156 Life of the Duchess of Newcastle 



which made Queen Elizabeth so severe, not to pardon him 1 . 

 But King James of blessed memory graciously gave him his 

 pardon, and leave to return home to his native country, 

 wherein he lived happily, and died peaceably, leaving a wife 

 and eight children, three sons, and five daughters, I being the 

 youngest child he had, and an infant when he died. 



As for my breeding, it was according to my birth, and the 

 nature of my sex ; for my birth was not lost in my breeding. 

 For as my sisters was or had been bred, so was I in plenty, 

 or rather with superfluity. Likewise we were bred virtuously, 

 modestly, civilly, honourably, and on honest principles. As 

 for plenty, we had not only for necessity, conveniency, and 

 decency, but for delight and pleasure to a superfluity ; it 

 is true we did not riot, but we lived orderly ; for riot, even 

 in kings' courts and princes' palaces, brings ruin without con- 

 tent or pleasure, when order in less fortunes shall live more 

 plentifully and deliciously than princes that lives in a hurly- 

 burly, as I may term it, in which they are seldom well served. 

 For disorder obstructs ; besides, it doth disgust life, distract 

 the appetites, and yield no true relish to the senses ; for 

 pleasure, delight, peace, and felicity live in method and 

 temperance. 



As for our garments, my mother did not only delight to see 

 us neat and cleanly, fine and gay, but rich and costly ; main- 

 taining us to the height of her estate, but not beyond it. For 

 we were so far from being in debt, before these wars, as we 

 were rather beforehand with the world ; buying all with 

 ready money, not on the score. For although after my 

 father's death the estate was divided between my mother 

 and her sons, paying such a sum of money for portions to her 

 daughters, either at the day of their marriage, or when they 

 should come to age ; yet by reason she and her children agreed 

 with a mutual consent, all their affairs were managed so well, 

 as she lived not in a much lower condition than when my 

 father lived. 'Tis true, my mother might have increased her 

 daughters' portions by a thrifty sparing, yet she chose to 

 bestow it on our breeding, honest pleasures, and harmless 

 delights, out of an opinion, that if she bred us with needy 



1 This was probably George Brooke, the brother of Lord Cobham, executed for his 

 share in the plot called ' The Bye ', in 1603. I have not been able to find any mention 

 of this duel. 



