Vows on them and their Posterity These were the Deans Instructions which the Lord Marquess received with as much Thankfulness as he could express and requited his Adviser with this Complement that he would use no other Counsellor hereafter to pluck him out of his plunges for he had delivered him from Fear and Folly and had Restor'd him both to a light Heart and a safe Conscience To the King they go together forthwith with these Notes of honest Settlement whom they found accompanied in his Chamber with the Prince and in serious Discourse together upon the same perplexities Buckingham craves leave That the Dean might be heard upon those particulars which he had brought in Writing which the King Mark'd with Patience and Pleasure And whatsoever seem'd contentious or doubtful to the King 's piercing Wit the Dean improved it to the greater liking by the Solidity of his Answers Whereupon the King resolv'd to keep close to every Syllable of those Directions Sir Edward Villiars was sent abroad and return'd not till September following Michel and Mompesson received their censure with a Salvo that Mompesson's Lady not guilty of his Crimes should be preserv'd in her Honour And before the Month of March expir'd Thirty seven Monopolies with other sharking Prouleries were decry'd in one Proclamation which return'd a Thousand praises and Ten Thousand good prayers upon the Sovereign Out of this Bud the Deans Advancement very shortly spread out into a blown Flower For the King upon this Tryal of his Wisdom either call'd him to him or call'd for his Judgment in Writing in all that he deliberated to Act or permit in this Session of Parliament in his most private and closest consultations The more he founded his Judgment the deeper it appear'd so that his Worth was Valued at no less than to be taken nearer to be a Counsellor upon all Occasions The Parliament wearied with long sittings and great pains was content against the Feast of Easter to take Relaxation and was Prorogued from the 27 of March to the 18 of April The Marquess had an Eye in it upon the Lord Chancellor to try if time would mitigate the displeasure which in both Houses was strong against him But the leisure of three Weeks multiplied a pile of New Suggestions against him and nothing was presaged more certain than his downfal which came to Ripeness on the third of May. On that day the Patent of his Office with the Great Seal was taken from him which Seal was deliver'd to Four Commissioners the Lord Treasurer Mountagu Duke of Lenox Lord Steward of the King's Houshold William Earl of Pembroke Lord Chamberlain to the King and Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry with whom it rested till the 10th of July following In the mean time Sir James Leigh Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench was Commissioned to be Speaker in the Upper House and Sir Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls was Authorized with certain Judges in equal power with him to hear dispatch and decree all Causes in the Court of Chancery 62 The Competitors for the Office of the Great Seal were many Sir James Leigh before mention'd a Widower and upon Marriage with a Lady of the Buckingham Family Sir Henry Hobart Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chancellor to the Prince a Step to the Higher Chancellorship and as fit as any man for his Learning and Integrity which of these it was uncertain but one of these was expected And verily a fitter Choice could not be made than out of the pre-eminent Professors of the Common Laws but that all Kings affect to do somewhat which is extraordinary to shew the liberty of their power The Earl of Arundel was thought upon a Master of Reason and of a great Fortune For it was remembred upon the Death of Lord Chancellor Bromly anno 1587 That Queen Elizabeth designed a Peer of the Realm for his Successor Edward Earl of Rutland whose Merit for such a place is favour'd by Mr. Cambden because he was Juris scientiâ omni politiori literaturâ ornatissimus and if his Death much bewailed had not prevented the Great Seal had been born before him But the likeliest to get up and I may say he had his Foot in the Stirrup was Sir Lionel Cranfield Married in the kindred that brought Dignity to their Husbands a man of no vulgar head-piece yet scarce sprinkled with the Latin Tongue He was then Master of the Court of Wards and did speak to the Causes that were brought before him quaintly and evenly There seemed to be no Let to put him in Possession of the great vacant Office but that the Lord Marquess set on by the King was upon enquiry how profitable in a just way it might be to the Dignitary and whether certain Branches of Emolument were natural to it which by the endeavour of no small ones were near to Lopping Sir Lionel besought the Marquess to be sudden and to Advise upon those things with the Dean of Westminster a found man and a ready who did not wont to clap the Shackles of delay upon a business He being spoken to to draw up in Writing what he thought of those Cases return'd an Answer speedily on the Tenth of May with the best advantage he could foresee to the promotion of the Master of the Wards Yet it fell out cross unto him that the Dean woing for another utterly beyond expectation sped for himself The Paper which he sent to the Marquess hath his own Words as they follow My most Noble Lord ALthó the more I Examine my self the more unable I am made to my own Judgment to wade through any part of that great Employment which your Honour vouchsafed to confer with me about yet because I was bred under the place and that I am credibly inform'd my True and Noble Friend the Master of the Wards is willing to accept it and if it be so I hope your Lordship will incline that way I do crave leave to acquaint your Honour by way of prevention with secret underminings which will utterly overthrow all that Office and make it beggerly and contemptible The lawful Revenue of that Office stands thus or not much above at any time In Fines certain 1300 l. per annum or thereabout In Fines Casual 1250 l. or thereabout In greater Writs 140 l. for impost of Wine 100 l. in all 2790. and these are all the true means of that great Office Now I am credibly inform'd that the Lord Treasurer begins to Entitle the King to to the casual Fines and the greater Writs which is a full Moiety of the profits of the place not so much to Enrich the King as to draw Grist to his own Mill and to wind from the Chancellor the donation of the Cursitors places The preventing the Lord Treasurers in these Cases made Queen Elizabeth ever Resolve suddenly upon the disposing of the Great Seal Likewise they are very busie in the House of Commons and I saw a Bill which
or improper to him and his Calling he is to be Acquitted by a formal Pardan as an Innocent but if he were acting in Indebitâ materia when he did it then it is to be gathered that God did give him up to that mischance that he might be disciplined for his Extravagancy by the Censure of the Church Now take the Illation That the Arch-Bishop fell into this Misfortune being unduly employed many Synods having prohobited Hunting to all Species of the Ministry Maldonatus lib. 2. de Sacr. p. 254. Quod nonnulli dicum irregularom esse Saccrdotom qui dâ—ns operam â—nationi juod illi non licebat homimm intersecit putans se feram intersicere falsum esi Sir H. Martin answered That Employment in undue matter is to be understood of Evil simply in it self Non de malo quia prohibitum not in a thing clearly lawful if it were not prohibited Are Clerks restrained from Hunting No wonder So they are by some Synodical Rules from playing at Tennis What mean such austere Coercions Nothing but to keep them from excess of Pleasure and Idieness which turn to be Avocations of their Studies and Attendance on the Church of Christ That in particular Hunting is no Unpriestly Sport by the Laws of England may thus be proved For every Peer in the higher House of Parliament as well Lords Spiritual as Temporal hath Permission by the Charta de Forcstà when after Sunmons he is in his Journey to the Parliament and not else to cause an Horn to be sounded when he travels through any of the King's Forests and to kill a brace of Bucks signification being given of his Intent to the Verdurers 78. The King had persect knowledge how these Things were discuss'd He saw that whether the Person of the Arch-Bishop were tainted by this Fact or not yet his Metropolitical Function was unsettled in many men's Opinions he heard that the Acts of Spiritual Courts were unsped and came to no end till Sentence were pronounced one way or other by the Supreme Authority Therefore a Commission was directed from His Majesty to ten Persons to meet together for this purpose about the beginning of October These were the Lord-Keeper the Bishops of London Winton and Rochester the Elects of Exeter and St. Davids Sir Harry Hâ—bart Lord-Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir John Dodderidge one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench Sir H. Martin Dean of the Arches and Dr. Steward esteemed the Papinian of Doctors-Commons These began to lay their Heads together upon the Third of October and then Conser'd upon the manner of their Proceeding The Lord Hobart and Sir H. Martin affecting that his Grace should send Counsel to Plead before them from which the rest dissented First Because no such Privilege was allowed him in the King's Letters directed to the Commissioners Secondly Because the Honour of the King and the Seandal of the Church which as yet made the adverse Party have no Counsel on their side Thirdly Because His Majesty required Information from those ten upon the nature of this Fact relying upon their Knowledge Learning and Judgments but not referring the Matter to their final Decision and Determination Indeed their Work to prevent Excursions was laid out in three Questions which they were commanded to Resolve and to Act no further And those were Debated till the 27th of that Month and in the end Decided with great Disagreement of Opinions The first Question Whether the Arch-Bishop were Irregular by the Fact of Involuntary Homicide The two Judges and the two Civilians did agree That he was not Irregular and the Bishop of Winton who was a strong Upholder of Incontaminate Antiquity coming to the same sense said He could not conclude him so The other five held He was Irregular The second Question Whether that Act might tend to a Scandal in a Church-man The Bishop of Winton the Lord Hobart and Dr. Steward doubted All the rest Subscribed That there might arise from such an Accident Scandalum acceptum non datum a Scandal taken but not given The third Question How my Lord's Grace should be restored in case the King should follow the Decision of those Commissioners who had found him Irregular All agreed it could no otherwise be done then by a Restitution from the King In the manner they varied The Bishop of Wiâ—châ—sâ—er Lord Hobart Dr. Steward were of one mind to have it done immediately from the King and from him alone in the same Patent with the Pardon The Lord-Keeper Bishops of London Rochester Exon and St. Davids to be directed to some Bishops by a Commission from the King to be transacted in a foâ—mal Absolution Church-wise Manu Clericali Judge Dodderidge and Sir Harry Maâ—â—in were willing to have it done both ways for abundant Caution The whole Business was submitted to His Majesty to determine it who took the shortest course to shew Mercy Sprevit caelestis animus humana consilia as Velleius said of C. Caeâ—ar So by his Broad-Seal He assoiled the Arch-Bishop from all Irregularity Scandal or Infamation pronouncing him to be capable to use all Metropolitical Authority as if that sinistrous Contigency in spilling Blood had never been done A Princely Clemency and the more to be Extoll'd because that Arch-Bishop was wont to dissent from the King as often as any man at the Council-Board It seems he loved him the better for his Courage and Sincerity For it was he that said to Jo. Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews telling His Majesty That if he wrote an History of the Church of Scotland to which Labour he was appointed he could not approve of his Mother in all things that she did Well says the King speak the Truth and spare not Words after Salomon's Praise which are Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 79. But because when our Arch-Bishop's Unfortunateness was recent it appeared far worse to some scrupulous Ecclesiastics then it did in process of time therefore the Lord-Keeper with the two other Elects cast themselves at His Majesties Feet and besought Him That since they had declared before God and the World what they thought in that dubious Case they might not be compel'd by wounding their Consciences to be Consecrated by him but be permitted to receive that Solemnity from some other Bishops which was warrantable by His Majesties Laws This was easily granted and the Lord-Keeper was Consecrated in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh at Westminster on the 11th day of November following by the Bishops of London Worcester Ely Oxford Landaff And the Elects of Sarum Exeter St. Davids in the Chappel of the Bishop of London's Palace Nov. 18. by the same Reverend Fathers From hencesorth the suspicion of the Irregularity was brought asleep and never waken'd more Mr. H. L. is quite mistaken pag. 71. of his History ' It is true the Arch-Bishop an 1627. was Commanded from his Palaces of Lambeth and Croydon and sent to a Moorish House in Kent called Foord but not as he conceives
〈…〉 unsel being present keeping my Intention from my Chancellor himself from whom I never kept any of my weightiest Business Because if I had made him of my Counsel in that purpose he had been blamed for putting the same into my Head which had not been his Duty For it becometh no Subject to give his Prince Advice in such Matters In this Story it appears that the Father-King trod the way to his Son to undergo such an Audacious Journey in the pursuance of his Love Quid non effraeno captus amore Audeat Ovid. Then that he Persisted in his Principles of Secrecy for a generous End that he might not draw his Chief and Best Servants whom he loved most into a Snare of Guiltiness 127. Let Provision be made to the most that could be for the safety of all others yet Sir Ant. W. in his Court and Character of K. James hath one Exception That the King set this Wheel on Running to destroy Buckingham for the hatred which he had long bore him and would not think it ill to loose his Son so Buckingham might be lost also Pag. 149. O Horrid But the best is the Foundation is Rotten For Buckingham as all Men about the King would Testifie was in as high Favour at that time as any Subject was ever with his Sovereign But when Sir A. to make out the Proof he lays it upon Sir H. Yelverton displaced from the Office of Attorney General to the King and committed to the Tower 't was he that assured the Marquess that the King hated him more than any man Living pag. 159. Sir Harry was Unfortunate but too honest a Man to sow Discord between the King and his principal Peer and Attendant Now mark upon what Bottom the Contriver of this Tale doth wind his Forgery Sir W. Balfore at the time of his Lieutenancy of the Tower brought the Marquess at Midnight to Sir H. Yelverton's Chamber being then his close Prisoner Where Sir William heard those Passages and a great deal more between them And by one or other who came to the knowledge of it but this Sir Anthony O Wicked Servant to thy good Master O fowl Bird that defilest the Nest wherein thâ—u wert hatch'd and well fledg'd Thou art catch'd in thine own Lime for thou never couldst have Conserence with Sir W. Balfore or Sir H. Yelverton about such a matter For Learned Yelverton was never Prisoner to Valiant Balfore Sir Allen Apsley was Lieutenant all the time of that worthy man's restraint And Sir W. Balfore was not preferr'd to that Office of great Trust in more than four years after Sir Harry had obtain'd his Liberty when Knaves will turn Fools it is not amiss to be merry with them And I will fit Sir Anthony with a Jest out of Illustrius the Pythagorean p. 23. One Daphidas came to the Pythian Deity to beseech his Oracleship to tell him when he should find a Gelding of his that was gone astray You shall find him very shortly says Apollo's Minister I thank you for your good News says Daphidas but I have neither lost a Horse nor have a Horse to loose So I turn Sir Anthony over to the Committee of Oracles and proceed After the Princes Out Leap the King lingred at New-market till the time was nigh that every day Tidings were expected of his safe Arrival in Spain that he might shew himself to the Lords at White-hall with better Confidence which he did March 30. being the first day that the Lord Keeper spake with the King about his dear Sons Planetary Absence No sooner had he made most humble sign of his Majesties Welcome by Kissing his Hand but the King Laugh'd out this Question to him Whether he thought this Knight-Errant Pilgrimage would be lucky to win the Spanish Lady and to convey her shortly into England Sir says the Lord Keeper If my Lord Marquess will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares and Remember he is the Favourite of Spain Or if Olivares will shew Honourable Civility to my Lord Marquess Remembring he is a Favourite of England the Woing may be Prosperous But if my Lord Marquess should forget where he is and not stoop to Olivares or if Olivares forgetting what Guest he hath Received with the Prince bear himself haughtily and like a Castilian Grandee to my Lord Marquess the Provocation may be Dangerous to Cross your Majesties good Intentions And I pray God that either one or both of them do not run into that Errour The King drew a Smile at the Answer but bit his Lip at the presage Discourse being Enlarg'd between them the King perceiv'd that his Counsellor had other Fears and that his Brain teemed with Jealousies of very hard Encounters which he knock'd upon softly that his Majesty might discern them and not seem to apprehend them Only thus far the King proceeded to ask him If he had wrote to his Son and to the Lord Marquess clearly and upon what Guard they should stand Yes Sir says he for that purpose I have dispatch'd some Packets Then continue says the King to help me and themin those difficulties with your best Powers and Abilities and serve me faithfully in this motion which like the highest Orbe carries all my Raccolta's my Counsels at the present and my prospects upon the Future with it and I will never part with you The Cause which made His Majesty so solicitous made the Lord Keeper need no Provocation to diligence He was before hand And upon the 25 of February by a Currier that was at Madrid almost as soon as the Prince he wrote two Letters following to his Highness and to the Lord Marquess A Letter to the Prince May it please your Highness 128 ALthough Prayer is all the Service That at this time either I the most obliged or any other the wisest of your Servants can perform unto you yet I Humbly beseech your Higness to pardon true Affections that cannot stay there but will be expressing of it self though peradventure neither wisely nor discreetly The Comick Writer held these two scarce competent Amare sapere And to exclude all shew of discretion I presume to write this First Letter of mine to your Highness without so much as excribing or taking a Copy of the same this opportunity admitting no leisure at all to do the one or the other Your Journey is generally reputed the depth of your danger which in my Fears and Representations your Arrival should be You are in a strange State for ought we know uninvited business being scarce prepared subject to be staid upon many and contrary pretenses made a Plot for all the Wisdom of Spain and Rome for all the contemplations of that State and that Religion to work upon And peradventure the detaining of Your Highness his Person may serve their turn as amply as their Marriage at least wise for this time and the Exploits of the ensuing Summer I write not this to fright you who have Testified to all the
they will loose much of their Thanks If they cloy us with new Articles upon Advantage that they have the Prince among them they have lost their Wits or Honesty and will loose their Purpose Of which yet I have but half a Doubt and his Majesty none at all I have also taken liberty in that Letter to speak of your Lordship I hope without Offence I leave the rest to Sir George Goring's Relation and your Lordship to God's Protection Now was the time now when my Lord of Buckingham was in this eminent Imployment that he did most need a Wife and a trusty Counsellor For an Error in so great a Eusiness would be worse interpreted than the wilful Comission of a Fault in a smaller thing As Tully says Lib. 4. de fin If a Ship be wreckt by Negligence Majus est peccatum in auro quam in palcâ Hereof the Lord Keeper was more sensible than any of his Lordship's Creatures and quite contrary to those that had private Ends to make use of the Lord Marquess at Home and called importunately for his Return he alone was bold to give him his sage Opinion not to stir from his Charge withal enheartning him with the Comfort of the King 's constant Favour that it was kept for him against his Return in as great or higher measure as he enjoy'd it when he took his Leave And to Count Gondamar he gave a Character of his Lordship which he desired the Count would make known to the greatest Counsellors of King Philip that none did exceed him in Generosity and Sweetness of Nature that he deserved extraordinary Civilities for his own Worth and according to the Favour with which his Master tendered him and that he would pawn his Life upon it that no Man should go before him in Honorable Acknowledgments for Noble Usage These good Offices were part of the Lord Keeper's Retribution to his Advancer which he deposited as fast as he could lay them out For perfect Thankfulness never leaves bearing never thinks it hath paid its utmost Debt 132. Now to follow the Chase As Counsel and Forecast were very busie at the Loom here so Tidings from Spain did promise that there was a good Thread spun there All Expresses related that the Entertainment was very pompous and Kingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Alexander in Plutarch I have said all when I said it was done like a King chiefly like a King of Spain But two Negatives were better than this Affirmative First That his Highness should not be attempted to recede from the Religion in which he was grounded Secondly That he should not be â—ned with unwelcome Prorogations Nay That a short time should 〈…〉 the Nuptials Truly In defiance to Emulation or Detract◠〈…〉 be granted that the first Stone was well laid His Highness's Welcome 〈◊〉 full of Cost and Honour which was Decorum for no Tree will bear Fruit in Autumn unless it blossom kindly in the Spring The Entertainment was compleat in all Points of Ceremony and Ceremony is a great part of Majesty It will suffice to set down a little that is published herein and never contradicted Cabal P. 14. The King of Spain and the State studied to do the Prince all the Honour that might be The first Decree that the Council of State made was That at all Occasions of Meeting he should have the Precedency of the King That he should make Entry into the Palace with that Solemnity which the Kings of Spain do on the first day of their Coronation That he should have one of the chief Quarters of the King's House for his Lodgings One hundred of the Guard to attend him All the Council to obey him as the King 's own Person And upon all these Particulars Mr. W. Sanderson is exactly copious in the Reign of King James P. 545 in laying the Relation with other high Civilities which were very true That a general Pardon was proclaimed of all Offences and all prisoners within the Continent of Spain released and all English Slaves in the Gallies for Piracy or other Crimes set at Liberty and this manifested to be done in Contemplation of the Prince's Welcome The Windows of the Streets were glorified with Torches three Nights together by Proclamation Most costly Presents and of diverse Garnishing brought to him were Testimonies of Heroick Hospitality such as were wont to be bestowed in Homer's Age yet far beyond them and whose like none could give but he that was Master of the West-Indies Abroad and of the best Artificers at Home That which weighed most of all was That infinite Debt of Love and Honour which the King profest to be due unto him with this long-wing'd Complement which flew highest That he had won his Sister with this brave Adventure and deserved to have her thrown into his Arms. This was the Cork and Quill above and I know of no Hook beneath the Water Some imagine it but turning over all Dispatches that came to my Hand I know of none and that which outgoes my Knowledge shall never undergo my Censure To speak out the Truth where could the Spanish Monarch have done better for his Sister or for himself that is for Love or Policy since it was a Business mixt of both There was not a Deturdigniori among the Sons of Kings in Europe to whom he could give the Golden Aple And in Conjunction with the Prince the next Planet under him the Lord Marquess had a Lustre of much Grace and Observance darted upon him At first he was much esteemed says the Intelligencer Cabal P. 16. and remembred with Presents from the bravest of both Sexes Says another He was a Person whose Like was not to be seen among the swarthy and low-growth'd Castilians For as Ammianus describes a well-shap'd Emperor Ab ipso capite usque ad unguium summitates reétâ erat lineamentorum compage From the Nails of his Fingers nay from the Sole of his Foot to the Crown of his Head there was no Blemish in him And yet his Carriage and every Stoop of his Deportment more than his excellent Form were the Beauty of his Beauty Another Sisinnius as Socrates the Ecclesiastick shews him out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Setting of his Looks every Motion every Bending of his Body was admirable No marvel if such a Gallant drew Affections to him at Home and Abroad especially at Madrid which was a Court of Princes But can that Nation pass over such a Triumph as this Entertainment without Pumpian Words and ruffling Grandiloquence 't is impossible Therefore one Andres de Mendoza wrote a Relation of all these Passages which he dedicated to Don Juan de Castilià wherein he pities us poor English that we had seen nothing but Country Wakes or Popit-Plays compared with these Rarities which were the seven Wonders of Bravery And that King Philip did vouchsafe to make King James happy with his Alliance as C. Caesar honoured Amiclas the Water-man called Pauper Amyclas Lucan Lib.
Old Latium August and Sacred signified the same 'T were good if it would prove so now But it began with discontent on every side and never mended Our Wise King no longer smother'd his Passion but confess'd at sundry times a great fault in himself that he had been so improvident to send the Duke on this Errand with the Prince whose bearing in Spain was ill Reported by all that were not partial He put the bafful so affectedly upon the Earl of Bristol at every turn that those Propositions which his Majesty had long before approved with deep Wisdom and setled with the Word of Honour were struck out by my Lord of Buckingham only because Bristol had presented them Nay if the Prince began to qualifie the unreasonableness he would take the Tale out of his Highness's Mouth and over-rule it and with such youthful and capricious Gestures as became not the lowly Subjection due to so great a Person but least of all before Strangers It was an Eye-sore to the Spaniards above any people who speak not to their King and the Royal Stems of the Crown without the Complement of Reverence nor approach unto them without a kind of Adoration The more the Prince endur'd it the more was their judgment against it For every Mouth was fill'd with his Highness's Praise and nothing thought wanting in him to be absolutely good and Noble but to know his own Birth and Majesty better and to keep more distance from a Subject So the Earl of Bristol Writes Cab. p. 20. I protest as a Christian I never heard in all the time of his being here nor since any one Exception against him unless it were for being supposed to be too much guided by my Lord of Buckingham which was no Venial Sin in their censure For how much their gall Super-abounded against that Lord the same Earl could not hold to write it to the Lord Keeper bearing Date August 20. I know not how things may be Reconciled here before my Lord Duke's departure but at present they are in all Extremity ill betwixt this King his Ministers and the Duke And they stick not to profess that they will rather put the Infanta head-long into a Well then into his Hands One thing that fill'd up the Character of my Lord Duke before in this Work was that he had much of the brave Alcibiades in him In this they differ that Plutarch's Alcibiades suited himself so well to the Manners and Customs of all Courts where he came that he gave satisfaction to all Princes and they were best pleased with him that most enjoy'd him The great Lord Villiers was not so Fortunate for he thrived not in the Air of Madrid and he brook'd the Air of Paris as ill about two years after upon the like Occasion And no marvel For as Catulus said of Pompey in Paterculus Praeclarus vir Cn. Pompeius sed reipub liberae nimius So this Lord was a worthy Gentleman but too big to be one in a Free Treaty with other Ministers The Lord Keeper who was the Socrates to this Alcibiades had Noted his Lordships Errors and unbeseeming Pranks before For which he look'd for no better then he that rubs a Horse that is gaul'd Yet he resolv'd to shoot another Arrow the same way that the former went though the Duke had threatned to break his Bow as soon as he came Home But he was too prudent to be scared from doing Duty to so great a Friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle He is neither Wise nor Faithful but a Flatterer that denies his Spirit ingenious Freedom And it is a Speech worthy of Sir Ph. Sidney which the Lord Brooke ascribes to him Pag. 42. of his Life That he never found Wisdom where he found not Courage Therefore the Lord Keeper writes to the Duke Aug. 3. of which this is the Moral to him that reads it intelligently That no Man living can keep Favour who keeps not Conditions that merit to perpetuate Favour May it please your Grace I Have no more to trouble your Grace at this time withal than the Expression of that Service and those Prayers which as I do truly owe so shall I ever as faithfully perform to your Grace New Comers may make more large and ample Promises but will in the end be found to fall short of your old Servants in Reality and Performances If your Grace hath by this time thought that I have been too bold and too near your Secrets in those Counsels I presumed upon in my last Letters I beseech you to remember how easie it was for me to have held my Peace how little Thanks I am like to receive from any other beside your Grace for the same how far I am in these Courses from any end of mine own beside your Prosperity and Security If your Grace would give me leave to deliver my Opinion upon the main though no Hunter after Court-News it is this Your Grace stands this Day in as great Favour with his Majesty as your Heart can desire And if I have any Judgment in far more Security of Continuance than ever you did if you remain as for ought I can perceive you do in the same State with the Prince in the same Terms as your Pains have deserved with the Princess and out of Quarrels and Recriminations which will but weaken both Parties and make way for a third with the rest of his Majesties Agents in this Negotiation I cannot but presume once more to put your Grace in mind that the nearer you are drawn to his Highness in Title the more you are with all Care and Observance to humble your self unto him in Speech Gesture Behaviour and all other Circumstances yea although his Highness should seem to require the Contrary This cannot be any way offensive to your own and is expected to the utmost Punto by that other Nation I do presume of Pardon for all my Follies in this kind and that whatsoever is wanting in my Discretion your Grace will be pleased to make up out of my Sincerity and Affection However your Grace and the Earl of Bristol shall conclude I hope your Grace will pardon my Zeal though peradventure not according to Knowledge aiming only at your Grace's Service the Amplitude and Continuance of your Greatness For whatsoever your Grace shall determine and conclude I do and shall implicitly yield unto the same Yet am still of Opinion the way of Peace to be the broad way to enlarge and perpetuate your Grace's Greatness and Favour with his Majesty c. This was bold but faithful and ingenious Dealing The Duke's last Messenger whom he sent into England before he arrived Sir J. Hipsley gave him a touch of the same Cab. P. 316. For God's-sake carry the Business with Patience betwixt my Lord of Bristol and you And again in the same For God's-sake make what hast you may Home for fear of the worst For the King's Face began to gather Clouds upon the
c. to forbear any Moleslation of his said Subjects in respect of their Religion To send them forth with as much speed as conveniently may be that his Majesty may be freed from the Complaints of the Ambassadors Thrice again he was charg'd with the same Command To all which he answer'd He could do nothing without a private Warrant for it and that it was not possible to be agreed upon till he spake with his Majesty On the 6th of September the same Secretary writes again That an Exemplification of the Pardon should be deliver'd to the Ambassadors under the Great Seal That 's not hard to be done But upon what Limits and Conditions So the Lord Keeper rejoyns Sir G. Calvert is troubled again to satisfie that Scruple That no Copy of it should go out to any of the Roman Catholicks nor any of them be permitted to sue out their Pardons until his Majesties Pleasure be further known This came Sept. 8. The Lord Keeper held back yet till he knew what Assurance he should have from the Ambassadors to keep those Conditions Which held a Contest till Sept. 19. When Mr. Secretary Conway writes from Theobalds His Majesties Pleasure is That you deliver unto the Marquiss Inoiosa an Exemplification of the Pardon and Dispensation And his Majesty would not that you should press him for a Note of his Hand for Secresie and Stanchness for giving of Copies of the Pardon or Dispensation but only by Word to refresh his Memory of the faithful Promises he hath made in that Point to the King upon which his Majesty will relie Indeed it was order'd at Windsor Sept. 7. as appears in a Letter of Secretary Conways that when Marquiss Iniosa had the Exemplication all the Crast was in Catching that he should communicate them to none nor give Copies of them till we had knowledge from Spain of the Marriage or Desponsories There was nothing about these days that mitigated the Embassador more than a Trick that in sine did him least good Properly and without Levity it may be called a Flop with a Fox-Tail The Lord Keeper closed in with him not to be so hasty for Exemplifications which the Clerks of the Crown must write over soft and fairly A Matter of more weight should presently be set on foot not of Words but of real Benefit and Performance to his Party and to the Choice of them a Pardon for the Romish Priests that were imprisoned about which there had been struggling and yet nothing effected As the Lord Keeper seemed forward so to see the ill Luck it was cramp'd by a Letter from Sir Edward Conway Sept. 6. Dat. Windsor Right Honorable HIS Majesty hath signed the Warrant that was sent for the enlarging of the Priests out of Prison that he may shew the Reality of Performance on his Part in all that is to be done Yet his Majesty commits the Warrant to your Keeping without further Use to be made save only to pass the Great Seal which you may be pleased to expedite till important Considerations be provided for and satisfied As First That his Majesty receive Advertisement of the Marriage or Desposories Secondly That Provision be taken for these Priests that have expressed their Duties to the King either in Writing in his Defence or in taking the Oaths whose Protection his Majesty holds himself bound to continue and not to suffer them to incur any Danger for that their Conformity Thirdly That Order be taken that such Priests enlarged be not left at Liberty to execute their Functions publickly or at their Pleasure but only under such Limitations and Restraints as by the Pardon and Dispensations are provided 166. Of these three Caveats entred to modifie the Liberty which was Petitioned for and promised to the Priests the middlemost was a brave one wherein the Lord Keeper revenged himself on Inoiosa for all his Forwardness It aimed at one man Mr. Preston a Secular Priest Honest and rarely Learned The Author of the Works under the Name of Roger Widrington for the Oath of Allegiance The Author of that solid Piece called The last Rejoynder to T. Fitzherbert Bellarmine's Sculckenius and Lessius his Singleton upon that Subject Printed An. 1619. This Man for his own Preservation lay quiet in the Marshalsea his Death being threatned by the rigid Papalins This was he that was set forth as the only Evidence of his Majesty's Royal Mercy toward those that were in Holy Orders of that Religion the present Pattern of his keeping Promise according to the Articles But such a Priest as that if Marq. Inoiosa had been consulted for his Release perhaps he would have cried out Not him but Barabbas Preston had Leave that Summer twice or thrice to come to the Lord Keeper at Nonsuch where I saw them together discoursing as long as Leisure and Business would permit That Interview procured the Warrant for his Pardon from the King as followeth James Rex TO the Reverend Father in God Our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Counsellor Jo. Lord Bishop of Lincoln Lord Keeper of Our Great Seal of England Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Counsellor We Greet you well These are to will and require to pass one Pardon and Dispensation according unto the Warrant directed unto you concerning the Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom in general for the Use and Benefit of Preston a Secular Priest now a Prisoner in our Prison of the Marshalsea And delivering unto the Spanish Embassador an Exemplification of the same Pardon under the Great Seal to keep the Original so Sealed under your own Custody untill you shall receive from Us some further Order Given at Our Court at Windsor Sept. 8. c. The Releasment of Preston was accordingly dispatched the first Fruits of the Common Grace expected by others sent as a Present to Don Inoiosa nay a Precedent for consequent Releasments So Secretary Conway to the Lord Keeper Sep. 17. His Majesty's Order to your Lordship was That the Pardon for this one Man should be exemplified as the Limitation and Rule to the Form of all the rest So as without Dispute or Controversie that was a present Possâ—ssion an Act performed by the King to be executed alike to each one to whom it appertains at the Time and upon the Conditions before specified the Sight whereof might give the Embassador Contentment But it was far from that Don John the Marquiss durst not say he was mocked but he fum'd like Lime that is slack'd with Water to see of all the Priesthood that man only enlarged whom above all he most hated Therefore his Violence augmented press'd the King so far that his Majesty caused the same Secretary to write again very roundly the next day to the Lord Keeper Right Honorable HIS Majest hath received from the Spanish Embassador a large Declaration of his Grievance by the great Delays he finds from your Lordship in point of the Pardon and Dispensation an Exemplification of which your Lordship hath Order to deliver
Palatinate The Prince making earnest obtestation for it K. Philip Engaged the Honour of a King upon it That he would intermit neither fair means nor soul means with the Emperor that it might be resigned into his Hand and then should be bestowed as a Gift upon the Marriage Hereupon his Highness seemed to depart well satisfied Yet having removed no further then from St. Lorenzo to St. Andreas Expostulates to have the Palatinate surendred to the Right owner and the Espousals to be procrastinated till it was done the King of Spain tells our Messenger He would do all he had promised upon the last Agreement and for his Life he could do no more So the Earl of Bristol remembers it to the Prince Cab. p. 25. They go on chearfully and confidently and I conceive will punctually perform all that they have Capitulated with you The Prince knew well where he was now when all their Capitulations were held to be Star-shootings Flashes and Meteors without the Bird in the Hand Plato hath a Crotchet lib. 8. de leg to shew the Citizens of his imagin'd Common-Wealth what they should do to escape all or the most Suits in Law that trouble men with Charge and Delays Marry says he Trust no Man without ready Mony in Buying and Bargaining wherein if you fail you shall have no Action to recover your Debt This Platonick dealing with which the Spaniards Challeng'd us was a New Erection of Justice by which the Marriage was consum'd into no Marriage but into a Platonick Love Whether the Prince were at Freedom having said and done so much at the Escurial to break off upon his own Conditions is such a Knot as I cannot find the Ends of it Therefore whether we came off clear or were sullied with some Dishonour is too intricate to be decided In a Report made to the Parliament hereafter the Lord Keeper being called unto it stretch'd his Learning to prove That any Man might lawfully Revoke his Procuration but he came not up to the Top of the Question whether it be Justifiable to Revoke the Obligation of Faith and Honour Aliud est jura spectare aliud justitiam Cicer. pro Balbo Conscience is a plain dealing Piece of Honesty though the Laws have many quirks Mr. Sander hath look'd commendably into this Treaty in this matter he is brief saying no more p. 552. But e're our Prince departed from that King Promises were made each to other to make Espousals ten days after the next Dispensation was brought Promises trasht in with Restrictions are absolute Debts Let your yea be yea says our Saviour to his Disciples And Learned Grotius says That the most of the Disciples Converted to him were of the Sect of the Essens of whom Josephus Writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Negligent Men kept not their Oath so strictly as they kept their Word Ar. Wilson most spiteful against the Match and as spiteful against the breaking it flies high p. 253. That the Prince had not Power to re-call his Proxy having tied up his Hands That he Sealed the Proxy at the Escurial and Swore to perform the Marriage The Earl of Bristol who knew the most of any English man goes far Cab. P. 23. That his Majesty and the Prince stand engaged for it as far as Princes can be But much more in his Letter dated Novem. 1. first Read by the Clerk of the Parliament at the Report which the Lord Keeper made to the House of Peers That the Prince had engaged his Faith and Power not to retract the Procuration Yet after all these hear one that was ever Honest and understood himself The Prince when he came to take his Fathers Blessing at Royston Octob. 6. protested says the Lord Keeper in his Report That he came from Spain an absolute Free man but with one Limitation the Restitution of the Palatinate then he was bound in Honour to go on with the Deposories All which I believe to be most true Yet the Scales still hanging upon the Beam of the Palatinate this Question Resolv'd will turn them whether the Agreement between the other King and our Prince was that K. Philip should precise restore the Palatinate or to conditionate do his utmost to endeavour it 171. Perhaps I am too Curious to hunt this Scent too far Yet I find no remorse in my self to have prest Conscience and Honour the Urim and Thummim with which the Noblest whom God hath made should consult in all things It was commonly said That mis-understandings fomented by the Duke of Buckingham which had a small Relation to the principal business disturb'd all Who was not skill'd in the Duty of a publick Minister that is to contemn all considerations concerning himself that might hinder his Majesties Ends as Sir W. Aston wrote to him As Illustrius the Pythag. said of Stilpo that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made up well for a private man and no further so the duke was a gallant lord to have the king's ear in private suits but not to have the king's trust in foreign dispatches being ever in custom to carry all with violence before him some may be great by chance but never wise it is admired to this day that his lordship should have such a command over the princes affections that he could so quickly make his highness forget such an incomparable beauty with whom he was so passionately enamour'd and she with him so Bristol Cab. p. 26. The World supposoth you infinitely Esteem her for her person and questionless for her Vertue and setled Affections to your Highness deserves you better then all the Women in the World Mr. Clarke likewise a man whom the Duke had Raised up for his own Use Writes to his Grace cab p. 307. The Infanta's Preparation for the Disposoria was great but greater her sorrow good Lady to see it deferr'd She had Studied our Language our Habit our Behaviour every thing but our Religion to make her self English She talk'd continually to her Attendants of the Prince and of her Voyage in the Spring What could the Duke say to blot the Image of such a person out of his Highness Heart This is strange to those that knew not his Highness who had a Quality to his Lives End I will call it Humility it is somewhat like it but it is not it to be easily perswaded out of his own Knowledg and Judgment by some whom he permitted to have Power upon him who had not the half of his intellectuals But for this Trick the Wag was Merry with the Duke who writes to K. James Cab. p. 223. In this his Highness coming off from Spain the Duke hath Advis'd him to no worse then he did himself For how many hath he abus'd and cozen'd with Promise of Marriage by his Grace in Court and Power with your Majesty If afterward things had been carried in a full Stream of Luck perhaps this Breach would not have been call'd a Fault Principally because the Wedlock that
in that kind to press an Injury against any Man but might come about to be Scann'd Little did a greater Man than the Duke the Emperor Ludovicus called the Holy Dream That he should be Persecuted so far by his Son Lotharius and Edo Bishop of Rhemes to set under his Hand an Acknowledgment of his Errors in forcing Judges to do unjustly Yet it was so as it is in Baron An. 833. Com. 17. Inter Ludovici crimina quae publicè agnouit Quod Judicantes ad falsum Judicium induxit Of two Evils the less was to be chosen by the Keeper rather to provoke one Man then all Men nay rather to provoke Man than GOD That some will be provok'd it cannot be avoided It is best to instance in a whole Nation to give no Offence Aristides in one of his Orations Censures the Old Romans and the Modern are no better They held all that were under them for Slaves and all that would be Freemen and not Slaves for Enemies The King heard the noise of these Crashes and was so pleas'd that he Thank'd God before many Witnesses that he had put the Keeper into that Place For says he He that will not wrest Justice for Buckingham 's Sake whom I know he Loves will never be corrupted with Money which he never Lov'd His Majesty would have a Judge to be such a one as Justinian aimed at Novel 17. Vir optimus purus his contentus quae à fisco dantur A good Man that took nothing of the People but was contented with such Wages as the King gave him He had found the Man And because the Lord Keeper had Husbanded that Stock Three years and half and lived fairly upon it and was not the Richer by the Sale of one Cursitors Place in all that time His Majesty Granted him a Suit by the Name of a New-Years-Gift after the size of the Liberality of that good Master which was enough to keep a Bountiful Christmas twice over The Giver did not repent him but thought himself repaid with a Conceit that this most useful Counsellor produc'd at that Season about the Children of the Prince Elector The Spanish Treaties were laid aside and new Ones from France rose up in their Room which being Examin'd it could not appear that they did portend any Comfort to the Recuperation of the Palatinate His Majesty bewailed that his Grand-Children then Young and Tender would be very Chargeable to England when they grew to be Men. It was their Sole Refuge They might Seek their Fortune in another place and come home by Spills-Bury Sir says the Lord Keeper Will you be pleased to listen to me taking in the Prince his Consent of which I make no doubt and I will shew how you shall furnish the Second and Third Brothers with Preferments sufficient to maintain them that shall cost you nothing Breed them up for Scholars in Academial Discipline keep them strictly to their Books with such Tutors as will Teach them not to abuse themselves with vain Hopes upon the Greatness of their Birth For it is a Folly to gape after the Fruit hanging upon a high Tree and not to know how to Climb it If they fall to their Studies design them to the Bishopricks of Durham and Winchester when they become void If that happen in their Nonnage which is probable appoint Commendatories to discharge the Duty for them for a laudable Allowance but gathering the Fruits for the support of your Grand-Children till they come to Virility to be Consecrated George Duke of Anhault having Ministerial Gifts was Ordain'd into that Holy Calling at Magdeburg and yet put to no Shifts as Melancthon is my Author and many more The Priestly Office was esteem'd from the beginning fittest for the best Gentlemen for the First-Born among them that serv'd the Truo God And the Romans who serv'd them that were no Gods learn'd it at Athens from Theseus Plut. in vità 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Citizens of the Noblest Blood should be train'd up in knowledge of Sacred Things and be made the Administrators of Divine Mysteries And I am at another Benefit wherein I praise God that I am assured Your Majesty will concur with me That the Office of a Bishop imprudently by many Mâ—lign'd I might charge them with a worse Crime will be the more Inviâ—lable when the Branches of Your Royal Stock have so great an Interest in it And such Provision is Needful against Schismatical Attempts both for Religious Sake and the Publick Weal For if such great Superstructions should fall all would come to Ruin that is round about them I will yet go further If Your Majesty think a Bishoprick though of the best kind too little for either of them you may please to annex to each of them one of your principal Offices of State as You find them Trusty and Discreet When he had ended As I Live says the King I will fellow this Direction I thank you heartily for it and I attend it that it will save me more then the worth of a Subsidy Thus far these Matters were well Chewed But because they were not followed when others bore the sway they never came to a second Concâ—ction 215. The Peaceable Period of King James's Reign drew on when the times were active about a Marriage between our Prince and a Daughter of France the youngest of Henry the Great 's Posterity for she was a Posthuma a Princess eminently adorn'd with many Rays of Honour celebrated far and wide for Beauty Wit and sweet Disclosures of Behaviour The Lord Keeper was not us'd in Counsel about it till after many sendings to and fro Yet what fell out at last for his part to the better Understanding of Conditions of Agreement is worthy to hang upon the File of Honourable Registry Viscount Kersâ—ngâ—â—â— Created of Holland in the pursuance of that Service was sent into France almost a Twelve-Month before to discover what Approbation was like to follow if this Match were offer'd The Earl had an Amorous Tongue and a Wise Head could Court it Smoothly as any Man with the French Ladies and made so Fortunate an account into England after Three Months of his Introductions that he saw no fear of denial in the Suit nor of Spinosity in the Articles But because he was 〈◊〉 put in Trust by the Lord Duke and our King would scarce acknowledge that he had given him Authority for all that he had done He sent the Earl of Carlile after him His Majesty much affying in that Lords Fidelity and put them both into the same Commission They were Peers of the best Lustre in our Court Elegant in their Persons Habit and Language and by their nearness to King 〈◊〉 apt Scholars to learn the Principles of Wisdom and the sitter to improve their Instructions to Honour and Safety While these Things went on the 〈◊〉 made it is Thought and Study what to do befitting a Counsellor and 〈…〉 upon the prospect of the
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
that prosecutes for the King and so it was appointed to be taken out When this expunging was confirm'd and the Attorney General had made his Replication upon the Demur the Bishop knowing not how to wear the Yoke of a base Spirit any longer and full of the Courage that God had inspired into him Appeals from these intolerable Grievances to the High Court of Parliament in this Rejoynder That the Defendant doth and will 〈◊〉 maintain and justifie his Answers and all the matters and things therein contained to be true and certain and sufficient in the Law And that nothing thereof ought to be expunged which is necessary and pertinent to his Defence And in case any part so pertinent and necessary for his Defence under colour of scandal to a third person who may clear his Credit if he be innocent and be repaired with Costs be expunged and he and all others in the like case be left remediless in the Law The Defendant having no other Remedy left in a Defence against a Suit commenced against him in the King's Name doth humbly Appeal unto the High Court of Parliament when it shall be next Assembled humbly protesting against any Sentence as void and null which shall pass against him in the mean time for and because of the want of his just and necessary defence so taken away and expunged Much was added in this Appeal to defie Kilvert who had boasted to prosecute the Bishop to his degradation and the Bishop in the said Appeal disavows that the Court of Star-chamber had ever degraded or appointed to be degraded or ever will degrade or appoint to be degraded any Bishop or other Lord and Peer of the Parliament or take away their Freehold in point of Means Profit or Honour c. This Appeal was filed in the Office enter'd in the Clerks Books and Copies thereof were signed by the usual Officer although Sir William Pennyman Clerk of the Star-chamber took it off the File and blotted it out of the Books Sir William was ever of a laudable behaviour but durst not say them nay that thrust him upon this Rashness Who did not gaze at this Appeal as if it had been a Blazing-star Who did not discourse of it How did they who club together for News and trial of their Wits spend their Judgments upon it Some thought that excess of Wrongs done to the Bishop had distemper'd him to fall upon a course of Confusion to himself In plain words being bitten by so many mad Dogs they thought he bit again as if he had been mad Whereas he never did any thing with a more sober mind Insanire me â—iunt ultro cum ipsi insaniant Plaut in Menaech Some replied Let the danger be what it will the President tended to a Publick Good Audendum est aliquid singulis aut pereundum universis For are we not all Passengers as well as he in the same bottom And may we not be swallowed up in the same Shipwrack if our Pilots look no better to their Duty They that were acquainted with the best Pleaders thought to have most Light from them and askt if the Act did not exceed the Duty of a Subject And would it not leave the Author to the fury of the Court to be torn in pieces with a Censure Nay surely said the Gown-men there is no violation of Duty to His Majesty in appealing to his Parliament for he submits to the King who is the Head of the Body Or at the most it is Provocatio à Philippo dormiente ad Philippum vigilantem from K. Charles misinformed in Star-chamber to K. Charles among his best Assistants the three States of the Nation And for the minacy of a Censure do if they dare A Parliament will repair him when it sits and canonize their own Martyr Both they that lik'd and dislik'd the Appeal confest that the corruption of his Judges compell'd him to it Should Kilvert notoriously detected be suffer'd to escape by cancelling all that brought his Conspiracies to light Infixo aculeo fugere in the Adagy Strike in his Sting and fly away like a Wasp Suffer this and at this one dealing of the Game the Bishop's whole state had been lost of Fortunes Liberty and Honour Neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur Praemia sed Turni de vitâ sanguine certant Discretion was to give place to Courage in this case Baronius tells us of Theodoret. ann 446. n. 27. That being incensed at the Tyranny of a Shark in Office that had seized upon all he had Uranius Bishop of Emesa advised him to make no words of it but to sit still by the loss Theodoret answers him bravely Non solùm prudentia sed fortitudo virtus est Fortitude is a Virtue as well as Prudence and is as laudable in her own turn and occasion Put the case to a Physician when he thinks there is no hope of a Patient what will he do The ancient Rule was Nescio an in extremis aliquid tentare medicina sit certè nihil tentare perditio est To give the sick man Physic is against Art but to give him nothing is to cast him away wilfully Here is Lincoln's condition who being denied the Justice of that Court had nothing to fly to in that Extremity but this Appeal with which he did so hough the Sinews of the Bill that from that day forward it never hopt after him 128. Because some did not stick to say that the Bishop might thank himself for his incessant Troubles that he did not take Conditions of Peace that were offered to him it must be presented here that Conditions indeed were tender'd such as Naash offer'd the Israelites to thrust out their right Eyes 1 Sam. 11.2 or as the Samnites released Sp. Posthumious and a Roman Legion overthrown at Caudis with slavish Ignominy But these were worse Ultra Caudinas speravit vulnera furcas Luca. lib. 2. The Bishop lying in Prison and sustaining the heavy weight of the first Censure July 11. 1637. he press'd the L. Coventry to move His Majesty for some mitigation of the Fine and to stop the violent levying of it since it stood in no proportion with the Charges of the Bill or the Presidents of the Court. Hereupon His Majesty tells the L. Keeper he would admit of no such motion but by the Mediation of the Queen The Bishop is glad of the News and could call to mind that in greater matters than this Princely Ladies had the Honour to make the Accord which the greatest Statesmen had attempted in vain as Madam Lovise Mother of K. Francis the First and Madam Margaret Aunt to Charles the Fifth Regent of the Low Countries made up that Peace between the Emperor and the King which other Mediators had given over for desperate Our Queen endeavour'd a Message of Clemency but that Honour was denied her The Earl of Dorset writes in her Name to the Bishop That all she could obtain of the King
done out of a narrow Revenue Salmasius O what a Miracle of Judgment and Learning wrote bountifully and liv'd bountifully as I have heard These are his words Lib. de Usur p. 392. Quomodo liberalis esse potest qui nihil plus acquireret quà m quod sibi ad victum necessarium sufficere queat They that talk of possessing no more then to content Nature must live with such as know no other People but themselves else it is impossible but they will depart from that Primitive Simplicity And truly I have known but few perhaps none that would not be content to have had all the Chaplain's Portion or more if they had liv'd in as good a way of getting I do not excuse him therefore it need not that he got sufficient Wealth and bestow'd it Charitably and Honourably as will be manifested Whither it be Tully or Panaetius that says it or both it is well said as I learnt it in my Lessons of Puerility Lib. 1. de Off. Neque rei familiaris amplificatio vituperanda est nemine nocens sed fugienda semper injuria Riches that are augmented out of Niggardice or by Cheating Extortion or doing unworthy Offices carry their Curse along with them those that are well gotten are the Blessing of God The Adjection of Wealth then was not to be refus'd by one that serv'd not such an Idol but made it serve him for worthy Purposes Neither did his franc and generous Nature esteem such Things to be the Recompence of five years Service but this rather to be brought up at the Feet of the most prudent Counsellor that lived in the King's Service and that he got his Favour so early and held it so strongly till Death which came on apace An. 1616. in October this aged Patriarch began to languish and droop Therefore to recreate him and to put an after-spring into his decaying Spirits the Prince with due Solemnity being created Prince of Wales Nov 4. the Lord Chancellor was created Viscount Brackley on the 7th of the same This Honour was a Token that the King held him Precious yet it work'd not inward Who did ever see that the Sand in an Hour-Glass did run the flower because the Case in which it was put was guilded For all this Viscountship his Feebleness was more and more sensible the Eyes that look'd out of the Windows were darkned and he grew thick of Hearing From thence that is about January he delighted not in any Talk unless his Chaplain spoke to him All his Business with his Great and Royal Master the King he sent by him to be deliver'd with Trust and Prudence Upon which Messages the King took great notice that the Chaplain was Principled by his Master to be a Statesman and a Pillar of the Kingdom And even hard upon the day of his Death which was Mart. 15. the Chancellor call'd him to him and told him If he wanted Money he would leave him such a Legacy in his Will as should furnish him to begin the World like a Gentleman Sir says the Chaplain I kiss your hands you have fill'd my Cup full I am far from Want unless it be of your Lordships Directions how to live in the World if I survive you Well says the Chancellor I know you are an expert Workman take these Tools to work with they are the best I have And he gave him some Books and Papers written all with his own hand These were as Valuable as the Sibylline Prophesies They were that old Sage's Collections for the well ordering the High Court of Parliament the Court of Chancery the Star-Chamber and the Council-Board An inestimable Gift being made over to the true Heir Apparent of his Wisdom Let every one wear the Garland he deserves For my part I attribute so much to the Lord Egerton that I believe the Master's Papers were the Marrow of Mr. Williams his Prudence and subtle Judgment in all his Negotiations These Notes I have seen but are lost as it is to be feared in unlucky and devouring Times So died that Peerless Senator the Mirror of a Lord Chancellor having left that Blessing to his Chaplain and dear Servant that bewailed him long after with the mourning of a Dove and attended his Body to Cheshire and said the Office of Burial over him in a Chapel where he was entomb'd with his Ancestors Whose surviving Name a Grave cannot cover and a Tomb is too little to preserve it You may measure him in much by these two Spans Queen Elizabeth says Mr. Cambden was a Lady that never Chose amiss in the Preferment of an Officer when she was left to her own Judgment She made him her Solicitor Attorney-General Master of the Rolls and Lord-Keeper She tried him in every Place of Trust the former meriting the latter till he possess'd the highest King James did more not because he gave him the splendid Name of Lord-Chancellor or enobled him with the Titles of a Baron and a Viscount but because in the open Court of Star-Chamber he bless'd him with his Prayers and the Speech wherein he made the Prayer is Printed with his Works That as he had long held that Place so God would continue him longer in it To know him altogether I will borrow the Character of Aemilianus and engrave it into the green Saphir of his Memory which will ever keep green Qui nihil in vitâ nisi laudandum aut fecit aut dixit aut sensit 38. While the Obsequies for the Entertainment of this deceased Lord were preparing at London the Successor unto the Office of the great Seal was Sir Francis Bacon very Learned in the judgment of all European Scholars especially best known at home that his Soul was a Cabinet replenish'd with the greatest Jewels of Wit and in all our Kingdom none did ever set them forth with purer Language He hearing that Mr. Williams had chested up his Books and had furnish'd himself every way for an House-keeper to remove to his Cure of Walgrave he made him an offer of great Civility to continue with him in that place wherein he had serv'd the Lord Egerton which he declined but with so graceful a compliment that they parted great Friends and Sir Francis willing to mark him with some cognizance of his Love of his own accord made him Justice of Peace and of the Quorum in the County of Northampton an Office fitter for none than a Scholar and a Gentleman Yet he could hot leave London so God had provided without a calling into a new Service but it was in Caesars houshold His faithful and fast Friend Dr. James Montagu now Bishop of Winton sent for him and brought him to the King who received him with consolatory Words and extraordinary Grace and commanded he should be Sworn his Chaplain forthwith whereupon he Attended at the Court yearly in the Month of February appointed him also to wait on him in his great Northern progress into Scotland now hard at hand to begin in
Majesty was the Chariot and Horsemen of our Israel that now he would be pleased to double the Spirit of Elias upon his Servant Elisha whom Your Majesty hath thus invested with his Robe and Mantle And for my especial direction I will take up that Counsel which Pliny gave his Friend Maximus Newly Elected Praetor for Achaia Meminisse oportet Officii Titulum I will never forget my Office and Title I am design'd to be a Probationer in this Place and as a Probationer by God's Grace I will demeane my self I will take up together with this Seal that Industry Integrity and Modesty Non ut me Consulem sed ut consulatus candidatum putem That is I will not Esteem my self a Keeper but a Suitor only for the Great Seal And if I feel the burden too heavy which I mightily fear and suspect I will choose rather desinere quà m deficere to slip it off willingly to some stronger Shoulder than to be crush'd in pieces with the poise of the same And I humbly beseech your Majesty also to Remember I am no more than a meer Probationer If I prove Raw at the first I must have my time to Learn The best of them all have craved no less and I will desire no more For if after the full weighing of my Strength I shall still find my self unable for this Service I will say unto Your Majesty as Jacob said unto Pharaoh Pastor ovium est servus tuus whatsoever You are pleas'd Sir to make me I am but a Keeper of Sheep in that Calling Your Majesty found me and to that Calling I shall ever be ready to appropriate my self again In the mean time I beseech Your Majesty to protect this Court of Justice wherein You have plac'd me that the Strength and Power of that body be nothing impaired through the weakness of the Head Nemo Adolescentiam meam contemnat Let not my Fellows of an other Profession cry out with him in the Psalm There there so would we have it neither let them say We have Devoured him And so I end with my Prayer unto God That Your Majesty may Live long and my self no longer than I may be serviceable to Your Majesty 73. The King heard him very Graciously to the end and used no more then these few Words in Answer That he was pleas'd in his Settlement as in any whom he had prefer'd and was perswaded he would not deceive his Judgment Neither did the good liking of the most stick at any thing but that the Worthies of the Lay and chiefly of the Law were pretermitted But his Majesty rather regarded the fitness of a Man then the Custom of a Tribe As he that takes a Lodging in the City never Examines which are the best Rooms by Squares of Architecture but likes that for the best Chamber which hath â—the best Furniture At the same time the Lord Keeper by super-impregnation of favour was made a Bishop and Reap'd no less than two Harvests in one Month. It was K. James his wont to give like a King for the most part to keep one Act of Liberality warm with the covering of another A meaner Man then a King could say it is Pliny lib. 2. Epist beneficia mea tueri nullo modo melius possum quam ut augeam He that hath plac'd a benefit well let him imitate himself and do another that 's the sure way of obliging The Bishopric of Lincoln was bestowed on him by the Royal Congè d'Elire the Largest Diocess in the Land because this New Elect had the Largest Wisdom to super-intend so great a Circuit Yet in as much as the Revenue of it was not great it was well piec'd out with a Grant to hold the Deanery of Westminster into which he shut himself fast with as strong Bars and Bolts as the Law could make Else when the Changes began to Ring in the Fifth year after he had been sure to be thrust out of Doors in a storm when he had most need of a Covering Yet some Suitors were so importunate to compass this Deanery upon his expected leaving that he was put to it to plead hard for that Commenda before he carried it The King was in his Progress and the Lord Marquess with him to whom he writes to present his Reasons to the King which were that the Port of the Lord Keeper's Place though he would strike Sail more than any that preceded him must be maintain'd in some convenient manner Here he was handsomly housed which if he quitted he must trust to the King to provide one for him as His Majesty and his Predecessors have ever done to their Chancellors Here he had some Supplies to his House-keeping from the Colledge in Bread and Beer Corn and Fuel of which if he should be depriv'd he must be forc'd to call for a Diet which would cost the King 1600 l. per annum or crave for some addition in lieu thereof out of the King 's own means as all his Foregoers in that Office had done In that Colledge he needed to entertain no Under-Servants or Petty-Officers who were already provided to his Hand Beside the Very Name and Countenance thereof would take away all expectation of extraordinary Entertainments And it was but a step from thence into Westminsterhall where his business lay and 't was a Lodging which afforded him marvelous quietness to turn over his Papers and to serve the King He might have added for it was in the bottom of his Breast he was loath to stir from that Seat where he had the Command of such exquisite Music A Request laid out in such Remonstrance was not nay could not be refus'd by so Gracious a Prince who granted twenty Suits to one that he denied Magnarum largitor opum largitor honorum pronus which singularly fits King James though Claudian made it for Honorius Likewise by the Indulgence of his Commenda he reserv'd the Rectory of Walgrave to himself a Trifle not worthy to be Remembred but his Reason is not unworthy to be detected Take it as he Read this Lecture to me upon it That in the instability of humane things every man must look for a Dissolution of his Fortunes as well as for the Dissolution of his Body the latter of sure Things is most sure the former of usual Things is most usual Common Men are in doubtful Places great Men in slippery Places but Sacrilege being a Raven that continually croaks over the Church-Patrimony Clergy-men were in most obnoxious Places Many have paid dear for this Experience That Fortune will fly quite away when she is well fledge Then let such as are upon the highest Stairs of those Preferments have this Forecast To keep a little Room behind their Back-door to which they may retreat When there was no place for Elijah in Jezreel he took his Commons in an obscure Village to which God sent him with the Widow of Zarephath Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury kept his Right to a poor Cell
it that the Impulsive of it was the supposed Irregularity which was then reviv'd but because he would not Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorp's which the King sent to him by Mr. W. Murry of the Bed-chamber for his Hand to the Printing which he denied saying There was some Doctrine in the Sermon which was contrary to his Judgment I write I confess by hear-say but I heard it from his own mouth and have it in a Manuscript under his own Hand It had been a wild thing to rake up the Irregularity again out of the Embers since in the interim he had Consecrated many Prelates nay since he had Consecrated the Elements of Christ's Supper at the King's Coronation and set the Crown upon His Majesties Head And not long after he returned from Foord to a Parliament Summon'd to begin March 17. 1627. he Consecrated that Learned Divine Mr. Richard Montagu Promoted to the See of Chichester at Croydon Aug. 24. 1628. Yet that great Scholar had Presented his studied Papers for the Irregularity to the Lord-Keeper more then any man But now he was satisfied to be Consecrated by the whilom Irregular supposed And at the same time Dr. Laud then Bishop of London was Assistant with the Arch-Bishop to impose Hands Such Changes there are in Human Judgments 80. Perhaps I may be thought Irregular my self that I have knit the Election and Consecration of the Bishop of Lincoln to the long Series and Discussion of this famous Case I crave Pardon if I want one Now I step back to the Lord-Keeper who before the end of June was a Keeper of more then he desired the Earl of Southampton one of his dearest Friends on Earth being committed a Prisoner to his Custody A worthy Lord and of a gallant Freedom yet such as less then Kings do not like In the Session of Parliament which was then newly ended he was interpreted to exceed in some words against the Royal Prerogative a Stone of Offence that lay in many men's ways Beside he had Rebuk'd the Lord Marquess of Buckingham with some Passion and Acrimony for speaking often to the same thing in the House and out of Order Therefore he was Confined but with as much Gentleness as could be devised rather to a Nurse then a Jaylor But the Lord-Keeper though he lik'd his Guest yet he preferred his Liberty before that Liking and never gave over till he had got his Enlargement discharged him from the Attendance of Sir William Parkhust who as a Spy was sent to wait upon him at Tichfield that he might be lest only to the Custody of his own good Angel as he writes Cabal p. 59. Likewise in Tenderness to the Earl's Wealth and Honour he kept him from an Information in Star-chamber which was threatned and buoy'd him up at last to the King's Favour so as he might rather expect new Additions then suspect the least Diminution from his Gracious Majesty Though all this came purely from his Love and Industry yet of all that was obtained he would take nothing to himself but directed the Earl to cast his Eye upon my Lord of Buckingham Of whose extraordinary Goodness says he your Lordship and my self are remarkabe Reflections the one of his Sweetness in forgetting Wrongs the other of his Forwardness in conserring Court sies These Passages occur in the Printed Bundle But there is a Letter the Publisher of the former did not meet with it dated two days before Jul. 19. written to the Lord Marquess in behalf of that Honourable Earl and likewise of Mr. J. Selden my great Friend while he lived who was clap'd up at the same time because being a Member of the House of Commons in that Parliament he had preferred the danger of telling Truth before the safety of Silence Thus for them both together he Solicites My most Noble Lord WHat true Applause and Admiration the King and your Honour have gained for that gracious and most Christian-like Remorse shewed the E. of Southampton a Delinquent by his own Confession I refer to the Relation of others lest I might be suspected to amplifie any thing which my self had propounded The Earl if he be a Christian or a moral honest Man will endeavour to regain His Majesty's further Favour by more observance and to requite your unexpressible Goodness towards him by all true and hearty Friendship both which he deeply Vows and Protests Now poor Mr. Selden flies to the same Altar of Mercy and humbly Petitioneth your Lordship's Mediation and Furtherance He and the World take knowledge of that Favour your Lordship hath ever offorded my motions and my self without the motion of any and so draweth me along to Entreat for him The which I do the more boldly because by his Letter inclosed he hath utterly denied that ever he gave the least Approbation of that Power of Judicature lately usurped by the House of Commons My Lord The man hath excellent Parts which may be diverted from an Affectation of Applause of idle People to do some good and useful Service to His Majesty He is but young and this is the first Offence that ever he committed against the King I presume therefore to leave him to your Lordship's Mercy and Charity These soft words mollified Anger and Mr. Selden was Released by the next Pacquet that came from the Court in progress If the Stoics had been wise men truly the Lord-Keeper had been none for they pronounced with their Master Zeno in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That wise Men are not Pitiful But insooth there was never a greater Stickler then he to bring Afflicted Ones out of Durance and Misery when he could effect it by Power and Favour none that lent their hand more readily to raise up those that were cast down But if a Gentleman of Mr. Selden's merit were under the peril of Vindicative Justice he would stretch his whole Interest and cast his own Robe as it were to save him When he had brought him to Liberty he stay'd not there He perceived his Fortune in those days was not equal to his Learning therefore he conferred the Registership of the College of Westminster upon him not meaning to hinder his Growth with a Garment that was too little for him but he procured a Chapman that gave him 400 l. for his Right in the Place A Courtesie which Mr. Selden did never expect from the Giver and was repaid with more Duty and Love then the Giver could ever have expected from Mr. Selden And although that singular good Scholar Mr. Montagu did never agree with Mr. Selden as their Adverse and Polemical Writings about the Right of Tithes do evidence yet the Lord-Keeper made them both agree in his Favour and Patronage Which Mr. Montagu hath proclaimed abroad in his Treatise of Invocation of Saints Licensed for the Press with his Lordship 's own Hand in Right as he was his Visitor in the Colleges of Windsor and Eaton His Words may be found in the Epistle Dedicatory
to that Treatise as follow Let the World take notice if it may concern any your Honour is be unto whom next unto His most Sacred Majesty my most Gracious Sovereign and Master I owe more then to all the World beside Professing unseignedly in the word of a Priest Fâ—cisti ut vivam moriar ingratus 81. The Lord-Keeper being so great a Dealer in the Golden Trade of Mercy and so successful he followed his Fortune and tried the King and the Lord Marquess further in the behalf of some whom their dear Friends had given over in Despair to the Destiny of Restraint And those were of the Nobles For he carried a great regard to their Birth and Honour and knew it was good for his own safety to deserve well of those high-born Families The East of Nerthumberland had been a Prisoner in the Tewer above 15 years His Confidents had not Considence and a good Heart I say not to Petition but to dispute with the King how ripe the Earl was for Clemency and Liberty 〈◊〉 Majesty was very merciful but must be rubb'd with a Fomentation of hi◠〈◊〉 Oyl to make him more supple This dextrous Statesman infuseth into 〈…〉 how to compass the Design with what Insinuations and Argum◠〈…〉 were improved with the Earl's demulcing and well-languag'd Phrases And when it came to strong Debate the Lord-Keeper got the better of the King in Reason So the Physic wrought as well as could be wish'd and on the 18th of July the Earl of Northumberland came out of the Tower the Great Ordnance going off to give him a joyful Valediction Who turned his Thoughts to consider the Work of God that a Stranger had wrought 〈◊〉 Comfort for him in his old Age whose Face he had ne 〈…〉 never purchased by any Benefit nor courted so much as by the meâ—age of a Salutation Which his Lordship compared to St. Peter's Deliverance by the Angel of God Acts 12. when Peter knew not who it was that came to help him Though not in order of Time yet in likeness of Condition the Earl of Oxford's Case is to be ranked in the same File It was in April in the year following that he was sent to the Tower betrayed by a false Brother for rash Words which heat of Wine cast up at a merry meeting His Lordship's Enemies were great and many whom he had provoked yet after he had acquainted the Lord-Keeper with the long Sadness of his Restraint in a large Letter which is preserved he wrought the Earl's Peace and Releasment conducted him to the King's Chamber to spend an hour in Conference with His Majesty from whence a good Liking was begot on both sides Whom thereupon that Earl took for his trusty and wisest Friend using his Counsel principally how to Husband his Estate and how to employ his Person in some Honourable Service at Sea that the Dissoluteness of his Hangers-on in the City might not sink him at Land The Lord-Keeper did as much for the Earl of Somerset in Christmas-time before bringing him by his mediation out of the House of Sorrow wherein he had continued above five years that he might take fresh Air and enjoy the comfort of a free Life which was affected by him to gratisie the splendid and spreading Family of the Howards And they were all well pleased with him as were the greatest part of the Grandees except the Earl of Arundel for a Distast taken of which the Lord-Keeper need not be ashamed 82. Within Six Weeks after he was settled in that Office the Earls Secretary brought two Patents to be Sealed the one to bestow a Pension of 2000 l. per annum upon his Lord out of the Exchequer which was low mow'n and not sit to bear such a Crop beside the Parliament which was to meet again in the Winter could not choose but take Notice what over-bountiful Issues were made out of the Royal Revenue to a Lord that was the best Landed of all his Peers Yet the Seal was put to with a dry assent because there was no stopping of a Free River With this Patent came another to confer the Honour of the Great Marshal of England upon the same Noble Personage The Contents of it had scarce any Limits of Power much exceeding the streit Boundaries of Law and Custom The Lord Keeper searching into the Precedents of former Patents when the same Honour was conser'd found a great inequality and doubted for good Cause that this was a device to lay his unfitness for his great place Naked to the World if he swallowed this Pill But nothing tended more to the praise of his great Judgment with His Majesty He writes to my Lord of Buckingham to acquaint the King that he thought His Majesty intended to give to greater Power than the Lords Commissioners had who dispatch'd Affairs belonging to that Office joyntly before him and that all Patents refer to the Copy of the immediate Predecessors who were the Earls of Essex Shrewsbury and Duke of Somerset but my Lord leap'd them over and claim'd as much as the Howards and Mowbries Dukes of Norfolk did hold which will enlarge his Authority beyond the former by many Dimensions There is much more than this in the Cabal of Letters p. 63. And much more than I meet there in his own private Papers The King was much satisfied with the Prudence and Courage of the Man that he had rather display these Errors than commit them for fear of a mighty Frown so the Earls Counsel were appointed to attend the Lord Keeper who joyning their hands together examin'd the Obliquities of the Patent and alter'd them What would have follow'd if it had pass'd entire in the first Draught For being so much corrected and Castrated yet the proceedings of the Court of Honour were a Grievance to the People not to be supported The Decrees of it were most uncertain most Arbitrary most Imperious Nor was there any Seat of Judgment in the Land wherein Justice was brought a bed with such hard Labour Now I invite the Reader if he please to turn to the 139 pag. of Sir An. Wel. Pamphlet and let him score a Mark for his Remembrance at these Lines That Williams was brought in for this Design to clap the Great Seal through his Ignorance in the Laws to such things that none that understood the danger by knowing the Laws would venter upon This Knight when he is in a Course of Malice is never out of his Way but like an egregious Bugiard here he is quite out of the Truth For the New Lord Keeper walk'd so Circumspectly that he seem'd to fear an Ambush from every Grant that was to pass for the use of encroaching Courtiers if any thing were Ambiguous or Dangerous he was not asham'd to call for Counsel If any thing were prest against Rule he was inexorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. He kept constant to Justice in its Flat Square I could be Luxuriant in instances nothing is
and Decrees of my Predecessors I would be loth to succeed any man as Metellus did Caius Verres Cuius omnia erant ejusmodi ut totam Verris Praeturam retexere videretur Whose Carriage saith Tully was a meer Penclopes Web and untwisting of all the Acts of Verres ' s Pretorship Upon New matter I cannot avoid the re-viewing of a Cause but I will ever expect the forbearing of Persons so as the Ashes of the Dead may be hereafter spared and the Dust of the Living no further Raked Fourthly I will be as cautelous as I can in referring of Causes which I hold of the same Nature of a By-way Motion For one Reference that Spurs on a Cause there are ten that bridle it in and hold it from hearing This is that which Bias calls the backward forwarding of a Cause for as the Historian speaks Quod procedere non potest recedit Fifthly I profess before hand this Court shall be no Sanctuary for Undiscreet and Desperate Sureties It is a Ground of the Common Law That a man shall make no Advantage of his own Follies and Laches When the Mony is to be borrowed the Surety is the first in the Intention and therefore if it be not paid let him a God's Name be the first in Execution Lastly I will follow the Rules of this Court in all Circumstances as near as I can And considering that as Pliny speaks Stultissimum est adimitandum non optima quaeque proponere It were a great Folly to make Choice of any other then the very best for Imitation I will propound my Old Master for my Pattern and Precedent in all things Beseeching Almighty God so to direct me That while I hold this place I may follow him by a True and Constant imitation And if I prove Unfit and Unable for the same That I may not play the Mountebank so in this Place as to Abuse the King and the State but follow the same most Worthy Lord in his Chearful and Voluntary Resignation Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori 88. This he deliver'd thus much and I took Councel with my self not to Abbreviate it For it is so Compact and Pithy That he that likes a little must like it all Plutarch gives a Rule for Sanity to him that Eats a Tortoise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eat it up all or not a whit for a Modicum will Gripe the Belly He that fills himself with a great deal shall procure a Cleansing Evacuation So the Speech of a Great Orator is Instructive when it is entire Pinch it in with an Epitome you mangle the meaning and avile the Eloquence From Words he fell to Practise Industry I think was his Recreation for certain he had not a drop of Lazy Blood in his Veins He fill'd up every hour of the Day and a good part of the Night with the dispatch of some public and necessary business And though as a Counsellor of State and both as a Peer and Speaker in Parliament he had many diversions yet none of the work in Chancery was diminish'd which Attendance grew so light and familiar to him that in a little while it seem'd to be no more a burthen to him then the Water is to the Fishes under which they Swim He would not excuse himself a day for any the most lawful pretence he would not impart himself to the Star-Chamber or Parliament when it sate before he had spent two hours or more among the Pleaders Two or three Afternoons he Allotted every Week to hear Peremptories By which unequall'd diligence commonly he dispatch'd five or six Causes in a morning according to the quality or measure of the Points that came to be debated He did not only labour Six Days but as it follows in the Commandment He did all that he had to do For of all the Causes that were usually set down for hearing he never left any of them unheard at the End of the Term which was both an especial Ease and Comfort to the Subject and a full Testimony of his labour and ability to expedite so many Knotty and Spacious Causes that came before him in as little time as the Clients could expect The Survey of an whole year will give better satisfaction then every Term a part by it self Whereupon he Writes thus to the Lord Marquess July 10. 1622. In this Place I have now serv'd His Majesty one whole Year diligently and honestly But to my Hearts Grief by Reason of my Rawness and Inexperience very unprofitably Yet if his Majesty will Examine the Regâ—ers there will be found more Causes finally Ended this one Year then in all the Seven Years preceding How well ended I confess ingeniously I know not His Majesty and your Lordship who no doubt have Received some Complaints though in your Love 〈…〉 from me are in that the most competent Judges A Testimony of Great Labour and not more Copious then Clear For the Registry could not I ye Thus Joseph in his faithful Service under King Pharaoh gather'd in as much in one Year as was wont to be Reap'd in Seven And truly it becomes him that he was not confident but mistrustful of himself least some Waspish and Vexatious men had attempted to lay open some Errors to his Superiors which should escape him in fixing so many Planetary Causes But there was I had almost said none Yet then I had forgotten Sir John Bourcher who complain'd to both Houses of Parliament that his matters in debate were for ever shut up in a Decree before his Counsel was ready having some Allegations which expected more time to be Ripen'd still more time The business of this Knight was Arbitrated with consent by the Chief Baron Jac. 7. That Arbitration he would not stand to It was Decreed in full hearing by the Lord Elsmore Jac. 10. This did not please him Yet it was Order'd to the same Effect by the Lord Bacon Jac. 17. And after this the same Decree was confirm'd by the Lord William's Jac. 19. Having the consent of Justice Hutton Justice Chamberlain and the Master of the Rolls with an hundred Pounds advantage more then was given him before And was not this Suit come to Adultage for Tryal after Seventeen Years Vexation in it first and last If a Suitor shall have Power to define when his Cause is sufficiently heard a Fidler would not undertake the Office of a Judge Sir John durst not have presum'd to this Boldness but that he was encourag'd by his Father-in-Law the Lord Sheffeild who was a Scholar a Judicious Lord and of great Experience that knew well enough the Futility of this Appeal for it was discharg'd with a general Rebuke But the Spirits usually beat with an un even Pulse when they stirr too much in pity to our own Relations 89. Some others there were I yet remember it of the coarsest Retainers to Court who liv'd by picking up Crumbs that fell from Stale Bread these Whisper'd their Discontents that Causes
Excellent persons Among other passages of his Reviling Throat it was proved against him that he had said that our Bishops were no Bishops but were Lay-men and Usurpers of that Title Floud says the Lord Keeper Since I am no Bishop in your Opinion I will be no Bishop to you I concur with my Lords the like I never did before in your Corporal punishment Secondly in inflicting pecuniary Mulcts upon him that was found Guilty he was almost never heard but to concur with the smallest Sum. I would this had been imitated chiefly by them of the Hierarchy who managed the judgments of that Court after he retir'd I would that favour which was wont never to be denied to any had not been forgotten to take away such a part of an Offenders Estate by Fine that still he might have Honestum Continementum an Honest Provision to live upon according to his Place and Dignity It was never intended to prune away the Loppings and to cut down the Trunk too Nothing could be more harsh to tender Ears and Hearts then such a Torrent of censure as came from Q. Furius against Dolabella 11. Philip. of Tully he had loaded him with all the severity he could think of Dixit tamen si quis eorum qui post se rogati essent graviorem sententiam dixisset in eam se iturum But he may get a fall himself that in the undoing of a Man Gallops to Ride as fast as the Fore-Horse Thirdly the Lord Keeper's Indulgence was not satisfied to set the lowest Fine but labour'd for as much mitigation as could be granted at the end of the Term. The Officers that are yet alive will say as much and make me a true Man that the Fines of the Court were never shorn down so near before And after the Period of his Presidency it is too well known how far the Enhancements were stretch'd But the wringing of the Nose hringeth forth Blood Prov. 30.33 The Lord Treasurer Cranfeild a good Husband for the Entrates of the Exchequer complain'd against him to the King how Delinquents by his Abatements were so slightly punish'd in their Purse that the Fees that came to His Majesties Enrichment would not give the Lords a Dinner once a Week as the Custom had been nay hardly once a Term. Behold now a Man that was Lenissimus sine dispendio Disciplinae as Ausonius says of Gratian as full of Lenity as could be saving the Correction of evil Manners But it will be said he was liberal to spare men out of the King's Stock And no whit less as I will shew it out of his own Sir Francis Inglefeild a prisoner in the Fleet upon a contempt of a Decree in Chancery was much overseen not once nor twice in bitter Words against the Lord Keeper which he vented so rashly that they were certified home Well says the Lord Keeper Let him Bark on but he shall never bite his Chain asunder till he submit to mine Order But there came a Complaint by the Information of Sir J. Bennet that Sir Francis had not spared to say before sufficient Witness That he could prove this Holy Bishop Judge had been Bribed by some that far'd well in their Causes As the Old Adagy goes he might as easily have proved that Hercules was a Coward But this contumely could not be pass'd over There was a necessity to purge it or to fall under it in a public hearing After time given to Sir Francis to make good his Words in Star-Chamber the Lord Keeper withdrawing himself for that day he could prove nothing of Corruption against him no not to the Value of a Doit. So a Large Fine of many thousand pounds was inflicted on Sir Francis to be paid to the King and to his Minister whom he had Slander'd The Lord Keeper in a few days following sent for the woful Gentleman and told him he would refute his soul Aspersions and prove upon him that he scorn'd the Pelf of the World or to exact or make lucre of any man For for his own part he forgave him every peny of his Fine and would crave the same Mercy towards him from the King Sir Francis bless'd himself to find such Mercy from one whom he had so grievously provok'd acknowledg'd the Crime of his Defamation and was received afterward into some Degree of Acquaintance and Friendship Many have been undone by those whom they took to be their Friends But it is a rare chance to be seen as in this instance for a man to be preserv'd by him whom he had made his Enemy Let this suffice to declare that the Star-Chamber by this Lord's Prudence was the Court of Astraea 97. Being to take his Picture from Head to Foot it is pertinent to consider him in the Office of a Privy-Councellor It was his first Honour wherein the King call'd him to serve the Crown being Sworn to sit at that Board Three Weeks before he was entrusted with the Great Seal Many things and the best of his Abilities in that place I believe are un-publishable for the most of that Work is secret and done behind the Curtain He that sits in that Employment had need to have the whole Common-Wealth in his Head So says an exact Senator 2 De Orato Ad Consilum de Repub. dandum caput est nosse Rempublicam Many may spit Sentences upon such great matters and speak little as worthy Doctor Gauden says like sealed Pigeons The less they see the higher they Fly But blessed be his Name that gives all good Gifts he was furnish'd with strong intellectuals to discern into the means that concern the Honour Safety Defence and Profit of the Realm Yet it is not enough to have a piercing Eye unless there be an Heart to affect the public good Tully began well but Pontanus makes up the rest in Extolling the Venetian Government Senatoribus mira in consentiendo integritas atque erga patriam amor incredibilis And his Lordship was as true an Englishman as ever gave Counsel in the Royal Palace Therefore he was more employ'd by his Majesty then all the rest to negotiate with Embassadors being most Circumspect and tender to yield to nothing that was not advantagious to our own common Welfare Neither did the Courts of France and Spain and the States of Holland with whom we Acted most upon Tryal how he sisted their Leagues expect any other from him He had the most sudden Representation of Reason to confirm that which he defended of any Man alive None could abound above him in that Faculty which made his great Master value him at that weight that the thrice Noble Lodwick Duke of Richmond told him in my hearing That the King listned to his Judgment rather than to any Minister of State Which took the oftner because if his Majesty were moody and not inclin'd to his Propositions he would fetch him out of that Sullen with a pleasant Jeâ—t and turn him about with a Trick of Facetiousness I
angry at the least Slackness of his Ministers and was us'd to say They might provoke him with Negligence but never molest him with double Diligence for he could read as much in an Hour as they would write to him in a Week Mr. W. Boswel his Secretary and Custos of his Spirituality and chief Servant under him in this Work was all in all sufficient for it eximious in Religion Wisdom Integrity Learning as the Netherlands know where he was long time Agent and Embassador for King Charles Through Mr. Boswell's Collection and narrow Search the Diocesan of so large a Precinct together with the Names of every Parson and Vicar was able to speak of their Abilities and manner of Life which I think no Memory could carry away but that it is credible he had some Notes affixed to every one of their Persons For he could decipher the Learning of each Incumbent his Attendance on his Cure his Conformity his Behaviour as well as most men knew them in their respective Proximities I do not say he had a passive Infallibility but that he might be abused with untrue Relations But for the most part a good Head-piece will discover a counterfeit Suggestion and crush the Truth out of Circumstances The Sum is He did as much as a Bishop could do while for the space of four Years and a half Necessity would not suffer him to reside with his Clergy whom they knew not that they mist him till he removed from London to live among them and made a large Amends for his Absence when he setled at Bugden In the mean time his Apocrisarii they to whom he had committed his Trust and Authority were among them to hear their Complaints and to Judge Right Now it is a good Rule in St. Cyprian to a laudable Purpose though the Father applies it for once to a Bad Epist 61. Non potest videri certasse qui vicarios substituit qui pro se uno plures succidaneos suggerit He that fills his Office with a good Co-adjutor his Absence may be dispenc'd with for a time upon reasonable Cause For a good Substitute is not a Shadow but a Substance Howsoever whether his Abode were within his Diocess or without it he knew that the Calling of a Bishop went along with him in every Place And whatsoever the standing Weight of his Business was that lay upon him he remembred to stir up the Gift of God that was in him by the Putting on of Hands He Preached constantly in the Abby of Westminster at the great Festivals of our Saviour's Nativity Resurrection and Whit-Sunday On which high Days he sung the Common Prayers Consecrated and Administred the Sacrament the Great Seal of the Righteousness of Faith besides the Sermon which he Preach'd every Lent in the King 's Royal Chappel Which was Work indeed being so learnedly performed For when he put his Hand to that Plough no man cut up a deeper Furrow that came into the Pulpit 99. Such Examples of Preaching were necessary for this time but very ill follow'd For there were Divines more Satyrical than Gospel-spirited chiefly some among the Lecturers in populous Auditories that were much overseen Banding their Discourses either under the Line or above the Line against the quiet Settlement of present Government Some carried their Fire in Dark-Lanthorns and deplor'd the Dangers that hung over us Some rail'd out-right and carried the Brands end openly in their Mouth to kindle Combustion Both did marvellously precipitate slippery Dispositions into Discontents and Murmurings The Treatise about the Spanish Match was the Breize that bit them and made them wild That was such a Bugbear that at the Motion of it some that were conscientious and some that seem'd so thought that the true Worship of God was a Ship-board and Sailing out of the Realm True Religion is the Soul of our Soul and ought to be more tender to us than the Apple of our Eye But we all know what will grow out of that Religion when it is marked with Charity It is not easily provok'd thinketh no evil beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things 1 Cor. 13. It is not distrustful of it own fastness as if so good a Fortress could be push'd down with a bruised Reed It will not raise Tumults and Tragedies from Misapprehensions that float upon the idle Lake of Suspicion That the Orthodox Church of England should totter upon this Occasion God be thanked it was not in proof nor could be made evident Sometimes Jealousie is too watchful sometimes it is fast asleep When the French Marriage was in Treaty when it was concluded when the Navy was under Sail to Land the Royal Bride the Preachers were modest and made no stir not one Zealot complain'd of for jerking at it with unadvis'd passion And yet the Daughter of France was a Daughter of the Roman Chair no less then Donna Maria. She never had Commerce nor ever like to have with the Hugonots The Swarms of her own Train all Papists by Profession were ready to abound in our Land far more than from the Spanish Coast Because of the short and easie passage from Calis to Dover their Shavelings would fly over as thick as Wasps about a Honey-Pot This was mightily dreaded when the Mariage was in some forwardness between Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjoy and opposed strongly by some that were hot in the Mouth to their cost But now no Leprosie was suspected but from Spanish Popery Which was aggravated with such Insolencies by some Ecclesiastical Fencers against the King's Honor and the Sincerity of his Oath which he had taken to maintain true Religion that they were at the height of Rage to profess Come and let us smite him with the Tongue Jerem. 18. Vers 18. So that his Majesty rouzed up like a Lyon silenc'd some of the Offenders imprison'd some threatned to arraign some for their Lives Yet after he was come to more Serenity of Passion the Lord Keeper who thought as hardly of their Indiscretion as the King himself did was Advocate for them all undertook to settle their Brains and procur'd them their Liberty and their Livings Among the rest he invented a merry Contrivance in the behalf of a very learned and misguided Scholar a Prisoner upon that score He told the King that he had heard that some idle Gossips complain'd of him grievously and did not stick to curse him Why What Evil have I done to them says the King Sir says the Lord-Keeper Such a Man's Wife upon Tidings of her Husband's Imprisonment fell presently in Labour and the Midwifes can do her no good to deliver her but say it will not be effected till she be comforted to see her Husband again For which the Women that assist her revile you that her Pains should stick at such a Difficulty Now Weal away says the King send a Warrant presently to release him lest the Woman perish There was none that was worse to be tamed
and to raise divisions So they dealt now For they put a Paper into my Lord of Buckingham's hands to assist them for the Erection of Titulary Popish Praelates in this Kingdom A most Natural superfaetation with the motion whereof the Lord Marquess being amuzed he sent to the Lord Keeper for advice who damned the Project with these Reasons ensuing First it will set all the Kingdom on Fire and make his Majesty unable to continue those Favours and Connivencies to peaceable Recusants which he now most Graciously affords them Secondly It takes away from his Majesty an Hereditary Branch of the Crown which the Kings of this Land have ever enjoy'd even before the Conquest and hath never since the days of King John been so much as Challeng'd by any Pope to Wit the Investitures of Bishops Thirdly It is a far greater mischief in a State I mean in regard of the Temporal but not of the Spiritual good thereof then an absolute Toleration For a Toleration as we see in France doth so divide and distinguish Towns and Parishes that no place makes above one payment to their Church-men But this invisible Consistory shall be confusedly diffused over all the Kingdom that many of the Subjects shall to the intolerable exhausting of the Wealth of the Realm pay double Tithes double Offerings and double Fees in regard of their double Consistory And if Ireland be so poor as it is suggested I hold under Correction that this invisible Consistory is the principal cause of the exhausting thereof Fourthly If the Princes Match should go on this New Erected Consistory will put the the ensuing Parliament into such a Jealousie and Suspition that it is to be feared that they will shew themselves very untractable upon all propositions Fifthly For the Pope to place a Bishop in this Kingdom is against the Fundamental Law of the Land and the King will be held unjust and injurious to his Successors if to his utmost power he should not resist and punish This Draught was brought to the King who was glad such Pills were prepared to purge away the redundancy of the Catholic Encroachments And his Majesty gave Order to him who had confected them so well to Administer them with his best skill to the Spanish Embassador That they might work gently with him the Lord Keeper at his Visit made shew that he was startled at a heady motion that came from Savoy as he thought taking no notice of any Spanish Agent that had his Finger in it And besought his Excellency to send for the Savoyan and to wish him to throw aside his Advice for Titulary Bishops least it should hinder the King of Spain's desire in accomodating the Catholics with those Courtesies which had been granted which took so well with the Spanish Embassador his own indiscretion being not Taxt but the Folly laid at another Door that the motion sunk in the Mud and was seen no more I will add but one thing how distastful it was to him that the Papists should have so much as the shadow of a governing Church in this Realm taken out of a Letter Cabal pag. 81. Written to my Lord of Buckingham being then at Madrid dated Aug. 30. 1623. Doctor Bishop the New Bishop of Chalcedon is come to London privately and I am much troubled at it not knowing what to Advise his Majesty as things stand at this present If you were Shipped with the Infanta the only Counsel were to let the Judges proceed with him presently Hang him out of the way and the King to blame my Lord of Caterbury or my self for it Surely this doth not favour of addiction to the Purple-Hat or the Purple-Harlot Ovid. Nunquid ei hoe fallax Creta negare potes Nay it was a Pang rather then a Passion to the welfare of this Church which forc'd sentence of Blood out of his sweet and mi'ky Nature 106. Yet well fare those good Fellows that did not defame him for a Papist Much otherwise they charg'd him with a loud Slander and a long Breach for it continued in his days of Sorrow that he was a Puritan of what Colour Siâ—s Blew or Black Both these might he false so they were both could not be True David says of God's Servants whom he Tried as Silver is Tried in the Fire that they went through Fire and through Water Miseâ—ies of Repugnant Natures So Sometimes they pass through Defamations inconsistent and as contrary one to another as Fire and Water The Old Non conformists were call'd by the Nick Name of Puritans in Queen Elizabeth's days I know not who impos'd it first whether Parsons the Jesuit or some such Franion I know it grew not up like Wild Oats without Sowing But some Supercilious Divines a few years before the End of K. James his Reign began to Survey the Narrow way of the Church of England with no Eyes but their own and measuring a Right Protestant with their streight line discriminated as they thought fit sound from unsound so that scarce ten among a Thousand but were Noted to carry some Disguise of a Puritan The very Prelates were not free from it but Tantum non ni â—piscopatu Puritani became an Obloquy At the Session which these Arislarchusses held near to the Court in the Strand the Lord Keeper the most Circumspect of any Man alive to provide for Uniformity and to countenance it was scratch'd with their Obeliske that he favour'd Puritans and that sundâ—y of them had Protection through his Connivency or Clemency All the Quarrel in good Sooth was that their Eye was Evil because his was Good Such whom the Aemulous repin'd at as he cast it out himself were of two Ranks Some were of a very strict Life and a great deal more laborious in their Cure then their Obtrectators Far be it from him to love these the worse because they were Stigmatiz'd to the Offence of Religious and Just-men with a by word of Contumely Pacatus the Orator inveighed against it for a Rank impiety in his Panâ—g Quod Clarevati Matrorae objicicbatur atque 〈◊〉 exprobrabatur mulieri vi luae nimia Religio diligentius culta Divinitas I will lay it open in one particular The Lord Bishop of Norwich Dr. Harsnet a learned Prelate and a Wise Governour bate him perhaps a little roughness began to proceed in his Consistory against Mr. Samuel Ward a Famous Preacher in Ipswich who Appealed from the Bishop to the King And the King committed the Articles exhibited against him to be Examined by the Lord Keeper and by him to be Reported to his Majesty The Lord Keeper found Mr. Ward to be not altogether blameless but a Man to be won easily with fair dealing So he perswaded Bishop Harsnet to take his Submission and to continue him in his Lecture at Ipswich The Truth is he found so much Candor in Mr. Ward so much readiness to serve the Church of England in its present Establishment and made it so clearly appear that he had
gained divers Beneficed Men to conform who had stumbled at that Straw that the Lord Keeper could do no less then compound the Troubles of so Learned and Industrious a Divine And I aver it upon the Faith of a good Witness that after this Bishop Harsnet acknowledged that he was as useful a man to assist him in his Government as was in all his Diocese Another Rank for whose sake the Lord Keeper suffer'd were scarce an handful not above three or four in all the wide Bishoprick of Lincoln who did not oppose but by ill Education seldom used the appointed Ceremonies Of whom when he was certified by his Commissaries and Officials he sent for them and confer'd with them with much Meekness sometime remitted them to argue with his Chaplain If all this stirred them not he commended them to his Old Collegiate Dr. Sibbs or Dr. Gouch Who knew the scruples of these mens Hearts and how to bring them about the best of any about the City of London If all these labour'd in vain he protracted the hearing of their Causes de die in diem that time might mollisie their refractory Apprehensions But had it not been better said some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stop the mouth of the unruly Tit. 1.11 I Answer Their mouth was slept in St. Paul's meaning Estius hath begun the distinction and it is easily made up Alind est silontium indicere quod est imperamis Alind ad metas saciturnitatis reduccre quod est docte redarguentis They were not imperiously commanded to be silent but enough was spoken wifely to their Face to put their Folly to silence Men that are found in their Morals and in Minutes imperfect in their Intellectuals are best reclaimed when they are mignarized and strok'd gently Seldom any thing but severity will make them Anti-practise For then they grow desperate Facundus Dominus quosdam aâ—fugam cogit quosdam ad mortem says Seneca And they are like to convert more with their sufferings then with their Doctrine He that is openly punish'd whatsoever he hath done he shall find Condolement But I will spend no more Words to wipe away this stur of Puritanism it needs not a laborious Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Proverb is in Athenaeus Let Lubbars Talk of it over a Winter Fire when they Droll out Tales 107. Yet I want not matter how to wash out this spot of Jealousie by great Actions In this year 1622 he began to expend a great Sum upon St. John's College the Nurse of his hopeful breeding A right stampt Puritan is not a Founder but a Demolisher of good Works He laid the platform of his Beneficence on this Wife Four Scholars he Added to the 40 Alumni in the College of Westminster For their Advancement he provided and endowed four Scholarships in St. John's College upon their Maturity and Vacancy of those places to be Translated to them Two Fellowships he Newly Erected in that House into which only out of those four the best were to be chosen Withal he purchas'd the Patronage of four Rich Benefices to receive those Scholars and Fellows of his Foundation upon the Death or other Cessation of the Incumbents But the Chief Minerval which he bestowed upon that Society was the Structure of a most goodly Library the best in that kind in all Cambridge And as he had pick'd up the best Authors in all Learning and in all plenty for his own use so he bequeathed them all to this fair Repository This was Episcopal indeed to issue out his Wealth as the Lord brought it in in such ways This is the Purse that Mr. H. L. says he Ran away withal after he had departed with the Great Seal wherein we see how far the Portion of over-flowing wast which 〈◊〉 from Great Ones and is spilt if it were sav'd and well bestow'd would 〈◊〉 the Land with all sort of Monumental Bravery What a good Steward he was for his Master Christ Jesus's Houshold and how provident to put none into part of the Care but such as were Obedient to Civil and Sacred Rulers appears most in his happy choice of those upon whom he confer'd the livings that fell into his Patronage They were ever pick'd out of the best Learned the best Qualified the most Cordially affected to our most Godly Liturgy and to the Government of the Prelates Within these Apostatizing times wherein so many have departed from them without Cause I cannot remember any of his preferring but kept their Traces and to their best Power never run out of the Ring I have a short Story to tell and then I leave this Subject Among the poor distressed Protestants in Bohemia many of them were Braziers by their Occupation These sent sent some messengers from them with a Petition to his Majesty that they might Transplant a Colony into England London especially Men Wives Children and their full Families Signifying that they would bring with them to the Value of two hundred Thousand Pounds in Coin and Materials of their Trade That their Substance and Labour should be subject to all Customs and Taxes for the King's profit They desired to live in a Body of their own Nation and to serve Christ Jesus in that Church Discipline which they brought with them from Bohemia Though they had inclin'd his Majesty to admit them being a great Swarm of People and bringing Wax and Honey along yet the Lord Keeper diverted it from the Example of the Dutch and French that were setled among us These brought commodious Manufacture into the Realm but they brought a Discipline with it according to the Allowance of their Patent which was a Suffocation to the Temperate Crisis of our own Church Government Which Peril of Distemper would be increased by the Access of the Bohemick Congregation A great Forecast to keep our Hierarchy found from the Contagion of Foreigners and he was more Religious to keep the Church of England in its Sabbath and Holy Rest than to help out the Neighbours Ox that was fallen into the Pit Yet I have somewhat to alledge in the Behalf of the Bohemians I have in my little Library a Book printed 1633 eleven years after the Lord Keeper appear'd against their Petition called Ratio Disciplinae ordinisque Ecclesiastici in unitate sratrum Bohemorum Their Platform in that Piece comes so near to the old Protestant Church of England above all the Reformed that for my part I wish we had had their Company This is sufficient I am sure against those Opposite and Self-overthrowing Aspersions Let them do their worst there is one Metal that will never be the worse for them of whose Property this Lord partak'd It is Gold of which Pliny writes Lib. 33. N. H. c. 3. that nothing makes it more precious Quam contra salis aceti succos domitores rerum constantia The Spirits of Salt and Vinegar the most biting and sowrest Reproaches cannot hurt it with their Tartness That which corrodes all
he had dazled the World with that false Light he never pleas'd his Judges that had secretly tried the Constitution of his Conscience Sir Edward Sackvile who shortly succeeded his Brother Richard in the Earldom of Dorset was at Rome Ann. 1624. and had Welcom given him with much Civility in the English College so far that he presum'd to ask rather out of Curiosity than Love to see this Prisoner de Dominis Mr. T. Fitz-herbert the Rector did him the Observance to go with him to the Jayl He found him shut up in a Ground-Chamber narrow and dark for it look'd upon a great Wall which was as near unto it as the breadth of three spaces Some slight forms being pass'd over which use to be in all Visits says Sir Edward My Lord of Spalato you have a dark Lodging It was not so with you in England There you had at Windsor as good a Prospect by Land as was in all the Country And at the Savoy you had the best Prospect upon the Water that was in all the City I have forgot those things says the Bishop here I can best Contemplate the Kingdom of Heav'n Sir Edward taking Mr. Fitz-Herbert aside into the next Room Sir says he tell me honestly Do you think this Man is employ'd in the Contemplation of Heav'n Says the Father Rector I think nothing less for he was a Male-content Knave when he fled from us a Railing Knave while he liv'd with you and a Motley parti-colour'd Knave now he is come again This is the Relation which that Honourable Person made Ann. 1625. which I heard him utter in the hearing of no mean Ones 113. But by this time Spalat was dead either by his fair Death or by private strangling Gallo-Belgicus that first sent the News abroad knew not whither But he knew what became of his Body that it was burnt at the same place in Rome where Hereticks do end their Pain It is a Process of Justice which is usual with their Inquisition to shew such abhorrence to Hereticks that were so in their sense to call them to account though they be dead and rotten First They are so Histrionical in their Ceremonies as if they made a Sport of Barbarousness that they cite the dead Men three several Days to appear or any that will answer for them but happy they if they do not appear then their Carkasses or Bones are brought forth and burnt in the common Market with a Ban of Execration The latest that were used so among us were Reverend Bucer and Fagius at Cambridge Anno 1556. And Dr. Scot Bishop of Chester one of Cardinal Pole's Visitors defended it before the University Haud mirum videri debeat si in mortem quoque ista inquisitis extendatur Bucer Scrip. Angl. p. 925. Sic postulare sacros Canones p. 923. This is their Soverity from which the Dead are not free Now by the Blaze of that Bonfire in which De Dominis his Trunk was consum'd we may read an Heretick in Fiery Characters I mean as he was entred into the black Book of the Roman Slaughter-House He lived and died with General Councils in his Pate with Wind-Mills of Union to concord Rome and England England and Rome Germany with them both and all other Sister-Churches with the rest without asking leave of the Tridentine Council This was his Piaculary Heresie For as Aâ—orius writes Tom. 1. Moral Lib. 8. Cap. 9. Not only he that denies an Article of the Roman Creed but he that doubts of any such Article is an Heretick and so to be presented to Criminal Judgment Si quem in foro exteriori l gitime allegata proâ—ata probaverint in rebus Fidci scienter voluntarie dubitasse arbitrer cum ut v re propriè haeretiâ—um puniendum Therefore if Spalat had return'd a Penitent in their Construction and imbodied himself into that Church as only true and Apostolical he could not have suffered in his Offals and Carkass as an Heretick So the same Azorius confesseth Lib. 8. Cap. 14. And Alphonsus à Castro is angry with Bernard of Lutzenburg for holding the contrary Lib. 1. Cap. 9. Quis unquam docuit eum esse dicendum haereticum qui errorem sic tenuit ut monitus conviclus non crubuerit palinodiam cantare This was the success of the variable Behaviour of M. Antonius de Dominis De Domims in the plural says Dr. Crakanthorp for he could serve two Masters or twenty if they would all pay him Wages He had an Hearing as it is mention'd before in our High Commission To countenance the Audience of so great a Cause the Lord Keeper gave attendance at it I began at that end of his Troubles and having footed all the Maze am come out at the other 114. Johosaphat distinguisheth between the Lord's Matters and the King's Affairs 2 Chron. 19.12 So do I in the Subject before me I have given some Says of his Church-Wisdom in the former Paragraph I go on to set the Sublimity of his State-Wisdom in the latter I must look back to a small Service which he did perform in Michaelmas-Term 1621. for as much as the Conjunction of some things which rais'd a Dust in the Year following are sit to go together Upon the solemn Day when the Lord Cranfield then Master of the Wards and immediately created Earl of Middlesex took his Place as Lord Treasurer in the Exchequer-Chamber the Lord Keeper gave him his Oath and saluted his Admission with a short Speech following My Lord You are called to serve his Majesty in the Place of a Lord Treasurer by the most Honourable and most Ancient Call in this Realm the delivery of a Staff to let you know that you are now become one of the surest Staffs or Stays that our great Master relies upon in all this Kingdom And these Staffs Princes must lean upon being such Gods as die like Mon and such Masters as are neither omni-sufficient nor independent For St. Austin writing upon that place of the Psalm I have said unto the Lord Thou art my God my Goâ—ds are nothing unto thee observes that God only is the Master that needs no reference to his Servant All other Masters and Servants are proper Relatives and have a mutual Reciprocation and Dependence Eges tu Domino tuo ut det panem Eget te Dominus tuus ut adjuves labore As the Servant wants a Master to maintain him so the Master wants a Servant to assist him For the present supplying of this want in his Majesty I will say as the Historian did of the Election of Tiberius Non quaerendus quem eligeret sed eligendus qui emineret The King was not now to think of one whom he should choose but to choose one who was most eminent For as Claudian said of Ruffinus Taciti suffragia vulgi Vel jam contulerant quicquid mox addidit Aula You were stated in this Place by the Votes of the People before you understood the Pleasure
of the King Now for your own private I make no question but I may say of you my Lord as one said of Coccius Nerva Foelicior longè quà m cum foelicissimus That you were greater a great deal in your own Contentment than now that you have worthily attained to all this Greatness But as in this World of Things every Element forsakes his Natural Disposition so as we many times see the Earth and Water evaporating upward and the Fire and Air darting downward ad conservationem universi as Philosophy speaks to preserve and maintain the common course So in this World of Men private Must give way to publick Respects Now if it be expected that I should say any thing for your Lordships Direction in this Great Office your Lordships Wisdom and my Ignorance will plead pardon though I omit it I will only say one word and that shall be the same which Pliny said to one Maximus appointed Questor that is Treasurer for Achaia Memenisse oportet Ossicii titulum Remember but your Name and you shall do well enough Your Lordship is appointed Lord Treasurer Take such Order in his Majesties Exchequer that your Lordship do not bear this Denomination and Title in vain and your Lordship shall be worthily honour'd for the happiest Subject in this Kingdom And surely as your Lordship hath the Prayers so you have the Hopes of all good Men that Si Pergama dextrâ defendi poterant If any Man living can improve the Kings Revenue with Skill and Diligence you are that good Husband And so I wish your Lordship as much Joy of your Place as the King and the State do conceive of your Lordship This was the Perfume which was cast upon the new Treasurer in his Robes of Instalment The King was pleased much in his Advancement For his Majesty had proved him with Questions and found that he was well studied in his Lands Customs in all the Profits of the Crown in Stating of Accompts And in the general Opinion the White-Staff was as fit for his Hand as if it been made for it The most that could be objected was that he was true to the King but gripple for himself A good Steward for the Exchequer but sower and unrelishing in Dispatch A better Treasurer than a Courtier There was nothing in appearance but Sun-shine and warm Affections between him and the Lord Keeper The Lord Treasurer I know well had cross'd the other in one or two Suits which had been beneficial to him and not drawn a Denier out of the Kings Purse He dealt so with every Man therefore the Sufferer gave little sign of Grievance It was not his Case alone Another Pick in which they agreed not I cannot say disagreed was about a Brood of Pullein which were never hatcht The last Parliament being dissolv'd it was well thought of by some of the Lords of the Council-Board to sweeten the ill relish which it had in some Palats with a Pardon of Grace that might extend to a fair Latitude for the ease of those that were question'd for old Debts and Duties to the Crown for concealed Wardships and not suing out Liveries and such charges of the like kind which put those that were secure in their Improvidence to a great deal of trouble and disanimated their best Friends for fear of such blind Claps to be their Executors When the Lord Keeper had brought this Pardon so near to his Birth that the Atturney-General was sent for to draw it up the Lord Treasurer mov'd That such as took out this Pardon should pay their Fees which are accustomed in that kind to such Officers as he should appoint that the Advantage might enrich the King and that himself might have that share which the Lord Chancellour us'd to have who put the Seal to those Pardon 's This was heard with a dry laughter and denied him But from thenceforth he struggled to correct the lusty Wine of the Pardon with so much Water that there was no comfort in it and falling short of that Grace which was expected was debated no more The Lord Keeper having obtein'd a good Report for the Conception of the Pardon and the Lord Treasurer a great deal of Envy for the Abortion it curdled in his Stomach into Choler and Mischief And wherefore was he angry with his Brother Abel Look what St. John answers 1 Epist Chap. 3. Vers 12. He endeavoured first to make a Faction in Court against the Lord Keeper and it would not hit because he had no Credit with the Great Ones Then he falls to Pen and Paper and spatters a little Foam draws up Ten What-do-you-call-Um's some of them are neither Charges of Misdemeanour nor Objections which were meant for Accusations but are most pitiful failings entramell'd with Fictions and Ignorance They are extant in the Cabal Pag. 72. which the Lord Keeper puts away as quietly as the Wind blows off the Thistle-Down Pusheth his Adversary down with his little Finger yet insults not upon his Weakness As Pliny writes to Sabin Lib. 9. Ep. Tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum irae causa justissima est It was very laudable to be so mild when there was just cause given to be more angry Yet he complain'd by Letters to the Lord Marquiss as if he were sensible of the despite and unto him was very loud in his own Justification From whom he got no more remedy but that his Adversary was not believ'd And was will'd to consider that he dealt with one whose ill Manners would not pay him Satisfaction for an Injury Unto which the Lord Keeper rejoyn'd to the Lord Marquiss His Majesties Justice and your Lordships Love are Anchors strong enough for a Mind more tost than mine is to ride at Yet pardon me my Noble Lord upon this Consideration if I exceed a little in Passion the Natural Effect of Honesty and Innocency A Church-man and a Woman have no greater Idol under Heav'n than their Good Name And they cannot Fight nor with Credit Scold and least of all Recriminate to Protect and Defend the same The only Revenge left them is to grieve and complain Then he concludes Whom I will either Challenge before his Majesty to make good his Suggestions or else which I hold the greater Valour and which I wanted I confess before this Check of your Lordships go on in my course and scorn all these base and unworthy Scandals as your Lordship shall direct me What need more be said In the space of a Month they wrangled themselves into very good Friends and the Lord Keeper was Gossip to the next Child that was born to the Treasurer As Nazianzen says of Athanasius Encom p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was the Condition of two kinds of Stones in his Nature that are much commended He was an Adamant to them that smote him found and firm and would never break But a Loadstone to draw them to him that discorded with him though they were as hard as
Iron 115. Among the Exceptions with which the Lord Cranfeild did exagitate him one may require a larger Answer than he thought him worthy of in that Humour He replies to him very briefly in the Laconcick Form because such brittle Ware would break with a Touch. The Treasurer was misinform'd or coin'd it out of his own Head That the Keeper dispatch'd great Numbers of Causes by hearing Petitions in his Chamber and that he did usually reverse Decrees upon Petitions That Forty Thousand Pounds had been taken in one Year among his Servants by such spurious and illegitimate Justice Yet Sir An. IV. all whose Ink makes blots could not imagine how such a Man should be raised out of that Practise but that it was Calculated to be worth to him and his Servants Three Thousand Pounds per Annum A great fall and the less charge I do not say that either of them did learn to suspect by their own practise Let God judge it But I knew this Man so well that he would as soon have taken a share out of Courtesans Sins as the Pope doth as out of his Servants Purses But state the Case thus That he did much Work by Petitions and trebble as much in the first Year as in those that succeeded 't is confest First The Hindrances had been so great which the Court sustein'd before he began to rectifie them that unless he had allow'd poor Men some Furtherance by Motions in Petitions they had been undone for want of timely Favour Even Absalom won the Hearts of those whom he seem'd to pity that were in that condition 2 Sam. 13.3 A Plaintiff makes great moan for redress of Wrongs but a delaying Judge is his greatest Oppressor Secondly All high Potentates and Magistrates under them have ever employ'd some at their Hand to give Answers to Supplicants that made Requests unto them Papinian serv'd in that Office under Severus Pertinax So did Ulpian under Alexander Mammaeus Many more may be produc'd who were greatly honour'd for that Imployment All the Praefecti Libellorum and Magistri Scriniorum who are mention'd of old were of this Constitution Every Proconful caâ—ried such a Scribe with him into his Province and heard the Oppressions of the People by Petition and redress'd them Not that main Causes were not pleaded in the open Face of the Praetorian Court as it is in the Pandects Ubi decretum necessarium est per Libellum id expedire Proconsul non potest But an Exception strengthens a Rule as Cicero says pro Corn. Balbo Quod si exceptio facit ne liceat Ibi necesse est licere ubi non est exceptum And where Decrees were not necessary a Subscription to a Supplication was a common way to relieve those who needed not the Ceremony to be undone with longer Obstruction Thirdly What if I should grant without Derogation to the Lord Keeper's admired Sufficiency that when he took that litigious Work of Chancery first in hand if some crabbed Difficulties were mine'd small into a Petition he could the better swallow them Every man may judge better of that which he reads than that which he hears chiefly he that is initiated into a Profession Allow him Cork that learns to Swim to keep him from Sinking he saves himself and hurts no man Therefore it was a most certain way to overcome some part of the Tediousness of Business by Petitions and it was no less incorrupt innocent legal expedite to do good to the People Some that practis'd at the Bar repin'd that they might not have a Glut of Motions Of whose covetous Discontents this Lord was aware as Pliny says of Apelles Lib. 31. Post tabulam latens vitia quae notarentur auscultabat He was at the back of the Frame which he set forth and heard what Errors the Passengers noted in his Picture So this Man's Ears were open and his Eyes waking groundless Repining never took him winking Therefore to straiten his Course against all Presumption of Errors he directed two Remonstrances the first to the Lord Marquess September the 8th the other to his Majesty October the 5th 1622 which follow as he penn'd them My most noble Lord 116. I Am half asham'd of my self that any Man durst be so shameless as to lay upon me the least Suspicion of Corruption in that Frugality of Life Poverty of Estate and Retiredness from all Acquaintance or Dependencies wherein I live But I have learnt one Rule in the Law that Knaves ever complain of Generalities And I long to be Charg'd with any Particular Petitions are things that never brought to any Man in my Place either Profit or Honour but infinite Trouble and Molestation Three Parts of four of them are poor Mens and bring not a Peny to my Secretaries The last part are so slighted and dis-respected by my Orders that they cannot be to my Secretaries whom I take to be honest men and well provided for worth their Trouble or Attendance All Petitions that I answer are of these Kinds 1. For ordinary Writs to be sign'd with my Hand 2. For Motions to be made in Court 3. For to be plac'd in the Paper of Peremptories 4. For License to beg 5. For referring of insufficient Answers 6. For a day to dispatch References recommended from the King 7. For Reigling Commissions to be dispatch'd in the Country 8. For my Letter to the next Justices to compound Brables 9. For Commissions of Bankrupts Certiorari especial Stay off an Extent till Counsel be heard c. Let any Man that understands himself be question'd by your Lordship whether any of these poor things can raise a Bribe or a Fee worth the speaking of I protest I am fain to allow twenty Pounds a year to a Youth in my Chamber to take care of the poor Mens Petitions the Secretaries do so neglect them In a while after Thus to the King May it please Your most Excellent Majesty TO pardon the first Boldness of this kind of interrupting Your Majesty Although I do find by search those particular Charges of Chamber-Orders shew'd unto me by my most Noble Lord the Lord Admiral to be falsly laid and wilfully mistaken as being either binding Decrees or solemn Orders pronounced in open Court and pursued only to Processes of Execution by these private Directions Yet do I find withal that I have advisedly and with mature Deliberation upon my entring into this Office made many Dispatches upon the Petitions of the Subjects to mine own exceeding great Trouble and to the Ease of their Purses many thousand Pounds in the Compass of this Year For that Motion which upon a Petition will cost the Party nothing if it be deny'd nor above Five Shillings to the Secretaries unless the Party play the Fool and wilfully exceed that expected Fee when it is granted being put into the Mouth of a Lawyer will cost the Client whether granted or deny'd one Piece at the least and for the most part Five Ten or Twenty Pieces as is
notoriously known to all the World Yet have I most willingly observed in all Orders upon Petitions these Cautions following which I received from Your Majesty First To order nothing in this kind without Notice given to the adverse Part and Oath made thereof Secondly To reverse correct or alter no one Syllable of any Decree or Order pronounced in Court upon Counsel heard on both Sides Thirdly To alter no Possession unless it be in pursuance to a former Decree or Order pronunced in open Court or to save by a Sequestration to indifferent Hands some Bona peritura which commonly be a Tithe or a Crop of Hay or Corn which are ready to be carried away by force by unresponsal Men and will not stay for a Decree in Court Now I humbly crave Your Majesty's Opinion whither I may go on this way as ancient as the Court for easing Your Majesty's Subjects with these Cautions and Limitations the Clamor of the Lawyers and Ignorance of some Men Qui me per ornamenta feriunt notwithstanding For although no Party grieved doth or indeed can complain against these Dispatches and that in the corruptest Times it was never heard that any Bribes have been taken for Answers upon Petitions Yet what Reason have I to over-toil my self in easing the Purse of the Subjects if it be objected as a Crime against me and be not a Service acceptable to Your Majesty and the Realms I have eased my self there three days in this kind but am so oppressed with the Clamor of poor People who come for ordinary Dispatches that I am enforced to prevent their Complaint by this humble Repraesentation unto Your Majesty I most humbly therefore crave Your Majesty's Directions deny'd to none of Your Servants that desire them to be signified unto me by the Lord Admiral at his Lordship's best Conveniency 117. Thus much perhaps is too much but that as Alexander said in Curtius Satius est purgatos esse quà m suspectos 'T is better to clear an Error imputed than to be suspected The King stood to him as he did always and sent him a gracious Message It was his Conscience he dispenced in that Court and he had his Approbation in all he had heard of Truly I believe his Majesty's Love wrought that Ableness in him to make him more than else he would have been Neither did the Lord Marquess see any Reason but to justifie his Integrity and Diligence Yet before Michaelmas Term was spent An. 1622 that great Lord dropt some Words that he was not altogether pleas'd with the Lord Keeper's Observance and look'd upon him with a stranger Countenance than before so as from that time the Lord Keeper failed but with an half Wind in that mighty Lord's Favour which he hid most prudently and shew'd not the least appearance that he was faln into that dislike As Macrobius commends Pisistratus Lib. 7. c. 1. whose Children secretly made Head against him Yet Pisistratus dissembled strangely that all was well between them that the City of Athens might not practise upon their Enmity So it was covered as artificially from Court and City that these two Luminaries were near to Opposition The first Man that was like to know it from the Lord Marquess was the Bishop of St. Davids for about this time he stiles himself Confessor to his Lordship in Mr. Prinn's Publications And within the compass of this Time he says he dreamt that the Lord Keeper was dead that he went by and saw his Grave a making And how doth he expound this Vision which he saw in his Sleep but that he was dead in my Lord of Buckingham's Affections Some are like to ask what it was that did the ill Office to shake the Stedfastness of their Friendship That will break out hereafter But the Quarrel began that some Decrees had been made in Chancery for whose better Speed my Lord Marquess had undertaken An Undertaker he was without Confinement of Importunity There was not a Cause of moment but as soon as it came to Publication one of the Parties brought Letters from this mighty Peer and the Lord Keeper's Patron For the Lord Marquess was of a kind Mature in Courtesie more luxuriant than was fit in his Place not willing to deny a Suit but prone to gratifie all Strangers chiefly if any of his Kindred brought them in their Hand and was far more apt to believe them that askt him a Favour than those that would perswade him it was not to be granted These that haunted him without shame to have their Suits recommended to great Officers made him quickly weary of his faithful Ministers that could not justly satisfie him I had mentioned none but that I am beholding to the Cabal to fall upon one the worst of twenty Sir John Michel P. 84. of whose Unreasonableness the Lord Keeper writes thus God is my Wuness I have never deny'd cither Justice or Favour which was to be justified to this man or any other that had the least Relation to your good and most Noble Mother And I hope your Lordship is perswaded thereof Budaeus P. 67. Upon the Pandects writes offensively upon the medling of such Lady Advocates Why may not Women be our Magistrates and govern us if they think to govern them that are our Magistrates But he complains with more Impatience against the Courtiers of Paris P. 188. Quotusquisque est qui modo in aulâ interiore sit alicujus nominis qui non se dignum censeat propter quem leges constitutiones quamvis gravi sanctione munitae violari debeant which makes the Place of a Judge a Burthen that cannot be supported For as no Artist can make the Year run even by the Course of Sun and Moon so no Justice can run even between the imperious Directions of a Favourite and the Conscience of a just Man The Lord Marquess had used his Power to assist the Lord Keeper in his Lifting up but good Turns are not to be counted a Servile Bond to impose as much as shall be obtruded to be done with a Blind-fold Readiness For no man in Earth is all in all a Servant but to God Gratitude may exact much but Innocency is free from paying a Tribute And 't is pity they should ever have the Ability to do Benefits who over-lay their good Turns and would not have those to whom they have been gracious persevere in Integrity Yet many do so far value their own Kindness that they think for their good Works Sake they have bought God's Part in us which if it be substracted none are so ready to dismount a Man as they that did promote him It is observ'd before me by Aurelius Victor in the Lite of Nerva Qui cum se merreri omnia praesumant si quicquam non extorserint atrociores sunt ipsis hostibus Therefore let a private Man be content and take sweet Sleeps He holds his Conscience in no Tenure but of God He that is out of great Place is out
of great Tentation Tuta me mediâ vehat vita decurrens viâ Sence in Ad. 118. I have touch'd upon the very Thread where the Lord Marquesâ—s Friendship began to unravel I have shewn how blameless the Lord Keeper was and that the Offence on his Part was undeclinable Yet I will not smother with partiality what I have heard the Countess Mother say upon it That the Lord Keeper had great Cause sometimes to recede from those Courses which her Son propounded that she never heard him different but that his Counsels were wise and well-grounded ever tending to the Marquess's Honour Safety and Prosperity but that he stirr'd her Son to Offence with Reprehensions that were too bold and vehement I heed this the more because it was usual with the Lord Keeper to be very angry with his best Friends when they would not hearken to their own Good Pardon him that Fault and it will be hard to find another in him as Onuphrius says of P. Pius the Fifth for his Cholerick Moods Hoc uno excepto vitio non erat in illo quod quisquam possit reprehendere And if the Testimony of that Lady be true it is but one and a most domestick Witness I do not shuffle it over as if his Meanor to the Lord Marquess were not a little culpable It was not enough to have Justice of his Side without Discretion Good Counsel is Friendly but it must be mannerly St. Châ—ysostom though a Free and a very hot man himself preach'd thus at Antioch Hom. 27. That some Inflammation will not be touch'd no not with a soft Finger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words as soft as Lint must be us'd to some Ears who disdain to be dealt withal as Equals Let me joyn Ric. Victor to him enforcing the like from David's Playing on the Harp when Saul was moved When stubborn Opposition will vex some great Men into Fury Dignum est ut elocutionis nostrae tranquilitate quasi citharae dulcedine ad salutem revocentur Use them tenderly and play as it were a Lesson upon the Harp to flatter them into Attention and Tranquility This is enough to reprehend a few stout Words but the Lord Keeper for all the Frown of the Lord Marquess staid upon him carry'd as true a Heart toward him and all his Allies as exuberant in Gratitude as ever liv'd in Fâ—esh He never wrote to him no not when he was quite forsaken but he refresh'd the Benefits he had receiv'd from him in his Memory He never commanded him but he obeyed in all which was to be justified No Danger impending over his Lordship but he was ready to run an honest Hazard with him even to the laying down of his Life In his Absence when a Friend is best tried when his Lordship was in Spain far from the King and giving no little Distast there by his Bearing then he smooth'd his Errors to his Majesty and kept him from Precipitation knowing that he had threatned to bring about his own Ruine Yet in strict Justice a Founder loseth his Right of Interest that would destroy or debauch his Foundation As Amber and Pearl are turned to mean Druggs and Dust when the Chymists hath drawn their Elixir out of them At this stop I can resolve one Question which many have ask'd me whence the Occasion sprung which transformed Bishop Laud from a Person so much obliged Eighteen Months before to the Lord Keeper to the sharpest Enemy As soon as ever the Bishop saw his Advancer was under the Anger of the Lord Marquess he would never acknowledge him more but shunn'd him as the old Romans in their Superstition walk'd a loof from that Soil which was blasted with Thunder It was an Opportunity snatch'd to pluck him back that was got so far before him Hold him down that he might not rise and then he promised himself the best Preeminence in the Church for he saw no other Rival As Velleius says of Pompey That he was very quiet till he suspected some Senator that thrust up to be his Equal Civis in tagá nisi ubi ' vereretur ne quem haberet parem modestissimus But will a good Christian say did so much Hatred grow up from no other Seed From no other that ever appear'd and look upon the World and marvel not at it for it is frequently seen that those Enemies which are most causless are most implacable which our Divines draw out of this that no Reason is express'd by Moses why the Devil tempted our first Parents and sought their Fall The like was noted by the gravest Counsellor of our Kingdom the Lord Burleigh who condoled when he heard the Condemnation of Sir John Perrot with these Words Odium quo injustius eò acrius Ill Will is most vehement when it is most unjust Cambden Eliz. An. 1592. But when himself was not harm'd a jot would he be so unkind to his Benefactor Phoed. Act. 1. Se. 3. What says a long Tongu'd Fellow In Plautus mortuus est qui suit qui vivus est He that was was lost He dreamt his Benefactor was defunct there was Life in my Lord of Buckingham and it was good Cunning to jog along with his Motions I am confident to give this Satisfaction to the Question above For the Lord Keeper did often protest upon his Hope in Christ that he knew no other Reason of their Parting Reader say nothing to it but hear what Solomon says Proverbs 18. ver â— according to the Septuagint and the Vulgar Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occasiones querit qui vult recedere ab amico omni tempore erit exprobrabilis 119. These Enmies were blowing at the Forge three years well nigh before the Ingeneers could frame a Bar to lift him off the Hinges of his Dignity for he was fast lock'd and bolted into the Royal Favour He bore up with that Authority that he could not be check'd with Violence and Occasions grew fast upon his Majesty to use his Sufficiency and Fidelity For though he was a King of profound Art yet he was not so fortunate in that Advice which he took to send his dear Son the Prince with the Lord Marquess into Spain Feb. 17 1022. So soon as those Travellers had left the King with his little Court at New-Market the King found himself at more Leisure and Freedom in the Absence of the Lord Marquess to study the Calling of a Comfortable and Concordious Parliament wherein the Subject might reap Justice and the Crown Honour And Occasion concluded for it that since the Prince like a Resolute and Noble Wooer had trusted himself to the King of Spain's Faith in the Court of Madrid whether his Adventure sped or not sped he must be welcomed Home with a Parliament The King prepared for the Conception of that Publick Meeting that it might fall to its proper Work without Diversions He conceiv'd there was no Error more fatal to good Dispatch than that some Members took
up the greatest part of the Time in speaking to the Redress of petty Grievances like Spaniels that rett after Larks and Sparrows in the Field and pass over the best Game Therefore his Majesty to loose no time drew up a Proclamation with his own Pen Feb. 20 to this end that certain of the Lords of the Privy Council should have Power and special Commission to receive the Complaints of all the good People of this Land which should be brought before them concerning any Exorbitances Vexations Oppressions and Illegalities and either by their own Authority if it would reach to it to see them corrected or to give Orders to cut them off by the keenest Edge of the Laws That Complainants should be encouraged to present their Grievances as well by the Invitement of the Proclamation as by the Signification of the Judges to the Country and Grand Juries in their respective Circuits The Draught of this the Features of his Majesty's own Brain came by Post to pass the Great Seal Yet for all that Hast the Lord Keeper took time to scan it and sent it back with Advice that the Project would be sweeter if it were double refined presuming therefore that his Majesty would not be unwilling to stop a little at the Bar of good Counsel he wrote this ensuing Letter to the Court Feb. 22. May it please Your most Excellent Majesty 120. I Do humbly crave Your Majesties Pardon that I forbear for two or three days to seal Your Proclamation for Grievances until I have presented to Your Majesty this little Remonstrance which would come too late after the Sealing and Divulging the Proclamation First As it is now coming forth it is generally misconstrued and a little sadly look'd upon by all men as somewhat restreining rather than enlarging Your Majesties former Care and Providence over Your Subjects For whereas before they had a standing Committee of all the Council-Table to repair unto they are now streitned to four or five only Most of which number are not likely to have any leisure to attend the Service Secondly I did conceive Your Majesty upon Your first Royal Expression of Your Grace in this kind in a Resolution to have mingled with some few Lords of Your Privy-Council some other Barons of Your Kingdom Homines as Pliny said of Virginius Rufus innoxiè Populares Whose Ears had been so opened to the like Grievances in the time of Parliament as their Tongues notwithstanding kept themselves within the compass of Duty and due Respect to Your Majesty as the Earls of Dorset and Warwick the Lord Houghton Dr. Morton the Lord Dennie the Lord Russel the Lord North. And among the Lords Spiritual the Bishops of Lichfield Rochester and Ely and especially unless Tour Majesty in Your deep Wisdom have some Reasons of the Omission Dr. Buckeridge the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This mixture would produce the these Effects ensuing First An Intimation of Your Majesties Sincerity and Reality in this Proclamation Dr. Felton Secondly A more free and general Intimation to Parties Aggrieved who will repair soonear to these private Peers then to the great Lords of Your Majesties Council Thirdly The making of these Lords and the like Witnesses of Your Majesties Justice and good Government against the next ensuing Parliament and the stopping of their Ears against such supposed Grievances at that time as shall never be heard of in their Sitting upon this Commission Fourthly and Lastly The gaining of these Temporal Lords to side with the State being formerly much wrought upon by the Factious and Discontented If Your Majesty shall approve of these Reasons it is but to Command Your Secretary to interline these or some of these Names in the Commission which in all other respects is already wisely and exceeding well penn'd with two short Clauses only First That these Lords shall attend very carefully and constantly in Term-time when they are occasion'd to be at London Secondly That they be instructed to receive all Complaints with much Civility and Encouragement giving them full Content and Redress according to the merit of their Grievances For nothing will sooner break the Heart of a People or make them lose their Patience than when hopes of Justice are frustrated after the Royal Word is engaged But if Your Majesty in Your high Wisdom will overpass these Particulars which I have dutifully presented upon the return of the Proclamation as it is it shall be sealed and divulged with all expedition But these Reasons were not overpass'd Both the Proclamation and private Orders to the Lords Commissioners were reformed by the Contents of that weighty Letter His Majesty greatly inclining to the Lord-Keeper's Readiness and espying Judgment in all Consultations For as Laertius in Zeno's Life said of a famous Musician 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Ismenias could play well upon all Instruments So this was another Ismenias who had the Felicity to make all Deliberations pleasing and tuneable especially he had that way above all that I knew to make sweet Descant upon any plain Song that was prick'd before him It will be to the Profit of the Reader if I rub his memory with one Passage of the Letter for it is but one though it come in twice which presseth the King to Sincerity and Reality to fix his Word like the Center of Justice that cannot be moved Righteous Lips are the delight of Kings Prov. 16.23 And a King of Righteous Lips is most delightful Since the coercitive part of the Law doth not reach him upon what Nail shall those Millions that stand before his Throne hang their Hopes if his Word do not bind him A People that cannot give Faith to their Sovereign will never pay him Love It seems that the ancient Latin Kings did profess to use Crookedness and Windings of Dissimulation in their Polity therefore their Scepter was called Lituus because it bent in toward the upper end But the Scepter of thy Kingdom says David of GOD is a right Scepter A right one indeed For Contracts and Promises bind God to Man much more must they oblige the King to his People An Author of our own Dr. Duck in his very Learned Treatise De usu Juris Civilis p. 44. hath well delivered this Morality Princeps ad contractum tenetur uti privatus nec potest contractum suum rescindere ex plenitudine potestatis cum maximè in eo requiratur bena sides Falshood is Shop-keepers Language or worse but 't is beneath Majesty 121. A Parliament being not far of either in the King's Purpose or in Prospect of Likelihood Serj Crooke Cvew Finch Damport Bramston Bridgman Crawly Headly Thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authurst Blng. Dâ—y the Lord Keeper was provident that the Worthies of the Law should be well entreated Their Learning being most comprehensive of Civil Causes and Affairs they had ever a great Stroke in that Honorable Council Therefore he wrought with his Majesty to sign a Writ for the Advancement of some
mention the parts of the Narration needing as it were Sinews and Tendons without which they cannot grow together Two Years and little more were run out after the Death of Prince Hâ—nry so much miss'd so much bewailed when the principal Statesman then in Spain under King Philip the Third the Duke of Lerma opened the Motion first to Sir J. Digby our King's Embassador Resiant in the Court of Madrid for a Match between our Prince who was by this time every where renown'd for the Diligence he shew'd to that brave Education which was given him and the Infanta Maria the much praised Daughter of his Master the Mightiest Christian Potentate in Europe Our King was passing well pleas'd when his Servant Digby sent him word of it and encouraged him to bring it to as much ripeness as he could The Treatise went on very chearfully with the great Ones on both sides who were only or chiefly concern'd in it But no People meddle more or more impertinently with the discourse of great things which are above them than the paultriest of the English I mean Shop-keepers and Handycrafts-men These had some vain Fears which made them deaf to Reason and swift to murmur But the King was too wise to put his Honour and his greatest Actions under the Hazard of their Interpretation That some of our Nobles sided with the common Mans Opinion it weighed as little For they were such as loved it like their Life to be commended by open Fame and could not dissemble that their coldness to the Match was not without a Fever of Popularity No discreet Person thought that the Success would be the worse because a few gay Coats forbid the Bands with the Tryes and Dewces of Sedentary and Loitering Men. Pliny says of Miscellen Pulses sowed together in Italy in his time Nihil ocymo faecundius quod maledictis probris serendum praecipiunt ut laetius proveniat Lib. 19. N.H. C. 7. The Husbandmen had a Superstition to curse it or to give it all ill words when it was sown and thought it would grow the better With more Reason I may affirm it were Superstition to imagine that a good Design would the sooner go back because it was rashly malign'd by them that walk'd in Pauls or throng'd together in the Markets There was nothing like a halt in the Treaty of this Marriage between the two Kings till the Prince Elector our Kings Son-in-Law made his Excursion into Bohemia and left his own Country naked and undefensible behind him and lost it Though in fair dealing now the Nuptials should have hastned faster to a Conclusion than before because the young Parties were grown up to a mature Age for Marriage Yet the Spaniard could be brought on to no dispatch but took respite of time about three Years to resolve how the Bridal-Joy should be doubled with the Settlement of the Palsgrave in his own Principality For till that was done Peace between the two Kingdoms was but in a doubtful and a catching Condition 126. The Castilian Court is ever slow but to make it worse it was suspected as I incline to think uncharitably that in this great Business it would not be sure It is incident when one State offends another to impute the fault not to that one Errour but to a general and National Vice So the Spaniards were set out to the Prince in some busie Pamphlets and other Draughts put into his Hand for such as the Parthians are describ'd in Justin Lib. 41. Parthi Naturâ taciti ad faciendum quam ad dicendum promptiores sides diclis promissisque nuila nisi quatenus expedit Such as were given to suppress and conceal their Counsels Such as would sooner bite than bark Such as would keep no Faith but when it serv'd their turn The Prince both discountenanc'd and discarded those that in Zeal to his Affairs presum'd to write contumeliously of that Prepotent Wise and Grave Nation He had cast the Anchor of great Hopes and Joys upon that Shore Every Tongue gave loud Commendation to the Infanta his Mistress He loved the report of her Vertues and Beauty and he that is sick of Love will be more sick of Procrastination Thereupon as he did publickly before the ensuing Parliament take it upon himself 〈◊〉 Heroick Thought started out of his own Brain to visit the Court of 〈◊〉 as well to shew what Confidence he had in the Justice and Honour of that King committing the safety of his Person to him in a strange Land as to bring his Comforts to a sudden Consummation if his Catholick Majesty meant seriously 〈◊〉 bellow his Sister upon him But if he had plaid an ignoble part by counte â—ing Proâ—tions then resolutely to give King Philip no leisure to abuse him any longer And set the Discrediâ—e at his Door that had done the wrong for it is more honourable to suffer an injury than to do it The Lord Marquess of Buckingham then a great Graâ—o was put on by the Prince to ask the Kings liking to this Amour◠〈◊〉 â—enure Of whom he obtein'd both his Consent and his Secresie 〈…〉 â—ere over the Seas For this was the Pirithous that went with 〈…〉 his Love They left New Market on the 17th of 〈…〉 on the 18th from thence posted to Dover and were in France before they were miss'd But then upon the Bruit of the Prince's sudden departure so thinly Guarded for so long a Journey even the Wisest were troubled The Courtiers chiefly those that wanted their Master talk'd out their Discontents boldly The Lords of the Counsel look'd dejectedly that they were pretermitted in a Consultation of so great Importance but prayed heartily That since his Majesty was pleas'd to walk softly that he might not be heard his chance were not to tread away Among them all the Lord Keeper was the only Counsellor suspected to be of the Plot. Yet he knew as little as the rest and satisfied their Lordships that Ignorance was often a happy thing as in this instance For if the Prince had gone out of the Kingdom privily with their Lordships Knowledge and Counsel and some misfortune which God avert should prevent his safe return their Heads would be forfeited to Justice and their Names expos'd to perpetual Infamy Indeed this was but the second time that King James had baulk'd his whose Counsel upon a like Occasion Not out of Confidence that he knew enough without them but out of tenderness to their safety that they might not undergo the Anger exacted upon ill Events if God should cause them In the Year 1589. he caused some Ships to be Rigg'd that the Admiral of Scotland might fetch Queen Ann out of Denmark But when the Fleet was ready he went Aboard himself hoisted Sails and took his leave of no Man For which sudden Voyage not imparted to the Lords that fate close at Edinburgh he gives this Satisfaction to them in a Letter see it in worthy Spotswood pag. 377. I took this Resolution none of
World your incapability of that Passion But to give Your Highness to understand that I hope if you discover any â—ndment to detein your Princely Person under any fair Colour or Pretence whatsoever You will endeavour by all means possible to make your departure as secret as your Arrival was I pray God this may prove but my Folly and Jealousie And I thank God heartily that you have in Your Company the Earl of Bristow who for Advice and Counsel upon the Place is in my poor Opinion inferior to none in His Majesties Dominions Here is no Course omitted to still the Noise and to take away the Affrightments caused by your sudden departure I am a little afraid that the person of the Earl of Carâ— whom His Majesty hath posted after you will not prove so acceptable in the Spanish Court which I wish might have no Provocation at all while your person is there If it prove so he is a most willing Lord to please Your Highness and you may 〈◊〉 so of â—im the sooner back again I have endeavour'd to smooth and sweeten all things at home in the best accommodation that lay in me I have stayed a Collection which went on for the Grisons though I bear them good will least the King of Spain might take Offence thereat I have restored the Priests and Jesuits that were restrained in the New Prison to their former Liberty I have given special Order to the Judges for Sweetness and Doulcure to the English Catholicks I have twice Visited the the Spanish Ambassador and do now deny him no Suit he makes And all this with a Reflection upon that inestimable Pearl of curs which God hath now put into their Hands On the other side if things prosper according to your Highness's desire you will not fail to write to some person that will Publish it that nothing hath been represented to you there adverse or contrary to your Profession and Religion And that you were much Offended when you heard of those Surmises of this people that you took this Journey out of an Yielding and Recklesness in the Constancy and Sincerity of the same This Course will quiet the sond Jealousies at home Your Highness will now give me leave to Remember mine own Calling and to call upon you to do that which you have never failed to do to call upon God Morning and Evening for his Gracious Assistance and continual Protection to whose preventing accompanying and pursuing Grace I do most humbly and Devoutly now upon my bended Knees recommend your Highness Dominus Custodiat introitum tuum exitum tuum ex Lòc nunc usque in seculum Ps 121.8 A Letter to the L. Buckingham My most Noble Lord 129 ALthough the Service I can now only perform to your Lordship is praying and not writing yet my Affection will not suffer me to conceal my Folly in this kind I have no time to recollect my Thoughts this Gentleman who steals away after you is in such haste I have utter'd most of my Dreams unto his Highness who I know will impart them to your Lordship unless they shall prove so wide as out of respect to my Credit he shall be pleas'd to burn them If things prove so ill which God forbid as that his Princely Person should under Colour of Friendship larger Treaty or any Device be then detained longer then his liking be you my sweet Lord drawn by no Means Counsel or Importunity to leave his Person and to return without him If you should do so as I know you will not beside the disgrace thereof it would prove your certain Ruin If things prove well you need no Counsel your Adventure will be Applauded and great Note cast upon your Wisdom and Resolution But if the Health Entertainment and the principal business of His Highness nay if any one of the Three should miscarry You cannot in your Wisdom and great Experience in this Court but certainly knew that the blame will be laid upon you And therefore for Gods sake prepare your self accordingly by Mature Deliberation to Encounter it My Lord for fear others will not I will tell you the Truth If I Offend you with my Trusty Care I am sure your good Nature will blow it over before we meet again But in sooth all the Court and the Rabble of people lay this Voyage upon your Lordship The King would seem sometimes as I hear to take it to himself and we have Advis'd him so to do by Proclamation yet he sticks at it and many times casts it upon you both Thus Sir J. Epsley told me within this hour whom I sent to the Court of purpose to learn it Nay Faces are more sowred and Rumors of Dangers more Encreased because you have defeated some great Lords who expected to be imployed for the Conduct of the Infant a hither And though things speed never so well this Quarrel will remain But I would that might prove the greatest Danger If Your Lordship will Command me what to do in Your Absence I hope you believe you have a faithful Servant and wise enough to follow Directions I will be as Vigilant in your Affairs as my distance from the Court will give me Leave Your Lady is well but unapproachable and invisible Your little Daughter is very Pleasant and as it seems bids us hope the best in her Infantile Presagements My Lady Your Mother is well and chides me that I could not Divine and Prophesie of your Journey I will make bold to remember me to your Host as we conceive it the Earl of Bristow and his good Lady my loving Country-woman My Noble Lord my Humble Suit unto you and my best Advice is that as all the Lords in England sought your Lordship with all Observance in this Court so you will seek and gain the great Lords of Spain with as much Observance in the Court of Spain I ended His Highness Letter with a Text of Scripture and I have another for your Lordship Genes 24. ver 48 49. And I bowed my Head and Worshipped the Lord and Blessed the Lord God of my Master Abraham who hath led me in the Right-way to take my Masters Brothers Daughter to his Son And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my Master tell me that I may turn to the Right Hand or to the Left I Leave your Lordship in this Meditation and in Gods Gracious Protection for ever 130. These in the Levitical Phrase were but the Green Ears of the First Fruits The Sheaves of his Wisdom will follow after For more is to be look'd for how he proceeded then how he began All things went well and unanimously on the part of our English Counsellors in those Foreign Juntoes from hence and so forth at least to the beginning of May. Thus far 't was easie to please them all But there is one skill requir'd in a Calm at Sea another in a Tempest Though the Pilots good Will and Fidelity be constantly the
same Trust to him for this and he shall not fail After he had parted from the King so deeply Charm'd to bestir his Wits in this Negotiation he was as Active as one could be that had little to work upon The Prince and his Paranymphus the Marquess had wrote some Letters upon the way how far they had proceeded in their Journey But the Buen Message that they were come to the Cape of Good-Hope in the City of Madrid was not yet brought to the City of London where the conflux at this time was very populous their Errand being to hearken after News And the particulars they long'd to hear of were these Whether His Highness were Arrived at the Court in Spain When he would return again their Honest Affections ran too fast to look for that so soon Whether he were not Tamper'd withal to alter his Religion And some were so reasonable and well pleas'd some were not to ask Whether he were Married and would bring his Bride with him for hope of Future Issue As much Satisfaction was given to these Scruples from the Lord Marquess by the First Post that Arrived here as could be expected in so short a time as he had spent abroad Of which more in due time But before his Lordship 's came the Lord Keeper wrote again and again unto him to Assist the main business and to pour in such Counsels into his Lordship's Breast as keeping close unto them he might promise himself more Grace with the King and Commendation with the Subject Philosophers who wrote the Practices of a Good life agree That unfeigned Love doth Justifie it self in three Probations or in either of them when it is Faithful to a dead Friend who shall never know it or to a Friend undone in misery who cannot requite it or to an Absent Friend who doth not perceive it As none that have Faith and Candor will wish to declare their sincerity in the two former Experiments so neither will they fail in the opportunity of the latter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Antient Thales in Laertius Remember your Friends as well far of as near you And in Rome says Lil. Giraldus These two Adverbs were Written under the Image of Friendship Longe Prope Be as Officious nay more to your Friend remote from you as when you are hand in hand together I have drawn out the Lord Keeper's Observance to his Raiser my Lord of Buckingham with this Pensil of Morality It would be tedious to fill up Leaves with those copious and punctual Relations which he wrote to his Lordship of all Agitations in the Court of Suits preferred to the King and how far he went about to stop them all till his Pleasure was signified in the next Return That which comes to the Institute I handle was thus Endicted bearing Date Marth 31. My most Noble Lord I Do humbly thank your Lordship for your Letter and all other your loving Remembrances of me by the last Packet It hath much revived me to hear of your Lordship's good Speed so far I was Yesterday with His Majesty the first time I saw his Face since your Lordship's Departure to know his Opinion of this Letter to the Count Gondamar which I send enclosed to stir him up to consummate the Marriage His Majesty lik'd it exceeding well yet I have sent it opened that if your Lordship and my Lord of Bristow who are upon the Place shall not allow thereof it may be suppressed Truly the Reasons are no Colours but very real that if new and tart Propositions sent from Rome occasioned by the Possession they have of his Highness's Person should protract this Marriage the Prince is in great danger to suffer exceedingly in the Hearts and Affections of the People here at Home and your Lordship sure enough to share in the Obloquies Better Service I cannot do the Prince and your Lordship than to thrust on the Ministers of the King of Spain with the best Enforcements of my Judgment who if they dead this Business with a Calm it is almost as bad as a cross Gale But my Lord I will not fail to continue as faithful to your Lordship as to mine own Soul Which to do at this time is not thanks-worthy his Majesty being so constant or rather so augmented in his Affections towards you as all your Servants are extraordinarily comforted therewith and the rest struck dumb and silenced But if any Storm which God will keep off had appeared your Lordship should have found a Difference between a Church-man and others who hath nothing to regard in this World but to serve God and to be constant to his Friend all the rest being but Trash to him who can confine his utmost Desires to a Book and a little Chamber But God Almighty never imparted unto you a greater Share of his Majesty's Affections that at this Time 131. This went by Sir J. Epsley After whom within three days Sir George Goring followed who was stay'd till April the 3d the next day after the joyful Packet came that his Highness saw Madrid by the 7th of March in our Stile and came thither in Health and good Plight after so much Travel by Day and Night so much hard Lodging such slender Fare in base Village-Osteria's Away went Sir George I said with Alacrity the next Day and carried these Lines to my Lord of Buckingham from the Lord Keeper My most Noble Lord IN Obedience to your Commands which I humbly thank your Lordship for I do write by this Bearer yet no more than what I have have written lately by Sir John Epsley All things stand here very firmly and well which may concern your Lordship only the Great Seal walks somewhat faster than usual which is an Argument that it was not my Lord of Buckingham only that set it a going We hear the Affairs proceed well where your Lordship is And here is conceived generally Great Joy and Acclamation for the brave Entertainment that the Prince hath received which the People did yester-night very chearfully express by Bon-fires and Bells only the Consummation of the Matrimony is wanting to consummate our Joys Yet the People spread it abroad upon sight of the Bonfires that all is perfected As they do also speak of your Lordship's Dukedom a Title which will well become both your Person and Employment The Patent whereof I believe the King will shortly send to you to testifie his Joy and to gratifie your Service But my Lord I am still against the Opinion of many wiser Men averse to your Lordship's Return hither as desirous as I am to enjoy your Lordships Presence untill you either see the Prince ready for his Return or that you may bring him along with you I have sent another Letter to my Lord Gondamar to be delivered or suppressed as your Lordship shall please to let him know by my Expostulations falling so thick upon him what is behoveful to be done If they make us stay their leisure
and ever owing Thanks to your Grace The Dispensation is come and with it good Tidings that your Carriage hitherto hath been so discreet and the Event so fortunate that our Master is wonderfully pleas'd But we were formerly never so desirous to see that Box that carries this Dispensation than we are now to open it and to know by reading the same what God hath sent us We all wonder at his Majesties Reservedness for it came hither on Saturday last this Day sevennight But his Majesty hath enjoyned Mr. Secretary Calvert silence therein And I believe for my part at the least that Mr. Secretary hath perform'd his Commandment We all think and the Town speak and talk of the worst and of very difficult Conditions My dear Lord You have so lock'd up all things in your own Breast and sealed up his Majesties that now our very Conjectures for more they were not are altogether prevented If things succeed well this course is best if otherwise I conceive it very dangerous But it were a great Folly to offer any Advice unto you who only know what you transact in your own Cabinet How then shall I fill up this Letter To certifie this only that all Discontents are well appeased and will so remain without doubt as long as Businesses continue successful But if they should decline I am afraid the former Disgusts of your appropriating this Service will soon be resumed And then how dangerous it is to leave your Friends ignorant of your Affairs and disabled to serve you I refer to your Graces Wisdom and Consideration I do believe none of us all would keep your Counsel without a Charge to do so this keeping Counsel is a thing so out of fashion nor reveal it if it be otherwise required c. The Lord Keeper in this Letter miss'd the true Cause why his Majesty did not yet impart a sight of the Dispensation to any of his Counsellors The reason was because it came to him in a private Packet And he expected it to be deliver'd to him as it ought by Publick Ministers the Ambassadors of the King of Spain who kept it dormant about a Fortnight in their Hands whether it proceeded from their Native Gravida to retein that long in their Stomach which needed no Concoction or to listen what the many-headed Multitude would say in London or out of some other State-juggling As I have laid forth in this what was mistaken by the L. Keeper out of his own Memorials preserv'd So in another Line he hazarded his Love to be ill taken representing to the Duke the Truth That the King did somewhat disgust his appropriating the whole Service to himself that is repulsing the Earl of Bristol or restreining him to silence where their Counsels were held I know not whether the Duke did so soon regret at this for it is the first time and 't is well plaister'd over with mild Counsel So Statuaries says Plutarch do not only hew and peck the Alabaster upon which they work but smooth it likewise which is the neatest part of their Cunning. By another Letter from the same Hand dated near to the former May 11. I perceive that the Duke our Lord Admiral demanded the Navy Royal to be made ready and to be sent to the Coast of Spain to conduct the Prince and his Followers Home Which the King gave order to be done But the Lord Keeper wrote to his Grace if it were not with the soonest the main Matter not grown yet to any colour of ripeness That the Charge would be very heavy to the Exchequer Such a Fleet must be costly to be set forth but far more costly to be kept long abroad As for Cost it was the least thing that was thought upon It was no time for Frugality The Stratagem was to have the Navy lie ready at Anchor in some safe distance from the Spanish Havens That if the Prince could recover no Satisfaction to reasonable Demands from stiff Olivarez and other Grandees Or if they persisted to burden the Match with insupportable Conditions his Highness after a short Complement might take his leave and have all things prepar'd at a Days warning if the Wind serv'd for his Reduction into England With this Fleet some precious Ware never seen no nor heard of in Spain before at least among the Laicks was transported thither the Liturgy of our Church translated into the Spanish Tongue and fairly printed by the Procurement and Cost of the Lord Keeper The Translator was John Taxeda the Author of the Treatise call'd Hispanus Conversus a good Scholar once a Dominican whom his Patron that set him on work secured to our Church with a Benefice and good Prebend He studied this Translation Day and Night till it was ended He that writes this was often at his Elbow to communicate with him when he put Questions how to proceed But the Lord Keeper himself with other Overseers that had perfectly learn'd the Castilian Language perus'd it faithfully and if there were not aptness in any phrase corrected it With his Majesties Privity and great Approbation two Copies of it were carried Religious Tokens the one to his Highness the other to my Lord Duke as the best and most undeniable Certificate that a particular Church can shew to vindicate the right Profession of their Faith from all Scandals and to declare their Piety in all Christ's Ordinances squared and practis'd by a publick Rule after the Beauty of Holiness A Book of Common-Prayer which all call a Liturgie is suitable to the Form of good Churches in all Ages reduceth us to good Notions from wandring Extravagancies preserves Harmonious Conformity between all the Daughter-Churches that are called from one Mother in one Realm or State It is our Witness to assoil us when we are spitefully charg'd with Errours so Chamieras Gerardus Camero Spanhemius Amyraldus and divers more the best of Modern Writers in defence of the Reformed way draw their second Rank of Arguments next to the Sacred Scriptures out of their Liturgies to justifie their Tenents Finally with this Office of Divine Worship he that celebrates Gods Service is ready at all times to offer up to God the Sacrifice of Prayer when some perhaps at some times are affected with Languor of Health and then not so sit to speak suddenly to God in the behalf of the People and when the most have Infirmity of Judgment and are unsit at all times Beshrew the Tettar of Pride that runs over many Wits and makes them care for nothing that 's made ready to their Hand and puts them in love with nothing but their own Conceptions What have we lost Nay What hath God lost in the Honour due unto him How is his Truth How is his Name How is his Glory dis-reverenced over all this Land since our Liturgie hath been Mortgag'd to the Directory 139. It would be remembred that this comes in upon the mention of the Fleet call'd for and hastned to weigh Anchor
that his Lordship should be offered up to Justice as a publick Sacrifice But they that contest for his Innocency observe that he was let loose to depart in Quiet when he should have been brought to the Horns of the Altar And when the Bill drawn up against him was put into Sir Robert Philip's Hand an active and a gracious Member of the House to manage it to his Ruine Sir Robert writes to the Duke Cab. P. 265. If Bristol frame a probable satisfactory Answer to any Charge will it not rather serve to declare his Innocency than to prepare his Condemnation Your Grace may consult with your self whither you may not desist with Honour upon having him further questioned Afterward when his Master King James was dead and when he was at the Stake I may say like to be worried in Parliament by his Accusers he writes thus confidently to the Lord Conway Cab. P. 20. As for the Pardon Jacob. 21. I should renounce it but that I know the justest and most cautious Man living may through Ignorance or Omission offend the Laws So that as a Subject I shall not disclaim any Benefit which cometh in general as it doth usually to all other Subjects in the Kingdom But as for any Crime in particular that may entrench upon my Employments in point of Loyalty and Fidelity I know my Innocency to be such that I am confident I shall not need that Pardon A. Gallius li. 12. c. 7. Take the Earl's Case Pro and Con it is very dubious therefore I will deal with it as the manner of the Areopagites was in such Perplexities adjourn it to be heard an hundred Years hence I say not He but They were the Proprophets of Baal that troubled our Israel Our Corner-miching Priests with the Bloomesberry-Birds their Disciples and other hot spirited Recusants cut out the Way with the Complaints of their no-grievous Sufferings which involved us in Distractions Rome and Madrid were full of them and they conjured Pope Gregory and the Catholick King to wind in their Safety and Immunity in the Articles of the Match as behoved a Father and a Friend If they had sate still and let the Business go adrist with the Tide it had been better for them They that force their Fruits to be Ripe do but hast them to be rotten Qui spretis quae tarda cum securitate prematura vel cum exitio properant Tacit. Annal. lib. 3. The Word of the King and Prince would not serve them that they would be gracious to all of their Sect that lived modestly and inoffensively to deserve their Clemency But they must have publick Instruments for it and Acts of Parliament if they could be gotten to debauch his Majesty in the Love of his People For as the Lord Keeper writes very prudently to the Duke Cab. P. 105. The Bent of the English Catholicks is not to procure Ease and Quietness to themselves but Scandals against their neighbouring Protestants and Discontents against the King and State Rhetorical Campian avows it in an Oration made at Doway Note this Apostrophe of his to our Kingdom As far as it concerns our Society we all dispersed in great Numbers through the World have made a League and Holy Solemn Oath that as long as any of us are alive all our Care and Industry all our Deliberations and Councils shall never cease to trouble your Calm and Safety Yet when our pragmatical Bosom-Enemies had wearied themselves with Solicitations the Earl of Nitsdale a main Prop of their Cause confest It may be Assurance sufficient to all Catholicks who have the Sense to consider that it must be our Master's and the Prince's gracious Disposition that must be our Safety more than either Word or Writ Thus he to the Duke Cab. P. 250. But while the Recusant Petitioners had caused all Affairs with us and Abroad to be obnoxious to Inflammation the Lord Keeper like a right Lapidary cuts a Diamond with a Diamond and useth Sir Tobâ— Mâ— is it not a Paradox the busiest Agent in that Cause to Manifest both in the Palace at Rome and in the Court at Madrid that the Petitioners grasp at more Favours than they could hold either with the Peace of this Kingdom or with the Laws of it which would endanger them to forfeit all that Connivance which they had gained before Give him his Due he rode with great Celerity to those remote Places and did his Work to the Proof and to his great Praise Sâ—stus est at mihi infidelis non est As Plautus in Trinummo The Lord Keeper failed not to put Gold in his Pocket but he paid him chiefly out of his Father's Purse That most Reverend Arch-Bishop of York his Father being highly distasted with Sir Toby's Revolt from the Protestant Religion made a Vow to Dis-inherit him and to leave him nothing The Lord Keeper plied the Arch-Bishop with sweet and pleasant Letters which he loved and with some Mediators in Yorkshire not to infringe his Vow for he did not ask him so much as to name him in his last Wiâ—l and Testament but to furnish him with Three thousand Pounds while he lived and the Sum was paid to his Son to a Peny How Sir Toby beâ— himself in the wisest Counsel which I think was given to the King of Spain may be read Cab. P. 25â— importuning his Majesty not to entangle the Prince with the Voâ—o of the Theologos to which he could not submit himself with Honour but to accept of those large Conditions for Catholicks which my Lord the King and the Prince have condescended to that so the Prince may have some foot of Ground upon which he may stand without Breach of Honour to comply with the incomparable Affection which he beareth to the Infanta This is sure that Sir Toby's Industry was well taken because he did what he could And he that employed him held him ever after to be a Person of Trust in any thing which he promised to do 145. Very consonant to the grand Particulars of the Praemises are the Contents of two Letters both dispatcht in June from the Lord Keeper to the Duke's Grace That which bears the former Date June 15 and yet unpublished lays out Errors advisedly and mannerly under the Heads of trivial Reports and furnisheth the Duke with Counsel for all Exigencies of Advantage especially diseloseth the King's Opinion if the Worst should come It is long but I could not pare it and not mar it Thus it is May it please your Grace IF ever I had as God knoweth I never had any extraordinary Contentment in the Fortunes of this World I have now good Cause offered me to redouble the same by that exceeding Love and Affection which every Man in his private Letter to others doth take Notice that your Grace doth bear and continually express to your poor Servant Nor is your Love incentred to me only in your own Breast but full of Operation having procured to me a good
Opinion with his Highness and now a very fair and favourable Aspect from my Royal Master May I never enjoy the one or the other any longer than I shall return them both to their first Orignal and employ them to the last Drap in your Grace's Service Having not yet spoken with Sir Francis Cottington I shall not deliver my Opinion of the State of your Negotiation but go on with my Baeds and pray still unto God to bless and prosper it Only we have here many odd Relations of the same agreeing in this That the grand Business is much short of the Forwardness we expected and at this time in part dis-joynted First Some Distasts between your Lordship and Count d'Olivarez are reported to be of late in some sort skinned over rather than healed 2. Your casting of the Earl of Bristol from all Employment before suspected only is now freely discoursed 3. That Porter drew on your Grace and that your Grace drew on the Prince and pressed the King's Assent unto this secret Voyage and all upon a Foundation either imagined or mis-apprehended by Porter the first Mover Upon these Suspitions and five Weeks Silence taking a little Advice with my Lord Hamilton whom I observed most faithfully constant unto your Grace I touched upon his Majesty this Day Seven-night to feel how his Majesty stood affected in case you should return without your Errand And taking occasion to recommend that vigorous and active Course your Lordship was reported to run in pressing and forcing some speedy Resolution and averring that however it sped it was the only true Service an Agent could now do unto his Majesty His Majesty replied instantly That he did so interpret it and that none bat Fools or Knaves could otherwise censure it Which I profess before God I was glad at the Heart to hear fall from his Majesty And your Grace may do well to keep this Intelligence by you If I have offended in being thus bold I crave your Pardon it was the fervency of my Love and Affection And if I offend in the other Extream which is in omitting to say or do what I ought to do in your Service impute it to your own Silence and Reservedness your Grace being defective to your self and injurious to my Lord Hamilton and me if you shall not impart unto us freely and timely any ill Success which Good keep off that shall befall in this Negotiation For the good News I am content to take it upon Retail from Pauls but the worst I shall expect to hear at the first from your Grace I beseech your Lordship to take some Occasion to salute in a Letter to my Lord President the Lords of the Council who have ever been very observant in publick of you and yours and are much dejected with notice of some Letters wherein your Grace should intimate the contrary In good Faith your Grace hath found all Respect with the Body of the Council in all this time of your Absence And I hambly beseech you to take heed what Words you let fall concerning the Lord Treasurer All that are about you stand in need of his Favour as the World now goeth And in good Faith I never observ'd him since his coming to this Office more respectful to your Lordship and your Friends than he is at this Instant c. Truly no Proceeding could be more genteel to win the Hearts of all the Great Ones to his Grace and to keep them sure unto him than to perswade him that he had no Enemy 146. The Latter of the two Letters is come abroad in Cab. P. 78. whose Date should be June 28 whereof because it is in many Hands some Jaggs will suffice to be recited MY Love makes me sometimes write and many times fear fondly and foolishly for the which I hope your Grace will pardon me I have been srighted more three Weeks since about Quarrels and Jars which now Dick Greyham hath related in part to the King than at this present I am For God's-sake be not offended with me if I exhort you to do that which I know you do to observe his Highness with all Lowliness Humility and dutiful Obedience and to piece up the least Seam rent which Heat and Earnestness may peradventure seem to produce If the great Negotiation be well concluded let all private Disagreements be wrapped up in the same and never accompany your Lordship into England I beseech you in your Letter to the Marquess Hamilton intimate unto him your Considence and Reliance upon his Watchfulness and Fidelity in all Turns which may concern your Grace I have often said unto his Lordship that your Grace hath in many of my Letters expressed as much and so have pacified him for the time I have had an hours Discourse with his Majesty yesterday Morning and do find so disposed to yourdship as my Heart desireth yet hath been informed of the Discontentments both with the Conde d'Olivarez and the Earl of Bristol c. 'T is confest that these Advertisements so dutifully presented were sullenly taken It offended that the Lord Keeper look'd through his Grace's Infirmities with a quick Eye though with a noble Sadness He might have wrote somewhat else if he had been less Wise or less Honest Yet still he wrote for the Valuation of the Duke's Goodness to him was so great that the Sowerness of present Unkindness must be dipt in the sweet Sawce of former Benefits It is intoninus the Emp. Similitude cast Dirt into a pure Fountain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will purge it out and supply clear and wholesome Water Immemiately before that is while the former of these Letters was upon the Way the Duke entrusted the Prince's greatest Secret and his own to the Lord Keeper with a Charge to carry it with him to the King being cautious that no Foot-step of it should remain under his own Hand or any other Therefore thus he salutes the Lord Keeper June 17. My Dear Lord THIS inclosed is a Letter from his Highness to His Majesty I pray you deliver it with your own Hands and read it likewise to him but when you are alone with him If you show him this Letter he will I am sure give you leave When it is read the Prince bids you either burn it or keep it for him I beseech you excuse me for not writing oftner I shall now every day be so busie that I shall have less Leisure than before Yet I pray you let me hear sometimes from you and how his Majesty uses you in my Absence for I am sure he knows you my Friend which I shall strive while I live to continue c. That which was sit to be kept in tenebris for that time may now come to light without Injury by his Gloss upon it who the King excepted only knew it Our Prince either was weary or was perswaded to be so with Articles upon Articles and Additions upon Additions in that Spanish Junto Therefore
Infanta what you have merited and to accommodate all other Mistakes here concerning that Proceeding If your Grace would reconcile your Heart I would not doubt but with the Conclusion of the Match to compose all things to your good Satisfaction and to bring them to a true Understanding of you and of their Obligation unto you But his Lordship knew what he had deserved and that it was not possible to look for good Quarter from them So he cut off the Thread of the Match with these Scissors The Love of the English must not be lost the Love of the Spaniard could not be gain'd But it was passing ill done of him to deal so with his dear Master to whom he owed more than ever he could pay for whom he should not have been nice to hazard his Preservation He knew the bottom of the King's Bosom that his Majesty accounted this great Alliance to be the Pillar of his present Honour and the Hope of his future Prosperity That all his Counsels with foreign States turned upon that Hinge That he looked for golden Days with it which would fill our People with rich Traffick and spread Peace over all the Borders of Europe He knew his Lord the King desired to live but to see it finished and car'd not to live after he saw it vanished Crediderim tunc ipsam fidem humanam negotia speculantem maestum vultum gessisse Valer. lib. 6. Let the Duke have his deserved Praises in other things great and many but let Fidelity Loyalty and Thankfulness hide their Face and not look upon this Action Let his Friends that did drive him to it and wrought upon his flexible Disposition bear much of the Obloquy For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Man but God that made the Law He that kindled the Fire let him make Restitution Ex. 22.6 148. He that hateth the Light loves not to come to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved Joh. 3.20 The Politici that carried the Duke athwart with their excentrick Motion were very impatient to be discovered They thought they had beat their Plot upon a quilted Anvil and that their Hammer could not be heard But time is a Blab which will tell all Secrets and spared not this The Lord Keeper was much maligned as the Author of the Detection Yet he deserved not the Glory for it was the King himself by this Occasion The Embassadors of the Catholick King pressed that the Articles assented to by the Prince and those about him should be ratified And Preparation was made to give them Satisfaction So the Lord Keeper assures the Duke Cab. P. 78. The King is resolved to take certain Oaths you have sent hither and I pray God afterwards no further Difficulty be objected These Oaths being brought to discussion at the Council-Table there were among the Lords that supprest their Consent till better knowledge did warrant them and some Aspect of Necessity did make them resolute to Agreement While these few of the Lords were suspensive in their Judgment it was brought to the King that some profest Servants and Creatures of the Duke's cavilled at certain Articles in the matter of the Oath and were very busie to puzzle those who had not yet compleatly deliberated upon them The King laid this to other things he had heard and he was able to put much together in a Glance of Imagination and called one of them that was employed in this unacceptable Office to a private Conference whom his Majesty handled with such searching Questions conjured with such Wisdom wound into him with that Sweetness that he fetcht out the Mystery yet giving him his Royal Word to conceal his Person Sic suo indicio periit sorex So the Rat was catcht by his own Squeaking This his Majesty imparted to the Lord Keeper and Marquiss Hamilton and was not a little discomforted upon it for here was a Danger found out but not a Remedy Yet he went on chearfully to all seeming to that which was come to a ripe Head and gave Command to the Lord Keeper to prepare all things for the solemn Confirmation of the Covenants that were brought from Spain He went went about it and had about him those three Qualities which run together in St. Paul Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in Business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord That is Diligence Courage Conscience Zealots who are favourable to themselves that they think they have among them the Monopoly of Conscience had been able to discourage another who in common Discourse laid no less Crime than Atheism no Religion upon him that should give Furtherance to a Popish Marriage much more if for Reasons of State-Compliance he should refresh the Party adherent to Rome with any Mercy or Favour But this man regarded not Rumors before Reason God had given him a Spirit above Fear which he would often say had the greatest Influence in the Corruption of two brave things Justice and good Counsel So he was resolved as Illustrius says of Theod 〈◊〉 the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to spend or cast away some Wisdom not only for the Intelligent but for their Sakes that were ignorant and knew not how to use it The Precedent for this Work he conceived would be to turn over the Paper Stories of Queen Elizabeth's Reign when the first and second Dukes of Anjou were propounded for Husbands to that glorious Lady of whom the latter came so near to speed that wise Burleigh with others that had gray Hairs and grave Heads drew up a Book for the Consummation of the Marriage Lay that Treaty with the French Monsieur and this of Spain together and there needs no striving to bring them to great Resemblance in the Comparison There was as much Disparity in Religion between the one Pair as the other The Duke of Anjou came as unexpectedly to the Queen at Greenwich as the Prince came unlooked for to Madrid The Duke brought but two or three in Train Camb. Eliz. Fol. P. Ann. 1579. no more did the Prince The French Treaties continued eight years to obtain the Queen the same Term of time had been spent in the Prince's Behalf to enjoy the Infanta Eight years past and nothing past beside for both the Lovers were non-suited in the end The Duke of Anjou courted the Queen when her People regretted that he besieged the Protestants in Rochel at the same time Gladio ejus eorum cruore intincto qui eandem quam Angli profitentur Religionem Camb. An. 1573. Our Prince solicited for his Mistress in Spain when the Palatinate was wasted with Fire and Sword by Spinola which was dearer to us by far than Rochel Finally Take three things more in a Twist together Did some of our good People fear a Prejudice to Religion by the Prince's intended Match even so Religionis mutationem ab Andino Angli nonnulli timuerunt Did a Bride from Spain go against the vulgar Content So did a
Bridegroom from France In Anglià optimi cujusque animum ab Andini nuptiis esse aversum In the behalf of the Spanish Consulto did some of our Counsellors become odious as if they betray'd both Church and Kingdom so all that wished the Queen to the French Gallant Quasi ingrati in patriam principem sugillantur Camb. An. 1581. All as like as may be Mercury is as like Sosia as Sosia is like himself And the People are like themselves in all Ages who commonly suspect some Evil from their Governours when they will be wiser than they So that it is very rare to look to the Publick as it ought and to be in Possession of most Hearts but as Tul. Orat. pro Flacco said of a mutinous Concourse of the Trallians Patiamini me delicta vulgi à publicâ causà separare So I think not the worse of any Place if the Herd of the People break further than good Manners and Obedience They know not how to Rule nor is it fit they should know how they are Rul'd For they have Noses and smell not The Wisdom of a Kingdom is to be valued after it is calcinated from the Opinion of the multitude 149. Which presently is to be Tried For the Articles gain-said by a great Out-cry came to the Touch-Stone July 20. being Sunday and were presented before to His Majesty to Swear unto and to the Lords of the Council to subscribe their Approbation which were of two sorts Some belong'd to the Infanta and her Train of Houshold and no further Some belong'd to all the English that had taken the Mark of the Church of Rome in their Hand Of the former three and no more did seem to be Litigious First That the Princessa and her Servants should enjoy the Use of their own Religion without Trouble or Molestation and a Chappel to be built adjoyning to her Court for the more full and decent Exercise of it which held little dispute for the provident Councel of Q. Eliz. made no scruple to consent to the like in express Words Dux sui modo non sint Nativi Angliae Subjecti suam liberi Religionem exerceant in constituto aliquo loco in suis aedibus sine impedimento so the Foundation was laid of the Chappel adjoyning to St. James's place Secondly That the Princessa should be trusted with the Education of the Children lawfully begotten between them till they came to Ten Years of Age. A string that grated harshly yet heard by Wise-men with more Laughter then Fear For Childhood is not apt to take any perilous impression in intellectual Points and they would be often with the Father and those about him and unlearn corrupt Principles Chiefly it was foreseen that it was a Gratification that would die out of it self and expire in process of so long a time And in all Councils much must be ascrib'd to the Foresight of Prudence as Nepos says in the Life of Atticus Facile intelligi potest prudentiam esse quandam Divinationom Prudence sees so far before it that it comes not short of a kind of Divination Much more was allow'd to the Duke of Anjoy in the page Appealed to before Camb. anno 1558. p. 320. Si Dux supervixeru Roginae habebit tutelam liberorum si masculi non excesserint decimum Octavum Annum feminae decimum quintum I think those Counsellors ran too far into Temptation I am sure we were far more Cautelous and Restrictive Thirdly That the Clergy waiting upon the Princessa should be subject to no Laws or Statutes of England already made or that should be made hereafter Methinks no Honest man that lives in Humane Society should ask such an Immunity though it were possible to be Granted Yet their Clerks do not ask it but Arrogate it So Bellar. lib. 1. de Cler. c. 18. Clericks are not under the Laws of secular Princes by Obligation compulsory but directory That is they do well to conform to the Establish'd Laws of any Nation where they live for the maintenance of Peace and usual Commerce But if it seems better to them to avoid those Laws and not observe them they cannot be punish'd by no nor cited to the Courts of Secular Magistrates This Article K. James eraced out not only by his own but by St. Paul's Authority Rom. 13. Let every Soul be Subject to the Higher Powers to those Higher Powers that Receive Tribute and bear not the Sword in vain if any do Evil. Herein I commend the States of the Netherlands for that which I find in a Book call'd The Revolutions of the United Provinces p. 175. A Peace but few years since being brought to Conclusion between them and the King of Spain they agree that the Subjects of the King of Spain may Converse and Negotiate in all their Territories but with an express Prohibition of all Ecclesiastical Persons for the Plenipotentiary of the King of Spain maintain'd in a great Diet held at Munster that they were none of the K. of Spains Subjects or Subject to any Secular Power but only to the Pope of Rome A good work to thrust them out for Wranglers as our King thrust out this Article All Concessions that were thought Honourable and needful for the Infanta being pass'd over a contract steps forth in the behalf of all those in these Dominions that were of her Highness's Religion meaning so much and no more as was to be presently put in use It is almost not credible what strange Rumors ignorant Fear or perhaps malicious had buzz'd abroad That some of our fairest Churches Parochical nay Cathedral must be devoted to Assemblies of Papists for their Publick Use That Cloysters for Votaries Male and Female should be Erected c. Mensuraque Ficti Crescit audit is aliquid novus adjicit autor Ovid. The Demands were bad enough yet much under that presumption As they came from the Embassadors they were comprized under two Heads The First That a general Pardon should pass under the Great-Seal for the benefit of all Papists in this Land to acquit them from the Penalties of such Statutes as might take hold of them for the time past in case of Religion To which good words were given and after many Rubs and Reservations as shall be shewn the Seal was put to an Instrument for that purpose but kept in Lavender The other was the Gorgon's Head which Frighted the Lookers on that a Patent should be drawn up copiously with the same Seal to it to save the Recusants Ecclesiastical and Lay from the Penalties of all Statutes made against them for the time to come This is the Star call'd Wormwood that fell into the Waters of Debate Revel 8.11 Wherein the Spanish Agents were put off with many Delays and Wise Representations till in the End the Lord Keeper reduced it to this Issue That all Magistrates should be warned by Letters sent to them severally not to molest the Roman Catholicks upon any Statute till His Majesty
had signified his further pleasure and that when the Princessa had been Six Months in England this Favour should be confirmed to her further Content The like was not yielded in the business Agitated with the Duke of Anjoy but a strict Exception was put in Ut nulla Occasio Anglis ad leges constitut as violandas praeberetur It was an ill time for the Embassadors to ask such things when not only seditious Spirits but the best of Protestants who had nothing in them of the peevish and refractory were sick of an ill Digestion of Jealousies It was a hard seeming work to overcome for the Ravens Croak'd and the Doves mourned at it Yet it was a worse time to deny them when the Pledge of our Future Happiness stuck fast in a Foreign Kingdom and nothing could Conduct him home with such Celerity and Safety as some drops of Grace Distilling from the Prerogative Royal to stay the longing of the Pontifician Faction They are beguiled that think Marquess Inoihosa or 〈◊〉 Carlos de Colonna pluck'd us over our Line to get a Wife for the Prince it was to get him home Jam non de Gloriâ sed de Salate pugnandum est Curt. lib. 4. Let his Highness look to it in Spain to come home with a Glorious Bride but all Loyal Hearts look earnestly for him whether single or double was not the Chief Point And the Anxiety of his Majesty was What shall I do for my Son 1 Sam. 10.2 This was the Compass that guided the Lords of the Councel in their condescension to bring their young Master out of Peril though it were with the Ransom of too much Mercy to them who were not the best that deserv'd it But who it was that set the Edge of the Razor upon the Hoane who it was that surpass'd himself in this Negotiation that cut off difficulties smoothly leaving no Raggedness to be seen in the Clest of his distinctions will appear in the ensuing dispatch of the Lord Keepers to the Prince whose goodness will satisfie for the Prolixity May it please your Highness 150. IF I shall touch upon any Service which I may seem to have performed towards Your Higness I humbly beseech your Highness to conceive I do it not to pick Thanks and much less to put any acknowledgment upon your Highness but only to discharge my self of that part of Duty which all the World knoweth I do above all Men in the World owe unto your Highness Before I did imagine that his Majesty would take any Opinion of mine in the Signing and Swearing of this Treaty Sir Fr. Cottington your most worthy Servant had acquainted me with all the dispatch and permitted me to Read the Papers over Upon Saturday last the 12 of July the Council formerly warned to attend his Majesty the next day at Wansted were discharged and some hour after my self commanded to attend Suspecting thereupon I might be questioned to that Effect I sent for your Highness Secretary and heard from him it would be so indeed and that His Majesty was much troubled and perplex'd about his Oaths Presently Town-Reports were Raised of great Opposition among the Lords against this Swearing In so much as the shameless people had made two Orations the one to be of mine for the Oaths and the other of my Lord of Canterbury's against the same which they supposed prevailed with the King and the whole Councel when neither of us had heard or spoken one word in that Theme I spent in a manner all that Night in debating with my self the Streights that your Highness was unto and at the last fell upon this Resolution contained in this Letter which I deliver'd upon Sunday Morning in private to his Majesty with an excuse for my Boldness therein His Majesty accepted thereof very well and Read it over three or four times that day and seemed to me at that time to approve thereof in all Points and put off further Discourse till the Afternoon I was so far emboldned therewith that after Dinner because I found some whispring among the Lords present I stept again to His Majesty and deliver'd him an Opinion that for the Oath of the Lords his Majesty should not leave it to their Disputation but command them to take 〈◊〉 there being no matter of scruple or moment in the same as indeed there is not This his Majesty well approved of and put in practise afterward with good success The Council being met whereof some were there by Reason of their Attendance as my Lord Chamberlain Earl of Carlisle Lord Fenton and Mr. Treasurer others warned as the Duke Lord Treasurer Lord Marshal my self Sir R. Weston and the two Secretaries his Majesty made a Speech unto us full of perplexity because of your Highness's Streits and his own Remorse of Conscience Chiefly he insisted it would be frivolous to be put upon it to move the next Parliament to abrogate the Laws already Establish'd against Recusants which would not be Heard much less Granted and that in point of Conscience and Religion he could not promise that no Laws hereafter should be made against them This his Majesty having utter'd with much Passion and earnestness left us to hear all the Papers Read and having Commanded us very passionately to give him our best Advice retired into his Chamber and left us together for two hours After the End of the Reading many odd and extravagant Propositions were made of Advice to be given to his Majesty how to get your Person home again wherein I durst not say one word finding none of my Opinion unless it were Secretary Calvert nor my self to concur with any of theirs At the last pressed thereunto I said that I conceiv'd upon the Discourse of his Majesty we could not deliver any Advice or Opinion at all For if his Majesty made a Conscience of taking the Oaths and had already Framed unto himself this Conclusion the immoveable Rule in this Case is Quod dubitas ne feceris nor there was no more in Policy or Divinity to be said therein On the other side if His Majesty would otherwise declare himself that he was not moved in Conscience or Religion but only in Honour and Safety to Refuse those Oaths I did hope no Lord in this Company would Advise his Majesty to desert his only Son and to desert him in this manner in the Face of all Christiandom For to pretend an excuse to fetch him home to bâ—lpâ—his Majesty to facilitate these Affairs would never repair his Credit who had subscribed that which his Father would not make good nor was he himself any way able to accomplish Beside that I made it a Question Whether the King of Spain after all this wooing would so easily be deceived in Licensing him to depart At the last his Majesty Returning and calling upon us for our Advice all the Lords Assented to this last Opinion and told his Majesty they durst not Advise him any thing until he express'd himself
came thither privily out of Love he scorn'd to steal away privily out of Fear But when he heard that some were set in ambush to interrupt his Return he bore it Heroically and without strife of Passion because he knew no Remedy to help it and wrote to the King his Father to be couragious in the sufferance with these Lines That if his Majesty should receive any Intelligence that he was deteined in that State as a Prisoner he would be pleased for his sake never to think of him more as a Son but to reflect with all Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Sister and the safety of his own Kingdoms That Family and those Children with whom King Philip held less Amity than with the English secur'd us afterwards from those fears But for other things the Grandees of the Consulto till their heat had vapoured out stood upon such Terms as had no Equity or Moderation For when Sir Fr. Cottington return'd with our Kings Oath plighted to the annexed Conditions for the ease of the Roman Catholicks the Spaniards made no Remonstrance of Joy says the Prince in his Report or of an ordinary liking to it Therefore the Lord Keeper observing that they had an insatiate and hydropical Malady that the more they gulpt down the more they thirsted he tried if they would take this Julip as he prepared it in his Letter to the Duke of Buckingham July 21. May it please your Grace I Have Received yours of the 8 of Julyby the Lord Andover and heartily thank your Grace for the News though not so compleatly good as we desir'd yet better then for many days together I expected beside the hope I retain it may still be better His Majesty and the Lords have taken the Oaths and the Laws against the Roman Catholicks are actually suspended as upon my Credit and Honesty they were a good while before Now July August September and a piece of October are left for a further Probation This being so what good will it do that Wise and Great Estate to Publish to all Christiandom their diffidence of so just a Prince especially being Sworn and Deposed Your Grace knoweth very well I would the State of Spain knew as much that all our Proceedings against Recusants is at our Assises which are holden at this instant and do not return again till after the first of March So as all the probate of the suspension of the Laws against them betwixt this and the first of March will be seen and discerned by the last of our August For between that and the first of March there can be no Trial at all I know if this were understood in that place it were unanswerable For the Proceedings in the King's-Bench which only can be objected are altogether depending upon Indictments at the Assises so that the Spring once stopt as now it is these Rivers grow Dry and run no more This will mollifie all Stubborness which is Resolv'd to stoop to Reason c. Here 's a Remonstrance then which nothing could be more placid or more solid upon which I look as upon Thaboren in Parthia as Justin describes it lib. 41. Cuius loci ea conditio est ut neque munitius quicquam neque amoenius esse possit Just at this time the Days of Trouble look'd darker and darker in Spain The Prince disgusted to Treat with a People that ask'd much and granted little and Wire-drew Counsels into Vexatious length resolv'd to take his leave and shew'd the King of Spain his Fathers Royal and Indispensable Pleasure that no Proffer should interpose but that he should hasten him for which his Navy did attend him upon the Coast of Biscay That it was no fault of his that he must depart when the Treaty was so imperfect but in them that made it a Justitium or Intermission of all Proceedings because upon the Death of the Pope the Court of Rome was not open Olivarez to divert his Highness made Two Propositions First That the Prince would come in to the Conditions as they came formerly from Rome or to stay till new ones might be agreed upon and Ratified at Rome Hoc illud cornucopiae est ubi in est quicquid volo says Pseudolus in Plautus Grant the Conde to make his Reference to Rome and you grant him all That 's the Goats-Horn or Jugglers Box out of which he can fetch any thing with a sleight The Prince answer'd him very gravely for one so young as he made the Report at St. James's The first motion he had declin'd before neither had he chang'd his Judgment nor should they find him a Shechem to pass over into a New Religion for a Wife Gen. 34. The other Motion he accepted this way He would go for England to perfect the Articles there and let them do the like at Rome Olivarez admired at his Reply but took it up with this Answer That to be gone so soon and nothing Model'd to the Content of any side would be a Breach therefore he humbly besought his Highness to stay but Twenty Days and he swore by all the Saints of Heaven then he was sure it would be a Marriage The Duke of Buckingham standing by said It is well but it might have been as well Seven years ago Which put the Conde to a great Anger and in his Anger made him Fome out a Secret That there was no Match intended Seven Months ago and says he I will fetch that out of my Desk that shall assure you of it So he produced a Letter written to one Don Baltasar with King Philip III. his own Hand as he Vowed The Prince was allowed to Read it then as much as he would but not to take a Copy all this was declared to the next Parliament in the Banquetting-House His Highness with Sir Wal. Aston better Skill'd in the Castilian Language Translated the Letter as their Memories would bear it away and kept it for a Monument This is the Letter which I think Mr. Prinn was the first that divulged out of the Lord Cottington's Papers which he had Ransack'd Whether it were a true Letter of King Philip's lies upon Olivarez Credit it never came out of his Custody or whether the Prince and Sir W. Aston mist nothing of the right Sense of it through Frailty of Memory when they came to Recollect the Sum of it in private is not yet decided Salomon alluding to the Contradictions that are in some Mens Parables says They are like the Legs of the Lame that are not equal Prov. 26.7 Let the best Bone-setter in the Hundred set these Legs even if he can An Authentical Notary in Spain Conde Olivarez shews it under Black and White that Philip the Father of the Infanta who died Anno 1621 held our King in Hopes but never intended to give his Daughter to the Prince of Wales Hear the Evidence of the other side His Highness Remembred the Parliament That Sir Wal. Aston was struck Mute at the Reading of
the Letter for upon the Death of the late King of Spain being sent from his Master our Soveraign to the King of Spain that now is to understand his Mind upon the Treaty of Marriage he receiv'd this Chearful Answer That he was sorry he had not the Honour to begin it but now he would pursue it with all Alacrity The Earl of Bristol is another Witness Cab. p. 27. I insisted that Two Millions for the Portion were by the last King settled and agreed with me That this King had undertaken to pursue the Business as it was left by his Father and to make Good whatsoever he had promised Thereupon I desired that the Original Papers and Consultoes of the last King might be seen which very honestly by the Secretary Cirica were produced and appeared to be such that I dare say there was not any Man that saw them that doubteth of the last Kings real Intention of making the Match So I leave these Contradictions to blush at the sight of one another But to me Olivarez his Fidelity is the Leg that halts For as Tully said of Roscius the Comoedians Adversary Quod sibi probare non possit id persuadere alteri conatur he could never persuade that vigorously to another which he disbelieved himself It is a tedious thing to be tied to Treat with one that cares not for his own Honour nor regards his Modesty with whom he Treats I mean that same Person that Bashaw of King Philip the Conde Duke who entramel'd as many Devices as his Pate could bring together to raise a Dust and made Demands meerly to satisfie his own Pride that he might boast he had ask'd them though his discretion taught him that he could never obtain them When Sir Fr. Cottington return'd to Madrid with the great Article procur'd to suspend the Penal Statutes of England in favour of Recusants he presented it to the Conde and expected as the Casttlian Phrase is Las Albricias a reward for bringing of good News the Conde stoop'd not so low as to give Thanks but having perused the Paper told Sir Francis it would be expected the Prince should Negotiate a plain Toleration for the Protestants that endured that which was in his Hand would patiently endure more Sir Francis Answered him with the Old Simile That his Lordship was no good Musician for he would peg the Minikin so high till it crack'd Concerning his Attemptings upon the Prince my supply is out of private Letters that came from Friend to Friend The Conde had Oblig'd his Honour to his Highness when he came First to the Court of Spain never to meddle with him about his Religion He kept not his promise but solicited his Highness that as he lov'd his Soul he would return to England a Catholic in his Sense Well my Lord says the Prince You have broken your Word with me but I will not break my Faith with God Another time he besought his Highness to afford his Company at a Solemn Mass No Sir says the Prince I will do no ill nor the suspicion of it Once more this Idern told his Highness that he would accomplish all that he could desire from the Crown of Spain if he would profess himself a Son of the Roman Church he should not only carry home the bravest Lady for Beauty Birth and Vertue that was but be made as great a King in Riches and Power as was in Europe But as the Prophet says Isa 63.5 Excandiscentia mea fulcivit me my Fury it upheld me so the Prince was heated at the Offer and gave this provocation to him that had provok'd him that it was such a another Rhadomontade as the Devil made to Christ All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and Worship me Next to matters of Religion the stiffest thing that was tugg'd for in this Month was about the Restitution of the Palatinate The Secretary of the Elector came to Madrid with Letters to the Duke about it which were not first imparted to the King his Father-in-Law But all that shall be drawn up into one Process in the Transactions of August 155. But in all Disputes for Sacred or secular Matters the Ministers of our King were the more Naked and Unarm'd when they came to the push of the Spanish Subtleties because they kept not the correspondence with themselves If my Lord of Buckingham could have fashion'd his mind to draw the same yoke with the Earl of Bristol who was most conversant upon the place and best knew the Arts of that Nation success had been more Fortunate But those Civil Discords were the Cause of many disorders and incivilities Therefore the King imposed on the Lord Keeper to use his Pen once more to reconcile them which he did not fail to do the very next day which was his Majesties Remove to begin the Western Progress July 22. May it please your Grace I would not be troublesom with this Second Letter but chiefly to let your Grace know that you never stood in your Life more uprightly in his Majesties Favour then at this instant and that I shall need to pour out no other Prayers unto God but for the continuation of the same For Gods sake Write to my Lord Hamilton and acquaint his Lordship with some Passages of your Affairs For my self I shall be content to Rove and guess at them And I hope your Grace will be pleased to pardon this Excursion that is my running this second or third time into business which I am told but cannot by any means believe it hath already drawn your Grace's Offence against me It is a most Humble Zealous and earnest Petition to your Grace to Seal up and really confirm that agreement and reconciliation which to the great Contentment of all your Friends but the Regret of some among us you have made with the Earl of Bristol What I wrote formerly might be ill placed and offend your Grace but all proceeded from as true and sincere a Heart unto your Grace as you left behind you in all this Kingdom But the renewing of it now again hath a Root from a higher Power who hath observ'd your Grace his Favour so abounding towards me and my acknowledgments so far as my poor ability permitteth so returned to your Grace that he was pleased to say unto me this Morning upon this Theme That he knew you would regard any Representation that I should recommend unto you In good Faith his Majesty is more then Zealous not only of fair Terms of Friendship but of a near Alliance formerly spoken of between your Grace and that Earl Of whose Sufficiencies and Abilities I perceive His Majesty to retein an extraordinary good Opinion which in all Humility I thus leave to your Lordships Wisdom and Consideration The Earl of Bristol had heard how the Lord Keeper had ventur'd to make this Pacification and writes to him Cab. p. 20. That the Friendship of the Duke was a thing he did
infinitely desire that he did much Esteem the good Offices his Lordship bad done therein but that he conceived that any motion he had made in that kind had been despis'd rather then received with Thankfulness 156. He might have said more then despised for they were received with that sad Interpretation that upon it the Duke removed his Affections from the Lord Keeper for ever quite contrary to Solon's Rule neither to choose a Friend suddenly nor to loose him suddenly But after all the Lord Keepers Faithfulness and that he watch'd the good of the Dukes Affairs in his absence with as much tenderness as a Nurse doth a sucking Child at her Breast his Grace resolv'd to pluck down the highest Roof of his Dignity as soon as he could Nor was he the surer to escape that Anger for fair Words Tacitae magis occultae inimicitiae timendae sunt quà m indictae apertae Cic. 7. Verrin Yet the threatning broke out by one man who was glad to cherish it For Sir John Michel did not hide it that my Lord Mandevile Lord President of the Councel shew'd him a Letter from Spain assuring that the first Action the Duke would Embark himself in when he came home should be to remove him out of his Place Cab. p. 89. With which the threatned party was not much daunted knowing what a Master he served that King whose Speech utter'd at Sterling at fourteen years of Age hath Wisdom becoming one of fourty Spotwoods p. 288. I will study to be indifferent and to bestow my Favours impartially and never repose my self upon any one so much as to deny others the regard that is due unto them The Duke was a generous and incorrupt Patron an exactor of great Duty from those he prefer'd or a great Enemy Let him allow himself what he could ask for all his Favours this Man was ready to pay him If he would be deceiv'd by crafty Underminers into the distrust of his truest Friend when he could not serve him in unfit ways the fault is in the want of his Grace's insight or inconstancy But as I find it in the Posthumous Meditation of the most Noble Lord Capel p. 21. Favour is a fine Thred which will scarce hold one tug of a crafty Tale-bearer The Observator on H. L. lights upon this Quarrel I do not pursue the Lord Keepers Enemies But if I meet them I will not shun them Thus He being Drunk with Wormwood Lam. 3.15 That he had done many ill Offices to the Duke when he was in Spain p. 36. Many and yet Name none If he will pick his Ears clean from the filth of Hatred I will tell him what my Lord Duke took to be ill Offices The First Displeasure and never laid down was That the knowledge came to the King by his means who those Gentlemen were that importun'd his Grace by their Expresses sent into Spain to rend the Treaty of the Match in sunder or to Act against it with all Wit and Power The accused Lord protested upon his Salvation he was not the Discoverer The acclearment is fair and the Proof nothing who is able to make Answer to Jealousie that grows out of the Mud of a man's Brain like a Bull-rush I will Relate what the Earl of Rutland the Duke's Father-in-Law return'd again when he had gone between them often to dismount this Objection that the Duke said Whensoever I Disagree with him he will prove himself to be in the Right and though I could never detect him hitherto to be Dishonest I am afraid of his Wit The Second Offence taken was That he would have perswaded the Duke into a good Opinion of the Earl of Bristol and Reason for it because he would have kept his Lordship in a good Opinion with the King To which all his Allies all that Studied him all that Honour'd him did not contribute so much nor had the King's Ear so much as he had to effect it To sit Heraclides his Adagy to him Nemo benè merito bovem immolavit praeter Phariam He was another Pharias that offered the best Sacrifice to that Lord that had deserved the best of him When I find the King had his part in that which was so ill taken anent the Earl of Bristol I can find no blame in it But if it had been an Error it was a sanctified one to labour to convert Enmities unto Love unfeigned And should a Talent of Anger be weighed against a Grain of Offence There was no Error there was no Offence but that Infelicity which the Wise Man Bias observ'd to be in such Cases That it is better to be Judg in a Cause between two Enemies then two Friends for of two Friends I shall make one mine Enemy but of two Enemies it is likely I shall make one my Friend Laert in vità The Third Scandal was That he set forward the Treaty of the Marriage with Oars and Sails of Ingeny and Industry A new Crime Caius Caesar and never heard before He was a Servant in it He was Conjur'd unto the Care of it by the King and he was as Trusty to it as the Soul of his Majesty could wish The best Head-piece of our Councel in Spain look'd upon him as the chief Adjutant Cab. p. 23. Thus the Earl of Bristol If there should be any doubt I am sure that your Lordship would put to a helping hand to keep the business from being overthrown since you have done so much for the overcoming of former difficulties and the bringing it to the pass it is now in The Duke was fallen by the wyliness of others and by his own wilfulness into a contrary Motion when the Lord Keeper saw the Councils of his greatest Friend esloigned from those of his dread Sovereign he had been a Beast if he had not given the Right Hand to Loyalty Patrem primum postea Patronum proximum nomen habere says Cato in A. Gel. lib. 5. A King is a common Father Observance is due to thy Father first and afterward to thy Patron 157. Yet why should things subordinate be at odds as if they were contraries The lesser Circle is not opposite but within the greater Moses and his Minister Josuah the King and his Choicest Servants are not Represented as two but as one person to Allegiance The Lord Keeper held fast to them both that both might hold fast to themselves nor would he leave the Duke to his own â—â—king as far as the King dislik'd him but persisted to displease him into the good Opinion of his Majesty Vera amicitia est idem velle idem nolle says â—â—elius If this young unforeseeing Lord should persist to hate that which the King lov'd his vigilant Counsellor knew that the King would use him no longer a Friend but would remove him from that privacy wherein he had bred him This and much more was prosecuted in August Sancta Patres Augusta vocant Ovid. Fast lib. 1. In the Language of
which all Convenencies that were formerly thought upon will cease The Remedy which he propounds to fail without all these Shelves I never did light upon out of this Letter 'T is thus The Emperor as your Majesty knows by his Embassador desires to Marry his Daughter with the King of England ' s Son and I doubt not but he will be glad to Marry his Second Daughter to the Palatine's Son So all the Conventencies of Alliance will be as full in this For it accommodates the Matter of the Palatinate and the Succession of his Grand-Children without Blood or Treasure Here is a new Bride appointed for his Highness the eldest Daughter of the Emperor which is unlikely to be intended because it comes from none but such an Author as Olivarez and in as much as when Count Suartzenburg came about eighteen Months before Embassador to our King from Caesar this was not moved at that Oportunity and when the Prince came to Spain no shadow of it remained but it was vanished like a Morning-mist before the Sun Now follow their Whimsies and their In and Ou ts at the Consulto when the Prince was among them The first Onset that Olivarez gave was That they were ready to follow all the Demands of the King of Great Brittain concerning the Match for his Son to the Demands for his Son-in-Law he said they were not in their Power to effect his Country was extended upon by the Emperor his Electoral Dignity invested in the Duke of Bavaria And within this Charm they kept us long till we were weary with their Obstinacy and sate down a while as when Boys Scourge a great Top till they make it sleep At last the Prince's Highness offended that he could gain nothing by this Alliance for his dear Sister 's Good offered to give King Philip a Farewel that he might look timely at Home for the Relief of her Misery On this no man courts his Highness to stay so much as Olivarez and to slacken his Return revives the Consult of the Restitution promiseth the strongest Mediation that the King his Master could make with the Imperialists and Bavarians which if it were rejected but they hoped better he would be forward for his Part to stir up his Catholick Majesty to give his Brother the King of England Assistance by Arms to procure him his Satisfaction Yet whatsoever he said his Heart lay a thought farther and he had a Trick to redeem himself out of this Promise for he told his Highness in a Weeks space after that he found their Nation so linked to the Love of the House of Austria that they would never march chearfully into the Field against it For all this the Weather-cock turn'd and he was affrighted in a moment into a good Mind again So did his Highness report at St. James's that a false Alarum being brought to Madrid that Count Tilly with his whole Body of Foot and Horse was routed in Germany instantly the Conde Duke came with as much Fear as Hast unto the Prince and with as much Lowliness as his Knee upon the Ground vowed he would give him a Blank for the Restitution of the Palsgrave's Interest but when the Second that is the worst News came that the Duke of Brunswick was quite defeated the Mood was changed with the Man and he spake as loftily from that Matter as if the great Armada had been failing again upon our Brittish Ocean Into how many Paces did Hipocrisie put him Sincerity would have got him Honour dispatch the Work and saved him all this Trouble for with the same Study nay with far less men may attain to be such as they ought to be which they mis-spend in seeking to be such as they are not Quibus id persuasum est ut nihil mallent se esse quà m bonos viros iis reliquam facilem esse doctrinam Cic. de orat lib. 3. After that great Don Jasper had put himself to the Expence of all this Folly he riveted in two Straws more like than Wedges to cleave the Knot First Let the Marriage be Consummated and then despair not but the Princess Infanta would beg the Palatinate with her earnest Prayers that she might be received with Honour and Applause among her Husband's People That is Seal their Patent and we shall have an empty Box to play with Or else marry the Lady and leave her behind till the Business for the Palsgrave's Patrimony were accommodated which is like Velez's Trick in Gusman of Alfarach to 〈◊〉 away both the Bride and the Bride-Cake The great Projector held close to one Proposition at the last that since Prince Frederick the Elector had highly offended Caesar in the Attempt and Continuance of it in the Matter of Bohâ—mia no Account should be had of his Person but Restitution should be made to his Eldest Son by Marrying the Second Daughter of the Emperor in which Clause the Prince concurred But the Sting in the Tail was that he should be bred up in the Emperor's Court to mold him into a Roman Catholick Upon which his Highness broke off the Earl of Bristol as a sharp Letter chargeth him written by the Prince Cab. Pag. 17. swallowing down that Difficulty at a Gulp because without some such great Action neither Marriage nor Peace could be had But Sir Wal. Aston flew back saying He durst not give his Consent for fear of his Head Now we have the Duke Olivarez in all his Party-colours who knew that the Breach of Alliance with England would be transcendently ill for Spain yet he would hazard a Mischief unless he might tear a Princely Limb from the Protestant Religion not unlike to the Paeotlans in Justin lib. 8. Tanto edio Phoâ—sunn ardentes ut obliti cladium 〈◊〉 perire ipsi qâ—à m non perdere eos praeaptarent How the Duke Olivarez smoothed it a Letter of his which would make a Pamphlet for the length will manifest which to this day hath lain in Obscurity but is worthy to come abroad It follows 161. HIS Majesty being in the Escurial I desired these my Lords the Embassadors that they wou'd repair hither to the end that we might treat of perfecting those things which concern the Palatine forasmuch as might be done from hence wherein we procure as you know to give Satisfaction to the King of Great Britain through whose Intercession together with that of the most Excellent Prince his Highness we have procured to dispose things in Germany and have used those Diligences which you know The Means which hath ever seemed most easie and apt for the well addressing of this Business is to Marry the Eldest Son of the Palatine to the second Daughter of the Emperor bringing him up in the Court of his Caesareal Majesty whereby the Restitution both of the States and Electorate to the said Son might be the better and more satisfactorily disposed And in this Conformity we have ever understood and treated and propounded it here But now coming close to
perfect the Business as I said before those my Lords the Embassadors say that the thing which on their Part hath been desired and that which the most Excellent Prince and the Lord Duke of Buckingham did carry away in their Understanding and that which the Embassadors themselves have written to the King of Great Britain was That we must procure that the Restitution of these States may be to the Palatine himself This Point carrieth so great Difficulty with it to be conveyed to the Emperor's Ears that it may be feared yea and held for certain that the Persons who are interested in this Business wou'd procure to over-turn the World to make Complaints to the Pope and to have recourse also to others exaggerating that which they have done for the Restitution of that to the House of Austria which had been taken from it And they wou'd also ponder that which concerneth Religion whereby they might disquiet the Mind of Man and say that they having acquired it by their Arms or given Assistance towards it it is now taken from them and given to one who hath been a Rebel for this is the Language they will hold and is still an Enemy of the Catholick Religion And this being exaggerated as they well know how to do it may perhaps breed such Difficulty in the Business as that the Restitution even of the Son will not be obtain'd a thing which would be ill for us all and worse perhaps for the Palatine himself and his Children But this other may be disposed with more Sweetness and good Liking of all Parties Since the Marriage being once made they who might now contradict wou'd be wholly in Dispair to have any Paâ—t in this Business when they should see the Emperor interessed in the Affairs of the Palatine whereby they would grow not to oppose any of those things which his Imperial Majesty would think â—t to do concerning him And thus we shou'd come to facilitate the Addressing oâ— that which is now desired concerning the Palatine in his Person wherein my Lord the King will use all the possible Endeavor by doing Offices to the Emperor to obtain it and so to settle things with satisfaction which the Pope and other Princes and Potentates may receive by this way and which cannot be by that other to which my Lords the Ambassadors do point For as long as Men will speak of the Individual Person of the Palatine they have room to reprove his Actions and to hide their own Interests by the pretext of the Justifiableness of his Punishment And I conceive that although his Majesty will use all possible Endeavour yet the Business will be as it were impossible if we use not the Medium of depriving them of their Hopes by placing all upon the Son And I resolved to say all this to you to the end you may represent it to his Majesty of Great Britain assuring him that here is great desire to give him Satisfaction in all that is possible and that we must help our selves to obtein this by not demanding things that are impossible and whereby besides the difficulty which they would have very great Inconveniencies and greater Disquiet might result And I hope that his Majesty according to his great Prudence will consider and understand it after the same manner and you who understand the Business so will give it so to be understood Yet use it with that Prudence which you think convenient 162. For by these means I hold the Emperor to be in a manner already reduct and by that other although the thing be attempted and though we for our parts do all that possibly we can as we will do and this shall be given in Writing to the Ambassador if they press it Yet I fear much and I have much Ground to do so that we shall not be able to obtein it and that we shall scandalize and lose Reputation And it will prove as ill-favour'd a piece of Work as that which hapned in the Electorate of Bavaria which we contradicted and France favoured And if I may tell you freely what I think that which is pressed is much less than that which I offer Since by that which I say the Restitution of all the States is presently fix'd upon the Grand-Child of the King of Great Britain and the Electorate after the Life of Bavaria yea and during that Life all that may be done without affronting the said Duke And in that other way which is offer'd we are to walk all the Days of our Lives in the Question Whether the Submission which the Palatine maketh be sufficient or no And they who have Interests herein will be sure to except after a critical manner to any defect which may be suspected And as long as the State shall be undeliver'd the Business certainly will grow to nothing and become subject to the Power which some interested Persons have with the Emperor All which would cease if the Submission which the Palatine is to make were to be after the Estates were to be order'd to the eldest Son by this Match so that the Palatine would in fine make due Submission and give convenient Satisfaction and Security for true Friendship and Alliance with the Emperor my Lord the King and the Noble House of Austria I confess that I am a young Minister of State and I shew it by desiring to redress Businesses by way of Effecting and not of Delays which are ever used by old and prudent Ministers And I know that without doubt that the Proposition which is made by me is the better way And so you may understand thus much for your self And according to the dispatch which you shall receive of the Ambassador you may go walking on The thing which I conceive is the thing I relate unto you here and that which I told you by Word of Mouth in Madrid although the Ambassador as I said before affirm that you and they yea and the Prince had mistaken this by understanding that the delivery of the States should instantly be made to the Person of the Count Palatine and not to his Son And I would to God I might see this obteined of the Emperor who doth so greatly desire the Peace of Germany and the repose of the House of Austria For I for my part would be sure to do all that possibly I could for the effecting thereof Besides this I have seen by a Reply of the Earl of Bristol's that he maketh instance for us to ponder the Engagement wherein the most Excellent King of Great Britain doth find himself by his having obliged himself by publick Writings to restore all entirely or else to put all that he hath in adventure It is here to be understood that when it is said that that King made this Writing yet in case he made it the Palatine had not then committed those things which he executed afterward against the Will and Counsel of the most Excellent King of Great Britain Nor can
any prudent Man oblige himself to all those Errours which may be committed And if the Count Palatine had followed the Counsel of the most Excellent King of Great Britain many of those things which have succeeded had been prevented and the Grace of the Emperor had been better disposed than now it is Beside that much hath been spent and that they have seen him so obstinate stirring up against the Emperor both the Turk and Bethlem Gabor and as many others as he hath been able I say not this to the end that we should forbear to do whatsoever in this World we should be able to accommodate the Palatine and to do in this behalf that which the King of Great Britain doth shew that he desireth But to say that which is certain his Majesty of Great Britain doth by no means find himself in this Business any other ways engaged than he shall find that Engagement to be justifiable God keep you as I desire From Madrid 31 Octob. 1623. Postscript If my Lord the King did not mean to bring this Business to a final Conclusion with much Gust to the King of Great Britain we might sufficiently with that which my Lords the Ambassadors desire by offering and really interposing our Intercession with his Cesareal Majesty And we might also have excused the Writing of this long Letter which is full of Good will and of this I can assure you 163. This long riddling non-concluding Letter such another as Tiberius the Emperor wrote from Capree to the Senate for the Tryal of Sejanus is not endorsed I conceive it was sent to Mr. Edward Clerke who was sent from the Prince on Shipboard to the Earl of Bristol to stop the Powers he had for the dispatch of the expected Desposories this was put into his Hand against he return'd for England But what is it worth if it were to be sold Scarce two of their Maravedies and we requited them with that which came to as little as one of our Farthings We had look'd after the Re-possession of the Palatinate till our Eyes aked and to feed them with a taste of their own Provender a long-breath'd Delay we made their Ambassadors in London tarry for the Indulgences which their Clients in Religion hoped for till their Hearts aked It is opened sufficiently before that his Majesties End in subscribing to the Articles in favour of the Papists his Subjects was to second his Son in that which he had begun in Spain to bring him out of the Briars from thence The Ambassadors plied the Concession of the Articles very diligently that their Party might enjoy the sweetness of the Benefit For better is the sight of the Eyes than the wandring of the Desire Eccles 6.9 It fell out well that the King never intermitting a Summers Progress was out of the way So the Management of the Business fell upon the Lord Keeper not by Usurpation but by Merit and by Necessity too For whatsoever his Majesty pretended he gave the Keeper a secret Rule to go no faster than needs and to do no more prejudice than was unavoidable A Regiment of Plots would hardly be enough to be drawn up together to win that Enterprise though a good Sconce overcame all Propertius Mens bona si qua Dea es tua me in sacraria dona says a Heathen As all costly Oyntments have Oyl mixed with them so Wisdom persumes all Undertakings as this under the File will demonstrate The Ambassador used their Counsel Learned in our Laws to draw up the effect of that they had obtained as near as could be to his Majesties Mind Which was brought to the Lord Keeper who told them The Papers were unsatisfactory they had proceeded indeed by the Articles signed in the private Lodgings at Whitehal but the private Articles shew only the extent of his Majesties Grace and Favour in the substance not at all the Manner and Form how they shall be conveyed which must be chalked out by a new and immediate Warrant from his Majesty This held dispute till the 10th of August his Majesty being at Salisbury where Directions past to liquidate the Doubts how the Kings Grants should be applied call'd from that place the Articles of Salisbury For which the Agents of the Ambassadors were to resort to the Earl of Carlile and Mr. Secretary Conway attending in the Progress and the Patents to be filled up with them by the Discretion of the Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Mr. Secretary Calvert Sir Richard Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Atturney-General Sir Th. Coventry attending who were to sit at Whitehal for the more easie Expedition Time is given to draw up Copies of new Draughts Interea aliquid fiet spero says the Comick In these Intervals who could tell but somewhat might fall out to cross all On the 18th of August the Lord Keeper sends the Form of the Pardon drawn up to the King at Beawlie to save the Recusants from all Advantages the Laws might take for the time past and a Dispensation to keep them indemnified from the same for the time to come But an Item was given to bring the Dispensation lame back that his Majesty should signifie his Royal Will That the Pardon should go under the Great Seal the Dispensation under the Privy Seal This from Beawlie Aug. 21. And there was a Colour for it out of the Agreements of Salisbury subtilly drawn up For the second Article says That a Legal Authentical Pardon shall be past under the Great Seal And in the seventh Article There shall be a present Suspension of his Majesties Laws under his Seal The word Great was wilfully omitted to puzzle the Transaction But after the Spanish part had debated with the Lord Keeper in Reason he writes to Secretary Conway at Tichburn Aug. 25. That he confest a Dispensation from the Poenal Statutes could not be pleaded but under the Great Seal The Business got off in that Point but it hung upon another Tentar He writes again to Mr. Secretary then at Broad-lands Aug. 27. That it troubled him much he was enforced to such often Replies but the Weight of the Business would excuse it He says He was not instructed from the Articles of Salisbury from what Day the Dispensation was to begin and how far it was to be limited in time to come from what time those are to be excluded that do not lay hold of it To which answer was given but always the Dial stood Once again he demurr'd upon the Dispensation which says That the Papists Convict shall not pay their Forfeiture for not coming to Church nor be Indicted for not taking the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance whether it was not fit to divide these in several Styles and Expressions It was return'd and dictated from the Kings Lips The first Breach of the Laws should be signified to be absolutely pardoned The latter should go in another Form that it should not be questioned and Mr. Atturney to provide accordingly
unto him He complains further of want of Expedition in the Letters to be written by your Lordship to those principal Officers to whom it pertains for the Suspension of all Trouble and Molestation to the Roman Catholicks his Majesty's Subjects in matter of their Conscience His Majesty marvails not a little that the Pardon and Dispensation are so long delayed before they be delivered and the Letters so long before they are written His Majesty being troubled and offended that Cause should be taken upon these Delays by the Embassador to call into Jealousie his Majesty's Roundness and Integrity in Proceeding In all which Points his Majesty now prays you to give all possible Expedition that his Majesty may be no more soiled with the Jealousies and Suspitions of the Embassador nor importuned with their Requests for those things so entirely resolved on Albeit this Letter is so strict and mandatory the Lord Keeper presumed on the King's Goodness to write a Remonstrance to Mr. Secretary Conway flat against the Mandate with sundry Reasons to shew the high Expedience that the Instruments demanded should not yet be delivered To the which on the 9th of September Mr. Secretary sends back word Right Honorable I Have represented yours of the 18th to his Majesty who interprets your Intentions very well and cannot but think it good Counsel and a discreet Course had the State of the Business been now entire But as Promises have been past the Truth of a King must be preferred before all other Circumstances and within three Days you must not fail to deliver the Exemplification of the Pardon and Dispensation with the Coppy of the Letters c. Two Days after see the Hand of God September 21 a Post brought Intelligence that the Prince was departed with fair Correspondencies from the Court of Spain was certainly long before that time on Shipboard and would weigh Anchor as soon as Wind and Weather served him So in good Manners all Solicitations were hush'd and attended his Highness's Pleasure against he came into England These are the Performances of the Lord Keeper upon the Immunities which the Papists contended for to be derived to them by the Prince's Marriage with the Daughter of Spain Whither any States-man could have contrived them better I leave it to be considered by the Senators of the Colledge of Wisdom in my Lord Bacon's new Atlantis If it be possible for any to disprove these excellent Excogitations of Prudence with his Censure he will force me to say in this Lord's Behalf what Tully did for the Pontiss of old Rome Orat. pro resp Aurus Satis superque prudentes sunt qui illorum prudentiam non dicam assâ—qui sed quanta fuerit perspicere possint The Collection of all the precedent Passages were gathered by that Lord himself and stitched up into one Book every Leaf being signed with the Hands of Sir George Calvert and Sir Edward Conway principal Secretaries to his Majesty If it be asked to what end was that provided it was to shew he had a Brest-Plate as well as an Head-Piece It was to defend his Integrity against any Storm that dark Days might raise about the Spanish Matters It was a gathering thick when my Lord of Buckingham caused Mr. Packer his Secretary to write a Letter of Defiance to him Cab. P. 87. wherein every Penful of Ink is stronger than a Drop of Vicriol Take a Line of it That in the Spanish Negotiation he had been dangerous to his Country prejudicious to the Cause of Religion which he above all others should have laboured to uphold But rip up all his Actions turn the Linings outward shew any Stain-Spot in his Fidelity in his Innocency chiefly in his Maintainance of the Reformed Religion Therefore he met the Lord Duke couragiously Pag. 89. I do not in the least beg or desire from your Grace any Defence of me if it shall appear I betray'd my King or my Religion in Favour of the Papist or did them any real Respect at all beside ordinary Complement Therefore I appeal to all Posterity who shall read this Memorial how a Minister in his Office and intrusted with the whole weight of such a ticklish Negotiation could come off better with more Honour with lâ—ss Prejudice Photius in his Biblioth says of Saluslius the Cynick that he was a worthy Man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He had listed himself into that Sect of Philosophy which was carved out or exposed to Reproach and Contumiâ—y So this noble Councellor was as Harmless as he was Wise as Honest as he was Active But the Business which he underwent for his great Master and the Prince was Planet-struck with an ill Opinion of many and could look for no Thanks but from a few that were the Wisest 167. Especially most circumspect and diligent Endeavours if superior Providence hath decreed to make them barren shall not be pitied as they deserve but be insulted upon because they cannot reach their End The best Angler that is we commonly think he fish'd ill if he catch'd nothing Inde plaerumque eadâ—m sacta modò diligentiae modò vanitatis modò libertatis modò furor is nomen accipiunt Plin. lib. 6. Ep. Lucky Success makes a Fool seem wise and a wise man that is unfortunate shall be called a Fool. It is a hard Task to dig into the Mines of Poâ—icy when Event shall be the Measure both of Reward and Praise Yet all this must be endured after his Highness took his Leave of Spain the Donna Hâ—rmesa left behind the Stock of Love spent and in a while the Credit of it protested Our King was not ill disposed to the News that is Son made preparation to come Home The People began to be churlish that he staid so long And his Majesty look'd for no Good from that Part of the World while our Duke was in it He found that so long as he was so remote from his Tutorship he was heady a Novice in carrying Business and very offensive to the Crown of Spain The Prince was desirous to make haste from them that would make no better haste and could no longer endure the Pace of a dull Spanish Mule As a weary Traveiler's Inn seems still to go further from him so his Highness had attended long for a sweet Repose in Wedlock till it made him impatient and think that every Consuito cast him further back from the Fruition of his Joys The Junto of the Spanish States-men were very magisterial and would not bate an Inch but that every thing should be timed to a day as they designed it These were the Links of the Chain by which they pluck all Power to themselves First A Disposorios or Contract must go before the Marriage For that 's a Rule from which their Church doth never vary unless good Order be broken by clandestine Marriages To the Contract they could not go on in this Case till the Dispensation from the new Pope gave Authority for it That came to
quis mortalium concilium ac non fidei Templum dixerit It was become from the King 's best Palace the Temple of Faith After this the Chase of a Stag that was breath'd well and fell luckily brought his Highness on his way to the Sea-side But he stopt a little while at a Magnificent Repast provided in a Wood where the Table was Canopied with green Boughs when King Philip and the Prince had rose up from this Collation and had walk'd a little further a Marble Pillar was Erected a Monument of Alliance and Friendship between the two Kingdoms As when Laban said to Jacob Come thou let us make a Covenant I and Thou and let it be for a Witness between me and thee And Jacob took a Stone and set it up for a Pillar Gen. 31.45 There the two Potentates laying their Hands first upon this Pillar and then enfolding each other in Embraces took Congee and Divided Yet the Ceremony continued with the principal of the Nobles and others of the Spanish Cavalry who waited on his Highness to his Ship and Don Mendoza de Alcarness was appointed to go aboard with him for England to Congratulate before King James his Adventure to Spain and his Happy Return to his Majesty Upon the whole Carriage King Philip might say with his Honour as Abimelech did to Isaac We have done unto thee nothing but good and have sent thee away in Peace Thou art now the blessed of the Lord Gen. 26.29 169. Thus far the view of the Design was marvellously serene not a Cloud to be seen about the Horizon It smiled a little longer for the Earl of Bristol Writes to the Lord Keeper Cab. p. 21. Since the departure of his Highness there have every day passed Letters of extraordinary Affection between the King and the Prince this is Sept. 24. The Grandees also and others of the Castilian Bravery that conducted the Prince to the Seas were Feasted in our Admiral at a true English Table Free Pleasant Luxuriously bountiful with that Store which few Countries but this Fortunate Island could afford A Health was Superstitiously began to the Glorious Princessa and Proclaim'd to the Shore by the Thunder of the Great Ordnance success fell short of the Premises The fault may be laid upon the Spaniards with some partiality who suffered the Duke of Buckingham to part with a sore grudge against the Conde Duke and did not take the best Course to heal it They doubted that Buckingham would do all he could to cross the Match says Bristol in the same Letter yet they were so Stately that they would not seek to a suspected Enemy Belike they thought they had made all fast and that one man's Rash Defiance was inconsiderable But it behoves Wise Men says Isocrat Orat. de Pace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Repose the hopes of well doing upon their own Strength and Judgment not upon the Adversaries Weakness The Duke Olivares was never the nearer that Buckingham told him at their farewel That for his part he had so disoblig'd him that he would make no profession of Friendship to him at all but he would be an everlasting Servant to the King of Spain the Queen and the Infanta and would do the best Offices he could for the concluding the business and strengthning Amity between the two Kingdoms Olivares was not certain of him upon these Words since he was not certain at that time what himself would have For when our Passions are out of Order it is a hard thing for a Man to speak Truth to himself As soon as the Duke had the Prince at shrift as it were in his Cabinet Mr. Edward Clerk under Colour to Attend the Spanish Nobles to Madrid was sent with Letters to the Earl of Bristol to suspend the Procuration for the Contract till further Order was given One Scruple which must first be cleared was That a Monastery might not Rob the Prince of his Wife For a Headless Fable unless Olivares his Salt Tongue had given occasion to it was in many Mouths that after the Desponsories the Lady would enter into the strict Order of the Descalcas or bare Foot Nuns A Rumour that was Laugh'd out of countenance for she was a spriteful Virgin and had nothing of Monastical Austerity in her Complexion Neither did she dissemble but carried her Affections undisguised that she was stricken in Love with the Prince Yet to prevent the worst the Earl of Bristol was serious in Refuting that Folly as it is extant in his to the Prince Cab. p. 24. I have set down to your Highness all sorts of security that may be taken before the betrothing for preventing a Woman Post vatum Matrimonium non consummatum to betake her self into a Religious Life The King of Spain the Infanta all the Ministers would refuse no kind of security that in Reason could be demanded in that behalf This was a slight pretence and soon over There was another thing of greater Consequence Weaved into the mistrust I find it upon the Point wherein the Duke Expostulated with Sir W. Aston Cab. p. 35. You might have observed the Explanation the Prince made of himself to you by his Letters from St. Andreas and have seen his Care and Resolution not to engage himself into the Marriage without good Conditions for the Palatinate and Conservation of his Honour every way More light is opened to this in a Letter that an Ignote Wrote to K. James Cab. p. 219. The same day that Buckingham Received Letters from the Illustrious P. Palatine he caused the Procuration to be Revoked There needs no study upon it how the Structure of the Marriage so far advanc'd was overthrown in an hour An quae per totam res est notissima Lesbon Nunc ignota tibi est Metamor 1.2 The Rude people of Madrid cried it about the Streets says Mr. Clerk Piden el Palatinato Cab. p. 307. All the hope of that Alliance and the comfort from it was drowned in the Rhine 170. God is Love and delights in all the Bonds of Love Marriage is the first of Humane and the strictest It is common with the Great ones that Rule the Earth to Treat together to make such Links with their Children Nay with their Infants They confirm them with Embassies with Articles it may be with their Oaths and Holy Ceremonies Yet when all this is done if a greater Benesit to the State spring up by a New Offer a Curtain is drawn before Conscience The former Interest must give place to the later and that shall be excluded upon the like occasion for a fresh Emolument One Reason I believe tho' I write it fearfully That often times they are but little blest in their Progenies For can the most High forget it Cui vincla jugalia curae Virg. They that uncover Stories of Realms and Common Wealths let them apply it I go on to mine At the Escurial of St. Lorenzo this was the last Speech and accord about the
came in place of it was most Happy in a thrice Noble Progeny All beside was Flat and Unfortunate Not an Inch of the Palatinate the better for us and we the worse for our Wars in all Countries I say no more but as Q. Curtius doth Optime Miserias forunt qui abscondunt They that hide their Miseries bear them best The Observator upon H. L. I will abet him writes no more then many have Whisper'd That the Ruin of P. Charles by the Spanish Match might have been prevented the Spaniard being for the most part a more steady Friend then the wavering French I am not skilful in them to make Comparisons thus far I will adventure positively The French are as brave a people as be under the Sun Yet for my part I think we might better want them then the Spaniard The Spanish Ladies Married to the Royal Seed among us have been Vertuous Mild Thrifty beloved of all Not such a one as Harry the Sixth had from the other Nation of whom Mr. Fuller says well in his Eccles History That the King's parts seemed the lower being overtop'd by such a High Spirited Queen The Spaniards are for the most generously bountiful where Service hath deserv'd it the best Neighbours in the World for Trades Increase A Friend to his Friend with his Treasure and with his Sword But withal Refractory in his own Religion and a Hater of ours and very False where he can take occasion to enlarge his Dominions wherein we had no Cause to fear him But if the Daughter of Spain had landed upon our Shore I believe we should have had more Cause to love him 172. Which was not to be look'd for after the Prince put off from the Coast of Biscay From whence he made such haste home as the Wind would suffer and he had it in Poop till he came to the Islands of Silly the remotest Ground of the British Dominion in the West whether some Delinquents were deported of old by the Roman Emperors Here the Navy was compelled to rest because the Winds were contrary From thence the Courtiers brought home a Discourse about an old Miller who was with long Experience Weather-Wise to Admiration For he told them exactly how long they should continue there and named the Hour when after one day and a half the North-West would blow and serve their turn The Seamen who had resorted thither before knew him so well and how his Prognosticks came to pass that they prepared to Launch against that opportunity which fail'd not and attain'd Portsmouth on the Fifth of October 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odduss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though our Noble Traveller left the Lady behind that should have been his Penelope yet he came well home to his own Ithaca and to the Wise Laertes his Father His Highness left Portsmouth and came to York-House at Charing-Cross an Hour after Midnight early in the Morning Octob. 6. Praises were given to God for him in divers Churches at Morning Prayer The Lord Keeper composed an excellent Prayer for that Occasion which was used in the Chappel of Henry the VII and in the Collegiate Church at the accustomed Hours in that Place Bells and Bonfires began early and continued till Night Alms and all kind of Comfort were dispensed bountifully to the Poor and many poor Prisoners their Debts being discharg'd were Released But too often as St. Austin complain'd Publicum gaudium celebratur per publicum dedecus So Bacchanals of Drunken Riot were kept too much in London and Westminster which offended many that the Thanks due only to God should be paid to the Devil The Prince after a little rest took Coach with the Duke for Royston to attend the King his Father where the Joy at the enterview was such as surpasseth the Relation His Majesty in a short while retir'd and shut all out but his Son and the Duke with whom he held Conference till it was four Hours in the Night They that attended at the Door sometime heard a still Voice and then a loud sometime they Laught and sometime they Chased and noted such variety as they could not guess what the close might prove But it broke out at Supper that the King appear'd to take all well that no more was effected in the Voyage because the Profters for the Restitution of his Son-in-Law were no better stated by the Spanish And then that Sentence fell from him which is in Memory to this Hour That He lik'd not to Marry His Son with a Portion of His Daughters Tears His Majesty saw there was no Remedy in this Case but to go Hand in Hand with the Prince and his now prepotent Favorite Ducunt volentem fata nolentem trabuns Sen. Trag. It is easier to be led then drawn Presently it was obtain'd that is Octob. 8. That his Majesty should send an Express to the Earl of Bristol with his High Command to defer the Procuration entrusted with him and to make no use of it till Christmas whereas indeed the Power of it expired at Christmas for so it was limited in the Instrument which his Highness Signed at St. Lorenzo And by the next Post the Duke acquaints Sir W. Aston That the King himself had dictated the Letter then wrote unto him Cab. p. 36. which contain'd That His Majesty desir'd to be assur'd of the Restitution of the Palatinate before the Deposorium was made seeing he would be sorry to welcome home one Daughter with a Smiling Cheer and have his own only Daughter at the same time Weeping and Disconsolate My Lord of Buckingham had his Advisers about him yet he need not now be set on to prevent with all his Wit that the Prince might never have a Wife out of Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As soon should a Wolf Wed a Lamb. Aristoph Com. de pace But the King had such Esteem of the Spanish Wisdom that he did verily look that his Letters I mean these last sent to his Ambassador Resident there would quicken them to a short and real Satisfaction for the Prince Palatine's Distress and that the Treaty would sprout again which was wither'd with that obstacle 173. Our Dispatches at Court went all together that way so he that is diligent may Trace them to the end of January Some of the Letters of Mr. Secretary Conway at least somewhat out of them are useful to be produced which will also confirm the good course that the Lord Keeper took with the Spanish Ambassadors that he reserv d the Pardon and Dispensation from them to the end against all Contests of Importunity Nor suffered the Letters to the Lord Bishops and Judges to go abroad for the Suspension of some Penal Statutes whereupon the Fat of the Project of the Papists dript insensibly away at a slow Fire After the Prince had rested at Roiston but one Night his Majesty caused Directions to be sent to the Lord Keeper for the Enlargement of the Roman Priests
being Eleven of them in the Tower Wisheech Newgate and no more This Favour had many Reasons to speak for it First To let all those who were inquisitive about the Event of his Highness Journey take notice that there was yet life in the Treaty by the motion of this Pulse Secondly To gratifie the most obnoxious of that Religion for requital of the Entertainment his Highness had among them Thirdly In Retaliation for the Prisoners that were set at Liberty in Spain to Congratulate the Princes welcom Fourthly That his Highness might keep his Word with those of that way who had done him good Offices abroad to whom he had said Cab. p. 251. That though the Marriage were broken his Catholick Subjects should not fare the worse for it Therefore hear what Mr. Secretary Conway Writes to the Lord Keeper October 7. Right Honorable HIs Majesty calling to Mind His promise to the Spanish Ambassadors for giving Liberty to the Priests requires your Lordship to prepare the Ordinance for their Liberty and to put it in Execution the rest of the Pardons being suspended till the Solemnizing the Marriage And His Majesty would that you should signifie so much to the Ambassadors in your own Person to acquaint them with His Mindfulness And then that your Lordship will be pleased to move the Ambassadors as giving them a good opportunity to do an acceptable Work that they would move for the Releasement of Dr. Whiting from Imprisonment who for his Sermon Preach'd at Hampton-Court stands committed but His Majesty will have him remain suspended from Preaching untill His further Pleasure be known Now for the Letters which his Majesty was made to believe were dispersed to the Magistrates Spiritual and Temporal about the Suspension of the Laws because his Majesty was disobeyed in it the Lord Keeper after he had seen the Inclination of the Court in three or four days wrote to the Secretary who knew all the Passages to put the Duke upon it to acquaint the King with the Naked Truth and fore-speak Displeasure Upon which Mr. Secretary Conway returns this Octob. 11. from Royston Right Honorable SO soon as I received your Letter with the like Observation that I will use in all your Command I took the Duke of Buckingham just as he was going to the King and had no more time with him but to tell him that Point touching your Wise and Moderate Retention of the Letters to the Bishops and Justices The Duke prepared the King so well as His Majesty gave me order to signifie to you that those Letters should still be retained unless some Complaints should make change of Counsels or the Accomplishment on the other side equal that of ours and occasion another step forward That Wise and Moderate way of your Lordships will ever get you Estimation and Ease I am glad to see how brave a Friend you have of the Duke And I know your Lordship will give me leave to make you as glad as my self that absence hath made no change towards my Lord Duke in the Kings Favour but his return if it be possible hath multiplied it And the Prince and He are for Communications of Counsels Deliberations and Resolutions as if they were but One. The King requir'd but one Thing more of the Lord Keeper that as he had addulced all Things very well to his Mind so the Ministers of the King of Spain might not Grudge that their Teeth were set on Edge with sower Grapes which he did effect most Artificially albeit the Ambassadors by his means had lost many Suits and more Labour as the Secretary was willed to acknowledge from Hinchingbrooke Octob. 25. Right Honorable I Delivered to his Majesty the good Temper you left the Embassadors in which gave his Majesty Contentment and moved his Thanks to you Your Humane and Noble Usage you may be sure will best beseem your Lordship and please others And when there is any Cause for you to take another Form on you be confident you shall have seasonable Knowledge For my Lord Duke hath as well a Noble Care of you as Confidence in you and Affection to you of which I am assured though a mean Witness So much was contrived and a great deal more to keep the Treaty from an utter dissociation till the next Parliament sate For the Coppy of the Memorials given January 19 by Sir Wal. Aston to the King of Spain professeth That because the Faculty for the Use of the Procuration expired at Christmas the King my Master that you may know the sound Intentions of his Proceedings with the good End to which it aims hath renewed the Powers and deferred the delivery of them only to give time for the Accomplishment and setling that which hath been promised for the satisfying his Expectations Cab. P. 39. Neither did the Spaniards return the Jewels which the Prince had presented at the Shrine of Love till the end of February at which Surrendry and not before the golden Cord was broken Nothing is more sure than that the Prince's Heart was removed from the Desire of that Marriage after the Duke had brought him away from the Object of that Delightful and Ravishing Beauty But all the while the King had his Head full of Thoughts brooding upon two things like the Twins that struggled in the Womb of Rebeckah the Consummation of the Marriage and the Patrimony of his Son-in-Law to be regained with the Dignity Electoral His Wisdom hovered between them both like the Sun at his Noonday Height Metâ distans aequalis utraque He knew he should be disvalued to the wounding of all Good Opinion if he did not engrast that Alliance into his Stem which he had sought with so much Expence of Time and Cost to strengthen and aggrandize his Posterity And he knew he should loose Honour with all the Potentates of Europe beside other Mischiefs if nothing were done for re-possessing the Palatinate Yet in sine he sate down and it cleast his Heart that he affected neither As a Canker eats quickly into soft and sappy Wood so an Error was gotten into his gentle Nature the same that Spartianus says had crept into Didius Julianus Reprehensus in eo praecipue quos regere authoritate sud debuit regendae reipub praesules sibi ipse fecit He submitted himself to be ruled by some whom he should have awed with Authority but he wanted Courage to bow them to his own Bent. A Prince that preserves not the Rights of his Dignity and the Majesty of his Throne is a Servant to some but therein a Friend to none least of all to himself 174. But he did so little bear up with an Imperatorian Resolution against the Method of their Ways who thrust his Counsels out of Doors that the Flies suck'd him where he was gall'd and he never rub'd them off He continued at Newmarket as in an Infirmary for he forgot his Recreations of Hunting and Hawking yet could not be drawn to keep the Feasts of
All-Saints and the Fifth of November at White-Hall being wont to shew his Presence at those Solemnities Against Christmas he drew towards the City and no sooner Some better Offers were expected from Spain by that time or more certain Discoveries be found out of Carriage on both sides for hitherto all was received upon second hand Faith Therefore his Majesty was no sooner at White-Hall but he commissioned a Select Council to consider two things Whither the King of Spain had not been real to the last to satisfie the Desire of the Prince about the Marriage and whither in the Treaty for the Restitution of the Palatinate he had violated the League between the two Kingdoms as to deserve an open War to be proclaimed against him The Lord Keeper was one of the Junto but so far against his Mind that he wished before a Friend or two in private that a Fever in his Sick Bed might excuse him The Duke of Buckingham was mortally Anti-Spanish and his Anger was headed with Steel He assayed the Lord Keeper to hale him to his Judgment as an Eddy doth a small Boat and would have used him to the King to incline his Majesty to renounce Amity with that Nation but he found him as inflexible as a dried Bough He vowed to his Grace as he should have God to be his Protector that he would suffer all the Obliquy of the World before he would be drawn to the least Ingratitude against his Lordship Cab. P. 89. But when the King asked his Judgment he must be true and faithful Which was to say to do the Duke a Pleasure he cared not to deserve ill of himself but he would not deserve ill of the King which gave no Satisfaction Oh! How better is a poor Man's Liberty than the golden Servitude of a great Officer Must I lose my Patron unless I lose my Judgment Can there not be a true Heart where there is not Sameness of Opinion What a Structure is Advancement which hangs in the Air and consists upon no solid Foundation That great Lord desied the Keeper to his Face and in the hearing of many threatned to sink him because he could not board him And as Fulbertus said of Queen Constantia Cui satis creditur dum mala promittit Baron Annal. 12 28. com 12. If he promised an ill turn he would be sure to pay it if he could Once upon a time he could have done as much as that came to with half a Word to the King Now as his Lordship conceived his Strength lay among the Anakims and the self-will'd man plotted to sacrifice his old Friend to the Parliament the Intelligence came from the Venetian Embassador to appease the Dislike of Immunities which were none at all exercised towards the Roman Catholicks Yet there his Lordship faired and found it as hard to suppress him as to drown a Swan There is an Electuary which Physicians give to comfort the Heart called Pasta rogia the Lord Keeper was fed Lusty with this Royal Paste The King had wrought him so apt to his own Plight that the Power of a mighty Favorite could not wrest him from the Sanctuary of his Love Ye still his Danger was that the Duke thought out of Disdain more than Envy that he wore too many Copies of his Majesty's Favour He took nothing more Scornsully than what the King spake to the Earl of Carlisle in a Fit of Melancholly That if he had sent Williams into Spain with his Son he had kept Hearts-ease and Honour both which he lack'd at that time So it was thought to be next to an Affront that the first time the Lord Keeper came into the King's Presence after his Highness's Return into England which was a little before Christmas his Majesty looking intently upon him said thus to the Prince Charles There 's the Man that makes us keep a merry Christmas His Highness looking as if he understood not his Father Why 't is he says the King that laboured more dextrously than all my Servants beside to bring you safe hither to keep Christmas with me and I hope you are sensible of it Another Act of the King's Goodness drew a greater Frown upon him That in those Holy-days his Majesty of his own Accord no Solicitation preceding caused an Act of Council to be entred into the Book of that Honorable Table that an Arch-Bishoprick and he named York should be conserred upon him in the next Vacancy For which the Lord Keeper most humbly thanked his Majesty that he was pleased to think of him when his Majesty knew best that he thought not of himself Yet my Lord Duke resented it ill as if he climbed without his Hand to lift him up Arch-Bishop Mathew understanding how his Place was designed took occasion to be pleasant upon it It was a Felicity which Nature had given him to make old Age comfortable with a light Heart Non ille rigoris Ingratas laudes nec nubem srontis amabat Sil. lib. 8. But that much beloved Prelate sending his Proxy to the Lord Keeper against the following Parliament wrote to this Purpose That he was not a little troubled in former times to hear that the Bishop of London Doctor Mountain a decay'd Man and certainly near to the Grave should look to be his Successor For either himself must die before three years expired or that Bishop's Hopes would be all amort who must come suddenly to the See or not at all But it pleased and revived him that his Lordship was most likely to take his Place after him for he was young and healthful and might stay the Term of twenty Years and take his Turn time enough at the end of that Stage Then he shuts up his Letter As the Psalmist begins so I end Dixi Custodiam I love you Lordship well but I will keep you out of this Seat as long as I can 175. Now let the Collections of the last Antecedency be observed and there is not to be found in them why the Lord Keeper should forfeit a Dram in the Benevolence of his great Friend They are the Party-coloured Coat with which Jacob appareâ—â—ed him and which himself put not out to making But in the Select Council which met to resolve the two foregoing Questions he was active as any man If he come not off well in that let him be condemned To the first matter in proposal the Lords agreed that the Prince came Home with great and happy Renown because he had resisted so many and so strong Temptations to pervert him in Religion and that the Lord of Buckingham's Assistance was praise worthy in excess who held him steady and counter-work'd all Underminers They conceived that the Proceeding of the Spaniards to the most were generous in some things rather subtle than ingenuous as there is no Pomegranate but hath some rotten Kernels and that in all they were so tedious that it was able to provoke the Meekness of Moses though he had not a Drachm of
That if his Majesty should receive any intelligence that he was deteined in that State as a Prisoner he would be pleased for his sake never to think of him more as a Son but to reflect with all his Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Sister and upon the safety of his own Kingdoms Sic omnes unus amores vicit amor patriae And so far to the Supplements I must now explicate their Lordships Opinion who having by the Command of his Majesty taken into their Mature Considerations the whole Narration made by the Prince his Highness and my Lord Duke to both Houses in this place and all the Letters and Dispatches read unto them to corroborate the same And Lastly these Supplements and Additions recited before are of opinion upon the whole Bulk of the matter that his Majesty cannot rely upon or maintain any longer either of both these Treaties concerning the Match with Spain or the Restitution of the Palatinate with the safety of his Religion his Honour his Estate or the Weal and Estate of his Grand-Children And his Highness together with their Lordships are desirous to know whether you Gentlemen the Knights Burgesses and Citizens of the House of Commons do concur with their Lordships in this their Opinion which they ever referred to this further Conference with your Honourable House 192. As Plutarch said of the Laconick Apothegms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Clean and Sound Timber with the Bark taken off So the Reader may observe in these Reports that the Matter is Heart of Oak the Style clear from Obscurity and disbark'd quite from superduity But regarding the Auditors and their Affections at that Season nothing could be more proper for he spake to their Content as if he had been within them with Sweet and Piercing Expressions resembled in the Harp and the Quiver of Arrows with which the Heathen Trimm'd up Apollo their Deity of Graceful Speech They that detract from such Worth would be glad it were their own as says our compleat Poet upon the like A good Man 's Envied by such as would For all their Spight be like him if they could But this beginning presaged good Luck to the ensuing Counsels debated in that Session This is called to this day the Blessed Parliament and so Posterity will take it from us Says Tully very well 3. Philip. Magna vis est magnum numen unum idem consentient is senatus A full Senate Head and Members consenting in one carries a Majestick and Oraculous Authority with it This is the Confirmation of it when the people brought before the King the Fruits of their Wisdom which they had Studied And the King did ratifie him chearfully with the Wisdom of his Power They opened their Purse to him and which was more beneficial to them then if they had spared a little Mony he let fall some Flowers off his Crown that they might gather them up which indeed was no more then desluvium pennarum the Molting of some Feathers after which the Eagle would Fly the better He opened his Ear to them in all their Petitions and they listned as much to him and gave their Ear-Rings to Jacob Gen. 35.4 So the King and the Subject became perfect Unisons And as God doth knit his own Glory and the Salvation of mankind together so the King did imitate God and Married his Honour with the welfare of the Kingdom Who is it that reads the Statutes 21 Jacobi and doth not admire them The Peers took it to be their greatest Nobility to look well to the Publick And the other House did light upon the True Companion of Wisdom Sâ—data Tranquillitas a Calm Tranquility as Rivers are deepest where they Foam least And all the Land had cause of rejoycing that the House of Commons was never better Replenish'd in Man's Memory with Knights and Burgesses of rare Parts and Tempers especially the Gown-men of the Inns of Courts who were extoli'd for Knowledge and political Prudence as no Age had afforded a better Pack And I give the Lord Keeper his Right and no more knowing his Traces perfectly at that time that he labour'd as for Life to keep an Harmony between the King and this Parliament to suck out his Majesties assent to all their Proceedings that he might shew himself as good as he was great Which I think was the greatest certainly the happiest part of Honour that ever the Lord Keeper Merited How he mitigated Discontents and softned refractoriness how he obliged the leading Voices with benefits how he kept the Prerogative of the Supreme Power and the Extravagancies of pretended Liberty on the other side from Encroachments the Wise only knew but they that knew it not were the better for it and that he was chiefly us'd in Consultation for compiling those wholesom Laws which had their double Resining and Clarifying from Lords and Commons In all likelihood prosperous success might be expected from this Parliament because it was Pious and Pious because it was a strict preserver of the Holy Patrimony Allotted to God Quae 〈…〉 erunt quam quibus Deus praestitit auxilium says Ansonius to the Emperor 〈◊〉 What Counsels are more compleat then those that are help'd by God Nay What Councels can be more compleat then theirs that defend the Right of God As worser times would let the Clergy keep nothing so those times by their good Will would let them part with nothing Let the Trial be observ'd as the Case follows 193. The Duke of Buckingham lack'd a dwelling according to the Port of his Title and to receive a very populous Family It must be near to Whitehal and it must be spacious None could be found so fit as the Arch-Bishop of York his House It was nigh to Charing-Cross and he came little to it The Duke us'd the Lord Keeper to move Arch-Bishop Mathew for his Consent and to make the Bargain between them causing him to make prosser of such Lands in the County of York as should be equivalent or better then the House Garden and Tenements belonging to the Arch-Bishop's Place For nothing was intended but Exchange with considerable Advantage to him and his Successors And that was sure as touch because the House was to be past by Act of Parliament to the Kings Majesty So the Duke had made it his humble Request and drew on the King hardly to make a Chop with those Demeasnes to which the Name of God and his Christ were made the Feoffees in the first Donation for the use of that Tribe which peculiarly serves him in Sacred Offices Yet with instance and much Suit the King was wrought to it for the Duke's sake As M. Antony said to his Confident Septimius Quod Concupiscas tu videris quod concupieris certè habebis Tul. 5. Philip. So this Beloved Minion should be Wise to see what he ask'd for his Master had no Power to say him nay His Majesty was most Nice and Cautious to make the Composition
else the Treasurer had been rescued by the Power and Justice of his Royal Master His Majesty perceived that the Actions of this unfortunate Man rack'd with the strictest Enquiries were not Sins going over the Head scarce reaching to the Ankles and why should he suffer him to sink under the Waves of Envy Therefore he sent for the Lord Keeper to Greenwich and gave him his Sense That he would not make his Treasurer a publick Sacrifice Sir says the Lord Keeper I have attempted among my surest Friends to bring him off fairly All shrink and refuse me only the stout and prudent Lord Hollis adventured upon the Frowns of the Prince and Duke and gave his Reasons why Middlesex to him appeared an Innocent I were mad if for my part I should not wish him to escape this Tempest and be safe under the Harbor of Your Majesty's Clemency Suam quisque fortunam in consilio habet quando de alienâ deliberat Curt. lib. 5. When I deliberate upon him I think of my self 'T is his Fortune to day 't is mine to morrow The Arrow that hits him is within an Handful of me Yet Sir I must deal faithfully Your Son the Prince is the main Champion that encounters the Treasurer whom if you save you foil your Son For though Matters are carried by the whole Vote of Parliament and are driven on by the Duke yet they that walk in Westminster-Hall call this the Prince's Undertaking whom you will blast in his Bud to the Opinion of all your Subjects if you suffer not your old and perhaps innocent Servant to be pluck'd from the Sanctuary of Your Mercy Necessity must excuse you from Inconstancy or Cruelty In the Close of this Speech the Kings Reason was convinced that he must use this Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Treasurer suffered the Dishonour or rather the Calamity of a Censure Himself was so comforted to his dying Hour as the engraved Posie spake his Thoughts in his great Chamber at Copt-Hall in Essex Quae venit immeritò paena dolenda venit And I spake with few when it was recent that were contented with it except the Members of the House who would not dislike their own Action 196. Popular Favor continued a while with the Duke and now he was St. George on Horseback let the Dragon take heed that stood in his Way The Earl of Middlesex was removed and he that presided over the great Accounts did now stand for a Cipher The Lord Keeper perceived his turn was next although he wanted not fair Words and fair Semblance from the Contriver But an Ambush is more dangerous than a pitch'd Battel because it is hid unless the Leader look about him in his March and search every Hedge by Vant-curriers as he did A vigilant Man will not sleep with both Eyes when he suspects Danger Cauto circumspectu vita quae variis casibus subjacet est munienda Apul. instam lib. 11. The Keeper knew he had deserved no ill yet he trusted not to that for he knew likewise how a Judge that hears many Causes must condemn many and offend many And if Justice should shrink in to decline Offences what were it so like unto as to one in the Fable that would feed upon nothing but Spoon-meat because he would not wear out his Teeth He was not ignorant of the laudable or at least the durable Custom of the Commons to countenance all Prosecutors and to file the Medly of all Complaints Therefore this Prometheus kept a careful Watch to repulse Embroilments as much as he could for though he had a sound Bark yet none but a phrantick Pilate would be willing to be toss'd in a Storm And he had been an ill Keeper if he had not been wary to keep himself to which I may fitly apply the Orators Words Philip 12. Qui mulâ—â—rum Custodem se profitetur eum sapientes sui primum capitis aiunt Custodem esse oportere He had made the Prince his fast Friend before who was so ingenious that when he had promised Fidelity there was no fear that he would start chiefly because he sought to lay hold on his Highness upon no other Conditions than to mortifie those spiteful accusations if any such hapned with his Frown that durst not stand the Breath of Truth Concerning the Duke he was not so silly to look any longer upon himself as growing on the former Root of his Favour yet he was not so rude to expostulate with him according to the Merit of his Unkindness and provoke him further but as it occurs Cab. P. 80. He tells his Lordship That Suspicions of his Displeasure transported him not a Jot further than to look about him how to defend himself that he begg'd Assurance of his Grace's former Love yet not in the least desire to crave the Patronage of any corrupt or unjust act of his that should be objected against him in Parliament nor to take Refuge to him in any Cause or Clamor otherwise than according to Justice and fair Proceeding A sufficient Number of other Friends were made already to him by his Wisdom and Deservings whom he never requested as he had no need of it to make a Side for him but to be intentive to disclose such Winding Insinuations which are apt to twine about some weak Understandings This Forecast made him stand unmoveable and unaffrighted when Petitions and Remonstrances of Perdue-Causes were entred against him They came about him like Bees and were extinct like Fire among the Thorns And what were they that made a Noise with their Grievances Itane nihil fortunam puduit si minus accusatae innocentiae at accusantium wilitatis Boeth de consol 'T is a shame that Innocency should be accused but what Remedy shall it have against base and beggerly Accusers against the very Kennel of the Fleet and other Goals against such whose Suits would admit of no good Order and their Forwardness of no bad I knew a Plaintif and Desendant Morgan and Bouglar that complained one as much as the other of the same Decree to the Parliament and at the Hearing of the Cause one of the Counsel protested that Two hundred and twelve Commissions References and Orders had past upon it After a while a Bundle of those frivolous Objections being read and examined were cast out of Doors and the House in the Afternoon being put into a general Committee Seven and thirty of those Paper-Kites slew away that same day and were never heard of more Some of the Members would have repaired the Lord Keeper and asked him what he would have done to his Adversaries Nothing says he for by this time they have all fretted themselves into Patience and some of them perhaps into Repentance Which proved even so For many of them came privily to be admitted to his Favour condemned their own scandalous Petitions and laid it upon a great Name that they were encouraged to bring them in whom he
gave his Grace the Faith of a deep Protestation that he came purposely to prevent more Harm and to bring him out of that Sorrow into the Light of the King's Favour That he verily believed God's directing Hand was in it to stir up his Grace to advance him to those Honours which he possess'd to do him Service at this Pinch of Extremity He besought his Grace to make haste for Windsor and to shew himself to his Majesty before Supper was ended to deport himself with all amiable Addresses not to stir from his Person Night nor Day For the Danger was that some would thrust themselves in to push on his Majesty to break utterly with the Parliament and the next Degree of their Hope was upon that Dissolution to see his Grace committed to the Tower and then God knows what would follow The Keeper adjured his Lordship to lock up this in his own Breast which was imparted as charily to him as under the Seal of Secrecy but to be quick and Judicious in the Prevention more was not to be said because loss of time might loose all The Duke parted with many Thanks and lingred not but came to Windsor before he was look'd for Though he suspected not so much Evil yet he knew the Danger might be the worse for being contemned Nihil tuto in hoste despicitur Quem spreveris valentio rem negligent iâ facies Curt. lib. 6. 903. No doubt but all this was disclos'd to the Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Eurip. in Oenomao we conjecture at unevident things by that which is evident The Duke stirr'd not from Windsor but waited on his Majesty and was inseparable as his shadow The Prince was early at the Lords House before their Lordships began to sit on Munday Morning His business was with the Lord Keeper whom he took aside into a Lobby and protested how well it pleas'd him that he had given Buckingham faithful warning for his safety And you says his Highness that have gone thus far may receive greater Thanks of us both if you will spread open this black contrivance which hath lost him the Good Opinion of my Father and my self am in little better Condition Sir says the Lord Keeper Let my Soul suffer for falshood if I know any more than that some in the Spanish Embassador's House have been preparing mischief and infused it about four days since into his Majesty But the Curtain of Privacy is drawn before the Picture that I cannot guess at the Colours Well my Lord says the Prince I expected better Service from you for if that be the Picture-Drawers shop no Counselior in this Kingdom is better acquainted then your self with the Works and the Workmen I might have been says the Keeper and I am pang'd like a Womâ—n in Travail till I know what mishapen Creature they are Drawing But your Highness and my Lord Duke have made it a Crime to send unto that House and they are afraid to do it who are commanded from his Majesty It is a Month since I have forbidden the Servants of that Family to come at me But says the Prince I will make that Passage open to you again without Offence and Enterprise any way to bring us out of this Wood wherein we are lost Only before we part keep not from me how you came to know or imagin that the Spanish Agents have Charged Buckingham to my Father with High Misdemeanors or perhaps Disloyalty I would hear you to that Point that I may compare it with other Parcels of my Intelligence Sir says the Keeper I will go on directly with you Another perhaps would Blush when I tell you with what Heifer I Plow but knowing mine Innocency the worst that can happen is to expose my self to be Laugh'd at Your Highness hath often seen the Secretary Don Francisco Carondelet He loves me because he is a Scholar for he is Arch-Deacon of Cambray And sometimes we are pleasant together for he is a Wallcon by Birth and not a Castilian I have discover'd him to be a Wanton and a Servant to some of our English Beauties but above all to one of that gentle Craft in Mark-Lane A Wit she is and one that must be Courted with News and Occurrences at home and abroad as well as with Gifts I have a Friend that hath brib'd her in my Name to send me a faithful conveyance of such Tidings as her Paramour Carondelet brings to her All that I instructed the Duke in came out of her Chamber And she hath well earn'd a piece of Plate or two from me and shall not be unrecompenced for this Service about which your Highness doth use me if the Drab can help me in it Truly Sir this is my Dark Lahthorn and I am not asham'd to inquire of a Dalilah to Resolve a Riddle for in my Studies of Dlvinity I have glean'd up this Maxim Licet uti alieno peccato though the Devil make her a Sinner I may make good use of her Sin Yea says the Prince Merrily do you deal in such Ware ' In good Faith Sir says the Keeper I never saw her Face So this Conference Ended 204. The Lord Keeper took his Place in the Lords House to moderate Affairs as Speaker But all the while his Fancy was Whistling to another Tune how he might play his Game discreetly He held the Prince his Cards and would not for his Life that he should loose He had well consider'd and brought the Case to this Touch stone of Judgment that he should never know how the whole Scene had been Acted but by Secretary Francisco He had requested him to refrain his house above the whole space of a Month. If he sent for him on even Terms nothing would run freely from him Well fare a good Invention or a good Genius that prompted him For a knack came into his Head to fetch Francisco to him without any invitation as if a Conjurer had brought him in a Whirl-wind So he becken'd to a Servant and bad him that his Pursivant Captain Toothbie should wait him without fail as soon as the House was up The Pursivant at that hour took punctual Directions from him to seize upon an English Mass-Priest lodg'd in Drury â—me Named and Describ'd exactly for he had the Art to fetch such a Fowl or twain out of the Coope at an hours warning to receive him without any Noise into his Custody and upon Entreaty as that and proffer of Mony would not be wanting to carry him to his own House till further Order and not to the common Goal The Priest was apprehended and laid up The Man that was dearer to Francisco which the Lord Keeper know then his own Confessor or any of that Coat which made him wild when he heard of the mischance for he knew the Law and how hard it would be to save his Life if he came to be Tried at the Sessions the Parliament then Sitting He was in a fort banish'd from the
Commanders Or if he came to be tried in the Furnace of the next Session of Parliament he had need to make the Refiners to be his Friends 210. Here steps in Dr. Preston a good Crow to smell Carion and brought Conditions with him to make his Grace malleable upon the great Anvil and never break This Politick Man that he might feel the Pulse of the Court had preferr'd himself to be Chaplain to the Prince and wanted not the Intelligence of all dark Mysteries through the Scotch especially of his Highness's Bedchamber These gave him countenance more than others because he prosecuted the Endeavours of their Countrymen Knox. To the Duke he repairs And be assured he had more Skill than boisterously to propound to him the Extirpation of the Bishops remembring what King James had said in the Conference at Hampton-Court Anno 1. No Bishop No King Therefore he began to dig further off and to heave at the Dissolution of Cathedral Churches with their Deans and Chapters the Seminary from whence the ablest Scholars were removed to Bishopricks At his Audience with the Duke he told him He was sorry his Grace's Actions were not so well interpreted abroad as Godly Men thought they deserved That such Murmurings as were but Vapours in common Talk might prove to be Tempests when a Parliament met That his safest way was to Anchor himself upon the Love of the People And let him perswade himself he should not sail to be Master of that Atchievement if he would profess himself not among those that are Protestants at large and never look inward to the Center of Religion but become a warm and zealous Christian that would employ his best help strenuously to lop off from this half-reformed Church the superfluous Branches of Romish Superstition that much disfigured it Then he named the Quire-Service of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches with the Appennages which were maintained with vast Wealth and Lands of excessive Commodity to feed fat lazy and unprofitable Drones And yet all that Chanting and Pomp hindred the Heavenly Power and Simplicity of Prayer And furthered not the Preaching of the Gospel And now says he let your Grace observe all the ensuing Emoluments if you will lean to this Counsel God's Glory shall be better set forth that 's ever the Quail-Pipe to bring Worldings into the Snares of Sacrilege The Lands of those Chapters escheating to the Crown by the Dissolution of their Foundations will pay the King's Debts Your Grace hath many Alliances of Kindred all sucking from you and the Milk of those Breasts will serve them all and nourish them up to great Growth with the best Seats in the Nation Lastly Your Grace shall not only surmount Envy but turn the Darling of the Commonwealth and be reverenced by the best Operators in Parliament as a Father of a Family And if a Crum stick in the Throat of any considerable Man that attempts to make a contrary part it will be easie to wash it down with Mannors Woods Royalties Tythes c. the large Provent of those Superstitious Plantations Thus far the Doctor and to these Heads as the Duke in a good Mind reveal'd it The most crafty and clawing Piece of all was That the Destruction of these Sacred Foundations would make a Booty for a Number of Gentlemen And as the Greeks say proverbially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a great Oak falls every Neighbour may scuffle for a Faggot You may be sure the Duke sent this Doctor away with great Thanks and bad him watch the best times of leisure and come to him often who did not lose the Privilege of that Liberty but thrust into his Bedchamber at least thrice a Week with a sly Audacity The Lord Keeper heard of it and wondred what occasion'd their private and frequent Meetings Nor could he knock off the Bar of the Secret with his Golden Hammer till it was revealed to him by some of the nearest about his Majesty For the Duke had cast forth the Project in a dark imperfect Form before the King and the King muffling his true Face that it could not be seen heard him with a dissembled Patience because he was pleas'd to have him nibble upon this Bait that he might divert the Yonker as long as he could from forcing him to undertake a War which was a violent Caustick that seared up the Comfort of his Majesties Heart All this was conveyed to the Lord Keeper and being feeble and scarce upon his Legs again it wrought upon his sick Spirits with great Anxiety He was sure his Majesty had no Stomach to devour such an unsanctified Morsel Yet against that assurance he objected to himself That the Duke was wont to overturn all Obstacles that stood in his way And that the Imperial Eagle of Necessity would stoop to any Prey Then he took Chear again that he had never Noted in the Lord Duke a Displicency against the Prosperity of the Church Again his Comfort was rebated that Self-Preservation will make a Saint a Libertine and that Nice Points of Religion are not usually admitted to give Law against it Howsoever he resolv'd to hazard all to crush this Cockatrice in the Egg. Causa jubet superes mâ—lior sperare secundos He that stickles for Gods Cause sails by the Cape of Good Hope 211. At the first Onset he had small Encouragement For he came to Wallingford-House to break with the Duke upon this matter who was then shut up with Dr. Preston in close Consultation where the Great Seal and the Keeper of it waited two Hours in the Anti-Camera and was sent Home without the Civility of Admission Next Day he got Speech with Dr. Preston by Friends employ'd to bring him to Westminster And after much Pro and Con in their Discourse supposing the want of Preserment had disgusted the Doctor he offer'd to him if he would busie himself no more in contriving the Ruine of the Church that he would the next Day resign the Deanery of Westminster to him But the wily Doctor did not believe him For he came to cheat and not to be cheated So they parted unkindly The Lord Keeper saw now that this Nail was driven in far Yet he did not despair to pluck it out with his Wit And thus he went into the Adventure He obtain'd an Opportune Conference with the Duke and in the Defence of the Church he could never be taken unprovided He pray'd his Grace to believe That no Man wish'd his Safety more cordially than himself by whose Hand he was lifted up to that Place of Pre-eminence wherein he sate Therefore it was his Duty to admonish him timely that he was building that Safety upon hollow Ground He had spoken with Preston who had offer'd his Grace flitten Milk out of which he should churn nothing There were other ways to level Envy than by offending God And if he meant to gather Moneys for War let him Wage it with the Prayers of the Clergy and not with their
Wherein the Lord Keeper interceded with the Duke to the incurring a mighty Anger as may be seen by the Letters of Decem. 24. and Jan. 4. Cab. p. 99. If Threatings had been mortal Shot he had Perisht for he never had such a Chiding before but he kept his Ground because he held the fairer side of the Quarrel Dr. Meriton the Dean of York was lately Dead and much Deplor'd For he was an Ornament to the Church My Lord Duke entreated by great ones named a Successor that had no Seasoning or Tast of Matter in him one Dr. Scot But a Doctor Inter Doctores Bullatos for he never stood in the Commencement to approve himself beside too many Faults to be ript up I have known a Scholar in Cambridge so bad a Rider that no Man for Love or Price would furnish him with a Horse I would have thought no Man would have furnisht such a Scholar as this with a Deanery chiefly of York It came about strangely Scot was a Prodigal Gamster and had lost upon the Ticket to a Noble Person far more then he was worth Which Debt his Creditor knew not how to recover but by Thrusting him aided with my Lord Dukes Power into this Rich Preferment The Casuists among all the Species of Simony never Dream'd of this which may be called Simonia Aleatoria when a Gamester is Installed into a goodly Dignity to make him capable to pay the Scores of that which he had lost with a bad Hand And yet the Man Died in the Kings-Bench and was not Solvent The Lord Keeper intending to put of Dr. Scot from this place besought for the remove of those most worthy Divines Dr. White or Dr. Hall or to Collate it upon Dr. Warner the most Charitable and very Prudent Bishop of Rochester But he was so terrified for giving this good Counsel that he writes now he knew his Graces Resolution he would alter his Opinion and would be careful in giving the least Cause of Jealousie in that kind again Yet it is a received Maxime Defuturos eos qui suaderent si suasisse sit periculum Curt. l. 3. Certainly with others this might work to his Esteem but nothing to his Prejudice And I dare confidently avouch what I knowingly speak that I may use the Words of my industrious Friend Mr. T. F. in his Church History That the Solicitation for Dr. Theodore Price about Two Months after was not the first motive of a Breach between the Keeper and the Duke the day-light clears that without dusky conjectures no nor any Process to more unkindness then was before which was indeed grown too high The Case is quickly Unfolded Dr. Price was Country Man Kinsman and great Acquaintance of the Lord Keepers By whose procurement he was sent a Commissioner into Ireland two years before with Mr. Justice Jones Sir T. Crew Sir James Perrot and others to rectifie Grievances in Church and Civil State that were complain'd In Executing which Commission he came of with Praise and with Encouragement from His Majesty that he should not fail of Recompence for his Well-doing Much about the time that the Prince return'd out of Spain the Bishoprick of Asaph soll void the County of Merioneth where Dr. Price was Born being in the Diocess The Lord Keeper attempted to get that Bishoprick for Dr. Price But the Prince since the time that by his Patent he was styled Prince of Wales had Claimed the Bishopricks of that Principality for his own Chaplains So Dr. Melburn and Dr. Carlton were preferr'd to St. Davids and Landaff And Asaph was now Conferr'd upon Dr. Hanmer his Highness's Chaplain that well deserv'd it A little before King James's Death Dr. Hampton Primate of Armach as stout a Prelate and as good a Governor as the See had ever enjoy'd Died in a good old Age. Whereupon the Keeper interposed for Dr. Price to Succeed him But the Eminent Learning of Dr. Usher for who could match him all in all in Europe carried it from his Rival Dr. Price was very Rational and a Divine among those of the first Note according to the small skill of my Perceivance And his Hearers did testifie as much that were present at his Latin Sermon and his Lectures pro gradu in Oxford But because he had never Preach'd so much as one Sermon before the King and had left to do his calling in the Pulpit for many years it would not be admitted that he should Ascend to the Primacy of Armach no nor so much as succeed Dr. Usher in the Bishoprick of Meth. To which Objection his Kinsman that stickled for his Preferment could give no good Answer and drew of with so much ease upon it that the Reverend Dr. Usher had no cause to Regret at the Lord Keeper for an Adversary Neither did Dr. Price ever shew him Love after that day and the Church of England then or sooner lost the Doctors Heart 214. It is certain that all Grants at the Court went with the Current of my Lord Dukes Favour None had Power to oppose it nor the King the Will For he Rul'd all his Majesties Designs I may not say his Affections Yet the L. Keeper declin'd him sometimes in the Dispatches of his Office upon great and just Cause Whereupon the King would say in his pleasant Manners That he was a stout Man that durst do more than himself For since his Highness's return out of Spain if any Offices were procur'd in State of Reversion or any Advouzons of Church Dignities he interpos'd and stopt the Patents as Injurious to the Prince to whose Donation they ought to belong in just time and preserv'd them for him that all such Rewards might come entire and undefloured to his Patronage Wherein his Highness maintain'd his Stiffness for that foresight did procure that his own Beneficence should be unprevented And he carried that Respect to the Dukes Honour nay to his Safety for notice was taken of it that he would not admit his Messages in the Hearing of Causes no not when his chief Servants attended openly in Court to Countenance those Messages to carry him a-wry and to oppress the Poorest and whose Faces he had never seen with the least wrong Judicii tenax suit neque aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit as Capitolinus makes it a good Note of Maximus He would believe his own Judgment and his own Ears what they heard out of Depositions and not the Representation of his best Friends that came from partial Suggestions Such Demands as are too heavy to ascend let them fall down in pieces or they will break him at the last that gives them his Hand to lift them up In this only he would not stoop to his Grace but pleas'd himself that he did displease him And being threatned his best Mitigation was That perhaps it was not safe for him to deny so great a Lord yet it was safest for his Lordship to be Denied It was well return'd For no Arrand was so privily conveyed
hopeful Marriage When the Eyes of all our 〈◊〉 were set upon the Infanta of Spain he took into his House as it is formerly remembred a Spaniard by Birth and a Scholar John Taxeda by whose Conversation he grew expert in the Spanish Grammar in the Castilian Pronunciation and in the Knowledge of those Authors that in Ten Weeks he could not only understand the most difficult Writers of that Nation but was able to Entreat with the Ambassadors without an Interpreter How much will Fruit upon in one Mans Intellectuals before anothers who hath the advantage of so much Sun and Warmth in his Brains Now when the Glorious Nuptial Torch was in Election to be lighted from the Neighbour Kingdom of France he endeavour'd to make himself expert in that quaint and voluble Language and by parling often with a Servant whom he had listed into the Check of his House for that purpose a Frenchman that was continually at his Elbow in Three Months he was as ready at it to Read Write or Speak as he that had lyen Liegier Three years for it at Paris And to Evidence that he had a publick Soul in every thing where he put his Finger as he had caused a Translation of our Liturgy out of Latin into Spanish to be finish'd by Taxeda and Printed it at his own Costs so to go no less in his Preparations for this French Association he encourag'd a most able Divine Mr. Delaun Minister of the French Church in Norwich to turn that Excellent Liturgy into his Country Language which was effected and the accurate Translator greatly both Commended and Rewarded Hereupon how it hapned that our Liturgy now made legible to the French did clear the Church of England even to the Conscience of its Enemies especially from the gross Slanders of Fugitives that had gone out from us is a passage that may challenge Publication with the Attendance of its Circumstances 216. His Majesty having in the behalf of his Son begun the woing part to Madam Henrietta Maria with due Ceremony of State The Queen Mother Moderatrix of this and all other Solemn Negotiations in France at that time bethought seriously to have this Happiness and high Honour setled upon her Daughter And her First prudential forecast was not to loiter out time with a Spanish Pause nor to endanger the forfeiture of a Bond of such Royal Love for want of payment of Courtesie at the due day Therefore she dispatch'd Marquess Fiatte afterward the great Financer and Monsieur Villoclare one of the principal Secretaries Embassadors extraordinary into England to remove all Obstructions by their Commission and wise management of it and to entwine the Rose and Lilly upon one Matrimonial Stem When they Landed the King had removed himself from New-Market to Trinity College in Cambridge where he gave Audience to those Embassadors providing to their welcom this Grace more then ordinary That he receiv'd them where his choicest Darlings the liberal Arts were round about him Now that the Conferences about this Marriage were gone so far and seemed as it were to be over the last Fire and sit for Projection his Majesty would have the Lord Keeper taken into the Cabinet and to make him known by a Mark of some good Address to the French Gallants upon the return of the Embassadors to London he sent a Message to him to signifie that it was his pleasure that his Lordship should give an Entertainment to the Embassadors and their Train upon Wednesday following it being Christmass-Day with them according to the Gregorian Prae-occupation of ten days before our Account The King's Will signified the invitement at a Supper was given and taken Which was provided in the College of Westminster in the Room Named Hierusalem Chamber but for that Night it might have been call'd Lucullus his Apollo But the Ante-past was kept in the Abby as it it went before the Feast so it was beyond it being purely an Episcopal Collation The Embassadors with the Nobles and Gentletlemen in their Company were brought in at the North-Gate of the Abby which was stuck with Flambeaux every where both within and without the Quire that strangers might cast their Eyes upon the slateliness of the Church At the Door of the Quire the Lord Keeper besought their Lordships to go in and to take their Seats there for a while promising in the Word of a Bishop that nothing of ill Rellish should be offered before them which they accepted and at their Entrance the Organ was touch'd by the best Finger of that Age Mr. Orlando Gibbons While a Verse was plaid the Lord Keeper presented the Embassadors and the rest of the Noblest Quality of their Nation with our Liturgy as it spake to them in their own Language and in the Delivery of it used those few Words but pithy That their Lordships at Leisure might Read in that Book in what Form of Holiness our Prince Worshipp'd God wherein he durst say nothing savour'd of any Corruption of Doctrine much less of Heresie which he hoped would be so reported to the Lady Princess Henrietta The Lord Embassadors and their Great Train took up all the Stalls where they continued about half an Hour while the Quire-men Vested in their Rich Copes with their Choristers sung three several Anthems with most exquisite Voices before them The most honourable and the meanest persons of the French Attended all that time uncover'd with great Reverence except that Secretary Villoclare alone kept on his Hat And when all others carried away the Looks of Common Prayer commended to them he only lest his in the Stall of the Quire where he had sate which was not brought after him Ne Margarita c. as if had forgot it 217. At the same time among those Persons of Gallantry that came into England to make up the Splendor of the Embassage and were present at this Feast d'Amours as some of themselves call'd it there was an Abbat but a Gentleman that held his Abbacy â—lla mode de France in a lay Capacity He had receiv'd the Gift of our Service Book and to requite the Doner having much of a Scholar and of ingenuous Breeding he laid aside all other business to read it over Like a Vowed Person to another Profession he was not hasty to praise it but suspended his Sentence till he might come in Place to see the practice of it It was well thought of by him that the Tryal of the soundness in Religion consists not all together in the Draught of a Book but in the motion likewise and Exercise of it The Abbat made his mind known to the Lord Keeper by Sir George Goring now Earl of Norwich that he would gladly be present in the Abby of Westminster upon our Christmass Day in the morning to behold and hear how that great Feast was solemnized in our Congregations which heard very ill beyond the Seas for Profaneness Whereas the Book for Uniformity of Publick Prayer which he had receiv'd though
it was not set off with much Ceremony to quicken Devotition yet it wanted neither a stamp of Reverence nor the metal of Godliness Yet he would be careful in Launching out so far in Curiosity to give no Scandal to Catholicks whose Jealousie might perhaps suspect him as if he thought it lawful to use both ours and the Church of Rome's Communion Therefore he made suit to be placed where none could perceive him and that an Interpreter of the Liturgy might assist him to turn the Book and to make right Answers to such Questions as fell by the way into his Animadversions None more forward then the Lord Keper to meet the Abbat in this Request Veritas oculatos testes non refermidat The Abbat kept his hour to come to Church upon that High Feast and a Place was well fancied aloft with a Latice and Curtains to conceal him Mr. William Beswell like Philip Riding with the Treasurer of Queen Candace in the same Chariot sate with him directing him in the Process of all the Sacred Offices perform'd and made clear Explanation to all his scruples The Church Work of that ever Blessed day fell to the Lord Keeper to perform it but in the place of the Dean of that Collegiate Church He sung the Service Preach'd the Sermon Consecrated the Lords Table and being assisted with some of the Prebendaries distributed the Elements of the Holy Communion to a great multitude meekly kneeling upon their knees Four hours and better were spent that morning before the Congregation was dismiss'd with the Episcopal Blessing The Abbat was entreated to be a Guest at the Dinner provided in the College-Hall where all the Members of that Incorporation Feasted together even to the Eleemosynaries call'd the Beads-men of the Foundation no distinction being made but high and low Eating their Meat with gladness together upon the occasion of our Saviours Nativity that it might not be forgotten that the poor Shepherds were admitted to Worship the Babe in the Manger as well as the Potentates of the East who brought Rich Presents to offer up at the shrine of his Cradle All having had their comfort both in Spiritual and Bodily Repast the Master of the Feast and the Abbat with some few beside retired into a Gallery The good Abbat presently shew'd that he was Bred up in the Franco-Gallican Liberty of Speech and without further Proem defies the English that were Roasted in the Abbies of France for lying Varlets above all others that ever he met We have none of their good word I am sure says the Keeper but what is it that doth empassion you for the present against them That I shall calmly tell your Lordship says the Abbat I have been long inquisitive what outward Face of God's Worship was retein'd in your Church of England What Decorums were kept in the external Communion of your Assemblies St. Paul did Rejoyce to behold good Order among the Colossians as well as to hear of the stedfastness of their Faith cap. 2.5 Therefore waving Polemical Points of Doctrine I demanded after those things that lay open to the view and pertain'd to the Exterior Visage of the House of God And that my Intelligence might not return by broken Merchants but through the best Hands I consulted with none but English in the Affairs of their own home and with none but such as had taken the Scapular or Habit of some Sacred Order upon them in Affairs of Religion But Jesu how they have deceiv'd me What an Idea of Deformity Limm'd in their own Brain have they hung up before me They told me of no composed Office of Prayer used in all these Churches by Authority as I have found it this day but of extemporary Bablings They traduc'd your Pulpits as if they were not possest by Men that be Ordein'd by imposition of Hands but that Shop-keepers and the Scum of the people Usurp that Place in course one after another as they presum'd themselves to be Gifted Above all they turn'd their Reproaches against your behaviour at the Sacrament describing it as a prodigious Monster of Profaneness That your Tables being furnish'd with Meats and Drinks you took the Scraps and Rellicks of your Bread and Cups and call upon one another to remember the Passion of our Lord Jesus All this I perceive is infernally false And though I deplore your Schism from the Catholick Church yet I should bear false Witness if I did not confess that your Decency which I discern'd at that Holy Duty was very allowable in the Consecrator and Receivers 218. My Brother Abbat says the Lord Keeper with a Smile I hope you will think the better of the Religion since on Christ's good Day your own Eyes have made this Observation among us The better of the Religion says the Abbat taking the Words to relate to the Reformed of France nay taking all together which I have seen among you and he brought it out with Acrimony of Voice and Gesture I will lose my Head if you and our Hugenots are of one Religion I protest Sir says the Keeper you divide us without Cause For the Harmony of Protestant Confessions divulg'd to all the World do manifest our Consonancy in Faith and Doctrine And for diversity in outward Administrations it is a Note as Old as Irenaeus which will justifie us from a Rupture that variety of Ceremonies in several Churches the Foundation being preserv'd doth commend the Unity of Faith I allow what Irenaeus writes says the Abbat for we our selves use not the same Offices and Breviares in all Places But why do not the Hugonots at Charenton and in other Districts follow your Example Because says the Lord Keeper no part of your Kingdom but is under the Jurisdiction of a Diocesan Bishop and I know you will not suffer them to set up another Bishop in the Precincts of that Territory where one is establish'd before that would savour of Schism in earnest And where they have no means to maintain Gods Worship with costly Charge and where they want the Authority of a Bishop among them the people will arrogate the greatest share in Government so that in many things you must excuse them because the Hand of constraint is upon them But what constreins them says the Abbat that they do not Solemnize the Anniversary Feast of Christ's Nativity as you do Nay as we do for it is for no better Reason then because they would be unlike to us in every thing Do you say this upon certainty says the Keeper or call me Poultron if I feign it says the other In good troth says the Keeper you tell me News I was ever as Tully writes of himself to Atticus in Curiositate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to search narrowly into Foreign Churches and I did never suspect that our Brethren that live with you were deficient in that Duty For the Churches of the Low-Countries of Heidelberg Helvetia Flassia Breme and others do observe a yearly Day to the
Memory of our Saviours Birth I conceive the like for Geneva For when Calvin had retir'd to Basil some mutation about Holy Feasts was made in Geneva Upon his Return thither again Hallerius both in his own and in Musculus his Name complains that the Celebration of that Memorable Feast was Neglected Calvin Returns him Answer the Epistle is extant dat anno 1551. Jan. Sancte testari possum me inscio ac ne optante quidem hanc rem â—uisse transactam Ex quo sum revocatus hoc temperamentum quaesivi ut Christi Natalis celebraretur vestro more But will you have the Judgment of Protest out Divines when they were in a Globe and Collection together from all Quarters At the Synod of Dort convened about six years past all the Divines with the Assessors from the States intermitted their Sessions against the Feast of Christ's Nativity with 〈◊〉 Suffrages and the Reason is given in plain Words Sessio 36. Decem. 1â— Quia to tempore Festum Natalis D. N. Jesu Christi instabat propter cujus celebrationem c. It will be the harder for those of the Religion in France to Answer for this Omission Yet Judg more Charitably then to think they do it only out of Crossness to disconform to your Practise He that runs backward further then he need from his Adversary plays his Prize like a Coward And I use to say it often that there ought to be no secret Antipathies in Divinity or in Churches for which no Reason can be given But let every House sweep the Dust from their own Door We have done our endeavour God be Praised in England to Model a Churchway which is not afraid to be search'd into by the sharpest Criticks for Purity and Antiquity But as Pacat. said in his Paneg in another Case Parum est quando caeperit terminum non habebit Yet I am confident it began when Christ taught upon Earth and I hope it shall last till he comes again I will put my Attestation thus far to your Confidence says the Abbat that I think you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven So with mutual Smiles and Embraces they parted 219. Paulo Majora The next was the greater grapple upon Terms Political and Scholastical between the Lord Keeper and Mounsieur Villoclare who is mention'd before The King was now at White-Hall and the French Agents plied it to concord Conditions for the Royal Marriage And who so busie to trouble the Scene with a new part not concern'd in the Plot of the Comedy as our Nimble-headed Recusants The Secretary Villoclare was accounted and not mistaken to be a servent Zealot in his own Religion which our English had learnt by resorting daily to Mass in the Embassadors House These found Access unto him and sighed out their Grievances before him that their Priests who adventur'd to come to them for their Souls Health were Executed for Traytors and themselves were set such Fines for their Conscience that they were utterly impoverish'd How happy should that Honourable Person be that would skreen them from the scorching of this Persecution That his Lordship had Opportunity for his Power and his Piety could not want will to enter into a Motion for a relaxation of their Miseries among such Articles as were to be Granted for the Honour and Happiness of the approaching Nuptials The Secretary heard them and condoled with them promis'd his Pains and to be an earnest Proctor in their Cause holding it most meritorious to go or run on such an Errand And he sell to his work in good earnest and ask'd such large concessions for his Clients or rather challeng'd such Grace with horrid Liberty then Petition'd for it that the King was observ'd to begin to be cooler in the Treaty for the Marriage then he had been The Lords that plied it beyond the Seas at the Lâ—â—r had not discouraged the Embassadors before they set forward but rather pleased them with hopes of English Courtesies and condescentions And I fear they were perswaded into too much confidence for I have heard it often from the Followers of the Earl of Carlile that after Articles had been drawn and Engross'd some things were Erazed some things Interlaced which never had his Lordships Approbation Our Courtiers at White-Hall through whose Counsels and Resolves the Grants of Monsieur Villoclare were to pass though directly they did dot yield to him yet his driving was so furious that they declin'd to deny him and shift for themselves that the first Storm of his Passion might not fall upon them Therefore they told him they could not assure him he had prevail'd till he had spoke with the Lord Keeper whose Duty it was to Examine such things upon his Peril what were sit or not sit for the King's Conscience Honour and Safety before the Great Seal were put to The Keeper heard of all this and sent to the Duke as he had wrote to him before Cab. p. 95. I shall be in a pitiful perplexity if his Majesty shall turn the Embassadors upon me altogether unprovided how to Answer But he cast it up into this short Sum that the disappointment of this Vexatious Solicitor so far engag'd must light upon himself and the displeasure of all the French that wish'd it good speed He was not to learn that a Magistrate in his Place must have a strong back to bear the Burthen of Envy So he Collected his thoughts into rational preparations and was provided for a Bickering which began on the Eighth of January and held long And it must be warned that the Report of it which follows extends the length above that which past between them on that occasion The Secretary Villâ—are after he had parted from the Lord Keeper and brought his business to a justifiable Maturity through the direction of some of our best Lawyers as the way was chalked to to him had Audience with the King and Entreated with his Majesty upon Terms of greater moderation then formerly he had done which he confest was brought about from a Conference with the Lord Keeper And told his Majesty That Counsellor had given him small content in a long Argument vext between them for he had Preach'd to him till he was weary to hear his Divinity tho' it was Learned and of more Acuteness then he expected in that Cause but unsatisfactory to Catholicks as could be fram'd Yet he made him amends with such Counsel in the end that now he knew upon what Ground he stood what Laws and Statutes were in force against that model of Mercy which he had urg'd and how the Clemency and Power of his Majesty was retrench'd by them Therefore as he hoped to find his Majesty Sweet and Gracious so his Majesty should find him tractable that the Thrice Noble and Primary design about which he came might not hover any longer in suspence Blessed be the Reduction of things to this good pass said the King And that Aequanimity might not slip the Knot his
Prince his Heir and the whole Flower of the Realm with that Infernal Powder-Plot Not reveal it said I Yes more it was hatch'd in their Brain and confirm'd with their Blessing If Clanculary Confession was cast out of the Church of Constantinople for one Mans Lust What just cause have we to gagg it for forty Mens Treason I would have him hang'd for his Wit that should invent a way to discharge a Pistol that might give no Report Now let me forfeit my Credit if wise Men will not say That Conspiracies buzzed into the Ear and imposed never to be detected upon the deepest Obligations of Faith Church-Love Merit c. are far more dangerous than Powder and Shot that kill and crack not Would you in good earnest have us Repeal our Laws of Correction against such dangerous Flambeaux Were not that to break down our Walls and to let in the fatal Horse with his Belly-full of Enemies If they plead that there is no such danger in them now Let them tell it to deaf Men. We know and can demonstrate that the most of Contrivances against our State have been whetted upon the Grind-stone of Confession Our Sages that made the Laws to blow away the Locusts into their own Red-Sea have given us a taste of their Malice in the Preface of the Statute Eliz. 27. That they came into the Land to work the Ruine Desolation and Destruction of the whole Realm Therefore marvel not if some have lost their Lives that have tempted the Rigour of those Laws Neither doth it move us that our Fugitives thereupon have sprinkled their Calenders with new Martyrs What if Jeroboam's Priests had pass'd their own Bounds and come to Jerusalem where it is likely they would have been cut off for Enemies and Rebels should their Names have been crowded into the Catalogue of the good Prophets that were stoned by Tyrants Beshrew your Superiours beyond Seas that Conjure up such Spirits to come into our Circle It grieves us God knows our Hearts to Execute our Laws upon one ot two in Seven Years for a Terror to others But Prudence is a safer Virtue then Pity And it is far better our Adversaries should be obnoxious to our Tribunal then we to theirs by the Thraldom of our Nation which is the drift of those unnatural Emissaries And if the Venetians that are under the Obedience of your Church have banish'd some of that Stamp and irrevocably out of their Territories Nay if your selves in France did sometimes Expel the same Faction accept it favorably from us who will never be under that Obedience if we Banish all 227. Hold out your Great Courtesie my Lord to a few Words more The Answering of an Objection or two will not stay you long And before I conclude I will deal you a good Game to make your Lordship a Saver if you will follow Suit You please your self Sir because you ask no more Liberty for your sacrifical Priests in our Land then the Reformed Ministers enjoy with you in France But the Comparison doth not consist of equal Terms The Protestants receive a benefit of some Toleration in your Realm to stop the mischief of Civil Wars and to settle a firm Peace among your selves It is the Reason which your Wisest and most candid Historian Thuanus doth often give and Mounsieur Bodin before him p. 588. Reip. Ferenda ea Religio est quam sine interitu reip auferre non potest If you did not so you would pull up much of your own Wheat with that which you call Tares But such a Toleration in this Kingdom would not only disturb Peace but with great Probability dissolve it In the next place you urge that such a memorable Favour might be done to gratifie the sweet Madam our intended Princess upon the Marriage O my Lord you are driven by Blind Mariners upon a Rock If this could be Granted by the King which you contend for and wereeffected Sweet Lady she would be brought in the Curses of this Nation and would Repent the day that she drew the Offence of the whole Land upon her Head Let me say on the Husbands Part what your Country-man Ausonius says for the Wife Saepe in conjugiis fit noxia si nimia est dos If the Prince should make a Joynter to his Wife out of the Tears and Sorrows of the People it were the worst bargain that ever he made His Majesties Consort of Happy Memory Queen Ann did not altogether concord with our Church Indeed the Diversity between us and the Lutherans among whom she was bred is as little as between Scarlet and Crimson The Colours are almost of the same Dip. But she carried it so prudently that she gave no notice of any dissention Neither ever did demand to have a Chaplain about her of the Lutheran Ordination This were a Precedent for the most Illustrious Madam to follow rather to procure the love of the generality then of a few Male-contents from whom you your self my Lord will have Cause to draw off when I tell you all They deal not with your Lordship sincerely They thrust your whole hand into the Fire and will not touch a Coal with one of their own Fingers They that incite and stir these Motions behind the Curtain dare not upon pain of their Lives ask it in Parliament where they know the Power Rests and no where beside to ratifie the Grant And when they Solicite your Lordship to obtain these indulgences for them in the Court they know you beat the wrong Bush Upon my Faith the Bird is not there Noli amabo verberare Lapidem ne perdas manum Plaut in Curcul Knock not your Fingers against a Stone to Grate them Perchance my Lord you think I have pinch'd you all this while with a streit Boot which you can neither get on nor off Your Lordship shall not depart from me with little Ease if Truth and plain dealing will purchase me to be called your Friend None can Repeal our Laws but his Majesty with the Votes of the three Estates as you term them the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the people And to dispense with the Execution of a Law absolutely and unrestreinedly is as much as to Repeal it which if the King should assay it were null in Law and in Revenge of it in the next Parliament it would be faster bound and perchance the Rigour of it increased But Favour and Mercy may be shewn Praeter sententiam legis in some exempted Cases and to some particular persons Clemency against the Capital Sentence of the Laws is the Kings Prerogative the Life of his Subject when it is forfeit to him he may choose whether he will take the forfeiture Every Varlet says Seneca may kill a Citizen against the Law but then he turns to the Emperor Servare nemo praeter te c. None but the Supreme Majesty can save a Life against the Law Work upon that my Lord and it were a good days work to
extract advantage out of it But wherein lies the way You shall have better Heads then mine to help you if you please to be directed by me None can furnish you with the right Art of it but some of our sage Counsellors of our Common Laws I wish you therefore my Lord to proceed with the special knowledg of the Roman Catholicks that stir most in this Project Let them cull out some of the Learnedest Practisers together Let the King's Attorney General make one for my sake For the rest let your Clients pick out as they like An hundred Crowns among them that is a Fee of five pounds a Man will not be ill bestowed upon them Let them lay their Heads together And I will lose all I am worth if you do not thank me for having referred you to those who will fetch out by their Skill so much to be Granted that you will never be put to Contestation hereafter that you obtain'd much of the King and are never the nearer The Courtiers with whom alone you have had to do to this time have Complemented with your Lordship So could I do likewise give you Large concessions in Words and in Wax but in effect nothing Like Galley Pots Entitled with the Name of Cordials but have Cob-Webs in them and no more My Lord all that I have to say is no more but this will you be lead by me or will you wander still Sir says the Embassador Use me honestly I am a Stranger and while I am in England I will surrender up self to your Directions Nay I will possess our Virtuous and Illustrious Madam that you are a clear dealing Man and of good Faith and most worthy of her Trust when she comes into a strange Land And after a very civil Farewel at the present Mounsieur Villoclare made use of those Instructions For though he Climbed not so High as he looked yet he Climbed better for he stood sure where he could not fall 228. Which Papers came to the King with more satisfaction as he was pleas'd to say then he could have expected Not any Line of Wisdom or Learning could be lost to him who saw as far and as soon as any Man into the Intellectuals of another For as the Lord Bacon wrote his Majesty had a light of Nature which had such readiness to take Flame and blaze from the least occasion presented on the least spark of anothers knowledg deliver'd as was to be admir'd And this was the last present in that kind that the Lord Keeper sent to the King who finding some indisposition of Health retired for fresh Air and quietness to his Mannor of Theobalds VVhere Jacob gather'd up his Feet into the Bed and yielded up the Ghost Gen. 49.33 The Lord Keeper on March 22. being Tuesday receiv'd a Letter from the Court that it was feared his Majesties Sickness was dangerous to Death which Fear was the more confirm'd for he dispatching away in all haste met with Dr. Harvey in the Road who told him That the King us'd to have a Beneficial Evacuation of Nature a sweating in his left Arm as helpful to him as any Fontinel could be which of late had failed And that argued that the former Vigour of Nature was low and spent This Symptome of the Kings Weakness I never heard from any else Yet I believe it upon so learned a Doctors Observation And this might well cause a Tertian Ague and a Mortal when the Spring had Entred so far able to make a commotion in the Humours of the Body and not to expel them with accustom'd vaporation After the L. Keeper had presented himself before his Lord the King he moved him unto chearful Discourse but it would not be He continued til Midnight at his Bed-side and perceiv'd no Comfort but was out of all Comfort upon the consultation that the Physicians held together in the Morning Presently he besought the Prince that he might acquaint his Father with his Feeble Estate and like a faithful Chaplain mind him both of his Mortality and Immortality which was allowed and committed to him as the principal Instrument of that Holy and necessary Service So he went into the Chamber of the King again upon that Commission and Kneeling at his Palat told his Majesty He knew he should neither Displease him nor discourage him if he brought Isaiahs Message to Hezekiah to set his House in Order for he thought his Days to come would be but few in this World but the best remained for the next World I am satisfied says the Sick King and I pray you assist me to make me ready to go away hence to Christ whose Mercies I call for and I hope to find them After this the Keeper now of his Majesties Soul kept about him with as much Diligence as a Body of Flesh could endure He was ever at hand helpful not only in Sacred but in every kind of Duty never from that time put off his Cloaths to go to Bed till his Master had put off his Tabernacle which appear'd in his Looks on Sunday Night when he return'd to VVestminster employed himself Night and Day unless the Physicians did compose his Majesty to rest in Praying in Reading most of all in Discoursing about Repentance Faith Remission of Sins Resurrection and Eternal Life To which the King made Answer sometimes in Latin always with Patience and full of Heavenly Seasoning which Hallowed Works were performed between them on VVednesday as a Preparation to the Passover on Thursday the Fortifying of his Majesties Soul against the Terrors of Death with the lively Remembrance of Christ's Death and Passion in the Holy Communion At which the King made most humble Consession of his Sins craved Absolution rendred the Confession of his Faith before many Witnesses Profess'd he Died in the Bosom of the Church of England whose Doctrine he had defended with his Pen being perswaded it was according to the mind of Christ as he should shortly Answer it before him 229. All this while God did lend him such Strength to utter himself how well he Relish'd that Sacred Banquet of Christ's Body and Blood and how comfortably the Joy of the Holy Ghost did flow into his Soul as if he had been in a way of Recovery And his mournful Servants that saw and heard it rejoyced greatly that unto that time Sickness did not compress his Understanding nor slop his Speech nor Debilitate his Senses and submitted more willingly to God to have their Master taken from their Head because they believed the Lord was ready to receive him into Glory The next day his Soul began to Retreat more inward and so by degrees to take less and less Notice of external things His Custos Angelus as I may call him his Devoted Chaplain stirr'd very little out of the Chamber of Sorrow both to give an Far to every Word the King spake in that extream condition and to give it him again with the Use of some Divine
have seen a Manuscript of Arch-Bishop Abbots stating the Reason of his own Relegation to Ford in Kent the Papers were written with his own Hand to my knowledge wherein he paints the Fickleness of the great Duke to set up and pluck down with these Lines First He wanted not Suggestors to make the worst of all Mens Actions whom they could misreport Secondly He loved not that any Man should stick too long in a Place of Greatness He hit the Nail in that For this Keeper continued the longest in a great Office of any that he had lifted up and did live to use them Which proceeded not from his Grace's Constancy but from the good-liking of the old King But as Symmachus said of Polemio Lib. 2. Ep. 14. Sic amicis utitur quasi sloribus tam diu gratis quà m diu recentibus So my young Lord chang'd his Friends as Men do Flowers he lik'd a Scent no longer than it was fresh Indeed he lookt from his Vassals for more than they could do and hurried to make tryal of those that would do more Thirdly says the Arch-bishop again He stood upon such fickle Terms that he feared his own Shadow and desperately adventur'd upon many things for his own Preservation Too true for by this time he had lost the People in whose good Opinion he thought he stood for the space of Nine Months Alas he had a slight fastning in them for he never got their Love further than his Hatred to Spain procur'd it And that was spent out upon an exacter Information of his bearing at Madrid This was the Jealousie which gave the Lord-Keeper the deadly Stoccada who would not abuse his own Knowledge so far to extol my Lord for his Spanish Transactions which broke the Peace the Credit the Heart of his King and his Patron never to be requited Therefore that he was fallen in less than a Year from the abundance of a great Esteem he thought he might thank the Keeper whose down-right Honesty gave the Example More may be said but once more shall suffice the Duke had attempted with King James that which he threatned now but his Majesty that then was did not allow of it and charged them both to unite and to work friendly together for his Service But that mighty Lord waited the opportunity to root up the Tree which he had gone about to unfasten For commonly the offended Person is an Eye-fore to him that did offend him And such as have done great wrongs are afraid of those whom they have provok'd and can never after affie in them So it was among the Rules of Michael Hospitalius the best of the Chancellors of France and yet in a Pet cashiered from keeping the Great-Seal as Thuanus remembers it Anno. 1568. Principum documentum esse ut iis nunquam serio reconcilientur quos temerè offenderint This as it is related was our Duke's Temper And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities All that he could do to help himself was not by preventing but by retarding a Mischief For though with the Stoick's Fate was inevitable Yet Servius says in 8. Lib. Aen. that his great Poet thought it might be deferr'd though not avoided Two things stuck to the Keeper like Sorrows and gave him all the unrest that he had First He wish'd that his deposing might have come from any hand but his Patrons that raised him before whom he would fall rather than wrestle with him as an Enemy Secondly He had read much to teach him and seen the Proof of it that when Princes call back their Honours more Misery ensues But as yet he stood his ground and did become his Place as well as ever 4. He never made use so much of his whole stock of Worth and Wisdom as in matter of Religion which appears before in the Mazes wherein he led the Spanish Embassador with whom he shisted so cunningly that they could obtain nothing for the Toleration of Popish Recusants but Delays and Expectations from time to time Neither could the Monsieurs squeeze any more out of him against the Ratification of the French Marriage as appears in a bare Fortnight before K. James died witness the Letter written to the Duke March 13. 1624. Cabal p. 105. If your Grace shall hear the Embassador complain of the Judges in their Charges of their receiving Indictments your Grace may answer that those Charges are but Orations of course opening all the Penal Laws And the Indictments being presented by the Country cannot be refused by the Judges But the Judges are ordered to execute nothing actually against the Recusants nor will they do it during the Negotiation And your Grace may put him in mind that the Lord-Keeper doth every day when his the Embassadors Secretary calls upon him grant forth Writs to remove all the Persons Indicted in the Country into the Kings-Bench out of the Power and Reaches of the Justices of Peace And that being there the King may and doth release them at his Pleasure In all this there is no bar against the common Course of Law but Mercy reserv'd to the Royal Pleasure Now what cause had my Lord Duke to defie him by his Secretary Cab. p. 87. That his Courses were dangerous to his Country and prejudicial to the Cause of true Religion Forsooth because he proffer'd a Gap to be opened to the Immunities of the Papists in a desperate Plunge to bring the Prince home safe out of Spain where he stuck fast for want of such a Favour to be shewn to those Complainants Which was a liberal Concession in Promise but no Date set nor observ'd for the Expedition of it And so all that Indulgence which hung in nubibus and never dropt down is frankly granted now and he is commanded by this Warrant that follows to signifie to all Officers to suspend the Laws which are grievous to the Romish Profession dated 1 Car. May the first Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of our dear Brother the most Christian King to grant unto our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any way may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion and every matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these presents Authorize and Require you That immediately upon the receipt hereof you do give Warrant Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as unto all others our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritual as Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be sorborn all and all manner of Proceedings against our said
Subjects Roman Catholicks and every of them as well by Information Presentment Indictment Conviction Process Seisure Distress or Imprisonment as also by any other ways or means whatsoever whereby they may be molested for the Causes aforesaid And further also That from time to time you take notice of and speedily redress all Causes of Complaints for or by reason of any thing done contrary to this our will And this shall be unto you and to all to whom you shall give such Warrant Order and Direction a sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf There was no scrupling of this Order but it must be dispatch'd For though as a great Counsellor the Keeper was to be watchful over the Voices and Affections of the People and that he knew this was not the Course to keep the Subject in terms of Contentment yet he had no power to stop the Tide as in former days My Lord of Buckin would not stay to hear the Arguments of his Wisdom Altissimo orbe praecipuâ potentiâ stella Saturni fortur Tacit. 1 list lib. 5. The Planet of Saturn was in the highest Orb and ruled all the Influence of the Court Where was now the Cavil against the Spanish Match that in the Treaty for it it encroach'd too far upon Religion Indeed my Lord of Kensington writes from Paris Cab. p. 275. The French will not strain us to any unreasonableness in Conditions for the Catholicks And as much again p. 284. Their Pulse in matter of Religion beats temperately So he told us in another Pacquet p. 292. That the French will never abandon us in the Action for the recovering the Palatinate Which of these Engagements were broken last a more solid Question than to ask Which of their Promises were kept first They kept none Some chop out Promises as Nurses tell Tales to Children to lull them asleep As it is in the neat Phrase of Arnobius Somno occupari ut possint leves audiendoe sunt naenioe The Histories of Spain and the Netherlands as well as of England do not spare to touch that Noble Nation that none have taken greater liberty to play fast and loose with Articles and Covenants And as the French were inconstant to us so new Symptoms and new Apprehensions made us variable and inconstant to our selves Now a Letter must be sent to all Magistrates Spiritual and Temporal to cause them to suspend the Execution of all Laws against the Papists At the Term at Reading in November following Divulgation is made in all Courts under the Broad-Seal that all Officers and Judges should proceed against them according to Law After the Second Parliament of King Charles was broken up that is in the Summer that followed the Term at Reading by the Mediation of the French Embassador Marshal Bassampere new Letters come from the King to redintegrate Favours to the Recusants and that all Pursevants must be restrained and their Warrants to search the Houses of Papists taken from them And this continued but till Winter It was safe and just to return quickly again into the High-way of the Law for the shortest Errors are the best Especially in God's Cause Which Vincen. Lirin well adviseth Nos religionem non quo volumus ducere sed quò illa nos ducit sequi debemus We must take up the Train of Religion and come after it and not lead it after us in a String of Policy 5. Private Men may better keep this Rule than such as are publickly employed in the State But though the Keeper had no remedy but the preceding Warrant must be obeyed Yet he tryed his Majesty how his Service would be taken in stopping a Warrant upon another occasion bearing date May 23. Because the sumptuous Entertainment of the Queen and her magnificient Convoy being ready to land would be very chargeable he thrust in his Judgment to advise the King against disorderly Liberality And though he knew the Secretary Conway for no other than a Friend yet he lik'd not his Encroachment upon the Royal Bounty but signifies it in this manner Most dread Sovereign and my most gracious Master I Received this Morning a Warrant from your most Excellent Majesty to pass a Grant under the Great-Seal of England of the Sum of Two thousand Pounds out of the Court of Wards to my Lord Conway for Twenty One Years to come The which I durst not for fear of infringing my Duty to your Majesty and drawing some danger upon my self pass under the Great-Seal before I had made unto your most Excellent Majesty this most humble Representation First The issuing of so great a Lease of such a vast Sum of Money is under your Majesty's Favour and Correction disadvantageous to your Majesty's Service in regard of the time being in the face of that Parliament from which your Majesty is to expect a main Supply Secondly It is I believe without Prsident or Example that Pensions have been granted in Contemplation of Services for Years But for the Party's Life only My Lord of Middlesex his Lease of the Sugars is the only President in that kind which hath hapned during the time of my Service in this Place Thirdly The Assigning of this Pension upon the Court of Wards or any other Place than the Receipt of the Exchequer is directly against the Rules and Orders taken upon mature deliberation by your Father of Blessed Memory Fourthly This great Lord for so be is indeed is in the Eye and the Envy of many Men as your Majesty I fear it will hear e're long As having received more great Favours within these two Years than any Three Subjects within this Kingdom Although I do believe looking up to the hands that conferred them he may well deserve them all Most gracious Sovereign I am not ignorant of the danger I incur in making this Representation But I have put on an irremoveable Resolution that as long as you are pleased to continue me in your Service I will never from this time forth out of Contemplation of mine own Safety or any other carnal Respect neglect voluntarily any part of my Duty to my God or my King Which I suppose I had greatly forgotten without presenting your most Excellent Majesty with this Remonstrance And having perform'd this part of my Duty I shall most punctually obey your Majesty's Direction in this particular For this good Service it was well he had no check yet he had no gra-mercy to seem wiser than those that had prepared the business And though the Patent for that Pension was a flat Violation of good Order yet the Plea was it would be unkind to revoke it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch in the Life of Agis observes it in some Mens Humours Though a thing be ill undertaken it is held a shame to go back This Lord Secretary was the Keeper's cold Friend upon it but he lived not long and quitted his Office before he ceased to live Only some deckings of empty Titles were given him
that he might not faint The most that was disliked in the Letter was that it warn'd the Secretary that he was like to hear himself nam'd among the Grievances of the ensuing Parliament Wherein he did not fail It was no hard thing to Prognostick such a Tempest from the hollow murmuring of the Winds abroad There was not such a Watch-man about the Court as the Keeper was to espy Discontents in the dark nor any one that had so many Eyes abroad in every corner of the Realm What hurt was it Nay Why was it not call'd a Courtesie to awaken a Friend pursued by danger out of prudent Collections Says a wise Senator Tul. Act. 7. in Verrem Judex esse bonus non potest qui suspicione certâ non movetur He is no sound judge of Rumors that gleans not up a certain Conclusion out of strong Suspicions 6. To speak forward After the Queen had been receiv'd with much lustre of Pomp and Courtship which had been more if a very pestilentious Season in London and far and wide had not frown'd upon publick Resorts and full Solemnities a Parliament began Stay a while and hear that in a little which concerns much that followed This is the highest and supereminent Court of our Kings The University of the whole Realm where the Graduates of Honour the Learned in the Laws and the best Practicers of Knowledge and Experience in the Land do meet Horreum sapientiae or the full Chorus where the Minds of many are gather'd into one Wisdom And yet in five Parliaments which this King call'd there was distance and disorder in them all between him and his People Amabile est praeesse civibus sed placere difficile as Symmachus to his Lord Theodosius Our Sovereign had not the Art to please or rather his Subjects had not the Will to be pleased And we all see by the Event that God was displeas'd upon it If he had won them or they had won him neither had been losers Pliny's Fable or Story of the Two Goats Lib. 8. c. 50. Suits the Case The Two Goats met upona narrow Bridge the one laid down his Body for the other to go over him or both had been thrust into the River In the Application who had done best to have yielded is too mysterious to determine Both or either had done well But now we see and shall feel it I believe it is not Love nor Sweetness nor Sufferance that keeps a Nation within the straits of due Obedience it must be Power that needs not to entreat The Scepter can no more than propound the Sword will carry it This Truth was once little worn but now it is upon our backs and we are like to wear it so long till we are all Thread-bare Thucyd. lib. 2. says of Theseus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theseus govern'd Athens being as potent as wise His Wisdom taught the Athenians to keep a good pace but Awe and Potency did bridle and compel them to suffer their Rider or else they would have thrown him King Charles knew how to govern as well as Theseus But he was not so stout I am sure not so strong His Condition in the present stood thus When he was Prince he was the Messenger and the Mediator from the Parliament to extort a War against Spain from his Father Of which Design he was but the Lieutenant before is now become the Captain He sets the Action on foot and calls for Contribution to raise and pay an Army Instead of satisfaction in Subsidies two alone granted towards the charge of the great Funeral past and the Coronation to come they call for Reformation in Government One lifts up a Grievance and another a Grievance and still the Cry continues and multiplies As they spake with many Tongues so I would they could have taken up Serpents and felt no harm The plain Sense of it is those subtile Men of the lower House put the young King upon the push of Necessity and then took advantage of the Time and that Necessity They had cast his Affairs into want of Money and he must yield all that they demanded or else get no Money without which the War could not go on Here was the Foundation laid of all the Discontents that followed A capite primùm computrescit piscis says the Proverb If they had answer'd with that Confidence and Love as was invited from them England had not sat in sorrow as at this day And I will as soon die as retract these words that all Affairs might have been in a most flourishing Estate if the People in that or in any Parliament had been as good as the King Optimos gubernatores hand mediocriter etiam manus remigum juvat Symmach p. 128. The Pilot spends his breath in vain if the Oar-men will not strike a stroke A good Head can do nothing without their Hands If I should hold yet that this King was to be blam'd in nothing I should speak too highly of Humane Nature They that pass through much business cannot choose but incur Errors which will fall under Censure yet it were better under Pardon The most that aggrieved the Council of Parliament was that the King's Concessions for the good of the People came not off chearfully He wanted a way indeed to give a Gift and to make it thank-worthy in the manner of bestowing A small Exception when one grave Sentence from his Mouth did mean more reality than a great deal of Volubility with sweetness and smiling to which I confess they had been fortunately used But when all is done as the Poets say The Muses sing sweeter than the Syrens and a sullen something is better than a gracious nothing 7. And these are instead of Contents For the Chapter that is the business of the Capitol follows The Parliament began and the whole Assembly stood before the King So there was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Job 1.6 but there was another thrust in among them What his Majesty spake than is printed more then once It was not much but enough it was not long but there wanted nothing Good Seed it was yet it came not up well although it was water'd with two showers of Eloquence by the Lord-Keeper the first directed to the Lords and Commons the other to Sir Thomas Crew the Speaker Which will tell the Reader more Truth than is yet come abroad whom I would have to remember Baronius's Caution in his Epistle to the first Tome of his Annals Nihil periculosius est in historiâ quà m cuivis scribeâ—â— in quâcunqae re fidem habere But hear what the King willed to be publish'd to his Parliament by the Mouth of his great Officer My Lords and Gentlemen all YOU have heard his Majesty's Speech though short yet Full and Princely and rightly Imperatorious as Tacitus said of Galbas Neither must we account that Speaker to be short Qui materiae immoratur that keeps himself
for spiteful and seditious therefore not fit to continue but to be dissolv'd Which Resolution being brought to the Clerk of the Crown to dissolve them on the 12th of August the Keeper did never so bestir him since he was born as to turn the Tide with Reasons with Supplications with Tears imploring his Majesty to remember a time when in his hearing his blessed Father had charg'd him to call Parliaments often and continue them though their rashness sometimes did offend him that in his own Experience he never got good by falling out with them But chiefly Sir says he let it never be said that you have not kept good Correspondence with your first Parliament Do not disseminate so much unkindness through all the Counties and Boroughs of your Realm The Love of the People is the Palladium of your Crown Continue this Assembly to another Session and expect alteration for the better If you do not so the next swarm will come out of the same Hive To this the Lords of the Council did almost all concur but it wanted Buckingham's Suffrage who was secure that the King's Judgment would follow him against all the Table So this first Parliament was blasted Et radicis vitium in fructibus nascentibus ostenditur The Root fail'd and the Fruit was unsavory in all the Branches that grew up after it I would the Builders had laid a better corner Stone then the Lord had not smote the great House with Breaches and the little House with Clefts Amos 6.11 Yet I would the King's Aequanimity had suffered it to stand that Concord might have cemented the Hearts of all the Nation to his Government It is a Trivial but a dangerous Oversight Senec. lib 3. de prâ Initia morborum quis curat Providence is not sensible of a little harm when it begins and when the increase is felt the Evil is incurable 17. Now the time came that as the Parliament had chased the Duke so the Duke chased the Keeper Torva Leaena Lupum sequitur Lupus ipse Capellam Was it for Michaias's Crime he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil 1 Kings 22.8 His Fidelity would not let him conceal it Or did his Grace doubt him for under-dealing He could never prove it And he that can leave to be a Friend for Suspicion is justly suspected that he was never a Friend What shall we say to such Men as would fall out and are angry when they cannot find a justifiable occasion This was the Misfortune like Caelius the Orator in Seneca Lib. 3. de irâ c. 8. meeting with one that observ'd him in all that he said and longing for a Quarrel says Caelius Dic aliquid contra me ut duo simus The Keeper could not be provok'd to give the Duke the least jostle All 's one when Power contests there 's no safety for Innocency great Men can maintain their Violence by some colour of Right So the Accusation broke out that this Man had fomented Suggestions against my Lord of Buckingham among the chief Tribunes of the Parliament Wherein the King was satisfied to the contrary while he staid at Woodstock by an Apology that follows drawn up hastily in an hour into short Heads Yet it stuck in the Credulity of those that were remote from the Scene and saw not the Part acted Therefore I believe that some intelligent Man might tell so much to the Observator p. 36. Yet he knows that for an intelligent Man to judge upon Report is worse than to take Judgment of a sick Man's Distemper only by his Water And as intelligent a Man as the Observator himself may have the Infirmity which Longinus imputes to Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 censorious of others partial to himself and insensible of his own Errors But let truth break forth by a Paper which the Lord-Keeper put into the King's Hand Aug. 14. which discloseth all Judex ipse sui totum se explorat ad unguem Ausonius REASONS to satisfie your most excellent Majesty concerning my Carriage all this last Parliament 18. First negatively That I did nothing disserviceably to your Majesty or the Duke For first I never spake at Oxford with any of the stirring Men as was untruly suggested to your Majesty excepting once with Philips with the Privity and for the Service of the Duke And with Wentworth at his first coming to Town and before his coming to the House Who promised and I do verily believe he perform'd it to carry himself advantageously to your Majesty's Service and not to joyn with any that should sly upon my Lord Duke The rest are all Strangers to me and I never spake with any one of them concerning any Parliamentary matters Secondly I did cross the popular way more than any of the Council which I durst not have done if I had intended to run along with them 1. In advising your Majesty knowing how you were engaged to the Queen to reserve to yourself the Execution of the Laws against Recusants at least-wise for a time as at Rycott 2. In maintaining this Advice afterward before the Council at Oxford 3. In lingring and staying the Bill against Recusants 4. In direct Opposition to the Lord Saye in staying the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage which was the Darling of the Active part in the House of Commons Had I intended to run any way with the People I had been a Mad-man to have appear'd in any of these Affirmatively I offer'd my poor Service to your Majesty for the executing of any Directions should be given me in private First I waited upon your Majesty three or four times before your Journey to Dover to know if you would give me any private Directions but received none 2. I waited upon your Majesty and the Duke three several times while the Parliament sat at Westminster and my Answer was still you had nothing to say to me 3. I waited to know if your Majesty had ought to command me privately at Windsor at Bissam at Ricott towards the Oxford Sitting and was ever answer'd as before 4. I did the like to my Lord-Duke at Oxford desiring his Lordship to send me his Commands by any trusty Servant and I would serve him to the utmost of my Power from time to time His Grace said he would send but never sent to me So that if I had any Power in either House I had much the less at this time by reason of the Paucity of the Lawyers who were in the Circuit what use could I make of it without Directions And to tell the plain truth I durst do nothing for fear of offending the Duke otherwise than by Direction Only 't is known that they that were for giving of Subsidies repaired to me as often as to any other Lord who can witness of my Care both in Matters of Subsidies and the Business of my Lord-Duke Rationally it was unsafe for me to stickle at this time without Countenance and
in Psychom upon the Persecuted Church Yet though nothing was alter'd in him to appearance when he was doom'd to resign his Office with such a plausible Dismission pruning away the Circumstances of it I cannot see how the substance of the Act could choose but displease him For whether it come from a white or a black Whip the Wound will be blew The Transactions with which all that remain'd were wound up were first between the Lord Conway and the Lord-Keeper Lastly with his Majesty if they belong let him skip them that doth not like them He that would satisfie Posterity knows not how to leave them out And it will be worth the noting to learn from a wise Man how to manage a broken Fortune One of the first things that Comines praises in King Lewis his Master is Optimòrationem tenebat ex adversis rebus eluctandi To be fallen into great disfavour and yet to come off with no blot of Credit proves him that could do it a great Master in State-wisdom A Boat-swain will tell you That a rotten Ship had need of a good Pilot. On the 15th of October the Lord Conway came to the Lord-Keeper's Lodgings in Salisbury and began thus My Lord His Majesty some four days ago gave me a Command to deliver a Message unto you the which because it was sharp and there might be occasion for change of Councils I forbore to deliver till this Morning That is That his Majesty understanding that his Father who is with God had taken a Resolution that the Keepers of the Great-Seal of England should continue but from three Years to three Years and approving very well thereof and resolved to observe the Order during his own Reign he expects that you should surrender up the Seal by Allhallowtide next alledging no other cause thereof And that withal that having so done you should retire your self to your Bishoprick of Lincoln Answer I am his Majesty's most humble Servant and Vassal to be commanded by him in all things whatsoever The Great-Seal is his Majesty's And I will be ready to deliver up the same to any Man that his Majesty shall send with his Warrant to require it And do heartily thank God and his Majesty that his calling for the Seal is upon no other ground No indeed said Mr. Secretary no other ground that I know Only this last Clause seemeth strange unto me that I should be restrained to my Bishoprick or any place else And I humbly appeal to his Majesty's Grace and Favour therein Because it is no fault in me that his Majesty or his Father hath made such a Resolution Nor do I dispute against it although the King that dead is continued me in the Place after the three Years ended and the King that now is deliver'd me the Seal without any Condition or limitation of Time And therefore deserving no restraint I humbly desire to be left to my discretion which I will so use as shall be no way offensive to his Majesty Lord Conway I conceive it not to be a restraint but to mount in effect that his Majesty intends not to employ you at the Table but leaves you free to go to your Bishoprick Answer My Lord I desire your favourable Intercession for an Explanation of that Point And I beseech your Lordship to move his Majesty that I may attend upon him considering there is no offence laid to my charge to present unto his Majesty two humble Petitions nothing concerning this business in hand but in general the one concerning my Reputation and the other my maintenance Lord Conway I shall move his Majesty in the best Fashion I can for your content therein Answer I thank your Lordship and I doubt not of it and the rather because I vow before God I am not guilty of the least Offence against his Majesty and am ready to make it good upon my Life And I make the like Protestation for any unworthiness done against the Duke whose Hand peradventure may be in this Business Lord Conway I am ever ready to do good Offices and if my Lord of Middlesex had been perswaded by me I believe I had saved him I am the Duke's Servant but no Instrument of his to destroy Men. My Lord I being latly demanded by a great Personage if it were true that your Lord was guilty of such unworthy Practices towards the Duke I answer'd plainly I knew of no such things For which my Lord Conway having receiv'd due Thanks from me he repeated my Answers and my Petition to the King in few words that he might not be mistaken At the parting my Lord Conway spake about the time of Resignation I said it was all one to me if it were before Christmas as good soon as late Then I ask'd his Lordship if I was restrained from the Board before the delivering of the Seal His Lordship answer'd He knew of no such Intent 25. October 16. Waiting on his Majesty by my Duty and Place to go to Church my Lord Conway told me He was now for me I thank'd him and past on to the Church heard the Sermon and at the Anthem after Sermon desir'd him to tell me my Answer He said Well do you long for it And so we went on to the upper-end of the Quire and said to this effect This Morning entring into our dispatches with his Majesty I desir'd him to stay a while that I might relate your Answer to him I told his Majesty that you yielded to his Command with all possible Obedience that you said the King remanded but his own which you were very willing and ready to restore That for the Condition of three Years you would not dispute against it being a way that once you had your self recommended to the late King his Father But for the Clause of retiring to your Bishoprick which seemed to be a restraint and no cause of Offence exprest it wounded you much and you sent it back to his Majesty's Consideration Then I acquainted his Majesty with your Lordship's desire to wait upon him and to present his Majesty without touching upon things settled and resolv'd two Petitions the one concerning your Reputation the other concerning your Estate His Majesty said for the first which is your retiring he meant no restraint of Place but for some Questions that might be renewed and for some Considerations known to himself he intended not to use your Service at the Council-Table for a while until his Pleasure should be further known And for your Estate you had no Wife and Children You had a Bishoprick and his Father to help you to bear the Dignity of your Office gave you leave to hold the Deanry His Majesty intended not to debar you of any of these until he should provide you of a better But he was content to admit you to speak with him when you pleas'd so as you endeavour'd not to unsettle the former Resolutions I gave his Lordship hearty thanks for his friendly and faithful
Carriage of my Petitions and speedy return of an Answer and assur'd his Lordship it was as much Favour from him as I could expect or desire Then I took occasion to kneel afterward and thank'd his Majesty for his gracious Message sent by my Lord who presently told my Lord Conway of it and my Lord told me of it again And that the King left it to me when between this and Allhallowtide to deliver the Seal which he desir'd for the manner to be done most to my Content and Reputation and to have some time to send for him that was to succeed I answer'd I was ready whenever his Majesty would send his Warrant Which my Lord desir'd I would draw up and so we parted 26. I sent upon Tuesday the 18th of October to desire leave to speak with the King and Mr. Tho. Cary sent me word his Majesty would speak with me the next Morning But after Sermon the King told my Lord Conway what I had done and was in a long and serious Discourse with him Then my Lord Conway the King being gone to dinner followed me into the Cloyster and told me what the King had told him And that he conceiv'd his Majesty was afraid that I would press him to yield Reasons of those two Acts of his the removing me from the Seal and my abstaining from the Board That his Lordship found the King much troubled thereat and as a Friend nay as a Christian man he advised me by way of Counsel not to do so because it would much perplex the King and do me no good I answer'd That I should falsifie my Word to his Lordship if I should speak unto his Majesty upon any other Points than those of my Reputation and Means And should not come near those forbidden Rocks unless it were in one Point which I did intend to move but with his Lordship's Approbation and that was to preserve as much the Honoar of the King as mine own that for the manner of wishing my forbearance for a time from the Council-Board his Majesty laying nothing to my Charge would not be pleas'd to lay it as a Command by his Secretary but leave it to my Discretion who would be sure to use the matter as to give his Majesty no Offence That the rest of the Points were matters of means which I repeated to my Lord Conway one by one And his Lordship said He thought verily the King would grant them every one And his Lordship telling me again of his fear of the King's Offence if I should endeavour to unsettle his Resolution and that the King might fall sharp upon me I answer'd That his Lordship knew I had neglected the time to wrangle with the King which should have been done upon the first message Against which I had two unanswerable Objections The first that the King that dead is released me of the Restraint to three Years in my Office and continued me in the Place four Years The second that the King my Master delivered me the Seal as absolutely as his Predecessors did to other Keepers and Chancellors without reviving or mentioning any such Condition But that I had waved of all Objections and submitted at the first word to relinquish my Place And for sharpness or the like word which passed from his Lordship on Sunday last or that the King wisht my absence from the Board lest Matters might be further question'd his Lordship said he remembred it not I said Nec timeo nec opto it was a thing I did neither fear like a guilty Man nor rashly desire like a vain-glorious Man But my wishes were to retire to the Country as without a Charge by the King 's own Confession so as near as may be without any punishment which concern'd the King in Honour I thought as much as it did me For God never destroys his Creature but for some Sin And if his Majesty did think the losing of my Place did disquiet me to give him satisfaction I vowed and protested it did not which my Lord-Duke also had under my hand And that with his Majesty's leave and favour and some consideration had of my Fortunes I was willing to leave the Seal Only I expected I should remain a Councellor tho' lest to my discretion when to attend and be respected by the Lords from time time as a Member of the Board My Lord said He conceiv'd it no otherwise and that I might promise my self all respect from that Table and his Majesty in that kind Then said I my Lord There remains no more but that I shew a Letter to your Lordship written to his Majesty if you like it which shall speak all my mind because I will be utterly silent when I come at Evening before his Majesty save in preferring my Petitions in which your Lordship did encourage me Which Letter in the Copy his Lordship read over and carried the Authentick with him And so we parted 27. After Dinner his Majesty took the Letter and read that which followeth Most gracious Sovereign HAving done your blessed Father the best Service I was able while he lived I am sure such as was acceptable to him and some good Service at his Death and being now fitted with a great deal of Industry to do some Service to your Majesty in your great Affairs yet it is your Royal Pleasure to displace me not for any Crime or Unserviceableness but to satisfie the Importunity of a great Lord. But I am ready with all Submission to bow myself to the Pleasure of God and my King It is in your Majesty's Power to say to me your Vassal as a Greek Emperor did to an Arch-bishop Ego te Furne condidi ego te destruam I cast my self down at your Majesty's Feet and do render your Majesty my unexpressible Thanks that it hath pleased your Majesty to discharge me of this great Place without giving me any cause at all to use an Apology Yet being still haunted with the old Aspersions in Court the which were they true in any part would fret and tear my Soul in pieces give me leave dread Sovereign to make this last protestation in the sight of that God who must judge you and my Accusers if any such there be another day that in all my Carriage in the last Parliament I am not guilty in Thought Word or Deed of any one Act Advice Speech or Counsel disserviceable to your Majesty or any way diverting that end which your Majesty proposed unto us concerning that Assembly Upon the same protestation I likewise avow before God and your Majesty that I am not conscious of the least Unfaithfulness against my Lord-Duke by way of insinuating encouraging or abetting any one Clamour or Aspersion against his Grace or by omitting any one friendly Word or Action upon any opportunity I found to do him Service Your Majesty can tell how I put my Life into his Hand and Power above a Year since in the Business of the Spanish Embassadors
And what Plot could I have against his Grace in the Meeting at Oxford when I oppos'd it at Hampton-Court and Ricot and would have had it put off at Woodstock That I am as mere a Stranger as any Lord that serves your Majesty to all those disaffected Persons that appear'd so opposite to your Royal ends in the House of Commons That I never spake in all my Life with any of them excepting one and at one time only and that by Order and Commission concerning any Parliamentary-business whatsoever That I am content if at any time admitted to my Answer I shall be sufficiently convicted in any of these Premises or any other Particular included under any of these to renounce your Majesty's Favour as long as I live and which is the only Hell upon Earth to me never look on your face again But if all these Informations against a poor Bishop that so served your Father in his Life and at his Death be grounded only upon Suspicion Malice or Misapprehension and be cried down as they needs must be by all the Members of the one and the other House pity me dread Sovereign and let me retire with the comfortable Assurance of your Majesty's Favour that I may spend my days quietly in the Service of my God in serving whom as I resolve to do I shall never fail to serve your Majesty whom God Almighty prosper with all Success in this World and with all Happiness and eternal Glory in that to come 28. The Letter being read He was call'd for to the King immediately and had access to make his Petitions His Requests were just modest and suitable to his Condition and the King's Answers Princely and Prudent The Petitioner ask'd first for his Majesty's Grace and Favour in general His Majesty granted it and gave him twice his Hand to kiss 2. The Petitioner humbly thanking his Majesty for his gracious Promise to take away none of his Church-Preferments till he had given better in lieu thereof besought his Majesty to keep the same benevolent Mind towards him The King said It was his Intention 3. The Petitioner besought his Majesty to remember his Father's Promise made before all the Lords that whensoever he took away the Seal he would place me in as good a Bishoprick or Arch-Bishoprick as he could a Promise not only seconded but drawn from your Father first by your Majesty The King said There was no such Place yet void when any fell then it would be time to make this Request unto him 4. The Petitioner besought that his Majesty would dismiss him freely and absolutely without any Command from the Table but to leave it to his discretion to forbear The King said He ever intended it so and never said a word to the contrary but expected he would not offend by voluntary Intrusion 5. The Petitioner besought that his Majesty would declare unto the Lords that he had willingly and readily yielded to his Majesty's Pleasure and that I part in your Favour and good Opinion and am still your Servant The King said He would but says he I look that no Petitions be made for you by any Man at that time but only for my Favour in general 6. The Petitioner besought that his Majesty in his good time would make his Atonement with my Lord-Duke either upon or without Examination of those Informations which the Lord-Duke had receiv'd against him The King said It became not him a King to take up the Quarrels between his Subjects And that the Duke had never exprest any such Enmity against him before his Majesty The Petitioner thank'd his Majesty for the last part of the Answer which revived him not a little as did a short Letter lately received from the Countess his Grace's Mother which he besought the King to read and 't was this Noble Lord I Must not forget my Promise to your Lordship I have had large Conference with my Son about you And he tells me that the King is determin'd to put another into your Place But for his own part he 〈◊〉 he is in Love and Charity with your Lordship And that he thinks your Lordship 〈◊〉 leave the Place better than you found it and that you have done the King good 〈◊〉 in it For the rest I shall give you better Satisfaction when I see you next than I 〈◊〉 do by Letter In the mean time I am sorry there should be any unkindness betwixt your Lordship and him that is so near to me and that wisheth you both so well Mar. Buckingham Burleigh Octob. 12. The Petitioner went on and besought that whereas by the King his Father's direction he had bought a Pension no new one but the fame that was paid to Viscount Wallingford of 2000 Marks per Annum and had disbursed 3000 l. down for it with which his Majesty was acquainted and lik'd it that his Majesty would be pleased either to buy the Pension of him for the Sum laid out and extinguish it or to assign it to be paid him out of the Tenths and Subsidies of the Bishoprick as before he had appointment to receive it out of the Hamper The King said Assignments were naught but he would take order with his Treasurer either to pay it or buy it as should be found most convenient 8. The Petitioner besought that his Majesty would please to bestow the next Prebend in Westminster that was void upon his Library-keeper as his Father had promis'd or to let him resume his Books again The King said it was full of Reason 9. The Petitioner besought that his Majesty would please to ratifie a Grant made by his Father of four Advousons to St. John's Colledge in Cambridge whereof two he had bought with his Money and two the King gave him for the good of that Society The King said He would ratifie the Grant and give way to amend any Errors in the Form or in the Passing 10. The Petitioner besought that he might have leave to retire to a little Lodge lent to him by the Lord Sandys where my Lord Conway may receive the Seal when his Majesty commanded it in his Journey towards Windsor The King granted it Lastly The Petitioner besought that the King would not be offended at him if upon his discharge reports were made that he was discontented which he protested he was not giving over so comfortably in his Majesty's Favour The King said He would do him that Justice and that he little valued Reports And with a sweet Countenance gave him his Hand to kiss with a gracious Valediction 29. Poets use to have quaint Allusions in their Fictions as when they tell us that Pallas struck Tiresias blind but gave him a Staff to walk with Quo veluti duce vestigiis inoffensis graderetur Politia Miscel p. 80. So the King had set the Keeper but a Week's Period to keep his Office but gave him good words to carry him merrily home And certainly his Majesty meant real Performance of all
into the bottom of the Sea and fetch up Sponges so The Righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Job 17.9 68. Neither did it deject the Bishop to be made a Gazing-stock by Disparagements The King's Coronation and his second Parliament began together at Candlemas and he was warned by Letter to serve at neither A Coronation being usually accompanied with a General Pardon should have cast a Frown upon none Yet his Place was not granted him to do his Homage among the Spiritual Lords nor to assist the Archbishop at the Sacred Parts of that high Solemnity as Dean of Westminster It is arbitrary and at the King's Pleasure to range that Royal Ceremony as he likes best to follow former Presidents or wave them to intrust what Ministers he likes in the Management except some Tenure or old Charter give admittance to some persons without exception Otherwise in the very principal performance says venerable Saravia De Christ Obed. p. 139. Ab Episcopo traditur corona quod potest furi à proceribus But the Dean of the Collegiate Church of Westminster did attend as a specal Officer at the Coronation of K. James after the manner of Deacon to the Archbishop of Canterbury it was Dr. Andrews which could not be granted him by Prescription for there was no Dean nor any such Dignity in the Church at the Coronation of Q. Elizabeth But upon the new Foundation Anno 3. of that Queen the Dean was intrusted with the Custody of K. Edward's Crown and the other Regalia and Decorum was kept thereupon to give him a great Employment of Assistance on that day Yet the Regalia were kept in a strong place of that Church long before For I find in Baron anno 1060. par II. That Pope Nicholas the Second gave a Charter to that Abby Ut sit repositorium regalium insignium What a busie Fisher was this that would have an Oar or a Net rather in every Boat Could not the Kings of England without him appoint the fittest place for the Custody of the Ornaments of their Imperial Majesties He that was so kind to dispose who should keep the Crown did mean That the King should not wear it without his Leave and Courtesie And let it be his Fault to be impertinent and to meddle with the keeping of Royal Treasure that did not concern him What is their Crime that have carried them quite away both Crown and Scepter and Robes from their ancient Sacrary I would that had been all This was wont to be the Mark of him that opposeth and exalts himself above all that is called GOD Dixi Dii est is 2 Thess 2.4 But what 's the matter that I have almost lost my self in this Loss I was about to tell that Bishop Williams must not wait in the Honourable Place of the Dean at the Coronation but in a Complement he was sent to Name one of the Twelve Prebendaries to serve in his room This was devised to fret him and to catch a Wasp in a Water-trap Bishop Laud was a Prebendary at this time and the Substitute intended at Court to act in the Coronation If Lincoln should Name him he had been laugh'd at for preferring the man that thrust himself by And if he did not Name him and no other he had been check'd for inscribing one of a lesser Order in the Church before a Bishop to so great a Service But his Wit saved him from either Inconvenience He sent the Names of his Twelve Brethren to the King resigning it up to His Majesty to elect whom he pleased A Submission which Climacus would call Sepulchrum voluntatis a dead Obedience without a sensible Concurrence And he stirred no more either by Challenge or Petition to do that eminent Office of the Deanery in his own Person but says in his Letter to the King That he submitted to that Sequestration for so he calls it It is wise to sit down when a man can trouble no Body but himself if he moves Especially I affect the Lesson which Erasmus gives in an Epistle p. 222. Pulchrius est aliquando modestia quam cansâ superare It is handsomer sometimes to excel in Modesty than to win a Cause 69. Other Reasons sway'd this circumspect man to carry it with no such Indifferency that he was not called to the Parliament But to do Honour to the King and to save his own Right nay the common Right of Peers he took a middle way between Crouching and Contumacy He call'd it His Majesty's Gracious Pleasure and was in earnest that he esteem'd it so to spare his Presence at the Parliament but he expostulated to have a Writ of Summons denied to no Prisoners no nor condemned Peers in the late Reign of his blessed Father Cab. p. 118. that accordingly he might make a Proxy which he could not do the Writ not receiv'd And he struggled till he had it in his own way and entrusted it with the Lord Andrews Bishop of Winchester it being the last Parliament wherein that famous Servant of God sate and the last year of his Life But the Mr. W. Sanders tells us p. 143. of his Annals of King Charles That Lincoln at this time continued not a Peer but a Prelate in Parliament Res memoranda novis Annalibus atque recenti historiâ Juven Sat. 2. This is a pitiful matter for what Bishop of Lincoln could be a Prelate in those days and not a Peer Is it his meaning that he did not sit among the Peers Nor did he sit among the Prelates in Convocation but by Proxy he sate in both places as Peer and Prelate A Letter sent from him to the King and dated March 12. will clear this matter and greater things or else it had not been publish'd 'T is large and confident searing the Duke's Greatness no more than the Statuary Work of a vast Colossus But as Portius Latro says in Sallust Gravissimi sunt morsus irritatae necessitat is 'T is no marvel if Necessity break good Manners which will break through Stone Walls says the Proverb And much Provocations attends not much whom it displeaseth The Letter follows Most Mighty and Dread Soveraign IT becometh me of all the rest of your Subjects having been so infinitely obliged to Your Majesty to cast my self down at your Feet and oppose no Interpretation Your Majesty shall be pleased to make of any of my Actions whatsoever Howbeit before the receipt of my Lord Keeper's Letter that I had carried my absence from the Parliament with as much Humility and Respect to Your Majesty as ever Subject of England did towards his Soveraign The delivery of my Proxy to the first Bishop Your Majesty named I excused mannerly to Your Majesty but with a private Reason to my Lord Keeper not to be replied against The second Lord Bishop is directly uncapable of that part of my Proxy which concerneth the House of Convocation These two Lords now named
by Your Majesty are without exception Were it not divulged in the Upper House that I am to have a Proctor thrust upon me against all Presidents and that I dare not refuse him because I am guilty of I know not what Crimes When I wrote unto Your Majesty humbly as became me my Letter deliver'd by Your Majesty to the Duke was publish'd by him as an Effect of a dejected and guilty Conscience When I shall obey your Majesty in the disposal of my Proxy my L. Duke may use that Act also not only to serve himself which I desire he should with all my Heart but principally to wound and deprave me Displeasures of Favourites which are without Ground are also without End Hoc habent animi magnâ fortunâ insolentes quos laeserunt oderunt His Grace hath told Your Majesty that I call'd the Chapter at Westminster against the12 th of May to have a Colour to come to the Parliament whereas the Chapter is appointed to be held at that day by the Statutes of the College He hath told Your Majesty that I held correspondence with the Earl of Bristol from whom I have received neither Letter or Message these two years as I will answer it with my Head He hath told Your Majesty and all the World beside that I stirred the Lower House at Oxford and have my secret Instruments against his Grace even in this Parliament If he be able to prove either of these Charges I will lose not only my Bishoprick which his Grace hath threatned against the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom to take away from me but withal my Life also My Case Dread Soveraign is miserable and the more because it is not mine alone Your Commands come immediately in your own Name and therefore must be readily obeyed Your Graces are streined through the Hands of another and therefore are either not at all as in my Case or not so purely and sincerely received And when Your Majesty punisheth pardon a Truth plainly deliver'd which you were wont to love Dread Soveraign you do it not like your self because you do it not your self A King be he never so severe when he chasteneth his Subjects doth punish them with Justice because they are his Subjects but yet with Mercy because they are his own An angry Lord that makes bold with the King's Authority lays on Load as upon Men and that without Mercy as upon the Subjects of another It was a Complaint of Vinius Galba's Favourite and it is most worthy Your Majesties remembrance Minore licentiâ grassatus esset T. Vinius si ipse imperasset Nunc subjectos nos habuit tanquam suos viles ut alienos And in my case for the present if I should stand upon my Right and refuse Your Majesty I must expect all Severity because another hath your Rod. If I shall yield and obey I must hope for no acceptation because another holds the Garland And for this other if I seek him my Letters are shew'd and I am made foul and guilty If I let him alone I am deprived of the Sun and the Rain the ordinary Graces and Influences of Your Majesty Lastly When I know and all the World beside that I sink only under the causeless Malice of a Subject yet doth that great man wash his Hands and publish to the vexation of my honest Soul That I lye buried under the immediate Hatred of my Soveraign And therefore with an humble Protestation against Fear of Punishment which cannot fall upon my Innocency or Hope of Favour sure to be kept back by the Greatness of my Adversary I do out of religious Duty and mere Obedience to Your Sacred Majesty and no other Respect whatsoever send this Proxy for my L. of Winchester which I humbly beseech Your Sacred Majesty to direct not to be sent to his Lordship until such time as there shall be Use thereof c. 70. Such as knew the Duke of Buck. Metal will say that this was like to be answer'd with a Mischief But it may be his Grace gave the other the more Liberty to write what he would because he had stopt his Mouth from speaking in Parliament Which was a Benefit For Athenagoras was not deprived of Athens but Athens was deprived of Athenagoras There is much Weight in the worth of one man And much might have been expected from one that was so active and well versed to stop the Breaches of Contentions if he had been used and sought to The Duke was ill advis'd to keep them out of the House by threes and fours of whose Opposition he was jealous and could not tye up their Tongues that fell upon him by hundreds Sir Edward Cook Sir T. Wentworth Sir Robert Philips were prick'd to be High-Sheriffs of Buckingham York Somerset Shires to put them into Incapacity to be Members of the Commons-House What said our Bishop to it being in a merry Pin when one told him For certain he should be restrain'd from his Place in the House of Peers What then Am I made High-Sheriff of Huntington-shire Such minute Policies are frivolous and may serve among Huntsmen to save the life of a Hare when a sew of the old Dogs are tied up and not brought into the Field But were there now enow able men in both Houses though half a score were spar'd to follow their Game without changing This was that Parliament that spent the best part of 18 Weeks in drawing up a Charge and prosecuting it against the L. Duke What should this Bishop have done there being neither fit for the offensive nor defensive part How far he was from intending to offend he exprest in a Passage about his Proxy that he desired the Duke should serve himself by it with all his Heart And I heard him my self dispute it with one of the sharpest Antagonists of his Grace in the time of the Session and stagger him That it was the safest way for the Publick Good to desist from that vexatious Charge with this subtle Similitude That if a Beast were got into a Field of Wheat if the Neighbors ran in and hunted it about with their Dogs they would tread down more Corn than five Beasts could devour if they were let alone So to spend so much Time and Pains upon a Charge against one Peer did let Opportunity run by wherein many good Laws might be made and lost the Common-wealth more than it could gain by this Impeachment Neither would he displease the King to appear against a Lord that was unto him in a manner his whole Court. Una fuit nemus arbor Ovid. And as Illustrius the Pythagorean records it that Tyberius the Emperor wrote his Letter thus for Polemo the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that will do Polemo wrong let him consider if he can give me Battel So His Majesty had wrapt up the Lord Duke as it were in his own Royal Robe to preserve him Yet if the Bishop had been in the
of God and because all that he is and hath is God's cannot render what he owes unto God in equality of Justice And all that he speaks of a Father in regard of his Children between whom Justice in one Acception doth not intercede he borrows out of Suarez Suarez out of Cajetan Cajetan out of Aquinas 2 vol. qu. 57. art 4. not art 8. as he misquotes him But he adds The King out of his own Brain who is but a metaphorical Father Benevolentiâ animo pater est naturâ rex pater non est says Saravia lib. 2. c. 12. without the Authority of his Authors nay flatly contrary to Aquinas in that place for he allows that Justice and Law may be stated between Father and Son Says he As the Son is somewhat of the Father and the Servant of the Master Justum non est inter illos per commensurationem ad Alterum sed in quantum uterque est homo aliquo modo est inter eos justitia He goes on That beside Father and Son Master and Servant there are other degrees and diversities of Persons to be sound in an Estate as Priests Citizens Souldiers c. that have an immediate relation to the Common-wealth and Prince thereof and therefore towards these Justum est secundum perfectam rationem justitiae So Suarez lib. 5. de leg c. 18. Some will say that Tribute is not due by way of Justice but by way of Obedience Hoc planè falsum est contra omnes Doctores qui satentur hanc obligationem solvendi tributa ubi intervenit esse justuiám And which is more than the Judgment of meer Man it is St. Paul's Rom. 13.7 For this cause pay your tribute render therefore to every man that which is his due Redditio sui cuique is the very definition of Justice And he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice to intercede between Fathers and their Children Ephes 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this is just This is the first Observation how he falsifieth his Learning The next is this That his end to bring us to the case of Creatures and Children towards the King is to take away all Propriety as it appears clearly by what he must draw out of his own Authors Suarez ubi supra Man cannot render to God his due by way of Justice Quia quicquid est vel habet totum est Dei Apply it with Dr. Maynwaring to the King Whatsoever the Subject is or hath is all the King 's by way of Property Aquinas in the place before Quod est filii est patris ideo non est propriè justitia patris ad filium Apply it to the King Justice doth not interceed between the King and his People because what is the Peoples is the King 's This is the Venom of this new Doctrine that by making us the King's Creatures and in the state of Minors or Children to take away all our Propriety Which would leave us nothing of our own and lead us but that God hath given us just and gracious Princes into Slavery As when the Jews were under a meer Vassalage their Levites their Churchmen complain to God The Kings of Assyria have dominion over our bodies and over our cattel at their pleasure Nehem. 9.37 Thus far the Bishop making very even parts between all that were concern'd in the Question And because the Chaplain's Doctrine had drawn up a Flood-gate through which a Deluge of Anger and Mischief gush'd out His Majesty left him to the Censure of his Judges No Wonder if one of the best of Kings did that Honour to his Senate which one of the worst of Emperors did to that at Rome Magistratibus liberam jurisdictionem sine interpellatione concessit says Suetonius of Caligula Neither had it been Wisdom to save one Delinquent with the loss of a Parliament Lurentius Medices gave better Counsel than so to his Son Peter Magis universitatis quà m seorsùm cujusque rationem habeto Polit. lib. 4. Ep. p. 162. Yet Dr. Maynwaring lost nothing at this lift his Liberty was presently granted him by the King his Fine remitted the Income of one Benefice sequestred for three years put all into his own Purse and was received in all his ordinary attendance again at Court with the Preferments of the Deanry of Worcester and after of the Bishoprick of St. Davids so willing was the King to forget that Clause in his Sentence past by the Lords which did forbid it 76. No man else suffering for so common a Grievance it made a glad Court at Whitehall The Parliament used their best Counsels and Discretions at the same time to secure their Lives Livelihoods and Liberties from such arbitrary Thraldom thereafter Nunquam fida est potentia ubi nimia est We must live under the Powers which God hath set over us but are loth that any man should have too much Power Sir Ed. Coke made the motion which will keep his noble Memory alive to sue to the King by Petition the most ancient and humble Address of Parliaments that His Majesty would give his People Assurance of their Rights by Assent in Parliament as he useth to pass other Acts viz. That none should be compell'd to any charge of Tax or Benevolence without agreement of Lords and Commons nor any Freeman be imprison'd but by the Law of the Land with some such other-like which are enter'd into many Authors The Duke of Buck. was forward to stop this Petition in the House where he sate for which the Commons having not yet meddled with him resolved to give him an ill Farewel before their parting Neither did he recover his old Lustre nor carry any great sway among the Peers since his dishonourable Expedition to Rhe for evil Successes are not easily forgotten though prosperous ones vanish in the warmth of their Fruition And not only that Duke and the Lord Privy-Seal with other great and able Officers did repulse this motion with all main but the King 's learned Council were admitted to plead their Exceptions against it Six weeks were spent in these Delays and Hope deserred made their hearts sick Prov. 13.12 and their Heads jealous who follow'd the cause that there was no good meaning to relieve their Oppressions At last the difficulty was overcome the Petitioners had one Answer from the King and look'd for a fuller and had it in the end So much sooner had been so much better as our Poet Johnson writes to Sir E. Sackvile of some mens Good-turns They are so long a coming and so hard When any Deed is forc'd the Grace is marr'd The Subjects ask'd for nothing now which was not their own but for Assurance to keep their own which had it been done with a Smile benignly and cheerfully and without any casting about to evade it it had been done Princely It is not impossible to find an honest Rule in Matchiavel for this is his Beneficia
illa quibus conciliatur plebis animus cò usque ne differantur donec ea praestare cogi videantur Passing right is Sir J. Haward's Hist of H. IV. p. 4. says he The Multitude are more strongly drawn by unprofitable Courtesies than by churlish Benefits Among those that argued for this Petition de Droit I shall remember what past from two eminent Prelates Archbishop Abbot offer'd his own Case to be consider'd banish'd from his own Houses of Croydon and Lambeth confin'd to a moorish Mansion-place of Foord to kill him debarr'd from the management of his Jurisdiction and no cause given for it to that time harder measure than ever was done to him in his Pedagogy for no Scholar was ever corrected till his Fault was told him But he had fuller'd the Lash in a Message brought by the Secretary and no cause pretended for it And what Light of Safety could be seen under such dark Justice The Bishop of Lincoln likewise promoted the Petition but he was a great Stickler for an Addition that it might come to the King's Hands with a mannerly Clause That as they desir'd to preserve their own Liberties so they had regard to leave entire that Power wherewith His Majesty was entrusted for the Protection of his People which the Commons disrelish'd and caused to be cancell'd This caused the Bishop to be suspected at first as if he had been sprinkled with some Court-holy-water which was nothing so but a due Consideration flowing from his own Breast that somewhat might be inserted to bear witness to the Grandeur of Majesty A Passage in Xenophon commends such unbespoken Service lib. 8. Cyrip says he Hystaspus would do all that Cyrus bade but Chrysantus would do all which he thought was good for Cyrus before he bade him 77. In the Debate of this great matter among the Lords this Bishop hath left under his own Pen what he deliver'd partly in glossing upon a Letter which His Majesty under the Signet sent to the House May the 12th partly in contesting with the chief Speakers that quarrel'd at the Petition As to the former First the King says That his Predecessors had never given Leave to the free Debates of the highest Points of Prerogative Royal. The Bishop answered The Prerogative Royal should not be debated at all otherwise than it is every Term in Westminster-hall Secondly the Letter objects What if some Discovery nearly concerning Matters of State and Government be made May not the King and his Council commit the Party in question without cause shewn For then Detection will dangerously come forth before due time Resp No matter of State or Government would be destroyed or defeated if the Cause be exprest in general terms And no danger can likely ensue if in three Terms the Matter be prepared to be brought to Trial. Ob. 3. May not some Cause be such as the Judges have no Capacity of Judicature or Rules of Law to direct or guide their Judgment Resp What can those things be which neither the Kings-bench nor Star-chamber can meet them Obj. 4. Is it not enough that we declare our Royal Will and Resolution to be which God willing we will constantly keep not to go beyond a just Rule and Moderation in any thing which shall be contrary to our Laws and Customs And that neither we nor our Council shall or will at any time hereafter commit or command to Prison for any other cause than doth concern the State the Publick Good and Safety of our People Resp Not the Council-Table but the appointed Judges must determine what are Laws and Customs and what is contrary to them And this gracious Concession is too indefinite to make us depend upon that broad Expression of Just Rule and Moderation Especially be it mark'd That all the Causes in the Kingdom may be said to concern either the State the Publick Good or the Safety of the King and People This under Favour is abundantly irresolute and signifies nothing obtain'd Obj. 5. In all Causes hereafter of this nature which shall happen we shall upon the humble Petition of the Party or Signification of our Judges unto us readily and really express the true cause of the Commitment so as with Conveniency and Safety it be fit to be disolosed And that in all Causes of ordinary Jurisdiction our Judges shall proceed to the delivery or bailment of the Prisoner according to the known and ordinary Rules of this Land and according to the Statutes of Magna Charta and those six Statutes insisted on which we intend not to abrogate or weaken according to the true intention thereof Resp To disclose the cause of Imprisonment except Conveniency and Safety do hinder are ambiguous words and may suffice to hold a man fast for coming forth And if all Causes be not of ordinary Jurisdiction as I hope they are who shall judge which be the extraordinary Causes We are lost again in that Uncertainty So likewise for the Intention of Magna Charta and the six Statutes who shall judge of the true Intention of them That being arbitrary we are still in nubibus for any assurance of legal Liberty So the Concessions of His Majesty's Letter were waved as unsatisfactory 78. And the Bishop went on to shew that the Contents of the Petition were suitable to the ancient Laws of the Realm ever claimed and pleaded expedient for the Subject and no less honourable for the King which made him a King of Men and not of Beasts of brave-spirited Freemen and not of broken-hearted Peasants The Statute in 28 Edw. 3. is as clear for it as the day at Noon-tide That no man of what state or condition soever shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor taken nor imprison'd nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due process of Law I know one Lord replied to this lately That the Law was wholsom for the good of private men and sometime it might be as wholsom for the Publick Weal that the Soveraign Power should commit to Custody some private man the cause not being shew'd in Law upon more beneficial occasion than a private man's legal Liberty And though the Hand of Power should seem to be hard upon that one person a Benefit might redound to many First be it consider'd if no Law shall be fixt and inviolable but that which will prevent all Inconveniencies we must take Laws from God alone and not from men Then be it observ'd that to bring the exception of a Soveraign Power beside the Laws in Cases determined in the Laws takes away all Laws when the King is pleas'd to use and put forth this Soveraign Power wherewith he is trusted and makes the Government purely arbitrary and at the Will of the King So shall this Reason of State eat up and devour the Reason of Laws Shew me he that can how the affirmation of a Soveraign Power working beside the Law insisted upon shall not bring our Goods and our
Indictments four and forty times lib. 7. c. 21. Compare him with this Lord and he escaped well whose Suits hung upon him like Fruits on the Citron Tree as Servius says upon Virgil's Ecloges Omni tempore plena est pomis quae in eâ partim matura partim acerba partim in store sunt It bore some ripe ones and some sour ones some in the Knot and some in the Blossom altogether No matter though the Bishop came off without a Scratch in Credit it was enough that he was impoverish'd for Costs he could get none And it was held to be a Shred of Policy to make him spend away his Substance for by taking away as much Earth as they could about the Tree it would cool the Root The Bishop looking into the Throng and variety of such bad Humors and Dispositions was ashamed to see so many in holy Calling brought up in Faction and Flattery Qui pro hierophant is sycophantae esse decreverunt as Erasmus writes to Bovillus Ep. p. 61. Yet further he could let no Lease chiefly if it were devolved to him by expiration of Years or Lives but that the Tenants or their Heirs sought to enforce him to their own Conditions before His Majesty and Privy Council Who ever saw such a thing in the face of former times A Gentlewoman by the Interest of a Daughter match'd to one of a mean Place in the Presence-Chamber pursued him many years to enforce his agreement to her own asking and never prevailing had leave to take out her Penniworths in ill words Like the Poet's Frogs lib. 6. Metamor Quamvis sint sub aquâ sub aquâ maledicere tentant But of all Attempts those Suspicions plied him on the weak side that chased him upon the wrong scent of Corruption and taking Rewards He had undergone as strict an Inquisition as ever was of Thirteen Commissioners to search if he had taken but one Bribe while he kept the Seal and they broke up with a Non-inventus yet is now impeach'd for taking the Gratuity of a Saddle a piddling Trifle for all that the Enquiry about it cost more than a good Stable of Horses with all their Furniture and when all came to all it was found the Prosecutor importun'd the Steward of the House to receive it who laid it by and never presented it to his Lordship because it was too gaudy for his use The Complainant was a Doctor preferred by this Patron to a good Parsonage thro' the intercession of Sir W. Powel the Bishop's Brother-in-Law For the rest I leave the man in Obscurity without a Name as St. Hierom said to Heliodor Grown into note by defending an Heresie Quis te oro ante hanc blasphemiam noverat So let this Party sink in Forgetfulness that his Memory may not be preserv'd by the advantage of his Vice If Homer had spared a few Verses Thersites had never been known Any one may gather now out of the Premisses that when one single person was beset on every side it was not an ordinary Fortitude nor an ordinary Wisdom that broke all their Ranks But was it not a craven Spirit that turned loose so many Mirmydons against him Honour is least where Odds appear the most says our great Poet Spencer Lib. 2. Cant. 8. He had no Favour but Innocency to bear him out as those places under the Poles have no Light in Winter but from the whiteness of the Snow upon their own Ground not the least â—eam of the Sun shining upon them And which is eminent charitable and generous he never shew'd himself offended against any of these Adversaries when the Brunt was over An Observator as he calls himself the Wolf that howls against this Bishop both living and dead remembers what pleasant and courteous words he had with him anon after he came out of the Tower Upon which I will compare him once again with Melancthon according to Camerarius p. 57. Nullum dictum aut factum alicujus tam duriter unquam accepit ut ab illius benevolentia ac familiar itate recederet And my L. Bacon tells us well what a Gallantry it is For in taking Revenge a man is but even with his Enemies in passing them over he is superiour Had this Example been follow'd by Churchmen and by Theophilus Churchman our Foes had not enter'd in upon us at those Gaps which our selves did cause Bishops driving out Bishops was that which the Devil watch'd for says Euseb lib. 8. Praep. Evan. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Jars and Jostlings and ambitious Contentions of the chief Fathers among themselves their Inheritance was given to Strangers 87. Our Bishop being Storm-beaten without intermission he requested the Lord Cottington to inform him what he should do to get his Peace and such ordinary Favours as other Bishops had from His Majesty this noble Lord returned him answer in two Points First the Lustre wherein he lived the great Company that resorted to him and his profuse Hospitality were objected that it was not the King 's Meaning that one whom he had pluck'd down should live so high Secondly His Majesty did not like that he should be so near a Neighbour to Whitehall but would be better contented if he would part with his Deanry In the first he took him out a Lesson which he would never learn to live in a dark and Miser-like fashion The Italians have had a meeting of Academicks at Rome called Compagna della Lesina the thrifty Congregation of which Profession he could never have been a Member Nor did he abate from living in Decorum and Liberality in the worst Times as Mr. A. Cowly writes to him in his Miscellanies p. 13. You put Ill Fortune in so good a Dress That it out-shines other mens Happiness Yet this was no ill Counsel if it had been follow'd for Princes will dislike it must not be call'd Envy if any live fortunately under their Punishment As both Dion lib. 58. and Tacitus An. lib. 6. have made it known in the Case of Junius Gallio that being banish'd he was brought back to Rome and confin'd Quia incusabatur facilè toleraturus exilium delectâ insulâ Lesbo nobili amaenâ As to the other touch to relinquish his Deanry he was utterly deaf unto it whosoever ask'd it was a hard Chapman but he did not stand so much in need of his Ware to grant him his Price St. Austin it may be would teach him otherwise out of a Punick Proverb which was used he says where he lived Ut habeas quietum tempus perde aliquid And they tell us from the Caravans that travel in Arabia if they meet a Lion they leave him one living Creature for a Prey and then they may go on their Journey without Fear But this man thought otherwise of a most wakeful Eye and able Observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oduss w. Mnestorides that saw behind him and before him For says he what Health can come from such a Remedy
Am I like to be beholden to them for a setled Tranquility that practise upon the ruine of my Estate and the thrall of my Honour If I forfeit one Preferment for fear will it not encourage them to tear me piecemeal hereafter Memet ipse non deseram was well resolv'd of Philotus in Curtius Nor will I set so great a Mulct upon mine own Head What hurt can my Neighbourhood do to the Court and being so seldom in Town No greatness of Power when it would extreamly abuse it self which is not glad to think of Means how to avoid the note of Injustice In this there is not one syllable to accuse me much less to make me guilty It is not my case alone but every mans even his that is the prompter and puts it into the King's Head to ask it If the Law cannot maintain my Right it can maintain no mans This was his Constancy Nor did he let go his fast-hold in this Deanry till the King received it from him in Oxford anno 1644. As Livy says of Spain Hispania primò tentata est à Romanis sed postremò subacta It was the first Kingdom the Romans invaded and the last they conquered So this was the first of Lincoln's Preferment set upon and the last which he delivered up Since he would not be forced out of it it was carried with a Stratagem to keep him from it for in four years he was not admitted to preach a Sermon in Lent before the King the course for his Place being usually on Good-Friday and three years together when he came to the Chapters or to the Election to see it fairly carried for the choice of the best Scholars he could not rest above a day in the College but Secretary Coke either viva voce or by his Letters which are yet saved commanded him from the King to return to his Bishoprick As terrible a Prophet as Elisha was to the Noble-man of Samaria upon the Plenty of Corn predicted Thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eat of it 2 Kin. 7.2 This might fret the Bishop but not affright him And he ask'd the Secretary so stoutly what Law he brought with him to command him from his Freehold that the good old man was sensible that he had done an Injury In fine the chief Agitant saw that this Tryal upon so firm a Courage was uneffectual and ridiculous Neither was it a little Breath that could shake him from his Stalk like a Douny Blow-ball 88. Yet the more he did thrust off this Importunity the more it did follow him and a finer shift was thought of to esloign him from Westminster Archbishop Abbot had Directions from the King to press him to Residency upon his Bishoprick by the Statute the Archbishop of the Province having the oversight of the said Statute to see it put in execution And some words were dropt in the Archbishop's Letter to signifie that it was presumed that being in the Place of Lord Keeper he had pass'd a Dispensation under the Great Seal for himself to enjoy the Commenda of the Deanry for his better accommodation in that Office His Answer hereunto as followeth is his own in every word Most Reverend c. TO that Apostyle touching my Dispensation to reside upon the Deanry of Westminster the said Deanry being as all Commenda's are in the Eye of the Law united for the time of my Incumbency upon this poor Bishoprick I can say no more than what your Grace knoweth as well as I that I use the said Dispensation very modestly and sparingly and that I am resolved in this and every thing else to give His Majesty all Satisfaction in a due and reasonable order to his Royal Orders which no Bishop doth yield more exactly than myself He breaks no Law who pleads a Privilege nor doth that Subject transgress in Order who produceth a just and lawful Dispensation to exempt him from the same as your Grace by daily experience well knoweth For other matters that proceed from wrong and sinister Informations I do intend to procure one or other of my good Lords of the Council to let His Majesty understand how these things are misconcerved as soon as I can As first to represent unto His Majesty that no L. Keeper can issue forth a Dispensation of this nature nor any other person whosoever but either His Majesty immediately by his Regal Right and Eminency of Power or your Grace by the Act of Parliament So as my being Lord Keeper did contribute no more to this Patent than it did to all others that is to say Wax and Impression Your Grace may call to mind we were four Governours of several Colleges made Bishops at one time and two of these had their Colleges put into their Commenda's as well as myself And in your Graces Memory also in the most exact times of Ecclesiastical Government when those Promotions were manag'd with the Advice of that great and wise Prelate the Lord Bancroft a Bishop of Bristol kept the Deanry of York together and a Bishop of Rochester this of Westminster during his Incumbency with many others the like Neither did the then L. Keeper procure the Faculty to hold this Deanry for the late King my dear Master of Blessed Memory was not about London but at Rutford in Nottingham-shire when he granted me this gracious Favour Nor to deal ingenuously with your Grace was it gained by mine own Power or Interest with His Majesty but by the Mediation of His Majesty now reigning and by the Duke of Buck. together with some inducement of the deceased King not unknown to some yet living and howbeit my Faculty is without distinction of Time yet am I no chaser of mine own Time but do confine my self to those particular seasons which the local Statutes of the Colledge and my express Oath to perform the said Statutes do enjoyn me That is to say the two Chapters and the great Festivals All which space of time doth not being taken in the disjunct spaces make a Bishop a Non-resident by any Law I know of nor consequently infringe his Majesties Instructions though a man had no Dispensation which Instructions require only that Bishops should reside but we presume that it is no part of his Majesties gracious intention that they should be confined or as it were imprisoned in their Bishopricks I hope to procure a fair representation of these particulars to his Majesty and thereby to obtain his gracious approbation of as much residence as I intend to make in the Deanry Where as your Grace knoweth as well as I in regard of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical and Temporal of preventing Ruins and Dilapidations of Hospitality of Suits in Law of the Church the School the Colledge and the like I have no less necessity of abiding sometimes then upon my Bishoprick and somewhat more because of my Oath So most humbly c. This was enough to satisfie both Statute and Reason Unto which it may
be said as Politian wrote to Herm. Barbarus of a Question wherein he had pleaded for himself Ita argutum ut defendendi ita defensum ut arguendi non sit locus Ep. p. 260. 89. Can he that hath run over these Passages imagine but that such as encamped against the Bishop would beat up his Quarters no more to make him fly his Deanery It is the worst of Miseries to be incurable the heighth of Malice to be implacable The stubborn Spartans had a Proverb says Plutarch Vit. Agis Cleom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though they were in a wrong pursuit it was base to give Ground For this work was never like to be given over but was shifted after a few years into new hands These were a few of the Prebendaries of the later Instalment Volucres ad jussa paratae winged Posts that would fly as far as they were sent who may as well be known by Character as by their Names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aeschylus would say no more of a Fool but that he was his self-undoing Another whom I have heard call'd General Wrangler the Challenger that undertakes all Modern Writers of as much ingenuity as Tertullian's Hermogenes Maledicere singulis officium bonae conscientiae judicat These prefer'd Articles to his Majesty and the Lords of the Council against their Dean for 〈◊〉 government three dozen of Articles yet none to the vantage that their number might supply the nothingness of their weight a few Auger-holes are of too small a bore for a Nest of Wasps to breed in add these Alledgments though Archbishop Laud did manage them at the hearing were of no tack to hold yet sharpned against all Modesty with Insultations and Revilings Some of great magnanimity have been heart-broken that they were drawn to contest for their Honour with a Faction of Grooms or a Conspiracy of more honourable Impeachers To begin with Scipio says Quintil. lib. 11. Prior Affricanus Patrià cedere quà m cum tribuno plebis humillimo contendere de innocentiâ suâ malluit He would retire and leave his Country rather than contend with a Plebeian L. Philip Chabot Admiral of France took such grief says Thuanus at the unkindness of Francis the First to let his Chancellor Poet sift him for Trespasses committed in his Office who had ever been most noble and faithful that he sickned and died It is no longer since than the Twentieth of King James says Archbishop Spotswood Hist p. 541. that Information being put on by the Lord Ochiltry against Sir Gideon Murray Treasurer-Deputy and remitted to the Trial of certain Counsellors Sir Gideon having ever given great proof of his Integrity contracted so deep a Melancholy as neither Comfort nor Counsel could reclaim him and in a few days he departed this Life the King sorrowing that ever he had given ear to such Delations Aemilius Scaurus sped better with his Judges in the Roman Senate that let him say nothing but cast a Scorn upon his Adversary Varius and acquitted him Varii Sucronensis atrocissimam calumniam Aem. Scaurus summâ gravitate contempsit solo contemptu refutavit which Jo. Camero opposeth in his own behalf against one Elias an Advocate of Paris Oper. p. 855. Our Bishop did not look for the Priviledge of Scaurus but was held to his Answer which did no more disquiet his Spirit then to say the Pater-noster nor one grey hair grew on his head the sooner but made himself merry with the Conceit how easie it was to stride over such Urchin Articles No Man would find leisure to read the whole 36 they are so frivolous Taste them all in these First They complain that he came not always in his Habit and came late to Divine Service Answer sometimes both not always 2. He stays Singing-men with him at Bugden He did not invite them and they came with the Sub-deans leave 4. He is not resident often The Charge in former days was that he resided there too much 5. He did not preach in propria personá because he was frown'd at if he were there in propriá personâ The 15th The Dean and Treasurer did not ride progress to keep Courts who was not to ride otherwise by Statute than si velit 23. He made Dr. Hacket his Vicar in the Election 1632. The three Electors may choose their Vicar whom they will at their own pleasure 24. Verses were not hung up in the Hall upon the King's day Anno 1634. The Scholars were corrected for the Fault 26. He calls the Schoolmaster often away keeps him many weeks in the Country and imploys him in his great Affairs to the neglect of his Scholars He never staid with the Bishop above two nights at a time his great business he doth is to buy a Book or to convey a Letter and the School by his Attendance is in an excellent case The daring Courage of Mr. Osbalston troubled the Bishops ill-willers more then all his Friends beside that did negotiate for him For as my Lord Bacon observes A bold person may serve for great use at the direction of a wiser man All the rest of the Articles were goll-sheaves that went out in a suddain blaze and the Bishops triumph was Adversis rerum immersabilis undis Hoart ep l. 1. But because there is nothing new under the Sun I will pluck for a parallel to this in the Life of Padre Paulo Soto and Archangelo his profest Enemies objected against him to Cardinal Severino the Grand Inquisitor First That sometime he kept Company with Hereticks 2. That he wore a Cap upon his head 3. That he wore Slippers after the French fashion 4. That he did not recite Salve Regina at the end of the Mass Flea-bites like the former of which you can see no mark in an hour But says St. Austin Serm. 〈◊〉 de diver Quid refert utrum te plumbum premat an aren◠Nay with good leave it is not all one The Lead will not be removed so soon as the Wind may blow the Sind into their faces that laid it To stay no more upon this the Articles flew away over the Abby like a flock of Wild-geese if you cast but one stone among them yet the Promoters were not one whit dismaid they had laid their Betrs so sure that they would get whether the Game were won or lost If their Articles succeeded they got the day if otherwise it would be worth a Hen and her Chickens to bid defiance to their Dean For every one of his Adversaries had a Recompence given them like a Coral to rub their Gums and make their Teeth come the faster 90. Readers impartial must judge of these things and will be tried at the great Assize of common Discretion whether he that had been so liberal to the structure of the Church and Library had erected some Scholarships their number being a great deal short of the Foundations of Eaton and Winchester whether he deserv'd that they should fly at his Throat
makes of his Master's Court. That it was a Divine Priviledge of the Kings of France that they had the gift of healing and could cure the Stromosi by the touch of their hand Si dedisset providentia ut consilia publica auspicatò inirentur and if they could thrust away flattery and false clamours with their hand it would be the happiest Government in Europe Lib. 2. Pandec fol. 36. This Commission sitting the Bishop of Lincoln's Adversaries thought they had him sure and had found his Laire presuming they could ripen some Trespasses of his in that kind for a Sentence in the Star-Chamber Jungant ur tum gryphes equis c. that had been strange to catch him in an over-sight about the Mammon of Iniquity For the Elogy which Grotius gives Lib. 1. Hist Belg. to William of Nassau was as much this Bishop's as it was that great Prince's Crudelitas avaritia nullo ab ingenio longiùs abfuere But what cannot great Men bring about when there are no Parliaments to overlook them As Tully says of Brutus Philip. 12. Multis in rebus ipse sibi Senatus suit All must be as Brutus will if Brutus will be as absolute as if himself were a Parliament Who but Mr. Ratcliff the King's Attorney for York and we know the Orestes to whom this Pylades was so dear was instructed to prepare a Bill to be put into the Star-Chamber against the Bishop who had laid his ear to the ground to hark after the digging of the Mine and knew the Substance of it before the Draught was fully penn'd Such as are so fortunate in their Discoveries and have intelligence of all Practices against them are the Moral of those fabulous People that are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Tongue some of a strange plantation that could cover all their body with their Ears The charges upon which mr Ratcliff was devising an Information were two the one about the Fees of the Clerk of the Hamper which is according to Sir H. Spelman's Glossary Sport a grandior cui inferuntur pecuniae è sigillatione diplomatum brevium chartarum regiarum proveniâ—ntes which were as good as fixt before he came to be Lord Keeper The other was about Fees in the Episcopal Registry at Lincoln presented for undue in the persons of some Officers but without reflection on the Bishop whom one thing puzzled for he knew not whether there were a Mystery or Madness in it A Prelate or twain were consulted about this Bill of extorted Fees and they bid it good speed which was no less than to pull an old House upon their own heads for the Sums according to the Tables of their own Registries were the same or greater Did they think he would not plead it Communis culpae cur reus unus agor Proper l. 2. el. 10. Did they conceive but he would declare his Cause was theirs and theirs was his Or would they blow up themselves upon their own Deck to blow up him As Justin shews how desperate the Boeotians were in their malice against the Phocians lib. 8. Baeotii tanto odio Phocensium ardentes ut perire ipsi quà m non perdere eos praeoptarent Better had it been for the Reverend Fathers of Holy Orders rather to strengthen than to weaken one another for the Kite might come O holy Lord he came to soon who would make but one Morsel of them altogether 92. But before any Suit could begin the Bishop represented the Case in a Letter to the King May it please your most excellent Majesty BEing much wounded by a pinching and uneven Report drawn up by some Officer of your Majesties Commissioners for the Fees and presented unto your Majesty Jul. 1630. though but very lately come to my knowledge without any touch of the full and satisfying Answer which I had given some three weeks before unto the Lords Commissioners and to others in that behalf Although I am content as Men of My Calling ought to be to pass with the rest of the World through good report and bad yet I am not able to endure that impression which the said Relation may peradventure have wrought in your Majesties breast against me a Bishop that hath serv'd your Father in so near a place while be lived and closed his Eyes when he died and remains still in the number of your poor Chaplains free from the least suspicion of such sordid Avarice as might cause him to spot his Rocheâ— with the exaction of so mean a Sum as 20 l. a year which is the utmost of that pretended Extorsion The Charges prest upon me with many Words but no Matter at all are two The first concerning an Order for Increasing the Clerk of the Hamper's Fees 19 Jac. The second about Fees for Institutions and Resignations taken by the Bishop of Lincoln My Answer for the Clerk of the Hampers Fees consists of these Heads 1. That the King may justly and legally increase the Fees of all Offices in his own immediate donation not limited by Act of Parliament and hath ever been done so which was granted by all the Lords 2. His late Majesty before my coming to the Seal had referr'd the suggestions of the Clerk of the Hamper for this increase of Fees unto those four great Lords who had the Seal in their custody and that their Lordships by their report did allow the same and returned a Certificate unto his Majesty of all the Species wherein the Fees were to be increased which was confessed by two of their Lordships then present 3. This Certificate was recommended to me both by word of mouth from his Majesty and by direction upon a Petition subscribed to my Remembrance by the Secretary of State which Petition the Commissioners might call for from the Clerk of the Hamper who had it for the instructing of his Council and fortifying his Evidence 4. Upon my doubting of the form how this might be done by Law and President the King's Council learned to wit the Attorny and Sergeant did not in the Clerk of the Hanpers only but in the King's behalf satisfie the Court fully in both those particulars which is express in the Order 5. That thereupon the Court being assisted with one or two Judges without examining the Suggestions which the Court supposed to be sufficiently done by the former Referrees the Order was made which Order for the ease of the Subjects doth retrench and cut short very much of the Fees allowed by the former Certificate 6. For Orders made in the High Court of Chancery the Judge for that time being doth not conceive that he is responsable to any Power under Heaven beside the King himself And this was the effect of my Answer concerning that Order for encreasing the Fees of the Clerk of the Hanper My Answer concerning the Fees in the Diocess of Lincolnis wholly omitted in the Report as though I had been only called before the Commissioners but for form and it was to this effect
1. That the Certificate from the Country layeth nothing to my charge 2. That I never gave Direction for receiving of any Fees but took those only which were deliver'd to me by the Register 3. That I conceived the Fees of Lincoln Diocess to be much lower than of any other in England which the L. Wentworth seemed to confess to be so 4. That if the Register did receive 23 s. 4 d. of every Clerk instituted for the Bishop's Fee it was no more than the Table allow'd 5. That the Fees question'd were received by my four immediate Predecessors Bishops Mountain Neale Barlow Chaderton Which four Bishops take up a space of time which extends beyond the Table of Fees And the L. Wentworth said he believed as much and promised to report it 6. My L. of Winchester is able to assure as much that these are the ancient Fees of the Diocess and that I believe my â—â— of London who was beneficed and dignified in this Diocess and hath twice or thrice paid the said Fees in his own person can and I doubt not will be ready to testifie as much 7. That for mine own part and mine own time I was ready to lay all my Fees being God wot a most contemptible Sum at your Majesties Feet to be disposed of as your Majesty pleased Nor had I ever in my Life toucht one Penny of the same but given it away from time to time to mend my Servants Entertainment 8. That the 135 th Canon mentioned by the Commissioners refers the examination of all Fees in question not settled by Acts of Parliament to the Archbishop only and the Cognizance ecclesiastical who is the only proper Judge of these Questions Therefore I humbly beseech your Majesty that I may not be drawn to contest with my Soveraign in a Suit of Law of so mean and miserable a Charge as this is but rather if those two reverend Prelates shall not be able to satisfie your Majesty you will be pleased to hear me your self or transmit the Cause to the Lords of the Council or where it is only proper to be heard to the Archbishop of the Province and that Mr. Attorny-General may stay the Prosecution elsewhere which I shall embrace with all humble Duty and Thankfulness c. Which reference to the Archbishop was granted who did authorize the receiving of those Fees for the present De benè esse only And after Sir H. Martin and others had examin'd the Tables Registries and Witnesses of Credit and Experience for the Antiquity of the same upon their Report the several Fees were ascertain'd by his Grace's Subscription for the time to come So true is that of Euripides in Supplic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that was low in Favour got the better of him that was great in Power in a good Cause 93. Remember that in this petitionary Letter the Bishop calls himself the King's Chaplain but not his Counsellor for about a year by-gone the King had commanded that his Name should be expunged and not remain in the Catalogue of those honourable persons And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David 1 Sam. 22.24 Yet so it was decreed he must not challenge the Privilege nor keep the Ceremony of the Name and more he had not in four years before No worse an Author than Sir E. Coke tells us in Jurisd of Courts p. 54. By force of his Oath and Custom of the Realm he that is a Privy Councillor is still so without any Patent or Grant during the life of the King that made choice of him But before whom can this be tryed And who shall decide it It will scarce come within the Law and when a King will hold the Conclusion he will be too hard for any man in Logick Let the Masters of the Republick contend about it whose Counsellors have changed as fast as the quarters of the year Surely His Majesty shewed himself much offended in this action yet it is better for a King not to give than to take away which Xenophon put into Cyrus's Mouth lib. 7. C. Paid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It imprints more Offence in a man's Mind to be deprived of that he had than to be pretermitted in some Kindness which he never had Since it was no better the Bishop thought he might ask a noble Friend in Good-manners it was the Earl of Holland what had kindled the King's Anger that he would not allow him the empty Title of a Counsellor The Earl answer'd him home and ingenuously That he must expect worse than this because he was such a Champion for the Petition of Right and that there was no room at the Table for those that would abide it Which was like the Fortune oâ— Poplicola Honoris sui culmen insregit ut libertatem civitatis crigeret Symma p. 3. He forfeited his Honour to maintain the Laws which being not maintained the People are not only Losers but a Kingdom will look like a Tabernacle taken down whose Pins are unfastened and the Cords of it broken To gall our Bishop with assiduous recurrent Umbrages for Pismires wear out Flints with passing to and fro upon them the Christening of Prince Charles being celebrated in the Chappel of St. James's House Jun. 27. 1630. and all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about London being invited thither to make the Splendour eminent the Bishop of Lincoln only was left out and not admitted to joyn in Prayer and Joy with that Noble Congregation The more sharp Diseases suffer not the lesser to be perceived yet this Omission light as it might seem did twinge him even to outward demonstrance of Dejectedness that in so good a day wherein the Clemency of the King should have run at waste to all men that then he should be separated from his Countenance and this Solemnity But says he in one respect it was well for I would not have said Amen to Bishop Laud 's Prayer which he conceived for the Royal Infant and was commended to all Parish-Churches in that passage Double his Father's Graces O Lord upon him if it be possible No Supplication could be better than to crave encrease of Grace for that Noble Branch for when a Prince is very good God is a Guest in a human Body But to put in a Supposal whether the Holy Ghost could double those Gifts to the Child which he had given to his Father and to confine the Goodness and Almightiness of the Lord it was three-piled Flattery and loathsome Divinity Let Cartwright and all his Part shew such an Exception against any line in our Common-Prayer and I will confess they have some Excuse for their Non-subscription To carry on mine own Work When it was known what small esteem His Majesty had of this Bishop it raised him up the more Adversaries who catcht at every thing that was next and turn'd it to a Weapon to strike him of which Sir Robert Osborn High-Sheriff of Huntingtonshire
to visit this Diocess as well for the Reasons premised as because all the means of Livelihood belonging to this See being taken away by the Duke of Somerset 2 Ed. 61. and a new airy and phantastical Corps being framed for the miserable Bishoprick consisting in great part of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction if your Grace should inhibit the exercise thereof and divert the Profits assigned therefrom for the Bishop's Maintenance he should not be able to eat or drink much less to pay unto his Majesty First-fruits Tenths and Subsidies charged upon this Bishoprick with relation to this last Endowment In the which last Difference this Bishoprick is for ought I know miserably distinguish'd from all others Thus I conceive the case to stand my gracious Lord and I hope unless your Grace will be pleased to permit me to go on with my Visitation for this year and take further time to consider thereof by our Lady-Eve to procure all those several pieces which confirm these Premisses to be transcribed out of our Records and Registries and sent by my Officers to attend your Grace's further Good-will and Pleasure c. How reasonable the Propositions of this Letter are I know not I know they did not prevail Sed ne querelae tum quidem gratae fuere cum forsitan erant necessariae says Livy in his Preface His Complaints were not well taken though they were necessary and good to stand upon Record to shew what was alledg'd for the benefit of his own See and the emolument of smaller Bishopricks In the end our Bishop let it go on the Archbishop's side without more contradiction having not forgotten that Philosophy in Seneca Acerbissimam partem servitutis effugit qui imperium libens excipit 97. All this and so many Quarrels piled one upon another were too little to bow the straightness of his Spirit yet there was enough to make his Foes audacious because a heavy Charge in Star chamber depended Seven years against him prosecuted for the King by the Attorny-General concurrent all along with the rehearsed Troubles Omne tulit secum Caesaris ira malum Ov. 3. Trist el. 12. God complains of the Rigour of the Heathen against Jerusalem I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Zech. 1.15 Beware to help Affliction forward Revenge is fierce when Misery cannot mitigate it It may be a Court-lesson it is not a Christian to thrust him down that is a falling Mark Reader that the Actors herein came into the hands of a Power or rather of a Tyranny that had no compassion of any Optima vindex insolentiae variet as humanae conditionis Valer. lib. 4. c. 7. The Wheel of Vicissitude turning many Sticklers that were at the top to the bottom is the Act and Motion of Providence to be the Scourge of Insolency Among all Devices to thrust him under Water that was sinking already none was hatcht of more Despight and Indignity than a Book publish'd by a Bluster-master ann 1636. call'd A Coal from the Altar to defame a Letter sent nine years before by the Bishop to some Divines of the Neighbourhood of Grantham in Lincolnshire to resolve a Doubt upon the Site of the Communion-Table or Altar as the Vicar of Grantham call'd it from whose Indiscretion the Contention began If ever any had a Wolf by the Ear the Bishop was in that quandary upon this provocation Gladly he would have made his Peace with the King to which he came near twice or thrice but at last utterly lost the sight of it It behoved him for his Safety not to make them his Enemies who were like to be his Judges chiefly not to trespass against the Likings of Archbishop Laud who could draw the King with one Hand farther than all the Lords in the Court with their whole Arm. From anno 1627 when the Letter was written in the Case of the Vicar of Grantham to anno 1636 there had been much done in Preaching and Practice to introduce some comelinesses in the Worship of God as they were stiled which had not been before The Archbishop set his Mind upon it which a late Writer calls his Pregnancy to revive ancient Ceremonies and another Book Antid Lincol. p. 85. No Metropolitan of this Church that more seriously endeavour'd to promote the Uniformity of Publick Order than his Grace now being The Clamours raised upon him are an Evidence of it The Compliance of many to curry Favour did out-run the Archbishop's Intentions if my Opinion deceive me not and made the Clamour the greater which meeting with other Discontents might have warned Wisdom to stop or go on slowly So well it is known to be dangerous to run against the Stream and Unwillingness of the People and no good Physician will try Experiments upon an accrased Pody An honest Mind is not enough to patronize that which is much condemâ—â—â— I would have none to suspect the Archbishop that he meant any Change in the Doctrine of our Church I would have none to tax his Reformation for Superstition but I will say as Polybius did in defence of the nice Observations of the old Roman Religion that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Excess of Piety Yet be not too bold against causeless Jealousies Grant it but I do not give it that the Clamours did rise from weak Judgments and pass over that Rule That the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our solves Rom. 15.1 Policy ought to listen abroad to the Talk of the Streets and the Market-places for secular Policy is no prophane thing well used in the Service of God and not to despise Rumours when they are sharpened against the innovating of any Discipline These things appeared but Straws to stumble at to a resolved Stomach and a Champion comes out in print to gagg all popular murmuring against the placing of the Holy Table Altar-wise Ambustum Torrâ—m Corinaeus ab arâ corripit Aen. 12. one that would vent more I believe than the Masters of the Game would have done that put him into the Lists Athletâ—e suts ineitatoribus fortiores sunt says St. Hicrom in an Epistle to Julianus Yet the common Vogue was that this Author though learned was not the fittest to defend the Cause being not fortunate in the good opinion of the Times It was remembred that the Spartans would not pass that into a Decree which was good in it self which a scandalous Fellow oster'd to their Council but turned him by and set up a plain honest man to prefer it Sic bona sententia mansit turpis autor mutatus est Gel. lib. 18. c. 3. But if the Press must be set awork as the Pulpits Schools and Consistories had been to maintain this matter of no great moment God wot why must this Bishop and his Letter be the Block to fashion their Wit upon He was one that would carry no Coals they knew it A judicious Reply from him would make the Shadow return
were living But though they are all under Earth Faith forbid that their Names should be abused to a wrong Report To keep History uncorrupt from such baseness 't is daintily observ'd out of the Poets by Salmasius Clymac p. 819. Apud orcum defunctae animae jurare dicuntur ne quid suos quos in vitâ reliquerint contra fas adjuvent The Souls departed take an Oath not to help their surviving Friends against Justice But no such Protestation needs in this Cause There is a Petition to be produced written with the Hand of Dr. Walker a Gentleman living and well known wherein His Majesty is minded that he had cancell'd this Complaint and had given his Royal Hand to confirm it What could be more sure Yet it turn'd to nothing the Wound was never suffer'd to heal by the daily Whispering of Bishop Laud diligent in the King's Ear. You may read of one in Suetonius's Caligula Cui ad insaniam Caius favebat So the King suffer'd this Prelate in excess of Power to turn and return Causes as he would and was obnoxious by the bewitching of his Tongue to facility of Perswasions to grant and retract as he possest him Which was seen too late in this excellent Passage of His Majesty in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wish I had not suffer'd mine own Judgment to be overborn in some things more by others Importunities than their Arguments As Erasmus wrote honestly to a mighty Monarch Harry the Eighth Ep. p. 74. Eximia quaedam inter mortales res est Monarcha sed homo tamen And with much liberty our Poet Johnson in his Forrest p. 815. I am at feud With that is ill tho' with a Throne endu'd The Faults of the Blessed Charles were small yet some he had who having assured Lincoln he should never be question'd again about the matter brought against him by Lamb and Sibthorp yet remitted it to the Star-chamber The Defendant conceived it would spend like a Snail or the untimely Fruit of a Woman but when he found himself deceiv'd and that the Cause was glowing hot in Prosecution he sought the King's Clemency Quaedam enim meliùs fugiuntur quà m superantur it is in Erasm Ep. p. 18. He thought it better to fly the Trial than to get the Cause and he put up this which follows into the Hands of His Majesty The Humble Petition and Submission of John Bishop of Lincoln c. THAT although he is innocent from any Crime committed against your Majesty in thought word or deed yet abhorring as he finds by Presidents all other Bishops of this Realm have done Placitare cum Domino rege to have any Suit with his Sovereign Lord Master and Patron he casts himself in all humility at Your Majesties Feet and implores your Royal Mercy and Clemency Non intrare in judicium cum servo tuo coveting to ascribe his Deliverance to Your Majesties Clemency And whereas your most Excellent Majesty having in the fourth year of your happy Reign received the Opinion of the four Lords Committees concerning these very self-same Charges did in your Majesties Gallery at Whitehall admit this Defendant brought in by the Right Honourable the Lord Treasurer one of the said Committees to kiss your Majesties Hand and did use unto him this Defendant in the presence and hearing of the said Right Honourable Lord these gracious words That your Majesty was pleased to forgive all that was past and would esteem of this Defendant according as he should deserve by his Service for the time to come He most humbly beseecheth your most Excellent Majesty that according to that so gracious Remission and Absolution no further Prosecution at your Majesties Suit may be used against him concerning the said Charges all which he doth the rather hope for from your Majesty because he is a Bishop that hath endeavoured not to live scandalously in his Calling and hath formerly had the Favour from Almighty God with his own Hands to close your Majesties Father's Eyes and to have written and drawn up that Commission and Contract for your Majesties Marriage whereupon ensued to this Kingdom a most unvaluable Blessing and heartily prayeth that God who hath delivered your Majesty from your late Sickness may bless you in all Health Happiness and Prosperity So far the Petition I will not teach the Reader what Sallads to pick out of it but only the Herb of Grace that the Bishop kist the King's Hand upon the assurance of his Peace that the Offence which was taken was buried and should never rise up in Judgment more Nihil periculi Soloni à Pisistrato Diog. Laert. Now who ever liked Julian the Cardinal that made Ladislaus K. of Polonia break his League with the Turk And who will defend B. L. that made his Soveraign break his word with his Subject It was he and none else that put in an unseasonable Bar to hinder Lincoln the fulness of the Benefit I know none that had the nearest part in B. L's Favour that can deny it And let them turn it about as they will is it possible they should excuse it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Theodoret's Ep. 2. Children see no uncomeliness in their Parents But although they will see no ill in the Person they must in the Fact For what a Trespass is this in Justice to punish that which was forgiven Let the King do Righteous Judgment like God in whose Throne he sits before whom this holds inviolable Peccata dimissa nunquam redeunt No not original Sin when remitted in Baptism it shall not be imputed to them any more that are damned for actual Crimes whereof they did not repent So Grotius cites it out of Prosper in Matth. c. 18. v. 34. Extinctam semel obligationem non reviviscere sed propter postrema crimina affici The most that seems to be against this Rule but falls in with it is this That when former Sins are forgiven and new ones are superadded the latter shall be punish'd the more for the ungratefulness of the Sinner Non quod jam remissa puniantur sed quod sequens peccatum minùs graviter punâ—retur si priora remissa non fuissent says Maldonat My Sentence is at the last of all with Syracides c. 29.3 Keep thy word and deal faithfully revoke not your Kindness pluck not up the Seeds of a Benefit which you had sown with your own Hand It is worse to turn Mercy than Justice into Wormwood 111. Destiny is unavoidable A Bill is filed in the Star-Chamber and prosecuted for the King for Revealing his Councils The Defendant made him ready for his Answer and plyed the King with Petitions together in Parody like Virgil's Aeneas Et se collegit in arma Poplite subsidens At first he tried Bishop Laud if he would be so generous as to heal the Wound that he had made and anointed him with the Weapon-Salve of remembrance of Friendship past and protestation of the like for ever he courted him to
on whose silent consent the Bishop had not to awaken the King that he would look upon these Courses that cried abroad to the amazement of his Subjects All wish it done and the Bishop did not fear to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Theodorets stout Divinity Ep. 21. Under the hand of God there is no remedy but patience suffering under the hand of Man the best Remedy is Courage So he stept forward to his Majesty with the confidence of this Petition To the King 's most Excellent Majesty c. THat if your Majesty be not pleased to accept as yet of his humble Submission for his Peace your Majesty would graciously vouchsafe not to interrupt but to permit the Petitioner to proceed according to the ordinary Rules and Course of the Court of Star-Chamber against Kilvert the Sollicitor for his manifold Falshoods and Injuries in the Prosecution of this Cause particularly first for menacing and frighting your Petitioners Witnesses 2. For publickly defaming this Petitioner to be your Enemy averring that neither he nor any of his did know what the name of a King meant 3. For offering to sell the Prosecution of your Majesties Cause against this Petitioner for Money and because this Petitioner refused to tamper with him in that kind for procuring base People to make false and aspersing Affidavits to incense your Majesty and that Court against your Petitioner 4. For menacing the Judges that should report and certifie any thing for your Petitioner 5. For not sparing to tax most falsly your most Sacred Majesty with pressing upon the Lords the Sentencing of your Petitioner All which the Petitioner will clearly prove and pray to God c. So strong an Accusation upon such foul Heads was fit to be sifted especially upon the last Branch For grant it was a lye here 's a false Report raised against the King's Honour If it were true what more criminal than to impart such Secrets of his Majesty 's to his Gossips at a Tavern where they flew abroad But some may more safely steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge The Bishop could get no leave to call this shameless Mate to an answer From that day Kilvert was free from Righteousness and might do any thing Ipse sibi Lex est quà fert cunque voluntas Praecipitat vires Manil. lib. 5. He that hath no Conscience and need to fear nothing will turn a Monster So true is that of Livy Dec. 1. lib. 4. Hominem improbum non accusari tutius est quà m absolvi 'T is safer to have a nocent Person never accus'd than to have him discharg'd for an Innocent 113. For all this the Defendant thought he had said so much against the Prosecutor that he should never appear in Court again But as Calvin said of Bucer Ep. 30. Qui sibi est optimè conscius securior est quam utile sit Yet he proved against him as foul a prank as ever was committed That he got Warren the Examiner to the Fountain Tavern near to Shoe-Lane Kilvert's daily Rendezvouz from whence the Bishop got continual and sure intelligence and fetch 't out of him contrary to his express Oath the Depositions which the Defendants Witnesses had made an heinous wrong to be done before Publication which coming to light Warren fled away from his Office and never appeared more But whether could he run from God's Vengeance Omnia quidem Deo plena sunt nec ullus perfidis tutus est locus Sym. p. 54. Kilvert stood to it as if the sin were not his that drew the Examiner to Perjury and no notice was taken of that constant Rule which the Casuists took from Tertullian de Bapt. c. 11. Semper is dicitur facere cui praemmistratur The Sin was Ahab's that purchast a Field of Blood by the Oath of the Sons of Belial Let Religion look to this for that Court would not nothing would lace it in it was so wide in the waste From this exorbitancy from this and nothing else sprung the Iliad of wrongs which the Bishop endured for Kilvert finding by Warren's disclosures that the Depositions for the Defendant were material and some of the Witnesses to be Learned men that had deposed upon Notes and Remembrances he turned himself into all shapes to crack their Credit At first he made an Affidavit of slight pretended Abuses which were over-ruled against him Whereupon he vapour'd in the hearing of the Register and divers others That he cared not what Orders the Lords made in Court for he would go to Greenwich and cause them all to be changed It was the most scornful Defiance that ever was given to the Honour and Justice of the Star-Chamber as the Bishop's Counsel prest it home Every one expected the Ruin of the Prosecutor yet the Lords perceiving up-upon the Archbishop's Motion that it was not safe to punish him it past over with a slight Submission One presaged the Ruin of the Athenian State because Rats had eaten up the Books of Plato's Commonwealth And might not a man that had no more Prophecy than Prudence foresee the Ruin of this Court when such a Rat-catcher did despise their Authority telling them he could fetch Orders to sweep away theirs from such Powers Quae nec tutò narrantur nec tutò audiuntur Seneca de Tranquil Sir Robert Heath Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was but one of the Lords Assessors yet as just and sufficient as any of his order and the Indignity done to him was as if done to all Who made his own Complaint That Kilvert threatned to procure him to be turn'd out of his place for his forwardness Yet this also was slubber'd over with a little acknowledgment of Rashness So much were those honourable Persons now no longer themselves fearing that Severity which they perceived impending upon them As Pliny bewails the Roman Senate in his Panegyrick Vidimus curiam sed curiam trepidam elinguem cum dicere quid velles periculosum quod nolles miserum esset It was become like Ezekiel's Vine-tree c. 15. v. 3. you could not make a Pin out of it to hang a good Order upon it that was equal and generous Beshrew the Varlet that kept his word which he was not wont to do for Sir Robert Heath was displaced and for no Misdemeanour proved But it was to bring in a Successor who was more forward to undo Lincoln than ever the Lord Heath was to preserve him A man of choice parts which yet he shewed not in this Cause which cannot be smother'd without defacing the truth which Posterity must not want Desipiunt qui faeces ob vâ—ni nobilitatem absorbent The Dregs of the best Wine are but Dregs and must be spit out as distastful his Lordship's part cannot be spared in this Tragedy yet it shall be short because I will leave him to those Figures that live in the House of Memory 114. The main Bill against the Defendant being not like to
Commenda's For the Money says the Bishop I am low in Cash but will make a shift to pay it To part with the Deanry will make an open Scar and no fair one Beside the Money is useful for the King's Revenue the Deanry is no Profit to His Majesty to take it from my hand and to put it into another and what the World hath given me I am willing to give it back again but what His Majesty's Father did give me and by the Mediation of His Majesty being Prince I can take no comfort in my Life if I be stript of it That Lord return'd again with a Message to leave him his Deanry and Commenda's but to raise up the Sum of Composition to 8000 l. The Bishop held up his Hands to Heaven in amazement at it But you will lift your Hands at a greater Wonder says L. Cottington if you do not pay it Well I will satisfie the King says Lincoln and I will sell some Land for it The Match is struck done 'tis and the Bishop as good as undone by it He delighted to do charitable Works but this would sear the Vein that it could run no more It was a sweet Apophthegm which I heard come from him when all was exhausted I care not for Poverty but I shall not be able to requite a Benefit God grant every good King a better way than this was to enrich him Fiscus bonorum Principum non sacerdotum damnis sed hostium spoliis angeatur I commend thee Symmachus for it p. 56. But on goes the Game the Bishop is dealing in London to take up a Cart-load of Money and that right worthy Attorney Sir J. Blanks was sedulous to draw up a full Pardon so absolute that it included more than the Bishop desired as this Letter to the L. Keeper will declare My very good Lord MR. Attorney hath once or twice sent unto me by my Man some imperfect Propositions about the manner of a Pardon which His Most Excellent Majesty should grant unto me which Propositions not speaking with Mr. Attorney himself I do not well understand for as it is delivered to me His Majesty's Offer's more than ever I desired by naming a general Pardon to wit to pardon all Offences contained in the two Informations and any other Offence or Misdemeanor I should desire particularly to be freedfrom which if it be so is as gracious a Favour from His Majesty as any reasonable man can expect But my good Lord I know nothing by my self that should of necessity be so solemnly pardon'd Yet hearing His Majesty's Inclinations to grant unto others in the condition that I stand general Abolitions and being not so wise as the last Parliament to refuse the benefit of a general Pardon I confess I fell in my Parley with your Lordship upon that way propounded unto me by my Counsel Learned But hearing of late it is construed by others as a kind of Capitulation with my Soveraign I beseech your Lordship I may wave it altogether and that your Lordship would represent me kneeling at His Majesty's Feet craving that his Goodness and Mercy only without any thing in Writing together with my Industry in his Service for the time to come may be the substance and extent of all my Pardon and this but for such things as by Informations or Petitions I have been though undeservedly presented as an Offender against His Most Excellent Majesty and desir'd to be proceeded against by His Majesty's immediate Directions If any other private Subject hath ought to say against me for any Trespass or Misdemeanour committed against himself and not His Majesty I desire no Protection but those of His Majesty's Courts of Justice against any such person whosoever c. December 11th 1635. From December it hung as it were between Heaven and Earth it will and it will not be done till the King had occasion to go to Windsor and the Bishop had order to lye at Eaton expecting to be sent for to kiss the King's Hand But who comes thither that was not look'd for it being the middle of the week but the Archbishop who malleated the King's Gentleness into stronger Metal When Lincoln had laboured for Peace from thenceforth it was as far set back as if it had never been in Treaty How was his good Soul toss'd about between Friends and Foes between Mercy and Frowns and now in the last Attempt put to Job's note c. 16. v. 11. God hath deliver'd me to the ungodly and turn'd me over to the hands of the wicked I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder and shaken me to pieces and set me up for a mark Intempestiva benevolentia nihil à simultate differt Polit. Ep. p. 26. A constant Enmity is more generous than to interrupt it with Offers of never-intended or never-composed Agreements Now the Archbishop look'd for the day when he should trample upon this Bishop in a Censure Azorius the Jesuite shall apply it for me Moral tom 1. lib. 13. c. 6. When the Order of the Knights Templars was plotted to be overthrown in a Council at Vienna in Dauphine says Pope Clement V. Etsi non per viam justitiae potest destrui destruatur per viam expedientiae ne scandalizetur filius noster rex Franciae If they cannot fall by Justice they must fall for convenience sake But here 's the difference in the Story There a Bishop did gratifie the King here the King did gratifie a Bishop 117. Proceed then to another Information since it must be so The first Cause being mortified a new one took life from it as Gorgias Leontinus his Mother was deliver'd of him when she was dead Viva fuit sterilis mortua facta parens as Dr. Alabaster writes in his Epigram upon it They are but ill Examples in the New Testament when an Accusation is turn'd into a new Species The Jews impleaded our Saviour at first that he said he would destroy the Temple c. and chang'd it before Pilate into another Charge that he made himself a King Paul was Indicted by the same Nation that he brought a Greek into the Temple to pollute it but it was turn'd into another matter Revilest thou God's High-Priest They that will not stand to their own Bill are more set upon Destruction than Justice Kilvert onerated the Bishop with Ten Charges together the use of the Court being as Judge Popham had regulated it to admit but Four at once But chiefly he was active to grime the Defendant with one foul fault Subornation of Witness that is to foment Perjury But the King's Counsel perusing the Depositions waved it and gave it another form Seducing of Witnesses a manifest injury to the attestation of Truth and for contraction in a new phrase Tampering with Witnesses as my Lord of Canterbury called it in his Sentence Perhaps it is not Subornation of Perjury but it is Tampering The Defendant thought to help himself with a Demur upon four Heads
North gave our Bishop a breathing time from his Troubles And when the Articles of Pacification made at Berwick were burnt in London true or uncorrupted I dispute not I that report this was the first that carried the Tidings to the Tower and I call God to witness the Bishop presently broke out into these words I am right sorry for the King who is like to be forsaken by his Subjects at home but far more by all Kings and Princes abroad who do not love him But for the Archbishop says he he had best not meddle with me for all the Friends he can make will be too few to save himself A fatal fore-sight of all impending and ensuing Mischiefs But do you not hope Sir said I that such Concussions as you fear to come to pass will give you your Peace and Liberty Possibly they will says he But no honest man shall be the better for a Scotch Reformation wherein the Hare-brains among us are engaged with them Which is like that of Rutilius deported in Banishment to Mytelene one comforted him with hope of Civil Wars and then all that were banish'd should return to Rome says Rutilius Quid tibi mali feci ut mibi pejorem reditum quà m exitum sperares That which did precipitate the common Fortune and made all things worse and worse was the King's very sudden dissolving the Parliament met in Apr. 1640. His Majesty had been forewarned by a worthy Counsellor and a dying man against that Error in the Christmas before Cujus mortem dolor omnium celebrem fecit Sym. Ep. p. 11. It was L. Keeper Coventry who made but one Request with his last Breath to the King and sent it by Mr. James Maxwel of the Bed-Chamber That His Majesty would take all Distasts from the Parliament summoned against April with patience and suffer it to sit without an unkind dissolution But the Barking of the living Dogs was sooner heard than the Groaning of a dying Lyon for that Parliament ended in a few days in its Infancy and in its Innocency but the Grief for it will never end The next came on Novemb. 3. with all Animosities that could be infused out of Scotch and English Distempers The Bishop of Lincoln Petitions the King by the Queens Mediation that he might be set at liberty and have his Writ as a Peer to sit in Parliament which was opposed by the L. Finch then Custos sigilli magni and Archbishop Laud as appears by a Letter written to Sir Richard Winn Octob. 3. in these words 130. Good Cousin WITH my hearty Thanks remembred for all your great however unfortunate care of me and my Affairs Though you would not let me know any thing that might be any Grief or Discomfort to me yet I hear it of other Hands That I am eternally bound to the Queens Majesty and bound to remain her Vassal as long as I live And that I owe much to some other great Lords of His Majâ—â—ty's Council And that his Grace by my Lord Keeper's bold and much-mistaken Information to His Majesty that the Parliament cannot examine Errors and Oppressions in such an arbitrary Court as the Star-chamber is doth keep off His Majesty from using his Clemency towards me or permitting me to employ my best Endeavours to serve him My Lords Grace and Secretary Windebank have good reason to wish me out of the Parliament and out of the World too if they conceive I have no other business there than to complain against them And so hath the Lord Keeper and Sir J. Lamb. If her gracious Majesty whom than willingly offend I will rather dye will be pleased to set aside the Relations those two Personages have towards Her Majesty and set her poor Servant at liberty to take his course for Redress for those intolerable Concussions they have used against him And that I do not speak herein beside my Books I pray you and your Friends to peruse the bundle of Papers I send you which I desire you to return to me c. Through the Perswasion of those about the King whom the Letter discovers Lincoln was like to lye by it and to be shut out of Mercy by an irreversible Decree But the Lords of the Upper House after they had look'd about them a while on Nov. 16. sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower to deliver him to then Officer of the Black Rod who conducted him to the Parliament and their Lordships gave him his Place among his Brethren in the Bishops-Bench The King did soon hear of his Carriage that he neither complain'd nor so much as glanced at his Persecutors As a true Lover of his Country said Cic. Ep. Fam. lib. 10. Non me impedient privatae offensiones quò minùs pro Reip salute etiam cura inimicis consentiam His Majesty heard more That he was his faithful Minister and Stable to stand for him in all motions and did not refrain to fall sharply upon those Lords to whom he owed his Releasement for not speaking dutifully of His Majesty and of his Actions with Reverence Upon it the King sent for him and had conference with him alone till after midnight and made him some amends for the Evils past by commanding all Orders filed and kept in any Court or Registry upon the former Hearings and Dependencies against him to be slighted cancell'd crazed that no Monument or Memorial of them might remain So Aâ—m Probus tells us what Reparation was made to Alcibiades after he was brought home to Athens from his Exile Pilae in quibus devotio scripta fuit contra Alcibiadem in mare praecipitatae post quà m à Spartá revocatus est To quote a nearer Example When Constantine let Athanasius return again to his See at Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. ad Solit. Vit. p. 823. All that was engross'd against Athanasius he commanded the Memory of it to be rid out of the way and all of it to be blotted out Look for such another Instance in Symmachus Ep. p. 127. of him that was thrice honour'd in being reinvested in those Honours from which he was degraded Majus quiddam est honorem restituere quam dedisse c. For Fortune may confer but only Judgment restores to Honour I am come to the end of those Suits with which our Bishop was overwhelmed and still made Defendant against the King Let Posterity observe how he was censur'd and grievously but for two things tampering with Witnesses never known before to be a fault in the Realm of England and for being suspected to have received two Letters in Cyphers of a mystical sence and as slight regard Being accused for divulging the King's Counsels and for Subornation of Witnesses he broke the neck of those Bills Being questioned for his Book in the High-Commission Court he wound himself out of the Labyrinth of all their Articles From an Hodg-potch of new Informations in Star-chamber he deliver'd himself by adventuring to appeal from that Court to the
Bishops Dispensations only but Mandates also And those Bishops have been fined at the Kings Bench and elsewhere that absented themselves from Councils in Parliament without the King 's special leave and licence first obtained Thirdly When they are forbidden interesse to be present the meaning is not in the very Canons themselves that they should go out of the room but only that they should not be present to add Authority Help and Advice to any Sentence pronounced against a particular or individual Person in cause of Blood or mutilation If he be present auctorizando consilium opem vel operam dando then he contracts an irregularity and no otherwise saith our Linwood out of Innocentius And the Canon reacheth no further than to him that shall pronounce Sentence of Death or Mutilation upon a particular Person For Prelates that are of Counsel with the King in Parliament or otherwise being demanded the Law in such and such a Case without naming any individuum may answer generaliter loquendo That Treason is to be punisht with Death and a Counterseiter of the King's Coin Hostien lib. 2. eap de fals monet allowed by John Montague de Collatione Parliamentorum In Tracta Doctor Vol. 10. p. 121. Fourthly These Canons are not in force in England to bind the King's Subjects for several Reasons First Because they are against his Majesty's Prerogative as you may see it clearly in the Articles of Clarendon and the Writ of Summons and therefore abolished 25 H. 8. c. 8. It is his Majesty's Prerogative declar'd at Clarendon that all such Ecclesiastical Peers as hold of him by Barony should assist in the King's Judicatures until the very actual pronouncing of a Sentence of Blood And this holds from Henry the First down to the latter end of Queen Elizabeth who imployed Archbishop Whitgist as a Commissioner upon the Life of the Earl of Essex to keep him in Custody and to examine him after that Commotion in London And to say that this Canon is confirm'd by Common Law is a merry Tale there being nothing in the Common Law that tends that way Secondly It hath been voted in the House of Commons in this very Session of Parliament That no Canons since the Conquest either introduced from Rome by Legatine Power or made in our Synods had in any Age nor yet have at this present any power to bind the Subjects of this Realm unless they be confirmed by Act of Parliament Now these Canons which inhibit the Presence of Church-men in Cause that concerns Life and Member were never confirm'd by any but seem to be impeach't by divers and sundry Acts of Parliament Thirdly The whole House of Peers have this very Session despised and set aside this Canon Law which some of the young Lords cry up again in the same Session and in the very same Cause to take away the Votes of the Bishops in the Case of the Earl of Strafford For by the same Canon Law that forbids Clergy-men to Sentence they of that Coat are more strictly inhibited to give no Testimony in Causes of Blood Nee ettam potest esse test is vel tabellio in causâ Sanguinis Linw. part 2. sol 146. For no Man co-operates more in a Sentence of Death than the Witnesses upon whose Attestation the Sentence is chiefly past Lopez pract crim c. 98. distl 21. and yet have the Lords admitted as Witnesses produced by the House of Commons against the Earl of Strafford the Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh with the Bishop of London which Lords command now all Bishops to withdraw in the agitation of the self same Case Bishops it seems may be Witnesses to kill ont-right but may not sit in the Discussion of the Cause to help in case of Innocency a distressed Nobleman Whereas the very Gothish Bishops who first invented this Exclusion of Prelates from such Judicatures allow them to Vote as long as there is any hope left of clearing the Party or gaining of Pardon 4. Conc. Tol. Can. 31. And by the beginning of that Canon observe the use in Spain in that Age Anno 633. as touching this Doctrine Saepe principes contra quoslibet majestatis obnoxios Sacerdotibus negotia sua committunt Binnius 4. Tom. Can. Edit ult p. 592. Lastly In the Case of Archbishop Abbot all the great Civilians and Judges of the Land as Dr. Steward Sir H. Martin the Lord Chief Justice Hobart and Judge Doderidge which two last were very well versed in the Canon Law delivered positively when my self at first opposed them That all Irregularities introduced by Canons upon Ecclesiastical Persons concerning matters of Blood were taken away by the Reformation of the Church of England and were repugnant to the Statute 25 II. 8. as restraining the King 's most just Prerogative to imploy his own Subjects in such Functions and Offices as his Predecessors had done and to allow them those Priviledges and Recreations as by the Laws and Customs of this Realm they had formerly enjoy'd notwithstanding the Decree de Clerico venatore or the Constitution nae Clerici Saeculare c. or any other in that kind 150. The only Objection which appears upon any Learning or Record against the Clergies Voting in this Kingdom in Causes of Blood are two or three Protestations entred by the Bishops among the Records of the upper House of Parliament and some few Passages in the Law-Books relating thereunto The Protestation the Lords now principally stand upon is that of William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury 11 Rich. 2. inserted in the Book of Priviledges which Mr. Selden collected for the Lords of the upper House In the Margin whereof that passage out of R. Hovenden about which we spake before about Clergy-mens agitation of Judgments of Blood is unluckily inserted and for want of due consideration and some suspicion of partial carriage in the Bishops in the case of the Earl of Strafford hath been eagerly pressed upon the Bishops by some of the Lords in such an unusual and unaccustomed manner that if I my self offering to speak to this Objection had not voluntarily withdrawn the rest of the Bishops and I had been without hearing voted out of the House in the agitation of a Splinter of that Cause of the Earl of Strafford's which came not near any matter of Blood An act never done before in that honourable House and ready to be executed suddenly without the least consideration of the merit of the Cause The only words insisted upon in the Protestation of Courtney's are these Because in this present Parliament certain matters are agitated whereat it is not lawsul for us according to the Prescript of holy Canons to be present And by and by after they say These matters are such in the which Nec possumus nec debemus interesse This is the Protestation most stood upon That of Archbishop Arundel 21 Rich. 2. is not so full and ample as this of Courtney's For the Bishops going forth left their Proxies with the
in the Records of the Tower can be produced to exclude the Lords Spiritual from sitting and voting in Causes of Blood Sometimes by the great Favour of the King Lords and Commons not otherwise they were permitted to absent themselves never before now commanded by the Lay-Lords to forbear their Votes in any Cause that was agitated in Parliament So our Law Books say That the Prelates by the Canon-Law may make a Procurator in Parliament when a Peer is to be tryed Which is enough to shew their Right thereunto This is to be seen 10 Edw. IV. f. 6. placit 17. And That it is only the Canon-Law that inhibits them to vote in Sanguinary Causes Stamford Pleas of the Crown f. 59. And saith Stamford the Canon-Law is a distinct and separated notion and not grown in his Age to any such Usance or Custom as made it Common-Law or the Law of the Land 152. Coming now to an end it moves me little what some object That many worthy Fathers of this Church-reformed and Bishop Andrews among the rest did forbear to vote in Causes of Blood and voluntarily retired out of the House if such things came in question nor did offer to enter any Protestation I do not doubt but they had pious Affections in it though they did not fully ponder what they did I have heard that a main Reason was that of the Record and Statute of 11 Rich. II. That it is the honesty of that Calling not to intermeddle in matters of Blood Now the French word Honesty signifies Decency and Comeliness As though it were a butcherly and a loathsom matter to be a Judge or to do Right upon a Malefactor to Death or loss of Members But this is an imaginary Decency never known in Nature or Scripture as I said before but begotten by Tradition in the dark Foggs and Mists of Popery Such an Honesty of the Clergy it was to have a shaven Crown to depend on the Pope to plead Exemptions and to resuse to answer for Felonies in the King's Courts All these were esteemed in those days the Honesty of the Clergy And such an Honesty it was in the Prelates of England in the loose Reign of Rich. II to absent themselves when they listed from the Aslembly of the Estate contrary to the King's Command in the Writ of Summons and to the Duties of their places as Peers of Parliament Yet they had more insight into what they did than some of our Bishops for they never offer'd to retire themselves in those days before their Protestation was benignly received and suffer'd to be enter'd upon the Parliament-Roll by the King the Lords and the House of Commons I know those excellent men that are with God proposed other Scruples to themselves they doubted not of the Legality or Comeliness for an Ecclesiastical Peer of the Kingdom of England to vote in a Judgment of Blood they did it continually in passing all Appeals and Attainders in Parliament but it startled them because it is not the practice of Prelates in other parts of the Christian Church so to do and thought it better to avoid Scandal and the Talk of other Nations That there being in the High Court of Parliament and Star-chamber Judges enough beside them they might without any prejudice to their King and Country forbear voting in those Judicatures somewhat the rather because all our Bishops in England are Divines and Preachers of the Gospel and consequently to be employ'd in Mercy rather than in Judgment who never touch upon the sharpness of the Law unless it be to prepare mens Hearts to relish and receive the comfort of the Gospel Let the Piety then and the Good-meaning of those grave Fathers be praised but I say they forgot their Duty to the Writ of the King's Summons and the use and weight of their Place And now to close I protest without vaunting I cannot perceive how this can be answer'd which I have digested together And if so many Bishops cannot obtain their Right which is so clear on their side God send the Earl of Strafford better Justice who is but a single Peer 153. Blame not my Book that there is so much of this Argument I hope the Ignorant will not read it at all but let a knowing man read it again and when he hath better observ'd it he will think it short Some History-spoilers have detracted from our Bishop that though he pleaded much in Parliament to his own Peril in the behalf of E. Strafford yet he wrought upon the King to consent to give way to his beheading Says our Arch-Poet Spencer lib. 3. Can. 1. st 10. Great hazard were it and Adventure fond To lose long-gotten Honour with one evil Hand But he shall lose no Honour in this for first as Nazian Or. 27 rejects them that had raised an ill Report of him whom he praised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can you prove that they were sound in their mind that said so if any will believe it from such authors a good man hath lost his thanks Ego quod bené fec◠malè feci quia amor mutavit locum Plautus That which was well done is ill done because it is not lovingly requited Hear all and judge equally Both the Houses of Lords and Commons by most Voices found the Earl guilty of Treason they made the greater Quire but those few that absolved him sung better The King interceded by himself by the Prince his Son to save him craved it with Cap in Hand Being founder'd in his Power he could go no further the Subjects denied their Soveraign the Life of one Man so Strafford must be cast away Opimii calamitas turpitudo Po. Rom. non judicium fuit Cic. pro Plancio Whose Calamity is the shame of English Justice His Majesty for divers days could not find in his Heart to set his Hand to the Warrant for Execution for Conscience dresseth it self by its own light And I would he had been as constant to his own Judgment in other things that we might remember it to his Honour as Capitolinus testifies for Maximus Non aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit The fate of it was that the Parliament would not grant Mercy to the Earl and would have Justice from the King according to their Sentence whether he would or no They threaten and were as good as their Word to sit idle and do nothing for publick Safety and Settlement the whole Realm being in distraction till the Stroke was struck All the Palace-Yard and Hall were daily full of Mutineers and Outcries His Majesty's Person was in danger the roguy Off-scum in the Streets of Westminster talk'd so loud that there was cause to dread it Though there is nothing more formidable than to fear any thing more than God yet the most eminent Lords of the Council perswaded His Majesty to make no longer resistance Placeat quodcunque necesse est Lucan lib. 4. Not he but Necessity should be guilty of it If he did
refuse to concurr with the Parliament nay if he took more time to deliberate upon it it would be worse for the Earl and he would come to a more unhappy Death for an Hellish Contrivance was resolved upon just as in St. Paul's case Acts 23.15 the Zealots that had vowed Paul's death laid the Plot with the Priests and Elders to signisie to the Captain to bring him down to enquire somewhat more perfectly concerning him and ere ever he came near they would fall upon him The condemn'd Earl when he heard of this was no longer fond of Lise but sent word to the King that he was well prepared for his End and would not his gracious Majest y should disquiet himself to save a ruin'd Vessel that must sink A valiant Message and sit for so great a Spirit Loginus notes acutely that when Ajax was to combat with Hector he begg'd some things of such Gods as he call'd upon but to escape with life was not in his Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was beneath a Graecian Heroe to desire Life It being therefore to no purpose to dispute what was the best Remedy to save this Lord when there was none at all the House of Lords nominate four Prelates to go to His Majesty to propound how the Tenderness of his Conscience might safely wade through this insuperable dissiculty these were L. Primate Usher with the Bishops Morton Williams Potter There was none of those four but would have gone through Fire and Water as we say to save the Party which being now a thing beyond Wit and Power they state the Question thus to the King sure I am of the Truth because I had it from the three former Whether as His Majesty refers his own Judgment to his Judges in whose Person they act in Court of Oyer Kings-bench Assize and in Cause of Life and Death and it lies on them if an innocent man suffer so why may not His Majesty satisfie his Conscience in the present matter that since competent Judges in Law had awarded that they found Guilt of Treason in the Earl that he may susser that Judgment to stand though in his private mind he was not satisfied that the Lord Strafford was criminous for that juggling and corrupt dealing which he suspected in the Proofs at the Tryal and let the Blame lye upon them who sate upon the Tribunal of Life and Death The four Bishops were all for the ashrmative and the Earl took it so little in ill part that Reverend Armagh pray'd with him preach'd to him gave him his last Viaticum and was with him on the Scassoid as a Ghostly Father till his Head was severed from his Body 154. Indeed His Majesty in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth seem to represent it as if he did not approve what he received from the four Bishops at that Consultation And I will leave such good men to his Censure rather than contradict any thing in that most pious most ravishing Book which deserves as much as Tully said of Crassus in his Brutus Ipsum melius potuisse scribere alium ut arbitror neminem Perhaps the King could have wrote better but I think no man else in the three Kingdoms What a venomous Spirit is in that Serpent Milton that black-mouth'd Zoilus that blows his Vipers Breath upon those immortal Devotions from the beginning to the end This is he that wrote with all Irreverence against the Fathers of our Church and shew'd as little Duty to his Father that begat him The same that wrote for the Pharisees That it was lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause and against Christ for not allowing Divorces The same O horrid that desended the lawfulness of the greatest Crime that ever was committed to put our thrice-excellent King to death A petty School-boy Scribler that durst graple in such a Cause with the Prince of the learned men of his Age Salmasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eunapius says of Ammonius Plutarch's Scholar in Aegypt the Delight the Musick of all Knowledge who would have scorn'd to drop a Pen-full of Ink against so base an Adversary but to maintain the Honour of so good a King whose Merit he adorns with this Praise p. 237. Con. Milt De quo si quis dixerit omnia bona vix pro suis meritis satis illum ornaret Get thee behind me Milton thou savourest not the things that be of Truth and Loyalty but of Pride Bitterness and Falshood There will be a time though such a Shimei a dead Dog in Abishai's Phrase escape for a while yet he and the Enemies of my Lord the King will fall into the Hands of the Avenger of Blood And that Book the Picture of King Charles's innocent Soul which he hath blemish'd with vile Reproaches will be the Vade Mecum of godly persons and be always about them like a Guardian Angel It is no marvel if this Canker-worm Milton is more lavish in his Writings than any man to justifie the beheading of Strafford whom good men pray'd for alive and pitied him dead So did the four Bishops that I may digress no longer who pour'd the best Oyl they could into the King's Conscience to give him Peace within himself when the main Cause was desperate and common Fury would compel him in the end to sacrifice this Earl to the Parliament Things will give better Counsel to men than men to things But a Collector of Notes W. Sa. hath a sling at the Bishop of Lincoln his quill hits him but hurts him no more than if it were a Shuttle-cock with four Feathers Forsooth when those four Bishops were parting from the King he put a Paper into His Majesty's Hand and that could be nothing else but an Inflammatory of Reasons more than were heard in publick left the King should cool and not set his Hand to the fatal Warrant This Author was once in the right p. 154. of his own Book That it becomes an Historian in dubious Relations to admit the most Christian and Charitable Pessumè it is optimè herclè dicitis Plaut in Pen. But this Case needs no Favour The Paper which that Bishop put into the King's Hands as he told me the next morning was an humble Advice to His Majesty why he should not give the Parliament an indesinite time to sit till both Houses consented to their own dissolution Was not this faithful Counsel For what could the King see in them who had been so outragious already to stand out the trial of their wavering Faith Trust should make men true Says Livy lib. 22. Vult sibi quisque credi habita fides ipsam plerumque fidem obligat But a number of these men cared not for moral Principles they were all for the Scriptures and they read them by new Lights The King had too much Faith and they had no Good Works What magnanimous Prince would bow so low to give the Keys of Government to so many Male-contents
Garbage That is in plain English the Priest must no longer receive Obligations from either King or Lords but wholly depend upon his Holy Fathers the Pope of Rome and the Pope of Lambeth or at least wise pay him soundly for their Dispensations and Absolutions when they presume to do the contrary In the mean time here is not one word or shew of Reason to inform an understanding man that persons in Holy Orders ought not to terrisie the Bad and comfort the Good to repress Sin and chastise Sinners which is the summa totalis of the Civil Magistracy and consequently so far forth at the least to intermeddle with Secular Affairs And this is all that I shall say touching the Motive and Ground of this Bill and that persons in Holy Orders ought not to be inhibited from intermeddling in Secular Astairs either in point of Divinity or in point of Conveniency and Policy 163. The second Point consists of the Persons reflected upon in this Bill which are Archbishops Bishops Parsons Vicars and all others in Holy Orders of which point I shall say little only finding these Names huddled up in an Heap made me conceive at first that it might have some relation to Mr. 〈◊〉 Reading in the Middle Temple which I ever esteem'd to have been very inoffentively deliver'd by that learned Gentleman and with little discretion question'd by a great Ecclesiastick then in Place for all that he said was this That when the Temporal â—ords are more in Voices than the Spiritual they may pass a Bill without consent of the Bishops Which is an Assertion so clear in Reason and so often practis'd upon the Records and Rolls of Parliament that no man any way vers'd in either of these can make any doubt of it nor do I though I humbly conceive no Preâ—ident will be ever sound that the Prelates were ever excluded otherwise than by their own Folly Fear or Headiness For the point of being Justices of Peace the Gentleman confesseth he never meddled with Archbishops nor Bishops nor with any Clergyman made a Justice by His Majesty's Commission In the Statute made 34 Edw. 3. c. 1. he finds Assignees for the keeping of the Peace one Lord three or four of the most valiant men of the County the troublesome times did then so require it And if God do not bless us with the riddance of these two Armies the like Provision will be now as necessary He finds these men included but he doth not find Churchmen excluded no not in the Statute 13 Rich. II. c. 7. that requires Justices of Peace to be made of Knights Esquires and Gentlemen of the Law of the most sufficient of each County In which words the Gentleman thinks Clerks were not included and I clearly say by his favour they are not excluded nor do the learned Sages of the Law conceive them to be excluded by that Statute If the King shall command the Lord Keeper to fill up the Commissions of each County with the most sufficient Knights Esquires and Gentlemen of the Law shall the Lord Keeper thereupon exclude the Noblemen and the Prelates I have often in my days received this Command but never heard of this Interpretation before this time So that I cannot conceive from what ground this general Sweepstake of Archbishops Bithops Parsons Vicars and all others in Holy Orders should proceed I have heard since the beginning of my Sickness that it hath been alledg'd in this House that the Clergy in the Sixth of Edw. 3. did disavow that the Custody of the Peace did belong to them at all and I believe that such a thing is to be sound among the Notes of the Privileges of this House but first you must remember that it was in a great Storm and when the Waters were much troubled and the wild People unapt to be kept in order by Miters and Crosier-staves But yet if that noble Lord shall be pleased to cast his Eye upon the Roll it self he shall find that this poor Excuse did not serve the Prelates turns for they were compelled with a witness to defend the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom for their parts as well as the Noblemen and Gentry And you shall find the Ordinance to this effect set down upon that Roll. I conclude therefore with that noble Lord's favour that the sweeping of all the Clergy out of temporal Offices is a motion of the first impression and was never heard in the English Common-wealth before this Bill 164. I come in the third place to the main part of this Cause the things to be severed from all men in Holy Orders which are as I told you of three kinds 1. Matters of Free-hold as the Bishops Votes in Parliament and Legislative Power 2. Matters of Favour to be a Judge in Star-chamber to be a a Privy-Councillor to be a Justice of Peace or a Commissioner in any Temporal Affairs 3. Mixt Matters of Free-hold and Favour too as the Charters of some Bishops and many of the ancient Cathedrals of this Kingdom who allow them a Justice or two within themselves or their Close as they call it and exempt those grave and learned men from the Rudeness and Insolency of Tapsters Brewers Inn-keepers Taylors and Shoe-makers which do integrate and make up the Bodies of our Country-Cities and Incorporations And now is the Ax laid to the very Root of the Ecclesiastical Tree and without your Lordships Justice and Favour all the Branches are to be lopt off quite with those latter Clauses and the Stock and Root it self to be quite grubb'd and digged up by that first point of abolishing all Vote and Legislative Power in all Clergymen leaving them to be no longer any part of the People of Rome but meer Slaves and Bond-men to all intents and purposes and the Priests of England one degree interiour to the Priests of Jerâ—boam being to be accounted worse than the Tail of the People Now I hope no English-man will doubt but this Vote and Representation in Parliament is not only a Freehold but the greatest Freehold that any Subject in England or in all the Christian World can brag of at this day that we live under a King and are to be govern'd by his Laws that is not by his arbitrary Edicts or Rescripts but by such Laws confirmed by him and assented to by us either in our proper Persons or in our Assignees and Representations This is the very Soul and Genius of our Magna Charta and without this one Spirit that great Statute is little less than litera occidens a dead and useless piece of Paper You heard it most truly opened unto you by a wise and judicious Peer of this House that Legem patere quam ipse tuleris was a Motto wherein Alexander Severus had not more interest than every true-born Englishman No Forty-shillings-man in England but doth in person or representation enjoy his Freedom and Liberty The Prelates of this Kingdom as a Looking-glass
Ruin of a Kingdom as little Children are more afraid of a Vizard than of the Fire therefore they stroke them with fair words when they meet them O Indignity An quae Turpia cerdoni Volesos Brutumque decebunt Juven Sat. 8. That which was base in Coblers was it not worse in Lords and Knights and Squires and such as assumed to be the Princes of the Land No Senators that intended to rule a People did ever endure the like Let M. AEmilius the Consul speak for the State of Rome Livy lib. 39. Majores nostri ne vos quidem nisi cum aut vexillo in arce posito comitiorum causâ exercitus positus esset aut plebi Concilium tribuni edixissent aut aliqui ex magistratibus and concionem vocassent temerè coire voluerint ubi legitimum rectorem multitudini censerent esse debere They that boulster up such Insurrections as these their own Guards upon a new Quarrel may knock them on the Head Cum tot populis stipatus eas in tot populis vix una fides Sen Hercul furens But these Wat Tylers and Round-Robins being driven or persuaded out of White-hall there was a buzz among them to take their way to Westminster-Abby some said Let us pluck down the Organs Some cried Let us deface the Monuments that is prophane the Tombs and Burying-places of Kings and Queens This was carried with all speed to the Archbishop the Dean who made fast the Doors whi◠they found shut against them and when they would have forced them they were beaten off with Stones from the top of the Leads the Archbishop all this while maintaining the Abby in his own person with a few more for fear they should seize upon the Regalia which were in that place under his Custody The Spight of the Mutineers was most against him yet his Followers could not entreat him to go aside as the Disciples restrained Paul from rushing into an Uproar Act. 19.30 but he stood to it as Cesius Quintius in Livy lib. 3. Unus impetus tribunitios popularesque procellas sustinebat After an hours dispute when the Multitude had been well pelted from aloft a few of the Archbishops Train opened a Door and rush'd out with Swords drawn and drove them before them like fearful Hares They were already past their Duty but short of their Malice and every day made Battery on all the Bishops as they came to Parliament forcing their Coaches back tearing their Garments menacing if they came any more What Times could be worse None says Tully upon M. Antony's Violence upon the Senate Phil. Or. 13. Caesare dominante venicbamus in Senatum si non liberè tamen tutò What Aid did the Lords afford to quell these Affronts Why let Softhenes be beaten before the Judgment-seat Gallio cares for none of these things Act. 18.17 The Bishops were God's Ministers and let him defend them as Tyberius to that way in Tacitus Deorum injuriae Diis curae sunt The remissness of our Parliament Lords Optimates non Optimi shewed the same Indifferency O ye religious Kings that would govern with Peace how are ye able These foul and unremediable Uproars tell you that the only Imperatorian Art is to be furnish'd with a good Army and to know how to order it 168. So great a Hurry continuing wherein all things were turned the wrong side upward there was such an apparent Mischief co-incident that whatsoever did pass in the Lords House during their constrained absence was null and invalid for if any one person in either House be repelled by force and be denied Freedom to give his Vote that Nicety is a Bar to the whole Proceeding of the Parliament as some write that comment subtilly upon Parliamentary Privileges Not as if the Speaker did ever sit in his Chair when none were absent or that one Vote is like to sway a Cause yet sometimes it comes to so near a scrutiny but this Judgment is made of it That it may so fall out and doth often that one Member put the case the person forced out may propose such Reasons to the House as that all resolve into his Opinion This great Prejudice concurring by repelling the Bishops tumultuously from taking their Places in the Lords House York called his Brethren together to set their Hands to a Petition and Protestation made to His Majesty and the Lords Temporal and put it into the L. Keeper Littleton's Hand yet not to be read till His Majesty by the Bishop's Invitation should fit with the Peers in the House and then to read it in the King and the Lords audience and not before The L. Keeper unadvisedly I hope it was no worse produceth the Petition c. before the King was made acquainted with it which made a Project well contrived break out into a Thunder-clap of Mischief which rash or bad dealing in the Lord-Keeper York could not suspect And he that drives much business shall be cross'd in some for want of Luck though he be never so prudent Nulli fortuna tam dedita est ut multa tentanti ubique respondeat Sen. lib. 1. de irâ c. 3. That Protestation follows here whose like and almost same York had found in the Records of the Tower which he studied there till his Eye-sight was much the worse for it To the KING 's Most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Peers now assembled in Parliament The humble Petition and Protestation of all the Bishops and Prelates now called by His Majesty's Writs to attend the Parliament and now present about London and Westminster for that Service THat whereas the Petitioners are called up by several and respective Writs and under great Penalties to attend in Parliament and have a clear and indubitate Right to vote in Bills and other matters whatsoever debateable in Parliament by the ancient Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm and ought to be protected by Your Majesty quietly to attend and prosecute that great Service They humbly remonstrate and protest before God Your Majesty and the noble Lords and Peers now assembled in Parliament that as they have an indubitate Right to Sit and Vote in the House of the Lords so are they if they may be protected from Force and Violence most ready and willing to perform their Duties accordingly And that they do abominate all Actions or Opinions tending to Popery and the maintenance thereof as also all Propension and Inclination to any malignant Party or any other Side or Party whatsoever to the which their own Reasons and Consciences shall not move them to adhere But whereas they have been at several times violently menaced affronted and assaulted by multitudes of People in their coming to perform their Services in that Honourable House and lately chased away and put in danger of their Lives and can find no Redress or Protection upon sundry Complaints made to both Houses in these particulars They likewise humbly protest before your Majesty and the noble House of Peers
to come off with Judgment than to go on with Courage in a desperate Service So the King retired from them who were worthy to be torn up from the Society of Men. But the Hothams came forth of their Dens to raven for a Prey they had the forehead to appear and not blush unless blood did rise in their Face when they did mind to shed it And the Archbishop escap't them as narrowly as David did Saul when Michol let him down throw a Window and put an Image in his Bed to cosin her Fathers Messengers 1 Sam. 19.13 My Relation I deliver out of the mouth of Mr. Roger Nightingale a Gentleman of the King's Chappel who was in Cawood-Castle with the Archbishop When the pious and learned Dr. Ferne requiting his Patron for the Archdeaconry of Leicester came to him late at night with a solicitous counrenance and warned him to change that Lodging and that Country as he tendred his Life for the younger Hotham was making ready to come with force enough by five of the Clock the next Morning to take the Castle and had drawn his Sword before some Gallants with a Vow to cut off the Archbishop's head The Family was much amazed for Cawood was unprovided ruinous undefensible Young Hotham was a rough piece provoked by the Archbishop's language among all his Alliances for the disloyalty ut Hull and above all as Vellicius says of Clodius Malorum propositorum executor acerrimus One that never promised an ill turn but he pay'd it So after midnight the Person whose Life alone was threatned made haste out of the House with some few Horse in his Company conveyed away such of his Goods as could be saved in so short a time left the Charge of the Place with Mr. Nightingale who stoutly undertook it and was Summon'd with a Trumpet at the hour expected and having no Colours hung out a Sheet for a Parley with the Assailants Whose Leader fell into a rage when he heard from the Window that the man lay not there that night whom he called out to speak with but upon condition to save the Lives of all the persons in the Castle which was faithfully kept and to allow them Carts to carry away all their Furniture but Arms the place was surrender'd up The last Article was broken and nothing was saved from the top to the bottom from the plunder of the Souldiers But God provided that his Person was saved whom the Lyons Whelp would have murder'd in cold Blood Quà m pome furvae regna Proserpinae c. Horat. Od. lib. 2. How near was the Sword to the Thread of his Life to cut it off Venerable Bede relates a strange Passage That Felix well might he be named so a Presbyter of Nola ran under a Stair-case from one that follow'd him with a naked Weapon and no sooner was Felix got in but a Spider spun a Webb before the entrance of that dark place which made him lurk there unsuspected But Solinus pag. 11. would make us believe that Castor and Pollux called Pindar the Poet out of his House to speak with him which fell down by a fault in the Foundation as soon as he was come out of doors I am sure it was worthy Dr. Ferne who called the Archbishop out of Cawood else he had been sacrificed to the Fury of a wicked Doeg and I am as sure that the Doctor thinks himself happy that he saved so precious a Life Now what became of Hothams Father and Son whom their Patrons brought out of Hull to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill is known to all for there is none for whose sake you do a wicked thing but they despise you in their Heart and when their turn is served they will cast you off as one that deserves no better than Scorn As David served himself a while of Joab and left order at last to cut him off 174. In a midnight Affrightment the Archbishop left his House and Diocess as he thought for a while but it was for ever He went away without a Sumpter nay not with so much as change of Apparel and for Coyn it was so near to Cantabit vacuus c. he was sure that no Highway-men would stop him for a Booty All that he could gather while he was among his Tenants in York-shire was little enough to furnish the King But his good luck was in his passage to find His Majesty gathering a rowling Army the Drums beating for Volunteers in which Service he left some of his stoutest Followers behind him and kept a slender Attendance to carry him to the furthest parts of North Wales At his parting upon his bended Knee with Tears running down his Cheeks and hearty Prayers for His Majesty he received his Gracious Hand and Manual Seal for his safe Passage and Convoy which brought him to his native Soil beyond Pen-man-maur where let him keep for a while till I have shewn the great Sin of our Land the Troubles of a Civil War wherein the King was involved without any Fault of his Every Digression is not a Transgression When His Majesty saw he had no Power to stop the daily Uproars about his Palace of Whitehall which did emperil and threaten his Life because the Commons gave them Thanks upon all occasions for their readiness to assist them the Lords of the Privy-Council and his trusty Servants could see no other in it than a Spark of Rebellion and a Seed of War Neither did they cast about mistrustful and unfaithful Doubts for he that had his Senses could not err in that apprehension Potest est bellum sine tumultu tumultus sine bello esse non potest It is the Judgment of the Senator Cicero Philip. 8. A War may be prosecuted without a Tumult a Tumult cannot continue without a War But the King minded not so much that his Life as that his Honour was at the Stake for he hated Rebellion more for the Indignity than the Danger Yet it becomes a Prince more for our Good than his to preserve both his Person and his Dignity Upon mature Judgment he travels by easie Journeys with his Houshold into the North where he finds the Parliament professing Hostility against him by their Command and Overt Act denying him way into the Town of Hull and the use of his Magazine a Confront no less outragious than if they had given him Battel Is not every foot of Ground in the Land upon which Man and Beast treads subject to the King's Dominion Is not his Crown reach'd at when any part of it is held against him This is Gospel and it will be Law if ever this Case come to a sober reckoning Subjection being quite disclaimed and that with a Martial Defiance it was in vain to dispute what Redress there was for it when there was none but to look to the Array and to muster stout and loyal Souldiers Yet with what unwillingness did his Wise and Pious Heart go about it How many Offers of
Accordance did he make in that very Instant How many Messengers were posted to London which was no better than to dry-ditch the business for every Offer of Grace made his Enemies haughty the King's Reputation less his Friends suspicious that he could sooner entreat for than defend his Cause Paper Mercuries well worded are fine things but not forcible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Ulysses sake so much abused says Homer For K. Charles so much rejected say I let no Prince hope to bend the stubborn and revolted Subject with Goodness and Mildness break them to pieces and quell them with Power there is no other Art to work upon such churlish Metal Forasmuch then as the King saw that he but abused advantage of time to knock at a Door that would never be opened he opened the Temple of Janus that was close shut before and let out War if it might be called so who brought scarce 600 into the Field but had his Array been forty times more he would not have look'd how strong he was but how innocent and the more innocent because most unwilling Well did the Orator state it lib. 4. ep 7. Sapientem bonum virum initia belli civilis invitum suscipere 〈◊〉 non libenter persequi Which was consonant to the Hearts-affection of our King as he took it upon his Death And to speak to common Reason and Charity a man whose Paths were Piety his Governance Mercy his Bed Chastity his Repast Sobriety his Addresses Humility how could he set a Ditty to any other Prick'd Song but the Tune of Peace 175. What Pardon can we expect from the Censure of a better Age that we did not stop the Fury of Malecontents before any drop of Blood was shed I appeal to Fidelity Homage Duty why did we no instantly raise an Host of Horse and Foot which Rebels would not dare to encounter And because Help from remoter Countries would be too flow for sudden action why did not the adjacent Counties come in all as one man where the Royal Standard was pitch'd Water which is to be setch'd far will not quench a Fire There are some Vertues which lose their Name unless they operate as soon as their fit Object is before them To be loyal to be thankful to be just to be remorseful should be done ex tempore And I appeal to Prudence who doth not know that if you endure the Feaver of a Civil War to have one Fit it will have more and consume the Body-politick before it be cured Semper erit paribus bellum quia viribus aequant Manil. lib. 1. Which Sir Walter Ralâ—igh well translates Hist p. 179. Equals from Equals will receive equal harms When a domestick War seizeth on a Country rich in Plenty and full of Surfeits with continual Ease it never leaves purging those Superfluities till all be wast d. It was an Imposture which many were willing to put upon their own Cenference by this Excuse that they did nothing against Allegiance because they took not the contrary part First None can sin against themselves but that they incurr a great Guilt and those betrayed their Liberties and Livelihoods to the Rage of Tyrants for not defending themselves themselves I say for while they fight for their King they fight for themselves if he fall they are ruin'd in whose Weal their own is comprehended And their not listing themselves in the King's Battalion was a Trespass It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one word in Greek when the Subjects make not ready to follow their Soveraign in Arms And note the Punishment of it 1 Sam. 11.7 Saul hewed a yoke of oxen and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of his messengers saying Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and Samuel so shall it be done to his oxen and the fear of the Lord fell on the people and they came out with one consent Not the care of Wife and Children in a Family not a weak Body not a grey Head should free a Subject from such a Service To the latter which may look more excusable than the rest Symmachus gives an Instance p. 10. Epis Nullam Nestor tertio aetatis curriculo militiae vacationem poposcit Where was the English Piety or where was their Bravery at this season that so few adventur'd themselves to draw their Swords for the Lord 's Anointed when so many invited themselves unbidden to do a Mischief I go further They were basely backward to come forth into the Field when they should have stood manfully to their own Cause for it was not the King's Cause alone it was the Kingdoms Cause and the King was in the Cause Non magni partes sed magnum in partibus esse Lucan lib. 5. Put King Charles into the Verse for Pompey and the sence is the same I have no Name scurvy enough for it that without some special feelings and ends of their own few lead on to remove an Evil for the common Relief but would thrust every man before them into the danger of an Action if they can share in the Profit of an Event they mind not the Glory And that which in Reason should have drawn the Peasants on held them back the small Band of Souldiers that march'd after His Majesty This Objection was every man's Fault that did not make the thin Files more by one And it was every ones Infidelity that would not trust in the Lord of Hosts to maintain the Right He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he encreaseth strength Isa 40.29 What Cowardice was it to think all was lost before they struck a stroke Turpiter desperatur quicquid fieri potest Liv. lib. 10. If God had given the Multitude Faith to remove this Despair and to have obeyed the King in the first Onset Rebellion had sunk into the Ground like Snow and nothing could have been added to our Prosperity with wishing 176. And yet I will not say that the Sin of Omission was bad in all alike some did not discharge Allegiance out of Imprudence and Frailty but take them by the Poll and more offended out of Design and Subtilty such as turned their Sails to the changableness of the Wind Utcunque in alto ventus est velum vortitur So Plautus of such crafty Time-servers That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I condemn'd when subjects did not give up their names to the king's militia was worse in them by far that kept at home till they saw how fortune went abroad who would be of no side in the open dispute that in the end they might be of the victor's side they would wear the king's colours in the pale purple if the day were his or Essex's Badge in Orange-tawny if Treason proved prosperous These Neutralists are of a Spaniel Brood that will fawn as much upon a Stranger as upon their Master and are welcome to none because they undertake Impossibilities to
to make a competent Judge for the lawfulness of their War For is it not most impious to prove a Cause not till after the Victory and to have no Inducement that they sought for the right till all was done Experience is stronger than twenty Reasons against it As Paterculus said of one good man Lusius Drusus Meliore in omma ingenio quà m fortuná usus so let there be thousands of such in a body their Innocency may be greater than their Fortune The fallacy of Success is to be exploded out of the Morals of Justice neither can such a contingent Medium produce a demonstrative Conclusion It was bravely pleaded by the Rhodians in an Oration before the Roman Senate Liv. lib. 35. You Romans were wont to account your Wars prosperous Non tam exitu eorum quòd vincat is quà m principiis quod non sine causâ suscipiat is I may say hic rhodus hic saltas And this is sapience to list them who admire Success among those whom Fortune favours 190. Neither were the vain-glorious content to pride it upon Success and to stamp it upon their Money God with us but sharpned their presumption against the King's Friends with Insultations and Revilings that they were unregenerate such as walked after the flesh forsaken of God and appointed to slaughter Bitter untrue uncharitable Such as knew not his Majesty's faithful Soldiers thought vilely of them such as faw their daily diligence at Common-Prayer their sidelity for their Lord and King their preparation for death their adventuring their Estates and Bodies in all hard Service without pay nay without necessary Subsistence did deservedly magnisie the Grace of God that was in them Yet we do not justifie all Some scores of them might have been spared who were driven into the King's Quarters by the Oppression of the Parliament and came to save themselves more than to defend the King and it was a common observation at Oxford that excepting the great Counsellors and the Clergy they that sought least liv'd worst Yet the loosest of these kept their Oath of Allegiance which comes nearer to a Saint than any Rebel of a good outside Qui nesciret in armis Quam magnum crimen virtus civilibus esset Luc. l. 6. But did they never read of an holy Commander forced to take Arms in a good Cause and guarded from his Enemies by Persons of an homely Character David is the Captain the Heir to the Crown of Israel and Judah by God's Election his Cause to escape the Tyranny of Saul not to bid him War And what were his Soldiers 1 Sam. 22.2 Every one that was in distress discontented in debt of a bitter soul gathered themselves to David and he became a Captain over them There were sins very reproveable in either of our adverse Armies put them thus into a comparison Which did most offend God Noah's planting a Vine and being drunk or the building of the Tower of Babel The Casuists have an Answer at their fingers ends That drunkenness corrupted the world but ambition confounded it And is not confusion of a whole Realm more pernicious than corruption in a part But how willingly did the sober Army allow cherish and make wealthy their Chaplain Peters Is there such another spotted Leopard in all the King's Quarters as Catulus said of Nonius What a deal of dung doth that Cart carry Have they no better excuse for themselves than a pandanni Plauti trinum Scelest us est at mihi infidelis non est or than Xenoph. makes for the Athenians in his Oration upon their Republick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Athenians a baseness in them loved those that were fit and useful for them though they were wicked men Yet it was not the Riot of the King's Army that caused it to be improsperous that was reported where nothing was examin'd and weighed but out of spight believed as it was rumor'd It was partly neglect of Duties for want of pay But chiefly Presumption that their cause was clearly loyal and lawful that the name of the King was more than thirty thousand that the Subjects of England did never suffer the Crown in fine to be opprest that they would fight for it though it hung upon an Heythorn-Hedge They forgot that the English were new cast and turn'd into another People by scottish sawciness and contempt of Soveraignty This Presumption kept the King's Forces sleeping when their Enemies were waking and what is Presumption but Hope run out of its Wits The Rebels were well paid well provided of all Ammunition mightily courted by their Chiestains as Tertullian could say de Praes c. 41. Nunquam 〈◊〉 proficitur quà m in castris rebellium ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est Again none are so adventurous as they that dare not be Cowards for fear of hanging The Law was behind the Parliamentarians sight or hang. Despair will inspire a faint heart as a skilful Author notes it Vegetius l. 3. Clausis in desperatione crescit audacia cum spei nihil est sumit arma formido These are the Difficulties through which the King was to pass and could not which is no dishonour to his Goodness or Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. No man need to be ashamed that he cannot do all things And never wonder if the Counsels of men well contrived be frustrated by the secret Counsels of God which an Ethnick expresseth in the style of his Religion Destinata salubriter omni ratione potentior fortuna discussit Curt. l. 3. To clear up this more would they that so much adore their Idol Success would they have confest from their heart their own Cause to be wrong if the King had beaten them I believe the God of this World hath darkned them so much that such a Confession cannot be gotten out of them The Weavers of Kidderminster must not be brought to such a sight of their sin that is they must never repent if they be true Disciples of Mr. Baxter's Doctrine The best of Orators was the greatest of Dissemblers in his Plea for Ligarius before Caesar Tully had been a violent Pompeian but the whole Empire after the Pharsalian Field being turn'd Caesarean says the fine-spoken man Nunc certè melior ea causa judicanda est quam etiam Dii adjuverunt Yet so much dissonancy there was between his Tongue and his Heart that he triumpht in the murder of Caesar the only Roman that exceeded all their Race in nobleness and was next to Tully in eloquence Boast not therefore in Success which is an advantage to make Insidels proud but the abstruse ways of God's Providence which setteth up one and pulleth down another as he pleaseth should make us Christians humble 191. For all this if the wise men of Goat-ham will appeal to Success to Success let the matter be referr'd and then every eye may see what was the Summum bonum the chief aim and drift of the rebellious Enterprise Wealth and Spoil So
the World is more civil than in Ages past but the longer it lasts our Wars are more licentious and barbarous Livy says Fabritius was as innocent in War as in Peace Just in boasts of greater things lib. 25. Multa tune honest iùs bella gerebantur quà m nunc amicitiae coluntur Formerly they found honester Foes in the Field than we find Friends in the City When the rudeness of the common Soldier abated by courteous treatment the greater disliculty was to thrust back the Ambition of divers more than enough that would be Commanders Words of high Language past between him and some Gallants before they would sit down Ambrosius vir optimae ment is sed elatae says Lud. Molin Paren p. 539. So this Ambrose was not to be out-braved with a Buff-Jerkin and a Feather And though some of the Cavaâ—iers love not his memory for it to this time yet I shall give no scratch to Truth or Reputation to declare my self in his Defence that it was to be praised in him that he repuised the English from being chief Oâ—icers oâ—er the old Britains in their own Soil And it was prudence to preserve the Bulkly's that great Family of Anglesey in the Vice-Admiralty of those Seas rather than a valiant Gentleman born in Cambridgeshire for they will venture further with their own Deputy-Lieutenants Gentry and Landlord than with a Stranger The Western-men were never so well in heart as with their own Bevile Greenvile Ralph Hopton Killigrew Godolphin c. when they chang'd these for other Generals and Colonels their Purses were shut their Courage fell and their Duties were slackned In all these Contrasts the Archbishop prevailed and broke through Mutinies and high Threats which had been impossible but that he was ever most obliging and merciful in his greatest Fortune Bona sibi comparat praesidia misericordia He that would never hurt any when he might was most like if any to be shot free 196. Let it stick upon his good Name as a mark of Heroick Loyalty that he fell to these works upon his own cost and peril before the King was aware nor had yet requir'd it of him which will bring in that of Xenophon l. 3. Hist Hystaspas and Chrysantus were Cyrus his most faithful Ministers Hystaspas would do all that Cyrus bad him Chrysantus would do that which he thought was pleasing to Cyrus's Service before he bad him But when his Majesty heard of this Prelates Actions he posted Letters often to him and those so sweet and affecting that they did recoct his drooping Age into Youth and cozened him that he saw no danger in the Camp and selt no envy from the Parliament Of those Letters there are many reserv'd yet no more shall be produced than concerns the keeping of Conway-Castle because it turn'd to a sharp quarrel and procur'd him obloquy From Oxford Aug. 1. 1643. CHARLES R. MOst Reverend Father in God c. We are informed by our Servant Orlando Bridgman not only of the good Encouragement and Assistance you have given him in our Service but also of your own personal and earnest endeavours to promote it And though we have had long experience of your fidelity readiness and zeal in what concerns us yet it cannot but be most acceptable unto us that you still give unto us fresh occasions to remember it And we pray you to continue to give all possible assistance to our said Servant And whereas you are new resident at our Town of Aber-Conway where there is a Castle heretofore belonging to our Crown and now to the Lord Conway which with some charge is easily made defensible but the Lord Conwaybeing imprison'd by some of our rebellious Subjects and not able to furnish it as is requisite for our Service and the defence of those parts You having begun at your own charge to put the same into repair We do heartâ—y desire you to go on in that Work assuring you that whatsoever Moneys you shall lay out upon the Fortification of the said Castle shall be repayed unto you before the Cusiody thereof shall be put into any other hand than your own as such as you shall recommend Upon the backside of this gracious Letter this the Archbishop hath written with his own Hand I Jo. Archbishop of York have assigned my Nephew Mr. Will. Hookes Esq Alderman of Conway to have the Custody of this Castle mention'd in his Majesty's Letter under his Signet until I shall be repay'd the Moneys and Money-worth disbursed by me in the repair thereof by virtue of this Warrant And in case of Mortality I do assign my Nephew Gryffith Williams to the same effect Jan. 2. 1643. 197. New Motions and sudden started Counsels were no new thing at the Court in Oxford Now the illustrious Prince Rupert is made the Generalissimo and the Powers of the War are given to him The Lord John Byron is entrusted and furnish't with a part to secure North-Wales Neither of them had success according to his Cause or according to his Courage What Charge his Majesty gave to them both to listen to the Archbishops Counsels appears in the following Letters From the King to Prince Rupert Apr. 17. 1646 Right dear and right entirely beloved Nephew c. WHereas our most Reverend Father in God our right trusty and entirely beloved John Archbishop of York makes his abode in the remotest parts of North-Wales and hath been heretofore by reason of his great and long experience very useful to us in the advising and directing of the Commissioners of the Peace and Array in the several Counties of Carnarvan Anglesey and Merioneth in all things nearly concerning our Service Supplies and Assistance and that we have required the said Commissioners from time to time to listen to all his reasonable Counsels and Advice to that effect We thought it sit to let you understand that we have laid our Commands upon the said most Reverend Father in God to do you upon whom we have placed the care and government of those parts the like Service in this kind if you shall hold it fit to require it the said Archbishop humbly desiring us it might be no otherwise imposed upon him which we thought fit to signifie unto you As also that esteem we have of his Abilities and entire Affections in our Service which we desire you to encourage by all fair respects So we bid you heartily farewel Another of his Majesty's follows to the Archbishop Febr. 25. 1645. WHereas we have appointed the Lord Byron to Command in chief over all our Garrisons and Forces in North-Wales and hope that by his good Conduct in those parts our Service and the Countreys Security will be furthered with all diligence Nevertheless for his better and more effectual proceeding therein we have thought to fit desire the ready concurrence with him of your self and all our Friends knowing well how considerable advantage yours and their hearty and unanimous endeavours with him there will bring to our
Service and Affairs And in that respect as well as your common interest and duty we command your suitable compliance which we assure you shall be looked upon by us as a fresh acceptable Testimony of your Affections to Us and our Cause and preserved in our Royal remembrance with the rest of your Merits against the time when it may please God to enable Us to reflect thereon for your good Thus far his Majesty to make way for the Lord Byron a gallant Person a great Wit a Scholar very Stout full of Honour and Courtesie yet favour'd the English Interest above the Welsh in those Counties which did not take And the Dye of War run so false that he lost the Cast to one who had not the Ames-Ace of Valour in him Neither did the scatter'd Forces of those distressed Parts ever set them another Stake Prince Rupert observing the Royal Directions wrote largely as followeth May 16. 1644. To all Governours and Officers to all Sheriffs Commissioners of the Array or Peace all Vice-Admirals or Captains of Ships in the three Counties WHereas I understand by his Majesty's Letters unto me lately directed that the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of York by reason of his great Experience and Imployments in the Affairs of this Kingdom as well under my Grandfather of famous memory as under his Majesty that now is hath been intrusted in the three Counties c. from the first beginning of these Troubles and gives his best Advice in Matters of Importance which have relation to the King's Service and the Peace and safe keeping of those Counties from all Invasions by Sea or Land And that he hath discharged that Trust reposed in him faithfully and successfully during the time of his abode in those parts My will and pleasure is That according to his Majesty's intimation to me you and every one of you in all matters of importance and moment touching or concerning his Majesty's or my Service under his Majesty in those Counties as also in all Matters of Questions Doubts and Variances which may fall out either among your selves or between your selves and the several Counties wherein you govern or command shall from time to come consult and advise with the said most Reverend Father in God and follow such his Advices and Counsels in the Premisses which shall be grounded upon the Laws of the Land or the pressing Necessities of these times and agreeing with our Directions and future Instructions from time to time RUPERT Nothing was wanting of Royal and Princely care to preserve the Archbishop in Conway-Castle yet all would not serve There was none whom Envy did more strive to hold down upon all occasions which his great Deservings brought upon him So true is that of Synesius de provid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue doth not quench Envy but rather kindle it One violent Person unframed all good Order who would submit to no Authority a hot Man for he was ever dry and he did not conceal it for he was always drinking 198. That Affront waited more leisure to break forth and suffered him to take a long and a tedious Journey in Winter to Oxford in obedience to these Lines which he received from his Majesty Decemb. 16. 1644. CHARLES R. WE having had frequent experience of your good Affection and Ability to serve us and having occasion at this time to make use of them here We have thought fit and do by these Presents require you to repair hither to Us to Oxon with all convenient expedition Desiring you to come as throughly informed as you can of the true condition of Our Affairs c. Presently he set forward though the ways were much beset and came in January with the first to the King for he had many things to represent and was not in his Element when he was consined in private Walls He took up his Lodging with the Provost of Queens-Colledge Dr. Christopher Potter a Master in Divinity and a Doctor of Piety He was received in the Court with much Grace where he saw his stay must be short For that City could not long receive so many Nobles and Gentry as came to make a Session of Parliament neither could so many of the King 's principal Friends be spared from their Countries Being then a good Husband of his time and having private Audience with his Majesty he gave him that Counsel to which Wisdom and Allegiance led him as Thraseas Paetus the famous Senator said Suum esse non aliam quà m optimam sententiam dicere One passage is fit to see the light which had much of prudence in it and too much of prophesie He desir'd his Majesty to be informed by him and to keep it among Advices of weight That Cromwel taken into the Rebels Army by his Cousin Hambden was the most dangerous Enemy that his Majesty had For though he were at that time of mean rank and use among them yet he would climb higher I knew him says he at Bugden but never knew his Religion He was a common Spokes-man for Sectaries and maintained their part with stubbornness He never discoursed as if he were pleased with your Majesty and your great Officers indeed he loves none that are more than his Equals Your Majesty did him but Justice in repulsing a Petition put up by him against Sir Thomas Steward of the Isle of Ely but he takes them all for his Enemies that would not let him undo his best Friend and above all that live I think he is Injuriarum persequentissimus as Porcius Latro said of Catiline He talks openly that it is sit some should act more vigorously against your Forces and bring your Person into the power of the Parliament He cannot give a good word of his General the Earl of Essex because he says the Earl is but half an Enemy to your Majesty and hath done you more favour than harm His Fortunes are broken that it is impossible for him to subsist much less to be what be aspires to but by your Majesty's Bounty or by the Ruin of us all and a common Confusion as one said Lentulus salvâ Repub. salvus esse non potuit Paterc In short every Beast hath some evil properties but Cromwel hath the properties of all evil Beasts My humble motion is that either you would win him to you by the Promises of fair Treatment or catch him by some stratagem and cut him short Now if it shall be objected Who reports this saving the Archbishop himself to magnifie his own parts that he was so excellent in fore-sight and as Ajax slighted his Rival Sua narret Ulysses Quae sine teste gerit I satisfie it thus His Servants and they that daily listned to his Discourses have heard it come from him long before the accident of saddest experience how some of them would live to see when Cromwel would bear down all other Powers before him and set up himself The King received it with a
for that which outgoes my Knowledge shall never undergo my Censure As our English People say Much Cry and little Wool these two Houses produced small things in the close Nothing more uncertain than what a Parliament will bring forth in the end At the Colloquy at Ratisbon Tanner granted that the Pope might err in a Council unless he used all due and ordinary means But the Jesuit in effect granted nothing For says he without all doubt and question he doth ever use those means But if a Parliament were all Popes and made out their Consults with the Line and Plumbet of the best Diligence Obliquity would fall out because all human Light burns dim in the Lanthorn of thick misty Passions It is observ'd that His Majesty removed one Parliament to Oxon in the first of his Reign this other in the nineteenth both rose up abruptly and gave him small content How is it that publick Councils were improsperous in those delicate Seats of Arts and Sciences The Genius of the place is not pleased with those Areopagites for they are not proper Visitors of its learned Foundations Themistius hath these words in an Oration upon the Muses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They all agree very well together but the Muses like no other company 200. Oxford wanted not Bishops at this time many lodg'd in it but they were excluded to sit and vote as Peers in Parliament yet their presence serv'd for very good use His Majesty had preferred Dr. Frewin the President of Magdalen-College to the Bishoprick of Lichfield and Coventry whom none of his Predecessors did exceed in Prudence Bounty and Advancement of learned Scholars who was consecrated by the Archbishop of York in the Chappel of his own College and feasted the Nobles and Clergy in a fair Room built at his own Cost It is not to be pass'd over that he left the Presidentship of that College a place of Security and Plenty to take a Bishoprick when those Dignities were voted out of the Church by the Disciplinarians and their Revenues offer'd to sale to pay the Charges of their Army Which was an act of as much Hope and Courage as that Roman's in Livy That when Rome was besieged by Hannibal bargain'd for and bought that piece of Land upon which the Carthaginians had pitch'd their Camp To return from this little Diversion into the great Road When the Parliament had made a recess His Majesty call'd a few able Statesmen to him in private among whom our Archbishop was one and being the first in precedency was called upon to begin and to say freely what might best be done to bring His Majesty and his faithful part out of those Troubles which the Lords and Gentlemen that lately undertook it had left no better than they found them The Archbishop was very backward and made many Excuses desiring to hear others that had been more assiduous in those great Affairs which being not granted he was honester than the Oracle of Apollo as Eusebius objects it to the Pagans lib. 6. Praep. Evan. c. 1. That the Oracle much importuned in a certain case and loth to give an Answer burst out into this passion Retine vim istam falsa enim dicam si coges An Evasion sit for the Couesels of the Devil But the Archbishop took his mark from St. Ambrose Ep. 29. to Theodosius Neque est imperiale libertatem dicendi negare neque Sacerdotale quod sentias non dicere So he broke into the matter Sir says he to the King my Opinion will be strange and I fear unwelcome If it please not yet do not impute it to Falshood or Fear but to Error and Mistaking Your Militia is couragious but small not like to encrease and then not to hold out Your Enemies multiply and by this time your Army hath taught them to fight They are in Treaty with the Scots to make a Recruit and the Princes and States beyond Seas to their shame give them countenance Their Treasurers at Westminster boast that it costs them large Moneys every month to keep Correspondence with their Intelligencers and Spies about you Your Souldiers in their March and Quarters are very unruly and lose the Peoples Affections every where by the Oppressions they sustain Out of these Premises I inferr and I engage my Life to your Majesties Justice and my Soul to God's Tribunal that I know no better course than to struggle no further since so it is the Will of God and to refer all to the pleasure and discretion of that unkind and insolent Parliament at Westminster but with the preservation of your Majesties Crown and Person to which they have all taken an Oath to offer no Hurt or Violence and have renewed it in many Protestations As likewise with the Indemnity of your Adherents for we save a Ship with the loss of the Goods not of the Passengers If any thing will soften them it will be this most pacifick and gracious Condescention The Heathens speak rudely that Constancy in Suffering will tire out the Cruelty of the Gods but certainly such a Sufferance and Self-denial as resigns up your Majesties Cause and Trust quite unto them will make the worst of them asham'd of their pertinacy and melâ—â—â— the best into a shower of Repentance But if your Majesty disdains to go so low and will not put the good of the Church and Kingdom upon their Faith to which Misery I fear our Sins have brought us I am ready to run on in the common Hazard with your Majesty and to live and dye in your Service There was danger in so much Plain-lealing for Xenophon lib. 2. Hist relates that in a Case to this as near as can be Archestratus was cast in Prison for advising the Athenians to take such Conditions of Peace as the Lacedemonians would give them after their great Overthrow at Aegos-potamos Yet some noble persons at the prosecution of this Consultation struck in with the Archbishop's Judgment the most dissented the King was not pleased in it and the Burden lay upon the Fore-man that began it Says the Son of Syrach c. 7 5. Boast not of thy Wisdom before the King The Note of Grotius is extant upon it Qui excellunt sapientiâ suspecti fermè regibus But the Gallantry of the Array were quite out of patience to hear of it their Heaven upon Earth was to see the day that they might subdue and be revenged of the Roundheads The common Souldier that subsisted upon Pay and Plunder had as lieve dye as lose his Trade Tanta dulcedo est ex alienis fortunis praedandi Liv. lib. 6. Now because this was called the Archbishop's Judgment though others consented and suffer'd hard words it will be to some purpose to unfold it a little and to defend the Innocent For he that lives may out-wear a Disgrace not he that is dead Therefore Arist maintains it in his ninth Problem that it is more just to do right to the Dead than to the Living
find by his own Confession remaining in some Schedules that he was beholding to Lord Egerton's Directions to fill up the Worth of that Place which were these First To open his sincere and intimate Mind in all Advice which is indeed to give Counsel and not Words For he that speaks against his Conscience to please the King gives him a dry Flower to smell to Secondly Whatsoever was propos'd to examine primarily if it were just For he that dare make bold with God for Reasons of State is not to be trusted by Man There can be no Reason against Right Velleius says that Cato the Heathen was of that Opinion Cui id solum visum est rationem habere quod haberet justitiam 2. If it were for the Honour of the King for Crown-wisdom must not be soil'd with the Dust of Baseness but aim at Glory 3. If it were profitable as well for the Ages to come as for the present Use for present Occasions are mortal but a Kingdom is immortal If it hit not every Joynt of Just Honourable and Profitable he voted to lay it aside He kept other Rules at the Table but more dispensable As to mature great Matters with slow Deliberation at least to give them a second Hearing after himself and his Colleagues had laid their Heads upon their Pillows Next he called upon the King to follow the beaten Tract of former Precedents For new ways are visibly the Reproach of ancient Wisdom and run the Hazard of Repentance New Stars have appeard and vanish'd the ancient Asterisms remain there 's not an old Star missing Likewise it was his modest but frequent Motion that Counsels should not be whispered by one or two in a Corner but delivered openly at the Board by the sworn Ministers For what avails it when a Globe of Senators have press'd sound Judgment if some for their own Ends shall overthrow it who have made Blastus their Friend in Agrippa's Chamber Act. 12. The Lord Cooke's Jurisdiction of Courts Pag. 57. gives it for a special Note of his own Observation when he was a Privy Counselsellor that when a thing upon Debate and Deliberation is well resolv'd at the Council-Table the Change thereof upon some private Information is neither safe nor honourable As Seneca says Lib. 2. de Benif Vota homines parciùs faccrent si palam facienda essint If all Prayers were made in the Hearing of a publick Assembly many that are mumbled in Private wou'd be omitted for Shame So if all Counsels offer'd to Princes were spread out before many Witnesses Ear-Wiggs that buzz what they think fit in the retir'd Closet durst not infect the Royal Audience with pernicious Glozing for fear of Scandal or Punishment Well did the Best of our Poets of this Century decipher a Corrupt Court in his Under-woods Pag. 227 When scarce we hear a publick Voice alive But whisper'd Counsels and these only thrive Lastly He deprecated continually and obtained that private Causes should be distinguished from Publick that Actions of Meum and Tuum should be repulsed from the Council-Board and kept within the Channel of the Common-Law But to run along with the Complacemia of the Multitude with that which was most cry'd up in the Town by our Gallants at Taverns and Ordinaries he defy'd it utterly Populo super â—canea est calliditas says Salust The Peoples Heads are not lin'd with the Knowledge of the Kingdoms Government 't is above their Perimeter When they obey they are in their Wits when they prescribe they are mad Excellently King James in one of his Speeches Who can have Wisdom to judge of things of that Nature arcana imperii but such as are daily acquainted with the Particulars of Treaties and the variable and fixed Connexion of Affairs of State together with the Knowledge of the secret Ways Ends and Intention of Princes in their several Negotiations Otherwise small Mistakings in Matters of this Nature may produce worse Effects than can be imagined He gave this Warning very sagely to his People what Warning he received from his faithful Servant the Lord Keeper shall be the Close of this Subject His Majesty being careful to set his House within himself in good Order against he came to the Holy Communion on the Eve before he sent for this Bishop as his Chaplain to confer with him about Sacred Preparation for that Heavenly Feast who took Opportunity when the King's Conscience was most tender and humble to shew him the way of a good King as well as of a good Christian in these Points First To call Parliaments often to affect them to accord with them To which Proposal he fully won his Majesty's Heart Secondly To allow his Subjects the Liberty and Right of the Laws without entrenching by his Prerogative which he attended to with much Patience and repented he had not lookt into that Counsel sooner Thirdly To contract his great Expences and to give with that Moderation that the Prince his Son and his succeeding Posterity might give as well as He. In short to contrive how to live upon his own Revenue or very near it that he might ask but little by way of Subsidy and he should be sure to have the more given him But of all the three Motions there was the least Hope to make him hear of that Ear. For though he would talk of Parsimony as much as any yet he was lavish and could keep no Bounds in Spending As Paterculus observes of an Emperor that wrote to the Senate Triumphum appararent quà m minimo sumtu sed quantus alias nunquam fuisset To be a great Saver and a great Spender is hard to be reconciled for it toucheth the Hem of a Contradiction But since the Benefit of that Counsel would not rest upon the Head of the King the Honesty of it returned again to him that gave it 98. Who had the Abilities of two Men in one Breast and filled up the Industry of two Persons in one Body He satisfied the King's Affairs in the Civil Theatre and performed the Bishops Part in the Church of Christ As 〈◊〉 and Jehojada were great Judges in the Land and ministred before the Lord to their Linnen Ephods The Custody of the Great Seal would not admit him so long as he kept it to visit his Diocess himself but though he was not upon the Soil of the Vineyard he was in the Tower of it to over-look the Vine-Dressors Though he was absent in his Body he was present in the Care and Watchfulness of his Spirit and as our Saviour said of the Woman that poured her precious Spikenard upon him Quod potuit fecit Marc. 14.8 So I doubt not but God did accept it from him that he did what he could He heard often from those whom he had surrogated and appointed in Office to give him Information and was so assiduous to enquire after all Occurrences in those many Parochial Towns that were under his Pastoral Power that he would be very
did now Imprison and Execute the Rigour of his Laws against the Roman Catholics I must deal plainly with your Lordship our Viperious Country-men the English Jesuits in France to frustrate those pious endeavours of his Majesty had many Months before this Favour granted retorted that Argument upon us by Writing a most malicious Book which I have seen and read over to the French King Inciting him and the three Estates to put all those Statutes in Execution against the Protestants in those parts which are here Enacted and as they falsly inform'd severely Executed upon the Papists I would therefore see the most subtle State-monger in the World chalk out away for 〈◊〉 Majesty to mediate for Grace and Favour for the Protestants by Executing at this 〈◊〉 the Severity of his Laws upon the Papists And that this Favour should 〈…〉 Toleration is a most dull and yet a most devilish misconstruction A Toleration looks forward to the time to come This favour backward to the Offences past If any Papist now set at Liberty shall offend the Laws again the Justices may Nay must recomm◠him and leave Favour and Mercy to the King to whom they properly belong Nay let those two Writs directed to the Judges be as diligently perused by these rash Censurers as they were by those Grave and Learned Men to whom his Majesty referred the Penning of the same and they shall find that these Papists are not otherwise out of Prison then with their Shackles about their Heels sufficient sureties and good recognizances to present themselves again at the next Assizes As therefore that Lacedaemonian opposed the Oracle of Apollo by asking his Opinion of the Bird which he grasp'd in his hand whether it were alive or dead So it is a matter yet controverted and undecided whether these Papists clos'd up and grasp'd in the Bands of the Law be still in Prison or at Liberty Their own demeanour and the success of his Majesties Negotiations are the Oracles that must decide the same If the Lay-Papists do wax insolent with this Mercy insulting upon the Protestants and Translating this favour from the Person to the cause I am verily of Opinion that his Majesty will remand them to their former State and Condition and renew his Writ no more But if they shall use these Graces modestly by admitting conference with Learned Preachers demeaning of themselves Neighbourly and Peaceably praying for his Majesty and the prosperous success of his Pious Endeavours and Relieving him bountifully which they are as well able to do as any other of his Subjects if he shall be forced and constrained to take his Sword in Hand Then it cannot be denied but our Master is a Prince that hath as one said plus humanitatis poene quam hominis And will at that time leave to be merciful when he leaves to be himself In the the mean while this Argument fetch'd from the Devils Topics which concludes a concreto ad abstractum from a favour done to the English Papists that the King favoureth the Popish Religion is such a Composition of Folly and Malice as is little deserved by that Gracious Prince who by Word Writing Exercise of Religion Acts of Parliament late Directions for Catechising and Preaching and all Professions and Endeavours in the World hath demonstrated himself so Resolved a Protestant God by his Holy Spirit open the Eyes of the People that these Airy Representations of ungrounded Fancies set aside they may clearly discern and see how by the Goodness of God and the Wisdom of their King this Island of all the Countries in Europe is the sole Nest of Peace and True Religion And the Inhabitants thereof unhappy only in this one thing that they never look up up to Heaven to give God Thanks for so great an Happiness Lastly for mine own Letter to the Judges which did only declare not operate the Favour it was either mispenned or much mis-construed It recited four kinds of Recusants only capable of his Majesties Clemency Not so much to include these as to exclude many other Crimes bearing among the Papists the Name of Recusanties as using the Function of a Romish Priest seducing the King's Liege people from the Religion established Scandalizing and Aspersing our King Church State or present Government All which Offences being outward practises and no secret Motions of the Conscience are adjudged by the Laws of England to be meerly Civil and Political and excluded by my Letter from the benefit of those Writs which the bearer was imployed to deliver unto my Lords the Judges And thus I have given your Lordship a plain Accompt of the Carriage of this business and that the more suddenly that your Lordship might perceive it is no Aurea Fabula or prepared Fable but a bare Narration which I have sent unto your Lordship I beseech your Lordship to let his Majesty know that the Letters to the Justices of the Peace concerning those four Heads recommended by his Majesty shall be sent away as fast as they can be exscribed I will not trouble your Lordship more at this time c. Your Lordships I. L. C. S. 105. The Letter as it exceeds in length so it excells in Judgment Yet thrusting into the midst of the Throng to part the Fray he got a knock himself For because he was principally employ'd by his Office to distribute the King's Favours to some of the adverse Sect he was Traduc'd for a Well-willer to the Church of Rome nay so far by a ranting fellow about the Town that he was near to receive a chief promotion from that Court no less than a Cardinals Hat At the first Bruit of this Rumor the Scandal was told him and one Sadler the Author discover'd which he despis'd to prosecute and pass'd it by with this moderation ' That the Reporters saw the Oar under Water and thought it was ' Crooked but he that had it in his hand knew that it was whole and streight An admirable Similitude to reconcile contraries to a good meaning for the Eye were not right if the Oar under Water did not seem broken to it And the Judgment were not right if it had not a contrary Opinion So the people that are upon the Shore judge one way for they look upon things beneath the Water But States-men judge another who work at the Oar or guide the Bark The Error of the former is tolerable the Sense of the other is Magisterial and unquestionable So great were this Lord's disaffections to that corrupt and unfound Church that he watch'd their Ministers more narrowly then any Counsellor when they shot beyond the Mark of his Majesties late indulgences It was ever the unlucky diligence of those that were Proctors to agitate the Recusants Cause to importune his Majesty for those things which they did not hope to obtain but the very offer of them with their Arts and Graceless Carriage would make the Council Table odious contribute much to embitter the Subjects
of the Gravest and Greatest Pleaders who were ripe for Dignity And a Call of Serjeants was splendidly solemnized for Number Thirteen for Quality of the best Reputation May 6 1623 Who on that Day made their Appearance before Lord Keeper sitting in the High Court of Chancery who congratulated their Adoption unto that Title of Serjeancy with this Oration AS upon many other Occasions so likewise upon this present in hand I could wish there sate in this Place a man of more Gravity and Experience than can be expected from me to deliver unto you those Counsels and Directions which all your Predecessors have successively received at this Bar. Yet among many Wants I find one singular Comfort that as I am of the least Ability to give so you are of the least Need to receive Instructions of all the Calls of Serjeants that any Man now alive can bring to his Remembrance You are either all or the far greater Number of you most Learned most Honest and well accomplish'd Gentlemen Lest therefore my Modesty or your Integrity might suffer therein I will not be tedious in this kind of Exhortation but like those Mercuries or High-way-Statues in Greece I will only point out those fair Ways which my self I confess have never trodden In the beginning for my Preface be assured that your Thankfulness shall be recommended to his Majesty who hath honoured you with this high Degree making your Learning only and your Integrity His Praevenient and all other Respects whatsoever but subsequent and following Causes of his Gracious Pleasure towards you Turning my Speech next to your selves I will observe mine own common Exordium which hitherto I have used to all those whom I have saluted with a few words when they were Installed in their Dignities and I have it from the manner of the old Romans Meminisse oportet Ossicii Tâ—lum Remember the Title of your Degree and it will afford you sufficient Matter of Admonition You are call'd Servientes ad Legem Sergeants at the Law Verba bractrata Words very malleable and extensive and such as contein more Lessons than they do Syllables 122. The word Sergeant no doubt is Originally a Stranger born though now for many Years denizon'd among us It came over at the first from France and is handled as a French word by Stephen Pasquier in his Eighth Book of Recherches and the Nineteenth Chapter They that are too luxuriant in Etymologies are sometimes barren in Judgment as I will shew upon the Conjectures of this Name For they are not call'd Sergeants quasi Caesariens some of Caesars Officers as the great Guiacius thinks Nor Sergents qu isi Serregens because they laid hold on Men as inferiour Ministers But Sergiens in the old French is as much as Serviens saith Pasquier a Servant or an Attendant As Sergens de Dicu the Servants of God in the old History of St. Dennis Sergens Disciples de la Sanchitè Servants or Disciples of his Holiness the Pope in the Life of St. Begue And Sergens d'Amour Servants of Love in the Romance of the Rose a Book well known in our Country because of the Translator thereof Geoffry Chaucer And therefore as Pasquier thinks that those inferiour Officers are called Sergeans that is Servants because at the first Bailiffs or Stewards employ'd their own Servants in such Summons So this more honourable Appellation of Sergeant at Law hath received it Denomination because at the first when the Laws were no more than a few plain Customs When as the Year-Books had not yet swelled When the Cases were not so diversified When so many Distinctions were not Coined and Minted When the Volumes of the Laws through our Misdeeds and Wiliness were not so multiplied Men employ'd their own Servants to tender their Complaints unto the Judges and to bring them home again a plain and present Remedy But afterward Multitude of Shifts begetting Multitudes of Laws and Multitudes of Laws Difficulties of Interpretations especially where the Sword had engraven them in strange Languages as those induced by the Saxons Danes and Normans into this Island the State was enforced to design and select some learned Men to prepare the Causes of the Client for the Sentence of the Judge and the Sentence of the Judge for the Causes of the Client who though never so Enobled by their Birth and Education yet because they succeeded in those places of Servants were also call'd Servientes Sergeants or Servants Great Titles have grown up from small Originals as Dux Comes Baro and others and so hath this which is Enobled by the affix unto it a Sergeant at Law 123. Though you are not the Rulers of Causes and Masters upon the Bench yet it is your Pre-eminence that you are the chief Servants at the Bar In the Houshold of our Dread Sovereign the Chief in every Office who Commands the lower Ministers is advanced to be called the Sergeant of his Place as Sergeants of the Counting-House Carriages Wine-Cellar Larder with many others In like manner your Name is a Name of Reverence though you are styled Servants For you are the Principal of all that practise in the Courts of Law Servants that is Officers preferr'd above all Ranks of Pleaders For every thing must be Ruled by a Gradual Subordination You are next in the Train to my Lords the Judges And some of your File not seldom employ'd to be Judges Itinerant But you are all constantly promoted to be Contubernales Commensales You have your Lodgings in the same Houses and keep your Table and Diet with those Pillars of the Law who therefore call you and love you as their Brethren Fortescue in his sixth Book De laudibus Legum Angliae Cap. 50. compares your Dignities with the chief Degrees of the Academies And there is no Argument that proves the Nobleness of the one but it is as strong and militant for the other I will touch upon the Reasons as they are set down in Junius his Book De Academiâ and apply them in order to this purpose First This Degree is as a Caveat to the whole State and Commonwealth that by it they may know whom to employ and whom not to employ in their weighty Causes and Consultations And so doth Fortescue appropriate Omnia Realia Placiata all the Real Actions and Pleadings of his time to the Sergeants only Secondly As St. Paul saith to the Corinthians Epistola nostra vos estis You are our Letter or Epistle So may we the Judges in our several Places say unto the Sergeants Epistela nostra vos estis You are by reason of your Degrees our Letters of Recommendation unto the Kings Majesty for his Choice and Election for the Judges of the Kingdom Because as Fortescue also truly observes no Man though never so Learned can be chosen into that eminent Place Nisi statu gradu Servientis ad Legem fuerit insignitus Thirdly and lastly This Degree of Honour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of
Quarrel between his Ministers in Spain which did so much disturb the Match Sir John Hipsley and such as he the Duke could pass them over for rash Writers but he would never forgive it to the Lord Keeper who invited him to see his Errors But like old Galesus in Virgil Aen. 7. who was knocked down while he went betwen the Latins and Trojans to reconcile them Dum paci medium se offert justissimus unus Qui fuit So it hapned to him that pleaded in this Mediation to be offered upon the Sacrifice and Service of making Love 159. Nevertheless to draw out the Thread of Favour to more length which the Duke had with the King and that the Destinies might not cut it off the Lord Keeper wrote to his Majesty upon Sir John Hipsley's Arrival in the midst of August That he had heard more of the Duke's most laudable Diligence in Spain from Sir John than ever he could learn before that Malice it self could not but commend his Zeal and that Humanity could not but pity the Toil he had to reduce that intricate and untoward Business of the Palatinate to some good Success He might well call them intricate and untoward for the Spanish Motions were circular Nothings much about and nothing to the Point Most true it is that the Articles anent the Marriage were drawn up and restricted to some Heads and Numbers though not perfected three years before the Emperor had entred into the Palz with any Hostility Therefore the Spaniards disputed thus Bring not the motion of it into this Treaty as a thing born out of due time What were it else but as the Proverb says Extra chorum saltare to Dance well but quite out of the measure of the Mascarata We answered if things had been as they are now at the beginning this had then been a principal Capitulation Nor had we honerated the Articles with a new Proposition unless themselves that is the House of Austria had cast us into the Gulph of a new Extremity Reduce the King and his Posterity to the same Peace they were in when we began to treat and we ask no more But as Seneca says Lib. 4. de ben c. 35. Omnia esse debent eadem quae fuerant cum promitterem ut promittentis fidem teneas But upon so great a Change there is neither Inconstancy nor Encroachment to fall into new Consultations For all this though nothing but Pertinacy durst stand the Breath of so much Truth the others came no nearer to us but kept further off affirming as it is in the Report made at St. James's that they conceived our King expected no Restitution at all for his Son and Daughter and that they supposed his Majesty had already digested that bitter Potion We told them they must not dissemble before us as if they knew not the Contrary For his Majesty never intermitted to rouse up their Embassadors to give him a fair Answer about it and had stopt the Treaty of the Match if they had not opened the Way by Protestation made in the Faith of their King that the Palatinate should be rendred up with Peaceable Possession What Shape could Olivarez put on now none but his own a stately Impudency For he told us in the broad Day-light that all former Promises spoken before the Prince's Coming whether by Embassadors to our King or by Count Gondamar to my Lord of Bristol and others were but Palabras de cumplimiento Gratifications of fine Words but no more to be taken hold of than the Fables and Fictions of Greece before the Wars of Theseus The Prince came over him at this with a blunt Anger that if there were no more Assurance in their Word it was past the Wit of Man to know what they meant but he would tell them really his Father's and his own Meaning That without his Sister 's and her Husband's Inheritance restored they neither intended Marriage nor Friendship When King Philip had heard with what Courage and Determination his Highness had spoken like Caesar in Velleius Se virtute suâ non magnitudine hostium metiens it put that King and his Counsel to a middle-way as they called it To treat upon the old Articles and no other as falling perpendicularly on the Marriage but to take into a concurrent Deliberation the Restitution of the Prince Elector's Country Let Metaphysical States-men scratch their Heads and find a real Distinction if they can between these Formalities Yet Sir Walter Aston followed them in that Way and paid them in the same Coin with this Distinction Cab. P. 38. That the King his Master prest for the Restitution of the Palatinate and Electoral Dignity to the Prince his Son-in-Law not as a Condition of the Marriage but to be setled together with the Marriage And again Not as a Condition but as a Fruit and Blessing of the Alliance And to make the Coming of the Excellent Princess the Infanta of more Esteem to his Subjects bringing with her beside the Glory of her own Virtue and Worth the Security of a perpetual Peace and Amity These were Punctilio's in Honour but just Nothings in Wisdom the Cause of the Palatinate must not be tempered at the same Forge but apart not a Rush was gotten by it and time wasted for our Ministers were resolved to conclude neither unless they perfected both 160. The Sennor Duca Olivarez made such Work upon this Theme and turn'd it into so many Forms that it makes him ridiculous in the History Vertumnis quotquot sunt natus iniquis Horat. And so disastrous a Counsellor through his Variableness that it was his Fault that caused a Distrust in the main as wise Spotswood says Pag. 544. The Prince conceived there was nothing really intended on the King of Spain's Part but that the Treaty was entertained only till he and the House of Austria had reduced Germany into their Power which might be suspected without Injury by looking upon this Vertumnus in all his Changings Seven Months before the Prince took his Journey and came to cast the Die upon the whole Stake to win or loose all Mr. End Porter was sent to Spain and spake with the great Conde who snapt him up and gave him this unkind Welcome in a Chase That they neither meant the Match nor the Restitution of the Palatinate Presently the Earl of Bristol gave him a Visit and a Discourse about it In a trice he winds himself out of his former Fury and vows he would do his best to further both The next Discovery breaks out by Mr. Sanderson's Diligence Pag. 540. in a Letter of the Conde's to King Philip Novemb. 8. 1622. That the King of Great Brittain affected the Marriage of his Son with the Infanta and was more engaged for the Palatinate And as a Maxim I hold these two Engagements in him to be inseparable For us though we make the Marriage we must fail in the other Then you will be forced to a War with England with
being Resolute to out Face envy and as secure as a former prosperous Life could make him to suspect no Ignominy or Infelicity 180. The week that stayed the Parliament being over it met as it were in the Temple of Concord Common presagements seldom fail It came so welcom to all Men that they rejoyced for it according to the Joy of Harvest The Solemnity began with a Sermon in the Abby of Westminster made by Dr. Carew Bishop of Exon. Even Idolaters did not omit to enter upon any great Work without some Ceremony of Religion Omnia levius casura rebus Divinis procuratis Tull. l. 2. de divin The Bishops Theme upon which he raised his Exhortations very prudently was out of the Words of dying Jacob to the Head of one of the Tribes Gen. 49.13 Zabulon shall dwell at the Haven of the Sea c. From which he Preach'd and Pray'd earnestly it might be considered Zabulon juxta mare positus aliorum videt naufragia sed ipse salvus est How Zabulon might thank God that he saw Wars abroad and none at home and that he saw many Shipwrack'd at Sea while he was safe in his Haven But the Stream of Opinion was then against his Doctrine For we think every thing good whose Evil we have not felt Immediately from thence the Train removed to the Higher House where the King being set under his State the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Assistants of the Court Attending his Royal person and the Lower House being admitted to the Audience of that which was to be said his Majesty Feasted them with a Speech then which nothing could be apter for the Subject or more Eloquent for the matter All the helps of that Faculty were extreamly perfect in him abounding in Wit by Nature in Art by Education in Wisdom by Experience Mr. George Herbert being Praelector in the Rhetorique School in Cambridg anno 1618. Pass'd by those fluent Orators that Domineered in the Pulpits of Athens and Rome and insisted to Read upon an Oration of King James which he Analysed shew'd the concinnity of the Parts the propriety of the Phrase the height and Power of it to move Affections the Style utterly unknown to the Ancients who could not conceive what Kingly Eloquence was in respect of which those noted Demagogi were but Hirelings and Triobulary Rhetoricians The Speech which was had at the opening of this Parliament doth commend Mr. Herbet for his Censure Which yet I Engross not here for the Reader that is Conversant in Books will find it often Printed The Sum of it was to ask Advice of the Lords and Commons what was fittest to be done for Advancement of Religion and the good of the Common Wealth how the Treaty of the Princes Match would agree with these and the good of the Children of the Palatine for restoring them to that which they had lost As the whole Contexture was a right Purple Robe that became Majesty so there were three Golden Nails or Studs in it which even dazled the Eye with their Splendor In the First he touchld modestly that his Reign had not been unhappy to us But says he You have found the Fruits of my Government if you consider the Peace which my Kingdoms Enjoy in the midst of the Miseries our Neighbours are afflicted with And though I cannot say my Government hath been without Error yet I can avouch before God and his Angels never King Govern'd with a more pure sincerity and Incorrupt Heart In the Second he Purgeth himself from the Detraction of a false Rumor Jealousies says He Are of a strange Depth but let them be far from you It hath been Talked of my Remissness in maintenance of Religion and Suspicion of a Toleration But as God shall Judg me I never thought or meant it nor ever in Word Exprest any thing that Savour'd of it It is true That at times best known to my self I did not so fully put those Laws in Execution but did Wink and Connive at some things which must have hindred more weighty Affairs Yet I never in all my Treaties agreed to any thing to the overthrow and disagreeing of these Laws For as it is a good Horsman's Part not always to use the Spur ot keep strict the Reins but sometimes to spare the Spur and to hold the Reins more slackly so it is the part of a wise King and my Age and Experience have inform'd me sometimes to quicken the Laws with strict Execution and at other times upon just occasion to be more Remiss Thirdly The Shells of a Cockle could not lye closer and evener to one another then these last last words clasp'd with the Parliament God is my Judg and I speak it as a Christian King never any wayfaring men in the Burning Dry and Sandy Deserts more Thirsted for water to quench his Thirst then I Thirst and Long for the Happy Success of this Parliament that the good Issue of this may expiate and acquit the Fruitless Issue of the former The King having spread this Banquet to the Tast of their Judgments the Lord Keeper pro formâ set on the Grace Cup as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen all YOU have heard his Majesties Speech and find the extraordinary Confidence his Majesty reposeth in the Wisdom and loving Affections of this present Parliament You do hot expect I am sure any Repetition or reiteration of the same A Lacedemonian being invited to hear a Man that could counterfeit very well the Notes of a Nightingale put him off with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have heard the Nightingale her self And why should you now be troubled with the Croaking of a Chancellor that have heard the loving Expressions of a most Eloquent King And indeed for me to gloss upon his Majesties Speech were nothing else then as it is in the Satyr Annulum aureum ferreis Stellis ferruminare to Enamel a Ring of pure Gold with Stars of Iren. I know his Majesties Grave and weighty Sentences have left as Aâ—schines Orations were wont to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Prick or Sting in the Hearts and Minds of all the Hearers It is not fit that with my Rude Fumbling I should unsettle or discompose his Elegancies For as Pliny Observes of Nerva That when he had Adopted the Emperor Trajan he was taken away forthwith and never did any Publick Act after it Ne post illud Divinum immortale factum aliquid mortale faceret Least after so Transcendent and Divine an Act he should commit any thing might relish of Mortality So is it fit that the Judicious Ears of these Noble Hearers be no further troubled this day Ne quid post illud Divinum immortale dictum mâ—rtale audirent I will only put you in mind of your Ancient and laudable Custom to Elect one to be your Common Mouth or Speaker And whom his Majesty Assigns unto you for his Liking and Presentation Mr. Secretary will declare 181. So
the first Day shut up And Saturday following the 21st of that Month was but a day of Formality to the Parliament yet material to this History because the Lord Keeper had the greatest share about the Work of it who is my Scope and this Parliament no further then as he is concern'd in the Actions and Occurrencies of it On that day the King Sitting under his State in the Lords House incircled with the Senatorian Worthies of the higher and lower Order the Commons Presented Sir Tho. Crew Serjeant at Law for their Speaker As the Knights and Burgesses were Chosen for the publick Service out of the best of the Kingdom so this Gentleman was Chosen for this Place out of the best of them He was warm in the Care of Religion and a Chief among them that were popular in the Defence of it A great lover of the Laws of the Land and the Liberties of the People Of a stay'd Temper sound in Judgment ready in Language And though every Man it is suppos'd hath some equals in his good Parts he had few or no Superiors This was the Character which the Lord Keeper gave of him to the King whereupon he was pointed out to this Honorable Task Yet with all this Furnishment out of a Custom which Modesty had observ'd Sir Thomas Deprecated the Burthen as Moses did when the was to be sent to Pharoah O my Lord I am not Eloquent send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send Exod. 4.13 And he humbly besought the Royal Favour to Command a new and a better Choice for so weighty a Charge Whereupon the Lord Keeper going from his Seat to His Majesty and Conferring with Him upon his Knee after a short time returned to his Place and spake as followeth Mr. Speaker I Am Charg'd to deliver unto you that no Man is to be excus'd from this Service that can make so good an Excuse as you have done His Majesty doth observe that in you which Gorgias the Philosopher did in Plato Quod in Oratoribus irridendis ipse esse Orator summus videbatur That in Discoursing against Orators he shewed himself the greatest Orator of them all So fares it in this Appeal of yours unto the Throne of His Sacred Majesty Descendis ut Ascendas te ad sidera tollit humus By falling down in your own Conceipt you are mounted higher in the Opinion of all others By your own excusing to be a Speaker you shew what a Worthy Speaker you are like to be The Truth is His Majesty doth not only approve but highly Commend the Judgment of the House of Commons in your Election And Quod felix faustumque sit for an Omen and good luck to all the ensuing Proceedings of that Honorable Assembly he doth Crown this first Action of theirs with that Exivit verbum ex ore Regis that old Parliamentary Approbation Le Roy le Veult Then Sir Thomas Crew Bowing down to the Supream Pleasure which could not be declin'd offred up his first Fruits for about the time of half an Hour in a way between Remonstrance and Petition smoothly and submissively yet with that Freedom and Fair-Dealing as became the Trust committed to him He could not wish more Attention than he had from the King who heard him favorably to the end For the Dispatch of that Work presently the Lord Keeper went to His Majesty who Conferr'd together secretly that none else heard and after a quarter of an hour or better the L. Keeper return'd to his Place and answer'd the Speakers Peroration in His Majesties Name Which Answer will enough supply what was said by them both for it contains all the solid parts of Mr. Speakers Harangues Mr. Speaker 182. HIs Majesty hath heard your Speech with no more Patience then Approbation You have not cast up the same to any General Heads no more will I. And it were pity to pull down a Frame that peradventure cannot be set up again in so fair a Symmetry and Proportion Yet as the Mathematicians teach that in the most flowing and continued Line a Man may imagine continual Stops and Points so in this round and voluble Body of your Speech I may observe for Methods sake some distinct and articulated Members Somewhat you have said concerning your self somewhat concerning the King somewhat concerning Acts of Parliament whereof some are yet to be framed in the Womb and others ready to drop into their Graves somewhat of the Aberrations of former Assemblies somewhat of the Common Laws in general somewhat of the ordinary supply of Princes somewhat and very worthily for the increase of True Religion somewhat of the regaining of that of our Allies somewhat of preserving our own Estate and somewhat of the never sufficiently commended Reformation of Ireland These I observed for your material Heads The formal were those Four usual Petitions For Privileges to come unto the House For liberty of Speech when you are in the House For Access to His Majesty for the informing of the House And for a fair Interpretation of your Proceedings when you shall leave the House I shall from His Majesty make Answer to these Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 step by step as they lie in order First For your self the King hath not only stretched out His Scepter but lifted up his Voice with Ahasuerus Quae est Petitiae tua dabitur tibi He hath granted all that you have desired and assureth you by me of His Special Grace and Favour from the beginning to the end of your present Employment Secondly Concerning the King it may not be doubted but Gods Blessing of us and our Blessing of God for his Royal Generation his quiet Coronation his peaceable Administration his Miraculous Preservation in this very Place and this our most comfortable Pledge of his future Succession ibunt in saecula shall flow unto Posterity and be the Hymns and Anthems of Ages to come Thirdly For those Statutes of Learning which were here framed 32 Henr. 8. which you call Parliamentum Doctum And those Statutes of Charity 39 of the late Queen which you Term Parliamentum Pium The Devout Parliament And those Statutes of Grace digested and prepared in the last Convention which His Majesty would have had been Gratiosum Parliamentum The Gracious Parliament And 〈◊〉 That large Pardon you expect this time which may make this Assembly Munificum Parliamentum The Bountiful Parliament The King gives you full Assurance of His Princely Resolution to do what shall be fitting and convenient to keep Life in the one and to bring Life to the other so as you do scitè obstetricari play the Midwives in them both as you ought to do Fourthly For the Abortion of some late Parliaments from the which His Majesty is most free a Parliament Nullity as you Tâ—rm it is a strange Chimaera a word of a Monstrous Compesition I never heard of the like in all my Life unless it be once in the new Creed Credo