Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe Part 10

Thus, in the fourth generation, the chief of our family, since they came into the south, for their sufferings for the Crown, sold the flower of their estates, and near 2000 pounds a year more. There remains but the Remembrancer's place of the Exchequer office: and very pathetical is the motto of our arms for us--'The victory is in the Cross.' [Footnote: "In Cruce Victoria." Another motto of the Fanshawe family was, "Dux vitae ratio." Of these mottoes a Correspondent in the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1796, tells the following story. "When Sir Richard was amba.s.sador, and was travelling in Spain, in an English carriage, with his arms upon it, surrounded by the two mottoes belonging to them--Dux vitae Ratio--In Cruce Victoria; a crowd of peasants gathering round the unusual sight of so many foreigners, in a town where they stopped for refreshment, were very anxious with a priest, who happened to be amongst them, for an explanation of the Latin, which being beyond his skill, he informed them that the coach belonged to the Duke of Vitae Ratio, who had done great things for the Cross."]

I had, about this time, some trouble with keeping the lords.h.i.+ps of Tring and Hitching, which your father held of the Queen-Mother; but I not being able to make a considerable advantage of them, gave them up again: and then I sold a lease of the Manor of Burstalgarth, which was granted for thirty-one years to your father from the King. Dean Hicks bought it, it being convenient for him, lying upon Humber. There was a widow, one Mrs. Hiliard, hired this manor, and had so done long. She was very earnest to buy it at a very under rate. When she saw it sold, she, as was suspected, fired the house, which was burnt down to the ground within two months after I had sold it.

In this year my brother Harrison married the eldest daughter of the Lord Viscount Grandison. I let in this year a lease of eleven years of Fanton Hall, in Ess.e.x, to Jonathan Wier, which I held of the Bishopric of London: this lease was bought the first year the King came home, of Doctor Sheldon, then Bishop of London, who was exceeding kind to us, and sold it for half the worth, which I will ever acknowledge with thankfulness.

My dear father departed this life, upon the 28th of September, 1670, being above eighty years of age, in perfect understanding, G.o.d be praised! He left five hundred pounds to every one of my four daughters; and gave me three thousand pounds for a part of the manor of Scallshow, near Lynn, in Norfolk, but the year before he died, to make my sister Harrison a jointure. The 11th I christened the eldest daughter of my brother Harrison, with Lord Grandison, and Sir Edmund Turner.

The death of my father made so great an impression on me, that with the grief, I was sick half a year almost to death; but through G.o.d's mercy, and the care of Doctor Jasper Needham, a most worthy and learned physician, I recovered; and as soon as I was able to think of business, I bought ground in St. Mary's Chapel, in Ware Church, of the Bishop of London, and there made a vault for my husband's body, which I had there laid by most of the same persons that laid him before in my father's vault, in Hertford Church deposited, until I could make this vault and monument, which cost me two hundred pounds; and here, if G.o.d pleases, I intend to lie myself.

He had the good fortune to be the first chosen, and the first returned member of the Commons' House of Parliament, in England, after the King came home; and this cost him no more than a letter of thanks, and two brace of bucks, and twenty broad pieces of gold to buy them wine. Upon St. Stephen's day the King shut the

EXTRACTS

FROM THE

CORRESPONDENCE

OF

SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE

ILl.u.s.tRATIVE OF THE MEMOIR

The Letters from which part of the following Extracts have been taken, were printed in 1701, under the t.i.tle of "Original Letters of his Excellency Sir Richard Fanshawe, during his Emba.s.sies in Spain and Portugal; which, together with divers Letters and Answers from the Chief Ministers of State of England, Spain, and Portugal, contain the whole negociations of the treaty of Peace between those three Crowns."

8vo, pp. 510.

The remainder are now printed, for the first time, from the rough copies of the originals, or the originals themselves, preserved in the Harleian MS. 7010, in the British Museum.

Although these Extracts were chiefly made with the view of ill.u.s.trating the statements in the Memoir, nearly every pa.s.sage has been copied from the Correspondence which is of the slightest general interest, unconnected with political affairs.

To MR. SECRETARY BENNET.

[See MEMOIRS, p 152.]

On Board his Majesty's Admiral, entering the Bay of Cadiz, Wednesday about noon, 24th of February, 1669, English style.

"By former advertis.e.m.e.nts, I presume his Majesty, from you, hath understood how, after sharp storms and cross winds, with the first favourable breath we adventured to put to sea a third time, and out of Torbay the second, upon Monday the 15th instant, at nine of the clock at night; from whence in so few days, as appears by computation, to the time of the date hereof, and with the most auspicious weather that could be imagined, we were all arrived thus far, in perfect health and safety; where perceiving some sailors steering towards us, which we took to be English, and homewards bound, I thought it my duty, en duda, to prepare hastily, thus much only, against we speak with them in pa.s.sage; which may suffice at present, from him who knows no more as yet."

Original Letters of Sir Richard Fanshawe, p. 30.

To MR. SECRETARY BENNET.

[See MEMOIRS, p. 153.]

Cadiz, February 29, 1663/March 10, 1664.

My last of the 29th of February, English style, (which yet cannot go sooner than this, having not met with the present opportunity of conveyance I then expected,) advertised your honour we were just then entering this bay, after a brief and very fair pa.s.sage from Torbay.

The same evening we came to anchor at some distance from this city, intending, G.o.d willing, the next day, 6th instant, to come on sh.o.r.e; but a strong Levant rising, not only that was impossible, but even for any to come to me from the land.

The next morning, 7th, our s.h.i.+ps weighing, made a hard s.h.i.+ft to get into the port, and I from thence a harder to land in boats. The Duke of Medina Celi, in the interim, having complimented me aboard, by a Caballero de el Habito, with a letter from Port S. Mary, and in person from this city the deputed governor of this town, Don Diego de Ibarra, both of them, as by a general order from his Catholic Majesty, which they had had some weeks by them in case of my arrival here, in virtue whereof somewhat more than ordinary salutes were given by this city to his Majesty's Amba.s.sador and fleet; also a house ready furnished for me, whereunto I was very honourably conducted, with appearance of universal joy, and there visited the same day by the Duke of Albuquerque, the Cabildo, and all the n.o.bles and princ.i.p.al gentlemen here residing. My table, the governor signified, was to be at my own finding, yet that I must not refuse to accept of the first meal from him; of the former I was very glad, as enjoying thereby a liberty which I preferred to any delicacies whatsoever upon free cost; the latter, I was not at all nice to receive for once. But I had not been three hours on sh.o.r.e, when an Extraordinary arrived from Madrid, with more particular orders than formerly from his Catholic Majesty, importing, that our Master's fleet, when arrived, and this Amba.s.sador, should be presaluted from the city, in a manner unexampled to others, and which should not be drawn into example hereafter. Moreover, and this so likewise, that I and all my company must be totally defrayed, both here and all the way up to Madrid, upon his Catholic Majesty's account; with several other circ.u.mstances of particular esteem for our Royal Master above all the world besides. The substance of all hath been related to me, and the effects declare it; but a copy of the order itself I have not as yet been able to obtain though desired, it being the style not to communicate it without leave from above, and out of the Secretary of State, else I should have thought it my duty to remit it unto his Majesty from hence, and shall from thence if I get it.

The first night the keys of the city were brought to me in a great silver basin, by the governor, which, after several refusals, I took and put into the right hands; then the governor forced me to give him the word, which, after like refusals, I did, and was Viva el Rey Catolico.

At supper, he and his Lady would bear me and my wife company, which I accepting as a great favour, told him my wife should eat with her Ladys.h.i.+p, retired from the men, after the Spanish fas.h.i.+on, it being more than sufficient, they would not think strange, we used the innocent freedom of our own when we were among ourselves. But by no means, that he would not suffer; and to keep us the more in countenance, alleged this manner of eating to be now the custom of many of the greatest families of Spain, and had been from all antiquity to this day of the majestical House of Alva; the generosity whereof, particularly in the person of the present duke, he took this occasion to celebrate very highly. So, in fine, he had his will of me in this particular.

As the Duke of Albuquerque, newly created Generalissimo of the Ocean, and very shortly going to enjoy that high puesto at his ease in the Court, where he is likewise Gentilhombre de la Camara--had done to me before, so yesterday his d.u.c.h.ess and their daughter, (married to his own brother, to keep up the name, for want of issue male,) both vastly rich in jewels, as lately returned from the viceroys.h.i.+p of Mexico, so full as to refuse that of Peru, in consequence of the other, began an obliging visit of many hours to my wife; both of the above-named Dukes and d.u.c.h.ess, whether by letter and message, as the Duke of Medina, or in person, as the other, treating us both to a full equality in all respects.

I had forgot to specify, as I may have done several other remarkable points of respect to his Majesty's Amba.s.sador, how one part of this King's last order was, that for more honour and security, a guard of soldiers, with a captain of it, should be night and day in my house; which is practised where I now am, and, as I understood it, is to be in like manner in all towns of note; a person of quality, by the same royal command, conducting me from one to another.

All this ceremony, I hope, is not instead of substance; for then it would prove very tedious and irksome to me indeed; but an earnest and prognostic of it, which time will try when I come to treat.--Ibid. p.

31.

To MR. SECRETARY BENNET.

[See MEMOIRS, pp. 159-166.]

Seville, March 23, 1663, 2 April, 1664

Pursuing my journal, from the date of my last to you from Cadiz, Feb.

29th, 1663/March 10th, 1664 you may be pleased to understand that, March 3/13, the old Governor, D. Ant. Pimentel, returned thither, surprising me with a visit in my house before he would enter into his own, or had any notice of his landing; the cause of his suspension having been only that which I then signified, and as powerfully removed at Court by a letter from the Duke de Medina Celi to his Catholic Majesty in his defence, as it seemed to have been laid on with a very good will by the Duke of Albuquerque; the letter I have seen, wanting neither rhetoric, logic, nor a.s.surance.

6/16, (of the same.) The said Don Antonio treated me and all my company with splendour and magnificence, borrowing us for that dinner from the King's entertainment.

The 9/19. Himself in person accompanied me to Port St. Mary, my first step towards Madrid, and had been my first landing-place, as nearest and of most convenience, if it had not been signified to me by message, that I must not waive Cadiz, where all things were orderly prepared for my reception, from whence also I pressed to have removed sooner; but that the Duke of Medina intimated his desire of the contrary, as not till then so well prepared for my entertainment as his Excellency intended to be; and in particular, because a rich gondola, built purposely, said they, for the wafting over of Princes, had some days' work to do about it, before it could be fitted for my transportation.

Arrived therein at Port St. Mary, the Duke, with all his family and va.s.sals, (that city being his patrimony,) met me at the landing-place, whence, with coaches, and vollies of shot by many troops, not upon the King's pay but his own, for so his Excellency then told me, he conducted me to a very fair house, prepared by his care, and furnished with the richest of what he had for his own palace moreover, under his Excellency's proper inspection against my coming from Cadiz, whence, having been there revisited at parting by the Duke of Albuquerque, and all other who had visited me at my arrival, I was dismissed with great and small shot from the town, and in like manner saluted in my pa.s.sage by the Spanish Armada, and all other s.h.i.+ps in the bay, as well Spanish as strangers, Van Tromp riding there at the same time with his squadron. The rest of my entertainment at Port St. Mary was proportionable to the beginning, and there also the Duke of Medina gave me one treat at his own palace. The civilities to me of the Marquis of Bayona, Gentleman of the Galleys of Spain, the constant station thereof is there, and of his lady to my wife, inheritrix or the Marquisate of Santa Cruz, and so of a Grandees.h.i.+p, noted likewise for eminent virtue and education at Court, came nothing behind; but these two great men cannot set their horses together.

On Monday, March 14/24, I was accompanied out of the city of Port by the Duke of Medina, Don Antonio de Pimentel, who had never left me till then, being one, and the Marquis of Bayona, with his Lady, planting his coach upon the way-side, beyond the place where the Duke took leave. I came that night to Xerez de la Frontera; met and welcomed before our approaching to the city by the magistrates thereof and princ.i.p.al gentlemen, that is all, with many troops of soldiers, and shoals of common people. The next day, treated in the interim, and then dismissed as before at the other two places, I arrived and lodged at Lebrija. The next at Utrera; met about a league short, by order of the Conde de Molina, a.s.sistente de Sevilla, with a troop of horse, and by Don Lope de Mendoza, Alguazil, mayor of the city, as Teniente del Duque de Alcal, proprietor by inheritance of that office, the said Don Lope being, by the same order, to conduct me as far as Cordova.

The next day, 16/26 of March, accompanied with the same troop and conductor, we set forth for Seville; but this small stream soon lost itself, when, about the distance before named it fell into a torrent of people of all sorts and degrees, both military and civil, which, together with the Conde a.s.sistente, rushed out to receive and conduct me to the King's palace, or Alcazar, which accordingly was done.

Churches, streets, inhabitants, river, places much noted at all times, setting now upon this occasion the best side outward to express a pride in their joy of a hoped perfect correspondence with England.

Here, at my arrival, I found lying for me, in the hand of a servant of the Duke of Medina de las Torres, a letter from his Excellency, of high welcome to Spain, and no less respect. Here, since my arrival, besides a perpetual court of company and entertainments of the best above stairs, and ranks of soldiers, with mult.i.tudes of others below, upon my account, in this famous palace of the King, where I am lodging in his Majesty's own bedchamber, as royally furnished as when himself was in it, visits I have received in form from their Excellency the City, by their Representatives; from their Senoria the Audiencia, by their Regente; from their Senoria the Contratacion House, by their Presidente; and from his Ill.u.s.trissima the Archbishop, being at present sick, by message; all which I have repaid respectively; and tomorrow, G.o.d willing, set forth towards Cordova; perceiving beforehand that my salida will be proportionable to my entrada. The conclusion I make of the whole is, 'thus shall it be done to the man whom the King our Master is pleased to honour,' and the King of Spain, for his Majesty's sake, as far as outward ceremony can testify it; well, hoping that neither his Majesty, nor any other at home, will apprehend I take aught of this as done to my person, or for any thing of intrinsic value supposed to be in me, but merely as I bear my master's image and superscription; his Majesty's prerogative s.h.i.+ning the more therein, by how much the metal on which he is stamped hath less of value in itself. Not a compliment, which will be always a saucy thing, as well as impertinent, with a man's prince; but a sober and natural inference, at least so understood by such as could wish it were otherwise.--Ibid. p. 36.