The el H.B.Marrtott Watson LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA AH Wi*0 The Rebel Hew Hovels for 1900. At all Libraries and Booksellers. Six Shillings each. THEY THAT WALK IN DARKNESS.' By I. ZANGWILL. THE SLAVE. By ROBERT HICHRNS. THE WORLD'S MERCY. By MAXWELL GRAY. FOLLY CORNER. By MRS. H. E. DUDENEY. THE LION AND THE UNICORN. By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. THE PRINCESS SOPHIA. By E. F. BENSON. MAMMON ft CO. By E. F. BENSON. THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SHADOW. By ANNIE E. HOLDSWORTH. JASPER TRISTRAM. By A. W. CLARKE. CHINATOWN STORIES. By C. B. FERNALD. THE IMAGE BREAKERS. By GERTRUDE Dix. HEARTS IMPORTUNATE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. THE MARKET PLACE. By HAROLD FREDERIC. LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C. The Rebel Being A Memoir of Anthony, fourth Earl of Cherwell, Including an Account of the Rising at Taunton in 1684, Compiled and set forth by his Cousin, Sir Hilary Mace, Bart., Gustos Rotulorum for the County of Wilts Edited, with some Notes, by H. B. Marriott Watson > Author of "The Princess Xenia," "The Adventurers, ' etc. London William Heinemann 1900 This Edition enjoys Copyright in all Countries signatory to the Berne Treaty, and is not to be imported into the United States of America. All rights, including translation, reserved. CONTENTS Chapter Page I Of the source of this History, and of my lord's upbringing until the duel with Sir Jacob Janus . . I // Of my lords retirement, and of the orgy at Heriot Deane .... 14 /// How my lord Cherwell sought Lord Russell and found another . 27 IV What befell in the wine-house . . 40 V How my lord supped with his Highness 53 VI Why my lady Ellicott put off" her journey 7 1 VII How my lord made an offer and was refused 86 VIII An account of the adventure in the house on the river 101 IX How my lord rode to Durcombe, and of the company there . . 114 X Of the encounter upon the Taunton road 128 XI The history of my lords strange wedding , 143 vi CONTENTS Chapter Page XII What followed after the second abduction, with an account of the incident at Basing 160 XIII Of the extravagances at Southwark, and the wolves of Clodius - . . 171 XIV A narrative of the bloody contention at Burford Bridge 186 XV Of my lord's increasing madness, and of his escape from the Tower 197 XVI An account of the rising at Taunton ; with the assault on Barrs 214 XVII What passed in Barrs on the night of the battle 230 XVII I Of the meeting with a highwayman, and the Inn in the Quantocks . 243 XIX Of the flight from Somersetshire . 255 XX How my lady followed after my lord, and what she found . . . 269 XXI A relation of what happened in the inn at Farnham . . . . 278 XXII How my lord met the Duke face to face 290 XXIII What my lord said to the King, and what ensued 299 THE REBEL CHAPTER I OF THE SOURCE OF THIS HISTORY, AND OF MY LORD'S UPBRINGING UNTIL THE DUEL WITH SIR JACOB JANUS. THE fourth Earl of Cherwell was born at Dulsiebridge in the year of our Lord 1 654, being some six years before the Restauration of his Majesty, King Charles II. The titles of that ancient and considerable family date from the reign of King Edward VI, by whom the Heriots of Heriot Deane were fetched among the peers under the style of the Lords Caversham. The history of that name was, however, of earlier note, for the Heriots were of mark in the county of Hampshire at the time of the Wars of the Roses, and had been settled there from the days of King John. It was not until the accession of King Henry VII, nevertheless, that they began to move among the higher affairs of state, and take their proper place in Courts. Philip Heriot it was that laid the foundations of the title for his descendants, a man, if all be true, and by the testimony of Lord Herbert, of a great capacity, and a most fervid 2 THE REBEL mind. Indeed the blood of that wayward man bountifully descended to subsequent generations, and I am disposed to find in it the explanation and the plea for the notable career of Anthony, the fourth Earl, who is the subject of this memoir. My lord Cherwell is long since dead, and he would have been theUast to have desired this record of his history through certain remarkable years, yet I am urged to the task in part out of an affection for the man himself, who was indeed cousin- ger man to me, as well as a fear lest he should leave behind him, current in the traditions of the Court, a bad interpretation of his conduct ; and partly also, out of a sincere respect for the dignity of History, to which properly these episodes belong. The character of King James II has been set high by some writers in these latter years, inspired somewhat by a becoming reverence for the fallen ; but it behoves History to walk more warily, to be as merciless as generous, and above all to regard Truth as at once the aim and source of her existence. These thoughts have animated me for long, and I will confess that from the time I was at the Admiralty Office under their late Majesties, and was, perforce, so much in London, I began to collect the materials of this narrative. As for its accuracy, it will be seen that to a great part of the history I was myself privy, being at that time frequently in my lord's company. And for the rest, I have drawn inform- ation from my lord himself, who was at all times frank with his news ; from Dr. Burnet, who saw much that was in progress at the Court, and from a number of other witnesses, chief of whom was the Duke of Tyrconnel, himself the Duke's own creature. But more especially have I used what was known to Ravel, my lord's man, THE REBEL 3 and some others whom it is not becoming to mention. Thus it will be clear that I have warrants for my story, singular as that is, and that I have in no wise magnified the figure which my lord played ; no, nor the sinister and tragical interposition of his Highness, the Duke. The origins of that long and varied contest, conducted upon either side with spirit and determination, and upon one, at least, with a ferocious ardour, are found readily in the seed of which the two antagonists sprang. I have spoken of Philip Heriot, and of his elevation to the baronage under the style of Lord Caversham, for some meritorious services in Holland. That lively temper survived and actuated the first Anthony, who was his son, as well as his grandson the first Earl. The second lord laid his head upon the block for Lady Jane Grey, being taken at the head of a troop in Kent, whither he had fled from London to raise the county. But Dick Will o' the Wisp, as he was commonly dubbed, spent his strange forces, doubtless more by chance than of a purpose, in the honourable service of his Queen and country. His courage in the defeat of the Armada, and his reckless extravagance in France, where he dashed his sword hilt in the face of the Spanish ambassador, endeared him to her Majesty and to the people. He was greatly in the favour of the Court, abominably neglected his estates, was created Earl of Cherwell, and only fell out of the Queen's graces through an obstinate defence of Sir Walter Raleigh, and his loud sharp tongue upon the matter. Yet it was not these characteristics alone that were afterwards visible in the temperament of Anthony the fourth Earl. The spirit of that house leaned towards the fanatical. It was of a puritanical cast, and the third Earl, my lord's own father, 4 THE REBEL was the companion of Hampden and the friend of Sir Harry Vane. He equipped a force for the Parliament, held Stratton Castle for three weeks against Prince Rupert, and accompanied the Protector to Naseby with a ragged following of reckless fellows. That command indeed was remarkable, and I have from witnesses the odd appearance it wore in the centre of those staid and serious Puritans. For my lord had drawn his levies from every- where, and they were held together by no common aim of policy or religion, but only by an admiration for their master, and a sense of obedience. They were a little band of brigands in the New Model, swore their oaths like any cavalier, braided their locks, thieved, drank, and fought with any. It was a strange sight to see my lord (as Sir William Upton has told me) seated at the head of these swashbucklers, with his cavalier wig red as a berry, his fine coat all splashed and wine-stained, a great sword whipped to his knee, and rolling forth pious texts and persuasions with the most canting Roundhead of them all. It was an incongruous appearance, mighty disconcerting to his friends, and indeed there is no question that he was much abused in consequence. He caused great offence, and was complained of as a stumbling-block. Yet it does not appear that the Protector interfered with him, and I have no doubt that the sincerity of the man was his best excuse. He was a Heriot, and must hold himself like his fathers, as unlike to any ordinary mortal as well might be. Subsequently, he pressed savagely for the trial of the King, and only an accident saved his name from among the regicides. With equal zest and equal fury he quarrelled with Cromwell upon some point or religious tolerance, threw up his offices, and retired in THE REBEL 5 dudgeon to Hampshire, where he died in 1656, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. I have here set forth a brief account of Stephen, Lord Cherwell, my lord's father, out of a desire that the temper of these Heriots should be understood. In these pages the resemblances of that family will be readily noted, and the faults and virtues of the father will explain the qualities of the son. My lord took nothing that I could ever see from his mother's blood, unless it was a better gentleness of manner, and, for his face, a small mouth and a paler colour. His nose was that of his race, straight and long, and the eyes were of a bright violet a strange hue to look on, which seemed ever to pick you out and hold you like the shining of steel. His portrait that hangs in the long corridor of Heriot Deane, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller after his return from the Low Countries, and at the age of twenty-nine, declares those attributes of his family. And he came, notwithstanding, of my own blood upon the side of his mother, Patricia, who was the daughter of Sir Hubert Mace, Baronet, and the sister of my father Sir Edward. Sir Hubert Mace was a gentle- man of good estate in the county of Wiltshire, whose disposition throughout the unhappy struggle was more towards peace than for an active prosecution of the war. He was of Lord Falkland's party, and first met the third Lord Cherwell during the early part of the Long Parlia- ment. He was mortally wounded at Edgehill, a fight in which he reluctantly took part after an attempt to come to an understanding with the King. But the friendship of the two houses survived and was extended, and it was during the lifetime of my father, and upon the Earl's retirement into the country, in 1652, that the alliance was 6 THE REBEL brought about. Upon the death of the Earl some four years later, the Countess of Cherwell found herself with a wasted revenue, and my small lord of two. I was my- self his elder by five years, and, as was natural from the consanguinity, and the nearness of the properties, I saw much of him. We were brought up together for some years, and his time was spent quite as much in Mottisley as at Dulsiebridge. Heriot Deane was a huge park, widely spread, and reaching into the New Forest, with great corners on the river Dulsie, where, as children, my lord and I were used to play together. So that I grew up very soon to have a warm heart for him, which is one reason why I have desired that this history should not fall into other and less kindly hands. The Countess of Cherwell, a handsome woman, and over young to be so burdened as a widow and a mother, had been deeply attached to her husband, and was equally devoted to his son. She was sweet and melancholy-smiling, as I remember her, but employed a gentle discipline with her household which was the occasion of an incident that I recall in illustration of my lord's childhood. He had suffered for some fault, and came forth frowning, but with a head lifted very high. " Hilary," says he in his impetuous manner, " I have been beaten." u You deserved it, cousin," said I. " I asked not your criticism," he answered sharply, " I had the honour to give you a fact. There is none but my mother and the King shall use me so." I shrugged my shoulders, for I was growing into man- hood, and the boy's whim did not anger me. But he went on : THE REBEL 7 "I may be punished by the Countess of Cherwell," says he, " I will not deny it. For she is what she is." "She is my aunt," quoth I, smiling. " You lie, Hilary," says my lord angrily, " she may be aunt to a dozen louts, but that will not touch her ; she is my mother," and at that moment, the door opening, out steps my lady with her slow and gracious gait, moving towards the stair. My lord gives a start, and going for- wards offers her his arm, which she accepting with a smile, down they go together, my lady's garments rust- ling on the stairway, and my lord with every drop of Heriot blood trembling and glowing in his face. The estates of Heriot Deane were left to the Countess undisturbed at the Restauration. This act of mercy was due in some degree to the offices of my father, who had taken no part in the civil tumult, and who had been openly favourable to the return of King Charles. But more properly, as I conjecture, it was owing to the im- poverishment of the family, and to the superfluity of other and more valuable escheats. Yet the careful hus- bandry of the Countess succeeded in enlarging the reve- nues, and by the time my lord was of age he was put in possession of a tolerable property. My lady died the next year, within a week of her brother, my father, and upon that my lord abruptly closed the house and carried his servants to London. I saw little of him the next three year , which were to prove indeed of prime importance in his life. Yet reports of his condition reached me at Mottisley, and he made one or two visits himself to his own house. From what I put together of the rumours, he was not like to be long in the enjoyment of that patrimony so diligently pre- 8 THE REBEL served to him. He had the name of spendthrift, and kept wild company. He was let loose upon life too soon for prudence, and must kick his heels up with the young bucks of London. There came to me intelligence at this time that he was taken up in Court, and that the King was very pleasant to him. There was talk too of some fine madam who had been caught by his handsome looks. It was plain that he practised arms a great deal, and he fell into more than one quarrel, like every Heriot. My lord told me afterwards that it was to the Countess of Southesk that he owed his introduction to the Court, for that she, slipping into an evil temper, threw out her stick and struck my lord on the face, who, approaching the chair with a bow, offered his most humble apologies for the accident. And I conceive that his air or his im- pertinence affected her ; at least she carried him away to Whitehall, and by a singular piece of irony presented him to the Duke, who was notoriously indulgent to her. 1 Thus it was that these protagonists, the one so high and famous, and the other but a poor and impecunious noble- man, met face to face for the first time, without a fore- boding of what should follow. For some time my lord attached himself to the Duke's household, but presently, with the fickleness of youth and the recklessness of his family, he abandoned his court of his Highness, and was seen most in the company of Mr. Jermyn, who was at that time the most considered fop about his Majesty, and the cynosure of ladies' eyes. Lady Castlemaine herself was desperately sick of love for 1 The character and history of this lady are set forth by Hamilton in the Memoirs of Count Gramont, ch. viii. ED. THE REBEL 9 him, and, as I understand, accepted his young friend in favour and procured him the smiles of the King. But of a truth my lord was of too extravagant a spirit to suffer the restraint of Courts, and he used the King's palace much as he would use an inn, as a house to visit at will and to pop in and pop out on the caprice. Yet Charles, as I have heard, had a kindness for him, and declared that he kept my lord for his monkey tricks, as, said he : " When I am dull in the morning I call for this boy's offences, and there is certain to be an angry face about me." Sir Humphrey Strutt told me that once my lord mak- ing a merry speech to the King, his Majesty laughed, and says he cynically : " My lord, you are very wise, but I have ever a fear lest you shall take me some day by a button into the corner and show me how I should manage my mistresses."