Part 21 (1/2)

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.