One of the cloth of estates is thus described:
"One rich cloth of estate of purple velvet, embroidered with gold,
having the arms of England within a garter, with all the furniture
suitable thereunto. The state containing these stones following: two
cameos or agates, twelve chrysolites, twelve ballases or garnets, one
sapphire seated in chases of gold, one long pearl pendant, and many
large and small pearls, valued at £500 sold for £602 10s. to Mr. Oliver,
4 February, 1649."
Was plain Mr. Oliver, in 1649, who we see was one of the earlier
purchasers, shortly after "the Lord Protector?" All the "cloth of
estate" and "arras hangings" were afterwards purchased for the service
of the Protector; and one may venture to conjecture, that when Mr.
Oliver purchased this "rich cloth of estate," it was not without a
latent motive of its service to the new owner.[198]
There is one circumstance remarkable in the feeling of Charles the First
for the fine arts: it was a passion without ostentation or egotism; for
although this monarch was inclined himself to participate in the
pleasures of a creating artist, the king having handled the pencil and
composed a poem, yet he never suffered his private dispositions to
prevail over his more majestic duties. We do not discover in history
that Charles the First was a painter and a poet. Accident and secret
history only reveal this softening feature in his grave and king-like
character. Charles sought no glory from, but only indulged his love for,
art and the artists. There are three manuscripts on his art, by Leonardo
da Vinci, in the Ambrosian library, which bear an inscription that a
King of England, in 1639, offered one thousand guineas of gold for each.
Charles, too, suggested to the two great painters of his age the
subjects he considered worthy of their pencils; and had for his
"closet-companions" those native poets for which he was censured in
"evil times," and even by Milton!
In his imprisonment at Carisbrook Castle, the author of the "Eikon
Basilike" solaced his royal woes by composing a poem, entitled in the
very style of this memorable volume, "Majesty in Misery, or an
Imploration to the King of kings;" a _title_ probably not his own, but
like that volume, it contains stanzas fraught with the most tender and
solemn feeling; such a subject, in the hands of such an author, was sure
to produce poetry, although in the unpractised poet we may want the
versifier. A few stanzas will illustrate this conception of part of his
character:--
The fiercest furies that do daily tread
Upon my grief, my grey-discrowned head,
Are those that own my bounty for their bread.
With my own power my majesty they wound;
In the king's name, the king himself uncrowned;
So doth the dust destroy the diamond.
After a pathetic description of his queen "forced in pilgrimage to seek
a tomb," and "Great Britain's heir forced into France," where,
Poor child, he weeps out his inheritance!
Charles continues:
They promise to erect my royal stem;
To make me great, to advance my diadem;
If I will first fall down and worship them!
But for refusal they devour my thrones,
Distress my children, and destroy my bones;
I fear they'll force me to make bread of stones.
And implores, with a martyr's piety, the Saviour's forgiveness for those
who were more misled than criminal: