that it was absolutely necessary for him speedily to be gone, which at length he unwillingly obeyed; and having, by the friendship of Sir John Wolstenholm, got a boat at Erith, he took coach at his house on Saturday night the 29th of November, 1667, when it was dark, with two servants, and being accompanied by his two sons, and two or three other friends on horseback, he found the boat ready, and so he embarked about eleven o'clock that night, and in three nights more arrived at Calais, all places out of England being to him indifferent.

An account of a dispute between the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Ossory.

TH

THE Duke of Buckingham, who assumed a liberty of speaking when and what he would, in a dialect unusual and ungrave, his similies and other expressions giving occasion of much mirth and laughter, one day said in the debate "that whoever was against that bill, had either an Irish interest or an Irish understanding" which so much offended the Lord Ossory, who was eldest son to the Duke of Ormond, (who had very narrowly escaped the censure of the house lately, for reproaching the Lord Ashley with having been a counsellor, to Cromwell, and would not therefore trust himself with giving a present answer), that meeting him afterwards in the court, he desired the duke, "that he would walk into the next room with him;" and there told him," that he had taken the liberty to use many loose and unworthy expressions which reflect

ed

upon the whole Irish nation, and which he himself resented so much,

that he expected satisfaction, and to find him with his sword in his hand;" which the duke endeavoured to avoid by all the fair words and shifts he could use; but was so far pressed by the other, whose courage was never doubted, that he could not avoid appointing a place where they should presently meet, which he found the other would exact to prevent discovery, and therefore had chosen rather to urge it himself, than to send a message to him. And so he named a known place in Chelsea-fields, and to be there within less than an hour.

The Lord Ossory made haste thither, and expected him much beyond the time: and then seeing some persons come out of the way towards the place where he was, and concluding they were sent out to prevent any action between them, he avoided speaking with them, but got to the place where his horse was, and so retired to London, The duke was found by himself in another place, on the other side of the water, which was never known by the name of Chelsea-fields, which he said was the place he had appointed to meet.

Finding that night that Lord Ossory was not in custody, and so he was sure he should quickly hear from him, and upon conference with his friends, that the mistake of the place would be imputed to him; he took a strange resolution, that every body wondered at, and his friends dissuaded him from. And the next morning, as soon as the house was sate, the Lord Ossory being likewise present that he might find some opportunity to speak with him, the duke told the house, "that he must inform them of somewhat that concerned himself; and being sure that it would come to their no

1

tice some other way, he had therefore chose to acquaint them with it himself;" and thereupon related, "how the Lord Ossory had the day before found him in the court, and desired him to walk into the next room, where he charged him with many particulars which he had spoken in that place, and in a few words he told him that he should fight with him; which though he did not hold himself obliged to do, in maintenance of any thing he had said or done in the parliament, yet that it being suitable and agreeable to his nature, to fight with any man who had a mind to fight with him," (upon which he enlarged with a little vanity, as if duelling were his daily exercise and inclination)" he appointed the place in Chelseafields, which he understood to be the fields over-against Chelsea; whither, having only gone to his lodging to change his sword, he hastened, by presently crossing the water in a pair of oars, and stayed there in expectation of Lord Ossory, until such" gentlemen," whom he named, found him there, and said, They were sent to prevent his and the Lord Ossory's meeting, whom others were likewise sent to find for the same prevention. Whereupon, concluding that for the present there would be no meeting together, he returned with those gentlemen to his lodging, being always ready to give any gentleman satisfaction that should require it of him."

Everybody was exceedingly surprised with the oddness and unseasonableness of the discourse, which consisted, with some confusion, between aggravating the presumption of the Lord Ossory, and making the offence as heinous as the violating all the privileges of parliament could mount unto; and mag

nifying his own courage and readiness to fight upon any opportunity, when it was clear enough that he had declined it by a gross shift: and it was wondered at, that he had not chose rather that some other person might inform the house of a quarrel between two members, that it might be examined and the mischief prevented. But he believed that way would not so well represent and manifest the lustre of his courage, and might leave him under an examination that would not be so advantageous to him, as his own information; and therefore no persuasion or importunity of his friends, could prevail with him to decline that method.

The Lord Ossory seemed out of countenance, and troubled that the contest was like to be only in that place, and cared not to deny any thing that the duke had accused him of; only" wondered, that he should say he had challenged him for words spoke in the house, when he had expressly declared to him, when his grace insisted much upon the privilege of parliament to decline giving him any satisfaction, that he did not question him for any words spoken in parliament, but for words spoken in other places, and for affronts, which he had at other times chosen to bear, rather than to disturb the company. He confessed, he had attended in the very place where the duke had done him the honour to promise to meet him;" and, mentioned some expressions which he had used in designing it, which left the certainty of it not to be doubted.

When they had both said as much as they had a mind to, they were both required, as is the custom, to withdraw to several rooms near the house and then the lords entered X 2

upon

upon debate of the transgression; many insisting" upon the magnitude of the offence, which concerned the honour and safety of the highest tribunal in the kingdom, and the liberty and security of every member of the house, That if in any debate any lord exceeded the modest limits prescribed, in any offensive expressions, the house had the power and the practice to restrain and reprehend and imprison the person, according to the quality and degree of the offence; and that no other remedy or examination could be applied to it, even by the King himself. But if it should be in any private man to take exceptions against any words which the house finds no fault with, and to require men to justify with their swords all that they say in discharge of their conscience, and for the good and benefit of their Country; there is an end of the privilege of parliament and the freedom of speech: and therefore that there could not be too great a punishment inflicted upon this notorious and monstrous offence of the Lord Ossory, which concerned every lord in parliament, as much as it did the Duke of Buckingham; who had carried himself as well as the ill custom and iniquity of the age would admit, and had given no offence to the house, towards which He had always paid all possible respect and reverence."

They who considered the honour and dignity only of the house, and the ill consequence of such violations as these, which way soever their af fections were inclined with reference to their persons, were all of opinion, "That their offences were so near equal, that their punishment ought to be equal: for that besides the Lord Ossory's denial that he had

made any reflection upon any words spoken in parliament, which was the aggravation of his offence, there was some testimony given to the house by some lords present, that the Lord Ossory had complained of the duke's comportment towards him, before those words used in the house by him, of the Irish interest, or Irish understanding, and resolved to expostulate with him upon it; so that those words could not be the ground of the quarrel. And it was evident by the duke's own confession and declaration, that he was as ready to fight, and went to the place appointed by himself for encounter; which made the offence equal:" And therefore they moved, "that they might be brought to the bar, and upon their knees receive the sentence of the house for their.commitment to the Tower."

Some who would shew their kind, ness to the duke, were not willing that he should undergo the same punishment with the other, until some lords, who were "known not to be his friends, were very earnest that the duke might receive no punishment, because he had committed no fault; for that it was very evident that he never intended to fight, and had, when no other tergiversation would serve his turn, prudently mistaken the place that was appointed by himself;" which was pressed by two or three lords in such a pleasant manner, with reflections upon some expressions used by himself, that his better friends thought it would be more for his honour to undergo the censure of the house than the penalty of such a vindication, and so they were both sent to the Tower.

And during the time they remained there, the bill against Ite

land

land remained in suspence, and uncalled for by those, who would not hazard their cause in the absence of their strongest champion. But the same spirit was kept up in all other arguments, the displeasure, that had arisen against each other in that, venting itself in contradictions and sharp replies on all other occasions; a mischief that is always contracted from the agitation of private affairs, where different interests are pursued; from whence personal animosities arise, which are not quickly laid aside, after the affair itself that produced those passions, is composed and ended. And this kind of distemper never more appeared, nor ever lasted longer, than from the debate and contestation upon this bill.

Those two lords were no sooner at liberty, and their displeasure to wards each other suppressed or silenced by the King's command, but another more untoward outrage happened, that continued the same disturbance. It happened that upon the debate of the same affair, the Irish bill, there was a conference appointed with the house of commons, in which the Duke of Buckingham was a manager; and as they were sitting down in the painted chamber, which is seldom done in good order, it chanced that the Marquis of Dorchester sat next the Duke of Buckingham, between whom there was no good correspondence. The one changing his posture for his own ease, which made the station of the other the more uneasy, they first endeavoured by justling, to recover what they had dispossessed each other of, and afterwards fell to direct blows; in which the marquis, who was the lower of the two in stature, and was less ac、

tive in his limbs, lost his periwig, and received some rudeness, which nobody imputed to his want of courage, which was ever less questioned than that of the other.

The misdemeanor, greater than had ever happened in that place, and upon such an occasion, in any age, when the least reverence to government was preserved, could not be concealed; but as soon as the conference was ended, was reported to the house, and both parties heard, who both confessed enough to make them undergo the censure of the house. The duke's friends would fain have justified him, as being provoked by the other; and it was evident their mutual undervaluing each other, always disposed them to affect any opportunity to manifest it. But the house sent them both to the Tower; from whence after a few days they were again released together, and such a reconciliation made, as after such rencounters is usual, where either party thinks himself beforehand with the other, as the marquis had much of the duke's hair in his hands to recompense for his pulling off his periwig, which he could not reach high enough to do the other.