Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	little_a	sea_n	see_v	1,312	5	3.4874	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47022	The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.	Jones, D. (David), fl. 1676-1720.	1697 (1697)	Wing J934; ESTC R17242	213,436	510

his acquainting the King his Master therewith My Lord MY last imported some Intimations to your Lordship of Mr. Skelton when the King's Envoy at the Hague his discovering some secret Correspondence negotiated between England and Holland as he judged to his Master's disadvantage I have also noted how the King had been advertised of it from this Court where Mr Skelton is now in the same Quality as at the Hague and who I can further assure your Lordship has made a further Progress to unriddle the Intrigue since his Arrival by the means of one whose Name is Budeus de Verace a Protestant of Geneva who having been some time since Captain of the Guards to the Prince of Orange and having had the Misfortune to kill a Man in a Duel was casheered by him Mr. Skelton being then at the Hague and acquainted with the said Verace found a way to reconcile him to his Master by the Recommendation of my Lord Clarendon who having brought up his Son my Lord Cornbury at Geneva was under great Obligations to Verace for the good Offices he had done him and care taken of him this Genevese being thus re-established in the Favour of the Prince his Master had it seems a greater Share of it than before as he had also in the Secrets of Monsieur B his Favorite however it was it should seem by the sequel that he was now by his second Introduction to Favour become quite of Mr. Skelton's Interest who was the Instrument to reconcile him For not long since he has taken occasion to be dissatisfied with the Service he engaged in and withdrawn and being as was given out but whether so in reality or no upon his return to his native City of Geneva he took occasion to write a Letter to Mr. Skelton now in this City That the Noise about the Armamont in Holland was so far from being a false thing or otherwise to be conceived that it was a Matter of the highest Importance and did no less than concern the Safety of the Crown of his Master the King of England and that it was highly necessary he should be made acquainted with a Son-in-Law whom he knew not This he desired Mr. Skelton to communicate to the King with all speed but he was not willing to make any further Discovery of his Secret to any other save to the King himself in Person if the King were so pleased as to send him Orders by Mr. Skelton to come and attend upon him Upon the receipt of which Letter from the said Genevese Mr. Skelton hath writ Five or Six Letters to the King in a very pressing lively and urgent manner but what effect they have had upon him may be the Subject of another Letter and perhaps of my next if my intelligence fail me not in the mean time I am and shall be My Lord Your Lordship 's most humble and devoted Servant Paris Aug. 14. 1688. N. S. LETTER XLV Of the Slights used to make King James negligent to provide against the Inuasion from Holland My Lord I Do not find Mr. Skelton's Instances have had any great Effects upon the King towards quickening his Pace to ward off the Blow that seems to be preparing to be given him And I have something more than a Suspicion That it is the Desire of this Court the Kingdom should be invaded and that the Agents of it have been extraordinary busy to countermine whatever Advices have been given the King for taking a timely Precaution to defend himself so that there is my Lord in this Case a Wheel within a Wheel and whatever open Professions of Kindness is shewed him from hence by a timous Premonition of his Danger there is as great Care seriously to thwart all by contrary Counsels And among other things it has been eagerly urged to him That the Prince of Orange continues to carry himself towards him with such a Conduct as could not leave the least room to entertain any Suspicion of him and could it be thought that a Prince who had shewed his Devoirs to him so far as to make his Complements as other Princes had done upon the Birth of his Son the Prince of Wales and caused the Name of his new Brother-in-Law to be added to those of the Princes of the Family for whom they prayed in his Chappel should be unsincere or have the least Design to molest him or his Kingdoms by Arms especially since Van Citters the States Embassador had particularly assured him That what Preparations were made in Holland did not regard England but had given him to understand That France had a great deal more Reason to be alarmed than he But after all whatever were intended by such Preparations which they were well assure were much greater in Fame than in Reality his Majesty's Affairs were in so good a Posture that he had no Reason to fear any Enterprizes whatsoever That he had a Land Army a Fleet and such good Magazines as were sufficient to render the Efforts of almost all the complicated Powers of Europe ineffectual tho' such a Conjunction was as little to be expected as that his most Christian Majesty would abandon him who if he saw occasion as there was now but little likelihood would no fail to support him with all the Power of France both by Sea Land c. I will not be further Troublesome to your Lordship but remain My Lord Your humble Servant Paris Aug. ●8 1688. LETTER XLVI My Lord S charged by some of the French Faction with Infidelity to his Master King James My Lord IF your Lordship should ask me What the real Designs of this Court are in reference to England in such a conjuncture they seem to have other Sentiments now of the Invasion than they had a few days ago when they were secretly promoting the same Might and Main as I have intimated not long since to your Lordship with a View to engage us in a Civil War and thereby bring the King under a Necessity of calling in such a French Power to his Assistance as he should never be able to force out again But now they seem to be quite against it upon the opposition made by a great Minister of State to their Offer both of Men and Ships upon this occasion of whom they talk strange things here and say that in regard to the King however he has insinuated and winded himself into his Favour more than any they could recommend or propose he must be an Enemy reconciled only in a way of Policy and Necessity that he had in former Parliaments pushed on the Bill for his Exclusion with greater eagerness and warmth than any other That he had never attempted to recover his Favour but when he had a Prospect to injure him thereby that he is a Man intent to follow the prevailing Side but that he had always in case of any Change a safe Retreat to the other side that whilst he adhered to the Factions in Parliament against

to procure a more familiar Intercourse between the Reformed and Catholicks Secondly That they should be Rewarded with Estates and Honours that would be Converted and to have a Fund setled for that end which should ne'er be alienated that for the exciting of their Ambition and not suppress that Passion in them which might serve as a Sting to their Conversion He was of Opinion that they should be permitted to Exercise the smaller Offices But not to give them great Places but to the Catholicks only for to Allure the Reformed to a Change of their Religion in hopes to attain unto them Thirdly To Embroil the Affairs of particular Persons so as to make them attend the Council and principally the Gentlemen concerning all the Dependances of the Exercises of their Families Fourthly To oblige them to Rebuild the Chappels they had Demolished or Prophaned and that not by proceeding against them in general upon that Head but by Suing of particular Persons upon that Score and to Recommend it to the Care of each Bishop in his Diocess Fifthly To hinder the Deputy-General to interpose therein which he believed might be easily effected because the Hugonots could not form a Body in France and that particular Cases ought not to pass for publick ones and that the King would Administer Justice without any Intervention he would not have the Office of Deputy-General supprest but reduce it only to a Name without any effect and that no regard should be had to the General Remonstrances of the Deputy Sixthly To order it so that none of the Reformed should be suffered to dwell in Cities or the Seigniories which did appertain to such as were of their Religion and he would have it so as they could never want specious pretences to colour that Innovation 7thly To suppress by Death the Charges of Councellors among the Reformed Eighthly To send Catholick Commiss●ries into the Synods and to chuse such Persons for that end as understood Controversie and knew how to foment any Differences which might arise in the Assemblies to allow no National Synods and to require Money of the Ministers for the King's Use under pretence of Loan Tythes or some other Imposition Ninthly To Commence some Law-Suits against them for their Debts in common and to cause some of their Churches to be Sold. Tenthly To Enjoin all the King's Subjects not to depart the Kingdom without leave for the Reformed would be comprehended under such a general Order Eleventhly To prevent any Catholicks by means of the Confessors to put themselves into the Service of the Hugonots Twelfthly To oblige them to observe the Fasting Days under pretence of State Policy for the same reason as they were obliged to keep Holidays Thirteenthly To endeavour to Marry the Reformed into Roman Catholick Families and to take Care that all the Children proceeding from such Marriages were brought up in the Roman Religion Fourteenthly To hinder the Reformed to Sell their Estates in Land for that such sort of Estates being not to be carried away it would oblige them to keep within the Kingdom And Lastly he advised That the University of Saumur should be removed to some other more inconvenient place for which he furnished them with several pretences and he was of Opinion that for lessening the number of Ministers that the Candidates before they were received should be obliged to go through a Course of Philosophy or Study Divinity for Two Years that they should be Examined before no other Commissioners than such as the King should name and that none should be suffered to take the Function upon them till they were twenty-seven Years of Age. I have troubled your Lordship with a long Letter upon this ungrateful Subject but I hope you 'll pardon me since I think it 's not altogether Forreign to what I have some time since writ to your Lordship about the French Courts procedure in reference to the Reformed whom they made it their chief Business to Cajole into a profound Severity that they might have leisure to carry on their Villanous Designs more securely and therefore it was that this Book and the Author of it run the Fate I have already recounted to your Lordship whom I shall always endeavour to oblige to the utmost of my power who am My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servant Paris Iuly 8. 1676. N. St. LETTER XIII Of the French Preparations for the War in the Year 1672 and how they compleated their Levies My Lord HAving in some measure traced the Methods the French Councils used to settle their Affairs at Home so as to receive no Molestation from Intestine Motions when they should carry their Arms Abroad they began now to set their Instruments more closely to work in their Neighbour Nations but more especially in England and Holland not only to amuse and play upon those that were at the Realm of Government but to feel the Pulse of and tamper with all the several Factions among the People and to make Creatures among them that might manage them upon occasion as might seem most for their purpose while in the mean time they made vast Preparations underhand for War both by Sea and Land and the better to supply the Defects which seemed to be natural to their Native Soldiers caused Levies to be made for them little or great in all the European Nations insomuch as by a List which I have seen it did appear they had in all of Strangers only about an Hundred and Sixty Thousand Men besides Seamen of whom they had likewise Debauched a considerable number from Holland England Denmark and Swedeland These mighty Preparations without any visible Pretension Alarmed all the Powers of Christendom but the most because of the small Contests then in being with the Pope about the Regale and of some Differences then depending about Lorrain and Alsatia as your Lordship well knows imagined the Storm would break towards Italy and part of Germany till the Preparations of the then Bishop of Munster and the Admission of French Garrisons into the Archbishoprick of Cologn and the Naval Preparations which appear'd last of all filled them with Apprehensions somewhat different from the first among which neither England nor Holland were without some Fears both which they took Care to allay as the Minutes shew by exasperating of them afresh by Secret Agents and Emissaries one against another resolving according as their Instruments should prevail on either to join with one against the other But which of the two they should Attack was a long time the Debate of the French Council for one of them it was resolved without Contradiction must be Invaded it being impossible to make any Successful Attempt upon the Empire as long as those Two Countries maintained the Figure and Power they did then and in that untoward Scituation for them too England was then in a very unprepared condition having almost no Navy at Sea and none but the ordinary Forces at Land whereas theirs were all ready

never any of His present Highness's Predecessors have been ever as much as suspected of aspiring at any Power over the Commonwealth but what tended to its greater Security and for the Elevation of the Majesty of the Republick without the least Glances of assuming any to themselves unless it were His Highness's Father who in all probability was animated thereunto by his matching with a Daughter of England And that his Ambition might have proved fatal to the Republick beyond Retrieve if his immature Death and other seasonable Providences had not intervened That the Influence of that Match had proved very detrimental to that illustrious House by stirring up such a Jealousie in the States against them as would not suffer them to admit the present Prince for a long time to enjoy the Places of Honour Authority and Trust formerly so well maintained and officiated by his noble Ancestors And that at the same time it had proved as pernicious to the States themselves in creating and nourishing Factions among them and Endeavours to keep up the Republick upon a new Model without Captain-General Stadtholder Admiral c. and to deprive themselves of the so necessary and Auspicious Assistance and Conduct of that most Illustrious House and thereby exposed even almost to be made a Prey to the dangerous Ambition of the French Monarch And therefore now when they had so newly re-enter'd into their true Interests and happily re-fixed all things on the old Foundation by restoring the present Prince to the Dignity of his Ancestors and calling him to the Helm of the Tempest-beaten State and had by his Courage Conduct and Interest recovered the Common-wealth to a very hopeful Condition of Power and Prosperity again it would be no less than a Madness to venture the Ruin of all those fair Hopes by a second Match with England when by the former they had been almost all Shipwrack'd and to suffer a Prince who was now wholly their own to espouse in such a Marriage as was then in Agitation a Foreign Interest and such as in all probability could not in time but interfere with theirs And therefore desired it might not be 1. Because though the Prince's Intentions should happen to continue never so right and firm to the Interest of the Republick yet this Match could not but be still very detrimental both to him and them by causing incurable Jealousies Factions and Animosities amongst them without end and which could not but be of pernicious Consequence to them both 2. That by reason of the little probability of the Duke of York's having any Vivacious Male Issue this would give the Prince such a near Prospect of the British Crowns that it could not but engage him in that View upon all Occasions to strain his Power and Interest in the United Provinces to the utmost for the advantage of the English Nation to the prejudice of the Dutch increase of Power and Interest 3. That if he ever came to be King of England the Power he would thereby obtain added to that he had already in the United Provinces as Stadt-holder Captain General c. and to the great Influence he had among the Soldiery in the States pay would undoubtedly be a great temptation to him for to reduce that State under the English Crown and influence the others to assist him in it And that if he should have Issue by his Princess as it was likely enough he might the danger under that Circumstance would be in a manner inevitable It s likely my Lord our Politicians here forsaw very great Difficulties would arise in making any manner of Impressions upon the States against the Prince's Match for by the foresaid Remonstrances it does appear to me their Master-battery was turned on that side but though all their Politicks have failed them for the prevention of the Marriage yet they have not failed to put some of these Arguments fo●●ards to render the Prince and all his Proceedings suspect to the States and they have already bragged that all the Constancy his Highness is well known to be Master of will find work enough to ver-come the Jealousies entertained of him and which they are resolved never to be wanting on their part to foment and to make it believe that all he has acted since his marriage has been to the aggrandizing of himself and his Authority and the Diminution of that of the Republick I fear I have already too much transgrest by my tediousness and shall therefore only subscribe my self as I am in sincerity My LORD Your Lordships Most humble Servant Paris Sept. 20. 1679. N. S. LETTER LXII Of the Solemn Embassy sent by the French King to King Charles II. in the Year 1677 in order to break off the Match with the Prince of Orange c. My LORD PUrsuant to what I have already mentioned to your Lordship of the Designs concerted between his Royal Highness and the French King about getting of the Lady Mary by a Stratagem into France if their other Measures about hindring the Match were broken was the late solemn Embassy sent over from hence into England whereof the Count d' Estree was the head accompanied with the Duke de Vendosme the Archbishop of Rheims one of our great Minister the Marquiss de Louvois's Sons and at least fifty Lords more of principal Note and whose publick instructions tho' they imported nothing more then a great Complement and some overtures about forbiding any recruits to be sent over to our Land Forces in the service of the Confederates yet privately they were to endeavour a French match and if they saw they could not succeed therein to concert closer measures with the Duke about puting in practise what he had before consented to about geting the Princess his daughter privately convey'd away in Company of this Embassador into France and perhaps your Lordship will not be dissatisfied if I recount what I have heard discoursed one day at this Court between our Commissioner and some other Courtiers concerning the Embassy Said one of them to theother What needed so splendid and costly an Embassy at this time of day to the King of England when there is so little hopes that he durst give his Consent to what we desire of him if he were of himself disposed thereto Yes says the other 'T will be well worth the Cost let things go as they will upon this occasion for 't is a greater honour our King now does to the King of England than he has ever yet done to any other Prince or ever to the Emperor himself when at Peace with him and such an Honour cannot but work sensibly upon the heart of a Prince who is so easily wrought upon and may work some good Effects for us in time if not for the present And however if the worst come to the worst this extraordinary Honour now done him by our Monarch will make his Parliament and People so fully persuaded that he hath entred into an extraordinary