to talk of calling to account such as were possest of any Lands belonging to former Queens and more than this to interpose in Affairs of State and Matters of Government giving the Ministers to understand that she expected to know how things went and she made her self to be obey'd so far that nothing of Moment was transacted in the King's Council but Her Majesty was consulted about it Not content with all this she seemed to have a further Aim still and to design no less than a Total Change of the Ministry in order to engross the whole Power to her self or impart it to such as she should engage in her Interests The Great Men of the Kingdom were at this time divided into Two Irreconcileable Parties neither of which could be safe but by a Total Overthrow of the other the one consisting of those that had been in the Government in the late Queen Mother's time or had done their utmost to continue her Regency and were at this time wholly broken driven from Court or deprived of their Charges and the Principal of them Banish'd into several remote parts of the Kingdom The other was of them that were then in the Ministry or had been instrumental in placing King Alfonso on the Throne in opposition to the Queen his Mother and obliging her to retire into a Monastery The new Queen presently after her Arrival publickly declar'd for the vanquish'd Party at least did that which in effect was the same thing for she openly sollicited the return of the Duke of Cadaval and his re-establishment at Court This Duke was the chief Person of the whole Party and had shewn himself the most active of them all in the Queen Mothers Service and thereby had drawn upon himself the largest share of the King's Displeasure Besides the Conde de Castelmelhor who was then the Prime Minister and the Principal Man next the King at Court had reason to look upon the Duke as his most formidable Antagonist and to apprehend his Return as a Step towards the Ruine of himself and his whole Party especially if it were obtained by the Queens Sollicitation which would have engaged that Great Man to her Service and it might prove impossible for him to hold out against their united Interests There had that passed between the Duke and the Conde that the Court could not well hold them both as it cannot to this day for they are both still alive the Duke is now in the Ministry and for that reason some give it for the only reason the Court for this last Reign hath remain'd shut to the Conde But to put things in their due light I find it will be necessary to look back to the time of the late Queens Regency and give a brief account of some former Transactions particularly those wherein either of these two great Men were concern'd Donna Luisa Francisca de Gusman who by her Courage had animated Duke John of Bragança her Husband to take upon him the Crown which she is said to have preserved likewise upon his Head by her Counsels was left by that King at his Death which happened the Sixth of November 1656 Regent of the Kingdom and Tutress or Guardian to the Princes their Children but her Regency was not like to continue long should the Young King her Son be reckoned to be of Age at the usual time of Majority it having been customary for Kings of this as well as of other Nations to be declared Majors at Fourteen and Dom Alfonso was near the end of his Thirteenth Year at the King his Father's Death for he was born the 21st of August 1643 so that should former Presidents be observed in the present Case she was like in a short time to be forced to let go the Power out of her hands and see a Kingdom which she had contributed so much to procure and preserve for the Family committed to the discretion of a Child or entrusted by him to she knew not whom for he once declared Major would be at liberty to chuse his own Ministers The best-established Governments in such a case must necessarily be exposed to many great Inconveniencies but that of Portugal which was then new and unsettled and struggling as it were for life in a War with the Spanish Monarchy would be in danger of utter Ruine For these considerations as we may well suppose the Queen resolv'd to prolong her Regency for some Years beyond the ordinary time to this end she conferred all Offices of Trust upon Creatures of her own or such as she could conside in and took such ways to engage those in Power as should make them more apprehensive of a Change than her self and in effect she so manag'd Matters as to remain possest of the Government till the King was within a Month of Nineteen and had not the Conde de Castelmelhor by an unexpected Surprize broken all her Measures she might in all likelihood have kept it in her hands as long as she pleas'd and her Enemies used to say That by her good will she had never parted with it while she lived And in truth her Conduct in regard to the King her Son may have given some colour to this Aspersion the Education of that Prince in his tender Age was such as has been now described It s true the Queen Mother took notice with what Scandalous Companions he associated himself and made grievous complaints of it but still they had access to him even while he was of those Years when one would think his Governours should be responsible for his Carriage As the King grew bigger he became guilty of such Excesses as might be expected from a Youth so Bred and left to his own Liberty without a Curb He took great pleasure in walking the Streets a Nights in Company of his Braves to haunt the Houses of leud Women and sometimes he would order the Prostitutes to be brought to him to the Palace he is reported likewise to have committed several Outrages upon those he met with in his Night-Walks nor did he wholly abstain from those Pranks in the Day-time several Instances of this nature are reckoned up by those that have made a strict enquiry into his Faults but I do not find that he ever did any great mischief He often endangered his Person indeed and began to loose himself much in the Peoples Opinion The Queen Mother made loud Complaints of these disorders but then she took such a course as might make her Enemies suspect she desired that the People rather than her Son might become sensible of his Faults she exposing them in as Publick Manner as was possible in order as some imagine to make her self thought more Necessary and him less capable of the Government One time she contriv'd it so that all the Counsellors of State should wait upon him in a Body and let him understand how his Person and the Kingdom were in danger by the Courses he took The young Duke of Cadaval
manner of Wickedness The Fidalgo's a Title common to such as are of Noble Families who us'd to look upon themselves as above the Law or beyond its reach are now in a great measure reduc'd to order Justice has its Course among them as well as the meanest Subjects Elderly People represent them as a sort of petty Tyrants exercising with great Barbarity a kind of Despotick Power over the Lives and all that belong'd to those about them But if there were any Grounds for such a Character this King's Government can never sufficiently be commended who hath wrought so great a Reformation among them that there may be found at this Day as Noble Instances of Humanity and Courtesie in Portugal as in any part of Europe Three times a Week the King gives Audience to his Subjects Tuesdays and Thursdays to all in general that desire it Saturdays to his Nobility and Officers of State in particular And this is the Morning's-work of each Day On the Days of general Audience the meanest Subject may have free Access to the King whether it be to acquaint him of their Grievances to beg his Charity or Requerer Serviços as they call it that is to petition for a Pension on pretence of Service and Service is pretended not only by those that have done any thing for the Advantage of the Publick or the Crown but likewise by such as have been for any time in Employment which they think entitles them to a Pension or a better Place His Majesty hears all with great Attention and Patience will let the Petitioner perceive he understands his Case and will remember him when he comes again and few part from his Presence dissatisfied The currant Money of this Kingdom was so miserably clipt that it was diminished to near half the Value as appears by an Order made by the Government That no Pieces of Eight should pass that weighed less than four Rials and a half But now it is all reduc'd to a just Standard to which end it being found necessary to Re-coin all the Money both Gold and Silver the King for the Ease of the poorer sort took the Loss of the Silver upon himself The Publick Revenues are managed to the best Advantage The Accounts which were formerly all in Confusion are said to be reduc'd into an exact Order and kept with great Regularity The Customs and Imposts are let out to Farm to Merchants the Contracter is he that will bid most Native or Foreigner The King it seems thinking that Merchants who know best how to deal with one another can afford to give him more than he could make of them himself and his Customs are said to be much improv'd by this Method For the King takes Care to make his Advantage of the Farmer 's Diligence The Contract never exceeds the Term of Three Years which expir'd an exact Account is taken from the Entries in the Custom-House of the Gains that have been made and regard had thereto at the next Auction and the Price through the Emulation of the Bidders is often rais'd much higher than was look'd for A Course not unlike this is taken when the King has occasion to furnish his Magazines with Stores or wants any Foreign Commodities of which Publick Notice is given to the Merchants and the Bargain is made with him that will take care to procure them at the lowest Rate The King is so punctual and speedy in his Payments that the Merchants are encouraged to deal with him for little Profit so that they are never wanting to under-bid each other And I have been told that sometimes the King has generously put a stop to them when in the Heat of Contention they have been descending below a just Price His Majesty it seems thinking it uncoming him to take Advantage at other Mens Follies By this means he has his Stores always at the best hand and no Under-Officers being employ'd in buying them in he never suffers by their Knavery nor can he be cheated by the Merchant who delivers them into his Magazines for it is always a Condition in the Bargain That a fair Trial shall be made of the Goods and no more paid for than will bear the Proof The Revenues of the Kingdom are so very great that did they all come into the King's Hands he would be one of the richest Princes in Europe as will appear by the following Chapter But so many Assignments are made upon almost every Branch of them the King 's private Patrimony as Duke of Bragança not excepted so many Pensions paid to particular Persons and Families that they seem almost wholly diverted from the Publick Treasury This extravagant Alienation of the Revenues was set on foot 't is thought by the Spanish Kings and that in prosecution of their Design to reduce Portugal into the form of a Province they supposing that if the Rents of the Crown were dissipated Portugal could no longer subsist as an independant Kingdom as not having wherewithal to support the Government or encourage any great Men to head them in case the People were dispos'd to a Revolt while the Royal Revenues being divided among private Families might oblige all that shar'd in the Spoils to adhere to the Castilian Interest It hath been often laid to the Charge of the Three Philips That they did their utmost to weaken the Crown of Portugal while they had it in possession they are accus'd of little less than consenting to the Hollanders seizing upon the Portuguese Conquests in the East and West-Indies and all in pursuance of that Maxim of Philip the Second That it is much better to be Master of a ruin'd and quiet Kingdom than one that is rich powerful and turbulent John the Fourth this King's Father when from Duke of Bragança he was made King of Portugal by the Nobility and People thought fit to accept of the Crown with all its Incumbrances and it was not for his Interest to make himself so many Enemies as must have been impoverish'd had he re-united the alienated Revenues to the Crown So that he was fain to maintain his Government and carry on the War by extraordinary Imposts upon the People these have been since increas'd and the Assignments multiply'd And this King tho' perhaps there never was a more frugal Prince in his Domestick Management for they say he knows what every part of his wearing Apparel costs him and will strive as hard as the poorest Customer to beat down the Price yet by giving way to his generous Inclinations to do good to others he has so impoverish'd himself that he is hard put to it to bear the Charges of the Government which as 't is thought could scarce subsist were any other but himself at the Helm especially at this Juncture when he is at such extraordinary Expences in making new Levies and equipping out his Fleet. The People are already so charg'd with Imposts that nothing further can be expected from them For tho' they have had great
the Country for these many Years We had indeed a Story in the English Gazette I think it was in 1692 of their burning the Admiral of Sallee but at last it proved to be but a small Boat that was run ashoar It might be expected that they should in some measure recover themselves during the late War in which other Seafaring Nations were embroil'd whilst they enjoy'd the Benefit of a Free-Trade as in effect they did almost to the doubling of their Trading Vessels But it does not appear that they made any great Improvement in the Art of Navigation for there was hardly Skill enough among them to carry a Ship into the English Channel very few if any of them daring to venture upon that Voyage without an English Pilot I suppose it is for want of Seamen that the King's Ships are so much crowded with Land-Souldiers for these make the greatest part of the Complement That of the biggest Ships as I have been told consisting of 60 Mariners 80 others not yet qualified for Able Seamen and 250 Land-Souldiers Of His Majesties First Queen MArie Françoise Elizabeth de Savoie youngest Daughter to Charles Amadee de Savoie Duke of Nemours by Elizabeth the Daughter of Caesar de Bourbon Duke of Vendome Natural Son of Henry the Fourth King of France by Gabriele d' Estrees Dutchess of Beaufort commonly called la Belle Gabriele She was Born the 21th of June 1646 Contracted to Dom Alfonso the VI. King of Portugal the 27th of June 1666 arrived at Lisbon the Second of August following and having cohabited with that King for the space of near Sixteen Months was Divorced from him and Married afterwards viz. the 2d of April 1668 to his Brother the Infante Dom Pedro now King of Portugal This Lady who before her Marriage went by the Title of the Mademoiselle d' Aumalle was at first designed for the Infante whilst a Match was in Treaty between the King his Brother and her Elder Sister Mademoiselle de Nemours the present Dutchess Dowager of Savoy but that Match not taking effect she was Contracted as I have said to the King and another Marriage was concluded between the Infante and Mademoiselle de Bouvillon Daughter to the Prince of Turenne and Niece to the Mareschal of that Name But this was Broke off because the Infante could not be prevail'd with by any Perswasions or Menaces the King his Brother could use or the Entreaties of the Ministers and his own Servants to stand to what had been agreed upon in his Name and by his Order The reasons for his refusal I could never learn Soon after the New Queens Arrival at Lisbon King Alfonso began to express an extraordinary coldness towards her and in a short time he estranged himself very much from her Company his Indifferency growing into an utter Aversion insomuch that he forbore not openly to Exclaim against the Authors of this Match who as he hath been heard to say had advised him to that which he should have cause to repent of all his life-time all this was said by such as were ill-affected to that Prince to proceed from a certain un-fitness for Marriage which the Queen afterwards laid to his Charge Others are still of Opinion that it was occasioned by some secret cause of Dislike that rendred her Person disagreeable to him They that accuse the King of Inability impute the cause of that and of his Incapacity for Government which they accuse him of likewise to his Sickness in the time of his Infancy for at Three Years Old he had been seiz'd with a Malignant Fever and that was succeeded by a Palsie whereby as it is said all his Right Side became withered from Head to Foot insomuch that he remain'd Lame ever after on that Side but they that tell this accuse him likewise of delighting to Ride the most fierce and un-manageable Horses and to encounter with Wild Bulls and other Violent Exercises which one wou'd think should suppose a vigorous Habit of Body they represent him also as guilty of many Extravagancies on the account of lewd Women as in truth his vicious Inclinations to them were apparently the cause of most of those Disorders they lay to his Charge And this may make one suspect their sincerity likewise when they tell us That the same Distemper had so affected his Brain that he was never in his right mind It may no doubt with reason enough be said of this King That some have taken the Liberty upon what grounds I know not to say of his Father before him that he was none of the wisest Kings that ever reign'd in Portugal but then the Faults he was guilty of may be as well imputed to his want of Education as to any Natural or Accidental Defect in his Understanding For perhaps there never was one designed for a Crown more neglected in his Youth than this Prince had been He had been suffered to abandon himself to all the Extravagancies his childish Inclinations led him to and not only his own but those of his Companions these were not the Sons of the Nobility but such as himself had pickt up out of the Streets from among the Boys that he us'd to behold from the Palace Windows dividing themselves into Parties and Pelting one another with Stones the usual Pastime of Portuguese Children They that were of the Party favoured by the King and signaliz'd themselves most at this Exercise had the largest share in his Affections and some of them as they grew up with him became his Principal Favourites these from the very beginning of his Reign found entrance into the Court and would at times entice the King down into the Stable-Yard of the Palace and there together with a lewd Rabble of Grooms Blacks and Moorish Slaves entertain His Majesty with Wrestling Boxing throwing the Bar darting Knives setting Dogs to Fight the Young King making One amongst them and what he learnt from the Conversation of this vile Crew he afterwards on some occasions put in practice Such Education was not we may be sure very likely to qualifie him for the Affairs of State 'T is true the Chiefest of his Companions had been put from him immediately before his taking the Government upon himself and he having had the happiness to fall into better hands a great alteration was observed in his Conduct yet he was not so changed but that he found himself obliged to leave Affairs of Importance to the Care and Management of others This the new Queen soon perceiv'd and as 't is very likely she was encouraged to make her Advantage of the King's Unfitness for Business and to endeavour to get the Government of him and his Kingdom into her own hands This is certain that notwithstanding the King 's Neglect of Her she was not wanting to her self but took all occasions to make her self considerable She not only procured from him a Grant for the Augmentation of the Revenue settled on her in Marriage but began
finding all the great Men that were disaffected at the Court gathering about the Infante and encouraging him in his Design to retire did his utmost with the King to perswade him to satisfie his Brother's Demands but could not prevail He waited himself upon the Infante to signifie his readiness to serve him but receiv'd from him a very harsh Answer The Infante at last retires to a Country-House about two Leagues from Lisbon orders another to be provided for him against Winter at Almada on the other side of the Water And it was given out That he withdrew because the Court could not hold him and the Conde together During the Separation of the two Brothers their common Enemies hoped they would become irreconcilable and that all things tended towards a Civil War The Infante never came to Court unless it were to wait on the Queen and she being taken with a slight Indisposition prevail'd with him to stay in Town during her Illness to avoid the trouble of coming to visit her in the Night and returning at undue Hours The Ministers laid hold on this Opportunity to make up the Business so that the Infante should choose what Gentleman he pleas'd those only excepted whom he had before named Yet this Difference was not so made up but the two Brothers continued disgusted at each other especially the King and he had so little Command of himself that he took all Occasions to treat the Infante with the harshest Language and to threaten him with worse Usage he grew every Day in a worse Humour as those about the Infante gave him Occasions to suspect they had Designs upon his Crown As when despairing to get him sworn Prince as they once design'd they advis'd him to request of the King that he might Command the Armies with the Title of Constable of the Kingdom which as the King was perswaded was sought for only in order to take the Sword and by that means the Scepter out of his Hand His Jealousie thus increasing his Anger against his Brother became more violent and upon pretence of other Employments he took Occasions to remove from about him those he suspected to have put these Designs in his Head While these things passed between the King and the Infante the Queen on her part was acting within the Court in concert as it were with those without in order to bring about the Conde's Ruin He soon perceiv'd by her Pretensions that this must be her Design and that if her Demands were satisfy'd his Power was not like to be long-liv'd and therefore he either found or made them so very difficult to be comply'd with that her Majesty grew highly dissatisfy'd and resolv'd entirely to break with him taking a solemn Oath That she would never speak to him more about Business And it was not long before she had occasion to make known her Resentments to the whole Court and Kingdom It happen'd that a certain French-Man was murder'd by a Carrier in the unfrequented Roads of Alemtejo The Murderer had fled to a Church and tho' he were forc'd from thence yet before Justice could be done it was first to be determined Whether he had any Right to Sanctuary For which Cause and for want of sufficient Proof the Trial was delay'd About the same time a Difference arose between the High-Steward of the Queen's Houshold a French-Man and her Secretary a Portuguese about Matters relating to their several Places and the Queen gave Orders to the Secretary of State that this Business should be referr'd to two of the Judges but the Secretary thought convenient to lay it before all the Judges and to communicate it likewise to the Council of State He waiting upon the Queen about other Busisiness she took occasion to enquire What had been done in these two Cases The Secretary gave the Reason why the Criminal was not yet try'd and told her That the other Business lay before the Council and that it was necessary the Conde de Castelmelhor should be spoken to about it The Queen at naming of the Conde flew into a violent Passion and after having severely reprimanded the Secretary of State for not having done his Duty by punctually observing her Orders she told him That she wonder'd he should tell her of the Conde since she had sworn never to have more to do with him who by thwarting her in every thing had reduced her to a State of Beggary he always wanting Power when her Occasions requir'd it tho' at no time else That for these eight Months she had not so much as an Alms to give by reason of his obstructing the Consignment of 20000 Crowns granted her by the King That a great deal of Artifice was used in concealing Matters from her as if she next the King was not the most concern'd in all Affairs And knowing how much she laid to Heart the Duke of Cadaval's Return they had not given her any Account of that Business notwithstanding her having so often interceeded for him as intercede she would let them blame her for it as much as they pleas'd that it was enough to set them against any Person to see her appear in his Favour even when she had Reason for it and when she desir'd any thing were it never so feasible it became impossible and that for no other Reason but because she desir'd it That it seems they affected to let the World know that she had no share in the Government and for her part she was glad of it as having no share in the Blame That she desired not to have Matters submitted to her Determination however she thought it was but Manners in them to make her acquainted with what they did But they had no regard to Decency And some People took a Pleasure in crossing her and were so proud that it seems they thought she came to Portugal not to be their Queen but their Slave These and other passionate Expressions of her Majesty put the poor Secretary into a Passion too he after having excused himself about the manner of his executing her Orders in Answer to her Complaints told her That the Conde and his Friends had made it their Business to serve and please her Majesty That it was none of his Fault if she was in any Straits that being no part of his Business That her Majesty had her Revenues and it was hoped she would proportion her Expences according to them That the Consignment of 20000 Crowns was a new thing and not easily settled That she had been made acquainted with all Matters of Importance and nothing of any Consequence had been kept from her Knowledge that the Court was full of unreasonable Pretenders who if favoured by her Majesty might engage her in the prosecution of their unjust Demands That he could give her no account concerning the Duke's Return to Court the King having himself come to a Resolution in that matter that for their parts they did not know how to please her since she
Philip the Second was then possess'd of Portugal It was received by the Spaniards with great Satisfaction for in truth it seem'd to give them a Divine Right to the Crown of Portugal For who could think otherwise but that Philip was the Person design'd in the Promise that it was he who had been pitch'd upon by Providence so many Ages before to supply the Default of Alfonso Henriquez's Off-spring which in his time had suffered so great a Diminution that Sebastian the 16th was the last of the Male-Line he was surviv'd indeed and succeeded by his old decrepid great Uncle Henry the Cardinal who was the 16th King excluding Alfonso Henriquez but he did nothing else in his short Reign than secure the Crown to Philip. And this diminution of the Royal Family was the more remarkable for that of the nine Sons of King Emanuel whereof six lived to be Men there was no lawful Issue of the Male-Line remaining at Henry's Death So that this Paper made so much for Philip's Purpose that none question'd its Authority among the Spaniards their Writers whereof a considerable Number might be cited look'd upon it as unquestionable and great use was made of it in the great Controversie about Precedency between the Catholick and the French Kings insomuch that Valdes who by Command from the former wrote the Treatise De Dignitate Regum which was presented to the Pope lays a mighty stress upon his Master's being King of Portugal which in his Opinion ought to give him the Right of Precedency since that Kingdom was as he asserts of a Divine Foundation proving his Assertion from the Authority of this Paper whereof he produces a Copy But when the Portugueses in the Year 1640 revolted from the Spaniards and began to turn the Prediction against them finding that John Duke of Bragança was the Person design'd by it they then changed their Note and question'd the Authority of the Piece yet having so often allowed of its Antiquity they did not flatly deny but it might be as ancient as the Date but thought it was a Device of Alfonso Henriquez upon whose bare Word or Oath the Credit of the Vision relies for it is not pretended that any saw it but himself and that this Prince might feign the Story to establish his Authority and make himself more reverenc'd by the People Should I pursue this Matter ae far as it would go it would engage me in a long History of the Sebastianists and Fifth Monarchists of Portugal for which I have now neither time nor room But my present Business is with the great Vieira Upon the Revolution in 1640 the Portugueses almost to a Man the Sebastianists excepted saw clearly that the Duke of Bragança was the Person in whom the new Empire should have its Rise For tho' Sebastian was the 16th King yet this Duke was of the 16th Generation and therefore his Pretensions were more agreeable to the Letter of the Prediction but yet to make him of the 16th Generation they were fain to include Alfonso Henriquez for one which the Spaniards thought a very material Objection However Vieira shews how that it was ordain'd by Providence that the Dukes of Bragança should supply the defect of the Male Line For he proves that a like Method was follow'd in the Kingdom of Judah the only Kingdom of Divine Foundation besides that of Portugal his Argument is drawn from these Words of Jacob Non auferetur Sceptrum de Judah Dux de femore ejus donec veniat qui mittendus est Here he would have us mark well that the word Sceptrum signifies Kings and the word Dux Dukes and so the Text declares that there should be no Failure of Kings and Dukes of the Descendants of Judah and accordingly after the Kings had fail'd in the time of the Captivity the Dukes succeeded such were Zerubbabel and the Maccabees And in the same manner when the direct Line of Portugal fail'd the Kingdom was to be supply'd by the Dukes viz. the Dukes of Bragança But he thinks that what was said concerning the Diminution or Attenuation of the Royal Off-spring was to be accomplish'd in the Sons of John the Fourth As First By the Death of Dom Theodosio the Eldest and next in Alfonso and that partly by the Sickness he had in his Childhood for the Father had been a great Stickler for the Party which held Alfonso to be lame and maim'd all over his Right-side and was one of the first that were banished at that Prince's taking upon him the Government being suspected to have drawn up the Remonstrance read to him by the Secretaty of State and yet he tells his Auditors by the way That one half of a Portuguese King should be able to beat the greatest Monarch in the World But the Diminution was compleated at Alfonso's Death for then the Royal Family was reduced to one single Male viz. his present Majesty Dom Pedro whom he makes to be the Proles attenuata of the 16th Generation upon whom the words Ipse respiciet videbit were to be fulfilled Now he asserts that Respicere videre in the Prediction signifies to give a Son because Hannah saith 1 Reg. 1 Cap. Si respicieNs videris afflictionem famulae tuae dederisque sexum virilem Adding that it is not to give one but many Male-Children For we read in the same Chapter Donec sterilis peperit plurimos But during the time of the King's Marriage with his first Queen this Prophecy was like to come to nothing since in all that time he had but one Daughter whereas Respicere videre plainly signifies to give a great many Sons and the King's want of Male-Issue could not be supply'd by the Infanta's Marriage with the Duke of Savoy For the King being the Off-spring of the 16th Generation was himself the 17th Generation and the Infanta the 18th so that the Promise could not reach to her Issue And if the Crown had been settled as 't was intended upon her the Prophecy could never be fulfilled Hence as the Father thinks it was that the Match with Savoy was broken off in so surprizing a manner and that his Majesty's first Queen died to make way for his Second Marriage by which he had this Son to whom we are now to return Upon the Birth of this Child the Father mounts the Chair and takes for his Text these words Respexit vidit proves by Arguments not worth repeating That Xavier was the shining Ray that was seen by Alfonso Henriquez before the Crucifix appear'd to him shews how Xavier procured the Kingdom for John the Fourth and this Son for the present King He demonstrates that since King Peter is the diminish'd Off-spring of the 16th Generation This must be the Child promised by Ipse respiciet videbit He then goes on to shew how that the Child was to be an Emperor because the Crucifix in the beginning of his Discourse spoke only of a Kingdom and the Title of a
King but after mention made of the 16th Generation he changes his Language and speaks of Empires Ego enim aeidficator sum Regnorum Imperiorum and Volo in Te in semine tuo Imperium mihi stabilire Now this Empire he says is not to be the Empire of Germany but one greater than any that hath been before and Universal over all the World that is to say it must be the Fifth Monarchy That there shall be such an Universal Monarchy he brings the Common-place Proofs He allows that this Fifth Monarchy is to be the Kingdom of Christ but shews that it shall be this young Prince's nevertheless For it is said I will establish to my self an Empire in Thee and in thy Seed Volo enim in Te in semine Tuo Imperium Mihi stabilire So that the Empire was to belong to Christ and the Prince of Portugal at the same time He thinks this Promise is much alike to that made to St. Peter Tu es Petrus super hanc Petrum aedificabo Ecclesiam meam And that as the Universal Church tho' it be Christ's is yet St. Peter's too and by being St. Peter's is nevertheless the Church of Christ In the like manner this Empire shall be of Christ and of the Prince of Portugal at the same time and in effect the Jesuit had so ordered it that this young Prince was to be Christ's Vicar and have a Sovereign Power over the whole World in Temporals in the same manner as the Pope Christ's Vicar in Spirituals hath an Universal Jurisdiction over the Church this Monarch being the Person spoken of in that place of Daniel Ecce quasi filius hominis veniebat ad Antiquum dierum pervenit dedit ei potestatem honorem regnum omnes populi Tribus Linguae ipsi servient For since Christ is called Filius hominis this Quasi filius hominis must be Quasi Christus i. e. Christ's Vicar his Vicar in Temporals as the Pope is in Spirituals That this Emperor must be a King of Portugal is plain because Hannah concludes her Song with these words Dominus judicabit fines terrae dabit Imperium Regi suo i. e. to the King of Portugal For tho' all Kings may in some sense be said to be from God yet other Kings are made by Men whereas He of Portugal is made immediately by God himself and so is more properly called His King Et dabit Imperium Regi suo and he makes it plain that his Imperial Majesty must be the New-born Infant for that he was given to the diminish'd Off-spring of the 16th Generation from Alfonso Henriquez When the Father had thus provided for the young Prince he soon after received an Account of his Death which doubtless would have put any other Teller of Fortunes into no small Confusion but it had no such effect upon Padre Vieira for he was a Jesuit and was so little apprehensive of the Raillery of his Auditors that he published his Sermon joyning thereto an Apology wherein he proves after his manner that this Quasi filius hominis or Christ's Vicar in Temporals was to die as the Prince did in order to take possession of the Universal Monarchy which he could not do any where else but in Heaven For doth not the Text expresly say Ecce cum nubibus Coeli quasi filius hominis veniebat usque ad Antiquum dierum pervenit in conspectu ejus obtulerunt eum dedit ei Potestatem Honorem c. He supposes that Christ's first Vicar in Temporals should go to Heaven in order to take Possession of his Government over the Earth for the same Reason that the first Vicar in Spirituals had the Keys of Heaven delivered to him here on Earth For when St. Peter had the Keys of the Church given him on Earth Christ was himself then on Earth but he being now in Heaven it was convenient that his Vicar in Temporals should go to Heaven in order to be instated in the Government of the Earth and this after the Example of Vice-Roys and Governors who when they pay Homage for the Kingdoms and Provinces where they are to exercise the Power and represent the Person of the King do not perform this Ceremony within the Kingdoms and Provinces committed to their Charge but in the place where the King then is whether he be at Court or whether he be absent from it Now Heaven is Christ's Court and because he was in the World and absent from Court when his first Vicar did Homage for the first Universal Empire which is that of his Church It was done on Earth in like manner when this his second Vicar was to pay Homage for the second Empire which is that of the World he was to do it in Heaven because Christ is now at his Court in Heaven And this he concludes to be the Reason why the Prince was to die so soon after he was born But since the Prince is gone to Heaven to take Possession of the Universal Empire who shall have the Administration of the Government here on Earth Shall the Prince who hath taken his leave of us with so much haste return again to take it upon himself No he hath taken Possession and the Prince that is to be born after him shall have the Benefit of Primogeniture and succeed him in the Empire insomuch that the same Empire shall be common to both the Brothers the Eldest that is dead is gone to take Possession of it in Heaven and the Second who is to live shall administer it on Earth I confess saith the Father this looks new and admirable to make one only Heir of two Brothers that the first Brother shall take Possession and the other come after him and be the Possessor But to him altho' it was wonderful yet it was no novelty he thinks he hath a like Instance at the Birth of Pharez and Zarah Sons of Judah the Father and Founder of the Royal Tribe Zarah put forth his Arm and when he had a Purple Thread tied thereto he drew it in again and let Pharez be born before him and so yielded to him the Right of Primogeniture by which means Zarah took Possession of the Purple that Pharez afterwards put on and enjoy'd Thus saith the Father was the Succession to the Kingdom of Judah founded and thus was the first Foundation laid of the Empire of Portugal The Prince that was born and presently after withdrew into Heaven was like Zarah who only took Possession of the Purple and then drew back his Arm the Prince that is to be born shall be like Pharez and succeeding in the Place yielded to him by his Brother shall enjoy the same Possession cloath himself with the same Royal Purple and stretch forth his Arm to grasp the Scepter He bestows some other Thoughts upon the Parallel to make it more exact which I do not think convenient to Translate Dom Joaon Francisco
may be expected that I should say something of the reciprocal Benefits derived from the Holy See upon a People that hath done and suffers so much for its sake or at least of that Fatherly Tenderness which the Pope must needs have for a King of Portugal who purchases the favour of his Holiness by so constant and meritorious an Obedience His Holiness must by some very distinguishing marks of Affection put a Difference between this his Benjamin from whom he hath received so much comfort and those other Sons of his who by their untoward Behaviour have been always a crossing and tormenting him He that hath been so often worried by the head-strong Emperors in former Ages braved in Italy by the Spaniards in the last Age and more than once in his own Capital by the French in our Days and received so many Mortifications from the Italian Princes from whom he might expect that they should upon the Account of their Natural as well as their Spiritual Relation behave themselves more as becomes the Children of the Holy See He one would think should have reserved the greatest and best of his Blessings for this his most Obedient Son But the Holy Father seems to be affected with quite contrary Passions to other Men to have cast away his most endearing Favours where the utmost Rigour should be expected and where a Blessing was most lookt for to have entail'd his Curse The Royal House of Portugal hath certainly had great cause for Complaints of this kind as often as it hath been in distress and stood in need of his Protection When Philip the 2d while the Question concerning the Succession to Henry the Cardinal was depending was preparing by force of Arms to deprive the true Heiress of her Birthright Pope Gregory the 13th did his utmost indeed to divert him from the enterprize but it was to the end that he might seize upon the Crown for his own use as a Chattel of the Cardinals alledging that his Spoils among which he reckon'd the Kingdom were forfeitable to the Holy See and least this ridiculous Claim should be thought insufficient he added another Alphonso Henriquez the first King as hath been said would needs make his Kingdom Tributary to St. Peter and charged with the annual Payment of four Ounces of Gold and this was made a pretence by Pope Gregory for depriving the Posterity of that King of their Inheritance he pretending that Portugal was by this means become a Feif to St. Peter's Chair and as such by default of the Male-line was devolved to himself but his pretensions meeting with that contempt they deserved he still resolved to deprive the right Heiress at any rate and of all the Pretenders made Interest for him that had the worst Title that is for Dom Antonio the Bastard as if he had a mind to embroil a Kingdom that had deserved so well at his hands in perpetual Wars But it was for his convenience that King Philip should be diverted from troubling him in Italy and convenience at Rome is a just Excuse for the worst Actions However when Philip by force of Arms had baffled his Holiness as well as all the other Pretenders and had reduced the Kingdom to his Obedience the Pope made no scruple to acknowledge his Title and treat him as rightful King of Portugal Nor did he in this deviate from the practice of those that went before him the Popes having on many occasions found it Turn to account to approve the Titles of the most Illegal Usurpers ever since the extraordinary complaisance of Boniface the 3d. to the Emperour Phocas which gave Rise to the present Grandeur of the Holy See But John the 4th the present King's Father who had an undoubted Right to the Crown met with other usage at Rome of which I shall here give a short Account it being a most signal proof of the Portuguese Devotion to the Holy See but withal it has so far opened the eyes of this Court that the Ministers seem to be convinced at last of this truth that none are so hardly used by those of Rome as they that deserve best at their hands This is certain that the Memory of it is still fresh in their minds as the Nuncio's to their great Regret are frequently given to understand and is supposed to be in a great measure the cause why their Conduct in regard to Rome begins to vary so much as it does from that of their Predecessors After King John had been settled in the Throne of his Ancestors by the Universal Acclamation of his People and was possessed of all the Dominions belonging to the Crown the little Town of Ceuta excepted he began to think of sending a Solemn Embassy to pay his Obedience to the Pope which is a custom observ'd by all Princes of that Communion and was thought necessary by this King as well to satisfie his own Devotion as to establish his Authority among the People and he thought he had great reason to expect that this Embassy would be very kindly received for to say nothing of the merits of his Ancestors he relied much upon the Pope's great Partiality to the French who out of enmity to the Spaniards had espoused the Portuguese Interest and solicited their cause at Rome To render this Embassy the more acceptable he made choice of a Person that was of the first Quality and withal a Bishop Dom Miguel de Portugal Brother to the Conde de Vimioso But this Ambassador arriving at Rome found that he had been sent upon a fruitless Errand For the Pope as little as he cared for the Spaniards on all other occasions had so much respect for them at this time that for fear of displeasing them he was content to put the greatest Indignity in the World upon a King of Portugal This was Urban the 8th from whom better things might been expected than from those that usually fill the Holy Chair But his Holiness without having the least regard to the Ambassador's Character or Quality or the obliging Message he came upon refused to admit him into his Presence or suffer his Ministers to acknowledge him for an Ambassador so that after a whole years Solicitation for Audience he was fain to return as he came This the Portugueses thought to be an Indignity that could not have been put upon the Representative of any Idolatrous or Mahometan Prince without violating the Laws of Nations All the Favour that could be obtain'd at that time was That a Congregation should be appoinned on pretence of consulting what was fit to be done in the Case The Congregation consisted of the two Barbarini Cayetan and Pamphilio Cardinal Francisco the elder of the Barbarini was made Chair-man to take care that the result should be according to his Uncle's mind He obliged the Secretary of the Embassy to give him an account of the King his Master's Title and when nothing could be objected against that he began to pick Quarrels upon pretence
Devotion which the Catholick Kings above all other Princes have ever born in mind and testify'd by their Actions towards the Apostolical See Their meaning was understood well enough at Rome and this Intimation of what they should do gave a strange force to their Arguments and so confirm'd the wavering Pope that he remained ever after steady to their Interest The Portugueses had apparently all the Right on their side but the Spaniards were Masters of Milan Naples and Sicily From this time forward Pope Innocent turned a deaf Ear to all that could be said in Favour of King John of Portugal and could never be brought to grant him that which was never deny'd to an Usurper That Prince had his Agents continually soliciting for him at Rome in his own Name and in behalf of the Clergy and of the three Estates of the Kingdom but all to no purpose The French made the most pressing Instances in his behalf but the Pope did not mind them at that time for France being embroil'd with intestine Dissentions He was sure they could do him no harm Great Court and Application was made to Donna Olympia as we are told by the Conde da Ericeyra who observes that she seldom used to fail in any Temporal Business that she undertook alluding I suppose to a Saying to that purpose which was current at that time in the Courts of Popish Princes where upon any Disappointment of their Affairs at Rome the Nuncio's were sure to be told That if the Business had been solicited by Donna Olympia it had never miscarried But on this occasion Donna Olympia her self could do no good for either she did not heartily espouse the King of Portugal's cause or if she did all her Artifices were ineffectual upon the obdurate Pontiff All the answer that could be got from this and the former Pope besides those frivolous Complaints before mention'd for which satisfaction was still offered was that the Pope as the common Father of Christendom thought himself bound to carry it equally between Castille and Portugal and not acknowledge or oblige one Son when it could not be done without offence to the other but the Portugueses could not perswade themselves that in this case He in any sort acted the part of a common Father whilst to gratify the unreasonable Ambition of the one he did not stick wholly to cast off the other and to use him in a more barbarous manner than he could have done an Infidel But in short the Spaniards were very rugged in their Threats and that stood them in stead of Right and Merit the Portugueses valuing themselves upon their blind Obedience to the Holy See kept within the terms of Respect which instead of gaining ought upon those of Rome gave encouragement to their Insolence Had King John but follow'd the Spaniards Example or come to any vigorous Resolution he had doubtless soon brought his Holiness to a compliance or he might have had a fair opportunity to vindicate his Country's Liberty in a yet more glorious manner than he had done already by shaking off the Spanish Yoke For we must know that all these Applications to the Court of Rome were not made to the end only that his Title might be acknowledged there but in order to have the vacant Sees in his Dominions supplied with Bishops for in a few years after the Revolution there was but one Bishop remaining in Portugal and he not Resident upon his Diocess being obliged to attend the Court and there was a like want of them in the East and West-Indies in the Madera and Cap Verde Islands and upon the Coasts of Africa the Portugueses therefore laboured all they could to make his Holiness sensible of the miserable state of their Churches thus destitute of Pastors petitioning for a supply the King according to the Practice of his Ancestors proposing the Persons for that end and to remove all Objections he agreed that his Nomination of the Bishops should be admitted with the Clause sine Praejudicio Tertij notwithstanding its being a clear Maxim in the Rota and confirmed by the practice of the Roman Church That the simple possession of an Inheritance City or Territory that has Jus Patronatus annext to it gives the right of Presentation to the Possessor but neither the reason of the thing nor the desolate condition of the Orphan Churches could have any weight upon the obstinate Pope He was more apprehensive of the Spanish Threats than the loss of Millions of Souls all that could be got from him was that He would appoint Bishops for Portugal on condition that he might name them de motu proprio he offered indeed another very strange Concession which was that the Bishops he chose of his own mere motion should be the very same Persons that the King had named But the Portugueses could not agree to this Proposal for this among other Reasons that the Popes might make it a Precedent for assuming to themselves a Right of nominating Bishops in after times which would prove a great grievance to the Nation since the Benefices that were already at his Disposal were generally the worst supply'd Things being thus at a stand the Gallicane Church undertook the cause of her Sister of Portugal and took the liberty to mind the Holy Father of his Duty in a Letter written by the Prelates assembled in a Synod which was presented in their Name by Cardinal Francisco Barbarini but the Pope at that time had as little regard to the French Church as he had to the French Coutt The Clergy of that Kingdom sent their Agent to Rome to take care of the concerns of the Portuguese Church as well as their own the Bishops whom King John had nominated sent their humble Petition to his Holiness that they might be admitted to the Exercise of their Charge and their Petition was rejected with scorn the Cardinals of the French Faction did all the good Offices they could but to no purpose Este signalized himself in a very particular manner on this occasion the Pope taking notice that he loytered about the City more than became him ordered him one day to his Diocess saying That it went against his Conscience to see him absent from it so long the Cardinal who was Young and Resolute answered That his Holiness had a great deal of reason to be thus scrupulous but being so much concerned as he was for one single Church he ought not wholly to neglect so many as there were in Portugal unprovided of Bishops and therefore he conjur'd him before God and in the Name of the King of France from whom he had Commission so to do that he would speedily grant Bishops to that Kingdom The Pope not a little surpriz'd at so brisk an Attack was going away without making any other reply than saying I shall pluck the Cap from off that Boy 's Head Este turns to him again and crys If you do I shall put on another of Iron and thereupon retires
his time he wrote in the Year 1600. I have seen a large Collection of Priviledges granted by the several Kings of Portugal to the English beyond those enjoy'd by the Portuguese Subjects I know not whether I may call them Charters These were copied from the Archives of the Kingdom in the Torre de Tumbo but the most ancient was of King Ferdinand whose Reign began not till 1367. There are several of John the 1st his Successor some of which refer to others granted by his Predecessors By this it appears that the English had a great hand in setting up the Kingdom of Portugal and if the Historians of this Country deceive us not they had as great a share in Protecting and Securing it as often as it hath been brought into Danger by a Foreign Enemy Twice it was like to be wholly over-run by the Castillians who had possed themselves of the greatest part of the Kingdom and gain'd a numerous Party of the Nobility over to their side and had been very near taking Lisbon it self the first time in the Reign of Ferdinand the last of the lawful Descendants from Alfonso Henriquez the other time while John the 1st from whom all that have succeeded him derived their Titles was strugling for the Crown and they have been as often reliev'd by the English and enabled to carry the War into the Enemies Country our Princes of the Blood condescending to go in Person to their Assistance first Edmund de Langley then Earl of Cambridge and afterwards John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster And if after the several flourishing Reigns that succeeded they were at last reduc'd under the Spanish Yoke it was because they were wanting to themselves the English having sent out a Gallant Fleet and Army to their Rescue under Dom Antonio whom they had made their King but they would not accept Deliverance and so they remain'd under the Power of their Enemies In the last War after the French had given them up or assisted them in such a manner as they should not own without Confusion when all Europe looked upon their Ruin as inevitable some of the most considerable Persons in the Kingdom being so far of the same Opinion that they thought it now high time for them to save themselves and make their Peace with the Spaniards as the Duke of Aveiro and their Ambassador in Holland who went over to them Cardinal Mazarin making himself merry with our Locker at the Folly of all the rest for not doing the same and for thinking it possible for them to hold out longer Don Luis de Haro who was not accounted Sanguin making nothing of the little Expedition that his Master was about against the Duke of Bragança for after this rate he is reported to have talk'd to King Charles the 2d at the Pirences Those small Forces sent by King Charles after his Restoration by their unparallel'd Valour soon put an end to the Quarrel and the Victories obtain'd by their Means being seconded as they were by the Vigilence Dexterity and Conduct of the same King's Ministers recover'd Portugal and restor'd it to the condition in which it now remains These Forces consisted of about 3000 Men formed into three Regiments two of Foot which made near 2400 and one of Horse of about 800. They were at first Commanded by the Earl of Inchiquin but his Lordship returning to England before they took the Field they were by Commission from the King of England put under the Conduct of Count Schomberg who had himself the immediate Command of one of the foot Regiments They arriv'd in Portugal soon after Don John had made an end of that successful Campagne before mention'd in 1662. and were dispos'd of into Quarters till the following Spring when they joyn'd the Portuguese Army in order to relieve Evora but in their March towards that City they were met with the News of its being surrender'd without Resistance in a manner and upon very Dishonourable Terms though it had in it a Garrison of 7000 Foot and 700 Horse and was provided with all things necessary for a stout Defense till such time as the Army should come up and attempt to raise the Siege The News of this loss so struck the Commanders of the Army that 't is no wonder it should put the People into that consternation before described The Conde de Villa Flor the Gen. was so discouraged that his concern appear'd to the very Soldiers in his Looks which our Men who had been used to see their Commanders so Dejected observ'd with Indignation A Council of War being called it appear'd that the Army was in no condition to fight the Enemy and it was resolv'd not to attempt it as bad as their Case was Something might have been done had Evora held out they relying upon the Garrisons fallying at the same time when they should attack the Besiegers But the Garrison was now made Prisoners of War so it was resolv'd that they should encamp themselves at a Place call'd Landroal which lay so between the Enemies Frontier Places that they might cut off any convoys of Provisions coming from thence Don John in the mean while having possess'd himself of so Great and Populous a City in the very heart of Alemtejo became thereby Master in a manner of the whole Province and was providing for his Army at his Enemies Cost by putting all the Country under Contribution for which end and to gave the greater Alarm to Lisbon whereby to increase the Tumult there he sent that large Detachment before mention'd as far as Alcacere do Sal. The Court at this time apprehending no less Danger from the Multitude then the Enemy and seeing the Affairs of Portugal to be in all respects desperate was continually sending Orders to the Commanders to fight at any rate the Army at last being reinforc'd with what Troops other parts of the Kingdom could send or the Garrisons spare march'd towards the Spaniards hoping to find them divided but not being able to hinder their Detachments from joyning the main Body they were for retiring again Don John follow'd at their Heels to give them Battle but they had pass'd a small River call'd Degebe before he came up with them and they had posted themselves so advantageously that there were but two Passes through which he could come to Attack them That where the Portugueses thought the greatest Danger was it being in its self the easiest to be forc'd was defended by one of the English Regiments Don John made his greatest Efforts to gain it and there ensued a very hot Dispute for at several times he sent in fresh Troops to renew the Charge which were as often repulsed with loss so that he was oblig'd at last to desist from the Attempt Don John found now that he had other Enemies to deal with then those he had hitherto been used to Being frustrated of his Design he put a Garrison into Evora and began to march towards the Frontiers where he
Advantages by a free Trade during the late War yet the Money being convey'd out of the Kingdom by such ways as shall be mention'd in another place their Condition is not much mended thereby That this is the present Case of the Kingdom will appear from two Instances of a very fresh Date The King is as all the World knows at this time putting his Kingdom in a Posture of Defence to this end among other things it was thought convenient to secure St. Julian's Castle which stands upon the Bar of the Tagus and guards the Entrance into the River and is in effect the main Bulwark of Lisbon or rather the Key to the whole Kingdom It is strongly built after the Modern Way and well fortified with Guns but hath this Disadvantage that it may be commanded on one side from a Rising Ground that is near it It was therefore debated in Council Whether it were cheapest to level that Ground or to raise a small Fort upon it But after the Place had been survey'd it was at last concluded That both Ways were too chargeable either of them requiring a greater Expence than the State could well bear and so neither way was taken From this Instance which came from a good Hand it appears that the Exchequer must run very low at this time And that the People can afford but small Supplies will appear from hence The King to enable himself to augment and maintain his Army summon'd the Cortes or Parliament to meet at Lisbon the First of December 97 All that he demanded of them was an Additional Revenue of 600000 Crowns a Crown in Portugal is scarce worth Half a Crown English The Parliament considering the Occasion could not but acknowledge the Request to be reasonable but then how to raise the Money was a matter of insuperable difficulty In short they sat down as hath been said the First of December 97 and were sitting in July 98 and were considering all the while of Ways and Means and had made no Progress in the Affair but at last they referr'd it to the King to lay the Tax as he should judge convenient For their parts tho' none could be insensible of the King 's great want of a Supply yet they found the People so burden'd already that they knew not how to lay on them any further Weight without danger of their sinking under it The King as hath been reported since has laid the Tax upon Tobacco which the Merchant thinks is the ready way to destroy that Trade and consequently the best and clearest part of the Revenue The most considerable Transactions of this Reign will fall under some of the following Heads and therefore I have nothing further to add in this Chapter but that the King of Portugal is an Absolute Prince having the Legislative as well as the Executive Power in his hands For the Royal Edicts have the Force of Laws and a Collection of these is much the same thing there as our Satute-Book is in England when these fail the Civil Law takes place There are indeed certain Constitutions chiefly relating to the Succession called the Laws of Lamego made by the Cortes at the first Institution of the Government which cannot be dispens'd with but by Consent of the Three Estates It belongs likewise to the Cortes to lay Taxes upon the People tho' certain Imposts that are now upon Flesh and Wine and were given for a limited time have been continued by the King's Authority and the Pope's together the manner in which this was done shall be told in the following Chapter Of the Publick Revenues and the Forces of the Crown by Land and Sea BEfore I speak of the Revenues c. it is requisite to give an Account of the Money currant in this Kingdom All considerable Sums are here reckoned by Millreis i. e. Thousand of Reis sometimes by Crusado's or Crowns which consist of 400 Reis a piece Tho' great Payments are commonly made in Spanish Pieces of Eight which are reckon'd at 750 Reis There is no such Piece as a Millrei nor indeed a Crown at present for that which was last coyn'd for a Crown-piece is now rais'd to 480 Reis Lesser Coyns in Silver are a Teston 100 Reis a half Teston 50 Reis a Vintain 20 Reis The Gold Coyn called the Moeda de Ouro contains 4800 Reis of which there are likewise Half and Quarter-pieces The Portuguese Money according to the intrinsick Value answers to our English Money thus  s. d. q. A Millrei i. e. 1000 Reis to 05 10 00 A Crown 400 Reis 02 04 00 A Teston 100 Reis 00 07 00 A half Teston 50 Reis 00 03 02 A Vintain 20 Reis 00 01 01 ⅗ The Moeda of Gold 4800 Reis makes 28 s.    The Revenues arise chiefly from Customs Taxes Monopolies Rents belonging to the Orders of Knighthood and Moneys raised purely by the Pope's Bulls The Customs paid here are excessively great all Foreign Commodities excepting some few sorts of small Bulk and easie Conveyance pay no less than 23 per Cent 20 for the ordinary Custom and 3 for a certain Duty call'd the Consulado which last is likewise paid for all Goods exported whether by Natives or Foreigners They are indeed set at a favourable Valuation except Fish from Newfoundland which pays 22 per Cent in Specie Goods brought hither in order only to be transported to other Countries pay 4 per Cent. But it is believed that nothing of all this comes to the King or indeed to the Publick the Consulado excepted which is appropriated to the building of Ships and buying in of Stores The Taxes are 7 Reis per Pound upon all Flesh brought into the Market and as much per Canada upon Wine sold in by Retail few People here keep any in their Houses A Canada holds something less than Three Pints Fresh Fish which is caught here in great abundance in the River and on the Sea-Coasts and is the best part of the Peoples Food pays no less than 47 per Cent and that exacted with great Rigor and paid commonly in Specie At the Sale of Lands Houses Cattle of all sorts and indeed of almost every thing that is known to be bought and sold 10 per Cent of the Price goes to the King A great part of these Taxes were granted by the Three Estates in Cortes to King John the Fourth in 1641 and at other times towards the Charges of the War with Spain but after the Peace was made the Cortes in the Year 1674 rais'd them to what they are at present by giving the Prince a Supply of a Million of Crowns per Annum one half whereof was to be rais'd by an Additional Impost upon Flesh and Wine But this was then given only for Six Years yet it hath been paid ever since The Court in the Year 1675 thought convenient to procure the Pope's Consent to this last Impost that the Clergy might have leave to pay their share because as it
was given for a Reason the last Lateran Council and other Canons of their Church had made it unlawful for any Prince to receive Tribute from the Clergy without the Pope's leave even tho' it were voluntarily offer'd by themselves as this had been by the Ecclesiastical as well as the two other Estates in Cortes And since that time at the end of every Sixth Year a Breve hath been procured from Rome for continuing the Taxes for Six Years longer therein the Pope impowers the Nuncio residing at Lisbon to use his Apostolical Authority in obliging the Clergy to pay them This Breve is of course published in Portugal and tho' it chiefly regards the Clergy yet it is not unlikely but it may be design'd to induce the People likewise to pay their Taxes quietly without putting the King and the Three Estates of the Realm to the trouble of meeting together in Cortes For it must needs be a great Argument among them that the thing is but just and reasonable since the Holy Father consents to and approves of it and it weighs much with them no doubt when they consider why his Holiness grants the Breve which as 't is declared in the Narrative of it is The Exchequers being exhausted by the vast Expences that the Crown hath been continually at for the maintenance and propagation of the Catholick Faith in the Dominions abroad especially in Brazil and the East-Indies where the Dutch Hereticks and other Infidels were endeavouring to extirpate it Which Reason is said to continue still or rather to become more strongly urgent every time there is occasion for a new Breve The Pope gives Commission to his Nuncio to enquire into the Truth of this and other Allegations as that the Three Estates the Clergy more especially have given their Consent the Nuncio cites the King's Procurator before him and puts him upon the Proof He shews that the Nobility and People have agreed to the continuance of the Taxes because they still pay them and that the whole Body of the Clergy are likewise willing because the Bishops have given their Consent which as he pretends to prove withal comprehends that of all the rest But it does not appear how he makes good the Main Point viz. The Danger that the Catholick Faith is in from the Dutch Hereticks and other Infidels As for the Dutch they renew'd their Peace with Portugal in the Year 1669 and have kept it ever since However the Nuncio is entirely satisfied with the Proofs whatever they be and thereupon gives order for the Execution of the Breve requiring Obedience thereto from all Persons Secular as well as Ecclesiastical upon pain of the greater Excommunication and 500 Crowns applicable to the Reverend Chamber Apostolick as the Words of the Order run Under the Title of Monopolies we may reduce the other part of the Supply granted at the same time which was an Impost upon Tobacco made into Snuff by which 500000 Crowns per Annum were design'd to be rais'd In order to make this Sum the King had the whole Trade of Snuff put into his own Hands and it became almost as great a Crime in Portugal for any to Make Snuff for themselves as 't is with us in England to Coin Money tho' People almost universally take it here This Monopoly was let out to Farm to the Duke of Cadaval the principal Person in the Kingdom next His Majesty and it was so managed that 't is said the King receiv'd much more than double the Value of what it was given for The Tobacco as it come from Brazil was bought up for the King at a Teston and half or less per Pound and sold out in Snuff for 16 or 20 and sometimes more the best and 14 the more ordinary sort But 't is said that this Trade is now laid aside and an Equivalent with the Advantage of 600 000 tax'd upon Tobacco in Rolls The King hath likewise in his Hands a great part of the Trade from Foreign Plantations as that of Elephants Teeth from Africa of Wood from Brazil Besides great Duties upon Sugar and of all Goods coming from the East-Indies This last Trade is indeed but of little worth for he hath several times offered to make it over to a Company of Merchants but could never get a sufficient Number of Subscribers The King is likewise Grand Master of the Orders of Knighthood in his Kingdom and has the disposal of all the Commenda's belonging to them viz. of the Order of Christ which in Portugal succeeded to that of the Knights-Templers and is still in possession of their Lands and hath 454 Commenda's belonging to it 2dly The Order of St. Jago which hath 60 Commenda's and those of considerable Profit 3dly Of Avis which hath 43 and these esteem'd very rich Besides the King hath the disposal of the Commenda's in his Kingdom that belong to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem commonly called the Knights of Malta the chief of which viz. the Priory of Crato accounted one of the richest in the World is at present bestowed upon Dom Francisco the King 's Second Son I reckon these among the King's Revenues because they are put to the same use as the greatest part by much of his other Incomes are viz. given away in Pensions or Rewards for Services But the Kings of Portugal have for this last Century made use of one extraordinary way to raise Money which among all Ways and Means perhaps hath never been thought of by any other Temporal Prince the Kings of Spain excepted who first brought it up in this Kingdom and this is by selling Indulgences to the People for the Pardon of their Sins and the Deliverance of their own or their Relations Souls out of Purgatory The Popes having been for some time shamed out of this Trade by the Noise that Luther made in the World the Kings of Spain thought fit to take it up and have made more Money of it with less Scandal To this end Philip the Second after he had got Possession of the Crown of Portugal obtained Bulls of Pope Gregory the 14th in the Year 1591 which since that time have been publish'd almost every Year in Portugal And the Profits arising from them are become a part of the Standing Revenues of the Crown And indeed they may well be accounted a very considerable part of them The Substance of these three Bulls are all contain'd in one which carries for Title The Bull of the Holy Croisade But they are retailed out to the People under the Names of The Bull for the Living The Bull of Composition And The Bull for the Dead They have their general Name from the Croisade as if they were granted for carrying on the Holy War and were we to judge of the Levies I mean of Money that are here made one would think that War was still prosecuted with as great Vigour as it was 500 Years ago It 's true indeed that the Kings of Portugal even
Dom Nuno Alvarez Pereira upon the account of his Quality he being then as he is still the only Duke in the Kingdom was chosen Spokesman and he at the Head of the rest in the Name of the Queen the King's Brother and Sister the Court and the whole Kingdom admonish'd His Majesty to change the whole Course of his Life and not to expose as he did himself and the Nation to ruine Another time she assembled together the Officers of the Crown the Courts of Justice the Nobility and Gentlemen about the Court and the Magistrates of Lisbon The Design of this great Assembly was to make a more solemn Remonstrance to the King and withal to remove one Antonio Conti from about his Person this Conti had been one of those Boys that had had the good hap to get into the King's Favour by distinguishing himself at the Exercises aforementioned and by this means from serving in a Pedling Shop in the Capella a small Cloyster within the Palace he grew to be a considerable Person at Court becoming the King 's constant Companion in his Extravagancies and he was thought to contribute more to the corrupting of him than any other Person whatsoever The seizing of this Conti was the first thing to be put in Execution and therefore whilst the Queen Mother entertain'd the King in private the Duke of Cadaval with some other Lords took him violently out of the Palace it self where he had shut himself up in the King 's own Apartment which the Duke was ready to force and had done it had not Conti opened to him he having caus'd instruments to be brought in order to break down the Doors resolving to kill Conti upon the Place in case he refus'd to surrender himself Conti taken and with some others of the like Stamp convey'd on Board a Ship then under Sail for Brazil the whole Company came and presented themselves before the King and in the Name of them all the Secretary of State read a Remonstrance to him that had been drawn up by general Consent it contain'd an account of the Queens Complaints the Grievances of the Nation the King 's ill Conduct and the Exorbitancies of his Favourites The King was mightily surpriz'd to see himself thus unexpectedly attack'd by so great a Crowd of People for he had not the least Warning given him of their coming was so little prepared to receive and answer their Address that it was some time after the Company was gone before he knew what Business brought them thither and this makes it look as if there was some further Design in hand than barely the King's Amendment 'T is plain that in case the Queen had a Design to create a mutual Distrust between her Son and all the most Considerable Persons in the Kingdom in order to keep him out and secure her self in the Government she could not have taken a more effectual Course to gain her Ends. She might be sure that those she employ'd in such ungrateful Offices would be very unwilling to see Alfonso in a condition to call them to account the Portuguese Nation is as little addicted to Forgiveness as any perhaps in Europe and such as are apt to revenge Injuries themselves do of course expect the like Returns from those they have offended Alfonso was a Prince violent of his Nature had not been bred to restrain or dissemble his Resentments so that these who had thus violated the Palace of their King and had laid open his Infirmities to the World in so publick and solemn a manner as they had wounded him in his most sensible part could never think themselves seeure while it was in his power to revenge the Affronts And this seems to me to have been the Rise of that powerful Party which the New Queen found so ready to stand by her to prosecute her Quarrels and which enabled her at last to finish what the Queen Mother contrary to her intentions no doubt had begun that is the Ruine of the Unfortunate Alfonso This great Assembly dissolv'd the King coming to understand upon what account they had been with him and what they had been doing about his Palace after he had given way to the first Transports of his Passion began to think it was high time for him to assert his Authority and to secure himself from the like Insults or rather to beware of a Third Admonition His Mother by using him so like a Minor at the end of Five Years that had past since the time of his Majority did not a little confirm him in his suspicions that he was never like to come of Age while she liv'd nor perhaps enjoy the Crown at her Death for he had been for some time perswaded that her intention was to set up the Infante his Brother in his place wherefore he resolv'd once for all to withdraw himself from under her Jurisdiction by wresting if it were possible the power out of her hands 't is hard to tell whether these and the like thoughts were suggested to him or confirm'd by Dom Luis de Vascomcellos Sousa Conde de Castelmelhor but 't is not doubted that the Project of putting them in execution was form'd presently after the Queen Mother and her Party were withdrawn when the King shut himself up for some time with the Conde This Nobleman was of the First Quality and one of the best Families in Portugal but of Fortunes not equal to his Birth or at least not to his aspiring mind for tho' he was then but young yet he had for some time been entertaining great Designs in his Head which an occasion now offering it self he made appear that he wanted neither Courage nor Abilities to go through with He had improved his natural Endowments by Travel an advantage not common to those of his Rank in Portugal and he himself had been obliged to it by Necessity rather than Choice he having had the Misfortune to be engag'd with several other Noble-men in a Quarrel wherein one of them was kill'd It is reported of him that while he was in Italy in the time of his Flight he took occasion to declare That he must needs go home for his mind gave him that it would be his Fortune one day to become the greatest Man in Portugal The late King having granted him his Pardon and upon his Death-Bed reconciled the Parties he came again to Court and when Alfonso's Houshold was settled he by means of his Countesses Relations got in to be a Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber 'T was his Week when this great Stir was made about the Court but the Queen had not thought fit to make him of the Party and his Enemies give the World to understand that it was for this and no other reason that he dis-approv'd of the action But he appear'd a little too warm while the business was transacting to let one think he was so very indifferent for meeting with the Duke in a Gallery while he was in pursuit of
left the Court first threatning that if he continued there he himself would depart the Kingdom The King orders the Case to be drawn up and laid before a Consult of the Counsellors of State the Chancellor Judges c. and it was concluded among them by the Majority of Votes That the Infante not being a Sovereign Prince his bare Affirmation was not to be taken for Proof that the Suspension and Removal of the Conde was in it self a Punishment as it reflected Dishonour upon him and his Family but that he ought not to be punish'd 'till some Proof was made of his Crime The Infante would not yield that the Case had been fairly stated or the Votes free and signifies the same in a Letter to the King wherein he expresses his Resentments of the whole Proceeding with some heat While the Business was thus agitated by way of Letters and Messages each side was seeking by other ways to make his Party good the Infante had written to the Courts of Justice the Chamber and Council of Lisbon to acquaint them with his Case sending them Copies of his Letters to the King He afterwards called together at his Palace the Counsellors of State and the Nobility to inform them of what had past among whom besides those that had been all along devoted to the Cause the Conde had gain'd himself many new Enemies by his Advancement and his over-haughty Carriage as it seem'd to them in the time of his Greatness And the Party was so strong against him that 't was now evident his Ruin was at hand For many of those fawning Wretches on whom by a Fault common as 't is said to great Men he had misplac'd his Favours having rais'd them by his Bounty were now not only ready to abandon him but they would needs be employ'd in avenging the Infante's Quarrel upon their Benefactor The Infante at the beginning of this Broil was made to remonstrate in his Letters That if the King refus'd to do him Justice he should be forc'd to leave the Kingdom and end his Days in a foreign Country But was now put upon another Resolution which was to retire to the Province Tras Os Montes and join that part of the Army which was commanded by the Conde de St. John one of his principal Confidents many of the disaffected Nobility proffering themselves to follow him and share in his Fortunes The Conde upon the Infante's first Complaint petition'd the King for leave to retire but it appearing that the Contrivers of all this Bustle aim'd not so much at the Conde's removal from the Government as the King 's who was not like to stand long after the Fall of his Minister he was oblig d to continue at Court and they were not wanting about the King that were putting him upon vigorous Resolutions which might if followed have recovered his expiring Authority Some advised him to go in Person to Corte Real the Infante's Palace attended with his Counsellors of State the Nobility and Officers of the Army and Arrest the Infante together with the Camarists those he had named for Gentlemen of his Bed-Chamber supposed to be the Managers of all this Disturbance but this Counsel never took effect some think because it was delay'd so long that the Infante being inform'd of the Design had time enough to put himself in a posture of Defence it is certain that he immediately after declared He would run the same Fortune with his Gentlemen and never suffer them to be Arrested It is reported of a certain Person and as I remember I have been shewn the Man that he came and offered to the King and Conde That with his Majesty's Leave he would go to Corte Real and give a good Account of the Camarists but this Proposal was rejected as it well deserved to be The great Courage the King us'd to shew on other Occasions to the loss of his Credit now fail'd him when he had so much need of it his Authority and his Honour lying as they did at stake He seems to have been so much sunk at this time as to become incapable of conceiving or entertaining a Resolution befitting a King in his Circumstances The Conde when he saw that he cou'd do no good any other way wou'd have had him retire to Alemtejo and there put himself at the Head of his Army there being reason to believe that the main Body would prove faithful to him after having gain'd so many signal Victories under his short Reign Both sides were endeavouring about this time to make a Party among the Soldiery the Infante had wholly gaind the Conde de St. John but he had receiv'd Orders from Court that neither himself nor any Person under his Command shou'd stir out of his Province 'till further order and it could not be in his power to do any great harm supposing the rest continued in their Duty The Commanders had been made acquainted with the Differences at Court by the King's Order who had signified to them his Resolution to protect the Conde representing the Infante's Complaints as groundless The Fleet likewise which had been cruising on the Coasts was commanded into the River and Order given that none belonging to it should come ashore without leave It does not appear that they who were for setting up the Infante durst as yet openly solicit the Army It 's true the Queen had a very strong Party in it as appears by the strict Guard that was kept on the Frontiers this Year to prevent the coming of any Overtures of Peace from Castille which the French Faction that was headed by the Queen labour'd all they could to hinder but it was not as yet pretended that the King and Queen had separate Interests However her Majesty was working under-hand to promote the Grand Design sounding the Inclinations of those in Command against the time when it should be ripe for Execution Count Schomberg who was General of the Strangers and had in effect at this time the Direction of the whole Army was oblig'd by Orders from France to hold Correspondence with the Queen and to support her Interest The Queen took occasion to acquaint him by Letters how that all things were like to run to Ruin through Alfonso's Extravagances should he continue in the Government desiring to know of the Count What Reckoning might be made of the Officers in the Army in case the Differences at Court came to an open Rupture It is not probable for Reasons to be mention'd anon that the Count gave her any great Encouragement to proceed in the Design however he did as he was order'd and inform'd her Majesty how the principal Commanders stood affected and what might be expected from each of them severally in rhe Case propos'd he was so very particular in his Account that it took up about four Sheets of Paper and this Pacquet had like to have preserv'd the King and ruin'd the adverse Party for it narrowly escap'd falling into his Majesty's Hands
had been getting ready for that purpose so 't is not unlikely but that he behav'd himself in the manner he did to keep his Enemies in suspence and from coming to a Resolution 'till he could get out of their Hands and be at liberty to call his Friends about him but they that were then strongest prevented this Design While things were thus at a stand the Queen who us'd frequently to visit the Nunneries especially that of the Esperança of the Franciscan Order where several Ladies of Honour were profest took occasion Nov. 21st in the Evening to go thither in her Coach with her usual Attendance as soon as she was within the Nunnery she sent a Letter to the King to this purpose That she had left her Country her Relations and Friends and sold her Estate to come and accompany his Majesty in hopes that what she did might be to his Satisfaction and was inconsolable that she had not been able to attain to what she so much desired that as obliged in Conscience she was now resolv'd to return into France in the Ships that were then in the River for which end she desired his Majesty's Consent and hoped that he would order her Dower to be return'd her since his Majesty knew very well that she was none of his Wife c. The King when this Letter was brought him was making ready to ride out into the Fields but he no sooner understood the Contents of it than enraged at this the most sensible Affront he had ever yet receiv'd he put himself immediately into his Coach and with great Fury drove to the Esperança resolving to force the Nunnery and for that end assoon as he got thither was calling for Axes to hew down the Doors when the Infante came to the place so well attended that he oblig'd him to return to the Palace The next Day the Queen sent for the Infante and afterwards for the Counsellors of State and the Nobility about the Court The Business that she had in common with the one and the others was to acquaint them of her Resolution to return into France and to desire that they would assist her in it And much about the same time she dispatch'd away for France Monsieur Verjus who serv'd her Majesty in place of a Secretary but bore the Character of Agent for the House of Vendome and his Business was to procure a Dispensation for her to marry with the Infante The Queen gave Commission likewise to the Infante to signifie to the King in a more formal manner her Delcaration concerning the Nullity of their Marriage and to desire his Permission for her Return into her own Country When the Infante delivered his Message the King in answer to the first part of it pretended to refute the Charge and that as his Enemies say in very broad Terms To the rest he return'd him but a slight Reply However he gave others that were about him to understand that as sensibly touch'd as he was at this above all the Misfortunes that had befall'n him his Trouble did not proceed from his Regret for the loss of the Queen's Person he was so far from having any great Fondness for her Majesty that he declar'd That instead of putting a stop to her Journey he was ready on Condition she wou'd but be gone to present her with a much better Ship than that she came upon and to double the Money that she had brought along with her into the Bargain The Queen the same Day having made the Duke of Cadaval her Proctor sent a Letter to the Chapter of Lisbon to acquaint the Canons That she had withdrawn her self from the King's Company the Marriage they had agreed upon not having taken effect and because the Scruples of her Conscience would not suffer her to endure any longer what her Love to the Portuguese Nation had hitherto made her dissemble she hoped the King who was a better Witness in her Cause would declare the same that she might not be hindred from returning into France as soon as possible And for the Chapter of the Holy See of this City to whom it belonged to judge of the Cause by their Ministers she earnestly desir'd them to take order that it may be dispatch'd with all speed and to allow all just Favour to a Stranger afflicted with the Misfortune of not being able to live in a Country which she had come from a far to seek with so much pleasure and they might assure themselves that wheresoever she was she should gratefully acknowledge the Kindness they did her The Chapter which consists most of young Gentlemen that never were in Orders and seldom design it return'd Answer to her Majesty That they had read her Letter and were grieved at her Resolution of abandoning Portugal telling her withal that what Justice allow'd to particular Persons could never be denied to her Majesty but there being many Circumstances in the Case that required deliberation they desired her Majesty to allow them convenient time to consider of it The King as much concern'd as he was in what the Queen was doing had something else to do than to sollicit his Cause with the Chapter for the same Day that she brought her Case before them it was resolv'd upon that he should be Depos'd without more ado in order to which the Magistrates of Lisbon went to petition the Infante That they might the Day following wait upon him to the Palace and that he would then take the Government into his own Hands and that if this could not be done by fair means they might use Violence The Infante ordered them to be ready on the Morrow to accompany him if it should be thought convenient and it was agreed that the Council of State should before they proceeded any further endeavour to prevail with the King to resign up the Crown Early the next Morning the Marquess of Cascaes got to the Palace before the other Counsellors and coming into the King's Anti-Chamber told those that waited That he had a Mind to speak with the King They answering That he was yet a Bed He knock'd at the Door with so much Noise that he wakened him and coming to his Bed-side told his Majesty That this was not a time for him to sleep that if he did not awake and shake off the Lethargy in which he had lived he must in a few Hours be deprived of the Kingdom which he had already ruin'd and since he was unfit to Govern and useless in Marriage he advised him to do that freely and in a way consistent with his Honour which otherwise he must be forc'd to do with Disgrace that is to send for the Infante his Brother and deliver up the Government to him for by that means he might secure his Crown and preserve his Kingdom The Council came afterwards in a Body and endeavoured to perswade the King to resign but neither Menaces nor Arguments could bring him to comply He continuing resolute the
Antonio Bento Bernardo the King 's eldest Son living born the 22d of October 1689 and sworn Heir to the Crown by the Three Estates of the Kingdom assembled in Cortes held at Lishon Decemb. 1. 1697 a Prince as they who frequent the Court report of a sweet and mild Disposition and likely to inherit the King his Father's Vertues as well as his Throne Dom Francisco born the 25th of May 1691 a Prince of great Vivacity and Spirit as appears by many pretty Stories of him which the Portugueses entertain themselves withal He is designed for a Knight of Malta at least to hold the Grand Priory of Crato the richest Commenda in Portugal or perhaps in all Spain of which he is at present in Possession Dom Antonio born the 15th of March 1695 He was cloath'd in a Jesuit's Habit upon his first coming into the World which he still wears or did at least not long ago her Majesty having devoted him to her St. Xavier and if the Jesuits are to be believ'd he is design'd to be of their Order Dona Theresa Francisca Josepha born the 24th of Feb. 1696. Dom Emanuel born the of 1697. Another Princess born in the beginning of this Year 1699. If I remember a-right her Name is Dona Maria Xavier Josepha Besides these his Majesty hath acknowledg'd one Natural Daughter whose Mother is reported to have been imploy'd about the Palace to sweep the lower Rooms This young Lady hath been bred up in a Monastery 'till the Year 1695 when the King bestow'd her in Marriage upon the Eldest Son of the Duke of Cadaval to the great Dissatisfaction of the Nobility insomuch that few or none of them would appear at the Publick Reception of the Bride I never heard that their Discontent proceeded from an Opinion that this Marriage of the principal Person among them was a Disgrace to the Fidalguia In other Countries perhaps and in former Times so Illustrious a Body might think their Blood debased by such a Match But their Dissatisfaction was said to proceed from another Cause they thought the Honour was too great for any Subject the Duke of Cadaval not excepted and that he was raised thereby too much above their Level tho' it be confess'd by all at the same time that next his Majesty his Excellency hath the greatest Authority and the greatest Estate and is of the Noblest Blood in the Kingdom Yet he is not of equal Quality to them on whom the French King hath bestowed his Bastards for they to whom his Most Christian Majesty hath done so very great an Honour are such Princes as are the nearest to his Blood much nearer than the Duke is to the King of Portugal no wonder then if so great a Value is put upon the like Honour in smaller Courts the Authority of the French being in this Age sufficient to alter if not the Nature at least the Appearance of Things and make Things look glorious in our Days which in former Times had another Aspect In one Particular the Portuguese Court seems to have out-done the French on this occasion that is in the Title given to this Lady upon her being first own'd For as I was inform'd at the time it was ordered that she shou'd be treated with Altesa Real whereas I do not find that the French King 's Natural Children have as yet got above Altesse Serenissime and this may possibly be the Reason why Monsieur L'Abbe d'Estrees the French Ambassador forbore to visit her 'till he had express Orders for it from France For his Master having been for some time used to prescribe Rules for the Ceremonial he might perhaps think it a kind of Usurpation for any others to take upon them to alter it But the Portugueses did not altogether innovate on this occasion for they had a Precedent at the Court of Madrid where the late Don John of Austria took Royal Highness upon him which perhaps may have been the cause why the Court of Portugal which is resolved in all things to swell up to the Grandeur of Spain gave the same Title to this Lady It is now commonly said in Portugal that the King 's Natural Children have a Right to succeed him in the Throne in default of his lawful Issue But I believe this Opinion to be as ill grounded as 't is derogatory to the Honour of that Nation Had Royal Bastards a Right to the Succession John the Second who ruled with a more Absolute Power than any King of this Nation either before or since would doubtless have left the Crown to his Natural Son Dom Jorge Duke of Coimbra Progenitor of the Dukes of Aveiro now in Spain he having laboured all he could to obtain the Succession for him but all in vain For he was forc'd before his Death to acknowledge for his Successor Dom Emanuel then Duke of Beja whose Brother that King had slain with his own Hands When Dom Antonio pretended to the Crown after the Death of Henry the Cardinal he had put an end to the great Controversie at that time on foot about the Succession had Bastards a Right thereto But he himself was far from thinking they had and therefore he grounded his Claim upon a supposed Marriage between Dom Luis Son of Emanuel with his Mother It was a Prejudice to him indeed that some suspected Judaism to lie lurking in his Mother's Blood However the Judges constituted by Henry to determine this Controversie alledged his Illegitimacy as a sufficient and the only Cause of his Exclusion The only Bastard that ever Reign'd in this Kingdom was John the First yet he never pretended a Right of Succession to the Crown but came in by Election of the Estates assembled in Cortes at a time when the Throne was declared vacant the other Pretenders being at that time Prisoners in Castille and what is more declared Illegitimate by the Cortes whether justly or not is another Question so that Bastard for Bastard it was thought fit in this Case of Necessity to Elect Dom John before any other Of the MINISTRY ALL Publick Affairs of Importance and such as immediately concern the King are here managed by a Sett of Ministers as many or as few as the King pleases to appoint who together are called the Council of State and as Members of this Body they are all treated with Excellency The Reason I suppose is because that Title is given to the Counsellors of State at Madrid tho' another Reason was given by one of their Number who said It was their due because they had all of them been Ambassadors To this Council the King refers all Matters of Moment seldom or never resolving upon any thing before the Affair has been considered and debated among them 'T is said the Reason why the King pays so great a Deference to this Council is partly because it consists of those who had a great hand in advancing him to his Brother's Throne He for this Cause thinking it but reasonable that
they should share in the Power they had given him partly moved thereto by the frequent Remonstrances of the Jesuits who are in great Credit with his Majesty and as some ill-natur'd People give out are set on by the Ministers to be ever and anon suggesting to him that he is oblig'd in Conscience to take this Course But most People are so well satisfied of his Majesty's Prudence and Justice as to think that Things would go much better than they do if he would take a greater part of the Government upon himself This Council as it imitates that of Madrid in other things so it is seldom guilty of any great Precipitation in its Proceedings but People complain rather of its Slowness and want of Dispatch and some who love to make the worst of things say That when a Business is brought before Them they shall sit upon it four or five Times each Session lasting five or six Hours and after all the Matter be oftentimes more perplex'd and intricate than before and the King who loses all this time waiting for their Resolution be as much to seek as ever But such as talk after this rate seem to have that Opinion of the Chapter which is very different from what the World has entertain'd of the Canons as will appear from the Characters of some of those excellent Persons that compose this Council As first of Dom Manoel Telles de Silva Conde de Villar Mayor Marchese de Alegrete I name him first not because of his Quality for tho' he be most Nobly descended yet he gives place to others whom I shall mention afterwards but because He is in effect the Prime Minister of State Affairs of the greatest Concern being chiefly intrusted to his Management This Lord having born Arms for some time in his Youth apply'd himself afterwards with extraordinary Diligence to the Study of Letters and made a very considerable Progress therein insomuch that he is esteem'd for one of the most Learned Men in the Nation It is said that he was much admir'd in Germany for his Readiness in speaking Latin and I suppose it was to exercise himself in the same Tongue that in the time of his Embassy into that Country he set himself to write in elegant Latin the Life of John the Second Sir-nam'd The Perfect Prince which hath been publish'd since In this Piece the Noble Author hath attempted to follow the Stile and Method of the Ancients How far he hath attain'd to either I will not pretend to judge but I believe most candid Readers will think he hath succeeded to admiration considering at how low an Ebb Learning hath been in Portugal for this last Age But by this Application to his Studies he qualify'd himself for much Greater and more Honourable Employments than that of an Author At Twenty-four Years of Age he was made one of the Infante's Camarists and is supposed to have had a great hand in the last Revolution and he hath been ever since one of the nearest to the Person of that Prince After some Overtures had been made of a Marriage between the King his Master and the Princess of Nieubourg this Lord was pitch'd upon as the fittest Person to carry on so important a Negotiation which he brought to a happy Conclusion and conducted the Royal Bride with him into Portugal Nor was that the only Service the Conde did on this occasion he gain'd an Honour for his Master which the Emperor excepted no Crown'd Head in Christendom had ever attain'd to before For before he made his Publick Entry into Heidelberg he so adjusted Matters in a Preliminary Treaty that he was to have the Precedency of the Elector and the Place of Honour on all Occasions This say the Portugueses had never before been granted by an Elector the Ambassador Extraordinary of any King tho' some of the greatest had been seeking it with much Earnestness But the Reputation of his Majesty's Grandeur say they so worthily represented by this Great Minister together with his Excellency's great Prudence and Dexterity gain'd for this Crown that singular Prerogative When his Excellency made his Publick Entry the two Princes Frederick and Philip waited to receive him in the Court of the Castle and the Elector himself went down some of the Steps that are open to the Court to meet the Ambassador as he came out of his Coach his Electoral Highness desiring his Excellency to be covered gave him the Right-hand let his Excellency go before him through every Door and when he had conducted him to the Place of Audience gave him the most Honourable Seat This was so very great an Honour that it had been deny'd not only to Ambassadors but to a King in Person For when Henry Elect of Poland afterwards the Third of that Name in France call'd at Heidelberg in his way to his new Kingdom there was not a Man to be seen in this very Court where the Conde de Villar Mayor had Princes to wait upon him at his Portiere and the poor King was so out of Countenance that he was fain to step aside on pretence of making Water 'till some Body might come to shew him up Stairs at last the Rhinegrave accompanied with two Gentlemen that had escaped from the Butchery of Saint Barthlemi met him half way on the Steps excusing the Elector his Father Frederick the Third that he came not to do this Office by reason of a certain Pain that he had in his Leg but the old Elector invited King Henry the next Morning to take a Walk with him and by no less than Thirty Turns in his Great Hall like that at Westminster he so breath'd the young King as fully to convince him that what his Son had said was but a meer Excuse But Henry came then just reeking from shedding the Blood of Innocents and the old Elector who otherwise entertain'd him like a Royal Guest had a mind to let the young King see how much a Prince falls from his Dignity by becoming guilty of such Barbarities So that I confess this Precedent ought not to be much insisted upon in the Case of our Ambassador Extraordinary As for the late Elector Philip William he it seems was resolv'd not to stand upon Ceremonies with his Excellency he not only gave him the Upper-hand at his first Reception but likewise at Meals The Lord Ambassador always wash'd first sat in the best Place was serv'd first nay the very Electoress her self and the Princesses her Daughters would needs have his Excellency take the Precedency of them too but he was more a Gentleman than to insist upon his Punctilio's with Ladies And so it was contriv'd that at Conferences with them there should be no Canopy in the Room and consequently no Distinction between the Right and the Left-hand and that of two Rows of Chairs opposite to each other the Ambassador should take the uppermost on the one side and the Electoress on the other with the Princesses her Daughters after
very little of that Leudness in them which abounds in so scandalous a manner in those of another Country But though Crimes of this sort are not taught in the Play-House there yet it is much suspected that they are practised amongst them the Women that tread the Stage having no better Character there than in other Places And this I presume might be the Reason why their Admittance into Lisbon was so vigorously opposed by the Arch-Bishop who to put a stop to all Importunities in their behalf published an Excommunication against the Players in case they should Act and against all that went to see them It was in vain for the Fidalgo's to desire his Lordship to recall the Sentence but at last they apply'd themselves to Nicolini the Nuncio who had now a fair Opportunity presented him to engage a powerful Party against the Arch-Bishop nor did he let slip his Advantage It is true Religion and Vertue were like to suffer by what he was about but those of Rome think these are things to be minded when they prove subservient to their Designs he therefore without more ado takes off the Excommunication by Virtue of his Legantine Power The Play-House hereupon opens and fills the Fidalgo's flocking to it like so many School-Boys let loose from under the Discipline of their Master and perhaps the more eagerly that they might a little mortifie the rigid Arch-Bishop His Lordship withdraws for a time to his Country-House that he might not be a Witness to so great a Slur put upon him and to suppress his just Indignation against the Nuncio But this was only a short Mortification which considering the Occasion must doubtless have turn'd to his Lordship's Credit even among those that were pleas'd with it at that time The Court of Rome hath since thought convenient to present him with a Cap viz. in the Year 1697 at a Promotion wherein his Lordship and Monsignor Cornaro the then Nuncio at Lisbon were the only Persons advanced to the Purple Dom Anrique de Sousa de Tavares da Silva Conde de Miranda Marquis de Aronches Brother to the Arch-Bishop and acting in concert with him a Minister of great Sufficiency but too much as 't is thought addicted to his Pleasures He hath served in several Embassies as to England Spain Holland and remains well affected to the People among whom he has resided Insomuch that during the late War such as would needs have the Ministers of State to take Parties have always given the Marquess of Aronches together with his Family to the Allies and we may suppose them to be much in the right if we judge how the Noble Families stand affected to other Nations from the Alliances they contract with Foreigners This Lord having given his Daughter to the Prince of Ligne a Fleming Subject of Spain and Prince of the Empire who succeeds him in his Estate and Title the same Person who by Procurement of the Family was sent Ambassador Extraordinary from his Portuguese Majesty to the Emperor and made that splendid Entry into Vienna of which the Publick had so large an Account in the Gazettes c. If I do not mention the rest that are of this Honourable Body it is because I am not so well instructed as to be able to give a particular Account of them But I must not omit to mention the Secretary of State who tho' he hath neither a Deliberative nor a Decisive Voice in any of the Councils is yet as some term him the Primum Mobile of the whole Kingdom His Office is compounded of that of Clerk of the Council and another long since abolished but revived for a small time by the Conde de Castelmelhor he that executed it was called the Escrivam de Puridade Puridade in old Portuguese signifies Secrecy or Privacy but is now out of use in that Sense The Office seems to have been much the same as that of Privado in Spain or Prime Minister in France but nothing remains of it now at least in the Secretary of State but what is purely Ministerial The Office of Secretary at present as 't is a Place of Great Trust so it is in a manner a Place of infinite Business he gives an Account to the King of whatsoever is done in the Council of State he is address'd to by all sorts of People that have any thing to do at Court of what Nature soever their Business is he proposes the Matter to the King and returns his Answer and is apyly'd to by Foreign Ministers on all occasions This Place is at present executed by Mendo Foyos Pereira one rais'd by the House of Aronches and as some say greatly devoted to the Family He is a Person not so considerable for his Birth as for his indefatigable Diligence in his Employment of which he acquits himself so well that it seems to be without Reason that some represent him of a narrow Capacity Foreign Ministers find it to be much for their Convenience to Manage the Secretary and hold a good Understanding with him if they desire to have quick Dispatches or when Matters relating to the Ceremonial are in Question For if he be ill us'd they may chance to meet with more Rubs in their way than they look'd for The Nuncio's that have been on ill Terms with him have not been insensible of his Resentments However it is thought advisable by those that have to deal with this Minister that in the Measures they keep with him they beware lest he perceives they are in any Awe of him since an over-great Complaisance may be of worse Consequence than a Conduct that is quite contrary FINIS Books Printed for Tho. Bennet FOLIO THucydides Greek and Latin Collated with five entire Manuscript Copies and all the Editions extant Also illustrated with Maps large Annotations and Indexes By J. Hudson M. A. and Fellow of Vniversity-College Oxon. To which is added an exact Chronology by the Learned Henry Dodwell never before Publish'd Printed at the Theater Oxon. Athenae Oxoniensis Or an exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford from 1480 to the end of the Year 1690 giving an Account of the Birth Fortune Preferment and Death of all those Authors and Prelates the great Accidents of their Lives with the Fate and Character of their Writings The Work so compleat that no Writer of Note of this Nation for Two hundred Years is omitted In Two Volumes A new Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam By Monsieur de la Loubiere Envoy Extraordinary from the French King to the King of Siam in 1687 and 1688 wherein a full and exact Account is given of their Natural History as also of their Musick Arithmetick and other Mathematick Learning Illustrated with Sculptures Done out of French by Dr. P. Fellow of the Royal Society Father Malbranch's Treatise concerning the Search after Truth The whole Work compleat to which is added his Treatise of
Nature and Grace being a Consequence of the Author's Principles contained in the Search together with F. Malbranch's Defence against Mr. de la Ville and several other Adversaries All English'd by J. Taylor M. A. of Magdalen-College Oxon and Printed there The Second Edition with some Additions communicated by the Author QVARTO A Critical History of the Texts and Versions of the New Testament In two Parts By Father Simon of the Oratory A Discourse sent to the late King James to perswade him to embrace the Protestant Religion By Sam. Parker late Bishop of Oxon. To which are prefixed two Letters the first from Sir Lionel Jenkins on the same Subject the second from the Bishop sent with the Discourse All Printed from the Original Manuscripts A short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England By Mr. Milbourn Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions In Three Vol. By Robert South D. D. Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By G. Strading D. D. and late Dean of Chichester Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions By R. Meggot D. D. Of the Reverence due to God in his Publick Worship In a Sermon before the King and Queen at White-Hall By the Right Reverend Father in God Nicholas Lord Bishop of Chester Three Sermons upon several Occasions By the Right Reverend Father in God William Lord Bishop of Oxford Two Sermons one before the House of Commons the other before the Queen By W. Jane D. D. and Dean of Gloucester Three Sermons before the Queen By Nath. Resbury D. D. Five Sermons upon several Occasions By Mr. Francis Atterbury Two Visitation-Sermons and one before the Societies for the Reformation of Manners By Mr. William Whitfield The Certainty and Necessity of Religion in General or the first Grounds and Principles of Humane Duty Established In Eight Sermons Preached at St. Martins in the Field At the Lecture for the Year 1697. Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyl Esq The Certainty of the Christian Revelation and the Necessity of Believing it establish'd in opposition to all the Cavils and Insinuations of such as pretend to allow Natural Religion and reject the Gospel Both by Francis Gastril B. D. Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn A Conference with a Theist In Four Parts compleat By W. Nichols D. D. Mr. Luzancy against the Socinians In Two Parts A Discourse of Religious Assemblies for the Use of the Members of the Church of England By G. Burghorpe Rector of Little Gaddesden in Hertford-shire A Discourse of Schism address'd to those Dissenters who conform'd before the Toleration and have since withdrawn themselves from the Communion of the Church of England By R. Burscough M. A. The Inspiration of the New Testament Asserted and Explained in Answer to Mr. Le Clerc and other Modern Writers By G. Lamothe The Lives of all the Princes of Orange from William the Great Founder of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces Translated from the French by Mr. Tho. Brown Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem containing many curious Reflections very useful and necessary for the right understanding of the Excellency of Homer and Virgil. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperor concerning himself treating of a Natural Man's Happiness wherein it consisteth and of the Means to attain it Translated out of the Original Greek with Notes by M. Casabon D. D. To which is added The Life of Antoninus with some select Reflections upon the Whole By Monsieur and Madam Daceir Never before in English The Art of Glass Shewing how to make all sorts of Glass Crystal and Enamel likewise the making of Pearls Precious Stones China and Looking Glasses To which is added The Method of Painting on Glass and Enameling also how to extract the Colours from Minerals Metals Herbs and Flowers A Work containing many Secrets and Curiosities never before discovered Illustrated with Sculptures Written originally in French by Mr. H. Blancourt and now translated into English With an Appendix contaning Exact Instructions for making Glass Eyes of all Colours Jacobi Patriarchae de Shiloh Vaticinium a depravatione Johannis Clerici in Pentateuchum Commentatoris Assertum Opera Studio Sebastini Edzardi Accedit Ejudem Dissertatio de nomine Elohim Aurocti Judicii de R. Simonii Historia V. Test Critica opposita An Essay concerning Self Murther Wherein is endeavour'd to prove That it is unlawful according to Natural Principles With some Considerations upon what is pretended from the said Principles by the Author of a Treatise intituled Biathaenatos and others By J. Adams Rector of St. Alban's Wood street and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty The Pretensions of the several Candidates for the Crown of Spain discuss'd and the Necessity of the King of Portugal's being declared Successor to his Catholick Majesty prov'd In a Letter from a Spanish Nobleman to a Counsellor of State at Madrid OF THE INTERESTS OF PORTUGAL With Relation to other SOVEREIGNS CONTAINING An Account of the most Considerable Transactions that have pass'd of late between that Court and those of Rome Spain France Vienna England c. PART II. Of the Interests of Portugal with Relation to Rome OF all the Courts with which this of Portugal hath any Intercourse that of Rome challenges the Pre-eminence and not without Reason considering what great Interest and Power the Pope has within the Kingdom for however He may be slighted in other Countries accounted Catholick he hath hitherto made shift to maintain his Authority in this by virtue of the extraordinary Devotion of the Portuguese Kings towards the Holy See which his present Majesty has inherited from his Ancestors together with the Title of The most Obedient Son of the Church It is well known what Power Popes have had in former Ages in other parts of Christendom and by what means they procured and maintained it notwithstanding the Opposition they almost every where met with from Princes who were perpetually strugling to preserve or recover their Liberty But the Case of Portugal seems peculiar in this respect That as it hath brought its self into a greater subjection to the See of Rome than any other Kingdom so it can plead the Merit of a voluntary Obedience Other Nations have shown that they were in a State of Violence while the Soveraign Pontiffs were exercising the Plenitude of their Power over them since all of them have in some measure more or less eased themselves of the Oppression while the Portugueses who doubtless might have gone as far as any towards the recovery of their Liberty do to this day bear the Yoke It is indeed with some Impatience for they are not insensible of its weight and smart and see plainly that its like to lie heavier upon them still Alfonso Henriquez their first King refused to accept of the Crown till it was made Tributary to his Holiness John the 2d who in other Cases knew as well as ever any Prince did how to assert the Royal Authority exceeded his first
the Pope might as he was bound both edify in Spirituals and preserve the Kingdom of Portugal to its lawful Soveraign at the same time That in the present state of things there were three sorts of People of the Portuguese Nation and that the receiving of an Ambassador from Portugal would manifestly turn to the prejudice of them all First the Rebellious and Obstinate who would believe him to be their lawful King whom Christ's Vicar should declare for such and thereby be confirm'd in their Rebellion Secondly the Timorous and Wavering who would go over to their sentiments whom before they took for Rebels arguing that a King receiv'd and approv'd of by the Pope ought not to be rejected by any Christian Thirdly the Constant and Loyal that were now at King Philip's Court who either drawn by their Love to their Country or wearied out by the inconvenicies they were under might come to some desperate Resolution so that by this Action of his Holiness the Kingdom of Portugal might be put out of a possibility of being conquered by King Philip wherefore to obviate these Inconveniencies they thought it to be the duty of his Holiness to thunder out his censures against the Duke of Bragança to the end that the Rebels might be reclaim'd the Timorous take courage and the good Subjects confirm'd in their duty The Nuncio thought That Censures in this case would do no good but turn to the prejudice both of the Pope and the King of Spain of the Pope because his Apostolical Authority might be slighted for the Duke of Bregança took himself to be either the lawful King or the Usurper of Portugal if the former he could never value an unjust Excommunication for what he had justify'd to his own Conscience and it would have less effect upon him in case he took himself for an Usurper it being plain that he would never renounce the Kingdom to the loss of his Life and the ruin of his Family Than an Excommunication would be of no benefit to the King of Spain for if the Duke and the People of Portugal should despise and take no notice of it as it was likely they would the probable and almost necessary consequence would be the introduction of Calvinism or of some other Heresie by reason of the Neighbourhood and Correspondence of that Kingdom with the Northern Nations in which case the conquest of Portugal would become the most difficult for all Sectaries being to be chastised not with ordinary Punishments but according to the Rigor of the Canons the Portutugueses seeing themselves branded with a perpetual mark of Ignominy would grow desperate and choose rather to die than in any case put themselves into the Power of King Philip. But here the Spanish Ministers took him up short and told him that these were Sophistical Subtilities and not fair Arguments without vouchsafeing them any further answer The Nuncio seeing that this way of arguing would not serve the turn betook himself to another quoting Precedents from the proceedings of former Popes in the Cases of Princes whose Titles were disputable and thereby demonstrated it to have been constant practice of the Holy See to acknowledge such as were Kings de facto without any regard to right alledging to this purpose a saying of Pope Pius the 2d Moris est sedis Apostolicae eum Regem appellare qui Regnum tenet and the practice of the same Pope both in the Case of Matthias Corvinus and the Emperor Frederick the 3d. contending about the Kingdom of Hungary and of Ferdinand and Renè about the Kingdom of Sicily to which Renè pretending while Ferdinand was in Possession was put off by the Pope with this Answer Siquid juris competit ablatum est Ferdinando Regni Principes Duces Comites Populares omnes obediunt eumque sibi Regem constitui expetiverunt But the Nuncio not content with one Example brings in that of Pope Zachary who being consulted what account was to be made of the Kings of France the later Kings of the Merovignian Race they having the Name and Dignity but others the Mayres of the Palace the Power determined the Question with this Answer That he ought to be stiled King and held for such who was found Reigning and who as King had the supreme Authority of the Common-wealth in his hands Of John the 22d who received the Ambassadors of Robert Bruce he being in Possession of the Kingdom of Scotland Of Innocent the 8th who received in publick Consistory the Ambassadors of Richard the 3d. of England as he did likewise those of Henry the 7th when they came to pay Obedience to the Holy See He show'd likewise that the same thing had been done for Alfonso Henriquez and John the 1st Kings of Portugal notwithstanding the great Opposition and Power of the Kings of Leon and Castille for Henry of Castille the Murtherer of his King and Brother Don Pedro against the consent and right of Constança Pedro's Daughter and for Ferdinand and Isabella to the Prejudice of D. Joanna the only Daughter of Henry the 4th These Instances were all home to the Point supposing the King of Portugal's Title to be as bad as his Enemies would have it for let him be a Traytor Usurper Tyrant or what the Spaniards pleased there had been as bad or worse acknowledged for lawful Kings and highly caressed by the Holy See But the Spaniards had another way to deal with the Nuncio than disputing they offered indeed at something of an answer to all these Instances affirming without the least grounds that the greatest part of the Princes now mentioned sent their Ambassadors not to pay their Obedience but to plead their Cause and justify their Pretensions and in that case granted it to be lawful for the Popes to receive them But to admit of an Ambassador from Dom John as King of Portugal after that the Kings of Castille have been in Possession of that Kingdom for the space of 60 Years and sworn to as lawful Sovereigns was they said a manifest injury to their cause They thought that there was no account to be made of any thing done or said by Pius the 2d because that Pope was guided only by his Interest and varied in his Sentiments every day and as for the Kings of France that were acknowledged by Pope Zachary they must needs say the Spaniards have been Rightful and Lawful Kings since the Oracle of the Holy See had pronounced them for such for otherwise this grand Absurdity would follow that Popes were no better than Incendiaries Instigators of Rebellion and Usurpation and instead of promoting Equity and Virtue gave encouragment to the most abominable Practises and in conclusion they told the Nuncio that the Pope had best consider well what was just and convenient for otherwise they should take such Resolutions as might not be well pleasing to his Holiness but to sweeten the menace a little they added that however they should always retain that most humble
to his House fills it with Armed Men plants Guns at the Windows But this being the Act of a young Man was of no Consequence But had the Portugueses been so resolute in their own cause there is no doubt but they had soon put an end to this trouble nor did they want being set in a way to free themselves from all fear of ever having the like again For seeing themselves cast off by the Pope in so unworthy a manner they had recourse as 't is affirm'd in a Letter or Remonstrance of the three Estates to the Pope to the most celebrated Universities and Doctors in Europe to know their Opinions concerning that course which was fittest for them to take in this Case the answers they received as they are set down in that Letter are as follow Some were of Opinion that the best way to bring the Pope to Reason was to take care that no Money should go out of the Kingdom to Rome upon any account whatsoever whether for Matrimonial Dispensations or Renunciations of Benefices that all beneficed Portugueses abroad should be called home upon pain of having their Profits sequestred that no Pensions be paid to any Persons residing at Rome whether Subjects or Strangers with other things which the Estates out of their great Respect to the Holy See conceal Of this Advice as they say were some belonging to the Court of Rome it self Others would have had the King call a National Council wherein the Clergy might elect a Patriarch who should govern the Kingdom in Spirituals with the Power to Institute and Consecrate Bishops which belonged to Patriarchs according to the Ancient Canons Others thought that the Bishops nominated by the King and proposed to the Pope who had not rejected them by any express Act of denial might immediately enter upon their Charge and exercise the same since the Pope neglected to confirm them in the ordinary way and yet had no objection against them for he had offered to confirm them de motu proprio A fourth was the opinion of a learned Fryar who thought that in this case of necessity they were obliged to have recourse to the way of choosing Bishops anciently practised and approved of by the Canons and used in the Church as he asserted for a much longer time than any other Method viz. For the Chapter of each Diocess to choose their own Bishop and that the Elect being approved of by the Clergy People and King and consecrated by other Bishops the most ancient of the Order in case of want supplying the place of a Metropolitan might immediately enter upon his Charge without waiting for the Pope's confirmation which in this case was not necessary it being saith the Author of this Advice the truest and most certain Opinion and follow'd by most Authors that Bishops upon their Consecration receive their Authority immediately from God This he affirm'd to be grounded upon the words of St. Paul in the 1st Gal. where the Apostle saith that he had receiv'd his Apostleship from God alone and not from the other Apostles no not from St. Peter the chief of them Paulus Apostolus non ab hominibus neque per hominem sed per Jesum Christum and in the 2 Chap. Mihi nihil contulerunt unt aliquid esse nihil i. e. nullam Jurisdictionem nullam Dignitatem nullam Potestatem They that were of this Opinion said further That it is clearly proved from Christ's words to the Apostles sicut me misit Pater in mundum Ego vos mitto in illum whence say they St. Cyprian and St. Cyril gather that our Lord gave as much Power and Authority to his Apostles when he sent them into the World to Preach as he did to St. Peter when he said Quodcunque ligaveris super Terram erit ligatum in caelis quodcunque solveris super Terram erit solutum in caelis it should be ligaveritis solveritis the words being spoken to all the Apostles in the Plural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 18. 18. the reason is because the words are absolute and will admit of no interpretation from whence it was infer'd that Bishops succeeding the Apostles in their ordinary Office succeed them likewise in the ordinary Jurisdiction annext to that Office and since it cannot be denied but that the Apostles received their Authority immediately from Christ it must be acknowledged that Bishops upon their Consecration do so receive it likewise and therefore have no need that any other should invest them with the Authority they are possess'd of already Two other Opinions were Printed and sent into Portugal upon this occasion both concurring in one conclusion though different ways were taken to it that which both agreed in was that Portugal might and was in duty bound to proceed to the Consecration of the Bishops nominated by the King One of the Authors of this Conclusion asserted that according to the Divine appointment the Right of Election was in the Clergy and People after the same manner as it was practised in the Primitive Church and a long time after which Right he said was afterwards transferred to the Emperors and Princes who had Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs in order to the good Government of the Common-wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil matters having that mutual Dependence upon each other that they are inseparable That the Popes have acquired the Right of naming Bishops by the Tacit consent and liberality of Princes and this was permitted the rather because Ecclesiastical Discipline was much slack'ned partly by the remisness of Seculars partly by their being taken up in Military Affairs But in case the Pope should become guilty of the like failure the same Right devolved again to the Princes as given up and abandoned by the Pope It was affirm'd likewise that this Right had actually been put in practice on some occasions even in these later times particularly in Castille where in the Year 1399. Bishops were chosen and Consecrated without any Confirmation from the Pope King Henry the 3d. during the great Schism having renounced the Authority of Benedict the 13th and committed the Administration of Ecclesiastical Affairs to the Archbishops and Bishops willing them to make the same Provisions as had been used to come from the Pope Others who were for the same things in effect asserted That according to the ancient Canons it belonged to the Prelates of each Kingdom to institute and consecrate Bishops before the Popes had reserv'd that Power to themselves and undertook to prove that the same thing ought de Jure Divino to be done in the present Case To have Bishops in the Church was they said de Jure Divino Naturali since they are Shepherds of the Souls which cannot all be taken care of by the Pope but their being to be confirm'd by the Pope before their Consecration is only de Jure Humano the Obligation whereof ceases not only in cases of extreme
necessity but in that which is called Gravissima That it could not be denied but the Necessity of the Churches of Portugal for Bishops at that time was Gravissima and that of the Dominions thereof in other parts of the World Extreme This grand Arcanum of the Papal Empire that Bishops may be made out of Rome and without the Pope's concurrence being thus happily discovered the Portugueses were now put in a fair way to restore the Ancient Discipline to their Church and with it prosperity to their Nation it being evident that the Miseries they labour under as well as the horrible Corruptions in their Religion are no other than the necessary Effects of the Papal Usurpation and Tyranny and it appears that King John did for some time approve of the good Advice that had been given him at least that he would have it thought so at Rome for he ordered his Agent there to get a Remonstrance to be put into the Pope's hands wherein among other things he declares That he had been assured by very learned Men that when access and recourse to the Holy See could not be had it belonged to the Chapters to choose their Bishops upon his Nomination according as it had formerly been practised in Spain and was still observed in some places that his Holiness had no reason to be dissatisfi'd if he took up with this Resolution after he had suffered himself to be so much slighted while he had the Remedy in his own hands that if his Holiness were finally resolved to prefer the Interests of Castille to his just Rights he for his part would justifie himself before all Christian Princes so that the blame of what followed should never be laid on him Had the King proceeded so far as to convince the Pope that he was in earnest he had brought him no doubt to his own terms or else might have done that for which his Posterity and Country would have the greatest cause to bless his Memory that is have shaken off that intolerable Yoke under which they are now sinking The very mention of having Bishops chosen by the Chapters upon the King's Nomination put Innocent into a terrible Fright he had nothing to say against the practice or the necessity of it in the present case But here the Inquisition of Portugal interpos'd its Authority and delivered the Pope from the Agony he was in by condemning the two last Opinions and that for a reason which comprehends the rest they declaring the Pope as Universal Head of the Roman Church to have all Monarchical Power and to be the Fountain of all Spiritual Jurisdiction which cannot be derived to Ecclesiastical Ministers without his express Concession and Will This peremptory sentence of the Inquisition put a stop to all further Proceedings in this Affair The Pope reassumed new Courage and continued as Insolent as ever after the King's Declaration had brought him to his Wits-end for as the Conde da Ericeyra in his Portugal Restaurado tells the World his Holiness did not stick to declare That the Holy Office had delivered him out of the greatest Perplexity by cutting a knot which of himself he durst not meddle with The same noble Author tell us That the King desisted from his Resolution for no other reason but because the Inquisition did not approve of it while there were as he saith a great number of learned Men both within and without the Kingdom ready to justifie and maintain it so that according to the Conde it is to the Inquisitors that the Portugueses owe the continuance of their Bondage and there is no question but they did their utmost to obstruct the King's Design supposing that he had a real intention to shake off the Roman Yoke for should the Church of Portugal recover her Liberty and have her Bishops restored to their just Authority the Holy Office must fall of course were the design of that Office no other than is pretended it is at best but an encroachment upon the Episcopal Jurisdiction for to the Bishops it belongs of right to give Judgment in matters of Religion and superintend the Discipline of the Church and they all along exercised this Jurisdiction which they derive through the Apostles from Christ with that Gentleness Tenderness and Charity as became the true Fathers of the Church till the Popes began to usurp the whole Power to themselves or impart it to Creatures of their own and among the rest to these Wolves of Inquisitors whom in the heighth of their Tyranny they let loose upon the Church to dispossess the Shepherds and ravage the Flock but should an end be put to the Papal Usurpations there would be no further occasion for Inquisitors and therefore it had been no wonder if of their own heads they made this desperate Effort to preserve their Master and themselves But in Truth had King John been fully bent to break with Rome it is much to be question'd whether all the Power of the Inquisition as great as it is suppos'd to be could have frustrated his design for in reality this Tribunal since its last establishment in Portugal hath had its chief support from the Kings who on several occasions have maintain'd it in spight of the Court of Rome it self Had the King withdrawn his Protection it is not unlikely but the Bishops of themselves might have made their Party good For the People doubtless would prefer their Government to that of the Inquisitors as chusing rather to be under the Discipline of a Father than in the hands of those barbarous Executioners Besides it was an easie matter for the King to hinder the Inquisitors from giving him any trouble some of the chief of them ow'd their lives to his Mercy the Inquisitor General for one who stood convicted as a Principal of the most horrible Treason that ever Traitor was charg'd with it was for no less a Crime than a design to murther the King fire the City and betray his Country to the Spaniards It is said that in order to the Execution of this Treason the Holy House had been fill'd with Arms and that which made the Plot the more remarkable the undermanagers of it were some of the leading Men among the New Christians against whom the Inquisition was erected and upon whom the Inquisitors for the most part exercise their Barbarities and thereby gain what favour they have with the People for the rest of the Portuguses bear a mortal hatred against those among them that go by the Name of New Christians whom these Impostors represent as Jews in their hearts pretending that their Jewish blood makes them such whether they will or no. But on this occasion it was observed That the Inquisition and the Synagogue were of accord together to destroy their Country and it is very likely that the King had he pleased might have rendered the one as odious to the people as the other was But he took other measures and though several Noble Men of the first
the Portuguese Princes who placed their Glory in their Obedience to the same See But Clement the 9th's Pontificate lasted not long enough to give him time to bestow all the Favors that were designed for Portugal the Confirmation of the Bishops being reserved for his Successor Clement the 10th for that was not done till 1670. In 1671. to oblige the new Princess before Queen of Portugal the Purple was bestowed upon the Bishop of Laon her Kinsman better known since by the Title of Cardinal d'Estrees He being advanced at the Nomination of the Crown of Portugal and to enhance the Favour by making it particular the Great Sobieski had the like denied him when he interceded for the Bishop of Marseilles though he pretended to the disposal of a Cap as a Right enjoyed by his Predecessors upon their coming to the Crown but he was denied upon pretence that the Person named was none of his Subject so that Cardinal d'Estrees owed his Promotion purely to his being a Kinsman to the Princess of Portugal Innocent the 11th Successor to Clement the 10th after having been baffled in the Business of the Inquisition at his grand Promotion could not forget the Merits of the Portuguese Court and a Cap was bestowed upon Dom Verissimo de Alemcastro the Person that had been set on by the Court to put his Holiness at Defiance and after that Cardinal's Death another was sent by Innocent the 12th to the Archbishop of Lisbon in consideration I suppose of the many Contrasts he hath had with the Nuncio's so that his Portuguese Majesty seems now to be in Possession of a Right to dispose of a Cap as well as his Catholick or his most Christian Majesty and the Ministers here having resented it that the Nunciature at this Court hath not been an immediate step to the Cardinalat as it is in those of France and Spain his present Holiness has equal'd the King of Portugal to them in this particular likewise by advancing the late Nuncio Cornaro to the Purple at the same time as he did the Archbishop at the Promotion which was made for them two only So that by this time the Court of Portugal seems to have discovered the secret of gaining Favours at Rome and indeed they appear to be somewhat sensible that it must be a quite different method from that formerly used that will procure the Holy Fathers Esteem and work him into a Compliance They begin to tast and relish much the French Maxims thinking belike that there can be no better Pattern for the most Obedient Son of the Church to follow than that of his Eldest Brother insomuch that I find it in a Memoir said to have been drawn up for the Instruction of a Nuncio laid down as not the least necessary if not one of the hardest parts of his Task to beat out of the Ministers heads their fond admiration of the French King and the opinion they have taken up of his infallible Maxims with respect to Rome But the Ministers at present do not content themselves with admiring that Great Monarch they have made several attempts to copy after him its true they follow him as yet at a very great Distance but they may mend their Pace in time I have not heard that they have formally annulled the grant of John the 2d by which the Pope's Bulls are free from a Revision in Portugal and which seems to be the very Basis of his absolute Power in the Kingdom yet by what the Marquess of Alegrete saith in his History of that King it appears that they are not wanting who call in Question the validity of the Grant though his Lordship speaking there in Quality of an Historian leaves the matter to be disputed by the Lawyers but as a Minister of State he does that which in effect amounts almost to as much for upon a Nuncio's arrival his Patent of Legat is call'd for in order to be Examined by the King's Council and it hath been detain'd for above six Weeks to gether and at the restoring of it the Nuncio hath been told with an Air of Authority That the King is not well pleased with the Ample Powers contained in that Patent and expects that the Nuncio do not exercise it to the full but keep himself within Bounds and the Nuncio's under this Reign have had the Discretion not to exert the utmost of their Authority but it mortifies them that the Court would have it thought that they oblige them to this Moderation whereas they would fain seem to use it of themselves But there is one thing in difference between the two Courts which his Holiness lays much to Heart and by his Good-will is never like to desist from his Pretentions it being an affair which as all the World agrees by this time is of the last Importance at Rome for in truth it is a Money Business His Majesty hath at several times thought fit to raise the value of the Coin so that the same Pieces are now reckon'd at a third more than they were at the beginning of his Reign Now his Holiness thinks it but reasonable that the summs payable to his Bankers at Lisbon should be augmented in the same Proportion but the Ministers of this Court are of another Opinion and seem resolved never to be convinced of their Error the Nuncio's for some years have been labouring with all their might to undeceive them Cardinal Cornaro when he was just upon his departure press'd the matter home to them but all to no purpose he left them as obstinate to Conviction as he found them and it seems they will not be brought to understand otherwise but that the same Piece that before went but for two Testons is now worth three in the Payments made to his Holiness Now since it is not imaginable that the Court of Rome can be easily brought to desist from a pretension of this kind this Business may its feared sometime or other disconcert the good Harmony that is between the two Courts But there are other instances to show that the Portuguese Ministers do not make it their Business to manage his Holiness they are grown so hardy of late years that they will not stick upon occasion to break in upon the Ecclesiastical Immunities insomuch that in this Reign a Convent is not near so safe a shelter for Villains as it was formerly the Civil Powers assuming to themselves a liberty to judge what Crimes have the benefit of Sanctuary and in case they think the Crimes to be very heinous indeed the King's Officers shall make nothing to break into a Monastery and fetch the Criminal out by force in order to the Execution of Justice I confess they are still somewhat tender in this Point and if it shall be made appear that they are mistaken in the nature of the offence the Offender shall be returned again Being once at a certain place that hath the Privilege of an Asylum one of my acquaintance there coming
home told me that he had been to wait on the late Cardinal de Alemcastro to engage him as Protector of the Society to solicit the restoring of a Person whom the Officers had violently taken out of the House I asked what the Man's Crime was and he told me it was only for killing his Wife and upon further enquiry I was informed that he had not done it out of Jealousy for in that case he had been acquitted of course but having married an old Woman he grew weary of her and enticing her one day to a Country House he took occasion to cut her Throat and going about his Business he heard a Servant who by chance found the Woman weltring in her Blood crying out that her Mistress was a dying he hearing that she was only a dying whom he had left for dead return'd and dispatcht her out-right and then betook himself to Sanctuary and it was found upon second thoughts that his Crime was not of so deep a dye as to deprive him of the benefit thereof and so he was return'd again and after some time he sued out his Carta de Seguro But the violation of their Sanctuary is not the only Grievance that the Fryars and consequently the Nuncio have to complain of their Immunities have been attempted in a yet more sensible part it being pretended that their Estates shall be liable to the King's Duties several advances have been made towards bringing this about and great violence used as 't is pretended in the now mention'd Memoir where I find this reckon'd among other things wherein the Court is resolved to Copy after his most Christian Majesty This change of Conduct has as experience demonstrates contributed not a little to raise the credit of Portugal with the Court of Rome but the Treasure of the Nation is still flowing thither in so many Currents that it will be soon exhausted if a speedy stop be not put thereto so that the King must of necessity come to a more vigorous Resolution than has been yet taken there is no doubt but that whensoever he shall attempt to save his Country he will meet with all the opposition that Rome and its Creatures can raise against him But he may turn a deaf Ear to their Clamours the Nation by this time is sufficiently sensible of its approaching Ruin and begins to see from what Quarter it is coming upon them and there is all reason to hope that His Majesty if he be not wanting to himself may carry his Point and in the end see himself as much respected and rever'd at Rome as any Crown'd Head in Christendom OF THE INTERESTS OF PORTUGAL With Relation to SPAIN NExt to the Court of Rome that of Madrid seems at present to be in greatest consideration at Lisbon on account both of the near Neighbourhood of the two Kingdoms and of his Portuguese Majesty's Pretentions to the Succession of Spain All former Animosities seem now to be utterly forgotten and a sincere Friendship and close Correspondence is maintain'd between the two Courts which as we may well suppose the Sister Queens have not been wanting to preserve and cultivate the King of Portugal no doubt leaves nothing unattempted on his part to procure the good-will of the Spanish Court considering the melancholy Prospect he hath before him in the manifest Ruin of his numerous Family should the Succession be dispos'd of to his disadvantage and possibly there may not be wanting among the Spanish Grandees who think is to be for their Countrys Interests and their own that his Pretensions should succeed But the good Correspondence that is now between the two Courts seems to be of a latter date than the conclusion of the Peace in 1668. they who then laboured all they could to hinder them from coming to an Agreement have not been wanting in their Endeavours to embroil them since and it was certainly none of their fault that these two Kings have never come to a Rupture their Artifices having so far prevail'd that in the year 1681. a day was fixed on the Portuguese side for the Declaration of a War the Difference arose upon this Occasion The Governour of the Rio de Janeiro in Brazil had in the year 1680. Peopled and Fortified a Colony of Portugueses on the North-side of the Rio da Prata over against the Isle of St. Gabriel supposing it to be within the bounds of the Portuguese Dominions according to the famous Repartition of the whole World made by Pope Alexander the 6th and his Successors between the two Crowns but the Governour of Buenos Aires not liking the Neighbourhood of the Portugueses and pretending that both sides of the River with the Isles therein and parts adjacent had fall'n to the share of the Spanish Crown got together a body of Indians as well as Spaniards and upon the 6th of August the same year fell upon the new Planters killing several of them and taking Prisoners the Governour with all that were in Arms seizing likewise upon the Artillery Ammunitions c. When the news of this Action came to Europe they whose Interest it was to have the two Nations go together by the ears made their advantage of it and blew the Coals into such a flame that the Prince Regent of Portugal ordered home his Ambassador from Madrid commanding him to make this Protest at his Departure That if within the space of twenty days reckoning that for one on which the Protest was made the Spaniards did not make full Reparation for this Insult it should be understood that a War was declared without any other Formality Such Language as this having been unusual till of late years between Crown'd Heads and not heard of even in our times but from one single Court we may well guess from whence it came and that the Prince Regent did not of himself put it into his Ambassador's Mouth for Portugal being at that time as little perhaps in a condition to bear the Expences of a War as Spain its self it is not likely that the Prince would talk at that rate unless he were made believe that he had some other Power besides his own to back his Threats withal They at Madrid at least seem'd to be of this Opinion for they presently took the Alarm insomuch that in stead of losing time in Consultation according to their ordinary Custom they with all the hast imaginable sent the Duke of Giovinazzo away post to Lisbon with full power to give the Regent satisfaction But had they spent never so much time in deliberation they could not have pitch'd upon a fitter Person either for spoiling a French Design or managing the Portuguese Court for matters of this sort had been the Dukes business for many years he had served the Crown of Spain with great Dexterity and success in affairs of the greatest Importance while he was Ambassador Resident at Turin where he broke all the measures the French had taken to engage Madam Royal then Regent
the Spanish Court from the most obliging Carriage of the Marquis de Castel dos Rios their late Minister at Lisbon one would think that Spain expected to reap all the advantage from the good amity little would one guess from the Conduct of this Minister that the King of Portugal was not many years ago lookt upon as his Master's Rebel there being scarce a Gentleman in Portugal more intent than he in making his Court or more careful to render himself acceptable He to gain their Majesties Favour hath during the whole time of his Residence that is for about seven years together on every Birth-night of the Eldest Prince entertained the Nobility and Foreign Ministers with a new Opera of his own Composure and acted by his own Family and all to Celebrate the future Glorys of his Highness It would perhaps seem trifling in any other times but ours to draw Consequences from any thing of this kind but in our Age Persons of his Excellencies Character do every thing by Prescription and the lightest matters of Ceremony are exactly weighed It does not yet appear what advances the King of Portugal hath made at Madrid towards the making good his Pretensions to the Succession the publick Relations of the Proceedings at that Court do as yet give but a slender Account of his Success however the frequent Couriers that pass and repass between the two Courts upon every alarm of the King of Spain's Indisposition show that his Agents there are busy in carrying on his Interests and his late Levies raised and maintained at an expence which his Kingdom is so little in a condition to bear are an Argument that he is resolved to make One among the Competitors as indeed it concerns him much to be considering the apparent danger of his own Crown in case he miscarries in his design upon that of Spain for whether a Prince of the House of Austria or of France shall inherit that Crown he 'll be Heir at the same time to Philip the 2d's Title to Portugal which as unjust as it was was strengthen'd by sixty years Possession and the Approbation of several Popes and whosoever reflects upon the Conduct of the House of Austria in the last Age or of the French King in this will find that very slender Pretences have served the turn when either of them hath had a fair opportunity to invade his Neighbour and see cause enough to be afraid for the House of Bragança should it ever have the misfortune to ly at their Mercy as it almost infallibly will do when either of them shall be in quiet Possession of the Spanish Monarchy for Spain upon any change of Government will almost necessarily recover so much of its ancient Vigor as to be overmatch for Portugal This small Kingdom may perhaps have some cause to hope that its destruction will come on more slowly in case it hath to deal with an Austrian Prince but whether it will be therefore the less sure is a question soon decided when we consider what a close Union there hath always been between the two Branches of that House each espousing the Interest and Quarrels of the other and making them its own how great a part the Spaniards had in the German Usurpations in the business of the Palatinate and the Catholick League and how far the German Line interessed it self in behalf of the Spaniards upon the Revolt of Portugal when to revenge their Quarrel the Imperialists contrary to all Faith and Honour the Right of Nations and the Laws of Hospitality seiz'd upon Prince Duarte the King of Portugal's Brother and made him end his days in a Prison Now when a Prince of the same House less Religious than his present Imperial Majesty and one of his Character does not arise in every Age shall come to have Portugal in his power can we think it likely that he will so far forget the Maxims of his Ancestors as to cherish a Race that hath occasion'd so many disgraces to a Family But if the King of Portugal hath little cause to expect security from that House he would have less reason to think himself safe should he fall under the Power of France 't is true indeed if words of Friendship could insure him he would be freest from danger while the French are putting themselves in a Condition to destroy him who till they are ready to give the Blow are always lavish of their kind Promises which such as have trusted in them have found to be the forerunners or the means rather of their Ruin Should a French Prince become possess'd of the Spanish Monarchy if Philip the 2d's Title will not do there are a great many others now dormant that will quickly be started up the Kingdom of Portugal will soon be found to have been a Dependance of Castille and it is but erecting a Chamber of Re-union to annex it thereto again or a Right of Devolution may be pretended by the forfeitures which the Kings have incurr'd they having been formerly Feudatorys to those of Leon or the Great Monarch may think it will be for his Glory or his Convenience to order his Generals to take Possession of this small Kingdom and that as appears from some Presidents may be thought right sufficient It is not to be imagined that the Court of Portugal is at this time of the Day insensible of the Dangers they are threatned with the Agonies that the Ministers were in not long ago during his Catholick Majesty's Sickness could scarce be thought to proceed from any other Cause and a Paper lately published in English shows that they have been setting their Wits at Work to find out means for their Preservation that is to make good their Master's Claim to the Succession which as they seem to be perswaded is the only visible way to secure themselves at this Juncture The Author of that Paper seems to have left nothing unsaid that may make for his Master's Cause and he hath gone a great way to prove him to have a much better Right than any other Pretender if it be true as he intimates that there is such a Fundamental Law in Spain as excludes Forreigners from the Succession and I believe there can be no Instance given of any such that have succeeded in a regular Way except it be Charles the 5th who was yet Son to the immmediate Heiress and possess'd of the Crown in his Mother's life-time As for his Son Philip the 2d and the rest that came after him they were all natural born Spaniards which Privilege must be granted to the Kings of Portugal while Portugal is allowed to be a part of Spain and it is certain that they are descended from Donna Maria Daughter to Ferdinand and Isabella and Sister to her who brought the Crown into the Austrian Family so that if there be any such Law as the aforesaid Author hints at the King of Portugal may have a very fair Title the Dauphin as 't is asserted by
his Competitors being excluded by virtue of the Renunciation which was the necessary Condition of his Mothers Marriage and the German line with the House of Savoy for their being Forreigners This appears to be the best Title the King of Portugal can pretend to by Descent 't is true the forementioned Writer sets up another which he saith His Master derives from his Predecessor Dom Ferdinand King of Portugal but upon what Grounds I shall not examine It were much to be wished for the sake both of the common Repose of Europe and the Preservation of the Spanish Monarchy in particular that his Majesty's Right was unquestionable since Spain by the Re-union of Portugal might be enabled even at present to do something towards its own Defence and in time gather strength so as to subsist of it self and ease its Allys of the great Charge and Trouble they are at in keeping it from falling into Ruin There is one Advantage on the King of Portugal's side that must not be omitted which is That it will be very difficult for any other Prince to gain this Crown without his Consent he being ready upon the place to oppose any other Pretender his Forces indeed are but very small when compared to those of other Princes yet they are such as with a little assistance from his Allies may be able to make head against an Invader and perhaps prove more numerous than any Army that can march into the heart of Spain though furnish'd out by the great Monarch himself Spain having this advantage from her present Desolation and Misery that though she can make little Resistance against any powerful Enemies yet she 'll go near starve them if they come upon her in any considerable Numbers An Army that passes the Pirenees must not look for such Entertainment as is to be met with in other parts of Europe it was no difficult matter for the French King possess'd as he was of the strong Holds on both sides him to maintain his hundreds of thousands in the fruitful Countrys of Flanders and on the Banks of the Rhine but he may find it a harder task to subsist a third part of that Number in Spain than it was for him to do the same in Piedmont during the last War A Traveller that passes through such Parts of this Country as Nature hath been most indulgent to is like to fare but ill unless he carries Provision with him and that for Beast as well as Man but whether an Army like any of those that have been on foot of late Years can come thus provided for so long a March as 't is over the Pirenees into the midst of Spain let others more skillful in these matters judge but if it brings not along with it all things necessary for life it is like to be ill suppli'd and that not only in those bare and cragged Mountains over which it must climb but in the flat Country likewise ill water'd for the most part dispeopled and uncultivated and so parcht up that scarce any thing Green appears in the Season when Armies usually take the Field In effect the impossibility for a more numerous Army than their own to subsist in Spain is generally what the Portugueses answer when they are told of the great Forces which his Most Christian Majesty hath in readiness and it is very probable that in case they be assisted with a competent number of well disciplin'd Troops from abroad their being beforehand with him upon the Place and having their Magazins on the Frontiers will give them a great Advantage especially if they can but bring the Spaniards heartily to join with them in defence of their common Liberty and one would think they should readily accept the Party at least in opposition to the French whose Government they must necessarily have in greater abhorrence than the Portugueses themselves considering the Antipathy that hath been always between them and the French which has been kept alive by the continual Wars they have had with them and of late Years seems to have been heightened to the utmost Extremity of Hatred by the many intolerable and ungenerous insults they have received from them with which the French have on all occasions been very careful to refresh their Memories so that there is all reason to believe they will be much sooner inclin'd to forget their former Animosities with their Portuguese Neighbours Their Enmity to these never was so great as to make them banish all thoughts of uniting under one head a thing often declar'd impracticable in regard to the French in several Publick and Solemn Treaties whereas in the very heat of the last War with Portugal there was a Negotiation carrying on and some advances made on both sides to have a Portuguese Prince plac'd on the Throne of Spain For in the Year 1650. when Philip the 4th having no other Child to inherit his Crown but the Infanta Donna Teresa Maria the great Men in Spain were all for having that Princess married within the Kingdom it being a common saying among them at that time That it was a very hard thing that they could never have a King with Black Whiskers upon this the King of Portugal was encouraged by the secret Intelligence he had at that Court to think of a Marriage between the Infanta and his Eldest Son Dom Theodosio and thereupon sent Antonio Vieira the Jesuit to Rome upon other Pretences but with Instructions and Powers to propose the Match to the Spanish Ministers there and he pretends that he wrought so effectually with some of the Principal Persons of that Nation and Faction that he brought them to a great liking of his Proposal insomuch that they seem'd desirous it should take effect though the Match could not be approv'd of by the Court of Madrid The Arguments by which Vieira prevail'd with the Ministers at Rome were drawn from the high Birth of the Prince his being descended from the same Ancestors with the Infanta and his Extraordinary Qualifications all which were such that had things continued in the same state they had been in before the War there was no question but that Dom Theodosio would have been the only Person pitcht upon but the Jesuit urged that as the case then stood there were much stronger Arguments in his Favour he being to bring along with him the Kingdom of Portugal with all the Dominions belonging thereto in the one half of the World that Portugal it self was a part and member of Spain and by its Re-union would make the Monarchy entire again which would thereby become more Powerful and Flourishing than before the Separation for the several Armies which at that time were employed on both sides upon the Frontiers might then be all united together in one Body under the same Head and Spain be so strengthened thereby as to be able to give Protection to their Friends be rever'd by Neutrals and become a Terror to their Enemies These Arguments if we can believe
and Enacted by his Majesty That whosoever should attempt any thing against it in case he were a Subject he should be unnaturalized and cast out of the Kingdom if he were a King he desired that God's Curse and his own might light upon him that he might not be reckoned among his Descendents hoping through the Divine Favour that he would be thrown down from the Throne and dispoiled of the Royal Dignity This Act passed the 5th of March in the year 1646. Hitherto all things went smoothly on there being nothing in the Association but what the generality of the Portugueses were willing to assent to and maintain with their Lives and Fortunes But the King would needs have the Dominican Fryars swear to it Men that are Thomists upon Oath and whose Order had all along asserted a contrary Doctrine to that which the King would now force upon them This Business was in Agitation while the Portugueses were adjusting all things in order to conclude the League with France But Mazarin had now what he look'd for a Pretext to break off the Treaty for his Eminence sent the King word that he thought it a very strange thing for him to put such a hardship upon the Dominicans But the King continued in his Resolution which the Cardinal took very ill at his hands but the King in this case made no Account of his Anger for as the Conde da Ericeyra saith his Devotion to our Lady was such that no Politick Consideration could make him desist from his Purpose and doubtless the Cardinal foresaw as much or else he had put his Invention to the rack to find out some other occasion for a Quarrel But the Congress at Munster being upon the point to break up and things remaining in the same state as before between France and Spain the Cardinal was for bringing on again the Treaty of a League with Portugal but still he insisted upon unreasonable Conditions and among others would have cautionary Towns put into the French hands with two Harbours that were capable of the greatest Fleets He was encouraged to make this Demand by the famous Jesuit Antonio Vieira who had been sent to Paris to assist at the Conferences with the French Ministers with Power to make what Proposals he in his own Discretion thought fit and the Father was so very forward in making large Promises that the Cardinal thought he could not be too exorbitant in his Demands and they made such a bargin of it between them that the Ambassador was fain to interpose and put a stop to their Proceedings by declaring that he would sooner have his hands cut off than sign what the Jesuit was agreeing to After this manner did his Eminence play fast and loose with his Friends till the year 1655. when the Spaniards had like to have done their Enemies of Portugal a kindness which they found it impossible to do for themselves for if the Portugueses had made use of the advantage which the Spaniards had put into their hands they might have managed the Cardinal as they pleased and brought him to Terms of their own prescribing The Spaniards in order to make mischief in Portugal and incense the People against the Court gave out that they had made an offer of Peace to the King and found him of himself willing enough to hearken thereto but that he was imposed upon by his Ministers who for their own Interests were still putting him upon continuing the War This Report coming to the Cardinal's Ears gave him the Alarm and raised a suspicion in him that there might be some under-hand Negotiation carrying on between Spain and Portugal which if such a thing there was might spoil all his designs He therefore dispatches away the Chevalier de Sainte Foy to adjust the League on Condition that the King of Portugal would engage himself to a vigorous Prosecution of the War to which end he should be furnished with Money for the Expense of the next Campagne but withall the Envoy was ordered to complain how little Portugal minded the Interests of France and of the several infractions of the Capitulations already made between the two Crowns and to let fall some hints of the King 's being suspected of having an Understanding with the common Enemy The good King took care to vindicate himself from this unjust Aspersion which the Castillians by their Calumnies had cast upon him and clear'd himself so well that St. Foy began to perceive that there was no occasion for a League and so found out Pretences to defer the Conclusion of it Hereupon King John dispatches away an Irish Fryar with the Character of his Envoy I suppose to satisfie the Court of France of his Innocence but with express orders to hasten the Conclusion of the League and it seems the Irish Polititian acquitted himself of the first part of his Commission so much to the Cardinal's satisfaction that his Eminence would hear no talk of what he had to say further and so Frey Domingos do Rosario for that was his Fryars name I think his true one was O Dally was sent back again and ordered to tell his Master that he should make his Peace with Spain himself if he would and think no more of a League with France This was the last Negotiation between France and Portugal in the Reign of King John the 4th the first King of the House of Bragança and let the Reader judge how far he was obliged to France for his Establimment upon the Throne After his death there was little entercourse between the two Courts the French leaving the Widdow and the Orphan to shift for themselves till the Treaty of the Pirenees was drawing on and then the Cardinal had a further occasion for Portugal During the course of this long War Spain had lost several important places to the French which they expected to have restored to them at the Peace or some Compensation for them at least For the Spaniards had not yet been accustomed to make Peace on such Terms as they have since been used to they stood likewise obliged by Treaty made with the Prince of Conde at his first putting himself into their service never to lay down their Arms till he was restored to all the Places and Governments possest by him in France when he first came over to them The French on the other side were as unwilling to part with the places in Question as the Spaniards were to yield them up and as for the Prince of Conde neither the King nor the Cardinal could be prevailed with to put him in a condition to give them the like trouble again as he had done formerly for they were not without some jealousy that he had a mind to be playing over his old Game again and should he come off so well after all the Bustle he had made in the Kingdom others might in after times be tempted to follow his Example So that unless some Expedient could be found out to satisfy
both Parties here were insuperable Difficulties to obstruct the Peace and a Peace the Cardinal was resolved to have as well for his own private Conveniencies as to settle the state of the Nation that was then as he thought or pretended breaking out into new Disorders The Spaniards on their side were as willing to end the War as the French could be so as it might be done with their Honour safe they were sensible enough of their own feeble Condition they saw that two or three Campagnes more were like to prove the total Ruin of their Monarchy Besides they were impatiently eager to be turning the whole force of their Arms against Portugal which they made sure of over running with ease could they be once at liberty from the French and they were the more hasty to come to an Accomodation with them for that the Pope began to be troublesome The Ears of Alexander the 7th were a little more open than those of his Predecessors to the Bleatings of Portugal and he gave notice to the Cardinals of the Spanish Faction that something must be done to end the Dispute or he should be forc'd to acknowledge that King who succeeding a Father that had reign'd sixteen years could not be made to pass with the World for an Usurper Thus were the minds of both Parties disposed for a Peace but how should they come by it Who could remove the Obstacles that lay in the way and satisfy those irreconcileable Pretensions from which neither Party would recede To bring all this about the Cardinal had his Wits at work he now began on a sudden to be mighty Zealous for the poor King of Portugal whose Ruin was thought infallible should the French forsake him and therefore his Eminence would seem for some time to be as earnest for his Preservation as the Spaniards were bent upon his Destruction both Parties agreeing in this that should Portugal be excluded from the Peace it would of course fall into the Hands of the Spaniards so that in effect this Orphan Prince and all that belong'd to him seem'd to be now wholly at the Cardinal's Disposal since to exclude them from the Peace was then thought to be the same thing in effect as to give them up to the Spaniards and these he had to set against the Prince of Conde and the places demanded by the Spaniards and he made his Advantage of them For in all the Negotiations in Order to a Peace when the Spaniards thought much of yielding up their Towns and Provinces the French sometimes would mind them of a whole Kingdom and the Dominions thereunto belonging which they were ready to give in Exchange for their Conquests When the Spaniards interceded for the Prince of Conde the French when other Arguments fail'd would speak for the King of Portugal But there was this Difference between them the Spaniards always began with the Prince of Conde the French answered Portugal in their own Defence the Spaniards got conditions for the Prince not such as they pretended to but very Honourable considering how ill the Prince had deserv'd at the hands of his King The Cardinal engaged his Master's Word his Faith and his Honour that Portugal should be utterly abandon'd for him The Spaniards to the very last were passionately Urgent to get something more still for their Friend the French surrendred us theirs at the first Overtures of a Treaty the Spaniards were in earnest the French had only a Turn of their own to serve The first Advance that appears to have been made to any purpose on either side towards a Peace was in 1658. when the Marquis de Lionne was sent to Madrid to treat with the Ministers of that Court what Monsieur de Lionne's Instructions were Mazarin best knew who in a Letter to the Pope concerning this Affair told his Holiness That if Spain by his Authority could be brought to abate of their Pretensions in favour of the Prince of Conde the Peace was upon concluding since all other points were adjusted Monsieur de Lionne having orders to abandon Portugal in case Spain would not be so obstinate in behalf of the Prince but Spain could not not be prevail'd upon and so that Treaty was broke off I have seen no particular account how this Business was manag'd at the Treaty of Madrid perhaps it was then that the Offer was made by the French to restore their Conquests and re-establish the Prince in his Governments on Condition that the King of Portugal should remain in peaceable Possession of his Dominions for that such an Offer was made some time or other we must believe because it is so affirm'd in the 60th Article of the Pirenean Treaty but whenever it was made the French were assur'd it would not be accepted as I believe I shall presently make appear The Treaty of Madrid broken off by the Spaniards persisting to Espouse the Prince of Conde's Interests the French on their side were for sticking close to their Allies and gave out that they were resolved never to abandon them For the Marquis de Lionne a little after declar'd publickly at the Diet of Francfort that the King of France neither could nor would make any Peace without the Intervention of his Allies viz. of England Portugal Savoy and Modena and in effect they were about renewing their League with the Rump Parliament of England then restored to their Seats after Cromwell's Death They were likewise treating about a Match between their King and Madam Margaret Prince 〈…〉 and seem'd to be so much in earnest 〈…〉 an interview between the two Cou 〈…〉 the King appeared to be so much taken with the Lady that many thought a Marriage was like to ensue About the same time the Count de Cominges Ambassador Extraordinary from France at Lisbon was Negotiating another Match between the same King and the Infanta of Portugal and that was likewise in such great forwardness that Preparations were making for the Wedding and several things got ready which served afterwards when that Princess was Married into another Country and all this to bring on a third Match between the same King and the Infanta of Spain which had been in Treaty ever since the first Overtures of Peace were made and both these Treaties with Spain viz. of Marriage and Peace had such a mutual Dependance on each other that they were necessarily to proceed or break off together The Advances that the French made towards a conclusion of the Match with Savoy startled the Court of Madrid for should they go on there could be no hopes of a Peace and France in all probability would in that case enter into new Engagements with Portugal wherefore Don Antonio Pimentel was sent Post to Lions whose presence there presently broke off all other Treaties and revived those with Spain The Spaniards yielding at last to the necessity of their Affairs and accepting of the French Proposals in relation to the Prince of Conde which were that he should
Compensation elsewhere and that the Catholick King might bestow upon him either the two Calabrias with the Kingdom of Sardinia or the Government of the Low Countries with the same Authorithy and Emoluments as it was possess'd by the Cardinal Infante and some places for himself on the Frontiers but the Cardinal would consent to nothing of all this saying That the Prince must resolve to be wholly French or wholly Spanish that is have no dependence upon the King of Spain or have nothing to do in France Yet since the King of Spain was so willing to part with these Countries he desired that the Kingdom of Sardinia might be given to the King of Portugal and he would desire his Master to agree to it so as that the Portugueses should have cause to be satisfy'd This saith he to Don Luis is the finest Expedient in the World both to content the King and let the World see that my Master seeks to get a handsome Retreat for his Ally for if the King of Portugal shall embrace this Expedient the Catholick King will be put in Possession of several Kingdoms the least of which is more considerable than that of Sardinia I do not find that the Cardinal propos'd any other Expedient besides this and this is enough to show what an extream Passion he had to serve his Master's Ally he would have him surrender up all his Dominions for that poor and little Kingdom of Sardinia which the Spaniards on several such occasions have offered to give away but could never get any one to accept of it and yet it seems the Cardinal thought this was too much for the King of Portugal for he propos'd it as he saith himself without any hopes of succeeding There was indeed another Expedient offer'd at but it came from Don Luis which was That on condition the Prince might have some Place of surety given him such as Havre de Grace the Duke of Bragança should have Olivença bestow'd on him be re-establish'd in his Estate and Honour and have over and above the Office of Constable of Castille But this Expedient was laught at by the Cardinal he thought that what Don Luis offer'd was too dear at the price of Havre de Grace and therefore he would bid nothing at all When he was brought to consent at last that the Prince of Conde should have the Government of Burgundy with the Castle of Dijon and the Duke of Anguien his Son the Place of Grand Maitre he did not so much as pretend to an Equivalent for his Ally of Portugal but screw'd from the Spaniards avesness for his Master and the Restitution of Juliers for the Duke of Nieubourg As for the King of Portugal he was to surrender up all his Kingdoms and Dominions and content himself with his Paternal Estate and a Pardon for what was past which as the Article saith was all that his most Christian Majesty by his powerful Offices could procure for him but in case that he did not accept of the same within three Months after the Ratification of the present Treaty his said Majesty promis'd engag'd and oblig'd himself upon his Honour in the Faith and Word of a King for himself and his Successors not to give to the said Kingdom of Portugal in common or to any Person or Persons therein in particular of what Dignity Estate Quality or Condition soever any Aid or Assistance Publick or Secret Directly or Indirectly of Men Arms Ammunitions Provisions Ships or Money nor any thing else either by Land or by Sea or in any other Manner and that he would not suffer Levies to be made in any parts of his Kingdoms or Estates nor grant Passage to such as might come from other States to the Assistance of the said Kingdom of Portugal so that hitherto the House of Bragança hath not been very much obliged to France But before I proceed further I find my self obliged to justify the Cardinal's Memory from a most horrible crime which the French men themselves do not stick to charge him with for they among others pretend that at the making of this Solemn Promise he had already resolv'd to violate his Faith and that he was intending to send those succors into Portugal which afterwards arriv'd there from France at the very time when he was obliging his Master who was then but a young Man and under his Direction to swear the contrary but I think there is Cause to believe that so detestable a Perfidy had not as yet enter'd into his thoughts It s true what he saith to Mr. Le Tellier That for some reasons unknown to the Spaniards his yielding in the point of Portugal was not so advantageous to them as he made them believe would look very suspicious were it not a usual thing with him on all other occasions to affect being thought a greater Fourbe than he really was for we find him bragging in most of his Letters how he cheated the Spaniards in making them think more highly of almost every one of his Concessions than they deserved whereas they took his Eminence for the Duppe all the while But I do not in the least Question but that he really did design to abandon Portugal to the Spaniards at this time according as he was now obliged by all that is Sacred among Men I will not urge for a Reason that he all along most solemnly protested to Don Luis that in case the Portugueses submitted not to the conditions offer'd them by this Peace he would perswade his Master to hold them for his Enemies for I believe few will give much heed to Protestations made by his Eminence on these occasions but he spoke his mind without doubt in another Letter sent by him to Mr. Le Tillier to be communicated to the King wherein he represents the affairs of Portugal to be in so deplorable a State That the Queen Regent was neither in a condition to defend her self nor in any terms of accommodation with the Spaniards so that as things stood both she and her Son were in great danger not only of their Crown but of their Persons But notwithstanding all this he doth not advise the King that the Troops should be ready for a Voyage to Portugal against the signing of the Treaty in order to preserve that Crown and save the Persons of the distressed Queen and her Children had he any such design in his head at that time we should in all probability find him giving some hints of it in these Letters But to put this matter out of doubt he talks of sending to that Princess to let her know That he thought it most expedient for her to submit her self to the King of Spain from whom he was perswaded she might obtain an Equivalent to advantage elsewhere for what Estate she and her Son were possess'd of in Portugal since he had been often told by Don Luis that his Master in order to compleat the Peace would not stick to bestow on her Son the
Charge of Constable of Castille with other such like Honours This surely is not the Language of one who was designing to send Forces to her assistance to animate her to carry on the War so that it seems to be an unjust Aspersion upon his Memory to say that he made this Peace with a purpose to violate it as soon as it was Sign'd there is indeed cause enough to suspect that he was not so passionately concern'd for the Well-fare of his Master's Allie as is pretended in the Article or rather he may be justly accused of the greatest Inhumanity to say no worse who when he thought this Family was in so deplorable a Condition as he describes and the Castillians so disposed to an Accommodation procured no better terms for them as he certainly might have done while the Treaty lasted and the business of the Prince of Conde was in agitation But still he clears himself of that which would have rendered him more infamous to Posterity of engaging his Master in so black a Crime as is a premeditated willful Perjury But by whose fault soever it was this is certain That the Peace was no sooner ratified on both sides confirm'd by the Marriage between the French King and the Infanta of Spain and sworn to at the high Altar before the Sacrament which was exposed on this occasion but while the People were every where making publick Demonstrations of their Joy for so happy a Conclusion of a long and calamitous War great Numbers of the most expert Officers in the Kingdom Gentlemen Soldiers Engineers Miners were marching towards Havre de Grace in order to Embark for Portugal These were afterwards follow'd by the choice of the King's Troops till at last the French Auxiliaries in Portugal amounted to near 6000 effective Men. But this was none of the Cardinal 's doing for as little as he kept his faith with the Portugueses he dealt more sincerely with the Spaniards for he sent the Marquis de Choup upon the Message mention'd in his Letters to perswade the Queen Regent to surrender up the Kingdom in hopes that the Dukes of Brogança should hereafter be made perpetual Governors or Vice Roys of Portugal and these were all the Instructions he gave the Marquis as the Marquis declar'd when he arrived at Lisbon where he met with such a cold Reception as his Message deserv'd so far was he from giving any underhand encouragement to the Portugueses to carry on the War as some Writers affirm he did with great Injustice to the Cardinal It s true that while his Eminence was disabusing the Portuguese Ambassador as to all his former Promises he entertain'd him in hopes that ways might be found out for the French Troops to pass into Portugal after the Peace was made with Spain but when the Count de Harcourt offer'd the same Ambassador to put himself with two Regiments into the Portuguese service in case he could but have the Tacit Consent of France he was not only denied by the Cardinal but told that if he persisted in the Design he should forfeit the place of Grand Ecuyer which had been granted to his Son the Count d' Armagnac so that the Cardinal seems to be pretty clear of this so great and direct a Violation of the new made Treaty Nor is it to be thought that his Master could have any hand in it for his most Christian Majesty to manifest to the World how disposed he was to observe the Oath he had so Religiously taken when it appeared that the Portuguese Ambassador was listing Men in France sent him repeated Orders to depart the Kingdom and some time afterwards commanded the Agent of the same Nation to be turn'd out likewise and publish'd his Edicts to recal home such Officers and Soldiers as were in the Portuguese service confiscating the Estates of the Disobedient 'T is true the Ambassador after he had been order'd to be gone continued sometime at Havre de Grace with no less then 600 Officers Gentlemen c. about him that he had raised for the service and they did not lie concealed all the while for the Inhabitants of the Town rose in a Mutiny against them for eating up their Provisions and when they and others after them arrived in Portugal they were under Military Discipline so that should they offer to obey their King's Edicts Count Schonberg who was their Leader might have hang'd them for Desertion and the Count for his part when he return'd into France was rewarded with a Marshals Bâton Levies were afterwards publickly made indeed for the same service but then it was done in Marshal Turenne's Name who took the Portuguese Affairs upon his account and when the Spaniards made loud complaints of it as a manifest infraction of the Treaty their Ambassador was put off with a cold and contemptuous Answer that it was but the Act of a private Person and that the Court did not concern it self in the Business The same thing its true was at last done openly and without Disguise but it does not appear where the fault lay then As the French succors arrived in Portugal the affairs of that Kingdom began to change face for if they were before as the Cardinal supposed them to be in a bad state they now fell from bad to worse The Portugueses while they were left to stand on their own Leggs had as meanly as the Cardinal thought of their condition bravely defended themselves and gain'd several very considerable Advantages over their Enemies particularly at the two famous Battles of Montijo in 1644. and Elvas in 1658. This last Victory was the more considerable for that it gave a check to the fury of the Spaniards when spur'd on by the Pope who pretended he must be forc'd to acknowledge that King's Title they made their utmost efforts to quiet his Holiness and destroy them out of hand and had the year before taken Olivença the most important Place for strength next to Elvas that the Portugueses had and that year Don Luis de Haro himself at the head of all the Forces he could muster together had obliged them to rise from the Siege of Badajoz at the very time when the place was reduc'd to Extremity but at the last they entirely routed Don Luis when he laid Siege to Elvas which defeat so disheartned the Spaniards that for the two following Years they gave the Portugueses little trouble it seems they thought fit to defer their Revenge till the Peace was made with the French and then they took it to some purpose on the Portugueses and the French together For in the Years 1661 and 62. Don John of Austria at the head of a small Army in all not amounting to 20000 but consisting of Veteran Troops drawn from Italy and Flanders entred Portugal Ravaging Spoiling and Burning all before him 't is true he never gain'd any set Battle for by all the Havock he made he never could provoke the Enemy to fight though he several times
for Sir Richard Fanshaw's coming and testified their satisfaction at his Arrival by giving him the most splendid Reception that was possible at that distance from Lisbon but all the hopes conceiv'd on both sides from this Treaty soon vanish'd for Sir Richard had so order'd matters that the Treaty was to be enter'd upon as between Kingdom and Kingdom by which means the Spaniards would have been excus'd from making any formal acknowledgment of the King of Portugal's Title This so disgusted the Portugueses whose spirits had been mightily rais'd by their late Successes and perhaps not a little by these large Promises from France that they return'd back the Proposals without looking further then the Inscription with a short Answer that they never would have Peace with Spain unless it were made between King and King The English Ambassador returning to Madrid found the Spaniards become as High on their side and utterly averse from renewing the Treaty those fears which had been a great motive to them in advancing so far as they had gone already were over for the present They had been all along guessing at the true Design of those great Levies that the French were making which notwithstanding all the French Protestations and Offers of Mediation had given them terrible Apprehensions and therefore that they might put themselves into some posture of Defence against so powerful an Agressor they had been prevail'd with to enter upon a Treaty with Portugal But now they were of another mind for a War was broken out of a suddain between England and France which secured them for that time from any attempt of the French upon Flanders and should this War continue the English having the Dutch and French to deal with at the same time might not be in a condition to send supplies to Portugal and in case that Kingdom were once abandon'd by them there might be hopes of reducing it again to the same state in which the English found it But notwithstanding this Backwardness of the Spaniards and the Occasion of it the Portugueses could not yet be brought to consent to the French League for as great as their Danger was from the Enemy they thought it seems they should run a greater risk by this Engagement with their pretended Friends All Monsieur de S Romain's Rhetorick could not prevail with them to sign it this Year though the French Interest had been much increased by the King of Portugal's Marriage and the Arrival of fresh supplies from France and their Fortune in the War instead of making any Progress seem'd to be at a stand or rather had receiv'd some very considerable checks this Year But then they were unprovided with Moneys to bear the expenses of the next Campagne and at a loss where to seek for a supply the French indeed continued to make their large offers but their kindness was look'd upon as the last Remedy and to be accepted of only in a desperate Case and when they thought that they must at last have recourse to it yet to show that they would try all expedients first before they would come to an agreement with Mr. de S. Romain they made their application for Money to the Court of England as little in a condition as they knew that Court to be to furnish them after an expensive War with two most powerful Nations and such great Calamities as befel us at home this and the foregoing Year but no Money coming from England they at last viz. in the beginning of the Year 1667. yielded to the French Importunities and agreed to the League The principal Conditions of this League were That both Parties should have the same Friends and the same Enemies England only excepted That France should find as many Men as were necessary to carry on an Offensive War against Spain and all Sea-port Towns taken from the Spaniards were to be delivered up to the French France was to contribute by way of Loan one half of the pay due to the Auxiliary Troops and give withal by way of Loan likewise the summ of 300000 Crowns per Annum Neither Party was to treat of a Peace or a Truce without the consent of the other And it was agreed that this League should last for the Term of ten Years Had this League continued in force it would have been to little purpose that the Portugueses withdrew their necks from the Spanish Yoak and so bravely defended their Liberty as they had done in so long and tedious a War for they had now in a manner chang'd Masters and from being Subjects to Spain had surrendered themselves up to the Discretion of the French instead of seeing an end of their Miseries they had now in all appearance ten Years of War behind still and that not only a-against the Spaniards but almost all the World besides that is all the Enemies that France should make whose designs upon the Universal Monarchy were then breaking out and had they been suffer'd to go on England would not have been long excepted out of the Number It may justly deserve ones Wonder that so able and clear sighted a Minister as all Parties allow the Conde de Castelmelhor to have been should upon any account whatsoever be prevail'd with thus to sacrifice the Repose of his Country to the Ambition of Strangers Possibly Monsieur de S. Romain might make his advantage of the Disorders that the Court was in at that time and the Conde see that the Faction which had been formerly against him was grown to such a head that the fury of the People when diverted from a Foreign Enemy was like to turn upon himself and his Master and might therefore think of securing to himself a place of Retreat when the Storm that was a gathering should break upon his Head But if these were his thoughts he found himself afterwards much out in his measures for whatsoever promises France might have made him when in Power yet after his Fall tho' he betook himself to that Kingdom he staid not long there but found himself oblig'd to seek for Refuge in another Country and so far was he from securing himself at home by this unhappy League that 't is thought it did but hasten his Master's Ruin and his own by increasing the Peoples murmurs against them This is certain his Enemies pretended that it was made in an undue manner without either the Advice or Consent of the Council or the three Estates to the Violation as they said of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom The French King having thus found Work for the Spaniards at home while his Ambassador was assuring the Court of Madrid that if there were any Faith in his Master the Pirenean Treaty should be kept inviolable began the so much celebrated Expeditions into Flanders and the Franche Compte conquering all before him The Success of his Arms was so astonishing to those that did not consider how he had laid his Designs that the English and Dutch who were
but lately come out of the destructive War that they had been prosecuting against each other took the Alarm and together with the Swede made the famous Triple Alliance in order to oblige his most Christian Majesty to lay down his Arms. This made that King begin to show some Deference to Pope Clement the 9th's Solicitation for a Peace and it was agreed upon by the Parties concern'd that a Congress of their Ministers should be held in order to adjust all Differences of this Agreement the French King gives notice to his Ally the Prince Regent of Portugal to the end that he should send thither his Plenipotentiary to act in concert with the French Minister And now to all appearance were the Portugueses in much the same condition as they had been at the Pirenean Treaty having no other hopes of a Pea 〈…〉 e but what the French should procure for them and what reason could they have to think otherwise but that they should be sacrificed in the same manner as they were then and sold for some of the controverted Places in Flanders Philipville and Marienburg were their Price then as such of their Writers that are most partial to France have declar'd to the World possibly the Spaniards might bid higher for them now and how could the Portugueses be sure that they would not be taken at their Word They had the French Faith indeed for their security and that engaged to them by the late League in a more solemn manner then formerly but not in so solemn a manner as it had been given before to the Spaniards when it was sworn in the manner before related That France would wholly Cast them off and not afford them the least Succors They were promis'd its true that if they would but put themselves wholly upon the French and leave them to make their Peace they should have such Conditions got for them as were both advantagious and honourable but then if France should think her self oblig'd to have greater regard to her own Interest and Conveniency then to all other Engagements and that such a thing was possible some former Transactions had sufficiently proved In that case why might the little Kingdom of Sardinia be once more thought to be a pretty convenient Retreat for a King of Portugal or the Office of Constable of Castille an honourable Employment for a Duke of Bragança But in case France should think it convenient to continue her self or keep Portugal embroil'd in the War then all that the Spaniards could give or the Portugueses ask might not be thought to be either honourable or safe it was not thought so upon Tryal as shall be made appear anon But however the Portugueses had now their Hands tied up and could do nothing towards their own Relief To the French they had given themselves and for any thing they saw to the French they must Trust The Prince was consulting about the choice of a Minister whom he should send as his Plenipotentiary to Aix la Chapelle when on a sudden they receiv'd an unexpected Deliverance from these their pretended Friends brought them by the same Hand that had rescued them from their Victorious though perhaps less Dangerous Enemies but this likewise must be spoken of in another Chapter These are the most memorable Transactions that have passed between the two Crowns since that of Portugal hath been in the House of Bragança and they afford us one Single instance of the so much talkt of French Friendship viz. the sending of their Troops into that Kingdom upon conclusion of the Pirenean Treaty an action which the French or all People in the World should be the last to remember they were ashamed as they had a great deal of reason to own it at the Time and the success that attended their Auxiliaries hath given them little cause to glory in it since but this kindness if it was meant for such has been more than out balanc'd by the hard usage which the Portugueses have met with at their hands for certainly never were People so trick'd abus'd and trifled withal as the Portugueses were during the whole course of Mazarin's Ministry never were Allies so dishonourably sacrific'd as they were to an enrag'd Enemy at the Pirenean Treaty for I think I have made it plain that they were then design'd to be utterly abandon'd and as for this last Business of the League and Treaty of Peace the French could have no other regard to Portugal than to make that Kingdom to its own great Prejudice subservient to all their designs So that it must have been by other means than Offices of true Friendship that the French have all along supported their Interest in Portugal and many are of Opinion that their Money hath had as free a course into this Kingdom as into any other part of Europe But other Instruments are likewise made use of and those of two very different kinds from each other but considering the Genius of the Portuguese Nation it is very hard to determine which of them are the most likely to succeed These are 1st the Ladies that are continually sent hither to marry with Persons of Quality who when they match out of their own Families do usually supply themselves with Wives from France and to say the truth they have been furnish'd out of some of the best Houses in that Kingdom and 't is reported that the French King to encourage these Alliances between the two Courts allows every Lady a Portion which perhaps contributes not a little to render them acceptable to the Portuguese Nobility who for the most part are not very easy in their Fortunes and when they marry among themselves have seldom any Money with their Wives for in Portugal Blood serves instead of a Portion It is hard to give a particular account what services these Ladies do for the Crown of France but the Portuguese Writer that sets forth his King's Pretensions to Spain gives a broad hint of what may be expected from them for he says that of the several methods used by the French to gain their ends upon those they have to deal with that of sending French Wives to govern them is the most infallible and that they have found this a surer way to succeed than all inveigling Perswasions or specious appearances of Advantage and that it excels the force even of secret Bribes for as he saith they in Consequence of their having married French Women shall be so bewitched that seeing and knowing they shall seek their own Ruin as if led thereto by a fatal kind of Necessity It is true this Portuguese speaks in the Person of a Spanish Noble Man and lays the Scene in that Court where I believe there are as yet but very few if any such Marriages so that there is cause to suspect that he speaks so feelingly from the Experience of his own Country However by his leave one that looks upon things at some distance may be tempted to question whether
the force of these Syren's Charms be altogether so irresistible as he makes it for Portugal it self where they are more numerous than in any other Country stands yet undestroyed since their first coming in which is now more than thrice ten Years and indeed should we suppose the Sex to have never so ardent a Zeal for the Grandeur of their Monarch one would think it should be not a little cool'd in such as are thus sacrific'd to his Interests and sent in perpetual Banishment to so hideous a Country as Portugal must needs appear to them that have been accustomed to the Gallantrys of a French Court But granting that the great Monarch by procuring Husbands for these Ladies doth most strongly engage them to his Service he by the same means disobliges a great many others and renders them highly disaffected to His Majesty viz. the Ladies of the Country who as 't is said do not spare to make most bitter Complaints of the wrong done them by this intrusion of Foreigners and Jealousie together with those other Passions that usually accompany it have no doubt as great an Influence upon them as Loyalty and Gratitude have upon the others And the Portuguese Women if they do not belie their Character are as subtle and intriguing as the French can be Should they in revenge once take to Politicks why may they not Cabal together and form their Faction too Did they once set about it there is no doubt but they have power enough left to make a Party of their own amongst the Fidalgo's that shall be able to make head against that of their Rivals Together with the Ladies the Jesuits are reckon'd most zealous Promoters of the French Cause these Fathers as the World knows very well have been always Men of Intrigue since their very first appearance and the greatest Monarchs have thought fit to make use of them in carrying on their Desins In the last Age the Spaniards had them wholly at their Devotion and Philip the 2d was much obliged to the Society on many accounts and more particularly for their clearing his way to the Throne of Portugal had it not been for them it is thought that K. Henry the Cardinal had according to Justice and his own Inclinations settled the Crown in the House of Bragança but King Philip was then more in Favour with the Society and therefore was the Crown reserved for him But as the whole Order hath sometimes since chang'd Sides and come over to the French these in Portugal have not been behind the rest and are now supposed to serve that Party in this Court with as much Zeal as any of their Order do elsewhere some may perhaps be apt to accuse the Society of Inconstancy on this occasion but if any do so it is certainly without Reason for these Fathers are still what they were from the very Beginning The Fortunes of Spain and France are alter'd but not the Jesuits they continue firm to their Principles it was for the Interests of the Society in the last Age as it is in this to gain the Favour of such as had the greatest Power the Spaniards had it then and the French have it now and therefore Louis the 14th is to them what Philip the 2d was Since the Spanish Monarchy hath been falling to Ruin it was time for them to make their Court elsewhere for it is not to be thought that they have less Sagacity than those Animals who are ready to quit a decay'd Building when its fall is at hand But that which is most to be admired in the Conduct of these Fathers is that notwithstanding their being look'd upon as little better than Spys to those aspiring Princes that have bid fairest for the Universal Monarchy they have yet manag'd their Affairs with that Dexterity as to maintain their Ground as long as they thought convenient in all other Courts even those not excepted that were like to suffer first when ever the Design should take effect several instances might be given of this admirable Address of theirs in keeping in with all Parties both in the last and the present Age were I not to confine my self to Portugal In this Court they have enjoyed an uninterrupted Reign from the time of Simon Rodriguez one of the first Companions of Loyola and the first Jesuit that enter'd Portugal He getting into Favour with John the 3d. laid the Foundations of their greatness in this Kingdom in Sebastian's time the Jesuits govern'd all and the Blame is laid at their doors I know not how justly of the lamentable Destruction wherein that ill advis'd Prince involv'd both himself and his Kingdom yet notwithstanding this King Henry the Cardinal was wholly at their Devotion When the Spaniards got possession of this Crown none were more zealous in their Cause than the Jesuits Yet when Fortune began to frown upon them and the present King's Father regain'd his Right the Jesuits were ready immediately to assert his Title and that not only to this Crown but to all the World besides by way of Prophecy I mean for in Effect they are doing what they can to procure their so much talk'd of Fifth Monarchy for another Prince and in all the Revolutions and Turns of State that have happened since it was sure to be their Side which soever it was that chanc'd to come uppermost In the present Court their Power is certainly very great they having all along had the Direction of the Kings and both the Queens Consciences so that considering how religiously disposed his Portuguese Majesty is and his misfortune in having been so Educated that his improvements in Knowledge have not kept pace with his other great Accomplishments their Advice must necessarily go a great way with him I find in a Memoire written by one who seems well acquainted with the Secrets of this Court that the Jesuits have a great Influence not only over His Majesty but over the Ministers likewise who are said to be obliged to these Fathers for the great share they have in the Government and that one who hath the Address to get into Favour with their Reverences which is done by enlarging on the Praises of the Society may makc a very good use of them in any Business depending at Court provided that it doth not clash with the Interest of France for it seems they have always an eye to that which is now the grand concern of the Society My Author gives one signal Instance of their Zeal and Affection to the French Party which shows them to be capable of any thing in order to promote that even to the sacrificing of all other Interests it being of a Design which had it taken effect must have outed the present Ministers from Court or at least abated much of their Power for it was to bring the Conde de Castelmelhor into Business again and that because they know him saith my Author to be well affected to France I cannot tell upon what
must be made of what the English have done of late Years for Portugal and that both in Justice to those who by their Wisdom or their Courage have contributed its present Establishment and to excite such as are more able or may have better Opportunities to do it to retrieve the Memory of many signal Actions perform'd here by our Country Men which as great and important as they were they that enjoy the Benefit of them seem now resolv'd to Bury in silence It is agreed by the Portuguese Writers the Modern as well as the Ancient that the English had a great hand in the Conquest of Lisbon from the Mores whereby Portugal came to deserve the name of a Kingdom They say indeed that Alfonso Henriquez chang'd his Title of Count or Prince for that of King immediately after the Vision of Ourique before mention'd but possibly the story of that Vision may not be true and this is certain that the three Estates of the Kingdom in their Remonstrance to Innocent the 10th affirm from their Chronicles that this Prince would not accept of the Crown till it was made Tributary to the See of Rome which was not done till many Years after the taking of Lisbon viz. not before 1179. when Pope Alexander the 3d. by his Bull still extant conferr'd upon him the Title and Dignity of King In their Account of the Conquest of this City the Portuguese Authors tell us that in the Year 1147. a great Fleet from England compos'd of several Nations and bound for the Holy Land under the Command of William Longspè passing by the Rock of Sintra Alfonso Henriquez so dealt with the Leaders that they agreed to stand in to the Tagus and joyn with him in laying Siege to Lisbon on condition that one half of the City when gain'd should be given up to them Accordingly the City was taken after a Siege of five Months and the slaughter of 200000 Mores Alfonso offer'd to make good the Agreement and put them in Possession of their part of the City and to make an equal Division with them of all that was taken both within and without it which they generously refus'd to accept of since as they said they had not left their Country to get Riches but were engaged in a more glorious Design and withall they did not think it becoming them to enjoy a Sovereignty within another Prince's Dominions and so having accepted of a small share of the Spoils they proceeded on in their Voyage I will not undertake for the several Circumstances of this Story for I believe some of them are not true I believe there will be no Account found among those that have written of the Holy War of any such Expedition made this Year and the famous Earl of Salisbury if he be the Person meant by Guilbelme de longa Espada was not yet Born and for many reasons we cannot allow the Account of the slain one is because Lisbon was then scarce big enough to hold so many The present Inhabitants cannot be suppos'd to exceed much that Number but the Walls that are now standing and were not built till 1375. though they contain but a part of the City are of a much larger compass then those that stood at the time of the Siege The Strangers had then their Camp upon the Hill where the Monastry of St. Francesco and the Church of the Martyrs stand which are now in the very heart of the City and the Portuguese Camp on the other side was where the Church of San Vincente is now which is within the present Walls though it hath still the Name of San Vincente de Fora because it was formerly without the City In effect the ancient City of Lisbon was not of a much larger compass then that of the Hill on which the Castle of St. George now stands so that they that know any thing of the Place will never think that 200000 People could be killed at the taking of it supposing every Soul to have been put to the Sword However that Lisbon was taken this Year and that by the Assistance of the English and other Strangers is agreed upon by the Spanish as well as the Portuguese Historians I suppose they were Soldiers of Fortune as Mariana seems to intimate whom Alfonso Henriquez had invited thither with hopes of Booty and a share of the Conqusts And it is not likely that they refused the Reward promis'd them whatever it was on account of their being engag'd in the Holy War for there remain'd so many of them in the Country that the want of them would doubtless have broke that Voyage for those that stayed had the Towns of Almada Povos Villa Franca Villa Verde Azambuja Arruda Lourinham and several other Places assign'd them which according to the Portuguese Historians were all Peopled by these strangers Almada which is a small Town with a Castle on a Hill formerly very strong situated on the other side of the River over against Lisbon took its Name as these Authors will have it from an English Expression which they write Vimad-el qu. We made Ye all But if the word must needs be of an English Original one should rather think it came from a more modest Expression viz. we are All made They tell likewise that the Lords of the Place who took their Name from thence pretended always to be of English Extraction and that for this reason those of the Family have on several Occasions receiv'd great Honours in that Kingdom Povos which is a Town Situated upon the River about four Leagues above Lisbon was as they say anciently called Cornovalha from its being Peopled by Cornish Men and afterwards corruptly Cornaga by which last name I find the Place called above 200 Years afterwards possibly the reason of its being left off may be the great abhorrence which the Portugueses have for the first Syllable of it which a well bred Man amongst them will never pronounce upon any account The Name it hath now is the common Word for Villages In fine it seems to be almost as usual in Portugal for such as would become of better Families then ordinary to derive their Pedigree from these Strangers that were at the taking of Lisbon as it is with us to have our Ancestors come in with William the Conqueror Such of them as continued at Lisbon had very great Priviledges and Immunities allowed them as well they might if one half of the City was their own by Compact and the best part of the Kingdom as the Termo of Lisbon certainly is was owning to their Valour The Licentiate Duarte Nunes de Liam who was a Judge and consequently must be suppos'd to understand the Constitutions of his Country Reports that these Privileges were continued not only to the Descendants from the first Conquerors but to the Persons and Merchandizes of such of their Country Men as should resort thither and he saith likewise that the succeeding Kings confirm'd and observ'd them to
Commotions acting as it were the part of a Massaniello by Law Great things are told concerning those that bore this Office during the War King John the 4th being observed to be a little remiss in the Affairs of Government and too intent upon his Sports 't is reported that he once going to ride out into the Country to Hunt the Juis do Povo laid hands on the Reigns of his Horses Bridle and oblig'd his Majesty to stay at home and mind his Business nor will this seem strange if his Power were so great as they say it is to this Day that he could at a Words speaking raise the whole Posse of the Commonalty The Envoy found the Person that was then in Place to be an honest well meaning Man and ready to concurr with him in his Design on which as one of a moderate Capacity might easily be made to understand the Happiness of his Country depended and this Man showed himself so very Zealous and Industrious to promote it that his Picture is to be seen at this Day amongst theirs who were more immediately concern'd in making the Peace The Envoy took care likewise to have his Party amongst the Peoples Representatives in Cortes which were assembled some time after Alfonso had been Deposed his Table was open for the Members and he had his Cabals with them the Effects whereof appear'd as soon as the Business came under Debate The Letters of the Spanish Noblemen were answer'd with Powers from the Queen Regent to the Marquess de Eliche to enter upon a Treaty with the Prince of Portugal to the intire satisfaction of that Kingdom Letters to this purpose were no sooner come but care was taken to have the Contents of them publish'd every where both in City and Country the News was welcomed by the People who now hoped to see a speedy end of their Miseries with such Publick Demonstrations of Joys as it deserv'd which the Court in vain laboured to suppress Mr. de S. Romain had now great occasion to bestir himself but he found the People so prepossessed already that all his Artifices were like to have no effect upon them he therefore sets forth a Memorial directed to the Prince the Ministers and the Cortesoens or Members of Cortes wherein he Declares That the Prince could not break the League with France and consequently not make Peace with Spain both because in taking the Government into his hands he took upon himself the Obligations of the Crown to maintain the Treaty made between his Brother and the King of Spain and in consideration of the great Benefits confer'd on Portugal by His Most Christian Majesty who had given innumerable Demonstrations of his Friendship to that Kingdom having spent his Treasures and the Blood of his Subjects in its Defenec and likewise because it was impossible for an advantageous Peace with Spain to be made with security in the form Proposed since the Intervention of the King of France was wanting wherein alone consisted the certainty that the Promises and Conditions of the Treaty should be kept That the Castillians whilst they dreaded the Armies of France and Portugal would indeed to free themselves from the Danger they were in submit to any Terms that the Prince as a Conqueror should impose But a few days of Delay could be no loss in this Conjuncture and since France was not far off he advised the Prince to send thither a Copy of the Spanish Proposals and when he had received an Answer from thence he might then consult what was most conducive to his Subject's Good As for the Spaniards they minded nothing but their own Interests and as they had shown upon several Occasions would never stand to the Treaty but while they were under an Impossibility to carry on the War That their Ancient and inbred Hatred was now mightily increased by the Miseries which the Valient Portugueses had brought upon them and therefore they in all future Ages would be indeavouring either by Force or Art or Alliances to reunite the Crown of Portugal to Castille and all this in order to take their Revenge in so cruel a manner as to destory the very Memory of the Nobility by scattering over the face of the Earth such of them as should escape their Tortures and Poisons and to impoverish the People to that Degree that they should have nothing left to enable them any more to shake off their heavy and Tyrannical Yoke The Marquess de Eliche who had his Agents abroad was one of the first that got a sight of this Memorial and he immediately drew up an Answer to it which he took care to have dispers'd throughout the Kingdom In it he sets forth That the French Artifices to augment their own Power by weakning their Neighbours were Notorious to the World of which there was no need to go far for a Proof none doubting but that they had succour'd Portugal in this last War to the end only that by other Mens Hands they might beat down the formidable Power of Castille in order to become themselves too strong for both Parties That this and no other was their Design was demonstrated by their Proceedings after the Peace made at the Pirenees where the King of France in Person gave his Word to King Philip the 4th and confirm'd the same in the Capitulations of Marriage between him and that King's Daughter that he would give no Succours to Portugal against Castille and at the same time assisted that Kingdom with Money Generals Officers and Soldiers that having obtain'd an Advantagious Match with the Princess of Spain under an Obligation containing the most binding Clauses the Law could afford and confirm'd with the most dreadful Oaths that neither he nor his Successors would make any claim of Inheritance to the Kingdoms or Dominions of Castille he was now contrary to his Promise and the Treaty making War against that Monarchy That he laboured to obstruct the Peace with Portugal in order to divide the Forces of Spain that he might the more easily seize upon that Crown in case the Succession should fail That he might with the same injustice attempt the Conquest of Portugal under the same Pretext that he used in breaking with Spain viz. it s not being in his Power to Defraude his Successors of their Right That though he now oppos'd King Philip's Right to that Crown he would doubtless make use of it hereafter as a Colour for his unjust Invasion That the Prince did not make the League with France which as 't was Notorious was clapt up upon some secret Designs without the Peoples consent That if the King of France could make War upon Castille on pretence of his want of Power to deprive his Heirs of the Succession belonging to them with how much greater Reason was the Prince oblig'd not to deny his People the Blessings of an Advantageous and Honourable Peace after a cruel War of Seven and Twenty Years which had hitherto been carried on for