“Charles R.
“For the Marquis of Worcester.”
Which communication conveyed the following enclosure, prepared some time previously.[F]
“Charles R.
“Our will and pleasure is, that you prepare a bill for our signature, for creating our right trusty and entirely-beloved cousin, Henry, Marquis of Worcester, Duke of Somerset, to him and the heirs male of his body issuing, with all the privileges and immunities thereunto belonging, and with a grant of an annuity of fifty pounds yearly, to be paid to him and them, out of our customs of Swansea, in our county of Glamorgan, for the support of the said dignity, for which this shall be your sufficient warrant. Given at our Court in Oxford, the sixth day of January, in the twentieth year of our reign.
“To our Attorney or Solicitor-General
“for the time being.”
After the fatal battle of Naseby, 14th June, 1645, the position of Charles the First becoming desperate, he early sought the repose and security afforded by Raglan Castle, with the equally or more important purpose of stimulating a further drain on the fast diminishing resources of its munificent proprietor. It will be requisite to relate some particulars in reference to these royal visits from their connection with this memoir, incidentally proving the position and prospects of the Earl of Glamorgan; while they account for much of both his father’s and his own misplaced confidence in the fickle monarch and false friend, whose obligations to the aged Marquis of Worcester and his noble minded son were equally of personal as well as political importance to him, during the many mischances of his career at that most critical period of his reign.
On Thursday, the 3rd of July, 1645, late in the afternoon, Charles the First arrived at Raglan Castle, where he was received with all possible state and ceremony. We are informed that:—When the King first entered the castle, the Marquis having kissed the King’s hand, on rising, he saluted his Majesty with the compliment—Domine non sum dignus. The King replied:—“My Lord, I may very well answer you again; I have not found so great faith in Israel; for no man would trust me with so much money as you have done.” To which the Marquis rejoined:—“I hope your Majesty will prove a defender of the faith.”[23] He was entertained to supper on the occasion, remaining at the castle until Wednesday, the 16th of the same month, when his Majesty left to proceed to Cardiff.
From a Warrant issued on the 5th of July, 1645, we learn the losses sustained by and the situation of the Earl of Glamorgan’s regiment of horse. It is a manuscript in the Harleian Collection, as follows:—[G]