His Son s Character of Lord Clarendoiu 



141 



their want of honesty and fidelity, then 

 to be piinislied by God himselfe for 

 their treacliery and perfidiousnessc : of 

 so vast importance is it to have one man 

 in a nation, for wliose probity the 

 greatest part of the rest had so much 

 awe and reverence, as to have a fear of 

 discovering those sinnes before him, 

 which have since broken out like boyles 

 and diseases upon them, and to have 

 one such righteous man, for wliose sake 

 God would preserve, at least for some 

 time, though not spare a nation. Tlien 

 the chamber fellow, and many other 

 companions of his youth, men that la- 

 boured to excell in honesty, if not for 

 honesty's sake, at least the reward for 

 it, first suffered themselves to he tempt- 

 ed in, what tliey thought, but small 

 things, and in votes of little conse- 

 quence, wliciein conscience seemed not 

 highly concerned, to .ippear capable of 

 being byassed and turned from their 

 judgments by hope or fear, and by that 

 meanes gave a patterne or a sample of 

 what they might be brought to with 

 greater rewards, and, by det^rees, sold 

 themselves and their country to the 

 pride, ambition, and will of a few per- 

 sons, gott info great places, by the be- 

 traying of their owne f rusts, and weie 

 to preserve them by the treachery of 

 others. 



Then the Dutchesse his daughter,* 

 of whose persoue I doe not Ihinke but 

 with reverence, and therefore must 

 impufe misfortunes as well as crimes 

 to his going away, being seduced by 

 degrees to have an ill opinion of the 

 religion slie was borne and bred in, and 

 overborn by arguments she could not 

 answer herselfe. and an unweaiied ap- 

 plication of tliO'-e of tlie Romish fhurch 

 to gain her, and nllmnst deserted mid 

 beiraj/ed by the most stupid negligence 

 and coolnesse. carelesnesse and uncou- 

 cernerlnesse of most of our o\vue church 

 havelng nobody to fly to in those nice 

 points, which a pretty good opinion of 

 her owne undeistandiug, would not 

 suffer her to submitt to every ordinary 

 one, and being too far removed from 

 his instruction and advice, for whom, 

 even in the high ranke God had placed 

 her, I thinke truly she had all possible 

 reverence and esteeme, was prevailed 

 upon to deny her owne understanding 

 and the profession she Iiad been so well 

 instructed in, and to give up her judg- 

 ment to those who had much lesse than 



[March 1 . 



• The Dutchess of York, mother of Mary 

 iiud Anne. 



herselfe, in every thing but in maliti- 

 ously contriving her mine, which she 

 did not foresee ; but God be thanked, 

 her death putt an end to those farther 

 designes such ill men might have, to 

 bring shame and confusion upon her, 

 at least in this world, whidi without 

 too great a breach of charity, one may 

 suspect from such men, who had first 

 contrived and compassed the mine of 

 her father, and had then no other way 

 so secure of bringing more mischiefe 

 upon the heads of the rest of the family, 

 but as by pretending to have changefl 

 the nature of the wole which they had 

 openly professed upon his account, and 

 so appearing in another more mild 

 cloathing, of repentance and friendship, 

 under wliich they designed to act no 

 lesse ravenous parts. I say God be 

 tlianked, that he did take her away 

 even in that time before she had fully 

 perfected, at le.ist not openly declarecl. 

 his sad alteration, for p.ot to speake of 

 the ditt'ercnces it would have made in 

 her owne family, and of the more cer- 

 tain and quicker disorders it might 

 have brought in the nation which by 

 degrees luive gently since stolne in 

 upon us. I am confident the disairbance 

 within her own breast if she had re- 

 covered out of that weaknesse of body 

 and mind, of which they tooke their 

 advantage info tlie bargaine, with all 

 other circumstances, would have given 

 her such an eternall perplexity for 

 haveing resolved too hastily in a thing 

 which she would still have sometimes 

 doubted she had been in the wrong in, 

 that the life of the body was not worth 

 the purchase of so great an nneasynesse 

 of the miud. But notwithstanding all 

 this desolation brought upon our owne 

 family, and generally in the nation, I 

 mean in the parliament, by the re- 

 moval of so good and so able a guide 

 and conductor and the governing part 

 of the nation ; notwithstanding, tlieie 

 were many floods brooke out and several 

 breaches madeor rather onely attempted 

 upon our religion, <,ur liberty, and our 

 lawes ; yet will during the time of his 

 banishment, though the watchman 

 watched but perfunctorily indeed, most 

 commonly asleep, or pretending to he 

 soe, there was still some faint represen- 

 tation of a forme of government, and 

 when the floods came and the stormes 

 beat the workmen went outagaine and 

 voluntarily placed themselves in the 

 breach, and the repairs were patched 

 up, and the unruly swelling of ambi- 

 tious or disafected people, were ordrn 



arily 



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