After two days we went on our journey; a_Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe Wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe, Bt., Ambassador from Charles II to the Courts of Portugal and Madrid.

we came to the Court of Madrid, where we were the next day visited by

the two English ambassadors, and afterwards by all the English

merchants.

Here I was delivered of my first daughter, that was called Elizabeth,

upon the 13th of July. She lived but fifteen days, and lies buried in

the Chapel of the French Hospital. Your father had great difficulty to

carry on his business, without encroaching upon the Extraordinary

Ambassador's negotiation, and the performance of his Majesty's

commands to show his present necessities, which he was sent to Philip

IV. for, in hopes of a present supply of money, which our King then

lacked; but finding no good to be done on that errand, he and I,

accompanied by Dr. Bell, of Jesus College in Cambridge, who had been

his tutor, went a day's journey together towards St. Sebastian, there

to embark for France.

While we stayed in this Court we were kindly treated by all the

English; and it was no small trouble to your father's tutor to quit

his company, but, having undertaken the charge of that family of the

ambassador's as their chaplain, he said, he held himself obliged in

conscience to stay, and so he did. In a few months after he died

there, and lies buried in the garden-house, where they then lived.

Whilst we were in Madrid, there was sent one Askew, as resident from

the then Governor of England; he lay in a common eating-house where

some travellers used to lie, and being one day at dinner, some young

men meeting in the street with Mr. Prodgers, a gentleman belonging to

the Lord Ambassador Cottington, and Mr. Sparks, an English merchant,

discoursing of news, began to speak of the impudence of that Askew, to

come a public minister from rebels to a Court where there were two

Ambassadors from his King. This subject being handled with heat, they

all resolved to go without more consideration into his lodgings

immediately and kill him: they came up to his chamber door, and

finding it open, and he sat at dinner, seized him, and so killed him,

and went their several ways. Afterwards they found Mr. Sparks in a

church for rescue, notwithstanding it was contrary to their religion

and laws, and they forced him out from thence, and executed him

publicly, their fears of the English power were then so great.

There was at that time the Lord Goring, son to the Earl of Norwich: he

had a command under Philip the Fourth of Spain, against the

Portuguese: he was generally esteemed a good and great commander, and

had been brought up in Holland in his youth, of vast natural parts;

for I have heard your father say, he hath dictated to several persons

at once that were upon despatches, and all so admirably well, that

none of them could be mended. He was exceeding facetious and pleasant

company, and in conversation, where good manners were due, the

civilest person imaginable, so that he would blush like a girl. He was

very tall, and very handsome: he had been married to a daughter of the

Earl of Cork, but never had a child by her. His expenses were what he

could get, and his debauchery beyond all precedents, which at last

lost him that love the Spaniards had for him; and that country not

admitting his constant drinking, he fell sick of a hectic fever, in

which he turned his religion, and with that artifice could scarce get

to keep him whilst he lived in that sickness, or to bury him when he

was dead.

We came to St. Sebastian's about the beginning of September, and there

hired a small French vessel to carry us to Nantz: we embarked within

two days after our coming to this town. I never saw so wild a place,

nor were the inhabitants unsuitable, but like to like, which made us

hasten away, and I am sure to our cost we found the proverb true, for

our haste brought us woe. We had not been a day at sea before we had a

storm begun, that continued two days and two nights in a most violent

manner; and being in the Bay of Biscay, we had a hurricane that drew

the vessel up from the water, which had neither sail nor mast left,

and but six men and a boy. Whilst they had hopes of life they ran

swearing about like devils, but when that failed them, they ran into

holes, and let the ship drive as it would. In this great hazard of our

lives we were the beginning of the third night, when God in mercy

ceased the storm of a sudden, and there was a great calm, which made

us exceeding joyful; but when those beasts, for they were scarce men,

that manned the vessel, began to rummage the bark, they could not find

their compass anywhere, for the loss of which they began again such

horrible lamentations as were as dismal to us as the storm past.

Thus between hope and fear we passed the night, they protesting to us

they knew not where they were, and truly we believed them; for with

fear and drink I think they were bereaved of their senses. So soon as

it was day, about six o'clock, the master cried out, 'The land! the

land!' but we did not receive the news with the joy belonging to it,

but sighing said, God's will be done! Thus the tide drove us until

about five o'clock in the afternoon, and drawing near the side of a

small rock that had a creek by it, we ran aground, but the sea was so

calm that we all got out without the loss of any man or goods, but the

vessel was so shattered that it was not afterwards serviceable: thus,

God be praised! we escaped this great danger, and found ourselves near

a little village about two leagues from Nantz. We hired there six

asses, upon which we rode as many as could by turns, and the rest

carried our goods. This journey took us up all the next day, for I

should have told you that we stirred not that night, because we sat up

and made good cheer; for beds they had none, and we were so

transported that we thought we had no need of any, but we had very

good fires, and Nantz white wine, and butter, and milk, and walnuts

and eggs, and some very bad cheese; and was not this enough, with the

escape of shipwreck, to be thought better than a feast? I am sure

until that hour I never knew such pleasure in eating, between which we

a thousand times repeated what we had spoken when every word seemed to

be our last.

As soon as it was day, we began our journey towards Nantz, and by the

way we passed by a little poor chapel, at the door of which a friar

begged an alms, saying, that he would show us there the greatest

wonder in the world. We resolved to go with him. He went before us to

the altar, and out of a cupboard, with great devotion, he took a box,

and crossing himself he opened it, in that was another of crystal that

contained a little silver box; he lifting this crystal box up, cried,

'Behold in this the hem [Footnote: Thus in the MS.; but query if a

mistake of the transcriber.] of St. Joseph, which was taken as he

hewed his timber!' To which my husband replied, 'Indeed, Father, it is

the lightest, considering the greatness, that I ever handled in my

life.' The ridiculousness of this, with the simplicity of the man,

entertained us till we came to Nantz. We met by the way good grapes

and walnuts growing, of which we culled out the best.

Nantz is a passable good town, but decayed: some monasteries in it,

but none good nor rich. There was in a nunnery, when I was there, a

daughter of Secretary Windebank. There is English provisions, and of

all sorts, cheap and good. We hired a boat to carry us up to Orleans,

and we were towed up all the river of Loire so far. Every night we

went on shore to bed, and every morning carried into the boat wine and

fruit, and bread, with some flesh, which we dressed in the boat, for

it had a hearth, on which we burnt charcoal: we likewise caught carps,

which were the fattest and the best I ever eat in my life. And of all

my travels none were, for travel sake as I may call it, so pleasant as

this; for we saw the finest cities, seats, woods, meadows, pastures,

and champaign that I ever saw in my life, adorned with the most

pleasant river of Loire; of which, at Orleans, we took our leaves.

Arriving, about the middle of November 1650, at Paris, we went, so

soon as we could get clothes, to wait on the Queen-Mother and the

Princess Henrietta. The Queen entertained us very respectfully, and

after many favours done us, and discoursing in private with your

father about affairs of state, he received her Majesty's letters to

send to the King, who was then on his way to Scotland. We kissed her

hand and went to Calais, with resolution that I should go to England,

to send my husband more money, for this long journey cost us all we

could procure: yet this I will tell you, praised be God for his

peculiar grace herein, that your father nor I ever borrowed money nor

owed for clothes, nor diet, nor lodging beyond sea in our lives, which

was very much, considering the straits we were in many times, and the

bad custom our countrymen had that way, which did redound much to the

King's dishonour and their own discredit.

When we came to Calais, my husband sent me to England, and staying

himself there, intending, as soon as he had received money, to go and

live in Holland until such time as it should please Almighty God to

enable him again to wait on his Majesty, now in Scotland, both to give

him an account of his journey into Spain, as of the rest of his

employments since he kissed his hand. But God ordered it otherwise;

for the case being that the two parties in Scotland being both

unsatisfied with each other's ministers, and Sir E. Hyde and Secretary

Nicholas being excepted against, and left in Holland, it was proposed,

the state wanting a Secretary for the King, that your father should be

immediately sent for, which was done accordingly, and he went with

letters and presents from the Princess of Orange, and the Princess

Royal.

Here I will show you something of Sir Edward Hyde's nature: he being

surprised with this news, and suspecting that my husband might come to

a greater power than himself, both because of his parts and integrity,

and because himself had been sometimes absent in the Spanish Embassy,

he with all the humility possible, and earnest passion, begged my

husband to remember the King often of him to his advantage as occasion

should serve, and to procure leave that he might wait on the King,

promising, with all the oaths that he could express to cause belief,

that he would make it his business all the days of his life to serve

your father's interest in what condition soever he should be in: thus

they parted, with your father's promise to serve him in what he was

capable of, upon which account many letters passed between them.

When your father arrived in Scotland, he was received by the King with

great expressions of great content; and after he had given an account

of his past employment, he was by the King recommended to the York

party, who received him very kindly, and gave him both the broad seal

and signet to keep.

They several times pressed him to take the Covenant, but he never did,

but followed his business so close, with such diligence and temper,

that he was well beloved on all sides, and they reposed great trust in

him. When he went out of Holland, he wrote to me to arm myself with

patience in his absence, and likewise that I would not expect many

letters as was his custom, for that was now impossible; but he hoped,

that when we did meet again, it would be happy and of long

continuance, and bade me trust God with him, as he did me, in whose

mercy he hoped, being upon that duty he was obliged to, with a

thousand kind expressions.

But God knows how great a surprise this me, being great with child,

and two children with me not in the best condition to maintain them,

and in daily fears of your father upon the private account of

animosities amongst themselves in Scotland; but I did what I could to

arm myself, and was kindly visited both by my relations and friends.

About this time my cousin Evelyn's wife [Footnote: Evelyn frequently

mentions his "cousin Richard Fanshawe," in his Diary. On the 6th of

February, 1651-2, he says, "I went to visit my cousin Richard

Fanshawe, and divers other friends"; and on the 6th of March, in that

year, he observes, "My cousin Richard Fanshawe came to visit me, and

inform me of many considerable affairs." On the 23rd of November,

1654, he went to London to visit his "cousin Fanshawe."--Diary, vol.

ii. pp. 48, 49, 98. Lady Brown, Mr. Evelyn's mother-in-law, died at

Woodcot, in Kent, towards the end of October 1652.--Ibid. p. 61.] came

to London, and had newly buried her mother, my Lady Brown, wife to Sir

Richard Brown, that then was resident for the King at Paris. A little

before she and I and Doctor Steward, a Clerk of the closet to King

Charles the First, christened a daughter of Mr. Waters, near a year

old. About this time, Lord Chief Justice Heath died at Calais, and

several of the King's servants at Paris, amongst others Mr. Henry

Murray, of his bedchamber, a very good man.

I now settled myself in a handsome lodging in London. With a heavy

heart I stayed in this lodging almost seven months, and in that time I

did not go abroad seven times, but spent my time in prayer to God for

the deliverance of the King and my husband, whose danger was ever

before my eyes. I was seldom without the best company, and sometimes

my father would stay a week, for all had compassion on my condition. I

removed to Queenstreet, and there in a very good lodging I was upon

the 24th of June delivered of a daughter: in all this time I had but

four letters from your father, which made the pain I was in more

difficult to bear.

I went with my brother Fanshawe to Ware Park, and my sister went to

Balls, to my father, both intending to meet in the winter; and so

indeed we did with tears; for the 3rd of September following was

fought the battle of Worcester, when the King being missed, and

nothing heard of your father being dead or alive, for three days it

was inexpressible what affliction I was in. I neither eat nor slept,

but trembled at every motion I heard, expecting the fatal news, which

at last came in their news-book, which mentioned your father a

prisoner.

Then with some hopes I went to London, intending to leave my little

girl Nan, the companion of my troubles, there, and so find out my

husband wheresoever he was carried. But upon my coming to London, I

met a messenger from him with a letter, which advised me of his

condition, and told me he was very civilly used, and said little more,

but that I should be in some room at Charing-cross, where he had

promise from his keeper that he should rest there in my company at

dinner-time: this was meant to him as a great favour. I expected him

with impatience, and on the day appointed provided a dinner and room,

as ordered, in which I was with my father and some of our friends,

where, about eleven of the clock, we saw hundreds of poor soldiers,

both English and Scotch, march all naked on foot, and many with your

father, who was very cheerful in appearance, who after he had spoken

and saluted me and his friends there, said, 'Pray let us not lose

time, for I know not how little I have to spare. This is the chance of

war; nothing venture, nothing have; so let us sit down and be merry

whilst we may.' Then taking my hand in his and kissing me, 'Cease

weeping, no other thing upon earth can move me: remember we are all at

God's disposal.'

Then he began to tell how kind his Captain was to him, and the people

as he passed offered him money, and brought him good things, and

particularly Lady Denham, at Borstal-house, who would have given him

all the money she had in her house, but he returned her thanks, and

told her he had so ill kept his own, that he would not tempt his

governor with more, but if she would give him a shirt or two, and some

handkerchiefs, he would keep them as long as he could for her sake.

She fetched him two smocks of her own, and some handkerchiefs, saying

she was ashamed to give him them, but, having none of her sons at

home, she desired him to wear them.

Thus we passed the time until order came to carry him to Whitehall,

where, in a little room yet standing in the bowling-green, he was kept

prisoner, without the speech of any, so far as they knew, ten weeks,

and in expectation of death. They often examined him, and at last he

grew so ill in health by the cold and hard marches he had undergone,

and being pent up in a room close and small, that the scurvy brought

him almost to death's door.

During the time of his imprisonment, I failed not constantly to go,

when the clock struck four in the morning, with a dark lantern in my

hand, all alone and on foot, from my lodging in Chancery Lane, at my

cousin Young's, to Whitehall, in at the entry that went out of King

Street into the bowling-green. There I would go under his window and

softly call him: he, after the first time excepted, never failed to

put out his head at the first call: thus we talked together, and

sometimes I was so wet with the rain, that it went in at my neck and

out at my heels. He directed me how I should make my addresses, which

I did ever to their general, Cromwell, who had a great respect for

your father, and would have bought him off to his service upon any

terms.

Being one day to solicit for my husband's liberty for a time, he bade

me bring the next day a certificate from a physician, that he was

really ill. Immediately I went to Dr. Bathurst, that was by chance

both physician to Cromwell and to our family, who gave me one very

favourable in my husband's behalf. I delivered it at the Council

Chamber, at three of the clock that afternoon, as he commanded me, and

he himself moved, that seeing they could make no use of his

imprisonment, whereby to lighten them in their business, he might have

his liberty upon four thousand pounds bail, to take a course of

physic, he being dangerously ill. Many spake against it, but most Sir

Henry Vane, who said he would be as instrumental, for aught he knew,

to hang them all that sat there, if ever he had opportunity, but if he

had liberty for a time, that he might take the engagement before he

went out: upon which Cromwell said, 'I never knew that the ENGAGEMENT

[Footnote: Cromwell probably meant to pun upon this word.--In Ireland,

"engagement" means an ISSUE; "an engagement in the neck," arm, &c.,

i.e., an issue in those places.] was a medicine for the scorbutic.'

They, hearing their General say so, thought it obliged him, and so

ordered him his liberty upon bail. His eldest brother, and sister

Bedell, and self, were bound in four thousand pounds; and the latter

end of November he came to my lodgings, at my cousin Young's. He there

met many of his good friends and kindred; and my joy was

inexpressible, and so was poor Nan's, of whom your poor father was

very fond. I forgot to tell you, that when your father was taken

prisoner of war, he, before they entered the house where he was,

burned all his papers, which saved the lives and estates of many a

brave gentleman.

When he came out of Scotland, he left behind him a box of writings, in

which his patent of Baronet was, and his patent of additional arms,

[Footnote: A coat of augmentation was granted to Richard Fanshawe,

Esq., Remembrancer of the Exchequer, and to his family, by patent,

dated at Jersey, 8th of February, 2 Car. II. 1650, being "Cheeky

Argent and Azure, a Cross Gules." Grants of that kind to persons who

distinguished themselves in the service of the King were very common,

and consisted, in most cases, either of the lion of England, a fleur-

de-lis, or, as in the instance of Mr. Fanshawe, of the Cross of St.

George. Sir Richard was created a Baronet on the 2nd of September

1650.] which was safely sent after him, after the happy restoration of

the King. You may read your father's demeanour of himself in this

affair, wrote by his own hand, in a book by itself amongst your books,

and it is a great masterpiece, as you will find.

Within ten days he fell very sick, and the fever settled in his throat

and face so violently, that, for many days and nights, he slept no

more but as he leaned on my shoulder as I walked: at last, after all

the Doctor and Surgeon could do, it broke, and with that he had ease,

and so recovered, God be praised! In 1652, he was advised to go to

Bath for his scorbutic that still hung on him, but he deferred his

journey until August, because I was delivered on the 30th of July of a

daughter.

At his return, we went to live that winter following at Benfield, in

Hertfordshire, a house of my niece Fanshawe's. In this winter my

husband went to wait on his good friend the Earl of Strafford, in

Yorkshire; and there my Lord offered him a house of his in Tankersly

Park, which he took, and paid 120 l. a year for. When my husband

returned, we prepared to go in the spring to this place, but were so

confined, that my husband could not stir five miles from home without

leave. About February following, my brother Neuce died, at his house

at Much Hadham, in Hertfordshire. My sister, Margaret Harrison,

desired to go to London, and there we left her: she soon after married

Mr. Edmund Turner, afterwards Sir Edmund.

In March we with our three children, Anne, Richard, and Betty, went

into Yorkshire, where we lived a harmless country life, minding only

the country sports and country affairs. Here my husband translated

Luis de Camoens; and on October 8th, 1653, I was delivered of my

daughter Margaret. I found all the neighbourhood very civil and kind

upon all occasions; the place plentiful and healthful, and very

pleasant, but there was no fruit: we planted some, and my Lord

Strafford says now, that what we planted is the best fruit in the

North.

The house of Tankersly and Park are both very pleasant and good, and

we lived there with great content; but God had ordered it should not

last, for upon the 20th of July 1654, at three o'clock in the

afternoon, died our most dearly beloved daughter Ann, whose beauty and

wit exceeded all that ever I saw of her age. She was between nine and

ten years old, very tall, and the dear companion of my travels and

sorrows. She lay sick but five days of the smallpox, in which time she

expressed so many wise and devout sayings, as is a miracle for her

years. We both wished to have gone into the same grave with her. She

lies buried in Tankersly church, and her death made us both desirous

to quit that fatal place to us; and so the week after her death we

did, and came to Hamerton, and were half a year with my sister Bedell.

Then my husband was sent for to London, there to stay, by command of

the High Court of Justice, and not to go five miles from that town,

but to appear once a month before them. We then went again to my

cousin Young's, in Chancery Lane: and about Christmas my husband got

leave to go to Frog-Pool, in Kent, to my brother Warwick's; where,

upon the 22nd of February 1655, I was delivered of a daughter, whom we

named Ann, to keep in remembrance her dear sister, whom we had newly

lost. We returned to our lodgings in Chancery Lane, where my husband

was forced to attend till Christmas 1655; and then we went down to

Jenkins, to Sir Thomas Fanshawe's; but upon New Year's Day my husband

fell very sick, and the scorbutic again prevailed, so much that it

drew his upper lip awry, upon which we that day came to London, into

Chancery Lane, but not to my cousin Young's, but to a house we took of

Sir George Carey, for a year. There by the advice of Doctor Bathurst

and Doctor Ridgley, my husband took physic for two months together,

and at last, God be praised! he perfectly recovered his sickness, and

his lip was as well as ever.

In this house, upon the 12th day of July in 1656, I was delivered of a

daughter, named Mary; and in this month died my second daughter,

Elizabeth, that I had left with my sister Boteler, at Frog-Pool, to

see if that air would recover her; but she died of a hectic fever, and

lies buried in the church of Foots Cray. My husband, weary of the

town, and being advised to go into the country for his health,

procured leave to go in September to Bengy, in Hertford, to a little

house lent us by my brother Fanshawe.

It happened at that time there was a very ill kind of fever, of which

many died, and it ran generally through all families: this we and all

our family fell sick of, and my husband's and mine after some months

turned to quartan agues; but I being with child, none thought I could

live, for I was brought to bed of a son in November,[Footnote: "This

son, Henry, lies buried in Bengy church."] ten weeks before my time;

and thence forward until April 1658, I had two fits every day, that

brought me so low that I was like an anatomy. I never stirred out of

my bed seven months, nor during that time eat flesh, nor fish, nor

bread, but sage posset drink, and pancake or eggs, or now and then a

turnip or carrot. Your father was likewise very ill, but he rose out

of his bed some hours daily, and had such a greediness upon him, that

he would eat and drink more than ordinary persons that eat most,

though he could not stand upright without being held, and in perpetual

sweats, and that so violent that it ran down day and night like water.

This I have told you that you may see how near dying we were; for

which recovery I humbly praise God. He got leave in August to go to

Bath, which, God be praised! perfectly recovered us, and so we

returned into Hertfordshire, to the Friary of Ware, which we hired of

Mrs. Heydon for a year. This place we accounted happy to us, because

in October we heard the news of Cromwell's death, upon which my

husband began to hope that he should get loose of his fetters, in

which he had been seven years; and going to London, in company with my

Lord Philip, Earl of Pembroke, he lamented his case of his bonds to

him that was his old and constant friend. He told him that if he would

dine with him the next day, he would give him some account of that

business. The next day he said to him, 'Mr. Fanshawe, I must send my

eldest son into France; if you will not take it ill that I desire your

company with him and care of him for one year, I will procure you your

bonds within this week.' My husband was overjoyed to get loose upon

any terms that were innocent, so, having seen his bonds cancelled, he

went into France to Paris, from whence he by letter gave an account to

Lord Chancellor Clarendon of his being got loose, and desired him to

acquaint his Majesty of it, and to send him his commands, which was

about April 1659. He did to this effect, that his Majesty was then

going a journey, which afterwards proved to Spain; but upon his

return, which would be about the beginning of winter, my husband

should come to him, and that he should have, in present, the place of

one of the Masters of Request, and the Secretary of the Latin Tongue.

Then my husband sent me word of this, and bade me bring my son

Richard, and my eldest daughters with me to Paris, for that he

intended to put them to a very good school that he had found at Paris.

We went as soon as I could possibly accommodate myself with money and

other necessaries, with my three children, one maid, and one man. I

could not go without a pass, and to that purpose I went to my cousin

Henry Nevill, [Footnote: He was her cousin, being the second son of

Sir Harry Nevill the younger, of Billingbere, in Essex, by Elizabeth,

daughter of Sir John Smythe, of Ostenhanger, sister to the first

Viscount Strangford.] one of the High Court of Justice, where he was

then sitting at Whitehall. I told him my husband had sent for me and

his son, to place him there, and that he desired his kindness to help

me to a pass: he went in to the then masters, and returned to me,

saying, 'that by a trick my husband had got his liberty, but for me

and his children, upon no conditions we should not stir.' I made no

reply, but thanked my cousin, Henry Nevill, and took my leave. I sat

me down in the next room, full sadly to consider what I should do,

desiring God to help me in so just a cause as I then was in. I began

and thought if I were denied a passage then, they would ever after be

more severe on all occasions, and it might be very ill for us both. I

was ready to go, if I had a pass, the next tide, and might be there

before they could suspect I was gone: these thoughts put this

invention in my head.

At Wallingford House, the Office was kept where they gave passes:

thither I went in as plain a way and speech as I could devise, leaving

my maid at the gate, who was much a finer gentlewoman than myself.

With as ill mien and tone as I could express, I told a fellow I found

in the Office that I desired a pass for Paris, to go to my husband.

'Woman, what is your husband, and your name?' 'Sir,' said I, with

many courtesies, 'he is a young merchant, and my name is Ann

Harrison.' 'Well,' said he, 'it will cost you a crown:'--said I, 'That

is a great sum for me, but pray put in a man, my maid, and three

children.' All which he immediately did, telling me a malignant would

give him five pounds for such a pass.

I thanked him kindly, and so went immediately to my lodgings; and with

my pen I made the great H of Harrison, two ff, and the rrs, an n, and

the i, an s, and the s, an h, and the o, an a, and the n, a w, so

completely, that none could find out the change. With all speed I

hired a barge, and that night at six o'clock I went to Gravesend, and

from thence by coach to Dover, where, upon my arrival, the searchers

came and demanded my pass, which they were to keep for their

discharge. When they had read it, they said, 'Madam, you may go when

you please;' but says one, 'I little thought they would give a pass to

so great a malignant, especially in so troublesome a time as this.'

About nine o'clock at night I went on board the packet-boat, and about

eight o'clock in the morning landed safe, God be praised! at Calais. I

went to Mr. Booth's, an English merchant, and a very honest man. There

I rested two days; but upon the next day he had advice from Dover,

that a post was sent to stay me from London, because they had sent for

me to my lodgings by a messenger of the Court, to know why, and upon

what business, I went to France. Then I discovered to him my invention

of the changing my name, at which as at their disappointment we all

laughed, and so did your father, and as many as knew the deceit. We

hired a waggon-coach, for there is no other at Calais, and began our

journey about the beginning of June 1659.

Coming one night to Abbeville, the Governor sent his Lieutenant to me,

to let me know my husband was well the week before, that he had seen

him at Paris, and had promised him to take care of me in my going

through his government, there being much robbery daily committing;

that he would advise me take care of the garrison soldiers, and giving

them a pistole a piece, they would convey me very safely. This, he

said, the Governor would have told me himself, but that he was in bed

with the gout; I thanked him, and accepted his proffer. The next

morning he sent me ten troopers well armed, and when I had gone about

four leagues, as we ascended a hill, says some of these, 'Madam, look

out, but fear nothing.' They rid all up to a well-mounted troop of

horse, about fifty or more, which, after some parley, wheeled about

into the woods again. When we came upon the hill, I asked how it was

possible so many men so well armed should turn, having so few to

oppose them; at which they laughed, and said, 'Madam, we are all of a

company, and quarter in this town. The truth is, our pay is short, and

we are forced to keep ourselves this way; but we have this rule, that

if we in a party guard any company, the rest never molest them, but

let them pass free.'

I having passed all danger, as they said, gave them a pistole each

man, and so left them and went on my journey, and met my husband at

St. Dennis, God be praised! The 20th day of October, my then only son

died of the small-pox; he lies buried in the Protestant Church, near

Paris, between the Earl of Bristol and Doctor Steward. Both my eldest

daughters had the small-pox at the same time, and though I neglected

them, and day and night attended my dear son, yet it pleased God they

recovered and he died, the grief of which made me miscarry, and caused

a sickness of three weeks.

After this, in the beginnings of November, the King came to visit his

mother, who was at her own house at Combes, two leagues from Paris,

and thither went my husband and myself. I had not seen him in almost

twelve years: he told me that if it pleased God to restore him to his

kingdoms, my husband should partake of his happiness in as great a

share as any servants he had. Then he asked me many questions of

England, and fell into discourse with my husband privately two hours,

and then commanded him to follow him to Flanders. His Majesty went the

next day, my husband that day month, which was the beginning of

December. I went with our family to Calais, and my husband sent me

privately to London for money in January. I returned him one hundred

and fifty pounds, with which he went to the King, and I followed to

Newport, Bruges, and Ghent, and to Brussels, where the King received

us very graciously, with the Princess Royal and the Dukes of York and

Gloucester. After staying three weeks at Brussels, we went to Breda,

where we heard the happy news of the King's return to England. In the

beginning of May we went with all the Court to the Hague, where I

first saw the Queen of Bohemia, who was exceeding kind to all of us.

Here the King and all the Royal Family were entertained at a very

great supper by the States; and now business of state took up much

time.

The King promised my husband he should be one of the Secretaries of

State, and both the now Duke of Ormond, and the Lord Chancellor

Clarendon, were witnesses of it, yet that false man made the King

break his word for his own accommodation, and placed Mr. Norris, a

poor country gentleman of about two hundred pounds a year, a fierce

Presbyterian, and one that never saw the King's face: but still

promises were made of the reversion to your father.

Upon the King's restoration, the Duke of York, then made Admiral,

appointed ships to carry over the company and servants of the King,

who were very great. His Highness appointed for my husband and his

family a third-rate frigate, called the Speedwell; but his Majesty

commanded my husband to wait on him in his own ship. We had by the

States' order sent on board to the King's most eminent servants, great

store of provisions: for our family we had sent on board the Speedwell

a tierce of claret, a hogshead of Rhenish wine, six dozen of fowls, a

dozen of gammons of bacon, a great basket of bread, and six sheep, two

dozen of neats' tongues, and a great box of sweetmeats. Thus taking

our leaves of those obliging persons we had conversed with in the

Hague, we went on board upon the 23rd of May, about two o'clock in the

afternoon. The King embarked at four of the clock, upon which we set

sail, the shore being covered with people, and shouts from all places

of a good voyage, which was seconded with many volleys of shot

interchanged: so favourable was the wind, that the ships' wherries

went from ship to ship to visit their friends all night long. But who

can sufficiently express the joy and gallantry of that voyage, to see

so many great ships, the best in the world, to hear the trumpets and

all other music, to see near a hundred brave ships sail before the

wind with vast cloths and streamers, the neatness and cleanness of the

ships, the strength and jollity of the mariners, the gallantry of the

commanders, the vast plenty of all sorts of provisions; but above all,

the glorious majesties of the King and his two brothers, were so

beyond man's expectation and expression! The sea was calm, the moon

shone at full, and the sun suffered not a cloud to hinder his prospect

of the best sight, by whose light, and the merciful bounty of God, he

was set safely on shore at Dover in Kent, upon the 25th [Footnote:

Probably a mistake for the 26th] of May, 1660.

So great were the acclamations and numbers of people, that it reached

like one street from Dover to Whitehall: we lay that night at Dover,

and the next day we went in Sir Arnold Braem's [Footnote: Of a Dutch

family settled at Bridge, in Kent. The house at Dover, in which Lady

Fanshawe lay, was built by Jacob Braem, and is, or was in Hasted's

time, the Custom-house. The family is now extinct.] coach towards

London, where on Sunday night we came to a house in the Savoy. My

niece, Fanshawe, then lay in the Strand, where I stood to see the

King's entry with his brothers; surely the most pompous show that ever

was, for the hearts of all men in this kingdom moved at his will.

The next day I went with other ladies of the family to congratulate

his Majesty's happy arrival, who received me with great grace, and

promised me future favours to my husband and self. His Majesty gave my

husband his picture, set with small diamonds, when he was a child: it

is a great rarity, because there never was but one. We took a house in

Portugal Row, Lincoln's-inn Fields. My husband had not long entered

upon his office, but he found an oppression from Secretary Nicholas,

to his great vexation, for he, as much as in him lay, engrossed all

the petitions, which really, by the foundation, belonged to the Master

of the Requests; and in this he was countenanced by Lord Chancellor

Clarendon, his great patron, notwithstanding he had married Sir Thomas

Aylesbury's daughter, that was one of the Masters of the Requests.

This year I sent for my daughter Nan from my sister Boteler's, in

Kent, where I had left her; and my daughter Mary died in Hertfordshire

in August, and lies buried in Hertford church, in my father's vault.

In the latter end of the summer I miscarried, when I was near half

gone with child, of three sons, two hours one after the other. I think

it was with the hurry of business I then was in, and perpetual company

that resorted to us of all qualities, some for kindness and some for

their own advantage.

As that was a time of advantage, so it was of great expense, for on

April the 23rd, 1661, the King was crowned, when my husband, being in

waiting, rode upon his Majesty's left hand [Footnote: Evelyn says,

that at the coronation of Charles the Second were "Two persons,

representing the Dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine, viz., Sir Richard

Fanshawe and Sir Herbert Price, in fantastic habits."-Diary, vol. ii.

p. 168.] with very rich footcloths, and four men in very rich

liveries; and this year we furnished our house and paid all our debts

which we had contracted during the war.

The 8th day of May following, the King rode to the Parliament, and

then my husband rode in the same manner. His Majesty had commanded my

husband to execute the place of the Chancellor of the Garter, both

because he understood it better than any, and was to have the

reversion of it. The first feast of St. George, my husband was proxy

for the Earl of Bristol, and was installed for him Knight of the

Garter. The Duke of Buckingham put on his robes, and the Duke of

Ormond his spurs, in the stall of the Earl of Bristol.

Now it was the business of the Chancellor to put your father as far

from the King as he could, because his ignorance in state affairs was

daily discovered by your father, who showed it to the King; but at

that time the King was so content that he should almost and alone

manage his affairs, that he might have more time for his pleasure,

that his faults were not so visible as otherwise they would have been,

and afterwards proved. But now he sends to your father and tells him

that he was, by the King's particular choice, resolved on to be sent

to Lisbon with the King's letter and picture to the Princess, now our

Queen, which then, indeed, was an employment any nobleman would be

glad of; but the design from that time forth was to fix him here.

When your father was gone on this errand, I stayed in our house in

Portugal Row, and at Christmas I received the New Year's gifts

belonging to his places, which is the custom, of two tuns of wine at

the Custom-house, for Master of Requests, and fifteen ounces of gilt

plate at the Jewel-house, as Secretary of the Latin Tongue.

At the latter end of Christmas my husband returned from Lisbon, and

was very well received by the King; and upon the 22nd of February

following I was delivered of my daughter Elizabeth.

Upon the 8th of June,[Footnote: Query, 8th] 1662, my husband was made

a Privy Councillor of Ireland; and some time after my Lord and Lady

Ormond went into Ireland, and upon my taking leave of her Grace, she

gave me a turquoise and diamond bracelet, and my husband a fasset

[Footnote: A diamond cut into facets; a brilliant.] diamond ring. I

never parted from her upon a journey but she ever gave me some

present. When her daughter, the Lady Mary Cavendish, was married, none

were present but his grandmother and father, and my husband and self;

they were married in my Lord Duke's lodging in Whitehall, and given by

the King, who came privately without any train. [Footnote: According

to Collins' Peerage, Mary, second daughter of James Duke of Ormond,

married William Cavendish, ninth Duke of Devonshire, at Kilkenny in

Ireland, on the 27th of October, 1662. Lady Fanshawe's statement

proves that he was mistaken.]

As soon as the King had notice of the Queen's landing, he immediately

sent my husband that night to welcome her Majesty on shore, and

followed himself the next day; and upon the 21st of May the King

married the Queen at Portsmouth, in the presence-chamber of his

Majesty's house.

There was a rail across the upper part of the room, in which entered

only the King and Queen, the Bishop of London, the Marquis de Sande,

the Portuguese Ambassador, and my husband: in the other part of the

room there were many of the nobility and servants to their Majesties.

The Bishop of London declared them married in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and then they caused the

ribbons her Majesty wore to be cut in little pieces, and, as far as

they would go, every one had some.[Footnote: As it must be inferred

that Lady Fanshawe derived her information from her husband, who, she

says, was present, her account of the ceremony is deserving of

attention, because some doubts have been entertained as to the manner

in which it was solemnised.-See Bishop Kennett's Historical Register,

p. 693.]

Upon the 29th of May their Majesties came to Hampton Court, where was

all that pretended to her Majesty's service, and all the King's

servants, ladies and other persons of quality, who received her

Majesty in several rooms, according to their several qualifications.

The next morning, about eleven o'clock, the Duchess of Ormond and her

daughter, the now Lady Cavendish, and myself, went to wait on her

Majesty as soon as her Majesty was dressed; where I had the honour

from the King, who was then present, to tell the Queen who I was,

saying many kind things of me to ingratiate me with her Majesty,

whereupon her Majesty gave her hand to me to kiss, with promises of

her future favour. After this we remained in Hampton Court, in the

Requests' lodgings, my husband being then in waiting until the 10th

day of August, upon which day he received his despatches for

Ambassador to Portugal.

His Majesty was graciously pleased to promise my husband his picture,

which afterwards we received, set with diamonds, to the value of three

or four hundred pounds, his Majesty having been pleased to give my

husband, at his first going to Portugal, his picture at length, in his

garter-robes: my husband had also by his Majesty's order, out of the

wardrobe, a crimson velvet cloth of state, fringed and laced with

gold, with a chair, a footstool, and cushions, and two other stools of

the same, with a Persian carpet to lay under them, and a suit of fine

tapestry hanging for that room, with two velvet altar-cloths for the

chapel, and fringed with gold, with surplices, altar cloths, and

napkins, of fine linen, with a Bible, in Ogleby's print and cuts, two

Common Prayer-books, in folio and quarto, with eight hundred ounces of

gilt plate, and four thousand ounces of white plate; but there wanted

a velvet bed, which he should have had by custom.

Thus having perfected the ceremonies of taking leave of their

Majesties, and receiving their commands, and likewise taking our

leaves of our friends, as I said, upon Sunday the 10th of August we

took our journey to Portugal [Footnote: Evelyn says, "5th of August

1662, to London, and next day to Hampton Court, and took leave of Sir

R. Fanshawe, now going Ambassador to Portugal."--Diary, vol. ii. p.

195.] carrying our three daughters with us, Katherine, Margaret, and

Ann.

This night we lay at Windsor, where, on Monday the 11th, in the

morning, we went to prayers to the King's Chapel with Doctor Heavers,

my husband's Chaplain. On our return we were visited by the Provost of

Eton, and divers others of the clergy of that place, and Sir Thomas

Woodcock, the chief commander of that place, in the absence of Lord

Mordaunt, Lord Constable of Windsor Castle.

Upon the desire of some there, my husband left some of his coats-of-

arms, which he carried with him for that purpose, as the custom of

ambassadors is, to dispose of where they lodge.[Footnote: This custom

is still retained in the instances of the Lords Lieutenant of

Ireland.]

That night we lay at Bagshot; Tuesday the 12th, we dined at

Basingstoke, and lay at Andover; Wednesday the 13th, we dined at

Salisbury, and there lay that night, and borrowed in the afternoon the

Dean of Westminster's coach, being willing to ease all our own horses

for half a day, having a long journey to go.

We went in the Dean's coach to see Wilton, being but two miles from

Salisbury. We found Lord Herbert at home; he entertained us with great

civility and kindness, and gave my husband a very fine greyhound

bitch: his father, the Earl of Pembroke, being then at London. We

visited the famous church, and at our return to our lodgings, were

visited by the Right Reverend Father in God, Doctor Henchman, the

Bishop of that place, and Doctor Holles, the Dean of that place, and

Doctor Earle, Dean of Westminster, since, by the former Bishop's

remove to the See of London, now Bishop of Salisbury.

On Thursday the 14th, my husband and I, with our children, having

begged of the Bishop his blessing at his own house, dined at

Blandford, in Dorsetshire. Sir William Portman hath a very fine seat

within a mile of it. We lodged that night at Dorchester: on Friday the

15th we lay at Axminster, and Saturday the 16th at Exeter, and went to

prayers at the Cathedral church, accompanied by the principal divines

of that place. On Sunday the 17th, we stayed all that day, and on

Monday the 18th, we lay at a very ill lodging, of which I have

forgotten the name; and on Tuesday the 19th, we went to Plymouth,

where, within six miles of the town, we were met by some of the chief

merchants of that place, and of the chief officers of that garrison,

who all accompanied us to the house of one Mr. Tyler, a merchant.

Upon our arrival, the Governor of that garrison, one Sir John Skelton,

visited us, and did us the favour to keep us company, with many of his

officers, during our stay in that town. Sir John Hele, as soon as he

heard of our being there, sent my husband a fat buck; and my cousin

Edgcombe, of Mount Edgcombe, a mile from Plymouth, sent him another

buck, and came, as soon as he heard we were there, from a house of his

twelve miles from Mount Edgcombe, to which he came only to keep us

company. From whence, the next day after his arrival, he with his

Lady, and Sir Richard Edgcombe, his eldest son, and others of his

children, came to visit us at Plymouth; and the day after we dined at

Mount Edgcombe, where we were very nobly treated. At our coming home,

they would need accompany us over the river to our lodgings. The next

day the Mayor and Aldermen came to visit my husband; and the next day

we had a great feast at Mr. Seale's house, the father of our landlord.

Our being so well lodged and treated by the inhabitants of this town

was upon my father's score, whose deputies some of them were, he being

one of the Farmers of the Custom-house to receive the King's customs

of that port.

On Sunday the 30th, the wind coming fair, we embarked, accompanied by

my cousin Edgcombe and all his family, and with much company of the

town, that would show their kindness until the last. Taking our leave

of our landlord and landlady, we gave her twenty pieces of gold to buy

her a ring, and they presented my children with many pretty toys.

Thus, on Monday, at nine o'clock in the morning we were received on

board the Ruby frigate, commanded by Captain Robinson. We had very

many presents sent us on board by divers gentlemen, among which my

cousin Edgcombe sent us a brace of fat bucks, three milk goats, wine,

ale and beer, with fruit of several sorts, biscuit and sweetmeats.

On Monday the 31st of August 1662, we set sail for Lisbon, and landed

the 14th of September, our style, between the Conde de St. Laurence's

house and Belem, God be praised! all in good health. As soon as we had

anchored, the English Consul, with the merchants, came on board us;

but we went presently to a house of the Duke of Aveiros, where my

husband was placed by his Majesty when he was there before, in which

he had then left his chief Secretary and one other, with some others

of his family. The first that visited incognito there, for he was not

to own any till he had made his entry, was the King of Portugal's

Secretary, Antonio de Sousa: there came about that time also the Earl

of Inchiquin, and Count Schomberg, to visit us. The 28/18th day, my

husband went privately on board the frigate, in which he came with all

his family; to whom the King sent a nobleman to receive him on shore,

with his own and Queen-mother's, and very many coaches of the

nobility. As soon as they met, there passed great salutations of

cannons from the ships to the frigate in which my husband came, and

from our ships to the King's forts, and from all the forts innumerable

shots returned again.

So soon as my husband landed, he entered the King's coach, and the

nobleman that fetched him, whose name I have forgot. Before him went

the English Consul, with all the merchants; on his right hand went

four pages; on the left side the coach, by the horses' heads, eight

footmen all clothed in rich livery; in the coach that followed went my

husband's own gentlemen, after the coach of state empty, and those

that did him the favour to accompany him: thus they went to the house

where my husband lodged. The King entertained him with great plenty of

provisions in all kinds, three suppers and three dinners, and all

manner of utensils belonging thereunto, as the custom of that country

is.

Their Majesties did for some time furnish the house, till my husband

could otherwise provide himself in town. The Abadessa of the

Alcantara, niece to the Queen-mother, natural daughter of the Duke of

Medina Sidonia, sent to welcome me into the country a very noble

present of perfumes, waters, and sweetmeats; and during my abode at

Lisbon we often made visits and interchanged messages, to my great

content, for she was a very fine lady. On the 19/29th, one Mr.

Bridgewood, a merchant, sent me a silver basin and ewers for a

present.

On the 10th of October, stilo novo, my husband had his audience of his

Majesty in his palace, at Lisbon; going in the King's coach with the

same nobleman and in the same form as he made his entry. The King

received him with great kindness and respect, much to his

satisfaction. On the 11th, Don Joam de Sousa, the Queen's Vidor, came

from her Majesty to us both to welcome us into the country. On the

13th, her Majesty sent her chief coach, accompanied by other coaches,

to fetch my husband to the audience of her Majesty, where she received

him very graciously; and the same day he had audience of Don Pedro,

the King's brother, at his own palace. Saturday, the 14th, her Majesty

sent her best coach for me and my children. When we came there, the

Captain of the Guard received me at the foot of the stairs; all my

people going before me, as the custom is. On each side were the guards

placed, with halberds in their hands, as far as the presence-chamber

door. There I was received by the Queen's Lord Chamberlain, who

carried me to the door of the next room, where the Queen was. Then the

Queen's principal lady, as our groom of the stole, received me,

telling me she had command from the Queen to bid me welcome to that

Court, from the ships to the frigate in which my husband came, and