Brodrick, Allen

listing seven accusations against Thurloe from "inbred Malice against his Ma[jest]ys Royall person" to the corruption of "Severall of his Ma[jest]ys servants and Agents & procured them to betray his Ma[jest]ys affayres", contemporary marginal notes in another hand (e.g. naming the corrupted servants as Sir Richard Willis and others), two pages, integral blank, folio, [May-August 1660] [with:] "The motives & reasons which induced the Dutches of Yorke to embrace the Catholique Religion, written by her owne Hand at St James's 20 August 1670", contemporary manuscript copy, 3 pages, folio, the second leaf lacking blank bottom half of leaf 

This is one of 22 lots that have been removed from Holywell House, Hampshire, the home of the Villiers family, Earls of Clarendon. They chiefly relate to the life and careers of two contemporaries: Henry Hyde, Viscount Cornbury (1710-53), and Thomas Villiers (1709-86), created successively Baron Hyde of Hindon (1756) and Earl of Clarendon (1776).

Cornbury was the last heir to the Earldom of Clarendon that had been created for the statesman and historian Edward Hyde (1609-1674). Cornbury had Jacobite sympathies but was MP for the University of Oxford – with which his family had powerful connections – from 1732 until 1751. He became disillusioned with politics in the later 1740s and spent his final years in France. Cornbury counted Pope and Swift amongst his friends, and was himself the author of pamphlets and at least two plays (see lots 6 and 7). He died, unmarried, in Paris in 1753. Most of Cornbury’s property was inherited by his niece, Charlotte (née Capel). Thomas Villiers, second son of the Earl of Jersey, was her husband. Villiers had spent the 1730s and ‘40s as a diplomat mostly in the German-speaking world (none of his diplomatic papers are included in this offering) and, following his retirement from the diplomatic service, he entered government in the 1760s. As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1771-82 and 1783-86), Clarendon was in Cabinet during the American War of Independence (see lots 14-19).

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Allen Brodrick (1623-80) was a loyalist to the royal cause during the Commonwealth and a member of the Sealed Knot. He here attempts to secure the prosecution of John Thurloe (1616-68), who had run the Commonwealth's formidable intelligence network. In the end Thurloe was not exempted from the Act of Indemnity, allegedly as he threatened to publish his "black book" that named Cavaliers who had informed for the Commonwealth.