following passage in a letter from Edward Savage to Sancroft, then Dean of St. Paul's, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. The letter is dated, "From the Cockpit at Whitehall, 25 October, 1664," and the passage is as follows:—"Mr. O'Neale, of Bedchamber, dyed yesterday, very rich, and left his old lady all. Mr. James Hamilton, the Duke of Ormond's nephew, shall have his groome of the Bedchamber's place, and Sir William Blakestone his Troop of Horse."[1] Savage was right in his intelligence; Hamilton received the appointment. But this was not the first time the king had shown a friendly feeling towards him. He had previously interested himself in obtaining for him the hand in marriage of Elizabeth Colepepper, eldest daughter of John, Lord Colepepper, of Thoresway, but it is uncertain when the marriage took place, Wood, in his edition of Douglas's Peerage, puts it under 1661, a year, I think, at least, too late; the parish register of St. Margaret's, Westminster, recording the baptism of George, their second son, on the 18th March, 1662-3. Nor did the king's regard for James Hamilton cease with the Bedchamber appointment. By a privy seal of the 29th November, 1671 (Harl, MS. 7344) he made him ranger of Hyde Park, from
- ↑ Harl. MS. 1785.
