Crown and not be charg'd on my aspiring Humour or Ambition And I know that a Parliament of such a Constitution will rather do any thing than hazard my Displeasure and not dare to impeach any Man because they know their own Guilt and so those who are my Tools for promoting the Catholick Religion and Arbitrary Government shall pass unpunished But that the Nation may not perceive my Intrigue and thereupon grow tumultuous the Commons shall have leave now and then to talk of Grievances and also to name those who are the Instruments of them but if they exceed their Bounds they shall be kick'd from one Adjournment to another chastised by Prorogations and Abatements of their Pensions and kept in obedience by Threatnings of Dissolution I have already some Experience of the good Effects of these Methods for now they have voted me double that Sum for building of Ships that they thought sufficient last Sessions and continued the double Excise upon Beer and Ale and have taken care to make the Nation have a good Opinion of their being still a legal Parliament when so great a Number of the Gentry of the Nation are appointed Collectors of the Money which they have given CHAP. LIX On the Commons throwing out the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and another for the more effectual Convicting and Prosecution of Popish Recusants BY committing the factious Lords to the Tower my Designs run on more smoothly in the Upper House insomuch that those Bills pass'd them without any Opposition but they have not had the same Acceptation amongst the Commons who have thrown out the first after once reading and the second in the same manner with a Note of Disgrace as being contradictory to its own Title I perceive that the Commons though they don't love their Religion for Religion sake yet they have no mind to part with it because of their Interest for if Popery were introduced Arbitrary Government would find its way more easy and then they could neither be assur'd of their Places nor Pensions so that I must contrive some new Method But were I as happy in the Church-of England-Laity as I am in their Clergy there would be no need of such Precaution which makes me smile at the Apology of the Commons who are so very careful about the Credit of their Bishops tho they don't look upon their Concurrence with those Bills to be any way hurtful to their Reputation By this Method they diminish the Authority of their Church and exalt their own Wisdom above that of their spiritual Fathers whom they believe to be appointed by Divine Right to oversee and take care of the Affairs of the Church Nor can the Weakness of their Apology pass without a Remark that they should think it worth while to excuse them as not being the Contrivers and Promoters and yet own that they did not oppose those Bills nay they plainly confess that some of the Bishops were of the Cabal that hatch'd them Certainly it can never be safe to intrust one's self in that Church which owns that her Guides are blind or to commit one's Conscience to the Direction of such as don't know how to direct their own But if the Commons had hit upon the true Reason of the Concurrence of their Bishops they would find it to have been because the Mitres and Ceremonies which is all that they mean by their Church would be sufficiently secur'd though Popery were established and they being in present Possession might merit a Continuance by promoting the Catholick Interest under-hand Nor can I believe that the Commons don't perceive this seeing the Bishops advance such Clergy-men daily who incline mightily to the Church of Rome in the Doctrine of Justification which Luther their great Patron own'd to be Articulus stantis cadentis Ecclesiae and yet they won't admit of one Man to enjoy a Benefice who does not accept of Episcopal Ordination and conforms to the Ceremonies whence it 's manifest and apparent that by these they understand the Church And the Commons themselves though they seem now to differ a little from the Bishops yet make use of this Distinction to keep all but those of their own Communion out of any Publick Imployments And I am apt to think that could they but secure their own Interest in a Change as well as the Bishops can do theirs they would never make so much to do in opposing Popery which I am convinc'd by my own Experience is a Religion best suted of any to such as would live in those Enjoyments which Precisians call carnal Delights and that the greatest part of the Members are such I have reason to know for I am sure it has and does daily cost me Money And hence I conclude that it does not proceed from any Religious Principle that the present House of Commons do seem more opposite to have a Popish King than the Bishops CHAP. LX. On the Address of the Commons concerning the Danger from the Power of France and their Progress in the Netherlands His Majesty's Answer It s not being thought satisfactory by the Commons who presented a second to which his Majesty delay'd giving Answer and the Cause why His demanding of Money when he did answer Their giving 200000 l. and Adjournment with the Cause of it MY Subjects are now upon another Scent and from the Affairs of their Religion and Property at home are come to consider of the State of Affairs abroad I could be very glad that they should have forborn any such Motion but shall take proper Methods to render it ineffectual The Phanaticks and Commonwealth's-men do still foment Jealousies and having put Checks upon my Designs at home they are now for curbing my Allies beyond Sea and putting a stop to the French Conquests The Netherlands being look'd upon as the natural Barrier of England I must not positively refuse to assist them but shall form such plausible Pretexts as will excuse my Delay And in the mean time though I cannot go on with my part of the Design the French King may go on with his However I have promised them to use all Means in my Power for the Safety of my Kingdoms but that does not satisfy and therefore they presented me with another Address wherein they not only petition as becomes Subjects but boldly direct as if they were Masters by which they do manifestly entrench upon my Power of making Peace and War By proffering to assist me to the uttermost against France no doubt they think they have acquitted themselves bravely though it is no more than what in Duty they are bound to do let me be engaged in what War I please But seeing they press so much for my making of Alliances with the Dutch c. and to make an actual War with France I must give my Friends Instructions to argue against it in the House from the Inconveniences which may attend it as the seizing of our Ships and
as she provided for my Safety I will take care of hers and repay her with Publick Respect for her Private Service My Predecessors of England have match'd with the Imperial Family and must the King of Great Britain and Ireland be thought too low for a Dutchess My Father thought it a Condescension to take a Daughter of France but I am not thought worthy of a remoter Princess What vain things are Titles and Honour without the Substance of Riches and Power But if I be unsuccessful in Royal Amours I have not been so in those which are meaner and can satisfy Nature though not my Grandeur My Loyal Subjects being unable to defend me and the French King though my Kinsman unwilling to sustain me I must now have recourse to inferiour Princes whom if I had my Right I should be able to command but now must be obliged to court their Assistance and quit part of my own Title for a Reward How hard is my Condition that I should be reduced to call other Princes the Protector of my Subjects and with the Addition of Royal which would denote their Independance But why may not they protect them as well as me and injoy the Name as well as perform the Thing It 's true my rebellious Subjects will say that my making Application to Catholick Princes and not to Protestants is a shrewd Cause to suspect my Religion but I must consult my own Interest and not their Humours Those of them who are the firmest Protestants are already either jealous of me or have avowedly declar'd against me and for the Pillars of those who call themselves by the Name of the Church of England they are already privy to my Reconciliation to the Church of Rome which they don't much disapprove because I feed them with Hopes of bringing the Church of Rome to an Accommodation with them and she will certainly do it that she may the better animate them against the Puritans who being the most obstinate of all the Hereticks if they were once out of the way the rest will the more easily be brought to comply for I perceive my Episcopal Friends do still believe the Church of Rome to be a true Church and the other Party to be none and therefore a Reconciliation will be more easy with the former than the latter especially considering how near they approach in Discipline and Ceremonies to the Church of Rome The Advances which Bishop Laud's Party made towards their Mother-Church also in Doctrine will be a great step towards the desired Union but that which will chiefly contribute thereunto is the implacable Hatred which my Grandfather and Father did always take care to nourish in those of the Church of England against the Puritans which is now increas'd by the late overturning of their Hierarchy so that if ever I be restor'd the one will infallibly assist me to destroy the other and when the Destruction of the Round-heads is effected and my Father's Blood at the same time sufficiently reveng'd I shall next take the other Party to task and seeing it is not Principle but Interest which keeps them from complying with the Church of Rome I 'l use my Endeavours to have it accomplished or by the Church or at least the hottest of them shall smart for it and thus I shall revenge my self on them too for playing the Poltroon and sotting in Taverns while my Father was led to Execution and declining to join my self when I entred England But as to my Treaty with the Duke of Lorrain I shall reap these Advantages from it If he once be possessed of Ireland he will be assisted by the Spaniards to whom the Irish have a natural Inclination and with his Help from thence I shall keep my rebellious Subjects in the other two Nations in perpetual Vexation both with Incursions on that side and from Flanders Or if this don't take effect the very Apprehensions of it will alarm the French and move them rather to assist me themselves than venture to give the Spaniards such an Advantage for they may not only join the Duke of Lorrain's own Subjects from the Netherlands but when the Duke has footing in Ireland he may easily join the Spaniards in their own Dominions and invade France CHAP. XIX On his Majesty's falling in love with one of his own Subjects in France his marrying her and having a young Prince by her who was afterwards created Duke of Monmouth HOW hard is my Fate that I am still design'd to be a Conquest and that also to my own Subjects first by the Arms of their Men and then by the Amours of their Women One might have reasonably thought that I had received so many Affronts from my own People that I should never have been enamour'd on any of them but to my sad Experience I find it otherwise and that Cupid tyrannizes over Kings as well as others and commands us as imperiously as we command them with a sic volo sic jubeo Alas that Love is Proof against all Cures and that I cannot oblige it to withdraw at my Commands which I find it entertains with as much Disdain as the Waves of the Sea did those of my Predecessor who smote them with his Scepter and forbad them to approach his Chair Thus I who might be courted by the greatest of Foreigners must languish in love for one of my Subjects as if the Fates had decreed both Sexes of them an absolute Conquest over me If I marry her I am sure to lose my Interest and if I do it not I must sacrifice my Content for her Vertue I find altogether insuperable I must therefore comply with my Brother James's Advice and marry her privately before him and a Priest and thus I may consult my present Repose and take my measures in time to come by future Contingents Nor am I like to be less unfortunate in the Quality of my own Match than also in my Allies by that of my Brother who is catch'd in the like Snare but who can resist the Charms of Love We must needs deplore the Hardness of our Destiny to have Mars and Venus triumph over us at once and each of them force us to an unequal Surrender Our Father was reputed a Man of Chastity but it 's strange that Incontinence should be our Inheritance I wish that it may not be hereditary from our Mother of whose Honour I ought not to be suspicious but the Current of Fame and our own Constitution may justify at least this passing Reflection which if it should be true makes me but Neighbour-like for my Cousin the French King lies under a more publick Scandal and that not without ground that he 's the Spawn of a Priest For whatever is the Cause this I find by Experience that Cardinal Mazarin has more Influence upon him than all the Peers and Grandees of his Kingdom and though the Laws of Nations which forbid the Violation of Hospitality especially to a neighbouring
and injur'd Prince might afford me a safe Retreat in this Kingdom yet I find that I cannot be safe from Insults because I advis'd that the Cardinal should be remov'd On the Consummation of the Marriage and the young Prince's Birth Hymen I have found exorable but Mars continues obstinate I have been successful in my Love though not by my Sword My next great Care must be to keep the thing secret else it will rejoice my Enemies and disgust my Friends the former that I have so much degraded my self and rid them from the Fear of my Foreign Allies and the latter that I have thus put my self out of a Condition of relieving them from the Yoak of a tyrannous Usurper so that the Sweets which I enjoy are mix'd with sowr and my Stars have still a malign Influence The same Precautions must be us'd as to my Brother and we must weather this Point as well as we can As my Comforts increase so do my Cares I have a Queen and a Prince but cannot provide for them as I ought However there 's Vengeance entail'd upon my Enemies for here 's one more of the Line to revenge his Grandfather's Blood CHAP. XX. On the French King 's concluding a Treaty with Oliver by which his Majesty and the Royal Family were to be excluded France and his going thereupon into the Low-Countries SInce the Kingdoms to which I have a natural and hereditary Right would not entertain me it 's no wonder that this to which I have only a Title should refuse it so that my unlucky Fate hath now stripp'd me of all my Possessions both Real and Titular I have no reason to complain of France's dealing thus with Princes of the Blood when Britain and Ireland have done so by their natural Soveraign Bless me how strange a thing is it that the Arms of a traiterous Subject should be able not only to expel me from my own Dominions but disturb my Repose in those of others and how dishonourable and unnatural is it for one Monarch to countenance Rebellion against another But why should I say thus it is just with Princes as it is with the Pope he would impose his Infallibility upon others when he does not believe one word of it himself So we would have our own Subjects to obey us without Reserve as being obliged by God so to do and yet we countenance the Rebellions of one another's Subjects Thus did my Father make a shew at least of countenancing the French Hugonots against their natural Soveraign My Grandfather King James though a great Admirer of Kingcraft did in some sort espouse the Elector Palatine's Quarrel against his Soveraign the Emperor And my Predecessor Queen Elizabeth supported the Netherlands in their Rebellion against the King of Spain So that in short my Church-of England-Subjects may boast of their Loyalty what they please but I think they have very small Reason for they that make no Scruple to countenance the Rebellion of others will make no Conscience of rebelling themselves if ever they have occasion And thus if there be any thing like Divine Justice I am punished for the Sin of my Forefathers and as they countenanc'd the Rebellions of other Princes Subjects against them now others countenance the Rebellion of mine against me so that amongst us we shall expose the Dignity of Monarchy and make all our Pretensions be look'd upon as a Cheat. But it 's in vain to dispute the Fates have decreed it and I must obey so that rather than be sent from this Kingdom with Disgrace or any publick Remark I 'l abandon it willingly of my own Accord and save my Honour as much as I can CHAP. XXI On his Majesty's travelling into Germany and the Low Countries The Duke of Glocester's being importun'd and threatned by his Mother to turn Roman Catholick and the Duke of York's being charg'd to depart France INstead of being a Monarch of three potent Kingdoms I am now become a Citizen of the World and must be content to reside where I can find Reception It 's hard that Lewis XIV should have dealt thus with me and that the Advice of a Priest should take place to the Disadvantage of a Prince of the Blood Royal of France that he who covets the Title of the most Christian King should not be more hospitable to a Prince who suffers for the most Christian Cause that France should make a League with the Murderers of my Father and yet erect a Monument to render the Jesuits eternally infamous for stabbing of Henry IV my Grandfather that the French King who pretends to be Absolute himself should so far approve of my Subjects Rebellion against me appears with a very bad Aspect He 's not so much afraid of the Influence of the bad Example as willing to keep the King of Great Britain humble for fear I should pursue my Title to France and knowing that Republicks are unfit for Conquest he is rather inclinable to favour the New Commonwealth and prefer his Interest to his Reputation Nor is it the French King alone who opposes my Designs but my Mother I perceive has a hand in the pie though I suppose she is misled by an Overcharge of Zeal It 's not my Interest that any of my Brethren should openly profess the Romish Religion for that were a way to obstruct our Return and yet she not only sollicites but threatens my youngest Brother if he do not openly profess himself of that Church an Evidence that she had but little regard to my Father while alive when she tramples so avowedly upon his Commands now that he 's dead if the Εικον Βασιλικε was truly his wherein he not only advises me against any Change of my Religion but all the rest of his Children and though it 's true that I have changed mine in Obedience to a higher Command viz. that of Christ's Successor upon Earth and for the advancing of my own Interest yet it is not publickly known and by Consequence is not scandalous but for my Mother thus openly to scandalize the World by influencing my Brother to an avowed Breach of my Father's Commands is no sutable Return for that last Message which he sent her that his Thoughts had never strayed from her So that either she must not believe that Book to be his or is very impolitick to take such Measures However I will make the best Improvement of it I can and send for him away from under her Conduct which will be a good Argument for my Friends in England to prove that I am firm in my Religion and I will endeavour to perswade her that I do it out of Policy because I would not come to a Rupture with her My Brother James's being commanded out of France does justify the Policy of my former Conduct in not staying till I was sent away which though disgraceful enough to him would have been much more so to me Having had such slender Entertainment amongst Papists it
will make our Friends in England believe that we are still good Protestants especially now that I make Application for Assistance from Protestant States so that I must turn every thing to my Advantage as near as I can though I am not like to do much with the Republican States of Holland who being jealous already of the Family of Orange will be afraid lest I support their Interest Yet it will strengthen my Cause if I get but a favourable Answer because it will be an Argument in the Mouths of my Friends to prove that the Proceedings against me are dislik'd by Foreign Protestants CHAP. XXII On his Majesty's being invited into the Spanish Netherlands by Don John of Austria in name of his Catholick Majesty upon the Rupture betwixt Spain and France INstead of being able to serve my self every one would serve their turn of me the Spaniards who refused my Father a Wife do now proffer me their Assistance to regain my Crown that they may the better preserve their own Dominions My Presence they judg may be serviceable in Flanders to withdraw my Subjects who have join'd the French and now that I may be useful they condescend to court me and my Circumstances oblige me to try my Fate perhaps my being present in Person may draw over some of my Subjects from the Enemy and my being so near England may animate my Friends there to some brave Attempt and seeing Fortune favours the Bold I 'm resolved to adventure perhaps she may be sated with my past Miseries and instead of her usual Frowns vouchsafe me some Smiles The malign Influences of my Stars are it may be exhausted and the Aspect of the Heavens become more propitious The Tyrant's Oppression does fret my Subjects at home and if Victory should crown my Head with Laurels abroad I may soon return with Triumph to my Throne The Usurper having disobliged the Nobility by the height of Contempt abolishing the House of Lords and squeezing the Commons may perhaps incline them to witness their Resentments when they hear that I 'm at the Head of a numerous Army If the Church-of England-men act their Part as the Presbyterians have done theirs though I confess they are infinitely less obliged they might quickly give the Usurper such a Diversion as would oblige him to recal his Troops for his own Defence But alas the Miscarriage of all my Designs in England and the renewed Attempts of my Friends in Scotland give me reason to fear that the same ill Fate attends me abroad and therefore I think it best not to be with the Army in Person but send my two Brothers and what Men I have lest my former ill Fortune should give the Spaniards occasion to say that it had also an Influence on their Affairs in case their Army should be defeated CHAP. XXIII On the Defeat of the Spanish Army and the Surrender of Dunkirk to the English HOW are all my Hopes vanish'd in a Moment and my towering Designs brought down to the Dust My ill Fate not only pursues my self but involves my Allies in the same Destiny Those who flatter this fortunate Usurper will doubtless say now O nimium dilecte Deo for nothing can stand before him The Loss of this Battel does mightily affect me so many of my best Friends having done their utmost to retrieve our lost Cause in it but in vain and my two Brethren commanding in Person have also been made sensible of the Frowns of Fortune so that the whole Family will be henceforth esteem'd unsuccessful and what dangerous Consequences attend such an Opinion of Generals Experience hath taught in all Ages There happened nothing favourable in this Rencounter but that my Brother James being taken had the good Fortune to escape Whence I have some ground to hope that we are preserved for better Times and though Fortune at present favours Oliver so that neither Scots Dutch nor Spaniards can stand before him the Case will not always continue thus but the Wheel may turn upon him or his My Subjects begin already to be weary of the Anarchy in the State and the Presbyterians themselves of the Confusion in the Church The Nobility and Gentry are angry to be trod under-foot by his Officers who are Fellows of inferiour Quality And by their desiring him to take upon him the Title of King it shows that they have no Dislike to the Office and being sensible of his Breach of his Oath by taking the Government upon himself though a single Person modelling their Parliaments as he pleases though he was sworn to maintain their Privileges and governing them by an Army though he would not allow my Father the Militia they 'l quickly come to draw such Inferences that seeing we must be tyranniz'd over it were as good to be so by those who have a long time been in possession of the Throne and will take care to leave something worth the Enjoyment of their Posterity seeing they believe the Divine Right of a Lineal Succession whereas they who have no such Principle nor Pretence do only take care for themselves and make Hay while the Sun shines The giving up of Dunkirk to the English is a very strange and impolitick Act of France if they have not some more than ordinary Assurance of Oliver Had my Predecessor Queen Mary been possess'd of such a Post on the Continent the Loss of Calais would never have broke her Heart And if ever it happen that a warlike King injoy the British Diadem and Dunkirk at the same time the Kingdom of France may have Cause to repent of this Folly but as I said before they are not so afraid of a Republick CHAP. XXIV On Oliver's Death Richard's being declar'd Protector outed by Lambert and the Army c. DEath hath effected what my Arms could not and rid me of my greatest Enemy If there be any such thing as a Supreme Being the Saints and He have certainly heard my Prayers and on that very Day of the Month when Oliver triumph'd over me at Dumbar and Worcester Fate hath triumph'd over him so that now I may begin to pluck up my Spirits and hope that Fortune will favour me at length This Man being dead whom my Enemies did idolize they have not such another to fill up his room and by his nominating his Son Richard to succeed him he hath at once discovered his Folly and Hypocrisy his Folly in naming such an one who is unfit for the Charge and his Hypocrisy in claiming a Lineal Succession which he did all along so strenuously impugn Richard is deposed by the same Power that set up his Father which is a very remarkable piece of Justice the Divine Nemesis hath made them destroy their own Creature and they will at last destroy themselves Oliver raised himself by concurring with Enthusiasts and advancing the Power of the Army over the Parliament and by the same Method the Frame of his own Government is pulled in pieces CHAP. XXV
as they propose for the Advancement of Religion and Liberty CHAP. XXVII On his Majesty's being proclaim'd by the Parliament His magnificent Entrance into London and injoying the Countess of Castlemain the first Night MY Designs have taken and my Subjects are thereupon returned to their Duty so that now I am recall'd by the Consent of the Nation who were wearied by the Oppressions of the late Anarchy I may now with Safety put off my Vizard in some measure and say with Pope Sixtus V. that it 's needless to stoop any longer now that I have found the Keys The People I perceive are come to a high Flight of Loyalty so that my small Escapes will not be taken notice of And seeing all this Solemnity is for me why should not I chiefly reap the Sweets of it If the Subjects indulge themselves as to Wine and Women upon this occasion why should the same be denied to their Soveraign The best way to carry on my Designs is to begin my Reign with Jollity which will be grateful to those who have been so long restrain'd from Liberty By this means I shall be sure to have the strongest Party for all Mens natural Inclinations which the Precisians call Lusts and Corruptions will be certainly for me and if once they get a Vent will break out like an Inundation now that they have so long been under a Restraint The youthful Nobility and Gentry will certainly adore my Reign on this account as August and Splendid and the Churchmen will be glad to be from under the Checks and Grimaces of the Puritans so that the Whole being immers'd in Jollity and Pleasure they 'l quickly leave off the Cant of Religion and Property and they who do otherwise will be made the Subject of publick Ignominy Why may not I have the Countess of Castlemain as well as David had Bathsheba The Solemnity of this Day is a much more excusable Tentation than his viewing of a beautiful Woman from the top of his House If I be privately reproach'd as having invaded another Man's Property I can tell them publickly that Princes are not to be limited as private Men they have a Right to the Persons and Goods of their Subjects and who ought to say to a King What dost thou If I keep them from incroaching upon one another they may very well allow me my Liberty I am accountable to none but God and him I will venture to take in my own Hand the Advancement of the Catholick Church will atone for all other Miscarriages so that as to this I have no reason to be sollicitous a good End will hallow the worst of Means and seeing those who are called the debauchedst of Men have sometimes Pangs and Gripes of Conscience a Licentiousness of Practice is the best Method of the World to reduce such to the Church of Rome because Pardons may be had for the highest of Crimes so that a Man may enjoy the Pleasures of Sin and not only be freed from the Punishment due to it but also assur'd of Heaven at last And herein the Pope does as much as Mahomet though under a Vail of greater Modesty and secures to his Followers the Pleasures both of this World and that which is to come so that I shall take care by this Method to pave the way for the Return of Popery and make it appear that Debauchery is look'd upon by me as the best Test of Loyalty as indeed it will be for sure I am that Debauchees as foolish Men call those who indulge the innocent Appetites of Nature will never be Enemies to a Reign which allows them in it but on the contrary will be my surest Defence against all the Attempts of the Puritanical Precisians CHAP. XXVIII On the Parliament's condemning the Regicides and appointing an Anniversary Humiliation on the Day of King Charles I's Murder NOW when the Kingdom is in a Ferment of Loyalty I must take care to revenge my Father's Death wherein I shall be sure of the Concurrence of the Parliament because that same Hand which cut off his Head cut off their Privileges but I must push it further than I 'm afraid they will be willing and by my Friends and Pensioners procure an Act for an Anniversary Commemoration of my Father's Murder by which I shall blazon his Vertues to all Posterity and load his Enemies with the Height of Reproach which will mightily tend to the Establishment of my Prerogative for by crying out against his Murder all manner of Opposition against Soveraigns will be condemn'd I am sure of having the Church of England's Assistance because those that destroyed him did also destroy them so that they will certainly defend his Cause as their own and the more that they extol my Father the more they depress their own Enemies so that I need not doubt but the Church-men will express themselves with all the Hyperboles imaginable to display the Horridness of the Murder and the Piety and singular Vertues of their Martyr which will be of special Use to support my Pretensions to an absolute Monarchy for when the Generality of the Pulpits ring with Declamations for Passive Obedience it will create an Universal Abhorrence of all such as are for any manner of Resistance which the Church-men will find themselves oblig'd to promote that they may throw Dirt upon the Presbyterians who are Enemies to their Hierarchy And thus by keeping the Protestants at Enmity amongst themselves and the stiffest and most obstinate amongst them under the Hatches I shall be the better enabled to destroy the whole and bring in Popery by Degrees if not by Head and Shoulders But as to the Regicides to have them condemned has been no hard matter because the Parliament did never approve of their Proceedings and from their Condemnation I shall reap this Advantage that the Means must fall under the same Censure with the Instruments and all things which contributed to my Father's Death as a pretended Zeal for Religion and the Privileges of the People will be look'd upon as certain Marks of Disloyalty CHAP. XXIX On his Majesty's dissolving the Parliament which called him in and summoning another THis Parliament hath done all that I am to expect from them and therefore it 's expedient that I should dissolve them it not being safe to trust too much to a Parliament that has such an Alloy I must summon another which will be fitter for my purpose and bring in as many of my Companions in Exile as I can Their Spirits are imbitter'd by their former Sufferings and their Purses are still sensible of their Sequestrations which will make them the more eager for a Revenge and to help it on I will still keep them low and feed them with Promises to carry on my Designs I must now begin to think of my Engagements to the Catholicks and towards the better accomplishing of them must restore the Bishops which I can easily do now that the House is fill'd with
their Fault and not mine if their Security be not provided for By this means I shall amuse the Publick and prevent the general Disgust of the Nation And if I can but preserve my Honour with the People I shall despise the Reflections of particular Men for herein I think Saul acted truly like a Monarch that though Samuel had denounced the Anger of God against him for disobeying his Commands he was not in the least solicitous about that but pray'd that the Prophet would honour him before the People he took care of his Concerns for this Life let it fare with him as it would for what was to come But to what I say my self my Friends shall have Instructions to add the Right of making Peace and War is in me alone that if they with-hold Money I will neither declare War nor make Leagues that I have already exhausted my own Treasury in rigging out 44 Ships of War to preserve their Trade and convoy the Merchants and yet the City of London is so ungrateful as to refuse me Credit for 200000 l. and therefore if my People perish it 's their own Fault Those Suggestions will be readily imbib'd and diligently improv'd by the Courtiers and Clergy and then let my Enemies insist as much as they please upon the Necessity of shutting the Door towards France else our Treasure and Trade will creep out and their Religion and Tyranny creep in I am sure to have the Advantage of them when my Dictates shall be delivered from the Pulpits once per Week as the Oracles of Heaven And thus I shall make void all their Efforts for lessening the Power of France which I perceive they dread as carrying with it the Bane of their Heresy and Republican Principles and therefore it 's as necessary for my Design that the Power of the French King be kept up as it is necessary for theirs that it should be brought low I am unhappy that notwithstanding of all my Pensions an Address for an Alliance with the States c. should be carried in the House and have but two Negatives against it especially considering that they alledg it to be unprecedented to grant any Money till the Wars and Alliances for which they are demanded be signified in Parliament which plainly implies their Distrust of me that though I should have the Money yet I would not answer their Address which is so mischievously composed and so strongly back'd with popular Reasons that it seems to be calculated for possessing the Subjects that I would never suffer the French King to increase his Strength so much to the manifest Hazard of my Kingdoms if I were not engaged in the same Design with him I do also perceive that the Allegations of my Friends in the House of their intrenching upon my Prerogative by directing me with whom to make Alliances is nothing regarded but their Practice defended by former Precedents of Parliaments who have not only advised to Alliances but also confirm'd them as in the Reigns of Edward III. Richard II. and Henry V. c. And though my Pensioners were more serviceable in voting against the Manner and Words of the Address than formerly that there should be one yet they are worsted by a considerable Majority so unhappy is it for a King to depend upon the Humour of his Subjects which is as unconstant as the Waves of the Sea and liable to the Tossings of every Wind for however complaisant they have formerly been yet now they are all on a fire again about Popery and France So that I find my self under a Necessity of cooling them by an Adjournment and checking them by a severe Speech for intrenching on my Prerogative of making Peace and War in such an unprecedented manner while King and Parliament were not at mutual Enmity By which they would seem to claim a Privilege not only of directing me what Alliances to make but also to insinuate that it were not in my Power to make any without their leave so that I shall be look'd on by Foreigners as a King merely in Title I shall also take care that their Proceedings shall not dare to appear in print Whereas my Speech shall publickly proclaim their Disloyalty and the Speaker being made to my purpose I shall hinder the Commons from debating the Adjournment or diving into the Intrigues of the Court for if ever they begin to meddle in it he shall have Orders to quit the Chair by which the House must break up of Course and then the French shall have liberty to pursue their Conquests without Interruption by the Clamours of my Heretical Parliament who as also those that they represent shall be duly chastis'd in time convenient CHAP. LXII Vpon the Prince of Orange's Arrival at Whitehall and Marriage with the Lady Mary eldest Daughter to the Duke of York The Address of the Commons thereupon and their insisting upon the Alliance with the Dutch and War against France THe safest and most secure way of ridding ones self of an Enemy is to smite them under the fifth Rib while they imbrace them on pretence of Kindness And as Charles the IXth of France and Queen Katherine contriv'd the Destruction of the Protestants under the Covert of a Marriage with their Chief the King of Navar I may carry on the like Design by matching my Niece with the Prince of Orange Saul gave his Daughter Michal to David to be a Snare to him Nor is it out of any Kindness to my Nephew the Prince of Orange that I do now marry him upon my Niece He hath not hitherto behaved himself so like a dutiful Nephew as to deserve such a Favour having not only been the chief Support of the War against the French but incouraged the Dutch boldly in their Wars against my self But it may be this Match may take him off or at least will afford me an Opportunity of attempting it with more Vigour and Frequency than hitherto However let the Success as to that be what it will this Advantage I am sure of reaping from it that my Protestant Subjects will be thereby pleased and their Jealousies as to my Design of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government abated so that being the less suspected I shall go on with the more Success and forward my Purpose My Parliament I perceive are pleas'd with this Alliance and have therefore ordered me an Address of Thanks yet their Fears and Jealousies are not so much quieted as to leave me at freedom from their Solicitations but still they insist on my not admitting any Treaty of Peace by which the French may be left in possession of any thing that they have taken since the Pyrenaean Treaty and confine their Promises of Support to my making a War with France How happy are unlimited Monarchs whose Will is their Law and whom their Subjects dare not controul but my Stars have not yet blessed me with any such Influences I cannot imagine how this phanatical discontented Humour hath
Enjoyment of Heaven it self And by the sacrificing of Coleman I shall gain this Point that the Vulgar will think I prosecute the Plot in good earnest whereas at the same time I punish him for his too great Freedom of Speech and prevent his using the like for time to come Nor can the Papists themselves blame me for it when they consider how much I am expos'd in his Letters which discover my Intrigues with France and Rome and that he was so much a Fool as to have Copies of them by him CHAP. LXVIII On the Bill for excluding Papists from both Houses of Parliament with a Clause excepting the Duke of York The Dissolution of the Parliament as prosecuting the Popish Plot. The calling of another and ordering the Duke of York to withdraw out of the Kingdom before they met His Majesty's Speech to them and Declaration confessing his Error in governing by Cabals His dissolving of his Privy-Council and chusing another whence the popular Members did quickly desire to be discharged MY Pensions and Favours have been ill bestowed since they are useless to me now in my greatest Strait The Current of the House runs so strong upon the Plot that I must find out some Method to stem the Tide They are now so bold as to strike at my Brother which is as much as if they should bid me to look to my self I have gain'd one Point by the Assistance of the Bishops and Court-Lords that though the Bill to prevent Catholicks from sitting in Parliament was principally levelled against him yet I have got a Clause added to except him and though it 's true that this is a declaring him a Papist to the World yet the Reasons for my doing so out-weigh the Inconveniences for now the Catholicks will be the less pressing upon me to declare my self of their Party when besides the Stratagem which I formerly used to make my Brother declare himself by threatning that I would sue for a Divorce and marry another Wise by whom I might have Children I have now got his Religion declar'd in Parliament But because this will rather alarm than appease the Nation I don't find it convenient to continue this Parliament any longer lest they should at last become head-strong and ungovernable And rather than be control'd by them to whom I have given so much Money to so little purpose I had rather have my Designs check'd by another for I have but small Hopes of having a better But this Advantage I shall reap from the Dissolution that it will stop the farther Enquiry into the Popish Plot for a time and give my Friends the Catholicks a Breathing by which they may recover from their Consternation and take such Measures as are best for their Interest At the same time I shall have some liberty to enjoy my Pleasures for that 's the way whither the Biass of my Soul inclines and without dissolving this factious Divan I could neither have so well provided for my Brother's Safety nor the Desires of those charming Beauties in whose Caresses I place my chief Happiness for I had rather repose my Head in Venus's Lap than be strutting in the Field with Mars's Helmet The Dissolution of the Parliament at such a Juncture I know will render me liable to abundance of Censures and amongst others that I have done it to stifle the Discovery of the Plot I must therefore take such Measures as will serve me for a Shield against this Accusation which together with the calling of a new Parliament may be an Argument for me in the Mouth of my Friends Nor can I think of a better Expedient than by ordering my Brother to leave the Kingdom for a time but with all Assurances imaginable of my inviolable Friendship And this with the suffering of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murderers to be brought to Trial will at least blind the Eyes of the unthinking sort and make my Pretences of having dissolved the Parliament on the account of their frequent Entrenchments upon my Prerogative the more credible The new Parliament being met I laid before them my Designs to unite the Minds of my Subjects that in order thereunto I had excluded the Popish Lords from the Parliament executed several of the Plotters and Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murderers that I had moreover disbanded as much of the Army as I had Money to do it with and will disband the rest when they enable me that to take away all Subject of Cavil I had discharged my Brother from my Dominions and that I was ready to join with them in any good Laws against Popery and to drive the nail home did plainly confess my having been formerly misled by Cabals and declare my Resolution of governing henceforth by the Advice of my Parliaments and Privy-Council and to please them further did choose such Persons for Members of the latter as were known to be Zealots both for their Liberties and Religion By this Method I quieted the Ferment in which the Generality of People were and sav'd my self from a sudden and tumultuary Revolution and at the same time my Friends the Catholicks had leisure to provide for themselves and my Brother withdrew from the impending Storm with Safety But this I perceive was not durable for the popular Privy-Counsellors finding that I only made use of them for the Credit of my Affairs did quickly grow weary and desire to be dismissed and now my new House of Commons insisting on the same Courses which the former had taken go on to impeach the Popish Lords in the Tower and have voted a Bill to disable my Brother from inheriting the Imperial Crown of this Realm and to make this go down the more smoothly with the People they assign as the Cause of their Vote that the Hopes of his Succession hath been the chief Cause of this Conspiracy for the Destruction of my self and altering the Government By this Means they would possess the Kingdom with Fears of unavoidable Ruine to their Liberties and Religion if the Duke be not excluded from succeeding to the Crown and endeavour also to insinuate their Loyalty in taking care for my Preservation but I have no great mind to trust to their Friendship their Predecessors in 1641. were as ample in their Protestations of Loyalty as they and yet took up Arms by my Father's Authority against his Person and never made any stay till they cut off his Head I know my self to be much more criminal in their Sense than ever he was and that my Concurrence in the Popish Plot can be demonstrated with much more Ease than ever could his Commission to the Irish Rebels And I have no reason to doubt but they will think that a Concurrence with the Papists to cut off the English Protestants is a Crime of as heinous a Nature as that of destroying the Irish Protestants and will certainly decree it as severe a Punishment and therefore I cannot be blamed if for my own Preservation I study how