the Spirit hath no other relief but that of Grace and Reason This his preservation was also an effect of his Prayers which he had chosen with a great deal of prudence out of the holy Writs He caused one of his Gentlemen often to read the tenth Chapter of Matthew's Gospel and twice a day himself rehearsed the 71. Psalm of David which hath so near a relation to his Fortune and to his Affairs as that one would believe it had been a Prophesie purposely dictated by the holy Ghost for him or else that this great Personage was a Mortal Figure of that great Favourite of God who hath done so many marvellous things with such slender beginnings passing through so many obstacles difficulties and dangers so likewise was it very just that he should enter into the eternal Rest on the like day wherein he had undergone such great and glorious Labours and Dangers and that he should triumph over Death even in his weakness at the like time wherein he had overcome her at her fullest strength and greatest advantages This conformity happened unto him as well as to several other great Personages of the Earth but by such observable and reiterated notable actions as that it is void of all doubt but the Heavens had foretold by the Stars which are the Looking-glasses and Rule of all famous Mens Lives the Events of our glorious Protectors successes To instance in some Alexander the Great was born on the sixth day of April on the like day the famous Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt presaging that fire which this Conqueror should kindle in Asia On a sixth day of April he overcame Darius King of Persia in a Battle and on the like day he departed this life whereunto there may be added that his Birth was preceded by a famous Victory which the Greeks his Subjects obtained on a sixth day of April against the Persians hard by Plutea and by a Naval Combat which also happened the same day So likewise Pompey was born and triumphed on a like day to wit the thirtieth of the Moneth of September Charles the Fifth the Emperour had also such like observable Encounters he was born on a twenty fourth of February and being twenty four years old on the like day he obtained a great Victory in which a great King was taken prisoner And on a twenty fourth day of February he was crowned Emperour by the Pope But not to look any further then our own Countrey and into our own Histories It is observed that his late Highness our present Lord Protector Richard was Installed in his Protectorship on the like day being a third day of September when as Richard the First that Famous King of England so much spoken of in the Histories by reason of his great Wit Understanding and Resolution began his Reign an accident which cannot choose but promise a most favourable Omen and good Token In like manner his late Highness had more favourable and famous dayes encountring together then any of those foregoing Worthies which we have specified For on a third of September he was confirmed in his Protectorship by the Parliament On a third of September he gained in Scotland that famous Battel of Dunbar On a third of September he gained that great Battel at Worcester And Finally on a third of September his glorious life was Crowned with a peaceable and resolved death in the midst of all his Triumphs in his Palace at White-hall with all the comforts which good hopes could give in his posterity both to his Children and to the Companions of his Fortune The Corps of his late Highness having been Embalmed and wrapped up in a sheet of Lead was on the six and twentieth of September about ten of the Clock at night privately removed from White-hall to Sommerset-house being onely attended by his own Domestick Officers and Servants as the Lord Chamberlain and Comptroller of the Houshold the Gentlemen of the Life-guard the Guard of Halberdiers and divers other Officers and Servants two Heralds of Arms went next before the Corps which was placed in a morning Hearse drawn by six Horses in which manner it was carried to Sommerset-House where it remained for some dayes in private untill things were in a readiness to expose it in State to a publick view which was performed with the following order and Solemnity The first Room at Sommerset-House where the Spectators entred was formerly the Presence Chamber compleatly hung with Black at the upper end whereof was placed a Cloth of State with a Chair of State under the same The second large Room was formerly the Privy Chamber hung with Black with a Cloth and Chair of State under the same The third Room was formerly the Withdrawing Room hung with BlackCloth had a Cloth and Chair of State in it as the former all which three large Rooms were compleatly furnished with Scutcheons of his Highness Arms crowned with the Imperial Crown and at the head of each Cloth of State was fixed a large majestique Scutcheon fairly painted and gilt upon Taffity The fourth Room where both the Corps and the Effigies did lye was compleatly hung with Black Velvet and the Roof was cieled with Velvet and a large Canopy or Cloth of State of black Velvet fringed was plated over the Effigies made to the life in Wax The Effigies it self being apparel'd in a rich suit of uncut Velvet robed in a little Robe of Purple Velvet laced with a rich Gold Lace and furr'd with Ermins upon the Kirtle was the Royal large Robe of the like purple Velvet laced and furred with Ermins with rich strings and tassels of Gold the Kirtle being girt with a rich embroidered Belt wherein was a fair Sword richly gilt and hatch'd with Gold hanging by the side of the Effigies In the right hand was the Golden Scepter representing Government in the left hand the Globe denoting Principality upon the Head a purple Velvet Cap furr'd with Ermins signifying Regality Behinde the Head there was placed a rich Chair of State of tissued Gold and upon the Cushion which lay thereon was placed an Imperial Crown set with precious Stones The Body of the Effigies lay upon a Bed of State covered with a large Pall of black Velvet under which there was spread a fine Holland Sheet upon six stools of tissued Cloth of Gold on the sides of the Bed of State was placed a rich suit of compleat Armour representing his late Highness Command as General at the Feet of the Effigies stood his Crest according to the custom of ancient Monuments The Bed of State whereupon the Effigies did thus lie was ascended unto by two steps covered with the aforesaid Pall of Velvet the whole work being compassed about with Rails and Ballasters covered with Velvet at each corner whereof there was placed an upright Pillar covered with Velvet upon the tops whereof were the four Supporters of the Imperial Arms bearing Banners or Streamers Crowned The Pillars
entrance and credit at Court and highly ingratiated himself with King Henry the Eighth having advanced himself to almost as high a pitch of Honour in as short a time in a manner as his late Highness did The Lord Thomas Cromwell therefore riding one day with a great train of Noble Men towards the Kings Palace chanced to espy on foot in the streets Signior Frescobald the Italian Merchant in an ill plight however he immediately alighting from his Horse embraced him before all the world to the great astonishment of the beholders and chid him that at his very arrival he came not to visit him Frescobald being astonished at so unexpected an encounter and receiving so signal a favor from a personage he could not call to minde he had ever known was quite surprized and my Lord Cromwells pressing affairs at Court not permitting him the while to acquaint him further who he was onely engaged him to come and dine with him that day Frescobald full of amazement enquired of the attendants who that great personage might be And hearing his name he began to call the Feature of his Face and the Idea of his Person to mind and so by degrees conceiving with himself it might happily be the same Mr. Thomas Cromwell whom he had harboured at Florence he enquired out his Lordships habitation and attended his coming at Noon-tide walking in his Court-yard No sooner was the Lord Thomas Cromwel entred the same attended by several persons of quality and officers of the Crown but speedily alighting from his Horse he embraced his friend Frescobald in the same manner he had done in the morning and perceiving that the Lords which accompanied him were amazed at such a disproportioned familiarity he told them that he was more obliged to Frescobald then to all the men in the world owing unto him the making of his Fortune and so proceeded to relate unto them the whole story which had befallen him at Florence So great a delight do generous mindes take to recount their foregoing Misfortunes when their Grandor hath elevated them to such a pitch as that they triumph over Shame and are incapable of Ingratitude Frescobald was treated at Dinner with all the tenderness he could expect from so great a personage and so good a friend after which being carried up by the Lord T. Cromwel into his Closet he was there presented with four bags of Gold each containing four hundred Duccats in return of his former civilities which Frescobald being of a gallant spirit at first refused but after several contestations was constrained to accept as an acknowledgement from the Lord Cromwell who moreover enquiring of him concerning his coming over and affairs in England and understanding his Losses and that there were Moneys due to him caused him to write down his Debters names and by his Secretary summoned the several Merchants which were indebted to Frescobald upon pain of his displeasure to clear their Accounts with him and to pay him within the space of fifteen days which was accordingly performed onely Frescobald freely forgave them the Use Over and above all which the Lord Thomas Cromwell endeavoured to perswade his friend Frescobald to have remained in England the rest of his Dayes profering to lend him a stock of 60000. Duccats to trade withall But Frescobald being over-charged with all those grand obligations which the Lord Cromwell had conferred on him having by his Lordships Generosity acquired enough to keep him from being necessitated all his life time and deeming that the trading in good Works was incomparably more sure and gainful then in the richest Wares and Merchandizes being resolved to quit Trading and to end the rest of his dayes peaceably and quietly he obtained leave of the Lord Thomas Cromwell to depart towards his own Countrey freighted with so great obligations as caused in him a generous shame But the Almighty doth not alwayes recompense the fruits of good Works here on Earth often repaying the greatest with the least rewards and Heaven delights in the exercising of its great Vertues by the Vices which are thereunto opposite and as the most noblest Creatures are the slowest in the attaining to their perfections so the Almighty doth not immediately cause those Fruits to ripen which are sowed here below by Christian Charity Wherefore to return to the Lord Thomas Cromwell who had made the Match between Anne of Cleve and King Henry the Eighth you shall see how he was rewarded for his Generosity and good Services for this Princess Anne of Cleve conceiving a certain womanish Jealousie she knew not why nor wherefore against the Lord Thomas Cromwell save onely that she apprehended he had too great a power and sway with the King never left off solliciting and importuning of him till he caused the Lord Thomas Cromwell to be beheaded by which sad compliance the King lost the best Supporter of his Crown and the faithfullest of his Servants and Subjects The Lord Thomas Cromwell dyed without Heir Males leavingone onely Daughter espoused to one Mr. Williams a Gentleman of Glamorganshire of a good Family who as we have before said inherited little of his Father save his Vertues besides what his own Deserts had procured him and what he might promise himself by the Match with this Heiress the Lord Thomas Cromwels Daughter from whence our Lord Protectors are lineally descended and who was the lively representative of her Father and the very pourtraiture of his great soul as the Lady Cleypool was of his late Highness the Lord Protector Now that you may know on what occasion the Name of Williams came to be changed into that of Cromwell it happened when as King Henry the Eighth was in the midst of his Splendor Pomp and Magnificence wallowing in the pleasures of a sumptuous Entertainment at Court Mr. Williams who had been a retainer to the late Lord Thomas Cromwell made his appearance before the King in deep Mourning like a dark Cloud eclipsing the Sun at Noon-tide The King casting his eye upon so unexpected and dismal an Object which seemed to reproach his rash fault was surprized and offended at the interrupting of his Pleasures by Williams so unseasonable apparition wherefore the King asked him how he durst appear at Court in that garb whereunto Williams replied with a sad but assured countenance That not onely himself but the King and all the Court had reason to mourn for the loss of the greatest and faithfullest of his Subjects and Servants whose Death himself might one day chance to regret when he should stand in need of his Councels and Fidelity But the King whose thoughts were at that time taken up with his Pastimes wished Williams to be gone and to get himself cured of his Frenetick Mallady Some while after troubles arising and the King finding himself in a strait for want of so faithful a Minister of State as the late Lord Thomas Cromwel was whose life he had so inconsiderately taken away began to
into the hands of his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart who was by his Highness declared Governour of the same and took possession of it with four English Regiments which compose the Garrison thereof and serve to defend the Fort Mardike and the new Fort Royal begun by the Spaniards on the Channel of Burges and perfected by the English now called Olivers Fort. The Inhabitants of which place are so much taken with the superabundancy of the generosity and goodness of their said Governour his Excellency the Lord Lockhart as that they repent themselves to have so much listned to the Spanish false perswasions and fears which they possessed them with that they should be cruelly and inhumanely treated by the English purposely to make them resist the longer It had been well they had had so much care of their Souls as they perswaded them they had of their Goods and Fortunes But it would be too great a conquest to pretend joyntly to overcome both the Consciences of men and their Town to boot the first is Gods due and the other Caesars And we may observe in Alexander the Great whensoever his Forces became Master sof any place he would alwayes sacrifice to the Gods of the Countrey thereby to gain the Inhabitants hearts and to induce their Gods to become propitious to him Numa Pompilius was a King before he was a Priest and although the Almighty hath imprinted in all men a particular inclination to adore him yet however as concerning the manner of worshipping him Policy alwayes preceded Religion and ever kept the upper hand over her as much as she possibly could King Henry the Fourth of France was a Protestant whilst he had overcome his Enemies but as soon as he was settled in the Throne and that he was to Reign as King he seemingly returned Papist and said That the Kingdome of France and City of Paris was worth a going to Mass But when as superstitious and zealous spirits counselled him to prosecute and pursue the Protestants he answered That so long as they remained faithful and true to him and continued to stand by and serve him as they were wont he would be as much a Father and Protector unto him as unto the rest of his good Subjects These Maximes are general and common and admit of no distinctions save in Schools nor need the Spaniards with all their Hypocrisie and Pious malice to doubt but that France and England understanding each other well enough and that the English themselves are prudent enough to avoid that which may prejudice them and to tollerate whatsoever may advance and further their conquests and beget a love and esteem of their government But to return to our former subject again as we have oft before alledged the joyes of this World are alwayes for the most part mingled with some allayes of sorrow the Almighty being willing to keep us mindful that there are no perfect felicities to be enjoyed here on earth and that its onely in heaven we are to expect an intire and perpetual Contentment and Bliss Wherefore the Laurels of the Victory obtained against the Spaniards and of the taking of the Town of Dunkirk were soon withered and the joyes abated by the interposing of the Cypress-tree which death planted upon the Tomb of the Illustrious and most generous Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to his late Highness who departed this mortal life to a more glorious and eternal one on the sixth day of August this present year a fatal prognostication of a more sensible ensuing loss For even as Branches of trees being cut and lopped in an ill season do first draw away the sap from the tree and afterwards cause the body thereof to dry up and dye In like manner during the declining age of his late Highness an ill season in which men usually do as it were reap all their consolation from the youth and vigor of their Children wherein they seem to ruine by degrees as they draw near to their death it unfortunately fell out that this most illustrious Daughter the true representative and lively Image of her Father the Joy of his Heart the Delight of his Eyes and the Dispenser of his Clemency and Benignity dyed in the flower of her age which struck more to his heart then all the heavy burthens of his Affairs which were onely as a pleasure and pastime to his great Soul So great a power hath Nature over the dispositions of generous Men when the tye of Blood is seconded by love and vertue This generous and noble Lady Elizabeth therefore departed this World in despite of all the skill of Physicians the Prayers of those afflicted persons whom she had relieved and the vows of all kinde of Artists whom she cherished But she dyed an Amazonian-like death despising the Pomps of the Earth and without any grief save to leave an afflicted Father perplex'd at her so sudden being taken away she dyed with those good Lessons in her mouth which she had practised whilest she lived And if there be any comfort left us in her death it is the hope we have That her good Example will raise up the like inclinations in the remainder of her Sisters whom Heaven hath yet left us I shall not at all speak of her Funerals for if I might have been credited all the Muses and their God Apollo should have made her an Epicedium and should have appeared in mourning which should have reached from the top of their Mount Parnassus to the bottom of the valley thereof But if this illustrious Personages death received not the Funeral Rites which all great Wits were bound to pay it at least the Martial men did evidence that the disgrace lay not at their doors but that they ought to reap all the glory since they were not backward to continue to brave and affront dangers in the behalf of an illustrious and glorious Cause wherefore the sad tydings of this noble Personages death touched the gallant English to the heart seeing they were bereaved of their English Pallas and of their Jupiters Daughter they therefore accused the Destinies for intrenching upon their Priviledges and evidenced that it appertained not alone unto them to dispose of the lives of men Their wrath therefore discharged it self on the first Objects which presented themselves to their eyes and the harmless Spaniards were so many Victims offered up to this Amazons shrine and as if Graveling had been her stake they were so eagerly bent to fire the Enemies out of the same as that the Spaniards were constrained to open their gates to give vent to the fire and flame which suffocated them and surrendered themselves to the Conquering French Army to whose share that place fell and by whose force it was solely gained As Physicians do agree that extreme Joy causeth Death as well as excessive Grief so may we likewise say That both these violent Passions united together must needs destroy the strongest person on earth
Monarchies have oftentimes done more with a yong Prince in a Cradle hung betwixt two Trees in the midst of their Camp then they would have done by the Orders and the Examples of the most expert Captains But when as the Age Experience and Deserts of a Son do unite and combine in the Love and Memory of the vertues of a Father what shall not betide so wise and worthy a choice and what shall not be thence expected For who can with more reason hope to be feared loved and obeyed by a whole Nation save the worthy Heir of him who hath rendred them so formidable and who hath ruled over and governed them so tenderly and meekly How should unavoidable and strange changes have been prevented if domestick broils had not been shunned and whom could we thave better met with the resemblance of a Father who never had his equal in Prudence Fortune and Valour save in a Son Politicians and Nature delight in the diversifying of their works the one produceth few men alike and the other delights in the condemning and destroying of the designs of those who have preceded them to the end that they may thereby shew their own good parts and rather appear Originals then Copies After the giving of these and like Orders and the settling of the most important Concernments of the State this great Personage gave up the Ghost just like a man that falls asleep through the toil of a laborious task The ensuing night was serene and peaceful like unto those who display their Sable Veil spangled with Stars to deck and wrap up the Sun after its long and serious ardent Course He died in the midst of his Victories and Triumphs after he had caused all the fair fruits which shall be reaped for ever by England as well in the Continent as within the Circumference of its Isles to bud forth into Blossoms and Flowers He dyed in a Bed of Bucklers and on a Pillow of Caskets and though the Wreaths of the Imperial Laurel which invironed his head did wither at the Groans of his Agony it was onely to make place for a richer Diadem which was prepared for him in Heaven and which must needs be more sumptuous and resplendent in that it is ingrafted upon that Christian humility wherewith he did so constantly refuse a temporal Crown which was due unto his deserts and which was profered him several times by the People of England and although he be dead yet he is living nay triumphing and pronouncing Oracles to his very last Groans most clear and intellegible Oracles and as being inspired by the Spirit of the God of Truth he dyed like a second Vespasian who even on his Death-bed continued to enlarge the Bounds of his Empire and as long as he had breath ceased not to dispatch several Businesses of consequence answering the Physicians who reproved him as the Emperour did That an Emperour ought to dye standing Truly it is a great comfort at the Article of death to dye profitably for Heaven and for the good of ones Countrey But before we close his Eyes let us once more reflect on the constancy wherewith he expects her last assaults and with how much fear and trembling this inexorable one sets upon him unarmed and resolved to yield to her and however she was accustomed to cast her darts before him yet she is afraid she trembles and hides her treacherous sythe and never producing it till she sees her blow sure How oftentimes approaching him in the heat of Battels armed with despair and horrour was she constrained to turn her back and to serve him for an Instrument of Victory whom she was resolved to have laid along How often hath she been seen to change colour and to embrace the weaker party to the end she might shew her force and cut down a greater number of victimes Self-Interest is then made this insensible one grieve for those which she had rashly slain on Olivers side she lost by their not being since her sacrifices were there lessened and that Olivers Arm alone was forced often to supply the absence of his companions or their ill fortunes But as the love of this step-dame was false so likewise was it converted into rage as soon as his late Highness caused Peace to succeed War and that he outvied this furious Hag by the undaunted courage as then she brake off all intelligence with force and horrour and she raised up from Hell all the malicious and subtil Furies both Envy and Treason came to her relief and aid and by a sacrilegious Spell she hath sought the Blood of Christ in the very Sacrament thereof to compose her Poyson and by abominable wit chcrafts she sowed sedition in the Hearts of the People she bewitched the Wise she blinded the Nobles and finally she therewith coloured and cloaked all her most black and horrid Designs But on Oliver his late Higness she could never fasten her baits finding him alwayes armed with that Antidote which he renewed daily on the same Altars whence she sucked her venom He alwayes opposed his Wisdom to her Craft his Justice to her Violence his Prayers to her Impieties and his Clemency to her Obstinacy The Tempest invironed him on all sides but he was in the Ark his Enemies set upon him whilest he was asleep but the Character of God which was imprinted in his Forehead caused the Sword to fall out of their hands and Goliah with his Legions of Philistines fell down at the sole report of his Sling Finally God hath made him to pass safe through the lifted up Waves of his Enemies in which themselves were drowned and in case the Sea did prove Red God be praised it was not by his Blood nor by the stains of his Soul which abhorred all kinde of Cruelty For if the Pardons which he granted were put in an equal balance with the Deaths which happened during the time wherein his Power was as yet but limitted it would be found that he did not alwayes give ear to the prudent Politician to abandon himself from the meekness and generosity of his natural inclinations Those who shall read the Histories of such like Revolutions as these will finde that they never attained to so high a pitch of Grandor by such meek and merciful means and so void of passion Wherefore his peaceable and natural Death hath been also a Reward for his so great a Moderation nor can any one doubt but Heaven hath had a particular care of that life which hath been so often attempted and so desperately assaulted Not but that he would happily have rather chosen to have dyed with his Sword in his hand for the Glory of God and the Defence of his Countrey as better befitting his Warlike humor and Men of Courage but Heaven had otherwise evidenced its Miracles in his preservation Nor had our Champion had the glory to have wrestled with this powerful Enemy upon unequal terms and in an estate wherein the imbecillity of