his Friends charging all his misfortunes upon disloyalty of the Earls and Barons that refus'd him aid whom therefore he fin'd first the seventh part of their Goods after that the thirteenth part of all their Moveables and not content with the aid of their Purses forced them at last with the hazard of their Persons to attend him in the prosecution of a no less chargeable then disadvantageous War where the recovery of part of his own indangered the total loss of their own Estates This as it was grievous to the Subject in general so more particularly to the Nobility being most of them descended out of Normandy and by his ill management shut out of their ancient Inheritances there had no other satisfaction for their Losses but by improving what was left here who finding themselves thus doubly damnified were inraged to that degree that using a Martial freedom sutable to the necessity of that stimulation by which they were urg'd they began to recollect all the wrongs done them by his Grandfather Father and Brother and to shew they were in earnest insisted upon renewing the great Charter of their Liberties neither were they unprovided of Arguments or Arms this contumacy of theirs being countenanced by the sullen Retirement of his own Brother Jeoffry the Archbishop who chose rather to cast himself into voluntary Exilement then submit any longer to his Tyranny In vain now demands he Pledges of their Faith whilst they believed him himself to have none Sending to the Lord Bruce for his Son to be deliver'd as an Hostage to him he receiv'd an answer from the Mother which it seems exprest the affections if not the sense of the Father That they would not commit their Son to his keeping who was so ill a keeper of his own Brothers Son which rash return cost him afterward his Estate her her life with the loss of two for the saving one only Child a Revenge so fully executed that it could meet with no counterbuff but what must come from Heaven Here began the breach that disjoynted the whole frame of his Government the King resolving to keep what by advantage of time and sâ—fferance he had got the Barons continuing as obstinately bent to recover what their Predecessors had so tamely lost Both sides prepare for War and whilst they face and parle like men loath to ingage yet scorning to quit their Cause either alike confident to hope the best and not unlike active to prevent the worst a new accident parted them by presenting a new Enemy which made the War give place as it were to a single Combat The Pope not allowing the King the Priviledge of Nominating a Successor to the deceased Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he makes a Truce I cannot call it a Peace with his Domestick Adversaries to try his Fortune with his Forreign Foe The Contest was not like that of Jacob and Esau who should be born first but like that of Caesar and Pompey who should be uppermost Now as desire of Rule brought these two great Champions into the List so the confidence each other had in his strength and skill to handle his Weapon made them unreconcileable The Pope made the first Pass who threatning to interdict the Kingdom was answer'd with a Menace of confiscating all the Lands of the Clergy and banishing their Persons The second Thrust given by his Holiness was a Threat of Excommunication of the Kings Person To this he returned that he would utterly disavow his Authority Thus far they were upon the even Terms and as it were hit for hit upon the next Pass they closed and as men desperately bent either maked good his Charge The Pope shuts up the Church doors the King those of the Cloysters the first took away all the Sacraments leaving the dead to bury the dead without Priest Prayer or Procession The last seized on all the Ecclesiastical Revenues and disposed them into lay-Lay-hands Whilst they were thus in close grapple the King of France appeared as second to the Triple Crown Had the Barons then stept in as second to their King they had not only made good their own Honour as well as his but probably had secur'd the Liberties they contended for without any force there being more to be hoped for from this Kings Generosity then his Justice but which was most degenerous and leaves a stain upon their memory never to be washed off they finding him thus overlaid turn'd all their points upon his back poyson'd with the venome of the most opprobrious Calumnies that ever Majesty suffer'd under the Infamy of being not only a Tyrant but an Infidel all which he was fain to bear with more Constancy of Mind then Fortune But as we see a wild Boar when beaten out of breath chuses rather to dye upon the Spears of the Hunters then to be wearied by the Dogs so his Rancor turning into disdain he yielded to his Nobler Enemies and chose rather then not have his Revenge upon them whom he thought God and Nature had put under his dispose to humble himself to the Church hoping as 't is thought by their Keys to unlock the Rebels Power but over-acting his Revenge he stoop'd so low that the Crown fell from his Head which the Popes Legate taking up kept three dayes before he thought fit to restore it verifying thereby the Prediction of a poor innocent Hermite who foretold that there should be no King of England which however it was true yet being in some sense untrue too 't was in the Prerogative of him who never spar'd where he could shed Blood to make his own Interpretation which cost the poor Prophet his Life The Barons finding him thus incens'd and seeing how to make good his Revenge he had quit his Soveraignty they resolv'd to quit their Allegiance to make good their Security intending to call in the Dolphin of France and swear Fealty to him whilst the Common People were left to their Election whether to take the wrong King that promis'd to do them Right or the right King that persisted to do them so much wrong who as little understanding the Principles of Religion as the dictates of Reason the Bonds of Command and Obedience that should hold them together seem'd so wholly slackned that there was upon the Matter no other Tye on them then that of their Interest which sway'd them variously according to the divers Measures they took of it But as there are many Ligaments in a State that bind it so fast together that 't is a hard thing to dissolve them altogether unless by an universal concurrence of Causes that produce a general alteration thereof it being seldom seen of what temper soever Kings are but that they find under the greatest desertion imaginable a very considerable Party to stand by them upon the accompt of Affection or Ambition Honour or Conscience so this King the first of England we find put to this streight had yet many Members of Note and Power besides his chief
maintenance of their Authority the King himself was compell'd by Oath as he was a Man a Christian a Knight a King Crown'd and anointed to uphold them and acquit them of their Legal Obedience whensoever he went about to infringe the great Charter by which they held this Prerogative Here they had him bound up hand and foot with that Curse upon him which his Father of all others most dreaded and with which his Flatterers most terrified him whenever the Dispute of Liberty came in question of being a King without a Kingdom a Lord without a Dominion a Subject to his Subjects for they had invaded his Majesty usurp'd his Authority and made themselves so far Masters of his Person that they might seize it whenever they pleas'd to declare for a Common-wealth And now to make the Affront more notable as if they had forgotten what was the Fundamental Grievance on which their Usurpation was grounded the Entertainment of Strangers they take a Stranger to head them making Monford who was a French man by Birth and Descent their Chief who having designs of his own different from theirs as the Earl of Gloucester his Compeer found when 't was too late indeavour'd so to widen all Differences betwixt King and People that if possible there might never be a right Understanding betwixt them The King therefore well knowing his Malice and not being ignorant of his Ambition fell first upon him causing the Lord Mortimer to break in amongst his Tenants who quickly righted himself upon those of Mortimer's with whom the Prince thereupon took part as Llewellin Prince of Wales with t'other The Prince takes Brecknock-Castle Monford that of Gloucester and after that those of Worcester and Shrewsbury from whence he marched directly to the Isle of Ely without Resistance The King fearing his approach to London like those who to save their Lives in a Storm are content to sling their Goods overboard demanded a Peace and willingly yielded up all his Castles into the hands of the Barons to the intent they might be as a publick Security for the inviolable Observation of the Provisions of Oxford conceding to the banishment of all the Strangers that were left This Condescention of his however occasion'd rather a Truce then a Peace of which he had this benefit to gain time till he could be better provided A Parliament being hereupon call'd at London the freedom of Debate there renew'd the Quarrel and each side confident of the Justice of their Arms at Northampton they came to Battel which however it was well fought yet the worst Cause had the worst Success The Barons were beaten and amongst other Prisoners of note that were then taken was the young Monford the Heir and Hope of his Father Leicester and Fortune thus uniting with Authority made the Barons stoop though they could not submit to beg the Peace they had before refus'd wherein being rejected with scorn they became desperate who were before but doubtful which Leicester perceiving and being a man skilful in such advantages took that opportunity to bring them to a second Battel in which he supply'd his want of Hands with a Stratagem that shew'd he had no want of Wit placing certain Ensigns without Men on the side of a Hill not far from the place where he gave the onset whereby he so fortunately amuz'd the Enemy that he easily obtain'd a Victory and such an one as seem'd to turn the Scale beyond all possibility of Recovery For in it were taken the King himself his Brother the late King of the Romans the Prince and most of the principal Lords and by killing Five thousand of the common People on the place he so terrified all the rest of the Royal Party that for a year and an half afterwards no body durst look him in the Face all which time he spent in reducing the Kingdom under his own dispose putting in and out whom he pleas'd and filling up all places Military and Civil with Creatures of his own carrying the King about with him as a skilful Rebel to countenance the Surrender of Towns and Castles to him continuing thus the insolence of his Triumph till it swell'd to that disproportionate Greatness that his Confederate Gloucester began to be jealous if not afraid of it and out of that Distrust quarrel'd with him upon pretence of not having made equal distribution of the Spoil nor Prisoners charging him to have releas'd whom he pleas'd and at what rate without the consent of the rest of the Confederacy urging further that he did not suffer a Parliament to be conven'd as was agreed betwixt them to the end himself might be Arbitrary Lastly objected that his Sons were grown Insolent by his Example and had affronted several of the adhering Barons who would have satisfaction of him During this Dispute the Prince by connivance of some of the discontented Faction broke Prison to whom Gloucester joyn'd himself and rallying together the scatter'd Parties that had long attended the advantage of such a turn they made themselves so considerable that in short time they were able to bring the business to a poise Leicester put it to the Decision of another Battel but not without apparent dispondency as appears by what he said when they were going to give the first Charge for he told those Lords that were nearest him That they would do well to commit their Souls to God for that their Bodies were the Enemies However he omitted nothing that might speak him as he was a brave and valiant General till his Son first and after himself were slain at the instant of whose fall there happen'd such a Clap of Thunder as if Heaven it self had fought against him and that none could have given him his death but that power to which he owed his life And so the King was rid of him whom he once declar'd to have been more affraid of then of Lightning and Thunder a Person too great for a Subject and something too little to be a King But had he as he was descended from the stock of * His Father was Simon youngest Son of Simon Earl of Fureux descended from Almerick base Son of Robert sirnam'd the Holy King of France Kings master'd the Fate of this day he had undoubtedly made himself one and broke off the Norman Line to begin a new Race not less noble This happy Victory gave the King some ease but 't was not in the power of any Force to give him perfect rest whilst the distemperature of the Time was such that the Wound which seem'd perfectly heal'd broke out afresh Gloucester himself though he had deserted his old Competitor Leicester would not yet quit the good old Cause but imbracing the very first Occasion of Discontent he met with retired three years after from Court and having got new Forces sinds out new Evil Counsellors to remove Mortimer the great Man of merit with the King is now become the Object of his Envy and rather then not have
time they agniz'd his Right they admitted a Protestation for saving the Right of another James to wit the Duke of Chasteau Herauld who it seems had some Pretensions in Right of his Great-Grandmother the Daughter and Heir of James the Second So that this was as yet but to make him a King in Name and shew whilst he must continue under the Pupilage of Ambitious Regents that design'd rather to give Laws to him then advise him how to give Laws to others 'T is true whilst he was under the care of those two Patriots of known Honour and Loyalty his Grandfather Matthew Earl of Lenox and the old Earl of Marre the one his Governour by the right of Nature t'other by that of Custom he had some Satisfaction though no Security for how could they be able to protect him that were not able to defend themselves the first of them being murther'd the last heart-broke by the insupportable Troubles he met with in his short breath'd Regency But how melancholy a life he lead under his next Regent the Earl of Morton who under pretence of keeping all Papists and Factious Persons from him suffer'd him to see almost no body appears by that strict Order of his by which every Earl was forbid to approach his Presence with any more then two attending him every Baron with any above one and all of lesser Quality were not to come but single Upon this 't is true the offended Nobility to affront Morton declar'd him Major and made some shew of leaving him to his own dispose but in respect he was but twelve years old they thought fit to appoint him eleven Lords more to be assistant in Councel to him three and three by turns which in effect was to put twelve Regents over him instead of one which was design'd by some that intended their own advancement more then his Thus he suffer'd during the Nonage of his years How he suffer'd further during the Nonage of his Power will appear in the Sequel For Morton notwithstanding the Prescript Form of Government drew to himself being one of the twelve the Administration of all Affairs and keeping the Power still within his own hands as the King within his own Power admitted none to see or speak with him but whom he thought fit whereby he was now brought to loose his Liberty wholly because t'other had loss his Authority in part only This Tyranny held till the Lords headed by the Earl of Athole freed him by force of Arms After which believing himself clearly manumitted out of his Pupillage to shew himself accountable to none but himself he began to single out such Friends for his Confidents as by nearness of Blood or the nobleness of their Natures he judg'd most worthy to be trusted Two there were above the rest on whom he seem'd to cast a disproportionate Grace these were Esme Lord Aubigny Grandson of the Lord John Stuart his Grandfathers younger Brother whom he created first Earl and after Duke of Lenox and Charles Earl of Arran who being a Hamilton was his near Kinsman too but both of them being suspected to be of the French Faction it gave fresh occasion of offence to the chief of the Factions there and no less umbrage to the jealous Queen here who knew the former of the two to be much honoured by the Guises This new conceiv'd Envy heightned the old Rancor of the mutinous Nobility and made them have recourse to the same Remedy for prevention of the same Mischief as before whereunto there being a fair opportunity given by the absence of these Lords the one being in a Journey t'other at Edenburgh the Earl of Gowry with whom confederated the young Earl of Marre and the Earl of Lindsey finding the King alone at St. Johnstons invited him over to his Castle of Reuthen As soon as they had him there they made him Prisoner and accusing the two Lords as Enemies to the Protestant Religion having first put all his trusty Servants from him they forc'd him by an Instrument under his Hand and Seal to banish the Lord Aubigny and to imprison the Lord Arran and which was yet more insupportable compell'd him to approve all that they did by Letters to Queen Elizabeth But it was not long ere the death of the Duke of Lenox in France who 't is said however dyed a Protestant made the Conspirators so secure in the possession of him that he found the means to make his escape from them And recovering himself now the second time as one that once more became Lord of himself he recall'd his trusty Councellor the Lord Arran by whose advice he was guided in all his Concerns This so provoked Gowry beyond all patience that in defiance of all Reason as well as of all Right he made a second attempt upon him But as those who are fore-warn'd are fore-arm'd so the King having an eye upon him defeated his purpose and made him what he should himself have been made by him a Prisoner at Mercy whilst his Complices escap'd into England to seek Protection from Q. Elizabeth Who hoping to have prevented Gowry's Sentence dispatch'd away her Secretary Walsingham to the King to admonish him to take heed how he was led away by evil Counsellors and to shew him how difficult a thing it was to distinguish betwixt good and bad Counsel at his Age being then but eighteen years old to which the King return'd a sudden not to say a sharp Answer That he was an absolute Prince and would not that others should appoint him Counsellors whom he liked not Wherewith the testy Queen was so offended that she set her Terriers upon Incouraging the factious Ministry whereof there was good store there and those fit Tools for her purpose to say those things which became not her to own who clamoring upon his Government and raising many slanders upon Himself and Councel tending to the making them Popishly affected were thereupon cited to Answer for their Seditious Practises But they refused to appear avowing that the Pulpit was exempt from all Regal Authority and that no Ecclesiastical Persons were accomptible for what they preach'd to any but to God and their Consistory In the mean time the Queen follow'd the blow and furnishing the proscrib'd Lords with Money secretly dismiss'd them home Who as soon as they return'd upon the Credit of declaring for the Confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel for freeing the King from evil Counsellors and maintaining Amity with the Protestant Interest of England rais'd Eight thousand men in an Instant with whom they marched up directly to Court and so far surpriz'd the King that he was forced to render himself to them and to ingage to give up to their Mercy all their Adversaries and who they were was left to their own liberty to declare Next he was compell'd to put into their hands the four Keys of the Kingdom Dumbritton Edinburgh Tantallon and Sterling Castles After which Glames one of the principal Rebels was
third Monarch of the English II. date of accession 534 KENRICK his Son succeeded him both in the Kingdom and Monarchy III. date of accession 561 CHEVLIN his Son was the fifth Monarch but his Power being not adaequate to his Fame he in 33 years time could not so settle himself but that he was dispossest by his Brother IV. date of accession 592 CEARLICK who being not so good at keeping as in getting the Kingdom into his hands was himself depos'd in like manner by V. date of accession 598 CHELWOLPH Son of Cuth fifth Son of Kenrick a Prince worthy the Greatness he inherited who notwithstanding he was assaulted by the Picts and Scots and East-Angles all at once kept his Ground and left it to his Successor VI. date of accession 622 KINGILLS a Prince famous for his piety and courage who left his Son VII date of accession 643 KENWALD to succeed him whose beginning may be compar'd to the worst his ending to the best of Kings renouncing first his Faith after his Wife both which though he afterwards retain'd yet the sin stuck so close to him that the first left him without a Kingdom the last without a Son whereby VIII date of accession 675 ESWIN of the Line of Chelwolph took place who for six years kept out the right Heir IX date of accession 677 KENWIN younger Son of Ringills who utterly expuls'd all the Briâ—ains and forc'd them to seek their safety in those inaccessable Mountains of Wales whereby his Successor X. date of accession 686 CEADWALD had so much leisure as to fall upon his nearest Neighbours the South-Sexe and weaken them so far that they were forc'd to yield to his Successor XI INE worthily esteem'd the greatest Prince of his time and the most magnificent yet withal the most humble he dyed in a Pilgrimage to Rome nominating XII date of accession 762 ETHELWARD the Son of Oswald the Son of Ethelbald descended from Kenwaâ—d his Successor who reign'd fourteen years and left the Scepter to his Brother XIII date of accession 740 CUTHRED whose heart being broken by seeing his Son murther'd the Crown came to XIV SIGEBERT one whose vices were less obscure than his Parentage who murthering one of the best of his Friends was himself slain by one of the basest of his Enemies a Swineherd whereby XV. date of accession 755 KENWOLFE succeeded a person worthy of better sate than he met with being slain by the hand of an Outlaw at a time when he did not expect and consequently was not prepar'd for death and so XVI date of accession 784 BITHRICK succeeded the last King of this House lineally descended from Cerdick who being poyson'd by his own Queen this Kingdom came to Egbert the Son of Ingils and Brother of Ine who reduc'd the whole Heptarchy into a Monarchy and therefore worthily led the Van to the absolute Monarchs of England THIS was the third Kingdom of the Heptarchy and deservedly so call'd if we consider the largeness of its extent which measur'd by the Line of Circumvallation reach't if some of our modern Geographers say true above 700 miles in compass being commonly call'd the Kingdom of the West-Sexe by Bede the Kingdom of the Genevises by Cambrensis from Genesius Grandfather to Cerdick who had the honour to be esteem'd the first Founder of it although in truth he rear'd but a small part of this stately Fabrick the rest being the work of Time and Fortune and came not to perfection in almost 500 years He was for his fierceness sirnam'd the Dragon possibly in imitation of the British Kings who had that title and having beaten * The Britaine call'd him Mâ—â—ge Coâ—â—â—â—â— Natanleod the Dragon of the Western Britains forc'd him to retreat and leave 5000 of his people behind him in possession of no more of their own ground than serv'd to make them one common Grave from whom 't is thought he took this Shield of the Dragon He was thereupon declar'd the third Monarch of the English men his Son Kenrick was the fourth and his Grandson Cheulin the fifth Each of these shar'd with him in the honour of being the first raisers of this Kingdom the establisher of it was King Kenwin the ninth Monarch who expuls'd all the Britains the first that enlarg'd it was Ceadwald the tenth King who having made his way to the Conquest of Kent by that of the South-Sexe left his Successor Ine worthily therefore sirnam'd the Great to give his Neighbours a true estimate of his power by that of his wealth and a measure of his wealth by that of his munificence whereof there needs no other instances than in the Foundation of the Abbey of Glastenbury the Furniture of whose Chappel only took up 2835 pound weight of Silver and 337 pound weight of Gold a vast sum for those days which being for the ornamental part only could not be comparable to that which was left for the endowment He Founded also the Cathedral Church of Wells the West part whereof is perhaps one of the most stately Fabricks in the known World Yet neither of these are more lasting Monuments than those of his Laws translated for their excellency by the learned Lambert into Latin as being the Foundation of what we are govern'd by so long since This was he that gave the first Eleemosinary Dole of Peter-pence to the Church of Rome which was exacted in the next Age as a Tribute In this mans Reign this Kingdom was at its heighth declining after his death insensibly till the time of Egbert who being the Darling of Fortune as well as of his own Subjects and a Prince of great towardliness after he had corrected his youth by the experience he had in the Wars under Charles the Great being the first of all the Saxon Princes that were educated abroad he got so far the advantage of all his home-bred Contemporaries that he easily soar'd above the common height of Majesty and beat up the seven Crowns into one which placing on his own head he not only gave those Laws but that Name to the whole Isle which continued till King James his Reign who uniting Scotland to the rest of the Terra firma not reduc'd altered the style of King of England into that which only could make it greater writing himself King of Great Britain to which August and most Imperial Title we now pay homage and may we ever do so THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF EAST-SEXE IV. I. date of accession 527 ERCHENWIN the Son of Offa Great-Grandson of Sneppa third in descent from Seaxnod third Son of Woden the common Progenitor of the Saxons began this Kingdom with the happiness of a long Reign which however it be seldome desir'd was certainly very advantagious to his Successor II. date of accession 587 SLEDDA who thought the readiest way to keep what his Predecessor got was to add to it what his Successors were not like to keep a Peace with the Kings of Kent his next Neighbours
confirm'd by an Allyance with Ethelbert the Proto-Christian who converted his Son III. SIGEBERT that in honour to his Religion made that League perpetual which after his death was broken by his three graceless Sons IV. date of accession 609 SERED SEWARD SIGEBERT Who rul'd together like Brethren in Iniquity persecuting all that were Christians till Ingill the West-Saxon converted but a little before revenged the holy Cause by putting a period to their Triumvirat upon which V. date of accession 623 SIGEBERT Son of the middlemost took place he was surnam'd The Little probability of his little Credit rather then his little Person being so detested by his People that they put by his Son and Brother to admit another of the same Name but of different Temper VI. date of accession 640 SIGEBERT the third Son of Sigebald younger Brother of Sigebert the first who declaring for Christianity was surnam'd The Good and being murther'd during the minority of his Son his Brother VII date of accession 661 SWITHELM succeeded as if to taste of Royalty only falling under the same fate by the same hand and for the same cause by whose death VIII date of accession 663 SIGEHERE the Son of Sigebert the Little assisted by his Uncle Sebba got into the Throne His Successor was IX date of accession 664 SEBBA the Saint on whom Bede fastens that famous Miracle of lengthning the Marble Chest in which his Body was laid which he says was too short by a foot for the Corps till the Body was put into it which who so believes must stretch his Faith as much Successor to him was X. date of accession 694 SIGEHERE the Second one fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch giving up his Scepter for a pair of Beads to his Brother XI date of accession 698 SEOFRID who if he rul'd not with him rul'd very little after him and then came XII date of accession 701 OFFA the Son of Sigehere to succeed who impoverish'd himself by inriching the Church and having quit his Wife to perform a Pilgrimage to Rome tempted her to quit the World and become a Nun whereby either lost the other and both the hopes of any Issue which made well for XIII date of accession 709 SELRED the Son of Sigebert the Good whose old Age was crown'd with an unexpected Succession but he took not so much pleasure in it as to survive it whereby XIV date of accession 740 SUTHRED fill'd up his place who involv'd in the Fate of Baldred King of Kent attacht by the West-Saxons lost this as t'other did that Kingdom whereby it became a Province under the Victorious Egbert IN the midst of the Universal Conflagrations that near about this time began to spread over the Face of the whole Isle the flames whereof were not otherwise to be quench'd but by the blood of the miserable Natives it so â—apned that Essex however nearest to those Countries that first felt the sharpness of the Saxon Swords had the good Fortune to preserve it self untoucht till about the year 527 when Erchenwin landing in Norfolk and taking thence a view of the neighbouring Vales imagin'd there went no more to the taking possession then to enter and make a boâ—d claim But finding the Inhabitants obstinately resolv'd to make their Graves in no other place but where their Bones might mix with those of their Ancestors 't is hard to say Whether his Fury or his Fear prevail'd most with him whilst being ingaged beyond the safety of a Retreat he made his way into the heart of their Country with that precipitate Courage as if he had designed to fly through them into the Provinces beyond which they perceiving like men well acquainted with the violence of such Land Floods made him way to pass into Kent where promising to become a Feodary to that Prince he return'd him with that additional Strength as made him not only Master of this but by uniting Middlesex and a great part of Hertfordshire gave him the honour of setting up a fourth Kingdom call'd that of the East-Sexe which however it was not very great was well fortifi'd with the Ocean on the East the Thames on the South-side the River Coln on the West and the Stour on the North-side and being establish'd by the advantage of a long and peaceable Reign and the reputation of the Allyance he had with the potent King of Kent he was secur'd so far on that side as to put him in condition of securing himself on the other till such time as the East-Angles and the Mercian by the Interposition of their Territories betwixt him and the Common Enemy left him regardless of any further danger but withal so enervated his Successor that being seldome arm'd and never active Fortune grew out of Love with them and never vouchsafed any one of them the honour to be rang'd amongst the Monarchs of the Isle a favour every other House alternately enjoy'd according to the variation or vicissitude of their Successes but however they attained less it appears they aim'd at greater Glory then any of their Neighbours being the second Kingdom that oppenly profess'd Christianity and those that gave it the best entertainment Sacrificing to the Church what others spent in War being repaid with Pardons Benedictions and Indulgences whilst they liv'd and with Shrines Miracles and Canonizations after they were dead Kings in that Age being no less ambitious to be Sainted then Saints in our Age to be made Kings And to say truth they were better Men then Monarchs taking more care of the business of Religion then of State relying more on the Forces of the Kings of Kent with whom they had contracted a perpetual League having been hatch'd under their wings then on their own proper Strength whereby it fell out that they were crush'd with t'others fall and at the same time submitted to the same Fate to be a Province to the West-Saxon So easie it is to conquer those that contribute to their own destruction taking upon them to protect the unfortunate Baldred when they were not able to defend themselves But it is less strange that they fail'd now then that they held out so long their Territories being the very least of the whole Heptarchy and they the laziest of the whole Nation their Majesty being preserv'd by a kind of Antiperistasis lying incompassed with three puissant Neighbours Kent Mercia and West-Sexe who like three great Doggs equally match'd kept this Bone untouch'd betwixt them for two hundred and eighty years in which large portion of time they were preserv'd as by Miracle from the fury of either of them that wanted not appetites to desire nor mouths to devour nor perhaps occasion to urge them to fall upon them but restrain'd by the sense of eithers equal Power they left it to Fortune to give the odds who having declared on the West-Saxon side he run down all at last THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF MERCIA V. I. date of accession 560 CRIDDA the
of Baptism and new promises given at the taking their new Names to be true to the old League of their Predecessors they obtain'd a Truce so like a Peace that it wanted only age to make it so and therewithal an opportunity of recovering fresh strength as well as malice after which like Snakes that had felt the heat of the Sun they began to hiss and shew that the Water pour'd out upon their heads had not power to quench the Fire in their hearts which breach of Faith urg'd the young King to take a voyage into the North where finding that they had fortifi'd themselves with the Alliance of the Prince of Cumberland he prepar'd to give them Pattle upon the Forder of Northumberland in which dispute having got the better of them he pursu'd his Victory till he overtook the two treacherous Sons of Dunmale their Confederate to whom he cruelly gave their lives but on such a condition as was worse than death it self for at the same time he took from them both their Eyes and their Inheritance the first never to be recover'd the last almost as desperate for he bestow'd it on Milcolmb King of Scots to be held of him in grand Serjeanty by the service of bearing the Sword before him as oft as he came into those parts the two Renegado's Anlaff and Reignold made their escape into the Isles and thence into Ireland thinking themselves scarce secure at that distance Thus satiated with Victory and Triumph the fruits of vigilance and fortitude he return'd back to fortifie himself by the most noble actions of Peace binding his Subjects to him by the Ponds of so good Laws that the memory of some of them are continued to this day savouring of a wisdom rarely to be found in so green years which as it made him revear'd in his life-time so much more pity'd in his death when he fell by the hands of an Out-Law who thrust him through the Body as he was endeavouring to part two of his domestick Servants that were so insolent to begin a Fray in his own house and presence which fatal Accident was not more unlucky to himself than to his Children the eldest whereof being but four the youngest scarcely two years old at his death were without any great difficulty put besides the Succession by their Uncle Eadred EADRED date of accession 946 THE Activity of the Danes after they came to get Footing enforc'd the English to make many Ruptures out of course in the Succession of their Kings breaking off their Lines where at any time it seem'd weak and uniting it together again in the strongest place doubting lest the Imbecility of one that had been either a Fool or a Child might be an occasion of letting the common Enemy in upon them Upon which account this King was preferr'd before his Nephews the right Heirs he being of age and they not his Title of Election out-weighing theirs of Succession as being more agreeable to the necessity of those rough and boysterous Times however there were always some found that durst oppose the common Choice mov'd by particular Interests giving their Kings so continued Alarums that they were not seldom forc'd to lay aside their Royal Robes and cloath themselves in Steel And this I take to be the Case of this particular King who was put to a greater expence of Treasure than Blood by the frequent Revolts for they were not worthy the name of Rebellions of such who upon the account of discontent and faction gave him more trouble than danger baffling his Courage by long Marches to reduce them when indeed they were subdued by their own fears before he could reach them Now as that which yields deads the force of violent motions and causes them to lose their execution so he by not being resisted return'd still a Conquerour without a Conquest till involv'd in the common Fate of all Victors who weakned by often overcoming are at last overcome by themselves his Fury spent it self like Thunder after much Lightning without any great harm done all his Glory being by this means turn'd into a kind of Mockery the Danes as well as the Rebels playing fast and loose with him at that rate that betwixt War and Peace he was neither safe nor quiet finding continual matter of Indignation or Scorn till Fortune by bringing him so often on to fight with Air made him secure and by that means left the Enemy an opportunity to steal a Victory that they durst not try to force from him After which death stole behind him and broke the Glass of his Soveraignty before it had run out full ten years too short a space to secure the Liberties of his People much less to allay their Fears who terrifi'd with the various Ensigns of an Implacable Enemy basely declin'd all noble Occasions of Revenge and shamefully lost all that they possess'd by the same way they first got it EDWIN date of accession 955 IT hath been observ'd that the self-same Weapons Time uses to overcome the Body are by the Understanding us'd to subdue Time And by this means it prevails with Fame to allow that Glory to Patience which Fortune not seldome denies to Fortitude but this seems to be a secret which this young King either did not know or not regard by which Animadversion his Memory became obnoxious to much Obloquy and Scandal which his Youth might otherwise have excus'd or the Age he liv'd in pardon'd For not caring to humour those that then would be esteem'd the best of men I mean the Clergy for that Cause only he fell under the Reproach of being himself one of the worst of Kings The truth is he was very severe toward the Priesthood upon account of their Laziness which provok'd them by way of Recrimination to declaim as much against him for his Lasciviousness their Revenge appearing to be like themselves truly Spiritual in that it surviv'd the Occasion and proved so immortal a Defamation as is like to continue as long as there is any mention made of him in any Story his Vices being represented in such a Magnifying Glass as dilated them to a degree of Deformity more suitable to a Monster then a Man For they accus'd him to have ravish'd a Young Lady the same hour that he was anointed King and to make it yet more horrid avow'd that he did it in the sight of all the People and particularly of her own Husband whom after he had tortur'd with the shame of so unparallel'd an indignity he afterward murther'd But how improbable this is each Reader may judge And those that consider how Venial a sin Venery was in those times will conclude his greatest Crime to be the taking of Abbot Dunstan by the Nose in like manner as it is said he did the Devil who having cheated his Predecessor of a vast Treasure deliver'd to him under secret Trust to which he had most meritoâ—iously entituled the Church he not only compell'd him to vomit
as it serv'd the King of France his turn to serve him he entertain'd him in that Court adversity knows no other Friends nor upon other Terms But King Henry by his mony quickly took him off and Heaven to requite the good turn not long after took off him for whom all this was done punishing his unjust detaining the livelihood of his innocent Nephew William with taking away the life of his own innocent Son William the only hope of his Family who being shipwrackt in his return out of Normandy with a hundred and fifty Passengers more amongst whom was his beloved Sister the Countess of Perch indeavouring to save her lost himself This Clap of Judgment coming in a Calm of glory when all the busling of his Ambition seem'd to be pass'd over so overwhelm'd the Joys of his past successes that as if his Conscience had shrunk at the horror of seeing his oppression and supplantation so repaid with the extinction of that for which he drew all this guilt upon himself 't is said that from that time he never was seen to laugh more and however he strugled with Destiny for more Issue Male marrying not long after a most vertuous and beautiful young Lady yet all was in vain The invenom'd Arrow stuck still in his Liver and for want of other Heirs he was forced to fasten the succession on his Daughter Maud who being intangled in his fate and as apparently Planet-struck as himself could never attain to be a Queen however a Dutchess and an Empress being disappointed by one that had less right and not so good pretence as her own Father And as the main Line of Normandy fail'd in him that was but the third Inheritor so the succession ever since proved so brittle that it never held to the third Heir in a right descent without being put by or receiving some alteration by usurpation or extinction of the Male blood which saith mine Author may teach Princes to let men alone with their Rights and God with his Providence But such is the unhappiness of Kings that they either understand not Destiny so well as private Men or cannot so readily submit to it and as Ambition is a restless passion which however it may be sometimes weary never tires so it urges them to be still pressing upon Fortune with hopes to compel or corrupt her hoping that if she will not be serviceable to them she may at least not oppose them He found that this rent at home had crack'd all the chain of his courses in France whose King took part with his Nephew William whilst his two great Friends Foulk Earl of Anjou and Robert Earl of Mellent declared against him Yet urg'd by his natural diligence or desire of Rule he could not but still push on till by the death of that unfortunate youth before mention'd all the hopes of his Brother Robert perished and came to be entirely his yet neither then could he take any Rest though he had no body to give him any disquiet his Conscience keeping him waking with continual Alarums without any kind of sleep but what was so disturbed and disorderly as declar'd to the whole World all was not well within Often did he rise out of his Bed in the Night and catching up his Sword put himself into a Posture of Defence as against some Personal assault and sometimes in company he would catch hold of his Servants hands as apprehending they were about to draw upon him Thus was he dog'd with continued fears and those such as perhaps were Prophetical of what follow'd that some body should start up as immediately after there did who taking Example from himself should Spurn his ashes and usurp as much upon his Innocent Daughter and her Son as he himself had done upon his innocent Brother and his Son The Breach at which she first entred was made by King Stephen himself who foreseeing the approaching mischief drew on the evil he would avoid by the same way he thought to prevent it for suspecting the Castles he had permitted to be new built with purpose to have broken the force of any over-running Invasion might now as well become receptacles to the adverse Party he commanded them to be deliver'd up into his hands for securing the publick Peace This begat a general murmure that a dispute among the proprietors whereof those of most note being Clergy-men and Lords of great power and stomach presuming upon the Obligation he had to the Church which as they said advanced him to the Crown without any military help refus'd so give up their Keys into the hands of Laymen upon whom as they thought he had not the like tie of honour nor honesty as upon themselves Hereupon the Legate interpos'd who holding himself nearer allied to his Brother Prelates than to his Brother King urg'd the question of priviledg so far that 't was thought there wanted nothing but an opportunity to shew they could more willingly quit their Allegiance as they had done their Liberty than their possessions for King Stephen upon their refusal to obey his Order clapt up several of them in prison This opportunity Maud by her arrival rather gave than took when she made up the Crie and joyn'd her claim with theirs and thereby made the War to be felt before it was perceiv'd which spread it self like a burning Feaver through all the veins of the body politick but raged by Fits only it so happening that they were not seldom parted by the said new built Castles they contested for many of which standing neuter give stops to their Fury as if intended by Providence to allay their heat till it were temperate enough to admit of some Parley but that proving ineffectual like Game-cocks aftertaking breath they fell to it afresh with equal force and equal confidence the whole Nation being divided betwixt them according to their several interest for affections some taking part with her others with him these to discharge their Consciences those their honour some to advance their fortunes others to secure their advancements King Stephen gave every where proof of his courage she of her wisdom both of their diligence either perhaps worthy a greater Empire than they contended for but whilst the Body politick thus miserably tormented with the convulsions of Might and Right languish'd under the growing distemper behold a sudden change which seem'd the more mortal for that the grief seiz'd upon the head The King is taken prisoner with whose liberty one would have thought all the hopes of that side had been lost but it so hapned that the Feminine Victor found herself ingag'd in a more equal Contest with one of her own Sex and as of the same spirit so of the same name King Stephen's Wife takes up the Sword whilst her husband continues a prisoner who not looking that Fortune should fall into her lap was so industrious to catch it and heading her husbands Forces she brought the Title to a second trial with so
Ingraven on it which denoted that wherever that Stone shou d be placed there should the Scotch Dominion take place a Prediction verisied in our days in the Person of King James the Sixth the first of their Kings ever crowned here With this he took away likewise all their Books and Bookmen as if resolved to rob them of all sense of Liberty as well as of Liberty it self only the brave Wallis continued yet Lord of himself and being free kept up their Spirits by the Elixir of his Personal Courage mixt with an Invincible Constancy and Patience till being betray'd by one of his Companions a Villain sit to be canoniz'd in Hell he was forc'd to yield though he would never submit first to the King after to the Laws of England which judging him to dye as a Traytor eterniz'd the Memory of his Fidelity and Fortitude and made him what he could never have made himself the most glorious Martyr that Country ever had No sooner was he dead but Robert Bruce Son to that Robert Earl of Carric who was Competitor with Baliol appeared as a new Vindictor who escaping out of the English Court where he had long liv'd unsuspected headed the confused Body which wanted only a King to unite them in Counsel Power and Affection but unfortunately laying the Foundation of his Security in Blood murthering his Cosin Cumin who had been one of the Competitors upon pretence he held correspondence with King Edward the horror of which fact was aggravated by the manner and place for he took him whilst he was at his Prayers in the Church it cost him no less blood to wipe off that single stain then to defend his Title the Partakers with the Family of Cumin who were many mighty and eager of Revenge joyning thereupon with the English against him This drew King Edward the fourth time personally into Scotland who had he suffered his Revenge to have given place so far to his Justice as to have pursued Bruce as an Offender rather then as an Enemy he might possibly have done more in doing less then he did but he not only sacrific'd the two innocent Brothers of Bruce making them after they became his Prisoners answer with their lives the penalty of their Brother's Guilt but declar'd he would give no Quarter to any of his Party whereby he not only drove them closer together but arm'd them with Desperation which as it hath a keeper edge then hope so it wounded so deep and inraged them to that degree of Courage as not only to give the greatest Overthrow to the greatest Army that ever the English brought thither but to repay the measure of Blood in as full manner as it was given or intended and in the end broke the great Chain of his well laid Design which was to have inâ—arged his Power by reducing the whole Isle Wales being taken in a little before under one Scepter with no less respect to the quiet then the greatness of England but maugre all his Power or Policy they let in a Race of Kings there that found a way to conquer his Successors here without a stroke of which he seems to have had some Prophetick knowledge upon his Death-bed when he took so much care to make his Revenge out-live himself by commanding his Son Edward to carry his Bones round about that Country having just begun his fifth Expedition as he ended his life and not suffer them to be buried till he had vanquish'd it wholly Thus this great King who spent most of his time in shedding others Blood was taken off by the excessive shedding of his own for he dyed of a Dissentery and like Caesar who terrified his Enemies with his Ghost seem'd not willing to make an end with the World afâ—er he had done with it but which never came into any Kings thoughts before or since resolv'd to Reign after his Dominion was determined being confident that his very Name like a Loadstone which attracts Iron to it would draw all the English Swords to follow its fate till they had made good that Union which he with so much harshness and horror had accelerated but as Providence which more respects the unity of Affections then the Unity of Nations did by the * Burrough on the Sands in the Bishoprick of Durham Place where he dyed shew the frailty of that Foundation he laid whilst he liv'd all his Glory expiring with himself so Nature as in abhorrence to the violation of her Laws by the effusion of so much blood as he had shed the most that any Christian King of this Isle ever did turn'd the Blessing she gave him into a Curse whilst she took from him before his Eyes three of his four Sons and the only worthy to have surviv'd him and left him only to survive who only was worthy never to have been born And now whether it was his Fault or his Fate to dote thus upon Gaveston who being only a Minister to his Wantonness could not have gain'd that Power he had over him to make himself so great by lessening him without something like an Infatuation the matter of Fact must declare For before his Coronation he made him Earl of Cornwal and Lord of Man both Honours belonging to the Crown at his Coronation notwithstanding the Exceptions taken against him by all the Nobility he gave him the honour to carry King Edward's Crown before him which of right belonged to a Prince of the Blood to have done and after the Coronation he married him up to his own Niece the Daughter of his second Sister Jone de Acres by Gilbert Clare Earl of Gloucester having indeed rais'd him to this pitch of Greatness as tempted him to raise himself higher being not content with the Power without he might aâ—so share in the Glory of Soveraignty most vainly affecting the Title of KING and if he were not King of Man as he desired he was at least King in Man ruling both there and in Ireland like an absolute Prince not without hopes of a fair possibility of being if the Kings Issue had fail'd King of England after him which Hope made him Insolent and that Insolence Insupportable so that the Lords finding it bootless to expect Justice from the King against him resolv'd to do themselves right and without more ado let fly a whole volley of Accusations at him This first forced him to part from the King and being separated they found it easie to make him part from himself for it was not long before he fell into their hands being taken Prisoner by the Earl of Pembroke who chopt of his Head a deaâ—h however esteem'd to be the most honourable of any other was to him questionless the most grievous in that it made him stoop who never could endure to submit This violent proceeding of the Lords as it shew'd a roughness of the Times suitable to that of their own Natures so it was the first occasion of the second Civil War of England
notwithstanding his great good Fortunes as to see his Glory unravel'd as well as his Happiness in great part there being nothing left him of all his great Gettings abroad purchased with so much Travel Expence and Bloodshed but only the poor Town of Calais which signified no more then a Gate of a City left open when all the rest is possest by too potent an Enemy But we must look on 't as a Curse that he inherited with his Crown not to be permitted to dye till he saw himself as his Father was forsaken of every Body but a poor Priest that only tarried to torment him with the remembrance of his Sins and left him at last as he left the World in such a state of uncertainty that our Historians are yet to seek whether to place him amongst the rank of our fortunate or unfortunate Princes the fatal divisions of his Posterity which took their first rise from his weakness being so pernicious to the whole Kingdom as well as to themselves that if the Dead know any thing of what is done amongst the Living he needed no other Hell to torture his guilty Spirit then the vision of those murthered Princes of his own Blood whose Ghosts just led one another where ere they met HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Now as it is easie to kindle a great Fire with very little blowing when the matter is fitly dispos'd to burn so it happen'd very unluckily that from the casual Rudeness of an inconsiderable Tax-gatherer that came into the House of a poor Tiler of Deptford and would have turn'd up the Coats of his young Daughter to see whether she were of Age to pay her Poll-mony there was occasion'd so over-grown a Riot as bearing down all respect of Laws Order or Government was not to be appeas'd with the Blood of three of the principal'st Ministers of State that is to say the Chancellor although he were Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Treasurer and the Lord Chief Justice and came at last so near to Majesty it self for some of the Rebels were little less rude with the Kings own Mother then his Officer had been with their Captains Daughter that 't was thought nothing could deliver the King himself from the approaching Danger but meeting it half way which he did with so well temper'd a Courage as never King before him shew'd except Caesar and he but once or his own Father at the Battel of Poctiers when begirt with as many perhaps but not so insolent nor unworthy Foes This being as much beyond the expectation of his Years as of his Enemies charmed them into a Submission for a while but the Distemper being universal and raging and the Contagion spread insensibly through so many parts of the Kingdom it was not possible to heal the Evil with a Touch only However one would have thought so hopeful a Prince as this was the Son of so brave a Father and fortified with so unpregnable a Title could not likely have miscarried but must have stood firm as a Mountain whose top was above all Storms but the same Stars ruling at his Birth that govern'd his Great-grand-fathers Nativity 't is no marvail being of the same temper he should fall under the same fate to be kept by Flatterers from the knowledge of himself till being not himself he too late saw his Error in the experience of their Falshood The first ten years of his Government which were the better though not the longer part of it he reign'd with great splendor if so be we may properly say he reign'd whiles he was under the dispose of others taking all occasions to let those that attempted to disturb him both at home and abroad especially his right and left-hand Enemies the French and Scots feel the sharpness of his Sword and the weight of his Power forcing the first to quit their chief Design having prepar'd a Navy of 1287 Ships to invade him the other to quit their chief City which he thereupon reduced into Ashes to make a Bonefire that might give the whole Kingdom notice of his Victory But after he came to be of Age to do all himself he began very visibly to undo himself hastning the slow pace of his Deâ—â—iny by quarrelling with his Parliaments who being actuated by the subtilty of his emulous Uncles gather'd strength by the discovery of his weakness and taking all advantages against him in point of Right or Reputation urged their Priviledges so far in derogation of his Prerogative that he could not forbear telling them the very next Sessions after he was out of his Wardship as he was wont to call it that he perceived they had a mind to rebel and therefore thought he could do no better then to ask Aid of his Cosin the King of France into whose hands he said he had rather fall being a Prince then submit to his own Subjects A rash and unadvised Reply which however it seem'd to be the Result of a proud and vindictive Stomach was in truth so abject and low so unlike himself and so like his little Great-Grandsire Henry the Third that they taking Example from the Nobility of that time as he from that King immediately put the Government into the hands of thirteen Lords of whom his turbulent Uncle Gloucester was the Chief who having Divisum Imperium lookt like a great Wen upon the Face of the State that drew all the ill humours of the Body Politick to it The Duke of Ireland that was the principal Councellor of his party and his Uncle by Marriage was so amaz'd at the sudden birth of this Oligarchy that not daring to give any Opinion of his own in the Case although he were a man of sufficient Courage and Authority he put him upon advising with all the Judges possibly that what himself should think fit might pass for Law out of their mouths and accordingly Questions were fram'd to be propos'd to them by which it was easier understood what the King would have to be Law then what in truth was so To all which having receiv'd positive Resolves on the Kings side the next Consultation was how to frame such a House of Commons as might be brought to take part with the King against the Lords and forthwith Letters were directed to all the Sheriffs and Justices of Peace in every County to interpose their Credit and Authority for the chusing of such Persons Knights and Burgesses for the next Sessions as the King and his Councel had nam'd in a List sent to them This look'd like so dangerous an Industry that the Regency took the Alarm at it and trusting to no other remedy flew to Arms. The King thereupon demanded Aid of the City of London but they failing his Expectation the Lords grew so bold as to send to him to deliver up his ill Councellors whom they call'd Traytors and Seducers Upon this there were very great and grave Deliberations each man
was it long that the Protector bore up after his Brothers Fall the great care he took to build his * From his Tittle call'd Somerset-house House being no less fatal to him then the little care he had to support his Family whiles the Stones of those Churches Chappels and other Religious Houses that he demolish'd for it made the cry out of the Walls so loud that himself was not able to indure the noise the People ecchoing to the defamation and charging him with the guilt of Sacriledge so furiously that he was forced to quit the place and retire with the King to Windsor leaving his Enemies in possession of the strength of the City as well as the affections of the Citizens who by the reputation of their power rather then the power of their repute prevail'd with the King as easily to give him up to publick Justice as he was before prevail'd with to give up his Brother it being no small temptation to the young King to forsake him when he forsook himself so far as to submit to the acknowledgement of that Guilt he was not conscious of The Lawyers charged him with removing Westminster-hall to Somerset-house The Souldiers with detaining their Pay and betraying their Garrisons The States-men with ingrossing all Power and indeavouring to alter the Fundamental Laws and the ancient Religion But he himself charg'd himself with all these Crimes when he humbled himself so far as to ask the Kings pardon publickly which his Adversaries were content he should have having first strip'd him of his Protectorship Treasurership Marshalship and Two thousand pound a year Land of Inheritance But that which made his Fate yet harder was that after having acquitted himself from all Treason against his Prince he should come at last to be condemn'd as a Traytor against his Fellow-Subject whilst the Innocent King labouring to preserve him became the principal Instrument of his Destruction who by reconciling him to his great Adversaries made the Enmity so much the more incompatible who at the same time he gave the Duke his Liberty gave the Earl of Warwick and his Friends the Complement of some new Titles which adding to their Greatness he reasonably judg'd might take from their Envy The Earl himself he created Duke of Northumberland and Lord High Admiral of England and to oblige him yet more married up his eldest Son the Lord Dudley to his own Cosin the second Daughter of the Duke of Somerset whom he gave to him for the more honour with his own hand and made Sir Robert Dudley his fourth and his beloved Son the same that was after made by Queen Elizabeth Earl of Leicester one of the Gentlemen of his Bedchamber And to gratifie the whole Faction he made the Marquiss of Dorset Duke of Suffolk the Lord St. John Earl of Wilts and afterwards Marquiss of Winchester Sir John Russel who was Northamberland's Confident he created Earl of Bedford Sir William Paget another of his Tools he made Lord Paget This the good natur'd King did out of sincere Affection to his Uncle in hopes to reconcile him so thoroughly to Northumberland so that there might be no more room left for Envy or Suspect betwixt them But as there is an invisible Erinnis that attends all Great men to do the drudgery of their Ambition in serving their Revenge and observing the Dictates of their power and pride so it was demonstrable by the most unfortunate issue of this so well intended purpose that by the same way the King hoped to please both he pleas'd neither Somerset thinking he had done too much Northumberland thinking that he had done too little who having drunk so deep a Draught of Honour grew hot and dry and like one fall'n into a State-Dropsie swell'd so fast that Somerset perceiving the Feaver that was upon him resolv'd to let him blood with his own hand And coming one day to his Chamber under the colour of a Visit privately arm'd and well attended with Seconds that waited him in an outward Chamber found him naked in his Bed and supposing he had him wholly in his power began to expostulate his wrongs with him before he would give him the fatal stroke whereby t'other perceiving his intent and being arm'd with a Weapon that Somerset had not a ready fence for an Eloquent Tongue he acquitted himself so well and string'd upon him with so many indearing protestations as kept the point of his Revenge down till it was too late to make any Thrust at him Whereby Northumberland got an advantage he never hop'd for to frame a second Accusation against him so much more effectual then the former by how much he brought him under the forfeiture of Felony as being guilty of imagining to kill a Privy Counsellor for which he was the more worthily condemn'd to lose his Head in that he so unworthily lost his Resolution at the very instant of time when he was to vindicate his too much abus'd Patience thereby betraying those of his Friends that came to second him into the scandal of a Crime which had it succeeded would have pass'd for a magnanimous piece of Justice in cutting off one whom however he was content to spare Providence it seems was not reserving him to die a more ignoble death and by a worse hand The sorrow for his ignominious fall as it much affected the Consumptive King his Nephew who was now left as a Lamb in the keeping of the Wolf the Duke of Northumberland having got as high in Power as Title by ruining the Family of the Seymours so his end which was not long after put an end to the Reformation and made way for the Dudley's to aspire with incredible Ambition and not without hope of setling the Succession of the Crown in themselves For the Duke finding that the King languish'd under a Hectical Distemper and having better assurance then perhaps any one else could from his Son that alwayes attended in his Bedchamber that it was impossible for him to hold out long for Reasons best known to him he cast about how to introduce the far fetch'd Title of his other Son who had married the Lady Jane Gray eldest Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk by the Lady Frances one of the Daughters and Heirs of Charles Brandon by his Wife Mary Queen of France the second Daughter of Henry the Seventh And however this seem'd to be a very remote pretention yet making way to other great Families to come in by the same Line in case her Issue fail'd as to the Earl of Cumberland who had married the other Daughter of Charles Brandon and to the Earl of Darby that had married a Daughter of that Daughter and to the Earl of Pembroke that had married the Lady Jane's second Sister it was back'd with so many well-wishers that it was become not only terrible to the Kingdom but to the King himself However there were two Objections lay in the way the one the preference that ought to be
unknown danger attended that unknown Chance he retreated into his first disguise acting over the dissembling part of * Who so reads Cromwell's Speech at dissolving the Convention Jan. 1657 will find this parallel of Tiberius very properly apply'd to him Tiberius boggling with the Convention as t'other with the Senate and telling them that from the Experience he had in matters of State he had by good proof learn'd the ill of Soveraignty how hard and difficult a thing it was how subject to change and clamor and seeing there were so many famous and worthy Personages able and confiding men as he call'd them to bear the burthen better it were and more easie that many joyning their cases and studies together should undertake the Charge then cast all on one mans shoulders These words as the †See Tiberius his Speech in Tacitus Suspensa semper obscura verba 1 An. Author hath it carried greater Majesty then Truth For Tiberius saith he and Cromwell say we either by nature or by custom spake those things which he would have known darkly and doubtfully but of set purpose indeavouring to hide his drifts wrapt himself then more then ever in dark Clouds of Incertainty and Ambiguity and canted as our Phrase is more skilfully then ever Our Senate as theirs having in the mean time that awe upon their Spirits that as he sayes by them that they thought it great peril if the Emperor I may say by these that they thought it no less dangerous if the Protector should doubt they perceiv'd his Dissimulation and so they acquiesced in the final Answer he gave them that he accepted the Government but not by the Title of KING To say truth he was afraid of those only by whom only he us'd to make others afraid his emulous Bashaws those mighty men of War before mention'd who wheeling about declar'd against all Monarchy on Earth but that of Jesus Christ under whom they thought themselves as well entituled to be Major Generals as under him Amongst whom not to mention the rest I take Lambert Desborow Whaley Goffe Harrison and Pride to be six more unruly Beasts then those six Oldenburgh Horses which but a little before disdaining his lash however three Nations lay patiently under it had ominously flung him from his Seat when in a frolick he took upon him to drive his own Chariot and having got him under their feet so bruis'd and batter'd him that he was taken up for dead which being the only fatal Accident that ever lighted on his Body by doing him that hurt did him this good to teach him that it was no jesting matter to take the Reins into his hands For in case these head strong Beasts should have taken the Bitt between their Teeth too as those other did they would certainly have flung him down beyond all Recovery having before that so far derided and scorn'd his mimical Majesty that they would by no means admit of his new House of Lords or vouchsafe them any other name then that of The * Yet after his death they got to be call'd The Vpper House other House whereby he found himself if not only uneasie but so unfixed in his Greatness that the apprehensions thereof put him into such a kind of a Frenzy for the time being that he could not forbear in great passion to †See his Speech at the breaking of the Convention 1657. tax them with having betray'd him into that great Charge he had which as he said could not be made secure but by making it greater and it troubled him the more for that it look'd like a Judgment to have his Ambition so stifled in the very birth after his having indured the Throws and Pangs of so many anxious thoughts and sharp contradictions and the convulsions of a more then a common guilt but that which came yet nearer the quick was that as he was dash't out of all hopes of being a King so he began to lose his confidence of continuing a Tyrant perceiving a daily defection of many of those in whose firm disloyalty he most confided This turn'd all his Blood into Choler and that became more adust by the grief conceived for the death of his second and most beloved Daughter who expiring under the apprehensions of being tormented for his sins made it seems that impression upon him by her Sentiments of his Cruelty and Injustice that the disturbance of hers brought such a distraction into his mind as meeting with a suitable Distemper of Body left him not till he left the World out of which he departed with no less blustering and noise then he continued in it his Exit being attended with as dreadful a Storm as that which hapned at the departure of Romulus to whom therefore a witty Flatterer of those times took the confidence to compare him though without any Testimony given of his as there was of t'others going to Heaven his Death suggesting no less matter of shame then grief to the inspired Party that depended on him whilst one of their Seers assured them that God had given him his life His Son Richard succeeded him but was so daunted with the horror of that unexpected height he arriv'd at that not being able to keep the Reins long in his hands he fell like another Phacton leaving all in Flames about him Then began that Chaos of The Committee of Safety out of which Fleetwood started up like the Beast in the * Cap. 13. Revelations that rose out of the Sea with (a) Thâ— seven Commissioners for Government of the Army made by Act of Parliament who were to execute the Office and Power of Lievtenants Geneal from 11 Oct. 59. to 22 Fâ—lâ— following seven Heads (b) Lambert who was restor'd after his Commission was taken away one whereof was wounded to death and heal'd again and (c) The ten Persons chose by the Chief Officers of the Army at Whitehall to act as the Supream Councel for the Commonwealth ten Horns to whom saith the Text was given a Mouth speaking great things and Blasphemies till God as himself express'd it spitting in his face blasted him This many headed Monster receiving its power from the Dragon by which we may either understand the Devil in a mystical or the Army in a literal sense had Instruction 1. To bring all Delinquents to Justice that was to murther whom they pleas'd 2. To prevent and suppress all Insurrections and Rebellions that was to rob rifie and imprison whom they thought fit 3. To treat with Forreign States that was to sell the whole Nation whensoever they could find a fit Chapman for it 4 To raise the Militia in every County that was to make the People Instruments of their own Servitude 5. To fill up all places of Trust that were void and to remove such as were scandalous in order to the making void of more 6. To make sale of all Delinquents Estates and as an Appendix to that Power they