Body of the Kingdom that they might not break out to disgrace the Physician For he looked upon himself as an able Director and yet he found he might be deceived And therefore he brings the Lords into a Wood comparatively to tell them that they appeared to him well grown and fair but searching into them he found them otherwise But he that pretended to the knowledge of all things as give him his due he was well known in most could not be ignorant that the Patents he granted were against the Liberties of the people but whether the execution of them to that extremity came within his Cognizance cannot be determined his damning of them shews his dislike at present condemning that which he knew would be done to his hand if he had not done it and this must not be known only at Westminster and left upon Record to Posterity there but he commanded his Speech to be printed that all his people might know how willing and forward he was to abolish any Act of his that tended to a grievance And though he did not accuse the Marquess of Buckingham for giving way to Informers yet he was much troubled with them till the Parliament began and in that numerous crowd those that brought profit were doubtless admitted with the first These considerations upon the King's Speech buzzed up and down and many of the Parliament men looked upon the Marquess as the first mover of this great Machine but the Wisdom of the House did not rise so high as to strike at the uppermost branches but they pruned those roundly they could reach Buckingham though he were well grown had not yet sap enough to make himself swell into exuberancy as he did afterwards nor was the peoples malice now against him so fertile as to make every little weed a dangerous and poysonous plant being subtile enough yet to crop off any that might appear venomous in relation to himself that the mischievous operations might work upon others For all the world knew Mompesson was his creature and that notwithstanding the King's Proclamation for his interception he got out of the Kingdom by his Key For Buckingham ruled as a Lord Paramount and those that complied with him found as much refuge as his power could secure unto them those that opposed him as much mischief as malice could pour upon them Sir Henry Yelverton the King's Attorney had found the effects of his Anger by not closing with his desires in such Patents as he required so that all his Actions being anatomized some miscarriages are made criminal he is committed to the Tower and another put in his place that should be more observant The King now lays upon him a Warrant Dormant which did not much startle him for he was not long after released and made a Iudge carrying with him this character of honesty That he was willing to lay down his preferment at the King's feet and be trod upon by the growing power of Buckingham rather than prosecute his Patron Somerset that had advanced him as his Predecessor Bacon had spitefully done his But whether that Dialogue betwixt Buckingham and Yelverton in the Tower mentioned in our King's Court have any thing of Truth cannot be asserted here Buckingham being not arrived yet to the Meridian height of his Greatness though the King afterwards had cause enough to be jealous of his Actions But now comes the old Iustice Sir Francis Michell to his Censure and the crime he had committed arguing a base spirit he is fitted with as suitable a punishment First he is degraded with all the ceremonies of debasement but that being most proper to his nature he was but eased of a burthen his mind suffered not but then his kecksie carkass was made to ride Renvers with his face to the horse tail with a pâ—per on his breast and back that pointed at the foulness of the cause through the whole City suffering under the scorn and contempt of Boys and rabble of the people besides the squeezing of him by fine and confinement to prison that he might never be more capable of mischief The same sentence had Sir Giles Mompesson but he was so provident as not to be found to pay it in his person though he paid it in his purse Some others also their Instruments though not so sharply dealt with had great mulcts laid upon them according to their demerit and so this Gangrene was healed up 〈…〉 QVI POSTQVAM OMNIA NATVRALIS SAPIENTIAE ET CIVILIS ARCANA EVOLVISSET NATVRAE DECRETVM EXPLEVIT COMPOSITA SOLVANTVR AN DNI M.D C. XXVI AETAT LXVI TANTI VIRI MEM THOMAS MEAVTYS SVPERSTITIS CVLTOR DEFVNCTI ADMIRATOR H. P. This poor Gentleman mounted above pity fell down below it His Tongue that was the glory of his time for Eloquence that tuned so many sweet Harrangues was like a forsaken Harp hung upon the Willows whilst the waters of affliction overflowed the banks And now his high-flying Orations are humbled to Supplications and thus he throws himself and Cause at the feet of his Iudges before he was condemned To the Right Honourable the Lords of the Parliament in the Upper House assembled The humble Submission and Supplication of the Lord Chancellor May it please your Lordships I Shall humbly crave at your hands a benign interpretation of that which I shall now write for words that come from wasted spirits and oppressed minds are more safe in being deposited to a noble construction than being circled with any reserved caution This being moved and as I hope obtained of your Lordships as a protection to all that I shall say I shall go on but with a very strange Entrance as may seem to your Lordships at first for in the midst of a State of as great affliction as I think a mortal man can endure Honour being above Life I shall begin with the professing of gladness in somethings The first is That hereafter the greatness of a Iudge or Magistrate shall be no sanctuary or protection to him against guiltiness which is the beginning of a golden work The next That after this Example it is like that Iudges will fly from any thing in the likeness of Corruption though it were at a great distance as from a Serpent Which tends to the purging of the Courts of Iustice and reducing them to their true honour and splendor And in these two Points God is my witness though it be my fortune to be the Anvil upon which these two effects are broken and wrought I take no small comfort But to pass from the motions of my heart whereof of God is my Iudge to the merits of my cause whereof your Lordships are Iudges under God and his Lieutenant I do understand there hath been heretofore expected from me some justification and therefore I have chosen one only justification instead of all others out of the justification of Iob. For after the clear submission and confession which I shall now make
was the third who suffered on Tower Hill a Man much pitied being drawn in by the allurements of Northampton to be a Spectator rather than an Actor in this bloody Tragedy but his Connivence cost him his life And being a man full of sorrow for his offence he left two Pillars behind him at his death for Watch-Towers to all that pass by in this Bark of frail Mortality to prevent Shipwrack One was Not to vow any thing to God but to perform it The other was Not to take a pride in any Parts though never so excellent For the first he said he was a great Gamester and loved it and having lost one time much money he seriously and advisedly between God and his own Soul clapping his hand on his breast spake thus as it were to God If ever I play again then let me be hanged and breaking my Vow said he now God hath paid my Imprecation home The second was He took a great delight in his Pen And that Pen to use his own words which I was so proud of hath struck me dead and like Absolons hair hath hanged me for there dropt a word or two from my Pen in a Letter to the Earl of Northampton which upon my salvation I am not able to answer At my Arraignment I pleaded hard for my life and protested mine innocency but when my own Pen came against me I was not able to speak for my self but stood as one amazed or that had no tongue Such damps doth guiltiness cast upon the Spirit The fourth that fell by the stroke of Iustice was Franklin a Fellow as sordid in his death as pernicious in his life whose name deserves not so much as memory JOHN HOLLES 1st EARL OF CLARE She died before him Her death was infamous his without fame the obscurity of the rest of his life darkning the splendor of it And though she died as it were in a corner in so private a condition the loathsomeness of her death made it as conspicuous as on the house top For that part of her Body which had been the receptacle of most of her sin grown rotten though she never had but one Child the ligaments failing it fell down and was cut away in flakes with a most nauseous and putrid savour which to augment she would roul her self in her own ordure in her bed took delight in it Thus her affections varied For nothing could be found sweet enough to augment her Beauties at first and nothing stinking enough to decipher her loathsomeness at last Pardon the sharpness of these expressions for they are for the Glory of God who often makes his punishments in the ballance of his Iustice of equal weight with our sins For his Person He was rather well compacted than tall his features and favour comely and handsome rather than beautiful the hair of his head flaxen that of his face tinctured with yellow of the Sycambrian colour In his own nature of a gentle mind and affable disposition having publick affections till they were all swallowed up in this gulf of beauty which did precipitate him into these dangerous Contrivances For that which made his friendship false diverted his publick affection to his private interest and when he found himself guilty of what he thought might ruin him he grew covetous to heap that together which he thought might preserve him So that at one breach that our Corruptions make many mischiefs follow in the crowd And if he had not met with such a Woman he might have been a good man but trials and strong temptations enhanceth the Price of Vertue the conflict is gallant but to be overcome debaseth a man the more by how much his fall is the greater I was loth to separate these Delinquents in their Trials being close woven by the length of Sir Francis Bacons Speech in the Star-Chamber against Hollis Wentworth and Lumsden But knowing what an Ornament his Oratory will give to this Story and how usual it was for ancient Historians to insert their Harangues of State as well as Military Orations I could not decline this though it comes almost in the Rere the rather because it will serve as a Seal and Confirmation of what is formerly written And thus it was THE Offence wherewith I shall charge the three Offenders at the Bar is a misdemeanour of a high Nature tending to the defacing and scandal of Iustice in a great Cause Capital The particular Charge is this the King among many of his Princely Vertues is known to excel in that proper Vertue of the Imperial Throne which is Iustice it is a Master Vertue unto which the other three are ministrant and do service Wisdom serveth to discover and discern of Innocencies and Guiltiness Fortitude is to persecute and execute and Temperance so to carry Iustice as it be not passionate in the pursuit nor confused in valuing Persons nor precipitate in Time For this his Majesties Vertue of Iustice God hath of late raised an Occasion and erected as it were a Stage or Theatre much for his Honour to shew and act it in the pursuit of the violent untimely death of Sir Thomas Overbury and therein cleansing the Land from blood For if blood doth cry to Heaven in Gods ears this is a stench I may say in the Nostrils of God and Man This work of Iustice the greater and more excellent it is you will soon conclude the greater is the offence of any that have sought to affront or traduce it And therefore before I descend unto the particular Charge of these Offenders I will say somewhat of the Crime of Impoysonment somewhat of the particular Circumstances of this Fact upon Overbury and thirdly of the Kings great and worthy care and carriage in this business The offence of Impoysonment is most truly figured in that Device and Description which was made of the nature of Caius Caligula That he was Lutum sanguine maceratum Mire cemented with blood For as it is one of the highest offences in guiltiness so it is the basest of all others in the minds of Offenders Treason Magnum aliquid spectant they aim at great things but this is vile and base I have found in the Book of God examples of all other offences but not any one of an Impoysonment or an Impoysoner I find mention of some fear of casual Impoysonments when the Waters were corrupted and bitter they came complaining in a fearful manner Master Mors in olla And I find mention of Poysons of Beasts and Serpents The Poysons of Asps is under their lips saith the Psalm but I find no mention in a Human Creature of a malicious and murtherous Impoysonment Let their table be made a snare is certainly most true of Impoysonment but that I think was meant of the Treachery of Friends that were participant of the same Table This is an offence that hath two spurs of offending Spes perficiendi spes celandi it is
put by her Government to say nothing of Prince Henry but the violence of it did not work because the Operation was somewhat mitigated by the Duke's Protestation of his Innocency For the King at the next Interview saying to him Ah Stenny Stenny which was the Familiar name he alwayes used to him Wilt thou kill me The Duke struck into an Astonishment with the Expression after some little Pause collected himself and with many asseverations strove to justify his Integrity which the good King was willing enough to Believe and Buckingham finding by some discourse that Padre Macestria the Spanish Iesuit had been with the King he had then a large Theme for his Vindication turning all upon the Spanish Iesuitical Malice which proceeded from the ruins of their quashed Hopes And the King knowing Inoiosa and all that Party very bitter against Buckingham and though he did not directly accuse the Prince to be in the Conspiracy with Buckingham yet he reflected upon him for such an attempt could never have been effected without his Privity therefore out of the Bowels of good Nature he did unbelieve it and after Examinations of some Persons the Duke's Intimates and their constant denyal upon oath which they had no good Cause to confess the King was content being loth to think such an Enterprize could be fostred so neer his own Bosom to have the Brat strangled in the Womb. And he presently sent into Spain to desire Iustice of that King against the Ambassadours false Accusation which he said wounded his Son's Honour through Buckingham's side which Sir Walter Aston represented to the King of Spain for Bristol was coming over to justifie his Actions to the Parliament But the Duke of Buckinghams reputation there procured no other Satisfaction than some little check of formality for when Inoiosa was recalled home he was not lessen'd in esteem Thus was this Information waved though there might be some cause to suspect that the great intimacy and Dearness betwixt the Prince and Duke like the conjunction of two dreadful planets could not but portend the production of some very dangerous effect to the old King But the Duke's Reputation though it failed in Spain held firm footing in England for Bristol no sooner appeared but he is clapt up in the Tower Their jugling practices whereof they were Both guilty enough must not yet come to light to disturb the Proceedings in Parliament Bristol had too much of the King's Commission for what he did though he might overshoot himself in what he said which was not now to be discovered Yet the Rigor of that imprisonment would have sounded too loud if he had not had a suddain Release who finding the Duke high mounted yet in power and himself in no Degree to grapple with him was content with Submission to gain his liberty and retire himself to a Country privacy The Lords being now at leisure began to consider of that stinging petition as the King called it against Papists how necessary it was to joyn with the Commons to supplicate the King to take down the pride of their high-flying Hopes that had been long upon the Wing watching for their prey and now they are made to stoop without it And after some Conferences betwixt both Houses about it the Petition was reduced to these two Propositions and presented to the King as two Petitions We your Majestie 's most humble and loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do in all humbleness offer unto your Sacred Majesty these two Petitions following 1. That for the more safety of your Realms and better keeping your Subjects in Obedience and other important Reasons of State your Majesty would be pleased by some such course as you shall think fit to give present Order that all the Laws be put in due execution which have been made and do stand in force against Jesuits Seminary Priests and others having taken Orders by authority derived from the See of Rome and generally against all Popish Recusants And as for disarming that it may be according to the Laws and according to former Acts and Directions of State in that Case And yet that it may appear to all the World the Favour and Clemency your Majesty useth towards all your Subjects of what Condition soever And to the intent the Jesuits and Priests now in the Realm may not pretend to be surprized that a speedy and certain may be prefixed by your Majesties Proclamation before which day they shall depart out of this Kingdom and all other your Highness Dominions and neither they nor any other to return or come hither again upon peril of the severest Penalties of the Laws now in force against them And that all your Majesties Subjects may thereby also be admonished not to receive entertain or conceal any of them upon the Penalties and Forfeitures which by the Laws may be imposed on them 2. Seeing We are thus happily delivered from that danger which those Treaties now dissolved and that use which your ill-affected Subjects made thereof would certainly have drawn upon us and yet cannot but foresee and fear lest the like may hereafter happen which would inevitably bring much peril upon your Majesties Kingdoms We are most humble Suters unto your Gracious Majesty to secure the Hearts of your good Subjects by the ingagement of your Royal Word unto them that upon no occasion of Marriage or Treaty or other request in that behalf from any forein Prince or State whatsoever you will take away or slacken the Execution of your Laws against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants To which Our humble Petitions proceeding from Our most Loyal and Dutiful affections towards your Majesty Our Care of Our Countries good and our own confident persuasion that these will much advance the Glory of Almighty God the everlasting Honour of your Majesty the Safety of your Kingdoms and the incouragement of all your good Subjects We do most humbly beseech your Majesty to vouchsafe a gracious Answer The King was prepared for the Petition having given his own Resolution the Check at present that whatsoever he might do hereafter yet now he would comply and therefore he sends for both Houses to Whitehall to sweeten them with a gentle answer to this Petition that might take off those sour aspersions that this miscarriage in Government might happily cast upon him And we will not say but his intentions might rove towards the End though he gave too much liberty through a Natural easiness in himself to those that He trusted with Management of the great affairs by evil means to pervert that end which made him guilty of their Actions For where true Piety is not the Director Carelesness as often as Wilfulness carries men out of the way But he had this Principle and made often use of it like ill Tenants when they let things run to ruin to daub all up again when forced to it and find no other Remedy This was the effect of
a Negative Voice in Parliament but must pass the Laws agreed on by the Lords and Commons He assures them that the form of Parliament there is nothing inclined to Popularity For about twenty days before the Parliament begins Proclamation is made throughout the Kingdom that all Bills to be exhibited that Session be delivered to the Master of the Rolls by a certain day Then they are brought to the King perused and considered by him and only such as he allows are put into the Chancellors hand to be propounded that Parliament and no other And if any man speak of any other Matter than is in this Form first allowed by him the Chancellor tells him that there is no such Bill allowed by the King And when they are past for Laws he ratifies and confirms them first racing out what he doth not approve of And if this be to be called a Negative Voice in Parliament then he hath one For the Vnion betwixt the French and the Scots which makes this Vnion so incompetible he assures them it was a League only made between the Kings not the People For Scotland being solicited by England and France at one Time for a League Offensive and Defensive against each others Enemies There was a great Disputation maintained in favour of England that they being our Neighbours joyned in one Continent a strong and Powerful Nation it would be more Security to the State of Scotland to joyn in Amity with England than with France divided by the Sea where they must abide the hazard of wind and weather and other Accidents that might hinder relief But on the contrary it was alledged in the favour of France That England ever sought to conquer Scotland and therefore there would never be kept any sound Amity Whereas France lying more remote claimed no interest and therefore would be found a more constant and faithful Friend so it was concluded on their Part. But by the Tenour it was ordered to be renewed and confirmed from King to King successively by the mediation of their Ambassadors and therefore merely personal And so it was renewed in the Queen his Mothers time but not by assent in Parliament which it could not have wanted if it had been a League of the People And in the Kings Time when it came to be ratified because it appeared to be in Odium Tertii it was by him left un-renewed in consideration of his Title to the Crown MARIA IACOBI SCOTORVM REGIS FILIA SCOTORVMQVE NVNC REGINA HONORATISS DNê° THOMAS EGERTONUS BARO DE ELLESMER ANGLIAE CANCELLAriê° This urged with asseveration might have wrought much with the Parliament but that they apprehended a great inconvenience in such an Vnion where the Laws and Government are of different natures All were not Romans that were born subjects to the Roman Empire though St. Paul was born one the Centurion was a purchaser For notwithstanding all the former Arguments by the King and his Ministers the Parliament knew that it is true That if Scotland had been Conquered the only way to tie them to obedience were to let them taste the sweets of English Liberties But to let them sit Triumphing upon their own priviledges and roam about among the English Freedoms were to make them straggle too much The Scots would not lessen nor in the least derogate from the dignity of their long continued Monarchy and the English thought they had no reason to come to them to derogate from themselves The Parliament only feared the Kings Power would have such an influence upon the Iudges of the Kingdom that the Scots would be naturalized too soon they were resolved not to be accessary to it which indeed some two years after was confirmed in Calvins case of post-nati reported by the Lord Chief Justice Cook who was fit metal for any stamp Royal and adjudged by him the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere and most of the Judges of the Kingdom in the Exchequer-Chamber though many strong and valid Arguments were brought against it such Power is in the breath of Kings and such soft stuff are Judges made of that they can vary their Precedents and model them into as many shapes as they please And thus this Case stood like a Statue cloathed by the Lord Chief Justice in the vulgar Language when the rest of his Reports spoke an unknown Tongue that the Kingdom might take more particular notice that the Scots were as free in England as themselves yet it fell not out to their wishes But all that could be gotten from the Parliament was That the Laws of hostility that were anciently made betwixt England and Scotland were repealed that the old grudges which caused the Dis-union the War in the members might be taken away And in the said Act they provided That if a natural born subject of England did commit any misdemeanour in Scotland and sly into England he should be tried where he was taken and not carried into Scotland to receive his judgment there Till such time which are the very words of the Act as both Kingdoms shall be made one in Laws and Government which is the thing so much desired as that wherein the full perfection of the blessed Vnion already begun in the Kings Royal person consisteth And further they went not For they found and feared the old enmity would yet a while continue for since the Kings coming into England the loose and uncomposed Borderers that lived upon rapine and spoil seeking new benefits from new changes had broke out and committed many insolencies who though they were suppressed by the Forces of Barwick and Carlile and many of them suffered in it yet custom and habit had bred in them a natural Ferity which could only be restrained by giving freedom to the Laws that within a short time gave bound to that barbarous animosity The Laws made in Scotland to the prejudice of the English were likewise repealed there so that all passages were made smooth on both sides This Session also produced divers good Laws for the benefit of the Common-wealth But this Session brought in no money that is as the blood of the Subject which He as a wise Physician would not strain from them the ordinary way lest the sense of it should bring the more fears and faintings with it but by laying on little Burthens at first he not only inured them to bear greater but made them sweat out some of that humor insensibly though they felt it afterward when they found the weight laid upon their shoulders only as they conceived to daub other mens with bravery For the Kings Bounty was seen by the vulgar eye to overflow in many little Rivulets who knew the golden streams that out-faced the Sun came not from the Norths cold climate but were drained out of the fountains of their labor They could not endure to see their fellow Subjects grow fat by what should be their nourishment Collecting that the King had received three hundred and fifty thousand
place in Court or dignity in State to be bestowed which was not sweetned with his smile that gave it or their bounty that injoyed it so that it was thought he ingrossed a mass of Coin as if his soul intended to take her ease This Pride and Covetousness added to his other miscarriages such a number of Vnderminers that he stood upon a tottering foundation having no support but the Kings favour which whether by Providence from above or purposes below both ever concurring from the Will to the Means was soon removed For about this time the King cast his eye upon a young Gentleman so rarely moulded that he meant to make him a Master-piece His name was George Villers he was second Son to Sir George Villers a Knight of Leicester-shire by a second Venter For the old man coming to Colehorton in that County to visit his Kinswoman the Lady Beaumont found a young Gentlewoman of that name allyed and yet a servant to the Lady who being of a handsom presence and countenance took his affections and he married her This was the soil where the glorious Cedar grew who having only the breeding and portion of a younger Brother with the Mothers help and travel got the addition of a French garb which brought him to the Court in no greater a condition than fifty pounds a year is able to maintain The King strucken with this new object would not expose him to so much hazard as the malice of a jealous Competitor nor him self to so much censure as to be thought changeable and taken again with a sudden affection therefore he instructs some of his Confidents to bring him in by degrees who intimated the Kings pleasure to him that he should wait Cup bearer at large being so at too strait a distance of place to have any mark of favour for suspition to level at And if the King had not received a new Impression thus the old Character of Somerset that was imprinted in his soul could not so soon as many men thought have been blotted out But Courts that are the wisest though not the most vertuous Schools do teach their Scholars to observe the Seasons and by the Astronomy of the Princes eye to calculate what Fortune such Aspects and such Conjunctions may happily produce And they found so much as gave them incouragement to hear and boldness to discover that which pulled down the one and set up the other But Somerset that had the pulse of his Conscience always beating at Overburies door was as active to preserve himself as his Enemies were to ruin him and finding himself shaking though there was nothing yet laid to his Charge but the imbezelling some of the Crown Iewels he throws himself at the Kings feet acknowledging the great Trust his Majesty had reposed in him and the weight of business lying on him might make him incounter him with some miscarriages through youth and ignorance great imployments often meeting with envy that jossels them in the way he therefore humbly besought his Majesty to grant him a general Pardon for what was past that he might not be exposed to the malice of those that would wrest all his Actions to the worst meaning The King that raised this fair Edifice being loth to have it quite pulled down again gave order for the drawing up of a general Pardon in so ample and full a manner that it might rather exceed than take rise from any former precedent This the King signed and sent to the Great Seal But the Queen having notice of it and using her Power with the Lord Chancellor gave stop to the Seal till the Kings coming to Town who was on his Progress in the West and then what was mutter'd in corners before rung openly in the Streets For the Apothecaries boy that gave Sir Thomas Overbury the Glister falling sick at Flushing revealed the whole matter which Sir Ralph Winwood by his Correspondents had a full Relation of and a small breach being made his Enemies like the noise of many Waters rise up against him following the Stream VERA EFFIG REVERâ—â—â—… DOMINI IOHANÌ„IS KING EPISCOPI LONDINâ—… Lo here his shade whose substaÌ„ce is divine Like God in all that may his Angell fitt Whose light before men like a lampe doth shyne The Oyle of Grace and learning feeding it Yet like a lampe that others light doth gieve Still wast's the Oyle by which him self doth lieve See thy true shadowe Nature and suppose How much thy Substance is belov'd of Harts O Cunning if thy Mirror could diclose His heavenly Formes of Zeale Religion Arts This picture might exactllie shewe in Hym. Each vertue done to Life for each dead Lym. For a little before this Weston was taken and examined but like a stubborn piece unmoulded for impression nothing could be drawn from him but God by the means and persuasion of the Bishop of London Doctor King a man eminent for piety in his time so wrought upon his heart that the eye of his soul being opened to the foulness of his sin he discovered all so that the whole Confederacy were laid hold on Who falling into the hands of the Lord Chief Justice Cook a Spirit of a fiery exhalation as subtil as active he left no stone unturned till he had ript up the very foundation But in the mean time between Westons standing mute and his Trial one Lumsden a Scotchman took upon him to make a false and libellous Relation of the business and delivers it to Henry Gib of the Bed-Chamber to be put into the Kings hand in which Writing he falsifies and perverts all that was done the first day of Westons Arraignment turning the edg of his imputations upon the Lord Chief Justice Cook which Bolt was boldly shot by him but it was thought not to come out of his own Quiver and it lighted into an ill hand for him for the King discovered it and left him an open Mark to that Iustice he had traduced Weston was the first that suffered by the hand of the Law which Sir Iohn Hollis after Earl of Clare out of friendship to Somerset and Sir Iohn Wentworth a Person debauched and riotous hoping from the beams of of Somersets favour to increase his wanting fortunes strove to blast in the spring for they rod to Tyburn and urged him at his Execution to deny all hoping that way to prevent the Autumn that followed but Westons Soul being prepared for Death resisted their temptations sealing penitently the Truth of his Confession with his last And this attempt of Hollu Wentworth and Lumsden to pervert Iustice being aggravated against them in the Star-Chamber by the Kings Atturney Sir Francis Bacon they were sentenced there and found the reward of their Presumption Mistris Turner followed next A Pattern of Pride and Lust who having always given a loose Rein to her life she ran this carreer at last into the jaws of death Sir Iervis Ellowis Lieutenant of the Tower
and compunction asked him forgiveness and afterwards again of his own motion desired to have his like prayer of forgiveness recommended to his Mother who was absent And at both times out of the abundance of his heart confessed that he was to die justly and that he was worthy of death And after again at his Execution which is a kind of sealing time of Confessions even at the point of death though there were Tempers about him he did again confirm publickly that his Examinations were true and that he had been justly and honourably dealt with So here is a period of this man which was the subject of this calumny or affront of Iustice. Wherein Mr. Lumsden plays his part first who in the time between Westons standing mute and his Tryal frames a most odious and libellous Relation containing as many untruths as lines sets it down in writing with his own hand and delivers it to one of the Bedchamber to be put into the Kings hands falsifying all that was done the first day of Westons Arraignment turning the pike and point of his imputations upon the Lord Chief Justice of England whose name thus occurring I cannot pass by and yet I cannot skill of this same Flattery or vulgar Attribute but this I will say of him and I would say as much to Ages That never mans person and his place were better met in a business than my Lord Cook and my Lord Chief Iustice in the Cause of Overbury Now for the person of Master Lumsden I know he is a Scotch Gentleman and thereby more ignorant of our Laws but I cannot tell whether this doth extenuate his fault or increase it for as it may extenuate it in respect of ignorance so it doth aggravate it much in respect of presumption to meddle in that he understood not unless some other mans cunning wrought upon this mans boldness The infusion of a slander into a Kings ear is of all forms of Libels and Slanders the worst It is true that Kings may keep secret their information and then no man can enquire after them while they are shrined in their Breast but where a King is pleased that a man shall answer for his false information divers precedents of slanderous Petitions have been as severly punished as slanderous Libels For the Offence of Sir Iohn Wentworth and Sir Iohn Hollis which was to scandalize the Iustice already past or to cut off the thread of something that is to come these two Gentlemen came mounted on Horseback and in a ruffling and facing manner presumed to Examin Weston whether he did poyson Overbury or no directly cross to that which had been tried and judged For what was the Point tried That Weston had poysoned Overbury And Sir Wentworth's question was whether he did poyson him A direct Contradictory Whereupon Weston answered that he did him wrong and turning to the Sheriff said You promised me I should not be troubled at this time and yet nevertheless Wentworth prest him to answer that he might pray with him l know not that Sir Iohn Wentworth is an Ecclesiastick that he should cut any man from communion of Prayer and for all this vexing of the spirit of a poor man now in the gate of death Weston stood constant and said I die not unworthily my Lord Chief Iustice hath my mind under his hand and he is an honourable and just Iudg. Sir Iohn Hollis was not so much a Questionist but wrought upon the other Questions and like a Counsellor wisht him to discharge his Conscience and to satisfie the World What World I marvel It was the World at Tyburn For the World at Guildhall and the World at London were satisfied before Teste the Bels that rang every where But men have got a fashion now a-days that two or three busie bodies will take upon them the name of the World and broach their own conceit as if it were a general opinion Well what more When they could not work upon Weston Sir Iohn Hollis in an indignation turned about his horse as the other was turning to his death and said he was sorry of such a Conclusion That was to have the State honoured or justified Sir Iohn Hollis offence hath another Appendix before this in time which was at the day of the Tryal He presumed to give his Verdict openly That if he were of the Iury he would not doubt what to do Marry he saith he cannot well tell whether he spoke this before the Iury had given up their Verdict or after Wherein there is little gained for whether he were a Praejuror or a Postjuror the one was to prejudice the Iury the other was to attaint them The offence of these Gentlemen is greater and more dangerous than is conceived We have no Spanish Inquisition no Iustice in a corner no gagging of mens mouths at their death but they may speak freely to the last but then it must come from the free motion of the party not by tempting of Questions The Questions that are asked ought to tend to further revealing of their own or others guiltiness But to use a Question in the nature of a cross interrogatory to falsifie that which is Res judicata is intolerable That were to erect a Court or Commission of review at Tyburn against the Court of Westminster For if the Answer be according to the Judgment past it adds credit to Iustice if it be contrary it derogateth nothing yet it subjecteth the Majesty of Iustice to a popular vulgar talk and opinion My Lords these are great and dangerous offences for if we do not maintain Iustice Iustice will not maintain us Then the Examinations being read and further aggravated against these three Gentlemen there passed Judgment upon them of Fine and lmprisonment Sir Thomas Monson another of the Countesses Agents in this poysoning contrivance had past one days Tryal at Guildhall But the Lord Chief Justice Cook in his Rhetorical Flourishes at his Arraignment vented some expressions which he either deduced from Northamptons assuring the Lieutenant of the Tower that the making away of Sir Thomas Overbury would be acceptable to the King or from some other secret hint received as if he could discover more than the death of a private person intimating though not plainly that Overburies untimely remove had something in it of retaliation as if he had been guilty of the same Crime against Prince Henry blessing himself with admiration at the horror of such actions In which he flew so high a pitch that he was taken down by a Court Lure Sir Thomas Monsons Tryal laid aside and he soon after set at liberty and the Lord Chief Justices wings were clipt for it ever after And it was rumor'd that the King heightned to so much passion by this eruption of Sir Edward Cooks went to the Council Table and kneeling down there desired God to lay a Curse upon him and his posterity for ever if he were consenting to Overburies death But this
Doublet was Cloth of Gold imbroidered so thick that it could not be discerned and a white Beaver-hat suitable Brim-full of imbroidery both above and below This is presented as an Essay for one of the meanest he wore so that if this Relation should last longer than his old cloaths the Reader might well think it a Romance favouring rather of Fancy than Reality But this kind of Vanity had been long active in England For the last Parliament it was moved by some well-affected to Reformation of the Abuses of excess in Apparel that there might be a Regulation of this kind of Gallantry to the distinguishing of men one from another For it was said some of means Fortunes wore Garments fitter for Princes than Subjects and many Gentry of antient descent had wasted and impoverished themselves and their Posterities with this extravagancy so that it was very requisite to give some stop to this redundant humor To which was answered That if those of mean Fortunes went so richly attired and came not honestly by their ornaments they would be quickly found out and there were good Laws enough for such Transgressors But as there is no perpetuity of Being on Earth so there is a continual vicissitude and revolution in all sublunary things some are advanced and some decline God pulleth down one and setteth up another If any Noble or antiently descended Family will be so mad and foolish to beggar themselves and their Posterities with this or any other excess 't is very probable that some man of more wisdom and merit will injoy that which the other hath so idlely and prodigally mispent for to set such limitations will damp the spirits of Industry So the motion was declined But to return to the Lord Hayes Thus accoutred and accomplished he went into France and a day for Audience being prefixed all the argument and dispute betwixt him and his gallant Train which took up some time was how they should go to the Court Coaches like Curtains would eclipse their splendor riding on horsback in Boots would make them look like Travellers not Courtiers and not having all Foot-cloaths it would be an unsuitable mixture Those that brought rich trappings for their Horses were willing to have them seen so it was concluded for the Foot-cloth and those that have none to their bitter cost must furnish themselves This preparation begot expectation and that filled all the Windows Balcones and Streets of Paris as they passed with a multitude of Spectators Six Trumpeters and two Marshals in Tawny Velvet Liveries compleatly Suited laced all over with Gold richly and closely laid led the way the Ambassador followed with a great Train of Pages and Footmen in the same rich Livery incircling his Horse and the rest of his Retinue according to their Qualities and Degrees in as much bravery as they could devise or procure followed in couples to the wonderment of the beholders And some said how truly I cannot assert the Ambassadors Horse was shod with Silver-shooes lightly tackt on and when he came to a place where Persons or Beauties of eminency were his very Horse prancing and curveting in humble reverence flung his shooes away which the greedy understanders scrambled for and he was content to be gazed on and admired till a Farrier or rather the Argentier in one of his rich Liveries among his train of Footmen out of a Tawny Velvet bag took others and tackt them on which lasted till he came to the next troop of Grandies And thus with much ado he reached the Louure All Complements and outward Ceremonies of State being performed the Lord Ambassador made his business known by more private addresses which in appearance was well resented but indeed not intended and came to no effect For the Duke of Savoy had anticipated the young Ladies affection for the Prince of Pâ—emont his Son The Savoyan Agents bringing more Gold in their hands than on their backs had so smoothed the way that not only those about the Princess but the great ones themselves were made workers for him After the Ambassador had been feasted magnificently with all his gallant Train in several places to shew the Grandure of France he came over into England and practised it here making many times upon several occasions such stupendious Feasts and heaped Banquets as if all the Creatures had contributed to his excess I know not what limits or bounds are set to the glories of Princes Courts or Nobles minds We see the Sea it self and all his tributary Rivers do ebb and flow but if they swell so high to overflow that Bank that Reason hath prescribed to keep them in what Inundations of sad mischief follow Experience shews CHRISTINE DE FRANCE DVCHESSE DE SAVOYE Balt. Moncornet ex CAROLVS EMANVEL DVC DE SAVOYE ET PRINCE DE PIEDMONT Therefore to humble him more he is brought on his knees at the Council Table and three other Ingredients added to the Dose of a more active operation First He is charged That when he was the Kings Attorney in the beginning of his Reign he concealed a Statute of twelve thousand pounds due to the King from the late Lord Chancellor Hatton wherein he deceived the trust reposed in him Secondly That he uttered words of very high contempt as he sate in the seat of Iustice saying the Common Law of England would be overthrown and the light of it obscured reflecting upon the King And thirdly His uncivil and indiscreet carriage before His Majesty being assisted by his Privy Council and Judges in the Case of Commendams The last he contest and humbly craved his Majesties Pardon The other two he palliated with some colourable excuses which were not so well set off but they left such a tincture behind that he was commanded to a private life And to expiate the Kings anger he was injoyned in that leisurely retirement to review his Books of Reports which the King was informed had many extravagant opinions published for positive and good Law which must be corrected and brought to his Majesty to be perused But the Title of the Books wherein he stiles himself Lord Chief Iustice of England was to be expunged being but Lord Chief Iustice of the Kings Bench. And at his departure from the Council Table where he humbly acknowledged his Majesties mercy and their Lordships justice the Lord Treasurer gave him a wipe for suffering his Coachman to ride bare before him in the streets which fault he strove to cover by telling his Lordship his Coachman did it for his own ease But not long after the Lord Treasurer came under his lash in the Star-Chamber and he requited him for it Vera Effigies Viri clariss EDOARDI COKE Equitis aurati nuper Capitalis Iusticiarij ad Placita coram Rege tenenda assignati R White sculpsit Truly he was a Man of excellent parts but not without his frailties for as he was a Storehouse and Magazine of the Common Law for the present times
were of transcendent parts yet was he tainted with the same infection and not many years after perished in his own corruption which shews That neither Example nor Precept he having seen so many and been made capable of so much can be a Pilot sufficient to any Port of Happiness though Reason be never so able to direct if Grace doth not give the gate But the King more to exalt Iustice and to shew the people his high abilities came in Iune this year to the Star-Chamber where in a long and well-weighed Discourse he turns over the volume of his mind that the World might read his excellent parts in lively characters He told the Lords he came thither in imitation of Henry the seventh his great Predecessor and the reason he came no sooner was that he resolved with Pythagoras for seven years to keep silence and learn the Laws of the Kingdom before he would teach others and the other seven years he was studying to find an occasion to come that might not be with prejudice For in his own cause he could not come in a great cause betwixt man and man it might be thought some particular favour brought him thither and in a small Cause it was not fit for him to come but now he had so much to say in relation to good Government that he could no longer forbear First He charges himself Secondly The judges Thirdly The Auditory in general In his own Charge he lays a foundation for raising a most excellent structure in Government wherein he was a Master-workman and had a most admirable Theory and full abilities to put it in practice and happily the bent of his intentions tended that way though it had for the most part a loose strong And to that which concerned the Judges he not only reckons up their Duties in their publick Relation but shews them the Iurisdiction and power of their several Courts how far every one did extend to which he would have them limited that they might not clash and contest one against another to shake the Basis on which they were built but that there might be a harmony and sweet concordance among them Expressing himself with such Elegance and Prudence that the most studious Lawyer whose design had been to imbellish a Discourse fitting for the ears of his Prince could not have gone beyond what he exprest to his People so strong and retentive was his judgment and memory so natural and genuine that which came from them that it did emanare flow from him to the admiration of the hearers To the people in general and under-Officers he gave an admonition to submit to the Law and Justice of the Land and not to go upon new Puritan strains such was his expression to make all things popular but to keep themselves within the antient limits of Obedience For he feared Innovation as a Monster got loose which should be always kept in such a Labyrinth as none should come at but by the Clew of Reason Then he commands the Judges in their Circuits to take notice of those Justices of the Peace that were most active for the good of the Country that they might have incouragement from him For to use his own words I value them that serve me faithfully there equally with those that attend my person Therefore let none be ashamed of this Office or be discouraged in being a Justice of the Peace if he serve worthily in it The Chancellor under me makes Justices and puts them out but neither I nor he can tell what they are therefore we must be informed by you Judges who can only tell who do well and who do ill without which how can the good be cherished and the rest put out the good Justices are careful to attend the service of the King and Country the bad are idle slow-bellies that abide always at home given to a life of ease and delight liker Ladies than Men and think it is enough to contemplate Justice when as Virtusin actione consistet contemplative Justice is no Justice and contemplative Justices are fit to be put out Another sort of Justices are Busie-bodies and will have all men dance after their Pipe and follow their Greatness or else will not be content A sort of men Qui se primos omnium esse putant nec sunt tamen These proud spirits must know that the Country is ordained to follow God and the King and not them Another sort are they that go seldom to the Kings service but when it is to help some of their Kindred or Alliance so they come to help ther Friends or hurt their Enemies making Jugice serve for a shadow to Faction and tumultuating the Country Another sort are Gentlemen of great worth in their own conceit and cannot be content with the present form of Government but must have a kind of liberty in the people and must be gracious Lords and Redeemers of their Liberty and in every cause that concerns Prerogative give a snatch against Monarchy through their Puritanical itching after Popularity some of them have shewed themselves too bold of late in the lower House of Parliament And when all is done if there were not a King they would be less cared for than other men So wise the Kings fears made him and so wary to prevent the popular violence And even in these Infant-times the contention doth appear which afterward got more strength when by his power he had gained in every County such as he made subservient to his will For as the King strove to loosen the Piles and Banks of the peoples liberties so the people strove to bound and keep off the Inundation of his Prerogative Then he takes notice of the swarms of Gentry that through the instigation of their Wives or to new model and fashion their Daughters who if they were unmarried mar'd their Marriages if married lost their Reputations and rob their husbands purses did neglect their Country Hospitality and cumber the City a general Nuisance to the Kingdom being as the spleen to the Body which as in measure it over-grows the Body wasts and seeing a Proclamation will not keep them at home he requires that the power of the Star-chamber may not only regulate them but the exorbitancy of the new buildings about the City which he still much repined at being a shelter for them where they spent their Estates in Coaches Lacquies and fine Cloaths like French-men living miserably in their houses like Italians becoming Apes to other Nations Whereas it was the honour of the English Nobility and Gentry above all Countries in the World to be hospitable among their Tenants Which they may the better do by the fertility and abundance of all things Thus the King pried into every miscarriage being willing to reform these then growing abuses But among all the heights of Reason that the spirit of man doth actuate and give life to the highest and most transcendent is that of Religion which
threatning to send him to the house of Correction struck the Boy with such a sudden terror that he rose from his Bed fell upon his knees and humbly besought the Bishop to pardon him and he would discover to him the whole Truth And as he put on his cloaths the Bishop laid open the grievousness of his sin which wrought so upon his spirit that he melted into tears crying to God for mercy A very strange alteration That what he did but counterfeit the Devil had so hardned in him that all the Torments and Pains inflicted by man could not produce a tear till God that melted the Rock had first touched the heart The King took delight by the line of his Reason to sound the depth of such brutish Impostors and he discovered many For in the Beginning of his Reign Richard Haydock of New-Colledg in Oxford practised Physick in the day and Preached in the night in his Bed His Practice came by his Profession and his Preaching as he pretended by Revelation For he would take a Text in his sleep and deliver a good Sermon upon it and though his Auditory were willing to silence him by pulling haling and pinching yet would he pertinaciously persist to the end and sleep still The fame of this sleeping Preacher flies abroad with a light Wing which coming to the Kings knowledg he commanded him to the Court where he sate up one night to hear him And when the time came that the Preacher thought it was fit for him to be asleep he began with a Prayer then took a Text of Scripture which he significantly enough insisted on a while but after made an excursion against the Pope the Cross in Baptism and the last Canons of the Church of England and so concluded sleeping The King would not trouble him that night letting him rest after his labours but sent for him the next morning and in private handled him so like a cunning Chirurgion that he found out the sore making him confess not only his sin and error in the act but the cause that urged him to it which was That he apprehended himself as a buried man in the Vniversity being of a low condition and if something eminent and remarkable did not spring from him to give life to his Reputation he should never appear any Body which made him attempt this Novelty to be taken notice of The King finding him ingenuous in his Confession pardoned him and after his Recantation publickly gave him preferment in the Church Some others both men and women inspired with such Enthusiasms and fanatick fancies he reduced to their right senses applying his Remedies suitable to the Distemper wherein he made himself often very merry being happily practised to be taken notice of by him but some of their Stories being a little coarse are not so fit to be here related And truly the loosness and carelesness of publick Iustice sets open a door to such slagitious and nefarious actions as severer times would never have perpetrated About this time that gallant Spirit Sir Walter Rawleigh who in his Recesses in the Tower had presented in lively Characters the true Image of the Old World made Accesses to the King whereby he got leave to visit the New-World in America Captain Kemish one of his old Seamen and Servants shewing him a piece of Ore in the Tower of a golden complexion a glittering temptation to begin the work assuring him he could bring him to a Mine in Guiana of the same metal which together with Freedom the Crown of Life and Being gave rise to this enterprise The King looking on Rawleigh as a man whose abilities might better the Nation if improved the right way gave him Liberty and a Commission under the great Seal to equip and set forth Ships and Men for that service His Reputation and merit brought many Gentlemen of Quality to venture their Estates and Persons upon the Design and being gallantly furnished with all things necessary either for Peace or War they set out and met no difficulties till they came to Cape Vert in Africa and then they found the Winds averse to them contrary to the usual nature of it with many violent Storms which much impeded their Voyage For they that usually navigate betwixt Cape Vert and America run it in less than twenty days but it took them double the time And being driven from the Isle of Bravo by a Tempest their left their Cables Anchors and Water-Cask behind them so that by the length of the Time heat of the Climate and their want of Water great sickness fell among them and swept away many of their ablest men both for Sea and Land But with much patience and hardship getting sight of the Coast of Guiana they came to an Anchor in five Degrees at the River Caliana where they landed their sick men set up Barges and Shallops which were brought out of England in Quarters washed their Ships and took in fresh Water being fed and assisted by the Indians that Sir Walter Rawleigh had formerly known Who in this general contagion having grappled long with sickness and not yet able to move otherwise than he was carried in a Chair gave order to five small Ships to sail into the River Orenoque having Captain Kemish for their Conductor towards the Mine the Star that directed them thither And in these five Ships were five Foot-Companies under the Command of Captain Parker and Captain North Brothers to the Lord Monteagle and the Lord North Captain Walter Raleigh the General 's eldest Son Captain Thornhurst and Captain Chidley Gentlemen of great Valour and infinite Patience in suffering hunger heat and labour Major Pigot died in the miserable Passage and Sir Warham Santleger who was Lieutenant Colonel lay sick without hope of life so that the Command of the five Companies being conferred upon George Raleigh the General 's Nephew made Major in Pigot's room he was not so well obeyed as the Enterprise required As they past up the River the Spaniards began the War and shot at the Ships both with their Ordnance and Musket but they landed their Forces without any great loss near unto a Town upon the River called Saint Thome and gallantly charged the Enemy to the very Ports where finding some little opposition they at last forced a passage and made themselves Masters of the Town In the Assault Captain Walter Raleigh the General 's Son a Man of fire and courage fitter to execute than to order his Valour was slain to the great grief of the Conquerours The other five Ships staid with the General at Trinidado having no other Port capable of them near Guiana The first was commanded by the General himself the second by Captain Iohn Pennington Vice-Admiral the third by Sir Warham Santleger the fourth by Sir Iohn Fern the fifth by Captain Chidley of Devonshire The General had twelve Ships in all set out with him But Captain Whitney and Captain Wolleston mutined against him
those how few went God's way So that he concluded the Devil to be a great Monarch having so many Kingdoms under his command and no doubt he had his Vice Roys Council of State Treasurers Secretaries and many other Officers to manage and order his affairs for there was order in hell it self which after he had mustered together he gives a character of every particular Officer who were fit to be the Devil's servants running through the body of the Court discovering the correspondencies with Iesuits secret Pensions from Foreign Princes betraying their Masters Counsels to deserve their Rewards working and combining to the prejudice of God's people And when he came to describe the Devil's Treasurers exactions and gripings to get mony he fixt his eye upon Cranfield then Lord Treasurer whose marriage into the house of Fortune and Title of Earl could not keep him from being odious to the people and pointing at him with his hand said with an Emphasis That man reiterating it That man that makes himself rich and his Master poor he is a fit Treasurer for the Devil This the Author heard and saw whilst Cranfield sat with his hat pulled down over his eyes ashamed to look up lest he should find all mens eyes fixt upon him the King who sat just over him smiling at the quaint Satyr so handsomly coloured over It seems Neile the Bishop of Lincoln was not by him then for when any man preached that had the Renown of Piety unwilling the King should hear him he would in the Sermon time entertain the King with a merry Tale that I may give it no worse title which the King would after laugh at and tell those near him he could not hear the Preacher for the old B. Bishop We must confess this Relation smells too rank but it was too true and hope the modest Reader will excuse it We having had divers hammerings and conflicts within us to leave it out seeing it proceeds not from any rancour of spirit against the Prelacy but to vindicate God's Iustice to Posterity who never punishes without a Cause and such like practices as these were doubtless put upon the score which after gave a period to that Hierarchy This man's hand helped to close up the Countess of Essex's Virginity when he was Coventry and Litchfield his heart had this kind of vanity when he was Lincoln and when he was Arch-bishop of York his head was so filled with Arminian impiety that in the next King's Reign he was looked upon by the Parliament to be one of the great Grievances of the Kingdom as will follow in the Tract of this Story Lionell Craufield Earle of Middlesex Baron Cranfield of Cranfield The King that either thought these instruments were not so active or that they would not be discovered was resolved upon a Parliament for the former Reasons which began the twentieth of Ianuary this year yet not being ignorant of some miscarriages that passed by his allowance he strives to palliate them and gives the Parliament some little touches of them by the way that when they should find them they might by his Anticipation appear the less And being loth to have the breach between him and his people made wider he thus strives to stop the gap MY Lords Spiritual and Temporal and you the Commons cui multiloquio non deest peccatum In the last Parliament â— made long Discourses especially to them of the Lower House I did open the true thought of my heart But I may say with our Saviour I have piped to you and you have not danced I have mourned and you have not lamented Yet as no man's Actions can be free so in me God found some spices of Vanity and so all my sayings turned to me again without any success And now to tell the Reasons of your Calling and this Meeting apply it to your selves and spend not the time in long Speeches Consider That the Parliament is a thing composed of a Head and a Body the Monarch and the two Estates It was first a Monarchy then after a Parliament there are no Parliaments but in Monarchical Governments for in Venice the Netherlands and other Free-Governments there are none The Head is to call the Body together and for the Clergy the Bishops are chief for Shires their Knights and for Towns and Cities their Burgesses and Citizens These are to treat of difficult matters and to counsel their King with their best advice to make Laws for the Commonweal and the Lower-House is also to petition the King and acquaint him with their grievances and not to meddle with their King's Prerogative They are to offer supply for his necessity and he to distribute in recompence thereof Iustice and Mercy As in all Parliaments it is the King's office to make good Laws whose Fundamental Cause is the peoples ill manners so at this time That we may meet with the new Abuses and the incroaching craft of the times particulars shall be read hereafter As touching Religion Laws enough are made already it stands in two points Persuasion and Compulsion Men may persuade but God must give the blessing Iesuits Priests Puritans and Sectaries erring both on the right-hand and left-hand are forward to persuade unto their own ends and so ought you the Bishops in your example and preaching but compulsion to obey is to bind the Conscience There is talk of the Match with Spain But if it shall not prove a furtherance to Religion I am not worthy to be your King I will never proceed but to the Glory of God and content of my Subjects For a supply to my necessities I have reigned eighteen years in which time you have had Peace and I have received far less supply than hath been given to any King since the Conquest The last Queen of famous memory had one year with another above a hundred thousand pounds per annum in Subsidies And in all my time I had but four Subsidies and six Fifteens It is ten years since I had a Subsidy in all which time I have been sparing to trouble you I have turned my self as nearly to save expence as I may I have abated much in my Houshold-expences in my Navies in the charge of my Munition I made not choice of an old beaten Soldier for my Admiral but rather chose a young man whose honesty and integrity I knew whose care hath been to appoint under him sufficient men to lessen my charges which he hath done Touching the miserable dissentions in Christendom I was not the cause thereof for the appeasing whereof I sent my Lord of Doncaster whose journey cost me three thousand five hundred pounds My Son-in-law sent to me for advice but within three days after accepted of the Crown which I did never approve of for three Reasons First for Religion sake as not holding with the Iesuits disposing of Kingdoms rather learning of our Saviour to uphold not to overthrow them Secondly I was no Judg between them
what he said in his own excuse My Lords and Gentlemen of both Houses I cannot but commend your Zeal in offering this Petition to me yet on the other side I cannot but hold my Self unfortunate that I should be thought to need a Spur to do that which my Conscience and Duty binds me unto What Religion I am of my Books do declare my Profession and Behaviour doth shew and I hope in God I shall never live to be thought otherwise surely I shall never deserve it And for my part I wish it may be written in Marble and remain to Posterity as a mark upon me when I shall swerve from my Religion For he that doth dissemble with God is not to be trusted with Men. My Lords for my part I protest before God That my Heart hath bled when I have heard of the increase of Popery God is my judge it hath been such a great grief to me that it hath been as Thorns in my Eyes and Pricks in my Sides and so for ever I have been and shall be from turning another way And my Lords and Gentlemen you shall be my Confessors that one way or other it hath been my Desire to hinder the growth of Popery and I could not be an honest Man if I should have done otherwise And this I may say further That if I be not a Martyr I am sure I am a Confessor and in some sense I may be called a Martyr as in the Scripture Isaac was Persecuted by Ismael by mocking Words for never King suffered more ill Tongues than I have done and I am sure for no cause yet I have been far from Persecution for I have ever thought that no way increased any Religion more than Persecution according to that Saying Sanguis Martyrum est Semen Ecclesiae Now my Lords and Gentlemen for your Petition I will not onely grant the Substance of what you craved but add somewhat more of my own For the Two Treaties being already anulled as I have declared them to be it necessarily follows of it self that which you desire and therefore it needs no more but that I do declare by Proclamation which I am ready to do That all Jesuits and Priests do depart by a Day but it cannot be as you desire by Our Proclamation to be out of all my Dominions for a Proclamation here extends but to this Kingdom This I will do and more I will Command all my Judges when they go their Circuits to keep the same Courses for putting all the Laws in Execution against Recusants as they were wont to do before these Treaties for the Laws are still in force and were never dispensed with by me God is my judge they were never so intended by me But as I told you in the beginning of the Parliament you must give me leave as a good Horse-man sometimes to use the Reins and not always to use the Spurs So now there needs nothing but my Declaration for the disarming of them that is already done by the Laws and shall be done as you desired And more I will take order for the shameful disorder of the Resorting of my Subjects to all forein Ambassadours of this I will advise with my Council how it may be best reformed It is true that the Houses of Ambassadors are privileged places and though they cannot take them out of their Houses yet the Lord Mayor and Mr. Recorder of London may take some of them as they come from thence and make them Examples Another Point I will add concerning the Education of their Children of which I have had a principal care as the Lord of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester and other Lords of my Council can bear me witness with whom I have advised about this Business For in good faith it is a shame their Children should be bred here as if they were at Rome So I do grant not onely your Desire but more I am sorry I was not the first mover of it to you But had you not done it I should have done it my self Now for the second part of your Petition You have there given me the best advice in the World For it is against the Rule of Wisdom that a King should suffer any of his Subjects to transgress the Laws by the intercession of other Princes and therefore assure your selves that by the Grace of God I will be careful that no such Conditions be foisted in upon any other Treaty whatsoever For it is fit my Subjects should stand or fall to their own Laws If the King had seriously and really considered the Minute of this Petition the very last Clause wherein the Glory of God and the Safety of his Kingdoms so much consisted as the Parliament wisely express and foresee and which the King saith is the best Advice in the World and which he promised so faithfully to observe in the next Treaty of Marriage for his Son it might perhaps have kept the Crown upon the Head of his Posterity But when Princes break with the People in those Promises that concern the Honour of God God will let their people break with them to their Ruin and Dishonour And this Maxim holds in all Powers whether Kingdoms or Common Wealths As they are established by Iustice so the Iustice of Religion which tends most to the Glory of God is principally to be observed The King grants them more than they desire but not so much as they hope for they have many good words thick sown but they produce little good fruit Yet the Parliament followed the Chace close and bolted out divers of the Nobility and Gentry of Eminency Popishly affected that had Earth'd themselves in Places of high Trust and Power in the Kingdom as if they meant to under-mine the Nation Viz. Francis Earl of Rutland the Duke of Buckingham's Wives Father Sir Thomas Compton that was married to the Duke's Mother And the Countess her self who was the Cynosure they all steered by The Earl of Castle-Haven The Lord Herbert after Earl of Worcester The Lord Viscount Colchester after Earl of Rivers The Lord Peter The Lord Morley The Lord Windsor The Lord Eure. The Lord Wotton The Lord Teinham The Lord Scroop who was Lord President of the North and which they omitted the Earl of Northampton Lord President of Wales who married his Children to Papists and permitted them to be bred up in Popery Sir William Courtney Sir Thomas Brudnell Sir Thomas Somerset Sir Gilbert Ireland Sir Francis Stonners Sir Anthony Brown Sir Francis Howard Sir William Powell Sir Francis Lacon Sir Lewis Lewkner Sir William Awberie Sir Iohn Gage Sir Iohn Shelly Sir Henry Carvel Sir Thomas Wiseman Sir Thomas Gerrard Sir Iohn Filpot Sir Thomas Russell Sir Henry Bedingfield Sir William Wrey Sir Iohn Conwey Sir Charles Iones Sir Ralph Connyers Sir Thomas Lamplough Sir Thomas Savage Sir William Moseley Sir Hugh Beston Sir Thomas Riddall Sir Marmaduke Wivel Sir Iohn Townesend Sir William Norris Sir
so some things are not to be concealed for it derogates from the glory of God to have his Justice obscured his remarkable Dispensations smothered as if We were angry with what the Divne Power hath done who can debase the Spirits of Princes and is mighty among the Kings of the earth And though the Priests lips should keep knowledge yet as the Prophet saith he can make them contemptible and base before all the people And therefore why should we grudge and repine at God's Actions for his thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his wayes as our wayes His Judgments should teach us Wisdom and his glorious proceedings should learn us Righteousness that his Anger may be turned away from us And let them that stand take heed lest they fall For though God rewarded Jehu with the Kingdom for the good service he did him yet because he walked not with him God visited the house of Jehu and laid the blood of Jezreel which he was commanded to shed upon the head of his Posterity But all the Arguments of Men and Angels will neither penetrate nor make impression in some ill-composed Tempers till they are softned with the fire of Love and that holy Flame is best kindled with Patience by willingly submitting to the al-disposing Providence that orders every thing Before whose Altar waiting for the Season of Grace I will ever bring the best fruits of my Labours But if that which I intend should not come to Perfection the day of man's life being but as a Dawning and his time as a Span I will never be displeased with my Master in long and dangerous Labours for calling me away to rest before my work is done FINIS The Table An Index exactly pointing to the most material Passages in this HISTORY A CRuelty at Amboyna 281 Queen Ann an Enemy to Somerset 78 80. Her Death 129. and Character ibid. Anhalt the Prince thereof intimate with the Count Palatine persuades him to accept of the Crown of Bohemia 132. Is made General of the Bohemian Forces 135. His good Success at first in routing of Bucquoy's Army 140. Is overthrown afterwards by the Duke of Bavaria 141. Fliâ—s so doth Helloc his Lieutenant General ibid. and afterwards submits to the Emperor 142 Ansbach the Marquess thereof Commander in Chief of the Forces raised by the Protestant Princes of Germany in defence of the Palatinate 135. for slowes a fair advantage over Spinola 138. His Answer to the Earl of Essex ib. with Sir Vere's Reply thereunto 139 Lady Arabella dies 90 Arch-bishop Whitgift's Saying concerning King Iames at Hampton-Court Conference 8. his Character Dies when ibid. Arch-bishop Bancroft succeeds Whitgift in the See of Canterbury 8. Dies his Character 53 Arch-bishop Abbot accidentally kills a Kâ—eper 198. his Letter to the King against a Toleration in Religion 236. yet sets his hand as a Witness to the Articles of Marriage with the Infanta 237 Arch-bâ—shop of Spalato comes into England his Preferment here relapses to the Roman Church dies at Rome His manner of Burial 102 Arguments about the Union of England and Scotland 34. for and against a Toleration 237 Articles agreed on concerning the Marriage of the Infanta 212. Preamble and Post-script to the Articles 238. Private Article sworn to by the King 240 Arundel and Lord Spencer quarrel 163. Arundel thereupon commited to the Tower his Submission ibid. August the fifth made Holy-day 12. B Bacon's Speech in Star-Chamber against Hollis Wentworth and Lumsden 84 He is made Lord Chancellour 97. is questioned 158. His humble Submission and Supplication 159. His Censure 160. The Misery he was brought to his Description and his Character ibid. Bancroft succeeds Whitgift in the Archbishoprick of Canterbury 8. dies Character 53 Barnevelt opposes the Prince of Orange 125. Is seized on together with his Complices 127. his Sentence and Death ib. His imployments 128 Baronets a new order made 76 Battail of Fleury 217 Benevolence required but opposed 78 Bishops in Scotland to injoy their temporal Estates 8 Black-Friers the downful there 241 Blazing-Star 128 Bounty of King Iames 76 Boy of Bilson his Impostures discovery very and confession 107 c. Bristol forbid to deliver the Procuration for Espousals 254. Hath Instructions to demand the Palatinate and Electoral dignity 155. without the restitution of which the Treaty for the Match should proceed no further 256. Bristol sent to the Tower but gains his liberty by submission 272 Brunswick loses his Arm 217. raises a gallant Army 142. and is defeated 145 Buckingham made Marquess Master o the Horse and High Admiral 147. Rules all ibid. His Kindred advanced ib. A lover of Ladies 149. Marries the Earl of Rutland's Daughter ib. over-ruled by his Mother ibid. Gondemar writes merrily concerning her into Spain ib. Buckingham's Medicine to cure the King 's Melancholy 218. made Duke 229. He and Olivarez quarrel 249. Goes to the Fleet sent from England to attend the Prince home 250. His Relation to the Parliament of the transactions in Spain 263. He is highly commended by the People 264. accused of Treason by the Spanish Ambassadour 272 New Buildings within two mile of the City of London forbid by Proclamation 48 Bergben ap Zome besieged 216. The Siege raised 218 Breda besieged 28 Butler a Mountebank his story 287 C Car. a Favourite and the occasion thereof 54. made Viscount Rochester and soon after Knight of the Garter 55. opposed by Prince Henry ib. rules all after the death of Prince Henry and Salisbury 65. Is assisted by Overbury 66. with Northampton plots Overbury's death and why ib. created Earl of Somerset and married to the Divorced Countess of Essex 72. both Feasted at Merchant-Tailors Hall ib. Vid. Somerset Cecil holds correspondence with the King of Scotland 2. His put-off to the Queen his secret conveyances being like to be discovered ib. proclaims the late Queens Will ibid. made Earl of Salisbury 7. vid. Salisbury Ceremonie Sermon against them 11 Chelsey College 53 Commissioners for an Union betwixt England and Scotland 27 High-Commission a Grievance 46 House of Commons their Declaration 164. Their Remonstrance 167. House of Commons discontent 188 their Protestation ibid. Conference at Hampton-Court 7. where the King puts an end to the business 8 Conwey and Weston sent Ambassadors into Bohemia 133. Their Characters ib. Their Return 142 Cook Lord Chief Justice blamed 89 90. a breach betwixt him and the Lord Chancellor why 74. brought on his Knees at the Council-Table 95. his Censure 96. his faults ib. his Character 97. Is again in disgrace 191 D Denmark's King comes into England his Entertainment 33. His second coming 76 Diet at Ratisbone where an agitation concerning the Electoral Dignity 220. The result thereof 224 Digby sent Leidger Ambassador into Spain to Treat of a Marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain 143. made Baron of Sherborn 144. Sent to the Emperor for a punctual answer concerning the Palatinate 154. His Return and Relation to the
obtruded 105 3 Subsidies and 6 Fifteens granted 33. Subsidy and Fifteen granted Anno 1609. 84. Two Subsidies granted Anno 1620. 155. Synod at Dort 128 T Tirone comes over is pardon'd and civilly intreated 6 Gunpowder-Treason 38. Discovered by a Letter to the Lord Monteagle 30. The principal actors 28. The Traitors Executed 31. The Lord Monteagle the Discoverer of the Treason rewarded 3 Earl of Dorset Lord Treasurer dies suddenly 43. Earl of Salisbury made Lord Treasurer 43 Lord Treasurer question'd in Star Chamber 97. and fined 99 Two Lord Treasurers in one year 148 Lord Treasurer Craâ—fiâ—ld questioned in Parliament 278. His punishment 279 Turner murder'd by the Lord Sanquir 59 Mrs. Turner intimate with the Countess of Essex 57. In Love with Sir Arthur Manwaring ibid. Executed 82 U Sir Horatio Vere Commander of a Regiment sent to joyn with the United Princes in Germany 135. His Answer to the Marquess of Ansbach 139 Villers a Favourite 79. highly advanced 104. Rules all made Marquess of Buckingham Admiral and Master of the Horse 147. His Kindred advanced ibid. Commissioners for an Union betwixt England and Scotland appointed 27 Arguments pro and con about the Union Dis-union in the United Provinces by reason of Schism and Faction 118. the Authors thereof ib. forewarn'd of it by our King 119 Vorstius his Books burnt by the King 120 W Warwick his Character 162 Weston imployed in the poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury 70 Tried and Executed 81 Weston and Conwey sent Ambassadors into Bohemia 133. Their Characters ib. Their Return 142 Arch-bishop Whitgift's Saying concerning King Iames at Hampton-Court Conference 8. His Character Dies when ibid. Sir Winwood's Remonstrance 120. and Protestation The End An. Reg. 1. An. Christi 1603 Secretary Cecil Proclaimed King Iames. The King comes to Theobalds Changes beget hopes A Conspiracy against the King A censure upon it The King and Queen Crowned Prince Henry made Knight of the Garter Reformation in the Church sought for Conference at Hampton Court Arch-Bishop Whitgift dies A Proclamation against Jesuits A Proclamation for Uniformity A Sermon against Ceremonies The fifth of August made Holyday The King and Queen ride through the City The Kings Speech to the Parliament Tobie Matthew The King proclaimed King of great Britain Commiss for an Union Roaring Boys The Gun-powder Treason Principal Actors 1604. An. Reg. 3. An. Christi 1605. A Letter to my Lord Monteagle The Parliament meet the 9. of Novemb. The King of Denmarks first coming The fifth of Novemb. made Holy-day Arguments about a Union An. Reg. 5. An. Christi 1607. The Kings Speech to the Parliament about the Union The Parliament declined the Union An. Reg. 6. An. Christi 1608. An. Reg. 7. An. Christi 1609. The death of the Earl of Dorset suddenly The Earl of Salisbury made Treasurer Salisbury and Northampton Sticklers for the King The High-Commission a grievance The Kings Speech to both Houses The Siege of Iuliers An. Reg. 8. An. Christi 1610. A Duel betwixt Sir Hatton Cheek and Sir Thomas Dutton A Proclamation against Jesuits Bancroft Arch-Bishop of Canterbury dies 7 Regis Masks in great esteem An. Reg. 9. An. Christi 1611. 1612. Made Viscount The Earl of Essex marries the Lady Frances Howard The Countess of Essex in love with Rochester She consults with Mistriss Turner And Forman about it The Earl of Essex gets his Wife to Chartley She comes again to Court The Lord Sanquir murthered a Fencer Is hanged Salisbury not pleased with the Viscounts greatness The Queen of Scots translated to Westminster The Palatints arrival 16. Octob. Prince Henry's death 6. Nov. His gallant spirit His Funeral Mourning laid aside Knights of the Garter made The Prince Palatine married to the Lady Elizabeth The Prince Palatine returns home with the Princess Rochester betrays Overbury The Countesses designs Northampton joyns with her Rob. Iohnstons Hist. of Scotland 〈…〉 The Countess divorsed from her Husband Mrs. Turner imployed to poyson Overbury Their poysons set a work Rochester made Earl of Somerset 4. Nov. married 5 Dec. following Feasted in London Overbury hears of the Marriage Writes to Somerset Somerset sends poysons in his Answers The Lieutenant betrays Overbury Overbury dies Northampton reviles him A. Reg. 12. An. Christi 1614. Northampton dies New-England described Planted first 1606. Somersets devices to get Money The Kings Bounty Gold raised A Parliament undertaken A Benevolence required The King of Denmarks second coming George Villers a favourite A. Reg. 13. An. Christi 1615. Somersets decline 1615. Weston and the rest tried Weston executed Mrs. Turner Sir Ierv Ellowis And Franklin The Countesses description in her death Somersets in his life A. Reg. 14. An. Christi 1616. Sir Francis Bacons Speech in Star-chamber Sir Thomas Monson arraigned The Lord Chief Justice blamed Peace every where The King think of a match for his Son Prince Charles The Lord Hays sent into France 6 lib. H. Hunt The Lord Hayes rides in state to the Court. The Chief Justice is humbled And short Character The Lord Chancellor retires Sir Ralph Winwood dies The Lord Treasurer questioned in Star-Chamber Cov. Lichf The King comes to the Star-Chamber A. Reg. 15. An. Christi 1617. Unstable spirits mutable The Arch-Bishop of Spalato comes into England Dies at Rome The King goes into Scotland The Book of Sports obtruded * His House in Edenburg so called Piety of the Lord Mayor of London Juggling of the Jesuits The Boy of Bilson Accuses a Woman to be a Witch She is condemned Bishop Morton gets her Reprieve The Bishop troubled for the Boy The Impostor discovered The King discovers many Impostors Sir Walter Rawleighs West-Indian Voyage The Design discovered to Gondemar Raleigh troubled Kemish kills himself Gondemar incenses the King against Raleigh 1618. He is committed to the Tower And Beheaded His character and description Disunion in the United Provinces Our King forewarns them of it An. 1611. The States answer Vorstius's Books burned by the King The States answer Sir Winwood's Protestation Our King writes to the States in 1613. And now in 1618. Barnevelt opposes the Pr. of Orange The Prince of Orange goes to Utrecht 25 Iuly Barnevelt's Sentence and death His Imployments A Synod at Dort A blazing Star The death of Queen Anne A short Character of the Queen An. Reg. 17. An. Christi 1619. Northumberland set at Liberty Stirs in Germany Anno 1617. 18 Aug. Doncaster Ambassador Weston and Conwey sent Amb. into Bohemia 1620. The Palatine proscribed An. Reg. 17. An. Christi 1619. Preparations for War An. Christi 1620. The march of the English into the Palatinate Spinola attempts to intercept the English The English joyn with the Princes Spinola and the Princes hunt one another A sad Fate upon Germany A sad story of Mr. Duncomb Bad success in Bohemia The King censuâ—ed The loss of his Son The King's Character Weston and Conwey return home The Princes of the Union submit to Ferdinand Mansfeldt vexeth the Emperor still Essex solicits our King for