242 LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOURS [1661. 



On the 3rd of September, the Lord Arundel of Warder 

 signified to the House, &quot; That the Marquis of Worcester 

 hath delivered up the patent to his Majesty, for the 

 Dukedom of Somerset.&quot; When it was 



&quot;Ordered, That the same Committee prepare a Bill, 

 that all patents and grants obtained since the begin 

 ning of the late wars shall be brought within a short 

 time to be limited, or else the same to be vacated/ 



In consequence of this order, on the 5th of Septem 

 ber, Lord Eoberts reported the Draught of a Bill for 

 bringing in of grants and patents, which was twice 

 read and committed ; and being read a third time on 

 the 6th, it was duly passed. 



It is very humiliating to find the Marquis of Worces 

 ter stripped, not only of his great wealth, but of even 

 empty titles; and this latter act not by professed 

 enemies, but through his peers conjointly with his very 

 sovereign ! There is something so utterly contemptible 

 in the whole proceedings, which deprive without sub 

 stitution, and sap the wealth of any man without an 

 adequate effort at remedial measures, that we feel per 

 plexed how to account for treatment so heartless and 

 discreditable; whether considered in reference to Charles 

 the First, or his son and successor, or the reformed Par 

 liament. In all the relations of private life the conduct of 

 Charles the First was as commendable as that of his son 

 was reprehensible ; and if Charles the Second had viewed 

 the Marquis s case only in respect to his father s private 

 debts, he must have felt bound in honour and in common 

 gratitude to assist and uphold the Marquis of Worces 

 ter in every way and by every means consistent with 

 existing circumstances. It is true that his property was 

 restored along with the very deeds held by Cromwell, 

 but his Castle was an untenantable ruin, and his estates 

 denuded of their wood ; so that without fortune, and in 



