SIR RICHARD STEELE'S

EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE,

1. TO JOHN LORD CUTTS *.

MY LORD,

TOWER GUARD, MARCH 23, 1701.

THE address of the following papers is so very much due to your Lordship, that they are but a mere report of what has passed upon my Guard to my Commander; for they were writ upon duty,

* A soldier of most hardy bravery in king William's wars. He was a younger son of Richard Cutts, esq. of an antient and distinguished family, settled about the time of Henry VI. at Matching in Essex, where they had considerable property. His father removed to Childerley in Cambridgeshire, on a good estate being given him by sir John Cutts, bart. who died without issue. This estate, after the decease of an elder brother, devolved on John; who sold it, to pay incumbrances, to equip himself as a soldier, and to enable himself to travel. After an academical education at Cambridge, he entered early into the service of the duke of Monmouth, and followed his fortunes abroad; was aid-de-camp to the duke of Lorrain in Hungary, and in 1686 signalized himself in a very extraordinary manner

at

when the mind was perfectly disengaged, and at leisure, in the silent watch of the night, to run

at the taking of Buda by the Imperialists; which important place had been for near a century and a half in the hands of the Turks. Mr. Addison, in a Latin poem worthy of the Augustan age, plainly hints at Mr. Cutts's distinguished bravery at that siege. He was afterwards colonel of a regiment in Holland, under the States, and accompanied king William to England, who continued his favour towards him, and created him baron Cutts of Gowran in Ireland, Dec. 6, 1690. "The Right Honourable the Lord Cutts his speech to the Mayor and Corpora tion of Newport, at his Majesty's Castle of Carisbrook, in the Isle of Wight, upon the swearing of Captain Thomas Read into the Office of Mayor, according to the annual Custom and Charter of the Corporation," was printed in 1690, a single sheet, folio. He was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight, April 14, 1693; made a major-general; and, when the assassination-project was discovered, 1695-6, was captain of the King's guard. He was twice married; first, to Elizabeth, daughter of George Clark of London, merchant (relict of John Morley, of Glynd in Sussex, and after, of John Trevor, esq. eldest brother to the first lord Trevor). This lady died Feb. 1692; and that same year he had both his legs hurt in the battle of Steenkirk." The Lord Cutts had a grant, from the King, of the estate of Mr. Caryll, secretary to the late Queen in France. The estate was in Sussex, and worth about 20001. a year. Mr. Caryll had been allowed to retain the profits, till, being accused of having, with his own hand, paid 800l. to buy horses, arms, &c. for the assassination of the King, he was outlawed, and his estate given to lord Cutts." (Post Boy, May 23, 1696.)-At the particular request of king James, this estate was restored to the Caryll family on payment of 10,000l. to lord Cutts. This anecdote Mr. Caryll told sir Merick Burrell, from whom the late sir William Burrell has recorded it in his Sussex Collections. (MSS. 5689, in the British Museum.)-In 1695, and the three following parliaments, lord Cutts was regularly elected one of the representatives both for the county of Cambridge, and for the borough of Newport in the Isle of Wight, but made his election for the former. In two parliaments

over the busy dream of the day; and the vigilance which obliges us to suppose an enemy always near

parliaments which followed (1702 and 1705) he represented Newport. July 3, 1696, he set out for Dublin; and was married, Feb. 4, 1696-7, to madam Pickering, daughter of sir Henry Pickering, a very considerable heiress in Cambridgeshire. He went to Flanders June 2, 1697; and, on the first of September, his lady was delivered of a son. His second wife, an amiable young woman, dying in 1697 at the age of 18, was celebrated in an admirable sermon by Atterbury. In 1698 he was complimented by Mr. John Hopkins, as one to whom “a double crown was due," as a hero and as a poet. In 1699, he is thus introduced in a compliment to king William on his conquests:

"The warlike Cutts the welcome tidings brings,

The true best servant of the best of kings;

Cutts, whose known worth no herald needs proclaim, His wounds and his own worth can speak his fame." He was colonel of the Coldstream, or second regiment of guards, in 1701; when Steele, who was indebted to his interest for a military commission, inscribed to him his first work, The Christian Hero." On the accession of queen Anne, he was made a lieutenant-general of the forces in Holland. Feb. 13, 1702-3, he was appointed commander in chief of the English forces on the Continent during the absence of the duke of Marlborough; commander in chief of the forces in Ireland, under the duke of Ormond, March 23, 1704-5; and afterwards one of the lords justices of that kingdom, to keep him out of the way of action, a circumstance which broke his heart. He died at Dublin, Jan. 26, 1706-7, and was buried there in the cathedral of Christ-church. He was a person of eminent natural parts, well cultivated by study and conversation; of a free, unreserved temper; and of undaunted bravery and resolution. As he was a servant to queen Mary when princess of Orange, and learned the trade of war under her Consort, he was early devoted to them both, and a warm supporter of the Revolution. He was an absolute stranger to fear; and, on all occasions, gave distinguishing proofs of his intrepidity, particularly at the siege of

Limerick

us, has awakened a sense that there is a restless and subtle one which constantly attends our steps and meditates our ruin *.

1

Limerick in 1691, at the memorable attack of the castle of Namur in 1695, and at the siege of Venlo in 1702. Macky says of him, in 1703, "He hath abundance of wit, but too much seized with vanity and self-conceit; he is affable, familiar, and very brave. Few considerable actions happened in this as well as the last war, in which he was not, and hath been wounded in all the actions where he served; is esteemed to be a mighty vigilant officer, and for putting the military orders in execution; he is pretty tall, lusty, well-shaped, and an agreeable companion; hath great revenues, yet so very expensive as always to be in debt; towards fifty years old." Swift, in a MS note on Macky, calls him, with his usual laconic cruelty, "The vainest old fool alive."-He wrote a poem on the death of queen Mary; and published, in 1687, "Poetical Exercises, written upon several Occasions, and dedicated to her royal highness Mary princess of Orange; licensed March 23, 1686-7, Roger L'Estrange." It contains, besides the dedication signed "J. Cutts," verses to that Princess; a poem on Wisdom; another to Mr. Waller on his commending it; seven more copies of verses (one of them called "La Muse Cavalier," which had been ascribed to lord Peterborough, and as such mentioned by lord Orford in the list of that nobleman's writings), and eleven songs; the whole composing but a very thin volume. The Author speaks of having more pieces by him; and a specimen of his poetry is quoted by Steele in the Tatler, No. V. Dr. Watts has a Poem on Lord Cutts, in Johnson's Poets, vol. LV. 115.

* "Being thoroughly convinced," Steele says, "of many things, of which he often repented, and which he more often repeated, he wrote, for his own private use, a little book, called, The Christian Hero,' with a design principally to fix upon his own mind a strong impression of virtue and religion, in opposition to a stronger propensity towards unwarrantable pleasures. This secret admonition was too weak; he therefore printed the book with his name, in hopes that a standing testimony against

himself,