Crispe, Sir Nicholas
, an eminent and loyal citizen
in the reigns of king Charles the First, and king Charles
the Second, the son of a very eminent merchant of London, was born in 1598, and bred, according to the custom
of those times, in a thorough knowledge of business,
though heir to a great estate. He made a considerable addition to this by marriage; and being a man of an
enterprizing genius, ever active and solicitous about new
inventions and discoveries, was soon taken notice of at
court, was knighted, and became one of the farmers of
the king’s customs. When the trade to Guinea was under
great difficulties and discouragements, he framed a project
for retrieving it, which required a large capital, but his
reputation was so great, that many rich merchants willingly
engaged with him in the prosecution of the design; and to
| give a good example, as well as to shew that he meant to adhere to the work that he had once taken in hand, he caused
the castle of Cormantyn upon the Gold Coast, to be erected
at his own expence. By this judicious precaution, and by
his wise and wary management afterwards, himself and his
associates carried their trade so successfully, as to divide
amongst them fifty thousand pounds a year. When the
rebellion began, and the king was in want of money, sir
Nicholas Crispe, and his partners in the farming of the
customs, upon very short warning, and when their refusing it would have been esteemed a merit with the parliament, raised him one hundred thousand pounds at once.*
After the war broke out, and in the midst of all the distractions with which it was attended, he continued to carry
on a trade to
Holland,
France,
Spain,
Italy, Norwaj',
Moscovy, and
Turkey, which produced to the king nearly
one hundred thousand pounds a year, besides keeping
most of the ports open and ships in them constantly ready
for his service. All the correspondence and supplies of
arms which were procured by the queen in
Holland, and
by the king’s agents in
Denmark, were consigned to his
care, and by his prudence and vigilance safely landed in
the north, and put into the hands of those for whom they
were intended. In the management of so many nice and
difficult affairs, he was obliged to keep up a very extensive
correspondence, for which he hardly ever made use of
| cypher, but penned his letters in such a peculiar style, as
removed entirely his intentions from the apprehension of
his enemies, and yet left them very intelligible unto those
with whom he transacted. He had also great address in
bringing any thing to bear that he had once contrived, to
which it contributed not a little, that in matters of secrecy
and danger he seldom trusted to any hands but his own,
and made use of all kinds of disguises. Sometimes, when
he was believed to be in one place, he was actually at another; letters of consequence he carried in the disguise of
a porter; when he wanted intelligence he would be at the
water side, with a basket of flounders upon his head, and
often passed between
London and
Oxford in the dress of
a butter-woman on horseback, between a pair of panniers.
He was the principal author of a well-laid design for publishing the king’s commission of array at
London, in which
there was nothing dishonourable, so far as sir
Nicholas
Crispe was concerned, which, however,
Clarendon inadvertently confounds with another design, superinduced by
Mr. Waller, of surprizing the parliament, in bringing
which to bear he proceeded very vigorously at first, till,
finding that he had engaged in a matter too big for his
management, he suddenly lost his spirits, and some of the
chief men in the house of commons gaining intelligence
that something was in agitation to their prejudice,
May
31st, 1643, they presently seized Mr. Waller, and drew
from him a complete discovery, which, from the account
they published, plainly distinguished these two projects.
By the discovery of this business, sir
Nicholas Crispe
found himself obliged to declare openly the course he
meant to take; and having at his own expence raised a
regiment of horse for the king’s service, he distinguished
himself at the head of it as remarkably in his military, as
he had ever done in his civil capacity. When the siege
of
Gloucester was resolved on, sir
Nicholas Crispe was
charged with his regiment of horse to escort the king’s
train of artillery from
Oxford, which important service he
very gallantly performed; but in the month of
September
following, a very unlucky accident occurred, and though
the circumstances attending it clearly justified his conduct
to the world, yet the concern it gave him was such as he
could not shake off so long as he lived. He happened to
be quartered at Rouslidge, in
Gloucestershire, where one
sir
James Ennyon, bart. of
Northamptonshire, and some
| friends of his took up a great part of the house, though
none of them had any commands in the army, which, however, sir
Nicholas bore with the utmost patience, notwithstanding he was much incommoded by it. Some time
after, certain horses belonging to those gentlemen were
missing, and sir
James Ennyon, though he had lost none
himself, insinuating that some of sir
Nicholas’s troopers
must have taken them, insisted that he should immediately
draw out his regiment, that search might be made for
them. Sir
Nicholas answered him with mildness, and offered
him as full satisfaction as it was in his power to give, but
excused himself from drawing out his regiment, as a thing
improper and inconvenient at that juncture, for reasons
which he assigned. Not content, however, sir
James left
him abruptly, and presently after sent him a challenge,
accompanied with a message to this effect, that if he did
not comply with it, he would pistol him against the wall.
Upon this, sir
Nicholas Crispe taking a friend of his with
him, went to the place appointed, and finding sir
James
Ennyon and the person who brought him the challenge,
sir
Nicholas used his utmost endeavours to pacify him; but
he being determined to receive no satisfaction, unless
by the sword, they engaged, and sir
James received a
wound in the rim of the belly, of which he died in two
days. Before this, however, he sent for sir
Nicholas
Crispe, and was sincerely reconciled to him. Upon the
2d of
October following, sir
Nicholas was brought to a
court-martial for this unfortunate affair, and upon a full
examination of every thing relating to it, was most honourably acquitted. He continued to serve with the same zeal
and fidelity during 1644, and in the spring following; but
when the treaty of
Uxbridge commenced, the parliament
thought fit to mark him, as they afterwards did in the
Isle
of Wight treaty, by insisting that he should be removed
from his majesty’s presence; and a few months after, on
April 16th, 1645, they ordered his large house in Breadstreet to be sold, which for many years belonged to his
family. Neither was this stroke of their vengeance judged
a sufficient punishment for his offences, since having resolved to grant the elector palatine a pension of eight
thousand pounds a year, they directed that two thousand
should be applied out of the king’s revenue, and the remainder made up out of the estates of lord Culpeper and
sir
Nicholas Crispe, Sir
Nicholas finding himself no lon^ev
| in a capacity to render his majesty any service, thought it expedient to preserve himself; and in
April 1646 embarked
with lord Culpeper and colonel Monk for
France, but as he
had many rich relations who had interest with those in power,
they interposed in his favour; and as sir
Nicholas perceived
that he could be of no service to the royal cause abroad, h
did not look upon it as any deviation from his duty, to return
and live quietly at home. Accordingly, having submitted to
a composition, he came back to
London, to retrieve his shattered fortunes, and very soon engaged again in business,
with the same spirit and success as before. In this season of
prosperity he was not unmindful of the wants of
Charles II.
but contributed cheerfully to his relief, when his affairs
seemed to be in the most desperate condition. After the
death of
Oliver Cromwell, he was instrumental in reconciling many to their duty, and so well were his principles
known, and so much his influence apprehended, that when
it was proposed that the royalists in and about
London
should sign an instrument signifying their inclination to
preserve the public tranquillity, he was called upon, and
very readily subscribed it. He was also principally concerned in bringing the city of
London, in her corporate
capacity, to give the encouragement that was requisite to
leave general Monk without any difficulties or suspicion
as to the sincerity and unanimity of their inclinations. It
was therefore very natural, after reading the king’s letter
and declaration in common-council,
May 3d, 1660, to
think of sending some members of their own body to preSent their duty to his majesty; and having appointed nine
aldermen and their recorder, they added sir
Nicholas
Crispe, with several other worthy persons, to the committee, that the king might receive the more satisfaction
from their sentiments being delivered by several of those
who had suffered deeply in his own and in his father’s
cause. His majesty accordingly received these gentlemen
very graciously, as a committee, and afterwards testified
to them separately the sense he had of their past services,
and upon his return, sir
Nicholas Crispe and sir
John Wolstenholme, were re-instated as farmers of the customs.
Sir
Nicholas was now in years, and somewhat infirm, spent
a great part of his time at his noble country seat near
Hammersmith, where he was in some measure the founder
of the chapel, and having an opportunity of returning the
tbligation he had received from some of his relations, he
| procured for them that indemnity from the king, gratis,
for which he had so dearly paid during the rebellion. The
last testimony he received of his royal master’s favour, was
his being created a baronet,
April 16th, 1665, which he
did not long survive, dying
February 26th, the next year,
in the sixty-seventh year of his age, leaving a very large
estate to his grandson, sir
Nicholas Crispe. His corpse
was interred with his ancestors, in the parish church of St.
Mildred, in Bread-street, and his funeral sermon was
preached by his reverend and learned kinsman Mr. Crispe,
of Christ-church,
Oxford. But his heart was sent to the
chapel at
Hammersmith, where there is a short and plain
inscription upon a cenotaph erected to his memory; or
rather upon that monument which himself erected in grateful commemoration of king
Charles I. as the inscription
placed there in sir
Nicholas’s life-time tells us, under
which, after his decease, was placed a small white marble
urn, upon a black pedestal, containing his heart.
1
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