a present order taken for the sending of some of his Servants of all sorts to attend upon him in that Court that so he might appear amongst them in the greater Lustre But this lessened not the Cares and Feares of the English Subjects who could not be more glad to hear of his safety then they were afraid of the danger which he had incurred For having put himself into the power of the King of Spain it was at the Courtesie of that King whether he should ever return or no it being a Maxime amongst Princes That if any one without leave sets foot on the Ground of another he makes himself his Prisoner Philip the first of Spain and Duke of Burgundy being cast by Tempest on the Coast of England was here detained by King Henry the seventh till he had delivered up the Earle of Suffolk who had fled for Refuge to his Court and Mary Queen of the Scots being forced by her Rebellious Subjects to fly into this Realm was presently seized on as a Prisoner and so continued till her lamentable and calamitous death So in like manner Richard the first of England passing in disguise through some part of the dominions of the Arch-Duke of Austria was by him took Prisoner and put unto an heavy Ransome and not long since Charles Lodowick the now Prince Elector Palatine posting through France in hope to get the Command of Duke Bernards Army was stayed in the middle of his journey by the Kings command and kept so long under Restraint that he lost the opportunity of effecting his purprose This though it was the generall Fear and apprehension of the English Subjects yet no body durst acquaint the King with it but Archee the fool who going boldly to the King as he found him once in a good humour told him that he was come to change Caps with him Why said the King Marry saies Archee because thou hast sent the Prince into Spain from whence he is never like to returne But said the King what wilt thou say when thou seest him come back again Marry saies Archee I will then take off the fools Cap which I put upon thy head for sending him thither and put it on the King of Spains for letting him return At which words it is reported that the King became exceeding pensive never before so much apprehending the Danger of that Adventure as then and afterwards he did 1623. But the generous Spaniard intended to make no such Market of him but gave him all the Royall entertainment which a Princely Suitor might expect Nor was the Prince wanting for his part in all fit Compliances by which he might both gain on them and preserve himself For by his Courtly Garb he won so much on the Affections of the Infanta and by his grave and circumspect behaviour got so much ground upon the King and his Councel that the match went forward in good earnest The Articles of the Marriage with all the Circumstances thereof were agreed upon and solemnly sworn to by both Kings Nor was the Pope wanting in the grant of a dispensation without which nothing could be done writing a Letter to the Prince who returned to him a Civil answer which afterwards was reckoned amongst his Crimes by such as rather would not then did not know the necessity which lay upon him of keeping at that time a plausible Correspondence with the Catholick party But as for his Religion the change whereof was moved by the Pope and much hoped for by the Court of Spain at his first coming thither he shewed so many strong evidences of his constancy in it that those hopes soon vanished And that it might appear that he professed no other Religion then what was agreeable to the Rules of Antiquity and not much abhorrent from the formes then used in the Church of Rome the English Liturgie was by the care of the Lord Keeper Williams translated into the Spanish Tongue and so many Copies of the Book then printed sent into Spain as gave great satisfaction in that point to the Court and Clergy And this I must needs say was very seasonably done the Spaniards being till then perswaded by their Priests and Jesuits that when the English had cast off the Pope they had cast off also all Religion and became meer Atheists the name of God being never used amongst them but with a purpose to expose it unto scorn and prophanation Insomuch that the Constable of Castile being sent to swear the Peace concluded with Spain when he understood the businesse was to be performed in the Chappel where some Anthems were to be sung desired that whatsoever was sung Gods name might not be used in it and that being forborn he was content they should sing what they listed King James himself so relates the story in Arch-Bishop Spotswood fol. 530. But the Prince had another game to play namely the Restitution of the Palatinate which the Spaniard would not suffer to be brought under the Treaty reserving it as they pretended to be bestowed by the Infanta after the Marriage the better to ingratiate her self with the English Nation Which being a point of too great moment to depend upon no other assurance then a Court-Complement he concluded with himself that since he could not prevaile in the one he would not proceed unto the Consummation of the other And hereupon he was much edged on by the Duke of Buckingham who having conceived some deep displeasure against the Conde de Olivarez the speciall Favourite of that King desired rather that all Treaties should be broken off then that any Alliance should be made in which that Conde had appeared so instrumentall But it did concern the Prince so to provide for his own safety that no intimation might be made of the intended Rupture till he had unwinded himself out of that Labyrinth into which he was cast For which cause having desired of his Father that some ships might be sent to bring him home he shewed himself a more passionate lover then ever formerly and made a Proxie to the Catholick King and Don Charles his Brother in his name to espouse the Lady Infanta which Proxie he left with Digby not long before made Earl of Bristol by him to be delivered within some few daies after the coming of the expected dispensation But no sooner had he took his leave and was out of danger but he dispatcht a Post unto him commanding him not to deliver up the Proxie untill further order And having so done he hois'd Sails and came for England arriving at Portsmouth on Sunday the fifth of October Anno 1623. From whence by Post-Horses he past to London the next morning and so by Coach to the King at Royston to the great content of all the Kingdome declared by Bells Bonfires and all other the accustomed expressions of a publick joy The King being made acquainted with all particulars and that no Assurance could be had of the Restitution of the Palatinate by
he had the worst of the day and had much ado to save his Canon and march off orderly from the place followed so hotly the next morning that his own Horse which were in the Reere were fain to make their way over a great part of his Foot to preserve themselves Being returned to Oxford with Successe and Honour he Summons the Lords and Commons of Parliament to attend there on the twenty second day of January then next following and they came accordingly And for their better welcome he advances Prince Rupert to the Titles of Earl of Holdernes and Duke of Cumberland and creates James his second Son born the Thirteenth day of October Anno 1633 Duke of York by which name he had been appointed to be called at the time of his Birth that they might sit and vote amongst them But being come they neither would take upon themselves the name of a Parliament nor acted much in order to his Majesties designs but stood so much upon their terms and made so many unhandsome motions to him upon all occasions that he had more reason to call them a Morgrel Parliament in one of his Letters to the Queen then they were willing to allow of 1644. And now the Summer coming on and the time fit for Action he dismisses them to their severall dwellings and betakes himself unto the Field The frequent traverses whereof the interchangeable taking and losing of Towns by the chance of war are too many in number to be comprised in this short Abstract It must suffice if I take notice of those onely which are most considerable His Majesty prevaling in the North and West 'T was thought fit by the ruling party in the Houses of Parliament to crave aid of the Scots whom they drew in the second time by the temptations of entring into Covenant with them for conforming of this Church with that sharing amongst them all the Lands of the Bishops and sacrificing to their malice the Archbishop of Canterbury as formerly they had done the Earl of Strafford But besides these plausible allurements the Commissioners of that Kingdome were to have so great a stroke in the Government of this that the Houses could act nothing in order to the present war no not so much as to hold a Treaty with the King without their consent Upon these baits they entred England with a puissant Army consisting of one and twenty thousand men well armed and fitted for the service and having made themselves Masters of Barwick Alnwick and all other places of importance on the other side of the Tweed they laid Siege to York where they were seconded by the Army of the Earl of Manchester drawn out of the associated Counties and the remaining York-shire forces under the Command of the Lord Fairfax The news whereof being brought to Oxford Prince Rupert is dispatcht with as much of the Kings forces as could well be spared with a Commission to â—aise more out of the Counties of Cheâ—ter Salop Stafford Darby Leicester and Lancaster So that he came before York with an Army of twelve thousand Men relieved the Town with all things necessary and might have gone away unfought with but that such Counsell was too cold for so hot a stomach Resolved upon the onset he encountred with the enemy at a place called Marston-Moor where the left Wing of his Horâ—e gave such a fierce Charge on the right Wing of the enemy consisting of Sir Thomas Fairfax his Horse in the Van and the Scots Horse in the Reere that they fell foul on that part of their own Foot which was made up of the Lord Fairfax his Regiments and a reserve of the Scots which they brake wholly and trod most of them under their Horses feet But the Princes Horse following the execution too far and none advancing to make good the place which they had left the enemy had the opportunity to rally again and got the better of the day taking some Prisoners of good note and making themselves masters of his Canon So that not being able to do any thing in order to the regaining of the Field he marched off ingloriously squandred away the greatest part of his Army and retired to Bristol After this blow the Affairs of the North growing more desperate every day then other York yielded upon composition on the sixteenth of July being a just fortnight after the fight the Marquesse of Newcastle and some principall Gentlemen past over the Seas and the strong Town of Newcastle was taken by the Scots on the nineteenth of October following In the mean time the Queen being with child began to draw neer the time of her Delivery And it was generally believed that the Earl of Essex with his Forces had some aim on Oxford as the Seat Royall of the King the Residence of his Court and Council and the Sanctuary of a considerable part of the Nobility Gentry and Clergy In which respect it was thought fit that the Queen should remove to Exceter as a place more remote from danger and not far from the Sea by which she might take shipping for France as occasion served On the sixteenth of April she began her journey the King bearing her company as far as Abingdon where they took leave of one another neither of them having any the least presage that the parting Kisse which they then took was to be their last Convoi'd with a sufficient strength of Horse for her security on the way she was received there with as much magnificence as that City was able to expresse and on the sixteenth day of June was safely delivered of a Daughter whom she Christened by the name of Henrietta Assoon as she had well passed over the weaknesses and infirmities incident to Child-bed she committed the young Princesse to the Lady Dalkeith a Daughter of Sir Edward Villiers one of the half Brothers of the Duke of Buckingham and wife unto the Lord Dalkeith the eldest Son of the Earl of Morton Which having done according to some instructions which she had received from the King she took shipping at Pendennis Castle on the fifteenth of July and passed into France there to negotiate for some supplies of money Armes and Ammunition for the advance of his Majesties service and to continue howsoever in the Court of the King her Brother till she might return again in Honour and safety And to say truth her Removall from Oxford was not onely seasonable but exceeding necessary at that time the Earl of Essex and Sir William Wâ—ller with their severall Forces not long after her departure drawing neer to Oxford on whose approach his Majesty leaving the greatest part of his Army for defence of that place marched on directly towards Wales Upon the News whereof it was thought fit by the two Generalls to divide their Armies it being agreed upon that Sir William Waller should pursue the King and that the Earl of Essex should march toward the West for the regaining of those Countries And now
the mystery of iniquity appeared in its proper colours For whereas it was formerly given out by the Houses of Parliament that they had undertaken the war for no other reason but to remove the King from his evill Counsellours those evil Counsellours were left at Oxford unmolested and the Kings Person onely hunted But the King understanding of this division thought himself able enough to deal with Waller and giving him the go by returned towards Oxford drew thence the remainder of his Army and gave him a sharp meeting at a place called Cropredy bridge where he obtained a signal victory on the twenty eighth of June and entred triumphantly into Oxford This done he marched after the Earl of Essex who had made himself master of some places in the West of good importance During this march it happened that one of the Carriages brake in a long narrow lane which they were to passe and gave His Majesty a stop at a time of an intollerable shower of rain which fell upon him Some of his Courtiers and others which were neere about him offered to hew him out a way through the hedges with their swords that he might get shelter in some of the Villages adjoyning but he resolved not to forsake his Canon upon any occasion At which when some about him seemed to admire and marvelled at the patience which he shewed in that extremity His Majesty lifting up his Hat made answer That as God had given him Afflictions to exercise his patience so he had given him patience to bear his Afflictions A speech so heavenly and Divine that it is hardly to be paralell'd by any of the men of God in all the Scripture The carriage being mended he went forward again and trode so close upon the heels of the Earl of Essex that at last he drave him into Cornwell and there reduced him to that point that he put himself into a Cock-boat with Sir Philip Stapleton and some others and left his whole army to his Majesties mercy His Horse taking the advantage of a dark night made a shift to escape but the Commanders of the Foot came to this capitulation with his Majesty that they should depart without their Arms which with their Canon Baggage and Ammunition being of very great consideration were left wholly to his disposing Immediately after this successe his Majesty dispatch'd a message from Tavestock to the two houses of Parliament in which he laid before them the miserable condition of the Kingdome remembring them of those many messages which he had formerly sent unto them for an accommondation of the present Differences and now desiring them to be think themselves of some expedient by which this issue of blood might be dried up the distraction of the Kingdom setled and the whole Nation put into an hope of Peace and Happinesse To which Message as to many others before they either gave no answer or such an one as rather served to widen than close the breach falsely conceiving that all his Majesties Offers of Grace and Favour proceeded either from an inability to hold out the War or from the weaknesse and irresolution of his Counsels So that the Trage-Comedy of the two Harlots in the first of Kings may seem to have been acted over again on the Stage of England The King like the true Mother compassionately desired that the life of the poor infant might be preserved the Houses like the false Mother considering that they could not have the whole voted that it should be neither mine nor thine but divided betwixt them But if instead of this Message from Tavestock his Majesty had gone on his own errand and marched with his Army towards London it was conceived that in all probability he might have made an end of the War the Army of Essex being thus broken and that of Manchester not returned from the Northern service But sitting down before Plimouth and staying there to perfect an Association of the Western Counties he spent so much time that Essex was again in the head of his Army and being seconded by the Earl of Manchester and Sir William VValler made a stand at Newbery where after a very hot fight with variable success on both sides each party drew off by degrees so that neither of them could find cause to boast of the victory Winter comes on which though it be not ordinarily a time of Action will notwithstanding afford us some variety which will not be unworthy of our observation And first a Garrison is formed at Abington a Town within five miles of Oxford by order from the two Houses of Parliament under the command of Colonell Brown the King and Councill looking on and suffering the Intrenchments to be made the Works to be raised and the Ordnance to be planted on the same It cannot be denyed but that Sir Henry Gâ—ge Governour at that time of Oxford and many of the chief Commanders which were then in and about that City offered their service to the King and earnestly desired leave to prevent that mischief which by the Intrenchments of this Town must needs fall upon them But the Lord George Digby not long before made principall Secretary of Estate had perswaded the King unto the contrary upon assurance that he held intelligence with Brown and that as soon as the Town was fortified and furnished with Victuall Arms and Ammunition at the charges of the Houses of Parliament it would immediately be delivered into His Majesties hand In which design he was out-witted and consequently exposed unto some losse of reputation with all sorts of People For Brown having brought his project to the highest round of the ladder as himself expressed it thought it high time to turn it off and to declare himself for the two Houses against the King printing not long after all the Letters which passed between him and the Lord Digby upon this ocasion After this followed the taking of Shrewsbury a place of very great importance to the King as the Gate which opened into Wales situate on a rising ground and almost encompassed round about by the river Severn that part which is not invironed by water being wholly taken up and made good by a very strong Castle By the loss of which Town the Kings former entercourse with His loyall Subjects of North-Wales was not onely hindred but a present stop was given to an Association which was then upon the point of concluding between the Counties of Salop Flint Chester Worcester c. to the great prejudice of the Kings Affairs in those Parts of the Kingdome Then comes the lamentable death of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury kept for four years a prisoner in the Tower of London as before was said but reserved onely as a bait to bring in the Scots whensoever the Houses should have occasion for their second coming as formerly on the like temptation they had drawn them in with reference to the Earl of Strafford The Scots being come and doing good service in
in the Assembly at Aberdeen Anno 1616. for composing a Liturgy and extracting a new book of Canons out of the scattered Acts of their old Assemblies At the Assembly held at Perth Anno 1618. he obtained an Order for receiving the Communion kneeling for administring Baptisme and the Lords Supper in private Houses in cases of extreme necessity for Episcopall confirmation and finally for the celebrating the Anniversaries of our Saviours Birth his Passion Resurrection and Ascension and the coming down of the Holy Ghost All which he got to be confirmed in the following Parliament So far that wise King had advanced the work of Uniformity before his engaging in the Cause of the Palatinate His Breach with Spain and the War which did insue upon it took off his thoughts from prosecuting that design which his son being more intangled in Wars abroad and Distempers at home had no time to finish till he had setled his Affaires and attained to some measure both of Power and Glory But being it was a businesse which was to be acted leisurely and by degrees not all at once he first resolved upon passing of an Act of Ratification of all that had been done by his Father and then to go in hand with the introducing of a publick Liturgie In the effecting whereof at such a time as he went into Scotland to receive that unfortunate Crown he found a stronger opposition in the Parliament of that Kingdom also about the passing of that Act of Ratification then he had reason to expect But carried it at last by a far major part of that Assembly This gave him the fist taste of their disaffection to his Person and Government but he went forward notwithstanding in pursuit of those purposes which he brought thither with him For not long after his return into England he gave order to the Dean of his Chappell Royall in Edenburgh that Prayers be read therein according to the English Liturgie that a Communion be had every moneth and all Communicants to receive the Sacrament on their knees that he who officiated if he be a Bishop perform it in his Rochet and other Episcopall Robes and that he do it in his Surplice if a common Presbyter and finally that not onely the Lords of the Council but the Lords of the Session and as many of the principall Magistrates of that City also as could conveniently fail not of their attending the Divine Service there on Sundayes and Holy-dayes For by this means he gave himself no improbable hopes that the English Liturgy passing a probationership in the Chappel Royall might find a plausible entertainment in the Churches of Edenburgh and be received by degrees in all the rest of the Kingdom But the Presbyterian Scots not ignorant of the Kings intentions insinuated into the minds of the common People that this was a design onely to subject that pure Kirk to the superstitious Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England and therefore that it did behove them to stand together as one man to oppose their entrance The Lords and Gentry of that Realm who feared nothing so much as the Commission of Surrendries before mentioned laid hold on this occasion also And they being seconded by some male-contented spirits of that Nation who had not found the King to be as prodigal of his favours to them as his Father had been before endeavoured to possesse them with Fears and Jealousies that Scotland was to be reduced to the form of a Province and governed by a Deputy or Lord Lieutenant as Ireland was The like done also by some Lords of Secret Council who before had governed as they listed and thought their power diminished and their persons under some neglect by the placing of a Lord President over them to direct in chief So that the people generally being fooled into this opinion that both their Christian and Civil Liberty were in no small danger became capable of any impression which the Presbyterian Faction could imprint upon them Which visibly appeared by a virulent and seditious Libel published in the year 1634. wherein the King was not only charged with altering the Government of that Kingdom but traduced for very strong inclinations to the Religion of the Church of Rome The chief Abettor whereof for the Authour was not to be found was the Lord Balmerino for which he was legally convicted and condemned of treason but pardoned by the Kings great goodnesse and by that pardon kept alive for the mischiefs following The fire thus breaking out in Scotland it was no marvel if it had laid hold on England also the Puritans of both Nations working themselves about this time into a Body and from henceforth communicating their Counsels and designs unto one another The King not long after his return thought fit to renew his Fathers Declaration about lawfull sports on the Lords Day the principall motives whereunto were the increase of Popery in some parts of the Kingdome occasioned by interdicting all honest Recreations on that day and the rest of the Holy-dayes the tendency of the Sabbatarian Doctrine to down-right Judaisme some orders made by some publick Ministers of Justice for suppressing the Annual Feasts of the Dedication of Churches commonly called Wakes and finally the bringing of Dancing Running shooting and other harmlesse Recreations within the compasse of the Statute made in the first Parliament of his Reign against all unlawfull exercises and pastimes in which no such thing was ever intended And though the Kings intention in it was onely to ease the people from that yoke of superstition which many of their Preachers had laid upon them yet by the practise of those Preachers it made more noise among the People and wakened more to appear in defence of that which they call Religion then all the Geese in the Capitoll Nor did His Majestie speed much better in another of his pious intentions concerning the Conformity of Parochiall Churches to their Mother Cathedrals The Dean and Chapter of S. Pauls as Ordinaries of the place had appointed the Communion-Table in St. Gregories Church to be placed Altar-wise at the end of the Chancel where it had stood and by her injunctions ought to stand in Q. Elizabeths time Against this some of the parishioners appealed to the Dean of the Arches the Dean Chapter to the King The cause being heard before His Majesty and the Lords of the Council on the third of November Anno 162â— it pleased his Majesty having first shewed his dislike of all Innovations to declare that he well approved and confirmed the Act of the said Ordinary and also gave commandement that if those few parishioners before mentioned do proceed in their said Appeal then the Dean of the Arches who was then attending at the hearing of the Cause shall confirm the said Order of the aforesaid Dean and Chapter On this encouragement the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Metropoliticall Visitation beginning in the year next following and the Suffragan Bishops in