I. REMEMBRANCES, 1671-1714 [fol. 46V] Some few remembrances of my misfortuns have attended me in my unhappy life since I were marryed, which was November the 14., i6yi £67!, Novembr £4 Thursday, Novembr 14, i67i, and Childermas Day, I was privatly marryed to Mr Percy Frek by Doctter Johnson in Coven Garden, my Lord Russells chaplin, in London, to my second cosin, eldest son to Captain Arthur Frek and grandson to Mr William Frek, the only brother of Sir Thomas Frek of Dorsettshiere, who was my grandfather, and his son Mr Ralph Frek [was] my own deer father.1 And my mother was Sir Thomas Cullpepers daughter of Hollingburne in Kentt; her name was Cicelia Cullpeper. Affter being six or 7 years engaged to Mr Percy Freke, I was in a most grievous rainy, wett day marryed withoutt the knowledg or consentt of my father or any friend in London, as above. 1672, Jully 26 Being Thursday, I were againe remaned by my deer father by Doctter Uttram att St Margaretts Church in Westminster by a licence att least fowre years in Mr Freks pocttett and in a griveous tempestious, stormy day for wind as the above for raigne.21 were given by my deer father, Ralph Frek, Esqr, and the eldest of his fowre ' The Registers of St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London, ed. William H. Hunt, Harleian Society, 35 (1907), 49, indicates they were married on 14 November 1672. Freke confirms the 1671 date in an entry she adds to the West Bilney register and in her miscellaneous documents (below, p. 315). Childermas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorates on 28 December the young children Herod killed. Childermas was also, however, 'the day of the week throughout the year on which that feast fell, widely held to be a day of ill omen' (ODCC, 329). In 1671, 28 December was also a Thursday, so conceivably Freke intended the ominous association. See, however, her reference to Childermas, below, p. 75 n. 117. Samuel Johnson (1649-1703) became the chaplain of William Russell, Lord Russell, in 1679; he consoled his patron when Russell was executed for his alleged involvement in a plot against the king's life. See also below, p. 143 n. 256. a The Register of St. Margaret's Westminster London 1660-16J5, transc. Herbert F. Westlake and ed. Lawrence E. Tanner, Harleian Society, 64 (1935), 184, dates the marriage 26 June 1673. In her miscellaneous documents (below, p. 315), however, Freke dates the marriage 24 July 1672. William Owtram (1626—1679), archdeacon of Leicester and prebendary of Westminster, was rector of St Margaret's for the last fifteen years of his life. Two London marriage licences issued by the dean and chapter of Westminster contain different biographical information: '1669 June 23 Percy Freke [sic subs] of Middle Temple, Gent., Bachr, abt 24, and Mrs Elizabeth Freke, of St Martin's in the Fields, Spr, abt 22 & at own dispose'; '1672 Aug. 7 Percy Freake, of Middle Temple, Esq., Bachr, abt 27, & Mrs Elizabeth Freke, of Westminster, Spr, abt 22, her parents dead' (Chester and Armytage, eds., Harleian Society, 23 [1886], 165, 206). 37 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.219, on 01 Oct 2021 at 01:21:53, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960116300001846 38 REMEMBRANCES OF ELIZABETH FREKE 1671 —1714 daughters and the last marryed, being contracted to him by promise for five years before, butt unwilling to give my sisters any presidentt of my misfortunes prognosticated to mee by the two tempestious and dreadfull days I were marryed on and which I looked on as fattall emblems to me. Eliza. Freke Agust 26 Mr Frek, Agust 26 coming over St James Parke aboutt 12 a clock att night, challenged my lord of Roscomon either to fight him in St James Parke presently or to pay him downe a thousand pounds my lord had long owed Mr Freke.3 Butt the 26 of Agust att three a clock in the morning ten men of the lifegard came and fetched Mr Freke outt of his bed from me and immediatly hurryed him to Whit Hall before Secetary Coventry, I nott knowing whatt itt was for more then words spoken.4 This was the begining of my troubles for my disobedience in marrying as I did. Eliz Freke 1673, Febuary 14 My deer father was pleased to bestow on me as a portion a mortgage on Sir Robertt Brooke estate of 500, five hundred, pound a yeare neer the Green Man in Epping Forrest, five miles from London, thatt I might nott bee disapoynted of a subsistance for my life.5 Which estate Mr Frek sudenly, unknown to me, contracted for to sell to Sir Josias Child for five thousand six hundred sixty fowre pounds or thereabouts, who was a greatt bruer in London; which niether my deer father, my selfe, or my 5 trustees did know any thing of.6 Soe off itt was sould. [fol. 47r] 1673, July 7 Aboutt the begining of Jully 1673, to the best of my memory, Mr Frek sold outtright my fortune given me by my deer father, unknown to him or me or any of my fowre trustees, to Sir Josias Childe for the sume of 5764 pounds, or 5664 1. This was nott kind, for 3 Wentworth Dillon, fourth earl of Roscommon (I633?-I685), a poet, translator, and essayist, had, like Percy Freke, ties to the Boyles: his first marriage was to Frances, the daughter of Richard, first earl of Burlington and second earl of Cork. 4 Henry Coventry (c. 1618-1686), a prominent member of parliament, became one of the two secretaries of state in 1672, serving until 1680 (HC, ii. 148-54). 5 The Green Man was in Epping Forest off Wall Wood Lane in the area of Waltham Stow (John Rocque, An Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster ... with the County about ItforMneteen Miles [London, 1747], plate 9). Robert Brooke's mother, Elizabeth, was the sister-in-law of Judith, the sister of Ralph's wife; 'Lady Brook' and 'Lady Mary Brooks', probably Robert's sister Mary, contributed to Freke's collections of recipes and remedies. 6 When Brooke (c. 1637-1669) died, his trustees sold his Wanstead estate in Essex to Sir Josiah Child (c. 1630-1699) for £11,500. Child, the owner of a brewery in Southwark and a prominent figure in London commerce and government, rebuilt Wanstead House (HC, i. 726-7, ii. 57-9). Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.219, on 01 Oct 2021 at 01:21:53, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960116300001846 REMEMBRANCES, 1671-1714 39 now I were by itt turned outt of doors and had nott a place to putt my unfortunate head in; and all my fortune, being in mony in a bankers hand, was in danger to be spentt by us or lost by him, which a little affter greatt part was to the vallue of isoo, fiffteen hundred, pounds. September i5 Aboutt the midle of September Mr Frek endeav- ouring to place my fortune on an estate in Hampshire of one Mr Coopers and trusting to one Mr Worldlige as his agentt in the purchas, wee weer cheated by them on a composition for aboutt fiffteen hundred pounds as the least loss; or elce Coopers cheatt was above two thousand (2000) pounds in fallce mortgages, he nott being worth any thing; and [we] had received att the first galle a thousand pounds in mony and three or 4 years law, butt to noe purpose.7 Thus was three of my unhappy years spentt in London in a marryed life, and I never had, as I remember, the command of five pounds of my fortune. Wher I miscaried twice and had very little of my husbands company, which was no small grife to me, I being only governed by my affecttions in this my marrying and withoutt the consentt of any of my frinds; and fearing all my fortune would be spentt, resolved with Mr Frek to goe for Ireland to his estat and try our fortuns there. £674, Jully 14 Aboutt the midle of Jully my husband and my little familly wentt downe to Hanington to my deer fathers to take our leaves of him to goe for Ireland. Agust 2 From thence I wentt to Leigh to Sir George Norton neer Bristoll to take leave of my sister Norton, who was then redy to lye in, as in two days affter she did. 4 My Lady Norton lay in of a daughter, a lovely fine child; 12 which on my sisters desire I christned itt with the Lady Balldin, who was the grandmother, by the name of Grace.8 22 I, lyeing still for wind and shiping to goe for Ireland, wentt aboutt 7 Thomas Freke of Shroton and John Cooper's son Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper were friends (K. H. D. Haley, The First Earl of Shaftesbury [Oxford, 1968], 626), but the transaction seems not to have involved the immediate family. The dispute concerns the 800-acre manor of Ditcham and Sunworth in the Hampshire parish of Buriton that Percy Freke had agreed to buy from a 'Richard Cooper esqr' for £7,300, the details of which are in Cooper's answer to a bill of complaint by 'Pearcy Freake esqr' (PRO, C 9/64/27).