Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/Mr. Hyde to Mr. Sidney, August 18

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2609420Diary of the times of Charles II — Mr. Hyde to Mr. Sidney, August 18Laurence Hyde

MR. HYDE^[1] TO MR. SIDNEY.

St. James Street, August 18th.

I was in the county of Wiltshire using my endeavours to be sent up to serve my country in the new parliament, when your favour of the 5-15th instant came hither, which hindered me from receiving it till my return on Saturday last, and consequently from paying you the thanks due for so much kindness to me, and for remembering the little commission I took the liberty to give you abont the pills, which I have not yet received, but thank you as much as if I had. Since you have taken so much care about them, I should make you more apology for giving you that trouble, but that I intend to employ the health you may help me to by them in your service if there be any occasion for it while I am Commissioner of the Treasury, or in any other way that you shall judge me worthy to be employed in it.

I wish you joy of your new acquaintance you tell me you have made. I will only say for your comfort "dans le royaume des aveugles," you know who are kings, and I wish everything there were better for your sake, there being nobody to whom I wish more happiness, and am with greater sincerity and concern a most faithful humble servant,

L. Hyde.

The Duke's daughters go to-morrow from hence to Brussels, which is all the news I know to send you, and that my Lord Ossory was to go over with them, but he does not.

↑ Lawrence Hyde, created Earl of Rochester by Charles II. was the second son of Lord Chancellor Clarendon. In the parliament called after the Restoration, he was chosen one of the representatives of the University of Oxford; and in October 1661, we find him appointed with Lord Crofts and Sir Charles Berkely in their mission to Paris, to congratulate the King of France on the birth of the Dauphin. On his return he was- promoted from the household of the Duke of York, whose first wife was Hyde's sister, and with whom he seems always to have been a great favourite, to be master of the robes to the King. In 1676, he was sent Ambassador Extraordinary to John Sobieski, King of Poland. In obedience to the directions of his Court, he returned home by Vienna, charged with letters of condolence from his master to the Emperor, upon the death of his wife. Finding, however, upon his arrival that he needed none, having married again, he very wisely said nothing about it, but passed quietly through that capital into Holland, where he was met by a commission appointing him one of the mediators of peace at Nimeguen, in which treaty, however, he only took a nominal part, and soon afterwards he was sent on a mission to the Prince of Orange. In 1679, he was made one of the Commissioners of the Treasury, and soon afterwards the First Lord, and as such he was at this period associated with Lord Sunderland and Godolphin in the chief management of the King's affairs.
In 1681, he was created Viscount and Baron Hyde; in 1683, Earl of Rochester; and upon the accession of James II. he was made Lord High Treasurer. From this post he was removed in 1686, through the intrigues of Lord Sunderland and Father Peter the Jesuit, who represented to the King that he must never expect to carry his measure, the Abolition of the Test Act, so long as the opposition was led by one of his own ministers. James was as reluctant to part with his old servant as the servant was to leave his master, and employed two Roman Catholic divines to convert him. Rochester, though he allowed that "they had discoursed learnedly, and that he would attentively consider their arguments," adhered to his own religious creed. James parted with his old favourite with tears, and granted him an estate of £1700 a year, and an annuity of £4000. In the convention parliament, he strongly maintained the doctrine of hereditary right; he was one of the strenuous advocates for a Regency, and would certainly have lost his pension, but for the intercession of Bishop Burnet. In 1700, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but, having been dismissed from his employment by Queen Anne, he entered strongly into opposition to the Court, and was long considered the head of the High Church party. With him originated the proposal of bringing over the Princess Sophia in 1705; the opposition to the Regency Bill, and the Union Bill in 1707. In 1710, through the influence of Harley, the Queen became reconciled to him; he was appointed President of the Council; and it is said he was designed for the office of Lord High Treasurer, when death removed him, in 1712. His character has been thus drawn by Sir James Mackintosh. "Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was Lord Sunderland's most formidable competitor for the chief direction of public affairs. He owed this importance rather to his position and connexions than to his abilities, which however were by no means contemptible; he was the undisputed leader of the Tory party, to whose highest principles in Church and State he shewed a constant and probably conscientious attachment. He had adhered to James in every variety of fortune, and was the uncle of the Princesses Mary and Anne, who seemed likely in succession to inherit the crown; he was a fluent speaker, and appears to have possessed some part of his father's talents as a writer; he was deemed sincere and upright, and his life was not stained by any vice, except violent paroxysms of anger and an excessive indulgence in wine, then scarcely deemed a fault. His infirmities, says one of the most zealous adherents of his party, were passion, in which he would swear like a cutter, and the indulging himself in wine; but his party was that of the Church of England, of whom he had the honour for many years of being accounted the head. The impetuosity of his temper concurred with his opinions on government in prompting him to vigorous measures; he disdained the forms and details of business, and it was his maxim to prefer only Tories without regard to their qualifications for office. "Do you not think," said he to Lord Keeper Guildford, "that I cannot understand, any business in England in a month?" "Yes, my Lord," answered the Keeper, "but I believe you will understand it better in two." Even his personal defects and unreasonable maxims were calculated to attach adherents to him as a chief, and he was well qualified to be leader of a party ready to support all the pretensions of any King who supported the Protestant establishment." Lord Dartmouth in one of his notes says, "I never knew a man who was so soon put into a passion, or was so long before he could bring himself out of it, in which he would say things which were never forgot by any but himself. In Reresby's Memoirs, there is an account of a furious debauch in wine, in which he and Lord Chancellor Jefferies were engaged with Mr. Alderman Duncomb, when they drank themselves into that height of frenzy, that among friends it was whispered they had stripped unto their shirts, and that, had not an accident prevented them, they had got upon a sign-post to drink the King's health, which he adds was the subject of much derision, to say no worse."—Preface to the Correspondence of Lord Hyde. Reresby's Memoirs

[p71-1] Lawrence Hyde, created Earl of Rochester by Charles II. was the second son of Lord Chancellor Clarendon. In the parliament called after the Restoration, he was chosen one of the representatives of the University of Oxford; and in October 1661, we find him appointed with Lord Crofts and Sir Charles Berkely in their mission to Paris, to congratulate the King of France on the birth of the Dauphin. On his return he was- promoted from the household of the Duke of York, whose first wife was Hyde's sister, and with whom he seems always to have been a great favourite, to be master of the robes to the King. In 1676, he was sent Ambassador Extraordinary to John Sobieski, King of Poland. In obedience to the directions of his Court, he returned home by Vienna, charged with letters of condolence from his master to the Emperor, upon the death of his wife. Finding, however, upon his arrival that he needed none, having married again, he very wisely said nothing about it, but passed quietly through that capital into Holland, where he was met by a commission appointing him one of the mediators of peace at Nimeguen, in which treaty, however, he only took a nominal part, and soon afterwards he was sent on a mission to the Prince of Orange. In 1679, he was made one of the Commissioners of the Treasury, and soon afterwards the First Lord, and as such he was at this period associated with Lord Sunderland and Godolphin in the chief management of the King's affairs.
In 1681, he was created Viscount and Baron Hyde; in 1683, Earl of Rochester; and upon the accession of James II. he was made Lord High Treasurer. From this post he was removed in 1686, through the intrigues of Lord Sunderland and Father Peter the Jesuit, who represented to the King that he must never expect to carry his measure, the Abolition of the Test Act, so long as the opposition was led by one of his own ministers. James was as reluctant to part with his old servant as the servant was to leave his master, and employed two Roman Catholic divines to convert him. Rochester, though he allowed that "they had discoursed learnedly, and that he would attentively consider their arguments," adhered to his own religious creed. James parted with his old favourite with tears, and granted him an estate of £1700 a year, and an annuity of £4000. In the convention parliament, he strongly maintained the doctrine of hereditary right; he was one of the strenuous advocates for a Regency, and would certainly have lost his pension, but for the intercession of Bishop Burnet. In 1700, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but, having been dismissed from his employment by Queen Anne, he entered strongly into opposition to the Court, and was long considered the head of the High Church party. With him originated the proposal of bringing over the Princess Sophia in 1705; the opposition to the Regency Bill, and the Union Bill in 1707. In 1710, through the influence of Harley, the Queen became reconciled to him; he was appointed President of the Council; and it is said he was designed for the office of Lord High Treasurer, when death removed him, in 1712. His character has been thus drawn by Sir James Mackintosh. "Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was Lord Sunderland's most formidable competitor for the chief direction of public affairs. He owed this importance rather to his position and connexions than to his abilities, which however were by no means contemptible; he was the undisputed leader of the Tory party, to whose highest principles in Church and State he shewed a constant and probably conscientious attachment. He had adhered to James in every variety of fortune, and was the uncle of the Princesses Mary and Anne, who seemed likely in succession to inherit the crown; he was a fluent speaker, and appears to have possessed some part of his father's talents as a writer; he was deemed sincere and upright, and his life was not stained by any vice, except violent paroxysms of anger and an excessive indulgence in wine, then scarcely deemed a fault. His infirmities, says one of the most zealous adherents of his party, were passion, in which he would swear like a cutter, and the indulging himself in wine; but his party was that of the Church of England, of whom he had the honour for many years of being accounted the head. The impetuosity of his temper concurred with his opinions on government in prompting him to vigorous measures; he disdained the forms and details of business, and it was his maxim to prefer only Tories without regard to their qualifications for office. "Do you not think," said he to Lord Keeper Guildford, "that I cannot understand, any business in England in a month?" "Yes, my Lord," answered the Keeper, "but I believe you will understand it better in two." Even his personal defects and unreasonable maxims were calculated to attach adherents to him as a chief, and he was well qualified to be leader of a party ready to support all the pretensions of any King who supported the Protestant establishment." Lord Dartmouth in one of his notes says, "I never knew a man who was so soon put into a passion, or was so long before he could bring himself out of it, in which he would say things which were never forgot by any but himself. In Reresby's Memoirs, there is an account of a furious debauch in wine, in which he and Lord Chancellor Jefferies were engaged with Mr. Alderman Duncomb, when they drank themselves into that height of frenzy, that among friends it was whispered they had stripped unto their shirts, and that, had not an accident prevented them, they had got upon a sign-post to drink the King's health, which he adds was the subject of much derision, to say no worse."—Preface to the Correspondence of Lord Hyde. Reresby's Memoirs

[1]

Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/Mr. Hyde to Mr. Sidney, August 18

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