good offices towards his old friends, and all other persons, as the iniquity of the time, and the nature of the employment he was in would permit him to do, which kind of humanity could be imputed to very few.

No man was courted with more application by persons of all conditions and qualities; and his person was not less acceptable to those of steady and uncorrupted principles, than to those of depraved inclinations. And in the end, even his piety administered some excuse to him; for his father's infirmities and transgressions had so far exposed him to the inquisition of justice, that the son found it necessary to procure the assistance and protection of those, who were strong enough to violate justice itself; and so he adhered to those who were best able to defend his father's honour, and thereby to secure his own fortune; and concurred with them in their most violent designs, and gave reputation to them. And the court as unskilfully took an occasion, too soon, to make him desperate, by accusing him of high treason, when

He

* With the five members of the house of commons. was then lord Kimbolton, by which title he had been cal led to the house of peers in the lifetime of his father.

(though he might be guilty enough) he was, without doubt, in his intentions, at least, as innocent as any of the leading men.

It is some evidence that God Almighty saw his heart was not so malicious as the rest, that he preserved him to the end of the confusion, when he appeared as glad of the king's restoration, and had heartily wished it long before; and very few who had a hand in the contrivance of the rebellion, gave so manifest tokens of repentance as he did; and having for many years undergone the jealousy and hatred of Cromwell, as one who abominated the murder of the king, and all the barbarous proceedings against the lives of men in cold blood; the king, upon his return, received him into grace and favour, which he never after forfeited by any undutiful behaviour. I. 182. II. 211.

2

ROBERT DEVEREUX, THIRD EARL OF ESSEX-DIED

MDCXLVI.

THOUGH he was no good speaker in public, yet by having sat long in parliament, was so well acquainted with the order of it in very active times, that he was a better speaker there than any where else, and being always heard with attention and respect, had much authority in the debates. He was a great lover of justice, and could not have been tempted to consent to the oppression of an innocent man: but in the discerning the several species of guilt, he had no faculties or measure of judging, nor was above the temptation of general prejudice; and it may be, of particular disobligations and resentments, which proceeded from the weakness of his judgment, not the malice of his nature. He had no ambition of title, or office, or preferment; but only to be kindly looked upon, and kindly spoken to, and quietly to enjoy his own fortune and, without doubt, no man in his nature more abhorred rebellion than he did, nor could He have been led into it by any open and transparent temptation, but by a thousand disguises

and cozenages. His pride supplied his want of ambition, and he was angry to see any other man more respected than himself, because he thought he deserved it more, and did better requite it: for he was in his friendships just and constant, and would not have practised foully against those he took to be enemies. No man had credit enough with him to corrupt him in point of loyalty to the king, whilst he thought himself wise enough to know what treason was. But the new doctrine and distinction of allegiance, and of the king's power in and out of parliament, and the new notions of ordinances, were too hard for him, and did really intoxicate his understanding, and made him quit his own to follow theirs, who, he thought, wished as well, and judged better than himself. His vanity disposed him to be his excellency, and his weakness to believe that he should be the general in the houses, as well as in the field, and be able to govern their councils, and restrain their passions, as well as to fight their battles; and that by this means, he should become the preserver, and not the destroyer, of the king and kingdom. With this ill-grounded confidence, he launched

out into that sea, where he met with nothing but

rocks and shelves, and from whence he could never discover any safe port to harbour in. II. 208. Life III. 782.

JOHN PYM-DIED MDCXLIII.

NO man had more to answer for the miseries of the kingdom, or had his hand or head deeper in their contrivance; and yet, I believe, they grew much higher even in his life, than he designed. He was a man of a private quality and condition of life, his education in the office of the exchequer, where he had been a clerk, and his parts rather acquired by industry, than supplied by nature, or adorned by art. He had been well known in former parliaments, and was one of those few who had sat in many; the long intermission of parliaments having worn out most of those who had been acquainted with the rules and orders observed in those conventions. This gave him some reputation and reverence amongst those who were but now introduced. In the short parliament he spoke much, and appeared to be the most leading man;