Before the birth of her child, the lady (probably prompted by her father that there might be clear evidence to prove her status) prevailed upon the Duke to have the mar[SEPT. 3.] riage celebrated according to the rites of the Church of England; and this ceremony took place privately at Worcester House, the Lord Chancellor's residence,-Dr. Crowther, chaplain to James, officiating,-in the presence of Lord Ossory, who gave away the bride, and of her maid-servant for another witness.

The Duke now disclosed what had happened to the King, and requested that he might be permitted to own her publicly as his Duchess. Charles sent for Ormond and Southampton, and desired them to consult the Chancellor. They began by telling him, that the Duke of York had owned a great affection for his daughter, and that the King much doubted she was with child by the Duke, and that his Majesty required their advice what was to be done." According to his own statement, "he broke out into a very immoderate passion against the wickedness of his daughter," -said, in coarse terms, he had rather she should be the Duke's mistress than his wife,-shed floods of tears,-said he would consent to an act of Parliament "for cutting off her head,"—-and hoped that her presumption in aspiring to a royal alliance might. be punished, in the first instance, by an immediate commitment to the Tower.*

Southampton, taken in by this ebullition, exclaimed, in the King's presence, "that the Chancellor was mad, and had proposed such extravagant things that he was no more to be consulted with."+

Hyde now affected, in the exercise of his paternal rights, to shut his daughter up in his house in order to prevent all further interviews between her and the Duke of York,-at which, however, he privately connived; for, alluding to his wife, he says that the attempt was rendered unsuccessful by "those who knew they were married." In the mean time, we learn from James himself, that, "with great caution and circumspection, he did his part to soften the King, in that matter, which, in every respect, seemed so much for his advantage." Charles, with his usual careless good-nature, was disposed to acquiesce; but the mésalliance made his mother and his eldest sister furious. Henrietta hastened over to prevent so foul a disgrace to the royal houses of England and France, and declared that, "whenever that woman should be brought into Whitehall by one door, she herself would leave the palace by another, and never enter it again." And the Princess of Orange, who had recently arrived from Holland, declared that

*Life, i, 378. I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of this statement as others have done; nor do I consider it at all inconsistent with Clarendon's subsequent attempt to soften the King."-See Lister's Life of Clar. ii. 69.

† Life, i. 378.

Life of James II. i. 287., which is considerably at variance with Clarendon's own representation, that he would not hear of the marriage.

"she would never yield precedence to a girl who had stood as a servant behind her chair." The Duke of Gloucester, the youngest brother, is likewise said to have declared that "she smelt so strong of her father's green bag, that he could not get the better of himself whenever he had the misfortune to be in her presence."*

The courtiers were much puzzled as to the course they should pursue, and James himself was thought to waver,-when Sir Charles Berkeley a profligate favourite of the Duke of York, boldly came to their aid, by affirming, with oaths, that Anne had been his mistress under a promise of marriage, and by bringing forward the Earl of Arran, Jermyn, Talbot, and Killigrew, as witnesses of her loose and wanton behaviour,—“ tous gens d'honneur," says the courtly author of the MEMOIRES DE GRAMMONT, mais qui préféroient infiniment celui du Duc de York à celui de Mademoiselle Hyde." Berkley went so far as to say that he claimed her as his own wife. Pending these false accusations Anne was taken in labour; and while she lay in the throes of childbirth, her spiritual guide, Dr Morley, Bishop-elect of Worcester, standing by the bedside, adjured her, in the name of the living God, to speak the truth before the noble ladies who attended by order from the King. To his questions she replied that the Duke was the father of her child,-that they had been married to each other by a priest before witnesses, and that, having met him a virgin, she had ever been faithful to his bed. [OCT. 22.] She then brought a male child into the world.

James deeply touched by her situation, and pleased with the birth of a son, who might one day mount the throne, on her recovery showed a strong disposition to acknowledge her if her character were cleared,-when Berkeley made an open confession that the charges against her were wholly groundless, and that he had been induced to bring them forward, and to suborn the witnesses to prove them, purely out of his regard for the honour of the royal family. James, having returned warm thanks for such extraordinary proofs of devoted zeal, hurried off to the King, and had a long interview with him.† The particulars were never made known, but the result was favouable, for Berkeley and Lord Ossory were desired to meet the Duke in an hour at Worcester House. Thither they went, not at all foreseeing the denouement. This we have from the Memoirs of De Grammont. Ils trouvèrent à l'heure marquée son Altesse dans la chambre de Mademoi

* Burnet, i. 291. n.

† The following letter from Charles to Hyde, which must have been written a few days before, is extant in the British Museum.-Lansdown MSS. 123€. Thursday morning.

"My brother hath spoken with the Queen yesterday concerning the owning of his sonn; and in much passion she tould him that from the time he did any such thing, she would never see his face more. I would be glad to see you before you go to the parliament, that I may advise with you what is to be done; formy brother tells me he will do whatever I please."

[Superscribed]-" For the Chancellor."

selle Hyde. Ses yeux paroissoient mouillés de quelques larmes, qu'elle s'efforçoit de retenir. Le Chancellier appuyé contre la muraille, leur parut bouffi de quelque chose. Ils ne doutèrent point que ce ne fût de rage et de désespoir. Le Duc d'York leur dit de cet air content et serein dont on annonce les bonnes nouvelles: Comme vous êtes les deux hommes de la Cour que j'estime le plus, je veux que vous ayez les premiers Phonneur de saleur la Duchesse d' York. La voilà.'

Not the least wonderful part of the story is the Duchess's conduct to her calumniator. Clarendon says, "the Duke had brought Sir Charles Berkely to the Duchess, at whose feet he had cast himself with all the acknowledgment and penitence he could express; and she, according to the command of the Duke, accepted his submission, and promised to forget the offence;" but, according to Hamilton, she went farther, and praised the conduct of Berkeley and his associates, telling them "that nothing marks more plainly the self-devotion of an honourable man than de prendre un peu sur sa probité* to serve the interest of a master or a friend." All this we may believe of the daughter, when the stern old father gives us this evidently subdued account of his own complaisance :- "He came likewise to the Chancellor with those professions which he could easily make; and the other was obliged to receive him civilly."†

The restoration of harmony in the royal family was facilitated by the sudden death of the Princess of Orange and the Duke of Gloucester, and by a message from Cardinal Mazarine to the Queen mother, "that if she wished to be well received when she returned to the Court of France, she must be exceedingly civil to the Lord Chancellor, whom he was anxious to oblige.' On the day before she left England, the Duke brought his wife to be presented to her for the first time, and [JAN. 1, 1661.] the "Queen," says Pepys, "is said to receive her now with much respect and love." The new Duchess supported her rank at Court with as much ease and dignity as if she had never moved in an inferior station.

Her elevation by no means tended to the permanent stability of the Chancellor; but for a short time he was on terms of cordiality with his son-in-law, and, if possible, in higher favour with the King.

He was now raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Hyde of Hindon, and shortly after he was created Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon. On the application of the Duke of York he was likewise offered the Garter; but though several of his predecessors had borne this distinction, he wisely declined it, thinking that it would bring him more envy than advantage. He accepted a more substantial proof of royal gratitude in a present

* Anglicè, "to tell a calumnious falsehood."

† Life, ii. 385, 393. 397.

‡ Pepys, i. 166.

of 20,000l. Charles at the same time made him an offer of 10,000 acres of Crown land; but this he declined, saying, that "it was the principal part or obligation of his office to dissuade the King from making any grants of such a nature (except when the necessity or convenience was very notorious), and even to stop those which should be made of that kind, and not to suffer them to pass the Seal till he had again waited upon the King, and informed him of the evil consequence of these grants, which discharge of his duty could not but raise him many enemies, who should not have that advantage to say that he obstructed the King's bounty towards other men, when he made it very profuse towards himself."*

CHAPTER LXXX.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD CLARENDON TILL HIS ACQUITTAL WHEN IMPEACHED BY THE EARL OF BRISTOL.

SOON after the ceremony of the coronation, at which the Chancellor appeared with his lately conferred dignity of [MAY 8, 1661.] an Earl, he had to meet the new parliament. Before its dissolution at the end of eighteen years, it gave abundant opposition to the inclinations of the Court, but the great difficulty at first was to repress its exuberant loyalty. Although the Presbyterians had been so powerful in the Convention Parliament. only fifty-six of that persuasion were returned to the present House of Commons, and almost all the other members were taken from the hottest of the Cavaliers. The House of Lords was tempered by a considerable number of liberal and moderate Peers; but the House of Commons was, at its outset, the most intolerant, bigoted, slavishly inclined legislative assembly which ever met in England, and greatly exceeded the other House in the desire to fix the Church on the narrowest foundation, and to persecute all who should not rigidly conform to its doctrines and discipline.†

On the first day of the session, the King, having spoken at greater length than usual, still referred the two Houses for a farther explanation of his views to the Lord Chancellor. Clarendon, knowing that the ecclesiastical measures which he approved of were now completely in his power, prepared the parliament for receiving them, and took a very unfair advantage of the late mad

* Life, ii. 408.

"The representatives," says Rapin, "for the most part were elected agreeably to the wishes and without doubt by the influence of the Court. This parliament may be said to be composed by Chancellor Hyde, prime minister." The insane insurrection of Venner and the Millenarians had thrown much discredit on all dissenters.

and wicked insurrection of Venner and the " Millenarians," which was in reality as much condemned and deplored by the Presbyterians, as by the members of the Church of England. However, to check the cavalier impetuosity of the new parliament, he strongly inculcated upon them the propriety of adhering to the Act of Indemnity.

The Commons, whether prompted by him I know not, showed their spirit by beginning the session with a most

unconstitutional resolution, which was to be act- [MAY 16, 1661.] ed upon without the consent of the Lords or the King,-" that all their members should forthwith take the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England on pain of expulsion from the House."* To exasperate the public mind, he certainly encouraged the Lords to join the Commons in an order that "the solemn league and covenant" (which the reigning King had signed), should be burnt by the hands of the common hangman,-along with the ordinances for the trial of the late King, for establishing a commonwealth, and for the security of the person of the Lord Protector. No wonder that he afterwards found extreme difficulty in prevailing upon them to confirm the Act of Indemnity, notwithstanding his earnest representations that the promise of it had brought about the Restoration, and that the faith of the King and of the nation was pledged to it.‡

The first

The declaration for union and comprehension which Clarendon had drawn, and the King had published during the Convention Parliament, and Sir Matthew Hale's bill [JUNE 22.] founded upon it, of course were thought of no more. church bill which Clarendon introduced met with very little opposition,-being to restore the Bishops to their seats in the House of Lords. The act for their exclusion had passed in times of great violence, and there was a general feeling that for the dignity of the assembly of which they had ever formed a constituent part, and for the honour and protection of the church, they should again exercise their parliamentary functions along with the hereditary nobility.

Next came Clarendon's famous "Corporation Act," which, contrary to the declaration of Breda,-contrary to the repeated promises of the King and the Chancellor after [DEC. 19.] their return,—contrary to the plain principles of justice and expediency, contrary to the respect and reverence due to the most solemn institution of our holy religion which was to be desecrated, -provided that no one should be elected to any corporate office, who had not, within a year before his election, taken the sacra

* 4 Parl. Hist. 208.

† Ib. 209. Such proceedings show that from the late troubles men of all parties had forgotten the limits of the constitutional powers of the two Houses. This House of Commons made orders directly on the Attorney and Solicitor General to prosecute for high treason, without even the form of an address to the Crown.

4 Parl. Hist. 209-213.