do infinitely wish they may want nothing in their breeding my power or cost might procure them, or their condition in life hereafter may require : for, madam, if I die to-morrow, I will, by God's help, leave them ten thousand pounds apiece; which, I trust, by God's blessing, shall bestow them to the comfort of themselves and friends, nor at all considerably prejudice their brother, whose estate shall never be much burthened by a second venter, I assure you.

I thought fit to send with them one that teacheth them to write: he is a quiet soft man, but honest, and not given to any disorder; him I have appointed to account for the money to be laid forth, wherein he hath no other direction but to pay and lay forth as your ladyship shall appoint, and still as he wants, to go to Woodhouse, where my cousin Rockley will supply him; and I must humbly beseech you to give order to their servants, and otherwise to the tailors at London, for their apparel, which I wholly submit to your ladyship's better judgment, and be it what it may be, I shall think it all happily bestowed, so as it be to your contentment and theirs; for cost I reckon not of, and any thing I have is theirs so long as I live, which is only worth thanks, for theirs and their brother's all I have must be whether I wit or no, and therefore I desire to let them have to acknowledge me for before.

Nan, they tell me, danceth prettily, which I wish (if with convenience it might be) were not lost, more to give her a comely grace in the car. riage of her body, than that I wish they should much delight or practise it when they are women.

Arabella is a small practitioner in that way also, and they are both very apt to learn that or any thing they are taught.

Nan, I think, speaks French prettily, which yet I might have been better able to judge had her mother lived; the other also speaks, but her maid being of Guernsey, the accent is not good; but your ladyship is in this excellent, as that, as indeed all things else which may befit them, they may, and I hope will, learn better with your ladyship than they can with their poor father, ignorant in what belongs to women, and otherways, God knows, distracted; and so awanting unto them in all, saving in loving them, and therein, in truth, I shall never be less than the dearest parent in the world.

Their brother is just now sitting at my elbow, in good health, God be praised; and I am, in the best sort I may, accommodating this place for him, which, in the kind, I take to be the noblest one of them in the king's dominions, and where a grass-time may be passed with much pleasure of that kind; I will build him a good house, and by God's help, leave him, I think, near three thousand pounds a year, and wood on the ground, as much, I dare say, if near London, as would yield fifty thousand pounds, besides a house within twelve miles of Dublin, the best in Ireland, and land to it, which I hope will be two thousand pounds a year; all which he shall have to the rest, had I twenty brothers of his to set besides me. I write not to your ladyship in vanity, or to have it spoken of, but privately, to let your ladyship see, I do not forget the children of my dearest

This

wife, nor altogether bestow my time fruitlessly for them it is true, I am in debt, but there will be besides sufficient to discharge all I owe by God's grace, whether I live or die. And next to these children there are not any other persons I wish more happiness than to the house of their father, and shall be always most ready to serve them, what opinion soever he had of me; for no other's usage can absolve me of what I owe, not only to the memory but to the last legacy that noblest creature left with me when God took her to himself. I am afraid to turn over the leaf, lest your ladyship might think I could never come to a conclusion; and shall therefore add to all the rest this one truth more, that whenever I be happied through the occasion, there is not any more your ladyship's obedient and most humble son and servant. Fairwood Park, the 10th of August, 1639.

LETTER XXXV.

CHARLES I. TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD,

STRAFFORD,

THE misfortune that is fallen upon you by the strange mistaking and conjuncture of these times being such, that I must lay by the thought of employing you hereafter in my affairs; yet I cannot satisfy myself in honour or conscience, without assuring you (now in the midst of your troubles) that, upon the word of a king, you shall not suffer in life, honour, or fortune. This is but justice, and

therefore a very mean reward from a master to so faithful and able a servant as you have shewed yourself to be; yet it is as much as I conceive the present times will permit, though none shall hinder me from being your constant faithful friend. Whitehall, April 23, 1641

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LETTER XXXVI.

EARL OF STRAFFORD TO HIS SON.

MY DEAREST WILL,

THESE are the last lines that you are to receive from a father that tenderly loves you. I wish there were a greater leisure to impart my mind unto you; but our merciful God will supply all things by his grace, and guide and protect you in all your ways: to whose infinite goodness I bequeath you; and therefore be not discouraged, but serve him, and trust in him, and he will preserve and prosper you in all things.

Be sure you give all respect to my wife, that hath ever had a great love unto you, and therefore will be well becoming you. Never be wanting in your love and care to your sisters, but let them ever be most dear unto you; for this will give others cause to esteem and respect you for it, and is a duty that you owe them in the memory of your excellent mother and myself; therefore your care and affection to them must be the very same that you are to have of yourself; and the like regard must you have to your youngest sister, for

indeed you owe it to her also, both for her father and mother's sake.

Sweet Will, be careful to take the advice of those friends which are by me desired to advise you for your education. Serve God diligently morning and evening, and recommend yourself unto him, and have him before your eyes in all your ways. With patience hear the instructions of those friends I leave with you, and diligently follow their counsel; for till you come by time to have experience in the world, it will be far more safe to trust to their judgments than your own.

Lose not the time of your youth, but gather those seeds of virtue and knowledge which may be of use to yourself, and comfort to your friends, for the rest of your life. And that this may be the better effected, attend thereunto with patience, and be sure to correct and refrain yourself from anger. Suffer not sorrow to cast you down, but with cheerfulness and good courage go on the race you have to run in all sobriety and truth. Be sure with an hallowed care to have respect to all the commandments of God, and give not yourself to neglect them in the least things, lest by degrees you come to forget them in the greatest; for the heart of man is deceitful above all things. And in all your duties and devotions towards God, rather perform them joyfully than pensively, for God loves a cheerful giver. For your religion, let it be directed according to that which shall be taught by those which are in God's church, the proper teachers therefore, rather than that you ever either fancy one to yourself, or be led by men that are singular in their own opinions, and delight to go