Books: Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
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Lady Fanshawe >> Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe
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I having passed all danger, as they said, gave them a pistole each
man, and so left them and went on my journey, and met my husband at
St. Dennis, God be praised! The 20th day of October, my then only son
died of the small-pox; he lies buried in the Protestant Church, near
Paris, between the Earl of Bristol and Doctor Steward. Both my eldest
daughters had the small-pox at the same time, and though I neglected
them, and day and night attended my dear son, yet it pleased God they
recovered and he died, the grief of which made me miscarry, and caused
a sickness of three weeks.
After this, in the beginnings of November, the King came to visit his
mother, who was at her own house at Combes, two leagues from Paris,
and thither went my husband and myself. I had not seen him in almost
twelve years: he told me that if it pleased God to restore him to his
kingdoms, my husband should partake of his happiness in as great a
share as any servants he had. Then he asked me many questions of
England, and fell into discourse with my husband privately two hours,
and then commanded him to follow him to Flanders. His Majesty went the
next day, my husband that day month, which was the beginning of
December. I went with our family to Calais, and my husband sent me
privately to London for money in January. I returned him one hundred
and fifty pounds, with which he went to the King, and I followed to
Newport, Bruges, and Ghent, and to Brussels, where the King received
us very graciously, with the Princess Royal and the Dukes of York and
Gloucester. After staying three weeks at Brussels, we went to Breda,
where we heard the happy news of the King's return to England. In the
beginning of May we went with all the Court to the Hague, where I
first saw the Queen of Bohemia, who was exceeding kind to all of us.
Here the King and all the Royal Family were entertained at a very
great supper by the States; and now business of state took up much
time.
The King promised my husband he should be one of the Secretaries of
State, and both the now Duke of Ormond, and the Lord Chancellor
Clarendon, were witnesses of it, yet that false man made the King
break his word for his own accommodation, and placed Mr. Norris, a
poor country gentleman of about two hundred pounds a year, a fierce
Presbyterian, and one that never saw the King's face: but still
promises were made of the reversion to your father.
Upon the King's restoration, the Duke of York, then made Admiral,
appointed ships to carry over the company and servants of the King,
who were very great. His Highness appointed for my husband and his
family a third-rate frigate, called the Speedwell; but his Majesty
commanded my husband to wait on him in his own ship. We had by the
States' order sent on board to the King's most eminent servants, great
store of provisions: for our family we had sent on board the Speedwell
a tierce of claret, a hogshead of Rhenish wine, six dozen of fowls, a
dozen of gammons of bacon, a great basket of bread, and six sheep, two
dozen of neats' tongues, and a great box of sweetmeats. Thus taking
our leaves of those obliging persons we had conversed with in the
Hague, we went on board upon the 23rd of May, about two o'clock in the
afternoon. The King embarked at four of the clock, upon which we set
sail, the shore being covered with people, and shouts from all places
of a good voyage, which was seconded with many volleys of shot
interchanged: so favourable was the wind, that the ships' wherries
went from ship to ship to visit their friends all night long. But who
can sufficiently express the joy and gallantry of that voyage, to see
so many great ships, the best in the world, to hear the trumpets and
all other music, to see near a hundred brave ships sail before the
wind with vast cloths and streamers, the neatness and cleanness of the
ships, the strength and jollity of the mariners, the gallantry of the
commanders, the vast plenty of all sorts of provisions; but above all,
the glorious majesties of the King and his two brothers, were so
beyond man's expectation and expression! The sea was calm, the moon
shone at full, and the sun suffered not a cloud to hinder his prospect
of the best sight, by whose light, and the merciful bounty of God, he
was set safely on shore at Dover in Kent, upon the 25th [Footnote:
Probably a mistake for the 26th] of May, 1660.
So great were the acclamations and numbers of people, that it reached
like one street from Dover to Whitehall: we lay that night at Dover,
and the next day we went in Sir Arnold Braem's [Footnote: Of a Dutch
family settled at Bridge, in Kent. The house at Dover, in which Lady
Fanshawe lay, was built by Jacob Braem, and is, or was in Hasted's
time, the Custom-house. The family is now extinct.] coach towards
London, where on Sunday night we came to a house in the Savoy. My
niece, Fanshawe, then lay in the Strand, where I stood to see the
King's entry with his brothers; surely the most pompous show that ever
was, for the hearts of all men in this kingdom moved at his will.
The next day I went with other ladies of the family to congratulate
his Majesty's happy arrival, who received me with great grace, and
promised me future favours to my husband and self. His Majesty gave my
husband his picture, set with small diamonds, when he was a child: it
is a great rarity, because there never was but one. We took a house in
Portugal Row, Lincoln's-inn Fields. My husband had not long entered
upon his office, but he found an oppression from Secretary Nicholas,
to his great vexation, for he, as much as in him lay, engrossed all
the petitions, which really, by the foundation, belonged to the Master
of the Requests; and in this he was countenanced by Lord Chancellor
Clarendon, his great patron, notwithstanding he had married Sir Thomas
Aylesbury's daughter, that was one of the Masters of the Requests.
This year I sent for my daughter Nan from my sister Boteler's, in
Kent, where I had left her; and my daughter Mary died in Hertfordshire
in August, and lies buried in Hertford church, in my father's vault.
In the latter end of the summer I miscarried, when I was near half
gone with child, of three sons, two hours one after the other. I think
it was with the hurry of business I then was in, and perpetual company
that resorted to us of all qualities, some for kindness and some for
their own advantage.
As that was a time of advantage, so it was of great expense, for on
April the 23rd, 1661, the King was crowned, when my husband, being in
waiting, rode upon his Majesty's left hand [Footnote: Evelyn says,
that at the coronation of Charles the Second were "Two persons,
representing the Dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine, viz., Sir Richard
Fanshawe and Sir Herbert Price, in fantastic habits."-Diary, vol. ii.
p. 168.] with very rich footcloths, and four men in very rich
liveries; and this year we furnished our house and paid all our debts
which we had contracted during the war.
The 8th day of May following, the King rode to the Parliament, and
then my husband rode in the same manner. His Majesty had commanded my
husband to execute the place of the Chancellor of the Garter, both
because he understood it better than any, and was to have the
reversion of it. The first feast of St. George, my husband was proxy
for the Earl of Bristol, and was installed for him Knight of the
Garter. The Duke of Buckingham put on his robes, and the Duke of
Ormond his spurs, in the stall of the Earl of Bristol.
Now it was the business of the Chancellor to put your father as far
from the King as he could, because his ignorance in state affairs was
daily discovered by your father, who showed it to the King; but at
that time the King was so content that he should almost and alone
manage his affairs, that he might have more time for his pleasure,
that his faults were not so visible as otherwise they would have been,
and afterwards proved. But now he sends to your father and tells him
that he was, by the King's particular choice, resolved on to be sent
to Lisbon with the King's letter and picture to the Princess, now our
Queen, which then, indeed, was an employment any nobleman would be
glad of; but the design from that time forth was to fix him here.
When your father was gone on this errand, I stayed in our house in
Portugal Row, and at Christmas I received the New Year's gifts
belonging to his places, which is the custom, of two tuns of wine at
the Custom-house, for Master of Requests, and fifteen ounces of gilt
plate at the Jewel-house, as Secretary of the Latin Tongue.
At the latter end of Christmas my husband returned from Lisbon, and
was very well received by the King; and upon the 22nd of February
following I was delivered of my daughter Elizabeth.
Upon the 8th of June,[Footnote: Query, 8th] 1662, my husband was made
a Privy Councillor of Ireland; and some time after my Lord and Lady
Ormond went into Ireland, and upon my taking leave of her Grace, she
gave me a turquoise and diamond bracelet, and my husband a fasset
[Footnote: A diamond cut into facets; a brilliant.] diamond ring. I
never parted from her upon a journey but she ever gave me some
present. When her daughter, the Lady Mary Cavendish, was married, none
were present but his grandmother and father, and my husband and self;
they were married in my Lord Duke's lodging in Whitehall, and given by
the King, who came privately without any train. [Footnote: According
to Collins' Peerage, Mary, second daughter of James Duke of Ormond,
married William Cavendish, ninth Duke of Devonshire, at Kilkenny in
Ireland, on the 27th of October, 1662. Lady Fanshawe's statement
proves that he was mistaken.]
As soon as the King had notice of the Queen's landing, he immediately
sent my husband that night to welcome her Majesty on shore, and
followed himself the next day; and upon the 21st of May the King
married the Queen at Portsmouth, in the presence-chamber of his
Majesty's house.
There was a rail across the upper part of the room, in which entered
only the King and Queen, the Bishop of London, the Marquis de Sande,
the Portuguese Ambassador, and my husband: in the other part of the
room there were many of the nobility and servants to their Majesties.
The Bishop of London declared them married in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and then they caused the
ribbons her Majesty wore to be cut in little pieces, and, as far as
they would go, every one had some.[Footnote: As it must be inferred
that Lady Fanshawe derived her information from her husband, who, she
says, was present, her account of the ceremony is deserving of
attention, because some doubts have been entertained as to the manner
in which it was solemnised.-See Bishop Kennett's Historical Register,
p. 693.]
Upon the 29th of May their Majesties came to Hampton Court, where was
all that pretended to her Majesty's service, and all the King's
servants, ladies and other persons of quality, who received her
Majesty in several rooms, according to their several qualifications.
The next morning, about eleven o'clock, the Duchess of Ormond and her
daughter, the now Lady Cavendish, and myself, went to wait on her
Majesty as soon as her Majesty was dressed; where I had the honour
from the King, who was then present, to tell the Queen who I was,
saying many kind things of me to ingratiate me with her Majesty,
whereupon her Majesty gave her hand to me to kiss, with promises of
her future favour. After this we remained in Hampton Court, in the
Requests' lodgings, my husband being then in waiting until the 10th
day of August, upon which day he received his despatches for
Ambassador to Portugal.
His Majesty was graciously pleased to promise my husband his picture,
which afterwards we received, set with diamonds, to the value of three
or four hundred pounds, his Majesty having been pleased to give my
husband, at his first going to Portugal, his picture at length, in his
garter-robes: my husband had also by his Majesty's order, out of the
wardrobe, a crimson velvet cloth of state, fringed and laced with
gold, with a chair, a footstool, and cushions, and two other stools of
the same, with a Persian carpet to lay under them, and a suit of fine
tapestry hanging for that room, with two velvet altar-cloths for the
chapel, and fringed with gold, with surplices, altar cloths, and
napkins, of fine linen, with a Bible, in Ogleby's print and cuts, two
Common Prayer-books, in folio and quarto, with eight hundred ounces of
gilt plate, and four thousand ounces of white plate; but there wanted
a velvet bed, which he should have had by custom.
Thus having perfected the ceremonies of taking leave of their
Majesties, and receiving their commands, and likewise taking our
leaves of our friends, as I said, upon Sunday the 10th of August we
took our journey to Portugal [Footnote: Evelyn says, "5th of August
1662, to London, and next day to Hampton Court, and took leave of Sir
R. Fanshawe, now going Ambassador to Portugal."--Diary, vol. ii. p.
195.] carrying our three daughters with us, Katherine, Margaret, and
Ann.
This night we lay at Windsor, where, on Monday the 11th, in the
morning, we went to prayers to the King's Chapel with Doctor Heavers,
my husband's Chaplain. On our return we were visited by the Provost of
Eton, and divers others of the clergy of that place, and Sir Thomas
Woodcock, the chief commander of that place, in the absence of Lord
Mordaunt, Lord Constable of Windsor Castle.
Upon the desire of some there, my husband left some of his coats-of-
arms, which he carried with him for that purpose, as the custom of
ambassadors is, to dispose of where they lodge.[Footnote: This custom
is still retained in the instances of the Lords Lieutenant of
Ireland.]
That night we lay at Bagshot; Tuesday the 12th, we dined at
Basingstoke, and lay at Andover; Wednesday the 13th, we dined at
Salisbury, and there lay that night, and borrowed in the afternoon the
Dean of Westminster's coach, being willing to ease all our own horses
for half a day, having a long journey to go.
We went in the Dean's coach to see Wilton, being but two miles from
Salisbury. We found Lord Herbert at home; he entertained us with great
civility and kindness, and gave my husband a very fine greyhound
bitch: his father, the Earl of Pembroke, being then at London. We
visited the famous church, and at our return to our lodgings, were
visited by the Right Reverend Father in God, Doctor Henchman, the
Bishop of that place, and Doctor Holles, the Dean of that place, and
Doctor Earle, Dean of Westminster, since, by the former Bishop's
remove to the See of London, now Bishop of Salisbury.
On Thursday the 14th, my husband and I, with our children, having
begged of the Bishop his blessing at his own house, dined at
Blandford, in Dorsetshire. Sir William Portman hath a very fine seat
within a mile of it. We lodged that night at Dorchester: on Friday the
15th we lay at Axminster, and Saturday the 16th at Exeter, and went to
prayers at the Cathedral church, accompanied by the principal divines
of that place. On Sunday the 17th, we stayed all that day, and on
Monday the 18th, we lay at a very ill lodging, of which I have
forgotten the name; and on Tuesday the 19th, we went to Plymouth,
where, within six miles of the town, we were met by some of the chief
merchants of that place, and of the chief officers of that garrison,
who all accompanied us to the house of one Mr. Tyler, a merchant.
Upon our arrival, the Governor of that garrison, one Sir John Skelton,
visited us, and did us the favour to keep us company, with many of his
officers, during our stay in that town. Sir John Hele, as soon as he
heard of our being there, sent my husband a fat buck; and my cousin
Edgcombe, of Mount Edgcombe, a mile from Plymouth, sent him another
buck, and came, as soon as he heard we were there, from a house of his
twelve miles from Mount Edgcombe, to which he came only to keep us
company. From whence, the next day after his arrival, he with his
Lady, and Sir Richard Edgcombe, his eldest son, and others of his
children, came to visit us at Plymouth; and the day after we dined at
Mount Edgcombe, where we were very nobly treated. At our coming home,
they would need accompany us over the river to our lodgings. The next
day the Mayor and Aldermen came to visit my husband; and the next day
we had a great feast at Mr. Seale's house, the father of our landlord.
Our being so well lodged and treated by the inhabitants of this town
was upon my father's score, whose deputies some of them were, he being
one of the Farmers of the Custom-house to receive the King's customs
of that port.
On Sunday the 30th, the wind coming fair, we embarked, accompanied by
my cousin Edgcombe and all his family, and with much company of the
town, that would show their kindness until the last. Taking our leave
of our landlord and landlady, we gave her twenty pieces of gold to buy
her a ring, and they presented my children with many pretty toys.
Thus, on Monday, at nine o'clock in the morning we were received on
board the Ruby frigate, commanded by Captain Robinson. We had very
many presents sent us on board by divers gentlemen, among which my
cousin Edgcombe sent us a brace of fat bucks, three milk goats, wine,
ale and beer, with fruit of several sorts, biscuit and sweetmeats.
On Monday the 31st of August 1662, we set sail for Lisbon, and landed
the 14th of September, our style, between the Conde de St. Laurence's
house and Belem, God be praised! all in good health. As soon as we had
anchored, the English Consul, with the merchants, came on board us;
but we went presently to a house of the Duke of Aveiros, where my
husband was placed by his Majesty when he was there before, in which
he had then left his chief Secretary and one other, with some others
of his family. The first that visited incognito there, for he was not
to own any till he had made his entry, was the King of Portugal's
Secretary, Antonio de Sousa: there came about that time also the Earl
of Inchiquin, and Count Schomberg, to visit us. The 28/18th day, my
husband went privately on board the frigate, in which he came with all
his family; to whom the King sent a nobleman to receive him on shore,
with his own and Queen-mother's, and very many coaches of the
nobility. As soon as they met, there passed great salutations of
cannons from the ships to the frigate in which my husband came, and
from our ships to the King's forts, and from all the forts innumerable
shots returned again.
So soon as my husband landed, he entered the King's coach, and the
nobleman that fetched him, whose name I have forgot. Before him went
the English Consul, with all the merchants; on his right hand went
four pages; on the left side the coach, by the horses' heads, eight
footmen all clothed in rich livery; in the coach that followed went my
husband's own gentlemen, after the coach of state empty, and those
that did him the favour to accompany him: thus they went to the house
where my husband lodged. The King entertained him with great plenty of
provisions in all kinds, three suppers and three dinners, and all
manner of utensils belonging thereunto, as the custom of that country
is.
Their Majesties did for some time furnish the house, till my husband
could otherwise provide himself in town. The Abadessa of the
Alcantara, niece to the Queen-mother, natural daughter of the Duke of
Medina Sidonia, sent to welcome me into the country a very noble
present of perfumes, waters, and sweetmeats; and during my abode at
Lisbon we often made visits and interchanged messages, to my great
content, for she was a very fine lady. On the 19/29th, one Mr.
Bridgewood, a merchant, sent me a silver basin and ewers for a
present.
On the 10th of October, stilo novo, my husband had his audience of his
Majesty in his palace, at Lisbon; going in the King's coach with the
same nobleman and in the same form as he made his entry. The King
received him with great kindness and respect, much to his
satisfaction. On the 11th, Don Joam de Sousa, the Queen's Vidor, came
from her Majesty to us both to welcome us into the country. On the
13th, her Majesty sent her chief coach, accompanied by other coaches,
to fetch my husband to the audience of her Majesty, where she received
him very graciously; and the same day he had audience of Don Pedro,
the King's brother, at his own palace. Saturday, the 14th, her Majesty
sent her best coach for me and my children. When we came there, the
Captain of the Guard received me at the foot of the stairs; all my
people going before me, as the custom is. On each side were the guards
placed, with halberds in their hands, as far as the presence-chamber
door. There I was received by the Queen's Lord Chamberlain, who
carried me to the door of the next room, where the Queen was. Then the
Queen's principal lady, as our groom of the stole, received me,
telling me she had command from the Queen to bid me welcome to that
Court, from the ships to the frigate in which my husband came, and
from our ships to the King's forts, and from all the forts innumerable
shots returned again.
So soon as my husband landed, he entered the King's coach, and the
nobleman that fetched him, whose name I have forgot. Before him went
the English Consul, with all the merchants; on his right hand went
four pages; on the left side the coach, by the horses' heads, eight
footmen all clothed in rich livery; in the coach that followed went my
husband's own gentlemen, after the coach of state empty, and those
that did him the favour to accompany him: thus they went to the house
where my husband lodged. The King entertained him with great plenty of
provisions in all kinds, three suppers and three dinners, and all
manner of utensils belonging thereunto, as the custom of that country
is.
Their Majesties did for some time furnish the house, till my 'husband
could otherwise provide himself in town. The Abadessa of the
Alcantara, niece to the Queen-mother, natural daughter of the Duke of
Medina Sidonia, sent to welcome me into the country a very noble
present of perfumes, waters, and sweetmeats; and during my abode at
Lisbon we often made visits and interchanged messages, to my great
content, for she was a very fine lady. On the 19/29th, one Mr.
Bridgewood, a merchant, sent me a silver basin and ewers for a
present.
On the 10th of October, stilo novo, my husband had his audience of his
Majesty in his palace, at Lisbon; going in the King's coach with the
same nobleman and in the same form as he made his entry. The King
received him with great kindness and respect, much to his
satisfaction. On the nth, Don Joam de Sousa, the Queen's Vidor, came
from her Majesty to us both to welcome us into the country. On the
13th, her Majesty sent her chief coach, accompanied by other coaches,
to fetch my husband to the audience of her Majesty, where she received
him very graciously; and the same day he had audience of Don Pedro,
the King's brother, at his own palace. Saturday, the 14th, her Majesty
sent her best coach for me and my children. When we came there, the
Captain of the Guard received me at the foot of the stairs; all my
people going before me, as the custom is. On each side were the guards
placed, with halberds in their hands, as far as the presence-chamber
door. There I was received by the Queen's Lord Chamberlain, who
carried me to the door of the next room, where the Queen was. Then the
Queen's principal lady, as our groom of the stole, received me,
telling me she had command from the Queen to bid me welcome to that
Court, and to accompany me to her Majesty's presence. She sat in the
next room, which was very large, in a black velvet chair, with arms,
upon a black velvet carpet, with a state of the same. She had caused a
low chair, without arms, to be set at some distance from her, about
two yards on her left hand, on which side stood all the noblemen; on
her right, all the ladies of the Court.
After making my reverences due to her Majesty, according to custom,
and said those respects which became me to her Majesty, she sat down;
and when I presented my daughters to her, she having expressed much
grace and favour to me and mine, bade me sit down, which at first I
refused, desiring to wait on her Majesty, as my Queen's mother; but
she pressing me again, I sat down; and then she made her discourse of
England, and asked questions of the Queen's health and liking of our
country, with some little hints of her own and her family's condition,
which having continued better than half an hour, I took my leave.
During my stay at Court I several times waited on the Queen-Mother;
truly she was a very honourable, wise woman, and I believe had been
very handsome. She was magnificent in her discourse and nature, but in
the prudentest manner; she was ambitious, but not vain; she loved
government, and I do believe the quitting of it did shorten her life.
After saluting the ladies and noblemen of the Court, I went home as I
came. The next day the Secretary of State and his Lady came to visit
me: she had, at my arrival, sent me a present of sweetmeats. My
husband had left in this person's family one of his pages to improve
himself in writing and reading the Spanish tongue, until his return
again to that Court, when he went the last year to England, in
consideration of which we presented his Lady with a piece of India
plate, of about two hundred pounds sterling. They were both very
civil, worthy persons, and had formerly been in England, where the
King, Charles the First, had made his son an English Baron.[Footnote:
No record is known to exist of any foreigner having been created a
Peer by Charles the First: nor does it appear likely from the names of
persons created Baronets by Charles the First, that Lady Fanshawe
could mean Baronet. The splendid and elaborate work entitled the
"Memorias Genealogicas da Casa de Sousa," does not advert to the
circumstance.] She told me in discourse one day this of a French
Ambassador, that had lately been in that Court, and lodged next to
her:--
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