LETTER LXXII. Lord Wentworth, Lord Deputy of Ireland, to the Earl of Portland, Lord Treasurer to Charles I. May it please your lordship, SINCE I had the honour to ferve his majefly, calumny and mifreport have been my portions, which, for the moft part, were paffed over in filence and difdain; but when they dare attempt your lordship to my prejudice, then I confefs they touch very nearly, confidering that if I commit any wilful crime here, where I have received, and to whom I profefs fo much, I must even acknowledge myfelf incapable any longer of truft er friendship amongst men. Pardon me therefore, I beseech your lordship, if I be as far from digefting this wrong, as I fhall be ever found in nocent from the guilt. I understand fome fhameless perfon or other hath infinuated with your lordship, as if I went about to be treasurer, and lays for a ground of that opinion my forwardness in his majesty's fervice. This I have curforily and flightly in a letter from my coufin Wandesford; but with me it imprints, finks, ftrikes deeper than Lord! to pass along fo cafily from me. with what fhadows would they have overcaft my negligence, with what darkness have benighted the least commiffion, that can fetch this conclufion out of thofe premites? I will not deny, it is a full truth indeed, that there inhabits with me an infinite zeal and vigilance to ferve my mafter, the moft accepted way I can devife; nor fhall any private cafe or profit cool or lessen it, or any endeavour from abroad make me understand it as a fault to do fo: yet, my lord, I do not greedily ferve to repair a broken fortune, much lefs out of any ambitious defires, which (if any ever in me) were long agone laid to rest upon my receiving this place from his majesty, through the means of my friends, I confefs (being then altogether a ftranger to the king in fervice and perfon), and of them your lordship the very principal. No, no, my lord, they are thofe fovereign and great duties I owe his majefty and your lordship, which thus provoke me beyond my own nature, rather to leave thofe cooler fhades, wherein I took choiceft pleafure, and thus put myfelf with you into the heat of the day, than poorly and meanly to ftart afide from my obligations, convinced in myself of the moft wretched ingratitude in the whole world. God knows how little delight I take in the outwards of this life, how infinite'v ill fatisfied I am with myfelf, to find daily thofe calm and quiet retirements, wherein to contemplate fome things more divine and facred than this world can afford us, at every moment interrupted thorough the importunity of the affairs I have already. To heaven and earth I proteft it, it grieves my very foul, and that it is nothing but love (if I may be admitted a word of fo near a distance, and of fo little courtship) to the perfons of his majefty and yourfelf, that could up this yoke and follow; make me take no other affection or paffion could effect it. So, my lord, once for all, let me find belief with you: if I obtain it not from you with the greatest fereneness poffible (pardon me for faying fo), you do that friendship and confidence, which ought to pals between men of honour, infirite wrong, and render yourself the most inexcufable man towards me that lives. Let fhame and confufion then cover me, if I do not abhor the intolerable anxiety I well understand to wait infeparably upon that staff, if I fhould not take a ferpent as foon into my bofom, and, if I once find fo mean a thought of me can enter into your heart, as that to compafs whatever I could take moft delight in, I fhould go about beguilefully to fupplant any ordinary man (how much more then impotently to catch at fuch a ftaff and from my lord treasurer), if I leave not the court inilantly, betake felf to my private fortune, repofedly feck my contentment and quiet within my own doors, and follow the dictamen of my own reafon and confcience, more according to nature and liberty, than in thofe gyves which now pinch and hang upon me. my. be Thus you fee how easily you may rid of me when you lift, and in good faith with a thoufand thanks; yet be pleafed not to judge, this proceeds out of any wayward weary humour in me neither; for my endeavours are as vigorous and and as cheerful to ferve the crown and you, as ever they were, nor fhall you ever find them to faint or flafkuer. I am none of those foft-tempered fpirits: but I cannot endure to be mistaken, or fuffer my purer and more intire affections to be foiled, or in the leaft degree prejudiced, with the lothfome and odious attributes of covetoufnefs and ambitious falfehood, Do me but right in this, judge my watches to .iffue (as in faith they do) from thofe clearer cifterns. I lay my hand under your foot, I defpife danger, I laugh at labour. Command me in all difficulties, in all confidence, in all readinefs, your Lordship's ever moft faithful friend, and most humble fervant. York, this 21st of October 1632. LETTER LXXIII. Lord Wentworth to Sir William Saville. My dear Nephew, IT fhall be much contentment unto me, when the power or means I have may communicate any thing which may be of acceptation with you and now that it hath pleafed God to take from you your mother, I hold myself more bound to preferve a care for you, being forry that my remotenefs renders me of lefs ufe unto you now upon your entrance into the world, than perchance otherwife I might have been. It is true, that it is not my custom to put myself into counfels uncalled, and having been a minifter in the troublesome fettlement of your eftate, methought it might have flood well enough with civility and difcretion to have let me been acquainted with the courfe of your new cenveyances, when you and I were both at London laft; being fo made a stranger to that end, the effecting and accomplishing whereof I had fo painfully endeavoured for fo many years together. Surely neither I nor mine fhould have been a penny better by it; for I must tell you, for all the fervice I have done you and your house, I never had the worth of a groat forth of your purfe, or the purfe of your mother, and, which is more, never will; for I truft, by God's bleffing, to leave my child an eftate able to maintain him as a gentleman, without being burthenfome to any. And indeed, if I did not conceive this neglect was rather the good-will of Cookfon than any formal direction of your own, I fhould refolve to perform my own duty towards the nearness of that blood which runs in our veins, without ever defiring to intermeddle at all in your counfels for the government of yourfelf and fortune; but indeed your years thew me, you were in all discretion to be merely paffive in that action, and no doubt having my Lord Keeper's advice therein, all is well and orderly disposed and executed. Admit me then, in confideration and remembrance of your noble father, and that I may say to my own heart I have not betrayed the truft he was pleased to repofe in me, to deliver you my opinion, how you are futurely to difpofe yourself and fortune; which, as it fhall come from me with all the candour in the world, fo doth it allo with all the indifferency poffible; defiring God Almighty that you may not follow one word of advice of mine, where there is a better for you to govern yourself after. Being then upon that period of life, that as you fet forth now at first, you will in all likelihood continue fo to the end, be it you take the paths of virtue or the contrary, you cannot confider yourself, and advife and debate your actions with your friends too much; and till fuch time as experience hath ripened your judgment, it shall be great wifdom and advantage to diftruft yourself, and to fortify your youth by the counfel of your more aged friends, before you undertake any thing of confequence. It was the courfe that I governed myfelf by after my father's death, with great advantage to myself and affairs : and yet my breeding abroad hath fhewn me more of the world than yours hath done, and I had natural reafon like other men, only I confefs I did in all things distrust myself; wherein you fhall do, as I faid, extremely well if you do so too. I conceive you fhould lay afide all thoughts of going up to London these four or five years; live in your own house; order and understand your own eftate; inform and employ yourself in the affairs of the country; carry yourself refpectively and kindly towards your neighbours; defire the company of fuch as are well governed and difcreet amon S them, and make them as much as you can your friends; in country bufinefs keeping yourself from all faction; and at the first be not too pofitive, or take too much upon you, till you fully understand the courfe of proceedings; for, have but a little patience, and the command and government of that part of the country will infallibly fall into your hands, with honour to yourself, and contentment to others; whereas if you catch at it too foon, it will be but a means to publish your want of understanding and modeity, and that you fhall grow cheap and in contempt before them that fhall fee you undertake that, where you are not able to guide yourself in your own way. as it Be fure to moderate your expence, fo may be without foolish walle or mean favings; take your own accompts, and betimes inure yourfelf to examine how your eftate profpers, where it fuffers, or where it is to be improved; otherwife there will fuch an calinefs and neglect gather upon you, as it may be you will never patiently endure the labour of it whit you live; and fo, as much as in you lies, caft from you that which tends mott to the prefervation of your fortune of any other thing; for I am perfuaded few men that underflood their expence ever wafted; and few that do not, ever well governed their ellate. Confidering that your houfes, in my judgment, are not fuitable to your quality, nor yct your plate and furniture, I conceive your expence ought to be rcduced to two thirds of your cftate, the reft faved to the accommodating of you in that kind: thofe things provided, you may, if you fee caufe, enlarge yourfelf the more. to you. In these, and all things elfe, you fhall do paffing well to confult Mr. Greenwood, who hath feen much, is very well able to judge, and certainly most faithful If you use him not moft refpectively, you deal extreme ungrateful with him, and ill for yourfelf. He was the man your father loved and trufted above all men, and did as faithfully difcharge the trust repofed in him, as ever in my time I knew any man do for his dead friend; taking exceffive pains in fettling your eftate with all pofiible cheerfulncfs, without charge to you at all: his advice will be always upright, fecrets into and you may fafely pour your In any cafe, think not of putting your- For your fervants, neither use them so familiarly as to lofe your reverence at their hands, nor fo difdainfully as to purchafe yourfelf their ill-will; but carry it in an equal temper towards them, both in punishment and rewards. For Cookfon, I hold him a churlish proud-natured companion, but withal honest, and I am perfuaded will be a good fervant; if you keep him from drink, much better. Howbeit, you fhall do well to take his accompts orderly and weekly, taking to you Mr. Greenwood to help you till you have gained the fkill yourfelf. You are left as weak in friends as any gentleman I ever knew of your quality; but how much more careful ought you then to be to oblige men by your refpective courteous ufage towards them, and provident circumfpection towards yourfelf? You are, as I have observed, rah and hafty, apt to fall to censure others, and exercife your wit upon them: take. heed of it, it is a quality of great offence to others, and danger towards a man's felt; and that jeering, jefting demeanour is not to be ufed but where a man hath great interest intereft in the perfon, and knows himfelf to be understood to love and refpe&t him truly; with fuch a one, if the man be fad and wife to take and return it the right way, a man may be fometimes bold, but otherwife never. Let no company or refpect ever draw you to excefs in drink, for be you well affured, that if that ever poffefs you, you are inftantly drunk to all honour and employment in the ftate; drunk to all the refpects your friends will otherwife pay you, and fhall by unequal ftaggering paces go to your grave with confufion of face, as well in them that love you, as in yourfelf; and therefore abhor all company that might intice you that way. Spend not too much time, nor venture too much money, at gaming; it is a great vanity that poffeffeth fome men, and in moft is occafioned by a greedy mind of winning, which is a purfuit not becoming a generous noble heart, which will not brook fuch ftarving confiderations as thofe. In a word, guide yourself in all things. in the paths of goodness and virtue, and fo perfevere therein, that you may thence take out thofe rules, which being learnt, may (when it comes to your turn) as well grace and enable you to lead and govern others, as (whilft you are learning of them) it will become you to follow and obey others; and thus fhall you poffefs your youth in modefty, and your elder years in wisdom. God Almighty profper and bless you, in your perfon, in your lady, in your children, and in your eftate, wherein no friend you have fhall take more contentment than your most affectionate uncle and moft faithful friend. Dublin Castle, this 29th of December 1633 LETTER LXXIV. Lord Wentworth to Archbishop Laud. May it please your Grace, IAM gotten hither to a poor houfe I have, having been this last week almoft feasted to death at York. In truth, for any thing I can find, they were not ill pleafed to fee me. Sure I am, it much contented me to be amongst my old acquaintance, which I would not leave for ay other affection I have, but to that which I both profefs and owe to the per my fon of his facred Majefty: Lord! with what quietnefs in myfelf could I live here. in comparison of that noife and labour I met with elsewhere; and I proteft put up more crowns in my purse at the year's end too. But we'll let that pass. For I am not like to enjoy that blessed condition upon earth. And therefore refolution is fet, to endure and ftruggle with it fo long as this crazy body will bear it ; and finally drop into the filent grave, where both all these (which I now could, as I think, innocently delight myself in) and myself are to be forgotten; and fare them well. I perfuade myself exuto lepido I am able to lay them down very quietly, and yet leave behind me, as a truth not to be forgotten, a perfect and full remembrance of my being your Grace's moft humbly to be commanded. Gawthorp, this 17th of Aug. 1636. LETTER LXXV. Charles I. to Lord Wentworth.. Wentworth, CERTAINLY I fhould be much to blame not to admit fo good a fervant as you are to speak with me, fince I deny it to none that there is not a juft excep tion againft; yet I muft freely tell you, that the caufe of this defire of yours, if it be known, will rather hearten than difcourage your enemies; for, if they can once find that you apprehend the dark fetting of a ftorm, when I fay no, they will make you leave to care for any thing in a fhort while but for your fears. And, believe it, the marks of my favours that ftop malicious tongues are neither places nor titles, but the little welcome I give to accufers, and the willing ear I give to my fervants; this is, not to disparage thofe favours (for envy flies most at the fairest mark), but to fhow their ufe; to wit, not to quell envy, but to reward fervice; it being truly fo, when the mafter without the fervant's importunity does it; otherwife men judge it more to proceed from the fervant's wit, than the mafter's favour. I will end with a rule, that may serve for a statefman, a courtier, or a lover: never make a defence or apology before you be accused. And fo I reft your affured friend. Lindhurst, 3d Sept. 1636. For my Lord Marshal, as you have armed me, fo I warrant you. Sz T LETTER LXXVI. Charles I. to the Earl of Stretford. Strafford, HE misfortune that is fallen upon you by the ftrange mistaking and conjuncture of thefe times being fuch, that I mufl lay by the thought of employing you hereafter in my affairs; yet I cannot fatisfy myfelf in honour or confcience, without affuring you (now in the midst of your troubles) that, upon the word of a king, you thall not fuffer in life, honour, or fortune. This is but justice, and therefore a very mean reward from a mafter to fo faithful and able a fervant as you have fhewed yourfelf to be; yet it is as much as I conceive the prefent times will permit, though none fhall hinder me from being your conftant faithful friend. Whitehall, April 23, 1641. Earl of Strerd to his Sen. My dearest Will, THESE are the last lines that you are to receive from a father that tenderly loves you. I with there were a greater leifure to impart my mind unto you; but our merciful God will fupply all things by his grace, and guide and protect you in all your ways: to whofe infinite goodnefs I bequeath you; and therefore be not difcouraged, but ferve him, and truft in him, and he will preferve and proper you in all things. Be fure you give all refpect to my wife, that hath ever had a great love anto you, and therefore will be well becoming you. Never be awanting in your love and care to your fitters, but let them ever be moft dear unto you; for this will give others caufe to esteem and refpect You for it, and is a duty that you owe them in the memory of your excellent mother and myself; therefore your care and affection to them muit be the very fame that you are to have of yourfelf; and the like regard muit you have to your youngest filter; for indeed you owe it her alfo, both for her father and moher's fake. Sweet Will, be careful to take the advice of thofe friends which are by me defired to advise you for your education. Serve God diligently morning and evening, and recommend yourfelf unto him, and have him before your eyes in all your ways. With patience hear the inftructions of thefe friends I leave with you, and diligently follow their counsel; for, till you come by time to have experience in the world, it will be far more fafe to truft to their judgments than your own. Lofe not the time of your youth, but gather thofe feeds of virtue and knowfedge which may be of use to yourfelf, and comfort to your friends, for the ret of your life. And that this may be the better effected, attend thereunto with patience, and be fure to corre and refiaia yourself from anger. Suffer not forrow to caft you down, but with cheerfulness and good courage go on the ace you have to run in all fobriety and truth. Be fure, with an hallowed care, to have refpect to all the commandments of God, and give not yourfelf to neglect them in the leaft things, left by degrees you come to forget them in the greateft; for the heart of man is deceitful above all things. And in all your duties and devotions towards God, rather perform them joyfully than penfively; for God loves a cheerful giver. For your religion, let it be directed according to that which fhall be taught by thote which are in God's church the proper teachers therefore, rather than that you ever either fancy one to yourself, or be led by men that are fingular in their own opinions, and delight to go ways of their own finding out: for you will certainly find fobernefs and truth in the one, and much undeadiness and vanity in the other. The king truft will deal graciously with you, refere you thofe honours and that fortune which a diftempered time hath deprived you of, together with the life of your father; which I rather ad vife might be by a new gift and creation from himfelf, than by any other means, to the end you may pay the thanks to him without having obligation to any other. Be fure to avoid as much as you can to inquire after thefe that have been fharp in their judgments towards me, and I charge you never to fuffer thought of Revenge |