The Third Book 101 



5. Of his Blessings 



Although my Lord hath been one of the most unfortunate 

 persons of his rank and quality, which this later age did pro- 

 duce ; yet Heaven hath been so propitious to him, that 

 it bestowed some blessings upon him even in the midst of his 

 misfortunes, and supported him against Fortune's malice, 

 which otherwise, as it seems, had designed his total ruin and 

 destruction. Of these blessings I may name in the first place. 



1. The royal favours of his gracious sovereigns, and the 

 good esteem they had of his fidelity and loyalty ; which, as 

 it was the chief of his endeavours, so he esteemed it above all 

 the rest. To repeat them particularly would be too tedious, 

 and they are sufficiently apparent out of the precedent history ; 

 only this I may add, that King Charles the First, out of a 

 singular favour to my Lord, was pleased, upon his most humble 

 request, to create several noblemen ; the names of them, lest 

 I commit an offence, I shall not mention, by reason most men 

 usually pretend such claims upon the ground of their own 

 merit. 



2. That God was pleased to bless him with wealth and 

 power, to enable him the better for the service of his King 

 and country. 



3. That He made him happy in his marriage ; (for his first 

 wife was a very kind, loving, and virtuous lady) and blessed 

 him with dutiful and obedient children, free from vices, noble 

 and generous both in their natures and actions ; who did all 

 that lay in their power to support and relieve my Lord their 

 father in his banishment, as before is mentioned. 



4. The kindness and civility which my Lord received from 

 strangers, and the inhabitants of those places, where he lived 

 during the time of his banishment ; for had it not been for 

 them, he would have perished in his extreme wants ; but it 

 pleased God so to provide for him, that although he wanted 

 an estate, yet he wanted not credit ; and although he was 

 banished and forsaken by his own friends and countrymen, 

 yet he was civilly received and relieved by strangers, until 

 God blessed him. 



ing, and blue silk strings. Another copy is in the possession of the Duke of Portland. 

 The second of these two MSS. was printed by Mr. S. A. Strong, in 1903, in his Catalogue 

 of Letters and other historical Documents exhibited in the Library at Welbeck (pp. 54, i73~ 

 236). 



