here, that they maye be remembered vpon the deuysion and plantation of
the scheated lands in Ulster. I am discreadited amonge them if they
should be forgotten, and sure the plantation woulde be weake w^{th}
out them, for they must be the pyllers to support it. Those that
shall come from thence wyll not affect it in that kynde as these do,
to make it a settlement for them and theirs; and in respect of their
wourthier deserts and paynfull labors, and that I haue vpon my promise
to speake effectually for them preuayled so farre as to staye them
from resortinge thither, w^{ch} they woulde doe in great multitudes
if I woulde haue given way to their desire. I wysh that an honorable
consideration maye be had of them before the diuision be concluded.
I knowe that worke is of great moment and on it dependes much of the
prosperitie, and good estate of the whole kingdome. I haue sayd enough
to one that vnderstandes so well: And so beinge called vpon sooner
then I expected I must end w^{th} the page, but wyll euer be found
Your trewe affected friend
ARTHUR CHICHESTER.
Att Dublyn Castle the 7th of
februarie 1608.
I send here w^{th} the proceedinge of the Court of Kinges bench in
the cause of the Carrolans w^{ch} was violently prosecuted by the l.
of Howth. I send them by reason it is thought by the Judges that the
Baron will exclaime of their proceedinges here.
To my verie wourthie friend Sr John Davis Knight his
Ma^{ties} Attornie in the Realme of Irelande.[31]
[Footnote 31: Carte, as before, Vol. 62, ff. 313-14.]
Two short letters from Bacon--not before printed, having escaped
even Mr. Spedding's Argus-eyes--in the same Carte MSS.--show Davies's
pleasant relations with his great contemporary. They are as follow:--
(I. Carte MS. Vol. 62, ff. 317-18.)
Good Sr Jh. Davies yo^{r} mistaking shall not be imputed to you (for
the difference is not much). Yo^{r} gratulacons for my marrige I take
kyndly. And as I was all waies delighted w^{th} the fruites of yo^{r}
[illegible] so I would be gladde of yo^{r} [illegible] so as you plant
not yo^{r} self to[o] farre of[f]. For I had rather you should be a
laborer than a plant in that State. You giue me no occasion to wryte
longer in that you impart not by yo^{r} l^{rs} any occurrence of
y^{rs}. And so w^{th} my very lov^{g} consid^{n} towards you
I remayne
Yo^{r} assured friend
FR. BACON.
from Graies Inn,
this 26th of Dec. 1606.
To my very good Frend Sr Jh. Davis Knt Attorny g'rall to his M. in
Ireland.
(II. Ibid ff, 328-9.)
Mr. Atturny,
I thanke you for yo^{r} l^{re} and the discourse you sent of this mere
accident, as thinges then appeared. I see manifestly the begynnyng of
better or woorse. But me thinketh it is first a tender of the better,
and woorse foloweth but vpon refusall or default. I would haue been
gladd to see you hear, but I hope occasion restreineth o^{r} meeting
for a vacation when we may haue more fruite of conference. To requite
yo^{r} proclamacon (w^{ch} in my judgment is wysely and seriously
penned) I send you [illegible] w^{h} [illegible] w^{ch} happened to be
in my hands when y^{os} came.
I would be gladde to hear oft from you and to be advertized how
[illegible] passe whereby to haue some occasion to thinke some good
thoughts though I can doe lyttell. At least it wilbe a contynuance in
exercise of o^r frendshippe w^{ch} on my part remayneth increased by
that I hear of yo^{r} service and the good respects I find towards my
self. And so in extreme hast I remayne
Yo^{r} very [illegible] frend
FR. BACON.
from Graies Inn this
23th of Oct. 1607.
To the R. W. his verie Lovinge frende Sr Iohn Dauys
Knight, his Ma^{ties} Atturnye in Irelande.
During one of his 'circuits' in Ireland, he met Eleanor, daughter
of Lord Audley (afterwards Earl of Castlehaven) and was married to
her--though the date has not been traced. Her later years were darkened
with insanity of a strangely voluble type. It is to be feared she was
an ill "help-meet" for her husband. There is pathos, if also inevitable
comedy, in her career--not here to be entered on.[32]
[Footnote 32: See Life to be prefixed to Prose Works for quotations
from her writings in verse and prose, and for further details.]
While intensely occupied with his official duties, Sir John Davies did
not neglect his literary gift. He was making history every year--so
fundamental and permanent was the part he filled in Ireland--but the
Past was gone back on that he might fetch from it monition for the
Present, and hope for the Future. His imperishable book: "A Discourse
of the true reasons why Ireland has neuer been entirely subdued till
the beginning of His Majesty's reign," (4to)[33] will reward the most
prolonged study to-day. It was published in 1612. In the same year
he was made King's Sergeant and also elected M.P. for Fermanagh,
being the first representative for that county in the Irish House of
Parliament. He was likewise chosen to be Speaker of the House; but not
without a characteristically violent struggle between the Catholics
and Protestants.[34] He delivered a notable speech "to the House" on
its opening in 1613.[35] In 1614 he appears in the House of Commons in
England as M.P. for Newcastle-under-Lyne:[36] and his attendance in
England was preparatory to final retirement from Ireland. "Grants of
lands" there from the "forfeitures,"--which, if ever any righteously
acquired, he did[37]--gave him a special interest in Ireland as a
proprietor; but after all, for such a man, at such a time, to be
limited to Ireland, was but a splendid exile. It is not, therefore, to
be wondered at that having practically achieved all, and more than all,
he had been given to do, or himself originated, he sought to return.
It is usually stated (e.g. Chalmers, Woolrych, &c., &c.) that he so
returned in 1616; but it was not until 1619 that he did so finally and
absolutely; for in a letter under date "21 June, 1619," to Buckingham,
he is found still only pleading for retirement and for the transference
of his office to a relative.[38] It is one of the treasures of the
Fortescue MSS, in the Bodleian,[39] and is as follows:
[Footnote 33: See Prose, Vol. II.]
[Footnote 34: See fuller Life, as before, for a complete narrative from
contemporary documents.]
[Footnote 35: Ibid, Vol. III.]
[Footnote 36: Willis's Nat. Parl., Vol. III., p. 173.]
[Footnote 37: In the Life, as before, will be given full details of the
Grants, with a curious paper of his daughter long afterwards making
inquiries as to what had become of the Irish estates, &c., &c.]
[Footnote 38: It will be observed that in the Letter Sir John does
not name the gentleman he wishes to succeed him. It was no doubt Sir
William Ryves, who actually was appointed. The "neere alliance" was
through the family of Mervyn, and is shown in the following details
drawn up for me by Mr. B. H. Beedham, from information communicated by
Mr. J. N. C. Davis, as before:
George Touchet, Earl of Castlehaven ¦ Lucy, d. of Sir James Mervyn,
¦ Fonthill, Wilts.
3-------------------------------^---------------------------2
Sir John Davies Lady Eleanor Touchet Edward Davys
Joan Cave
¦
---------------^------
Matthew Davys ¦Ann d. of
b. 1595 ob. 1678. ¦Edward Mervyn
¦of Fonthill,
¦ob. 8th
¦Nov. 1657.
-------------------------------^
John Ryves of Daunsey Court ¦ Elizabeth d. of John Mervyn
¦ (several children)
6------------------^------------------8th son.
Sir William Ryves settled Sir Thomas Ryves, Master
in Ireland; had numerous in Chancery: Judge of the
appointments, and made Prerogative Court there.
large purchases of estates;
Attorney General.]
[Footnote 39: No. 245. For a notice of the collection from which
the above Letter is for the first time printed, see Preface to "The
Fortescue Papers ... Edited ... by Samuel R. Gardiner, for the Camden
Society (1871). My friend Mr. Gardiner must have overlooked Davies's
important letter.]
My most honored Lord,
I præsent my most humble Thanks to y^{r} L^{p} for præsenting mee
to his Ma^{ty} the last Day, at Wansted; & for y^{r} noble favour
in furthering the suit I then made, as well for mine owne stay in
England, as for my recommending a fitt man to my place of service in
Ireland.
The Gentleman to whom I wish this place now, is much obliged to y^{r}
L^{p} already, & well worthy of y^{r} L^{ps} favours, & besides his
owne worthines (hee being a Reader & Judge of a circuit, of w^{ch}
degree & quality never any before was sent out of England to supply
that place), hee is of neere alliance vnto mee. So as, where there
is concurrence of meritt & kinred, y^{r} L^{p} may conjecture that I
deale w^{th} him like a gentleman & a friend, & not like a marchent.
Albeit I wi^{ll} leave a good place there, w^{th}out any præsent
præferment heer (whereof none of my profession have failed at their
return out of Ireland) I might, perhaps w^{th} some reason expect
some Retribution, to recompence the charge of Transporting my famely
from thence, & of setling it heer in this Kingdome, where I am become
almost an Alien by reason of my long absence.
For this particular favour of transferring my place to so well
deserving a successor, I doo wholly depend vppon y^{r} L^{p} as I
shall euer doo vpon all other occasions, while I live, as one that
have separated my self from all other dependancies, beeing entirely
devoted to doo y^{r} L^{p} all humble & faythful service
Jo: Dauys.
21 Junij 1619.
if my long service may induce favour, y^{r} L^{p} may bee pleased to
looke vppon the noate enclosed.
To the right honorable my very good lord
my lord the Marques of Buckingham, &c.
It is to be regretted that the "noate" of the postscript has not been
preserved. It probably enumerated his public services.
Sir William Ryves succeeded as Attorney-General for Ireland by Patent
dated 30th October, 1619.[40] From 1619 onward, Sir John Davies is
found in the House of Commons (still for Newcastle-under-Lyne) and "on
circuit" as a Judge. His "Charges"--to be given in his Prose Works--as
"one of the Justices of Assize for the Northerne Circute"--are very
characteristic, being full of legal 'precedents,' and noticeable in
their tracing up the verdict sought to abiding principles. He took
part in the memorable "case" of Frances, Countess of Somerset, for the
poison-murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. In the House of Commons he spoke
seldom; but when anything that concerned Irish interests came up he
never failed to contend in behalf of Ireland.[41]
[Footnote 40: By inadvertence the Patent describes Sir John Davies
as "deceased." Unless used as = departed (from Ireland), or = having
ceased to fill the office, it is a singular oversight.]
[Footnote 41: In the Life, as before, his appearances in Parliament
will be noted and illustrated.]
Lightening his legal employments were a large correspondence and
'fellowship' with his most eminent contemporaries, and the collection
of his Poetical Works, in so far as he wished them to go down to
posterity. Of the former I select one undated letter to the illustrious
Sir Robert Cotton, with whom he had been early acquainted, and
associated in 1614, in re-establishing the Society of Antiquaries,
originally founded in 1590. One of these is a sprightly and pleasant
letter, and all the more welcome that most of his correspondence that
remains is official and grave. The lighter letter is as follows, from
MSS. Cotton: Julius C. III., p. 14: now paged 133, British Museum:
Sweet Robin, for a few sweet words, a client of mine hath presented me
w^{th} sweet meates, to what end I know not except it be, as Chaucer
speakes,
To make mine English sweet uppon my tongue, that I may pleade the
better for him to morrow at the Seale.
Not w^{th} standing, the best vse that I can make of it, is to
preesent you w^{th} it, especially at this time when you ar in
Physick, that you may sweeten your tast after the Rhewbarb. I have
been a little distracted w^{th} vnexpected busines these two or three
last dayes, that I cold not performe my officious promise to visit
you in this voluntary sicknes of yours; but [erased] now I am faine
to make my hands to excuse my feet from travayling vnto you, because
being the servant of the multitude I am not mine owne man. Make much
of your self, & make y^{r} self speedily well, that I may have your
company towards Cambridge, from whence I will go w^{th} you to see the
ancient Seat of Robt. le Bruis; so wishing you a prosperous operation
of your Phisick, at least that you may Imagine so, for it is the
Imagination that doth good, & not the Physick, w^{ch} I ever thought a
meere imposture; I cease to troble you least the intention of to much
Reading hinder the working of those vertuous drugs.
Y^{rs} all & ever
J. Dauis.
(Endorsed) To my worthy friend
Rob: Cotton esquier.
A second letter runs thus, from MSS. Cotton: Julius C. III., p. 32:--
Noble S^{r} Robert: the ordinary subject of letters is, newes, whereof
this kingdome since the warres, hath been very barren; therefore I
must write vnto you that w^{ch} is no newes, that is, that I love you,
& hold a kind & dear memory of you.
according to my promise to y^{r} self & Mr. Solliciter of England
who is now, I hear, a Judge, I have caused this bearer to draw some
Mapps of o^{r} principal Cittyes of Ireland; & he having occasion to
go for England, I have thought fitt to direct him vnto you. he is an
honest ingenuous yong m[=a] & of y^{r} owne Name. I hear not yet of
y^{e} Antiquities out of Cumberland; if they be brought hither I will
take care to transmitt th[=e] to London, & so in speciall hast, being
ready to go my circuit ov^{r} all Munster I leave you to y^{e} divine
p'servation.
Y^{s} to do you Service,
Io: Dauys.
Dublin 4 Martij 1607.
I desire to be affectionately remembred to Mr.
Justice Doddridge & Mr. Clarencieux.
His Poems, as finally collected by him, appeared in a thin octavo
in 1622. His Prose Works he never collected, but allowed them to be
re-published separately. His "True Cause" passed through several
editions during his own life-time. One of his most important
prose-books after the "True Cause" brings us to the closing event
of his busy and various-coloured life. It is entitled in the first
issue, which was posthumous[42]--"The Question concerning Impositions,
Tonnage, Poundage, Prizage, Customs, &c. Fully stated and argued, from
Reason, Law, and Policy. Dedicated to King James in the latter end of
his Reign." (1656.)
[Footnote 42: Woolrych, as before, splits the one work into several,
and mistakes MSS. of it for distinct works. Vol. I., pp. 209-10.]
This historically-memorable treatise has already been reproduced in the
Prose Works.[43] Elsewhere I examine it critically.[44] It must suffice
here to state that later the King (Charles I.), having an impoverished
exchequer, had recourse to forced loans of various amounts. Hating the
control of Parliament, he persisted in substituting his will for law,
his "proclamation" for statute. Feeling the treacherousness of his
standing-ground of prerogative, the Judges were applied to, and with
loyalty to the monarch rather than to their country, they somewhat
favoured the King's 'demands.' Charles deemed their "opinion" to have
a somewhat "uncertain sound," and presented to the Judges a paper for
their signature, recognising the legality of the collection. This was
refused. One of the victims of the sovereign's wrath was Chief-Justice
Crew, who was "discharged" on the 9th of November, 1626 (Foss's
Judges, vi., p. 291). Sir John Davies was appointed as his successor;
and one cannot help recognising that the opinions revealed in his "Jus
Imponendi" contributed to the succession. For one, I should rather
have found Sir John Davies on the other side, spite of his great array
of "precedents" and ingenious applications to the then circumstances
and exigencies, and necessarily ignorant of the lengths Charles as
distinguished from James, was to proceed. Technically, there had been
"precedents" no doubt; but long "use and wont" had rendered so-called
regal rights obsolete, and it was insanity to revive them, as Charles
I.,--who inherited James's high notions of regal authority,--found out
when too late. But, passing to Davies, the "lean fellow" called Death
was nearer the Knight than was the Chief-Justiceship. Purple and ermine
robes were actually bought, but they were not to be donned. He had told
a Mr. Mead that he was at supper with the Lord Keeper on the 7th of
December,[45] and that he fully expected the great promotion. The air
was thick with "reports" to the same effect. He was found dead in his
bed on the morning of the 8th December, cut down, it has been supposed,
by apoplexy. Three days after, he was interred in S. Martin's Church,
London. Later a double inscription for himself and his widow (who was
re-married to Sir Archibald Douglas,) long hung on the third pillar,
near the grave. The original Latin, with our translation, are as
follow:[46]--
[Footnote 43: Vol. III., pp. 1-116.]
[Footnote 44: In the fuller Life, as before.]
[Footnote 45: Pearce's "Inns of Court," p. 293.]
[Footnote 46: See Stow's "Environs of London," by Strype, Book VI., p.
72. But our text of the Inscriptions is from the Carte MSS. Dr. E. F.
Rimbault's MS. in the autograph of John Le Neve, as published in Notes
and Queries, 1st series, Vol. V., p. 331, is inexplicably imperfect and
blundering.]
D. O. M. S.
Johannes Davys Equestris ordinis quondam Attornati
Regii Generalis amplissima prudentiâ in regno
Hyberniæ functus, inde in patriam revocatus
inter servientes Domini Regis ad Legem primum
Locum obtinuit; post varia in utrone munere præ
clare gesta ad ampliora jam designatus, repente
spem suorum destituit suam implevit ab humanis
honoribus ad c[oe]lestem gloriam evocatus
Ætatis anno 57.^{o}
Vir ingenio compto, rarâ facundiâ
Oratione cum solutâ tum numeris restrictâ
Felicissimus.
Juridicam severitatem morum elegantiâ et ameniore eruditione temperavit.
Iudex incorruptus; Patronus fidus
Ingenuæ pietatis amore et anxiæ superstitionis contemptu
Iuxta insignis.
Plebeiarum animarum in religionis negotio
Pervicacem [Greek: mikropsuchian] ex edito despiciebet
Fastidium leniente miseratione.
Ipse magnanimè probus, religiosus, liber, et c[oe]lo admotus
Uxorem habuit Dominam Eleanoram Honoratissimi
Comitis de Castlehaven Baronis Audley filiam
Unicam ex eâ prolem superstitem hæredem reliquit
Luciam illustrissimo Ferdinando Baroni
Hastings Huntingdoniæ Comiti nuptam.
Diem Supremam obiit 8^{o} idus Decembris
Anno Domini 1626.
Apud nos exemplum relinquens, hic resurrectionem justorum expectat.
Accubat dignissimo marito incomparabilis uxor
Quæ illustre genus
Et generi pares animos
Christianâ mansuetudine temperavit
Erudita super sexum
Mitis infra sortem
Plurimis Major
Quia humilior
In eximiâ formâ sublime ingenium
In venustâ comitate singularem modestiam
In femineo corpore viriles animos
In rebus adversissimis serenam mentem
In impio sæculo pietatem et rectitudinem inconcussam
Possedit.
Non illi robustam animam aut res lauta laxavit, aut
Angusta contraxit, sed utramque sortem pari vultu
Animoque non excepit modo sed rexit
Quippe Dei plena cui plenitudini
Mundus nec benignus addere
Nec malignus detrahere potuisset
Satis Deum jamdudum spirans et sursum aspirans sui
Ante et Reip. fati præsaga, salutisque æternæ certissima
Ingente latoque ardore in Servatoris dilectissimi sinum
Ipsius sanguine lotam animam efflavit
Rebus humanis exempta immortalitatem induit
III. Non. Quintilis Anno Salutis 1652.
Ps. 16. 9.
Etiam caro mea habitat securè quà non es
Derelicturus animam meam in sepulchro.
D(eo) O(ptimo) M(aximo) S(acrum)
To God the Best and Greatest: Sacred.
John Davys of knightly rank, having formerly
discharged with prudence the highest duties of
King's Attorney General in the realm of Ireland:
thence having been recalled to his own country,
secured the first place among the servants
of his lord the King, at the Law. After various
services nobly rendered in each office, being now
nominated to more distinguished (appointments)
he suddenly frustrated the hope of his friends
but fulfilled his own--being called away
from human honours to celestial glory,
in the year of his age 57.
A man for accomplished genius, for uncommon
eloquence, for language whether free or bound
in verse,
Most happy.
Judicial sternness with elegance of manners
and more pleasant learning
he tempered.
An uncorrupt Judge, a faithful Patron
For love of free-born piety and contempt of fretting superstition
alike remarkable.
He looked down from on high on the obstinate narrowness
of plebeian souls in the matter of religion,
pity softening his disdain.
Himself magnanimously just, religious, free, and moved by heaven,
Had for wife the Lady Eleanor of the Right Honble.
Earl of Castlehaven, Baron Audley, daughter:
His only surviving offspring by her he left as heiress,
Lucy, to the most illustrious Ferdinand Baron
Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, married.
He spent his last day the 8th December
In the year of our Lord 1626.
With us leaving an example: here for the resurrection
of the Just, he waits.
* * * * *
Near to her most worthy husband lies his incomparable Wife:
Who her illustrious birth
And spirit equal to her race
With Christian mildness tempered.
Learned above her sex,
Meek below her rank,
Than most people greater
Because more humble,
In eminent beauty She possessed a lofty mind,
In pleasing affability, singular modesty:
In a woman's body a man's spirit,
In most adverse circumstances a serene mind,
In a wicked age unshaken piety and uprightness.
Not for her did Luxury relax her strong soul, or
Poverty narrow it: but each lot with equal countenance
And mind, she not only took but ruled.
Nay she was full of God, to which fulness
Neither a smiling world could have added,
Nor from it a frowning world have taken away.
Now for a long time sufficiently breathing of God
and aspiring above, of her own
And the Commonwealth's fate divining beforehand,
And most sure of Eternal Salvation
With a mighty and huge ardour into her Beloved Saviour's
breast, She breathed forth her soul washed in His own blood.
Taken away from things human she put on immortality
on the fifth of July, in the year of Salvation, 1652.
Ps. 16. 9.
My flesh also dwells securely because Thou wilt not
leave my soul in the sepulchre.
One is willing to accept the "golden lies" of these Epitaphs in either
case.
Sir John Davies had several children. One, who was semi-idiotic, was
drowned in Ireland. Others alleged to have been born, have not been
traced. His daughter Lucy, of the Inscriptions, and by whom, no doubt,
they were procured, became famous in her generation as Countess of
Huntingdon. We have to deplore that while we have a fine portrait
of her, none, as yet, has been found of her Father. His Will and
Charities, and their singular after-history, will be given in my fuller
Life (as before). Pass we now to
II. CRITICAL.
I shall limit myself in this second half of the Memorial-Introduction
to a brief statement and examination of certain characteristics of
the Poetry of Sir John Davies--the limitation being imposed by the
contents of the present volumes.[47] There are Poets whose truest and
most certain fame rests on so-called minor poems; and yet commonly
their bulkier productions have over-shadowed these. From Milton to
Wordsworth it is to be lamented that to the many they should be
represented by "Paradise Lost" and "The Excursion"; or to descend,
that Thomas _Campbell_ and Samuel _Rogers_ should have so hidden
behind their "Pleasures of Hope" and "Pleasures of Memory" their rare
and real faculty as Poets--for while in the larger poems of Milton
and Wordsworth there is of the imperishable stuff that only genius
of a lofty type weaves, it is rather (_meo judicio_) in "purple
patches" than in the web as a whole. In Milton and Wordsworth you do
not read them at their high_est_ in their Epics but in their shorter
poems; while Campbell and Rogers should long since have died out of
men's hearts had they left nothing behind them save the smooth and
prize-poem-like common-places of their "Pleasures." In Milton the
remark requires modification, for only in "Paradise Lost" has he put
forth to uttermost daring his Imagination--than which no writer of
all time has approached him for grandeur of vision and splendour of
utterance. But substantially I think that those capable of discernment
will agree with me that if Time may shut and leave unread except by
an elect few, many pages of the 'great' and volume-filling poems, the
lesser will assuredly draw more and more homage, and abide the regalia
of our Literature.