THE LIFE and REIGNE OF Our SOVEREIGN LORD KING CHARLES the II In a compendious Chronicle relating both to his Majesties Person and Affairs With the chief Transactions of State in the Three Kingdomes from his Birth to this present By a Lover of his Prince and Countrey LONDON Printed by R. DANIEL for FRANCIS EGLESFIELD at the Marigold 〈◊〉 â—t Paul's Church-yard 1660. To the Happy Preserver of his Sacred Majesty the LADY JANE LANE MADAME THis smal Volume humbly Offered to your Hand contains part of the Life and Reigne of one of the Greatest Monarchs in the World The rest 't is hoped as it will be the imployment of a more elegant Pen so it will not be accomplisht till it afford a Chronicle of more years Prosperities in these Nations then this is of Miseries That I have presumed to dedicate it to your Ladiship if I incurre the censure of boldness I am confident every one will commend the fitnesse of my Choice Since nothing could be more proper then to intitle your Ladiship to the Relation of that Life which next under the Divine Providence you were chiefly instrumental to preserve To you Madame we owe all that can be ow'd from Christians Subjects or Men to any person upon Earth by whose dangerous but ever memorable Fidelity we are at length restor'd to whatever is dear to us in those three capacities and which is no small consideration to the liberty of publishing the impartiall truths as far as the best Relations afforded in this Book Nor is the present Age onely oblig'd to you but your glory shall live upon Record and your Name embalmea with praises be preserved in the memory of thankfull Posterity In all which respects I have thought it my duty both in testimony of my particular Loyalty Gratitude to present this Piece to your Ladiship as the Person that ha's the greatest right to it withall publickly to acknowledge my self MADAME Your Ladiships most devoted Servant and Eternal Honorer FR. EGLESFIELD A true and accurate Relation of the LIFE and REIGN Of our Soveraign Lord and KING CHARLES the II. KING Charles the first of that name having soon after his coming to the Crown married Henrietta Maria youngest daughter of Henry the fourth and sister of Lewis the thirteenth Kings of France was blessed with a Son on the twenty ninth day of May one thousand six hundred and thirty Upon whose birth as the King was going in solemn manner to the Church of S. Paul in London to present his gratefull devotions to God for his own and the Nations happinesse in receiving so eminent a Pledge of his favour there was observ'd a new Star appearing in the time of mid-day as if the Heavens seem'd by an extraordinary Production to aemulate the new splendor of the Earth The young Prince was baptised at S. Iames's on the twenty seventh of Iuly next ensuing by the hand of Dr. Laud then bishop of London Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury being rendred uncapable by an unhappy accident of shooting a man and received his Father's name Charles his Godfathers were his two Uncles Lewis the thirteenth King of France and Frederick King of Bohemia and Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine whose absence occasioning them to depute their substitutes the late Duke Hamilton represented his Majesty of France and the Duke of Richmond the King of Bohemia His Godmother was Marta de Medicis Queen dowager of France represented by the Dutchesse of Richmond It deserves our notice that he was born the greatest Prince that ever these Nations knew never any before him having been born heir apparent to the Crowns of England Scotland France and Ireland which was intimated in the Silver coynes made at the solemnity of his Baptism on the reverse side whereof were the Armes of those four Kingdomes with this Motto Hactenus Anglorum nulli On the fourth day of November one thousand six hundred thirty one it pleased the Divine Providence to enlarge the Royal Family by the birth of a Daughter the Lady Mary who was afterwards viz. 2. May 1641. married to VVilliam of Nassau Prince of Orange by whom she hath a posthume Son named VVilliam a Princess whose perfections qualifi'd her for the bed of the greatest Potentate in Christendome had not the interest of Religion been more consider'd in her match then amplitude of Territory or Title By the blessing of Heaven upon the Royal bed the King became father to another Son the most illustrious and renouned Iames Duke of York upon the thirteenth of October in the year One thousand six hundred thirty three he was solemnly baptised on S. Iames's day next following and within a few dayes after created Duke of York Title born by his Father during the life of Prince Henry his elder brother This Prince hath though yet in his youth so signalized himself by his valour in the Armies of the Kings of Spain and France that I think this Age nor perhaps any of old cannot afford his parallel His Majesty likewise had another Son brought forth to him by his Royal Consort upon the twentieth day of Iuly 1640. who was Christned Henry and created Duke of Glocester And a Daughter at Excester during the Warres upon the sixteenth of Iune 1644. named after her Royal mother Henrietta Maria. This is the surviving Issue of our late Soveraign of blessed memory And having thus briefly given an account of the Parentage and Birth of these Illustrious Princes I shall proceed to represent the Life of Him who is particularly the Argument of this Relation CHARLES Prince of Wales now our Soveraign Lord King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. The care of his Infancy was committed to the right honourable the Countess of Dorset wife to the last Earle 'till after some yeares having out-grown female conduct the present Marquess of Newcastle was chosen by the King as a fit person to imbue his Youth with all the accomplishments requisite to greatnesse and the Reverend Dr. Duppa Lord Bishop of Chichester and now of Salisbury as one able to form his tender mind to true Religion and Virtue Every year of his Childhood afforded new promises and hopes and even in that age which usually has not the advantage of discretion either totally to subdue or at least to dissemble the motions of passions he express'd on all occasions an extraordinary goodnesse and sweetness of nature seeming to have been born with that equal temper of mind which few men render themselves capable of by the help of Philosophy and Religion Nor were his inclinations to Virtue more remarkable then those he had to excellent and solâ—d Arts which the composednesse of his Genius render'd more acceptable to him then the levity of the most exquisite divertisements In the ninth year of his Age he hapned to break his arme and was very sickly falling first into a Feaver and shortly after into the Jaundies but by the favour of the divine providence he happily overcame
his distempers and afterwards attain'd a firmer health When he came to sit in the House of Peers 1640 his first action in publick affairs was the carrying the King's Letter to them in favour of that noble but unfortunate Lord the Earl of Strafford the King hoping that when all other respects could not prevail upon them at least the consideration of the dignity and goodnesse of this Royal Messenger might something move them to reflect upon the hard measure they had determin'd for him But through the cruel fate of this brave man or rather that of these three Kingdomes the heat of I know not what strange zeal had made them so thirsty for his bloud that a day or two's respite of execution of the severest sentence that ever was given was more then could be afforded to the desires of their King though presented by the hands of their Prince This repulse he suffer'd was certainly the beginning if not the cause of all his ensuing sufferings and those of the Nation 's too For soon after hapned that fatall misunderstanding between the King and the Parliament which occasioning the King's withdrawing from London he commanded the Prince to attend him first at Greenwich then at Hampton-Court then at Theobalds the incensed Parliament and City in the mean time regretting his escape out of their hands having design'd to make advantage of his person according as the contingency of their affairs should suggest to them From thence with the Duke of York he accompanies his Father to New-market and from thence into Yorkshire where they all stood before the gates of Hull and were deny'd admission by Sir Iohn Hotham 'till at length the two Princely brothers were by his special favour permitted as children to see the Town At York the Northern Nobility and Gentry offering their service to his Majesty received thanks for it but were not made use of for prevention of jealousie 'till a greater danger induc'd the King to neglect his fafety no longer and accordingly he selected a company of gallant and loyal persons for his Life guard which were commanded by the young Prince His Majesty assuring them they should hazard their lives no further in defence of their Countries Lawes and Liberties then himself and that they should endanger themselves no farther for his person then his own dear Child In this manner he accompanied the King from York to Newark in Nottinghamshire and from thence to Lincoln and Leicester and back again into Yorkshire in which progress the King endeavoured to satisfie the Counties he passed through of the uprightnesse of his intentions for the good of the Nations and evidenc'd to them the desperate courses the Parliament engaging in order to deprive him of the Royalty left him from his Predecessours and this under pretence of Liberty and Religion At his return into Yorkshire the King informes the Gentlemen there of the Parliaments forwardnesse to a War desires them to spare him some Armes and to compleat Prince Charles's Regiment for the guard of his person under the command of the Earle of Cumberland Not long after the King having gather'd a considerable Army was met between Kinton and Edge-hill in Warwickshire by that of the Parliament under the conduct of the Earl of Essex There was the first considerable battle fought of our civill Wars The Prince was then in the field and the Honourable Earle of Lindsey who was the King's Generall and lost his life in the fight looking upon him very attentively a little before the conjunction of the Armies I know not by what Propheticall instinct utter'd these words Ther 's a Child born to end that VVar we now begin Which how miraculously accomplish't we cannot but gratefully acknowledge the civill Wars having continued ever since the Army which had subdued the one Party afterwards turning their swords upon those that first employ'd them and the poor Nations being rul'd by the sword and always in a state of War and groaning under the miseries inflicted on it by armed Oppressours After this the King retir'd with the Prince to Oxford and committed him to the Right Honourable the Marquesse of Hertford then and still Chancellor of that University who provided for him severall worthy persons in the quality of Tutors for his instruction in all such languages and Sciences as were convenient for the accomplishment of a Prince During his residence there it pleased God to visit him with the Meazles and that not without some danger of death which by the Divine mercy and indulgence to these Nations he avoided is respited we hope for many years Here he was very diligent in commendable studies intermix'd with ingenious and innocent pleasures and upon the King 's summoning a Parliament thither which convened the 22 of Ianuary 1644. himself with his noble Brother the Duke of York sate with the rest of the Nobility in the Upper Schooles which were designed for the House of Lords as the Convocation House was to the Commons who were no inconsiderable number there being present at that Assembly besides these two young Princes the Lord Keeper Littleton the Lord Treasurer Cottington the Duke of Richmond the Marquesse of Hertford nineteen Earles three and twenty Barons and a hundred and fourty Knights and Gentlemen The next year the Prince betakes himself into the field being now about fifteen years old his first course was Westward where by his Majesties Order he had attendants appointed him suitable to the grandeur and state of an heir to three Crowns He set up a Royall Court and chose out a Retinue at his own pleasure the King though disapproving the action in a Letter to the Queen yet admiring his discretion in the Election of them scarce inferiour as a great observer affirm'd to that of his deceased Uncle Prince Henry During this time the King of Portugal sends over an Embassadour who amongst severall specious proposals relating to his Majesties present exigencies tenders one for a Marriage between the Daughter of that King and the Prince of Wales which for good reasons the King his father put off with a civill answer importing a deniall of the proposition though as the policy of State-affairs often makes it necessary to do in words expressing no dislike of it After that fatall battle of Naseby which turn'd the scale to the disadvantage of the Royall Interest severall Overtures interven'd between Prince Charles the Lord Goring and the Parliamentarian General Fairfax but the two former alwayes receiv'd the same answer from him which signified nothing viz. That he was but a servant to the Parliament and could not exceed his Commission which impower'd him onely to fight therefore in râ—ference to a Treaty application ought to be mâ—de to his Masters at VVestminster The Prince accordingly writes to him again to grant the Lords Hopton and Culpepper leave to attend the King and mediate with him for a Treaty with the Parliament to which the General upon grave consultation with his Committee of
Governor thereof being slain in a Sally it was surrendred upon Articles and by the King of France and the Cardinal in person put into the hands of the English Iune 25. 1658. While these things were in agitation beyond Sea the pretended Parliament reassembled on Ian. 20. and those Members who had been excluded the last Session were now admitted There was also an assembly of Officers and some few others in the House of Peers summon'd thither by Cromwel as Lords But the Commons being now a full House began to review the late Humble Petition and Advice made by a packt Iunto and refus'd to treat with the Other House as Lords Wherefore Cromw in a great fury hasted to them in a Hackney Coach and having rated them sufficiently dissolved them Feb. 4. yet with this word of consolation to his Other House My Lords ye are Lords and shall be Lords This was the fourth Parliament he dissolved having before violently turn'd out the Long-Parliament the little Parliament the Recognition Parliament this garbled Iunto There goe's a saying concerning the three latter which were summoned by Cromwel himself that the First was called but not chosen the Second did just nothing and the Third did nothing just However Cromwel resolv'd to maintain what he had gotten per fas nefas He had called his eldest Son Richard out of the Country to inure him to a Court life and Publick Affairs and placed his second Henry in Ireland the room of Fleetwood whom he recalled from thence wanting as he said his Presence and Counsel Moreover he had married his two youngest Daughters in the foregoing November one to Mr. Rob. Rich. heir apparent to the Earldome of VVarwick and the other to Thomas Viscount Faulconbridge And having thus settled himself he resolv'd to rule at his pleasure dispairing of ever having the complyance of a full and free chosen Parliament On the twelfth of March he sent for Tichburn then Lord Mayor of London the Aldermen and Common Council and acquainting them with the imminent danger of the Commonwealth by reason of secret Machinations from some Ill-willers to his Government gave them order for settling the Militia Whereupon the guards were doubled and a strict watch was set in all parts of the City Shortly after divers persons were apprehended and imprisoned and among others Doctor Iohn He wet Minister of St. Gregories near Paul's Mr. Iohn Russell brother of the Earle of Bedford Sir VVilliam Compton brother of the Earl of Northampton Mr. Iohn Mordant brother of the Earle of Peterburgh Sir Richard VVillis Sir VVilliam Leighton many more of lesse quality Hereupon follow'd a day of solemn Humiliation and a High-Court of Iustice before which was brought first S. Henry Slingsby of Yorkshire he was accused of Treason by one VVaterhouse and one Overton Officers in the Garrison of Hull for conspiring to seize upon that place for the King Next him was brought to Tryall Dr. Hewet he was impeached of Treason for holding correspondence with the King and delivering his Commissions to several persons for levying Forces against the Government But the Doctor refused to own the authority of the Court The same day Mr. Mordant was also arraigned before the said High-Court for a treasonable design but he made his innocence so apparent against all the evidence that he was acquitted Sir Henry Slingsby and Doctor Hewet received sentence of death pronounced upon them by President Lisle on the 2. of Iune and notwithstanding the intercessions of great friends were beheaded on Tower-Hill on the 5. of the same moneth A few dayes after one Mallery the betrayer of all the rest was try'd pro forma and condemn'd but repriev'd Other persons were also try'd whereof some were acquitt'd some condemned and reprieved but three persons were dealt with in the greatest rigour being hang'd and quarter'd namely Col. Edw. Ashton in Tower-street over against Mark-lane end Iohn Bettely in Cheapside and Edmund Stacy before the old Exchange Iuly 17. These murders were usher'd in with a Fast and concluded with a day of Thanksgiving Sad newes was this to his Sacred Majesty who could not but be infinitely sensible of the sufferings of these loyall persons as well as of the calamitous state his interest was thereby brought into However he gave not himself up to pensivenesse and unprofitable sorrow but repaired for a while to Antwerp with the two Dukes his Brothers and the Princesse his Sister from whence also he went to Bruxels and resided there for a good space being entertain'd there splendidly by Don Iohn of Austria and desired to be present at most consultations for carrying on the War against the French In August Elizabeth Cleypole daughter to Cromwel and wife to one Iohn Cleypole dyed at Hampton-Court much troubled in mind by reason of the bloody actions of her Father as was reported But whether it were so or no this is certain that Cromwel never injoy'd himself after her death and did not survive her a full moneth He lay some while in a very sad condition with extreme torment and pain in his bowels neverthelesse he could not endure to think of dying but said the night before his death That God had revealed to him that he should not dye and that he had a great deal of glorious work for him still to do in these Nations But on Friday Sept. 3. he departed this life or as some say on Aug. 30. at what time was the most furious violent wind that ever hapned in the memory of man Immediately upon his death his Council met and upon the affirmation of Dr. Goodwin that he nominated his son Richard to succeed him or for that they judged it the most expedient course they order'd him to be proclaim'd Protector accordingly Which was done the next day in the City of London and his new Highnesse took an Oath prescrib'd in the Humble Petition and Advice Richard's first care was the Interment of his Father and search was made into the Records to see what had been expended upon the buriall of former Kings to the end greater cost might be bestow'd upon his All the gaudry was not provided till the 23. of Novemb. and then his Image was drawn in great pomp to Westminster Abbey and lay'd in a stately Herse What became of his carcase is not certainly known Thus ended this great Tyrant after almost 5. years usurpation during which he spent vast sums of Treasure to maintain his ill-gotten power and yet his Funeral charges amounting to above 30000 l. are unpaid for at this day Assoon as the ceremonies were over young Cromwel was urg'd by his wants of money and other prâ—ssing occasions to call a Parliament to which end he sent forth writs not according to the Instrument of Government but after the old way two in a County c. In the mean time many congratulatory addresses were made to him from Counties Cityes Burroughs and Regiments of Souldiers full of flattery and profanesse some of