344 



The Wills/lire Compounders. 



were not long- in exchanging civilities with him. As the war 

 advanced he found it necessary to quit Wiltshire and retreat to his 

 Chelsea home, and there he remained till his death in 1655, the 

 second year of the Protectorate. He had married, too, in his 

 seventy-seventh year, only a few days before the King's execution, 

 a third wife, Grace Hewes, by whom he had a son, John, But the 

 most interesting event connected with this closing episode of his 

 life was his alliance with Dr. Thomas Fuller, the Royalist divine 

 and eminent ecclesiastic historian ; just showing how much the 

 sentiment of good neighbourhood and mutual esteem could in some 

 instances survive the rival factions of the day. It may seem strange 

 that the Doctor should close such a prominent literary and warlike 

 career as he had led by accepting the position of domestic chaplain 

 to a Regicide ; but Fuller was eminently a philosopher of the class 

 who adopt the French maxim, " Fully to know all is to pardon all." 

 Here, at Chelsea, he might be heard from time to time delivering 

 sermons commemorative of domestic events in his patron's family ; 

 and we can hardly doubt that it must have been a favourite enter- 

 tainment for strollers of the Pepys stamp to paddle up the river on 

 Sunday mornings to see how the Royalist Doctor would construct 

 his phraseology on these occasions, and have a look at the old 

 Regicide himself, enthroned in the manorial pew with his third 

 youthful wife. This state of things lasted till the eve of the 

 Restoration. Had Sir John Danvers survived that crisis he would 

 no doubt have shared with his associates the tragic penalty of 

 Tyburn. This he escaped, but his person was regarded as " attaint," 

 and his possessions were to a great extent confiscated. 



Brief notice, in conclusion, must now be taken of the three children 

 by his second wife. Of these, Elizabeth married the notorious 

 Robert Wright, alias Villiers, alias Danvers, who levied a fine to 

 be excused taking the title of Viscount Purbeck, and assumed the 

 maiden name of his wife. After her husband's death she used the 

 title of Viscountess Purbeck, and her son attempted to substantiate 

 his claim, but without success. The case is reported in Sir Harris 

 Nicholas' Adulterine Bastardy. Sir John's other daughter, Anne, 

 was in June, 1655, married at Lavington to Sir Henry Lee, of 



