41

GEORGE MONK,

DUKE OF ALBEMARLE.

Lineage of this Personage-Cudgels the Under-Sheriff for arresting his Father-Adopts the Military Profession-Sides with the King in the Civil War-Taken Prisoner by Fairfax-His Imprisonment in the Tower-Released by Cromwell-Curious Particulars relating to his Wife, Anne Clarges Her Character and Share in the Restoration-Monk effects the Return of the King-Honours heaped upon him by Charles-Anecdotes-Monk's Conduct during the great Plague-Gumble's Account of its Ravages-Instances of Monk's Intrepidity-Summary of his Character-His last Sickness -His Death and Burial-Notice of Christopher, the second Duke of Albemarle-Extraordinary Character of his Duchess-Suitors of this Lady-Her Death.

THIS celebrated person was a younger son of Sir Thomas Monk, of Potheridge (or, as it was anciently styled, 'Pon-the-ridge), in Devonshire. He was born at the manor-house of that place on the 6th of December, 1608, and received his education in his native town. His family were among the most ancient in the county, having been settled at Potheridge as early as the reign of Henry the Third. The levellers in politics are not unfrequently the greatest admirers of rank: accordingly, in after times, when Monk, at the death of Cromwell, became the first person in the Commonwealth, we find his flatterers actually putting forward his claim to the crown, on the ground that he was descended from the Plantagenets.*

* See the preamble to his patent in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 514.

At the age of sixteen, he acquired a local notoriety, by cudgelling an under-sheriff who had arrested his father, and, in consequence of this pardonable though irregular act of retribution, was compelled to quit the county. The following year (1625), he placed himself under the standard of his kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville, who became his master in the art of war. Before he had reached the age of twenty-one, he had served in the disastrous expeditions against Cadiz and the Isle of Rhé, and also in the Low Countries, under Lords Oxford and Goring. "In this service," says his biographer and medical attendant, Skinner, "he did not, like a young captain, retain his commission as a warrant for luxury and extravagance; but in earnest minded the business of a soldier, informing himself duly in all the methods and arts of war, being present at most of the great actions that happened during his almost ten years' continuance in that employment." Notwithstanding the pernicious example of the gay and reckless cavaliers who were his companions in arms, his moral conduct was exemplary, and he continued to be strictly punctual in the fulfilment of his religious duties.

He sided with the King during the civil struggles, but having been unfortunately taken prisoner by Fairfax at the siege of Nantwich, on the 25th of January, 1644, was committed to the Tower of London. During the time, nearly three years, that he was a prisoner in the hands of the Parliament, were fought the great actions of Marston Moor, Newbury, and Naseby. To a soldier of fortune, i and especially to one of Monk's ardent temperament, a confinement in such stirring times must have been almost intolerable. While a prisoner in the Tower, he occupied himself by compiling a small folio volume, entitled, "Observations upon Military and Political Affairs."

Walpole, who, in consequence of his having been the author of this treatise, has included him among his "Noble Authors," styles it a kind of "military grammar."

During his incarceration, Monk was put to great straits for want even of the smallest sums. A letter to his elder brother, Thomas Monk, who had succeeded his father in the family property, shows the indifferent state of his circumstances at this period.

"I wrote unto you by Captain Bley, in which letter I did desire you to send me some money. I have received fifty pounds by your order long since, for which I return you many thanks. My necessities are such that they enforce me to entreat you to furnish me with fifty pounds more as soon as possible you may, and you shall very much oblige me in it. I shall entreat you to be mindful of me concerning my exchange, for, I doubt, all my friends have forgotten me. I earnestly entreat you, therefore, if it lies in your power, to remember me concerning my liberty; and so, in haste, I rest, your faithful brother and servant,

"GEORGE MONK."*

It was about this period, that Charles the First, with more generosity and feeling for the sufferings of his adherents than his family have generally had the credit for, kindly sent him a present of a hundred pounds. It was at a time when the King could ill spare even so insignificant a sum, or, as Monk's chaplain, Dr. Gumble, quaintly observes, when " Oxford and the Indies had little commerce." Monk, it is said, frequently alluded in more prosperous times to the King's kindness: possibly the recollection of this act of generosity may indirectly

* Skinner's Life of Monk; Webster's Preface, p. 19.

have influenced his subsequent exertions in favour of Charles the Second.

At length, in November, 1646, the high opinion which Cromwell had formed of the military genius of Monk, had the effect of procuring his enlargement. Cromwell had long endeavoured, but to no purpose, to change the political principles of his prisoner. But now that the royal cause appeared utterly desperate, and that Charles himself was a prisoner in the hands of his enemy, Monk without much scruple accepted a command in the Irish service. It was on the condition, however, that he should only be required to act against the Irish rebels, and that he should on no account be expected to fight against the King. While in the Tower, he had formed a strict friendship with Dr. Wren, Bishop of Ely, who is said by his conversation to have confirmed him in his principles of loyalty. When, on the eve of his release from confinement, he came to bid the venerable prelate farewell, “ I am going," he said, "to do his Majesty the best service I can against the rebels in Ireland;" and he added, “I hope I shall one day do him service in England."

During his imprisonment in the Tower, Monk had unfortunately formed a discreditable connection with Anne Clarges, who became in the first instance his mistress and afterwards his duchess. This once celebrated woman was the daughter of a blacksmith, and had been bred a milliner. "When Monk was a prisoner in the Tower," says Aubrey, "his sempstress, Anne Clarges, a blacksmith's daughter, was kind to him in a double capacity. It must be remembered that he was then in want, and that she assisted him. Here she had a child. She was not at all handsome nor cleanly. Her mother

* Biog. Brit. vol. vi. part ii. p. 4357; Art. Wren.

was one of the five women-barbers, and a woman of illfame. A ballad was made on her and the other four; the burden of it was,

"Did you ever hear the like,

Or ever hear the fame,

Of five women barbers,

Who lived in Drury Lane?"

In a curious memoir of one Mul-Sack, a celebrated highwayman, there is a notice of these ladies. "They were five noted amazons in Drury Lane, who were called women-shavers, and whose actions were then talked of much about town; till being apprehended for a riot, and one or two of them severely punished, the rest fled to Barbadoes." The writer of this memoir mentions a disgusting and brutal act of cruelty on the part of these wretches towards another woman, the particulars of which are too gross for publication.*

It

In an action for trespass, tried in the Court of King's Bench on the 15th of November, 1700,-William Sherwin being plaintiff, and Sir William Clarges, Bart., and others, defendants, there transpired some very curious particulars respecting the Duchess of Albemarle. appeared in evidence that she was the daughter of John Clarges, a resident in the Savoy, and farrier to General Monk; that she married in 1632, one Thomas Ratford, the son of a farrier residing in the Mews; that she had a daughter by this person, who was born in 1634 and died in 1638; and lastly that she resided with her husband at the “Three Spanish Gipsies "in the New Exchange, where they were venders of wash-balls, powder, gloves, and articles of a similar nature. It further

* Lives and Adventures of Whitney, John Cottington, alias Mul-Sack, and Thomas Waters. London, 1753.