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A51537 A most choice historical compendium fitted for the use of all ingenious and inquisitive persons who are curious to know what wonderfull events have come to pass for almost 1000 years, under the figure 8, from 818 to 1688 inclusive : wherein is briefly comprised, the life and death, rise and fall of kings, queens, noblemen, clergymen, warriors and several famous poets : with many other curious remarks and observations, not here mention'd / written in a plain method, by A.M., Gent. A. M., Gent. 1692 (1692) Wing M3; ESTC R9727 48,168 167

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conception and that God by the earnest intercession of the blessed Lady had heard their Prayers and granted their desires in sending them a Son and indeed they knew it was a Son before the 10th day of June above-mentioned now this tradition was handed about to the great and indeed all places in England by Letters and otherways And yet for all this specious and gilded information if you would certainly know the truth of this great birth and state you will be forced to take their tradition and b●lieve it as they believe it be it true or not true yet as I said before every one is left to his own choice For if this blind huddled business should have been acted more in the light and in the presence of Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark and other persons of quality of the Princess's Religion it would have given full-satisfaction to all the now unsettled doubtful wavering and ever-disbelieving Persons of England and settled a firm belief upon future Generations The King soon after great r●jo●cings and illuminations for t●i● n●w Deodatus perceiving at a distance a great storm arising in the East applies himself to raise several n●w Forc●s of Horse Dragoons and Foot and sends to the Earl of Tyrconnel then Governour of Ireland for 4000 or more of the Irish Foot which was sent accordingly into England very likely and able and war-like Men and coming up to London was very well approved of by all the King's Officers but the Inhabitants had a prejudice against them for the Irish had got an ill name and was not well spoken of though to do them Justice in part of London and in the City of Westminster they carried themselves very civilly in their respective Quarters Now it was observed by the Politicians of War that these Irish sent out of Ireland from the adjacent parts of Londonderry did so much comfort and encourage that City as to make it hold out so long and to that extremity and if that 4000 so detached had remained in Ireland that City in all probability and reason had been either taken or surrendred to the late King James who in this Summer 88 had formed a Campaigne on Hounsloe-heath Horse and Foot to the number of betwixt 16 or 18000. where we must leave them at present in their Tents with their several pieces of Canon and take notice how the King was equipping his Ships at Sea to make a formidable Fleet and made choice of the Lord Dartmouth as a chief Officer to muster up his Seamen for most of them had a great kindness for that Lord who made it his business and gathered up many Seamen and after a little time manned out several Ships to Sea but in this time the poor Seamen being as it were spirited on board and knew not what cause they were to fight for they begun by degrees to consider and at last take the boldness upon them to ask their Captains upon what design they were upon and who they must encounter withal The Captains gave them such dark and aenigmatical answers as gave them no satisfaction Upon which some of the Ships whole Crew came upon the Decks and as one man told their several Officers That they would not fight for the Papists but always stand for and maintain the Pr●testant Religion Which unhappy news for King James was carried to him by the Lord Dartmouth The King was much discomposed with the hearing thereof but made no great outward appearance about it at present The King 's next design was to take off the Penal Laws and Test and for that purpose a Parliament was to be called to sit at Westminster and many crafty Courtiers being Papists or so inclined was with suitable instructions sent down into the several Countys and Burroughs of England and Wales to prepare such Members as would throw over-board the Test and Penal Laws at one sitting but this took as little effect as the former for the King hearing by his Agitators in the Country how that they could not make a party there prevalent enough to throw down the two Bulwarks it so was ordered that the designed Parliament never me together Then the King's Council where Father Peters was always of the Quorum put the King himself to examine those of his menial Servants and those that held Offices under His Majesty as the Great Seal Privy Seal Secretaries of State Mr. Attorney and Mr. Sollicitor-General the Gentlemen of the Green Cloth and all the Officers in White-Hall the Commissioners of the Customs and Fire-hearths these and many others were all to give an account of their opinions of the Penal Laws and Test and then being Closeted by the King they gave in their private verdict in that place if they would not condescend to take away the two aforesaid Bars their Offices and Preferments was ipso facto taken from them By this ●ly practice many Lords and Gentlemen and many other inferior Officers w●● cashiered and many of the red ●●●ter men substituted in their places but in all this the King gained but little ground for the number obliged and the disobliged were still equal Yet they would not let the King rest here but they persuade him to closet all his Judges of Westminster which accordingly he did and found some of them according to his wish the rest stoutly opposed and was presently displaced and some mean Lawyers and mean Persons but Papists or popishly affected mounted up into their seats at the several Courts in Westminster Hall By this project the King lost the hearts of his Subjects for these new Judges were so mean in birth some in breeding some in learning and all of them ignorant of the Law so that by their illiterate practice the Law was quite buried For Sir John Maynard that old Serjeant of the Law told King William That if His Majesty had not come as he had out-lived many good Lawyers so he should have out-lived the Law it self And the reason was plain for these new erected Judges did all agree in this maxime That any penal or statute Law whatsoever and though made and confirmed by the three Estates yet the King by vertue of his Prerogative Royal had power to dispence with it and what is that dispensation but by the arbitrary will and pleasure of the Prince all Laws are abrogated and all penalties thereof remitted And the King taking these Judges opinion in this matter for good Law upon this false bottom the King offered to admit and many Zealots accepted places both Military and Civil without taking the Oaths and Test and every one under that circumstance is liable to pay 500 l. And hereby all Corporations was new transformed Papists made Mayors and Aldermen Governours of the Forts and Castle● Captains at Sea Colonels and other Officers of Land-Forces Obadiah Walker set up some few weak Proselytes at Oxford in despite of Authority and indeed the Tempest did arise higher for Magdalen College refusing to
admit some persons by Mandamus from the King contrary to Law and the Statutes of their College were ejected themselves viz. Dr. Hough Dr. Fairfax c. Magdalen College at Cambridge had also part of the storm for not admitting by Mandamus whereby Dr. Peachel then Vice Chancell●r was suspended ex beneficio during the King's pleasure being then either President or Master Some Clergy were also preserred to ●ishopricks viz. Dr. Parker to be ●ishop of Oxford Dr. Wa●son bishop of Bangor Dr. Cartwright Bishop of Chester by the King's Dispensation not taking the Oaths and Test By these examples you may plainly perceive that the Law was perfectly buried Not omitting the Reverend Henry Compton Lord Bishop of London who was by an arbitrary and unjust sentence suspended ex officio contrary to the Canon and Civil Law and Dr. Sharp Dean of Norwich and Vicar of St. Giles's in the Fields was silenced from Preaching without any form of Law but indeed was willing to obey his Ordinarie and so ceased pro tempore in his Ministerial Function In this Year also the Pope was pleased to send over into England his Nunci● Count Dada a Venetian a man of great Abilities and a comely Person being very graciously received by the King and highly treated by the Courtiers well respected by the Ladies of the greatest qualities and by the ignorant Bigots admired and adored and the more by reason here had not been one resident among us for above a hundred years before this time for the Law is very severe both in receiving or treating any of that nomination and if an act of Grace had not obliterated most Offences that great Entertainment in the ●ity of London and several other miscarriages by several persons of good note had been deeply punished These are the most remarkable passages which happened in this part of the year being the latter end of September and part of October and now see what follows after And for that purpose pray recall to mind that I told you in some few precedent Pages That the King perceived a great Storm arising in the East and by this time it was got over the Pampus and the English Seas and upon the Downs and so was driven on all along upon our Coasts by Dover and Portsmouth and other Ports 'till it safely alighted or indeed arrived at Torbay not many Miles distant from the City of Exeter upon the 5th of November and though it was esteemed and called a storm by some few yet it was a most joyful and golden Shower to most People of England and as that day was formerly noted under God's great Mercy and Goodness to deliver us from destruction intended by that horrid Powder Plot This day now will make England truly sensible that by the same infinite goodness we are made free from the slavery of Popery Arbitrary Government and many other imminent Judgments which would undoubtedly have fallen upon us And now let me tell you what this happy and joyful arrival was and first it produced that Magnanimous Heroick Noble Vndaunted Martial and Victorious William Nassau Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland The Forces that landed with him were as follow viz. Foot 10692. Horse 3660 In all 14352. Ships being Men of War of the second and third rate 65. Flyboats 500. Pinks 60. Fire-ships 10. In all 635. This Fleet and Army through the coldness of the late season of the year their long Voyage by adverse Winds upon the Sea and perhaps the Prince's first intention to have landed in another part of the Kingdom had sustained some loss and was much wearied and weakned and many was sick yet was forced to wade through the Water to some considerable deepness at their Landing After which the Prince was pleased to march to Exeter for his head Quarters the whole Army being there or very near it and it being a large and plentiful City sufficient Provisions was made for the Prince and all his Forces the Prince stayed there some Days expecting hourly with great impatience what Nobility Gentry Gentry and other Forces would resort to him and join with his Army after some few days before his hopes was quite withered there appeared in his Royal Presence the Lord Colchester the Lord Cornbury c. Colonel Godfrey and others and by degrees several other Lords and Gentlemen who carried along with them very good and effectual men to augment the Army and as the Prince advanced his Army increased This news came presently to King James from the first landing who was daily and hourly precisely informed of their several Movements and Advances toward what places But the main design of the Prince was b●lieved by all for London which sell out accordingly The King in the junctu●e of these affairs was in gr●at amasement for some of his Army nay some of his Life-Guard had deserted and went over to the Prince yet the King trusted to his Army especially to the Irish the rest being English some Scotch and some few French being all mustred together with several Trains of Artillery drawn out of the Tower and in a Martial manner marched away on the Roads towards their Enemies the Prince likewise doing the same in hopes to encounter with them after a little marching but in his marching the Prince was pleased to put forth several Declarations whereby the end and intentions of the Prince's coming into England with his Army was fairly and clearly discovered to the people and with such satisfactory reasons therein inserted that all on a sudden the people desired his Royal presence especially in London and Westminster both being places convenient to turn the Tyde of Affairs if there had been any occasion Within six days the Kings Army was marched to Salisbury the chief Rendezvouz the Princes Army being about 20 or 30 miles distant from them and there happened betwixt several of their Parties and Forlorn-hopes some small encounters and skirmishes but very few taken or slain of either side the Kings Army or at least the main Body lay still at and about Sarum the Princes Army drawing nearer to that place insomuch that the King daily expected a Battle but on a sudden the Scene was changed for a Rumour only coming to the King that the Prince's Army was ready at hand to fall upon his the King forthwith without calling a Council of War or any other consideration left them in great hast and disorder and returned to London the Army being thus deserted by the King whether for want of a good Cause for the love they bore to the Protestant Religion or their good will and opinion for the Prince of Orange Besides an Order given to the Earl of Feversham for their Disbanding the great expected Battel was ended before it begun the Kings Army flying away or at the best easily retreating when no enemy pursued after them it seemeth they had read or at least heard of Mr. Hobbs's self-preservation This supposed terrible Army being removed leaving
Perswasions of the Irish Priests closely and hourly made and applied to the Earl of Tyrconnel then Lord Deputy or at least Governour of Ireland he also hoping by his not submitting to gain great Honour and Preferment if not the whole Country for his own proper use and benefit but therein he ●ight easily perceive his errour for Iewis that aspi●ing Monarch had design'd it long before to be annexed to his Flower de luces but the poor Irish Harp would have caused but doleful Musick to the Hibernians yet a melodious tune to the wooden shoo'd French which would presently have bin dancing in that Country however the reasons before mentioned m●de Tyrconnel so obstinate that with what Forces and that little Courage he was possessed of to defend and preserve Ireland for his two M●sters what the event was some few years will tell you however this light you shall have at present that things proved quite contrary after several Conflicts and Battels to his expectation But let us return into England and there behold how many potent Enemies the King had secured in several Prisons for the security of Their Majesties Persons and the Kingdoms Welfare Peace and Happiness viz. George Jefferies Baron of Wem and Lord High Chancellor of England the Earl of Peterborough the Earl of Salisbury the Lord Castlemain the Lord Preston the Earl of Feversham the Lord Chief Justice Wright Baron Jenner Sir Edward Hale formerly Governour of Dover and after Lieutenant of the Tower of London and let Miles Prance the Silver-Smith a timely Discoverer have the honour to be taken at Gravesend with a false Pass and there committed to Prison by the Secretary of War when he intended to pass the Seas There were many more persons of high and low rank taken into custody but by reason their Deliverances or Trials hereafter will make them more publick I shall at present omit them all except Dr. Obadiah Walker the Proselyte-maker at Oxford who was sent to the Tower of London but not amongst the Records to make search for the place of Purgatory but foretell his own fortune either by calculating his Nativity by the often Singing of his Ave Maria or numbring his Beads at their appointed Seasons whether by day or night but let Obadiah rest being accounted but one of the small There were also in this Juncture of time many persons secured in several Counties of England alway● having an eye and great care of the Red Letter-men and of those ho● headed-persons that took places of Trust and Commissions from the late King James never regarding the Penal Laws and Test the Priests likewise were apprehended as soon as discovered yet not many for knowing their sins to be of a dark colour they would not abide the reckoning but went off with the next Oars Also about this time the King was vigilant over his Army that served under the late King James not suffering any of them at present to come for London especially in any great Parties but sent them into several Parts and Counties of England by degrees modelling of them a new first breaking the old Regiments both of Foot and Horse c. and then formed them into new Bodies so as to take away all suspicion of their disloyalty to their King which perhaps was unjustly cast upon them however by this honest Stratagem of War all the known Papists and those that appeared disaffected to the King and Government were quite cashiered and then the King was so well satisfied with the remaining part that they were sent to Whitehall and took their Guard-days in the same manner as they had formerly part of that Army which came out of Holland being of the Guards there were either all or in part removed from that Station By this time the Reader may be pondering with himself that there is an absolute necessity for great Sums of Money not only for defraying the charge of the Fleet that brought the King and his Army over into England but likewise the vast expence and charges which our English Fleet and Army had brought upon the Nation and these two Fleets and two Armies united and all to be paid by one Master would in a short space of time rise and multiply to an incredible account The Parliament taking this and other matters of the like nature being of great concern into their consideration after mature deliberation Voted several Sums for that purpose to be raised viz. by additional Excise of Ale Beer some small Branch of the said Revenue being ready to drop down was by a new A●t reunited also a Land-Tax at 12 d. per Pound was Enacted by Parliament the Customs and several other Duties belonging to the Crown were by the said Authority confirmed and settled upon the King and Queen The Affairs of the Kingdom now being in a hopeful way of Settlement as so small a time had bin allowed for so great a change and new modelling both of Persons and Offices the King and Parliament in all matters very well concurring the King was pleased amongst other of his favours and elemency to declare he would stand by and defend the Protestant Religion the Church of England as by Law established to his utmost power against all opposers whatsoever and withal care should be taken for the Non Con's and differing Opinions the Kings gracious pleasure being thus published made all his Subjects to be filled with joy admiration and liberality to that degree that the Citizens of London of their own accord proffered to lend the King what Money His Majesty pleased and almost in an instant great and vast Sums of Money were brought into Guildhall and that Citizen thought himself the most happy which was the first leader and brought the biggest Bags for which at present they were very willing to accept of the Kings word for their several securities The King by this time being the latter end of March having got into possession some money but that which equalized or rather exceeded it the affections of his People would have bin very happy together by his peaceable Reign over his Subjects here in England had not the Rebels in Scotland and Ireland by the fair promises of Rewards and Preferments of the late King James and Lewis the 14th of France bi● instigated and hurried into Arms and bloody Wars against this King William so that both Scotland and Ireland wanted his assistance and being willing and ready the King resolved to reduce them both to his obedience but this Year being drawn to its period and my figure to be out of date because I will not leap into another but conclude my Eighty Eight a Year full of Wonders and Changes yet in hopes it will be the introducer of England's Glory and do verily believe that future Generations will call it happy because it restored Our Lives Religion Laws and Liberty and I desire it may make us all truly thankful to him who was the beginner and finisher of so great and