THE LIFE O F EDWARD Earl of CLARENDON, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR of ENGLAND, AND CHANCELLOR of the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD. CONTAINING, I. An Account of the CHANCELLOR'S II. A Continuation of the fame, and of his WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. Printed from his ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, given CLARENDON. Ne quid Falfi dicere audeat, ne quid Veri non audeat. Cic. The LIFE of EDWARD Earl of CLARENDON From his Birth to the Restoration of the PART the FIRST. Montpelier, 23 July 1668. Birth. E was born in Dinton in the County of Wilts, Place of Mr. fix Miles from Salisbury, in the Houfe of his E. Hyde's Father who was Henry Hyde, the third Son His Genealo of Laurence Hyde, of Weft-Hatch, Efq; which Lau- £'. rence was the younger Son of Robert Hyde of Norbury in the County of Chester, Efq; which Eftate of Norbury had continued in that Family, and defcended from Father to Son from before the Conqueft, and continues to this Day in Edward Hyde, who is poffeffed thereof: The other Eftate of Hyde having fome Ages fince fallen into that of Norbury, by a Marriage, and continues ftill in that House. of his Grand LAURENCE, being as was faid the younger Some Account Son of Robert Hyde of Norbury, and the Custom of of bis Family: that County of Chefter being to make fmall Provi- father. fions for the younger Sons of the best Families, was by the Care and Providence of his Mother well educated, and when his Age was fit for it, was placed as a Clerk in one of the Auditor's Offices of the Exchequer, where He gained great Experience, Vol. I. A and. and was employed in the Affairs and Bufinefs of Sir John Thynne, who under the Protection and Service of the Duke of Somerfet had in a fhort Time (2) raised a very great Eftate, and was the firft of that Name who was known, and left the Houfe of Longleat to his Heir, with other Lands to a great Value. Laurence Hyde continued not above a Year (or very little more) in that Relation, and never gained any Thing by it; but fhortly after married Anne, the Relict and Widow of Matthew Calthurst, Efq; of Claverton near Bath in the County of Somerset, by whom He had a fair Fortune: And by her had four Sons and four Daughters, that is to fay, Robert, Laurence, Henry, and Nicholas, Joanna, married to Edward Younge of Durnford near Salisbury, Efq; Alice, married to John St. Loe of Kingston in the County of Wilts, Efq; Anne, married to Thomas Baynard of Wanftrow in the County of Somerset, Efq; and Sufanna, married to Sir George Fuy of Kyneton in the County of Wilts, Knight: And thefe four Sons and four Daughters lived all above forty Years after the Death of their Father. LAURENCE, fhortly after his Marriage with Anne, purchased the Manor of Weft-Hatch, where He died, and feveral other Lands; and having taken Care to breed his Sons at the Univerfity of Oxford, and Inns of Court, leaving his Wife, the Mother of all his Children, poffeffed of the greatest Part of his Eftate, prefuming that She would be careful and kind to all their Children, upon that Account left the Bulk of his Eftate to Robert his eldest Son, who married Anne the Daughter of --- - Caftilian of Benham in the County of Berks, Efq; who had many Children, and lived to the Age of eighty, and left his Eftate, a little impaired by the Marriage of many Daughters, to his Son. To Laurence his fecond Son, (who was afterwards Sir Laurence, and Attorney General to Queen Anne, and a Lawyer of great Name and Practice) He left the impropriate Rectory Rectory of Dinton, after the Life of Anne his Mother, charged with an Annuity of forty Pounds per Annum to his third Son Henry for his Life; and He charged fome other Part of his Eftate with an Annuity of thirty Pounds per Annum to his youngest Son Nicholas, for his Life, relying upon the Goodnefs of his Wife, who was left very rich, as well by his Donation, as from her Husband Calthurst, that She would provide for the better Support of the younger Children; two of which raifed their Fortunes by the Law, Laurence, as was faid before, being Attorney General to the Queen, and Nicholas, the youngest Son, living to be Lord Chief Juftice of the King's Bench, and dying in that Office; both of them leaving behind them many Sons and Daugh ters. ther. HENRY, the third Son, being of the Middle of his FaTemple at his Father's Death, and being thought to be most in the Favour of his Mother, and being ready to be called to the Bar, though He had ftudied the Law very well, and was a very good Scholar, having proceeded Master of Arts in Oxford, had yet no Mind to the Practice of the Law, but had long had an Inclination to travel beyond the Seas, which in that ftrict Time of Queen Elizabeth was not ufual, except to Merchants and fuch Gentlemen who refolved to be Soldiers; and at last prevailed with his Mother to give him Leave to go to the Spa for his Health, from whence He followed his former Inclinations, and paffing through Germa ny, He went into Italy, and from Florence He went to Syena, and thence to Rome: Which was not only ftrictly inhibited to all the Queen's Subjects, but was very dangerous to all the English Nation who did not profess themselves Roman Catholicks, to which Profeffion He was very averfe, in Regard of the great Animofity Sixtus Quintus (who was then Pope) had to the Perfon of Queen Elizabeth: Yet Cardinal Allen, who was the laft English Cardinal, A 2 being |