a great master and such were the powers of his eloquence, that many who sincerely hated the minister, as sincerely pitied the man. Lord Strafford is characterised by sir Philip War 8 wick as every way qualified for business; his natural faculties being very strong and pregnant. His understanding, aided by a good fancy, made him quick of discernment, and through a cold brain he became deliberate and of sound judgment. His memory was great, and he made it greater by confiding in it. His elocution was very fluent, and it was a great part of his talent readily to reply, or freely to harangue upon any subject. His acquired parts, both in university and inns of court learning, &c. made him an eminent man before he was a conspicuous one; so as when he came first to show himself in the house of commons, he was soon a bell-wether in that flock. Dr. Lort remarks, that lord Strafford is a character to be paralleled with any of the heroes of antiquity; and cites his speech to the Irish parliament, which he mentioned thus merrily in a letter to archbishop Laud: "I spake it not betwixt my teeth, but so loudly and heartily, that I protest to you I was faint withal for the present, and the worse for it two or three days after. It makes no matter: for this way I was assured they should have found at least with how little weight soever it should be attended: and the success was answerable. For had it been low and mildly delivered, I might perchance have gotten from them, 'It VOL. II. Memoirs, apud Seward, vol. i. p. 333. Y was pretty well;' whereas, this way filling one of their senses with noise, and amusing the rest with earnestness and vehemence, they swear (yet forgive them, they know not what they say) it was the best spoken they ever heard in their lives." Dublin, July 19, 1634. In the former part of this letter he says, "If in all this I make one penny of benefit to myself in the course of these payments (to the army, &c.), let my master take my head upon my return 9." A letter written by lord Strafford to his cousin Radcliffe, in great distress, September 1640, was printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for April 1797. The Harleian manuscript, 2233, contains a copy of the impeachment of lord Strafford, with his lordship's own remarks on the margin, and his notes taken from ` the depositions of witnesses and pleadings of counsel, for and against him, during his trial". Other volumes in the same collection, contain many of his letters and speeches. In number 7000 there is a singular epistle addressed to the lord treasurer Weston, in order to remove certain prejudices concerning his ambition. This, however, has been printed in Dr. Knowles's Collection of the Strafford Papers 3; at the end of which publication is an essay towards the life of lord Strafford, by sir George Radcliffe, comprising a chronological series of the principal occurrences in his lordship's life, a general estimate of his character and abilities, and a very glowing picture of his qualifica tions as a friend. • Lord Strafford's Collection of Letters, vol. ii. p. 273. ■ Vol. i. p. 79. As the verses heretofore ascribed to lord Strafford are not only rejected, but supplied by another copy in the Somers' Tracts, and as that copy has the prefixed assurance of being "penned by his lordship, and transcribed by one neare and deare unto him, for a legacy left by him," it has an insurmountable claim to insertion in the present work, though it may be as void of authenticity, as the common metrical appendage to a malefactor's dying speech. "THE LIEUTENANT'S LEGEND. "Dat pœnas laudata fides; gravis exitus altis Eye me, ye mounting cedars; once was I, "Honours came thick upon me, as if those Meant with their weight to crush me; ev'ry day Rais'd me one story higher; land and seas Were then propitious; fresh as fragrant May Sprung my enliven'd strength; where a decay In health, wealth, freedom, popular esteeme, Prove my late sceane of state a golden dreame. i.e. Lord Lieutenant. "I had (unhappy is the accent had) A competence of state before I came In native properties, till th' wing of Fame, "That vocal forrests or plebeian vote Adjudge me worthy of the worthlest death; But by report, though their empois'ned breath "Go I by water, or a private coach, I'm hooted at; blind fury findes no end: The style of traitor welcomes my approach, Whereto mine eares a forc'd attention lend: Yet 'mongst these fiends I have one constant friend, An un-amated loyall heart within me, Which in these gusts shall peace of conscience win me. • i. e. Feather'd. Hence Markham writes, in his dedication of Sion's Muse, to Mrs. Eliz. Sidney, "When mine unfeathered muse shall be impt by your graces, shee may straine her untun'd numbers to sing of you and your adored father (sir P. Sidney), whom heaven holds to make happie her habitation, and earth wants to give wonder to the age." 5 An allusion perhaps to Dodona's Grove, or the Vocal Forest, by Howell, published in 1640. i. e. Undismayed. "The prince's declaration it was such As it secur'd me from the doome of death; But on th' incensed state it wrought not much : "The judges their authentic sentence passe, And in two charges vote me of high-treason; Which vote, as is conceived, moulded was From their approaching feares, which blinded reason, And caus'd those elders to comply with season: For th' safest way to shun those ship-wrackt shelves, Was, as they held, t' ingratiate themselves. "Thus do I live a dying life, immur'd With cares more numerous then my warders be; "I know that my Redeemer lives,' in him To sojourne in a lodging like to fall. 'Consume, or destroy. See glossary to the metrical romance of Sir Tristram. |