Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3Hallam, Henry
History
Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3
Hallam, Henry
Constitutional history -- Great Britain
It must be added that Juxon redeemed the scandal of his appointment by
an unblemished probity, and gave so little offence in this invidious
greatness, that the long parliament never attacked him, and he
remained in his palace at Fulham without molestation till 1647.
[76] _Strafford's Letters_, i. 33, etc. The letters of Wentworth in
this period of his life show a good deal of ambition and resentment,
but no great portion of public spirit. This collection of the
Strafford letters forms a very important portion of our historical
documents. Hume had looked at them very superficially, and quotes them
but twice. They furnished materials to Harris and Macaulay; but the
first is little read at present, and the second not at all. In a
recent and deservedly popular publication, Macdiarmid's _Lives of
British Statesmen_, the work of a young man of letters, who did not
live to struggle through the distresses of that profession, the
character of Strafford is drawn from the best authorities, and with
abundant, perhaps excessive candour. Mr. Brodie has well pointed out
that he has obtained more credit for the early period of his
parliamentary life than he deserves, by being confounded with Mr.
Wentworth, member for Oxford. Vol. ii. p. 249. Rushworth has even
ascribed to Sir Thomas Wentworth the speeches of this Mr. Wentworth in
the second parliament of Charles, from which it is notorious that the
former had been excluded.
[77] Hacket tells us, in his elegant style, that "Sir John Eliot of
the west, and Sir Thomas Wentworth of the north, both in the prime of
their age and wits, both conspicuous for able speakers, clashed so
often in the house, and cudgelled one another with such strong
contradictions, that it grew from an emulation between them to an
enmity. The lord-treasurer Weston picked out the northern cock, Sir
Thomas, to make him the king's creature, and set him upon the first
step of his rising; which was wormwood in the taste of Eliot, who
revenged himself upon the king in the Bill of Tonnage, and then fell
upon the treasurer, and declaimed against him, that he was the author
of all the evils under which the kingdom was oppressed." He proceeds
to inform us, that Bishop Williams offered to bring Eliot over, for
which Wentworth never forgave him. _Life of Williams_, p. 82. The
magnanimous fortitude of Eliot forbids us to give credit to any
surmise unfavourable to his glory, upon such indifferent authority;
but several passages in Wentworth's letters to Laud show his malice
towards one who had perished in the great cause which he had so basely
forsaken.
[78] Wentworth was brought over before the assassination of
Buckingham. His patent in Rymer bears date 22nd July 1628, a month
previous to that event.
[79] Fourth Inst. c. 49. See also 13 Reports, 31.
[80] Rymer, xix. 9; Rushworth, ii. 127.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account