people in adversity are jealous of being forsaken; and his Majesty is not willing to give them any discouragement, whether he gives them any assistance or no. But, if they end the campaign with any good fortune, they will be better humoured in that, as well as all other points and it seems not a very unlikely thing, the French having done nothing in six months past but harass their army, and being, before Lisle, engaged in a siege, which may very well break the course of their success. They have not yet made the least advance upon any of the out works, but been beaten off with much loss in all their assaults: and, if that King's design be to bring his nobility as low as he has done his people, he is in a good way, and may very well leave most of the brave among them in their trenches there.

I had not need write often at this length, nor make your Lordship any new professions of my being, my Lord, your, &c.

LXXXVI.

One of the very few satisfactory political transactions of the reign of Charles II. was the Triple Alliance of 1668 negotiated by Sir William Temple, the resident minister of Brussels, for the purpose of checking the further encroachments of Louis XIV. in Flanders. Temple, by his exceeding skill and diligence, prevailed upon our old foes to join us and Sweden in threatening resistance to France, and the conclusion of the treaty was hailed with delight by the English Parliament; but, unhappily, Charles's subsequent disgraceful compact with Louis XIV., known as the Secret Treaty of Dover, nipped Temple's work almost in the bud.

Sir William Temple to Mr. Godolphin.

Brussels January 28 (N.s.), 1668. Sir,-Though the interruption of our commerce hath been long, yet I thought it necessary to renew it at this time, and thereby let you know what has lately broken it on my side, that you may not believe any interruption of yours has had a worse effect upon me of late, than it ever had before, being an accident I have often been subject to. About the end of last month, I passed through this place with private commission from his Majesty, to sound the mind of the States in what concerns the present quarrel between the two Crowns, and how they were disposed to join with him in the share of a war, or project of a peace, to be endeavoured by our joint

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offices between them. From hence I went to London, with the private account of what I had in charge. After five days stay there, I was dispatched back, as his Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary to the States, with full power to treat and conclude upon those points which his Majesty esteemed necessary for our common safety, and the repose of Christendom, in this conjuncture. Upon the 6th I arrived here, had my first audience on the 18th, and on the 23rd were signed by me, and the Commissioners given me by the States with full powers, three several instruments of our present treaty the first containing a league defensive and perpetual between his Majesty and the States, against all persons without exception, that shall invade either of them, with agreement to furnish each other, upon occasion, with forty ships of war, of which fourteen between sixty and eighty guns, and four hundred men a-piece, one with another; fourteen between forty and sixty guns and three hundred men a-piece; and, of the other twelve, none under thirty-six guns, and a hundred and fifty men; besides this, with six thousand foot, and four hundred horse, or money instead of them, at the choice of the invaded, and to be repaid within three years after the end of the war: the proportions of money to the several parts of the said aid being ascertained in the treaty.

The second instrument contains our joint obligations to dispose France to make peace in Flanders, upon one of the alternatives already proposed; and likewise to dispose Spain to accept it, before the end of May; but, in case of difficulty made by them, to dispose France, however, to stop all farther progress of its own arms there and leave it wholly to the allies to procure the ends proposed in this league.

The third instrument contains certain separate articles between his Majesty and the States, signed at the same time, and of the same force with the treaty, but not to be committed to letters.

It is hardly imaginable, the joy and wonder conceived here, upon the conclusion of this treaty, brought to an issue in five days, nor the applause given to his Majesty's resolution, as the wisest and happiest that could, in this conjuncture, be taken by any Prince, both for his own and his neighbours affairs; nor are the reflections upon the conduct of it less to the advantage of the present ministry in England; the thing being almost done here as soon as my journey was known in London, and before my errand

was suspected by any public Minister there. Three days after our signing, the Swedish Ambassador signed another instrument jointly with me and the States Commissioners, obliging his Master to enter as a principal into the same alliance, so soon as some pretensions he has from the Emperor and Spain are satisfied by our good offices between them. After which Count Dona parted as Ambassador likewise from that Crown for England, where the rest of that affair will be negotiated; and in his company my brother Henry Temple, with the whole account of my business, and the treaties signed in order to their ratification, for which a month is allowed, though the States promise theirs within fifteen days after the date. When those arrive and are exchanged, I return to my residence at Brussels, to see the issue of this business, which now takes up the thoughts and discourse of all Christendom, and from which most Princes will resolve to take their measures.

I suppose my Lord Sandwich upon his way, and therefore content myself only with giving you this trouble, and the professions of my being, Sir, yours, &c.

LXXXVII.

It will be seen that this model of a negotiator,' as Sir James Mackintosh called Sir William Temple, entertained but a very modest opinion of himself. He was content to work for his country's weal, and had no thought of seeking great official rewards. When his ambassadorial functions came to an end after the Peace of Nimeguen, he preferred the quiet retirement of Moor Park, and the companionship of Swift and other literary men, to a Secretaryship of State under the fickle rule of the 'Merry Monarch.'

Sir William Temple to Lord Halifax.

Brussels: March 2 (N.s.), 1668. My Lord,-It would be a difficult thing to answer a letter I received lately from your Lordship, if it could be ever difficult for me to do a duty where I owe it so much, and pay it so willingly. The reflections I make upon what you say, and what I hear from other hands of the same kind, carry me only to consider how much by chance, and how unequally, persons and things are judged at a distance; and make me apprehend, from so much more applause

than is my due upon this occasion, that upon the next I may meet with as much more blame than I deserve; as one seldom has a great run of cards which is not followed by an ill one, at least gamesters that are no luckier than I. It is not my part to undeceive people, that will make my successes pass for merit or ability; but, for my friends, I would not cheat them to my advantage itself; and therefore will tell you the secret of all that has seemed so surprising in my negotiation; which is, that things drawn out of their center are not to be moved without much force, or skill, or time; but, to make their return to their center again, there is required but little of either, for nature itself does the work. The true center of our two nations, now so near allied, is where they now are seated; and nothing was in the way of their returning thither, but the extreme jealousies grown between the Ministers on both sides, and from thence diffused among the people; and this it was my good luck to cure, by falling into a great confidence with Monsieur de Witt, which made all the rest easy and there is the whole story, that you may see how much you are either biassed or mistaken in all the rest you say of it. For what you mention of reward, I know not how it came into your head, but I am sure it never entered into mine, nor, I dare say, into any body's else. I will confess to you, that, considering the approbation and good opinion, which his Majesty, and some considerable enough about him, have been abused into, by my good fortune in this business, I think a wiser man might possibly make some benefit of it, and some of my friends have advised me to attempt it, but it is in vain: for I know not how to ask, nor why, and this is not an age where any thing is given without it. And, by that time you see me next, you shall find all this which was 'so much in talk to my advantage for nine days, as much forgotten as if it had never been, and very justly, I think; for in that time it received a great deal more than its due, from many other hands as well as from yours. This I tell you, that you may not deceive yourself by hoping to see me ever considerable, farther than in the kindness of my friends; and that your Lordship may do your part to make me so in that, seeing me like to fail in all other ways. But, as I remember, this is a time with you for good speeches, and not for ill letters; I will therefore end this, to make you more room for the others, and hope that none of the eloquence you are

entertained with, can be more persuasive than a plain truth, when I assure you that I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most faithful humble servant.

LXXXVIII.

Lord William Russell, a victim of the Rye House Plot, was condemned to death for conspiring to seize the King's Guards; by a strained construction of the law of treason, this was interpreted as an attempt to take the life of Charles II. On the scaffold he handed a paper to the sheriff's written in justification of his conduct as a member of the Whig Junto for pressing reforms on the Government. In this he proved himself guilty only of the barest misprision of treason. The paper gave great offence at Court; Dr. Burnet was questioned about it, hence the following exculpatory letter from Lady Russell.

Lady Rachel Russell to King Charles II.

1683.

May it please Your Majesty,-I find my husband's enemies are not appeased with his blood, but still continue to misrepresent him to your Majesty. 'Tis a great addition to my sorrows, to hear your Majesty is prevailed upon to believe, that the paper he delivered to the Sheriff at his death, was not his own. I can truly say, and am ready in the solemnest manner to attest that I often heard him discourse the chiefest matters contained in that paper, in the same expressions he therein uses, as some of those few relations that were admitted to him, can likewise aver. And sure 'tis an argument of no great force, that there is a phrase or two in it another uses, when nothing is more common than to take up such words we like, or are accustomed to in our conversation. I beg leave further to avow to your Majesty, that all that is set down in the paper read to your Majesty on Sunday night, to be spoken in my presence, is exactly true; as I doubt not but the rest of the paper is, which was written at my request; and the author of it, in all his conversation with my husband that I was privy to, showed himself a loyal subject to your Majesty, a faithful friend to him, and a most tender and conscientious minister to his soul. I do therefore humbly beg your Majesty would be so charitable to This paper contained an account of all that passed between Dr. Burnet and Lord William Russell concerning his last speech and paper.

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