king's name, which the lord lieutenant believed (for he was fteered by him) might contribute to his majefty's fervice in a time of fo great jealoufy. About the fame time an exprefs arrived from Scilly, who was fent thence to the lord lieutenant from the prince of Wales, to inform his lordship, that his highnefs was newly retired to that ifland, where he meant to refide as long as he fhould find it convenient; and because the island was poor and unfurnished with men, his highness wished that he might have a hundred men fent him, with good officers, for a guard to his perfon; having fent at the fame time to his royal mother the queen, who was then at Paris, to procure him money from thence for the fupport of his perfon, and the payment of the foldiers. This news came no fooner to Dublin, but the perfon we mentioned prefently conceived that the prince's prefence in Ireland would fettle and compofe all the factions there, reduce the kingdom to his majesty's fervice, and oblige the Pope's Nuncio, who was an enemy to the peace, to quit his ambitious defigns. The lord lieutenant had fo good an opinion of that expedient, that he could have been very well contented, that, when his highness had been forced to leave England, he had rather chofen to have made Ireland than Scilly his retreat; but being a wife man, and having many difficulties before him in view, and the apprehenfion of many contingencies which might increase those difficulties, he would not take upor him to give advice in a point of fo great importance; but forthwith, having a couple of frigates ready, he caufed a hundred men with their officers to be prefently put on board according to his highness's defire, and the lord Digby (who always concluded that that

was fit to be done, which his first thoughts fuggefted to him, and never doubted the execution of any thing which he once thought fit to be attempted) put himself on board thefe veffels, refolving that upon the ftrength of his own reafon he fhould be able to perfuade the prince, and the council which attended him, forwith to quit Scilly, and to repair to Dublin; which he did not doubt might be brought to pafs in that way that would have been grateful to the lord lieutenant. The prince within a fortnight after his coming to Scilly, which was in March, found the place not so ftrong as he had understood it to be, that the island was very poor, and that he fhould not be able to draw any provisions thither from Corn. wall, by which commerce those iflands had ftill been fupported; he refolved therefore, before the year advanced farther, when the feas were like to be more infefted with the enemy's fhips, to tranfport himfelf to Jerfey, which he did very happily, and found it to be a place in all refpects very fit to refide in, till he might better understand the prefent condition of England, and receive fome pofitive advice from the king his father. But by this fudden remove of the prince from Scilly, the two frigates from Dublin miffed finding him there, and the lord, whofe order they were obliged to obferve, made all the hafte he could to Jerfey, where he arrived well, and found the prince there with many other of his friends who attended his highnefs; the two lords being gone but the day before to attend the queen. He loft no time in informing his highness of the happy ftate and condition of Ireland, that the peace was concluded, and an army of twelve thousand men ready to be tranf ported into England, of the great

zeal

zeal and affection the lord lieutenant had for his service, and that if his highness would repair thither, he, fhould find the whole kingdom devoted to his fervice; and thereupon pofitively advised him, without further deliberation, to put himself aboard those frigates, which were excellent failers, and fit for his fecure tranfportation. The prince told him that it was a matter of greater importance than was fit to be executed upon fo fhort deliberation, that he no fooner arrived at Jersey than he received letters from the queen his mother, requiring him forthwith to come to Paris, where all things were provided for his reception, that he had fent two of the lords of the council to the queen, to excufe him for not giving ready obedience to her commands, and to affure her that he was in a place of unquestionable fecurity, in which he might fafely expect to hear from the king his father before he took any other refolution. That it would be very incongruous now to remove from thence, and to go into Ireland before his meffengers returned from Paris, in which time he might reafonably hope to hear from the king himself, and so wished him to have patience till the matter was more ripe for a determination. This reasonable anfwer gave him no fatifaction, he commended the prince's averfenefs from going into France, which he faid was the moft pernicious counfel that ever could be given; that it was a thing the king his father abhorred, and never could confent to; and that he would take upon himself to write to the queen, and to give her fuch folid advice and reafons that fhould infallibly convert her from that defire, and that fhould abundantly fatisfy her, that

his going into Ireland was absolutely neceffary; but that a little delay in the execution of it, might deprive them of all the fruit which was to be expected from that journey, and therefore renewed his advice and importunity for lofing no more time, but immediately to embark. Which when he faw was not like to prevail with his highness, he immediately repaired to one of thofe of the privy council who attended the prince, with whom he had a particular friendship, and lamented to him the lofs of fuch an occafion, which would inevitably reflore the king, who would be equally ruined if the prince went into France, of which he fpake with all the deteftation imaginable, and faid, he was fo far fatisfied in his confcience of the benefit that would redound from the one, and the ruin which would inevitably fall out by the other, that he faid, if the perfon with whom he held this conference would concur with him, he would carry the prince into Ireland, even without and against his confent. The other person answered, that it was not to be attempted without his confent, nor could he imagine it poffible to bring it to pafs if they fhould both endeavour it; he replied, that he would invite the prince on board the frigates to a collation, and that he knew well he could fo commend the veffels to him, that his own curiofity would eafily invite him to a view of them, and that as foon as he was on board, he would cause the fails to be hoifted up, and make no stay till he came into Ireland. The other was very angry with him for entertaining fuch imaginations, and told him they ncither agreed with his wifdom nor his duty, and left him in defpair of

his conjunction, and at the fame time of being able to compafs it. He had no fooner discharged himfelf of this imagination, but in the inftant (as he had a moft pregnant fancy) he entertained another with the fame vigour, and refolved with all poffible expedition to find himfelf at Paris, not making the leaft question but that he fhould convert the Queen from any farther thought of fending for the Prince into France, and as eafily obtain her confent and approbation for his repairing into Ireland; and he made as little doubt, with the queen's help, and by his own dexterity, to prevail with France to fend a good fupply of money by him into Ireland, by which he fhould acquire a most universal reputation, and be the most welcome man alive to the Lord Lieutenant; and tranfported with this happy auguration, he left Jerfey, leaving at the fame time his two fhips and his foldiers, and half a dozen gentlemen of quality, who, upon his defire, and many promifes, had kept him company from Ireland without one penny of money to fubfift upon during his abfence.

"Whilst the civil wars of France continued, and every day discovered treachery and falfehood in the court, amongst those who were leaft fufpected, his credit grew to that degree both with the queen and the cardinal, that he was admitted into the greatest trust, and was, in truth, ready for the boldeft undertakings, in which he had fometimes fuccefs, which he never forgot, but he never remembered want of it, or when he had fucceeded very ill; and was as prepared for any new undertaking. And in truth, the changes he met with, and even the reparations he fometimes received, might well work upon a nature lefs fanguine than bis. Upon the King's

first coming to Paris after the murther of his father, at which time he ftood poffefled of the office of fecretary of ftate, he had some very good friends about the young king, who did with that he might receive all gracious treatment from his majesty, as a man who had behaved himfelf faithfully and fignally in the fervice of his father, and being of that rank and quality as had feldom received any diminution upon the fucceffion of the crown. But his majefty very quickly difcovered fuch an averfion for him, that he did not receive him with any degree of grace, nor admit him into any kind of confultation, there being fome perfons of inferior condition about him who had made it their business to make the worst impreffion they could of him, principally infuting into him, that he was the most obnoxious perfon in England, and the most ingrateful to all degrees of perfons, and therefore his majefty could not do a more unpopular thing than to receive fuch a perfon into any kind of credit with him. Thefe and the like infufions prevailed fo far, as that an obftinate averfion was too eafily difcovered by those who stood very near, and he himself difcerned it foon enough not to expose himself till it was difcerned by others at a farther diftance; and therefore he fpeedily withdrew himself from any farther attendance, and retired to his command in the army, where he grew every day, and where he pleafed himself with the having difcharged his duty in the overture of his fervice, and as much, that that overture was rejected, the accep tance whercof might have made him lefs folicitous to have profecuted his fortune, which Providence had laid before him in a more fpecious way. And in his refentments of this kind he was naturally very fharp and

flowing

flowing, let the perfons be of what quality foever, which were to be mentioned upon thofe occafions; and yet within two or three years, together with the progrefs he made in the war, he recovered fo much credit with the perfon of the king, by his own pure addrefs and dexterity, that he not only made himfelf acceptable to him in converfation, but fo gracious, that he made him knight of the order, which was the greatest honour he could bestow, and the most useful to the perfon on whom he bestowed it. And here he again congratulated his ftars for the neglect and affront he had for merly fuftained, and his own genius for the honour and reparation he had wrought out for himself by his wifdom in fupporting it; and at the time when he had this obligation conferred upon him, the king was at the Louvre with his Mother, and the city of Paris, with many of the princes, in rebellion. Whilft the king and his army were about St. Germains, he frankly undertook, by his pretence to pay his duty to the King, that he would introduce officers and men enough to poffefs himself of the Louvre, where the King was in great jealoufy and umbrage with the princes and the city; and when the execution of this defign was by fome accident interrupt ed, he never thought he owed an apology to the King for engaging in fuch an enterprize, in which his perfon and his honour was to be fo much concerned, without fo much as communicating it to himself, but would with all affurance declare, that he ought not to let the King know of it, because it could not be prefumed he would confent to it, and then it would be in his power to prevent it; and therefore it ought to be done without his privity, which would abfolve him from be

ing thought to have a hand in it, and the advantage would be fo great to the King of France's fervice, and his own glory in the luftre of fuch an action, that he was obliged in honour to undertake it.

"It is pity that his whole life fhould not be exactly and carefully written, and it would be as much pity that any body else should do it but himfelf, who could only do it to the life; and make the fruest defcriptions of all his faculties and paffions, and appetites, and the full operation of them; and he would do it with as much ingenuity and integrity as any man could do, and expofe himself as much to the cenfure and reproach of other men, as the malice of his greatest enemy could do; for in truth he does believe many of thofe particular actions, which fevere and rigid men do look upon as disfigurings of the other beautiful part of his life, to be great luftre and ornament to it; and would rather expofe it nakedly to have the indifcretion and unwarrantable part of it cenfured, than that the fancy and high projection fhould be concealed, it being an infirmnity that he would not part with, to believe that a very ill thing fubtilly and warily defigned, and well and bravely executed, is much worthier of a great spirit than a faint acquiefcence under any infelicity, merely to contain himself within the bounds of innocence: and yet if any man concludes from hence that he is of a fierce and impetuous difpofition, and prepared to undertake the worst enterprize, he will find caufe enough to believe himfelf mistaken, and that he hath softnefs and tenderness enough about him to restrain him, not only from ill, but even from unkind and illnatured actions. No man loves more paffionately and violently, at

leaft

least makes more lively expreffions of it; and that his hatred and malice, which fometimes brake out from him with great impetuofity, as if he would destroy all he diflikes, it not compounded proportionably out of the fame fiery materials, appears in this, that he would not on ly, upon very fhort warning and very eafy addrefs, truít a man who had done him injury to a very notable degree, but even fuch a man as he himself had provoked beyond the common bounds of reconciliation; he doth not believe that any body he loves. fo well, can be unloved by any body elfe; and that whatever prejudice is contracted against him, he could remove it if he were but admitted to conference with them which own it. No man can judge, hardly guefs, by what he hath done formerly, what he will do in the time to come; whether his virtues will have the better, and triumph over his vanities, or whether the ftrength and vigour of his ambition and other exorbitances will be able to fupprefs and even extinguifh his better difpofed inclinations aud refolutions, the fuc

cefs of which will always depend upon circumstances and contingencies, and from fomewhat without, and not within himself. I fhould not imagine that ever his activity, will be attended with fuccefs or fecurity; but, without doubt, if ever his reflections upon the vanity of the world difpofe him to contemn it, and to betake himself to a contemplation of God and nature, or to a strict and fevere devotion, to which he hath fometimes fome temptation, if not inclination; or if a fatiety in wrestling and ftruggling in the world, or a defpair of profpering by thofe ftrugglings, hall prevail with him to abandon thofe contefts, and retire at a good distance from the court, to his book and a contemplative life, he may live to a great and a long age, and will be able to leave fuch information and advertifements of all kinds to pofterity, that he will be looked upon as a great mirror, by which well difpofed men may learn to dress themfelves in the best ornaments, and to fpend their lives to the best advantage of their country.