Autographs of royal, noble, learned, and remarkable personages conspicuous in English history, from the reign of Richard the Second to that of Charles the Second; with some illustrious foreigners; containing many passages from important letters. Engraved under the direction of Charles John Smith. Accompanied by concise biographical memoirs, and interesting extracts from the original documents / by John Gough Nichols.

  • Nichols, John Gough, 1806-1873.
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Autographs of royal, noble, learned, and remarkable personages conspicuous in English history, from the reign of Richard the Second to that of Charles the Second; with some illustrious foreigners; containing many passages from important letters. Engraved under the direction of Charles John Smith. Accompanied by concise biographical memoirs, and interesting extracts from the original documents / by John Gough Nichols. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    5. Sir George Goring, created Lord Goring in 1629, and Earl of Norwich in 1645, was a good- humoured libertine, who had acted the buffoon for King James’s amusement, and was one of the most disso¬ lute of the Court of Charles. But, being called forth by the Civil War, he was so successful a General in the King’s service as to rout entirely the left wing of the Scottish army at Marston-moor, and made a very brave and resolute defence at Colchester. Still it was by such characters as the Earl of Norwich that the Royal cause was injured both in repute and in reality. He shared the retirement of the exiled King, and died in 1662. [The Portrait described in Granger belongs to his son, the second and last Earl, a very similar cha¬ racter, with whom he has been much confused; see Lodge's Illustrious Portraits.] His Autograph is from a letter to Lord Fairfax in Sloane MSS. 1519, fol. 12. 6. John Thurloe, Secretary of State during the Protectorate, was the son of an Essex clergyman. He was educated to the law, and had been Secretary to various Parliamentary Commissions, when in April 1652 he received that appointment from the Council of State. His knowledge and his judgment, his industry and dispatch, were equally extraordinary; he was dextrous in discovering secrets, and faithful in keeping them. His State Papers, in seven folio volumes, form a History of Europe during this period; and he was as amiable in his private, as able in his public character. Having declined offers of preferment from the King, he died Feb. 21, 1667-8, aged 51. [Portraits by Houbraken, Vertue, R. Cooper, $c.] The specimen of his Writing is the superscription of a letter41 For the right hoblc my Ld Henry Cromwell, Comand. in Chief of the Army in Ireland, at Dublin. Slcane MSS. 4166, fol. 49. 7. Bulstrode Whitelocke was son of Sir James Whiteloeke, a Judge of the King’s Bench, by Elizabeth Bulstrode. He was elected M. P. for Marlow in 1640, and conducted the prosecution of the Earl of Strafford. He was afterwards active both in the House and in the field; and in 1648 he was appointed a Commissioner of the Great Seal. He continued in that office, with little interruption, for ten years. In 1653 he went Ambassador to Sweden, whence he returned in 1654. He was also for a time Speaker of the House of Com¬ mons, and afterwards one of Cromwell’s Peers. The King recommended retirement to him at the Restoration, and he died at Chilton-park, in Wiltshire, Jan. 28, 1676. Whitelocke was a man of great judgment, address, and integrity. His “ Memorials” are highly valuable to the historian ; and he is to be particularly honoured for the boon he bestowed on literature in preventing the dispersion of the Royal and other libraries. [Portraits by Faithorne, Gay wood, £fc.] His Autograph is from a letter to Oliver Cromwell, written when in Sweden, at “ Upsale, Mar. 17, 1653. The Queen is pleased to spend some time to learn English of me'.' Sloane MSS. 4156, fol. 92; the Signature ibid. 1519, fol. 65. 8. Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, General of the Parliament Forces, had been a neglected and much injured man. King James had indeed, at his accession, relieved the young Noble of the attainder of his father, Elizabeth’s unfortunate Favourite ; in 1605-6 he was married to a daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, with all the festivity the Court could afford; and he became a friend and companion of Prince Henry: but the Prince died; the Court backed the Favourite Somerset in robbing him of his wife; and the King con¬ ceived an antipathy against him. In 1620-1 we find him joining with the ancient English Peerage in petition¬ ing against the profuse creation of Irish and Scottish Peers, when Wilson states that James said to him, “ I fear thee not, Essex, if thou wert as well-beloved as thy father, and hadst forty-thousand men at thy heels.” However, he lived principally retired in the country, except taking the campaigns in the Low Countries in 1620 and 1621, until in 1639 King Charles made him Lieutenant-General of his forces in the Northern expedition. But the grand error was in not employing him when the next army was raised ; so that in 1642 he was smarting under accumulated injustice when he accepted the commission of General for the Parliament. He had, however, as Wilson says, “ ever an honest heart,” and entertained no other design against the King but to bring him to reason. His views again frustrated, this generous but ill-fated man resigned his command in April 1645; and died Sept. 14, 1646, the Earldom expiring with him. [Portraits, by Pass, Elstracke, Faithorne, Hollar, and many others.] It was to Lord Fairfax that Essex signed “ Your lo'P faithfulfrend and servant. Sloane MSS. 1519, fol. 9.