them, by some to the duke of Albemarle, by others to the lord chancellor Clarendon, and to both (in my opinion) unjustly. The grounds of charging it upon the latter seem to be his great credit with the king, so that he seemed at that time to be a kind of first minister, (to whom foreigners at least will ascribe every step that is taken by a prince in public affairs,) and the malignity of certain people, who, either distasted at some effects of his zeal for the church of England, or imagining that there must be a selfish reason for the actions of politicians in every part of their conduct, have endeavoured to hurt his character by this charge. But his confessed probity and love of his country, in which few ministers have ever exceeded him, are sufficient to correct the conjectures of this latter party of his accusers, and the rather, because it doth not appear, that at the time when the Portugal match was first proposed and entertained, he so much as knew of his daughter's engagements with the duke of York, which being soon after made public, caused in him a great surprise, attended with some vehement expressions of his utter dislike of that affair, which otherwise would not have dropped from him, though he was too wise a man not to see plainly that alliance with the royal family would bring upon him the envy of the world, and give strength and credit to the malice and suggestions of his enemies. And whatever share in public affairs, or appearance of power he then had 251 at court, yet it is seen on many occasions that the favourite often gets the better of the minister, and that there are private reasons sometimes for a prince's conduct which he does not care his minister should know, and which all the latter's credit and reasoning upon the general state of affairs, without touching on the secreted particular motive, are not able to overrule.

84 Mr. Echard in his History of England imputes this match to the duke of Albemarle, upon the strength of

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an information, which he had from sir Robert Southwell, who in his narrative of the duke of Ormond's life, after having observed that Monck's advice to the king to hasten out of the Spanish dominions to Breda, was originally suggested to him by Don Francisco de Melo, (afterwards marquis of Sandé,) the Portugal ambassador then at London, gives the following relation of this marriage. Sir Robert had it from one Russel, who was chaplain to the ambassador, assisted him much in his negotiation, and was for that cause made a bishop upon his return to Lisbon, where sir Robert knew him a few years after, when he was envoy at the court of Portugal. "This bishop (he says) told him likewise, how they had, even before his majesty came over, possessed the general of the advantage of marrying the infanta of Portugal to the king; of the high consideration of Tangier and Bombay which should be given as part of her portion, with the free trade of all their dominions, and some millions of crusadoes. The bishop added, that in like manner they had engaged and secured to them Mr. Morrice (the then confident of the general); and so accordingly it fell out, that when he came to be sir W. Morrice and secretary of state, though but of the northern provinces, yet all the following treaty of marriage ran through his hands and office. And the bishop affirmed, that it was actually the general who first proposed this match to his majesty, although the articles were afterwards managed and things carried on by the lord chancellor, who therefore had the whole credit of the affair.”

85 In this relation, which sir R. Southwell inserts in his Narrative as a short memorial of a truth which else might be forgotten, bishop Russel seems to ascribe too much effect to that negotiation, which was the occasion of his preferment, and represents the freedom and intimacy between Monck and the Portugal ambassador to be much greater than it was in reality. It is not likely

that the general, the closest man alive, should unbosom himself to a foreign ambassador, whom he had known but a few days, upon a subject which he secreted from his nearest relations, and when he was forced at last to take his resolution, and communicate it to his majesty by sir John Grenville, did it with all those circumstances of caution and reserve which are so justly represented in the noble History of the Grand Rebellion. Nor can I reconcile this pretended intimacy with Melo's not making use of the general's friendship, but sending soon after sir Robert Talbot to the king, whilst he was yet at Bredam, to excuse his sudden departure into Portugal, which was owing to the pressing occasions of the king his master, and in order to return with more lustre and better fashion, which he hoped soon to accomplish, and in the mean time presented to his majesty of Great Britain the following considerations, viz. that of all the princes of Europe the late king of Portugal had been the only one that durst venture to hazard all for his sake, to give prince Rupert's fleet protection in his ports, and thereby draw on himself an expensive and dangerous war (which cost him at least six millions) with a potent and victorious enemy, when he had difficulty enough at home to oppose an implacable and very powerful neighbour; that the interest of Por-252 tugal and England had so great and necessary a connexion, that the kings thereof ought by an union (especially as things stood at present) to fortify themselves against all enemies whatsoever; that by order and direction from the king his master, he had been serviceable in England to his majesty's interest, as he should make appear at his arrival, which he prayed God might be speedy; and that both as a private person and as an ambassador he unfeignedly professed, that next to the good of his own prince, nothing in this world could give him greater joy and content, than to see himself at his majesty's feet have m See the memorial. E. E. 473.

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the honour of addressing himself to him, and of confirming by strong and solid reasons the just and necessary connexion of interest between the crowns of England and Portugal.

Whatever reasons, from the obligations which the king of England had formerly received from the crown of Portugal, or from the mutual interest of both kingdoms, there were for an union between them, and for cementing that union by an alliance, there does not appear to have been any discourse about the Portugal match till August 1660, when the queen mother came over from Paris into England. " Cardinal Mazarine, when he saw the king restored, called God to witness that one of the chief motives of his making the peace of the Pyrenees was the reestablishing of the king, for which end he had sixty men of war and sixty thousand men in readiness, if God had not done it in his own way; and commending his prudence in disbanding the army, (for that popular motions did not last long,) offered freely to advance what money his majesty should want for that purpose, as he had desired by the lord St. Alban's; assuring him that he should be always ready to assist him with all his power, both public and private, without imposing any obligations upon his majesty. The king was of himself sufficiently disposed to enter into the strictest league with France, having always, from the early impressions made upon him in his youth, the greatest dread and jealousy of the power of an English parliament, against which, in case faction should get to such an head as it did in 1641, he thought nothing could so well secure him as the friendship of his most Christian majesty, who was the most able, and lay the most convenient of any European potentate, to give him assistance upon occasion; and this was the true reason why all his life he was still disposed to a French alliance. To improve this disposition, and cultivate this n B. 4to. p. 158 and 160.

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friendship, the queen mother came over (as has been said) into England. Her professed business was to adjust a marriage between the princess Henrietta and Philip duke of Orleans, brother to the king of France; but she was likewise to propose or encourage the king's marrying the infanta of Portugal, thereby to procure that crown those open succours from England which France was precluded from giving by the late treaty. The first notice which the court of Spain had of this affair seems to have come from the count of Fuensaldagne, who being ambassador at Paris, presently after the queen's setting out from thence, got some intelligence of the design, and an account being just then come to Paris of the Portugal ambassador's having had an audience at London, he began to imagine that this might be part of his errand, and to entertain apprehensions that the king would marry (as he styled her) the duke of Braganza's daughter. To traverse the queen mother's measures in both her nego-t tiations, he gave out that the emperor was not engaged to the infanta of Spain, who would be a fit match for the king, and was persuaded that his master would advise him to marry the princess of England, if he should not be exposed to the hazard of a denial.

87 The court of Spain, alarmed at the prospect of a mar-253 riage which was likely to procure powerful succours to Portugal, and defeat all their measures for the reduction of that kingdom, the conquest of which they had hitherto considered as easy and certain, tried all ways possible to prevent that alliance. The Spanish ambassador at London represented to the king, that a match with the daughter of a duke of Braganza, who (as he affirmed) had no more right to the dominions he possessed than Cromwell had to the sovereignty of England, was in no wise suitable to the greatness and dignity of his person, or to the care he could not but take of his glory, which o F. F. 56-59