of the Realm so much by Conqueâ—â— as on Conditions accordingly here 's mentiâ—â— made of one Grant The Occasion of Stephen's coming to the Crowâ— contrary to his own former Oath swore to Kiâ—â— Henry and in prejudice to Maud's Claim is Râ—corded by one Author to have been the Oath one Hugh Bâ—got sometime King Henry's Stewarâ— who swore that the Late King in his presence little before his Death chose this Stephen for 〈◊〉 Heir by reason that he had received some discoâ—tent at his Daughters hands Whereunto the 〈◊〉 giving easy Credence admitted him King 〈◊〉 Favour of the Londoners did doubtless at thâ— time conduâ—â— not a little to his advantage in pâ—â—ferring him an able Man before a weak Womaâ— For Stow's Annals inform us That he was receivâ—â— by the Londoners when he had been repulsed at â—ther Places certainly it redounded to his 〈◊〉 Benefit afterwards as hath been related before Another Addition of Strength might be his not imposing heavy Taxes upon the People which it may be increased their Love to him and made so many side with him As indeed we find upon his first Admission that he sware among other things before the Lords at Oxford to forgive his People the Tax of Danegelt Neither do I read of any Taxes that he raised upon the Commons It is affirmed positively in the Câ—llâ—ction of Wonders and Remarkable Passages that he raised none with which Stow likewise agrees So that a King 's needless laying of many heavy and grievous Taxes upon his People occasions him to lose much of their Love and his forbearing it when he hath Power in his hands unites his Subjects Hearts the faster to him But instead of Taxes we read of this Kings permission given to his Lords to build Castles or Fortresses upon their own Grounds Many whereof we find pulled down in the next King's time they having been the occasion of many Miseries in the Land and the ready means to foment Civil Wars therein which generally brings greater Damages to the Commonâ—lty than a few Impositions and Taxes can be presumed to do This King Stephen was twice Crowned but for what cause or for what intent is not so easily known whether it was that he thought his Imprisonment had diminished somewhat of his Royalty or else thinking by a second Coronation to â—lude the Force of the Oath made at the first I find not delivered Certain it is soon after my Author tells of his taking away a Castle from the Earl of Chester who before had appeared against him on Maud's side with a very considerable Strength but had been afterwards reconciled to the King But what is much more considerable we read not long after of the King 's new danger and ill Success and of his Party being weaken'd particularly by the loss of London For Duke Henry after King coming into England with a great Army after some small Success gets up to London and wins the Tower as much by Policy and fair Promiâ—es saith my Author as by Strength Then he had Opportunity enough to caress the Câ—tizens being so near them and it may be he got not the Tower without their Consert if not by their Affistance Hereby we find that he retrieved what his Mother's Haughtiness before had lost and so having got the City's Affection and Power he was in a fair way to obtain his Desires as he did not long after For we quickly read of Mediators and Treaties of Peace between these two Competitors which took Effect at last though the Interest and Policy of some hindered it for a time In Conclusion the King was fain to consent to the adopting the Duke his Heir so that he might Reign during his Life Which justly to perform the King being sworn with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the next place we hear of their riding up to London as if to bind the bargain it was requisite to ask the consent of that Honourable City whose Favour seems to have been of so great weight in those unsettled Times as to turn the Scales twice once in the King's behalf and erewhile on the Dukâ—'s Such was their Influence such their Power as to pull down and set up in a manner whom the Citizens pleased Happy was this Agreement to the Land by settling peace therein as beneficial likewise was it to the Duke it being a fair Step to the Throne whereon we find him mounted within a little time For not long after this Accord we hear of the King's Death Whether the Troubles of his Mind or Diseases of his Body brought him to his End vexation for the disappointment of his Designs in being after a sort compelled to adopt his Competitor his Enemy for his Son and Heir or Grief for the loss of London's Favour which helped to effect so great a Turn in his Affairs I shall not determine It might be one it might be the other or neither or all conjoyned that became the occasional Causes so to phrase it of his Death I like not to be very positive where I am not very certain Stephen's Death making thus way for Henry to ascend the English Throne he became one of the â—reatest Kings that ever ruled this Land for the Largeness and Extent of his Territories if we reckon the Inheritance he enjoyed from his Father the Land he held by the Title of his Mother the Dowry he had with his Wife and what he obâ—ained by the Success of his Arms Yet notwithâ—tanding all this he lived not free from Troubles â—nd intestine Broils which sprung much out of his â—wn Bowels So that the Glory of his Youth beâ—an somewhat to be eclipsed by the Misfortunes of â—is elder Years He Crowned his eldest Son liâ—ing King sometime before the middle of his â—eign to the end as one Author affirms that he â—ight have full Power and Authority to rule this â—and and People while his Father was busied in â—ther Countrys where some of his Lands lay This â—ight be one Reason but the King having learnt 〈◊〉 experience to his Mother's Loss and his own â—ost how easy it was for Stephen to attempt and â—ain the Crown being present on the Spot while â—â—e right Heir was far distant in the vacancy of the â—hrone may be supposed in his intent to have designed the hinderance of such an Intrusion for the future by Crowning the next Heir King while he himself lived I read that Stephen had some such design to have Crowned his Son King in his own days as he declared at a Parliament called at London An. Reg. 17 to have fixt the Crown the surer to his Posterity But the Bâ—shops refused the Deed Which I do not find they did so much out of Conscience or in Favour to Mâ—â—d's Title as by the Command forsooth of the Pope who in those days was very apt to be clapping his Fingers into almost everâ— ones Pye where he thought any good pickinâ— might be had This King Henry got but little by Crowning
of Eâ—â—lish men Do you think they will alter their mâ—ners by shifting their Habitations That 〈◊〉 Blackamore will ever change his Skin by comâ— into a colder Climate Let us look a little upon the first Discoveries 〈◊〉 their late grand Plot so often inculcated upon 〈◊〉 Nation by His Majesties many Royal Proclamatiâ—â— and Speeches that no Loyal Spirits can any 〈◊〉 doubt of the Truth of it who give any deference deferencâ— the Word of a King and we shall find there 〈◊〉 â—ain Design after our King's Murder to have rooted â—ut the Gentry of the Nation whose Lives should it â—â—ems have been offered up as so many Sacrifices to â—ppease the injur'd Ghost of their Murder'd Prince â—ome of your Women perhaps they might have conâ—escended to have sav'd for their Lusts your little â—hildren for Slaves the Poor and bâ—ser sort for their â—ervants but the Men of Substance must in likelihood â—ave gone all to pot as Obstacles to their cruel inâ—â—nded Design And yet still 't is but a perhaps we 〈◊〉 not sure they would have spared any Nay raâ—â—er we are morally certain that all of any tolerable 〈◊〉 must have Died if the Deposition of Mr. Bedlow 〈◊〉 often credited remains yet of any value amongst 〈◊〉 from whose Attestation publickly sworn upon â—ath in Ireland's Tryal we find the extent of the â—esign besides the subversion of the Government to â—â—ve been the extirpating of the Protestant Religion 〈◊〉 that Degree which was alwaies concluded on in 〈◊〉 the Consults wherein he was that they would not â—â—ve any Member of any Heretick in England that â—ould survive to tell in the Kingdom hereafter that â—ere was ever any such Religion in England as the â—â—otestant Religion If discovered and so frustrated â—â—ntrivances may not sufficiently warn you to beâ—â—re of the Jesuits Intentions to youward Consider â—atters of Fact and see what hath already been 〈◊〉 in other places and so come from thinking what 〈◊〉 been done to what may be done and what 〈◊〉 should be done if some might have their 〈◊〉 minds and desires Cast a look or two upon â—â—â—emia that once flourishing Land under Wickliff's â—â—ctrine Famous for the Martyrdom of John Huss 〈◊〉 Jerom of Prague the Courage of blind Zisca 〈◊〉 his valiant Souldiers and noted also for their â—â—â—erty of Chusing their Princes See now how much of the Bohemians Antient Liberty or Religiâ—â— is yet remaining amongst them Enough of the pâ—â—ctices and devices the Jesuits used to new 〈◊〉 the Nation after they had once reduc'd it by 〈◊〉 of Arms you may find in the History of the 〈◊〉 Persecution London Printed by B. A. John Walker But to return to King John whence I have 〈◊〉 gressed after his Resignation and Reassumption of 〈◊〉 Crown at the yearly Rent of 900 or 1000 〈◊〉 Silver the Return of the Archbishop and the 〈◊〉 Exiles into the Land we read of the releasing 〈◊〉 annulling of the Interdiction which had lasted years odd months and days but it was not beâ— that the King according to one of the Articles made restitution to the sufferers which the 〈◊〉 saith amounted in the whole to 18000â— Marks would have thought after so much trouble the 〈◊〉 would have been weary of endeavouring after Aâ—â—â—trary Power But the Event may make us apt to 〈◊〉 that among other inducements to yield to the 〈◊〉 hard terms of Accommodation one mighâ— some hope to domineer the better over the 〈◊〉 he was reconciled to the Clergy and so take a 〈◊〉 revenge upon such as would not ere while assist against the Pope For not long after the late 〈◊〉 we find mention made of so great 〈◊〉 between the King and his Lords that much 〈◊〉 were raised on either part One occasion alledgâ—â— that the King would not hold Edward's Laws yet he had taken an Oath at the Return of Exil'd Clergy-men into England to call in all 〈◊〉 Laws and put in place of them the Law King Edward if Stow's Annals record the 〈◊〉 Another that the King would have Exil'd wiâ—â—â—aw the Earl of Chester for some Advice he given him relating to his Vices which the other did not well digest The King's Party being then the stronger the Lords took the City of London for their Refuge and remained therein Though we read of much harm done this year in London by Fire and of the burning a great part of the Burrough of Southwark yet it seems the City was strong enough to become the Barons Bulwark against the inrag'd King's Ire And siding with them so inhanced the Barons fame that as Stow tells us all except a few went to the Barons side so that King John durst not peep out of Windsor Castle At length by the Prelates Mediation a Peace was made for a while and to establish it the firmer the King and the Lords soon after met with great strength on either side on Berham Down where a Charter was devis'd made and sealed by the King to the Barons content A.C. 1214. according to Falian's account Henry Fitz. Alwyn continued then Mayor of London Ralph Egland and Constantine le Josne being Sheriffs in this 14th year of K. John's Reign Yet in Stow we read of a Meeting appointed in a Meadow between Stains c Windsor where the King granted the Liberties without any difficulty the Charter whereof is dated June 16. An. Reg. 17. As for the loud and clamorous Declamations of such who tell us that the grand Charter of our Lives Liberties and Estates our Properties and Priviledges was gain'd at first by Rebellion and would thus slily as it were insinuate that it was and is retained by like unlawful waies and means We would desire them to give us better proofs for what they say than their own bare Asseverations which will not yet go for currant Coin in all Markets That Edward the Confessor's Laws were very acceptable to the generality of the Nation we have great reason to believe from their continued desire to retain them That William the first granted the use of them to the Nation is sufficiently instanced above That Henry the first used them 〈◊〉 likewise mentioned before for so affirms the Chronicle That King John himself accorded to them at hiâ— coming to the Crown we may I doubt not reasosonably believe considering his Title and the Conteâ—â— he was like to have about it If a Negative may be admitted an Argument in the case I do not remember that I have read of any difference between hiâ— and his Lay-Barons about them till after that he was reconciled to the Pope by the resignation of hiâ— Crown and performance of the other conditions enjoyned him But after the King 's giving away hiâ— Crown and resuming it again upon a Foundatioâ— wholly and altogether new I know not but he mighâ— think all former obligations void and so would endeavour to have his Will of the Laity when he hop'd he had fixt the Clergy fast enough on his side by thâ— new condescension
Thomas Weyland Adam Stretton and others who being by the Kings order Examined and found guilty of the Trespasses laid to their Charge were â—ither out-law'd and lost their goods or else long â—mprisoned and deeply Fin'd A large Catalogue â—f them and their Fines are to be seen in Stows 〈◊〉 whence 't is observable how suddainly vengeâ—nce over-takes Oppressors let them be never so Rich High and Mighty in Office Power or Authority as soon as ever the Kings mind is inspir'd from above to inspect their actions and punish their crimes Remarkable is the 19th Year for the Jews Banishment which we find bought of thâ— King by the Commons at the price of a Fifteen In the 21st year we hear of a Parliament held at London and of the King of Scot's coming thither with divers of his Lords The punishment inflicted on three men for rescuing a Prisoner from an Officer belonging to the Sheriffs of London by striking off their right hands at the wrist in Cheapside is noted for one of this years actions Hence let us leap to the 24th year and there among thaâ— years deeds we find mention made of a new subsidy levied by the King upon Wool going out oâ— England Fels and Hides for his War with thâ— French King of his Commanding the Mony before granted by the Clergy towards the defence oâ— the Holy Land to be brought into his Treasury upon the Report he had from Rome of Pope Boniface the 8ths manners of the grant he got of thâ— Clergy of half their Spiritual and Temporal Lands from a Benefice of 20 Marks and upwards to bâ— paid in three years And of the Tax he had also granted him by the Lay-fee viz. the Tenth penny of their movables to be paid in two years time If any one be desirous to certifie himself whaâ— Relation Scotland stood in towards England foâ— many ages before let him read through the Relation of this years actions in Fabian's Chronicle and there he may be satisfied if it will conduce to his satisfaction to find that Scotland even in Elder times in a sort depended on England and waâ— so far from giving Laws or an Example and Patern thereto that it's Nobles were fain to submit themselves to the King of England's Judgmenâ— and decree and do him Homage and Fealty in effecâ— by the submission of their King whom King Edward had appointed and set over them Memoâ—able is the six and twentieth year for that thereâ—n the Londoners obtain'd of King Edward newâ—y come from beyond Sea into England and so to Winchester a grant of their Liberties and Franchises which had in some part been kept from them by â—he term of twelve years and more so that they â—gain chose a Major of themselves whereas in â—he aforesaid time their Custos or Guardian was appointed by the King or by such as the King would assign But we are to understand by the Chronicle that this was not redeem'd without a great Sum of money Some Writers it seems fixing it at three thousand marks As this King had many Wars especially with Scotland which put him to great charges and had much money granted him by his Subjects so he ceased not to devise other ways to raise more and get what was denied him For as much as divers men â—ichly benefic'd in the Land refus'd to aid him with their Goods as others had and for that end had purchased from the Pope an Inhibition that they and their goods should be free from the King's Taxes he put them this year out of his protection a strain of State policy beyond some other Kings and seis'd their Temporalties permitting them to enjoy their Spiritualties till they agreed with him Though this was a warlike Prince and oft successful in his undertakings yet the Clergy's power so over-top't the Laity's that he chose rather to make use of his Wits than his Arms in dealing with them So have I read in William the Second's days how when his Unkle being both a Bishop and an Earl grew troublesome to him he seis'd upon the Earl and clapt him in hold whereby he caught and revenged himself on the Bishop too without openly pretending to meddle with a Clergy Man An offence esteem'd piacular in those days to such an height of Pride were the Popish Clergy grown An other practice of King Edward was his suddain Condemning certain Coines of Mony call'd Pollards Crocardes and Rosaries in his twenty seventh year and causing them to be brought to a new Coynage to his great advantage as testifies the Historian Among others may be also numbred that Inquisition he caus'd to be made throughout the Land in the twenty eighth year which was after nam'd Trailbaston This we find made upon Officers as Majors Sheriffs Bayliffs Escheators and many others who had misborn themselves in their Offices and had us'd Extortion or treated the people otherwise than was according to the order of their Offices So vigilant appeared this Prince and careful of his people that they might not be abused nor oppressed by their fellow Subjects when got into power under pretence of being his Majesties Officers a thing we know common enough in the world In the twenty eighth year we have mention made of the City of London's Splendor and Magnificence upon the account of their receiving the new Queen Margaret Sister to the French King Thus runs my Authors short Relation hereof The Citizens to the number of six hundred Rode in one Livery of Red and White with the Cognizance of divers Misteries broidered upon their sleeves and received her four Miles without the City and so conveyed her through the City which then was garnished and hanged with Tapestry and Arras and other Cloths of Silk and Riches in most goodly wise unto Westminster This is the year wherein Fabian makes the first mention of Pierce of Gaviston in his Chronicle upon Occasion of the Bishop of Chesters complaining to the King of him his Eldest Son Edward and others for breaking the Bishops Park and riotously destroying the Game therein For this was the aforesaid Edward and his Accomplices Imprisoned So that under this famous King the very next Heir apparent scap'd not the Lash of the Law when he had offended even to an actual Imprisonment so far were men in those days from asserting him to be above the Law and not Lyable to condign punishment because the next Heir Afterwards the King Banished the aforesaid Gaviston out of England for fear lest he should debauch his Son But this Banishment was after his death annulled by his Son Edward when King to the great trouble and vexation of the Land afterwards The twenty ninth may be esteemed not unworthy of remark for the Kings giving to Edward his Son the Principality of Wales whereunto he likewis'd joyn'd the Earldom of Cornwal newly Vacant and return'd to the Crown In the 33d year we read of the taking arraigning drawing hanging and quartering of William Waleys who of an unknown
then thought unpardonable by the Londoners who in words and deeds espoused the Queen's Cause seis'd on the Tower of London and kept it for the Queens use and not long afterwards received her into their City with great Joy and Honour A demonstrative evidence in my opinion of the City's strength and power For if London when she pleas'd could maintain the King's peace in the midst of Arms as was shewn above so inviolably as that none dar'd in opposition to break it and afterwards in the very same age and within the compass of half a dozen years did actually assert the Qeens cause and assist her in her proceedings as was pretended for Reformation of the Realm tho the Consequence thereof was in truth the unfortunate Kings resignation what greater instance can there be to shew her great influence upon the whole Nation in those unsetled times London having so visibly appeared in favour of the Queen the Prince and his party and contributed so much towards this notable revolution of affairs we have no reason to think but that out of Common gratitude her Citizens were to be aboundantly rewarded and that they themselves out of self interest and natural Prudence would so well and wisely look to their own affairs as to make hay while the Sun shines to the procuring new grants and Graces and so accordingly we find the event For in the first year of Edward the third Fabian tells us he confirmed the Liberties and Franchizes of the City making the Major Chief Justice in all places of Judgment within the same next the King every Alderman that had been Major Justice of Peace in London and Midlesex and such as had not been Justice in his own Ward Granting them also the Fee-farm of London for three hundred pounds and that they should not be constrained to go out of the City to â—o fight or defend the Land for any need A priviledge greater than what was claimed as their liberty in his Fathers days when unwilling to engage against the Queen and Prince they refused not to go out on condition of returning the same day as is related before But the most beneficial of all the grants was that the Franchises of the City should not be seized into the Kings hands but only for Treason or Rebellion done by the whole City It having before been a Common thing to have their Liberties seized on as hath been plainly manifested in the Precedent Relation on almost every petty disgust conceived by the Court against them were it but for the pretended offence of a particular Officer or for mony alledged to be owing by the City to some great ones at Court or some such like small trivial pretence But now at this time they took such care to have their Liberties setled and secured by this Royal Grant that it may be thought almost if not wholly a thing impossible for the City to forfeit her Charter and have it justly according to that grant taken from her The bringing of Southwark under the Rule of the City and the power allowed their Major to appoint such a Bailiff there as liked him best was a very advantagious favour at the same time by this King Edward bestowed on London but not comparable with the former grant which may most deservedly be esteemed Paramount to all others A particular Officer may offend and oftentimes does nay many may but for a City a whole City so great and glorious a City as London Traiterously to Rebel and so forfeit all her Liberties Priviledges and Franchises at one clap seems to me so great a contradiction as to imply little less than an Impossibility in Nature not to go a step or two higher This King being one of the most powerful Princes of his time and in the strength of his age very succesful in his Wars against the French King 't is not for us hastily to imagine there was any occasion given for so wise and good a King to contest with his Subjects much less with his Loyal Citizens We are rather to expect to hear of the City's Triumphs and glory the Joy and rejoyceing wherewith she often received her Victorious King returning Conquerour from France the frequent Justings Tiltings and Tournaments shewn thereat for his Recreation and entertainment the Wealth Riches and Ability of her head Officers whereof one to Londons great glory is said to have sumptuously feasted four Kings at once in the thirty first of this Kings Reign besides the famous Black Prince many Noble Knights and others to whom with the King he gave many Rich Gifts the splendor of the Citizens in general oâ— publick occasions and the harmonious concord of all in their own private and particular concerns relating more especially to the Cities good order and Government This King may be supposed too great and too good either to create or to permit differences and discord at home He had wherewithal to exercise his Wisdom and valour abroad in forreign Countries and such success too in his Enterprizes as might make him both feared and beloved by his Subjects at one and the same time Yet notwithstanding such still was Londons power strength and resolution to maintain her Liberties that this Victorious Prince Conquerour over others having sent out Justices into the Shires to make enquiry about his Officers offences and delinquences and the City of London not suffering as Stow tells us any such Officers to sit as Justices in their City as Inquisitors of such matters contrary to their Liberties he thought good rather to appoint those Justices their Sessions in the Tower for Inquisition of the damages of the Londoners and they refusing unless conditionally to answer there and a tumult thereupon arising among the meaner sort claiming their Liberties he esteemed it greater prudence to wave the Justices sitting as to that place and forgive all offences than to enter into a contest with such powerful tho Loyal Subjects as the Londoners were and such undaunted assertors of their own rights priviledges franchises and liberties For as 't is plain the City was very potent so we may as certainly perhaps conclude the Citizens no less suspicious of any thing done under the shadow of this Kings Authority if but looking towards the least breach of their Priviledges as the Commons of England in general seem to have appeared jealous of their Common liberty when upon this Kings laying claim to the Kingdom of France they procured a Law whereby it was enacted that the King should not Rule England as King of France and so Subject them to the insolencies of a fellow-Subjects Deputyship Would you know what esteem and respect the house of Commons in this King's reign had for â—he City Look in Cotton's abridgment of the Records â—n the Tower and there you may find the Commons â—ver and anon petitioning the King that the City â—f London may enjoy all her Liberties and the King's â—nswers generally to such petitions seem rather to â—rant than
Law to the Destruction of the Duke of Glâ—ucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewscury For that the King against his Promise procured the Duke of Ireland sundry Rebells about Cheshire where diverse Murders by him were committed For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at the Solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Gloucester and sent him to Callice there to be choked and murdered beheading the Earle of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham For that the Kings Retinue and rout gathered out of Cheshire about the apprehension of those Nobles committed diverse Murders Rapes and other Fellonies besides refusing to pay for their Victuals For that the King condemned the Nobles aforesaid for divers rodes made within the Realm contrary to his open Proclamation For that the King doubly Fined Men for their Pardons For that the King to oppress his whole subjects procured in his last Parliament that the Power thereof was committed to certain Persons For that the King being sworn to Minister right did notwithstanding enact in the last Parliament that no mediation should be made for the Duke of Lancaster contrary to his said Oath For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other forraign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Popes Excommunication on such as brake the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm For that the King banished the Duke of Lancaster for 10 years without any Cause as the same King openly affirmed For that the King unlawfully revoked the Letters Patents made to the said Duke of Lancaster in An. 21. For that the King contrary to the Laws and will of the Justices suffered Sheriffs to continue longer than one year and placed such therein as were unfit For that the King repayed not to his Subjects debts of them borrowed For that the King in the time of Truce and Peace exacted great Subsidies and wasted the same about frivilous matters For that the King refused to execute the Laws Saying that the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast For that the King by procuring by Statutes that he might be free as any of his Progenitors did under colour thereof subvert Laws according to his Will For that the King procured Knights of the Shires to be made to serve his own will For that the King enforced Sheriffs to be Sworn to execute all Commandemens under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Signet contrary to their accustomed Oaths For that the King to wrack mony from his Subjects procured 17 several Shires to submit themselves to his Grace whereby great sums of mony were Levied For that the King being Sworn to observe the Liberties of the Church notwithstanding at his Voyage into Ireland enforced diverse Religious Persons to give Horse Armour and Carts For that the Justices for their good Councel given to the King were with evil Countenance and threats rewarded For that the King of his own Will in passing into Ireland carried with him the Treasures Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the Kings own Coffers from all hazard and for that the same King cancelled and razed sundry Records For that the King by writing to Forreign Princes and to his own Subjects is reputed universally a most variable and dissembling man For that the King would commonly say among the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture For that the King suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Marshal-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm For that the Subjects being only bound by their Allegiance were yet driven to take certain New Oaths for serving the folly of the King For that the King by his private Letters would charge the Ecclesiastical Ministers in any new Canonical matter to stay contrary to his Oath For that the King by force in his Parliament banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury without any good Ground For that the King by his last Will passed under the Great Seal and Privy Signet gave unto his Successors certain Money and Treasure upon Condition to perform all the Acts and Orders in the last Parliament which being ungodly and unlawful he meant as ungodlily to dy in For that the King in the 11th of his Reign in his Chappel in the Manour of Langley in the presence of the Duke of Lancaster and Yorke and others received the Sacrament of the Lords Body that he would never impeach the Duke of Gloucester his Uncle for any thing before done and yet to the Contrary procured him to be murdered For that the King most fraudulently and untruely against his own Oath Banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and wasted his Goods in which Article in private Conference between the said Arch Bishop the King in a manner prophesied and doubted that the like would happen of himself and thereupon shewed a special Token to the Arch Bishop That if he sent the same at any time that the Arch Bishop should look that the King would come to him These were the Imputations laid to his charge and that they were then thought true or at least not contradicted is self-Evident all seeming highly desirous of a Change and few dispos'd to espouse the depos'd Kings Cause and Interest so furious and violent was the Current of the Times as to bear away well nigh all before it That Parliament being so full of the new Kings Favourers and so empty of the old Kings true and cordial Friends that I remember to have read of but one viz. the Loyal Bishop of Carlisle who after a little Demur of a few dayes time upon a Motion made in Parliament about the disposal of King Richard stood up boldly and undauntedly for his old Lord and Master in the midst of his professed and declared Enemies and known Deserters His Speech as a rare Example of Fidelity giving us the very Quintessence of Loyalty I shall venture to set down out of Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle with the Consequents as follows My Lords The Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered The First whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take Arms
slightness of their thin-spun pretences and weakness of their groundless Imputations A pretty device to make Riots and Insurrections and then accuse the contrary Party of them as if they had been so Fanatical as tumultuously to meet together vi armis without any Arms about them or Weapons in their hands to disturb the Kings Peace and with no worse design than the Warrant of annual Customs whereon some in an unheard of manner without Law or Reason and contrary to common sence intruded to deprive them of the benefit thereof Out of the forementioned Monkish Writer Stow tells us of an Army of Twenty Five Thousand that were to have met Sir John in St. Giles's Fields and yet for all this great Cry we find not One Hundred taken though he affirms Sixty Nine of them to be condemn'd of Treason upon such kind of proofs perhaps as these whereon the Composer of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Life makes him to have been found Guilty of Treason in the First of King James for which he had the honour to be Beheaded about Forty Years after upon his Return from his unsuccessful Guyana Voyage and Thirty Seven Hang'd But the Record out of the Kings-Bench the most authentick Evidence mentions only That Sir John Oldcastle and others to the number of Twenty Men call'd Lollards at St. Giles did conspire to Subvert the State of the Clergy this it seems then was the principal Offence the rest Aggravations without which the Scales could not have been well weigh'd down and to Kill the King and his Brother and other Nobles as any English Reader may see in Cottons Abridgment at the afore-cited Parliament of the Fifth of this King Where now are any good grounds for this malicious Out-cry upon the Dissenting Wicklivists for Traiterous Plotters and Conspirators And what 's become of the great Army that Fame and Report had Rais'd But perhaps the Inn-keepers in the adjacent Hamlets and neighbouring Villages were not only their familiar Friends but intimate Acquaintance as Mr. Bags ingenuity to the elevating and surprizing of our Minds hath taught us to express it how otherwise this Achilles and his dreadful Army of Mirmidons could have continued thus unseen and slipt away in Disguise seems not reconcileable to Sence and Reason And yet how such great Numbers could have lain hid within the compass of a Readmote or have been put like Homers Iliads in a Nut-shell is a thing that passeth all my understanding to conceive If ever such a thing was as doubtless it never hapned in Europe nor amongst either our antient or modern Reformers certainly then this unconceivable Wonder must have fell out in the Reign of Queen Dick King of no Lands upon the Terra incognita of some other of the Fairy Islands bordering upon Vtopia where Prince Oberon and Queen Mab liv'd in dayly dread and fear of King Arthur Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram and the rest of the Knights of his round Table or miserably perplext themselves every hour and minute with needless Scruples Jealousies and Suspicions about the unimagin'd Designs of the Noble Duke Ogier to advance himself and his little Mervine who afterwards did such heroick Exploits upon the Souldan of Babylon and his bloody cut-throat Army of Sarazens when he turn'd to the Assistance of the famous Câ—arlemain and his Peers But laying aside these idle Stories of the Monkish Romancers I pass on from our famous win-All Henry of Monmouth to the unfortunate English lose-All Henry of Windsor a far better Man than King as being more intentive upon the Devotions of the Times than the Government of his Realm and better skill'd in his Beads than his Scepter and therefore seems rather cut out for a Priest than a Prince In this Kings Minority while such great States-men and Patriots as his most renowned Uncles Bedford and Gloucester sate at the Helm and steadily Steer'd the Ship of the Common-Wealth one by his Arms the other by his Arts Honour and Renown attended upon the English Banners in France and the Land at Home in peace and quietness Flourished under the benign Influence of their successful Councels for the most part free from civil Broils and Commotions King Henry being in actual Possession of both Crowns under the conduct of such noble and worthy Directors But when Death had snatch'd away one from his Regency in France and the other was dismist from his Protectorship in England through the course of time The King being grown in Years and come to ripeness of Age though not it seems to such a degree of understanding as might capacitate him to act the part of a King further than in Name and Shew his Affairs in forreign Parts soon went miserably to wrack and being turn'd out of almost all beyond Sea deadly Fewds and Annimosities the usual attendants of ill Success abroad encreast so fast at Home between the Nobles and great Persons of the Realm and such intestine Jars sprung up in the Nation that after many Battles fought and much Royal Blood spilt the York Party prevail'd over the Lancastrians and the poor King himself though the Miracle of Age for Devotion lost his Crown Life and All at last Whether 't was purely the ill success abroad or the ill management of the State at home the unhappy Fate attending the Kings Matching with Queen Margaret to the breach of a former Contract or the unseasonable stirring of her and her accomplices to Suppress Ruine and Root out the other Party whereby they were compell'd for their own Security to link themselves together in the strictest bonds of Confederacy and stand continually upon their own Guard Whether the weakness of the King or the restless Spirit of the Queen too Active for her Sex The much resented Death of the Duke of Glocester or the subtle Arts and Devices of the Duke of York into the particulars whereof I will not now descend as being the Subject of a distinct Treatise by it self and the Popularity of the great Earl of Warwick Whether 't was any of these single or all of them joyntly concurring or rather the over-ruling Providence of an Almighty Being that made this strange Alteration in the Face of things to the dethroning of one Prince the most devoted of his time to religious Exercises and exalting of another as much given to Women as the former to Religion whereby the White Rose overtopt the Red Certain it is the City of London had a great Influence upon these Transactions and the favour the Citizens bore to the Duke of York and his Party contributed highly to the advancing of his Interest above the King Regnants if they were not the only grand causes under Heaven that produc't such wonderful and stupendious Effects This the more clearly to demonstrate I shall not oblidge my self exactly to trace the whole Series of State affairs through the following Princes Reigns nor over-scrupulously confine my self to the Life of this or that King distinctly and apart But design to
redounded so much to his own advantage and the Interest of the York Family which he had for a long time before espoused by the favour he gained thereby among the Commons of the Realm in general and of the City in particular For when he came to London the Analist informs us he kept such an House that six Oxen were eaten at a Breakfast and every Tavern was full of his Meat and whoso had any acquaintance in his House might have had as much Sodden and Rost as he might carry upon a long Dagger All this notwithstanding when upon disgust and discontent he had turned to the other side and became a favourer of the Lancastrians he was never the less disappointed in his aims and expectations from the Londoners For though by his turning sides the York Party had been once routed King Edward taken Prisoner and King Henry resettled once more on the Throne and he had in a manner the whole power of the Land in his hands besides the general Love and Affection the Commons bore to him and the dread and terror the sound of his Name oft struck into his Enemies Hearts it having in effect altered the Fortune and turned the Scales in two Battels one in King Henry's days for the Yorkists another in King Edwards for the Lancastrians yet upon the return of King Edward from beyond Sea whither he had some time before escaped out of Custody into England to recover his Inheritance and regain his Crown and the News of his Marching up to London both sides saith Baker seeking to make the City their Friends the Citizens backwardness to take up Arms in Defence of Old King Henry his Crown and Dignity and inclination to Young King Edward was so apparent that Warwicks own Brother the Arch-bishop of York distrusting the Event secretly sought King Edwards Favour he himself was received into London King Henry was redelivered unto him and the Great Warwick slain not long after at Barnet in a pitch'd Battell to the utter Ruin of the Lancastrian Party for that Age the consequence of this overthrow being enough to read them their succeeding ill Fate at Tewksbury they themselves having sufficient Cause to be daunted with the loss of their most powerful friends and favourers and the Yorkists to be flush'd with their Success in gaining so important a Victory As the Citizens continued thus favourable to the King so I don't find them them chang'd and alter'd in ther Inclinations to the other side till some of the Yorkists themselves by their own hands began to loose and untye those Bonds of Amity Friendship and Fidelity the Late King's Children being dispossest by his own Brother the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Richmond the surviving hopes of the Lancastrians had openly declar'd his Intentions and solemnly Sworn to marry King Edward's Eldest Daughter the rightful Heir of all the Yorkists Greatness which afterwards was as honourably as honestly perform'd whereby both Families became united in one Line and the two Roses happily inoculated each upon the other The expression I hope the ingenious Society of Gardiners and Florists will pardon me if harmlesly guilty of an absurdity in translating the term from fruits to flowers Did the Citizens of London appear so zealously on the Yorkists behalf and yield such powerful assistance to carry on their designs What other than can we expect with reason but that King Edward behaved himself very gratefully towards that City which Espoused his flaughtered Fathers Cause against even the Governing Party and contributed so considerably to his own Restauration Though it is but too commonly seen that as mean services are but meanly recompenced or else wholly ' slighted add forgotten so an excess of merit too great to be rewarded brings oftner danger than advantage to the party concerned Evident examples whereof our own and Foreign Histories can abundantly afford us and it is well if the City of London could produce no experience of her own in confirmation of their verity and validity while some others having gotten well by their services to the facilitating their ascent into high Places have no better improved them in the Eyes of the World than in keeping their Coaches their Horses and their Misses and made little other returns of thanks and gratitude to the City but some small slight acknowledgments and concessions and perhaps a few verbal promises and assurance or else forgetting their former needs and necessities have endeavoured most ungratefully to turn their power upon her which they may be thought to have gained chiefly and principally by her means But King Edward it seems or those about him had honester Principles in them or were better tempered For we find in Baker that he furnished his Councel Table for the most part with such as were gracious among the Citizens and we Read in Stow of no less than eleven Aldermen besides the Lord Mayor and Recorder Knighted by him at one time in the Highway betwixt Islington and Shoreditch upon his return from the Battel at Tewksbury in reward of the good service the Londoners had done him As for the jovial Entertainment of the Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Waltham Forrest by the Kings express order and appointment in his presence about an year before he dyed 't is a Subject Treated on by more English Historians than one with the circumstances and consequents thereof the pleasant lodge of Green boughs set up on purpose for them the Complemental condescention of the King in refusing to go to his own Dinner till he had saw them served the Hunting sport he shewed them the plenty of Venison he gave them at their departure and the noble Present of two Harts and six Bucks with a Tun of Wine he sent to the Lady Mayoress and her Sisters the Aldermens Wives to make merry with which they did afterwards at Drapers Hall where without all peradventure the Kings Health went all round the Table if it was then in Fashon but for this I will not put one finger in the fire If we dive into the reasons of the variation of the Pole at London and search into the occasional Causes of the manifest change and alteration of their Affections from thr Family of Lancaster to the House of York we may impute it partly to the losses crosses and unsuccessful management of Affairs under a weak King and a self seeking Court of Lancastrians but chiefly to the encrease of National grievances without timely care taken to redress them and the fixt Resolution of the Court Party to oppress their opposites the Yorkists any manner of ways by right or by wrong for we may easily observe from History and experience such to have been the usual motives to disgusts and the common incitements to discontent Therefore I presume I may draw hence better grounds and reasons of the Cities Love to King Edward than those alledged by Baker out of Comines viz. that he got the Love of the Londoners by owing them
Pistols when he comes furiously to the Village and calls as with Authority 〈◊〉 Guide to run along with him at his pleasure 〈◊〉 now some of you will scarce vouchsafe other 〈◊〉 rough answer or Awkward directions to the travâ—â— stranger that civilly desires so small a thing at your 〈◊〉 Now some of you will scarce shew any 〈◊〉 either to your equals or betters but what would 〈◊〉 think of it to be made desist from your work 〈◊〉 shew obeysance at two or three furlongs distance 〈◊〉 those Hectoring Blades of the Country that expect 〈◊〉 demand it at your hands And yet some such â—â—ing have I heard done What a wonderous pleaâ—â—ng spectacle would this be in England where the â—eanest little values the threats and meances of the â—â—eatest Gentleman on whom they have no depenâ—â—nce for work or maintainance or hopes to gain any â—â—ing by him From the poor enflaved Peasants of France come 〈◊〉 to the Gentry of the Land and see how they â—eep and cringe and croutch to the Nobles and 〈◊〉 humbly these must also behave themselves toâ—ards their Arbitrary King And the King himâ—â—lf had not the success of his Arms rais'd him to a â—â—gher pitch then his Ancestors must have vail'd to 〈◊〉 tripple Crown and have receiv'd the Popes more â—â—perious Commands with a little more submission â—ould he have liv'd in security then now we believe 〈◊〉 does How will you my dear Countrymen bring â—â—ur selves to disgest these compel'd humiliations â—ould any of these servile slavish submissions go â—wn well with your free hearts Yet such if not â—orse must you expect upon the introduction of Poâ—â—ry into the Land Your Bodies your Souls your â—states your Posterity must then be subjected to Arâ—â—trary Powers Though the dregs of the Popes 〈◊〉 might be possibly nauseous to some of your â—â—easy stomachs yet it may be many of you could 〈◊〉 well enough contented with a refined Cassandrian â—â—pery the German Emperours Interim or some â—â—ch motley model of Religion as the present French King had-contriv'd as I have read to have intrâ—duc'd into his Realms had his late Arms subdued 〈◊〉 Refractory Hollanders Nay for a good need 〈◊〉 Trent Faith might have went down with some 〈◊〉 less indifferents But what would you say to that 〈◊〉 refin'd slavery also which must in likelyhood folloâ— your refin'd Popery How would you like to haâ— your Priviledges Properties your free English Libeâ—ty your lives estates and fortunes and all that 's 〈◊〉 and dear unto you to lie at other mens mercy in 〈◊〉 Power of such whom you have little reason to esteeâ— your Friends and all this and much more if 〈◊〉 can be to be done by your own consents Hoâ— well would this please you To have a Paris Parlâ—â—ment French Councils and a bigotted domineeriâ—â— Clergy that shall preach you up slavery from 〈◊〉 Pulpits and make you to tast the sweets of it in 〈◊〉 Courts When you must always speak well of â—ther Fryar be it only for fear And if you see 〈◊〉 Priests debauching your Wives or Daughters 〈◊〉 in distrust to your own Eye-sight you must not opâ—â—ly profess to believe otherwise than that they 〈◊〉 blessing them nor so much as dare to mutter betwâ—â—â— your teeth unless you 'll run the danger of 〈◊〉 clapt up in the Inquisition for an Heretick or 〈…〉 to the greetings of surly Mr. Paritor summonâ—â— you to my Lord Bishops Court for defaming 〈◊〉 Clergy and raising a scandal upon the Church 〈◊〉 many of your Lands you hold for your own 〈◊〉 don't you know that much must return back to once destroy'd Covents if Popery prevails when 〈◊〉 shall be taught to believe that whatever is giveâ— the Priests the Church is dedicated to God and not to be alienated without manifest sacriled How like ye from Freeholders to become 〈◊〉 to a Luxurious and lascivious multitude of Monks and Fryers full fed upon the sweat of your â—abours and good for little else but to diminish your Estates and bastardise your Posterity Look into some of the Popish Collegiate Foundaâ—ions and see whether you cannot find a fixt set alâ—owance appointed ad Purgandos Renes So that Reâ—ainers Dependers Brewers Bakers and such like â—ere bound I have sometime heard to send their Maids and Daughters at set times to Physick these lazy â—dle Drones Saturdays once a month I have heard â—am'd other days it 's likely they could come fast â—nough home to their Houses Many now adays â—ave consciences large enough to be dealing with â—ther mens but how would you bear it to see â—â—ur own Wives Daughters and Kinswomen wholly 〈◊〉 the Devotion of the Pope's lustful unmarried Clerâ—y Their Auricular Confession is as neat a Device 〈◊〉 command your Wives hearts their Honesties and â—our Purses as those Indian Priests the Bramins lying â—ith the new married Bride the first night How â—owerfully inclin'd the Popish Clergy are that way 〈◊〉 may learn from the Danes and Swedes whose â—agistrates have found Guelding I have somewhere â—ad a more effectual way to keep them from comâ—â—g to disturb their Country than putting to death 〈◊〉 this is said to have been the Advice of a convertâ—â— Nun. Such female Votaries being most likely 〈◊〉 able to know the Clergy's Constitution their â—â—blick Houses being set so near together in Popish â—â—untries In some places you may find the Reliâ—â—ous Men and Women as they call them under 〈◊〉 same Roof to their frequent câ—nverse Take your Kenning-glasses and view some of the best 〈◊〉 of ground in this Land and it 's much if you 〈◊〉 not find that the Covents of Men had their Nunâ—â—â—ies of Women situated near enough to have mutual converse one with another by secret passagâ— under the Earth If you will not believe me as 〈◊〉 writing out of prejudice more than knowledge 〈◊〉 such as have liv'd amongst the Papists beyond 〈◊〉 under a Popish Government and they may chance 〈◊〉 tell you more of their manners of the Clergy's Poweâ— and Laity's Subjection and the cruel Mercies of 〈◊〉 Bloody Inquisition Do you think that these Raâ—â—nous strangers will be more kind to you than 〈◊〉 their own Country-men That such as look upâ—â— you but as Hereticks and so little better than 〈◊〉 Bastards Your Parents having not in their opinioâ— been rightly Married because not according to 〈◊〉 Constitution of their Church who think themselâ—â— highly injur'd by you in your keeping the Abbâ— Lands from reverting to their antient Use and 〈◊〉 building anew the Old Religious Houses destroyâ— in your Fore-fathers days who already gnash upâ—â— you with their Teeth in hopes of a future 〈◊〉 over you and have had I know not how many 〈◊〉 Projects and Contrivances to destroy you Body 〈◊〉 Soul in prosecution whereof so many of their Bâ—â—thren in Iniquity have already lost their Lives 〈◊〉 your hands That such should be thought by 〈◊〉 Friends to England and it's Laws That such 〈◊〉 Phantasies should enter into the hearts
proâ—ises not being very commonly reputed to bind the 〈◊〉 party when the conditions required are not performed by the other Whatever the true occasioâ— was London we find the place where this turn 〈◊〉 first publickly declared by proclaiming Henry Kiâ—â— throughout the City Oct. 20. so considerable was â—â—ven the reputed favour of the Citizens Lewis aboâ—â— there indeed afterwards a while and the Barous 〈◊〉 his side but his strength so diminished in a littâ—â— time that he was glad at last to take Money and 〈◊〉 away upon composition even in the 1st year of thâ— King or beginning of the 2d This K. Hen. being the Son of such a Father whoâ— practices too much betrayed his Principles and 〈◊〉 in so troublesom a time as his Fathers contest 〈◊〉 the Clergy we may be apt to believe he had a 〈◊〉 of his Fathers malady So full of troubles do we 〈◊〉 his Reign such complaints of the Government suâ—â— amendments endeavoured and reformations maâ—â— one while by the peaceable Councils of the Parâ—â—â—ment another while by the compulsive power 〈◊〉 the Barons Swords all which we may impute â—â—ther to his own natural inbred disposition or else the over-ruling advices of ill Ministers so 〈◊〉 working upon the Kings Good-nature as upon sligâ—â— pretences to make his power serve their own Interâ—â—â— to carry on their corrupt arbitrary designs So â—â—ny were the ups and downs risings and falls changâ—â— and turns of Fortune in these times such variabâ—â—ness and mutability of Councils in affairs and the 〈◊〉 of London so much concerned in most of the câ—â—siderable Actions then on foot now in the Kinâ— favour as soon again out of it one while enjoyâ—â—â— their ancient Priviledges and Customs another 〈◊〉 deprived of their Liberties and their Franchises 〈◊〉 upon slight occasions and anon again restored all with addition of new grants that I find it câ—â—venient through much of this Kings Reign to 〈◊〉 Annals after my Author In the 3d of this King is mention made of a Parâ—â—ament kept at London In the 4th were Proclamaâ—â—ons made in London and through the Land that all â—trangers should depart out of the Land except such 〈◊〉 came with Merchandize the intent hereof is said â—â— be wholly to rid the Land of such strangers as posâ—â—st Castles in it contrary to the Kings Will and Pleaâ—â—re This year also was the King Crowned the 2d â—â—me at Westminster In the 6th was detected a Conâ—â—iracy within London which the King is said to have â—â—ken so grievously that he was minded to have â—rown down the City Walls till considering that it â—as only a design of some of the Rascality and not 〈◊〉 the Rulers he assuaged his displeasure taken aâ—â—inst the City Robert Serle was then Mayor Rich. â—â—nger Ioseus 〈◊〉 Iosne Sheriffs An. Reg. 7. in a Counâ—â—â— kept at London Stow tells us the King was reâ—â—ired by the Peers Spiritual and Temporal to conâ—â—â—m the Liberties for which the War was made aâ—â—inst his Father and he had sworn to observe at the â—â—parture of Lâ—wis out of England whereupon the 〈◊〉 commanded the Sheriffs to enquire by the 〈◊〉 of Twelve lawful men what were the Liâ—â—â—ties in England in his Grand-fathers time and 〈◊〉 the Inquisition so made up to London Hence 〈◊〉 we observe that England had Liberties and â—â—ghts of their own before the Barons War in 〈◊〉 Iohn's days and therefore seem injuriousâ—â— upbraided as if they got them first by Rebelliâ—â— The good Government of England which as a â—â—dern Author words it was beâ—ore like the Law Nature only written in the hearts of men came â—pon obtaining the 2 Charters to be exprest in â—â—chment and remains a Record in writing though â—â—se Charters gave us no more than what was our 〈◊〉 before The 8th is noted for the grant made to the King by his Barony in Parliament of the Warâ— and Marriage of their Heirs A good advantage somâ—times for the King to fix Noble mens Estates in sucâ— Families as he best pleased A. R. 9. A Fifteenth was granted to the King to 〈◊〉 him in his right beyond the Seas and he by confirming the great Charter granted to the Barons anâ— People their rights The 11th year is of note foâ— many beneficial Grants made to London by the King The Sheriffwick of London and Middlesex was let 〈◊〉 farm to the Sheriffs of London for 300 l. yearly Oâ— Feb. 18. was granted that all Wears in Thames shoulâ— be pluckt up and destroyed for ever On March 1â—â— the King granted by his Charter ensealed that thâ— Citizens of London should pass Toll-free through thâ— Land and upon any Citizen's being constrained 〈◊〉 pay Toll in any place of England the Sheriffs 〈◊〉 impowered to attach any man of that place cominâ— to London with his goods and to keep and with-hoâ—â— till the Citizens were restored all such Moneys 〈◊〉 from them with costs and damages Aug. 18. 〈◊〉 granted to the Citizens Warren that is free liberâ—â— of Hunting within a certain circuit about Londâ—â— Yet notwithstanding we read in another Author this years History of the Kings compelling the Lâ—â—doners to lay him down a large sum of Money bâ—sides the 15th part of their moveables because 〈◊〉 sooth they had given Lewis who came to their aidâ— K. John's days with an Army 5000 Marks at his â—â—parture out of England It may be the King 〈◊〉 them some of these Priviledges which cost him â—â—thing to induce them to give down their Money 〈◊〉 more willingly and not too much to displease theâ— whose power was so well known in those days 〈◊〉 afterward experienced to some mens cost Roger 〈◊〉 Mayor Stephen Bockerel and Henry Cobham Sheriâ—â— this year and also the next viz. 12. when the Franâ—hises and Liberties of the City were by the King â—onfirmed and to each of the Sheriffs was granted to â—ave 2 Clerks 2 Officers to the Citizens that â—hey should have and use a common Seal This year 〈◊〉 read that the King in a Council held at Oxford â—roclaimed that being of age he would rule himself 〈◊〉 pleasure and forthwith cancelled the Charters of â—iberties as granted in his Nonage Whereupon it â—â—llowed says my Author that whoso would enjoy 〈◊〉 Liberties before granted must renew their Charâ—â—rs of the Kings new Seal at a price awarded But 〈◊〉 Barons shortly after declared to the King that â—â—cept he would restore the Charter lately cancelled â—â—ey would compel him by the Sword Such brisk â—ssertors were they it seems resolved to be of â—â—eir Liberties On the 13th while the Bishop of â—ondon was at high Mass in St. Pauls happened sudâ—enly such dark mists of Clouds and such a Tempest 〈◊〉 Thunder and Lightening that the People got out 〈◊〉 the Church and left the Bishop there in great â—ar with but a small attendance For all the many 〈◊〉 Papists make of their Mass and the wonderâ—â—l power and vertue they would fain persuade us to â—â—lieve there is in it it seems then
wind and turn it about to their interests and bend it to their own irregular Desires and Designs since that they lik'd not to have them confin'd within the limits and bounds thereof This manner of acting however by the by appears to me the most beaten Path to Destruction and the high way to the Actors unavoidable Ruin and I think I have reason History and Experience all on my side This the City seems well to have understood and therefore with Prudence chose rather to yield to the times for a season than presently to strive against the running stream and immediately to fall a rowing against high wind and Tide but as soon as ever the flowing waters began to Ebb and the tide was a turning the City Barge struck in with the returning waves and assisted to steer the Ship of the Common-wealth to a quite different Haven from that whither the Court was furiously driving her before And then for the most favourable of the Citizens to shew themselves but faint Regardless friends was far less beneficial to the desolate forsaken King than for others of them to appear earnest Enemies in so critical a Juncture was disadvantagious to this unfortunate Prince as he may well be term'd either for having none but ill Councellors and faithless Trencher-friends about him and hearkning so much to their pernitious and destructive advice or else for the defect of his Judgment in not discerning between their private self ends and his own special and particular interest viz. Impartiality in doing Justice to all States and Persons from the highest to the lowest squaring all his own actions by the known Rules of the Law of the Land to the pleasing of his people not by the compass of other mens unstable fancies and anomalous Plat-forms to the loss of his Subjects love and affection and the unhappy fate that attended him upon this his ill conduct when he was violently thrown out of the Chair of State into a profound Abyss of miseries and infelicities and irrecoverably cast out of a Regal Throne into an unavoidable Prison between which and his grave he had but few steps to make For we are to know that as in the tuming of fortunes wheel the spoke that is got upermost presently begins to decline and so runs downwards till it comes to be the under-most of all or like as Sysiphus stone forc'd up e'en almost to the very top of the Hill presently tumbles down again to the bottom with a swiftness and violence not to be stop't by the strength of art or nature so this Prince arriv'd in a manner to the heigth of his desires by the Caprice of fortune or rather by the over-ruling power of a superior Being was suddenly and unexpectedly beyond Recovery hurl'd down from the Grandeur of a Potent King into the lowest Station among Men the Confinement of a Prison and that too occasion'd by the very same way and means whereby he thought to have secur'd to himself amore fixt and setled enjoyment of his greatness as comes now of course to be shewn in manner following After the suppression of the opposite Party under the shadow of Law and Justice diffention happening between the two Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford both then great at Court to the mutual accusation of each other the King greedily lays hold on the opportunity and instead of permitting them according to the Custom of those times where clear proofs were wanting to make good their accusations by the Sword in a single Combat as had been also before appointed unadvisedly banishes them both the Land the first for ever and the latter for a term of years with this hard measure into the bargain that they should not sue for a release of their Judgments on pain of Treason whereby he made both his Enemies and the latter so much the more dangerous the nearer he stood Related to the Crown and the more inveterate in that the King had procur'd the Letters Pattents before granted him to sue by Attorney for Lands descended to him to be revok'd by Assent of Parliament and declar'd to be against Law and had afterwards upon his Father John of Gaunts death violently seis'd on all his Estate whereto Hereford was Heir Then amidst the murmurs of the People for misgovernment and ill guidance of the Realm away goes the King for Ireland with a puissant Army when he thought he had left all things secure in England by the advantage he had made of the last Parliament by engrossing whatever he pleased into his own hands by the tricks found out to raise Money of the Subject by Blanks c. and the Subsidy he had gain'd in Parliament during his Life upon the continuance whereof without molestation he openly declar'd his general Pardon should stand and no otherwise and managed his Arms therewith success enough but ill news out of England that the Duke of Hereford by his Fathers death Duke of Lancaster was landed in England under colour of claiming his Inheritance and rais'd people as he went alarm'd him and bad advice afterwards which detain'd him longer than his promise in Ireland so loath were his Counsellors to spare his company under the shelter of whose Person and presence lay their greatest hopes of protection quite ruin'd him For coming over and finding the Army gone away which the Earl of Salisbâ—ry had rais'd against his coming and had newly voluntarily disbanded it self upon the Kings tarrying too long behind the Earl in Ireland his courage fail'd him and he trusting more to flight than fighting the treachery of his Principal Officers deceiv'd him and he himself also by soothing words and faiâ— promises was decoy'd into the Duke of Lancaster's hands who soon secur'd him fast enough withoâ—â— any intent to let him loose again in haste Now the King is in hold let us see how the Citizens behav'd themselves in this great Turn and Change of the Times They had in this Kings Nonage in his Grandfathers dayes appear'd the undaunted Assertors of his Right and Title and in the beginning of his Reign contributed much to his Security and Settlement on the THRONE But a new Generation being sprang up in Twenty Years space and their old Services at last so ill requited by new attempts on their Liberties by Inditements and blank-Charters instead of standing up with their Lives and Fortunes in the Kings Defence and Vindication they openly devoted themselves to anothers Service and became the known Favourers of that Party which assisted to Depose this unhappy Prince and set up in His Room the Duke of Lancaster under the Name and Title of Henry the Fourth As is provable both from Statute-Law viz. the Act made in the First of this New King to be seen in the Statute-Book Cap. 15. An. 1. H. 4. Where we find express mention of the good and lawful behaviour of the Mayor Sheriffs and Aldermen and all the Commonalty of the same City of London towards him and Stow's general Chronicle
of England wherein we read at the latter end of the Life and Reign of King Richard the Second That after the Duke was come from Coventry to St. Albans about five or six Miles before his coming to London the Mayor and the Companies in the Liveries with great Noise of Trumpets met the Duke doing more Reverence to him than to the King Rejoycing that GOD had sent them such a Prince that had Conquer'd the Realm i. e. the Court-party within one Months space Whereupon when the Duke was come within two Miles of the City he stopt his Army as if out of Reverence and Acknowledgment and in Submission thereto and ask't Advice of the Commons thereof what they would do with the King who Answered they would He should be led to Westminster upon which to them He was delivered and they led him accordingly to Westminster and from thence by Water to the Tower Nay some of the Londoners publickly shew'd themselves so much His Enemies as to Assemble together with an intent to have met Him without the City and there to have Slain him for his former Severities But the Mayor and Rulers and best of the Commonalty upon Information hereof with some difficulty reclaim'd them therefrom After the Citizens had thus receiv'd the King into their Custody and in effect thereby made a publick Declaration of their Minds and Opinions as to the great Change succeeding the Duke we are told entred London by the chief Gate and Rode through Cheapside to St. Pauls and there Lodg'd for some time so secure was he of the Citys good Will and Affection to him and afterward in October held a Parliament in Westmimster-Hall where the old King's Deposition and the new King's Election were compleated I shall not stay to make a long Paraphrase upon the Cityes proceedings in this Affair it being Matter of Fact and undeniable that the City consented hereto from the aforesaid passages which may be likewise thought very much to have influenc'd the Nation in their Elections to that Parliament if from the Annalists Computation we may safely and truly aver that the Parliament-Men were chosen after these Transactions at London because Forty dayes at least interven'd between this time and the first Wednesday in October whereon he sayes the Parliament began If any be desirous of another Observation I leave them to their own Liberty to infer from History and the Premises that it much conduc't to facilitate the King's Deposition that he had no known and generally acknowledg'd Heir of his own Body lawfully begotten boldly to stand up for Him and strongly plead his Cause in Armour for his own particular Interest as well as out of a due sence of his Duty Neither indeed do I well see how he could have any since that he had none by his first Wife that I read of his second Queen was too young another Heir was publickly pointed out to the Nation and he himself was also loosely addicted as seems plain beyond dispute His Lascivious living being hinted to us in Burton's Historical Remarks of London among the Articles drawn up against him and we have great reason to think it was an imputation too true when we read of several Ladyes expell'd the Court in the Eleventh of his Reign by the Procurement of the contesting Lords and a little before the sitting of the Wonder-Working-Parliament and take Notice out of Cotton's Abridgment of the House of Commons Request in the Twentieth Year for the avoiding the outragious Expences of the King's house and namely of Bishops and Ladyes and the King's Answer thereto made That he would be free therein and that the Commons thereby had offended against him his Dignity and Liberty Such was his Indignation against them for desiring to controul him in this Point and so highly incens'd was he thereat that to Appease him the Exhibiter of the Bill was adjudg'd to dye as a Traytor though upon some great Ones importunity his Life was for that time spared and he himself at length restor'd in Blood and to the recovery of his Goods Livings Lands and Tennements at the next King 's comming to the Crown But how I trow come the Bishops to be complain'd of by the Commons among the Misses Were they such Courters of Ladyes as instead of rebuking to follow or rather give bad Examples to the King and Country Yet now I think on 't these were Popish not Protestant Bishops Though I scarce believe every one of them that to the view of the World gives himself a Protestant Title is able well and truly to plead not Guilty If Noli-fet-ole-chery be a Motto rightly father'd upon one of our Western Diocesans How all things in a manner concur'd to further King Richard's Deposition and that he was actually depos'd hath already been spoken of which nevertheless barely did not content the Party but they would needs have it done in a formal and solemn way First the King must make a publick Renunciation of all Right Title and Claim to the Crown then Commissioners are by the States appointed in their Names to pronounce the Stentence of his Deposition from the Throne and make to him a Resignation of their homage and fealty for their Loyalty seems plainly enough to have been gone before Neither did they think this enough but were resolv'd over and above to leave Articles against him upon Record wherein are expressed the ill things done by others in his Reign and as they say by his Authority whereby they designed to justifie what they had done towards the unhappy Kings Deposition which visibly pav'd the way to his Grave So pernicious is it for Princes to suffer their Authority to be abus'd to shelter other mens Crimes or their Names to be made use of without a Present Resentment to carry on Designs hateful to the People though they never consent thereto themselves as their own Act and Deed. For I hope we may charitably Conclude what the worshipful Knights Sir Mayor and Sir Haughty the other-ill belov'd wight did in laying a trap to catch the Contesting Lords in the 11th year of this King was without the Kings privity because he swore it as in page 〈◊〉 though possibly they shrouded themselves under the shelter of his Authority and pretended his Warrant and Command for what they design'd and endeavoured And perhaps they had as Sir Richard Bakâ—r words it a warrant Dormant to prosecute the Kings Ends without the Kings Knowledge The Articles and Objections laid against the King are to be found in Cotton's Abridgment 1. H. 4. whence I trust I may securely transcribe them without hazarding the Courteous Readers Displeasure to shew him the grievances of the age as they are there exprest in this form of words Besides the Kings Oath made at his Coronation First for wasting and bestowing of the Lands of the Crown upon unworthy Persons and over-charging the Commons with Exactions For that the King by undue means procur'd divers Justices to speak against the
the cries of the wounded in our streets A Miraculous effect of the Cities influence For what parts of the Land are so inconsiderate to oppose when London is engag'd and resolv'd Former Examples may teach them future wisdom These having been the necessary preparatives in sixty one on Saint Georges day April the 23. comes the Kings Coronation the fairest day except the Preceding in which he made his Cavalcade through London the Nation enjoy'd both before and after if the supplementers Observation be well grounded notwithstanding it began to Thunder and Lighten very smartly towards the end of Dinner time and soon after that another meeting of King Lords and Commons at Westminster whither the Kings Writs had Summoned them to make a New Parliament the former Assembly having been dissolv'd the December before by his Majesties Order and Command How acceptable the Actions of that Assembly were to City and Country hath been hinted before and the concurrence of the King when restor'd was not wanting to Authorize their proceedings yet this new Assembly notwithstanding thinking the manner of it's Assembling not to be drawn into Example and that therewas some defect as to the necessary point of Legality in the Statutes then made or at least desirous to remove all doubts fears and scruples about them would not let several of those Acts pass without being formally ratified and confirm'd anew by it's own Authority And therefore consequently not trusting to the receiv'd opinion of the dissolution of the Parliament of forty by the late Kings Death nor relying on the House of Commons Act to dissolve themselves in fifty nine nor the dissolution of the Lords and Commons in sixty another Declaration was made in the point in these word To the end that no Man bereafter may be misled into any seditious or unquiet demeanor out of an opinion that the Parliament begun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly dissolved and determined and so is hereby Declared and Adjudged to be fully Dissolved and Determined And it was further Enacted by the same Authority That if any Person or Persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or affirm that the Parliament begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lâ—rd one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet dissolved or is not yet determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any continuance or Existence that then every such Person and Persons so as aforesaid offending shall incur the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the second Thus then were all disputes upon this point effectually stil'd and suppress'd by this Authority and Command of King Lords and Commons and the greatness of the penalty incur'd by the person offending which amounts to no less than to be put out of the Kings Protection and have his Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels forfeited to the King and his Body Attach'd if to be found and brought before the King and his Council there to Answer the premises or that process be made against him by Praemunire facias and if return'd non est inventus than to be Outlaw'd Next I proceed to observe that 't was Petitioning and addressing that prepar'd the way for His Majesties Restauration and therefore doubtless the remembrance thereof should be always grateful and acceptable to the Loyal Such preparatories to great turns and changes being alwaies preferrable to the other rougher methods of drawn Swords and loaded Pistols which are the general effects of Civil Broils and Commotions while these are the rational results of Wisdom and Prudence With the King was that part of the English Clergy likewise restor'd which appropriates to it self the name of the Church of England A Term much gloried in by many as if none but themselves were the constitutive parts thereof and which some now adays pretend freer from Ambiguity than the more general Name of Protestants What we understand by that Term we know very well and are not asham'd thereof Yet by the way I don't think but 't is as lyable to exceptions where Cavils take place as the other title of Protestants so much of late turn'd into ridicule by some few pretenders to wit and sense above the vulgar For if by Church we understand barely an Assembly of Men met together in one place then doubtless without any incongruity it may be applied to many a civil meeting of Men together about their own private concerns If by Church we mean a society of Men conjoyn'd in Spiritual duties or the Ordinances of Divine Worship then I hope it will be no Solecism in common Speech to affirm many of the Dissenters meetings may reasonably lay claim to the Name And if a due Celebration of the Sacraments will make a Church why then may not the Denomination as well belong to some private Conventicles as to the publick Oratories If it should denote only the Association of many distinct Assemblies under the same Ecclesiastical Government what should hinder the Presbiterians from enjoying the Title in those places where they are allowed to exercise their power in Classical Provincial or National Synods Which Power they once exercis'd in England publickly within the Memory of Man But if the Law of the Land makes the difference and the established Government of the Country in Ecclesiastical affairs as with us in England then I am apt to beleive this Expression the Church of England is not without it's Ambiguities and may be a denomination comprehensive of Men of as many different modes and forms as some would fain have us think the word Protestant admits of Heretofore at the first planting of the Gospel in this Isle among the Britains we may call it the British Church When Austin the Monk came in bringing with him the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduc'd them among the converted Saxons then we may term it the Romish Church When the Monks and Fryers like the Frogs in Egypt had over-spread the whole face of the Land then we may give it the Epithite of Monkish In succeeding Generations when Popery was arriv'd to its height we may name it the Popish Church In King Edward the sixth days it may properly be called Reformed Under the Marian Persecution 't was certainly Popish Queen Elizabeth brought back the Reformed Religion under an Episcopal Government and therefore I venture to give it the Name of the Reformed Episcopal Church A little before the late Wars when the Hierarchy was arriv'd at its highest pitch of Pomp and Grandeur by the Laudean principles and practises It was certainly