glimpse of private life,--from the unsuitableness of his manner and style, he is not so entertaining as when with verve he describes proceedings of the legislature or campaigns in the field. CHAP. LXXXIII. With the other writings which amused his exile, I am not His other sufficiently acquainted to pronounce any opinion upon them; writings. but, from a glance at them, I am convinced that his answer to Hobbes could not do much to correct the errors of that philosopher, and that the rest have deservedly fallen into oblivion. Although his Letters have been highly commended, I own His letters. they seem to me extremely stiff and heavy; and it seems hardly possible to believe that he lived in the same age and country with Dryden, who had shown so strikingly the power of the English language in this as in almost every other species of prose and metrical composition. ation of the Society. While he was himself uninitiated in science, he had the He assisted in the formmerit, as Chancellor, of promoting the establishment of the Royal Society; and that learned body, then so illustrious, Royal thanked him for his conduct, which they were pleased to say had "wiped away the aspersion that had been scandalously cast on the profession of the law, that it is an enemy to learning and the civil arts." On the Restoration he was elected Chancellor of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, where his ecclesiastical policy was University highly prized, in spite of his political moderation, and where of Oxford. his memory is held in the deepest veneration; but he had reason to believe that when he had lost the favour of the court, he would have been deposed from his office; and to avoid this disgrace, as soon as he reached Calais, in 1667, he resigned it. ners. From his early entrance into good society, and from his His manlong travels abroad, we should have expected his manners to be remarkably disengaged and agreeable; but although Burnet says, "he had too much levity in his wit, and did not always observe the decorum of his post," all other authorities represent him as formal, haughty, and supercilious. It is clear that he attached infinite importance to the possession of the * Sprat's History of the Royal Society, p. 143. CHAP. LXXXIII. His mode of living. Clarendon Great Seal, and so sweetly did the word "Chancellor" sound in his ear, that by this title he constantly designates himself, and represents others addressing him, long before he had received the appointment, and after he had lost it. It is quite clear that he stood upon his dignity much more than Charles; and he must have been an admirable subject of ridicule for the mimic statesmen who surrounded this merry king. Yet he was capable of forming warm friendships with such men as Falkland, Southampton, and Ormond. After the Restoration he lived in great splendour. For a short time he occupied Dorset House in Salisbury Court, once the residence of the bishops of Salisbury. But he soon received a letter from the Marquis of Worcester, soliciting favours, and saying, "Be pleased to accept of Worcester House to live in, farr more comodious for yr. Lo. than where you now are, without requiring from yr. Lo. one penny rent, (yet that ouly knowne between yr. Lo. and me.)" This was evidently intended as a bribe; but Clarendon says he insisted on paying for it a yearly rent of 5007.* Here he resided during almost the whole of his administration; and when he was laid up by the gout, here the King used to come to attend councils held in his bed-room. In 1666, during the great fire of London, which was expected to destroy the west end of the town as well as the city, all his furniture and goods were sent off to a villa he had at Twickenham. After a short residence in Berkshire House, near St. James's, he moved, when his fall was approaching, to his new palace, which he had been constructing some years, on a piece of ground granted to him by the crown, on the road to Kensington, where Albemarle Street now stands. Evelyn says it was "the first palace, the best contrived, the most useful, graceful, and magnificent house in England nothing abroad pleased him better-nothing at home approached it."† The estimate of the architect stated the expense at 20,000l.; but it actually came to near three times that amount. The furnishing was Life, iii. 486. Worcester House stood in the Strand, on the ground now occupied by Beaufort Buildings. + Ev. ii. 280. CHAP. LXXXIII. suitable to the architecture. His library was one of the finest ever collected in England, and he had a picture gallery filled with the chefs-d'œuvre of the best masters. Evelyn states "that many of these were gifts; and that when his design was once made known, everybody who either had them of their own, or could purchase them at any price, strove to make their court by these presents." The erection of this palace he considered the capital error of his life, as "it more contributed to that gust of envy, which had so violently shaken him, than any misdemeanour that he was thought to have been guilty of, and it infinitely discomposed his whole affairs and broke his estate. He had likewise a magnificent country house at Cornbury in Oxfordshire, where he exercised hospitality on Cornbury. a grand scale during the long vacations. It is related that on one occasion all the gentry of the surrounding country flocking into his hall to pay their court to him, Lenthal, the Speaker of the Long Parliament, went among the number, and being much "fleered at by the company," he said, in the hearing of them all, "My Lord, pray observe, these very gentlemen, who are now so eager to bow to your Lordship, have done the very same to me, and may before long turn their backs upon you " -"a just reprimand to the gentlemen," says my authority, "and a prudent caution to the Chancellor." † 66 his exile. From such splendour was he indeed at once reduced to live Glory of in a miserable lodging in a provincial town in a foreign country. But the resignation and fortitude he then displayed have inclined us to forget his faults and to revere his memory; and he is more to be admired and envied while composing his immortal work at Montpellier and Moulins, than when flattered by treacherous courtiers, he reclined amidst the splendours of Clarendon House and Cornbury. Besides his daughter, the Duchess of York, through whom His dehe was the grandsire of sovereigns, he left three sons, who scendants. gained some distinction in the reigns James II. and William III. The most eminent was Lawrence, the second, created Earl of Rochester, celebrated in " Absalom and Achitophel." Life, iii. 971. + Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon (L. C.), 320. СНАР. LXXXIII. "HUSHAI, the friend of David in distress, But the Chancellor's male line failed about the middle of the last century. He is now represented through a female, by the present Earl of Clarendon, destined to add new lustre to the title which he bears. * Grandeur of the Law, p. 70. CHAPTER LXXXIV. LIFE OF LORD KEEPER BRIDGEMAN. CHAP. LXXXIV. Aug. 13. 1667. Sir OR LANDO CLARENDON had been dismissed from office, not by the intrigues of a competitor for the Great Seal, or from a desire of the Court to confer it upon some aspiring lawyer who by talent or subserviency had raised himself to political eminence. The disposal of it in fact caused great perplexity. After many doubts and conflicting plans among the King's male BRIDGEand female advisers, it was put into the hands of a grave Lord common-law Judge, Sir ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN, Lord Chief Keeper. Justice of the Common Pleas, at first merely as a temporary arrangement, till another Lord Keeper could be fixed. upon; but he held it, with that title, for five years; and his life therefore must now engage our attention. MAN, and edu cation. He was the son of Dr. John Bridgeman, bishop of Chester, His birth descended from a respectable family in Devonshire. His mother was a daughter of Dr. Keylar, canon of Exeter, and Archdeacon of Barnstaple. Having been well grounded in classical learning under his father's tuition, he was entered of Queen's College, Cambridge, in July, 1619, and there took his degree of B. A. in January, 1623. In the following year he was entered of the Inner Temple. He certainly must have studied at his Inn of Court with great assiduity, for he was a profound master of the common law. To his profession he chiefly devoted himself through life, affording little of his time to literature or politics. He was particularly famous for diligent attendance in court at all interesting arguments; and while a student he took very full and accurate notes of cases, which he afterwards cited from the bench.* He was called to the bar in 1632. Although he was to inherit Called to a good estate from his father, he addicted himself to business; and though not much distinguished for eloquence, his great * Bridg. Rep. 27. the bar. |