take a prospect of all Generations that have been upon Earth before them They seem to give Eternity to themselves à Parte ante and to live as many years as they have read in Chronicles And by this knowledge of the time past they judge of the present and proceed to the fore-sight of the future For the best Astrology in the World is to be deriv'd from History and from the Consideration of those Luminaries that have mov'd in a Sphere above us either in point of Time or of Place Which since we see to be the Proper ends and uses of History without doubt that History is highly to be esteem'd which does not consist so much of Magnificent and Pompous things as the Description of Wars of Great Buildings and such matters as only bring an empty pleasure to the Reader but which does exhibit things useful and worthy his Imitation and that will fill up his mind Vpon this account the Lives of Eminent Men writ with fidelity and truth have certainly the greatest use since from thence we learn how to live well to moderate our passions and govern our selves in the various Circumstances of Life But whereas we cannot live well unlesâ— we live in Society and all Societies must have Rulers and Governors over them or else we must all disband and turn Barabbas's there is 〈◊〉 one Higher Degree of History whith we may looâ— upon as the most compleat for Estimation Proâ—â— and Vse And that is a Narration of the Liveâ— of Princes representing withal every action bearing a Relation and Analogy thereunto And his kind cannot stand without the fore-mention'd Additionals as I may Stile them and not Essentials of History as Arms and Fortifications and the like matters Which though they do concern no man in himself as to point of Happiness yet together with the great Delight they bring along with them they are mainly conducive to the well-fare of mankind in general and the Knowledge of 'em is requisite to many particular men as immediately ingag'd in them and is likewise universally Ornamental Which things being well weigh'd I think I have got under my Pen one of the most profitable as well as diverting Histories the Sun ever yet saw acted It being the Life of a Prince which may be an Example not only to publick but private men For it affords us the knowledge of Heaven and reads us a Lecture of Piety Justice Patience Fortitude and Clemency Which being virtues in a Prince have a singular Grace with ' em It is not an account of the Robberies of an Alexander but a Register of Providential Bounties and Appointments beautified with the various Scenes and Landskips of Humane Life to instruct our Judgments and amuse our Imagination It teaches us the Arts of Vnity and Concord and draws out the true lines of the English Government It cures those diseases of the mind Insolence self-conceit and Ambition and shews that it is the Subjects Interest as well as Duty to obey These are all things but of Yesterdays standing and very well known and remembred So that before hand I need not make any Professions here of my truth and sincerity in the following Relation it being not so easy to deceive as to be refell'd in things not in the least remote from our knowledge This indeed is all I have the vanity to fear that if this Book should happen to descend to Posterity they will rather think it the Panegyrick than History of our late admirable Prince because when I report nothing of him but what was landable they may ghess that I have pretermitted what was worthy reprehension The most renowned and mighty Monarch CHARLES the Second late King of England was in greatness of his Royal Descent Superiour to all the Princes in Europe being descended from our Royal Martyr Charles the good and great and Henrietta de Bourbon Daughter to Henry the Great the Fourth of that name of France By descending from which two Royal Persons he was related to all the Princes in Europe had some of all the Bloud-Royal of the Christian World concenter'd in his Princely Veins By his Father he deriv'd in a lineal descent from all the Brittish Saxon Danish Norman and Scottish Kings of Great Britain and by his Mother from the Bourbons of France the Austrians of Spain the Mediâ—es of Florence c. Being also allied to all or most of them by his own the Marriages of his Royal Brother our present most Glorious Monarch his Aunt his Sisters and his two Nieces their Royal Highness Mary Princess of Orange and the Princess Ann of Denmark He was born at St. James's May the 29th 1630 it being the Birth-day of St. Augustine who was sent by Gregory the great to our Ancestors the Saxons and was the first founder of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury At which time a new Star appeared over the Palaâ—â— where he was born which seemed from Heaven to congratulate his Birth by darting its promising Influence upon the place of it and displaying is officious Beams in the midst of that Air wherein he first drew breath notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of the shining Sun which thing was generally lookt upon as an Emblem of his future greatness and glory The Sun likewise soon after suffered an Eclipse which was a sad presage as some even then divined that his Glory should be for some time eclipsed His Royal Father having in him obtained that blessing which he desired above all things in the World went to St. Pauls and there in a publique and solemn manner gave thanks to Almighty God from whose bounty he received him He was baptized in the 27th of the following June by Dr. Laud Bishop of London Abbot who was then Archbishop of Canterbury being under an Irregularity according to the decent and laudible Custom of the Church of England whereof he was then made a Son that so â—he might hereafter be her Supream Head and Mediator His Godfathers were his two Uncles Lewis 13. King of France and Frederick Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhine represented by the Dukes of Hamilton and Richmond who were then the two first Peers of the Realm and his Godmother was the Queen Mother of France represented by the Dutchess of Richmond He was committed in his Infancy to the indulgent Care and pious Tuition of the Countess of Dorset and when his growing parts rendred him too masculine for a Feminine Conduct he was delivered to the Earl of Newcastle under whose Direction and Government he imbib'd those Principles of Virtue and desire of Learning which serv'd as an Introduction to fit and prepare him for his farther and more liberal Education under the Learned Dr. Duppa Dean of Christ-Church and Bishop of Chichester by whose extraordinary Pains and Industry his Great Soul was first seasoned with those Rudiments of Knowledge and Learning which afterward by his own observation and experience received so vast an increase and rendred him that sagacious and politick
be the better able to entertain War when they had made provisions for it And he being sensible of their drift therein thought it not convenient for him to be altogether idle and therefore resolved so to order his Affairs as to be in as good a readiness as they whensoever the War should commence To which end he required the City to lend him One Hundred Thousand Pound referring them to the Lord Treasurer for Terms of Repayment which Request was receiv'd with such a dutiful compliance by the Common-Council that it was presently granted thereby acquitting themselves at once both in point of Loyalty and Prudence by serving the KINGS present Necessity and providing for their own future Safety This Money he imploy'd in fitting out two considerable Fleets and intending to employ Sir John Lawson who then blockt up Argier and some of the Ships under his Command therein he commanded his Return for England Captain Allen being ordered to succeed him there who brought these Pirates into such distress that shortly after they were forc'd to accept of Peace upon terms advantageous enough for England The Dutch Embassadour propounding such conditions as were not to be accepted he sent back Sir George Downing thither with full Instructions how to behave himself towards them who had upon his Arrival several Conferences with the States about Satisfaction for Damages received but could not prevail with them to return a positive Answer to any thing he propounded nor come to any terms of Agreement which they were the more willing to delay in regard they expected the speedy Arrival of a vast Treasure in several great Fleets of Merchants Ships But this being not unknown to him and he being a Prince that well enough understood how strong the Nerve of War Money was resolved to way-lay those vast Masses of Wealth as they past homeward through his own Channel especially being informed by secret Intelligence that they were resolved in contempt of his Power to send their Guiney Preparations by Sea and that Opdam should convey them through the Channel To which end and purpose that he might be before-hand with them in their preparations he endeavoured with all imaginable speed and diligence to make his Navy ready not sparing to oversee and order things with indefatigable paines and industry in his own Royal Person which was abundantly answered by the success For such was the Alacrity of his Subjects when they saw him continually Travelling from place to place to forward the work and see all things effectually and speedily performed encouraging them by his Presence that the City at the very first mention of it by the Earl of Manchester Chamberlain of His Household supplyed him with a second Loan of One Hundred Thousand Pounds By which means while the Dutch flattered themselves with suppositions of his want of Men and Money and his being broken with the Calamities of the Raging Pestilence which hapned about this time and was the severest that ever was known in England they were only forced to look on and with Envy behold his Vigorous preparations and see the Sea covered with such a Magnificent Navy as the Ocean had scarcely ever supported in any former Age. However having duely considered the dangers of the Northern passage they seemingly laid aside all thoughts of going about by Scotland and continued firm to their former Resolution of forcing their passage though the Channel In order whereunto having Re-victualled Opdams Fleet they commanded him to hasten to Sea with the first Wind and conduct the Guiney-Succors through the Channel having ordered some other Ships from the Vlie and Texel to Joyn with him and sent a Galliot before to give notice to their Director General in Guinea of their Proceedings therein Which Resolution taken and carryed on with so much Vigour most men Imagin'd to have been extorted from them by the exigency of their present condition for they had scattered many base contempts upon the King and Subjects of England Nor was the Issue of that Bravado other than what their Fears presented For about the middle of October Prince Rupert appeared at the spitt-Spitt-Head with sixteen Saile of Ships who was not long after joyned by the Duke then Lord High Admiral of England and the Earl of Sandwich so that it was a matter of the greatest difficulty and hazard for them to unlock the narrow Seas And great dispute there was amongst them whether Opdam who lay with his Fleet in the Gore should adventure out or no but the Wind continuing cross put an end to that dispute and furnisht them with a plausible excuse for their not appearing at Sea upon so great disadvantages as they would in all probability have met withall However Prince Rupert kept the Sea with the English Fleet to attend their Motion and was rewarded by all or most of their Bourdeaux Fleet falling into his hands which with other Prizes taken that Year by the English amounted to about One Hundred Thirty Five There having been as yet no Publick Declaration of War on either side the King still continued to Treat for Peace with His Arms in His Hand and ordered Sir George Downing to press in the heat of all that preparation and action for satisfaction of Damages And finding that they were not like to be brought to such terms as he expected and knowing that it would mightily advance his Credit and strike Terror into his Enemies to be alway before hand with them he caused an Embargo to be laid upon their Ships with so much Secrecy that His Embassadour there had notice of it at least eight dayes before the States that so he might give secret Intelligence to the English and hasten their departure by which means when their Embargo came it found only two small inconsiderable Vessels and an Oyster Boat to seize And the King acquainting the Parliament which met in November how unkindly he had been Treated by the Dutch and what preparations he had thereupon made for War and telling them he had out of his own Credit set forth a Navy which he was sure would not decline meeting with all the Power of the Dutch for the Finishing where of he had borrowed so liberally out of his own stores and of the City of London that to discharge the one and replenish the other would require little less then Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds They to demonstrate their Love and Affection to their Soveraign and how hearty they were in their Resolutions to support His Honour and their Countries Rights against Forreign Encroachments gave him more then thrice that Summ in an Act Entituled An Act for granting a Royal Aide of Twenty four Thousand Threescore and Seventeen Thousand and Five Hundred Pounds And finding that the Dutch did but trifle with him in hopes of gaining time he resolved to forbear them no longer and therefore in the February following denounc'd War against them by a Publick Declaration prohibiting all Manufactures coming from thence and granting Letters of
Rebels whereupon the Lords with their followers faced about and repelled them But when they were got a little beyond Newport some of Lilburn's Regiment meeting them in the Front and other Rebels from Worcester pursuing them in the Rear themselves and Horses being very much beaten out and tired Darby Lauderdale Gifford and some others were taken and carried Prisoners first to Whit-Church and then to an Inn in Banbury from whence Gifford found means to escape But Darby was conveyed to Westchester and there tryed by a pretended Court Marshal held by a Commission from Cromwel grounded on an execrable Rump Act which traiterously pretended to prohibit all correspondence with Charles Stuart under penalty of High-Treason loss of Life and Estate by which he was condemned to lose his Life notwithstanding his just Plea that he had Quarter granted him by Captain Edge who took him Prisoner and was shortly after Executed at Bolton in Lancashire in a most Barbarous and unhuman manner Lauderdale and others were conveyed first to the Tower and afterward to Windsor Castle where they continued divers years But whilst the Rebels were plundering those Noble Persons whom they had taken Prisoners the Duke with Leviston Blague Darcey May and others forsook the Road and betaking themselves to a by-way got into Cessardine Woods not far from Newport where they received some refreshment at a little obscure House and afterward by two honest Labourers whom they met withal in an adjoyning Wood and to whom they communicated the misery and distress which the fortune of War had reduced them to were directed to places of safety The Duke in imitation of his Royal Master quitting his Horse and delivering his George which was given him by the Queen Mother to Mr. May who having preserved it in several eminent dangers restored it to him again in Holland and changing habit with one of the Workmen he was in that disguise conveyed to the House of one Mr. Haley at Bistrop in Nottinghamshire Leviston and the rest all quitted their Horses likewise and severally shifted for themselves The King being safely Landed in Normandy he went forthwith to Diepe where he provided himself with such necessaries as might serve him until he came to his Mother in the French Court who so soon as they heard of his safe arrival sent several Persons of Quality to meet him with great Pomp as became his Person who received him with much gladness and very much rejoyced at his safety conveying him to Paris in the Duke of Orleans his own Coach where he found such a welcom as his Person and Worth deserved and as great as that Court could express for the safety of their best Allie and by his Mother and the two Dukes with as great a joy as became them upon the receiving of him whom they once thought had been lost and perished These Complements being once over he pursued his interest in Holland by the mediation of his Sister the Princess of Orange and his Aunt the Queen of Bohemia indeavouring to prevail with them according to their former promises to undertake a War against the English Parliament which they accordingly did but being not able to cope with the Valour of the English nor prevail against that success which seemed to be entailed to the Rump in all their undertakings they were unsuccessful therein and it contributed very little toward the promoting of his designs The King being once again excluded out of all his Dominions they quickly after reduced Corn-Castle in the Isle of Guernsey the Isle of Man and all other places both in England Scotland and Ireland which stood out for him Which was no sooner done but there happened a strange alteration in the Scene of affairs in England for Cromwel whose ambition was now ripe knowing that he could not expect a fairer opportunity to Usurp that supreme Power which he had so long been aspiring too in regard every one began now to grow weary of the base actions of the Rump whose dilatory proceedings and apparent intentions of perpetuating themselves rendred them hateful to all Mankind he entred into their House attended by some of his principal Officers where having delivered divers reasons why he thought that Parliament ought to be Dissolved and a period put to its sitting He commanded them notwithstanding they were his Masters and from whom he derived his Commission immediately to depart which was done accordingly for how unwilling soever they were to obey yet it was now out of their Power to dispute his Authority so that those who had murthered one King and refused to restore a second were turned out of door and deprived of all Authority and Power by their own Servant Whereat the whole Nation rejoyced and scarce a Man grieved for their Dissolution but themselves every one believing that though the Nation might not peradventure be bettered by that change yet it was almost impossible it should be worse but however Cromwel fearing that some might be discontented with his Proceedings Published a large and specious Declaration shewing his Reasons for his Dissolving of them But his design being only to make himself great he did not intend to give relief by taking away the tyranny but by changing of it only and therefore instead of that Juncto which he pulled down set up another of his own arbitrary election who knowing before-hand what they had to do after having sate a while resigned up their power to him who resolving to make the best of that resignation pretended that the whole Supream Power and Authority of the three Kingdoms both Civil and Military was thereby in course devolved upon him and thereupon calling a Councel of Officers to consult about setling the Government they resolved after several debates to have a Common-wealth in a single person and that person should be Oliver Cromwel by the name and style of Lord Protector c. He at first seemingly refused the Dignity altho' it was the only thing he aimed at but being press'd by the Officers of the Army he consented to accept of it and was install'd with great pomp in the Chancery-Court at Westminster-hall and shortly after concluded a Peace with the Dutch He was afterward importuned by his Parliament to exchange his Title of Lord Protector for that of King which he refused and chose rather to continue the old The King when he came into France found that Court very much embroil'd on the account of some mis-understandings between the Prince of Conde and other Princes of the Blood and the Cardinal Mazarine which he undertook to compose urging his own danger to the King and advising him to beware how he provok'd his Subjects and urging the King's power to the Princes of the Blood whereby he unhappily drew upon himself the jealousies of both parties being suspected by the Cardinal to be for the Princes and by them to take part with him against their interest which they were the more induced to believe because he withdrew the
in the other being attended on by Confusion represented in a deformed shape having on a Garment of severall ill-matcht Colours put on the wrong way on her Head Ruines of Castles and torn Crowns and in her Hand broken and shattered Scepters On the South Pedestal was a Representation of Britains Monarchy supported by Loyalty with Women Monarchy arayed in a large Purple Robe adorned with Diadems and Scepters and over that a loose Mantle edged with blew and silver Fringe resembling Water the Mapp of Great Britain being drawn on it Upon her head was the City of London in her right hand Edenburgh in her left Dublin Loyalty was all in white with three Scepters in her right hand and three Crowns in her left The first Painting on the South side was a prospect of His Landing at Dover Ships at Sea great Guns going off one kneeling and kissing the Kings hand attended by many Souldiers both Horse and Foot and great numbers of People gazing above and beneath this Motto In Solido Rursus Fortuna Locavit alludeing to that of Virgil thus Rendred Fortune Reviving tho she tumbled down Sporting Restores again unto the Crown Above the Arch on the North and South-Sides stood the Statues of James and Charles the first and between them somewhat higher and just over the Arch that of the Restored King with this Inscription D. N. Carolo D. G. Britanniarum Imp. Opt. Max. ubique venerando Semper AUG Bretissimo ac piissimo Bono Reip. Nato De avita Britannia Et Omnium Hominum Genere Meritissimo P. P. Extinctori Tyrannidis Restitutori Libertatis Fundatori Quietis ob Felicem Reditum Ex Voto L. M. P. S. P. Q. L. The Second which was a Naval Representation was erected in Cornhill near the Royal-Exchange on the East side whereof two Stages were erected on each side of the Street one in that on the South side a person representing the River of Thames and on that on the North side which was made like the upper deck of a Ship were three Seamen whereof one was habited like a Boat-Swayn and upon the Shield or Table on the front of the Arch a Latine Inscription the first painting on the North side over the City Arms represented Neptune with his Trident advanced with this Inscription Neptuno Reduci On the South side opposite to Neptune was Mars represented with his Spear Inverted having his Sheild charged with a Gorgon and by his knees this Motto Marti Pacifero Over the Arch the Marriage of Thame and Isis The painting in the North side over Neptune represented the Exchange with this Motto Generalis Lapsi Sarcire Ruinas The uppermost great Table in the fore ground represented Charles the first with the Prince his Son who was the then Restored King in his hand viewing the Soveraign of the Sea the Prince Leaning â—n a Canon with this Inscription O Nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aequor Et conjurati veniunt ad Classica ventt For Thee O Jove's delight the Seas engage And muster'd Winds drawn up in battel Rage The third which represented an Artificial building of two Stories the one after the Corinthian way of Architecture the other after the Composit with a Latin Inscription upon a Shield was Erected near Wood-street end not far from the place where the Cross formerly stood In the spanderills of which Arch two Figures in Female habit and a leaning posture represented Peace whose Shield was charged with a Helmet and Bees â—ssuing forth and going into it with this Motto Pax bello Potior And Truth cloathed in a thin habit on her Shield Times bringing Truth out of a Cave with this Motto Tandem Emersit Over the great Painting upon the Arch of the Cupula was Represented a large Geryon with three heads Crowned In his three right hands a Lance a Sword and a Scepter in his â—hree left the Escutcheons of England Scotland and Ireland having before him the Kings Arms with three Imperial Crowns and beneath him in great Letters Concordia Insuperabilis The fourth Triumphant Arch which represented the Garden of Plenty and was of two Stories one after the Dorick Order the other of the Jonick was Erected in Fleet-street near the turning into White-Friers and had upon the great Sheild over the Arch in Large Capitals this Inscription Ubertati AUG extincto belli Civilis incendio clusoq Jani Templo arum celsis construxit S. P. Q. L. Over the Postern on the South side of the entrance was represented Bacchus drawn in a Chariot by Leopards his Mantle a Panthers skin a Crown of Grapes on his head a Thyrsis with Ivy in his left hand and underneath Liber Pater The Painting over this represented a Vineyard with Silenus on his Ass with Satyrs dancing round about him in drunken and antick Postures And on the North side opposite to Bacchus was represented Ceres drawn in a Chariot by winged Dragons and Crowned with Eares of Corne having in her left hand Poppyes and in her right a blazing Torch the Painting over her being the description of Harvest Ceres AUG And the King having created six Earles as many Barons and Sixty Eight Knights of the Bath to assist at that Ceremony and appointed the 23d of April which was St. Georges day for the Consummating thereof the Glory and Splendor of it commenced the day before when he past through the City to White-Hall in a most Magnificent and Tryumphant manner For the Streets being all gravelled and filled with a vast multitude of wondring Spectators as well out of the Country as the City and some Forraigners who acknowledg themselves never to have seen amongst all the great Magnificencies of the World any that came near or equal'd that and even the Vaunting French were forced to confess that their Pomp of the late Marriage with the Infanta of Spain upon their Majesties entrance into Paris was far inferior in its State Gallantry and Riches unto that most Illustrious and dazelling Cavalcade which proceeded after this manner First went the Horse Guard of His Illustrious Brother the Duke of York the Messengers of the Kings Bed-Chamber the Esquires and Knights of the Bath being One Hundred and thirty Six in number The Knight Harbinger the Serjeant Porters the Sewers of the Chamber the Quarter Waiters the Six Clerks of the Chancery the Clerks of the Signet the Clerks of the Privy Seal the Clerks of the Council the Clerks of the Parliament the Clerks of the Crown the Chaplains in Ordinary bearing Dignities ten in number the Kings Advocate and the Remembrancer the Kings Councel at Law the Master of Chancery the King Puisne Serjeants the Kings Attorney and Sollicitors the Kings Eldest Serjeants the Secretaries of the French and Latin Tongues the Gentlemen Ushers dayly Waiters the Sewers Carvers and Cup-bearers in Ordinary the Masters of standing Officers being no Councellors viz. Of the Tents Revels Ceremonies Armory Wardrobe Ordinance the Master of Requests Chamberlain of the Exchecquer Barons of the