Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 8 - Section I
Chapter VIII.
ROBETHON, FALAISEAU, AND D’ALLONNE.
I. Right Honourable John Robethon.
Jean Robethon was a son of Jean Robeton or Robethon, Advocate in the parliament of Paris, by his wife, Anne Groteste, daughter of Jacques Groteste Sieur de la Buffiere, and sister of the Reverend Claude Groteste De la Mothe. As he bore his father’s name, so he adhered to his religion, and followed the same professional employment From his will, deposited in London, we learn that his brother, Jacques Robethon, who remained in France, was in 1722 Attorney-General of the Court of the Mint in Paris. To him the refugee was indebted for the realisation and remittance of £3000 from the property in France, which he had forfeited by his flight. His cousins, also mentioned in his will, were Francis Grimandine, “Cousin Catal,” residing at Middleburg in Zealand, and James Robethon, of Poland Street, St James’s, Westminster (also an ex-Advocate of Paris).
The cousins, John and James Robethon, seem to have taken refuge in Holland. John Robethon was recommended to the Prince of Orange, who made him his secretary, and highly appreciated his capacity and fidelity. He was continued in the same confidential post when his great master became King of England; and he frequently accompanied him in his campaigns. Leibnitz wrote to him about a book which he had hunted for successfully in a shop at the Hague, and he wrote his answer in the camp at Gemblour, July 26-16, 1690[1]:—
“Sir, — I have received the letter with which you have honoured me, and I wrote off directly to the Hague, to M. de Viquefort, as the Sieur van der Heck has been here for some days. M. de Viquefort has answered me that he had found the book, just as I had seen it at Moektien’s, and that he had even kept it back, so that he should not sell it to anybody else. I think you already know that the Peace with the Turk is looked upon as settled. The envoy of the king writes to him, from Adrianople, that the Grand Vizier had told him that if he had full powers, it should be made in four-and-twenty hours, upon which the envoy despatched his secretary to Vienna to ask for them. The Turks will accept whatever conditions the Emperor chooses to impose upon them, so we expect to see 40,000 Imperials on the Rhine for the next campaign. The raising the siege of Coni rejoices all honest folk here. . . . . Denmark has made up its quarrels with Holland and England, and Sweden is on the point of doing the same. They write from Ireland that the army of the king has taken by storm that part of Athlone which is on this side the Shannon. They even go so far as to publish that St. Ruth is taking steps to give up Ireland, and to take with him to France the best soldiers that are left; he has for this purpose kept vessels at Limerick. The two fleets are in sight, and they hope to have their turn at sea; after which — and Ireland reduced — the king can have here more than 30,000 English, and then it will be well to be on good terms with him. Since the French have failed in their design on Liege and Brussels they have had recourse to other practices, having attempted to set Bruges and Brussels on fire, by means of incendiaries; but all has been discovered, and there are more than thirty of them in prison. — I am, with much attachment, &c,
Robethon was naturalised in England on 15th April 1693 (see List xx.). It is not until after the Peace that we hear more of him as Royal Secretary. Some of his letters are printed in Christian Cole’s State-Papers, but the greatest store is contained in the two volumes, entitled, “Original Papers, containing the Secret History of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover. Edited by James Macpherson, Esq. (London, 1775).”
That there was little cordiality between the kings of England and France after the peace of Ryswick, appears from Robethon’s letter, which mentions that Louis XIV. had granted a pass to a Frenchman to buy French wines for King William’s use, only after some hesitation and as “a great favour.” The first serious business after the peace is concerning the “Perecation,” which he thus defines in a letter to the Earl of Manchester:—
“The Perecation is a tax laid on the Popish Clergy in the Principality of Orange, which is applied to the maintenance of the ministers. While France enjoyed the principality and kept the ministers in prison, they discharged the Popish Clergy of this tax. And when the Peace was made France asked that the clergy might not be called upon for what was past; and this was granted.”
Macpherson informs us that Robethon conducted his royal master’s correspondence with the German princes. There are copies extant in Robethon’s handwriting of letters from King William to many of those princes. There is a paper of Robethon’s endorsed by himself, “Speeches for the King and Queen of Prussia which I composed for Lord Raby, 1701.”
His letter to Lord Manchester, dated “Loo, September 5, 1701,” has a melancholy interest:—
“The king’s health is (God be thanked) every day better. The swelling of his legs is almost entirely gone off by rubbing and fomentations from without; to which they have added some very innocent remedies, which make him void water plentifully. His majesty sleeps, eats, and hunts as well as ever he did. The common opinion is that he will go over to England in six weeks. I hope that affairs will be put then upon a good footing. The Duke of Zell is expected here to-morrow week, with the Elector of Hanover, who will not go for England till some months after the king. The presents which my Lord Macclesfield has had at Zell and Hanover are magnificent, and are above the value of £7000 sterling. — I am, &c,
Zell and Hanover were virtually one domain, the Electoral Prince of Hanover being the heir of Zell in right of his wife, the Duke’s only child. The two potentates were impressed by Robethon’s ability and industry; and on King William’s death they engaged him to reside at their courts in the capacity of secretary. The letters of congratulation which he received prove him to have been recognised as a useful and influential public servant. The following is from the British ambassador to Denmark:—
“Copenhagen, July 29, 1702. — . . . You will do me the justice to believe that there is none who interests himself more in what concerns you than I do. The embarrassment of the journey prevented me from congratulating you sooner on the honourable station which you now fill at your courts. I would envy them the advantage of having you if I did not see them in such a strict union with ourselves, as to induce me to consider them as one and the same court. The immense loss which England and all Europe suffered [by the death of King William] hath drawn several others in its train, and among these our country may reckon your quitting its service.
Lord Portland’s letter to Robethon shows that that nobleman had not given himself up to rural affairs, as was generally believed. It is dated “Hague, 5th Sept. 1702”:—
“I have received your very agreeable letter, and I rejoice at your good establishment, in which, I assure you, I am deeply interested. I beg of you to assure the Duke of Zell and the Elector that I shall continue all my lifetime in the same sentiments of respect and attachment for their family. I am too old to change, and too deeply impressed with the sentiments of the late King, my master, ever to deviate from them. Besides, I love my religion and hate slavery. I hope my son, who is on his return from Italy, will have the honour of making his court at Hanover, and of being received as the son of a faithful servant to the family. But he must not stay long, for in order to be serviceable I must avoid to be suspected of being too much attached to the family; and for this reason I must desire you to write me under Mr. Schutz’s cover, and to make use of his cypher.”
Sir George Murray correctly says that Robcthon “was busily employed in keeping up a friendly correspondence with the leading English statesmen, with the view of making the Hanoverian succession more sure.” Macpherson says — “Robethon wrote all the letters which the two Georges and the Princess Caroline, consort of the second, sent to England from the time he entered into their service until the family became our royal family. The first rough drafts of them are still extant in his handwriting, and all the originals that may be in the possession of persons in this and other countries are but copies made from what Robethon wrote for them.”
The following important letter was sent from Whitehall, April 5, 1706.
“To Monsieur Robethon.
“Although it is a long time since you heard from me, you must not believe that it proceeds from a forgetfulness of what I owe to my old friends. With regard to what concerns the service of the family I am sure the Elector does me justice. . . . Yesterday the Queen summoned a chapter of the knights of the order [of the Garter], in which the Electoral Prince was chosen. I entreat you to believe that I am always very truly, &c.,
This proceeding led to Robethon’s introduction to the great Addison, who, with Monsieur Falaiseau, accompanied Lord Halifax to invest the Elector with the insignia of the order. Halifax wrote from the Hague, May 7, “I am overjoyed that I shall have again the honour to renew our acquaintance; you needed no recommendation; I put an entire confidence in Monsieur Robethon.” After this visit, there were letters regarding the Elector’s enrolment in the English peerage as Duke of Cambridge. Lord Halifax writes —
“I think now we may be all allowed to boast that nothing was ever better pushed than the establishment of our succession here, since we had a Parliament to promote it. And if you can but take care to hinder your northern hero from breaking our measures, we will make France own both the Electorate and the succession of the House of Hanover.”
In the autumn of 1707, Robethon replied to a letter he had received from the Earl of Manchester.
“Hanover, Aug. 15. — My Lord, I have received the letter of the 18th Jul)-, which your Excellency has honoured me with. I should have had great pleasure to correspond with your Excellency if I had followed the Elector to the army, whence I might have sent you things worth your curiosity. But as I am not named to go there, I have asked leave to take a journey during that time about my domestic affairs, so that it would be useless to write to me. His Electoral Highness will set out in fifteen days to command the army on the Upper Rhine. The success at Naples has been as quick as complete; and I find the affairs of the allies in a good condition, except the umbrage which the King of Sweden continues to give. He remains in Saxony, whence he has caused four regiments of horse to enter into Silesia, and by the manner in which they negotiate with Count Wratislaw at Leipsig, we cannot be sure of an accommodation. — I am, &c.,
The two following extracts from letters to Robethon are selected from a mass:—
“Whitehall, Sept. 30, 1707. — Sir, I have been long in the country this summer for my health, which hindered me from thanking you sooner for the honour of your letter which I received some time ago; but I could not prevail with myself not to take this opportunity of congratulating you on his Electoral Highness’s successful beginning on the Rhine. . . . If you will honour me from time to time with your correspondence, you will do me a very great pleasure. I hope you do me the justice to believe that I am with great esteem, &c,
"April 26, 1709. — Sir, I am very glad I can congratulate you on a new mark of favour which His Electoral Highness has paid to your great merit. . . . I shall be highly obliged to you to recommend my services to his Electoral Highness, and to let me hear sometimes from you. — I am, &c,
The honour which Robethon received was the post of Privy Councillor of Ambassage (as he calls it in his will). Macpherson speaks of him, in 1713, as Secretary for Embassies, Secretaire des Ambassades. It was not a mere title, but a distinguished and responsible office. An anonymous author calls him Count de Robethon, and his signature might seem to confirm such an appellation, if it were not that in his will, which was written with his own hand, he does not own to any title of nobility.
The change of ministry in England in 1710 caused much uneasiness in Hanover. The Electress Sophia alludes to the Earl of Rivers’ embassy on this occasion, in a letter, drafted for her by Robethon:—
“The good-natured Lord Rivers told me he clearly perceived I was of the Duke of Marlborough’s party. I answered that if the Queen had made an ape her general, and he had gained as many battles and towns, I would be equally for him.”
An amusing fact as to the Duke of Marlborough is brought to light. “He could not write the French language, and his French letters were written by Mr. Cardonnel, his Secretary. Sometimes, to give greater weight to their contents, he transcribed Mr. Cardonnel’s drafts with his own hand. But this innocent imposition ceased when, during an illness of his secretary, the Duke wrote to Robethon in English, excusing himself for not using the French language by saying, ‘Poore Cardnall is sick.’” In modernised spelling, this note is printed by Sir Henry Ellis thus:—
“August 18, 1710. — Poor Mr. Cardonnel being sick, I must ask your pardon for writing in English; but I would not defer any longer returning you my thanks for your obliging letter of the 5th, and assuring you at the same time of the satisfaction I take in the good choice the Elector has made of Monsieur de Bothmer. Our conjecture in England is so very extraordinary, that it will require not only his diligence, but also his utmost prudence. I pray God everything may end for the best; but our dismal aspect seems rather favourable for France than for ourselves. — I am with truth, Sir, your faithful friend and servant,
Robethon, though of the discarded party, felt it to be his duty to write respectfully to their successors, and sent by Lord Rivers a letter to Secretary St. John (afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke). Baron Hervart was disposed to think favourably of the new ministry, and had frequent interviews with its members. He happened to call upon St. John on the 2d November, and the question was put to him, “Do you know Monsieur Robethon?” “Perfectly well, sir,” replied the Baron, “and you can’t address yourself to any one that will tell you more about him than I.” “I am happy to hear that,” St. John said; “take the trouble of reading that letter; I believe you will find it is written very well.” “Sir,” said Hervart, “as I was for four years in a regular course of correspondence with him, I know what he can do.” St. John proceeded to say, “It is a letter which Lord Rivers brought me from him, and he said a great deal to his advantage. I want to write an answer to him. Will you kindly let me know the titles which should be on the address of his letters? Since you have been so long acquainted with him upon the footing of a perfectly honest man, I shall be very happy to do him a pleasure, when the opportunity offers, and I wish we may be friends.” Hervart was charmed with this speech, and asked, “Do you consent, sir, to my letting him know your favourable opinion?” “I shall be much obliged to you,” was St. John’s answer.
Baron Hervart accordingly wrote to Robethon, and the dialogue quoted above is a part of his letter, which began with a polite hesitation as to Robethon’s remembering his name after a cessation of correspondence for ten or twelve years, and expressed real pleasure in resuming it, “no time having been able to make me forget a man whom I always highly esteemed.” The Baron also spoke to James Robethon and Monsieur De La Mothe. The latter wrote to his nephew on the 3rd November 1710:—
“Monsieur De Hervart, whom I do not visit, because I am afraid of new acquaintances, and drop the old, came to see me. At first he spoke to me of you, and of the esteem he had of you. This ended in his telling me that as the Whigs gave you some private advantages, you might hope for the same from the new party (in which he is deeply engaged). I answered that I did not believe the Whigs gave you any such advantages, that if it had been so, I would have perceived something of it, and that you had a master who was alone capable of rewarding your services. I beg of you, said I, explain a little what you mean, that I may understand you the better. He said to me, what is expected of Monsieur De Robethon is that he should act in concert with the new party in favour of the family of Hanover. I replied that you would always do your best to support the interests of the Elector, and to show that the new party was well thought of at your Court. . . . He told me that he had likewise seen your cousin. They do not choose to disoblige you, as you see.”
St. John wrote to Robethon in very flattering terms, and soliciting him to be his correspondent. His rejoinder proves that he was not won over:—
“Sir, — I received, while I was at Gohre (from whence our Court returned three days ago), the obliging letter with which you was pleased to honour me. His Electoral Highness, who read it, has very expressly commanded me to thank you from him for the protestations which it contains, of your zeal for the interests of his family; and to assure you that he is very sensible of this, and has a very great esteem and regard for you, knowing your capacity, which renders you so deserving of the choice and confidence of the Queen.
“His Electoral Highness approves much of my having the honour of writing to you, when Mr. Bothmar may be absent from London, and business worthy of your attention shall offer. But during the residence of that minister at her Majesty’s Court you will admit, no doubt, that since he has the entire confidence of his Electoral Highness, and is perfectly acquainted with his intentions, my correspondence would be very useless, and would only weary you with the repetition of things which Mr. Bothmar will not fail to represent to you verbally, much better than I can write them. I said so to my Lord Rivers, and I must add now that they hope here you will be pleased to give Mr. Bothmar some share of your confidence, and will judge him worthy of this when you know him. He has great experience in business, with a great deal of discretion, impartiality, and known probity. I am not afraid of Mattering him in allowing him those qualities.
“As to the rest, I am very much surprised, sir, that you should ask my protection for the minister whom her Majesty shall send here. I am not upon such a footing at this Court as to be able to protect any one; and the ministers of so great a Queen have no need of any other protection than their own character. But with regard to the rendering my small services to him who shall come here, and the doing so cheerfully with all imaginable care and sincerity, I can venture to promise this, and I shall perform it with pleasure, as I endeavoured to do to the late Mr. Cresset, to my Lord Winchilsea, Mr. Poley, and Mr. How.
“I received likewise, with respect and gratitude, the polite things which Monsieur D’Hervart wrote to me bv your order. I desired him to testify this to you; and I doubt not but he has communicated to you the letter I wrote to him, entreating you to believe, that in all I can do I shall never feel any motive but that of acquiring the honour of your esteem and of being considered by you an honest man, a quality without which I would not venture to take the liberty of calling myself, with great respect, your, &c,
The “new party” did not obtain the confidence of the Elector of Hanover. And when he was solicited to act in concert with that geographically-English government in arranging the peace with Erance, he replied that he considered himself to be actually one of the Princes of Germany, and would act accordingly, because neither practical wisdom nor good taste would justify him in anticipating a posture of affairs contingent upon the deaths of her Britannic Majesty and of his own mother.
Dean Swift angrily explains that “there was at the Elector’s Court a little Frenchman, without merit or consequence, called Robithan, who, by the assistance and encouragement of the last ministry, had insinuated himself into some degree of that Prince’s favour, which he used in giving his master the worst impressions he was able of those whom the Queen employed in her service, insinuating that the present ministers were not in the interest of his Highness’s family, that their views were towards the Pretender, that they were making an insecure and dishonourable peace, that the weight of the nation was against them, and that it was impossible for them to preserve much longer their credit or power.” In another place Swift calls Robethon “a very inconsiderable French vagrant,"” and “the channel through which all the ideas of the dispositions and designs of the Queen, the ministers, and the whole British nation were conveyed” to the Court of Hanover. These quotations are from “Swift’s Four last Years of Queen Anne,” which book further asserts that a bribe, remitted in good time, would have changed the tactics of the Right Honourable Jean Robethon. A Huguenot refugee required no bribe to take the side of Marlborough, Stanhope, and Ruvigny. And in his chastened judgment no bribe could remedy the wild confusion and petulant intolerance of a Jacobite or semi-Jacobite regime. I need not suggest to my readers that the Dean betrays his own ill-concealed conviction that Robethon was a man of consequence, if not of merit. The German statesman and general, Count Schulenburg, whose opinions regarding English politics leant strongly to the same side as the Dean’s, wrote to Leibnitz in July 1714:— “Robethon is able, but his violent passions and party spirit sometimes make him drive on the wrong side; he is hated and persecuted by the Hanoverian ministry, with the exception of Bernstorff, who supports him.” — (Kemble, p. 512.)
Under the year 1712 we find a specimen of his instructions to the Ambassadors of his Court. He writes to Baron De Grote on his way to London in November:— “Monsieur De Bothmar having given some poor lords reason to expect small pensions, our master will never hear of it; therefore your Excellency is in the right not to give a present even of one crown without orders. If the House will enable you to make donations when you judge proper, or obtain the permission of his Electoral Highness, let them do so. For my share, I am a mere cypher, when it is necessary to ask a penny, and I cannot at all meddle in the affair.” To the same he writes again, 16th December 1712:— “It is proper to take care that the captain of the yacht has not secret orders to delay your departure [from Holland]. When once he has your baggage on board, your passage will depend upon him, and he may lose a fair wind on frivolous pretexts. The pacquet would have been less convenient, but more expeditious.”
The last alarm of the Court of Hanover was a letter from Monsieur Martines, the Hessian Envoy at Paris, of date 23d March 1714, reporting that the Pretender was going to place himself formally under instruction, with a view to becoming a Protestant. The Electress Sophia died on the 8th June, the Elector succeeding to her rights. On the 30th of July, Mr. Craggs was despatched by the Privy Council of England to the Elector, “to acquaint him with the extreme danger the Queen’s life was in, and the measures they had taken to secure his peaceable accession; and to desire his Electoral Highness to repair with all speed to Holland, where a squadron of British men-of-war would attend to bring him over, in case the Queen died.” Mr. Craggs delivered his message, and returned with a letter from King George, to the effect that he was hastening towards Britain. Queen Anne died on the 1st of August. Craggs was surprised to find the Tories converted into Hanoverians, and wrote to Robethon, on August 17, warning him against such politicians — “three months ago,” says Craggs, “they treated us as seditious on account of the zeal which we showed for the succession I own I distrust such a sudden change.”
The Earl of Stair wrote to Robethon, London, 24th August, thanking him for having designed him for the command of the troops in Scotland. Addison, as a Secretary of State, addressed a letter to Robethon, which is worth quoting:—
“St. James’s, 4th September 1714. — Sir, I have been obliged to so close an attendance on the Lords Justices, and have had so little time at my own disposal during my absence from their Excellencies, that I could not do myself the honour before now to assure you of my respects, and to beg the continuance of that friendship which you honoured me with at Hanover. I cannot but extremely rejoice at the occasion which will give me an opportunity of waiting upon you in England, where you will find a whole nation in the highest joy, and thoroughly sensible of the great blessings which they promise themselves from his Majesty’s accession to the throne. I take the liberty to send you enclosed a poem written on this occasion by one of our most eminent hands, which is indeed a masterpiece in its kind, and (though very short) has touched upon all the topics that are most popular among us. I have likewise transmitted to you a copy of the preamble of the Prince of Wales’s patent, which was a very grateful task imposed upon me by the Lords Justices. Their Excellencies have ordered that the Lords and others who meet his Majesty be out of mourning that day, as also their coaches, but all servants, except those of the city magistrates, to be in mourning. The shortness of the time, which would not be sufficient for the making of new liveries, occasioned this last order. The removal of the Lord Bolingbroke has put a seasonable check to an interest that was making in many places for members in the new parliament, and was very much relished by the people, who ascribed to him in a great measure the decay of trade and public credit. You will do me a very great honour if you can find terms submissive enough to make the humble offers of my duty acceptable to his Majesty. May God Almighty preserve his person, and continue him for many years the blessing of these kingdoms. — I am, with great esteem and respect, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Robethon came with the King to England, and took up his abode in London, having apartments granted to him in St. James’s Palace. He was accompanied by his family. Madame Robethon survived him, and he mentions in his will one son, George (his only son, and still a boy), and a son-in-law, Captain Maxwell. The continued influence of Robethon is proved by the nickname of “the foreign ministry,” given to Bernstorff, Bothmar, and himself. Mr. Toland, in one of his publications, expressed an anxiety that some way could be found to reward the public services of “the equally able and indefatigable Monsieur Robethon.” This proved the occasion of a paper war on “The impolicy of ennobling foreigners.” I have a pamphlet before me with the title, “An Argument proving that the design of employing and ennobling foreigners is a treasonable conspiracy against the Constitution, dangerous to the kingdom, an affront to the nobility of Scotland in particular, and dishonourable to the Peerage of Britain in general. With an Appendix, wherein an insolent pamphlet intituled, The Anatomy of Great Britain, is anatomized, and its design and authors detected and exposed. The Third Edition. London : Printed for the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1717.”
We have little insight into his last years, except through some entries in the diary of Mary, the Countess Cowper, wife of the Lord Chancellor, and chief confidante of Caroline, Princess of Wales. The dissensions between the King and Prince, and the perpetual scramble for employment and favour, polluted the atmosphere with personal criminations and recriminations, in the midst of which no reputation could be unsullied. The King retained his confidence in Robethon; and notwithstanding variations arising from the vexatious alarms and anxieties of each passing day, a similar regard was cherished for him by the Prince and Princess. Here is one piece of news:–
“1714, December 25. — This day Monsieur Robethon procured the grant from the King of Clerk of the Parliament (after Mr. Johnston’s death) for anybody he would name. He let my brother [Spencer] Cowper have it in reversion after Mr. Johnson for his two sons for £1800.”
Accordingly William and Ashley Cowper held the office from 1716 to 1788, and a Mr. Henry Cowper was Deputy-clerk from 1785 to 1825. The following entries are evidently reliable:—
“Feb. 29, 1716. — Monsieur and Madame Robethon, Lady W. Paulet, and Madame De Gouvernet dined here. Monsieur Robethon spoke to me to propose to my Lord Cowper to change his place of Chancellor for that of President of the Council. I have spoke to him and he refuses, and says, if they will have him quit, he will do it, but he will not change. I represented to Monsieur Robethon it would be a great difficulty to persuade him to be President of the Council, he not speaking the French tongue. He replied, Pray, use all your art to get it done, or it will break all their measures, for such is their scheme.” “April 2, 1716. — Monsieur Robethon came to Karon Bernstorff either drunk or so impertinent there is no enduring him; but the Princess always says that Monsieur Robethon is the best man in the world, but unsupportable when he pretends to be witty or pleasant.”
Dr. Edmund Calamy, the eminent Dissenting Divine, gives us in his autobiography a peep into Robethon’s life at court:—
“London, 1717. — Mr. Gowan, minister of the English Church at Leyden, being here this summer, was desirous to kiss the King’s hand, his Majesty being then at Hampton Court. Being an utter stranger there, he desired my assistance. I accordingly went with him, and applied to Mr. Robethon, his Majesty’s private secretary for Hanover, who received us with great civility. He, entering into free conversation with Mr. Gowan, enquired particularly after the behaviour of the Scottish gentlemen who retired into Holland after the late Rebellion in the North was over; and I found by what passed (and was well pleased with the discovery) that those about the King were distinctly informed of everything material abroad as well as at home. Mr. Robethon told Mr. Gowan that if he would attend in the ante-chamber, he would speak to the Lord in waiting, who would not fail of introducing him to his Majesty, just as he rose from dinner.”
The following autograph note in the French language to Des Maizeaux is extant:—
“London, 21st April 1718. — Some days ago, our good friend, you asked at the Café if any one knew of a young Frenchman who could serve an English gentleman in the capacity of valet-de-chambre. The bearer, though of good family, would willingly, for the sake of subsistence, close with the offer, if the place is not yet filled, and should he be thought competent for the duties required. You would much oblige me by trying to get him the situation on the best terms that can be procured. This is the favour which I ask of you, as well as that you would believe me, Sir, your very humble servant,
On the 27th July 1716, there was a report that a pension of £300 a year had reconciled him to some arrangement of offices which he did not like. No such pension, however is mentioned in his will, which informs us that he had 800 florins per annum from Holland, and his wife five crowns per week from Hanover. His uncle De La Mothe, on his death in 1713, had bequeathed him £1200, subject to his aunt’s liferent. His property was much diminished by the failure of the South Sea Company in 1720.
The respect in which he was held by the French Protestant refugees was shown by his election to be Governor of the French Hospital upon the 4th October 1721, on the death of Baron Hervart. He is styled in the list of Governors, Jean Robethon, Conseillier Privé; he had been made a Director on the previous 5th of July. He did not long enjoy these tokens of esteem and affection, as he died in the following year.
In the Historical Register this obituary notice occurs:— “1722, April 14. Died, John Robethon, Esq., Domestic Secretary and Councillor to his Majesty as Elector of Hanover. He had served King William III. in the office of Secretary of State for the Principality of Orange.”
He had made his will on the 19th February (1722), and it was proved on the 22d of April by James Robethon, his cousin and executor, and the guardian of George Robethon, his son. The will expresses laudable care for the comfort of his widow and the education of his boy, and very fully explains his wish that in the event of either his wife or his son being his last representative, one half of his property should go to his brother in France, whose remittance, already mentioned, was an act of integrity and affection, and whose own property was much deteriorated through the misfortunes of the French nation. The religious phraseology of the will is strongly Trinitarian, and the entire composition and concoction is creditable to the head and heart of John Robethon.
His son’s full name was George William Frederick de Robethon; his Will was dated at Luneburg, 25th May 1739, and revoked three Wi'ls previously made in England, Holland, and Germany. His brother-in-law, Lieutenant Charles Theodore de Maxwell, proved his Will at London on 12th December 1739. George Robethon was probably aged about thirty.
As to James Robethon, he died in September 1738, “at his house in Warwick Court, near Charing Cross,” aged upwards of eighty. In 1750, his representatives were two unmarried daughters, Susanna and Elizabeth.[2] It is of one of these ladies that the Gentleman’s Magazine records:— “1762, July 5. Died, Mrs. Robethon, one of the Bedchamber, belonging to the Princess Amelia; she had been forty years in the service of the Royal Family.” James Robethon’s nephew, the above named George, left £300 to Elizabeth, whom in 1739 he described as “Cousin Elizabeth, who lives at Court with the Princess.”