Queens Ferry with 1600 Foot and four Troops of Horse having in his said passage lost but six men as soon as they were arrived they fell to intrenching themselves and at the same time the Generall with the body of the Army marched directly towards the Enemy to the end that in case the Scots should make a shew to march towards Fife he might charge their Rear before they should gain Sterling and the Scots being unwilling to let the day passe without driving the English out of Fife sent 4000 Horse and Foot under the command of Sir John Brown to set upon the English which obliged Generall Cromwell to send over a re-inforcement of two Regiments of Horse and two Regiments of Foot under the Command of Major Generall Lambert in lesse then 24 hours they were passed over and joyned to the others and immediately the Regiment of Colonel Okey advanced towards the Enemy which ingaged them to draw up into Battel-array and the English likewise did the same who though they were more in number then the Scots yet they had the advantage of the ground and the Scots being placed on a hill they remained face to face for the space of an hour and a half looking on each other the Scots not being willing to march down nor lose their advantage insomuch that the English at last resolved to march up towards them and set upon them so resolutely as that after a very slender contest they quite routed them and made such a butchery amongst them that they killed 2000 of their 4000 took 1400 Prisoners amongst whom Sir John Brown who commanded the Party Colonel Buchanam and severall other persons of quality on the English side there were but few slain but many hurt and in reference hereunto more Forces were sent over into Fyfe in case the whole Body of both Armies might chance to come to a generall Battell Immediatly after the English became Masters of Inchigarvy a strong Castle scituate upon a Rock in the midst of the Province of Fryth between Queens Ferry and North Ferry in which there were sixteen piece of Ordnance mounted On the twenty seventh of July all the English Army appearing before Brunt Island the Governour there of took such an Alarme thereat as that after a small Contest in a Parley he surrendred the same delivering unto the English together with the said Island all the Men of War which were found in the Haven all the Cannon of the place as also all the Armes Ammunition of War and the provision of Victuals which said Isle was very considerable for the English to make a Magazine and Storehouse for the Provisions and Ammunition for the Army Thence the Army marched to St. John's Town a very strong and considerable place into which the Enemy had but just before put a fresh Regiment who were resolved to have defended themselves very well but as soon as they saw that their Sluces were cut off by the English they lost their Courage and surrendred the place Meanwhile there happened a great change of Affairs for the Scots Army consisting in 16000 men abandoned their own Territories in hopes of establishing themselves in a better Country and by the way of Carlisle enter England General Cromwell being advertised hereof issued out immediatly such Orders as were requisite to pursue the Scots and with all possible speed the Army repassed the River of Fife upon a Bridge of Boats at Leith Major General Lambert the sooner to overtake the Enemies Rear with 3000 Horse and Dragoons followed after them and Major General Harrison with a Body of lighter Horse was commanded to get into the Van of the Enemy for to amuse and detain them whilst the General himself with the Body of the Army consisting in sixteen Regiments of Horse and Foot immediatly pursued the Enemy But not wholly to abandon the Affaires of Scotland Colonel Monk was left there with 7000 men with which alone he perfected the Conquest of that Kingdome taking immediatly after this Change of the Scene the strong Town and Castle of Sterling being a very considerable Place and also Aberdeen Dundee and the strong Castle of Dunnotters and Dunbarton with many others Insomuch as that after the passage into Fyfe was once gained the remaining parts of Scotland were so on entirely subdued and were made tributary unto the Common-wealth of England Mean while the divided Parties of the English Forces which pursued the Scots Army did quite and clean tire them out during their March setting upon them sometimes in the Van sometimes in the Rear sometimes in the Flank and finally on all sides as they saw their oportunity to disturb and annoy them Insomuch that their long and precipitated March did much weaken the Scots But that which troubled and vexed them most of all was the little hopes they saw of those promises of relief which were given them from England The Parliament having settled such good Orders in all parts as that no body durst stir or rise in Armes to their Aide In all places wheresoever the Scots came they proclaimed their King To be King of great Britain France and Ireland according to the accustomed Formes and in his Name they sent unto all those who had any Commands or were in any Authority in those parts through which they passed to rise in Armes joyntly with them but no body budged To the contrary by Order of Parliament the Trained Bands of severall Countries drew forth in Armes to hinder the Risings and to augment the Common-wealths Armies On the one side General Cromwells Army marched on the Heels of the Scots to their Terrour on the other side the Major General Lambert and Harrison waited upon their Designs and Colonel Robert Lilborn was left in Lancashire to hinder the Earl of Darby from levying men in those parts and to the same purpose severall other Bodies were placed in other places as the occasion required both to cut off the Enemies Provisions as well as his passage In case they should resolve to retreat back again or to fly away Finally the Scotch Army having reached the Town of Worcester pitched its Camp there having much debated where and in what manner they should fix upon a resting and breathing place after so long and tedious a march Whereof the Earl of Darby was no sooner assertained but he issued forth of his Island with 300 Gentlemen and Landed in Lancashire where he assembled at least 1200 men during which the Generals Regiment which was left at Manchester was Commanded to joyn with Colonel Lilborne to cut off the Earl of Darbies passage to Manchester whither he was marching to have faln upon the said Regiment but Colonel Lilborne observing his motion marched the very same way joyning Flank and Flank with the Earls Forces who deeming that he ought not to defer the Fight with Lilborne till he should have joyned with the Generals Regiment when as then he might have proved too
Fleet of nine great Ships which served to shelter several other small ones whereby the trade of England was much impeded and incommodated which obliged the Parliament to put forth a most puissant Naval Army to Sea fitted with good Mariners and all kinde of necessary war-like Ammunitions The sole brute of this Fleet made all the Enemies Ships to run into their several skulking holes like unto so many Conies and Prince Rupert being not strong enough to encounter them was forced to retire into Kingsale Haven in Ireland where he was immediately blocked up by the Parliaments Fleet whilest General Cromwell besieged both the Port and Town by land and Prince Rupert being forced to make a vertue of necessity resolved to bear the brunt of all the English Fleet and so saved himself leaving behinde him three Ships which by that occasion were taken and finally after several turnings and turmoilings be cast anchor at Lisbone where he was protected by the King of Portugal which caused the rupture betwixt this Common-wealth and that Crown and all those mischiefs which ensued as we hereafter shall rehearse Meanwhile the Royallists in Scotland seeing the Parliament was busied in Ireland thought to lay hold on a fit opportunity to play their game and to that purpose the Earle of Montrosse having landed in the North of Scotland with some Forces he had raised in Holland and other parts assembled the old Souldiers who had formerly served under him and armed them with such Arms as he had brought from Holland but before he could make a considerable body he was defeated by the Presbyter Forces taken and hanged on a very high Gibbet which is the last mark of infamy in that Countrey Within a while after there was a Treaty commenced at Breda between the Scots and their King to install and re-establish him in that Kingdome and in the others according as Fortune should answer their designs and expectations and to this end they deputed Ambassadors into Spain Italy Denmarke Sweden Russia and into Turkey and finally throughout all Europe to demand relief aid and assistance But all their Embassies procured neither men nor money only their Ambassadors were laden with Complements and good wishes in return each others particular affairs not permitting them to do more All which gave unto the Common-wealth of England not any great fears but great jealousies wherefore the better to be informed of the passages abroad and the better to fortifie themselves by foraign Leagues and Alliances M. Dorislaus a person full of knowledge and conduct was sent in the quality of an Agent towards the States of the United Provinces the chief drift of this Negotiation being to criment a good and firm understanding between the two Common-wealths But scarce was he arrived at the Hague when five or six disguised persons entred forcibly into his Chamber and massacred him And whilest it seemed all things were a profound Calm in England or that at least the course of the Enemies designs both at home and abroad being sufficiently known to the State on a suddain there sprang up the most formidable faction that ever was hatch'd since these last Warres A certain number of persons who called themselves Levellers whose pretenses were to render all mens goods and possessions alike and truely this was a very plausible design and might doubtlesse have met with as many Abetters as there are men in the world who have no other possessions or Revenues but their good wills to obtaine them The chief of these Levellers was one John Lilborn a man of a dating and attempting spirit who could not remain quiet but was altogether invincible not to be moved by threats nor gained by the favour or presents of fortune which were beneath the extent of his ambition and a considerable part of the Army siding with their Leader they augmented in numbers as fast as the shortnesse of the time would permit the confluence of such men as flattered themselves with such fond hopes and who promised themselves a revenge and and establishment by a second Revolution and change But before all those who intended to have sided with them could come up to them and unite in one body they were vigorously set upon by the Lord Fairfax at that time the Common-wealths General who defeated them at a place called Burford in the County of Oxford where their Leader and the best part of his Souldiers were taken some of which were put to death for example sake and some others were banish'd but the greatest part were pardoned and admitted into favour again As for their Leader John Lilborne being brought up to London he appeared before the chief Officers and Judges of London and Westminster the Lord Maior Sheriffs and divers others where he was not only accused of divers Martial Crimes but also Politick ones as having been the Author of several scandalous and defamatory Libells against the State which tended to render the Government odious and to beget a Mutiny in the people however he so dexterously shifted himself of all these accusations as that the Judges declared him Not guilty Much about that very time Mr. Anthony Ascham a most judicious and accomplished Gentleman was Deputed and sent over in the quality of an Agent to the King of Spain and arrived at the Port of Sancta Maria on the 5. of June 1650. where being advertised but his person was in danger he was constrained to cause himself to be guarded to Madrid where the next day after his arrival as he was at Dinner six men knocked at his Chamber doore which was immediately opened unto them and he rising from the Table to receive them the first of the said parties stabbed him in the head with a Dagger so that he fell down dead to the ground and his Interpreter Signior Riba being not able to make his escape soon enough was likewise stabbed in the belly which being thus done the Murderers would have saved themselves in the Venetian Ambassadors house who refused them protection whence they retired themselves into a Church which in Spain is a Sanctuary which the Justice ought not to violate whence however the King of Spain had them taken and put into prison one only excepted who made an escape Hence there arose a great contest betwixt the King and the Clergy who complain'd that their priviledges had been infringed and demanded that the Prisoners might be returned unto them and on the other side the Parliament of England pressed hard to have justice done on them and though message upon message instance upon instance were used therein yet they took no effect And lest it may seem that all these foraign Negotiations which we have here inserted may be beyond my subject however if they be considered as so many obstacles which Fortune opposed unto the vertue and greatness of his late Highness you will find that the recitall of them will not be altogether uselesse the rather since I have related them as succinctly as possibly
second of July next ensuing and in convenient space of time arived safely at their designed Port. Within a moneth after which General Pen arrived in England having left the best part of the Fleet in those parts under the Command of Vice-Admiral Goodson a very valiant and experienced Sea-Commander and the Troops which had mastered Jamaica under the Command of Collonel Fortescue But as all prosperities are usually accompanied with some small Allayes of adversity the Almighty suffering it to be so for our instruction and precaution and to humble us in our highest transcendencies of Fortune Wherefore the said Fleet having gained the height of the Havennas in the Isle of Cuba the Paragon Frigot was fired by negligence and perished in the flames with the greatest part of its Company and Mariners before she could be succoured or relieved On the ninth of the moneth of September ensuing General Venables likewise returned from the Indies in the Frigot called the Marston-moor in so weak and dejected a condition that he was even at deaths door and nothing save the change of Air could possibly have saved him Mean while the sympathy which all great and couragious persons seem to have for each other begat a desire in his late Highness to be in amity with the King of Sweden and likewise the King of Sweden on the other side coveted the same thing so that the noble Lord Bulstrode Whitlock one of Englands Worthies having scarce his like for profound Knowledge and Sagacity after he had resided for the space of eight Moneths in Sweden terminated his Embassy by a compleat Peace and glorious Alliance which he had concluded between that Crown and England and returned himself to bring the good tydings thereof Now for the preservation of the Peace of this Commonwealth his late Highness constituted several Major-Generals in the respective Counties thereof whose Names are as followeth viz. 1. For Kent and Surrey Collonel Kelsey 2. For Sussex Hamshire and Barkeshire Collonel Goff 3. For Glocestershire Wilts Dorset Somerset Devon and Cornwal General Desborow 4. For Oxfordshire Bucks Hertford Cambridge Isle of Ely Essex Norfolk and Suffolk the Lord Deputy Fleetwood 5. For the City of London Major General Skippon 6. For Lincolnshire Nottingham Derby Warwick and Leicestershire Commislary General Whaley 7. For Northamptonshire Bedford Rutland and Huntington Major Butler 8. For Worcester Hereford Salop and North-Wales Collonel Berry 9. For Cheshire Lancashire and Staffordshire Collonel Wortley 10. For Yorkeshire Durham Cumberland VVestmerland and Northumberland the Lord Lambert 11. For VVestminster and Middlesex the Lieuetenant of the Tower At this time France on her side being jealous of the several applications profers and propositions which the Spaniards made unto England to beget an alliance with us began to be sensible that it was high time to think upon her own preservation her navigation being quite ruined her subjects divided by Civil Wars and intestine troubles and her forreign Enemies as powerful as ever resolved at length to make an address to his late Highness for an Alliance of Peace Besides that his late Highness harboured a natural aversness and hatred against the Spaniards who time out of minde have alwayes been the implacable and cruel Enemies of England as well as of all mankinde besides and who under a fair pretence of Religion and Amity endeavour to withdraw the Subjects of their Allyes and make them swerve from their Allegiance and Fidelity either by the powerful operations of money gifts and such like other bewitching inducements rendring themselves the Masters of the peoples inclinations when by their Valour they cannot overcome them in Battel nor by force of Arms gain their Towns or Fortresses But his late Highness open vertue and magnanimous courage disdaining any Commerce with this kinde of insinuating and entreaguing Nation the Lion being too noble to enter into association and communication with the Fox The French policy did better jump with his humor and their manner in vanquishing their Enemies in a pitch'd Battel and forcing them upon the very Ramparts of their Fortresses did better please and second his War-like vertue and by whose good intelligence and communication the English growing discipline could not choose but attain to a rare perfection whereas the Spaniards might happily have poysoned them by their Wiles and Subilties and have corrupted them by their Hipocritical false Alloy and Mettal Besides that the Liberty which is granted by the French to those who are of a different opinion in the points of Religion was a great inducement to move his Highness rather to incline to a peace with that Nation since himself was ever so tender in matters of Religion as that he believed it did onely belong to the Almighty to force the Consciences of Men at least to enlighten and inspire them by his Graces which are onely capable to convince our reason Finally The Articles of peace with France which were so much traversed by the Spanish Faction were concluded and signed by such Commissioners as his late Highness had thereunto deputed and on the other part by his excellency the Lord Bourdeaux Ambassador of France and on the eight and twentieth day of the moneth of November next ensuing the publication of the said Treaty was proclaimed first at White-hall by the Heralds of Arms the sound of Trumpets and other formalities accustomed on the like occasions afterwards in the Palace-yard at Westminster and in the other usual places in the City of London where such like Proclamations are made and on the self-same day it was also published at Paris with a general applause and joy at least of the Merchants who by the preceding misunderstanding between England and France were quite ruined and who by this conclusion of peace found not onely the Seas open and free for them to trade in but that the English of their worst Enemies became their best friends by causing a bundance to reign in their Rivers and Territories and by begetting an assured Commerce and Navigation in all those Seas wherein the Navigation extended it self Nor was the Lord Major of the City of Paris less glad then the poor Citizens who all of them witnessed an equal joy and allacrity finding themselves indulged by this Treaty of peace from breaking their Ember-weeks their Lent and Fasting dayes as they call them since they would otherwise have been constrained by reason of the excessive rates which fish butter and cheese and such other small ratable wares were grown to to have kept more fasting dayes then the Roman Kallendar doth enjoyn them which would have been a double Penance and an intollerable mortification From all which they were freed by this happy Peace and in acknowledgement whereof the Guns and Chambers from the Market-place and Town-House called the Greve as well as those from the Bastile or Tower ecchoed forth the joy which the Monsieurs conceived of this forerunner of the peace and tranquillity which they
Letters the most exquisite that are in any Language by Mr. Robert Lovedey who was the late admired Translator of the Volumes of the famed Romance Cleopatra Published by his dear Brother Mr. A. L. 15. The so long expected Work the New World of English Words or a general Dictionary containing the Terms Etymologies Definitions and perfect Interpretations of the proper signification of hard English words throughout the Arts and Sciences Liberal or Mechanick as also other subjects that are useful or appertain to the Language of our Nation to which is added the signification of Proper Names Mythology and Poetical Fictions Historical Relations Geographical Descriptions of the Countreys and Cities of the World especially of these three Nations wherein their chiefest Antiquities Battels and other most memorable Passages are mentioned by E. P. 16 A learned Comentary on Psalm the fifteenth by that Reverend and Eminent Divine Mr. Christopher Cartwright Minister of the Gospel in York to which is prefixed a brief account to the Authors life and of his Work by R. Bolton 17. The way to Bliss in three Books being a learned Treatise of the Philosophers Stone made publique by Elias Ashmole Esq 18. Wit restored in several Select Poems not formerly publisht by Sir John Mennis Mr. Smith and others 19. The Modern Assurancer the Clerks Directory containing the Practick Part of the Law in the exact Forms and Draughts of all manner of Presidents for Bargains and Sales Grants Feoffements Bonds Bills Conditions Covenants Jointures Indentures c. And all other Instruments and Assurances now in use by John Hern. 20. Naps upon Parnassus A sleepy Muse nipt and pincht though not awakened Such voluntary and Jovial Coppies of Verses as were lately received from some of the WITS of the Universities in a Frolick dedicated to Gondibert's Mistress by Captain Jones and others c. 21. The compleat Midwife's Practice in the high and weighty Concerments of Mankinde the second Edition corrected and enlarged with a full Supply of such most useful and admirable Secrets which Mr. Nicholas Culpeper in his brief Treatise and other English Writers in the Art of Midwifry have hitherto wilfully passed by kept cose to themselves or wholly omitted by T. Chamberlaine M. P. 22. America Painted to the Life the History of the Conquest and first Original undertakings of the advancement of the Plantations in those Parts with an exquisite Map by F. Gorges Esquire 23. Culpeper's School of Physick or the Experimental Practice of the whole Art so reduced either into Aphorismes or choice and tried Receipts that the free-born Students of the three Kingdoms may in this Method finde perfect wayes for the operation of such Medicines so astrologically and Physically prescribed as that they may themselves be competent judges of the Cures of their Patients by N. C. 24. Blagrave's admirable Ephemerides for the Year 1659. 25. History and Policy Reviewed in the Heroick transactions of his most Serene Highness Oliver late Lord Protector declaring his steps to Princely Perfection drawn in lively Parallels to the Ascents of the great Patriarch Moses to the height of 30 degrees of Honor by H. D. Esq 26. J. Cleaveland Revived Poems Orations Epistles and other of his Genuine Incomparable Pieces never before Publisht 27. England's Worthies Select Lives of the most eminent Persons of the three Nations from Constantine the Great to these times by W. Winstanly 28. The History of the Life and Death of his most Serene Highness Oliver late Lord Protector Wherein from his Cradle to his Tomb are impartially transmitted to Posterity the most weighty Transactions forreign or Domestique that have happened in his Time either in Matters of Law Proceedings in Parliaments or others Affairs in Church or State by S. Carrington 29. The right Lozenges publickly sold by Edmund Buckworth in St. Katherines Court for Coughs and Consumption of the Lungs c. are to be had at Nath. Brook's and John Grismond's in Ivy-lane and at no other place FINIS His Highness Birth and Parentage Lingua the Combate of the Sences His excellent qualifications The first Engagement The Treasure of the University sailed on A remarkable expedition The Battell of Marston Moor. His Highness admirable management of the Bartell at Nazeby The Victory of Preston in Lancashire The Monarchiall Government changed into a Common Wealth Forces sent into Ireland General Cromwell goes for Ireland and arrives there in August 1649. Drogedah in Ireland besieged The Common-wealth prepares to war against the Scots His late Highness made Generalissimo of the Common-wealths Armies A Manifest concerning the Scotch warre The Bâ—â—…teâ—… of Dunia gainte by the English Lieth taken Edinborâ—ugh taken The besieging of Edinborough Castle The good successe of the Naval Forces under General Blake Prince Ruperts Fleet ruined A Declaration for the security of the Soldiers The reducing the Isle of Scilly Blacknâ—sse taken by Coloâ—el Monk The Scots unitâ— A Plot discovered Major General Harrison sent to the North. Mr. Love Gibbons beheaded The Scotch army compleated refuse to fight Colonel Overton passes into Fife Major General Lambert passes into Fife 4000 Scots defeated by the English Brunt Isleland surrendred St. Johns Town surrendred The Scots enter England by Carlisle The English follow Colonel Monk with 7000 men reduceth all Scotland The Earle of Darby defeated Worcester Fight The Scots defeated at Worcester The remaining Nobility of Scotland seised and sent into England The Isle of Jersey attempted Jersey and all the Castles taken The Isle of Man attempted and reduced Guernsâ—y Castle surrendred The death of two famous Persons in England An Act of Parliament concerning the Importation and exportation of Goods Merchandises A Rupture with Holland caused The first Sea-fight with the Hollander May 52. Open War with Holland The Hollanders Fishermen destroyed in the North. A Holland Fleet destroyed by Sir Geo. Askue The Plimouth fight with the Dutch Six Hollanders Ships taken by Gen. Blake Six more taken by Captain Penne. A French Fleet taken by Gen. Blake The Kentish Knock a fight with the Hollanders Two Ambassadors arrive in England Severall passages between the English the Danes The Antelope Frigate lost 20 Holland Barques and 2 Men of War taken Another Sea Fight betwixt the English the Hollander in December A Fight between the English and the Hollander near the Isle of Wight Portland The Phenix regained A second Sea-fight in the Levant between the English and the Dutch A Portugal Ambassadour obtains Peace French Deputations sent to England Deputations concerning a peace with Holland The â—…ong Parliament dissolved The Lord General Cromwel and his Councells Manifest for the dissolving the Parliament A Declaration for settling a Councel of State A Fight between the English and the Dutch on the North Foreland The Dutch worsted and many Ships taken The Hollanders pursued and blocked up in their own Ports A Parliament called by General Cromwel The Generals Speech to the Members The Instrument of Government delivered to the
Town of Cambridge so his first care was to settle that place for the Parliament although he met with great Obstacles therein and the Reason likewise was very harsh it being the Month of January the very heart of the Winter Now you are to note that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the first of all the Towns in England which declared themselves for the King and the last which acknowledged the new established Authority by reason they were filled with persons designed to possess those Church Goods which were in the Kings Donation besides which the Parliament detesting their Commissions was resolved to reduce and reform them His late Highness having notice that all the Colledges were making a Stock and Assembly of all their Plate and of what ready monies they had to send it unto the King all which amounted unto a very considerabe Sum went suddenly to Cambridge and seized all that Treasure just as it was ready to be sent away unto Oxford And as he was upon this Expedition he signallized himself far more by another Action Sir Thomas Comes who was newly made Sheriff of Hertford Shire had received Orders from the King to publish a Proclamation by which the County of Kent and all its Adherents were proclaimed Traytors His late Highness surprised him in the very Action on a Market-day in the Town of St. Albons and having seized the said Knight he sent him up to the Parliament And not long afterwards he very oportunely assembled all the Forces of the County of Cambridge exhorted the Neighbouring Counties of Suffolk Norfolk and Essex to send him their Aydes to oppose the Lord Capell who was to have been seconded by Prince Rupert and should have seized Cambridge and thereby have impeded the association of the united Counties about London which were the only Bulwark and Defence of that great City wherein the Sinews of War did consist and by whose resolutions and proceedings the rest of the Kingdome was then governed His Highness diligence and vigilancy at that time brake the Neck of that Design and forced the Lord Capell and Prince Rupert to direct their Thoughts another way In the beginning of the Month of March next ensuing his late Highness having compleated a Regiment of Horse to the full number of a thousand Men marched with great diligence into the County of Suffolk on the advice which he had received of a great Confederacy which was there hatching between the Nobility of the Kings Party who were assembled in a considerable Town called Lowerstost whom he so unsuspectedly surprised as that he became Master of the place without the fiering of one Gun He took Prisoners Sir Thomas Barker Sir John Pettas his Brother Mr. Knevet Catlines Hammond Cory Turrill Preston and above twenty other Persons of Note He likewise there took severall parcels of Armes and Ammunition and other War-like Equipages sufficient to have armed a considerable Party and had not his Highness made use of his accustomed Prudence and his usuall Activity in this Conjuncture he had met with a great deal of difficulty on this account and the whole County had run a danger to have been lost severall persons of Quality and divers Noble men hourly flocking to that Randezvous This Service was most seasonably rendred to the Parliament and the Kings Party both in Suffolk and Norfolk were thereby totally disheartned and diâ—…ncouraged The Spring being advanced and the Season permitting the framing of greater Designs and taking of longer Marches his Highness having well setled the Peace and Tranquillity of the associated Counties which as we have sayd served as a Bulwark to the Parliament his Mind and his Valour requiring a space of Ground as vast as its Activity he raised a Body of an Army and that a very considerable one being composed of such zealous persons as had already been charmed with his Conduct and being attracted by his Reputation did voluntarily come in unto him to serve with and under him in the Cause of Religion He thus Marched into Lincolnshire with a Resolution to assist those Forces which lay about Newark one of the strongest places which held out as then for the King into which the greatest part of the Gentry of Lincolnshire had retired themselves and where there was a good Garison commanded by Officers who had served their Apprentiships in the Military Art beyond the Seas so that they fetcht in vast Contributions out of the Neighbouring Counties and made Inroads to the very Gates of Lincoln And his Highness being now at the Head of a Regiment of Horse in his passage through Huntingtonshire was willing to deliver his Native Country from those Disorders which two contrary Parties do usually cause and commit being in one Shire he therefore disarmed all those who were not affectioned to the Parliament by which means he so enlarged and augmented his Troops that he had gotten two thousand Men together and before he came neer Newark he received another re inforcement of Horse which was sent him by Captain Hotham as also some other Troops which were sent him from Lincoln insomuch that he thus framed a sufficient considerable Body of an Army for that time He no sooner was come nigh to Newark but that he signallized himself by an Action which was the more glorious by how much the less it was expected nor foreseen Captain Wray having so inconsideratly placed himself with his Lincolne Horse too nigh Newark was in the Night set upon by the Garrison which made a great Sally and surrounded and took all his Men the Alarm comming hot to his late Highness Quarters he forthwith repaired to the place where the Fight was it being then about ten of the Clock in the Night relieved the said Captain Wray and took three whole Companies of the Enemy killed the rest on the place and made good his Retreat by Favour of the dark Night After which having blocked up the place he received those Sallies which were made by the Besieged with so much Courage and Vigilancy as that he alwaies came off with advantage sometimes forcing the Enemies into their very Works and sometimes cutting them in pieces insomuch that he never returned unto the Camp but he was laden either with Prisoners Spoyles or Colours and that he might neglect no occasion for to give a testimony of his Prudence and Activity he also scouted abroad into the Country with his Horse and neer unto Grantham he defeated a strong Party which came forth of Newark with a handful of Men onely since which the World did take notice that there was somewhat more then ordinary in the person of his late Highness And not long after he also defeated part of the Lord of Newcastles Army which came to relieve Newark setting upon them in their Quarters betwixt Grantham and Newark where he took one hundred Horses forty Prisoners and killed severall on the place And should I particularlize all his late Highness's memorable Actions
Besides we may also look upon them as so many seeds sowen to beget those warres which thereon ensued and which were by the late Protector rather by most glorious Treaties whereunto he was sought or by most signal Victories which were obtain'd and brought to a happy period by which the blood of these two Agents so cruelly murdered were retaliated with use But to go on to our History the Treaty of Breda being absolutely concluded and notwithstanding the great Antipathy and animosity between the Royallists and the Presbyterians all their jealousies and grudges were seemingly reconcised so that the Scotch wanted nothing to compleat their design but to enjoy their Kings preserce who immediately coming to the Hague went thence for Schevelinge and embarqued himself for Scotland notwithstanding the dangers and perils of the Sea which were very great and the English Ships which had way-laid him to surprize him As soon as he was landed in Scotland the first thing they propounded unto their King was to take the solemn Oath called the Covenant that burning Torch which the Mother of Paris did see in her frenzies that fatal fire which the Scotch believe descended from Heaven and by which they at their pleasures kindle those warres wherewith they infest England which Covenant as we know was only a superstitious and warlike Prorestation made in the presence of God and Men To maintain the purity of the Religion to preserve the priviledges of Parliament and the people and to re-establish the King in his Ancestors Throne But that which seemed somewhat harsh and rude to this Prince was the terms wherein they caused him to take this Oath quite contrary to Physitians who dip their Pills in Syrrops or Sugar to make them down the glibber yet these Politicians when the whole lay at the stake it seems troubled themselves not much with the wording of the thing for amongst real friends indeed there needs not many complements nor much complacence to be used Therefore the Churches of Scotland made their King swallow this restorative in the following Beverage constraining him to protest That he renounced the sinnes of his Fathers and his own house the Idolatry of his Mothers and that he would adhere unto Gods cause in conformity to the Covenant in the firm establishment of the Church Government as it was expressed in the Directory for that publick worship which is to be rendred to God contained in the Belief and Catechism And this Cup he was forced to drink that he might obtain his Fathers Kingdome which formalities were more then requisite for to establish that Prince in the opinion of the prevailing party which was only then in a condition to help him Howbeit the English knew very well to distinguish between these Artificial fictions and the truth for the Parliament of England being duely informed of the Scots their designs and practises thought it was high time to think of the best means to oppose them and after several consultations upon this businesse it was resolved that the Lord Fairfax should command the Army in chief and with all speed march toward the North of England But he most humbly thanked the Parliament and like unto a second Cincinatus retired himself from the Dictatorship to a Countrey-life excusing himself for not serving them in that Expedition upon his Indisposition at that time The Renown of General Cromwells feats of Arms both as Governour and Conqueror of Ireland admitted of no lesse Proposals then to make him Generalissimo of the Common-wealths Armies in the Lord Fairfax his stead So that he came over again into England whilest his hands were as yet warm and was sent to give a check unto other Enemies in another Climate and under another disguise after he had settled and assured all the Conquests of Ireland and had left the necessary and requisite Orders conducing to a solid peace and establishment of those parts with his sonne-in-Law Henry Ireton so that he returned thence laden with Palms and Laurels as Trophies of his worthy Acts in those parts And scarce was he returned home but he was enforced to march towards those parts whither the glory of Conquering a second Kingdome called upon him Now the Scots who by no means would make any outward shew of the grand designs which they were hatching at the approach of the English Army on their Frontiers seemed to be very much astonished and the whole Countrey took the Allarum moreover the better to colour this their astonishment and seeming surprizal they deputed a Messenger to Sir Arthur Haslerigge as then Governour of Newcastle upon the Borders of England and Scotland to know the reason of that so suddain March of the English Army towards their Frontiers whereunto they joyned several Manifesto's setting forth the Contents of the Leagues and ample Treaties of union between the two Nations and several other particulars which served only to gain time and to make the better preparations to receive their Enemies At the same time of the English Armies advance towards the North the Parliament set forth a Manifest accompanyed by another from the General and chief Officers of the Army whereby both the one and the others declared viz. That the reasons which moved them to this great undertaking was neither the support which they expected from the Arm of flesh nor the consideration or vanity of former successes not the desire they had to compasse any of their own designs But the true assurance they had that their cause was just before God reflecting on the foregoing Revolutions and the successe which had followed them not as the handy-work of Politick men or of Humane force but as the most eminent works of Providence and the power of God thereby to make his good will appear and to shew his pleasure concerning those things which he had decreed in this world That they were obliged not to betray the cause wherein God had so evidently manifested himself after which there was nothing more dear unto them then the preservation of those who feared the Lord and who might greatly suffer either by being mistaken or by not being capable to discern the true tye of a Generall Calamity of which their Christian charity they hoped they had given sufficient proofs at the last time when they were in Scotland with this very Army of which God was pleased to make use for to break in pieces the power of those who oppressed the faithfull in those parts But that the acknowledgements of so signal a favour did but little appear in the Engagement which they had lately made with their new King and that they had not proceeded like unto good Christians in publishing that their Army was but an Army of Sectaries However that they doubted not but that God would give them the grace to forgive them that calumny and to that effect they beseeched him to be so good unto them as to separate the Chaffe from the good Corn concluding in like manner as they
solid and firm Foundations and when as the Parliament did propound unto him most splendid and magnificent Presents in recompense he only desired the Lives and Liberties of their Prisoners They proposed to have Bonefires made and to have Triumphall Arcks erected but he answered That it would be better to raise Monuments to such of their Illustrious Patriots as lost their lives in the gaining of that Day and to bewaile their deaths with Teats And Iastly at the Generals request there were onely the Earle of Darby and Sir Fetherston Knight of all this great number of Prisoners put to death besides some few others of less quality Much about which time also that smal Body of an Army which remained in Scotland seized upon a great number of the Nobility of the Country who were assembled all together at a place called Ellet where the old General Lesly Earle Marshall the Lord Keith Cofford Ogleby Barany Huntly Lee and severall other Knights Gentlemen and Ministers were in Consultation all of which were put on boord a Ship and sent into England This great Storm being thus over-blown and the Minds of the Parliament Members being calmed after the apprehensions of the Scotch Invasion and the doubtfull and unexpected Events of a Battel they began to track the Foot-steps of their Conquest a new and the whole Common-wealth being entirely cleansed within they cast about how to reduce those Islands which sheltred several of the Enemies smal Vesssels whereby the Trade was interrupted and several Merchant-men impeded in their Voyages The Isle of Jersey was the first they resolved to begin withall and the Conduct of this Enterprise was left to Colonel Haymes who upon the same accompt on the fourteenth of October 1651. caused two Regiments of Foot and as many of Horse to be embarqued on board of eight Ships in the Port of Weymouth and the seventeenth they set Saile but the Stormy Weather forced them to return On the nineteenth they set saile again and on the same day about Midnight they came to anchor under the Island of Zoark and next Morning continuing their Course they arived at Stowens Bay in Jersey on the next day they fell down with the Tyde and got into St. Brelads Bay where they were assailed by so vehement a storm as that the Fleet was dispersed but having joyned to each other again on the one and twentieth they resolved to go ashoare that Night at Stowens Bay wheunto they were necessitated for want of Forrage for the Horse and as it were in a trice they landed their Horse by an admirable Industry of General Blake and his other Officers in Boats and two hours after the Flood they weighed anchor and some cut their Cables to run a shoare and so the Foot Landed some at three some at four some at five and some at six foot set and more receiving all that while both the Cannon and Musket shot which played upon them from the shoare Notwithstanding which they gained Land although they were faced by both the Horse and Foot of the Island but this was their advantage they were so over-charged with Water as that they were not succeptible of Fire Finally after they had endured this first brunt they got all of them on shoare and quickly gained as much Ground as served them to draw up into a Body to fight which they accordingly did with so much resoluion and vigour that in one half houres time they forced the Enemy to retreat who left their Ensignes behind them and twelve piece of Cannon after which the Horse being a little heartned having been refreshed in their Quarters in the Island on the two and twentieth of October they attempted three small Forts each having two piece of Ordnance in them which they took after which they advanced within sight of Elizabeths Castle to set upon a Fort called the Tower of St. Albons having fourteen piece of Ordnance commanded by the said Castle In two hours time they gained the said Tower and their next work was to possess the Castle of Montorqueil which they also took without much trouble But Elizabeths Castle being a very strong and considerable place into which they had retired all rheir Forces was not surrendred untill the midst of the Month of December on the most advantagious Conditions which so considerable a place could expect On the sixteenth of October 1651. there were embarqued at Westchester and Leverpoole three Regiments of Foot to wit General Cromwells commanded by Livetenant Colonel Worstey Major General Deanes Commanded by Livetenant Colonel Michell and Colonel Duckâ—nfields who Commanded the whole Brigade together with two Troops of Horse which Forces were sent to reduce the Isle of Man On the eighteenth of the said Month they set Sail but the VVind coming contrary they were driven into the Port of Beaumorris On the twenty fifth by two in the Morning the Wind coming Southwardly by the favour of a fresh Gale they set Sail again and about two of the Clock in the Afternoon they discovered the Custle of the Isle of Man Rushen Castle Darby Fort and a good part of the Island as also the Inhabitants and Soldiery as well Horse and Foot in Armes who were drawn out to make a review of their Forces when as by a suddain Gust the Fleet was hindred from approaching neerer the shoare whereupon they tacked about towards the North of the Island and not without some difficulty they gained Ramsey Bay where they Anchored that Night in sight of the Island and sent them Volleys of Cannon which were not at all answered by those of the Island On the twenty sixth of October an Inhabitant was sent on board the Fleet from the chief persons of the Island to assure the Commander that they would not in any wise hinder their Landing But to the contrary that they would deliver up unto them two Forts which they had Mastered after which there remained only Rushen and Peele Castle to be taken wherein they would also be assisting to the utmost of their powers But because the said Inhabitant brought nothing in writing to confirm what he had said Major Fox went on shoare to be assured of the certainty thereof and returning well satisfied he was followed by some Commissioners of the Island who most humbly beseeched the Officers not to ruine them which must of necessity ensue should they Land all their Men obliging and engaging themselves to bring Provisions at reasonable rates unto those who should remain on board the Ships The Commander in chief returned them thanks promising them to do them all the favour possible and imaginable but it fell out unhappily for all sides That on the twenty seventh the Sea became very rough and the Ships being not able to remain all of them under shelter in the said Bay they were in a great deale of darger and one Ship running a shoare was broken and rent in sunder however all the men were saved and those within the
after in the Mediterranian Seas as well as in the Ocean and in the English Channel Some Frights were sent towards the Levant to guard the English Merchant Men from the French Shipping of Marselleis and Toulon a Squadron of which Frigats consisting onely in foure Saile of Ships viz. The Paragon the Phenix the Constant Warwick and the Elizabeth convoying three Merchant Men two of which had taken in their Lading at Scandaroon and the other at Smyrna were encountred by eleven Holland Men of War who made up towards them and set upon them All that the English could at first do was to returne their broad Sides on their Poopes to let them see that they were not affraid of their exceeding them in number but ere the fight was well begun the Night separated them and the next Morning the Hollanders began the fight againe and were received as briskly as if they had been equally matched The Masts and Yards of two of their Ships were quickly shot downe and another was set on fire but quickly recovered The Phenix a gallant Frigat of five and forty Guns was boarded by a huge States Ship and after a marvellous defence lost almost all her Men and being over powerd was forced to yield but not without a great loss on the Hollanders side Nor did the English quit the fight till all their Men and Ammunition were killed and spent The Paragon lost seven and twenty Men and had sixty wounded the Elizabeth had but two Barrels of Powder left However they disengaged themselves from so great a number of their Enemies and put their Merchant-men safe in Porto-longone So that the Hollander had not much to brag of in the fight which hapned neer Corsica Much about this time an Ambassador from the Queen of Sweden but before he had made the least overture of Business he dyed Another Ambassador arrived from the King of Denmark but finding that it was impossible to reconcile the differences betwixt the two Common-wealths he withdrew againe and went his wayes by reason of the common Interest of the Danes and the united Provinces And the Parliament having notice that the Hollanders who blocked up the passage of the Sound had constrained two and twenty English Merchants coming from the Eastern Parts towards England to put themselves under the King of Denmarks protection ordered eighteen Saile of Ships to go to fetch them home the rather because they were Laden with such Merchandizes as were at that time very usefull for the State and without which the Warre against the Hollanders could not be prosecuted nor continued On the nineteenth of September the Fleet set saile from Yarmouth and the next Morning they came to Anchor within two Leagues of the Castle of Essenhoeur in Denmark whence the Commander in chief sent away the Greyhound Frigat with a Letter directed to the Governour of the Castle and another to the Admiral of Denmark by which he desired them to informe the King of Denmark of their arrivall and of the Subject thereof whereunto he added a third Letter directed to the Masters of the English Ships ordering them to make their Addresses to the King of Denmark and to procure libertie from him that their Ships might with all speed be suffered to come out of the 〈…〉 of Copenhagen where they as then lay But the Frigat was not suffered to approach neerer then within a League of the Castle whence she returned againe The next Morning the Commander in Chief himselfe went thither in his long Boat and declared the Subject of his Arrivall and delivered his Letters but no Answer was returned unto him which obliged him the second time to send to the King and to the English Merchants but without successe for the King was not to be heard of nor seen nor to be spoken with at length two Lords sent from the King of Denmark came to Elsenore Castle whither also the Captaines of the English Fleet went who vigorously pressed the Restitution of their Merchant-men But in answer to this their Demand they were interrogated Wherefore their Ambassadour had not been admitted to Hearing at his being in England wherefore they came so boldly into his Majesties Seas and so neer to his place of Residence and of his Castles with so strong a Fleet before they had given notice thereof three weeks before But the English not standing to Canvasle these Demands save onely to procure satisfaction on their Pretenses pressed to have a positive Answer returned thereunto Whereupon on the seven and twentieth of the said Moneth they received a Letter from the King of Denmark telling them That he would preserve the said Ships for the Merchants as carefully as he had hitherto done but that he would not deliver them into their hands Whereupon the English Merchants and the Masters and Sea-men seeing there was no hopes to get their Ships released abandoned them and came aboard of the Fleet and straightway quitting the Sound made over againe towards England but in the Night of the following Day which was the last of the Moneth the VVeather proved so dark that the Admiral Ship Commanded by Captaine Ball steering too much towards the shore run on ground upon the Coast of that Sand where she was lost onely all the Ships Company was saved and it was ten to one that the whole Fleet had not followed her she bearing the Lanthorne she was an excellent Frigat called the Antelop carrying fifty brass Gunnes But this Losse was presently after repaired by taking of about twenty Holland Barques and one Convoy Man of Warre as also one other Ship carrying twenty Gunnes and thus without any other Losse or adventure they returned into England and on the fifteenth of October they came to an Anchor in Burlington Bay within a little while after Master Braâ—…haw was deputed in the quality of an Envoy or Deputy towards the King of Denmark to try whether the Restitution of those Merchants Vessels might not be procured in an amicable way but this Attempt proved as bootlesse as the former For the said Ships were not onely detained but their Lading was carried on Shoare and Sold Which Acts of Hostility committed against the Law of Nations and of Hospitality to innocent Persons and against a State which had desired their Amity by all wayes and means possible will sooner orlater meet with their Reward and Punishment either by the hands of those who were endamaged or by some others which by the sequell you will find proved so But to return againe to the Hollander who were almost enraged at their continuall Losses of their Ships with which all the Havens in England were filled and being resolved to be revenged for so many Sea Fights as they had lost busied themselves in setting forth a great Fleet and notwithstanding the rigour of the Season in the very midst of Winter they came to Sea with a Fleet of ninety Saile and ten Fire-ships and on the twentieth of
and are sensible of the favourable effects which have since been produced However the universal joy which was so evidently to be seen in all their countenances did not hinder but that it was thought fitting for the better satisfaction of the generality and of all men in particular to publish the causes the grounds and reasons of the dissolving of the Parliament which was accordingly ordered by the General and by his Councel consisting of the chief Officers of the Army and was manifested accordingly in a Declaration whereof the following are the chief Heads That after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a degree of peace and England to perfect quiet whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their Labour Blood and Treasure and to settle a due liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things whereunto they were obliged by their duty engagements and those great and wonderful things God had wrought for them But they made so little progress that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land who thereupon applied themselves to the Army expecting redress by their means who though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority agreed that such Officers as were members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amiss in the Common-wealth and in settling it upon a Foundation of Justice and Righteousness which being done it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations But finding the contrary they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August 1652. which produced no considerable effect nor was any such progress made therein as might imploy their real intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for but rather in aversness to the things themselves with much bitterness and aversion to the people of God and his Spirit acting in them insomuch that the Godly party in the Army were rendred of no other use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party for effecting their desires in perpetuating themselves in the supreme Government For the obviating of these evils the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same but such endeavours proving ineffectual it became evident that the Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others and the non-attendance of many would never answer those ends which God his People and the whole Nation expected from them But that this Cause which God had so greatly blessed must need languish under their hands and by degrees be lost and the Lives Liberties and Comforts of his people be delivered into their Enemies hands all which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation as well as by the Army it seemed a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God to consider of some 〈◊〉 means whereby to establish Righteousness and Peace in these Nations And after much debate it was judged necessary That the supreme Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons fearing God and of approved integrity for a time as the most hopeful way to countenance all Gods people reforme the Law and administer Justice impartially hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments that so the Goverment might be settled upon a Right Basis without hazard to this glorious Cause or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same And being still resolved to use all means possible to avoid extraordinary courses we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament to give us a Conference with whom we plainly debated the necessity and justness of our proposals the which found no acceptance but instead thereof it was offered that the way was to continue still this Parliament as being that from which we probably might expect all good things This being vehemently insisted on did much confirme us in our apprehensions that any love to a Representative but the making use thereof to recrute and so to perpetuate themselves was their aim in the Act they had then under consideration For preventing the consumating whereof and all the sad and evil consequences which upon the grounds aforesaid must have ensued and whereby at one blow the interest of all honest men and of this glorious cause had been endangered to be laid in the dust and these Nations embroiled in new troubles at a time when our Enemies abroad are watching all advantages against and some of them actually engaged in War with us we have been necessitated though with much repugnancy to put an end to this Parliament This Declaration and these proceedings of his late Highness then General and of his Councel of Officers of the Army were backed by the consent of the Generals at Sea and by all the Captains of the Fleet and in like manner by all the other Generals and Officers of the Land forces both in Scotland Ireland and the other Territories But least the Magistrates and other publick Ministers of Justice and Policy suprized at this suddain change should chance to swerve from their duties or that other persons should thereby take occasion to foment disturbances prejudicial to the Common-wealth this ensuing Declaration was published Whereas the Parliament being dissolved persons of approved fidelity and honesty are according to the late Declaration of the two and twentieth of April last past to be called from the several parts of this Common-wealth to the supreme authority and although effectual proceedings are and have been had for perfecting those resolutions yet some convenient time being required for the assembling of those persons It hath been found necessary for preventing the mischiefs and inconveniencies which may arise in the mean while to the publick Affairs that a Council of State be constituted to take care of and intend the peace safety and present management of the Affairs of this Common-wealth which being settled accordingly the same is hereby declared and published to the end that all persons may take notice thereof and in their several places and stations demean themselves peaceably giving obedience to the Laws of the Nation as heretofore in the exercise and administration whereof as endeavours shall be used That no oppression or wrong be done to the people so a strict accompt will be required of all such as shall do any thing to endanger the publick peace and quiet upon any presence whatsoever Dated April the thirtieth 1653. subscribed Oliver Cromwel These domestick revolutions did in a manner put a new life into the Dutch again who thought that they would cause some eminent distractions and disturbances as well on the Seas as by Land But they were very much deceived for the Maratine Affairs of these Lands on which either the good or bad fortune of England depended were carryed on with
have since enjoyed in the heart of their Dominions and the Victories and Conquests which they may yet atchieve by this happy Union if their victorious and gallant Prince doth continue to accompany his Valour with those Vertues which are onely capable not onely to give him addition of Crowns but also to preserve them And lest I might insensibly out-slip my chief intent and purpose and engage my self in the giving of you a Relation of the chiefest and most important Wars and Transactions of all Europe should I recount unto you all the glorious Actions which have hapned since the Breach between England and Spain in which our late Protector bare away all the share at Sea and a very great part also by Land as in our joynt Conquests in Flanders and our particular ones in Lorain I shall therefore contract my pen a little and onely give you a Breviate of the chiefest Actions remitting the Reader to the more ample Histories both of France and England to peruse the Relation of those Victories wherewith Heaven hath blessed this Alliance for these late Years past In which the mature deliberations and good Councels do more concern his late Highness then the execution of those gallant Attempts which proceeded from them although in truth both the one and the other may well be attributed to his great prudence and to those Blessings which it hath pleased the Almighty to shower down upon his admirable good fortune of which take some few Instances It is apparent to all the world in what a manner his late Highness provided for the preservation of Jamaica notwithstanding all the force and attempts of Spain and the Indies to free that Island again although they never yet did set foot thereon save to their own shame and confusion having been driven thence again with the loss of all their Cannon and Baggage and the which happened two several times when as the Spaniards assembling all their Forces in the Indies came and encamped themselves in the Island with two or three thousand men had the time and opportunity to build and erect Forts and for the space of some dayes to settle themselves Notwithstanding which the English as if they were but newly arrived from England to attempt a new Conquest of the Island were constrained to imbark themselves and put to Sea again the wayes being not passable by Land and in that wise compassing the whole Island they made their descent at the very place where the Enemies were encamped and assailed them in their Forts and Breast-works with a far less number of men then theirs and drave the Spaniards quite from them and out of the Island killing and taking several of their men and retaining several of their great Guns and stately Standards as Trophies of their Victory Nor shall I enlarge upon that glorious Victory obtained by General Mountegue over the Spaniards at Sea which was the first that made this entrance into that famous War and gave the Spaniards to understand that it would cost them far more to transport their Gold from the Indies to Spain then to dig it out of the Mines or to refine it The ensuing Poem penned by one of the most exquisite Wits of England upon that subject may better suffice to satisfie the Reader of the gloriousness of the Fact and the shaming Stile which it is described by is more proper to express this Heroick Action then my low and unpolished Prose which might haply obscure and detract from the lustre and splendor of so brave an Exploit wherefore I have thought fit to insert the Poem it self Upon the present War with Spain and the first Victory obtained at Sea Now for some Ages had the pride of Spain Made the Sun shine on half the World in vain While she bid War to all that durst supply The place of those her Cruelty made dye Of Nature's Bounty men forbare totaste And the best Portion of the Earth lay waste From the New World her Silver and her Gold Came like a Tempest to confound the Old Feeding with these the brib'd Elector's Hopes She made at pleasure Emperors and Popes VVith these advancing her unjust Designs Europe was shaken with her Indian Mines VVhen our Protector looking with disdain Vpon this gilded Majesty of Spain And knowing well that Empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of Coyn Our Nation 's sollid vertue did oppose To the rich Troublers of the World's repose And now some moneths encamping on the Main Our Naval Army had besieged Spain They that the whole Worlds Monarchy design'd Are to their Ports by our bold Fleet confin'd From whence our Red Cross they triumphant see Riding without a Rival on the Sea Others may use the Ocean as their road Onely the English make it their abode Whose ready Sails with every Winde can flie And make a covenant with th'unconstant Skie Our Oaks secure as if they there took root We tread on Billows with a steady foot Mean while the Spaniards in America Near to the Line the Sun approaching saw And hop'd their European Coasts to find Clear'd from our ships by the Autumnal Winde Their huge capacious Gallions stuft with Plate The laboring winds drives slowly towards their fate Before Saint Lucar they their Guns discharge To tell their Joy or to invite a Barge This heard some Ships of ours though out of view As swift as Eagles to the quarry flew So heedless Lambs which for their mothers bleat Wake hungry Lions and become their meat Arriv'd they soon begin that Tragick play And with their smoakie Cannon banish day Night horror slaughter with confusion meets And in their sable Arms imbrace the Fleets Through yielding Planks the angry Bullets fly And of one Wound hundreds together dye Born under different Stars one Fate they have The Ship their Coffin and the Sea their Grave Bold were the men which on the Ocean first Spread their new Sails whilst shipwrack was the worst More danger now from men alone we find Then from the Rocks the Billows or the Wind. They that had sail'd from near th' Anartick Pole Their Treasure safe and all their Vessels whole In sight of their dear Countrey ruin'd be Without the guilt of either Rock or Sea What they would spare our fiercer Art destroyes Excelling storms in terror and in noise Once Jove from Hyda did both Hoasts survey And when he pleas'd to Thunder part the Fray Here Heaven in vain that kinde Retreat should sound The louder Canon had the thunder drown'd Some we made Prize while others burnt rent With their rich Lading to the bottom went Down sinks at once so Fortune with us sports The Pay of Armies and the Pride of Courts Vain man whose rage buries as low that store As Avarice had digg'd for it before What Earth in her dark bowels could not keep From greedy hands lies safer in the Deep Where Thetis kindly doth from mortals hide Those seeds of Luxury Debate and Pride
Chair appointed for the Speaker of the Parliament On each side of the Hall upon the said Structure there were seats raised one above each other and decently covered for the Members of the Parliament and below them there were Seats made for the Judges of the Land on the one side and for the Aldermen of the City on the other side About two of the Clock in the afternoon his Highness met the Parliament in the Painted Chamber and passed such Bills as were presented to him after which they went in order to the place appointed in Westminster-Hall his Highness being entred on the place and standing under the Cloath of State Mr. Speaker did in the Name of the Parliament present several things which lay ready on the Table unto his Highness viz. A Robe of Purple Velvet lined with Ermines being the habit anciently used at the solemn Investure of Princes next a large Bible richly Gilt and Bossed and lastly a Scepter of massie Gold which being thus presented Mr. Speaker came from his Chair took the Robe and therewith vested his Highness being assisted by the Earl of Warwick the Lord Whitlock and by others which being done the Bible was delivered to his Highness after which Mr. Speaker girt about him the Sword and finally delivered his Highness the Scepter which being thus performed Mr. Speaker returned to his Chair and administred the Oath to his Highness which had been prepared by the Parliament for him to take His Highness standing thus adorned in Princely State Mr. Manton by prayer recommended his Highness Forces by Sea and Land the whole Government and People of these Nations to the blessing and protection of God Almighty After which the people gave several shouts and the Trumpets sounding his Highness sate down in the Chair of State holding the Scepter in his hand and whilst his Highness thus sate a Herald of Arms stood aloft making a signal to a Trumpet to sound three times after which by direction and Authority of Parliament he did there publish and proclaim his Highness Oliver Lord Cromwel Lord Protector of England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions thereto belonging Hereupon the Trumpets ' sounded again and the People gave several Acclamations with loud shouts crying God save the Lord Protector After a little pause the Ceremony being ended his Highness saluting the Ambassadors and publick Ministers proceeded thence in his Princely Habit the Train whereof was borne up by six noble persons and passed through the Hall into the Palace-yard the Earl of Warwick carrying the sword before him where his Highness entred into his Coach attended by his Life-guards and Halberdeirs the Officers of State the Lord Major and Aldermen all which waited on his Highness back to White-Hall the whole Ceremony having been managed with State and Magnificence suitable to so high and happy a Solemnity But to return to our History again toward the end of the Summer therefore the united Forces of England and France took the Fort of Mardike whereof Major General Morgan took possession for the English as the earnest of further Conquests The Spaniard hereupon conceived all the fears and jealousies which so dangerous a neighbour-hood might justly cause which obliged them in the following moneth to resolve vigorously to assault the place and to carry it by force But they were received with so much vigour by the English as that they were manfully beaten off and constrained to retire with a great loss of their men and of several Officers of note But the joy of these successes were moderated by the death of Admiral Blake a person who had so well deserved of England as that he may be justly intituled its Neptune at the same time when as his Highness was its Jupiter and Mars who caused him to be buried with all the Demonstrations of Honour due to his high demerits He came within sight of Plimouth onely to give up the Ghost and received this satisfaction at his death to have bestowed all the Moments of his life on that Element which had given him so much glory just like unto Moley Moluch that Illustrious King of Fess who at the Article of Death caused himself to be carried in a Litter into his Camp where he expired in the middle of the Battel as he was exhorting his Soldiers and gained the Victory In like manner dyed General Blake in the midst of his famous Combats and Victories regretted by all England and his late Highness who had alwayes an especial care to cause those honours to be rendred to such great persons as were due to their demerits would have him stately interred as the Earl of Essex had been before but General Blakes body was onely brought with a Naval Pomp by Water in State on the Thames from Greenwich to Westminster as being a more suitable Ceremony to his imployment and was there buried in Henry the Seventh's famous Chappel Now the Spaniards disgusted at the firme footing the English had both gotten and kept at Mardike conceiving that against the next Spring it might give them a greater in-let in Flanders deemed they had best to endeavour the driving of them thence betimes before they should be too well settled and established there they resolved to assault them again and accordingly did set upon them very vigorously and resolutely with a party very considerable commanded by the pretended Princes of England and the Marquis of Coracene but the English defended themselves so manfully and stoutly as that the Spaniards began to judge that as the French are good at taking of places so the English were constant in keeping and defending them insomuch as that my Dons were forced to return by weeping cross to Dunkirk and take their last farewell of Mardike For they might very well have perceived by the business of St. Venant that the English were as good at the one as at the other when as the Spaniards having besieged Ardres the English supposed that their advance into France was onely to retard their progress into Flanders gave so resolute an assault to St. Venant as that they carryed the place and had the sole honour of it and immediately marching towards Ardres they drove away the Spaniards then with so much courage and resolution as amazed the French Wherefore this latter part of the season having been imployed in sowing the seeds of those Laurels which they were to reap in the next years expedition in Flanders His late Highness recollected himself to establish Peace and Tranquility in England and to settle the foundation of a happy and glorious Government And deeming that he could not more justly confer the eminent dignities of the Land save upon those who together with their blood had sucked from him the seeds and buds both of Military and Politick Vertues he created his younger son the Lord Henry Cromwel Lord Deputy of Ireland who hath alwayes and doth still behave himself with so much conduct and applause in
this so eminent a charge as that envy it self is constrained to confess that his Fathers wisdome could not have made a better choice Much about this time the Officers at Mardike in whose breasts the rigour of the winter did onely excite the heat of those designs which they had conceived in their souls being desirous to imploy part of that unprofitable season to concourse and consult that Oracle of Prudence who by the conduct of their Heroick Projects did inspire into them the vertue and efficacy to compass their designs and to surmount even the greatest difficulties Sir John Reynolds I say Commander in chief Collonel White and some other Officers being impatient to enjoy the happiness of seeing and consulting his Highness embarqued at Mardike for England but the mischance was that being assailed by a tempest they were unfortunately cast away upon the Goodwin Sands and so frustrated all the world of the expectations of those fair hopes which were conceived of their valours and of so fortunate beginnings On the fourth day of the moneth of February then next ensuing his late Highness repaired to the Lords House then in Parliament and having sent notice thereof to the House of Commons by the Keeper of the Black-Rod the Speaker with the Members came to the Lords House where standing without the Bar and his Highness within under a Cloath of State being animated with his wonted vigour and resolution succinctly told them without many preambles That it concerned his Interest as much as the publike Peace and Tranquility to terminate this Parliament so that he was come thither to dissolve the same which was also immediately performed On the twelfth day of the moneth of March ensuing his late Highness being desirous to oblige the City of London in a particular manner and at the same time to witness unto them the care he took for their preservation and tranquillity he sent for the Lord Major the Aldermen and the other Magistrates of the City and having made them sensible of his tenderness and care for their good he also represented unto them that during the Calm Tempests were most of all to be apprehended so that at such times the requisite Orders and necessary preventions to resist Troubles were to be chiefly minded For to this knowing and vigilant Spirit to whom nothing was dark or hid this penetrating Light who could pry even into mens hearts and who from out of his Cabinet could discover the most secret Plots which were hatching throughout all Europe declared unto them That the Enemies both of the State and of their City did not sleep although it seemed they were quite lulled That their City was great and vaste and like unto a corpulent Body nourished several ill humours That he requested them for their own goods to have a special care and to bear a watchful eye That he relied much upon their Vigilancy and Affection and that all he could contribute thereunto on his behalf was to re-establish the City Militia which had been abolished through the disorder of the foregoing Wars and to desire them to appoint for their Officers persons of Honour and Probity well-wishers and friends to the peace and quietness of the State and publique Good Whereupon the Lord Major and Officers having returned thanks to his Highness for so signal a Mark of his confidence and goodness towards them proceeded to settle the Militia and repayed him with all the Obedience and Fidelity which a Magnanimous Prince could expect from Subjects who were well versed in the duties they owed to a Governour who had rid them of a world of miseries and delivered them from the burthen of a Civil War Nor was this precaution or forewarning of his late Highness without some grounds or foundation for on the twenty fourth of the said Moneth the quiet Serpent which hatched its poison under the green grass unawares let slip a Hiss whereupon an exact search was made throughout all London and Westminster for suspected persons divers of which were secured and imprisoned His late Highness knowing full well that States are maintained as well by Justice as by force of Arms and that those chiefly stand in need of both which through the divisions of Mens mindes touching Spiritual concernments seem to be in a continual apprehension of those revolutions which at all times have been caused in the World by the means of these diversities of opinions His Highness I say through the cause of these apprehensions and the discoveries which were already made as aforesaid caused a High Court of Justice to be erected according as it had been decreed by an Act of Parliament and settled under the great Seal of England and truly it was high time for the Swords of Justice to appear to chastise the Conspirators since the sparkles of their fury had spread themselves abroad through its veil rather by their immoderate heat then their sad looks several persons of quality were imprisoned in the Tower of London and within few dayes afterwards just like unto a River which is ready to disgorge it self into the Sea appears great and violent at its entrance so also the Conspiracy being just ready to break forth appeared the more formidable and assured there were whole Regiments enrolled and in the midnight of May-day they should have set fire on several parts of the City and whilest the confusion and horror thereof had seized all men they should have made a general Massacre of all those who would have opposed their fury His Highness like unto the Sun elevated up to the highest Heaven peirced through all those other Sphears which were darkned to all other Lights but his and dissipated those Fogs and Mists which the darkness of the Furies had spread over the City of London for on the morning of that fatal intended day the Guards were doubled both within and without the City and about five of the Clock in the Evening both Horse and Foot were drawn up in Arms the City Militia likewise keeping strong Guards all that night to prevent and hinder so sad and horrid an attempt Mean while all care was taken to discover the Firebrands before they could enter upon their exploit and as Enterprizes wherein so many persons are engaged cannot remain very secret or hidden about seven of the Clock that Evening about forty of the Conspirators were taken and carried to White-Hall and on the day following several others of all kindes and conditions were also apprehended as Gentlemen Merchants Souldiers and the like many of which were condemned to dye as Traytors but his late Highness was so merciful to pardon the most part of them to the end that like unto a second Augustus he might gain by his Clemency those hearts which would not be mollified by the horror of the undertakings nor the rigour and severity of the punishments On the second day of the moneth of June then next ensuing there arrived a strange accident on
and that the Conflict which they produce in a Soul is capable to turn the edge of the keenest weapons which are opposed to their resistance and to make the fairest champain Field become a parched barren plat of Ground But what need we to seek external Causes in a Death which brought along such violent ones with it a Cardinal of Richelieu who was one of the best Tempers and Constitutions in the world did fall under the burthen of the Anxieties and Agitations of the Mind The scabbard as the Proverb saith being worn out by the sharpness of the blade must of necessity finde a vent And how could it otherwise chuse that a Man who for the space of ten or twelve years together had opposed himself to all the Injuries both of Time and of War should not at length fall under the activeness of a soul which seldom gave him any rest which governed and directed the Reins of three restive Kingdoms unaccustomed to the noble and famous Trappings of a Military Government and who moreover was to direct and guide the Consciences as well as the Bodies of Men and their Reasons as well as their Wills It had not been considerable had the Interest of England onely required that his Cares had been limitted within the Pales which the Sea prescribes to her Precincts But as the cause of the Disease was from abroad and that from the Closets of the Escurial the Spaniards had imployed their false Piety as well as their Peru Gold to discover and molest the repose of England so fire and flame was to be applied without and it was necessary to penetrate into the very secret causes of the evils The People of the Cities of the Continent were to be disabused and the Soldiery were to be overcome in open field The Mines of Mexico were to be looked into and the extent of that Ambition was to be curtailed which boasts it self both to see the Sun set and rise These were vaste imployments indeed of a large activity to run through these undertakings the fervor of them was scorching and although the Heavens did second these lawful Designes with all its Graces yet it could not without a Miracle and without destroying the secondary Causes hinder the separation of a Soul from a Body which it had so often employed and so efficaciously seconded the grand Affairs both of State and War for the Peace Glory and Tranquillity of three Nations Wherefore Nature it self did witness her grief some two or three dayes before by an extraordinary Tempest and violent gust of weather insomuch that it might have been supposed that her self had been ready to dissolve or that the Master-piece of Nature suffered a violent agitation And as the Death of the Sun of Righteousness was foretold by an Eclipse of the Sun which covered the surface of the whole Earth with Darkness In like manner at the death of the People of Englands Hercules both Force and Nature were let loose to shake the very Elements and by the reuniting of their violence like unto those who are ready to give up the Ghost to leave some marks of an extream dissolution all which is so lively set forth by the quaintest Wit of these times as that I shall not inlarge any further upon this observation but shall onely content my self to repeat unto you his Verses who expresseth it more elegantly and copiously then my rough Prose can possibly reach to Upon the late Storm and his Highness death ensuing the same We must resign Heaven his great soul doth claim In Storms as loud as his immortal fame His dying groans his last breath shakes our Isle And Trees uncut fall for his Funeral Pile About his Palace there broad roots were tost Into the Air so Romulus was lost New Rome in such a tempest mist their King And from obeying fell to worshipping On Aetna's top thus Hercules lay dead With ruin ' Oaks and Pines about him spread Those his last fury from the Mountain rent Our dying Hero from the continent Ravish whole Towns and Forts from Spaniards reft As his last Legacy to Brittain left The Ocean which so long our hopes confin'd Could give no limits to his vaster minde Our bounds inlargement was his latest toil Nor hath he left us Prisoners to our Isle Vnder the Tropick is our Language spoke And port of Flanders hath receiv'd our Yoke From Civil Broyls he did us disingage Found nobler objects for our Martial rage And with wise conduct to his Countrey shew'd Their ancient way of conquering abroad Vngrateful then it were no tears allow To him that gave us peace and Empire too Princes that fear'd him grieve concern'd to see No Pitch of glory from the Grave is free Nature her self took notice of his death And sighing swell'd the Sea with such a breath That to remotest shores her billows rould The approaching fate of their Great Ruler told And truly I had need of all Parnassus his art to sweeten and mollifie the bitterness of this death which causeth my pen to fall to the ground and would cast up my Muse into a pittiful swound did not all the rest of the Muses come to her aid and sprinkle her with some of that divine Water which nourisheth her to make her revive again and to restore her to her strength to announce to posterity the time the day and the manner when and how his late Highness our great Oliver breathed his last After his late Highness had therefore been sick about a fortnight of a Disease which at the beginning was but an Ague on a Friday being the third of September 1658. in the Morning he gave all the signs of a dying person and for whom the Physicians had onely Vows and Prayers in reserve However he remained in that manner till about three of the Clock in the afternoon when as his Soul which had alwayes retained the upper hand of his Body preserved her Empire till the last moment he had alwayes his wits about him and his perfect and intire understanding and continued to deliver those Oracles which were necessary to establish after so great a loss the Peace and Tranquility of England and immediately to repair the ruines which so dangerous a dissolution had threatned the State withall and might cause in the mindes of every particular person His greatest and most important care was to name a Protector to be his successor which he did with Reasons so little savouring of his own interests and worldly concernments as that he testified that being not content to have sacrificed himself for the common good by the shortning of his dayes he was willing to consecrate his Children thereunto by the lading of them with the heavy burden of those weighty mysteries which may well be termed a Royal and Gilt Servitude Which succession was so necessary to the Peace and Tranquility of the State that the Common-wealth and the Elective Kingdoms are constrained to imitate it and the successive
concerning the Government of his Estates and touching the interests of other Princes as without the entring into their Cabinets or partaking of their Counsels he discoursed very pertinently of their Affairs and foretold their several issues and events He likewise was an excellent Phisionomer and having once seriously considered any one he was seldome deceived in the opinion he conceived of him He married into the ancient and noble family of the Bourchers whence the Earls of Essex were descended his marriage bed was blessed with many Children none of which did ever degenerate from the eminent vertues of their most Illustrious Father His eldest son named Ricard hath succeeded him in the Protectorship his younger son named Henry being at this time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland both of them capable to follow their Fathers glorious footsteps and to perfect and crown such hopeful promising though difficult beginnings their Father having as it were divided shared and left by inheritance unto their youth swelling with marvellous hopes that most exquisite Quintessence of two great Talents which he had acquired by his age and by his experience so that the one of his sons may be stiled the Jupiter and the other the Mars of England He had four Daughters all of them Ladies of a most eminent and vertuous disposition The Lady Bridget first married unto the Lord Ireton in his life time Lord Deputy of Ireland a Personage of sublime worth and afterwards espoused unto the Lord Fleetwood sometimes Lord Deputy of Ireland and at present Lieutenant General of all his Highness Forces The Lady Elizabeth his second Daughter married unto the Lord Cleypoll and dyed a little before her Father of whom we shall speak hereafter The third the Lady Mary espoused unto the Lord Viscount Faulconbridge And the youngest the Lady Frances at present widow of the Lord Robert Rich Grandchilde to the late Earl of Warwick Nor did the change of his late Highness Fortunes in the least decline or diminish the tenderness and affection which he ever bare towards the worthy Mother of so numerous and hopeful an issue and that absolute power which he had over all his Dominions never gave him the least desire to captivate any heart save that which God had given him in marriage And that which is the most to be admired at and seems to be the summe of all bliss is that the Almighty lent his late Highness so much life as to see all his Children disposed to the most gallant personages and allied to the most Illustrious Families of England which are as so many props of his Fortune and Fences against the enviers of his Vertue He was an enemy to vain gloriousness ostentation and although he was all as it were fire that is of a passionate constitution yet he had so overcome his passions that he was seldome or never moved but when there was a great cause given so likewise was he more subject to repress and keep in then to give way to his passion The actions of his body denoted those of his minde his actions were in a manner without motion and without any forcings of the body in like manner his minde was not at all agitated nor his expressions precipitated sweetness and tranquillity accompanied his thoughts and his words but when there was occasion to carry a business he expressed himself with so much vigour as gave to understand that he was not easily to be disswaded from the thing he had once resolved In like manner during the whole course of the War he never harboured the least thought of changing of parties And as for Ambition which is the onely passion whereof envy it self seems to accuse him the effects thereof were so inconfiderable and unnecessary unto him nay so unpleasing and unwelcome and which is more he so often refused the pomps delights and grandours which were profered him that all the world must needs confess that where Nature could claim so small an interest the master and directer of Nature must needs have had a great share Wherefore we may aver with a great deal of reason That in case he hath hoorded and laid up Treasures it hath been in the Intrals of the Poor of all Sexes and of all Nations of all Professions and Religions both at home and abroad insomuch that it hath been computed that out of his own private instinct particular Motions and pious Compassion he distributed at least forty thousand pounds a year in Charitable Uses out of his own purse out of such Moneys as the Commonwealth did allow him for his Domestique Expences and for the maintenance of his State and the Dignity of his Person Family and the keeping up the splendour of his Court. And the better to illustrate this matter we shall insert an Essay of two examples of Generosity and Gratitude which are not to be parallel'd save in the persons of Thomas Lord Cromwell his late Highness's predecessor in Henry the Eighth's Reign and in the person of his late Highness Oliver Lord Protector In those glorious dayes when the English young Gentry endeavored to out-vie their elder Brothers by undertaking far and dangerous journies into Forreign parts to acquire glory by feats of Arms and experiencing themselves in the Military Discipline Thomas Cromwel a younger Brother to better his knowledge in Warlike Affairs passed into France and there trailed a Pike accompanying the French Forces into Italy where they were defeated at Gattellion whereupon our English Volantier betook himself to Florence designing to pass thence home again into England but having loft all his equipage and being in a necessitated condition he was enforced to address himself to one Signior Francisco Frescobald an Italian Merchant who corresponded at London and making his case known unto him Frescobald observing something remarkable and a certain promising greatness in the Features Actions and Deportment of Thomas Cromwel who gave an account of himself with so candid an ingenuity and in such terms as beseemed his Birth and the Profession he then was of whereby he gained so much upon Frescobald as inviting him home to his house he caused him to be accommodated with new Linnen and Clothes and other sutable necessaries kindly entertaining him till such time as he testified a desire to return for England when as to compleat his Generosity and Kindeness he gave Mr. Thomas Cromwell a Horse and sixteen Duccats in gold to prosecute his journey homewards In process of time several disasters and Bankrupts befalling Signior Frescobald his Trading and Credit was not a little thereby impaired and reflecting on the Moneys which were due unto him by his Correspondents in England to the value of 15000. Duccats he resolved to pass thither and try whether he could happily procure payment During which interval of time Mr. Thomas Cromwell being a person endowed with a great deal of Courage of a transcendent Wit hardy in his undertakings and a great Politician had by these his good qualities gotten himself