some of the 〈◊〉 of those who had possest themselves of the Crown â—ands in his â—athers Minority in which course he might hope to finde good success without noise or dangeâ— And â—f this may be called the adding of fuel to the fiâ—e of 〈…〉 King will finde a safe way to recover his own 〈…〉 from him by power and pride unless he do 〈…〉 strong hand which findes no resistance For which good serâ—ice if he were afterwards Knighted and made second Secretary of Estate the principal being called Lord Secretary in the stile of that Kingdom it was no more then he had worthily deserv'd for his sound Advice â—rom the Title and the Introduction proceed we next unto the History it self in which the first mistake we meet with 〈◊〉 the placing of the â—uneral of King Iames on the 14 of May which Mr. H. L. in his History of the Reign of King Chaâ—ls had 〈…〉 on the fourth in both erronâ—ously alike But the 〈◊〉 of the â—ormer History hath corrected his error by the 〈…〉 and placed it rightly on the seventh which the 〈…〉 Historian might have done also having so thorowly 〈…〉 all the Passages in those Observations 〈…〉 land had nothing but foul weather triste lugubre Coelum when she was at the Sea and the worst of foul weathers from the time of her landing to the very minute of her death The like tempestuous landing is observed to have happened to the Princesse Catharine daughter of Ferdinand and If bellâ— Kings of Spain when she came hither to be married to Prince Arthur eldest Son to King Henry 7 which afterwards was lookt on as a sad presage of those Calaâ—â—ities which hapned to that pious but unfortunate Lady in the last part of her life And certainly such presages are neither to be rejected as superstitious nor too much relied on as infallible such a middle course being to be steeâ—'d in such conjecturals as is advised to be held in Prophetical or presaging dreams not wilfully to be slighted nor too much regarded â—ol 6. The Parliament to be subordinate not coordinate with the Prince c. though King Charles unadvisedly makes himself a member of the house of Peers which the Parliament would never acquit him A passage which the Author likes well enough and hopes the Reader will do the like as it comes from himself but will not let it go uncensured in the Oâ—servator It is noted in the Observations p. 62. that the King having passed away the Bishops votes in Parliament did after by a strange improvidence in a Message or Declaration sent from York the 17. of Iune reckon himself as one of the three Estates which being once slipt from his pen and taken up by some leading men in the Houses of â—â—â—â—ament it never was let fall again in the whole agitatiâ—n of those Controversies which were bandied up and down between them Our Author says the same thing though in fewer words and yet corrects the Observator for taâ—ing notice of the Kings strange impâ—ovidence in a message 〈…〉 Iune 17. where he reckons himself as one of the 〈…〉 member of the House of Peers Fol. 10â— for which he 〈◊〉 to call him to a further account in 〈…〉 and so perhaps he may in a second edition of his History there being no such thing to be found in this 〈◊〉 Councels are privy and publick his Privy Councel by his own 〈…〉 electionâ—â— publick his Parliament Peers and people In these words there are two things to be enquired after first why the Bishops are not named as Members of this publick Councel and secondly why the people are admitted art thereof That the Bishops are to be accounted of as necessaâ—y members of this publick Councel appeareth by the 〈◊〉 writ of Summons by which they are severally and respectively called to attend in Parliament In which it is declared that the King by the advice of his Privy Councel hath called a Parliament unto this end ut cum Pralatis 〈…〉 Regâ—â— Colloquium haâ—eret that he for his part might confer with the Prelatâ— Peers and great men of the Realm and that they for their parts super dictis Negotiis tractarenâ— coâ—â—ilium suum impenderent should debate of all such difficult matters concerning the preservation of the Church and State as the King should recommend unto them and give their faithful Counsel in them accordingly So that the Author dealt not well with the Bishops in excluding them from being a part of the Kings publick Councel and putting the people in their room who never were beheld as members of it till so made by our Author the Commons being called to Parliament to no other purpose but ad consenâ—iendum faciendum to give consent and yield obedience to all such things as by the great Councel of the Kingdom 〈◊〉 communi Concilio Regni nostri shall be then ordained But if our Author say that he includes the Bishops in the name of Peers though I allow his meaning and am able to defend him in it yet I must still except against his expression because not plain and full enough to the vulgar Reader Ibid. But 〈◊〉 Iames altered that course aâ— best able of any his Predecessors to speak for him self It was indeed the common usage of the Kings of England to speak to their people in â—arliament by the mouth of the Chancellors not that they were not able to tell their own tales and express their own meâ—ning but that it was held for a point of State not to descend so much beneath themselves as to play the Orators Yet somtimes as they saw occasion they would speak their own mindes in Parliament and not trouble their Chancellors as appears by that speech of King Henry 7. when he resolved to engage himself in a war with France a copy whereof we have in the History of his Reign writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban which he thus beginneth My Lords and you the Commons when I purposed to make a war in Britain by my Lieutenant I made declaration thereof to you by my Chancellor But now that I mean to make war upon France in person I will declare it to you myself c. Fol. 96. But King Iames thinking himself an absolute Master in the Art of speaking and desirous that his people should think so too in the opening of all his Parliaments and the beginning of each Session and many occasions on the by used no tongue but his own Which though it might seem necessary at the opening of his first Parliament to let the Lords and Commons see how sensible he was of that Affection wherewith the whole body of the Nation had imbraced his coming to the Crown yet the continual use thereof made him seem cheaper in the eyes of the People then might stand with Majecty Nor was this all the inconvenience which ensued upon it for first it put a necessity upon his son and â—â—â—cessor of doing the like to whom it
consent to the acting of any thing to take away his life By which it needs must follow if the Bill of Attainder was first passed or at the least in probability to be passed in the House of Peers before the King had given any such promise under his hand for the words are that the King had given him a promise under his hand never to passe that Bill Now that Bill was not taken into consideration in the House of Lords till Saturday the 24. of April in which considering their own danger and the little satisfaction they are able to give themselves M. St Iohn the Kings Sollicitor Generall was appointed by the House of Commons to open the Bill before their Lordships and to give them information in it which was done upon Thursday the nine and twentieth of the same Moneth On the next day some of the Lords began to stagger in their resolutions and to incline unto the Commons which moved the King to declare himself before both Houses on the first of May That he could not with a good Consciâ—nce condemn the Earl of High Treason which he must needs do if he passe that Bill and therefore hoped that they would not expect that from him which neither fear nor any other respect whatsoever should enforce him to Other assurance then this of not passing the Bill as the King never made the Earl so indeed he could not the Earl being a close Prisoner and so narrowly watcht especially after his Majesties said Declaration of the first of May that no such Paperâ—promise under the Kings hand could be sent unto him if either the King had thought it necessary to make any such promise or the Earl to seek it Adeo mendaciorum natura est ut coherere non possint as Lactantius hath it This point thus cleared and the King discharged from making any such promise under his hand there must some other way be found out to preserve the Earl by devising some means for his escape and to this plot the King must be made a party also our Authour telling us positively That Some Designe there was no doubt of delivering the Earl of Strafford by escape in order whereunto Sir William Balfour Lieutenant of the Tower must be commanded by the King to receive one Captain Billingsley with an hundred men to secure the place If so how durst Balfour refuse to yeeld obedience to the Kings command Marry forfooth because three good Women of Tower-street peeping into the Earls Gallery through the Key-hole could by the Spectacles of their eyes discern him talking with this Captain and by the Otocoâ—sticon of their ears could hear them talk of some Desigâ—e for this escape The Summe of their Discourse being this that a Ship of Captain Billingsleys Brothers should be in readinesse which was fallen down on purpose below in the River that they three might be there in twelve hours that if the Fort were but secur'd for three or four Moneths there would come aid enough and that there was nothing to be thought upon but an escape and much more broken speech to that purpose It seems the womens ears must be very long and the tongues both of the Earl and Billingsly must be very loud or else how could a practise of such a close and dangerous nature be so plainly heard Assuredly by the same means by which the Zealous Brother in More fields discovered a dangerous plot against the Parliament discoursed of by some who were passing by but he knows not who they were as he was sunning himself under an hedge Of whom as creditable an Authour as Sir William Balfour hath told me this That while he was contriving some Querpo-cut of Church-Government by the help of his out-lying ears and the Otocousticon of the Spirit â—e discovered such a Plot against the Parliament that Selden intends to combat Antiquity and maintain it was a Taylors Goose that preserved the Capitol But in good earnest I would fain know of our Author or of Sir William Balfour or of both together whether the three Good-Wives of Tower-street did hear these Passages in discourse by their eyes or their ears Not by their Eyes for the Eye is not the sense of hearing nor by their Ears for it is not said that they laid their Ears to the Key-hole but that they peeped thorow it And next I would fain know whâ—ther they peep'd or hearkned all at once or one after another If all at once the Key-hole must be wondrous wide as Heavenly-wide as Mopsus mouth in Sir Philip Sidney which could admit of three pair of hearing Eyes or of three single seeing Ears at one time together And if they peep'd or hearkned one after another they must needs have both very quick Wits and strong Comprehensions that could make up so much of a set Discourse from such broken Speeches though they within spake never so loudly Letting this pass therefore with a Risum teneatis Amici we have next a more serious discovery of this Design by the Conference which the Earl of Strafford had with Sir William Balfour offering him but four days before his death no less then Twenty thousand pounds and a Marriage of his Daughter to Balfours Son if he would assent to his Escape And for this also as well as for the tale of the three Good-Wives of Tower-Street and the command of admitting Billingsley with an hundred men to secure the Tower we must take Sir Williams bare word for he gave it not in upon his Oath in the House of Commons And what the bare word of a Scot a perfidious Scot and one that shortly after took up Arms against his Master will amount unto we all know too well Nor was the Earl so ignorant of the hatred which generally the Scotish Covenanters bare unto him or of the condition of this man particularly as to communicate any such design unto him had he been so unprepar'd for death as our Author makes him And so this second Romance of Sir William Balfour and the three Women Good-Wives of Tower Street being sent after that of the Bishop of Lincoln we leave the Earl of Straffords business and go on with our Author to some other Fol. 418. Then follows King Henry the fourth c. ofâ—larence â—larence Title to precede that of Mortimer That some of the Lords combined to depose this King I shall easily grant though not upon those grounds which our Author mingles with the Speech of one Mr. Thomas a Member of the House of Commons against the Bishops For though the Title of Clarence did precede that of the King yet was not the Kings Title derived from Mortimer the Title of Mortimer and Clarence being one and the same The Title of King Henry the fourth came by his Father Iohn Duke of Lancaster the fourth Son of King Edward the third the title of Mortimer came by Philip the sole Daughter and Heir of Lionel Duke of Clarence the third son of the said King Edward
on their 〈…〉 Our Author tells us in his Brerewood upon a diligent enquiry hath found it otherwise then our Author doth letting us know That the first Countrey in Christendom whence the Jews were expelled without hope of return was our Countrey of England whence they were banished Anno 1290. by King Edward the first and not long after out of France Anno 1307. by Phiâ—ippus Pulcher. Not out of France first out of England afterwards as our Author would have it Fol. 100. Thus men of yesterday have pride too much to remember what they were the day before An observation true enough but not well applyed The two Spenâ—â—rs whom he speaks this of were not men of yesterday or raised out of the dirt or dunghill to so great an height but of as old and known Nobility as the best in England insomuch that when a question grew in Parliament whether the Baronesse de Spencer or the Lord of Aburgaveny were to have precedency it was adjudg'd unto de Spencer thereby declar'd the antientest Barony of the Kingdom at that time then being These two Spencers Hugh the Father was created Earl of Winchester for term of life and Hugh the Son by marrying one of the Daughters and co-heirs of Gilbert dt Clâ—re became Earl of Gloster Men more to be commended for their Loyalty then accused for their pride but that the King was now declining and therefore it was held fit by the prevalent faction to take his two supporters from him as they after did Fol. 113. The Lord Chancellor was ever a Bishop If our Author by this word ever understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most commonly or for the most part he is right enough but then it will not stand with the following words viz. as if it had been against equity to employ any other 〈◊〉 〈…〉 he take the word ever in its proper and more natural sense as if none but Bishops had ever been advanced unto that office he doth not only misinform the Reader but confute himself he having told us fol. 31. of this present book that Thomas Becket being then but Archdeacon of Canterbury was made Lord Chancellor and that as soon as he was made Archbishop he resign'd that office But the truth is that not only men in holy Orders but many of the Laity also had attained that dignity as will appear to any who will take the pains to 〈◊〉 the Catalogue of the Chancellors and 〈◊〉 of the Grâ—at Seal in the Glossary of Sir Henry 〈◊〉 in which appear not only some of inferior dignity as Deans Archdeacons House-hold Chaplains but many also not dignified with any Ecclesiasticall â—â—â—â—or Notification and therefore in all probability to be looked on as meer Laymen Counsellors and Servants to the Kings in whose times they lived or otherwise studied in the Lawes and of good affectionâ— and consequently capable of the place of such trust and power Fol. 116. This yearâ— viz. 1350. as Authors generally agree King Edward instituted are Order of the Garter Right enough as unto the time but much mistaken in some things which relate unto that antient and most noble Order our Author taking up his Commodities at the second hand neither consulting the Records noâ— dealing in this business with men of credit For first there are not 〈◊〉 Canons resident in the Church of Winâ—or but thirteen only with the Dean it being King Edwards purpoâ—e when he founded that Oâ—deâ— consisting of twenty 〈◊〉 Knights himself being one to 〈◊〉 as many greater and lesser Canons and as many old Souldiers commonly called poor Knightsâ— to be pensioned there Though in this last the number was 〈…〉 up to his first intention He tels us secondly that if he be not mistaken as indeed he is Sir Thomas Row was the last Chancellor of the Order whereas Sir Iames Palmer one of the Gentlemen Huishers of the Privy Chamber succeeded him in the place of Chancellor after his decease Anno 1644. He tels us thirdly that there belongs unto it one Register being alwayes the Dean of Winsor which is nothing so For though the Deans of late times have been Registers also yet ab initio non suit sic it was not so from the beginning The first Dean who was also Register being Iohn Boxul Anno 1557. Before which time beginning at the year 1414. there had been nine Registers which were not Deans but how many more before that time I am not able to say their names not being on Record And soâ—â—thly he tels us that the Garter is one of the extraordinary Habiliments of the Knights of this Order their ordinary being only the blew Ribbon about their necks with the picture of St. George appendant and the Sun in his glory on the left shoulder of their Cloak whereas indeed the Garter is of common wearing and of such necessary use that the Knights are not to be seen abroad without it upon pain of paying two Crowns to any Officer of the Order who shall first claim it unless they be to take a journey in which case it is sufficient to wear a blew Ribbon under their Boots to denote the Garter Lastly whereas our Author tels us that the Knights heâ—eof do wear on the left shoulder of their Cloaks a Sun in his glory and attributes this wearing as some say to King Charles I will first put him out of doubt that this addition was King Charles his then shew him his mistake in the matter it self And first in the first year of that King Ap. 26 1626. it was thus enacted at a publick Chapter of the Oâ—der viz. That all Knights and Companions of the Order shall wear upon the left part of their Cloaks Coats and riding Cassacks at all times when they shall not wear their Roabs and in all places of Assembly an Escocheon of the Armes of St. George id est a Crosse within a Garter not enriched with Pearls or Stones in token of the honour which they hold from the said most noble Order instituted and ordained for persons of the highest worth and honour Our Authour secondly may perceive by this Act of the Kings that St. Georges Crosse within the Garter is the main device injoyned to be worn by all the Knights of that noble Order to which the adding of the Sun in his glory served but for ornament and imbellishing and might be either used or not used but only for conformities sake as they would themselves So many errors in so few lines one shall hardly meet with The Fourth Book From the first Preaching of Wickliffe to the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth OUR Author begins this Book with the Story of Wickliffe and continueth it in relating the successes of him and his followers to which he seems so much addicted as to Christen their Opinions by the name of the Gospel For speaking of such incouragements and helps as were given to Wickliffe by the Duke of Lancaster with other advantages which
their private discontents into open practices endeavouring to settle their Religion by the destruction of the King and the change of Government And first beginning with the Papists because first in time Fol. 5. Watson with William Clark another of his own profession having fancied a Notional Treason imparted it to George Brooks To these he after adds the Lord Cobham a Protestant the Lord Gray of Whaddon a Puritan and Sir Walter Rawleigh an able Statesman and some other Knights In the recital of which names our Author hath committed a double fault the one of omission and the other of commission A fault of omission in leaving out Sir Griffith Markham as much concerned as any of the principal actors design'd to have been Secretary of Estate had the Plot succeeded and finally arraign'd and condemn'd at Winchester as the others were His fault of commission is his calling the Lord Gray by the name of the Lord Gray of Whaddon a fault not easily to be pardon'd in so great an Herald whereas indeed though Whaddon in Buckinghamshire was part of his Estate yet Wilton in Herefordshire was his Barony and antâ—ent Seat his Ancestors being call'd LL. Gray of Wilton to difference them from the Lord Gray of Reuthen the Lord Gray of Codnor c. Having thus satisfied our Author in this particular I would gladly satisfie my self in some others concerning this Treason in which I finde so many persons of such different humors and Religions that it is very hard to think how they could either mingle their interefles or unite their counsels But discontentments make men fuel fit for any fire and discontents had been on purpose put upon some of them the more to estrange them from the King and the King from them And though I am not Oedipus enough for so dark a Sphinx yet others who have had more light into the businesses of that time have made their discontents to grow upon this occasion Sir Robert Cecil then principal Secretary to the Estate fearing the great abilities of Rawleigh and being wearied with the troublesome impertinencies of Gray and Cobham all which had joyned with him in design against the Earl of Essex their common Enemy had done their errand to Kings Iames whose counsels he desired to ingross to himself alone before his coming into England And the Plot took so good effect that when the Lord Cobham went to meet the King as he came towards London the King checked him being then Warden of the Cinqne Ports for his absence from his charge in that dangerous time The Lord Gray was not look'd upon in the Court as he had been formerly there being no longer use of his rashness and praecipitations And the better to discountenance Rawleigh who had been Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth the King bestowed that Office on Sir Thomas Erskin then Vicount Fenton and Captain of his Guard in Scotland All which being publickly observ'd it was no haâ—d matter for George Brook to work upon the weak spiâ—its of Gray and Cobâ—am of which the last was his brother and the first his brothers special friend and by such Artifices as he us'd in laying before them their disgraces and shewing them a way to right themselves to draw them into the confederacy with Clark and Watson And it is possible that they not being substantive enough to stand alone might acquaint Rawleigh with the Plot whose head was able to do more then all their hands But of his actings in it or consenting to it when the paâ—ties were brought unto their Tryal there appear'd no proof but that Cobham in his confession taken before the Lords had accus'd him of it and that not only as an accessary but a principal actor But Cobham not being brought into the open Court to justifie his accusation face to face as the custom as it was thought a good argument by many that Rawleigh was not so criminal in this matter as his Enemies made him And though found guilty by the Jury on no other evidence then a branch of Cobhams confession not so much as subscribed by his hand yet all men were not satisfied in the manner of this proceeding it being then commonly affirm'd that Cobham had retracted his accusation as since it hath been said and printed that in a letter written the night before his Tryal and then sent to the Lordâ—â— he cleared Rawlâ—igh from all manner of Treasons against the King or State for which consult the Observations upon some particular Persons and passages c. printed Anno 1656. But from the practices of the Papists which have led me thus far out of my way it is now time that I proceed to the Petition of the Puritans presented to the King much about that time Fol. 7. This called the Millenary Petition And it was called so because given out to be subscribed by 〈◊〉 thousand hands though it wanted a fourth part of thiâ— number More modest now then they had been in Pâ—â—ries time when in stead of one thousand they threatnâ—â— to bring a Petition which should be presented by the hands of a hundred thousand More modest also in the style and phrase of their Petition and in the subject Mâ—â—ter of it then they had been when Martin Mar Prâ—â—â—rul'd the Rost and would be satisfied with nothing 〈◊〉 the ruine of the English Hierarchy Which notwithstanding the King thought fit to demur upon it and 〈◊〉 commended the answering of their Petition to the Uâ—â—versity of Oxford and was done accordingly The Anâ—â—â— and Petition printed not long after gave the first stopâ—â— this importunity represt more fully by the Conferâ—â—â— at Hampton-Court of which it is told us by our Authâ—â— how some of the Millenary party complained that 〈◊〉 Fol. 21. This Conference was partially set forth only 〈◊〉 Dr. Barlow Dean of Chester their professed Adversaâ—â— to the great disadvantage of their Divines If so 〈◊〉 did it come to pass that none of their Divines thâ—â— present noâ— any other in their behalf did ever manifeâ—â— the world the partialities and falsehoods of it The 〈◊〉 was printed not long after the end of the Conference publickly passing from one hand to another and neâ— convicted of any such crime as it stands charged with 〈◊〉 any one particular pâ—â—â—age to this very day Only pleas'd some of the Zealoâ—s to scatter abroad some triâ—â—ing Papers not amounting to half a sheet amongst them which tended to the holding up of their sinking Party and being brought by Dr. Barlow were by him put in Print and publisht at the end of his Book Vt deterrim comparatione gloriam sibi compararet in the words of Tacitus He could not better manifest his own abilities then by having those weak and imperfect Scribbles for a foil unto them And here before I leave this conference I must make a start to fol. 91. for rectifying a mistake of our Authors which relates unto it Where speaking of Dr. King then Bishop of London and
reciting the course both of his preferments and imployments he telleth us that soon after the Kings coming to the Crownâ—â— he was made Dean of Christ-Church in Oxon and chosen one of the four Preachers in the Conference at Hampton-Court But first Dr. King was not Dean of Christ-Church at the time of the Conference at Hampton-Court that Conference being held in Ianuary An. 1603. and Dr. King not coming to the Deanry of Christ-Church till the year 1605. Secondly he was none oâ— the fouâ— Preachers in the Conference at Hampton-Court there being no such Preachers chosen for the â—ime of that Conference But as it is a true and old sayâ—â—g that Omnis fabula fundatur in Historia so I may â—â—y that there was something true and real which might â—arry him inadvertently upon this Error For in Sepâ—â—mber Anno 1606. it pleased King Iames to call before â—im at Hampton-Court the Melvins and some other of â—he principal sticklers for Presbytery of the Scottish Naâ—ion For information of whose judgement and reâ—â—ucing them if possible to some conformity he caused four Sermons to be there preached in their heaâ—ing by â—our of his most able Divines that is to say Dr. Andrews then Bishop of Chichester Dr. Barlow before mentioned then Bishop of Rochester Dr. King then Dean of Christ-Church after Bishop of London and Dr. Buckeridge who after succeeded in the See of Rochesterâ— and dyed Bishop of Ely Which four Sermons being afterwards printed and bound together though they gave very good satisfaction to most persons else could get no ground upon those refractary Scots who were resolved aforehand not to hear the voice of those Charmers charmed they never so sweetly Fol. 27. Indeed a Statute had formerly been made thâ— 13. of Queen Elizabeth which to prevent final 〈◊〉 of Church Land did disable all Subjects from 〈◊〉 them but in that Statute a liberty was left unto the Crown to receive the same Our Author speaks this on occasion of a Statute made in the first Parliament of King Iamâ—â— by which the King and his Successors were made uncapable of receiving any Grants or Leases of Lands from any Archbishops or Bishops for longer then 21 years or three lives But he is much mistaken in the grounds of it For first the Statute he relates unto was not made in the thirteenth year of the Queen that Statute extending only unto Deans and Chapters Masters of Colledges and Hospitals as also unto Parsons and Vicars who by long Leases had dilapidated the publick Patrimony of the Church and their several Houses Not a word in it which concerns Archbishops and Bishops or any Leases by them made And secondly that Staâ—ute whatsoever it be doth not disable all Subjects from accepting such Leases Grants and Alienations but disableth the said Archbishops and Bishops from making such Grants unto the Subjects But the truth is that Statute which our Author means is an unprinted Statute made in the first year of Queen Elizabeth By which it was enacted That it should be lawful for the said Queen as often as any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick should be vacant to take unto herself any of the Castles Mannors Lanâ—s Tenements and Here ditaments to the same belonging and to pay the said Archbishop or Bishop in Impropriations Tithes and Portions of Tithes And this is that Statute which our Author relates unto lib. 9. fol. 70. where it is said That a Bill passed for the assurance of certain Lands assumed by the Queen from some Bishoprickâ— during their Vacation And secondly it was enacted in the said unprinted Statute that it should not be lawful for any Archbishop or Bishop to grant any Lands Leases or Estates for more then 21 years or three lives to any person whatsoever except it were unto the Queen 〈◊〉 Heirs and Successors which last words opened such a gap to sacrilege and rapine that what the Queen thought fit to leave unto the Church vacante sede the Couâ—â—iers would finde some way to divest it of by making use of this last clause first in obtaining such a 〈◊〉 to be made to the Queen and then from the Queen unto themselves So that our Author might have sav'd his Advocating for this clause of that Act considering that he saw the ill consequents and effects thereof Fol. 54. Some of the greatest Prelates how much Self is there 〈◊〉 all men though seemingly forward really remiâ—â— in the matter This spoken in relation to Cheâ—sey Colledge the stop whereof must be imputed to some great Prelaâ—es fearing to grow less both in esteem power and jurisdiction if that work went foâ—wards Contrary whereunto he â—elleth us of folâ—57 â—57 That he was very forward in founding Chelsey Coâ—â—edge which as a two edged Sword was to cut on both sides to suppress Papists and Sectaries Upon which grounds there is no question to be made but that the work was furthered also by the rest of the Bishops at the least not hindered Our Author hath indeed afforded us this Marginal Note viz. This obstruction signifies nothing of discreet men how ever it must pass for company sake But it had argued more discretion in him as I conceive to have left this obstruction as he calls it out of his Discourse then first to break the Bishops heads and then give them this plaister Howsoever he viz. Mr. Nicholas â—uller left behinde him the reputation of an honest man No question of it It is a thing so incident to the name that whatsoever they do or say they are honest still Before we had the story of Thomas Fullâ—r of Hammersmith condemn'd for felony but still so honest and to entirely beloved by King Harry the sixth after his decease that he appear'd to him on the top of the Gallows incourag'd him and so claâ—m'd the Rope that it did not strangle him lib. 4. 154. Afterwards we meet with Iohn Fuller Doctor of the Laws a better then he a Persecutor in Queen Maries dayes but a pitiful man as the Index telleth us Here we have Nicholas Fuller a Counsellor the best of the three decrying openly the Authority of the High Commission and thereby giving a legal advantage to Archbishop Bancroft by whom imprison'd and there dying but dying with the reputation of an honest man And then another Thomas Fuller a Minister the best of all the company and an honest man too so well deserving of the Church and all good Church-men both alive and dead by this notable History as not to doubt of the like favour at their hands should there be occasion as Thomas of Hammersmith receiv'd of King Harry the sixth Fol. 57. I am credibly informed from a good hand how in the days of King James a Scotch man and a prevalent Courtier had swallowed up the whole Bishoprick of Durhâ—m had not this Archbishop seasonably interposed his power with the King and dashed the design Credible though the information were yet it was not true there being no such prevalent Courtier not no such
Chappel of King Henry the seventh Had it not been for these and some other passages of this nature our Author might have lost the honoâ— of being took notice of for one of the Clerks of the Convocation and one not of the lowest fourm but passing for some of those wise men who began to be fearful of themselves and to be jealous of that power by which they were enabled to make new Canons How so Because it was feared by the judicious himself still for one lâ—st the Convocation whose power of medling with Church matters had been bridled up for many years before shâ—uld now enabled with such power over-act their parts especially in such dangerous and discontented times as it after followeth Whâ—ly fore-seen But then why did not WE that is to say our Author and the rest of those wise and judicious Persons fore-warn their weak and unadvised Brethren of the present danger or rather why did they go along with the rest for company and follow those who had before out-run the Canons by their additional Conformity How wise the rest were I am not able to say But certainly our Author shew'd himself no wiser then Walthams Calf who ran nine mile to suck a Bull and came home a thirst as the Proverb saith His running unto Oxford which cost him as much in seventeen weeks as he had spent in Cambridge in seventeen years was but a second Sally to the first Knight-Errantry Fol. 168. Next day the Convocation came together c. when contrary to general expectation it was motioned to improve the present opportunity in perfecting the new Canons which they had begun I have not heard of any such motion as our Author speaks of from any who were present at that time though I have diligently labour'd to inform my self in it Not is it probable that any such motion should be made as the case then stood The Parliament had been diâ—â—olv'd on Tuesday the 5 oâ— May. The Clergy met in Convocation on the morrow after expecting then to be dissolved and licenced to go home again But contrary to that general expectation in stead of hearing some news of his Majesties Writ for their dissolution there came an Order from the Archbishop to the Prolocutor to adjourn till Saturday And this was all the business which was done that day the Clergy generally being in no small amazement when they were required not to dissolve till further Ordeâ— Saturday being come what then A new Commission saith he was brought from his Majesty by vertue whereof WE were warranted still to sit not in the capacity of a Convocation but of a Synod I had thought our Author with his wise and judicious Friends had better hearkened to the â—enor of that Commission then to come out with such a gross and wilde absurdity as this is so fit for none as Sir Edward Deering â—nd for him only to make sport within the House of Commons At the beginning of the Convocation when the Prolocutor wâ—s admitted the Archbishop produc'd his Maâ—esâ—ies Commission under the Great Seal whereby the Clergy was enabled to consult treat of conclude such Canons as they conceiv'd most expedient to the peâ—ce of the Church and his 〈◊〉 service But this Commission being to expire with the end of the Parliament it became void of no effect assoon as the Parliament was dissolved Which being made known unto the King who was resolv'd the Convocation should continue and that the Clergy should go on in compleating those Canons which they had so happily began he caus'd a new Commission to be sent unto them in the same words and to the very same effect as the other was but that it was to continue durante beneplacito only as the other was not It follows next that Ibid. Dr. Brownrig Dr. Hacket Dr. Holdsworth c. with others to the number of thirty six earnestly protested against the continuance of the Convocation It 's possible enough that Dr. Brownrig now Lord Bishop of Excester Dr. Hacket and the rest of the thirty six our Author being of the Quorum in his own understanding of the word might be unsatisfied in the continuance of the Convocation because of some offence which as they conceiv'd would be taken at it But if they had protested and protested earnestly as our Author tells us the noise of so many Voâ—es concurring must needs be heard by all the rest which were then assembled from none of which I can leaâ—n any thing of this Protestation Or if they did protestâ—o â—o earnestly as he sayes they did why was not the Protestation reduced into writing subscâ—ibed wiâ—h their hands in due form of Law and so delivered to the Register to remain upon Record amongâ— the other Acts of that House for their indemnity Which not being done rendreth this Protest of theirs if any such Protest there were to signifie nothing but their dislike of the continuance But whereas our Author tells us that the whole â—ouse consisted but of six score persons it may be thought that he diminisheth the number of 〈◊〉 purpose to make his own party seem the greater For in the lower â—ouse of Convocation for the Province of Canterbury iâ— all paâ—ties summon'd do appear there are no fewer then two and twenty Deans four and twenty Prebendaries fifty four Archdeacons and forty four Cleâ—ks representing the Diocesan Clergy amounting in the total to an hundred foâ—ty four persons whereof the thirty six Protestors if so many they were make the fourth part only Howsoever all parties being not well satisfied with the lawfulness of their continuance his Majesty was advertis'd of it who upon conference with his Judâ—es and Councel learned in the Laws caus'd a short Writing to be dâ—wn and subscribed by their several hands in these following words viz. at White-hall May the 10. 1640. the Convocation being called by the Kings Writ is to continue till it be dissolved by the Kings Writ notwithstanding the dissolving of the Parliament Subscribed by Finch Lord Keeper Manchester Lord Privy Seal Littleton chief Justice of the Common Pleas Banks Attourney General Whitfield and Heath his Majeâ—â—iâ—s Serjeants Which writing an Instrument our Author calls it being communicated to the Clergy by the Lord Archbishop on the morrow after did so compose the mindes of all men that they went forwâ—â—ds very cheerfully with the work in hand the principal of those whom oâ—r Author calls Dissenters bringing in the Canon oâ— preaching for conformity being the eighth Canon in the Book as now they are plac'd which was received and allowed of as it came from his hand without alteration Howsoever our Author keeps himself to his former folly shutting up his extravagancie with this conclusion Fol 169. Thus was an old Convocation converted into a new Synod An expression borrowed from the speech of a witty Gentleman as he is called by the Author of the History of the Reign of King Charles and since by him declar'd to be the Lord George
their yongest Sons some Earldom or other until the time of Edward the third after which time they were invested with the Title of Dukes as appears evidently to any who are studied in their Chronologies But that they or any of them were Earls by Birth is a new piece of learning for which if the Historian can give me any good proof I shall thank him for it Fol. 278. Henry the eight thus cousened into some kindness both by his own power and purse makes Charls Emperor and the French King his Prisoner 1519. Neither so nor so For first though King Henry did contribute both his power and purse to the taking of the French King Prisoner yet to the making of Charls Emperor he contributed neither the one nor the other And secondly though Charls were created Emperor Anno 1519 yet the French King was not taken Prisoner till six years after Anno 1525. Fol. 31â— Oswald united the Crowns of England and Scotland which were 〈◊〉 afterwards for many Ages 3â— That Oswald King of Northumberland here mentioned was a Puiâ—â—ant Prince as being the ninth Monarch of the English I shall easily grant but that he united the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland is not any where found Our Author therefore must be understood of his uniting the two Realms of Deâ—ra and Pernicia part of which last hath for long time been accounted part of Scotland which after his decease were again divided Fol. 317. Whose Results notwithstanding are not to be obtruded on the Sâ—culars to be obsâ—rved with the Authority of Laws until they be allowed by assent of the King and both Houses An error far more pardonable in our present Author to whom the concernments of the Church are not so necessary to be known or studied then in our Church Historian where before we had it and which hath had a full Conâ—utation in our Animadversions to which for brevity sake I shall now refer Fol. 320. Rory Duke of Solia from France Either the Printer or the Author are mistaken here The Ambassador who was sent from France was neither called Rory nor Duke of Solia but Marquess of Rhosney created afterward Duke of Sully and Lord High Treasurer of that Kingdom by King Henry 4. A Protestant and therefore purposely selected for that imployment Of whom it is reported in the conference at Hampton-Court that having observed the order and gravity of our Church Service in the Cathedral Chuâ—ch at Câ—nâ—erbury he was heard to say that if the like had been used in France there would have been many thousands of Protestants more then were at that present Fol. 329. Ceâ—il foâ— his good Service was created Earl of Salisbury That is to say for so it must be understood for his activity and diligence in discovering the Powder-Treason But he was Earl of Salisbury before that Discovery call'd so by the Historian himself in the course of thaâ— Naâ—rative and made so by King Iames in the Mâ—y foregoâ—ng at what time also his Brother Thomas Lord Burley was made Earl of EXCESTER The like mistake I finde in the advancement of Thomas Lord Buckhurst to the Earldom of Dorcet plac'd by the Author fol. 342. in the year 1605. whereas indeed he was created Earl of Dorcet in the first year of King Iames March 13. Anno 1603. Fol. 333. The Earl of Flanders c. being by Storm cast upon our Coast c. was fain to yield to all the Kings demands in delivering up the Countess of Warwick and other Fugitives resident in Flanders This story is well meant but not rightly told there being at that time no Earl of Flanders commonly so called to be cast upon the Coast of England nor any such Woman as a Countess of Warwick whom King Henry the seventh could be afraid of the truth is that the person here meant was Philip King of Castile Duke of Burgundy Earl of Flanders c. who in his return from Spain was driven by Tempest on the Coast of England and being Royally Feasted by King Henry the seventh was detained here till he had delivered into the Kings hands the Earl of Suffolk who had fled into the Nether-lands for protection and began to work new troubles against his Soveraign The story whereof we have at large in the History of King Henry the seventh writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban from fol. 222. to 225. Fol. 334 The fate of that Family evermore false to the crown This spoken of the Piercies Earls of Northumberland too often false to the Crown though not always so For Henry the second Earl of this Family lost his life fighting for King Henry the sixth in the Battle of St. Albans as Henry his Son and Successor also did at the Battle of â—owton And so did Henry the fifth Earl in the time of King Henry the seventh for his Fidelity to that King in a tumultuous Insurrection of the Common People not to say any thing of his Son and Successor who dyed without any imputation of such disloyalty Fol. 362. Zutphen and Gelders did of right belong to the Dukâ— Arnold who being Prisoner with the last Duke of Burgundy who died before Nancy that Duke intruded upon his Possession c. 40. Not so it was not Arnold Duke of Gelders that was Imprisoned by Charls Duke of Burgundy but his Son Adolphus who having most ungratiously Imprison'd his aged Father was vanquished by Duke Charls and by him kept Prisoner and the old Duke restored again to his power and liberty In a grateful acknowledgement of which favor he made a Donation of his Estates to Duke Charls and his Heirs to commence after his decease though it took no effect till Conquered under that pretence by Charls the fifth uniting it unto the rest of his Belgick Provinces Anno 1538. Fol. 423. Sir William Seymour Grandchilde to the third Son and the Heir of the Earl of Hertford created by Henry the eighth whose sister he marryed c. And being thus near the Crown c. In this business of Sir William Seymer now Marquess of Hertford there are two mistakes For first the Earl of Hertford from whom he derived his discent married not any of the Sisters of King Henry the eighth he having but two Wives in all the first the Daughter of Filol of Woodland from whom comes Baronet Seymer of the West the second Anne Daughter of Sir Edward and Sister to Sir Michael Stanhop from whom discends the House of Hertford still in being It s true King Henry married a Sister of Sir Edward Seymer by him created Earl of Hertford but not é contra the Earl of Hertford married not with a sister of his Secondly The nearness of this House to the Crown of England came not from any such Marriage of this first Earl with that Kings Sister but from the Marriage of Edward the second Earl with a Neece of that Kings that is to say with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Henry Duke of Suffolk and of Fâ—aâ—ces his Wife
Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel establiâ—hed in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of this Land The King answers I grant and promise to keep them Arch-Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and godly agreement entirely according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the People Rex I will keep it Arch-Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Iustice Law and discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your Iudgements Rex I will Arch-Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this your Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the Hâ—nor of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in his Kingdom ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge All Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King ought in his Kingdom in right to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King ariseth and is led to the Communion Table where he makes a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the premises and laying his hand upon the Book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the contents of this Book Such was the Oath taken by the King at his Coronation against which I finde these two Objections First That it was not the same Oath which anciently had been taken by his Predecessors and for the proof thereof an Antiquated Oath was found out and publisht in a Remonstrance of the Lords and Commons bearing date the twenty sixth of May 1642. And secondly It was objected in some of the Pamphlets of that time that the Oath was falsified by D. Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to make it more to the Kings advantage and less to the benefit of the Subject then it had been formerly For answer whereunto the King remits the Lords and Commons to the Records of the Exchequer by which it might be easily prov'd that the Oath was the very same verbatim which had before been taken by his Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm And to the Pamphleters it is answered by Mr. H. L. the Author of the former History That there was no variation from the old forms but the addition of a clause to a Prayer there mentioned and that this varâ—ation was not the solitary act of Laud alone but of a Committee And this saith he I positively assert as minding the reformation of a vulgar Error thrown abroad in loose Pamphlets that Bishop Laud altered the Coronation Oath whereas the Oath it self was precisely the same with former precedents More candidly in this then the Author of the present History how great a Royalist soever he desires to be reckoned Fol. 31. This necessary Message produced no other supply then this insolency from a Member Mr. Clement Cook It is better says he to dye by a foreign Enemy then to be destroyed at home And this seditious speech of his was as seditiously seconded by one Dr. Turner of whom the King complain'd to the House of Commons but could finde no remedy nor was it likely that he should He that devests himself of a Natural and Original power to right the injuries which are done him in hope to finde relief from others especially from such as are parcel-guilty of the wrong may put up all his gettings in a Semtress thimble and yet never fill it But thus King Iames had done before him one Piggot a Member of the House of Commons had spoken disgracefully of the Scots for their importunity in begging and no less scornfully of the King for his extream profuseness in giving adding withal that it would never be well with England till a Sicilian Vesper was made of the Scotish Nation For which seditious Speech when that King might have took the Law into his own hands and punisht him as severely by his own Authority as he had deserv'd yet he past it over and thought that he had done enough in giving a hint of it in a Speech made to both Houses at White-Hall on the last of March Anno 1607. I know saith he that there are many Pigots amongst them I mean a number of Seditious and discontented particular persons as must be in all Commonwealths that where they dare may peradventure talk lewdly enough but no Scotish man ever spoke dishonorably of England in Parliament It being the custom of those Parliaments that no man was to speak without leave from the Chancellor for the Lords and Commons made but one House in that Kingdom and if any man do propound or utter any seditious Speeches he is straightly interrupted and silenced by the Chancellors Authority This said there was an end of that business for ought I can learn and this gave a sufficient encouragement to the Commons in the time of King Charls to expect the like From whence they came at last to this resolution not to suffer one of theirs to be questioned till themselves had considered of his crimes Which as our Author truly notes kept them close together imboldned thus to preserve themselves to the last fol. 35. This Maxim as they made use of in this present Parliament in behalf of Cook Diggs and Eliot which two last had been Imprisoned by the Kings command so was it more violently and pertinaciously insisted on in the case of the five Members Impeacht of High Treason by the Kings Attorney on the fourth of Ianuary Anno 1641. the miserable effects whereof we still feel too sensibly Fol. 40 And though the matter of the Prologue may be spared being made up with Elegancy yet rather then it shall be lost you may please to read it at this length Our Author speaks this of the Eloquent Oration made by Sir Dudly Diggs to usher in the Impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham which being amplified and prest in six tedious Speeches by Glanvil Pim Selden Wansford Herbert and Sherland was Epilogued by Sir Iohn Eliot A vein of Oratory not to be found in the Body
seasonably here if I had not somewhat to alledge for my justification But when the Reasons which induced me to the first Adventure mentioned in the Introduction following be seriously considered as they ought to be I hope I shall be capable of excuse at the least if not of pardon And for my venturing on the other I shall say nothing more at the present but that as well my love to Truth as to doe right unto the Authour whom I would willingly look on as a man well principled and of no ill affections to Church or State hath invited me to it Truth is the Mistresse which I serve and I presume that none will be offended with me because I tell them of their Errours in a modest way and beare witnesse for them to that Truth of which they doe professe themselves such especiall Lovers In that great Disputation between the Esquires of the body of King Darius whether the King Wine Women or the Truth were of greatest power the whole Assembly cryed out in behalf of Truth Magna est Veritas praevalet that is to say Great is Truth and mighty above all things So that in standing for the Truth without consideration unto the recompence of reward I hope though I meeâ— some Adversaries I shall finde more Friends If not for I am at a reasonable passe for that it shall be no small comfort to me that the weak Candle of my Studies hath given light to othâ—rs whereby they may discern some Historicall Truâ—hs even in the darkest Mists of Errour which either partiality or incogitancy hath cast before the eyes of unwary Readers Which said I shall now adde no more but that having two Pâ—tients under cure of different tempers it is not to be thought that I should administer unto both the same kinde of Physick an ordinary purge being sufficient for the one whereas the foule body of the other doth require a Fluxing as some wounds may be healed with Balm when others more corrupt and putrified doe exact a Lancing But so it happeneth many times that some men are more impatient of the Cure then sensible of their Diseases and that in stead of giving thanks to the Physician for the great pains he took about them they pay him with nothing but displeasures Which being the worst that can befall me I am armed against it If by the hazâ—rd of my peace I shall procure this benefit to the present and succeeding times that men may prove more carefull of what they write and not obtâ—ude upon the Reader either through ignorance inadvertency or somewhat worse such and so many Falsities Mistakes and Errours as have been lately put upon him in some Modern Histories it is that I aimed at and having gained that Point I have gained my purpose Non partis studiis agimur sed sumpsimus Arma Consiliis inimica tuis ignavia fallax Peter Heyliu Examen Historicum OR A DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION OF THE Mistakes Falsities and Defects In some Modern HISTORY Part. I. CONTAINING Necessary ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Church-History of Britain AND The History of Cambridge Publisht by Thomas Fuller For vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy 2 Corinth 13. 8. Non possumus aliquid adversus veritatem sed pro veritate Minut. Foel in Octavio Et Veritas quidem obvia est sed requirentibus A Necessary Introduction To the Following ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE CHURCH-HISTORY OF BRITAIN Touching the Title of the Book and the Preface to it 1. INtending some short Animadversions on the Church Hâ—story of Britain for Vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy I have thought good to prepare the way unto them by a plain but necessary Introduction touching the Quality and Nature of the Book which I have in hand Concerning which the Reader is to understand that in the Year 1642. M. Fuller publisht his Book called The Holy State in the Preface whereof he lets us know that he should count it freedom to serve two Apprentiships God spinning out the thick thread of his life so long in writing the Ecclesiasticall History from Christs time to our daies And so much time it seems he had spent upon it except some starts for recreation in the Holy Land before he had finisht and expos'd it to the publike view the Book not coming out until the Year 1655. whether agreeable to his promise and such a tedious expectation we are now to see For first The Reader might expect by the former passage that he designed the Generall History of the Church from the first preaching of Christ and the calling of the twelve Apostles to the times we live in whereas he hath restrained himself to the Church of Britain which he conceives to be so far from being founded in the time of Christ that he is loth to give it the Antiquity of being the work of any of the Apostles of any of the Seventy Disciples or finally of any Apostolicall Spirit of those eldest times And secondly Though he entitle it by the name of the Church-History of Britain yet he pursues not his Designe agreeable to that Title neither there being little said of the affairs of the Church of Scotland which certainly makes up a considerable part of the Isle of Britain and lesse if any thing at all of the Church of Ireland which anciently past in the account of a British Island Nor is it thirdly a Church-History rightly and properly so called but an aggregation of such and so many Heterogeneous bodies that Ecclesiasticall affairs make the least part of it Abstracted from the dresse and trimming and all those outward imbelishments which appear upon it it hath a very fit resemblance to that Lady of pleasure of which Martial tels us Pars minima est ipsa puella sui that the woman was the least part of her self The name of a Church-Rhapsody had been fitter for it though to say truth had it been answerable thereunto in point of learning it might have past by the old Title of Fullers Miscellanies For such and so many are the impertinencies as to matters of Historicall nature more as to matters of the Church that without them this great Volume had been brought to a narrower compasse if it had taken up any room at all So that we may affirm of the present History as one did of the Writings of Chrisippus an old Philosopher viz. Si quis tollat Chrysippi Libris quae aliena sunt facilâ— illi vacua relinquerentur Pergamena that is to say that if they were well purged of all such passages as were not pertinent to the businesse which he had in hand there would be nothing left in them to fill up his Parchments 2. The first of this kinde which I am to note is a meer extrinsecall and outside unto those impertinences which are coucht within consisting of Title-Pages Dedicatory Epistles and severall intermediate Inscriptions unto every Section A new way never travelled before by
Writer of credit can be produced before the Conquest who mentioneth Josephs coming hither For Anâ—wer wheâ—eunto it may first be said that where there is a conâ—â—nt uncontrol'd tradition there is most commonly the lesse care taken to commit it to writing secondly that the Charters of Glassenbury relating from the Norman to the Saxon Kings and from the Saxons to the Britâ—ns being all built upon St. Iosephs coming hither and pâ—eaching here may serve in stead of many Authors bearing witness to it and thirdly that Fryer Bale as great an enemy to the unwarrantable Traditions of the Church of Rome as our Author can deâ—ire to have him hath vouch'd two witnesses hereunto that is to say Melkinus Avalonius and Gildas Albanus whose writings or some fragments of them he may be believed to have seen though our Authoâ— hath not As for some circumstances in the stoâ—y that is to say the dedicating of Iosephs first Church to the Virgin Mary the burying of his body in it and the inclosing of the same with a large Church-yard I look upon them as the products of Mâ—nkish ignorance accommodated unâ—o the fashion of those times which the writers liv'd in Theâ—e is scarce any Saint in all the Calendar whose History would not be subject to the like misconstructions if the additaments of the middle and darker times should be produced to the disparagement of the whole Narration But such an enemy our Author is to all old traditions that he must need have a blow at Glassenbury Thorn though before cut down by some Souldieâ—s as himself confesseth like Sir Iohn Falstaffe in the Play who to shew his valour must thrust his sword into the bodies of those men which weâ—e dead before The budding or blossoming of this Thorn he accounts untrue which were it true c. fol. 8. affirming fâ—om I know not whom that it doth not punctually and critically bud on Christmas day but on the dayes near it or about it And were it no otherwiâ—e then so the miracle were not much the lesse then if it budded câ—itically upâ—n Christmas day as I have heard from persons of great worth and credit dwelling near the place that indeed it did though unto such as had a minde to decry the Festival it was no very hard mâ—tter to bely the miracle In fine our Author either is unwilling to have the Gospell as soon preacht here as in other places or else we must have Preachers for it from he knowes not whence Such Preachers we must have as either drop down immediately from the heavens as Dianas Image is said to have done by the Town-â—lerk of Ephesus or else mâ—st suddenly rise out of the earth as Tages the first Soothsayer amongst the Thuscans is reported to have done by some antient Writers And yet we cannot say of our Author neither as Lactantius did of one Acesilas if my memory fail not Recte hic aliorum sustulit disciplinas sed non rectè sundavit suam that is to say that though he had laid no good grounds for his own opinion yet he had solidly confâ—ted the opinions of others Our Aâ—thor hath a way by himself neither well skill'd in pulling down nor in building up From the first conversion of the Britans proceed we now unto the second as Parsons cals it or rather from the first Preaching to the Propagation The Christian faith here planted by St. Peter or St. Ioseph or perhaps planted by the one and watered rather by the other in their severall times had still a being in this Island till the time of Lucius So that there was no need of a new conversion but only of some able Labourers to take in the harvest The Miracles done by some pious Christians induced King Lucius to send Elvanus and Meduinus two of that profession to the Pope of Rome requesting principally that some Preachers might be sent to instruct him in the faith of Christ. Which the Pope did accoâ—ding to the Kings desiâ—e sending Faganus and Derwianus two right godly men by whom much people were converted the Temples of the gods converted into Christian Churches the Hierarchy of Bishops setled and the whole building raised on so good a foundation that it continued undemoâ—isht till the time of the Saxons And in the summing up of this story our Author having refâ—ted some petiâ— Arguments which had been answered to his hand though much mistaken by the way in taking Diotarus King of Galatia for a King of Sicilie fol. 10. gives us some other in their stead which he thinks unanswerable First he obâ—ects against the Popes anâ—weâ— to the King that Fol. 11. It relates to a former letter of King Lâ—cius wherein he requested of the Pope to send him a Copy or Collection of the Roman Lawes which being at that time in force in the 〈◊〉 if Britain was but actum agere But certainly thoâ—gh those parts of Britain in which Lucius reign'd were governed in part and bâ—t in part by the Lawes of Rome yet were the Lawes of Rome at that time more in number and of a far more generall practice then to be limited to so narrow a part of their Dominions Two thousand Volumes we finde of them in Iustinians time out of which by the help of Theophilus Trebonianus and many other learned men of that noble faculty the Emperor compos'd that Book or body of Law which from the universality of its compâ—ehension we still call the Pandects So that King Lucius being desirous to inform himself in the Lawes of that Empire whether in force or out of use we regard not now might as well make it one of his desires to the Pope of Rome as any great person living in Ireland in Queen Elizabeths time might write to the Archbishop of Canterbury to procure for him all the Books of Statutes the Year-books Commentaries and Reports of the ablest Lawyers though Ireland were governed at that time by the Lawes of England For though Pope Eleutherius knew better how to suffer Martyrdom for Christs cause as our Author hath it then to play the Advocate in anothers yet did not that render him unable to comply with the Kings desires but that he thought it better to commend the knowledge of Gods Law to his care and study In the next place it is objected that This letter mounts King Lucius to too high a Throne making him the Monarch or King of Britain who neither was the Supreme nor sole King here but partial and subordinate to the Romans This we acknowledge to be true but no way prejudiciall to the cause in hand Lucius both was and might be call'd the King of Britain though Tributary and Vassal to the Roman Emperors as the two Baliols Iohn and Edward were both Kings of Scotland though Homagers and Vassals to Edward the first and third of England the Kings of Naples to the Pope and those of Austria and Bohemia to the German Emperors Nor doth the next objection give us any
Altar as it either was or could be in the power of our English Zealots to beat down superstitious Pictures and Images had they been so minded Solomon in the Book of Canticles compares the Church unto a Army Acies Castrorum ordinaâ—a as the Vulgar hath it an Army terrible with Banners as our English reads it A powerful Body out of doubt able which way soever it moves to waste and destroy the Countrey to burn and sack the Villages through which it passeth And questionless too many of the Souldiers knowing their own power world be apt to do it if not restrained by the Authority of their Commanders and the Laws of war Ita se Ducum Authoritas sic Rigor Disciplinae habet as we finde in Tacitus And if those be not kept as they ought to be Confusi Equites Peditesque in exitium ruunt the whole runs on to a swift destruction Thus is it also in the Church with the Camp of God If there be no subordination in it if every one might do what he list himself and make such uses of that power and opportunity as he thinks are put into into his hands what a confusion would ensue how speedy a calamity must needs fall upon it Courage and zeal do never shew more amiably in inferior powers then when they are subordinate to good directions especially when they take directions from the right hand from the Supreme Magistrate not from the interests and passion of their fellow subjects It is the Princes office to command and theirs to execute With which wise caution the Emperor Otho once represt the too great forwardness of his Souldiers when he found them apt enough to make use of their power in a matter not commanded by him Vobis Arma Animus mihi Consilium virtutis vestrae Regimen relinquites as his words there are He understood their duty and his own authority allows them to have power and will but regulates and restrains them both to his own command So that whether we behold the Church in its own condition proceeding by the warrant and examples of holy Scripture or in resemblance to an Army as compared by Solomon there will be nothing left to the power of the people either in way of Reformation or Execution till they be vested and intrusted with 〈◊〉 lawful power deriv'd from him whom God hath plac'd in Authority over them And therefore though Idolatry be to be destroy'd and to be destroyed by all which have power to do it yet must all those be furnisht with 〈◊〉 lawful power or otherwise stand guilty of as high a crime as that which they so zealously endeavour to condemn in others 3. But our Author is not of this minde and therefore adds That if the Soveraign do forget the Subjects should remember their duty A lesson which he never learn'd in the Book of God For besides the examples which we have in demolishing the Brazen Serpent and the Altar of Bethel not acted by the power of the people but the command of the Prince I would 〈◊〉 know where we shall finde in the whole courâ—e and current of the holy Scriptures that the common people in and by their own authority removed the high places and destroyed the Images or cut down the Gâ—oves those excellent Instruments of Superstition and Idolatry or that they did attempt any such thing till warranted and commissionated by the Supreme Powers Where shall we finde that any of the seven thousand person which had not bowed the knee to Baal did ever go about to destroy that Idol Or that Eliah or Elisha two men as extraordinary for their calling as their zeal and courage did excite them to it Where shall we finde the Primitive Christians when living under the command of Heathenish Emperors busied in destroying Idols or defacing the Temples of those Gods whom the Pagans worshipped thoâ—gh grown in those times to such infinite multitudes that they filled all places of the Empire Vestra omnia implevimâ—â— Cities Illes Castles Burroughs your places of Assembly Camps Tribes Palaces yea the very Senate and common Forum as Tertullian pleads it No other Doctrine 〈◊〉 â—eard of till either the new Gospel of Wickliffe or the new Lights shining from Geneva gave beginning to it when the Genevians were resolv'd on a Reformation and could not get the consent of their Bishop who was also their immediate Prince they resolv'd to take the work into their own hands and proceed without him And that the presence of their Bishop might not be a hinderance unto their designs they rais'd a tumult put themselves in to a posture of war and thereby force him and his Clergy to forsake the City And this being done they did not only order matters of Religion as they pleas'd themselves but took the Soveraignty of the City into their own hands changing the Government thereof to the form of a Common-wealth Eo ejecto Genevates Monarchiam in popularem Statum commutarunt as Calvin hath it in his Epistle unto Cardinal Sadolet The practice of these men drawn afterwards into example by Knox and others became at last to be the standing Rule and Measure of all Reformations For when the King and Queen of Scots refus'd to ratifie two Acts which were sent unto them concerning the abolishing of the Mass and the Popes supremacy Knox Winram and the rest of that gang without more ado devised and set up a new form of Discipline ingrossing that power unto the Kirk which formerly had been usurped by the Popes of Rome Afterwards when the Queen was return'd into Scotland and that some of their importunate Petitions were neglected by her it was concluded by the Ministers in as plain terms as might be that if the Queen will not then we must ibid. fol. 33. According to this Rule the Netherlands proceeded also not only driving on the design which they had in hand as the French Hugonots also did without the Kings Authority but against it also Finally from a matter practical it came at last to be delivered for a point of Doctrine that if the Prince or Supreme Magistrate did not reform the Church then the people might For this I finde in Clesselius one of the Contra-Remonstrants of Roterdam If saith he the Prince and Clergy do neglect their duties in the Reforming of the Church Necesse est tumid facere plebeios Israelitas that then it doth belong to the common people And it is with a Necesse too if you mark it well they might not only do it but they must be doing Not in the way of Mediation or Petition by which the dignity of the Magistrate might be preserv'd but by force and violence Licet ad sanguinem usque pro eo pugnent even to the shedding of their own bloud and their brethrens too Our Author preacheth the same Doctrine whether by way of Application or Instruction it comes all to one for Qui Parentes laudat filios provocat as
And he that knowing a thing to be false sets it down for true not only gives the lie to his own conscience but occasions others also to believe a falshood And from this charge I cannot see how he can be acquitted in making the Bishops to be guilty of those filthy sins for which they were to be so lashed by Satyrical wits or imputing those base Libels unto wanton wits which could proceed from no other fountain then malicious wickedness But I â—m weâ—ry and ashamed of taking in so impure a kennel and for that cause also shall willingly passe over his apology for Hacket that blasphemous wretch and most execrable miscreant justly condemned and executed for a double Treason against the King of Kings in Heaven and the Queen on earth Of whom he would not have us think fol. 204. that he and his two Companions his two Prophets for so they called themselves were worse by nature then all others of the English Nation the natural corruption in the hearts of others being not lesse headstrong but more bridled And finally that if Gods restraining grace be taken from us we shall all run unto the same excesse of Riot Which Plea if it be good for Hacket will hold good for Iudas and pity it is that some of our fine wits did never study an apology for him From Hackâ—â— he goes on to Travers a man of an unquiet spirit but not half so mischievous of whom he saith Fol. 214. At Antwerp he was ordained Minister by the Presbytâ—ry there and not long after that he was put in Orders by the Presbytery of a forain Nation Here have we Ordination and putting into Orders ascribed to the Preâ—bytery of Aâ—tâ—â—erp a Mongrel company consisting of two blew Aprous to each Cruel night-cap and that too in such positive terms and without any the least qualification that no Presbyterian in the pack could have spoke more plainly The man hath hitherto stood distracted betwixt shame and love love to the cause and shame to be discovered for a party in it drawing several wayes Pudor est qui suadeâ—â— illinc Hinc dissuadet Amor in the Poets language And in this fit he thought it good to withdraw himself or stand by aâ— a silent Spectator that his betters might have room to come forth and speak in the present controversie of Church Government fol. 143. But here love carries it away and he declares himself roundly for the Presbyterians by giving them the power of Ordination and consequently of Ecclesiastical censure in their several Consistories Had he used the words of the Certificate which he grounds upon and told us that Travers was admitted by that Presbytery to the Ministery of the holy word in sacrâ— verbi Dei Ministerio institutus aâ— their words there are he had done the part of an Historian They may make Ministers how and of whom they list and put that Heavenly treasure into what vessels they please Scripturarum ars est quam omnes passim sibi vindicant as St. Ierom complained in his time Let every Tradesman be a Preacher and step from the shop-board to the Pulpit if they think well of it This may be called a making of Ministers in such a sense as Phoebe is said to be a Minister of the Church of Cenchrea to minister to the necessities of their Congregations But to ascribe unto them a power of Ordination or of giving Orders which they assume not to themselves savours too strong of the party and contradicts the general Rules of the ancient Fathers At this time I content my self with that saying of Ierom because esteemed no friend to Bishops viz. Quid facit Episcopus excepta Ordinatione quod Presbyter non faciat and for the rest refer the Reader to the learned Treatise of Dr. Hammond Entituled Observations upon the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons at Westminster for the Ordination of Ministers pro tempore Printed at Oxford 1644. Only I shall make bold to quit my Author with a merry tale though but one for an hundred and t is a tale of an old jolly popish Priest who having no entertainment for a friend who came to him on a Fasting day but a piece of Pork and making conscience of observing the appointed Fast dipt it into a tub of water saying down Porke up Pike Satisfied with which device as being accustomed to transubstantiate he well might be he caused it to be put into the pâ—t and made ready for dinner But as the Pork for all this suddain piece of wit was no other then Pork so these good fellowes of the Presbytery by laying hands upon one another act as little as he the parties so impos'd upon impos'd upon indeed in the proper notion are but as they were Lay-brethren of the better stamp Ministers if you will but not Priests nor Deacons nor any wayes Canonically enabled for divine performances But fearing to be chidden for his levity I knock off again following my Author as he leads me who being over shooes will be over boots also He is so lost to the High Royalist and covetous Conformist that he cannot be in a worse case with them then he is already And therefore having declared himself for a Presbyterian in point of Government he will go thorough with his work shewing himself a profest Calvinist in point of Doctrine and a strict Sabbaâ—arian too in that single point though therein differing as the rest of that party do from their Master Calvin First for the Sabbath for the better day the better deed having repeared the chief heads of Dr. Bounds book published Anno 1595. in which the Sabbatarian Doctrines were first set on soot he addes that learned men were much divided in their judgements about the same Fol. 228. Some saith he embraced them as ancient truths consonant to Scripture long disused and neglected now seasonably revived for the encrease of piety Amongst which some he that shall take our Author for one will not be mâ—ch mistaken either in the man or in the matter For that he doth approve Bounds Doctrines in this particular appears First By a passage fol. 165. where he conâ—nts with him in reckoning the casual falling of the Scaffolds at Paris-Garden on the Lords-day Anno 1583. for a divine judgement upon those who perished by it as they were beholding that rude pastime Secondly By his censure of the proceedings of Archbishop Whitgift against these Doctrines of whom he telleth us fol 229. That his known opposition to the pâ—â—ceedings of the Brethren rendred his actions more odious as if out of envy he had caused such a pearl to be concealed Thirdly by making these Sabbath Doctrines to be the Diamond in the Ring of those Catechisms and Controversies which afterwards were set out by the stricter Divines And Fourthly by the sadnesse which he findes in recounting the grief and distraction occasioned in many honest mens hearts by the several publishings of the Declaration about lawful sports lib. â—o fol.
in this caâ—e came before by whose continual importunity and 〈◊〉 the breach of the Treaties followed after The King lov'd peace â—oo well to lay aside the Treaties and engage in War before he was desperate of success any other way then by that of the Sword and was assur'd both of the hands and hearts of his subjects to assist him in it And therefore ouâ— Author should have said that the King not only called together his great Councel but broke off the Treaty and not have given us here such an Hysteron Proteron as neither doth consist with reason not the truth of story ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Eleventh Book OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Containing the Reign of King Charles THis Book concludes our Authors History and my Animadverâ—â—ons And 〈◊〉 the end be 〈◊〉 unto the beginning it is like to 〈…〉 enough our Author stumbling at the Threshold 〈◊〉 â—moâ—gst superstitious people hath been 〈…〉 presage Having placed King Charles upon 〈…〉 he goes on to tell us that Fol. 117. On the fourtâ—enth 〈…〉 James his Funerals were 〈…〉 Collegiat Church at 〈…〉 but the fourth saith the 〈…〉 Reign of King Charls and 〈…〉 was on the 〈…〉 â—â—venth of May on which those solemn Obsequies were 〈…〉 Westminster Of which if he will not take my word seâ— him consult the Pamphleâ— called the 〈…〉 â—ol 6. and he shall be satisfied Our 〈…〉 muâ—â— keep time better or else we shall neveâ— know how the day goes with him Fol. 119. As for Dr. Preâ—â—on c. His party would 〈◊〉 us that he might have chose his own Mitre And 〈…〉 his party would perswade us That he had not only large parts of suâ—â—icient receipt to manage the broad 〈…〉 but that the Seal was proffered to him fol. 131. But we are not bound to believe all which is said by that party who look'd vpon the man with such a reverence as came near Idolaâ—â—y His Principles and engagements were too well known by those which governed Affairs to ventâ—â—e him â—nto any such great trust in Church or State and his activity so suspected that he would not have been long suffered to continue Preacher at Lincolns Inn. As for his intimacy with the Duke too violent to be long lasting it proceeded not from any good â—pinion which the Duke had of him but that he found how instrumental he might be to manage that prevailâ—â—g party to the Kings advantage But when it was 〈◊〉 that he had more of the Serpent in him then of the 〈◊〉 and that he was not tractable in steering the 〈◊〉 of his own Party by the Court Compass he was discountenanc'd and â—aid by as not worth the keeping He seemed the Court Mâ—reor for a while 〈◊〉 to a sâ—dden height of expectation and having 〈◊〉 and blaz'd a 〈◊〉 went out again and was as suddâ—â—nly â—oâ—gotten â—ol 119. Next day the King coming from Canterbury 〈…〉 with all solemnity she was 〈…〉 in London where a Chappel 〈…〉 her Devâ—tionâ— with a Covent 〈…〉 to the Articles of her 〈…〉 how â—ame he to be suffered to be present at 〈◊〉 in the capacity of Lord Keeper For that he did so is affirmed by our Author saying That the King took a Sâ—role of Parchment out of his bosom and gave it to the Lâ—rd 〈…〉 who read it to the Commons four sevâ—raâ— times East-West North and South fol. 123. Thirdly the Lord Keeper who read that Scrole was not the 〈◊〉 Keeper Williams but the Lord Keeper Coventry 〈◊〉 Seal being taken from the Bishop of Lincoln and 〈◊〉 to the custoâ—y of Sir Thomas Coventry in October before And therefore fourthly our Author is much ouâ— in placing both the Coronation and the following Parliament befoâ—e the change of the Lord Keeper and sending Sir Iohn Suckling to feâ—ch that Seal at the end of a Parliâ—ment in the Spring which he had brought away with him before Michaelmas Term. But as our Author was willing to keep the Bishop of Lincoln in the Deaâ—â—y of Westminster for no less then five or six years after it was confer'd on another so is he as desirous to continue him Lord Keeper for as many months after the Seal had been entrusted to another hand Fol. 122. The Earl of Arundel as Earl Marshal of 〈◊〉 and the Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Constâ—ble of England for that day went before his Majesty in that great Solemnity In this passage and the next that follows ouâ— Author shews himself as bad an Herald in marshalling a Royal shew as in stating the true time of the câ—eation of a Noble Peer Here in this place he plaâ—eth the Earl Marshal before the Constable whereas by the 〈◊〉 31 H. 8. c. 10. the Constable is to have 〈◊〉 before the Marshal Not want there Precedents to shew that the Lord High-Constable did many times direct his Mâ—ndats to the Earl Marshal as one of the Miniâ—â—ers of his Court willing and requiring him to perform such and such services as in the said Precepts were expâ—essed In the next place we are informed that Ibid. That the Kings Train being six yards long of Purple Velvet was held up by the Lord Compton and the Lord Viscount Dorcester That the Lord Compton was one of them which held up the Kings Train I shall easily grant he being then Master of the Robes and thereby châ—llenging a right to peâ—foâ—m this service But that the Lord Viscount Dorcester was the other of them I shall never grant there being no such Viscount at the time of the Coronation I cannot 〈◊〉 but that Sir Dâ—dley Carleton might be one of those which held up the Train though I am not sure of it But sure I am that Sir Dudley Carleton was not made Baron of Imber-Court till towards the latter end of the following Parliament of An. 1626 nor created Viscount Dorcester until some years after Fol. 122. The Lord Archbishop did present his Majesty to the Lords and Commons East West North South asking their mindes four several times if they did consent to the Coronation of King Charles their lawful â—overaign This is a piece of new State-doctrine never known before that the Coronation of the King and consequently his Succession to the Crown of England should depend on the consent of the Lords and Commons who were then assembled the Coronation not proceeding as he after â—elleth us till their consent was given four times by â—cclamations And this I call a piece of new State-doctrine never known before because I finde the contrary in the Coronation of our former Kings For in the form and manner of the Coronation of King Edward 6. described in the Catalogue of Honor â—et â—orth by Tho. Mills of Canterbury Anno 1610. we finde it thus The King being carried by certain Noble Courtiers in another Chair â—nto the four sides of the Stage was by the Archbishop of Canterbury declared unto the people standing round about both by Gods and mans Laws to be the right and lawâ—ul King of
Digby now Earl of Bristow But he that spent most of his wit upon it and theâ—eby gave occasion unto others for the like mistakings was Sir Edward Deering in a Speech made against these Canons Anno 1640. where we finde these flourishes Would you confute the Convocation They were a Holy Synod Would you argue against the Synod Why they were Commissioners Would you dispute the Commission They will mingle all powers together and answer that they were some fourth thing that neither we know nor imagine that is to say as it follows aftâ—rwâ—rds p. 27. a Convocational-Synodical-Assembly of 〈◊〉 More of this fine stuffe we may see hereafteâ— In the mean time we may judge by this Remnâ—nt of the whole Piece and 〈◊〉 iâ— upon proof to be very â—light and not worth the weâ—ring For first the Gentleman could not our Author cannot chuse but know that a Convocation and a Synod as 〈◊〉 in England of late times are but the same one thing under diveâ—s names the one borrowed from a Grecian the other from a Latin Original the Convocation of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury being nothing but a Provincial Synod as a National Synod is nothing elâ—e but the Convocation of the Clergy of both Provinces Secondly our Aâ—thor knows by this time that the Commission which seems to make this doughty difference changed not the Convocation into a Synod as some vainly think but only made that Convocation active in order to the making of Canons which otherwise had been able to proceed no â—urther then the grant of Subsidies Thirdly that nothing is more ordinary then for the Convocations of all times since the Reformation to take unto themselves the name of Synâ—ds For the Articles of Religion made in the Convocation An. 1552. are called in the Title of the Book Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinensi convenit c. The same name given to those agreed on in the Convocation An. 1562. as appears by the Title of that Book also in the Latin Editiâ—n The Canons of the year 1571. are said to be concluded and agreed upon in Synodo inchoat â Lond. in aede Divi Paulâ— c. In the year 1575. came out a Book of Articles with this title following viz. Articles whereupon it was agreed by the most Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and other the Bishops the whole Clergy of the Province of Canterbury in the Convocation or Synod holden at Westminster The like we finde in the year 1597. being the last active Convocation in Q. Elizabeths time in which we meeâ— with a Book entituled Constitutiones Ecclesiasticae c. in Synodo inâ—heata Londini vicâ—simo quinto die Mensis Octobris Our Author finally is to know that though the members of the two Convocations of York and Canterbury did not meeâ— in person yet they communicated their â—ounsels the Reâ—ults of the one being dispatch'd unto the other and there agreed on or rejected as they saw 〈◊〉 for it Which laid together shews the vanity of â—â—â—ther passage in the Speech of Sir Edward Deering where he vapoâ—reth thus viz. A strange Commission wherein no one Commissioners name is to be found a 〈◊〉 Convocation that lived when the Parliament was 〈◊〉 a strange Holy Synod where one 〈…〉 conferred with the other Lastly Siâ— Edward Deeriâ—g seems to marvel at the Title of the Book of Canoâ—â— then in question expressing that they were treated upon in Convocation agreed upon in Synâ—d And this saith he is a new Mould to cast Canons in never us'd before But had he looked upon the 〈◊〉 of the Book of Canons An. 160â— he hâ—d found it otheâ—wise The Title this viz. Constitutions and Canons 〈…〉 by the Bishop of London President of the Convocation for the Province of Canterbury c. and agreed upon with the Kings Majesties Licence in their Synod 〈◊〉 at London An. 1603. And so much for the satisfaction of all such persons whom either that gentleman or this oâ—r Authoâ— hâ—ve mis-informed and consequently abâ—â—ed in this particular Ibid. Now because great Bâ—aies mâ—ve 〈…〉 it was thought fit to contract the 〈…〉 of some 26 beside the Prolocutor No â—â—ch contracting of the Synod as our Author speaks of There was indeed a Committee of twenty â—ix or thereabouts appointed to consider of a Canon for uniformity in some Rites and Ceremonies of which number were the principal of those whom he calls dissenters and our Author too amongst the rest who having agreed upon the Canon it was by them presented to the rest of the Clergy in Convocation and by them appâ—ov'd And possible it is that the drawing â—p of some other Canons might be refer'd also to that Committee â— as is accustomed in such cases without contracting the whole Hoâ—se into that small body or excluding any man from being present at their consultation But whereas our Author afterwards tells us that nothing should be accounted the Act of the House till thrice as he takes it publickly voted therein It is but as he takes it or mistakes it rather and so let it goe But I needed not to have signified that our Author was one of this Committee he will tell it himself And he will tell us more then that publishing himself for one of the thirty six Dissenters the better to ingratiate himself with the rising side The next day so he lets us know We all subscribed the Canons suffering our selves â— according to the Order of such meetings to be all concluded by the majority of votes though some of US in the Committee privately dissented in the passing of many particulars So then our Author was content to play the good fellow at the last and go along hand in hand with the rest of his company dissenting privately but consenting publickly which is as much as can be looked for Ibid. No sooner came these Canons abroad into a publick view but various were mens censures upon them Not possible that in such a confusion both of Affections and Opinions it should otherwise be Non omnibus una voluntas was a note of old and will hold true as long as there are many men to have many mindes And yet if my information deceive me not these Canons found great approbation from the mouths of some from whom it had been least expected particularly from Justice Crook whose Argument in the case of Ship-mâ—ny was printed afterwards by the Order of the House of Commons Of whom I have been told by a person of great worth and credit that having read over the Book of Canons when it first came out he lifted up his hands and gave hearty thanks to Almighty God that he had liv'd to see such good effects of a Conâ—â—â—â—tion It was very well that they pleased him but that they should please all men was not to be hoped for Fol. 171. Many took exception at the hollowness of the Oath in the middle thereof having its Bowels puffed up
Lindsey Lord High Constable â— Our Author borrows this Error as he does some others from the former History and makes it worse by an addition of his own For first The Earl of Lindsey was not made High Constable upon this occasion nor did he act there in that capacityâ—â— He had been made High Constable to decide the difference between the Lord Rey and David Ramsey which being an extraordinary case was likely to be tried by battle But in this case there was no need of any such Officer the Triall being to be made by proofs and Evidences the verdict to be given by the Lords of Parliament and sentence to be pronounced by the Lord High Steward all â— things being to be carried and transacted in due form of Law Secondly The Court being broken up which was before the passing of the Bill of Attainder in the end of April the Office of Lord High Steward expired also with it And therefore when our Authour speaks of a Request which was made unto the King in Parliament that the Earl of Pembroke should be made Lord High Steward in the place of the Earl of Arundel then absent fol. 430. he either speaks of a Request which was never made or else mistakes the Lord Steward of the Kings houshold which place might possibly be desired for the Earl of Pembroke not long before turn'd out of the Office of Lord Chamberlain for the Lord High Steward of the Kingdome And now we are fallen on his mistakes touching these great Officers I shall adde another It being said in our Authours unfigured Sheets that the King having signed the Bill of Attainder sent Sir Dudly Carlton Secretary of State to acquaint him what he had finished An errour too grosse and palpable for our Authour to be guilty of considering his Acquaintances in the Court and relations to it which may perswade me to beleeve that these unfigured Sheets patcht in I know not how between fol. 408. and 409. should be none of his But whether they be his or not certain I am that there was no Secretary at this time but Sir Henry Vane Windebank being then in France and his place not filled with the Lord Falkland till the Christmas after Sir Dudly Carlton Lord Imbercourt and Vicount Dorchester was indeed Secretary for a while but he died upon Ashwednesday in the year 1631. which was more then nine years before the sending of this message and I perswade my self the King did not raise him from the grave as Samuel was once raised at the instance of Saul to go on that unpleasing errand Sir Dudly Carlton whom he means being Brothers son unto the former was at that time one â—f the Clerks of the Councel but never attained unto the place and honour of a principall Secretary Our Authour having brought the businesse of the Earl of Strafford toward a Conclusion diverts upon the Authour of the Observations on the former History to whom he had been so much beholden for many of the most materiall and judicious Notes in the former part of his Book and he chargeth thus Fol. 406. I conceive it convenient in more particular to clear two mistakes of our Authours concerning the Articles of Irâ—land and the death of the Earl of Strafford reflecting upon the late most Reverend Prelate the Archbishop of Armagh Primate of all Ireland whilest he was liuing and worse pursued since his decease somewhat too sharp also upon D. Bernard What Fee or Salary our Authour hath for this undertaking I am noâ— able to determine but if he be not well paid by them I am sure he hath been well paid by another who in his Answer to D. Bernards Book entituled The â—udgement of the late Primate of Ireland Ac. hath fully justified the Observator against all the exceptions which either our Authour or D. Bernard or the Lord Primate himself have made against him in these two points Which being extrinsecall as to the matter of this History shall not be repeated the Reader being desired if he want any further satisfaction to look for it there All I shall here observe is this that our Authour grounds himself in his whole Discourse of that businesse upon somewhat which he had in writing under the hand of the said Lord Primate and more which he hath took verbatim out of the said Book of D. Bernards who being both parties to the Suit ought not to be admitted for Witnesses in their own behalf And yet our Authour having driven the matter to as good a conclusion as he could from such faulty Premises conceives an hope that by the â—ight of those Testimonies he will be of more moderation notwithstanding he hath there shewn much disaffection to the Primate in endeavouring to his utmost to evade divers of those particulars either in giving the worst sense of them or turning them to other ends But as I can sufficiently clear the Observator from bearing any disaffection to the Lord Primates person and the equal Reader may defend him from the imputation of giving the worst sense of any thing which he found in the Pamphlet called The Observator observed or turning it to other ends then was there intended so am I no more satisfied by this tedious nothing touching the Articles of Ireland or the death of the Earl of Strafford as they reflect upon the Archbishop of Armagh then I was before As little am I satisfied with the following passage in the last Folio of the unfigured Sheets viz. That D. Iuxon Bishop of London resigned his Office of Treasurer of England into the hands of five Commissioners more sufficient then he could be Our Authour might have spared these last words of disparagement and diminution and yet have left his Proposition full and perfect But taking them as they come before me I must first tell him that the Lord Bishop of London resigned not his Office of Treasurer into the hands of any Commissioners but only into the hands of the King who not knowing at the present how to dispose of it for his best advantage appointed some Commissioners under the great Seal of England to discharge the same And next I would have him tell me what great sufficiency he found in those Commissioners which was not to be found in the Bishop of London how many of his debts they paid what improvement they made of his Revenue what stock of money they put him into toward the maintaining of the Warre which not long after followed In all which particulars the Bishop of London had very faithfully performed his part though not as to the Warre of England to the great honour of the King and content of the Subject But to look back upon some passages in the businesâ—e of the Earl of Strafford which are not toucht at by the Observator or his alteridâ—m the first we meet with is a very pretty devise of the Bishop of Lincoln to cheat the poor Gentleman of his head by getting a return of the
amount unto commanded the Officers of the late Army before-mentioned to attend his pleasure till he saw some issue of the practices which were held against him On which command they followed him to Hampton Court Ianuary the tenth 1641. at his Removall from Whitehall for avoiding such fresh Insolencies as the people in their triumphant conducting of the accused Members to the Houses of Parliament might have put upon him These Officers now known by the Name of Cavaliers were lodged at Kingston and upon them the Lord Digby accompanied with Col. Lunâ—â—ord in a Coach with six Horses intended to bestow a visit no Troops of Horse being raised by him nor any other appearance of Horse at all except those six only His Majesties Declaration of the 12. of August hath so cleared this businesse that I marvell our Authour could let it passe by without Observation Fol. 485. And so the breach between the King and Parliament was stitcht up That is to say that great breach of pretended priviledge in the Kings coming to the House of Commons to demand the five impeached Members And yet this breach was not stitcht up now nor in a long time after For fol. 495. we finde the Parliament again at their five Members insisted on in the preamble to the Ordinance about the Militia fol. 498. and prest in their Petition delivered to the King at Royston fol. 501. and finally made one of the Propositions presented to the King at Oxford fol. 599. So far was this breach from being stitcht up in the end of Ianuary Anno 1641. that it was not made up in the Ianuary following at what time those Propositions were brought to Oxford From the five Members passe we to the Militia of which he telleth us That Fol. 496. The Parliament having now the Militia the security of the Tower and City of London Trained Bands of the Kingdom and all the Forces out of the Kings hands Our Authour placeth this immediatly after the Kings coming back from Dover whither he went with the Queen and the Princesse Mary there shipped for Holland at what time the Parliament had neither the command of the Tower nor of the Trained Bands in the Countrey or of any Forces whatsoever but their City-guards For fol. 498. we finde his Majesty sticking at it especially as to the Militia of London or of Towns incorporate and after fol. 502. when they petitioned him about it being then at New-Market and not as our Authour saith at Royston he answered more resolutely then before that he would not part with it for a minute no not unto his Wife and Children After which time finding the King too well resolved not to part with such a principall flower of his prerogative they past an Ordinance for entituling themselves unto it and did accordingly make use of it in the following war against the King Nor was the Petition any thing the better welcome for the men that brought it viz. the Earls of Pembroke and Holland both of them sworn Servants to him both of them of his Privy Councell both in great favour with him when he was in Prosperity and both perâ—idiously forsaking him when his Fortunes changed unto the worse Particularly our Authour tels us of the Earl of Holland That Fol. 501. He was raised and created to become his most secret Counsellour the most intimate in affection the first of his Bed-chamber his constant companion in all his Sports and Recreations Yet notwithstanding all these favours this Earl as much promoted the Puritan affairs of the Court but secretly and under-hand as his Brother the Earl of Warwick more openly and professedly did in the Countrey Of which thus Viscount Conway in a Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury dated at Newcastle Iune 8. 1640. I assure my self saith he that there is not any lesse your friend then my Lord of Holland and I beleeve that at all times you ought to take heed to your self with him c. My Lord of Warwick is the temporal head of the Puritans and my Lord of Holland is their spirituall Head or rather the one is their visible Head the other their invisible Head Peradventure not because he means to do either good or hurt but because he thinks it is a Gallantry to be the principall pillar on which a whole Caball must rely Fol. 511. And taking only a guard for his person of his Domesticks and Neighbour Gentry went in person the 23. of April but contrary to his expectation the Gates were shut upon him the Bridges drawn up and Hotham from the Wals flatly denies him entrance Of this Affront Hotham being first proclaimed Traitor under the Wals of the Town the King complains to the Houses of Parliament but he had more reason to complain of some about him For in his Answer to their Petitition about the Magazine of Hull delivered to him in the beginning of April he had let them know how confident he was that place whatsoever discourse there was of private or publick Instructions to the contrary should be speedily given up if he should require it Being thus forewarn'd it was no wonder that they were fore-arm'd also against his Intentions or that he was â—epulst by Hotham at his coming thither For which good Service as Hotham was highly magnified for the present so he had his Wages not long after For being suspected to hold intelligence with the Marquess of Newcastle he was knockt down on that very place on which he stood when he refused the King admittance into the Town sent Prisoner unto London together with his eldest Son and there both beheaded the Son confessing that he had deserv'd that untimely death for his Disloyalty to the King the Father whining out his good affections to the Parliament and still expecting that reprieve which was never intended Fol. 512. All which that is to say the Kings going to Hull being by the King a high breach of Priviledge and violation of Parliaâ—ent they think fit to clear by voting it and Hotham justifâ—ea and send a Committee of Lords and Commons to reside there for the better securing Hull and him April 28. The breach of priviledge objected was the Kings endeavor to possess himself of the Town of Hull his own Town and to get into his hands a Magazine of Arms and Ammunition which he had bought with his own money To hinder which and to justifie Hotham the Lord Fairfax Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Henry Cholmnâ—y and Sir Hugh Cholmnly were sent by the House of Commons as a standing Committee to reside at York And had they come thither on no other business then what was openly pretended it had been such an extent of Priviledge making the House of Commons as wide as the Kingdom as never was challenged before But they were sent on another errand that is to say to be as Spies on all the Kings Actions to undermine all his Proceedings and to insinuate into the people that all their hopes of Peace
and be presumed to have two faces with the one looking towards London for which he was upon his march with the other on Malvarn Hills where the Cavaliers faced him And secondly We must think the Cavaliers to be very Cowards that durst not face him supposing still that he had two faces at a nearer distance then from Malvarn Hills distant from Cirencester thirty miles at the least and how far from Chilleton let them tell me who have searcht the Maps But though he makes the Cavaliers to keep out of danger yet he brings the Queen neer enough unto it whom we finde at Newleâ—y Fight fol. 648. placed by him with the King on the top of an Hill to behold the battle But herein his intelligence fail'd him the Queen being at that time safe in Oxford and the King venturing his most sacred person with the rest of his Army Mercurius Aulicus one of his best Authours for a great part of the War could have told him so had he consulted him in this as in other places Fol. 639. The Irish Forces coming under the command of Sir Michael Ernly an experienced Souldier and landing in Wales c. The Forces which our Authour speaks of were not Irish but English sent over in the beginning of the War to defend the South-parts of Ireland against the Rebels But being forced for the Reasons mentioned in our Authour to come to a cessation with them four thousand of them put themselves into a body under the command of Sir Michael Ernly above-named and came over into England to serve the King against the Houses of Parliament by which they had been so unhandsomely handled Had they been kept together in a Body and serv'd under their old known Commanders there is no question to be made but that they might have much advanc'd his Majesties Service But Prince Rupert who was all in all in the Councell of War caused them to be divided from one another distributed them into severall Regiments of his Majesties Armies and placed them under new Commanders which gave the Souldiers great displeasure and their Offiâ—ers more rendring their Service less honourable to themselves and of small advantage to the King Of these Officers Col. Monk was one descended from a Daughter of Arthur Plantaginet Vicount Lisle the Naâ—urall Son of King Edward the fourth who afterwards falling off to the Houses of Parliament much advanced their affairs defeating a great Fleet of the Hollanders Anno 1653. and at this day Commander in chief over the English Forces in Scotland Fol. 661. In all the Western Countries the Parliament had not a Souldier but at Plymouth and Pool â— What think we then of Lime a Sea-Town in Dorsetshire and consequently in the West Had there not been some Souldiers in it of the Parliament party and good Souldiers too it could not have held out so long against Prince Mâ—urice who wasted there the greatest part of the Cornish Army which had serv'd so fortunately under the Command of Sir Raph Hopton and yet could not take it But Lime was a Sea-Town as before was said and Prince Maurice had only a Landâ—Army which rendred the Design not more impossible then imprudent the besieging of a Haven-Town without a Navy to prevent all relief by Sea being like the hedging in of Cucko or the drowning of a quick Eâ—le by the Wise men of Gotham Fol. 662. The Marquesse of Newcastle for the King went into Darbyshire where he listed fifteen hundred Voluntiers assisted by Sir John Gell his Interest thereabouts and Sir John Harpers Worse and worse still The Earl of Newcastle assisted by Sir Iohn Gell were brave News indeed That Sir Iohn Harper might do his best in it I shall easily grant But Sir Iohn Gell was all along a principall stickler for the Houses of Parliament and spent his whole stock of Interesse in that Countrey to advance their Service In the pursuit whereof he was observed to be one of their first Commanders which issued out Warrants to the Tenants of the Lords and Gentry who did adhere unto the King to bring in their rents and be responsall for them for the time to come to the Committee at Darby one of which Warrants Dated in March 1642. was brought to Oxford and is this that followeth To the Constable of Acmanton WHereas these unnaâ—ur all Wars at this present are sâ—mented and maintained by ` Papists and Malignants to the utter undoing of many honest men and the ruine of the whole Commonwealth for the better preventing of which misery and to do the best we can to put a speedy end to these distractions according to the trust reposed in us by the Ordinance of Parliament we think sit to command you that presently upon receipt hereof you give notice to all the Tenants within your Constablery named in a Schedule herewiâ—h sent you that henceforward they pay all their Renâ—s due to any of those persons or to any other that contribute or bear Arms against the Parliament to the Committee here at Darby or to such other person or persons as the said Committee shall nominate And we all promise that such of those Tenants who shew their forwardnesse to bring in their Rents to the Committee at Darby by our Lady day next or within four daies aftâ—rwards shall have a discharge against their Landlords of the whole rent and shall have a fourth part abaâ—ed them And those Tenants that are refractory and come not willingly to us shall not only be forced to pay their whole Rents but also shall be pâ—occeded against as malignant persons and such as endeavor the continuance of these troubles Given under our hands March 1642. The Names of the Persons contained in the Schedule above-mentioned amouâ—t to the number of 46. viz. the Earl of Shrewsbury the Earl of Devonshire the Earl of New-castle whom our Authour makes so much befriended by Sir John Gell the Earl of Chesterfield the Lord Maltravers Sir John Harper of Caulk and Sir John Harper of Swarstone Sir William Savill Sir John Fitz Herbert of Norbury Sir Edward Mosely c. All men of very great Estates and therefore like to send in the more grist to the Mill at Darby So farre did Sir John Gell act for the Houses of Parliament And he continued in those actings till the end of the War After which falling into some suspition to have changed his Affections he was committed to the Tower in no small danger of his life and came not off but with the loss of former Actings Fol. 712. This no question caused their General Essex early the next day to quit his glorious Command and in a small Boat to shift away by Water If that were it which caused him to shift away in a small Boat he must needs play the part of a Cowardly Soldier whilst every one of the Soldiers stood ready to act the part of a brave Commander And therefore it is probable that there was somewhat more in it then
Monroe an old experienced Commander with his three thousand old and experienced Scots train'd up for five or six years then last past in the Wars of Ireland By whose assistance it is possible enough that he might not have lost his first Battle not long after his Head which was took from him on the same day with the Earl of Hollands But God owed him and that Nation both shame and punishment for all their â—reacheries and Rebellions against their King and now he doth begin to pay them continuing payment after payment till they had lost the Command of their own Countrey and being reduced unto the form of a Province under the Commonwealth of England live in as great a Vassalage under their new Masters as a conquered Nation could expect or be subject to Fol. 1078. This while the Prince was put aboard the revolted Ships c. and with him his Brother the Duke of York c. the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen the Lord Cuâ—pepper c. In the recital of which names we finde two Earls that is to say the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen which are not to be found in any Records amongst our Heralds in either Kingdom Had he said General Ruthen Earl of Brentford he had hit it right And that both he and his Reader also may the better understand the Risings and Honors of this Man I shall sum them thus Having served some time in the Wars of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden he was Knighted by him in his Camp before Darsaw a Town of Pomerella commonly counted part of Prussia and belonging to the King of Poland Anno 1627. at what time the said King received the Order of the Garter with which he was invested by Mr. Peter Yong one of his Majesties Gentlemen Huishers and Mr. Henry St. George one of the Heralds at Arms whom he also Kinghted In the long course of the German Wars this Colonel Sir Patrick Ruthen obtain'd such a Command as gave him the title of a General and by that title he attended in a gallant Equipage on the Earl of Morton then riding in great pomp towards Windsor to be installed Knight of the Garter At the first breaking out of the Scots Rebellion he was made a Baron of that Kingdom and Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh which he defended very bravely till the Springs which fed his Well were broken and diverted by continual Batteries Not long ater he was made Earl of Forth and on the death of the Earl of Lindsey was made Lord General of his Majesties Army and finally created Earl of Brentford by Letters Patents dated the 27 of May Anno 1644. with reference to the good Service which he had done in that Town for the fiâ—st hanselling of his Office So then we have an Earl of Brentford but no Earl of Ruthen either as joyn'd in the same Person or distinct in two Not much unlike is that which follows Ibid. His Commissions to his Commanders were thus stiled Charls Prince of great Britain Duke of Cornwal and Albany Here have we two distinct Titles conferred upon one Person in which I do very much suspect our Authors Intelligence For though the Prince might Legally stile himself Duke of Cornwal yet I cannot easily believe that he took upon himself the Title of Duke of Albany He was Duke of Cornwal from his Birth as all the eldest Sons of the Kings of England have also been since the Reign of King Edward the third who on the death of his Uncle Iohn of Eltham E. of Cornwal invested his eldest Son Edw. the Black Prince into the Dukedom of Cornwal by a Coronet on his head a ring on his finger and a silver Verge in his hand Since which time as our learned Camden hath observed the King of Englands eldest Son is reputed Duke of Cornwal by Birth and by vertue of a special Act the first day of his Nativity is presumed and taken to be of full and perfect age so that on that day he may sue for his Livery of the said Dukedom and ought by right to obtain the same as well as if he had been one and twenty years old And he hath his Royalties in certain Actions and Stannery Matters in Wracks at Sea Customs c. yea and Divers Officers or Ministers assigned unto him for these or such like matters And as for the Title of Duke of albany King Charls as the second Son of Scotland receiv'd it from King Iames his Father and therefore was not like to give it from his second Son the eldest Son of Scotland being Duke of Rothsay from his Birth but none of them Dukes of Albany for ought ever I could understand either by Birth or by Creation Fol. 1094. And so the dignity of Arch-Bishops to fall Episcopal Iurisdiction also Our Author concludes this from the general words of the Kings Answer related to in the words foregoing viz. That whatsoever in Episcopacy did appear not to have clearly proceeded from Divine Institution he gives way to be totally abolished But granting that the Dignity of Arch-Bishops was to fall by this Concession yet the same cannot be affirmed of the Episcopal Iurisdiction which hath as good Authority in the holy Scripture as the calling it self For it appears by holy Scripture that unto Timothy the first Bishop of Ephâ—sus St. Paul committed the power of Ordination where he requires him to lay hands hastily on no man 1 Tim. 5 22 And unto Titus the first Bishop of Crete the like Authority for ordaining Presbyters or Elders as our English reads it in every City Tit. 1. v. 5. Next he commands them to take care for the ordering of Gods publick Service viz. That Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men 1 Tim. 2. 1. which words relate not to the private Devotions of particular persons but to the Divine Service of the Church as it is affirmed not onely by St Chrysostom Theophylact and Oâ—cumenius amongst the Ancients and by Estius for the Church of Rome but also by Calvin for the Protestant or Reformed Churches Next he requires them to take care that such as painfully labor in the Word and Doctrine receive the honor or recompence which is due unto them 1 Tim. 5. 17. as also to censure and put to silence all such Presbyters as preached any strange Doctrine contrary unto that which they had received from the Apostles 1 Tim 1. 3. And if that failed of the effect and that from Preaching Heterodoxies or strange Doctrines they went on to Heresies then to proceed to Admonition and from thence if no amendment followed to a rejection from his place and deprivation from his Function 1 Tit. 3. 10. as both the Fathers and late Writers understand the Text. Finally for correction in point of Manners as well in the Presbyter as the people St. Paul commits it wholly to the care of his Bishop where he adviseth Timothy not to receive an Accusâ—ation against