Life of the Duchess of Newcastle 171 



was cured, his life was decayed, he being not of a strong con- 

 stitution could not, as it did prove, recover his health, for the 

 dregs of his ague did put out the lamp of his life. Yet Heaven 

 knows I did not think his life was so near to an end, for his 

 doctor had great hopes of his perfect recovery, and by reason 

 he was to go into the country for change of air, where I should 

 have been a trouble, rather than any way serviceable, besides 

 more charge the longer I stayed, for which I made the more 

 haste to return to my Lord, with whom I had rather be as a 

 poor beggar, than to be mistress of the world absented from 

 him, yet, Heaven hitherto hath kept us, and though Fortune 

 hath been cross, yet we do submit, and are both content with 

 what is, and cannot be mended, and are so prepared that the 

 worst of fortunes shall not afflict our minds, so as to make us 

 unhappy, howsoever it doth pinch our lives with poverty. 

 For, if tranquillity lives in an honest mind, the mind lives 

 in peace, although the body suffer. But patience hath armed 

 us, and misery hath tried us, and finds us fortune-proof. For 

 the truth is, my Lord is a person whose humour is neither 

 extravagantly merry nor unnecessarily sad, his mind is above 

 his fortune as his generosity is above his purse, his courage 

 above danger, his justice above bribes, his friendship above 

 self-interest, his truth too firm for falsehood, his temperance 

 beyond temptation. His conversation is pleasing and affable, 

 his wit is quick, and his judgment is strong, distinguishing 

 clearly without clouds of mistakes, dissecting truth, so as it 

 justly admits not of disputes : his discourse is always new upon 

 the occasion, without troubling the hearers with old historical 

 relations, nor stuffed with useless sentences. His behaviour 

 is manly without formality, and free without constraint, and 

 his mind hath the same freedom. His nature is noble, and 

 his disposition sweet ; his loyalty is proved by his public service 

 for his King and country, by his often hazarding of his life, by 

 the loss of his estate, and the banishment of his person, by his 

 necessitated condition, and his constant and patient suffering. 

 But, howsoever our fortunes are, we are both content, spend- 

 ing our time harmlessly, for my Lord pleaseth himself with the 

 management of some few horses, and exercises himself with 

 the use of the sword ; which two arts he hath brought by his 

 studious thoughts, rational experience, and industrious prac- 

 tice, to an absolute perfection. And though he hath taken 



