as early as 1646, when Charles was Prince of Wales. In that year, we find him entrusted by Henrietta Maria with a very important letter to her son's advisers, in which she strongly recommended the Prince's removal from Scilly, either into Jersey or France.* Probably he was a relative of Henry Progers, one of the assassins of Ascham, the Ambassador of the English Commonwealth at the Court of Madrid.+ At the Restoration, Progers was appointed a groom of the bedchamber, and was also intended by Charles to have been one of the Knights of his projected order of the Royal Oak. According to Horace Walpole, he had permission to build a house in the royal park at Bushy, on condition that after his death it should lapse to the Crown. This is known to have been what is now called the Upper Lodge, in Bushy Park. We have the authority of Le Neve, that Progers died either on the 31st December, 1712, or 1st January, 1713, at the patriarchal age of ninety-six. "He died," says Le Neve, "of the anguish of cutting his teeth, he having cut four new teeth, and had several ready to cut, which so inflamed his gums, that he died thereof." He was buried at Hampton, in Middlesex, where his monument, at the recent demolition of the old church, was accidentally discovered. * Clarendon's Rebellion, vol. v. p. 363. + See Oldmixon, p. 385; Clarendon, vol. vi. p. 444. HENRY BROUNKER. Parentage of this Person-His Mother's Attachment to the Gamingtable-Brounker's exceeding Libertinism-His Skill at Chess— His Conduct during the War with the Dutch-Dismissed from the Duke of York's household-Ordered to be impeached by the House of Commons-His Death and Burial-Notice of his brother, Lord Brounker-Death of that Nobleman. THIS shameless libertine, according to Lord Clarendon, was remarkable for his impudence, his profligacy, and his skill at chess. He was gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of York, and held the same equivocal position about his Royal Highness's person, that was occupied by Chiffinch and Progers near that of his brother Charles. He was a younger brother of William, second Lord Brounker, Viscount of Castle Lyons, whom he succeeded in his title. Their father was Sir William Brounker, Commissary-general in the Scotch expedition of 1639, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Charles I., and Vice-Chamberlain to Charles II., when Prince of Wales. On the 12th of September, 1645, Charles I. created him Viscount of Castle Lyons in Ireland; an honour which he only lived to enjoy a few weeks, dying at Wadham College, Oxford, in the middle of November following. The mother of the libertine was Winifred, daughter of William Leigh, Esq., of Newenham, in Warwickshire, famous among her contemporaries for her attachment to the gaming-table, and the grand scale on which she practised the vice. Aubrey says,-" She was an extraordi nary gamester, and played all gold play; she kept the box herself. Mr. Arundel, brother of the Lord Wardour, made a song on the characters of the nobility. Among others I remember this,— Here's a health to my Lady Brounker, And the best card in her hand; And a health to my lord her husband, Brounker, easy and good-tempered as he is generally described to have been, is commonly spoken of, par excellence, as the most unprincipled libertine of his day. "Of all the men at Court," says De Grammont, "Brounker had the least esteem for the fair sex, and the least regard to their reputation. He was not young, and his person was disagreeable; however, with a great deal of wit, he had a violent passion for women. He did himself justice respecting his own merit, and, being persuaded that he could only succeed with females who were desirous of having his money, he carried on open war with all the rest." De Grammont, Pepys, and Lord Clarendon, alike give him credit for his remarkable skill at chess. It was evidently owing either to his cowardice or to his folly, that the Dutch escaped a complete defeat, in the great naval engagement of 1665. After one of the hottest actions recorded in naval warfare, night having closed on the two fleets, the Dutch, who had undoubtedly suffered the most severely of the two in the encounter, moved off from the scene of action. A council of war was held in the English fleet, at which the Duke's personal friends, either trembling for their master's safety or for their own, urged him to rest satisfied with the advantage he had obtained, and to abstain from pursuing the enemy. Cowardice, however, was not a fault of James, and accordingly, disregarding their pusillanimous counsel, he gave orders to set all sail, and also directed that he should be called as soon as the Dutch fleet appeared in sight. In the course of the night, however, it seems that Brounker presented himself to the English Admiral, Sir William Penn, with directions, as if from the Duke, that he should slacken sail. Penn, it is said, was astonished at receiving such orders, but nevertheless obeyed them. According to Bishop Burnet, "When the Duke had slept, he, upon his waking, went out on the quarter-deck, and seemed amazed to see the sails slackened, and that thereby all hope of overtaking the Dutch was lost. He questioned Penn upon it. Penn put it upon Brounker, who said nothing. The Duke denied that he had given any such order; but he neither punished Brounker for carrying it, nor Penn for obeying it. He indeed put Brounker out of his service; and it was said that he durst do no more, because he was so much in the King's favour, and in the mistress's." * The whole of this affair, excepting as regards the conduct of Brounker, is involved in mystery. According to Lord Clarendon, it was not till some years afterwards that the Duke was made acquainted with Brounker's untoward interference. At all events, it is certain that the latter was not dismissed from the Duke's household till after two years had elapsed; † and even then, his dismissal was not on account of his extraordinary conduct after the action with the Dutch, but for words spoken disrespectfully of Lord Clarendon. According to Pepys, every one was glad of his disgrace, for he adds,-" He was a pestilent rogue and atheist, and one that would have sold his King and country for sixpence almost, so corrupt and wicked was he by all men's report." Again, it was Pepys, vol. ii. p. 115. * The Duchess of Cleveland. not till 1668, three years after the action, that Brounker's conduct became so openly talked of, as to lead to an investigation in Parliament. That the Duke, during this long interval, should have been in utter ignorance of Brounker's conduct, appears incredible; indeed, the more so, as it would seem to have been generally canvassed at the time. Sir John Denham, in his "Directions to a Painter," published as early as 1667, has the following lines:: "Now all conspire unto the Dutchman's loss; The wind, the fire, we, they themselves do cross; It may be remarked that an investigation into Brounker's conduct subsequently led to his dismissal from the House of Commons. From henceforward we hear nothing of his pursuits nor even any mention of his name. He died about the 4th of January, 1687, and was buried at Richmond, in Surrey, where a monument was erected to his memory. William, Viscount Brounker, the elder brother of the libertine, fortunately bears a more reputable character. He was born about the year 1620. Aubrey says, "He was of no university, as he himself told me." At an early age, he made mathematics his study, in which he afterwards rendered himself famous. Both Aubrey and Anthony Wood bear testimony to his success in his VOL. III. A A |