perhaps against his Consent chose themselves a Leader against their Enemies as it was not justifiable nor yet approved by all the Britains many of which took not well this advancing of the Son against the good Liking of the Father so was it fatal to Vortimer himself who having six years enjoyed this Dignity lost both that and his Life being poysoned by the Procurement of Rowena After his Death Ambrosius returned again into Britain in France Hengist and his Saxons who under Pretence of a Treaty of Peace had slain three hundred of the British Nobility and by detaining Vortigern Prisoner had extorted from him the Counties of Essex Sussex Surrey Norfolk and Suffolk for his Ransom growing daily more and more powerful whilst Vortigern lurkt ingloriously in his Castle Generâ— amidst the inaccessible Mountains of the Countrey now called Cambria or Wales and the middle Provinces of the Realm left without any Defender being exposed to the fury of the Enemy the Britains deserted by their King were forced to seek one abroad They directed therefore Messengers into Little Britain to Ambrosius and his Brother Vter Pendragon beseeching them with all speed to quit that Country and repair into their own to the end that expelling both the Saxons and their hated King Vortigern they might receive the Crown of Britain The Princes upon this Invitation returned attended with Ships and armed Souldiers and being arrived here had a great Battel with Hengist wherein tho the Britains were worsted yet the Saxons received such Loss that they both gladly continued quiet The Fury of the Saxons thus allayed Ambrosius marched into Wales where setting fire to the Castle of King Vortigern he consumed both him and his to Ashes After whose Death by Consent of the Nobles he assumed the Crown Anno CHRISTI 481. In the Year of our Lord 496. Pascentius the Son of Vortigern with an Army of Germans came against Ambrosius by whom being discomfited he fled into Scotland Whence about five years after returning with an Army and understanding that Ambrosius lay sick he hired a certain Saxon named Copa who feigning himself to be a British Monk and a Physician poysoned the King Pascentius in the mean time and all his Captaines being slain by Vter Pendragon who in the head of the Kings Forces marched out against him The Line of Vortigern being thus extinct and Ambrosius now dead the Realm was without any Competitor governed by Vter Pendragon under whom and his Successors the Britains had continual Struglings with the Saxons by whom being at last outed of the best part of their Country they retired beyond the River Severn and in those parts fortified themselves a Period being put to the British Kingdom in the Year of our Lord 688. about two hundred seventy eight years after that Honorius had by Letters of Discharge quitted the Britains of the Roman Jurisdiction two hundred and fifty from the Reestablishing of the British Monarchy by the Election of King Vortigern two hundred thirty nine after the first Arrival of Hengist and his Saxon Auxiliaries and in the third Year of Cadwalladar who was the last that was dignified with the Title of King of Britain his Successors being stiled Kings and Princes of Wales CHAP. IX Of the Restauration of the British Monarchy by King James His Descent from Cadwalladar The British Monarchy restored by King James THe conquering Saxons having possest themselves of all the Southern parts of the Isle except what lies beyond the Severn and the mountainous Countrey of Cornwall whither they had forced the Britains to retire gave to the Countrey held by themselves first the Name of East Saxony beyond Sea and afterwards that of England That Part of the Island which was still enjoyed by the Britains they called Wales the Inhabitants Walsh or Welsh-men and their chief Governours Kings and Princes of Wales Hereby was the Name of Britain banished as it were the Island for above nine hundred years till such time as the Line of Henry the VIII th whose three Children Reigning successively died Issueless being extinct the Crown of England by indubitable Hereditary Right fell to James the VI th King of Scotland whose Great Grandmother was Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VII th King of England This famous Monarch as is manifest by his Genealogy hereunto annext lineally descending from Cadwalladar the last King of the Britains not only restored the British Line to the Throne but the Name of Britain also to the Island causing himself immediately upon his Coming to this Crown to be stiled King of Great Britain The KINGS And Princes of WALES Descent of King James fom Cadwalladar from whom is Lineally descended the Royal Family of the STVARTS now actually swaying the Scepter of GREAT BRITAIN CADWALLADAR King of Britain driven by the Saxons to forsake his Native Country sojourned with his Kinsman Alan King of Little Britain in France whence designing again for Britain he was by an Angel admonished in a Vision to go to Rome where he ended his dayes Anno Domini 688. With him died the British Monarchy Edwal Ywrch left by his Father at his Departure for Rome in Little Britain with his Cosen Alan who sent his Son Ivor with a Navy into Britain where he was the first King of Wales 1. Roderick Molwynoc who in the Year 720. succeeded his Cosen Ivor the Son of Alan in the Kingdom of Wales 2. Fermael who died without Issue in the Year 763. RODERICK MOLWYNOC King of Wales had Issue 1. Conan Tindaethwy King of Wales Esylht Queen of Wales married to a Nobleman named Mervyn Vrych descended in the right Line from Belinus Brother of Brennus King of Britain His Mother was Nest Daughter to Cadelh Prince of Powys whose Father was Brochwel Yscithroc Prince of Powys that in the Year 617. fought against the Saxons at Bangor 1. Roderick Mawr King of Wales who by his Wife Engharad Daughter to Meyrick Prince of Cardigan had a numerous Issue He divided Wales into three Talaiths or Kingdoms Giving to Anarawd his Eldest Son to whom the other two were Tributaries Gwyneth or Northwales to Cadelh his second Son Dehevbarth or Southwales to Mervyn his third Son Mathraval or Powys 1. Anarawd King of Northwales and Soveraign of all Wales died in the year 913. leaving behind him two Sons 1. Edwal Voel King of Northwales and Sovereign of all Wales who had a numerous Issue 2. Elise slain with his Brother King Edwal Voel in the year 940. Conan who died without Issue Trawst a Daughter married to a Nobleman named Sitsylht 2. Cadelh King of Southwales and after the Death of his Brother Mervyn of Powys from whom descended the Kings and Princes of Southwales 3. Mervyn King of Powys who being slain in the year 900. was succeeded by his Brother Cadelh King of Southwales 2. Gwyriad who together with his Brother King Roderick was slain in the Year 877. 2. Howel who rebeling against his Brother was by him overcome
and forced to fly into the Isle of Man where he died Anno. 819. TRAWST the Daughter of Elise by her Husband Sitsylht had Issue Lhewelyn who married Angharad the Daughter and Heir of Meredyth King of Southwales This Lhewelyn in the Year 1015. raised a great Power against Aedan the Son of Blegored who had usurped the Kingdom of Northwales whom with his four Sons having slain he took to himself the Name and Authority of King of Wales 1. Gruffyth who in the year 1037. having slain in battle Jago King of Northwales assumed the Kingdom to himself A Daughter not named married to Fleance Son of Bancho a Scotch Nobleman cruelly murthered by Mackbeth King of Scotland whose Fury Fleance escaping fled into Wales where being kindly received by King Gruffyth he privately married his Daughter whereat the King who by his Daughters being with Child had found out the Marriage was so highly offended that he caused Fleance to be kild and his Daughter imprisoned who was soon after delivered of a Son which was named Walter who going into Scotland grew into such Favor with King Malcolm the IIId that he was by him made Lord High Steward of Scotland receiving the Kings Revenues of the whole Realm by the faithful Discharge of which Office he merited for for himself and Posterity the Surname of Stuart 2. Rees slain at a place called Bulendune in the year 1053. 2. Conan slain with his Brother Lhewelyn in the year 1021. This was the Rise and Original of the Royal Family of the Stuarts which has now for above three hundred years been in possession of the Crown of Scotland and about fourscore the sole Monarchs of Great Britain But tho this Descent be of the Younger House as coming from Elise second Son of Anarawd the first King of Northwales yet that his present Majesty of Great Britain is by Right of Primogeniture the next and undoubted Heir to Cadwalladar will manifestly appear by the following Table representing The Progeny Of Cadwalladar continued from Edwal Voel the eldest Son of Anarawd to our present Dread Soveraign King CHARLES the IId now swaying the Scepter of Great Britain EDWAL VOEL King of Northwales and Sovereign of all Wales eldest Son of Anarawd first King of Northwales and Grandson of Roderick Mawr King of Wales had Issue 1. Meyric who was deprived of his Inheritance first by his Cosen Howel Dha the eldest Son of Cadelh first King of Southwales afterwards by his own Brethren Jevaf and Jago In the year 973. he had his Eyes put out by his Nephew Howel the Son of Jevaf and soon after died in Prison leaving behinde him two Sons 2. Jevaf who with his Brother Jago after the Death of Howel Dha usurped the Kingdom of Northwales being the Right of their eldest Brother Meyric About the year 967. he was Imprisoned by his Brother Jago and in the year 973. set at liberty by his Son Howel who chased Jago out of the Land and took the Kingdom to himself 3. Jago who together with his Brother Jevaf in the year 948. after the Death of Howel Dha usurped the Kingdom of Northwales which of right belonged to their elder Brother Meyric MEYRIC the Son of Edwal Voel had Issue 1. Jonaval who in the year 985. was slain by Cadwalhon the Son of Jevaf and left no Issue 2. Edwal who in the year 992. recovered his Grandfathers Inheritance and after six years was slain by Swayn King of Denmark Jago who being under Age at his Fathers Death was deprived of his Inheritance by Aedan the Son of Blegored slain in the year 1015. by Lhewelyn the Son of Sitsylht who being in the year 1021. kild by Howel and Meredyth the Sons of Edwyn Jago recovered his Kingdom but was in the year 1037. slain by Gruffyth the Son of Lhewelyn Conan who being by Gruffyth ap Lhewelyn driven out of his Inheritance fled into Ireland where he married the Daugher of Alfred King of Develyn Gruffyth who in the year 1078. bringing a great Army of Irishmen and Scots into Wales and joyning with Rees ap Theodor the Heir of Southwales recovered his Grandfathers Kingdom He is the last to whom the Welâ—… Historians give the Name of King GRVFFYTH Son of Conan had Issue Owen Gwyneth Prince of Northwales and Soveraign of all VVales He died in the year 1169. leaving behind him a numerous Issue 1. Jorwerth Drwyndwn deprived of Inheritance by his younger Brother David Lhewelyn Prince of Northwales and Soveraign of all VVales for his Heroick Acts surnamed the Great who in the year 1237. being weakned by a Palsy and vexed with the Rebellion of his Base Son Gruffyth sent Ambassadours to Henry the IIId King of England submitting himself to his Protection condescending to hold his Principality of him and promising upon all Occasions to assist him to the uttermost of his Power He died in the year 1240. 2. David who usurping the Right of his eldest Brother succeeded his Father in the Principality which he held till the year 1194. when he lost it to his Nephew Lhewelyn the right Heir LHEWELYN the Son of Jorwerth by his Wife Jone Daughter to John King of England had Issue David Soveraign Prince of VVales who submitted himself and his Principality to his Uncle Henry the IIId King of England doing him Homage and Fealty for the same He died in the year 1246. without Issue Gladys Dhu a Daughter married to Ralph Lord Mortimer of Wigmor by whom she had Issue Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor who ought to have succeeded his Uncle David in the Principality of VVales but the VVelsh Nobility out of their Aversion to the English not regarding his Right did their Homage to Lhewelyn and Owen Goch Sons of Gruffyth Bastard-brother to the last Prince who divided the Principality between them till that Lhewelyn in the year 1254. having taken his Brother Owen Prisoner in battel enjoyed alone the whole Principality But in the year l282 Lhewelyn being slain by one Adam Francton an Englishman all VVales was by Edward the Ist brought in Subjection to the Crown of England and has so continued ever since The Eldest Son of Roger Mortimer by his Wife Maud Daughter of VVilliam de Bruse Lord of Brecknock was Edmund Mortimer Lord of VVigmor EDMVND MORTIMER Lord of VVigmor had Issue Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor who married Jone Daughter and Heir of Sir Peter Genivil was created Earl of March by King Edward the IIId and afterwards attainted Edmund Mortimer Lord of VVigmor married Elianor Widow of VVilliam de Bohun Earl of Northampton one of the Daughters and Heirs of Bartholomew Badelsmer Lord of Leeds in Kent Roger Mortimer Lord of VVigmor restored by King Edward the IIId to the Earldom of March and all his Grandfathers Inheritance Honors and Possessions the Attainder being repealed Edmund Mortimer Earl of March and Lord of VVigmor married Philippa Daughter and sole Heir of Leonell Duke of Clarence in whose Right he was Earl of Vlster He died
of Portugal Her Name Catharina Name originally Greek signifies a Woman of excelling Purity and Chastity She had for Father John the IVth Genealogy King of Portugal and is lineally descended from John of Gaunt King of Castile and Leon Duke of Lancaster and fourth Son to Edward the IIId King of England as here appeareth John of Gaunt besides several other Children had a Daughter named Philippa married to John the Ist tenth King of Portugal by whom she had Issue Edward the eleventh King of Portugal Alphonso the Vth. twelfth King of Portugal Emanuel second Son who Succeeded his Elder Brother John the IId dying Issueless and was the fourteenth King of Portugal Edward Infante sixth Son Catharina married to John Duke of Braganza and after the Death of her Uncle Henry the seventeenth King of Portugal true Heir to the Crown from which she was barred by the Arms of Philip the IId King of Spain Duke of Braganza John Duke of Braganza who in the year 1640. recovered his Inheritance and reigned over Portugal by the Name of John the IVth The Infanta Donna Catharina Queen Consort of Great Britain Her Majesties Mother was Donna Lucia Daughter of Don Gusman el Bueno a Spaniard Duke of Medina Sidonia lineally descended from Ferdinando de la Cerde and his Wife Blanche Daughter to St. Lewis King of France who relinquished to her his Right and Title to Spain derived to him by his Mother Blanche eldest Daughter and Heir of the Spanish King Alphonso She was a Lady of that admired Magnanimity and Prudence that the King her Husband trusted so much of the Reins of Government to her masculine and politick Spirit as occasioned a jesting Spaniard to say That it was not the Portugal Force but the Spanish Policy which kept that Kingdom from the Catholick King The Queen of Great Britain is the only Sister of Don Alphonso the VIth the two and twentieth King of Portugal born in the year 1642 and hath one Brother more named Don Pedro born 1648 and now called Prince Regent of Portugal Birth She was born the fourteenth of November 1638 at Villa Vicosa in Portugal her Father who tho right Heir to the Crown of Portugal was then only Duke of Braganza being the most potent Subject in Europe for a third part of Portugal was even at that time holden of him in vassallage Marriage Having been most carefully and piously educated by Mother she was at the Age of two and twenty desired in marriage by Charles the IId King of Great Britain And the Marriage not long after concluded by the Negotiation of Sir Richard Fanshaw Ambassador of his Majesty of Great Britain in the Court of Portugal and of Francesco de Melo Conde de Ponte Marquis de Sande Extraordinary Ambassador from the King of Portugal being solemnized at Lisbon on the twenty third of April 1662. being the Festival of St. George Patron both of England and Portugal she embarkt for England and was by his Excellency Edward Earl of Sandwich Vice-Admiral of England safely conducted by a Squadron of Ships to Portsmouth where being met by the King she was remarried to him From Portsmouth she was by his Majesty brought to Hampton-Court where she continued till the three and twentieth of August following when coming up thence by Water she was with great Pomp and Magnificence received at Chelsey by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London who waited on her thence by Water to Whitehal The Portion Portion brought by her Majesty was eight hundred Millions of Reas or two Millions of Crusadoes amounting to about three hundred thousand Pounds Sterling the City of Tangier on the Coast of Africk and the Isle of Bombaim nere Goa in the East-Indies together with a Priviledg that any Subjects of the King of Great Britain may trade freely in the East and West-India Plantations belonging to the Portugueses Her Jointure Jointure agreed upon by the Articles of Marriage is thirty thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum to which the King as a Testimony of his great Affection to her has added ten thousand Pounds per Annum more Arms. Her Arms as Daughter of Portugal are Argent five Scutcheons Azure Cross-wise each Scutcheon charged with five Besants Argent Salterwise with a Point Sable The Border Gules charged with seven Castles Or. This Coat was first worn by Don Alphonso the first King of Portugal as well in memory of a signal Victory obtained by him over five Kings of the Moores as in honour of the five Wounds of our blessed Lord and Saviour who just before the Battle appeared crucified unto him a voice being heard as once to Constantin the Great In hoc Signo vinces before which time the Portugal Arms were Argent a Crosse Azure Her Majesty is a Personage endowed with rare Perfections both of Mind and Body a Lady of transcendent Piety Modesty and Charity and many other eminent Vertues CHAP. XV. Of the present Princes and Princesses of the Royal Blood of Great Britain THe Glorious Martyr CHARLES the Ist King of Great Britain had by his Queen Henrietta Maria Daughter to the most Christian King Henry the IVth four Sons and five Daughters His Sons were 1. CHARLES-JAMES born at Greenwich on the thirteenth of May 1629. baptized immediately by Dr. Web one of his Majesties Chaplains then in attendance and afterwards a Bishop in Ireland lived not above two hours 2. CHARLES our present Soveraign whom GOD long preserve 3. JAMES now Duke of York and Albany 4. HENRY born at Oatlands on the twentieth of July 1640. declared by his Royal Father Duke of Glocester but not so Created till the thirteenth of May 1659. He lived till above Twenty and dyed unmarried the thirteenth of September 1660. almost four Months after His Majesties happy Restauration bereaving thereby these Nations of those fair Hopes which had been generally conceived from his Noble and Princely Endowments His Daughters were 1. MARY born the fourth of November 1631. married on the second of May 1641. to Count William of Nassau Eldest Son to Henry Prince of Orange to whom she was the February following conveyed by her Mother into Holland The Prince her Husband dyed in the beginning of November 1650. leaving her Great with child soon after whose Death she was delivered of a Son being the present Prince of Orange Coming into England to see her Brother whom the Divine Bounty had miraculously restored to his Throne she here ended her dayes the twenty-fourth of December 1660. being little above nine and twenty Years of Age. Her Loss was exceedingly bewailed by All who had the honour to know her as being a Lady of universal Goodness and Charity 2. ELIZABETH born on the eight and twentieth of December 1635. a Princess of incomparable Virtues and Abilities Dyed the eighth of September 1650 at Carisbrook in the Isle of Wight of Grief for the Murther of her Father 3. ANNE Born the seventeenth of March 1636. Dyed very
at Cork in Ireland Anno 1381. EDMVND MORTIMER Earl of March had Issue Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster Lord of Wigmor Trym Clare and Connaght who married Elianor Eldest Daughter and one of the Heirs of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent 1. Roger Mortimer died without Issue 2. Edmund Mortimer died without Issue 3. Anne Mortimer married to Richard Plantagenet Earl of Cambridge by whom she had Issue Richard Plantagenet Duke of York Earl of Cambridge March and Vlster Edward the IVth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland 1. Edward the Vth. King of England and France and Lord of Ireland murthered in the Tower left no Issue 2. Richard Plantagenet Duke of York murthered with his Brother King Edward left no Issue 3. Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the IVth married to Henry the VIIth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland ELIZABETH eldest Daughter to King Edward the IVth by her Husband King Henry the VIIth had Issue 1. Arthur Prince of VVales died before his Father and left no Issue 2 Henry the VIIIth King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith 1. Edward the VIth King of England France and Ireladd died without Issue 2. Mary Q. of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VIIth married to James the IVth King of Scotland by whom she had Issue James the Vth. King of Scotland Mary Queen of Scotland who was by her Subjects infected with Calvinism of which it is truly observed that it never entred into any Country but by Rebellion expelled her Kingdom and forced to fly for shelter into England where so implacable is Presbyterian Malice they never left persecuting her till they had brought her after eighteen years Imprisonment to end her dayes upon a Scaffold By her Husband Henry Lord Darnley Son to Mathew Stuart Earl of Lenox she had Issue James the VIth King of Scotland who after the Decease of Elizabeth Queen of England as next Heir enjoyed the Crown of this Realm whereof he was no sooner possest but he reassumed the Title of Great Britain 1. Henry Prince of Wales died before his Father and left no Issue 2. CHARLES the Ist King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith a Prince of incomparable Vertues and Endowments who was on the 30th of January 1648. barbarously and inhumanly murthered before the Gates of his own Royal Palace by a traitorous Crew of villanous Phanaticks so secure in their own Thoughts of having thereby extirpated Monarchy out of this Island that they insolently set up on the Royal Exchange in the place where his Statue which they maliciously decollated had been erected amongst those of his Predecessors this Inscription Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus 1. CHARLES the IId by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith now reigning Whō GOD long preserve 2. The Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and Albany 3. Mary Mother to the present Prince of Orange 4. Henrietta Mother to the present Queen of Spain 3. Elizaheth married to Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine by whom she had a numerous Issue CHAP. X. Of the present Government of Great Britain in general OF Monarchies some are Hereditary the Crown descending either only to the Heirs Male as has long been practiced in France or to the next of Blood without Distinction of Sex as in Great Britain and Spain Others are Elective where upon the Death of every Prince another is chosen to succeed without any respect to the Heirs of the Predecessor as is used in Poland Of Hereditary Monarchies some are dependent holden of earthly Potentates to whom the Princes are obliged to do Homage for the same as is the Kingdom of Naples holden at this day of the Pope by the King of Spain Others are independent whose Princes acknowledge no Superior upon Earth but hold only of GOD and by their Sword Of this latter sort is the Empire of Great Britain being an Hereditary Monarchy consisting of two Provinces or Kingdoms governed by one Supreme Absolute Independent Undeposable and Unaccountable Head according to the known Laws and Customs of each Kingdom It is a Free Monarchy challenging above many other Europaean Kingdoms an Exemption from all Subjection to the Emperor or Laws of the Empi to which as the Northern Part of the Island or Kingdom of Scotland was never subject so the Southern part since called the Kingdom of England being abandoned by the Romans who had by force obtained the Dominion thereof the Right of Government by all manner of Laws reverted to the ancient Inhabitants to the last of whose Kings viz. Cadwalladar our present Sovereign is as appears by the precedent Genealogy by Lineal and Legitimate Descent the true and unquestionable Heir And as it is exempt from all forreign Jurisdiction and Dominion so likewise is it free from all Interregnum and many other Domestick Mischiefs whereunto Elective Kingdoms are ordinarily subject It is a Monarchy wherein the Grace and Bounty of its Princes rendring the subordinate Concurrence of the three Estates necessary to the making and repealing of all Statutes or Acts of Parliament in either Realm have afforded so much to the Industry Liberty and Happiness of the Subject and made the Yoak of Government so easy and its Burden so light that were it not for those malevolent and Fanatical Spirits which by sowing Jealousies amongst the People and raising Animosities in their Minds against their Prince endeavor to deprive us of the benefit of our Parliaments by rendring their Meetings unpracticable our Condition might well be envied by all other Nations of the Universe CHAP. XI Of the Monarch of Great Britain and therein of his Name Title Arms Dominions and Strength Of his Person Office Prerogative Soveraignty Divinity and Respect TO the Monarch of Great Britain is given in English which is the Language most generally spoken through his whole Dominions the Name King which hath its Original from the Saxon Word Koning and intimateth that Power and Knowledge wherewith every Soveraign should especially be invested The Modern Title used by the Monarch in all Treaties with forreign Princes and in all publick Affairs relating to his whole Dominions and stamped upon his Coin is By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith but in all Writs and other publick Instruments referring to the particular Concerns of either Kingdom of England or Scotland the two Kingdoms are distinctly named that Kingdom having the Precedency in such Instrument which is therein particularly concerned To the King alone belongs Dei Gratiâ taken simply and in the strictest sense as holding his Regal Dignity by the Favour of none but GOD the Archbishops and Bishops to whom that Title is also sometimes given must understand Dei Gratiâ Regis For tho their Character and
ancient Britains 49 St. Marcellus in Britain 122 Marriage of the King 262 of the Queen 266 Mary Queen of Scotland expelled her Kingdom by Presbyterian Rebels 169 Missletoe 34 Mixed Monarchy 63 Monarchy 52 Money of the ancient Britains 46 Monks according to the Rule of St. Mark the Evangelist 129 N NAme of Britain 2 of the Monarch of Great Britain 175 of the present King 244 of the Queen 263 Nations erected at the Confusion of Tongues Seventy two 55 Nimrod 64 Noah divided the Earth amongst his Sons 54 O OFfice of the King of Great Britain 193 Ogmius a God of the Britains 28 Onvana a Goddess of the Britains 27 Prince of Orange 286 Original of Monarchy 52 of the Family of the Stuarts 162 Ostorius Scapula Governor of Britain 99 P PAinting of the ancient Britains 44 St. Paul the Apostle in Britain 119 Peace enjoyed by no People without Monarchy 68 Period of the British Kingdom 155 Persecution of the Christians in Britain 130 Person of the King 188 St. Peter the Apostle in Britain 118 St. Peters Cornhil built 128 Petilius Crealis Governor of Britain 103 Petronius Turpilianus Governour of Britain ibid. Phoenicians in Britain 21 Picts 22 Picts and Scots annoy the Britains 144 A Plautius sent into Britain 94 Portion of the Queen 267 Prerogatives of the King 193 Priests of the ancient Britains 28 Prince Elector Palatine 288 Proclamations 196 Progeny of Cadwalladar continued to his present Majesty 163 Punishments of the ancient Britains 38 R REcords of the antient Britains 40 Recreation of the antient Britains 45 Religion of the antient Britains 25 Respect of the King 220 Restauration of the King 256 Right of Government descends to the eldest Son 54 Rights and Priviledges of the People originally the Concessions of Princes 61 Romans in Britain 28 Prince Rupert 289 S SAcrifices of the ancient Britains 32 Saxons 23 hired by the Britains against the Picts and Scots 150 Scots 23 Simplicity of the ancient Britains 36 Shipping of the ancient Britains 46 Soil of Great Britain 10 Soveraignty of the King 203 Queen of Spain 287 Stature of the ancient Britains 40 Strength of the Monarch of Great Britain 181 Succession to the Crown of Great Britain 224 Suetonius Governour of Britain 101 Suetonius a Britain first Planter of Christianity amongst the Helvetians 118 Surname of the King 244 Swiftness of the ancient Britains 41 T TAramis a God of the Britains 26 St. Timotheus Son of Pudens in Britain 122 Title of the King 175 Traffick of the ancient Britains 45 Trinobantes revolt to Caesar 90 Tutates a God of the Britains 26 V VAlor of the ancient Britains 36 Vortigern chosen King of the Britains 146 hires the Saxons 150 Vortimer chosen an Associate to his Father Vortigern in the Kingdom 151 poysoned by the procurement of Rowena 152 Vter Pendragon King of Britain 154 W WAles subjected to the Crown of England 166 Westminster Church built 129 Wicker Image 32 Winchester Church built 129 Y Duke of YOrk 272 His Wives and Children 283 ERRATA PAg. 18. in the Margin read Gascoign then p. 31. lin 18. dele the p. 32. l. 2. r. so to do p. 33. l. 27. r. and Bushes p. 74. l. 12. r. contradicting p. 81. l. 5. r. unlookt-for Accident p. 89. l. 13. r. retired p. 122. l. 21. r. Praxedes p. 131. l. 17. r. Cassock p. 135. l. 17. r. particularly p. 161. l. 18. for not named r. named Nest p. 165. l. 6. r. His inheritance p. 172. l. penult r. hereditary p. 173. l. 9. r. Empire p. 179 l. 20. r. Droit p. 188. l. 18. r. manners p. 199. l. 11. r. Commonweal p. 216. l. 15. r. thirty fifth p 251. in the Marg. r. Scotland p. 266. l. 13. r. her Mother p. 292. l. 28. r. fatality OF BRITAIN In General CHAP. I. Of Britain in the largest Sense BRITAIN in the general and more comprehensive signification contains all those Islands both great and small Extent which lye about Albion or Britain properly so called Ex adverso hujus saith Ptolomey speaking of France Britannia Insula Albion ipsi nomen fuit cum Britanniae omnes vocarentur The whole Dominion of which Islands is at present united under the Command of the King of Great Britain Division They are distinguished into the Greater and Lesser The Greater are Great Britain and Ireland The Lesser are 1 The Orcades 2 The Hebrides 3 Man 4 Anglesey 5 The Islands of the Severn Sea 6 The Sorlinges or Isles of Scilly 7 Wight 8 Thanet 9 Sunderland 10 Holy Island CHAP. II. Of the Name of Britain of its Climate Dimensions Division Air Soil and Commodities Name GREAT BRITAIN or Britain properly so called without comparison the best and most flourishing Island of the whole World is said to have been first named Samothea from Samothes supposed to have reigned here Anno Mundi 1910. It was afterwards called Albion either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Happy or ab albis rupibus from its White Cliffs or more probably from King Albion By degrees the Name Britain was appropriated to this Island the rest having their particular Names It was called Britain either from two British Words Pryd and Cain signifying Beauty and White or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Metals or from the British Word Brith Painted the Greeks adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Region or from the Phoenician Word Barat-Anac A Land of Tynne in which sense the British Islands were by the Greeks called Cassiterides or from King Brutus reigning here as is alledged Anno Mundi 2855. It is situated from fifty Degrees six Minutes in the sixteenth Parallel and eighth Climate to sixty Degrees thirty Minutes in the twenty sixth Parallel and thirteenth Climate Climate Lying thus under the eighth ninth tenth eleventh twelfth and thirteenth Climates Insomuch that the longest Day in the most Northern parts is eighteen Hours and three quarters and the shortest Day in the most Southern neer eight Hours long It is in Length from the Lyzard-Point Southward in Cornwal to the Straithy-head in the North of Scotland Dimensions six hundred twenty four Miles in Breadth from the Lands-end in Cornwal in the West to Dover in the East two hundred and eighty the whole compass thereof allowing for the Turnings and Windings of the Shores is eighteen hundred thirty six Miles thus reckoned From Dunsby-Heate to the Lands-end eight hundred and twelve from the Lands-end to the Foreland of Kent three hundred and twenty from the Foreland of Kent to Dunsby-Heate seven hundred and four It is the greatest Island of the whole World except Java Borneo Sumatra Madagascar and Groenland and was therefore by the Antients to whom these were unknown called The other World It is bounded on the East with the German Ocean dividing it from Belgium Germany and Denmark on the West with St. Georges Chanel separating it from Ireland on the Northwest with the Vergivian or Western Ocean of which the Antients
Pieces some of which had a figure of a Shield embost and on that side a certain Image the Device being within which kind of Coin was in use in no other part of the World except in some places belonging to Greece Buildings The Buildings of the Sea-coast Britains were many and like to those of the old Gauls The Inlanders had no Houses but certain cumbersome Woods stood them instead of Cities and Towns for when they had by felling of Trees encompast a spacious round plat oâ— Ground and fortified it with Rampires and Ditches they built there for themselves Huts and Cottages and for their Cattel set up Stalls and Folds making thither their Retreat and Resort to eschew the Invasions of their Enemies Arms. The Britains being as we have observed a People very swift of foot never burdened themselves with an Armor which they could not a their pleasure fling off Their Defensive Arms were only Shields for Offensive Weapons they had short Spears at the lower end of which was fastneâ— a round Bell of Brass which at thâ— beginning of a fight they shook with great Courage conceiting that such a ratling Noise did dismay the Enemy They had also Daggers and Swords which those who went naked girt about their Bodies with Iron Chains The different Interests of the many petty Princes Manner of Fighting amongst whom this Island was divided keeping them in continual Wars the Britains must of necessity be well-experienced Souldiers But their Manner of fighting was so peculiar to themselves that Caesar related it for a Wonder in the Western Parts They fought in a Body called Caterva or Caturfa as the Romans had their Legion and the Macedonians their Phalanx Their usual manner of fighting was in Chariots of which they had several sorts the most remarkable whereof were the Covinus and the Essedum The Covinus was a sort of Chariot carrying no men at all but only him that guided it It was exceedingly well harnassed and armed having at both Ends of the Axletrees Hooks and and Scyths fastned so that driving furiously into the Enemies Battel they made whole Lanes of slaughtered men the Scyths cutting off those in the middle who did not speedily make way and the Hooks catching up those that had escaped the Scyths The Essedum carried many persons who as the Charioteer rode through all the parts of the Battle bestowed their Darts which with the terrible appearance of the Horses and the ratling Noise of the Wheels usually brake the Ranks of their Enemies When they had wound themselves in amongst their Enemies they leapt out of their Chariots and fought on foot the Charioteers in the mean time driving out of the Battle and drawing up their Chariots whither they retired when over-powered by the Enemy In the managing their Chariot-Horses daily Practice had rendred them so expert that driving forcibly down a steep Hill they could stop and turn short in the midst of their Career run upon the Beam stand upon the Harness and skip presently back into their Chariots The Horses used by the Britains in their Chariots were small and swift their Harness was not only substantial but also curiously wrought engraven as may be gathered from these Words of Propertius Esseda caelatis siste Britanna jugis The Britains began their day at Sun-set Computation of Time which Custom they are supposed to have learnt from the Phaenicians who as all other Eastern Nations used the same manner of Computation which they received from the Jews who were taught by Moses that the Evening and the Morning were the first Day Thus what the Romans called Septimana is in the British Tongue to this day called With-nos and in English a Sennight the Abbreviation of Seven Nights From the same Original also was their Observation of the New Moon in whose first Quarter they began not only their Months and New Years but their several Ages likewise which were comprehended in a Cycle of thirty Years CHAP. IV. Of Government of Monarchy its Original and Excellency Britain alwayes governed by Monarchs Government OF Government there neither are nor can be more than three Species For the Soveraign Command of a State must either reside in one which is Monarchy or in some principal persons which is Aristocracy or in the whole Body of the People which is Democracy Monarchy Of these the best and only perfect not to say only lawful kind of Government is the Monarchical not only as having the nearest Resemblance of the Divinity but as being the first and only Natural Government of Mankind and under which the Subject has ever found the greatest Happiness and suffered â—he fewest Inconveniences Original The Original and first Institution of this most excellent Government was from GOD himself who having created Adam commanded him to multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and to have Dominion over all Creatures constituting him thereby Monarch of the Universe The Posterity of Adam had no Right to possess any thing but by Grant or Permission from him or Succession to him who when his Children grew up and came to have Children of their own over whom they also had a Command and Power assigned them their distinct Territories by Right of private Dominion yet still with Subordination to himself who was Lord-paramount over his Childrens Children to all Generations Absurd therefore is the Fancy of those who imagin an independent Multitude having a natural Right to Community A thing which never had any Being but in the Chimaerical Brains of the Assertors An Opinion this is which cannot be maintained without the great Scandal of Christianity and opening a Door to Atheisme by denying the Creation of Adam Adam then was Father King and Lord over his Family a Son a Subject a Servant a Slave were then one and the same thing Nor was he tied to govern by any Laws but that which was by his Creator implanted in his Breast called therefore the Law of Nature which if he transgressed he as all succeeding Monarchs was accountable to GOD alone from whom he received it From Adam this Right of Soveraignty was to descend to his eldest Son to whom GOD himself even in his Fathers Life-time speaking of his younger Brother said Vnto thee shall his Desires be subject and thou shalt rule over him This was the Foundation of Government before the Universal Deluge which washing away all the rest of Mankind from the face of the Earth left this Universal Soveraignty to Noah who with his Wife his Sons and their Wives only remained alive By Noah was the whole World divided amongst his three Sons From one of which their Sons or Nephews scattered abroad after the Confusion of Babel do most of the civilest Nations of the Earth labour to deduce their Original The Posterity of Noah to secure themselves as they thought from being destroyed by another Flood went about to erect a Tower the Top whereof they intended should
reach up to Heaven But to shew how vain all humane Designments are which think to contest with the Dispensations of Divine Providence the Almighty sent amongst them a Confusion of Tongues and dispersed those who were congregated into one place over the Face of the whole Earth By this Dispersion there were according to the generally-received Opinion seventy two distinct Nations erected all which were not confused Multitudes left at Liberty to choose what Governors or Government they listed but so careful was GOD even in that Confusion to preserve the Paternal and Monarchical Authority that he distributed the Diversity of Languages according to the Diversity of Families having Fathers for Rulers over them This appears plainly in the sacred Text where after the Enumeration of the Sons and Grandsons of Japheth immediately follow these Words By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided in their Lands every one after his Tongue after their Families in their Nations So again of the Children of Ham it is said These are the Sons of Ham after their Families after their Tongues in their Countreys and in their Nations And again of the Children of Shem These are the Sons of Shem after their Families after their Tongues in their Lands after their Nations The Conclusion of the whole being thus These are the Families of the Sons of Noah after their Generations in their Nations and by these were the Nations divided in the Earth after the Flood However therefore the Manner used by Noah in the Distribution of the Earth amongst his Posterity be uncertain yet most certain it is that the Division it self was by Families from Noah and his Children over which the Fathers were Rulers enjoying as absolute an Authority and Dominion as ever any Monarch since the Creation pretended to Agreeably to this Account of the Original of Monarchy delivered in in holy Scripture doth Plato in his third Book of Laws affirm that the true and first Reason of Authority is that the Father and Mother and simply those that beget and ingender do command and rule over all their Children Groundless therefore is that Distinction which some men make of Monarchy into Despotical and Paternal since no Master has Right to exact a more absolute and unlimited Obedience from his Slave than is due from the Child to the Father Of the Absoluteness of this Paternal Jurisdiction Examples are frequent in Holy Writ Thus we find that Abraham commanded an Army of three hundred and eighteen Souldiers of his own Family and that Esau met his Brother Jacob with four hundred Men at Arms. Thus Abraham concluded a Peace with Abimelech and ratified the Articles by Oath Thus Judah sentenced Thamar his Daughter-in-Law to be burnt for playing the Harlot Which three Acts of making War concluding Peace and giving Judgment of Life or Death are the chief marks of Soveraignty that can be found in any Monarch As the Original therefore of Monarchy was of Divine Institution so its Power was uncontrollable nor can it be otherwise without the Destruction of the Government it self Rightly then whatever Milton in his Justification of the blackest Treason that ever Eye beheld sayes to the contrary is a King defined by Salmasius He who has the Supreme Power in the Kingdom accountable to none but GOD who may do what he pleases and is free from the Laws Ridiculous then if not Malicious are the clamors of those who daily fill the World with Outcries against Arbitrary Power For there never was nor ever can be any People governed without a Power of Legislation which Power must of necessity be Arbitrary and is an inseparable Concomitant of the Supreme Governor or Governors and must therefore in a Monarchy reside in one The Question then is not whether there shall be an Arbitrary Power without which not any Government can one Moment subsist but who shall have this Arbitrary Power whether one man or many that is in effect whether the Government shall be Monarchical or not Nay it has been seen that those very Persons who clamored so much and with so little reason against an Arbitrary Power in their Prince have themselves exercised the Height of Arbitrary Power over their fellow Subjects punishing them by Imprisonment and other Penalties not for the Breach of any known and certain Laws but of unknown and uncertain Priviledges and ascending to that Excess of Insolence as even against all Law Reason and Equity to declare it Criminal for any one to lend Money to his King It is an antient Tradition which has every where obtained Reputation that Noah as Lord of all was Author of the Distribution of the World and of private Dominion and that by the appointment of GOD himself he confirmed this Distribution by his last Will and Testament left at his Death in the Hands of his Eldest Son Shem by which he warned all his Sons that none of them should invade any of their Brothers Dominions because Discord and Civil War would thence necessarily follow Thus we find that in all Nations the Princes were at first Lords of the whole Lands as well as of the whole Inhabitants amongst whom they divided such part thereof to be held by such Tenures and Services as they judged most convenient Instead then of Empires being founded in Property as some men love to speak the Natural dominion of the Prince was the Original of all Propriety Monarchs at first governed by no stated Rule or Law but by immediate Edicts or commands of their own Wills as they in their own Judgments thought fit But when Kings came to be so busied with Wars and distracted with publick Cares that private persons could not have access to them to learn their Pleasure upon every occasion then did they both for the Ease of themselves and their people set down Laws by which they would ordinarily govern reserving to themselves nevertheless Liberty to vary from them as oft as they in their Discretion should think fit Afterwards Princes graciously condescended to call to their Councels several of the Chief men of their Kingdoms and in time to admit likewise of Deputies from their People without whose Advice and Consent they would neither make new nor abrogate old Laws Thus all those Rights and Priviledges which licentious people make their pretence of contesting with their Soveraigns had no other Original but the Gracious Concessions of Princes which tho they are so far bound to keep as that when in a setled Kingdom the Prince leaves to govern according to Law he is guilty of very great Injustice yet where he sees the Laws rigorous or doubtful he may to the Peoples great Happiness lest otherwise Summum jus should prove Summa injuria mitigate and interpret them And whenever any powerful Faction shall by making ill use of the Grace and Bounty of the Prince endanger the Subversion of his Government the Safety of the People whom GOD has committed to his Care being the Law-paramount over all others obliges him
to make use of that Arbitrary Power whereof tho in the exercise of it he may restrain himself yet he can never be divested to secure himself and people from the Contrivances of malicious and ill-designing Persons Those therefore that argue for Limited or Mixed Monarchies do in effect only plead for Anarchy and Confusion For either these Limits must be such Laws and Bounds as the Monarch has set himself to Govern by to the Observance whereof tho he may by Promise so far engage himself that he cannot as has been said ordinarily transgress them without the Sin of Injustice yet this Promise of his which is but an After-act of Grace not dissolving that absolute Subjection which preceded it his Power if he will sinfully put it forth to act is no less Arbitrary than it was before the making of the Promise Or if you will imagin these Bounds of the Monarchs Power to be ab externo and not from the free Determination of his own Will then the Subject as they say not being legally bound to subjection in case the Prince commands beyond the Law if there arise a Dispute between the Monarch and the meanest of his Subjects about the Legality or Illegality of his Commands either the Monarch himself must be Judge and then farewel Limitation or else the whole people or some part of them and then farewel Monarchy or else there must be no Judge at all and then farewell Government So likewise in that which they call a mixed Monarchy or a Government composed of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy either the Soveraign Power must be Originally in the Monarch and derivatively only in the others and then farewel the Mixture or else it must tho acknowledged to be an indivisible Beam of Divine Perfection be originally shared amongst them all and then farewel the Monarchy So also in this Mixture as they call it of Power if a Difference arise between the Prince and the States there being according to their Principles no Authoritative judge to determin it the Government is dissolved and every man left at liberty to side with that Part which in his Reason and Judgment stands most for publick Good more than which the Wit of Man cannot say for Anarchy The unlimited Jurisdiction of Kings is so strongly asserted in Scripture that it occasioned one who writ in justification of the late Rebellion to affirm That to make a King by the Standard of GOD's Word is to make the Subjects Slaves for Conscience sake Than which I know not whether any thing can be said more impious The Paternal Empire as it was in it self hereditary so was it as other Goods are alienable by Patent and seizable by an Usurper Thus amongst the first Fathers of Families dispersed by the Confusion of Babel was Nimrod who being no doubt by good Right Lord or King over his own Family and not contented therewith did against Right enlarge his Empire by violently seizing on the Rights of other Fathers of Families and laid the Foundation of the first of those great Kingdoms which for the vast Extent of their Dominions were called the four Monarchies of the World Yet this Power he got by Usurpation and not by any Election of or Faction with the People or Multitude The Dominions indeed of Princes anciently were but small consisting generally but of Cities apiece with the adjacent Teritories Thus in a little Corner of Asia nine Kings met at once in Battle In the small Circuit of the Land of Canaan Joshuah destroyed one and thirty Kings Adonibezek made seventy Kings whose Thumbs and Toes he had cut off to feed under his Table Two and thirty Kings came to Benhadad King of Syria and seventy Kings of Greece went to the Wars of Troy But in process of Time partly by Conquest partly by Lineal Succession and partly by the Cession of many little Princes these Petty Kingdoms were united and greater Monarchies erected Whence tho Kings are not now the Natural Parents of their Subjects yet they all either are or are to be reputed the next Heirs to those Progenitors who were at first the Natural Parents of the whole people and as such succeed to the Exercise of Soveraign Jurisdiction not only over their own Children but over their Brethren and all that were subject to their Fathers As long as the first Fathers lived they were properly called Patriarchs but when the Fatherhood it self was extinct and the Right only descended to the next Heir they were more significantly styled Kings and Princes If through Negligence the Knowledge of the true Heir to any Kingdom be lost for the Right it self never can yet does not the Supremacy devolve to the multitude who never yet had right to Rule or choose their Rulers but to the Princes and independent Heads of Families and because the Dependency of ancient Families is frequently obscure and worn out of Knowledge to such persons as the Wisdom of the precedent Monarchs thought fit to adopt for Heads of Families and Princes of Provinces These and none but these have it such Case alone Power to consent in uniting or conferring their Fatherly Right of Soveraign Authority oâ— whom they please Nor does the person thus elected hold his Power as a Donative from the People but from GOD from whom alone he receives his Royal Charter of Universal Father tho testified by the Ministry of the Heads of the People And altho I do not say that all popular Governments are so far unlawful as to oblige them things being as they are to subject themselves to Monarchy yet this I must aver as a most undoubted Truth that no other Government but Monarchy had ever any lawful Original there never having been any Nation which was not for many years governed by Kings untill Wantonness Ambition or Faction of the People made them attempt new wayes of Regiment which Mutations alwayes proved bloody and miserable to their Authors and happy in nothing but the short time of their Duration The Excellency of Monarchy is not only manifest by the Divineness of its Originall Excellency but also by the singular Advantages it has over any other Form of Government The chief End of Government is that the People may according to the Apostle Lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty Consequently whereunto we find that in all Monarchies both before the Law of Moses under it and ever since whether Grecian or Barbarian Jewish or Pagan Christian or Turkish a singular Care has been taken for Religion the Priests whereof have been alwayes had in such Respect and Veneration as to have an eminent Share in the Administration of the Government But in all popular States their main Devotion being exercised only in opposing and suppressing Monarchy their next is to exclude the Clergy from medling with Government wherein the Vnited Netherlands and Venice of which it is commonly said that the one hath all Religions and the other none do at this day
conjectured to be about Coway Stakes neer Oatlands where Cassibelan having caused the Bank to be set with sharp Stakes and the Ford knockt full of them covered with Water had drawn up his men in great numbers to oppose the Passage of the Romans who having notice of this Stratagem by their Captives with greater Circumspection entred the River first the Horse then the Foot wading up to the Neck in Water so resolutely and so fast that the Britains having bestowed a few Darts upon them retiâ—… into Woods and secret Coverts where lining with their Horse and Chariots the Roads through which Caesar was to pass and driving the Inhabitants and their Cattel into places of security within the Woods with continual and unexpected Sallies upon the Roman Horse cutting off some and terrifying others they compel'd them so close together that they could not fetch in Prey or Booty without ill success The Affairs of Caesar who had nothing left in his way but empty Fields and Houses had now but a bad Aspect his Army whose Horse durst not stir out of the Protection of their Foot being almost starved when a Dissention arising among the Britains brought them joyful News of a Supply The Trinobantes one of the most potent States amongst the Britains out of an old Grudge against Cassibelan who had slain their King Immanuentius and forced his Son Mandubratius called also Androgoriâ—… and Androgius to secure his Life bâ— Flight into Gallia sent Ambassadour to Caesar imploring his Protectionâ— promising Obedience to the Roman State and desiring Mandubratius who was then with Caesar to be sent to take Possession of his Fathers Crown Caesar granted their Request having first demanded fourty Hostages and Provisions for his Army which they sent in and had their Confines protected from the Souldier By their Example did several otheâ— States also submit themselves from whom Caesar having learnt that Cassibelians chief Seat supposed to be Verulam near the now St. Albans was not far off fenc't about with Woods and Marshes and full of Men and Cattel went thither assaulted it in two Places and after some Dispute forced the Britains to fly out at a Postern Gate and leave the Plunder of the Town to the Enemy by whom many of them were cut off in their Flight Yet did not Cassibelan desert himself but sending into Kent directed Cingetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax four Kings reigning in those Countryes who still kept faithful to the Union to raise what Forces they could and assault the Camp where the Roman Shipping was entrencht but these Kentish Souldiers being raw and unskild not able to endure one Sally were totally routed and Cingetorix made Prisonor Cassibelan informed of this Defeat and seeing the treacherous Defection of so many States for the Preservation of himself and Country by the Mediation of Comius of Arras sent Ambassadours to Caesar who having enjoyned him not to Molest Mandubratius and the Trinobantes setled the Annual Tribute to be paid by the Britains to Rome and received Hostages with a great number of Captives put off to Sea having at twice embarkt his whole Army Returning to Rome he offered to Venus Genitrix the Patroness of his Family a Corslet of British Pearles as a Testimony of his Glorious Enterprize Julius Caesar having now taken his last Farewell of Britain the Romans hindred partly by Civil Dissensions and partly by other more urgent Affairs had not the least Thoughts of making any farther Attempt against it for twenty Years together when Octavius Augustus now setled in the possession of the Roman Empire having advanced as far as Gallia in order to the reducing of Britain was diverted by a Revolt in Pannonia as he was seven Years after by the unsetledness of Gallia and the coming of the British Ambassadours thither to him and the Year following by new Commotions arising in Spain Being so often crost in his Designs upon Britain he no more bent his thoughts that way being satisfied with the Respects paid him by the British Princes who courted his Friendship with Gifts offered in the Capitol and other obsequious Addresses The like amicable Correspondence they held also with his Successor Tiberius whom more highly to oblige they courteously entertained and sent home the Souldiers of Germanicus cast by Tempest on their Shore Caligula indeed to whose Protection Adminius Son of Cunobelyn banished by his Father had betaken himself making semblance to invade Britain brought down all his Army to the Belgick Shore where being informed that the Britains having levyed the Strength of their Nation stood ready to oppose his Landing if he should make any attempt upon them he commanded his Souldiers whom he supposed to have Lyncean Eyes to take a full view of the British Forces and having encouraged them not to fear their great Numbers with unmatchable Valor rowed a Stones cast or two from the Shore where resolutely defying the Britains he caused the Engines of Battery to be set up the Trumpets to sound a Charge and the Souldiers to fall on but no Enemy appearing he ordered them to plunder the Ocean of its Shells and therewith fill their Helmets and Laps and that the Memory of so Heroick an Enterprize might not be lost he erected in the same place an high Tower wherein Lights were set to direct Mariners in their Courses by Night the Ruins whereof sometimes seen at Low-Water on the Coast of Holland are to this day by the Inhabitants ealled Briten-huis Conquest The Britains for well-near an hundred Years after the departure of Julius Caesar had been governed by their own Princes unmolested by the Romans to whom after the first breaking out of the Civil War they paid not any Tribute except such easy Customs as were levied on the Commodities wherewith they traded into Gallia when intestin Divisions among themselves making way for a Roman Conquest Claudius Drusus now the third time Consul instigated by the perswasions of Bericus of whom there is no farther knowledge and other Fugitives whom the Britains demanding he had refused to deliver up and they for that cause had denied farther Amity with Rome resolved upon an Invasion of Britain sending Orders to Aulus Plautius the Praetor to transport thither the Legions lying in Gallia who complaining that they must now be put to make War beyond the Worlds end were at last with much difficulty prevailed upon and from three several Ports set sail for Britain but meeting with cross Winds were driven back and disheartned till in the Night a Meteor darting Flames from the East and directing as they fancied their Course for this Island they again put to Sea and landed without opposition the Britains who had heard of their Unwillingness having neglected to provide against them and now retiring into the Woods where they intended to wear them out with Delayes as their Predecessors had formerly done Caesar The British Armies were commanded by two young Sons of the deceased Cunobelyn who keeping their Forces separate were
another Wall of Stone twelve foot high and eight broad traversing the Island in a direct Line from East to West where Severus had walled before between certain Cities placed as Frontiers to keep off the Enemy and along the South Shore from whence Hostility was also feared they erected Towers at certain distances for safety of the Coast This done having instructed the Britains in the Art of War leaving them Patterns of their Arms and Weapons and exhorting them manfully to resist the Invaders of their Countrey they took their last Farewel never purposing to return The Romans being finally departed and their Resolution of not returning known the Scots and Picts more confidently than ever issuing out of their Holes seized upon all the North part of the Island even as far as the Wall which not fearing to be dispossest they as natural Inhabitants planted and manured Not content herewith they assaulted the Garrison on the Wall whence with their Hooks and Engines pulling down some they put the rest to flight themselves taking possession of the Frontier Cities and having with such ease broken into the Province pursued the Britains into the Inland Countreys bringing destruction still along with them The better to withstand the frequent Inroads of these cruel Enemies the Princes after the example of their Ancestors in the dayes of Julius Caesar resolved to choose a General Captain of the whole Nation and to establish the Kingdom in his Line For this high Dignity there were two considerable Competitors Aurelius Ambrosius descended of a noble Roman Family and as it is supposed Son of Constantin who in the dayes of Honorius pretended to the Roman Empire and Vortigern Prince of the Damnonii or as some write Consul of the Gevissei Inhabitants of the South-Western parts about Cornwal or South-Wales Which Principality it seems he had governed well enough to be esteemed not unworthy to be preferred above his formerly Fellow-Princes Ambrosius therefore with his Brother Vter Pendragon retiring into lesser Britain in Gaul quitted both his Pretence and Country to Vortigern who the Choice thus falling on him was in the Year 438 anointed King For that in those ancient times of British Government the solemn Ceremony of anointing their Kings was in use in this Island is clear from the Testimony of Gildas Vortigern thus advanced to the Throne governed a while his Principality with Moderation In the eighth year of his Reign the Picts who after their miraculous Discomfiture by St. Germanus had for the most part kept within their own Territories now breaking in afresh miserably wasted all those Provinces of Britain which had formerly been subject to the Romans and this Invasion they continued the year following with such violence that after much Bloodshed and horrible Devastation of the Countrey the Britains having no other Refuge wrote to Aetius then President of Gallia this short but lamentable Epistle recorded by Gildas To Aetius the third time Consul the Groans of the Britains The Barbarians drive us to the Sea the Sea beats us back upon the Barbarians Between these two we are exposed either to be slain with the Sword or drowned and to avoid both we find no Remedy But in vain were these Supplications the Romans who could scarce secure the heart of their Empire infested with the Huns and Vandals not being able to afford them any assistance Many therefore of the Britains seeing themselves thus rejected wearied with flying from place to place and spent with the terrible Famin which had long afflicted them yielded themselves Slaves to their Savage Enemies but others more resolute taught by their Miseries to seek aid from Heaven retired to inaccessible Mountains and Caves whence with Courage and Success they often assaulted these ravenous Spoilers recovering from them their Booty and driving them back to their own Quarters These hostil Invasions therefore a while ceasing the Britains set themselves to cultivate their Ground which with scarce credible Plenty abundantly recompenced their Labors No sooner were their Enemies departed and their pinching Hunger allaid but their Piety likewise vanished in the room whereof succeeded excessive Luxury accompanied with all sorts of Vices infecting not the Laity only but the Clergy also who ought to have been Guides to others And altho GOD sought to reclaim them by his Scourge of Pestilence by which such Multitudes perished that the Living were not sufficient to bury the Dead yet were they with this Severity nothing at all amended but like Solomons Fool tho scourged yet they felt it not GODs Patience therefore being spent towards a People which grew worse both by Prosperity and Adversity he so far infatuated their Counsels that they themselves invited from a remote Country Enemies far more savage and barbarous than either the Picts or Scots The Northern Spoilers whom fear of the Contagion had kept within their own Borders the Infection now beginning to cease readvanced into the Inland Countrey against whose Incursions the better to provide King Vortigern summoned a general Councel where by common Advice it was resolved that Ambassadors should be sent into Germany to hire the Saxons to their assistance an Army of which in the year 449 landing in Britain under the Conduct of Hengist and Horsa the Britains by their Help overcoming their Enemies who were come as far as Stamford in Lincolnshire gave them great Possesions in that part of the same County now called Lindsey where they built Thong-Castle King Vortigern falling in love with Rowena Daughter to Hengist divorced his Queen a vertuous Lady by whom he had three Sons named Vortimer Catigern and Pascentius to make his Bed vacant for this Pagan whom he bought of her Father with the Kingdom of Kent who soon after taking advantage at the Discontent of the Britains for this Act of their King pickt a Quarrel and making a League with the Picts laid wast the Countrey The Saxons Power increasing by the coming over of fresh Supplies the British Laity first and afterwards the Clergy represented their Danger to the King whom either not believing or not regarding their Complaints they in the sixteenth year of his Reign deserted and followed his Son Vortimer choosing him as some say for their General or as others for an Associate to his Father in the Kingdom under whose Conduct they had many Conflicts with the Saxons and that with various Success in one of which the Vant-guard being led by Aurelius Ambrosius newly come out of Little Britain to assist Prince Vortimer the main Body by Vortimer himself and the Rere by his Brother Catigern Catigern was slain and buried at Alestrew now called Aylesford in Kent where a Monument erected for him is at this day corruptly called Keith-Coty-House This Proceeding of the Britains tho the more excuseable in that they did not presume to depose their King which yet Parker in his Antiquities of the British Church not only affirms they did but like a true Calvinist commends them for so doing but only without or
Spiritual Function be from GOD alone yet their Baronies Dignity and Interest in the State and even that external Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they exercise and that legally in their own Names within his Majesties Dominions are from the Grace and Bounty of the Prince Defender of the Faith was as appears by a Charter of King Richard the IId to the University of Oxford anciently given to the Kings of England and therefore not so much conferred upon as confirmed unto King Henry the VIIIth by Pope Leo the Xth. for a Book written against Luther in Defence of some Points of the Roman Faith and since the ejection of that Religion continued in the Crown by Act of Parliament The Title of Grace since appropriated to Archbishops and Dukes was first given to the King about the Time of Henry the IVth as about the Time of Edward the IVth that of High and Mighty Prince since also given to Dukes To Henry the VIIIth was given first Highness since the Stile of all the Princes of the Blood then Majesty and now Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty The King of Great Britain in his publick Instruments and Letters uses as his Predecessors have ever done since the Time of King John Nos We in the Plural Number but before his Time Kings used the Singular Which Custom is still practiced in the Ends of Writs and Patents Teste meipso The Word Syr answering to the Latine Dominus and supposedly the same with Cyr an Abbreviation of the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which prefixt before the Christian Name is given only to Baronets Knights of the Bath and Knights Batchelors is the ordinary Appellation used in speaking to all persons of the better Rank from the King to the Gentleman tho in France the Word Syr or Syre is reserved only for the King as is with us Great Syr. Arms. Arms are Ensigns of Honor born in a Shield for Distinction of Families and descending as Hereditary to Posterity yet not generally fixt unless in the Kings of Europe in Great Britain or France till after the Time of the Holy War about four hundred years ago Our first Christian King and the first Christian King of the whole World Lucius bare Argent a Crosse Gules in the first Quarter a Crosse Patee Azure After the Desertion of this Island by the Romans King Vortigern bare Gules a Crosse Or. Aurelius Ambrosius bare Gules a Griffin Sergreant Or. Vter Pendragon bare Or two Dragons endorsed Vert crowned Gules King Arthur bare Vert a Crosse Argent on the first Quarter Our Lady with her Son in her Arms. Cadwalladar the last King of the Britains bare Azure a Crosse Patee on three parts and fitched on the fourth Or. The Soveraign Ensigns Armorial of the King of Great Britain since the Uniting of the two Crowns of England and Scotland are as followeth In the first place Azure three Flower-de-Lys Or for the Regal Arms of France quartered with the Imperial Ensigns of England which are Gules three Lyons Passant Guardant in pale Or in the second place Or within a double Tressure counter-flowered de Lys a Lyon Rampant Gules for the Royal Arms of Scotland In the third place Azure an Irish Harp Or stringed Argent for the Royal Ensigns of Ireland All within the Garter the chief Ensign of that most Honorable Order above the same an Helmet answerable to his Majesties Soveraign Jurisdiction upon the same a rich Mantle of Cloth of Gold doubled Ermin adorned with an Imperial Crown and surmounted for a Crest by a Lion Passant Gardant Crowned with the like Upon a Compartment placed underneath in the Table whereof is his Majesties Royal Motto Dieu mon Droet stand the Supporters being a Lion Rampant Gardant Or Crowned as the former and an Vnicorn Argent Gorged with a Crown having thereto a Chain affixt passing between his Fore-legs and reflext over his Back Or. The Arms of France are placed first because France is the greater Kingdom and also for that those Arms from their first Bearing have alwayes been the Ensign of a Kingdom whereas the Arms of England were originally of Dukedoms having been brought to England from Normandy and Aquitain by William the Conqueror and Henry the IId and probably likewise that the French might be thereby more easily induced to acknowledge the English Title The Motto Dieu mon Droit GOD and my Right first given by King Richard the Ist to intimate that he held not his Empire of any but of GOD alone was afterwards taken up by Edward the IIId when he first laid Claim to the Crown of France Dominions The Dominions of the King of Great Britain are at this day in possession the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland containing three Kingdoms of large Extent with all the other Isles lying in the British Sea being above four hundred in all great and small some whereof are very considerable together with all the adjacent Seas even to the Shores of the Neighboring Nations As a Mark whereof all Ships of Forreigners have anciently demanded leave to fish and pass in these Seas and do at this day lower their Topsails to all the Kings Ships of War And therefore Children born upon those Seas as it sometimes happens are esteemed natural born Subjects to the King of Great Britain and therefore need no Naturalization as do those that are born out of his Dominions He hath likewise in possession the Isles of Jersey Guernsey Alderney and Sark being Parcel of the ancient Dutchy of Normandy besides the profitable Plantations of New England Virginia Barbados Jamaica Maryland Bermudos Carolina New-York and other places in America with some in the East Indies and upon the Coast of Africa The Strength of the Monarch of Strength Great Britain since the Union of the two Kingdoms has never yet been fully tried the Parliaments of the two last Kings infected with the pestilential Principles of Presbyterianism and Democratism having upon all occasions proved refractory to their Designs and rather catching at all Opportunities of diminishing the Royal Prerogative and augmenting the falsly so called Liberty of the People being to speak truly only a Priviledge to Tyrannize more uncontrollably over their Fellow-Subjects than any wayes endeavoring to support and maintain the Grandeur and Glory of the King and Kingdom insomuch that there was invented a most unnatural Distinction of Subjects into Royalists and Patriots as if any man could shew himself a Lover of his Country by braving and opposing the Father of it whereas the Relation between King and Kingdom is so great that their Wel-being is reciprocal And tho for some time after his Majesties Return the Parliaments of all his three Kingdoms seemed to vy which of them should most readily comply with their Soveraigns Desires and Designs yet the Fanatical and Antimonarchical Faction who ever since his Majesties happy Restauration have been secretly blowing the Coals of Rebellion and by their sly and false
that as their Persons were sacred and Spiritual so it was no less a part of their Duty to take care of the external Regulation and peace of the Church than of the Civil Government of their States Yet were there antiently none anointed but the two Emperors of the East and West the Kings of France England Sicily and Hierusalem amongst whom the Monarch of Great Britain may lay as ancient a Claim to this Holy Unction as any other Prince of Europe the very first Kings of this Island after it was freed from the Jurisdiction of the Romans having been anointed By reason of which Unction it was in the Reign of Edward the IIId declared that the Kings of England were capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction Of this Sacred Person of the King of his Life and Safety so singular a Care is taken that the Laws of both the Realms whereinto this Island is divided do herein agree that it is High Treason only to imagin or intend the Death of the King And because likewise by imagining or conspiring the Death of the Kings Councellors or Great Officers of his Houshold the Death of the Sovereign may ensue and is usually aimed at all such Conspiracies tho never taking effect are punished with Death tho in all other Capital Cases no man is put to Death unless the Act follow the Intent Nay in so high an esteem is the Kings Person had that to offend against those Persons and Things whereby he is represented as to kill some of the Crown Officers or any of the Kings Judges executing their Office to counterfeit the Kings Seals or his Moneys is made High Treason because by all these his Sacred Person is represented And so horrid is this Crime of High Treason that besides the Loss of Life and Honour the Criminal forfeits all his Estate Real and Personal his Wife loses her Dower his Children their Nobility and all their Right of Inheritance to him or any other Ancestor and are to be ranked amongst the Peasantry and Ignoble till the King shall please to restore them For so heinous is this Offence that the Law can hardly endure to see the Posterity of the Offender survive him And rather than Treason against the Kings Person shall go unpunished the Innocent shall in some cases suffer for if an Ideot or Lunatick who having no Will cannot possibly be said to offend shall during his Ideocy or Lunacy kill or go about to kill the King he shall be punished as a Traytor tho not being Compos mentis he can neither commit Felony Petit Treason or any other sort of High Treason So tender a Regard is moreover had of this most precious Person of the King that no Physick ought to be administred to him but what his Physicians prepare with their own Hands and not by the Hands of any Apothecary nor are they to use the Assistance of any Chirurgeons but such as are sworn Chirurgeons to his Person This Person of the King in his Natural as well as Politick Capacity is every Subject to defend with his own Life and Limbs For the King being Father of his Country it should seem a pleasant thing to every Loyal-hearted Subject to lose Life or Limb in defending him from Conspiracies Rebellions or Invasions or assisting him in the Execution of his Laws The Office of the Monarch of Great Britain and indeed of every Christian Prince Office was by the Holy Roman Bishop St. Eleutherius described to our first Christian King Lucius Which Description recorded in the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor King of England is as followeth A King being the Minister and Delegate of the Supreme King is appointed by GOD for this end that He govern this Earthly Kingdom and People of our Lord and above all that he govern and venerate his Church defending it from all who would injure it That he root out of it and utterly destroy all Evil-Doers For the better enabling themselves to discharge this great and weighty Office to the just and upright Performance whereof every King at his Coronation obliges himself by solemn Oath Prerogatives the Monarchs of Great Britain have reserved as inherent in their Crown certain extraordinary Powers Preeminences and Priviledges commonly called Royal Prerogatives some of the most remarkable whereof in which as being necessary for the Preservation of the Government and the Safety and Interest of the People the Laws of both Kingdoms agree do here follow The King solely and alone has by his Royal Prerogative without any Act of Parliament the absolute Power of declaring War making Peace sending and receiving Ambassadours entring into and concluding Leagues and Treaties with any Forreign Prince or State He has the sole Disposing and Ordering of the Militia by Sea and Land raising Forces Garrisoning and Fortifying Places setting out Ships of War and Pressing Men if need require He alone disposes of all Magazins Ammunition Castles Fortresses Ports and Havens and has the laying out and employing as he pleases of all Publick Monies or the Revenues of the Crown and Kingdom He appoints the Metal Weight Purity and Value of Money and may by his Proclamation make any Forreign Coin to be lawful and Current Money within his Dominions By his Royal Prerogative he may of his meer Will and Pleasure convoke adjourn prorogue remove and dissolve Parliaments and may to any Act passed by them give or refuse without rendring any Reason his Royal Assent without which a Bill is but a meer Cadaver a lifeless and inanimate Lump He may at his pleasure increase the number of the Members of Parliament by creating new Barons and bestowing Priviledges upon other Towns to send Burgesses to Parliament Yea he may call to Parliament by Writ any one whether Alien or Native whom he in his Princely Wisdom shall think fit and may refuse to send his Writ to some others that have sat in former Parliaments His Majesty alone hath the Choice and Nomination of all Magistrates Councellors and Officers of State of all Bishops and other high Dignities in the Church of all Commanders and other Officers at Sea and Land the bestowing of all Honors of the higher and lower Nobility the Power of determining Rewards for Services and Punishments for Misdemeanors He may by his Letters Patents erect new Counties Bishopricks Universities Cities Burroughs Hospitals Schools Fairs Markets Courts of Justice Forrests Chases and Free-Warrens He hath by his Prerogative Power to enfranchise an Alien and thereby to enable him to purchase Houses and Lands and to bear some Offices He hath Power to grant Letters of Mart or Reprisal Safe Conducts c. No Proclamation can be made but by the King Between which and a Statute as the Difference originally was not great the King making the latter by the Common Councel of the Kingdom whereas in the former he had but the Advice of his great Councel of the Peers or of his Privy Councel only So what Judgment Parliaments have formerly
had of Proclamations appears by these Words of a Statute made in the one and thirtieth year of King Henry the VIIIth Forasmuch as the King by the Advice of his Councel hath set forth Proclamations which obstinate Persons have contemned not considering what a King by his Royal Power may do Considering that sudden Causes and Occasions fortune many times which do require speedy Remedies and thaâ— by abiding for a Parliament in the mean time might happen great prejudice to ensue to the Realm And weighing also that his Majesty which by the Kingly and Regal Power given him by GOD may do many things in such Cases should not be driven to extend the Liberties and Supremity of his Regal Power and Dignity by wilfulness of froward Subjects It is therefore thought fit that the King with the Advice of his Honorable Councel should set forth Proclamations for the good of the People and Defence of his Royal Dignity as necessity shall require The King only can give Patents in case of Losses by Fire or otherwise to receive the charitable Benevolences of the People without which none may ask it publickly The King by his Prerogative is Vltimus Haeres Regni and the Receptacle of all Estates when no Heir appears For this cause all Estates for want of Heirs or by Forfeiture escheat to the King All Spiritual Benefices for want of Presentation by the Bishop are lapsed at last to the King All Money Gold Silver Plate or Bullion found and the Owners thereof not known belong to the King and so do all Wayfs Strays Wrecks not granted away by him or any of his Predecessors All Wast Ground or Land recovered from the Sea all Land of Aliens dying before Naturalization all things the property whereof is not known and all Gold or Silver Mines in whose Ground soever they are found belong to the King In the Church the Kings Prerogative is very great He only hath the Patronage of all Bishopricks None can be elected Bishop but whom he hath first nominated None can be consecrated or take possession of the Revenues of any Bishoprick without his special Writ or Assent He is the nursing-Nursing-Father of the Church and hath Power to call a National or Provincial Synod and with the Advice and Consent thereof to make Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions relating to the Government and Polity of the Church wherein as it was affirmed by Christopher Wray Speaker of the House of Commons in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth the Princes Power is absolute The King has Power upon Causes only known to himself to dispence by Non Obstantes with General Laws made in Parliament and with the Penalties for transgressing them where such Penalty is appropriated to himself alone to mitigate the Rigor of the Laws where Equity and Conscience require Moderation to alter or suspend any particular Law that he judges hurtfull to the Commonwealth to pardon a Man legally condemned to grant special Priviledges to particular Persons Colledges and Corporations and if any Doubt arises concerning such Priviledges he only has Right to interpret them To him and the Judges constituted by him does it belong to interpret all Statutes and to determin and pass Sentence in Cases not defined by Law These are some Branches of that Jus Coronae of that Regal Prerogative of the name whereof however some persons are afraid yet may they assure themselves that the Case of Subjects would be desperately miserable without it since the Kings just Rights are the best Preserver of the Peoples Liberties being an impregnable Bulwark against all popular Invasions and illegal Powers Nor have there ever been found any greater Oppressors of the People than those who under pretence of asserting their Liberties have endeavored to lessen the Royal Authority Thus in the great Contest between Henry the IIId King of England and the Barons about the pretended Liberties of themselves and the People the King being forced at length to yield the Lords instead of that glorious Freedom which they promised the Nation ingrossed all Power into their own Hands under the Name of the twenty four Conservators of the Kingdom behaving themselves like so many Tyrants acting all in their own Names and in Juntoes of their own wholly neglecting or else over-ruling Parliaments But then not agreeing among themselves four of them viz. the Earls of Leicester Glocester Hereford and Spencer defeated the other twenty and drew the entire Management of Affairs into their own hands Yet it continued so not long Leicester getting all into his own Power who being slain in Battle the King recovered his Authority and the People their true Liberty Many of these Prerogatives those especially that concern Justice and Peace are so essential to Royalty that they cannot be separated from it but by the destruction of the Monarchy it self Not without reason therefore did the Estates of England assembled in Parliament in the Reign of King Edward the IIId declare that they could not tho the King himself should desire it assent to any thing which tended to the Disherison of the King and his Crown whereunto they were sworn The King therefore as he is by his Office Debitor Justitiae obliged to administer Justice to his People so is he in Conscience bound to maintain the Rights of the Crown in possession and to endeavour the recovery of those whereof it has been dispossest And how dismal the Effects have been whenever any King neglecting the religious observance of this part of his Duty has been prevailed upon to give way to the lessening of his Royal Prerogative we have a sad Example in his Majesties Father of Blessed Memory who parting tho but only Pro illa vice with his absolute Power of dissolving Parliaments and giving it to the two Houses they never ceased farther incroaching upon his Prerogatives till he himself was barbarously murthered the Government wholly subverted and all the Liberties of the People trampled under foot To him therefore that shall seriously consider the many fatal Mischiefs and Inconveniences which necessarily follow the Diminution of the Kings Prerogative it will seem no Paradox to affirm that it is the Subjects great Interest to be far more sollicitous that the King maintain and uphold his own Prerogative and Preeminence than their Rights and Liberties which as they had no other Original but the Grace and Bounty of the Prince so must they of necessity perish when he is no longer able to protect them It is not thefore to be wondred that a right Apprehension of such pernicious Consequences made his Sacred Majesty refuse his Royal Assent to a Bill presented him for the raising of the Militia tho it was if passed into an Act to have continued in force but six Weeks Because the Tendency of the Bill being to put out of his Possession the Posse Regni or absolute command over the Forces of the Realm he could not answer unto GOD by whom alone he is intrusted with his Regal Power
named Lucius whence the Title of Primogenitus Ecclesiae rightfully belongs to the King of Great Britain but given to the Church the first Christian Emperor even the famous Constantin here born of there-nowned British Lady St Helena by whose Example and Encouragement the Faith was generally received throughout the whole Empire The Independency and Absoluteness of his Authority holding of none but GOD and having in his own Dominions neither Superiour nor Equal The Eminence of his Royal Dignity State and Titles his Realm not having been only stiled an Empire and his Crown Imperial but this Island both in antient and later Times having been regarded as another World whereof the Monarch is sole Lord and Emperor The Martial Exploits and Achievements of his Ancestors abroad amongst whom is the first Christian Worthy and first Founder of Martial Knighthood the famous King Arthur in whose Heroick Acts there is Truth enough all that is thought fabulous being rejected to render him renowned to all posterity The Gallantry and and Stoutness of his People arising from their Freedom the Plentifulness of their Country and Generality of their Wealth His long-lined Royal Extraction wherein His Majesty now Reigning excels all the Monarchs of the Christian if not of the whole World The Hospitality and Magnificence of his Court than which no Court in Christendom is served with more punctual Attendance and State The Diversity of Nations and differing maternal Tongues subject to his Command The admirable Laws and Constitutions of his Government The Greatness of his Power by Sea and Land both Offensive and Defensive These and many other his Prerogatives considered We may well be permitted to affirm that besides the Preeminence he may challenge by his just Right to the Crown of France the Monarch of Great Brittain except the Precedency which he as all other Christan Princes acknowledges to the Emperor if he go not before yet at least ought not to come behind any King whatsoever CHAP. XII Of Succession to the Crown of Great Britain THE Monarch of Great Brittain has Right to the Imperial Crown of this Island by Inheritance according to the Laws of GOD and Nature and the fundamental Constitutions of the Realms of England and Scotland which both agree in this That upon the Death of the King the next of Kindred tho born out of the Dominions of Great Britain or born of Parents not Subjects of Great Britain is immediately King before any Proclamation Coronation Publication or Consent of Peers or People The Rule of Inheritance given by GOD himself to the People of Israel is this If a man dy and have no Son then he shall cause his Inheritance to pass unto his Daughter And if he have no Daughter then ye shall give his Inheritance unto his Brethren Agreeably to which Rule the Crown of Great Britain descends as an inalienable Heritage from the Father to the eldest Son and his Heirs for want of Sons to the Eldest Daughter and her Heirs for want of Daughters to the Brother and his Heirs and for want of Brethren to the Sister and her Heirs And so unalterable is this Course of Descent that no Act no Crime no Attainder of Treason can bar the next of Blood from being King in the instant of Time his Predecessor does not so much dye as by a State Metempsychosis transmit his Life his Breath or his Soul into the Nostrils the Body of his Successor For Hereditary Monarchy being as it has been clearly demonstrated an immediate Ordinance of GOD founded in the Prime Laws of Nature and the Laws of GOD and Nature being as all Christians acknowledge absolutely immutable it is a Madness to think that any Act of Parliament can change this unchangeable Law or with the least Color of Justice alter the Right of Succession This was well known to all our ancient Parliaments that were neither over-awed by any prevailing Faction seduced by designing Intreaguers nor yet vainly flattered themselves with an Omnipotent Power to create and annihilate Kings In one of which the States of the Realm unanimously answered King Edward the IIId asking their Advice in matters relating to the Crown That they could not consent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the Disherison of the King and his Heirs or the Crown whereunto they were sworn From whence Sir Edward Cook concludes That it is a Law and Custom of Parliament that no King can alien the Crown from the right Heir tho by consent of the Lords and Commons And elsewhere affirming King Johns Resignation of the Crown to the Pope to have been utterly void he alledges this Reason Because the Royal Dignity is an Inherent inseparable to the Royal Blood of the King descendable to the next of Blood to the King and cannot be transferd to another And altho by the Treasons and Conspiracies of ambitious disloyal and designing Persons the Crown has now and then been transferred from one Family to another yet does it appear in Story that since the time of the Norman Conquest the right Heir was never yet kept out beyond the second Descent And to the Honor of English Parliaments we can aver that never any Usurper tho armed with Power laid claim to the Crown in Parliament but by pretending to be of the Right Line nor did ever the Parliament allow of such Pretence if false but when awed by Fear and a vast Army And whenever the Terror of such armed violence being removed the true Heir was enabled to claim his Right the Parliament notwithstanding all such pretended Acts readily submitted themselves to their legitimate Prince as being bound thereunto by the Laws of GOD and Nature Thus altho Henry Duke of Lancaster backt by an Army of fourty or fifty thousand men under Pretence of a feigned Title from Edmund Crouch-back forced his Natural Soveraign King Richard the IId first to resign and afterwards to be deposed from his Crown which waving his former pretended Title he caused to be entailed upon himself his four Sons and the Heirs of their Bodies by Act of Parliament whereby he thought to have secured it to his Posterity for ever Yet notwithstanding these cautious Provisions seconded by the Valor and prodigious Success of that noble Prince Henry the Vth. when in the year 1460. this Entail was alledged against Richard Duke of York laying claim in Parliament to the Crowns of England and France as being the next Heir to Lionel Duke of â—larence elder Brother to John of Gaunt of whom the House Lancaster was descended the Duke of York unanswerably replied That if King Henry the IVth might have obtained the said Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by that Act Which said he taketh no place neither is of any force or effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as accordeth with the Laws
of GOD and all Natural Laws Which Answer of the Duke of York and h s Claim to the Crown was by the same Parliament expresly recognized and declared to be Good True Just Lawful and Sufficient And when in the same year Edward Earl of March eldest Son to the said Duke of York upon the death of his Father took possession of the Crown by the Name of King Edward the IVth his Title was in full Parliament by all acknowledged in these Words Knowing also certainly and without doubt and ambiguity that by GODs Law and the Law of Nature He viz. the said King Edward and none other is and ought to be true R ghtwise and Natural Liege and Soveraign Lord And that he was in right from the Death of the said Noble and Fam us Prinee his Father very just King of the same Realm of England And so little Respect was given to the aforementioned Act of Entail that it was not so much as repealed being esteemed from the very beginning null and void in it self Nor indeed were any Acts of Henry the IVth Vth. or VIth stiled Kings in Deed and not of Right deemed to be in force but such as were expresly confirmed by Edward the IVth in the same manner as his Sacred Majesty now reigning confirmed the judicial Proceedings of the late Usurpation As little Success had that Monster of Nature Richard Duke of Glocester who being by the Interest of several factious Lords chosen Protector to his Nephew the young King Edward the Vth having by that means gotten into his hands the military Force of the Nation pretending that the Children of his Brother King Edward the IVth were illegitimate laid claim to the Crown which he not only entailed by Act of Parliament upon himself and his Issue but the better to secure it in his Line caused the Innocent young King and his only Brother the Duke of York to be barbarously murthered in the Tower yet did he within three years lose both his Crown and Life to Henry Earl of Richmond on whom and his Heirs it was again by Act of Parliament entailed which yet would little have availed him or his Posterity had he not prudently acording to his promise by which several of the Nobility were induced to assist him married Elizabeth eldest Daughter of King Edward the IVth and immediate Heiress of the Crown whereby happily turning his Usurpation into a lawful Sovereignty he secured himself in the Throne But that his Issue by any other Lady could not have had better Success against the Princely House of York than Adonijah had against Salomon may more than probably be presumed if we shall consider what Fate attended the many mad Acts made by Henry the VIIIth about the Succession This haughty Prince whose capricious Humor none of his Parliaments durst gainsay having after above twenty years Cohabitation divorced his Queen a chast and vertuous Lady did in the twenty fifth year of his Reign disinherit by Act of Parliament the Lady Mary his Daughter by her settling the Crown by special Words for want of Issue Male on his Issue Female by the Lady Anne Bullen To the observation of which Act the whole Nation was obliged by an Oath imposed the year following the Refusal of which Oath was adjudged Misprision of Treason And yet in the twenty eighth year of his Reign he bastardized and made illegitimate to all intents and purposes as he had done formerly the Issue of Queen Katherine the Issue betwixt him and the Lady Anne Bullen barring them to claim challenge or demand any Inheritance as Lawful Heir or Heirs to him by Lineal Descent making it Treason for any one notwithstanding their former Oath by Words Writing Printing or any other exterior Act directly or indirectly to call any of the Children born under the unlawful Marriages of Katharine and Anne Bullen legitimate and enacting that in case he had no Issue by Jane his then Queen he might dispose of the Crown to whatsoever person or persons he pleased the whole Nation being bound to the observance of this Law by the Sanctimony of an Oath the refusal whereof was made High Treason After all this in the thirty fifth year of his Reign he by another Act entailed the Crown on himself Prince Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth without repealing the former Acts or taking the least notice of their being so signally bastardized and for default of Heirs of their Bodies on such person or persons as he should nominate by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his last Will in writing signed by his most Gracious Hand the whole Nation being again sworn to observe his pleasure herein Consequently whereunto he by such his last Will and Testament solemnly bequeathed the Crown upon failure of his own Issue to the House of Suffolk being the Issue of his younger Sister Mary excluding by that means from the Throne as much as in him and his Act of Parliament lay the Issue of his Elder Sister whose Royal Blood he affirmed the cold Air of Scotland to have frozen up in the North. Yet when after the Death of his three Children reigning successively these disinheriting Statutes the last whereof was confirmed by Act of Parliament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth in whose thirteenth year there passed also an Act That it should be Treason during her Life and a Praemunire afterwards to assert that the Imperial Crown of England could not be disposed of by Act of Parliament came to the Test they had not the Honor to be repealed but were held null and void from the beginning as being notoriously repugnant to the Laws both of GOD and Nature and the common Customs and Constitutions of the Realm And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons assembled in Parliament notwithstanding all these unrepealed Acts having confest the Inestimable and unspeakable Blessings accrewing from the Vnion of England and Scotland under one Imperial Crown in the Person of King James lineally rightfully and lawfully descended of the most Excellent Lady Margaret Eldest Daughter of the most renowned King Henry the VIIth and the high and noble Princess Queen Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of King Edward the IVth proceeded to the Recognition of his Title in these Words We being bounden thereunto both by the Laws of GOD and Man do recognize and acknowledge that immediately upon the Dissolution and Decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession descend and come to your most Excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm And that by the Goodness of GOD Almighty and lawful Right of Descent Your Majesty is under one Imperial Crown of the Realms and Kingdoms of England Scotland France and Ireland the most potent and mighty
him and holding his Court apart from the King In the eighth year of his Age being taken from the Charge of his Women Education he had for Governor William then Earl afterward Marquess and lately Duke of Newcastle and after him Thomas late Earl of Berkshire and for Tutor or Preceptor Dr. Brian Duppa then Dean of Christ-Church in Oxford soon after Bishop of Chichester after that of Salisbury and lately of Winchester In October 1642. the two Houses having out of their superabundant Loyalty and great Zeal for the preservation of their Soveraign raised an Army to divest him of his Soveraignty he was with his Father at the Battel of Edge-Hill and not long after was at Oxford committed to the Care of William Marquess of Hertford whom after his own happy Restauration he restored to the Dignity and Precedency of Duke of Somerset In the fifteenth year of his Age he was sent by his Father into the West of England to perfect an Association begun there in the end of the foregoing Summer And not long after there was a Marriage proposed between him and the Infanta Joanna eldest Daughter to the King of Portugal since deceased Departure out of England The year following Barnstable being taken and Exeter besieged by the Rebels he withdrew from Devonshire into Cornwall from whence he passed into the Isle of Scilly and thence to the Queen his Mother being at St. Germains near Paris In the year 1648. a Considerable part of the Royal Navy encouraged thereto by Captain Batten formerly Vice-Admiral to the Earl of Warwick being put into his Power he endeavored to rescue the King his Father out of the impious hands of his rebellious Subjects But failing of Success he was forced to retire to his Sister at the Hague where not many Months after upon the sad News of the barbarous Murther of his Royal Father he was first saluted King soon after proclaimed in Scotland and most Towns of Ireland being yet under nineteen years of Age. In the latter end of the year 1649. he received being then in Jersey Coming into England a Message from the Committee of Estates of Scotland brought by Mr. George Windram of Liberton and the March following met the Scotch Commissioners at Breda in Holland and about the beginning of June 1650. being invited by a solemn Message from the Estates of that Kingdom he took Shipping at Scheveling and having escaped the danger both of a sudden Storm that cast him upon certain Danish Islands and of a Fleet of English Vessels sent out under Popham to intercept his passage arrived at the Spey in the North of Scotland from whence all along his way to Edenborough he was entertained with the general Joy of the People several of the Towns by which he passed making him considerable Presents On the fifteenth of July he was again solemnly proclaimed King at Edenborough Cross and was the first of January following crowned at Scoon the accustomed place for Coronation of the Kings of Scotland Escape from Worcester Being invaded by an Army from England he was forced to quit that Kingdom and try his Fortune in this which he entred the sixth of August 1651. and on the twenty second of the same Month came to Worcester where on the third of September was fought that fatal Battel in which tho his Majesty acted with such marvellous Gallantry and Conduct that he wan applause from his very Enemies yet he unfortunately lost the Day and his whole Army himself not without a Providence unparalleld in History escaping the Hands of his blood-thirsty Enemies who not only by publick Act promised a Sum of Money to those that should discover him but likewise threatned the Penalty of High Treason to any that should conceal him For being in the very Heart England and a thousand pounds set upon his head he was forced to wander about in disguise for six Weeks and to appear in many Places and Companies before he could find a fit opportunity of Transportation During which time tho he were seen and known to many person divers whereof were excessively indigent and therefore liable to be tempted by the proposed Reward divers of the Female Sex and so not only most unapt to retain a Secret but also very subject to be terrified by the threatned Penalty and divers besides all this of the Roman Religion which alone the very Principles thereof having been alwayes clamored against as reputed to teach nothing but Treachery and Disloyalty to Princes and the Lawfulness of breaking Faith with Hereticks might have made his Majesty afraid to trust them yet was he still most miraculously preserved and at length by one Tetershal since a Captain in his Majesties Navy whose Wife suspecting the Business was so far from disencouraging him that she said She cared not if she and her little ones begged their Bread so the King were in safety transported from Bright-hemstead neer Shoram in Sussex to Feccam neer Hauvre de Grace in Normandy whence he posted directly to Rouen and having thence dispatched Letters to the French Court he was met the Queen his Mother the Duke of Orleans and many Persons of Quality and by them conducted to Paris where with his Royal Brothers and divers of the British Nobility Clergy and Gentry he was for some years received and treated as King of Great Britain There by his Excellent Wisdom and Address mediating with the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Lorrain then in the Head of two great Armies against the French King he quenched the newly-kindled Fire of an universal Rebellion raised against him and was a Means of restoring Cardinal Mazarine who had for fear of the Princes of the Blood withdrawn himself to Colen to his former Authority and Greatness In the year 1654. His Majesty understanding that upon a Treaty of Peace between the French King and Oliver Cromwel then stiling himself Protector of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland one of the chiefest Articles insisted upon by the Usurper was the excluding of him with his Relations and Followers out of France to prevent a ceremonious Expulsion voluntarily departed thence into Germany making his first place of Residence at the Spaw whence after a few Moneths he went to Colen where was discovered the Correspondence between Thurloe Cromwels Secretary and Manning one of the Kings Secretaries Clerks who for giving weekly Intelligence to the Usurper of the Transactions in his Majesties Court was deservedly shot to death After the Rupture between Cromwel and the King of Spain he was by Don John of Austria who being Governor of the Low-Countryes for his Catholick Majesty sent the Count of Fuensaldagne to offer him in the name of the Spanish King all possible Service and Assistance invited into Flanders where making his Residence for the most part at Bruges he continued till a little before Sir George Booths Rising in Cheshire when he removed privately from Bruxels to Calais whence having notice
Young 4. CATHARINE Dyed almost as soon as Born 5. HENRIETTA Born at Exeter on the sixteenth of June 1644. and at the surrendry of that Town brought to St. James's whence she was afterwards by her Governess the Lady Dalkeith conveyed into France to the Queen her Mother by whom she was Educated in the Roman Religion About the Age of Sixteen Years she came with the Queen-Mother into England whence after six Months stay returning into France she was Married to Philip Duke of Anjou only Brother to the present French King by whom she had Issue two Daughters the Elder whereof is Queen of Spain the Younger being deceased She was a Princess of incomparable Beauty and Gallantry of Spirit and Dyed suddenly at Paris in June 1670. being Six and Twenty Years of Age. Of the Duke of York HIS present Majesty of Great Britain having no Issue by his Queen and having by his Royal Declaration which he has caused to be Registred in Chancery and which not any good Subject nor indeed not any rational Man can choose but believe solemnly protested That he was never Married to any other Woman The first Prince of the Blood and Apparent or according to the new-coyn'd Distinction Presumptive Heir of the Crown is His Royal Highness JAMES Duke of York and Albany Earl of Vlster Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter third Son of CHARLES the Ist and and sole surviving Brother of our sacred Soveraign CHARLES the IId He was Born at Somerset-House in the Strand on the fourteenth of October 1633. was immediately at the Court-Gates proclaimed Duke of York On the four twentieth of the same Month he was Baptized having for God-fathers the King of Denmark represented by the Earl of Arundel and the Duke of Orleans by Prince Harcourt and for God-mother the Queen of Bohemia whose Substitute was the Dutchess of Buckingham He was in his Infancy committed to the Government of the Lady Hatton but when he grew up had for Governor Henry Lord Jermin now Earl of Saint Albans and for Preceptor Dr Broughton of Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford In February 1641. He was by the King his Father sent for from London to Greenwich that he might accompany him thence to York Having been by special Command called Duke of York from his Birth he was on the seven twentieth of January 1643. having the Year before received the Order of the Garter so Created by Letters Patents at Oxford but without the Solemnities usual in such Cases the Iniquity of those Times not admitting thereof After the Surrendry of Oxford to the Rebels in the Year 1646. His Royal Highness was conveyed thence to London and at St. Jameses committed with his Brother the Duke of Glocester and his Sisters the Princesses Elizabeth and Henrietta to the Tuition Care of the Earl of Northumberland and his Lady Here he continued unto the three and twentieth of April 1648. when having with Colonel Bampfield sent over purposely on that Design by the Queen his Mother contrived an escape after he had received the usual Visit of his Guardian the Earl of Northumberland he lingred out the remainder of the Evening that he might avoid the suspicion of his Attendants in the Chamber of his Brother the Duke of Glocester and at a fit Opportunity retiring into the Garden by the help of a Key which he had borrowed of the Gardiner he quickly got to the place where he was expected by the Colonel by whom being disguised in the Habit of a Girle he was conveyed to Dort whence he went immediately to his Sister the Princess of Orange and thence soon after to his Royal Mother then at Paris Thence he came to the Prince of Wales his Brother then endeavouring with part of the Navy which had submitted to him to rescue his Royal Father out of the Traitorous hands of the villanous Rebels by whom he was kept Prisoner in the Isle of Wight But that Design being disappointed his Royal Highness returned to the Court of France where he continued till he was about twenty Years of Age when going into the Campagne he performed under that great Commander the Mareschal de Turenne such eminent Services for the French King against the Spanish Forces in the Netherlands that before the Age of one twenty he was made Lieutenant-General of the whole Army and was by Turenne himself then lying desperately Sick recommended to his most Christian Majesty for the fittest person he could nominate to be General of his Army as being so Noble Valorous and fortunate a Commander that his Affairs could not in all humane probability but prove Successful under his Conduct Notwithstanding which upon a Treaty between the French King and the English Usurper Cromwel he was in the Year 1655. tho not without some Complements and Apologies for his Dismission advertized to depart with all his Retinue out of the French Dominions by a prefixed time Which he accordingly did having been first visited by the Mareschal de Turenne and divers other French Grandees as also by the Duke of Modena then in France about some important Affairs His Royal Highness then having taken His leave of the King and Court of France and being attended by the Earl of St. Albans and several other English Lords took His Journey towards Bruges in Flanders the Residence at that time of the King His Brother who having upon foresight of the Event of the Treaty prudently withdrawn himself out of France was by Don John of Austria Governour of the Low-Countries for the King of Spain solemnly invited into those parts The Duke in his way touchd at Bruxels where he was magnificently entertained by Don John to whom he proffered his service in the wars against the French King then leagued with the English Rebels against Spain Which being with many thanks accepted his Magnanimity and Dexterity in Martial Affairs wan him so much esteem that a little before his Majesties happy return he was offered in the Name of the Spanish King the high Dignity of Admiral of Castile In the year 1660 He returned with the King his Brother into England of which being Lord High Admiral and in the year 1665 in the War against the United Nether-Lands commanding in Person the whole Royal Navy he with unmatchable Valor and extraordinary Hazard of his Princely Person which was besprinkled with the Blood of those that fell by his side obtained after a sharp dispute on the Seas between England and Holland a signal Victory over the whole Dutch Fleet sinking many of their ships blowing up their Admiral Opdam and by sacking of Scheveling making Amsterdam it self to tremble For which great services so sensible was the Parliament how much the English Nation was indebted to him that as a small acknowledgment of his Merit and a grateful testimony of their Affections they made him a Present of an hundred thousand pounds In September 1666 the City of London labouring under a terrible Fire whether