Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
History
Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography
Sir John Grenville, although he now returned quietly to Stow, was by
no means unmindful of his royal master, and soon opened negotiations
with his cousin George Monk (afterwards Duke of Albemarle), who became
the well known chief instrument in the restoration of Charles II. A
brother of Monk's (afterwards Bishop of Hereford), who was at this
time in Cornwall, having been appointed by the Grenvilles to the
living of Kilkhampton, seems to have been the medium of this dangerous
intercourse; but our Sir John managed matters with such loyalty,
courage, and discretion, that all ultimately went well for the Royal
cause.[34] He had at one time accompanied Charles into exile, and
was one of the Commissioners, known as the 'Sealed Knot' from their
secrecy, appointed to conduct the affairs of the King in England during
his absence; and though Sir John Grenville could not obtain from
Monk (who was determined upon being supreme in the transaction) the
stipulations which even Charles's most loyal friends thought desirable
for the future, events proved that it would have been well if more
weight had been attached to the suggestions of the sagacious Cornish
Knight and his colleagues. So highly, however, were his fidelity and
wisdom esteemed, that he was selected to present to Parliament the
King's proposals from Breda: an office which he discharged with such
efficiency as to obtain the thanks of both Houses, and a jewel worth
£500, as well as a ring worth £300 from the Common Council, for his
services at this important crisis. (Cf. also Thurloe's 'State Papers,'
Grammont's 'Memoirs,' Clarendon's Correspondence and Diary, and Dr.
John Price's 'Mystery and Method of His Majesty's Happy Restoration,'
dedicated to the Earl of Bath.) Pepys describes the circumstances,
and tells us how, on 2nd March, 1660, Parliament continued bareheaded
whilst the King's letter was being read.[35]
The favours of royalty were also showered upon Grenville--though
Charles II. was apt to be unmindful of his friends in the past--and Sir
John was made a Secretary of State, and was created Lord Grenville, of
Kilkhampton and Bytheford, Viscount Grenville of Lansdowne, and Earl of
Bath; with a pension of £3,000 a year to be paid out of the Stannaries,
of which he was made Lord Warden, and a reversion to the Dukedom of
Albemarle. He also received the Royal Licence to use his titles of
Earl of Corboile, Thorigny, and Granville. Of the architectural merits
of his 'new house' at Stow, built for him, it is said, by the King,
Kingsley writes in disparaging terms, as we have seen. He married
Jane, the daughter of Sir Peter Wiche or Wych, by whom he left a
noble offspring. The eldest son, Charles, second Earl of Bath, died
in 1701,--twelve days after his father; the second son, John, who was
created Baron Grenville of Potheridge in 1703, died in 1707; and the
male line became extinct on the death, from small-pox, of his son
William Henry, third Earl of Bath, in 1771.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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