Officers whom their places confirm'd that stuck close to him and serv'd him to the last by whose Assistance he not only recover'd Ireland reduced Wales and kept those of Scotland to their good behaviour but notwithstanding all the Troubles he had at home forc'd the Chief men of either Place to give him as the manner was in those dayes their Children to be pledges of their future Subjection by which may be guest how far he had gone in the Recovery of his Transmarime Dominions had not the cross-grain'd Barons stood it out as they did who refusing to aid or attend him until he was absolv'd by the Pope and after he was absolv'd stopt until he had ratified their Priviledges and after they had the Grant of their Priviledges declined him yet until they had back the Castles he had taken from them resolv'd it seems to have both Livery and Seisin of their ancient Rights but whilst they thus over-bent the Bow they made it weak and unserviceable the visible force us'd upon him in bringing him to that Concession unloosing the Deed and taking so much from the validity of so solemn an Act by the bare illegality of their Coertion that his new Friend the Pope to whom themselves forced him to reconcile himself thought it but a reasonable recompence of his Humility towards him to discharge him from all his Condiscentions towards them dispensing with his Oath by which all the Agreement was bound and by definitive Sentence declaring the whole Compact null which was confirm'd by the Excommunication of the Barons till they submitted to the Sentence Here the Scene chang'd again and now the Pope being ingag'd on the Kings side the French King on the Rebels behold the whole Kingdom in Arms but because there were so few to be trusted at home the King sends for Forces abroad whereof he had so great Supplies that had there not been which is almost incredible to relate no less then forty thousand Men Women and Children drown'd coming over Sea out of Flanders he had even eat his way out to a Conquest of his own People as universal but more miserable then that of the Norman for with those he had left he marched over most of the Kingdom in less then half a years space reduced all the Barons Castles to the very Borders of Scotland and made himself once more absolute Master of all the Cities of note London only excepted which in regard of their united Power being so desperate as they were he thought not safe to attack This Extremity of the Barons drew over the French King in person to their relief who making incredible speed to land at Sandwich as quickly became Master of all Kent Dover only excepted which never would yield through which marching up to London he was there received with such universal joy that several great Lords quitting King John came to render themselves to him In the mean time the Pope pursued him with an Excommunication to please King John who all this while acted the part of a General so well beyond that of a King that many who never obeyed him in Peace were content to follow him through the War It was near a year that this unhappy Kingdom continued thus the Theatre of Rapine and Cruelty enduring the oppression and horrour of two great Armies headed by two great Kings each chasing the other with alternate Successes through the most fertile parts of the Isle till it pleased Providence in Mercy to the innocent People to take off this Indomitable Prince whose heart long flaw'd with continual Crosses broke at last by the slight stroke of a small loss the miscarriage of some few of his Carriages which in passing the Washes betwixt Lynn and Boston were it seems overtaken by the Tyde a misfortune which though of no great Consideration yet falling out in such a juncture of time when the Indisposition of his Body added not a little to that of his Mind carried him out of the World with no less Violence then he forced into it who however born to make himself Enemies had yet perhaps been happy enough had not himself been the very greatest Enemy himself had Upon his Death the King was crown'd as his unfortunate Father and Uncle before him the second time being willing the World should know he was now arriv'd at a degree of understanding to rule by himself which occasion the jealous Barons took hold of to press again for the Confirmation of their Liberties the Denyal whereof had cost his Father so dear This put him to a pause and that discover'd his inclination though not his intent for by not denying he hop'd to be thought willing to grant and yet not granting he had the vanity to be thought not to yield But this cunctation of his which shew'd him to be his Fathers own Son plunged him into such a Gulf of mistrust before he was aware of it that it was nothing less then a Miracle he had not perish'd in it for as he could never get clear out of it all his Reign the longest that ever any King of England had so he was necessitated as all shifting men are that entertain little designes they are asham'd or afraid to own to make use from that time of such Ministers onely as in serving him would be sure to serve their own turns upon him which reduced him to that indigence that had he not found out a way to prey upon them as they upon the People he had undoubtedly perished as never King did being at one time come so near to Beggery that for want of Provisions at his own he was forc'd to invite himself shamefully to other mens Tables his Credâ—t being brought so low that he could not take up an hundred Marks and his Spirit so much lower that he told one that deny'd him that Sum that it was more Alms to give him then to a Begger that went from Door to Door A speech betraying so strange abjection that it takes off the wonder of those affronts put upon him afterwards when a weak Woman durst tax him to his face with breach of faith and honour and a pitiful Priest threaten him with being no King when a private Lord durst give him the Lie publickly and tell him he was no Christian and which is undecent to tell had it not been so well known one of his * Hubert de Bâ—ughâ— was charg'd to have said thus own servants call'd him Squint-ey'd Fool and Leaper The first great action he was ingaged in was the recovery of the Ground his Father lost in France into which he was drawn not so much out of affectation of Glory as by the Solicitation of his Father in Law Hugh Earl of March who having a quarrel with the Queen Dowager of France upon the accompt of some dispute that had pass'd between her and his Wife the Queen Dowager of England call'd in the King her Son to take advantage of the present discontent Divers of the
unsettledness of the Times or of mens Minds rather whilst some were led by Conscience others by their Temporal Concerns some out of Love to Reformation and others out of fear of Superstition some again out of desire of Change but most out of dread of Forreign Servitude that the Conclusion of this Match gave beginning to a desperate Rebellion which though at first it seem'd despicable enough being headed by no better a man then Sir Thomas Wyat a private Knight of Kent the Duke of Suffolk who was in the Conspiracy being apprehended almost as soon as he appear'd yet before it could be supprest the wise Match-makers found they had met with their Match in that Rebel who was so fortunate as to rout the Queens General and take all their Ordnance and Ammunition Upon which he march'd up with full Assurance of taking the chief City into which though he brought but sive Ensigns 't is probable he might have carried it had not Heaven taken part against him as usually it doth against Rebels first arming them with Impudence and then disarming them with Fear making the Arch-Traytor a terrible Example of unparallel'd Insolence who whiles he was at large continued bold as a Lion but being once apprehended prov'd so base a Coward that brib'd with the hopes of Life he made himself guilty of a greater Treachery then he was to dye for accusing Edward Earl of Devon and the Princess Elizabeth the Queens Sister to have been privy to his Conspiracy which gain'd Credit not so much from the Suspect of any private Affection betwixt them two although he alleadged they were to be married as from the secret disaffection either of them had he to the King that should be as being his Rival she to the Queen that was as being her Disseisor the two Sisters as little agreeing in point of Right of Succession as their two Mothers in point of Right of Marriage but fain he would have acquitted them when he found he could not be acquitted himself by it for having serv'd their turn of him the Statesmen gave the fatal turn to him However the malitious Chancellor Gardner resolving to take the Truth at the wrong end and believe it as he pleas'd secur'd them in several Prisons till he were at leisure to examine the matter being then deeply ingaged in providing Fire and Faggots for those Learned Hereticks Cranmer Ridley and Latimer c. who were to make a Holocaust preparatory to the Queens Nuptials which having been defer'd by this unexpected Rising was now propos'd in Parliament For the greater confirmation the three States of the Kingdom assenting thereto upon the Conditions following First That King Philip should admit no Stranger into any Office but only Natives Secondly That he should Innovate nothing in the Laws and Customes of the Realm Thirdly That he should not carry the Queen out of the Realm without her consent nor any of her Children without consent of the Councel Fourthly That surviving the Queen he should challenge no Right in the Kingdom but suffer it to descend to the next Heir Fifthly That he should carry away none of the Crown Jewels nor remove any Shipping or Ordnance Sixthly and lastly That he should neither directly nor indirectly intangle the Realm of England with the Wars betwixt Spain and France Upon which Terms 't was hop'd by those affected not the Match that Philip would knock off there being neither Youth or Beauty to tempt him But as the House of Austria did ever prefer their Ambition before their Love so designing the universal Monarchy he thought he made a great step to it by being put in possession of England and so near intituled to France And now the most Catholick King being joyn'd with the Faith defending Queen it cannot be imagin'd but that they must begin with Religion In order to the Regulation whereof Cardinal Pool being first restored again in blood and reputation was sent for over who arm'd with his Legatine Power and a natural Force of Eloquence press'd hard upon the Parliament and shewed them the danger they were in by their late Schism being become as he said Exiles from Heaven and in no capacity to have been ever readmitted had he not brought from Rome the Keys that opened the gates of Life and thereupon he advised them to abrogate those Laws which lay as blocks in their way urging them thereto from the Example of their good King and Queen who he said had resigned their Title of Supream Head to shew themselves true Members of the Mystical Body and had made Restitution of those Lands which had been sacrilegiously taken from the Church by their Predecessor Which Speech of his being very Methodically digested and delivered with great gravity startled many of the Lords who reflected upon their Fore-fathers Devotion to the holy See but those of the lower House having it seems lower thoughts and deeming it a rare Felicity to have shaken off that heavy Yoke that had so long gall'd their Fore-fathers necks did not so readily assent to receive his profer'd Fenediction at so dear a rate as to part with their Lands which having been divided by the Queens father amongst them were by several Settlements and Alienations so translated from one Family to another that without great Inconvenience they could not be sever'd from their Temporal Proprieties However they so far complyed as to agree That the first Fruits and Tenths granted by the Clergy to King Henry Anno 1534 should be remitted But after they came to consider the Poverty of the Treasure the reason of the several Pensions that had been granted in Lieu thereof by the said King to divers Religious Persons that were still living they revok'd their Decree again Upon which the Legate not skilful enough to deal with a Multitude as appear'd afterward by his loosing the papal dignity desisted content it seems with the honour of having prevail'd over the more devout Queen the heat of whose Zeal had so softned her heart that it was fit for any Impression Now as he had a better Faculty in Canvassing of the Feminine Sex which Cardinal Carraffa afterward Pope Paul IV upbraided him withal in the open Conclave so he prevail'd with her to give up all that she had in her own possession who to move others to imitate her piety did it with that detestation of the Sacriledg of her Predecessors that when one of her wise Counsellors yet of the same Religion told her it would be a great Diminution to the Revenues of her Crown she answered piously and as she thought prudently that she had another Crown to look after that she valued a thousand times more then that But while she is thus careful for the eternal King Philip her Husband was no less busie to secure his Temporal Crown In order to which he went over to receive the Blessing of the Emperour his Father then in Flanders who upon his Arrival delivered up to him the possession of the Low
as himself observ'd for the most part their Graves the Vote of Non-Addresses being as Earth flung upon him Fortune cruelly brings him to Life again by the Cordial of unexpected hopes heightned by the Zeal of several Counties declaring for him Divers Lords in Arms again at Land and his own Son with others at Sea these incouraged by the Revolt of several Towns those by the coming in of several Ships so that there were no less then Two thousand in Arms for him at Sea with Twenty good Ships and not so litt e as Ten thousand at Land with Horses Arms and Ammunition suitable And which was yet more considerable the Grand * Call'd The Committee of Danger Committee of State in Scotland whose very name carried Danger in it allarm'd them by sending the Propositions following 1. To bring the King to London or some of his Houses near with Freedom and Safety 2. To disband the Army 3. To punish those that had deteined him in Obscurity 4. To restore the Secluded Members 5. To establish the Presbyterian Government and suppress Sectaries And that they might yet appear more like a Committee of Danger they sent a formidable Army under the Conduct of Duke Hamilton to make good their Demands and to give their Nation the Honour of being the last as they were the first in Arms in this unhappy War The terror of these formidable Preparations incourag'd by several Petitions out of the City and Country moved the affrighted Parliament to consent to a Personal Treaty whilst the Army was busie in disputing the Points with the Sword and accordingly they recalâ—'d the Vote of Non-Addresses and sent their Commissioners to wait on the King at the Isle of Wight where he argued so like a Divine with the Divines so like a Lawyer with the Lawyers so like a States-man with their Matchiavillians that they went all away fully satisfied in their belief of his Wisdom Piety and Justice and upon the publishing his Conditions the Houses voted him to be in Honour Freedom and Safety according to the Laws Here seem'd to be nothing wanting now but a Sword in his hand to have once more disputed it with the Sword-men too and then possibly he might have saved himself and the despairing Nation But just as every man was making ready to bring in his Peace-Offering in Confidence that the King and Parliament were fully agreed the inraged Army returning home from the Conquest of all those that had oppos'd them doubly dyed with Blood and Treason alike Enemies to Peace and Reason broke down the great Chain of Order which binds even the Divels themselves and first seizing on him next on them sent no less then Forty of their principal Members to Hell a Place purposely made their Prison not so much for any conveniency of Reception or nearness of Scituation as the Uncoughness of the Name that by the conceipt of being typically damn'd they might bring them into despair and tempt some of them as after they did to become their own Executioners Ninety more they turn'd quite out of the House and appointed a day for turning out all the rest In the mean time they publish'd a Modification which to make the more acceptable they term'd The Agreement of the People by which the number of the Representatives of the Nation was reduc'd to Three hundred half which were to have power to make a Law and during the Intervals of Sessions a Councel of State was to govern This Model was put into the hands of those Members of their own Faction who besides the Confirmation thereof had Instructions given them for passing six other Votes 1. For renewing that of Non-Addresses 2. For annulling the Treaty and Concessions at the Isle of Wight 3. For bringing the King to publick Justice to answer with his own all the Blood shed in the War 4. For summoning in his two Sons the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York to render themselves by a day certain to give satisfaction on their parts otherwise to stand exil'd as Traytors to their Country 5. For doing publick Justice upon all the Kings Partakers 6. For paying off all their own Arrears forthwith How obedient Slaves this Rump of a House were to these their own Servants who could not find in their Heart to pay the least respect to their natural Prince appears by the Sequel For immediately they gave them or rather permitted them to give themselves above Sixty thousand pounds and voted that the General should take care to secure the King and the Councel of war to draw up a Charge of High Treason against him faulâ— Lord faulâ—Faulâ—land Behold the frailty of all humane things How soon great Kingdoms fall much sooner Kings This as it was an Insolence beyond all hope of pardon so nothing could justifie it but such a Violation of all sacred and humane Rights as must not only out-do all Example but out-face all Divinity and Majesty at once by erecting that High Court of Justice as they call'd it to try him as a Rebel against himself Preparatory whereunto they made Proclamation at Westminster-hall Cheapside and the Old Exchange that all that had any thing to say against him should come in at the prefix'd time and be heard And for the greater solemnity of their intended Paricide the Law was silenced that is the Tearm put off for fourteen dayes in order to the better formalizing the disorder that was to follow And now having brought the Royal Prisoner to their Judgment Seat they proceed to arraign him with not unlike Impudence and Impiety to that of the Rascal Jews when they brought the King of Kings to Tryal whom as they charg'd to be a Perverter so these charg'd him with being a Subverter of his People both Prisoners being in this alike Guilty that eithers Crime was the owning himself to be a King which as the Jews could not indure then so neither could these now Their King thought not fit to give any Answer to his Accusers this King preparing to give sitting Answers could not be heard But he had this satisfaction to hear Pontius Bradshaw the President by whom he was to be condemn'd condemn himself first and all his Fellow Paricides by a Reply to him not less absurd then observable For his Majesty reasoning upon the unreasonableness of not being suffer'd to speak for himself said Where is there in all the World that Court in which no Place is left for Reason to which t'other unwittingly reply'd Sir you shall find that this very Court is such an one Nay then retorted the King in vain will my Subjects expect Justice from you who stop your Ears to your King ready to plead his Cause Thus they strangled him before they beheaded him and designing to murther his Soul if possible as well as his Body added to their Denial of Justice so many Contumelies Indignities and Affronts as were enough to have tempted him to despair had not his Faith been as strong
himself of Northumberland Godfrid his younger Brother held Mercia but King Athelstan fell upon both and took from the last his Life from the first his Kingdom which was recovered again not long after by his Son VI. date of accession 946 ANLAFF the Second thereupon esteem'd the third King of the Northumbers His reign was not long for his Subjects weary of continual wars set him besides the Saddle to make way for VII date of accession 950 ERIC the Third or as some call him IRING Son of Harold the Grandson of Gurmo King of Denmark recommended to them by Milcolmb King of Scots but he being elected King of Sweden the Northumbers submitted to Edgar the younger Brother or next in succession to Edwyn and from that time it continued a Member of the English Crown till about the year 980 when VIII date of accession 980 ANLAFF the Third understanding they were affected to his Nation arriv'd with a fresh Supply and making his Claim was admitted King but being over prest the Title came to IX date of accession 1013 SWAIN King of Denmark who made this his first step to the Engâ—ish Throne into which as he was mounting death seiz'd on him and kept the Room empty for his Son Knute DANES Absolute Kings OF ENGLAND I. date of accession 1017 KNUTE was deservedly surnam'd the Great as being the very greatest and most absolute King that ever England or Denmark knew those of the Roman Line only excepted for he was King of England Scotland Ireland Denmark Norway Sweden and Lord of a great part of Poland all Saxony some part and not a little of Brandenburgh Bremen Pomerania and the adjacent Countries most of them not to say all besides Denmark and Norway reduc'd under his Obedience by the valour of the English only upon his death Denmark and Norway fell to his Son Hardycanute the rest as Sweden c. devolv'd upon the right Heirs whilst England was usurp'd by his Natural Son II. date of accession 1036 HAROLD surnam'd Harfager or Golden Locks who being the Elder and having the advantage to be upon the place entred as the first Occupant thereby disappointing his legitimate Brother III. date of accession 1041 KNUTE surnam'd the Hardy design'd by his Father to be the next Successor to him as bearing his Name though upon tryal it appear'd he had the least part of his Nature for he had not the Courage to come over and make any claim as long as Harold liv'd and after his death he drown'd himself in a Land-flood of Wine losing all the Glory his Predecessors had gotten by wading through a sea of blood which made the way to his Throne so slippery that those English that came after him could never find firm footing But upon the very first Encounter with the Norman caught such a Fall that could never recover themselves again This Gurmo came out of Ireland I take it in the second year of King Elfrid not without a confident hope of making good his Predecessors Conquest which had cost already so much blood as made his desire of Rule look like a necessity of Revenge the Monarchy of Denmark it self being put if I may so say into a Palsie or trembling Fit by the loss of the Spirits it had wasted here So that he came with this advantage which those before him had not That the Cause seem'd now to be his Countries more then his own who therefore bore him up with two notable props Esketel and Amon men of great Conduct and known Courage the one of which he plac'd as Vice-Roy in Northumberland t'other in Mercia And having before expelled Burthred the Saxon he fixed himself in East-Anglia as being nearer to correspond with Denmark and most commodious to receive Reâ—ruits Upon his first advance against King Elfrid Fortune appear'd so much a Neuter that either seem'd afraid of other and striking under line preferr'd a dissembled Friendship before down-right Hostility And to shew how much the edge of their Courage was rebated they mutually accorded to divide the Land betwixt them Gurmo was to be Lord of the North and East Elfrid to hold the South and West part of the Isle The politick Dane after this suffered himself to become what the English would have him to be a Christian to the intent that he might be what he would have himself to be absolute changing his Pagan name of Gurmo into that of Athelstan which being of all others the most grateful to the Saxons he render'd himself by that Condescension so acceptable to the whole Nation that they consented to his Marriage with the fam'd Princess Thyra King Elfrids vertuous Sister by whom he had Issue Harold Blaatand that liv'd to be King of Denmark after himself and another Knute whom he left in Ireland to make good the Acquests of the first Gurmo there a Prince of so great hopes and so belov'd by him that the knowledge of his death being slain at the Siege of Dublin gave him his own for he no sooner apprehended the tidings thereof by the sight of his Queens being in mourning but he fell into such a violent fit of Grief as left him not till he left the World whereby the Crown of Denmark fell to his Son Harold the Title and Possession of East-Anglia with its Appurtenances he bequeath'd to his Brother Eric who having perform'd the first Act of Security to himself in having taken an Oath of Allegiance of all his Subjects suffer'd them to perform the last Act of Piety towards him in giving him all the Rites of an honourable Interment at Haddon in Suffolk which place it seems he purposed to make the Burial place of all the East-Anglian Kings But this Ambition of his beginning where it should have ended with a design of assuring to himself more honour after he was dead then he was able to make good whiles he was living ended as soon as it began as will appear by his Story following Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Upon which his Queen frighted with the horrour of their Inhumanity fled back to her Brother Athelstan to seek from his Power Justice Protection and Revenge whiles Anlaff took upon him to be King The Equality of Power as well as of Ambition ripen'd the Factions on both sides very fast by the heat of their Contest But before they came to Maturity there was a Parliament conven'd at Oxford that took the matter into consideration where the Lords fearing that the Question if delay'd might be decided by Swords and not by Words out of a deep sence of the lingring Calamities of a new War all the wounds of the old being not yet cured or at least not so well but that the Scars were yet fresh in many of their Faces they declar'd for the King in possession but with such a wary form of Submission as shew'd they did it rather out of regard to themselves then him whereupon Goodwin produced the deceased Kings Will in opposition to theirs but the
Election of the People to whom that he might appear restor'd as by Divine Providence he appointed the day of his Coronation to be upon the very same day wherein the year before he had been Banished and to hold up the Cheat he was anointed with an Oyl which as 't was pretended was deliver'd to his Father together with this Prophesie That all the Kings that receiv'd their Chrisme from it should be Champions of the Church which as the Legend holds forth coming by chance to the hands of King Richard as he was going for Ireland he would have been anointed therewith had not the Arch-bishop of Canterbury disswaded him from it as not being lawful to be anointed twice however he was resolv'd to intitle himself self so far to the vertue of it as to stile himself Defensor Fidei The only man that withstood this Kings Usurpation and would not be perswaded to swim down the Stream with the rest of the Time-serving Nobility was the bold Bishop of Carlisle who having so frankly discharged himself upon the occasion of Debating in Parliament what should be done with King Richard for as yet they had not taken away his Life though they had taken his Crown and by a Speech as eloquent as pious shew'd what was the Complexion and Face of those Jugling Times and what was expected from what was done and what was done upon the found of the present Expectations I have thought it a respect due to the honour of his singular Merit to set it down expresly as he spoke it to the end the Reader may judge whether he had not Reason enough to justifie his Passion and pity 't was he had not power enough to justifie that Reason when combining with others of the same Judgment to Restore his true Soveraign he gloriously lost himself in the Attempt and with himself the unfortunate King he would have saved The words of his Speech were as followeth My Lords THE matter now propounded is of marvellous weight and consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered the first Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne the second Whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the first How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot do it for the King is Head of the Parliament and can the Body pull down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and so may the King resign It is true but of what Force is that that is done by Force and who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be lawfully out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason for what Conquest without Arms and can a Subject take Arms against his lawful Soveraign and not be Treason if so then whoever Arms against him successfully does it rightfully and what hope of Peace at this rate If you say by Election of State you speak not Reason For what power hath the State to Elect while any is living that hath Right to succeed but such a Successor is not the Earl of Lancaster as descended from Edmund Crouchback the elder Son of Henry the Third put by the Crown for deformity of Body for who knows not the falseness of this Allegation seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the elder Son nor yet Crook-backt though call'd so for some other Reason but a goodly Personage and without any Deformity and your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done * * The Earl of March who it was that in the fourth year of King Richard was declar'd by Parliament to be Heir of the Crown in case King Richard should die without Issue but why then is not that Claim made good because that Inter Arma silent Leges what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But howsoever 't is extream Injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence and what can we Subjects expect when our King is thus abus'd My Lords I have spoken this at this time that you may consider of it before it is too late for as yet 't is in your power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Those last words express'd a Zeal that seem'd to have something of the same effect as that of Lightning which is said to melt the Sword without so much as singeing the Scabard For however no body that heard him appeard to be warm by what he said yet a secret Fire was shot into many of their Breasts that after it came to be thorowly kindled in their Consciences could not be extinguish'd no not with Blood so that they continued their Resentments not for their own Lives only but intail'd the Quarrel upon their Posterity even untill the House of Clarence recover'd their Right in the third Generation after Now as a Clergy-man first declar'd against this King so a Clergy-man first Ingaged against him without considering his holy Unction which made him the great Champion of the Church for however the Church-men are willing that others should belive their Miracles themselves do not this was the politick Abbot of Westminster a great Book-states-man who invited several of the Chief Nobility into a Combination to take away his Life so that Killing no Murther is no Modern Tenet and admitting what he suspected only there might be some reason for it for who would not dispatch an Enemy to God the King and the Church one that therefore had unduly made himself King that he might rob the great King of Kings of his due the ground of this Jealousie was upon certain words utter'd in the Abbots hearing whilst he was Duke of Hereford viz. That Princes had too little and Clergy-men too much upon which he concluded he would be a Persecutor of the Church rather then a Patron Neither it seems was the Abbot only of that Opinion but the Nation in general otherwise the House of Commons would not as they did afterward frame a Bill for setling the Church Lands in the Crown as believing it would be an acceptable Oblation to him Upon which this Abbot and the Bishop before nam'd and five Temporal Lords to wit the Dukes of Exeter Surry and Albemarle and the two Earls of Salisbury and Gloucester with many Knights and Gentlemen their Friends complotted to dispatch him at a publick Just or Tournament to be held at Oxford where they hop'd coming arm'd as the fashion was upon such Occasions they might as easily take him off as the Roman Senate did Caesar neither indeed was the Plot ill laid had not the same Power that set him up protected him against all their Machinations diverting the Destiny upon themselves by such a strange and unexpected discovery as shews that Secresie in Treason signifies nothing unless it could be hid from the All-seeing Eye of
Land was divided into two Armies the one consisting of Two and twenty thousand Foot and One thousand Horse commanded by the Earl of Leicester whose Post was at Tilbury The other consisting of Four and twenty thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse which were the Guard of her Person were Commanded by the Lord Hunsden the Sea-ports being Garrison'd with Twenty thousand old Souldiers who were seconded by the Train'd Bands in the respective Counties where they lay The Guard by Sea consisted of One hundred and forty Ships divided into three Squadrons The two first consisting of Fifty each under the Lord Howard the Admiral and Sir Francis Drake the Vice-Admiral waited the coming of the Enemy in Plymouth Road The last Squadron of Forty Commanded by the Rere-Admiral the Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset rode between Dunkirk and Callais to prevent any Conjunction with the Prince of Parma With this great Body she design'd to shew the World her Grandeur but when she meant to shew her Power she made use but of Fifteen of them Now as it happens oftentimes that great Calmes precede great Storms so the Catholick King hoping to out-wit the Heretick Queen a little before his great Fleet was ready to come forth dissembling a passionate desire of Peace press'd hard for a Treaty but whilst he thought to deceive her he was deceiv'd by her For she to return the trick upon him consented to the Proposal and by the sending her Commissioners to Ostend so possess'd him of the suppos'd Advantage he had gotten by it that it's thought it made him appear a little sooner then he would for before they could enter into the business he was entred into the British Seas and was no less shock'd when he found her in readiness then he expected she should have been if he had taken her unawares This made them resolve rather to make a Chase fight then lye by 't though they had the advantage of the Wind their honour being preserv'd till they came to Callais for that it was suppos'd all the haste they made away tended only to the Conjunction with the Prince of Parma but after they cut their Cables having not the Courage to stay to weigh Anchor and made all the Sail they could to fly from only eight Fire-ships it then plainly appear'd they neither understood their own Strength nor hers But these Ships being the first of that kind that ever were seen we may allow them to be The Wonder that gave Name to that wonderful Year In this great Conflict were lost more then half of the Spanish Fleet of the English only one Ship and that of no great Consideration so that 't was believ'd having sounded the danger of our Dark Seas passing round by the North they had taken their final Leave of England However the Queen was resolv'd not to leave them so but after much mischief done them by several Privateers whom she permitted to go forth upon their own Charge she resolv'd to become her self the Aggressor and repay to him the great dishonour of his Invasion it being an Indignity not to be forgiven by Princes because it cannot be forgotten by their People who can never be discharg'd from the Fears they have of him who has once set upon them till there be some Confront given that may assure them their own Prince is not so weak as the Enemy by seeking him out would have the World believe The Fleet she set forth consisted of One hundred and fifty Sail yet was not call'd the Invincible though it prov'd so being commanded by the Earl of Essex as General at Land and the Lord Howard as General at Sea who setting upon Cales the second time took it and in it all the Wealth that may be imagin'd to be lodg'd in such a Store-house as that is and after having burn'd all the Ships they found there for which they were offer'd Two Millions of Ducats if they would spare them they spoil'd the whole Island and demolish'd all the Forts and did as 't is thought as much Damage as amounted to Twenty Millions of Ducats more To requite which the King of Spain rigg'd up another Navy and mann'd it with Irish Runnagado's but either their Skill or their Courage failed them at least the Winds did not so favour them but that the Expedition came to nought And now when all the Storms at Sea seem'd to have been blown over and past there rose a Cloud at Land which gave the Queen greater apprehensions of danger then ever she had before The French King who was joyn'd with her in a League Offensive and Defensive against Spain and had reap'd this good Effect by it to recover Amiens which the Spaniard had surpriz'd by the help of the English only yeilding to the Importunities of the Pope and his own People made his Peace without her who quitting his Religion at the same time he quit her Friendship 't was believ'd they would all joyn to set upon her at once Hereupon there were great Debates in Councel upon the point of her closing with the Spaniard who seem'd much to desire a Peace Essex the great Idol of the Sword-men was for continuing the War Burleigh who was the great Patron of the Pen-men was for the Peace And it seems they argued the matter so warmly that being scarce able to keep Peace amongst themselves 't was not likely they should obtain it abroad For Essex could not forbear unseemly Reflections upon the old man nor he from retorting them back as sharply who 't is said being more witty in his Anger call'd for a Bible at the Table and shewing him that Verse in the Psalms where 't is said The bloody minded man shall not live out half his dayes gave him grave warning by an ominous Presage of that which follow'd for we know how shortly after he swell'd and burst However the Queen mov'd with like Zeal to Religion as Essex was with hatred to the Spaniard inclin'd to his Opinion whereupon Cecil submitted to her Judgment but pray'd to have the Question put first to the States of Holland her Confederates Whether they would agree to her making Peace and knowing it to be against their Interest so to do he took the Advantage of their Refusal to demand an aid towards the carrying on of the War out of whom by that trick of State he did her this good Service against her will to screw Eight hundred thousand pounds which being to be paid by Thirty thousand pounds yearly for which the Queen had Cautionary Towns given as a Security it look'd so like a Tribute that after their having offer'd her the Soveraignty as they did 't is hard to prove it was not so And now casting up the Accompt betwixt her and the Spaniard who was her greatest and not to say her only Enemy for the Pope however he bore no less hatred to her yet being at that distance as he was he could not come to close