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ROCHESTER, LAWRENCE HYDE, EARL OF (16...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 429 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROCHESTER, See also:LAWRENCE See also:HYDE, See also:EARL OF (1641-1711) , See also:English statesman, second son of See also:Edward Hyde, earl of See also:Clarendon, was See also:born in See also:March 1641. After the restoration of See also:Charles II. he sat as member of See also:parliament, first for See also:Newport in See also:Cornwall and afterwards for the university of See also:Oxford, from 166o to 1679. In 1661 he was sent on a complimentary See also:embassy to See also:Louis XIV. of See also:France, while he held the See also:court See also:post of See also:master of the See also:robes from 1662 to 1675. In 1665 he married Henrietta (d. 1687), daughter of See also:Richard See also:Boyle, earl of See also:Burlington and See also:Cork. When his See also:father was impeached in 1667, Lawrence joined with his See also:elder See also:brother, See also:Henry, in defending him in parliament, but the fall of Clarendon did not injuriously affect the fortunes of his sons. They were See also:united with the royal See also:family through the See also:marriage of their See also:sister, See also:Anne, with the See also:duke of See also:York, afterwards See also:James II., and were both able and zealous royalists. In 1676, Lawrence Hyde was sent as ambas: ad it to See also:Poland.; he then travelled to See also:Vienna, whence he proceeded to See also:Nijmwegen to take See also:part in the See also:peace See also:congress as one of the English representatives. Having returned to See also:England, he entered the new parliament, which met See also:early in 1679, as member for Wootton Bassett; in See also:November 1679 he was appointed first See also:lord of the See also:treasury, and for a few years he was the See also:principal adviser of Charles II. In See also:April 1681 he was created See also:Viscount Hyde of See also:Kenilworth, and in November following earl of Rochester. He was compelled to join in arranging the treaty of 1681, by which Louis XIV. agreed to pay a See also:subsidy to Charles, at the very moment when he was imploring See also:William, See also:prince of See also:Orange, to See also:save See also:Europe from the ambitions of the See also:French monarch. The conflict between his wishes and his interests may have tended to sour a See also:temper never very equable; at all events the earl made himself so unpleasant to his colleagues that in See also:August 1684 he was removed from the treasury to the more dignified, but less influential, post of See also:president of the See also:council, a See also:process which: his enemy See also:Halifax described as being " kicked upstairs." Although appointed lord See also:lieutenant of See also:Ireland, Rochester did not take up this position; he was still president of the council when James II. became See also:king in See also:February 1685, and he was at once appointed to the important See also:office of lord treasurer.

But in spite of their family relationship and their See also:

long friendship, James and his treasurer did not agree. The, king wished to surround himself with See also:Roman See also:Catholic advisers; the earl, on the other See also:hand, looked with alarm on his master's leanings to that See also:form of faith. In See also:January 1687 he was removed from his office of treasurer, being solaced with a See also:pension of £4000 a See also:year and a See also:gift of Irish lands. After the revolution of 1688 Rochester appeared as a See also:leader of the Tories, and he opposed the See also:election of William and See also:Mary as king and See also:queen, raising his See also:voice for the See also:establishment of a regency on behalf of the exiled James. But he soon reconciled himself to the new See also:order, perhaps because he could not retain his pension unless he took the oaths of See also:allegiance. After this he was quickly in the royal favour and again a member of the privy council. He advised the queen in ecclesiastical matters, and returned to his former position as the leader of the High See also:Church party. From See also:December 1700 until February 1703 he was lord lieutenant of Ireland, although he did not spend much See also:time in that See also:country, and the concluding years of his public See also:life were mainly passed in championing the interests of the Church. In 1710 he was again made lord president of the council. He died on the 2nd of May 1711, and was succeeded by his only son, Henry (1672—1758), who in 1724 inherited the earldom of Clarendon. When Henry died without issue on the loth of December 1758 all his titles became See also:extinct. Lawrence Hyde had some learning and a See also:share of his father's See also:literary See also:genius.

The See also:

main employment of his old See also:age was the preparation for the See also:press of his father's See also:History of the See also:Rebellion, to which he wrote a See also:preface. Like most of the men of his time, he drank deeply, and he was of an arrogant disposition and had a violent temper. In See also:Dryden's See also:satire of See also:Absalom and Achilophel he is " Hushai," the friend of See also:David in See also:distress. The See also:correspondence of Rochester with his brother the earl of Clarendon, together with other letters written by him, was published with notes by S. W. See also:Singer (1828). Other authorities are G. See also:Burnet, History of his Own Time, edited by O.. See also:Airy (Oxford, 1897-'goo); See also:John See also:Evelyn, See also:Diary, edited by H. B See also:Wheatley (1879); and See also:Macaulay, History of England.

End of Article: ROCHESTER, LAWRENCE HYDE, EARL OF (1641-1711)

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