Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/131

 to me in this world, my purpose is to employ it chiefly in the service of your children’ (Strafford Letters, ii. 417;, pp. 222–6). Radcliffe kept his word, and was the faithful counsellor of Strafford's son (ib. p. 235). Many years later he addressed to him ‘An Essay towards the Life of my Lord Strafford,’ which is the basis of all later biographies of that statesman, and supplies the most vivid picture of his private life (Strafford Letters, ii. 429–36).

In June 1642 Radcliffe was still a prisoner, but the proceedings against him had been tacitly dropped (, p. 239). In 1643 he joined the king at Oxford, and was created a doctor of law by the university on 31 Oct. of that year (, Fasti, ii. 63). Carte prints a series of letters from Radcliffe to Ormonde, written between October 1643 and June 1644, which show that he was a strong supporter of Ormonde's policy, and was sometimes consulted on Irish questions (Life of Ormonde, v. 516, 536, 539, vi. 13, 38, 56, 84, 120, 146, 166). Charles granted Radcliffe a pardon for the treasons with which he was charged, but the parliament in the Uxbridge and Newcastle propositions named him in the list of those to be altogether excluded (, Oxford Docquets, pp. 217, 246).

At one time the king contemplated sending the Duke of York to Ireland under the charge of Radcliffe. The design was abandoned, but Radcliffe remained in attendance upon the duke, and on the surrender of Oxford received orders from Fairfax to continue with the duke till the pleasure of the parliament should be known. The queen ordered Radcliffe to carry the duke either into Ireland or France, but he declined to remove James from England without an order from the king, and delivered him over to the Earl of Northumberland (, Life of James II, i. 28;, Life, i. 244, ed. 1857). In April 1647 Radcliffe was in exile at Caen (Cal. Clarendon Papers, i. 373). In June 1648 he sailed from Dieppe with Cottington and Hyde to join the fleet under the Prince of Wales. On the way they were captured by an Ostend corsair, who robbed Radcliffe and his kinsman Wandesford of 500l. in money and jewels (, Life, i. 214).

In 1649, before Charles II left France, he recommended Radcliffe to the Duke of York, and promised him ‘some place about his brother when his family should be settled.’ In October 1650 the duke left Paris and went first to Brussels, and then to the Hague. This was done against the wish of the queen, and was generally attributed to the advice of Radcliffe. Charles, displeased with the attempt of the duke to set up for himself, ordered him back to Paris, and desired him to be governed by the queen in all matters of importance (, Life of James II, i. 48; Nicholas Papers, i. 195–212). In his dejection at his disgrace, Radcliffe proposed to retire altogether from the court, and settle in some obscure Norman village. He even thought of endeavouring to compound for his estate with the government of the Commonwealth. But the Commonwealth, by an act passed 16 July 1651, had ordered the sale of all Radcliffe's estates, and was not disposed to permit him to make terms. His wife, who was in England, found the greatest difficulty in obtaining the fifths which had been allowed her (, p. 256;, Collection of Acts, ii. 156; Cal. of Compounders, p. 1767). Later, Radcliffe succeeded to some extent in regaining the favour of Charles II, and played an important part in preventing the attempted perversion of the Duke of Gloucester in 1654 (Nicholas Papers, ii. 109, 131, 151, 162). He received the king's thanks through Secretary Nicholas (ib. ii. 186). With Hyde, Radcliffe was never on very good terms, but expressed great devotion to Secretary Nicholas and the Marquis of Ormonde (ib. ii. 235;, v. 22). After Charles went to Cologne, Radcliffe, who stayed behind in Paris, became once more one of the chief advisers of the Duke of York, and that apparently with the king's sanction. He found it a thankless business. In August 1656 he wrote to his wife, saying, ‘I am as weary as a dog of mine office, for I labour in vain, do no good, but get scorns or ill-will. If it were not for the honour I bear to my old master, and to comply with his desire, I would cast up all and wash my hands; but I must not fail his expectation’ (Nicholas Papers, ii. 185, 200;, v. 293). Poverty made his position still more unpleasant. ‘I am now labouring,’ he wrote in March 1656, ‘to get credit for a suit of clothes, which is more than I have made these five years, and now my old frippery grows thin’ (ib. iv. 581). In September 1656 the Duke of York left France, and Radcliffe joined the rest of the royalist exiles in the Low Countries (ib. v. 402). He died at Flushing in 1657. ‘Sir George Radcliffe,’ says a news-letter, ‘was buried at Flushing upon Monday last (25 May); all the cavaliers was at his burial, except the chancellor and two more that was at Bruges. They are generally sorry for him; for they say he was the best counsellor their master had’ (ib. vi. 325–326;, p. 288). Clarendon, who blames severely Radcliffe's