bind him but what proceeds from his own Mouth nor that neither any longer than he pleases and by vertue of such a Traiterous Legerdemain a Prince is to be distinguish'd oft and absolv'd from a Coronation-Oath and our Allegiance to be transpos'd or inverted by a barbarous Contradiction of the Term into a subsequent Obligation And the Duty of Obedience must shift with the Wind because the Weathercock was placed upon Churches in pious memory of St. Peter who besides denying Christ preach'd as 't is said the Doctrine of Passive Obedience also I 'm sure if this be true morally speaking 't will be nonsense and to no purpose to pretend to establish any Laws in Church or State And our Ancestors had been ev'ry jot as well employ'd at Push-pin or with Socrates and his Boys playing at Cob-Nut or riding the Hobby-horse with as good a grace as contending for Magna Charta All Government in short without the immediate hand of Heaven which we are not taught by God or instructed by the Events of Story to rely on or expect will at this rate of Argument become utterly impracticable and must degenerate into Confusion So on the other side the misapplication of the Constitution of Government may be almost as fatal as the throwing it off As for instance in a Mixt or Limited Monarchy where the Ingredient Qualifications are not duly observed and fairly maintain'd Sometimes these Forms have prov'd but Snares on the Subjects Liberties and Properties Thus it is when one part of the State encroacheth upon the others and 't will be the same thing when they have all together or two of them too close and united a Correspondence and Intelligence and the Trinity in Unity or Vice versa if I may so speak are confounded and consolidated The one part of the Body represented may thus as well be betray'd out of its Rights as huffed out of them in the other Case Where-ever a Constitution is not preserved in its primitive force and dignity according to the true intent thereof some part may and must suffer A Legislative Power may be as pernicious as an Executive for 't is far from impossible that Injuries may be done under the Colour and Mask of Laws Sir William Temple quotes Heraclitus for saying The only skill or knowledge of any value in the Politicks was the Secret of governing all by all And he afterwards remarks That what Prince soever can hit of this Secret need know no more for his own Safety and Happiness or that of the People he governs For no State or Government can be much troubled or endanger'd by any private Factions which is grounded upon the general Consent and Satisfaction of the Subject Happy Kings if they would be contented to have kept within the Confines of such Measures But this is a Doctrine which will not go down with Kings Thus Germany flourish'd till Charles the Vth's time who introduced higher Reasons of State till the Jesuits taught the way of bringing the Sovereign Power from the States to the Empire What hath Spain got by the pretence of an Absolute Power i. e. Oppression It lost Portugal it lost the Low Countries c. And in truth the Kings of Spain have exerted their Power so far till they have lost it all and by Trick of Favourite-Ministers and other Politicks interchangeably transacted and shuffled between them and the French Kings they are now at last scarce in a Condition by virtue of such Arbitrary Extravagancies to defend themselves The Princes of Italy who are so Absolute only betray their own Weakness by it And though France at present may seem to flourish outwardly yet who knows not that She groans in her Bowels Indeed Sir Robert Cotton is unhappily mistaken in his Conclusion touching England That it cannot groan under a Democracy which it never yet felt or fear'd And the late Times under King Charles the First seem to be an Instance to the contrary and an Exception to that Rule But then the Reasons are given by him but just before viz. That such a Government suiting thus with Monarchy must strictly maintain its Form And I doubt 't was something like affecting at Arbitrary Power exclusive of his Parliament at least the House of Commons which brought that Unfortunate Monarch within the Exception to the Rule and the Rule may stand good still Generally speaking Trick and Fraud seldom make a Second Advantage and Matchiavel after all his Noise instances only in Alexander the Sixth who he says thriv'd by it yet mark the End he at last was poyson'd by a Fraud prepared by his Bastard Borgia for another The French have a Saying L' Addresse surmonte la Force But I suppose they are not so harden'd to extend this to all Frauds and Falsifications There are some Honest Politicks and Stratagems which a Man of Honour may lawfully use no doubt in War in Peace in Treaties Honest if only that Custom hath given them a sort of Sanction Though by the by of old these Methods were despised by the Braver Heroes even before Christianity which allows us to be Wise as Serpents but Innocent as Doves But all that I contend for in Modern Politicks is the Exercise of Justice and Honour which is or ought to be the Peculiar Character of Kings And that Sincerity is the likeliest Principle to establish a Nation And must hold with Padre Paolo That open Honesty and Plain-dealing at last will prevail against Trick and Artifice All Laws of Power are or are supposed to be founded on the Law of God and 't is said Righteousness supports Crowns For God's sake What is the Moral of Prerogative What is the End of this Absolute Power Whence do Kings derive this superlative Talent of controuling Mankind Is it that they have been stiled and courted as Gods or their Representatives Alas we find they represent Man in Understanding and Failings 'T is not therefore that they are inspired with any greater Degree of Perfection or Wisdom No we find by Experience they are in this like other Men subject to the same Passions and Infirmities As King James the First said They differ not in Stuff Their Natural Advantages do not afford them such Superiority and Pre-eminence in Power with any Justice of Human Reason This great Deference and Submission which they claim as due to their Character must be either That God once vouchsafed them his Supernatural Assistance or That now Kings are presumed to have the Assistance of a Better and Wiser Council If the first the Signs are vanished if the latter 't is confess'd due subject to the Rules and Forms of the General Law of Nations and the Municipal Laws of the Land on supposition that Kings act and labour by the joint Concurrence of Wise and Legal Councels for the Publick Good of the Common-wealth Hence it is that they are endow'd with greater Privilege Hence it is that they are intitled to what is call'd Prerogative to pass over the Definitions
so the State doth not in the Alterations of them So that he is not Absolute or Independent either in his Ecclesiastical or Civil Capacity of Policy And therefore the whole Constitution and Three Estates must necessarily be call'd in on all Occasions of Change in Discipline or Innovation of Rites as well as in the alteration and repealing of other Old Laws or introducing and declaring New ones This by way of Parenthesis But I was speaking of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarchal Power and the Extravagancies he infers from thence grounded as he pretends from Scripture Therefore I would only ask him one Question more Was there no such proper Word in the Hebrew Greek or Latin for Tyrant or Slave Pray how then came the Words and Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience into the Greek It must be only taken up of late by some such Authors in disgrace of Monarchical Government according to Law and to put Obedience as Legal out of countenance To bring People to submit blindly to Arbitrary Power There is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which signifies at least King or Prince But is there any one doubts that there has been such a thing as a Harsh Unreasonable and Unnatural Father or King It must follow then that the Obedience intended by the Apostles who wrote in Greek was only to the Laws and the Legal Exercise of them according to the Usage of their respective Places which made them Legal Or to Kings as not being a terror to the Good but only to the Evil But it would tire even Patience it self to follow these sort of Gentlemen in all their Confused By-ways Therefore to return more immediately to my Subject and to my Friend Seigneur de Montaigne whom I am not asham'd to own let the Grave and Wise say what they will for I must ever have a greater Respect for an Author who talks judiciously of Trifling Matters if they be so than for One who talks triflingly on Judicious Subjects He tells us These Great and Tedious Debates about the best Form of Society and the most Commodious Rules to bind us are Debates only proper for the Exercise of our Wits and all the Descriptions of Policies feign'd by Art are found to be ridiculous and unfit to be put in practice And in another place Not according to Opinion but in Truth and Reality The best and most Excellent Government for every Nation is that under which it is maintain'd This Montaigne says who express'd and practis'd as great Loyalty as ever any Man of Sense and Honour did and I agree with him That all Reverence and Submission is due to Kings except that of the Understanding This as a Gentleman and as a Christian he farther adds Christian Religion hath all the Marks of utmost Utility and Justice but none more manifest than the severe Injunction it lays indifferently upon all to yield absolute Obedience to the Civil Magistracy and to maintain and defend the Laws i. e. in English To submit according to Law And all Policy as well as Religion enforces Obedience to the Administrators of Right and Justice And if it be permitted to argue from Etymologies which is surer than from Examples the Grecians tell us the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Vbi homines versantur vel potius a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certis legibus juncti And we may assure our selves That People would not build Houses c. till the Possession and Enjoyment of them was establish'd by certain Laws But we shall never have done never come to any settlement if the Forms of Government and Laws are not admitted but suffer'd to be disputed at this time of day We are therefore to take Laws as we find them and as they stand in use and practice by a continued Establishment It can't be material therefore to look back how the Figure of our Legislative Power stood a Thousand Years ago or from a much shorter date of Time How the Form of Writs issued to the Commons was heretofore though no doubt the best Authority is with them and it is confest they were always a Constituent part of the Legislative Power as 't is idle and impertinent to say The Supreme or Legislative Power must be ever Arbitrary this is an absurd Affirmation when all Parties in a Nation agree by their Representatives to the Enaction of Laws By the Laws of God and Man Our Constitution ought now to rest in Peace in an Inviolable Establishment Kings swear as our Saviour preach'd in the Mount to the Multitude A King's Coronation-Oath must be interpreted ad Captum Populi and to ordinary Intendment That so there may be some certain Rule of Governing and true Measures of Obeying whereby the whole Community may be preserv'd in Peace and Order which is the End of all Government We in England seem to value our selves more peculiarly on the Polity of our Constitution There hath been enough said in praise of our Laws No doubt they are very good if well observ'd so good at least That I never heard that any King of England ever pretended to except against them when he was ask't the Question at his Coronation Whether he would Observe the Laws and so Good That the Subject as far as I perceive desires only the Confirmation and Continuance of them And I will be bold to say for the Honour of the English Nation and People notwithstanding the ill Name some are pleas'd to give us at home and abroad at present That there was never any War in England from the Barons War to the late Civil War setting aside the Dispute between the H. of Y. and L. but what was occasion'd and begun on Colour of the King 's imposing an Arbitrary Power over the Rights and Privileges of the People and after Complaint and Application for Redress of Grievances and Restitution of their Rights and Privileges and all other Nations have done the same where they could I speak of the beginning of Wars I do not always justify the End of them And must aver That the People of England in general have notwithstanding the Proverb which is Exotick been always Good-natur'd Subjects Easy enough to be impos'd upon and cajoled out of their Money and their Lives for the Service of the Crown And as I think so Modest that they have never assum'd as Men to stand in competition with Majesty nor have ever pretended to be so much as Kings till Kings were persuaded to think themselves more than Men Hence as you will perceive in these short following Remarks have for the most part sprung those Jealousies which divided King and People and disjointed the United Common Interest of Both. Ambitious and Designing Men have rais'd Fantoms of Powers and Laws which had being only in the Clouds at least had none amongst us And Imaginary Constructions have been put upon those which were plain and obvious The Terms of Power and Subjection
't in Lewis the Son of Philip the French King the People in general not living like Men nor dying like Christians nor having Chrstian Burial the whole Nation one dismal Scene of Horrid Misfortunes Behold the Effect of Violated Faith and Arbitrary Oppression But it is no great Credit to Prerogative That this King who had no very good Title unless it were Election was the first Vindicator of it in a violent manner And asserted the Right to Absolute Power with the same Justice as he did That to the Crown in the time of Arthur his Nephew who was the Undoubted Heir By these means he brought himself and People into Troubles which never ended but with his Life HENRY III. HERE we may perceive as also in another Reign or two hereafter how the Irregularities of a Father or Predecessor involve the Son and Successor in a Remainder of Troubles and the Nation also in their intail'd Misfortunes For although those Lords as Sir Richard Baker tells us who had been constant to the Father notwithstanding his Faults were also more tender of the Son who was Innocent and so stuck to him That by the Interest chiefly of William Marshal Earl of Pembroke who married his Aunt they prevail'd so that Young Henry was Crown'd King yet he could not come to the Crown upon the square but was forc'd to do Homage to Pope Innocent for his Kingdom of England and Ireland when he took his Coronation-Oath and to take an Oath to pay the Church of Rome the Thousand Marks which his Father had granted And though after his Coronation most of the Lords maintain'd him in his Throne preferring their Natural Allegiance to Henry before their Artificial Obligations to Lewis and Beat or Compounded the latter out of the Kingdom yet this King Henry so soon as he was got out of Protection and came to Administer the Government himself immediately in gratitude Cancels and Annuls the Charters which he had granted on pretence forsooth of Minority altho' he had taken an Oath as well as the Legate Guallo and the Protector to restore unto the Barons of the Realm and other his Subjects All their Rights and Privileges for which the Discord began between the Late King and his People These Rights and Privileges were several times enquired into and ascertain'd by the Returns of the Knights who were charged to examine them were what were enjoy'd in the time of the Saxon Kings and especially under Edward the Confessor and what the Charters of King John and his own express'd For 't is ridiculous to imagine That William II. Henry I. Stephen and King John should pretend to an Arbitrary Power virtually who all came in by the Consent if not Election of the People We may see how a Favourite can Absolve a King in Law and Conscience too And what a pretty Creature a King is when Prerogative and Humour are Synonimous and he Acts by Advice of a single Person or Party counter to that of his Parliament Hence as the Historians say grew Storms and Tumults no quietness to the Subject or to himself nothing but Grievances all the long time of his Reign He displaceth his English Officers to make room for Foreiners and all the Chief Councellors Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom are removed as distrusted that is for giving him Good Counsel and only Strangers preferred to their Places and Honors and Castles the King's House and Treasury committed to their Care and Government These Indignities put upon the Lords put them also upon Confederating to reduce the King to the sense of his former Obligations but to their Petitions he returns Dilatory and Frivolous Answers and to requite their Favours sends for whole Legions of Poictavins to Enslave the Nation and to crown the matter marries himself without Advice to a Daughter of the Earl of Provence by which he brought nothing but Poverty into this Kingdom Afterwards in the Long Story of this King we hear of nothing but Grievance upon Grievance Confederacy upon Confederacy Parliament upon Parliament and Christmas upon Christmas were kept here now there in as many Places as he call'd his Parliaments and to as much purpose Bickerings upon Bickerings and Battle upon Battle till it grew to that height That the Lords threaten'd to Expel him and his New Councels out of the Land and to create a New King and the Bishops threaten'd him with Excommunication whilst through a various Scene of Confusion and Hurly-Burly sometimes one Party being too peremptory sometimes t'other with an Interchangeable undecent Shuffling on the King's Side and a Rude Jealousy on the Lords and various Turns of Arbitrary Fraud and Obstinate Disputes for above Forty Years wherein Prerogative and Liberty grew Extravagant and Mad by turns till the Nation was brought to the last Gasp at length the King in the Fifty second Year of his Reign in most solemn manner confirms the Charters That Magna Charta which was granted in the Ninth Year and pretended to be avoided by reason of Infancy and the Statute of Marlebridge which he had granted upon his Second Coronation in the Twentieth Year Wherein Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta were confirm'd with this Clause Quod contravenientes graviter puniantur Upon which as is said Peace and Tranquillity ensued And these Charters have never since been Impugn'd or Question'd but Confirm'd Establish'd and commanded to be put in Execution by Thirty two several Acts of Parliament And from the Authority whereof no Man ought to be permitted to recede even in his Writing to flatter any King whatever and Sir Robert Filmer Dr. Brady and Mr. Bohun c. perhaps deserv'd as severe a Correction as Collonel Sidney for writing Books and Papers only for I do not think he deserv'd Hanging if not greater for their's were dispers'd by an ill-tim'd-publication whereas t'others lay still only in his Study We date our Non Obstantes from this King which Matthew Paris calls an Odious and Detestable Clause and Roger de Thursby with a sigh said it was a Stream deriv'd from the Sulphurious Fountain of the Clergy EDWARD I. I Know not whether this King may come up to the Character which some of our Historians give of him in all Respects yet without doubt he stands an Instance and Example of Princely Qualities and Virtues fit to be imitated and at least as he is stiled the Second Ornament of Great Britain And as a Wise Just and Fortunate because Wise and Just Prince who in regard of his Noble Accomplishments and Heroical and Generous Mind deserves to be ranged amongst the Principal and Best Kings that ever were as Walsingham and Cambden Polyd. Virgil and Others relate Baker divides his Acts into five Parts 1. His Acts with his Temporal Lords 2. His Acts with his Clergy 3. With Wales 4. With Scotland And lastly With France And First He gave his Lords good Contentment in the beginning of his Reign by granting them Easier Laws and particularly in the
others he himself made the Laws a Measure of his Prerogative It will not be worth Enquiry Whether he first Instituted a Parliament in the Form it now stands He raised Money in a Parliamentary way we find in his First Parliament at Salisbury he obtained Three Shillings upon every Hide of Land towards the Marriage of his Daughter with the Emperor although 't is said there these Aids were due by Common Law from the King's Tenants by Knight's Service viz. Aid to Ransom the King's Person Aid to make the King 's Eldest Son a Knight and Aid to Marry the King 's Eldest Daughter once And although this matter was ascertain'd afterwards by King John's Charter at Running-Mead yet following Kings have not been so tender and reserv'd in this Point If he may be said to be Cruel to his Brother Robert I 'm sure he was very Honourable towards Lewis of France when in England whither he came on his own Head notwithstanding he was Solicited and Tempted to make him away As to his Personal Virtues or Vices they were to himself If he fail'd in the Oeconomicks he had Troubles in his own House and whether his Misfortunes of this kind were occasioned by Judgments or the Follies of himself or Wife it is certain he had his share of them but he took so much care that the Nation knew but very few troubles during his Reign And as he obtained a Kingdom by a sort of Artifice so he used his Prerogative with Discretion STEPHEN THIS King's Reign was almost one entire Scene of Military Actions without any mixture of Civil Policy he did not live a Year to Enjoy or Manage Peace after his Agreement with Henry II. the Son of Maud And there was never any formal Meeting of the Body of the Estates in his time The Expences of his War were occasioned by a troubled Title and he maintained them by Confiscations and although he had continued Charges that way yet he required few or no Tributes from the People 'T is said he had another way of getting Money viz by causing Men to be Impleaded and Fined for Hunting in his Forests after he had given them Liberty to Hunt there For thus far at least the Kings Exercised an Absolute Prerogative only over the Beasts of the Forest Which is a Prerogative I confess they ought to Enjoy Indisputably HENRY II. THOUGH this King came to the Crown by the most Absolute Title and Clearest Right yet in Four and thirty Years time we do not find that he pretended to impose upon his People any Arbitrary Power but by Success and Policy he added to the Crown of England Scotland Ireland the Isles of Orcades Britain Poytiers Guyen and other Provinces of France And for all this he had only one Tax of Escuage towards his War with France His causing the Castles to be Demolished was a justifiable piece of Policy for the reason given as being Nurseries of Rebellion In the beginning of his Reign he refined and reformed the Laws and 't is said made them more Tolerable and Profitable to his People than they were before and what is better Governed himself by them We do not find the Punishments of Capital Offences or others were certain but variable and distinguished in the same Crime according to the degrees of Aggravation The Church-Chroniclers bestow a Judgment upon him for refusing to take the Protection of the Distressed Christians in Jerusalem offered to him by Heraclius the Patriarch and assign his Troubles at Home to that Cause but they might be mistaken and he might as he apprehended have had greater from his own Sons if he had gone Abroad upon that Errand And if the Church will forgive him the Story of Thomas Becket for he was otherwise very Civil to it the State had no reason to complain of him for he suffered neither his Wars nor his Pleasures to be Chargeable to the Nation nor his Concubines to be Spungers on the People RICHARD I. THERE is but little Observable in the Reign of this King with relation to the Subject at Home he being the greater part of it out of the Land If his Artifices of Raising Money were not Justifiable the occasion may at least Excuse him He obtained a Subsidy towards his necessary Charges of War what was properly called Taxation was by Parliament or by the Subjects own Contribution and Method of Charging themselves with as the Money raised for his Ransom If he may be charged with some slips in Justice he made it up in Courtesy which by the by goes a great way with Englishmen for 't is observed they may be Led tho' they will not well Drive And upon his return Home from the Holy Land we find the first thing he did was to give his Lords and People Thanks for their Faithfulness to him in his Absence and for their readiness to Supply him for his Ransom JOHN MOntaigne says in one of his Essays and he speaks it upon Observation of History That Women Children and Mad-men have had the Fortune to govern Great Kingdoms equally well with the Wifest Princes And Thucydides That the Stupid more frequently do it than those of better Understanding Whether this be an Argument of a Providential Disposing and Governing of Kingdoms I leave to those that are conversant that way Some Men perhaps may be apt to think it reflects Disgrace on Dignities if this be true Some Kings are involv'd in such a Cloud of Circumstances of Difficulty and Intrigues that there is no looking into them nor making any Judgment of their Actions Speed guesses of King John That if his Reign had not fallen out in the time of so Turbulent a Pope such Ambitious Neighbour Princes and such Disloyal Subjects nor his Story into the Hands of Exasperated Writers he had appear'd a King of as great Renown as Misfortunes This is civilly and gently said This is certain This King as all others when once they have broke through their Coronation-Oath presently became as it were infatuated and deaf to all good Counsel stoop't to every thing that was mean and base and having once laid aside his Native Honour run into all Dishonourable Sordid Actions The History represents him pursuing his Profit and even his Pleasures by all manner of Injustice He prosecuted his Brother Geoffry Archbishop of York and took from him all he had only for doing the Duty of a Wise and Faithful Councellor Hence his Lords grew Resty and refused to follow him into France unless he would restore to them their Rights and Liberties which he had invaded And when he shuffled with them in the Grant of their Demands What Wars what Miseries did not follow Wars at Home Foreiners call'd in the Nation plunder'd and spoil'd Money procured by Base poor-spirited Tricks He on one Side forc'd to truckle to the Pope and as is said to submit to somebody worse his Subjects on the other hand calling in to their Relief as they thought a Foreiner fetch
Business of Religion For we shall find I doubt in History notwithstanding all Observation to the contrary That if Religion be not supported by State-props it will not stand long and that That which hath only for its Ingredients Mercy and Honour will be in short time overrun and go to the Walls whilst the Religion of Violence and Blood will propagate it self by Inquisitions and the Artifices of its own pretended Zeal And that notwithstanding all Innocent Precautions 't is too true That a Prince of Matchiavell's Composition will at present and for once prevail over one of a Sincere Vertue and open Honour This I say upon the appearing Reason of the thing That our Nation in particular may not be imposed upon over and over again with the same Appearances and only that we should stand upon our Guard against all Popish Representations how innocently soever colour'd and against all Foreign Overtures how well soever baited Queen MARY ONE would have thought that the Reign of this Queen might have satisfied a Nation of any Capacity of Thinking in the Professions of a Papist and what weight the Promises of the Church of Rome to Hereticks ought to have with Protestants The Principles and Practices of Papists were well enough known even in those times in our Neighbouring Country of France under Henry the II d by the Execution of so great a Number of Protestants who were Burn'd in the Greve the common Place of Execution but the manner of it was not Common They were Haled up by a Pully and Iron Chain then suffered to fall down in the midst of a great Fire which was repeated several times And 't is said the King himself would needs feed his own Eyes with this Tragical and Melancholy Spectacle and that the Horrible and Mournful Shreiks of one of those poor Wretches left so lively an Impression in his Imagination that all his Life long he had from time to time a very frightful and terrible Remembrance of those dreadful Groans However it were it is certain that the Smell of those Carcasses then Roasted got into the Brains of a great many People who on the one hand beholding the false Constancy as Mezeray calls it and on the other hand the scandalous dissolute Living named this Justice as he terms it a Persecution and their Punishment a Martyrdom This is the tender Account given of it by a Popish Historian And he says Faggots were then lighted every where against the Protestants Queen Mary made her passage to the Throne through her Promises to the Norfolk and Suffolk Gentlemen that she would make no Alterations in Religion but before she was warm in it she shewed how she dissembled her false Favours and removed the Protestant Bishops and sent Cranmer the Archbishop of Canterbury and Latimer and others to the Tower and passed Judgment on them to Dye All this before her Coronation And as Mezeray tells us When she was once Absolute Mistress she Cemented the Throne with the Blood of the Lady Jane her Husband her Father and almost all her Kindred and after that she spilt much more to Restore the Catholick Religion which brought the State into such Convulsions as had like to have proved Mortal and all for the Advantage of a short Duration Thus Mezeray still a French and Popish Writer And in truth the Lady Elizabeth escaped very narrowly for Gardiner that special Bishop of Winchester had procured her to be sent to Prison and had framed a Warrant under certain Councellors Hands to put her to Death but that Mr. Bridges Lieutenant of the Tower pitying her Case went to the Queen to know her Pleasure who utterly denied that she knew any thing of it or was then ashamed at least to Own it by which means her Life was preserved This Good-natur'd Merciful Bishop and Popish Priest was not contented to Lop off Boughs and Branches as he phras'd it at the Council-Board but was for plucking up the Reformation by the Root meaning Queen Elizabeth and to do the Spaniards Justice 't is said they interceded for her perhaps it was only in Policy that their Master might have Two Strings to his Bow as it appeared by the sequel for he Courted Queen Elizabeth after the Death of Queen Mary 'T was evident farther how Queen Mary intended to keep her Word as to Religion by her Match with Spain No doubt she had a mind to put it out of her Power and cast the Odium of Persecution off from her self But we ought not to Reflect on her for Marrying one of her own Religion since our Protestant Kings on this side the Reformation have had a good knack ever since of providing for the Security of the Protestant Religion by Popish Matches for though King James the First did not actually Wed he did not dare to have attempted it in Scotland a Papist yet he was more to blame in advising and pursuing One so hotly for his Son than his Son who finished a Popish Match at last This by the bye The Rebellion of Wyat was an ill tim'd Attempt begun too early as another late One since but had he let it alone a little longer till Queen Mary shewed her self more fully in her proper Colours when the Pope's Primacy came to be proposed and laboured to be Restored and Cardinal Pool came over it might have had another Effect and proved a generous Effort for the Rescuing the Infant Reformation from the Jaws of Popish Tyranny For the Pope had just Taught the People the way of being Absolved from their Allegiance and they might infer if he could do it or it were to be done for the sake of Religion That they might Absolve themselves from their Allegiance for the good of Religion also But when once a first Undertaking miscarries through an ill-tim'd and rash Precipitation a Second seldom or never comes to Maturity in the same Shape and Nature Her Five Years Reign passed in a Hurry of Religion Love Persecution Mariage c. with some Lunatick Intervals of Mercy It is said her Reign was polluted with Blood of Martyrs Unfortunate by frequent Insurrections and Inglorious by the Loss of Callis It is said also she was a Lady of Good Nature and Merciful Disposition in her self What then can we expect from the Reign of any Popish Prince where the Barbarous Zeal and Unhuman Authority of that Church can so far Impose upon and Over-rule even a Merciful Prince that Dr Heylin calls her's the greatest Persecution since Dioclesian's time and which raged most terribly 'T is truly and absolutely impossible for any thing of Honour Virtue or Good Nature to have any place in a Sovereign under such a Sovereignty Queen ELIZABETH IN rhe Reign of Queen Elizabeth we may observe the difference in a method of Protestant and Popish Reformation or Alteration of Religion The Popish under Queen Mary was begun and carried on by Imprisonments Fire and Blood The Protestants by this Queen with a true Christian
Affairs of the Church were so prudently managed in her time with relation to Puritans as well as Papists that she left it in a Condition to stand upon its own Legs and maintain it self without Danger from Opposition had it been preserv'd with the same continuance of Zeal and unshaken Fidelity by her Successors As to her Civil Administration the Heathen and Mahumetans the Persians and Idolaters the Ethiopians and Muscovites name her with Reverence And Bossac in one of his Letters to Cecil saith He that Excommunicated her spoke of her with Honour She chose her self a Wise Councel and shewed her own Wisdom in being Advised by them She had a hard Game to play with Philip of Spain as well as her own Popish Subjects yet she managed both softly and by degrees and at last by Parliament fix'd and secured the general Alteration in Religion which she could never have done by her self First-Fruits and Tenths were Restored to the Crown and the Supremacy Confirmed to the Queen She avoided Matrimony whether upon any Consideration besides Prudence I shall not enquire by doing so she preserv'd her self Head of the Church and State and Mistress of her self as well as her Subjects and Oblig'd and Silenc'd the Parliament by soft Answers of denial when they Remonstrated to her for that purpose and put an unanswerable Compliment upon them by telling them She had placed her Affections upon her People in General But in matters of Religion she was no Courtier after she had once declared her self a Protestant though some pretend she Dissembled in her Sister's Days she did not look back towards the Pope did not shuffle in her Religion but refused all Communication with him and also generously declined all the Overtures of Advantage made by Pius the IVth She equally despised his Threats and Temptations Afterwards she readily and sincerely Assisted the Distressed Protestants her Neighbours on all Occasions She provided every thing for the Strength and Honour of the English Nation and saw it maintain'd in its True Glory both at Home and Abroad Would not be wheadled nor huff'd to betray it but carry'd its Reputation farther Abroad than any of her Predecessors had or Successors hitherto have done She shew'd it the way to overcome even the Invincible Armada of Spain which the Spaniards with all their Force and Fraud had provided to Invade us and basely to Attack us by Surprize when they were at the same time in a Treacherous Treaty of a Peace And all this she did without oppressing her Subjects well knowing as she her self declared when she remitted a Fourth Subsidy that the Money was as sure in her Subjects Coffers as her Own 'T is said of her Never Prince ruled with more Justice and with her Justice mingled more of Mercy She was term'd St. Elizabeth by some at Venice for her Merciful returning home certain Italians which were taken Prisoners in the Invasion of 1588. And 't is said some told the Lord Carleton being then Ambassador That though they were Papists yet they would never pray to any other Saint a Compliment at that distance may be laid hold of at home for an acknowledgment of a just Character But her Truest Character we may take from her own Behaviour and from her own Mouth because it seems to have nothing of Vanity in it In her Speech to her last Parliament 1601. she thus expresseth her self To be a King and to wear a Crown is a thing more Glorious to them that see it than it is Pleasant to them who bear it Though you may have had and may have many Mightier and Wiser Princes sitting in this Seat yet you never had nor shall have Any that will love you better Du Serres says of the Reign of Henry the Fourth of France her Contemporary It is a Sign of a Happy Reign when the Subject rejoyceth to see their Prince 'T is probable he might mean it as well of Queen Elizabeth Or we may apply it for him as it was verified of her For it was observ'd in her short Progresses that People of all sorts would flock to see her And not only that for I have known other Kings attended through Curiosity but also what hearty Acclamations did they utter As God save Queen Elizabeth c. and she would Reply God bless you my People all Few Princes miscarry who have the Affections of the better part of their People 'T was for this Reason I suppose that the Mother of the Duke of Guise her professed Enemy said Elizabeth of England was the most Glorious and Happy Woman that ever swayed Scepter And Henry the Fourth of France in a Letter to Monsieur de Rosny commends her with an implicit sort of Emulation She had such a Character even with the Turks for Morality and Natural Honour That at her Instance he countenanced the English Trading there and thence came as is said our Turky Company and every one knows the Benefit of it to England Also the Duke of Russia for her sake as is said who yet is so jealous of Strangers gave Civil Reception to the English In short That Kingdom which she found in Troubles and unsetled she left Establish'd in True Religion Peace and Plenty at Home and Reputation Abroad JAMES I. I Dare not Encounter this King so rudely as some have done 't is said upon good Experience Nor would I be thought to offer Undecent Reflections at a King who came Ushered into our Throne with such a Reputation for Wisdom of his own and such Advantages of a Councel left him fam'd for it Yet in my own Opinion and poor Observation I can't for my Soul pay that mighty Veneration to his Character and Memory which the World would seem to demand He seems to me to have stumbled at the Threshold in our Kingdom and to have done a thing not very Honourable or Prudent Who after he had so poorly quitted the Resentments of his Mother's Death before by a sort of Reflex Malice yet in pious Memory of her Sufferings and to revive the Reasons of them here and as it were to Countenance and Abet the Norfolk Family upon the same Foundations forthwith calls the Lord Thomas and Henry Howard two Papists to the Council thereby intimating as it were hopes to the Papists c. which they were apt enough no doubt to conceive Nor will his Pretended Apprehension of the Pope's Briefs to the Catholicks excuse him Tho Sir Richard Baker who was bribed by a Knighthood at his first coming over represents him in the front to have done it only upon Prudential Motives that is Fear Thus he at first dash disobliged all Parties And who knows but this first Cast of Favour to them and to the Earl of Southampton whose Father 't is true was a great Friend to Mary Queen of Scots but a greater to Popery and his partial aukward Behaviour towards other Gentlemen might be the Foundation of that complicated Treason by the Lord Cobham Sir Walter