the queen that he possessed influence with some of the principal officers in the army–it was one of his foibles to suppose that he was capable of influencing everybody with whom he in any way came into contact–he obtained from her a letter of recommendation to the king. Having gained access to the king, he set about using his influence with Cromwell, Ireton, and other eminent officers, with a view to mediating between them and the king. In this business he was ably seconded by Ashburnham. The result was that a set of propositions emanating from the chiefs of the army were submitted to the king as a basis of reconciliation in July 1647, which the king scornfully rejected. Berkeley received the king's commands to attend him in his flight on the night of 10 Nov. 1647. The party pushed on towards Hampshire, and ultimately reached Lymington. Berkeley crossed the Solent and opened the matter to Hammond, from whom, however, nothing definite could be elicited. The envoys making no way with the business, by an act of almost incredible folly they conducted Hammond to the king at Lymington, who then saw nothing for it but to accompany Hammond to Carisbrooke Castle. After this exploit Berkeley returned to London, still bent upon using his influence with the army; but being ill received by the officers, and arraigned by the parliament as a delinquent, he thought it most prudent to retire to Paris. Here, during the absence of Lord Byron in England, he obtained, through the influence, as it would seem, of Lord Jermyn, the post of temporary governor to the Duke of York (1648), and on the death of Lord Byron (1652) took that nobleman's place, acquiring the control of the duke's finances, and styling himself, though without (says Clarendon) any authority so to do, 'intendant des affaires de son altesse royale.' In this capacity, and with an eye to the duke's revenue and his own, he endeavoured to bring about a match between the duke and Marie de Longueville, daughter of the Duke of Longueville, but the French court refused its sanction, and the idea was at once abandoned. Meanwhile Berkeley was engaged in paying his addresses to the Countess Morton, the governess of the Princess Henrietta, to whom in due course he made an offer of marriage. The lady appears to have made a confidant of Sir Edward Hyde (afterwards Earl of Clarendon), and to have rejected Berkeley upon his advice; and this fact coming to Berkeley's knowledge inspired him with a deep and lasting animosity to Hyde, which the latter answered with contempt, and also by intriguing to destroy Berkeley's influence with the duke, in which he signally failed.
Between 1652 and 1655 Berkeley served under Turenne in the campaigns against Condé and the Spaniards in Flanders, accompanying the Duke of York as a volunteer, and when the duke placed his sword at the disposal of Spain, and crossed over into the Netherlands early in 1656, he was still accompanied by Berkeley. In the spring of the next year he made a tour with the duke through some of the principal cities of the Netherlands, took part in the campaigns of that and the following year, and at the request of the duke was raised to the peerage as Baron Berkeley of Stratton, in Cornwall, by a patent dated at Brussels 19 May 1658. Returning to England at the Restoration, he was at once placed upon the staff of the admiralty. The following year he was appointed lord president of Connaught, for life. This post, however, did not prevent his attendance at court, a deputy being at the same time appointed to do the work of the office in Ireland. This rapid advancement seems to have somewhat disturbed Pepys's equanimity, for he records the fact that on Sunday, 22 March 1662-3, he heard at church 'a dull formal fellow that prayed for the Right Honourable John Lord Barkeley, lord president of Connaught,' &c. In 1663 (17 June) Berkeley was sworn a member of the privy council, and in the following year was made one of the masters of the ordnance. In January 1664-5 he was placed on the committee of Tangier. In February of this year he began building himself a palace in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly, which was destroyed by fire in 1733, but the site of which is now marked by Devonshire House. It was in the Italian style, and 'stood him in near 30,000l.,' says Evelyn. It was completed about 1672-3. In 1668 he bought Twickenham Park, which, however, passed out of his family in 1685. In 1670 he went to Ireland as lord lieutenant; this office he held for two years, with a few months' leave of absence in 1671, during which it was in commission. As viceroy he manifested a marked partiality for the catholic party, allowing on one occasion the titular Archbishop Peter to use the castle plate for the purpose of adding magnificence to a religious celebration, and telling him at the same time that in a few months 'he hoped to see high mass at Christ Church.' In December 1675 he was appointed, with Sir William Temple and Sir Leoline Jenkyns, ambassador extraordinary on the part of England at the congress of Nimeguen then about to assemble. He received orders to leave for France before the commission was made out, and was to have started in October; but his departure was delayed for a few days by an
