third Monarch of the English II. date of accession 534 KENRICK his Son succeeded him both in the Kingdom and Monarchy III. date of accession 561 CHEVLIN his Son was the fifth Monarch but his Power being not adaequate to his Fame he in 33 years time could not so settle himself but that he was dispossest by his Brother IV. date of accession 592 CEARLICK who being not so good at keeping as in getting the Kingdom into his hands was himself depos'd in like manner by V. date of accession 598 CHELWOLPH Son of Cuth fifth Son of Kenrick a Prince worthy the Greatness he inherited who notwithstanding he was assaulted by the Picts and Scots and East-Angles all at once kept his Ground and left it to his Successor VI. date of accession 622 KINGILLS a Prince famous for his piety and courage who left his Son VII date of accession 643 KENWALD to succeed him whose beginning may be compar'd to the worst his ending to the best of Kings renouncing first his Faith after his Wife both which though he afterwards retain'd yet the sin stuck so close to him that the first left him without a Kingdom the last without a Son whereby VIII date of accession 675 ESWIN of the Line of Chelwolph took place who for six years kept out the right Heir IX date of accession 677 KENWIN younger Son of Ringills who utterly expuls'd all the Briâ—ains and forc'd them to seek their safety in those inaccessable Mountains of Wales whereby his Successor X. date of accession 686 CEADWALD had so much leisure as to fall upon his nearest Neighbours the South-Sexe and weaken them so far that they were forc'd to yield to his Successor XI INE worthily esteem'd the greatest Prince of his time and the most magnificent yet withal the most humble he dyed in a Pilgrimage to Rome nominating XII date of accession 762 ETHELWARD the Son of Oswald the Son of Ethelbald descended from Kenwaâ—d his Successor who reign'd fourteen years and left the Scepter to his Brother XIII date of accession 740 CUTHRED whose heart being broken by seeing his Son murther'd the Crown came to XIV SIGEBERT one whose vices were less obscure than his Parentage who murthering one of the best of his Friends was himself slain by one of the basest of his Enemies a Swineherd whereby XV. date of accession 755 KENWOLFE succeeded a person worthy of better sate than he met with being slain by the hand of an Outlaw at a time when he did not expect and consequently was not prepar'd for death and so XVI date of accession 784 BITHRICK succeeded the last King of this House lineally descended from Cerdick who being poyson'd by his own Queen this Kingdom came to Egbert the Son of Ingils and Brother of Ine who reduc'd the whole Heptarchy into a Monarchy and therefore worthily led the Van to the absolute Monarchs of England THIS was the third Kingdom of the Heptarchy and deservedly so call'd if we consider the largeness of its extent which measur'd by the Line of Circumvallation reach't if some of our modern Geographers say true above 700 miles in compass being commonly call'd the Kingdom of the West-Sexe by Bede the Kingdom of the Genevises by Cambrensis from Genesius Grandfather to Cerdick who had the honour to be esteem'd the first Founder of it although in truth he rear'd but a small part of this stately Fabrick the rest being the work of Time and Fortune and came not to perfection in almost 500 years He was for his fierceness sirnam'd the Dragon possibly in imitation of the British Kings who had that title and having beaten * The Britaine call'd him Mâ—â—ge Coâ—â—â—â—â— Natanleod the Dragon of the Western Britains forc'd him to retreat and leave 5000 of his people behind him in possession of no more of their own ground than serv'd to make them one common Grave from whom 't is thought he took this Shield of the Dragon He was thereupon declar'd the third Monarch of the English men his Son Kenrick was the fourth and his Grandson Cheulin the fifth Each of these shar'd with him in the honour of being the first raisers of this Kingdom the establisher of it was King Kenwin the ninth Monarch who expuls'd all the Britains the first that enlarg'd it was Ceadwald the tenth King who having made his way to the Conquest of Kent by that of the South-Sexe left his Successor Ine worthily therefore sirnam'd the Great to give his Neighbours a true estimate of his power by that of his wealth and a measure of his wealth by that of his munificence whereof there needs no other instances than in the Foundation of the Abbey of Glastenbury the Furniture of whose Chappel only took up 2835 pound weight of Silver and 337 pound weight of Gold a vast sum for those days which being for the ornamental part only could not be comparable to that which was left for the endowment He Founded also the Cathedral Church of Wells the West part whereof is perhaps one of the most stately Fabricks in the known World Yet neither of these are more lasting Monuments than those of his Laws translated for their excellency by the learned Lambert into Latin as being the Foundation of what we are govern'd by so long since This was he that gave the first Eleemosinary Dole of Peter-pence to the Church of Rome which was exacted in the next Age as a Tribute In this mans Reign this Kingdom was at its heighth declining after his death insensibly till the time of Egbert who being the Darling of Fortune as well as of his own Subjects and a Prince of great towardliness after he had corrected his youth by the experience he had in the Wars under Charles the Great being the first of all the Saxon Princes that were educated abroad he got so far the advantage of all his home-bred Contemporaries that he easily soar'd above the common height of Majesty and beat up the seven Crowns into one which placing on his own head he not only gave those Laws but that Name to the whole Isle which continued till King James his Reign who uniting Scotland to the rest of the Terra firma not reduc'd altered the style of King of England into that which only could make it greater writing himself King of Great Britain to which August and most Imperial Title we now pay homage and may we ever do so THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF EAST-SEXE IV. I. date of accession 527 ERCHENWIN the Son of Offa Great-Grandson of Sneppa third in descent from Seaxnod third Son of Woden the common Progenitor of the Saxons began this Kingdom with the happiness of a long Reign which however it be seldome desir'd was certainly very advantagious to his Successor II. date of accession 587 SLEDDA who thought the readiest way to keep what his Predecessor got was to add to it what his Successors were not like to keep a Peace with the Kings of Kent his next Neighbours
death Jus Vitae Necis The Kings of this Isle the First Anointed Christian Kings 9. And as the Quatuor Vncti were before all other Kings so I take it that the Kings of this Isle ought to have the preference amongst them for that they were the first (g) Rhivallus ap Tooke in charism Sanct. Cap. 6. anointed Christian Kings as appears by the undeniable Testimony of the learned Gildas in his Book De excidio Britanniae written above a thousand years since which I take to be beyond any Remain of the like Extant in any Records of the Eastern or Western Empire (h) De Comitiis Imperat Cap. 2. Onuphrius would have that Ceremony to begin in the East with the Emperour Justin circ Ann. 525 but most of the learned Writers upon this Subject differ in opinion from him supposing he was more beholding for that honour to the gratitude of the Orthodox Clergy whom he always favour'd then to any real truth or Certainty in the thing The vulgar Historians will have it to begin in the West with the Merovignian line amongst the French but neither does Du Hailan Tilly nor those of the best Authority agree to it Regino and Sifridus go no higher then King Pepin who they say was the first anointed by Boniface Arch Bishop of Ments Ann. 750 which mistake may possibly be better understood by distinguishing betwixt the Ceremonies of the Regal and those of the Ecclesiastical Unction the last being no more but a sacred complement us'd in those times as a preparatory designation to an expected Regality whereof our own History is not without some Instances in which we find that Egbert Son to the great Mercian Offa was anointed in the life time of his Father Ann. 780 which was twenty years before Charlemaine who is suppos'd by most Writers to have been the very first King of the Francks anointed by Leo the Fourth Ann. 800. The like we read of Elfred the Son of Egbert anointed by the same Pope near about the same time in the presence of his Father but taking it to be as early in use with them as they themselves would have it thought to be yet falls it short of the times of our King Arthur affirm'd by J. of Monmouth to be a King anointed Cirea Ann. 505. and perhaps with sufficient Reputation if his be consider'd with the concurrent Testimonies of Bede and Malmesbury who prove the frequent use of it here not long after as likewise that of St. Oswald the most Christian King Ann. 635 that was two hundred years before Pepin As for the Kings of Jerusalem and Scicily however reckon'd in the Rank of the four yet were they not in being for near five hundred years after the honour they had therein being by composition with the Pope to whom they humbled themselves for this advancement so far as to declare themselves content to hold their Kingdoms of the Church whereas both Ours and those of France claim'd only by divine Right confirm'd if the Traditions of that age might be credited by manifestations from Heaven the Oil that consecrated those of France being brought down by a Dove in a Golden Viol and continu'd many hundred years after unwasted at Rheims that of ours being said to have been confirm'd to be coelestial by three distinct manifestations in three different Ages which certainly were as much abus'd themselves as they abus'd us if they conspired to transmit an untruth to us no more to their own advantage The first in the time of St. Oswald before mention'd when 't is said that there descended a great Quantity of holy Oil like Dew from Heaven and fell upon him by the sight and scent whereof for it perfum'd the place divers People were converted to the faith as (i) Bede Hist Aug. lib. 3. c. 3. Bede affirms The Second was at the time when the English Line were cut off by the Danes beyond any hope of Recovery the Danes being in quiet Possession of the Throne when St. Peter appearing to the holy Monk Brightwold assur'd him that England was God's Kingdom for whose Successors he would take due care and at the same time gave him a little Cruise of Oil telling him further that whomsoever he anointed therewith that man should be King and have power to heal the People by his Touch which was accordingly perform'd in the Person of Edward the Confessor on whom the Monk privately bestow'd the holy Unction with which he received likewise the gift of healing that disease call'd by Physitians (k) Now called the Kings Evil See Polidor Virgil. Hist 8. Scrofula continu'd to our Kings in a wonderful manner to this very day insomuch that 't is notoriously known how a Maid at Deptford born blind by reason of that distemper was cur'd by no other visible means but the Touch of a Cloath dipt in the blood of the late King Charles the Martyr The Third Manifestation was in the time of Henry the Second who having banisht St. Thomas Beckett the Virgin Mary appear'd to the holy Exile as the Clergy of that age stiled him and delivering into his hands another Golden Viol in form of an Eagle assur'd him that all the Kings who were anointed with the oil therein should be Patronizers of the Church and as long as they kept that Sacred Viol this Blessing should rest upon them that if any of their posterity should happen to be beaten out of their Kingdom they should be peaceably restor'd again Which Oil Walsingham an Author of unquestionable Credit affirms to have remain'd unwasted to the time of Henry the Fourth who saith he was anointed therewith but amongst other the dismal mischiefs attending the fatal War of the two houses of York and Lancaster this was not the least that it gave opportunity to some Sacrilegious hand unknown to convey this Viol away who stealing the Gold could not yet rob us of the Blessing which hath been miraculously made good to us in the happy Restauration of our present Soveraign Charles the Second of whom we may say with respect to this providence as the Poet in another case (l) Horace Hic posuisse gaudet In him likewise we find that other blessing confirm'd in the gift of healing that noisome disease afore mention'd which by long continuance of time having become Hereditary hath now got the known name of the Kings-Evil so call'd because it is hardly to be cur'd by any other human means but by the Kings touch only whereof we have every day so many and great Examples that I shall forbear to say what might perhaps be pertinent enough to this Subject The Kings of this Isle the First Christian Kings in the World 10. But besides that of their Chrism there hath been a further Circumstance of personal Excellence peculiar to the Kings of our Nation above most not to say all other Princes in respect to the Sanctity of their blood as deriving their (m) Bale
extraordinary Levies yet perhaps not exceeding those ordinary Forces kept in standing pay to supply every Quarter of the Empire there being scarce any Governour of a Province that had not a Guard of Britains to attend about his Person such was the Reputation of their faith and courage At Constantinople the Greek Emperours had a Guard of 2000 as Bodinus computes them which they call'd the Barangi The Praefect of Rome had for his standing Guard two Bands of them more call'd Invicti Juniores Britannitiani The Western Emperours had their Praesentales or life-Guard besides stil'd Exculcatores Jun. Britan. 500. The Praefect of Gaule had a Horse Guard call'd Britones Magistri Equitum Galliarum The Pro-Consul of Spain had a Foot-Guard of about 500 call'd Invicti Juniores Britones besides these we find in Germany the Cohort call'd Ala Britannica Milliaria containing about 1105 footmen and 132 Horsemen In Illyricum another call'd Britones Seniores in Egypt Ala IIII. Britonum nay they were disperst to the furthest parts of the East for we find in Armenia Cohors XXVI Britonum besides Cohors III. and Cohors VII Britannitiani sub Magistro Peditum in Panonia Cohors Prima Aelia Britonum and several others mention'd in the Notitia Provinciarum to the number of not so little as fifty or sixty thousand all these were abroad whilst at home there were no less than 190000 Foot and 17000 Horse as appears by Constantine's Establishment set forth by Panciroll 17. Less known was the Militia of the Saxons than that of the Romans in respect they had no Invitations to any Action abroad excepting only that single Undertaking in Barbary Ann. 905 when they unpeopled the City and Country round about Arzilla contenting themselves with that Insulary glory they had gotten here by conquering a Nation who had so long disputed with the most powerful People in the World So that the best measures of their strength is to be taken from that of their Weakness having lost if their own Historians tell Truth no less than 200000 men before they had half finish'd that great work yet some thought it strange they lost no more considering how those Blood-thirsty Heptarchs their Masters accounted the Lives of their Subjects the least part of the Price of their Victories being so prodigal of blood that they fought no less than (g) Malmesbury Vit. Elfredi nine set Battels in one year wasting their strength to that degree that by subduing they became subdu'd The Danes falling in upon them before they could recover their spirits oppress'd them with greater Numbers than they the Britains before vying with them both in fame and force till there were as many engag'd on either side as would have reduc'd far greater Territories than those they came from had not divine Justice made use of them as a Scourge to each other 18. What the number and strength of the Norman was may be nearly computed by what he did abroad in that holy and what he suffered at home in that unholy War commonly call'd the Barons War The first for Religion the last for Liberty The one having consum'd as many lives as there were stones in the Walls of the holy City they fought for The other not so fatal because pois'd with a more equal force but altogether as formidable there being at least 50000 always ready to do Execution on either side So stood the Case for the first two hundred and fifty years after the Entrance of Wâ—lliam the First The Computation of the middle times must be taken from the Preparations of Edward the Third when he took two (h) Jo. King of France Davâ—â— King â—f Scots Kings and mist but little of taking two Kingdoms at once ingaging himself in a double edg'd War that ended not with his own life nor theirs wherein though it is suppos'd he exhausted as much of the Force as the Treasure of the Kingdom yet he did not so weaken his Successour Richard the Second but that he was able to take the Field with 300000 Foot and 100000 Horse attending him as * Wals ngham Vit. R. 2. Walsingham tells us whose Testimony has the more Credit by how much it is Seconded by (i) Emil. vit Car. 6. Emilius the French Historian who had no cause to magnifie the number of the English at that time Later Computations may be taken from the Preparations of Henry the Eight at Bullen and of Q. Elizabeth at Tilbury at either not so little as 185000 foot and 40000 Porse in readiness for present Service for I am willing to pass by the consideration of those vast numbers which supported that unnatural Quarrel betwixt the two fatal Houses of York and Lancaster much rather to forget the late War betwixt K. Charles the First and the Republican faction wherein 't is believed there were no less than 300000 Foot and neer 100000 Horse actually engaged in Arms it is almost incredible to tell what numbers appear'd in Arms at the Reception of King James when he made his first Entry into England but what we saw with our own eyes at the happy Restauration of our Soveraign that now is must not be conceal'd whose Life-Guard at his Landing were no less than 50000 of the best Horse in the World not reckoning those appointed for the defence of the Realm However all the Computations of our Land Forces fall so short of our Maritime that as there is no Comparison to be made betwixt them so we may say that we have rendred our selves more formidable at Sea by our Canon Law than any other People by any Law of Arms whatsoever The Kings of this Isle are absolute Princes 19. The last instance of the super-excellent Majesty of the Kings of this Isle is that they hold of (k) Bracton lib. 5. Tr. 3. God to themselves and by their Sword not Ex foedore contracto as antiently the Kings of France nor Ex formulâ fiduciae as yet the Kings of Spain neither yet Jure restricto as the Kings of Hungary and the Kings of the Romans much less Ad placitum populi as those of Poland Nec Jure plebiscitâ— as antiently those of Sweden Denmark and Norway who till of late were as precarious as those of Poland But as those who succeeding the Cesars to whom this of (l) All other Provinces were Praesidial and subjected to the Senate Britain whilst it was under the Romans was particularly appropriated became by their voluntary resignation of the Government repossest of the primier right of their Ancestors Vt pro derelicto as the (m) Amifaeus de jure Majest lib. 1. c. 2. Civilians express it or by way of Remitter as our own Lawyers term it being absolutely independent and supream as any of the Roman Emperours their Predecessours were Qui tot tantas obtinuere Libertates quot Imperatores Imperia saith M. Paris and therefore when the Emperour Sigismund came over hither to mediate a peace betwixt our Henry
by his very first Treaty which was not to have been hop'd for by any long hostility which success though the execution seem'd not considerable amounted to a kind of Victory So that 't was no wonder he rested not contented with such a Proportion as he was before asham'd to wish for Ambition respecting not so much whence it comes as whither it is addressed pressing still forwards without any consideration but that of the felicity it aims at on which it fixes with so intense a look that it regards no dangers much less any faith being deny'd the Government of the Isle of Thanet he insisted upon that of the whole Province of Kent meeting with opposition there he supply'd force with fraud and both with Fortune and by the possession of that one only got the command of three Provinces more all lying so convenient for landing Supplies that this seem'd to be but an Earnest for an entire Conquest Neither thought he it sufficient to have the Power without he had the Title of a King Hitherto he had only studied his Security that being obtain'd he begins to affect Glory and in respect Kent was his Principal Seat he gives that the preheminence of giving the Name to his Kingdom being the first not to say the last too of the whole Heptarchy continuing near four hundred years supported by its own proper Forces before it fell under the common Fate of being incorporated into the Universal Monarchy of the English And as it was the first Kingdom so was it the first Christian Kingdom of the Seven from whom the East-Saxons borrow'd their light and from them the rest till an universal brightness oversp ead the whole Hemisphere which however it seems to have been a work of time as appears by that oâ—d Adage yet in use amongst us In Kent and Christendom was an occasion of so high regard to the People of that Province that all the Counties of England have ever since consented to allow them the honour of precedency in the Field by giving them the right of leading the Van as often as the Nation appears to give any Batgel Royal which Priviledge hath been by special Charter confirm'd to them from the time of King Knute the Zealous The long Reign of Engist not less as some say then fifty years contributed much to the Corroboration of his Conquest which being the Gift of Fortune rather then Nature he bestow'd it on his youngest Son Oeske from whom as I said before 't was call'd the Kingdom of Eskins which beginning at the time of Ambrosius the British King continued Three hundred seventy two years an intire Kingdom and after the West-Saxons reduc'd it under their Obedience had yet the repute of being a distinct Principality and by that Title was bestow'd upon the younger Sons of those Kings who defended it against the Danes till Ethelbert the second Son of Athelstan second Son of Egbert after the death of his Elder Brother Ethelwald entring upon the whole Monarchy of England Anno 860. united it inseparably to his Empire THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF SOUTH-SEXE II. I. date of accession 488 ELLA was the first King of this and second absolute Monarch of the whole Kingdom for which Honour he was more indebted to the length of his Reign then the greatness of his Dominions being indeed the very least of the Seven II. date of accession 514 CISSA his youngest Son the two elder being slain succeeded his Father he reigned peaceably seventy six years founded Chichester and Chisbury the one for the resort of his People t'other for the repose of himself where dying he left his Son III. EDELWOLPH to succeed the first Christian of this House who refusing to contribute to the War against the Britains in respect the West-Saxon lay betwixt him and danger Ceadwald the Tenth of those Kings sell upon him and slew him upon whose death IV. BERTHUN and AUTHUN Two Dukes collaterally sprung out of the Royal Stock of this Kingdome interpos'd themselves with equal merit in the common Calamity and Defence of their Country and forcing Ceadwald to retire rul'd jointly for six years till the same King returning upon them took from the one his Life from the other his Liberty whereby this became a Province to the West-Sexe BY the setting up of this Kingdom conteining no more but two Counties Sussex and Surrey and those none of the greatest we may take some measure of the Ambition of our Ancestors who had as great respect to their Glory as their Security being not content to have the Power without they had the Title of Kings This Ella was in the first place but a Colonel under Engist who made him Governour of Sussex to which having added Surrey with the loss of the lives of his two eldest Sons Kymen and Plenchin after the death of his General he set up for himself and being resolv'd to shew the greatness of his mind by the narrowness of his Dominions not onely declar'd himself the first King of the South-Sexe but made himself so considerable in the esteem of all his Country-men that they submitted to him as the second Monarch of the English which Glory he held up to the height near thirty years But that Sun which began in Kent the East part of the Isle and came towards him who was planted in the South hasted to set amongst the West-Sexe to whom his Successors were forc'd to become Tributary or if it may lessen the dishonour for these were all of them most deserving Princes we may say Contributioners towards the War against the Britains The West-Saxon Kingdom lying betwixt them and danger the non-payment of this Tax whether it were that the Kings hereof refus'd it as being too heavy a Burthen upon them or disdain'd the manner of Exaction or thought themselves not oblig'd to be longer charg'd having clear'd their own Territories is not certain was the first and only occasion of the downfall of this Kingdom being thereby ingag'd in a War with too potent a Neighbour against whom though they had no hopes to prevail yet they scorn'd to yield till their tottering State fell down about their Ears and buried them in the common Ruins of their Country which was so far wasted before it submitted to become a Province that when it was added to th' other it became rather a Burthen then a Strengthning for a great while so far had Famine and Plague the Peace-makers in all Civil Wars disabled them to all intents and purposes before this Curse fell upon them to be devour'd by their Friends which was so much more dishonourable then to be conquer'd by their Enemies by how much it was the first unhappiness of this kind THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF WEST-SEXE III. I. date of accession 522 CERDIC having conquer'd Natan-leod the Dragon of the Western Britains set up the third Kingdom which reaching from Hampshire to Cornwal was call'd the Kingdome of West-Sexe and gave him the repute of being the
a dispute with the French and so neither at leisure as he thought to disturb him The third who claimed as the right Heir by descent as well as by the Will of his Uncle was Edgar Atheling Son of Prince Edward eldest Son of Edmond Ironsides but he being a Child and having no Friends nearer then Hungary he oppos'd to him the good Omen of his own †Harold in old Saxon signified Love of the Army Name only that is to say concluded to overcome Right by Might having besides the advantage of his Years and Experience two great Supporters to participate of the danger with him in case the other two should joyn with Edgar that was Morcar Earl of York and Edwin Earl of Chester both Brothers to his Wife who being the Relict of Llewellin Prince of Wales seem'd to be a Pledge given by Fortune to secure to him the affections of that People also Neither wanted he something like a gilded Title to dazle the Common Peoples eyes for besides that he was Heir to the Fame and Fortune of the great Goodwin the Champion of their Liberties descended from the Kings of the West-Sexe which gave him the preferrence of the Norman so by the Mothers side he had in him the Royal Blood of Denmark which by the advantage of his present possession gave him the Superiority of those Kings too Thus fortified and adorned he undertook to make the People as happy as they had made him Great and because Trisles please Children as well as greater matters he call'd himself Prince Edgar's Protector fooling those of his Party into a belief that he intended something towards him that might amount to a Surrender in convenient time or at least to a Confirmation of the Succession after him which they were well contented with Thus having by many Lines drawn to himself an universal Consent that made his Right of Desert equivalent with t'others Right of Descent he hung like a Spider by the slender thread spun out of his own Bowels which how weak soever it seem'd was strong enough to bear him up till he had put his Affairs into as good a Posture of Security as the present necessity would permit And it so fell out that the first that question'd him was the last that assaulted him his next Neighbour the Norman who pretending to a Conveyance of King Edwards Right to him to which as he said Harold himself was Witness and which was more sworn by Oath to defend he tax'd him upon his Allegiance to make good the same to which Harold return'd a short Answer That Oaths exacted par Duresse were not binding for taking his pleasure as it is said one day at Sea he was by contrary winds drove into Normandy and there detain'd till he took that Oath 2. He said that his private compact with the Norman was of no validity without the consent of the whole State of England 3. That no Act of King Edward's could pass the Crown away being himself intitled to it but by Election and so holding only in Trust Lastly that the Kingdom of England and Dukedom of Normandy were enough for two Persons and too much to be rul'd by one and therefore Nature had well placed a Sea betwixt them which Sea because he thought the Norman could not pass he concluded he would not devest himself of the Dignity Providence had given him with the consent of the People By this Duke William finding that Arms not Arguments must decide the Controversie resolv'd to drive out one wedge with another and accordingly working upon the Revenge and Ambition of Toustan Harold's younger Brother then in his Court who was tainted with an irreconcileable Enmity both to his Brother and Country to him for a Box of the Ear given him in the presence of King Edward to it for a worse blow in deposing him from his Government in Northumberland and forcing him into Exile whereby he was necessitated to appear rather like a Pirate then a Prince he prevail'd with him to make the first Invasion who assisted by the King of Scots and the King of Norwey then ingaged in taking in the Northern Isles landed in his own Province and thence pierc'd into the very Bowels of the Kingdom forcing his Brother Harold though with apparent hazard to leave London to make what speed he could to check their forwardness who accordingly advanc'd as far as Stamford where he put an end to the troubles of his Brother and the Norweygian but not to his own For as he was allaying this Storm in the North he had notice of a more dreadful one in the South the Norman having so tim'd his business that he landed that very day that his Confederates were fighting with whom came over the Great Earl of Flanders Father in Law to Toustan as well as to himself accompanied with the Earl of Bulloigne who had been so inhospitably treated at Canterbury by Harold's Father Harold tarried not to sheath his blood-stain'd Swords lest rusting in their Scabards they should be hardly drawn forth again But leading his men on weary as they were to compleat the first by a second Victory in less time then could be thought possible to have march'd so far he fac'd the Invaders with so much confidence that Duke William loath to venture all at one stake sent him the offer of referring it to the Pope or putting the trial upon a single Combat betwixt them two But Harold deaf to all Conditions of Peace having in his memory the fatal Success of that dispute between Knute and Ironsides on the like Occasion return'd him this Answer That none but that Power which gave it him should judge his Right and that he would support it with more then singâ—e Courage superstitiously believing that that day would prove auspicâ—ous to him because it was his Birth-day Neither was he worse then his word for that single Battel cost the English near Seven thousand Lives besides what were lost on the Norman side the just number whereof their Historians have not thought fit to let us know Men worthy to be as they were then made Immortal who bravely strove with Destiny to save their Country from the Ca amity of Forreign Servitude but finding that they couâ—d not do it as scorning to out live their Liberties they fell round the Body of their vanquish'd King which lay wrapt up in his Royal Standard instead of a Winding sheet with more wounds upon him then he had reign'd Months in such congested heaps as shew'd the Normans that they had wâ—th him subdu'd the Kingdom there being scarce so much Noble blood â—eft unspilt as to keep the State alive if he had quit them much less to make a second Resistance From which Catastrophe we may conclude that the advantage which the English got over the Britains in the first place was no more then what the Normans got over them in the last not by an inequaliâ—y of Courage but partiality of Fortune which like a
dispend a thousand Marks a day which I have the rather noted to shew how the Kingdom flourish'd as well as the King gaining as all wise States do by their layings out for the whole Revenues of the Crown in his Grand-fathers days were esteem'd to be not much above a hundred thousand Marks a year Five years the French King continued Prisoner here in England time enough to have determin'd the Fortune of that great Kingdom and dissolv'd their Canton'd Government into parts had it not been a Body consisting of so many strong Limbs and so abounding with Spirits that it never fainted notwithstanding all its loss of Blood but scorn'd to yield though King Edward came very near their heart having wounded them in the most mortal part their Head The Scotch King could not recover his Liberty in double the time being the less able to redeem himself for that he was upon the matter but half a King the other half being in the possession of Baliol who to secure a Moyety to himself surrendred the whole to King Edward whose Magnificence vying with his Justice he gave it back again upon Terms more befitting a Brother then a Conqueror shewing therein a Wantonness that no King perhaps besides himself would have been guilty of nor probably he neither had either his People been less bountiful to him or Fortune less constant which to say truth never forsook him till he like his Father forsook himself leaving all Action and bidding adieu to the World ten years before he went out of it declining so fast from the fortieth year of his Government that it may rather be said his famous Son Prince Edward commonly call'd the Black Prince reign'd then he and happy 't was for him that when his own Understanding fail'd him he had so good a Supporter who having it in his power to dispose of Kingdoms whilst he liv'd ought not to be denyed after he dyed the honour of being esteem'd equal to Kings in the Prerogative of a distinct Character Begin we then the Date of his Government from the Battel of Crassy which happening in the Sixteenth year of his Age makes the Computation of his Glory to commence near about the same time his Fathers did who however he was King at fourteen rul'd not till after Mortimer's death by which Battel he so topt the Fortune of France as his Father had that of England that he may be said to have taken thereby Livery in order to the Seisin of that Kingdom And after the Recovery of Calais it may be said the Keys of the Kingdom rather then of that Town were deliver'd into his hand for that he therewith open'd all the Gates of almost every Town he came to till the King of France incompassed him like a Lion in a Toil with no less then 60000 of the best Men of France and brought him to that streight that it seem'd alike disadvantageous to sight or yield and which made the danger more considerable as things then stood England it self was in some hazard of being lost with him here he seem'd to have been as well accomptable to his Country as to his Father for his Courage and Discretion and how well he acquitted himself appears by the Sequel when forcing Hope out of Despair like fire out of a Flint he necessitated his Men to try for Conquest by shewing them how impossible 't was for him to yield and by that incomparable Obstinacy of his made Fortune so enamour'd of his Courage that she follow'd him wherever he went while his Sword made its way to Victory and his Courtesie to the Affections of the Conquer'd whom he treated with that regard and generosity that many of them were gainers by the loss being dismiss'd with honourable Presents that made his second Conquest over them greater then the first the King of France himself being so well pleas'd with his Bondage that he return'd voluntarily into England after he was redeem'd to meet two Kings more that might be Witness of his Respect and Gratitude In short he was as King of England on the other side the Water as his Father was on this side keeping so splendid a Court in Acquitaine that no less then three Kings came to visit him too all at once these were the King of Majorque Navar and Castile the last of which craving Aid of him against an Usurper who was back'd by an Army consisting of no less then One hundred thousand men if the Writers of those times say true was re-instated accordingly by his single power to shew the World that he could as well make Kings as unmake them His second Brother who had the Title of King by marrying with the King of Castile's Daughter and Heir being principally indebted to him for the honour of that Title and it prov'd a fatal Debt both to him and his Son Richard the Second costing the one his Life the other both Life and Kingdom too for as himself never recover'd the health he lost in undertaking that Expedition so his Son never recover'd the disadvantage put upon him afterward by his Uncle Lancaster who by that means having got the Regency of his drooping Father King Edward who tyred with Action rather then Age fatally submitted to the loss of more years of his Government then he got by his unnatural Anticipation from his own Father and suffer'd himself to be buried alive as we may say under his Cradle put fair for setting his Nephew aside but wanting a Colour for so apparent an Injustice his jealous Father the Black Prince having declar'd him his Successor in his life time to prevent all tricks he thought it enough to make way for his Son to do it and accordingly put such an impression of dislike upon the innocent Youth at his very first Edition as prov'd Indelible in his riper years for the very same day he was presented to take his Grandfathers Seat in Parliament as Heir apparent to the Crown being then but eleven years old he taught him to demand a Subsidy purposely to turn the Peoples blood who were then big with their Complaint of Taxes But possibly he is made more splenetick as well as more politick then he was for it was scarce possible to make the Youth more odious then he had made himself before by disgusting those two potent Factions of the Church and the City of London who to shew how weary they were of his governing the old Child his Father would not after his Death let him longer Rule the young Child his Nephew but purposely depos'd him to the end as they said that he might not depose the other Thus this great King ended as ingloriously as he began who having stept into the Throne a little before he should 't is the less wonder he left it a little before it was expected he would especially if we consider that in out-living the best Wife and the best Son in the World he had a little out-liv'd himself being so unfortunate
France set forth his own Eloquence and the Kings Title so well deducing his Descent in a direct Line from the Lady Isabel Daughter to Philip the Fourth and Wife to his Grandfather Edward the Second and refuting all the old beaten Arguments brought from the Salique Law to oppose it as being neither consistent with Divinity Reason or Example he at once pleas'd and convinced all his Hearers but most especially the King himself who seem'd to be inspired with a Prophetick confidence of that success which after he had but scorning to steal any Advantage or wrong the Justice of his Title somuch as to seem to doubt 't would be denied before he would make any kind of preparation for the Conquest he sent Ambassadors to Charles the Sixth to demand a peaceable surrender of the Crown to him offering to accept his Daughter with the Kingdom and to expect no other pawn for his Possession till after his death This Message as it was the highest that ever was sent to any free Prince so he intrusted it to those of highest Credit and Trust about him these were his Uncle the Duke of Exeter a man of great esteem as well as of great Name the Arch-bishop of Dublin a very politick Prelate the Lord Gray a man at Arms the Lord High Admiral and the Bishop of Norwich the first as much renown'd for his Courage as the last for his Contrivances to whom for the greater state there was appointed a Guard of five hundred Horse to attend them The Report of this great Embassy as it arriv'd before them so it made such a Report throughout all this side of the World that all the Neighbour Princes like lissening Deer when they hear the noyse of Huntsmen in the Woods began to take the Alarm and consider which side to sly to it being so that England and France never made any long War upon one another but they ingaged all Christendom with them However the Court of France pretending themselves ignorant of the Occasion of their coming dissembled their disdain and treated them with that magnificence as if they had design'd to Complement them out of their business but after the Message was delivered with that faithful boldness that became so great an Affair they were all in that confusion that it was hard to judge whether they were more ashamed incensed or afraid giving such a return as seem'd neither compatible with the honour wisdom or courage of so renown'd a People as they are For first as they did neither deny nor allow the Kings Title but said they would make Answer by Ambassadours of their own So in the next place they were so hasty in their Counsels and the dispatch of their Ambassadors hither that they arriv'd in England almost as soon as those sent hence And lastly at the same time they desired Peace and offer'd to buy it with the tender of some Towns they gave the King an Affront which was a greater Provocation then the denyal of ten such Kingdoms for the Daulphin who in respect of the King his Fathers sickness I might rather say weakness managed the State affecting the honour to give the first Box or perhaps desiring to make any other Quarrel the ground of the approaching War which he foresaw was not to be prevented rather then that of the Title which had been already so fatally bandi'd scornfully sent the King a Present of Tenis-balls which being of no value nor reckoning worthy so great a Princes acceptance or his recommendation could have no other meaning or interpretation but as one should say he knew better how to use them then Bullets The King whose Wit was as keen as t'others Sword return'd him this Answer That in requital of his fine Present of Tenis-balls he would send him such Balls as he should not dare to hold up his Racket against them Neither was he worse then his word however his preparations seem'd very disproportionable for so great a Work For the Army he landed was no more but six thousand Horse and twenty four thousand Foot a Train so inconsiderable and by the Daulphin judg'd to be so despicable that he thought not fit to come down himself in Person to take any view of them for fear he should fright them out of the Country too soon but sent some rude Peasants to attend their Motion who incouraged by some of the Troops of the nearest Garrisons as little understanding the danger they were ingaged in as they did the language of the Enemy they were ingaged with fell in upon the Rear of his Camp but as Village Curs which fiercely set upon all Strangers having the least Rebuke with a Stone or a Cudgel retreat home whining with their Tails betwixt their Legs so they having a Repulse given them ran away and made such Out-cries as dishearten'd the Souldiers that were to second them so much that after that he marched without any Resistance as far as Callice Neither indeed saw he any Enemy till he came to give Battel to the united Forces of France at that famous Field of Agencourt where notwithstanding he was out-numbred by the French above five for one he fought them with that Resolution as made himself Master of more Prisoners then he had men in his Camp to keep them an Occasion Fortune gave him to shew at once her Cruelty and his Mercy who whilst he might have kill'd did not but when he should not was forc'd to be cruel beyond almost all Example for as he gave Quarter in the beginning of the Battel to all that ask'd it his Clemency and Gentleness being such that as he was then pleas'd to declare he consider'd them as his Subjects not as his Captives So being over-charged with their Prisoners Numbers upon a sudden and unexpected accident however of no great Consequence if it had been rightfully understood he was forc'd to write the dismal Fate of France in cold Blood and in order to the saving life destroy it For as he was seeing his wounded men drest having gotten an intire Victory as he thought and as afterward it proved a sudden out-cry alarm'd his Camp occasion'd by a new Assault of some French Troops who being the first had quit the Field were the first return'd into it again in hopes by fighting with Boyes to regain the honour they lost in refusing to fight with men these under the Leading of the Captain of Agencourt set upon the Pages Sutlers and Laundresses following the pursuit with that wonted noyse as if they would have the English think the whole Army was rally'd again and chasing them Upon this the King caus'd all the scatter'd Arms and Arrows to be recollected and his stakes to be new pitch'd and put himself into a posture of Defence neither were the English only deceived by the Shreiks and Cries of those miserable People that fell into these mens hands but all those of the French likewise that were within hearing insomuch that the Earls of Marle and
Countries having given him the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem before of the first of which the Pope either envying or fearing the Emperour's Greatness had made the French King some Assurance purposely to ingage him thereby in a War that might weaken them both Great Preparations were made by either Party to secure themselves both with Arms and Alliances the Emperor leaving all his Dominions on this side to his Son whilst himself retires into Spain to alarm the French on the other side and by his Vicinity to Italy whose petty Princes he suspected not to be firm to his Interest makes himself as terrible to his Neighbours as his Enemies But whilst this great design was in Prospect only King Philip was suddenly called home by a Brute that his Queen was with Child the Joy whereof was so universal that it is strange to tell how much it transported the whole Kingdom raising them by the hopes of a young Prince to a degree of seeming Infatuation for they not only mock'd God Almighty in the Church with causeless Thanksgivings but troubled the King and Queen every hour in Court withâ—s groundless Petitions for Places of Attendance on the unborn Child and so far did the Delirium prevail to delude even the Parliament themselves with extravagant apprehensions of their future happiness by the enjoyment of such a Prince who however he were like to be Lord of the greatest part of Christendom would yet in all probability make England the Seat of his Empire that they humbly besought the King in case the Queen should dye in Travel that he would be pleas'd to take upon him the rule and government of the Child and Kingdome such ado have great Princes to be born as well as to dye in quiet But this mistaken Embryo proving at length to be nothing else but a Mis-conception whereof she could not be delivered so as to make way for any better Conception turning to such a fleshy inform Substance as Physitians call a Mole and we vulgarly English a Moon-Calf it put King Philip so ouâ— of Countenance that he tarried not a Month here after her time of Reckoning was our but passing into Flanders put it out of his head since he could not put it out of her belly by beginning a War with France whereto he had a good ground upon the account of the Five years Truce being broken that had been made but a little before The Queen to requite him for her late Miscarriage broke with her People and resolving not to stand Neuter whilst her Husband was ingaged found occasion to make the French Aggressors upon the Crown of England Whereupon the Earl of Pembroke was sent over with Ten thousand Horse and Four thousand Foot who joyning with the Kings Forces which were Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse before they came they all of them sate down before St Quintins a Town of great importance which the French in vain indeavouring to succour lost Twenty five thousand upon the place Amongst whom were divers of the greatest Quality as John of Bourbon Duke of Anguin the Dukes of Monpensier and Longevile the Viscount Turein c. the Lord Chadenier the Mareschal St. Andrew the Rhinegrave the Constable Mount Morency and his Son Brother to Count Lodowick Gonzaga Brother to the Duke of Mantova the Admiral Coligny and his Brother with divers other Lords of no less eminence who being all taken with the Town made it look like the beginning of a War which every Body judged could not end till the Rupture reach'd to the middle of France The report of this Victory gave great matter of rejoycing to every Body but most especially to the Queen her self yet could it not divert that Melancholy occasioned by the conceit of her Misconception which brought her into a Distemper that not long after kill'd her by her Physicians mistaking her Malady who giving her improper Medicines without regard to the over-cooling of her Liver which it seems is the mischief attends those Moles found not their error till she was so far gone into that desperate kind of Dropsie which they call Ascites that there was no help for her now That which added to her Distemper was an over-nice resentment of the Popes displeasure who offended at her breach with the French punish'd her as Princes use to be by whipping their Favourites with taking away the Legatine Power from her beloved Minister Cardinal Pool to whom as she had ever a great regard so she opin'd that the disgrace put upon a Man of so great Authority and Credit who had been so active in the Conversion of the Nation would as indeed it did not only reflect something on her honour but hazard much the reputation of the Catholick Cause whiles the Roman Religion was not so fully establish'd as she design'd it should and the Enemies of the Church no less dangerous to that of her State This gave her great trouble of Mind and that trouble being heightened by the absence of her beloved Husband brought her into a burning Feaver that foretold a death that might have proved a living one had it not been hastned by the news of the revolt of Calais which being lost in less then six dayes time after it had continued English above Two hundred years came so near her heart that drying up all her Blood brought her under such a fix'd sadness as left her not till she left the World Now to say truth she had great reason to resent the loss for as it was the only Key left to let her into France so it was no small over-sight to hang it by her side with so slender a String as she did there being not above Five hundred Souldiers in it when it was attach'd which were much too few to defend a place of that Importance where there was a kind of necessity to keep the Gates alwayes open HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it Which however it seem'd an obscure and uncertain Solution so baffled all her Adversaries that the Priests themselves who hop'd with like Success to have soil'd her as the First Temptor did the First Woman upon the First great Question of Take and Eat found themselves left in the dark to grope after her meaning as well as they could whilst she shut her self up from further Pressures within the Closet of her own private Sense But as Wisdom is perhaps the only Vertue that is distrustful of it self so to shew how little Confidence she had in the strength of her own Abilities she made it her first business to fortifie her self with able Counsellors In the choice of whom her Affections gave place to her Judgment as her Fears to her Foresight admitting divers of her Sisters great Ministers who having been privy to all the Secrets of State were like sharp
Bowl once put besides its Byass goes the further from its Mark the more 't is inforced THE FIFTH DYNASTY OF NORMANS OF NORMANS THE Normans so call'd by the French in respect of the Northern Clime from whence they came heretofore call'd * Dionis Patav l. 8. c. 4. Scandia since Norwey were another Branch of the antient Cimbri seated near the frozen Sea whose Country being too barren to nourish so fruitful a People they disonerated their Multitudes wheresoever force could make way for them Some stragling as far as the Mediterranian others farther Southward some few lost in the Frozen Sea attempting the Desert Isles far Northward but most following the Sun infested their Southern Neighbours About the time of Charles the Great they began to grow very troublesome by their frequent Pyracies making several Inroads into England but especially into France pressing so hard upon Lewis the Holy that he was fain to empty all his frontier Garrisons and quitting the Maritime draw them into the interior and more considerable parts of his Empire as the Spirits are drawn to the heart upon all Commotions to preserve life Their Successes in Germany England Scotland and Holland having made them so bold that they doubted not to advance as far as Paris where after divers disputes with Charles the Bald Charles le Grosse and Charles the Simple which concluded with an honourable Composition they six'd their two Chiefs Hastang and Rollo in the most fertile and best parts of that goodly Country the first being made Earl of Charters the last Duke of Neustria from him call'd afterwards Normandy the seventh in descent from whom was Duke William better known to us here by the Name of The Conquerour who with like confidence and not unlike Injustice invaded England as his Ancestors did France pretending a Donation of the Soveraignty from his near Kinsman King Edward the Confessor confirm'd as he alledged by his last Will and Testament in the presence of most of the English Nobility a pretence that could have been of no validity had it not been back'd by more then humane Power to disinherit Edgar Atheling who as being of the whole English Blood was rather Heir to the Kingdom then to the King and so by no Law could have his Right collated to a Stranger but the use he made of it was to convince the World that he had more Reason not to say Right to demand than Harold to detain the Crown who having put Prince Edgar besides the Succession desied the Justice of all Mankind as he was an Usurper and so it was a design worthy his Sword who had so fortunately vanquish'd even before he wrote Man those great difficulties at home given by the Opposition of Domestick Rivals no less puissant and populous then Harold to put him at least out of Possession But that which seems strange and was questionless a great surprize upon Harold was the conjunction of the Peers of France in an Action that was so apparently hazardous to the greatness of their own State every addition to so near and dangerous a Neighbour grown long before too powerful being a kind of diminution unto them whereof there can be no probable Cause assign'd beyond their natural affectation of Glory and wantonness of Courage but that Influence which the Conquerors Father in Law Baldwin Earl of Flanders had by being then Governour of the King and Kingdom of France who not only ingaged most of the grtatest Persons there as the Duke of Orleance the Earls of Champaigne Blois Brittain Ponthieue Maine Nevers Poictiers Aumale and Anjou but drew in the * Henry IV. Emperour himself and many of the German Princes to side with him This Preparation being such as it was it cannot be thought that the English lost any honour by mingling blood with men of that Quality and Condition the sound of whose Names was perhaps little less terrible then that of their Arms much less takes it from the reputation of their Courage to have heâ—d up the dispute but for one day only having fought it out as they did till the number of the slain so far exceeded that of the living as made the Conqueror doubt there would not be enough left to be conquer'd Who knows not that Fate made way for the Normans where their Swords could not guiding them by a Series of Successes near about the same time to the expectation of an universal Empire having but a little before made themselves Lords of Apulia Calabria Scicily and Greece and inlarged their Conquests as far as Palestine But what we allow to the Courage we must take from the Wisdom of the English that being subdued they continued Nescia vinci vexing the Conqueror after they had submitted to him by such continual Revolts as suffered him not to sheath his Sword all his Reign or if he did urged him to continue still so suspicious of their Loyalty that he was sorc'd alway to keep his hand upon the hilt ready to draw it forth having not leisure to intend what was before established much less to establish what he before intended So that they put upon him a kind of necessity of being a Tyrant to make good his being a King Yet such was the moderation of his mind that he chose rather to bind them stricter to him by the old Laws then to gall them with any new guarding his Prerogative within that Cittadel of the Burrough Law as they call'd it from whence as often as they began to mutiny he batter'd them with their own Ordnance and so made them Parties to their own wrong and however some that design'd to pre-occupate the grace of Servitude gave him the ungrateful Title of Conqueror which he esteem'd the greatest misfortune his good Fortune had brought upon him thereby to proclaim his Power to be as boundless as his Will which they took to be above all Limitation or Contradiction yet we find he suffered himself to be so far conquer'd by them that instead of giving to he took the Law from them and contentedly bound himself up by those which they call'd St. Edward's Laws which being an Abbreviation of the great triple Code of Danique Merke and West-Sexe Laws was such a form of Combination as he himself could not desire to introduce a better and if any thing look'd like absolute 't was his disarming them when he found them thus Law-bound hand and foot After which he erected divers Fortresses where he thought fit dispos'd all Offices of Command and Judicature to such as he could best confide in and by that Law of Cover feu obliging them to the observation of better hours of Repose then they had formerly been us'd to gave himself more rest as well as them As for his putting the Law into a Language they understood not whereby they were made more learn'd or less litigious then they were before it was that the Lawyers only had cause to complain of whose practise at the first perhaps was a
Troyes she should be there to be espoused to him and with her he should have the Assurance of the Crown of France after the Decease of her Father and to gain the more Credit the Bishop secretly deliver'd him a Letter from the Princess her own hand which contained in it so much sweetness as had been enough to have made any other man but himself have surfeited with Joy his happiness being now so full and compleat that he had nothing beyond what he enjoyed to hope for Upon his Marriage with her he was published Regent of the Kingdom and Heir apparent to the Crown the Articles being published in both Realms and the two Kings and all their Nobility Sworn to the observance of them only the Daulphin stood out in utter Defiance both of his Right and Power Against him therefore the two Kings his Father and Brother together with the King of Scots who was newly arrived the young Duke of Burgundy and the Prince of Orange the Dukes of Clarence Gloucester and Bedford and twenty one Earls forty five Barons and Knights and Esquires sans nombre advanc'd with an Army of French English Scotch and Irish to the number of six hundred thousand if the Historians of that time may be credited and having taken in all the Towns and Places that denied to yield they return'd to Paris where King Henry the Articles being ratified the second time and a Counterpart sent into England began to exercise his Regency by Coyning of Money with the Arms of England and France on it placing and displacing of Officers making new Laws and Edicts and lastly awarding Process against the Daulphin to appear at the Marble Table to answer for the Murther of the Duke of Burgundy But being willing to shew his Queen how great a King he was before she brought him that Kingdom he left his Brother Clarence his Lieutenant General there and brought her over into England where he spent some time in the Administration of Justice and performing such Acts of Peace as spoke him no less expert in the knowledge of governing then in that of getting a Kingdom But he had not been long here before he received the sad News of the death of his Brother Clarence who betrayed by the Duke of Alansons Contrivance into an Ambuscade was slain together with the Earls of Tankervile Somerset Suffolk and Perch and about two thousand Common Souldiers whereupon he deputed the Earl of Mortaine in his room and not long after went back again himself with his Brother Bedford to reinforce the War taking in all the Fortresses in the Isle of France in Lovaine Bry and Champagne during which time the Daulphin was not idle but industrious to regain Fortunes savour if it were possible made many bold Attempts upon several places in possession of the English But finding the Genius of our Nation to have the Predominancy over that of his own he diverted his Fury upon the Duke of Burgundy betwixt whom and King Henry he put this difference That as he dreaded the one so he hated the other Accordingly he laid Seige to Cosney a Place not very considerable in it self but as it was a Town of the Duke of Burgundy's King Henry was so concern'd to relieve it beyond any of his own that he marched Night and Day to get up to the Enemy and making over-hasty Journeys over-heat himself with unusual Travel and fell so sick that he was fain to rest himself at Senlis and trust to the Care of his Brother the Duke of Bedford to prosecute the Design who relieved the Town and forced the Daulphin to retreat as he thought a great Looser by the Seige but it prov'd quite otherwise For the loss of the Town was nothing in comparison of the loss of King Henry who died not long after and which made his Death the more deplorable was That he no sooner left the World but Fortune left the English whereof having some Prophetick Revelation 't is thought the knowledge thereof might not be the least reason of shortning his Dayes by adding to the violence of his Distemper For 't is credibly reported that at the News of the Birth of his Son Henry born at Windsor himself being then in France even wearied with continual Victories he cryed out in a Prophetick Rapture Good Lord Henry of Monmouth shall small time Reign and get much and Henry of Windsor shall long time Reign and lose all but Gods will be done Which saying has given occasion to some to magnifie his Memory above all the Kings that were before him not to say all that came after him in that he was in some sense both King Priest and Prophet HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE A Prince of excellent Parts in their kind though not of kindly Parts for a Prince being such as were neither sit for the Warlike Age he was born in nor agreeable to the Glory he was born to but such rather as better became a Priest then a Prince So that the Title which was sometimes given to his Father with relation to his Piety might better have been applyed to the Son with reference to his that he was the Prince of Priests Herein only was the difference betwixt them That the Religion of the one made him bold as a Lion that of the other made him as meek as a Lamb. A temper neither happy for the times nor himself for had he had less Phlegme and more Cholar less of the Dove-like Innocence and more of the Serpentine subtilty 't is probable he had not only been happier whilst he liv'd but more respected after he was dead whereas now notwithstanding all his Indulgence to the Church and Church-men there was none of them so grateful as to give him after he was murther'd Christian Burial but left him to be interr'd without Priest or Prayer without Torch or Taper Mass or Mourner indeed so without any regard to his Person and Pre-eminence that if his Obsequies were any whit better then that which holy Writ calls the Burial of an Ass yet were they such that his very Competitor Edward the Fourth who denied him the Rights of Majesty living thought him too much wronged being dead that to him some kind of satisfaction he was himself at the charge of building him a Monument The beginning of his Reign which every Body expected to have been the worst and like to prove the most unsuccessful part in respect of his Minority being but Nine Months old when he was crown'd happen'd to be the best and most prosperous there being a plentiful stock of brave men left to spend upon who behaved themselves so uprightly and carefully that it appear'd the Trust repos'd in them by the Father had made a strong Impression of Love and Loyalty to the Son The Duke of Bedford had the Regency of France the Duke of Gloucester the Government of England the Duke of Exeter and the Cardinal Beauford had the Charge of his
headless Queens The Lady Anna Buloigne and the Lady Katherine Howard either as far divided in Religion as they were in their Affections Eight dayes and upwards past between the proclaiming of this Queen and the calling her first Parliament during which time the two Religions were publickly permitted with equal Indulgence The Divine Service being so blended with Superstition that as one observes the State of England before her Persecution was not much unlike that of the Jews after theirs who presently upon the Captivity took a mid way between Hebrew and Ashdod on the same day that Mass was sung in the Quire at Westminster the English Service was sung in the Body of the Church And the two Religions if divided Opinions may deserve that Name being thus brought to confront each other no marvel if the Demagogues of each Perswasion justled for Precedence the Protestants being back'd by the present Laws the Papists by the Prerogative these incouraged by the Queens Opinion those by her Promises But as in the close of Day light and darkness contesting for Superiority seem equally match'd till in the end the latter prevails So happen'd it now upon the death of the late King whose Religion being different to that of his Successor the Question was which must take place and become the Religion of the State She her self being not so forward to declare after she came to be Queen as she was before But to palliate the matter in discharge of her Obligations to the Loyal Protestant Gentry of Suffolk and Norfolk that were the first set her up she seem'd content to call a Parliament that might take off the Odium from her making way to it by a general pardon which had so many Exceptions in it as shew'd there would be more found at the Convention And now being fearless of any more danger by Rivals happy in the single possession of her self and Throne there wanted nothing to compleat her felicity save that she knew it not Whereby it fell out so unluckily that she brought upon her self very great hatred and clamor by that whereby most Princes secure the love of their People to them whilst being wholly guided by those of her Councel she submitted her Reason to their Passions who under the pretence of Religion ingaged her in the greatest Persecâ—tion that ever was known under any Christian Government causing her to shed more Blood although she reign'd only five years four months and some odd dayes then was spilt by those two great Tyrants Richard the Third and her own Father putting both together there dying for Religion only not to mention what suffer'd on Civil Accompts no less then Three hundred whereof there was one Arch-bishop four Bishops and twenty one Divines of note But that which made it the more supportable was that however she was prodigal of her Subjects Lives she was yet more sparing of their Livelyhoods For she began with a rare Example in pardoning the very first Subsidy she had and she never had but one more So that putting that which was remitted against that which was received she had upon the matter none at all all her time And yet we find she was in continual Action at home or abroad having alwayes as her Father before her occasion to make use of men at Arms either to defend or inlarge her Dominions For as she was obstinate in the Resolution she had taken of restoring the Popes Authority contrary to the promise she made to those who first set her up being perswaded by the Priests that rul'd there that she had no such way to manifest her Faith as by the breach of it So she cut out so much matter for Rebellion by the Violence she offer'd both to Conscience and Interest that she had little Rest but no Peace all her dayes Now whether it were a natural Distrust of her weakness as she was a Woman or a Feminine Diffidence of her Wisdom as she was a Maid or that in truth she desir'd a help meet for satisfaction of her Affections as well as for support of her Affairs is not otherwise to be judg'd then by the choice she made But so it was that finding she could not stand by her self without a Husband no more then an Adjective without a Substantive she propos'd it as the first thing to her Councel directing them to make choice of such an one for her as might be as fit to give Laws to her as she to them Three there were in Proposal for her Philip Infant of Spain Son to the Emperour Charles the Fifth the old Cardinal Pool and the young Marquiss of Exeter to each of which as there were some Motives to draw her Affections so there were many Arguments to disswade her from them Those that had respect to the settlement of the Kingdom thought Philip the fittest match as being a Puissant King strengthned with many great Allies and who had as great an Enmity to the French the only Enemy England ought to fear as they themselves But against him the first Objection was That he was a Stranger The second That being Native of Spain he probably might by this Match bring England into some danger of Subjection to that Kingdom And lastly That there was somewhat of undecency not to say inequality in respect to his Person for that it seem'd strange that she should be the Wife of the Son now who thirty years before should have been Wife to the Father Those that stood for the Cardinal urg'd his Love to his Country and the Love the Country had for him in respect of his great Sanctimony and Wisdom which rendred him particularly acceptable to the Queen then for his Dignity he was not much inferiour to Kings and by his Mother descended from Kings and for his Age it was more agreeable to that of the Queens then that of either of the other two But the principal end of Marriage being Procreation he fell under an exception not to be answer'd as being a Batchelor of near Sixty four years old and so needed a Nurse rather then a Wife The Youth of the Lord Courtney being a brisk Cavalier and by Birth as well as the best Blood of England and France could make him gave him the preferrence above the Cardinal But some of the Juncto objecting That he lov'd Popularity more then ever he could be brought to love the Queen and that he smell'd too ranck of Lutherism to be her Bed-fellow they carried it by a general Vote against him for King Philip as well to take off all Exceptions by the Disparagement of marrying a Subject as for those seasonable and most Incredible Advantages it brought to England which were express'd in the Instrument of Marriage yet extant whereof there needs no further mention then the addition of the Netherlands and Burgundy to be for ever a Member of the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case there had been any Issue betwixt them All this notwithstanding such was the