she is dead ' ; and suddenly took a lancet out of his
pocket and with it cut the sole of her foot, which
bled. Upon this, he immediately caused her to be
laid upon the bed again and to be rubbed, and such
means as she came to life, and opening her eyes, saw
two of her kinswomen stand by her, my Lady
Knollys and my Lady Russell, both with great wide
sleeves, as the fashion then was, and said. Did not
you promise me fifteen years, and are you come
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 5 1
again ? which they not understanding, persuaded her
to keep her spirits quiet in that great weakness
wherein she then was; but some hours after she
desired my father and Dr. Howlsworth might be
left alone with her, to whom she said, *I will
acquaint you, that during the time of my trance I
was in great quiet, but in a place I could neither
distinguish nor describe; but the sense of leaving
my girl, who is dearer to me than all my children,
remained a trouble upon my spirits. Suddenly I saw
two by me, clothed in long white garments, and me-
thought I fell down with my face in the dust ; and
they asked why I was troubled in so great happiness.
I replied, O let me have the same grant given to
Hezekiah, that I may live fifteen years, to see my
daughter a woman : to which they answered, It is
done ; and then, at that instant, I awoke out of my
trance ; ' and Dr. Howlsworth did there affirm, that
that day she died made just fifteen years from that
time. My dear mother was of excellent beauty and
good understanding, a loving wife, and most tender
mother ; very pious, and charitable to that degree,
that she relieved, besides the oflFals of the table,
which she constantly gave to the poor, many with
her own hand daily out of her purse, and dressed
many wounds of miserable people, when she had
health, and when that failed, as it did often, she
caused her servants to supply that place.
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She left behind her three sons, all much older than
myself. The eldest, John, married three wives : by
his last, who was the daughter of Mr. Ludlow, a
very ancient and noble family, he left two daughters,
who are both unmarried. My second brother,
William, died at Oxford with a bruise on his side,
caused by the fall of his horse, which was shot
under him, as he went out with a party of horse
against a party of the Earl of Essex, in 1643, He
was a very good and gallant young man ; and they
are the very words the king said of him, when he
was told of his death : he was much lamented by all
who knew him. The third, Abraham, hath left no
issue ; I was the fourth, and my sister Margaret, the
fifth, who married Sir Edmund Turner, of South
Stock, in Lincolnshire, a worthy pious man.
My father, in his old age, married again, the
daughter of Mr. Shatbolt, of Hertfordshire, and had
by her a son, Richard, and a daughter, Mary. The
son married the eldest daughter of the now Lord
Grandison, and the daughter married the eldest son
of Sir Rowland Lytton, of Knebworth, in Hertford-
shire. My father lived to see them both married ;
and enjoyed a firm health until above eighty years of
age. He was a handsome gentleman of great natural
parts, a great accomptant, vast memory, an incom-
parable penman, of great integrity and service to his
prince ; had been a member of several Parliaments ;
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 53
a good husband and father, especially to me, who
never can sufficiently praise God for him, nor acknow-
ledge his most tender affection and bounty to me
and mine ; but as in duty bound, I will for ever say,
none had ever a kinder and better father than myself.
He died on the 28th day of September, 1670; and
lies buried by my mother in his own vault in All-
hallows Church, in Hertford.
My father was born at Bemond, in Lancashire;
the twelfth son of his father, whose mother was the
daughter of Mr. Hippom, cousin german to the old
Countess of Rivers. I have little knowledge of my
father's relations more than the families of Aston,
Irland, Sandis, Bemond, and Curwen,who brought him
to London and placed him with my Lord Treasurer
Salisbury, then Secretary of State, who sent him into
Sir John Wolstenholm's family, and gave him a small
place in the Custom-house, to enable him for the
employment. He, being of good parts and great
capacity, in some time raised himself, by God's help,
to get a very great estate, for I have often heard
him say that, besides his education, he never had but
twenty marks, which his father gave him when he
came to London, and that was all he ever had for a
portion. He made it appear with great truth that,
during the time of the war, he lost by the rebels
above one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, and
yet he left his son sixteen hundred pounds a year in
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land, and gave his daughter above twenty thousand
pounds.
Now it is necessary to say something of my
mother's education of me, which was with all the
advantages that time afforded, both for working all
sorts of fine works with my needle, and learning
French, singing, lute, the virginals and dancing, and
notwithstanding I learned as well as most did, yet
was I wild to that degree, that the hours of my
beloved recreation took up too much of my time,
for I loved riding in the first place, running, and all
active pastimes ; in short, I was that which we graver
people call a hoyting girl ; but to be just to myself,
I never did mischief to myself or people, nor one
immodest word or action in my life, though skipping
and activity was my delight, but upon my mother's
death, I then began to reflect, and, as an offering to
her memory, I flung away those childnesses that had
formerly possessed me, and, by my father's command,
took upon me charge of his house and family, which
I so ordered by my excellent mother's example as
found acceptance in his sight. I was very well
beloved by all our relations and my mother's friends,
whom I paid a great respect to, and I ever was
ambitious to keep the best company, which I have
done, I thank God, all the days of my life. My
father and mother were both great lovers and
honourers of clergymen, but all of Cambridge, and
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 55
chiefly Doctor Bamberge, Doctor Howlsworth,Broan-
bricke, Walley, and Mickelthite, and Sanderson, with
many others. We lived in great plenty and hospi-
tality, but no lavishness in the least, nor prodigality,
and, I believe, my father never drank six glasses of
wine in his life in one day.
About 1 64 1, my brother, William Harrison, was
chosen Burgess of ^ and sat in the Commons'
House of Parliament, but not long, for when the
King set up his standard he went Ynxh him to
Nottingham ; yet he, during his sitting, undertook
that my father should lend one hundred and fifty
thousand pounds to pay the Scots who had then
entered England, and, as it seems, were to be both
paid and prayed to go home, but afterwards their
plague infected the whole nation, as to all our sorrows
we know, and that debt of my father's remained to
to him until the restoration of the King. In 1642
my father was taken prisoner at his house, called
Montague House,in Bishopgate Street,and threatened
to be sent on board a ship with many more
of his quality, and then they plundered his house,
but he getting loose, under pretence to fetch some
writings they demanded in his hands concerning the
public revenue, he went to Oxford in 1643, ^^^
thereupon the Long Parliament, of which he was a
member for the town of Lancaster, plundered him
out of what remained, and sequestered his whole
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56 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
estate, which continued out of his possession until
the happy restoration of the King.
My father commanded my sister and myself to
come to him to Oxford where the Court then was,
but we, that had till that hour lived in great plenty
and great order, found ourselves like fishes out of the
water, and the scene was so changed, that we knew
not at ail how to act any part but obedience, for,
from as good a house as any gentleman of England
had, we came to a baker's house in an obscure street,
and from rooms well furnished, to lie in a very bad
bed in a garret, to one dish of meat, and that not
the best ordered, no money, for we were as poor as
Job, nor clothes more than a man or two brought in
their cloak bags : we had the perpetual discourse of
losing and gaining towns and men ; at the windows
the sad spectacle of war, sometimes plague, some-
times sicknesses of other kind, by reason of so many
people being packed together, as, I believe, there
never was before of that quality ; always in want, yet
I must needs say that most bore it with a martyr-like
cheerfulness. For my own part, I began to think
we should all, like Abraham, live in tents all the
days of our lives. The King sent my father- a
warrant for a baronet, but he returned it with thanks,
saying he had too much honour of his knight-
hood which his Majesty had honoured him with
some years before, for the fortune he now possessed :
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 57
but as in a rock the turbulence of the waves disperses
the splinters of the rock, so it was my lot, for having
buried my dear brother, William Harrison, in Exeter
College Chapel, I then married your dear father in
1644 in Wolvercot Church, two miles from Oxford,
upon the i8th day of May. None was at our
wedding but my dear father, who, at my mother's
desire, gave me her wedding-ring, with which I was
married, and my sister Margaret, and my brother
and sister Boteler, Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards
Lord Chancellor, and Sir GeofFry Palmer, the King's
Attorney. Before I was married, my husband was
sworn Secretary of War to the Prince, now our King,
with a promise from Charles I. to be preferred as
soon as occasion offered it, but both his fortune and
my promised portion, which was made 10,000/., were
both at that time in expectation, and we might truly
be called merchant adventurers, for the stock we set
up our trading with did not amount to twenty
pounds betwixt us ; but, however, it was to us as a
little piece of armour is against a bullet, which if it
be right placed, though no bigger than a shilling,
serves as well as a whole suit of armour ; so our stock
bought pen, ink and paper, which was your father's
trade, and by it, I assure you, we lived better than
those that were born to 2000/. a year as long as he
had his liberty. Here stay till I have told you your
father's life until I married him.
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58 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
He was but seven years old when his father died,
and his mother, my Lady, designed him for the law,
having bred him first with that famous schoolmaster
Mr. Farnaby, and then under the tuition of Dr.
Beale, in Jesus G>llege in Cambridge, from whence,
being a most excellent Latinist, he was admitted into
the Inner Temple ; but it seemed so crabbed a study,
and disagreeable to his inclinations, that he rather
studied ^to obey his mother than to make any pro-
gress in the law. Upon the death of his mother,
whom he dearly loved and honoured, he went into
France to Paris, where he had three cousins german,
Lord Strangford, Sir John Baker of Kent, and my
cousin Thornhill. The whole stock he carried with
him was eighty pieces of gold, and French silver to
the value of five pounds in his pocket ; his gold was
quilted in his doublet ; he went by post to lodgings
in the Fauxbourg St. Germain, with an intent to rest
that night, and the next day to find out his Idndred ;
but the devil, that never sleeps, so ordered it, that
two friars entered the chamber wherein he was, and
welcoming him, being his countrymen, invited him
to play, he innocently only intending diversion, till
his supper was ready ; but that was not their design,
for having engaged him, they left him not as long as
he was worth a groat, which when they discovered,
they gave him five pieces of his money until he could
recruit himself by his friends, which he did the next
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 59
day : and from that time forward never played for a
piece. It came to pass, that seven years after, my
husband being in Huntingdonshire, at a bowling-
green, with Sir Capel Bedells, and many other persons
of quality, one in the company was called Captain
Taller, My husband, who had a very quick and
piercing eye, marked him much, as knowing his face,
and found, through his peruke wig, and scarlet cloak
and buff suit, that his name was neither Giptain nor
Taller, but the honest Jesuit called Friar Sherwood,
that had cheated him of the greatest part of his
money, and after had lent him the five pieces ; so
your father went to him, and gave him his five
pieces, and said, * Father Sherwood, I know you,
and you know this : ' at which he was extremely
surprised, and begged of your father not to discover
him, for his life was in danger. After a year's stay
in Paris, he travelled to Madrid in Spain, there to
learn that language ; at the same time, for that
purpose, went the late Earl of Caernarvon, and my
Lord of Bedford, and Sir John Berkeley, and several
other gentlemen. Afterwards, having spent some
years abroad, he returned to London, and gave so
good an account of his travels, that he was about the
year 1630 made Secretary of the Embassy, when my
Lord Aston went Ambassador. During your father's
travels, he had spent a considerable part of his stock,
which his father and mother left him : in those days,
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6o Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
where there were so many younger children, it was
inconsiderable, being 50/. a year, and 1,500/. in
money. Upon the return of the ambassador, your
father was left resident until Sir Arthur Hopton
went Ambassador, and then he came home about the
year 1637 or 1638 ; and I must tell you here of an
accident your father had coming out of Spain in this
journey post : he going into a bed for some few
hours to refresh himself, in a village five leagues
from Madrid, he slept so soundly, that notmthstand-
ing the house was on fire, and all the people of the
village there, he never waked; but the honesty of
the owners was such, that they carried him, and set
him asleep upon a piece of timber on the highway ;
and there he awaked, and found his portmanteau and
clothes by him, without the least loss, which is extra-
ordinary, considering the profession of his landlord,
who had at that time his house burnt to the
ground.
After being here a year or two, and no prefer-
ment coming. Secretary Windebank calling him
Puritan, being his enemy, because himself was a
Papist, he was, by his elder brother, put into the
place of the King's Remembrancer, absolutely, with
this proviso, that he should be accountable for the
use of the income ; but if in seven years he would
pay 8,000/. for it to his brother, then it should be
his, with the whole revenue of it; but the war break-
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 6i
ing out presently after, put an end to this design ;
for, being the King's sworn servant, he went to the
ICing at Oxford, as well as his fellows, to avoid the
fury of this madness of the people, where, having
been almost a year, we married, as I said before;
and I will continue my discourse where we left.
Now we appear on the stage, to act what part
God designed us ; and as faith is the evidence of
things not seen, so we, upon so righteous a cause,
cheerfully resolved to suffer what that would drive
us to, which afflictions were neither few nor small, as
you will find. This year the Prince had an estab-
lished Council, which were the Earl of Berkshire,
Earl of Bradford, Lord Capel, Lord Colepeper,
Lord Hopton, and Sir Edward Hyde, Chancellor of
the Exchequer. My husband was then, as I said,
newly entered into his office of secretary of the
Council of War, and the King would have had him
then to have been sworn his Highnesses Secretary,
but the Queen, who was then no friend to my
husband, because he had formerly made Secretary
Windebank appear in his colours, who was one of
her Majesty's favourites, wholly obstructed that then,
and placed with the Prince Sir Robert Long, for
whom she had a great kindness ; but the consequence
will show the man.
The beginning of March 1645, your father went
to Bristol with his new master, and this was his first
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62 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
journey : I then lying-in of my first son, Harrison
Fanshawe, who was born on the 22 nd of February,
he left me behind him. As for that, it was the first
time we had parted a day since we married ; he was
extremely afflicted, even to tears, though passion was
against his nature ; but the sense of leaving me with
a dying child, which did die two days after, in a
garrison town, extremely weak, and very poor, were
such circumstances as he could not bear with, only
the argument of necessity ; and, for my own part, it
cost me so dear, that I was ten weeks before I could
go alone ; but he, by all opportunities, wrote to me
to fortify myself, and to comfort me in the company
of my father and sister, who were both with me, and
that as soon as the Lords of the Council had their
wives come to them I should come to him, and that
I should receive the first money he got, and hoped it
would be suddenly. By the help of God, with these
cordials I recovered my former strength by little and
little, nor did I in my distressed condition lack the
conversation of many of my relations then in Oxford,
and kindnesses of very many of the nobility and
gentry, both for goodness sake, and because your
father being there in good employment, they found
him serviceable to themselves or friends, which friend-
ships none better distinguished between his place and
person than your father.
It was in May 1645, ^^^^ ^^st time I went out of
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 63
my chamber and to church, where, after service, Sir
William Parkhurst, a very honest gentleman, came
to me, and said he had a letter for me from your
father and fifty pieces of gold, and was coming to
bring them to me. I opened first my letter, and
read those inexpressible joys that almost overcame
me, for he told me I should the Thursday following
come to him, and to that purpose he had sent me
that money, and would send two of his men with
horses, and all accommodation both for myself, my
father, and sister, and that Lady Capell and Lady
Bradford would meet me on the way ; but that gold
your father sent me when I was ready to perish, did
not so much revive me as his summons. I went
immediately to walk, or at least to sit in the air,
being very weak, in the garden of St. John's Col-
lege, and there, with my good father, communicated
my joy, who took great pleasure to hear of my
husband's good success and likewise of his journey
to him. We, all of my household being present,
heard drums beat in the highway, under the garden
wall. My father asked me if I would go up upon
the mount to see the soldiers march, for it was Sir
Charles Lee's company of foot, an acquaintance of
ours ; I said yes, and went up, leaning my back to a
tree that grew on the mount. The commander
seeing us there, in compliment gave us a volley of
shot, and one of their muskets being loaded, shot a
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64 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
brace of bullets not two inches above my head as I
leaned to the tree, for which mercy and deliverance
I praise God. And next week we were all on our
journey for Bristol very merry, and thought that
now all things would mend, and the worst of my
misfortunes past, but little thought I to leap into
the sea that would toss me until it had racked me ;
but we were to ride all night by agreement, for fear
of the enemy surprising us as they passed, they
quartering in the way. About nightfall having
travelled about twenty miles, we discovered a troop
of horse coming towards us, which proved to be
Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, a worthy commander and
my countryman : he told me, that hearing I was to
pass by his garrison, he was come out to conduct
me, he hoped as far as was danger, which was about
twelve miles: with many thanks we parted, and
having refreshed ourselves and horses, we set forth
for Bristol, where we arrived on the 20th of May.
My husband had provided very good lodgings
for us, and as soon as he could come home from
the Council, where he was at my arrival, he with all
expressions of joy received me in his arms, and gave
me a hundred pieces of gold, saying, * I know thou
that keeps my heart so well, will keep my fortune,
which from this time I will ever put into thy hands
as God shall bless me with increase.' And now I
thought myself a perfect queen, and my husband so
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Memoirs of Lady Fansbawe 65
glorious a crown, that I more valued myself to be
called by his name than born a princess, for I knew
him very wise and very good, and his soul doted on
me; upon which confidence I will tell you what
happened. My Lady Rivers, a brave woman, and
one that had suffered many thousand pounds loss
for the King, and whom I had a great reverence for,
and she a kindness for me as a kinswoman, — in
discourse she tacitly commended the knowledge of
state affairs, and that some women were very happy
in a good understanding thereof, as my lady
Aubigny, Lady Isabel Thynne, and divers others,
and yet none was at first more capable than I ; that
in the night she knew there came a post from Paris
from the Queen, and that she would be extremely
glad to hear what the Queen commanded the King
in order to his affairs; saying, if I would ask
my husband privately, he would tell me what he
found in the packet, and I might tell her. I that
was young and innocent, and to that day had never
in my mouth what news, began to think there was
more in inquiring into public affairs than I thought
of, and that it being a fashionable thing would make
me more beloved of my husband, if that had been
possible, than I was. When my husband returned
home from Council, after welcoming him, as his
custom ever was he went with his handful of papers
into his study for an hour or more; I followed
B
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66 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
him ; he turned hastily, and said, * What wouldst
thou have, my life ? ' I told him, I had heard the
Prince had received a packet from the Queen, and I
guessed it was that in his hand, and I desired to
know what was in it ; he smilingly replied, * My
love, I will immediately come to thee, pray thee go,
for I am very busy/ When he came out of his
closet I revived my suit ; he kissed me, and talked
of other things. At supper I would eat nothing ;
he as usual sat by me, and drank often to me, which
was his custom, and was full of discourse to com-
pany that was at table. Going to bed I asked again,
and said I could not believe he loved me if he
refused to tell me all he knew; but he answered
nothing, but stopped my mouth with kisses. So we
went to bed, I cried, and he went to sleep. Next
morning early, as his custom was, he called to rise,
but began to discourse with me first, to which I
made no reply ; he rose, came on the other side of
the bed and kissed me, and drew the curtains softly
and went to Court. When he came home to dinner,
he presently came to me as was usual, and when I
had him by the hand, I said, * Thou dost not care
to see me troubled ' ; to which he taking me in his
arms, answered, * My dearest soul, nothing upon
earth can afflict me like that, and when you asked
me of my business, it was wholly out of my power
to satisfy thee, for my life and fortune shall be
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Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe 67
thine, and every thought of my heart in which the
trust I am in may not be revealed, but my honour
is my own, which I cannot preserve if I communi-
cate the Prince's affairs ; and pray thee with this
answer rest satisfied.' So great was his reason and
goodness, that upon consideration it made my folly
appear to me so vile, that from that day until the
day of his death I never thought fit to ask him any
business but what he communicated freely to me in
order to his estate or family. My husband grew
much in the Prince's favour ; and Mr. Long not
being suffered to execute the business of his place,
as the Council suspected that he held private intelli-
gence with the Earl of Essex, which when he