January 1664, and returned to Madrid early in March following. On the
17th of December 1665, he signed a treaty with the Spanish minister,
but the King refused to ratify it, and he was recalled, when the Earl
of Sandwich was sent to replace him, who arrived at Corunna in March
following. Previous to this circumstance, Lady Fanshawe intended to
return to England to see her father, who was on the verge of the
grave; but she then resolved to wait for Sir Richard's departure.

She was now, however, destined to experience the severest of all her
trials, in the death of her husband, who, after introducing Lord
Sandwich at Court on the 15th of June, was seized with an ague, and
expired on the 26th of the same month. [Footnote: According to the
inscription on his monument, he died on the SIXTEENTH of June; the
discrepancy arose from the difference in the style.]

No other language could convey an adequate idea of Lady Fanshawe's
feelings under her loss, than that in which she has expressed them;
and her address to the Almighty on her sufferings merits every
possible praise.

Some of Sir Richard Fanshawe's biographers have imputed his death to a
broken heart, in consequence of his being recalled; but this is a
gratuitous assertion, for nothing of the kind is hinted in the Memoir,
though the conduct of Lord Clarendon and others towards him is
severely commented upon. His letter to the King on the occasion is
preserved, from which it is evident that he felt his recall deeply,
but the gracious communication by which it was accompanied lessened
the severity of the act, and he seems anxiously to have looked forward
to his arrival in England to defend his conduct.