Thomas Weyland Adam Stretton and others who being by the Kings order Examined and found guilty of the Trespasses laid to their Charge were â—ither out-law'd and lost their goods or else long â—mprisoned and deeply Fin'd A large Catalogue â—f them and their Fines are to be seen in Stows 〈◊〉 whence 't is observable how suddainly vengeâ—nce over-takes Oppressors let them be never so Rich High and Mighty in Office Power or Authority as soon as ever the Kings mind is inspir'd from above to inspect their actions and punish their crimes Remarkable is the 19th Year for the Jews Banishment which we find bought of thâ— King by the Commons at the price of a Fifteen In the 21st year we hear of a Parliament held at London and of the King of Scot's coming thither with divers of his Lords The punishment inflicted on three men for rescuing a Prisoner from an Officer belonging to the Sheriffs of London by striking off their right hands at the wrist in Cheapside is noted for one of this years actions Hence let us leap to the 24th year and there among thaâ— years deeds we find mention made of a new subsidy levied by the King upon Wool going out oâ— England Fels and Hides for his War with thâ— French King of his Commanding the Mony before granted by the Clergy towards the defence oâ— the Holy Land to be brought into his Treasury upon the Report he had from Rome of Pope Boniface the 8ths manners of the grant he got of thâ— Clergy of half their Spiritual and Temporal Lands from a Benefice of 20 Marks and upwards to bâ— paid in three years And of the Tax he had also granted him by the Lay-fee viz. the Tenth penny of their movables to be paid in two years time If any one be desirous to certifie himself whaâ— Relation Scotland stood in towards England foâ— many ages before let him read through the Relation of this years actions in Fabian's Chronicle and there he may be satisfied if it will conduce to his satisfaction to find that Scotland even in Elder times in a sort depended on England and waâ— so far from giving Laws or an Example and Patern thereto that it's Nobles were fain to submit themselves to the King of England's Judgmenâ— and decree and do him Homage and Fealty in effecâ— by the submission of their King whom King Edward had appointed and set over them Memoâ—able is the six and twentieth year for that thereâ—n the Londoners obtain'd of King Edward newâ—y come from beyond Sea into England and so to Winchester a grant of their Liberties and Franchises which had in some part been kept from them by â—he term of twelve years and more so that they â—gain chose a Major of themselves whereas in â—he aforesaid time their Custos or Guardian was appointed by the King or by such as the King would assign But we are to understand by the Chronicle that this was not redeem'd without a great Sum of money Some Writers it seems fixing it at three thousand marks As this King had many Wars especially with Scotland which put him to great charges and had much money granted him by his Subjects so he ceased not to devise other ways to raise more and get what was denied him For as much as divers men â—ichly benefic'd in the Land refus'd to aid him with their Goods as others had and for that end had purchased from the Pope an Inhibition that they and their goods should be free from the King's Taxes he put them this year out of his protection a strain of State policy beyond some other Kings and seis'd their Temporalties permitting them to enjoy their Spiritualties till they agreed with him Though this was a warlike Prince and oft successful in his undertakings yet the Clergy's power so over-top't the Laity's that he chose rather to make use of his Wits than his Arms in dealing with them So have I read in William the Second's days how when his Unkle being both a Bishop and an Earl grew troublesome to him he seis'd upon the Earl and clapt him in hold whereby he caught and revenged himself on the Bishop too without openly pretending to meddle with a Clergy Man An offence esteem'd piacular in those days to such an height of Pride were the Popish Clergy grown An other practice of King Edward was his suddain Condemning certain Coines of Mony call'd Pollards Crocardes and Rosaries in his twenty seventh year and causing them to be brought to a new Coynage to his great advantage as testifies the Historian Among others may be also numbred that Inquisition he caus'd to be made throughout the Land in the twenty eighth year which was after nam'd Trailbaston This we find made upon Officers as Majors Sheriffs Bayliffs Escheators and many others who had misborn themselves in their Offices and had us'd Extortion or treated the people otherwise than was according to the order of their Offices So vigilant appeared this Prince and careful of his people that they might not be abused nor oppressed by their fellow Subjects when got into power under pretence of being his Majesties Officers a thing we know common enough in the world In the twenty eighth year we have mention made of the City of London's Splendor and Magnificence upon the account of their receiving the new Queen Margaret Sister to the French King Thus runs my Authors short Relation hereof The Citizens to the number of six hundred Rode in one Livery of Red and White with the Cognizance of divers Misteries broidered upon their sleeves and received her four Miles without the City and so conveyed her through the City which then was garnished and hanged with Tapestry and Arras and other Cloths of Silk and Riches in most goodly wise unto Westminster This is the year wherein Fabian makes the first mention of Pierce of Gaviston in his Chronicle upon Occasion of the Bishop of Chesters complaining to the King of him his Eldest Son Edward and others for breaking the Bishops Park and riotously destroying the Game therein For this was the aforesaid Edward and his Accomplices Imprisoned So that under this famous King the very next Heir apparent scap'd not the Lash of the Law when he had offended even to an actual Imprisonment so far were men in those days from asserting him to be above the Law and not Lyable to condign punishment because the next Heir Afterwards the King Banished the aforesaid Gaviston out of England for fear lest he should debauch his Son But this Banishment was after his death annulled by his Son Edward when King to the great trouble and vexation of the Land afterwards The twenty ninth may be esteemed not unworthy of remark for the Kings giving to Edward his Son the Principality of Wales whereunto he likewis'd joyn'd the Earldom of Cornwal newly Vacant and return'd to the Crown In the 33d year we read of the taking arraigning drawing hanging and quartering of William Waleys who of an unknown
declare the Oath for some few small minute petty fancied Inconveniences invalid and of no binding force But be it by the Power of the Sword or by whatsoever Claim else Canutus held the Crown we nevertheless find him to have Govern'd the Land honourably after that he came to be sole King and it may be to the Content of many of his Subjects for 't was the Memory doubtless of his Repute that set and kept the Crown upon the Heads of both his Sons otherwise of themselves of little Worth or Value if compar'd with their Father One remarkable worthy Act of Canutus's is recorded amongst others viz. That in the Nineth Year of his Reign he call'd a Parliament so my Author terms it at Oxford where amongst other things it was enacted That Englishmen and Danes should hold the Laws of Edgar lately King In the Transactions of these Times we may believe the City of London had no small Share aâ— being probably at length pretty well pleas'd with the Father's Reign whereupon the Citizem mav be supposed to conduce at least in some measure to the settling his Sons on his Throne For Harold Harefoot is said by some to have dyed at London after a Three Years Reign and the other of Canutus's Sons Hardicanute was joyfullâ— Receiv'd and Crown'd at the same City In Edward the Confessor's days the Land being not much troubled with intestine Broils there happ'ned but little Occasion for trying London's Strength And thereupon I find no great mention of that Honourable City unless in a Passage or two as about Edward the Outlaw's dying therein and of the King 's being there some time before with his Councill when Earl Goodwin was charg'd to come to Court and render into the King's Hands all his Knights-Fees-that he and Harold his Son held in England The Effect whereof was the Outlawing of the foremention'd Goodwin for his Disobedience and departure out of the Land with his Sons by Authority of a Parliament call'd alittle after In this King's Reign also we hear at both Ears of the evil Manners among the Bishops the Chief of the Clergy of their Voluptuousness Gluttony Leachery Covetuousness Wordly Pomp c. as also of their Endeavours to excuse their Manners by answering that they were suitable to the Times A generall Corruption among Men of a Religious Habit being the Common Forerunners of great Turns and Changes in a Land as it fell out here soonafter this King's Decease This is the King to whom according to the Annalist Stow we are indebted for the Common Law gather'd out of the Laws and Ordinances of the Mercian's West Saxons Danes and Northumbers What Spirit was in the Men of those Times is â—n part manifested in the Message sent to Harola by the Inhabitants of Northumberland when he was â—ent thither by the King to do Correction upon those who had risen against his Brother Tostus their Duke for a cruell Act by him committed taking away what he had and chasing him out of â—he Country Continuing together in a considerable Body they gave him to understand that they were freely born and freely nourish'd and might suffer no cruelness of Dukes That they had learned of their Elders and Sovereigns to maintain Freedom or to suffer Death and to live in quietness under an easy Duke Upon which Message their Pardon was procur'd them of the King and another Duke assign'd Within less then a year after Edward the Confâ—ssâ—r's Death we read of the landing of Duke Wâ—llâ—â—m with his Normans at Hâ—stings in Sussâ—x who came with a strong Army to demand the Crown of Harold who had no Title but what he claim'd by the Power of his Sword and the Dukes Claim also went but upon a limping Foot As great as the Duke's Host was enough it seems by the Event to help to win a Crown we find London so Strong as to hold him out when he and his Army came thereto till he had given good Assurance that he and his People would pass through the City without tarrying which was also observed accordingly When Harold was utterly over-thrown by these Normans and so room made for the Title of Edgaâ— Atheling to take place we find the Londoners among the chief of those who were upon Associating themselves each to other to defend his Right to thâ— utmost of their Powers This Agreement indeeâ— was afterwards broken but by the making of it we are well enough assured that the Câ—tys Strengtâ— was then esteem'd very considerable Another Argument let me produce out of Stow'â— Annalls where it is recorded that Edwin anâ— Marcar both then Powerfull Earles the One â—â— Mercia the other of Northumberland after Harold Death came to London and solicited the Citizen to erect one of them to the Kingdom Though this their enterprise was frustrated yet doubtless it may prove Londons Power otherwise 't is hard to believe these two potent Earls would have applied themselves to the Citizens that they would chuse one of them for King and upon the Failure of their Design would have quietly departed without shewing some resentment had not the City been too strong easily to be dealt with or slightly to be anger'd with Safety and Security The other more rightful Heir was the Person pitch'd upon But the other Nobles of the Realm not powerfully assisting and Edward Atheling not being it seems of Ability sufficient to manage his own Concerns himself and undertake so great a Charge 't is no wonder that this Renowned City suffering it self to be born down the Stream with the Times submitted it Self with the rest of the Land to Duke William who made some pretence to a Title Whereas Harold could shew nothing for his but his Sword And therefore it may be 't is that we read not in antient Histories that I remember of this Citys assisting him to defend himself against Duke William's Power Here now is a great Change indeed The Power and Strength of the Kingdom turned from both the Britains and Saxons and devolved upon the Normans by means of this King William the Date of whose Reign begins reckoning immediately after Harold's Death October the Fourteenth Anno Christi 1066 according to Chronology In this King who himself by the General consent of Writers was basely Born is founded the Succession for higher they care not much to go who keep such a stir about our Princes inheriting according to their Birth-right Though if this be made the fixt unalterable Rule of Twenty Six Kings and Queens reigning Successively upon recourse to the History of their Reigns we shall meet with a dozen at least of them who cannot be denied but to have come to their Crowns with Flaws in their Titles Nay if we reckon in the Number such as may have been controverted upon that Account we may safely add the other Half dozen That from the general Rules there are many exceptions we learnt almost as soon as we went to our Grammar-School This King William is
of the Realm so much by Conqueâ—â— as on Conditions accordingly here 's mentiâ—â— made of one Grant The Occasion of Stephen's coming to the Crowâ— contrary to his own former Oath swore to Kiâ—â— Henry and in prejudice to Maud's Claim is Râ—corded by one Author to have been the Oath one Hugh Bâ—got sometime King Henry's Stewarâ— who swore that the Late King in his presence little before his Death chose this Stephen for 〈◊〉 Heir by reason that he had received some discoâ—tent at his Daughters hands Whereunto the 〈◊〉 giving easy Credence admitted him King 〈◊〉 Favour of the Londoners did doubtless at thâ— time conduâ—â— not a little to his advantage in pâ—â—ferring him an able Man before a weak Womaâ— For Stow's Annals inform us That he was receivâ—â— by the Londoners when he had been repulsed at â—ther Places certainly it redounded to his 〈◊〉 Benefit afterwards as hath been related before Another Addition of Strength might be his not imposing heavy Taxes upon the People which it may be increased their Love to him and made so many side with him As indeed we find upon his first Admission that he sware among other things before the Lords at Oxford to forgive his People the Tax of Danegelt Neither do I read of any Taxes that he raised upon the Commons It is affirmed positively in the Câ—llâ—ction of Wonders and Remarkable Passages that he raised none with which Stow likewise agrees So that a King 's needless laying of many heavy and grievous Taxes upon his People occasions him to lose much of their Love and his forbearing it when he hath Power in his hands unites his Subjects Hearts the faster to him But instead of Taxes we read of this Kings permission given to his Lords to build Castles or Fortresses upon their own Grounds Many whereof we find pulled down in the next King's time they having been the occasion of many Miseries in the Land and the ready means to foment Civil Wars therein which generally brings greater Damages to the Commonâ—lty than a few Impositions and Taxes can be presumed to do This King Stephen was twice Crowned but for what cause or for what intent is not so easily known whether it was that he thought his Imprisonment had diminished somewhat of his Royalty or else thinking by a second Coronation to â—lude the Force of the Oath made at the first I find not delivered Certain it is soon after my Author tells of his taking away a Castle from the Earl of Chester who before had appeared against him on Maud's side with a very considerable Strength but had been afterwards reconciled to the King But what is much more considerable we read not long after of the King 's new danger and ill Success and of his Party being weaken'd particularly by the loss of London For Duke Henry after King coming into England with a great Army after some small Success gets up to London and wins the Tower as much by Policy and fair Promiâ—es saith my Author as by Strength Then he had Opportunity enough to caress the Câ—tizens being so near them and it may be he got not the Tower without their Consert if not by their Affistance Hereby we find that he retrieved what his Mother's Haughtiness before had lost and so having got the City's Affection and Power he was in a fair way to obtain his Desires as he did not long after For we quickly read of Mediators and Treaties of Peace between these two Competitors which took Effect at last though the Interest and Policy of some hindered it for a time In Conclusion the King was fain to consent to the adopting the Duke his Heir so that he might Reign during his Life Which justly to perform the King being sworn with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the next place we hear of their riding up to London as if to bind the bargain it was requisite to ask the consent of that Honourable City whose Favour seems to have been of so great weight in those unsettled Times as to turn the Scales twice once in the King's behalf and erewhile on the Dukâ—'s Such was their Influence such their Power as to pull down and set up in a manner whom the Citizens pleased Happy was this Agreement to the Land by settling peace therein as beneficial likewise was it to the Duke it being a fair Step to the Throne whereon we find him mounted within a little time For not long after this Accord we hear of the King's Death Whether the Troubles of his Mind or Diseases of his Body brought him to his End vexation for the disappointment of his Designs in being after a sort compelled to adopt his Competitor his Enemy for his Son and Heir or Grief for the loss of London's Favour which helped to effect so great a Turn in his Affairs I shall not determine It might be one it might be the other or neither or all conjoyned that became the occasional Causes so to phrase it of his Death I like not to be very positive where I am not very certain Stephen's Death making thus way for Henry to ascend the English Throne he became one of the â—reatest Kings that ever ruled this Land for the Largeness and Extent of his Territories if we reckon the Inheritance he enjoyed from his Father the Land he held by the Title of his Mother the Dowry he had with his Wife and what he obâ—ained by the Success of his Arms Yet notwithâ—tanding all this he lived not free from Troubles â—nd intestine Broils which sprung much out of his â—wn Bowels So that the Glory of his Youth beâ—an somewhat to be eclipsed by the Misfortunes of â—is elder Years He Crowned his eldest Son liâ—ing King sometime before the middle of his â—eign to the end as one Author affirms that he â—ight have full Power and Authority to rule this â—and and People while his Father was busied in â—ther Countrys where some of his Lands lay This â—ight be one Reason but the King having learnt 〈◊〉 experience to his Mother's Loss and his own â—ost how easy it was for Stephen to attempt and â—ain the Crown being present on the Spot while â—â—e right Heir was far distant in the vacancy of the â—hrone may be supposed in his intent to have designed the hinderance of such an Intrusion for the future by Crowning the next Heir King while he himself lived I read that Stephen had some such design to have Crowned his Son King in his own days as he declared at a Parliament called at London An. Reg. 17 to have fixt the Crown the surer to his Posterity But the Bâ—shops refused the Deed Which I do not find they did so much out of Conscience or in Favour to Mâ—â—d's Title as by the Command forsooth of the Pope who in those days was very apt to be clapping his Fingers into almost everâ— ones Pye where he thought any good pickinâ— might be had This King Henry got but little by Crowning
into his own Country there were hopes doubtless 〈◊〉 a happy peace to ensue and long to continue But seems those hopes were soon blasted For the 〈◊〉 next year viz. the 15 we read of the late agrâ—â— peace's being violated and broken by the King 〈◊〉 according to my Author persevering in his wroâ—â— would in no wise be induc'd to hold his own graâ—â— but to execute all things after pleasure nothing â—â—ter Law and Justice These violations produc'd new War between King John and his Nobles 〈◊〉 ended not till after the Kings Death So troublesâ—â— was it to the Nation so dangerous to the King 〈◊〉 he should have such ill Ministers about him 〈◊〉 were either authors or followers of no better adviâ—â— then what could not consist with the Kings keepiâ—â— his Royal Word That the Sheep were made 〈◊〉 for the Shepheard to clip shear pill and slay at own will and pleasure is a Doctrine that the 〈◊〉 quiet innocent harmless Sheep would no longer â—â—â—lingly assent to than while the Knife is held at 〈◊〉 throat how acceptable soever it may be to the 〈◊〉 Wolves and the degenerate Dogs of the 〈◊〉 When King John found himself too weak to â—â—tend with his Barons and yet it seems by the 〈◊〉 not willing enough to keep to his former 〈◊〉 he sent beyond Sea and call'd in strangers his Assistance We read that Northfolk and 〈◊〉 were the Lands promised to those strangers 〈◊〉 would come over to aid the King who had a little â—efore got the Pope to disannul the aforesaid Charter â—nd liberties granted ere while by him and excommuâ—icate the Barons We have mention made in Stow 〈◊〉 or 3 times of strangers coming over So many of â—hem were cast away at one time by Tempest who â—ere coming over Men Women and Children that â—â—'s said of 4000 not one escap'd alive So that we â—ay observe 't is an old trick to call in Foreigners â—pon the Natives when Arbitrary designs are on 〈◊〉 When the King was found to have invited â—trangers to his aid the Lords also sent into France â—or help and succour When two Women fall a scolâ—ing and pulling one anothers head-cloths whoever â—â—rst began the fray it is much but both will be in â—â—ult before it end London was the place where the â—ords kept themselves together till the expected aid â—nd succour from beyond Sea was brought to them â—nder Lewis the French Kings Son who landing 〈◊〉 England with a strong Army came afterwards to London and was there received Hence he with the Lords departing won many Castles in the Land and 〈◊〉 their return had the Tower of London given up to â—hem by appointment Tho the Tower held long for â—he King yet 't was the City it seems that bare the â—way and adhered to the Lords What a strength â—â—ey were of we may observe out of Stow where â—ing John is said to have made hast to besiege Lonâ—on but the Londoners were hereby so little daunted â—hat they set open their Gates and were ready to meet â—im ten miles off the City whereupon the King withâ—rew understanding their boldness and multitude â—hen the Major Roger Fitz. Alwyn was accused to be â—â—vourable to the Kings Party we find him quickly â—ischarg'd of his Office and one Serle Mercer chosen 〈◊〉 his place so great was the favour of the Citizens to the Barons and their Cause that they spar'd not their own head Officer and Ruler when he lay under thâ— suspicion of favouring Arbitrary designs so contrary to the mind of the Citizens The War still continuing and King John being not able to prevail tho thâ— Pope interceded by his Legaâ—e he had at last â—â— some writes all his Arbitrary designs quench'd with a Cup of Poyson at Swinstead Abby about Lincoln Tho another Author is said to affirm that he died â—â— the flux at another place Soon after this unhappy unfortunate King John death we meet with an eminent instance of Englisâ— mens Loyalty as well as of their love of liberty anâ— freedom for though the King and his Lords were 〈◊〉 so great a difference most of the latter part of hiâ— Reign and he left the Throne and his life at such 〈◊〉 time when his Barons were likely in outward appearance to be much too strong for him his his survâ—ving Heir being but then a Child of about 9 years 〈◊〉 age Yet as if all rancour and animosity against thâ— King and his Party was dead and buried with him 〈◊〉 his Grave the wheel of affairs was so turn'd as 〈◊〉 were in an instant that Lewis and his strangers weâ—â— disgusted and the young Fatherless Prince was proclaim'd and Crown'd King of the Land at an agâ— wherein he was not fit to be left to his own guidanâ—â— without a Tutor It 's plain enough by this instancâ— that English hearts were more loyal than naturallâ— to desire the ruine of their Prince and his Family 〈◊〉 at any time they appear'd in Arms against him in defence of their Lives Liberties and Freedoms hoâ— ready have they shewed themselves to accord anâ— submit as soon as those men of ill Principles and Aâ—bitrary practices were remov'd from their Princâ— who had rais'd those clouds of discontent betweeâ— him and his People The chief of those that so soon returned to their Allegiance were the powerful Earls of Pembroke and Chester who drew with them a very considerable reâ—inue They may be probably thought to hope to â—â—nfuse better Principles into their young Prince in his Nonage than appeared by former Arbitrary actions â—o have been in his Father and so model the Goâ—ernment into a better frame in the time of that powâ—r they were as the chief Nobles most likely to â—ave under the King in his younger days Neither â—o I know but somwhat might proceed from reâ—orse of Conscience The Earl of Chester in the 2d â—ear of the Kings Reign taking his journey into the Holy-Land the Religion of those times having made â—hat the usual way of Expiation Some such intent of â—he Earl stands likewise upon record in one of the Chronicles saith my Author Another very probaâ—le occasion of this sudden change of Affairs in the Kingdom may be supposed to have risen from the Death-bed confession of a French Nobleman who 〈◊〉 reported to have discovered Lewis's intent to 〈◊〉 destroy and quite root out those English Lords â—hat adhered to him as if in detestation of their disâ—oyalty to their own natural English Soveraign When â—he Barons came once to find that he whom they â—ad called in to defend them against their Kings Arâ—itrariness intended to violate and break their Coâ—enants established at first between them when he â—ould come to have opportunity and so turn their â—â—plored aid into their certain destruction they â—ight well think they had reason enough to disclaim 〈◊〉 Alliance and endeavour to frustrate his privy inâ—â—ntions by returning to their former Allegiance as 〈◊〉 as a fit season presented it self Conditional
Stones So great a value did this high-flown Duke set upon his grace and favour till the Citizens of this honourable City by their power and prudence had brought down his haughty spirit a Peg or two lower and that visibly too For we don't find him as ambitious as he still continued so openly aspiring to Englands Crown for the future how successfully soever his Son made a Rape thereon at the end of this Princes Reign under the pretence of I know not what hidden right accruing to him from his Mother We read indeed I confess in Cotton's Abridgment of the Records that in the seventeenth of this King the Earl of Arundel laid several things to the Dukes charge as not honourable for the King to suffer in him nor fit for him to do being a Subject as that he went Arm in Arm with the King and his Men wear the same Livery the Kings did which seems to shew much of Arrogancy and Ambition to say no more besides some other Objections but herein he was so far justified by the King himself that the Earl was ordered to crave the Dukes Pardon in full Parliament in a certain form of words appointed him In Stows Annals also we meet with an Accusation brought against him in the seventh of this Kings Reign tending to prove his intent and design suddainly to oppress the King and take upon himself the Kingdom but it seems little notice was taken of it by the King himself who was to have lost most had it been attempted Successfully and doubtless as little believ'd otherwise surely the Schedule containing the time place and other Circumstances had not been presently delivered into the Dukes hands nor the accuser committed at his request to the charge of his near Kinsman nor the occasion of his violent Death so little inquired into afterwards The Duke was not so powerful nor so great a Terror but the City was as well able still to deal with him and his whole party and make as vigorous opposition as ever in defence of their Soveraign Lord the King if occasion should have offered it self This we have reason to believe was known in those days to all the Nation much more to the Duke himself from former experience who therefore may be suppos'd not any more to have aspir'd openly whatever secret fires of Ambition lay hidden within his breast whether or no he design'd and attempted ought by unseen Plots and Conspiracies I leave to the Judicious Reader to believe or not as he pleases without speaking to or for in the case Besides the decree of an over-ruling Providence Common equity in siding with what was reputed the juster title natural humanity in defending the young and weak and a well grounded affection to the Prince for his Father and Grand-Fathers sake one the famous Black Prince the other the Glorious Edward the third their King and Sovereign we may conclude the generality of the Citizens had the greater aversion to the Duke and his faction because he was a known favourer of Wickliff and his Doctrines whether on a good account or only out of any Ambitious Design I shall not determine in this place and so look't upon perhaps as little better than another Juliâ—n the Apostate For we are to know that Londons Religion and consequently the Nations was at that time Popish and the generality of the People in Town and Country Romes Votaries who had Wickliffs Doctrine in as great detestation then under the Notion of Heresy as we Protestants have it now in esteem under the Seal and assurance of Truth As indeed for many of the ages past from our ever-blessed Saviours Birth through which I have drawn the thread of this discourse and under the succeeding Kings for above an hundred years Popery continued the National Religion under the power and prevalency of which perswasion was the body of the Citizens bred up who prov'd so famous in their Generations for their powerful influence on the grand concerns of the Nation in every considerable turn and change of the times before the Reformation And when England was made happy with this blessed alteration the Cities Power Strength and Esteem remain'd the same in effect as ever the change of her Religion introducing no change therein unless for the better she encreasing proportionably in every age in Wealth Riches and Honour as the Nation grew stronger and stronger And still continues as visibly conspicuous under Protestantism as before under the Romish Faith a thing easy to be demonstrated in due time and place How influential the Cities actions were upon the Nations affairs and her Love advantagious to the Orphan Prince in securing his Claim Right and Title to the Crown in his Grand-Fathers life time and setling him quietly on the Throne at his Death in spight of all the opposition the deep designs and daring Spirit of his Aspiring Uncle John of Gaunt and his faction could make when they had got the reigns of publick Government into their own hands through the Old Kings Connivance hath been the subject of several of the aforegoing pages The next thing of course falling under present consideration is to observe how this Honourable City of London behav'd her self after she had lent her â—ssistance to raise this Young Prince from the â—eanness of a Subject to the Royal Dignity and Grandeur of a King under the Name of Richard the Second what place she held in his affections â—nd of what esteem in the eyes of all the rest of â—he people But where shall I begin and when â—hall I end Sooner may I be wearied with readâ—ng and tir'd with writing than fail of matter â—o exercise my Pen so copious is my Subject and â—o full of Variety For in my searches into the Histories of this Kings Reign I find it plain to a â—emonstration that the City carried a great sway â—mongst all Ranks and Degrees from the Prince â—o the Subject from the King the Supream to â—is subordinate Magistrates and Ministers and was highly Honour'd Rever'd and Respected â—mong the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty â—f the Land both in the calm of peace and the â—oisterous storms of civil distractions I begin first with the Honourable House of Commons the known representative of the Commons of England and concerning them obâ—erve out of Sir Robert Cotton's exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower revis'd by William Prynne Esq that in the first Parliament of this King in his first year among other Petitions of the Commons there is to be found one particular division under the Title of Petitions for the City of London wherein the House of Commons become express Petitioners so great was the Cities influence over their Debates and so high a respect had they for her to the King for many considerable Grants in favour of the Citizens and to them very advantagious and beneficial As that all their Liberties may be confirm'd with a Non obstante That they attend upon no Commandment
in England and under the auspicious influence of her Reign the City flourish'd to such an height of Grandeur whether we respect the concourse of Forreign Merchants from abroad or the stateliness of her publick buildings at home the freedom and security of Traffick and the flowing in of Riches and Wealth thereby the famous exploits perform'd by her Citizens in other Countries and Climates and the foundation in those times laid for much greater atchievements by the necessary preparatives of skill and knowledge in Military affairs gain'd by the more frequent Musters and Warlike exâ—rcises of her Inhabitants than in former times or learn't at that Grand Nursery of Souldiers the Artillery Garden that 't is easie to conjecture how secure her Majesty was in the Ctiizens love and loyalty and how happy they thought themselves in the favour and protection of so good great and gracious a Princess 'T is not therefore to be expected that such turns and changes should occur in her days wherein the City might have occasion to interpose her Authority to settle and secure the Nation against the furious attempts of arbitrary Pretenders or lye under any unavoidable necessity of shewing her Power and Influence over it in contradiction to other mens aspiring and ambitious Designs However I am not destitute of an Instance to demonstrate the consequence of her Example and how much all England was influenced thereby to the manifestation of their zeal love and duty to their Soveraign In 88. a year so famous for the Spanish Invasion the Queens Counsel had demanded what the City would do for her Majesty and their Country and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen had referr'd it to their Honours to make their Proposals whereupon fifteen Ships and five thousand Men being required and two days respite at the Cities desire granted for Answer they returned in convenient time and season and entreated their Lordships in sign of their perfect love and loyalty to their Prince and Country they are Stows words kindly to accept ten thousand Men and thirty Ships amply furnished double the number of what was asked and even as London saith my Author gave President the whole Nation kept ranck and equipage so ready were the other Cities Counties Towns and Villages to follow where London went before A plain instance of her powerful influence deny it who can As to what concerns the frequency of the visits the Queen made to London and the great splendor wherewith they commonly welcom'd her home at the end of her Country progresses I pass them all over though undeniable demonstrations of the present content and satisfaction they took in Queen Elizabeths good Government Neither shall I take notice of the many Companies of Soldiers she several times rais'd at her own charges for her Soveraigns Assistance it having been commonly done before under Princes in whom she took delight because I would hasten to King James the first Monarch of great Britain in whose Person England and Scotland were first united though his present Majesty King James's Grand-son was the first born Heir of that happy Union that was Crowned King of both Realms and the first English King by Birth of the Scottish race that ever sate upon the English Throne that we read of To tell how this City flourish'd under this Prince in wealth and riches in a general encrease of trade by forreign Merchandizes and home-made Manufactures The great ornament she received from her publick and private buildings the strength that accrued to her by the numerousness of her Inhabitants and the enlarging her borders the conveniences procur'd her for water by Midleton's River for Recreations by Morefields and pleasantness by paâ—'d Streets and the various expressions she made of her glory in the many noble Entertainments of King James and other great personages Forreigners and Natives and the rich presents she frequently gave besides the renown she got abroad by sending greater Numbers of her Ships than formerly into all trading Parts of the World and planting Colonies of her own people in Ireland and Virginia would be tiresome perhaps to the Reader and needless for the Writer since that in Stows Chronicle continued by How these particulars have been so largely treated of whether the curious and inquisitive may apply themselves for further satisfaction Neither shall I trouble my self with making large remarks upon the great honour and dignity for the City's sake belonging to the Lord Mayor thereof of which we seem to have an Instance in the beginning of this Kings reign when Sir Robert Lee then Lord Mayor of London subscrib'd in the first place to the invitation sent the King to come into England before all the great Officers of the Crown and all the Nobility This great Magistrate upon the Kings death being said to be the prime person of England than which what greater honour can there be appertaining to a Subject I have indeed read in Cotton that upon a Poll Bill the Lord Mayor paid four pound as an Earl many years ago in King Richard the second days when but few of the Nobility if any besides the blood Royal bore any higher title And find since at our Kings Coronations that he hath had a principal place and part assigned him particularly at his present Majesties April 23d 61. and in the honourable Cavalcade made from the Tower to Westminster the day before in order thereunto where the Suppliment to Baker's Chronicle out of Elias Ashmole the Windsor Heralds Copy hath placed him between the principal Officers of the Crown and the Duke of York a place doubtless designed him as most suitable to his Dignity and the high Office he bore and yet I count none of these Honours comparable to that before mentioned which seems paramount to all others To be the highest by place in the Kingdom of course for a season sounds greater than to be a Second a Third or a Fourth and is more doubtless to the Honour Credit and Reputation of the City that conferrs this place as she pleases But the chiefest point I intend here to insist on with all convenient brevity and perspicuity is the Declaration of the Cities love and affection to King James and the requital made her by him in return The first I know not how it could be better expressed than by the wonderful readiness and hearty gladness as the Annalist words it of the great City of London where the Magistrates and all other inferior Citizens shewed all possible signs of perfect joy and contentment amidst the general applause of the whole English Nation when he was first proclaimed King of the Realm and we have further demonstrations thereof from the Kings honourable Reception when he came near to London by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in Scarlet Robes and five hundred grave Citizens in Velvet Coats and Chains of Gold all very well mounted like the Sheriffs and their train one of which had threescore men attending him in fair livery Cloaks Another instance
may be the care taken in London to watch and guard the Gates upon the first discovery of the Gun-powder Treason and the great joy and rejoycing manifested therein soon after upon its further detection by filling the Streets with Bonfires and the Solemn Assemblies with publick praises and thanksgiving to the Almighty for the Kings happy Deliverance This Gunpowder Treason so to observe by the way was one of the seven particulars the Intelligencer tells us were sometime since set up in a Table in St. Martins Church at York under this Title Things never to be forgotten by Protestants The other six were The bloody Reign of Queen Mary The many Plots in Queen Elizabeths Reign The Massacre in Ireland in Forty one The horrid Murder of King Charles in One thousand Six hundred and Forty eight The burning of London in One thousand Six hundred and Sixty six And the horrid Popish-plot in One thousand Six hundred and Seventy eight An Inscription that some harmless well meaning persons would have been apt doubtless to have thought very honest in its self and deservedly written in Letters of Gold till an Order came to one of the Church Wardens to take it down or appear at the Spiritual Court to answer the Contempt For 't was above the ordinary Capacity of a Common lay-Protestant to apprehend any thing ill or offensive therein till such wits among the Clergy as had far more sagacious intellects perceived the drift and design thereof and judging it perhaps to be part of the Presbyterian Plot might think fit to have it thrown down that the Vulgar might be no more amus'd with the dreadful remembrance of such things But to return to the Cities Love and Loyalty to King James another remarkable proof thereof may be deduced from the double Guards set in all places about London the Precept issued out by the Lord Mayor to the Wards to raise the Train Bands and the unexpressible distraction of Mens minds upon a flying rumour suddenly spread about the City March 22d somewhat above four Months after the Powder Plot was discovered of the Kings being slain that morning at Oking some twenty Miles from London which occasioned great weeping and waiâ—ing and much lamentation in old and young rich and poor till in three or four hours time all these Clouds were happily dispers'd by better and more certain news brought of the Kings safety and his return to Whitehall thereupon the same afternoon where the peoples hearts were as much raised with joy as before they had been drowned in grief and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to congratulate his Majesty upon the assurance of his continued Health and Security Such were the expressions of the Cities affections let us now see the return of Kindness on the Kings part and his Princely acknowledgment of their singular love and loyalty to him Much doubtless of the Kings mind in this particular may be guessed at from the frequent Visits he made the City but I presume by no one Act of his better known than by his repaying the Citizens of London in the seventh of his Reign the Threescore thousand pounds they had lent Queen Elizabeth three years before her death An Act of the greatest Justice and Equity and whereby likewise he got more love saith the Chronicle than he paid mony This may pass both for an Example of the Kings Goodness and Prudence and an Instance of Londons Power and Esteem since his Majesty thought it good to be at such charges to oblige her For to pay their Predecessors Debts is so rare among Princes that many of them hardly ever pay their own Hitherto have I presented the Reader with variety of passages out of our English Chronicles to demonstrate the Glory Honour and Renown of the City of London and the Courage of her Citizens the Power of her Magistrates the Strength of the Commonalty and the undeniable Influence of the whole Corporation upon the rest of the Kingdom and have given him here and there the words and expressions of private men as so many illustrative Arguments on the Points Wherefore now I shall produce no less than what I account a Royal Testimony in confirmation of the many demonstrative Evidences already brought and that of no less a Prince than his present Majesties Royal Father King Charles the First and out of an Author so little partial to the City that the very name of Peter Heylin and the diligent perusal of Arch-Bishop Lauds Life by him writ may sufficiently convince an indifferent Reader that he was none of Londons greatest Favourers or Admirers since 't was look'd on as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan faction as he is pleased to stile all those he thought contrary to that Party of Men he will needs call the Church of England A Proof therefore out of such an Adversary's mouth as Heylins seems a very convincing Argument when he himself is forced meerly by truth and matter of fact to confess and acknowledge the influence of London on all parts of the Kingdom in that passage where he intimates it to have been generally look't upon as the compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were wont to steer their course and to plead it's practice on all occasions What I conceive to be the Kings Testimony by that writer deliver'd is by him brought in as the reason of his Majesties preferring Laud to the Bishoprick of London viz. For that he was a Man of a more active Spirit than the former Bishop and so fitter to carry on the design of rendring the City conformable to that propos'd Model of Church Government which was intended for the whole Nation and therein therefore principally to be promoted because of the Influence it had by reason of it's wealth and trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the correspondence and conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended This Testimony doubtless is of great authority because proceeding from so Judicious a Prince and related by an Author not to be suppos'd over ready to write any thing in favour of this City to which he seems to have born a very great animosity because the Citizens would not be so thorough-pac'd Episcopal as his Reverend Doctorship would have had them to have been But now methinks it should be of greater prevalency than ever since that King Charles himself before he dyed out of his own experience knew much more of the Cities strength and Power than many of his Predecessors did for some ages before For 't is plain beyond denial dispute or contradiction out of the memory of Man and the everlasting Records of time that in the late Wars between him and his two Houses of Parliament 't was the Cities power and influence that rais'd them to that height of Grandeur which made them so formidable to all the Royal party Whereas without her help and assistance how little able they had been to have long subsisted or
to have the whole the better at their Devotion So that if Kings or Rulers of States were not as submissive to their Imperious Commands as they desir'd they had the Church in the Land to overaw those who bore the Temporall Sword and lest the chief Church-men being often preferr'd by the Magistrates means through the Popes great Condescention as they would have it thought should prove a little Refractory they had the Monasteries Abbies Priories Nunneries and such like in a manner under the Popes peculiar Jurisdiction to curb them by the Power they could raise out of their Tennants Friends and Kindred Romes high and lofty Prelates thus striving to have their Spoons in every Ones Dish which Desire of theirs we do not find at all diminished though now their Wings be much clipt Nay we find them the more eager now in their pursuit after their antient Greatness under the pretence of a former Right which was first obtain'd by none of the best and honestest ways And so they might regain it Experience tells us they would not stick at the perpetration of the most Execrable Villanies the Art of Man can invent or the Hand can act Whence else come all those Wars Massacres Persecutions Plots Conspiracies Designes Intreagues Frauds Deceits raising of Publick Jealousies fomenting of Private Feares exasperating of Mens minds heightning their Animosities debauching their Moralls and Corrupting Religion it self with the rest of those Cursed Arts and Seed-Plots of Sedition where with our Ears have been so long filled that the sound is not yet gone out of them nor know we when ever it will as long as they can meet with so many foolish Bigots and prophane Debauchees among the Sons of Men The One to be gull'd with the Hopes of Heaven for the Performance of such Meritorious Acts as they will put them upon the Other to be purchased with a Bag of Money or a Plump Whore to favour their Designes falicitate their Purposes carry on their Projects and protect their Crimes if detected from Publick Justice As London was favoured by the first William so I find no great reason otherwise to believe but that it continued in favour and fame under the Second William's Reign Yet I meet with but few Passages of it excepting what may seem to tend to its disadvantage as the Harm it sustained from a Violent wind that is said to have overthrown at one time above 600 houses and much injured the roof of St. Mary Bow in Cheapside as also the hurt was done another time about it by the Inundation of Thames unless we should think it received some addition of honour from the great charges William Rufus was at about the Tower which was to adorn it I suppose for that it was builded long before hath been related above that it was of good strength in the preceding Kings dayes is enough evident in that we read it was made Marcharus the Earl of Northumberland's Prison This Tower having been before times and very often in later days the place of confinement for great Men when esteemed Offendors This is the King that built Westminster-Hall and being after displeased at it for being not big enough to his mind intended as 't is said to have built one much larger and make the other to have served for a Chamber The wicked Lives of the insulting Normans the Miseries and Vices of the depressed Englishmen with the depraved Manners of the corrupted Clergy were so notorious in this Kings dayes that Writers could not well pass them over without mention In Henry the 2d's Time we read of the founding of St. Bartholomew's Church Priory and Hospital in Smithfield which was begun 't is said by Rayer one of this Kings Minstrells but ended by some good and well disposed Citizens of London This Smithfield was then a Place for the casting out of filth where also Felons and other Transgressours were executed and not put it seems to the use that now it is Length of time commonly changes the use of Places and some times for the better There are upon Record no less than Three Councills Synods or Convocations of the Clergy which were kept in this City in this Kings Reign to reform the Church and Church-men was the usuall Pretence but it was commonly done in such away that it tended mostly to the exalting of their own Power We read in Stow of a Parliament of Prelates Nobles and Commons Assembled by this King in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign Anno Christi 1116. This King was the better beloved of the Englishmen for Marrying a Wife of the Old Saxon Line Edgar Atheling's Sisters Daughter for using Edward the Confessors Laws with Amendment at his coming to the Crown and making some good ones of his own for freeing the Church Impriâ—oning Ranulph the covetous Bishop of Durham his Brother William's Procurator and Gatherer of his Taxes in the Tower of London and also releasing â—o Englishmen the Old Tax of Danegelt lately reâ—ived by his Father and Brother and restoring â—o them the Use of Lights by Night which with â—ire had been by his Father forbidden to be used â—fter the Ringing of the Cuâ—fâ—â—-Bâ—ll at Eight of â—he Clock In the time of King Stephen we meet with an eâ—inent Instance of London's Strength Mâ—ud the â—mpress the Late Kings onâ—y Sâ—rviâ—ing Heir haâ—ing upon the Fortune of a Battail took and Imâ—risoned King Stephen and being theâ— by much â—xalted in her mind deeming her self sure of the â—ossession of the whole Realm would not make â—â—y Grant to the Citizen's Requests They thereâ—pon becoming discontented designed to have â—â—ized on her Person Whereof she having â—arning fled in haste for her own Safe guard to â—xford and her People were divided and scatterâ—â— whereas not long before she was in a fair â—ossibility of enjoying all that she claimed King â—â—ephen's Queen promising upon his Delivery that 〈◊〉 should surrender the Land into her Possession 〈◊〉 become a Religious Man or a Pilgrim to his â—â—ves end Either of which at that time was a 〈◊〉 of Spiritual Death as to what concerned â—orldly Affairs But her unfortunate diâ—obâ—iging is City soon turned the Scales The Queen's â—â—rength encreases Maud's diminishes The King a little after is delivered upon Exchange and thâ— Empress at last departs with a small Company and returns into Normandy without obtaining he Desire So considerable then was the City of Loâ—don as to be able to wrest the Power out of thiâ— Conqueresses Hands and return it back at length to the same Person whom she had once overcome and held many Months Prisoner at her own 〈◊〉 and Pleasure That for which the Citizens of London made 〈◊〉 great Labour was that they might use the Law of Edward the Confessor as they were granted bâ— William commonly called the Conquerour and 〈◊〉 the Laws of her Father which were of 〈◊〉 straitness Here in my Opinion seems to be iâ—timated that this King Wâ—lliam came not into 〈◊〉 quiet Possession
hiâ— Son in his Life-time besides Troubles Crosses and Vexation of Spirit For upon one Occasion oâ— other we find his Sons oft thwarting him anâ— some times warring upon him Famous were those days for the Contest betweeâ— the King and Thomas Beckâ—â— which brought Beckâ—â— to his end and the King to a severe Penance at thâ— last though he disowned the Fact and is noâ— plainly proved to have given any other consent tâ— it unless what may be deduced from a few angâ—â— Words uttered in his Passion The ground 〈◊〉 occasion of this Dissention between the King anâ— the Arch-Bishop is declared by the Chronicle 〈◊〉 have sprung from diverse Acts and Ordinancâ—â— which the King had procured at his Parliament 〈◊〉 Northampton to pass against the Liberties of 〈◊〉 Church which thereupon this lofty Prelate witâ— stood The Popâ—sh Clergy being then grown to thâ— height that crowned Heads were in a manner coâ—peâ—led for their own Security to veil Bonnet them and scarce durst so far presume as but endeavour to cross their Ambitious Designs They could be content by their Canons and Councels to encroach upon the Laity as they termed them but they poor Men by the Clergy's good Will must not be allowed to vindicate their Own Native Liberty from the Others unjust Usurpations This King Henry is said to have been Peerless in Chivalry in War and in Leachery This last is sufficiently notorious in his Love to the Fair Rosamond and further manifested in his deflowring as we read his Son Richard's intended Wife the French King's Daughter whom we are also told he would have Married could he have obtained a Divorce from his Queen And this he intended 't is said to have the more favour of the Frenchmen by their Aid the better to disinherit his Sons who among other things done to his Displeasure had warred upon him in Vindication of their abused and slighted Mother Three several Warnings I read of that he had to amend his Life but to little or no purpose Some of his Patience or else fear of the Imperious Clergy we find in his forbearance shewed to Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem who upon the King's Refusal to go into the Holy Land being discontented sharply rebuked him reflecting on him for the Death or Martyrdom as those Times were pleased to term it of Thomas Becket and upon Henry's further excusing the Voyage for fear of his Son's Rebellion in his Absence departed in great ire with these words in his Mouth saying That it was no wonder for of the Devil they come and to the Devil they shall Part of his Devotion we meet with in that Shift he found out to fulfil the Condion of building three Abbies in England enjoyned him by the Pope in the Dispensation granted him for the Voyage he hâ—d before solemnly vowed to take intâ— tâ—e Hâ—ly Land in Person Such was mucâ— of the Religion tâ—en of those Times eâ—â—ner tâ— bâ—ild 〈…〉 and the like so man◠〈◊〉 Castles or Fortrâ—ssâ—s as it were ready manâ—ed and victâ—alled at the Pâ—pâ—'s Service oâ— else to take upon them the Cross and away to th◠〈…〉 to fight for Christ'◠〈◊〉 as wert the cry Angliâ—e to subduâ— more Laâ—d to the Pâ—pe's Obedience A cunning crafty trick of the Pâ—pe's to send away packing such Princes whose Power they feared would grow too greâ—t at home that they might in the meaâ— time domineer over their Subjects Purses and Consciences and the better advance their own Worldly Pomp and Grandeur in their Absence For read not of any of the Popâ—s who went themselveâ— iâ— Persons They forsooth could not be spared fâ—om their Charge alâ—as their Preferment noâ— be absent from home out of care to the Feeding of then Flâ—â—k i. e. looking to their own Gain So that the serding Mâ—n while in their Bodies to the Hâ—ly Land was almost as beneficial a Project as long as it lasted as the â—reterce of Fetching their Souls out of â—â—â—gatory after their Death for a round Sum of 〈◊〉 and a set of Massâ—s The Triâ—k King Henry almost as Cunning though not as Fâ—rtunate as these subrle Priests fouâ—d out to fulfil the Condition enjoyned and which he put in Execution was First Putting Secular Cannons out of Waltham-House and setting Cannons Regular in their stead Secondly His thâ—â—stiâ—g the Mâ—rkâ— out of Amesbury-House and placing there another sort of Religious Persons which he had brought from beyond the Sea And for the Third His coursly renewing the Charter-House of Witham beside Salisbury The King having had so large Tryall and so much Knowledge of the City of London's Power did not very much I suppose at any time disoblige the Citizens Especially having such powerfull Enemies to deal with as the King of France abroad and at home the insulting incroaching Clergy and his own unnaturall refractory Sons though one saith that he nourished Strife amongâ—t his Children with all Diligence hoping thereby to live himself in the more rest But it seems that device avail'd him but little As we have but little reason to think that the City of London lost ground in Henry's days so under his Son and Successour King Richard we find that Foundation laid where upon was after erected that Famous and Free Way of Electing it's own yearly Governours wherein she now glories Like as William the First gave the Citizens their First Charter so this Noble Richard Cuer de Lyon was the King that ordain'd London to be ruld by Two Bailiffs whose Names were Henry of Cornhil and Richard Fitz Ryver as Fabian tells us in that worthy Chronicle which he compiled of the English and French Nation This Fabian being Sheriff of this City in Henry the Seventh's Days by that advantage may be presumed to have best known the Affairs of the City and seeming to write with a great deal of Integrity in this Relation I chiefly follow him and so intend as far as he reaches especially when I shall have occasion to Name any of the Bayliffs Mayors or Sheriffs through whose yearly Government in his Second Volume he deduces the History in form of Annals down to the beginning of King Henry the Eight's Reign In the Prolâ—gue to this Second Part he tells us That the City was antiently under the Rule oâ— Portgrieves which word Portgrieve signifies in Sax on the Guardian Ruler or Keeper of a Town Thâ—â— Book called Doomsday wherein were registred iâ— Saxon the Laws and Customs then used being lost â—â— he acquaints us also that the Remembrance oâ— those Rulers before this Richard's Days was losâ— and forgotten In the same Prologue likewise he hath left us a Copy of Verses written in praise oâ— the City wherein we are told That this City was never cast down as other Famous Ones have been that herein Divine Service was always continued in Religious Houses in such an Order that when one had done another began and that it was famed also for the Mayor and Sheriffs Noble House-keeping with much more which any
one that please may peruse at his leasure in the forecited Place We likewise find there declared the severaâ— Wards of the City as they stood in Fabian's Time together with the Parish-Churches and other Religious Houses within and without summed up to the Number of One Hundred Sixty Eight This King Richard in the Beginning of whose Reign we first hear of the Name of Bailiffs giveâ— to the Rulers of London having taken a Voyagâ— into the Holy-Land according to the Religion oâ— those Times and done his Devoir for the Recovery of it according to his Strength the Clergy-men had reason to esteem well of him to humour whose designs he had undertaken so chargeable 〈◊〉 Enterprize So accordingly we find that the Ecclesiastucks stuck as close to him as any of his Subjects in his Adversity For in his Return from the Holy War as 't was term'd Richard being Shipwrack't took and imprison'd by the Duke of Austria and long detain'd by the Emperour he was compell'd to redeem himself after a Year and three Month's Imprisonment at a large Ransom An hundred thousand Pounds were either presently paid or good Pledges left behind him to ascertain the full and true Payment A vast Sum in those days when Wheat was esteem'd at a high Price being sold at fifteen Shillings the Quarter as we find it in the fifth Year of King John's Reign about half a dozen Years after So that for this Ransom were sold the Ornaments of the Church Prelate's Rings and Crosses with the Vessels and Chalices of the Churches throughout the Land Wool of White Monks and Cannons and also twenty seven Shrines scrap't and spoil'd of the Gold and Silver laid on them in former Times No Priviledge of Church then regarded no Person spar'd A costly Voyage indeed it prov'd to the Land undertaken to satisfie the Clergy-men's Ambition and therefore they might well be content to bear much of the Charges and use their utmost Endeavours in the Imprison'd King's Vindication And so the Pope did as far as Curses would go to which was imputed those Mischiefs that befel the Duke of Austria and his Country a little after as the Effects of the Pope's Indignation The Power and Esteem of this City's Favour in those Times of the King's Captivity we need but remark out of Neubrigensis who acquaints us That when the Chancellour being then Bishop of Ely and Governour of the Land dreaded the Force of the opposite Lords who strove to suppress him for his Insolency and ill Government he retir'd to London and humbly intreated the Citizens not to be wanting to him in that point of time But they being not unmindful of his former Behaviour rather favour'd the other Party whereupon the proud haughty Prelate was compell'd to resign his Office which he had so ill manag'd and depart to the no small Benefit to the Land in those troublesome Times At London likewise was it that the Lords consulted together for the ordering the Land in the King's Absence which after the late ill Governour had been discarded and after an Oath of Fideliâ—y to the absent Prince was put into another's Hands When King Richard was delivered as soon as he landed at Sandwich we find him coming straightway to London as the fittest Place it seems to receive him and assist him So accordingly we read of his Reception there with all Joy and Honour in so splendid a Pomp that the German Nobles present beholding it affirm'd That if the Emperour had known of such Riches in England he would not have dimiss'd the Ransom'd King under an Intolâ—erabâ—e Price A little afteâ— we hear of his riding thence with a convenient â—â—râ—ngth to recover the Places that stood out 〈◊〉 him After this by a Councel of Lords call'd at Winchester having deprived his Brother John of his Honours and Lands for his Rebellion he took care to have himself crown'd King of England anew As if the Force of his former Coronation was impaired by his Imprisonment or else he thought by this politick Shift to take off all Obligations that might haply lie on him for any thing done before As indeed we quickly after read of a Resumption of all Patents Annuities Fees and other Grants mâ—de before his Voyage But then it 's affirmed to be done by the Authority of a Parliament call'd after his Coronation After these Passages two State-Informers are â—oted to have riâ—en up promising the King great Matters the Scenes of whose chief Acts were either laid or to have been laid at London One of them the Abbot of Cadonence warning the King of the Fraud of his Officers by vertue of a Warrant from him called divers Officers before him at London to yield to him their Accounts This Place was made choice of by him as the fittest it seems wherein to ingratiate himself with the common People by â—o plausible an Act as bringing offending Officers to conâ—igne Punishment But Death soon cut him off and so put an end to all his Designs The other Informer call'ed William with the Long Beard reported to be born in London of a sharp Wit having shew'd the King of the Outrage of the Rich who as he said in publick Payments spar'd their own and piâ—led the Poor and being upheld by him became the Patron and Defender of poor Men's Causes and stirred up the common People to a desire and love of Freedom and Liberty by blaming Rich Men's Excess and Insolence Hereupon he was followed with such numbers of People that being called before the King's Councel upon suspicion of a Conspiracy the Lords were fain with good words to dismiss him for the present for fear of the Multitude attending him and commanded certain to seize on him in the Absence of his numerous Abettors But those thus commanded mistaking the time and so failing in their intended Design he escaped and took Sanctuary in St. Mary Bow Church where his Strength quickly grew so great by the Access of the Multitude that he was not easily taken hold of nor without shedding of Blood However being at last taken after that the Heads and Rulers of the City had diminish'â— the People he with other his Adherents waâ— arraign'd before the Judges cast condemn'd anâ— hang'd very shortly after even the following daâ— saith the Chronicle so desirous were the rich anâ— great Men to have him out of the way as sooâ— as they could But as his Plea of Freedom was â—â— acceptable to the Commons in his Life-time thâ—â— he became a Terror to the Great so after 〈◊〉 Death he ceased not for a while to be a Dread 〈◊〉 many by reason of a Rumour raised and banded about among the Commons of his Innocencâ— and favourably received of the People even to 〈◊〉 approving of him as an holy Man and Martyr anâ— making Pilgrimages to the Place of his Execution to the no small trouble of those that had a hanâ— in his Death At last the Flame of this Devâ—tion was somewhat cool'd by the
Publishing somâ— Acts of his with other detestable Crimes laid tâ— his Charge whether true or false let them looâ— to it who industriously spread them abroad Yâ—â— it was not quite put out till the Arch-Bishop â—â— Canterbury upon whom among others a greâ—â— Crime was rais'd for procuring his Death haâ— accursed the Priest this William's Kinsman 〈◊〉 had openly divulged the Vertue the Chain wheâ—â—with William was bound in the time of his Imprâ—sonment had upon a Man sick of the Feaver This Instance sufficiently proves that the namâ— of Liberty sounds sweet and that such as prâ—mise to procure it shall have Admirers and Foâ—lowers enough But that also the Favour of thâ— Multitude is deceitful and for a Man to put 〈◊〉 his â—â—at to the People many times is the occasioâ— of losing his Head is evidently manifested by thâ— very same Example How small an Occasion is iâ— that sometimes raises a Man's Fame Yet you here find as petty small Matters soon likewise depress it That is no lasting Name that depends meerly upon Vulgar Breath To Defend the Poor and Needy and protect the Oppressed is a plausible Plea Yet it shall go hard but the Rich Oppressor will find one way or other to ruine that Man in his Goods and good Name if not as to his Life who undertakes so noble a Defence As this King Richard under whose Reign these two Informers rose up was Couragious and Valiant in his Life so a little before his Death an Act of his Magnanimity and Christian Forbearance was shewed by him in his freely forgiving and remitting the Person then in his Power that occasioned his Death after that he heard from the other's Confession that in that Deed he intended to avenge the Death of his Father and Brethren before slain by the King But yet the Man scaped not with his Life though forgiven by King Richard if that be true which is said of the Duke of Brabant that he after caused him to be taken flead quick and hanged After Richard's Decease his Brother John being then in Normandy seizes upon his Treasure and not long after procures himself to be crown'd King at Westminster though in prejudice to the Title of an Elder Brother's Son Whereto his Mother Eleanor is thought to have contributed not a little being possibly desirous rather to set the Crown upon her Son's Head under whom she might hope to have a greater Share in the Government than she could reasonably expect under her Grand-child then within Age where her Daughter-in-law the other 's Mother was likely to bear the greatest sway So that the ambitious Desire of Rule is not incident only to Men but invadâ— even the Hearts of the Female Sex Here thâ— Mother's Ambition raises up her Younger Son even to the Prejudice of her Eldest Son's Heir Though Women be born subject to Men yet it â—â— in a manner connatural to them to desire the Power of commanding them at their own will and pleasure Shew me the Land where the Scepter hatâ— not often bowed to the Dâ—staff and the Princâ— Power together with his heart been subject to â— câ—pricious Womans Humour When they creep in to Mens Hearts and lye in their Bosoms it is 〈◊〉 wonder that they dive into their Secrets and swaâ— their Councels So that the Affairs of the State often turn upon the Hinges of an Imperious Woman'â— Will. Under even the most Absolute Despotical Government of the Turks the Ottoman Power manâ— times lies in a Womans Breast and the Sultanaâ—â— do not seldome over-rule the Consults of the Divan Of which let the Ambitious Roxolana sometime Empress to Solyman the Magnificent sufficâ— for an Inâ—tance But what need we go so far when as neareâ— home our own Ears if not our Eyes may serve for Witnesses of this Truth Yet to the Glory oâ— England be it spoken this Land flourished in sucâ— Peace and Prosperity even to a Miracle undeâ— Queen Elizabeth and the Tranquility of her Reigâ— hath so Honourably Consecrated her Memory iâ— Fame's Temple that few of our English Monarchs ever equal'd her none that I know of all those who went off the Throne surpassed her The Happiness indeed of her Reign may possibly be imputed much to the Wisdom of her Conduct in suffering the Affairs of the Nation to be guided by thâ— Councels of Men Whereas under some of ouâ— Kings our Governours have had such a deal of Chamber-practice that the State hath been much â—t the Guidance of Women or else of such Effeâ—inate Persons as were quite degenerated from â—he Spirits and Courage of their Ancestors as â—ho by their Immoralities Luxury and Debauâ—heries had little left in them of Heroick and Masculine and were scarce fit for any thing else â—ut to be dub'd Knights of the Carpet But what ever was the Title and Means we â—nd John got into the Throne and by the aid â—e obtained of his Lords and Commons before â—â—e End of the Year to recover what was lost â— Normandy we may conclude it was not withâ—ut their Consents From Stow's Relation 't is â—â—ain enough that he was Elected at London â—fter that Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had â—ade a Speech to that purport in the Presence â—f the Bishops Earls Barons and Others They 〈◊〉 may be preferring him a Man of Courage â—nd Spirit and so fitter to rule and govern the â—ealm before the Title of young Arthur then 〈◊〉 his Non-age though of the Elder House For seldom 't is that unusual Changes happen â—ithout some previous Preparatives to make way â—â—r them And if a Nation hath once fixt upon a â—ule to guide the Succession they do not presentâ—â— vary from it but upon urgent Occasion So find â—e in Kingdoms meerly and properly Elective â—â—ey commonly chuse the next Heir of the Blood 〈◊〉 less upon the Interposition of some notable Imâ—â—diment In Sweden that War-like Nation amidst the â—â—eatest Success of their Arms submitted themâ—â—â—ves to Gustavus Adolphus's Heir though a Child â—â—d of the Female Sex and when she grew up to Womans Estate they would willingly have coâ—tinued her their Queen would she but have Marâ—â—ed according to their Desires When that great Change happened in Denmâ—â—â— of late Years which turned it from an Elective 〈◊〉 an Hâ—redâ—tary Kingdom we may have heard it wâ—â— effected by the Policy of the present King whâ— made use of the Distractions of the Nation thâ—â— almost conquered by the Sweeds and that Scaâ—â—ing of Fame he had got by defending his Capitâ—â— City against their furious Assaults to encline thâ— pâ—â—ty Remainder of his Subjects to give way â—â— such an universal Change in the Constitution 〈◊〉 their Government So that whatever Towns or Câ—ties were afterwards reduced they must be coâ—tent to yield to the new-made Law as the establisâ—ed Decree of the Nation A hard thing it migâ—â— possibly appear to such who had no hand in thâ— making of that Ordinance and it may be woulâ— not very readily have given their
low birth became the head Leader of the Scots against the Kings Power and had Created him no little trouble in Scotland but now in revenge was his head set upon London-Bridge and his four quarters sent into Scotland to be set upon the Gates of some Towns in that Land About this time we hear likewise of several Nobles of Scotland coming to the Kings Parliament at Westminster and there voluntarily Sworn in the Presence of the King and his Lords to be true to the King of England and to keep the said Land to his use against all other Persons Among these is named Robert le Bruce who not long after sends to the Pope for a dispensation of his Oath raises more Commotions in Scotland and gets to be Crowned King thereof at Saint Johnstons Anno Thirty four But when King Edward had overthrown the Scots Army and taken many of the Nobles he sent the Bishop of Saint Andrews and Bastoon with the Abbot of Scoon to the Pope with report of their Perjury and how they were taken Armed in the field to shed the blood of Christian men And the Temporal Lords he sent into England to the Tower of London who were afterwards Arraigned at London and put to death and their Heads set upon London-Bridge The longest Sword carries away the Bell. If the Scots had prevail'd in the like sort against King Edward it 's a question whether they would not have done much after the same manner How would they have then vaunted themselves and their Cause for the most rightful whereas being Conquer'd they suffer'd as Rebels That the weakest goes to the Wall is a known saying Yet as strong powerful and succesful as this King Edward was we find he cared not to meddle himself with the Spiritual Lords taken in the field fighting against him but rather chose publikely to send them to the Pope with an high offence laid to their charge to be punished at his pleasure Whereby we may presume he gratified the Popes Ambition in making him as it were the sole Judge of their offences and yet thereby doubtless sufficiently secur'd himself against those men of the Church his late Enemies for the future Could the Pope in Civility and Gratitude refuse to revenge the King in punishing these Clergy-men for fighting against him who had thus highly mounted the power and Authority of the Triple Crown above his own in this matter to the publick view of the world If the Popish Clergy in those times were grown so formidable that this Triumphant King in the midst of his Victorious Arms thought it safer to remit these Clergy-men's offences to the Popes Correction than punish them himself for I think it was policy more than zeal that made him act thus what weak matches were the other Puny Princes to them in those days of their worldly Prosperity Pomp and Grandeur Now their wings are pretty well clipt by the escape of so many people Nations and Countries out of this Popish House of Bondage let Crowned Heads and free States be careful that they suffer not the Popes wings to grow again or permit their Sworn Vassals the Jesuits to imp them anew with fresh Feathers lest they mount up again over their heads to their Ancient greatness or take a flight higher than ever they did Now the French King through the base connivance of some others Treachery and many great Mens careless negligence is become Europe's Terror if Popish Plots and designs should â—nce so far take effect as treacherously to deâ—rive our present King of his life and Crown and â—ntroduce a Popish Successor into the English Throne how far they might in time proceed towards the extirpation of that pestilent Northern Heresy as Mr. Coleman out of his Extraordinary â—â—ndness to the Religion from which he himself â—postaliz'd has been pleased to term the Protestant Religion oâ—t of these parts of the world I submit â—o the better Judgments of more able Politicians Hast we now hence from this Edward the first who died in the five and thirtieth year of his Reign after a charge given to his Son in divers points upon his blessing and Oaths taken of some of his chief Nobles to keep the Land for his Sons use and to Crown him King as soon as they conveniently could after his death at Burgh upon the Sands beyond Carlile in his return into England unto Edward the Second where I could find matter enough to exercise my Pen were I minded to describe all the disorders and troubles that hapned throughout the Land under his unprosperous Reign We need not wonder that this Prince met with so unhappy a fate at his End when as we find him at the very beginning immediately transgressing his dead Fathers commands by recalling Gaveston from his Banishment contrary to his Father's charge on his Death Bed he entailing his curse on him if he should presume it as Stow tells us governing himself wholly by his advice affecting him so much as to affirm that he should succeed him in the Kingdom if he could effect it If I should endeavour perfectly to delineate thâ— many Crosses Losses Battails and Bloodshed thaâ— fell out in the Land under this King and to Writâ— in a stile and manner suitable to the matter â— know not but I might well dip my Pen in Blooâ— instead of Ink such were the misfortunes of thâ— Land and unfortunate fates of many Noblemeâ— thereof For in his Reign there were Beheaded anâ— put to death by Judgment upon the number of eighâ— and twenty Barons and Knights as Fabian Coâ—putes besides the Noble men slain in Scotland The number whereof one Author expresses to â— mount to two and forty besides sixty and sevâ—â— Knights and Barronets and two and twenty 〈◊〉 over that of name taken in that one Battel of Bannocksborn Unsteadfastness of manners and vileness of Conditions the refusing the Company of Lords and men of honour and haunting the Society of Villains and vile Persons The being given to great drinking and lightly discovering therein things of great Counsel with many other disallowable Conditions related by Historians were blots in this Kings Scutcheon Scarce was old Edwards Obsequies fully finished according to my Author but the young King sends in all hast for his old Companion Piers of Gaveston receiving him with all joy and gladness and advances him to much honour gives him the Earldom of Cornwal and Lordship of Wallingford rules all by his wanton Councel and follows the appetite and pleasure of his body not guiding things by order of Law or Justice Then he Revenges himself and his favourite Gaveston on the Bishop of Chester who had before complained of them and their Outrages in his Fathers Reign by commanding him to the Tower of London and keeping him there strictly many days after When by the means motions and words of many potent Lords of the Realm Gaveston was again sent out of the Land though contrary to the King's pleasure and banish'd
into Ireland Yet thither we hear of the Kings sending him oftentimes secret Messengers and comsorting him with many rich gifts and the next year we read of his being fetch'd home again to still the grudges springing up between the King and his Nobles and continue amity amongst them which prov'd but so much the more mischievous to the Realm For this exorbitant Favourite's power more and more encreasing he having the keeping of the Kings Treasure and Jewels convey'd many of them some of great value out of the Land and brought the King by means of his wanton Conditions to manifold Vices as Adultery and others whereupon by the Lords Counsel and Resolution taken at Lincoln he was shortly after exil'd into Flanders to the Kings great displeasure In comes Gaveston again though he had before abjur'd the Realm with this condition by the Barons added that if he were found again in any Lands subject to the King's dominions he should be taken as a Common Enemy and Condemned But being recall'd by the King he ventures on his favour and afterwards demeans himself worse and worse In so much that we read that he disdain'd the Lords of England and of them had many spiteful and slanderous words so that there 's the less wonder that the Queen and the whole Court were sorrowful because they saw the King as Stow words it not very sound so great was his Joy and Jollity for his receiving him in safety Whereupon the Lords of one mind saith my Author consented to put him to death which they soon after effected by taking the Castle wherein he was and so having him in their hands smote off his Head For this was the King grievously displeas'd with those Lords and vow'd we hear to revenge his Death so that after this he sought occasion against them to grieve and displease them If the foremention'd disorders with many before express'd by Authentick Writers to have fallen out under this King If Treachery Robberies Rapes Extortions Divisions Civil discords at home slights contempts and losses abroad and much blood-shed in Battels fought and lost both at home and abroad If murrain of Beasts and scarcity of Grain dearness of Victuals sickness and mortality of Men ravages and outrages of cruel insulting Enemies and almost a general desolation in several places of the Land be glories that can eternize a Man's memory to succeeding Generations I know not whether this Kings Name and Reign may ever be forgotten as long as England stands a fixt Island in the midst of the Ocean In the midst of these troubles and crosses you are not to suppose the City of London scap't free from partaking in the Common misery of the Land In the first of this King's Reign I find that he and his new Married Bride were received joyfully by the Citizens and so conveyed to Westminster but the times afterwards grew so cloudy and full of storms that I don't think they had over much reason to rejoyce more than the rest of their poor distressed fellow Subjects Yet Providence in good time delivered the City out of these troubles and with advantage too as may be observed and remark't in the end of this and beginning of the next Kings Reign Twice more particularly in this Kings Reign do we read of a breach made on the Cities Priviledges by constraining the Citizens at their own charges to raise and maintain a certain number of Soldiers and send them whether they were appointed but the last time it seems it was conditionally that it should not be made a President which possibly was to appease them when they refused to go out of the City to fight unless they might according to their liberties as Stow says return home again the same day before Sun-set For 't is plain how great soever their respect was towards their Soveraign that they had no great kindness for some about him And therefore when aid and assistance was requested of them against the Queen who with her Son Edward was newly Landed and pretended Reformation of abuses they made this plea or excuse as favouring rather Reformers than makers of Grievances yet with profession of due obedience and Honour to the King the Queen and their Son who was after his Father the Right and Lawful Heir to the Crown At the Parliament of Whitebands held in the twefth of this King whether the Barons came in Arms the Citizens were the Keepers of the Kings peace in the City a thousand of them well Armed by the Majors order watching by day and as many by night in divers Wards and at several Gates thereof under the inspection of two Aldermen with Officers assigned to Ride about every night to oversee them and the rest of the Citizens were enjoyned to have their Arms in readiness upon a very short warning for more surety And what pray now was the effect of all this but that the peace was kept the City guarded it and no disturbance hapned that I read of notwithstanding there was so great an Army then on foot Ill men were removed several things were ordained for the good of the Realm Transactions were carried on without violence or blood-shed the Parliament was peaceably dissolved and every one returned home in quietness safety and security But on the contrary afterwards in the later end of this Kings Reign when the Courtiers were much disgusted in the City by reason of many violences committed and much harsh dealing used by some towards their fellow Subjects in the time of their power under the wings of Authority and pretence of Law and Justice the Citizens were so far from keeping the King's peace as before that they soon shew'd openly their favour good will and kindness for the Queen who under the glozing pretence of reforming the ill Government was come into the Land with a considerable force of Soldiers and had sent to the Mayor and Commonalty for their aid help and assistance in carrying on this her pretended Reformation A work generally highly acceptable to all such as think themselves oppressed and glorious in the Eyes of the people but such is the misery fate and infelicity the frailty and imperfection incident to all sublunary attempts that it very seldom if ever fully answers the expectation of every one concern'd Neither was the Citizens affection to the Queen and her Party barely shewn in words and expressions but it went much farther and was publickly brought into Act by beheading such as they took to be the Queens enemies not so much as sparing the Bishop of Exeter himself a great man among the spiritualty who had been there left by the King to have the Rule of the City in his absence The occasion is said to have sprung from his stiff and peremptory demanding of the Keys of the City Gates by vertue of his Commission which highly exasperated the Commons against him and so much the more because as was the saying he had rais'd an Army to withstand the Queen a fault
deluded though besides the affections and contrary to the inclination of the rest of the Nation could he but have prevailed upon the Londoners by threats or fair words to have sided with him But their opposition quite spoil'd the Game and kept the Duke off the Cushion a Duke stil so Tryumphant were they in Power Prudence and Loyalty Wherefore to satisfie his restless reven geful Spirit the Duke ceas'd not till he had got the old Major put out and a new one Elected the Aldermen depos'd and others set in their places So little did their late Complicance and humble Procession avail them while the Commonalty remain stiff firm and unshaken as well by the Dukes power and greatness as by his Threats and Menaces He had gain'd a great Ascendent over the weak Kings affections but yet for all that could not sway this Honourable City to his Interests and the Interest of his then prevalent Faction at Court The Citizens Loyalty is plainly shewn beyond denial in Couragiously adhering to the Juster claim and Title of the abus'd Nephew and preferring his Birthright before the Pretensions of his Uncle who Ruling the King and those about him thought also to have over-rul'd the City too Their Prudence is manifest in that they wisely chose to yield many things to the times for peace sake but when neck and all was in danger they would not budg a foot nor stir one step further to humour all the Dukes in Kent or Christendom Neither is their power less conspicuous who not only dar'd but did oppose this high minded Duke in the Days of his Visible Grandeur and prov'd a match by far too hard for him For in a short time comes the News of the Old Kings â—â—ing at the point of Death and presently we have the Londoners sending the chiefest and worthiest of their Citizens to the young Prince and his Mother then Resident not far from the City declaring their ready minds and good wills to accept him for their true and Lawful King upon â—is Grand-Fathers Decease beseeching him on the behalf of the Citizens and City of London that he would have the City Recommended to his good Grace submitting themselves only to â—is Rule and bowing to his Will and Pleasure â—nder his Dominion to serve in Word and Deed as being known to be so much at his Devotion as not only ready to spend their Goods and Eâ—â—ates for his sake but also to jeopard their lives â—n his behalf as Stow expresses it in John Philâ—â—ts Oration in the beginning of the life and Reign of King Richard the second who was thus â—o undeniably setled in the Throne of his Fore-â—athers by the Cities apparent interest and viâ—ible influence upon the Councels of the Nation in that great turn and change of affairs The Cities power seems plainly demonstrated give me therefore leave to bring one instance more of their wisdom caution and prudence in these dangerous because unsetled times before I pass â—n to other particulars The young King being â—hus entred upon the Government it was thought good by the King or those about him to have â—ome care taken to accommodate former differences especially such as had hapned between this potent Duke and the more powerful City Wherefore several persons of Eminency were speedily sent to London to salute the Citizens in the new King's name and acquaint them how the Duke in all things had submitted himself to the Kings will 't was time for 't is certain he had lost the day though not perhaps his high-tow'ring Ambition and that they should do so in like manner and then the King would endeavour a Reconciliation to the City's honour and advantage Fair words and large promises But the worthy Citizens were not Birds to be caught with chaff much less to be hamper'd in a Noose of their own making They were for no Resignations it seems at Discretion though to the dearest Friend alive They knew the King to be but young and weak to help them in such a troublesome business if they should so heedlesly desert their own Cause and put the staff out of their own hands by their own Consent They had enemies enough still they might think at Court as long as the Duke was there and his flattering favourites who might possibly over-rule at least if not over-aw the King to their prejudice should they render all they had at pleasure into his hand by their own voluntary Act and Deed when as they knew themselves well able to defend their liberties and properties in a legal way without hazarding them upon so intire a submission as was required without Reserve Wherefore upon consultation this Medium was at length found out that if the noble persons sent to them with that message would be bound to the Citizens that their submission should not redound to the temporal loss or bodily harm of any Citizen or prejudice of their City they would gladly obey the King's Commandment This those eminent persons of quality undertook by Oath and upon their Knighthood And so upon this surety away go the Citizens to Court and being soon brought before the King besought him as the Annalist words it to reform the peace betwixt the Duke and them affirming that they were ready in all things to submit themselves unto his will and pleasure not as though they confessed they had made any fault against the Duke consider this but as men that came at this time for the benefit of peace and honour as well to the King as the Duke to pacifie the hearts and mitigate the pleasure of both That this was their intent is evident enough from their own request before made to the King that he would vouchsafe to make a good and profitable end of this discord For that they fear'd not the Duke is most certain from the precedent passages and that they were all of a suddain fallen deeply in love with him and his party I can hardly believe No no They love the Nephew too well to dote upon the Uncle and may they always be so minded upon a good account The Citizens having thus prudently though we see not without great caution referr'd themselves to the King the Duke readily accepted of this form of peace as not hoping possibly for such an other opportunity nor expecting so honourable Conditions a second time if refus'd the first and upon his knees became Intercessor to the King to take the cause in hand under the form by the Londoners expressed and so a Reconciliation was made between these two contesting Parties the Duke with an Oath promising them his friendship for the future and in token thereof bestowing a kiss of peace upon each of them before the King at the same time Whereupon the Citizens return'd home with joy and gladness rejoycing that the Duke was brought to such humility who a little before had in great Pride demanded of them for his favour an hundred Hogsheads of Wine and an infinite number of precious
of his Disposition weakness of his Judgment or fondness of 〈◊〉 Affection grounded mostly on humour anâ— fancy having grasp'd all publick affairs in Church and State into their own hands too too oft make no better use thereof than to Hector over those who were before their Superiours suppress their Equals oppress their Inferiors and inslave the poor Commons the easier thereby to raise themselves and their own Families upon other mens ruins When these things happen and the reins of Government fall into such men's hands the rich are sure to be the greatest sufferers and such as have most of this Worlds goods are certain to be most watch'd and carpt at and all opportunities greedily laid hold on to bring them under the Lash that they may be squeez'd like Spunges and large sums exacted of them to buy out their Pardons and procure forgiveness till another occasion offer it self to make them be thought Offenders anew of this London sufferings in the fifteenth of this King are attesting proofs For the Londoners having refus'd to lend the King mony as was requested and some abuses being offer'd to the Merchant Stranger that proffered to lay it down Stow tells us the King was marvellously inrag'd hereat and calling a Council of his Nobles at Stamford causes the Mayor Sheriffs and best of the Citizens to be Arrested and afterwards the Mayor and Sheriffs being depos'd sends them to several Prisons there to be kept till he and his Council had consider'd and decreed what should be done with them and it was also further determined that from thenceforth the Londoners should not chose nor have any Mayor but that the King should appoint one of his Knights to be Ruler of the City their Priviledges were revok'd their Liberties disannull'd and their Laws abrogated Neither was this all The Terms likewise and the Courts of Kings Bench Common-pleas Chancery c. Were remov'd from London to York such was the displeasure conceiv'd against them by the King or the ill Offices done them by some busie Courtiers about him For Fabian gives us another account of this affair and says the occasion arose from a contest between the Citizens and the Bishop of Salisburies Servants about one of their fellow Servants who had taken a Loaf out of a Bakers basket openly in the streets and then broke his head with his Dagger for attempting to regain it which grew so high the Citizens striving to have the offender seiz'd on and Committed to Ward and the Bishops Servants rescuing him and shutting up their Gates that the Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs had much ado by their perswasion presence and Authority to stop further outrages and contain the multitude within bounds though at last they effected it and dismis'd the people home in peace and quietness But the angry Bishop so highly resented this business notwithstanding the fault sprung Originally out of his own House that he and the Arch-Bishop of York incens'd the King all they could against the Londoners even so far that one expresly affirms he was once resolv'd to have utterly ruin'd and destroy'd the whole City A very sharp punishment certainly for such an offence and for a City publickly endow'd with such transcendent Grants and Priviledges as not to be lyable to a just legal seizure of her Liberties and Franchises unless for Treason or Rebellion done by the whole City as hath been before observ'd in the first of Edward the third and the seventh of this present King Now how Treason or Rebellion could be justly charg'd upon the whole City at this time and in these instances which soever of them we give credit to I cannot well conceive The most methinks that could be made of it in the worst construction could amount no further than a Riot notwithstanding the great and hainous matters laid unto the Mayors charge though not a syllable prov'd that I read of as that he no otherwise Rul'd the City but suffered the Citizens to make such assaults upon the Kings head Officers to the Kings great dishonour and hazard of the Kings Treasure then in his Custody The Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third which makes it Treason to slay the Treasurer must surely have been very far stretched to have brought the whole City within the compass thereof because some of the meaner Citizens assaulted the Treasurers House upon an injustice first done by one and â—n affront afterwards offered by others of his own Servants in refusing to deliver the Offender or â—uffer the Constable to enter to seize him he himself being as many Miles distant at that time as Windsor is from London and so not capable of receiving then the least injury in his own person â—uch less to be kill'd out-right without which no Treason lies in the Case upon this Act. But if â—he King and Council would have it so or at least â—ct as if it were so contrary to an establish'd â—aw and his own Grand-Fathers grant who â—ould who would who durst contradict Here â—as no Parliament then Sitting that I read of â—o House of Commons in Being nor Lords erough present their Friends to stave off the first brunt though at length we hear of a Reconciliation depending before a Parliament was call'd and that too by the mediation of powerful Friends some of them no less than the Principal Lords besides the Queen her self Baker and Stow name the Duke of Gloucester the Kings Uncle who was ever reputed by the Commons a great Friend and Patriot to his Country and his untimely end afterwards severely reveng'd on the Actors and Contrivers thereof and made the occasional cause of enraging the People against the King himself who within few years after the aforesaid Dukes violent Death was publickly dethron'd by such as under the popular pretence of reforming ill Government aim'd at their own Advancement to the chiefeâ—â— Honours Preferments and Dignities in Church and State Through this Noble Peer's Suit and Mediation among others we hear the King was somewhat pacified and by little and little abated the rigour of his purpose calling to mind the divers honours and great gifts he had received of the Londoners as certainly the securing his right to the Crown against the ambitious pretensions of his aspiring Uncle and thâ— defending his Life and Person from the furiouâ— Outrages of his mutinous Commons were no mean pieces of Service done him by them whereupon he determined to deal more mildly with them and gives them hopes of Grace and Pardon Fabian tells us of a Reverend Bishop a Spiritual Lord that joyn'd with the Queen 〈◊〉 procure the Kings favour for them and 〈◊〉 their Liberties restor'd them again That the Queen did successfully interceed in their behalf we may perhaps not without some shew of reason conclude from the many great rich and costly Presents made her by the Citizens at the Kings publick entrance into the City about the latter end of August in the same Summer Nay one Writer goes
Neither were indeed these latter proceedings attempted till after that by several tricks and devices as naming Sheriffs fit to serve turns and imposing such Representatives on the Borough Towns as would be byass'd to betray their Country besides a violent seizure of the Country Lords likely to oppose the Court had got a Parliament to their minds that would do their own business not the Nations and prefer the private gain of some few before the publick benefit of the whole Common-wealth What sort of Parliament this was and how fairly things were carried we may inform our selves out of Stow's Annals where we find it upon Record in the twenty first year of this King how that all of a suddain in the midst of a great calm and outward serenity the King caus'd the principals of the party thought most opposite to Court designes to be feiz'd on and imprison'd and among the rest his own Uncle as Chief so unsecure is Kindred and Alliance among Kings and Princes tells the Commons by Proclamation that their apprehension was founded on new Transgressions not old Crimes though these afterwards were the great offences laid to their charge procures their Indictment at Nottingham suborns several Nobles to impeach them in the next Parliament Assembles many Malefactors of the County of Chester in the nature of a Guard and then summons the Parliament Thither came the Nobles with an Armed Retinue for fear of the King such Knights are chosen Prolocutors as are described to be void of all manner of goodness as in whom nought was to be found but a natural Covetuousness unsatiable Ambition Intollerable Pride and Hatred of the truth and the Clergy upon pain of losing their Temporalties injoyn'd to chose them a Common Proctor who thereupon appointed Sir Henry Percy Steward of the Kings Houshold to assent in their Names to all things done in the Parliament How then things were likely to be ordered in the two Houses 't is no hard matter for us to guess especially when we remember that the Annalist tells us the Parliament House was compass'd about with four thousand of the Kings Archers who seem to have been ready prepar'd on all occasions for an Onset and once more particularly mistaking the noise usually made at the Parliament's Men coming out of the House for a Tumultous Broil and Contention with their Bows bent Arrows fitted and drawing they were upon the point of shooting to the terrour of all present till the Kings coming rectified their mistake and pacified them To tell of recalling of Pardons disannulling of Charters making void of Commissions revoking former Judgments impeaching arraigning condemning and actually punishing the opposite Party some with loss of Estates Lives and all others with forfeitures of all worldly Goods and perpetual irrevocable imprisonment I esteem a needless labour Suffice it therefore to remark how sollicitous the Court was at this juncture to render their own Party as Saints and the others as most guilty Criminals to take off the contesting Lords as disloyal Traytors and restore in the Eye of the Law the Reputation of Courtiers formerly condemn'd in the eleventh year of this King as if they had been the honestest and loyallest Subjects in the Nation and undo as much as in them lay what ever was then done in the Parliament that wrought wonders not withstanding that in many things they imitated that Assembly when they thought it for their peculiar advantage as in Lords Appellants Oaths to make all the Judgments Ordinances and Statutes unrepealable and Excommunication of the Breakers or Impugners of them but in others far out did it as in revoking all Pardons pleaded by the opposite Lords under the notion of being unlawfully made or so by the King granted unto them as not to be against himself and excusing those equally guilty of the same actions because look'd on at that time as useful Instruments in carrying on the Court Intreagues viz. suppressing the principal Assertors of Liberty and Property in passing a general Pardon with the Exception of fifty Persons not express'd by name whereby any one at pleasure might be made liable to censure as one of the Persons excepted if thought a Favourer of the contrary side and conserring the whole Power of the Parliament upon certain Lords and Commons fully to answer all Bills and wholly to determine all other matters mov'd in Parliament and not determined with all their Dependants as mischievous a President as Sylla's Proscription though 't is hoped not as practicable besides the prejudging and confining of Parliament Debates by the Judges Opinions That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first dâ—termined that it is Treason in them that do it Such being the Acts of this Assembly and the consequences of the Courts present success in taking off the Heads of the other Party who durst at every turn contest therewith in behalf of those freeborn English Twins Liberty and Property under which the Nation with silent murmurs languished and lamented when they so soon after the end of this Parliament at Shrewsbury and the Kings Progress into the West saw no less than seventeen Counties in East England indicted by the Kings command and as a grievous offence laid to their charge that they had been against him with the Duke of Glocester Earls of Arundel and Warwick the late Principals amongst the contesting Lords but now secur'd fast enough the two first under the undissolvable Bonds of Death the other under the Chains of a perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and several honourable Persons sent to induce the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to make a Submission by Writing seal'd with their own Hands acknowledging themselves Traytors to the King though they never offended him in Word or Deed Besides the compelling all the Religious Gentlemen and Commons to set their Seals to Blank-Charters that they might be oppress'd severally or all at once at pleasure some being made to pay a thousand Marks some a thousand Pounds And an Order issued out through every Shire in England that all Gentlemen and Men of Substance should be sworn firmly to maintain according to their power all the Statutes Articles and Constitutions ordained in the last Parliament We may easily conclude the Court thought the Citizens of London were not over much in love with these enslaving Statutes unaccustomed Oaths insnaring Blanks and inforc'd Submissions and suspected them ready enough upon occasion to oppose and withstand these manifest encroachments of Antinomian Prerogative upon the Liberty of the Subject and strive to strike off these Fetters and Shackles of Slavery upon the next opportunity before they were thorowly rivetted by Time and Prescription and therefore esteemed it their wisest Course to begin with them first by the usual Method of Indictments while they had the Reins of Government in their own hands and so consequently power enough to manage the Law as they themselves pleased to
wind and turn it about to their interests and bend it to their own irregular Desires and Designs since that they lik'd not to have them confin'd within the limits and bounds thereof This manner of acting however by the by appears to me the most beaten Path to Destruction and the high way to the Actors unavoidable Ruin and I think I have reason History and Experience all on my side This the City seems well to have understood and therefore with Prudence chose rather to yield to the times for a season than presently to strive against the running stream and immediately to fall a rowing against high wind and Tide but as soon as ever the flowing waters began to Ebb and the tide was a turning the City Barge struck in with the returning waves and assisted to steer the Ship of the Common-wealth to a quite different Haven from that whither the Court was furiously driving her before And then for the most favourable of the Citizens to shew themselves but faint Regardless friends was far less beneficial to the desolate forsaken King than for others of them to appear earnest Enemies in so critical a Juncture was disadvantagious to this unfortunate Prince as he may well be term'd either for having none but ill Councellors and faithless Trencher-friends about him and hearkning so much to their pernitious and destructive advice or else for the defect of his Judgment in not discerning between their private self ends and his own special and particular interest viz. Impartiality in doing Justice to all States and Persons from the highest to the lowest squaring all his own actions by the known Rules of the Law of the Land to the pleasing of his people not by the compass of other mens unstable fancies and anomalous Plat-forms to the loss of his Subjects love and affection and the unhappy fate that attended him upon this his ill conduct when he was violently thrown out of the Chair of State into a profound Abyss of miseries and infelicities and irrecoverably cast out of a Regal Throne into an unavoidable Prison between which and his grave he had but few steps to make For we are to know that as in the tuming of fortunes wheel the spoke that is got upermost presently begins to decline and so runs downwards till it comes to be the under-most of all or like as Sysiphus stone forc'd up e'en almost to the very top of the Hill presently tumbles down again to the bottom with a swiftness and violence not to be stop't by the strength of art or nature so this Prince arriv'd in a manner to the heigth of his desires by the Caprice of fortune or rather by the over-ruling power of a superior Being was suddenly and unexpectedly beyond Recovery hurl'd down from the Grandeur of a Potent King into the lowest Station among Men the Confinement of a Prison and that too occasion'd by the very same way and means whereby he thought to have secur'd to himself amore fixt and setled enjoyment of his greatness as comes now of course to be shewn in manner following After the suppression of the opposite Party under the shadow of Law and Justice diffention happening between the two Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford both then great at Court to the mutual accusation of each other the King greedily lays hold on the opportunity and instead of permitting them according to the Custom of those times where clear proofs were wanting to make good their accusations by the Sword in a single Combat as had been also before appointed unadvisedly banishes them both the Land the first for ever and the latter for a term of years with this hard measure into the bargain that they should not sue for a release of their Judgments on pain of Treason whereby he made both his Enemies and the latter so much the more dangerous the nearer he stood Related to the Crown and the more inveterate in that the King had procur'd the Letters Pattents before granted him to sue by Attorney for Lands descended to him to be revok'd by Assent of Parliament and declar'd to be against Law and had afterwards upon his Father John of Gaunts death violently seis'd on all his Estate whereto Hereford was Heir Then amidst the murmurs of the People for misgovernment and ill guidance of the Realm away goes the King for Ireland with a puissant Army when he thought he had left all things secure in England by the advantage he had made of the last Parliament by engrossing whatever he pleased into his own hands by the tricks found out to raise Money of the Subject by Blanks c. and the Subsidy he had gain'd in Parliament during his Life upon the continuance whereof without molestation he openly declar'd his general Pardon should stand and no otherwise and managed his Arms therewith success enough but ill news out of England that the Duke of Hereford by his Fathers death Duke of Lancaster was landed in England under colour of claiming his Inheritance and rais'd people as he went alarm'd him and bad advice afterwards which detain'd him longer than his promise in Ireland so loath were his Counsellors to spare his company under the shelter of whose Person and presence lay their greatest hopes of protection quite ruin'd him For coming over and finding the Army gone away which the Earl of Salisbâ—ry had rais'd against his coming and had newly voluntarily disbanded it self upon the Kings tarrying too long behind the Earl in Ireland his courage fail'd him and he trusting more to flight than fighting the treachery of his Principal Officers deceiv'd him and he himself also by soothing words and faiâ— promises was decoy'd into the Duke of Lancaster's hands who soon secur'd him fast enough withoâ—â— any intent to let him loose again in haste Now the King is in hold let us see how the Citizens behav'd themselves in this great Turn and Change of the Times They had in this Kings Nonage in his Grandfathers dayes appear'd the undaunted Assertors of his Right and Title and in the beginning of his Reign contributed much to his Security and Settlement on the THRONE But a new Generation being sprang up in Twenty Years space and their old Services at last so ill requited by new attempts on their Liberties by Inditements and blank-Charters instead of standing up with their Lives and Fortunes in the Kings Defence and Vindication they openly devoted themselves to anothers Service and became the known Favourers of that Party which assisted to Depose this unhappy Prince and set up in His Room the Duke of Lancaster under the Name and Title of Henry the Fourth As is provable both from Statute-Law viz. the Act made in the First of this New King to be seen in the Statute-Book Cap. 15. An. 1. H. 4. Where we find express mention of the good and lawful behaviour of the Mayor Sheriffs and Aldermen and all the Commonalty of the same City of London towards him and Stow's general Chronicle
slightness of their thin-spun pretences and weakness of their groundless Imputations A pretty device to make Riots and Insurrections and then accuse the contrary Party of them as if they had been so Fanatical as tumultuously to meet together vi armis without any Arms about them or Weapons in their hands to disturb the Kings Peace and with no worse design than the Warrant of annual Customs whereon some in an unheard of manner without Law or Reason and contrary to common sence intruded to deprive them of the benefit thereof Out of the forementioned Monkish Writer Stow tells us of an Army of Twenty Five Thousand that were to have met Sir John in St. Giles's Fields and yet for all this great Cry we find not One Hundred taken though he affirms Sixty Nine of them to be condemn'd of Treason upon such kind of proofs perhaps as these whereon the Composer of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Life makes him to have been found Guilty of Treason in the First of King James for which he had the honour to be Beheaded about Forty Years after upon his Return from his unsuccessful Guyana Voyage and Thirty Seven Hang'd But the Record out of the Kings-Bench the most authentick Evidence mentions only That Sir John Oldcastle and others to the number of Twenty Men call'd Lollards at St. Giles did conspire to Subvert the State of the Clergy this it seems then was the principal Offence the rest Aggravations without which the Scales could not have been well weigh'd down and to Kill the King and his Brother and other Nobles as any English Reader may see in Cottons Abridgment at the afore-cited Parliament of the Fifth of this King Where now are any good grounds for this malicious Out-cry upon the Dissenting Wicklivists for Traiterous Plotters and Conspirators And what 's become of the great Army that Fame and Report had Rais'd But perhaps the Inn-keepers in the adjacent Hamlets and neighbouring Villages were not only their familiar Friends but intimate Acquaintance as Mr. Bags ingenuity to the elevating and surprizing of our Minds hath taught us to express it how otherwise this Achilles and his dreadful Army of Mirmidons could have continued thus unseen and slipt away in Disguise seems not reconcileable to Sence and Reason And yet how such great Numbers could have lain hid within the compass of a Readmote or have been put like Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell is a thing that passeth all my understanding to conceive If ever such a thing was as doubtless it never hapned in Europe nor amongst either our antient or modern Reformers certainly then this unconceivable Wonder must have fell out in the Reign of Queen Dick King of no Lands upon the Terra incognita of some other of the Fairy Islands bordering upon Vtopia where Prince Oberon and Queen Mab liv'd in dayly dread and fear of King Arthur Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram and the rest of the Knights of his round Table or miserably perplext themselves every hour and minute with needless Scruples Jealousies and Suspicions about the unimagin'd Designs of the Noble Duke Ogier to advance himself and his little Mervine who afterwards did such heroick Exploits upon the Souldan of Babylon and his bloody cut-throat Army of Sarazens when he turn'd to the Assistance of the famous Câ—arlemain and his Peers But laying aside these idle Stories of the Monkish Romancers I pass on from our famous win-All Henry of Monmouth to the unfortunate English lose-All Henry of Windsor a far better Man than King as being more intentive upon the Devotions of the Times than the Government of his Realm and better skill'd in his Beads than his Scepter and therefore seems rather cut out for a Priest than a Prince In this Kings Minority while such great States-men and Patriots as his most renowned Uncles Bedford and Gloucester sate at the Helm and steadily Steer'd the Ship of the Common-Wealth one by his Arms the other by his Arts Honour and Renown attended upon the English Banners in France and the Land at Home in peace and quietness Flourished under the benign Influence of their successful Councels for the most part free from civil Broils and Commotions King Henry being in actual Possession of both Crowns under the conduct of such noble and worthy Directors But when Death had snatch'd away one from his Regency in France and the other was dismist from his Protectorship in England through the course of time The King being grown in Years and come to ripeness of Age though not it seems to such a degree of understanding as might capacitate him to act the part of a King further than in Name and Shew his Affairs in forreign Parts soon went miserably to wrack and being turn'd out of almost all beyond Sea deadly Fewds and Annimosities the usual attendants of ill Success abroad encreast so fast at Home between the Nobles and great Persons of the Realm and such intestine Jars sprung up in the Nation that after many Battles fought and much Royal Blood spilt the York Party prevail'd over the Lancastrians and the poor King himself though the Miracle of Age for Devotion lost his Crown Life and All at last Whether 't was purely the ill success abroad or the ill management of the State at home the unhappy Fate attending the Kings Matching with Queen Margaret to the breach of a former Contract or the unseasonable stirring of her and her accomplices to Suppress Ruine and Root out the other Party whereby they were compell'd for their own Security to link themselves together in the strictest bonds of Confederacy and stand continually upon their own Guard Whether the weakness of the King or the restless Spirit of the Queen too Active for her Sex The much resented Death of the Duke of Glocester or the subtle Arts and Devices of the Duke of York into the particulars whereof I will not now descend as being the Subject of a distinct Treatise by it self and the Popularity of the great Earl of Warwick Whether 't was any of these single or all of them joyntly concurring or rather the over-ruling Providence of an Almighty Being that made this strange Alteration in the Face of things to the dethroning of one Prince the most devoted of his time to religious Exercises and exalting of another as much given to Women as the former to Religion whereby the White Rose overtopt the Red Certain it is the City of London had a great Influence upon these Transactions and the favour the Citizens bore to the Duke of York and his Party contributed highly to the advancing of his Interest above the King Regnants if they were not the only grand causes under Heaven that produc't such wonderful and stupendious Effects This the more clearly to demonstrate I shall not oblidge my self exactly to trace the whole Series of State affairs through the following Princes Reigns nor over-scrupulously confine my self to the Life of this or that King distinctly and apart But design to
view the differences between York and Lancaster in the lump considering them under the Notion of one particular Contest though of a long and large durance and throughout with all plainness and perspicuity I can lay claim to shew what powerful Rays of Influence from London were shed abroad upon the Face of the Land For I intend not to Write an Abridgement of Englands general History as having only undertaken a particular Argument relating to this Honourable Cities Fame Renown and Glory abroad Strength Riches and Power at home within her self and the various Influences she cast all over England in the more special turns and changes of Affairs For the rest the Curious may peruse the laborious Works of our English Historians Therefore choosing my own Method I shall make a division of what I have to produce in this place into two Parts or general Heads under which I hope to comprehend the most material Passages I meet with sutable to the design and purport of this Attempt The first containing Instances of Lonâ—ons affection to the Red Rose and the other shewing the sollicitous care and regard she had for the preservation growth and advancement of the White First then and foremost to begin with the Citizens respect to the House of Lancaster who bore the Red Rose for their Badg of their continued Favour and Affection thereto in the prime of its flourishing condition while the many and great Victories gain'd in France were yet fresh in their Memories and Henry the Sixth enjoy'd the Fruits of his Fathers Labours and retain'd the English Conquests therein there is no doubt to be made But I presume I have a much stronger proof to produce from no less convincing an Argument than Statute Law as authentick an Evidence in the Case as the Subject is capable of to be found Anno octavo Henrici sexti cap. 11. where we have express mention made of the entire affections and great kindnesses done and shewed to the said King in all his Affairs by the Citizens of the City of London which to reward and for the future the more to encourage the King was induc'd by Authority of Parliament to give them leave to put and take in Apprentices according to their ancient manner form or custom of which they had some time before been abridg'd by a former Statute to the great hindrance and damage likely thereby to redound to them If any shall require further Instances hereof let them but have recourse to the Annals of this Kings Reign and there I doubt not but they 'l have their Expectations answer'd and their Curiosity highly satisfied when they shall have carefully and thorowly boserv'd the Noble Equipage of the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens in the Tenth Year when they rode forth to meet the King upon his return out of France the Pomp and Gallantry wherewith they receiv'd him at London and entertain'd him in his passage through it and the costly Present they made him afterwards at Westminster And take Notice of their splendid appearance in Scarlet blew Gowns broider'd Sleeves and red Hoods to convey his Princely Bride Queen Margaret through the City in the Twenty-Third of his Reign But when this Daysy Flower of France being thus linkt to the Red Rose of England the Queen and her Creatures rul'd all about the King at home and things went every day worse and worse abroad through Envy and Emulation among the Nobles and negligence of the Kings Councel ill conduct and management of State Affâ—â—rs by the new Favourites at Court and the good Duke of Glocester greatly belov'd and ador'd among the Commons was privily taken out of the way in a clandestine manner to the great and bitter resentments of the People the Citizens soon began to alter in their affections and inclinations and look with favourable Eyes upon the opposite Party then springing up under Richard Duke of York the chief and principal Head thereof whose Sails upon the aforesaid Dukes death being full blown with fresh Gales of Ambition He became a secret pretender to the Crown and privately among his Familiars whisper'd a more plausible Right and Title thereto than the King Regnant himself had though in actual Possession Yet they did not so soon forget their old Love as presently to side with the Yorkists against the Lancastrians but seem for a while to have continued as it were in a state of indifferency sometimes favouring the one sometimes the other as if uncertain with whom to side till the Number of publick Grievances being greatly encreast or else more eagerly and plainly remonstrated to them by the other Party they more openly at length shifted all their Sails and with fix't Resolutions espous'd the Yorkist Interest and so that Family got Possession of the Throne thereby Then which what greater Evidence can there be of the Cities Power and Influence in those Times And yet in this interval and space of time which I venture and I hope with truth enough to term the State of her indifferency or neutrality several other Instances of her Power are produceable for the further illustration of the Point in hand to demonstrate beyond dispute that the variation alteration and change of the Citizens Minds over-rul'd the Affairs of the State in each turn and change of Things though as mutable for a season as the ebbing and flowing of the Sea yet likewise as succesful as the turning or returning of the Tyde in bearing all before them The first Instance that comes to my hand shall be that of Jack Cade Captain Mendal who calling himself Mortimer Couzen to the Duke of Yorke upon the specious promises of reforming grievances and freeing the Commons from immoderate Taxes and Impositions the fame of keeping good Orders among his people and his successfull overthrow of the Staffords with other Hotspurs of the Court at Seven-Oke-Wood had so strengthned himself the City of London being at that time saith Stow full favourable to him that upon the King and Queens remove from the City to Killingworth Castle distrusting their own Servants and Soldiers he came to Southwarke and marched over the Bridg in good Order into the City with such Confidence and assurance that passing along by London-Stone he struck it with his Sword and said Now is Mortimer Lord of London and so possibly might have continued he had so won the Hearts of the Commons by his orderly behaviour and got such an encrease of Power as to give the Mayor Orders how he would have his People dispos'd of they coming and going freely as they pleas'd had he but followed the Mayors Advice who bad him take â—eed he attempted nothing against the Quiet of the City and made good his own Reply Let the Worâ—â—â—ake notice of our honest Intention by our Actions But when he once grew so inconsiderately Insolent as to fall a robbing the Citizens themselves he presently lost their Favour and good Will the honest and wealthy Commons disliking such extravagant Proceedings and
then the Mayor and Aldermen with their Assistance took Councel together to drive him and his Adherents out of the City and oppose his further entrance thereunto The effect whereof in the Issue was that After a sharp bickering and contest upon the Bridge the Mayor and the Citizens got the better the Kentish-Men were worsted a truce for a few hours was concluded on whereof the Lord Chancellor took the Advantages by a general pardon to disperse the malecontent and Cade himself was within a little time after Slain in a Garden in Sussex So fatal was it to him by this his Robberies thus to have displeas'd the Citizens For Fabian tells us expresly that had it not been for that he might have gone far and brought his purpose to good effect if he had intended well And so Prejudicial might it have been to the Court had he not by these extravagancies forfeited that favour and respect which had before been shewn him at London to such a degree that the Commons were very highly incens'd against Alderman Horne for opposing the admission of him and his company thereinto at a Common-Councel held by the Mayor aâ— Guild-Hall and speaking vehemently against such as were for his entrance and ceas'd not saith thâ— Annalist till they had him committed to New-gate But now the tide is turn'd again and the King himself is joyfully received by the Citizens of that very same place from whence ere-while he thoughâ— it his best security to depart As the Citizens Favour ebb'd and flow'd such was the posture of his affairs in the wane or the full so stooâ— his fortune either increasing or decreasing where of here is a demonstration that no body can deny thaâ— has but an Historial Faith unless he woulâ— have us believe that the many Historians thâ—â— writ hereof could joyn altogether in an unusual confederacy at several times and from several placeâ— to impose a manifest falshood upon posterity An Opinion almost as absur'd pardon the compariâ—on though not to that degree as theirs who â—s foolishly as prophanely fancy the original Penâ—en of the Scriptures made a mutual agreement though in several ages and from different parts of â—he Universe to obtrude those writings â—pon the World for the Word of the Eternal God 〈◊〉 of I know not what design of State-Policy to keep 〈◊〉 Common People in greater aw and subjection to â—â—eir Governours How fair a Cast the Yorkists lately had for the â—ame through the City's Favour till their own 〈◊〉 management lost it we have seen But that as not all It left such a rub in their way that may be suppos'd to have spoyl'd their bowling upâ—â— the next open adventure For in the thirtieth 〈◊〉 the Duke of York in Person having rais'd an â—â—my upon disgusts and pretences and the King â—â—ing in the Head of another to oppose Him He 〈◊〉 out of the way and eschews the Kings 〈◊〉 and hastens as fast as he could up to London â—â—ping doubtless for assistance or recruits thence 〈◊〉 being deceived in his expectations upon notice â—â—en him that the Londoners would not admit his â—rance to refresh himself or his People he â—â—ightwayspasses away from London over the Thames 〈◊〉 Kent and what pray now was the event 〈◊〉 Not according to his wishes successful we may 〈…〉 For from the History we may easily 〈◊〉 he thought it his greatest interest to come 〈◊〉 terms of accommodation with the King had 〈◊〉 such been his apprehensions doubtless he would 〈◊〉 have yielded thereto dismisses his Army and 〈◊〉 in Person into his Majesties Presence where 〈◊〉 with the Duke of Somerset he 〈◊〉 was accused of conspiring the Kings Death and usurpation of the Crown and sent before the King as a Prisoner to London where he was kept a while till upon a Report of his Sons coming with another Army towards London the Queen and Her Councel thought it convenient to set him at Liberty upon taking openly his Oath of Submission and Allegiance at the High-Altar in St. Pauls-Church before the King and great part of His Nobility To what a plunge was the Duke and his party here driven and with how many difficultyes did the King and his side likewise contest while neither of them were absolutely sure and certain of the City that she would cordially assist the one against the other York was disappointed in his Hopes and Confidence of the Citys favour and thereupon had run himself into great danger for which he knew at that Instant no better remedy than to swear over again his Allegiance to him whom he had intended and designed for a long time to depose The Kings Party heard of an Army marching up towards London against them and rather then venture to throw themselves upon the hazard of a battail withouâ— better assurance of the Citys Love and affection they consented to set at Liberty the Head of the oppositâ— Party then in their Hands a Prisoner and permiâ— him to go whither he pleas'd notwithstanding they had so much reason to fear and dread his Designs And possibly they esteem'd it greater wisdom to Temporise for a Season till they had made their Party visibly stronger in London and more able to copâ— with that secret reserve of favourers which they might fear the Duke of York had still in the City as concluding him and his party a litle better advised than to break out into open Arms againsâ— the present established Government without somâ— probability of help and assistance thence or at leasâ— some suggestions thereof before they put on theiâ— Armour This seeming not an irrational supposal appears to me to carry the face of another argument of the Citys Power For t is undeniably plain that the Yorkists carryed the day when she afterwards within a few years declared her self openly for them as I shall come by and by to shew when I have produc'd two or three passages more as further evincing proofs of this Honourable Citys Strength and Influence One is noted in Fabian in the Thirtyfifth year upon occasion of dissention and unkindness hapning between the young Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Salisbury's Son both at that time lodg'd within the City For the Mayor having notice hereof is expresly said to have ordain'd such Watches and Provisions in the City that if either had stir'd he was able to have subdued both Partyes and kept them in duress till he had known the Kings further Pleasure And the Event was answerable to his Intent For the Friends on both sides being well aware of the strict Watch and Ward and the Consequents thereof labour'd so effectually for an Accommodation that they concluded an Agreement between them for that time without any further disturbance for the present that we read of So well able were the Citizens to keep and preserve the Kings peace whether they would or no. They durst not provoke each other to open Hostilityes in that City whose Power and Armes they had most
City of London appears emulous of the Old Imperial City of Rome both in the Courage of the Women and valour of her men as if resolved not to yield to her Fame on any account in Glory and Merit nor come behind her in the Heroick Acts of either of the Sexes while one continues as potent in the Brittish World by the Spirit of the Citizens and influence of her Actions as the other once was famous for her Arms all over Europe Asia and Africa And who knows whitherto she may come in time as how far the Fates or rather Providence have decreed to advance her Was she so powerful so many Ages since what is she now since that she 's very much encreased in the Strength and Number of her Inhabitants and her private Buildings are reform'd from Wood and Earth into Brick and publick into Stone low humble Cottages into stately Edifices and who dares be so positive to aver that they may not in time be chang'd into Marble Hitherto have I treated the Reader with variety of Proofs and Evidences sufficiently I hope demonstrative of the Repute Fame Honour Glory and Renown Magnificence Grandeur Strength Power and Influence of this so Triumphant a City whose Approbation and Assistance hath setled Kings upon their Thrones and the dissatisfaction of whose Inhabitants hath sometimes left the way open to the ruine of Princes In the Examples and Instances whereof the Concurrence of her Citizens was for the most part general and universal at least so far as concern'd the Majority But now I shall produce an Instance and not easie perhaps to be parallell'd from either Divine or prophane Writings to shew how influential the bare shadow of her Name hath been in State-Affairs and how contributary to the transforming of a Subject into a King without any apparent assent of the Main Body of this ancient Corporation which I am so far from thinking a diminution of her Glory that I rather look upon it as here circumstantiated to be an Argument of the City's great Power Reputation and Esteem under this Consideration That if that aspiring Protector the bloody Duke of Gloucester better known by the Name of Crook-back'd Richard the Third could do so much by the shadow what might he not have done could he have but enjoyed the substance As in Divinity Circumstances make many an Action good or bad so in History the Design and Event not seldom ennobles or debases an Enterprize 'T is not so much the bare Act or thing done in this particular that is to make good my Assertion as the Deduction from the Consequences thereof whether real or designed which come now to be related in this manner following When that ambitious Crook-back'd Duke upon his Brother's Death had got his eldest Son and Heir and the rightful King into his hands and by treacherous Plots devis'd Crimes and false Calumniations taken away the Lives of those true and trusty Friends of the old King that were most likely to continue faithful to his young Son and Heir in his Minority and loyally stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against the open Attempts or secret Designs of his Treacherous Uncle and thereby remov'd many of the Rubs out of the way to his aspir'd greatness His next Care was to get the Peoples Consent to the turning of his Ducal Corronet into a Regal Crown and their Concurrence to acknowledge him for their King whereas before he was but Protector But how should this be done A Pretence must be found to cajole them seeing that he had so little Equity and Justice on his side to confirm them to him The City of London was known to be powerful and populous and their Example was thought to do much with the rest of the Nation to make them if not approve at least connive at his Nephew's Deposition and his own Exaltation therefore the Citizens were to be Caress'd and their Approbation to be sought Whereupon he seeks for and procures Instruments fit for his turn that to honour his ambitious Desires stuck not openly to turn Renegado's to Truth Honesty and Loyalty so that they migh◠get Worldly Honour and Preferment thereby Among whom none of the less noted nor least useful are reckon'd the present Lord Mayor of London a Man of a proud Heart and highly desirous of Advancement how little soever he deserv'd it and two brazen-fac'd Sons of the Church both great Preachers of more Learning than Virtue of more Fame than Learning So useful hath the Pulpit in the Church been always thought to carry on Intreagues in the State The Contrivance was first to prepare the People and break the Matter at Paul's-Cross and then Motion it to the Citizens at Guild-hall to accomplish which and bring his purpose to perfection the Duke cared not so his dead Father were thought or call'd a Cuckold his Mother a Whore his Brethren Bastards and his Nephew illegitimate to the shame of the whole House of York such Fires of Ambition rul'd and rag'd in his Heart The flattering Clergy-men readily did their Parts in the Pulpit as far as they were able but with so ill success to the Duke's Cause and their own Reputation that he was wholly disappointed of the desir'd Acclamations and they lost their Credit and Estimation among the People ever after One lost his Life after his Sermon the other his Voice in the midst of his Preaching and so was forc'd to leave off and come down From Paul's Cross away go we the Tuesday following the Doctor 's Sermon to Guild-hall and there we find the Mayor upon the Hustings and all the Aldermen assembled about him and the Commons of the City gather'd before them To whom the Duke of Buckingham newly come thither attended with divers Lords and Knights from the Court makes a long and large Oration about the Grievances under the late King his many unnecessary Taxations great Severities and the looseness of his Life to cast dirt thus upon the late King's Government was thought then it seems an effectual Means to make way for this Popish Successor 〈◊〉 them of the Doctor 's Sermon and desires them to joyn with him and others in a Petition to the Duke to take upon him the Name and Office of a King hoping by his many Arguments and Perswasions with the volubility of his Tongue to obtain the Citizens Concurrence in a full Cry of of King Richard King Richard But they were it seems by the story very deaf of hearing on that Ear to his no little wonder and amazement Wherefore upon further consultation with the Mayor and others privy to the Design Buckingham resumes his Discourse and rehearses the same over again with a louder Voice as if the Citizens had not all heard or not well understood the meaning of his former Speech But neither did this move their Affections nor produce a Word in favour of the Motion from the Auditors Then Mr. Recorder by the Mayor's Advice was pitch'd upon to second
if some could prevent it For they that shot off his good Uncle's Head would hardly stick at attempting secretly upon his health and security who otherwise might have liv'd to avenge the Protectors Death But the chief Projector Northumberland had but little joy of his ambitious designs though King Edward was dead and he had got his two Sisters put by and the Lady Jane his Daughter in Law proclaimed Queen of the Realm by sound of Trumpet through London For when he might have thought himself most secure then was he most disappointed and he that could do so much in the City with the Magistracy either for fear or love quickly lost that branch of his Power when he was gone from the City though at the head of an Army and thereby in effect his Life The same Mayor who had before consented in appearance to secure the City for the Lady Jane a little after upon a motion from the Council going straight ways and proclaming the Lady Mary Queen And then she was quickly acknowledged for such all over the Land So that here we see two Queens proclaimed in London within a very short space of time but she who was last proclaimed and the Citizens stuck to continued Queen and the other was laid by as useless and afterwards brought to the Block as a guilty Criminal Had the City stuck to the first the other probable had still been counted the Offendor and might perhaps have suffered accordingly But the Stream was turn'd with the Tide and it was hard rowing against the Current Queen Mary at first had addressed her self by Letter to the Lord Mayor to proclaim her and the Cities affections may be thought inclinable from the beginning unto her be it only from Northumberland's expression of his thoughts to the Lord Gray in his passage through Shoreditch with his Army against her and her Forces who observed that the People pressed to see them but could not hear one that bid them Gods speed Is it so considerable to have the Voice of the Citizens how much more than their Hearts Thus came in Queen Mary and with her Popery upon the Protestants shoulders For the Suffolk men were the first that espous'd her Interest upon Condition that she would make no alteration in Religion which she then most readily promised but kept it afterwards like a Papist i. e. broke it and 't is somewhere observed that many more of that Country suffered for Religion in the Marian Persecution than of any other So sutable she acted to that avow'd Principle of her own Religion that no faith is to be kept with Hereticks a position publickly authorized by the Council of Constance and often since confirmed by many undeniable Instances and Examples But 't was well for her that the City of London whose concurrence with the rest of the Nation first mounted her up into the Throne and from whose Citizens she received so great respect the day before her Corononation by costly Pageants those dumb shews of respect and other honorary expressions of their affections continued firm in their Allegiance otherwise she might perchance have paid dear enough for the breach of her promise upon Sir Thomas Wyats insurrection For could he but have got into the City either by the Bridge or by Ludgate how much of his purpose he might have brought to effect is easier to be guessed than declared in so uncertain a matter But he was repulsed at both places and deceived in his expectations and hopes of aid from London he himself was taken his party routed and all his designs vanished into smoak to the loss of his own life and ruin of many of his principal Friends and Followers So unsuccessful is an enterprize on what grounds soever and appearing likelyhood of success at first undertaken wherein the Londoners refuse to ingage themselves whereas had but the City joyn'd her Forces to Wyats let him in within her Walls and not stood firm to the Quens Interest he might perhaps have been able to have commanded what Conditions he pleased Of this we may well believe the Queen and Court were extreamly sensible For we find the Queen her self her Lords and her Ladies came from Westminster to Guildhall where the Commons of the City were assembled in their Liveries before Wyat drew near to the City and by fair words and promises endeavour'd to confirm the Citizens minds and satisfie them of the sincerity of her own intentions and the insolent behaviour of her Enemies Which I think was no more than the case required and the necessity of her affairs obliged her to for her own security The five hundred Men which the City at the Lord Treasurers request had sent out ready Arm'd to oppose that insurrection having turn'd to the other side at the perswasion of their Captain and Leader and there being so great a Consternation at Westminster upon Wyats approach that the Serjeants at Law and other Lawyers pleaded in their harness But the Queens Speech having secur'd the generality of the Citizens affections strict Watch and Ward continued to be kept in London the Mayor and Sheriffs Commanded each Man to shut down their Shop-windows and stand ready Arm'd at their Doors they themselves being likewise in Armour the draw-bridge was cut down the Bridg-gate shut and convenient forces sent to keep it and others set in fit places of the City whereby Wyat's purpose was defeated and his expectations of assistance frustrated as he himself complain'd in the Message he sent the Londoners by Merchant Dorell upon his March out of Southwark toward Kingstone For before he came with such confidence towards London that he hoped for present entrance An eminent instance doubtless of the Cities great power and the influence it had on that bold undertaking which seems to have stood and fallen e'en as London stood affected and influenced But though the Queen prevail'd thus upon the Londoners yet death could not be brib'd nor sham'd by any promises or pretences for die she must and die she did after a short though bloody Reign of five years and somewhat better and so way was made for the famous and ever Renowned Queen Eâ—izabeth of blessed Memory in whose entrance into the Throne we find the Londoners interesting themselves notwithstanding she was publickly known to be of a quite different Religion from that at present Established she being forthwith Proclaimed in London upon knowledge and notice given of her Sister Queen Maries Death and coming from Hatfield within three or four days after Stow tells us she was very dutifully and honourably met by the Lord Mayor and the whole estate of London and so conducted to the Charter-house and some time after Rode through the City in great Majesty to Westminster to her Coronation At which Solemnity the Citizens gave her ample demonstrations of their affections by the stately Pageants and sumptuous Shews wherewith they entertain'd her Her settlement caus'd the Reduction encrease and progress of the Protestant Religion
dearly belov'd Liberties when they might with greater ease and as effectually gently walk them down as a certain Person is said to have express'd it on a much later Occasion The City petition'd and address'd and she was follow'd by the Country She waited a while with patience and the secluded Members that were chosen in forty and from forty eight kept out of the house till fifty nine for almost twelve years space were restor'd in peace and quietness though under some few Obligations And so there was again the face of a House of Commons Being restor'd they dissolv'd themselves in a short time after to make way for another assâ—mbly call'd a Parliament though some thought in thâ—se times that the Parliament of Forty had been dissolv'd long before by his late Majesties death and so might haply think this a needless Ceremony It being most certain that that Parliament ow'd its beginning to the Kings Writ although its continuance was thought to depend on the continuing Act as long as the King liv'd Yet notwithstanding the House of Commons had actually dissolv'd themselves and it was become the receiv'd opinion that the Parliament of Forty was in Law dissolv'd before upon the old Kings death the next Assembly Stylo Communi Parliament would not barely stick to either of these ways but thought good likewise themselves by vertue of their Authority to declare that Parliament of Forty dissolv'd Whether or no they thought that the bare Act of a single house of Commons without King and Lords could not in Law be took for a formal Repeal of the former continuing Act made by King Lords and Commons joyntly and so rejected it as really insignificant in its self though made use of for the time and out of a Cautious foresight dreaded some ill consequences attending the receiv'd opinion of the long Parliaments being dissolv'd by the Kings death whether or no the continuing Act were formally repeal'd by as good Authority as made it lest thence in time no body knows when occasion might be taken to argue that if a Kings death repeals one unlimited Act it may likewise on the same ground vacate all by him made and so by affirming the same of all other Princes since the first William a foundation might be laid for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power when evil minded Pretenders are absolute enough to attempt it with hopes of Impunity I pretend not to determine For I remember my self to be a Relater of matters of Fact not a Reader of Law Cases Therefore I proceed to acquaint the Reader that that Assembly though call'd without the Kings Writ yet by his Majesty afterwards most Graciously own'd and acknowledg'd for a Parliament thought it fitting and convenient to declare and enact that the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster the third day of November in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the Late King Charles of blessed Memory is fully dissolved and determined They are the words of the Act to be seen in the Statute-book Cap. 1. 12 Car. 2. This was the Assembly that blessed us with his Majesties actual Restauration towards which there had been made so many steps a little before by the Loyal Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of the Land and the Worthy Citizens of this Honourable City Whose publick Reception and Triumphant Cavalcade through the City of London to White hill was very remarkable for the splendid appearance of the Citizens to conduct him the Gallantry shewn by them on so acceptable a Solemnity and the many demonstrations of joy and gladness they gave him worthy themselves and that glorious day which they had so long expected and contributed so much of their assistance to hasten For which I have a passage or two more to produce besides what hath been already brought For the first out of the supplement to Baker I quote his Majesties most Gracious Letter To his Trusty and well belov'd the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London wherein he Honourably acknowledges the publick and frequent Manifestations of their affections to him and the Encouragement and good Example â—hey gave the Nation to assert the Ancient Government and thereupon concludes with large Promises of Extraordinary kindness to this his Native City to the Renewal of their Charter Confirmation of all priviledges granted by his Predecessors and the adding of new favours to advance the Trade Wealth and Honour thereof The next is a Commemoration of the Cities Joyful Resentment of this Letter and the Kings Declaration enclos'd in it as it was was express'd by the Grateful Duty of the Common-Council who immediately upon the reading of them ordered a Present of Ten thousand Pounds to be made to His Majesty and a thousand pounds to each of his Brothers And likewise deputed several of the Aldermen and worthy Citizens to attend upon His Majesty from the City with a Presentment of their most Dutiful acknowledgments for his Clemency and Goodness towards them So desirous were they to give him the greatest demonstrations of their affection and Loyalty before his Return and Judiciously Wise as well as Loyal to set all parts of the Nation a good Example to imitate in a ready manifestation of their Duty and Allegiance to him after his Return Neither in this would they be behind hand with any of them all For the City of London as being the first the richest and most Honourable and the Seat of Kings for many ages might Judge it self oblig'd as the Supplementer insinuates in point of duty and Reputation to exceed all the rest in the Glory of their performances towards their Soveraign But whatever the Citizens did think of the Obligation on either side certain enough it is that the reiterated expressions of their Loyalty to the King were Honourable and Meritorious to the highest degree For to the splendor of their former Preparations at his first Reception and Triumphal Entrance they added the cost of a most magnificent Entertainment at Guild-hal for that very purpose richly beautified and adorned whither the King his two Brothers the Lords of the Privy Council the two Houses of Parliament and the chief Officers of State were conducted July the fifth 1660. in great Pomp by the Lord Mayor and the Grandees of the City and treated in a Royal manner with the choicest of Delicacies with excellent Musick and whatever else could be thought on or delightful for so Illustrious an Assembly As if the Citizens thought it not enough to entertain the King but for his sake were resolv'd to put themselves to the charge of gratifying others for their Loyalty Where 's now the Man can bring me a parallel hereto General Monk appear'd and London concur'd and then the House of Commons of the Parliament of forty is immediately reviv'd a face of the Ancient Government restor'd a new Parliamentary Assembly call'd the King sent for home to enjoy his Fathers Throne and most peaceably settled therein without the noise of War or