Nature and Grace being a Consequence of the Author's Principles contained in the Search together with F. Malbranch's Defence against Mr. de la Ville and several other Adversaries All English'd by J. Taylor M. A. of Magdalen-College Oxon and Printed there The Second Edition with some Additions communicated by the Author QVARTO A Critical History of the Texts and Versions of the New Testament In two Parts By Father Simon of the Oratory A Discourse sent to the late King James to perswade him to embrace the Protestant Religion By Sam. Parker late Bishop of Oxon. To which are prefixed two Letters the first from Sir Lionel Jenkins on the same Subject the second from the Bishop sent with the Discourse All Printed from the Original Manuscripts A short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England By Mr. Milbourn Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions In Three Vol. By Robert South D. D. Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By G. Strading D. D. and late Dean of Chichester Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By R. Meggot D. D. Of the Reverence due to God in his Publick Worship In a Sermon before the King and Queen at White-Hall By the Right Reverend Father in God Nicholas Lord Bishop of Chester Three Sermons upon several Occasions By the Right Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Oxford Two Sermons one before the House of Commons the other before the Queen By W. Jane D. D. and Dean of Gloucester Three Sermons before the Queen By Nath. Resbury D. D. Five Sermons upon several Occasions By Mr. Francis Atterbury Two Visitation-Sermons and one before the Societies for the Reformation of Manners By Mr. William Whitfield The Certainty and Necessity of Religion in General or the first Grounds and Principles of Humane Duty Established In Eight Sermons Preached at St. Martins in the Field At the Lecture for the Year 1697. Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyl Esq The Certainty of the Christian Revelation and the Necessity of Believing it establish'd in opposition to all the Cavils and Insinuations of such as pretend to allow Natural Religion and reject the Gospel Both by Francis Gastril B. D. Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn A Conference with a Theist In Four Parts compleat By W. Nichols D. D. Mr. Luzancy against the Socinians In Two Parts A Discourse of Religious Assemblies for the Use of the Members of the Church of England By G. Burghorpe Rector of Little Gaddesden in Hertford-shire A Discourse of Schism address'd to those Dissenters who conform'd before the Toleration and have since withdrawn themselves from the Communion of the Church of England By R. Burscough M. A. The Inspiration of the New Testament Asserted and Explained in Answer to Mr. Le Clerc and other Modern Writers By G. Lamothe The Lives of all the Princes of Orange from William the Great Founder of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces Translated from the French by Mr. Tho. Brown Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem containing many curious Reflections very useful and necessary for the right understanding of the Excellency of Homer and Virgil. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperor concerning himself treating of a Natural Man's Happiness wherein it consisteth and of the Means to attain it Translated out of the Original Greek with Notes by M. Casabon D. D. To which is added The Life of Antoninus with some select Reflections upon the Whole By Monsieur and Madam Daceir Never before in English The Art of Glass Shewing how to make all sorts of Glass Crystal and Enamel likewise the making of Pearls Precious Stones China and Looking Glasses To which is added The Method of Painting on Glass and Enameling also how to extract the Colours from Minerals Metals Herbs and Flowers A Work containing many Secrets and Curiosities never before discovered Illustrated with Sculptures Written originally in French by Mr. H. Blancourt and now translated into English With an Appendix contaning Exact Instructions for making Glass Eyes of all Colours Jacobi Patriarchae de Shiloh Vaticinium a depravatione Johannis Clerici in Pentateuchum Commentatoris Assertum Opera Studio Sebastini Edzardi Accedit Ejudem Dissertatio de nomine Elohim Aurocti Judicii de R. Simonii Historia V. Test Critica opposita An Essay concerning Self Murther Wherein is endeavour'd to prove That it is unlawful according to Natural Principles With some Considerations upon what is pretended from the said Principles by the Author of a Treatise intituled Biathaenatos and others By J. Adams Rector of St. Alban's Wood street and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty The Pretensions of the several Candidates for the Crown of Spain discuss'd and the Necessity of the King of Portugal's being declared Successor to his Catholick Majesty prov'd In a Letter from a Spanish Nobleman to a Counsellor of State at Madrid OF THE INTERESTS OF PORTUGAL With Relation to other SOVEREIGNS CONTAINING An Account of the most Considerable Transactions that have pass'd of late between that Court and those of Rome Spain France Vienna England c. PART II. Of the Interests of Portugal with Relation to Rome OF all the Courts with which this of Portugal hath any Intercourse that of Rome challenges the Pre-eminence and not without Reason considering what great Interest and Power the Pope has within the Kingdom for however He may be slighted in other Countries accounted Catholick he hath hitherto made shift to maintain his Authority in this by virtue of the extraordinary Devotion of the Portuguese Kings towards the Holy See which his present Majesty has inherited from his Ancestors together with the Title of The most Obedient Son of the Church It is well known what Power Popes have had in former Ages in other parts of Christendom and by what means they procured and maintained it notwithstanding the Opposition they almost every where met with from Princes who were perpetually strugling to preserve or recover their Liberty But the Case of Portugal seems peculiar in this respect That as it hath brought its self into a greater subjection to the See of Rome than any other Kingdom so it can plead the Merit of a voluntary Obedience Other Nations have shown that they were in a State of Violence while the Soveraign Pontiffs were exercising the Plenitude of their Power over them since all of them have in some measure more or less eased themselves of the Oppression while the Portugueses who doubtless might have gone as far as any towards the recovery of their Liberty do to this day bear the Yoke It is indeed with some Impatience for they are not insensible of its weight and smart and see plainly that its like to lie heavier upon them still Alfonso Henriquez their first King refused to accept of the Crown till it was made Tributary to his Holiness John the 2d who in other Cases knew as well as ever any Prince did how to assert the Royal Authority exceeded his first
time this Feast usually lasts Perhaps his Compliance in this as that of Augustus was on the like Occasions may be as much to please the People as Himself For the Portugueses from the highest to the lowest are strangely fond of the Sport It hath been an ancient Custom which is still kept up for the Chamber of Lisbon to entertain the People with this Sight in Honour to St. Anthony the Son and Patron of the City and in Gratitude for the Birth of an Infante a Pretence which the King of late hath furnished them with almost every Year Tho' it is thought one Reason may be the raising of a considerable Sum of Money which they make by the Scaffolds that are built about a very large Square before the Palace which are all sure to be fill'd for at the News of a Bull-running the People come flocking in from all parts of the Country round about The King has a fine Balcony built for him out of one of the Palace-Windows where he sits all the time with his Queen and the young Princes attended by a Nobleman who receives his Orders and delivers them out at another Window for the Conduct of the Cavalier and the Management of the Bulls His Majesty tho' he sits compos'd all the while yet is so intent upon the Sport that he is sometimes heard by those in the Seats under him applauding the Cavalier when he hath given a lucky Stroke and one that comes off with Credit shall the next Day be received by him in the most kind and obliging manner and may depend afterwards on his Favour But there lies a great Complaint against His Majesty on this occasion That he for his own private Diversion abates much of the Satisfaction the People would otherwise take For before the Bulls appear in Publick the King on pretence of trying what Metal they are made of will have them to Alcantara where they are commonly so harrass'd out that very few of them will make head against the Cavalier and when a sprightly Bull appears that is likely to make them Sport and do Mischief the King will sometimes order him to be taken in again and reserved for his own use This sets the People a murmuring A happy People were this the greatest Grievance they had to complain of And in truth it seems to be one of the greatest they can lay to their King's Charge or that appears to him to be in his Power to redress For tho' the Opinions of Men are various concerning the Cause and Manner of his first taking upon him the Government yet it is generally agreed that in the Administration thereof he hath all along shewn himself to be most tenderly careful of his Peoples Welfare and in his whole Conduct to have highly deserved the Character that is giv'n him of a truly just and good Prince I confess it would be somewhat difficult to reconcile to this Character some former Transactions wherein his Name was much made use of but then it must be considered that while those things which are most liable to Censure were transacted he was very young and in the hands of others But in what relates to the Administration of the Government I find upon the exactest Enquiry I could make People of all Parties to be generally agreed in their Opinions concerning him and in Portugal they take as great a Liberty in speaking their Minds of their Superiours as in any other Country whatsoever But they have here so high an Esteem for their King that if they blame any thing in his Conduct it is his not making use of his great Power so often as they could wish they think he pays too great a Deference to his Counsellors and to these they impute all the Hardships they suffer The same thing is taken Notice of by Foreigners and reckon'd to be the Cause of any false Steps this Court may have taken inconsistent with the Honour and true Interests of the Crown But it is a Fault the wisest Men are guilty of to have too great a distrust of themselves And this King they say is perswaded to do nothing of Importance without the Advice and Concurrence of his Ministers as thinking it the safest Course he can take for the Discharge of his Conscience He is a Religious Observer of Justice and has thereby delivered his Kingdom from many great Disorders that it before labour'd under Robberies on the High-Way are now seldom or never heard of notwithstanding the universal Poverty that appears throughout the Country and 't is said that before this Reign 't was unsafe for any to be abroad in the Evening about and within the City it self Murders are not near so frequent now as formerly the King growing every Day more and more severe against the Guilty And in truth there was great occasion for it Crimes of this Nature being very lightly made of in this Country if committed in a Fray or upon the slightest Provocation A former Grudge tho' of old standing was used to be taken for a justifiable Excuse even when the Murder was committed in the most cowardly and treacherous manner the Criminal was acquitted or sued out his Pardon of Course or fled to Sanctuary and being once there procur'd a Carta de Seguro which is a Protection given by the Government for one that hath the Priviledge of Sanctuary to appear abroad and sollicit his Cause whereby he has an opportunity given him to compound with his Prosecutors or by other means to take off or elude the Pursuit of Justice But now Cartas de Seguro are more rarely granted and Criminals are oftentimes forc'd from Sanctuary Such Order is taken for preserving the Peace that a Man may pass through the City at any time of Night without meeting with the least Affront or Disturbance Formerly the City was much infested and great Disorders committed by Night-Walkers of all Ranks and Orders from those of the first Quality down to the very Fryars It is reported of an old Porter belonging to a certain Convent that he uses to tell with Regret how mightily the Time are altered from what they were in his Days when a Dozen or more Fryars of his Convent would sally out in a Night upon Adventures And there must be something in it that there goes a common Saying among the People That it is equally dangerous to deal with a Fryar by Night as with a Fidalgo by Day The Reason usually given for it is That in a Night-Scuffle the Fryar will be sure to stand as stoutly to it because he is not known as a Fidalgo wou'd in the Day-time because he is But now all things are still and quiet the Clatterings of Swords and Targets which formerly used to be ever and anon disturbing Peoples Rest are seldom heard except it be on such Nights when People of all Sorts and Sexes are let loose to visit the Churches but those are Times of Indulgence and they take a Liberty then to commit all
of the aforesaid unlawful Gains and at this Rate one may Compound for 100 Millreis but when the Sum exceeds an hundred Millreis he must pay for the excess 2 Testons out of every Five Millreis till he comes to 200 but after that there is no Composition till he applies himself to the Commissary or his Deputy and he commonly exacts 10 per Cent but does not so ty himself up but will require more or less according to the Circumstances of the Case The Purchaser of this Bull must receive a Printed Copy of it or else the Commissary saith it will do him no good however he saith it may be presently torn in Pieces as that for the Dead may too and be of as much Benefit as before but such as will keep it by them must have their Names Subscrib'd or if they are shy to do this as being tender of their Credit they must themselves subscribe Foam that is Some-body None can have the Benefit of these two later Bulls unless he has taken out the former They may be all Three had by any that reside in Portugal whether Natives or Strangers and by Portugueses residing in Foreign Countrys in case they design to return Home in any Time Many other Matters of as great Importance as any thing yet mentioned might be related concerning these Bulls The Reader perhaps will think I have trifled too long about them already but he may depend upon it that nothing hath been said on the Subject but upon sufficient Authority The Money rais'd by all these Contributions goes I suppose for the most part the same way as the rest of the Publick Revenues do The Pope indeed has his Share out of it but if it be no more than is pretended it is but a very inconsiderable one since the King stands so much oblig'd to him for the whole for it is said to have been no more at first than 12000 Crowns a Year as I remember I have been told that it is now 15000 but it has been of late one part of the Nuncio's business at Lisbon to get it rais'd higher However if his Holiness fails in this he knows how to make it up out of the Kingdom of Portugal by other ways Another small part of these Incomes goes to maintain the Portuguese Garison in Mazagam consisting of about 1500 Men. Mazagam is a Rock in the Atlantick Ocean in the Coast of Barbary so contiguous to the Shoar that at Low-Water it seems to be join'd to the Firm Land and serves sometimes as a Refuge to Christian Slaves from Mequenes I know not what other use it may be of unless it be to keep them in countenance that are employed in Preaching up the Croisade but they fearing belike that the Pretence may not be sufficient to bear them out take care to inform the People that were there no such Place in being and not a Souldier Paid in Barbary they shall have every thing made made good to them to a Tittle that is promis'd in the Bulls for whatever becomes of the Money their Merit is the same and that they say by the help of the Indulgences will be sure to carry them directly to Heaven I have the Sermon of one of these Preachers now before me and he among other Prodigious Extravagances is proving That the Croisade Bull is of greater Benefit to his Auditors than their Baptism it self or than Martyrdom would be I shall not repeat his Profane Arguments But the Conclusion he pretends to make out is That these Indulgences are able to purifie them from the Guilt of all their Sins and free them from the Punishment due to them either in Hell or Purgatory The King of Portugal's Land-Forces used in Times of Peace to amount to about 12 or 13000 Men Horse and Foot but they have been encreas'd of late Years and with the New Levies rais'd above a year ago they made 25000 Men and new Commissions are still giving out But the King's Pay is so poor a Subsistence that tho' there be Lazy Beggars enough in this Kingdom and People live as hardly here as in any Part of Europe yet it would be impossible even in times of Peace to get Souldiers to supply the Garrisons were not Compulsion us'd The Pay of those that serve about Lisbon which as I have been told is double to what they receive in other Parts of the Kingdom is half a Teston per diem out of which such Deductions are made that besides a small Ammunition-Loaf there comes scarce a Vintain to the Souldier for which reason the Officers whose business it is to raise Souldiers are dreaded and courted by the People in their several Districts as Men in whose power it is to do the greatest mischief in the World to their Neighbours and when any Person is pitch'd upon for the King's Service lest he should run his Country his Father or his nearest Relations are made responsible for his Forth-coming and this in time of Peace But it is commonly reported that during the War with the Spaniards It was a Customary Thing among the Poor People to blind their Children when they were young lest when they grew up they should be taken from them for Soldiers and this is usually given for the reason why there are so many Blind Beggars about the City that gain their Livelihood by singing Prayers at the Doors of the poorer sort who Contract with them for their Attendance each Customer allowing them a Pension of about Ten Reis or Vintain per Month and there are many who think the Parents of these miserable Creatures have well provided for them The King hath about 25 Ships of War great and small most of them well built and they say after the best English Models according to His Majesties immediate Directions who is said to have great Skill in these Matters and to delight much therein It is thought that about Seventeen may be Fitted out for Service Nor hath this King been less careful to provide himself with Seamen to which end he hath taken care to have a certain Number Enroll'd and ready always upon Occasion and for their Encouragement he has bestowed several considerable Priviledges and Immunities upon such as being found duly qualified shall enter their Names in the List But the Number required is so very small as shews that there is a great Want of Seamen in the Kingdom for they are no more than 300 at least they were no more at their first Institution in 1676 and I have not heard that they have been encreas'd since Whence it appears That the Portugueses who were once so famous for Navigation all over the World are now much fallen from what they were 150 Years ago Another Proof of this great Change is this Tho' they have every Summer a small Squadron out a Cruising upon the Algerines and Sallee-men they have never been able to take a Prize at least in the Memory of the Oldest Men of my Acquaintance who have known
Predecessor in his Respect and Deference to the Holy See for he gave the Pope an uncontroulable kind of Soveraignty within his Dominions granting that his Bulls should be Publish'd for the future without being examin'd by the Chancellor or any other of the King's Ministers which was the former practice of this and is still observed with great exactness in other Kingdoms to prevent incroachments upon the Civil Power When that Magnanimous Prince John the 3d. had been treated with the utmost Indignities by those of Rome and they conscious to themselves of their Offences were apprehensive of his Resentments Inigo Loyola Founder of the Jesuits could assure them that he knew the King of Portugal to be so good a Catholick that he would suffer his very Beard to be trampled under feet by his Holiness without showing the least sign of Disobedience The Brave Sebastian when the Pope to flatter his desire of Glory bid him choose what Title he pleased answered That he was ambitious of no other but that which his Ancestors had so well deserved viz. That of The most obedient Son of the Church This great Devotion of the Portuguese Kings toward the Romish See hath given the Pope the advantage to establish an Absolute Dominion within their Kingdom It s true his Holiness hath the Title of Soveraign only in Spirituals but he so manages the matter that Temporals fall in of course in Ordine ad Spiritualia he is not indeed at the trouble nor the charge of maintaining the Civil Government but then he has the Power and the Emoluments of a Temporal Soveraignty He has his Nuncio always residing at Lisbon with a Legantine Power and wanting only the Title of Vice-Roy exercising his Jurisdiction in his own Courts whence there is no appeal but to Rome over the whole Body of the Clergy who with their Dependents may well be reckon'd one half of the Kingdom They are commonly supposed to have much above two thirds of the Wealth the secular Clergy who are more exempt than the rest from his Dominion are yet his Tributarys great summs are extorted from them for Collations to Benefices and Bulls for Bishops There goes to Rome as I have been informed no less than 90 Thousand Crowns before an Archbishop of Evora can be setled in his Chair and all the rest may be supposed to pay in their Proportion As for the Regulars they are his more immediate Vassals or Soldiers rather its true they are not in his Pay for they live upon free Quarter and keep the Country under Contribution and his Holiness comes in for a share of the Spoils by continually draining them of what they scrape from the People every Monastery having always some Business or other depending before the Nuncio or their Agents at Rome to procure Privileges or Indulgencies or Composition for unsaid Masses that have been paid for of which they will sometimes be behind hand for many thousands but upon Composition made at Rome one high Mass said at a privileged Altar will serve for all or to make the Ministers of that Court acquainted with their Squabbles among themselves And on all these occasions the Money of the Kingdom is carried to Rome to be dispos'd of there by underhand Conveyances as well as open Practices for when a Fryar is to pass the Mountains he is furnished with Bills for Secret as well as Publick Service and it is not impossible that the Holy See may by this means undergo greater Scandal than it deserves for the Fryars Account is allowed of upon his own word so that should he convert a considerable summ to his own use he cannot be discovered unless it be by a very rare Accident indeed and yet it is no unheard of thing at Lisbon for one to be found out in reckoning some Thousands of Crowns for Bribes which never were expended in the Service But these are not the only ways by which the Riches of Portugal are drawn to Rome his Holiness hath his Apostolical Collectors for so they are called to raise Tribute from the King's Subjects as well as his own and to receive his share of the Taxes which the King levys in his own Dominions by his Holiness's Permission Dispensations for Marriages must necessarily bring him in a very considerable and constant Revenue the forbidden Degrees being so very many in the Roman Church whether upon the account of Consanguinity or Spiritual Relation that one would think there could scarce be a Wedding among Neighbours or People that have for any time been acquainted without a Dispensation and it rarely if ever happens that a Match is broken off for want of one supposing the Parties will come up to the price of it if they apprehend any difficulty in it it is but beginning the Marriage at the wrong End and then the Dispensation is granted of course and the Price being rais'd according to the Quality of the Persons and nearness of the Relation great summs are continually drawn from Families of the better sort who commonly marry within themselves and some of them intrench so far upon the Laws of Nature that the House of Austria in the last Age was not more confounded by the various Relations of its several Branches to each other than some Noble Families in Portugal are at this day In fine Portugal is so beneficial a Province to his Holiness that could a just Computation be made there is no doubt but his Revenues from thence would be found to exceed the Kings by far the necessary Charges of the Government deducted They are so great that if some sudden stop be not put to them the Kingdom is like to be exhausted in a very short time which gives thinking People here a sad prospect of the approaching Ruin of their Country This may appear strange to the rest of Europe considering the vast advantages that must necessarily have accrued to this Kingdom from an undisturbed Peace of above Thirty Years continuance during which time all other parts of Christendom have been more than once engaged in Expensive Wars one would think that during the last War at least which among many other advantages brought hither so great and gainful a Trade with England as took off all the Commodities the Country could vent and that too at prodigious Rates I believe I may safely say above double to what they formerly sold for one would think I say by this time that Riches and Plenty should have abounded every where But they that have travelled the Country of late beheld another Face of Things and at the late Assembly of the Cortes the Mouths of the Deputies were full of complaints of an Universal Desolation and Poverty and I have been told that some of them were sensible enough of the cause of their Misery but I have not heard that any Motion was made in their Publick Meetings for a Redress to this their greatest Grievance Having given some Account of the State of Portugal with respect to Rome it
both Parties here were insuperable Difficulties to obstruct the Peace and a Peace the Cardinal was resolved to have as well for his own private Conveniencies as to settle the state of the Nation that was then as he thought or pretended breaking out into new Disorders The Spaniards on their side were as willing to end the War as the French could be so as it might be done with their Honour safe they were sensible enough of their own feeble Condition they saw that two or three Campagnes more were like to prove the total Ruin of their Monarchy Besides they were impatiently eager to be turning the whole force of their Arms against Portugal which they made sure of over running with ease could they be once at liberty from the French and they were the more hasty to come to an Accomodation with them for that the Pope began to be troublesome The Ears of Alexander the 7th were a little more open than those of his Predecessors to the Bleatings of Portugal and he gave notice to the Cardinals of the Spanish Faction that something must be done to end the Dispute or he should be forc'd to acknowledge that King who succeeding a Father that had reign'd sixteen years could not be made to pass with the World for an Usurper Thus were the minds of both Parties disposed for a Peace but how should they come by it Who could remove the Obstacles that lay in the way and satisfy those irreconcileable Pretensions from which neither Party would recede To bring all this about the Cardinal had his Wits at work he now began on a sudden to be mighty Zealous for the poor King of Portugal whose Ruin was thought infallible should the French forsake him and therefore his Eminence would seem for some time to be as earnest for his Preservation as the Spaniards were bent upon his Destruction both Parties agreeing in this that should Portugal be excluded from the Peace it would of course fall into the Hands of the Spaniards so that in effect this Orphan Prince and all that belong'd to him seem'd to be now wholly at the Cardinal's Disposal since to exclude them from the Peace was then thought to be the same thing in effect as to give them up to the Spaniards and these he had to set against the Prince of Conde and the places demanded by the Spaniards and he made his Advantage of them For in all the Negotiations in Order to a Peace when the Spaniards thought much of yielding up their Towns and Provinces the French sometimes would mind them of a whole Kingdom and the Dominions thereunto belonging which they were ready to give in Exchange for their Conquests When the Spaniards interceded for the Prince of Conde the French when other Arguments fail'd would speak for the King of Portugal But there was this Difference between them the Spaniards always began with the Prince of Conde the French answered Portugal in their own Defence the Spaniards got conditions for the Prince not such as they pretended to but very Honourable considering how ill the Prince had deserv'd at the hands of his King The Cardinal engaged his Master's Word his Faith and his Honour that Portugal should be utterly abandon'd for him The Spaniards to the very last were passionately Urgent to get something more still for their Friend the French surrendred us theirs at the first Overtures of a Treaty the Spaniards were in earnest the French had only a Turn of their own to serve The first Advance that appears to have been made to any purpose on either side towards a Peace was in 1658. when the Marquis de Lionne was sent to Madrid to treat with the Ministers of that Court what Monsieur de Lionne's Instructions were Mazarin best knew who in a Letter to the Pope concerning this Affair told his Holiness That if Spain by his Authority could be brought to abate of their Pretensions in favour of the Prince of Conde the Peace was upon concluding since all other points were adjusted Monsieur de Lionne having orders to abandon Portugal in case Spain would not be so obstinate in behalf of the Prince but Spain could not not be prevail'd upon and so that Treaty was broke off I have seen no particular account how this Business was manag'd at the Treaty of Madrid perhaps it was then that the Offer was made by the French to restore their Conquests and re-establish the Prince in his Governments on Condition that the King of Portugal should remain in peaceable Possession of his Dominions for that such an Offer was made some time or other we must believe because it is so affirm'd in the 60th Article of the Pirenean Treaty but whenever it was made the French were assur'd it would not be accepted as I believe I shall presently make appear The Treaty of Madrid broken off by the Spaniards persisting to Espouse the Prince of Conde's Interests the French on their side were for sticking close to their Allies and gave out that they were resolved never to abandon them For the Marquis de Lionne a little after declar'd publickly at the Diet of Francfort that the King of France neither could nor would make any Peace without the Intervention of his Allies viz. of England Portugal Savoy and Modena and in effect they were about renewing their League with the Rump Parliament of England then restored to their Seats after Cromwell's Death They were likewise treating about a Match between their King and Madam Margaret Prince 〈…〉 and seem'd to be so much in earnest 〈…〉 an interview between the two Cou 〈…〉 the King appeared to be so much taken with the Lady that many thought a Marriage was like to ensue About the same time the Count de Cominges Ambassador Extraordinary from France at Lisbon was Negotiating another Match between the same King and the Infanta of Portugal and that was likewise in such great forwardness that Preparations were making for the Wedding and several things got ready which served afterwards when that Princess was Married into another Country and all this to bring on a third Match between the same King and the Infanta of Spain which had been in Treaty ever since the first Overtures of Peace were made and both these Treaties with Spain viz. of Marriage and Peace had such a mutual Dependance on each other that they were necessarily to proceed or break off together The Advances that the French made towards a conclusion of the Match with Savoy startled the Court of Madrid for should they go on there could be no hopes of a Peace and France in all probability would in that case enter into new Engagements with Portugal wherefore Don Antonio Pimentel was sent Post to Lions whose presence there presently broke off all other Treaties and revived those with Spain The Spaniards yielding at last to the necessity of their Affairs and accepting of the French Proposals in relation to the Prince of Conde which were that he should
Countries lying convenient for France he laid claim to them in his Queen 's Right who being a Child of the first Venter ought as 't was said according to the Laws of those Countries to have inherited them from her Father who died the last year in Exclusion to the Male Issue by a second Marriage 'T is true that Princess had at her Marriage made a formal Renunciation of any Right or Title that might accrue to her to her Father's Dominions either in whole or in part But in all other respects the French King found himself in a condition to make good his Claim his Armies after a long breathing time had now recovered new Vigour His Brother-in-law the King of Spain was then but an Infant under Government of his Mother and the Widow and the Orphan were like to make but a feeble Resistance for their best Troops had been drawn from Flanders and consumed in this fatal War with Portugal but however for fear lest the Spaniards were not yet humbled enough to be securely trampled upon or if there were none else to fall upon them at the same time might make some dying Efforts to repell so unjust an assailant as they no doubt would take his most Christian Majesty to be It was judged convenient that while he was engaging himself in this hazardous Enterprize the Portugueses should be set on to keep the Spaniards in Play and animated to follow those deadly Blows they had already given them with a more vigorous prosecution of the War And therefore it was that France proposed the League Offensive and Defensive to this Court But to perswade the Portugueses to imbrace the Proposal was thought and with a great deal of Reason to be no easy matter for as much pleas'd and elevated with their Victories as they were they had as great cause as ever to wish for a Peace That poor People had been in Arms for these five and twenty years and were now harass'd out and almost spent in defending their Country a small Country indeed yet but thinly Peopled and stretched out in length with a Frontier of a hundred Leagues which must be continually guarded or lie exposed to the Enemies incursions In this long War their Youth had been destroyed their Lands laid wast their Stocks consumed and their Moneys brought to an end so that should the War continue let their Victories be never so many it must necessarily in a short time compleat their Ruin To a People in such a case all talk of prolonging the War must sound so harsh that it could not be imagin'd they should hear of it with any Patience and that which gave the French greater cause still to despair of gaining their ends on the Portugueses these had now for some time been flattering themselves with hopes that they should see a speedy end of their Miseries The stomachs of the Spaniards were by this time come down and they desired a Peace as much as the Portugueses Sir Richard Fanshaw the English Ambassador at Madrid had wrought so effectually upon them that the Articles were drawing up and all things making ready for a Treaty Sir Richard's Secretary had been in Portugal to give notice to that Court of what he was doing for them at Madrid and he had signified by Letters that he was preparing for his Journey to Lisbon in order to set the last hand to the Treaty These Tidings had been received in Portugal with the welcome they deserv'd and the blessed Messenger of Peace as Sir Richard was then call'd was look'd for with impatience They thought their Condition upon his coming would be a kind of Heaven to what it then was He being as one of the great Ministers express'd it to let them in to the Beatifick Vision The Portugueses being thus disposed the French saw plainly that it would be to no purpose to make any direct motion to them for carrying on the War so that in order to bring the Design about it was thought convenient to take a Compass and all their Talk was of Peace while they were preparing themselves and inciting their Friends to War or if War was mention'd it was only by the bye and as a last reserve in order to procure for Portugal a more firm lasting and honourable Peace But to secure this 't was pretended that a League with France was absolutely necessary for Portugal France being alone able as they said to procure good Conditions from the Spaniards and to see they should be well observ'd To this purpose had Messieurs Turenne and Colbert been several times discoursing with the Portuguese Minister at Paris And that the Portugueses might be sensible that nothing but their Good was aimed at the French Ambassador at Madrid who was there making the most solemn Protestations that the Pirenean Treaty should be kept inviolable had Orders likewise to interpose his Master's good Offices and make a tender of his Mediation to compose all Differences with Portugal and put an end to the War This offer being hearkned to as 't was pretended the Marquess de Sande then at Paris adjusting King Alfonso's Marriage and having the Character of an Ambassador for that business only was sent for to the secret Audience before mention'd and told that the Queen Regent of Spain had accepted of the Mediation and that in case such Proposals were made by that Court as were fit to be accepted the French Ambassador there had Orders to make a Journey to Lisbon and conclude the Peace or if any thing should detain him he was to communicate the Proposals to the Abbè de S. Romain at Lisbon who should impart them to the Portuguese Ministers there being no doubt but that the Peace would be soon adjusted considering to what a miserable condition the Portugueses had reduced the Spanish Monarchy But then his Majesty did not think it adviseable for them to take up with any doubtful or fallacious Truce and in conclusion bid the Marquess assure the King of Portugal that in case a Peace ensued He himself would be the Guarant if a War he would both bear a share in the Expences and become the King of Portugal's Companion in the Field Monsieur de S. Romain had the good fortune to arrive in Portugal and got Audience at the Court which was then at Salva Terra before Sir Richard Fanshaw came there and he displayed all his Eloquence in setting forth that the King his Master had so sincere an Affection for Portugal that understanding the Spaniards were coming to an Accommodation he was very desirous to see the Peace adjusted on condition that the Proposals made by Spain were Advantageous and Honourable but in case they should prove otherwise he was ready to assist the Portugueses with his Troops Fleets and Money at their choice and as their Occasions should require These fine Words as they were not wholly lost yet had not that effect upon the Court as to dispose them for a League with France they were wishing still
his time he wrote in the Year 1600. I have seen a large Collection of Priviledges granted by the several Kings of Portugal to the English beyond those enjoy'd by the Portuguese Subjects I know not whether I may call them Charters These were copied from the Archives of the Kingdom in the Torre de Tumbo but the most ancient was of King Ferdinand whose Reign began not till 1367. There are several of John the 1st his Successor some of which refer to others granted by his Predecessors By this it appears that the English had a great hand in setting up the Kingdom of Portugal and if the Historians of this Country deceive us not they had as great a share in Protecting and Securing it as often as it hath been brought into Danger by a Foreign Enemy Twice it was like to be wholly over-run by the Castillians who had possed themselves of the greatest part of the Kingdom and gain'd a numerous Party of the Nobility over to their side and had been very near taking Lisbon it self the first time in the Reign of Ferdinand the last of the lawful Descendants from Alfonso Henriquez the other time while John the 1st from whom all that have succeeded him derived their Titles was strugling for the Crown and they have been as often reliev'd by the English and enabled to carry the War into the Enemies Country our Princes of the Blood condescending to go in Person to their Assistance first Edmund de Langley then Earl of Cambridge and afterwards John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster And if after the several flourishing Reigns that succeeded they were at last reduc'd under the Spanish Yoke it was because they were wanting to themselves the English having sent out a Gallant Fleet and Army to their Rescue under Dom Antonio whom they had made their King but they would not accept Deliverance and so they remain'd under the Power of their Enemies In the last War after the French had given them up or assisted them in such a manner as they should not own without Confusion when all Europe looked upon their Ruin as inevitable some of the most considerable Persons in the Kingdom being so far of the same Opinion that they thought it now high time for them to save themselves and make their Peace with the Spaniards as the Duke of Aveiro and their Ambassador in Holland who went over to them Cardinal Mazarin making himself merry with our Locker at the Folly of all the rest for not doing the same and for thinking it possible for them to hold out longer Don Luis de Haro who was not accounted Sanguin making nothing of the little Expedition that his Master was about against the Duke of Bragança for after this rate he is reported to have talk'd to King Charles the 2d at the Pirences Those small Forces sent by King Charles after his Restoration by their unparallel'd Valour soon put an end to the Quarrel and the Victories obtain'd by their Means being seconded as they were by the Vigilence Dexterity and Conduct of the same King's Ministers recover'd Portugal and restor'd it to the condition in which it now remains These Forces consisted of about 3000 Men formed into three Regiments two of Foot which made near 2400 and one of Horse of about 800. They were at first Commanded by the Earl of Inchiquin but his Lordship returning to England before they took the Field they were by Commission from the King of England put under the Conduct of Count Schomberg who had himself the immediate Command of one of the foot Regiments They arriv'd in Portugal soon after Don John had made an end of that successful Campagne before mention'd in 1662. and were dispos'd of into Quarters till the following Spring when they joyn'd the Portuguese Army in order to relieve Evora but in their March towards that City they were met with the News of its being surrender'd without Resistance in a manner and upon very Dishonourable Terms though it had in it a Garrison of 7000 Foot and 700 Horse and was provided with all things necessary for a stout Defense till such time as the Army should come up and attempt to raise the Siege The News of this loss so struck the Commanders of the Army that 't is no wonder it should put the People into that consternation before described The Conde de Villa Flor the Gen. was so discouraged that his concern appear'd to the very Soldiers in his Looks which our Men who had been used to see their Commanders so Dejected observ'd with Indignation A Council of War being called it appear'd that the Army was in no condition to fight the Enemy and it was resolv'd not to attempt it as bad as their Case was Something might have been done had Evora held out they relying upon the Garrisons fallying at the same time when they should attack the Besiegers But the Garrison was now made Prisoners of War so it was resolv'd that they should encamp themselves at a Place call'd Landroal which lay so between the Enemies Frontier Places that they might cut off any convoys of Provisions coming from thence Don John in the mean while having possess'd himself of so Great and Populous a City in the very heart of Alemtejo became thereby Master in a manner of the whole Province and was providing for his Army at his Enemies Cost by putting all the Country under Contribution for which end and to gave the greater Alarm to Lisbon whereby to increase the Tumult there he sent that large Detachment before mention'd as far as Alcacere do Sal. The Court at this time apprehending no less Danger from the Multitude then the Enemy and seeing the Affairs of Portugal to be in all respects desperate was continually sending Orders to the Commanders to fight at any rate the Army at last being reinforc'd with what Troops other parts of the Kingdom could send or the Garrisons spare march'd towards the Spaniards hoping to find them divided but not being able to hinder their Detachments from joyning the main Body they were for retiring again Don John follow'd at their Heels to give them Battle but they had pass'd a small River call'd Degebe before he came up with them and they had posted themselves so advantageously that there were but two Passes through which he could come to Attack them That where the Portugueses thought the greatest Danger was it being in its self the easiest to be forc'd was defended by one of the English Regiments Don John made his greatest Efforts to gain it and there ensued a very hot Dispute for at several times he sent in fresh Troops to renew the Charge which were as often repulsed with loss so that he was oblig'd at last to desist from the Attempt Don John found now that he had other Enemies to deal with then those he had hitherto been used to Being frustrated of his Design he put a Garrison into Evora and began to march towards the Frontiers where he
Commotions acting as it were the part of a Massaniello by Law Great things are told concerning those that bore this Office during the War King John the 4th being observed to be a little remiss in the Affairs of Government and too intent upon his Sports 't is reported that he once going to ride out into the Country to Hunt the Juis do Povo laid hands on the Reigns of his Horses Bridle and oblig'd his Majesty to stay at home and mind his Business nor will this seem strange if his Power were so great as they say it is to this Day that he could at a Words speaking raise the whole Posse of the Commonalty The Envoy found the Person that was then in Place to be an honest well meaning Man and ready to concurr with him in his Design on which as one of a moderate Capacity might easily be made to understand the Happiness of his Country depended and this Man showed himself so very Zealous and Industrious to promote it that his Picture is to be seen at this Day amongst theirs who were more immediately concern'd in making the Peace The Envoy took care likewise to have his Party amongst the Peoples Representatives in Cortes which were assembled some time after Alfonso had been Deposed his Table was open for the Members and he had his Cabals with them the Effects whereof appear'd as soon as the Business came under Debate The Letters of the Spanish Noblemen were answer'd with Powers from the Queen Regent to the Marquess de Eliche to enter upon a Treaty with the Prince of Portugal to the intire satisfaction of that Kingdom Letters to this purpose were no sooner come but care was taken to have the Contents of them publish'd every where both in City and Country the News was welcomed by the People who now hoped to see a speedy end of their Miseries with such Publick Demonstrations of Joys as it deserv'd which the Court in vain laboured to suppress Mr. de S. Romain had now great occasion to bestir himself but he found the People so prepossessed already that all his Artifices were like to have no effect upon them he therefore sets forth a Memorial directed to the Prince the Ministers and the Cortesoens or Members of Cortes wherein he Declares That the Prince could not break the League with France and consequently not make Peace with Spain both because in taking the Government into his hands he took upon himself the Obligations of the Crown to maintain the Treaty made between his Brother and the King of Spain and in consideration of the great Benefits confer'd on Portugal by His Most Christian Majesty who had given innumerable Demonstrations of his Friendship to that Kingdom having spent his Treasures and the Blood of his Subjects in its Defenec and likewise because it was impossible for an advantageous Peace with Spain to be made with security in the form Proposed since the Intervention of the King of France was wanting wherein alone consisted the certainty that the Promises and Conditions of the Treaty should be kept That the Castillians whilst they dreaded the Armies of France and Portugal would indeed to free themselves from the Danger they were in submit to any Terms that the Prince as a Conqueror should impose But a few days of Delay could be no loss in this Conjuncture and since France was not far off he advised the Prince to send thither a Copy of the Spanish Proposals and when he had received an Answer from thence he might then consult what was most conducive to his Subject's Good As for the Spaniards they minded nothing but their own Interests and as they had shown upon several Occasions would never stand to the Treaty but while they were under an Impossibility to carry on the War That their Ancient and inbred Hatred was now mightily increased by the Miseries which the Valient Portugueses had brought upon them and therefore they in all future Ages would be indeavouring either by Force or Art or Alliances to reunite the Crown of Portugal to Castille and all this in order to take their Revenge in so cruel a manner as to destory the very Memory of the Nobility by scattering over the face of the Earth such of them as should escape their Tortures and Poisons and to impoverish the People to that Degree that they should have nothing left to enable them any more to shake off their heavy and Tyrannical Yoke The Marquess de Eliche who had his Agents abroad was one of the first that got a sight of this Memorial and he immediately drew up an Answer to it which he took care to have dispers'd throughout the Kingdom In it he sets forth That the French Artifices to augment their own Power by weakning their Neighbours were Notorious to the World of which there was no need to go far for a Proof none doubting but that they had succour'd Portugal in this last War to the end only that by other Mens Hands they might beat down the formidable Power of Castille in order to become themselves too strong for both Parties That this and no other was their Design was demonstrated by their Proceedings after the Peace made at the Pirenees where the King of France in Person gave his Word to King Philip the 4th and confirm'd the same in the Capitulations of Marriage between him and that King's Daughter that he would give no Succours to Portugal against Castille and at the same time assisted that Kingdom with Money Generals Officers and Soldiers that having obtain'd an Advantagious Match with the Princess of Spain under an Obligation containing the most binding Clauses the Law could afford and confirm'd with the most dreadful Oaths that neither he nor his Successors would make any claim of Inheritance to the Kingdoms or Dominions of Castille he was now contrary to his Promise and the Treaty making War against that Monarchy That he laboured to obstruct the Peace with Portugal in order to divide the Forces of Spain that he might the more easily seize upon that Crown in case the Succession should fail That he might with the same injustice attempt the Conquest of Portugal under the same Pretext that he used in breaking with Spain viz. it s not being in his Power to Defraude his Successors of their Right That though he now oppos'd King Philip's Right to that Crown he would doubtless make use of it hereafter as a Colour for his unjust Invasion That the Prince did not make the League with France which as 't was Notorious was clapt up upon some secret Designs without the Peoples consent That if the King of France could make War upon Castille on pretence of his want of Power to deprive his Heirs of the Succession belonging to them with how much greater Reason was the Prince oblig'd not to deny his People the Blessings of an Advantageous and Honourable Peace after a cruel War of Seven and Twenty Years which had hitherto been carried on for
AN ACCOUNT OF THE Court of Portugal Under the Reign of the present King Dom PEDRO II. WITH Some Discourses on the Interests of PORTVGAL with Regard to other Sovereigns CONTAINING A Relation of the most Considerable Transactions that have pass'd of late between that Court and those of Rome Spain France Vienna England c. LONDON Printed for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. THE CONTENTS PART I. OF the King of Portugal Page 3 Of the Publick Revenues and the Forces of the Crown both by Land and Sea 19 Of His Majesty's first Queen 43 Of the late Queen 109 Of the Queen Dowager of England 125 Of the late Infanta 128 Of the King's Issue by his second Marriage 148 Of his Natural Daughter 160 Of the Ministry 164 Of the Marquess of Alegrete 165 Of the Duke of Cadaval 171 Of the Archbishop of Lisbon 172 Of the Marquess of Aronches 178 Of the Secretary of State 179 PART II. OF the Interests of Portugal with Relation to Rome Page 1 To Spain 44 France 62 The Emperor Holland the Northern Crowns c. 114 England 119 THE PREFACE THE Contents of the following Papers were intended to fill some few Chapters in a General Account of Portugal but the Author in digesting his Materials found them like to swell into almost as great a Volume as he design'd for the whole which made him resolve to venture them out by themselves as despairing of being read should the Bulk become so great as the taking in of the other Parts of his Subject wou'd make it This is the true Reason why the Court of Portugal appears thus unaccompanied with such other Matters as shou'd have been plac'd before and after it which is what the Author was far from designing when he first began to write It was then for many Reasons the least in his Intention to single out the Court from that great Variety of Subjects which Portugal affords to one that is not altogether an idle Spectator in it It is true that he thought it convenient in describing the State of that Kingdom to be more full in this part of his Account than they usually are who write of Foreign Countries For to understand the Affairs of any Nation it is absolutely necessary to have some competent Knowledge of the Court that is to say of such as preside themselves at the Helm or have any great Influence upon those that do The Court in this sense being to a Politick Body what the Mind is to the Natural communicating Life and Motion to all the Members and as that Vital Principle appears to be disposed or affected one may soonest discover the Symptoms of a Vigorous or a Weakly Constitution And one who is well acquainted with the State of That may be enabled to give a good Account of the Publick Proceedings by tracing them to their Original Causes and Motives and may withal make some probable Conjecture what they are like to be in any suppos'd Case for the time to come It was likewise thought necessary in order to understand the true State of Portugal to know in what Terms that Kingdom stands with its several Neighbours those more especially in whose Will or Power it is to do any great Good or Harm Now the best way to know how far Portugal is to expect either the one or the other from them is by considering what it hath receiv'd already former Experience being the surest Evidence in this Case It is therefore the Design of those Discourses that make the Second Part of this Piece to shew how Portugal hath been served by its real or pretended Friends as often as they have been put to the Trial or had any occasion to discover themselves and it is conceiv'd that the Transactions that have pass'd between this and other Crowns since the House of Bragança came to be in possession of the Throne are set in a just Light so far at least as that the Reader may easily perceive what the true Interests of Portugal are and whether or no they have been duly cultivated by such as have the Management of Affairs in that Kingdom But the chief Business of this Preface is to justifie the Author's Credit with the Reader which may possibly be called in question in regard to several Particulars in the following Account He is far from the Folly of thinking himself exempt from Mistakes it is very likely that he may have been guilty of many in that great variety of Matters which he hath had occasion to mention He does not remember that he ever saw any Relation of our English Affairs made by Strangers that had not many palpable Errors in it which makes him the less confident of his own Performance And he expects the like Allowances that are usually made to those that write of Foreign Countries However he must acknowledge at the same time that those grosser Faults that are commonly observ'd in ordinary Travellers wou'd be much more inexcusable in him he having liv'd for some Years in the Country he writes of his Acquaintance was amongst intelligent Persons who had lived there much longer he hath been somewhat conversant with the Portuguese Authors and hath brought away with him a Collection of such of them as are most esteem'd and out of these last he is ready to produce his Evidence for such Passages in this Piece as are most likely to be call'd in question In relating that great Transaction wherein His present Majesty's first Queen had so large a share he hath taken the principal Matters of Fact from the Catastrophe de Portugal written in Defence of the Party which got the Vpper-hand the Substance whereof as the Writer pretends was read before the Three Estates of the Kingdom It is true that Reflections very different from his are frequently made here upon the very same Facts The Author on many Occasions as little approving of that Writers Sentiments as he does of his Stile throughout the Book which is that of a most passionate and furious Declaimer rather than a just Historian In speaking of the Portuguese Affairs with relation to Rome he hath likewise made great use of the Publick Acts of the King and the Estates as also of the Conde da Eryceiras Portugal Restaurado He hath also followed the same Noble Author in what he relates concerning the Negotiations with the Court of France The Conde had Opportunities to inform himself of these Matters at the best Hand that is from the Reports and Letters of Publick Ministers His Lordship hath indeed given us in England great occasion to complain of him but that may have been for Reasons which will never make him suspected of being much prejudiced against either Rome or France Cardinal Mazarine's Conduct in the Cause of Portugal at the Pirenees is describ'd from his own Letters The Information received by the Author concerning the great part which the English had in the Victories obtain'd over the Spaniards and in concluding the
since that Expeditions to the Holy Land were no more talk'd of have for several Ages been engaged in continual Wars with the Infidels They had the Mores for some time in the Bowels of the Kingdom and having driven them out follow'd them into Barbary and conquered a great part of that Country and have some Footing there still and the Popes would sometimes to help them out in the Charges of the War allow 'em the like Indulgences as were granted in the famous Croisades Yet in those times this was done very sparingly and as an extraordinary Favour But since the Portugueses have had little or nothing to do with the Mores and have now only the single Fortress of Mazagam to maintain in Barbary the Popes are become more profuse of their Graces The Croisade is publish'd every Year and Pardons and Indulgences more ample by far than were ever granted before are now offer'd to all that shall contribute towards the Defence of the Places which the King is suppos'd to hold in Africa It would be a tedious Task and not proper for this place to give an Account of all the Priviledges granted to the Purchasers of these Bulls I shall only therefore mention some few that seem most conducive to the End for which the Bulls were obtain'd The Bull for the Living grants to the Purchaser a most plenary the word is Plenissima Indulgence and a complete Remission of all his Sins and of the Pains which he should have suffered for them in Purgatory These are the Words of the Absolution to be pronounced upon him after Confession and this Pardon is in all respects as full as if he had gone to Rome for it in the Year of Jubilee And one that hath bought this Bull may if he pleases after six Months for a single Vintain have all renewed to him over again so that as the Commissary deputed by his Holiness to inform the People of these Matters saith Here are Two Jubilees granted in One Year By Virtue of this Bull any Man in Portugal may have all the Benefits of the Stations at Rome the visiting a certain Church out of Devotion at a Set-time is what they call a Station there Stations are made at several Churches of that City within and without the Walls in their Turns almost all the Year about but chiefly in the time of Lent a plenary Indulgence is gain'd at every one of them and there are eight Days in the Year on every one of which a Soul is to be drawn out of Purgatory Now one that hath this Bull if he will but visit any five Churches where-ever they are or if there are not so many in the place where he is but five Altars or for want of them the same Altar five times shall gain the same Indulgence as if he had made the Stations at Rome Or if he please he may Per modum suffragii apply the Benefit of them to Souls in Purgatory And the Commissary saith That regularly this Bull is of more benefit than a Mass said at a Priviledg'd Altar And yet they say That shall draw a Soul out of Purgatory at once Another great Conveniency gain'd by this Bull is that a Man by Virtue thereof may commute for any Vows that he shall make except only the Vows of Chastity of Religious Orders or Pilgrimage to Jerusalem As for all other Vows let them be never so solemnly made tho' they are confirmed with Oaths and even with additional Vows that the Party will never commute nor seek a Dispensation for them one that hath the benefit of this Bull may for a small Sum of Money given towards maintaining the Garrisons in Africa free himself from the Obligation nay he may commute for what they call an imperfect Vow of Chastity such as not to marry not to sin with a single Woman or another Man's Wife or any particular Person and some other things which the Commissary hath set down likewise too long or not fit to be repeated He may also commute for a previous Vow that he may have made to take that Vow of Religious Orders and the Circumstances of a Vow of going to Jerusalem may be commuted for likewise such as making the Journey on foot begging all the way or going without much Company But these excepted there is hardly any Case to be imagin'd wherein a Man hath occasion to make a solemn Promise but if he will consult an Epitome of the Priviledges gain'd by the Bull which the Commissary hath set forth by Authority Apostolick he may know what he is to pay in Commutation of his Vow To mention some few Instances as they are set down in that Piece Suppose a Person should vow That he would hear two Masses in a Day or maintain a poor Man for a Day remain chaste for a Day or observe Conjugal Chastity for six Days not to Play take Snuff or drink Wine for a Month or not speak to any Body for two Days Or if a young Woman shall make a Vow to for bear eating Chalk Earth or Red Clay such as the Portuguese Earthen Ware is made of for a Week In every one of these Cases the Rich are to pay six Vintains the Middle-Sort four the Poorer two the Poorest one And this Rate is to be observ'd for the time the Vow was to last As put the Case a Man had bound himself to fast every Saturday in a Year if he be taxed at the lowest Rate his Commutation-Money will come to 1040 Reis But if he be unable to pay the whole Sum he may be admitted to compound after this manner Suppose the Person makes his Vow at fifteen Years of Age this Vow according to some Doctors would oblige him till he came to be of sixty some say 'till seventy The Commissary takes the middle Number viz. 65 whence take 15 and there remains 50 Years of Obligation to fast and the Commutation-Money would come to 120 Millreis for all which according to the Rule of Composition of which I shall speak anon he is to pay but 2 Mill 800 Reis And if he cannot afford this he may compound but for 10 Years and then he will be obliged to pay but three Testons But it is the securest way saith the Commissary to pay the whole Sum if the Person can afford it at least to pay for ten Years But if he cannot do that his Composition will secure him in all Cases wherein he cannot conveniently fast One that hath made a Vow of Chastity supposing it to be commutable if he would be freed from the Obligation is to pay a Vintaine a Day at the lowest rate which will amount to 7 Mill 300 Reis if the Vow be for Life according to the rate of 10 Years purchase it will amount to 73 Millreis If he be unable to pay this Sum he must compound Now since People live sometimes to fourscore he supposing the Vow made at 15 has 65 Years to account for the Commutation of which amounts
was not satisfy'd after they had done all they could to serve her she having been treated with so much Respect that no Queen ever had so great an Authority But coming to that part of her Complaint wherein she said she had been treated like a Slave he chang'd his Note and in Portuguese for he had spoken French before he boldly told her That her Majesty was abus'd by some about her who deserv'd to be chastis'd had no Reason to complain of the Portugueses since the Respect they paid her came little short of Adoration The Queen after a warm Reply wherein she said She knew how to distinguish between the good and the bad Portugueses There being not above three or four that she complain'd of and signifying what she would do to those that had enrich'd themselves with the Rents belonging to the Queens of Portugal commanded the Secretary not to speak so loud He told her That if he spake loud it was that all the World might hear what he said The Queen bad him hold his Peace and be gone He not departing presently she rose from her Seat and was going away the Secretary imprudently laid his Hand upon her Gown either to kiss it according to Custom at her departure to signifie his Desire that she would hear him out but seeing her resolv'd to be gone he cry'd out to the Noblemen and Ladies present That he was unworthily us'd no King having ever treated a Vassal in this manner The Person who had this Dispute with her Majesty was Antonio de Souza de Macedo before mention'd as one of the first that came in to the King at Alcantara I cannot tell what he was by Birth but in himself he was a Person of Noble Qualities as appear'd afterwards by his Constancy in the Service of his Master and his Friend he was a Man of Letters and a Doctor in the Laws After the Revolt from the Spaniards he had written with great Zeal and Eloquence in defence of his Country's Cause and went Secretary to the solemn Embassy which King John sent to our King Charles the First to acquaint him of his having assum'd the Crown of Portugal and upon King Charles's Demand to know on what Right his Master's Claim was founded he drew up a Paper which entirely satisfy'd his Majesty In England he continued Resident for several Years and was very serviceable to the King in the time of his Troubles From hence he went Ambassador to Holland and in a very difficult Negotiation he acquitted himself much to his Master's Satisfaction and his own Credit and at his Return he was highly esteem'd at Court And the Conde could not do a more grateful thing to the Nobility than prefer him as he did to the place of Secretary of State tho' perhaps he might have some regard to himself as well as to the Publick in advancing this Man The Conde was young and Antonio de Sousa well practis'd in Business and by his Counsels may have been of as great use to the Conde as the Conde was to the King It is certain that he drew up Instructions for him to observe in the Administration of the Government and as the Conde was to be destroy'd before the King could be depos'd so it is very probable that this Quarrel was pick'd on purpose with Antonio de Sousa in order to make way for the Conde's Ruin The King coming to understand what had passed between the Queen and him did his endeavour to pacifie her Majesty promising that the Secretary should be severely punish'd but the Queen would not be appeas'd It unluckily fell out that this Broil happen'd at the time of Bull-feast The first Day was over and her Majesty could not be prevail'd upon to appear the second Day So that to conceal the Matter from the People the Bull-running was put off for that Day upon pretence that the King was indispos'd and she continuing out of Humour still the King was fain to be indispos'd the next and the following Days and by that time things were brought to such a pass that an end was put to all Sports and Pastimes for this King's Reign The Queen took so little care to conceal her Anger that the People soon came to know the Cause why the Bull-running was put off and began to murmur loudly against the Court that their new Queen should be so much abus'd and perhaps their Disappointment did not a little serve to raise their Clamours The Queen would be satisfy'd with nothing less than the Secretary's being turn'd out of his Place and banish'd from the Court which the Conde was very unwilling to consent to as thinking that should he give way to her in this Case he was like to be the next Man that should fall a Sacrifice to her Resentments however the Court perceiving a Storm ready to break upon them from another Quarter it was resolv'd in Council that the Secretary should absent himself from Court for ten or twelve Days and that the King should communicate this Order to the Queen and acquaint her That it was made only to content her Majesty and that it was hoped she would engage her self no more in such Matters for the future to prevent the ill Consequences that might ensue to the State Pursuant to this Order the Secretary to please the Queen departs from Court but the King forbore to communicate the Order to her for fear of exasperating her further at a time when he had his Hands full of another more troublesome Business While these things were done above-board a secret Plot was carrying on among the Heads of the discontented Party to seize upon the Conde and carry him off in the same manner as Conti had been serv'd before The Conde having Information of their Design may be supposed to have made the more hast to satisfie the Queen's Complaints For the very next Day he ordered the Guards about the Palace to be doubled the Cavalry to be mounted and the Centinels plac'd at the Avenues and as 't is said Command was given to the Soldiers to fall upon certain Noblemen in case they endeavoured to get into the Court it being suppos'd that they were coming to execute the Design Hereupon several Messages past between the Infante and the Court the Infante complaining That the Conde by arming the Palace had insinuated as if he was designing to violate it for which he requires Reparation of Honour accusing the Conde withal of attempting upon his Life by Poison and therefore desires that he might be removed from about the King's Person in order to his Punishment The King takes upon himself the doubling of the Guards and offers to send the Conde to throw himself at the Infante's Feet The Infante refuses to take this for Satisfaction and insists upon the Conde's removal The King offers to do him all Justice and desires him to name the Conde's Accusers in order to his Tryal But this the Infante would not yield to unless the Conde
to have the Name settled upon you by a Publick Deed which you were before possess'd of and lawfully entitled to by Right of Prescription and that not without Consent of its former Owner But your Majesty contents not your self with the Glory of so illustrious a Name you equal it by the Resemblance and Condignity of your Actions witness the Image of Xavier which among the rest all Sacred ones like the Sun among the Planets guilds and enamels your Bracelets for not satisfied to have him engraven in your Heart in imitation of a Spouse you have his Impression in your Arm where it is as a Signature or Love-mark or as an indelible Character whence is deriv'd a Coelestial and Superiour Force into all your Majesty's Actions What shall I say to the great variety and multiplicity of Honours that your Majesty bestows on Xavier Your Love never shews it self so ingenious as in contriving for him some new Methods of Veneration The vast distance of Sea and Land will not permit that you present your self as a Royal Pilgrim at his Sepulcher tho' your Heart is so much set upon it that you would do it if 't were possible were it with the Peril of your Life But your Royal Bounty has reach'd where your Person cannot come your Majesty having sent your Xavier as a Token of your Love a most costly Suit of Sacerdotal Vestments wherewith he being still alive after Death may cloath himself in such a glorious manner as becomes one that triumphs over Mortality Sacerdotal Vestments I say as to one that is free from Corruption white as to a Confessor embroidered with Red as to a Martyr of Love and that there should not want Symbols of your Fervour and pure Affection shining with the Fire of Gold and Snow of Pearls I believe Xavier on that Day when dress'd up in all his Finery shew'd himself to the whole Court of Heaven telling every Saint with a holy Vanity His me vestibus Cliens mea Lusitaniae Regina contexit Nor were you content to cloath your Saint in divers Colours but you wore your self the Colours of your Saint For we know that you made a Vow That for the space of a Year you would wear no Silks of any other Colour but that wherewith the Sun of the East Xavier while he suffer'd the Eclipse of a mortal Body mortified and conceal'd the Rays of his Vertue to accommodate himself to the Miseries of this Life only you would admit a mixture of While as a Signal of the Virginal Soul of Xavier and your Majesty Let Lisbon reckon up if it can the holy Pilgrimages by which your Majesty in the Course and Return of the Year humbly and devoutly venerates the Temples and Altars of your Saint to adorn whose Image you consâ—orate all your Jewels offering the best Eastern Spoils to the Apostle of the East the Jewels themselves having the advantage to be plac'd and dispos'd by the Hands of your Royal Majesty I pass by the ten Fridays which your Majesty's Devotion dedicates every Year to Xavier And what shall I say of that most tender and most amorous Affection which all discover in your Majesty every time you speak of Xavier All know that have the Sovereign Favour to be admitted to your more intimate Conversation how often and with what sweetness and dexterity you have hook'd in the Discourse of your Xavier at the naming of Him not only your Tongue by your Speech but your Face by the Colour in your Cheeks your Eyes by their Sparkling your Breast by its Commotion your Heart by its Leaping speak with so much warmth that they seem to lay your Majesty open to the Eyes as well as to the Ears of them that hear whom by an admirable Simpathy and reciprocal Communication of Affections you often melt into copious Tears At one of those Conferences wherein two Religious bore a part Xavier being of course the Subject your Majesty just having done Reading the prodigious Cure that a few Years ago was wrought in a moment by the Hand of this Wonder-worker of the East upon Anna Maria Zambrina a Roman Matron your Majesty full of interiour Delight and Consolation being desirous to communicate the Matter began the Story again and read it over from beginning to end tho' it took up a full Hour and that not only without being cloy'd and tired but without so much as pausing unless it was when your Majesty from time to time was interrupted by your amorous Sighs and by these you enkindled the like Flame in your Hearers insomuch that they could scarce refrain from Weeping I believe that this was the first time that the Humble Xavier was pleas'd with his own Praises and that he was pleas'd with them now because they came from the Mouth of your Majesty Your Majesty like a most pious Mother hath by the imposition of so beloved a Name instilled the same Love into each of your Sons our most Serene Princes who both of them imitate you so happily therein that scarce any Voice came from them before they could Lisp out their Mothers Saint meaning Xavier and even then they could distinguish his Image from among the rest accustoming themselves to the Veneration of it by a thousand innocent Kisses I pass by the Concern of the rest of your House and Family who find that their Emulation and Imitatioc of this your Royal Piety is the only way to please their Mistress and gain her Favour and indeed it is commonly reported about the Court and City that in order to succeed in any Business with Your Majesty there is no Intercessor like Xavier A love so great could not well be contained in one City It has already pass'd the Tagus your Majesty having chosen Beja for the Theatre of your Liberality where mov'd partly by your Zeal partly by the pious desires of the Inhabitants you have rais'd a magnificent House to the Honour of your Saint built and endow'd at your own Charges But why should I say that one City is too narrow for your Love to Xavier when it cannot be confin'd within the limits of a whole Kingdom What Court is there among the greatest of Christendom wherein your Majesty I speak your own Words hath not introduc'd the sweet and powerful Patronage of this lovely Saint Witness Vienna in Austria Madrid in Spain Warsaw in Poland Parma in Italy and lastly all Germany a Country that 's proud that it can boast of your Majesty's Cradle and is enrich'd with the numerous Offspring of your most Serene House in all which places your Majesty hath enkindled the Love of Xavier into such a Flame that few Letters come from thence but are full of his Encomiums written by such as gratefully recount the Favours received from his beneficent Hand Your Majesty is the first by your own Confession that is able and bound after repeated Tryals to bear witness that Xavier's Love for your Majesty is no less than your Majesties Love for
Mistress she was and proves her to have been a most Endearing Wife and a Tender Mother Of the Queen Dowager of England HER Majesty being now to the great Regret of our Nation become a most considerable Part of the Portuguese Court this Account wou'd appear but lame and be more defective than it is should I forbear to mention her I have great Reason to believe that my Country-men wou'd think the Omission unpardonable finding them so very inquisitive as they are concerning her the first Question they put to such as come from Portugal and to which Satisfaction is most earnestly desired being commonly concerning their Queen-Dowager But her Majesty's Character is so well known to the World already that I shall not attempt it here To tell of her most exemplary Piety wou'd be no News in any part of Europe much less in England and it is needless to say that it is now the most distinguishing part of her Character For it was so while she Reign'd in one of the first Courts of Christendom and none will suppose her Majesty to be alter'd in this respect now in the time of her Retirement It did then as it does still give forth so bright a Lustre as to out-shine by far all the rest of her great Perfections which yet as those who are competent Judges and have the Honour to be near her Person affirm are such as would be highly admired in any other Person But tho' her Majesty be her self the same her outward Circumstances are somewhat alter'd since her leaving England her Court is lessen'd almost to a private Family those few Persons that waited on her from hence being for the most part either dismiss'd with their Salaries continued to them or excus'd their Attendance there is now no Noise nor Ostentation of Grandeur about her House but all things are quiet and still except it be on Days of Ceremony when Persons of Quality Will be coming to express the great Veneration they have for her then indeed her Court is as great and full as the Nobility of the Country can make it At all other times she convinces the World that the Formalities of Pomp and State are not inseparable from Majesty and that true Greatness instead of being set off by such Helps appears to the best Advantage without them But the Queen had doubtless a Nobler End still in getting Rid of those Incumbrances there being great cause to believe that it has been all along the chief Desire of her Heart to be at Ease and Liberty that nothing might divert her from enjoying her self as she now does at her Devotions Some speak of it as a considerable Alteration about her Majesty that the Jesuits are become her Directors whereas before she conferr'd that Trust on those of the Franciscan Order But her Majesty is not of a Character to be used by those Fathers as others may have been 'T is said indeed that they have tasted of her Liberality in a most plentiful manner but as great as their Profits are the Credit they have got by being favour'd by so discerning a Princess is certainly much greater since she cannot be suppos'd to have any Worldly Designs to employ them in For my part I take this Honour to be the greatest that ever was conferr'd on the Society and that by this mention of it I have more than made Amends for any thing I have said or may say to their Disadvantage Of the Late INFANTA DOna Isabel Luisa Infanta of Portugal was born the Sixth of January 1669 sworn Princess or Heiress to the Crown in 1680 died the Twenty-first of October 1690. This Princess was accounted one of the most Beautiful and Accomplish'd Persons of her Sex and Rank in Christendom and that not only by the Portugueses who admired her almost to Adoration but by more impartial Strangers such especially as bore a Publick Character who had frequent Opportunities to satisfie themselves that the favourable Esteem the World had for her was not without ground For which Reason and for the Prospect there was of her succeeding to the Crown 'till after the King's Second Marriage she was sought for in Marriage by most of the Princes and among the rest by some of the most considerable Monarchs in Europe as indeed there is none so great but might have accounted it a very advantageous Match The first that pretended to this Princess at least with any success was Victor Amedee the present Duke of Savoy Cousin-German to the Infanta Madame Royale his Mother Marie Jeane Baptist de Savoie Princess of Nemours being Sister to the Queen of Portugal His Pretensions succeeded so well that in the Year 1680 a Marriage was treated and soon agreed upon and nothing seem'd wanting to the final Conclusion but the coming of the Duke to Lisbon according to Agreement It will not be amiss to give what Account I can of this Match as how it came on and was unexpectedly broke off it being no inconsiderable Part of the History of this Age. It may easily be supposed that it was at first contrived between the two Mothers for howsoever it might have proved to others it afforded a very advantageous Prospect to each of them Madame Royale had been left sole Regent of Savoy during her Son's Minority by her Husband Charles Emanuel at his Death in 1675 But the young Duke entring at this time upon his 15th Year had a little before been declared Major and therefore should he have taken upon himself the Government her Authority was like to suffer no small diminution nor was there any so likely an Expedient to continue the Power in her Hands as the Duke's being sent away into Portugal the Desire of Rule together with the Ambition of becoming Mother of a King might make this Princess give a listning Ear to her Sister's Proposals The Queen of Portugal for her part as she had a great hand in the setting up of his present Majesty so she had a great share with him in the Government but her Power was not like to continue so great should a strange Prince be admitted into Court especially in case any thing should befal the King but by this Marriage between her Nephew and her Daughter she secured her Authority and took the best Measures to establish it both for the present and against the time to come These may be supposed to have been sufficient Inducements on both sides for the two Princesses to desire a Match between their Children and considering the great Power that each of them were possess'd of in their respective Dominions one would think there was no need of the Intervention of any others to bring the same about But some will needs bring the French in upon the Stage for in this latter Age there must nothing of moment be done in any Court of Christendom but what they have a hand in The Match indeed was for the Interest of France and that seems to be a great Argument why
things ready for putting the same in execution the Duchess who as yet had heard nothing of the Matter returns from the Country but it was not long before she discovered the whole Intrigue For as soon as she alighted from her Coach she went directly to the Duke's Apartment where she found the poor Prince pensive and melancholy and scarce able to look his Mother in the Face she surpriz'd at this alteration began to caress the Child and enquire what the Matter was He for some time instead of answering her fell a crying but she resolv'd to know the Business caressed him so long 'till she got it out of him so at last he told her all both what he had done and who they were that had put him upon it The Duchess tho' in no small Astonishment at this News had yet her Wits about her and with an extraordinary Presence of Mind ordered the Guards about the Court to be doubled got the principal of them that had plotted her Imprisonment to be Arrested and to bring over the People on her side gave out That the Prisoners and their Accomplices had conspired to seize upon the Duke's Person in order to deliver him up to the Spaniards In the mean while the Portuguese Fleet under Command of the Duke of Cadaval arrives at Nizza but it seems the Duchess tho' she had provided for her present Security began to gather from this Mutiny of the Nobility that she was like to have but an uneasie Government of it and that she should be forced to a greater Dependance upon France and be more at their Discretion than she had at first imagined which might render her Authority much more precarious than if the Duke her Son remain'd in the Country wherefore she found it necessary that his Highness should be very much indispos'd during the stay of the Portugueses and not in a Condition to go on Board So that the Duke of Cadaval with the rest of the Fidalgo's were forced to return as they came how well pleas'd at their Disappointment let the Reader imagine Presently upon their Departure the Duke recovered of his Indisposition and the Prisoners were never prosecuted for their pretended Plot which makes some People to be of Opinion that this Commotion of the Nobility was from the very beginning contriv'd by the Duchess her self who presently after the Conclusion of the Match might begin to consider the ill Consequences likely to ensue upon it which may have made her resolve to break it but wanting a plausible Excuse to stop the Mouths of the Portugueses and French by her secret Intrigues caus'd all this Bustle in order only to cast Dust in their Eyes But howsoever this was the Portugueses when they came to themselves especially after their King's Second Marriage were as well satisfied with the breaking off of the Match as the Savoyards could be so that in Conclusion the French remain'd the only Duppes who thought to have imposed upon them both This is the most tolerable Account that is given of this mysterious Affair for such it is still confess'd to be by those that have penetrated the deepest into it The World tho' most of the foregoing Particulars were publickly discoursed of at the time continuing still to wonder how it came to pass that the court of Savoy should thus unexpectedly depart from a most solemn Engagement for his Royal Highness was then so very young that he did nothing of his own Head he was meerly passive all the while indeed had this Affair been of a later Date and transacted some Years after the Duke came of Age and had appear'd upon the Publick Stage to act for himself the Wonder in all probability would not have been so great 2dly Louis the Fourteenth King of France his Pretensions to the Infanta were the Publick Talk and not without some Grounds after the Death of his Queen Donna Maria Theresa de Austria who departed this Life in 1683. This Match must have been very advantageous to that King if for no other Reason than that it would give him Footing in Portugal by which means it would be more easie for him to seize upon the rest of Spain upon the Catholick King 's Decease and 't is not doubted but there were some Overtures made by the French Ministers at Lisbon tho' not in so vigorous a manner as to give occasion to the Report that went current amongst the Portugueses it being commonly believ'd by that People that his Most Christian Majesty had so violent a Passion for their Infanta that he was coming to fetch her away by force of Arms For on the contrary it was observed at the Court of Lisbon that the French were not so warm in this Negotiation as to oblige them to come to a Resolution or give any positive Answer which perhaps proceeded from that King 's prudent Consideration that this was an Affair wherein he was like to be oppos'd either openly or under-hand by all Princes in Europe and perhaps most of all by the Portugueses themselves who do not seem over-desirous to come under the French Government this might make him loth to run the hazard of being deny'd For which Reason perhaps it was that his Ministers and Partisans at Lisbon seem'd to do little more than feel the Pulse of that Court without directly putting the Question or if they went so far they suffered themselves to be put off with very slender Excuses if it be true as 't is reported that the Court of Portugal desired time to consider 'till France had fully concluded the Peace with Germany and Spain and deferr'd giving their Answer on account of the Death of King of Alfonso hapning about the same time But the Death of that poor Prisoner made little or no alteration in the Publick Affairs especially in what related to the Infanta so that these Excuses only shew'd that the Court of Portugal was wholly averse to the Match and the Negotiation as it was but coldly carried on so in a short time it came to nothing 3dly The Prince of Tuscany was another Pretender and the Match with him seem'd once to be in great forwardness but it was broke off at last as it is said by the Grand Duke's insisting That in case his Eldest Son had Issue by the Infanta of Portugal the Children of this Marriage should succeeed only to that Crown and his Estates in Italy should be settled upon his Second Son Prince John Gaston but this the Portuguese Court could not be brought to agree to 4thly Charles the Second King of Spain presently after that King became a Widdower the Princess of Portugal had a great Party in his Council who were for having her to supply the place of the deceased Queen and for some time there appeared but one Rival in competition with her viz. the Princess of Tuscany against whom she carried it clearly For Spain could propose to it self no greater Advantage from the Marriage of that Princess than a
Antonio Bento Bernardo the King 's eldest Son living born the 22d of October 1689 and sworn Heir to the Crown by the Three Estates of the Kingdom assembled in Cortes held at Lishon Decemb. 1. 1697 a Prince as they who frequent the Court report of a sweet and mild Disposition and likely to inherit the King his Father's Vertues as well as his Throne Dom Francisco born the 25th of May 1691 a Prince of great Vivacity and Spirit as appears by many pretty Stories of him which the Portugueses entertain themselves withal He is designed for a Knight of Malta at least to hold the Grand Priory of Crato the richest Commenda in Portugal or perhaps in all Spain of which he is at present in Possession Dom Antonio born the 15th of March 1695 He was cloath'd in a Jesuit's Habit upon his first coming into the World which he still wears or did at least not long ago her Majesty having devoted him to her St. Xavier and if the Jesuits are to be believ'd he is design'd to be of their Order Dona Theresa Francisca Josepha born the 24th of Feb. 1696. Dom Emanuel born the of 1697. Another Princess born in the beginning of this Year 1699. If I remember a-right her Name is Dona Maria Xavier Josepha Besides these his Majesty hath acknowledg'd one Natural Daughter whose Mother is reported to have been imploy'd about the Palace to sweep the lower Rooms This young Lady hath been bred up in a Monastery 'till the Year 1695 when the King bestow'd her in Marriage upon the Eldest Son of the Duke of Cadaval to the great Dissatisfaction of the Nobility insomuch that few or none of them would appear at the Publick Reception of the Bride I never heard that their Discontent proceeded from an Opinion that this Marriage of the principal Person among them was a Disgrace to the Fidalguia In other Countries perhaps and in former Times so Illustrious a Body might think their Blood debased by such a Match But their Dissatisfaction was said to proceed from another Cause they thought the Honour was too great for any Subject the Duke of Cadaval not excepted and that he was raised thereby too much above their Level tho' it be confess'd by all at the same time that next his Majesty his Excellency hath the greatest Authority and the greatest Estate and is of the Noblest Blood in the Kingdom Yet he is not of equal Quality to them on whom the French King hath bestowed his Bastards for they to whom his Most Christian Majesty hath done so very great an Honour are such Princes as are the nearest to his Blood much nearer than the Duke is to the King of Portugal no wonder then if so great a Value is put upon the like Honour in smaller Courts the Authority of the French being in this Age sufficient to alter if not the Nature at least the Appearance of Things and make Things look glorious in our Days which in former Times had another Aspect In one Particular the Portuguese Court seems to have out-done the French on this occasion that is in the Title given to this Lady upon her being first own'd For as I was inform'd at the time it was ordered that she shou'd be treated with Altesa Real whereas I do not find that the French King 's Natural Children have as yet got above Altesse Serenissime and this may possibly be the Reason why Monsieur L'Abbe d'Estrees the French Ambassador forbore to visit her 'till he had express Orders for it from France For his Master having been for some time used to prescribe Rules for the Ceremonial he might perhaps think it a kind of Usurpation for any others to take upon them to alter it But the Portugueses did not altogether innovate on this occasion for they had a Precedent at the Court of Madrid where the late Don John of Austria took Royal Highness upon him which perhaps may have been the cause why the Court of Portugal which is resolved in all things to swell up to the Grandeur of Spain gave the same Title to this Lady It is now commonly said in Portugal that the King 's Natural Children have a Right to succeed him in the Throne in default of his lawful Issue But I believe this Opinion to be as ill grounded as 't is derogatory to the Honour of that Nation Had Royal Bastards a Right to the Succession John the Second who ruled with a more Absolute Power than any King of this Nation either before or since would doubtless have left the Crown to his Natural Son Dom Jorge Duke of Coimbra Progenitor of the Dukes of Aveiro now in Spain he having laboured all he could to obtain the Succession for him but all in vain For he was forc'd before his Death to acknowledge for his Successor Dom Emanuel then Duke of Beja whose Brother that King had slain with his own Hands When Dom Antonio pretended to the Crown after the Death of Henry the Cardinal he had put an end to the great Controversie at that time on foot about the Succession had Bastards a Right thereto But he himself was far from thinking they had and therefore he grounded his Claim upon a supposed Marriage between Dom Luis Son of Emanuel with his Mother It was a Prejudice to him indeed that some suspected Judaism to lie lurking in his Mother's Blood However the Judges constituted by Henry to determine this Controversie alledged his Illegitimacy as a sufficient and the only Cause of his Exclusion The only Bastard that ever Reign'd in this Kingdom was John the First yet he never pretended a Right of Succession to the Crown but came in by Election of the Estates assembled in Cortes at a time when the Throne was declared vacant the other Pretenders being at that time Prisoners in Castille and what is more declared Illegitimate by the Cortes whether justly or not is another Question so that Bastard for Bastard it was thought fit in this Case of Necessity to Elect Dom John before any other Of the MINISTRY ALL Publick Affairs of Importance and such as immediately concern the King are here managed by a Sett of Ministers as many or as few as the King pleases to appoint who together are called the Council of State and as Members of this Body they are all treated with Excellency The Reason I suppose is because that Title is given to the Counsellors of State at Madrid tho' another Reason was given by one of their Number who said It was their due because they had all of them been Ambassadors To this Council the King refers all Matters of Moment seldom or never resolving upon any thing before the Affair has been considered and debated among them 'T is said the Reason why the King pays so great a Deference to this Council is partly because it consists of those who had a great hand in advancing him to his Brother's Throne He for this Cause thinking it but reasonable that
the mighty Opposition he hath met with he having been heard to say soon after his having receiv'd the Cap from Rome That he never set his Heart upon any thing but in the End he found ways to accomplish his Desire And in effect he hath rais'd himself to the highest Dignities that either Portugal or Rome cou'd bestow upon him for his being a National Cardinal excludes him from all Pretensions to the Pontificate In Alphonso's Reign he became suspected to the Court by his associating himself with the disaffected Party and was therefore order'd by the King to his Residence at O Porto of which place he was Dean When Bishops were restored to Portugal he was advanc'd to that See and from thence he was afterwards translated to the Arch-Bishoprick of Lisbon and at last viz. in 97 received the Cardinal's Cap from Rome Tho' the two fore-mention'd Ministers have the principal Management of State-Affairs yet they say this great Prelate will take care that his Vote shall have its due Weight in the Council especially when he hath occasion to promote the Grandeur of his Brother's House I cannot pretend to tell how far he is concern'd in Foreign Affairs but we may suppose considering his Profession that those relating to Rome may if any be his Province But notwithstanding the great Favours he has received from thence his Publick Conduct hath not made him suspected of any mean Compliance with that Court on the contrary he has endeavoured so far as the Genius of his Country will permit to reform many of those Abuses it hath introduced particularly he hath on several Occasions shewn himself a great Enemy to Exemptions by which that Court hath establish'd its Tyranny in the World and ruin'd the Discipline of the Church He hath had many Clashings with the Nuncio's whose Legantine Courts he thinks incroach too much upon his Episcopal Jurisdiction In short he seems to have much of the same Spirit and Character with the late Arch-Bishop Harlai of Paris nor has he any more than that other great Prelate escaped the Lash of malicious Tongues I have never heard that he hath shewn so little Complaisance to the Court of Rome in order to gain the Purple tho' as all agree he hath been aiming at it for these many Years and considering the servile Temper of those at Rome no way seems more likely to succeed but Dom Verissimo de Alemcastro the late Inquisitor-General had put more signal Affronts upon the Holy See than ever the Arch-Bishop either did or could and was possibly for that Reason promoted before him When the Pope attempted as several of his Predecessors had done before him to break the present Constitution of the Holy Office whereof the Holy See bears all the Scandal and reaps none of the Profit The Inquisitor supported I suppose by the Court whose Creature the Inquisition was set them of Rome at Defiance stood all the Fire of the Vatican and remain'd unmov'd at their Censures tho' they proceeded so far as to interdict him Ab ingressu Ecclesiae insomuch that his Holiness was oblig'd at last upon a slight Composition to desist from the Enterprize and at the next Promotion the Rebel-Inquisitor was rewarded with the Cap the same Cap which as the Arch-Bishop pretended had been promised to himself Had this been under any other Pontificate than that of Innocent the Eleventh the World would not have been to seek for the Reason of the Inquisitor's Promotion but there being something more generous in this Pope's Nature than in theirs that usually fill the Holy Chair 't is not unlikely but he had some regard to the Merit of the Man for all give Dom Verissimo the Character of an extraordinary good Man tho' they say withal that he was none of the wisest and he may therefore be supposed to have been but an Instrument in the hands of others when that vigorous Opposition was made to the Pope's Design of reforming the Inquisition It is said that this Promotion of the Inquisitor did not a little disgust the Arch-Bishop and that he spared not to make most grievous Complaints against those that had deceived him and that it was not on the Court of Rome only that he laid the Blame of his Disappointment By this Promotion the Court of Rome gain'd some very considerable Advantages for thereby they took off one great Adversary gain'd him over to their side and by his Means disarm'd another putting it out of his Power to do them any great harm For after this the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop were never in good Terms together and the Nuncio's found the Cardinal the fittest Man on all Occasions to make head against the other whensoever he was about to give them any Trouble For tho' there was no Comparison between the Abilities of the one and the other yet the Cardinal was so highly esteem'd for his Innocence and Probity by the King Nobility and People that as weak as he was he was able to make his Party good against the Arch-Bishop who is far from being so much or so generally beloved But the Nuncio's have not been wanting on other Occasions to raise up Enemies against this Adversary of theirs Monsignor Nicolini was so happy in the time of his Residence as to set the main Body of the Fidalgo's upon him The manner in which he effected it does not indeed make much for the Honour of the Holy See however he did not a little gratifie a certain Passion which they of Rome are no less ready to indulge when a fair Opportunity offers than they are to Court an Enemy that 's too mighty for them The Fidalgo's were much set upon it to have leave for a Company of Spanish Strolers to Act in the Town and were as much opposed by the Arch-Bishop who perhaps might think that the Licensing of a Publick Stage was in effect to Authorize the Corruption of Manners that it is apt to cause Not that his Lordship was apprehensive least the Players should expose Religion or turn it into Ridicule to make Sport for the hair-brain'd unthinking Youth of the Town For possibly there may not be two Nations in the World where the Audience it self to say nothing of the Government wou'd be very patient at so horrible an Abuse should any thing like it be seen upon the Stage at Lisbon by these very Fidalgo's who were so earnest for a Play-House their Religion would put 'em upon chastising the Offenders upon the Spot in such a manner as ours will not justifie It is not long since they gave a terrible Instance of their Zeal upon a Servant of the French Ambassadors who being but a French Papist could not be perswaded to pay the like Reverence as others did to an Image brought upon the Stage which made the People fall upon him with so much Fury that he was carried off the place for Dead And there is this to be said in behalf of the Spanish Poets that their Plays have
Devotion which the Catholick Kings above all other Princes have ever born in mind and testify'd by their Actions towards the Apostolical See Their meaning was understood well enough at Rome and this Intimation of what they should do gave a strange force to their Arguments and so confirm'd the wavering Pope that he remained ever after steady to their Interest The Portugueses had apparently all the Right on their side but the Spaniards were Masters of Milan Naples and Sicily From this time forward Pope Innocent turned a deaf Ear to all that could be said in Favour of King John of Portugal and could never be brought to grant him that which was never deny'd to an Usurper That Prince had his Agents continually soliciting for him at Rome in his own Name and in behalf of the Clergy and of the three Estates of the Kingdom but all to no purpose The French made the most pressing Instances in his behalf but the Pope did not mind them at that time for France being embroil'd with intestine Dissentions He was sure they could do him no harm Great Court and Application was made to Donna Olympia as we are told by the Conde da Ericeyra who observes that she seldom used to fail in any Temporal Business that she undertook alluding I suppose to a Saying to that purpose which was current at that time in the Courts of Popish Princes where upon any Disappointment of their Affairs at Rome the Nuncio's were sure to be told That if the Business had been solicited by Donna Olympia it had never miscarried But on this occasion Donna Olympia her self could do no good for either she did not heartily espouse the King of Portugal's cause or if she did all her Artifices were ineffectual upon the obdurate Pontiff All the answer that could be got from this and the former Pope besides those frivolous Complaints before mention'd for which satisfaction was still offered was that the Pope as the common Father of Christendom thought himself bound to carry it equally between Castille and Portugal and not acknowledge or oblige one Son when it could not be done without offence to the other but the Portugueses could not perswade themselves that in this case He in any sort acted the part of a common Father whilst to gratify the unreasonable Ambition of the one he did not stick wholly to cast off the other and to use him in a more barbarous manner than he could have done an Infidel But in short the Spaniards were very rugged in their Threats and that stood them in stead of Right and Merit the Portugueses valuing themselves upon their blind Obedience to the Holy See kept within the terms of Respect which instead of gaining ought upon those of Rome gave encouragement to their Insolence Had King John but follow'd the Spaniards Example or come to any vigorous Resolution he had doubtless soon brought his Holiness to a compliance or he might have had a fair opportunity to vindicate his Country's Liberty in a yet more glorious manner than he had done already by shaking off the Spanish Yoke For we must know that all these Applications to the Court of Rome were not made to the end only that his Title might be acknowledged there but in order to have the vacant Sees in his Dominions supplied with Bishops for in a few years after the Revolution there was but one Bishop remaining in Portugal and he not Resident upon his Diocess being obliged to attend the Court and there was a like want of them in the East and West-Indies in the Madera and Cap Verde Islands and upon the Coasts of Africa the Portugueses therefore laboured all they could to make his Holiness sensible of the miserable state of their Churches thus destitute of Pastors petitioning for a supply the King according to the Practice of his Ancestors proposing the Persons for that end and to remove all Objections he agreed that his Nomination of the Bishops should be admitted with the Clause sine Praejudicio Tertij notwithstanding its being a clear Maxim in the Rota and confirmed by the practice of the Roman Church That the simple possession of an Inheritance City or Territory that has Jus Patronatus annext to it gives the right of Presentation to the Possessor but neither the reason of the thing nor the desolate condition of the Orphan Churches could have any weight upon the obstinate Pope He was more apprehensive of the Spanish Threats than the loss of Millions of Souls all that could be got from him was that He would appoint Bishops for Portugal on condition that he might name them de motu proprio he offered indeed another very strange Concession which was that the Bishops he chose of his own mere motion should be the very same Persons that the King had named But the Portugueses could not agree to this Proposal for this among other Reasons that the Popes might make it a Precedent for assuming to themselves a Right of nominating Bishops in after times which would prove a great grievance to the Nation since the Benefices that were already at his Disposal were generally the worst supply'd Things being thus at a stand the Gallicane Church undertook the cause of her Sister of Portugal and took the liberty to mind the Holy Father of his Duty in a Letter written by the Prelates assembled in a Synod which was presented in their Name by Cardinal Francisco Barbarini but the Pope at that time had as little regard to the French Church as he had to the French Coutt The Clergy of that Kingdom sent their Agent to Rome to take care of the concerns of the Portuguese Church as well as their own the Bishops whom King John had nominated sent their humble Petition to his Holiness that they might be admitted to the Exercise of their Charge and their Petition was rejected with scorn the Cardinals of the French Faction did all the good Offices they could but to no purpose Este signalized himself in a very particular manner on this occasion the Pope taking notice that he loytered about the City more than became him ordered him one day to his Diocess saying That it went against his Conscience to see him absent from it so long the Cardinal who was Young and Resolute answered That his Holiness had a great deal of reason to be thus scrupulous but being so much concerned as he was for one single Church he ought not wholly to neglect so many as there were in Portugal unprovided of Bishops and therefore he conjur'd him before God and in the Name of the King of France from whom he had Commission so to do that he would speedily grant Bishops to that Kingdom The Pope not a little surpriz'd at so brisk an Attack was going away without making any other reply than saying I shall pluck the Cap from off that Boy 's Head Este turns to him again and crys If you do I shall put on another of Iron and thereupon retires
of Savoy in their Interests and by his secret Practices so countermined their designs upon Casal that he kept the Place from being delivered up to them for some years after the bargain had been made with the Duke of Mantua the preservation of which place was so entirely ascribed to him that when he left Turin it became the common talk of Europe that Casal was infallibly lost His Conduct at Turin made him esteem'd at Madrid for the ablest Person to deal with the French Ministers and for that reason he was in the beginning of the year 1680. sent Ambassador into France but for the same Reason King Louis thought him the most improper for that Court his Ministers had it seems such a dread of the Man that they put their Master upon an Action that will not be reckon'd among the Glories of his Reign for after the Duke had arrived at Paris and continued there for five Months he was obliged to return as he came without having been admitted to Audience the King declaring That if he did not leave the Kingdom he would force him away by Violence an Indignity never before put upon the Representative of a Crown'd Head yet such as Spain in its low condition was forced to digest but the Duke had now a fair opportunity to mortify the French in his turn by defeating their defign upon Spain and Portugal Upon his Arrival at Lisbon Prince Peter more generous than to insult over an yielding Adversary show'd by his Proceedings that his own inclinations had not prompted him to make his advantage of his Neighbour's weakness for instead of prescribing Laws to the Spaniards who 't is thought would at this juncture have submitted to any terms of Accommodation he was content to treat with them upon the Square and appointed the Duke of Cadaval and other Commissioners to confer with the Duke of Giovinazzo who soon brought them to his own terms by an Address peculiar to himself which was by turning things into Ridicule and Rallying them into an Agreement the Prince though sufficiently sensible that what they had concluded upon was much to his disadvantage yet suffer'd himself to be perswaded by the Duke to confirm the Treaty it may be supposed that he began by this time to Relent and that he show'd himself more easy to make some amends to the Spaniards for their hard usage It is said indeed that the Duke had a particular Talent to accommodate himself to the Humours of those he had to deal with and by that means to gain upon the affections of this Prince who was not to be imposed upon as his Ministers were for the Duke's Jests were not like to take with him and therefore in his addresses to his Highness he gave another turn to his Discourse Haranguing him on all occasions upon his admirable Prudence and greatness of Mind and Praises having this common with Reproaches that they seldom fail of their effect when there is ground for them the Prince Regent is reported to have told those about him after an Audience given to the Duke That he knew very well that the fine things this Man had said tended only to deceive him who however had got the secret to please him and therefore he did know how to deny him any thing The Agreement made at this time had the Title of a Provisional Treaty because it did not determine the Right on either side for that was to be done at a more convenient Season It was so contriv'd that by the Articles one would think it was design'd to give the Portugueses some satisfaction in appearance and all the real advantage to the Spaniards It was agreed that by Order from the King of Spain the Governour of Buenos Aires should be punished according as the manner of his Proceedings had deserved which Order the Duke of Giovinazzo delivered afterwards to the Prince Regent who sent it to his Minister at Madrid with a Command to intercede in his Name with the Catholick King that the Execution of it might be suspended All Arms Artillery c. with whatever else had been taken from the Colony were to be restor'd and the Planters suffer'd to return and if any were wanting as many others to settle there in their room But then they were not to fortifie themselves nor so much as build Houses of any durable Matter nor were they to be supplied with fresh Men though in never so small a Number nor have any sort of Intercourse or Commerce with the Indians under Obedience to the Spaniards Whereas the Spaniards were to have the same use of the River the Isles thereof and Territories adjacent as they had before so that had this Provisional Treaty continued in force the Portuguese Colony must necessarily in a very short time have fall'n away to nothing and the Spaniards remain confirm'd in the Possession of a Country to which their Title was at best but Dubious It was indeed agreed at the same time that Commissioners on both sides should meet finally to determine this Affair and that in case Matters could not be adjusted by them it should be referr'd to the Pope's Arbitration but considering how seldom Conferences of this kind come to any Issue and how easy it is for the Spaniards to make proceedings at Rome to go heavily on one would think they had small cause to fear that any thing in this Article should deprive them of the Advantage they had got by the rest and if things succeeded not afterwards to their minds it was perhaps because they could not have a Duke of Giovinazzo always at Lisbon The Composure of this Difference made way for a more solid and lasting Friendship then hath been usual between these or perhaps any other bordering Nations that hostile Disposition which in former Ages was always observ'd in these towards each other and had been exasperated by a late War of 27 years continuance seem'd now to be worn away on a suddain and they began to familiarise themselves with each other for the Duke of Giovinazzo while he so happily acquitted himself to his Master's satisfaction in a Negotiation that was thought to be attended with insuperable Difficulties manag'd Matters so that he was no less pleasing to the Portuguese Court then to that of Madrid rendring himself acceptable to all and gaining the Universal Esteem of the Prince Nobility and People and as he was highly carress'd during his stay at Lisbon he was as much regretted at his Departure There is no doubt but the Marriage of the Q. of Portugal's Sister to the King of Spain contributed not a little to perfect the Harmony that is at present between the two Crowns and perhaps her want of Children much more for it being now apparent to the World that King Peter hath enter'd his Name among the Candidates for the Spanish Crown it is natural to suppose that his endeavours are not wanting to keep up the good Correspondence yet were we to judge of the inclinations of
sent them the Defiance and insulted them in their very Trenches so he contented himself with taking a vast number of their Towns many of them Rich Populous and Strong The first year he took Arronches and Alconchel and fortified and put Garrisons into both places in the former near 5000 men the next year he was early in the Field and in the heart of Portugal putting all things to Fire and Sword and Lisbon it self was in such a horrible Consternation that had he marched directly thither 't is thought he might have taken the City without Resistance But continuing to destroy the Country he sent a Detatchment to take Villa Boim a strong and rich Place but presently surrendered by a French Governour After this he braved the Portuguese Army in their Camp under the Walls of Estremos but in vain for it was impossible to draw them to a Battle he then took Borba a place of small strength indeed but desperately Defended for it had a Portuguese Governor Next he laid Siege to Geromenha a place strongly Situated and Fortified after the modern way with a Garrison of 3000 Men and provided with all things necessary for a stout Defense but surrendered in a Months time after the Portuguese Army had in vain attempted to relieve it this done Don John would have fought the Portugueses but found they had alter'd their mind and having strongly intrench'd themselves near Villa Viçosa patiently beheld him Ravaging the Country round about them he seeing he could do no good upon them took Veyros and blew up the Castle enter'd Monforte and put a Garrison in it destroy'd Alter-Chaon Cabeça de Vide and Alter Poderoso and all the Country round about He then took Crato and in it the Portugueses stores and Provisions ordering the Governor to be shot to Death for making Resistance upon that Assumar was presently surrendered to him he would have taken Possession likewise of Alegrete but that place as it must be acknowledg'd was preserv'd by a French Governor For when Don John sent him a menacing Summons he was answer'd with a Present of two Bottles of Wine the Governor desiring his Highness to tast what excellent Liquor the place afforded sending him word with all that he was resolv'd to defend the Town to the last Drop The jest took and Don John without giving the Man any further trouble continued his march and entered Ouguella without Resistance a small place but of great Importance and having left two Regiments in it the Summer heats coming on retired into Quarters The Next year he took the Field again with an Army much stronger and better provided then before He had no sooner past the Frontiers but he was expected at Lisbon however he thought fit to make himself Master first of Evora the second City of Portugal as he did after nine days Siege the Garrison which was numerous being made Prisoners of War for that Summer and sent away into Castille by this success Don John became in a manner Master of all Alemtejo or the Country on the other side of the Tagus He sent a Detachment of 3000 Horse and 2000 Foot down as far as Alcacere do Sal a Town situated upon the River Sado not far from Setuval the most considerable Sea-port Town next to Lisbon and but at a small distance from it This was done with design to encrease the Consternation at Lisbon in order to Don John's marching thither to put an end to the War The People of that City when they heard of his laying Siege to Evora expecting that their turn should be next were all in an Uproar but when the News came that Evora was taken such a fury possess'd the City that the better sort through rage and dispair joyn'd the Rabble and all in a common Mob fell a committing such Outrages that they seem'd resolv'd to prevent the Spaniards and finish their own Ruin themselves Their violence was not a little increas'd by Antonio de Sousa a Man never good at dealing with a Multitude He thinking to amuse them and divert their Fury upon the common Enemy would needs have a line drawn a cross the Terreiro do Paço causing it to be published that all those brave Men that would pass the Line and come over to the side next the Palace should be chosen out to help the Army in defence of their Countrys Liberty The Novelty of the thing drew an innumerable concourse of People together who when their Passions were up forgot the Enemy and leaving the Terreiro do Paço fell foul upon the Houses of the Ministers of State such more especially as had manag'd the Military Affairs and after they had been Ransacking Plundring and Burning whatever came to hand they return'd again and it may have been through weariness rather then want of will that they spared the Palace it self These terrible Convulsions seizing upon the Kingdom at a time when the Enemy was raging in its Bowels with so much Violence look'd like the symptoms of an approaching end but the English were now arriv'd and ready for Action and they by the quick and happy Turn which they gave to the Portuguese Affairs recovered the expiring State to Life again and enabled that People to expel the Enemy and follow him into his own Country and to humble him to the Condition in which he hath remained ever since but of this in its due place As soon as the Affairs of Portugal were by the help of these their Friends brought to a flourishing condition they could be in their circumstances considered and the War in all appearance drawing towards a happy conclusion on their side his most Christian Majesty began to have a particular Esteem for the King of Portugal and to own him publickly for his Allie and his Affection for that Prince was now so very great that notwithstanding the Engagements he was under to Spain not to concern himself with him He was now resolved to stand by him and take his part against all Opposers the Spaniards more especially and to become as his Majesty was pleased himself to express it his Companion in Arms He telling the Portuguse Ambassador at a secret Audience in 1666. that he was ready not only to bear a share with him in the Expences of the War but likewise to accompany him into the Field offering withal of his own accord to enter into the League which the Portugueses had for so many years together implored in vain during the time of their Distress and more than that was very urgent in pressing their consent to it It s true indeed the Portugueses had never less occasion for his Assistance then at the time when he was so earnest with them to accept of it but his most Christian Majesty had great occasion for theirs For that King being then in his full Vigour and the very flour of his Age he out of his extreme thirst after Glory was meditating a suddain Irruption into the Spanish Netherlands several of which
the force of these Syren's Charms be altogether so irresistible as he makes it for Portugal it self where they are more numerous than in any other Country stands yet undestroyed since their first coming in which is now more than thrice ten Years and indeed should we suppose the Sex to have never so ardent a Zeal for the Grandeur of their Monarch one would think it should be not a little cool'd in such as are thus sacrific'd to his Interests and sent in perpetual Banishment to so hideous a Country as Portugal must needs appear to them that have been accustomed to the Gallantrys of a French Court But granting that the great Monarch by procuring Husbands for these Ladies doth most strongly engage them to his Service he by the same means disobliges a great many others and renders them highly disaffected to His Majesty viz. the Ladies of the Country who as 't is said do not spare to make most bitter Complaints of the wrong done them by this intrusion of Foreigners and Jealousie together with those other Passions that usually accompany it have no doubt as great an Influence upon them as Loyalty and Gratitude have upon the others And the Portuguese Women if they do not belie their Character are as subtle and intriguing as the French can be Should they in revenge once take to Politicks why may they not Cabal together and form their Faction too Did they once set about it there is no doubt but they have power enough left to make a Party of their own amongst the Fidalgo's that shall be able to make head against that of their Rivals Together with the Ladies the Jesuits are reckon'd most zealous Promoters of the French Cause these Fathers as the World knows very well have been always Men of Intrigue since their very first appearance and the greatest Monarchs have thought fit to make use of them in carrying on their Desins In the last Age the Spaniards had them wholly at their Devotion and Philip the 2d was much obliged to the Society on many accounts and more particularly for their clearing his way to the Throne of Portugal had it not been for them it is thought that K. Henry the Cardinal had according to Justice and his own Inclinations settled the Crown in the House of Bragança but King Philip was then more in Favour with the Society and therefore was the Crown reserved for him But as the whole Order hath sometimes since chang'd Sides and come over to the French these in Portugal have not been behind the rest and are now supposed to serve that Party in this Court with as much Zeal as any of their Order do elsewhere some may perhaps be apt to accuse the Society of Inconstancy on this occasion but if any do so it is certainly without Reason for these Fathers are still what they were from the very Beginning The Fortunes of Spain and France are alter'd but not the Jesuits they continue firm to their Principles it was for the Interests of the Society in the last Age as it is in this to gain the Favour of such as had the greatest Power the Spaniards had it then and the French have it now and therefore Louis the 14th is to them what Philip the 2d was Since the Spanish Monarchy hath been falling to Ruin it was time for them to make their Court elsewhere for it is not to be thought that they have less Sagacity than those Animals who are ready to quit a decay'd Building when its fall is at hand But that which is most to be admired in the Conduct of these Fathers is that notwithstanding their being look'd upon as little better than Spys to those aspiring Princes that have bid fairest for the Universal Monarchy they have yet manag'd their Affairs with that Dexterity as to maintain their Ground as long as they thought convenient in all other Courts even those not excepted that were like to suffer first when ever the Design should take effect several instances might be given of this admirable Address of theirs in keeping in with all Parties both in the last and the present Age were I not to confine my self to Portugal In this Court they have enjoyed an uninterrupted Reign from the time of Simon Rodriguez one of the first Companions of Loyola and the first Jesuit that enter'd Portugal He getting into Favour with John the 3d. laid the Foundations of their greatness in this Kingdom in Sebastian's time the Jesuits govern'd all and the Blame is laid at their doors I know not how justly of the lamentable Destruction wherein that ill advis'd Prince involv'd both himself and his Kingdom yet notwithstanding this King Henry the Cardinal was wholly at their Devotion When the Spaniards got possession of this Crown none were more zealous in their Cause than the Jesuits Yet when Fortune began to frown upon them and the present King's Father regain'd his Right the Jesuits were ready immediately to assert his Title and that not only to this Crown but to all the World besides by way of Prophecy I mean for in Effect they are doing what they can to procure their so much talk'd of Fifth Monarchy for another Prince and in all the Revolutions and Turns of State that have happened since it was sure to be their Side which soever it was that chanc'd to come uppermost In the present Court their Power is certainly very great they having all along had the Direction of the Kings and both the Queens Consciences so that considering how religiously disposed his Portuguese Majesty is and his misfortune in having been so Educated that his improvements in Knowledge have not kept pace with his other great Accomplishments their Advice must necessarily go a great way with him I find in a Memoire written by one who seems well acquainted with the Secrets of this Court that the Jesuits have a great Influence not only over His Majesty but over the Ministers likewise who are said to be obliged to these Fathers for the great share they have in the Government and that one who hath the Address to get into Favour with their Reverences which is done by enlarging on the Praises of the Society may makc a very good use of them in any Business depending at Court provided that it doth not clash with the Interest of France for it seems they have always an eye to that which is now the grand concern of the Society My Author gives one signal Instance of their Zeal and Affection to the French Party which shows them to be capable of any thing in order to promote that even to the sacrificing of all other Interests it being of a Design which had it taken effect must have outed the present Ministers from Court or at least abated much of their Power for it was to bring the Conde de Castelmelhor into Business again and that because they know him saith my Author to be well affected to France I cannot tell upon what
follows The Conde Villa Flor General of the Portuguese Army when the English were first in Motion was standing on the rising Ground which he had possessed himself of in the Morning that was opposite to and a League distant from the Hill we are speaking of He seeing the English making up to the Enemy and observing that contrary to the custom of the Portugueses they did not so much as once fire all the way was perswaded that they were running over to the Enemy and instead of making Speeches to animate his own Soldiers to follow them was most bitterly exclaiming against the Hereticks declaring That he wash'd his Hands from having any thing to do in the Destruction of Portugal or giving this occasion to the Hereticks to betray them he was so fully satisfied that this and no other was their Design that all they did whilst in sight confirm'd him in his Opinion Mr. John Cargill who was Chaplain to the Regiment which the Gen. was crying out against being near him at that time and understanding what he meant but not having Portuguese enough to speak to him enquired for some body that could speak Latin and having found one desired him to acquaint his Excellency that the English instead of being guilty of so vile a Treachery as he was laying to their Charge were doing him a most Important piece of Service but the Gen. was not to be perswaded out of his Senses his Eyes and his Ears convincing him that the Hereticks were a doing that which as he said he had all along expected from them He had seen them running up to the Enemy till they come so near that they might shake Hands without doing the least act of Hostility he presently afterwards heard a Shout too loud as he thought for so small a Company to give and he could think no otherwise but that they and the Spaniards were Congratulating each other upon their Conjunction as for their general Discharge it could be nothing else but a Salvo they doubtless shooting their Bullets into the Air. Such were the Speeches that the Conde de Villa Flor made while our Soldiers were beating the Spaniards for him he chang'd his Note indeed when he came afterwards to understand the matter if it be true as 't is reported that he said Aquelles Herejes sam mel hores que os nossos Santos these Hereticks are better to us then our own Saints But for that time all the Chaplain could do in order to his Conviction was to prevail that a Messenger should be sent along with him to see what the English were adoing upon the Hill In their way they met Count Schomberg whom Mr. Cargill acquainted with the Consternation in which he had left the General The Count upon hearing this Gallop'd towards the General and as we may suppose disabus'd him of his Error The Count was then just come down from the Hill for he having the Concern of the whole Battle upon him found occasions for his Presence in every Part and thought it necessary at this time among the English lest their heat should carry them on too far in the Pursuit whilst their Service was requir'd elsewhere He had got up with them by that time they had follow'd the Enemy about a Mile and though he discovered by his Words and much more in his Countenance how well pleas'd a Man of his Character must be with so Gallant an Action yet they were his own Regiment and he check'd them for their too great Eagerness telling them that the Enemies Horse were making towards their Country men below and commanding the Officers to Rally their Men that were then all in Disorder in the Pursuit and Plunder While his Orders were putting in Execution he return'd to the Plain and when he heard Mr. Cargil's Story he rode up to quiet the General After the Conference between the Count and the General we suppose it was that the Three Portuguese Regiments headed by the two Commanders had the Speech made to them and were ordered to march up the Hill for it was just at this time that the Enemies Horse attack'd an English Regiment in the manner describ'd by our Author only he gives a wrong Name to it for it was Colonel Persons and this was just as Lieutenant Colonel Hunt's Men who had nothing to do with any Horse at all were leaving the Hill For they having spent some time in getting into Rank and File were making what hast they could to joyn their Country men seeing four Squadrons of Cuirassiers charging them who were so warmly receiv'd that they soon wheel'd off leaving behind them several of their Men and Horses upon the Ground That the Portugueses did not ascend this Hill before our Men had been there and done their work for them will appear likewise from hence The Author saith that they began their March at the same time when seven other Regiments of Foot on the Right assisted by five Squadrons of Horse went to Attack the Spaniards on the other Hill whom after some Resistance they routed taking at the same time the other four Pieces of Cannon but this was not attempted till after the English had been upon the steep Hill and as a great Officer declared presently after had not been done at all were it not that the Portugueses were provok'd to it by what the English had done before However while these seven Regiments assisted as they were with five Squadrons notwithstanding the Advantage they had in Number and in the Place by much more accessible then the other as appears by their making use of Horse were for some time put to it by the dispirited Spaniards Our Author assirms that the three Regiments knowing nothing of what the English had been doing for he mentions not a word of it and has done his utmost to keep the Reader from suspecting any such thing mounted the most inaccessible Hill two of them directly Fronting it the third wheeling about to the Right all keeping their Fire as the English had done till they gain'd the Top which they all did at the same time when they make a general Discharge and presently put the Spaniards into disorder take their Guns which Dom Luis de Menezes turns upon them at the same instant and put them intirely to the Rout. But where these things to do then the Conde de Villa Flor must have been more in his Wits then to make such an unequal Division of his Forces at least he would have dispos'd of them in another manner he would have order'd the seven Regiments to wheel about in order to get up to this Place where the Enemies chief strength lay and had sent the Three where there was less Danger Count Scomberg as least who as brave a Soldier as he was was so Prudent a General as to be always for making sure Work when he came up to the English would never have taken them off from the Pursuit could he have suspected that there would so sudden
an occasion for doing over again all that they had done already But the Truth is there is so great an Agreement in some of the most material Passages in this Account with what the English had been doing before as 't is related by our Officers who never saw or heard of the 2d Volum of Portugal Restaurado that they all seem to speak of one and the same Action so that there is cause to suspect that the Conde had given an Account of the Part which our Country men had in the Battle and that the Revisors of his Papers or which is more probable the Inquisitors when the Book passed through their Hands out of their great kindness to the Hereticks resolv'd to make a Portuguese Action of it by changing the Names and Time There are more Reasons for this Conjecture then are necessary to be told at present It is not denied but that the Portugueses might come upon the Place where the Action was perform'd but it appears from what hath been said that it could not be till the Business was in a manner done and till the English were about leaving it so that they might have spared the Officers pains whom they sent to view it there being neither Horse nor Foot in any condition to withstand them All the work that they had to do was that usually done a broken scatter'd and confounded Enemy and which a Brave Man will never by his Good-will set his Hand to which is down-right killing The English being drawn off upon a Business that became them better had not been long there after the Enemies Horse were repuls'd but a Gentleman came Riding up to them from Count Schomberg with Orders to Halt adding that the Portugueses on the Right had attack'd and put to the Rout the Spaniards on the other Hill sometime afterwards Count Schomberg himself came to them and order'd them to joyn the Army that was going to incamp it them growing Duskish The Count staid with them part of the Night telling the Officers many diverting Passages and we may guess at whose Expence he diverted himself Were that Great Man alive now he had no doubt before this time receiv'd from Portugal a further occasion for his Mirth It is very likely that a Person unskill'd in Military Affairs must be guilty of many Errors in his manner of Relating this Transaction but as to the substance of what hath told he hath deliver'd it with that assurance which is Natural to one who himself believes what he saith he having receiv'd the most material Passages from several Competent Witnesses at several places and times all agreeing with each other and with what our Author himselves relates where he does not plainly do that which 't would be a great indecency to Name However since many cannot have the like opportunities to inform themselves he shall insist only upon this notorious Truth That at the Battle of Amexial part of the English Foot without the Assistance of Portugueses or others attack'd a great Body of Spaniards posted upon a Hill by themselves thought inaccessible Defeated and Routed them taking their great Guns their General 's Tent and Baggage and by this means occasion'd the Victory which preserv'd Portugal from imminent Destruction This he believes to be so evident a Truth that there 's scarce a Person of any considerable Rank in the several Nations that were concern'd in the Transaction but either is or may be convinc'd of it by Eye-Witnesses those that have convers'd with them Letters from Publick Ministers or the like And since on account of the suppos'd Author's Quality the History of Portugal Restaurado is likely to be communicated to those that are in the Highest Stations they who have prefix'd to it the Name of Dom Luis de Menezes have done a great discredit to their Cause and a most irreparable injury to the Memory of that great Man For while such as have a true sense of Honour shall think that Lord could be Author of a Peace wherein so little Gratitude is express'd to the Savers of his Country so much Artifice used to Defraud them of the Honour got while they were exposing their Lives to rescue a distress'd People from Destruction and all for no other apparent Reason but our difference in Opinions for there appears throughout the Work as great Partiality in favour of the French as Prejudice against the English How vile a thing must they take this ancient Popery to be and how mischievous amongst the People that can have so Maligant an Influence upon a Noble Mind Certainty should Dom Luis de Menezes prove guilty of so disingenuous a Work The General of the Artillery did not gain more Honour by his Sword when he fought at the Battle of Amexial then the Conde de Ericeyra forfeited by his Pen when he Discribed it In this Battle the Spaniards as 't is said of 16 Thousand had 4000 kill'd and 6000 taken Prisoners among whom were 2500 Wounded The loss on the Victors side was inconsiderable for among all the 8 Companies that were ingag'd on the Hill there were but 16 private Soldiers and an Ensign kill'd The Portugueses indeed while they were killing the Spanish Foot and fighting with the Horse lost a thousand of their Men and had 500 Wounded The King of Portugal being very sensible of the great services done him by our Men resolv'd to bestow a Largess upon them as a mark of his Esteem His Gift was very Extraordinary in its kind for it was three Pounds of Snuff to each Company and not despicable for its Value considering into how low a state Portugal had been reduced But our Foot Soldiers had not such consideration in them for when the Present was made in his Majesty's Name they took it and toss'd it up into the Air out of Contempt and Disdain and as they grew Angry they began to remember not their own services but the loss of their Valiant Country men of the Horse Regiment and to vent their Indignation that such Men that had been so often commanded on to the Slaughter should be so basely abandon'd as they were However their Passions cool'd and they came to themselves again upon the first occasion for Action and though they were to fight for Portugueses yet they behav'd themselves like English Men still insomuch that the remainder of the present Campagne and the two that follow'd seem'd just the Reverse of those made by Don John the two foregoing Years and the beginning of this Soon after the Battle Evora was besieged and taken and the next Year Valença in Estremadura at both which Sieges the English signaliz'd themselves in their usual manner of which several remarkable Instances might be given In 1665. the Spaniards made shift to bring another Army into Portugal under the Marquess de Caracena to be serv'd at Montes-claros in the same manner as Don John's had been at Amexial In this Battle while a whole Regiment of French fairly ran away some particular
Considerations could have done and consequently if the English have not met with a suitable Treatment in his Kingdom the Fault ought to be laid wholly on his Ministers and Inferior Officers If the Priviledges of our Countrymen residing in Portugal granted and confirmed by so many of his Royal Ancestors and ratified by Solemn Treaties have of late Years been either manifestly violated or eluded by all the little Arts of Chicane if during the last War his Maritime Towns that were almost the only Ports in Christendom left free and exempt from our Dominion became Nests for French privateers and Irish Pyrates if by Reason of our Religious observation of the Peace with Portugal these Corsairs found a safer retreat at Lisbon O Porto and Faro than at Merseilles St. Maloes or Dunkirk and our Merchant Fleets were more infested upon the Portuguese Coasts than those of France or in the Straights if our Ships taken under their Castles and in their Rivers were carried up and dispos'd of in sight of the King's Palace whereas by an express Article in our Capitulations all English Ships by whomsoever taken when brought into any of the Portuguese Dominions were to be restored to the right Owners and lastly if on these and all other occasions a greater regard was had to the French Menaces when they could do nothing else but threaten than to our Complaints while we had the Remedy in our own hands if any of these things were so the Blame ought surely to be laid wholly upon the Ministers to whom the King as hath been said defers so much in the management of Affairs a Prince of his Portuguese Majesties Honour Justice and Prudence cannot be supposed to have had any part in such unaccountable Proceedings but whether any of these things were so it belongs to the Persons more nearly concern'd to make out In matters which fall more immediately under the common observation our English Traders residing in that Kingdom have great cause to be satisfy'd with the Portuguese Nation where they are treated with all the Respect and Civility they can look for by a People who cannot be insensible of the great Advantage that our Trade brings to their Conntry for we furnish them with Necessaries of Life in exchange for Supplies to our Luxury We Cloath them with our Woollen Manufactures and Feed them in a great Measure with our Fish from Newfoundland and in Exchange for these Commodities we rid the Country of their Wines and that at excessive Rates which all of the wiser and better sort among them think much better parted with at any rate than kept at home Nature having provided them a more wholsome and agreeable Liquor But it is not only the Benefit of Trade that recommends our Countrymen to the Portugueses their fair and generous Dealing in their Commerce used to gain them such Credit that Palavra de bum Ingrez the Word of an English Man hath been taken for the best Security its true that in the Inland Parts the horrid Ideas the People had of Hereticks as they take us to be made them look upon our Countrymen as a strange sort of Monsters insomuch that when our little Army first march'd into the Country the Peasants instead of blessing them as their Deliverers would watch for opportunities to do a mischief to the Straglers but the first Campagne ended they found them to be quite another sort of Creatures than they had imagined and began not only to take them for Men but for something more finding them to be as Peaceable and Gentle in their Quarters as they had been Fierce in the Field for instead of Domineering over their Landlords and playing the Tyrants as the French men did our Soldiers spent their time in serving the People they were quarter'd upon and doing any Work that was needful in the Family such an obliging Carriage in Men whose Bravery they had so much cause to admire so alter'd their Sentiments concerning these Hereticks that should an English man travel in the most unfrequented Parts of the Country where the English Name hath been scarce heard of either before or since the War he shall be received and caress'd with all the welcome the poor People can make when a French man shall run the Risque of being knock'd o' the Head I have mention'd this matter the rather because the Manners of our Countrymen seem to be so much changed of late Years that perhaps it will be as great News to them as any thing I have related for possibly the People of Ireland and Flanders may differ much from the Portugueses in their Opinion concerning our English Soldiery The common People about the City are not observed to be guilty of any Rudeness towards the English on account of their Religion such as have had cause to think themselves most exposed to affronts on this occasion having never met with any which in my Opinion ought in Justice to be ascribed to the Humanity of the Portuguese Nation after they have been a little conversant with us as well as to the Prudence of the Government It is true that opprobrious Language to Strangers is so severely prohibited that upon complaint made against any that shall call an English man Heretick no punishment short of Death or the Galleys will be thought too great for the Offence We had like to have seen the last Year an example of the King's Justice upon an Offender of this sort a certain Lawyer in his Pleadings was pleased to bestow upon the English the Titles of Hereticks Lutherans Schismaticks Excommunicated Persons c. Complaint hereof being made to His Majesty he gave command that the Lawyer should be Imprisoned in order to his further Chastisement the Man took Sanctuary in the Church but it was resolved in Council that his Crime was of that Nature that the Church could not protect him and an Order was given out to force him thence but the Criminal as I have been told since died soon after and so put a stop to further Proceedings And this makes me almost astonished at the Hardiness of the Inquisitors who in the preceding Year viz. 1697. took an occasion to publish an Edict in all Churches which is to be seen at this day on most of the Church Doors I am sure it was not long ago and is like to remain for many Years as other Orders of the Inquisition that stand by it have done it being Excommunication to take them down wherein the English in general are Stigmatized not only for Hereticks but for Usurpers likewise but this is an Offence of too heinous a Nature for a private Person to animadvert upon and therefore I shall content my self with having only mention'd it FINIS
the Country for these many Years We had indeed a Story in the English Gazette I think it was in 1692 of their burning the Admiral of Sallee but at last it proved to be but a small Boat that was run ashoar It might be expected that they should in some measure recover themselves during the late War in which other Seafaring Nations were embroil'd whilst they enjoy'd the Benefit of a Free-Trade as in effect they did almost to the doubling of their Trading Vessels But it does not appear that they made any great Improvement in the Art of Navigation for there was hardly Skill enough among them to carry a Ship into the English Channel very few if any of them daring to venture upon that Voyage without an English Pilot I suppose it is for want of Seamen that the King's Ships are so much crowded with Land-Souldiers for these make the greatest part of the Complement That of the biggest Ships as I have been told consisting of 60 Mariners 80 others not yet qualified for Able Seamen and 250 Land-Souldiers Of His Majesties First Queen MArie Françoise Elizabeth de Savoie youngest Daughter to Charles Amadee de Savoie Duke of Nemours by Elizabeth the Daughter of Caesar de Bourbon Duke of Vendome Natural Son of Henry the Fourth King of France by Gabriele d' Estrees Dutchess of Beaufort commonly called la Belle Gabriele She was Born the 21th of June 1646 Contracted to Dom Alfonso the VI. King of Portugal the 27th of June 1666 arrived at Lisbon the Second of August following and having cohabited with that King for the space of near Sixteen Months was Divorced from him and Married afterwards viz. the 2d of April 1668 to his Brother the Infante Dom Pedro now King of Portugal This Lady who before her Marriage went by the Title of the Mademoiselle d' Aumalle was at first designed for the Infante whilst a Match was in Treaty between the King his Brother and her Elder Sister Mademoiselle de Nemours the present Dutchess Dowager of Savoy but that Match not taking effect she was Contracted as I have said to the King and another Marriage was concluded between the Infante and Mademoiselle de Bouvillon Daughter to the Prince of Turenne and Niece to the Mareschal of that Name But this was Broke off because the Infante could not be prevail'd with by any Perswasions or Menaces the King his Brother could use or the Entreaties of the Ministers and his own Servants to stand to what had been agreed upon in his Name and by his Order The reasons for his refusal I could never learn Soon after the New Queens Arrival at Lisbon King Alfonso began to express an extraordinary coldness towards her and in a short time he estranged himself very much from her Company his Indifferency growing into an utter Aversion insomuch that he forbore not openly to Exclaim against the Authors of this Match who as he hath been heard to say had advised him to that which he should have cause to repent of all his life-time all this was said by such as were ill-affected to that Prince to proceed from a certain un-fitness for Marriage which the Queen afterwards laid to his Charge Others are still of Opinion that it was occasioned by some secret cause of Dislike that rendred her Person disagreeable to him They that accuse the King of Inability impute the cause of that and of his Incapacity for Government which they accuse him of likewise to his Sickness in the time of his Infancy for at Three Years Old he had been seiz'd with a Malignant Fever and that was succeeded by a Palsie whereby as it is said all his Right Side became withered from Head to Foot insomuch that he remain'd Lame ever after on that Side but they that tell this accuse him likewise of delighting to Ride the most fierce and un-manageable Horses and to encounter with Wild Bulls and other Violent Exercises which one wou'd think should suppose a vigorous Habit of Body they represent him also as guilty of many Extravagancies on the account of lewd Women as in truth his vicious Inclinations to them were apparently the cause of most of those Disorders they lay to his Charge And this may make one suspect their sincerity likewise when they tell us That the same Distemper had so affected his Brain that he was never in his right mind It may no doubt with reason enough be said of this King That some have taken the Liberty upon what grounds I know not to say of his Father before him that he was none of the wisest Kings that ever reign'd in Portugal but then the Faults he was guilty of may be as well imputed to his want of Education as to any Natural or Accidental Defect in his Understanding For perhaps there never was one designed for a Crown more neglected in his Youth than this Prince had been He had been suffered to abandon himself to all the Extravagancies his childish Inclinations led him to and not only his own but those of his Companions these were not the Sons of the Nobility but such as himself had pickt up out of the Streets from among the Boys that he us'd to behold from the Palace Windows dividing themselves into Parties and Pelting one another with Stones the usual Pastime of Portuguese Children They that were of the Party favoured by the King and signaliz'd themselves most at this Exercise had the largest share in his Affections and some of them as they grew up with him became his Principal Favourites these from the very beginning of his Reign found entrance into the Court and would at times entice the King down into the Stable-Yard of the Palace and there together with a lewd Rabble of Grooms Blacks and Moorish Slaves entertain His Majesty with Wrestling Boxing throwing the Bar darting Knives setting Dogs to Fight the Young King making One amongst them and what he learnt from the Conversation of this vile Crew he afterwards on some occasions put in practice Such Education was not we may be sure very likely to qualifie him for the Affairs of State 'T is true the Chiefest of his Companions had been put from him immediately before his taking the Government upon himself and he having had the happiness to fall into better hands a great alteration was observed in his Conduct yet he was not so changed but that he found himself obliged to leave Affairs of Importance to the Care and Management of others This the new Queen soon perceiv'd and as 't is very likely she was encouraged to make her Advantage of the King's Unfitness for Business and to endeavour to get the Government of him and his Kingdom into her own hands This is certain that notwithstanding the King 's Neglect of Her she was not wanting to her self but took all occasions to make her self considerable She not only procured from him a Grant for the Augmentation of the Revenue settled on her in Marriage but began