less of them in proportion to the Troops of his own Subjects and this after his full re-settlement on the Throne And not only so but shall deliver up Dover Castle Plymouth and Portsmouth to be Garrisoned by French Soldiers as cautionary Towns for the security of performance Seventhly That in regard of the Situation of the Irish Ports and their conveniency for the French Fleets as also in consideration of the agreement of the Irish with the People of France in Religion He shall after his full restoration to the English and Scotch Kingdoms be obliged to give Ireland to the French King in full compensation of all the Moneys he has already expended or shall expend further in his Quarrel and for vindicating of his right to his Dominions But that however because of the Scituation of the Islands of Sicily and Sardinia in the Mediteranean for the English Navigation and Trade into the Levant the sly Monsieur hath obliged himself to conquer those Kingdoms for the late King at his own Expence and with his own Arms and to give them up entirely to him in lieu of his Kingdom of Ireland Eighthly That still towards the furthering a stricter Friendship and Allyance between the two Nations of England and France and for perpetuating a mutual amity and sincere Correspondence If in case by the Violent or Natural Death either of King William or Prince George of Denmark or both of them one or both of the Princesses Royal shall become Widdows and that their Persons can be seized That then they shall be convey'd with all expedition and secrecy into France and be put into the French King's Power and shall there be Married Nolens Volens to such Prince or Princes as he shall appoint or think fit for them Ninthly That the Eldest or Surviving Issue of such Marriage shall succeed to the Crowns of Ireland and Scotland and England only to remain to the pretended Prince of Wales with the American Plantations Thus My Lord I have now given you the Stipulations so much desired by you I 'le leave your Lordship to descant and make such use of them as your known Wisdom and Ability shall direct for the good of the King and Country and shall reserve some further things which I cannot conveniently Write now and which relate to this subject to another opportunity and in the mean time I am and ever shall remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Faithful Servant Paris Aug. 19. 1689. N. S. LETTER IX Some Reflections upon King James's League with the French King with an account of some further terms agreed upon between them in relation to the English Protestants in Ireland My Lord THis Court is mighty uppish upon the success of the late King James or I may more truly say their own in Ireland which if totally reduced by their conjoint Arms is to be one day their own as appears by the seventh Article stipulated between the two Kings and of which I gave your Lordship an account in my last And 't is not doubted but the Count d' Avaux hath already taken Livery and seisin of it privately in his Majesty's Name And that it is really so I am not only assured of by the said Articles but the same is more then probable by the great care and exactness that is had at Brest and other Ports of the Ocean to keep an account of all the Cloaths Arms Ammunition and Provisions that are shipped off there for Ireland and which according to some of the accounts stated and transmitted hither somewhat whereof I have had the opportunity to have a slight view of are set down at such extravagant rates as if they designed in a short time not only to ballance the account with him for Ireland but to make him considerably their Debter over and above for the carrying on another Game But they may chance to reckon without their Host in this as well as all the rest I pray God keep King William and his Royal Consort and may she and her Royal Sister be never so unhappy as to fall into the French power as your Lordship sees has been again conserted by the Ninth and last Article If ever it should so happen which God of his Mercy avert and that any such Match or Matches shall come to pass and issue come thereof my Friend hath secretly whispered me That then the pretended Prince of Wales is not like to be long liv'd But I still trust all these towering hopes of our Enemies will evaporate into Smoak and that their designs shall have as little Effect upon the lives and fortunes of our true Princes as their contrivances against the Religion and property of their Subjects shall become abortive and fruitless and whom they have agreed upon to treat in the following manner First That all possessors of Lands in Ireland that are of the Protestant Religion and will not turn Papists shall be bound to sell their Estates at a set price to the French King who shall let them out to the old Irish proprietors at certain Quit-rents and services that shall in a reasonable time reimburse him of the purchase Money Secondly But still to shew their good Nature and Lenity it s agreed that all Protestants that will shall have leave freely to depart with their Effects whither soever they please And lastly That such as will stay shall have liberty of Conscience granted them for the space of Twenty Years till the Country shall be fuller stockt with French Catholicks and other Papists I am well satisfied your Lordship will not think these Machinations a matter of nothing but as a good Patriot which you have shewed your self to be in the most Arbitrary times will stir up your self and honest Countrymen to obviate them seasonably which I as heartily wish as I have little reason to doubt it who am My Lord Your faithful and most Obedient Servant Paris Octo. 27. 1689. N. S. LETTER X. Of King James's Army in Ireland and Duke Schomberg's with Cardinal Bouillon's Motion for a Contribution for the support of the former My Lord THE raising of the Siege of London-derry and the landing of the English Army without interruption in Ireland under Duke Schomherg with other successes and advantages are so far from discouraging this Court in their hopes of a speedy conquest of that Kingdom that they have already in the Cabinet vaunted it to be as good as their own and that perhaps they need not stay for another Campaign to re-establish the late King upon the Throne of England and put themselves in an entire possession of the other Kingdom according to the full extent and meaning of the Stipulated Articles which I have formerly transmitted to your Lordship But because Money here is very hard to come by in such a proportion as to answer those vast Expences they are at to carry on the War upon the Continent which must be got at any rate they have resolved to carry on the Irish
day Not that I am able to Name either Person or Place or positive design to your Lordship but sure I am there is a Snake in the Grass and perhaps it will be found some of those from whom was expected most Service and Fidellity will be found to act a counterpart However it be I can assure you that Barillon late Embassador in England from this Crown though he has been forced to quit the Brittish Isle ignominiously enough yet he hath found out a way to leave two if not three Frenchmen of his Train behind to no good end to be sure and I do not question but you will hear more of them without they be secured in time And though it does plainly appear both by the countenance and minutes of this Court that things do not go so trim and glibly with them in England as in former times when they had no more to do than to consult those infallible Oracles the Dutches of Portsmouth and Goodman Peters yet I do not question but it will appear that their Oracles are not quite silenced there I beg your Lordship to pardon this freedom and to entertain a favourable opinion of the sincere intentions of My Lord Your Honours to Serue and Obey Paris June 25. 1689. N. S. LETTER VII A Summary of the Articles concluded on the French King's part for restoring of the Late King James to his lost Dominions My Lord I Can't forbear taking notice to your Lordship tho' I have done it once and again already of the great difficulties I labour under to procure any true and certain intelligence of matters transacted on our side in reference to the Affairs of England And I can as little forbear endeavouring to communicate whatever such intelligence comes into my Hands to your Honour though it be accompanied with such imminent danger as you cannot but be a little sensible off and which I heartily wish none of my Friends may ever have the black apprehensions of how much more your Lordship whom I ever have and shall Love and Honour Wherefore be pleased to receive hereby the heads of those Articles agreed and concluded on the French King's part for the furthering the late King James in the recovery of his abdicated Throne and they are these following First He doth Solemnly promise and engage to assist and promote the late King his dear Brother in his Pretensions with Men Money and all possible force both by Sea and Land and firmly resolves never to lay down his Arms or be at Peace with his Enemies till such time as his said Brother shall be remounted on the English Throne and be peaceable possessor of the same Secondly That till such time as the foresaid Article should be put in full Execution and thoroughly accomplished he hath obliged himself to support him the late King and all his other dependants in his Kingdom of France or elsewhere with all suitable grandeur and dignity Thirdly That he should with utmost expedition and application assist him with a competent number of Forces by Land and a sufficient Navy by Sea towards the reducing under his Obedience the hostile part of the Kingdom of Ireland and not desist till the same were entirely recovered unto him And after that it were so reduced and subjected by their conjoint Arms the late King should be in possession of it till such time as he shall be in full possession of the English Throne but no longer But how to unravel the later Clause of this Article at present is beyond my skill and so I will leave it Fourthly He hath also over and above the preceding Engagements promised to give him all the assistances necessary from time to time both by Sea and Land for the recovery of England and Scotland unto him when he shall arrive in one or either of the said Kingdoms in Person and in the mean time hath engaged to be aiding and assisting to his party in either of the two Nations as time and occasion should serve My Lord I do question but you would be highly satisfyed to have a view of the Stipulations on the late King's part to his Gallick Majesty and I hope your Lordship has Entertained such an Opinion of me as to think my satisfaction can be no less in being able to gratify your Honours Curiosity upon this head which I shall not fail to endeavour to do and heartily wish an accomplishment of in my next who am My Lord With all due Observance Your Honours most Obedient and Devoted Ser. St. Germ. July 31. 1689. N. S. LETTER VIII Articles stipulated on King James's his part for the giving up Ireland c. to the French upon his recovery of England and Scotland My Lord THat your Lordship has safely received my last I have had some intimations of by my friend from I earnestly wish for the like success to this and your speedy receipt of it seeing it hath so luckily fallen out with me that the purport of it contains what I cannot but flatter my self will redound much to your Honours satisfaction I mean the Articles stipulated on the late King's part to the French King of which I gave an hint in my last though I could not then as much as hope with any tollerable confidence of being so soon able to procure them First then The late King hath agreed in consideration of the French King's assistances as mentioned in my last and as soon as he shall be restored and fully resetled in his Dominions and not before that he may not give any umbrage to the English to quit all manner of claim to the Title or Arms of France and take effectual care to put the same out of the Royal English Escutcheon Secondly That he shall entirely quit and resign up the soveraignty of the narrow Seas to the French and that to that purpose he shall give orders to his Ships of War c. to strike to the French Flags Thirdly That he shall be obliged to assist him the French King with thirty Capital Ships of War and Twenty Thousand Land-men in any War when he shall have occasion for them and this at his own proper cost and charges Fourthly That he shall make or enter into no allyance against France nor to any other without the French King's Privity and Consent but unfeignedly observe a perpetual League both Offensive and Defensive with the Crown of France Fifthly That he shall permit unto the French King at all times and occasions the free use of all his Ports for the retreat of his Ships and be obliged to furnish him then and there with proper Conveniences and able Workmen to repair his endamaged Ships or to build new ones when soever he shall require it Sixthly That he shall admit into his standing forces whose number and strength shall from time to time be limitted and regulated by him in concert with the French King a constant Body of Twenty Thousand French and Ten Thousand Catholick Switzers or more or
the Dirt and Mire and at last threw them into the Flames The Bells were rung in several Parishes the great Guns roared from the Bastile and in short for compleating the farce nothing was omitted which was usually done upon the most solemn occasions neither was this rejoycing confined to the narrow bounds of one day but lasted several Neither could the publick news from Holland and other parts that expresly imported the contrary make them abate one jot of their vain credulity nay the questioning the truth of it was almost a crime unpardonable And because nothing should be omitted to enforce the belief of it upon all that seemed in the least dubious the Opinions of the learned Physicians who I must tell your Lordship did not want practice upon this occasion were hotly urged for it and who for the most part mercenarily agreed to resolve their patient's Questions in the affirmative viz. That the wound of a Cannon Bullet was mortal from whence it was inferred as a natural consequence that because King William had received such a wound he must of necessity be dead of it Nothing could be more vain and frivolous than to tell them of the number of People that have had their Leggs and their Arms shot off by a Cannon Bullet and yet have lived in a good state of Health for a long time after for to this it was readily answered That all that was alledged upon that head was formerly true enough but that now Chirurgery was quite another thing and from that time forward whoever was but touched with a Cannon Bullet though the skin were but only a little rased was condemned to die Strange is the effect of prejudice my Lord and how easily do Men believe what they would have to be so but I shall not detain your Lordship any longer with so ridiculous a Narration though I question not your kind acceptance of it from My Lord Your Honours devoted and most faithful Servant Paris Aug. 10. 1690. N. S. POSTSCRIPT Just now there is a report spread up and down that the late King is to go forthwith on board the French Fleet and to endeavour to land in England where they are very confident to find a very considerable party that will declare for his interest but whether there be any such design in reallity I cannot yet penetrate into I am My Lord Yours c. LETTER XVI The French Court mightily concerned at the Proceedings of the Duke of Savoy and his declaring for the Confederates yet try one stratagem more to bring him to their side My Lord I Do not find notwithstanding whatever I subjoined in my last to your Lordship of a Descent or some such thing upon England that the same is any more talked of but generally concluded to be at this instant impracticable neither do the affairs of Britain seemingly half so much perplex this Court as those of Savoy at this Juncture I do not doubt but your Lordship may have heard of many attempts made by them to keep the Duke from falling in with the interests of the Confederates and especially that of the King of England but the last and sliest Effort of all is what but few know and an account thereof I know cannot but be pleasing to your Lordship now I have nothing more material to inform you of Monsieur de Croissi as I suppose your Lordship knows very well being the grand Minister of State in this Country for Forreign Affaiâ—s finding by his secret intelligence that the Duke of Savoy had declared for the Confederates hastened to give the King an account of it whereupon two of the Duke's Ministers were somewhat confined but after a little consultation upon the matter the King thought it advisable to give his subtil Minister orders to confer with the said Embassadors once more yet so to order it that it might not look like a formall conference or a thing concerted before hand Croissi ordered his matters so well that he met them one day in the street when he told them that he wondered he never could see them that Madam de Croissi had thought they would have come and drink a dish of Coffee with her to which purpose he would invite them to his House at such an Hour The Ministers to be complaisant and being not accustomed to deny Ladies such Civilities willingly accepted his offers and promised to wait upon the Lady at the hour appointed which they did accordingly and the Venetian Embassador who had the word given him meet there also but made as if it had been by meer accident After they had discoursed of several things too and fro by the bye the Venetian Minister very dexterously turned the discourse into the Battle of Fleuri and the Engagement at Sea against the English and Dutch Fleets and so took occasion to aggravate to the utmost of his Eloquence the advantages which his most Christian Majesty had reaped thereby and to lessen at the same time as much as he could the power of the Confederates From thence passing forward to the affairs of Italy he laboured to shew how difficult a task it was for the Spaniard to resist the Arms of the most Christian King and laid the chief stress of his Arguments upon the pressing desire which both the Pope and the Venetians had to prevent the fire of War from flaming over the Alps and so take hold of all Italy To all which decoying Discourse Monsieur de Croissi said no more but only so much as he adjudged necessary to shew the Venetian Embassador spoke nothing but what was true for fear least the Savoyards would have occasion to discover the concertship between them and that the Venetian said nothing but what the Monsieur put into his Mouth However it seems the Savoyards were not so stupid but that they apprehended quickly a good part of the Truth And therefore being unwilling to engage themselves in long disputes to no purpose they thought it sufficient to answer once for all that the Duke their Master had made choice of his side and that no consideration whatsoever could oblige him to fail in his promises to his imperial Majesty King of Spain and the rest of the Confederates And if the Court are so highly perplext for the ill success they have had upon the Duke and his Ministers the common Vogue is they are not a whit less at Monsieur Tourville's Conduct after his Sea Victory that he has made no more improvement of it but I can say nothing positively upon this head and therefore shall only subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and Faithful Servant Paris Sept. 1. 1690. N. S. LETTER XVII Of close designs hatched in France of Monsieur de Tourville and the rumour of his being disgraced for his Conduct and of the reports concerning the Dauphins's marrying again My Lord NEver were frequenter Consults held than at this time here both as to the Sea and Land Affairs and the King's time is
was so put to it that he was forced to flee out of Edenburg to save his own life whereupon he enters into a Confederacy with his Friends for his own security which together with some Depredations made in the Lord Ferres Lands by some of the Earls Tenants without redress from him upon Complaint made thereof enraged the King to an high degree against him But sore disorders still increasing through the Earls not punishing of the offenders at last Ferres makes an inroad by way of reprisal into his Lands was taken and by the Earls command was put to Death tho' the King by an Herault commanded the contrary so that upon serious Deliberation the King finding his power unsufficient for curbing him had no other way left than to send to him in a most Courteous manner to come to him who was then in Sterling Castle The Earl apprehensive of some design upon his Person refused without he had an assurance of safe Conduct under the Kings great Seal which being Granted he came and was received with a great semblance of good Will by the King who toâ—k him into a Room by themselves and there after some other Admonitions expostulated with him about the Confederâ—cy he had entred into with the Earl of Crawford and others and would have urged him to forsake the same Alledging it was no ways Honourable for him but hurtfull and tho' he took it very ill at his hands yet he allowed him the Liberty to disâ—null it tho' himself had full power to command it Dowglass was very obsequious in all things 'till this business of the League came in Question whereunto he did not Answer distinctly but would have put it off 'till he had discoursed with his Confederates thereupon neither could he well see at present what could be in that League which could be offensive to the King that he should insist so much upon his breaking of it whereupon the King who it's likely had already determined to commit the perjur'd Fact tho' his flattering Courtiers would have his displeasure only to arise from the Earls present stubborness said if you will not I will break it and without any more ado struck him with his Dagger in his breast those that stood at the Door hearing the bustle rushed in and dispatched him by many wounds His Brethren and Kindred being at first surprized and then exasperated at the horridness of the Fact and the faithless proceedings of the King towards the Earl flew to their Arms and made no less than a Civil War of it which was waged between the King and them with various Fortunes at last the King prevailed which brought great Destruction and Calamity upon that Noble Family of the Dowglasses And then it was that King James began to Reign as the Historian says their greatness having been hitherto a Check upon him But his Civil broils were scarce ended when he was brought to engage in the fatal controversy which happened in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster He at first sided with King Henry VI against Richard Duke of York but afterward faced about Upon the Duke's promise that Cumberland and other Lands should be restored unto him that had been in the possession of his Ancestors if the Duke prevailed and so assisted the Yorkians having therefore raised an Army as he was entering into England he was for a time diverted cunningly by an English Gentleman who took upon him to be the Pope's Nuncio His Speech Habit and Retinue were perfectly Italian and to make the matter more plausible with the Cloak of Religion he had a Monk along with him and so with the Popes Counterfeit Letters they approached to the King and charged him to proceed on no farther and threatned him if he did to curse him For that the Pope to the end the War might be carried on against the Common Enemy of Christianity with greater vigor having now Composed all differences in Europe was set upon Accommodating this matter in Britain That they indeed were sent before to preadmonish him but that another Legate would quickly follow with an Ample power to Compose the Civils Discords in England and to procure satisfaction for the injuries sustained by the Scots This bait took him and so he Disbanded his Army But alas nothing could divert this Prince's now impending Fate for being soon after advertised of the trick put upon him by the foresaid Counterfeit Nuncio he re-assembles his Army and because he could not directly Joyn with York's Forces He marches to the Siege of Roxborough and having quickly master'd the Town lays close Seige to the Castle which made a brave defence The Duke and his Companions having in the mean time prevailed sent to give King James thanks for his Assistance desire him now things were amicably terminated to return home least the English being incensed they should be forced to march against the Scotch Army The King having received the Message asked those that brought it whether the Duke of York and his Friends said any thing in relation to the promises they had made when he came into their Assistance but finding no satisfaction in that point he proceeds with great Fury to assault the Castle and Batters the Walls with Cannon which began then to be much used as they were much dreaded and being very forward and intent upon his work one of his Guns being over-charged burst and a slice thereof struck the King dead to the ground and hurt no other besides himself a strang fatality that brought him to his end when he had lived twenty nine Years and of them Reigned twenty four Anno. 146â— He left three Sons behind him James that Succeeded him Alexander Duke of Albany and John Earl of Mar who were a plague to one another while alive and not one of them died a natural death as we shall shew in its proper place James III. a Minor of seven Years old as his Father before him came to the Crown and at first fell under the Care and Regency of his Mother as did the whole Kingdom a Woman after the decease of her Husband James II. that lead a Scandalous life keeping one Adam Hepborn who was himself a Married Man for her Gallant but death put an end to her Lewdness and Government together about three Years after Then he came into the hands of the Boyds who Ruled the roast for a long time but at last made a fatal Catastrophe he took to Wife Margaret Daughter to the King of Denmark and Norway Anno. 1469. And about this time began to Exercise the Royal power himself He involved himself at first with the Affairs of the Church and not long after became miserably enslaved with the predictions of Astrologers and Witches to which he was strangely addicted and which brought not only destruction upon his kindred but also at last upon himself which we shall now prosecute as they fell out in order He was on a time it seems informed by some
aid at hand had set themselves in array at the Bridge of the River Aven which is about a mile from Linlithgow and placed a small Guard upon the Bridge to secure the Pass and drew up the rest of their Forces at the brow of the Hiâ—â— which they knew the Enemy must pass Lennox seeing that this passage over the Bridge was stopped Commanded his Men to pass over a small River a little above by the Nunnery called Manuell and so to beat the Hamiltonians from the Hills before Dowglass's Forces had joyned them The Lennoxians advanced towards the Enemy thorough thick and thin but were much incommoded by the others throwing of Stones down the Hills upon them and when they came to handy strokes the word was given that the Dowglasses were at hand and indeed they from their march ran in hastily into the Fight and soon carried the Day so that Lennox's Men were grievously wounded and put to flight The Victory was used by the Hamiltonians with much cruelty and among the Number of the slain was the Earl of Lennox himself highly lamented by all Persons and more especially by the King himself who now saw no visible hopes of ever retrieving his Liberty and could not choose but see how fatal his presence was to all that attempted it Now the Dowglasses are Lords paramount and carry all before them those that had taken up Arms against their King as they phrased it for fear of a Tryal were forced to compound with them for money or to put themselves into the Clanships of the Hamiltons or themselves and such as refused they utterly ruined yea and the Queen her self thought fit to retire to a place of Secrecy least she should fall into the hands of her Husband whom she hated But fury abating with time and the Dowglasses being severally intent upon other matters and concerns and secure as they thought as to the Kings Departure from them gave him at last an opportunity to gain his Liberty which all the former attempts of his Friends could not effect for him They believed now that his mind was fully Reconciled to them by those Blandishments and Immoderate Pleasures they had indulged him in and besides thought that if he were minded to remove there was no faction strong enough to oppose them neither was there any strong Garrison whither to retire but only to Sterling Castle which was allotted to the Queen for her Habitation And then it was deserted for a time by the Queens Officers when she hid her self for fear of the Dowglasses and when the tumult was a little appeased 't was somewhat Fortified but rather for a shew then any real defence The King having obtained some small relaxation saw that this must be his only refuge and and therefore he deals privately with his Mother to exchange that Castle and the Lands adjoining for other Lands as convenient for her and providing all other requisites as private as he could the Dowglasses not being so intent as formerly in their watch over him he retired by night with a small retinue from Falkland to Sterling whither he soon sent for some of the Nobles to come to him and others hearing the News came of their own accord so that now he seemed sufficiently secured against all force Then he issued out a Proclamation that the Dowglasses should abstain from all the Administration of publick affairs and that none of their Dependants should come within 12 miles of the Court upon pain of Death This Proclamation was quickly seconded with an Assembly of the Nobles at Edenburg where they had such Terms offered them as they would not accept whereupon their Offices were taken from them and themselves Summoned to attend the Parliament at Edenburg But they knowing the danger Endeavoured to seise upon Edenburg and dissolve the Parliament but failed in the attempt So that thâ— Earl of Angus retired to his Castle of Tanâ—allon and the Parliament proceeded in their business and the Earl with his Brothers Relations and intimate Friends were out Lawed They on the other hand being enraged at these proceedings and seeing all hopes of Pardon cut off betook themsâ—lves to open force and Committed all sorts of Outrages upon the Lands of their Enemies and with their Horse advanced many times to the very Gates of Edenburg so that the City was almost besieged by them The King thinking to unroost them all at once raises Forces and lays siege to Tantallon Castle but all that ever he could do could not take it At length the Dowglasses finding the Hamiltons and the rest of their Friends fail them found it necessary to retire for their better safety into England from whence came Ambassadors shortly after about settling a firm Peace between both Kingdoms and with the same labour to procure the Restitution of the Dowglasses King James was mighty desirous to have Tantallon Castle in his Power and at the same time his mind as averse to the Restoration of the Dowglasses and for that reason the matter was convassed too and fro for some Days and no temper of Accommodation could be found out But at length they came to this That Tantallon Castle should be surrendered to K. James a Truce between both Nations for five Years and the other demands in referrence to the Dowglasses he promised to grant under his Signet When the Castle was surrendered according to Composition the King failed of his Royal Word and not one of the Dowglasses were permitted to return which was foul prevarication in him and a stain that will not easily be blotted off his Memory seeing this was a principal matter in the Agreement and the Equivalent for the Castle The Truce about half expired was infringed by a War between both Nations which the French Ambassador endeavoured to compose and about the same time James transacts with the French King and afterward with the Emperor about a Match which was like to endanger his life For the Hamiltons almost confident of the Succession yet looking upon it a long way about to stay either for Fortuitous or Natural dangers to befall him and fearfull in case he married he might have Lawfull Issue of his own studied to hasten his Death by Treachery a fair opportunity was offered them to effect it by his Night-walkings to his Misses having but one or two in Company but however it were they ne'er could put their purpose in Execution The Emperor's offers were rejected and at last he went over himself into France to seek him a Wife and brings over along with him Magdelen Daughter to Francis the French King but she died soon after and had no issue The Death of Magdalen did but whet his desires to get him another Wife and to that End he dispatched Cardinal David Beaton and others into France to treat of a Match between himself and Mary of the House of Guise Widdow to the Duke of Longeville by whom he had two Sons and a Daughter of whom you 'll hear by
him hopes that she would for ever after commit her self to her Nobles hereupon the Guards were slackened tho' many thought that her Clemency did presage no good to the publick for she gathered together the Soldiers of her old Guard and went through a back Gate by night with George Seaton who attended upon her with 800 Horse first to his own Castle then to Dumbar She also carried the King along with her who for fear of his Life was forced to Obey When she came thither she hastned to gather Forces together and pretending a Reconciliation with those that were lately returned from Banishment she turned her fury upon the Slayers of David and put out a severe Proclamation against them many of them that were accused were Banished some to one place and some to another some were Fined but they that were most Innocent and therefore thought themselves most secure were put to Death but the principal Contrivers of the Fact were fled some to England and others to the Highlands And such as were least suspected to have an hand in it were dispossest of their Offices and Imployments and their Enemies put into their Places and to colour her rigorous Proceedings against the rest a Proclamation was made by an Herauld in such a publick sorrow not without Laughter that no man should say the King had any hand in or was privy to David's Slaughter but what was stranger than all the rest was That she caused David's Body which was Buried before the Door of a Neighbour Church to be removed in the night and placed in the Sepulchre of the late King and his Children which gave occasion to ill-favoured Reports for the blemishing of her Honour for what greater Confession of Adultery with him could she well make than as far as she was able to equal such an obscure Fellow who was neither well brought up nor had deserved well of the publick in his last Funerals with her Father and Brothers And to increase the Indignity of the thing she put the Varlet almost in the Arms of Magdalen de Valois the late Queen As for her Husband she threatned him and obliquely in her Discourses scoff'd at him doing her utmost endeavour to take away all Power from him and to render him as contemptible as she could But the time of her Delivery now drawing nigh she was Reconciled to the Earls of Murray and Argyle and retir'd to Edinburg-Castle where on the 19th day of June 1566. a little after 9 in the morning she was brought to Bed of a Son afterward called James the Sixth of Scotland and the First of Great Britain After her Delivery she received all other Visitants with kindness enough suitable to the occasion of a publick Joy but her Husband to whom she should have been most kind but his presence was disdained and his company unacceptable And now the Earl of Bothwell is the Man 't is he that managed all Affairs and the Queen was so inclined to him that she would have it understood no suit would be obtain'd from her but by his Mediation and as if she were afraid her favour to him were but mean and not sufficiently known she took on a certain day one or two with her and went down to the Haven called New-Haven and her Attendance not knowing whether she intended she went a-board a small Vessel prepared there for her by some of Bothwell's Creatures who were Pyrates of known Rapacy with this Guard of Robbers she ventured to Sea to the Admiration of all good Men taking none of her honest Servants along with her and Landed at Allâ—way a Castle of the Earl of Mar's where she demoan'd her self for some time saith Buchanâ—n as if she had forgot not only the Dignity of a Queen but even the Modesty of a Matron but these Joys will one Day turn sharp and sower The Poor King when he heard of her Departure followed her by Land as fast as he could his Designs and Hopes being to be with her and so enjoy Conjugal Society as Man and Wife but â—e as an importunate disturber of her Pleasures was bid to go back from whence he came and had hardly time allowed him for his Servants to refresh themselves A few Days after when she returned to Edenburgh she would not go into her own Pallace but took up her Lodgings where the Annual Convention called the Exchequer Court was then held for it seems David Chalmers a Creature of Bothwell's had a House near it whose back Door was Contiguous to the Queen's Garden through which Bothwell might pass in and out to her at his pleasure and the King in the mean time finding no place for favour and being tired with impeads retired after her in discontent a while after the Queen went to Jedburgh to hold a Convention and Bothwell in some time to Liddisdail where he was wounded by a High-way-Pad and so was carryed to Hermitage Castle in great danger of his Life but when the News was brought thereof to the Queen then at Barthwick thô the Winter was very sharp yet she flew in hast first to Malrose then to Jedburgh and thô she received certain Intelligence there that Bothwell was alive yet being impatient of any delay and not able to forbear tho' in such a bad time of the Year notwithstanding the Difficulty of the way and the Danger of Robbery she put her self on her Journey with such an Attendance as hardly any honest Man tho' he were but of a mean Condition would trust his Life and Fortune to From thence she returned again to Jedburg and made great and diligent Preparation that Bothwell should be brought thither but here it was that she fell into a sore and most dangerous Sickness so as no body expected she would have lived but she recovered it being designed for a worse Fate when the King heard of her Illness he posted to Jedburgh both to give her a Visit and to testifie his observance by all the good Offices he could do and also to incline her to a better course of Life hoping she might now repent for what she had done as Persons in great danger are wont to do But she on the contrary gave him not the least Sign of a reconciled Mind but gave a Charge that no body should rise up nor Salute him as he came in or to give him any Entertainment so much as for one Night but at the same time suspecting the Disposition of the Earl of Murray as courteous and civil tampered with his Wife to make hast now to fain her self Sick and go immediatly to Bed that so under colour of that Sickness the King might be excluded from thence yea she made it her business to enforce him to be gone for want of Lodging which he had plainly been necessitated to do had it not been for one of the Family of the Humes who for very shame pretended a sudden cause for his departure and so left his Lodgings free for the King
Narration of Conjectures and Opinions but content my self to inform you as the observation of a person that 's my Friend who has for many Years been very critical and exact to pry into the Court-Conduct and has not had the least opportunity so to do that the Dauphiness at first had been so well received by the King that some malignant Spirits made it their publick Discourse But that a terward meeting with a colder entertainment when they saw it impossible to engage the Duke of Bavaria her Brother to the interest of the Crown of France the Princess her self became so sensible of the change that she grew sad and melancholy upon it till now at length Death it self has put a final period to her grief as I am forced to do to this letter through a pressing occasion who am My Lord Your Lordships most Humble and most devoted Serv. Paris April 28. 1690. N. S. LETTER XIV An exact Account of the number and strength of the French Fleet in 1690 with some intimations of a Conspiracy formed against the Government at the same time My Lord I Cannot but express my great Sorrow to find that many things that relate to the English Affairs and which should be managed in the Cabinet and only known by the Execution of them are so common in most Mens Mouths on this side There must be false Friends some where and who knows but they are the very Men who would possess the Government that the Enemy is not so formidable as is given out But I cannot believe your Lordship to be among the number of those incredulous ones tho' I am confident you 'l find it an hard task to convince those who should concern themselves of their imminent danger This Court seems long since fully to be satisfyed of the King's intention to go for Ireland and that much of his time and thoughts have been taken up for the work that lies before him there and therefore they are more busy here than ever in projecting methods and carrying on designs to allarm England in his absence I heartily wish your Out-works may be firm and strong they are likely to be attacked by a formidable power from without and I do not question but there are attempts formed within to second the same it being in a manner a common Discourse here And this I can firmly assure your Lordship of that several English Men who were some time ago about the Court and this City are all of a sudden disappeared but have since rendevouz'd at Brest with a full design to Embark on Board the Fleet which whatever Men may flatter themselves in England with is very formidable and very near ready to put out to Sea having its full complement of Mariners with an additional number of Landmen which are not sent there without some considerable design in view I am confident some men in England would laugh me to scorn should I tell them that the French Fleet is composed of Fourscore and two great Men of War Forty Frigats Thirty Fireships and Fifteen Gallies but your Lordship I hope will have a better Opinion of my Sincerity than to think I would any ways impose upon you That this formidable Fleet is designed for the English Coast is not doubted but as to any particular management all that ever I could learn is that an attempt will perhaps be made during the King's being in Ireland to raise a Mutiny and that in the Interim King James is to leave the command of his Army to Lauzun and Tirconnell and to hasten with all speed into England to favour which part of the French Fleet is to block up the River of Thames another part in conjunction with the Gallies are to land the Men on board somewhere in the West and such spare Arms as they have with them which is thought to be a great Number and when this is done they are to set sail for the Irish Coast to hinder King William and his Forces from returning Now my Lord I confess I do not think all these things practicable but there must be something more than ordinary in the Wind and you cannot be too cautious There are various other discourses that pass up and down continually concerning this grand Expedition which I shall not trouble your Lordship with as being meer conjectures and therefore I conclude only with subscribing my self as I am unfeignedly and so shall remain My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Faithful and Obedient Servant Paris June 2d 1690. N. S. LETTER XV. Of the late King James his arrival in France out of Ireland and of an uncertain report raised of King William's Death occasioning much ridiculous Mirth and Bon-fires at Paris c. My Lord THat the Arms of this Country have lately prevailed in two great conflicts the one by Sea and the other by Land is sufficiently known here by the publick rejoycings that have been made for both in all parts of the Kingdom and I cannot sufficiently express to your Lordship the Agony I have been under especially when I heard of the defeat by Sea but the arrival of the late King some days ago at St. Germans hath cheered up my drooping Spirits wonderfully again It s universally agreed here that King william has had the better of him though the defeat is minced very much at Court who thereupon foreseeing that it would be a matter of much enquiry and seem no less than a paradox among the people that he should quit Ireland so soon where his presence must have been absolutely necessary for the heartning of his foiled party they have given a reason for his retirement so ridiculous that let them believe it who will I think I shall not yet and I am sure your Lordship will not and that is that Monsieur Lauzun had in a manner constrained him to withdraw himself into France because his extraordinary courage caused him to expose himself like a common Soldier even to so much danger that it had like to have cost him his life And if the foresaid reason was so very ridiculous I am sure your Lordship will not think the rejoycings made in this City upon the groundless report of a Lacque of the Kings who got out of Ireland a few days after his Master to be less so For upon his Arrival he was pleased to acquaint the Court that Duke Schomberg was not only killed but King William dead also which good News as they call it was of that importance that it was glibly swallowed down and the proof thereof never enquired into and the News happening about Mid-night to come into the City the Commissaries immediately ran up and down the Streets knocking up the People and crying out to them Rise Rise make Bonfires So that in about an hours time all Paris was in a Blaze and nothing to be heard there but Hautboys Drums and Trumpets Not content with this the Rabble made the Effigies of King William and Queen Mary dragged them through
severe Account by an Armed Power from the King they chose one Mackdonald for their Captain who readily enough embraced the Command and shortly after routed some Troops sent against them under the Conduct of a Nobleman whom they took Prisoner and afterwards slew with which Success they were not a little elated and flushed Hereupon the King call'd a Council to consult what to do among whom Mackbeth so famed upon the Stage was one who exclaiming much against the Precariousness of the Government and the mistaken Lenity of the King towards notorious Offenders did notwithstanding promise that if they were pleased to leave that Affair to his and Bancho's Management he did not doubt but in a very short time to give a good account of the Rebels Hereupon he and Bancho were joyn'd in Commission to go against them and in some time set out with a Body of Men towards Lochquaber The fame of whose Approach struck the Enemy with such a panick Fear that they dispersed in great Numbers leaving their Captain Mackdonald almost destitute who notwithstanding with the small Remains he had left with him adventurously gave them Battle but being routed he fled for Refuge to an adjacent Castle and finding himself environn'd by his Enemies on all sides and no way left for his Escape he first slew his Wife and Children and then laid violent Hands upon himself to prevent as he dreaded a severer Punishment This Rebellion being thus happily supprest by the good Conduct and Managment of Mackbeth and Bancho another more dangerous Storm did upon the Neck of it threaten Scotland for Sweno King of Norway landed at Fife with a puissant Army designing no less than to make an entire Conquest of the Kingdom of Scotland Duncane to obviate as much as might be the Intentions of the Enemy raises Forces with utmost Diligence and next to himself entrusted the Command of them with the two aforesaid Chieftains Mackbeth and Bancho who had but a little while before done him signal Service against his Rebellious Subjects Near Calrose the two Armies engaged and fought for a considerable time with incredible obstinacy but at last the Danes prevailed and the Scots were totally routed and Duncane fled to the Castle of Bertha which Sweno laid close siege to forthwith Mackbeth in the mean time rallies and raises more Forces to whom the King by the Advice of Bancho sent word that he should not march to his Relief till he had further Orders The King in the interim entertains a feigned Treaty of Surrender with Sweno and to elude the Matter yet further sent his Army as a Donative some Provisions of Ale and Bread out of the Castle but had first mixt both with the Juice of Banewort a noxious Herb which did so intoxicate the Danish Soldiers who feasted greedily thereon that they generally fell all fast asleep upon which Mackbeth had Orders sent him to march up without delay and fall upon them which he did with that success that the whole Army was slain save the King and about ten Men more who with great difficulty fled to their Ships But the Rejoycings made for this Victory were scarce cold when another Danish Army sent by Canutus to the assistance of Sweno landed at Kingcorn which were also encountred by Mackbeth and Bancho and utterly routed Some time after this as Buchanan Boethius and other Scotch Writers relate tho' in a different manner As Mackbeth and Bancho without any other Company were agoing to a place called Fores where the King then resided it fortuned that they met three Women upon the Road of a very strange Aspect and Habit one of them saluted Mackbeth Thane of Angus another of Murrey and the third King of Scotland with which kind of Salutation they were both very much surpriz'd and Bancho said to the Women why so unkind to me as to bestow nothing upon me when you have assigned to my Companion not only high Preferments but even the Kingdom of Scotland Nay but reply'd the first of them we have greater Favours in store for thee he shall reign indeed but with an unhappy end and leave none of his Posterity to inherit the Crown but of thee shall those be born who shall govern the Scotch Nation by a long Succession of continued descent And this I take to be the Ground of Dr. Heylin's saying in his Scotia that it was strangely foretold this Bancho above three hundred Years before it began to be fulfill'd that he indeed should not be King but that out of his Loyns should come a Race of Kings that should for ever rule Scotland This Apparition for so it was afterwards interpreted made at first no great Impressions on the Spirits either of the one or the other so as that they made no other use of it than to jear one another ever and anon therewith Bancho frequently calling Mackbeth by way of ridicule King of Scotland and the other as often entertaining him with the Appellation of Father of many Kings till such time which happened not long after that the Thane of one of the foresaid places being condemned and executed for Treason Mackbeth was bountifully invested by the King in all his Lands Livings and Offices which being interpreted by him as a favourable Presage and as it were a Praeludium towards the Accomplishment of the foresaid Prediction concerning him it raised his Hopes mightily and he begins to set all his Wits on work and to imploy all his Engines among whom Bancho was chief who gave him all the Assistance he could in his bloody Designs for to attain to the Crown which not long after by a barbarous Parricide for a good King is Father of his Country he accomplish'd having slain the King at Inverness or as others write at Botgosvane in the sixth Year of his Reign and so was forthwith crowned at Scone Mackbeth to ingratiate himself with the People without which no Government tho' never so just can long subsist gets several good and wholsome Laws enacted for the publick Weal But this was an effect rather of Policy than any natural Disposition and good Genius in him as did afterwards appear and as Tyrants are always uneasie he was never without dreadful Apprehensions that he should be served the same sawce himself as he had done by his Predecessor and the Prediction foremention'd did not a little contribute thereunto especially that part of it that referr'd to the posterity of Bancho's attaining in time to the possession of the Diadem And as nothing is more terrible to a wicked Usurper than the Thoughts of a Successor especially without his own Line former Confederacies for the attainment of the Supream Power being now disregarded and quite effaced with the Cares to secure it for indeed there is but little Faithfulness to be expected from Associates in Villany be their mutual Engagements never so solemn he makes it his whole business to cut off Bancho who had been so instrumental to advance him
that our History may appear to be all of a piece and void of Breaks as much as may be Walter therefore had a Son named Alane who as they say follow'd Godfrey of Bullogn into the Holy Land in the Year 1099. Alexander was his Son who begat Walter Stuart he had Issue Alexander whose Son was John the Father of Walter Stuart that marry'd the Daughter of King Robert Bruce and begat on her Robert Stuart call'd in the Scotch Chronology Robert the second King of Scotland but he was the first Stuart that was advanced to the Throne of that Kingdom But before we can fairly come to give you an exact Account hereof it will be necessary to premise a short Scheme of the Contests between the said Baliol and Bruce because somewhat interwoven with the Affair of this Family Upon the disastrous death of Alexander the Third who broke his Neck as he was gallopping his Horse at Kingcorn over the West-clift of the place near the Sea-side and left no Issue but had only a Grand-child by his Daughter in Norway very young and who died soon after Scotland fell under an Interregnum for the space of six Years and nine Months as Buchanan computes it for so long it was between the Death of Alexander and the declaring of John Baliol King of Scotland and in the mean time you may be sure there wanted not Pretensions to the Crown and the case briefly was thus William King of Scotland had a Brother named David Earl of Huntington and great Uncle to this Alexander the III. which David had three Daughters Margaret marry'd to Allan Lord of Gallaway Isabel to Robert Bruce Lord Annadale and Cleveland and Adda to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington now Allane begat on his Wife Margaret a Daughter named Dornadilla marry'd in process of time to John Baliol after King of Scotland and two other Daughters Bruce by his Wife Isabel had Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick as having married the Inheritrix thereof but as for Huntington he laid no manner of Claim Now the question was whether Baliol in right of the eldest Daughter or Robert Bruce being descended of the second but a Male should have the Crown he being in the same Degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversie was tossed up and down by the Governors and Nobles of the Kingdom for a long time but at last upon serious deliberation it was agreed to refer the whole matter to the decision of Edward the I. King of England which he was not a little glad of For resolving to fish in these troubled Waters he stirs up eight Competitors more that he might further puzzle the Cause and at length with twenty four Councellors half Scots half English and a great many Lawyers so handled the Business that after a great many cunning delays he secretly tampers with Bruce who was then conceiv'd to have the better Right of the Business that if he would acknowledge to hold the Crown of him he would adjudge it in favour of him But he generously answering That he valued a Crown at a less rate than for the wearing of the same to put his Country under a Foreign Yoke Edward turns about and makes the same motion to Baliol who did not stick to accept of it Baliol having thus gotten a Crown as unhappily kept it for he was no sooner invested with it and done Homage to King Edward according to Agreement but the Aberthenys having slain Mackduff Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them the Fact but gave them a piece of Land that was in Controversie between them Whereupon Mucduff's Brother being enraged makes a Complaint of him to King Edward who sent for him used him so that he made him rise from his Seat at Parliament and go to the Bar and answer for himself He hereupon was so enraged at this manner of Usage that when King Edward sent to him for Assistance against the French he absolutely refused it and proceeded so far as to renounce his Homage to him This incensed King Edward to the quick and so with an armed Power he hastens to Berwick where he routed the Scots took and kill'd to the number of Seven Thousand of them among them most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and some time after gave them also a great Overthrow at Dunbar which occasion'd the immediate surrender of the Castle of the said place into his Hands After this he marches to Montross where Baliol was brought to resign up both himself and his Crown to King Edward all the Scotch Nobility at the same time doing him Homage The Consequence whereof was that Baliol was sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a Years detention into France But while Edward was possess'd of all Scotland one William Wallace arose who tho' but a private Man bestirred himself in the publick Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable Foyls This brought King Edward into Scotland again with an Army and falling upon Wallace routs him who was overcome with Emulation and Envy from his Countrymen as well as power from the Enemy upon which he laid by his Command and never acted after but by slight Incursions but the English Army after this being beaten at Roslin Edward comes in again and takes Sterling and makes them all render him Homage Robert Bruce Son to the foresaid Bruce that contested with Baliol for the Crown was in King Edward's Court and him the King had often promised to put in possession of the Crown But Bruce finding at last that all his promises were illusory and nothing but smoak he enters into a Confederacy with John Cummin sirnamed the Red how he might get the Kingdom but being basely betray'd by him to King Edward he had much ado to make his escape and when he was got into Scotland the first thing he did was to stab Cummin at Drumâ—reis and then got himself Crown'd King at Scone Never did any Man come with greater disadvantage to the possession of a Crown or underwent greater Hardships for the sake of it He was beaten over and over by King Edward's Troops forced to flee to the Highlands with one Companion or two and to lurk in the Mountains in great misery as if he had been rather a Beast of prey than a rational Creature And while he was in this miserable State it is storied of him by Fourdon That being in a Morning lying down on his Bed in a little Cottage whither he was glad to retire and make the same his Pallace he espies a Spider striving to climb up into her Web which she had spun to the roof of the House but failing of her purpose the first time she attempts it the second and third time and so on to the sixth and last wherein she accomplishes it and gets in the King who as well as his Companion had all the while view'd the Action said Now let 's get up and hasten to the Lowlands to try our Fortunes
name of John for that forsooth was ominous for John King of France was a Prisoner in England but by the name of Robert It 's true there is no great matter in the thing it self either one way or other for an Alias or a double name cannot prejudice an honest and vertuous Man and when Judge Catiline took exception at one in this respect saying that no honest Man had a double name and came in with an Alias the party asked him what exception his Lordship could take to Jesus Christ Alias Jesus of Nazareth The Father was scarce well cold in his Grave or the Son warm in his Throne but his Progeny begot by him in the heat of his Blood began in their Stations to act their Tragical part This King in his Fathers life-time had the misfortune to be kicked on the Leg by an Horse of Sir James Douglass of Dalkeith and so lamed his Body as he was lame in his Intellectuals being a dull stupid Man and unfit to Govern insomuch that he had but the name of King the whole Administration being lodged in his Brother Robert Earl of Fife who did what he pleased with him and his as you 'll see by and by Alexander the youngest brother and Earl of Buchan a Man of a Fierce Nature could not long contain it but he begins to disturb the Government of his Brethren upon a slight displeasure conceived against the Bishop of Murray and seeing he could find no opportunity to kill him he revengfully sets fire to the Cathedral Church which was the stateliest Pile of Building in all the North of Scotland A Son he had whose name was Duncane or Dunach ten times more profligate if it were possible than himself and guilty of the basest and most degenerous actions He upon the death of his Grand-father lets the Reins loose and supposing now there was room for Rapine and Villany Heads a strong band of Thiefs and comes down to the Country of Angus spoils and ravages the Country as if he had been a professed Enemy and being elevated by some petty success they had against Walter Ogilby and Walter Lichton who opposed them they proceeded to perpetrate greater Villanies than before till at last being dispersed by the Earl of Crawford many of them were persued and slain and the rest taken and suffered condign Punishment King Robert had now Governed by his Governour for the space of Light Years when a Parliament was held at Perth wherein to manifest his Favour he made his Eldest Son David who was then Eighteen Years of Age Duke of Rothsay and his Brother the Governour Duke of Albany Virgin Titles that till this time had been unknown in Scotland saith Buchanan and which boded no good success to the Masters of them but generally proved very ominous About some three years after dyed Queen Annabella and Walter Tralie Archbishop of St. Andrew's the one while he lived keeping up the Ecclesiastical Discipline in the Church and the other the Dignity of the Court so that the death of two such useful and Illustrious Persons ushered in great Calamities in the Land and such a Tragedy as can scaâ—ce be met with in the Records of Time The Queen in her life-time had had a particular eye over and care of the Education of her Son David Duke of Rothsay and by a severe Discipline restrained his boisterous and untoward nature in a great measure But now the check was taken off he gave himself over to all manner of licentiousness His Fathers indulgence to him proved an incitative to his Lust and lack of Authority despoiled him of that Reverence that should have been paid unto him and made his admonitions of none effect So that at last he grew to that height of outrageousness and impiety that laying aside all manner of fear and shame he made it his business to defile mens Wives dâ—flower Virgins Nuns and all other kind of Women and where he found opposition he made use of Force and Violence These Tragedies could not go long undiscovered and therefore several complaints were prefered against him to his Father who at last perceiving it beyond his power to restrain those exorbitant Courses and that such violations would unavoidably bring both Father and Son to utmost Contempt and might have a very bad Consequence to attend them he Writes to his Brother the Governour and now Duke of Albany to take the young Man into his own governance and keeping till such time and in expectation he should be reclaimed and brought to a better temper This was that which the Governour for a long time had lacked as thinking if he were once taken out of the way his passage to the Crown might in time be made smooth and easie and therefore leaves no stone unturned to get him into his bloody Clutches at last he contrived the matter so that he seized him upon the Road near St. Andrew's and conveyed him to the Castle of the said place which he had taken into his own hands upon the death of the Bishop a little before under pretence of securing of it and in a short time after removed him thence into his own Castle of Falkland making him there a close Prisoner And now resolved he was to be rid of him and he could think of no method more expedient to effect his devilish design than by starving of him But that life which the barbarous cruelty of the Unkle had destined for a most miserable death the compassion of two young Women prolonged for a time One of them was daughter to the Governour of the Castle and who had the charge of the young Duke who as often as she had an opportunity to go into the Gardens adjacent to the Castle did put into him some oaten Cake folded up in a Vail which she carelesly wore on her head to keep off the Sun through a small chink rather than a Window The other was a poor Nurse who through a long Read fed him with the Milk from her own Breasts When the young Man's Punishment as well as his Life had by this hard shift been for some days prolonged which rather served for the increasing than allaying of his hunger the Women were at last discovered by the Spies they had every where about them and were both villanously put to death the Father shewing as much unhumane cruelty towards his daughter as she had shewn mercy to his Royal Prisoner bitterly cursing her perfidy as he called it as endeavouring thereby to shew himself faithful to a faithless Brother Unkle and Governour The young Man being thus deprived of all humane relief was constrain'd through the violence of hunger not only to eat all such filth as he could find within his Prison but at last to set upon his own flesh and to gnaw off his own Fingers and so ended his wretched life and died as I may say a double Death This barbarous act needs no Comment it bespeaks Villany to the height in
Man as the Chancellor and without delay raises Forces and Besieges him in Edenburg Castle He perceiving the danger had no other way left but to send to the Earl of Dowglass for his Assistance Dowglass disdains them both and would not be concerned The Chancellor seeing this agrees with the Governor and he was still to keep the Castle and his Chancellorship Not long after died Dowglass and was succeeded by his Son William who kept a greater port and retinue than his Father But things could not hold long in this State for the Chancellor disdaining that the Governor should take the whole Administration upon him leaves him and the King at Sterling where he then was and repairs to Edenburg and there imploys all his Wits how he might recover the King from the Governor and after he had well thought of it he rides one morning with four and twenty Men in his Company to the Park of Sterling where he knew the King was a Hunting and that the Governor was absent at Perth He found the King with a very small retinue and saluted him very dutifully and finding him in some surprize at the Company he exhorted him in a few words as the time would permit to be of good cheer and fear nothing that they were come to deliver him from his Captivity that he might be no longer under the Government of another but take the Administration into his own hands and much to the same purpose All which the King received with a pleasant aspect either because the motion pleased him as desirous to Rule or to dissemble the fear he had of the Chancellor and so went with him to Edenburg The Governor upon his return was horribly surprized at the News but being now unable to remedy the matter by the means of friends he and the Chancellor came to an Accommodation again and the result was that the Governor should still continue in his Office and the King remain in the keeping of the Chancellor as at first So that the freedom before tendred to him and with which he seem'd to be well pleas'd was now but a meer illusion being as much a Captive as ever And if the King was no better for this Agreement It proved fatal to the Earl of Dowglass Both Governor and Chancellor dreading his power now conbine together to ruine him and to that End a Parliament must be called where several Complaints were made against Dowglass and his followers But they two perswade the Parliament to send for the Earl in a friendly manner and not as a delinquent to take his place in that Assembly And by the Governors contrivance Honourable Letters were directed to him in the Name of them all full of soothing expressions intimating his own Person was so far from being in any danger by such his attendance in Parliament that if any of his Friends or Family had chanced to be guilty of any disorders all should be frankly remitted This bait took the young Gentleman and so with his Brother David and an handsom retinue sets forward for Edenburg the Chancellor the better to cloak the Treachery rode out many miles from Edenburg to meet him Caressed and Entertained him splendidly on the way at the Castle of Creichton and to blind him the more there in the most friendly and tender manner in the World began to advise the Earl in what concerned his Duty towards his Prince and the Honour and Glory of his Family and this showed him on to Edenburg tho' things could not be carried on so coverlly between the Governor and Chancellor in the management of this intrigue but that some of the Earls Friends began to smell a Rat and advised him not to go to Edenburg But finding him quite averse to Counsel and void of all suspicion they urged him to send his Brother David back to the End he might not hazard the whole Family under the fortune of one stroke as his Father had before admonished him upon his Death-Bed But all in vain and so to Edenburg Castle they came where the Governor meets him and Carressed him highly and because he should now think his Entertainment every ways suitable to the semblance made of it all along he was set to Dine at the King's Table but latet Angus in herba the Earl before he hâ—d well half Din'd was strangely surprized with the sight of a Bulls Head set before him which in those Days was a certain sign of Death whereat being about to rise from the Table he and his Brother David were immediately seized by Armed men set there for that purpose carried into the Court yard and there forthwith beheaded It was said the King in whose presence this was done and who now was entring into years of Maturity and Discretion lamented his Death bitterly for which the Chancellor severely rebuked him but however it was in this case it 's most certain he afterwards most barbarously murdered one of this Earls Successors with his own hands as you 'l see by and by This Earl of Dowglass was Succeeded in his Estate and Honours by his Unkle James Dowglass Baron of Abercorn who is Succeeded by his Son William who to prevent the division of the Inheritance Married the only Sister of the last William Beheaded who was Stiled the fair Maid of Gallaway This Earl flourishing in Estate and Honours and finding the King take the Administration of the Government upon himself came to Sterling and in a short time grew into high Favour with him insomuch that through his perswasion the Chancellor and Governor were not only discharged from their Offices but put out of the Council and their Friends banished the Court and themselves Summoned to appear before the King and upon default proclaimed Rebels so that now the Tables are quite turn'd Dowglass Rules all and the King suffers minority under him in his Just Age as he really did under the others during his nonage himself and his Kindred and Friends possessing all places of profit and Preferment in the Kingdom But the Earl having I know not what crochet in his brain must needs go into Italy and a Noble retinue he had with him but leaves his Estate during his absence to be managed by his Brother the Earl of Ormond His back was no sooner turned but his Enemies set all their Engines on work to put him out of the Kings Favour and good Esteem and prevailed so far upon him as to put out an unreasonable Summons requiring the Earl to appear within forty Days or else he should be put to the Horn and so his Lands were seized on to the Kings hands The Earl being advertised hereof returns with all speed and was again received into Favour But happening to go into England without leave this incensed the King highly against him yet upon submission was again reconciled But there was nothing could reconcile him and the Chancellor Creichton envy brought them to make attempts upon each other's life and at last the Earl
long e're they seized upon the Kings Evil Councellors that were about him and sent them all away save only John Ramsey a very young man that clung to the King and who intreated for him that he might be spared The rest were lead to Judgment and with the loud cries of the Army calling for Justice upon those miscreants were hanged out of the way and such forwardness was shewed to have them dispatched speedily that when they wanted Ropes upon such a sudden occasion every one was ready to offer his Horses Halter or the Reins of his Bridle for that purpose These Wretches were charged with many private injuries and among the more publick ones was their advising the King to Coin base Copper Money which the Common people by way of reproach called Black-Money and that this was the principal cause of the scarcity that was in the Land the want of Trade and many other Calamities too long to be incerted To the Kings charge was laid the unjust death of the Earl of Mar his Brother his advancing of Cockram a Mason to the said Earldom his practising of Magick and resolvedness to destroy his Relations This done they returned to Edenburg and appointed the King himself to be kept in the Castle of the said City by the E. of Atholl and in the mean time they send to the English Army for a Cessation of Arms for three Months The Duke of Albany was honourably received into his Country again and had the Castle of Dunbar with the Earldoms of March and Mar conferred upon him and was withal Proclaimed the Kings Lieutenant General While things were in this state the English take the Castle of Berwick the Town having been surrendred to them before The Duke of Albany making a faint of relieving the same but did nothing At length the Duke accompanied with the Chancellor Archbishop of St. Andrews and others went to Sterling to pay the Queen and Prince a visit they had not been there long when the Queen entering into a secret Conference with the Duke unknown to the rest about the King's Confinement and urging how noble and generous as well as advantagious an act it would be in him to imploy his power for his releasement he consents to the undertaking and so returning to Edenburg besieged the Castle and took it remov'd the Earl of Athol and so sets the King and all his Servants at liberty for which extraordinary favour the King shewed him great tokens of his affections but they were not long-lived for the remembrance of old offences are of greater force in a degenerous and impotent mind than fresh kindnesses And to foment his jealousies he had always those at his Elbow who never ceased to upbraid the Duke to him of affecting too much popularity and to construe the same as an infallible sign of his intentions to snatch at the Crown when ever a fit opportunity presented The Duke who was not ignorant of those jealousies entertained of him and at last finding there was a design formed against him of no less than taking away his Life and that as appeared by poyson withdraws privily into Dunbar Castle And the King as conscious of his evil doings fearing the displeasure of his Nobles hereupon withdraws also into the Castle of Edenburg where the Earls of Angus Buchan and others forsook him and assisted the Duke But the King being haunted still by his Evil Spirits I mean those vile fellows whom he had again placed about his Person he summoned the Duke and his adherents to appear and answer for such treasonable Crimes as he had to lay to their Charge and withall prepared an Army to Besiege Dunbar which the Duke having notice off he flies into England And afterwards being accompanied with the Earl of Dowglass and others was engaged to invade the Marches of his own Country but meeting with ill success and being checked by the King of England for his ill Conduct he grew sullen thereupon and withdrew secretly into France where not long after according to the usual fate of his Family running at Tilts with Lewis Duke of Orleans he was wounded with the splinter of a Spear and thereof Dyed So that here is two of them gone the fate of the third is now approaching with winged hast For the King having once got a Peace with the English and the Castle of Dunbar into his hands which seemed for some time to put a check upon his exorbitance he returns to his old haunts gives himself over not only to be guided by Favourites and mean Persons as before who were his Leeches to drain his Subjects to satiate his covetous desires but to unlawful pleasure with loose Women Among the men Favourites John Ramsey saved as you have heard before by the Kings importunity from an Halter was chief This Man having been advanced to the dignity of Lord Stuard K of the ing's Houshold and endowed with many large demesns became so elated in mind that not being content with that large fortune nothing would serve but he must have an order that none besides himself and his Companions should go armed in those places where the King resided designing by this devise to fortifie himself and his Faction against the Nobility of the Kingdom whom he found to go frequently armed themselves and accompanied with such as were well provided for their defence But this Edict procured him more hatred than it wrought fear in his Enemies In the mean time the King minded nothing as much as to gratifie his mind with the blood of those who were thought to be the Authors of Rebellion And seeing he could not bring about his purposes he endeavours to surprise them by cunning for feigning to be reconciled to one of them after another he entertained them with that gentleness and in so soothing a manner as came below the Dignity of a Prince to do Others of them who excelled in Riches and Power he accumulated with Rewards and Honours making David Lindsey Earl Crawford Duke of Montross and George Earl of Angus he would have frequently in his Company carrying it so by communicating his secret Counsels unto him as if he were throuhgly reconciled But his Rewards and Blandishments had but little effect upon any of them in respect to any opinion his Sincerity for they who knew his disposition doubted not but all that semblance of Goodness and Favour tended to no other end than either to surprise them one after another or to set them at variance one against another which when he had got the chief of Nobility to Edenburg did more clearly appear for having sent for Dowglass to him into the Castle he shewed him what a brave opportunity he now had to be revenged on them for if he did but secure the Heads of the Factions and punish them the rest would be quiet That if he lett his opportunity that presented it self slip he could never afterward hope for such another Dowglass who well knew that the Kings mind
long Wound his left Arm almost cut off in two several places could scarce hang to his Shoulder and had been besides shot through several parts of his Body with Arrows and this seems to have the greatest appearance of truth in it tho' what Buchanan and others his Countrymen alledge is not improbable viz. That after the King found the Battle encline to the English without any hopes of retrieving it he passed the Tweed and near Kelso was slain by Humes's followers it remaining uncertain whether it was done by his Command or that these Ruffians thinking to gratify the humour of their Patron were in hopes when the King was once cut off they might transact what villany they pleased impunedly but if he survived they were in great apprehensions of being called to a severe account for their tardiness during the Battle To which they also add other conjectures that the very night after the Battle the Monastery of Kelso was seised by one Carr a confident of Hume and the Abbot chasheered which its likely he durst not have attempted if he had known the King had been alive But these things are so uncertain says Buchanan that when Hume was afterward called to an Account and Tryed for the Fact by the Earl of Murrey the King 's base Son it came to nothing they were not able to prove it upon him but withal adds that Lawrence Faliser a Person of integrity but then a Lad and spectator of of the Action did often affirm to him that he had seen the King on Horse Back pass the Tweed and hence many took occasion to report which lasted many years that the King was alive and would appear in due time after he had pay'd his vow of going to Jerusalem to view the Holy Sepulcre But this savours two much like the legendary Story of Arthur of old and of Charles Duke of Burgundy not many Years before of whom they related such another Tale But to return and take for granted that he died as before noted upon the place of Battle his Body being enclosed in a Sheet of Lead was brought into England and by the Kings Command laid in some bye Vault or Corner without any Funeral rites he saying That it was a due punishment for one who had perjuriously broken his League So that Death it self had not put a Period to his misfortune Tho' otherwise he was a Prince of great perfections both of Body and Mind and endued with most of those Royal Virtues that are necessary for the equal poize of a Scepâ—er which caused that sharp but true saying to drop from the Pen of a learned Author upon him that he perished Non suo sed Stuartorum Fato The loss of James IIII. in this manner seemed to carry with it the most dreadfull presages of Confusion and Misery that ever threatned any Country for he left his Queen Margaret and two Sons behind him the Eldest whereof James V. that succeeded him in the Kingdom being not fully two years old most of the Nobility who bore any thing of Wisdom and Authority before them being slain in the foresaid Battle and the major part of such as survived by reason of their Youth or Incapacity of their mind very unfit to meddle with matters of State especially in so teachy a time as that was And those who were left alive of the better sort who had any thing of Prudence through Ambition and Covetousness abhorring all Counsels tending to Peace and Concord However something must be done for the Publick weal and as the fittest expedient for a settlement a Parliament was convened at Sterling who Proclaimed James V. King and according to the Deseased King's Will The Queen was constituted Regent of the Kingdom so long as she remained a Widdow But she soon after Marrying Archembald Dowglass Earl of Angus a young Gentleman who for Lineage Comliness and other Accomplishments might be ranked amongst the prime Nobility of Scotland lost her Office and Authority and this occasioned a great feud among the Nobility The Dowglassian Party endeavoured to have the Queen continued in the Office Alledging That this was the way to have Peace with England which was not only advantagious but highly necessary for them at that time as matters stood with them But the Humes whereof Alexander Hume Warden of all the Marches and a very Potent Man was head making up the adverse faction under pretence of publick Good and that it was against the old Laws of the Kingdom to have a Woman however otherwise dignifyed to be Regent stiffly opposed the Queen and her Adherents so that at last after they had passionately struggled about the choise either out of wicked Ambition or secret Envy They past by all that were there present and incline to choose John Duke of Albany Son of Alexander of whom we have spoken before Brother of James III. and who lived then in good Repute in France from whence soon after he arrived in Scotland The Duke was ignorant of the old Customs of the Country as having been bred abroad all his Days which John Hepburn a Crafty Knave and one who had contested with Andrew Foreman about the Archbishoprick of St. Andrew's a little before well observing makes it his business to insinuate himself into the Regents Favour under pretence of informing him of the Laws and Manners of the Land but in Truth and Reality that he might advance himself upon the wrack and ruine of others And to this End he tells the Regent there were at that time three Factions in the Kingdom the one headed by Archibald Dowglass Earl of Angus the Queens Husband who was wonderfully Popular and upon the account of his Alliance with England and his own Personal and Hereditary Merits bore a Spirit too big for a private Man Alexander Hume was the next whose Power and Interest was so great that there was a necessity of repressing of him in time Foreman his former Competitor was the third who said he 't was true was not to be feared upon the account of Kindred and Nobleness of descent yet by reason of his great Wealth he would make a great Accession of Strength to what Party soever he inclined But to this last Part the Governor gave little heed as knowing it to be an invidious accusation of Hepburn proceeding from the noted feuds between Foreman and himself But the suspicion of Hume sunk deeper into the Regents mind which the other quickly perceiving he falls in for his own security with the interest of the Queen and her Husband and lamenting the danger the young King might be in if he should fall into the Regents Hands who was next Heir and bent to translate the Kingdom to himself he perswades the Queen to retire with the King to her Brother into England But these Consultations were not so secretly carried on but that the Governor had notice thereof who being an Active Man hastens with all his Forces to Sterling and quickly took the
length makes his escape over the Castle-Wall and retired to Cathness where being strengthned by other Male-contents who were desirous to fish in troubled Waters he attempts to surprize the King and to kill the Chancellor his inveterate Enemy and to that end enters the King's Palace one Night late about Supper time by the passage of an old Stable not without secret intelligence of some about the King's Person assoon as they had got within the close of the Palace they cried Justice Justice a Bothwell a Bothwell and had infallibly been Masters of the whole had it not been that James Douglass who was one of them after he had taken the Keys from the Porters entred into the Pastery Lodge to relieve some of his Servants who were detained there upon suspicion of having an hand in the slaughter of his Father the old Laird of Spot where the Porters made some resistance which occasioned a noise and tumult sooner than the Enterprizers had designed the King Chancellor and others were horribly allarmed at this and knew not what to do Bothwell with Mr. John Colvill and others made directly to the Queen's Chamber door where they supposed the King to be but the Door was valiantly defended by Harry Linsâ—y Of Kilfans Master of the Queens Houshold but the Earl prevailing at last broke open the Doors with Hammers and Colvill brought Fire to burn it the King in the mean time was conveyed to the Tower above the said Chamber the Chancellor who was in his Hall at Supper when he heard the first noise sled unto his Chamber and made the door fast upon him shutting out Sir Robert Melvill who supped along with him and who was forced to retire to another empty House where he continued all the while out of harms way and the Chancellor with his Servants that continually shot out of the Windows made such a resistance as that the Assailants were forced to retire Melvill says that when they first entred into the Palace he was at Supper with the Duke of Lennox who immediately took his Sword in hand and would have rushed upon the Enemy but having no company and finding the place already full of the Enterprizers they were forced to fortify their Doors and Stairs with Tables Forms and Stools and be spectators of all that hurly-burly for the space of an Hour together hearing and beholding by Torch-light out of the Duke's Gallery their reeling and rumbling with Halberts clashing their Culverins and Pistols the blows of their Malls and Hammers and crying continually for Justice now there was a passage between the Chancellor's Chamber and the Duke of Lennox's by a pair of Stairs by which the Chancellor came up and desired admittance in to the Duke the Duke by Sir James Melvill's advice told the Chancellor that for himself he was welcome to enter in but desir'd he would cause his Men to stay at the nether Door and resist as long as they could this the Chancellor took in ill part and so retired again to his own Chamber but in the mean time while all these things were in agitation word was brought to Sir Andrew Melvill Master of the King's Houshold of the enterprize and danger the King and Chancellor was in without speedy relief who procuring all the succor that the time would permit from the Cannon Gate and knowing there was a secret passage through the Abby into the Palace entred with his Men by the same in Armour whereof when the Earl of Bothwell and his followers had notice they stole silently through the Galleries unto that part where they first entred the Palace and chancing in their retreat to meet with John Shaw the King 's Master-Stabler they slew him and his Brother being in a rage that their enterprize had met with such bad success however some of them were taken by Sir Andrew and executed the day following The King almost dead with fear would stay no longer at Dalkeith but in all haste gets to Edinburgh where continual Plots were laid to surprize him and such enmity arose among the Courtiers and more especially among the Duke of Lennox and the Chancellor that it must have a King of other guess courage than King James for to reconcile and compose them the Chancellor one while being forced to retire but brought in again and ruled the roast afresh but it was not long before private Animosities engendring publick Calamities had like to have brought the King into greater danger than any wherewith he had been hitherto menaced for the Earl of Huntley was at variance with the Earl of Murray the Earls of Caâ—â—huâ—st and Sunderland together by the Ears and the Lords Hamilton and Angus at great strife which discord was chiefly occasioned because most of them had obtained Commissions with large Priviledges over other Lands as well as over their own and this at last terminated in an open hostility when the Council was advertised hereof they set a day wherein first the Earls of Murray and Huntley should appear there being a Gentleman of the Name of Gourdon shot by the Earl of Murray out of the House of Farnue both parties came strongly attended and for fear of mischief were ordered to keep their Lodgings lest any tumult should arise the Chancellor who now managed all Affairs advised the King to require Security from both the Earls for their good behaviour for the future to keep them both asunder by detaining the one at Court for a time and sending the other home but Sir James Melvill was for a present Agreement between both Parties and judged the King might easily effect it but the Chancellor taunted so at Sir James for his advice that he was forced to give way and so Huntley according to the Chancellor's project was sent home who now wanting his Competitor so triumphed and took so many advantages over the Earl of Murray's Land as gave him just occasion of complaint but meeting with no redress to his grievance he retired from Court and grew so discontented that he fell in with the designs of the Earl of Bothwell who was still a hatching of mischief Huntley came no sooner to know that his Adversary was an Outlaw with the Earl of Bothwell but he returned again to Court with a design to gain some further advantage over him but the Lord Ochiltrie with the King's consent endeavoured to accommodate Matters between them and make them Friends and so Murray was brought to a place called Dunibirsil as being near at hand for the better effectuating of an agreement Huntley hearing of his arrival applys himself to the King for a Commission to pursue the Earl of Bothwell and all his Adherents with Fire and Sword which the King grants him and being armed with this Power the first thing he does was to Murder the Earl of Murrey his Adversary at the foresaid place which it seems was his own House this horrid Fact was generally regretted and the granting of such a Commission was justly interpreted
Country he might apply what he pleas'd to the King at the Court and besides had the Medicine been the best in the World the Act was Daring and no ways Justifiable in him because he wanted the Consent of the King's Physitians thereto and one of Buckingham's great Provocations was thought to be that the King now being weary of his too much Greatness and Power was about to set up Bristol his deadly Enemy against him to pull him down The Application of this Medicine was one of the 13 Articles charged afterward upon the Duke by the Parliament who rarely accuse upon false Rumour or bare Suggestion and surely he will have work to do that takes upon him to excuse the King his Successor in this Matter for Dissolving the Parliament to preserve one that was accus'd by them for Poisoning his Father especially if it be consider'd that the Commons had then Voted him Four Subsidies and Four Fifteenths which they had not time to pass into an Act. What did farther increase Mens suspicions was one Doctor Lamb a Fellow of a most Infamous conversation his frequenting to and being much imploy'd by the Countess and her Son which did at length so incense the People against him that finding him in the Streets of London An. 1628. they set upon him with Stones and Staves and knocked out his Brains as also one Butler an Irishman that pretended to be a Chymist and was very intimate with the foresaid Company I mean the Duke and his Mother and indeed the Story of his Death as was then reported is a very convincing Evidence of some secret Machination betwixt the Duke and him which made the Duke be desirous to be rid of him For Mischief says Mr. Wilson being an ingrosser is unsecured unsatisfied when their Wares are to be vented in many Shops This Man was by the Dukes means recommended upon some plausible pretence to some Jesuites beyond the Seas where he was entertain'd with a great deal of specious Ceremony and Respect in one of their Colleges and at Night being attended by them into his Chamber with much Civility which was hung with Tapestry and had Tapers burning in stretched-out-Armes upon the Wall when they gave him the Good-night they told him they would send one should direct him to his Lodging and they were no sooner out of the Room of Death but the Floor that hung upon great Hinges on one side was let fall by Artificial Engines and the poor Vermine Butler dropt into a Precipice where he was never more heard of To conclude King James was Learned and had fine Notions in Conception but could bring but few of them into Action tho' they tended to his Honour and Safety for this was one of his Apothegms which he made no timely use of Let that Prince that would beware of Conspiracies be rather jealous of such whom his extraordinary Favours have advanc'd then of those whom his Displeasure hath discontented these want Means to execute their Pleasures but they have means at pleasure to execute their desires But a late Learned Author has exprest as much contempt of his Learning as Ben Johnson did of his Poetry saying It was a Scandal to his Crown meaning his Writings against Bellarmine and Perrone about their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrines and it seems Henry 4. of France had not a much better opinion of the same who when he heard some Men Celebrating of him with these Attributes answer'd truly enough That he was a fine King indeed and Wrote little Books King James was Succeeded by His Son Charles in all His Dominions but much more so in all His Misfortunes for this was one of the unhappiest Princes that ever Swayed a Scepter There is little remarkable concerning this Pâ—â—â—ce in his Infancy only he was noted as Lilly says to be very wilful and obstinate by the old Scottish Lady his Nurse and even by his own Mother Queen Ann who being told on a time he was very Sick and like to die said He would not then die but live to be the Ruine of himself and the Three Kingdoms through his too much Wilfulness And it seems the Symptoms of his Fore-Fathers Destiny appear'd in his very Face for his Picture having been presented to the then Duke of Tuscany the first sight and inspection thereof made him sâ—art and say He saw something in it that Presag'd a strange and violent Exit Moreover if what the said Author says be true That Laud at His Coronation at Westminster alter'd the Old Coronation Oath and framed another New one for him in the room of it it was a foul stumble at first dash It rarely happens and I think but very few Instances can be given that one and the same Person proves a Favourite to Two Princes together but it seems nothing could resist the Charmes of the Glorious Buckingham who now Governs the Son more Despotically than ' er he had done the Father and put him upon those very Expeditions that with other concurring Mismanagements made Shipwrack of His Honour at home procured him scorn and contempt abroad and hastned those Calamities which at length resolved in his own sad Catastrophe and Ruine But surely it argu'd a very mean and poor spirit in him to take him into his Bosom and to be govern'd by one that had twice in his Father's time so highly affronted and disdain'd him the first at Royston before many People by bidding of him in plain terms Kiss his A And the second time at Greenwich in the sight of about 400 Persons when lifting up his hand over his head with a Ballon Brasser and saying in most undutiful terms to him By G. it shall not be so you shall not have it The Prince answer'd What my Lord I think you intend to strike me It 's true to have forgotten and never to revenge such Injuries when he had been King had been worthy the Noble Mind of a Prince but it also became him never to have suffer'd him to come near his Court to be upbraided with the sight of so much scorn that had been so publickly offer'd him and some Criticks at Court at that time did not stick to read his future Destiny At King James's Death the Nation was rent into Four Factions viz. the Prerogative Popish Puritan and Country Party which in a short time was reduc'd into two the two former uniting their force against the other two and one should have thought it had been the business of the New King to have composed those first rather then make War abroad But King James his Body was scarce cold when Buckingham put King Charles upon a War with Spain Both of them when in that Kingdom had receiv'd so many Civilities from his Catholick Majesty that they now resolve to Invade his Country with a Powerful Fleet and a Land Army under the Command of my Lord Wimbleton but in their passage they met with a Furious Storm which so scatter'd the Fleet that of
lines to this unfortunate King who now had no more to do then patiently to submit to what time produced but how pleasing soever these Votes were to the Army the Scots and diverse parts of the English Nation were not content with them and so they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Part of the Fleet also Revolted to Prince Charles but all these Revolts were quelled by a Victorious Army in a short time But while the Army was busied abroad the Members having gotten possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they joyn with the Scotish Commissioners and rescine the Votes of the Non-addresses to the King and appointed a conference with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight to continue for forty days and to that purpose take him out of Prison and allow him the Liberty of the Island and the King upon the matter with reluctancy enough grants the Scots and the Members their own Demands But no endeavours of his Subjects nor the joynt desires of the Scots and Members could protect this unhappy Prince from his approaching Ruine for the Army now every where Victorious over the Scots and Royalists draw together and make a Remonstrance against all Peace with the King that Justice might be done upon Him the crown-Crown-land and Church-land might be sold to Pay their Army and that the present Parliament be Dissolved and another Called But the Members were intent upon the King's Answer to their Propositions and laid aside the Armies Remonstrance which they take as a slighting of them and then seized the King in the Isle of Wight and make Him a Prisoner in Hurst-Castle an unhealthy place and March to London putting Garrisons in Noblemen's Houses and Whitehall and Post themselves about the Pallace-yard But the Members for all this Met upon the First of Decemb. 1648. and Voted the King's Concessions to be a sufficient ground for a Peace and then Adjourn'd for a Week yet when they were to Meet again they found all the Avenues to the House beset with Soldiers who Excluded all that were not of their Faction from entring the House which were not one fourth part and made the residue Prisoners This Juncto called afterward the Rump Parliament having in this manner Purged the House Assume to themselves the Supream Power of Ordering the English Affairs Confirm the Votes of Non-Addresses and raze the Votes of having a Conference with the King and the Declaration that the King's Concessions were a sufficient ground for a Peace out of the Journals of the House and Vote First That all Power resides in the People Secondly That the Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the Force of a Law without the King Fourthly That to take up Arms against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament was High-Treason Fifthly That the King Himself took up Arms against the Parliament and therefore was guilty of all the Blood shed in the Civil War and ought by His own Blood to expiate the fame But the Ordinance for the King's Trial being sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence they Rejected it January the 2 d and Adjourned for 10 days but first sent back that they would give Answer Whereupon the Commons search the Lords Journal-Book and find these Votes 1. To send an Answer 2. That their Lordships do not concur to the Declaration 3. That their Lordships Reject the Ordinance for Tryal of the King But the Commons for all that go on and Vote the Lords Dangerous Order the King to be brought to London under a Guard Read and Ingrossed the Ordinance for his Tryal on the 6 th of January and the Manner was referred to the Commissioners who were to Try Him and to that end to Meet in the Painted Chamber on Munday January the 9 th who Resolved that Proclamation should be made in Westminster-Hall that the Commissioners were to Sit again to Morrow and that all those who had any thing to say against the King should be heard In this manner Mr. Denby who was Sergeant at Arms to the Commissioners Rode into the Hall with his Mace and some other Officers all bare attended with Six Trumpets on Horseback who Sounded in the midst of the Hall the Drums of the Guard in the mean time Beating without in the Pallace-yard at the Old Exchange and in Cheapside The Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of London Petition'd the House of Commons for Justice against the King to Settle the Votes that the Supream Power was in them and the City resolved to stand by them to the utmost and because nothing should obstruct the intended Work Hillary Term was Adjourned for Fourteen days and Proclamation made thereof in the Cities of London and Westminster and other Market-Towns but that this poor Prince might have some glimmering of hope the Scots Parliament begun January 2 d. understanding what was done at London in reference to the King's Tryal Dissent from the said proceedings and Direct some Papers To William Lenthall Esquire Speaker of the House of Commons which the House took as an Affront and Denyal of their Authority and so thought not sit to Read them but yet Voted to send Commissioners into Scotland to preserve a Good Correspondence between both Nations Several Ministers from their Pulpits Declaimed also against the Proceedings against the King's Person some of the Nobility offer'd themselves Pledges in his behalf and January 19 the Scottish Commissioners deliver'd some Papers and a Declaration from the Parliament of Scotland wherein they express a dislike of the present Proceedings and declare That the Kingdom of Scotland had an undoubted Interest in the King's Person who was not deliver'd to the English Commissioners at Newcastle for the Ruine of his Person but for the more speedy Settlement of the Peace of his Kingdoms That they extreamly Dissented and Declared against the Tryal of Him in regard of the Great Miseries that were like to ensue thereupon and desired leave to make their Personal Addresses to Him The like Papers were also Presented to the General but all signify'd nothing for the Commissioners for the Tryal proceeded to make all things in a readiness and to that purpose Order'd that the Sword and Mace tho' they had the King's Arms thereon should be brought into the Court at His Tryal and the King to be brought from St. James's where he was then a Prisoner to Sir Robert Cotton's House at Westminster They erected a Tribunal called The High Court of Justice over which was appointed One hundred and fifty Judges at the upper end of Westminster-Hall the Courts of Chancery and Kings-Bench being ordered into one and these Judges were impower'd to Convent Hear Judge and Execute Charles Stuart King of England All things being now fitted up the King on Saturday the 20 th was brought from St. James