THE

A.F. MORRISON
MEMORIAL LIBRARY




ROBERT HARLEY
EARL OF OXFORD




ROBERT HARLEY, EAKL OF OXFORD AND EARL MORTIMER, K.G.

rrotn a pk litre after Sir Giuifrey k'uelUr in tht National Portrait Gallery





ROBERT HARLEY
EARL OF OXFORD

r
PRIME MINISTER
1710-1714

A

STUDY OF POLITICS AND LETTERS

IN THE AGE OF ANNE

BY

E. S. I^OSCOE



WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS



New York: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

London: METHUEN & CO.

1902






TO

HELEN CLERGUE

TO WHOM I AM INDEBTED FOR
VALUABLE AND ENCOURAGING ASSISTANCE
DURING THE PREPARATION OF THIS BOOK



6565S2



tj^'f*^^



PREFATORY NOTE

IT was the intention of Swift to write the life of
Harley, and he asked the second Earl of
Oxford to search among his father's papers for
materials for this work. But the project remained
unfulfilled, and from that day to this no biography
of Robert Harley has been published ; whatever
opinion one may form of him either as a politician
or a man, the absence of a separate story of his
life is an inconvenience to the student of the age
of Anne, on which, from the point of view of its
relation to the evolution of English politics and
literature, a good deal yet remains to be said.
Fortunately, the materials for such a work have
recently become more accessible, and it has been my
endeavour to give from original sources, and in a
short space, an unbiassed description of Harley 's
life, and at the same time to indicate the political
influences which affected his career, and to sketch
his relations with contemporary statesmen, and
with the men of letters — more especially De Foe
and Swift — by whom he was surrounded during his
period of power.

The most important sources of information on



viii PREFATORY NOTE

Harley's life are the manuscripts of the Duke of
Portland, which are preserved at Welbeck Abbey,
a large mass of which have lately been published
by the Historical Manuscripts Commission. They
are cited in this work as the Harley Papers, this
being the sub-title which is given by the Com-
mission to the volumes of the Portland Papers
which contain this collection. In the following
pages there are some passages from two articles
in the Edinburgh Review of 1898 and 1901 on
these papers, which, with other authorities, are more
particularly described in Appendix III.

I have to thank Mr. Robert W. D. Harley of
Brampton Bryan for the kind manner in which he
placed his interesting collection of MSS. at my
disposal ; and the Duke of Portland and the Duke
of Buccleuch for access to their MSS., which are
not yet published. I am also under obligation
to Mr. J. J. Cartwright of the Public Record
Office, Secretary of the Historical Manuscripts
Commission, for allowing me to see the proofs of
the MSS. of the Marquis of Bath at Longleat,
which will shortly form another volume of the
publications of the Historical Manuscripts Com-
mission. To Miss E. Bagnall I am indebted for
the labour and time given to the preparation of the
Index, and for assistance in the revision of the proofs.

E. S. R.

July 1902.



TABLE OF DATES

{The dates in this volume are in all cases given in the New Style.)

1661, 5th Dec. . . Robert Harley, born in Bow Street, London.

1682, i8th Mar. . Admitted a student of the Inner Temple (but
was never called to the Bar).

1685 Married to Elizabeth Foley.

1689 M.P. for Tregony.

1690 M.P. for New Radnor.

1690 Commissioner of Public Accounts.

1 69 1 Death of his first wife.

1 701 Act of Settlement.

1 701, loth Feb. . Speaker of House of Commons.

1 701, 7th Sept. . Triple Alliance between England, Holland, and

the Emperor, against France.

1702, 8th Mar. . Death of William ill. and Accession of Anne.

1703, Nov. . . . De Foe released from prison by good offices of

Harley, and connection between Harley
and De Foe commenced.

1704, 1 6th May . Appointed Secretary of State (retaining office

of Speaker).
1704, Oct. . . . Harley married Sarah Middleton

1704, 13th Aug. . Battle of Blenheim

1705, 5th April . Ceased to be Speaker on dissolution of Parlia-

ment.

1706, 22nd July . Articles of Union between England and Scotland

signed in London.

1707, 6th Mar. . Act of Union received the Royal assent.

1708, nth Feb. . Harley resigned Secretaryship of State,

1 7 10, 8th Aug.. . Godolphin dismissed from office of Lord High
Treasurer,
ix



X TABLE OF DATES

1 710, 9th Aug. . Harley appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1 7 10, 4th Oct. . . Swift introduced to Harley.

1711,23rd May . Harley created Earl of Oxford and Earl

Mortimer.
1711,29th May . Appointed Lord High Treasurer.

171 1, 31st Dec. . Dismissal of Marlborough from his official places.

1713, 31st Mar. . Peace of Utrecht.

1714, 6th June . . Schism Bill received Royal assent.

17 14, 27th July . Harley is dismissed from office of Lord High
Treasurer.

1714, 1st Aug. . Death of Anne and Accession of George I.

1715, loth June . Motion for impeachment of Harley for high

treason.

1 71 5, 1 2th July . Harley committed to the Tower.

1717,3rd July . Released from the Tower on failure of prosecu-
tion.

1 7 19, 28th Feb. . Proceedings begun for introduction of Peerage
Bill.

1724, 2 1st May . Death of Harley in London.



CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

EARLY LIFE
1661-1700

Harley's Character in History — The Harleys of Brampton Bryan
— Sir Robert Harley — Brilliana Lady Harley — Sir Edward
Harley — Robert Harley's Early Life — First Marriage —
Member for Tregony — Member for New Radnor — Work
in Parliament — Bill for Triennial Parliaments — Opposes a
large Standing Army — National Commercial Expansion —
Act to establish a National Land Bank — Harley's Political
Position — His Character in Early Manhood — Friendship
with Charles Montague .....



CHAPTER II

SPEAKER AND SECRETARY OF STATE
170I-1705

Harley elected Speaker of the House of Commons — State of
Political Parties — England and France — Harley again
elected Speaker in Last Parliament of William in. —
Accession of Anne — Declaration of War with France —
Harley Speaker in Parliament of 1702 — Effect of the War
on Domestic Politics — Secretary of State — Occasional
Conformity Bill — Harley's Management of the House of
Commons — His Political Position — Harley and Godolphin 28



xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER III

HARLEY AND DE FOE

I 703-1 7 14

PAGE

De Foe in Newgate — Released by Harley's Intercession — The
Relations between De Foe and Harley — De Foe's Work —
His Mission to Scotland — His Hope of Official Employ-
ment — His Opinion on Harley's Fall in 1708 — Continues
in Godolphin's Service after Harley's Dismissal — His
Return to Harley in 1710 — Prosecuted for Libel in 1713*
— Intercession of Harley — The Review — Harley and
Journalism ....... 47

CHAPTER IV

SECRETARY OF STATE
I 705- I 708

Difference of Godolphin's and Harley's Views — Godolphin's
Alliance with the Whigs — Result on Harley's Position —
The Drawback Bill — Increasing Coolness between Harley
and Godolphin — The Queen and Church Patronage —
Accentuation of Differences between Harley and Godolphin
— Harley's Resignation of Office — His Definite Alliance
with the Tories . , . . . '75

CHAPTER V

IN OPPOSITION

1708-1710

Growing Arrogance of the Whigs — Increasing Strength of the
Tories and Clergy — Harley and Mrs. Masham — Revolt of
the Queen against the Whigs — Dismissal of Godolphin —
Harley appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer — Harley's
Political Position . . . . . 9*



CONTENTS xiii



CHAPTER VI

PRIME MINISTER
I7IO-1714

PAGE

Harley's Negotiations with the Whig Junto — The Position of
Halifax — Harley forms a Tory Cabinet — Contrast between
Harley and Bolingbroke — Introduction of Swift to Harley
— Erasmus Lewis — Swift andl Harley — The Relations of
Marlborough and Harley — The Conclusion of Peace the
Object of Harley's Policy — Guiscard's Attempt on Harley's
Life — Harley created Earl of Oxford and appointed Lord
Treasurer — Negotiations with France — Marlborough op-
poses Harley's Policy — The Government defeated in the
Lords on the Address — Temporary Alliance of High Church
Tories and Whigs — Bill against Occasional Conformity
carried — De Foe's Suggestion to defeat it — The Political
Crisis — Harley's Confidence — The Creation of Peers —
1711 and 1832 — Dismissal of Marlborough — Triumph of
Harley — The Restraining Orders — Conclusion of Peace . loi



CHAPTER VII

LAST YEARS OF POWER
171I-1714

Harley's Financial Policy — The South Sea Scheme — De Foe's
Influence on it — Estrangement of Harley and Bolingbroke
on Conclusion of Peace — Defeat of the Government on
the Commercial Treaty with France — Differences in the
Political Views of Harley and Bolingbroke — Advisers of
the Elector doubt Harley's Good Faith — The Schism Bill
— The Struggle between Harley and Bolingbroke — Fall of
Harley — Causes of his Fall — Death of the Queen . . 145

CHAPTER VIII

IMPEACHMENT— IMPRISONMENT— RETIREMENT
1714-1724

Harley's Position on Death of Queen Anne — His Hopes on
Accession of George I. — Proceedings against the Tory



xiv CONTENTS



Leaders — Impeachment of Harley — Imprisonment in the
Tower — Difference between the Two Houses — Acquittal
— Harley and the Jacobites — Opposition to the Peerage
Bill — Indifference to Financial Distress resulting from
South Sea Scheme — Harley and his Friends — Prior and
Swift — Death — Summary of his Character and Life . 171



CHAPTER IX

THE BOOK-COLLECTOR. THE FRIEND OF MEN OF LETTERS

Harley's Taste for collecting Books and Manuscripts — A
Fashion of the Age — Harley as a Scholar — Humphrey
Wanley — Addition of the D'Ewes Collection to the Library
— Enlarged by Edward, Earl of Oxford — Its Dispersal —
The Manuscripts purchased for the Nation — Harley's
Friendship with Men of Letters : Swift, Prior, Arbuthnot,
Gay— The Brothers' Club— The Scriblerus Club— Politics
and Letters in the Age of Anne .... 208

APPENDICES—

I. Swift's Character of the Earl of Oxford . 233

II. Money lent to the Queen by the Earl of

Oxford ...... 236

III. Note on the Manuscripts and Letters of

AND relating TO ROBERT HARLEY, EARL OF

Oxford ...... 238

INDEX 241



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

I. Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and

Earl Mortimer, K.G. . . Frontispiece

From a picture after Sir Godfrey Kneller in the
National Portrait Gallery. The Earl of Ox-
ford is depicted in the robes and with the
insignia of a Knight of the Garter, and holds
the Lord Treasurer's White Staff.

II. Ruins of Brampton Castle, Hereford-
shire ..... To face page 6

III. Brilliana Lady Harley. . . „ „ 8

From a portrait in the possession of R. W. D.
Harley at Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire.

IV. Sir Robert Harley . . . „ „ 26

From a mezzotint at Brampton Bryan.

V. Sidney, Earl of Godolphin . • „ » 44

From a portrait in the possession of the Duke
of Leeds at Hornby Castle, Yorkshire.
(Probably by Sir Godfrey Kneller.)

VI. Queen Anne with her Son, the Duke

of Gloucester . . • „ » 96

From a portrait by Michael Dahl in the
National Portrait Gallery. This portrait was
painted about 1695.

VII. Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax „ „ 102

From a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the
National Portrait Gallery.

VIII. Jonathan Swift . . . • » ,, 108

From a portrait by Charles Jervas in the
National Portrait Gallery.

IX. John Churchill, Duke of Marl-
borough . . . . „ „ 124

From a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the
National Portrait Gallery,

X. Henry St. John, Viscount BoLiNGBROKE „ „ 152

From a portrait by Hyacinth Rigaud in the
National Portrait Gallery.

XI. Matthew Prior . . . • » » 196

From a picture by Thomas Hudson from a
portrait by Jonathan Richardson in the
National Portrait Gallery.

XII. Humphrey Wanley, F.R.S., F.S.A. . „ „ 212

From a mezzotint from a portrait by Thomas Hill.

XIII. John Gay . . . . . „ „ 218

From an unfinished sketch by Sir Godfrey
Kneller in the National Portrait Gallery.

XV



"Ce sihde a engendre le notre. Toutes nos origines
et tous nos caracteres sont en lui : I'age moderne est
sorti de lui et date de lui."

E. AND J. DE GONCOURT.



ROBERT HARLEY

EARL OF OXFORD

CHAPTER I

EARLY LIFE

1661-1700

Harley's Character in History — The Harleys of
Brampton Bryan — Sir Robert Harley — Brilliana Lady
Harley — Sir Edward Harley — Robert Harley's Early
Life— First Marriage— Member for Tregony— Member for
New Radnor — Work in Parliament— Bill for Triennial
Parliaments— Opposes a large Standing Army— National
Commercial Expansion— Act to establish a National Land
Bank— Harley's Political Position — His Character in
Early Manhood— Friendship with Charles Montague.

**We fight with the poison of the tongue, with
words that speak like the piercing of a sword,
with the gall of envie, the venom of slander, the
foam of malice." Such were the words in which
De Foe, the acutest observer of the men and
manners of his age, described the characteristics
of the political life in which Robert Harley, for a
quarter of a century, took so conspicuous a part.
It need not therefore surprise us that it has been
difficult to form a sure opinion of his political
actions, though at the same time his career has not



2 ROBERT HARLEY

always been considered either with sufficient care
or without prejudice^, Who does not remember
Macaulay's brilliant and misleading description of
himi^'^Kbt.''feV'eri' idamning with faint praise, the
historian describes him as one whose intellect
"was small and slow," and who was eventually
found by his contemporaries to be ** really a dull
and puzzle-headed man."^ Bolingbroke, twelve
years after Harley had been in his grave, assailed
his memory with virulence, forgetful that in former
years he had spoken of him with respect and
admiration, and sometimes even with affection.^
The truth is that Harley 's character has too fre-
quently been drawn from the fragmentary allusions
of contemporary writers, often time-servers, or
political enemies who varied their praise or blame
according to the exigencies of the moment. Such
sources of information in such an age as that of
Anne require even more careful investigation than
at any period of our history. " If an Englishman,"
wrote Addison with remarkable detachment of
mind, ** considers the great ferment into which
our political world is thrown at present, and how
intensely it is heated in all its parts, he cannot



^ A more judicial view of Harley is taken in a valuable paper,
" The Development of Political Parties during the Reign of Queen
Anne," by Walter Frewen Lord, Transactions of the Royal Historical
Society^ vol. xiv., new series.

^ " Adieu, dear master ; no man loves you more entirely than
Harry."— St. John to Harley, iSth May 1705, Harley Papers^ ii. i8a



POLITICAL STATE OF ENGLAND 3

suppose it will cool again in less than three
hundred years. In such a tract of time it is pos-
sible that the heats of the present age may be
extinguished, and our several classes of great men
represented under their proper characters." Addi-
son perceived that the condition of England at
the beginning of the eighteenth century was
remarkable and exceptional : the nation was still
acutely sensitive after repeated and extraordinary
constitutional crises, after the bitter conflicts of the
preceding half-century between Churchmen and
Nonconformists. New conditions — political, com-
mercial, and social — were coming into existence,
of which the men who were taking part in the
national evolution were wholly inappreciative. By
a study of Harley's career, the centre as it was of
the political life of his age, by discarding many
personal and encumbering details, we are better
able to estimate the real forces which were at
work beneath a mass of intrigue and invective, of
suspicion and fear.

If Harley's capacity has been unduly depreci-
ated by some historians, it would, on the other
hand, be wrong to rank him as a statesman either
of large intellect or of conspicuous strength of
character. He was not a Chatham, a Pitt, or a
Fox ; he was not even a Walpole : but there is
this solid fact, which is worth more than praise or
depreciation, that when many able and brilliant



4 ROBERT HARLEY

persons were engaged in public life, he succeeded
by his individual capacity in attaining to the
highest place, whilst for years before he became
Prime Minister he was regarded with respect and
often with admiration by those who were the best
able to appreciate political merit. A tiresome
manner, an almost wearisome knowledge of parlia-
mentary forms and history, involved speech, all
tending, it has been said, to hide the deficiencies
of his mind and to impose upon his hearers, will
not permit a politician without remarkable capacity
to reach the place which Harley attained.

Harley's life as a whole, especially his birth, his
family, and his character, have not been sufficently
considered ; isolated facts have been dwelt on so as
to give them undue importance, and his career has
been generally surveyed from the point of view of
other times, detached from its political atmosphere.
His actions have been tested by a different standard
from that which prevailed in his own time, when
duplicity was regarded as statesmanship, and when
De Foe could assert as necessary what he calls
"that old maxim of Politicks" that "men might
be made use of when they can serve us, without
any real design to serve them " ; in other words,
that deception was admirable. Statements cannot
be too carefully received if made when truth is at
a discount, and when exaggerated eulogy is con-
sidered as little more than common courtesy. We



A PARLIAMENTARY STATESMAN 5

sometimes forget that the fine lines which have
impressed succeeding generations with Pope's high
estimate of Harley, were prefixed to an edition of
the works of Parnell, and were a dedication by
which Pope hoped to please a nobleman whose
recommendation, though his political influence had
departed, was still invaluable to an author.

But the time has come when some attempt may
be made to describe without prejudice the most
noticeable features in the career of a statesman
who played a great part in his day, and who is an
interesting study ; for he is the most modern of the
politicians of the age of Anne, an age which in
politics, letters, and commerce was the beginning
of our own. Though he had neither the ability
of some of his contemporaries, nor the resolute
will of others, not one of them had anything like
the same capacity as a parliamentary leader, or the
same sensitive perception of public opinion. Harley
is the typical parliamentary statesman born an age
too soon, living in years which formed part of
a period of transition, both social and political,
and which was also marked by features of the
most remarkable and serious character — a great
European war, and some uncertainty as to the
succession to the throne of England.

To his ancestors and his family, Robert Harley
owed some of his success, and their influence was
lifelong. Then, as now, important family connec-



6 ROBERT HARLEY

tions made the first steps of a political career more
easy for a beginner, — they could open the way to
fortune though they could not assure it, — and in
Harley's case, the effects of early training and
association were clearly apparent at a late stage of
public life.

Robert Harley came of an old Herefordshire
family. Originally the Harleys lived in Shrop-
shire, but in the reign of Henry iii. they became
— by the marriage of Robert de Harley with
Margaret de Brampton — the possessors of
Brampton Castle^ and with it of a considerable
estate at Brampton Bryan, in that agreeable
broken country which lies on the Welsh border,
between the Clun Hills and the larger valleys,
and spreading pastures, which extend from
Leominster to the Severn. Somewhat remote,
it has many pleasant characteristics : hills and
hanging woods, small rivers, and villages of
thatched cottages with picturesque black and
white walls, numerous apple orchards, and grey
church towers, give the landscape pleasing variety.
In mediaeval times the castle and the church
stood side by side, almost surrounded by the
village ; a park studded with well - grown oaks
stretched — as it does to-day — up the hillside to
the west, and pastures sloped from the castle
walls to the willows by the Teme. In 1644 both

^ The Castles of Herefordshire, By the Rev. C. J. Robinson, p. 8.



SIR ROBERT HARLEY 7

castle and church were reduced to ruins by the
Royalists under Sir Michael Woodhouse, but in
1661-62 Sir Edward Harley rebuilt the church,
and erected the existing house close to the castle,
which, unroofed and ivy-clad, to-day rises pictur-
esque and peaceful from the lawn.

Both Robert Harley 's father and grandfather
were public - spirited and high - minded men, both
were members of Parliament possessing an influence
which extended beyond the bounds of their county.
His grandfather, Sir Robert,^ was a man of ability
and learning, numbering among his friends Dr.
Donne, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and George
Herbert; one of the Puritanical left wing of the
Church of England, he was intolerant in his
religious opinions, and was an influential member
of the Parliamentary party until his death.

Sir Robert Harley showed his zeal for Puri-
tanism not only as a stout soldier, but as a narrow-
minded iconoclast. Chairman of the Commons
Committee which was appointed in 1644 with
instructions to destroy superstitious and idolatrous
relics, from April of that year to the follow-
ing August he was active in the destruction
of monuments, stained glass, and everything in
the nature of artistic or architectural adornment
at Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret's Church,
and the chapels at Whitehall and Hampton

1 1579-1656.



8 ROBERT HARLEY

Court ; and Canterbury [Cathedral suffered from
his misguided zeal.^

Thrice married, his last wife was Brilliana
Conway, one who in those stirring times made
her name famous — she was courageous, sagacious,
and lovable. Her letters, long preserved at
Eywood,2 were published by the Camden Society
in 1853, and give posterity an insight into her
character, and, with those which have remained
among the archives at Welbeck, present a complete
picture of a most admirable woman. She was bom
in 1600 and married in 1623. As in the instance of
her memorable contemporary, Mary, Lady Verney,
the trials of the times prematurely ended her life.
Left in 1643 |in charge of her husband's house,
and entrusted with the management of his busi-
ness. Lady Harley took up her task cheerfully
and bravely. ** Since you think Brampton a safe
place for me," she wrote to him on the 15th of
July, " I will think so too, and should not for
anything do that which would make the world
believe our hope did begin to fail in our God.
But be pleased to send me directions what I
should do if there should be any stir."^ And

^ The following is one among many similar entries : " 1645.
May 13. Receipt by Thomas Stevens of 26s. from Sir Robert
Harley for defacing pictures on the N. side of the Abbey." — Harley
Papers^ i. 133.

* Now in the possession of R. W. D. Harley, Esq., of Brampton
Bryan.

* Harley Papers^ i. 91.




HklMIA.NA I.ADY HAKJ,KV

1-rovi afoi-liait in //u- /i>ssrssio;t of K. 1 1'. />. Harh-y, I'.sq., at Ih-aiii/'lon Kryaii, Hcyefordshu'e



SIR EDWARD HARLEY 9

stir there was, for in the autumn Brampton was
besieged by a body of the Royalist party under
Sir William Vavasour. It was an age of heroines,
and Brilliana Lady Harley showed no less courage
at Brampton Bryan than did the more famous
Lady Derby at Lathom House, and the beautiful
Lady Blanche Arundel at Wardour Castle. For
six weeks she defended her home with resolu-
tion and spirit. In October she wrote to her
husband: *'A11 the children are well, but I have
taken an exceeding great cold, which much troubles
me. I beseech the Lord to preserve you and to
give you a comfortable meeting with your most
affectionate wife." But this was not to be, for in
the same month Lady Harley died, worn out by
the fatigues and anxieties of the preceding weeks.

Sir Edward Harley,^ who was made a Knight
of the Bath in 1667, was as public-spirited as his
father, but more moderate and more statesmanlike
in opinion. Though he fought in the Parliamentary