Note 134 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
A story is current, that Sir Robert, finding it difficult to prevail on Yorke to quit a place for life for the higher but more precarious dignity of Chancellor, worked upon his jealousy, and said, that if he persisted in refusing the Seals, he must offer them to Fazakerley. “Fazakerley!” exclaimed Yorke; “impossible! he is certainly a Tory, perhaps a Jacobite.” “It’s all very true,” replied Sir Robert, taking out his watch, “but if by one o’clock you do not accept my offer, Fazakerley by two becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and one of the staunchest Whigs in all England.” Yorke took the Seals and the Peerage.—E.