civilities and behaviour to all men, he did not only appear the fittest
person the King could have chosen for that office (Lord Chamberlain) in
that time, but rendered himself so acceptable to all degrees of men, that
none, but such who were implacable towards all who had ever disserved the
King, were sorry to see him so promoted. He was mortally hated and
persecuted by Cromwell, even for his life, and had done many acts of merit
towards the King; so he was of all men, who had ever borne arms against
the King, both in the gentleness and justice of his nature, in the
sweetness and evenness of his conversation, and in his real principles for
monarchy, the most worthy to be received into trust and confidence"--
_Clarendon, Life_, i. 368. Manchester was hardly the stuff out of
which effective revolutionists are made.] created Lord Chamberlain,
although he was the avowed patron of the Presbyterian party; and
Manchester's easy courtesy and recognized probity were no unwelcome
ingredients in the Court. But there were others within the official pale,
not reckoning the newer courtiers who were destined soon to push their way
to power, who were less congenial partners for Hyde and his friends. Monk
had earned an unquestionable right to lavish reward, and the King bestowed
it with no grudging hand. But Monk's ambition aimed rather at wealth and
position than at administrative power; and as Duke of Albemarle, as Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland--an office of which the duties were left to others--
as Commander-in-Chief, and as Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Monk found
himself with titular rank, and with financial gains, which were more in
accordance with the tastes of himself and his wife than would have been
the burden and responsibility of laborious State business. Between the
Duke and the Chancellor there could never be close sympathy, and, for a
time, slanderous tongues came near to making active mischief. [Footnote:
We find a certain Thomas Dowde writing to Hyde on May 4, 1660, to tell him
how Edward Progers had been questioned by Mrs. Monk about Hyde, who had
been represented to her as "proud, insolent, contemning all counsel but