s in England, and his share of the
prizes made by the cruisers under his flag.[2] Yet, with all these aids, he

[Footnote 1: Clar. iii. 441. Thirteen francs were equivalent to an English
pound.]

[Footnote 2: His claim was one-fifteenth, that of the duke of York, as
admiral, one-tenth. See a collection of letters, almost exclusively on that
subject, between Sir Edward Hyde and Sir Richard Browne.--Evelyn's Mem. v.
241, et seq.]

was scarcely able to satisfy the more importunate of his creditors, and to
dole out an occasional pittance to his more immediate followers. From their
private correspondence it appears that the most favoured among them were at
a loss to procure food and clothing.[1]

Yet, poor as he was, Charles had been advised to keep up the name and
appearance of a court. He had his lord-keeper, his chancellor of the
exchequer, his privy councillors, and most of the officers allotted to
a royal establishment; and the eagerness of pursuit, the competition of
intrigue with which these nominal dignities were sought by the exiles,
furnish scenes which cannot fail to excite the smile or the pity of an
indifferent spectator. But we should remember that they were the only
objects left open to the ambition of these men; that they offered scanty,
yet desirable, salaries to their poverty; and that they held out the
promise of more substantial benefits on the restoration of the king, an
event which, however distant it might seem to the apprehension of others,
was always near in the belief of the more ardent royalists.[2]

Among these competitors for place were two, who soon acquired, and long
retained, the royal confidence,

[Footnote 1: Clarendon Pap. iii. 120, 124. "I do not know that any man is
yet dead for want of bread; which really I wonder at. I am sure the king
owes for all he hath eaten since April: and I am not acquainted with one
servant of his who hath a pistole in his pocket. Five or six of us eat
together one meal a day for a pistole a week; but all of us owe for God
knows how many weeks to the poor woman that feeds us."--Clarendon Papers,
iii. 174. June 27, 1653. "I want shoes and shirts, and the marquess
of Ormond is in no better condition. What help then can we give our
friends?"--Ibid. 229, April 3, 1654. See also Carte's Letters, ii. 461.]

[Footnote 2: Clarendon Pap. iii. 83, 99, 106, 136, 162, 179, 187, et
passim. Clarendon, History, iii. 434, 435, 453.]

the marquess of Ormond and Sir Edwar