[p. 373] he should have been bound Prentice. A proposition was actually made in Parliament that the young Duke of Gloucester should be bound to a trade, in order, as it was impudently expressed, ‘that he might earn his bread honestly.’ Fortunately, saner counsels prevailed, in which his fate was happier than that of the Dauphin committed to the cruelties of Citizen Simon, cordwainer.
[p. 373] Old Thurlo. John Thurloe (1616-68), Secretary of State to Cromwell; M.P. for Ely, 1654 and 1656. He died 21 February, 1668.
Act III: Scene i
[p. 378] Highness’s Funeral. A large portion of the debt incurred for Oliver Cromwell’s magnificently extravagant funeral ceremonies fell on Richard, who was obliged to retire for a while to the continent to avoid arrest and await some settlement. These obsequies cost in all the huge sum of £60,000, which there was a great difficulty in paying. The chief undertaker’s name was Rolt. See note on The Widow Ranter — ‘Trusting for Old Oliver’s funeral,’ Act i. (Vol. IV.)
[p. 378] Walter Frost. Walter Frost, secretary to the Republican Council of State, was quondam manciple of Emmanuel, Cambridge, and acted as spy-master and manager of the ‘committee hackneys,’ which hunted down and betrayed Royalists. This infamous fellow, who dubbed himself Esquire and Latinized his name to Gualter, was authorized to publish (i.e. write) ‘intelligence every week upon Thursday according to an Act of Parliament for that purpose.’ He licensed A Briefe Relation (No 1, 2 October, 1649) from its second number until 22 October, 1650. This is certainly one of the most evil and lying of the Republican diurnals.
[p. 378] Hutchinson. Richard Hutchinson, deputy treasurer to Sir Henry Vane. He succeeded as Treasurer to the Navy in 1651 and continued to hold office after the Restoration. He is several times mentioned by Pepys.
[p. 379] Jacobus. A gold coin value 25s., first current in the reign of James I.
[p. 379] Mr. Ice. Perhaps Stephen Isles who was appointed a Commissioner for the London Militia, 7 July, 1659. The name ‘Mr. Ice’ occurs in Tatham’s Rump in the same context.
[p. 379] Loether. Sir Gerard Lowther, who, once a loyalist, became a republican, and in 1654 was one of the Three Commissioners of the Great Seal in Ireland. He acquired large estates and died very wealthy on the eve of the Restoration.
[p. 381] Duke of Buckingham’s Estate ... with Chelsey House. Bulstrode Whitelocke actually had obtained the Duke’s sequestered estate, and stood for Bucks in Parliament. During the Commonwealth Chelsea House was bestowed upon him as an official residence, and he lived there till the Restoration, when it reverted to the Duke, to whose father it had been granted in 1627 by Charles I. He sold it in 1664 to the trustees of George Digby, Earl of Bristol. In 1682 it became the property of Henry, Marquis of Worcester, afterwards Duke of Beaufort, and was renamed Beaufort House. Sir Hans Sloane purchased it in 1738, and it was demolished two years later.