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Second Reading

About Sir William Mountagu

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MONTAGU, Sir WILLIAM (1619?-1706), judge; son of Edward Montagu, first baron Montagu of Boughton; educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; barrister, Middle Temple, 1641; M.P., Huntingdon, 1640: Cambridge University, 1660; attorney-general to Charles II's queen, 1662; serjeant-at-law and lord chief baron of the exchequer, 1676; removed from the bench on his refusal to give an unqualified opinion in favour of the prerogative of dispensation, 1686 ; assessor to the convention. 1689.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Sir John Chicheley

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Sir John Chicheley was a rear-admiral under prince Rupert in the last Dutch war. When Sir Edward Spragge was like to be overpowered by the enemy, sir John, together with the prince, bore down to his assistance: but notwithstanding the efforts of his friends, and his own invincible courage, that great man had soon after the misfortune to lose his life. Sir John Chicheley was one of the commissioners of the admiralty, and member of parliament for Newton in Lancashire, in the reign of William III.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Frescheville Holles (MP Grimsby, Lincs.)

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Sir Fretcheville Holles possessed, in a high degree, that courage for which his family was distinguished. He behaved with his usual intrepidity in the famous engagement with the Dutch, that continued four days, in which he unfortunately lost an arm. He was rear-admiral under Sir Robert Holmes, when he attacked the Smyrna fleet, which was the first act of hostility in the last Dutch war. He was killed, with several other brave officers, in the battle of Southwold Bay, on the 28th of May, 1672.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Thomas Butler (6th Earl of Ossory)

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THOMAS, earl of Ossory, is well known to have sought fame in every part of Europe, and in every scene of action where it was to be acquired. In 1666, upon his return from Ireland, he paid a visit to the earl of Arlington, at his seat at Euston in Suffolk; where he happened to hear the firing or guns at sea, in the famous battle that began the first of June. He instantly prepared to go on board the fleet, where he arrived on the 3d of that month; and had the satisfaction of informing the duke of Albemarle, that prince Rupert was hastening to join him. He had his share in the glorious actions of that and the succeeding day. His reputation was much increased by his behaviour in the engagement off Southwold Bay. In 1673, he was successively made rear-admiral of the blue and the red squadrons: he having, in the battle of the 11th of August, that year, covered the Royal prince, on board of which Sir Edward Spragge commanded, and at length brought off the shattered vessel in tow. On the 10th of September following, he was, by the king, appointed admiral of the whole fleet, during the absence of prince Rupert.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Capt. William Berkeley

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Sir William Berkeley was son of Sir Charles Berkeley, and brother to Charles, earl of Falmouth. He was vice-admiral of the white squadron, and led the van in the desperate engagement with the Dutch, which began on the first of June, and continued four days. Prompted by his usual courage, he steered into the midst of the enemy's fleer, where he was soon overpowered by numbers. He was found dead in his cabin, covered with blood. Ob. 1 June, 1666.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Joseph Jordan

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The most memorable action of Sir Joseph Jordan was in the famous battle of Solebay, when he fell with his squadron into the midst of the Dutch fleet, and threw it into the utmost confusion. The advantage was long on the side of the Dutch, as the English were overpowered by numbers; but by this action, the fortune of the day was reversed, and the English gained the victory. It should also be remembered, that in this battle he abandoned the brave and accomplished earl of Sandwich to the Dutch fireships, in order to succour the duke of York.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Thomas Allin

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This brave and expert officer was the first that entered upon hostilities against the Dutch, in 1665, by attacking their Smyrna fleet. The squadron that he commanded consisted but of eight ships; but what he wanted in force, he supplied by courage and conduct. He killed their commodore Brackel, took four merchantmen richly laden, and drove the rest into the bay of Cadiz. On the 25th of July, 1666, he, at the head of the white squadron, fell upon the Dutch van, entirely defeated it, and killed the three admirals who commanded that division. The victory of this day, in which he had a principal hand, was indisputably on the side of the English. Then it was that De Ruyter exclaimed, "My God, what a wretch am I! among so many thousand bullets, is there not one to put me out of my pain?"
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir John Lawson

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Sir John Lawson, who was the son of a poor man at Hull, was, when he entered into the sea-service, upon the same foot with Pen, and, like him, rose by regular gradations to an admiral. He was in all the actions under Blake, who saw and did justice to his merit. As he was a man of excellent sense, he made the justest observations upon naval affairs; though in his manners he retained much of the bluntness and roughness of the tarpaulin. He was often advised with by the duke of York, who had a high opinion of his judgment. He acquitted himself with great courage and conduct in many engagements with the Dutch; particularly in 1653, when he and Pen were rewarded with gold chains for their eminent services. The Algerines, who were robbers by principle and profession, and had erected piracy into a system of government, were effectually chastised by him, and compelled to submit to a more disadvantageous peace than they had ever made with any of the states of Christendom. He was vice-admiral under the earl of Sandwich, whom he, for a short time, succeeded in command, when he was dismissed by the parliament. Though he was in his heart a republican, he readily closed with the design for restoring the king. He died in June, 1665, of a shot in the knee, which he received in an engagement with the the Dutch, in which he was observed to exceed all that he had done before.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir George Ayscue

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It is scarce possible to give a higher character of the courage of this brave admiral, than to say that he was. a match for Van Tromp or De Ruyter; both whom he engaged in the first Dutch war (before the Restoration) without being conquered. In 1648, when the fleet revolted to prince Rupert, he declared for the Parliament, and brought the Lion man of war, which he then commanded, into the river Thames. He was the next year appointed admiral of the Irish seas, and had a great hand in reducing the whole island to the obedience of the Republic. In 1651, he forced Barbadoes, and several other British settlements in America, to submit to the commonwealth. In 1652, he attacked a Dutch fleet of forty sail, under the convoy of four men of war: of those he burnt some, took others, and drove the rest on shore. Lilly tells us, in his Almanack for 1653, that he, the year before, engaged sixty sail or Dutch men of war, with fourteen or fifteen ships only, and made them give way. He protested against Blake's retreat in that desperate action of the 29th of November, 1652, thinking it much more honourable to die by the shot of the enemy. This, and his great influence over the seamen, are supposed to have been the reasons for his being afterwards dismissed from his command. He was a short time admiral in Sweden, under Charles Gustavus; but returned to England soon after the Restoration. In 1666, he commanded on board the Royal Prince, the largest ship in the navy, and generally esteemed the finest in the world. He engaged the Dutch with his usual intrepidity and success, in that memorable battle which continued four days: but on the third day his ship ran on the Galloper sand, and he was compelled by his own seamen to strike. He was for some months detained a prisoner in Holland; and during that time, was carried from one town to another, and exposed to the people by way of triumph. He never afterwards went to sea.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About John Maitland (2nd Earl of Lauderdale)

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The duke of Lauderdale, who had been employed in several treaties in the late reign, and had been a sufferer in the cause of Charles II. was highly in favour with that prince. He was thought, before the Restoration, and especially during his imprisonment after the battle of Worcester, to have had some sense of religion; but his conduct afterwards was utterly inconsistent with every social and religious principle. He taught the king the political maxim of "neglecting his friends, and making friends of his enemies." His whole system of politics was much of the same cast. When he was high-commissioner in Scotland, he enslaved his country by every mode of oppression: he loaded it with taxes, ruined its trade, plundered its inhabitants, and persecuted its religion. When the people were grown mad by his cruelty, he obstructed the course of justice, and blocked up every avenue to the throne. He was one of those who were employed in forging chains for the English, and who will ever be remembered by the name of the Cabal. He was servile and imperious, haughty and abject; was a man of great learning, but aukward and ungainly in speech and behaviour. He practised all the arts of cunning and dissimulation to gain power, and was the barefaced tyrant after he had gained it. Ob. 24 Aug. 1682.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1769.

About Thomas Dalziel

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General THOMAS DALYELL (DALZIEL) who served Charles the second at the battle or Worcester, and thereafter being taken prisoner by the rebels, after long imprisonment made his escape out of the Tower of London, went to Muscovy, where he served the emperor of Russia as one of the generals of his forces against the Polanders and Tartars, till the year 1665, when he was recalled by king Charles the second; and thereafter did command his majesty's forces at the defeat of the rebels at Pentland-Hills, in Scotland; and continued lieutenant-general in Scotland, when his majesty had any standing forces in that kingdom, till the year of his death, 1685.

Thomas Dalziel, an excellent soldier, but a singular man, was taken prisoner, fighting for Charles II. at the battle of Worcester. After his return from Muscovy, he had the command of the king's forces in Scotland; but refused to serve in that kingdom under the duke of Monmouth, by whom he was superseded only for a fortnight. After the battle of Bothwell-bridge, he, with the frankness which was natural to him, openly reproved the duke for his misconduct upon that occasion. As he never shaved his beard since the murder of Charles I. it grew so long, that it reached almost to his girdle. Though his head was bald, he never wore a peruke; but covered it with a beaver hat, the brim of which was about three inches broad. He never wore boots, nor above one coat, which had straight sleeves, and sat close to his body. He constantly went to London once a year to kiss the king's hand. His grotesque figure attracted the notice of the populace, and he was followed by a rabble with huzzas, wherever he went.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Col. Giles Strangways

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This worthy gentleman, who descended from one os the most ancient and respectable families in Dorsetshire, was representative in parliament for that county, and one of the privy council to Charles II. In the time of the civil war, he had the command of a regiment in that part . of the royal army which acted under prince Maurice in the West. In 1645, he was imprisoned in the Tower for his active loyalty, where he continued in patient confinement for two years, and upwards of six months. There is a fine medallion of him, struck upon this occasion; on the reverse of which is represented that part of the Tower which is called Cæsar's; with this inscription, Decufque adversa dederunt. When Charles fled into the West, in disguise, after the-battle of Worcester, he sent him three hundred broad pieces; which were, perhaps, the most seasonable present that the royal fugitive ever received. But this was but a small part of the sum which is to be placed to the account of his loyalty; as the house of Strangeways paid no less than 35,000l. for its attachment to the crown. Ob. 1675.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Geoffrey Palmer (Attorney General 1660-70)

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Geoffery Palmer, a lawyer of distinction in the reigns of Charles the First and Second, was son of Thomas Palmer, esq. of Carleton, in Northamptonshire, by Catharine Watson, sister to the first lord Rockingham. He was representative for the borough of Stamford, in Lincolnshire, in the long parliament, in which he was a chief manager of the evidence against the earl of Strafford. He afterwards, from principle, adhered to the royal party, with which he was a fellow-sufferer, having been imprisoned in the Tower by Cromwell, who dreaded his abilities, under a pretence of his plotting with the cavaliers. Upon the restoration of Charles II. he was made attorney-general and chief-justice of Chester. It should be remembered to his honour, that he was, in the early part of his life, one of the select friends of Mr. Edward Hyde, afterwards earl of Clarendon. He died May 5, 1670, aged seventy-two years.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About John Vaughan (MP Cardiganshire)

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Sir John Vaughan, a man of excellent parts, was not only well versed in all the knowledge requisite to make a figure in his profession, but was also a very considerable master of the politer kinds of learning. He maintained a strict intimacy with the famous Mr. Selden, who was one of the few that had a thorough esteem for him. His behaviour among the generality of his acquaintances was haughty, supercilious, and overbearing: hence he was much more admired than beloved. He was in his heart an enemy to monarchy; but was never engaged in open hostility against Charles I. The earl of Clarendon, who had contracted some friendship with him in the early part of his life, renewed his acquaintance after the Restoration, and made him overtures of preferment: but these he waved, on a pretence of having long laid aside his gown, and his being too far advanced in life. He afterwards struck in with the enemies of his friend the chancellor, and was made lord chief-justice of the Common Pleas; an office which, though not above his abilities, was perhaps superior to his merit. He died in 1674, and was buried in the Temple-church, as near as possible to the remains of Mr. Selden. His "Reports" were published by his son Edward.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Francis Pemberton

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Sir Francis Pemberton is well known to have been a better practitioner than a judge, to have been extremely opiniated of his abilities, and to have rather made than declared law. The lordkeeper Guilford said, that "in making law, he had outdone king, lords, and commons."
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Richard Rainsford (Baron of the Exchequer and President of the Court of Claims, Dublin 1663)

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Sir Richard Rainsford, who was but a secondary character in his profession, had the disadvantage of succeding a man who was confessedly at the head of it. His merit, eclipsed by the superior lustre of his predecessor, appeared to be much less than it was in reality. He was as much above sir William Scroggs, his successor, in point of integrity, as he was below sir Matthew Hale in point of learning.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Matthew Hale (Chief Baron of the Exchequer)

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This excellent person, whose learning in the law was scarce equalled, and never exceeded; was, in many respects, one of the most perfect characters of his age. Nor was his knowledge limited to his own profession: he was far from inconsiderable, as a philosopher and a divine. He was as good and amiable in his private, as he was great and venerable in his public, capacity. His decisions upon the bench were frequently a learned lecture upon the point of law; and such was his reputation for integrity, that the interested parties were generally satisfied with them, though they happened to be against themselves. No man more abhorred the chicane of lawyers, or more discountenanced the evil arts of pleading. He was so very conscientious, that the jealousy of being misled by his affections made him perhaps rather partial to that side to which he was least inclined. Though he was a man of true humility, he was not insensible of that honest praise which was bestowed on him by the general voice of mankind, and which must have been attended with that self applause which is the natural result of good and worthy actions. The pride, which deserves to be called by a softer name, was a very different thing from vanity. He is therefore very unjustly represented as a vain person by Mr. Roger North, who, by endeavouring to degrade an established character, has only degraded his own. Ob. 25 Dec. 1676.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Heneage Finch (2nd Earl of Winchilsea)

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Heneage Finch, who was made solicitor-general soon after the Restoration, rose by regular gradations to the high office of chancellor, for which he was eminently qualified. He presided in the Chancery when the whole kingdom was divided into factions; but had such a command of his passions, and was so nice in his conduct, that he always appeared to be of no faction himself. He was master of the powers of elocution in a very high degree; a talent extremely dangerous in the possession of a dishonest man. This he took every occasion of exerting: but it was only to enforce and adorn, never to weaken or disguise the truth. Several of his speeches are in print. Ob. 18 Dec. 1682.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper (Baron Ashley, Chancellor of the Exchequer)

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The great talents of the earl of Shaftesbury, and his exact knowledge of men and things, contributed to render him one of the first characters of his age. But the violence of his passions, and the flexibility of his principles, prompted him to act very different, and even contrary parts. This was in some measure owing to the changes in the times in which he lived; but is more to be attributed to the mutability of his character, which ever varied with the interests of his ambition. When we consider him as sitting in the highest tribunal in the kingdom, explaining and correcting the laws, detecting fraud, and exerting all the powers of his eloquence on the side of justice; we admire the able lawyer, the commanding orator, and the upright judge. But when he enters into all the iniquitous measures of the Cabal, when he prostitutes his eloquence to enslave his country, and becomes the factious leader and the popular incendiary; we regard him with an equal mixture of horror and regret.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Sir Orlando Bridgeman (Lord Keeper, 1667-1672)

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Sir Orlando Bridgman, son of John Bridgman, bishop of Chester, was a man of good natural parts, which he very carefully improved by study and application. He was, soon after the Restoration, made lord chief-baron of the Exchequer; whence he was, in a few months, removed to the Common Pleas. While he presided in this court, his reputation was at the height: then "his moderation and equity were such, that he seemed to carry a chancery in his breast." Upon his receiving the great seal, his reputation began to decline: he was timid and irresolute, and this timidity was still increasing with his years. His judgment was not equal to all the difficulties of his office. In nice points, he was too much inclined to decide in favour of both parties; and to divide what each claimant looked upon as his absolute property. His lady, a woman of cunning and intrigue, was too apt to interfere in chancery suits; and his sons, who practised under him, did not bear the fairest characters. He was desirous of an union with Scotland, and a comprehension with the Dissenters; but was against tolerating Popery. He is said to have been removed from his office, for refusing to affix the seal to the king's declaration for liberty of conscience.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.