other occasions, I am confident He will be a very usefull servant to me in ye station I designed him," & you will know what want I have of one in that employmt.

Pray acquainte y Friends that upon all occasions of ye Revenue I shall not faile to communicate them to my Ld Trear: for matters of Grants to my Lord Keeper, & for other intelligences by ye Kings especiall command I am to apply to my Lord of Arlington, & doubtless 'tis best for ye frame of his Maties business that his Ministers doe impart his affairs respectively to ye persons properly employ'd, according to their severall & distinct Trust: wch I am sure shall be my Rule, so long Rule, so long as I serve his Matie: & should I doe other, it were making my selfe judge who were fitt for ye King to employ, & not leaving it to his Matie to distribute his owne business into Hands He thinks most proper to manage it.

ye

And by holding this course I cannot see but I may preserve y° Friendship of all, whatever disputes or Factions there may be one among another. Therefore, as opportunity serves, you may tell yr Friends, particularly Ld. Keeper, Ld. Trear, Mr. Speaker, & Orrery too, if you think fitt, that I shall not be wanting in my respects towards them, suitable to ye stations wherein they serve his Mafie, nor in any offices of friendship wherein I may be in a capacity to evidence it; And for yr selfe you may ever rely upon my being wth all Truth, &c.

XCV.-LORD CONWAY TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.

MAY IT PLEASE YOR EXCELCE,

November 29, 1673.

I have presumed to write to y' Excelce the 18th and the 22th, and to Sr Arthur Forbesse the 18th and the 25th, so that I have not

a His London secretary.

omitted any post since I came to towne, nor shall I omit any, if my Letters are of any service or entertainment to yo' Excelce.

The Dutchesse of Yorke came to Whitehall on Wensday last. The King brought her up from the Barge to the Queen's Presence Chamber, and stopt in the outer drawing-roome till the Queen came to the dore of the Presence Chamber to meet her; the Duke of Yorke led up the Dutchesse of Modena, and as soon as they were entred the Prescence Chamber the King called for a chayre for her, upon wch my Lady Suffolke, my Lady Falmouth, and the rest of the Ladyes to the number of 20 that were of the Nobility ran out of the roome, as thinking themselves of equall quality to the Dutchesse of Modena; and that night the King sent to the Duke to desire that she might not be in the Roome when the Ladyes came to kisse the Dutchesse of Yorke's hand, wch was order'd accordingly. I went with my Lord Keeper and my Lord Tresurer on Thursday morning, when they kist her hand. She is a proper hansome Lady. She hath very good eyes, very good features, and a very good complexion, but she wants the Aire wch should set off all this, and having been bred in a Monastry knows not how to set one foot before another with any gracefulnesse. I observed that though many comended her in their discourse to the Duke, yet none wisht him joy, nor would the City be brought to make Bonfires.

What I writ last to Sr A. Forbese I had from Speak. and Trear. but Orrery is of opinion Parlim will sett, and that King having made sure the money of France, wil endeavor to get more of Parlem. Spe. and Trear. are enemies to Herbert, and swore to Con. that from the day he was Secretary to Essex they would push at Essex. I have had many debates with myselfe whether I should write this to you or not, and at last I resolved that though it should ruine me in yo' favor, yet I would preserve my integrity, and tell you truth.

a A vote was carried, after a prolonged and most interesting debate, to refuse supply before the danger from Popish councillors, and other grievances, were removed, unless the obstinacy of the Dutch should render it necessary.

CAMD. SOC

U

VOL. I.

I cannot omit one passage wch probably yor Excelce will not have from any other hand, it is that upon Wensday last, before the Lords Coms of the Admiralty, St Tho. Littleton reproacht my Lord Tresurer, and calt him a cheat, upon wch all the Lords ComTM rose up in great disorder. The occasion of it was this, The Victuallers of the Navy were turned of, and a new contract made with others; the old ones were all admitted to speak to the King, except S Tho. Littleton, who, it is thought, will be sent to the Tower next Councell day, wch is not till Wensday.

*

On Munday next the King hath appointed to heare it debated before the Comittee for Forrain affaires, whether the Office of Mr of the Ordnance in Ireland shall stand, or fall into the office under Sr Tho. Chicheley in England.

Last night my Lord Tresurer carryed me to my Lady Shrewsberryes, where there was Nell Gwyn, the Duke of Buckingham, and Mr Speaker. About three a clock in the morning we went to supper, were very merry, and drank smartly. I wish I knew how to write yor Excelce all our good discourse, for I assure yo Excelce that I am, with the greatest sincerity imaginable, &c.

XCVI.-THE EARL OF ESSEX TO CHARLES II.

MAY IT PLEASE YR MAJESTIE,

December 1, 1673.

There hath bin of late some discourses here as if it were necessary for ye welfare of this Country that ye Lieut & Councell did now make some representation to yr Majestie of ye State of this Kingdome, & tho' none as yet ventured to move it in Councell, yet I know severall of yr privy Councell's are much inclined to promote an Adress of this nature, if it were once brought into debate; but I am confident I have Interest enough to prevent ye progress, & I hope even ye offering any such thing to be considered off at ye board, & at ye last I am entrusted wth a negative upon ye whole

a

Table, in case ye major part should be induced to offer any thing of this nature to yr Majestie, for when I consider ye proceedings wch have bin in England, and those seconded in ye same manner in Scotland, I cannot but judge that, should any Adress of ye like sort come from ye Lieut and Councell here (who in ye Intervalls of Parliamt are looked upon as ye publick intrusted persons of this Kingdome), it would certeinly adde much fuell to that fire wch seems too neer kindling in those other yr Majesties dominions, & would render ye jealousies & misunderstandings (if any there be) between y1 Matie & y' people in a yet more perplexed & entangled condition. I shall therefore apply my selfe, wth all circumspection, to prevent even ye mention of any motion that may tend to ye promoting of any Publick Adress to be made by y' Majestie. Nor doe I indeed know what these men have to say, unless it be to represent ye poverty of ye country occasioned by y present War, or ye mis. chiefs wch some men suffer by ye frequent robberys that are dayly committed. For the first of these, wch is ye only one thing that may carry wth it a colour for a publicke Adress, y1 Mafie, I am sure, cannot but be sensible that ye interruption of Trade must needs cause a failure of Rents in all men's Estates, & it hath already bin made evident to yr Matie how much our Losses are by this war, when you were graciously pleased to allow twelve thousand Pds to ye Farmers, by way of defalcation, out of ther Rents for ye Customs, wch is more then one-fifth part of this whole revenue; so as yr Matie having y1 selfe given a sufficient prooff how affected you are wth ye sufferings of ye country in this kind, there needs not any representation of this matter, or if there did, I humbly conceive it were much more for yr Majesties Service that you should receive information of these grievances, rather by a private Lře from my selfe, then by a publick Act, wch in such cases carrieth too much a shew of discontent. As for ye.robberys committed in this Kingdome, they doe dayly increase, and are, I confess, grown to such an height as they are become a reproach to y° Goverment, & look almost like petit

a See Lauderdale Papers, vol. ii. p. 241.

rebellions, they goeing by 20 or 30 in a company, breaking open Houses even in ye day Time. Many complaints of this kind have bin brought to ye Councell, & upon every information of this sort ye generallitie of ye Privy Councell's immediately move for ye setting up of ye Militia here in ye severall Countys, & press it with great earnestness; but for my owne part, when I reflect upon ye present posture of affairs, both in England & Scotland, & consider that as to y English here, they are many of them ye remains of Cromwell's Army, & as to ye Scotch, they are for ye most part Presbyterians, & that these are ye men who will have arms putt into their hands & be formed into bodys, I cannot judge this of all others a seasonable Time to establish a Militia, but conceive it much more advisable for y' Matie to depend upon yr Army, whom I look upon as very entire & secure to yr service. I must confess ye humour of men runns so high for this Militia as I cannot positively deny ye promoting of it without giving a jealously that I am not a favourer of ye Protestant Interest, & therefore I doe entertaine them upon this subject with some discourses, as if I were goeing in hand wth it; as enquiring where ye Arms are wch belong to ye Militia, & giving out some litle proportions of Powder to those who have bin Captains in order to ye defence of their Houses, tho' I really intend nothing less then ye forming of this Force, being very confident that wth those few Troops, wch yr Matie has in pay here, I shall be able to keep all quiet. And for ye suppression of these lawless people who committ outrages in ye country, who have already done some service in ye apprehension of these Torys; but should this evill continue, there must be some sharper course taken to correct it by commissionating Marreschales, wth powr to proceed agt these Malefactors by Martial law, wch tho' it be not altogether agreable to ye Laws of ye Kingdome, yet in case of necessitie has ever bin indulged & practised here. And this 1 conclude, wth yr Maties approbation, will be a much better course to be taken then y establishing a Militia at this Time, when I am so far from assuring my selfe of their obedience that I am confident, should there be Troubles in