farther as the heavenly Bodies when three of them meet in Conjunction do use to produce some admirable effects in the Elementary World So when these three States convene and assemble in one solemne great Iunta some notable and extraordinary things are brought forth tending to the welfare of the whole Kingdom our Microcosme HE that is never so little versed in the Annals of this I le will find that it hath bin her fate to be four times conquered I exclude the Scot for the scituation of his Country and the Quality of the Clime hath been such an advantage and security to him that neither the Roman Eagles would fly thither for fear of freezing their wings nor any other Nation attempt the work These so many Conquests must needs bring with them many tumblings and tossings many disturbances and changes in Government yet I have observed that notwithstanding these tumblings it retained still the forme of a Monarchy and something there was always that had an Analogy with the great Assembly of Parlement The first Conquest I find was made by Claudius Caesar at which time as some well observe the Roman Ensignes and the Standard of Christ came in together It is well known what Lawes the Roman had He had his Comitia which bore a resemblance with our Convention in Parlement the place of their meeting was called Praetorum and the Laws which they enacted Plebiscita The Saxon Conquest succeeded next which were the English there being no name in Welsh or Irish for an English man but Saxon to this day They also governed by Parlement though it were under other names as Michel Sinoth Michel Gemote and Witenage Mote There are Records above a thousand years old of these Parlements in the Reigns of King Ina Offa Ethelbert and the rest of the seven Kings during the Heptarchy The British Kings also who retain'd a great while some part of the Isle unconquered governed and made Laws by a kind of Parlementary way witnesse the famous Laws of Prince Howell called Howell Dha the good Prince Howell whereof there are yet extant some British Records Parlements were also used after the Heptarchy by King Kenulphus Alphred and others witnesse that renowned Parliament held at Grately by King Athelstan The third Conquest was by the Danes and they govern'd also by such generall Assemblies as they do to this day witnesse that great and so much celebrated Parlement held by that mighty Monarch Canutus who was King of England Denmark Norway and other Regions 150 years before the compiling of Magna Charta and this the learned in the Laws do hold to be one of the specialst and most authentick peeces of antiquity we have extant Edward the Confessor made all his Laws thus and he was a great Legis-lator which the Norman Conquerour who liking none of his sons made God Almighty his heir by bequeathing unto him this Island for a legacy did ratifie and establish and digested them into one entire methodicall Systeme which being violated by Rufus who came to such a disastrous end as to be shot to death in lieu of a Buck for his sacriledges were restor'd by Henry the first and so they continued in force till King Iohn whose Reign is renowned for first confirming Magna Charta the foundation of our Liberties ever since which may be compar'd to divers outlandish graffes set upon one English stock or to a posie of sundry fragrant flowers for the choicest of the British the Roman Saxon Danish and Norman Laws being cull'd and pick'd out and gathered as it were into one bundle out of them the foresaid Grand Charter was extracted And the establishment of this great Charter was the work of a Parliament Nor are the Lawes of this Island only and the freedome of the Subject conserved by Parlement but all the best policed Countries of Europe have the like The Germanes have their Diets the Danes and Swedes their Rijcks Dachs the Spaniard calls his Parlement las Cortes and the French have or should have at least their Assembly of three States though it be growne now in a manner obsolete because the Authority thereof was by accident devolv'd to the King And very remarkable it is how this happened for when the English had taken such large footing in most parts of France having advanced as far as Orleans and driven their then King Charles the seventh to Bourges in Berry the Assembly of the three States in these pressures being not able to meet after the usuall manner in full Parlement because the Countrey was unpassable the Enemy having made such firme invasions up and down through the very bowels of the Kingdom That power which formerly was inhaerent in the Parlementary Assembly of making Laws of assessing the Subject with Taxes subsidiary levies and other impositions was transmitted to the King during the war which continueth many years that entrusted power by length of time grew as it were habitual in him and could never after be re-assumed and taken from him so that ever since his Edicts countervaile Acts of Parlement And that which made the businesse more feasable for the King was that the burthen fell most upon the Communalty the Clergy and Nobility not feeling the weight of it who were willing to see the Peasan pull'd down a little because not many years before in that notable Rebellion call'd la jaquerie de Beauvoisin which was suppressed by Charles the wise the Common people put themselves boldly in Arms against the Nobility and Gentry to lessen their power Adde hereunto as an advantage to the work that the next succeeding King Lewis the eleventh was a close cunning Prince and could well tell how to play his game and draw water to his own mill For amongst all the rest he was said to be the first that put the Kings of France Hors de page out of their minority or from being Pages any more though therby he brought the poor peasans to be worse than Lacquays and they may thank themselfs for it Neverthelesse as that King hath an advantage hereby one way to Monarchize more absolutely and never to want money but to ballast his purse when he will so ther is another mighty inconvenience ariseth to him and his whole Kingdom another way for this peeling of the Peasan hath so dejected him and cowed his native courage so much by the sense of poverty which brings along with it a narrownesse of 〈◊〉 that he is little usefull for the war which put 's the French King to make other Nations mercenary to him to fill up his Infantery Insomuch that the Kingdom of France may be not unfitly compared to a body that hath all it's bloud drawn up into the arms breast and back and scarce any leâ—…t from the girdle downwards to cherish and bear up the lower parts and keep them from starving All this seriously considered ther cannot be a more proper and pregnant example than this of our next Neighbours to prove how infinitly necessary
happinesse and wanton kind of prosperity This City of London was grown to be the greatest Mart and mistress of trade of any in the world Insomuch as I have been certainly inform'd the King might have spent meerly upon His customes 4000 crowns a day Moreover she had a vast bank of money being made the scale of conveying the King of Spains treasure to Flanders Insomuch that in a few yeers she had above ten millions of his moneys brought hither which she might have remitted in specie or in marchandize and for which this King had five in the hundred for coynage Yet could he not get beforehand with the world having a sister with so many Nephews and neeces having a Queen with diverse children of His own at least 16 of the Blood-Royall to maintaine with divers profuse Courtiers besides which made Him more parsimonious then ordinary The Warres then growing more active 'twixt Spaine and France as also 'twixt Holland and Spaine both by Land and Sea and divers great Fleets of Men of War as well French who were growne powerfull that way as Dunkerkers Spaniards Hollanders and Hamburgers appearing daily in His narrow Seas and sayling close by His Chambers the world wondred this King had no greater strength at Sea in case that any of the foresaid Nations should doe him an affront as some of them had already done by denying to dash their Colours to his Ships Insomuch that in Holland and other places he was pasquill'd at and pourtrayed lying in his cradle lullaby'd and rock'd asleep by the Spaniard Hereupon being by advertisements from his Agents abroad and frequent advice of His Privie Councell at home made sensible of the danger and a kind of dishonour he was faln into and having intelligence that the French Cardinall began to question his title to the Dominion of the narrow Seas considering He employed no visible power to preserve it He began to consult of meanes to set forth a royall Fleet but in regard the Purse of the Crowne was lightly ballasted and that he had no mind to summon the three Estates because of some indignities he had received in former Parliaments by the Puritan party a race of people averse to all Kingly Government unlesse they may pare it as they please his then Atturney Generall Noy a great cryed-up-Lawyer put it in his Head to impose an old Tax called Ship-mony upon the Subject which the said Lawyer did warrant upon his life to be Legall for he could produce divers Records how many of his Progenitors had done the like The King not satisfied with his single opinion refer'd it to his learn'd Council they unanimously averred it to be agreeable to the Law of the Land yet this would not fully satisfie the King but He would have the Opinion of His twelve Judges and they also affirmed by their single vouches the said Tax to be warrantable Hereupon it was imposed and leavied but some refusing to pay it there was a suite commenc'd during which all the Judges were to re-deliver their opinions joyntly and the businesse being maturely debated and canvased in open Court divers months and all arguments produc'd pro con nine of the said twelve Judges concluded it legal Thereupon the King continued the imposition of the said Tax and never was mony imployed so much for the Honour and advantage of a Countrey for he sent out every Summer a royall fleet to scowre and secure the Seas he caused a Galeon to be built the greatest and gallantest that ever spread saile Nor did he purse up and dispose of one peny of this money to any other use but added much of his own Revenues yeerly thereunto So the world abroad cried up the King of England to be awake againe Trade did wonderfully encrease both Domestic and forrein in all the three Kingdomes Ireland was reduced to an absolute Settlement the Arrears of the Crown payed and a considerable Revenue came thence cleerly to the Exchequer of England every year the salaries of all Officers with the pay of the standing Army â—…here and all other Charges being defrayed by Ireland her self which was never done before Yet for all this height of pappinesse and the glorious fruites of the said Ship-money which was but a kind of petty insensible Tax a thing of nothing to what hath hapened since there were some foolish peeple in this Land which murmured at it and cryed nothing else but a Parliament a Parliament and they have had a Parliament since with a vengeance But before this occasion it was observed that the seeds of disobedience and a spirit of insurrection was a long time engendring in the hearts of som of this peace-pampred People which is conceived to proceed from their conversation and commerce with three sorts of men viz. the Scot the Hollander and the French Huguenot Now an advantage happened that much conduced to necessitate the convoking of a Parliament which was an ill-favoured traverse that fell out in Scotland For the King intending an Uniformity of Divine worship in all His three Kingdoms sent thither the Liturgy of this Church but it found cold and course entertainment ther for the whole Nation men women and children rise up a gainst them Here upon the King absolutely revoked it by Proclamation wherein He declared 't was never His purpose to press the practise therof upon the Consciences of any therfore commanded that all things shold be in statu quo prius but this wold not serve the turn the Scot took advantge hereby to destroy Hierarchy and pull down the Bishops to get their demeans To which purpose they came with an Army in open Field against their own Native King who not disgesting this indignity Mustred another English Army which being upon the confines of both Kingdoms a kind of Pacification was plaistred over for the present The King returning to London and consulting His second thoughts resented that insolency of the Scots more then formerly Hereupon He summons a Parliament and desires aid to Vindicat that Affront of the Scot. The Scot had strong Intelligence with the Puritan Faction in the English Parliament who seemed to abet his quarrel rather then to be sensible of any national dishonour received from him which caused that short-lived Parliament to dissolve in discontent and the King was forced to find other means to raise and support an Army by privat Loanes of His nobler sort of Subjects and Servants The Scot having punctual Advertisements of every thing that passed yea in the Kings Cabinet Councel was not idle all this while but rallies what was left of the former Army which by the Articles of Pacification a little before should have bin absolutely dismissed and boldly invades England which he durst never have done if he had not well known that this Puritan party which was now grown very powerful here and indeed had invited him to this expedition wold stand to him This forein Army being by the pernicious close machinations
bloud in open field one brother seeks to cut the others throat they have put division 'twixt master and servant 'twixt Land Lord and Tenant nay they have a long time put a sea of separation 'twixt King and Queen and they labour more and more to put division 'twixt the Head and the Members 'twixt His Majesty and his politicall Spouse his Kingdom And lastly they have plung'd one of the flourishingst Kingdoms of Europe in a war without end for though a Peace may be plaister'd over for the time I fear it will be but like a fire cover'd with ashes which will break out again as long as these fiery Schismaticks have any strength in this Island so that all the premisses considered if Turk or Tartar or all the infernal spirits and Cacodaemons of hel had broken in amongst us they could not have done poor England more mischief Sir I pray you excuse this homely imperfect relation I have a thousand things more to impart unto you when we may breathe freer air for here we are come to that slavery that one is in danger to have his very thoughts plundered Therfore if you please to accept of my company I will over with you by Gods help so soon as it may stand with your conveniency but you must not discover me to be an Englishman abroad for so I may be jeer'd at and kickt in the streets I will go under another name and am fix'd in this resolution never to breathe English aire again untill the King recovers his Crown and the People the right use of their Pericraniums THE SECOND PART OF A DISCOURSE ' TWIXT PATRICIUS AND PEREGRIN TOUCHING The DISTEMPERS OF THE TIMES LONDON Printed in the Year 1661. A DISCOURS or PARLY Continued betwixt Patricius and Peregrin Upon their landing in France touching the civil Wars of England and Ireland Peregrin GEntle Sir you are happily arrived on this shore we are now upon firm ground upon the fair Continent of France we are not circumscrib'd or coopt up within the narrow bounds of a rhumatick Island we have all Europe before us Truly I am not a little glad to have shaken hands with that tumbling Element the Sea And for England I never intend to see her again in the mind I am in unlesse it be in a Map nay In statu quo nunc while this Faction reigns had I left one eye behind me I should hardly returne thither to fetch it therefore if I be missing at any time never look for me there There is an old Proverb From a blacke German a white Italian a red Frenchman I may adde one member more and from a Round-headed Englishman The Lord deliver us I have often Crossed these Seas and I found my self alwaies pitifully sick I did ever and anon tell what Wood the Ship was made of but in this passage I did not feele the least motion or distemper in my humors for indeed I had no time to taink on sicknesse I was so wholly tsken up and transported with such a pleasing conceit to have left yonder miserable Island Peregrin Miserable Island indeed for I thinke there was never such a tyrannie exercised in any Christian Countrey under Heaven a tyrannie that extends not onely to the body but to the braine also not only to mens fortunes and estates but it reaches to their very soules and consciences by violented new coercive Oaths and Protestations compos'd by Lay-men inconsistent with the liberty of Christians Never was there a Nation carried away by such a strong spirit of delusion never was there a poor people so purblinded and Puppified if I may say so as I finde them to be so that I am at a stand with my selfe whether I shall pitie them more or laugh at them They not onely kisse the stone that hurts them but the hands of them that hurle it they are come to that passive stupidity that they adore their very persecutors who from polling fall now a shaving them and will flay them at last if they continue this popular reigne I cannot compare England as the case stands with her more properly then to a poor beast sicke of the staggers who cannot be cur'd without an incision The Astronomers I remember affirme that the Moone which predominates over all humid bodies hath a more powerfull influence o're your British Seas then any other so that according to the observation of some Nevigators they swell at a spring tide in some places above threescore cubits high I am of opinion that that inconstant humorous Planet hath also an extraordinany dominion over the braines of the Inhabitants for when they attempt any Innovation whereunto all Insulary people are more subject then other Citizens of the world which are fixed upon the Continent they swell higher their fancies worke stronglier and so commit stranger extravagancies then any other witnesse these monstrous barbarismes and violencies which have bin and are daily offered to Religion and justâ—…ce the two grand supporters of all States yea to humane Reason it self since the beginning of these tumults And now noble Sir give me leave to render you my humble thanks for that true and solid information you pleased to give me in London of these commotions During my short sojourne there I lighted on divers odde Pamphlets upon the Seamstresses stalls whom I wondred to see selling Paper sheets in lieu of Holland on the one side I found the most impudent untruths vouch'd by publike authority the basest scurrilities and poorest jingles of wit that ever I read in my life on the other side I met with many pieces that had good stuff in them but gave mee not being a stranger a full satisfaction they look'd no further then the beginning of this Parliament and the particular emergences thereof but you have by your methodicall relation so perfectly instructed and rectified my understanding by bringing me to the very source of these distempers and led me all along the side of the current by so streight a line that I believe whosoever will venture upon the most intricate task of penning the story of these vertiginous times will finde himself not a little beholden to that Relation which indeed may be term'd a short Chronicle rather then a Relation Wee are come now under another clime and here we may mingle words and vent our conceptions more securely it being as matters stand in your Countrey more safe to speake under the Lilly then the Rose wee may here take in and put out freer ayre I meane we may discourse with more liberty for words are nought els but aire articulated and coagulated as it were into letters and syllables Patricius Sir I deserve not these high expressions of your favourable censure touching that poor piece but this I will be bold to say That whosoever doth read it impartially will discover in the Author the Genius of an honest Patriot and a Gentleman And now methinks I look on you unfortunate Island as if one look upon a
the time of the League the King replyed Puis que Monsieur de la Chatre vous à liguè qu'il vous destigue since Monsieur de la Chastre hath leagu'd you let Monsieur de la Chastre unleague you and so the said taxe continueth to this day I have observed in your Chronicles that it hath bin the fate of your English Kings to be baffled often by petty companions as Iack Straw Wat Tyler Cade Warbecke and Symnel A Waspe may somtimes do a shrewd turn to the Eagle as you said before your Island hath bin fruitfull for Rebellions for I think ther hapned near upon a hundred since the last Conquest the City of London as I remember in your Story hath rebelled seven times at least and forfeited her Charter I know not how often but she bled soundly for it at last and commonly the better your Princes were the worse your people have been As the case stands I see no way for the King to establish a setled peace but by making a fifth Conquest of you and for London ther must be a way found to prick that tympany of pride wherwith she swells so much Patricius 'T is true ther has bin from time to time many odd Insurrections in England but our King gathered a greater strength out of them afterwards the inconstant people are alwayes accessary to their own miseries Kings Prerogatives are like the Ocean which as the Civilians tell us if he lose in one plaâ—…e he gets ground in another Cares and Crosses ride behind Kings Clowds hang over them They may be eclypsed a while but they will shine afterwards with a stronger lustre Our gracious Soverain hath passed a kind of Ordeal a fiery triall he while now hath bin matriculated and serv'd part of an Apprentiship in the School of Affliction I hope God will please shortly to cancell the Indenture and restore him to a sweeter liberty then ever This Discourse was stopp'd in the Press by the tyranny of the Times and not suffer'd to see open light till now A SOBER and SEASONABLE MEMORANDUM SENT TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PHILIP late Earl of Pembrock and Montgomery c. To mind Him of the particular Sacred Ties besides the Common Oath of Alleageance and Supremacy wereby he was bound to adhere to the King his Liege Lord and Master Presented unto Him in the hottest brunt of the late Civill Wars Iuramentum ligamen Conscientiae maximum LONDON Printed in the Year 1661. To the Right Honourable PHILIP Earl of Pembrock and Montgomery Knight of the Bath Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter Gentleman of His Majesties Bed-chamber And one of His most Honorable privy Counsell c. My Lord THis Letter requires no Apology much lesse any pardon but may expect rather a good reception and thanks when your Lordship hath seriously perused the contents and ruminated well upon the matter it treats of by weighing it in your second and third thoughts which usually carry with them a greater advantage of wisdom It concerns not your body or temporall estate but things reflecting upon the noblest part of you your soul which being a beam of Immortality and a Type of the Almighty is incomparably more precious and rendereth all other earthly things to be but bables and transitory trifles Now the strongest tye the solemnest engagement and stipulation that can be betwixt the soul and her Creator is an Oath I do not understand common tumultuary rash oaths proceeding from an ill habit or heat of passion upon sudden contingencies for such oaths bind one to nought else but to repentance No I mean serious and legall oaths taken with a calm prepared spirit either for the asserting of truth and conviction of falshood or for fidelitie in the execution of some Office or binding to civill obedience and Loyaltie which is one of the essentiall parts of a Christian Such publick oaths legally made with the Royall assent of the Soveraigne from whom they receive both legalitie and life else they are invalid and unwarrantable as they are religious acts in their own nature so is the taking and observance of them part of Gods honor and there can be nothing more derogatory to the high Majesty and holinesse of his name nothing more dangerous destructive and damnable to humane souls then the infringment and eluding of them or omission in the performance of them Which makes the Turks of whom Christians in this particular may learn a tender peece of humanity to be so cautious that they seldom or never administer an oath to Greek Jew or any other Nation and the reason is that if the Party sworn doth take that Oath upon hopes of some advantage or for evading of danger and punishment and afterwards rescinds it they think themselves to be involved in the Perjury and so accessary to his damnation Our Civill Law hath a Canon consonant to this which is Mortale peccatum est ei praestare juramentum quem scio verisimiliter violaturum 'T is a mortall sin to administer an Oath to him who I probably know will break it To this may allude another wholesome saying A false Oath is damnable a true Oath dangerous none at all the safest How much then have they to answer for who of late yeares have fram'd such formidable coercive generall Oaths to serve them for engins of State to lay battery to the Consciences and Soules of poor men and those without the assent of their Soveraign and opposit point blank to former Oaths they themselves had taken these kind of Oaths the City of London hath swallowed lately in grosse and the Country in detaile which makes me confidently beleeve that if ever that saying of the holy Prophet The Land mournes for Oaths was appliable to any part of the habitable earth it may be now applied to this reprobate Iland But now I come to the maine of my purpose and to those Oaths your Lordship hath taken before this distracted time which the world knowes and your conscience can testifie were divers They were all of them solemn and some of them Sacramentall Oaths and indeed every Solemn Oath among the Antients was held a Sacrament They all implyed and imposed an indispensible fidelity Truth and loyalty from you to your Soveraign Prince your Liege Lord and Master the King I will make some instances Your Lordship took an Oath when Knight of the Bath to love your Soveraign above all earthly Creatures and for His Right and dignity to live and die c. By the Oath of Supremacy you swear to beare faith and true allegeance to the Kings Highnesse and to your power to defend all â—…urisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authorities belonging to his Highnesse c. Your Lordship took an Oath when Privie Counsellor to be a true and faithfull Servant unto Him and if you knew or understood of any manner of thing to be attempted done or spoken against His Majesties Person Honour Crown or Dignity you swore to let
afford you som satisfaction and enlighten you more in the Irish affaires The allegeance I owe to Truth was the Midwife that brought it forth and I make bold to make choice of you for my Gossip because I am From the prison of the Fleet 3. Nonas April is 1643. Your true servant I. H. Mercurius Hibernicus THere is not any thing since these ugly warrs begun whereof there hath been more advantage made to traduce and blemish His Majesties actions or to alienate and imbitter the affections of his people towards Him to incite them to armes and enharden them in the quarrell than of the Irish affaires whether one cast his eyes upon the beginning and proceedure of that warre which some by a most monstrous impudence would patronize upon their Majesties or upon the late Cessation and the transport of Auxiliaries since from thence There are some that in broken peeces have written of all three but not in one entire discourse as this is nor hath any hitherto hit upon those reasons and inferences that shall be displayed herein But he who adventures to judge of affaires of State specially of traverses of warre as of Pacifications of Truces Suspensions of Armes Parlies and such like must well observe the quality of the times the successe and circumstance of matters past the posture and pressure of things present and upon the Place the inducement or enforcement of causes the gaining of time the necessity of preventing greater mischiefes whereunto true policy Prometheus like hath alwaies an eye with other advantages The late Cessation of Armes in Ireland was an affaire of this nature a true Act of State and of as high a consequence as could be Which Cessation is now become the Common Subject of every mans discourse or rather the discourse of every common Subject all the three Kingdomes over And not onely the subject of their discourse but of their censure also nor of their censure onely but of their reproach and obloquy For the World is come now to that passe that the Foot must judge the Head the very Cobler must pry into the Cabinet Counsels of his King nay the Distaffe is ready ever and anon to arraign the Scepter Spinstresses are become States-women and every peasan turned politician such a fond irregular humour reignes generally of late yeers amongst the English Nation Now the Designe of this small discourse though the Subject require a farre greater volume is to vindicate His Majesties most pious intentions in condescending to this late suspension of Arms in His Kingdome of Ireland and to make it appeare to any rationall ingenious capacity not pre-occupied or purblinded with passion that there was more of honour and necessity more of prudence and piety in the said Cessation than there was either in the Pacification or Peace that was made with the Scot. But to proceed herein the more methodically I will lay downe first The reall and true radicall causes of the late two-yeers Irish Insurrection Secondly the course His Majesty used to suppresse it Lastly those indispensable impulsive reasons and invincible necessity which enforced His Majesty to condescend to a Cessation Touching the grounds of the said Insurrection we may remember when His Majesty out of a pious designe as His late Majesty also had to settle an Uniformitie of serving God in all his three Kingdomes sent our Liturgie to his Subjects of Scotland some of that Nation made such an advantage hereof that though it was a thing only recommended not commanded or pressed upon them and so cald in suddenly againe by a most gracious Proclamation accompanied with a generall pardon Yet they would not rest there but they would take the opportunity hereby to demolish Bishops and the whole Hierarchy of the Church which was no grievance at all till then To which end they put themselves in actuall Armes and obtained at last what they listed which they had not dared to have done had they not been sure to have as good friends in England as they had in Scotland as Lesly himself confessed to Sir William Berkley at Newcastle for some of the chiefest Inconformists here had not onely intelligence with them but had been of their Cabinet-counsels in moulding the Plot though some would cast this war upon the French Cardinall to vindicate the invasion we made upon his Masters dominions in the Isle of Rets as also for some advantage the English use to do the Spâ—…niard in transporting his Treasure to Dunkerk with other offices Others wold cast it upon the Iesuit that he shold project it first to â—…orce His Mâ—…jesty to have recourse to his Roman Catholick Subjects for aid that so they might by such Supererogatory service ingratiate themselves the more into his favour The Irish hearing how well their next Neighbouâ—…s had sped by way of Arms it filled them full of thoughts and apprehensions of fear and jealousie that the Scot wold prove more powerful hereby and consequently more able to do them hurt and to attempâ—… waies to restrain them of that connivency which they were allowed in point of Religion Now ther is no Nation upon earth that the Irish hate in that perfection and with a greater Antipathy than the Scot or from whom they conceive greater danger For wheras they have an old prophesie amongst them which one shall hear up and down in every mouth That the day will come when the Irish shall weep upon English mens graves They fear that this prophesie will be verified and fulfilled in the Scot above any other Nation Moreover the Irish entred into consideration that They also had sundry grievances and grounds of complaint both touching their estates and consciences which they pretended to be far greater than those of the Scots For they fell to think that if the Scot was suffered to introduce a new Religion it was reason they shold not be so pinched in the exercise of their old which they glory never to have altered And for temporall matters wherin the Scot had no grievance at all to speak of the new plantations which had bin lately afoot to be made in Conaught and other places the concealed lands and defective titles which were daily found out the new customs which were imposed and the incapacity they had to any preferment or Office in Church and State with other things they conceived these to be grievances of a far greater nature and that deserved redresse much more than any the Scot had To this end they sent over Commissioners to attend this Parliament in England with certain Propositions but those Commissioners were dismissed hence with a short and unsavoury answer which bred worse bloud in the Nation than was formerly gathered and this with that leading case of the Scot may be said to be the first incitements that made them rise In the couâ—…se of humane actions we daily find it to be a tru rule Exempla movent Examples move and make strong impressions upon the fancy precepts are not so
and incontroulably tru lawful that it must be believed by an implicite faith as proceeding from an in-erring Oracle as if these Zealots were above the common condition of mankind to whom errour is as hereditary as any other infirmity though the thing it self encroach never so grosly both upon the common liberty the states and souls of men But if any thing bear the stamp of royal Authority be it never so just and tending to peace and the publick good yea though it be indifferent to either side it is presently countermanded cryed down and stifled or it is calumniated and aspersed with obloquies false glosses and misprisions and this is become now the common Theam wherwith their Pulpits ring Which makes me think that these upstart politicians have not long to reign for as the common Proverb saith Fraud and Frost end foul and are short-lived so that policy those Counsels which are grounded upon scandals reproaches and lies will quickly moulder and totter away and bring their Authors at last to deserved infamy and shame and make them find a Tomb in their own ruines Adde hereunto as further badges of their nature that black irreconcilable malice and desire of revenge which rageth in them the aversness they have to any sweetness of Conformity and Union the violent thirst they have of bloud which makes me think on that disâ—…ique of Prudentius who seemed to be a Prophet as well as Poet a tru Vates in displaying the humors of these fiery Dogmatists this all-confounding faction which now hath the vogue to the punishment I will not say yet the perdition of this poor Island Sic mâ—…res produnt animum mihi credite junctus Semper cum falso est dogmate Coedis amor Thus in English Manners betray the mind and credit me Ther 's alwayes thirst of bloud with Heresie THE SWAY OF THE SWORD OR A DISCOURS OF THE MILITIA Train'd-Bands OR COMMON SOLDIERY OF THE LAND PROVING That the Power and Command therof in chief belongs to the Ruling Prince and to no other Sine Gladio nulla Defensio The Author's Apology T Is confefs'd that the subject of this Discours were more proper to One of the long-Robe which I am not I am no Lawyer otherwise then what nature hath made me so every man as he is born the child of Reason is a Lawyer and a Logitian also who was the first kind of Lawyer This discoursive faculty of Reason comes with us into the world accompanied with certain general notions and principles to distinguish Right from Wrong and Falshood from Truth But touching this following Discourse because it relates somthing to Law the Author wold not have adventured to have exposed it to the world if besides those common innate notions of Reason and some private Notes of his own he had not inform'd and ascertain'd his judgment by conference with som professed Lawyers and those the Eminentest in the Land touching the truth of what it Treats of therfore he dares humbly aver that it contains nothing but what is consonant to the fundamentall and fixed Constitutions to the known clear Lawes of this Kingdom From the prison of the Flcet 3. Nonas Mail 1645. I. H. Touching the POLEMICAL SVVORD And command in chief of The MILITIA c. GOVERNMENT is an Ordinance of God for Mans good the kinds of Government are ordinances of men for Gods Glory Now among all Woâ—…ldly affairs there is not any thing so difficult and fuller of incertitudes as the Art of Ruling man For those nimble spirits as it is spoken elswhere who from Apprentices have been made Freemen of the Trade and at last thought themselves Masters having spent their Youth their Manhood and a long time of old age therein yet when they came to leave the World they professed themselves still to be but Novices in the Trade There is a known way to break guide and keep in awe all other Animals though never so savage and strong but there is no such certaine way to govern multitudes of men in regard of such turbulences of spirit and diversity of opinions that proceed from the Rational Faculty which other cretures that are contented only with sense are not subject unto and this the Philosopher holds to be one of the inconveniences that attend humane reason and why it is given man as a part of his punishment Now why the Government over men is â—…o difficult there may be two main reasons alledg'd The first is the various events and World of inexpected contingencies that attend humane negotiations specially matters of State which as all other sublunary things are subject to alterations miscarriages and change this makes the mindes of men and consequently the moulds of policy so often to alter scarce one amongst twenty is the same man as he was twenty yeares ago in point of judgement which turns and changeth according to the successe and circumstances of things The wisedome of one day is the foolishnesse of another Posterior Dies est prioris Magister the Day following becomes the former dayes Teacher The Second Reason is the discrepant and wavering fancies of mens braines specially of the common peeple who if not restrained are subject to so many crotchets and chymeras with extravagant wanton desires and gaping after innovations Insulary peeple are observed to be more transported with this instability then those of the Continent and the Inhabitants of this I le more then others being a well-fed spriteful peeple In so much that it is grown a Proverb abroad that The Englishman doth not know when he is well Now the true Polititian doth use to fit his Government to the fancy of the peeple the ruler must do as the rider some peeple are to be rid with strong bitts and curbs and martingalls as the Napollitan and French our next neighbour which is the cause that a kind of slavery is entail'd upon him for the French Peasant is born with chains Other Nations may be rid with a gentle small bridle as the Venetian and the Hollander who hath not such boiling spirits as others A bridle doth serve also the Spaniard who is the gretest example of stability and exact obedience to authority of any peeple for though Spain be the hottest Countrey in Christendom yet it is not so subject to Feavers as others are I mean to fits of intestin commotions And this was never so much tryed as of late yeers for though the present King hath such known frailâ—…ies though he hath bin so infortunat as to have many Countreys quite revolted and rent away from him though the ragingst Plague that ever was in Spain under any King happen'd of late yeers which sweep'd away such a world of peeple though his Taxes be higher then ever were any though he hath call'd in and engrossed all the common coyn of the Countrey and delivered but the one halfe back again reserving the other half for Himself though there 's no legall Instrument no Bond Bill or Specialty can
as Prince For the Parlement-men afterwards made themselfs Land-Lords of the whole Kingdom it hath bin usual for them to thrust any out of his freehold to take his bed from under him and his shirt from off his very back The King being kept thus out of one of his Townes might suspect that he might be driven out of another therfore 't was time for him to look to the preservation of his Person and the Country came in voluntarily unto him by thousands to that purpose but he made choice of a few only to be his gard as the Parlementeers had done a good while before for themselfs But now they went otherwise to work for they fell a levying listing and arming men by whole Regiments and Brigades till they had a very considerable Army afoot before the King had one Musqueteer or Trooper on his side yet these men are so notoriously impudent as to make the King the first Aggressor of the war and to lay upon Him all the bloud that was split to this day wherein the Devil himself cannot be more shamelesse The Parliamenteers having an army of foot and horse thus in perfect Equipage 't was high time for the King to look to himself therefore he was forced to display his royal Standard and draw his sword quite out Thus a cruel and most cruentous civil war began which lasted near upon four years without intermission wherein there happen'd more batta les sieges and skirmishes then passed in the Nether-lands in fourscore years and herein the Englishmen may be said to get som credit abroad in the world that they have the same bloud running in their veines though not the same braines in their sculls which their Ancestors had who were observed to be the activest people in the field impatient of delay and most desirous of battaile then any Nation But it was one of the greatest miracles that ever happen'd in this Land how the King was able to subsist so long against the Parlamenteers considering the multiplicity of infinite advantages they had of him by water and land for they had the Scot the Sea and the City on their side touching the first he rushed in as an Auxiliary with above 20000. Horse and Foot compleatly furnish d both with small and great ammunition and Arms well cloth'd and money'd For the second they had all the Kings ships well appointed which are held to be the greatest security of the Island both for defence and offence for every one of them is accounted one of the moving Castles of the Kingdom besides they had all the other standing stone-Castles Forts and tenable places to boot Concerning the last viz. the City therein they had all the wealth bravery and prime ammunition of England this being the only Magazin of men and money Now if the K. had had but one of these on his side he had in all probability crush'd them to nothing yet did he bear up strangely against them a long time and might have done longer had he kept the campane and not spent the spirits of his men before Townes had he not made a disadvantagious election of som Commanders in chief and lastly had he not had close Traitors within dores as well as open Rebels without for his very Cabinet Councel and Bed-Chamber were not free of such vermin and herein the Parlementeers spent unknown sums and were very prodigal of the Kingdoms money The King after many traverses of war being reduced to a great strait by crosse successes and Counsels rather then to fall into the hands of the Parlementeers withdrew himself in a Serving-mans disguise to the Scots army as his last randevous and this plot was manag'd by the French Agent then residing here A man wold think that that Nation wold have deem'd it an eternal honour unto them to have their own King and Countrey-man throw himself thus into their armes and to repose such a singular trust in them upon such an Extremity but they corresponded not so well with him as he expected for though at first when the Parlamenteers sollicited their dear Brethren for a delivery of the Kings person unto them their note was then if any forein petty Prince had so put himself upon them they could not with honour deliver him much less their own native King yet they made a sacrifice of him at last for 800000. Crownes wherupon Bellieure the French Ambassador being convoyed by a Troop of horse from the King towards London to such a stand in lieu of larges to the souldiers he drew out an half Crown piece and ask'd them how many pence that was they answered 30. He replyed for so much did Iudas betray his Master and so he departed And now that in the cours of this Historical Narration I have touch'd upon France your Eminence may please to understand that nothing almost could tend more to the advantage of that K. then these commotions in England considering that he was embark'd in an actuall war with the House of Austria and that this Iland did do Spain some good offices among other by transport of his treasure to Dunkerk in English bottomes whereunto this King gave way and sometimes in his own Galeons which sav'd the Spaniard neer upon 20. in the hundred then if he had sent it by way of Genoa so that som think though France made semblance to resent the sad condition of her Neighbour and thereupon sent the Prince of Harcour and the foresaid Monsieur Bellieure to compose matters yet she never really intended it as being against her present interest and engagements yet the world thinks it much that she shold publiquely receive an Agent from these Parlamenteeres and that the French Nobility who were us'd to be the gallantest men in the world to vindicate the quarrels of distressed Ladies are not more sensible of the outrages that have bin offer'd a daughter of France specially of Henry the greats But to resume the threed of my Narration the King and with him one may say England also being thus bought and sold the Parlamenteers insteed of bringing him to Westminster which had put a Period to all distempers toss'd him up and downe to private houses and kept the former Army still afoot And truly I think there was never Prince so abus'd or poor peeple so baffled and no peeple but a purblind besotted peeple wold have suffred themselves to be so baffled for notwithstanding that no Enemy appeer'd in any corner of the Kingdome yet above 20000. Tagaroones have bin kept together ever since to grind the faces of the poor and exhaust the very vitall spirits of town and Countrey and keep them all in a perfect slavery Had the Parlament-men when the Scots were gone brought their King in a generous and frank way as had well becom'd Englishmen to sit among them and trusted to him which of necessity they must do at last as they had gain d more honor far in the world abroad so they had gain'd more
was the cause he was pitched upon the fewd continued long for among others a Northern King took advantage to rush in who did a world of mischiefs but in a few yeers that King and Hee found their graves in their own ruins neer upon the same time but now may heaven have due thanks for it there is a peace concluded a peace which hath bin 14. long yeers a moulding and will I hope be shortly put in execution yet 't is with this fatall disadvantage that the said Northern people besides a masse of ready money we are to give them are to have firme footing and a warm nest ever in this Countrey hereafter so that I fear we shall hear from them too often upon these words this noble personage fetch'd a deep sigh but in such a generous manner that he seem'd to break and check it before it came halfe forth Thence my soul taking her flight o're divers huge and horrid cacuminous mountaines the Alpes at last I found my self in a great populous Town Naples but her buildings were miserably battered up and down she had a world of Palaces Castles Convents and goodly Churches as I stepped out of curiosity into one of them upon the West side there was a huge Grate where a creature all in white beckned at me making my approach to the Grate I found her to be a Nun a lovely creature she was for I could not distinguish which was whiter her hue or her habit which made me remember though in a dream my self that saying If Dreams and wishes had been tru there had not been found a tru maid to make a Nun of ever since a Cloyster'd life began first among women I asked her the reason how so many ugly devastations shold befall so beautifull a City she in a dolorous gentle tone and ruthfull accents the teares trickling down her cheeks like so many pearles such pearly teares that wold have dissolv'd a Diamond sobb'd out unto me this speech Gentle Sir 't is far beyond any expressions of mine and indeed beyond humane imagination to conceive the late calamities which have befallen this faire though infortunat City a pernicious popular Rebellion broke out here upon a sudden into most horrid barbarismes a Fate that hangs over most rich popular places that swim in luxe and plenty but touching the grounds thereof one may say that rebellion entred into this City as sin first entred into the world by an apple For our King now in his great extremities having almost halfe the world banding against him and putting but a small tax upon a basket of fruit to last only for a time this fruit-tax did put the peeples teeth so on edge that it made them gnash against the Government and rush into Armes but they are sensible now of their own follies for I think never any place suffered more in so short a time the civill combustions abroad in other Kingdomes may be said to be but small squibs compar'd to those horrid flakes of fire which have rag'd here and much adoe we had to keep our Vest all fire free from the fury of it in lesse then the revolution of a yeer it consum'd above fourscore thousand soules within the walls of this City But 't is not the first time of forty that this luxurious foolish peeple hath smarted for their insurrections and insolencies and that this mad horse hath o'rethrown his Rider and drawn a worse upon his back who instead of a saddle put a pack-saddle and Panniers upon him but indeed the voluptuousnesse of this peeple was grown ripe for the judgement of heaven She was then beginning to expostulat with me about the state of my Country and I had a mighty mind to satisfie her for I could have corresponded with her in the reâ—…ation of as strange things but the Lady Aâ—…adesse calling her away she departed in an â—…nstant obedience seem'd to be ther so precise and punctual I steer'd my course thence through a most delicious Country to another City that lay in the very bosom of the Sea Venice she was at first nothing els but a kind of posie made up of dainty green Hillocks tied together by above 400. bridges and so coagulated into a curious City though she be espous'd to Neptune very solemnly once evry â—…eer yet she still reserves her maydenhead â—…ad bears the title of the Virgin City in that part of the world But I found her tugging mainly with a huge Giant that wold ravish her He hath shrewdly set on her skirts and a great shame it is that she is not now assisted by her Neighbours and that they shold be together by the ears when they shold do so necessary a work considering how that great Giant is their common Enemy and hath lately vow'd seven yeers wars against her specially considering that if he comes once to ravish her he will quickly ruin her said Neighbours She to her high honor be it spoken being their only rampart against the incursion of the said Giant and by consequence their greatest security From this Maiden City mee thought I was in a trice carried over a long gulf and so through a Midland Sea into another Kingdom Spain where I felt the Clime hotter by some Degrees a rough-hew'n soile for the most part it was full of craggy barren hills but where there were valleys and water enough the country was extraordinarily fruitful whereby nature it seems made her a compensation for the sterility of the rest Yet notwithstanding the hardship of the soyl I found her full of Abbeys Monasteries Hermitages Convents Churches and other places of devotion as I rov'd there a while I encountred a grave man in a long black cloak by the fashion whereof and by the brimms of his hat I perceived him to be a Iesuit I clos'd with him and question'd him about that Country He told me the King of that Country was the greatest Potentat of that part of the world and to draw power to a greater unity they of our Order could be well contented that he were universall Head over Temporalls because 't is most probable to be effected by him as we have already one universall Head over Spiritualls This is the Monark of the Mines I mean of Gold and Silver who furnishes all the world but most of all his own enemies with mony which mony foments all the wars in this part of the world Never did any earthly monark thrive so much in so short a tract of time But of late yeers he hath been ill-favouredly shaken by the revolt and utter defection of two sorts of Subjects who are now in actual arms against him on both sides of him at his own doors Ther hath bin also a long deadly feud 'twixt the next tramontan Kingdom France and him though the Q. that rules there be his own sister an unnaturall odious thing But it seems God Almighty hath a quarrel of late yeers with all earthly Potentats for in so short a time
the Planetts much favour him the next two yeares Nam Medium coeli in Genitura Caroli Secundi Regis Angliae juxta axiomata Astrologiae Genethliacae dirigitur ad radios Sextiles Lunâ—… Anno Domini 1660. significat accâ—…ssum ad Dominum For the Medium coeli in the Geniture of Charles the Second according to the axiomes of Genethliacall Astrology is directed to the Sextile rayes of the Moon and signifies an accesse to Dominion Adde hereunto that a most lucky conjunction followes the same year in the very Centre of the said Kings horoscope betwixt Iupiter and Sol in the moneth of September When I was employed by this State in Paris not many years agoe I had occasion to make my addresse to your young King and when I observed His Physiognomy and the Lineaments of his face I seemed to discern in it something extraordinary above vulgar countenances and that he carryed a Majesty in His very looks and noting besides the goodly procerity and constitution of His body he seemed to be cut out for a King Now in point of extraction and lineage it cannot be denyed but he is one of the greatest born Princes that ever was in the world for whereas His Grand-Father and Father were allyed onely if you regard Forraigne Consanguinity to the House of Denmark and the Guyses this King bears in his veines not onely that bloud but also the blouds of all the great Princes of Christendom being nearly linked to the House of Bourbon and France to the House of Austria and consequently to the Emperour and Spaine as also to the Duke of Savoy and our Grand-Duke Moreover he is nearly allyed to all the greatest Princes of Germany as the Saxe Brandenburg Bavaria the Palsgrave and to the Duke of Lorain who descends in the directest line from Charlemain Adde hereunto that the young Prince of Orenge is his Nephew and which is considerable he is a pure Englishman born whereas your two former Kings were Forreigners The Queen His Mother is of as Glorious an Extraction which makes me admire the frontlesse impudence of some of your poor Pamphletors who call Her ever and anon the Little Queen notwithstanding that the World knowes Her to be the Daughter of Henry the Great and Queen of Great Britain which Title and Character is indelible and must die with Her Hereunto may be adjoyn'd that this young King is now mounted to the Meridian of his Age and maturity of judgement to govern and doubtlesse hee is like to make a rare Governour having this advantage of all other Soverain Princes in the world to have been bredd up in the Schoole of Affliction so long to have Travelled so many strange Countreys and observed the humors of so many Nations But to come to the Cardinall point of our Communication after divers debates and alterations how England might be brought to a stable condition of tranquility and perfect peace to her former lustre and glory the finall result of all ended in this that there was no other imaginable meanes to do it then for you to make a timely and fitting humble addresse unto your own King and without question it is in his power to grant you such an absolute pardon such an abolition of all things pass'd such a gracious Amnestia such Royall concessions that may extend to the security of every person for the future that was engaged in these your revolutions both touching his life and fortunes Unlesse their guilt of Conscience be such that like Cain or Iudas they thinke their Sinne is greater then can be forgiven them Now the mode of your application to Him may avail much for if you chopp Logique with him too farr and stand upon Puntillios and too rigid termes if you shew your selfs full of feares jealousies and distrusts it will intangle and quite marr the businesse for in a Soveraign Prince ther must be an Implicit unavoidable necessary trust repos'd by his peeple which all the Laws that mans brain can possibly invent cannot provide against Therefore if you proceed in a frank and confident tru English way you may work upon his affections more powerfully and overcome him sooner so then by any outward Arms This way will make such tender impressions upon that he will grant more then you can possibly expect Some Forein Historians as the French Comines and our Guicciardin do cry up the English Nation for using to love their King in a more intense degree then other peeple and to regard his honour in a higher strain to support which they have bin alwayes so ready and cheerful both with their persons and purses There is now a fair opportunity offered to rake up the embers of these old affections and to recover the Reputation of tru Englishmen There is no peeple but may sometimes stand in their own light go astray and err for Error was one of the first frailties that were entayled upon man and his posterity as soon as he was thrust out of Paradis 'T is a human thing to err but to persevere in an error is diabolicall You shall do well and wisely to follow the example of the Spanish Mule who out of a kind of wantonesse being gone out of the high beaten road into a by path which led her to a dirty narrow lane full of pitts and holes at last she came to the top of a huge hideous Rock where she could go no farther for before her ther was inevitable destruction and the lane was so narrow that she could not turn her body back therupon in this extremity she put one foot gently after an other and Crablike went backward untill she came again to the common road This must be your course by a gentle retrogradation to come into the Kings high road again and ther is no question but he will meet you more than three parts of the way If you do not truly in our opinions you will precipitat your selfs down a Rock of inevitable destruction For Heaven and Earth are conspir'd to restore him and though all the Spirits of the Air shold joyn with you you shall not be able to oppose it I presume you are not ignorant how â—…he two great Monarks of Spain and France which may be said to be the main Poles wheron Europe doth move have comprehended him within the private capitulations of peace The Emperour hath promised to wed his quarrell and there is no Prince or State in Christendom but would gladly reach a frendly hand to restore him being depriv'd of his birth-right and his Royal indubitable Inheritance as you your felfs confesse for observing the fifth commandement for obeying his Father and Mother From which Birth-right he may be said to have been thrust out when he was in the state of Innocency being but in a manner a Child and very young then Now touching your selfs I will not flatter you but plainly tell you that you have not one friend any where beyond the Seas nay your great Confederate the