"The war, which he had originally opposed," says Mr. Lister; "the division of the fleet, which he had not suggested ; even the want of royal issue, which he could not have foreseen (the queen having lately miscarried), were all laid to his charge. Old topics of complaint were revived by the pressure of a calamity with which those topics had no connection; and in tho midst of the panic and rage of the populace, at the alarming news that the Dutch were at Gravesend, they broke the windows of Clarendon's house, and painted a gibbet on his gate, accompanied with this rude rhyme,— sights to be seen : Dunkirk, Tangiers, and a barren queen." The vulgar belief that he had appropriated to his own use the revenues of the state was fostered by a standing eyesore, a magnificent house that he had built, and which in derision was called Dunkirk House, Tangier Hall, and such significant nicknames. At court the king's profligate associates used all the means in their power to foster and nourish his long-conceived dislike to his principal counsellor ; and by the persuasion of Lady Castlemaine, Buckingham, the chancellor's greatest enemy, was restored to office. The influence of Clarendon was successfully undermined : by the king's command he resigned the great seal on the 30th of August 1667 ; and in such a manner was he held up as an object for persecution, that it became evident that some proceedings would be instituted against him. The Commons, angry with him for many causes, but more especially for his recommendation of their dissolution, met in October, when a resolution was passed, "that it be referred to a committee to reduce into heads the charges against the Earl of Clarendon." Seventeen articles of impeachment were drawn up, and, after some discussion, an accusation was agreed upon and forwarded to the Lords ; it was rejected however, "because the House of Commons only accused him of treason in general, and did not assign or specify any particular treason." Upon this refusal to commit, a serious contest arose between the two houses; and great excitement prevailed. To compose these animosities by withdrawing the object of contention, the friends of Clarendon advised him to quit the kingdom. After some hesitation he consented to their proposal; and on the 29th of November 1667, he sailed for Calais, leaving behind him an address written to the Lords, exculpating himself from the charges made against him, of which his flight might otherwise have been thought to be an acknowledgment. "A bill for banishing and disenabling Lord Clarendon was passed by the Lords on the 12th of December, and by the Commons on the 18th. By this bill, unless he returned and surrendered himself before the let of February, he was to be banished for life; disabled from ever again holding any office; subjected, if he afterwards returned to England, to the penalties of high treason; and rendered incapable of pardon without the consent of the two Houses of Parliament," The public life of Clarendon was now at an end; he was permitted somewhat reluctantly by the king of France to reside within his kingdom. At Evreux he narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of some English sailors; from Evreux he went to Bourbon, thinking to derive benefit to his health from the mineral waters; from Bourbon he removed to Montpelier; from Montpelier to Moulins, where, in the enjoyment of the society of his children, he commenced the continua tion of his ' Life.' In the spring of 1674 he procured a house at
Rouen, which was his last residence. Repeated attacks of gout had enfeebled his frame. and constitution, and his malady continually increased : at length he expired on the 9th day of December 1674, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His body was brought to England, and, according to the statement of Anthony Wood, was buried on the north side of Henry VIL's chapel in Westminster Abbey. No monu ment has been erected, and no inscription marks the place of interment A statue of him has however been raised in that part of the new palace at Westminster known as St. Stephen's Hall.
By his second wife, who died in 1667, at the time that difficulties were multiplying around her husband, he had six children, four sons and two daughters. Henry, the second earl of Clarendon, died in 1709; Lawrence, created earl of Rochester, died in 1711 ; Edward and James died unmarried ; Anne married James, duke of York, and was the mother of Queen Mary and Queen Anne; Frances was married to Thomas Keightly, of Hertingfordbury.
Clarendon's abilities were great. As a minister he was wanting more in courage and firmness than in sagacity and foresight : it was his "disposition to be too much contented with temporary expe dients and to be too little mindful of remote consequences." He was pure according to the standard of the times. "He had one great merit," says Mr. Lister, in his studied and careful character of this great man, "rare and valuable at all times, but peculiarly so at' such a period as the Restoration. He was not disposed (except perhaps when the Interests of the church were concerned) to govern in the spirit of a partisan. He aimed at appearing, not the leader of a political faction, but the minister of the nation—a minister to whom royalist and republican might equally look up for justice." His industry was remarkable, and of his oratory Pepys says (vol. iii., p. 62), "1 am mad in love with my lord chancellor, for he do comprehend and speak out well, and with the greatest easiness and authority that I ever saw a man in my life." Aa a judge there are but scanty materials for the estimation of his character : the judicial functions of a chancellor were at this time very subordinate to the political : high legal attainments were not considered essential qualifications. We do not find that he was negligent of the duties and improvement of his court.
In private life he was a warm and constant friend, and strict observer of moral duties, in an age when vice was openly countenanced and preferred. Haughtiness and irritability of temper were his prin cipal failings. In his History of the Rebellion,' and in his of himself, there are many inaccuracies. In the latter he appears to have trusted chiefly to the recollection of a somewhat fallacious memory. We must refer to Mr. Lister's 'Life of Clarendon' for an account of his writings. (Lister, Life of Clarendon ; Life of Claren don, by himself; Burnet, Own Times ; Diaries of Evelyn and Pepys.)