Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century Part 21

5.

Clarendon, MS. Life, pp. 28-32; _History_, Bk. I, ed. 1702, vol. i, pp. 31-43; ed. Macray, vol. i, pp. 59-67.

Another and more favourable character of Weston is the matter of an undated letter which Sir Henry Wotton sent to him as 'a strange New years Gift' about 1635. 'In short, it is only an Image of your Self, drawn by memory from such discourse as I have taken up here and there of your Lords.h.i.+p, among the most intelligent and unmalignant men; which to pourtrait before you I thought no servile office, but ingenuous and real'. See _Reliquiae Wottonianae_, ed. 1672, pp. 333-6.

Page 21, l. 7. _the white staffe_. 'The Third _Great Officer_ of the Crown, is the _Lord High Treasurer of England_, who receives this High Office by delivery of a _White Staffe_ to him by the _King_, and holds it _durante bene placito Regis_' (Edward Chamberlayne, _Angliae Not.i.tia_, 1674, p. 152).

Page 23, l. 4. _L'd Brooke_, Sir Fulke Greville (1554-1628) the friend and biographer of Sir Philip Sidney. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1614 to 1621.

Page 28, l. 18. _eclarcicement_, introduced into English about this time, and in frequent use till the beginning of the nineteenth century.

l. 28. _a younge, beautifull Lady_, Frances, daughter of Esme, third Duke of Lennox, married to Jerome Weston, afterwards second Earl of Portland, in 1632.

6.

Clarendon, MS. Life, pp. 33, 34; _History_, Bk. I, ed. 1702, vol. i, p. 44; ed. Macray, vol. i, pp. 69-71.

This is one of Clarendon's most unfriendly portraits. It was seriously edited when first printed. The whole pa.s.sage about the coldness and selfishness of Arundel's nature on p. 31, ll. 12-30, was omitted, as likewise the allusion to his ignorance on p. 30, ll. 25-7, 'wheras in truth he was only able to buy them, never to understande them.' Minor alterations are the new reading 'thought no part of History _so_ considerable, _as_ what related to his own Family' p. 30, ll. 28, 29, and the omission of 'vulgar' p. 31, l. 11. The purpose of these changes is obvious. They are extreme examples of the methods of Clarendon's first editors. In no other character did they take so great liberties with his text.

Arundel's great collection of ancient marbles is now in the Ashmolean Museum in the University of Oxford. The inscriptions were presented to the University in 1667 by Lord Henry Howard, Arundel's grandson, afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk, and the statues were reunited to them in 1755 by the gift of Henrietta Countess of Pomfret. As Clarendon's _History_ was an official publication of the University, it is probable that the prospect of receiving the statues induced the editors to remove or alter the pa.s.sages that might be thought offensive.

As a whole this character does not show Clarendon's usual detachment.

Arundel was Earl Marshal, and Clarendon in the Short Parliament of 1640 and again at the beginning of the Long Parliament had attacked the jurisdiction of the Earl Marshal's Court, which, as he says, 'never presumed to sit afterwards'. The account given in Clarendon's _Life_, ed. 1759, pp. 37-9, explains much in this character. Clarendon there says that Arundel 'did him the honour to detest and hate him perfectly'. There was resentment on both sides. The character was written in Clarendon's later years, but he still remembered with feeling the days when as Mr. Edward Hyde he was at cross purposes with this Earl of ancient lineage.

A different character of Arundel is given in the 'Short View' of his life written by Sir Edward Walker (1612-77), Garter King of Arms and Secretary of War to Charles I:

'He was tall of Stature, and of Shape and proportion rather goodly than neat; his Countenance was Majestical and grave, his Visage long, his Eyes large black and piercing; he had a hooked Nose, and some Warts or Moles on his Cheeks; his Countenance was brown, his Hair thin both on his Head and Beard; he was of a stately Presence and Gate, so that any Man that saw him, though in never so ordinary Habit, could not but conclude him to be a great Person, his Garb and Fas.h.i.+on drawing more Observation than did the rich Apparel of others; so that it was a common Saying of the late Earl of _Carlisle_, Here comes the Earl of _Arundel_ in his plain Stuff and trunk Hose, and his Beard in his Teeth, that looks more like a n.o.ble Man than any of us. He was more learned in Men and Manners than in Books, yet understood the _Latin_ Tongue very well, and was Master of the _Italian_; besides he was a great Favourer of learned Men, such as Sir _Robert Cotton_, Sir _Henry Spelman_, Mr. _Camden_, Mr. _Selden_, and the like. He was a great Master of Order and Ceremony, and knew and kept greater Distance towards his Sovereign than any Person I ever observed, and expected no less from his inferiours; often complaining that the too great Affability of the King, and the _French_ Garb of the Court would bring MAJESTY into Contempt.... He was the greatest Favourer of Arts, especially Painting, Sculpture, Designs, Carving, Building and the like, that this Age hath produced; his Collection of Designs being more than of any Person living, and his Statues equal in Number, Value and Antiquity to those in the Houses of most Princes; to gain which, he had Persons many Years employed both in _Italy_, _Greece_, and so generally in any part of _Europe_ where Rarities were to be had. His Paintings likewise were numerous and of the most excellent Masters, having more of that exquisite Painter _Hans Holben_ than are in the World besides.... He was a Person of great and universal Civility, but yet with that Restriction as that it forbad any to be bold or sawcy with him; though with those whom he affected, which were Lovers of State, n.o.bility and curious Arts, he was very free and conversible; but they being but few, the Stream of the times being otherwise, he had not many Confidents or Dependents; neither did he much affect to have them, they being unto great Persons both burthensome and dangerous. He was not popular at all, nor cared for it, as loving better by a just Hand than Flattery to let the common People to know their Distance and due Observance. Neither was he of any Faction in Court or Council, especially not of the _French_ or Puritan.... He was in Religion no Bigot or Puritan, and professed more to affect moral Vertues than nice Questions and Controversies.... If he were defective in any thing, it was that he could not bring his Mind to his Fortune; which though great, was far too little for the Vastness of his n.o.ble Designs.'

Walker's character was written before Clarendon's. It is dated 'Iselsteyne the 7th of June 1651'. It was first published in 1705 in his _Historical Discourses upon Several Occasions_, pp. 221-3.

Page 30, l. 15. _his wife_, 'the Lady Alithea Talbot, third Daughter and Coheir of _Gilbert Talbot_ Earl of _Shrewsbury_, Grandchild of _George Talbot_ Earl of _Shrewsbury_ and Earl Marshal of _England_'

(Walker, _Historical Discourses_, p. 211).

7.

Clarendon, MS. Life, pp. 34, 35; _History_, Bk. I, ed. 1702, vol. i, pp. 44-6; ed. Macray, vol. i, pp. 71-3.

This pleasing portrait of Pembroke, one of the great patrons of literature of James's reign, follows immediately after the unfriendly portrait of Arundel, the art collector. Clarendon knew the value of contrast in the arrangement of his gallery.

Pembroke is sometimes supposed to have been the patron of Shakespeare.

It cannot, however, be proved that there were any personal relations, though the First Folio was dedicated to him and his brother, the Earl of Montgomery, afterwards fourth Earl of Pembroke. See note, p. 4, l. 30. He was the patron of Ben Jonson, who dedicated to him his _Catiline_, his favourite play, and his _Epigrams_, 'the ripest of my studies'; also of Samuel Daniel, Chapman, and William Browne. See _Shakespeare's England_, vol. ii, pp. 202-3.

Clarendon has also given a character of the fourth Earl, 'the poor Earl of Pembroke', _History_, ed. Macray, vol. ii, pp. 539-41.

8.

Timber: or, Discoveries; Made Vpon Men and Matter. By Ben: Iohnson.

London, Printed M.DC.XLI. (pp. 101-2.)

This character is a remarkable testimony to the impression which Bacon's restrained eloquence made on his contemporaries. Yet it is little more than an exercise in free translation. Jonson has pieced together two pa.s.sages in the _Controversies_ of Marcus Seneca, and placed the name of 'Dominus Verula.n.u.s' in the margin. The two pa.s.sages are these:

'Non est unus, quamvis praecipuus sit, imitandus: quia nunquam par fit imitator auctori. Haec natura est rei. Semper citra veritatem est similitudo.' Lib. I, Praefatio (ed. Paris, 1607, p. 58).

'Oratio eius erat valens cultu, ingentibus plena sententiis. Nemo minus pa.s.sus est aliquid in actione sua otiosi esse. Nulla pars erat, quae non sua virtute staret. Nihil, in quo auditor sine d.a.m.no aliud ageret. Omnia intenta aliquo, petentia. Nemo magis in sua potestate habuit audientium affectus. Verum est quod de illo dicit Gallio noster. c.u.m diceret, rerum potiebatur, adeo omnes imperata faciebant.

c.u.m ille voluerat, irascebantur. Nemo non illo dicente timebat, ne desineret.' Epit. Declamat. Lib. III (p. 231).

From the continuation of the first pa.s.sage Jonson took the words 'insolent Greece' ('insolenti Graeciae') in his verses 'To the memory of Shakespeare'.

Jonson has left a more vivid picture of Bacon as a speaker in a short sentence of his Conversations with Drummond of Hawthornden: 'My Lord Chancelor of England wringeth his speeches from the strings of his band.'

9.

Reign of King James the First, 1653, pp. 158-60.

Page 36, l. 18. _which the King hinted at_, in the King's Speech to the Lords, 1621: 'But because the World at this time talks so much of _Bribes_, I have just cause to fear the whole _Body_ of this _House_ hath _bribed_ him [Prince Charles] to be a good _Instrument_ for you upon all occasions: He doth so good Offices in all his _Reports_ to me, both for the _House_ in _generall_, and every one of you in _particular_.' The speech is given in full by Wilson before the pa.s.sage on Bacon.

Page 37, l. 25. The pa.s.sage here omitted is 'The humble Submission and Supplication of the Lord Chancellour'.

Page 38, l. 10. _a good Pa.s.seover_, a good pa.s.sage back to Spain.

Gondomar was Spanish amba.s.sador.

10.

The Church-History of Britain; From the Birth of Jesus Christ, Untill the Year M.DC.XLVIII. Endeavoured By Thomas Fuller. London, 1655. (Bk.

x, p. 89.)

11.

Resuscitatio, Or, Bringing into Publick Light Severall Pieces, of the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto Sleeping; Of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam, Viscount Saint Alban. According to the best Corrected Coppies.

Together, With his Lords.h.i.+ps Life. By William Rawley, Doctor in Divinity, His Lords.h.i.+ps First, and Last, Chapleine. Afterwards, Chapleine, to His late Maiesty. London, 1657.

'The Life of the Honourable Author' serves as introduction to this volume of Bacon's literary remains. It runs to fourteen pages, unnumbered. The pa.s.sage quoted from this life (_c1v-c2v_) is of the nature of a character.

Rawley's work is disfigured by pedantically heavy punctuation. He carried to absurd excess the methods which his Master adopted in the 1625 edition of his _Essays_. It has not been thought necessary to retain all his commas.

Page 41, l. 4. _Et quod tentabam_, &c. Ovid, _Tristia_, IV. x. 26.

12.

Clarendon, MS. Life, p. 48; _Life_, ed. 1759, p. 16.