less of them in proportion to the Troops of his own Subjects and this after his full re-settlement on the Throne And not only so but shall deliver up Dover Castle Plymouth and Portsmouth to be Garrisoned by French Soldiers as cautionary Towns for the security of performance Seventhly That in regard of the Situation of the Irish Ports and their conveniency for the French Fleets as also in consideration of the agreement of the Irish with the People of France in Religion He shall after his full restoration to the English and Scotch Kingdoms be obliged to give Ireland to the French King in full compensation of all the Moneys he has already expended or shall expend further in his Quarrel and for vindicating of his right to his Dominions But that however because of the Scituation of the Islands of Sicily and Sardinia in the Mediteranean for the English Navigation and Trade into the Levant the sly Monsieur hath obliged himself to conquer those Kingdoms for the late King at his own Expence and with his own Arms and to give them up entirely to him in lieu of his Kingdom of Ireland Eighthly That still towards the furthering a stricter Friendship and Allyance between the two Nations of England and France and for perpetuating a mutual amity and sincere Correspondence If in case by the Violent or Natural Death either of King William or Prince George of Denmark or both of them one or both of the Princesses Royal shall become Widdows and that their Persons can be seized That then they shall be convey'd with all expedition and secrecy into France and be put into the French King's Power and shall there be Married Nolens Volens to such Prince or Princes as he shall appoint or think fit for them Ninthly That the Eldest or Surviving Issue of such Marriage shall succeed to the Crowns of Ireland and Scotland and England only to remain to the pretended Prince of Wales with the American Plantations Thus My Lord I have now given you the Stipulations so much desired by you I 'le leave your Lordship to descant and make such use of them as your known Wisdom and Ability shall direct for the good of the King and Country and shall reserve some further things which I cannot conveniently Write now and which relate to this subject to another opportunity and in the mean time I am and ever shall remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Faithful Servant Paris Aug. 19. 1689. N. S. LETTER IX Some Reflections upon King James's League with the French King with an account of some further terms agreed upon between them in relation to the English Protestants in Ireland My Lord THis Court is mighty uppish upon the success of the late King James or I may more truly say their own in Ireland which if totally reduced by their conjoint Arms is to be one day their own as appears by the seventh Article stipulated between the two Kings and of which I gave your Lordship an account in my last And 't is not doubted but the Count d' Avaux hath already taken Livery and seisin of it privately in his Majesty's Name And that it is really so I am not only assured of by the said Articles but the same is more then probable by the great care and exactness that is had at Brest and other Ports of the Ocean to keep an account of all the Cloaths Arms Ammunition and Provisions that are shipped off there for Ireland and which according to some of the accounts stated and transmitted hither somewhat whereof I have had the opportunity to have a slight view of are set down at such extravagant rates as if they designed in a short time not only to ballance the account with him for Ireland but to make him considerably their Debter over and above for the carrying on another Game But they may chance to reckon without their Host in this as well as all the rest I pray God keep King William and his Royal Consort and may she and her Royal Sister be never so unhappy as to fall into the French power as your Lordship sees has been again conserted by the Ninth and last Article If ever it should so happen which God of his Mercy avert and that any such Match or Matches shall come to pass and issue come thereof my Friend hath secretly whispered me That then the pretended Prince of Wales is not like to be long liv'd But I still trust all these towering hopes of our Enemies will evaporate into Smoak and that their designs shall have as little Effect upon the lives and fortunes of our true Princes as their contrivances against the Religion and property of their Subjects shall become abortive and fruitless and whom they have agreed upon to treat in the following manner First That all possessors of Lands in Ireland that are of the Protestant Religion and will not turn Papists shall be bound to sell their Estates at a set price to the French King who shall let them out to the old Irish proprietors at certain Quit-rents and services that shall in a reasonable time reimburse him of the purchase Money Secondly But still to shew their good Nature and Lenity it s agreed that all Protestants that will shall have leave freely to depart with their Effects whither soever they please And lastly That such as will stay shall have liberty of Conscience granted them for the space of Twenty Years till the Country shall be fuller stockt with French Catholicks and other Papists I am well satisfied your Lordship will not think these Machinations a matter of nothing but as a good Patriot which you have shewed your self to be in the most Arbitrary times will stir up your self and honest Countrymen to obviate them seasonably which I as heartily wish as I have little reason to doubt it who am My Lord Your faithful and most Obedient Servant Paris Octo. 27. 1689. N. S. LETTER X. Of King James's Army in Ireland and Duke Schomberg's with Cardinal Bouillon's Motion for a Contribution for the support of the former My Lord THE raising of the Siege of London-derry and the landing of the English Army without interruption in Ireland under Duke Schomherg with other successes and advantages are so far from discouraging this Court in their hopes of a speedy conquest of that Kingdom that they have already in the Cabinet vaunted it to be as good as their own and that perhaps they need not stay for another Campaign to re-establish the late King upon the Throne of England and put themselves in an entire possession of the other Kingdom according to the full extent and meaning of the Stipulated Articles which I have formerly transmitted to your Lordship But because Money here is very hard to come by in such a proportion as to answer those vast Expences they are at to carry on the War upon the Continent which must be got at any rate they have resolved to carry on the Irish
Castle with the King and Queen in it and so takes the poor King from the Mothers Bosom appointing him to be kept and managed as he pleased Upon which Hume and his Brother William flee into England and the Queen with her Husband soon followed them the Regent was concerned at their departure sets all his Engines at work to procure their return which Dowglass the Queens Husband and the Humes soon after did but Alexander Hume contrary to many large promises being Summoned to appear before the Assembly of Estates refused to come and thinking himself aggrieved encouraged Tories to commit great Outrages in the Neighbourhood for which being like to be called to an Account by an Armed Power he was perswaded to surrender himself so was Committed to the Custody of James Hamilton Earl of Arran his Sisters Husband at Edenburg with a charge that himself should be esteemed a Traytor if he suffered him to escape But Hume perswades Hamilton to make his escape with him and to make a Party so as to enter upon the Government himself he being the next Heir after the former Kings Children in regard he was born of a Sister of James III. and therefore it was more Just he should enjoy the next place to the King then John who its true was the Son of a Brother but born in Exile and in all other things a perfect Foreigner and one that could not as much as speak the Scottish Language With them joyns John Stuart Earl of Lennox with many of his followers but the Earl was soon after reconciled to the Governor and it was not long before Hamilton and Hume returned also to Court and had an amnesty for all that was past Hume and his Brother in a little while after upon some new suspicion the Governor had of them but mostly as 't was thought upon the Calumny of John Hepborn aforsaid their implacable Enemy were Seized Condemned and Executed the people looking on and judging they had hard measure The Regent having brought things into a tolerable state of Settlement Constitutes seaven Deputies whereof the Earl of Angus was one and goes over into France where he staid five years which were full of rapine scuffles and inquietude but I do not find but that the young King continued all this while in the same hands But the Regent finding that in his absence the Dowglasses had mightily prevailed he in order to prevent further seditions sends the Earl of Angus head of that Family into France and another of the name to Rome who died by the way and next Year after his return raised an Army to invade England in Favour of the French But the Nobility opposed his Design and so he was forced to Disband and quickly upon that goes into France again The English Army in the mean time enter Scotland carry all before them and take Jedburg and endeavour by their Navy to intercept the Regent in his return but herein they failed and he with the followers he brought with him from France Compleats another Army actually invades England and Besieged the Castle of Work But finding a vigorous resistance and withal Winter approaching breaks up his Siege The Spring following he calls an Assembly of the Nobles tells them the causes why he must needs go again into France but promised them a speedy return yet he never did For the young King upon Advice from his Mother and most of the Nobility enters upon the Government himself and so vacates the Regents power And now the mystery of iniquity begins to work for tho' the King had assumed the Royal Power yet he and his Kingdom shall be Subject to the Will of others as much and more than before You have heard how Archibald Dowglass had been sent by the Regent into France who hearing of this alteration at home sent one Simon Penning an active Person and one in whom he confided very much to the King of England to perswade him to let him to return home through his Dominions which was granted for it seems King Henry was well enough pleased at the diminution of the Authority of so active a Person as the Duke of Albany and at the change made in Scotland so that the Earl was entertained by him in a very Courteous manner and dismist Honourably But his return did variously affect the minds of the Scots for seeing all the Publick business now transacted by the Conduct of the Queen and the Earl of Arran a great many of the Nobility the head whereof were John Steward Earl of Lennox and Campell Earl of Argyle taking it in very ill part that they were not admitted to any part of the publick Administration received the Earl of Angus with high expressions of Joy as hoping by his aid either to gain over the Power of the adverse faction to themselves or at least to abate their pride On the other hand the Queen who was alienated from her Husband was much concerned at his arrival and sought by all means to undermine him Hamilton also out of the relicts of his own Hatred was none of his Friend besides he feared least Dowglass who he knew would not be content with a second place should mount the saddle and make him truckle under so that he strain'd to maintain his own Dignity and opposed him with all his might They kept themselves therefore within Edenburg Castle and tho' they had seen very well that many of the Nobility affected alterations yet considing in the strength of the place and the Authority of the Kingly Name a sorry defence they thought themselves secure from all force In the mean time the opposite party held a great meeting of the Nobles where they chose three of their own Faction to be Guardians both of King and Kingdom and who should they be but the Earl of Angus John Steward Earl of Lennox and Colen Campell Earl of Argyle And using great Celerity in their business first they passed the Forth and caused James Beaton a shrewd Man to joyn with them who perceiving the strength of the party durst not stand out From thence they went to Sterling and Conferred all publick Offices and imployments upon such as were of their own gang only and afterwards directed their march for Edenburg which they entred without any resistance For it was not Fortifyed at all and immediately fell to work with the Castle about which they cast a small Trench and Besieged it The Defendants who had made no Provision for a Siege surrender'd up both it themselves King and all All were sent away but the King who now had more especially three new Masters before named and who take the whole weight of the Government upon their Shoulders They agreed among themselves that they would manage it by turns each of them attending four Months a piece upon the King who was their prey But this Conjunction was neither hearty nor of long duration Dowglass his turn was first served who brought the King into the Archbishop
seconded by Ramsey struck him to the Heart yet not so readily but that the Earl thrust him into the Thigh assisted by Cranston who wounded Erskin and Herres in the Hand and they him through the Body and lived only long enough to be hanged and quartered Then came in the Lords and the rest of the Company and after having surveyed the Earl's Body they found it did not Bleed till a Parchment was taken out of his Bosom with Characters in it and these Letters which put together made Tetragrammaton having been told as the Story went his Blood should not be spilt as long as he had that spell This is the substance of the Conspiracy I will not descant upon the many Absurdities and incoherent Circumstances couched under this Relation but will leave it to the Readers Censure and tell you only that most Authors that have mentioned it seem to turn the Tables to lay the Assassination at the King's door and one I find Sir J. H. saying he Blasphemed God for his pretended Deliverance once a year all his life after but Mr. Wilson is a little more modest who expresses himself hereupon to this purpose This year August 5. being the first of the King's Reign in England had a new Title given to it the King's Delivery in the North must resound here whether the Gowries attempted upon the King's Person or the King upon theirs is variously reported It may be he retained something of his Predecessor and great Parent Henry VII that made Religion give way to Policy oftentimes Cursing and Thundring out the Churches Fulminations against his own Ministers that they might be received with the more intimate Familiarity with his Foreign Enemies for the better discovery of their Designs I will not say the Celebration of this Holy-Day had so much Profaneness for Fame may be a Slanderer but where there is a strength of Policy there is always a power of wordly Wisdom that manages and sways it Now we are to transplant the Scene into the Southern part of the British Isle for our bright Occidental Star Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory having for the space of above forty four years shined in our British Horizon and darted out the Rays of her Renown to the remotest parts of the habitable Globe and now exchanged an Earthly for an Heavenly Diadem King James succeeded her in all her Dominions who being both a Protestant and a Pacifick King diverted the Fears of the English and made some Allay of Grief in their Hearts for the lost of their Nursing Mother and Sovereign Lady who though she were glorious and happy almost in all her Affairs during the course of her long Reign yet she may be truly said to have been much more celebrated after her Death for the Vices of others and Male-Administration of this and the succeeding Reigns erected a more lasting Monument of Renown and contributed a more indelible lustre to her Fame than any of the worthiest Atcheivements of her Life so that it may be as truly said of her as it was of old by Suetonius concerning that brave Roman Germanicus Auxit gloriam desideriumque defunctae insequentium tempâ—rum atrocitas Here for a time we are to expect nothing but Shows Pageants Creations of Honours of which King James was never no niggard and all manner of Jollity but the advancement of some so far disgusted others who thought themselves neglected that it produced him a Conspiracy as the Authors of that Age know not what to make off it was apparent the muddy Waters were stirred but it was with such a mixture that little could be visible in it For Sir Walter Rawleigh the Lords Cobham and Grey were Protestants Markham Baynam and the two Priests were Popish the Charge was that they had endeavoured all in Conjunction to introduce Popery to seize the King and Prince and to set the Crown up-the Head of the Lady Arabella Steward younger Brother to Henry Lord Darnley both Sons to Matthew Earl of Lennox by his Wife Margaret Daughter by the Earl of Angus to Margaret the Mother of James V. and Daughter of Henry VII But this was a sorry foundation to go upon and so the superstructure thus huddled together could not last long wherefore the execution of some and Imprisonment of the rest quickly dissipated this Cloud and all was Serene again and Halcion days But here give me leave to say somewhat as well in Vindication of the Memory of that true Englishman and Noble Gentleman Sir Walter Rawleigh who was Condemned for this Conspiracy and Beheaded many years after when he had been General by the King's Commission and had by that Power over the Lives of many others contrary to the Civil Law which says He that hath Power over the Lives of others ought to be Master of his own as to shew the perversion of Justice in that Reign and the poorness of the King's Spirit to be gull'd at that rate by his Ministers in this as well as other Particulars Sir Walter was Tryed at Winchester and made a brave Defence All the material Evidence brought against him was the Lord Cobham's Accusation which he only desired might appear viva voce and he would yield without any further Defence but that would not be granted for they knew full well Cobham would not or could not accuse him you must know Wade then Lieutenant of the Tower and a great Creature of the Earl of Salisbury's had tampered with Cobham about the aforesaid Accusation of Rawleigh knowing Cobham's weakness but that would not do and therefore he circumvented him one day by getting of him to set his Name in a blank piece of Paper and so filled up the Accusation himself Salisbury Rawleigh's great Enemy being thus armed against him urgâ—d Sir Walter several times to yield upon the producing of his Accusation under Cobham's own Hand Sir Walter answered he knew Cobham's weak Judgment and did not know how far he might be imposed upon but was confident he would not accuse him to his Face and therefore would not put his Life upon that hazard and thus the Trial held till nine at night at last his Fate carried him against his Reason and he yielded upon the producing his Hand which was immediately done and it was in truth his Hand but none of his Act. It happened some years after this that Queen Anne fell into a desperate and 't was believed incureable fit of Sickness and â—hen the Skill of all her Physicions had failed Sir Walter by his long Studies having arrived to an admirable Perfection in Chymistry was sent to who undertook and performed the Cure for which he would receive no other Reward but that her Majesty would procure certain Lords to be sent to Cobham to examine him Whether he had accused Sir Walter Rawleigh of Treason at any time under his Hand The King at the Queen's Request as in Justice he could do no less sent six Lords viz. the Duke of Lennox the Earls of
Parliaments stiffness to supply their Court Extravagancies in time of Peace and rejection of the King 's much desired proposal to unite both Nations by a Naturalization of the Scots without they would come under the English Laws and Government was some allay to his Delights At last an accident broke out which wrought in him no small disquiet as you have already heard while King James was only King of Scotland that he was entirely at his Favourites Devotion which as has been related had many Tragical Effects you must know he was become no changling now he was King of England and among others one Robert Carr a young Man of no fortune in the World and who it seems had been formerly one of his Pages in Scotland coming to Court in a good Garb and being a comely Person was taken notice of by the King and in a short time was Knighted by him made Gentleman of his Bed-Chamber Viscount Rochester and at length Earl of Sommerset and over-topped all the rest of his Favourites abundantly even to Cope with the Prince himself who disdaining to be thus bearded by an upstart of yesterday would not afford him a good look nor speak to him and some said that some love Jealousies the Prince being now in his Puberty encreased the Emulation between Carr and him The Countess of Essex then a top Gallant Lady in the Bloom of her years and disdaining the Company of the Noble Earl her Husband being the Bane of Contention between them but be this as it will the Countess was enamoured on the Favourite and cast her Love-Anchor there but I should think the Prince above all these Thoughts by the following passage for being on a time Dancing among the Ladies and the Countesses Glove falling down it was taken up and presented to him by one that thought he did him acceptable Service but the Prince refused to receive it saying publickly He would not have it it was streatched by another meaning Carr then Viscount Rochester But things could not continue long in this State for as the Court were full of Rejoycings upon the Palsgrave's arrival in England to Marry the Lady Elizabeth there was a damp struck upon the Hearts of all true Englishmen upon the suddain immature and I doubt violent death of the Noble Prince Henry in the flower of his years Sir A. W. says his death had been foretold by one Bruce a famous Scotch Astrologer for the which the Earl of Salisbury caused him to be banished who left this farewell with the Earl That it should be too true but that his Lordship should not live to see it The Earl dying in Day and the Prince in November following to the infinite grief of all but Sommerset and the Family of the Howards who by his death thought themselves secured from all future dangers for he being an open Prince and hating all baseness would often say He would not leave one of that Family to piss against a Wall I do not know why Sir Anthony might not have put the King himself into the foresaid number I am sure he shewed but small symptoms of Sorrow at his death which happened as was said but then in November by his commanding no Man should appear at Court in Mourning in the Christmass Holidays following the Jollity Feasting and Magnificence whereof must not be laid aside upon any account whatsoever it is certain that the Princes Court was frequented more than the King 's and by another sort of Men so that the King upon seeing of him once at a distance in the Park with a far more numerous Train than himself was heard to say What will he bury me alive jealousie is like a fire that burns all before it and that fire is hot enough to dissolve all Bonds that tend to the diminution of a Crown Don Carlos Prince of Spain and Henry's Contemporary not long before this for wishing himself but one day in his Father's Throne fell soon after into the hard hand of an immature fate However it were the manner of the Prince's death was variously rumour'd some saying he was poison'd with a bunch of Grapes others with the venemous scent of a pair of Gloves presented to him and some again that a French Physician gave him poison and it was observed that poison was never more in fashion than at this time but surely there was something black enough in it for when Sir Thomas Mouson a long time after who was one of the Countess of Essex's Agents in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury had past one days Trial at Guildhall the Lord Chief Justice Coke vented some expressions as if he could discover more than the death of a private Person saying God knows what is become of that sweet Babe Prince Henry but I know somewhat and blessing himself at the horror of such villanies as came to his knowledge and 't was believed that in searching the Cabinets he had lighted on some Papers that spake plain in that which was ever whispered and what strongly increased the suspicion was that Monson's Trial was laid aside he quickly set at liberty and the Chief Justices wings clipt for ever after And no less jealousie did something relating to the Earl of Somerset's Trial for the said Murder of Overbury create in Men's Minds about this matter for when the Lieutenant of the Tower according to Custom gave Somerset notice of his Trial next day he absolutely refused it saying They should carry him in his Bed that the King had assured him he should not come to any Trial neither durst the King bring him to any this was an high strain and a Language not understood by Sir George Moor the Lieutenant and tho' otherwise esteemed a wise Man it reduced him to his Wits end After some pauses he at last resolves to go to the King then at Greenwich as late as it was being Twelve a Clock at night he bounced at the Back Stairs as if he had been mad to whom Jo. Leveston one of the Grooms came out of his Bed and enquired the reason of that unreasonable distemper Moor tells him he must speak with the King immediately Loveston answered He was quieted meaning in his Scottish Dialect He was fast asleep but Moor said he must awake him and so was called in and left alone with the King in his Bed-chamber where he tells him those passages that happened between Sommerset and himself and desired to be directed by the King what he should do for he was gone beyond his Reason to hear such bold and undutiful Expressions from a faulty Subject against a Just Sovereign Hereupon the King falls into a fit of Tears and said On my Soul Moor I wot not what to do thou art a Wise Man help me in this great streight and thou shalt find thou dost it for a faithful Master with other sad Expressions to the same purpose Moor leaves the King in that Agony but first assured him he would strain his Wits
to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword because he could by no means be induced he was brought thither to undergo a Martyrdom for his People Then he prayed and being minded by the Bishop to satisfie the Spectators as to his Religion he said that he had deposited the Testimony of his Faith with that holy Man meaning the Bishop That his Life and Profession had been well known and that now he died in the Christian Faith according to the Profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father of Blessed Memory And then turning about to the Officers and professing the hopes he had of his Salvation he began to prepare for the Circumstances of Death The Bishop put on his Night-cap and uncloathed him to his Sky-coloured Sattin Wastcoat he delivered his George to the Bishop's hands and charged him to remember to give the same to the Prince and having prayed again he stooped down to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day aforesaid in the year 1648. dying the same death as to kind as his Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots had done sixty two years and eight days before at Fothringham Castle in Northamptonshire and I think was no whit inferior to her in the misfortunes of his Life And to note a few his three Favourites to wit Buckingham Laud and Strafford undergoing a violent death and the two latter falling by the Axe as forerunners of his own destiny And as to his own Personal errors when Bristol was cowardly surrendred by Fines had he then marched to London as he might have done very well all had been his own but loytering to no purpose at Gloucester he was soon after well banged by the Earl of Essex When he had worsted Essex in Cornwall he neglected the like opportunity of getting to London Guilty he was of the same oversight in not commanding the Duke of Newcastle to march Southwards toward the Metropolis of England before the Scots entred the English Borders and in not doing the like himself after he had taken Leicester for there was nothing then that could have hindred him to become Master of the City The same ill success he had as to his Treaties about being restored And in short he was generally unfortunate in the World in the esteem not only of his Enemies but in some sort of his Friends too for as the later were n'er pleased with his breach of Faith so the former would say he could never be fast enough bound and the Blood that some years before dropt upon his Statue at Greenwich and the falling off of the Silver Head of his Cane at his Trial were interpreted as dismal presages of his disastrous fate His Head and Trunk after the Execution were immediately put into a Coffin and conveyed to the Lodgings in Whitehall and there Embowelled and from thence conveyed to St. James House and Coffined in Lead About some fortnight after the Duke of Lennox Marquess of Hartford Earl of Southampton and Bishop of London got leave to bury the Body which they conducted to the Chappel at Windsor and Interred it there in the Vault of Henry the Eight with this Inscription only upon his Coffin Charles King of England And herein he was more unhappy than his Grandmother Mary for whereas her Corpse were some years after her death taken up by her Son King James and Reposited with all the Funeral Pomp that could be in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh her Great Grand Father This King's Remains notwithstanding the Commons had Voted in 1669 the Sum of 50000 l. for the Charge of taking it up a Solemn Funeral had of it and a Monument for it yet lay neglected as if it had been blasted by fate King Charles the Second his Son they said forbidding of it A Physician that made inspection into the dissection of the Body related that nature had designed him above the most of mortal men for a long life but Providence ordered it otherwise for he was cut off in the Forty ninth year of his Age being his Climacterical and twenty fourth of his Reign leaving six Children behind him three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two Elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter Charles his Eldest Son who was then at the Hague when he heard of his Father's disastrous fate assumed the Title of King of England c. tho an Exile and without any Kingdom to command He was born at St. James's May 30. 1630. it was said a Star appeared over the place where he had been born in broad day which in those times was interpreted to prognosticate his happiness but the Ecclipse of the Sun which happened presently after was no less a presage of his future Calamities There was little remarkable in him or concerning him till the year 1639 when the unhappy disaster of breaking his Arm befell him and that not long after he was afflicted with a violent Feaver accompanied with a little of the Jaundice but having at length recovered his perfect health and the fatal differences begun long before but now daily increasing between the King his Father and the People he accompanied him into the North of England where he was a Spectator of that dismall Cloud which tho small at its first gathering yet was pregnant with that dreadful storm which in a short time spread it self over him his Father and three Nations For going to take possession of Hull as they thought they were by Sir John Hotham denied Entrance and forced to wait several hours at the Gate all in vain From this time forward the War increasing between the King and Parliament he was first spectator of that successless Battle to his Father's Arms at Edgehill staid some time after at Oxford From thence returning to the Field and the King's forces in the West under the command of the Lord Hopton of which the Prince was nominally General being routed by General Fairfax he was necessitated to retire to the Isle of Scilly and from thence betook himself into France To whom his Father now depriv'd of Command himself sent a Commission of Generalissimo of those few Royalists that survived the late unhappy overthrows and this brought him to the Isle of Guernsey where he possest himself of some Vessels that lay there and having joyned them to those he had brought with him out of France he sailed from thence into the Downs where he seized several rich Merchant-Ships and expected some Land-forces from Holland raised by the Prince of Orange for his Service But alas he was as unfortunate now in his Warlike attempts as his Father had been before and was still in his Treaties of Peace for Poyer and Langhorn who made a
his Army in Torbay he presently Published his Declaration setting forth the Cause of his coming Upon which some of the Nobility and Gentry joyned him and others made Preparations in the remoter parts to declare for him King James upon the News of the Princes Landing ordered his Army to march Westward with a resolution to follow in Person But before he went he thought it requisite to provide for the safety of his darling Prince of Wales whom the Prince of Orange in his Manifesto spread about the Kingdom some days before declared upon just and visible grounds that both himself and all the Good People of England did vehemently suspect not to be born of the Queen's Body Wherefore several Persons were summoned who were present at the pretended birth to declare the truth upon Oath and to have the same registred in Chancery but the King not daring to trust to the validity of these Affadavits which the Nation had all the reason in the world to suspect he ordered the Yonker to be sent away with a strong Guard to Portsmouth that if things went ill he should be convey'd over into France In the mean time the Prince of Orange prospered in his Army and advanced as far as Exeter and was joyned among multitudes of others that flocked in to him daily out of the adjacent Countries by the Lord Cornbury with Three Regiments along with him which he carried off from the King's Army About this time the Prince received also intelligence that the Lord Delamere had declared for him in Cheshire King James being informed of all these things was horribly dismayed and uncertain whether he should go to the Army or no However at length he took up a resolution of going to Salisbury where he began to bleed violently at the Nose which together with the many ill adventures that befell him there as his being forsaken by his own Daughter the Princess Anne Prince George the Duke of Grafton the Lord Churchill and many others who went over to the Prince then at Sherborn all of them dangerous limbs to be lost by him he returned Novemb. 26. in the Evening to London where for an accumulation of the rest of his Misfortunes he received an Address from the Fleet for a Free Parliament So that thinking London nay all England now too hot to hold him he first sent his Queen and pretended Son into France and quickly after followed himself In order thereunto he put himself Aboard a small Smach Commanded by one Captain Saunders but was forced for shelter to put into Eastwall the Eastern part of the Isle of Sheppy in order to the taking in of Ballast where the Inhabitants of Feversham being abroad to pick up Jesuits and other suspected persons met this Vessel and having seized it found this wretched Prince attended only by Sir Edward Hales and Mr. Labady therein who not being at first known were all of them but coarsly handled by the Mobilâ—ty more particularly the King himself who was rifled of what Gold and Jewels he had about him and had his Clothes rent and torn in the searching of him When the Lords at London had notice of his being at Feversham they sent some Persons to attend him to move him to return but they had in the mean time made their application to the Prince of Orange for to assist them for the Security of the Protestant Religion and sent some of their number with Four Aldermen and Eight Commoners to attend him at Henley The King who was detained at Feversham till the aforesaid Orders came from London did December 15. remove to Rochester and from thence next day being Sunday returned to Whitehall attended once more like a King of England with a Troop of Granadiers and three Troops of the Life-guard But it was only Pageant greatness for a set of Boys only followed him through the City and made some Huzza's but the rest of the People silently looked on And here he found the Popish Religious houses laid as flat to the ground as his own heart was now sunk deep in his body Upon his Arrival at London and finding there no ease he desired the Prince that he might return to Rochester again which being granted readily he took his final farewell of the City and went to the foresaid place where he staid till the 23. of December when about One or Two in the Morning he privately withdrew taking only Mr. Shâ—â—don and Delabady along with him with whom he went to Dover and there Embarkt in a Vessel that lay ready for his Transportation to France So he went out like a snuff in England but still retained some glimmering light in Scotland and Ireland in the last of which he arrived in Person the March following But his light in Scotland did not long burn for the Convention there as well as in England rejected him as the Violator of all their Rights and Dundee falling by the Sword the July following 1689 together with the Surrender of Edenburg Castle and other misfortunes quite extinguished his hopes there But in Ireland he had a name to live as King till about a year after when his Army being totally routed at the Boyn by our brave King William he made as much haste to get over into France as if he had been to go to take possession of a Crown instead of running away from one Various Struggles he made still to recover a Regal Life but he prosecuted his ends by such Villanous Methods and Instruments and more especially by setting his Vile Assassins on Work to Murder the best of Kings and bravest of Men our Lawful and Rightful Sovereign King William III. as are not to be mention'd but with utmost Horror But through the goodness of Heaven they have met with as little success as the Practices have been foul and Clandestine and so we leave him to him that made him and withall wish him a far greater proportion of rest and happy Tranquillity in the future World then he hath found of unrest and disquietude here and a much speedier translation into that state then the hast himself hath made to precipitate his own Abdicated fate The Abdicated Throne was filled up by the Advancement of a Prince and Princess to it that England was n'er blest with the like before one in Religion and one in Interest and Affection with the Nation our King Hero-like Fighting our Battels abroad and pray think it not a small thing for England has not enjoy'd such a Blessing these Hundred and fifty years and it has scarce ever been well with us when our Kings did not go in and out before our People and our Queen as wisely and gently Swaying the Scepter at Home to the Gladning of all our Hearts and in all Her excellent Comportment choosing to Rule in the Love and Affections rather than the Fears of Her People Here we promis'd our selves a lasting Tranquility and many happy days to come under the benign influence of her Reign but Alass alass our hopes quickly vanished our Joys faded our Hearts failed us for fear and sable clouds of Despair overshaddowed our whole Isle by Her unexpected by Her early I say by Her early tho' natural Transition from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Diadem Her gain it was but our loss She tho' young yet ripe for ineffable Joys above And we tho' long inur'd to Tryal unripe for to sustain the loss of Her here below And surely no Prince ever departed this Transitory Life that was so unfeignedly lamented by his Subjects as this incomparable Queen as was apparent by our universal mournful weeds without a demonstration of the blackning sadness of our hearts within The last she was and incomparably the best of the Stuarts that wore a Crown and the Second of that number that went to Her Grave in Peace as Robert II. who was the first of the Stuarts that ever was King was the only other of the Kingly Race that did so I know Mr. Coke says in his Character of King Charles II. That none of His Name hereafter was ever like to have a Stone to cover his Grave as King of England but that I will not say as not pretending to know what is laid up in the Womb of Futurity But if you please after all this Mournful Entertainment I 'll tell you a Story The Lyon on a time called to the Sheep and asked her If his Breath smelt she innocently said Ay which made him bite off her head for a Fool then he called to the Wolf and asked him who reply'd No and his head he bit off for a Flatterer last of all he put the same Question to the Fox but the Fox truly for his part desired to be excused for he had a Cold upon him and could not Smell FINIS Robert Stuart by the Name of Robert II. tho' the first of the Stuarts was crowned King of Scotland Mar. 25. Anno Dom. 1370 Robert III. Alias John Stuart began his Reign An. Dom. 1390. James Stuart I. began his Reign actually Anno 1423. having been a Prisoner in England almost eighteen Years James Stuart II began his Reign March 27. 1437. James Stuart III. began his Reign Anno 1460. James Stuart IV. began his Reign An. 1488. James Stuart V. began his Reign Feb. 14th 1513. James Stuart I. began his Reign over Great-Britain Mar. 24. 1602. †Charles Stuart I. began His Reign over Great Britain March 27 th 1625. Charles Stuart II. assumed the Title of King upon his Father's Death Jan. 30. 1648. Charles Stuart II. Restored to his Dominions An. 166â— James Stuart II. came to the Crown February 6. 1684 5. William of Nassaw III. and Mary Stuart II. began their Reigns Febr. 13. 1688 9.
day Not that I am able to Name either Person or Place or positive design to your Lordship but sure I am there is a Snake in the Grass and perhaps it will be found some of those from whom was expected most Service and Fidellity will be found to act a counterpart However it be I can assure you that Barillon late Embassador in England from this Crown though he has been forced to quit the Brittish Isle ignominiously enough yet he hath found out a way to leave two if not three Frenchmen of his Train behind to no good end to be sure and I do not question but you will hear more of them without they be secured in time And though it does plainly appear both by the countenance and minutes of this Court that things do not go so trim and glibly with them in England as in former times when they had no more to do than to consult those infallible Oracles the Dutches of Portsmouth and Goodman Peters yet I do not question but it will appear that their Oracles are not quite silenced there I beg your Lordship to pardon this freedom and to entertain a favourable opinion of the sincere intentions of My Lord Your Honours to Serue and Obey Paris June 25. 1689. N. S. LETTER VII A Summary of the Articles concluded on the French King's part for restoring of the Late King James to his lost Dominions My Lord I Can't forbear taking notice to your Lordship tho' I have done it once and again already of the great difficulties I labour under to procure any true and certain intelligence of matters transacted on our side in reference to the Affairs of England And I can as little forbear endeavouring to communicate whatever such intelligence comes into my Hands to your Honour though it be accompanied with such imminent danger as you cannot but be a little sensible off and which I heartily wish none of my Friends may ever have the black apprehensions of how much more your Lordship whom I ever have and shall Love and Honour Wherefore be pleased to receive hereby the heads of those Articles agreed and concluded on the French King's part for the furthering the late King James in the recovery of his abdicated Throne and they are these following First He doth Solemnly promise and engage to assist and promote the late King his dear Brother in his Pretensions with Men Money and all possible force both by Sea and Land and firmly resolves never to lay down his Arms or be at Peace with his Enemies till such time as his said Brother shall be remounted on the English Throne and be peaceable possessor of the same Secondly That till such time as the foresaid Article should be put in full Execution and thoroughly accomplished he hath obliged himself to support him the late King and all his other dependants in his Kingdom of France or elsewhere with all suitable grandeur and dignity Thirdly That he should with utmost expedition and application assist him with a competent number of Forces by Land and a sufficient Navy by Sea towards the reducing under his Obedience the hostile part of the Kingdom of Ireland and not desist till the same were entirely recovered unto him And after that it were so reduced and subjected by their conjoint Arms the late King should be in possession of it till such time as he shall be in full possession of the English Throne but no longer But how to unravel the later Clause of this Article at present is beyond my skill and so I will leave it Fourthly He hath also over and above the preceding Engagements promised to give him all the assistances necessary from time to time both by Sea and Land for the recovery of England and Scotland unto him when he shall arrive in one or either of the said Kingdoms in Person and in the mean time hath engaged to be aiding and assisting to his party in either of the two Nations as time and occasion should serve My Lord I do question but you would be highly satisfyed to have a view of the Stipulations on the late King's part to his Gallick Majesty and I hope your Lordship has Entertained such an Opinion of me as to think my satisfaction can be no less in being able to gratify your Honours Curiosity upon this head which I shall not fail to endeavour to do and heartily wish an accomplishment of in my next who am My Lord With all due Observance Your Honours most Obedient and Devoted Ser. St. Germ. July 31. 1689. N. S. LETTER VIII Articles stipulated on King James's his part for the giving up Ireland c. to the French upon his recovery of England and Scotland My Lord THat your Lordship has safely received my last I have had some intimations of by my friend from I earnestly wish for the like success to this and your speedy receipt of it seeing it hath so luckily fallen out with me that the purport of it contains what I cannot but flatter my self will redound much to your Honours satisfaction I mean the Articles stipulated on the late King's part to the French King of which I gave an hint in my last though I could not then as much as hope with any tollerable confidence of being so soon able to procure them First then The late King hath agreed in consideration of the French King's assistances as mentioned in my last and as soon as he shall be restored and fully resetled in his Dominions and not before that he may not give any umbrage to the English to quit all manner of claim to the Title or Arms of France and take effectual care to put the same out of the Royal English Escutcheon Secondly That he shall entirely quit and resign up the soveraignty of the narrow Seas to the French and that to that purpose he shall give orders to his Ships of War c. to strike to the French Flags Thirdly That he shall be obliged to assist him the French King with thirty Capital Ships of War and Twenty Thousand Land-men in any War when he shall have occasion for them and this at his own proper cost and charges Fourthly That he shall make or enter into no allyance against France nor to any other without the French King's Privity and Consent but unfeignedly observe a perpetual League both Offensive and Defensive with the Crown of France Fifthly That he shall permit unto the French King at all times and occasions the free use of all his Ports for the retreat of his Ships and be obliged to furnish him then and there with proper Conveniences and able Workmen to repair his endamaged Ships or to build new ones when soever he shall require it Sixthly That he shall admit into his standing forces whose number and strength shall from time to time be limitted and regulated by him in concert with the French King a constant Body of Twenty Thousand French and Ten Thousand Catholick Switzers or more or
prudence in providing for their own security and of being tender of shedding Christian Blood which could not be avoided if any faction should arise to Challenge the Kingdom but what such party can there be or where should they have Force But to let these considerations pass suppose I were inclinable to assent to their demands do you think I would do it rather at the Request of the Nobles than of the Queen her self But there are many other things that avert me from such a Transaction First I am not ignorant how dangerous a thing it is to venture upon the dispute the disceptation concerning the right of the Kingdom I always mightily avoided for the controversy has been already so much canvassed in the months of many concerning a Just and Lawfull Marriage and what Children were Bastards and what Legitimate according as every one is addicted to this or that that party that by reason of these disputes I have been hitherto more backward in Marrying Once when I took the Crown publickly upon me I Married my self to the Kingdom and I wear the Ring I then put on my Finger as a Badge thereof however my Resolution stands I will be Queen of England as long as I live and when I am dead let that Person Succeed in my place which hath most right to it and if that chance to be your Queen I will put no obstacle to it But if another hath a better Title 't were an unjust Request to me to make a publick edict to his prejudice If there be any Law against your Queen 't is unknown to me and I have no great delight to sift into it but if there should be any such Law I was sworn at my Coronation that I would not change my Subjects Laws As for the Second Allegation that the Declaration of my Successor will knit a stricter bond of Amity betwixt us I am afraid rather it will be a seminary of hatred and discontent What do you think I am willing to have some of my Grave Cloaths always before my Eyes Kings have this peculiarity that they have some kind of sentiments against their own Children who are born Lawfull Heirs to Succeed them Thus Charles VII of France somewhat disgusted Lewis XI and Lewis XII Charles VIII and of late Francis ill resented Henry and how it is likely I should stand affected towards my Kinswoman If she be once Declared my Heir just as Charles VII was towards Lewiss XI besides and that which weighs most with me I know the inconstancy of this people I know how they loath the present State of things I know how intent their Eyes are upon a Successor 'T is natural for all men as the Proverb is To worship rather the rising than setting Sun I have learned that from my own times to omit other Examples when my Sister Mary was sat at the Helm how eager did some Men desire to see me placed on the Throne How sollicitous were they in advancing me thereto I am not ignorant what danger they would have undergone to bring their design to an issue if my Will had concurred with their Designs Now perhaps the same Men are otherwise minded just like Children when they dream of Apples in their sleep they are very Joyfull but waking in the morning and finding themselves frustrate of their hopes their mirth is turned into mourning Thus I am dealt with by those who whilst I was yet a private Woman wished me so well If I looked upon any of them a little more pleasant than ordinary they thought presently with themselves that as soon as ever I came to the Throne they should be rewarded rather at the rate of their own desires than of the Service they performed for me But now seeing the event hath not answered expectation some of them do gape after a new change of things in hopes of a better Fortune for the wealth of a Prince tho never so great cannot satisfy the unsatiable desires of all Men But if the good will of my Subjects do flag towards me or if their minds are changed because I am not profuse enough in my Largesses or for some other cause what will be the event when the malevolent shall have a Successor named to whom they may make their grievances known and in their anger and pet betake themselves What danger shall I then be in when so powerfull a Neighbour Prince is my Successor the more strength I add to her in assertaining her Succession the more I detract from my own security This danger cannot be avoided by any precautions or by any bands of Law yet those Princes who have hope of a Kingdom offer'd them will hardly contain themselves within the bounds either of Law or Equity for my part if my Successor were publickly declared to the World I should think my affairs to be far from being settled and secured A few days after the Ambassador asked the Queen Whether she would return any Answer to the Letter of the Scottish Nobility I have nothing said she at present to answer only I commend their Diligence and Love to their Prince but the matter is of such great weight that I cannot so soon give a plain and express answer thereunto but when the Queen shall have done her Duty in Confirming the League she obliged her self to Ratifie then 't will be seasonable to try my Affection towards her in the mean time I cannot gratifie her in her Request without Diminution to my own Dignity The Ambassador reply'd He had no Command about that Affair nor ever had any Discourse with his Mistress concerning the same neither did he then propound the Queen's Judgment concerning the Right of Succession but his own and had brought Reasons to enforce it but as as for the Confirmation of the League by her Husband 't was inforced from the Queen of Scots without the Consent of those to whom the Ratifying or Disannulling thereof did much concern neither was the thing of such consequence as therefore to exclude her and her Posterity from the Inheritance of England I do not enquire said he by whom how when by what Authority and for what Reason that League was made seeing I had no command to speak about any such matter but this I dare affirm that though it were confirmed by her in Compliance with her Husbands Desire yet so great a stress depending on it his Queen in time would find out some reason or other why it should and ought to be dissolved I speak not this said he in the name of the Queen but my intent is to shew that our Nobility have cause for what they do that so all Controversies being plucked up by the Roots a firm and sure Peace may be established amongst us As this aggravated the Spirits of Queen Elizabeth so it was no doubt a great Mortification to Queen Mary but truckle she must and so she confirmed the League resigning any Pretensions to wear the Arms of England and Ireland
Heart to dishonour the King's Mother or how could you answer afterward for what you were doing seeing it tended to hazard the King her Sons Right to England intending to bring his Mothers Honesty in question it had been rather the Duty of you her Subjects to cover her Imperfections if she had any remitting to God and Time to punish and put order thereto who is the only Judge over Princes Lidingtown shewing his Innocence and Desire to have the accusation supprest the Duke asked if the Regent could keep secret and being thereof assured by Lidingtown he took occasion next day to enter into a Conference with the Regent and after some preliminary Discourse spoke to him to this effect That he would be very faithful to the Queen his Mistress as long as she lived but that she was too careless what might come after her about the Peace and Welfare of her Country tho' it was the Interest of the Kingdom of England to take greater notice thereof by determining the Succession to prevent Troubles that otherwise might ensue that tho' they had divers times essay'd to do something therein at every Parliament yet their Queen had evidenced great discontent thereat shewing thereby that she cared not what Blood was shed after her for the Right and Title of the English Crown which consisted only in the Person of the Queen and King of Scotland her Son which had been put out of doubt ere now if matters had not fallen out so unhappily at home and yet he and other Noblemen of England as Fathers of their Country were minded to be careful thereof watching their opportunity but that they wondred what could move him to come there and accuse their Queen for albeit she had done or suffered harm to be done to the King her Husband yet there was respect to be had to the Prince her Son upon whom he and many in England had fixed their Eyes as Mr. Mâ—lvill who had been late Ambassador there could testifie he therefore wished that the Queen should not be accused nor dishonoured for that to her Sons sake and for respect to the right both had to succeed to the Crown of of England and further the Duke said I am sent to bear your Accusation but neither will I nor the Queen my Mistress give out any Sentence upon the Accusation and that you may understand the verity of this point more clearly you shall do well the next time that I require you before the Council to give in your Accusation in Writing to demand again my Mistress's Seal and Hand Writing before you shew your Folly that in case you accuse she shall immediately Convict and give out her Sentence according to the proof of the matter otherwise that you will not open the Pack which if her Majesty shall refuse to grant unto you which doubtless she will do then assure your self that my Information is true and take occasion hereupon to stay from further Accusation This Discourse catched the Regent and he promised to comply therewith in every part and so at the next meeting with the Council demanded the foresaid security from the Queen before he would give in his Accusation hereupon they sent Post to Court to know what to do and the Queen's answer was That being a true Princess her Word and Promise would be abundantly sufficient Cecill and Wood the Regents Secretary were amazed at this manner of procedure and therefore it was advised to desire the Lords on both sides to come from York to Court where the Queen was able to give more ready answers and resolves In the mean time the Duke Regent and Lidingtown put their Heads together and agreed That the Regent should by no means consent to accuse the Queen and that the Duke should obtain to him the Queen's Favour with a Confirmation of the Regency and so would go on as sworn Brethren the one to Rule Scotland and the other England c. When the Regent was arrived at Hampton-Court where the Queen then resided he was daily prest to give in his Accusation especially by those about him who thought it strange that he should be so slow until at length they were advertised by one of the Lords of the Queen's â—action of all that had past between the Regent and Duke of Norfolk for the Duke had secretly given the Queen of Scots notice of what he had done she to one of her Confidents who advertised the Earl of Morton of the whole Morton took it very ill that the Regent should engage in any such thing without his knowledge but before either he or his Friends would take upon them to know any thing of the matter they consult together and resolve to get Mr. John Wood to acquaint Cecil with the whole desiring him to press forwards the Accusation wherein of himself he was abundantly eager They left nothing and one for their part to effectuate the same putting the Regent in hopes one while that the Queen would give her Hand and Seal that she would Convict the Queen of Scots if he accused her others of the firmest of them persuaded him that she would ne'er give it under Hand and Seal designing thereby to distract him to see what he would do in case he obtain'd his Desire Mr. Wood said it was fit to carry in all the Writs to the Council and he would keep the Accusation in his Bosom and would not deliver it till the thing demanded of the Queen was first granted The rest of the Regents Lords and Councellors had concluded among themselves that as soon as the Duke of Norfolk as chief of the Council should require the Accusation they would all with one Voice persuade the Regent to give it in Lidingtown and Sir James Melvill prest the Regent to remember his Engagements to the Duke who replied he would do well enough and that it would not come to that length and being accordingly brought before the Council the Duke demanded the Accusation the Regent required assurance from the Queen for the Prosecution in case he gave it in 〈◊〉 to this it was answered as before that the Queen was a true Princess and that her Word was sufficient and all the Council cryed Would he distrust the Queen who had given such proof of her Friendship to Scotland The Regents Council chimed in with them and said the same thing whereupon Cecill â—ed If they had the Accusation there yes says Mr. Wood and with that pluckt it out of his Bosom but I will not deliver it says he till her Majesty's Hand and Seal be delivered to the Regent for what he demands he had no sooner said the Words but the Bishop of Orkney snatch'd the Paper out of his hand saying Let me have it I 'll present it Wood ran after him as if he would have taken him but up gets the Bishop to the Council Board and gives in the Accusation which made the Lord Chamberlain of England cry out Well done Bishop thou art
the frankest Fellow among them all none of them will make thy leap good meaning his former leaping out of the Lord Grang's Ship to save himself but Lidingtown seeing the Regents unconstancy rounds him in the Ear that he had disgraced himself and put his Life in danger by the loss of so good a Friend as the Duke of Norfolk and that he had lost his Reputation for ever The Regent soon repents his Folly and desires to have the Accusation again alledging he had some more to add thereto but was answered That they would keep what they had and were ready to receive any addition he should please to give in The Duke of Norfolk had much ado to keep his Countenance Wood tip'd the wink upon Cecil who smiled upon him again the Regents company were Laughing only Lidingtown had a sorrowful Heart and the Regent himself left the Council with Tears in his Eyes and retired to his Lodgings at Kingstown and continued there for a long time in great displeasure and fear without Money to spend or hopes to get any from the Queen In the mean time the Agreement between the Duke and Regent was told the Queen for Morton caused one John Willock to declare what had past between them to the Earl of Huntingdon who caused the Lord Leicester to acquaint the Queen therewith The Duke finding how all things stood thought to out-brave it and stuck not to tell the Queen her self While he lived he would ne'er Offend her but Serve and Honour her and after her the Queen of Scots as in his Opinion truest Heir and the only means for saving of Civil Wars and much Bloodshed that might fall out which Words were as a Dagger to the Queen's Heart though for the time she dissembled her Displeasure but to further this great Man's Fall though Sir Nicholas Throgmorton seemed to mean honestly he got the Duke and Regent reconciled again and then the Duke declared to him that he was resolved to marry the Queen of Scots his Mistress and that he would never permit her to come into Scotland nor yet that she should ever Rebel against the Queen of England during her time and also that he had a Daughter who would be a fitter Match for King James than any other for many Reasons and so procured the Sum of Two Thousand Pounds from the Queen for the Regent for which himself became security and was forced afterward to pay the same When the Regent had got the Money he was easily induced by some about him to acquaint the Queen with all that had past between the Duke and himself and withall engaged to transmit back unto her all the Letters which the Duke should write to him when he came into Scotland which was done accordingly The Duke was then the greatest Subject in Europe he Ruled the Queen and all those that were familiar with her and was Courted by all Factions both Protestants and Papists both paying him a very great Deference and at that time commanded all the North of England and it was in his Power to have set the Queen of Scots at liberty if he had pleased but when the Queen had had his Letters from Scotland she sent for the Duke to come to Court whereupon he first posted in haste to Secretary Cecil on whose Advice and Friendship he much relied who told him there was no danger he might come and go at his Pleasure no man would or durst offend him and so the Duke only with his own Train came to Court Cecil in the mean time informed the Queen that the necessity of the time obliged her not to omit this occasion but to take the matter stoutly upon her self and forthwith command her Guards to lay hands upon the Duke or else no other durst do it which if she did not at this time she would endanger the safety of her Crown The Queen embraced the Advice and so orders the Duke to be secured when he thought all England was at his Devotion who after a long Imprisonment was Executed ending his Life as Sir James Melvill says devoutly in the Reformed Religion From Carlisle this forlorne Queen was removed to Bolton under the custody of Sir Francis Knowles and from thence to Tutbury under the Care of the Earl of Shrewsbury and in whose custody she remained for the space of Fifteen years but the many Attempts made for her Liberty and other more dangerous suspicions increasing against her caused her to be committed to the keeping of Sir Anias Pawlet and Sir Drue Druery where she sollicited with more greater importunity than ever the Bishop of Rome and the Spaniard by Sir Francis Inglefield to hasten what they had in hand with all speed against the Queen of England whatever became of her and at length holding correspondence with Babington and the rest of the Conspirators against Queen Elisabeth's Life which you may read in Cambden's Elizabeth at large this drew on the fatal Day whereon she was to be called to an account for what she had done and to this end it was agreed to have her Tryed upon the late Statute made against such as should attempt any violence against the Queen's Person c. and 24 Lords and others of inferior Degree were Commissionated by the Queen's Patent for her Tryal who met Octob. 11. 1586. in Fothringham Castle in the County of Northampton where the Queen of Scots was then in custody and next day sent Sir Walter Mildmay and others to her with the Queen's Letter about her Crimes and Tryal which when she had read she complained of her ill usage excused her carriage and seemed to question the Commissioners Authority but they justify their Authority and advise her to appear to her Tryal but she excepted against the new Law and required to have her Protestation admitted which was denied at length she is brought on the 14 th Day to appear to whom Bromley the Chancellor made a Speech how Queen Elizabeth their Sovereign being informed of her Conspiracies against her Life she was now called upon to Answer for the same and to clear her self if she could and make her Innocency appear to the World here she would have urged her Protestation again of being no Subject of England but a Crowned Head but that being again rejected she submitted her self to a Trial and after a long Hearing and several proofs made of her being privy to the Design against the Queen's Life and of her intention to convey her Title and Claim to the Kingdom of England to the Spaniard c. The Court Adjourned till the 25 th of October to the Star-Chamber at Westminster at what time Wacee and Curle her Secretaries did viva voce voluntarily and without hope of Reward avow all and every the Letters and Copâ—es of Letters produced at the Trial to be True and Real upon which Sentence was pronounced against her and Ratified by the Seals and Subscriptions of the Commissioners in these words By their unanimous
Consent they do Pronounce and Declare this judicial Verdict and say that after the end of the said Parliament specified in the Commission viz. After the first of June in the Seven and twentieth year of the Queen divers Matters were compassed and imagined in England by Anthony Babington and others with the Privity of Mary Queen of Scots pretending Title to the Crown of England tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our Sovereign Lady the Queen and furthermore that after the said Day and Year and before the Date of our Commission the said Mary hath compassed and imagined in this Kingdom of England divers Matters tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our said Sovereign against the Form of the Statute specified in the said Commission Soon after a Parliament was called wherein the House of Peers by the Chancellor petitioned the Queen that the Sentence might be promulgated and withal besought Her Majesty for the Safety of Her Person and Kingdoms to execute Justice on the Queen of Scots the Queen in her Answer shewed a great reluctancy to cut her off but concluded with Her Thanks for their Care and Advice but in a case of so great consequence said She would not be rash but consider and some Twelve days after desir'd the Parliament to consult some other way of Safety and to spare the Queen of Scots but they persisted in their former Advice so that some time after the Sentence was proclaimed throughout London and all the Kingdom King James upon the news sends one Kieth to Queen Elisabeth to intercede on his Mothers behalf and after him came the Master of Gray and Sir Robert Melvill to whom She said She was sorry no way could be found out to Save their King's Mother and secure her own Life they offer Pledges of the Scots Nobility for Her Security and wondred what should move any Man to attempt any thing against Her Majesty for Queen Mary's sake because said Queen Elisabeth they think She shall succeed me and She a Papist they to salve this Proposed that the Right of Succession might be made over in King James's Person and this would cut off the hopes of the Papists and they were sure Queen Mary would readily resign all her Right to Her Son but Queen Elisabeth urged She had no Right being Declar'd uncapable of Succession tho' the Papists would not allow her Declaration and this brought them again to press the Resignation but the Earl of Liecester who stood by objected that Queen Mary being a prisoner she could not deny 't the Scots Answer That it being made to her Son with the Advice of all her Friends in Europe in case Queen Elisabeth should miscarry none will partake with the Mother against her Son c. Here the Queen misunderstanding the Ambassador's meaning was told that the King would be in his Mother's Place Say you so said she 'Sdeath that were to cut my own Throat he shall ne'r come to that place and be Party with me and added Well tell your King what I have done for him to keep the Crown on his Head since he was Born and for my part I shall keep the League betwixt us and if he break it it shall be a double Fault and in passion got away Melvill followed her praying respite of Execution not an Hour said she and so they parted Some time after she Signed a Warrant for a Mandate fitted for the Great Seal for her Execution and entrusted the same with Davidson one of her Secretaries to be in a readiness in case of danger but he too hastily got it to pass the Seal which some said she would afterwards have recalled but was prevented by the earnest prosecution of Beal Clerk of the Council who was sent by them to the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent Derby and Cumberland to take care of her Execution unknown to the Queen for it was said that she should tell Davidson at that instant that she was resolved of another way then by death the Earls arriving at Fotheringham Castle in Northamptonshire where she was detained gave her notice on Monday Feb. 6. 1586. to prepare for Death the Wednesday next following but one when the fatal day came she was cloathed in Black had an Agnus Dei about her Neck a pair of Beads at her Girdle with a Golden Cross at the end of them and so passed through the Hall and mounted the Scaffold raised Two Foot high and Twelve broad Railed about with a low Stool a Cushion and a Block all covered with Black being set down the Lords and the Sheriffs of the County stood on her Right Hand Sir Annias Paulet and Drewry on her Left the two Executioners one the Common Hangman of London and the other of the County standing before her and the Knights and Gentlemen placed round about without the Rail Silence being made the Clerk of the Council having read the Commission for her Execution the People shouted and cryed God Save our Queen then Dr. Fletcher Dean of Peterborough standing before her gave her several Godly Exhortations as preparatory for her Death but she little regarded him and at last interrupted him saying he needed not trouble himself that she was a Roman Catholick and so forth then the Earls offered to join in Prayer with her that she might be enlightned in the true Faith but that she refused to do saying she would use her own Devotions then they required the Dean to Pray who did it with an audible Voice the Queen all the while sitting on her Stool with a Latin Prayer Book in her Hand a Crucifix and a pair of Beads and not minding what he said when the Dean had done the Queen with her own People all in Tears Prayed aloud in Latin and concluded her self with an English Prayer professing to be Saved by Christ's Blood and thereupon kissed the Crucifix then her Women begun to undress her and one of the Executioners taking from her Neck the Agnus Dei tyed behind the Queen laid hold on it gave it to her Women saying he should have Money but she suffered them and her Women to take off her Chain and Apparrel in some haste always smiling and put off her strait Sleeves with her own Hands hindring the Fellow who rudely offer'd at it to do it and now being in her Petticoat and Kirtle prepared for Death she crossed and kissed her Women who were lamentably skreeking and crying and crossed also her Men-Servants who stood without the Rails and then kneeled upon her Cushion saying in Latin the whole Psalm In te Domine confido ne eoufundas in aeternum and groping for the Block laid down her Head putting her Chin over the Block with both her Hands and held them there which might have been cut off with her Head had they not been timely espyed being thus fixed while one of the Executioners gently held her down the other with two stroaks with the Axe
pleased over the King 's Natural Subjects but he must mock and deride with the ignorant multitude the Danish Ambassadors also and use them with all the despight imaginable for it seems they knowing his former meanness in Swedeland made no great Court to him which raised his Fury this was quickly perceived by some about the King whom the Earls Practices and Insolence had disobliged and who failed not to let the King know it and for all the Earls Ascendency made him somewhat to decline in Favour which another accident gave a helping hand to for Sir Francis Russell upon some disorders that fell out upon the Borders happening to be slain of the English side Mr. Woton the English Ambassador who stood in competition with the Earl for the King's Favour took occasion to lay the blame upon him alledging that the Laird of Fernihast who was Warden of the Scots Borders had Married the Earl of Arran's Brothers Daughter and that the said Earl had caused the slaughter to be committed that the Borders might break loose Wotton was seconded by others in this complaint so effectually that the Earl was committed prisoner to the Castle of St. Andrews where having remained for a few days he got by the intercession of the Master of Gray whom he won with fair promises to be his Friend It 's strange he should find any who had disobliged every Body leave to retire to his own House and here the King played a Noble prank but whether he used it as Lex talionis for the sham-Ring Arran had put upon Walsingham as aforesaid and which he durst not otherwise punish I am not certain but it looks like his little tricks which notwithstanding he dignified with the name of Kingcraft for when the Earl was upon his journey homeward he sends to him with all possible diligence for to lend him a great Gold Chain which he knew he had got from Sir James Belfour which weighed 57 Crowns to be given to the Danish Ambassadors which if the Earl had refused to do he would it's likely have lost the King and in delivering of it he lost his Chain Arran being thus retired makes several attempts to recover his former station and the King it was observed retained a Favour for him and would have been content to have Himself and Kingdom still Governed by him he was once again admitted to Court but others had stepped in and the King had not power to remove them so that the Earl after long retirement and discontent was surprized at last by James Douglass at Parkhead and slain by him in revenge of the death of the Earl of Morton his Unkle and but little care taken to punish the same many thinking it indeed strange that he should be permitted so long to live who had carried it so arrogantly and insolently towards all Men in the time of his Ascendency at Court but several other Accidents intervened before the Earls Exit The next Man that had the chief Credit and Management of Affairs was Mr. Wotton the English Ambassador but tho' the King begun now to be Governed by a Favourite and a Forreiner under this Character yet it did not end here as you shall hear by and by when the Scene is transplanted into England Wotton knew as well as any Man alive how to humour him in his pleasures and such familiar access had he at all times to his Person that he attempted to have brought in the banished Lords whose Interest he had espoused not without the direction to be sure of the English Court secretly into his presence in the Parish of Sterling at such a time as they should have so many Friends at Court that he must have remained once more at their Devotion but all things did not so concur as to put this Enterprize in practice so it was laid aside and Mr. Wotton essayed a Second but more desperate attempt which was to Kidnap Jemmy out of the foresaid Park into England see Sir James Melvill but Sir Robert Melvill coming to a timeous Knowledge hereof took measures to prevent it which made the English Ambassador withdraw home without bidding of them once a good night the Lords for all this enter the Borders being assisted by the Lords Hamilton Maxwel Hume and several others and advance to the number of Three thousand Men towards Sterling entring the Town without any opposition where they were no sooner arrived but there appear'd two Factions with the King in the Castle the one favouring the Lords whose part the King took as if he had really desired the Lords should have come thither in this manner to tear his Minions from his Heart and so once more the King is in their Power which they exercised with great moderation only a few were committed for the present to the custody of some Noblemen and so a Parliament was called as the best expedient to heal all their breaches Things continued in some sort of Concord for a little while and the Convicting and Beheading of the Queen his Mother in England seemed to possess all their Minds with amazement at the Fact for the present tho' I do not find he did at all resent it but this was no sooner over but there appears a new Faction at Court headed by the Earl of Huntley whose aim was at the removing of the Master of Gray and Maitland the Chancellor with their Adherents but finding it was not so easily to be effected Huntley Bothwell and others contrived to seize the King's Person and to keep him in their custody but this proving Abortive the noise of the Spanish Invasion which was dreaded in Scotland as well as in England seemed to lay all Animosâ—tâ—es aside for the present but this blowing over the King's Thoughts seemed to be taken all up about Marrying the Sister of the King of Denmark was the Lady proposed and Queen Elizabeth consulted with thereupon who disswaded him therefrom and said she had Interest with the King and Princess of Navarr and that she would imploy the same for effectuating of a Marriage between him and the said Princess but the King was bent upon the former and because he found the Chancellor and some others oppose it he could not or would not be seen openly to controul them but dealt secretly with some of the Deacons of the Craftsmen of Edenburg to form a Mutiny against the Chancellor and some of the Council threat'ning to kill them in case the Marriage with the Daughter of Denmark were hindred or any longer delayed whereupon the Earl of Marshal was sent thither with Power to Treat about the said Marriage but withal in so stinted and limited a degree contrived by the Craft of the Chancellor and his Faction that he was necessitated to send the Lord Dinguall back from thence to desire either liberty to return hence or to have sufficient Power to conclude the Treaty when he came he hapned to find the King at Aberdeen without the Chancellor c so
rising in Wales were soon beaten so were the Surry Essex and Kentish Forces without any reinforcements from him as was designed and when he Landed some forces for the relief of Deal-Castle they were vanquished almost as soon as Landed This with the taking of Colchester by Sir Thomas Fairfax sent him back again to his Sister the Princess of Orange to the Hague Here it was that he was first Entertained with the horrible news of his Father's Tragical death and then saluted by the name of King but a forlorn Man and without any Subjects to govern for now the Rump Parliament ruled the Roast in England and had assumed to themselves the Supream power of the Nation by the name and title of the Commonwealth of England but this procedure of theirs did not relish well with the Scotch Covenanters and especially now they found that those Persons in the English Parliament that had been most forward in establishing the Solemn League and Covenant between both Nations were not only laid aside but clapt up into nasty PRISONS Wherefore being willing to lay hold on any Twig the Scots resolve not to put up the supposed injury tamely but to try their Fortune with the Rump by Arms and to that end agree to invite the King over to take Possession of his ancient Kingdom of Scotland but yet tye him so by vertue of the Treaty with him to take their Solemn League and Covenant as a Testimony of his sorrow for his Father's Sins and to banish all those out of his Court who would not take the Covenant or bare Arms for his Father But they could not have found a Plant as Mr. Coke observes more unlikely to produce the Fruit of Repentance or to establish Presbytery than himself however over Shooes over Boots prepare he does to waft himself over for Scotland To be a King in fact he desired above all other things and in June 165O landed at the Spey in the North having scaped a scouring for some of the Rump Ships lay in wait for him as he passed the Sea and narrowly mist him In some time after he was solemnly Crowned at Scone but alass it was no long-liv'd Dignity and he had but little Joy of his Crown for Cromwel had entred Scotland with the English Army and having beaten the Scots in several smaller Rencounters did at last upon the 8 of September utterly overthrow the much more numerous Kirk Army at Dunbar commanded by old General Lesley killing 3000 of them in the Battle and pursuit and taking 9000 Prisoners with all their Baggage and Ammunition with above 200 Colours To augment these Miseries the King who was very squeamish in Religion and could not submit to the rigid discipline of the Kirk runs from Scone towards the High-lands after whom ran Montgomery promising if he would return the Kirk would remit part of the Discipline and so he came to St. John's Town But here was no lasting Tranquillity for him for tho' in this time he raised a very numerous Army yet the Kirkmen being beaten at Dunbar as aforesaid by the English began to rail bitterly against those who had called the King in too hastily before he had given true signs of Repentance and they assumed the Kingly Authority so far as to make such Generals of the Kirk Army as they thought sit But Cromwel in the mean time prevails in his Conquests and tho' Scotland were a cold Climate yet he made it too hot for the King and his Army to hold long there and therefore he slips with them to England by the way of Carlile but was followed close at the heels by Lambert and Harrison and soon after by Cromwel himself with the main Army But he arrived at Worcester City with little opposition and there Cromwel came up with him where they joyned Battle but as all his attempts before in his Fathers Cause had proved succesless he met with no better Fortune now he fought in his own Cause nor indeed hardly ever did in all his Life-time by Arms for here his Army was utterly Routed by Cromwel that very day twelve Month he had beaten the Scots at Dunbar 3550 whereof were killed with Duke Hamilton and General Forbes and 5000 taken Prisoners of which number were the Earls of Rothes Kanworth and Kelly the Lords Sinclaer and Monâ—gomery General of the Ordinance and soon after David Lesley who fought not or but little in the Battle was Routed by Colonel Lilburn and together with Lauderdale the Lords Kenmoure and Middleton taken Prisoners The poor King seeing all now irrecoverably lost about six in the Evening marched out at St Martin's Gate leaving all that was valuable but his Life behind him as a prey to the Enemy and being come to a place called Barbon-Bridge he consults with the few followers he had with him what to do among whom it was resolved he should endeavour to get back into Scotland and one Walker who belonged to the Lord Talbots Troop was made choise of to be his Guide Northward But Walker being at a loss when he came to Kinver-Heath and not knowing which way to go the King consulted with the Lords yet about him whither he might repair with most safety to take a few hours rest in regard he found himself quite worn out and spent whereupon the Earl of Derby advised him to go to Bosoobel where in his Flight from Wiggan to Worcester he met with a trusty Person and where there was great conveniency of Concealment This being agreed to Mr. Gifford who knew the way best was appointed to conduct him thither but he proposing to carry him first to White-Ladies a house about half a mile from Boscobel where he might repose himself a while and then take farther Resolutions this was consented to and thither they immediately repaired and were readily entertained by George Pendrel the youngest of the five Brethren By this time the King found himself extream hungry and very much tired with his long and hasty march and here it was that he rubbed his hands and face with the foot of the Chimney had the locks of his hair disorderly cut off and was stripped of his blew Ribbon buff Câ—at and other Princely Ornaments which to prevent a discovery were buryed under Ground and his Case now was not imparallell to his Great Ancestor Robert Bruce King of Scotland who for fear of Edward I. King of England was forced to sculk in the High-Lands and there to live for a time more like a Brute Beast then a Man much less a Prince as we have noted towards the beginning of this History The Kings fine Shirt was also exchanged for a course Canvass one borrowed of one Martin and a suit of Cloaths answerable to it of Richard Pendrells put on by him and then he assumes the name and imployment of a Woodman and so with Richard with a Bill in his hand he went into the Wood while the other Brothers went out to scout It was not above
an entire disappointment of his hopes that way and they to be so beaten as they were never before nor after by the English Fleet. Oliver Cromwel sometime after assuming the Supream Power by the Title of Protector he and Mazarine grew so gracious one with another that France began now to be too hot to hold King Charles so as he was necessitated to retire thence to the Elector of Cologn and afterwards into the Spanish Netherlands where he ordered the English Scots and Irish in those parts which amounted to between four and five thousand Men to joyn the Spaniards to attempt the relief of Dunkirk then besieged by the French and English But herein he was as fatal in his Arms as he had been all along before for the Spanish Army were utterly routed and this defeat broke his whole design so that he never after made use of Arms to recover his Inheritance but retired to Bruges where he stay'd to see the event of things The death of Oliver Cromwell together with the many changes of Government that happened thereupon in England gave new life to his hope and made him go in person to the Pyrenaean Treaty to promote his Interest from whence he returned through France to Bruxells But coming to understand that Sir George Booth and the Cheshire Men were supprest by Lambert it did not a little damp his hopes and made him return again to Bruxells from about St. Maio's where he privately lay in readiness to take Shipping for England upon the first good event of Sir George and others undertakings for him But his Crown was not to be recovered by War how then came he to be restored A grand step towards it was the Rump Parliament's Jealousie of Monk and his Jealousie of them again But what contributed most to it was the unsetled state of the Nation under the many Vicissitudes of Government that had been introduced since the death of the King his Father which made the People very uneasie and long for a Settlement upon any terms and therefore the Convention when they met in order to it on April 25. 1660. did hand overhead without any Preliminaries of asserting the Rights and Liberties of the English so manifestly violated by his Father and Grandfather restore him without any contradiction which did not a little contribute to the succeeding uneasiness of his Reign as well as the Nations trouble But restored he was as aforesaid and on May 25. following Landed at Dover and was received every where with utmost Demonstrations of Joy About October following came over the Queen-Mother seemingly to Treat about a Marriage between Mounsieur of France and her fair Daughter Henrietta Maria But it 's like the Marriage between the King and the Infanta of Portugal was no less designed which was after Consummated and wherein he was as unhappy in respect to Procreation by her as he was fruitful in what ground soever else he sowed his seed which he was Prodigal enough of But there was yet somewhat else of far more dangerous consequence to poor England and more dishonourable to the King that brought the Queen-Mother over and that was the Sale of Dunkirk to the French whose Agent she was in that fine spot of work If the King's Arms whilst an Exile in conjunction with the Spaniards were so unsuccessful in the relief of Dunkirk then Besieged by the joint force of English and French he was much more unhappy in the Sale of it afterward for 400000 l. whereof one moiety was detained for the Portion of Henrietta Maria his Sister and not to the Spaniards who were kind to him in his adverse Fortunes and had most right to it but to the French who had done all they could by their Embassador Bourdeux to hinder his Restoration and on whose side the Ballance then lay which it had been his business to have kept even as his Predecessors the Kings of England were wont to do and particularly Henry 8. and Queen Elizabeth This action I think was us unparallel'd as any can be found in our English Annals It was indeed a Charge against Mary Queen of Scots that she would have transferred her Right of Succession to the English Crown to the then King of Spain Philip 2. but that if true was giving away what was not in her power to dispose of and much such another Donation as that of the Pope's to the Emperor Charles of the Kingdom of Mexico tho with a different fate to both Nations but here was neither Donation force nor any visible necessity but a voluntary act in King Charles to the inestimable damage of England as has been but too sensibly felt to this very day You must note that the gazing World stood a little while amazed at the strange Revolution in England by the King 's easie and pacifick Restoration and with what transports of Joy he was received by the Nation then in a most Warlike posture and as much dreaded by our Neighbours and particularly by the French who had formed designs for an Universal Monarchy But now they were put to a stand to see what such a mighty power and apparently lasting Settlement in England would produce yet finding at length that here all thoughts of Military glory and extention of Dominion seemed wholly to be laid aside and all the severity of the preceding times daily degenerate to the Luxuries of an Effeminate Reign they began to reassume their former design and to prosecute the foundation Cardinal Richlieu had laid for them But that they might make sure work on 't and see that they made a true judgment of the English affairs they resolved to try such an Experiment as would throughly decide the matter and what must that be but overtures for the buying of Dunkirk which succeeding as aforesaid according to their wishes raised their hopes higher than ever of attaining their ends And because they knew well enough that the English were a powerful People by Sea and that while they retained the Soveraignty of it it would be a hard rub in their way they joyn their strength with the Dutch to dispute the Dominion of it with us but the Dutch were as unfortunate in their Allyance in the first Dutch War as the English were in the second when they joyned with them against the Dutch for excepting the time that the English Fleet was divided in the first War and that base business of burning the Ships at Chatham so much to the King and Nations dishonour the Dutch came by the worst of it in all the rest of the Engagements and it was much the same luck the English had by their Conjunction in the second War the French both times standing aloof as looking on and no doubt laughing in their sleeves to see the two most Potent Nations in the World by Sea weaken and destroy one anothe whilst they in the mean time not only saved their own stake but learned how to fight and doubted not but in time