Leaders-Impeachment of Harley-Imprisonment in the Tower-Difference between the Two Houses-Acquittal -Harley and the Jacobites-Opposition to the Peerage Bill-Indifference to Financial Distress resulting from Harley's Taste for collecting Books and Manuscripts-A Fashion of the Age-Harley as a Scholar-Humphrey Wanley-Addition of the D'Ewes Collection to the Library -Enlarged by Edward, Earl of Oxford-Its Dispersal- The Manuscripts purchased for the Nation-Harley's Friendship with Men of Letters: Swift, Prior, Arbuthnot, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS I. ROBERT HARLEY, EARL Of Oxford and EARL MORTIMER, K.G. From a picture after Sir Godfrey Kneller in the II. RUINS OF Brampton CASTLE, HEREFORD III. BRILLIANA LADY HARLEY. From a portrait in the possession of R. W. D. IV. SIR ROBERT HARLEY From a mezzotint at Brampton Bryan. V. SIDNEY, EARL OF GODOLPHIN From a portrait in the possession of the Duke VI. QUEEN ANNE WITH HER SON, THE DUKE Frontispiece From a portrait by Michael Dahl in the VII. CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF HALIFAX VIII. JONATHAN Swift From a portrait by Charles Jervas in the IX. JOHN CHURCHILL, DUKE OF MARL BOROUGH From a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the X. HENRY ST. JOHN, VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE From a picture by Thomas Hudson from a XII. HUMPHREY Wanley, F.R.S., F.S.A. XIII. JOHN GAY From an unfinished sketch by Sir Godfrey 212 "Ce siècle a engendré le nôtre. Toutes nos origines et tous nos caractères sont en lui: l'age moderne est sorti de lui et date de lui." E. AND J. DE Goncourt. ROBERT HARLEY EARL OF OXFORD CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE 1661-1700 HARLEY'S CHARACTER IN HISTORY-THE HARLEYS OF BRAMPTON BRYAN-SIR ROBERT HARLEY-BRILLIANA LADY HARLEYSIR EDWARD HARLEY ROBERT HARLEY'S EARLY LIFE-FIRST MARRIAGE-MEMBER FOR TREGONY-MEMBER FOR NEW RADNOR-WORK IN PARLIAMENT-BILL FOR TRIENNIAL PARLIAMENTS-OPPOSES A LARGE STANDING ARMY-NATIONAL COMMERCIAL EXPANSION-ACT TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL LAND BANK-HARLEY'S POLITICAL POSITION-HIS CHARACTER IN EARLY MANHOOD-FRIENDSHIP WITH CHARLES MONTAGUE. "We fight with the poison of the tongue, with words that speak like the piercing of a sword, with the gall of envie, the venom of slander, the foam of malice." Such were the words in which De Foe, the acutest observer of the men and manners of his age, described the characteristics of the political life in which Robert Harley, for a quarter of a century, took so conspicuous a part. It need not therefore surprise us that it has been difficult to form a sure opinion of his political actions, though at the same time his career has not always been considered either with sufficient care or without prejudice. Who does not remember Macaulay's brilliant and misleading description of him? Not even damning with faint praise, the historian describes him as one whose intellect "was small and slow," and who was eventually found by his contemporaries to be "really a dull and puzzle-headed man." Bolingbroke, twelve years after Harley had been in his grave, assailed his memory with virulence, forgetful that in former years he had spoken of him with respect and admiration, and sometimes even with affection. The truth is that Harley's character has too frequently been drawn from the fragmentary allusions of contemporary writers, often time-servers, or political enemies who varied their praise or blame according to the exigencies of the moment. sources of information in such an age as that of Anne require even more careful investigation than at any period of our history. "If an Englishman,” wrote Addison with remarkable detachment of mind, "considers the great ferment into which our political world is thrown at present, and how intensely it is heated in all its parts, he cannot Such 1 A more judicial view of Harley is taken in a valuable paper, "The Development of Political Parties during the Reign of Queen Anne," by Walter Frewen Lord, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. xiv., new series. "Adieu, dear master; no man loves you more entirely than Harry."-St. John to Harley, 15th May 1705, Harley Papers, ii. 180. |