Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

cause I have so good a wittnes as my Ladie, I will deale trulye wth yu. I am nowe sent to you fro' ye Duke of Buckingha', to knowe yf yu wilbe a Scotish V. Count, and give him £2,500 for procureing it, or not?" I makeing a wonder at it, he sayde, "Cum, stand not in your owne light; you maye have itt reasonable enough." I prayed him againe to tell me seriously yf ye D. sent him wth this to me or not? He answered (wth an asseveration), "Yes, expressly; and I must instantly carye him yor answer.” "And will yu doe it faythfullie?" sayde I. "Yes," sayde he. "Then," sayd I, "praye his Lop to resolve yu whether I was never pmised, both by ye King and himselfe, to be a Baron of Scotland. Naye," sayde I, "beseech him to resolve yu whether ye K. dyd nevr pmis me, and ye Archduchess for me, yea, and also to three extraordenarie Ambassrs of ye K. of Spaine, that I shold have ye tytle of a Vice Count of England? And, Doctor, when yu have brought me answer of this, I will then give yu answer to ye other." He went with this, and two hours after he returned to me wth assurance howe faythfullie he had asked my Lo: Duke my questions. Whose answer (he sayde) was, that although he could not deny ye one and ye other to be otherwayes yn truth, yet I must take ye tymes as they were, and yf I wold not nowe give him £2,500 for yt tytle he offered, wth expectation of getting ye other for me hereafter, by God I shold never have anie tytle whylst he lived. The first I denyed, and his Grace hath made good his oathe. God soe rewarde him.

After the death of James, which occurred in March 1624, Sir George Chaworth seems to have revived his application for the peerage, but to have obtained it at length only on the old terms of purchase from the Duke of Buckingham. His wish was to have obtained an English

Barony, Basset of Weldon, to which, he says, "he pretended by his ancestor's match with Alisbury, who married the daughter and heyre of the said Basset." The price of the Irish Peerage, with future expectation for English, was £1,500, half to be paid down, and the other half within six months after his creation; for the execution of which covenant the Duke addressed his warrant to him as follows:

"Sir George Chaworth, the monies wch his Ma: commanded you deliver to my hands, you shall paye unto Signor Gentilesco. And this shall be your warrant. Geven at Wytehall ye 7th of Januarie 1627.

"BUCKINGHAM."

His letters patent were now prepared, elevating him to "the state, grade, honor, and dignity of Baron Chaworth, of Tryme, in the county of Meath, and Viscount Chaworth of Armagh, both in the Kingdom of Ireland.” They are given at length in his Diary. They recite his services as a gentleman of King James's privy chamber, as ambassador to the Infanta and Archduchess, his descent from royal blood, by the intermarriage of one of his ancestors with an Earl of Lancaster. But this elevation fell short of his views, as it gave him no admission to the English House of Peers; he, therefore, while the above official instrument was passing the seals, addressed the following letter to the Duke:

"May it please your Grace, I have shewed my obedyence to his Maties comand and yor desyre, in accepting tytle out of my waye, and at a dearer rate then others, so I doe beseech yor Grace, lett ye first step of yor pmised favor to me be to move his Ma: to lett me att this tyme also (all in all) receeve ye tytle of Baron Bassett of England, wch ys my right in blud, and addeth no place at all to me but ye means to serve his Ma: and yo' Grace in

this Parlemt. His Ma: holdeth two other Baronies from my poor house, wth theyr possessions, so as besyde ye obligation I and myne posteritie must hereby have to yor Grace, it will be a marque of his Maties justice, as well as of his favour towards your Grace's most humble servt, "GEORGE CHAWORTH."

"Upon this," continues the writer, "ye Duke sent for me, and wth lookeing on that extraction I shewed him drawn from ye Lo: Basset, he said, 'I will move ye King in itt, but now ys no fitt tyme to mingle it wth this other. The next daye he dyd tell me 'his Ma: was enclyned as I could wish, to doe my owne desyre, but at that tyme he held yt no wayes expedient for him or necessarie for me; but,' sayde he, 'trust to me; by G- it shall be done ere long.' And after goeing along ye gallarie to his bedchamber, and fynding Signor Gentilesco and Signor Michelini there, he turned to me againe, and asked me if I had geven that old man content ?* I sayde I shold doe it presently. But, my Lord,' sayde I, 'remember your promise to me, as you are a gentleman.' He sayde again, before them two, aloude, By G-I will, and soon too; and you shalbe glad of this agreement betwixt you and me, for I wilbe worth thus much to you ere long, and thou shalt have thy desyre in that tytle you clayme.' Geve me your hand on itt,' sayde I. 'Yes,' sayde he, ' and they shalbe witnesses;' and so gave me his hand.”

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In another place, Lord Chaworth adds: "This busynes [of the Irish Viscounty] being determined, and I brought to ye King to kiss his hands, I then cast about to pursue my former request to be called to ye Parlement, wch nowe was beginning. His Grace sware it should be done. I wisht him saye who I shold get to put him in mynd of it? He

* Respecting the money to be paid for the Irish title.

answered, 'My wyfe.' I moved her to it, and she undertook it; but, notwithstanding her undertaking and his promises, I was abused, and the Lord Keeper Coventry, Sir Richard Weston, Sir Edward Howard, and Sir G. Goring, were made by pattents Barons, and no word mentioned of me."

It was in vain, on this neglect, that Chaworth addressed the Duchess, as the Duke's authorized remembrancer; the Duke himself, as the promiser; and the King, as a subject injured by the Duke, who had obliged him to purchase honours from his Majesty, the extent of which had not been fulfilled, although the covenant were ratified by the Duke's oath. The letter setting forth these grievances, dated from Southwell, September 1629, Chaworth says he directed under cover to Lady Denbigh, who presented it to King Charles at Hampton Court, who read it all over, and, saying nothing to it, called for a candle and burnt it.

Thus Chaworth fully experienced the disappointment of that poor man who builds his airy prospects on the honours and preferments of a Court. He sits down, to use his own words, to unburthen his wounded spirit, "confused and confounded of being so near, yet missing the addition of an hereditary honour to his house." He determines to load the insensible paper with those oppressive thoughts which poison the best faculty of his soul, memory. Hence he has contributed to these pages the amusing, if quaint and sometimes prolix notes, which constitute his desultory Diary. Among them, the fees which he paid for his Irish Peerage, in addition to the purchasemoney to the rapacious Duke, have not been forgotten. The MS. is throughout autograph, with the exception of some official letters of form, which seem to have been transcribed by his secretary.

ADDENDA.

Notes of some Papers which have not been inserted at

length.

1. Lord William Howard to William More, Esq. His son Charles is about "to stand in election " for one of the Knights of the Shire of Surrey: requests his vote in his favour, and those of as many of tenants, neighbours, and friends, as he can procure.-Dec. 20, 1558.

2. The bailiffs, and certain inhabitants of the town of Kingston-upon-Thames, petition William More, Esq. complaining of the consumption of wood by means of an iron mill in that neighbourhood. The "price of a load of tall wood has been raised from 3s. to 4s. and of charcoal from 108. to 20s." They pray that he will aid to put down the mill by Act of Parliament.-Feb. 5, 1562.

3. Roger Byngborne, a servant of Lord Montague, to William More: "My Lords of Leycester and Sussex are made friends, and came yesterday ridinge through the cytye together, and so dyned at my Lord of Bedford's house, St. Mary Overies."-June 23, 1566.

4. "Ane Proclamation set furth by my Lord Regent in the name of our Souverane Lord, declaring the purpose

« AnteriorContinuar »