with the neighbouring States It is a thing worthy of observation and admiration both together that our Protectors Ancestors did alwayes bear this Motto in their Arms Pax quoeritur Bello which seemeth onely to belong to Soveraign Princes as if by a prophetical chance or else rather by a Divine Providence this Family which as it seems was designed to bear the Scepter and to restore and give peace unto England after so bloody a Civil War and so many other forreign broyls had received this glorious Motto as an earnest of its future Grandeur which said Motto doth in substance contain all the mystery of the Politicks and comprehend the two powers which God doth give to those whom he establisheth his Lievetenants upon Earth In effect we may observe that peace which seemed to have embraced our incomparable Oliver and as it were to have been incorporated with him hath ever since grown up with him until such time as its powerful branches which encreased and grew up to an infinite height had spread it felf so far as that this dutiful Daughter of Heaven whose growth is limitted by God being not able to follow him no longer was constrained onely to fix her self to the body of the tree and to suffer the branches to extend themselves to the other sides of the Sea-Coasts for to deprive that Nation of Peace which doth least deserve it having extended the War and her Tyrannies throughout all the inhabitable parts of the World For as soon as his late Highness our dread Protector had attained to the power by the means and force of Arms in England Scotland and Ireland Peace immediately brake forth and resplendently shown throughout all those parts and stopt those floods of Blood which could never have been stanched but by the greatest branches of our illustrious Oliver and not sooner had his Voice a transcendency in and over the Councels but Peace continually accompanied his Oracles Do but with me track the course of his fortunes and you will finde that bright Astrea doth follow or rather doth conduct and lead by the hand this blessed Deity and chains her up to the triumphal Chariot there to humble her and to make her know that this our Oliver was not the work of her hands but rather of her own since it is the end which doth alwayes Crown glorious and magnanimous Actions Now whereas the last Victory which General Blake obtained at Sea had gained a great stock of credit unto his late Highness both at home and abroad the whole English Nation began to witness a desire that he would undertake the Management of Affairs and put himself at the Helme of the Government and likewise all Strangers and Forreigners endeavoured to be in a good understanding with England The King of Portugal sent an extraordinary Ambassadour over into England with a gallant retinue the stateliness whereof savoured of the profusion of Peace which was also immediately granted them on very advantageous Conditions for England And almost at the same time two deputations were admitted from France which Kingdom was again for the second time unfortunately divided by a Civil War The French King by his Deputy demanded the restitution of those Ships which had been taken by the English as they were going to the relief of Dunkirk and on the other part the Prince of Conde sent a Deputy from Bordeaux besieged by the King to demand relief but all the Civility England could shew either of them at that time was not to assent at all to their demands and by that means remove all occasions of jealousie from each party besides that business being too much exasperated between England and France there could not so suddain an occomodation be expected and as to the Bourdelois all men know those French Quarrels are as short as violent In like manner several other forreign Princes and States sent over Deputations into England to endeavour to moderate a Peace between this Commonwealth and the Hollanders as amongst the rest the Queen of Sweeden The Cantons of Switzes the Imperial Hansiatick Towns of Hamborough and Lubeck But at that time there was such a combustion in the minde of the English who were at variance amongst themselves as that there was no appearance of thinking of any peace with strangers and forreigners Affairs being therefore thus embroyled at home his late Highness as then General seeing that in the Parliament the particular Interests overswayed the publick Good and that it was aparent all their drifts tended but to establish themselves into a perpetual Senate contrary to the ancient Customes and Liberties of England which require that Parliaments should have their successions and should onely be convocated from time to time and that therefore the members of the house wiredrawed Affairs by unnecessary Centestations which onely served to publish the designs and to retard the execution of them This our General I say who was designed by the Divine Providence to establish peace and tranquillity in England upon surer more sollid and more glorious Foundations entred the Parliament House accompanied by the Chief Officers of the Army and briefly represented unto them the Reasons why the Parliament ought to be dissolved which was also accordingly done The Speaker with the rest of the Members immediately departing the House some by force some through fear and others not without a great deal of reluctancy and murmuring No one living soul was aggrieved at this action neither was it so much as endeavoured to be questioned or redressed by any one all the world believing that in case the said change should bring no good with it at least it would not put Affairs in a worse predicament then they were so that the sovereign Senate was dissolved as you have heard and the power thereof was transferred into the hands of those who better deserved it since they acquired it by the points of their Swords and that they have since made appear that they knew how to use it with more prudence and moderation Nay the Parliament-men were even made so cheap unto the people that they became their reproach and obliquie and so were a consolation to the unfortunate who saw themselves revenged on them by those from whom they had least cause to suspect or expect it There was not so much as the least questioning nor censuring of the cause of this revolution but every one found it expedient according unto the several satisfactions which he thereby received or hoped for and as the Army was onely looked upon as Souldiers of fortune whom the necessity of the Affairs or the dangerous conjuncture of the times had enforced to take up Armes so that which was past and gone was not laid to their charge and the world could not choose but applaud them for what happened at present but expect from them for the future that generosity which the Millitary profession doth inspire into great courages as to this very day all men do enjoy
Town of Cambridge so his first care was to settle that place for the Parliament although he met with great Obstacles therein and the Reason likewise was very harsh it being the Month of January the very heart of the Winter Now you are to note that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the first of all the Towns in England which declared themselves for the King and the last which acknowledged the new established Authority by reason they were filled with persons designed to possess those Church Goods which were in the Kings Donation besides which the Parliament detesting their Commissions was resolved to reduce and reform them His late Highness having notice that all the Colledges were making a Stock and Assembly of all their Plate and of what ready monies they had to send it unto the King all which amounted unto a very considerabe Sum went suddenly to Cambridge and seized all that Treasure just as it was ready to be sent away unto Oxford And as he was upon this Expedition he signallized himself far more by another Action Sir Thomas Comes who was newly made Sheriff of Hertford Shire had received Orders from the King to publish a Proclamation by which the County of Kent and all its Adherents were proclaimed Traytors His late Highness surprised him in the very Action on a Market-day in the Town of St. Albons and having seized the said Knight he sent him up to the Parliament And not long afterwards he very oportunely assembled all the Forces of the County of Cambridge exhorted the Neighbouring Counties of Suffolk Norfolk and Essex to send him their Aydes to oppose the Lord Capell who was to have been seconded by Prince Rupert and should have seized Cambridge and thereby have impeded the association of the united Counties about London which were the only Bulwark and Defence of that great City wherein the Sinews of War did consist and by whose resolutions and proceedings the rest of the Kingdome was then governed His Highness diligence and vigilancy at that time brake the Neck of that Design and forced the Lord Capell and Prince Rupert to direct their Thoughts another way In the beginning of the Month of March next ensuing his late Highness having compleated a Regiment of Horse to the full number of a thousand Men marched with great diligence into the County of Suffolk on the advice which he had received of a great Confederacy which was there hatching between the Nobility of the Kings Party who were assembled in a considerable Town called Lowerstost whom he so unsuspectedly surprised as that he became Master of the place without the fiering of one Gun He took Prisoners Sir Thomas Barker Sir John Pettas his Brother Mr. Knevet Catlines Hammond Cory Turrill Preston and above twenty other Persons of Note He likewise there took severall parcels of Armes and Ammunition and other War-like Equipages sufficient to have armed a considerable Party and had not his Highness made use of his accustomed Prudence and his usuall Activity in this Conjuncture he had met with a great deal of difficulty on this account and the whole County had run a danger to have been lost severall persons of Quality and divers Noble men hourly flocking to that Randezvous This Service was most seasonably rendred to the Parliament and the Kings Party both in Suffolk and Norfolk were thereby totally disheartned and diâ—…ncouraged The Spring being advanced and the Season permitting the framing of greater Designs and taking of longer Marches his Highness having well setled the Peace and Tranquillity of the associated Counties which as we have sayd served as a Bulwark to the Parliament his Mind and his Valour requiring a space of Ground as vast as its Activity he raised a Body of an Army and that a very considerable one being composed of such zealous persons as had already been charmed with his Conduct and being attracted by his Reputation did voluntarily come in unto him to serve with and under him in the Cause of Religion He thus Marched into Lincolnshire with a Resolution to assist those Forces which lay about Newark one of the strongest places which held out as then for the King into which the greatest part of the Gentry of Lincolnshire had retired themselves and where there was a good Garison commanded by Officers who had served their Apprentiships in the Military Art beyond the Seas so that they fetcht in vast Contributions out of the Neighbouring Counties and made Inroads to the very Gates of Lincoln And his Highness being now at the Head of a Regiment of Horse in his passage through Huntingtonshire was willing to deliver his Native Country from those Disorders which two contrary Parties do usually cause and commit being in one Shire he therefore disarmed all those who were not affectioned to the Parliament by which means he so enlarged and augmented his Troops that he had gotten two thousand Men together and before he came neer Newark he received another re inforcement of Horse which was sent him by Captain Hotham as also some other Troops which were sent him from Lincoln insomuch that he thus framed a sufficient considerable Body of an Army for that time He no sooner was come nigh to Newark but that he signallized himself by an Action which was the more glorious by how much the less it was expected nor foreseen Captain Wray having so inconsideratly placed himself with his Lincolne Horse too nigh Newark was in the Night set upon by the Garrison which made a great Sally and surrounded and took all his Men the Alarm comming hot to his late Highness Quarters he forthwith repaired to the place where the Fight was it being then about ten of the Clock in the Night relieved the said Captain Wray and took three whole Companies of the Enemy killed the rest on the place and made good his Retreat by Favour of the dark Night After which having blocked up the place he received those Sallies which were made by the Besieged with so much Courage and Vigilancy as that he alwaies came off with advantage sometimes forcing the Enemies into their very Works and sometimes cutting them in pieces insomuch that he never returned unto the Camp but he was laden either with Prisoners Spoyles or Colours and that he might neglect no occasion for to give a testimony of his Prudence and Activity he also scouted abroad into the Country with his Horse and neer unto Grantham he defeated a strong Party which came forth of Newark with a handful of Men onely since which the World did take notice that there was somewhat more then ordinary in the person of his late Highness And not long after he also defeated part of the Lord of Newcastles Army which came to relieve Newark setting upon them in their Quarters betwixt Grantham and Newark where he took one hundred Horses forty Prisoners and killed severall on the place And should I particularlize all his late Highness's memorable Actions
during these English Civill Wars I must of necessity compile a whole Volume thereof since nothing worth the taking notice of ever hapned in which he was not a Sharer and wherein he was not alwaies one of the foremost wherfore I shall only insist upon two chief Actions which were of so great Importance that the decision of the whole War depended thereon and wherin the Valour of his late Highness may justly claim the greatest if not the sole share Two of the Parliaments Armies the one commanded by the Lord Fairfax and the other by the Lord Manchester being united to the Scotch Army their Confederates Commanded by the Earl of Livin had joyntly besieged the City of York the Metropolis of that County and whereof the Earl of Newcastle was Governour for the King who over and above his Garison which was very strong had also a brave and gallant Army Prince Rupert was sent by the King to raise that Siege with such considerable Forces as being joyned to those of the Earl of Newcastle did well nigh equallize the Parliaments in number The three Parliament Generals did immediatly raise the Siege to encounter Prince Rupert and the Earl of Newcastle drew forth also his Forces out of the Town and both Armies being drawn up in Battell-Array upon Marston Moore they both fought with a great deal of Fury Animosity and hopes of Victory which at first seemed to incline to the Kings Part the right Wing of the Parliaments Forces Commanded by the Lord Fairfax having the disadvantage of the Ground was over-whelmed by the left Wing of the Kings Party who routed and defeated it But his late Highness who as then was stiled but a Colonel whose after Appellations I shall observe by degrees which Fortune advanced him to who commanded the left Wing and had not the least advantage of the Ground did so violently set upon the right Wing of the Kings Party as that he brake in peeces Prince Ruperts best Regiments and forced them not only to give way but to turn their Backs and suffering only some part of his Men to pursue the Enemy he with the rest made half a turn about and charged the Enemies main Battell in the Rear so vigorously as that putting Life again into the Lord Fairfax's Souldiers he constrained them to face about and thereby so well restored the Success of the Battell as that he obtained and Entire and compleat Victory Two Generals of the Enemies and some of the best mounted of their Officers only making their escapes by their Horses good heels and this Battell was accounted the greatest that ever was fought during these last Wars The same thing likewise hapned in the famous Battell of Naseby neer unto Northampton when as his late Highness ariving in the Camp but on the Evening before the Fight gave such encouragement and joy to the whole Army by reason of his so suddain and unexpected Arivall from so great a distance of place as that it presaged an undoubted Victory The left Wing of the Parliaments Army was quite over borne General Ireton his late Highness Son-in-Law and who afterward governed Ireland in the Quality of Lord Deputy with as much Prudence and Conduct as he shewd Valour and Deserts to merit so considerable an Imployment being the second Person of the Common-wealth was carried off from the Field by two Wounds he received and was taken Prisoner but was relieved again and Prince Rupert pursued his Victory with as much vigour and hopes to gain the Battell as if the day had been his own But his late Highness on his side defeating that Wing which was oposite to him charged them with such force and Courage as that he made the Victory dubious and so it continued for a good while neither inclining to the one side not the other till at last the Kings Horse falling a running left their Foot to shift for themselves which were all cut in pieces and taken Prisoners all the Canon Baggage was likewise taken of a considerable value there was also found a Cabinet of the Kings with his Papers of great Importance The royall Standard and one hundred Colours beside were brought off and his late Highness having pursed the Kings Horse as long as he listed at length returned to the Camp with a great number of Prisoners Should I go about to number up the severall places of consequence which this Conquerour hath taken either by force or by Capitulations I should fill up a whole Volume with the Names of Towns and Fortresses alone besides intending hereby only to give you a Perspective of his glorious Life I will only instance in those worthy Actions of his whereby the Fortunes of the Wars did decide the possession of three Kingdomes Nor may we omit to reckon amongst the rest of his Heroick Atchievements the Victory which he obtained by Preston in Lancashire over Duke Hamilton and Sir Marmaduke Langdale whose united Forces amounted unto 25000 his late Higness having not above 10000 at most notwithstanding which inequallity of Forces he gave them Battell and entirely routed that puissant Army killing 3000 Scotch upon the place and taking 9000 Prisoners chasing the remaining Forces to Warrington about 20 Miles from the place where the Battell was fought and taking Duke Hamilton Prisoner at a place called Vttoxeter whither he was retired with 3000 Horse as also Sir Marmaduke Langdale the one by my Lord Grey and Colonel White and the other by Captain Widmonpoole so that but few Scotch returned to their own Country to cary back the News of so prodigious a Defeat NO sooner were the Civill Wars of England terminated by the discomsiture of all the Kings Armies the taking of his own Person and by his death but the Parliament by a solemn Vote and Ordinance changed the Monarchiall Government into a Common-wealth The Kingdome of Ireland was the first that witnessed a discontent of this Change and all the severall Parties there uniting themselves on the News of this Change they owned the late Kings Son and joyned all their Forces against the Interest of the Common-wealth and on a suddain became so powerfull and formidable as that the chief Places in those Parts submitted to their obedience Dublin only and London Derry excepted the first whereof was immediatly besieged by an Army of 22000 Men Commanded by the Marquis of Ormond and the other by a considerable Party the Natives of the Country The Royallists were as yet in possession of the Isles of Jersey and Man which places although they were adjacent unto England yet they only stood them in stead for a retreat to some Ships which robbed up and down the Seas in those Parts Nor were the Irish Businesses there arrived at the height of perfection whereas they began to decline for 3000 Horse and Foot which the Parliament sent into Ireland as the forerunner only of a more considerable Body being safely landed at Dublin joyned themselves unto the
Fleet of nine great Ships which served to shelter several other small ones whereby the trade of England was much impeded and incommodated which obliged the Parliament to put forth a most puissant Naval Army to Sea fitted with good Mariners and all kinde of necessary war-like Ammunitions The sole brute of this Fleet made all the Enemies Ships to run into their several skulking holes like unto so many Conies and Prince Rupert being not strong enough to encounter them was forced to retire into Kingsale Haven in Ireland where he was immediately blocked up by the Parliaments Fleet whilest General Cromwell besieged both the Port and Town by land and Prince Rupert being forced to make a vertue of necessity resolved to bear the brunt of all the English Fleet and so saved himself leaving behinde him three Ships which by that occasion were taken and finally after several turnings and turmoilings be cast anchor at Lisbone where he was protected by the King of Portugal which caused the rupture betwixt this Common-wealth and that Crown and all those mischiefs which ensued as we hereafter shall rehearse Meanwhile the Royallists in Scotland seeing the Parliament was busied in Ireland thought to lay hold on a fit opportunity to play their game and to that purpose the Earle of Montrosse having landed in the North of Scotland with some Forces he had raised in Holland and other parts assembled the old Souldiers who had formerly served under him and armed them with such Arms as he had brought from Holland but before he could make a considerable body he was defeated by the Presbyter Forces taken and hanged on a very high Gibbet which is the last mark of infamy in that Countrey Within a while after there was a Treaty commenced at Breda between the Scots and their King to install and re-establish him in that Kingdome and in the others according as Fortune should answer their designs and expectations and to this end they deputed Ambassadors into Spain Italy Denmarke Sweden Russia and into Turkey and finally throughout all Europe to demand relief aid and assistance But all their Embassies procured neither men nor money only their Ambassadors were laden with Complements and good wishes in return each others particular affairs not permitting them to do more All which gave unto the Common-wealth of England not any great fears but great jealousies wherefore the better to be informed of the passages abroad and the better to fortifie themselves by foraign Leagues and Alliances M. Dorislaus a person full of knowledge and conduct was sent in the quality of an Agent towards the States of the United Provinces the chief drift of this Negotiation being to criment a good and firm understanding between the two Common-wealths But scarce was he arrived at the Hague when five or six disguised persons entred forcibly into his Chamber and massacred him And whilest it seemed all things were a profound Calm in England or that at least the course of the Enemies designs both at home and abroad being sufficiently known to the State on a suddain there sprang up the most formidable faction that ever was hatch'd since these last Warres A certain number of persons who called themselves Levellers whose pretenses were to render all mens goods and possessions alike and truely this was a very plausible design and might doubtlesse have met with as many Abetters as there are men in the world who have no other possessions or Revenues but their good wills to obtaine them The chief of these Levellers was one John Lilborn a man of a dating and attempting spirit who could not remain quiet but was altogether invincible not to be moved by threats nor gained by the favour or presents of fortune which were beneath the extent of his ambition and a considerable part of the Army siding with their Leader they augmented in numbers as fast as the shortnesse of the time would permit the confluence of such men as flattered themselves with such fond hopes and who promised themselves a revenge and and establishment by a second Revolution and change But before all those who intended to have sided with them could come up to them and unite in one body they were vigorously set upon by the Lord Fairfax at that time the Common-wealths General who defeated them at a place called Burford in the County of Oxford where their Leader and the best part of his Souldiers were taken some of which were put to death for example sake and some others were banish'd but the greatest part were pardoned and admitted into favour again As for their Leader John Lilborne being brought up to London he appeared before the chief Officers and Judges of London and Westminster the Lord Maior Sheriffs and divers others where he was not only accused of divers Martial Crimes but also Politick ones as having been the Author of several scandalous and defamatory Libells against the State which tended to render the Government odious and to beget a Mutiny in the people however he so dexterously shifted himself of all these accusations as that the Judges declared him Not guilty Much about that very time Mr. Anthony Ascham a most judicious and accomplished Gentleman was Deputed and sent over in the quality of an Agent to the King of Spain and arrived at the Port of Sancta Maria on the 5. of June 1650. where being advertised but his person was in danger he was constrained to cause himself to be guarded to Madrid where the next day after his arrival as he was at Dinner six men knocked at his Chamber doore which was immediately opened unto them and he rising from the Table to receive them the first of the said parties stabbed him in the head with a Dagger so that he fell down dead to the ground and his Interpreter Signior Riba being not able to make his escape soon enough was likewise stabbed in the belly which being thus done the Murderers would have saved themselves in the Venetian Ambassadors house who refused them protection whence they retired themselves into a Church which in Spain is a Sanctuary which the Justice ought not to violate whence however the King of Spain had them taken and put into prison one only excepted who made an escape Hence there arose a great contest betwixt the King and the Clergy who complain'd that their priviledges had been infringed and demanded that the Prisoners might be returned unto them and on the other side the Parliament of England pressed hard to have justice done on them and though message upon message instance upon instance were used therein yet they took no effect And lest it may seem that all these foraign Negotiations which we have here inserted may be beyond my subject however if they be considered as so many obstacles which Fortune opposed unto the vertue and greatness of his late Highness you will find that the recitall of them will not be altogether uselesse the rather since I have related them as succinctly as possibly
continued their Sappinges Upon the second of the said Month upon notice that severall Armes and Ammunitions of VVar were hidden in the Cathedrall Church at Edinborough they were transported thence VVhilst the fortifying of Leith was carried on vigorously as well as the Mines under the Castle of Edinborough that no time might be lost his late Highness whose great Soul could not live without Action and who was not to be taken up by one or two single Objects marched off with part of the Army to go and view Glascow which having done and finding that he was not in a Condition to assail it at that time he returned back to Edinborough but by the way he rased two strong Holds whither the Moss Troopers were accustomed to retreat and shelter And as the Scots had a puissent Enemy in the heart of their Country so had they a far greater in their very Bowels since it s generally confest That the greatest of all Evils which can possibly happen to a State Is the Divisions which the different professions in Religion and the other particular Interests do beget For in the North of Scotland there was a Party for the King seperated from the Churches in the VVest there was a Party for the Church seperated from the King so likewise there was a third Party more moderate who held both for King and Church and all these intestine Divisions were carryed on with such a violent animosity as that they neglected the common good and were even ready to cut each others throat The last of these parties was the strongest being composed of the General States of the Kingdome as then held at Sterling who neverthelesse stood upon their Guards as well as the several others did they being afraid of each other The Assembly of the Estates used their best endeavours to reconconcile these two parties and to this purpose treated mainly with the Colonels Carre and Straughan who seemed to be the chief Heads of the said parties but they could not prevail with them His late Highnesse who was alwayes as politick as vigilant endeavoured to make good use of their dissentions and so wrote both unto Carre and Straughan but their particular quarrels hindred them not to joyn in their general animosities against the English whom they reputed to be their common Enemy But the said proffers which were made unto them having as little wrought upon them as the care of their own preservations Colonel Whaley was commanded with a good Squadron of the Army to goe and reduce them to their obedience which he undertook not however before he had once more assayled to gain them by fair means wherefore he sent a Letter unto them both representing unto them in substance as followeth viz. That all the world knew how many amicable wayes and endeavours had been used by the English since their being in Scotland to hinder the effusion of Christian blood and although all the said undertakings had proved fruitlesse yet they still harboured the same thoughts and resolutions continuing thus that their arms were alwayes ready and open to receive and embrace them whensoever it should please God to inspire them to meet them half-way That their design was not to rule over them nor to intrench upon their liberties far lesse on their Church Government or to possesse their goods and fortunes their drift being only to advance the Lords work But if they perished in their blindnesse and would continue to harbour frivolous and vain hopes they must continue to be their enemies to their rests and declared unto them that all the miseries which should befall them hereafter either by the sword or famine would fall very heavy on their own accompt Collonel Carr sent an answer to this Letter quite in another strain then it might have been expected from persons who professed to desire nothing so much as an accommodation and this Answer was returned to Commissary General Whaley at his being at Carlisle according to the tenour following or very nigh the same That although they were not strong enough to resist the English their unjust Invasion yet that they had strength enough to undergoe it and that by their actions and sufferings they would submit themselves to the will of God untill the time of their deliverance should come That in case they should have the happinesse to perish in doing of their duties it would be too much grace that God would do unto them that they doubted not but when their miseries should be arrived at the full pitch their Fortune would then change adding that they thought it very strange that the English should mention a cessation of Arms at the same time when they laded their Subjects with Irons when they took their Towns when they imprisoned their Ministers and by this means bereaved their flocks now going astray of the only and best comforts which they had left unto them amidst their greatest miseries Concluding thus That if they would voluntarily desert and relinquish Scotland and afterwards enter upon a Treaty in such a manner as becommeth Christians to doe it would be a reciprocal grace and favour they would doe unto both Nations But these Interparlies having proved thus unprofitable the English began to fall to work again and Major Brown possessed himself of a strong place called Ball-house and afterwards took the Castle of Dorlington in which there were great store of Ammunitions of warre found and in this last some Mosse-Troopers some of which were put to death Collonel Monke likewise with a party both of Horse and Foot marched towards the Castle of Rozellar within seven miles of Edinborough which was also surrendred after some Granado Shells were fired into it Immediately after which Colonel Lambert marched with 2000 Horse towards Dumfreez in quest of Colonel Carre who was about Peblies and likewise Colonel Whalley who commanded a Squadron of that partie took Dalkeith on his march which meerly surrendred upon the threats which he sent in unto those who defended it although the walls of the said Castle were 13 foot thick and that they were well stored with Canon Arms and all kinde of warlike Ammunitions and provisions of victuals Meanwhile Colonel Lambert having with much difficulty passed the River Hamilton encamped there that night whereof Colonel Carre having notice did endeavour to surprize him the next morning at the very break of day which he likewise did very briskly but the English having opportunely taken the Alarum and being unwilling that any of the Enemies forces should escape out of their hands did surround them in such a manner as that they found themselves at one and the self same time set upon on all sides The English in a trice killed them 100 men and took as many prisoners Not could the Scotch Horse escape their clutches so that they dismounted 400. Horse-men whose Horses and baggage they brought away and might have had the men too but that they would not stand to trouble themselves with so many Prisoners
into the hands of his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart who was by his Highness declared Governour of the same and took possession of it with four English Regiments which compose the Garrison thereof and serve to defend the Fort Mardike and the new Fort Royal begun by the Spaniards on the Channel of Burges and perfected by the English now called Olivers Fort. The Inhabitants of which place are so much taken with the superabundancy of the generosity and goodness of their said Governour his Excellency the Lord Lockhart as that they repent themselves to have so much listned to the Spanish false perswasions and fears which they possessed them with that they should be cruelly and inhumanely treated by the English purposely to make them resist the longer It had been well they had had so much care of their Souls as they perswaded them they had of their Goods and Fortunes But it would be too great a conquest to pretend joyntly to overcome both the Consciences of men and their Town to boot the first is Gods due and the other Caesars And we may observe in Alexander the Great whensoever his Forces became Master sof any place he would alwayes sacrifice to the Gods of the Countrey thereby to gain the Inhabitants hearts and to induce their Gods to become propitious to him Numa Pompilius was a King before he was a Priest and although the Almighty hath imprinted in all men a particular inclination to adore him yet however as concerning the manner of worshipping him Policy alwayes preceded Religion and ever kept the upper hand over her as much as she possibly could King Henry the Fourth of France was a Protestant whilst he had overcome his Enemies but as soon as he was settled in the Throne and that he was to Reign as King he seemingly returned Papist and said That the Kingdome of France and City of Paris was worth a going to Mass But when as superstitious and zealous spirits counselled him to prosecute and pursue the Protestants he answered That so long as they remained faithful and true to him and continued to stand by and serve him as they were wont he would be as much a Father and Protector unto him as unto the rest of his good Subjects These Maximes are general and common and admit of no distinctions save in Schools nor need the Spaniards with all their Hypocrisie and Pious malice to doubt but that France and England understanding each other well enough and that the English themselves are prudent enough to avoid that which may prejudice them and to tollerate whatsoever may advance and further their conquests and beget a love and esteem of their government But to return to our former subject again as we have oft before alledged the joyes of this World are alwayes for the most part mingled with some allayes of sorrow the Almighty being willing to keep us mindful that there are no perfect felicities to be enjoyed here on earth and that its onely in heaven we are to expect an intire and perpetual Contentment and Bliss Wherefore the Laurels of the Victory obtained against the Spaniards and of the taking of the Town of Dunkirk were soon withered and the joyes abated by the interposing of the Cypress-tree which death planted upon the Tomb of the Illustrious and most generous Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to his late Highness who departed this mortal life to a more glorious and eternal one on the sixth day of August this present year a fatal prognostication of a more sensible ensuing loss For even as Branches of trees being cut and lopped in an ill season do first draw away the sap from the tree and afterwards cause the body thereof to dry up and dye In like manner during the declining age of his late Highness an ill season in which men usually do as it were reap all their consolation from the youth and vigor of their Children wherein they seem to ruine by degrees as they draw near to their death it unfortunately fell out that this most illustrious Daughter the true representative and lively Image of her Father the Joy of his Heart the Delight of his Eyes and the Dispenser of his Clemency and Benignity dyed in the flower of her age which struck more to his heart then all the heavy burthens of his Affairs which were onely as a pleasure and pastime to his great Soul So great a power hath Nature over the dispositions of generous Men when the tye of Blood is seconded by love and vertue This generous and noble Lady Elizabeth therefore departed this World in despite of all the skill of Physicians the Prayers of those afflicted persons whom she had relieved and the vows of all kinde of Artists whom she cherished But she dyed an Amazonian-like death despising the Pomps of the Earth and without any grief save to leave an afflicted Father perplex'd at her so sudden being taken away she dyed with those good Lessons in her mouth which she had practised whilest she lived And if there be any comfort left us in her death it is the hope we have That her good Example will raise up the like inclinations in the remainder of her Sisters whom Heaven hath yet left us I shall not at all speak of her Funerals for if I might have been credited all the Muses and their God Apollo should have made her an Epicedium and should have appeared in mourning which should have reached from the top of their Mount Parnassus to the bottom of the valley thereof But if this illustrious Personages death received not the Funeral Rites which all great Wits were bound to pay it at least the Martial men did evidence that the disgrace lay not at their doors but that they ought to reap all the glory since they were not backward to continue to brave and affront dangers in the behalf of an illustrious and glorious Cause wherefore the sad tydings of this noble Personages death touched the gallant English to the heart seeing they were bereaved of their English Pallas and of their Jupiters Daughter they therefore accused the Destinies for intrenching upon their Priviledges and evidenced that it appertained not alone unto them to dispose of the lives of men Their wrath therefore discharged it self on the first Objects which presented themselves to their eyes and the harmless Spaniards were so many Victims offered up to this Amazons shrine and as if Graveling had been her stake they were so eagerly bent to fire the Enemies out of the same as that the Spaniards were constrained to open their gates to give vent to the fire and flame which suffocated them and surrendered themselves to the Conquering French Army to whose share that place fell and by whose force it was solely gained As Physicians do agree that extreme Joy causeth Death as well as excessive Grief so may we likewise say That both these violent Passions united together must needs destroy the strongest person on earth
to believe that perishing in the Mines of Peru they thereby did raise to themselves Thrones of Glory in Heaven since thereby they furnished Spain wherewithal to adorne and inrich Altars throughout the whole world In these torrid Climates the gallant English went to revenge the death of several Merchants and many brave Sea-men of all Nations which the Spaniards did surprize in those Seas and who they did decoy and attract by specious promises that they would not mischief them Notwithstandstanding the Law of Nations and the Faith which they had plighted they seized their ships and having tyed the men alive to trees placed this Superscription on their Breasts Who sent for you into this Countrey And let them there starve to death whilest the Birds of the Air did feed upon their flesh as they were yet alive And also Flanders the Sea whereof like unto a sharp humour did alwayes nourish the wounds and incurable evils she never was in so fair a way to recover her perfect health by the neighbourly refreshments which England at present doth profer unto her and the fresh Air which France would also have her enjoy Nor was the French letting her blood sufficient to cure her for she needed an English Physician who was accustomed to cure and treat incurable bodies so that in case this unfortunate fair one will in the least conform her self to those Remedies which are profered unto her and the which will be no violenter then she her self pleaseth she may be rendred plump and well liking as the fresh Air and Blossoms of France can make her and as the Sweets and Delicacies of England can procure unto her In like manner it was a high point of Generosity in the English since they caused France to lose Graveling and Dunkirk to help France again to re-take such places in those parts as might repay them with use and elsewhere also such as might stand them in as great stead as Montmedy which was the first considerable reduced place after this happy Alliance and the which crowned the same And truly here we may consider the Generosity of his late Highness in its most perfect dye or luster for without having regard to those Advantages which Spain might render him as to the Commerce the places of Hostage which she profered to put into his hands for secure Retreats as Graveling Dunkirk and others he was swayed by those Resentments which the English Nation ought to have harboured for the several and innumerable injuries and wrongs sustained by that Nation as the Spanish intended Invasion with their great Fleet in 88. Their Tyranny in the Indies and the Cruelties and Barbarismes which they inflict upon all those who will not acquiess unto and follow their Maximes and Opinions His late Highness therefore preferred the Alliance and League with France because it was more Christian-like permitting all men to make use of that Liberty of Conscience and Freedom which Jesus Christ hath acquired unto them by his Blood and gaining them by meekness and courteousness to his Divine example and not by Cruelties and Oppressions His late Highness sided with France the rather because she hath undertaken the Defence of all oppressed people as well Princes as Subjects And to alledge all in one word and so to compleat the height of Generosity it self because France at that time was the weakest as being abandoned by some of her ancient Allies and as it were quite disordered by an intestine War which had most violently shaken her bowels so likewise must France needs confess that without the assistance of England her Navigation was totally ruined the Pyrats of Dunkirk having blocked up all her Sea Ports in so much that Merchandizes were brought in as it were by stealth and France might have been forced to have kept but a lean Lent all their Farms and Farmers being destroyed their Butter Cheese and all kinde of Spices and other Wares of that nature being set at such rates as the Common people were not able to pay for them So that had not the English scoured their Seas and driven away and chased those Pyrats which lay lurking in such neighbouring Ports France had been in a sad condition whereas now by the means of the English all Forreign Nations come freely into the French Ports with their Ships and Goods And for to increase the courtesie of the English yet more to France by saving the French the labour charges and hazzards of going to the Indies they thence bring home unto their doors in Exchange of their Linnen and Wines all the good things and delicacies which not onely the New World but the rest of the World plentifully and abundantly affords I shall enlarge my self no further in these Political Reflections but referre the Reader to the incomparable Work lately Printed intituled History and Policy reviewed FINIS Courteous Reader These Books following with others are printed for Nath. Brook and are to be sold at his Shop at the Angelin Cornhill Excellent Tracts in Divinity Controversies Sermons Devotions THe Catholique History collected and gathered out of Scripture Councils and Ancient Fathers in Answer to Dr. Vane's Lost Sheep returned home by Edward Chesensale Esq Octavo 2. Bishop Morton on the Sacrament in Folio 3. The Grand Sacriledge of the Church of Rome in taking away the sacred Cup from the Laity at the Lords Table by D. Featley D. D. Quarto 4. The Quakers Cause at second hearing being a full answer to their Tenets 5. Re-assertion of Grace Vindiciae Evangelii or the Vindication of the Gospel a Reply to Mr. Anthony Burghess Vindiciae Legis and to Mr. Ruthford by Robert Town 6. Anabaptists anatomized and silenced or a Dispute with Mr. Tombs by Mr. J. Grag where all may receive clear satisfaction in that Controversie The best extant Octave 7. The zealous Magistrate a Sermon by T. Threscot Quarto 8. Britannia Rediviva A Sermon before the Judges August 1648. by J. Shaw Minister of Hull 9. The Princess Royal in a Sermon before the Judges March 24. by J. Shaw 10. Judgement set and Books opened Religion tried whether it be of God or Man in several Sermons by J. Webster Quarto 11. Israels Redemption or the Prophetical History of our Saviours Kingdome on Earth by R. Matton 12. The Cause and Cure of Ignorance Error and Profaneness or a more hopeful way to Grace and Salvation by R. Young Octavo 13. A Bridle for the Times tending to still the murmuring to settle the wavering to stay the wandring and to strengthen the fainting by J. Brinsley of Yarmouth 14. The sum of Practical Divinity or the grounds of Religion in a Chatechistical way by Mr. Christopher Love late Minister of the Gospel a useful piece 15. Heaven and Earth shaken a Treatise shewing how Kings and Princes their Governments are turned and changed by J. Davis Minister in Dover admirably useful and seriously to be considered in these times 16. The Treasure of the Soul wherein we are taught by dying