Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/195

 9* s.x. SEPT. 6, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Civil War in England. His career after the Restoration, however, is perhaps not so well known.

He arrived at the Court of King Charles II. in October, 1660; but. says Pepys, "he is welcome to nobody." No explanation is given for this statement, and the reason can only be matter of conjecture ; anyhow, it was no very serious reason, for the king appears to have heartily welcomed his cousin, and granted him a large pension. v

In April, 1661, the old instinct of the soldier awoke in the prince, and he took his way to Vienna, in order to try to get a com- mand from the emperor in his war against the Turks ; but in this he failed, the emperor refusing to grant his request. Prince Rupert then returned to England, and until May, 1662, when he was appointed Privy Coun- cillor, he seems to have occupied himself largely in making chemical researches. He invented a gunpowder of more than ten times the usual strength, while his discovery of prince's metal and drops is well known. The prince has been said to have been the discoverer of the art of engraving in mezzo- tinto, but lately doubt has been thrown on this statement, and Ludwig von Sugen is credited with the discovery, he having after- wards imparted the whole secret to Prince Rupert.

In 1662 Prince Rupert, in company with the Duke of York, Monck, Duke of Albe- marle, Lord Sandwich, and others, was appointed one of the Commissioners for Tangiers, that troublesome dowry of Queen Catherine of Rraganza. which cost England so vast an outlay, both of money and of trouble, and which was of so little service to her in return.

As one of the patentees of the Royal Africa Company, the prince felt keenly the disputes with the Dutch on the African coast, and a fleet was manned to be sent to Guinea with Prince Rupert in command. "I doubt few will be pleased with his going," says Pepys, "being accounted an unhappy [i.e., unfortu- nate] man." The fleet, however, never got further than the Downs.

Early in 1665 Rupert became seriously ill, but by April was sufficiently recovered to go to sea as Admiral of the White, under the Duke of York. At the battle of Sole- bay, on 3 June, his squadron led the attack. During all the subsequent war with the Dutch the prince held a responsible post, with the exception of a few months in 1665, when, to his great indignation, the command of the fleet was given to Lord Sandwich. To the prince King Charles turned when the roar

of the Dutch guns was insulting all England from the Medway, and he was at once sent down to Woolwich to take command there.

After this for a short time the prince seems to have given himself up to more peaceful pursuits, and in 1668 he held the position of Constable of Windsor Castle, a fact which stands recorded on his coffin-plate, amongst many other honours.

Then Rupert and Albemarle together pro- pounded a scheme for discovering a passage through the Canadian lakes to the South Seas, which resulted in the incorporation of the famous Hudson's Bay Company, a part of their territory being called by the famous soldier prince's name Rupert's Land.

Yet still the love of battle was in the prince, and in 1672 he took part in the third. Dutch war, being subsequently appointed General by Sea and Land and Lord Admiral of the Fleet. This occurred when the Duke of York, a sincere Catholic at least, resigned all his offices after the passing of the Test Act.

Prince Rupert's supposed connexion with the country party and with Lord Shaftes- bury can only nave been of very short duration, and is of little importance. True, he visited Shaftesbury openly when that peer was in disgrace at Court ; but little else can be said of the matter.

At last the prince's busy, active life came to an end, not, as would surely have best befitted him, in a battle, but of a fever, on 29 November, 1682. at his house in Spring Gardens. MAUDE H. BARTHOLOMEW.

13, South Grove, Highgate.

[Many of the particulars supplied by our corre- spondent will be found under Rupert in the 'D.N.B.'] _

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers maybe addressed to them direct. _

CAPT. EDWARD WIDDRINGTON, OF FELTON. Evidence is wanted of the death and place of burial of Capt. Edward Widdrington, of Felton, who is stated to have been slain at the battle of the Boyne (1 July, 1690). He was the fourth son of William, first Lord Widdrington, of Blankney, Lincolnshire, and of Widdrington, Northumberland, and was admitted to Gray's Inn 14 May, 1656. As Capt. Edward Widdrington he married at Felton, 25 February, 1660/1, Dorothy, widow and devisee of Robert Lisle, of Felton, and daughter and heiress (or coheiress) of Sir