strong Inclination to
• their Good. I love truly, Sirs, these Pro-
vinces, and so strongly, that I should be
* jealous if they gave a greater Part in their
! Amity to another Prince than to me, who
think that I ought to have much more
• therein, than any other Prince, since I
• love them more than all other Sovereigns
together.
After this Audience, my Lord Jermyn
conducted them to the two Dukes of York
and
6
6
&
40 Memoirs of the Life
and Gloucester severally, where they gave
and received the like Civilities, as also to
the Princess Royal; and the next Day after,
while they were consulting about the Charge
of, and Conveniencies for the Court's Re-
move, the States of Holand likewise paid
their Compliment to his Majesty by their
Deputies; one of which, Monsieur Bever-
weert, the Governour of the Bosch, was
pitched upon, as being a Relation of the
Duke of Ormond by the Earl of Ossory's
Alliance with that House, to salute the
King with the following Speech:
1
SIR,
* IT is now the third Time, that my
• Lords the States of Holland, have Con-
gratulated with Your Majesty upon Your
Accession to the Throne of Your Royal
• Ancestors. The first was - when You at-
• tảin'd thereunto, by the Fundamental
· Laws of Your Estate, the Right of In-
heritance, immediately after the Decease
. of
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 41
6 of the late King, Your Father, of Glorious
• and most Eternal Memory; and the other,
6 when the Commissioners from the Com-
• mittee of Estates and Parliament of Scot,
land came to this place, to invite Your
Majesty to go
and take Possession of Otte
* of Your Imperial Crowns. . It is not with-
"out great Grief and Trouble of Spirit that
6 we remember those two disastrous En-
* counters; but, on the contrary, it is with
• the utmost Transports of Joy that we
are now to congratulate Your Majesty
•
upon the present happy Situation of Your
Affairs, and this with so much the more
• Reason, as we know that the Reciprocal
Amity between England and this Repub-
• lick, has never suffer'd any Alteration un-
der the Government of her Kings.
What remain'd was of a Piece with that
of the States General, and concluded with
the like Invitation of his Majesty to take
up his Residence in their Province, and
N.
many
42
MEMOIRS of the Life
many Protestations of Thankfulness for the
Honour that would be done them upon his
Royal Compliance therewith. To this his
Majesty was pleased to give Answer much
to the Purport as before, and having given
his Acceptance to their Offer, express’d
his Intention of going by Water to Holland.
Thereupon the States General gave Order
that all the Pinnaces, and other Barks, cap-
able to Transport the Court, with their
whole Train and Baggage, should immedi-
ately repair to the Higher Swaluew in Bra-
þant, to attend there the Commands which
the States of Holland should lay upon
them. They likewise caus'd written Orders
to be sent to all the Colonels and Superior
Officers, as well Horse as Foot, who were
quarter'd in the Neighbourhood of that
Town, to appear splendidly at the Hague
at the ceremonies of Reception and Treat-
ment, which they resolv'd to make for his
Majesty: as for the Deputies of Holland,
they took the same, if not more extraordió
nary
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 43
nary Care, as the Honour of the Business
more nearly concerned them, and writ
presently to the Magistrate of the Brill,
to advertise him of the Resolution the King
had taken to pass to Holland; to the end,
that if there should arrive any Expresses,
or Messengers from the Parliament. Com-
missioners, who were deputed to attend
upon his Majesty, and were every Day
expected, he should direct them to the
Hague.
Upon Notice that his Majesty resolv’d
to leave Breda on the 14th of May, Pre-
parations were made, and Commissioners
nam'd, on: the 11th of the same Month,
out of the Nobility and prime Gentry of
Holland, to attend the Service of his Re-
ception; and it was resolv'd, that the King
and his two Royal Brothers, with all their
Train, should be sumptuously treated at
the sole Charge of that Province, from the
16th till the Time of his Embarkation for
England. In the mean time the States
gave
MEMOIRS of the Life
gave Orders for solemn Thanks to be rens
der'd to God, by all the Ministers of the
Dutch, French and English Churches, who -
expounded Texts fit for the Subject of the
King's Restoration; and the Towns of
Rotterdam, Dort and Delf, sent their Ma...
gistrates to beseech bis Majesty to do them
the unprecedented Honour of so great a
Monarch's passing thro those Towns, there
to refresh himself by the way. But Exe
cuses were made, as well upon the present
State of Affairs, which permitted his Ma...
jesty pot to stay any where, as because,
that his Passage after that manner would
incommode the Inhabitants, to whom he
should never cease to show himself sensibly
obliged for the Tenderness expressed to
him.
At the King's Departure from Breda,
the Burgomasters of the Town presented
themselves before him, and Mr. Snel, in the
Name of the rest, delivered this Oration.
sis
/
SIR,
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
45
i
SIR,
* THE Magistrate and Council of this
*Town wait upon Your Majesty once
• more (for they had before complimented
him on the happy Prospect of a speedy
Restoration) to render You most humble
• Thanks for the Honour it hath pleased
• You to do us, by the Residence You have
* made here, and to bring You the last
• Proof of the perfect Joy which Your Ma-
jesty's wonderful Success has caused. As
• it is the powerful Hand and infinite Pro-
vidence of God which has drawn Your
Majesty out of a Gulf of Dangers, and
• has conducted You thro' a Desart of Af
• flictions, even unto the Entrance of the
Greatness which Your Predecessors have
gained to their Royal Posterity. This is
. the Subject of our Joy, Sir, when we
* know, that after the Success of
many
** Battles and Victories obtain'd at the Price
of the Subjects Blood, which may content
the
O
1
46 Memoirs of the Life
* the Ambition of a Prince transported
* with Conquests, yet Your Majesty is of
* that Debonair Disposition, and so good a
· Prince, Your Thoughts are so generous
and magnanimous, as to prefer an inno-
cent and bloodless Triumph, before all
• other worldly Advantages.
We praise
• that Great God with all our Hearts, who
• has begun this great Work in the Person
your Majesty, and ardently pray, that
• it will please the Divine Being to hear the
• Devotions we shall continue to offer up
* incessantly for Your Majesty's prosperous
Voyage and Reign.
o of
His Majesty made Answer, That . he
. thank'd them for the Affection they had
express'd to him, and should endeavour
• to acknowledge it on all Occasions '
Whereupon the Chief Burgomaster took
the liberty to reply, “That Since his Ma-
• jesty had the Goodness to accept the Zeal
• and Affection they had for his service, he
• besought
of Sir Stephen Fox.
47
* besought him, most humbly, to remember
“the Grace he had made them hope för,
6 when in that Place he concluded a Treaty
* with the Deputies of Scotland some years
“since, that he would honour the Town of
Breda, and its Inhabitants, with ałł the
• Favour which the Laws of his Kingdom
would permit the Grant of.' To this the
King said; • He" remembered his Promise
very well; and that he was obliged to do
6so much for à Town, where he had re-
*ceived such acceptable News, and which
"had rendered him so many Testimonies of
Respect and Affection.
''
.
As soon as this Audience was given, his
Majesty took Coach, and at his Arrival at
Marvaert, found some Squadrons of Horse
there in Battalia, and the Deputies of the
States of Holland making their Compli-
ments to him in the Name of their Superi-
ors, at his Entrance into their Province.
After some Addresses and short Saluta-
tions,
48
Mémoirs of the Lifë:
tions, he proceeded to theend of the Causey;-
or Dike, where a Bridge was made, that
reach'd to the Pinnace to facilitate his Ini-
barkment. Here the King having view'd
the Princess Dowager of Orange's Pinnace,
which had been provided for him by the
States; was: pleased to make Choice of
another, which, by his former use of it (as
delighting much to divert himself on the
Water) he knew to be. vory Commodious,
since her Highness's was not great enough
to lodge him, and the Princess Royal his
Sister that would pass the Night with him,
with Persons necessary for their Service:
This Vessel was formerly made for the
Prince of Orange, and was the biggest of
the Fleet, which consisted of Thirty great
Barges, besides innumerable other Barks,
callid Yachts, a kind of little Frigats, and
pleased the King so well, that he said in
Discourse to the Deputies of Holland, That
he would have one made for him after the
same Model, to serve him upon the Thames,
at
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 49
at his Arrival in London. Which gave
Occasion to one of the Deputies, Mr de
Vlooswick, of Amsterdam, to acquaint his
Majesty, that they had built one lately very
commodious every way, which he took the
liberty to offer his Majesty as a Present.
The King neither accepted nor declin'd, so
that Orders were privately sent to Amster-
dam to make it ready, and gild and paint
it curiously inside and outside, that it might
be presented to his Majesty at his Depart-
ure for England, which was done accord.
ingly; this being the Brigantine which the
King for many Years afterwards made use
of upon the River Thames.
The King intended to have din'd as soon
as he came on Board, and the Meat was
ready; but the Wind was so strong, and
blew so fiercely, and the Sea beat so high,
that the Princess Royal, not able to endure
the Agitations of the Vessel, lost her Appe-
tile, and being Sea-sick, was forc'd to lie
on her Bed; for this Reason Dinner was
deferr'd
P
A
50 MEMOIRS of the Life
1
deferr'd till the. Fleet came within sight of
Dort, where the Ramparts and Keys were
full of Citizens in Arms, and a Battery of
great Guns, which made many Peals, as
well as the Muskets, during, and after, the
Repast, which was taken in sight of the
Town. In a word, so long as they could
discover the Ship’s Flag that carry'd the
King, they continu'd their Thunder..
His Majesty had the like Honours paid
him by the City of Rotterdam, near whose
Haven the Fleet was forc'd to approach by
contrary winds, being saluted by the Burgh-
ers who were in arms, as well as by all the
Artillery of the Town, and the Cannon of
the Ships that lay at Anchor in the Road.
He pass'd on, the next place to Delf Ha-
ven, where they had erected a Battery of
sixteen Pieces of Ordnance more, and came
to Overschy, a village situated between
Delf and Delf's Haven.
The States of Holland had resolved to
cause his Majesty to be received at the
Maga-
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 51
1
Magazine upon the Channel, which serves
for a Line of Communication between the
Towns of Delf and Rotterdam; for the
Town of Delf having been partly ruin'd by
an Accident of Fire some Years before,
which destroy'd their Powder, they thought
fit to lodge it without the Walls, a Cannon-
shot off the Town. But the King having
set sail, at Day-break came to the Suburbs
of Delf, before the Deputies could give
Orders to make the Fleet drop Anchor at
the Place design'd for his Reception. All
the Citizens of this Town had been in Arms
from Three of the Clock in the Morning,
and part of them had taken their Post on
the Key where his Majesty was to land;
and the Chief Magistrate came thither with
his Brethren, to do Reverence to the King
as soon as he understood he was arriv'd,
and to beseech him to do them the Honour
to repose and refresh himself in their Town
whilst his Majesty should expect the At-
tendance of the Deputies from the States of
Holland;
52
MEMOIRS of the Life
Holland; but the King excused himself on
the State of his Affairs, which was so far
from permitting him to stay by the way,
that it had obliged him to prevent the
Hour he had appointed for his Reception.
The Deputies of the States of Holland
being come to Delf, and appriz'd of what
had pass'd by those who were sent to com-
pliment the King at Breda, and had the
Conduct of his Royal Person in the Voyage,
inform'd his Majesty of the Orders that
were given at the Hague for his Publick
Entrance, and for his Lodging and Treat-
ment; to the end, that as their intention
was wholly to submit to his Will, they
might make such Alteration therein as
should be most agreeable to his Disposi-
tion.
After a Compliment paid to the King
in the Name of their Superiors, who had
sent a Member of each Town in their Pro-
vince to wait upon him, which Ceremony
was done in the Yacht where his Majesty
was;
:
of Sir Stephen Fox. 53
was; that Monarch landed, and seated
himself in the Princess Royal's Coach,
which that Day carry'd all the Royal
Family. The King sate forwards with his
Sister, the Dukes of York and Gloucester
backwards, and the young Prince of Orange
in one of the Boots; and as soon as they
were plac'd, the whole Company began to
advance, and enter into the Town of Delf.
Here the Kingstaid not, according to his first
Determination, but pass’d forward from his
Landing-place, thro' the Ranks of Arm'd
Citizens who march'd more than the length
of a Musquet-shot from the Gates on both
sides of his Coach, where they stay'd and
saluted his Majesty, whilst all the Bells
rung, and the Artillery roar'd from the
Bulwarks and Ramparts.
It may be thought needless, upon this
Occasion, to give the Order of the Proces-
sion, which consisted of Seventy Two
Coaches with Six Horses, that were fill'd
with English and Dutch Nobility, which
had,
Q
54 MEMOIRS of the Life
had, at the Head of them, several Trumpets
of the States cloth'd with Crimson Velvet,
embroider'd with Gold and Silver, and a
long Train of Officers on Horseback be-
longing to the Army, as well as such as
composed the Civil Establishment both of
his Majesty and the States. It is enough
to our Purpose, that nothing was omitted
on the Part of the Dutch, of Pomp or Ex-
pence, that might shew the King what
Satisfaction they took in the Sight of him ;
and that the Crowd was so great, thro' the
People's Curiosity to see this miraculous
Prince, that the Ways were almost choak'd
up
with them. In a Word, nothing was to
be heard in his Way, to the Palace that was
prepared for him, but loud Acclamations
of Joy, and repeated Salvo's of the Artil-
lery and Small Arms, that welcom'd the
King to the Hague; tho’ at his Arrival
there, the Toil of his Journey, and the little
Rest he had taken for the two Nights pre-
ceding, made him desirous of Repose: and
indeed
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
55
1
indeed the States would have made the
Musqueteers to have forborn Shooting (who
gave continual Volleys), if it had been
possible to smother the universal Joy,
which could not be concealed on this
Occasion.
The next Day, the States-General (after
they had sent one of that Illustrious Assem-
bly to know what Time would be most con-
venient to admit of their Respects and Re-
verence to him in a full Body), with Prince
William of Nassau at the Head of them, and
their Chief Military Officers bare-headed
before them, come to the King's Apart-
ments. At their Entrance they were met
by the Lord Crofts, accompanied by a great
Company of English Nobility and Gentry,
and introduced by the Duke of Ormond,
from the Stair-Head, to the King. The
Press was so great, that they could hardly
get into the Presence-Chamber, where the
Baron Van Ghent, a Deputy from the Pro-
vince of Guelders, which is a Dutchy, and
therefore
56 Memoirs of the Life
therefore the Chief Province of the Union,
had the Honour to be Spokesman, and
delivered himself in these Words:
+
SIR,
• THE States-General of the United
• Provinces of the Low-Countries, after hav-
' ing expressed to your Majesty, by the
Deputies they sent to you at Breda, how
they participated in the happy Successes
which follow your wise Conduct; and the
• Joy which they have to see you going to
' your Kingdom of England, to take there
*the Sceptre of Great Britain, come here
* now in a Body to manifest the Truth and
Sincerity thereof by more strong and so-
• lemn Declarations. It is the same Com-
pany, Sir, which had the Honour to pre-
sent it self to your Majesty in this very
• Place, with a sad and mournful Equipage,
• and which, with more Grief in Heart, than
• it could express in Words, pronounced
* the most bitter Accents of the deepest
• Sorrow,
6
of Sir STEPHEN Fos. 57
6
• Sorrow, which at that Juncture not only
• made its Impression upon your Majesty's
afflicted Soul, but those of all the Mem-
6 bers of this State.
· From the same Principle that gave
• Birth to their mutual Sorrow, proceeds
now their common and universal Joy; to
wit, from that of a most tender and most
• respectful Affection for the Sacred Person
of your Majesty, and from a most sub-
missive Zeal for the Service, and for the
• Good of your Affairs. The Cause thereof is
• so just and so touching, that we hope your
Majesty will be easily persuaded of the
• Truth of the Protestations we now make
' in your Royal Presence; and we may
• boldly say, that this Joy exercises it self
in its full Extent, which is so much the
more enlarged and diffused, as these ad-
• mirable Events arrive in a Time when all
• humane Appearance seem'd wholly to
• remove and banish them. For it must
• be confess'd that they are the Effects of
• Divine
6
6
R
58 Memoirs of the Life
Divine Providence, which has made the
Hearts of the Children return to their
Father; that is to say, of the Subjects to
• their lawful King, and levelled the Ways
• by which your Majesty walks so peaceably,
6 and without Effusion of Blood, upon
the
magnificent and exalted Steps of your
• Glorious and Triumphant Throne.
· The States-General of the United Pro-
• vinces wish, Sir, that these great and im-
* portant Prosperities, which surprize us as
• much as we have wish'd them, may be
followed by the constant Obedience of
your People, by the Respect of your
· Neighbours, and by the Love of both;
and that the Diadem which God hath put
upon your Majesty's sacred and anginted
Head, being accompany'd by all the Fa-
'vours of Heaven, may stand there, thro'
a long Succession of Years, with a happy
' and glorious Reign for your sacred Per-
son,
and remain perpetually in your Royal
Posterity, even to the End of the World:
We
6
6
6
3
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
59
• We finish this Discourse, Sir, by most
• humble Thanks which we render to your
Majesty, for your being pleased to make
* Choice of this Country, rather than any
• other, to pass from thence into your King-
dom, for which we shall always think our
selves oblig'd and honour'd; but we do
• this with Regret notwithstanding, to see
• that Reception we cause to be made for
' you with so good a heart, is not accom-
panied with all the Pomp and Magnifi-
cence that the Majesty and Splendour of
so Great and Renowned a Monarch de-
serves, who is so dear and precious to
* this State, and whose gracious Favour we
• shall endeavour to acquire to our selves,
• by all the Respect and Services which
your Majesty may desire from true
· Friends, most faithful Allies, and humble
• Servants.
'Twas observed in this Visit, that the
King never offered to be covered, as 'twas
thought that he might do something more
for
1
60
Memoirs of the Life
for them than he could do for an Ambassa-
.
dor. The States of the Province of Hol-
land had likewise Audience of his Majesty
in a magnificent and solemp Manner, and
were dismissed from it with great Assur-
ances of Friendship. The like had the
Deputies of Amsterdam in Behalf of that
Town, and were complimented in the same
Manner by him: his Majesty being inclin-
able, if his Affairs had permitted, to accept
of their Inritation thither, but their Exi-
gencies required a Dispensation from that
Civility. He admitted also their Request
concerning the Barge or Brigantine before-
mentioned, which they presented to him,
and gave them Thanks for their great Re-
spect to his Person, which he promised to
keep in perpetual Remembrance.
But that the King might not be troubled
with Multitudes of Visitants, every Cor-
poration or Body of Subordinate Courts
having it in their Intention to demand
Audience of him, it was forbidden them
by
1
5
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
61
by publick Proclamation, that declared,
and set forth, that the States of Holland
did it comprchensively for them all; and
that it would be unseemly to incommode
his Majesty with too many Visits, so that
by these Means, the University of Leyden,
then in a Readiness, was prevented from
paying their Congratulations.
Indeed there would have been no End
of those Ceremonies without such a Pro-
cedure, so passionately did each Place and
Degree of Men, strive to shew their Joy
and Affection in these his Majesty's happy
Circumstances, therefore I shall forbear any
particular Narrative concerning them.
Come we now to the Manner of the En-
tertainment provided for the King at Din-
ner, for which 30,000l. from the Day of
his coming to the Hague, was allotted as a
Foundation for Expences, till he should
depart from thence. Seven Lords were
appointed to attend constantly at his Meat,
and see the Royal Family served. The
Table
S
62 MEMOIRS of the Life
Table was doubly furnished, at the Head
of which, and in the midst, sate the King,
having on his left Hand the Princess Royal,
and on his Righthis Aunt the Queen of Bohe-
mia. At the End of the Table, on the same
Side, were the Dukes of York and Glouces-
ter, and at the other End, by the Princess
Royal, was the Prince of Orange, her Son.
This Order was observed in all Repasts,
only in the Absence of the Prince of Orange,
the two Princes, his Majesty's Brothers,
separated, and placed themselves at the two
Ends of the Table. By this Means they
were easily served, because they were all
at a certain Distance, which permitted the
Officers to do the Duties of their Functions
with more Ease. There was also a Con-
sort of the most skilful Musicians during
the King's Dinner, and at the Healths that
were drank, as the King never failed to
drink to the Prosperity of the States, the
Cannon of the Viverberg thunder'd from
every Battery
The
܀
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
63
.
i
The Manner of Serving the King at
Table was, with great Dishes in an Oval
Form, at five Courses, each containing five
Dishes, and twelve Plates, because they
chang’d the Dishes twice at every Service;
and every Dish was of Massive Gold, with
a vast Load in them, there being two Dozen
of Pheasants sometimes in one Dish; five
Tables, besides this, were likewise prepared
for the Lords, and for the Marquis of Wor-
cester, &c. and one for the Ladies, all of
four Courses, and almost as full, and fur-
nished with the same Meats as the King's,
except one Course, which was between
the Boild and Roast. All the Sweet-meats,
as well at the King's Table, as at the Lords
and Ladies, were scrambled for at every
Meal, and exposed to the Discretion of the
People, who were usually there in Crowds
at those Hours. Every one of these Tables.
was of twelve Coverings, and had its Stew-
ard, its four Butlers, as many Assistants,
and twelve Men that served up the Meat:
and
64 Memoirs of the Life
and Drink. But for the King's Diet it
was particular; there was a Clerk of the
Kitchen for the Broths, another for the
Courses, another for the Pastry, one for the
Roast, and one for the Meats between the
Courses, every Clerk having four Cooks
under him for each Service.
On the 19th of May, an Addition of
60,0001. was ordered for the Expence of
a magnificent Entertainment, which the
States intended for his Majesty, as likewise
for the Presents they designed for the King
and his two Brothers: Upon which Ac-
count they thought it also requisite, to
cause the Rich Bed and Furniture, which
the last deceased Prince of Orange had
ordered to be made for the Lying in of the
Princess Royal, and which she never used,
on the Account of her Husband's Death
eight Days before the young Prince's Birth,
to be fitted up and deliver'd to his Ma-
jesty. This Bed was the fairest and richest
that ever was made at Paris, and besides
the
of Sir STEPIIÉN Fox.
65
;
the Tester, the Chairs, and Skréens, the
Hangings, and other Pieces necessary to
make a Furniture compleät, the Estates
would add thereunto a Suit of Hangings of
inestimable Value. These were made of
Tapestry, embossed with Gold and Silver,
as several exquisite Pictures of the best
Masters, Antient and Modern, which they
presented him with, as also with every other
Sort of Equipage that could adorn a Cham-
ber worthy to lodge the greatest of Mon-
arch in his greatest Magnificence.
"The Expence of the abovementioned
Feast was not particularly known, by rea-
son that the States order'd all things of that
Nature, as they ought in suchi Casés, to be
kept secret, but the King was greatly
pleas'd with the Splendor and Economy
thereof, as he express'd himself to one of
the States the next day; affirming, that
He
nerer supp'd better than on the Day he
arrived at the Hague; and that in all the
Entertainments which were made for him in
France,
1
T
66
MEMOIRS of the Life
France, Spain, Germany, and in the Low-
Countries; and among others that of the
Arch-Duke Leopoldus, in the Month of
May, 1656, when he was going out of Flan-
ders into Germany, he saw nothing com-
parable to that which he then receiv'd in
Holland.
Upon Notice of the King's Intentions to
imbark for England on the 22d following,
the States-General desired to know, how
they should wait upon him to make their
last Compliments, either in a Body, or by
Deputies: but the King, to do them an ex-
traordinary honour, in Return to the great
Civilities they had paid him, acquainted
them by a Messenger of his own, That the
next Day (his Voyage being put off a day
longer) he would personally Visit them in
the Place of their General Assembly. The
Estates of Holland likewise to whom the
King signify'd by one of his Secretaries the
same Design, receiv'd the Advertisement
thereof with great Deference and Respect,
and
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
67
and both one and t'other, after they had
agreed with the Ministers of the Court how
they intended to receive his Majesty, gave
necessary Orders for this Glorious and Il-
lustrious Visit. In the mean time those of
Zealand and East Friezland sent their De-
puties apart to congratulate the King ;
Monsieur de Vetch, Pensionary Councelor,
bespeaking his Majesty's Attention in these
Words:
.
- SIR,
• WE are here from the Lords the Estates
of Zealand, to do Reverence to Your
• Majesty, and to assure You of our most
• humble and respectful Services; we re-
' present, Sir, and acknowledge in the Per-
* son and Sight of Your Majesty, the Fa-
vours and Assistances which our Province
hath from all Times receiv'd from the Kings
of Great Britain, Your most famous Pre-
• decessors, and so we cannot but felicitate
• You, and express the Joy we have to see
• the
3
6
68 MEMOIRS of the Life
May
.
• the Grace which God would do unto
• Your Majesty in this admirable Revolu-
*tion of Affairs, wherewith Your Majesty
. should be so much the more touched, as
neither You, nor the rest of the World,
presum'd so much as to hope for.
If Great Britain hath made Bonfires at
! the Birth of Your Majesty, what should
we do now in this marvellous Conjuncture,
where we see all the Artifices and At-
tempts of Your Enemies disappointed and
* overthrown, Your Royal Person miracu-
• lously Re-established in the Throne of
• Your Ancestors, and Your Crown, to
speak Truth, sent from Heaven rather
• than put upon the Head of Your Majesty
.by. the Hand of Man: so we' need not
doubt that God, who is the particular
Protector of Kings, who raises at this
• Time Your Majesty, by Ways so extraor-
dinary, will not fail to uphold You by
* that powerful Hand which laid it on Your
"Royal Head; and that all Christendom
• derives
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 69
:
• derives not Advantages from thence
• which cannot be ordinary, since that God,
by whom Your Majesty reigns so visibly,
• will make it so, 'that You shall reign for
• him efficaciously, in rendering the Good
• and Repose of his Church inseparable
• from the Interests of Your Estáte.
· And hence shall it be, Sir, that as from
• an inexhaustible Spring, upon the Coun-
cils and Actions of Your Majesty shall
• flow all the Blessings of Heaven, which
• shall settle the Repose of Your Estates,
* and assure the Scepter in Your Hands,
• for the Comfort of Your People, for the
Protection of Your Allies, for the Terror
• of Your Enemies, and for the Establish-
* ment of a perpetual Peace in all Christen-
• dom, to the Exaltation of the Great: Name
• of God, and to the particular Glory of
* Your Majesty'; especially we hope, that
• this favourable Occasion will serve to tie
* more strongly the Knot of the Alliance,
• which from Time to Time hath been so
carefully
1
i1
U
>
70
MEMOIRS of the Life
1
• carefully maintained between Great Bri-
• tain and this Commonwealth, particularly
• if her Highness, the Princess Royal, who
• is so notably interested in the Prosperity
. of both, will labour herein with the Care
which we promise us from her Goodness.
• These are the most ardent Prayers, Sir,
which the Lords the Estates of Zealand,
• Your very humble Servants make unto
God, and which they hope will be heard
• in due time.'
The King having made known the Day
before to the same Mr. de Vetch, Deputy
from Zealand to the States-General, and
President that Week, that his Purpose was
to render them a Visit the next Morning
in their Assembly, Preparation was made
to receive him with all imaginable Re-
spects, and things were so order'd, that a
Deputy for every Province was to wait
upon him from his Lodgings thither, two of
them being to march before the King bare-
headed,
1
of Sir STE PIIEN Fox. 71
headed, to the Place where the Estates
would receive him, and from thence to the
Seat which was got ready for him.
They had also provided a great Train of
Coaches to wait on him thither; but his
Majesty had no sooner answer'd the Com-
pliment of the Deputies, but, being upon
the Stone-Stairs of the Court, he caus’d the
Lords of the Train to advance, and ex-
press'd a willingness to walk that little way
on Foot, which is between Prince Maurice's
House and the Palace: Prince William of
Nassau therefore put himself immediately
before the King, who not being dispos'd
to cover himself by the way, the Deputies
of the Estates that follow'd him put them-
selves in the same Posture, and in this Or-
der, between two Files of Soldiers, they
arriv'd at the foot of the Stairs of the
Great Hall, where the Estates-General
came in a Body to meet him, made himn a
low Reverence, and open'd themselves to
make him pass in the midst of them, and
follow'd
72
MEMOIRS of the Life
1
1
܀
! i
follow'd him thus Two and Two along the
Hall, and then thro’ the Gallery (where
they sell Pictures, but their Shops that Day.
were shut up) and their withdrawing
Chamber into that of their Ordinary Assem-
bly, his Majesty and the Estates being still
uncover'd.
This Hall is rather long than large, hav-
ing in the midst of it a Table capable to
hold about 30 Persons, in the middle
whereof is a place for the President, which
!!
changeth every Week, according to the
Number and Rank of the United Pro-
in
vinces; but the President for that Week
quitted it then, and sat in that which is
over-against it, where the Ambassadors and
Ministers of Foreign Princes are seated
when Publick Audience is given them, and
on the usual Seat of the President they
made an Ascent or Foot-bank of seven or
eight" Foot broad, covered over with a
:
Foot-cloth of Tapestry which reach'd along
the Passage even to the Door of the With-
drawing
ار
;;;;
si
}
:')
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 73
1
drawing Chamber. On the Foot-bank
was plac'd a Chair of green Velvet, and
overhead a Cloth of Estate, or Canopy of
the same colour'd Velvet, which was hung
between the Pourtraits of the four last
Princes of Orange of the House of Nassau
there standing, which were so separated,
that those of Prince William and Prince
Maurice were on one Hand, Father and
Son together, and those of Prince Henry
Frederick (Brother to Prince Maurice) and
his Son William the Second, late Husband
to the Princess Royal, on the other side of
the Canopy.
The King being come to this Place,
which was a kind of a Throne, Prince Wil-
liam Frederick of Nassau, and some English
Lords, put themselves behind the Seat;
and his Majesty, stood still and uncover'd
till all the Members that composd that
Illustrious Senate were entered (more nume-
rous that Day because of the Extraordi-
nary Deputies) and when they were after a
while
X
74 MEMOIRS of the Life
while dispos’d in their Places, sat down and
cover'd himself; but remained not long in
that Posture; for as soon as he saw the
Seats full, and all the Deputies covered, he
arose, and putting off his Hat, in very kind
and obliging Expressions for all the Civili-
ties they had show'd him since he arrived
in their Country, he assured them of the
Constancy of his Amity and Affection for
the good of that Commonwealth, and here
more solemnly recommended unto them the
Persons and Interests of the Princess Roy.
al, his Sister, and of the Prince of Orange,
his Nephew, to which the President made
a Reply in such Terms as sufficiently made
known the Respect wherewith they resent-
ed this Honour they had received.
This being done, his Majesty retired the
same Way, and in the same Manner he
entered, Prince William marching at the
Head, and the Estates Two by Two fol-
lowing him, and conducting the King into
the Court to the Foot of the Stairs of the
Great
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 75
Great Hall, where they had received
him.
Here the Lords the States of the Pro-
vince of Holland, to whom the King had
promis'd the like Honour of his Presence
in their Assembly, came to meet his Ma-
jesty in a Body. They had likewise be-
fore them Prince Maurice of Nassau, ,
Lieutenant-General of the Horse, and Go-
vernour of Wesel, marching alone, and
bare-headed, performing the same Place
which Prince William had done with the
Estates-General. Nothing being new, or
what varied from the manner of his Ma-
jesty's Reception and Sitting, in the Assem-
bly of the States-General, 'twill be need-
less to repeat them here, only this requires
a Remark, that the King spoke near the
same Words, at least the same Sense, in
both Assemblies, and concluded with his
Recoinmendation of the Prince and Prin-
cess of Orange to their Affection.
The States of Holland taking Advantage
by a Pretence they did not perfectly hear
Or
!
76
MEMOIRS of the Life
or understand that Clause, order'd their
President to request the King, that he
would be pleas'd to signify his Pleasure
therein again to the said President, which
he consented to, and to satisfie the Estates
of Holland, sent their President this fol-
lowing Note, sign'd in the Princess Royal
her Chamber with his own Hand :
6
1
6
SIRS,
· WHEREAS I leave here in your Hands
• the Princess my Sister, and the Prince of
Orange, my Nephew, two Persons ex-
* tremely dear to me; I pray you to take
• their interest to Heart, and to cause them
to resent the Effects of your Favour in
• the Occasions which the Princess, my
• Sister, shall request of you, either for her
self, or the Prince, her Son; assuring you,
* that all the Effects of your Good Will
• towards them shall be acknowledg’d of
me, as if I had received them in my own
• Person.'
Sign'd CHARLES, R.
6
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 77.
This was merely procured from the King
to do him greater Honours; and because
they did not know how to get a Copy of
his Speech, which they would have Re-
corded, they found this Way to be sure of
a Transcript of it under his own Hand; a
Copy whereof being therefore transmitted
to the Estates-General, was inserted in the
Registers of the Resolutions of the Gene-
rality, and of the Province of Holland in
perpetuam Rei Memoriam, and to manifest
their Readiness of complying with the King
in all Things.
The Estates-General, who had received
an Honour by the King's Presence in their
Assembly, whose Memory they intended
should be precious to all Posterity, thought
themselves bound to acknowledge it, and
to give him a Parting Compliment on his
Voyage, which was spoke by the Baron of
Ghent, in these elegant Words:
Y
• SIR,
78
Memoirs of the Life
.
SIR,
1
6
s
• THE Estates-General of the United
- Provinces having been advertised from
* Your Majesty, that You purpose to em-
bark to Morrow to compleat your Voyage
' for England, return again to receive the
· Honour of Your Commands on the Point
of Your Departure : If Your Majesty finds
not in their Faces the same Cheerfulness
' which You might observe there, when
they had the Honour to salute You at
• Your Arrival, it is because of the Sorrow
• to see themselves ready to be depriv'd of
the Splendor of so fair a Light, which
• Your Majesty hath made to shine in their
• Estate during the little Time You would
remain there: that which comforts them
• in some kind is, Sir, that they know that
• the Interests of Your Majesty press
Your
Departure, and the Good of the Affairs
• of Your Crown permits You not to defer
• it longer, nevertheless the short Residence
which
6
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 79
6
which it hath pleased Your Majesty to
' make among us, and the Goodness
6 wherewith You would receive our En-
deavours we have made to be able to
please You, leaves them such signal,
strong and indubitable Marks of Your
• Good Will towards us, that we shall, for
'it, eternally bless that Providence to
' which we owe these incomparable Ad-
vantages.
· The Presence of Your Majesty's Sacred
· Person in their Assembly, and the ob-
liging Expressions which Your Royal
• Mouth made in the Senate, are such evi-
• dent Testimonies of the Disposition which
• You have to Honour this Estate with
* Your Royal Good will, that they deserve
that all Posterity should find then written
• in Letters of Gold in their Registers, as
have deeply grav'd them in our Hearts.
If the Entertainment which hath been
'made to Your Majesty, and which it hath
* pleased You to accept in so engaging a
Manner,
6
we
6
N
80 MEMOIRS of the Life
6
Manner, bears no Proportion with the
• Greatness of so Potent a Monarch,
'we beseech you most humbly to believe
• that this Defect proceeds rather from the
Indigence of our Country, than from the
· Will of the Inhabitants, in whose Accla-
• mations and Joy we are persuaded that
Your Majesty may visibly observe the
· Zealous Devotions and Ardent Prayers
they put forth unto Heaven for the Pro-
sperity of Your Affairs, and for the Glory
• of Your Majesty's Person.
• And since the Estates-General are, un-
• der an indispensable Necessity, to be de-
priv'd of the inestimable Presence of Your
Majesty, they will at least accompany
* You with their Prayers, which they will
• make incessantly, that the Sea and Winds
may favour Your Passage, and make You
happily arrive at the Haven of Your
Kingdom; that Calm and Quietness may
• shew that to You, which Storms and
• Tempests
6
6
6
6
of Sir Stephen Fox. 81
6
Tempests have so miserably held You
shut from, for so many Years.
. As soon as the States-General shall
• have understood that Your Majesty is
• landed, they will not fail to send to You
their Extraordinary Ambassadors, as well
to finish with You, in Your Kingdom, the
Offices which they have begun here, as
* to receive and make more particular
• Overtures in the important Matter of an
Alliance, whereof it hath pleased Your
• Majesty to touch here something in gene-
ral; being ready to answer, on their Side,
. the good and sincere Intentions, whereof
· You had the Goodness to give such great
• Assurance, because that, with the Affec-
• tion which we have for the Good of Your
Affairs, we have also a most deep Respect
• for the Sacred Character of Your Unction,
.and for the inestimable Merit of Your
Royal Person.
At Evening the Chief of the Deputies of
Holland took Occasion, from the Respects
the
&
1
82 MEMOIRS of the Life
the King said he had for that Province, in re-
gard to Testimonies of Affection which
they had shewed to him, to say to his Ma-
jesty, That the Intention of the Lords
Estates of Holland was to do something
more, if there were any Rarities in their
Estate, that might be presented to so Great
a Prince: notwithstanding, that they
would give themselves the Liberty to cause
him to be accommodated, and to send him,
on the first Occasion, some Presents, which
they would beseech his Majesty to receive
as Proof of their good Will, rather than of
their Power. The King would have declin'd
it saying, That he needed no other Assur:
• ances of their Affection, than those they
had given him on this present Occasion:
that he was already satisfied therewith,
. and thank'd them not only for their past
Kindness, but also for the Good Will they
expressed to hold unto him for the future.'
Those Presents which they intended for
him were not yet ready, because the Bed
of
3
6
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 83
of the Princess Royal was not perfect,
which was to make a part of them, and
because they knew not what his Majesty
would like most. No more therefore, was
said to his Majesty; but the Estates hav-
ing resolved what they would present to
the Duke of York, the same Lord acquaint-
ed his Highness, that the Lords of Hol-
land were willing to give some Marks of
Affection to his Royal Highness, had
sought everywhere for something that
might be worthy of him; and that having
found nothing, because the Shortness of his
Residence would not permit them to make
Enquiry, that his Highness might not de-
part without some Token and Sentiment
of their submissive Respect to him, they
pray'd him to accept a Bill of Exchequer
of 75,000 Guilders, which makes 75001.
Sterling, which he might cause his Treasurer
to receive, either at present in that Town,
of Mr. Berchel, Receiver-General of the
Province, or at London or elsewhere, and
it
:
1
84
MEMOIRS of the Life
it should be paid at Sight. The Duke re-
ceiv'd the Bill with many Testimonies of
Acknowledgement, and said, That it was
without any Repugnance, or Reluctancy
that he charged himself with this Obliga-
tion towards the Lords the Estates. The
like Present and Sum was tender'd in a
Bill to the Duke of Gloucester, who also
received it very kindly. They had design'd
also a Present of 4001. for my Lord Crofts,
who brought the Estates of Holland into
the Audience of the King; but as they de-
ferr'd the King's Present, so did they alter
this Determination, staying while a Chain
of Gold of that Value could, with all
pos-
sible Speed and Curiosity, be made.
The Days were now almost at their full
Length, and yet it may be said, that not
only the Hague saw, Wednesday the 23d of
May, something more early than the Sun;
but also, that there was in a manner no
Night between Tuesday and Wednesday;
particularly for those, who, finding no Nook
or
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 85
-
or Hole to put their Heads in, (hecause
the Houses were not able to contain the
People who flocked thither from all Parts
of the Neighbouring Country) for the most
part were constrained to walk the Streets.
There was no Rest all Night, for above
50,000 Persons, who from that Tuesday
Evening, were gone to take
gone to take up their places
on the Downs, or Sand-Hills, which border
on the Sea, along the Coast of Holland,
from whence they'might discover the Fleet,
and see the King embark: the Trumpets
awaken'd the Horse, that were to attend
the Solemnity of his Majesty's Departure,
before Day: and at Two o'Clock in the
Morning the Drums beat, to assemble as
well the Citizens as Soldiers: in the King's
House it self, every one was employ'd the
whole Night, in causing the rest of the
Baggage to be loaden and sent away;
and there were seen nothing but Waggons,
and Coaches full of English, who went to
embark themselves, before the Barks ap-
pointed
AA
!
86 MEMOIRS of the Life
1
pointed for his Majesty's Service, were
possessed by his Domesticks and Servants,
who were to attend upon his Person.
The Citizens came together at their or-
dinary Rendezvous of the Viverberg, and
the Regiment of Guards in the Outer-Court;
both which march'd from thence to Sche-
veling, where they stood in Battalia on the
Sea-shore, from both Sides of the Battery
of the Cannon, which was brought thither
from the Hague.
The King himself was very early, and
soon ready, and receiv'd the Compliments
of many particular Persons that would do
him Reverence, excepting the States of
Holland, who had desired the Favour of
their last Audience, just at his Departure,
They met at their Hall as at their first Visit,
and thence went to the King's House,
where all the Lords, and Persons of Quali-
ty about his Majesty, came to meet them,
and conducted them to the Presence Cham-
ber. There the Chief of them, Monsieur
de
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 87
1
de Wit, spoke this most elegant Harangue,
which far surpassed all the rest. He began
thus:
.SIR,
· IF one may judge of the Displeasure
* which is caus'd in us, to see Your Ma-
jesty depart from our Province, by the
• Satisfaction we had to possess you, we
shall have no great Trouble to make it
"known to you. Your Majesty might have
• observ'd in the Countenance of all our Peo:
ple, the Joy they had in their Hearts to
see amongst them a Prince cherished of
“God, a Prince wholly miraculous, and a
• Prince that is probably to make a Part of
• their Quietness and Felicity. Your Ma-
jesty shall see presently all the Streets
filled, all the Ways covered, and all the
* Hills throng'd with People, which will
• follow You, even to the Place of Your
• Embarkment, and would not leave You,
- if they had wherewith to pass them into
* Your
8
88 MEMOIRS of the Life
• Your Kingdom. Our Joy is Common
• unto us with that of our Subjects; but as
we know better than they the inestimable
· Value of the Treasure which we possess,
• so are we more sensible of this sad Sepa-
e ration; , it would be insupportable to us,
· Sir, if we re-entered not into our selves,
• and considered not that it is the Thing
• of the World we most desired, and the
' greatest Advantage also that we could
• wish to Your Majesty. We acquiesce
therein, because we know that this Re-
. moval is no less necessary for us, than
* glorious for Your Majesty, and that it is
in Your Kingdom that we must find the
Accomplishment of the Prayers we have
made, and make still for You and our
selves, so shall we not fail to profit thence,
as well as from the Assurances which it
hath pleased You to give us of an im-
• mutable Affection for this Republick.
• We render most humble Thanks unto
• Your Majesty for them, and particularly
6 for
of Sir Stephen Fox.
89
6
6
** for the illustrious Proof which it pleased
You to give us thereof, by the glorious
Visit wherewith You honoured our As-
sembly. We shall conserve the Memory
* of it most dearly, and make the Marks
of that Goodness pass to our last Posteri-
ty, to the end they may acknowledge it
" with the same Respect with which we
6 receiv'd it.
• The Forwardness wherein we see Your
Majesty ready to take Horse, for the con-
• tinuance of Your Voyage, forbids us to
* enlarge upon a Subject which would
never weary us, if we had Words con-
"formable to our respectful Sentiments:
* but we have no mind to increase the just
“Impatience which Your Majesty must
" have to see your self returned into Your
Kingdom. We pray God, Sir, that Your
• Passage be quick and happy, and that as
" he hath disposed the Hearts and Affec-
tions of Your Subjects to acknowledge
“their Lawful and Sovereign Prince, it may
' please
6
i
BB
90
MEMOIRS of the Life
please him also to command the Seas and
• Winds to favour Your Voyage; so that
6 after You have receiv'd, in Your own
• Coasts the same Prayer which we shall re-
• iterate, You may enjoy in Your Royal
• Person, and in Your Posterity for ever,
* all the Felicity and Prosperity which
• Your most humble Servants wish unto
• Your Majesty'
1
:
To this Speech the King return’d An-
swer with his usual Civility, repeating the
great Obligations they had laid upon him,
which he said he would convert into a strict
Alliance, and perfect Understanding be-
tween them, as soon as his Estate was
compos’d.
The Ambassadors, and other Ministers
of Foreign Princes, and almost all Persons
of Condition, took the Avant-guard, and
disposed themselves all along the Coast,
where the Citizens, the Horse, and the Re-
giments of Guard stood in Battalia. A
great
i
i
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 91
great part of the Neighbouring Towns were
there already, and those that came forth
the Night before, or early in the Morning,
follow'd the Royal Cavalcade in so great
a Multitude, that the Place, which is very
Populous, and could not lodge the People
that were come thither from all Places of
the Province, was abandoned and convert-
ed into a Desart in very few Hours.
As soon as they saw the King appear
upon
the Hill, which covereth the Village
of Scheveling on the Sea-side (where the
King had formerly taken Shipping, and
from thence landed at Spey in Scotland, in
1650), the Cannon, which was transported
two Days before from the Viverberg upon
the Strand, saluted himn with the whole
Battery, which ceas'd not to shoot continu-
ally until (he being drawn off from those
Coasts) they could no longer see the Ho-
nour they endeavoured to render him, the
Citizens and Guards answered thereunto
with their Vollies of small Shot, and the
Cavalry,
92
MEMOIRS of the Life
!
Cavalry, with their Carbines, and invited
thereby the Fleet to make all their Artille-
ry Thunder, which after it had lightened:
the Air, fill'd it with so thick a smoak, that
those great floating Castles (the Fleet) dis-
appear'd in a moment to the Eyes of those
that were on Land.
The King being alightedreceived the
last Compliments of the Lords the Estates,
who had brought him to the Brink of the
Sea, by the same Person, Mr. de Witt; his
Majesty next took leave of the Duke of
Brunswick Lunenburg, of the Princess Dow-
ager of Orange, of the Princess of Nassau,
and of the young Lady of Orange, her
Daughter, and of all the other Persons of
Quality which could not follow him, or
might trouble him in Waiting on him to
the Fleet.
There were none but his nearest Rela-
tions, the Queen of Bohemia, the Princess
Royal, and the Prince of Orange, that con-
ducted him on board the Admiral's Ship,
which
of Sir Stephen Fox. 93
which was to pass him into England. The
States of Holland had caused one of the
greatest Barks of the Place to be fitted
for the Royal Family: the Body of the
Vessel was garnished with Tapestry, its
Mast carried the Royal Flag, and its Yards
were loaden with Garlands and Crowns of
Verdure and Flowers, among which there
was one fastened, and accompanied with a
Streamer, which had for its Device, Quo
Fas et Fata;. to denote, that the King ém-
barking,. went to the place where his Right,
and the Providence of God call?d him;
alluding to the ordinary Motto of the Kings
of England, Dieu et mon Droit : the King
entered there, with all the Royal Family,
but seeing a Shallop, or Brigantine, to ap-
proach, glaz'd and cover'd with Tapestry,
which Generał Montague had sent from
Aboard him, as soon as he saw the King
appear on the Strand, he went into her, and
the Queen of Bohemia follow'd; this Shal-
lop was accompany'd with many others,
сс
and
94
MEMOIRS of the Life
1
and was row'd with Oars by the Seamen,
who seeing themselves in Possession of their
Sovereign Prince, made the Neighbouring
Shore resound with their. Shouts and ex-
press their Joy by all the Signs and Marks
that could be required from such Persons,
some throwing up their Caps in the Air,
and others casting them into the Sea, to
which likewise some abandon'd their Waist--
coats and Doublets..
The King approaching, the General caus-
ed the Royal Standard to be hoisted up
the Mast Head, and the Ensign on the Poop,
and receiv'd his Majesty with the greatest
Submission that could be rendered to a
Prince, at the Top of the Stairs by which he
ascended to the Ship: the King returned
him all the Testimonies of Goodness and
Affection that could be imagin’d'or expect-
ed from a Sovereign, who acknowledged
perfectly the important Services he had
done him, as having been one of the most
powerful Instruments of his Re-establish-
ment,
!
of Sir Stephen Fox. 95
ment, whereof he had given him Assurances
long before, and a most certain Proof, when
he departed from the Sound (presently-af-
ter Richard's Disappointment; he being
sent thither to assist the Swedè, under Pre-
tence of mediating between the Dane; and
that Nation) upon his Majesty's Order, to
favour the Design of Sir George Booth, who
was then in Arms for his Majesty, under
the fair Pretence of a Free Parliament.
It was past Eleven a Clock when the
King arrived at the Fleet; so that as soon
as his Majesty was but a little disengaged
of Part of those who would follow him on
Board, he sat down at a Table, in the great
Gallery, with the other: Royal Persons,
while some other of his Lords and other
Great Ones of Holland were entertain'd in
other Apartments. In the King's Pas-
sage the two Days at Sea, the General ex-
pended 20001. tho' the Lords, the Estates,
had provided his Ship, and the rest of the
Fleet, with all kind of necessary Refresh-
ments
96
Memoirs of the Life
ments and Provisions, beyond what they
needed in so short a Passage.
After Dinner was ended, the King rer
ceiv'd again the last Compliments of some
particular Persons, expressing great Civili-
ties to the Deputies of the States of Holland,
for whom the Vice Admiral made the
Speech, and sent them away with new Pro-
testations of Affection and Amity.
The Sea was Calm, and the Heavens so
Clear, that the King had a Desire once
again to discover a Country where he had
received so many Testimonies of Respect
and Love. To this Purpose, to take his
full and last View thereof, he ascended to
the top of the Poop, and seeing the People,
with which he had left the Downs cover'd,
remaining there still, he was pleased to ac-
knowledge, That it was impossible his own
Subjects could have more Tenderness for
him than those People, in whose Affections
he reigned no less than he was going to
Reign in the Affections of the English.
After
of Sir Stephen Fox. 97
After this he embrac'd the Prince of
Orange with the same Tenderness as lie
could have had for his own Son, and gave
him his Blessing, and took Leave of the
Queen of Bohemia ; but when he was to de-
part from the Princess Royal, his Sister,
that Princess, who had with so much
Courage, and without Grief, almost look'd
all past Misfortunes in the Face, and who
had Virtue enough to fortifie that of her
Brother, needed now all his Constancy to
resolve to suffer this Separation, which she
had wish'd with so much Impatience, and
whose Consequences were to be so glorious
to them both. The King himself, who had
Resolution enough, so as to shew no Weak-
ness in his greatest Misfortunes, could not
resist the Tears of a Sister, whom many
other Considerations, as strong as those of
Birth, render'd extremely dear unto him:
and who would have been comfortless,
amidst so many Joys, but for the Hopes she
bad again shortly to see the King her
Brother
D D
98
Memoirs of the Life
Brother in his Kingdom. The former
mutual Endearments between them were
always so Passionate and Sincere, that much
ado there would have been to disengage
her from the Arms of his Majesty, if the
General had not caused the Anchors to be
weigh'd, and the Signal to be given to the
Fleet.
The Royal Charles, newly so nam'd, was
now under Sail for England, when the
Queen of Bohemia, the Princess Royal, and
the Prince of Orange descended into the
Bark which was to bring them back to Land:
All the Artillery of the Fleet saluted those
Royal Personages, and the Battery on the
Downs of Holland answer'd them, with the
Small Shot of the Citizens Guards. It was
about Four in the Afternoon, Wednesday
the 23d of May, that the Fleet set Sail, and
about six a Clock it was gotten so far off,
that the People, which all this while stirred
not from the Downs, having lost Sight of
it, retir'd, whilst the King continued his
Way
!
of Sir Stephen Fox. 99
/
Way towards his Kingdoms, with the same
Serenity that was lately seen to accompany
all his Affairs.
The Kingand Royal Family were no soon-
er arriv’dat Whitehall, aftera most Triumph-
ant Entry thro' the Streets of his Capital
(where those that made loud Exclamations
for Crucifiges before, were incessant with
repeated Hosanna's now) but his Majesty,
with the Advice of his Privy-Council, made
Choice of the proper Officers that were to
attend at Court, and act as Domesticks in
the several Stations that are requisite for
the Honour and Grandeur of the Sovereign
Authority; and tho', contrary to true
Maxims of State, in Compliance with his
Lord High Chancellor, Edward Earl of
Clarendon, he confer'd several Posts of High
Trust and Dignity upon such as had been
his most inveterate Enemies (as the Earl of
Manchester, the Lord Say and Sele, &c.)
yet
100 MEMOIRS of the Life
yet he had also an Eye to the Sufferings
and Loyalty of his Fast Friends.
Among these he could not but have Mr.
Fox in his Thoughts, who, by his faithful
Services Abroad, richly deserv'd to be re-
warded at Home, with some Profitable, as
well as Honourable Enıployment. There-
fore he gave Orders to the Duke of Ormond,
then Lord Steward of his Majesty's Hous-
hold, that a Warrant should be drawn
up
for his Admission into the Place of First
Clerk of the Green-Cloth; and not think-
ing his Merits sufficiently rewarded with
that important Post, caus'd to be added
to it, The Care of the Payment of his Ma-
jesty's Guards and Garrisons, and all other
his Land Forces; which put him into a
Condition of exercising those Acts of Ge-
nerosity and Charity, which he for the
future Course of his whole Life gave such
Extensive and Uncommon Instances of.
Yet, notwithstanding his Amassment of
great Sums (the just Profits that arose from
these
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 101
these Two Offices) whereby he was enabled
abundantly to provide for the Exigencies
of a Family which seem'd to promise a
very numerous Increase to it, by the Birth
of a Third Son, William, in the Year 1662,
and the Support of many Widows and
Orphans, whom he daily supply'd and fed
from a very plentiful and well-order'd Table;
yet such was his vast Integrity, in the Dis-
charge of both those Trusts, such his Justice
and uncorrupted Sincerity, in making due
Disbursements for the Maintenance of the
Houshold, and Subsistence of the Army,
that he was equally applauded and lov'd
by both, and both the one and the other,
during his Employment in those Capacities
had the Satisfaction of finding the Court to
be no ways in Arrears to them, the contrary
of which they afterwards experienced,
when he was removed to much higher Sta-
tions.
Nor was the King less satisfied with the
Prudence of his Conduct, than his Do-
mesticks
E E
102 MEMOIRS of the Life
mesticks and Soldiers ; but to distinguish
so valuable a Servant, caus'd him to be
sent for into his Royal Presence, on the 1st
of July, 1665, where, (contrary to his De-
sires of avoiding such an Instance of Royal
Favour, whereof he profess'd himself alto-
gether unworthy) having first plac'd him
at the Head of the Board of Green-Cloth,
who was before only the third in Office
there, his Majesty was graciously pleas'd
to confer the Honour of Knighthood upon
him.
Nor was his Majesty's Gratitude to so
deserving a Subject, in the least to be en-
vied or decry'd; for every one at Court,
and elsewhere, received the Account of it
with the greatest Pleasure; and even those
who were industrious in the Pursuit of the
like Rewards themselves, and had not then
obtain'd them, held themselves obliged to
confess, that as by approving himself a
good Economist, in the management of
his Majesty's poor distracted Family abroad,
he
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 103
no
he had highly merited the utmost Favours
of a bounteous and just Prince; so, by a
particular Happiness of Temperand Judge-
ment, wherein he shew'd the true Use of
Adversity, by the best Improvements of
· Prosperity, they acknowledg’d, that he
manag'd the greater Houshold, under his
Grace the Duke of Ormond, with the same
surprizing Regularity and Conduct at
Home, as he had done the lesser Abroad.
Since every thing was managed with the
greatest Exactness, Decency and Frugality
wheresoever the Court took up its Resi-
dence; and wheresoever his Majesty's
Forces had theirs, they were enabled, by his
means, to pay their respective Quarters so
duly and exactly, that they were as little
burthensome there, as if they only compos'd
a private Family. Moreover, to perpetuate
his good Will and Inclination to the latter,
he purchas'd some Grounds near the old
College at Chelsea, which had Escheated to
the Crown in the Reign of King James I.
and
104 Memoirs of the Life
0
and which that Prince had design'd for the
Residence and Maintenance of a certain
number of Protestant Divines, to be em-
ploy'd in Defence of the Reformation against
all apposers whatever; but which was, at his
Interest with King Charles II, and his own
great Cost, prepared for Erecting the pre-
sent College. Sir Stephen likewise, during
his Continuance of Paymaster of the Army,
very freely contributed the Third Part of
the Profits arising therefrom, to the Sum
of many Thousands of Pounds, for finishing
that great Work, (as much for the Honour
of the Nation as the Relief of the Brave in-
ferior Soldiery); which Example was of
such use, to induce others to give into the
Practice of it, that, to him it was in a great
measure owing, that it was compleatly
brought to Perfection, in the 'Reign of the
late King William; and what seem'd to be
the Work of Ages, was Finish’d, Endow'd
and Inhabited in less than 30 Years; to-
wards the Building, Repairing, and orderly
Govern-
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 105
Governing of which, he has never ceas'd
to be a great instrument, and a very zealous
and hearty Contributor, even to the present
Reign of King George; when, upon his
Majesty's Choice of new Commissioners, to
redress some Grievances crept in under the
Administration of the old ones, he, at his
own desire, by reason of his great Age,
and the Infirmities that naturally attended
it, was left out.
In Consideration, and in Memory of
these Publick Benefactions to superannuat-
ed and decay'd Officers and Soldiers, we
find his Name transmitted to Posterity
in a curious Copper Plate; wherein is
caus’d to be Engrav'd a very fine Prospect
and Description of Chelsea College, by Mr.
Inglish, Comptroller of the Works of the
same, Inscrib’d to the Right Honourable
Sir Stephen Fox, in Conjunction with the
late Earl of Ranelagh, and Sir Christopher
Wren, with their several Coats of Arms
annex'd to the same.
To
F F
106 MEMOIRS of the Life
To return to the proper Period of Time
from which we have been insensibly drawn,
for the sake of Connexion, to some Dis-
tance, the History of those Days gives us to
understand, that in all the ensuing Parlia-
ments, from 1665, except some voluntary
Omissions in him to stand Candidate, he is
to be found in the Catalogue of Members
of Parliament, almost to the Day of his
Death; by which is to be judg’d, the In-
terest he had in the Borough wherein he
generally made Choice of (viz. New Sarum,
in Com. Wilts) and the Love they bore to a
Gentleman, who did them the Honour of
owing his Birth to their Neighbourhood;
and not only of obtaining many. Privileges
and Grants for them from the Crown, but
of bestowing many Charities on the Poor.
there, that will for ever cast a Flagrancy
on his Memory, which must needs last till.:
Time shall be no more: in Gratitude for
which, they not only entrusted him with
the Custody of their Liberties. in being
their
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 107
their Representative in Parliament, but as
soon as his son, Mr. Charles. For, had an
Opportunity of standing Candidate, like-
wise Elected him in the same Quality, and
continued him in the same Choice, at all
Elections of that Nature,, to the Day of
his Death...
Sir Stephen was now so well' vers'd in all
Affairs of the Court, and had acted the
Part of a Servant to his Prince, and a.
Patriot to his Country, so faithfully and
well, by giving his Vote in Parliament,
whensoever calld thereunto, so faithfully,
in regard to the one, and so affectionately,
in respect to the other, by his Zeal in de-
tecting the Designs of his Majesty's Ene-
mies, at the time of the Popish Plot, and
his Abhorrence of some Attempts to alter
the Lineal Succession in the Imperial
Crown of these Realms, that, after the King
had fix'd upon him to be First Commis-
sioner, in the Exercise of the Office of
Master of the Horse, in Conjunction with
Sir
1
108 Memoirs of the Life
A
Sir Richard Mason, Sir Nicholas Armorer;
Thomas Windham, and Roger Pope, Esqrs;
and to be kept in his Post of First Clerk of
the Green-Cloth, at the same time with it.
This Grant was made him in the Year 1679;
upon which Sir Stephen found himself oblig'd
by the Multiplicity of his Affairs, to quit
his Paymaster of the Army's Place; which
was filled by Nicholas Johnson, Esq; who
died in the Year 1682, and made way for
the Admission of Charles Fox, Esq; who
was then 23 Years of Age; and thro’ the
means of his own Abilities, and his Father's
Credit with the King, found very little
Difficulty of obtaining it; and of going thro?
the Discharge of Business requisite there-
unto, with Honour and Integrity.
Having taken notice of Mr. Charles Fox
his Integrity and Abilities, it cannot be
thought ainiss, nor injurious to his, or his
Father's Memory (upon whom Honour is,
reflected, thereby) to depart from the
Method we propos’d to take; and tho'we:
shall
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 109
shall be oblig'd to speak of him afterwards,
to give a Character of him, as we have
a Summary of it given us, in a Pamphlet,
call’d The Case of the Church of England
fairly Stated; where that Author, having
Instanc'd in the Rudeness and Barbarity
us'd to those that Voted in the House of
Commons, for Tacking the Bill To prevent
Occasional Conformity, toa Money Bill, says,
• He will take his leave of that Head, with
a Brief Account of one of those Horrible
• Tackers; who, though he might not have
made such a figure in the World as a Man
6 of his Merit deserv'd to make, had shewn
even the most Conscientious of the Ad-
verse Party such an Example, as their
“Selfish Regards to their own Profits, or
6 other Worldly Emoluments, had rendered
* impracticable to their Imitation.
' Ab uno disce omnes,' continues he in the
Words of the Prince of the Latin Poets:
• From one of these Gentlemen's illustrious
Actions, you may learn those of the rest;
G G
6 and
1
110 MEMOIRS of the Life
A
. and thoʻour Seymours, and our Bromleys
our Mackworths, our Wards, and Poleys,
fc. have supply'd the British Annals with
• Matters for their Historians, there is room
to be made for one, who has not yet em-
*ploy'd the Mouth of Fame (for notwith-
standing he always Voted Honestly, and
with a true Taste of Judgment, his Modesty
• made him backward in attempting set
Speeches, like the Gentlemen beforenam'd
* in Parliament) but has equal Capacities
and Deserts to recommend him to the
• Esteem of future Ages: and this is Mr.
Fox, who has been divested of his Place
. of Paymaster of the Army three several
6 times: the Reader is to be left to judge
‘ upon what Occasions.
• In King James IId's Time, when that
unfortunate Prince was making what In-
. terest he could in Parliament, to Capaci-
* tate Gentlemen of his own Religion for
• Offices and Places of Trust; which could
not be effected, without Repealing the
•
Test
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
111
.
6
6
“Test Act. This worthy Gentleman was
advis'd by his Friends, who knew the.
Value his Majesty had for him, to absent
' himself from Parliament, till the Debates
were over upon the Bill for that Purpose;
' which he did for some time. But the Day,
being come on which the Question was
to be put, he found such a Concern grow-
ing upon him for the Cause of the Church,
• that would have been endanger'd by such
' an Act, that, mov’d by the Impulse of his
· Conscience, he could not be easie till he
went to the Speaker's Chamber: his com-
ói ing thither occasioned his Friends to be
again importunate with him to withdraw
himself, which he seemingly was inclin'd
to; but hearing the Debates arising in the
House, he could no longer contain himself
.but went into it, even after the Question
was put (a thing that was unusual, but
. then allow'd) and carried it against the
Bill, in the Negative by his single Voice;
• for which he was repremanded by. King
• James,
6
6
<
112 MEMOIRS of the Life
• Jamės, and dismist from his valuable Em-
*ployments.
* At the coming in of King William, he
* was invested with the Post again, and con-
tinued in it, without any Exception
against his Conduct, till a Bill for a Stand-
. ing Army was setting on Foot; which he
• strenuously oppos'd, and by this means
. forfeited the good Opinion of that Prince,
• who likewise removed him from Court,
• and gave him his Quietus, because he
• ceuld not violate his Conscience, nor act
contra to the Principles he had entertain-
.ed for the Good of his Country.
· Her late Majesty (viz. Queen Anne)
6 had no sooner fill’d the Throne of her
• Ancestors, but this worthy Gentleman
admitted into the Court again, with
several others who had no Benefit of its
· Sunshine during the past Administration;
6 where he continued in the Exercise of his
* Trust without Exception, till after the
Tacking-Concern, which he was in the Af-
firmative
was
6
.
of Sir Stephen Fox. 113
1
‘firmative for ; when he again retreated to
. his own Privacy: whether voluntarily or
* coercively, we are not to determine, since
• the Proceedings of living Princes are not
"to be scann'd otherwise than in their Fa-
(vour.'
Thus far the Pamphlet above-recited, in
Honour of the Son: our next thing is, to
go back to our proper Order of Time, in
search of such Transactions as more im-
mediately belong to the Father. And here
in this. Inquisition we are told, That Sir
Stephen having continued First Clerk of the
Greencloth (his other Post, as First Com-
missioner for the Office of Master of the
Horse going from him, by its. Devolution
on one single Person of the First Quality)
during the rest of the Reign of K. Charles II.
who departed this Life, to the great Grief
of his disconsolate Courtiers and King-
doms, on the 6th of February, 1684, was,
on the 18th of the same Month and Year,
re-instated in it by his Royal Successor K.
James II.
A
II H
How
114 MEMOIRS of the Life
1
How he behav'd himself in that King's
Reign, by refusing the Title of a Peer, and
a very high Dignity, in case of his Defection
from the Principles of the Church of Eng-
land, whereunto he had immovably adhered,
yet that he was not only not brow-beaten,
nor ejected out of his station, for his Non-
compliance with his Majesty's Desires, but
even loaden with further Favours, by being
put into the Commission for Executing the
Office of Lord High Treasurer of England,
on the 5th of January, 1686, at the Dis-
mission of the Earl of Rochester, is so recent
and fresh in every one's Memory, that we
need not be particular therein. But since
some of our Readers may be at a loss for a
Reason, why so great a Man as the said
Earl, and so nearly ally'd to the King,
should be turn'd out of a Post of such Dig-
nity and Consequence upon his Refusal to
change his Religion, and why Sir Stephen,
who likewise kept his, was advanced into
a share of the Exercise of it, it will not be
an
of Sir Stephen Fox. 115
an Act of Superfluity to remind them of
the Motives that induc'd his Majesty to
this, seemingly unaccountable, Act of Po-
licy; for such it was, and will appear, since
that misled Prince, who could not deny
the Importunities of the Priests, for the
Earl's Removal, howsoever dear to him,
had too great a Sense of the Loss he should
incur thereby, not to endeavour to repair it
by a fit Choice, and was too good a Hus-
band of his Treasure, even when a Subject,
not to entrust it in the Hands of Faithful
and experienced Servants. He therefore
excused himself to his Confessor, and the
other Fathers that were importunate for
the Dismission of the Lord. Godolphin and
Sir Stephen from Court, and told them the
Necessity of his Affairs oblig'd him to place
those two skilful Managers at the Head of
his Treasury, as Coadjutors and Instructors
to the Lords Bellasis and Dover, with Sir
John Ernle, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who were perfect Strangers to the Duties
requisite thereunto.
The
116
MEMOIRS of the Life
V
The King had now plung'd himself into
such Arbitrary Proceedings, encouraged
thereunto, by the Suppression of Mon-
mouth's Rebellion, and the Instigation of
his Popish Counsellors, that there was no ex-
tricating himself out of the Danger he was
encompassed with, but by nıaking thorough
work of it. Therefore his Majesty not only
suspended the Execution of the known
Laws of the Kingdom, by Virtue of his own
pretended Power, without Consent of Par-
liament, but set up Ecclesiastical Courts,
issued out illegal Declarations, for the not
causing of which to be read, in their respec-
tive Dioceses, he imprison'd some Bishops,
silenced and suspended another, and even
broke thro’ the Statutes of both Universities,
which were ever accounted sacred by all his
Predecessors, intruding known Papists into
the Headships and Fellowships of Colleges,
in Defiance of the Settled Constitution of
those Learned Bodies, and the common
Rules of Prudence and Justice. So that
these
of Sir Stephen Fox. 117
these Oppressions of the Subjects being no
longer to be born with by a Free People,
whose entire Loss of Liberties, was unavoid-
able, without immediate Recourse to pro-
per Measures, the greatest part of the No-
bility and Gentry, with great Reluctance
and Regret to do any thing disagreeable to
their Natural Liege Lord and Sovereign,
sign’d an Association, by which they en-
gaged to stand by the Prince of Orange,
and assist him in his Endeavours to rescue
these Nations from Popery and Slavery
with their Lives and Fortunes.
Yet, tho' several of the King's. Ministers
of the First Rank, and many Officers in the
Army of the highest Quality, came into
these necessary measures for the Preserva-
tion of our Laws and Liberties, Sir Stephen,
who lamented his Master's Mismanage-
ment from the bottom of his Soul, and had
the Welfare and Happiness of his dear
Country at Heart as much as any one of
them, could not be persuaded to enter into
them;
I I
118 MEMOIRS of the Life
c
1
them ; but when the Bishop of London, his
constant Friend and Visitor, opened the
Matter to him, and was urgent with him
for his Compliance, from the Example be-
fore mentioned; made Answer, with Tears
in his Eyes, That/he was very sensible of
* the King his Royal Master's Designs, thro'
the Insinuations of wicked and ill disposed
Counsellors; that he beheld his Majesty's
4 and the Nation's deplorable Condition,
6 with the utmost Concern and Grief; that
• he wish'd a happy Issue out of it to both,
• and that he should be just to his Word,
· which he had given him, to keep this Pro-
posal secret ; but that he had imbib'd Loy-
• alty from his Infancy, in such a manner,
. and was so instructed in his Duty to his
• Prince, by the Precepts of Religion and
Justice, as never to have swerv'd from it
. thro' the Course of a long Life, which had
• been spent in the Service of the late and
* present King; and therefore desired to be
excused from having a Hand in any De-
sign
G
V
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 119
6
6
sign against a Monarch, whose, and his
· Brothers Bread he had so plentifully ea-
• ten of, and to whom he ow'd the Opulence
and Wealth which, by the Blessing of God,
' he was possess'd of.'
Nor did he any ways depart from this
fix'd Resolution: For, tho’ he continued in
the Discharge of the Duties of his Station
after the Arrival of the said Prince of
Orange at St. James's, and yielded to the Ne-
cessity of the Times, by issuing Monies out
of the Exchequer for the Subsistence of him
and his Troops ; yet he never appeared at
his Highness's Court, to make his Com-
plement there, till the King had made way
for such a Procedure, by a voluntary Re-
tirement from Rochester into the French
Dominions ; which he very rightly, with
other Patriots, judg’d to be à voluntary
Abdication of the Government, and which
he afterwards Voted to be such, in the en-
suing Convention of the Estates of the
Kingdom.
But
120 MEMOIRS of the Life
But before we enter upon the Reign of
King William and Q. Mary: (The Prince
of Orange being call’d to the Executive Part
of the Sovereign Authority, in Right
of his Princess, Eldest Daughter to King
James II.) we are to take notice, that be-
fore that said Prince's Arrival with his
Troops from Holland, and even any No-
tice was given of his intended Invasion, his
Majesty, to do Sir Stephen fresh Honour,
by dispensing Royal Favours to his Lady,
gave Orders for a Grant of Arms to her like-
wise, that her Descendants might derive
as much Gentility from her, as they had
done from himself; which we find thus en-
tered in the College of Heralds, viz.
“A Grant of Arms to Dame Elizabeth,
• Daughter of William Whittle, of the Coun-
ty of Lancaster, Deceased, and now Wife
' to the Honourable Sir Stephen Fox, Knt.
· First Clerk of the Greencloth, and one of
• the Lords of the Treasury. By Sir
• Thomas St. George, Garter, and Sir Henry
1
6
St.
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 121
• St. George, Clarencieux King at
King at Arms.
• Dated Sept. 13, 1688.'
Arms (in a Lozenge) Gules, a Cheveron
varry between 3 Talbots Heads, Erased,
Or.
Which said Grant was followed by a
Confirmation of it in the Reign of K. Wil-
liam, fc. Thus inserted in the same Repo-
sitory of Arms, after this manner:
"A Confirmation of Arms to. Elizabeth
• Lady For, sole surviving Child of Mr.
• William Whittle of Lancashire, and Wife of
• the Right Honourable Sir Stephen For,
• Knt. one of the Lords Commissioners of
* his Majesty's Treasury, by Sir Thomas St.
George, Garter King, and Sir Henry
· St. George, Clarencieux King at Arms.
Dated, 1694.
Arms (in a Lozenge) Gules, a Cheveron,
Ermin fimbriated, Or, between 3 Talbots
Heads Erased, Or.
6
The foregoing Insertion from the College
of Heralds, may be look'd upon by some
that
K K
122
MEMOIRS of the Life
that are taken up with false Glosses and
Appearances of affected Gentility, as a
Derogation from this Lady's true Value
and Esteem deduc'd from the Blood of her
Ancestors: But these are to be told, that as
Arms are the proper Reward of Virtue
and Integrity, it is much more to deserve
them from our own Actions, than those of
our Forefathers (as this Lady and her re-
nowned Husband most assuredly did),
than to have them transmitted down
from others, by the means of a long Train
of Ancestors; since this is no more than to
make us shine with a borrow'd Light, ex-
clusive of any Lustre of our own.
As for Sir Stephen (the more immediate
Subject of this little Historical Relation) he
came into the Revolution Measures indeed,
but not desiring to enjoy any Post of Hon-
our or Profit under it, his Thoughts were
wholly bent upon the Service of his Coun-
try, not himself; till he was convinced by
those who advised the King to entrust him
with
.
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 123
with a share in the management of the
Royal Revenue, that the most effectual
way to do Service, was to accept that Em-
ployment; since none knew better how to
husband the Public Money, or was more
free than him from corrupt practices. There-
fore, after he had excused himself to his
Majesty King William, on account of his ad-
vanced Age, and a Willingness to spend the
Residue of his Life in a Disengagement
from Public Business, he was at last pre-
vaild upon to acquiesce under that Prince's
Royal Dispositions in his Favour, and to
be made once more First Clerk of the
Greencloth, and one of the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Treasury, on the 19th of March
1689, in Conjunction with Sir John Lowther,
of Lowther, Bart. (afterwards Lord Viscount
Lonsdale) then Vice-Chamberlain of the
Queen's Houshold, Richard Hampden, Esq;
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Thomas
Pelham, Esq; afterwards Lord Pelham.
When
124 MEMOIRS of the Life
When a new Commission was issued out
for the Management of the said Royal Re-
venue, in the Year 1694, Sir Stephen's Name
was again inserted, with those of the Lord
Godolphin, Charles Montague, afterwards
Lord, then Earl of Halifar, and John Smith,
Esq; now a Teller of the Exchequer: And
as he ran greater risques in being concerned
with the Distributions of the Publick
Monies under this Prince, than any of those
he had before served, since the War with
France made the Taxes run high, and ne-
cessitated the House of Commons to still
the Clamours of those whom they repre-
sented, by strict Enquiries after the Dis-
bursements and Applications of the several
Funds appropriated to their respective uses:
So, during all those Gentlemen's repeated
Complaints in Parliament, of Mismanage-
ments, Misapplications, &c. for which many
were called in question by the Commission-
ers of Accounts, Sir Stephen's Name was
never so much as mention'd, but in Attes-
tation
of Sir Stephen Fox.
125
tation of his Probity and incorrupt Demea-
nour.
Nor did the son, Charles Fox, Esq; fall
short of his Father, in making use of due
Caution and Circumspection in the Execu-
tion of his Office of Paymaster of the Army;
(tho' he was afterwards removed upon cer-
tain Considerations before spoken of) for
his Accounts, amidst the most curious and
nice Observations and Scrutinies, were
found to be so regular, every Circumstance
of Time and Place so critically set down,
and every Sum and Person so distinctly
taken Notice of, that no Defect could any
ways be found in him, while they were en-
deavouring to make him responsible for
their own Deficiencies. Tho', how his
Successor behav'd in that important Post,
when his Conscience would no longer let
him keep it with Honour, not only the fine
House near the College in Chelsea, &c. but
the printed Reports of the Commissioners
appointed to State the Public Accounts,
sufficiently
L L
126 MEMOIRS of the Life
sufficiently attest. But as that Noble
Person is dead, and has long since answer'd
for every thing done in the Flesh, let us not
disturb his Spirit, by passing our Censure
upon Proceedings that have been elsewhere
called in Question; but rather stick close
to our Subject, that now draws towards a
Period, by observing to our Reader, that in
and about the Year 1696, God, who had
taken away all his Children, saving Two,
viz. the said Mr. Fox, and the Right Hon-
ourable the Countess of Northampton, was
then pleas'd to visit him with a more sharp
Tryal of Courage and Patience, by the Death
of his dearest and most accomplish'd Lady,
with whom he had so long and lovingly co-
habited, amidst all the Temptations and
Vanities of a pompous and debauch'd
Court: He was now bereft of her, who for
many and many Years hadequally partaken
of his Sorrows and Joys; and having been
a joint Sharer with him in Distress and
Prosperity, both abroad and at home, had
now
of Sir STEPILEN Fox. 127
.
now run over the whole Race of Life, and
was arrived at the Goal of a blessed Immor-
tality, without that Consort who had
ever,
till then, been a most happy partner in all
her Felicities : Yet, notwithstanding it was
grievous, even to Death, to think of the fatal
Separation, and this Stroke of Adversity
shock'd him more than any he had yet felt,
his Christianity got the better of his Human
Affections, and he supported himself un-
der it with Resignation and Patience, at the
same time as the Load of his just Griefs
might truly be said to be insupportable.
From hence-forward he took a Resolu-
tion to make due Preparations for his own
Entrance into those Regions of Joy and
Bliss, whereunto his much-lov'd Lady had
been call’d by the Great Dispenser of Pro-
vidence, before him. And, in order to this,
when he had caus'd her to be decently and
honourably interr’d, in a Vault which he
had caus'd to be made for his Family, in the
Church of Farley, in Wiltshire, he besought
the
128 Memoirs of the Life
the King to give him Leave to retire into
the Country, and to make Choice of some
other Person, whose want of his Years and
infirmities, might render him more capable
of his Majesty's Service. But that Prince,
who was the nicest Observer and Judge of
Men, expostulated with him in so affection-
ate and indulgent a manner, that he gave
way to his Majesty's Pleasure, and held
himself contented to continue in his Hon-
ourable Employment, with his wonted
Diligence and Dispatch, for the Residue of
that Prince's Life, which ended on the 8th
of March, 1701-2.
Upon the Accession of the late Queen
Anne, of Glorious and Immortal Memory,
to the Throne of her Ancestors, his Com-
mission of course expir'd, and he was at
Liberty to pursue his former intentions of a
private Life; therefore, after her Majesty
had consign'd the Care of her Treasury in-
to one single Person's Flands, by appoint-
ing the Right Honourable Sidney, Lord
Godolphin,
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
129
Godolphin, to be her Lord High Treasurer
of England; and Sir Stephen had excus'd
himself from accepting several offers of
Places of great advantage and trust, he set
himself at work to wind up the bottom of
his Life with acts of Piety and Charity, af-
ter he had pass'd thro’ so many Scenes of it,
not only with an unblemished Character,
but great Reputation and Honour.
In order to this, he not only built a new
Church at Farley, the place of his Nativity,
entirely from the Ground, at his own ex-
pence, but augmented the Vicaridge with
an Annual Allowance of 401. which at his
Death was increas'd to 601. and likewise
added to it a very handsome Dwelling-house
for the Vicar. He likewise caus'd an Hos-
pital to be erected there, for the Mainten-
ance of a Warden and Twelve poor Per-
sons, as will be specify'd hereafter in the
Recital of his Last Will and Testament.
Nor did he confine himself to the Publick
Works of Compassion and Goodness in sup-
plying
мм
130 MEMOIRS of the Life
plying the Wants of such as officiated at
God's Holy Altar, and the distress'd and de-
cay'd Laity, but he exerted himselfin secret
Distributions to many indigent private
Families, which he caus'd to be made in
such a manner, that he reliev'd their Ne-
cessities, while he conceal'd the Hand from
whence that Relief came. Insomuch, that
his Expences this Way, besides what was
given away at his Gate, from whence the
truly deserving Poor never went away dis-
satisfy'd, could not amount to less than
4001. per Annum. .
He was now advanc'd to very near Four-
score Years of Age, when perceiving no
likelyhood of his only Son Charles Fox, Esq;
his having any Children by his Lady, and
unwilling that so plentiful an Estate as he
stood possess'd of should go out of the
Name, there being no other Branch of it
remaining but his Brother's Son John, who
had no Issue Male, he began to entertain
Thoughts of marrying, for he was of a vegete
and
of Sir Stephen Fox. 131
!
and hail Constitution, and had spent his.
Time with such Temperance and Regulari-
ty, that he did not without Reason promise
himself very happy Effects from second
Nuptials. Therefore, after he had duly
weigh'd the Consequences thereof, he fix'd
his Choice upon a young Gentlewoman,
Mrs. Margaret Hope, Daughter of a Clergy-
man of that Name, of a good Extraction,
at Grantham in Lincolnshire, whom he had
contracted a great Esteem for, from a long
Experience of her Merit and Vertue, which
she gave repeated instances of, in her Con-
versation with his Son's Lady, to whom
she was a very faithful Companion. Her
Wit, her Judgment, were so conspicuous in
every thing she said or did, and she was so
assiduous on all Occasions, in entertaining
Sir Stephen by reading Books of Devation,
and History to him, that he was so taken
with her, that he at last broke his Mind,
and made her that Honourable Offer of
his Person and Fortune, which the Lady,
who
132
MEMOIRS of the Life
M
:
who at the first Motion took it to be only
a-Piece of Gallantry, was too Discreet not
to give her Acceptance of; and which,
within Twelve Months after, was attended
by the Birth of Twins, one of which, or
both, is now living, and of a healthy and
sprightly Constitution.
As God had been pleas'd to bless his
Nuptial Bed with Two such seasonable
Tokens of his Grace and Bounty, and con-
tinued those providential Dispensations bị
the Gift of Two lovely Children more; so
Sir Stephen; in Gratitude for these inesti-
mable Blessings shower'd down upon hini
and his Lady by the Almighty, fix'd his
Eye upon the Impropriation of Shepton
Montague, in the County of Somerset, which
he afterwards bought, with a design to
give it to Charitable Uses, partly to the
Minister who serves the Place, and partly
to an Hospital which he was then causing
to be built at Redlinch, in the Parish of
Bruton, in the said County; which Estate
he
of Sir STEPHEN Fox.
133
I
he had purchas'd not long before, where-
upon he built a handsome Seat for himself.
In this Hospital Nine Girls were to be taken
in young, and taught Reading and Work-
ing till they were capable of being plac'd
out to. Service,, under the Direction of a
Mistress, who was to have a yearly allow-
ance of 61. while they were to have One
Shilling and Six Pence per Week distribut-
ed to each of them, besides what should
arise from the Profits of their Work; but
how it comes at present to be neglected
by means of a certain Gentlewoman whom
Sir Stephen had appointed to govern it,
I am not to determine.
His Son's Lady was now dead; and
the same Providence which had so visibly
comforted him in his Old Age with the
Blessings before-mention d, was pleas'd to
mix some Allay of Bitter in the Sweet Cup
of Prosperity; not only by taking to him-
self one of the young Pledges he had lately
given him, but by depriving him of that
Son
NN
134 MEMOIRS of the Life
1
Son likewise, his eldest Born, (Mr. Charles
Fox) who thro' a long Course of uninter-
rupted Duty and Affection to the best of
Fathers, had very deservedly obtain'd, not
only Sir Stephen's most endearing and
most tender Regards, but the Value and
Admiration of all that had the Honour of
being conversant with him.
This most accomplish'd and most worthy
Gentleman was taken into the Number of
the Bless'd above, in the Year 1713, and
the 54th of his Age; and by his last Will
and Testament, wherein he made Sir
Stephen and John Ward, Esq; of the Inner
Temple, Executors, has, by his Dispositions
in favour of his Two Brothers and Sister,
by the Second Venter, sufficiently made
appear, the Falsity of a Report which was
then spread abroad, about a Misunder-
standing between him and his Father on
Account of his last Marriage. Therefore
it may not be improper, in Justice to his
Memory and Sir Stephen's, after making
it
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 135
A
it known, that he was so kind a Master, as
to leave all his Servants annual Sums of
50, 40, 25, and 5l. according to their re-
spective Stations, with a whole Year's
Wages to each. He concludes the said
Will, whereof Edward Pauncefort, of the.
Inner Temple, Esq; Thomas Gibson of Lon-
don, Gent. and Richard Miller, of the
Parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, Gent.
were appointed Trustees, with the following
Schedule.
The Schedule to which the above-written Will
refers.
TO my Dear Niece, the Lady Elizabeth
Compton, the Sum of Fifteen Hundred
Pounds.
15001.
To my Nephew, Mr. Charles Cornwallis,
Son of the Right Honourable Charles, Lord
Cornwallis, the Sum of One Thousand
Pounds.
10001.
То
136 MEMOIRS of the Life
1
To my Godson, Mr. John Cornwallis,
another Son of the said Lord Cornwallis,
the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds. 5001.
To my Brother-in-Law, and Sister, the
Right Honourable the Earl and Countess
of Northampton, the Sum of One Hundred
Pounds a-piece.
2001.
To the said Charles, Lord Cornwallis;
and the Right Honourable the Lady Char-
lotte Cornwallis his Wife, the Sum of One
Hundred Pounds a-piece.
2001.
To my Dear Brothers, Stephen Fox and
Henry Fox, and to my little Sister, Charlotte
Fox, the Sum of One Hundred Pounds a-
piece.
3001.
To the Children of the said Charles, Lord
Cornwallis, not herein before-nam'd; being
Six in Number, the Sum of One Hundred
Pounds a-piece.
6001.
To my Nephew, William Gore, Esq; and
to all the Children" of my said Sister, the
said Countess of Northampton, except the
said Lady Elizabeth Compton, afore-nam'd,
making
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 137
making Nine in Number, the Sum of One
Hundred Pounds a-piece.
9001.
Tomy Cousin Henry Fennand Anne Fenn,
the Sum of One Hundred and Fifty Pounds
a-piece.
3001.
To Mr. Ward, in my Will nam'd, the Sum
of One Hundred Pounds.
1001.
To Mr. Edward Pauncefort, in my
Will nam'd, the Sum of One Hundred
Pounds.
1001.
To Mr. Richard Miller, in my Will nam'd,
the Sum of One Hundred Pounds. 1001.
To Mr. Thomas Gibson, in my Will nam'd,
the Sumof Fifty Pounds.
501.
To Mr. Robert George, thc Sum of Fifty
Pounds.
501.
Charles Fox, Witness. Samuel Hemming
Ph. White, Joseph Howes.
So great a Misfortune as this in the Loss
of the last saving one, of all his Children,
that were nine in number, by his first Lady,
was enough to have shock'd a more firm and
00
robust
138
MEMOIRS of the Life
robust Constitution than Sir Stephen could
be possibly bless'd with; but he that had
Resignation enough not to sink under the
Death of Five Sons and Two Daughters
before, the last of which, the Lady Corn-
wallis, departed this Life at Tunbridge, in
the Year 1682, found himself able, by
having Recourse to the Dictates of Reason
and Religion, not only to bear with this
Visitation from God's Hand also, but to
fill the Seal of Parliament belonging to the
Deceas'd during the next Session, to its
Dissolution, tho' he had declined being
elected a Member for some Years before.
Shall I receive Good from the Hands of
the Lord, and shall I not also receive Evil?
Was his constant Saying, and the same
Equanimity of Temper which he had ever
discovered upon all Events, whether fortu-
nate or unsuccessful, was visible in his De-
meanour to the last Period of his Life,
which, by the course of Nature, could not
have a much longer continuance: Not but
the
of Sir Stephen Fox. 139
the Approaches of Death might be some-
thing hastend thereby, since he had ever
been a most affectionate Father to all his
Children (especially this, who had so wor-
thily manifested his Descent from him, by
inheriting so large a share of his Vertues)
and he that had the Vigour of Forty, at the
Age of Fourscore and four, before this un-
happy Accident, began sensibly to decline
and give way to the Attacks of the Grand
Destroyer of Mankind, so that after he had
honourably and irreproachably acquitted
himself in Six Kings and Queens Reigns,
and been Courted to take. Service under'a
Seventh, he was gently, and without
Agonies or Convulsions, gathered to his
Fathers, and called to lye down with those
who sleep not with Hopes of a blessed Re-
surrection,, on Sunday the 28th Day of
October, 1716, in the 88th Year of his Age;
After he had performed all the Offices be-
longing to the best of Christians on his
Death Bed, and, with the most fervent De-
votion
140 MEMOIRS of the Life
votion amidst the Tears and Prayers of his
beloved and Affectionate Lady, and dear
Children and Friends, resign'd his Soul into
the Hands of his most Gracious and Blessed
Redeemer, by finishing his Course with all
Joy and Alacrity, and persevering to the
End, in running the Race that was set be-
fore him, with the Exercise of all Moral
and Political Improvements, as well as all
Christian Vertues.
What remains further to be said of this
Excellent Patriot, is, that some time after
his Decease, he was carried down, from his
dwelling House, in Chiswick, where he had
lain in State, to the Church ‘at Farley,
and there interr'd with all Decency and
Ceremony, according to his own Desire,
having left behind him a Character, by the
means of which, the greatest Favourite of
his Prince, the chiefest Minister of State,
and the wealthiest Subject, may read and
see with the greatest modesty and Conde-
scension, the exactest Justice, most con-
summate
of Sir STEPHIEN Fox.
141
/
summate Generosity, and the most extended
Humanity and Charity, he having in every
respect fulfill’d the Saying of the Wisest of
Men, Pro. xxii. 29. Seest thou a Man dili-
gent in his. Business? He shall stand before
Kings, he shall not stand before mean Men.
A brief Account of the Legacies, fc. be-
queath'd in Sir Stephen Fox's last Will
and Testament, to his Relations and
Friends, and to Charitable Uses.
IN the first Place, after the usual Forms
of Wills, and testifying he made his, in the
88th Year of his Age, with which it had
pleased God so abundantly to bless him, after
mentioning several Indentures of Lease
and Release, between him and his Lady,
Dame Christian Fox and others, wherein
all are deceased but Charles Lord Cornwallis,
and Dr. Younger, Dean of Sarum, he de-
clares his said Lady's Jointure to be 3001.
per
Р Р
142 Memoirs of the Life
<
-
per Annum, free from Taxes; to which he
adds, in other Clauses, 701. 16s, to be paid
annually out of the Exchequer, with a Re-
version of an Annuity of 70l. per Annum
more after the Decease of his Nephew
Henry Fen.
Then he charges the Manor of Madding-
ton in Com. Wilts, with the payment of an
Annual Sum of 1881. for the Maintenance
of a Warden and 12 poor Persons in his
Hospital at Farley in the said County, and
the Addition of 201. per Annum, to the 401.
which he had caused to be given more to
the Vicar of the said Parish of Farley.
In the next. Place, baving recited other
Indentures of Lease and Release, and
Deeds Poll, wherein his Grandson, Francis
Gwynne, of Lansanner, in the County of
Glamorgan, is expressly nam'd with some
Advantages, he appoints the Allowance of
his eldest Son Stephen, for his Maintenance
and Education during his Minority, till he
shall arrive at the Age of One and Twenty
Years,
1
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 143
و
Years, to be 4001. per Annum; that of
Henry, the younger Son, who is to be bred
up
for some Honourable Employment, to
be the Sum of 2001. for the same Term of
Years; and that of his Daughter Charlotte,
to whom he gives 36001. due to him from
the Earl and Countess of Arran, on the
Reversion of certain Estates in the Coun-
ties of Lincoln and Northampton, after the
Death of the Countess of Torrington ; and
38001. more, lent on Black-Castle in the
Kingdom of Ireland, expectant on the
Demise of the Countess Dowager of Arran;
ordering her, his said Daughter, a settled
Allowance of 2001. per Annum till her
Marriage; upon which if enter'd into by
the Consent of Dame Christian For her
Mother, who is nam'd his Executrix; or,
in Case of her Demise, by that of the
major part of the Trustees, who are Francis
Gwynne, Esq; William Gore, Esq; John
Ward, Esq; (all of whom he calls his Faith-
ful Friends) and Richard Miller, Gent, his
Faithful
144 Memoirs of the Life
Faithful Servant, she shall have the said
Sums before-mentioned, fully paid her ;
but in Default, only 40001. The whole to
go to his Eldest Son Stephen, upon her
Decease before Marriage, fc.
He likewise Devises the Estate in Nor-
folk, which he purchas'd of John late Lord
Cornwallis, to revert to his Grandson Charles,
the present Lord Cornwallis, whom he de-
sires to give Bond for answering several
Sums of Money lent upon pressing Occa-
sions, to his Children by his excellent Lady,
the Lady Elizabeth Butler, Daughter to
the Countess Dowager of Arran, and to
whom, they being Eight in Number, he
leaves 1001. each, with 2001. for their
Noble Father, and 1001. for their Noble
Mother.
All such Plate, Jewels, fc. at Chiswick,
and his Lodgings at Whitehall, as shall be
particulariz'd by him under his Hand-Writ-
ing, are to be given to his Executrix, the
rest to his Son Stephen, to whom he orders
to
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. 145
to be convey'd, when come to the Age of
One and Twenty Years, several Estates in
Middlesex, Wiltshire, Somerset and York-
shire; making mention of Hungerford
Market, fc. which in the whole, by a
modest Computation, may amount to up-
wards of 50001.
per
Annum.
A Leasehold Estate held from the See
of Canterbury, called Wye-Court, alias
Kennington in Com. Surry, with the Office
of the Receiver of Wales, held for Three
Lives, with Bankers Debts, Annuities, fic.
after the Decease of his Mother, which he
himself computes to amount to between
6 and 7001. per Annum to his said Son
Henry.
To the Lord Northampton, 2001. To his
Lady 1001. besides 1000l. lent her at se-
veral times.
To the Lord Compton, 2001. To his Lady.
who is a Daughter of the Lord Tamworth,
1001.
QQ
146
MEMOIRS of the Life
To the Honourable Charles Compton,
Esq; 1001. To his Grandson, William Gore,
Esq; and his Grand-Daughter the Lady
Mary Gore, 1001. each. To his Grandson
George Compton, whom he had liberally ad-
vanced by the Purchase of a Major's Post
in the Regiment of Blew Guards, in his
Life-time, 1001. To his Grand-Daughters,
the Ladies Elizabeth, Jane, Anne, Penelope,
and Margaret Compton, 100l. each. And
whereas his Son Charles had not Assets
enough to pay more than half the Legacies
he left at his Death, he orders them to be
made good, in due Process of Time, out of
his own.
To his Brother Hope, 201. To his Sister
Burslem, whose Husband was Steward to
the Earl of Bristol, and to her Three Child-
ren, 201. each.
To his Nephews and Nieces, Mrs. Mar-
garet Whittle, Mr. John Fox, Mrs. Elizabeth
Duncbly, Mrs. Mary Bellamy, and Mr.
Henry Fenn, 201. each.
To
1
of Sir Stephen Fox. 147
1
To Mrs. Gertrude Yardley, Mrs. Anne
Fenn, and Mrs. Margaret Thornborough,
101. each.
To Capt. Lee, Mrs. Margaret Pavey:
and Mrs. Elizabeth Browne, 301. each.
To the Reverend Mr. Richard Barry,
for hiinself and his Wife, and their Sister
Jane Johnson, 201. each.
To Mr. Philip White, for himself and
Children, 301. To Mr. Charles Miller, 201.
To Mr. Thomas, and Mr. James Pavey, 101.
each; all which respective Sums are to be
paid within Six Months after his Decease.
He likewise devises certain Annuities of
10, 20, and 30 l. to be paid during Life, to
several of his Relations last mention’d; but
excludes his Nephew Charles Johnson,
whom he calls. Ungrateful, from any Divi-
dend or Share of his Personal Estate:
He also mentions other Deeds, whereby
he gives a further Increase to the Joynture
of his said Executrix and Lady; and ex-
pressing a great Confidence in her Care,
and
148 MEMOIRS of the Life
and Conduct, and prudent Administration,
leaves it in his Desires to his Trustees, that
they fail not, upon her application to them,
to furnish her with such Monies, as she
shall give them her word she has expended
over and above the stated Appointment;
and afterwards Orders her Two Thousand
Pounds more to be paid out of Hand, for
her better and more immediate Support.
Then he bequeaths to all the Nurses who
had given Suck to any of his Children or
Grand Children, that shall be living at his
Decease, the Sum of 501. to be divided
among them in such Portions as his Execu-
trix shall think fit.
To all his Domesticks who have liv'd
with him one whole Year, except Richard
Miller one of his Trustees, One whole
Year's Wages.
To the Poor of St. Martin's in the Fields
Parish, his wonted yearly allowance of
201. by the Gift of which he takes his Leave
of them.
The
of Sir STEPHEN Fox. . 149
The like Sum to be plac'd in the hands of
George Lord Bishop of Bristol, to be dis-
tributed to the Poor of the Chapel in West-
minster, where he has for some Years officiat-
ed. To the Poor of Chiswick, 401. To the Poor
of the City of Sarum, 301. To the Poor of
Cricklade, 201. To the Poor of Maddington,
101. To the Poor of Farley and Pitton 20 1.
To the Poor of Grimstead Plaitford, and
another Parish, 10 1. each. His own Funeral
Charges not to exceed 400 1.
To Thomas Gibbon, Esq; and Mr. George,
50 1. each. To every one of his Trustees,
100 Guineas each, with a yearly Allowance
of 120 l. for Auditing his Accounts, after
having given them Leave to raise a Sum
not exceeding 10,000 1. for the more Hon-
ourable Maintenance of his eldest Son
during his Minority, if it shall be thought
necessary.
.
Sign'd, Seal'd, and Deliver'd, May 25, 1716.
FINIS
P. Stuart, Printer,
33, Fleet Street,
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 01677 8980