Gaunt's elder Brother So that of the Succession of 14 Kings after the Conqueror there were but four viz. Richard the First Edward the First and Second and Richard the Second which succeeded as Heirs to the Conqueror or his Heirs Admit Edward the 4th succeeded right as Heir to Phillippa Daughter of the Duke of Clarence yet if it be true which Richard the 3d says and which is confirmed by the Authority of the Act of Parliament 1 Rich. 3. that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before he married Elizabeth then did not Edward the 5th if it may be called a Succession succeed right nor could Henry the 7th claim any Right to the Crown of England in Right of his Wife Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth But whether it be true or not that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before his Marriage yet Richard the 3d succeeded not as Heir Edward Earl of Warwick the Son of George Duke of Richard's elder Brother being then alive Of all the Kings of England that succeeded the Conqueror Henry the 7th had the least Pretension to any Title to the Crown for tho he were supposed to have been descended from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet it was the Duke's Paramour Katherine Swinford whose Issue by the Duke tho by Act of Parliament they were legitimated to all other purposes yet were not capacitated to succeed to the Crown of England but if the Title of Lancaster had been preferable to that of York and Henry had been of the legitimate Line yet could not he have succeeded as Heir his Mother under whom he claimed being then alive and out-lived her Son Nor did the King's Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th improve his Title to his Succession the Marriage being subsequent to it and before it the Crown by Act of Parliament was entailed upon Henry the 7th and the Heirs of his Body and after Marriage he never used her Name in calling any Parliament or in any Proclamation or the Coin or passing any Act of Parliament and as he reigned without her before Marriage so he did after her Death for he out-lived her tho she left two Sons Arthur and Henry after Henry the Eighth and two Daughters Elizabeth Queen of Scotland and Mary after Queen of France It seems to me that Ferdinand King of Castile and Arragon had the same Opinion which Richard the 3d and the Parliament had that the Issue of Edward the 4th were not legitimate for he would not assent to the Marriage of his Daughter Katherine with Arthur Prince of Wales so long as the Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence lived and there a fine Trick was found out to put the poor Prince to Death for endeavouring to make his Escape out of the Tower with Perkin Warbeck and in him ended the Masculine Line of the Race of the Plantagenets who had governed the English Nation after Stephen to Henry the 7th above 340 Years So that from the Conqueror to Henry the 8th scarce one of four of the Kings of England succeeded in a right Line as Heirs to the Conqueror As the Saxon Dynasty ended in Edward the Confessor and the Norman began in the Conqueror so it seems to me that the Norman ended in Richard the 3d and another of the British was erected in Henry the 7th who was the Son of Edmund of Hadham the Son of Owen Tudor by Katherine Daughter of Charles the 6th of France Wife of Henry the 5th of England and Mother of Henry the 6th So that Henry the 7th's Title to the Crown of France was better than that to the Crown of England for that of England was from a Maternal Ancestor Margaret Countess of Richmond no otherwise related to the Crown of England than descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Paramour Tho I do not find that Henry the 7th or any of his Descendants ever assumed the Sirname of Tudor So that tho the Crown of England neither in the Saxon nor Norman Race of Kings was always Hereditary so neither was the Succession to the Crown elective For in elective Kingdoms after the Death of one King there is an Establishment of the manner of Elections and in the mean time there are Custodes Regni appointed whose Power ceases upon the Election of a King but neither of these were ever heard of in either of the Saxon or Norman Race and tho sometimes it 's said the Kings were chosen as of Edward the Son of Alfred by the Nobles and so of Athelstan and so in the Norman Race Henry the First was said to be chosen for that he promised to abrogate all the Oppressions and Errors brought into the Government by his Father and Brother tho his eldest Brother Robert was then alive and restore the good Laws of Edward the Confessor and Stephen was chosen by the Clergy and Londoners yet this was rather a form of Speaking in those days than any formal Election and the manner differed according to the different Humours of the Times Nor do we read that ever the Parliament meddled with the Succession of the Crown before Henry the Fourth for tho the first Parliament of Edward the Third renounced their Allegiance to Edward the Second and are said to have chosen Edward the Third yet they went no further and such an Election was no more than a Declaration of their Submission as when the Council declared James the Second King But whether the Crown of England was Hereditary in the Saxon and Norman Race it 's evident it was not so in this British Race for as it began in Henry the Seventh so it was entailed by Act of Parment upon him and Heirs of his Body before his Marriage with Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth So the inheritable Right of Edward's Issue and all the Norman Race was barred by this Act. Before we proceed in the Succession of the British Race we 'll take a view of the Genealogy of it John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford had Issue John created Earl of Somerset who had Issue John created Duke of Somerset who had Issue Margaret After the Death of Henry the Fifth Katherine his Wife Sister of Charles the Sixth of France married Owen Tudor a Welch Gentleman who had Issue Edmund of Hadham created Earl of Richmond who married Margaret Daughter and Heir of John Duke of Somerset who had Issue Henry the Seventh Henry the Eighth succeeded his Father without any Contradiction for the Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had destroyed the whole legitimate Lancastrian Line and Richard the Third after the Murder of his Brother Clarence and Death of Edward the Fourth had murdered his two Nephews Edward and Richard Sons of Edward the Fourth and himself was killed in the Fight in Bosworth-fields and after that Henry the Seventh had put Edward Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence to Death none of all
the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit
them with Men of War to guard their Fisheries and to do it whether he would or not A Prince that by his dissolute Life and prophane Conversation debauched and effeminated the Genius of the English Nation whereby it became more scandalized for Swearing and Drinking than in any Age before A Prince that broke all the Measures by which Hen. 8. and Queen Elizabeth were the Arbitrators of Christendom A Prince fearful of all his Enemies abroad while he was only great by exercising a Tyrannical Arbitrary Power over his Parliaments and Subjects who could only have made him great abroad and honoured at home whereby he became little beloved at home and suffered the Dutch to redeem their Cautionary Towns upon their own Terms and to dispossess the English at Amboyna and their other Factories in the East-Indies and Africa He only stood still looking on while the French upon the Matter supprest the Reformed in France and suffered Ferdinand the 2d to over-run and near subdue the Protestant Princes in Germany as well as his own Son-in-law And tho he were the 6th of that Name King of Scotland from John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Robert Stuart by his Paramour Elizabeth Moor yet if Sir James Melvil says true that Cardinal Bethoun poisoned James the 5th he was the first of that Name who died a natural Death if he did so for James the first was murdered by his Uncle the Earl of Athol his grand-Grand-father's legitimate Son in his Queen's Arms with eight and twenty Wounds the Queen receiving two to defend him This was in the Year 1436. James the II. was killed by the breaking of a Piece of Cannon while he besieged the Castle of Roxburgh the 3d of Aug. 1460. James the III. having his Army routed by an Army headed by his Son James was killed at Bannoch-Burn by the Lord Gray and Robert Sterling of Ker after Sir Andrew Brothick a Priest had shriven him This was in 1488. James the IV. was killed the 9th of December 1514 at Flowdenfield by the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey and his Body never found and if James the 5th was poisoned then none of these Jameses died a natural Death neither did King James his Mother being put to death Ann. 1587 for conspiring the Death of Queen Elizabeth After the Dissolution of the Spanish Match the King as greedily prosecuted the French and tho he lived not to see it settled yet he saw the Army raised under Count Mansfield for the Recovery of the Palatinate ruined by trusting to the French Faith in this very Treaty When he died he not only left an empty Exchequer but a vast Debt upon the Crown yet was engaged in a foreingn War and the Monies given by the Parliament for carrying it on were squandred away in carrying on the French Treaty and the Nation imbroiled in intestine Feuds and Disorders At his Death he left a Son and Heir and one Daughter Before he died he saw his Son over-ruled by his Favourite against his determinate Will and Pleasure and the Prince's own Honour and Interest which was a great Mortification to him and which he often complained of but had not Courage to redress and so strongly was 〈◊〉 Favourite possessed of his Power over his Son in the King's Life that the Prince little regarded his Father's Precepts or the Counsels of any else after his Death whereby he encreased the Internal Feuds Jealousies and Discords of the Nation which ended in a sad Catastrophe both of the Favourite and the King At the King's Death his Daughter with her Husband and her many Children were driven into Exile and Poverty in the Dominion of the Dutch States where they were more relieved by the States the Prince of Orange and some Bishops and Noblemen of England than by either of the Kings Father or Son A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King CHARLES I. c. BOOK II. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the Dissolution of the Parliament Tertio Car. 'T WAS a strange Reign this As this King's Father's Reign was introduced with a horrible Plague so was this King's with a greater and such as no Records of any Times before mention the like The first 15 Years of his Reign were perfectly French and such as never before were seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King whenas it was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done Baptista Nani in the sixth Book of the History of Venice An. 1625 f. 221 observes That after the Marriage of King Charles with the Daughter of France the Interest of State or rather the Passion of Favourites converted the Bonds of Affection into Causes of Hatred Europe in those times reckoned it amidst its unhappy Destiny that the Government of it fell upon three young Kings yet in the Flower of their Age Princes of great Power desirous of Glory and in Interest contrary but in this alone by Genius agreeing that they committed the Burden of Affairs to the Will of their Ministers for with equal Independency France was governed by Richlieu Spain by Olivares and Great-Britain by Buckingham confounding Affections with Interest as well publick as private Betwixt the Cardinal and Buckingham open Animosities discovered themselves for Causes so much more unadvised as they were more hard to be known When King James died the Nation was rent into four Parties viz. The Prerogative which exalted the King's divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions above his Royal and Legal Will The Country or Legal Party which stood for the Legal Establishment of Church and State and the Puritan and Popish Parties After the Treaties of Marriage between the Prince and the Daughters of Spain and France the Popish and Prerogative Parties joined for carrying on the Court-Designs and were opposed by the Country and Puritan Parties and as the Prerogative and Popish Factions grew more insolent so the Puritan Party gathered Strength and Reputation among the Vulgar or ordinary People insomuch that in Number they became more than all the other three We shall take a better View of this Reign if we look a little back into the former After the Treaty of the Match with Spain was broken off King James was perplext what to do he had neither Money nor Courage to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate and the Wounds which he had given the last Parliament by Imprisoning their Members for advising him to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate were yet fresh and bleeding and yet Buckingham whom he durst not offend not content to satisfy his Spite against Olivares by breaking off the Match was notwithstanding all Difficulties nay Impossibility of Success still pushing on the King to declare War against the King of Spain The King
Forfeitures by Papists would be insignificant viz. remitted this intended Act did ordain that such Fines and Forfeitures one half should be to the Informers the other to charitable Uses But this Act being so contrary to the Duke's Design the Committee of Religion was discharged from meeting again and another short Act was brought into Parliament ratifying all former Acts for securing the Protestant Religion so that in this first Act the Duke pursued not his Instructions but went contrary to them and to the Custom of Scotland At the passing this Act the Earl of Argyle proposed that all Acts against Popery might be added which was opposed by the King's Advocate and some of the Clergy yet seconded by Sir George Lockhart and the President of the Sessions it passed without a Vote but such was the Jealousy of the Parliament that this did not secure the established Religion that several of the Members desired other Additions and Acts which the Duke in open Parliament promised when Time and Opportunity offered should pass but when at any time this was proposed the Test was obtruded If the Parliament were so zealous to secure the established Religion the Duke was not less to secure the Succession of the Crown of Scotland shrewdly struck at in England in the very Person of the Duke and to that end a Bill was brought in and passed wherein it was declared High Treason to affirm that the Succession of the Crown of Scotland can be altered from the next of Proximity of Blood but how agreeable this was to the Title of the Bruces and Stuarts who had no Title to the Succession of the Crown of Scotland but by Act of Parliament has already been shewed and how disagreeable this Act was to the Duke's Grandfather's Succession to the Crown of Scotland without any Act of Parliament let any Man judg This Act was not only thus contrary to the Laws and Usages of Scotland but the Act is equivocal if not contradictory to the Duke's Design for there is a difference between the next Heir and the next in Proximity of Blood as if a Man had several Sons and the eldest has a Son or Daughter his Father living and after his Father dies his eldest Son's Son is Heir and his other Sons and Daughters are next in Proximity of Blood the Heir being a degree in Blood further removed from the common Ancestor than his Uncles or Aunts and this was the case of Richard II. of England Son of the Black Prince Edward the Third's Eldest Son who succeeded to the Crown of England though his Uncles the Dukes of Clarence Lancaster York and Cambridg were nearer of Blood to Edward the Third This Act for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland was succeeded by another called the Test as contradictory to it self as contrary to the Act of Succession to be taken by all Persons in publick Trust in Scotland wherein they solemnly Swear in the Presence of the Eternal God whom they invoke as Judg and Witness of their sincere Intention of this their Oath That they own and profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth and believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the Written Word of God That they will adhere thereto and endeavour to educate their Children therein and never consent to any Change or Alteration contrary thereto and renounce all Popish and Fanatical Doctrines inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And by this their solemn Oath they Swear That King Charles the Second is the only Supream Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and renounce all Foreign Jurisdiction of the Pope or any other Person and promise to bear true Faith and Allegiance to the King his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to their Power to defend all their Rights and Prerogatives And by this their solemn Oath they Swear They judg it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any Pretence whatsoever to enter into any Covenants or Leagues or to convene c. in any Council to treat of any Matter of State Ecclesiastical or Civil without his Majesty's special Command or express Licence or to take up Arms against the King or those commissionated by him That they will never rise in Arms or enter into such Covenants or Assemblies That there lies no Obligation upon them by the National Covenant or the solemn League or Covenant or any other way to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either of Church or State as by Law established and promise and swear to the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Jurisdiction against all deadly and as they shall answer it before God and that they took this Oath in the true and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation Mental Reservation or Evasion and never to accept of any Dispensation from any Creature So God help them By these two Acts you may observe the Scotish Temper whether it were natural or in contradiction to the Kirk-Party I will not say nor how much higher it flew than the Tory in England but because of the extraordinariness of these two Acts it 's fit to make some Reflections upon them Such another Law as that of the Succession was made the twenty first of Richard the Second in the Case of Roger Mortimer which lasted not longer than the next Year after when the Law was not only repealed but Henry the Fourth succeeded contrary to it whereas this Law continued for above eight Years after when it not only lost its Force but another Face appeared in Scotland and so continues in spight of this Law Now from this treasonable Law let us make some Remarks upon this ranting swearing Law called the Test We have said elsewhere that all Oaths are assertory of the Truth of Things Speech and Actions in time past or promissory to do or forbear to do some Act in time to come and now let 's consider what is Truth and the End of an assertory Oath Truth is proper to intellectual and reasonable Creatures and is either the apprehension of intelligible Beings as God a Law the Soul Time c. which can never be the Objects of Sense and of the Causes and Consequences of Intentions Speech and Action for Sense is not of Futurity but of present Things and Actions the Consequence or Inference will be whether good or bad just or unjust c. However all intelligible Beings and the Causes of Things and Actions are ever assumed not sworn to and if another does not nor will assent to them swearing to the Truth of them will be to no purpose So it is of the Consequence of Speech and Actions if another be not convinced from the Reason of such Consequence or Inference swearing it to be so will never do it But though sensible Things Speech and Actions
state they were before he became Emperor yet not subject to further Persecution This was so far from redressing the Factions that they became more bitter against the Orthodox Christians than they were before and the Gentiles countenanced the Hereticks and Schismaticks herein so that in many Places were Tumults and Disorders and many bitter Invectives even against Constantine himself were uttered by them So that the whole Body of the Empire was rent and torn into Parties and Factions and Constantine's time wholly taken up about them to the necessary neglect of the more important Affairs of the Empire To this state did the devilish Pride of these Hereticks and Schismaticks reduce the Roman Empire I say devilish Pride for they were not content to submit as Christ's Servants to obey him in those plain and easily intelligible Precepts of the Gospel but like Lucifer would be wise in understanding our Saviour's glorious Attributes which as they are incomprehensible to Humane Understanding so without invading God's Prerogative which he has not communicated to any Creature no Man ought to enquire into them and this Misery attends all the wild and extravagant Opinions not only of the Christians but of all the Sects of other Philosophers or rather Sophisters about God and his Attributes that being founded in their Fantastick Brains they will submit to no Rule which God requires of Man to determine them and so they continue in endless Contention and Confusion These Hereticks and Schismaticks not content to be Co-partners with our Saviour in his Attributes extended their blasphemous and extravagant Opinions into the Objects of Religion which neither the Jews nor Gentiles ever did a Lie in diametrical Contradiction for Religion is a publick Conjunction of Men in celebrating God's Praises for the publick Blessings they alike received from God whereas these for the Love-sake Opinion of their own Conceits disjoined themselves from celebrating God's Praises for the Benefits they alike received from God as Christians How could the monstrous Opinions of the Marcionists Manichees Novatians Arians Sabellians and Donatists absolve these from joining with their fellow Christians in giving God Thanks for their Conversion to the Christian Faith and for their wonderful Deliverance by Constantine from the Rage and Persecution of Dioclesian Maximinian Maxentius and Maximin This was the Gratitude and Piety which these Men returned to God and Constantine for their Deliverance and if they made things thus bad in Constantine's Reign they made them much worse after his Death for notwithstanding all the pious Endeavours of Constantine to the contrary the Arians above all other Sects had over-spread the Face of the Roman Empire and his Son Constantius became an Arian and not only revoked the Privileges which his Father had conferred upon the Orthodox Christians and preferred the Arians if they were worthy to be called Christians before them but by several Councils at Tyre Antioch and in the East for Constantine divided the Empire between his three Sons Constantine Constantius and Constans and the Eastern Empire was given to Constantius revoked all the Decrees of the Nicâ—â—â— Council Nor was the Empire in a much better Condition in the West for Arianism had over-spread the Western as well as the Eastern Empire and though Constans were not a Persecutor of the Orthodox Christians as his Brother Constantius was yet Liberius the Bishop or if you please the Pope of Rome was an Arian and one Felix became a Competitor with him in his Bishoprick or Papacy In this Hurly-burly stood the Roman Empire after the Death of Constantine wherein Civil and Military Discipline became neglected till the Reign of Julian the Apostate which was but 24 Years after the Death of Constantine Julian who succeeded Constantius put the Case further than the Arians for they would allow our Saviour's Divinity to exist to Eternity though they denied it from Eternity whereas Julian would not allow him to be a Prophet and for the short Time of his Reign he made it his Business to restore Paganism and to that end revoked all the Powers and Privileges Constantine had granted the Christians and granted a general Indulgence to all Sects of the Christians yet recalled all exiled Bishops whether Catholick or Heretick so that there was a Confusion among them in the Execution of their Offices but in all the countenanced the Hereticks against the Orthodox However Julian being a Martial Prince and the Persians having in these Confusions of the Roman Empire made Invasions upon it Julian raised a great Army and marched against Sapores the King of Persia but in this Expedition Julian died having reigned but one Year and eight Months to whom Jovian succeeded who was a zealous Orthodox Emperor but the Gentiles under Julian disliking Jovian and the Christians being in Feuds and Factions Jovian was forced to make an inglorious Peace with Sapores and delivered up the City of Nisibis to him However Jovian restored the Orthodox Christians to the Privileges and Immunities which Constantine had granted them and left the Pagans and Hereticks to themselves But Jovian's short Reign being but seven Months and odd days could perfect no great matter To Jovian Valentinian succeeded who took his Brother Valens to be his Colleague Valentinian was zealously Orthodox and Valens fierce sa an Arian Valentinian granted a general Indulgence of Liberty to Pagans and all sorts of Hereticks but favoured the Orthodox But Valens denied Liberty of Religion to the Orthodox though he granted it to all other Sects and Hereticks and also to the Pagans In the third Year of the Reign of Valentinian and Valens Valentinian made his Son Gratian a Co-partner in the Empire and having reigned 11 Years died leaving his Sons Gratian and Valentinian Emperors but Valens died three Years after him viz. Ann. 378. and no mention is made of his Issue By this time Arianism had over-spread the Face of the Eastern Empire and was so established that the Orthodox Christians were forced to exercise their Religion in obscure Conventicles besides the Vise or West Goths though Arians had over-run Thrace even to the Gates of Constantinople Gratian was Orthodox and in this distracted Estate of the Eastern Empire was sore pressed upon by the Germans in the Western so that he judged his younger Brother Valentinian no ways qualified to restrain the warlike Progress of the Goths or settle the Eastern Empire and therefore chose Theodosius for his Colleague Theodosius was a Spaniard by birth as well as Trajan a most devout and Orthodox Christian and a most valiant and expert Souldier so that as Trajan was the most glorious and august of all the Heathen Emperours so was Theodosius at least after Constantine the most renowned of all the Christian Emperours yet it was his Fate that he should see his Native Country to be the first that fell in the Ruine of the Roman Western Empire Theodosius was made Emperor in the Year 379 and forthwith raised an Imperial Army and marched against
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
as the Marriage of his Daughter with the Elector Palatine was the cause of his calling the last Parliament so the Consequence of this Marriage put him upon the necessity of calling another But because Mr. Rushworth Franklin and all other our Writers at home have either mistaken the Cause or taken it too short we will look into it from abroad Before Ferdinand the first of that Name Emperor of Germany and younger Brother of Charles the 5th the Kingdom of Bohemia was elective and tho they often chose the German Emperors their Kings after the Turks became great in Europe as Charles the 4th Wenceslaus his Son Sigismund and Albert the first of the Family of the House of Austria yet in the Year 1440 they chose Vladislaus King of Hungary who was a Polander to be their King who being slain at the great Battel of Varna against Amurath the 2d 1444 they chose his Son Vladislaus an Infant King of Hungary whose Guardian in his Minority was John Huniades the famous Champion against the Turks After Vladislaus who died without Issue the Bohemians in 1456 chose George Bogebracius After him in 1470 they chose Vladislaus the Son of Casimir King of Poland who had Issue a Son named Lewis and a Daughter named Ann married to Ferdinand Brother of Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany this Vladislaus was likewise chosen King of Hungary and died in the Year 1516. his Son Lewis being then an Infant was chosen King of Bohemia and Hungary and ten Years after viz. 1526 Lewis was overthrown and slain by Solyman the Great Turk at the Fight at Mohatz With Lewis fell the Glory and Majesty of Hungary the Paradise of the World of a sweet and temperate Climate a most healthful Air the Soil exceeding fruitful yet reserving Mines of Gold and Silver in its Bowels abounding with Cattel of a larger size than elsewhere which it supplied Germany Italy and Turkey with watered with the noblest Rivers of Europe the Danube the Drave Save Tibiscus c. as fruitful with Fish as the Land was with Cattel excelling the Countries in manifold and fair built Cities and Towns Hungary at the Death of Lewis from the time when Matthias the Son of the famous Huniades began to reign over them for 70 Years enjoyed perfect Peace within and abroad had the Reputation of the most Warlike Nation and of all other the best Frontier to stop the further Rage of the Turkish Arms in Europe But in this long Peace the People especially the Clergy became excessive rich accompanied with intolerable Pride and all other Vices which accompany Luxury and Ease In this high Conceit of themselves the Clergy especially Tomerius put the King with an Army of 25000 Men only to fight with Solyman with 300000 Turks twelve to one wherein not only the King but also Tomerius and the Flower of all the Nobility of Hungary fell here the Fate of Hungary began but did not end here For Ferdinand having married Lewis his Sister and assisted by his Brother Charles set up for himself to be King of Hungary in right of his Wife which the major part of the Nobility not slain in the Battel of Mohatz refuse to submit to and chose John Sepuce Vaivod of Transilvania to be their King and John being too weak to oppose Ferdinand flies to Solyman for his Assistance so that Hungary which before was the Barrier against the Progress of the Turkish Power in Europe now opens her Gates to let it in however the Turk being engaged in Wars against the Persians Ferdinand prevailed against both and John and Ferdinand came to this Agreement That John should enjoy that part of Hungary whereof he was possest during Life and Ferdinand the whole after his Death Soon after John died leaving the Queen with Child which proved a Son and the Nobility which before chose the Father King now chuse the Son and joining with the Queen call in Solyman for their Assistance who by this Call enters Buda the Regal City of Hungary and turns the Queen and her Son out giving him only the Title of Vaivod of Transilvania Now was Hungary become the Theatre for above 150 Years of all those Calamities which both Civil and Foreign Wars bring upon a Country so that of the most fruitful and best inhabited Kingdom in Europe it became the most desolate and uninhabited the Inhabitants being made use of only to be Slaves either to imperious Souldiers or lazy and idle Clergy-men If Hungary were the Paradise of the World Bohemia was not less of Germany and as an Island is encompassed with Waters so is Bohemia environed with Mountains which like a Garden with Walls encompassed a most rich pleasant and healthful Kingdom and to this Kingdom as well as that of Hungary does Ferdinand lay Claim in right of his Wife and being assisted by his Brother Charles and further from the Assistance of the Turks he forced the Bohemians to submit to his Empire but this was not only during his and his Wife's Life and her Heirs but to his Heirs Male tho he claimed in right of his Wife And herein you must observe That the Bohemians at this time as well as their Ancestors before were Enemies to the Popish Tyranny and Heresies so that Zisca the famous Captain of the Hussites about one hundred Years before in many Battels in Opposition to the Popish Tyranny overthrew the Emperor Sigismond and Ferdinand was a zealous Maintainer of the Popish Supremacy and Usurpations in Religion as well as Tyranny Ferdinand had Issue two Sons Maximilian who succeeded him in the Empire as well as in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary and Charles the first Arch-Duke of Austria Maximilian had Issue Maximilian Rodolph Matthias and Albert Governour and Prince of the Spanish Netherlands with whom King James in the second Year of his Reign made the League before spoken of Rodolph in 1576 succeeded Maximilian in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary as well as in the Empire This Rodolph Helvicus says was a Prince most worthy of all Praise the Refuge of good Learning Ensign of Peace and Clemency and in the Year 1609 granted Liberty of Conscience to the Bohemians and Austrians Rodolph's Brother succeeded him in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Empire in 1614 but Matthias having no Issue and the Issue Male of Maximilian ending in him a Question might arise about the Succession to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia for admitting the Succession were hereditary then by the Laws of Inheritance these Crowns would devolve upon the King of Spain Philip the Third whose Mother Anna was Daughter to Maximilian the Second and therefore to be preferred before Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria descended from Maximilian's younger Brother To prevent this the Popish Party jealous of the Consequences prevail upon or rather forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia to his Cousin Ferdinand a zealous Assertor of the Supremacy of the Church of
Molestation other than by Censure of the House it self for or concerning any speaking reasoning or declaring any Matter or Matters touching the Parliament or Parliament-business And that if any of the said Members be complained of and questioned for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed to the King by the Advice and Consent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament before the King give Credence to any private Information If the King was alarmed at the Commons Remonstrance this Protestation of the Commons was such an Invasion upon his Sacred Prerogative Royal that neglecting his Pleasures and Health which he took such care to preserve by retiring into the Country up he now comes to London and upon the 30th of December and in a full Assembly of Council and in the Presence of the Judges declares the said Protestation invalid annull'd and void and of none effect Manu sua propria takes the said Protestation out of the Journal-Book of the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament and commanded an Act of Council to be made thereupon and this Act to be entred in the Register of the Council-Causes And on the 6th of January the King by his Proclamation dissolved the Parliament Shewing that the meeting continuing and dissolving of Parliaments does so peculiarly belong to him that he needs not give any account thereof to any other yet he thought fit to declare that in the Dissolution of this Parliament he had the Advice and Vniform Consent of his whole Council and that some particular Members of the Commons took inordinate Liberty not only to treat of his High Prerogatives and sundry things not fit to be argued in Parliament but also to speak with less respect of Foreign Princes That they spent their time in disputing Privileges and descanting upon the Words and Syllables of his Letters and Messages and that these evil-temper'd Spirits sowed Tares among the Corn and by their Carriage have imposed upon him a necessity of discontinuing this present Parliament without putting to it the Name or Period of a Session And lastly he declared That tho the Parliament were broken off yet he intended to govern well and shall be glad to lay hold on the first occasion to call another CHAP. IV. A Continuation of this Reign to King James his Death THE first Act the King did to make good his Promise in his Proclamation to govern well was his Commitment of Sir Edward Coke and Sir Robert Philips to the Tower and Mr. Selden Mr. Pym and Mr. Mallery to other Prisons and Sir Dudley Diggs Sir Thomas Crew Sir Nathaniel Rich and Sir James Parrot into Ireland Sir Thomas Overbury had a Cause assigned for his Commitment to the Tower but yet it was observed an Hardship upon him without any Precedent that he should be confined a close Prisoner for a Contempt whereas these were not only confined but close Prisoners for ought I can find I am well assured Sir Edward Coke was not only without any Cause shewed but for performing a publick Trust reposed in them Nor did the Commons only suffer under this Fury of the King for performing their Duty but the Noble Earl of Southampton was imprisoned for his freedom of Speech and for rebuking Buckingham for his disorderly speaking in the House of Lords as you may see in the first Part of Keeper Williams's Life fol. 62. tit 8. But of all others this Storm fell most severely upon Sir Edward Coke and by several ways his Ruin was contrived First By sealing up the Locks and Doors of his Chambers in London and in the Temple Secondly By seizing his Papers by virtue whereof they took away his several Securities for Money as a learned Lawyer Mr. Hawles hath observed Thirdly It was debated in Council when the King would have brought in the General Pardon containing such Points as he should think fittest by what ways they might exclude him from the benefit of it either by preferring a Bill against him before the Publication of it or by excepting him by Name Fourthly If the King's Name were used by Northampton and Somerset to confine Sir Thomas Overbury so close that neither his Father nor Servants should come at him so was the King's Name used here that none of Sir Coke's Children or Servants should come at him and of this I am assured from one of Sir Edward's Sons and his Wife Fifthly In this Confinement the King sued him in the King's-Bench for 30000 l. 2 s. 6 d. for an old Debt pretended to be due from Sir William Hatton to Queen Elizabeth and this was prosecuted by Sir Henry Yelverton with all Severity imaginable but herein the King's Counsel were not all of one piece for when a Brief against Sir Edward was brought to Sir John Walter I think then Attorney-General he returned it again with this Expression Let my Tongue cleave to the Roof of my Mouth whenever I open it against Sir Edward Coke however after the Trial the Verdict was against the King Mr. Selden got his Liberty by the favour of my Lord Keeper Williams but the rest must abide by it till the breaking of the Spanish Match necessitated the King to call another Parliament But lest the King's Word in his Proclamation for governing well should not pass currant and without dispute the King ordered the Judges in their Circuits to give this in their Charges That the King taking notice of the Peoples liberal speaking of Matters far above their reach and also taking notice of their licentious undutiful Speeches touching State and Government notwithstanding several Proclamations to the contrary the King was resolved no longer to pass it without severest Punishment and thereupon to do exemplary Justice where they find any such Offenders The King having in the ninth Year of his Reign borrowed 111046 l. upon Privy-Seals which the Writer of the Historical Narration of the first 14 Years of King James his Reign Tit. Monies raised by him fol. 14. says were unrepay'd Now since he could receive no more Money in Parliament orders the Privy-Council to issue out an Order for raising Money out of Parliament for the Defence of the Palatinate and also sent Letters to the Justices of the Courts in Westminster-Hall and Barons of the Exchequer to move them and perswade others to a liberal Contribution for the Recovery of the Palatinate according to their Qualities and Abilities Nevertheless if any Person shall out of Obstinacy or Disaffection refuse to contribute thereto proportionably to their Estates and Means they are to certify their Names to the Council-Board Letters to the same effect were directed to the High-Sheriffs of Counties and Justices of Peace and to the Mayors and Bayliffs of every City and Corporation within the Kingdom requiring them to summon all before them of known Abilities within their Jurisdictions and to move them to a chearful Contribution according to their Means and Fortunes in some good measure answerable to what others well
affected have done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Monies and to return a Schedule of the Names of such as shall contribute and the Sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good Inclinations of the Subjects to a Cause of such Importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of Obstinacy or Disaffection shall refuse to contribute These were the Ways which this pacifick King took in and out of Parliament which I believe except in the Reign of Edward the 4th were never practised by any of our English Kings and all this under the specious Pretence of recovering his Son-in-law's Patrimony prodigally to squander it among his Favourites especially Buckingham whose Avarice could not be supported otherwise by the Revenues of the Crown and Venality of all Places Sacred and Civil These were the Noble Atchievements which this pacifick King obtained over his Parliament which presumed to advise him for his own Honour and the Nation 's Safety this was the Return he made for inverting the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament to pleasure him by granting Subsidies before Grievances were redrest A Prince foreign born to our English Laws and Constitutions A Prince as the noble Nani Anno 1619. fol. 137 138. observes in whom Decorum and want of Power were commonly Opposites he being Scotish by Birth and come to the Crown by Inheritance was the first that governed the two Nations by Natural Antipathy and antient Emulation of Enemies and designing to reclaim the Fierceness of those People with Ease and Idleness had set up his Rest in Peace and avoiding as much as possible the calling of Parliaments without which not having the Power to impose Contributions nor levy Money he contented himself rather to struggle with many Straits and Difficulties than to see them meet with a Jealousy of them or being met be obliged to separate them with the disgust of the People or with the satisfaction of Prejudice to the Superior in Power A Prince so poor before he came to the Crown of England that if he had not been supported by the Pension which Queen Elizabeth allowed him could not have maintained the Garb of many of our English Gentry and being come to the Crown of England not only the Sacred Patrimony of it was squandered and embarassed upon debauched and profane Favourites but the People otherwise oppressed with almost infinite Monopolies and Projects which the Nation never before heard of and as they were new so were they all illegal and all these to make his Favourites rich while he continued the poorest King that ever governed England Justled in his Throne by the Presbytery in Scotland yet nothing less than Sacred would down with him from the Clergy in England tho his dissolute Life and profane Conversation were diametrically contrary These by a twenty Years Habit were so fixed in the King a Prince of all others the most regardless of his Honour and Word that they became natural So that after the Parliament had given him two Subsidies and intended another for carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate and after he had by such means as before said by such Terror raised Benevolences all England over upon pretence of it yet by the Advice of Buckingham and Gundamor he placed the Anchor of his Hope to do it by the Match of his Son with the Infanta of Spain when an unlooked-for Accident reported by Nani in his 5th Book fol. 186. had like to have spoiled all For the King of Bohemia weary of being amused and deluded with the Hopes of his Father-in-law's Treaties which he now saw were mocked by the Spaniards themselves in a Disguise with two Persons only from Holland passes into France by Sea and from thence through Lorrain and through the midst of his Enemies Troops arrives at Landau where Count Mansfield who then made War in the Palatinate in his Right had a Garison where he discovered himself and from thence went to Germersheim where he was received with the general Applause of the whole Army This Escape of the King's Son-in-law confounded all the King's Measures which he had taken for him by the Marriage of the Infanta with his Son so that he was more alarm'd at it than at the Commons Remonstrance and Protestation tho he bore the Affliction with a much better Temper So all Wits were set at work how to get the Elector out of the Hands of Mansfield back again into Holland for now the Proceedings at Brussels upon the Peace were put to a full stop the Spaniards alledging they could not proceed in the Treaty so long as the King's Son-in-law was in the Hands of Mansfield their most inveterate and bitter Enemy It fell out luckily for the King's Designs tho unluckily for his Son-in-law's that Mansfield being worsted by the Spanish Arms in the Palatinate and the Elector Palatine fearing that Mansfield in the Adversity of his Affairs would make him a Sacrifice in giving him up to the Spaniard to make his own Terms the better was the more easily enveagled by the King's Agents to return again into Holland where the first News he heard was that Tilly had taken Heidelburg the Capital Seat of his Ancestors by Storm and Frankendal his next City reduced to Extremity by Cordua so that as Nani says fol. 188. King James who had published that his Son-in-law held that Country under his Protection was laugh'd at by all the World and forced to consent to a Truce for fifteen Months during which Frankendal and the rest of the lower Palatinate should be deposited into the Spaniards Hands to restore them to the King James if within that time there were not a Peace concluded King James having thus deposited his Son-in-law's Patrimony in the Hands of the Spaniards in the Low Countries now by the Direction of Buckingham not only the Dictator over the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but over the King himself and 't was feared more over the Prince upon pretence that the Earl of Bristol was too remiss in prosecuting the Prince's Suit at Madrid resolves to deposite the Prince in the Power of the Court of Spain there to remain as an Hostage till he can procure the Infanta to be his Spouse This was such an Adventure as Don Quixot never dream'd of in any of his that because the King the Prince his Father was poor at home and despised abroad therefore by making his only Son an Hostage in another King's Court where the Maxims both of Religion and State were directly contrary he should think to perswade the King of Spain to overturn all and also get such a Portion as was fourfold more than any Prince before had to enrich himself and to make War against the King of Spain or Emperor which the Spaniard esteemed all as one and also that the King of Spain should restore the Palatinate because the King knew not which way else
might not another Parliament upon better Information alter what the Parliament 21 Jac. had done Which neither of these Parliaments did but granted and voted him and his Father greater Supplies than ever before were given to any of his Predecessors in three-fold the time But when the King enter'd into a View of his Treasure he found how ill provided he was to proceed effectually with so great an Action It seems by this one Action the King only designed the War against Spain But why does not the King set forth the Causes why his Treasure was so ill provided It was not ten Months before his Father's Death that the Parliament 21 Jac. which gave his Father three Subsidies and three Fifteenths was adjourned and his first Parliament gave him two Subsidies more within two or three Months after his Father's Death And what came of all this but the raising ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse under Mansfield the Expedition against the Rochellers and to Cadiz to neither of which latter he was ever invited by his Father or any Parliament The King makes the â—lague to be the Cause of the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford yet he might as well have secured the Members by a Prorogation as Dissolution And in this Parliament he tells how the House of Commons voted him three Subsidies and three Fifteenths and after four Subsidies and three Fifteenths and of the Letter he sent them the 9th of June to speed the passing these Supplies and how that the House being abused by the violent and ill-advised Passion of a few Members never so much as admitted one Reading to the Bill of Subsidies but voted a Remonstrance or Declaration which they intended to prefer to him tho palliated with glossing Terms containing many dishonourable Aspersions upon his Majesty and upon the sacred Memory of his deceased Father which his Majesty taking for a Denial of the promised Supplies upon mature Advisement he dissolved them But from whence should this mature Advisement come We do not find the Privy Council had any hand in it and the House of Lords petitioned against it But lest the Credit of this Declaration should not find Faith enough against the Commons Representatives the King sends a Proclamation after it wherein he takes notice of a Remonstrance drawn by a Committee of the late Commons to be presented to him wherein are many things to the Dishonour of himself and his Royal Father of blessed Memory and whereby through the sides of a Peer of this Realm they wound their Soveraign's Honour and to vent their Passions against that Peer and prepossess the World with an ill Opinion of him before his Case was heard who hinder'd it had scatter'd Copies of it Wherefore the King to suppress such an unsufferable Wrong upon pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure commanded all who had Copies thereof to burn them But why was not the Duke's Cause heard and who dissolved the Parliament to prevent it Had not the Earl of Bristol answered every Particular of the King 's and Duke's Charge against him And was there not an Order of the House of Lords the Duke should answer the Earl's Charge against him Where is this Answer to be found and why was it not Now see the Justice of this King and how he made good his Promise in his Declaration that he would so order his Actions as should justify him not only in his own Conscience but to the whole World for the very Day the Parliament was dissolved he committed the Earl of Bristol Prisoner to the Tower and left the Duke free to pursue his ungodly Designs Here I 'll stay a little and add this Augmentation of Honour to the Escutcheon of this noble Earl notwithstanding this Usage For when the Long Parliament in 1640 had put a full Stop to the King 's Absolute Will and Pleasure which if it had not God only knows where it would have ended and after that this King's Flatterers and Favourites his Lord Keeper Finch and Secretary Winde-bank had run into other Countries to save themselves from being hanged in this and that the Earl of Manchester after he had flatter'd this King and his Father in all the Shapes of Earl Viscount Baron Lord Chief Justice Lord Privy Seal Lord Treasurer and Lord President of the Council and his Son and the Earls of Pembroke and Holland and both the Sir Henry Vanes Father and Son and Sir Henry Mildmay c. sided with the Parliament against the King yet this noble Earl followed the King in all his Adversity however he had been persecuted by him in his Prosperity The late Keeper as he gave his Opinion against the War with Spain in King James's Reign so did he against the Expedition against Cales in this King's Reign his Reason was which you may read in the second Part of his Life fol. 65. That the King must make himself sure of the Love of his own People at home before he bid War to such a rich and mighty Nation But the Keeper's Counsels were as much feared and hated by the Duke as Bristol's and the Commons Articles were against him and therefore he resolved to be rid of them all and pursue the King 's and his own Designs without any Controul and the very same Day the Parliament was dissolved he caused the Earl of Bristol to be committed to the Tower as you may see in Stow's Chronicle fol. 1042. Nor would he have his Renown and Valour less known abroad than his Justice at home and France shall now be the Theatre upon which he will act it in spight of Spain or the Parliament and Nation of England without whose Assistance he will act Wonders by his own Power and in Vindication of his own Honour however some Cause must be shewed by others since the Duke concealed the true Cause Rushworth fol. 427. makes the Causes of this War to begin between the Priests of the Queen's Family and the Bishops by Articles of Agreement upon the Marriage and that the Pope had declared them Apostates if they should seek for any Establishment from the King being an Heretick and that the Queen sided herein with the Priests against the King and that Unkindnesses hereupon grew between them so as the King informed his Brother of France he could no longer bear them And much to this purpose has Mr. James Howel in the Life of Lewis XIII fol. 75. But these were but Pretences for this War the Cause was of another Complexion And herein we will cite the Authority of the great Nani who had better Means to enquire into the Causes than either Rushworth or Howel and was not biass'd by Interest Affection or Flattery You have heard before of the Emulation between Richlieu and Buckingham and of their Inclinations for the Queen's Favour and of the Queen 's noble Aversions to them both but I think Nani was therein a little mistaken for if I be not misinformed as I think verily I
the Commons ask any Grant of it to them or any other To conclude I command you all that are here to take notice of â—hat I have spoken at this time to be the true Intent and Meaning of â—hat I have granted you in your Petition especially you my Lords the Judges for to you only under me belongs the Interpretation of the Laws for none of the Houses of Parliament either joint or separate what new Doctrine soever may be raised have any Power either to â—ake or declare a Law without my Consent And you need not doubt but these shall be placito-men all who shall not scruple to make the King's Will to be the Subjects Law and those that will not shall be none of this King's Judges I do not find that the King before he prorogued them gave the Parliament any Thanks for the Bill of Subsidies tho greater than ever was given to any King as his Predecessors ever did or if he did it ill sorted with the Speech he made before But before we proceed to take a View of this King's Actions in the Interval of this Recess of Parliament let 's a little consider the present State of the King and Kingdom and herein who it was the King quarrelled with and upon what Account and for whose sake It was with the Representatives of the Kingdom who had so obsequiously and unanimously gratified him above what any other House of Commons ever did to any King of England before The Crimes for which the King inveighed so against them were for representing their Grievances and the dangerous and feeble State of himself and the Kingdom and to represent to him the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by taking the Customs as he did yet declaring their Readiness to relieve him therein and to reconcile him to his Subjects And for whom was it the King thus contended but for a Favourite who against the King's Father's Will and Advice of his Council without a Declaration or Reason shee l the next Day after the King's Father's Death as the Bishop of Litchfield observes excited him to make War against the King of Spain and after made the King to dissolve the Parliament to save himself from being impeached in it And so he did the second Parliament and then engaged the King in a War against France wherein he himself was the Aggressor and put the King upon those unheard-of ways to support these Wars that never were practised by any King of England before and in the ill Management of them brought greater Loss and Dishonour to the Nation than ever was before A Favourite who besides these brought the Crown to extream Poverty to support his intolerable Ambition and Avarice Here again I cannot but note the miserable State of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and their Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents above other Men for other Mens Enemies are but few and the rest of Mankind their Friends but the Majesty Glory and Honour of a Prince is founded in the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and if this be lost whereto then can a Prince betake himself What became of Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. tho two of those four Hereditary Princes of ten after the Conquest when they had lost the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and this Prince and his Sons after him made haste to overtake their Fate Not one many hundreds of private Men but die a natural Death but Sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges But above all those of this Scotish Race of Kings descended from Elizabeth More which 't is a question whether any one of Nine of them in a continued Succession died a Natural Death The Duke of Buckingham upon his Retreat from the Isle of Rhee promised the Rochellers to send them speedy Relief and to make good his Word sent the Earl of Denbigh his Brother-in-law with a Fleet to relieve it now close besieged by the French King the Earl came before Rochel the first of May 1628 where he found the French Fleet of 20 Sail had blockt up Rochel by Sea upon the Approach of the Earl the French retired towards their Fortifications and anchored within two Cannon shot of the Fleet and so continued till the 8th of May the Earl promised the Rochellers to sink the French Fleet when the Waters encreased and the Wind came Westerly it being then neap Tides but two Days after the Waters did encrease and the Wind became Westerly then the Earl being intreated to fight the French Fleet did not but weighed Anchor and came away only four of the French Fleet at a distance pursuing the English Fleet. Thus was the Duke's Expedition to the Isle of Rhee seconded by this of his Brother-in-law for the Relief of Rochel I do not find the Parliament took notice of this but if they had it had been to no purpose for soon after the Earl's Return the King resolving not to hear of the Commons Remonstranceâ— against his taking the Customs not granted by Parliament to which he said he must have given a harsh Answer upon the 26th of June prorogues the Parliament to the 20th of October following and after by Proclamation to the 20th of January To redeem his Brother-in-law's Miscarriage the Duke in this Recess goes to Portsmouth to command the Fleet there to relieve Rochel but at Portsmouth he is stabb'd by Felton the 23d of August yet was the Design pursued under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey who several times attempted to force the Barricadoes of the River before Rochel but all in vain or if he had it had been to no purpose for the Victuals wherewith the Rochellers should have been relieved were all tainted and 't was well the French had no Fleet there for the English Tackle and other Materials were all defective This was the last Attempt this unhappy â—ing made either for the Relief of the poor Protestants in France or for the Recovery of the Palatinate for now Buckingham was dead who put him upon making War with Spain and France the King as secretly as before he had done suddenly made Peace with both Spain and France What 's now become of the twelve Subsidies and three Fifteenths granted to this King's Father and himself in less than eight years time by Parliament for Recovery of the Palatinate besides Loans Benevolences Coat and Conduct Money raised by his Father and himself without Consent of Parliament Let any Man shew in any Records of time that half so much in like time was raised by any of our Kings upon any Occasions except the Dissolution of Abbeys in Henry the VIII's time Search all Histories and find any one Prince so wilfully set to be govern'd by such loose vain wild and negligent Councils as either of these Princes Father or Son Now let 's see the Condition of these poor Rochellers trusting to this Prince and his Favourite they lived long upon Horse-flesh Hides Leather Dogs and Cats hardly
See the Life of General Monk p. 23 24. written by his Chaplain Dr. Gumble The Parliament having recruited the Earl of Essex's Army he forced his Passage and relieved Glocester the King's Army retreat to Newbury where it was charged by Essex and worsted and in the Fight the Ornament of the Age the learned and most ingenious Lord Falkland tho weary of his Life and presaging his own Destiny was slain as were the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarven If the King's Army had such bad Success before Glocester my Lord of New-Castle had worse before Hull for lying in a moorish unhealthy place in a sickly season of the Year viz. September and October the whole Army fell into Fluxes and other Distempers so as they were forced to raise the Siege having done nothing considerable in it besides at this time Lyn-Regis in Norfolk a Place near as considerable as Hull was seized by the Gentry of Norfolk and might have been relieved if New-Castle had not been engaged in besieging Hull Tho the English and Scotish Parliament agreed in their Solemn League and Covenant yet so did not Sir John Hotham and his Son with the Preferment of Sir Thomas Fairfax and others in the North so that Sir John Hotham refused to serve under Fairfax Hereupon the Parliament intended to have displaced Hotham which when he heard of both he and his Son treated with the Marquess of New-Castle to deliver Hull to the King and the Parliament suspecting the Design sent Sir Matthew Bromton Sir John's Brother-in-law to seize both Father and Son which Sir John little suspecting till it was too late fled to Beverly where he was seized by his own Soldiers and carried to Hull from whence Sir Matthew sent both Father and Son to London where soon after both lost their Heads When the Parliament sent Commissioners to invite the Scots to come to their Assistance the King sent Letters to disswade them from it urging the manifold Grants he had given to them when he was in Scotland last which compleated all they could ask and their solemn Protestations to be for ever his Majesty's most obedient Subjects See the Act cited by Sir Rich. Baker fol. 514. That it should be detestable Treason in the highest degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to raise Arms or any military Force upon any Cause whatever without the King's Commission But now unprovoked by the King and against his express Command they in open Hostility enter England a second time against him so little Faith or Honour was to be trusted to from these Covenanters for the Scots having made their Market with the King resolve to improve it with the Parliament and besides their Pay or Wages of Iniquity will have the Covenant and Kirk-Government imposed upon the English as well as Scots Nation and tho the King's Letters were signed by 19 Lords the Scots ordered them to be burnt by the common Hangman and in order hereunto General Lesley now Earl of Leven upon the 16th of January enters into England again with an Army of above 20000 Scots The King to add Reputation to his Arms summoned the Members of Parliament which followed him to meet at Oxford upon the 22d of January where they voted the coming of the Scots to be Treason and Rebellion but because they would not come up to the King's Desire in Voting the Members at Westminster to be no Parliament the King in great Displeasure with them and in his Letters to the Queen calls them his mungrel Parliament such was the Kindness the King shewed those Noble Lords and Gentry for sacrificing their Lives and Fortunes for his Service And to oppose the Scots the King makes a Cessation of Arms with the Irish and draws back into England the English which he sent to oppose the Irish but these were every where beaten 1500 of them cast away by Sea and the greatest Body of them commanded by Sir Michael Ernley Major General Gibson Sir Francis Boteler and Colonel Monk who shall unravel all the Parliament and Scots were now weaving were totally routed and dispersed by Sir Thomas Fairfax joining with Sir William Brereton near Nantwich and all these with Colonel Gibs Harmon Sir Ralph Dawns with 14 Captains 26 Ensigns and other inferiour Officers and 1500 common Soldiers taken Prisoners with the loss of their Cannon and Baggage So that as Serjeant Whitlock observes f. 79. a. these Irish never did the King any considerable Service But to sweeten this Prince Rupert at the close of this Year beat Sir John Meldrum a Scot who besieged Newark and his Army surrendred up their Arms Upon which the Parliament-Garisons in Gainsborow Lincoln and Sleford quitted these Places to the King's Forces And here we will end the Year 1643. and take notice how Mr. Serjeant Whitlock f. 64. b. errs in point of Time where he says the Scots passed the Tyne in 1642 under General Lesley to assist the Parliament and f. 67. a. he says the Queen was brought to Bed at Exeter of the Princess Henrietta Maria which for ought appears was before the Queen landed from Holland for she was born the 20th of June 1644. See Sir Baker's Hist f. 434. a. Anno Reg. 20. Dom. 1644. The Wonders which succeeded these two Years in England will better appear if a View be taken of the present Posture of Affairs as they stood in the beginning of this Year England and Scotland are united in one Solemn League and Covenant in January last Lesley or Leven enter'd England with an Army of 18000 Foot and 3500 Horse and Dragoons and soon after the Earl of Calendar enter'd England with an Army of 10000 Scots more these commanded by old and experienced Officers and the English Parliament's Armies were commanded by as brave and resolute Commanders as were to be found in Europe The Fleet wholly at the Parliament's Devotion and so was the City of London So that if you look upon the Superstructure nothing could appear more strong and lasting And all this time you hear little of Oliver Cromwel more than that he was a Captain of Horse and being of a bold and active Spirit secured the Town of Cambridg for the Parliament and was very diligent in obstructing several Levies for the King in Cambridgshire Essex Suffolk and Norfolk For these Services he had a Commission to be a Colonel of Horse and having an insinuating and canting way of preaching and seeming very Godly raised such a Regiment of Horse as was no where to be found the Riders spirited with Zeal to the Cause yet not of the Scots mode and to secure them without Oliver took care to provide them able Horses and to be well arm'd and accoutred so as every one of them beside Sword and Pistol had Pot Back and Breast Musquet-proof He was Nephew to Sir Oliver Cromwel who had a very great Estate but his Father being a younger Brother had not above 300 l. per Annum as was said Their
of Contention and so it is taken in the Accord of the two Kingdoms Whether Lieutenant Gen. Cromwel be such an Incendiary between the two Kingdoms as is meant by this Word cannot be known but by Proofs of his particular Words and Actions tending to the kindling of this Fire of Contention between the two Nations and the raising of Difference between us If it do not appear by Proofs he has done this he is not an Incendiary but if it can be made out by Proofs that he hath done this then he is an Incendiary and to be proceeded against for it by the Parliament upon his being thus accused for those things This I take for a Ground That my Lord General and Lords Commissioners of Scotland being of so great Honour and Authority as you are must not appear in any Business especially of an Accusation but such as you shall see before-hand clearly will be made out and be brought to the Effect intended Otherwise for such Persons as you are to begin a Business of this Weight and not to have it so prepared before-hand as to be certain to carry it but to be put to a doubtful Trial in case it should not succeed as you expect but that you should be foiled in it it would reflect upon your great Honours and Wisdom Next As to the Person who is to be accused as an Incendiary it will be fit in my humble Opinion to consider his present Condition and Parts and Interest wherein Mr. Maynard and my self by our constant Attendance in the House of Commons are the more capable to give an Account to your Lordships and for his Interest in the Army some Honourable Persons here present his Excellency's Officers are best able to inform your Lordships I take Lieutenant General Cromwel to be a Gentleman of Quick and Subtile Parts and one who hath especially of late gained no small Interest in the House of Commons nor is he wanting of Friends in the House of Lords nor of Ability in himself to manage his own Part or Defence to the best Advantage If this be so my Lords it will be more requisite to be well prepared against him before he be brought upon the Stage lest the Issue of the Business be not answerable to your Expectations I have not yet heard any Particulars mentioned by his Excellency nor by my Lord Chancellor or any other nor do I know any in my private Observations which will amount to a clear Proof of such Matters as will satisfy the House of Commons in the Case of Lieut. Gen. Cromwel and according to our Law and the Course of Proceedings in our Parliament that he is an Incendiary and to be punished accordingly However I apprehend it to be doubtful and therefore cannot advise at this time he should be accused for an Incendiary but rather that Direction may be given to collect such particular Passages relating to him by which your Lordships may judg whether they will amount to prove him an Incendiary or not And this being done we may again wait on your Excellence if you please and upon View of those Proofs we shall be better able to advise and your Lordships to judg what will be fit to be done in this Matter Mr. Maynard agreed with Mr. Whitlock in every Particular and only varied that the Word Incendiary is not much conversant in our Law nor often met with in our Books but more a Term of Civil Law and of State and so to be considered in this Case Mr. Hollis and Sir Philip Stapleton and others spake smartly to the Business and mentioned some particular Passages and Words of Cromwel to prove him an Incendiary and that he had not that Interest in the House of Commons as was supposed and would willingly have been upon the Accusation of him but the Scots Commissioners were not so forward to join with them in it So Cromwel escaped But so did not Mr. Hollis and Sir Philip about two Years after upon Cromwel's Accusation of them If it be so strange that Cromwel so bred and having no Correspondence abroad or at home should in two Years time get such an Ascendant over the Parliament's Army in England so commanded and disciplin'd as aforesaid it will appear more admirable by what mean Persons he chiefly atchieved it as by Pride Whaley Hewson Harrison Goff Ven Barkstead Cobbet Okey c. broken Citizens and not before acquainted with any Military Discipline But while this Canker-Worm was breeding in the Bowels of the Parliament and Army the Winds of adverse Fortune blew almost constantly in the Face of the King's Affairs and to tell particularly of all the Battels Sieges and Rencounters which happened in England in these two next Years would swell this Story to a much greater Bulk than I design You may read them at large in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs and Sir Baker's History of Charles the First And to say nothing of it would be a Gap in this Treatise which would interrupt the Design of it Upon the 29th of March the King's Army commanded by Gen. Forth and Sir Ralph Hopton was totally routed near Winchester by Sir William Waller Sir William Balfour and Sir Arthur Haslerig and 't was observed that two Irish Regiments which served the King in this Fight were the first which broke and run away And soon after Captain Swanley secured Milford-Haven Haverford-West and all Pembrook-shire for the Parliament And upon the 11th of April my Lord Fairfax and his Son Sir Thomas took Selby in Yorkshire by Storm and in it Col. Bellasis Governour with most of the other Officers and 1600 Common Soldiers with all their Guns Arms and Ammunition To qualify these Losses in some measure the King about the latter End of June fights Waller at Cropredy-Bridg and routs him kills 300 of his Men and Weems General of the Ordnance was taken Prisoner with two Lieutenant-Colonels three Captains and several other Officers and 180 Common Soldiers with 14 pieces of Cannon This small Victory bore no Proportion to the irreparable Loss the King sustained in the North for York being besieged by the United Forces of Manchester both the Fairfaxes Father and Son and Leven or Lesley General of the Scots Prince Rupert with all the Powers he could raise marched to the Relief of it after he had relieved Latham-House in Lancashire bravely defended by the Countess of Darby The Parliament Forces hereupon raised their Siege and the Prince fetching a Compass about relieved York and joined with the Marquess of Newcastle so as the Prince's Army was 27000 strong with which he marched to Marston-Moor whither the Parliament's Army was marched before and upon the third of July both Armies fought and the Prince with the Left Wing charged the Parliament's Right Wing and routed and pursued them a great Way so did General Goring Sir Charles Lucas and Major General Porter rout the main Body of the Parliament's Army so that all the three Parliament Generals Fairfax Manchester and
he was over parsimonious ill becoming so great a Prince He laid the Foundation of an unhappy Reign before he became King not only in his Dissimulation in the Treaty of Marriage with the King and Infanta of Spain to the Displeasure of his Father but much more in the French Treaty not only in submitting to grant a Toleration of the Popish Religion and that his Children should be brought up under their Mother till they were twelve Years old but by engaging to assist the French King with a Fleet against the Reformed in France which he did tho the French broke their Faith in denying Mansfield to land the Army at Calais raised for the Recovery of the Palatinate Unlike his Predecesâ—or Henry the Fifth who so soon as he became King banished all his Flatterers and loose Companions and betaking himself to grave and wise Counsel he became the most Renowned and Victorious of all our English Kings Charles became more wilful and gave himself to be more governed by Favourites after he became King than before So that the insite Piety and Affection which is due to Parents and usually exprest in some mournful Demeanour upon their Death took no Impression in him after his Father's Death but contrary Passions against his Father's Counsel and Will prevailed upon him For next day after his Father's Death only the King and Buckingham present the Keeper Williams coming to wait upon him the King asked him whether the Parliament were dissolved upon his Father's Death Which when the Keeper told him it was the King commanded him to issue out new Summons for calling another and not to stay a day for Subsidies must be had for carrying on a War against Spain and when the Keeper advised him to consider a little hereof and that before Writs were issued out Interest should be made about Elections the King in Displeasure turn'd from him Which you may read in the second Book and second Folio of the Keeper's Life And these two things were observable in this Prince That when any advised him against his Will he would never ask it after or be Friends with him and that in all his Reign as well in Prosperity as in Adversity he would never own any one of his Irregularities to be so but justified them all to his Death As Henry was the most self-denying of all his glorious Actions ascribing them only to God so Charles upon all occasions in all his irregular Actions gloried he was accountable to none but God for them After he was married he became the most uxorious Husband of all our English Kings except Henry the Sixth and being intangled by the Articles of Marriage which the Queen fostered and the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation contrary to them which his Parliaments stedfastly asserted he became both ways uneasy and to reconcile them was impossible But to me it seems how uxorious soever the King was yet during Buckingham's Regency for so it may be truly called he had an Ascendency over the Queen as appears by the French War in the second Year of the King notwithstanding all the Power of the Queen against it He was unaffable in his Conversation and Approaches to him very difficult and those with such strained Submissions as were never required by any of his Predecessors As his Actions were without Counsel sudden and inconsiderate so were his Resolutions as variable and uncertain so that oftentimes he would change them the same day And as his Actions were without Counsel so were his Designs without Secrecy which blasted them as well at Home as Abroad He was so superstitiously addicted to the Arminian Clergy which flatter'd him that I do not find except Juxton Bishop of London that he preferr'd any others in the Church till he fell into Adversity In his adverse Fortune he would betake himself to contrary Extreams yet be as inconstant in them as in his Actions in Prosperity He was only constant in his Affections to the Queen after he had given up his Favourites in his prosperous Fortune to the Parliament and her Counsels fixed stedfast in him tho in his Declarations to the Kingdom and Parliament he profess'd otherwise and herein he was as unhappy as he was before in his Designs in his Prosperity for they whether by Fate or his own Imprudence became known to his Enemies who blaz'd them abroad not only to the Nation but all the World so that the sincerity of his Promises and Declarations became suspected as well by his Friends as Enemies and all Accommodation with them more difficult whereby it came to pass that his Armies being subdued by them and thereby falling into the Hands of his Enemies he became a Sacrifice to them in the 49th Year of his Age having reigned 23 Years ten Months and three Days leaving six Children three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange and Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter So that as King John and his Son Henry the Third lost all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain to the French by endeavouring a more than Legal Jurisdiction over their Subjects whereby they lost their Love and Obedience so these two Princes Father and Son by raising and Arbitrary Power over their Subjects not only lost their Honour Abroad but with their own Subjects and for want of whose Assistance this King lost his Life and suffered the French to grow so great as to endanger the Safety of their own Subjects in the Realms of England Scotland and Ireland I 'll conclude this Story with one which a learned Gentleman who liv'd in those Times affirmed When the Duke of Buckingham was stabb'd by Felton 1628 the Earl of Portland was then newly made Lord Treasurer and the King to manifest his Affection to the Duke order'd the Treasurer to issue out of the Exchequer 30000 l. I think for a solemn Funeral for the Duke but the Treasurer unwilling the King should be at so hateful an Expence at a time when the King was at War with France and Spain told the King that the Sum laid out in erecting a stately Tomb for the Duke would be a more lasting Monument of his Favour to the Duke than a Funeral-Expence which would be but the Work of a Day and soon forgot The King assented and several Patterns were brought and what the King lik'd the Treasurer dislik'd till at last the King pitch'd upon one which he said he would have but then the Treasurer said Sir what will the World say that you should be at such an Expence for a Favourite when your Father has not a Stone to cover him which struck the King so as he proceeded no farther in it I remember I think it was in 1669. that the Commons voted 50000 l. for the Charge of taking up this King's Body and the solemn Funeral
was sitting might be dangerous since the Parliament had so lately recognized him and so many thousands of the People had congratulated his Assumption into the Protectorate And to begin at the Parliament might be as dangerous for this they thought would disgust the Nation in general neither did they know whether the Parliament would be disbanded by them they therefore resolve they 'll make Richard dissolve them and take the Odium upon himself and when that 's done they 'll do well enough with Richard To this end the Officers urge Richard to make good their Proposals but the Protectorian Officers advised him to seize the Heads of the Republican which tho Richard durst not come to yet he spake high and threatned the Officers to cashier them This had a double Effect for the Protectorian Officers the Lord Falconbridg Captain Philip Howard Colonel Ingoldsby Whaley Goff and others seeing the meanness of Richard's Spirit in neglecting their Advice leave him and the Republicans were not to be quelled with Words but exasperated by them so that upon the 22d of April they beset White-hall and sent Desborough and Fleetwood to beseech him to dissolve the Parliament and if 't were not speedily done they would set fire to the House and kill all who should resist which so frightned Richard that he forthwith signs a Proclamation for dissolving the Parliament The Parliament thus dissolved Richard's Turn was next to be deposed not one of the manifold thousands of the ninety Congratulatory Addresses who promised to stand by Richard with their Lives and Fortunes speaking one word in his behalf and so shall such another Turn about thirty Years after be served on King James the Second Tho Richard and his Parliament were out yet something else must be in yet before they would put in any thing else the Republican Officers send Ingoldsby Goff Whaley my Lord Falconbridg and Howard after Earl of Carlisle after Richard and his Parliament and take in Lambert Harrison Rich Parker Okey and others whom Cromwel turn'd out But before they would set up any thing instead of Protector they make Fleetwood General by Sea and Land and Lambert Lieut. General To prepare the way for what was to be set up the Officers prepare a Remonstrance inveighing bitterly against the Malignants for so they call'â— the Royalists that they had printed Lists and marked for Destruction the Godly especially the King's Judges and therefore they would revive the Good Old Cause and restore the Rump Parliament but William Pryn according to his rude way of writing answered them That their Cause was neither Good nor Old and bitterly charges them with Treachery and Ingratitude But all to no purpose for since no better was to be had these Officers awake the Rump out of their Lethargy wherein they had been above five Years asleep and now were become so miserably lean that none but the Officers could abide the sight of them they could get but forty two together and these looked so wretchedly that they had much ado to get Lenthal to be Head again to it But how nasty soever the Rump was the first secluded Members would have sat with them but the Rump would none of that but set Guards at the Door of the House to keep them out Thus got together they again depose Richard and send Ludlow to do the same by Henry in Ireland and thus you see what Security can be had by relying upon a Mercenary Army one part of it exalted the Father and another part of the same Army deposed both the Sons But in Scotland they let Monk alone who promised to be true to them Yet these were not the Halâ—yon Days the Republican Officers expected by restoring the Rump for the Rump tho it had been long asleep yet remembred they were before tuned out by the Officers of the Army and that they shall do so no more they make Lenthal General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland by Sea and Land The Rump being contemptible to all the Nation and the Officers of the Army being thus divided and subdued and like Virginal-Jacks when one was up the other was down raised the Expectation of the Royalists That a sudden Change would be which could end in nothing but restoring the King And the Presbyterians exasperated by the Rump's Repulse again resolve not to sit quiet under it and therefore a Correspondence is held between them and the Royalists to depose the Rump whatever came of it To this end Sir George Booth rises in Cheshire with whom Sir Thomas Middleton joined but was ill seconded by the Royalists This alarm'd the Rump for they expected no better from the Presbyterians than the Royalists And now the Rump not well knowing the Man had so little Wit as to send Lambert against Sir George and you 'll soon see Lambert shall do that by the Rump which the Presbyterians and Royalists both together could not do For Lambert having overthrown Booth and taken him Prisoner tho the Rump were mightily joy'd at it and voted Lambert a Gratuity of a Thousand Pounds yet this no ways alter'd the Designs of Lambert which ever since the Death of Cromwel he had been hatching For Lambert after the Defeat of the Cheshire-men in his return for London at Derby the 16th of September procured a Petition from the Officers to the Rump that Fleetwood might be General of the Army and himself Lieutenant-General He was content to give Fleetwood the first Place as Cromwel had given Fairfax for he knew himself to be too hard for Fleetwood and a much better Souldier and so would do what he list And the greater part of the Officers in London join with Lambert in his Petition The Rump was more alarm'd at this Petition than at Sir Booth's Insurrection so as all Prosecution against him and the Cheshire-Men was at a stand nor were the Rump of one piece among themselves for Sir Arthur Haslerig a hot-headed Man was violently against the Army and said they made the Parliament a precarious thing and that Lambert trod Cromwel's Steps and his seeming Modesty in preferring Fleetwood was but a Decoy But young Sir Henry now become old Sir Henry Vane with much more cunning endeavour'd to carry on the Designs of Lambert and his Faction However the Majority of the Members rather than be deposed depose Lambert Desborough Berry Kelsey Ashfield Cobbet Creed Parker and Barrow and make a Council of War without naming a General of Fleetwood Monk Haslerig Ludlow Morley and Overton And to starve Lambert and his Officers the Rump vote That no Money shall be raised without Consent in Parliament and he that shall do it shall be guilty of High-Treason against the Commonwealth And the Nation to whom the Rump and Army were alike hateful took this for a very good Law However before this Infant Council of War should be warm in their Seats Lambert resolves to beat up their Quarters and marches directly to London but the
and that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any of the Subjects from the said Oaths or either of them to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of the Kingdom Thus you see the Parliament throw this upon the Son which his Father so zealously contended for even to the Loss of his Life and when they had done all they could the Son little cared for what they had done For the Year after viz. 1663 the King granted a Toleration and Indulgence to Dissenters from the Church Thinking Men thought this strange that the King should the Year before pass the Act of Vniformity as the best Means to secure the Church against Popery and Fanaticism and in this grant a Toleration It could not be in Favour of them termed Fanaticks who kept him from his Crown and last Year Venner with his Party would have expell'd him again And this Year Swarms of Pamphlets were spread abroad to defame his Person and Government For printing some of which Twyn the Printer was hanged Thinking Men considered too the time when this Indulgence was granted for as the King in the Sale of Dunkirk chose to do it in the Interval of the Sitting of the Parliament so he did grant this Indulgence I think in November when the Parliament was prorogued to February But tho the Parliament would take no notice of the Sale of Dunkirk they did of this and therefore the Commons upon their Meeting entred into a serious Debate about it and made an Address to the King humbly representing How it would reflect upon the Wisdom of the Parliament to have such an Alteration made so soon and that for ought they could foresee would end in Popery And sure the Commons were true Prophets herein However whether the King fearing the Continuance of the Indulgence might retard the Commons in giving him Money or that time was not yet ripe enough to insist upon it at present he recalled his Declaration So that tho the King did establish a High Commission in Scotland by his Prerogative Inherent in his Crown which the Parliament agreed to in Scotland yet this Indulgence had not the like Effect in England This Indulgence may seem more strange if we look into Ireland where the Irish this very Year were contriving a Massacre of the Protestants and holding Intelligence with the French King which you may read at large in Plunket's Trial and this proved by Popish Witnesses I do not find the Irish had any Countenance herein by the King nor do I believe the French King acquainted his Brother of England with it Yet the Insincerity of the King's Intentions of any Benefit the Protestant Dissenters should have by this Indulgence will appear by this that when the Parliament seeing the Danger which the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters might bring upon the Nation had prepared Bills for the Ease of Protestant Dissenters the King would not pass them However the Memory of the Rage and Tyranny of the late Times took deeper Impression in the Parliament than the Fear of Popery intended by the King's Toleration and Indulgence and therefore the Parliament from new invented Swearing and new invented Declaring proceed to new invented Laws against Dissenters and Conventicles and the Act of the 16 Car. 2. c. 4. does declare the 35 of Eliz. c. 1. to stand in full Force and ought to be put in Execution and did also enact That if any Number above Five more than the Family shall meet in any Assembly or Conventicle upon Colour or Pretence of Religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England he shall be committed Prisoner for the first Offence there to remain for a Term not exceeding three Months unless such Offender shall pay a Sum of Money not exceeding Five Pounds for the second Offence to be committed to Prison for a Term not exceeding Six Months or pay a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds and for the third Offence to be transported beyond the Seas for the Space of seven Years unless he pay one hundred Pounds I will not dispute the Justice of these Laws but I say no Human Laws can divest Men of Human Nature but that Man as well as all other Creatures will endeavour by such Means as they are endued with to preserve their Being and Subsistence in this World And herein I again observe the unhappy State of this Nation in the Education of Youth in the Grammar-Schools and our Academical Learning as 't is called For tho a great Part of the Youth of England have Means to maintain them after they have lost their time of Youth under this unprofitable Breeding whereby they are no way instructed how to live and converse in this World yet double if not treble Numbers of Youth are thus bred who have little or no Means to maintain them after they become Men and more than can be maintained by the Revenues of the Church as they are established I say therefore this kind of Breeding Youth shall eternally create Feuds and a kind of Civil War between those who are in Church-Preferments and those excluded from them and these for their necessary Subsistence shall become Patrons of Factions opposite to the Church within the Kingdom and to the promoting the Popish Interest without In the late Times when the Presbyterians bare the Sway were there not enow of that Party to supply the Vacancies of the Sequestred Clergy besides such Swarms of the Patrons of Independency as were more numerous than they and who turned them out Yet was there a large Relick for to promote the Popish Faction Upon the Restoration of the King when the Sequestred Clergy were restored were there not Multitudes of such Clergy as would have conformed yet could not get any Preferment in the Church Thus excluded what other means had they to subsist but to become Nurseries of Factions which were opposite to the Church and tho these Laws were intended against Protestant Dissenters who had no other means of living but dissenting yet you shall soon hear of another Sort of Dissenters and these secretly countenanced by this most Religious and Gracious King which shall be much more dangerous to this Church and State than those against whom these Laws were made And I say the Vnreasonableness of Separation from the Communion of the Church of England will no more prevent this than Origines Sacrae by not only confounding but inverting all Rules and Methods of Reasoning prove a Deity or the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures thereby making them the Creatures of a Creature and the Production of a Fantastick Brain CHAP. II. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the Second Dutch War THe King being thus established in England and Scotland tho he was not so in Ireland this Year shews the Effects of his Power by making a War upon the Dutch and even this War
Bedlow Prance Dangerfield Bolron and Mowbray many of which had never seen one the other before they gave their Testimonies Objection These were Witnesses of suspected Fame therefore no Credit ought to be given to them But admit this were true which is not for except Dangerfield and while Prance was frighted with Terror there was no Objection against Oates Bedlow Mowbray and Bolron it will admit of a twofold Answer 1. Truth is one and consists in entire parts whereas Error and Falshood is infinite and therefore it had been impossible that Mowbray and Bolron who had never seen Oates or Bedlow before they gave their Testimonies and Bedlow who had never known Mowbray Bolron nor Oates should concur not only in the Design of killing the King but in the Manner Place and Circumstances of it 2. Admit these Mens Evidence might not have been credited in other Cases yet it 's fit to consider Witnesses in civil or criminal Cases in civil Cases Men may make Elections of what Witnesses they please and it is their Fault if they make not use of Men of know Integrity and Repute that more Credit may be given to their Evidence and the End of civil Actions and Contracts is that they may be known but immoral and wicked Actions are Deeds of Darkness and contrived so as that they may not be known so that the Knowledg of them comes to pass either by Accident or from the Conspirators themselves as if only one Man sees a Murderer or a Thief kill or rob another if his Testimony shall not be taken because otherwise an ill Man Multitudes of Murders and Thefts might pass unpunished So if Cicero when Fulvia first discovered Catiline's Conspiracy to him had told her she was a Whore and no Credit could be given to any thing she said Rome might have been in a Flame as London was and all the Senators Throats might have been cut But admit no Credit could be given to any or all these Mens Testimonies who were all Roman Catholicks I would know what Objection could be against Mr. Jenison a Gentleman of Birth and Quality who gave no Evidence at Ireland's Wakeman's Piâ—kering's or Grove's Trials and changed his Religion when he heard that Ireland who was his Father Confessor at his Death denied that he was in Town but in Staffordshire when Oates and Grove's Maid said he was in London in August 1678 and printed it and the Reasons of it and also at my Lord Stafford's Trial in open Parliament deposed That Ireland told him there was but one that stood in the way and that it was an easy thing to poison the King and that Sir George Wakeman might easily and opportunely do it and that in August 1678 when Ireland at his Death declared he was in Staffordshire Ireland told Mr. Jenison in London when he was newly returned from Windsor how easily the King might be taken off and asked Mr. Jenison if he would be one of them who should go to Windsor and assist at the taking off the King and proffered Mr. Jenison to remit 200 l. which he owed Ireland if he would Then Ireland asked if he knew any stout Irish-men who answer'd he knew Captain Levallian Mr. Kerney Brohal and Wilson Ireland told him he knew Levallian and Wilson and then Ireland asked him if he would go with them and assist them in taking off the King after this Ireland told Mr. Jenison he was going to the Club where Mr. Coleman Mr. Lavallian and Kerney would be and he wanted 80 l. which he desired Mr. Jenison to return him Mr. Jenison further deposed That his Brother Mr. Thomas Jenison a Jesuit said If C. R. will not be R. C. which he interpreted to be Si Carolus diuâ—â—ret â—â—ret Rex Carolus and that it was no great Sin to take him off Mr. Jenison desiring a new Commission in the new rais'd Army his Brother told him he would procure him one from the Duke of York and that there was another Army to be raised but this was not to be till the King was taken off and this I say that about this time there was a general Rumour of a Page being kill'd upon a Couch in the Night at Windsor where the King was laid but a little before and that the King upon the Fright of it came next Morning to London and that it was Prince Rupert who with much Importunity got the King having been drinking hard before from the Couch and put him to Bed and that the Page who was killed asleep upon the Couch was wrap'd up in the Cloak the King was in The Commons likewise resolved Nemine contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Hopes of his coming as such to the Crown have given the greatest Countenance and Encouragement to the present Conspirators and the Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion But the Designs of the King was how to get Money for providing a Fleet for our common Security now in time of such a Peace as the French King had granted Christendom after the King had taken his Money to join in it and after he had taken the Parliament's Money to enter into an actual War against France and after the Parliament had twice given Money for disbanding this Army which not succeeding the Commons dreading how Monies given at this time of Day might be employed took no more Care in it than the King did in the Discovery of the Popish Plot so he prorogued the Parliament upon the Twenty seventh of May to the Fourteenth of August and upon the Twelfth of July dissolved them We shall better take a View of what followed the Prorogation of the Parliament in England if we take a Step into Scotland and see what 's doing there Upon the 3d of this Month of May John Balfour of Kinlock David Hackston of Rathilelet George Balfour of Gilston James Russel in King's Kittle Robert Dingwall a Farmer 's Son in Caddam Andrew Guillon a Weaver in Balmerinoch Alexander Henderson and Andrew Henderson Sons of John Henderson of Rillbrachment and George Flemming Son to George Flemming of Balbuthy murdered Doctor Sharp Arch-bishop of St. Andrews who before the King's Restoration had held an exalted Place in the Scotish Presbytery and was in high Esteem among them in as vindictive a manner as was that of the Marquess of Montross about twenty one Years before as being a perjured Apostate Prelate a Villain a Persecutor of the Godly a Betrayer of Jesus Christ and his Church and which augmented the Horror of the Fact if my Author of the second Address to the Free-men of England pag. 58. says true Thâ—â— they several times beat down the Arch-bishop's Daughter upon her Knees begging her Father's Life and trampled upon heâ— and wounded her This barbarous Act was a Prelude to what followed for upon the 29th of this Month a Party of about 80 of the Covenanters met at Ragland in Scotland well mounted and well armed and proclaimed
the Design At this time there was not only a high Ferment in all the Nation against the King's Proceedings but in the Army against its mixture with Irish Officers and Soldiers which put the King into a great Agony which was increased by the Dutch Preparation Whereupon the Marquess d' Albeville the King's Envoy at the Hague upon the 2d of Sept. N. S. 23d of Aug. O. S. put in this Memorial to the States General High and Mighty Lords THE great and surprizing Preparations for War made by your Lordships by Sea and Land in a Season when all Action especially by Sea is laid aside giving just Cause of Surprize and Alarm to all Europe obliges the King my Master who has had nothing so much in his Mind since his Accession to the Crown as a Continuation of the Peace and Correspondence with this State to order the Marquess d' Albeville his Envoy Extraordinary to know your Highnesses Intentions thereby His Majesty as your antient Ally and Confederate believes it just to demand this Knowledg which he hoped with good Reason to have heard from your Ambassador but as he sees this Duty of Alliance and Confederation neglected and that such Power is raising without communicating the Intent in the least to him he finds himself obliged to reinforce his Fleet and to put himself in a Condition to maintain the Peace of Christendom The States paused upon an Answer to this Memorial when upon the 9th of September N. S. or the 30th of Aug. O. S. Monsieur d' Avaux the French Ambassador put in a Memorial to the States wherein he foolishly discovers the Contrivances which had been so long hatching between his Master and King James for after a long Story of his Master's Desire of maintaining the Peace of Europe now he had actually broke it he impertinently tells the States All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to the States on his Part that the Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him the French King not only to assist him the King of Great Britain but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops and your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown Though the Dutch made no Answer to this Memorial yet they made no Bones to make this Answer to the Marquess d' Albeville's That they had armed in Imitation of his Britannick Majesty and other Princes and that they had thereby given no just Cause of Offence by arming when all other Princes were in Motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mentioned to them by Monsieur le Count d' Avaux in his Memorial This Answer King James took all one as if the Dutch had declared War against him and all the Eyes of England are now turned toward Holland as if from thence they expected Deliverance from the Designs of King James and his Popish Crew and the Fathers and Sons too of the Church of England are at as much Variance in their private and publick Prayers to God as Whig and Tory were in their Humours for in their private Prayers they pray for Prosperity to the Prince of Orange and in the Liturgy they pray that God would be King James's Defender and Keeper giving him Victory over all his Enemies God was pleased to prefer the private Prayers of the Church-men before those of the Church and to have granted both had been impossible and to put a hook into the French King's Nose who turned those Forces which he had raised not for the Peace and Tranquillity of Europe as d' Avaux said in his Memorial to the Dutch States upon the Empire where without any Declaration of War or Cause alledged he first fell upon Philipsburg which he took and after Heydelberg and Mainheim and while he was thus engaged he left the Prince of Orange free to vindicate his Cause against King James whereas if the French King had turned those Forces which he employed against the Empire upon the Spanish Netherlands and he might as justly have done this as that the Prince of Orange would have had little Force and less Leasure to have made any Attempt upon King James Thus God is pleased often to turn the Wisdom of the Crafty I will not say Wise into Folly and Destruction You have heard before how the French King in the beginning of the Year had sent out a Fleet to Canada whereupon the Company of Hudsons-Bay represented to the King their Apprehensions it was a Design upon their Factories and Plantations and so it succeeded for the French seized upon a Fort and Plantation of theirs called Fort Charles Towards the latter end of the Summer the King without the Knowledg of Hudsons-Bay Company entred into a Treaty of Commerce with his Brother of France in reference to the Trade of Canada wherein it was concluded that the Forts and Factories should be reciprocally enjoyed in the same state they were at the Conclusion of this Treaty the French having taken the Fort and Factory of Charles about three Months before So little did this King regard the Safety and Welfare of his Subjects wherein his Majesty and Honour was founded for to pleasure and endear his Brother of France from whom he expected mighty things for the Advancement of his Prerogative without reserve in England Scotland and Ireland Thus have I brought down the History of this King's Reign to the History of the Desertion where at large and particularly you may read how by a Wonder equal to King Charles his Coming in King James went out And if no human Prospect could have foreseen where the Tyranny of King Charles the I's Reign would have ended if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a full Stop to it so no uninterested Person was so purblind as not to see if the Heroick Magnanimity of this King in his Queen's his own and the Nation 's Right and for the common Safety of Christendom had not put a Stop to King James his Designs but the Popish Superstition and French Tyranny would have been imposed upon these Kingdoms and have overspread Christendom We admit these four Kings of the Scotish Race had an Hereditary Title to have governed England by the Laws and Constitutions of it yet no Hereditary King hath any higher Title nor any Man a Right to do Wrong and for an Hereditary King to govern otherways is a greater Tyranny than if an Usurper does by how much he adds Perfidiousness and Breach of his Trust to it Yet so it was that these four last Kings of the Scotish Race which should have been the Guardians of England in preserving the