to the kingdom, an affront to the nobility of Scotland in particular, and dishonourable to the Peerage of Britain in general. With an Appendix, wherein an insolent pamphlet intituled, The Anatomy of Great Britain, is anatomized, and its design and authors detected and exposed. The Third Edition. London : Printed for the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1717.”
We have little insight into his last years, except through some entries in the diary of Mary, the Countess Cowper, wife of the Lord Chancellor, and chief confidante of Caroline, Princess of Wales. The dissensions between the King and Prince, and the perpetual scramble for employment and favour, polluted the atmosphere with personal criminations and recriminations, in the midst of which no reputation could be unsullied. The King retained his confidence in Robethon; and notwithstanding variations arising from the vexatious alarms and anxieties of each passing day, a similar regard was cherished for him by the Prince and Princess. Here is one piece of news:–
“1714, December 25. — This day Monsieur Robethon procured the grant from the King of Clerk of the Parliament (after Mr. Johnston’s death) for anybody he would name. He let my brother [Spencer] Cowper have it in reversion after Mr. Johnson for his two sons for £1800.”
Accordingly William and Ashley Cowper held the office from 1716 to 1788, and a Mr. Henry Cowper was Deputy-clerk from 1785 to 1825. The following entries are evidently reliable:—
“Feb. 29, 1716. — Monsieur and Madame Robethon, Lady W. Paulet, and Madame De Gouvernet dined here. Monsieur Robethon spoke to me to propose to my Lord Cowper to change his place of Chancellor for that of President of the Council. I have spoke to him and he refuses, and says, if they will have him quit, he will do it, but he will not change. I represented to Monsieur Robethon it would be a great difficulty to persuade him to be President of the Council, he not speaking the French tongue. He replied, Pray, use all your art to get it done, or it will break all their measures, for such is their scheme.” “April 2, 1716. — Monsieur Robethon came to Karon Bernstorff either drunk or so impertinent there is no enduring him; but the Princess always says that Monsieur Robethon is the best man in the world, but unsupportable when he pretends to be witty or pleasant.”
Dr. Edmund Calamy, the eminent Dissenting Divine, gives us in his autobiography a peep into Robethon’s life at court:—
“London, 1717. — Mr. Gowan, minister of the English Church at Leyden, being here this summer, was desirous to kiss the King’s hand, his Majesty being then at Hampton Court. Being an utter stranger there, he desired my assistance. I accordingly went with him, and applied to Mr. Robethon, his Majesty’s private secretary for Hanover, who received us with great civility. He, entering into free conversation with Mr. Gowan, enquired particularly after the behaviour of the Scottish gentlemen who retired into Holland after the late Rebellion in the North was over; and I found by what passed (and was well pleased with the discovery) that those about the King were distinctly informed of everything material abroad as well as at home. Mr. Robethon told Mr. Gowan that if he would attend in the ante-chamber, he would speak to the Lord in waiting, who would not fail of introducing him to his Majesty, just as he rose from dinner.”
The following autograph note in the French language to Des Maizeaux is extant:—
“London, 21st April 1718. — Some days ago, our good friend, you asked at the Café if any one knew of a young Frenchman who could serve an English gentleman in the capacity of valet-de-chambre. The bearer, though of good family, would willingly, for the sake of subsistence, close with the offer, if the place is not yet filled, and should he be thought competent for the duties required. You would much oblige me by trying to get him the situation on the best terms that can be procured. This is the favour which I ask of you, as well as that you would believe me, Sir, your very humble servant,
“J. Robethon.”
On the 27th July 1716, there was a report that a pension of £300 a year had reconciled him to some arrangement of offices which he did not like. No such pension, however is mentioned in his will, which informs us that he had 800 florins per annum from Holland, and his wife five crowns per week from Hanover. His uncle De La Mothe, on his death in 1713, had bequeathed him £1200, subject to his aunt’s liferent. His property was much diminished by the failure of the South Sea Company in 1720.
The respect in which he was held by the French Protestant refugees was shown by his election to be Governor of the French Hospital upon the 4th October 1721,
