Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/59

 12 s. vin. JAN. is, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 43 known to have been a protege of the Chan- cellor, uriaer whose auspices he was admitted to the inner Temple (cj. his ' A Short History of a Ten ears Negotiation....,' 173 /, p. 1), ana by vhose favour he was called to the bar in i7l4 (op. tit., ibiaem). Further evidence on this point will be found in lying's letter to Newcastle of Apr. 3, 1724, recommending "Whatley for employment (Lriush Museum, Additional MSb. b2,6S7, tolio 11*), and to the relation between patron ana client the whole tenor of these letters bears witness. The attention devoted by What ley to ecclesiastical matters and, above all, the long aiscussion on the differences between Koman Catholicism and Protes- tantism that occupies part of the third letter point the same way, fcr King had already come forward as a theologian and, pace Lord tercival in 17bO, was known to spend his leisure hours in divinity, in which science he was "very learned" ('Diary of iscount Percival,' Historical MSS. Com- mission, 1920, vol. i., p. 112), while, finally, two short endorsements, " June 28. 1720. M 1 Whatley " and " M 1 Whatley July. 22. 1720 ", on the first and on the cover of the second letter respectively, are in a hand that is almost certainly identical with other recorded specimens of King's writing. Whatley 's subsequent career was undis- tinguished. Taking Holy Orders, he was presented in 1729 by the Crown to the Kectory of Toft in Lincolnshire, Just previously to which he had been made Pre- bendary of Bilton in York. In 1750 he exchanged this latter stall for the more lucrative one of Fridaythorpe in the same Cathedral, in the enjoyment of which post he died in June, 1767. The middle years of his life were embittered by a claim for pro- motion to be effected by Walpole, as the result of an alleged promise to King, and this accounts for five of the several publications (panphlets and sermons) with which he is credited in the catalogues of Bodley and of the British Museum. The letters show us a normal itinerary of the tourist of those days who was visiting Belgium a country which Whatley seems to have found a pleasant contrast with ungenial, Protestant Holland and reminds us that the passion of " doing " the battle- fields is no new thing, while forgotten Huy and the half-forgotten brother of George I. also pass before our eyesj It is perhaps also not unworthy of note that the writer visits the towns of French Flanders without so much as troubling to mention the fact that he had crossed from one State- into another. To this day they are not greatly dissimilar from those of Belgium r while at the time in question they had been French for less than two generations. Nor,- in the last place, is it likely that many accounts of the Jubilee of 1720 exist. 1. Kotterdam, June. 28. O.S. 1720. MY LORD, Before this Letter will come to your Lordships hand You will undoubtedly have heard of the Beturn of the Yatchts* ; and as You have not seen Me to return You my Thanks for their bringing Me over You may very well conclude that^I am still on this side of the Water. I found it im- possible to satisfye my appetite for seing these Countrys, during the Interval of the Yatchts Stay. Besides having once passd the Rubicon,, I cou'd on no, account entertain Thoughts of retreating before I had advanc'd further. Brabant, & Flandres, those Scenes of the greatest Actions for some of the last Centuries, lye too near Me, not to eftectualy excite my Curiosity to visit them before I can think of returning. And the impatient Desire I have for forreign Conver- sation, and to see something more of the Manners of the Germans, will make Me spend the Residue of my Time at Hanover. So Your Lordship may see that I have cut my self out work enough for this Summer. I depend on it that I shall Spend it very much to my Satisfaction and I hope to my Improvement. The obliging Reception my Friend has given Me Here, has engaged Me to make this City my principal Abode till this Evening When I intend for Antwerp in order for Brussels. Tho' I have not advanc'd so far as y Hague, unless it was with my Eyes last Sunday from Delft Steeple, yet I have not confin'd my Self altogether within these Walls. One Day I have spent at Dort ; another at Scheidam and the parts adjacent ; and two more at at [stc] the Brille and Hel- voetslys, from whence I pass'd over the Maes to Maesland Sluys,t and so round to Rotterdam by Delft. The Inclination I have of seing the Country in all its Lights, induc'd Me to make this Tour, out of the way of the great Towns. I thought indeed to have gone as this Day to y e Hague for a week and to Amsterdam for another & so to have return'd by Naerden,t Utrecht & Tergou to this Place. But I find I must give Brussels the preference and pay Brabant & Flanders the first Visit. This has been occa- sion'd by their Celebrating in this latter City a famous Jubilee || which is to commence next Sunday. This being celebrated once in 50 years, has occasion'd my going thither at this Time. What it is or on what account it is celebrated I know not ; but as I am inform'd it will be very curious, and as I understood the greatest Pre- parations are making, to celebrate it with the utmost magnificence, I thought it proper to be Helvcetsluys on the 16th ("London Gazette, "No. 5860, p. 2) and Whatley had been allowed to travel with the cortege. t Maasluys. J Naarden. Gouda. II Of the Sacrement de Miracle of 1370.
 * The King" with all the Yachts" had reached