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III. The Earl of Sunderland and the Revolution of 1688

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2011

J. P. Kenyon
J. P. Kenyon
Affiliation:
Fellow of Christ's College
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Extract

A Study of the historiography of the Revolution of 1688—the Revolution considered not only as an event in space and time but also in the minds of men—is long overdue. Although such a study would far transgress the decent limits of this paper, it is possible to isolate here a single phenomenon in the historiography of 1688; to examine the posthumous reputation of one of the central figures in that Revolution, to uncover the sources from which it rose, and assess the validity of the evidence upon which it is based.

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Research Article
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Cambridge Historical Journal , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , 1955 , pp. 272 - 296
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1955

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References

1 The only exception is that very able pamphlet, Great Britain's Just Complaint, published in 1692, and usually attributed to Sir James Montgomery; it is printed in Somers' Tracts, ed. Walter Scott, x, pp. 429–71. It contains interesting deviations from the accepted Jacobite canon.

2 See Churchill, Sir Winston, Marlborough, I (London, 1933), ch. xxiGoogle Scholar.

3 For his mixed treatment of Rochester see, for instance, [ The Life of James II… collected out of memoirs writ with his own hand, ed. J. S.] Clarke (2 vols. London, 1816), II, pp. 63, 98–102.

4 He reflected that all those contrivances [i.e. Sunderland's supposed treasons] would have signified nothing had the army done its duty’: Clarke, ii, p. 187.

5 See, for instance, Clarke, ii, pp. 72–4, 76–8, 98–102, 130–3, 138, 176–7, 179–81, 187.

6 Clarke, II, p. 72. Cf. Macaulay, [History of England, ed. Firth, Sir Charles, 6 vols. (London, 1913–15)], II, 721Google Scholar.

7 [Memoirs of Thomas, Earl of] Ailesbury (ed. Bentley, W., 2 vols. London, 1890), I, pp. 121, 126, 127, 146, 152 etcGoogle Scholar. See also Earl of Cardigan, , The Life and Loyalties of Thomas Bruce (London, 1951)Google Scholar.

8 The Second Part of a Caveat against the Whiggs, in a Short Historical View of their Transactions, 3rd ed. (London, 1713), p. 30.

9 Ibid.

10 When Addison asked Edmund Smith to write a history of the Revolution for the Junto, he replied, ‘What shall I do with the character of Lord Sunderland?’ Addison merely asked, ‘When, Rag, were you drunk last?’ and went away. Johnson, , Lives of the English Poets, ed. Hill, G. Birkbeck (3 vols. Oxford, 1905), in, p. 14Google Scholar.

11 The most he would admit was that in October 1688 Sunderland had been ‘inclinable to the expected Revolution’; but for the disaster itself he seemed to blame James's, ‘supine negligence’: Complete History of England (3 vols. London, 1706), in, pp. 488, 492Google Scholar.

12 It was John Oldmixon, Burnet's chief defender, who remarked that: ‘Lord Sunderland had a Vast Genius, but his Conscience was of Like Extent: Oldmixon, , History [of England during the reigns of the royal house of Stuart (London, 1730)], p. 724Google Scholar. The third earl died in 1722.

13 History of England (3 vols. London, 1718), II, pp. 882–3, 885–6. Echard, as his enemies loved to point out, relied to a great extent on the moderate opinions of the Jesuit historian d'Orléeans, writing in 1694 (Histoire des révolutions d'Angleterre, 2nd ed. 4 vols. (Paris, 1724), IV, pp. 323–6), opinions which were typical of many in the years immediately succeeding the Revolution; cf. Bohun, Edmund, History of the Desertion (London, 1690)Google Scholar.

In his History of the Revolution (London, 1725), Echard drew heavily on Burnet, and confessed himself baffled by Sunderland: ‘A Thousand Conjectures have been made as to the Actions of this Man’, he wrote, ‘to which we can give no certain Assent’; or again, ‘Whether he acted best for his King or his Country, or whether he was unfaithful to both… [are] Questions but few at this Time can determine with Certainty’ (op. cit. pp. 60, 61).

14 Reflecting, of course, on Walpole's administration: The Craftsman, nos. 223–4 (1730).

15 History of England (2 vols. London, 1744–6), I, pp. 971–2. Ralph is notable as the first historian writing on this period who had any idea of the comparative value of different pieces of evidence, or even the validity of different theories. For the unpromising circumstances in which he wrote, see Carswell, John, The Old Cause (London, 1954), pp. 202–4Google Scholar.

16 His careful investigation of Charles I's grave at Windsor is also an example of that ‘avid historical curiosity’ mentioned above.

17 History of England (8 vols. London, 1783), viii, pp. 212 ff.

18 Macpherson, History of Great Britain (2 vols. London, 1775), 1, pp. 477, 512; Somerville History of Political Transactions and Parties… [1660–1702] (London, 1792), pp. 203–4.

19 Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlborough, (3 vols. London, 1818–19), I, p. 73.

20 Constitutional History of England (Everyman ed.), iii, p. 63. Hallam was the first to make use of Mazure's, Histoire de la Révolution (Paris, 1825)Google Scholar, which contained, in addition to some wild theorizing, more new evidence from the French archives.

21 Macaulay, ii, p. 721; iii, pp. 1086–90.

22 History of England (6 vols. Oxford, 1875), IV, pp. 431–2.

23 Sir Winston Churchill has given us the most impressive exposition of this problem; op. cit. 1, pp. 274–6.

24 Adda to Cardinal Cibo, 2 Apr. N.S. 1688, B[ritish] M[useum] Add[itional] MS. 15,397, f. 9. Most of the remainder of this despatch is printed by [Sir James] Mackintosh, [History of the Revolution (London, 1834)], pp. 651–2Google Scholar.

25 Report of the Parliamentary Agents, 19 Apr. 1688. A summary made for the king by William Bridgeman, Sunderland's ‘secretary-to-all-turns’; printed by Duckett, Sir George, Penal Laws and Test Act (2 vols. London, 1882), ii, p. 218Google Scholar. It deals only with a limited number of counties, but there is every reason to regard it as typical.

26 [Sir John] Dalrymple [Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland (2 vols. London, 1771–3)], ii, App. I, pp. 214–22 passim.

27 Adda, 14 May (n.s.) 1688, printed Mackintosh, pp. 654–5.

28 Barillon au Roi, 3 June (n.s.) 1688, P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice], Baschet [Transcripts, Bundle] 177, and 10, 21 June (n.s.), Arch[ives du Ministère des Affaires] Etr[angères], C[orrespondance] P[olitique] A[ngleterre, Tome] 165, ff. 341, 368–9; Adda, 4, ii June (n.s.), printed Mackintosh, pp. 656–7; Bonrepos, Mémoire au Roi, Sept. 1688, Arch[ives] Nat[ionales], K. 1351. For Sunderland's conversion, see Tonson to Hutton, 2 July 1688 [MSS. of first earl of] Portland [Public Misc.] 19. I am indebted to His Grace the Duke of Portland for permission to use and cite these papers.

29 Adda, 16 July (n.s.), printed Mackintosh, pp. 661–4. For the previous negotiations with Penn, see Johnstone to Bentinck, 19 Jan., Portland 19.

30 Burnet, [History of My Own Time, ed. Routh, M. J. (6 vols. Oxford, 1833)], III, pp. 262–3Google Scholar. Probably information secured from Sunderland after the Revolution.

31 S[tate] P[apers] Dom[estic], Entry Book LVI, p. 426.

32 B.M. Add. MS. 34, 515, ff. 80–1 (Mackintosh Transcript). The original, probably from James Johnstone, is in Portland 19. A suppressed passage in Burnet's History is clearly based on this and similar reports: [H. C.] Foxcroft, , Supplement [to Burnet's History (Oxford, 1902)], pp. 277–8Google Scholar.

33 It should perhaps be added that these Whigs were lukewarm at the prospect of William's coming, and the civil war which it would almost certainly involve. Their attitude was quite different from that of the magnates.

34 He told Barillon in 1685: ‘Si le monde tient le mesme langage sur la paix, et si l'Europe demeuroit longtemps en repos, on verroit ce quʼon nʼa jamais vu. Je crois pour moi que la paix durera jusquʼa ce quʼon ait une bonne occasion de part ou d'autre de faire la guerre’; Barillon, 17 Sept. (n.s.) 1685, P.R.O. Baschet 161. Two years later he insisted to James that in view of the failing health of Carlos II, war was imminent in Europe: Adda, 8 Aug. (n.s.) 1687, printed Mackintosh, pp. 643–5.

35 See von Pastor, Ludwig, History of the Popes, xxxii (London, 1940), p. 378 ffGoogle Scholar.

36 As Professor Browning remarks: ‘The common criticism that James was foolishly complacent regarding William's enterprise is strangely mis-placed. Only the direst necessity, or complete confidence that no resistance was to be anticipated, could have justified such an enterprise at all’; English Historical Documents 1660–1714 (London, 1953), p. 19.

37 See d'Avaux, , Négotiations [du comte d'Avaux en Hollande (6 vols. Paris, 1752–3)], vi, pp. 202–3Google Scholar; and Seignelay à Bonrepos, 8 Sept. (n.s.) 1688, printed Clément, , L'Italie en 1671 (Paris, 1867), pp. 336–8Google Scholar.

38 The Jacobites commonly accused Sunderland of suppressing Albeville's despatches. In fact, the envoy's regular correspondence was with Middleton, whose papers (B.M. Add. MSS. 41, 815–16) confirm that up to the middle of August the English government was concerned almost entirely with the European repercussions of the Cologne election. After his return from leave in September, he sent warnings which had decisive effects on James and Sunderland; see Barillon, 16, 20, 27 Sept. (n.s.), Arch, Étr., C.P.A. 166, ff. 176–7, 196, 219.

39 Tanner, J. R., ‘Naval preparations of James II in 1688’, Engl. Hist. Rev. viii (1893)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Powley, E. B., The English Navy in the Revolution of 1688 (Cambridge, 1928), ch. 1Google Scholar.

40 Sunderland said as much to Barillon in February; Barillon, 1 Mar. (n.s.) 1688, P.R.O. Baschet 176. See also Powley, op. cit. p. 4.

41 James told Adda that Louis' head had been turned by gross flattery: Adda, 10 Sept. (n.s.) 1688, printed Mackintosh, pp. 669–70.

42 Powley, op. cit. pp. 18–19.

43 Barillon, 2 Sept. (n.s.) 1688, Arch, Étr., C.P.A. 166, ff. 138–40; Adda, 3 Sept. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 226–7; [Autobiography of Sir John] Bramston [London, 1845], p. 312; Letters written during the years… [1686–88]…to John Ellis, ed. Dover, Lord (2 vols. London, 1831), ii, p. 144Google Scholar (cited hereafter as ‘Ellis Corr.’).

44 To Skelton, S.P. Foreign, France, Entry Book xix.

45 Adda, 3 Sept. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 226–7, and Mackintosh, pp. 667–9 [two despatches]. Adda, of course, did his best to foster such ideas; see his despatch of 10 Sept. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 238–41.

46 Bonrepos' brief and incomplete report on his mission is in Arch. Nat., Paris, K. 1351; his Instructions, dated 29 Aug. (n.s.), in Receuil des Instructions données aux ambassadeurs… Pt. X, Angleterre, ed. J. J. Jusserand (2 vols. Paris, 1929), ii, pp. 405–9; and his letter of recall, dated 8 Sept. (n.s.), from Seignelay, in Clément, op. cit. pp. 336–8.

47 Barillon, 18, 20 Sept. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, ff. 190–93, 196–8; Adda, 17 Sept. (n.s.), B.M. Add. M S. 15,397, ff. 245–6.

48 Middleton to Albeville, 11 Sept., B.M. Add. MS. 41,823, ff. 71–2.

49 S.P. Dom. Entry Book LVI, pp. 431–41 passim. For his optimism with regard to these coming elections, see Adda, 24 Sept. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 252–4.

50 Barillon, 27, 30 Sept. (n.s.) 1688, Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, ff. 219, 229–30; Luttrell, , Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs (6 vols. Oxford, 1857), 1, pp. 461–2Google Scholar; d'Avaux, Négotiations, vi, p. 271; Hist[orical] MSS. Comm[ission], Downshire MSS. 1, p. 301; John Evelyn's Diary, 18 Sept.; Lady Sunderland to Henry Sidney, 19 Sept.; B.M. Add. MS. 32,681, f. 311; Clarendon's Diary, 24 Sept., printed [Henry Hyde, Earl of] Clar[endon, his] corr[espondence (etc.)], ed. S.W. Singer (2 vols. London, 1828), ii, p. 189; Steele, , Tudor and Stuart Proclamations (2 vols. Oxford, 1910), i, no. 3875Google Scholar.

51 Steele, op. cit. I, nos. 3872, 3874; London Gazette, no. 2385; Hist. MSS. Comm. Hastings MSS. iv, p. 220; Clar. Corr. ii, pp. 188–92 passim (22–30 Sept.).

52 Middleton to Albeville, 21 Sept., B.M. Add. MS. 41,823, ff. 73–4; Barillon, 4 Oct. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, ff. 264–6.

53 Barillon, 7 Oct. (n.s.) 1688, ibid. ff. 271–2.

54 Lady Sunderland to Sidney, 19 Sept. loc. cit.

55 Barillon, loc. cit.

56 Adda, 8 Oct. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 296–7.

57 Barillon, 30 Sept. (n.s.), ibid. ff. 231–2.

58 Burnet, iii, pp. 314–15. In fact, Sunderland can have had no conception of the nature or the extent of the ‘conspiracy’; and it was arguable that to arrest leading members of the upper classes on mere suspicion would hopelessly alienate the rest. Where he and James were at fault was in failing to arrest obvious spies like Lovelace, who was then passing and repassing furtively between England and Holland (B.M. Add. MS. 41,805, f. 46; d'Avaux, Négotiations, vi, p. 275).

59 Adda, 15 Oct. (n.s.) 1688, B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 328–33 (partly printed Mackintosh, pp. 674–5).

60 Barillon, 14 Oct. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, f. 303.

61 Barillon, 18 Oct. (n.s.), ibid. ff. 312–14.

62 Barillon, 25 Oct. (n.s.), ibid. ff. 331–2.

63 Adda, 5 Nov. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, ff. 371–2.

64 [A diary of the Times of Charles II by Henry Sidney…. ed. R. W., ] Blencowe (2 vols. London, 1843), ii, p. 378Google Scholar.

65 Adda, 12 Nov. (n.s.), ibid. ff. 377–8; Barillon, 8 Nov. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 167, ff. 33–4. James took the opportunity to include the Anglican Viscount Preston in the government.

66 According to Adda: ‘Milord non senza lagrime l'avesse assicurata de’ suoi zelanti sentimenti in ordine a questo punto essenziale, il che aveva molto edificato la Maesta Sua in maniera di avere anco accresciata la stima verso la dilui persona’: 12 Nov. (n.s.) 1688, ibid. ff. 378–9. Evelyn's Diary, 29 Oct.

67 Evelyn to Lady Sunderland, 7 Nov., Evelyn Letter Book, Christ Church.

68 Adda, loc. cit.

69 Barillon, 6, 8 Nov. (n.s.), Arch. Etr., C.P.A. 167, ff. 26, 34; Charles Bertie to Danby, 30 Oct., Hist. MSS. Comm., 14th Report, Pt. IX, p. 448 (Lindsey MSS.); K. Powlett to Lady Margaret Russell, 3 Nov., Hist. MSS. Comm., Rutland MSS. ii, p. 122.

70 Barillon, 1 Dec. (n.s.) 1688, ibid. f. 126; Adda, 3 Dec. (n.s.), printed [Campana da] Cavelli [Les Derniers Stuarts à St Germain en Laye (2 vols. Paris, 1871)], ii, p. 341; Terriesi, 6 Dec. (n.s.), ibid. p. 343.

71 According to Evelyn (Diary, 9, 18 Dec.) he hesitated until the 18th, when, in fact, a Royal Warrant was issued on his request (Calendar of Treasury Books, viii, p. 2140). But the next day he was writing to Churchill from Rotterdam (letter printed by Sir Winston Churchill, op. cit. 1, pp. 344–5).

72 D'Avaux, 12 Aug. (n.s.) 1685, Négociations, v, pp. 110–11.

73 13 Sept. (n.s.), 1685, ibid. p. 143; Barillon, 26 Nov. (n.s.), printed Fox, C. J., History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II (London, 1818), App., pp. cxliv–cxlvGoogle Scholar.

74 After Barillon's appointment in 1677, and Ralph Montagu's dismissal the following year, all important business between England and France was transacted in London. This explains the extraordinary procession of nonentities who passed through the Paris embassy (Savile, Preston, Trumbull and Skelton), each less competent than his predecessor.

75 See Calendar S. P. Dom. 1679–80, pp. 482, 483, 488.

76 Depositions concerning the birth of a Prince of Wales, Privy Council, 22 Oct. 1688, P.R.O. PC 2/72, pp. 751 sqq.

77 See her malicious letters to her sister Mary, 13 Mar., 9 May 1687, printed Brown, Beatrice C., Letters…of Queen Anne (London, 1935), pp. 26, 30–1Google Scholar.

78 Bonrepos à Seignelay, 21 July (n.s.) 1687, P.R.O. Baschet 171 ; d'Avaux, Négotiations, VI, p. 152.

79 A few instances at random: in August 1679 she told Sidney that her husband's ‘good and welfare’ were ‘the most precious worldly things’ she had; in 1680 she is found commissioning him to buy surprise presents for Sunderland; on another occasion she compared her affection for Sidney to her love for her son, Lord Spencer: Blencowe, I, pp. 86, 226; II, pp. 33–4. Sunderland was always aware o f the correspondence, and sometimes used it to convey orders to Sidney when he felt unable to write himself.

80 Lady Sunderland to William, 7 Mar. 1687, Dalrymple, ii, App. I, p. 189.

81 Mordaunt told Bentinck: ‘Je croy que quelques lettres intercepté [sic] ou peut estre le soubçon seul de quelque intelligence fera branler un de nos grands ministres quʼon croyoit bien affermy; il travaille fort à se remettre, mais il faut avouer que, sy il tombe, sa cheute ne sera pas trop regretté [sic]; de vous dire par détail tout ce quʼils font de ridicule et de cruel ensemble, il faudroit une volume’: 11 Mar. 1687, printed Japikse, , Correspondentie [van Willem III en van Bentinck], 1st series (2 vols. The Hague, 1927–8), ii, p 10Google Scholar.

82 Bonrepos à Seignelay, 21 July (n.s.) 1687, P.R.O. Baschet 171. Thomas Felton of Playford was a horse-racing crony of Godolphin, and a friend and political associate of Sunderland's through life. On Sunderland's death he transferred himself to the Marlboroughs.

83 Mémoire au Roi, Oct. 1687, P.R.O. Baschet 174. This memoir was based on information provided by Bonrepos; see Bonrepos à Seignelay, 30 Oct. (n.s.) 1687, ibid. 173.

84 Le Roi à Barillon, 11 Dec. (n.s.) 1687, cited Mackintosh, p. 228; Barillon, 5 Jan. (n.s.) 1688, printed Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, pp. 271–2.

85 D'Avaux au Roi, 6 May (n.s.) 1688, Le Roi à M. d'Avaux, 13 May (n.s.): Negotiations, vi, 143–4. 146.

86 D'Avaux au Roi, 20 May (n.s.) 1688, Négotiations, vi, pp. 149–52.

87 ‘Lettre du Roi, du 27 Mai [n.s.] 1688. Le Roi me manda quʼil voyoit bien par tout ce que je lui écrivois, que le prince d'Orange seroit toujours mieux averti de ce qui se passeroit dans les Conseils du Roi d'Angleterre, que le Roi d'Angleterre ne le seroit des desseins que son gendre formoit contre lui’: ibid. p. 156.

88 Seignelay told Bonrepos that Louis was in a quandary—‘chaque pas que nous faisons nous jette dans de nouvelles incertitudes’: 31 Aug. (n.s.) 1688, printed Mazure, Histoire de la révolution de 1688 (3 vols. Paris, 1825), iii, pp. 61–2.

89 Le Roi à Barillon, 23 Sept. (n.s.) 1688, Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, f. 203, and 30 Sept. (n.s.), printed Dalrymple, II, App. I, p. 295. Also Croissy à Barillon, 1 Oct. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 166, f. 227.

90 Barillon's despatch of 4 Nov. (n.s.) 1688 (Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 167, ff. 17–18) is a complete exposé of the Wickstead episode, but it caused some noise at the time (Hoffmann to the Emperor, 12 Nov. (n.s.), Cavelli, II, pp. 307–8). Later, of course, it was revived and embellished by various Jacobites-notably Ferguson, Robert, History of the Revolution (London, 1717), pp. 44–6Google Scholar, from whom John Oldmixon borrowed it; History, p. 753.

91 In Une lettre du comte de Sunderland à un ami (Amsterdam, 1689), he related how prior to his fall he was accused of treason ‘devant le Roi dans le Conseil’, a phrase omitted from the English edition.

92 Barillon, 8 Nov. (n.s.) 1688, Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 167, ff. 33–5; Adda, 12 Nov. (n.s.), B.M. Add. MS. 15,397, f. 378.

93 Bramston, pp. 327–8; Ellis Corr. ii, p. 268.

94 For the conflicting opinions at Versailles, see Mémoires du marquis de Sourches (13 vols. Paris, 1892–3), ii, p. 272, and Journal du marquis de Dangeau (19 vols. Paris, 1854–60), ii, p. 212.

95 A Barillon, 10 Nov. (n.s.) 1688, Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 167, f. 30.

96 25 Nov. (n.s.), ibid., ff. 75–6.

97 Clarke, ii, pp. 180–1. Oldmixon relates that on his release Skelton, ‘to justify his conduct in France, informed the King…[of his suspicions]; History, p. 753.

98 Commonly so printed; actually Bernard de Bude, Sieur de Vérasse, Steward to the Princess Mary until 1688.

99 Oldmixon, History, loc. cit.; d'Orléans, Histoire des révolutions d'Angleterre (4 vols. Paris, 1724), iv, pp. 321–2; Clarke, ii, p. 176.

100 Louis informed Barillon (10 Nov. (n.s.), Arch. Étr., C.P.A. 167, ff. 28–9) that he had offered Bude his travelling expenses and a douceur, but he refused to come unless he were paid in advance: ‘Il nʼy a pas lieu de croire [wrote Louis] que ses avis soient bien considérables, puisquʼil se défie si fort à la récompense.’ Macpherson, Original Papers (2 vols. London, 1775), i, pp. 153–4, prints a copy of one of Vérasse's letters, from S.P. Foreign, France, 151, f. 199. With it is Skelton's to Sunderland, 15 Aug. 1688, ibid. f. 200. Sunderland's reply of 20 Aug., requesting more information, is in S.P. Foreign, France, Entry Book xix.

101 Royal warrant, 18 Dec. 1688, Calendar of Treasury Books, viii, p. 2140. On 29 Nov. Barillon remarked of Sunderland: ‘Le Roy d'Angleterre s'explique durement sur son sujet’; Au Roi, 9 Dec. (n.s.), Arch, Étr., C.P.A. 167, f. 155.

102 Journal de Dangeau, 11, p. 336.

103 For full title, see B.M. 8138. j. 1 (108), printed Somers Tracts, x, pp. 321 ff., but with a defective title. Sunderland's original draft (B.M. Add. MS. 32,681, ff. 326–9) is also printed, Blencowe, II, pp. 370–81.

104 Similarly, he told William in a private letter that he had hesitated to leave England, because, he wrote: ‘I thought I had served the publick so importantly, in contributing what lay in me towards the advancing of your glorious undertaking’: 8 Mar. (n.s.) 1689, Dalrymple, 11, App. ii, p. 1. Cf. Dicconson's comments, in Clarke, ii, pp. 73–4. Halifax remarked that the Letter to a Friend was ‘an impeachment against himself’: Foxcroft, , Halifax (2 vols. London, 1898), ii, p. 209Google Scholar.

105 Ailesbury, i, pp. 127, 305.

106 Clarke, ii, p. 285, and Ferguson, op. cit. p. 20. (The close similarity of wording in these two sources suggests cross-fertilization.) This Jacobite testimony is confirmed by Dr George Clarke, Ginkel's Judge Advocate General, who was present: MS. Memoirs, Hist. MSS. Comm., Leyborne-Popham MSS., pp. 281–2.

107 Burnet (ii, p. 18) declares: ‘He had too much heat both of imagination and passion, and was apt to speak very freely of persons and things.’ Bonrepos also noticed that: ‘II est difficile de le faire parler, mais aussitôt qu'il est entré dans la conversation, il s'y échauffe d'une manière qu'il dit souvent des choses qu'il voudroit avoir retenues dans la suite’: Mémoire, Torcy au Roi [Oct. 1687], P.R.O. Baschet 174.

108 It is clear that Dicconson's Life owes a great deal to Sheridan, and not only in the matter of Ireland. For instance, his remarks on Sunderland's secret ‘cabinet council’ in 1687 (Clarke, ii, pp. 74–5) are a garbled version of a parallel passage in Sheridan's MS. Account (Hist. MSS. Comm., Stuart MSS. vi, pp. 3–4). For Ferguson's probable contribution to another of Dicconson's anecdotes, see note 106 above; a diligent search would no doubt bring other examples to light.

109 Clarke, 11, pp. 72, 130–1; Macpherson, op. cit. 1, p. 244; Sheridan, loc. cit. vi, p. 63. Into this period also falls the Duke of Chandos's anecdote about Sunderland, Louis xiv and Maestricht: Burnet, III, p. 314 (Dartmouth's Note); Macpherson, op. cit. I, p. 268 (ex Thomas Carte).

110 Printed Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, pp. 187–90.

111 Cf. the account given by Burnet, who conversed with Dykeveldt on his return into Holland: ‘The earl of Sunderland, and the rest of the ministry, pressed Dykeveldt mightily, to endeavour to bring the prince and princess to concur with the King in the matter of the tests; that he should have the chief stroke in all affairs; and some carried this so far as to offer that, if that were once settled, the king would go into measures with him against France’: Burnet, iii, p. 178, amended by Foxcroft, Supplement, p. 258.

112 ‘Pointen geextraheert uyt een Brief van My Lady St.’, Japikse, Correspondentie, ii, P. 597.

113 She enclosed her letter to William in one to Mary, and placed the whole inside another to Bentinck about gardening (Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, p. 189). Envelopes, of course, were not then in use.

114 Lady Sunderland to Sidney, 15 Aug. 1679, Blencowe, 1, pp. 84–7; Barillon, 3 Aug. (n.s.) 1679, printed Dalrymple, ii, App., pp. 233–5, and 30 Aug. (n.s.), P.R.O. Baschet 143.

115 Lady Sunderland to Sidney, 23 Dec. 1687, printed Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, pp. 211–12.

116 Tonson reported: ‘His Lady knew nothing of the business, and is sick, and cries constantly since. Mr Sydney was desired by him to tell it her’: To Bentinck, 2 July 1688, B.M. Add. MS. 34,515, ff. 89–90.

117 Evelyn's Diary, 18 Aug. 1688. Robert, Lord Spencer, a Catholic convert, died in Paris on 6 September; according to some, of alcoholism; according to others, of the after-effects of a wound sustained in a brawl, or a duel, the previous year: Journal de Dangeau, ii, p. 168, and Ellis Corr. ii, pp. 173–4.

118 ‘The news from home I am as ignorant of as if I were in Japan, but of what is public I heard my Lord say… [etc.]’; Lady Sunderland to Sidney, 3 Sept. 1688, Blencowe, ii, pp. 272–5.

119 Misdated the 11th by Blencowe (11, pp. 275–8). See the original, B.M. Add. MS. 32, 681, f. 311.

120 See William to Bentinck, 27 Aug. (n.s.) 1688, and Herbert's Memorial, printed Japikse, Correspondentie, i, pp. 46–7.

121 Nor is this passage part of the Original Memoir written by Burnet in 1688: cf. Burnet, iii, pp. 263–4, and Foxcroft, Supplement, pp. 277–8.

122 S.P. Dom. King William's Chest, Bundle 1; printed, with errors, by Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, pp. 237–8. See also Turner, F. C., James II (London, 1948), p. 407Google Scholar.

123 There is a clear reference back to Churchill's letter of 17 May 1687 to William: Dalrymple, ii, App. 1, pp. 190–91.

124 They are all printed: in Dalrymple (11, App. 1, pp. 139–40, 158–59, 160–61, 191), and in Japikse, , Correspondentie, 2nd series (3 vols. The Hague, 1935–37), 11, pp. 722–5, 727Google Scholar.

125 Foxcroft, Halifax, ii, p. 209.