Back-doors Guards being set at all of them Let us here mention one Passage which tho' indeed ridiculous had nevertheless almost cost him his Life Being much troubled with the Stone he used sometimes to swill down several sorts of Liquor and then stir his Body by some violent kind of Motion as Riding hard on Horseback or Jolting in a Coach that by such Agitation he might disburden his Bladder Wherefore one day he took with him his Secretary Thurlow that they two by themselves might privately use this Exercise in a Coach in Hide-Park When they were come thither Cromwell himself got up into the Coach-box drawn by six stout Horses lately presented him by the Count Oldenburgh But so soon as he began to snap his Whip the Horses run away and the Postilion who was to guide them being thrown off of the Forehorse they fall a fretting and grow unruly and not knowing their Master toss their new Driver from his Seat upon the Pole who falling from thence upon the Ground and being entangled in his Coat was dragged up and down till having received many Bruises and a Pocket-Pistol going off in his Pocket his Coat rent and he escaped from the very Jaws of Death a Troop of Guards that waited without the Park hastning in to his Assistance God Almighty thought it not fit that this Plague of England should thus expire though he was not far from the just punishment of his Crimes that is from being torn to pieces alive by unruly Horses But this made work for Poets and Post-boys and afforded pleasant Discourse in Taverns Cromwell now growing bare of Money dispersed his Souldiers over the Countrey allowing them free Quarters instead of Pay taking a pretext from a late Insurrection without any accusation or proof of a Crime to plunder all those who had been sequestrated for the Royall Cause commanding them to pay the tenth part of their Goods and of their yearly Rents unless they could compound for it by laying down a Sum of Money as had been often done before The Publick Faith and Act of Oblivion stood them in no stead though it had cost vast Sums of Money or had been stipulated by Articles upon the surrender of Garrisons and strong places Nor did the innocence of many who had not meddled in these Affairs in the least excuse them all are equally involved in the Guilt and must all alike part with their Money New Major Generals are appointed to raise the Moneys in all Counties to the number of fourteen each having their Province which perhaps reached three or four Counties over which as amongst the Romans the Military Tribunes so these were appointed with almost an absolute Power And that they might not seem thus to domineer onely for Money they are impowered to make inquiry into all those who had carried Arms for the King or had favoured that Cause those who had heretofore bought up Arms or had hired or let out Post-horses into Privat Assemblies those who live at too high a rate when it is not known how they are able to afford it into Vagabonds and Idle Persons into those that frequent any sort of Game those who slight or are averse from the established Governments into such as raise Tumults or Sedition those who haunt Taverns Tipling and Eating-houses into unlearned and scandalous Ministers and School-masters All such the Major Generals had power to inquire into call before them and punish To these were joined Assessors in the several Counties Towns and Provinces for most part chosen out of the very Sink of the People though others of better note were sometimes mingled with them these had Power upon common Fame proper Knowledge or bare Conjecture to inform against others make them appear and accuse them before the Major General of the Army with whom they sat as Assessors in giving Judgment Good God! how Princely these fellows carry it how big and proud do they look despising and slighting all others of what rank and quality soever Nothing pleased them more than to insult over and oppress the Ministers of the Church of England sufficiently already born down who being long ago turned out of their Houses and Livings these Blades would not so much as suffer them to teach little Children thereby to get Bread to themselves and Families unless some Fanatick interceded for them which happened rarely and but to a few The Royalists being right or wrong before sequestred must now suffer a Decimation and be threatned with Imprisonment Bonds and Transportation which sometimes were actually inflicted Licentious indeed was the Rule of these Men they carry all things Arbitrarily and with Despotick Authority making themselves Judges of Controversies though they were ignorant of and despised all Forms and Methods of Process which they constantly decided in favours of the Faction and their Party They imposed new and unusual Punishments nay and made new Laws Raised People out of their Beds at Midnight and committed them to Goals nay and caused Constables who have the power of keeping the Peace in Countrey Villages to be whipt and put in the Stocks compelled Persons of Quality who had appeared for neither Party nay such as had been for the Parliament and others also who heretofore by hereditary right had siâ—ten in the House of Lords to come and give their Votes in the Elections for Parliament-Men Being at length drunk with that Exorbitant Power they hardly acknowledged the Protector himself and begun to spurn against the mighty Tyrant which made him by degrees lessen their Power and upon the approach of a Parliament wholly abolish it About the same time Cromwell sends one of his Bedchamber Envoy into Poland there to Congratulate the Victories of the King of Sweden with a present of four brave Horses as a Testimony of his Affection Whether or not Private Affairs be worth the relating may be a doubt yet that the inclinations of the People may be known I shall mention some Passages Davison Holder and Thorold are brought into suspition of acting for the King and of using endeavours to bring him in therefore they are committed to a Provost Marshal to be shortly brought to Tryal before the High Court of Justice In the mean time having obtained leave from him to walk abroad they wheadled the Soldier into a by place whom because he refused to consent to their escape they Pistolled But being afterwards apprehended they are brought to their Tryal for Murder before the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in Westminster-hall and submitted themselves to the Verdict of a Jury of Twelve Men a Tryal that onely pleases our Countrey-men as being according to Law Nevertheless though they were taken in the fact and that the Judge himself had promised to use his endeavours to have these Men Condemned yet I know not what scruples being started the Jury brought them in Not guilty which thing vexed Cromwell who had resolved with himself
Church Those Bishops who had survived the fury of the Hereticks he restored to their Sees and chose others conspicuous for Primitive Piety Learning and a good Life in place of those that were dead who with the same Piety and Humility that they had suffered the Reproaches of Sectarians and born the Calamities of a Civil War now in their old age carried the Miter and governed the Church of God The King made Juxon Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England a Prelate of Primitive Piety venerable both in his books and words heretofore Confessor to Charles the Martyr and his Assistent to the last whilst amidst the fury and reproaches of bloudy Traytors he took his leave of this world Et nullo gemitu consensit ad ictum Despexitque nefas When without sighing he received that Blow And bravely scorn'd the Villanies below And now it was no small comfort to many that they to whom the Parricides had formerly been liberal were as poor as those whom they had robbed but it was fit that Clemency should usher in the new Administration of the Government and therefore Charles imitating God Almighty in mercifulness past in Parliament an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion for all his Subjects except those who had embrewed their hands in his Fathers Bloud the rest of the guilty Rebels being wonderfully pardoned but whether with greater Policy or Mercy let Posterity judge The King now secure in his own Majesty and the Loyalty of his Subjects resolved to disband the Army which for so many years had been the Burden and Grievance of the Nation for the paying of which a Tax by way of Poll was imposed on every head in England The Souldiers had also a Donative bestowed upon them and many of the Officers were rewarded according to their merit Amidst the Joys wherewith the first three months of his Majesties government was blessed Henry Duke of Gloucester fell sick and was fatally too soon snatched out of this world by the Small Pox so much the more lamented by the King his Brother and by the Kingdom that at twenty years of age he had given such sublime proofs of his Princely Accomplishments And this alone may seem an Eclipse of the Glory of Charles that almost in his own triumph he beheld the Funeral of his dear Brother Manibus date Lilia plenis Purpureos spargam flores Bring plenty of white Lillies to his Herse Whilst sad there the purple Rose disperse The affairs of England being setled Scotland and Ireland were to be taken care of The King therefore appointed Privy-Councils of the most Loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms to manage the Government till he might advise about calling a Parliament in Scotland and sending over a Lord Lieutenant into Ireland After the dutiful Addresses of his Subjects at home the neighbouring Kings of France Sweden Denmark and many Princes of Germany by honourable Embassies congratulate the Kings happy Restauration all which were outdone by the pompous and splendid train of the Prince Ligny Embassadour from the Catholick King And now it was time to bring the Murderers of Charles the Martyr to their Tryals many of whom were before clapt up in Prison others fled away secretly and wandered in foraign and distant Countries and some trusting to the hopes of a Pardon obeyed the Kings Proclamation and freely surrendred themselves Therefore on the tenth of October Harrison Carew Clements Jones Scot and Scroop who had been of the number of the Judges that condemned the King Cooke Attorney-General the famous infamous Peters Chaplain to the Traytors Axiell and Hacker Commanders of the Guards were brought to the Bar not before an accursed and new-made High Court of Justice but according to the ancient Laws of the Kingdom before the chief Justices and the rest of the Kings Justices to be tryed by a Jury of Twelve men after the usual manner of England They were chiefly charged by the Attorney-General and the Kings Council That they the aforesaid Traytors and others guilty of High-Treason conspiring with an accursed Army of Fanaticks had carried away to Prison King Charles securely treating a Peace with the two Houses of Parliament which was almost concluded in the Isle of Wight So that the House of Lords being abrogated and the founder Members of the Commons six and forty Villains that remained took to themselves the name of a Parliament invaded the Government and decreed to bring the King to a Tryal By whose authority these Parricides an High Court of Justice being impudently constituted had condemned and caused to be put to death the King of England who was above the Laws contrary to the will and to the great grief of the People To their Indictment rightly laid and fully proved having made many false and frivolous Answers concerning the supreme authority of the Parliament which indeed in this case had no authority at all they were by the Verdict of a Jury of Twelve men found guilty of and condemned for High-Treason The same Verdict past also upon nineteen other of the Kings Judges but with a different event as shall be mentioned in the proper place On the third of October a Gibbet was set up at Charing-cross near Whitehall whither in the morning Harrison being brought the first of the surviving Regicides both in guilt and punishment with the same madness and obstinacy as he had behaved himself at his tryal the cruel Traytor affecting an undauntedness at his death was hang'd and quarter'd as he well deserved CAROLE tuis jam Victima mittitur umbris Nec satis hoc fortuna putat procul absit ut ista Vindictae sit summa tui Great CHARLES a Victim to thy Ghost does fall And yet thy Fates are not appeas'd no all That just Revenge is not yet paid that shall Harrison rather of a base than low Birth was the Son of a Butcher bred at first a Pettifogging Country-Attorney but in the heat of the Civil Wars when the onely way to get into Power was Fanaticism and Treason he fled to the Rebellious Army and there turning a furious Anabaptist and advanced to be a Colonel he grew very intimate with Cromwel and his Competitor in Villany But being a proud and haughty fellow and a most desperate Republican he fell out and was highly displeased with Oliver when he was made Protector not that he hated the Tyrant Cromwel but disdained to be outstripped and to submit to one who from a fellow-Souldier was become his Prince Carew came next and suffered the like death but his Relations who had served the King in the Wars obtained as a mark of favour the liberty of burying his body which was the same night obscurely performed The day following Cook and Peters in the same place suffered the same punishment where Peters by a drunken and base death disgraced his infamous life Cook was an obscure ragged beggarly Lawyer and ambitious to get a
and scornfully raze out of their Journal as an Act unworthy of Parliament New Orders in place of the former pass in this House of Commons whereby they invade the Government by Votes which before they had snatched by Arms. They first vote That all Power resides in the People Secondly That that Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives meaning themselves in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the force of a Law without the consent of the King or House of Lords a plain Horatian Law that what the lowest Order of the People enacteth binds the whole body of them Fourthly That to take Arms and make War against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and that therefore he is guilty of all the bloud shed in this Civil War that so they might seem to excuse themselves of the Villany and ought by his own bloud to expiate it These were the Preludes to that most horrid and abominable Villany I tremble to mention it which it behoved them to bring about by degrees for trusting now to their great power which indeed was as great as they thought fit to take to themselves they had the boldness to erect a new Tribunal of most abject wretches against the King to which they give the name of the High Court of Justice thinking that its name might procure it reverence In this mock-Mock-Court they appoint an hundred and fifty Judges that they might in number at least represent the people the most factious Sticklers of the whole Faction to whom they give power of arraigning trying judging and condemning Charles Stuart King of England In the number of these they appoint six Earls out of the House of Lords and the Judges also of the Kingdom lately chosen by themselves But the greater part consist of the Commanders of the Army who first conspired the murder of the King and the Members of the House of Commons who were the most inveterate enemies to Monarchy The rest were Rascals raked out of the Kennel of London or the Neighbourhood Amongst these some were Coblers Brewers Silversmiths and other Mechanicks the greater part were Bankrupt Spend-thrifts Debauchees and Whoremasters who nevertheless by the Disciples of the Sect were called Saints Nay there was none of them but did expect impunity for his cheating the Publick Sacriledge Bribery and other enormous Crimes or did hope to glut his Avarice with the Kings Revenue Houses Furniture or gainful places to be conferred upon him for so bold an attempt or in a word that was not drawn in and allured up to the horrid fact by the tamperings threats and promises of Cromwel Ireton and the other Commanders of the Army In the mean time there was hardly any regard had to the Lords and it was commonly believed that being now terrified by so many and so great dangers they would of their own accords absent from the House except four or five that were slaves to that Republican Faction The Rebels thought that the authority of these was sufficient to confirm any attempt whatsoever as they had already oftener than once experienced Nor indeed were their hopes altogether frustrated However when the matter came to the push their luck proved somewhat worse than they expected for a few Lords used daily to come to the House but that day when the Bill for trying the King was to be brought to the Lords House for their consent unexpectedly seventeen Lords were present who all not excepting those who favoured the Republicans not onely deny their consent but cast the Bill over the Bar as destructive and contrary to Law This inraged the Oligarchick Rebels and put them upon thoughts of revenge taking it hainously that so publick an affront and disgrace had been put upon them However at present they thought it enough to dash all the Lords out of the number of the Kings Judges By and by also the Judges of the Kingdom were struck out of that black List because being privately asked their opinions in that affair though through the interest of this Faction they had been lately by authority of Parliament raised to their places they had answered That it was against the known and received Laws and Customs of England to bring the King to a Tryal For a President of this Court who might match it in fame and reputation they pitch upon one John Bradshaw a base-born broken Pettifogger a fellow of a brazen forehead and an insolent and sawcy tongue who a little before was of no value amongst those of his own Gang. One Cooke they make Attorney-General a fellow of the same stamp poor guilty as was reported of Polygamy who had plaid a thousand tricks and cheats to get Bread and now was ready to do any villany in hopes of profit They privately consult for some days about the matter and form of the Arraignment or the manner of perpetrating the Villany where in drawing the Kings Indictment one Dorislaus a Doctor of the Laws a German who was either banished or had fled his Country took the greatest pains In the mean time all the Presbyterian Ministers of London in a manner and more out of several Counties yea and some out of the Independents also declare against the thing in their Sermons from the Pulpit in Conferences monitory Letters Petitions Protestations and publick Remonstrances They earnestly beg That contrary to so many dreadful Imprecations and Oaths contrary to publick and private Faith confirmed by Declarations and Promises contrary to the Law of Nations the Word of God and sacred Rules of Religion nay and contrary to the welfare of the State they would not defile their own hands and the Kingdom with Royal Bloud The Scots by their Commissioners protest against it The Embassadours of the States General of the Vnited Provinces if they faithfully perform'd their Masters Orders intercede Some English Noblemen to wit the Earl of Southampton the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Lyndsey c. do what lies in their power they neither spare prayers nor money offer themselves as Hostages or if the Republicans demanded it their lives as being onely guilty if the King had offended in any thing The people whisper their rage for that was all they could now do hardly restraining their unarmed fury Our present King then Prince CHARLES used all means to assist his Father in this danger Besides the Embassadours of the States General whom he had procured to be sent he daily dispatched Agents as well from the Prince of Orange as himself and such as were Relations Kinsmen and Friends to Cromwel Ireton and the rest of the Conspirators who being warranted with full power might by prayers promises threats or what arguments they judged fit either disswade them from that unparallel'd Barbarity or at least for
tenth man he might have said of the thousandth of the Kingdom The President interrupting him again as before takes him up now more insolently bids him be mindful of his condition tells him that the Court is sufficiently satisfied and do affirm their own Jurisdiction and that no Reasons were to be heard that declined the Authority of the Court But shew me that Court answered the King where Reason is not to be heard We shew it you here replied the President and the next time you come you 'll know more of their pleasure But the King urged That at least he might be permitted to give in his Reasons in writing to which if they could give him satisfaction he would not decline their Jurisdiction Here the President not satisfied to deny his modest suit but falling also into a heat commanded the Prisoner to be carried away who made no other return but this Remember it is your King whom you refuse to hear it will be in vain for my Subjects to expect Justice from you when you will not hear your King make his lawful defence Now the King is the fourth time brought before this unjust Court of Justice where the President in his Scarlet-robe bitterly taxes the King of Contumacy and runs out in commendation of the Patience of the Court He bids him at length submit to the Court or to expect his Sentence But the King constantly refuses to plead before them telling them however That he had something to say that concerned the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject wherein he desires to be heard before the Lords and Commons Yet they refuse to grant him that favour which is not wont to be denied to men of the meanest condition pretending it would delay and put a stop to Justice To which the King replied That it would be better to admit the delay of a day or two than to hasten a Sentence that might bring on that trouble and perpetual inconvenience to the Kingdom that the Child that is unborn might repent it For if I had had said he respect to my Life more than the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberties of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me and that the Zeal to my Country had not overborn the care that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work than I have done Now since a hasty Sentence once past may be sooner repented than recalled I desire that having something to say more for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject than for my own particular I may be heard before Sentence be given Upon which Colonel Downs one of the Judges being prickt in Conscience contrary to what had been privately agreed upon amongst the Judges desires that they may withdraw and debate that Proposal privately Though this extreamly vexed the President Cromwel and most of the rest yet that they might not seem publickly to quarrel among themselves they all withdraw into an adjoyning Chamber where Downs being paid off with flouts and jeers intermingled with no small threats they return wonderfully unanimous and agreeing into Court Then the President with the same inhumane barbarity that he began proceeds to Sentence having premised a long Speech wherein he aggravates the Contumacy of the King and the haynousness of the Crime he asserts the Power of Parliaments producing instances both foreign and domestick especially from Scotland how aptly the Scots are to look to it wherein the People have punished their Kings and that the Power of the People of England over their King was not less than that of other Nations that the King's guilt was greater than that of all others seeing that according to the wish of Caligula he had endeavoured to have cut off the head of the whole Nation by undertaking a War against the Parliament Having ended his Harangue he orders the Sentence to be read in these words That whereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trying of Charles Steuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at first time a Charge of High-Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England c. Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charles Steuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do c. For all which Treasons and Crimes the Court doth adjudge That he the said Charles Steuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murderer and a publick Enemy shall be put to death by severing his Head from his Body The Sentence being pronounced sixty seven Judges that were present as lifted up by the conscience of the Villany they had conspired in at the desire of the President the thing having been privately concerted stand up and confirm the same the rest amongst whom was Fairfax for the horrour of the Crime not daring to be present Then was his sacred Majesty hurried away by the Souldiers to be by them most like to his Saviour scoffed at before he suffered who laying aside all reverence to the name of a King as if they led their Captive in triumph with cruel barbarity the aforesaid Peters setting them on whereas in the beginning they cry'd Justice Justice so now they cry Execution Execution like the Jews of old Crucifie him Crucifie him They spit upon his Clothes as he passed by nay one or two had the boldness to spit in his majestick face which one of his Judges a Colonel took notice of to many then present commending the bravery of his Souldiers and more beheld with horrour They blew the smoak of Tobacco a thing which they knew his Majesty hated in his sacred mouth throwing their broken Pipes in his way as he passed along They also enjoyn inhumane rudeness to others beating those who with a hat or bow saluted him as he passed nay whilst one more compassionate than the rest sighing said God have mercy upon him they knockt him down dead Rushing into his Chamber both by day and by night they allowed him no retirement nor any private discourse not so much as with his Chaplain When with much ado they had suffered one Bishop onely I mean of London to have access unto him with loud laughing they interrupt him in paying his Devotions according to the Rite of the Church of England and even then when he was preparing for his last they disturb him with scoffs and frivolous and impertinent Questions But he with great presence of mind whilst they cried out Justice and Execution turning to those that were about him said Alas poor Souls for a piece of money they would do so for their Commanders Wiping off the Spittle when they spit upon him all that
Bradshaw was made Head with the Title of Lord President and a yearly Salary of two thousand pounds as the price of Regicide Moreover a Writing is commanded to be taken by all whereby they were bound to approve whatsoever the Rebels had acted against the King and Kingdom Yet when many had refused to take it they were nevertheless admitted upon this condition That with their lives and fortunes they should maintain and defend for the future the State and Mock-Parliament in the same condition they were Henceforward none of the secluded Members nor of those who had withdrawn were admitted into the House unless they approved underhand the late Villanies Nevertheless they command all to appear against a certain day or otherways to be excluded for ever and others chosen in their places So that some for fear of Sequestration and I know not what hurt and damage they were apprehensive of others out of hopes of profit to be got in publick changes by a base temporizing strike in with the Republican Vsurpers and are admitted into a share of the labour and danger but not of the Government About the same time the secluded Members meet in Lincolns-Inne to consult together and take the advice of S. a Lawyer what was fittest to be done in the present state of affairs But he readily gave his opinion that the late changes were made against the tenor of the Laws the Customs and Interest of the Country and the Dictates of right Reason and that no commerce could be kept with the Usurpers without the guilt and horrid crime of Treason and indeed he frightened many of the Members from coming to the House who could never afterward be brought to joyn in council with the Regicides Nevertheless within a few days he himself became a leading-man in the Rebel-Parliament and the Council of the Keepers of the Liberties and submitted to their Authority nay and did not reject the place of Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas conferred upon him by the same men though the King before the Troubles had honoured him with the title of his Attorney-General These things are carried on under pretext of speedy setling the State but in reality with designe to secure the Government to themselves to whom all the rest almost being cow'd into a submission the Popular Republicans onely resist These demand that the Representative so often desired and so often promised might be established by a free and equal election of the people the Rump of the Mock-Parliament being dismissed In Writings and Conferences they inveigh against the arbitrary dominion of the Vsurpers the High Court of Justice Council of State or of the Keepers of the Liberties as onely the softer names of a harder Tyranny nay they cry out against the Kings murder as unjust and committed against all Law and just Authority that the People had changed but not shaken off the Yoke that they had rather live ten years under the government of the worst of Kings than one year under their dominion that the loins of King Charles were lighter than their little finger So great force has truth as that it draws such Expressions even from the unwilling At length they flie to Arms and the private Souldiers especially the Troopers who formerly consented with them in most things being everywhere stirred up they at length begin to gather together in form of an Army But the Vsurpers who were never wanting to occasion obviate the beginnings and under pretext of composing Differences amongst honest men who minded the same things though they mutually entertained bad opinions one of another having corrupted and gained some of them to their Party they suddenly fall upon the rest and defeat them disarm the Prisoners and having caused the chief Authors of the Stirs to be shot and others to be punished more mildly they terrifie all the rest from disturbing for the future the Rulers either with cutting Truths or sharper Arms. The Vsurpers being fixed in the Saddle publish a Proclamation forbidding all men to accuse them of Tyranny to object any thing against them by word or in writing or to attempt any alteration under pain of High-Treason They appoint a solemn Thanksgiving-day to render publick thanks to God for their prosperous success against the Democraticks that so by mocking of God they might the more easily make the silly people rejoyce in their Calamities And the same day they are sumptuously feasted by the Mayor and Aldermen of London not without the Reproaches and Curses of almost all the Spectators where amidst the tears and miseries of a great many that perished by a famine that then raged they junket it deliciously Fairfax and Cromwel are complemented with splendid Presents of Gold and Silver And that the wretched Citizens might not seem to have lost all their labour in feeding these Ravens they bestow upon them the Kings new Park under colour of making them some recompence for their late Magnificence but in reality that the distracted men being allured by the sweetness of that morcel might be won over to their Party and wish well to the new Government Henceforward there is nothing to them sacred or holy They either distribute amongst themselves or sell at easie rates the Kings Houshold-furniture Lands and Houses the Revenues and Lands of the Church which belonged to the Deans and Chapters and which remained intire till now by the Votes of both Houses of Parliament for the use of the new Clergy or Presbyterian Ministry That by these arts they might both glut their own Avarice and by involving many in the same guilt with themselves make them firmer to their Faction Nor being yet satiated by the Crown and Church-lands and the Estates of the Noblemen and Gentlemen who disagreeing from them made up the far greater part of the Kingdom which they had seized long ago by way of Sequestration nor by the Goods and Chattels of those aforementioned whom they had plundered and the vast sums of money which those that had been for the King dayly paid for redeeming their Estates and purchasing favour they daily raise an incredible quantity of money from the Customs and the Excise a Tax which before would not have been endured in England Not to mention the secret Veins of Wealth I mean Bribes and Gifts which those that stood for Places or had business and Law-suits slipt privately into their pockets Nay they were not ashamed to flea the so-often fleeced people by a most heavy Imposition of ninety thousand pounds a month to pay the idle Souldiers However the spoils and government of one Kingdom was not enough to satisfie them they invade the Irish also that were ready to submit to the King whom whilst they were Rebels most part of them praised few at least did hostilely assault them promising themselves certain victory over them and hoping that Ireland being subdued they might easily reduce Scotland
having sent before him five thousand Prisoners who being sufficiently exposed to the Scoffs and derision of the People are either clapt up in Prisons or sent to the New World there to drudge in the Sugar Mills In the mean time Monck who was deservedly afterwards Created Duke of Albermarle being made General of the English Forces to the number of six thousand which Cromwell had left behind him in Scotland attacques Sterling-Castle and takes it by surrender with all the Guns Ammunition much Provision five thousand Arms the Registers Coffers Jewels and several Monuments and Relicks of Kings together with that lofty Inscription Nobis haec invicta dedere centum sex proavi Colonel Alured surprised and took the Aged Earl of Levin the Earl of Crawford-Lindsey Lord Ogilby and many other Noblemen whilst they were met for raising of Soldiers at Ellet a Town in Pearthshire Sir Philip Musgrave also the Provost of St. Johnstone and others being about the same business are taken at Dumfrise But Dundee because it had the boldness to hold out was stormed and taken by assault and the whole Town left to the mercy of the Soldiers who kill'd and plunder'd all they found Aberdeen and other Towns and Forts being warned by this sad example of their own accord yielded to the Enemy A little after the Marquess of Argile made a shew of maintaining the Interest of the Kingdom as also the Highlanders but having obtained indifferent good Conditions they also yield and submit their necks to the English Yoke Afterward four Citadels are built strong both by Art and Situation to which by Sea men and Provisions might easily be transported from England to wit at Air Innerness St. Johnston and Leith besides Sterling Castle standing on the Brow of a Hill and Edingburrough Castle which we described before Nay in every County they keep a Garison in some Castle or other that if any new Rebellion should arise they might have opportunity to suppress it where-ever it happened in Scotland Nor could the main Land of Scotland put bounds to the Victory of the English who slighting the dangers of those raging and voracious Seas carry their Victories over to the Isles Orkney and Shetland But as when the Serpent is bruised in the Head he often threatens with his Tail so the Marquess of Huntley Earls of Glencairn and Athol Midleton and others stir the Embers and raise new flames of a War But Morgan easily reduced them having before they could joyn routed the chief of them Henceforward they who had been accustomed to be most unruly and disobedient when occasion of Kicking offered are fain to bite upon the Bit and upon capitulation promise to live quietly for the future Now are Judicatures and Courts of Justices opened in Scotland for which end amongst other Itinerary Judges are sent from England George Smith John Marss Edward Moseley to whom were added of the Scots the Lord Craighall Lockhart and Swinton not to be forgotten A Council of State is also made up of English not of the best Quality who were matched by some Scots mingled with them nay in every Shire a Meeting is called wherein renouncing the King they are obliged to subscribe to the English Government and to unite into one Common-wealth with the English And at length they are commanded to send thirty Commissioners to the Parliament of England Nor is it to be denyed but that they were English though from Scotland who were appointed to that Office except the Marquess of Argile and Laird of Swinton which two were the only Scots that hearded themselves into that Parliament The use of Arms is likewise denyed to that Nation nay and of Horses also except only for some necessary ends and uses Besides their Commerce and Negotiations with Foreigners are narrowly observed lest under that pretext they might hatch mischief against the Common-wealth of England So much they got by disturbing the quiet of England and by medling in the stirs and troubles of others nay and by being the Authors of the innumerable Calamities which we suffered So they fell into the Pit that they dug for us and were taken in the Snares which they had laid for the Innocent nor was there any hopes of a Deliverer or an Avenger till God should think fit to look down from his Mountain and having chastised the perverseness of the People have Mercy upon them But so much for Scotland let us therefore leave it and return to matters that properly concern our selves Jersey must now come upon the Stage for the subduing whereof Hains with great preparations of Soldiers and all things necessary is empowred who passing over thither with about seventy sail of Ships great and small for three days space was beat off from several places of the Island by Sir George Cartright Governour of the Island since deservedly Vnder Chamberlain of the King's Houshold though sooner than was expected he afterward obtained the Victory For making a descent in the night time and Bovil who commanded the Cavalier Party doing his utmost to hinder the Enemies Landing being killed in the first Encounter the rest seized with a sudden fear and Consternation are put to flight The Inhabitants after that submitted to the will and pleasure of their new Masters Elizabeth Castle also standing upon a Rock and at high water encompassed by the Sea being battered and torn with great Guns and Mortar-Peeces one of which was so fatal as at one blow to kill or mangle eight and forty Soldiers after two Months siege capitulates upon Condition that the Governour and Garison with Bag and Baggage should have liberty to pass over into France Next follows the Isle of Mann this place though defended by Feminine Valour to wit by the Countess of Derby yet vied so much in honour with men that it was doubtful whether in the Royal Cause Sir George Cartright or she fell the last Victim under the Hands of the Traytors All the Provinces thus subdued an Act of Oblivion passes whereby the memory of what was past being abolished all Crimes whatsoever are pardoned But this was hampered with so many Limitations Restrictions Exceptions and ensnaring Clauses that there was little hopes for true Penitents to expect any good from it But such however as it was Cromwell alone was to be thanked for it by him chiefly it was proposed and by his means and endeavours it past in the Rump-Parliament that by so doing he might by a shew of kindness claw the suffering and vanquished People and at the same time heap hatred and indignation upon the Heads of his fellow Traytors For now forsooth it was time to put an end to Rapine and Violence Did they take so much pleasure in undoing Estates and ruining Families There was enough allowed to anger and revenge That it was altogether fit to shew Clemency and Mercy to the Guilty who having sufficiently payed for their faults
the Clergy Which by the Deans Archdeacons and Deputies of the Clergy are holden in the Convocation Their Acts bind not the People without the consent of the King and Parliament The Rights Priviledges of the Vpper House Of the Lower The providence of the Law thae the Members might debate freely and without fear The modesty of the Parliament What honour Kings were wont to shew the Parliament But when occasion required reduced them into order The happiness of the Kingdom under this Government VVhat were the beginnings of the Troubles raised by some Members of the House of Commons Hence mutual Jealousies betwixt the King and Parliament And then the dissolution of Parliaments This gave occasion of stirring the people up against the King And yet the Kingdom in a most flourishing condition Though unfortunate in War abroad and some Taxes imposed at home Some seditious persons are punished New Ceremonies startle the Puritans The Archbishop endeavouring to impose the Liturgy of England upon the Scots offends them Vpon which pretext but for other causes they grow turbulent They take Arms alter the Government both in Church and State The King marches against them And upon Articles makes Peace with them The Scots innovating the Articles cause a new VVar. A Parliament is called in England And dissolved The Scots making a secret Combination with the Factious invade England Having made a Truce the Judgment of the Parliament is expected The Parliament meets The Factious in it Who under pretext of reforming Grievances endeavour to new-model the Government both in Church and State And by what steps Many are accused the E. of Strafford and Arshb of Canterbury The L. Keeper Judges And twelve Bishops The terrified Judges are freely discharged The Bishops also being deprived of the right of voting in the House of Lords Strafford is brought to his tryal before the House of Lords the King over-hearing The Earl in his defence clears himself of the Accusation The House of Commons make a new Law whereby they make him guilty of Treason Not without opposition many dissenting The Lords deliberating more seriously The Rabble beset the House And hinder the Lords and Bishops from entering it then they break into Westminster-Abbey And afterward run in tumult to White-hall And answer the K. sawcily Whilst the Justices of Peace repress the Tumults they are imprisoned by the factious House The factious Members of Parliament consult with the Apprentices and teach them the time and manner of tumultuating Whereby the Members being frightned forbear coming to the House and are therefore excluded Whence the Authority of Parliament wears out of date The Lords pass the Bill against the Earl of Strafford The Kings consent is very hardly obtained Till the Judges pronounced it lawful the Bishops removed his scruples And Strafford advised him to it The King by Letters desires the execution may be delayed The Lords deny it Courtiers fearful of their condition freely resigne their places The Sheriffs Justices of the Peace comply with the times In that thing alone the King withstood the will of the Parliament In the rest he left himself in a manner at their discretion He suffers the Jurisdiction of the Court of Stannaries of the Court of the President of Wales to be lessened The extent of the Forests also be abridged The Court of the Star-Chamber And of the High Commission to be abrogated As also that of the Lord President and Council of the North. He allows Monopolies to be rescinded He yields up also his right of levying Souldiers Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage Allows also a Triennial Parliament And that the present Parliament should not be dissolved without the consent of both Houses Yet with these the Factious are not pleased But are thereby emboldened to raise Animosities and Divisions The Scots are sent home The English Irish Armies are also disbanded The K. follows the Scots into their Country And upon his return is feasted by the Londoners The Factious congratulate the Kings return by a defamatory Declaration ☞ To which the King shortly answers New Tumults for snatching the power of the Militia out of the K.'s hands The K. obviates the Sedition by accusing the Heads of it of Treason Whom the House of Commons takes into protection Wherefore the K. enters the House of Commons in person That he may demand them Who fled The K. afterward desisted and in a manner acknowledged his fault But the Factious take thence occasion of slandering and of raising jealoâ—sies stirs Buckinghamshire Essex petition The accused Members abscond in London and with a Guard of Citizens are conducted to the Parliament-house The K. withdraws to Windsor-Castle Sends the Q into Holland Sends for the Prince Moves towards York Having first sent pacificatory Letters to the Parliament VVhich notwithstanding the House of Commons misinterpret as contrary to the Priviledges of Parl. and pretend to be in great fear Daring alone to demand the power of the Militia VVhich when they could not obtain they stir up the Corporations to take up Arms of their own accord The House of Commons pass a Vote for ordering the Militia by Deputies and having prevailed with the Lords with joynt address they demand the Militia of the King upon pretence of dangers The K. allows a share in the power of the Militia reserving to himself the supreme Authority he exhorts them to moderation and peace But the Factious slight these things fill the rest with idle fears and by them stir up the People Fearing that the K. might possess himself of the Magazine of Hull They send Sir John Hotham to prevent it Who shuts the Gates against the King And is proclaimed Traitor He is justified by the House of Commons Afterward repenting of what he had done and being about to deliver up the Town to the K. he is taken with his Son beheaded The Parl. sends Proposals of Peace to the King The Parl. Propositions to the King The King answers The matter comes to nothing as all future Treaties Propositions The Parl. proposing most rigid Conditions The mediation of the K. of France the States of the United Provinces and of the Scots is rejected The Parl. seizes the Militia The K. commands the contrary citing Laws that are against it They answer And the K.'s Majesty replies And opposes the Aggressors They skirmish on both sides in Apologies and Manifesto's wherein the K. has the better The Parl. levies an Army Having deceived the People by wheedles And the Ministers They raise Pay Who favour the King By their assistance and his own authority the King raises an Army such as he could The Irish Rebellion intervenes Macquire and Macmahon the Incendiaries of the Irish Rebellion are taken carried to London There to be punished with the utmost rigour Macquire upon the brink of death Constantly asserts the innocence of the K. Vpon whom nevertheless the Rebels charge the Crime Who were the Authors of it And what opportunities they
Lord Bishop of Winchester the Worthy Nicholas Oudart Secretary and Counsellour to the Prince of Orange by Sir John Wederburn Knight by Dr. Richard Owen Professor of Divinity and Rector of St. Swithins in London by Dr. George Ent heretofore Physician to Charles the First and now to the present King and also by Fabian Philips an Attorney who was my Assistant in searching the Rolls Offices and Monuments of the Law that I may not mention Dugard who printed it men above all exceptions although there is an insolent Defamer who pretends I have fathered another mans Work whose Calumnies I neither value nor fear This Passage is inserted by him onely to prove he was the Author of it but is at the same time a strong proof of his integrity for it is very well known these Persons were not all of one side in our late Distractions The first Part of this Piece was first printed about the year 1651 without his name for the information of Strangers and therefore he premiseth a short account of the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject here which had been so abominably misrepresented to Forreigners that they stood generally in great doubt on which side the right lay and considering the time when it came out first nothing could be of greater use and benefit to the then-oppressed interest of our late Soveraign Nor was it onely useful abroad but at home also for the People of England were then so distracted by the Contradictions betwixt the Royal and the Rebel Party that they at least many of them did as little know on which side to give their Verdict as the Neighbour Nations Hence the Learned and Ingenuous Mr. Henry Foulis in his Preface to his History of the wicked Plots of our pretended Saints gives us this Account of himself As for the Author saith he whilst a School-boy he was too much sway'd to Presbytery and delighting in the Stories of our Times had none to peruse but May Vicars Ricraft and such-like partial Relators by which means believing with the ignorant all things in print to be true he was perswaded to encline to the wrong side But a little before his going to theVniversity lighting by chance upon Dr. Bates 's judicious Book Elenchus Motuum he found the Laws and true Government to be opposite to his former Readings and therein the Knavery and Jugling of their Opposers strange things which he had never heard of before Which with some other assistance so far prevail'd with him that in a short time he threw off Father Schism and ever since like little Loyal John in the Epitaph For the King and Church and Bloud-Royal He went as true as any Sun-Dial There are some others who have acknowledged to the World in print the benefit they and the Government received from this first Part. The Second Part was added by Dr. Bates after his late Majesties Restitution to inform the World of the manner of his Majesties Escape from Worcester and how things were carried till the deposition of Richard Cromwel wherein is an excellent account of the bloudy War in Ireland and the just Judgment of God upon the Scotch Covenanters for joyning with our English Parliamentarians upon pretence of setting up Presbytery here but indeed to inrich themselves the second time with the Spoils of England the effect of which was that Presbytery was ruined even in Scotland by O. C. and his victorious Independant Army and they lost at the same time all their Civil Priviledges and were treated till the Kings return as a conquered People by their fellow-Rebels The Third Part was written by one Dr. Tho. Skynner another Learned Physician to continue and bring down the Story and shew the Joy of our Nation at the Restitution of his late Majesty It is in the Original written in a florid stile and full of curious and ingenuous Reflections The Translations of all these have been managed with great care to make them both true to the Originals and delightful to the Reader onely the Translator thought fit to supply some Papers which are but hinted at or wholly omitted in the Author as the Treaty of the Isle of Wight in the First Part the Coronation-Oath in the Third and others And also when there are any Papers or Expressions mentioned to publish the original Papers and words when he could find them but when not he hath humoured the Translation as near the Latin as the sence of the Author and idiome of the two Languages would permit There is great hope that this short account of our late horrible Confusions here in England which is so acceptable in the Original to all Forreigners and Learned English-men may now translated be no less acceptable to all those who either cannot read the Latin or care not to give themselves so much trouble and that it may contribute something to the interest of the Government by forewarning men how they betake themselves to those courses again which produced such dreadful Effects heretofore A TABLE To the First Part. A. ACcusations against the Lord Keeper and Judges pag. 24 Army fall off from the Parliament and seize the King out of their possession 82. Seem to comply with the King ibid. but relapse 87. The Assembly set up Presbytery 57 B. Beginning of the Troubles 17 Bishops accused 24. Their Lands sold 59 C. Covenant and Solemn League 60. Its fruits 62 Courts several abrogated 28 Cromwel Oliver 77 E. Episcopacy abrogated 56 F. Fairfax Sir Thomas 77 Fasts the noted fore-runners of some mischief 134 H. High Court of Justice falsely so called its beginning and proceedings 139. and inf Hotham Sir John 38 I. Independents 61 71. and inf work the Presbyterians out of power 76 79 Intercessions for the King 142 Ireton's Remonstrance 133 Irish Rebellion its beginning 45 The Junto or Rump of the House of Commons 138 K. King Charles the First goes into Scotland 31. Goes to the House of Commons 34. Withdraws to Windsor and thence towards York 35. Goes to the Scots Army 65. Designed to be murdered 88. Escapes to the Isle of Wight 91. He is murdered 158. His excellent Character 161. Keepers of the Liberties or Council of Forty 166 L. Laud Archbishop 23 Lords House in Parliament abolished 163 M. Militia 33 36 41 Monarchy of England and the Rights thereof 1. Abolished by the Rebels 163. O. Oxford-Parliament 63 P. Parliaments what their Power and Customs 5. and inf Parliament-Factions 22. To sit as long as they please 30. Their scandalous Declaration 32. Their unreasonable Demands 39. Modelled by the Army 137. Peters Hugh 133 143 Prerogative abated 29 The Presbyterian Model 57 Prynn William 137 Q. Queen goes into Holland 35 R. Religion the pretence of the Rebellion 43 S. Scots Rebellion 20. They come into England 62. The King puts himself into their hands 65. They sell him 67. Take up Arms for the Kings deliverance 100. Are defeated 101. Sects and Sectaries
67 infra Strafford Earl 21 23. His Tryal 24. T. Tryal of his Sacred Majesty K. Charles I. 144 Tumults and Riots 25 Tunnage and Poundage 18 V. Vote of Non-Addresses 95. Is rescinded 102. W. War its beginning 42 Wight Isle the Treaty there 102. inf The Kings Concessions there voted satisfactory 136. Writs of Summons to Parliament the form 7 ERRATA'S To the First Part. PAge 1. line 8. for to read of p. 66. l. 3. r. honour p. 67. l. 33. for shewing r. shew p. 74. l. 9. adde from p. 82. l. 2. r. muttering p. 102. l. 10. r. levitie p. 137. l. 23. adde who p. 159. l. 9. r. reported ibid. l. 11. r. harmonious p. 162. l. 2. r. bounds ibid. l. 11. r. Rectitude p. 163. l. 3. r. Charge To the Second Part. PAge 22. line 7. read Rathmeenes p. 27. l. 3. r. Arts p. 30. l. 21. r. Butler p. 48. l. 15. r. envied p. 58. l. 7. adde most p. 66. l. 31. adde for p. 67. l. 12. r. Execute p. 74. l. 26. r. Nor p. 87. l. penult dele are p. 96. l. 14. r. make p. 104. l. 35. r. hand p. 108. l. 28. r. Dirlton p. 121. l. 35. r. Massey p. 124. l. 1. r. Coming presently to blows at the Town of Wigan p. 125. l. 23. r. Keith p. 204. l. 35. r. obey To the Third Part. PAge 15. line 2. read retained p. 41. l. 1. r. farce p. 44 l. 14. r. Leicester Vicount Hereford p. 53. l. 29. r. Sollicitor-General p. 63. l. 23. r. Sir Richard Baker's p. 66. l. 16. r. Mounson p. 82. l. 29. r. Falmouth p. 86. l. 20. dele was p. 90. l. 2. r. fight A short HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE Rise and Progress OF THE Late Troubles in England ENgland as all the Records of our Antiquity tell us never was governed but by the authority of a King and though it hath been divided into several Kingdoms or rather Camps yet it never had rest from intestine Commotions nor foreign Invasions till it came under the Obedience and Protection to one sole Monarch Since that it is now above a thousand years that Kings in a continued succession have reigned with supreme Authority in England And so great all along hath been the Love and Reverence that the People have had towards a Prince that he was always judged the fittest and most worthy of the Government who was next in Bloud to the King so that no factious Election but lawful Birthright could ever warrant a Title to the Crown The Royal Heir of the last King though an Infant is immediately carried to the Throne even in the Cradle And in this kind of immortality in reigning the Laws glory That the King of England never dies Nay and by the ancient common Law all Subjects above twelve years of age are bound by Oath to bear a peculiar Faith by the Laws called Allegiance to the lawful Prince to him alone and for ever even before he be crowned and that their Obedience may be confirmed upon a double account a religious Oath that of Supremacy is likewise to be taken to the King I must here beg the Readers pardon if in the very beginning I speak of the Kings Prerogative the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the People which to our Country-men who have studied the point perhaps may be tedious though to the Work we now undertake it be absolutely necessary seeing thereby it will appear who have been the Violators and who the Observers of the Laws In the first place what great power the King has over the lives and fortunes of his Subjects is hereby made manifest that mediately or immediately they all hold their Estates of the King that is to say that whatever Lands and Possessions they enjoy in fee or feudal rights they owe them more to the bounty of the King than to Fortune And therefore all Estates failing of lawful Heirs or when the Owners forfeit them by Felony or Treason flow back to the Kings Exchequer as to the Ocean from whence they have been derived The King as Father of the Country has the care of the persons of Pupils and Lunaticks and enjoys their Rents and Revenues Nay by the ancient Laws it is not lawful for them to contract Marriage without his consent and if they do they are to be severely censured And that what is to be given to Caesar may be known by the publick Money the matter form manner and value of Coyn is varied according to the will and pleasure of the King All Honours Titles and Priviledges all publick Corporations and Societies flow from and are constituted by the Crown the Admiral Chancellor Treasurer Judges Sheriffs Justices of Peace are onely made by the King in whose name alone their Writs Warrants and Sentences pass nor does any of them enter into Office before he hath taken an Oath of Fidelity to the King and of faithful administration None but the King has power of Peace and War who orders Military Discipline according to his will and pleasure and not by the forms or prescripts of Laws and as he himself thinks fit disposes of the Forces both by Sea and Land it being necessary that he who watches for the safety of the Common-wealth should be invested with sufficient Power to repress intestine Seditions and repel foreign Invasions Upon that account it belongs onely to him to appoint Musters and Levies of Souldiers secure the Castles and Garisons with which maritim Fortifications England even in the profoundest time of Peace is no less secured than by the Seas as often as there is need also to fit out a Fleet and to set Governours and Commanders over both Nor is the Sword neither to be weilded by any other hand but that which sways the Scepter so that if any one without the Kings command take up Arms for the defence of the Kings Person and Rights he is by so doing guilty of High-Treason and liable to the punishment of a Traytor without a special Pardon from the King Nor is his Power more limited in Ecclesiastical than Civil affairs for since the authority of the Pope being shaken off the Church was made part of the Kingdom and the Clergy after long reluctancy began to be contented with the common priviledges of Subjects the King became at length Custos utriusque tabulae and as he ever was in right before so was he then acknowledged and confirmed by Law to be supreme Head and Governour in spiritual as well as temporal affairs and owned to be in a manner the Bishop of the Kingdom wherein in the promotion of Bishops conferring of Dignities appointing Fasts enjoyning Rites and Ceremonies in the Church he hath with the advice of the Fathers and Rulers of the Church always exercised a supreme and sacred Power and Authority He hath also so great power over the Laws themselves though he obliges himself to govern
according to Law that sometimes he moderates the rigour of the Law according to Equity pardons Malefactors and in cases that are not decided by any Law interposes his Imperial Sentence Lastly that I may assert nothing rashly but all upon the credit of Lawyers the life force and authority of every thing that is acted in England is to be found in the King alone But because the King of England has not like Briareus an hundred hands nor can he like the Sun view all things at one glance he hath been accustomed to create from amongst the Nobility Bishops Judges and Commons of the Kingdom without the envy and emulation of any such and so many Counsellors as he pleases to assist and ease him in the weighty care of the Government Having named these Prerogatives of a most August and Imperial Crown what shall I call that barbarous and inhumane Principle and Purpose of bringing the King to Judgment before the Kings Tribunal and then to smite him with the Sword which he alone is to draw the King I say whom the Law it self openly declares can never die There is no necessity of curbing arbitrary government by such inhumane Tyranny upon the sacred Person of the King since whatever may be done in the administration of the Government either against the Laws of the Country or inconsistent with the good and profit of the People the blame and punishment of it is cast upon the publick Ministers so that it was not flattery but the highest Justice which gave ground to this noted maxime That the King cannot err nor do any wrong because the whole blame and all the punishment is wont and ought to fall upon the publick Ministers and Counsellors whose duty it is to admonish the Prince and to deny their concurrence with him in any thing that is unjust and to resigne their place rather than obey him when he commands any thing contrary to Law Nay the Laws are so sollicitous for the safety of the Prince as of him who is to maintain and preserve the Law that the next Heir to the Crown whatsoever Crime he might be guilty or accused of whilst he was a private person yet by the death of his Predecessor as by a certain postliminious Absolution he is freed from all taint and guilt and his stepping up into the Throne purges him from all defects It is enough to curb him that holds the Reins of the Government That he must expect the Judgment of God Nevertheless it is not lawful for the King to rule arbitrarily in England oppress his Subjects or make and abrogate Laws by his sole Authority But as the Law allows a decorous administration of absolute Authority in some things to the King so does it assigne to the Commons others and those no inconsiderable Priviledges in the Kingdom in common with the King that so the joynt Authority in Government might the more easily engage the Subjects to obedience For for the making and repealing of Laws and the interpreting and explaining former ambiguous Statutes for raising of Money out of the ordinary course when there is occasion for it legitimating of Bastards naturalizing of Strangers altering and setling the Rights of Possessions confirming by civil Sanctions the Divine Worship after it hath by the Convention of the Clergy been formed according to the Word of God setting Rates upon Weights and Measures and the like that the people may not seem to suffer any thing without their own consent and concurrence the Votes of Parliament which is the supreme Court of England and in conjunction with the King under God hath a certain Omnipotence in this little World are necessarily required The Parliament is an Assembly of the States of the Kingdom consisting of the Bishops Lords and Representatives of the Commons called by the King who is the Head of it who meet and sit in two distinct places called the Upper and Lower Houses in respect of dignity not of scituation The Upper House which is called the House of Lords contains two Estates to wit the Spiritual Lords who are the Bishops and the Temporal who are Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons the Judges of the Kingdom assisting to give advice in matter of Law but not to vote The Lower House consists of the third Estate of the Kingdom who are the Commons and is therefore called also the House of Commons they are chosen by the plurality of Voices of the Freeholders of the Counties and Freemen of Corporations two Knights for each County or Shire and two Burgesses for the most part for every City and Corporation-Town according to the use and custom of the place The day and place of the meeting of the Parliament is appointed by the King by him also it is prorogued transferred and adjourned to another place or dissolved at his pleasure The Peers are summoned to attend in Parliament by Writs severally directed to them and signed by the King To the rest the Sheriffs of the several Counties by virtue of a Writ out of the Chancery give notice that the King within a certain time orders an Election to be made of Knights and Burgesses which he commands to be made by the Sheriff in time and place convenient Vetus Rescripti formula ad Dynastas Rescriptum Regis ad Dynastas seu Pares sic sonat Carolus Dei gratiâ c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri c. si Episcopos compellet Consanguineo nostro si Duces Marchiones vel Comites alloquatur Dilecto fideli nostro si Barones Quia de advisamento Concilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Nos Statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam Parlamentum nostrum ad Westmonast c. teneri ordinavimus ibidem vobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Angliae colloquium habere tractatum vobis in fide Dilectione si ad Episcopos mittatur Rescriptum per fidem Allegiantiam si ad Pares quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo mandamus quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum arduitate periculis imminentibus cessante quacunque excusatione die loco dictis personaliter intersitis Nobiscum cum caeteris Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus super dictis negotiis tractaturi vestrúmque Consilium impensuri hoc sicut Nos honorem nostram ac salutem Regni praedicti Ecclesiae sanctae Expeditionémque dictorum negotiorum diligitis nullatenus omittatis si ad Episcopos scribat praemonere Decanum Capitulum Ecclesiae vestrae tolúmque Clerum vestrae Dioeceseos quod idem Decanus Archidiaconi in propriis personis ac dictum Capitulum per unum idémque Clerus per duos Procuratores idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero habentes praedictis die loco personaliter
to this Sword to cut it By this means many being terrified and thinking it safer to keep at home and abstain from coming with danger to the House for that fault alone they were excluded by the prevailing Faction Others who did appear durst not for fear of their own lives give their Votes freely for the publick Good so that from that time forward all authority of Parliament seemed to be worn out of date since the Riff-raff of the People challenged the right of voting in Parliament and put a restraint upon the liberty of the rest But to return to Strafford The Lords being overcome by these Arguments succumb and scarcely a third part of them being present the Bill of the House of Commons past in the Lords House by the plurality of seven voices The King is not so easily prevailed upon though the riotous Rabble hardly forbearing their hands continually plagued him with Clamours and Threatnings and the Noblemen and Courtiers that were about him plied him incessantly with their Prayers and Remonstrances Nor would he signe the Bill until the Judges who durst not so much as mutter against the actions of the Parliament and People satisfied him that he might do it in Law and some Bishops in Conscience and until the brave Earl had by a Letter perswaded and almost besought him to do it like another Curtius that he might fall a Sacrifice for the publick Peace and the safety of the Royal Family The Sentence being past against the Earl the the King immediately sent the Prince with Letters to the Lords earnestly recommending it to them that at least they would delay the execution for some time But they having sent twelve of their number to wait upon his Majesty perswade him that without great danger to himself and Family it could not be done The fall of so great a man from the very Pinacle of Honour terrified the inferiour Lords who bore publick Offices The Master of the Court of Wards the Lord High Treasurer who had with great integrity discharged that Office and the Princes Governour freely resigne their places like some Creatures who biting off the Prize of the chace escape the fury of the Huntsmen The Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace who were formerly in Office comply with the times and worship the rising Sun In this thing almost alone the King abandoned not himself wholly to the will of the Parliament for afterwards he granted them every thing that they themselves were not ashamed to ask The Jurisdiction of the Kings honourable Privy-Council that of the Court of Stannaries wherein by Patent from the King the Lord Warden decided all Controversies relating to the Labourers in the Mines and the Officers concerned in that work as also of the Court of the President and Council of Wales established in the marches betwixt England Wales wherein as in Chancery Law-suits amongst the Inhabitants were by the Kings Substitute determined according to the Rules of Equity were stinted and limited by narrower bounds The extent also of the Kings Forests and Chaces was abridged into a narrower compass The Star-Chamber wherein the Chancellor of the Kingdom being President greater Crimes which were not at all or not sufficiently provided against by any particular positive Law were tried and punished such as Sedition Conspiracy Faction Scandalum Magnatum c. and those also who by cunning or power eluded the force of the Law was wholly abrogated The Court of High Commission wherein the Archbishop presiding some Nobles and the learned in the Law by the Kings authority past sentence upon the more enormous Crimes that fell under Ecclesiastical censure suffered the same fate also The Court of the Lord President and Council of the North was abolished which for a long time had administred Justice to that part of the Kingdom and wherein Seditions Conspiracies and Associations were by Royal authority supprest and Law-suits about civil matters determined amongst those who wanted money to go according to the Laws for a tryal to London With all these the King readily parted in prospect of the publick good though they were shining Jewels in the Imperial Crown He suffered all Monopolies to be rescinded leaving it fully to the Parliament to punish all those who in prosecution of them had acted any thing contrary to Law and Justice He renounced also his Right of raising Souldiers and the Ship-money in lieu of which alone the former Parliament had offered him six hundred thousand pounds He also freely parted with Tunnage and Poundage which none of the Kings his Predecessors who without any interruption had enjoyed it past all prescription would ever consent to And that all Grievances might be timely remedied for the future and that no Great man or Magistrate might infringe the lately-granted Concessions or oppress the People if he himself should omit to call a Parliament once in three years he gave power to the Chancellor to issue out Writs for that effect and the Chancellor failing to the Lords and Sheriffs and in fault of them to the People to meet for Elections Lastly at their desire he granted that which some magnified as a favour exceeding all former benefits and others complained of as a mischief surpassing all future Grievances to wit That they might have time to pay the publick Debts and secure to Posterity the Priviledges granted by his Majesty he suffered a Law to pass whereby the Parliament had leave to sit until by consent of both Houses it should be thought fit to dissolve it as if he would make amends for the many intervals of Parliaments by the long continuance of one Which however others may interpret it was an argument of his great candour and sincerity towards his Subjects or at least a symptom of a mind not inclin'd to Violence and War No man would think now but that the Kings Power was abundantly limited and that the Property of the Subject and Priviledges of Parliament were sufficiently enlarged But alas these Harpies are not satisfied and one of them made answer to a Gentleman that put the question to him What more has the King now to grant That he may said he lay aside all Authority and commit himself and the management of all Affairs to our care That the Factious might attain their ends they suggest so many Fears and Jealousies to the weaker and less discerning Members that like the heads of Hydra more Divisions and Animosities sprung from the Kings grace and desire of appeasing them and his Concessions so far from satisfying them increased onely their thirst and made them insolent in demanding more as it usually happens in popular Councils where the people once infatuated with Jealousies some dance to the Pipes of others others that they may not appear shorter sighted or less publick spirited than the rest see Plots beyond the Moon and look for joynts in a Bull-rush This
complains and demands reparation for the affront But the House of Commons approve Sir John Hotham's Fact and vote that the King had violated the Priviledges of Parliament in proclaiming a Member of the House guilty of Treason Before he was heard in their House they give Orders to the Earl of Warwick to send some Souldiers from on board into the Town and to transport the Magazine from thence to London But Sir John Hotham repenting too late when he perceived that these Sparks had put the whole Country into a flame having afterwards obtained pardon and being about to deliver up the Town to the King was taken and payed to the Parliament what he owed to the King both he and his Son being beheaded Amongst these preludes to War there is some mention and hopes of peace for after some months the Parliament send an Answer to the King's Proposals which he made at Windsor upon his departure for the North in nineteen Articles or Demands of which this is the sum 1. That all the King's Privy-Council great Officers and Ministers of State may be put out excepting such as the Parliament shall approve and to assigne them an Oath 2. That all affairs of State be managed by the Parliament except such matters as are transferred by them to the Privy-Council and to be concluded by the major part of the Nobility under their hands the full number not to exceed 25 nor under 15 and if any place fall void in the interval of Parliament then the major part of the Council to chuse one to be confirmed at the next Session of Parliament 3. That all the great Officers of the Kingdom shall be chosen with approbation of Parliament c. as before said 4. The government and education of the King's Children by Parliament c. ut supra 5. Their Marriages to be treated and concluded by Parliament c. 6. The Laws against Papists Priests and others be executed without Toleration or Dispensation except by Parliament 7. No Popish Lord or Peer to have vote in Parliament and their children to be educated in the Protestant Faith 8. To Reform Church-government as the Parliament shall advise 9. To settle the Militia as the Parliament have ordered and for the King to recal all his Declarations published against their Ordinances therein 10. All Privy-Counsellers and Judges to take Oath for maintenance of the Petition of Right and other Statutes which shall be made this Parliament 11. All Officers placed by Parliament to hold their places quam diu bene se gesserint 12. All Members of Parliament put out during this time be restored again 13. The Justice of Parliament to pass upon all Delinquents and they to appear or abide their censure 14. The general Pardon to pass with Exceptions as the Parliament shall advise 15. All Forts and Castles of the Kingdom to be disposed of by Parliament ut supra 16. The King to discharge all his Guards and Forces now in being and not to raise any other but in case of actual Rebellion 17. The King to enter into a strict Alliance with all Reformed States for their assistance to recover the Rights of his Royal Sister and her Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them 18. To clear the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members by Act of Parliament 19. No Peer hereafter to be made shall sit in Parliament without their consent And these Articles being confirmed the Parliament engage to make him a happy Prince To these Commands rather than Articles of Peace being such as were more proper to move Indignation than to gain an Assent the King sends an Answer by two noble and discreet Lords the Marquess of Hertford and the Earl of Southampton who were enjoyned to treat on more equal terms in the House of Lords But they not being admitted the Treaty came to nothing And because in this place we have made mention of Peace and Proposals we are to take notice that afterwards in the heat of the War at the instance of the King Propositions of Peace being mutually sent and Commissioners on both sides twice meeting to treat about it nothing could be effected and mostly by the Parliaments fault For seeing they proposed such severe Conditions on their own parts and which tended onely to their own advantages and the King on the other hand such just and equitable Terms more favourable to the Parliament and State than to himself and Family the People began to be enraged and to fall off dayly from the Parliament The King of France also how sincerely I shall not judge and the States of the Vnited Provinces interposed for accommodating the differences but were rejected by the Parliament and the Scots who likewise offered to mediate were refused by the King as partial But farewel Peace Bellona is now at the doors The People being in the disposition we mentioned before Deputies were sent with Commissions into all the Counties and the Parliamentarian Rebels by force and their own authority invade the Militia which they could not obtain from the King by petitioning The King on the contrary commands them to desist upon pain of Treason citing the Act of the 25 Edw. 3. whereby To contrive the death of the King Queen or Prince to violate the Queen or the Wife of the Prince to take up Arms against the King to assist the Kings enemies within or without the Kingdom to counterfeit the great Seal or Kings Coyn are for the future declared to be Treason having also alleadged other Acts whereby it is declared That the power of the Militia and taking up of Arms belongs onely to the King But they make answer That the Letter of the Law is for the King but the mind of it for them That it is not forbidden to take up Arms against the Kings Person but against his Authority which being in all Courts of Judicature was most eminently in the Parliament To this the King replies That that distinction was condemned above three hundred years since when the Spencers under that cover carrying on Sedition were condemned to death by the Parliament That besides the present Parliament was not free but the better part of the Members being excluded the rest were slaves to the Faction These courses taking no effect the King also sends Deputies into all Counties with authority from his Majesty to array and arm the Subjects and to have fit men in readiness if necessity should require for suppressing Rebellions and Seditions And from this we may date our Sorrows and Calamities whilst the King endeavouring to maintain his ancient Rights and they again to invade them War breaks out in the Kingdom But the Match was unequal on what side soever the Right stood The Parliament superiour in strength prevails and in most Counties usurps the Government the Royal Cause being very weak and in a few Counties struggling for life With no greater
the Citizens had long ago laid aside their Arms and their resolution yet the Works and Fortifications of the City should be demolished under pretext that the Kingdom was now in Peace and then the Posts and Chains in the streets removed that the Horse might have freer passage into all the corners of the Town and no hold left to the Citizens and the women from which they might in probability kick Moreover that they might establish their Government both by Sea and Land Rainsborough the Bell-weather of the Republicans is set over the Fleet. Fairfax is appointed General of the Forces not onely in England but in Ireland also that that Country might the more speedily be succoured The Army has the thanks not onely of the Parliament and of the Ministers from the Pulpit but likewise of the honest Citizens who now entertain and feast in their houses the very men whom a little before they intended to drive from their Walls A months Pay besides as a token of kindness is appointed for the Souldiers for their good services to the Parliament It was for a long time hotly disputed to which side the Parliament should adhere whether the Acts of the Army or Parliament ought to be annulled since both of them according to the different number of Voices had by turns been resciended and being uncertain how to get out of that Labyrinth that the Parliament might not seem to be interrupted or force put upon them whereby their authority would be weakened or that they might seem to approve the right of changing sides which they had long ago condemned in the Members that followed the King They are now for both by and by again for either of the two and of a sudden again for neither However they resolve that the separation of the flying Members and their conjunction with the Army is altogether to be approved as being lawfully done for the publick good By which successes the Commanders of the Army and Ring leaders of the Faction were so puft up that they quite forgot their old Friends and fellow-Souldiers There was no more mention now of dissolving the Parliament calling a new one nor of the Promises whereby they had so often imposed upon the King and People All their care is to mind their own advantage and how to settle that Oligarchy which now they seemed to be in possession of But the Adjutators and all the popular Republicans are no less busie and sollicitous to have that Parliament dissolved and a new one under the name of a Representative by the free election of the People called with a limitation of their power and time of sitting that so they might introduce a Democraty Both Parties being out of dread of the Presbyterians equally conspire the ruine of the King and Monarchy It had been long before privately proposed amongst some to assassinate the King whilst he was in the Scottish Army that they might at the same time glut their malice and throw the odium of the fact upon the Scots Afterwards one Rolf a Shoemaker instigated by some armed himself for the Regicide That Fellow being informed that the King intended to make his escape out of a window when he was in the Isle of Wight lay in wait with a Musket several nights that he might shoot him as by accident But now several fiercely urge that he should be forthwith and secretly dispatched or at least that being condemned by a Council of War he should be beheaded But it seemed more generous and safe to the leading Rebels to protract time and manage the matter gradually by wiles and crafty fetches until being countenanced by a colour of Authority they might under a sham of satisfying publick Justice perpetrate the matchless Villany And thus they ordered it Conditions of Peace were to be proposed to the King but such as if he consented to them he himself would renounce the Crown and if he refused he would be deposed by the Votes of others and so be over and above reckoned obstinate by the people which would give them a more specious pretext for accomplishing their designe For this end it is contrived and obtained that the Parliament should again send to the King Propositions but such as were rather imperious and hard Commands than Conditions of Peace to be treated about which being granted he would pluck off his Crown with his own hands To which though the Commanders of the Army and Cromwel in the first place had given their Votes in the Parliament yet in the Camp they advised the King not to condescend to them promising that they would either obtain or command more reasonable Conditions for him and seemed to detest those as proceeding from the hautiness and severity of the Presbyterians His Majesty being deluded by that artifice makes answer to this purpose That the Propositions were such as he could not in honour and conscience consent to them being such as could not reconcile all interests nor settle a lasting Peace in the Kingdom He appeals rather to the Proposals of the Army as much more conducing to the satisfaction of all interests and a fit subject for a personal conference betwixt himself and the two Houses which he earnestly desired for which cause his Majesty would have Commissioners from the Army admitted Cromwel and the rest of the Commanders of the Army were extreamly well satisfied with this Answer as if the King himself gave greater honour to the Army than to the Parliament and therefore on their parts they promise all good Offices to his Majesty In the mean time they take all courses to incense the rest against the King pretending themselves much ashamed that they could not perform all they promised and excuse themselves sometimes because of the reverence that was due to the Parliament and sometimes again because of the peremptoriness of the Adjutators at length they began to juggle and quite fall off to give a contrary sence to their promises and to suggest apprehensions to the King as if the Adjutators and Republicans designed his Majesties death whose insolent attempts they could not moderate nor at present repress mingling with all promises that if they could cut the combs of the Adjutators and restore the lost Discipline of the Army they would without delay perform what they had undertaken With which his Majesty being moved seeing it was worse to distrust than to be deceived he privately made his escape from the Army and as sate would have it fled to the Isle of Wight the government of which as it seems probable was just before put into the hands of Colonel Hammond a dear friend to Cromwel that there he might play his part in this business To this mans protection the King commits himself running of his own accord into the Snare which the Rebels had long ago laid for him But that he might not be wanting to the
commanding him to refrain from the execution of his power so long as the Conference and any hopes of Peace continued Whilst the Conference lasted the King that he might not still suffer so hard usage and that he might try how the Members of Parliament were affected towards him gave some very just and useful Proposals to be sent to the Parliament First he desires That he may have leave to repair forthwith to Westminster or any of his houses near London where he may treat with his Parliament at nearer distance with honour safety and freedom Which desire the Parliament having felt the pulse of the City and being encouraged under the hands of the most part and best of the Citizens promised so soon as the Propositions were granted should be allowed him Secondly the King demands That he may be restored to the possession of the Lands and Revenues of the Crown Thirdly That he may have compensation for his lawful Rights which the Parliament have thought fit to abolish To these also the Parliament willingly consent Fourthly That by an Act of Oblivion the memory of all things that had been done in time of the War might be abolished To this Proposal they did not consent but with cautions and limitations that gave liberty to the Parliamentarians to bring Actions against any almost of the Kings Party Matters being near composed beyond all mens expectation though perhaps not so as every one desired the Commissioners for Pacification full of thoughts of Peace promised the same to the King though in that they were false Prophets for they thought as well they might that the Parliament would in some measure abate in their rigid demands when the King to mollifie them had stript himself of the Government both of England and Ireland Nay the glad hopes of Concord begun to cherish the drooping minds of all people which without doubt would have followed had not factious and rebellious men who by clandestine arts had already driven us into a War now openly and with force of Arms disappointed the desired fruit of the Conference and the Peace that was ready to be concluded Now in what manner they accomplished that it will be necessary I should with all possible sincerity relate In the heat of the Conference that part of the Army which had prospered in the War and was returned home victorious commanded by Fairfax whom Ireton as a bad Genius haunted was encamped so near London that in half a days time they might march thither and suppress their unprovided Adversaries if any sudden occasion required In the mean time Fairfax Ireton and the rest of the Colonels behaved themselves very submissively in publick pretend that they will always obey the Ordinances of Parliament and that publick Peace will be to them of all men most acceptable that so being eased from the fatigues and labours of War they may mind their own affairs and after so much toil and danger at length enjoy rest and peace But privately having consulted with the Members of Parliament of their own Faction they suffer Consults to be held amongst the inferiour Officers and private Souldiers of the Army and at the instigation of their Emissaries Petitions to be framed wherein it was desired that the Treaty with the King should be broken up and all the Enemies of the Commonwealth indifferently thereby craftily glancing at the person of the King brought to condign punishment These also they caused to be printed and published that they might feel the pulse of the people Nor was it doubted but that the chief Commanders and Colonels were the Authors of those Petitions and that by their Emissaries and particularly by Hugh Peters a Renegado from and the reproach of the Ministery an impudent saucy fellow they were dispersed into all places whereby they wheadled the Souldiers who in their own nature were sufficiently prone to Booty and Innovations In the mean while the Country-people whom we mentioned before to have made some stirs being dispersed and Garrisons and Governours placed in the several Counties all the Souldiers of the Kingdom are commanded to repair to Fairfax's Camp who in great numbers many following the prevailing Party flocked together victorious and triumphant Ireton upon a rumour spread abroad amongst the people of a difference betwixt him and Fairfax lurking privately in Windsor-Castle and having called some of his Consorts of the Lower House publishes a Remonstrance with great ostentation of words and affected eloquence wherein in name of the Army by captious quirks and subtilties he argues against the Peace made with the King and the Remonstrance of his Majesty nay and desires Justice against the King himself That those Members who the year before had been impeached of High-Treason by the Army might be brought to tryal and that all who staid in Parliament heretofore when the Speakers and rest of the Members of their Faction fled to the Army should be excluded That the Souldiers Arrears should be paid out of the Kings Revenue and the Deans and Chapters Lands to be distributed for this use especially and also for other publick charges That the present Parliament should be dissolved and a better course taken for the future that the people should chuse a Representative which should have the supreme administration of the Government These and several other things of that nature he very imperiously demands The end of the Conference now approaching which the Republicans of both sorts in the Parliament endeavoured by all Arts to stave off and protract that the Army might more conveniently joyn the Commanders of the Army being informed from the Isle of Wight of the progress of affairs and of the opportunities that were proper for their turn call a Field-Council wherein all the Colonels and inferiour Officers meet and there they give themselves to fasting and prayer For we must know that these Sons of the Earth had great intimacy and correspondence with Heaven as they pretended and when they were about to act any thing contrary to the Law of Nature the Light of Reason or the Laws of God and man they used to begin the work with Prayers to Almighty God in a doubtful manner proposing the case and the matter being first discussed between the Majesty of Heaven and themselves they then by turning and winding their Prayers shape an Answer to their designes which like a divine Oracle rendered to the praying inquirers they impose upon the common Souldiers as an Article of Faith though the matter had been long before hatched in their thoughts nor durst any man gainsay it who had not a mind to have his name dasht out of the Roll of the Saints And hence it was that the people dreaded their Fasts and Prayers as ominous Prodigies The Pageantry of their Devotion being over Ireton's Remonstrance was read and applauded too by the Souldiers as if it dropt from Heaven they prefix to it the formidable title
some time prevail with them to delay the execution of the Villany Nor was Bradshaw the bloudy President secure from violent hands for one Burghill armed with sword and pistol watched him one night behind Gray's Inn-gate when he was to come home late but missing of his designe that night because Bradshaw did not come home next day being betrayed by one Cooke to whom he had discovered the matter he was brought before the Parricides However his Guards being drunk finding an occasion of an escape he saved his own life having onely laid in wait for another mans But all was in vain for the Rebels slighting these things pretend Gods providence and the motions of the Holy Ghost for their warrant and security Peters a brazen-faced Hypocrite who being disgracefully whipt out of Cambridge ever after that clove close to the Schismaticks bids them from the Pulpit Go on and prosper that now was the time When the Saints should bind Princes in chains and their Nobles with fetters of iron so lewdly did that profane Knave interpret holy Scripture telling them That they need not question but this Prophecy was to be fulfilled by them and in the Sermon he addresses himself to the holy Judges the title he thought fit to give them and protests that he was certain there were in the Army five thousand men no less Saints than those that conversed with God himself in Heaven Then kneeling in the Pulpit with flouds of forced tears and lifted up hands he earnestly begs in the name of the People of England That they would do Justice against CHARLES and not suffer Benhadad the enemy to escape Nay he most insolently inveighed against Monarchy it self and straining his virulent wit he relates the History How the Trees chusing a King and the Vine and Olive-tree refusing the office they submitted themselves to the sharper government of the bramble and compared Kingly government to briars By such kind of Arguments he stirs up and confirms those new Judges who of their own nature were already but too much enraged and fiercely bent against the King There was another besides Peters the Preacher an Herald one Serjeant Dendy also employed who being environed with a Guard of Horse for fear of being stoned by sound of Trumpet cited all those to appear who had any crime to object against the King and this he did first in Westminster-hall and then in the most publick places of the City Before these Judges of the new Court the most August Charles already stript of three most flourishing Kingdoms by the Rebels and having now no more but Life to be deprived of is brought without the least signe in his countenance of any discomposure of mind His indictment is read wherein he is accused In the name of the People of England of Treason Tyranny Murders and of all Rapines that were occasioned by the War with the highest aggravations of the Crimes But the whole stress of the Indictment lay in this That he had made War against the Parliament which the Army under the Parliaments pay had long ago trampled under foot scarcely any shadow of it remaining Great was the company of Spectators who with groans sighs and tears lamented the condition of the best of Princes Nor without injustice can I pass over the brave action of the heroick Lady Fairfax Daughter to the Lord Vere who out of a Belcony that lookt into the Court cried out publickly That that was a lye that the tenth part of the People was not guilty of that Villany but that it was a contrivance of the Traytor Cromwel And this she did with great danger of her life The King having heard this Indictment with a majesty in his looks and words that cannot be exprest puts the question to those new Judges By what Authority they brought their King to the Bar contrary to the publick Faith which was very lately made to him when he entered into a Conference with the Members of both Houses By what lawful Authority said he emphatically He knew indeed there were many unlawful and powerful Combinations of men in the world as of Thieves and Robbers by the High-ways He desires they would tell him by what Authority they had taken that Power such as it was upon them and he would be willing to answer but if they could not he bids them think well upon it before they go farther from one sin to a greater That he had a Trust committed to him by God by an ancient and lawful Descent and that he would not betray it by answering to a new and unlawful Authority The President replying That he was brought to answer in the name of the People of England of which he was elected King The King made answer That England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for near these thousand years That he did stand more for the liberty of the People by rejecting their usurped Power than any of them that came to be his pretended Judges did by supporting it That he did not come there as submitting to the Court That he would stand as much for the Priviledge of the House of Commons as any man there whatsoever but that he saw no House of Lords there that might together with a King constitute a Parliament That if they would shew him a legal authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom he would answer for that he did avow that it was as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a tyrannical or any ways unlawful Authority The President in the mean time often interrupted him and at length commanding him to be carried back to Prison Yet was the good King a second and a third time brought before the Bar of the Common People where the President puts him in mind of his Indictment and commands him to answer to the Articles brought against him or otherways to listen to his sentence But the King still protested against the Authority of the Court affirming That his life was not so dear to him as his Honour Conscience the Laws and the Liberties of the People which that they might not perish all at once there were great reasons why he could not make his defence before those Judges nor acknowledge a new form of Judicature for what power had ever Subjects or by what Laws was it granted them to erect a Court against their King That it could not be warranted by Gods Laws which on the contrary command obedience to Princes not by the Laws of the Land since by them no Impeachment can lie against the King they all going in his name nor do they allow the House of Commons the power of judging the meanest Subject of England And that lastly that pretended Power could not flow from any Authority or Commission from the People since they had never asked the question of the
be embowelled by a rascally Quack-Physician and some Surgeons of the Army most inveterate Enemies to the very name of a King his Majesties own Servants being removed who had orders carefully to enquire which was the same to them as if they had been commanded positively to affirm whether he had not the Venereal Distemper or any signs of Frigidity with a designe to take an occasion from thence of branding either himself or Posterity with Infamy But that Villany was crushed in the Egg by the presence of an honest Physician who getting to be admitted to the Dissection overawed them by his reverence and authority the same person having also reputed that by the healthfulness and vigour of his Constitution he might have outlived most men so that all who consider the humourous temper both of his body and mind are fully now satisfied of it Nay that they might strain their Malice to the highest pitch of Cruelty they make no less scruple to murder the Soul of the King and as easily damn him to the flames of Hell as they are wont to canonize all their own for Saints They make it their business also to blacken his Memory amongst men they cause his Statue that stood over the Porch of St. Paul's Church and another that was placed amongst the Statues of his Predecessors in the Royal Exchange of London to be thrown down putting these words into the empty Nich Exit Tyrannus regum ultimus most false both in the presage and crime They employ the mercenary Pen of the Son of a certain Sâ—rivener one Milton from a musty Pedant â—ampt into a new Secretary whose Talent lying in Satyrs and Libels and his Tongue being dipt in the blackest and basest venome might forge an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Image-breaking and by his livid and malicious Wit publish a Defence of the Kings Murder against Salmasius They rob the Bishop of London who was long kept a Prisoner of all the Papers which his Majesty had delivered unto him and ransaking all Clothes Trunks and Boxes they search into every corner that they might hinder any Paper written with the Royal hand from coming into the publick by which indeed they deprived mankind of many rare Monuments of Prudence and Piety Nevertheless by the extraordinary providence of Almighty God to their eternal shame and confusion and the everlasting praise of the boundless and Royal Virtue of the King a Book of MEDITATIONS or SOLLILOQVIES saw the light a posthumous work of which whosoever impartially considers the weight of matter the quaintness of stile the strength of Reasons and the ardour of Piety must in spight of Envy acknowledge that amongst Writers he deserved the Kingdom and that those ill minds that wrested from him the Civil Government must render him the dominion of Letters No King not onely of Britain alone but that ever sate upon the Throne left the World more bewailed and lamented For the news of his death being spread over England made women miscarry cast both men and women into Fits Convulsions and Melancholy nay some were so surprized that they outlived not the suddenness of the Consternation The Pulpits in all places uttered nothing but Sighs and Groans The same persons with useless grief bewailing him now he was gone who because of difference of Opinion concerning Church-government had no great kindness for him whilst he was alive The very little Children who seldom mind such things bursting out into Tears could hardly be comforted Men of all sorts and almost of all Sects enlarged in his praises comparing him to Job David and Solomon for Patience Piety and Wisdom Nor can I my self forbear in this place to hoist sail and with all the skill I have launch out into the Ocean of his Virtues though the nature of an Abridgment I am now about does lay an embargo upon my liberty I shall therefore by a few and those clouded beams give you what sight I can of that Sun He was indeed a Prince to be reckoned amongst the best of all past Ages whose great endowments of mind and greater Virtues rendered him in the opinion of all even his greatest Enemies Worthy of Government if he had not governed who by all mens confession attained to that height of perfection that he was the same in all places and at all times that the course of his Virtues was even and steddy his countenance and looks the same in the most different kinds of fortune that he had tried as if from the Torrid he had removed into the Frigid Zone without the least alteration in his temper Who pleased even the unwilling and as by a kind of Charm mitigated the hatred of many won his enemies to Friendship and turned Railings into Praises Who so excelled in Prudence and all Heroick Virtues that through Calumnies and Reproaches he shone out with greater lustre His Enemies feigned him to be a man of weak Judgment but found him to be a match if not superiour to the choicest Politicians and Divines They reviled him as cowardly and fickle without faith and of feminine inconstancy but in Battels they felt him to be valiant perceived him undaunted in Threats Dangers and Disgraces and unshaken in Prison and at Death They slandered him as a Papist but saw him in his Writings to be a Champion for the Reformed Apostolical Religion defending it not onely by his Pen but with his Bloud They who maligned him as cruel and bloud-thirsty advanced to that licentiousness of calumniating onely through the clemency of their King to which the Rebels promised themselves a too easie retreat until by the favour of fortune being transported beyond the bonds of pardon they chuse rather to deny mercy to a Prince of so much clemency than to ask it of him when he was disarmed If any thing could be objected to him it was so far from being a fault in so rare a Prince that it was the height of an unseasonable Virtue inconsistent with so vitious and corrupt an Age that is too much Lenity to the cruel Candour to the disingenuous and crafty a strict Justice and Certitude which is not commonly the Virtue of Kings a Modesty that distrusted his own Abilities and a Mind so far from pride that he was more apt to comply with the worse Counsels of others than to stick to the best of his own as if he had indeed believed the Calumnies of his Enemies to be true He was a great Example of Living but a greater of Dying Whom like slighted and unrewarded Virtue We hate whilst it 's in being and anxiously bustle for when it is gone The great Defender of the Laws being now cut off and the Government unhinged the new Vsurpers thought it time to turn all topsie-turvy and to make Laws according to their own pleasure They order CHARLES the Second by the name of CHARLES STEVART and the Duke of York wheresoever they could be found to be put
to death Out comes presently an Ordinance under pain of High-Treason That no man should presume to declare CHARLES STEUART commonly called Prince of Wales King And as if this had been but a small matter That no man should pray for CHARLES the Second under the name of Prince of Wales King of Scotland or eldest Son of the King or for the Duke of York or any of the Royal Family under pain of Sequestration Monarchy and the House of Lords being both abolished the first under pretext of change uselesness and danger and the other both of uselesness and danger they make an Ordinance for changing the most ancient Government of England into a Democraty or Popular Commonwealth and because the Mayor of London refused to publish the Ordinance they turn him out of his Office fine him in two thousand pounds and commit him to the Tower notwithstanding his alleadging That such an act was to be performed by the Sheriffs and not the Mayor of London and that being bound by so many Oaths he could not in conscience do it A dull blockhead one of the Kings Judges was forthwith put into his place and that others upon account of conscience might not boggle at any of their commands they abolish the Oath which all men upon their entry into publick place were obliged to take to the Kings Majesty They purge the Common Council of the City which was wont to consist of the richer and graver Citizens and turn out many Aldermen making this their colour for it that the year before though at the desire of the major part of the Parliament They had signed the Petition for a personal Conference with the King and filled their places with the abject Riff-raff of the Rabble many of them very young and most of them broken fellows They also turn out the Recorder Town-Clerk and other Officers of the City who had refused to attend the Mayor at the publishing of the Ordinance for abolishing of Monarchy other factious Villains of their own Gang being preferred to their places who leading the other Citizens by the noses the City of London in a trice became obedient to the Orders of the Mock-Parliament With one single Vote they repeal all the ancient Laws made against Sects and Schisms They deprive the Ministers of the promised Revenues I mean of Deans and Chapters Lands They also make profession of easing tender Consciences from the burthen of Tythes assigning some thousands a year out of the Kings Revenue for Stipends and Salaries for the Preachers that so they might be at the beck of the Republicans and be at length by Office constrained with mutual Assistance and Pay to conspire against Monarchy Nay it was debated whether they should not for some time shut the Church-doors and restrain the licentiousness of Presbyterians but milder Councils prevailing some having been imprisoned others threatned with death all are commanded upon pain of Sequestration to refrain from Invectives and to comply with their Rulers in keeping Fasts and Thanksgiving-days and whatever else concerned the affairs of the Church They break down the Kings Arms and Statues that were set up in publick places and put up their own instead of them They coyn new money with the impression of a Cross and Harp as the Arms of England and Ireland In a word as by Law and in full right they invade and appropriate to themselves all the Regalia which as by way of Sequestration they had before usurped From henceforward without any regard to Justice and Honesty they spare neither Sex nor any Order of men The Kings Children who remained in England to wit the Lady Elizabeth and Henry Duke of Gloucester Princes of singular accomplishments of Nature are many ways basely used by them Amongst the Regicides it was moved oftener than once whether they had not better put her out Apprentice to a Trade that she might get her living than to breed her up in a lazy life at the charge of the Publick From the gentle tuition of the Earl of N. she is turned over to the severer discipline of another with orders that when there was no occasion for it she should not be treated as the Daughter of a King Afterward she was confined to Carisborough-Castle in the Isle of Wight under the custody of one Mildmay an inspired fool but implacable enemy to the Royal Family that she poor Lady thus put in mind of her Fathers Imprisonment and Murder being already consumptive might the sooner be brought to her end And indeed when through the irksomness of Prison Grief and Sickness she visibly and daily decayed and pined away the inhumane Traytors deny her the assistance of a Physician nay the Physician whose presence she earnestly desired they so frighten from his duty that he durst not wait upon her She being dead they send the Duke of Gloucester into banishment having allowed him a small piece of money that I may not omit any act of their humanity to carry him over into Flanders They basely treat the Countess of Carlisle by an usage unworthy of her Sex and Quality as being one who of too much a friend before was now become an Enemy and commit her to the Tower of London Duke Hamilton and the Earl of Holland who now too lately repented their having been the first of the Lords and chief of the Factious who for their own safety had too much served the times against the King and of the Royal Party the heroick Lord Capel a prime Champion both for his King and Country are by the same President Bradshaw who dyed red with Royal bloud knew not what it was to spare the bloud of other men in the same Court of Justice sentenced to lose their heads Whom the Rebels thought fit they banished and seized all Estates and Inheritances how large soever at their own discretion There was a debate amongst them about making a Law that whosoever was by them suspected to be an ill willer to the Commonwealth or an enemy to the Army might be brought to a tryal before a Council of War and sentenced by them as they thought fit Nay they order the stately Fabricks of the Royal Houses and Palaces to be thrown down that Kings for the future might not have a house of their own to cover their heads under God any stately Temples wherein he might be worshipped or the Kingdom any publick Structures to shew its magnificence St. Paul's Church in London that of Salisbury and the Kings house of Hampton-Court Fabricks that may compare for stateliness with the best of Europe with much ado escaped the fury of their desolating hands A Council of forty persons is erected which by a gentle name to the common people they call the Keepers of the Liberties who altogether or at least seven of the number had the full administration of the Commonwealth Amongst these were three or four contemptible Lords Slaves to the Republican Faction admitted of whom
is now by the bounty of the King Knighted He undertook in the space of thirteen Months to measure all Ireland in respect of forfeited Lands Geometrically and to allow every one their several Portions and indeed performed it For having got several expert Artists for making his Instruments he divided the work of Surveying into five or six parts assigning each part fit and proper Instruments and taught ingenious Men how they should set about their several Provinces whilst he himself sitting at home could upon their reports calculate and compare the whole By this means he measured five millions or more of English Acres and by the help of a Chain and other Instruments he ran over an hundred thousand Miles five times the circumference of the World So is all Ireland divided into parts and every one has his share by lot Now do the Sectarian Vultures from all parts come flocking to the rich Spoiles of Ireland as to a fat Carcass and like Locusts devour all the Provinces of which Cromwell having had notice least such a confluence of People might occasion Sedition especially seeing he perceived the Anabaptists and Sectarians always skrewing themselves into profitable places both Civil and Military who being for the most part Democratical would not fail to oppose that Sublimity and Pre-eminence to which he aspired that he might crush the Serpent in the Egg and baffle their Power as if he minded other Affairs he recalls from Ireland his Son in Law Fleetwood upon pretext of using his Council at home but in reallity that he might have an eye over the designs and motions of the Man and by taking off the Head and Patron disappoint the Practices and Councils of the Democraticks Therefore in place of Fleetwood he sends Henry the younger of his two Sons into Ireland but not as his Successour only with the Title of a Commissioner and Major General of the Army And having for two years space made a tryal of his Juvenile Prudence he raised him to a higher degree Henry took it ill at first to be denied the Honour of a Title when he had the Power given him and being instigated by the whisperings of Flatterers he desired of his Father that he might Govern Ireland with the Name of Deputy But Cromwell not without a check denying it that unseasonable Ambition was stifled in the bud But whil'st he alone sat at the Helm two other Commissioners or rather Privy-Counsellors Hammond and Goodwin are added He made it his chief business in the first place to restore the Worship of God tho not to its ancient Beauty yet to some better Order by degrees giving back the Churches and Pulpits which were wholly possessed by the Anabaptists to the Ministers Nay he caused his own Child to be publickly Baptized in the Cathedral-Church a rare thing at that time and made a Christening Feast And farther he protected the Preachers from all Affronts and the troublesome interruptions of the Sectaries in time of Divine Service Now does the Colledge of Dublin which had been long neglected raise its head out of Obscurity Henry himself being chosen the Chancellour or Patron thereof nay School-Exercises but after the Presbyterian way and Degrees in Arts and Professions are instituted and which was most acceptable to the Scholars at his own Charges he bought the Library of Vsher Archbishop of Armagh not to be named but with Honour and made a present of it to the Colledge Nor was he less careful of the Civil than Ecclesiastical affairs for Justice in the Courts began now to shew it self as much as it could under a Tyrannical and Violent Government Stately Houses were built in the Cities and the Country abounded in Pasture and Corn. Trade began also to flourish in exporting to all places Tallow Hides Salt Flesh and Fish and Ambergrise Henry moreover allowed a free access to all and liberty of petitioning nay and illustrated his Bounty with some kind beams towards the Royalists by easing those who had been forfeited and sequestrated remitting one half of the Money that had been imposed upon them giving gracious words liberty of playing with him and many times admitting them to his Table Steel at the Sollicitation of Fleetwood is made Chancellour of Ireland which rouzed a little the drooping Minds of the Sectaries but which was soon dashed by the advancement of Berry to the place of Baron of the Exchequer and of Pepis to that of Lord Chief Justice who both stuck close to Henry In Council he made use of Broghill Coot and Hill and of the same with Morgan and some others in the Army governing the Common-wealth very well according to the present state of Affairs About that time a Parliament is called at London to consist of Members of the three Kingdoms thirty being nominated for Ireland In it the Irish Papists accused of Treason are declared Rebels and therefore their Estates and Inheritances are forfeited for discovering of whom a strict Oath of Abjuration of Popery is imposed upon all suspected Persons in the execution whereof Henry shewed himself merciful and very seldom put any to that Tryal But the division and distribution of the Lands which was heretofore appointed and begun is now brought to an issue The transplanting of all the Irish into Connaght is again brought upon the Stage being the invention of one Spencer who by way of Dialogue wrote of the affairs of Ireland and afterwards insisted upon by Ireton who by all means commended the practice thereof Now are all commanded to pack up bag and baggage change their Habitation and to remove into that Province where Lands were to be assigned to them in Inheritance according to the pleasure of Commissioners the Forts Cities Towns and Passages being only reserved for the use of the English with all the Sea-coast within a Mile of the Sea For that Province being for the most part surrounded by the River Shannon vast Lakes and the Collough Mountains and so divided from the rest cut off from them all hopes and power of rising any more against the English None are spared but the labouring men and some whom favour and popular necessity procured a permission to stay If Ireton had lived to these times he would have made it absolutely necessary to have brought over Husband-men and Trades-People from England who are payed much dearer for their work and labour than the Irish are But Good God! How many cunning Tricks frauds and inventions did the Irish find out for avoiding the sting of that Order So that it reached none but the simpler and honester sort of People Nay I am ashamed to divulge the horrid oppression and covetuousness of our Factors who when they met with the more innocent and plain they impose upon them with tricks and juggling and so tire them out until they got their Lands from them for little or nothing which they sell dear unto others
stuck still in his Mind that our King was the first of all who honourably received a splendid Embassie from the Duke of Braganza and after he had successfully dispatched his business sent him away in triumph To this may be added the mischance of Don Oquenda not many years before under whose Command several Ships carrying Men and Arms for a recruit to the War of Flanders being forced into the English Harbours by the Dutch who pursued them were under our Castles though then in Peace with Spain suffered to be torn sunk and burnt our Fleet rather threateningly rebuking then stoutly driving off the Enemy Which discontents not expiring with the Murthered King are hurtful now to his Son But after all his new Friends as a reward of the amity freely offered them by stealth and without any Declaration of War having sometimes after invaded the West Indies that is the very Bowels of the Spanish Empire And their attempt upon Hispaniola being disappointed he at length laying aside all hatred obliged CHALES the Second by all sorts of good Offices and entertaind him in his Territories for the ruine of the Regicides The King of Portugal shewed a generous Soul of which hereafter had his Strength corresponded with his Inclinations But what would one who hardly as yet sate steddy in his own lately recovered Throne do for another expulsed Prince The truth is though he had then flourished in the quiet enjoyment of his own just Rights he was not Potent enough to undertake such a War as could restore a banished King and much less at that time when he could hardly on the one hand repel the Spaniard who offered at all and on the other keep even with the Dutch who in the East Indies and all over the Ocean strove for the mastery Suedland at first good natured changed as Affairs altered Frederick Duke of Holstein supplied the Earl of Montross who was then ready to Sail into Scotland with Men Money Ships and Arms for the Service of the King Danemark having its Treasury exhausted for the Cause of the King's Father and running into a new War was able to do no more The Rebellious Cossacks and Neighbouring Nations who had rendred the Peace uncertain made the King of Poland sparing in his Assistance Yet the Scottish Subjects who lived in those Countries as they were commanded gave what help they were able to give And so did the Emperour of Moscovie Elector of Brandenbourg Arch-Bishop of Mentz and other Princes of Germany show their Affections to the King But alas what was all that to the fitting out of a Fleet and raising of an Army to the providing of Arms Ammunition and Necessaries of War perhaps a little more than might defray the Charges of Ambassadours and relieve the Poverty of Courtiers All the hope was now in the Loyalty and Benevolence of Subjects who though many of them were wheedled by the Artifices of the Regicides or the fawnings of Prosperity Ambition of rising to higher Employments or the coveteousness of other mens Estates which they hoped might be had for little or nothing and these because Justice delay'd to strike drawn in to the number of above fifty thousand yet a far greater number kept their Loyalty and Allegiance to the King inviolated but being stun'd with the sudden horrour of the Kings Murder and amazed at the continual Victories of the Regicides they knew not what to do or whither to turn themselves They knew not as yet what it was to Associate and they had no opportunity of rising the Regicides having a watchful Eye over all the Countries and their Spies and Emissaries wresting all the Actions and Sayings of Honest men into the worst Sense Nevertheless many Royalists in disguise crossed the Sea and waited upon the King and others who came hither from the King were by his Friends informed what to do All that they could do was gradually to confer Councils encourage one another plot and contrive gather supplies and by blowing the Coals raise such a Flame as might at length destroy the Enemy Yet some of them of whom I shall mention two Sir Charles Berkly and Sir Henry Slingsby were taken by the watchfulness of Informers but both made their escape though the last falling again into the Noose payed for his Loyalty and lost his Head by Sentence of the High Court of Justice About that time Ascham whom I named a little before a Fellow of obscure Birth desiring to show his Gifts and get himself a Name by writing against the King and for the abominable change of Government which the less it beeame him to do for that heretofore under the Earl of Northumberland he had had the institution of the Young Duke of Glocester is therefore in quality of Envoy with Ribera an Italian as his Interpreter sent into Spain to treat of Affairs But he had got himself so much hatred by his Writings that were published and the Employment he now undertook that some conspired a revenge and suddenly breaking into his Chamber at Madrid against all Law and Equity killed both him and Ribera his Interpreter The Ambassadour of Venice gave Sanctuary to one of the Murderers another being taken making his escape publickly suffered for it The rest to the number of three took Sanctuary in a Church till the Ecclesiasticks should have time to take cognisance of the Cause But by delaying of time and lengthening out the debate the English also infesting the West Indies they at length get clearly off It is fit we should also mention the good Offices of the emulous King of Portugal and how for the sake of our Prince he provoked the Rebel Hornets Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice when they fled from Ireland found Protection at Lisbon But Blake Admiral of the Fleet for the Rump-Parliament pursuing them hither desires leave to sight the Prince's Ships The King of Portugal thinking that the Laws of Hospitality were not so to be violated seing it was not safe for him openly to refuse he shifts the matter and forces not the Princes to put out to Sea Blake being highly offended at this Cruises upon the Coast and at length meeting with a Fleet of seaven or eight Sail of Ships laden with Sugers he takes them and sends them into England He himself in the mean time having pursued the Princes who had put to Sea again comes up with them at Carthagena a Spanish Town in the Streights and in the Bay of Vera forces them ashoar but both of them escaped in one of their Ships and Sailing with one or two more Ships to the West Indies they leave Spain to be sufficiently mauled by the Parliament But a terrible Hurricane which is frequent in the Torrid Zone having separated Maurice from his Brother he was cast away with his Ship and Men in the dreadful Storm Here we cannot but sigh at our Calamities in the dismal fate of so Illustrious a
Youth Unhappy English who with blind rage have consumed the Relicts of the Palatinat and accursed Broils of Britain that shipwrack't that Life which escaped the Sword of Austria I should give way to lamentations if our shame could add Glory to the Dead or give comfort to the surviving Family But a Valiant man is not to be by womanish houling lamented neither does true Grief require an ambitious pomp of Words nor great sorrow admit it Let us only then which is all we can do with our Tears wash out the stain of our unlucky Age to which Crime it is no small accession that the Ocean and other World are also polluted with the destruction of the Royal Family But Prince Rupert which was some comfort having sent his Goods into France with much adoe was saved I return to Portugal from whence the steam of Sugar attracted an Ambassadour to London Now would God the Supreme disposer of all things suffer that so remarkable constancy of so good a King should turn to the dammage of his Subjects For the Ships being restored the War that was threatened was upon supplication averted a new League made and the Peace afterward more religiously observed The Rebels indeed think it below them to make reparation for dammages yet they make them good by a War they were to engage in with the Dutch and Spaniards to the great advantage of the Portuguese I mention not the Glory of assisting distressed Princes a rare thing amongst Kings But after all he himself has no cause to fear but that his kindness shew'd to a King heretofore in distress will by the same Prince who never forgets those that have deserved well of him now raised to the Throne of his Ancestours and joyned to him in Affinity be repayed to him and his Subjects with plentiful interest But now we have affairs nearer home and with the Dutch again to consider Strickland having long resided in Holland as Ambassadour is now slighted and being allowed no more a place in the Assembly of the States he returns home But that the Parricides might repay one Affront with another they command Jacobin Vanodenskirk the Dutch Ambassadour to depart the Kingdom of England upon pretext that the King being dead the Negotiation with the States was now at an end But soon after as if they repented what they had done Schaepie is sent to treat of Peace who though he was but an Agent and empowred only by one City to wit Amsterdam to treat yet by the Rump-Parliament he is honoured with the Title of Ambassadour who take occasion on the other hand to send two Ambassadours with Royal and Magnificent Equipage to wit Oliver St. Jones one of the Members of the Rump-Parliament and Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Walter Strickland These have Instructions To clap up a Peace and that by a Coalition of both Nations into one they might live under the same Government have the mutual Priviledges of Habitation Trading and Harbours of each Country indifferently But these were not to be divulged but piece and piece and by degrees if they found the People inclineable and fit to comply with such Propositions But the States had no inclination to settle a Peace until they found the success of the affairs in Scotland But after much adoe having at length given Audience to the Ambassadours they put them off from day to day till they proposed at long run some long winded Articles of Peace drawn up in the time of Henry VII to be considered which so soon as the Ambassadours had rejected they devise others to drive away time until the Ambassadours finding themselves fooled might hasten their departure But during their stay in Holland the States were necessitated to place a Guard at their Door nor was that sufficient to secure them from Affronts but that their Windows were every night broken or they themselves disturbed by I know not what Bug-bears and Apparitions There was also a strong report that a certain Relation of St. Jones came to his House that with a Bow-string he might strangle him after the manner of the Turks Mutes but that because he saw no way to escape if he had committed the Fact he abstained from attempting it The Ambassadours being startled at these things and daily fearing worse and not knowing how long they might stay nor what answer bring back they return without any effect of their Negotiation But great were the Disorders that this Affront occasioned and severe was the Revenge which the Parricides hatched in their Hearts being resolved that if the affairs in Scotland succeeded according to their wishes they would never rest nor sheath their Sword before they had forced by Arms the Conditions which by Ambassadours they could not obtain In the mean time they thought it enough at present to give out Letters of Reprisal and by other mens hands revenge the Injuries done to themselves and to make an Act that no Merchandise of what Country soever it were should be brought into England unless imported in English Bottoms by English Sea-men or fraighted by English Merchants Let us make a trip over to Sweden the Queen whereof had lately sent an Envoy to Compliment and Congratulate the Regicides To her therefore Whitlock is sent in a splendid Embassie to return the Honour and Compliment and also to make Peace with her to which she very willingly consented But the Queen being shorttly after removed or to use a softer expession having resigned the Crown the King of Sweden sends over a Reciprocal and no less Honourable Embassy by the Lord Christopher Bond a Senator of the Kingdom to Cromwell who then had the chief administration of the Government The Isles of Silly lay very convenient for molesting the Trade of the English There the Royalists cruising too and again with four or five small Vessels did no little hurt to the Regicides and would have done much more could they have been morgaged to the Dutch as it was commonly reported For plucking out of this Thorn great preparations are made at Plimouth not above fifteen Leagues distant from the Islands Where Blake and Popham having provided some small Vessels and Boats they take the opportunity and set Sail from thence in the night time with three hundred Souldiers besides Sea-men and having had a fair Wind next morning they come to the Land There are in all ten adjacent Islands divided only by narrow Passages of an Eddy Sea and on all sides secured by Shelves and Rocks In three hours time they take Threscoe and Briari with the loss of fifteen Men but of the Garrison a Boat being sunck about fourty were drowned one hundred and twenty made Prisoners and about fourty Guns taken which the Royalists out of two Friggats had planted upon the shoar The raging of the Sea appeasing the Fury of the Souldiers made for two days time a Cessation not unlike to a
Peace But on the third day when it was Calm they began to thunder on both sides with their great Guns on the one hand from Threscoe and the other Islands and on the other from St. Mary's Grimsby Haven being betwixt them But the Governour Greenvill now Earl of Bath wanting supplies at length upon pretty good Conditions surrenders the Island Shortly after that continual Victories might drop into to the lap of the Rebels news was brought from the Caribbe Islands that Barbadoes the richest of them had delivered it self up into the power of Aisckew according to the example of which the rest would take their measures He with eighteen or twenty Sail of Men of War had steered his Course to the West Indies to reduce those Islands once more under the yoak of England and setting upon them unexpectedly he took twenty or thirty Dutch Ships who in contempt of two Acts drove a Trade with them cruising off and on in sight of the Island he blocked it up for the space of six Months and at length a Sedition arising amongst the Planters he forced the Lord Willoughby whom the King had made Governour of it to surrender Whilst these things are acting in the Indies they erect of new in England a High Court of Justice as they were pleased to call it not upon the account of a present Emergent but to continue for six Months which if it could pass without the envy of Tyranny and Oppression might be adjourned de die in diem Keeble is by the Rump-Parliament made President of this Court being assisted by others and fifty Assessors of the popular Faction Most of these being Souldiers were ready at the beck of the General to smite the Prisoner as an Enemy all the rest were Creatures of the new Common-wealth whose hopes and whole Estates depended upon the favour of the Parricides except perhaps one or two who had more Zeal than Judgment And this horrid Violence unheard of under the Government of our Kings past in all Ages is imposed upon the ignorant multitude under the specious name of Justice These Men had Power to bring before them try and punish without appeal any that had held Correspondence with the King Queen Duke of York the Royalists or Irish that had assisted them by Word or Deed or received them into their Houses or that had delivered up any Castle Town or Ship or had attempted any such Surrender besides many other Crimes of the same nature Now if you inquire into the constitution of the Court and whence it derived its Authority you must know that it was first appointed against the Kings Majesty by those who were so far from having any Power of administring Justice that by our Laws and Customs they had not the Power to condemn the meanest Slave then against the Nobles afterwards as occasion offered it was of ten made use of but now was turned into a custome If any man was suspected of plotting and contriving against the Publick he was presently dragged before this supreme Tribunal and exposed to the Calumnies of pettifogging Lawyers who for a little Reputation and Profit sold their Souls in pleading against him who having none to defend his Cause and being terrified or shamed out of Countenance without the Evidence of two Witnesses or the Verdict of a Jury of twelve men which has onely force in England he is Condemned and why should not I say Murdered It was indeed no small matter of terrour to see a drawn Sword hanging as by an Hair over all mens naked Heads at every minute ready to fall upon them About that time especially and afterward when Cromwell had got the chief administration of the Government whole swarms of informers wandered about in all places both publick and private sacred and prophane They listned in Churches sneaked into companies in Taverns and Alehouses and went to wrestling in the Rings Noblemen and Gentelmens Servants were corrupted that they might discover what their Masters talked at Table the chief Vintners or their Drawers at least were feed to hearken to the free discourses of their Customers over their Wine either in the room or skulking behind the Hangings or thin partition Walls Such kind of Spies and eave-droppers Hiero the Tyrant of Syracusa used to employ who were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In a word Prisons were full of accusers that they might accuse so that there was no Village free from snarlings nor snares The Cities themselves were filled with solitude silence trembling and fear All flocked into the Countrey not for pleasure or the Society of their Neighbours but where they could find solitude and retreat where the Barrenness and desertness of the place might neither allure Soldiers nor secure Informers where they might neither be known nor have acquaintance and where avoiding the company of men they might have the satisfaction of being secure without the pleasure of the Countrey or company All Neighbourhood Society and intimacy were suspected Those who where naturally averse from ill things yet often deceived because they had been deceived before Into such confusion had the Rout the disturber of common Peace put all things With observant eyes do curious Spies run about and were not idle when they had nothing to do They tope it stoutly that by a gentle rack they may pump out the secrets of the heart They pry into words and actions but much more into mens looks the interpreters of the mind It is their business to hanker about for Rumors and spread reports to rouze the drooping hopes of the credulous and to foment them with strange stories which afterwards vanishing into smoak they might be cowed and rendered more pusillanimous for the future The Noblemen and Gentlemen who had been of the contrary side are pursued with secret whispers and calumnies wherever they could be pickt up onely to vex them the more moderate are obnoxious to Suspicions Those who were found any way to have assisted or corresponded with the King were either forced to bribe lustily or to stand a Tryal There were also a kind of Duckoys and Trapans of all men the most accursed whose chief study was to teaze the more hot-headed and cholerick and draw them thereby into Capital snares and when they had thus caught them inform against them that they might be brought to a Tryal or oppress them with secret Calumnies Colonel Andrews thus circumvented lost his Head Nor was the president Bradshaw ashamed openly to declare in Court that by counterfeit Letters he had corresponded with him in the name of the King Thus was the Estate of the Lord Craven confiscated though being no way obnoxious but for a large Estate which he possessed in England he lived beyond Seas in Holland Whither one Faulkner of that Gang a turn-coat to the Kings Party being sent but for what end I dare not affirm laid a snare for him One single
evidence and he infamous too was sufficient to the partial and mercenary Judges for the fellow was afterwards for the same deposition convicted of perjury who having given under his hand contrary to what he had sworn to the Judges eyes bely'd his venal Tongue These are the counterfeiters of Commissions of the King's Signet forgers of writings and hands and the Cony-catchers of Novices They of their own accord give men Authority to raise Soldiers and then turn that Authority to their ruine Deliver Letters which they venture to do though as they say upon the Peril of High Treason and then inform the Soldiers that they might seize the Parties with the Letters bring them before the new Court and point blank condemn them to Death In the mean time there was no accusing of the clandestine authors of the Villany and far less bringing them to Justice So that it clearly appeared that these were not the crimes of private men but publickly deliberated forged in the shop of the Politicians and committed to the Myrmidons who as Jackcalls to the Lyons might make it their business to hunt out for Crimes which the High Court of Justice might run down The Scots being long uncertain what to do and divided into divers Factions at length resolve upon Monarchical Government and proclaming CHARLES the Second King A few who relished a Republick being of the same mind with the Regicides concealed their rancour not daring to discover themselves nor resist But upon what Conditions he should be admitted to the Throne is seriously debated nor never well agreed upon Most of the Highlanders firmly maintain that no other Articles are to be demanded of his Majesty but the ancicient promises which the Laws injoyned at the inauguration of Kings Others to wit the Covenanters would have him first to subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant give signs of sorrow and repentance for his Father and Mother's sins and all banished and turned out of Court who had carried Arms for his Father or had not as yet taken the Covenant I mention not the rest as being but a few whose minds were either corrupted by Bribes and Pensions from the Regicides or were infected with the contagion of their Friends the Democraticks and who urged severer terms that they might raise new scruples and cut off all way for the King's admission At length the middle party prevailing CHARLES the Second is by Heralds in all publick Place proclaimed King of Scotland England and Ireland In the mean while the debate growing long in the Convention of Estates and Committee of the Kirk who were to consider of the matter and to draw it up into Form they themselves at length resolve to send Windram Laird of Libberton to try the Kings mind who having delivered him Letters full of sorrow and regret for the horrid and unparallelled Murder of his Father assures him that the Scots were ready to obey him had proclaimed him King and Successour to the Crown and that upon the following Conditions they would admit him to the Supreme administration of the Government The Proposals were to this effect That the King should subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant and consent by act of Parliament that all his Subjects should take it confirming all that they had done for that purpose That he should confirm the acts of the two last Sessions of the Parliament which condemns Duke Hamilton's late engagement and irruption into England That he should recal his Commission to Montross whereby he had Power to raise Souldiers in Scotland or bring them into Scotland from abroad That he would renounce his right of Negative Vote That he would suffer no Papist about him and lastly that he would appoint a place in Holland where Commissioners might wait upon his Majesty for adjusting of these proposals and of other things that might be previous to his voyage These Proposals were made in the Isle of Jersey where the King with many of his Courtiers then was who having received the Letters made Windram very welcome and not long after sent Sir William Fleeming to the Scottish Nobility and Committee of the Kirk with Letters of reciprocal congratulation At length he writes to them by Windram That he was well pleased with their obedience and indignation against the Regicides exhorts them that they would seriously endeavour the restoring of Peace and Concord that for that end he should not be wanting in any thing and bids them for that purpose send Commissioners to Breda with whom he would treat about the re-establishing of Peace The King being willing to deliberate about these matters more seriously privately demands the Opinions of his Friends writing to those whose Affairs hindered them from waiting Personally upon him But so many Heads so many Minds yet the Opinions were divided chiefly into two Some perswade him not at all to listen to the Scots there being treachery hid under the specious Cloak of obedience They represent to him his Father as an Instance of it who had been long gull'd with fair promises until he was forced to be severe to his most faithful Subjects and then afterward was delivered up to the pleasure of the Faction That they would cloath him with the Name and Title of a King but keep all the Power and real Authority in their own hands And that if he offered for the future to resist and get his neck from under the Yoke they would deliver him up to the English Regicides or kill him with their own hands That he would do better to stick by Montross than by the united Forces of Scotland whom he had found to be faithful and brave in doubtful and difficult times and magnanimous and fortunate at a pinch that with his own and the Forces of his Friends succours from abroad and the aid of the English Irish and Scots he might mount his Throne in spight of all the attempts and endeavours of his Enemies Others again magnified the Authority of Parliament and the Power of the Covenanters giving it out that the English also who loved Presbytery secretly favoured the Scots though at present they discovered not themselves that it would procure him likewise reputation abroad to be owned King of Scotland That the Queen also exhorted him to make Peace with the Scots who though at first they proposed severe and grievous Conditions of Union yet his Majesty would in progress of time obtain more easie terms the Covenanters by long conversation and frequent Offices being won over to calmer and milder Dispositions that they consulted their own Interests under the Veil of Divine Worship and Cloak of Religion and that by complying with the Times he would at length find the Scots more tractable and submissive to his his Will and Pleasure Thus the King betwixt Scylla and Charybdis was for some time at a stand uncertain to what side to adhere but resolving to determine himself for
the future as occasion did present Windram being sent into Scotland the Kings Answer is kindly received and joyful hopes of concord begin to shine out over the whole Nation The Kings Majesty in the mean time writes to Montross to whom he had formerly given a Commission to invade Scotland acquainting him with what the Scots had done what answer he had sent to them and that a Treaty was to be held at Breda for settling a Peace That he nevertheless should go on in levying Souldiers that he might with as many men as possibly he could make be ready in Scotland at the time that the Scots began their Treaty For so he doubted not but that they would insist upon easier terms when they perceived him in a readiness to revenge by Arms the injuries that might be offered to him Now his Majesty thought it fit to leave Jersey both because he had intelligence that the Rump-Parliament were preparing a Fleet for invading the Island and also that all things necessary might be in readiness against the time of the following Treaty In the mean time the convention of the Estates of Scotland consult about Proposals and the chusing of Commissioners to be sent to the King Where the Ministers forgetting all Modesty and Justice propose Conditions extreamly rigid difficult and impossible for qualifying and mitigating which the Lay-men bestir themselves and at length they ioyntly agree upon this That the Commissioners be the Earls of Cassils and Louthian the Lord Burleigh and Laird of Liberton Smith and Jeffreys to represent the Laity and Brodie Lawson and Wood the Clergy That the Proposals should be these That a Proclamation should be issued out prohibiting all Excommunicated Persons to come to Court That the King should bind himself by his Royal Promise under Hand and Seal to take the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms That he should besides ratifie all Acts of Parliament whereby the League and Covenant Presbyterian Government the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechism are enjoyned and that he should use the same in his own Family and not suffer them to be innovated or abolished by any Moreover that in all Civil Affairs he should govern according to the direction of Parliament and in Ecclesiasticals according to that of the Assembly of the Kirk These Proposals are after a Sermon were delivered by the Earl of Cassils at Breda The King asking if they had any more to say They answer Nothing and after if they were obliged by any engagement to be revenged on the Regicides They answer By none Whil'st his Majesty was consulting about these other Commissioners come to wit Murrey and the Earl of Carnwath with some few additions to the former Proposals as that His Majesty would forbid Montross and his Followers to enter the Kingdom and by his assent confirm the last Acts of Parliament And now it is time to relate the misfortune of Montross He being honoured with the Kings Commission uses all his endeavours amongst the Sweeds Danes Poles Germans and all the Northern Nations that being furnished and assisted with Men Money Arms and Provisions he might pass over into Scotland And without delay having for haste left behind King with a Body of Horse in Sweden who designed to follow him and Ogilbey also in Holland to gather the disbanded Souldiers of the Prince of Oranges Army who misapplied the Money designed for that purpose with fifteen hundred Arms furnished by the Queen of Sweden fuor Ships of which two were cast away upon the Rocks and four hundred raw Souldiers raised in a hurry he arrives at the Isles of Orkney and there having ioyned about a thousand of the Islanders most part Fishermen he set Sail and landed at the Wick of Cathness chearfully reflecting upon what he had done before and full of hopes that he should in a short time get together a considerable Army by the concourse of those who had heretofore been for the King But alas that hope deceived Montross The Nation was now of another mind being tired out and broken with the Wars their dangers over inclinable to Peace and restrained by the severities of the Covenanters The whole Country was in Arms so soon as they heard of his arrival The Parliament happened at that time to be sitting and not without the King's Command and had seven or eight thousand men under the Command of Lesly The Clans chose rather to have a Peace from any Masters than an uncertain one though more favourable and to enjoy with security rather an incommodious rest than with the danger of Fortune to endeavour a change by stirs Nay many who were even ready to lay down their lives for the King having now at length capitulated with the Parliament and promised obedience and submission think they cannot act contrary without a Crime Nevertheless he takes Dumbeath Castle with a resolute mind advances farther and expecting that the Earl of Seaforth would joyn him with two thousand Men whom he had raised for the King He hastens to possess himself of a narrow and difficult pass which being taken would facilitate their Conjunction But Straughan met him upon his march who was sent before by Lesly with three hundred choice Horse that he might watch his motion beat up his Quarters withstand his Progress intercept Men and Provisions that might be sent to his Camp and if a fair occasion offered not only Skirmish with him but put it to the hazzard of a Battel This Man perceiving them to be out of order weary and only Foot in an open and plain Champion falls suddenly in upon them and tries the fortune of War and with that success that the Souldiers of the Isles at once throwing away both their Arms and Courage betake themselves to flight The Germans in the mean time defending themselves until getting leave to depart they sailed over Seas All the Baggage was taken by Straughan and the Standard bearing the Figure of a Head cut off with this Motto Judica vindica causam Domine Judge and avenge the Cause O Lord. Montross fled and having changed his Cloaths with a certain High-lander for three or four days he lurked accompanied only with one Servant till being weakned and spent with Hunger and Fasting he trusted himself with the Laird of Aston who although he had formerly served under him yet having changed his Faith with his Fortune betrayed him to Leslie for a reward of two thousand pounds The Lord Freuderick Colonel Hurrie Francis Haye of Dalgetty another Haye of Naughton Sibbald Grey Spotswood and others were likewise taken by Straughan But Montross is made a subject of triumph when he was come within a Mile of Edinburrough is ordered to be bound by the Hangman in a Chair and planted backwards in a Cart that he might be seen of all the Executioner riding with his Cap on upon
the Beast that drew the Cart and in that posture he is carried to the Tolbooth the publick Prison for Malefactors many of the Spectators bursting out into Tears when they reflected upon the changeableness and inconstancy of Fortune Next day he is arraigned at the Bar of the Parliament It is objected against him That he had stopt the Kings Ears to the Parliament and to the rest of his Subjects who gave him good Counsel That he had brought over the Irish Rebels to make War in the very heart of the Kingdom That he had heretofore slain some of the Parliamentarians That he had committed many Spoils Depopulations and Devastations in the Lands of the Marquess of Argile That he had ill treated some Ministers upon his first coming into Scotland That upon his second landing in Scotland he had brought foreign Souldiers with him and that without Commission for what was known to others That he had been ill affected towards all Covenanters and that he had basely broken the League and Covenant which he had solemnly taken and Sworn These were the Crimes that were laid to his Charge But he foreseeing that a defence would not stand him in any stead answers in short and general terms That it was very well known he had made the Invasion by Commission from the King that he had never acted any thing which was not approved by the Kings Command and his own Conscience that by the League and Covenant he was bound to obey the Kings Majesty as well as the Commons He was only brought twice before the Parliament and a third time to receive Sentence pronounced by Chancellour Loudon with all maginable bitterness and Contempt which he undauntedly and without the least Sign of Consternation heard given against him in these Words That next day the one and twentieth of March one thousand six hundred and fifty he should be hanged on a Gibbet at the Cross in Edinburrough until he died his History and Declaration being tied about his neck and to hang three hours in publick view of all the People after which he should be beheaded and quartered his Head to be fix'd upon the Talbooth of Edinburrough and his Legs and Arms over the Gates of the Cities Sterling Glascow Dundee and Aberdeen And in case he repented whereby the Sentence of Excommunication may be taken off by the Kirk the bulk of his Body should be buried in the Gray Friers if not in the Burrough Moor a place like TYBVRN Nothing did his Blood descended from the Race of the ancient Nobility nor his Heroick Virtues avail him nor could the Clemency that he had us'd towards the Vanquished nor the Kings Commission whereby he had undertaken the War procure him any Favour Neither indeed did he desire any Favour but with a brave and undaunted Mind told them That he thought it no less honourable to have his Head put upon the Tolbooth than to have his Picture hang in the Kings Bed-Chamber wishing that he had Flesh and Parts enough to be set up in all places as a monument of his unshaken Loyalty to the King He piously and couragiously suffered the publick shame he was put to with so much Force in answering the Ministers such sincerity in speaking to the People and so much Zeal and Fervour in his Devotions that he made the Ministers ashamed cleared his Innocence to the People and gave a proof of his Piety towards God None of the Spectatours could refrain from Tears unless it was the Lady Lorn who could not forbear laughing but her Note and Carriage was changed when she might have seen the Head of her Father-in-Law Argile cut off in the same place as it happened not many years after Three or four Gentlemen more who could give any hopes of retrieving the Kings Affairs that were now sinking in Scotland were overwhelmed in the same ruin and publickly put to death The news of this horrid Cruelty no sooner came to the Kings Ears but afflicted with extream Sorrow he sent for Murrey and told him that he was grieved at the Heart that during the very Treaty when he thought the minds of all to be disposed to Peace the Parliament had polluted themselves with the Blood of his best Subjects demanding an account of the whole Tragedy and of the Blood that was spilt Yet he judged it most convenient not to give way to his just Anger but rather to moderate and restrain his Indignation no hopes being now left him him but what depended on the Scots The Scots make answer That they still persist in the same Mind and Loyalty towards his Majesty That they gladly heard that there were hopes of restoring Peace That he should not be moved with Obstacles that at first hearing were grievous That nothing had been acted in the case of Montross that the King himself could repent of or that did not consist with Reason and Justice This Answer past by Plurality of Votes in Parliament though two and thirty Republicans opposed it That he should hasten his Voyage into Scotland That they were ready with all their Might and Force to stand by and defend him against his Enemies tho they had intercepted Letters written to Montross which they chose rather to bury in Oblivion than mention At length the King by the advice of William Prince of Orange and others consents to the Articles of the Scots with some little Qualification and Restriction and bidding farewel to most of his Faithful Domestick Servants and to the Church-men his Chaplains whose company he thought would not be acceptable to the Scots he with the Commissioners but in different Ships set Sail from Scheveling in Holland directing his Course towards the River of Spey But by that time they were a little out at Sea the Commissioners came to the King having as they said received new Instructions and intreat him that he would Subscribe and Confirm the Solemn League and Covenant according to the Commands they had received from the Parliament For he had signed the National Covenant already and promised not to be against this he had allowed it also to be imposed upon all others and told them that if he might give his Reasons personally to the Parliament why he could not subscribe it he would comply This so stuck with the King and vexed him so much that he was about to have changed his Course and failed back again to Holland But being prevailed upon he at length subscribed and that no place of doubting might be left five or six are called to subscribe as witnesses to the Act and Deed. No sooner was this Evil over but he fell into danger by continual storms and English Frigats that lay in wait for him of all things most to be feared For those that looked from Land believed those Frigats to have been up with the Kings Ships though indeed they saw not one another by reason of a Cloud that interposed And so after
all his Endeavours to have them cleared But the Parricides under pretext of doing Justice refer the Matter to the Court of Admiralty which by long Delays protracts the Suit till the Silver upon pretext of the Publick Necessity being brought ashore and Coyned in the Tower of London was in Oliver's Protectorship Condemned with the rest of the Goods Let us now make a step over to the Portuguese whose King 's Excuse Cromwell took in very good part seeing he pretended sorrow for what he had done Wherefore he discharges the Ships laden with Sugar upon reparation of the English Losses and enters into Alliance with him for confirmation whereof Medows is sent over to Portugal with the Embassador who then was upon his return But I must not here pass over the Embassadors Brother Don Pantaleon Sa who had not the luck to return again into his own Country For he walking one Evening in the New Exchange of London and resenting an Affront which he thought he had received from one Gerard the Night following he repairs to the same Place attended by the Retinue of his Brother the Embassador and with Sword and Pistol falls indifferently upon Men and Women A great Hubbub rising upon this Colonel May an Irish-man drew and alone beat off the Portuguese the Authors of the Tumult However next morning Don Pantaleon Sa was carried out of his Brother's House to be tried for the Murder of one Greenway an innocent Person who was unexpectedly and unfortunately killed in the Scuffle and was shortly after brought to the Bar before Rolls Chief Justice of England having some Doctors of the Civil Law for Assessors where the Prisoner having pleaded and much insisted upon the Privileges of the Embassador he is notwithstanding found guilty and condemned But having afterwards by the help of a certain Mistress made his escape out of Prison either by the Discovery of a pretended Friend or the diligent Search of the Keepers he was again apprehended and six months after beheaded upon Tower-hill his Countenance looking so pale that he seemed to have been dead before he died At the same time and upon the same place Gerard for a different Cause and with far greater Resolution suffered the same Death For he was condemned by the High Court of Justice as they called it for asserting the Royal Cause and upon the same Scaffold where the Portuguese afterward suffered he chearfully and undauntedly had his Head struck off upon the Block So by Death they seemed to be made Friends who so lately sought one anothers Life Vowell a School-master was hanged for the same Cause who bravely upbraiding the Judges to their Faces with Injustice he cited the Judges and Cromwell to appear before the Judgment Seat of God who will render to every one according to their Works But let us return to our King who having an Appartment in the Louvre did not lazily lament his Misfortunes but tried all ways whereby he might better his cross Fortune and set things to rights again He uses all Endeavours to procure the Favour of the King the Cardinal and Princes He mediates a Peace betwixt Spain and France but in vain seeing the Cardinal was against it His next Care was by persuading some and appeasing others to reconcile the Princes of the Blood of France to the King who were in a bad understanding because of the Cardinal At length he prevailed with the Duke of Lorrain who was joyned with the Princes against the King to depart peaceably out of France though he had entred it full of Anger and Revenge But this cost Our King dear For whilst He and the Duke of York were in a private Conference with Lorrain the Duke of Beaufort coming in by chance discovered it to the Princes of the contrary Faction who casting the blame upon the King that Lorrain afterwards forsook them made the French bespatter Him and all His Retinue with bitter Railleries and Calumnies He being a little moved at these things removed to St. Germans until he was informed that Burdeauxe de Neufville had made a firm Peace with Cromwell and then through Liege and Aix la Chapell he went to Cologne in Germany where by the Burgomaster and Senators he was invited to a Banquet and welcomed with all the Expressions of Joy and Friendship The Royalists in England at first knew not what Hand to turn to yet they cast about all ways how they might restore the King to His ancient Dignity and by shaking off the Yoke of Tyranny recover at length their own Liberty The Parricides were indeed but few in number in comparison of them but they were such as exceeded them in craftiness and being victorious had the Arms and Money in their Hands and besides were so well served by their clandestine Spies that they had a watchful eye over all so that they could not confer Counsels nor discourse privately together nor so much as whisper any Business And this was the reason that all Stirs and Attempts of Liberty were prevented The Prebyterians also though they wished well to the King yet for the most part stuck obstinately to their Principles neither advising nor associating with the Royalists but rather entertaining their old grudge and hatred against them The Royalists nevertheless finding by degrees Opportunities of conferring together did by faithful Messengers by Cyphers and Characters by Signs and the dumb Language of Fingers exhort animate and stir up Parties against Cromwell Some of the bolder sort openly disobeyed his Commands many unwillingly complied under pretext of Laws to the contrary whilst others with various Colours and Pretences some pretending themselves Presbyterians others Republicans and others again Anabaptists were still jumbling Affairs and Plotting At length Royal Commissioners began to be appointed all over England the Chief to remain in London and the Inferiour in the several Counties and Provinces with Power to act and by Messengers going to and again to give one another and the Kings Majesty intelligence of the Beginning and Progress of Affairs and of the opportuonities of Acting Among these were some Presbyterians but not many These Commissioners were impowred to draw as many others as they could into the same Association which they set about after this manner Every one according as they could acquainted their trusty Companions with their purpose of Rising the Place Time but that privately and one onely at a time lest if the Matter afterward should come to be detected there might be no more but one Witness against the Party accused So the Affair was spread amongst a vast number of Men and the more to be feared that it was communicated to so many Few Nobles either of higher or lower Quality but were made acquainted with the Design and though some declined the Danger yet most of them kept Counsel Nay many Republicans who now were more displeased with the Tyranny of Cromwell
of Jamaica Ten Major Generals are set over the Provinces Cromwell makes Peace with the French The Jews sue for liberty to come and live in England MDCLVI Cromwell makes Peace with the Portuguese The Swedish Embassadour is feasted by Comwell at Hampton-Court Blake and Montague beat eight Spanish Ships and take two of them richly laden A Mock-Parliament of the three Nations England Scotland and Ireland is held at Westminster James Naylor a false Christ enters Bristol MDCLVI LVII Sundercome who conspired Cromwells death is condemned He is found dead in his Bed in the Tower of London Harrison Lawson and others are committed to Prison Blake burns the Spanish Fleet in the very Harbour of Santa-cruce Cromwell refuses the Title of King offered him by the Parliament He is solemnly inaugurated Protector And the Parliament is adjourned for six Months Richard Son to Cromwell is made Chancellour of Oxford Jepson is sent to Sweden and Medows into Denmark Mardike-Fort taken by the English and French The Vicecount Falconberge marries Mary Daugh-to Cromwell MDCLVII LVIII A Parliament is again held consisting of two Houses Suddenly dissolved by Cromwell Slingsby and Hewet are beheaded Dunkirk is yielded to the French Cleypole Cromwell's Daughter dies at Hampton-Court Oliver Cromwell Protector dies in Whitehall Richard Cromwell publickly declared Protector Oliver is buried in Westminster MDCLVIII LIX Richard calls a Mock-Parliament which is held at Westminster Overton is recalled from his Banishment The Lower-house vote Richard to be Recognised Protector of England Scotland and Ireland And Vote also a present Conference with those of the Other House about Publick Affairs The Officers of the Army present a Remonstrance to Richard and he to the Parliament The Parliament make an Ordinance That the Officers of the Army meet not to hold Consults The Officers beset Whitehall and Richard by Proclamation dissolves the Parliament Richard being turned out the Rump-Parliament is again revived FINIS A TABLE To the Second Part. A. ADdresses and gratulatory Petitions to Cromwel pag. 190 Ascham the Rebel Embassadour in Spain killed there 72 B. Blake his Death and Character 228 C. Cavaliers conspire to rise for the King but disappointed 182 225 Church of England her Ministers persecuted 5 Cromwel Oliver 6 98. He procures a kind of Amnesty to be past by the Rump 156. Turns out the Rump 161. Is made Protector 165 166. The Instrument 166. His Arts and Cunning 184. Calls a House of Commons under the name of a Parliament 186. But cannot work 'em to his will 189. The manner of his Government in some matters 190 191 192. His fears and mistrust 198. Enters into a League with France 210. Treats with the Jews about a Toleration 210 211. Calls a pickt Assembly of the three Nations 212. The point debated whether he should take the Title of King 214 215. The manner how he was inaugurated Protector and the Speech thereat 218. Falls sick 233. Dies 236. His Character 237. His Funeral 341. Cromwel Richard 217 223. He becomes Protector 240. Callâ— a Sham-Parliament 243. Dissolves it 246. He is advised to be for the King but refuses the advice 247. Turn'd out of his Protectorship by the Rump 250. D. Dorislaus sent by the Regicides into Holland 2. Is killed there 3. Dunbar defeat 106 Dunkirk taken by the English 231 Dutch War 171 G. Gloucester Duke sent for to Cologn by the King 197 H. Hereticks in Gromwel's time 219 Hewet Dr. 225 High Court of Justice another erected 79. And does a world of mischief 80. inf I. Jamaica taken by the English 209 Jersey subdued 155 Ireland Expedition thither under Cromwel 6. inf Subdued 55. Juries endeavoured to be abolished by Cromwel 203 K. King Charles I. the state of Affairs after his death 1 King Charles II. seeks help from foreign Princes 67. Proclaimed in Scotland 83. Crowned there 117. His march into England 120. His Escape from Worcester 128. inf Arrives in France 150. Removes to Cologn 180. His Restoration foretold by an Astrologer 198. L. Lambert John his Character 55 Lane Jane 136 Lords of Cromwel 's making 222 Love 's Conspiracy 115 M. Major-Generals and their Tyranny 200 Man-Island subdued 156 Marriages by Justices of Peace 164 Montross the noble Marquiss his Story 90 N. Nayler James his Pranks 220 P. The Pendrils 128 Petty Sir William 61 Portugal Embassadour's Brother beheaded 178 R. Rump-Parliament and Army disagree 156 Turned out by Cromwel 161 Brought again into play 249 S. Scotland Expedition thither under Cromwel 98 Subdued 152 Slingsby Sir Henry 183 225 Sundercome and the Republicans conspire against Cromwel 220 221 V. Van Trump kill'd 176 Vowel a condemn'd Royalist cites Cromwel and his Judges to appear before the Judgment-seat of God 179 W. War against the Spaniards in America 206 Between the Danes and Swedes 228 Worcester-Fight 125 Part the Third OR THE HISTORY OF THE Composing the Affairs of England By the Restauration of King CHARLES II. And the Punishment of the Regicides And the Settlement of the Church and State as they were before the Rebellion THE Civil War of England begun by a pernicious and fatal Parliament raged for the space of eight years with various successes of Battels till the Royalists being in all parts worsted and not able to keep the Field Charles the First the best of Kings a Prince of most exalted but persecuted Virtue to avoid the victorious Arms of the English Independants moved by ill fate or bad counsel cast himself into the arms of the Presbyterian Scots by whom he was for a round sum of money treacherously delivered up into the hands of English Traytors Nor was it long before he was a sad instance that the Prisons of Kings are but little distant from their Graves For what the flagitiousness of past Ages never attempted and future Will hardly believe the unfortunate Prince to make way for the Usurpation of the Traytor Cromwel was forced by a scenical and mock-form of Law and Justice to lay down his sacred head to be struck off upon a Block The boldest Villany that ever any Nation saw and a Parricide that all the World was astonished at But this Villany succeeding so prosperously and Britain at length and Ireland being subdued by victorious Rebels as the Forces of Charles the Second were entirely routed by the defeats at Dumbar and Worcester Cromwel the Traytor delayed no longer the execution of his long-projected Wickedness He knew full well that the name of the Parliament was grown odious to the people through the uneasiness of their flagitious and usurped Dominion Turning therefore his Arms against his hauty Masters he turned them out of the House as Objects first of his own contempt and then of the peoples scorn The onely grateful action he did to the Kingdom And now
Name by any kind of Villany Peters a Fanatical Tub-preacher and the Jack-pudding of the Ordinances Sometimes he was Presbyterian and sometimes Independant as the several Factions prevailed He was the first of the Jugglers that from the Pulpit sounded the Trumpet to Civil War a fellow full of talk and had a knack of sporting the People into Sedition with an insipid kind of Buffoonry and Lying which past with them for Eloquence and became a Crony of Oliver's by a flagitious compliance October the seventh Clements Scot Jones and Scroop suffered the same death upon the same Gibbet without any regard had to a decent end Clements was heretofore a Merchant in London a lustful mercenary Traytor who abused his Parliamentarian Authority to Whoredom and Leachery Jones brought nothing with him out of Wales his native Country but Infamy and an ignoble Extraction he was first a Robber and for his excessive wickedness preferred to be a Colonel he married Cromwel's Sister who then enriched his Relations with the Spoils of the Commonwealth nor was he less related to Oliver by Affinity than Villany and to many men prejudicial by his ill nature Scot sprung out of a Brew-house and amongst other Calamities of the Civil War was admitted into the Parliament-house and of all the Traytors perhaps was the most inveterate Enemy to Charles the Martyr of which Villany he bragg'd to the last and so rejoyced in the Kings Murder that he would have Posterity remember him as an Author of so great a Crime and besides the murder of the King was guilty of many other horrid Villanies Of all the Regicides that surrendred themselves Scroop onely was hanged for whether by indiscretion or obstinacy he drew upon himself this ill fortune or that a mans destiny is not to be avoided I shall not determine for after that he had surrendred himself he seemed so much to justifie the Murder of the King that he chose rather to be looked upon as a Criminal than an humble Supplicant Then Hacker and Axtell at Tyburn had the reward of their Treason Hacker formerly in London and Axtell in Bedford had kept shops The Quarters of the Traytors their Bowels being burnt and their Heads were set up upon the Gates and publick places of London The fugitive Regicides being summoned by Proclamation to appear were afterwards by Act of Parliament declared guilty of High-Treason and their Estates forfeited Nor did the just severity of the Parliament so punish the living as to quite forget the dead for the like Sentence of High-Treason was pronounced against the deceased Ireton Cromwel Bradshaw and Pride who having whilst alive usurped the Government of the murdered King they with no less impudence when dead were pompously buried in Henry the Seventh's Chappel the burying-place of Kings of England The Parliament therefore ordered their Bones and stinking Carcasses to be raised and buried under Tyburn and in this posthumous disgrace being dragg'd through the City they had a Gibbet-interment I think it will not be amiss to give the Reader an account of the Original of the last named Traytors so famed for enormous Villanies which here I shall once for all subjoyn Ireton of a mean Extraction was Cromwel's Son-in-law and the Confident and Counsellor of all his secret Villanies who though to all others he was most hidden and reserved yet to this man he opened his heart as he on the other hand was reported not onely to have kept his Counsels but also to have advised him to act many of his worst Villanies He was esteemed the best Orator of all the Colonels and had a canting kind of preaching Rhetorick more copious than eloquent Pride descended of unknown Parents and was Dray-man to a Brewer but within a short time the affairs of England being in confusion the rough-hewn Clown was dignified and made proud by the Title and Authority of a Colonel nor is it certain whether he was the greater Knave or Fool. Bradshaw was of the fatal High Court of Justice the more fatal President a Lawyer of no account at the Bar till being bribed by money he got himself a name by a most execrable Villany The Scarletrobed Brauler and hardly more innocent than Pilate surpassed the wickedness of all the rest of the Kings Murderers by his boldness in condemning an innocent Prince and adding malicious scoffs to the impudence of the Fact without any Reverence to Captive Majesty Cromwel indeed came of a better Race but which he himself for ever disgraced The ancient dignity of his Family by the name of Williams changed afterward by his Ancestors in the time of Henry the Eighth to that of Cromwel had its original from a Blacksmith His Youth was loose infamous and debauched but having run out his Estate and from a prodigal Rogue turning Puritan and then Fanatick like another Cataline incited by Beggary he ventured upon the overthrow of the State Bearing a mind above a private condition he still appeared as a private person and had the art to set himself off undiscerned He had a wonderful dexterity amongst the Fanatick Rout in whose opprobrious friendship he chiefly delighted of winning upon the minds of the Rebels shaking his bald pate and smiling with a deceitful Countenance he was by Nature and Art excellently disposed for alluring the affections of the Dissenters nor do I know whether amongst mortal men there was even a cunniner Artist in pretended Piety a wickeder or more crafty man and bolder in attempting any Villany But by what deceitful grinning Arts having overturned the Parliament and murdered the King he raised himself to Supreme Power many great Wits and able Pens have already described Much he did in War but more by Perfidiousness Hypocrisie Perjury and Falshood More cruel he was than the ancient Tyrants whose Manners and Examples he imitated with Tiberius he was subtile and suspicacious He had a crafty disposition with a jealous head and delighted in none of his Virtues so much as in Dissimulation more easily concealing Hatred than Fear Nero he acted in the slaughter of his best Country-men nor was he unlike him in driving a Coach His Countenance carried the bloudy complexion of Domitian and a redness that fortified him against Blushing But that he might not onely appear famous through Crimes and Villanies by intervals he made a shew of some great actions not from a principle of Goodness but Ambition nor out of love to Virtue but Vanity and future Glory This alone was wanting to his fortune and our slavery that he had neither a Son nor Successour able to match him Pity it was that that bold Orator or rather Bagpiper was out of the way at the shameful Obsequies of the Traytors that the same hand which reproaching all Kings in Latin vindicated the Party and justified in writing the Crimes of the Parricides now might though a surley lookt School-master have either made a Funeral-Oration
for the deceased or sung their Praises in hanging Elegies his Poetry surpassing his Oratory especially when he treated of such monstrous subjects Strangers may perhaps wonder and no less our Posterity at home that such base and contemptible fellows many of them Brewers others who drank as they had brewed and spent their Estates and some again whose ignominious Poverty was a scandal to the Nation should overturn the flourishing state of England and get to the top of Authority and Government Would we know the cause of it These were the Spoils and these the Trophies of Heresie which taking its rise from the Sermonizing Presbyterian Ministers increased by the Independants hurried on by the Kennel of all the Sectarians and by a kind of flying Contagion spread over all the Forces could not be stopt till they had shed the Royal Bloud subverted the Parliament and made one ruinous heap of all good Subjects Some time before September the twenty third the Princess of Orange was come into her Native Country more fatal to her than a foreign Land to congratulate his Majesties return but falling sick of the Small Pox at London on Christmas-Eve she died being snatched away amidst the Triumphs and fresh Lawrels of her Brother Charles she onely shared in the adverse fortune of her Family and renewed the Mourning wherein the Court still was for the untimely death of the Duke of Gloucester I shall begin the year with the Solemnities of the Coronation of King Charles On the two and twentieth of May the King from the Tower of London as the custom is at the Coronation of our Kings passed through the City where in honour of so great a Solemnity the Citizens of London in the more eminent places of the streets erected four Triumphal Arches of a vast height and bigness elaborate Pieces of Art and exquisite Engines of Pomp bearing Inscriptions and Devices and adorned with Painting and gilding The first Arch bore in its Frontispice the Triumph of Charles upon his return To CHARLES the II. By the grace of G. K. of G. Brit. To the Best and Greatest And ever most Venerable Ever most August The most Happy most Pious Who was born for our Good Who of his Native Britain And of Mankind in general Has deserved most To the Father of our Country The Extinguisher of Tyranny The Restorer of our Liberty The Founder of our Quiet In memory of his happy And long-desired Restitution We Willingly and Joyfully Have placed this S. P. Q. L. CAROLO II. D. G. Britanniarum Imp. Optim Maxim Vbique Venerando Semper Aug. Beatissimo Piissimo Bono Reip. Nato De Avitâ Britan. De omnium Hominum genere Meritissimo P. P. Extinctori Tyrannidis Restitutori Libertatis Fundatori Quietis Ob Faelicem Reditum Ex voto L. M. P. S. P. Q. L. The second being a Naval bore this Inscription To the British Neptune CHARLES the II. By whose Authority The Sea Is free or restrain'd NEPTVNO Britannico CAROLO II. Cujus Arbitrio Mare Vel Liberum vel Clausum The third placed in the middle of the City represented the Temple of Concord with this Inscription The Temple of CONCORD Erected in honour of the best of Princes By whose return The British Sea and Land being appeas'd and By its ancient Laws reform'd He has restored Enlarged and adorned it S. P. Q. L. Aedem CONCORDIAE In Honorem Optimi Principis Cujus Adventu Britannia Terrâ Marique Pacata Et Priscis Legibus Reformata est Ampliorem Splendidioremque Restituit S. P. Q. L. The last exhibited the Garden of Plenty and Cornucopia's with the Statues of Bacâ—bus Ceres Flora and Pomana with this Inscription To Plenty and to Augustus The fire of Civil War Being Extinguished And the Temple of War shut This Lofty Altar Was built by the S. A. P. O. L. VBERTATI Aug. Extincto Belli Civilis Incendio Clausoque Jani Templo Aram Celsiss Construxit S. P. Q. L. Under all these the King rode on horse-back streight to his Palace in a triumphant manner with Trumpets Musick and the joyful Acclamations of the People being attended by the Nobility his Majesties Ministers and Servants the Heralds Kings at Arms the Kings Judges and Knights of the Bath The solemnity of this day though it was not so great in the number of Attendents yet in richness and splendour of Cloaths and Arms it surpassed the triumphant Entry of the King upon his return Next morning the King was in great pomp conducted to Westminster-Abbey where in his Imperial Robes the Prelates in their Myters and the Nobles in their Parliament-Robes conducted him to his Throne and the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed him with the sacred Oyl Afterwards all the ancient and usual Ceremonies upon such occasions were performed ¶ The Author of this History designing the utmost brevity hath not mentioned any of these Ceremonies but Mr. Philips in his Continuation of Dr. Richard Baker's Chronicle has very exactly set forth all the Rituals then used but hath omitted the Coronation-Oath and onely given an Epitom of it and there having of late years been strange Pretences raised upon the account of this Oath it is thought fit to insert the same here from Mr. Sanderson's History of Charles the First with that variety of Circumstances which were used in the Coronation here mentioned expressed by Mr. Philips Coronation-Oath SIR said the Bishop of London will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the People of England the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergie by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of the Realm The King's Answer I grant and promise to keep them Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and goodly Agreement according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergie and the People King I will keep it Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Law Justice and Discretion with Mercy and Truth to be executed to your Judgment King I will Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth King I grant and promise so to do Then the Bishop of Rochester read this Admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical Priviledges and do Law and Justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King to his Kingdoms ought to be Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the
Churches under their government The King answered With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their government Then the King arose and was led by the Bishops of Duresme and Bath and Wells to the Communion-Table where he made a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the Premises and laying his hand upon the Bible said The OATH The things which I have here promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the Contents of this Book On the eighth of May a new Parliament met which continued many years Since the year before the Regicides had been brought to condign punishment the three Estates of Parliament now condemned to the flames the Solemn League and Covenant the Bond of the English and Scottish Conspiracy and Sacrament of the Presbyterian Villany The same was done by the Parliament of Scotland and Ireland and that which had raised a Civil Combustion and propagated the same all over Britain and Ireland is now burnt by the hand of the Hangman and by its own ashes expiated at length the wickedness of three Nations This year was concluded or the new begun by the further punishment of Regicides For by Order of Parliament Mouson an upstart Lord Sir Henry Mildmay heretofore Keeper of the Jewels to the late King and therefore the more criminal and Robert Wallop on the seven and twentieth of January the day whereon the blessed King had been condemned were in Hurdles with Halters about their necks dragged to Tyburn and back again to Town being sentenced to perpetual imprisonment It was sufficiently made out that they had been Members of that execrable High Court of Justice but because they had not signed the Warrant for the Kings execution they were onely punished by Bonds and Imprisonment Hazelrigg in the mean time one of the bitterest of all the Traytors being sentenced to the same punishment pined away with anger and grief and unable to bare his disgrace prevented the dishonour and his captivity by a timely death in the Tower of London The same punishment was inflicted upon the Traytors who as we said before came in upon the Kings Proclamation For being brought to the Bar because waving all defence they humbly acknowledged their Crime and that they were a Crew most part of them of silly seduced Rascals drawn in either by the arts or threatnings of Cromwel they redeemed their necks from the Gallows which they had so often deserved by a perpetual imprisonment to which being closely confined they lived to see their Villany punished by Infamy But fortune was more favourable to the Traytors that came in at home than to those who fled abroad for about that time Sir George Downing being Embassadour in Holland had intelligence that three of the Fugitive Regicides Barkstead Okey and Corbet being come back out of Germany lurked in Delf He therefore having obtained a Warrant from the States General seized them and sent them over to England where being brought to a tryal they were condemned for High-Treason and April the nineteenth executed at Tyburn They went all to death with a fanatical ostentation of Piety But Barkstead and Corbet approaching to their end after many ugly delays and cups of Strong-waters unwillingly put their trembling necks into the Halter which quickly put an end to the Wretches half dead already for fear But Okey being a man of an undaunted mind and making use of his courage to the last went off with the bravoury of a Souldier and not undecently had he so died for his Country Corbet was heretofore an inspired prating Lawyer more skilful in the Principles of Fanaticks than in the Laws he got to be a Member of that long and black Parliament and no man was more professedly an implacable Enemy to the King The low extraction of Okey is buried in obscurity Being a Tallow-chandler in London and weary of his poor condition he followed the profitable Wars of the Parliament where his daringness advanced him to the place of a Colonel and at length to be one of the chief Judges in trying and sentencing the King Barkstead was heretofore a whifling Goldsmith in London and had raised himself upon the Ruines of his Country But those who knew the cunning of Oliver in chusing his Magistrates wondered that he preferred so silly and idle a fellow even to be a Colonel and Lieutenant of the Tower of London besides other Offices But that kind of stupid fierceness was more useful to Cromwel than the cunninger knavery of others for the Tyrant himself for the most part looked another way and commanded the Villanies which he would not behold so that this fellow no doubt was privy to the furious Councils of Cromwel and a trusty Minister of his Protectoral Cruelty And so long as he was chief Jaylor to Oliver the barbarous Villain was never startled at the sight of the Murders and Imprisonments of so many Nobles and worthy Subjects His head was set upon a Gate of the Tower whereof heretofore he had been Governour that upon the same Stage where he acted his greatest Crimes he might suffer his greatest Punishment The first Prodigy of the Regicides was their matchless impudence in putting to death the King and their next their obstinacy to the last For when they had murdered the best of Kings to the shame of Christianity the infamy of the Reformation and the universal reproach and malediction of Fanatick Zeal these godly Regicides were ashamed when Treason stuck in their breasts to confess their hypocritical pretending Religion even at the last gasp Nay their Godliness made them so impudent as rather to know themselves guilty and deny it to save their reputation amongst their Brethren than humbly and modestly to acknowledge their Crimes The Authority of Parliament was the onely thing that all of them alleadged to justifie their Parricide as if a Gang of fifty Robbers who had so often violated that Authority had been worthy of that name when there was neither the colour nor resemblance of a House of Commons left Nec color Imperii nec frons fuit illa Senatûs But since they could live no longer to do mischief their whole care was at their death to harden the minds of their Party by a fanatical assertation of dying good men when it was rather the highest Judgment of an offended God to let them fill up the Cup of their bold Indignities by a desperate end It was time now for the King who was a Batchelour to think of Marriage that he might leave a Posterity for the future
the King was very near discovered by an Hostler From thence as good luck would have it to Broad-VVindsor Where he is disquieted by Soldiers quartering there And the Country People Wilmot is in danger at Chayremouth Vpon a suspition occasioned by his Horses Shoes The Hostler consults the Minister of the place Who having seriously weighed the matter He hunts after the King tho too late Especially in Sir Hugh Windham 's house The King returns to Trent having sent VVilmot to Coventry A ship freighted at Southampton but without Success The King gâ—es to Heal. Having taken leave in the morning he returns â—ack without the knowledge of the Servants and is hid From thence he hastens to Bright-Helmstead Gunter having hired a Vessel Where at Supper he is known by the Master of the Bark Who being afraid of the Parliaments Proclamation With diffiulty undertakes the thing His Wife who smelt it out â—ncouraging him to the busâ—ness Being got on board they coast along the Shore as bound for the Isle of VVight In the Evening they arrive in Normandy The King very skilful in Navigation The Master of the Vessel being kindly dismissed arrives the same night at Pool The King having changed his Cloathes at Rouen Where by chance he found Doctor Earle He goes to Paris Whos 's safely was an illustrious Testimony of Divine Providence Cromwell having sent the Prisoners before comes to London Sterling Castle surrendered to Monck Noblemen taken by Alured Dundee was a prey to the Conquerour All Scotland in the power of the English who strengthen themselves by new Citadels And subdue Orkney and the Isles The Scots rise but in vain The administration of civil Affairs in Scotland by Judges for the most part English And a Council of State Thirty Commissioners from thence allowed to sit and Vote in the Parliament of England The Scots had what they deserved Hains subdues Jersey The Isle of Mann also takâ—n An Act of Oblivion passes But not without the instance of Cromwell The Soldiers displeased with the Rump Which with these Crimes they load As minding onely their own advantages The Objections are boldly enough answered The Soldiers reply Of whom therefore the Rump under another pretence order a great part to be disbanded The Soldiers refusing and demanding a new Representative An equal numbâ—r of both consult in common But without any Fruit. The Rumpers are divided about the manner of the Representative And about the Time Not willing to give the Power rashly out of their own hands Cromwell flying to the House and objecting to them Misdemeanours and other horrid Crimes Commands all to be gone And they delaying by the assistance of the Soldiers he expelled them the House And makes them ridiculous The People rejoycing And much applauding him They consult in the mean time what is fittest to be done The Officers advance the Godly to the Government Chosen from among the Off-scowrings of the People and out of all Sects Who having chosen a Speaker Take the Name of The Parliament of England And presently shew their madness in falling soul of the Ministers Colleges and Nobility They abolish all Courts of Justice Appoint Justices of Peace to celebrate Marriage The sounder part deliver up the Government to Cromwell who with reluctancy accepts it Lambert chiefly and by his persuasion the rest of the Officers consenting But he would be called Protector not King Cromwell swears to his own Conditions and presently chuses Counsellors out of every Sect. What were the thoughts of men in this great Revolution A War with Holland The use of it Different Opinions of the States of the United Provinces about that Matter The middle Opinion prevailing Embassadors for Pacification are sent into England In the heat of the Treaty a sharp Engagement hapned The Dutch excuse the matter But confederate with the Danes And fight again and again At length they sue for Peace Cromwell being now at the Helm A fourth Engagement most fatal to the Dutch Trump being killed And 2000 besides Cromwell claps up a Peace with the Dutch and Danes And lays a snare for the Prince of Orange Sâ—ditious Seamen Three Hansiatick Ships are stopp'd And condemned Cromwell is reconciled to the King of Portugal The Embassadors Brother Don Pantaleon Sa For a Murder committed in London Is beheaded And Gerard at the same time also for standing up for the Kings Interestâ— Vowell hanged for the same Cause The King of England uses all Endeavours to oblige the French King But being basely used He removes to Cologne His Friends in England in the mean time use all endeavours Cromwell counter-endeavours Yet by mutual Exhortations they do somewhat The matter was at length undertaken by Commâ—ssioners Very cauâ—iously The Republicans also conspiring with them And some Governours of Places But Cromwell discovering the Design easily disappoints it Some rising too soon Others cowardly And all disappointed of their Hopes Many Persons of Great Quality committed to Prison Not a few put to death Cromwell's Arts of Discovery Spies mingled amongst the Cavaliers Especially one Manning that lived at Court Who at length was justly put to death Cromwell calls a Parliament of Commoners onely Wherein he brags of his own good Deeds Which he would have the Parliament to confirm But they on the contrary nibble at the Instrument of Government The Officers and Courtiers opposing it But the Republicans urging the same But Cromwell severely checks these Debates And obliges all that would enter the House to own the Government However he left all his Labour The Republican Soldiers conspire his ruine Which he smelling out presently dissolved the Parliament He makes Peace with Sueden And France For Support of his Authority he procures Gratulatory Addresses from the Officers of the Army in Scotland Then from the Officers in England And afterwards from some Corporations He affected to be a Promoter of Justice And a rigid Censurer of Manners And a Favourer of the Clergy Whose Divisions nevertheless he foments whilst he seemed earnest in composing of them Industriously suppressing the Insolence of the Presbyterians He was ill-affected towards the Church of England tho he was accustomed to caress some few He hugged the Independents Nor was he an enemy to Fanaticks And Roman-Catholicks He creates Censurers of the Preachers out of every Sâ—ct Who basely minded their own Profit He studies to ingratiate himself with all men according to their various Humours With the Nobility The Godly Country People And also the Soldiers Always glancing at his own Profit A most cunning Diver into the Manners of Men. And most prodigious Hypocrite King Charles finds for the Duke of Glocester his Brother from France Lest the Stripling might be in danger of hâ— Religion amongst Catholicks 〈…〉 by a certain Astrologer Oneal Cromwell continually dogg'd with anxious biting Cares Thinks himself safe no where Getting into the Coach-box to exercise his Body He was very near being torn to pieces alive by Horses Of new he oppresses the