according to the Lawes of that Kingdome assoon as justice could have layed hold on them He had undoubtedly prevented all further dangers The drawing of some blood in the Body politick by the punishment of Mâ—…lefactors being like letting blood in the Body-naturall which in some strong distempers doth preserve the whole Oâ—… finally if the Tumult had been grown so high and so strongly backed that justice could not safely be done upon them had the King then but sent a Squadron of the Royall Navy which He had at Sea to block up their Haven He had soon brought the Edinbourghers unto His Devotion and consequently kept all the rest of that Kingdome in a safe obedience But the Edinbourghers knew well enough whom they had to deal with what friends they had about the King and what a party they had got in the Lords of His Councell which governed the affairs of that Kingdome and they knew very well none better by the unpunishing of the Londoners for the Tumult in the death of Lamb that the King had rather patience enough to bear such indignities than resolution to revenge them So that the King at last was come to that misery which a good Author speaks of Cum vel excidenda sit natura vel minuenda dignitas That he must either outgoe His nature or forgoe His authority The King nothing pleased with these affronts yet studious to compose these surges of discontent sent the Marquesse of Hamilton down in the quality of an high Commissioner c. We are now come to the rest of the oversights committed in the conduct of this weighty businesse whereof the first was that having neglected to suppresse the Sedition at the very first appearance of it to strangle that monster in the cradle he had let a whole year passâ—… without doing any thing but sending one Proclamation after another which being publickly encountred with contrary Protestations did but increase their insolencies his own disgraces the party in the mean time being so well formed that Poâ—…-guns and such Paper-pellets were able to doe no good upon them The second was that when it had been fitter for the preservation of his authority to send a Lord Generall in the head of an Army for the reducing of that Kingdome by force of Armes He rather chose to send an high Commissioner to them to sweeten the distempers and compose the differences which could not be but by yeilding more on his side then he was like by any faire imparlance to obtain from that Thirdly that when he was resoâ—…ved on an high Commâ—…ssioner he must pitch on Hamilton for the man whom he had such reason to distrust as before was hinted but that the old Maxime of the Lenoxian Family of being deceived rather than distrustfull was so prevalent with him And this he did against the opinion and advice of many of the Lords of that Kingdome that is to say the Earle of Sterling principall Secretary of State the Bishops of Rosse and Breken privie Counsellors both Sir Robert Spoteswood Lord President of the Colledge of Justice and Sir John Hay Clerke-Register or Master of the Rolls as we call him here These having secret intimation that Hamilton was designed for this great Employment came in Post to London indeavouring to perswade the King to change his purpose and commending Huntley for that service who being a man of greatest power in the North of Scotland and utterly averse from the Covenanters and the rest of that Faction was thought by them the fittest man for that undertaking But the King fatally carried on to his own destruction would not hearken to it and hereunto the Duke of Lenox did contribute some weak assistance who being wrought on by the Scots of Hamiltons Faction chose rather that the old Enemy of his House should be trusted with the managing of that great affaire than that a Countrey Lord as the Courtiers of that Nation called him should carry the honour from them both June the sixâ—… his Commission was read and accepted him And well it might it was the fish for which he had so long been angling For having lost the Scotish Army raised for the aide of the King of Sweden without doing any thing and no occasion being offered to advance another he fell upon more secret and subtile practises to effect his ends First drawing all the Scots which were about the Court of England to be his Dependants and rest at his devotion wholly and next by getting himselfe a strong partie in that Kingdome whose affections he had means enough to restraine and alienate from the King and then to binde them to himself insomuch as it was thought by the wisest men of both Nations that the first Tumult at Edinborough was set on by some of his Instruments and that the Combustions which ensued were secretly fomented by them also And this was made the more probable by his carriage in that great trust of the high Commissioner thus procured for him drawing the King from one condescention to another in behalf of the Covenanters till he had little more to give but the Crown it self For fiâ—…st he drew him to suspend and after to suppresse the Book of Common Prayers and therewithall the Canons made not long before for the use of that Church next the five Articles of Perth procured with so much difficulty by King James and confirmed in Parliament must be also abrogated and then the Covenant it self with some little alterations in it must be authorized and generally imposed upon all that Kingdome And finally the calling of an Assembly must be yeilded to in which he was right well assured that none but Covenanters should have voices that not Lord Bishops only should be censured and excommunicated but the Episcopacie it self abolished and all the Regular and Loyall Clergie brought to utter ruine By all which Acts I cannot say of grace but of condescension the Marquesse got as much in grosse as His Majesty lost in the retaile making himself so strong a partie in that Kingdome that the King stood but for a Cipher in the calculation All being done from that time forwards especially when the first shewes of a Warre were over as Hamilton either did contrive or direct the businesse For the Covenanters having got all this thought not this enough unlesse they put themselves in Armes to make good their purchases and having therein got the first start of the King the King could doe no lesse than provide for himself and to Arm Accordingly In order whereunto our Author telleth us that Because it was the Bishops warre he thought it requisite they should contribute largely toward the preservation of their own Hierarchy I am sorry to see this passage have our Authors penne whom I should willingly have accompted for a true Son of the Church of England were it not for this some other passages of this nature which savour more of the Covenanter then the English
Lord Privie Seal Sir Edward Littleton chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir John Bankes Attorney Generall Sir Robert Heath and Sir Ralph Whitfield the Kings Serjeants at Law who on the 10. of May subscribed a paper with their hands to this effect That the Convocation being called by the Kings Writ was to continue till it were dissolved by the Kings Writ notwithstanding the dissolution of the Parliament Upon the readiâ—…g of this paper in the lower House of Convocation and the satisfaction there by given to all contrary scruples they went on to their businesse not as a new Synod made of an old Convocation quoth the witâ—…y Gentleman but as an old Synod armed with a new Commission What they did there we shall see anon but with what danger they sate there I shall tell you now The dissolving of the Parliament having bred such discontentments some papers posted up by Lilborne so inflamed the Apprentices and the Riot upon Lambeth House created such a terrour in the Members of the Convocation that the King was faine to set a guard about Westminster Abbey for the whole time of their sitting Poor men to what a distresse were they brought in danger of the Kings displeasure if they rosâ—… of the Peoples fury if they sate in danger of being beaten up by Tumults while they were at the worke of being beaten down by the following Parliament when thâ—… worke was done and after all obnoxious to the lash of censorious tongues for their good intendments For notwithstanding their great care that all things might be done with decency and to edification every one even our Author himself must have his blow at them And first he strikes at the Oâ—…th enjoyned in the sixt Canon for preâ—…ervation of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church here by Lâ—…w established But to make sure worke of it that the blow may come home indeed he prepares his way with a discourse against Episcopacy it selfe for maintenance whereof amongst other things that Oath was framed telling us positively that Bishops and Presbyters in Scripture phrase are of eqâ—…ivalent import and denote the selfesame persons without the least distinction They whom Holy Text calls Bishops having an Identity a sâ—…enesse of Name of Ordination of Office of all qualifications necessary to that Office with Presbyters I have heard that when Cornelius Burges was to goe out Doctor he would needs take upon him to answer the Divinity Act but did it so unluckily and with such a plentifull want of understanding in the tearmes of Logick that Doctor Prideaux said openly to him Tu possis bene pradicare sed non potes bene disputare that he might possibly be a good Preacher though he were but a very sorry Disputant The like may be said of our Author 〈◊〉 so when he plaiâ—… the Historian in relating of such things as are builâ—… upon good intelligence he doth it very well few better but when he comes to shew his opinion in a matter controverted and to give his reasons for the same he doth it very ill none worse For first I doe not believe that our Author can easily prove Presbyters and Bishops to be of equivalent import or comprehended under the same name in the Holy Scripture But secondly granting that they be who that pretends to Logick can dispute so lamely as from a Community of names to inferre an Identity or samenâ—…sse in the thing so named which is the ground our Author builds on Kings are called Gods in holy Scripture I have said ye are Gods Psal. 82. 6. and God doth frâ—…quently call himselfe by the name of King yet if a man should thence inferre that from this Community of names there aâ—…iseth an Identity or samenesse between God and the King he might be worthily condemned for so great a Blasphemer S. Peter calls our Saviour Christ by the name of Bishop and himselfe a Presbyter or Priest an Elder as most unhandsomly our English reads it the Bishop of your Souleâ—… 1 Pet. 2. 25. I who am also an Elder 1 Pet. ver 1. yâ—…t were it a sorry piece of Logick to conclude from hence that there is no distinction between an Apostle and an Elder the Prince of the Apostles and a Simple Presbyter or between Christ the supream Pastor of his Church and every ordinary B shop And thirdly taking iâ—… for granted that Bishops have an Identity or samenesse in Name Office Ordination and Qualification with Presbyters as our Author telleth us they have it will not follow convertibly that Presbyters have the like Identity or samenesse of Qualification Ordination Name and Office which the Bishop hath My reason is because a Bishop being first Regularly and Canonically to be made a Priest before he take the order and degree of a Bishâ—…p hath in him all the Qualifications the Ordination Name and Office which a Presbyter hath and something farther superadded as well in point of Order as of Juvisdiction which every Presbyter hath not so that though every Bishop be a Pâ—…iest or Presbyter yet every Presbyter not a Bishop To make this clear by an exampâ—…e in the Civill Government when Sir Robert Câ—…cill Knight and principall Secretary of State was made first Earl of Salisbury and then Lord Treasurer continuing Knight and Secretary as he was before it might be said that he had an Identity or samenesse in Name Office Order and Qualification with Sir John Herbert the other Secretary yet could this be said reciprocally of Sir John Herbert because there was something super added to Sir Robert Cecill namely the dignity of an Earle and the Office of Lord Treasurer which the other had not So true is that of Lactantius an old Christian writer Adeo argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent excitus So ordinary a thing it is for Arguments built upon weak grounds to have worse conclusions Episcopacy being thus knocked down with a painted club our Author goes on to tell us what great but unprofitable paines were taken in defence thereof telling us that though the Presse swarmed with Books setting forth the right upon which it was founded yet all advantaged them little How so because saith he Such a prejudice there was against them and the truth contended for lay then so deep as few had perspicuity enough to 〈◊〉 it That the Presse swarmed with Books purposely writ about this time in defence of the Dâ—…vine Right of Episcopacy I remember not but sure I am it swarmed with many pestilent and seditious Libels in which the B shops were defamed and the calliâ—…g questioned In answer whereunto if any of them were thought worthy to receive an answer it is possible that someâ—… what may be said upon the by for Declaration of that Divine Right on which it was founded Nor was this any new claime never made before but frequently insisted on by the Bishop and those that writ in defence of Bishops in Queen Elizabeths time by Doctor Bancroft then Bishop
should having got more by the bargaine then their charges came to Mary of Scotland then married to Frances the second of France had taken on her at that time the stile and title of Queen of England and the better to pursue that Title had put some companies of the French into the Castle of Edenborough the town of Lieth and other places of that Kingdome The Scots being then busied in the Reformation of the Kirk looked on these French as purposely sent thither by the King and Queen to crosse their actions and hold them under the Dominion of the Popes of Rome and thereupon made suit unto Queen Elizabeth to supply them with Men Money and Ammunition for driving the Frenchmen out of their Countrey And hereunto the Queen most readily assented knowing full well how much it did import the safety of her Person and the preservation of her Title Estate that the French should not be setled in the Forts and Castles which lay neer the borders of this Kingdome So that by succouring the Scots in such proportion as they had desired she played her owne game as well as theirs For by dislodging the French and quitting the whole Countrey of them she kept that back-door shut against all pretenders and by feeding the most Popular of the Scotish Nobility â—…ith gifts and pensions she got her selfe so strong a party in that Kingdome that she became more absolute there than ever any King of Scotland had been before her The Bishops were excluded by antient Canon Lawes of the Councell of Toledo to be assistant in cause of Blood or Death as disagreeable to their Function That the Bishops were disabled by some antiâ—…nt Canons from sentencing any man to death and it may be from being present when any such sentence was pronounced I shall easily grant but that they were disabled from being assistants in such cases from taking the Examinations or hearing the Depositions of witnesses or giving councell in such mâ—…ters as they saw occasion I believe our Author cannot proveâ—…â—…ertaine I am that it is and hath been otherwise in point of practice And that the Bishops sitting as Peers in an English Parliament were never excluded before this time from any such assistances as by their Gravity and Learning and other abilities they were enabled to give in any darke and difficult businesse though of Blood and Death which were brought before him And I remember I saw about that time a little Mâ—…nuscript Tract entituled De jure Paritatis Episcoporum that is to say of the right of the Peerage of the Bishops in which their priviledges were asserted â—…s to that particular But they not willing to contend in a business which seemed so little to concerne them or else not able to strive against the present stream which seemed to carry all before it suffered themselves to be excluded at that time without protesting to the contrary or interposing in defence of their antient rights And this I look on as the first degree of their Humiliation For when it was perceived that a businesse of so great consequence might be done in Pâ—…rliament without their councell and consent it opened a wide gap unto their adversaries first to deprive them of their Votes and after to destroy even the Calling it selfe But this was not the main point which the Commons aimed at they were resolved to have a close Committes to take examinations in the business of the Earl of Strafford and were not willing that any Bâ—…shops should be of it for feare leâ—…t favouring the Earles Cause or Person they might discover any part of those secret practices which were had against him and thereby fortifie and prepare him for his just defence when the Cause should come unto a tryall And now it is coming on apace for our Author telleth us that Munday the 22. of March was the day prefixed of the Earles compearing That is to â—…ay of his appearing aâ—… Westminster-Hall where the Lords were to sit as Judges and the Commons as Prosecutors and Solicitors onely If it be asked how it came to passe that the day was prefixed no sooner considering that he was accused and committed on the 11. day of November which was above four months before I answer first that the Examination of so many Witnesses as were used against him many of which were sent for out of Ireland by especiall warrant took up no small time I answer secondly that in this intervall of time there had been some endeavour used by the Royall party to mitigate the displeasures and take off the edge of his greatest Adversaries and it came so farre towards an agreement that there was a designation of some Offices of the greatest both Trust and Power to be given amongst them it being condescended too if my intelligence or memory faile not that the Earl of Bedford should be made Lord Treasurer and Master Pym Chancellor of the Exchequer the Earl of Essex Governour of the Prince and that Master Hambden should be his Tutor the Lord Say Master of the Wards and Master Hollice principall Secretary in the place of Windebanke the Deputiship of Ireland was disposed of also and some Command appointed to the Earl of Warwick in the Royal Navie And in relation to this purpose the Bishop of London delivered to the King the Treasurers Staffe the Earle of Newcastle relinquished the Governance of the Prince and the Lord Cottington resigned his Offices both in the Exchequer and Court of Wards there being no doubt but that Bishop Duppa would relinquish the Tutourship of the Prince when it should be required of him but before all things were fully setled and agreed on the Kings minde was altered which so exasperated them who were concerned in this desâ—…gnation that they pursued the Earle of Strafford with the greater eagernesse And somewhat to this purpose was hinted in the Kings Declaration of the 12 of August in which he signified what overtures had been made by them and with what importunity for Offices and preferments what great sâ—…rvices should have been done for him and what other undertakings even to have saved the life of the Earle of Strafford By which discovery as he blemished the repute of some principall Members in the eyes of many of the people so he exposed himself to some disadvantages in the eyes of others by giving them to understand at how cheap a rate a rate which would have cost him nothing he might have saved the life of such an able and deserving Minister Secretary Vane upon some occasion delivered to his son Sir Henry Vane the key of a Cabinet to fetch some papers layed therein c. What this occasion was is easie to be seen by the sequell of it especially if compared with those Animosities and displeasures which the Secretary had harboured against the Earl Sir Henry Vane had obtained of the King not long before the Manour of Rabie in the Bishoprick of Durham not without hope of being made Baron of that place by His Majesties favour On the other side the Lord Lieutenant
deriving his descent from the Nevils Earles of Westmor land whose Honorary Seate that was procured himself to be created Baron of Rabie in those Letters Patents by which he was invested with the Earldome of Strafford This gave the beginning to that fire which consumed the Earle but not till it had been much increased on another occasion There was a thrifty designe in Court to save the King the charges of a publick table and to that end it was advised that Sir Henry Vane then Treasurer of the Houshold should be made one of the principall Secretaryes in the place of Sir John Cooke then weak with age but so that he should still hold the Treasurership in the way of Commendam Scarce was Vane warm in his new Office when the Earle of Strafford interposed alleaging to the King that he had no other Correspondent in the Court for the businesses of Ireland but Mr. Secretary Cooke and that if he should be displaced His Majesties affairs in that Kingdome might extremely suffer On this a sudden stop was made and Cooke restored continuing in his former Office till the Queen openly appeared in behalf of Vane who so prevailed that Vane was setled in the place and Cooke dismissed into the Countrey as no longer serviceable which fewell being added to the former fire made it flame so high that nothing but death or blood could quench it Insomuch as it was thought by many understanding men that Sir Henry Vane did purposely misreport the Kings Message to the former Parliament for abrogating the Ship-money in hatred to the Earle of Strafford who had undertook to manage that Parliament to the Kings advantage and that seeing him to continue still both in power and favour he fell upon that speeding project which our Author hath related in that which followeth in the story that by such a cunning piece of malice he might rather seem to offer him up as a sacrifice to the publick justice than to his own particular hatred Ah ult io magis publicè vindictae quam privato odio dato videatur as in the like case the Historian hath it For the Câ—…ons were resalved that day should set a totall period to the Earles defence and next to speed their Bill 〈◊〉 Aâ—…tainder The Commons had now spent a Moneth in prosecuting their Acousation against the Earle of Strafford and seeing how little they had gained in order to the point they aimed at resolved to steer their course by another winde For finding that their proofs amounted not to a Legall evidence and that nothing but legall evidence could prevail in a way of Judicature they called the Legislative power to their assistance according unto which both Lords and Commons might proceed by the light of their own consciences without any further proof or testimony And so it is affirmed expresly by Mr. St. John then Sollicitor Generall in his Speech made at a Conference in a Committee of both Houses of Parliament April the 29. 1641. where it is said That although single testimony might be sufficient to satisfie private consciences yet how farre it would have been satisfactory in a judiciall way where Forms of Law are more to be stood upon was not so clear whereas in this way of Bill private satisfaction to each mans conscience is sufficient although no evidence had been given in at all Thus they resolved it in this Case but knowing of what dangerous consequence it might be hereafter to the lives and fortunes of the Subjects a Clause was added to the Bill that iâ—… should not be drawn into example for the time to come which because it may seem somewhat strange to them that know it not I will here adde so much of the said Bill as concerns this point In which said Bill the heads of the Accusation being reckoned up it followeth thus viz Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majestie and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same that the said Earle of Strafford for the heynous crimes and offences aforesaid stand and be adjudged and attainted of high Treason and shall suffer such pain of death and incurre such forfeitures of his Goods and Chattells Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of any Estate of Free-hold or Inheritance in the said Kingdomes of England and Ireland which the said Earle or any other to his use or in trust for him have or had the day of the first sitting of this present Parliament or at any time since Provided that no Judge or Judges Justice or Justices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason nor in any other manner then he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been made Thus have we Treason and no Treason in the selfe-same action that being judged Treason in this one man which never was to be judged Treason in any other But whatsoever it was it was conceived that many of the Lords began to shew themselves more forwards to comply with the Commons then they had done formerly Whereof the King having notice he thought it high time for him to interpose c. and calling both Houses together May the first said c. This coming of his Majesty and the Speech then made as it relished so ill with the two Houses that few of them attended on the solemnitâ—…es of the next day on which the Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Prince of Orange so gave it no contentment to the Eâ—…rle himselfe whose death it rather 〈◊〉 and made sure worke of then it could any waâ—…es conduce to his preservation That passage in the Kings Speech in which he signified that the misdemeanours of the Earle were so great and many that he was not fit to serve in the place of a Constable wrought more impression on the Spirits of that Noble Gentleman then any kinde of death whatsoever it were which his Enemies could inflict upon him though with great modesty he did no otherwise expresse it in a letter sent unto the King then that he could have wished his Majesty had spared his Declaration on Saturday last But the Earles friends were as much unsatisfied in the Kings coming at that time as in that passage of his Speech giving it out that the King was put upon it by some of his bosome-Enemies which were in neerest trust about him on purpose to set him at greater odds with the House of Commons and consequently with the people whom they represented by drawing on himselfe the envy of that businesse howsoever it happened That if the Earle should be attainted notwithstanding by the Votes of the Lords it woâ—…ld be looked upon as a thing done against his will and no thanks to him but if he were acquitted by
Enterprise upon the Dukes default I bâ—…lieve not so For though Sir Robert were Vice-Admirall and had the subordinate power to the Duke of Buckingham in all things which concerned that Office yet in the present Enterprise he had not any thing at all to pretend unto the Lord Admirall himselfe not acting in occasionall services or great employments at the Sea in regard of his Office but as he is impowred by special Commission from the King which he may grant to any other as He sees cause for it A thing so obvious in the course of our English stories that I need bring no examples of it to confirm this truth And the first thing resolved upon was His solemne Initiation into Regality and setting the Crown upon His head As solâ—…mne as the King esteemed it yet our Authour as it seems thinks more poorly of it For he not onely censureth it for a vanity though a serious vanity but thinks that Kâ—…ngs are idle in it though idle to some better purpose than in 〈◊〉 and Dances Are not all Christian Kâ—…ngs wiâ—…h whom the Rites of Coronation are accounted sacred much concerned in this and the Scriptures more are not the Ceremonies of Anointing and Crowning Kings of great antiquâ—…ty in all Nations throughout the World directed by the holy Spirit in the Book of God exempl fiâ—…d in Saul David Solomon but most particularly in the inauguration of Jehoash the 2 of Kings 11. 12. where it is said that Jehojada the high Priest brought forth the Kings son and put the Crown upon him and gave him the testimonies and they made him King and anointed him and clapt their hands and said GOD SAVE THE KING Was this a Pageant think we of tâ—…e high Priests making to delight the Souldiery or a solemnity and ceremony of Gods own appointing to distinguish his Vicegerents from inferiour persons and strike a veneration towards them in all sorts of men whether Priests or people He that shall look upon the Coronation of our Saviour the placing of the Crown upon his head and putting the Scepter into his hands and bowing of the knee before him with this acclamation Haile King of the Jewes will therein finde a pattern for the Inauguration of a Christian King In which there is not any thing of a serious vanity as our Authour calls it but a grave pious and religious conformity to the Investiture and Coronation of their supreme Lord. I could enlarge upon this subjâ—…ct but that I think better of our Authour than some of our Historians doe of Henry Duke of Buckingham of whom it is observed that at the Coronation of King Richard the third he cast many a squint eye upon the Crown as if he thought it might be set on a fitter head But our Authour passeth from the Coronation to the following Parliament In order whereunto he tellâ—… us that The Lord Keeper Williams was displaced and his place was disposed of to Sir Thomas Coventrie Our Authour is here out again in his Temporalities the Lord Keeper Williams not being displaced betwixt the Coronation and the following Parliament but some months before For the Great Seale was taken from him in October three moneths and more before the day of the Coronation Sir Thomas Coventrie sitting in 〈◊〉 as Lord Keeper both in the Michaelmas Term at Reading and in the Candlemas Term at Westminster The like mistake he gives us in his Temporalities touching Bâ—…shop Land whom he makes Bishop of Bathe and Wells at the time of his afflâ—…cting in the Coronation whereas indeed he was at that time Bishop of St. Davids onely and not translated to the Bishoprick of Bathe and Wells till September following And that I may not trouble my self with the like observation at another time though there be many more of this nature to be troubled with I shall crave leave to step forth to Fol. 96. where it is said That the Articles of Lambeth were so well approved of by King James as he first sent them fiâ—…st to the Synod of Dort as the Doctrine of our Church where they were asserted by the suffrage of our British Divines and after that commended them to the Convocation held in Ireland to be asserted amongst the Articles of Religion established Anno 1615. and accordingly they were This is a very strange Hysteron Proteron setting the cart before the horse as we use to say For certainly the Articles of Lambeth being made part of the Confession of the Church of Ireland Anno 1615. as indeed they were could not before that time be sent to the Assembly or Synod at Dort which was not held till three years after Anno 1618. And this I take to be from what more than a superannuating as to call it in his Temporalities though he be confident in his Preface that he stands secure not onely from substantiall falshoods but even from circumstantiall also in assigning all both things and actions their proper times How ill this confidence is grounded we have seen in part and shall see more hereof hereafter as occasion serveth Who loved the Bishop if Fame belies her not better than was fit I think our Authour with more prudence might have spared this Note especially having Fame onely for the ground thereof which is so infamousâ—…n â—…n Historian as a learned Gentleman hath well noted that no wise man would build on the credit of it If Fames and Libels should once passe for Hâ—…storicall truths few Kings or Favorites or Ministers of great affairs or indeed who else would goe with honour to their graves or live with glory in the mouthes of the next Posterities Wilson a creature and dependent of the Earle of Warwicke whom you accuse elsewhere of partiality in the businesse of the Earl of Essex leaves the like stain upon his Lady but out of zeale to the good cause indevoureth to acquit the Bâ—…shop from the guilt thereof by saying that he was Eunuchus ab utero an Eunuch from his Mothers wombe which all that knew that Prelate most extremely laughed at And what had he for his authority but Famâ—… and Libels purposely scattered and divulged amongst the people to disgrace that Family by the malitious Contrivers of the Publique ruine The honour of Ladies in the generall is a tender point not easily repaired if wronged and therefore to be left untouched or most gently handled For which cause possibly S. 〈◊〉 adviseth that we give honour to the Woman as the weaker vessell and weaker vessels if once crackt by ungentle handling are either utterly broken or not easily mended And for this Lady in particular whom these two Authours tosse on the breath of Fame I never heard but that she was a person of great parts and honour and one that never did ill offices to any man during the time of her great power and favour both with King and Queen So that we may affirme of her as the Historian doth of Livia that great Emperours Wife Potentiam
negligence or long stay of the Earle of Holland who being sent out with a new Fleet for carrying Ammunition Armes and Victuals towards the continuance of the Siege and guarding the passages into the Island trifled out so much time at Court and made so many Halts betwixt that and Plymouth that he had not found his way out of that Haven when the Duke came back It s true the issue of this Action was not answerable to the Expectation and yet I cannot be of our Authours minde who telleth us Fol 71. That the Isle of Rhe was so inconsiderable as had we lost there neither blood nor honour and gained it into the bargain it would have ill rewarded our preparation and charge of the Expedition For had the English gained the Island they had not onely preserved the Town of Rochel but by the advantage of that Town and the Isle together might easily have taken in the Isle of Oleran and made themselves Masters of the greatest part of the losse of Aquitaine if the ambition of the King had carried Him unto Fâ—…rraign Conquests And a Commission granted by the King to five Bishops Bishop Laud being of the Quorum to execute Episcopall Jurisdiction within his Province The cause impulsive to it was a supposed irregularity c. In this and the rest which follows and touching the sequestration of the Archbishop of Canterbury our Authour runs himself into many errours For first Bishop Laud was not of the Quorum no more than any of the other the Commission being granted to the Bishops of London Durham Rochester Oxford and Bathe and Wells or to any four three or two of them and no more than so Secondly the irregularity or supposed irregularity of the said Archbishop was not touched upon in this Commission as the impulsive cause unto it the Commission saying onely in the Generall That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his Cognizance and Jurisdiction and which as Archbishop of Canterbury he might and ought in his own person to have performed and executed c. Thirdly this supposed irregularity was not incurred upon the casuall killing of the Keeper of his the Archbishops game as our Authour telleth us but for the casuall killing of the Lord Zouches Keeper in Bramhill Parke where the Archbishop had no game nor no Keeper neither Fourthly it was conceived by many pious and Learned men that there was something more incurred by that misadventnre than a supposed irregularity onely insomuch that neither Dr. Williams Elect Bishop of Lincolne nor Dr. Carew Elect Bishop of Exeter nor Dr. Laud Elect Bishop of St. Davids besides some others would receive Consâ—…cration from him though it be true that the Learned Bishop Andrews as our Authour tells us did doe the Archbishop very great service in this businesse yet was it not so much for his own sake or an opinion which he had that no irregularity was incurred by that misadventure but to prevent a greater mischief For well he saw that if the Archbishop at that time had been made Irregular Dr. Williams then Bâ—…shop of Lincolne and Lord Keeper of the Great Seale a man in great favour with King James but in more with the Duke would presently have stept into that See and he knew too much of the man to venture that great charge and trust of the Church of England to his carâ—… and government the dangerous consequerces whereof he was able to foretell without the spirit of prophesie The King of Denmarke being reduced almost to a despondence and quitting of his Kingdome Which as it was an occasion of great grief unto his Confederates so â—…o the Emperour himself it grew no matâ—…er of rejoycing For I have heard from â—… person of great Nobility that when the â—…ewes came first unto him he was so farre from shewing any signes of joy that he rather seemed much troubled at it of which being asked the reason by some of the principall men about him He returned this Answer As long said he as this Drowzy Dane was in the Head of the Protestants Army we shâ—…uld have wormed them out of their Estates one after another but he being made unusefull to them by this defeat we shall have them bring the Swedes upon us and there said he is a gallant young Fellow who will put us to the last card we have to play And so it proved in the event for thâ—… next year the King of Great Britain and his Brother of France negotiated with Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden then being in warre against the Pole to carry his Army into Germany which was done accordingly what his successes were our Authour telleth us hereafter in the course of this story They who lately were confined as Prisoners are now not onely free but petty Lords and Masters yea and petty Kings I cannot chuse but marvell what induced our Authour unto this Expression of making the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons not only petty Lords but even petty Kings I have heard that K. James once said in a time of Parliament but whether in the way of jeare or otherwise I am not able to say That there were now five hundred Kings besides himselfe And I know well what great advantage hath been made of those words of His whereof to any man that rightly understands the Constitution of an English Parliament the Commons are so farre from being either Lords or Kings that they are not so much as a part of the Supreme Councell it being easie to be evidenced out of the Writ which commands their attendance that they are called onely to consent and submit to such resolutions and conclusions ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi Consilio dicti regni nostri faciente Deo contigerit ordinari So the Writs instruct us as should be then and there agreed on by the Kings great Councell or the great Councell of the Kingdome Think you that men no otherwise impowred than so could take upon them in themselves or be reputed by our Authour as Lords and Kings And yet it may be I may wrong them for our Authour telleth us that Their Estates modestly estimated were able to buy the House of Peers the King excepted though an hundred and eighteen thrice over In this there is one thing that I doubt and two things which I shall take leave to consider of The thing I doubt of is that the Estates of the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons howsoever estimated should be able to buy the House of Peers though it had contained thrice as many as it did that is to say three hundred fifty four of the Lay-Nobility Assuredly the Bâ—…ronage of England must needs be brought exceeding low when the Gentlemen by chance assembled in the Lower House and not called out of purpose for such an experiment could buy the House of
Peers thrice ovâ—…r there being not above five hundred of the one and thrice one hundred and eighteen that is to say above three hundred and fifty of the other ranke by which accompt every Gentleman must be able to buy his two Lords and a half one with another the which I think no wise man can imagine The first thing I consider of is why our Author should leave out the Bishops for Spirituall Lords in this va luation as if they were no Members of the House of Peers for that he doth not reckon them into the bargain is evident enough by the calculation there being at that time an hundrâ—…d and eighteen Temporall Lords in the Upper House Assuredly the B shops had sate there longer in their Predecessors than any of the Lay-Nobility in their noblest Ancestors and had as good right of sitting and of voting there as either the Prerogative Royall oâ—… the Laws could give them And it was ill done of our Authour to exclude them now and not well done by him that should have kept them in to exclude them afterwards The Rights and Priviledges of holy Church confirmed in the first Article of the Magna Charta and sworn to by all Kings succeeding were never so infringed as by that exclusion But the King soon found the sad effect and consequents of those â—…vil Counsellors by which He was perswaded to it the next thing which was done in Parliament being the taking away or abrogating of His own Negative Voice and passing all subsequent Laws and Ordinances without His consent And by this meanes they brought to passe another point which as it seems was aimed at from the beginning of that Parliament it being told Sir Edward Dering as he himself informs us in the Collection of his Speeches That if they could bring the Lords to sit in the House of Commons and the King to be but as one of the Lords then their worke was done This brings me to the second thing which I am to consider of and that is why our Authour should make the King to be no other than a Member of the House of Peers for when he tells us that the Gentlemen in the House of Commons were able to buy all the House of Peers except the King it must needs follow that the King must be accounted of as one of that House the said exception notwithstanding So that by turning the B shops out of the House and bringing the King into their place he hath quite altered the right constitution and form of Parliaments which antiently consiâ—…ed of the Lords Spirituall the Lords Temporall and the Commons as the three Estates over all which the King presided as the Supreme Head Its truâ—… indeed that the King having passed away the B shops Votes did after by a strangâ—… improvidence in a Message or Declaration sent from Yorke on the 17th of June reckon Himselfe as one of the three Estates which being once slipt from His pen and taken up by some leading men in the Houses of Parliament it never was let fall again in the whole agitation of those Controversies which were bandied up and down between them Nor did many of the Kings owne party see the danger of it who taking it for granted that the King was onely one of the three Estates a Member of the House of Peers as our Authour makes Him were forced to grant in pursuance of the said disputes that the two Houses of Parliament were co-ordinate with the King not subordinate to Him and what could follow thereupon but that they might proceed as they did without Him that of co-ordinat a se invicem supplent being a most undoubted Maxime in the Schools of Logick The Attorney pleading eagerly though impertinently for the King How eagerly the Attorney pleaded for the King I am not able to say but it appeareth even by our Authour himself that his Plea was pertinent enough and drew so many of â—…he Lords into his opinion that the Poular party or Lower-House-Lords as â—…ome call them in the House of Peers â—…urst not adventure it to vote till the Lord Say by drawing that House into a Committee made this Proposition That the Lords who were against the Liberties of the Subject should with subscription of their Names enter their Reasons to remain upon Record that Posterity might not be to seek for so it followeth in our Authour who they were who so ignobly betrayed the Freedome of their Nation and that this done and not before they should go to voting Upon which terrible Proposition the Lords shrunk aside as afterwards they did in the late long Parliament Anno 1641. when frighted by the menaces of Dr. Burgesses Myrmidons in the businesse of the Earle of Strafford and in the yeare 1642. on the like threatning motion made by Mr. Hollis for passing the great Bill of the Militia Some say that when the multitude were be labouring him with stones and cudgels they said that were his Master the Duke there they would give him as much And questionlesse they meant as much as they said the Duke being made so odious by the continuall prosecution of his Adversaries in both Houses of Parliament and the Remonstrance made against him by the House of Commons at the end of the last Session that it was thought by most men that the Dukes life and the Publiqne safety could not stand together On which inducements that fatall blow was struck by Felton as it after followeth fol. 90 94. But whereas our Authour tells us fol. 90. that he declared as much in certain papers which were sticked to the lineings of his hat I thinke he is something out in that there being nothing found in his hat or elsewhere about him but a few loose papers such as might well become those mâ—…n who make God the Authour of their sinnes His first ascribing of the fact to the late Remonstrance was made to one Dr. Hutchenson Chaplaine in Ordinary â—…o the King and then in the course of his attendance sent by the King of purpose assoon as the sad news was brought unto Hâ—…m to trie if he could learn out of him upon what motives he committed that most horrible murder and afterwards again and again both at the time of his examination before the Lords of the Councell and finally at the very instant of hâ—…s execution But to return again to the threatning words used by the people in the murder of Doctor Lamb I well remember that this bald Rhime was spread about not long after in pursuance of them viz Let Charles and George doe what they can The Duke shall die like Doctor Lamb. And I remember also that about the same time there came out a Chronogram in which the Numerall letters of Georgius Dux Buckinghamiae viz M. D. C. X. V. V. V. I. I. I. made up the yeare 1628. to which thesâ—… Verses were subjâ—…yned and being made by chance must needs be thought a strange Prognostication of that
Armes by meanes whereof the subject of the following Ages might be very much burdened and the Noble Order of Knighthood no lesse dishonoured without any remedy And besides this in case the letter of the Statute in French or Latine had been onely to bear Armes not to take the order of Knighthood the late long Parliament would rather have questioned the Kings Ministers for their acting by it then troubled themselves with Repealing it as they after did For such was the misery of this King that all the advantages he had to help himselfe must be condemned as done against the old Lawes of the Land or else some new Law shall be made to deprive him of them that wanting all other meanes to support himselfe he might be forced to live on the Almes of his Parliament This Winter the Marquesse of Hamilton was very active in mustering up his forces for the King of Swedens assistance c. That so it was in the Kings intention I shall easily grant but that the Marquesse had no other end in it than the King of Swedens assistance hath been very much doubted the rather in regard that he raised all or the greatest part of his Forces out of Scotland where he was grown very popular and of high esteem For being gotten into the head of an Army of his own Nation he had so courted the common Souldiers and obliged most of the Commanders that a health was openly began by DavidRamsey a boisterous Ruffian of the Court to King James the seventh and so much of the designe discovered by him unto Donald Mackay Baron of Reâ—… then being in the Marquesses Camp that the Loyall Gentleman thought himselfe bound in duty to make it known unto the King Ramsey denying the whole matter and the Lord having no proof thereof as in such secret practises it could hardly be more than a confident asseveration and the engagement of his honour the King thought good to referre the Controversie to the Earle of Lindsey whom he made Lord high Constable to that end and purpose many daies were spent accordingly in pursuance of it But when most men expected that the matter would be tried by battell as had been accustomed in such cases the businesse was hushed up at Court the Lord Ree dismissed to his employments in the warres and to the minds of all good men the Marquesse did not onely continue in the Kings great favour but Ramsey was permitted to hold the place of a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber which had been formerly procured for him As for the Army of Scots which the Marquesse had carried into Germany they mouldred away by little and little without doing any thing which put the Marquess on new Councils of getting that by practise when it was lesse thought of which he could not get by force of Armes as the case then stood Tilly conducted a numerous Army for the relief of Rostock then besieged by the King of Sweden the King alarmed at his coming drew out of his Trenches c. In this relation of the great â—…out which the King of Sweden gave to Tilly there are many mistakes For neither was that great Battail sought neer Rostock a Hanse town in the Dukedome of Mecklenbourg but neer Lipsian a chief Town in the Province of Misnia some hundreds of miles higher into the Countrey nor did the King of Sweden after this great Victory returne back with his Army towards Rostock but in pursuance of his blow marched forward and made himself master of all those parts of the Country into which he came nor was this Battail fought in the yeare 1630 where our Authour placeth it so much doth he mistake himselfe both in place and time but in the year next following For many had no fancy to the work meerly because he was the promoter of it Our Author speakes here of the repairing of Saint Pauls and telleth us that it suffered great diminution for the Bishop of London's sake who was the chief promoter of it in which he is very much mistaken The worke had been twice or thrice before attempted without any effect but by his diligence and power wâ—…s brought in shore time to so great forwardnesse that had not his impeachment by the House of Commons in the late long Parliament put a period unto his indeavours it had been within a very few yeares the most goodly pile of building in the Christian world And whereas our Author tells us that many had no fancy to the worke because he promoted it it was plainly contrary his care in the promoting it being one great reason why so many had a fancie to it most of the Clergy contributing very largely unto it partly in reference to the merit of the worke it selfe and partly in regard of those preferments which they either had received or expected from him The like did most of the Nobility and Gentry in most pâ—…rts of the Land knowing the great power and favour which he had wiâ—…h the King and the many good offices he might doe them as occasion served If any had no fancy to it as indeed some had not it was rather in reference to the worke it sâ—…lfe then in relation to the man it being more in their desires that all the Cathedrals should be ruined then that any one should be repaired witnesse that base and irrâ—…rent expression of that known Schismatick Doctor Bastwick in the second part of his Letany where grudging at the great summâ—…s of money which had been gathered for the repairing of this Church al'â—…ding to the name of Cathedrall he concludes â—…t last pardon me Reader for defiâ—…g my pen with such immodesties that all the mighty masse of money must be spent in making a seat for a Priests arse to sit in And doubt we not but many more of that Faction were of his opinion though they had not so much violence and so little wit as to make Declaration of iâ—… But should he long deferre that duty they â—…ight perhaps be inclined to make choice of another King I do not think that any of the Scots ever told him so whatsoever they thoughâ—… or if they did the King might very well have seen that there was more truth in the Lord of Roes information then he was willing to believe and might accordingly have taken course to prevent the practice But who can save him who neglects the meanes of his preservation So true is that of the Historian Profecto in eluctabilis fatorum vis cujus fortunam mentare constituit ejus corrumpit consilia Assuredly â—…th he when the unresistable powers of Fâ—…te determine on a mans destruction they either overthrow or corrupt those Councels by which he might otherwise avoide it A maxâ—…me verified in the whole course and carriage of this Kings affaires neglecting wilfully to keep up the credit of an old principle which he had embraced all such advertisements as tended to his preservation It was a saying of
which being minted in the Tower was no small benefit to the King by the Coynage of it and no lesse benefit to the City and the Kingdome generally in regard the greatest part thereof was stil kept amongst us in lieu of such manufactures and native commodities of this Land as were returned into Flanders for the use of that Army And yet this was not all the service which they did this Summer The French and Hollanders had â—…tred this year into a Confederacy to rout the King of Spaine out of all the Netherlands in which it was agreed amongst other things that the French should invest Dunkirk and the other parts of Flanders with their Forces by Land whilst the Hollanders did besiege them with a Fleet at Sea that so all passages into the Countrey being thus locked up they might the more easily subdue all the Inland parts And in all probability the designe had took effâ—…ct in this very year the King of Spaine noâ—… being able to bring 8000 men into the field and leave his Garrisons provided the people of the other side being so practisâ—…d on by the Holland Faction that few or none of them would Arm to repulse those Enemies But first the formidable appearance of the English Fleet which 〈◊〉 the Hollanders before Dunkirk and then the insolencies of the French at Diest and Tillemont did so incourage and iâ—…flame the hearts of the people that the Armies both of the French and Hollanders returned back again without doing any thing more than the wasting of the Countrey And was not this think we a considerable piece of service also Lastly I am to tell our Author that it was not the Earle of Northumberland as he tells us some lines before but the Earle of Lyndsey which did command the Fleet this Summer Anno 1635. The Earle of Northumberland not being in Commission for this service till the year next following when all the Counties of the Realm were engaged in the charge So as the Kings discretion was called in to part the fray by the committing the Staffe of that Office into the hands of William Juxton Lord Bishop of London March the 6th who though he was none of the greatest scholars yet was withall none of the worst Bishops Our Author still fails in his intelligence both of men and matter For first the occasion of giving the Office of Lord Treasurer to the Bishop of London was not to part a fray between the Archbishop and the Lord Cottington who never came to such immoderate heats as our Author speaks of but upon very good considerations and reasons of State â—…or whereas most of the Lord Treasurers of these latter times had rather served themselves by that Office than the King in it and raising themselves to the Estates and Titles of Earles but leaving the two Kings more incumbred with debts and wants than any of their Predecessors had been known to be it was thought fit to put the Staffe of that Officâ—… into the hands of a Church-man who having no Family to raise no Wife and Chilâ—…ren to provide for might better managâ—… the Incomes of the Treasury to the Kings advantage than they had been formerly and who more fit for that employment among all the Clergie than the Bâ—…shop of London a man of so well tempered a disposition as gave exceeding great content both to Prince and people and being a dear friend of the Archbishops who had served the whole year as Commissioner in that Publick trust was sure to be instructed by him in all particulars which concerned the managing thereof But whereas our Author tells us of him that he was none of the greatest scholars I would faine learn in what particular parts either of Divine or Humane Learning our Author reckons him defective or when our Author sate so long in the Examiners Office as to bring the poor Bishop unto this discovery I know the man and I know also his abilities as well in Publick Exercises as Private Conferences to be as farre above the censure of our Aristarchus as he conceives himself to be above such an ignorant and obscure School-Master as Theophilus Brabaurne It is true he sets him off with some commendation of a calm and moderate spirit and so doth the Lord Faulkland too in a bitter Speech of his against the Bishops Anno 1641 where he saith of him That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equall moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or white Staffe But there are some whom Tacitus calls Pessimum inimicorum genus the worst kinde of Enemies who under colour of commending expose a man to all the disadvantages of contempt or danger The Communion Table which formerly stood in the midst of the Church or Chancel he enjoyned to be placed at the East end upon a graduated advance of ground with the ends inverted and a wooden traverse of â—…ailes before it Of placing the Communiou Table with the ends inverted we are told before Anno 1628 and if it were then introduced and so farre in practise that notice could be taken of it by the Committee for Religion no reason it should now be charged on the Archbishop as an Act of his But granting it to be his Act not to repeat any thing of that which was said before in justification of those Bishops who were there said to have done the like we doubt not but he had sufficient authority for what he did in the transposing of the Table to the Eastern wall The King by the advice of his Metropolitan hath a power by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. on the hapning of any irreverence to be used by the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by misusing the Orders appointed in this Book namely the Book of Common Prayers to ordain and publish such further Rites and Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments And certainly there had been so much irreverence done to the Communion Table standing unfenced as then it did in the middle of the Chancell not onely by scribling and sitting on it as before was noted but also by Dogs pissing against it as of common course and sometimes snatching away the Bread which was provided for the use of the blessed Sacrament that it was more than time to transpose the Communion Table to a place more eminent and to fence it also with a raile to keep it from the like prophanation for the time to come Nor did the Archbishop by so doing outrun authority the King having given authority and 〈◊〉 to it a year before the Metropoliticall Visitation which our Author speaks of The Deane and Chapter of S. Pauls as being Ordinaries of the place had transposed the Communion Table in Saint Gregoryes to the upper end of the Chancel and caused it to be placed Altar-wise which being disliked
neer Barwick he left those shores and came in great Post-haste as it was pretended to disturb that businesse which was to be concluded before he came thither But this vile dealing makes me Sea-sick I returne to Land where I finde that All the preparation both of one side and the other proved onely an interview of two Armies nothing being acted considerable in way of Engagement That so it was is a truth undoubted but how it came to passe that it should be so would be worth a knowing For never did so many of the Lords and Gentry attend a King of England in an expedition against that people nor never did they carry with them a greater stock of Animosities and indignation then they did at this present But first I have been told by some wise and understanding men about the King that he never did intend to fight as they afterwards found but onely by the terrour of so great on Army to draw the Scots to doe him reason And this the Covenanters knew as well as he there being nothing which he said did or thought so farre as thoughts might be discovered by signes and gestures but what was forthwith posted to them by the Scots about him And this I am the more apt to credit because when a notable and well experienced Commander offered the King then in Camp neer Barwick that with two thousand Horse which the King mighâ—… very well have spared he would so waste and destroy the Countrey that the Scots should come upon their knees to implore his mercy He would by no meanes hearken to the Pâ—…oposition Nor were the Lords and pâ—…rsons of most note about him more forward at the last then he For having given way that the Eâ—…rles of Roxborough and Traquair and other Nobâ—…e mâ—…n of that Nation might repair to Yorke for mediating some atonement between the King and his people they plyed their busineâ—…s so well that by representing to the Lords of the English Nation the dangers they would bring themselves into if the Scots were totally subdued they mitigated the displeasures of some and so took off the edge of others that they did not go from Yorke the same men they came thither on the discovery of which practice and some intelligence which they had with the Covenanters the Earls of Traquair and Roxborough were confined to their Chambers the first at Yorke and the second at New Castle but presently dismissed againe and sent back to Scotland But they had first done the worke they came for for never were men so sodainly cooled as the Lords of England never did men make clearer shewes of an alteration by their words and 〈◊〉 in so much that the Scottish Army beginning to advance and the Earl of Holland being sent with a great body of Horse to attend upon them he presently sent word unto the King in what danger he was and how he stood in feare of being under-ridden as I take it by the Galloway Naggs and thereupon received order to retire Againâ—… No marvell if things standing in this condition the King did cheerfully embrace any overture which rended to a Pacification or did make choice of such persons to negotiate in it who were more like to take such termes as they could get then to fight it out Amongst which termes that which was most insisted on by the Scotch Commissioners because it was most to their advantage and the Kings disabling was That he recall all his Forces by Land or Sea Which he did accordingly and thereby lost all those notable advantâ—…ges which the gallantry of his Army the greatness of his preparations both by Sea and Land and the weaknesse of an inconsiderable Enemy might assure him of But he had done thus once before that is to say at the returning of his Forces and Fleet from Rochel Anno 1628. at what time He was in no good termes with His Subjects and in worse with His Neighbours having provoked the Spaniard by the invading of the Isle of Gadas and the French by invading the Isle of Rhe which might have given Him ground enough to have kept his Army and His authority withall and when an Army once is up it will keep it self necessity of State ruling and over-ruling those Concessions and Acts of Grace to which the Subjects may pretend in more setled times But His errour at this time was worse than that the Combustions of Scotland being raised so high that the oyle of Graces rather tended to increase than to quench their flâ—…me Had He recalled his Forces onely from the Shores and Borders of that Kingdome which is the most that He was bound to by the Pacification till He had seen the Scots disbanded their Officers cashiered their Forts and Castles garrisoned with English Souldiers and some good issue of the Assembly and Parliament to be held at Edinborough He had preserved His honour among Forreigne Princes and crushed those practices at home which afterwards undermined His peace and destroyed His glories But doing it in this form and manner without effecting any thing which He seemed to Arme for He animated the Scots to commit new insolencies the Dutch to affront Him on Hiâ—… own shoares and which was worst of all gave no small discontentment to thâ—… English Gentry who having with great charge engaged themselves in this expedition oâ—… of hope of getting Honour to the King their Countrey and themselves by their faithfull service were suddenly dismissed not onely without that honour which they aimed at but without any acknowledgment of their love and loyalty A matter so unpleasing to them that few of them appeared in the next years Army many of them turned against Him in the following troubles the greatest part looking on His successes with a carelesse eye as unconcerned in His affaires whether good or evil But from miscarriages in this Warre I might passe next to a mistake which I finde in our Author concerning the antient way of constituting the Scotish Parliaments of which he telleth us that The King first named eight Bishops then those Bishops chose eight Noble men those Noble men chose so many Barons and those the like number of Burgesses c. Not altogether so as our Author hath it for the King having first named 8. Bishops and the Bishops named 8. Noble men the Bishops and Noble men together chose 8. Commissioners for the Sheriffdomes and as many for the Boroughs or Corporations which two and thirty had the Names of the Lords of the Arricles and had the canvassing and correcting of all the Bills which were offered to the Parliament before they were put to the Vote And perswaded His Majesty that the Cardinall of Richelieu would be glad to serve His Majesty or his Nephew c. That the French Ambassadour did indeavour to perswade the King to that belief I shall easily grant but am not willing to believe that the King should be so easily perswaded to it it being the
attended it was at last forgotten If this suffice not I shâ—…ll borrow our Authors help for a further answer who telleth us of Archbishop Abbot fol. 127. That his extraordinary remissnesse in not exacting strict Conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in the point of Coremony seemed to resolve those legall determinations to their first Principle of Indifferency and led in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienced men to long discontinued obedience was interpreted an Innovation then which nothing in the world could be said more truly I have said nothing of the Antient and Generall usage of those severall Ceremonies because the Question is not now of the Antient usage but whether and how farre they were to be used or not used in the Church of England according to such Rubricks Lawes and Ganons which remain in force Nor shall I adde more at the present than that I think our Authour hath not rightly timed the businesses in dispute between us the placing of the Communion Table Aâ—…tarwise bowing or cringing toward it and standing at the Gloria Patri not being so generally in use at the time of this Parliament as to give any scruple or offence to the greatest Zealots or if they were they could not honestly be fathered on Archbishop Laud as countenanced or brought in by him in the time of his government of which more hereafter our Authour now draws toward an end and telleth uâ—… finally But thâ—…se were but part-boyled Popery or Popery obliquâ—… So then the Ceremonies above-mentioned how Primitive soever they were must be damned for Popery though it be onely part boyled and oblique Popery as our Authour calls it and with that brand or by the name of English Popish Ceremonies as the Scotish Presbyterians term them the rest as well as these may be also blemished but let them call them what they will we see now by a most wofull and lamentable experience that the taking away of these part boyled Poperies these English Popish Ceremonies or whatsoever eâ—…se the malignity of any men shall please to call them the substance of Religion hath been much impaired and by this breaking down of the Pale of the Vineyard not onely the little Foxes have torn off her elusters but the wilde Bores have struck at her very root I have no more to addâ—… now but a witty and smart Epigram made on this or the like occasion and is this that followeth A learned Pâ—…late of this Land Thinking to make Religion stand With equall poize on either side A mixture of them thus he try'd An Ounce of Protestant he singleth And then a Dram of Papist mingleth With a Scruple of the Puritane And boyled them all in his brain-pan But when he thought it would digest The scruple troubled all the rest The greatest danger was from Popery direct And from this the danger appeared very great c. And here I thought I should have heard that some points of direct and down right Popery had been obtruded by the Bâ—…shop and Prelaticall Clergy but on the contrary I finde all silent in that case and good reason for it Whence then appeared so great a danger not from the introducing of Popish Doctrinâ—…s but increase of Papists and that not onely in some Counties of England but in the Kingdomes of Scotland and Ireland also with those of Scotland and Ireland I forbear to meddle though the Committee for Religion having an Apostolical care of all the Churches did take them also into their consideration marvailing onely by the way how our Brethren of the Kirke who stood so high upon the termes of their Independencie could brook that their affaires should be so much looked into by an English Parliament But where our Author telleth us that in some Counties of England the Papists were multiplied to some thousands of Families more than there were in Queen Elizabeths time there may be very good reason given for that for since the death of Quâ—…en Elizabeth the Holy-dayes had been made dayes of common labour and yet all sports prohibited on the Sunday also the Common-prayer-Book either quite neglected or so slubbered over that there was no face of Regular Devotion to be found amongst us the Churches in most places kept so slovenly and the behaviour of the people so irreverent in them that it is no mervail that men desirous to worship God in the beauty of holinesse should be induced to joynâ—… themselves to such societies of men as seemed to have more in them of a Christian Church The King having thus dissolved the Parliament c. That is to say after so many indignities and provocations as were given unto him by the disorder tumultuous carriage of some of the Members which our Author very handsomely and ingenuously hath described at large it was the opinion of most men as our Author telleth us Fol. 132. that the dissolution of this Parâ—…lament was the end of all And certainly there was very good reason why it might be thought so the King never having good successe in any of his Parliaments since his first coming to the Crown and withall having an examplâ—… before his eyes of the like discontinuance of assembling the three Estates in the Realme of France by the King then Reigning and that upon farre lesse provocations then were given King Charles For whereas in an Assembly of three Estates Anno 1614. the third Estate which represents our House of Commons entrenched too busily upon the liberties of the Clergy and some preheminencies and exemptions which the Nobility enjoyed by the favour of some former Kings it gave the King so great offence that he resolved first to dissolve them and never after to be troubled with the like Impertinencies Nor was there since that time any such Assembly nor like to be hereafter in the times ensuing those Kings growing weary of that yoake which that great Representation did indeavour to impose upon them But because he would not cut off all communication betwixr himselfe and his people he ordained another kind of meeting in the place thereof which he called La Assembli des natables that is to say the Assembly of some principall persons composed of some selected persons out of every Order or Estate of his own nomination whereunto should be added some Counsellor out of every Court of Parliament of which there are eight in all in France throughout that Kingdome which being fewer in number would not breed such a confusion as the generall Assembly of the States had done before and be withall more pliant and conformable to the Kings desires and yet their Acts to be no lesse obliging to all sorts of people then the others were Such an Assembly as this but that the Clergy had no vote in it was that which was called here by my Lord Protector immediately after the dissolving of the late long Parliament who possibly had his hint from this Institution And this
may teach all Parliaments in the times succeeding to be more carefull in their Councils and use more moderation in pursuance of them especially when they meet with an armed power for fear they should not onely interrupt but cut off that spring from whence the Blessings both of Peace and Happinesse have formerly been derâ—…ved on this Church and State No man can love his Fâ—…tters though they be of Gold If therefore Parliaments should finde no way to preserve the Liberty of the peoplâ—… but to put fetters on the Prince or Power that calls them if from being Counsellors at the best they shall prove Controulers they must blame no body but themselves In the meane time that saying of Paterculus may be worth their noting Non turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere esset nefas it iâ—… no shame saith he to submit to those whom it were sinne to overcome To which he answered that he ever was and woâ—…ld be ready to give an account of his sayings and doings in that place whensoever he should be called unto it by that House where as he taketh it he was onely to be questioned This is the first seed of that Doctâ—…ine which after took such deep root in the Houses of Parliament viz. that no member ought to be questioned for any thing said or done in Paâ—…liament but by the order of the House of which he was a Member And to this resolution the Judges of this time seemed to give some countenance who having before declared in favour of the House of Commons that by the Arresting of Digges and Eliot the whole House was under an Arrest did now declare that the Star Chamber in which Court the King intended to proceed against them had no Jurisdiction over offences done in Parliament But this was onely in an extra-judiciall way being interrogative to that purpose by the King at Greenwich as our Author â—…elleth us Fol. 106. For the same Judges sitting on the seat of Judicature where â—…hey were to act upon their Oathes could finde both Law and Reason too to bring their crimes within the cognisance of the Courts of Justice And severall Fines accordingly were imposed upon them most of which were paid and the Gentlemen afterwards released from their Imprisonments If any of them did refuse to pay such Fines as were set upon them they were men either of decayed or of small estates and so not able to make payment of the Fines imposed Surpassing exultation there was thereat all the Court kept Jubile c. And there was very good reason for it not onely that the Court should keep a Jubile at the birth of the Prince but that surpassing exultation should be thereat in all honest hearts But I can tell you it was otherwise with too many of the Puritane party who had layed their line another way and desired not that the King should have any Children insomuch that at a great Feast in Friday street when some of the company shewed great joy at the news of the Queens fiâ—…st being with Childe a leading man of that Faction whom I could name were it worth the while did not stick to say That he could see no such cause of joy for the Queens being with Childe but God had already better provided for us than we had deserved in giving such a hopefull Progenie by the Queen of Bohemia brought up in the Reformed Religion whereas it was uncertain what Religion the Kings Children would follow being brought up under a Mother so devoted to the Church of Rome And I remember very well that being at a Town one daies jurney from London when the newes came of the Princes birth there was great joy shewed by all the rest of the Parish in causing Bonefires to be made and the Bells to be rung and sending Victuals unto those of the younger sort who were most busily imployed in that publick joy But so that from the rest of the houses being of the Presbyterian or Puritane partie there came neither man nor childe nor wood nor victuals their doors being shut close all that Evening as in a time of generall mourning and disconsolation Where was an old skulking Statute long since out of use though not out of force c. The Statute which our Author means was made in the first year of Edward the second and made more for the benefit and ease of the subject than for the advantage of the King This Statute requiring nonâ—… to take the Order of Knighthood but such as had Twenty pounds per annum of clear yearly rent whereas before that time all men of Fifteen pound rent per annum were required to take it This proves it to be very old but why my Author should call it a skulking Statute I can see no reason considering that it lay not hidden under the rubbâ—…sh of Antiquity but was an open printed Statute not onely to be seen in the Collection of the Statutes and the Books at large but in the Abridgements of the same and being a Statute still in force as our Author â—…elleth us might lawfully be put in practise whensoever the necessities of the King should invite him to it But whereas our Author telleth us that the persons mentioned in that Statute were not required to be made Knights as was vulgarly supposed but onely ad arma gerenda to bear Armes and thereupon telleth us a story of a Sword and a Surcoat to be given unto them I rather shall believe the plaine words of the Statute than his interpreâ—…ation of it The Title of it is in Latine Statutum de Militibus or a Statute for Knights as the English hath it the words as followeth viz. Our Soveraign Lord the King hath granted that all such as ought to be Knights and be not and have been distrained to take upon them the Order of Knighthood before the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord shall have respect to take upon them the foresaid Armes of Knighthood untill the Utas of S. Hilarie c. where certainly to be made Knights to take upon them the Order of Knighthood and the Armes of Knighthood are somewhat more than onely and simply to bear Armes as he faine would have it were it no otherwise than so there were some hundred thousands of none or very little estate as fit or fitter to bear Armes than men of Twenty pound rent per annum which was a plentifull revenue as the times then were and fitter it had been to have called such men unto a generall Muster in their severall Counties than to command them to attend at a Coronation Nor had the Sages of the Law been capable of excuse for their false translations if they should render ad arma militiae gerenda for so I think the Latine hath it though the most significant word thereof be left out by our Author by taking on them the Armes of Knighthood if there were nothing more intended than the bearing of
being the day before that unhappy accident that he was taking care to provide some materialls in a businesse which concerned the Church of which he was resolved to speake in the House of Peers on the Wednesday following Some say that this Dissolution was precipitated upon some intelligence that the House of Commons meant that day to vote against the Warre with Scotland then which there could be nothing more destructive to the Kings affaires And it was probable enough that it was so meant For first the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdome doth declare no lesse where it is said that the People were like to close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money but that withall they were like to blast their malicious designe against Scotland they being very much indisposed to give any countenance to that Warre And Secondly we finde that House to be highly magnified â—…in a Scotish Pamphlet called the Intentions of the Army for their pious zeale in crossing the intended Warre and denying any countenance and assistance towards it But whatsoever the truth is most sure I am that it was secretly muttered about the Court the night before that Hamilton had prevailed with the King to dissolve the Parliament who playing as he used to do with both hands at once did with the one pull back the Commons by his party there from all compliâ—…nce with the King and with the other thrust the King forwards to dissolve that meeting that by this meanes the Kings affaires being more embroyled then they were before he might confirme the Scots and confound the English and thereby raise himselfe to the point he aimed at A sad and unfortunate day it was and the newes so unpleasing unto the Author of these papers whosoever he be that being brought him by a friend whilst he was writing some dispatches it so astonished him though he had heard some inkling of it the night before that sodainly the pen fell out of his hand and long it was before he could recollect his spirits to returne an answer Having thus said I should proceed from the dissolving of the Parliament to the continuing of the Convocation but I must first remove a block which lieth in my way our Author telleth us that This Archbishops Predecessour Penultime was Dr. Whitgift Whereas indeed it was not Dr. Whitgift but Dr. Bancroft who was the penultimate and last Predecessour saving one unto the Archbishop Dr. Bancroft coming in between Whit. gift and Abbot as any who have looked into these affairs cannot choose but know This Convention was not more unhappily dissolved than another was continued That is as a witty Gcntleman said well a new Synod made of an old Convocation The witty Gentleman here meant was Sir Edward Deering who pleased himself exceedingly in one of his witty Speeches but made withall good sport to most knowing men in descantinâ—… on a Synod and a Convocation the one being a Greek word the other originally Latine but both of the same sense and signification A Provinciall Synod being no other then a Convocation of the Clergy of the Provinces of Yorkâ—… or Canterbury and the Convocation of the Clergy of both Provinces together being nothing else but a National Synod So that it was the same Synod and the same Convocation call it which you will as before it was and not a new Synod made of an old Convocation as the witty Gentleman would have it A Gentleman he was more witty then wise but more proud then either one of sufficient Learning to adorne a Gentleman but very ill imployed in disgracing the Clergy considering that the most worthy of his Ancestors was of that Profession and himselfe allyed unto it by some mixt relations But see how ill this Gentleman sped with his too much wit being the first that threw Dirt into the Face of the Archbishop and preferred the first Information which was brought against him he after flew so high in his commendations in the Preface to his Book of Speeches that neither Heylyn whom the Scotish Pamphleters in their Laudencium Autocatachrisis call his Gracâ—…s Herald nor Pocklington nor Dowe nor any of his own Chaplains in any of their Speeches of him or addresses to him ever went so farrâ—… Having propounded to the House in that witty Speech which he made against the Canons and Convocation that every one that had a hand in making those Canons should come unto the Barre of the House of Commons with a Candle in one hand and a Book in the other and there give fire to his own Canons he was so far from seeing it done that on the contrary he saw within a little more then a twelve month after the Collection of his witty Speeches condemned by that House unto the fire and burnt in severall places by the Publick Hang-man And finally having in another of his witty Speeches defamed the Cathedralls of this Kingdome and that too with so foule a mouth as if he had licked up all the filth of foregoing Libels to vomit it at once upon them he made it his earnest suit not long after to be Dean of Canterbury which being denied him by the King in a great discontent he returned to the Parliament though he hought good to put some other glosse upon it in his Declaration But of this witty Gentleman we said enough Proceed we now unto our Author who telleth us of this new-made Synod that By a new Commission from the King it was impowered to sit still No such matter verily the new Commission which he speaks of gave them no such power The Writ by which they 〈◊〉 first called and made to be a Convocation gave them power to siâ—… and by that Writ they were to sit as a Convocation till by another Writ proceeding from the like Authority thâ—…y were dissolved and licensed to returne to their severall homes The Commission subsequent to that gave them power to Act to Propose Deliberate and conclude upon such Canons and Constitutions as they conceived conducible to the Peace of the Church And such a Commission they had granted at their first assembling But being there was a clause in that Commission that it should last no longer then during the Session of that Parliament and that the King thought good to continue the Convocation till they had finished all those matters which they had in treaty his Majesty gave order for a new Commission to be issued out of the same tenour with the former but to expire upon the signification of his Majesties pleasure I have been told that it was some time before some of the Members of the lower House of Convocation could be satisfied in the difference between the Writ the Commisston though one of the company had fully opened and explained the same unto them which being made known to the Archbishop and by him to the King it was proposed to the Lord Finch Lord Keeper of the Great Seale the Earle of Manchester