baize was worn at the Spanish Court, so that at his coming away, he wore his riding suit only, with his short cloak and boots, for which he was much commended.' All the items of his tailor's bill for clothes for himself and his son are put down with the utmost precision, and form a good standard of comparison between the cost and makingup of materials now and then.

Sir George having thus furnished his own and his son's 'outer man,' betook himself to settle the number of his servants, and to provide their apparel. After putting down the particulars of their clothes and their tailor's bill, he enters some other charges into his book; among them we notice several pairs of cuffs made of very fine cambric, also lace for his night clothes; a 'fair' rapier; 58. to the cook for dressing a supper on trial of him, and meat for the said supper, £9 9s. He also lays in a stock of gloves, and of boots and shoes; a beaver and a felt hat, with black bands; a hat-case; a male; a night stuff bag; a cabinet, with pens and ink in it; and two night clothes of cambric, the one laced, the other only hemmed. Lastly, he pays 10s. to a dancing master for teaching Gilbert (his son) to make 'cursies.'

6

All things being now in readiness, Sir George takes leave of the great persons at Court, and chiefly of the Secretary Calvert, who by the king's directions had been with him every day urging him to start. This being done, his letters of credence and instructions are sent him, and nothing now remains but to set off the following morning, which, says Sir George, was unhappily a dismal day, in which, by God's favour, I will never more begin any journey; but till then I was never superstitious of it or any day else.' He arrived at Alost on the 11th of October, being Thursday, and also a 'dismal day;' and we find that, on account of mistaking the road and the badness of the weather, the baggage wagon did not come in till long after, in consequence of which, and also by neglect of his servants, a trunk of his, containing a good deal of gold, was not taken off the wagon all night; of which circumstance a

villain took advantage, breaking open the lock, and stealing about £350. Sir George being much taken up with conversing with some gentlemen who had done him the honour to come to Alost to meet him, had no leisure to think upon his loss, or to make inquiry about it. If he had done so, he says he should easily have discovered the thief, who was no other than one Oliver Mayheut, whom, on account of his being able to speak both Spanish and French, he had attached to his own person. But on telling his son's tutor that he was sure Oliver was the robber, Sir George says his suspicions were instantly quelled by Monsieur du Boyse exclaiming, 'Jesus, Monsieur! honest Oliver; lui, non pas possible!' which words, adds Sir George, coming from him diverted me utterly, and made me lose discovering it.

The next day Mr. Turnbull, the king's agent at Brussels, discreetly' caused a coach to meet Sir George before her Highness' equipages arrived, so that he was not seen travelling in wagons. He no sooner reached his lodgings at Brussels, than the Count de Noailles paid him a visit by the Infanta's command, to see how he did, how he brooked his journey, and how he liked his lodging, with her welcome to the town. Knowing that his royal master wished him to use all despatch in his mission, Sir George instantly desired the Count to entreat her Altez to grant him an audience the next day; 'which,' he adds, though it was extraordinary either for me to demand or to be granted, yet I obtained it at five o'clock the next day, after dinner.' Being admitted to her presence, he delivered, after due reverences made to her Highness, his letters of credence, and then presented his speech of condolence, as a message sent to her from his Majesty. Her Altez, Sir George says, accepted the mes. sage most kindly, asked me many questions of his Majesty and the Prince, and after descended to my own journey.' He next presented to her the noblemen attending upon him, and then departed, 'making her Altez three reverences as he went from her; then turning to the right hand, and saluting with one

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curtsey the nuncio of the Pope and the ambassador of Spain, who were both covered in her presence. Then as he passed, turning to the other side, and saluting the ladies with several curtsies who were of great quality. This done, he marched away, and instantly noted down every word and every passage betwixt her Highness and him.'

After having had audience of the Infanta, Sir George proceeds to return the call which had been made upon him by the Spanish ambassador, also visiting other lords of note who had already visited him with the great ladies of the Court.' Then, returning to his lodging, he gives his humble thanks to Count Embden, who had presented him to the Infanta, and requests him to obtain another audience as soon as possible, it being necessary he should confer with her Highness on matters of State, regarding which Lord Digby, who was then on his way to her, would enter more at length. So the following Wednesday, Sir George was admitted to a private audience, as it is called,

he says, when her train and the grandeur of the Court do not give attendance. On this occasion she had nobody with her but three old ladies, and two or three infants which she was bringing up: only a few of Sir George's retinue were allowed to enter with him. Imme. diately after he wrote to the king an account of his errand,' and employed the following days in endeavouring to get his answers from the Infanta in writing, in order that he might be gone. He could not, however, obtain a farewell audience before the following Sunday; so he occupied himself in visiting all the great nobles who had shown him attention; also the ladies, who, he says, are of good quality and noble behaviour; and lastly, he went to the English monastery, a place which he considers, excepting some superstitions, is approvable, and worthy much honour.'

Sunday being come (he goes on to say), I went to my taking leave, which I had with all the grace her Altez could do me. I had very long discourse of all manner of subjects, and freely, with her; and, in conclusion, I begged of her her portrait, which she yielded at

VOL. LIV. NO. CCCXXIV.

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first, with a profession how well she accepted my demeanour there, and how ready she would be to do me any courtesy might lie in her power. And so I, kissing her garment, and getting that honour to all the gentlemen of my train, I departed. Then went I to take leave where before I had visited, which, though it was more than I needed to have done, but by my secretary by a message, yet it was decent and extraordinary well taken by them all.

The next thing Sir George does is to confer with Mr. Parker, his steward, as to the persons to whom he should give reward for attendance; and to desire him to clear all outstanding accounts. Amongst his memoranda we find one showing that he presented the Infanta with a fair white spaniel, and divers ladies and others with spaniels. It being the custom at that period for sovereigns to make presents of some rich jewel or other to foreign ambassadors on their departure, Sir George Chaworth, the night before he left, had sent to him from the Infanta a jewel of the largest size, but of small value. This jewel, it is amusing to learn, he sold on his return to London, to a Mr. S

for

£78, having in vain endeavoured to get even as much as that for it from any other goldsmiths, though they did confess,' remarks Sir George, that it cost at first making near £300. Part of the sum so received was doubtless expended in giving a Spanish gold chain to him of the Jewel House' who had brought her Highness's present to Sir George. The chain, Sir George says, was a pretty one, and cost £24.

The journal which Sir George Chaworth kept of his journey to and fro is a very amusing document, as the following few extracts will show. The first entry is

CALAIS. -I could observe nothing here at Calais, but that it is a beggarly, extorting town, ill affected towards the English, monstrous dear and sluttish, very uncivil; the garrison there turning direct beggars of all ambassadors. The best is (in the course it is in), it will not be long a town, being so neglected at both ends (for the sea almost encompasseth it) that the sea (it is to be hoped) will revenge our quarrel, and regain it and swallow it, being already on the two ends, at high tides, inaccessible.

Z Z

GRAVELIN.-It is a pretty little town

and hath in it a very pretty English monastery of nuns, but so strictly kept with such ceremonies, as they relate it, as it is strange to be believed, much worse to be endured, by any flesh. There were sixty-two professed when I was there, all handsome women, young and well-liking, living upon charity uncertain from England. They eat no flesh, fast all fasts; when you see them, they must wink and not speak to you; when they may speak to or answer you, a board and curtain are between you.

BRUSSELS. Of this town I could say much it being as well-seated and wellwatered a town as ever I saw; the civilest people in the world; very populous of all nations that are Catholic and civil; full of brave soldiers and of men active for command; full of very handsome women, and the best fashioned that can be; full of religious orders and houses, and of those, two houses of religious women of the order of St. Bennet, in one of which is forty-two professed nuns, besides novices; in the other are but seven, being yet but new erected. The Infanta hath here a very good house, and in it a very fine chapel, and above, in her private lodgings, a dainty oratory for her private prayers, full of relics, good and ancient pictures, and rare and rich jewels and medals.

Her

lodgings and gallery look into a pretty pleasant park, and into very fine gardens, wherein are the most variety of the best water-works in the world. The church of St. Trequse is the chief church in the town, and a very good one, were it uniform.

ANTWERP.-Thence I went to Anvers or Antwerp, which is about three hundred English miles. The best way is by water, which is done with ease, changing boat at every four or five miles. This hath the name of being one of the best built towns of the world, but the situation I like not, being extraordinarily flat. The best church is that of Notre Dame, and it is a goodly one, and the richest furnished with pictures that can be. The Jesuits' church, which yet is not finished, is a rich one, all standing on white marble pillars, and lined with the like stone, and the galleries both above and below wholly roofed with brave pictures of Rubens' making, who at this time is held the master workman of the world. The streets are fair, uniform, and fair kept, and the houses well built. They have at this time little or no trading by reason of the war, but it is a town so placed, as it is pity we should not hold better correspondence and trade with her, for it

would vent all our cloth, at any rate, and in the time that our trading went that way, was this town so built as now it is, and at that time did England more flourish than it ever did, viz., in the time of Edward III.

At Antwerp, Sir George spends £6 128. in a little picture, which he gave the king, and which was painted by Breughel's own hand; he also paid the same sum for the picture of the Story of Javan,' which he gave to the Marquis of Buckingham; £3 68. was spent in an old picture which he kept for himself; and 358. in others. Sending his servants, his son and his tutor, and the gentlemen of his train, from Antwerp, by way of Flushing, to London, he himself returned thither by way of Brabant and Artois, thinking it good, he says, to vary the way for satisfying his understanding. On his ar riving at Calais, he observes that he has mentioned the town before, and that is enough, for he can write no good of it. He no sooner lands at Dover, than we all,' he says, 'fell on our knees and gave God part of his due thanks.' Thence hastening to London, after having given thanks to God, he sent to give the Secretary notice of his arrival, and to know at what time he would please that Sir George should wait on him to the king; when the following day was fixed upon. The account of the audience is thus given by Sir George:

It was night before I had access, and then after I had delivered my letters to his Majesty, I kissed his hand, and he gave me great commendation for my carriage, which he pleased to call noble and brave, affirming it with an oath. Then did he question me of all particulars, both of my business I was sent about, and of my entertainment, and of my passing to and fro. In conclusion I said to him, 'Sir, though I cannot challenge any merit from your Majesty, other than good acceptance, yet your Majesty hath by this my employment, I hope, received that satisfaction that, if hereafter you have further occasion of such employments, you will please to use me therein as soon as another.' He heard me, with a smile, and replied to me, 'Will I not? Yes, by God, my sweet George, I shall use thee before all the world, for thou hast carried thyself for my honour most nobly. Therefore doubt it not, my dear George.' And all this while laid his hands on my face,

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and kissed me. And so I left him, and went to the prince, with whom I had good and free discourse, and then, having saluted the lords there, I departed to my rest.

Words were cheap with King James, who was as ready to be a promise-maker as to be a promisebreaker, whenever he found it expedient. So when the Infanta made request to the king that he would confer a title Sir George upon in return for his services, he was quite prepared to give a gracious answer. His Majesty,' says Sir George had no sooner read the Infanta's letter (which had been delivered to him by the Spanish ambassador at a jovial' audience at Greenwich), than he laughed loudly and heartily, saying A viscount, a viscount!' and prayed the ambassador to assure her Altez that in this or anything else he should never fail in her desires of anything that was in his power; and prayed him also to certify her that she could not have placed her desires to honour any gentleman in the world of whom he had a better opinion, and so he would manifest.' Within four days after the ambassador thus spoke to the king, Sir George took occasion, his Majesty being alighted at his hunting in Putney Park, to let him know he was aware of the obligation he was under to her Highness, and especially to his Majesty for his gracious answer. The king replied, Yea, it is true George Chaworth, with all my heart, but it cannot be done in this place,' and so, Sir George concludes, 'I put him into his coach.'

But time went on, and though the Infanta again wrote to remind the king of his promise, and the Spanish ambassador renewed his solicitations, Sir George Chaworth seemed as far off as ever from receiving the

honour to which his services had entitled him. The Duke of Buckingham was next applied to, and he also was profuse in fine words; but

he

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it seems that Sir George had unwittingly offended him, and he was not the man,' he says, 'to forgive his own thoughts and his ill imaginations of any man.' Matters were made worse by an unfortunate speech which Sir George delivered in Parliament, and on his coming to wait on the king at Theobalds, and being in the bedchamber at the putting on of his boots, 'the duke,' says, 'could not hold, but upbraided me for my speech in Parliament, saying it was against the king; and I opposing, and his lordship growing hotter in it. After that his Majesty had argued a while in my behalf, he broke out in impatience, turning to the duke, and saying, "By the wounds, ye are in the wrong, for he spake my soul, therefore speak no more of this matter, I charge you." But the duke's most vindictive nature,' concludes Sir George,

hath infinitely revenged itself upon me, even for his conceived displeasure against me, for cause I never gave him any.' So between the king and Buckingham, Sir George fell to the ground, for the time. After James's death, however, he renewed his application for a peerage, and at last succeeded in obtaining an Irish one, for which he was obliged to pay the Duke of Buckingham £2500.

So end our researches into the MSS. contained in the old Muniment Chamber at Losely Place. Our article has extended to so great a length, that we have no room left for comments. We can only say in conclusion, that we think the passages we have given as illustrating the life of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, will fully bear out the assertion with which we set out-that if we would fully realise the state of society at any one given period, it can best be done by having recourse to such documents as relate to the common talk, common business, common amusements, and common pursuits of the times.

DEVONIA.

MY DEAR EDITOR,

When you paid us a visit last autumn, and renewed so pleasantly an old college acquaintance which change of place and change of folk' had interrupted for eight or ten years, you were wont, in your usual saturnine vein, to laugh at the completeness with which I had fallen into Scotch ways of thinking and acting. I have indeed become so familiar with the usages of my adopted country, that I see nothing very wonderful now in things which utterly astonished you, and which indeed had a similar effect upon myself when I was a freshlyimported Saxon. Quantum mutatus ab illo, I know you thought, who ten years since walked in your company the quadrangles of Oxford, bent upon those classical studies which (owing entirely to the bad arrangements of the University) failed to get me so distinguished a degree as my sisters and my grandmother thought I deserved,—not a little given to Puseyite notions in church matters, and in a state of total ignorance as to Scotch affairs. But time (as philosophers have on several occasions observed) works wonders. It is not yet ten years since the death of a distant and eccentric relative, whom I had never seen, made me the possessor of this property, in a district of Scotland which, I think, yields to none in beauty and interest. It is less than that time since I resolved to patch up this quaint old baronial dwelling, and make it my head-quarters for the greater part of the year.

And

I dare say you were surprised to find me so completely transformed into the Scotch country squire, walking you after breakfast daily to the stables, and boring you with long stories about the hocks and pasterns of my horses; not a little vain of my turnips; quite proud of my shaggy little bullocks (finer animals than deer, I always maintain); and full of statistics about the yearly growth of my young plantations, and the girth of the

noble old oaks and horse-chesnuts on the lawn. But I am sure you were much more surprised to find that I had settled down into a douce elder of the Kirk,-quite au fait in Scotch ecclesiastical polity, much interested in matters parochial, and loud in praise of Professor Robertson and the Endowment Scheme; and though still a warmly-attached member of the Church of England, yet a good Presbyterian when in Scotland, and quite persuaded that in all essential points the Church of England and the Kirk of Scotland are thoroughly at one. I have been fortunate in my parish clergyman, whom you met more than once while here, and whom you found, I dare say, quite different from the violent, Covenanting, true - blue Knoxite you probably expected. You found him, I am sure, quite of our way of thinking in regard to most things sacred and civil: quite anxious to have his church as ecclesiastical in appearance as even Mr. Beckett Denison would wish; quite friendly to the introduction of an organ; not hostile to the restoration of the Liturgy; and, indeed, not so much shocked as he ought to have been when you and I speculated as to the probable time that must elapse before the peaceable reception of episcopal government. Let me add to these points of asthetic nature that, like most of his brethren, he goes through all his parochial duties with the greatest assiduity, and conducts the churchservice of each Sunday with a propriety which would be excellent even on your side of the Tweed. When you went with me to the parish church, you were somewhat shocked at seeing the country people coming in with their hats on, and rushing out as though the place were on fire, the instant the last 'Amen' was spoken; and I did not expect that you would like the bare and bald ritual of the Kirk as much as your own beautiful service. Still, in the carefully-prepared prayers you heard, there was nothing of