6 The Life of William, Duke of Newcastle 



In this present employment he continued for the space of 

 three years, during which time there happened an insurrection 

 and rebellion of his Majesty's discontented subjects in Scot- 

 land, which forced his Majesty to raise an army, to reduce 

 them to their obedience, and his treasury being at that time 

 exhausted he was necessitated to desire some supply and 

 assistance of the noblest and richest of his loyal subjects. 

 Amongst the rest, my Lord lent his Majesty £10,000 and 

 raised himself a volunteer troop of horse, which consisted of 

 120 knights and gentlemen of quality \ who marched to 

 Berwick by his Majesty's command, where it pleased his 

 Majesty to set this mark of honour upon that troop, that it 

 should be independent, and not commanded by any general 

 officer, but only by his Majesty himself. 2 The reason thereof 

 was upon this following occasion. 



His Majesty's whole body of horse, being commanded to 

 march into Scotland against the rebels, a place was appointed 

 for their rendezvous ; immediately upon their meeting, my 

 Lord sent a gentleman of quality of his troop 3 to his Majesty's 

 then General of the Horse, to know where his troop should 

 march ; who returned this answer, That it was to march next 

 after the troops of the General Officers of the Field. My Lord 

 conceiving that his troop ought to march in the van, and not 

 in the rear, sent the same messenger back again to the General, 

 to inform him, that he had the honour to march with the 

 Prince's colours, and therefore he thought it not fit to march 



been printed by Collins (Historical Collections, p. 27). Windebanke's letter offering 

 this post to the Earl, and the Earl's reply, are both contained in the Clarendon State 

 Papers, and dated 19th and 21st March 1638. For these see the Appendix. ' It is 

 certainly a mighty mark of his Majesty's estimation of you ', writes Strafford, ' that 

 he intrusts you with the keeping of so precious a jewel '. The Lord Deputy sends at 

 the same time a number of counsels for the Earl's guidance at court [Strafford Papers, 

 ii, 174). The advice given by the Earl to his pupil, originally printed by Sir Henry 

 Ellis, is also given in the Appendix. A letter in the Record Office, written by one Thomas 

 Wiseman on Newcastle's retirement from this post, state's that the Earl ran himself 

 into debt to the amount of £40,000 during his employment. 



1 Mrs. Hutchinson's testimony to the Earl's great popularity is worth quoting; it 

 will be observed that her account of the volunteer troop differs slightly from that given 

 by the Duchess : ' The Earl of Newcastle ... a lord once so much beloved in his coun- 

 try, that when the first expedition was against the Scots, the gentlemen of the country 

 set him forth two troops, one all of gentlemen, the other of their men, who waited on 

 him into the north at their own charges. He had, indeed, through his great estate, 

 his liberal hospitality, and constant residence in his country, so endeared them to him, 

 that no man was a greater prince than he was in all that northern quarter ; till a foolish 

 ambition of glorious slavery carried him to court, where he ran himself much into debt, 

 to purchase neglects of the King and Queen, and scorns of the proud courtiers.' — Memoirs, 

 vol. i, p. 163. 



2 On April 1, 1639 Newcastle was commissioned as captain of the troop of horse called 

 Prince Charles's troop. (Portland MSS., ii, 132). 



3 Sir William Carnaby, Kt. 



