Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century
History
Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century
Great Britain -- Biography; Great Britain -- History -- Stuarts, 1603-1714
Arundel's great collection of ancient marbles is now in the Ashmolean
Museum in the University of Oxford. The inscriptions were presented
to the University in 1667 by Lord Henry Howard, Arundel's grandson,
afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk, and the statues were reunited
to them in 1755 by the gift of Henrietta Countess of Pomfret. As
Clarendon's _History_ was an official publication of the University,
it is probable that the prospect of receiving the statues induced
the editors to remove or alter the passages that might be thought
offensive.
As a whole this character does not show Clarendon's usual detachment.
Arundel was Earl Marshal, and Clarendon in the Short Parliament of
1640 and again at the beginning of the Long Parliament had attacked
the jurisdiction of the Earl Marshal's Court, which, as he says,
'never presumed to sit afterwards'. The account given in Clarendon's
_Life_, ed. 1759, pp. 37-9, explains much in this character. Clarendon
there says that Arundel 'did him the honour to detest and hate him
perfectly'. There was resentment on both sides. The character was
written in Clarendon's later years, but he still remembered with
feeling the days when as Mr. Edward Hyde he was at cross purposes with
this Earl of ancient lineage.
A different character of Arundel is given in the 'Short View' of his
life written by Sir Edward Walker (1612-77), Garter King of Arms and
Secretary of War to Charles I:
'He was tall of Stature, and of Shape and proportion rather goodly
than neat; his Countenance was Majestical and grave, his Visage long,
his Eyes large black and piercing; he had a hooked Nose, and some
Warts or Moles on his Cheeks; his Countenance was brown, his Hair thin
both on his Head and Beard; he was of a stately Presence and Gate, so
that any Man that saw him, though in never so ordinary Habit, could
not but conclude him to be a great Person, his Garb and Fashion
drawing more Observation than did the rich Apparel of others; so that
it was a common Saying of the late Earl of _Carlisle_, Here comes the
Earl of _Arundel_ in his plain Stuff and trunk Hose, and his Beard
in his Teeth, that looks more like a Noble Man than any of us. He
was more learned in Men and Manners than in Books, yet understood the
_Latin_ Tongue very well, and was Master of the _Italian_; besides he
was a great Favourer of learned Men, such as Sir _Robert Cotton_, Sir
_Henry Spelman_, Mr. _Camden_, Mr. _Selden_, and the like. He was a
great Master of Order and Ceremony, and knew and kept greater Distance
towards his Sovereign than any Person I ever observed, and expected
no less from his inferiours; often complaining that the too great
Affability of the King, and the _French_ Garb of the Court would
bring MAJESTY into Contempt.... He was the greatest Favourer of Arts,
especially Painting, Sculpture, Designs, Carving, Building and the
like, that this Age hath produced; his Collection of Designs being
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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