time engag'd in quite different Counsels and Embark'd themselves and Interests upon other Bottoms having declar'd themselves against Popery c. to Dissolve the Parliament simply and without any other step made will be to leave them to govern what way they list which we have reason to suspect will be to the prejudice of France and Catholicks because their late Declarations and Actions have demonstrated to us that they take that for the most Popular way for themselves and the likeliest to keep them in Absolute Power whereas should the Duke get above them after the Tricks they have serv'd him they are not sure he will totally forget the usage he has had at their hands Therefore it imports us now to advance our Interest a little farther by some such Project as I have nam'd before we Dissolve the Parliament or else perhaps we shall but change Masters a Parliament for Ministers and continue still in the same Slavery and Bondage as before But one such step as I have propos'd being well made we may safely see them Dissolv'd and not fear the Ministers but shall be establish'd and stand firm without any Opposition for every body will then come over to us and worship the Rising Sun I have here given you the History of Three Years as short as I could though I am afraid it will seem very long and troublesom to your R. among the Multitude of the Affairs you are engag'd in I have also shewn you the present State of our Case which may by God's Providence and good Conduct be made of such Advantage to God's Church that for my part I can scarce believe my self awake or the thing real when I think of a Prince in such an Age as we live in converted to such a degree of Zeal and Piety as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of God Almighty's Glory the Salvation of his own Soul and the Conversion of our poor Kingdom which has a long time been oppress'd and miserably harass'd by Heresie and Schism I doubt not but your R. will consider our case and take it to heart and afford us what help you can both with the King of Heaven by your Holy Prayers and with his M. C. M. by that great Credit which you most justly have with him and if ever his Ma's Affairs or your own can ever want the Service of so inconsiderable a Creature as my self you shall never find any body readier to obey your Commands or faithfuller in the execution of them to the best of his Power than 29 Sept. 1675. Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant Father le Chese his Answer From Paris October 23. 1675. SIR THE Letter which you gave your self the trouble to write to me Lec ' pro Reg. came to my hands but the last night I read it with great satisfaction and I assure you that its Length did not make it seem tedious I should be very glad on my part to assist in seconding your good Intentions I will consider of the means to effect it And when I am better informed than I am as yet I will give you an Account to the end I may hold Intelligence with you as you did with my Predecessor I desire you to believe that I will never fail as to my good will for the Service of your Master whom I honour as much as he deserves and that it is with great truth that I am Your most humble and most obedient Servant D. L. C. A Second Letter from Coleman to Father Le Chese SIR I Sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29th of September to inform you of the progress of Affairs for these two or three years last past I having now again the opportunity of a very sure hand to convey this by I have sent you a Cypher because our Parliament now drawing on I may possibly have occasion to send you something which you may be willing enough to know and may be necessary for us that you should when we may want the conveniency of a Messenger When any thing occurs of more Concern other than which may not be fit to be trusted even to a Cypher alone I will to make such a thing more secure write in Lemmon between the Lines of a Letter which shall have nothing in it visible but what I care not who sees but dried by a warm fire shall discover what is written so that if the Letter comes to your hands and upon drying it any thing appears more han did before you may be sure no body has seen it by the way I will not trouble you with that way of writing but upon special occasions and then I will give you a hint to direct you to look for it by concluding my visible Letter with something of Fire or burning by which mark you may please to know that there is something underneath and how my Letter is to be used to find it out We have here a mighty Work upon our hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the subduing of a Pestilent Heresie which has domineered over great part of this Northern World a long time there were never such hopes of Success since the Death of Queen Mary as now in our dayes When God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work but the opposition we are sure to meet with is also like to be great so that it imports us to get all the Aid and Assistance we can for the Harvest is great and the Labourers but few That which we rely upon most next to God Almighty's Providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty Mind of his most Christian Majesty whose generous Soul inclines him to great Undertakings which being managed by your Reverence's exemplary Piety and Prudence will certainly make him look upon this as most sutable to himself and best becoming his Power and Thoughts so that I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesome to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think his most Christian Majesty's Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and Advancement of the Catholick Religion that his Ministers cannot give him better Advice even in a Politick sense abstracting from the Considerations of the next World that of our blessed Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other things may be added unto him That I know his most Christian Majesty has more powerful Motives suggested to him by his own Devotion and your Reverence's Zeal for God's Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present Circumstances But we are a little unhappy in this that we cannot press his Majesty by his present
resolved rather to sacrifice the Honour of their King and his Kingdome than to shew him the danger he is running into and the means to avoid it lest they themselves should fall into the hands of those that have long taken notice of their Baseness However his Royal Highness will endeavour by his Care and good Offices to entertain a very good understanding with the King his Brother as he hath alwayes done and lately with so much success that methinks he endears himself more and more every day For Monsieur Rouvigny his Highness hath nothing to say against him As he seems to understand the Interest of his Master and to follow it with great Observancy he cannot by consequence thwart Ours when we shall have any thing material to ask or to propose to you you shall know it and we will trust to the Promises of your help I desire you from my Master to deal with us with the same freedom and confidence and be assured that notwithstanding all the Rogueries and Follies of some People here and there you will find us always just and Religiously faithful From Mr. Coleman to the French King's Confessor without Date but noted by him to have been written in Answer to a Letter of 25 Septemb. 1674. HIS Royal Highness has received the Letter that you sent him by Sir William Throckmorton Lect. pro Rege which he has answered to you himself and besides he hath commanded me to testifie to you the great esteem he hath for the Friendship of his most Christian Majesty and for yours and to assure you that he will not fail to cultivate it with all his power and that preferring the sincere Faith of a Christian and the word of a Man of Honour before all Subtilties and even all the advantages of the World he gives you them both as a Pledge of the ardent desire he has to continue alwayes a strict Alliance with his most Christian Majesty and to entertain also an intimate Correspondence with you For the first point of your Letter his Royal Highness has commanded me to tell you that he will govern him self according to your Advice and treat of nothing concerning the Catholick Religion with Monsieur Rouvigny nor with any other Person than your self but that he will communicate to you all things he shall find necessary for the good of the Catholicks and shall be very well pleased to receive Advices from you thereupon For the rest his Royal Highness does a little wonder that he hears nothing from Monsieur Rouvigny touching the second point of your Letter since you have written so positively that he had order to confirm and procure execution of what his most Christian Majesty proposed to him the second of June last by your Mediation and you by that of Sir William Throckmorton's He His R. H. has omitted till this time to acquaint you with the small success that he has had as expecting daily that M. Rouvigny would impart to him the Commission of which you made mention to him in your Letter but having heard nothing yet of that matter and being obliged to go out of Town for 15 dayes or three Weeks he thinks fit to send you back Sir William Throckmorton to acquaint you with the progress of this Business and to pray you to inform your self of what has been able to hinder it His most Christian Majesty made a very generous offer to his Royal Highness of the assistance of his Purse to inable him to defend them both from the Evils that threatned them and by good luck his Royal Highness has labour'd with so much diligence and success that the Dangers which they apprehended are a little put off but one thing more is necessary for the perfect securing their Affairs and without making one step more all that he has already done will signifie nothing For that the Assistance of his most Christian Majesty is no less necessary at present than heretofore to subdue intirely those who being exasperated against his most Christian Majesty as much as against his Royal Highness and are angry with his Royal Highness onely because he is so unalterably addicted to the Interest of his most Christian Majesty will exercise their Malice and their Rage with more brutality than ever if they find occasion for it hereafter If you can therefore by your Credit obtain from his most Christian Majesty the accomplishment of the offer of his Purse for raising the Reputation of his Royal Highness in the opinion of his Britannick Majesty and for putting him in condition to resist the sharpest Batteries of the Adversaries of his most Christian Majesty and Royal Highness to wit the possibility they pretend to get Money from the Parliament and the impossibility of having any elsewhere by which they often keep the mind of his Britannick Majesty in suspence and wherein they place the hope they have to conquer him at last There will nothing more remain to be feared by his Most Christian Majesty or his Royal Highness but his Royal Highness will be able to dissolve the Parliament with ease and afterwards in recompence of the said Assistance will perform on his part all that his most Christian Majesty shall ask of him and will proceed with Sincerity upon the Word of a Prince that no man can reproach him with the violation of for the Interest of his most Christian Majesty A Letter from Mr. Coleman to the Internuncio July 24. 1674. THE Affairs of the Duke are at this time as formerly in a very uncertain condition He hath many Enemies and also some Friends amongst whom he particularly esteemeth you having a great Confidence in your Amity of which he hopeth to find the good Effects when he shall have occasion to demand your Assistance but truly in the present Conjuncture there is nothing more than to make you understand the Estate in which he is at present and the state of the Catholicks and to let you consider what your Friends can do for the Comfort of the one and the other the first is now very well because of the putting off the Parliament and of the uncertainty whether that Party should take occasion to persecute him upon this Affair or not if he can deliver himself from this difficulty he will re-establish himself better than ever and shall be capable not onely to manage his proper Affairs as before but also to testifie his Acknowledgments to those who have been favourable to him in his misfortune but if this Affair is brought again upon the stage he will be so inabled that he will have all his Adversaries upon his Back which at present are Civil enough to him and do run a great Risque to be ruined with his all this dependeth on the King who pretendeth to be effectually the Duke's Friend but does nevertheless hold an intimate correspondence with his Enemies and too openly declareth himself sometimes which makes us mistrust that he is perswaded that his Interest is altogether
opposite to ours but we must not despair God is mighty and the innocence of this poor miserable too evident to permit him to be abandoned of all the World If by your means you can gain the Emperour and the Pope to the Duke for his Assistance or to contribute something for the accomodating of the differences between his Friends of Spain and France which cannot give him any Succor because of the infortunate War in which they are ingag'd you will merit much of God and of all the Friends of the poor Catholicks who are reduced almost to despair and are tormented every day by their Enemies and will be constrained to fall every day under the burthen of their miseries if they are not upheld by some means Their condition and that of the Duke are alike in many things but do differ in this that they have many Enemies which may every of them in particular be against the Catholick Cause for the Parliament whereas the Duke being onely engaged for the others shall not be obliged to do any thing at least that he shall not be condemned by the Parliament all the others being of the same nature so that none shall attacque him in the last before this first is determined because that if the Process comes to be determined in his favour our Laws give him a great advantage against them which shall have the boldness to trouble him thereupon This is all that I can say at present of the Affair of the Duke and of the Catholicks which I recommend to you with all my heart assuring you that since Christianism there hath not been any Affair neither more to be pitied or more worthy of all the Cares and Zeal of good People than this of which I now speak to you If you have the same Sentiment you will take a great part in the Affairs of our Friends and you will endeavour to apply all the most proper Remedies to make them succeed From the French King's Confessor to Mr. Coleman Paris September 15. 1674. SIR I AM very much obliged to you for the Letter you were pleased to write me concerning my Sickness Lec ' pro Rege It was long and troublesome and that which troubled me most during the long continuance of it was to find my self unable to take care of that Affair you gave me a memorial of with as much diligence as I could wish But being after all arrived here I resolved to send an Extract of the Memorial because I was not able to carry it my self which has been very lucky thanks be to God as you will see by the Letter I write to his Royal Highness Sir William Throgmorton goes express with it I pray acquaint his Highness that this Knight has managed this Affair with all the Zeal Fidelity and Prudence possible that his Highness may remember him upon occasion as a Person much addicted to him For Mr. Bernard that stayes here and whom you have recommended I pray be not further concerned for him The first occasion that offers he shall find the Esteem I have for his Zeal and Wisdom and for the recommendation of his good Friends I am in the mean while Sir Your most humble and most obedient Servant J. Ferrier From Mr. Coleman to the Pope's Internuncio Aug. 21. 74. YOU expect that the Duke should let you know what your Friends can do for his Service Lec ' pro Rege I told you the last Week my Opinion concerning the Estate of the Pope in case the Process of the Parliament be judged to his disadvantage And I have likewise told you what Opinion all the World hath as to that matter that is to say that it was absolutely lost But for my part not being of so timorous a nature as others I do not believe so but am of opinion that it is not impossible to overcome our Adversaries in spight of all the confidence they have of Success But the Victory which I hope for is to be able to prevent the Business coming before the Parliament that it be not begun at all rather than to gain the point if it shall be brought upon the stage For the Fury of the Persecutors is such that they will make use of all means imaginable as well Evil as Just to gain their point And I have too much reason to suspect the Integrity of our Judges in that Affair for I plainly perceive they naturally incline to the side of our Adversaries And I dare put no confidence in the Assistance of the King after so many Demonstrations as he hath given us of his weakness as to that matter And it is from these three Causes that is to say the Fierceness of our Adversaries the Injustice of our Judges and the Weakness of the King that we are to expect surtable Effects So that we shall have very little hopes of success having so many Difficulties to contend with in case the Parliament should meet Wherefore it will be necessary to provide some Support among his Friends of your Acquaintance if his Affairs should be too far pusht to suffer him to be in quiet here All those who have had any Correspondency with him are at present in great suspence and in pain to know what Success the Business above-mentioned is like to have If the Duke succeeds in what he pretends to they will be more fix'd to him than ever if he fails all his Creditors fall upon him in a moment and he and his Catholick Associates will be absolutely ruin'd for it is he alone upon whom all the rest do intirely depend So that it is for him and his Affairs that all our Friends ought to employ their Care to keep him up that he may subsist We have none with us that regard the Merit but the Success of things So that if the Duke can happily disingage himself of those Difficulties wherewith he is now incumbred all the World will esteem him an able man and all People will intrust him in their Affairs more willingly than they have done formerly And the King himself who hath more influence on the East India Company than all the rest will not onely re-establish him in the Employment he had before but will put the Management of all his Trade into his hands By which means he will have opportunity to enrich himself and all his Catholick Associates with all their Correspondents So that 't is of great consequence that those who owe him the Sums of the Emperour and the Pope assist the Duke with a little Sum of Money to put him in a condition to re-establish himself in the Management of the King's Affairs and to endeavour to Compose the Differences between his two Friends of Spain and France So that they may be in a condition to support him in his just and worthy Design to begin and establish a new Traffick very advantagious to the whole World and particularly the Kingdom of England which at present is unhappily divided for want
that the Lord Arlington's Creatures were forc'd to excuse him with a distinction that the said Lady was not to be look'd upon as the Duke's Daughter by as the Kings and a Child of the State and so the Duke's consent not to be much consider'd in the disposal of her but the interest only of State but this he intended to render himself the Darling of the Parliament and Protestants who would look upon themselves as secur'd in their Religion by such an Alliance and design'd farther by that means to draw us into close Conjunction with Holland and the Enemies of France The Lord Arlington set forth upon this Errand on the 10th of November 74. and return'd not till the 6th of January following during his absence the Lord Treasurer the Lord Keeper and Duke of Lauderdale who were the only Ministers in any considerable Credit with the King and who all pretended to be intirely united to the Duke declaim'd loudly and with great violence against the said Lord and his Actions in Holland and did hope in his absence to have totally supplanted him and rooted him out of the King's Favour and after that they thought they might easily enough have dealt with the Parliament but none of them had courage enough to speak against the Parliament till they could get rid of him for fear they should not succeed but that the Parliament would sit in spite of them and come to hear that they had us'd their endeavours against it which would have been so unpardonable a Crime with our Omnipotent Parliament that no Power would have been able to have sav'd them from Punishment but they finding at his return that they could not prevail against him by such Means and Arts as they had then tryed resolv'd upon new Counsels which were to out-run him in his own course which accordingly they undertook and became as fierce Apostles and as Zealous for Protestant Religion against Popery as ever my Lord Arlington was before them and in pursuance thereof persuaded the King to issue out those severe Orders and Proclamations against Catholicks which came out in Febr. last by which they did as much as in them lay to Extirpate all Catholicks and Catholick Religion out of the Kingdom which Counsels were in my poor Opinion so detestable being levell'd as they must needs be so directly against the Duke by People which he had advanc'd and who had profess'd so much Duty and Service to him that we were put upon new thoughts how to save his R. H. now from the deceits and snares of them upon whom we formerly depended we saw well enough that their design was to make themselves as grateful as they could to the Parliament if it must sit they thinking nothing to be so acceptable to them as the Persecuting of Popery but yet they were so obnoxious to the Parliament's Displeasure in general that they would have been very glad of any Expedient to have kept it off though they durst not engage against it openly themselves but thought this Device of theirs might serve for that purpose hoping that the Duke would be so alarm'd at this proceeding and by his being left by every body that he would be much more afraid of the Parliament than ever and would use his utmost power to prevent its sitting which they doubted not but he would endeavour and they were ready enough to work underhand with him for their own sakes not his in order thereunto but durst not appear openly to encourage the Duke the more to endeavour to Dissolve the Parliament their Creatures us'd to say up and down That this rigorous proceeding against Cath. was in favour of the Duke and to make the Dissolution of the Parliament more easie which they knew he coveted by obviating one great Objection which was commonly made against it which was That if the Parliament should be Dissolv'd it would be said that it was done in favour of Popery which clamour they had prevented by the severity which they had shown against it beforehand As soon as we saw these Tricks put upon us we plainly saw what Men we had to deal with and what we had to trust to if we were wholly at their mercy but yet durst not seem so dissatisfied as we really were but rather magnified the Contrivance as a Device of great Cunning and Skill all this we did purely to hold them on in a belief that we would endeavour to Dissolve the Parliament that they might rely upon his R. H. for that which we knew they long'd for and were afraid they might do some other way if they discover'd that we were resolv'd we would not At length when we saw the Sessions secur'd we declar'd we were for the Parliaments meeting as indeed we were from the moment we saw our selves us'd by all the King's Ministers at such a rate that we had reason to believe they would Sacrifice France Religion and his R. H. too to their own Interest if occasion serv'd and that they were led to believe that that was the only way they had to save themselves at that time for we saw no expedient fit to stop them in their career of Persecution and those other destructive Counsels but the Parliament which had set it self a long time to dislike every thing the Ministers had done and had appear'd violently against Popery whilst the Court seem'd to favour it and therefore we were confident that the Ministers having turn'd their faces the Parliament would do so too and still be against them and be as little for Persecution then as they had been for Popery before this I undertook to manage for the Duke and the King of France's Interest and assur'd Monsieur Rouvigny which I am sure he will testifie if occasion serves that that Sessions should do neither of them any hurt for that I was sure I had Power enough to prevent mischief though I durst not answer for any good they should do because I had but very few Assistants to carry on the work and wanted those helps which others had of making Friends The Dutch and Spaniards spared no pains nor expence of Money to animate as many as they could against France our Lord Treasurer Lord Keeper all the Bishops and such as call themselves old Cavaliers who were all then as one man were not less industrious against Popery and had the Purse at their Girdle too which is an excellent Instrument to gain Friends with and all united against the Duke as Patron both of France and Cath. Religion To deal with all this force we had no Money but what came from a few private hands and those so mean ones too that I dare venture to say that I spent more my particular self out of my own Fortune and upon my single Credit than all the whole body of Catholicks in England besides which was so inconsiderable in Comparison of what our Adversaries could command and we verily believe did bestow in making their Party that it
is not worth mentioning Yet notwithstanding all this we saw that by the help of the Non-Conformists as Presbyterians Independents and other Sects who were as much afraid of Persecution as our selves and of the Enemies of the Ministers and particularly of the Treasurer who by that time had supplanted the Earl of Arlington and was grown sole Menager of all Affairs himself we should be able to prevent what they design'd against us and so render the Sessions ineffectual to their ends though we might not be able to compass our own which were to make some brisk step in favour of his R. H. to show the King that his Ma's Affairs in Parliament were not obstructed by reason of any aversion they had to his R. H's Person or apprehension they had of him or his Religion but from Faction and Ambition in some and from a real Dissatisfaction in others that we have not had such fruits and effects of those great Sums of Money which have formerly been given as they expected If we could have made then but one such step the King vvould certainly have restor'd his R. H. to all his Commissions upon which he would have been much greater than ever yet he was in his whole life or could probably ever have been by any other course in the world than what he had taken of becoming Catholick c. And we were so very near gaining this Point that I did humbly beg his R. H. to give me leave to put the Parliament upon making an Address to the King that His Ma. would be pleas'd to put the Fleet into the hands of H. R. H. as the only Person likely to give a good account of so important a Charge as that was to the Kingdom and shew his R. H. such reasons to persuade him that we could carry it That he agreed with me in it that he believ'd we could yet others telling him how great a dammage it would be to him if he should miss in such an undertaking which for my part I could not then see nor do as yet he was prevail'd upon not to venture though he was persuaded he could carry it I did communicate this design of mine to Monsieur Rouvigny who agreed with me that it would be the greatest advantage to his Master imaginable to have the Duke's Power and Credit so advanc'd as this would certainly do it if we could compass it I shew'd him all the difficulties we were like to meet with and what helps we should have but that we should want one very material one Money to carry on the work as we ought and therefore I do confess I did shamefully beg his Master's help and would willingly have been content to have been in everlasting Disgrace with all the world if I had not with the assistance of 20000 l. Sterling from him which perhaps is not the Tenth part of what was spent on t'other side made it evident to the Duke that he could not have miss'd it Monsieur Rouvigny us'd to tell me That if he could be sure of succeeding in that design his Master would give a very much larger Sum but that he was not in a condition to throw away Money upon uncertainties I answer'd that nothing of this Nature can be so infallibly sure as not to be subject to some possibility of failing but that I durst venture to undertake to make it evident that there was as great an assurance of succeeding in it as any Husbandman can have of a Crop in Harvest who sows his Ground in its Season and yet it would be accounted a very Imprudent piece of wariness in any body to scruple the venturing so much Seed in its proper time because it is possible it may be totally lost and no benefit found of it in Harvest He that minds the Winds and the Rains at that rate shall neither sow nor reap I take our case to be much the same now as it was the last Sessions if we can advance the Duke's Interest one step forward we shall put him out of the reach of all Chances for ever for he makes such a Figure already that cautious Men do not care to act against him or always without him because they do not see that he is much out-power'd by his Enemies yet is he not at such a pitch as to be quite out of Danger or free from Opposition but if he could gain any considerable new Addition of Power all would come over to him as the only steddy Center of our Government and no body would contend with him farther then would Catholicks be at case and his M. C. M's Interest secur'd with us in England beyond all Apprehensions whatsoever In order to this we have two great Designs to attempt the next Sessions 1. That which we were about before viz. To put the Parliament upon making it their humble Request to the King That the Fleet may be put into his R. H's Care And 2. To get an Act for General Liberty of Conscience If we carry these two or either of them we shall in effect do what we list afterwards and truly we think we do not undertake these great Points very unreasonably but that we have good Cards for our Game not but that we expect great Opposition and have reason to beg all the Assistance we can possibly get and therefore if his M. C. M. would stand by us a little in this Conjuncture and help us with such a Sum as 20000 l. Sterling which is no very great matter to venture upon such an undertaking as this I would be content to be Sacrific'd to the utmost Malice of my Enemies if I did not succeed I have propos'd this several times to Monsieur Rouvigny who seems always of my Opinion and has often told me that he has writ into France upon this Subject and has desir'd me to do the like but I know not whether he will be as Zealous in this Point as a Catholick would be because our prevailing in these things will give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it receiv'd since its Birth which perhaps he would not be very glad to see especially when he believes that there is another way of doing his Master's Business well enough without it which is by a Dissolution of the Parliament upon which I know he mightily depends and concludes That if that comes to be Dissolv'd it will be as much as he need care for proceeding perhaps upon the same manner of Discourse which we did this time Twelve months But with submission to his better Judgment I do think that our case is extremely much alter'd from what it was then in relation to a Dissolution for then the Body of our Governing Ministers all but the Earl of Arlington were entirely united to the Duke and would have govern'd his way if they had been free from all fear and controul as they would have been if the Parliament had been remov'd But they having since that
aut aliis quomodocumque sanctae sedi Episcopis reservatis absolvendi Sacramenta quaecunque excepta confirmatione ordinatione admitrandi in votis exceptis castitatis Religionis Juramentis cum Justa causa subest dispensandi sicut etiam in observatione Jejuniorum aliisque Legibus Ecclesiasticis neo non in irregularitatibus quibus Libet ex delicto occulto provenientibus aliisque omnibus quibuscumque casibus in quibus summus Pontifex dispensare potest Libros prohibitos legendi Haereticos in graemium Ecclesiae recepiendi dummodo errores suos haereses schismata coram notario testibus publice vel privatim detestati fuerint abjuraverint anathematisaverint injuncta eis pro modo culpae poenitentia salutari Denique omnia dicendi gerendi decernendi exequendi quae ad munas Missionariorum magnorum poenitentiariorum pertinet in quorum omnium singulorum fidem praesentes litteras manu nostra signavimus ac sigilli nostri appositione voluimus communiri Datum parisiis die vigesima Maij millesimo sexcentisimo sexagesimo octavo pn'tus ejusdem S.D.N. Papae anno primo L. Cardinalis de Vendosme Leg. Locus Sigilli De Bontils Auditor Secretarius Legationis English'd as followeth LEWIS of Vendosme Cardinal Deacon of Sancta Maria in Portico Legate a Latere from our Holy Lord CLEMENT the Ninth by the Divine Providence Pope and from the Apostolic See to the most Serene Lord LEWIS the most Christian King of France and Navarre and to his whole Kingdom and all his Provinces Dominions Cities Towns Lands and places belonging to the said King and adjacent to his said Kingdom and to all other places where We shall happen to come To Our dearly beloved Sons in Christ the Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Gallican Congregation for the Conversion of Infidels Hereticks and Schismaticks Greeting in the Lord and Eternal Benediction We fully confiding in your Piety Charity Prudence Integrity Knowledge and Experience and hoping that what we have thought fit to intrust unto you you will carefully and faithfully manage and administer Have therefore made and constituted make and constitute you of Our knowledge and free and meer motion great Missiâ—naries and Apostolical Penitentiaries And we have granted and do grant unto you full Power of Preaching the Divine Word and of bearing Sacramentally the Confessions of all Penitents and to impart unto them the benefit of Absolution from all Cases and Censures and of Absolving from all things in any manner reserved unto the Holy See or unto Bishops of Administring all Sacraments except Confirmation and Ordination and of dispensing with Vows except those of Chastity and Religion and with Oaths where there is just cause as also with the Observation of Fasts and other Ecclesiastical Laws and all Irregular 〈◊〉 whatsoever proceeding from a hidden sin and all other Cases whatsoever where the Pope can Dispense And of reading forbidden Books and receiving Hereticks into the bosom of the Church provided they do detest abjure and anathemarize their Errors Heresies and Schisms before Witnesses Publickly or Privately enjoyning unto them a salutary Penance according to the measure of the fault Lastly of saying doing decreeing and performing all things belonging to the Office of Missionaries and great Penitentiaries In Testimony whereof We have Signed these present Letters with Our Hand and Sealed them with Our Seal Given at Paris the 20th of May 1663. and in the first Year of Our said Holy Lord. L. Cardinalis de Vendosme Legatus De Bontils Auditor Secretarius Legationis The place of the Seal An Instrument constituting Benedict Stapilton Prior of Canterbury NOS Fr. Augustinus Hungate Praesbiter Monachus Ordinis S. Benedicti Congregationis Anglicanae ejusdem ordinis Praeses Generalis c. Reverendo in Christo Patri ac confratri nostro Patri Benedicto Stapilton ejusdem congregationis Praesbitero Monacho Electo Priori Cathedralis Ecclesiae Cantuariensis salutem in Christo sempiternam Visa Electione personae Reverentiae tuae in Priorem praedictae Ecclesiae conventusque Cathedralis Cantuariensis Canonice legittime celebrata acceptaque de more obedientia Reverentiae tuae nobis successoribus nostris promissa in scriptis exhibita facta quoque per Reverentiam tuam publica Catholicae fidei professione juxta sacri Tridentini Concilii Canones Bullam Pii Quarti Pontificis Maximi Authoritate S ae Sedis Apostolicae necnon Cap'li nostri G'ralis qua utraque hac in parte fungimur Reverendam delectam nobis sraternitatem tuam Reverende in Christo Pater Benedicte Stapâ—lton in dicto Prioris Cathedralis Officio ac dignitate tenore presentium Confirmamus Mandantes prout per presentes pariter mandamus Conventui Cathedralis Ecclesiae Cantuariensis praefatae omnibusque ac singulis monachis quatenus Reverendam Paternitatem tuam pro vero Priore suo Cathedrali legitimoque suo Superiore ac Praelato regulari recipiant habeant agnoscant eidem reverenter juxta constitutiones nostras obsequantur In quorum fidem has confirmationis literas nomine nostro Secretariisque nostri subscriptas Sigillo magno Sanctae Congregationis nostrae munitas expediri jussimus Datum Londini 14 Maii. Anno Domini 1666. Fr. Aug. Hungate Praeses Gralis De mandato admodum R. Praesidis Fr. Gulielmus a Sancto Benedicto Secretarius Praesidii Locus Sigilli Englished as followeth WE Fr. Augustine Hungate Priest and Monk of the English Congregation of the Order of St. Bennet and general President of the same Order c. To the Reverend Father in Christ and our fellow Brother Father Benedict Stapilton Priest and Monk of the same Order Elected Prior of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury do wish Eternal Happiness in Christ Having seen Testimonial Letters wherein your Reverence is declared to be Lawfully and Canonically chosen Prior of the said Church and Convent of the Cathedral of Canterbury and having according to form and custom received the Obedience which your Reverence hath exhibited in Writing and promised to us and our Successors And your Reverence having also made a publick Confession of the Catholick Faith according to the Canons of the Council of Trent and the Bull of Pope Pius the IV. We by the Authority of the holy Apostolical See as also of our general Chapter whose power we in this execute and whose place we discharge do by these presents confirm you the Reverend Father in Christ Benedict Stapilton in the Office and Dignity of Prior of the said Cathedral and we do by these our Authentick Letters charge and require the Convent of the aforesaid Church of Canterbury and all and several the Monks thereof that they receive esteem and acknowledge your Reverence for the true Prior of that Cathedral and as their lawful Superior and regular Prelate and that with all Humility and Reverence they obey you according to the Constitutions of our Order In Testimony whereof we have subscribed these Letters with our own Name and have caused them to be subscribed by our Secretary and have also commanded that they be Sealed with the great Seal of our Holy Order Dated at London May 14. 1666. Fr. Augustine Hungate President General By the Command of the most reverend President Fr. William St. Bennet Secretary of the President The place of the Seal FINIS
of being employed as it ought to be and as it will be in little time after it shall have tasted the sweetness of that Profit which it shall find by the Managery of the Duke and his Associates being assisted by his Friends and yours and principally by the Church We have in agitation great Designs worthy the consideration of your Friends and to be supported with all their Power wherein we have no doubt but to succeed and it may be to the utter ruine of the Protestant Party if you joyn with us in good Earnest and cordially second our Enterprizes The Affair is too long to give you all the Particulars of but without doubt you will understand much of it by the little which you find here Septemb. 4. 1674. Jo. Nicholas AT present Sir We are returned again to London where we shall be as I hope less embarrassed than at Windsor and by consequence shall have more leisure to entertain our Correspondents for the future than we have had before Since our return I have received your Letters of the one and twentieth of August and fourth of September and three others from our Friend through whose hands you sent me yours I wonder whence it comes that they have lost their way thus but I conceive that he directed them to his Correspondent here instead of addressing them immediately to me or to Mr. Jerome Boteman I will advertise him of it this day the better to settle our Correspondence for the future 't is true that I did not write till this present as I intended fearing lest you should have forgotten what I said thereupon when I was at your House but being delivered from that fear I will not fail hereafter to treat you with that Liberty and Freedom you have permitted me to use towards you having no other Design than to obey you as I ought being You will wonder without doubt at the Freedom I take in this Letter and at my Confidence and perhaps will esteem it as a mark of my Weakness judging thereby that I accustom my self to treat others in the like manner and to open my mind without distinction to all who make profession to me of their Friendship and Sincerity But Sir I desire you not to believe me guilty of so great Lightness and Folly if I shall let you know my most secret Thoughts And first to answer the Question in your Letters touching the Concerns of the Catholicks before the Parliament viz. Whether they will come in Debate again in the Month of I assure you there is none but my self either Friend or Enemy of the Duke's who doth not believe certainly that that Business will be begun again at the time aforesaid and that it will terminate to the utmost prejudice of the Duke and of the Catholicks For my self I am alone of the opinion that it will not then be taken up at least I will do my utmost to prevent it although I know well that the Spanish Minister and all those who are for the Interest of Spain and the Confederates wherof some notwithstanding are very good Friends to the Catholicks will do all they can to prevail with the King to pursue the said Business preferring their Malice and Enmity against France which will as they believe be overwhelmed thereby before their Love to the Duke and the Catholicks who will certainly by that means be in great danger to be quite ruined As for my self I am neither tied to the Interest of Spain nor France but intirely to that of the Pope and the Catholicks but pardon me if I tell you freely that I believe that the whole Proceeding of Spain in this Contest with France is visibly to the great prejudice as well of the Pope and the Catholicks as his own Interest and that He hath been long deceived by his Ministers and Associates who have exposed him during this whole Affair to vast Expences and have brought all the Burden upon him and in the end will quit him in his extremity if He doth not take heed betimes All his Friends on this side have foreseen a good while what is faln out of late and have been much afflicted to see two Gentlemen of equal Merit of the same Parentage and of the same Interest so transported one against the other as to expose themselves to the Derision of their Neighbours who have alwayes been and who are at present inwardly what shew soever they make in appearance Enemies to both In short I believe that it is not Prudence in Spain to suffer it self to be thus governed by the Passion of its Ministers to its own Damage and the ruine of its best Friends rather than to agree with France because it hath been perfidious altho Spain may have all the Assurances imaginable that France will act honestly for the future like a good Neighbour a kind Relation and a most faithful Friend The Duke 's principal Defign is to terminate this Difference by the Interposition of the Pope and by that means to establish himself in the possession of his Estate through their Assistance and to turn all their Cares which at present are employ'd to destroy each other for the Ease of the Pope's Friends and particularly for the Catholicks of the Church against their great Enemies If you please to consider the Affair as it is you will find that the Pope never had an occasion so favourable as at this Hour to inrich those of his Family and to augment the number of his Friends and if he lets it slip he will never find the like so that if ever they propose to make use of the Treasure of the Church 't is now they ought to do it for they can demand nothing that the Duke will not be capable to do for the Pope's Friends and the Emperour being assisted as I said On the other side without their Aid He will run great hazard of being lost both himself and his Associates This is all I can say From Mr. Coleman to the Pope's Internuncio September 11. 1674. SIR I Have received yours of the 7th Instant by which you do me the Honour to desire the continuance of News from us in which I will willingly obey you nothing being more agreeable to me than to serve you On Tuesday was sevenight our Commissioners and those of Holland who are to adjust the Commerce of both Nations to the East Indies entered upon that Affair Friday last the Privy Council met again the King present being the first time since his Majesty adjourned them at Hampton-Court about five or six Weeks ago and for the future they will meet regularly as heretofore The third Son of the Dutchess of Cleaveland known hitherto by the name of my Lord George Fitz Roy hath been lately made Earl of Northumberland Viscount of Falmouth and Baron of Pomfret Don Carlos another of the King 's Natural Sons will be created Earl of Plymouth but his Letters Patenes are not yet figned An Irish man named