In Hypogeo, juxta hoc monumentum,
jacet corpus nobilissimi viri
RICARDI FANSHAWE,
Equitis Aurati et Baronetti, ex antiqua illa familia de
Ware Parke, in comitatu Hertfordiae,
Henrici Fanshawe, Equitis Aurati, prolis decimae.
Uxorem duxit Annam filiam natu maximam Johannis
Harrison, Equitis Aurati, de Balls, in com. Hertfordiae;
et ex ea suscepit sex filios et octo filias; e quibus
supersunt Ricardus, Catherina, Margarita, Anna,
et Elizabetha.
Vir comitate morum, luce fidei, constantia,
praestantissimus,
qui olim (laetus exul) serenissimi regis Caroli Secundi
calamitates fortiter amplexus est,
in Rebus bellicis, ab eodem constitutus Secretarius,
posteaque (Regno ei feliciter restaurato)
libellorum supplicum Magister,
a Latinis epistolis, a sanctioribus Regis consiliis
tum Angliae, tum Hiberniae factus; pro Academia Cantabrigiensi
Burgensis;
Necnon ejusdem serenissimi Regis ad utrasque Aulas
Portugal. et Hispan.
Legatus, in quarum proxima, cum pulcherrime officio
suo functus esset, splendidissimam quamdiu egerat
Vitam cum luctuosa morte commutavit.
Monumentum hoc, cum Hypogeo, moestissima conjux
pie posuit, quas etiam corpus Mariti sui ab urbe
Madrid huc per terras transtulit.
Obiit 16 de Junii, anno Dom MDCLXVI aetatis suae LIX.
[Footnote: Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire, vol. iii. page 311.
The following arms occur on the monument: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Or,
a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis Sable, Fanshawe ancient; 2nd and
3rd, cheeky Argent and Azure, a cross Gules, Fanshawe modern, being an
honourable augmentation granted in 1650: on an escutcheon in the
centre, the arms of Ulster. Impaling, Checky, a cross, thereon five
pheons' heads, pointing upwards. Harrison. Crest, on a wreath, Or and
Azure, a dragon's head erased Or, vomiting fire. On a label under the
arms these mottos: "Dux vitae ratio." "In Christo victoria."]
Sir Richard Fanshawe was buried with much pomp; and a full account of
the ceremony occurs in his funeral certificate in the College of Arms.
From the King, the Queen, the Court, and some of the ministers, Lady
Fanshawe received much sympathy and kindness; but, in common with
every other person who had pecuniary claims on the Government, she
experienced great difficulty in procuring the arrears due to her
husband, and it was not until nearly three years that the whole was
paid; by which delay, she says, she sustained a loss of above two
thousand pounds. At the instigation of Lord Shaftesbury, of whom she
speaks with the utmost bitterness, she was obliged to pay the same
amount for the plate furnished to the embassy.
Of the tardy manner in which Sir Richard Fanshawe's allowance was
paid, and the embarrassment into which he was consequently thrown, he
has left ample proof in his letter to his brother-in-law Sir Philip
Warwick, dated a few weeks before his death; in which he tells him
that he had been obliged to pawn his plate for his subsistence.
Lady Fanshawe states in a very feeling manner the situation in which
she found herself after her husband's death; and it is scarcely
possible to read her allusions to his long and faithful services, and
the heavy sacrifices which he made, without admitting the justice of
the charge so often brought against Charles, of being neglectful of
his servants. It is, however, more than possible that the fault was
not the monarch's alone. He was surrounded by greedy and selfish
courtiers, each eager to advance his own interest, and possessed of
similar claims on the ground of services; and as the spoils out of
which they sought to enrich themselves were limited, it was an obvious
point of policy to oppose the demands of others. The few years which
succeeded the Restoration are among the most disgraceful in the annals
of this country; and to the evidence which exists of the want of
principle which characterised the Court of Charles the Second, these
Memoirs are no slight addition. The monarch was heartless and
profligate; his ministers, with very few exceptions, were intent alone
on the promotion of their own interests; and services and sufferings
were nothing in the balance against the influence of the royal
mistresses. In such a state of things, merit availed but little; and
with a host of other zealous adherents of the royal family, at a time
when fidelity was attended with the fearful penalties attached to high
treason, Sir Richard Fanshawe, after thirty years' devotion to his
master, and spending a fortune in his cause, was sacrificed to the
intrigues of his enemies, and probably was only spared by death from
greater mortifications.
To this outline of the lives of Sir Richard and Lady Fanshawe little
remains to be added. The Memoir, though continued to the year 1670,
contains very few facts after her return to England which are
deserving of notice. It is manifest that her hopes were destroyed, and
that her only happiness consisted in reflecting on the past. Her first
object was to reduce her establishment according to her altered
fortune, and the second to educate her family. In 1670 she lost her
excellent father, whose death added heavily to her misfortunes; but
she possessed that resource against human woes which can only be
inspired by a reliance upon Him who never deserts the widow and the
fatherless. Her life had been marked by extreme vicissitudes; and at
its conclusion--dark and cheerless as it was--she wisely looked for
consolation where she had so frequently found it, and where, it may be
confidently said, it is never sought in vain.
Of the conduct of Sir Richard Fanshawe, as a servant of the Crown, and
as a husband and a father, sufficient is said in the Memoir; but it is
desirable to notice his literary labours, which are stated in the
Biographia Britannica to consist of--
1. An English translation, in rhyme, of the celebrated Italian
pastoral, called "Il Pastor Fido, or, the Faithful Shepherd," written
originally by Battista Guarini. Printed at London, 1646, 4to, and in
1664, 8vo.