deserve it; and that I cannot be charged to have done any thing since my being in this government which I cannot very well justify; my mind will be at ease. I can be guilty of no fault but I must know it myself; and I bless God my heart does not reproach me with the least failure of duty to the king, &c."

"July 10, 1688, Tuesday. When I came home from prayers in the morning, my wife told me my son was gone away with Mrs. O'Bryan, my lady Katherine's daughter, which struck me to the heart! The more I think of it, the more it troubles me. I had been in treaty this last year with my lady Katherine and sir Joseph Williamson for this young lady, at my son's desire; for I had no kind of acquaintance with them but finding she had no portion, without which I can make no settlements, and that her estate does not come to her part till the duke of Richmond's debts are paid, which are still near £14,000, I broke very fairly off. It is the most inconvenient match that could have been for me: a young woman oddly bred, no manner of advantage, and an unavoidable charge. Besides, it is a base thing, and unbecoming a man of honour, to steal a child from a parent; and what no man would willingly have to be his own case. I thank God I had no hand in it. O Lord! make me able to bear this irrecoverable blow. Good God! that my poor family should be brought into utter misery by him who was the only hopes of raising it. O Lord! my heart is even broke! my brother, whose

Qu. Laurence, earl of Rochester?

kindness is never wanting, quickly came to me: but I told him I would not see my son, nor take any notice of the match. He then went to my lady Katherine, who was full of indignation; as I confess she had reason to be. It seems they were married at Totteridge, &c.

"July 11, Wednesday. Reflecting with myself that this young man, who I doubted had made himself unhappy, was my son and only child; that I ought to make the best of a bad market, and not add misery to misery; I yielded to the persuasions of my wife and my brother, and went to see my son and his wife. I dined with them, and took them home to my house in the evening. I endeavoured to wait on my lady Katherine, but she was not, or would not, be at home. July 12, Thursday. In the afternoon I was with my lady Katherine, and found sir Joseph with her. I made my compliments as well as she would give me leave; but she would not hear me say any thing with patience (which I confess I could not blame her for), and so I came away. I desired sir Joseph to do good offices, and persuade my lady to see her daughter: but he said (with a wonderful stiffness) that he was the unfittest man in the world to interpose between my lady and her daughter. I said I thought quite the contrary, that he was the fittest; and so we parted. "July 17, Tuesday. My lady Katherine and sir Joseph came to town. I went to see them: they were pretty well pacified. In the evening sir Joseph visited my daughter, and said her mother would quickly see her.

32 HENRY HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON.

"July 18, Wednesday. Sir Joseph came to my daughter, and carried her to her mother: so God be thanked, that breach is made up. He afterwards visited my wife and me: and in the evening we went to my lady Katherine."]

JOHN THOMPSON,

LORD HAVERSHAM.

THIS lord, whom Burnet often mentions cursorily, but without thinking him of consequence enough to draw his character, is little known. Being of a republican family, which recommended him, says the author of his life", to the earl of Anglesey, the patron of the Dissenters, he married the daughter of that earl, who recommended him to the good graces of Charles the second. The king made him a baronet3, and offered him the treasurership of the

• Memoirs of the late Right Hon. John Lord Haversham, &c. 1711; in a small pamphlet.

[Browne Willis, in a MS. which Mr. Cole had seen, called lord Haversham a person of mean extraction, whose father, raising himself by merchandise, enabled the son to purchase a baronetage. Macky, in his Memoirs, describes him as a short red-faced man, very eloquent, but very passionate and fiery; a Dissenter by principle, and always turbulent. Dunton commends his penetration and deep knowledge in the affairs of Europe, and adds, "He is a patriot of a publick and discerning spirit, and asserts the rights of the church of England, without persecuting the Dissenters: he has about him all the tenderness of good nature, as well as all the softness of friendship: he carries himself with wonderful conduct and loyalty, and has a quick and generous sense of the miseries of mankind." See Idea of a new Life, p. 429.]

chambers, which he declined; his principles being as yet of a more stubborn temper than those of his father-in-law. The

young baronet was active against the measures of the court during the Popish reigns, and joined the prince of Orange, by whom he was made a baronet and lord of the admiralty. He offended the tory house of commons, who impeached the whig lords in 1701; and the tory administration were eager to remove him. However, being disgusted, as his biographer says 3, at the promotion of the earl of Pembroke, "he took all opportunities of opposing almost every thing that was advanced by the court, and finding no notice taken of him by the court, he went on with his resentment, and was a great obstacle to the occasional conformity bill, which at that time was voted for by all who had places of trust." From this time his lordship seems entirely to have abandoned his first principles, and to have given himself up to the high church party, though he continued to go sometimes to meetings. His historian ascribes this change to the violent measures of the Whigs; but after so candid a confession as he had made above of his lordship's disgusts, the reader will be apt to

• Burnet, vol. ii. p. 278.

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