desire the comfort of your gracious presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more life and power to the dutiful and loyal Counsels and Endeavours of your Parliament for the prevention of that eminent ruin and destruction wherein your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The duty which we owe to your Majesty and our Countrey cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have thought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed amongst the people to blemish and disgrace our proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a party and faction amongst your Subjects for the better strengthning of themselves in their wicked courses and hindring those Provisions and Remedies which might by the wisdom of your Majesty and Counsel of your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better information of your Majesty your Peers and all other your loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the state of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon your Royal Person but only to represent how your Royal Authority and Trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of your Majesty and of all your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those malignant parties whose proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and encrease of Popery is composed set up and acted by the subtil practice of the Jesuits and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of your loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of your Privy Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of your Royal Children And by this means hath had such an operation in your Council and the most important affairs and proceedings of your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the increase of Jealousies betwixt your Majesty and your most obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the insurrection of the Papists in your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of your people have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment whereof your poor Subjects are enforced to engage their persons and estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliament undergone the charge of 150000 pounds sterling or thereabouts for the necessary support and supply of your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the peace safety and preservation of your Majesty and your people if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant party We your most humble and obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech your Majesty 1. That you will be graciously pleased to concur with the humble desires of your people in a Parliamentary way for the preserving the peace and safety of the Kingdom from the malicious Designs of the Popish party For depriving the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament and abridging their immoderate power usurped over the Clergy and other your good Subjects which they have most perniciously abused to the hazard of Religion and great prejudice and oppression of the Laws of the Kingdom and just liberty of your people For the taking away such oppressions in Religion Church government and Discipline as have been brought in and fomented by them For uniting all such your loyal Subjects together as joyn in the same fundamental truths against the Papist by removing some oppressions and unnecessary Ceremonies by which divers weak consciences have been scrupled and seem to be divided from the rest For the due execution of those good Laws which have been made for securing the liberty of your Subjects 2. That your Majesty will likewise be pleased to remove from your Council all such as persist to favour and promote any of those pressures and corruptions wherewith your people have been grieved and that for the future your Majesty will vouchsafe to imploy such persons in your great and publick Affairs and to take such to be near you in places of trust as your Parliament may have cause to confide in that in your Princely goodness to your people you will reject and refuse all mediation and solicitation to the contrary how powerful and near soever 3. That you would be pleased to forbear to alienate any of the forfeited and escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to your Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of them the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to your Subjects of this Kingdom for the great expences they are like to undergo this War Which humble desires of ours being graciously fulfilled by your Majesty we will by the blessing and favour of God most chearfully undergo the hazard and expences of this War and apply our selves to such other courses and counsels as may support your Royal Estate with honour and plenty at home with power and reputation abroad and by our loyal affections obedience and service lay a sure and lasting foundation of the greatness and prosperity of your Majesty and your Royal Posterity in future times A Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Die Mercurii 15 Decemb. 1642. THE Commons in this present Parliament assembled having with much earnestness and faithfulness of affection and zeal to the publick good of this Kingdom and his Majesties honour and service for the space of twelve months wrestled with the great dangers and fears the pressing miseries and calamities the various distempers and disorders which had not only assaulted but even overwhelmed and extinguisht the liberty peace and prosperity of this Kingdom the comfort and hopes of all his Majesties good Subjects and exceedingly weakned and undermined the foundation and strength of his own Royal Throne Do yet find an abounding Malignity and Opposition in those parties and factions who have been the cause of those evils and do still labour to cast aspersions upon that which hath been done and to raise many difficulties for the hinderance of that which remains yet undone and to foment Jealousies betwixt the King and the Parliament that so they may deprive him his
his Majesty that he forthwith prepared again for War And such was their Confidence that having corrupted and distempered the whole Frame and Government of the Kingdom they did now hope to corrupt that which was the only means to restore all to a right frame and temper again to which end they persuaded his Majesty to call a Parliament not to seek Counsel and Advice of them but to draw Countenance and Supply from them and engage the whole Kingdom in their Quarrel and in the mean time continued all their unjust Levies of Money resolving either to make the Parliament pliant to their Will and to establish mischief by a Law or else to break it And with more colour to go on by Violence to take what they could not obtain by Consent the Ground alledged for the Justification of this War was this That the undutiful Demands of the Parliament of Scotland was a sufficient Reason for his Majesty to take Arms against them without hearing the Reason of those Demands And thereupon a new Army was prepared against them their Ships were seized in all Ports both of England and Ireland and at Sea their Petitions rejected their Commissioners refused Audience This whole Kingdom most miserably distemper'd with Levies of Men and Money and Imprisonments of those who denied to submit to those Levies The Earl of Strafford pass'd into Ireland caused the Parliament there to declare against the Scots to give four Subsidies towards that War and to engage themselves their Lives and Fortunes for the prosecution of it and gave directions for an Army of Eight thousand Foot and One thousand Horse to be levied there which were for the most part Papists The Parliament met upon the 13 th of April 1640. The Earl of Strafford and Archbishop of Canterbury with their Party so prevailed with his Majesty that the House of Commons was prest to yield to a Supply for maintenance of the War with Scotland before they had provided any Relief for the great and pressing Grievances of the People which being against the Fundamental Privilege and proceeding of Parliament was yet in humble Respect to his Majesty so far admitted as that they agreed to take the matter of Supply into Consideration and two several days it was debated Twelve Subsidies were demanded for the Release of Ship-money alone a third day was appointed for conclusion when the Heads of that Party begun to fear the People might close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money but that withal they were like to blast their malicious designs against Scotland finding them very much indisposed to give any countenance to that War Thereupon they wickedly advised the King to break off the Parliament and to return to the ways of Confusion in which their own evil Intentions were most like to prosper and succeed After the Parliament ended the fifth of May 1640 this Party grew so bold as to counsel the King to supply himself out of his Subjects Estates by his own Power at his own Will without their Consent The very next day some Members of both Houses had their Studies and Cabinets yea their Pockets searched Another of them not long after was committed close Prisoner for not delivering some Petitions which he received by Authority of that House And if harsher courses were intended as was reported it is very probable that the sickness of the Earl of Strafford and the Tumultuous Rising in Southwark and about Lambeth were the Causes that such violent Intentions were not brought to execution A false and scandalous Declaration against the House of Commons was published in his Majesty's Name which yet wrought little effect with the People but only to manifest the Impudence of those who were Authors of it A forced Loan of Money was attempted in the City of London The Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their several Wards enjoined to bring in a List of the Names of such Persons as they judged fit to lend and of the Sum they should lend And such Aldermen as refused so to do were committed to Prison The Archbishop and the other Bishops and Clergy continued the Convocation and by a new Commission turned it to a Provincial Synod in which by an unheard-of presumption they made Canons that contain in them many matters contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Realm to the Right of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject and matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous consequence thereby establishing their own Usurpations justifying their Altar-Worship and those other Superstitious Innovations which they formerly introduced without warrant of Law They imposed a new Oath upon divers of his Majesty's Subjects both Ecclesiastical and Lay for maintenance of their own Tyranny and laid a great Tax upon the Clergy for Supply of his Majesty and generally they shewed themselves very affectionate to the War with Scotland which was by some of them stiled Bellum Episcopale and a Prayer composed and enjoined to be read in all Churches calling the Scots Rebels to put the two Nations into Blood and make them irreconcileable All those pretended Canons and Constitutions were armed with the several Censures of Suspension Excommunication Deprivation by which they would have thrust out all the good Ministers and most of the well-affected People of the Kingdom and left an easy Passage to their own Design of Reconciliation with Rome The Popish Party enjoined such Exemptions from the Penal Laws as amounted to a Toleration besides many other Encouragements and Court-Favours They had a Secretary of State Sir Francis Windebank a powerful Agent for the speeding of all their desires a Pope's Nuncio residing here to act and govern them according to such influences as he received from Rome and to intercede for them with the most powerful concurrence of the Foreign Princes of that Religion By his Authority the Papists of all sorts Nobility Gentry and Clergy were convocated after the manner of a Parliament new Jurisdictions were erected of Romish Archbishops Taxes levied another State moulded within this State independent in Government contrary in Interest and Affection secretly corrupting the ignorant or negligent Professors of our Religion and closely uniting and combining themselves against such as were sound in this posture waiting for an opportunity by force to destroy those whom they could not hope to seduce For the effecting whereof they were strengthen'd with Arms and Munition encouraged by superstitious Prayers enjoined by the Nuncio to be Weekly made for the prosperity of some great design And such power had they at Court that secretly a Commission was issued out intended to be issued to some Great Men of that Profession for the levying of Soldiers and to command and employ them according to private Instructions which we doubt were framed for the advantage of those who were the Contrivers of them His Majesty's Treasure was consumed his Revenue anticipated his Servants and Officers compelled to lend great Sums of Money
could be found I receiv'd information That Argyle was got together with a considerable Army made up chiefly of his own Clan Family and Vassals and Tenants with others of the Rebels that join'd him and that he was at Innerlochy where he expected the Earl of Seaforth and the Sept the Family of the Fraziers to come up to him with all the Forces they could get together Vpon this Intelligence I departed out of Argyleshire and march'd through Lorn Glencow and Aber till I came to Lochness my design being to fall upon Argyle before Seaforth and the Fraziers could join him My March was through inaccessible Mountains where I could have no Guides but Cowherds and they scarce acquainted with a place but Six Miles from their own habitations If I had been attack'd but with a hundred men in some of these Passes I must have certainly return'd back for it would have been impossible to force my way most of the Passes being so streight that Three Men could not march a-breast I was willing to let the World see that Argyle was not the Man his Highland Men believ'd him to be and that it was possible to beat him in his own Highlands The difficultest March of all was over the Lochaber Mountains which we at last surmounted and came upon the back of the Enemy when they least expected us having cut off some Scouts we met about four Miles from Innerlochy Our Van came within view of them about five a Clock in the Afternoon and we made a Halt till our Rear was got up which could not be done till Eight at Night The Rebels took the Alarm and stood to their Arms as well as we all Night which was Moon-light and very clear There were some few Skirmishes between the Rebels and Vs all the Night and with no loss on our side but one Man By break of day I order'd my Men to be ready to fall on upon the first Signal and I understand since by the Prisoners the Rebels did the same A little after the Sun was up both Armies met and the Rebels fought for some time with great Bravery the Prime of the Campbells giving the first Onset as Men that deserv'd to fight in a better Cause Our Men having a Nobler Cause did wonders and came immediately to push of Pike and dint of Sword after their first firing The Rebels could not stand it but after some Resistance at first began to run whom we pursued for Nine Miles together making a great slaughter which I would have hindred if possible that I might save your Majesty 's mis-led Subjects for well I know your Majesty does not delight in their Blood but in their returning to their Duty There were at least Fifteen hundred kill'd in the Battel and the Pursuit among whom there are a great many of the most considerable Gentlemen of the Name of Campbell and some of them nearly related to the Earl I have sav'd and taken Prisoners several of them that have acknowledg'd to me their fault and lay all the blame on their Chief Some Gentlemen of the Low-lands that had behav'd themselves bravely in the Battel when they saw all lost fled into the Old Castle and upon their Surrender I have treated them honourably and taken theirâ— Parole never to bear Arms against your Majesty Here are Six or Seven Lines that for the Honour of some Families are better left out than mention'd We have of your Majesty's Army about Two hundred wounded but I hope few of them dangerously I can hear but of four kill'd and one whom I cannot name to your Majesty but with grief of Mind Sir Thomas Ogilvy a Son of the Earl of Arly's of whom I writ to your Majesty in my last He is not yet dead but they say he cannot possibly live and we give him over for dead Your Majesty had never a truer Servant nor there never was a braver honester Gentleman For the rest of the Particulars of this Action I refer my self to the Bearer Mr. Hay whom your Majesty knows already and therefore I need not recommend him Now Sacred Sir let me humbly intreat your Majesty's Pardon if I presume to write you my poor Thoughts and Opinion about what I heard by a Letter I receivâ—d from my Friends in the South last Week as if your Majesty was entring into a Treaty with your Rebel Parliament in England The Success of your Arms in Scotland does not more rejoice my heart as that News from England is like to break it And whatever come of me I will speak my mind freely to your Majesty for it 's not mine but your Majesty's Interest I seek When I had the Honour of waiting upon your Majesty last I told you at full length what I fully understood of the Designs of your Rebel Subjects in both Kingdoms which I had occasion to know as much as any one whatsoever being at that time as they thought entirely in their Interest Your Majesty may remember how much you said you were convinc'd I was in the right in my opinion of them I am sure there is nothing fallen out since to make your Majesty change your Iudgment in all those things I laid before your Majesty at that time The more your Majesty grants the more will be ask'd and I have too much reason to know that they will not rest satisfied with less than making your Majesty a King of Straw I hope the News I have receiv'd about a Treaty may be a Mistake and the rather that the Letter wherewith the Queen was pleas'd to honour me dated the 30 th of December mentions no such thing Yet I know not what to make of the Intelligence I receiv'd since it comes from Sir Robert Spotswood who writes it with a great Regret and it 's no wonder considering no man living is a more true Subject to your Majesty than he Forgive me Sacred Sovereign to tell your Majesty That in my poor Opinion it is unworthy of a King to treat with Rebel Subjects while they have the Sword in their hands And though God forbid I should stint your Majesty's Mercy yet I must declare the Horror I am in when I think of a Treaty while your Majesty and they are in the Field with Two Armies unless they disband and submit themselves entirely to your Majesty's Goodness and Pardon As to the State of Affairs in this Kingdom the Bearer will fully inform your Majesty in every particular And give me leave with all humility to assure your Majesty That through God's Blessing I am in the fairest hopes of reducing this Kingdom to your Majesty's Obedience And if the Measures I have concerted with your other Loyal Subjects fail me not which they hardly can I doubt not but before the End of this Summer I shall be able to come to your Majesty's Assistance with a brave Army which back'd with the Iustice of your Majesty's Cause will make the Rebels in England as well as in Scotland feel
so great moment and consequence to the whole Nation that they could not in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the distribution of it all over the Kingdom and the solemn Publication of it even in Gods House and in the Time of his Divine Service must amount to in common and reasonable Construction Therefore did humbly and earnestly beseech his Majesty That he would be graciously pleas'd not to insist upon their Distributing and Reading the said Declaration This Petition tho the humblest that could be and deliver'd by Six of them to the King alone in his Closet was so highly resented that the Six Bishops that presented it and the Archbishop of Canterbury that writ it but was not present at its delivery were committed Prisoners to the Tower They were a few days after brought to the King-Bench Bar and Indicted of a High Misdemeanor for having falsly unlawfuly maliciously seditiously and scandalously fram'd compos'd and writ a false malicious pernicious and seditious Libel concerning the King and his Royal Declaration for Liberty of Conscience under the pretence of a Petition And that they had publish'd the same in presence of the King There was a great Appearance at this Trial and it was a Leading Case for upon it depended in a great measure the Fate of the rest of the Clergy of the Church of England It lasted long and in the end the Seven Bishops were Acquitted with the Acclamations of all but the Court-Party There were two things very remarkable in this Trial The Dispensing Power was learnedly and boldly argued against by the Counsel for the Bishops and demonstrated by invincible Arguments to be an open Violation of the Laws and Constitution of the Kingdom So that in one of the greatest Auditories that was ever seen in Westminster-Hall and upon hearing one of the most Solemn Causes that was ever Tried at the Kings-Bench-Bar King Iames had the Mortification to see his new-assum'd Prerogative baffled and its Illegality expos'd to the World The other thing observable upon this Trial was That the Tables were so far turn'd that some that had largely contributed to the Enslaving their Countrey with false Notions of Law were now of another Opinion While at the same time others that had stood up for the Liberty of their Countrey in two successive Parliaments and had suffer'd upon that account did now as much endeavour to stretch the Prerogative beyond its just Limits as they had oppos'd it before So hard it is for Mankind to be in all times and upon all turns constant to themselves The News of the Bishops being acquitted was receiv'd with the highest Expressions of Joy throughout the whole Kingdom Nor could the King 's own Presence prevent his Army that was then encamp'd at Hounslow-Heath from mixing their loud Acclamations with the rest This last Mortification might have prevented his Fate if his Ears had been open to any but a Hot Party that were positively resolv'd to push for all cost what it would And it was easily seen by the Soldiers Behaviour upon this occasion How impossible it is to debauch an English Army from their Love to their Countrey and their Religion While the Bishops were in the Tower the Roman-Catholicks had their Hope 's â—rown'd with the Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales The Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales The fears of a Protestant Successor had been the only Allay that render'd their Prosperity less perfect Now the happiness of having an Heir to the Crown to be bred up in their own Religion quash'd all those Fears and atonâ—d for the Uncertainty of the King's Life It was so much their Interest to have one and there were so many Circumstances that seem'd to render his Birth suspicious that the Nation in general were inclinable to believe that this was the last Effort of the Party to accomplish our Ruin All things seem'd now to conspire towards it A new Parliament design'd and to what End There was only a Parliament wanting to ratify and approve all the Illegal Steps that had been made which was to be done effectually by taking off the Penal Laws and Test the two chief Barriers of our Religion To obtain such a Parliament no Stone was left unturn'd nor no Threaâ—s nor Promises neglected Regulators were sent-down to every Corporation to model them to this end though a great part of their Work had been done to their hand for in most of the New Charters there had been such Regulations made and such sort of Men put in as was thought would make all sure But to be yet surer Closetting in fashion and to try the Inclinations of People Closetting came into fashion and King Iames was at pains to sound every man's mind how far he might depend upon him for his concurrence with those Designs If they did not readily promise to serve the King in his own way which was the distinguishing word at that time there was some Brand put upon them and they were turn'd out of Place if they had any Nor did King Iames think it below his Dignity after the Priests had fail'd to bring in New Converts to try himself how far his own Arguments might prevail and he Closetted men for that purpose too Some few of no Principles and a great many others of desperate Fortunes complimented him with their Religion and were generally thereupon put into Employments And so fond was the King of making Proselites at any rate that there were of the Scum of the People that pretended to turn Papists merely for the sake of a Weekly small Allowance which was regularly paid them It 's a question after all whether the Parliament which K. Iames was thus labouring to model would have answer'd his Expectation had they come to sit for mens eyes were open'd more and more every day and the Noble Principles of English Liberty began to kindle afresh in the Nation notwithstanding all the endeavours had been usâ—d of a long time to extinguish them Though the Dissenters who might be chosen into Parliament upon this new Model would probably have made Terms for themselves to prevent their falling under any future Persecution yet being as a verse to Popery as any others whatsoever it is not to be imagin'd that they would upon that Consideration have unhindg'd the Constitution of England to enable the Roman Catholicks to break in upon the Establish'd National Church which in the end must have inevitably ruin'd both it and themselves But there fell out a little before this time an Accident that help'd mightily to buoy up the sinking Spirits of the Nation and which was occasion'd by the forward Zeal of some about the King contrary to their Intentions While the Project was going on to take off the Penal Laws and Test and the Protestants were in a maze what to expect the good Genius of England and King Iamâ—s's ill Fate set him on to make a Trial of the
to accomplish his Design for what a Parliament it may be would not do he was resolv'd that an Army should and therefore Care was taken to model his Troops as much to that end as the shortness of time would allow The Modelling of the Army Ireland was the inexhaustible Source whence England was to be furnish'd with a Romish Army and an Irish Roman-Catholick was the most welcome Guest at Whitehall They came over in Shoals to take possession of the promis'd Land and had already swallow'd up in their Hopes the best Estates of the Hereticks in England Over and above compleat Regiments of them there was scarce a Troop or Company wherein some of them were not plac'd by express Order from Court Several Protestants that had serv'd well and long were turn'd out to make room for them and Seven considerable Officers were cashier'd in one day merely for refusing to admit them The chief Forts and particularly Portsmouth and Hull the two Keys of England were put into Popish Hands and the Garisons so modell'd that the Majority were Papists To over-awe the Nation and to make Slavery familiar this Army was encamp'd Yearly near London where the only Publick Chappel in the Camp was appointed for the Service of the Romish Church and strict Orders given out That the Soldiers of that Religion should not fail every Sunday and Holiday to repair thither to Mass. As Ireland was remarkable for having furnish'd King Iames with Romish Troops sent into England The Methods us'd in Ireland so was it much more for the bare-fac'd and open Invasions that were made there upon the Liberties and Rights of the Protestants That Kingdom was the most proper Field to ripen their Projects in considering that the Protestants were much out-number'd by the Papists and had been for some Ages the constant Object of their Rancour and Envy which had been more than once express'd in Letters of Blood King Iames did recall the Earl of Clarendon from the Government of Ireland Tyrconnel made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland soon after he was sent thither and appointed the Earl of Tyrconnel to succeed him who was a Gentleman had signaliz'd himself for his Bigotry to the Church of Rome and his Hatred to the Protestants The Roman-Catholick Clergy had recommended him to King Iames for that Post in a Letter mention'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 21. As one that did first espouse and chiefly maintain the Cause of the Catholick Clergy against their many and powerful Enemies for the last Five and twenty Years and was then the only Person under whose Fortitude and Popularity in that Kingdom they durst with chearfulness and assurance own their Loyalty and assert his Majesty's Interest Making it therefore their humble Request That his Majesty would be pleas'd to lodge his Authority in his hands to the Terror of the Factious and Encouragement of his Majesty's faithful Subjects in Ireland promising to receive him with such Acclamations as the long-captiv'd Jews did their Redeemer Mordecai Which Letter show'd they were no less mistaken in their History of the Bible than their Advice to the King for it does not appear by the Story of Mordecai in the Scripture that he was ever sent to the Iews or remov'd from the City of Susa after he came into Favour with Ahasuerus However Tyrconnel fully answer'd the hopes and expectations of the Papists and the fears of the Protestants of Ireland for by the Ministry of this Rigid Man was the Ruin of the Protestant English Interest in that Kingdom in a great measure compleated At King Iames's Accession to the Crown the Army of Ireland consisted of about Seven Thousand Men all Protestants and zealous to the Service These were in a little time all turn'd out and the whole Army made up of Papists most of them the Sons and Descendants or near Relations of those that were Attainted for the Rebellion in 1641 or others that had distinguish'd themselves since that time by their notorious Villanies and implacable Hatred to the English and Protestant Interest Though in King Charles's time The Manner of filling up the Benches in Ireland by the Influence of the Duke of York there had been grounds of Complaint against some of the Judges in Ireland upon the account of their Partiality to the Papists yet when King Iames came to the Crown these very Judges were not thought fit enough for the Work that was design'd It was judg'd necessary to employ the most zealous of the Party those that from Interest and Inclination were the most deeply engag'd to destroy the Protestant Interest and accordingly such were pick'd out to sit in every Court of Justice The Custody of the King's Conscience and Great Seal was given to Sir Alexander Fitton a Person convicted of Forgery not only at Westminster-Hall and at Chester but Fin'd for it by the Lords in Parliament This Man was taken out of Gaol to discharge the Trust of Lord High Chancellor and had no other Qualities to recommend him besides his being a Convert to the Romish Church and a Renegado to his Religion and Countrey To him were added as Masters of Chancery one Stafford a Popish Priest and O Neal the Son of one of the most notorious Murderers in the Massacre 1641. In the Kings Bench care was taken to place one Nugent whose Father had lost his Honour and Estate for being a principal Actor in the same Rebellion This Man who had never made any figure at the Bar was pitch'd upon to judge whether the Outlawries against his Father and Fellow-Rebels ought to be Revers'd and whether the Settlements that were made in Ireland upon these Outlawries ought to stand good The next Court is that of Exchequer from which only of all the Courts in Ireland there lies no Appeal or Writ of Error in England It was thought fit that one Rice a profligate Fellow and noted for nothing but Gaming and a mortal Inveteracy against the Protestants should fill the place of Lord Chief Baron This man was often heard to say before he came to be a Judge That he would drive a Coach and Six Horses through the Act of Settlement And before that Law was actually Repeal'd in King Iames's Parliament he declar'd upon the Bench That it was against Natural Equity and did not oblige It was before him that all the Charters in the Kingdom were damn'd in the space of a Term or two so much was he for dispach A Learned Prelate Dr. King Bishop of Londonderry his State of Ireland under K. Iames. from whose Book all the things that here relate to that Countrey are taken does observe That if this Judge had been left alone it was believ'd in a few Years he would by some Contrivance or another have given away most of the Protestants Estates in Ireland without troubling a Parliament to Attaint them In the Court of Common-Pleas it was though advisable that a Protestant Chief Iustice should
regret the Hard Usage which the Protestants meet with in other Countries and wish they were but as well treated there as the Roman-Catholicks are here Before I have done I beg leave to take notice of a Pamphlet that came out last Summer call'd Cursory Remarks upon the Proceedings of the Last Session of Parliament The Gentleman that wrote it had not only the Honesty to publish an Answer to his own Book but in that Answer to insinuate that I was the Author of it All the Use I shall make of this unusual Liberty of the Press is to declare That I have not publish'd any one Paper Pamphlet or Book these Six Years And though I have but little Leisure and yet less Inclination to appear again in Print yet if ever I alter my Resolution and publish any thing hereafter I will certainly put my Name to it as I have done to these Memoirs THE CONTENTS THE Excellencies of the English Constitution and the various Changes that have happen'd in it Page 1 The State of England under Queen Elizabeth 3 Her Character 5 The Character of her Ministers particularly of Walsingham Cecil c. and of the Members of the House of Commons in her time 8 Her Conduct towards Mary Queen of Scots 15 King James the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England under his Reign 19 His Character 20 The Character and Deathof Prince Henry 23 The Character of the Queen of Bohemia and King James's Conduct in the Business of the Palatinate 27 The Fate of Sir Walter Raleigh 28 King James's Conduct in teh Interdict of Venice 34 King Charles the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England at that time 37 The Breach betwixt Archbishop Abbot and Bishop Laud 38 The Rise of King Charles's Troubles and the first and second War with the Scots 41 The meeting of the Parliament November 1640. 45 The Fall and Character of Wentworth Earl of Strafford 47 The Fall and Character of Archbishop Laud 55 The Famous Petition and Remonstrance of the state of the Nation and the King's Answer 61 His coming to the House of Commons in Person to demand the Five Members and the Consequences of it 63 His Leaving the Parliament and the beginning of the Civil Wars and who began it 66 The Treaty of Uxbridge how unsuccesful and the Marquis of Montrose's fatal Letter the Cause 63 The Character and Fall of King Charles the First 74 His Opinion of Defensive Arms in the bisiness of Rochel 79 The Character of his Favourite Buckingham 84 The true Cause of the Scot's coming into England being a forg'd Letter 91 King Charles's design beâ—ore his Death to Resign the Crown And the Army 's to set up the Duke of Gloucester 98 His Consulting the Sortes Virgilianae 100 The Vsurpation and Character of Oliver Cromwell 102 The Restoration of King Charles the Second and the Manner of it with Monk's part in it and the Risk Monk ran in Scotland 114 One of the true Causes of the Fall of Chancellor Clarendon 122 The discovery of the Popish Plot and its Consequences 123 The Bill of Exclusion the design of it and how manag'd 125 The Disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth and the Consequences of it 131 The Protestant Plot and the Effects of it 133 The Death of King Charles the Second and the Suspicions about the Manner of it discuss'd 135 His Character 143 The Reign of King James the Second 148 The Advantages and Examples he might have maâ—e use of 150 His Brother's and Pope Innocent II.'s Advice to him 152 His first Speech to his Privy Council 153 His first Speech to his Parliament 156 His Second Memorable Speech to his Parliament 157 Two Letters from a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England upon the occasion of this Speech 159 Monmouth's Invasion and the Grounds of it 160 Some Passages out of Monmouth's Pocket-Book 166 Monmouth's Character 167 His Letter in his Retirement 169 King James's Speech to the Parliament upon Monmouth's Defeat 171 The Parliament's Address thereupon 173 The Sense of a Foreign Minister of this last Speech 175 The Advances made to the Subversion of the English Constitution 177 King James's Ambassy to Rome and how received 178 The Panegyricks of King James upon that occasion 182 The Manner how King James had been treated by another Pope in his Marriage with the Princess of Modena 187 King James grants a Toleration of Religion 191 He assumes a dispensing Power 194 He sets up an Ecclesiastical Commission 197 The Suspension of the Bishop of London 198 The Proceedings against Magdalen-College 201 His Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience 206 The Affair of the Seven Bishops 208 The Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales 212 A new Parliament design'd and to what end 213 The Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinion about the Penal Laws and Test and how obtain'd 215 The Army Modell'd 220 The Methods us'd in Ireland and Tyrconel's Advancement 222 The Regulating of the Corporations and the Severities against the Protestants 228 The Act of Attainder there 232 The Interest that Foreign States had in England 234 The Emperor's Letter to King James 236 The Interest of the Prince of Orange 237 The bad Circumstances of the House of Orange at the Birth of the Present Prince of Orange now King of England 238 How he came to be Restored in Holland 240 The Desolation of Holland in 1672 242 The Reasons of that Desolation 244 The Difficulty the Prince of Orange had to grapple with 247 The Duke of Luxemburgh's Cruelties at Swammerdam 249 The Affair of Overall's Convocation and how resented by King James 255 His Letter to Dr. Abbot on that Occasion 257 ERRATA PAGE 62. Line 14 15. for the King's Answer to it at its delivery read Answer to them at their delivery MEMOIRS Of the most Material Transactions in England c. THERE is not a Natiâ—n in Europe that from the Constitution of its Government might have promis'd it self a more firm and lasting Repâ—se than England And yet scarce any Kingdom we know upon Earth has suffered so many and various Convulsions As if some malevolent Planet had over-rul'd one of the best of Human Constitutions and by an unaccountable Fatality had render'd ineffectual all the Endeavours of our Ancestors to make themselves and their Posterity happy under a Limited Monarchy A Monarchy in which the Prerogative of the Prince and the Liberty of the People are so equally temper'd that there seems nothing wanting that may tend to the Happiness of either The King of England has the Glory to Rule over a Free People The Excellency of the English Constitution and the People of England that of being subject to a Monarch who by the Laws of the Countrey is invested with as much Power and Greatness as a Wise and Beneficent Prince can reasonably wish for To compleat all the Crown of England has been for many Ages Hereditary and fix'd in
one Family The Breaches that have been sometimes made in the immediate Line not at all derogating from the nature of a Successive Monarchy so long as a due Respect is had to the Blood and for the most part the next immediate Heir except only upon great and urgent Difficulties and Emergencies The Crown being thus Hereditary it might have reasonably been expected That we should not only be strangers to the Inconveniences that arise naturally from Competitions in Elective Kingdoms but that it should be always the Interest of the Prince that 's in Possession of the Throne so to govern his People as not to put them upon the necessity at any time to break through the Succession and pass by the next Immediate Heir But such is the brittle state of human things that notwithstanding all the Advantages and Excellencies of the English Constitution scarce an Age has pass'd without some remarkable Struggle either between King and People for Prerogative and Liberty or between Competitors for the Crown it self The Glory of England was arriv'd to a high pitch in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The Reign of Q. Elizabeth Her People liv'd at their Ease and were happy under her Auspicious Conduct and her opprest Neighbours felt the benign Influences of her great and bountiful Mind She it was that made Head against the then Paramount Power of Christendom and that in both the Old and New Worlds And it was in a great measure owing to her Conduct and Fortune that the Spaniard fell short of the Vniversal Monarchy To draw a Picture worthy of Queen Elizabeth Her Châ—ractâ—â— were a Task fit only for the Greatest Masters since all that ever was Great or Wise in Womankind did contribute to make up her Character As to her Person she had but little of a Regular Beauty in her Face but that was well proportion'd and in the main very agreeable Her Mien and Gait were Noble and in every thing she said or did there was something of Majesty that stâ—uck more Awe than Love Tho when she had a mind she could put on Charms that few were able to resist In her Features Person and Mien she had more of Henry the Eighth than of the Unfortunate Anna Bullen her Mother But they were his good and none of his ill Qualities which she deriv'd from her Father Her Youth was a continued Scene of Afflictions but she was happy in that she suffered one of the greatest before she was capable of feeling the weight of it for she was scarce Three Years old when her Mother was sacrific'd to the Rage and Jealousy of her Husband And she that had been the Year she was born declar'd not only Heir Apparent of the Crown but which was out of the ordinary Road Princess of Wales and that by Act of Parliament was now by another Act declar'd Illegitimate and excluded from the Succession Notwithstanding this strange Reverse of Fortune particular Care was taken of her Education especially by her Brother Edward the Sixth who lov'd her above all things and was scarce ever pleas'd but in her Company Before she was Seventeen Years of Age she understood perfectly well the Latin French and Italian Tongues and was so far Mistress of the Greek that she translated into Latin Two of Isocrates's Orations one of which I have seen of her own Hand-writing corrected by her Tutor but in Three places whereof one is an Error only in the Orthography She was indefatigable in the Study of Learning especially Philosophy History Divinity and Rhetorick not forgetting both Vocal and Instrumental Musick as far as it might become one of her Quality Being thus Learned it was no wonder she form'd her Tongue and Pen to a pure and elegant way of speaking and writing and her Mind to the Noblest Notions of Philosophy and the highest Practice of Virtue Her Brother dying Queen Mary's Hereditary Aversion to her upon the account of their Mothers broke out with all the marks of Ill-Nature and Revenge And Philip the Second who prov'd afterwards her greatest Enemy was the Person that preserv'd her Life but it was upon a mere political Design which however miscarried During all that Reign the Princess Elizabeth was tost from one Confinement to another being oblig'd many times to suffer Indignities far unworthy of her Birth till at last by the Death of Queen Mary she was call'd from a Prison to a Throne at the Age of Twenty five Years Upon receit of the News of her Sister's Death and that she her self was proclaim'd Queen it 's said she fell down upon her Knees and after a short silence broke out with these words of the Psalmist A Domino factum est isâ—ud est mirabile in oculis nostris Which Words she took afterwards for her Motto in some of her Gold Coin During all the time of her Reign she would never allow her Title to be debated or reason'd upon nor so much as explain'd or vindicated She thought it sufficient that she wore the Crown and was resolv'd and knew well how to maintain it upon her Head without the help of Paper-Arguments She receiv'd with Indignation a Proposition that was made to her to have her Title asseâ—ted in Parliament And scorn'd to Repeal even the Act which declar'd her Illegitimate and incapable to succeed Her Reign was long and glorious being lov'd of her People fear'd and admir'd by her Enemies and attended with constant Success in all her Enterprizes Never Prince was better serv'd nor more happy in the choice of her Servants and no Age can instance such a Set of Able Ministers as she had Her Court at home was the quiet and happy Seat of the Muses while her Fleets and Armies abroad gather'd Laurels every where for their Mistress and themselvts She had to perfection the Art of pleasing her Parliament and she and they never parted in discontent but with the highest proofs of mutual Confidence What sort of men they were that composed the House of Commons during her Reign and of how different a stamp from those in that of her Sucâ—essor Appendix Numb 1. The Character of the Members of Parliament in Q. Elizabâ—th's Reign is best express'd in the words of Sir Robert Nauntwell Secretary to King Iames who was a Member of Parliament in both Reigns which may not be improper to insert in the Appendix If Queen Elizabeth can be properly said to have had Favourites they were chiefly the Earls of Leicester and Essex but she never fail'd to humble them upon every occasion where they presum'd too much upon her Favour The one she recall'd with Ignominy from his Government of the Vnited Provinces for behaving himself haughtily in his Office And at another time upon his threatning Bower the Vsher of the Black Rod to have him turn'd out of his Place for stopping one of his Retinue at the Queen's Bed-Chamber Door she told him with a severe Frown accompanied with an Oath My Lord I had
he frequently ask'd it and particularly in a Printed Letter of his to Cecil The Honour of Knighthood though often prostituted since was in so great Esteem in her Reign that a Gentleman of Lincolnshire having rais'd Three hundred men for her Service at Tilbury Camp upon his own Interest told his Wife at parting That he hop'd thereby to deserve the Queen's Favour so far as that she should be a Lady at his Return She had a particular Friendship for Henry the Fourth of France and to her in a great measure he ow'd his Crown She never laid any thing more to heart than his changing his Religion And it was a long time before she could be brought to believe it But when she receiv'd the Account of it from himself all her Constancy fail'd her and in the Agony of her Grief snatching a Pen she writ him a short Expostulatory Letter worthy of her self Appendix Numb 4. and of that melancholy occasion which is related in the Appendix This her Grief says her Historian she sought to allay by reading the Sacred Scriptures and the Writings of the Fathers and even the Books of Philosophers translating about that time for an Amusement Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae into Elegant English The only Action that seems to reflect upon her Memory was the Death of Mary Queen of Scots The Affair of Mary Stuart Q. of Scots There had been an Emulation betwixt them of a long standing occasioned at first by the latter's assuming the Arms and Title of Queen of England which it 's no wonder Queen Elizabeth highly resented A great many other Accidents did contribute to alienate their Affections But when it fell out that every day produc'd some new Conspiracy against the Life of Queen Elizabeth and that in most of them the Queen of Scots was concern'd either as a Party or the Occasion Queen Elizabeth was put upon a fatal Necessity of either taking off the Queen of Scots or exposing her own Person to the frequent Attempts of her Enemies With what Reluctancy Queen Elizabeth was brought to consent to her Death and how she was deceiv'd at last in Signing the Warrant for her Execution by the over diligence of her Secretary and Privy-Council Cambden her Celebrated Historian has given us a very full and impartial Account Yet Queen Elizabeth is not altogether excusable in this matter for Queen Mary came into England upon a Promise made her long before Queen Elizabeth sent her once a Ring and at the same time a Message That if at any time she wanted her Protection she might be assured of it and the Token betwixt them was Queen Mary's sending her back the same Ring That Unfortunate Princess seeing her Affairs desperate in Scotland dispatch'd a Letter to Queen Elizabeth with the Ring to put her in mind of her Promise but without waiting for an Answer she came into England the very next day They were both to be pitied the one for her Sufferings and the other for being the Cause of them And I have seen several Letters in the Cotton-Library of Queen Mary's Hand to Queen Elizabeth writ in the most moving Strain that could be most of them in French being the Language she did generally write in There was one particularly wherein she tells her That her long Imprisonment had brought her to a Dropsical Swelling in her Legs and other Diseases that for the Honour of her Sex she â—orbears to commit to Paper And concludes thus Your most Affectionate Sister and Cousin and the most miserable Princess that ever wore a Crown When such Letters as these had no influence upon Queen Elizabeth it may reasonably be concluded That nothing but Self-Preservation could oblige her to carry her Resentments so far as she did To sum up the Character of this Renowned Queen in a few words She found the Kingdom at her coming to the Throne in a most afflicted condition embroil'd on the one side with a Scotch and on the other with a French War the Crown overcharg'd with her Father's and Brother's Debts its Treasure exhausted the People distracted with different Opinions in Religion her self without Friends with a controverted Title and strengthen'd with no Alliance abroad After one of the longest Reigns that ever was she died in Peace leaving her Countrey Potent at Sea and Rich in People and Trade her Father's and her Brother's Debts paid the Crown without any Incumbrance a great Treasure in the Exchequer the Coin brought to a true Standard Religion settled upon a regular and lasting Basis her self having been admir'd and fear'd by all her Neighbouring Princes and her Friendship courted by Monarchs that had scarce ever before any further knowledge of England but the Name So that her Successor had good reason to say of her That she was one who in Wisdom and Felicity of Government surpass'd all Princes since the days of Augustus After all To the Reproach of those she had made great and happy she was but ill attended in her last Sickness and near her Death forsaken by all but three or four Persons every body making haste to adore the Rising Sun With Queen Elizabeth dy'd in a great part the Glory and Fortune of the English Nation and the succeeding Reigns serv'd only to render hers the more Ilustrious As she was far from invading the Liberties of her Subjects so she was careful to maintain and preserve her own just Prerogative nor did ever any Prince that sat upon the English Throne carry the true and essential parts of Royalty further But at the same time the whole Conduct of her Life plac'd her beyond the Suspicion of ever having sought Greatness for any other end than to make her People share with her in it It was not so with the Prince that succeeded her The Reign of K. Iames. He was the more fond of Prerogative because he had been kept short of it in his Native Country He grasp'd at an Immoderate Power but with an ill Grace and if we believe the Historians of that time with a design to make his People little If so he had his Wish for from his first Accession to the Crown the Reputation of England began sensibly to sink and Two Kingdoms which disunited had made each of them apart a considerable Figure in the World now when united under one King fell short of the Reputation which the least of them had in former Ages The latter Years of King Iames fill'd our Annals with little else but Misfortunes at home and abroad The Loss of the Palatinate and the Ruin of the Protestants in Bohemia through his Negligence the Trick that was put upon him by the House of Austria in the business of the Spanish Match and the continued Struggle betwixt him and his Parliament about Redress of Grievances were things that help'd on to lessen his Credit abroad and imbitter the Minds of his Subjects at home Repenting of these unlucky Measures too late King Iames went off
egregiously imposâ—d upon for there was no way to come at the Town but through Parts of Germany that were in the hands of Spain and so the Spaniards continued Masters of Frankendale When several other Princes were some time after upon entring into a League for Restitution of the Palatinate and the House of Austria was beginning to doubt the Success Gundomar play'd another Engine to break their Measures by proposing a Match with the Infanta of Spain for the Prince of Wales as the easiest and surest way to restore the Palatine Family which like all the rest was only to amuse King Iames and was equally unsuccessful It were too long to give the Detail of King Iames's Conduct in this Affair which was all of a piece The Author sums up the ills that attended it in this That thereby the Protestant Religion was entirely rooted out of Bohemia the Electoral Dignity transferr'd from the Palatine Family the Palatinate it self lost the Liberty of Germany overthrown and which he mentions with a sensible Regret the famous Library of Heidelburgh was carried to Rome to the irreparable Prejudice of Learning So that Gundomar had good reason to say in one of his Letters to the Duke of Lerma printed in the History of that Duke's Life That he had lull'd King James so fast asleep that he hop'd neither the Cries of his Daughter nor her Children nor the repeated Sollicitations of his Parliament and Subjects in their behalf should be able to awaken him There are two Passages more very observable in this Author The Court of Spain finding King Iames had broke off the Spanish Match and was brought to see how egregiously he had been abus'd in it they ventur'd upon a bold Attempt to trouble his Affairs by whispering in his Ears some things to make him jealous of his Son And that a good while after when King Charles and his Parliament were entring upon vigorous Measures to espouse the Palatine Cause they found ways to sow Divisions between him and his People that in progress of time broke out into a Civil War The latter needs no Commentary and the former is sufficiently explain'd Hacket's Life of Bâ— William by what a late Author has writ in the Life of Bishop Williams concerning that Prelate's being instrumental in making up some secret differences betwixt King Iames and his Son the Prince of Wales a little before King Iames's Death Spanhemius sums up what relates to this Affair with this Remark That never Prince was more oblig'd to a Sister than King Charles the First was to the Queen of Bohemia since it was only the Consideration of her and her Children who were then the next Heirs to the Crown of England that prevail'd with the Court of Spain to permit him to see England again As in most Foreign Transactions King Iames was unhappy In the Interdict of Venice so more particularly in the difference between Pope Paul V. and the Venetians There appear'd at that time a wonderful Disposition in that State to work a Reformation in the Church and throw off the Papal Yoke In order to advance it King Iames dispatch'd Sir Henry Wotton his Ambassador to Venice and hearing that Spain had declar'd for the Pope he declar'd for the Venetians and acquainted Iustiniani their Ambassador in England That he would not only assist Them with all the Forces of his Kingdom but engage all his Allies in their Defence At Sir Henry Wotton's Arrival the Breach between the Pope and the Republick was brought very near a Crisis so that a total Separation was expected not only from the Court but the Church of Rome which was set on by the Learned Padre Paulo and the Seven Divines of the State with much Zeal and conducted with as great Prudence The Ambassador at his Audience offer'd all possible Assistance in his Master's Name and accus'd the Pope and Papacy of being the chief Authors of all the Mischiefs in Christendom This was receiv'd with great Deference and Respect to King Iames And when the Pope's Nuncio objected That King Iames was not a Catholick and so was not to be rely'd upon the Doge took him up briskly and told him That the King of England believ'd in Iesus Christ but he did not know in whom some others believ'd King Iames had sent with Wotton his Premonition to all Christian Princes and States translated into Latin to be presented to the Senate which Padre Paulo and the other Divines press'd might be done at his first Audience telling him they were confident it would have a very good effect The Ambassador could not be prevail'd with alledging he had positive Orders to wait till St. Iames's Day which was not far off This Conceit of presenting K. Iames's Book on St. Iames's Day spoil'd all for before that day came the Difference was made up and that happy Opportunity lost So that when he had his Audience on St. Iames's Day and had presented the Book all the Answer he got was That they thank'd the King of England for his good will but they were now reconcil'd to the Pope and that therefore they were resolv'd not to admit of any Change in their Religion according to their Agreement with the Court of Rome How little Reputation he acquir'd in the Matter of the Venetian Interdict appears yet more plainly in this That in all the numerous Collections we have of Letters that pass'd on that Subject between the Cardinals of Ioyeuse and Perron the Marquis de Fresnes and Henry IV. there is not the least notice taken of King Iames or his Embassy To have done with King Iames it was said That he divided his time betwixt his Standish his Bottle and his Hunting The last had his fair Weather the two former his dull and cloudy and therefore that it was no wonder his Writings were so variable and that after he had pleaded for Witchcraft and the Pope's being Antichrist Somerset's Affair and the Spanish Match cur'd him of both After having enjoy'd for the most part of his Life a firm Health he died of a Quartan Ague in the Fifty ninth Year of his Age and with such suspicious Circumstances as gave occasion of Enquiry into the manner of his Death in the two first Parliaments that were call'd by his Son all which came to nothing by reason of their sudden Dissolutions King Charles the First came to the Crown under all the Disadvantages that have been mention'd The Reign of King Charlâ—s I. and yet the Nation might have hop'd that their Condition would be mended under a Prince of so much Virtue as indeed he was if the Seeds of Discontent which were sown in his Father's time had not every day taken deeper Root and acquir'd new Growth through the Ill Management of his Ministers rather than any Wilful Errors of his own Some of them drove so fast that it was no wonder the Wheels and Chariot broke And it was in great part to the indiscreet Zeal of a
nothing short of Strafford or Falkland the Two most Celebrated Pens of that time As to his Religion he was Protestant and in the strictest sense of the Church of England and for the Divine Right of Episcopacy But his consenting personally to the total Abolition of that Order in Scotland does not well agree with this part of his Character especially considering his repeated Protestations at the Treaties of Vxbridge and Newport That he could not supersede it but for a time in England What his Opinion was about Subjects defending their Religion and Liberties by Force of Arms appear'd in the business of Rochell For though some would have had us believe of late That Defensive Arms were inconsistent with the Principles of the Church of England it 's hop'd they will not deny but King Charles I. understood the Doctrine and Principles of that Church as well as any other Person can pretend to do and yet its certain that in his Practice and Declarations he allow'd of the People of Rochell's vindicating their Religion and Liberties from the Encroachments made by their Sovereign and that by Force of Arms and assisted them in so doing King Charles did not only assist the Rochellers after the War was actually begun His assisting the Rochellers but we have reason to believe that he encourag'd them to it at first if we look into the Duke of Rhoan 's Memoirs and Apology where that Great Man acquaints the World in what manner he was brought into that War in these words as near as I can translate them from the Original When all our Privileges says he were violated and our Religion brought to Ruin and the City of Rochell in the greatest Danger I could see no possibility to escape but was upon the sad thoughts of submitting our selves to the Mercy of the King meaning Lewis the XIIIth Being in this desperate state there came a Gentleman to me from the King of England who told me from his Master That he seeing our Privileges were violated and our Religion in danger of being subverted had taken compassion on our Sufferings and thought himself oblig'd in Honour and Conscience to assist and protect us which he was resolv'd to do by employing all his Kingdoms and his own Person in so just a War Provided we would join our Arms with his and not enter into any Treaty with the King meaning the French King without him and for that effect he would make War against the French King both by Sea and Land Intreating me continues the Duke of Rhoan not to abandon my Party in so just and honourable a War And a little after in the same Apology he has these words I refer it to all the World if I can be justly call'd the Author of the Third War considering I was sollicited to it by the King of Great Britain But suppose there were no Credit to be given to the Duke of Rhoan whose Honour and Veracity even his very Enemies never call'd in question and suppose it were false which all the World knows to be true that King Charles did actually assist the Rochellers again and again against their Prince yet we have Authentick Accounts of several Speeches made by the Duke of Buckingham's Secretary to the Rochellers and of several Messages sent to them from the Duke in name of the King his Master all to the same purpose And likewise a Manifesto publish'd by him and sign'd with his own Hand dated Iuly 21. 1627. aboard the Admiral Ship in which he has this Expression No private Interest says he has oblig'd my Master to make War against the French King but merely the Defence of the Protestant Church My Master's design is the Re-establishment of the Church their Good is his Interest and their Contentment his End We have also Authentick Copies of the League betwixt King Charles and the People of Rochell in which there is this Expression That the Rochellers may be deliver'd from the Oppressions they groan under And to sum up all there were two Letters writ by King Charles with his own Hand to the Rochellers which are mention'd by Monsieur Mervault a Syndic of that Town and who was active in the whole matter and present during the whole Siege of which the Copies follow To the Mayor Sheriffs Peers and Burgesses of the City of Rochell Gentlemen BE not discouraged though my Fleet be return'd Hold out to the last for I am resolv'd that my whole Fleet shall perish rather than you be not reliev'd For this effect I have order'd It to return back to your Coasts and am sending several Ships to reinforce it With the Help of God the Success shall be happy for you At Westminster May 19. O. S. 1628. Your Good Friend CHARLES R. The other Letter directed as before runs thus Gentlemen I Have been very much troubled to hear that my Fleet was upon the point of returning home without obeying my Orders in supplying you with Provisions cost what it will I have commanded them to return to your Road and not to come away until you are supply'd or at least till they are reinforc'd which I have order'd to be done with all diligence Assure your selves That I shall never abandon you and that I shall employ the whole Power of my Kingdom for your deliverance until God assist me to obtain for you an assured Peace Given at our Palace of Westminster May 27. O. S. 1628. Your Good Friend CHARLES R. I have dwelt the longer upon this Subject because it is easy to draw a Parallel betwixt this Case of King Charles's assisting Subjects against their King in the Defence of their Religion and Liberties and that of another Prince's doing the same upon a late occasion But as the former had no other Right to interpose in the one but the common Interest of Religion so the other had over and above that the Right of a Prince of the Blood and the Interest of the Presumptive Heir of the Crown all which alter'd the Case greatly to the advantage of the latter King Charles was as unfortunate in this War with France as he was in all others he engag'd in The poor City of Rochell after a long and Cruel Siege amidst the Horrors of Famine and Death was at last forc'd to submit to the Will of the Conqueror and the loss of that Bulwark of the French Liberty was in some time follow'd by the total Ruin of the Protestant Interest in France The English Fleet lay within view of the Town when it was taken and which added to the Misfortune that mighty Dyke that had been rais'd at inestimable Charges to block up the Harbour fell down the very next day after the Surrender and open'd a Passage for the Fleet that came to relieve it when it was now too late During this War he lost his Favourite The Character of the D of Buckingham George Villiers Duke of Buckingham This Gentleman was one of the greatest Prodigies of Fortune that
any Age has produc'd and gave us a signal Instance how far it is possible for the same Person to be the Favourite of two Successive Monarchs He possess'd King Iames's Favour without a Rival and without any other Interruption but that Cloud which the Intrigues of Spain rais'd against him in the King's mind which has been already hinted at wherein the Son shar'd equally with the Favourite and which Bishop Williams's dexterity soon dissipated King Charles out-did his Father in his Kindness to Buckingham and had no Favourite after him He had all the Qualities that are requisite for a Court and fit to acquire and preserve his Master's Affection Notwithstanding he was in his Temper highly Generous and Beneficent and that there were few Great Families in England but he had some way or other oblig'd either in themselves or their Relations yet he fell under the Misfortune that attends Favourites but it must be own'd he was rather envied than hated He had the ill luck to be charg'd with a great many things of which he was innocent and particularly in relation to the Spanish Match By all that I have seen he deserv'd the Thanks of the Nation upon that account rather than an Impeachment in Parliament For it was he chiefly that broke off that Match when he saw how much King Iames suffer'd in his Honour through the manner he was treated in it which he found out sooner than the King did himself It 's none of the least Proofs of the Duke of Buckingham's Innocency in these matters that Spanhemius in his History of the Electrice Palatine writ long after Buckingham's Death speaks always honourably of him in the Business of the Palatinate whereas at the same time he exposes King Iames's Conduct It 's a vulgar mistake That he came to be the First Minister merely through the Caprice of King Iames for the Court unanimously promoted his Interest and recommended him to the highest Favour in opposition to Somerset whose Arrogancy Covetousness and Pride had disoblig'd every body and made both the King and the Court weary of him No Servant did his Master more Honour in the Magnificence of his Train and the splendid Manner of his living especially in his Embassy to France whâ—re in the Gracefulness of his Person and Nobleness of his Behaviour and Equipage he out-did any thing that ever was seen of that kind before He was more form'd for a Court than a Camp and though very Brave in his Person he was Unsuccessful in the only Military Expedition he was engag'd in which was that of Rochell And when he was upon the embarking a second time to repair that Disgrace he was basely murder'd amidst a Croud of his Friends and in the height of his Glory To return to King Charles's Character If he had any Personal Faults they were much over-weigh'd by his Virtues But an Immoderate Desire of Power beyond what the Constitution did allow of was the Rock he split upon He might have been happy if he had trusted more to his own Judgment than that of those about him for as in his nature he was an Enemy to all violent Measures so was he apt to submit his own Reason to that of others when any such things came under consideration There was another Error that run through the whole Management of his Affairs both Domestick and Publick and which occasion'd a great part of his Misfortunes He appear'd many times stiff and positive in denying at first what he granted afterwards out of time and too late to give satisfaction which encourag'd ambitious and interested Persons to ask more than they thought of at first and lost him the fruits of his former Concessions So that in the whole Conduct of his Life he verified this Maxim That Errors in Government have ruin'd more Princes than their Personal Vices I shall have done with this Melancholy Subject after the Reader has been acquainted with one remarkable Accident not hitherto mention'd with that Exactness it deserves by any Author I know of which considering its Consequences is an extraordinary Instance upon what small Hinges the greatest Revolutions may turn That the principal Rise of all King Charles's latter Troubles The true Cause of the Scots coming first into England was from the Second War with the Scots has been already show'd But what the Motives were that embolden'd the Scots to alter their Measures from those they had observ'd in the first War continues in great part a Mystery to this day In the first War they stood upon the Defensive only and came no further than their own Borders but in the second they acted so much in the offensive that they march'd into England as far as Durham and were coming on further if the Treaty that was set afoot at Rippon had not stopt them All the Accounts we have of this proceeding of the Scots do seem to be grounded upon the Informations they had of the Backwardness of England to assist the King in this War and that they were well assur'd of Friends all over the Kingdom and some of nearest access to the King's Person who they knew would interpose in their behalf rather than Matters should come to Extremities But these general Encouragements can hardly be thought to have had such weight with the Scots as to make them venture upon so bold an Attempt and therefore it 's but reasonable to believe they went upon surer Grounds when they made this Invasion This matter will be set in a clearer Light when the Reader is acquainted That a Forg'd Letter pretended to be sent from some of the most Leading Men of the Nobility of England came to have the same effects as if it had been a True One and really sign'd by the same Persons whose Names were affix'd to it Which fell out in this manner After the Pacification at Duns which put an end to the first War the King at his Return to London was prevail'd with upon the account of several things the Scots were said to have done contrary to the Articles of the Treaty and the Duty of Subjects to order the Pacification to be burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman To reduce them to obedience he was meditating a New War and in order thereto was levying another Army and was pleas'd to call a Parliament to assist him in it The Scots had their Commissioners at London at that time who wanted not Friends in both Houses to inform them of every thing that happen'd in Parliament and Council which they fail'd not to write home to their Countrey advising them to be on their Guard and to put themselves in a posture not to be surpriz'd The Scots knowing how matters went in England and that a new Storm was like to break out upon them were resolv'd to put themselves into a Posture of Defence and to the Forces they had not yet disbanded they added considerable new Levies both of Horse and Foot Their Preparations went faster on
than the King 's and with the more cheerfulness for by this time he had parted on ill terms with his Parliament and without obtaining a Supply While the King was advancing towards the North the Scots drew to their Borders and it was debated at several Councils of War where a Committee of Estates assisted Whether they should expect the King upon the Borders as they had done before or march into England and carry the War out of their own Countrey But they had taken no Resolution in the matter before the King was got as far as York In this nice Juncture there came a Gentleman to the English Border who sent a Message to the Earl of Rothes That he desir'd to acquaint him with a Matter of the greatest Importance and Secresy if he might privately and with safety speak with him alone Rothes thereupon sent a Trusty Servant with a Passport to conduct him to his Quarters where the Gentleman told him That he was directed particularly to him as a Person of great Honour and whom they could safely trust with a Message from several Great Men of England who were griev'd for the Ruin they foresaw must necessarily attend their Country if the King should make himself Absolute Master of Scotland seeing after that they were to expect the same Fate considering how little to the King's satisfaction things had been carried in the Parliament of England and how much he had resented their refusing a Subsidy to carry on this War He told him That nothing was so much desir'd in England as a Free Parliament to redress their Grievances And if the Scots would march immediately into England the King must necessarily be straitned to that degree in his Affairs as to be oblig'd to call a Parliament And that upon their March the City of London and the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry would not only petition the King for a Free Parliament but likewise mediate between the King and them and bring matters to such an Accommodation as might be for the good of both Nations Adding withal That if the Scots slipt this Opportunity they were never to expect the like again The Gentleman having deliver'd this Message gave the Earl a Letter directed to him and sign'd by about Twelve Noblemen much to the same purpose but writ more cautiously and in more general terms desiring him for a further Explanation to give entire Credit to the Bearer whom they had fully inform'd of their Intentions Rothes with the Gentleman's leave acquainted General Lesley afterwards Earl of Leven and one or two of the most Leading Men of the Committee of Estates with this Message and upon solemn Promises of Secrecy show'd them the Letter both which agreeing so well in the main with the Intelligence they had receiv'd from England and suiting with their own Inclinations determin'd them in the Point And next morning in the Council of War It was resolv'd to march into England that Afternoon which accordingly they did Rothes in the mean time dispatch'd back the Messenger with an Answer to the Noblemen he suppos'd had writ to him Thanking them for their Advice and acquainting them with the Resolution had been taken thereupon It fell out afterwards at the Treaty of Rippon when the English and Scotch Commissioners grew familiar with one another that the Earl of Rothes came from Newcastle to the Place of Treaty and one of the English Noblemen making him a Visit they fell into Discourse about the present Juncture of Affairs The English Nobleman express'd how much he had been surpriz'd upon the first News of the Scots entring into England and told him That though he hop'd it would now turn to the Advantage of both Nations yet it was in it self a dangerous and rash Attempt and might have been fatal to the Scots if the King had not been pleas'd to enter into a Treaty for an Accommodation of Matâ—ers in dispute between them Rothes was at a stand what to make of this Discourse considering this Nobleman was one of those whose Name was to the Letter formerly mention'd and therefore answer'd That he wondred his Lordship was surpriz'd at an Action he had so much influenc'd And that if it had not been for the Invitation of himself and his Friends perhaps the Scots â—rmy might have continued still on the other side of Tweed The Two Lords being equally in the dark as to one another's meaning were at length upon producing of the Letter both of them undeceiv'd and found it was a mere Forgery which was afterwards acknowledg'd by the Contriver who was the Lord Savile created some time after Earl of Sussex This Letter though forgotten now was much talk'd of during the Civil Wars And I have seen several Original Papers of those Times that mention'd it A Noble Lord lately dead whose Name was to the Letter never made any scruple of telling this Passage to his Friends in the manner I have related it And I once had a Copy of the Letter it self from the Original which was then and I believe is still among the Papers of the Noble Family of Rothes which I have since lost I must confess I have dwelt longer upon this matter than consists with the Brevity I intended and that it might have been more properly mention'd in another place Yet thus it was that a Counterfeit Invitation brought the Scots into England in the Year 1640. And considering the Consequences it may be said That Providence many times seems to play with Human Affairs and influences the Fate of Kingdoms by Counsels and Measures the most improbable to succeed if he had not design'd them to be subservient to his great Ends. There is an Historian for whom I have the highest Veneration Bishop of Salisbury's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton who in his Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton mentions a Passage not unlike to this and perhaps it may be the very same though his Relation and mine differ in the time and some other Circumstances And seeing I happen'd to look into that Book some time after I had writ these Sheets that I may do Justice to its Reverend Author whose Information I am willing to believe may be better than my own though I had mine from no common Hands I shall give his Account of it in his own words and the rather for that I do not remember the Date of the Letter upon which the Passage turns though I do the main Design and Contents of it But that the Reader may not be wholly in the dark says this Great Historian about the Grounds of this Confidence the Covenanters had I shall set down what I had from some Persons of Great Honour who were fully inform'd about it When the Earls of Dumfermling and Loudon came to London a Person of Quality of the English Nation whose Name is suppress'd because of the Infamy of this Action came to them and with great Vehemence press'd them to engage in a new War
might be more serviceable to his Majesty and the College Notwithstanding this humble and submissive Address King Iames signified his Pleasure to them That he expected to be obey'd Upon which the Fellows being oblig'd by the Statutes of their Society to which they were sworn not to delay the Election longer than such a day and Fermer being a Person they could not chuse without incurring the Sin of Perjury they proceeded to Election and chose Dr. Hough now Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry their President Hereupon the New President and Fellows were cited before the Ecclesiastical Commission for disobeying the King's Mandate And notwithstanding they made it appear by their Answer plac'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 19. That they could not comply with that Mandate without Breach of their Oath and that there was no room left for the King to dispense with that Oath because in the Oath it self they were sworn not to make use of any such Dispensation nor in any sort consent thereto Yet against all Law the Ecclesiastical Commissioners did by their Sentence deprive Dr. Hough of his Presidentship and suspended two of the Fellows from their Fellowships While the King at the same time Inhibited the College to elect or admit any person whatsoever into any Fellowship or any other Place or Office in the said College till his further Pleasure The Court finding by this time that Fermer was one of so profligate a Life that though he had promis'd to declare himself Roman-Catholick upon his Promotion to that place they began to be asham'd of him And therefore instead of insisting on the former Mandamus in his favour there was another granted in favour of Dr. Parker then Bishop of Oxford one of the Creatures of the Court and who they knew would stick at nothing to serve a Turn The Place of President being already in a Legal manner fill'd up by the Election of Dr. Hough which though it had not been yet the Bishop of Oxford was likewise incapable by the Statutes of the College of being elected The Fellows did humbly offer a very pathetick Petition to his Majesty mention'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 20. in which they set forth how inexpressible an Affliction it was to them to find themselves reduc'd to such an extremity that either they must disobey his Majesty's Commands contrary to their Inclinations and that constant course of Loyalty which they had ever shew'd hithertâ— upon all occasions or else break their Founders Statutes and deliberately perjure themselves Then they mention'd the Statutes and the Oaths that every one of them had taken at their Admission into their Fellowships and concluded with an humble Prayer to his Majesty To give them leave to lay their Case and Themselves at his Majesty's Royal Feet earnestly beseeching his Sacred Majesty to extend to them his humble Petitioners that Grace and Tenderness which he had vouchsaf'd to all his other Subjects All this Submission was in vain For the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by their final Decree and Sentence depriv'd and expell'd from their Fellowships all the Fellows of Magdalen College but Three that had complied with Breach of Oath being Twenty five in number And to push their Injustice yet further they did by another Sentence decree and declare That Dr. Hough who had been depriv'd before and the said Twenty five Fellows should be incapable of receiving or being admitted into any Ecclesiastical Dignity Benefice or Promotion And such of them who were not yet in Holy Orders they adjudg'd incapable of receiving or being admitted into the same Thus by a Decree of an Illegal Court were a Set of Worthy and Learned Men turn'd out of their Freeholds merely for not obeying an Arbitrary Command which was directly against their Consciences And thus was King Iames prevail'd with by a Headstrong Party to assume a Power not only to dispense with Laws but to make void Oaths The first Declaration for Liberty of Conscience was not thought a sufficient Stretch of Power The Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and therefore King Iames issued out another of a much higher Strain in which the Roman-Catholicks were chiefly included and indeed it was for their sake alone it was granted To render the Church of England accessary to their own Ruin The Order of Council upon it there was an Order of Council made upon the latter commanding it to be read at the usual times of Divine Service in all Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom and ordering the Bishops to cause it to be sent and distributed throughout their several and respective Diocesses to be read accordingly The Clergy of the Church of England had reason to take it for the greatest Hardship and Oppression that could be put upon them to be commanded to read from their Pulpits a Declaration they knew to be against Law and which in its Nature and Design was levell'd against their own Interest and that of their Religion Some of them through Fear or Mistake and others to make their Court complied but the Generality refus'd to obey so unjust a Command The Romish Party had their Ends in it for their Refusal laid them open to the severe Lashes of the Ecclesiastical Commission and accordingly every one that had not read the Declaration in their Churches were order'd to be prosecuted before that inexorable Tribunal where they were infallibly to expect to be depriv'd And so most of the Benefices in England must have been made vacant for a new kind of Incumbents But the Scene chang'd before all this could be brought about For King Iames urg'd on by his Fate and by a restless Party about him came at this time to level a Blow against the Archbishop of Canterbury and Six of his Suffragan Bishops that awaken'd the People of England to shake off their Chains and implore Foreign Assistance to retrieve the dying Liberties of their Countrey These Seven Bishops being sensible The Affair of the Seven Bishops as most of the Nation was of what was originally aim'd at in these two Declarations for Liberty of Conscience did consult together about the humblest manner to lay before King Iames the Reasons why they could not comply with the Order of Council Having got leave to attend him they deliver'd to him with the greatest Submission a Petition in behalf of themselves and their absent Brethren and in the name of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses humbly representing That their unwillingness did not proceed from any want of Duty and Obedience to his Majesty nor from any want of due Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a Temper as should be thought fit when that Matter should be consider'd in Parliament and Convocation But among a great many other Considerations from this especially Because That Declaration was founded upon such a Dispensing Power as had been often declar'd Illegal in Parliament and was a matter of
Attainder past in Parliament in order to which evey Member of the House of Commons return'd the Names of all such Protestant Gentlemen as liv'd near them or in the County or Borough for which he serv'd and if he was Stranger to any of them he sent to the Countrey for Information about them When this Bill was presented to the King for his Assent the Speaker of the House of Commons told him That many were attainted in that Act upon such Evidence as satisfied the House and the rest upon common Fame In this Act there were no fewer Attainted than Two Archbishops One Duke Seventeen Earls Seven Countesses Twenty eight Viscounts Two Viscountesses Seven Bishops Eighteen Barons Thirty three Baronets Fifty one Knights Eighty three Clergymen Two thousand one hundred eighty two Esquires and Gentlemen And all of them unheard declar'd and adjudg'd Traytors convicted and attainted of High Treason and adjudg'd to suffer the pains of Death and Forfeiture The famous Proscription of Rome during the last Triumvirate came not up in some respects to the Horror of this for there were condemn'd in this little Kingdom more than double the Number that were proscrib'd through the vast Bounds of the Roman Empire And to make this of Ireland yet the more terrible and to put the Persons Attainted out of a possibility of escaping the Act it self was conceal'd and no Protestant allow'd a Copy of it till Four Months after it was past Whereas in that of Rome the Names of the Persons proscrib'd were affix'd upon all the Publick Places of the City the very day the Proscription was concerted and thereby opportunity was given to many of the Noblest Families in Rome to preserve themselves by a speedy flight for better Times There remain'd but one Kingdom more for the Romish Party to act their Designs in and that was Scotland where they reap'd a full Harvest of their Hopes and there were scarce left the least Remains of Ancient Liberty in that Nation Their Miseries were summ'd up in one new-coin'd Word which was us'd in all the King's Declarations and serv'd to express to the full their Absolute Slavery which was this That his Subjects were oblig'd to obey him without Reserve A Word that the Princes of the East how Absolute soever they be did never yet pretend to in their Stile whatever they might in their Actions But I leave the Detail of the Encroachments that were made upon the Laws and Liberties of that Kingdom to others that may be thought more impartial as having suffer'd less in their Ruins While King Iames was thus push'd on by a headstrong Party The Interest that Foreign Princes and States had in England to enslave his Subjects the other Princes and States of Europe look'd on with quite different Sentiments according as their own Interests and Safety mov'd them The greater part did commiserate the Fate of these Three Kingdoms and wish'd for their Deliverance The Protestants saw with Regret that they themselves were within an immediate Prospect of losing the most considerable Support of their Religion and both they and the Roman-Catholicks were equally convinc'd that it was their common Interest to have England continue in a condition to be the Arbiter of Christendom especially at a time when they saw they most needed it On the other hand it was the Interest of another Prince that not only the King of England should be his Friend but the Kingdom of England should become inconsiderable abroad which it could not fail to be when enslav'd at home King Iames had been again and again sollicited not only by Protestant Princes but those of his own Religion to enter into other Measures for the common Safety of Europe at least not to contribute to its Ruin by espousing an Interest which they judg'd was opposite to it The Emperor among others had by his Ambassador made repeated Instances to him to this purpose but with no better Success than the rest as appears by a Letter he writ to him after his Abdication The Emperor's Letter to K. Iames in Latin printed at London 1689. which has been Printed in several Languages and was conceiv'd in Elegant Latin as all the Publick Dispatches of that Court are But all these Remonstrances had no weight with King Iames though they had this good effect in the end as to put those Princes and States upon such Measures as secur'd to them the Friendship of England in another way The Power of France was by this time become the Terror and Envy of the rest of Europe and that Crown had upon all sides extended its Conquests The Empire Spain and Holland seem'd to enjoy a precarious Peace while the common Enemy of the Christian Name was making War with the Emperor and the State of Venice and was once very near being Master of the Imperial Seat whereby he might have carried the War into the Bowels of Germany The main Strength of the Empire being turn'd against the Turks and that with various Success there was another War declar'd against the Emperor by France so that it came to be absolutely necessary for Spain and Holland to interpose not as Mediators for that they were not to hope for but as Allies and Partners in the War These last as well as the other Princes and States that lay nearest the Rhine were expos'd to the Mercy of a Prince whom they were not able to resist if England should look on as Neuters or take part against them the last of which they had reason to fear Thus it happen'd that the Fortune of England and that of the greatest part of Christendom came to be link'd together and their common Liberties must of necessity have undergone one and the same Fate The latter from a Natural Principle of Self-Preservation were resolv'd to make their last Effort to break the Fetters which they saw were ready to be impos'd upon them And the other animated by the Example of their Ancestors and the Constitution of their Countrey which is diametrically opposite to Tyranny were resolv'd to venture All to retrieve themselves and their Posterity from the Chains that were already put upon them Both the one and the others might have struggled in vain to this day with the Ruin that threaten'd them The Interest the Prince of Orange had in England if Heaven in pity to their Condition had not provided in the Person of the Prince of Orange the only Sanctuary that was left them to shelter their sinking State This Prince by his Mother was a Nephew of England and in Right of the Princess his Wife the Presumptive Heir of the Crown By his Father's side he was Heir of an Illustrious Family that had eterniz'd their Name by delivering their Countrey from Slavery and laying the Foundation of a mighty Commonwealth which has since prov'd the greatest Bulwark of the Protestant Religion and the chief Support of the Liberty of Christendom A Family born for the good of Mankind to
to smell out what was done in the Conclave and his good old Father was so well seen in the Mathematicks as that he could tell you through all Spain every part every Ship with the Burthens whither bound what preparation what Impediments for diversion of Enterprizes Counsels and Resolutions And that we may see as in a little Map how docible this little Man was I will present a Taste of his Abilities My Lord of Devonshire Mountjoy upon the certainty the Spaniard would invade Ireland with a strong Army had written very earnestly to the Queen and the Council for such Supplies to be sent over that might enable him to march up to the Spaniard if he did land and follow on his Prosecution against the Rebels Sir Robert Cecil besides the general Dispatch of the Council Earl of Salisbury as he often did wrote this in private for these two began then to love dearly My Lord Out of the abundance of my Affection and the care I have of your well-doing I must in private put you out of doubt for of Fear I know you cannot be otherwise sensible than in the way of Honour that the Spaniard will not come unto you this Year for I have it from my own what Preparations are in all his Parts and what he can do for be confident he beareth up a Reputation by seeming to embrace more than he can gripe but the next Year be assured he will cast over unto you some Forlorn Hopes which how they may be reâ—inforced beyond his present Ability and his first Intention I cannot as yet make any certain Iudgment but I believe out of my Intelligence that you may expect their landing in Munster and the more to distract you in several places as at Kingsale Beerhaven Baltimore where you may be sure coming from Sea they will first fortify and learn the Strength of the Rebels before they dare take the Field howsoever as I know you will not lessen not your Care neither your Defences and whatsoever lies within my power to do you and the Publick service rest thereof assured Note All came exactly to pass as this Letter insinuates NUMB. III. Queen Elizabeth's Speech to the House of Commons Cambden's Hist. of Q. Eliz. p 26 27. in Answer to their Address about her Marriage IN a matter most unpleasing most pleasing to me is the apparent Good-Will of you and my People as proceeding from a very good mind towards me and the Commonwealth Concerning Marriage which ye so earnestly move me to I have been long since persuaded that I was sent into this World by God to think and do those things chiefly which may tend to his Glory Hereupon have I chosen that kind of life which is most free from the troublesome Cares of this World that I might atttend the Service of God alone From which if either the tendred Marrriages of most Potent Princes or the danger of Death intended against me could have removed me I had long agone enjoyed the Honour of an Husband And these things have I thought upon when I was a private Person But now that the publick Care of governing the Kingdom is laid upon me to draw upon me also the Cares of Marriage may seem a point of inconsiderate Folly Yea to satisfy you I have already joined my self in Marriage to an Husband namely the Kingdom of England And behold said she which I marvel ye have forgotten the Pledge of this my Wedlock and Marriage with my Kingdom And therewith she drew the Ring from her Finger and shewed it wherewith at her Coronation she had in a set form of words solemnly given her self in Marriage to her Kingdom Here having made a pause And do not saith she upbraid me with miserable lack of Children for every one of you and as many as are Englishmen are Children and Kinsmen to me of whom if God deprive me not which God forbid I cannot without injury be accounted Barren But I commend you that ye have not appointed me an Husband for that were most unworthy the Majesty of an Absolute Princess and unbeseeming your Wisdom which are Subjects born Nevertheless if it please God that I enter into another course of life I promise you I will do nothing which may be prejudicial to the Commonwealth but will take such a Husband as near as may be as will have as great a care of the Commonwealth as my self But if I continue in this kind of life I have begun I doubt not but God will so direct mine own and your Counsels that ye shall not need to doubt of a Successor which may be more beneficial to the Commonwealth than he which may be born of me considering that the Issue of the best Princes many times degenerateth And to me it shall be a full satisfaction both for the Memorial of my Name and for my Glory also if when I shall let my last Breath it be engraven upon my Marble Tomb Here lieth ELIZABETH which Reigned a Virgin and died a Virgin NUMB. IV. Queen Elizabeth's Letter to King Henry the Fourth of France Ibid. p. 475. upon his changing his Religion ALas what deep Sorrow what vehement Grief what Sighs have I felt at my Heart for the things which Morlante hath told me of Alas is the World come to this pass Was it possible that any Worldly matter should make you quit the fear of God Can we expect any happy Issue of such a Fact Or could you think that he who hath hitherto with his own Right Hand upholden and preserved you would now forsake you It is a very dangerous thing to do Evil that Good may come of it Yet I hope a sober Spirit will put you into a better Mind In the mean time I will not omit to make it a principal part of my Prayers the recommending you to God beseeching him that the Hands of Esau may not lose you the Blessing of Iacob Whâ—reas you do religiously and solemnly offer me your Friendship I know to my great Cost I have well deserved it neither should I repent that had you not changed your Father Verily from henceforth I cannot be your Sister by the Father for the truth is I shall ever more dearly love and honour mine own Father than a false and counterfeit one which God knoweth very well who I beseech him bring you back again to a better Mind Subscribed Your Sister if it be after the old manner as for the new I have nothing to do with it Elizabeth R. NUMB. V. An Account of what was Remarkable upon opening the Body of Prince Henry FIrst Truth brought to Light or the first 14 Years of K. Iames p. 33. we found his Liver paler than ordinary in certain places somewhat wan his Gall without any Choler in it and distended with Wind. Secondly his Spleen was in divers places more than ordinarily black Thirdly his Stomach was in no part offended Fourthly his Midriff was in divers places black
many years together without hope of relief if God had not by his over-ruling Providence given some interruption to the prevailing Power and Counsel of those who were the Authors and Promoters of such peremptory and heady Courses Judges have been put out of their Places for refusing to do against their Oaths and Consciences Others have been so awed that they durst not do their duties and the better to hold a Rod over them the Clause quam diu se bene gesserint was left out of their Patents and a new Clause durante bene placito inserted Lawyers have been check'd for being faithful to their Clients Sollicitors and Attornies have been threatned and some punished for following lawful Suits And by this means all the approaches to Justice were interrupted and forecluded New Oaths have been forced upon the Subject against Law new Judicatories erected without Law The Council-Table have by their Orders offered to bind the Subjects in their Freeholds Estates Suits and Actions The pretended Court of the Earl Marshal was Arbitrary and Illegal in its Being and Proceedings The Chancery Exchequer-Chamber Court of Wards and other English Courts have been grievous in exceeding their Jurisdiction The Estate of many Families weaken'd and some ruin'd by excessive Fines exacted from them for Compositions of Wardships All Leases of above a hundred Years made to draw on Wardship contrary to Law Undue proceedings used in the finding of Offices to make the Jury find for the King The Common-Law Courts seeing all men more inclined to seek Justice there where it may be fitted to their own desire are known frequently to forsake the Rules of the Common-Law and straining beyond their bounds under pretence of Equity to do Injustice Titles of Honour Judicial Places Serjeant-ships at Law and other Offices have been sold for great Sums of Money whereby the common Justice of the Kingdom hath been much endanger'd not only by opening a way of Employment in places of great Trust and Advantage to men of weak Parts but also by giving occasion to Bribery Extortion Partiality It seldom happening that Places ill-gotten are well used Commissions have been granted for examining the excess of Fees and when great Exactions have been discovered Compositions have been made with Delinquents not only for the time past but likewise for immunity and security in offending for the time to come which under colour of remedy hath but confirmed and increased the Grievance to the Subject The usual course of pricking Sheriffs not observed but many times Sheriffs made in an extraordinary way sometimes as a Punishment and Charge unto them sometimes such were prick'd out as would be Instruments to execute whatsoever they would have to be done The Bishops and the rest of the Clergy did triumph in the Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations of divers painful learned and pious Ministers in the vexation and grievous oppression of great numbers of his Majesty's good Subjects The High Commission grew to such excess of sharpness and severity as was not much less than the Romish Inquisition and yet in many cases by the Archbishop's Power was made much more heavy being assisted and strengthen'd by Authority of the Council-Table The Bishops and their Courts were as eager in the Countrey and although their Jurisdiction could not reach so high in rigor and extremity of Punishment yet were they no less grievous in respect of the generality and multiplicity of Vexations which lighting upon the meaner sort of Tradesmen and Artificers did impoverish many Thousands and so afflict and trouble others that great numbers to avoid their miseries departed out of the Kingdom some into new-New-England and other parts of America others into Holland where they have transported their Manufactures of Cloath which is not only a loss by diminishing the present Stock of the Kingdom but a great Mischief by impairing and endangering the loss of that peculiar Trade of Cloathing which hath been a plentiful Fountain of Wealth and Honour to this Nation Those were fittest for Ecclesiastical Preferment and soonest obtained it who were most officious in promoting Superstition most virulent in railing against Godliness and Honesty The most publick and solemn Sermons before his Majesty were either to advance Prerogative above Law and decry the Property of the Subject or full of such kind of Invectives whereby they might make those odious who sought to maintain the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and such men were sure to be weeded out of the Commission of the Peace and out of all other Employments of Power in the Government of the Countrey Many Noble Personages were Counsellors in Name but the Power and Authority remained in a few of such as were most addicted to this Party whose Resolutions and Determinations were brought to the Table for countenance and execution and not for debate and deliberation and no man could offer to oppose them without disgrace and hazard to himself Nay all those that did not wholly concur and actively contribute to the furtherance of their Designs though otherwise Persons of never so great Honour and Abilities were so far from being employed in any place of Trust and Power that they were neglected discountenanced and upon all occasions injured and oppressed This Faction was grown to that height and entireness of Power that now they began to think of finishing their Work which consisted of these Three parts 1. The Government must be set free from all Restraint of Laws concerning our Persons and States 2. There must be a Conjunction betwixt Papists and Protestants in Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies only it must not yet be called Popery 3. The Puritans under which Name they include all those that desire to preserve the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to maintain Religion in the Power of it must be either rooted out of the Kingdom with force or driven out with fear For the effecting of this it was thought necessary to reduce Scotland to such Popish Superstitions and Innovations as might make them apt to join with England in the great Change which was intended Whereupon new Canons and a new Liturgy were prest upon them and when they refused to admit of them an Army was raised to force them to it towards which the Clergy and the Papists were very forward in their Contribution The Scots likewise raised an Army for their defence And when both Armies were come together and ready for a bloody Encounter his Majesty 's own gracious Disposition and the Counsel of the English Nobility and dutiful Submission of the Scots did so far prevail against the evil Counsel of others that a Pacification was made and his Majesty returned with Peace and much Honour to London The unexpected Reconciliation was most acceptable to all the Kingdom except to the Malignant Party whereof the Archbishop and the Earl of Strafford being Heads they and their Faction begun to inveigh against the Peace and to aggravate the Proceedings of the States which so incensed
unprofitable Ministers and for maintaining godly and diligent Preachers through the Kingdom Other things of main importance for the good of this Kingdom are in proposition though little could hitherto be done in regard of the many other more pressing businesses which yet before the end of this Session we hope may receive some progress and perfection The establishing and ordering the King's Revenue that so the abuse of Officers and superfluity of expences may be cut off and the necessary disbursments for his Majesties Honour the defence and government of the Kingdom may be more certainly provided for The regulating of Courts of Justice and abridging both the delays and charges of Law-Suits The setling of some good courses for preventing the exportation of Gold and Silver and the inequality of exchanges betwixt Us and other Nations for the advancing of native Commodities increase of our Manufactures and well ballacing of Trade whereby the Stock of the Kingdom may be increased or at least kept from impairing as through neglect hereof it hath done for many years last past For improving the Herring-fishing upon our own Coasts which will be of mighty use in the imployment of the Poor and a plentiful Nursery of Mariners for inabling the Kingdom in any great Action The oppositions obstructions and other Difficulties where-with we have been encountred and which still lye in our way with some strength and much obstinacy are these The malignant Party whom we have formerly described to be the Actors and Promoters of all our Misery they have taken heart again They have been able to prefer some of their own Factors and Agents to Degrees of Honour to Places of Trust and Employment even during the Parliament They have endeavoured to work in his Majesty ill impressions and opinions of our Proceedings as if we had altogether done our own work and not his and had obtained from him many things very prejudicial to the Crown both in respect of Prerogative and Profit To wipe out this Slander we think good only to say thus much That all that we have done is for his Majesty his Greatness Honour and Support When we yielded to give Twenty five thousand Pounds a Month for the Relief of the Northern Countries this was given to the King for he was bound to protect his Subjects They were his Majesty's Evil Counsellors and their ill Instruments that were Actors in those Grievances which brought in the Scots And if his Majesty please to force those who were the Authors of this War to make satisfaction as he might justly and easily do it seems very reasonable that the People might well be excused from taking upon them this burthen being altogether innocent and free from being any Causes of it When we undertook the Charge of the Army which cost above 50000 l. a Month was not this given to the King Was it not his Majesty's Army Were not all the Commanders under Contract with his Majesty at higher Rates and greater Wages than ordinary And have not we taken upon us to discharge all the Brotherly Assistance of Three hundred thousand Pounds which we gave the Scots Was it not toward repair of those Damages and Losses which they received from the King's Ships and from his Ministers These three Particulars amount to above Eleven hundred thousand Pounds Besides his Majesty hath received by Impositions upon Merchandise at least Four hundred thousand Pounds so that his Majesty hath had out of the Subjects Purse since the Parliament began one Million and an half and yet these men can be so impudent as to tell his Majesty that we have done nothing for him As to the second Branch of this Slander we acknowledge with much Thankfulness that his Majesty hath passed more good Bills to the advantage of the Subjects than have been in many Ages but withal we cannot forget that these venomous Counsels did manifest themselves in some endeavours to hinder these good Acts and for both Houses of Parliament we may with truth and modesty say thus much That we have ever been careful not to desire any thing that should weaken the Crown either in just profit or useful power The triennial Parliament for the matter of it doth not extend to so much as by Law we ought to have required there being two Statutes still in force for a Parliament to be once a year and for the manner of it it is in the King's power that it shall never take effect if he by a timely summons shall prevent any other way of assembling In the Bill for continuance of this present Parliament there seems to be some restraint of the Royal Power in dissolving of Parliaments not to take it out of the Crown but to suspend the execution of it for this time and occasion only which was so necessary for the King 's own security and the publick Peace that without it we could not have undertaken any of these great charges but must have left both the Armies to disorder and confusion and the whole Kingdom to blood and rapine The Star-chamber was much more fruitful in oppression than in profit the great fines being for the most part given away and the rest stalled at long times The â—ines of the High-Commission were in themselves unjust and seldom or never came into the King's Purse These four Bills are particularly and more specially instanced in the rest there will not be found so much as a shadow of prejudice to the Crown They have sought to diminish our reputation with the people and to bring them out of love with Parliaments the aspersions which they have attempted this way have been such as these That we have spent much time and done little especially in those grievances which concern Religion That the Parliament is a burthen to the Kingdom by the abundance of Protections which hinder Justice and Trade and by many Subsidies granted much more heavy than any they formerly endured To which there is a ready Answer if the time spent in this Parliament be considered in relation backward to the long growth and deep root of those grievances which we have removed to the powerful Supports of those Delinquents which we have pursued to the great necessities and other charges of the Commonwealth for which we have provided or if it be considered in relation forward to many advantages which not only the present but future ages are like to reap by the good Laws and other proceedings in this Parliament we doubt not but it will be thought by all indifferent Judgments that our time hath been much better imployed than in a far greater proportion of time in many former Parliaments put together and the charges which have been laid upon the Subject and the other inconveniences which they have born will seem very light in respect of the benefit they have and may receive And for the matter of Protections the Parliament is so sensible of it that therein they intend to give them whatsoever ease may
stand with Honour and Justice and are in a way of passing a Bill to give them satisfaction They have sought by many subtile practices to cause jealousies and divisions betwixt us and our brethren of Scotland by slandering their proceedings and intentions towards us and by secret endeavours to instigate and incense them and us one against another They have had such a party of Bishops and Popish Lords in the House of Peres as hath caused much opposition and delay in the prosecution of Delinquents hindred the proceeding of divers good Bills passed in the Commons house concerning the reformation of sundry great abuses and corruptions both in Church and State They have laboured to seduce and corrupt some of the Commons House to draw them into conspiracies and combinations against the liberty of the Parliament And by their instruments and agents they have attempted to disaffect and discontent his Majesties Army and to engage it for the maintainance of their wicked and traiterous designs the keeping up of Bishops in votes and functions and by force to compel the Parliament to order limit and dispose their proceedings in such manner as might best concur with the intentions of this dangerous and potent faction And when one mischeivous design and attempt of theirs to bring on the Army against the Parliament and the City of London had been discovered and prevented they presently undertook another of the same damnable nature with this addition to it to endeavour to make the Scotish Army neutral whilst the English Army which they had laboured to corrupt and invenome against us by their false and slanderous suggestions should execute their malice to the subversion of our Religion and the dissolution of our government Thus they have been continually practising to disturb the peace and plotting the destruction even of all the Kings Dominions and have employed their Emissaries and Agents in them all for the promoting of their divellish Designs which the vigilancy of those who were well affected hath still discovered and defeated before they were ripe for execution in England and Scotland only in Ireland which was farther off they have had time and opportunity to mould and prepare their work and had brought it to that perfection that they had possessed themselves of that whole Kingdom totally subverted the government of it rooted out Religion and destroyed all the Protestants whom the conscience of their duty to God their King and Country would not have permitted to â—oin with them if by Gods wonderful providence their main enterprise upon the City and Castle of Dublin had not been detected and prevented upon the very Eve before it should have been executed Notwithstanding they have in other parts of that Kingdom broken out into open Rebellion surprized Towns and Castles committed Murders Rapes and other Villanies and shaken off all bonds of obedience to his Majesty and the Laws of the Realm and in general have kindled such a fire as nothing but God's infinite blessing upon the wisdom and endeavours of this State will be able to quench it And certainly had not God in his great mercy unto this Land discovered and confounded their former designs we had been the Prologue to this Tragedy in Ireland and had by this time been made the lamentable spectacle of misery and confusion And now what hope have we but in God when as the only means of our subsistence and power of Reformation is under him in the Parliament but what can we the Commons without the conjuction of the House of Lords and what conjunction can we expect there when the Bishops and Recusant Lords are so numerous and prevalent that they are able to cross and interrupt our best endeavours for Reformation and by that means give advantage to this malignant party to traduce our proceedings They infuse into the People that we mean to abolish all Church-government and leave every man to his own fancy for the service and worship of God absolving him of that obedience which he owes under God unto his Majesty whom we know to be intrusted with the Ecclesiastical Law as well as with the Temporal to regulate all the Members of the Church of England by such rules of Order and Discipline as are established by Parliament which is his great Councel in all Affairs both in Church and State We confess our intention is and our endeavours have been to reduce within bounds that exorbitant power which the Prelates have assumed unto themselves so contrary both to the Word of God and to the Laws of the Land to which end we past the Bill for the removing them from their temporal power and employments that so the better they might with Meekness apply themselves to the discharge of their Functions which Bill themselves opposed and were the principal instruments of crossing it And we do here declare That it is far from our purpose or desire to let loose the Golden Reins of Discipline and Government in the Church to leave private persons or particular Congregations to take up what form of divine Service they please for we hold it requisite that there should be throughout the whole Realm a conformity to that Order which the Laws enjoyn according to the Word of God and we desire to unburthen the consciences of men of needless and superstitious Ceremonies suppress innovations and take away the monuments of Idolatry And the better to effect the intended Reformation we desire there may be a general Synod of the most grave pious learned and judicious Divines of this Island assisted with some from foreign parts professing the same Religion with us who may consider of all things necessary for the peace and good government of the Church and represent the results of their consultations unto the Parliament to be there allowed of and confirmed and receive the stamp of authority thereby to find passage and obedience throughout the Kingdom They have maliciously charged us that we intend to destroy and discourage Leâ—â—ning whereas it is our chiefest caâ—e and desire to advance it and to provide a competent maintenance for conscionable and preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom which will be a great encouregement to Scholars and a certain means whereby the want meanness and ignorance to which a great part of the Clergy is now subject will be prevented And we intend likewise to reform and purge the Fountains of Learning the two Universities that the streams flowing from thence may be clear and pure and an honour and comfort to the whole Land They have strained to blast our proceedings in Parliament by wresting the Interpretations of our Orders from their genuine intention They tell the people that our medling with the power of Episcopacy hath caused Sectaries and Conventicles when Idolatry and Popish Ceremonies introduced into the Church by the command of the Bishops have not only debarred the people from thence but expelled them from the Kingdom Thus with Elijah we are called by this Malignant party the troublers of
That the prayers of your Petition are grounded upon such premisses as We must in no wise admit yet notwithstanding we are pleased to give this Answer to you To the first concerning Religion consisting of several branches we say That for the preserving the peace and safety of this Kingdom from the designs of the Popish party we have and will still concur with all the just desires of our people in a Parliamentary way That for the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament We would have you consider that their right is grounded upon the fundamental Law of the Kingdom and constitution of Parliament This we would have you consider but since you desire our concurrence herein in a Parliamentary way we will give no further answer at this time As for the abridging of the inordinate power of the Clergy we conceive that the taking away of the High-Commission Court hath well moderated that but if there continue any Usurpations or Excesses in their Jurisdictions we therein neither have nor will protect them Unto that Clause which concerneth Corruptions as you stile them in Religion in Church-government and in Discipline and the removing of such unnecessary Ceremonies as weak Consciences might cheque at That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in we shall willingly concur in the removal of them That if our Parliament shall advise us to call a National Synod which may duly examine such Ceremonies as give just cause of offence to any we shall take it into consideration and apply our self to give due satisfaction therein But we are very sorry to hear in such general terms Corruption in Religion objected since we are perswaded in our conscience that no Church can be found upon the earth that professeth the true Religion with more purity of Doctrine than the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are joyntly more beautified and free from Superstition than as they are here established by Law which by the grace of God we will with constancy maintain while we live in their Purity and Glory not only against all invasions of Popery but also from the irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatisâ—s wherewith of late this Kingdom and this City abounds to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppression of whom we require your timely aid and active assistance To the second prayer of the Petition concerning the removal and choice of Councellors we know not any of our Council to whom the Character set forth in the Petition can belong That by those whom we had exposed to trial we have already given you sufficient testimony that there is no man so near unto us in place or affection whom we will not leave to the Justice of the Law if you shall bring a particular charge and sufficient proofs against him and of this we do again assure you but in the mean time we wish you to forbear such general aspersions as may reflect upon all our Council since you name none in particular That for the choice of our Councellors and Ministers of State it were to debar us that natural liberty all Freemen have and it is the undoubted right of the Crown of England to call such persons to our Secret Councils to publick employment and our particular service as we shall think fit so we are and ever shall be very careful to make election of such persons in those places of trust as shall have given good testimonies of their abilities and integrity and against whom there can be no just cause of exception whereon reasonably to ground a diffidence and to choices of this nature we assure you that the mediation of the nearest unto us hath always concurred To the third Prayer of your Petition concerning Ireland we understand your desire of not alienating the forfeited Lands thereof to proceed from your much care and love And likewise that it may be a Resolution very fit for us to take but whether it be seasonable to declare Resolutions of that nature before the events of a War be seen that we much doubt of Howsoever we cannot but thank you for this care and your chearful ingagement for the suppression of that Rebellion upon the speedy effecting thereof the glory of God in the Protestant Profession the safety of the British there our honour and that of the Nation so much depends all the Interests of this Kingdom being so involved in that business we cannot but quicken your affections therein and shall desire you to frame your Councils and to give such expedition to the work as the nature thereof and the pressures in point of time requires and whereof you are put in mind by the daily insolence and encrease of those Rebels For Conclusion your promise to apply your selves to such courses as may support our Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home and with Power and Reputation abroad is that which we have ever promised our self botâ— from your Loyalties and Affections and also for what we have already done and shall daily go adding unto for the comfort and happiness of our People His Majesties Declaration to all His loving Subjects Published with the advice of His Privy Council ALthough we do not believe that our House of Commons intended by their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom to put us to any Apology either for our past or present Actions Notwithstanding since they have thought it so very necessary upon their Observation of the present Distemper to publish the same for the satisfaction of all our loving Subjects We have thought it very suitable to the duty of our place with which God hath trusted us to do our part to so good a work in which we shall not think it below our Kingly dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the affections of our meanest Subjects since we are so conscious to our self of such upright Intentions and endeavours and only of such for which we give God thanks for the peace and happiness of our Kingdom in which the prosperity of our Subjects must be included that we wish from our heart that even our most secret thoughts were published to their view and examâ—nation Though we must confess we cannot but be very sorry in this conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many particulars from which we pray no inconveniences may ensue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible expressions And that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of our people Of which we shall only say thus much That as we have not refused to pass any Bill
presented to us by our Parliament for redress of those Grievances mentioned in the Remonstrance so we have not had a greater Motive for the passing those Laws than our own Resolution grounded upon our Observation and understanding the State of our Kingdom to have freed our Subjects for the future from those Pressures which were grievous to them if those Laws had not been propounded which therefore we shall as inviolably maintain as we look to have our own Rights preserved not doubting but all our loving Subjects will look on those Remedies with that full gratitude and affection that even the memory of what they have formerly undergone by the Accidents and Necessities of those times will not be unpleasant to them And possibly in a pious sence of God's blessing upon this Nation how little share soever we shall have of the acknowledgment they will confess they have enjoyed a great measure of happiness even the last sixteen Years both in peace and plenty not only comparatively in respect of their Neighbours but even of those times which were justly accounted Fortunate The Fears and Jealousies which may make some impression in the minds of our People we will suppose may be of two sorts either for Religion or Liberty and their Civil Interests The fears for Religion may haply be not only as ours here established may be invaded by the Romish party but as it is accompanied with some Ceremonies at which some tender Consciences really are or pretend to be scandalized for of any other which have been used without any legal Warrant or Injunction and already are or speedily may be abolished we shall not speak Concerning Religion as there may be any suspicion of favour or inclination to the Papists we are willing to declare to all the World That as we have been from our Childhood brought up in and practised the Religion now established in this Kingdom so it is well known we have not contented simply with the Principles of our Education giâ—en a good proportion of our time and pains to the examination of the grounds of this Religion as it is different from that of Rome and are from our Soul so fully satisfied and assured that it is the most pure and agreeable to the Sacred Word of God of any Religion now practised in the Christian World That as we believe we can maintain the same by unanswerable Reasons so we hope we should readily seal to it by the effusion of our Blood if it pleased God to call us to that sacrifice And therefore nothing can be so acceptable unto us as any proposition which may contribute to the advancement of it here or the propagation of it abroad being the only means to draw down a blessing from God upon our selves and this Nation And we have been extreamly unfortunate if this profession of ours be wanting to our Peoplâ—â— our constant practice in our own 〈◊〉 having always been without oâ—tentatiâ—â— as much to the evidence of our care and duty herein as we could possibly tell how to express For differences amongst our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion we shall in tenderness to any number of our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the peace and quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the decency and comeliness of God's service discountenanced nor the pious sober and devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandal'd and defamed For we cannot without grief of heart and without some tax upon our Self and our Ministers for the not execution of our Laws look upon the bold License of some men in Printing of Pamphlets in Preaching and Printing of Sermons so full of bitterness and malice against the present Government against the Laws established so full of Sedition against our Self and the peace of the Kingdom that we are many times amazed to consider by what Eyes these things are seen and by what Ears they are heard And therefore we have good cause to command as we have done and hereby do all our Judges and Ministers of Justice Our Attorney and Solicitor General and the rest of our learned Council to proceed with all speed against such and their Abettors who either by writing or words have so boldly and maliciously violated the Laws disturbed the peace of the Common-wealth and as much as in them lies shaken the very foundation upon which the Peace and Happiness is founded and constituted And we doubt not but all our loving Subjects will be very sensible that this busy virulent demeanour is a fit Prologue to nothing but confusion and if not very seasonably punished and prevented will not only be a blemish to that wholsome accommodation we intend but an unspeakable scandal and imputation even upon the profession and Religion of this our Kingdom of England Concerning the Civil Liberties and Interests of our Subjects we shall need to say the less having erected so many lasting Monuments of our Princely and Fatherly care of our People in those many excellent Laws passed by us this Parliament which in truth with very much content to our Self we conceive to be so large and ample that very many sober Men have very little left to wish for We understood well the Right and pretences of Right we debarred from in the consenting to the Bills of the Triennial Parliament for the continuance of this present Parliament and in the preamble to the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage the matter of which having begot so many disturbances in late Parliaments we are willing to remove that no interest of ours might hereafter break that correspondence abundantly contenting our Self with an Assurance which we still have that we should be repaired and supplied by a just proportion of confidence bounty and obedience of our people In the Bills for the taking away the High-commission and Star-chamber Courts we believed we had given that real satisfaction that all jealousies and apprehensions of Arbitrary pressures under the Civil or Ecclesiastical state would easily have been abandoned especially when they saw all possible doubts secured by the Visitation of a Triennial Parliament These and others of no mean consideration we had rather should be valued in the hearts and affections of our people than in any mention of our own not doubting but as we have taken all these occasions to render their condition most comfortable and happy so they will always in a grateful and dutiful relation be ready with equal tenderness and alacrity to advance our Rights and preserve our Honour upon which
done into English Twelves Lex Parliamentaria or a Treatise of the Law and Custom of the Parliaments of England By G. P. Esq Octavo Memoirs of Denzil Lord Holles Baron of Ifield in Sussex from the Year 1641 to 1648. Octavo The Compleat Horseman discovering the surest Marks of the Beauty Goodness Faults and Imperfections of Horses The Signs and Causes of their Diseases the true Method both of their Preservation and Cure with Reflections on the regular and preposterous use of Bleeding and Purging Also the Art of Shooing with the several kinds of Shooes adapted to the various Defects of bad Feet and the Preservation of good Together with the best Method of breeding Colts backing them and making their Mouths c. By the Sieur de Solleysell Querry to the present French King for his Great Horses and one of the Royal Academy of Paris To which is added A most excellent Supplement of Riding collected from the best Authors With an Alphabetical Catalogue of all the Physical Simples in English French and Latin by Sir William Hope Deputy-Lieutenant of the Castle of Edinburgh Folio The Gentleman's Jockey and approv'd Farrier instructing in the Natures Causes and Cures of all Diseases incident to Horses With an exact and easy Method of breeding buying dieting and otherwise ordering all sorts of Horses as well for common and ordinary use as the Heats and Course With divers other Curiosities Collected by the long Practice Experience and Pains of I. H. Esq Matthew Hodson Mr. Holled Mr. Willis Mr. Robinson Mr. Holden Thomas Empson Mr. Roper Mr. Medcalfe and Nath. Shaw The Eighth Edition with Additions Octavo The Roman History from the building of the City to the perfect Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar containing the Space of 727 Years design'd as well for the understanding of the Roman Authors as the Roman Affairs The Fourth Edition carefully revis'd and much improv'd By Lawrence Echard A. M. of Christ-College in Cambridge Vol. I. Octavo The Roman History from the Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar to the Removal of the Imperial Seat by Constantine the Great containing the Space of 355 Years Vol. II. For the Use of his Highness the Duke of Glocester The Second Edition By Lawrence Echard A. M. Octavo Politica Sacra Civilis Or a Model of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government wherein besides the Positive Doctrine concerning State and Church in general are debated the principal Controversies of the Times concerning the Constitution of the State and Church of England tending to Righteousness Truth and Peace By George Lawson Rector of More in the County of Salop. The Second Edition Octavo An Account of Denmark as it was in the Year 1692. The Third Edition Octavo An Account of Sueden Together with an Extract History of that Kingdom Octavo Of Wisdom Three Books Written Originally in French by the Sieur de Charron With an Account of the Author Made English by George Stanhope D. D. late Fellow of King's-College in Cambridge From the best Edition Corrected and Enlarged by the Author a little before his Death In Two Volumes Octavo A New Voyage to Italy With curious Observations on several other Countries as Germany Switzerland Savoy Geneva Flanders and Holland Together with useful Instructions for those who shall travel thither Done out of French The Second Edition enlarged above one Third and enriched with several New Figures By Maximilian Misson Gent. In Two Volumes Octavo A Compleat Body of Chirurgical Operations containing the whole Practice of Surgery With Observations and Remarks on each Case Amongst which are inserted the several ways of delivering Women in Natural and Unnatural Labours The whole Illustrated with Copper Plates explaining the several Bandages Sutures and divers useful Instruments By M. de lâ— Vanguion M. D. and Intendant of the Royal Hospitals about Paris Faithfully done into English Octavo A Relation of a Voyage made in the Years 1695 1696 1697 on the Coasts of Africa Streights of Magellan Brazil Cayenna and the Antilles by a Squadron of French Men of War under the Command of M. de Gennes By the Sieur Froger Volunteer-Engineer on Board the English Falcon. Illustrated with divers strange Figures drawn to the Life Octavo Travels into divers parts of Europe and Asia undertaken by the French King's Order to discover a new way by Land into China Containing many curious Remarks in Natural Philosophy Geography Hydrography and History Together with a Description of Great Tartary and of the different People who inhabit there By Father Avril of the Order of the Jesuits Done out of French To which is added a Supplement extracted from Hakluit and Purchas giving an Account of several Journeys over Land from Russia Persia and the Mogul's Country to China Together with the Roads and Distances of the Places Twelves A Compendium of Universal History from the Beginning of the World to the Reign of the Emperor Charles the Great Written Originally in Latin by Monsieur Le Clerc Done into English Octavo A Political Essay or Summary Review of the Kings and Government of England since the Norman Conquest By W. P y Esq. Octavo The Art of preserving and restoring Health explaining the Nature and Causes of the Distempers that afflict Mankind Also shewing that every man is or may be his own best Physician To which is added a Treatise of the most Simple and Effectual Remedies for the Diseases of Men and Women Written in French by M. Flamand M. D. and faithfully translated into English Twelves A Defence of the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England Written in Latin by I. Ellis S. T. D. Now done into English To which are added Lambeth Articles Together with the Judgment of Bishop Andrews Dr. Overall and other Eminent and Learned Men upon them Twelves The Present State of Christendom consider'd in Nine Dialogues between 1. The present Pope Alexander VIII and Lewis XIV 2. The Great Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Savoy 3. King Iames II. and the Mareschal de la Feâ—illade 4. The Duke of Lorrain and the Duke of Schonberg 5. The Duke of Lorrain and the Elector Palatine 6. Lewis XIV and the Marquis of Louvois 7. The Advoyer of Berne and the Chief Syndic of Geneva 8. Cardinal Ottoboni and the Duke de Chaulnes 9. The Young Prince Abafti and Count Teckley Done out of French Octavo Bellamira or the Mistress A Comedy As it is Acted by Their Majesties Servants Written by the Honourable Sir Charles Sedley Baronet