other of the Nobility waiting in the Privy Chamber for the King 's coming out on his Brothers head adding that If he continued a good Boy and followed His Book he would make Him one day Archbishop of Canterbury Which the Child took in such disdain that He threw the Cap on the ground and trampled it under His feet with so much eagerness that he could hardly be restrained Which Passion was afterwards taken by some overcurious as a presage of the ruine of Episcopacy by his Power But the event shewed it was not ominous to the Order but to the Person of the Archbishop whom in 〈◊〉 Reign He suspended from the administration of His Office Anno 1611 In His eleventh year He was made Knight of the Garter and in the twelfth Prince Henry dying November 6. 1612. He succeeded him in the Dukedom of Cornwal and the Regalities thereof and attended his Funeral as chief Mourner on Decemb. 7. On the 14. of February following He performed the Office of Brideman to the Princess Elizabeth His Sister who on that day was married to Frederick V. Prince Elector Palatine the gayeties of which day were afterwards attended with many fatal Cares and Expences His Childhood was blemished with a supposed Obstinacy for the weakness of His body inclining Him to retirements and the imperfections of His speech rendring discourse tedious and unpleasant He was suspected to be somewhat perverse But more age and strength fitting Him for manlike Exercises and the Publick hopes inviting him from His Privacies He delivered the World of such fears for applying himself to action He grew so perfect in Vaulting riding the great Horse running at the Ring shooting in Cross-bows Muskets and sometimes in great Pieces of Ordnance that if Principality had been to be the reward of Excellency in those Arts He would have had a Title to the Crown this way also being thought the best Marks-man and most graceful Manager of the great Horse in the three Kingdoms His tenacious humor he left with his retirements none being more desirous of good counsel nor any more obsequious when He found it yea too distrustful of His own Judgment which the issue of things proved always best when it was followed Anno 1616. When he was sixteen years old on Novemb. 3. He was created Prince of Wales Earl of Chester and Flint the Revenues thereof being assigned to maintain His Court which was then formed for Him And being thus advanced in Years and State it was expected that He should no longer retain the Modesty which the shades of His Privacy had accustomed Him unto but now appear as the immediate Instrument of Empire and that by Him the Favours and Honours of the Court should be derived to others But though Providence had changed all about yet it had changed nothing within Him and He thought it glory enough to be great without the diminution of others for he still permitted the Ministry of State to His Fathers Favourites which gave occasion of discourse to the Speculativi Some thought He did it to avoid the Jealousies of the Old King which were conceived to have been somewhat raised by the popularity of Prince Henry whose breast was full of forward Hopes For Young Princes are deemed of an impatient Ambition and old ones to be too nice and tender of their Power in which though they are contented with a Successor as they must have yet are afraid of a Partner And it was supposed that therefore K. James had raised Car and Buckingham like Comets to dim the lustre of these rising Stars But these were mistaken in the nature of the King who was enclined to contract a private friendship The Duke of Lenox and the Earl of Arran in Scotland and was prodigal to the objects of it before ever he had Sons to diver his Love or raise his Fears Some that at a distance looked upon the Prince's actions ascribed them to a Narrowness of Mind and an Incapacity of Greatness while others better acquainted with the frame of His Spirit knew His prudent Modesty inclined Him to learn the Methods of Commanding by the practice of Obedience and that being of a peaceful Soul He affected not to embroil the Court and from thence the Kingdom in Factions the effects of impotent minds which He knew were dangerous to a State and destructive to that Prince who gives birth unto them that therefore He chose to wait for a certain though delayed Grandeur rather than by the Compendious way of Contrasts get a precocious Power and leave too pregnant an Example of Ruine Others conceived it the Prudence of the Father with which the Son complied who knew the true use of Favourites was to make them the objects of the People's impatience the sinks to receive the curses and anger of the Vulgar the hatred of the querulous and the envy of unsatisfied ambition which He would rather have fall upon Servants that his Son might ascend the Throne free and unburthened with the discontents of any This was the rather believed because He could dispense Honours where and when He pleased as he did to some of His own Houshold as Sir Robert Cary was made Lord Cary of Lepington Sir Thomas Howard Viscount Andover and Sir John Vaughan Lord of Molingar in Ireland Anno 1618. The evenness of His Spirit was discovered in the loss of his Mother whose death presaged as some thought by that notorious Comet which appeared Novemb 18. before happened on March 2. Anno 1618. which he bewailed with a just measure of Grief without any affected Sorrows though She was most affectionate to Him above all her other Children and at her Funeral He would be chief Mourner The Death of the Queeu was not long after followed with a sharp Sickness of the King wherein his Life seeming in danger the consequences of his Death began to be lamented Dr. Andrews then Bishop of Ely bewailed the sad condition fo the Church if God should at that time determine the days of the King The Prince being then only conversant with Scotch men which made up the greatest part of his Family and were ill-affected to the Government and Worship of the Church of England Of this the King became so sensible that he made a Vow If God should please to restore his health he would so instruct the Prince in the Controversies of Religion as should secure His affections to the present establishment Which he did with so much success as he assured the Chaplains who were to wait on the Prince in Spain that He was able to moderate in any emergent disputations which yet he charged them to decline if possible At which they smiling he earnestly added That CHARLES should manage a point in Controversie with the best-studied Divine of them all Anno 1619. In his 19. Year on March 24. which was he Anniversary of King James's coming to the Crown of England He performed a Justing at White-Hall together with several of the Nobility
The Love of whom the Prince had received by the Eye and She of Him by the Ear. For having formerly received impressions from the Relations of His Gallantry when She was told of His passing through Paris She answered as it is reported That if he went to Spain for a Wife He might have had one nearer hand and saved Himself a great part of the labour Anno 1625. In the midst of these Preparations for War and Love King James died at Theobalds Sunday March 27. Anno 1625. and Prince CHARLES was immediately proclaimed at the Court-Gate King of Great Britain France and Ireland and so throughout all the Three Kingdoms with infinite Rejoycings The People expecting all the benefits of the happiest Government under Him whose private and youthful part of Life had been so spent that it had nothing in it to be excused and where the eager inquisitors for matter of Reproach met with no satisfaction An Argument of a solid Virtue that could hold out against all the Vices of Youth that are rendred more impetuous by Flatteries and Plenty which are continually resident in great Courts For had any debauchery polluted His earlier days it had been published by those who in scarcity of just Accusations did invent unimaginable Calumnies Nor could it have been hid for in a great Fortune nothing is concealed but Curiosity opens the Closets and Bed-chambers especially of Princes and discovers their closest retirements exposing all their actions to Fame and Censure Nor did the King deceive their hopes they being the happiest People under the Sun while He was undisturbed in the administration of Justice His first publick Act was the Celebrating His Fathers Funeral wherea He Himself was Chief Mourner contrary to the Practice of His Royal Predecessors and not conformable to the Ceremonies of State Either preferring Piety to an unnatural Grandeur or urged by some secret Decree of Providence that in all the ruines of His Family He should drink the greatest draught of Tears or His Spirit presaging the Troubles of the Throne He would hallow the Ascent to it by a pious act of Grief When He had pay'd that debt to His deceased Father He next provided for posterity and therefore hastened the coming over of his dearest Consort whom the Duke of Chevereux had in His Name espoused at the Church of Nostre-Dame in Paris and He receiving Her at Dover the next day after Trinity-Sunday at Canterbury began His Conjugal Embraces A Lady of most excellent Endowments who assumed to Her self nothing in His Good Fortune but the Joy and in His Evil bore an equal share for She reverenced Him not His Greatness Thus having dispatched the affairs of His Family He applies Himself to those of His Kingdoms which too much Felicity had made unmanageable by a moderate Government And He seemed not so much to ascend a Throne as enter upon a Theatre to wrestle with all the difficulties of a corrupted State whose long Peace had softned almost all the Nobless into Court pleasures and made the Commons insolent by a great plenty The Rites and Discipline of Religion had been blotted out by a long and uninterrupted Prosperity and Factions crept from the Church into the Senate which were made use of by those that endeavoured the alteration of Go\vernment and the Resolves of that Council were the dictates of some heady Demagogues who fed the Vulgar with hopes of Novelty under the name of Liberty so that the King could not endure their Vices nor they His Vertues whence came all the Obstructions to His Designs for Glory and the Publick Good The Treasury had been exhausted to satiate the unquiet and greedy Scots and the People were taught not to supply it unless they were bribed with the blood of some Minister of State or some more advantages fo Licentiousness Each of these single would have ennobled the Care of an Ordinary Prudence to have weathered out but when all these conspired with the traiterous Projects of men of unbounded and unlawful hopes they took from Him His Peace and that which the World calls Happiness but yet they made Him Great and affording Exercises for His most excellent Abilities rendred Him Glorious The different states of these Difficulties when like Clouds they were gathering together and when they descended in showres of Blood divide the King's Reign into two parts The first could not be esteemed days of Peace but an Immunity from Civil War The other was when He was concluded by that Fatal Necessity either to part with his Dignity and expose His Subjects to the injuries of numerous Tyrants or else to exceed the calmer temper of His peaceful Soul and make use of those necessary Arms whereby He might hope to divert if possible the Ruine of Church and State which he saw in projection In the first Part He had no Wars at home but what was in the Houses of Parliament which though their first Institution designed for the production of just Counsels and assistances of Government yet through the just Indignation of Heaven and the practices of some unquiet and seditious persons became the wombs wherein were first conceived and formed those monstrous Confusions which destroyed their own Liberty caused our Miseries and the King's Afflictions His first Parliament began June 18. At the opening of which the King acquainted them with the necessity of Supplies for the War with Spain which they importunately had through His Mediation engaged His Father in and made it as hereditary to him as the Crown His Eloquence gave powerful Reasons for speedy and large summs of Money did also audit to them the several disbursements relating both to the Army and Navy that He might remove all Jealousies of Misimployment and give them notice how well He understood the Office He had newly entred upon and how to be a faithful Steward of the Publick Treasure But the Projectors of the alteration of Government brought into Debate two Petitions one for Religion the other for Grievances formed in King James's time which delayed the Succours and increased the Necessities which at last they answered but with two Subsidies too poor a stock o furnish an Army with yet was kindly accepted in expectation of more at the next Session For the Infection seizing upon London the Parliament was adjourned till August when they were to meet at Oxford and at that time He passed such Acts as were presented to Him At the next Session He gave a complying and satisfactory answer to all their Petitions and expected a Retribution in larger Subsidies towards the Spanish War But instead of these there were high and furious debates of Grievances consultations to form and publish Remonstrances Accusations of the Duke of Buckingham Which the King esteeming as reproaches of His Government and assaults upon Monarchy dissolves that Assembly hoping to find one of a less cholerick complexion after His Coronation This inauspicious Meeting drew after it another Mischief the Miscarriage of the Designs upon Spain
eager Fight which being varied with different successes in the several divisions each party draw off by degrees and neither found cause to boast of a Victory The King being returned to Oxford the Parliament wearied with the Complaints of the oppressed Nation who now grew impatient under the Distractions take into Consideration His Majesty's two Messages for Peace and send Propositions for it in the name of the two Parliaments of England and Scotland united by Solemn League and Covenant Which though they seemed the desires of minds that intended nothing less than the common Tranquillity yet the King neglects them not but hoping that in a Treaty Commissioners might argue them into Reason offers it which with much difficulty the Houses are drawn to accept but yet would have it at Vxbridge a place but about fifteen miles distant from London and above twice that distance from Oxford And accordingly Commissioners from both Parties met on Jan. 30. While the King was providing for the Treaty and forming Instructions for His Ministers the Faction found the Parliament other work by new designs and to habituate the People to an abhorrency of Peace fed them with blood The two Hotham's first were to be the Sport of the Multitude and that the Father might have more than a single death he was drawn back in his journey to the Scaffold Decemb. 31. that his Son might be executed before him as he was Jan. 1. when after he had expressed his fury to those Masters whom they had served to their ruines his Head was chopt off And on Jan. 2. the Father is brought to the place that was defiled with his Son's blood and had his own added to it These were not much lamented by any for the memory that they first kindled the Flame of the Nation kept every eye dry The People thus fed with courser blood a cleaner Sacrifice was afterwards presented Willam Laud Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England He had indured Imprisonment four years and passed through a Tryal of many months in which he had acquitted himself with such a confidence as became the Innocency and Constancy of a Christian Bishop and Confessor but yet must fall to please the Scots and those merciless men who imputed God's anger in the difficulties of Success against their Prince to the continuance of this Prelate's Life therefore he was Voted Guilty of High Treason by the House of Commons and was condemned in the House of Peers though they have no power over the life of the meanest Subject without the concurrence of the King when there were but Seven Lords present Some Writers who since have been convinced of their mis-information have named amongst those Seven Lords the Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin but his Lordship upon the first notice of this report did to several Persons of Quality and Honour he conversed with and since hath affirmed to me that he was not then present and that his heart could never consent to the shedding of the blood of that Excellent Prelate and all those not consenting to the Murder to be drawn hanged and quartered And this was the first Example of murdering Men by Votes of killing by an Order of Parliament when there is no Law It was moved they say by some that he might be shipp'd over to New-England to die by the Contempt and Malice of those People But this seemed too great an Honour because it would make his end as his life was much like that of the Primitive Bishops who for their Piety were banished to Barbarous Coasts or condemned to the Mines Or else it would be like an Athenian Ostracism and confess him too great and good to live among us Therefore this motion was rejected yet the Lords upon his Petition to the distaste of some Commons changed the manner of that vile Execution to that more generous of being beheaded To the Scaffold he was brought Jan. 10. after he had endured some affronts in his Antichamber in the Tower by some Sons of Schism and Sedition who unseasonably that morning he was preparing himself to appear before the great Bishop of our Souls would have him give some satisfaction to the Godly for so they called themselves for his Persecutions which he called Discipline To whom he Answered That he was now shortly to give account of all his Actions at an higher and more equal Tribunal and desired he might not be disturbed in his Preparations for it When he came to the Scene of his death he appeared with that chearfulness and serenity in his face as a good Conscience doth beautifie the owners with and it was so conspicuous that his Enemies who were ashamed to see his Innocency pourtraied in his Countenance did report he had drunk some Spirits to force his nature from a paleness He preached his own Funeral Sermon on that Text Hebr. 12.2 and concluding his life with Prayer submitted himself to the stroke of the Ax. He was a Person of so great Abilities which are the Designations of Nature to Dignity and Command that they raised him from low beginnings to the highest Office the Protestant Profession acknowledges in the Church And he was equal to it His Learning appear'd eminent in his Book against Fisher and his Piety illustrious in his Diary although published by One that was thirsty of his blood and polluted with many malicious Comments and false Surmises to make him odious He was of so Publick a Spirit that both the Church and State have lasting Monuments of the Vertuous use of his Princes favour at his Admittance into which he dedicated all the future Emoluments of it to the Glory of God and the Good of Men by a Projection of many noble Works most of which he accomplished and had finished the rest had not the Fate of the Nation checked the current of his Designs and cut off the Course of his Life He was not contented by himself only to serve his Generation for so he might have appeared more greedy of Fame than desirous of the Universal Benefit but he endeavoured to render all others as heroick if they aimed at a Capacity for his Friendship for I have heard it from his Enemies no great man was admitted to a confidence and respect with him unless he made his address by some Act that was for the Common Good or for the Ornament and Glory of the Protestant Faith Learned men had not a better Friend nor Learning it self a greater Advancer he searched all the Libraries of Asia and from several parts of the World purchased all the Ornaments and Helps of Literature he could that the English Church might have if possible by his Care as many Advantages for Knowledge as almost all Europe did contribute to the Grandeur of that of Rome The outward Splendour of the Clergy was not more his Care than their Honour by a grave and pious Conversation he would put them into a power of doing more good but was severe against their
from the safest Arts of Empire it was in the neglect of a just Severity on Seditious persons whom the Laws had condemned to die And in the War it was known how often His Lenity had clipped the wings of Victory But it appeared that these men as they had broken all Rights of Peace so they would also those of Conquest and destroy that which their Arms pretended to save How little credit their Accusation found appeared by the endeavours of all Parties to preserve the King's Person from Danger and the Nation from the guilt of His Blood For while they were thus engaged to perpetrate their intended Mischiefs all Parties declare against it The Presbyterian Ministers almost all those of London and very many out of the several Counties and some though few also of the Independents did in their Sermons and Conferences as also by Monitory Letters Petitions Protestations and Remonstrances publickly divulged adjure the Assassinates not to draw so great a guilt upon themselves and the whole Nation by that Murther For it was contrary to those numerous and fearful Obligations of their many Oaths to the Publick and Private Faith which was exprest in their Protestations and many Declarations to the Laws of the Land those of Nature and Nations and the Commands of Scripture That is was to the dishonour of our Religion and against the publick good of the Kingdom But all was fruitless for they had lost their Ministerial Authority by serving the Faction so long till they needed not their Assistance and despised their admonitions Besides the very same Principles they preached to kindle the War were now beat back into their faces and made use of against them to adjust the Murther The People also contemned them for their short-sightedness in that they would be the heady and indiscreet Instruments of such men and in such practices as must of necessity at last ruine them and all Ministers as well as the King and Bishops The Scots also by their Commissioners declare and protest against it The States of Holland by their Ambassadors if they were faithful in their trust did intercede and deprecate it as most destructive to the Protestant Interest Some of the most eminent of the Nobility as the Earl of Southampton the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford the Earl of Lindsey and others neglect no ways either by Prayers or Ransom to save the King Yea they offered themselves as being the prime Ministers of the King's Commands as Hostages for Him and if the Conspirators must needs be fed with blood to suffer in His stead for whatsoever He had done amiss The Prince piously assaies all ways and means to deliver His Father from the danger For besides the States Ambassadours whom He had procured both He and the Prince of Orange did daily send as Agents the Kindred Relations and Allies of Cromwell Ireton and the other Conspirators with full power to propose any Conditions make any Promises and use all Threatnings to divert them if it were possible from their intended Cruelty or at least to gain some time before the Execution But all was in vain for no Conditions of Peace could please them who were possessed with unlawful and immoderate desires their Ambition that is more impetuous than all other affections had swallowed the hopes of Empire therefore they would remove the King to enthrone themselves Some thought that their despair of Pardon had hardened them to a greater Inhumanity for if after all these attempts they continued the King's Life they must beg their own which they knew Justice would not and they resolved Mercy should not give for this is reckoned among the benefits which we hate to receive and Men are usually ashamed to confess they deserved death Whatsoever it was that truly made them thus cruel they publickly pretended no other Motive than the Calls and Ducts of Providence and the Impulses of the Blessed Spirit To carry on this Cheat Hugh Peters the Pulpit-Buffoon of a luxuriant Speech skill'd to move the Rabble by mimical Gestures Impudent and Prodigal of his own and others fame Ignominious from his Youth for then suffering the contumely of Discipline being publickly whipt at Cambridge he was ever after an Enemy to Government and therefore leagued himself with unquiet Sectaries preaches before these fictitious Judges upon that Text Psal 149.8 To bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron He assures them undoubtedly that this was prophesied of them that they were the Saints related to in that Scripture that they should judge the Kings of the Earth often calling them in his profane Harangue the Saint-Judges Then he professed that he had for a certain found upon a strict Scrutiny that there were in the Army 5000 Saints no less holy than those that now in Heaven conversed with God Afterwards kneeling in his Pulpit weeping and lifting up his hands he earnestly begs them in the name of the People of England that they would execute Justice upon that Wretch CHARLES and would not let Benhadad escape in Safety Then he inveighs against Monarchy and wrests the Parable of Jotham to his purpose wherein when the Trees would chuse a King the Vine and the Olive refused the Dignity but the Bramble received the Empire and he compared Monarchy to the Bramble And all the while of contriving and executing this Murther he preached to the Souldiers and in some places about the City bitterly and contemptuously railing against the King Others also of the Congregational perswasion acted their parts in this Tragedy but more closely and not so much in the face of the Sun The Conspirators taking heat from their infamous Preachers whom they themselves had first kindled and somewhat doubting that these several strong Applications from all Parties to save the King and the Universal Discontents might take some advantage from their delay with more speed hasten the Assassination In order to which they send a Serjeant of Arms with a guard of Horse lest the People should stone him for his Employment into Westminster-Hall and other places in London to summon all that could lay any crime to the King 's charge to come and give in their evidence against Him Having proclaimed their wicked purposes and dress'd up a Tribunal at the upper end of Westminster-Hall with all the shapes of terrour where the President with his abject and bloody Assistants were placed thither afterwards they bring this most Excellent Monarch whom having despoiled of three Great Kingdoms they now determined also to deprive of Life Into which Scene the King enter'd with a generous Miene shewing no signs of discomposure nor any thing beneath His former Majesty but as if He were to combate for Glory the Monsters of Mankind He undauntedly took the Seat which was set for Him with scorn looking upon the fictitious Judges and with pity upon the People who crouding in the great Gates of the Hall being flung open did bewail in Him the frailty of our
Her own Church When He was to Die a time most seasonable to speak Truth especially by Him who all His Life knew not how to Dissemble He declares His Profession in Religion to be the same with that which He found left by His Father King James How little the Papists credited what the Faction would have the World believe was too evident by the Conspiracies of their Fathers against His Life and Honour which the Discovery of Habernefield to whose relations the following practices against Him and the Church of England gained a belief brought to light They were mingled likewise among the Conspirators and both heated and directed their Fury against Him They were as importunate in their Calumnies of Him even after His Death as were the vilest of the Sectaries which they had never done could they have imagined Him to be theirs for His Blood would in their Calendar have out-shined the Multitude of their fictitious Saints For His sake they continued their hatred to His Family abetted the Usurpations of the following Tyrant by imposing upon the World new Rules of Obedience and Government invented fresh Calumnies for the Son and obstructed by various Methods His return to the Principality because He was Heir as well of the Faith as of the Throne of His Father Although this Honour is not to be denied to many Gallant Persons of that perswasion that their Loyalty was not so corrupted by their Faith to Rome but that they laboured to prevent the Father's Overthrow and to hasten the Son's Restitution He was not satisfied in being Religious as a particular Christian but would be so as a King and indeavoured that Piety might be as Universal as His Empire This He assaied by giving Ornaments and Assistances to the External Exercise and Parts of it which is the proper Province of a Magistrate whose Power reaches but to the Outward man that so carnal minds if they were not brought to an Obedience might yet to a Reverence and if men would not honour yet they should not despise Religion This He did in taking Care for the Place of Worship that Comeliness and Decency should be there conspicuous where the God of Order was to be adored And it was a Royal Undertaking to restore S. Paul's Church to its primitive strength and give it a beauty as magnificent as its Structure He taught men not to contemn the Dispensers of the Gospel because He had so great an esteem for them admitting some to His nearest Confidence and most Private Counsels as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the greatest Place of Trust as the Bishop of London to the Treasury consulting at once the Emolument of Religion whose Dictates are more powerfully impressed when the Minister is honoured by the Magistrate and the Benefit of the State which wise Princes had before found none to seek more faithfully if any did more prudently than Church-men Though a Voluntary Poverty did much contribute to the lustre and increase of the Church in the Purer times yet a necessitated would have destroyed it in a Corrupt age therefore the King to obstruct all access of Ruine that way secured her Patrimony and recovered as much as He could out of the Jaws of Sacrilege which together with time had devoured a great part of it His endeavours this way were so strong that the Faction in Scotland found no Artifice able to divert them but by kindling the flame of a Civil War the Criminals there seeking to adjust their Sacrilegious Acquisitions by Rebellious practices and to destroy that Church by force which His Majesty would not suffer them to torture with Famine In Ireland the Lord Lieutenant Wentworth by His Command and Instructions retrived very great Possessions which the tumults of that Nation had advantaged many greedy Persons to seize upon and would not suffer Sedition to be incouraged with the hopes of Impiety In England He countenanced those just Pleas which Oppressed Incumbents entred against Rapacious Patrons and this way many Curates were put into a Condition of giving Hospitality who before were contemptible in their Ministry because they were so in their Fortune His Enemies knew how Inviolable was the Faith of His Majesty in this and therefore pressed Him with nothing more to obstruct Peace than the Alienation of Church-Lands rather than which He did abandon His Life and parted sooner with His Blood than them He used to say Though I am sensible enough of the Dangers that attend My Care of the Church yet I am resolved to defend it or make it My Tomb-stone alluding to a Story which He would tell of a Generous Captain that said so of a Castle that was committed to His trust He had so perfect a Detestation of that Crime that it is said He scarce ever mentioned Henry the 8. without an Abhorrency of His Sacriledge He neglected the Advices of His own Party if they were negligent of the Welfare of the Church Those Concessions He had made in Scotland to the prejudice of the Church there were the subject of His grief and penitential Confessions both before God as appears in His Prayers and men For when the Reverend Dr. Morley now Lord Bishop of Winchester whom He had sent for to the Treaty in the Isle of Wight where he employed his diligence and prudence to search into the Intrigues and Reserves of the Commissioners had acquainted Him how the Commissioners were the more pertinacious for the abolishing of Episcopacy here because His Majesty had consented to it in Scotland and withall told Him what answer he himself had made to them That perchance the King was abused to those grants by a misinformation that that Act which was made in King James 's Minority against Bishops was yet unrepealed and that His Concession would but leave them where the Law had The King Answered It is true I was told so but whenever you hear that urged again give them this answer and say that you had it from the King Himself That when I did that in Scotland I sinned against My Conscience and that I have often repented of it and hope that God hath forgiven Me that great Sin and by God's grace for no Consideration in the World will I ever do so again He was careful of Uniformity both because He knew the Power of Just and Lawful Princes consisted in the Union of their Subjects who never are cemented stronger than by a Unity in Religion but Tyrants who measure their greatness by the weakness of their Vassals work that most effectually by caressing Schisms and giving a Licence to different Perswasions as the Usurpers afterwards did Besides He saw there was no greater Impediment to a sincere Piety because that Time and those Parts which might improve Godliness to a Growth were all Wasted and Corrupted in Malice and Slanders betwixt the Dissenters about forms He was more tender in preserving the Truths of Christianity than the Rights of His Throne For when the Commissioners of the Two Houses in
His Mind for His Affections were temperate He was of a most healthful Constitution and after the infirmities of His Childhood was never sick Once He had the small Pox but the Malignity of it was so small that it altered not His Stomach nor put Him to the abstinence of one Meal neither did it detain Him above a fortnight under the Care of His Physicians He was the Father of Four Sons and Five Daughters His Children 1. Charles James born at Greenwich on Wednesday May 13. 1628. but died almost as soon as born having been first Christned 2. Charles Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales born at Saint James's May 29. 1630. whom after a fellowship in the Sufferings of His Father some brave but unsuccessful attempts to recover the Rights of His Inheritance and twelve years various fortune abroad God was pleased by a wonderful Providence without blood or ruine to conduct to His Native Throne and make Him the Restorer of Peace to a People wearied and wasted almost to a Desolation by several changes of Government and Variety of reproachful Usurpers that they became the Scorn of Neighbouring Nations and the miserable Example of a disquiet Community so torn in pieces by Factions in the State and Schisms in the Church each party mutually armed to suppress its contrary and destroy the publick that it was impossible for them to re-unite or consent in common to seek the benefits of Society until they had submitted to Him as to the common Soul to be governed by Him in the paths of Justice He is now and long may He be so our Dread Sovereign CHARLES II. 3. James born in the same place Octob. 13. Anno 1633. entituled Duke of York by His Majesty's Command at His Birth and afterwards so Created He was a Companion of His Brother in Exile spending His time abroad both in the French and Spanish Camps with Glory and returned with Him into England 4. Henry Duke of Gloucester born in the same place July 8. 1639. who after the Death of His Father was by the Parricides permitted to go beyond Sea to His Mother with the promise of an Annual Pension which they never intended to pay A very hopeful Prince who resisted the strong practices of some in the Queen's Court to seduce Him to the Church of Rome which His Brother hearing sent for Him into Flanders and He also attended Him to His Throne but not long after died of the Small Pox Sept. 13. Anno 1660. 5. Mary born on Novemb. 4. Anno 1631. married to Count William of Nassau Eldest Son to Henry Prince of Orange by whom she was left a Widow and a short time after the Mother of the now Prince of Orange and coming over to visit her Brothers and the place of her Nativity she died also of the Small Pox Decemb. 24. Anno 1660. 6. Elizabeth born Jan. 28. Anno 1635. who survived her Father but lived not to see the Restoring the Royal Family dying at Carisbrook the place of her Father's Captivity being removed thither by the Murtherers that the place might raise a grief to end her Days 7. Anne born March 17. Anno 1637. died before her Father 8. Katharine who died almost as soon as born 9. Henrietta born at Exeter June 16. Anno 1644. in the midst of the Wars conveyed not long after by the Lady Dalkeith into France to her Mother and is now marryed to the Duke of Anjou only Brother to the King of France Having left this Issue He died in the forty ninth year of His Age and 23. of His Reign having lived Much rather than Long and left so many great and difficult Examples as will busie Good Princes to imitate and Bad ones to wonder at A man in Office and mind like to that Spiritual Being which the more men understand the more they Admire and Love and that may be said of Him which was said of that Excellent Roman who sought Glory by Vertue Homo Virtuti simillimus per omnia Ingenio Diis quà m Hominibus propior Qui nunquam quam rectè fecit ut rectè facere videretur sed quia aliter facere non poterat Cuique id solum visum est Rationem habere quod haberet Justitiam Omnibus humanis vitiis Immunis semper in Potestate sua Fortunam habuit Vell. Paterc lib. 2. M. S. Sanctissimi Regis Martyris CAROLI Primi Siste Viator Luge Obmutesce Mirare Memento CAROLI ILLIUS Nominis pariter insignissimae Pietatis PRIMI MAGNAE BRITANNIAE ILLIUS Qui Rebellium Perfidiâ primò deceptus Dein Perfidorum Rabie percussus Inconcussus tamen LEGUM FIDEI DEFENSOR Schismaticorum Tyrannidi succubuit Anno Salutis Humanae MDCXLVIII Servitutis Britannicae Primo Felicitatis Suae Primo Coronâ Terrestri spoliatus Coelesti donatus Sed Sileant periturae Tabellae Perlege RELIQUIAS verè Sacras CAROLINAS In Queis Ipsa Sui Iconem Aere perenniorem vivaciùs exprimit ' ΕΙΚΩ'ΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ' CAROLI Primi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epitaphium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SIstas sacrilegum Pedem Viator Nè forsan temeres sacros sepulchri Augusti Cineres Repôstus hîc est In Terrae Gremio Decor Stupórque Humani Generis Senex Infans Prudens scilicet Innocéns que Princeps Regni Praesidium Ruina Regni Vitâ Praesidium Ruina Morte Quem Regem potiùs Patrém ve dicam O Patrem priùs deinde Regem Regem quippe Suî Patrémque Regni Hic Donúmque Dei DeÃque Cura Quem Vitáque refert refértque Morte Ringente Satanâ Canente Coelo Diro in Pegmate Gloriae Theatro Et Christi Cruce Victor Securi Baptistae emicuit Ruina Felix Quâ Divum Carolus secutus Agnum Et postliminio domum vocatus Primaevae Patriae fit Inquilinus Sic Lucis priùs Hesperus Cadentis Resplendet modò Phosphorus Reversae Epitaphium Hic Vindex Fidei sacer Vetustae Cui par est nihil nihil secundum Naturae Typus absolutioris Fortunae Domitor ferendo suae Qui quantum Calicis bibit tremendi Tantundem sibi Gloriae reportat Regum Maximus unicúsque Regum In quo Res minima est fuisse Regem Solus qui superâ locatus Arce Vel Vitâ poterit frui priore Quum sint Relliquiae Cadaver Umbra Tam sacri Capitis vel ipsa sacra Ipsis Eulogiis coinquinata Quaeque ipsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prophanat Sistas sacrilegum Pedem Viator Tho. Pierce D. D. Coll. Magd. apud Oxon. Praeses An EPITAPH upon KING CHARLES SO falls that stately Cedar while it stood That was the only glory of the Wood Great Charles thou earthly God celestial Ma Whose life like others though it were a span Yet in that span was comprehended more Than Earth hath waters or the Ocean shore Thy heavenly virtues Angels should rehearse It is a theam too high for humane Verse He that would know thee right then let him 〈◊〉 Vpon thy rare incomparable Book And read it o're and o're which if he do Hee 'l find thee King and Priest and Prophet too And sadly see our loss and though in vain With fruitless wishes call thee back again Nor shall oblivion sit upon thy Herse Though there were neither Monument nor Verse Thy Suff'rings and thy Death let no man name It was thy Glory but the Kingdoms Shame J.H. ΜΑ'ΡΤΥΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΚΑ'ΡΟΛΟΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE CONTENTS Anno MDC KIng CHARLES His Lineage and Birth Page 1. MDCII A presage of His Succession to the Crown p. 3. MDCIV. He is Created Duke of York His proficiency in his Studies p. 4. MDCXII His Succession in the Dukedom of Cornwall His Juvenile Exercises p. 5. MDCXVI He is Created Prince of Wales p. 7. MDCXVIII The Death of Queen Anne His great improvement in Theological Controversies p. 9. MDCXXII His Journey into Spain and the success of it p. 11. MDCXXIII His Return The Proposal of a Match with France p. 15. MDCXXV King James his death His Succession in the Kingdom The State of it at his first coming to it His Coronation p. 16. MDCXXVII The Expedition to the Isle of Rhee Assistance afforded to Rochel p. 25. MDCXXX The Birth of Prince CHARLES p. 31. MDCXXXII Tumults in Ireland Lord Strafford sent Deputy thither p. 34 MDCXXXIII His Journey into Scotland and Corenation there p. 35. MDCXXXIV The business of Ship-money p. 38. MDCXXXVII Troubles began in Scotland and upon what pretence p. 43. MDCXXXIX An agreement made with the Scots p. 47. MDCXL An Army raised against the Scots A Parliament called p. 49. MDCXLI The Arraignment and Execution of the Earl of Strafford The Factious Designs of the Zealots in the Parliament p. 54. The Rebellion in Ireland p. 69. The Queens departure out of England p. 87. The Kings withdrawment from London p. 90. His repulse at Hull by Hotham p. 94. Armies raised on both sides p. 105. The Battel at Edge-hill p. 111. MDCXLIII The Queens return into England The Kings Successes p. 114. MDCXLIV The Kings Victories over the Rebels p. 122. The Tryal and Execution of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury p. 127. His Character p. 130. MDCXLV The Battle at Naseby and its ill influence upon the Kings Party p. 137. MDCXLVI The Kings withdrawment to the Scottish Army p. 144. MDCXLVII The King removed from Holmby to Hampton-Court His flight into the Isle of Wight p. 150. MDCXLVIII The Treaty in the Isle of Wight p. 178. A Court Erected for the Tryal of the King p. 194. His Tryal and Carriage there p. 208. His Martyrdom and Burial p. 218. His Incomparable Book p. 225. His Character His Religion p. 229. His Justice p. 241. His Clemency p. 244. His Fortitude p. 247. His Patience p. 252. His Humility p. 256. His choice of Ministers of State p. 259. His Affection to his People p. 260. His obliging Converse p. 263. His Fidelity p. 264. His Charity p. 267. His Temperance p. 268. His Frugality ibid. His Intellectual abilities p. 271. His skill in all Arts. p. 273. His Eloquence p. 275. His Political Prudence ibid. The censure of his Fortune p. 278. A presage of His Fall and the future State of the Royal Family p. 280. His Recreations p. 281. The features of his Body p. 283. His Children p. 284. His Epitaph p. 287. His Epitaph by Doctor Pierce p. 290. Another Epitaph by J. H. p. 292. THE END
season Attend me by the Law of God and reason They dare impeach and punish for high Treason 9 Next at the Clergy do their Furies frown Pious Episcopacy must go down They will destroy the Crosier and the Crown free'd 10 Church-men are chain'd and Schismaticks are Mechanicks preach and Holy Fathers bleed The Crown is crucified with the Creed 11 The Church of England doth all faction foster The Pulpit is usurpt by each Impostor Ex tempore excludes the Pater Noster 12 The Presbyter and Independant Seed Springs with broad-blades to make Religion bleed Herod and Pontius Pilate are agreed 13. The Corner-stone's misplac't by every Pavier With such a bloody method and behaviour Their Ancestors did crucifie our Saviour 14 My Royal Consort from whose fruitful Womb So many Princes legally have come Is forc't in Pilgrimage to seek a Tomb. 15 Great Britains Heir is forced into France Whilest on his father's head his foes advance Poor Child He weeps out his Inheritance 16 With my own Power my Majesty they wound In the King's name the K. himself 's uncrown'd So doth the dust destroy the Diamond 17 With Propositions daily they enchant My Peoples ears such as do Reason daunt And the Almighty will not let me Grant 18 They promise to erect my Royal Stem To make me Great t' advance my Diadem If I will first fall down and worship them 19 But for refusal they devour my Thrones Distress my Children and destroy my bones I fear they 'l force me to make bread of stones 20 My Life they prize at such a slender rate That in my absence they draw bills of hate To prove the King a Traytor to the State 21 Felons obtain more priviledge that I They are allow'd to answer e're they dye 'T is death for Me to ask the reason Why. 22 But Sacred Saviour with thy words I woo Thee to forgive and not be bitter to Such as thou know'st do not know what they do 23 For since they from their Lord are so disjointed As to contemn those Edicts he appointed How can they prize the Power of his Anointed 24 Augment my Patience nullifie my hate Preserve my Issue and inspire my Mate Yet though We perish bless this Church and State THE LIFE OF Charles I. CHARLES I. King of Great Britain France and Ireland was the Son of James VI. King of Scots and Anne his Wife a Daughter of Denmark By His Father descended to him all the Rights together with their blood of all our Ancient both Saxon and Norman Kings to this Empire For the Lady Margaret Sister and sole Heir of Edgar Atheling the last surviving Prince of the English Saxons being married to Malcolme Conmor King of Scots conveyed to his Line the Saxon and Margaret Daughter of Henry VII married to James IV. did bring the Norman Titles and Blood From this Imperial Extract He received not more Honour than He gave to it For the blood that was derived to Him elaborated through so many Royal veins He delivered to Posterity more maturated for Glory and by a constant practice of Goodness more habituated for Vertue He was born at Dunfermeling one of the principal Towns of Fife in Scotland on November 19. Anno 1600. in so much weakness that His Baptism was hastened without the usual Ceremonies wherewith such Royal Infants are admitted into the Church Providence seeming to consecrate Him to Sufferings from the Womb and to accustom Him to the exchange of the strictures of Greatness for clouds of Tears There was no observation nor augury made at His Birth concerning the sequel of His Life or course of Fortune which are usually related of such whose lives have different occurrences from those in others of the same state Either the fear of His Death made those about Him less observant of any Circumstances which curious minds would have formed into a Prediction He appearing like a Star that rises so near the point of his setting that it was thought there would be no time for calculation Or He being at distance by His Birth from the Succession to the Crown Prince Henry then having the first hopes made men less solicitous to enquire of His future state on whom being born to a private Condition the Fate of the Kingdom did not depend But in the third year of His Age when King James was preparing himself to remove to the English Throne a certain Laird of the Highlands though of very great age came to the Court to take his leave of him whom he found accompanied with all his Children After his address full of affectionate and sage Advice to which his gray hairs gave authority to the King his next application was to Duke CHARLES Anno 1602. for in the second year of His Age He was created Duke of Albany Marquess of Ormond Earl of Ross and Baron of Ardmanock whose hands he kiss'd with so great an ardencie of affection that he seemed forgetful of a separation The King to correct his supposed mistake advised him to a more present observance of Prince Henry as the Heir of his Crown of whom he had taken little notice The old Laird answered that he knew well enough what he did and that It was this Child who was then in His Nurses arms who should convey his name and memory to the succeeding ages This then was conceived dotage but the event gave it the credit of a Prophecie and confirmed that opinion That some long-experienced souls in the world before their dislodging arrive to the height of prophetick Spirits Anno 1603. When he was three years old He was committed to the Care and Governance of Sir Robert Cary's Lady as a reward for being the first Messenger of Queen Elizabeth's death whose long life had worn the expectation of the Scotish Nobility into a suspicion that the Lords of England would never acknowledge her to be dead as long as there was any old Woman of that Nation that could wear good cloaths and personate the Majesty of a Queen Anno 1604. In the fourth year after He had wrestled with a Feaver He was brought in October to the English Court at Windsor where on January 6. following having the day before been made Knight of the Bath He was invested with the title of Duke of York and in the sixth year Anno 1606 was committed to the Pedagogy of Mr. Thomas Murray a person well qualified to that Office though a favourer of Presbytery Under this Tutor and confined to a retiredness by the present weakness of His body He was so diligent and studious that He far advanced in all that kind of Learning which is necessary for a Prince without which even their natural Endowments seem rough and unpleasant in despight of the splendour 〈◊〉 their fortune His proficiency in Letters was so eminent that Prince Henry taking notice of it to put a jest upon Him one day put the Cap of the Archbishop Abbot who was then with the Prince and the Duke and
wherein He acquitted Himself with a Bravery equal to His Dignity And on the Sunday following attending his Father to the Sermon at St Paul's Cross and to the Service in the Quire He shewed as much humble Devotion there as he had manifested Princely Gallantry in his Justs admired and applauded by the People for His accomplishments in the Arts both of War and Peace That he could behave Himself humbly towards his God and bravely towards His Enemy pleased with the hardiness of His Body and ravished with His more generous Mind that the pleasures of the Court had not softned one to sloth nor the supreamest Fortune debauched the other to Impiety Anno 1622. Confident in these and other evidences of a wise conduct the King without acquainting his Council sends the Prince into Spain there to contract a Marriage with the Infanta and as a part of the Portion to recover the Palatinate which His Sisters Husband had lost and was by the Emperour canteld to the Duke of Bavaria and the King of Spain And herein He was to combae all the Artists of State in that Court the practices of tha Church and put an issue to that Treaty wherein the Lord Digby though much conversant in the Intrigues of that Council had been long cajoled To that place He was to pass Incognito accompanied only with the Marquess of Buckingham Mr. Endymion Porter and Mr. Francis Cottington through France where to satisfie His Curioâ—â—râ— and shew Himself to Love He attempted and enjoyed a view of the Court at Paris and there received the first Impression of that Excellent Princess who was by Heaven destined to His chast embraces Satisfied with that sight no lesser enjoyments of any pleasure in that great Kingdom nor Vanity of Youth which is hardly curbed when it is allyed to power could tempt His stay or a discovery of His Greatness but with a speed answerable to an active body and mind He out-stripped the French Posts which were sent to stop Him although that King had intelligence of His being within his Dominions immediately after their departure from the Louvre The certain news of His safe arrival at Madrid drew after Him from hene a Princely Train and raised the Censures of the World upon the King As being too forgetful of the Inhospitality of Princes to each other who when either Design Tempests or Necessity have driven their Rivals in Majesty upon their Coasts without a Caution they let them not part without some tribute to their Interest and a fresh example of this was in the King 's own Mother who seeking refuge in England with her Sister Queen Elizabeth from a Storm at home did lose both her Liberty and Life This none daring to mind the King of his Jester Archee made him sensible by telling him He came to change Caps with him Why said the King Because replied Archee Thou hast sent the Prince into Spain from whence He is never like to return But said the King what wilt thou say when thou seest Him come back again Marry says the Jester I will take off the Fools Cap which I now put upon thy Head for sending Him tither and put it on the King of Spain 's for letting Him return This so awakened the King's apprehension of the Prince's danger that it drove him into an exceeding Melancholy from which he was never free till he was assured of the Prince's return to his own Dominions which was his Fleet in the Sea and that was not long after For notwithstanding the contrasts of his two prime Ministers there Buckingham and Bristol which were sufficient to amaze an ordinary prudence and disturb the counsels of so young a beginning in the Mysteries of Empire and the Arts of experienced Conclaves the impetuous attempts of the Spanish Clergy either for a Change of His Religion or a Toleration of theirs the Spleen of Olivares whom Buckingham had exsaperated He so dexterously managed the Treaty of Marriage that all the Articles and Circumstances were solemnly sworn to by both Kings By a Civil Letter to the Pope which His Enemies Malice afterwards took as an occasion of Slander He procured a civil return with the grant of a Dispensation baffled the hopes of their Clergy by His Constancy in his own Profession and vindicated it from the odious aspersions of their Priests by causing our Liturgie to be translated into the Spanish Tongue and by His generous miene enthralled the Infanta for whom He had exposed His Liberty Yet having an insight into the practices of that Court that they would not put the Restitution of the Palatinate into the consideration of the Portion but reserve it as a Supersoetation of the Spanish Love and as an opportunity for the Infanta to reconcile the English Spirits who were heated by the late Wars into an hatred of the Spaniards and that this was but to lengthen out the Treaty till they had wholly brought the Palatinate under their power He conformed His mind to the resolves of His Father who said he would never marry his Son with a Portion of His only Sisters Tears and therefore inclined to a rupture But concealing His Purpose and dissembling His Knowledge of their Designs He consulted His own Safety and Return which his Fathers Letters commanded which he so prudently acquired that the King of Spain parted from Him with all those endearments with which departing Friends ceremoniate their Farewels having satisfied Him by a Proxie left with the Earl of Bristol to be delivered when the Dispensation was come Which as soon as He was safe on Ship-board by a private express he commanded him to keep in his hands till further Order Anno 1623. His Return to England which was in October 1623. was entertain'd with so much Joy and Thanksgiving as if He had been the happy Genius of the whole Nation and His entrance into London was as a Triumph for His Wisdom their Bonefires lengthened out the day and their Bells by uncessant ringing forbad sleep to those eyes which were refreshed with His sight Nor could the People by age or sickness he confined at home but despising the prescriptions of their Physicians went to meet Him as restored Health When He had given the King an account of His Voyage and the Spanish Counsels not to restore the Palatinate a Parliament was Summoned which was so zealous of the Honour of the Prince that both Houses Voted an Address to his Majesty that he would no longer Treat but begin a War with Spain and desiring the Prince's Mediation who was always ready to gratifie the Nation therein to His Father they assured Him they would stand by Him with their Lives and Fortunes but yet when the War with the Crown descended unto him they shamefully deserted Him in the beginning of His Reign When neither a Wise nor Peace was any longer to be expected from Spain both were sought for from France by a Marriage with Henrietta Maria the youngest Daughter of Henry the IV.
and Powder out of England that the Court was extremely corrupted and that the matters of Church and State were so out of frame as must tend to a Change There were no Witnesses and the Defendant denying what the Appellant affirmed the Tryal was thought must be by Duel In order to which the King grants a Commission for a Court-Marshal where though the presumptions of Ramsey's guilt were more heightned yet the King hinders any further process by Combat which is doubted whether it be lawful either thinking none so foolish as to strive for Empire which He found so full of Trouble or knowing that Magistracy being the sole Gift of Heaven it was vain to commit a crime in hope of enjoying it or in fear of losing it which was the Principle upon which Excellent Princes have neglected the diligent Inquisition of Conspiracies and fatally continues Hamilton in that favour as did enable him afterwards more falsly to act that Treason of which he was then accused Anno 1632. Some Tumults in Ireland shewed a defect in that Government which made the King send over as Deputy thither the Lord Wentworth a most accomplished Person in affairs of Rule of great Abilities equal to a Minister of State The King 's choice of him he soon justified by reducing that tumultuary people to such a condition of Peace and security as it had never been since its first annexion to this Crown and made it pay for the Charges of its own Government which before was deducted out of the English Treasury their Peace and Laws now opening accesses for Plenty This enjoyment of Peace and Plenty through all the King's Dominions made him mindful of employing some fruits of it to the Honour of that God that caused it and not to let so great a Prosperity wholly corrupt the minds of men to a neglect of Religion which is usual He shewed His own Zeal for the Ornaments of it and spent part of His Treasure towards the repair of St. Paul's Church and by His Example Admonitions and Commands drew many of His Subjects to a Contribution for it and had restored it to its primitive lustre and firmness adorned it to a magnificence equal with the Structure which is supposed the goodliest in the Christian World had not the Malice of His Enemies forced Him to Arms mingled His Morter with the blood of innocent people and sacrilegiously diverted all the Treasure and Materials gathered for this pious design to maintain an impious and unjust War and afterwards to dishonour His Cares for Religion they barbarously made it a Stable for their Horse and Quarters for their unhallowed Foot Anno 1633. Some Reasons of State drew the King from London May 13. to receive the Imperial Crown of Scotland Himself professed that He had no great Stomach to the Journey nor delight in the Nation being a Race of men that under the Scheme of an honest animosity and specious plain dealing were most persidious A full Character of their great Movers Yet as he had been nobly treated all along His Journey by the English Nobility so was He there magnificently received and crowned at Edinburgh June 10. But the King soon found all those Caresses false For the Nobility and Laick Patrons could not concoct His Revocation though legal and innocent of such things as had been stolen from the Crown during His Father's Minority with a Commission for Surrendry of Superiorities and Tithes to be retaken from the King by the present Occupants who could as then pretend no other Title than the unjust usurpation of their Ancestors on such conditions as might bring some Profit to the Crown to which they justly belonged some Augmentation to the Clergy and far more ease and benefit to the Common People whom by advantage of those illegal Tenures they oppressed with a most bitter Vassalage This Act of His Majesty being so full of equity and publick good those whose greatness was builded upon Injustice did not bare-facedly oppose it but endeavoured to hinder that and all the other designs of Peace and Order by opposing in the Parliament next after the Coronation the Act of Ratification of all those Laws which King James had made in that Nation for the better regulating the affairs of that Church both as to the Government and Worship of it This was highly opposed by such as were sensible of their diminution by a legal restitution of their unrighteous Possessions And although the King carried it by the major part of Voices yet to prevent their own fires with the publick Ruine they did most assiduously slander it among the People as the abetting of Popery and the betraying their Spiritual Liberty to the Romish yoke These Calumnies received more credit by the King's Order for a more Decent and Reverend Worship of God at his Royal Chappl at Edinburgh conformably to the English Usage Their noise grew louder by the Consent of their party of Malecontents in England who also took advantage to diffuse their poison from the King's Book of Sports which King JAMES had in his time published in Lancashire and was now ratified by King CHARLES for a more universal Observance The Occasion of which was the Apostasie of many to Popery whose Doctrines and Practices are more indulgent to the licentious through the rigid opinion of some Preachers who equall'd all Recreations on the Sabbath as they call'd it to the most prodigious transgressions On the contrary some of the Ignorant Teachers had perverted many to downright Judaism by the consequence of so strict an Observance of the Sabbath And some over-busie Justices of Peace had suppressed all the Ancient Feasts of the Dedications of Churches The King therefore intended by this edict to obstruct the success of the Enemies on both sides and to free His People from the yoke of this Superstition But such is the weakness of Humane Prudence that the Remedies it applies to one Inconvenience are pregnant of another and whereas the generality of men seldom do good but as necessitated by Law when Liberty is indulged all things are soon filled with Disorder and Confusion And so it happened in this that the Vulgar abusing the King's Liberty which was no more than is granted in other Protestant Churches and committing many undecencies made many well-temper'd Spirits too capable and credulous of those importunate Calumnies of the Faction that His Majesty was not well-affected to Religion Anno 1634. The boldness of the Pickeroons Turks and Dunkirk-Pirates infesting our Coasts damaging our Traffique the usurpation of the Holland Fishers on the King's Dominion in the narrow Seas and His Right disputed in a Tract by the Learned Grotius call the King 's next Cares for His own Honour and the People's Safety But the Remedy appeared exceeding difficult the furnishing of a Navy for so honourable an undertaking being too heavy a burden for His Exchequer which although not emptied by any luxuriant Feasts nor profusely wasted on some prodigal and unthrifty Favourite nor