The Right HonourableJOHN LORD SOM̅ERS,Baron of Evesham,LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND IN THE REIGN OFWILLIAM THE THIRD,TO WHOSE MEMORY THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BYDAME ELIZABETH JEKYLL.
The Right HonourableJOHN LORD SOM̅ERS,Baron of Evesham,LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND IN THE REIGN OFWILLIAM THE THIRD,TO WHOSE MEMORY THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BYDAME ELIZABETH JEKYLL.
The Right HonourableJOHN LORD SOM̅ERS,
Baron of Evesham,
LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND IN THE REIGN OF
WILLIAM THE THIRD,
TO WHOSE MEMORY THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY
DAME ELIZABETH JEKYLL.
The sister who loved and admired him so ardently felt doubtless that eulogium would be misplaced, and that all who read the name would recall the virtues, talents, and patriotism of her noble-hearted brother. Lord John Russell does him ample justice when he says, ‘Som̅ers is a bright example of a statesman who could live in times of revolution without rancour, who could hold the highest posts in a Court without meanness, who could unite mildness and charity to his opponents with the firmest attachment to the great principles of liberty, civil and religious, which he had early espoused, long promoted, and never abandoned;’ while Mackintosh says, ‘Som̅ers seems to have nearly realised the perfect model of a wise statesman in a free community.’ Notwithstanding the accumulation of professional and public business which fell to his share, from the day he arrived in London, he not only found time (as we have observed before) for literary studies and compositions, but for indulging in the society and correspondence of distinguished men of letters—foreigners as well as English. He held the poet Vincenzo Filicaja in high estimation, which was indeed reciprocal, as a Latin ode written in honour of ‘My Lord Giovanni Som̅ers, Cancelliere di Gran Brettagna,’ testifies.
Steele, Prior, and Congreve were among his associates. Newton, Locke, Addison, and Swift were marked out by him for preferment. He was a noble patron, and rewarded merit wherever he found it, and had it in his power. Lord Som̅ers was an exemplary son, and his mother (who survived her husband many years) had the satisfaction of seeing ‘little Johnnie’ rise to the highest honours of the State. Addison vouches for the religious faith of his benefactor, and tells us how unremitting he was in the performance of his devotional services, both in public and in his own family. Som̅ers never married, although in early life he wooed and won the affections of one Mistress Rawdon, the daughter of a rich Alderman, whobroke off the match on the plea of the insufficiency of marriage settlements. We feel an inward conviction that in later days Sir John Rawdon must have repented his arbitrary decision. The title became extinct at Lord Som̅ers’s death, his property being shared by his two sisters, of whom the elder married Charles Cocks, Esquire of Castleditch, and the younger Sir John Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, an early friend and fellow-lawyer of her brother. From Mrs. Cocks descended the late Earl Som̅ers, to whom the present imperfect sketch of his ancestor was submitted in manuscript, but who has not, alas! lived to read it in the completed form.
He was indeed a worthy descendant of a great man, and by his death society at large, and a band of admiring and loving friends, have sustained an irreparable loss; while on the domestic hearth that light has been quenched which shed so radiant a glow on all those who clustered fondly round it. A scholar, an artist, a traveller, a linguist, the versatility of his information could only be equalled by the graceful refinement of his wit and the tenderness of his sympathy. He was one of those rarely gifted men, on whom the mantle of moral and intellectual qualities sit so easily, that in his genial company no feeling of inferiority was imposed on others. On the contrary—as the writer of these lines can testify, from grateful experience,—those who had the privilege of conversing with him partook for the moment, in some slight degree, of the brightness and intelligence of his rich nature.
No. 6.
FIELD-MARSHAL HENRY DE NASSAU, LORD OF AUVERQUERQUE.In armour, holding a truncheon. Wig. Table in the background.DIED OF HIS WOUNDS 1708.By Sir Godfrey Kneller.
FIELD-MARSHAL HENRY DE NASSAU, LORD OF AUVERQUERQUE.In armour, holding a truncheon. Wig. Table in the background.DIED OF HIS WOUNDS 1708.By Sir Godfrey Kneller.
FIELD-MARSHAL HENRY DE NASSAU, LORD OF AUVERQUERQUE.
In armour, holding a truncheon. Wig. Table in the background.
DIED OF HIS WOUNDS 1708.
By Sir Godfrey Kneller.
HE was the third son of Lewis de Nassau, Lord of Leek, Odyke, Auverquerque, and Beverwaart, by Elizabeth, daughter of the Count de Horn. He formed part of William of Orange’s suite when that Prince came over to England in 1670, and on the occasion of a visit to Oxford, De Nassau had the degree of D.C.L. conferred upon him. In the campaigns which ensued in Flanders, he was brother-in-arms to his cousin and Royal master, and gained general approbation for his courage and patriotism. When WilliamIII.ascended the throne of England, Auverquerque was appointed Master of the Horse, and allowed to retain his post of Captain of the Dutch Guards who had come over to this country. He was also naturalised by Act of Parliament. Macaulay speaks of this ‘gallant soldier as uniting the blood of Nassau with that of Horn. He wore with just pride a costly sword, presented to him by the States-General, for having, on the bloody day of St. Denis, saved the life of William of Orange by interposing himself between his Highness and a French soldier, whom he killed on the spot.’ Auverquerque likewise received a brace of pistols, richly mounted in gold, and a pair of horse-buckles of the same precious metal.
In 1690 he was with the army that embarked for Ireland, headed by the King in person; fought with his Royal master at the battle of the Boyne, and was afterwards sent to Dublin (hastily evacuated by JamesII.and his adherents) to take possession of the city and keep the peace. He was also with William at the unsuccessful siege of Limerick, and subsequently served with great distinction in the campaigns in Flanders against the French.
But it was at the battle of Steinkirk, in 1692, that Auverquerque immortalised himself by his gallantry. The French army, commanded by the brave and eccentric Duke of Luxembourg, was encamped at Steinkirk, six miles from the King of England’s headquarters. Luxembourg was one of the most extraordinary compounds of physical and moral incongruities. Macaulay describes him as a valetudinarian and a voluptuary, whose camp was of the most luxurious, who usually selected his quarters with a view to his culinary department, and whose thoughts were almost as much taken up with hisbatterie de cuisineas with his batteries in the field,—a little ugly hump-backed gnome, who was accredited with powers of witchcraft, and had the spirit of a lion. On his camp William made a night surprise, but Luxembourg was one of those spirits who, in the literal meaning of the word, cannot be surprised. He was the king of emergencies; ‘his mind’—we again borrow the language of Macaulay—‘nay, even his sickly and distorted body, seemed to derive health and vigour from disaster and dismay.’
In his army were the flower of the French chivalry. The noble historian, whom we are never tired of quoting, describes the appearance of the young Princes of the blood-royal of France,—‘brave not only in valour, but in the splendour of their brilliant uniforms, hastily donned and half fastened.’ They had orders to charge the English: ‘No firing was the word; sword in hand, do it with cold steel.’
In the order of battle, the division which was to lead the van was that of General Mackay (the brave soldier who had done such good service in Scotland, Ireland, and elsewhere). They first encountered the Swiss, and drove them back with fearful slaughter, after so close a fight that the muzzles of the muskets crossed.
But the English were borne down, after a noble resistance, by the French troopers. They never ceased to repeat that, if Count Solmes, who commanded them, had done his duty, they would have been successful; but he forbade his infantry to stir; he would not send them, he said, to be slaughtered. The Duke of Ormonde wished to advance to the assistance of his countrymen, but was not permitted to do so.
Mackay sent to say if he were not reinforced, his men were doomed to destruction. It was of no avail; ‘God’s will be done,’ said the brave veteran with his latest breath, and ‘he died as he had lived, a good Christian.’ Five regiments were entirely cut to pieces. It was at this juncture that Auverquerque came to the rescue with two fresh battalions, and the splendid manner in which he brought off the remains of Mackay’s division was long remembered and gratefully acknowledged by the English. In the debates which ensued in the House of Commons, when the events of the war by land and sea were discussed, there was much difference of opinion, and the question of the disadvantages of English troops being commanded by aliens was mooted. The conduct of Solmes was almost universally reprehended. Four or five of the colonels, who had been present at Steinkirk, took part in the debate, and, amid many warring opinions, full justice was done to the valour and conduct of Auverquerque.
On the other hand, the exultation of the French over this dashing victory was unspeakable; and it was commemorated by the votaries of fashion in all sorts of ‘modesà la Steinkirk,’ the most captivating of which, we are told, was the looselyarranged and scarcely knotted cravats of white lace, worn round the fair necks of Parisian beauties, in imitation of the hasty toilettes of the young princes and nobles of the King’s household troops.
In Macaulay’s pathetic account of the last days of WilliamIII., he tells us ‘there were in the crowd surrounding the Monarch’s dying bed those who felt as no Englishman could feel, friends of his youth, who had been true to him, and to whom he had been true, through all vicissitudes of fortune, who had served him with unalterable fidelity (when his Secretaries of State, of his Treasury, and his Admiralty had betrayed him), who had never on any field of battle, or in an atmosphere tainted with loathsome and deadly disease, shrunk from placing their own lives in jeopardy to save his, and whose truth he had, at the cost of his own popularity, rewarded with bounteous munificence.’
Amid the group of his countrymen, the nearest to him was Auverquerque, to whom he stretched out a feeble hand, thanking him for the affectionate and loyal service of thirty years.
After the King’s death Auverquerque felt no inclination to remain in England, but returned to his native land, and once more engaged in the war which was still waging against France; and the States-General, in acknowledgment of his services, bestowed on him the highest military honours, by making him Field-Marshal of the whole army. He closed his noble career by dying (as he had always desired) on the field. The gallant Marshal had for some time suffered from bad health, which he never allowed to interfere with his duties. He died in the camp at Rouselaer, on the 17th day of October 1708, after the battle of Lille. Collins gives a detailed account of the funeral, with more than common military honours, even for an officer of such exalted rank. The funeral car was escorted by squadrons of life guards, horse guards, and dragoons, the colours of the regiments, aswell as the men, being in mourning, two battalions of foot guards, with arms reversed, etc. The body was followed for a quarter of a league by a band of mourners, consisting of the Marshal’s sons and most of the generals, headed by the Duke of Marlborough. The troops were then drawn up, and saluted, after which there was a triple discharge of cannon; the generals returned to the camp, and the melancholy cortége passed on towards the place of interment at Auverquerque.
The Marshal married Isabella van Arsens, daughter of Cornelius, Lord of Sommerdyke and Placata (who survived him), by whom he had five sons and two daughters. The eldest surviving son, Henry, was made an English peer in 1698, by the title of Earl of Grantham, Viscount Boston, and Baron Alford. He had to wife his cousin, Lady Henrietta Butler, daughter of the celebrated Earl of Ossory (son to the first Duke of Ormonde), by whom he had two sons and three daughters. The youngest, Lady Henrietta Auverquerque, married William, third Earl Cowper, and through this union the present noble owner of Panshanger boasts a lineal descent from the hero, William the Silent, and Maurice, Princes of Orange, whose portraits Lady Henrietta brought into the Cowper family, together with the splendid Vandyck of John of Nassau—purchased by Lord Grantham at the Hague, in 1741, for the sum of 5000 florins, from the Van Swieten collection,—also several other Dutch pictures, which may be found in this Gallery. From the aforesaid lady the present Lord Cowper derives his title of Dingwall, though only called out of abeyance so recently as 1880.
Lord Albemarle, in his delightful volume entitledFifty Years of My Life, speaks in the highest terms of the valour and generalship of Field-Marshal d’Auverquerque, and says the history of the War of Succession best attests his merits as General, and the Marlborough despatches best show the estimation in which he was held by that consummate commander.The titles of Earl Grantham and Baron Alford were bestowed upon him for his services, but he never assumed these honours.
No. 7.
ADMIRAL CORNELIUS VAN TROMP.In a leather jerkin. Holding a truncheon. The other arm akimbo.Ship blowing up in the background.BORN 1629, DIED 1691.By Sir Peter Lely.
ADMIRAL CORNELIUS VAN TROMP.In a leather jerkin. Holding a truncheon. The other arm akimbo.Ship blowing up in the background.BORN 1629, DIED 1691.By Sir Peter Lely.
ADMIRAL CORNELIUS VAN TROMP.
In a leather jerkin. Holding a truncheon. The other arm akimbo.
Ship blowing up in the background.
BORN 1629, DIED 1691.
By Sir Peter Lely.
A NATIVE of Rotterdam, the son of Martin Van Tromp, who, at the age of eleven years, stood by his father when he was shot down in action, the boy crying wildly to his messmates, ‘Comrades, will you not revenge my father’s death?’
Martin’s father before him had also been killed on the deck of his own vessel, in an engagement with the English, and Cornelius proved himself worthy of his brave progenitors. At the age of twenty-one he had attained the rank of post-captain, and was employed against the Emperor of Morocco, whom he compelled to make advantageous terms with the Dutch. In 1652 he fought the English at Porto Longone, and captured one of their finest vessels, theSampson, which he boarded, his own ship being disabled; but, to the great mortification of Van Tromp, theSampsonwas recaptured by the enemy. The following year, in a fresh encounter with the English, he made a violent effort to regain possession ofhis former prize, but theSampsonwas blown up. The Dutch were victorious on this occasion, but they lost their Admiral, and Van Tromp was promoted to the vacant post. In 1656, in connection with Oldham and De Ruyter, he distinguished himself on the high seas, and then retired for a while from public life, and did not go afloat till 1662, when he fought the Algerine pirates in the Mediterranean. He also performed an arduous task in convoying several richly freighted Dutch merchantmen from the East Indies safely into port, in spite of numerous enemies who were on the look-out for such valuable prizes. Van Tromp was constantly opposed to the English, and in one engagement he gained universal praise for the manner in which he defended his disabled and shattered ship, when the Dutch were defeated, and sad havoc made in their fleet. New ships had to be constructed in all haste, and the States-General were placed in a dilemma as to the appointment of the command of the naval forces. Popular De Ruyter was absent, battling with other foes, and although Van Tromp’s knowledge and skill were almost universally acknowledged, there was a very powerful faction against him, led by the brothers De Witt, then in the plenitude of their power. The head and front of the gallant seaman’s offending seemed to consist in his unswerving loyalty to the House of Orange. There was, however, no alternative, and the command of the fleet was grudgingly bestowed on Cornelius Van Tromp, who had many hard conditions, to which his patriotism alone induced him to submit. He had not the sole command, but was joined therein by De Witt and others, who received instructions to watch over and supervise all his movements. Worse treatment was in store for him; no sooner had he hoisted his flag, than the sudden return of De Ruyter changed the whole aspect of affairs; Van Tromp’s appointments were cancelled, and De Ruyter ordered to supersede him. We can imagine withwhat feelings of wrathful indignation Van Tromp went on shore, proudly refusing to serve under the man who had supplanted him. In the ensuing year, spite of much bitterness of feeling, he who had been so unjustly treated was induced (partly by the bribe, perhaps, of a splendid ship) to join De Ruyter in an attack on the English, when, after a fierce struggle, of several days’ duration, the Dutch were victorious. Hostilities continuing between the two nations, in another engagement Van Tromp defeated the British Admiral Smith, but De Ruyter was worsted; and on their return violent recriminations passed between them. De Ruyter complained that his colleague had acted quite independently, had afforded him no support whatsoever, and, in fact, had left him and his portion of the fleet completely in the lurch, while Van Tromp retaliated with counter-charges. The States-General, as usual, espoused the cause of De Ruyter, deprived Van Tromp of his commission, forbade him to hold any communication with the fleet, and placed him under provisory arrest at the Hague. It was at this moment, while smarting beneath the ingratitude and injustice of the country which he had so nobly served, that tempting offers were made to the gallant seaman to enter the service of France, but these overtures were answered with becoming indignation. He now gained permission to leave the Hague, and repair to a country house which he possessed near Gravensand, called Trompenburg, and built in the fanciful form of a man-of-war. But being in the Hague at the time of the murder of the De Witt brothers, there were slanderous rumours set abroad that he encouraged the assassins. This arose doubtless from the fact that some voices in the crowd on the day of the murder called out, ‘Down with the De Witts! Long live Van Tromp!’
The Admiral remained for some time in retreat, but in 1673 he was reinstated in all his dignities by the Prince of Orange (afterwards WilliamIII.). A formal reconciliation tookplace between him and De Ruyter, and they once more agreed to make common cause against the enemies of their country. In an engagement with the combined forces of France and England, Van Tromp was sorely pressed, compelled to change his ship three times, and three times he was rescued by the gallantry of De Ruyter. The war continued, and they were both in constant service, and, whether successful or not, both famed alike for their patriotism and courage.
In 1675, the Dutch being then at peace with England, CharlesII.invited Van Tromp to visit London, where he welcomed him with great honour, and gave him the title of Baron. The citizens also crowded to see the man whose name, as well as that of his father, had long been used with them as a bugbear to frighten naughty children (as was the case with ‘Boney’ in later days), and whose advent on the shores of England had at one time been so much dreaded that prayers had actually been printed against such a calamity.
Next year the Admiral was despatched to the assistance of Denmark against Sweden, and the King of that country also did him great honour, creating him a Count, and decorating him with the Order of the Elephant. On his return, the death of De Ruyter had made a vacancy in the highest naval command which it was in the power of the States-General to bestow, and it was conferred on Van Tromp. His last expedition was to accompany the Prince of Orange in his attack of St. Omer, and in 1691, William (then King of England) proposed to him to hoist his flag on the new fleet equipping against France, but Van Tromp died before he could undertake the trust. He expired at Amsterdam, and was buried with great solemnity in the paternal mausoleum at Delft.
Cornelius Van Tromp, with many great qualities, had something of a braggadocio in his nature. Witness his vain boast,when, after some successful encounter with the English, he attached a broom to his main mast, at a time when our superiority as a naval power was almost universally admitted.
Van Tromp had one brother, and an only sister, who had been christened by her father (in commemoration of one of his victories, at the time of her birth) by the following names, ‘Anna Maria Victoria Hardensis Trompensis-Dunensis.’ We sincerely hope, for the sake of her playmates, that the young lady had at least one nickname.
DRAWING-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM.