ADMIRAL ROBERT FAIRFAX.* Mn. CLEMENTS MARKHAM here gives us an

excellent biography of one of the worthiest, though least known, of that eminent Yorkshire family which played a considerable part in English public life two centuries ago, and the most famous members of which are the Parliamentary General, whose star paled before Cromwell's, and (on the illegitimate side) the translator of Tasso, that Edward Fairfax who accepted Demonology, and whom Collins has termed the

"Prevailing Poet, whose undoubting mind Believed the magic wonders which he sung."

Robert Fairfax, who was born in 1666 and died in 1725, was the grandson of Sir William Fairfax of Steeton, who threw in his lot with his more famous cousin daring the Civil War, was present at the battle of Marston Moor, and died a truly glorious death while raising the siege of Montgomery Castle. Robert entered the Navy at an early age, served with impartial loyalty under James II., William and Mary, and Anne. He took part in the conflict for the supremacy of the seas between England and France, the most memorable incidents in which were the battles of Beachy Head and La Hogue ; aided in the relief of Londonderry, in the capture of Gibraltar, and in the siege of Barcelona ; and rose to be Vice-Admiral and Councillor to the Admiralty. He also took part in civic • Life of Robert Fairfax of Steeton, Vice-Admiral, Alderman, and Member for York, 1666.1725. Compiled from Original Letters and other Documents. By Clements R. Markham, C.D., F.E.S. -London : Macmillan and Co. 1886

and Parliamentary life as Alderman and Member for York. Eventually, by purchasing the chief estate belonging to the Lord Fairfax of the day, whose fortunes had fallen into a dilapidated condition, Robert Fairfax became the head of his

house. He gives the reader of this book the idea of having

been not, perhaps, a brilliant sailor of the type of Blake or Nelson, or even of Shovel or Leake, but an industrious, careful, and capable officer, who did a great deal of good work in a quiet way, who shirked none of the duties of English citizenship, and who deserved higher honours than even those which were bestowed upon him. In the muniment-room of the Fairfax family at Newton Kyme, Mr. Markham found boxes full of letters and other documents bearing on the life of Robert Fairfax.

From these he has constructed a narrative which is not only a good biography, but a valuable contribution to the history—and especially to the naval history—of the time in which Robert Fairfax played his useful part.

Besides the letters throwing light on the subject of his present biography, Mr. Markham gives five letters written by that Parliamentary hero, Sir William Fairfax, to his wife, then living in London. One of these, on the fly-leaf of an old letter, is interesting, as being, so far as is known, the only private letter written on Marston Moor. It runs thus :—

" 'My dear Hart—I know when you hear of our great battle with Prince Rupert you will be very fearful' of me ; therefore, I write to satisfie thee that God bath allso at this time preserved me from any hurt at all. We have beaten Prince Rupert to some tune, and routed all his army and taken his ordnance. We have killed above a thousand of his men, but whatt prisoners I know nott yet, but there is very many. The battle was fought in Marston Fields, not far from Quinton Lndaton's house, the hour at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. I cannot stay the messenger, so thatt you must excuse me to all my friends, and tell them I had not any paper but this, and itt was a piece of a letter. Sir Thomas Fairfax is wounded in the face, but not much worse. Collonell Lambert is very well, but most of his officers killed and Inuit. My service to my Lady Sheffield and my wife Lambertt, and all the rest of my friends. Tom Smith is alaine, so I reat, thy dear husband, WILL FAIRFAX. From Marston, the 13th of July, 16444 the day after the battle. 'My cousin, Charles Fairfax, is very sore wounded."

The eldest daughter of Sir William Fairfax was married to Sir William Lister, brother-in-law to General Lambert, and lived in London and London society during the Protectorate. Lady Lister wrote frequently to her mother, and Mr. Markham reprints some of her letters. One of these would seem to prove that the Cromwellian Court was scarcely so drab in colour as it has commonly been painted, for in it these words occur :—

"The 25th of this month I am for Ham there to stay till I come to you; where I shall value one day at the Low Moor (the home farm at the Pairfaxes' residence in Yorkshire) more than all the balls and fine things here • though to-night I am to goe to one at the French Ambassador's and a play. I may be a little vain now, bat when once I get from it, hang me when I return to stay by it. I am extremely sensible of your solitary life, and in the midst of all my mirth, it makes me dull, my dear mother."

It was in the reign of Charles II. that Robert Fairfax first

went to sea, and he had some rather hard experiences in the Mediterranean. The reign of James II. found him out of em- ployment, at the age of 21, but studying closely at navigation and mathematieS. He endeavoured to ingratiate himself with the King, though it is plain from the following that he held his family's, and not James's, views on politics and religion :—

"I had the honour, on Thursday last, to hunt with the King, which is a great diversion to me. The Duchess of Buckingham's Gentleman of Horse lent me a horse. I wished many a time, when I rode by him, that I might but have had the privilege to have uttered my mind to him. We hunted the fox, and the King rides very hard as any one almost in the field. He got two fall; but received no harm. After hunting, the King and his nobles drink a cup of wine and eat a piece of bread under any old hedge, and after the King I assure you I had the honour to do the same out of his gilt cups. After that we go to the House, where the King takes coach, and eat some hot soft beef and burnt ale."

Young Fairfax's efforts were so far successful that he was allowed to enter the Navy as a volunteer, and on August 30th, 1688, we find him writing to his mother anticipating a fight with the fleet of the Prince of Orange, who was then preparing for his -descent on England. When the Revolution took place Fairfax accepted service under William and Mary, and we find the lad who had been hunting with a Popish king writing a few months after to his mother :—" Our desire is to maintain the Protestant religion, which I hope in God will still flourish in these our dominions." In 1693, Fairfax, after the regular experiences, was promoted to the captaincy, first of the 'Pembroke,' and subsequently of the Ruby.' His orders were to

cruise in the Irish Sea. He did this well, capturing a large

French privateer of forty-six guns, and making himself such a favourite with the Irish people that he was presented with the freedom of the town of Castle Martyr, near Yonghal, in the county of Cork. It was not till the Peace of Ryswick, in 1697, that he was able to join his home circle.

"It was at this time that a portrait was painted of Robert Fairfax half-length, with a ship in the distance. He wears his own light- brown hair, has a broad forehead, large eyes, a straight nose, and rather full lips. It is the countenance of a firm, strong-willed, young man, with a pleasant expression. He is also described, on September 26th, 1696, on a Register Ticket, as a tall, well-set man of a fair complexion, aged thirty-one years."

Three years before the siege of Ryswick he had succeeded to the position of head of his family by the death of his elder brother William, and had married a well-to-do widow some years older than himself.

When war again broke out between England and France daring the reign of Queen Anne, Captain Fairfax once more saw active service. For his exertions at the taking of Gibraltar the Queen presented him with a silver cup and cover, bearing an inscription, which are still preserved by his descendants. Before he took part in the operations against Gibraltar, he wrote a farewell letter to his wife, which probably shows the character of the man better than anything else that we could quote :—

"July 20th, 1704.

"My most dear Spouse,—Being one of the ships that goes in to batter the fortifications of Gibraltar to-morrow, if it shall please our good God to suffer me to be taken off, I send this with the testi- mony of my true love and blessing to thee and the dear babys, of whose education I desire thy great care, and especially as to that of their soils. I have left my will in captain Whittaker's hands. It has been drawn long since, so there is much more money appertaining to me now than was then, which I leave to thy prudent disposing of. I will yet hope in God's mercy to meet thee again in this world, but, above all, in that blessed world to come, both of which his infinite mercy grant unto thine in all affection.—ROBERT FAIRFAX."

It is unnecessary to dwell at length on the remainder of Captain Fairfax's career. He held various positions of trust in the Navy. He was Commander-in-Chief at the Nore and at Spithead, and he was Councillor to the Admiralty. Once he received a severe disappointment. He was high in favour with Prince George of Denmark, and had been appointed—even gazetted—Vice-Admiral of the Blue, when Lord Godolphin, then Treasurer, interfered, and substituted for him Lord Dursley, a captain much his junior, and distinguished for little but a brutally tyrannical disposition. When his days in the Navy were over, Admiral Fairfax took his part, as we have already seen, in the municipal and political life of the city of York. Regarding his Parliamentary career, it may be noted to the credit of Admiral Fairfax that, contrary to the opinions of some of his supporters, he voted against the Schism Act, the object of which, according to its authors, Bolingbroke and Atterbnry, was to prohibit Noncon- formists from keeping schools to teach even their own children, and to make all education a monopoly of the Church of England. In this book we have pleasant glimpses of General Fairfax, an uncle of the Admiral, and an old Parlia- mentary man, who took a kindly interest in his nephew, and of Brian Fairfax, an accomplished relative, who took the message to General Monk at Coldstream which brought about the Restoration, and who acted as secretary to the Duke of Bucking- ham and as equerry both to Charles II. and William III. Mr. Markham prints a long letter of this Brian to his sons, which tells his own history, and also gives interesting particulars relating to his father and mother, and other relatives and con- nections. This is a rather quaint admission to come from a courtier :—" I must confess I have followed my deare parents with nnequall steps in the paths of piety and vertue ; and it is no shame to confess that the coppy they sett was too exact for mee to imitate, though I had not been exposed to ye variety of temptations which a life led in the Tents of Kedar and the Courts of Princes, compared with the quiet and retired life wch they led in ye House of God, is subject to."