at itt at any tyme, and therfore you and I shall be very vnkinde and vniust to him, if wee suspecte his frendshipp to us, for those omissyons, which all men, but those of the penn, are alwayes guilty of: he is sure a very worthy person, and loues when he professes soe to do: you heare what a noble confusion Cromwell hath made, by dissoluinge ther Parliam" with all the contempt and scorne imaginable, and now those adored members, and of the Councell of State, are looked upon by all, as they deserue to be: what be.ther next acte, is our great expectacon, and what influence that which is done, must haue upon forraigne nations, who were treatinge with them: sure some notable crisis is at hande, worse I hope wee cannot be. All thinges are heare as they were, S Ric. ffoster hath payed 500". for your rent, and hath acquittance only for so much, but no information, what the contracte is, or how much is still in arreare. God send us a good meetinge in England, which is not despayred of by,

8,

S',

Your very

affectionate serv',

E. H.

PARIS May 19. 1653.

Sir R. Browne.

Sir Richard Browne to the Chancellor of the

ble

Exchequer.

20 May, 1643.

Right Hon Yesterday I gaue yo' Hon' notice of my being called to Nantes; this morninge as I am ready to

An allusion to the inemorable event of the 20th April, 1653, when Cromwell entered the House of Commons at the head of a party of soldiers, forcibly dissolved the Parliament then sitting, took away the mace, and ordered the doors to be locked up. A few days afterward a bill was stuck upon the door-"This House to be let unfurnished." One of the Intelligencers of the same day published an alleged letter from Paris, stating: "Charles Stuart pretends to bo as glad

put foote in stirrop, Captain Sadlington's' fregat arriues from the coast of Irland with the bearer hearoff O'Sullivane Beirne, a person whom I find noe lesse by his owne discourse then by the testimonye of all his countrymen here, very well affected to his Mate seruice: He comes deputed from such of his Maties faithfull subjects as yett remaine in the west side of Munster: and hastens now towards Paris to giue his Mate an account of those parts: which though of it selfe it bee recommendation enough, yett at his request, I take the boldnesse by these to addresse him to y' Hon" acquaintance, and by y' fauour to his Ma": The state of whose affaires, I hope hee may by Gods goodnesse find in a condition able to afford such releife as may excite and animate these embers of loyalty into a fire, nay flame, sufficient to destroy and consume the circumambient and the now too predominant contrary of haynous treason and unparaleld rebellion. In which good omen I kisse yo' Hon" hands, and rest Y" &c. &c.

R. BROWNE.

at the dissolution of the Parliament of England, as at the coming of his brother Henry to him, but I think they are both but frolics. He hath received intelligence from Rome, that the Pope will have nothing to do with him, and in no case have dealing with him, as being not only inconstant and unsettled what to do, but unable to do anything."

1 Captain Sadlington was retained in the royal service after the Restoration, and fell gallantly fighting in the year 1673, on the 4th of June, in the action with Van Tromp. He then commanded the Crown, under the orders of Prince Rupert.

2 O'Sullivan Beirne was a gentleman of some landed property in Ireland, living near Beerhaven, and was of such consequence in that part of the country, where the clans of O'Sullivan were numerous, that he was chosen general of the forces raised in aid of the Royal cause. The reason of this visit to France seems to be accounted for by the following extract from the Severall Proceedings of the 30th June, 1653: "From Ireland it is certified, that a party of Irish, of General Bear's men, had a design to have surprised some garrisons; but, having notice, a party fell upon them in their march, routed them, and killed many; and Bear himself, with some other officers, got into a boat, and fled over into France."

Sir Edward Hyde to Sir Richard Browne.

S',

I receaued yours of the 7. 3 dayes since and yesterday your other of the 10. and returne this by the same hande which brought me yours, which seemes to be very sollicitous and confident to returne it safely and speedily to you: I haue sent you such a letter from his Ma" to the Marshall, as in my vnderstandinge is necessary, and I hope if any thinge would, will præuayle with him. To have inserted the memoire it selfe would not haue bene so proper, since it cannot be supposed to be within his Ma" proper cognisance. Your letters concerninge O'Sullivan Beare are not come to my hands.

Upon the receipt of your former I did send the inclosed to Mr. Bennett, who hath notwithstandinge not vouchsafed to conferr with me a worde about the businesse, and when I sent to him to know whether he would send any thinge to you, and lett him know what his Ma" had directed, he returned me answer that I might haue spared his Ma" that labour, for the Duke had done the same, but I hope actes of supererogation in this kinde will do no harme: it may be he will send his letters under this

cover.

Ther is no questyon that I know concerninge your accounte, it is fitt you should alwayes haue it ready, and produce it when it is called for, and I doubte not you will receaue all iust allowance, and truly I am heartily glad that it hath brought so seasonable a reliefe to you: our Master thinkes of remoouinge,

'It was made matter of remark in the public journals that a seasonable supply had arrived for the Royal family at this moment. The Faithful Post, of the same date as this letter, says, in a communication from Amsterdam: "Here is arrived the adventurer called the Spanish Bark; coming from Rochelle: he hath taken three prizes about the West, which he hath sold in France, amounting to a great value, which is distributed by the Commander in Chief, Capt. Grimes, as followeth-to the poor distressed widow, our late Queen, £1000; King of Scots, £3000; Duke of York, £2000; Duke of Gloucester, £1000."

but when or whither is not yett determined. Wee exspecte euery day news of an engagement at sea betweene the two fleetes, the successe of which may probably alter' the temper in both Councells, at London and at the Hague, the last still pressing most vnreasonbly ther desyres of treaty. I am very heartily,

S',

your most affectionate Serv',

PARIS this 14 of June 1653.

Sir Ri: Browne.

E. H.

Sir Edward Hyde to Sir Richard Browne.
S',

I haue receaued yours of the 30 of June by Mr. Holmes, & a duplicate of by your mayde, to nether of which ther needes any answer, my last which you since haue had satisfyinge the contents of those. Since, your other of the 5. of July are come to my handes.

To what concernes the Marshall I can addnothinge, till I know in the way I advised what his prætences are; nor haue I any reason to imagyne that he hath taken any excepcons to your person, only when I asked, why it was desyred that the busynesse might

1 The action did take place, and the Dutch were defeated. The consequences, if we are to believe a letter from Paris in one of the weekly Intelligencers, were very hostile to Charles's interests at the Court of France. "The news of the defeat given by the English to the Dutch," says the writer, “much startled the Court, and indeed all France; those of Charles Stuart's followers gave out reports at first that the Dutch had beaten the English, and that he was to go to Holland, and that they would do great things for him, and the English went vapouring of it up and down the streets, and some of them were soundly fort: but the next day came news to several merchants of this city, besides letters to the Courts (which were kept more private), that the Dutch were beaten, and had sustained a very great losse : upon this there was a great meeting of the Council with the King, and their countenances very sad all about the French Court, and divers of the English going through the streets of Paris were so mocked and jeered that they have been ashamed almost to show their heads abroad."

the

be referred to Pr. Rupert, since being not upon place, his Highnesse could not so easily giue direction upon it, answer was made to me, that it might be, that the Marshall desyred not to treate with S Ri. Browne: and truly in those cases, when men aske vnreasonable thinges, it is no wonder that they haue no minde to be pressed by publique Ministers.'

I doubt I shall not be able to finde a copy of your peticon and order from the Kinge, if I can I will, nor will I do any thinge upon that businesse, till upon your view of the whole accounte you can see in what state you are, and then I will procure such orders as are necessary; till then it is to no purpose to discourse of it: nor is it proper for me to send to M' Windham' (with whome I haue no correspondence) to know what you haue receaued from him, you will state all that upon your accounte. The course I propose to my selfe to obserue is, that the Kinge signea warrant to you, to deducte out of your receipts satisfaction for all such warrants which he hath formerly signed upon others, and which haue prooued ineffectuall to you; and if that satisfyes for the time past, advise what will bee best, to order for the future.

Wee are full of exspectation what will be the issue of the treaty in Englande' betweene the Dutch and

An allusion to the rapacious conduct of the Marshal with regard to the prizes, and the stores of the ships that were sold.

? Mr. Windham, as early as 1652, had been appointed the receiver of the King's fifth in all prizes; and this by the King's special appointment, in opposition to the Duke of York's recommendation of the Bishop of Derry. The situa tion was one which Sir Edward Hyde had been very anxious to obtain for his godson, son to Sir Edward Nicholas. See the Clarendon State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 112, 118.

The London Intelligencers were at this time giving very different view of the feelings of Charles's little exiled Court, asserting that they were constantly engaged "in forms of Common Prayer" for the success of the Dutch fleet over that of England! Nor were the Puritan party at home particularly anxious for peace, protesting that the "work of the Lord is not yet done; that the sword must not be sheathed until they had brought down the tyranny of Rome, and restored poor ignorant captives to a gospel enjoyment of the universal freedom."