no friend of his appears from his confining John, Monson's son, in the Gatehouse as 'a most dangerous papist' (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 20, 30 May 1623); but if his feelings towards Monson were all along as bitter as Monson loved to fancy, he would not have continued him for twelve years in the command of the narrow seas. In 1615 Monson's elder brother, Sir Thomas [q.v.], fell under suspicion of being mixed up with the murder of Overbury; Monson was involved in the same suspicion, and on 12 Jan. 1615-16 he was sent to the Tower (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. i. 91). There was, however, no evidence against him, and in July he was released (Gardiner, ii. 346, 363, iii. 186). He was not, however, restored to his command, nor had he any employment at sea for nearly twenty years. He claims, indeed, to have been frequently consulted by the admiralty, and to have given his opinion freely on the several expeditions that were fitted out. It may, however, be doubted whether the very frank criticisms which he penned were communicated to any except a few trusted friends (Naval Tracts, pp. 223, 228, 244). The papers which we know to have been delivered are of a very different sort, such as a proposal for a lighthouse on the Lizard, or suggestions for the establishment of fishing stations in Orkney and Shetland, and of schools for the children of the islanders (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 4 Feb. 1624, November 1629).
Of the king's action in the matter of ship-money he approved. He was one of the few who could see the necessity of increasing the strength of the navy, who understood that the attitude of France and Holland was really dangerous; and for the constitutional question raised by Hampden he cared nothing. He was likewise eager to see a severe lesson given to the Dutch, whom he considered as personal enemies; and he distinctly approved of the policy which, in 1635, appointed him to be vice-admiral of the fleet, under the command of the Earl of Lindsey. The French and Dutch had formed a combined fleet off Portland, 'in the bragging pretence of questioning his majesty's prerogative on the narrow seas;' but on learning that the English fleet was at sea, they drew back to their own shores. Lindsey, however, remained out till October; during which time, says Monson, 'we made good our seas and shores, gave laws to our neighbour nations, and restored the ancient sovereignty of the narrow seas to our gracious king, as was ever due to his Majesty's progenitors' (Naval Tracts, p. 257).
This was Monson's last service. He retired to his seat at Kinnersley in Surrey, where during his remaining years he occupied himself in writing or arranging his 'Naval Tracts,' a work of greater interest and value for its pictures of the state of our own and other navies than for its historical narratives, which, written apparently from memory long years after the events recorded events, too, which he had known only by hearsay are not to be implicitly accepted. He died at Kinnersley in February 1642-3, and was buried at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in London. He married in 1595 the daughter of one Goodwin, who was the widow of one Smith, and by her had a large family (Collins, vii. 241). One of his daughters, Jane, married Sir Francis, second son of Sir William Howard of Lingfield, and nephew of the great Earl of Nottingham (ib. p. 126). Of the sons, John, the younger, was the 'pestilent papist.' The elder, William, was put forward by Lord Suffolk in 1618 as a rival to Buckingham in the king's favour (Gardiner, iii. 186), though whether with his father's approval is doubtful.
[The principal authority for the Life of Monson is the Naval Tracts, which are to a large extent autobiographical. They have never been published separately; but form part of vol. iii. of Churchill's Collection of Voyages, first issued in 1732. The edition here referred to is the first. What appears to be the original manuscript is in the possession of Lord Leconfield at Petworth (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. i. 305). An excerpt was published in 1682 under the title of 'A True and Exact Account of the Wars with Spain in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.' In addition to these there are some notices of Monson in the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic, but not of much biographical importance. See also Gardiner's Hist. of England (index at end of vol. x.)]
MONSON, Sir WILLIAM, Viscount Monson of Castlemaine (d. 1672?), regicide, second son of Sir Thomas Monson [q. v.], by Margaret (d. 1630), daughter of Sir Edmund Anderson [q. v.], lord chief justice of common pleas, was raised to the peerage of Ireland as Viscount Monson of Castlemaine, co. Kerry, by letters patent dated 23 Aug. 1628 (Burke, Extinct Peerage, 1883, p. 371), and was knighted on 13 Aug. 1633 (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 201). On the same day he became a member of Gray's Inn (Register, ed. Foster, p. 201). By his first marriage he acquired an estate at Reigate, Surrey (Brayley and Britton, Surrey, iv. 219-23), but owing to his dissolute habits he was soon in debt. He refused to pay ship-money (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1637-8, p. 198), and when elected M.P. for Reigate, 21 Oct. 1640, he opposed the court, and subsequently acted as a committee-man for Surrey.
