to give you my Iudgâ—ment of your Proceedings in your Convocation as you call it and both as Rex in solio and unus Gregis in Ecclesia I am doubly concerned My Title to the Crown no body calls in question but they that neither love you nor me and you guess whom I mean All that you and your Brethren have said of a King in Possession for that Word I tell you is no worse than that you make use of in your Canon concerns not me at all I am the next Heir and the Crown is mine by all Rights you can name but that of Conquest and Mr Solicitor has sufficiently express'd my own Thoughts concerning the Nature of Kingship in general and concerning the nature of it ut in mea persona And I believe you were all of his Opinion at least none of you said ought contrary to it at the time he spake to you from me But you know all of you as I think that my Reason of calling you together was to give your Iudgments how far a Christian and a Protestant King may concur to assist his Neighbours to shake of their Obedience to their once Sovereign upon the Account of Oppression Tyranny or what else you like to name it In the late Queen's time this Kingdom was very free in assisting the Hollanders both with Arms and Advice And none of your Coat ever told me that any scrupled about it in her Reign Vpon my coming to England you may know that it came from some of your selves to raise Scruples about this Matter And albeit I have often told my Mind concerning Jus Regium in Subditos as in May last in the Star-Chamber upon the occasion of Hales his Pamphlet yet I never took any notice of these Scruples till the Affairs of Spain and Holland forc'd me to it All my Neighbours call on me to concur in the Treaty between Holland and Spain and the Honour of the Nation will will not suffer the Hollanders to be abandoned especially after so much Money and Men spent in their Quarrel Therefore I was of the Mind to call my Clergy together to satisfy not so much me as the World about us of the Iustness of my owning the Hollanders at this time This I needed not have done and you have forced me to say I wish I had not You have dipp'd too deep in what all Kings reserve among the Arcana Imperii And what ever Aversion you may profess against God's being the Author of Sin you have stumbled upon the Threshold of that Opinion in saying upon the Matter that even Tyranny is God's Authority and should be reverenc'd as such If the King of Spain should return to claim his old Pontifical Right to my Kingdom you leave me to seek for others to fight for it For you tell us upon the matter beforehand his Authority is God's Authority if he prevail Thus far the Secretary's Hand as I take it follows the rest in the King 's own Hand thus Mr. Doctor I have no time to express my Mind farther in this thorny business I shall give you my Orders about it by Mr. Solicitor and until then meddle no more in it for they are Edge-Tools or rather like that Weapon that 's said to cut with the one edge and cure with the other I commit you to God's Protection good Doctor Abbot and rest Your good Friend Iames R. APPENDIX Containing a Collection of Instruments and Original Papers referr'd to in the former Memoirs NUMB. I. The Character of the Members of the House of Commons in Queen Elizabeth's Time Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia p. 13 14. and how differing from those in the Reign of King James WE must ascribe some part of the Commendation to the Wisdom of the Times and the Choice of Parliament-men For I find not that they were at any time given to any violent or pertinacious dispute Elections being made of grave and discreet Persons not factious and ambitious of Fame such as came not to the House with a malevolent Spirit of Contention but with a preparation to consult on the publick good rather to comply than contest with her Majesty Neither do I find that the House was at any time weaken'd and pester'd with the admission of too many Young Heads as it hath been of later times Which remembers me of Recorder Martin's Speech about the Tenth of our late Sovereign Lord King Iames when there were accounts taken of Forty Gentlemen not above Twenty and some not exceeding Sixteen which moved him to say That it was the ancient Custom for Old Men to make Laws for Young ones but that then he saw the Case alter'd and that there were Children elected unto the great Council of the Kingdom which came to invade and invert Nature and to enact Laws to govern their Fathers Sure we are the House always took the Common Cause into their Consideration and they saw the Queen had just occasion and need enough to use their assistance Neither do I remember that the House did ever capitulate or prefer their private to the publick the Queen's Necessities c. but waited their times and in the first place gave their Supply and according to the Exigency of her Affairs yet failed not at last to obtain what they desired so that the Queen and her Parliaments had ever the good fortune to depart in Love and on reciprocal Terms which are Considerations which have not been so exactly observed in our last Assemblies as they might and I would to God they had been For considering the great Debt left on the King and in what Incumbrances the House it self had then drawn him his Majesty was not well used though I lay not the blame on the whole Suffrage of the House where he had many good Friends for I dare avouch had the House been freed of half a dozen of popular and discontented Persons such as with the Fellow that burnt the Temple at Ephesus would be talked of tho but for doing of mischief I am confident the King had obtained that which in reason and at his first Accession he ought to have received freely and without any condition NUMB. II. The Character of Cecil Naunton Ibid. p. 80 81 82 83. Earl of Salisbury with his Letter to the Lord Mountjoy about the Spaniards Invading Ireland AND so again to this great Master of State and the Staff of the Queen's declining Age who though his little crooked Person could not promise any great supportation yet it carried thereon a Head and a Head-piece of a vast content and therein it seems Nature was so diligent to compleat one and the best part about him as that to the perfection of his Memory and Intellectuals she took care also of his Senses and to put him in Linceos Oculos or to pleasure him the more borrowed of Argos so to give unto him a Prospective Sight And for the rest of his Sensitive Virtues his Predecessor Walsingham had left him a Receit
egregiously imposâ—d upon for there was no way to come at the Town but through Parts of Germany that were in the hands of Spain and so the Spaniards continued Masters of Frankendale When several other Princes were some time after upon entring into a League for Restitution of the Palatinate and the House of Austria was beginning to doubt the Success Gundomar play'd another Engine to break their Measures by proposing a Match with the Infanta of Spain for the Prince of Wales as the easiest and surest way to restore the Palatine Family which like all the rest was only to amuse King Iames and was equally unsuccessful It were too long to give the Detail of King Iames's Conduct in this Affair which was all of a piece The Author sums up the ills that attended it in this That thereby the Protestant Religion was entirely rooted out of Bohemia the Electoral Dignity transferr'd from the Palatine Family the Palatinate it self lost the Liberty of Germany overthrown and which he mentions with a sensible Regret the famous Library of Heidelburgh was carried to Rome to the irreparable Prejudice of Learning So that Gundomar had good reason to say in one of his Letters to the Duke of Lerma printed in the History of that Duke's Life That he had lull'd King James so fast asleep that he hop'd neither the Cries of his Daughter nor her Children nor the repeated Sollicitations of his Parliament and Subjects in their behalf should be able to awaken him There are two Passages more very observable in this Author The Court of Spain finding King Iames had broke off the Spanish Match and was brought to see how egregiously he had been abus'd in it they ventur'd upon a bold Attempt to trouble his Affairs by whispering in his Ears some things to make him jealous of his Son And that a good while after when King Charles and his Parliament were entring upon vigorous Measures to espouse the Palatine Cause they found ways to sow Divisions between him and his People that in progress of time broke out into a Civil War The latter needs no Commentary and the former is sufficiently explain'd Hacket's Life of Bâ— William by what a late Author has writ in the Life of Bishop Williams concerning that Prelate's being instrumental in making up some secret differences betwixt King Iames and his Son the Prince of Wales a little before King Iames's Death Spanhemius sums up what relates to this Affair with this Remark That never Prince was more oblig'd to a Sister than King Charles the First was to the Queen of Bohemia since it was only the Consideration of her and her Children who were then the next Heirs to the Crown of England that prevail'd with the Court of Spain to permit him to see England again As in most Foreign Transactions King Iames was unhappy In the Interdict of Venice so more particularly in the difference between Pope Paul V. and the Venetians There appear'd at that time a wonderful Disposition in that State to work a Reformation in the Church and throw off the Papal Yoke In order to advance it King Iames dispatch'd Sir Henry Wotton his Ambassador to Venice and hearing that Spain had declar'd for the Pope he declar'd for the Venetians and acquainted Iustiniani their Ambassador in England That he would not only assist Them with all the Forces of his Kingdom but engage all his Allies in their Defence At Sir Henry Wotton's Arrival the Breach between the Pope and the Republick was brought very near a Crisis so that a total Separation was expected not only from the Court but the Church of Rome which was set on by the Learned Padre Paulo and the Seven Divines of the State with much Zeal and conducted with as great Prudence The Ambassador at his Audience offer'd all possible Assistance in his Master's Name and accus'd the Pope and Papacy of being the chief Authors of all the Mischiefs in Christendom This was receiv'd with great Deference and Respect to King Iames And when the Pope's Nuncio objected That King Iames was not a Catholick and so was not to be rely'd upon the Doge took him up briskly and told him That the King of England believ'd in Iesus Christ but he did not know in whom some others believ'd King Iames had sent with Wotton his Premonition to all Christian Princes and States translated into Latin to be presented to the Senate which Padre Paulo and the other Divines press'd might be done at his first Audience telling him they were confident it would have a very good effect The Ambassador could not be prevail'd with alledging he had positive Orders to wait till St. Iames's Day which was not far off This Conceit of presenting K. Iames's Book on St. Iames's Day spoil'd all for before that day came the Difference was made up and that happy Opportunity lost So that when he had his Audience on St. Iames's Day and had presented the Book all the Answer he got was That they thank'd the King of England for his good will but they were now reconcil'd to the Pope and that therefore they were resolv'd not to admit of any Change in their Religion according to their Agreement with the Court of Rome How little Reputation he acquir'd in the Matter of the Venetian Interdict appears yet more plainly in this That in all the numerous Collections we have of Letters that pass'd on that Subject between the Cardinals of Ioyeuse and Perron the Marquis de Fresnes and Henry IV. there is not the least notice taken of King Iames or his Embassy To have done with King Iames it was said That he divided his time betwixt his Standish his Bottle and his Hunting The last had his fair Weather the two former his dull and cloudy and therefore that it was no wonder his Writings were so variable and that after he had pleaded for Witchcraft and the Pope's being Antichrist Somerset's Affair and the Spanish Match cur'd him of both After having enjoy'd for the most part of his Life a firm Health he died of a Quartan Ague in the Fifty ninth Year of his Age and with such suspicious Circumstances as gave occasion of Enquiry into the manner of his Death in the two first Parliaments that were call'd by his Son all which came to nothing by reason of their sudden Dissolutions King Charles the First came to the Crown under all the Disadvantages that have been mention'd The Reign of King Charlâ—s I. and yet the Nation might have hop'd that their Condition would be mended under a Prince of so much Virtue as indeed he was if the Seeds of Discontent which were sown in his Father's time had not every day taken deeper Root and acquir'd new Growth through the Ill Management of his Ministers rather than any Wilful Errors of his own Some of them drove so fast that it was no wonder the Wheels and Chariot broke And it was in great part to the indiscreet Zeal of a
thee That even now I have received certain Intelligence of a great Defeat given by Montross to Argyle who upon surprize totally routed those Rebels and kill'd Fifteen hundred upon the place And it 's remarkable That in the same Letter to the Queen immediately after the mentioning Montross's Victory the King adds That as for trusting the Rebels either by going to London or disbanding my Army before a Peace do no ways fear my hazarding so cheaply or foâ—lishly for I esteem the Interest thou hast in me at a far dearer rate and pretend to have a little more Wit at least by the Sympathy that 's betwixt us than to put my self into the Reverence of Persidious Rebels Which Words being compar'd with Montross's Letter it will be found the one is a Commentary upon the other I have plac'd Montross ' s Letter it self in the Appendix Appendix Numb 10. and cannot leave it without making this Observation That considering the time it was writ the Critical Minute it was deliver'd with the sad Consequences that attended it it makes this Axiom true That oftentimes the Fate of Princes and States is chiefly owing to very minute and unforeseen Accidents The Treaty of Vxbridge being thus broke off the War was renew'd with greater Fury than ever till at last the Parliament's Army having beaten the King out of the Field came to kick their Masters out of the House and having modell'd the Parliament and Army to their own minds did set up for themselves and at one Blow compleated the Ruin of their Countrey in the Murther of King Charles I. and the Extirpation of Monarchy In short a continued Series of Misfortunes attended the Royal Cause and several favourable Accidents that seem'd from time to time to promise better Events did concur in the end to the King 's undoing Till at last that Unhappy Prince in being brought before a Tribunal of his own Subjects and submitting his Neck to the Stroke of a Common Executioner taught the World an astonishing Example of the Instability of Human Greatness and in that and the rest of his Sufferings a lasting Patern of Christian Magnanimity and Patience The Character of King Charles I. The Character of King Charles I. may be taken in a great part from what has been already said and I shall only add a few things more He was a Prince of a Comely Presence of a Sweet Grave but Melancholy Aspect His Face was Regular Handsome and well-complexion'd his Body Strong Healthy and well-made and though of a low Stature was capable to endure the greatest Fatigues His Face contrary to that of his Son 's Charles II. was easily taken either in Painting or Sculpture and scarce any one though never so indifferently skill'd in their Art fail'd do hit it He had something in the Lines and Features which Physiognomists account unfortunate And it 's commonly reported that his Picture being sent to Rome to have a Busto done by it a famous Statuary not knowing whose it was told the Gentleman that brought it He was sorry if it was the Face of any Relation of his for it was one of the most Vnfortunate he ever saw and according to all the Rules of Art the Person whose it was must dye a violent Death In his Temper he was Brave Magnificent Liberal and Constant but more affable to Strangers than his own Subjects It was his Noble and Generous Behaviour that took so much with the King of Spain when he went thither to court the Infanta that he rejected the repeated Solicitations of his Council to seize him and paid him more Respect than could have been well expected if he had been King of England at that time Of his Composure of Mind in time of greatest danger he gave a Noble Instance in his Behaviour in that great Storm in the Road of St. Andrees which was worthy the Ancient Philosophers Nor did he fall short of the Bravest in Personal Courage having expos'd his Person in every Battel he was in and oftentimes charging at the Head of his Squadrons He had a good Taste of Learning and a more than ordinary Skill in the Liberal Arts especially Painting Sculpture Architecture and Medals and being a Generous Benefactor to the most Celebrated Masters in those Arts he acquir'd the Noblest Collection of any Prince in his time and more than all the Kings of England had done before him It 's said notwithstanding his Natural Generosity That he bestow'd Favours with a worse Grace than his Son King Charles the Second denied them and many times obliterated the sense of the Obligation by the manner of it But indeed he had seldom much to give being kept short of Money a great part of his Reign The Essentials of Divinity he was as much Master of as ever his Father had been but without the Allay of Pedantry Of this among other things the Papers that past betwixt him and Mr. Henderson at Newcastle will be a lasting Monument He was a great Patron of the Clergy but his employing them in the highest Offices of Trust in State Matters created Envy against them and lessen'd the Love of the Nobility towards him Yet such was the Honesty and Integrity of one of them in the greatest and most obnoxious Post in the Kingdom that when some Years after he had resign'd the Treasurer's Staff and when the Parliament wanted not Will to crush him they could not find upon the narrowest Scrutiny any one thing to object either against his Accounts or his Behaviour in that Place King Charles was a passionate Lover of his Queen who was a Beautiful Lady and in all things very well accomplish'd insomuch that his Friends regretted the Ascendant she had over him on some occasions while others tax'd him with the Character of an Uxorious Husband He was fond of his Children and kind to his Servants though these last felt sometimes the hasty Sallies of his Passion He was not mistaken of himself when he said before the High-Court of Justice That he understood as much Law as any private Gentleman in England And pity it was that any of his Ministers should have advis'd him to make Breaches in what he so well understood He spoke several Languages very well and with a singular good Grace though now and then when he was warm in Discourse he was inclinable to stammer He writ a tolerable Hand for a King but his Sense was strong and his Stile Laconick and yet he seldom wrote in any Language but English Some of his Manifestoes Declarations and other Publick Papers he drew himself and most of them he Corrected In comparing those of the King 's with the Parliament's one will be easily inclin'd to prefer for the most part the King 's for the Strength of Reasoning and the Force of Expression I have seen several Pieces of his own Hand and therefore may the better affirm That both for Matter and Form they surpass those of his Ablest Ministers and come
Yatchts were waiting to Transport some Person of Quality without mentioning who it was or whither bound The Romish Party that manag'd about Court were observ'd to be more than ordinary diligent and busy up and down Whitehall and St. Iames's as if some very important Affair was in agitation and a new and unusual Concern was to be seen on their Countenances Nor was it any wonder for in this suspected Change they were like to be the only Losers and all their teeming Hopes were in a fair way to be disappointed How far the Principles of some of that Party might leave them at liberty to push on their Revenge for this design'd Affront as well as to prevent the Blow that threaten'd them though without the Privacy much less the Consent of the Duke of York is left to the Reader to judge There was a Foreign Minister that some days before the King fell ill order'd his Steward to buy a considerable Parcel of Black Cloth which serv'd him and his Retinue after for Mourning And the late Ambassador Don Pedro Ranquillor made it no Secret that he had a Letter from Flanders the Week before King Charles died that took notice of his Death as the News there But both these might fall out by mere Accident There remains two things more that deserve some Consideration in this matter When his Body was open'd there was not sufficient time given for taking an exact Observation of his Stomach and Bowels which one would think ought chiefly to have been done considering the violent Pains he had there And when a certain Physician seem'd to be more inquisitive than ordinary about the Condition of those Parts he was taken aside and reprov'd for his needless Curiosity In the next place his Body stunk so extremely within a few Hours after his Death notwithstanding the Coldness of the Season that the People about him were extremely offended with the Smell Which is a thing very extraordinary in one of his strong and healthful Constitution and is not a proper Consequent of a mere Apoplectical Distemper There was some Weight laid upon an Accident that fell out at Windsor some Years before his Death For the King drinking more liberally than usual after the Fatigue of Riding he retir'd to the next Room and wrapping himself up in his Cloak fell aslep upon a Couch He was but a little time come back to the Company when a Servant belonging to one of them lay down upon the same Couch in the King's Cloak and was found stabb'd dead with a Ponyard Nor was it ever known how it happen'd but the matter hush'd up and no Enquiry made about it To conclude Dr. Short who was a Man of great Probity and Learning and a Roman-Catholick made no scruple to declare his Opinion to some of his intimate Friends That he believ'd King Charles had foul Play done him And when he came to dye himself express'd some suspicion that he had met with the same Treatment for opening his mind too freely in that Point So much for the Circumstances of King Charles's Death that seem to have an Ill Aspect There are others that seem to destroy all Suspicions of Treachery in the matter As First He had liv'd so fast as might enervate in a great measure the Natural Force of his Constitution and exhaust his Animal Spirits and therefore he might be more subject to an Apoplexy which is a Disease that weakens and locks up these Spirits from performing their usual Functions And though in his later Years he had given himself more up to the Pleasures of Wine than of Women that might rather be the effect of Age than of Choice Next it 's known he had been once or twice attack'd before with Fits that much resembled those of which he afterwards died And yet as the manner of them is told they look rather to have been Convulsive Motions than an Apoplexy seeing they were attended with violent Contorsions of his Face and Convulsions of his whole Body and Limbs This is the more confirm'd by a Passage that happen'd during the Heat of the Popish Plot. King Charles had some secret Matter to manage at that time by the means of a Romish Priest then beyond Sea whom he order'd to be privately sent for And the Gentleman employ'd betwixt the King and him from whom I had the Story was directed to bring him in a Disguise to Whitehall The King and the Priest were a considerable time together alone in the Closet and the Gentleman attended in the next Room At last the Priest came out with all the marks of Fright and Astonishment in his Face and having recover'd himself a little he told the Gentleman That he had run the greatest Risque ever man did for while he was with the King his Majesty was suddenly surpriz'd with a Fit accompanied with violent Convulsions of his Body and Contorsions of his Face which lasted for some Moments and when he was going to call out for help the King held him by force till it was over and then bid him not to be afraid for he had been troubled with the like before the Priest adding what a condition he would have been in considering his Religion and the present Juncture of Affairs if the King had died of that Fit and no body in the Room with him besides himself But leaving this Story to the Credit of the Priest there might be another Natural Cause assign'd for King Charles's falling into such a Fit as that of which he died which is this He had had for some time an Issue in his Leg which run much and consequently must have made a great Revulsion from his Head upon which account it 's probable it was made A few Weeks before his Death he had let it be dried up contrary to the Advice of his Physicians who told him it would prejudice his Health Their Prognostick was partly true in this that there came a painful Tumor upon the place where the Issue had been which prov'd very obstinate and was not thoroughly heal'd up when he died In fine it is agreed on all hands that King Charles express'd no Suspicion of his being poyson'd during all the time of his Sickness Though it must be also observed that his Fits were so violent that he could not speak when they were upon him and show'd an Aversion to speaking during the Intervals And there was not any thing to be seen upon opening his Body that could reasonably be attributed to the force of Poyson Yet to allow these Considerations no more weight than they can well bear this must be acknowledg'd That there are Poysons which affect originally the Animal Spirits and are of so subtle a nature that they leave no concluding Marks upon the Bodies of those they kill Thus Reign'd The Character of King Charles II. and thus Died King Charles the Second a Prince endow'd with all the Qualities that might justly have rendred him the Delight of Mankind and entitled him
desire the comfort of your gracious presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more life and power to the dutiful and loyal Counsels and Endeavours of your Parliament for the prevention of that eminent ruin and destruction wherein your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The duty which we owe to your Majesty and our Countrey cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have thought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed amongst the people to blemish and disgrace our proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a party and faction amongst your Subjects for the better strengthning of themselves in their wicked courses and hindring those Provisions and Remedies which might by the wisdom of your Majesty and Counsel of your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better information of your Majesty your Peers and all other your loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the state of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon your Royal Person but only to represent how your Royal Authority and Trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of your Majesty and of all your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those malignant parties whose proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and encrease of Popery is composed set up and acted by the subtil practice of the Jesuits and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of your loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of your Privy Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of your Royal Children And by this means hath had such an operation in your Council and the most important affairs and proceedings of your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the increase of Jealousies betwixt your Majesty and your most obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the insurrection of the Papists in your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of your people have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment whereof your poor Subjects are enforced to engage their persons and estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliament undergone the charge of 150000 pounds sterling or thereabouts for the necessary support and supply of your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the peace safety and preservation of your Majesty and your people if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant party We your most humble and obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech your Majesty 1. That you will be graciously pleased to concur with the humble desires of your people in a Parliamentary way for the preserving the peace and safety of the Kingdom from the malicious Designs of the Popish party For depriving the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament and abridging their immoderate power usurped over the Clergy and other your good Subjects which they have most perniciously abused to the hazard of Religion and great prejudice and oppression of the Laws of the Kingdom and just liberty of your people For the taking away such oppressions in Religion Church government and Discipline as have been brought in and fomented by them For uniting all such your loyal Subjects together as joyn in the same fundamental truths against the Papist by removing some oppressions and unnecessary Ceremonies by which divers weak consciences have been scrupled and seem to be divided from the rest For the due execution of those good Laws which have been made for securing the liberty of your Subjects 2. That your Majesty will likewise be pleased to remove from your Council all such as persist to favour and promote any of those pressures and corruptions wherewith your people have been grieved and that for the future your Majesty will vouchsafe to imploy such persons in your great and publick Affairs and to take such to be near you in places of trust as your Parliament may have cause to confide in that in your Princely goodness to your people you will reject and refuse all mediation and solicitation to the contrary how powerful and near soever 3. That you would be pleased to forbear to alienate any of the forfeited and escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to your Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of them the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to your Subjects of this Kingdom for the great expences they are like to undergo this War Which humble desires of ours being graciously fulfilled by your Majesty we will by the blessing and favour of God most chearfully undergo the hazard and expences of this War and apply our selves to such other courses and counsels as may support your Royal Estate with honour and plenty at home with power and reputation abroad and by our loyal affections obedience and service lay a sure and lasting foundation of the greatness and prosperity of your Majesty and your Royal Posterity in future times A Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Die Mercurii 15 Decemb. 1642. THE Commons in this present Parliament assembled having with much earnestness and faithfulness of affection and zeal to the publick good of this Kingdom and his Majesties honour and service for the space of twelve months wrestled with the great dangers and fears the pressing miseries and calamities the various distempers and disorders which had not only assaulted but even overwhelmed and extinguisht the liberty peace and prosperity of this Kingdom the comfort and hopes of all his Majesties good Subjects and exceedingly weakned and undermined the foundation and strength of his own Royal Throne Do yet find an abounding Malignity and Opposition in those parties and factions who have been the cause of those evils and do still labour to cast aspersions upon that which hath been done and to raise many difficulties for the hinderance of that which remains yet undone and to foment Jealousies betwixt the King and the Parliament that so they may deprive him his
break the Laws and suppress the Liberties of the Kingdom after they had been so solemny and evidently declared Another Parliament dissolved 4 Car. The privilege of Parliament broken by imprisoning divers Members of the House detaining them close prisoners for many months together without the liberty of using Books Pen Ink or Paper denying them all the comforts of life all means of preservation of health not permitting their Wives to come unto them even in time of their sickness And for the compleating of that cruelty after years spent in such miserable durance depriving them of the necessary means of Spiritual consolation not suffering them to go abroad to enjoy God's Ordinances in God's House or God's Ministers to come to them to administer comfort unto them in their private Chambers and to keep them still in this oppressed condition not admitting them to be bailed according to Law yet vexing them with Informations in inferior Courts sentencing and fining some of them for matters done in Parliament and extorting the payments of those Fines from them enforcing others to put in security of good behaviour before they could be released The imprisonment of the rest which refused to be bound still continued which might have been perpetual if necessity had not the last year brought another Parliament to relieve them of whom one died by the cruelty and harshness of his imprisonment which would admit of no relaxation notwithstanding the imminent danger of his life did sufficiently appear by the declaration of his Physician And his Release or at least his Refreshment was sought by many humble Petitions And his Blood still cries either for Vengeance or Repentance of those Ministers of State who have at once obstructed the course both of his Majesty's Justice and Mercy Upon the Dissolution of both these Parliaments untrue and scandalous Declarations published to asperse their Proceedings and some of their Members unjustly to make them odious and colour the Violence which was used against them Proclamations set out to the same purpose and to the great dejecting of the hearts of the People forbidding them even to speak of Parliaments After the Breach of Parliament in the Fourth Year of his Majesty Injustice Oppression and Violence broke in upon us without any Restraint or Moderation and yet the first Project was the great Sums exacted through the whole Kingdom for default of Knighthood which seemed to have some colour and shadow of a Law yet if it be rightly examined by that obsolete Law which was pretended for it it would be found to be against all the Rules of Justice both in respect of the Persons charged the Proportion of the Fines demanded and the absurd and unreasonable Manner of their Proceedings Tunnage and Poundage hath been received without colour or pretence of Law many other heavy Impositions continued against Law and some so unreasonable that the Sum of the Charge exceeds the Value of the Goods The Book of Rates lately inhansed to a high proportion and such Merchants as would not submit to their illegal and unreasonable Payments were vexed and oppressed above measure and the ordinary course of Justice the common Birth-right of the Subject of England wholly obstructed unto them And although all this was taken upon pretence of guarding the Sea yet a new and unheard-of Tax of Ship-money was devised upon the same pretence By both which there was charged upon the Subject near 700000 Pounds some Years and yet the Merchants have been left so naked to the violence of the Turkish Pyrates that many great Ships of Value and Thousands of his Majesty's Subjects have been taken by them and do still remain in miserable Slavery The enlargement of Forests contrary to Charta de Foresta and the Composition thereupon The exactions of Coat and Conduct money and divers other Military Charges The taking away the Arms of the Trained-Bands of divers Counties The desperate design of engrossing all the Gunpowder into one hand keeping it in the Tower of London and setting so high a Rate upon it that the poorer sort were not able to buy it nor could any have it without License thereby to leave the several parts of the Kingdom destitute of their necessary defence and by selling so dear that which was sold to make an unlawful advantage of it to the great charge and detriment of the Subject The general destruction of the King's Timber especially that in the Forest of Dean sold to Papists which was the best Store-house of this Kingdom for the maintenance of our Shipping The taking away of mens Right under colour of the King's Title to Land between high and low Water Marks The Monopolies of Soap Salt Wine Leather Sea-Coal and in a manner of all things of most common and necessary use The restraint of the Liberties of the Subjects in their Habitation Trades and other Interest Their vexation and oppression by Purveyors Clerks of the Market and Salt-Petre-men The sale of pretended Nusances as Buildings in and about London Conversion of Arable into Pasture continuance of Pasture under the Name of Depopulation have drawn many Millions out of the Subjects Purses without any considerable Profit to his Majesty Large quantities of Common and several Grounds have been taken from the Subject by colour of the Statute of Improvement and by abuse of the Commission of Sewers without their consent and against it And not only private Interest but also publick Faith have been broken in seizing of the Money and Bullion in the Mint and the whole Kingdom like to be robb'd at once in that abominable Project of Brass Money Great numbers of his Majesty's Subjects for refusing those unlawful Charges have been vex'd with long and expensive Suits some fined and censured others committed to long and hard Imprisonments and Confinements to the loss of Health of many of Life in some and others have had their Houses broken up their Goods seized some have been restrained from their lawful Callings Ships have been interrupted in their Voyages surprized at Sea in an Hostile manner by Projectors as by a common Enemy Merchants prohibited to unlade their Goods in such Ports as were for their own advantage and forced to bring them to those places which were most for the advantages of the Monopolizers and Projectors The Court of Star-chamber hath abounded in extravagant Censures not only for the maintenance and improvement of Monopolies and other unlawful Taxes but for divers other Causes where there hath been no offence or very small whereby his Majesty's Subjects have been oppressed by grievous Fines Imprisonments Stigmatizings Mutilations Whippings Pillories Gags Confinements Banishments after so rigid a manner as hath not only deprived men of the society of their Friends exercise of their Professions comfort of Books use of Paper or Ink but even violated that near Union which God hath establish'd betwixt Men and their Wives by forced and constrained Separation whereby they have been bereaved of the comfort and conversation one of another for
That the prayers of your Petition are grounded upon such premisses as We must in no wise admit yet notwithstanding we are pleased to give this Answer to you To the first concerning Religion consisting of several branches we say That for the preserving the peace and safety of this Kingdom from the designs of the Popish party we have and will still concur with all the just desires of our people in a Parliamentary way That for the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament We would have you consider that their right is grounded upon the fundamental Law of the Kingdom and constitution of Parliament This we would have you consider but since you desire our concurrence herein in a Parliamentary way we will give no further answer at this time As for the abridging of the inordinate power of the Clergy we conceive that the taking away of the High-Commission Court hath well moderated that but if there continue any Usurpations or Excesses in their Jurisdictions we therein neither have nor will protect them Unto that Clause which concerneth Corruptions as you stile them in Religion in Church-government and in Discipline and the removing of such unnecessary Ceremonies as weak Consciences might cheque at That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in we shall willingly concur in the removal of them That if our Parliament shall advise us to call a National Synod which may duly examine such Ceremonies as give just cause of offence to any we shall take it into consideration and apply our self to give due satisfaction therein But we are very sorry to hear in such general terms Corruption in Religion objected since we are perswaded in our conscience that no Church can be found upon the earth that professeth the true Religion with more purity of Doctrine than the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are joyntly more beautified and free from Superstition than as they are here established by Law which by the grace of God we will with constancy maintain while we live in their Purity and Glory not only against all invasions of Popery but also from the irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatisâ—s wherewith of late this Kingdom and this City abounds to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppression of whom we require your timely aid and active assistance To the second prayer of the Petition concerning the removal and choice of Councellors we know not any of our Council to whom the Character set forth in the Petition can belong That by those whom we had exposed to trial we have already given you sufficient testimony that there is no man so near unto us in place or affection whom we will not leave to the Justice of the Law if you shall bring a particular charge and sufficient proofs against him and of this we do again assure you but in the mean time we wish you to forbear such general aspersions as may reflect upon all our Council since you name none in particular That for the choice of our Councellors and Ministers of State it were to debar us that natural liberty all Freemen have and it is the undoubted right of the Crown of England to call such persons to our Secret Councils to publick employment and our particular service as we shall think fit so we are and ever shall be very careful to make election of such persons in those places of trust as shall have given good testimonies of their abilities and integrity and against whom there can be no just cause of exception whereon reasonably to ground a diffidence and to choices of this nature we assure you that the mediation of the nearest unto us hath always concurred To the third Prayer of your Petition concerning Ireland we understand your desire of not alienating the forfeited Lands thereof to proceed from your much care and love And likewise that it may be a Resolution very fit for us to take but whether it be seasonable to declare Resolutions of that nature before the events of a War be seen that we much doubt of Howsoever we cannot but thank you for this care and your chearful ingagement for the suppression of that Rebellion upon the speedy effecting thereof the glory of God in the Protestant Profession the safety of the British there our honour and that of the Nation so much depends all the Interests of this Kingdom being so involved in that business we cannot but quicken your affections therein and shall desire you to frame your Councils and to give such expedition to the work as the nature thereof and the pressures in point of time requires and whereof you are put in mind by the daily insolence and encrease of those Rebels For Conclusion your promise to apply your selves to such courses as may support our Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home and with Power and Reputation abroad is that which we have ever promised our self botâ— from your Loyalties and Affections and also for what we have already done and shall daily go adding unto for the comfort and happiness of our People His Majesties Declaration to all His loving Subjects Published with the advice of His Privy Council ALthough we do not believe that our House of Commons intended by their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom to put us to any Apology either for our past or present Actions Notwithstanding since they have thought it so very necessary upon their Observation of the present Distemper to publish the same for the satisfaction of all our loving Subjects We have thought it very suitable to the duty of our place with which God hath trusted us to do our part to so good a work in which we shall not think it below our Kingly dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the affections of our meanest Subjects since we are so conscious to our self of such upright Intentions and endeavours and only of such for which we give God thanks for the peace and happiness of our Kingdom in which the prosperity of our Subjects must be included that we wish from our heart that even our most secret thoughts were published to their view and examâ—nation Though we must confess we cannot but be very sorry in this conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many particulars from which we pray no inconveniences may ensue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible expressions And that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of our people Of which we shall only say thus much That as we have not refused to pass any Bill
eaque quibus nunc frueris bona et si post ingens à Te pretiumâ— persolutum Tibi reddita fuerint non à Te coempta arbitrabitur sed quadam Superum prodigentiâ dona data Tibi demum gratulor praestantissime Orator quod tam faustum diem videris in Anglia detuleris in Vrbem Nam de Sapientia Tuâ quâ per eruditissimos libros Haeresim profligasti nihil attinet dicere nihil de Fortitudine quâ Carceres ipsos pro Catholica Religione tuenda non tam pertulisti quà m decorasti nil de Prudentia Nobilitate caeterisque dotibus Tuis Hoc unum universa Tua decora comprehendit quod ad maximum totius Regni negotium hoc est ut splendidissimâ— fungereris apud Innocentium P. M. legatione Iacobus II. Magnae Britanniae Rex maximus Te unum elegit quia unus dignus erat eligi alter eligere The Speech of the Rector of the College of Iesuits to his Excellency Roger Earl of Castlemain SIR YOU must not think this College alone can be mute and if they could their Silence must be a Crime at a Time when this City is filled with Vniversal Ioy upon the News of your Excellency's Arrival and all Places resound the Praises of James the Second and the Obligations the Catholick Church has to that Illustrious Prince I in the Name of this Learned Body do in the first place congratulate thee Innocent in whose Reign this flourishing Imperial Crown is added to the Papal Diadem It is now your Holiness can properly use that Apostolick Expression My Joy and my Crown Heaven has deferr'd this happy Day thus long That so great a Blessing might not be obtained without long and unwearied Prayers and at last effected when Two such Princes as James and Innocent should concur to reign the one in England and the other in Rome What a Support have all Catholick Kings gained by this Accession What an Honour has the Orthodox Faith receiv'd and what a Defence against the Enemies of the Name of Christ The Thunder of his Invincible Fleet will strike greater Terror into the Pyrates of Barbary and the Levant than Storms and Waves can do How highly blest art Thou O Britain Empress of the Ocean once secluded from the Earth now Mistress of the Commerce of the Eastern and Western World What Prosperity may'st thou not hope for under the Reign of so Excellent a Prince Raise thy Hopes Raise thy Courage and banish all unjust and unseasonable Fears I have no Inclination at this time to recount those Disasters and Calamities which England has been the Theatre for above an Age past to the Grief and Astonishment of the rest of the World But if Providence has made these the Steps for James the Second to mount the Throne I can hardly refrain declaring how cheaply thou hast purchased so great a Blessing It is certain their present Happiness will create Envy in succeeding Times and however dear it has cost them Posterity will esteem it more the Bounty and Profusion of Heaven than a Recompence of their Sufferings In the last place I must congratulate your Excellency who has first seen this happy Day at home and has next been the Messenger to bring it hither I shall not here presume to praise your Great Wisdom your Learned Writings against Heresy that steady Courage you have shewn in those many Prisons you have honour'd for your Zeal to the True Religion your prudent Conduct or your other extraordinary Qualities All these are summ'd up in one and your Character is in fine compleated by the Choice your Great Master has made of you to sustain the most considerable Affair of his Kingdom The present Glorious Embassy In which all the World must own Him to be the most competent Iudge and You the fittest Person NUMB. XIX The Answer of the Vice President and Fellows of Magdalen-College Oxon before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Why they could not in Conscience comply with the King's Mandate THE said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answered and said That the said Colledge of St. Mary Magdalen in Oxon is a Body Corporate governed by Local Statutes granted and confirmed to them by His Majesty's Royal Predecessor King Henry the 6th for Him and His Heirs and Successors under the Great Seal of England which are also since confirmed by several other Letters Patents of others of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors under the Great Seal of England That by the said Statutes of the College to the observation of which each Fellow is sworn it is ordered That the Person elected President thereof shall be a Man of good Life and Reputation approved Understanding and good Temper Discreet Provident and Circumspect both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs And at the time of Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said Statutes to take an Oath that they shall nominate none to that office but such as are or have been Fellows of the said Colledge or of New-Colledge in Oxon or if they are not actually Fellows at that time of Election that they be such as have left their Fellowships in their respective Colledges upon credible accounts And when two qualified persons shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all the Fellows to the said Office of President the thirteen Seniors also swear that they will Elect one of them whom in their Consciences they think most proper and sufficient most discreet most useful and best qualified for the Place without any regard to love hatred favour or fear And every Fellow when he is first admitted into his Fellowship in the said Colledge swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Colledge and every thing therein contained so far as does or may concern him according to the plain literal and grammatical sense and meaning thereof and as much as in him lies will cause the same to be kept and observed by others and that he will not procure any Dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oath or any part thereof nor contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which it relates or any of them nor will he endeavour that such Dispensations shall be procured by any other or others publickly or privately directly or indirectly And if it shall happen that any Dispensation of this sort of whatsoever Authority it shall be whether in general or particular or under what form of Words soever it be granted that he will neither make use of it nor in any sort consent thereunto That upon Notice of the Death of Dr. Clark Late President of the said Colledge the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order to the appointing a day for the Election of a new President and the 13th of April was the time prefix'd with power to proâ—ogue the same as they should see cause till the 15th beyond which time they could not statutably defer their Election and in