JAMES II. of England and VII. of Scotland, was the second sur viving eon of Charles I. by his queen, Henrietta Maria of France, and was born at St. James's on the 15th of October 1633. He was imme diately declared Duke of York, but not formally created to that dignity till January 27th 1643. After the surrender of Oxford to Fairfax in June 1646, the duke, with his younger brother Henry, afterwards created Duke of Gloucester, and his sister Elizabeth, was committed by the parliament to the care of the Earl of Northumberland, and be continued in the custody of that nobleman till the 21st of April 164S, when he made his escape from St. Jamea's Palace disguised in female attire, and took refuge in Holland with hie sister Mary, princess of Orange. Here he immediately joined a part of the English fleet which had revolted from the parliament, and was then lying at Helvoetaluys; but although at first received on board as admiral, he soon after resigned that post to hie brother, the Prince of Wales, on the arrival of the latter from Paris, and returned to the Hague. When Charles, now styled king by his adherents, arrived at Jersey in September 1649, he was accompanied by the Duke of York, who remained with him during his stay of three or four months. He then returned to the Continent, and resided for some time with his mother at Paris. "Never little family," says Clarendon, who had an interview with him at Breda in 1650, "was torn Into so many pieces and factions. The duke was very young, yet loved intrigues so well that he was too much inclined to hearken to auy men who had the confidence to make bold propositions to him. The king had appointed him to remain with the queen, and to obey her in all things, religion only excepted. The Lord Byron was his governor, ordained to be so by his father, and very fit for that province, being a very fine gentleman, well bred both in France and Italy, and perfectly versed in both languages, of great courage and fidelity, and in all respecte qualified for the trust ; but his being absent in the king's service when the duke made his.eseape out of England, and Sir John Berkley being then put about him, all pains had been taken to lessen his esteem of the Lord Byron; and Sir John Berkley, knowing that he could no longer remain governor when the Lord Byron came thither, and hearing that he was on his journey, infused into the duke's mind that it was a great lessening of his dignity at that age (when lie was not above fourteen years of age, and back ward enough for that age) to be under a governor ; and eo, partly by disestsemiug the person, and partly by reproaching the office, he grew less Inclined to the person of that good lord than he should have been." (' Life,' it. 2S4, edition of 1827.) Shortly before hie meeting
with Clareudon It bad been reported that Charles, then In Scotland, was dead ; upon which the duke, looking upon himself as almost already king, had set his mother's authority at defiance, and left Paris for Brussels, with the view of taking counsel with the Duke of Lorraine as to what he ought to do. When the falsehood of the intelligence about Charles was discovered, he and the advisers by whom he was attended resolved upon going to the Hague; "and when they had wearied all people there," says Clarendon, " they came to Breda, where the chancellor had met them. The duke himself was so young that he was rather delighted with the journeys ho had made than tensible that he had not entered upon them with reason enough ; and they had fortified hiss with a firm resolution never to acknowledge that ke had committed any error." (Ibid., p. 290.) In the end he found himself obliged to return to his mother at. Paris, and there he chiefly resided till he attained his twentieth year, when he received a command in the French army, and served for some time tinder Marshal Turenne. The peace concluded with Cromwell however In October 1655 compelled him, with his elder brother, to quit France ; upon which, on the Invi tation of Don John of Austria, the governor of the Low Countries, he retired thither, and entered the Spanish service. Both he and his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, fought on the Spanish aide at the siege of Dunkirk, which surrendered to the French in June 165S.