CLARENDON 265 Ranger of Whichwood forest, 1661; High Steward of Norwich Cathedral 1661-70, and of Yarmouth 1661 till his death; First Commissioner for the sale of Dunkirk, i662;(^) High Steward of Salisbury, 4 Oct. 1662; Lord Lieut, of Oxon 1663-67, of Wilts June to Nov. 1667; F.R.S. 8 Feb. 1664/5; Lord High Steward, 12 Apr. 1666 for the trial of Lord Morley. High Steward of Woodstock, 1667. On 30 Aug. 1667, having refused to resign the Great Seal, it was taken from him.C") In the House of Commons in October following, a bill was passed to impeach him of high treason, but rejected by the Lords. To avoid persecution he quitted England finally, 29 Nov. 1667. He ;«., istly, in 1629, Anne, da. of Sir George Ayliffe, of Gretenham, Wilts (otherwise described as Sir Gregory AylofF, of Robson, Wilts). She d. s.p., of the smallpox, at Reading, some six months afterwards. He »;., 2ndly, 10 July 1634, at St. Margaret's, Westm. (lie. from Dean and Chapter of Westm.), Frances, da. and eventually sole h. of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bart., Master of the Requests, by Anne, 1st da. and coh. of Francis Denman, of West Retford, Notts. She, who was bap. 25 Aug. 1 61 7, at St. Margaret's, Westm., d. at St. James's, suddenly, 8, and was bur. i-j Aug. 1667, in Westm. Abbey. He d. at Rouen, 19 Dec. 1674, and was bur. 5 Jan. 1674/5, in Westm. Abbey, aged 65. Will dat. i/ii Dec. 1674, pr. 14 Dec. 1675. (") (^) The site of " Clarendon House " on the north side of Piccadilly, exactly facing St. James's Str. and Palace, was granted to him by the King, 13 June 1664. Pepys says, 20 Feb. 1664/5, that the "common people have already called [it] Dunkirke House from their opinion of his having a good bribe for the selling of that towne," and again, 14 June 1667, that there was "a gibbet either set up before or painted upon his gate, and these three words writ: — ' Three sights to be seen, Dunkirke, Tangier, and a barren Queene.' " Soon after his death, his sons, 10 July 1675, sold the house "that (says Evelyn, 18 Sep. 1683) cost ^^50,000, for ^^25,000," to the second Duke of Albemarle, who again sold it to Sir Thomas Bond and others, with about 24 acres of land attached, for j^35,ooo. It was then pulled down. Bond Str., Albemarle Str., &c., being laid out on its site. C") The freedom with which he administered advice to the King, the hatred of the King's then favourite (the Duchess of Cleveland), of the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Arlington, and of all the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian Party, were the leading causes of his fall. if) He " will ever be regarded with admiration and reverence for his devoted adherence to Charles I during his misfortunes, and to Charles II for nearly 20 years after — the almost universal verdict, after two centuries of investigation — [which is] an unreserved acknowledgment of his loyalty, his wisdom, and his integrity." See Yo'SbS Judges of England. Horace Walpole most happily says of him, "in his double capa- city of Statesman and Historian, he acted for liberty, but wrote for prerogative." G.E.C. "It speaks volumes for his honesty that after holding all but the highest offices of State, he died poor." (Note to Th. Hearne, by C. E. Doble). His Life by Sir Henry Craik, a fair and able work from the Tory standpoint, was pub. in igii. He was honest, staunch, austere, dignified, wise, and moderate, a competent public servant and a loyal subject; he was infelix opportunitate vita, and the excesses of Puritanism and of 34
