1623 THE KING'S PERMISSION. 5 opinion it would render everything that had been done fruitless. As soon as the Spaniards had the Prince in their hands, they were certain to propose new articles, especially with respect to religion. When he heard these words, the King threw himself upon his bed. "I told you this before," he shrieked out passionately. "I am undone. I shall lose Baby Charles." Buckingham turned fiercely upon Cottington. It was his pride, he told him, which had led him to condemn the journey because he had not been sooner consulted. No one James gives his final per- had asked for his opinion upon matters of state. The King only wanted to know which was the best road to Madrid. It was in vain for some time that James tried to take Cottington's part. In the end he was obliged to confess himself beaten, and gave his final consent to the journey.1 mission. Repayment of money to Mandeville. Headlong as he was, there was one precaution which Buckingham did not omit to take before starting. For some days it had been observed that he seemed more than usually anxious to be reconciled with all to whom he had given any cause of offence. On January 28, Mallory, one of the four members of the late House of Commons who were still restrained to their country houses, received permission to go where he would, though a similar relaxation. was not accorded either to Coke, to Phelips, or to Pym. A few days afterwards, Lord Saye, who was still in the Tower for his opposition to the Benevolence, was allowed to go down into the country, to remain in confinement in his own house.2 At last, too, Buckingham had begun to make preparations for repaying, or for giving security to repay, the purchasemoney with which Mandeville had bought the temporary possession of the White Staff, upon the understanding that he would consent to a marriage between his eldest son, the future general of a parliamentary army, and Susan Hill, one of the Feb. 28 1 Clarendon, i. 15. Cottington's objections are mentioned by Valaresso. Venice MSS. and in a letter of Dudley Carleton's, Feb. 27, S. P. Dom. cxxxviii. 99. March 10' Privy Council Register, Jan. 28, Feb. 4. Monson and many penniless kinswomen of the favourite. At the same time, young Monson, who five years before had been selected by the Howards as a possible rival to Buckabroad. ingham in the King's good graces, was knighted, A more formidable For some time the and sent to travel on the Continent. opponent was treated in the same way. discordance between the parsimony of Middlesex and the lavish ostentation of Buckingham had threatened to lead to an open rupture, and it was even supposed that the Lord Treasurer had fixed his eye upon his brother-in-law, Arthur Brett, a handsome gentleman of the bedchamber, as one who might possibly supplant the favourite. Of the particulars of the quarrel we have no information. Just as he was ready to start, Buckingham sought a reconciliation. Brett, like Monson, was knighted, and recommended to keep out of the way. Feb. 17. The Prince sets out. Feb. 18. On the 16th, Cottington, who had by this time made his peace with Buckingham, was created a baronet, and was ordered to take Porter with him to Dover, and to hire a vessel for crossing the Straits. The next day Charles took leave of his father at Theobalds, and rode off, accompanied by Buckingham, to the Marquis's house in Essex. On the morning of the 18th the real difficulties of the Adventures adventure began. Disguised with false beards, the on the way. two young men started from Newhall, under the names of Tom and John Smith. They had no one with them but Sir Richard Graham, the Marquis's master of the horse and confidential attendant. At the ferry opposite Gravesend they surprised the boatman by ordering him to put them ashore on the outskirts of the town instead of at the usual place of landing. His astonishment was complete when one of the party handed ' Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb. 10, S. P. Dom. cxxxviii. 23. It appears from Buckingham's defence (Rushworth, i. 387), that the King promised to grant lands in fee farm of his own instead. It also appears, from the Patent Rolls, that a large grant was passed, under the Great Seal, to Mandeville by Charles almost immediately after his accession, and it was expressly stated that this was done in fulfilment of James's promises. It is true that money was paid for the land. But this may easily have been a mere blind, the land being undervalued. Pat. 1 Charles I., Part 2. him a gold piece, and rode away without asking for change. Supposing that the two principal gentlemen were duellists, about to cross the sea for the purpose of settling their differences with the sword, he at once gave information to the magistrates, who sent off a postboy to Rochester, with orders to stop them; but the freshest horse in Gravesend was no match for the picked steeds from Buckingham's stable, and the party had left Rochester long before the arrival of their pursuer. A little later they were exposed to a more serious risk. Just as the three riders got out of the town, they saw advancing to meet them a train, in which they recognised the royal carriage, which was conveying the Infanta's ambassador, Boischot, under the escort of Sir Lewis Lewknor, the master of the ceremonies, and of Sir Henry Mainwaring, the Lieutenant of Dover Castle. To avoid detection, they spurred their horses off the road, and galloped across the fields. Mainwaring, who fancied that the party might contain two of Barneveld's sons, who had recently been concerned in an attempt to assassinate the Prince of Orange, sent a messenger back to Canterbury with orders to detain them. It was only by pulling off his beard, and by assuring the mayor that he was the Lord Admiral going down to Dover to make a secret inspection of the fleet, that Buckingham obtained leave to continue his journey. At Dover, Cottington and Porter had a vessel in readiness, and early the next morning the whole party, five in number, put off without further hindrance for Boulogne, from whence they pushed on in the afternoon to Montreuil. Two days' more riding brought them to Paris.' The next day they spent in strolling about the French capital. They caught a sight of the King and of Mary de Medicis; and in the evening, upon the plea that they The Prince were strangers in Paris, they contrived to obtain future wife. admission to the rehearsal of a masque, in which the Queen and the Princess Henrietta Maria were to take part. Feb. 19. Feb. 21. Arrival in Paris. Feb. 22. sees his 1 Reliquia Wottonianæ (1672), i. 212. Mainwaring to Zouch, Feb. 22. Chamberlain to Carleton, Feb 22. Dudley Carleton to Carleton, Feb. 27, S. P. Dom. cxxxviii. 58, 59, 99. Calvert to Carleton, Feb. 27, S. P Holland. Of his future wife, Charles seems to have taken but little notice. "There danced," he wrote, as soon as he had left the scene of gaiety, "the queen and madame, with as many as made up nineteen fair dancing ladies; amongst which the queen is the handsomest, which hath wrought in me a greater desire to see Feb. 23. her sister." The next day they were up at three in the morning, riding hard for Bayonne. to Paris. Meanwhile James, who had gone down to Newmarket to be out of the way, put the best face possible upon the business. Carlisle sent As soon as the news had spread, those of the Privy Councillors who were on the spot fell upon their knees, and implored him to inform them whether the Prince was really gone. He assured them that there was no doubt about the matter. His son was only imitating the example of his father, of his grandfather, Darnley, and of his great-grandfather, James V., who had all gone into foreign countries to fetch home their wives. Beyond doubt a general peace in Christendom would be the result. To prevent danger, however, he would send Lord Carlisle to Paris, to interpose his good offices in favour of the Prince's journey. Feeling in With this answer the councillors were forced to be content. They did not, however, conceal the apprehensions which they felt, and their apprehensions were shared by the whole England. nation. Prayers were put up in all the churches for the Prince's preservation. If the marriage, it was said, were forward enough to justify the presence of the Prince at Madrid, why did he not go on board a fleet with an equipage suitable to his station? If everything was still uncertain, why should he risk his person, and give such an advantage to the King of Spain, by putting himself in his hands? It was generally felt that from this dilemma no escape was possible.2 The popular dislike found a mouthpiece in the shrewd and The Prince and Buckingham to the King, Feb. 22. Goodman's Court of King James, ii. 253. Ellis, series i. vol. iii. 121. 2 Calvert to Carleton, Feb. 27, S. P. Holland. D. Carleton to CarFeb. 28 leton, Feb. 27, S. P. Dom. cxxxviii. 99. Salvetti's News-Letter, March 10 1623 Feb. 25. Letter of Williams to the Prince. THE PRINCE REACHES SPAIN. cautious Williams. "Your journey," he wrote to the Prince, "is generally reputed the depth of your danger, which in my fears and representations your arrival should be. You are in a strange state- for aught we know uninvited, business being scarce prepared -- subject to be stayed on many and contrary pretences; made a plot for all the wisdom of Spain and Rome, for all the contemplations of that state and that religion to work upon. And peradventure the detaining of your Highness's person may serve their turn as amply as their marriage, at leastwise for this time, and the exploits of the ensuing summer.” 1 Especially loud was the outcry against Buckingham. Great lords, who were not afraid to say what they meant, declared their Outcry against Bucking ham. opinion that he had been guilty of high treason in carrying the Prince out of the realm, and that he would one day have to answer in Parliament for what he had done. Even James began to hesitate, and seemed inclined to cast the blame from his own shoulders upon those of his favourite and his son.2 The Prince arrives at Irun, Whilst James was fretting at home, his 'sweet boys, and dear venturous knights, worthy to be put in a new romanso,'3 March 2. were speeding across France, leaving to Carlisle the empty task of demanding at Paris a safe-conduct which was no longer necessary. A few miles beyond Bayonne they met Bristol's messenger, Gresley, carrying despatches to England. They opened his packet, but found that the greater part of the enclosed papers were in a cypher which they were unable to read. They then told Gresley that he must come back with them as far as Irun, as they wished him to be the bearer of a letter written to the King upon Spanish soil. Gresley afterwards reported in England that the Marquis looked worn and weary with his long ride; but that Williams to the Prince, Feb. 25, Hacket, 116. 2 Williams to Buckingham, Feb. 25, Hacket, 116. Valaresso to the Feb. 28 Doge, March 10' Venice MSS. The King to the Prince and Buckingham, Feb. 26, Hardwicke S. P. i. 399. |