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grams in praise of my dogge Bungey to Momus.*

And I

have an excellente picture curiously limned to remain in

my posterity.

1774, Feb.

XVII. Letters from Queen Henrietta Maria to Charles I.

MY DEAR HEART,

THE bearer, Skipwith, being come from London with a passport, I have been glad to make use of him, to carry you this letter, the subject of which is, that the Lords Say, Salisbury, Manchester, Pyin, and Hampden, have sent this messenger to know of me, if I will hearken to a peace, and induce you to resume the treaty, and grant the terms proposed by them at Oxford: and that he could shew so many reasons for it, that I would agree to it; and if you would hearken to the overture, they would send Manchester, with some other lords, and Hampden and Stapleton, to satisfy me; and have promised this bearer, that till his return, Essex's army should not advance; which I have thought for your service. Send me an answer to this letter speedily, what you would have me do, with punctual directions; and let nobody know any thing of it but Culpepper, for secrecy is recommended, and on my part, I shall keep it inviolably.

York, this 5th of May, 1643.

The same to the same.

MY DEAR HEART,

1

Burlington, 25th Feb. 1643.

As soon as I landed, I dispatched Progers to you; but having learnt to day that he was taken by the enemy, I send this bearer to give you an account of my arrival, which has been very successful, thank God; for as rough as the sea was when I first crossed it, it was now as calm, till I came within a few leagues of Newcastle; and on the coast the

*Book iii. Fpigram 21.

+ Culpepper was a better courtier than Hyde or Falkland, and therefore more a favourite. He was a man of a most acute penetration.

wind changed to N.W. and obliged us to make for Burlington bay, where, after two days lying in the road, our cavalry arrived. I immediately landed, and the next morning the rest of the troops came in. God who protected me at sea, has also done it at land; for this night four of the parliament ships came in without our knowledge, and at 4 o'clock in the morning, we had the alarm, and sent to the harbour to secure our boats of ammunition; but about an hour after, these four ships began so furious a cannonading, that they made us get out of our beds, and quit the village to them; at least us women, for the soldiers behaved very resolutely in protecting the ammunition. I must now play the Captain Bessus, and speak a little of myself. One of these ships did me the favour to flank my house, which fronted the pier, and before I was out of bed the balls whistled over me, and you may imagine I did not like the music. Every body forced me out, the balls beating down our houses; so, dressed as I could, I went on foot some distance from the village, and got shelter in a ditch, like those we have seen about Newmarket; but before I could reach it, the balls sung merrily over our heads, and a serjeant was killed 20 paces from me. Under this shelter we remained two hours, the bullets flying over us, and sometimes covering us with earth. At last the Dutch Admiral sent to tell them, that, if they did not give over, he would treat them as enemies. This was rather of the latest, but he excused himself on account of a fog. Upon this the parliament ships. went off; and besides, the tide ebbed, and they would have been in shoal water. As soon as they were withdrawn, I returned to my house, not being willing that they should boast of having driven me away. About noon I set out for the town of Burlington, and all this day we have been landing our ammunition. It is said, one of the parliament captains went before, to reconnoitre my lodging; and I assure you he had marked it exactly, for he always fired at it. I can say, with truth, that by land and sea, I have been in some danger, but God has preserved me; and I confide inhis goodness, that he will not desert me in other things. I protest to you, in this confidence I would face cannon, but I know we must not tempt God. I must now go and eat a morsel; for I have taken nothing to day but three eggs, and slept very little."

The same to the same.

As I was closing my letter, Sir L. Dives arrived, who has told me all that passed at Hull: do not lose courage,

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and pursue the business with resolution, for you must now shew that you will make good what you have undertaken; if the man who is in the place will not submit, you have already declared him a traitor. You must have him alive or dead; for there is no joke in all this. You must declare yourself; you have shewn gentleness enough, you must now shew your firmness. You see what has happened from not having followed your first resolution, when you declared the five members traitors; let that serve you for an example; dally no longer with consultations, but proceed to action. I heartily wished myself in the place of my son James, in Hull; I would have thrown the scoundrel Hotham over the walls, or he should have thrown me. I am in such haste to dispatch this bearer, that I can write to nobody else. Go boldly to work, as I see there is no hope of accommodation,* &c.

The same to the same.

MY DEAR HEART,

I thought to have sent you this other letter before, but the person I meant to send it by, being so useful here for your service, I could not spare him sooner. It is chiefly to remind you of your promise to me at Dover, and since, by letter, that you would never consent to an accommodation, without any knowledge and interposition. As to myself, it is of no great consequence, perhaps; but if you do not take care of those who suffer for you, it will be your ruin; and believe not any who shall tell you, that with time you may bring them back again. If you do not include them in a general indemnity, they are undone: I do not say all, for assuredly some will save themselves; what I speak to you about is, for those whom the parliament would ruin, because they are too much for you; as Digby, Jermyn, Percy, and Oneal.† How absurd would it be to pardon those who are in open opposition to you, and to forget those who have been for you. I know this can never proceed from yourself; but they will persuade you, that you

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This is part of a letter, and has no date. The king made his attempt on Hall in April, 1642. The accounts of it in Clarendon, and Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond, are well worth reading.

These persons were particularly obnoxious to the parliament; the first, for the active part he took in defence of Lord Strafford, against the bill of attainder; the others, for the share they had, at the queen's instigation, in the intrigue for getting the army then on foot, and in the north, to declare for the king.

should not be obstinate on this head; that individuals should not stand in the way of accommodation. That is true, in some sense; but it is of the highest consequence to your own honour, not to abandon your friends. You will see that the parliament will never give up their creatures; and do you think, that if you shew firmness on your side, they will break off treating on that account? Not in the least; they find too much advantage by keeping up a negotiation, to break it off for the sake of three or four persons. It is true, that if you act as you have done, notwithstanding all the promises you have made me, you will be the sufferer. I beg of you to observe, if the parliament recede from any thing they have once undertaken: if you take the course you did last summer in Scotland, adieu to royalty. For my part, I can endure any thing, and live as a vagabond,* and let you follow the councils of those who think themselves wiser than me. If I see any prospect of accommodation, you will allow me to send you the terms you should stand upon; if you approve of them, keep them by you; if not, burn them, and say nothing; and let nobody know I have sent any such hints; not even those who used to see my letters.

Adieu, dear heart.

N.B. The volume containing these letters is marked 7379, in the Harleian catalogue.

1774, Aug.

XVIII. Letters between the Duchess of Kingston and Mr. Foote,

It has been

THE following letters will afford amusement. usual with Mr. Foote, during the suspension of the Theatres Royal, to entertain the lovers of the dranfa with some new pieces (chiefly of humour) at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket. But unluckily, this year's performance, called A Trip to Calais, met with a check from the lord chamberlain, who refused to licence it. In hopes, however, of softening the rigour of his lordship's sentence, Mr. Foote wrote to him as follows:

* Demoiselle des champs is the phrase.

"MY LORD, I did intend troubling your lordship with an earlier address, but the day after I received your prohibitory mandate, I had the honour of a visit from Lord Mountstuart, to whose interposition I find I am indebted for your first commands, relative to The Trip to Calais, by Mr. Chetwynd, and your final rejection of it by Col. Keen,

Lord Mountstuart has, I presume, told your lordship, that he read with me those scenes to which your lordship objected; that he found them collected from general nature, and applicable to none but those who, through consciousness, were compelled to a self application: to such minds, my lord, the Whole Duty of Man, next to the sacred writings, is the severest satire that ever was wrote, and to the same mark, if comedy directs not her aim, her arrows are shot in the air; for by what touches no man, no man will be mended. Lord Mountstuart desired that I would suffer him to take the play with him, and let him leave it with the Duchess of Kingston: he had my consent, my lord, and at the same time an assurance, that I was willing to make any alteration that her grace would suggest. Her grace saw the play, and, in consequence, I saw her grace; with the result of that interview, I shall not, at this time, trouble your lordship. It may, perhaps, be necessary to observe, that her grace could not discern, which your lordship, I dare say, will readily believe, a single trait in the character of Lady Kitty Crocodile, that resembled herself.

After this representation, your lordship will, I doubt not, permit me to enjoy the fruits of my labour; nor will you think it reasonable, because a capricious individual has taken it into her head, that I have pinned her ruffles awry, that I should be punished by a poniard stuck deep in my heart: your lordship has too much candour and justice to be the instrument of so violent and ill-directed a blow.

Your lordship's determination is not only of the greatest importance to me now, but must inevitably decide my fate for the future; as, after this defeat, it will be impossible for me to muster up courage enough to face folly again. Between the muse and the magistrate there is a natural confederacy; what the last cannot punish, the first often corrects but when she finds herself not only deserted by her ancient ally, but sees him armed in the defence of her foe, she has nothing left but a speedy retreat. Adicu, then, my lord, to the stage. Valeat res ludicra; to which I hope. I may with justice add, Plaudite, as, during my continuance in the service of the public, I never profited by flattering their passions, or falling in with their humours; as,

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