Town of Cambridge so his first care was to settle that place for the Parliament although he met with great Obstacles therein and the Reason likewise was very harsh it being the Month of January the very heart of the Winter Now you are to note that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the first of all the Towns in England which declared themselves for the King and the last which acknowledged the new established Authority by reason they were filled with persons designed to possess those Church Goods which were in the Kings Donation besides which the Parliament detesting their Commissions was resolved to reduce and reform them His late Highness having notice that all the Colledges were making a Stock and Assembly of all their Plate and of what ready monies they had to send it unto the King all which amounted unto a very considerabe Sum went suddenly to Cambridge and seized all that Treasure just as it was ready to be sent away unto Oxford And as he was upon this Expedition he signallized himself far more by another Action Sir Thomas Comes who was newly made Sheriff of Hertford Shire had received Orders from the King to publish a Proclamation by which the County of Kent and all its Adherents were proclaimed Traytors His late Highness surprised him in the very Action on a Market-day in the Town of St. Albons and having seized the said Knight he sent him up to the Parliament And not long afterwards he very oportunely assembled all the Forces of the County of Cambridge exhorted the Neighbouring Counties of Suffolk Norfolk and Essex to send him their Aydes to oppose the Lord Capell who was to have been seconded by Prince Rupert and should have seized Cambridge and thereby have impeded the association of the united Counties about London which were the only Bulwark and Defence of that great City wherein the Sinews of War did consist and by whose resolutions and proceedings the rest of the Kingdome was then governed His Highness diligence and vigilancy at that time brake the Neck of that Design and forced the Lord Capell and Prince Rupert to direct their Thoughts another way In the beginning of the Month of March next ensuing his late Highness having compleated a Regiment of Horse to the full number of a thousand Men marched with great diligence into the County of Suffolk on the advice which he had received of a great Confederacy which was there hatching between the Nobility of the Kings Party who were assembled in a considerable Town called Lowerstost whom he so unsuspectedly surprised as that he became Master of the place without the fiering of one Gun He took Prisoners Sir Thomas Barker Sir John Pettas his Brother Mr. Knevet Catlines Hammond Cory Turrill Preston and above twenty other Persons of Note He likewise there took severall parcels of Armes and Ammunition and other War-like Equipages sufficient to have armed a considerable Party and had not his Highness made use of his accustomed Prudence and his usuall Activity in this Conjuncture he had met with a great deal of difficulty on this account and the whole County had run a danger to have been lost severall persons of Quality and divers Noble men hourly flocking to that Randezvous This Service was most seasonably rendred to the Parliament and the Kings Party both in Suffolk and Norfolk were thereby totally disheartned and diâ—…ncouraged The Spring being advanced and the Season permitting the framing of greater Designs and taking of longer Marches his Highness having well setled the Peace and Tranquillity of the associated Counties which as we have sayd served as a Bulwark to the Parliament his Mind and his Valour requiring a space of Ground as vast as its Activity he raised a Body of an Army and that a very considerable one being composed of such zealous persons as had already been charmed with his Conduct and being attracted by his Reputation did voluntarily come in unto him to serve with and under him in the Cause of Religion He thus Marched into Lincolnshire with a Resolution to assist those Forces which lay about Newark one of the strongest places which held out as then for the King into which the greatest part of the Gentry of Lincolnshire had retired themselves and where there was a good Garison commanded by Officers who had served their Apprentiships in the Military Art beyond the Seas so that they fetcht in vast Contributions out of the Neighbouring Counties and made Inroads to the very Gates of Lincoln And his Highness being now at the Head of a Regiment of Horse in his passage through Huntingtonshire was willing to deliver his Native Country from those Disorders which two contrary Parties do usually cause and commit being in one Shire he therefore disarmed all those who were not affectioned to the Parliament by which means he so enlarged and augmented his Troops that he had gotten two thousand Men together and before he came neer Newark he received another re inforcement of Horse which was sent him by Captain Hotham as also some other Troops which were sent him from Lincoln insomuch that he thus framed a sufficient considerable Body of an Army for that time He no sooner was come nigh to Newark but that he signallized himself by an Action which was the more glorious by how much the less it was expected nor foreseen Captain Wray having so inconsideratly placed himself with his Lincolne Horse too nigh Newark was in the Night set upon by the Garrison which made a great Sally and surrounded and took all his Men the Alarm comming hot to his late Highness Quarters he forthwith repaired to the place where the Fight was it being then about ten of the Clock in the Night relieved the said Captain Wray and took three whole Companies of the Enemy killed the rest on the place and made good his Retreat by Favour of the dark Night After which having blocked up the place he received those Sallies which were made by the Besieged with so much Courage and Vigilancy as that he alwaies came off with advantage sometimes forcing the Enemies into their very Works and sometimes cutting them in pieces insomuch that he never returned unto the Camp but he was laden either with Prisoners Spoyles or Colours and that he might neglect no occasion for to give a testimony of his Prudence and Activity he also scouted abroad into the Country with his Horse and neer unto Grantham he defeated a strong Party which came forth of Newark with a handful of Men onely since which the World did take notice that there was somewhat more then ordinary in the person of his late Highness And not long after he also defeated part of the Lord of Newcastles Army which came to relieve Newark setting upon them in their Quarters betwixt Grantham and Newark where he took one hundred Horses forty Prisoners and killed severall on the place And should I particularlize all his late Highness's memorable Actions
into the hands of his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart who was by his Highness declared Governour of the same and took possession of it with four English Regiments which compose the Garrison thereof and serve to defend the Fort Mardike and the new Fort Royal begun by the Spaniards on the Channel of Burges and perfected by the English now called Olivers Fort. The Inhabitants of which place are so much taken with the superabundancy of the generosity and goodness of their said Governour his Excellency the Lord Lockhart as that they repent themselves to have so much listned to the Spanish false perswasions and fears which they possessed them with that they should be cruelly and inhumanely treated by the English purposely to make them resist the longer It had been well they had had so much care of their Souls as they perswaded them they had of their Goods and Fortunes But it would be too great a conquest to pretend joyntly to overcome both the Consciences of men and their Town to boot the first is Gods due and the other Caesars And we may observe in Alexander the Great whensoever his Forces became Master sof any place he would alwayes sacrifice to the Gods of the Countrey thereby to gain the Inhabitants hearts and to induce their Gods to become propitious to him Numa Pompilius was a King before he was a Priest and although the Almighty hath imprinted in all men a particular inclination to adore him yet however as concerning the manner of worshipping him Policy alwayes preceded Religion and ever kept the upper hand over her as much as she possibly could King Henry the Fourth of France was a Protestant whilst he had overcome his Enemies but as soon as he was settled in the Throne and that he was to Reign as King he seemingly returned Papist and said That the Kingdome of France and City of Paris was worth a going to Mass But when as superstitious and zealous spirits counselled him to prosecute and pursue the Protestants he answered That so long as they remained faithful and true to him and continued to stand by and serve him as they were wont he would be as much a Father and Protector unto him as unto the rest of his good Subjects These Maximes are general and common and admit of no distinctions save in Schools nor need the Spaniards with all their Hypocrisie and Pious malice to doubt but that France and England understanding each other well enough and that the English themselves are prudent enough to avoid that which may prejudice them and to tollerate whatsoever may advance and further their conquests and beget a love and esteem of their government But to return to our former subject again as we have oft before alledged the joyes of this World are alwayes for the most part mingled with some allayes of sorrow the Almighty being willing to keep us mindful that there are no perfect felicities to be enjoyed here on earth and that its onely in heaven we are to expect an intire and perpetual Contentment and Bliss Wherefore the Laurels of the Victory obtained against the Spaniards and of the taking of the Town of Dunkirk were soon withered and the joyes abated by the interposing of the Cypress-tree which death planted upon the Tomb of the Illustrious and most generous Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to his late Highness who departed this mortal life to a more glorious and eternal one on the sixth day of August this present year a fatal prognostication of a more sensible ensuing loss For even as Branches of trees being cut and lopped in an ill season do first draw away the sap from the tree and afterwards cause the body thereof to dry up and dye In like manner during the declining age of his late Highness an ill season in which men usually do as it were reap all their consolation from the youth and vigor of their Children wherein they seem to ruine by degrees as they draw near to their death it unfortunately fell out that this most illustrious Daughter the true representative and lively Image of her Father the Joy of his Heart the Delight of his Eyes and the Dispenser of his Clemency and Benignity dyed in the flower of her age which struck more to his heart then all the heavy burthens of his Affairs which were onely as a pleasure and pastime to his great Soul So great a power hath Nature over the dispositions of generous Men when the tye of Blood is seconded by love and vertue This generous and noble Lady Elizabeth therefore departed this World in despite of all the skill of Physicians the Prayers of those afflicted persons whom she had relieved and the vows of all kinde of Artists whom she cherished But she dyed an Amazonian-like death despising the Pomps of the Earth and without any grief save to leave an afflicted Father perplex'd at her so sudden being taken away she dyed with those good Lessons in her mouth which she had practised whilest she lived And if there be any comfort left us in her death it is the hope we have That her good Example will raise up the like inclinations in the remainder of her Sisters whom Heaven hath yet left us I shall not at all speak of her Funerals for if I might have been credited all the Muses and their God Apollo should have made her an Epicedium and should have appeared in mourning which should have reached from the top of their Mount Parnassus to the bottom of the valley thereof But if this illustrious Personages death received not the Funeral Rites which all great Wits were bound to pay it at least the Martial men did evidence that the disgrace lay not at their doors but that they ought to reap all the glory since they were not backward to continue to brave and affront dangers in the behalf of an illustrious and glorious Cause wherefore the sad tydings of this noble Personages death touched the gallant English to the heart seeing they were bereaved of their English Pallas and of their Jupiters Daughter they therefore accused the Destinies for intrenching upon their Priviledges and evidenced that it appertained not alone unto them to dispose of the lives of men Their wrath therefore discharged it self on the first Objects which presented themselves to their eyes and the harmless Spaniards were so many Victims offered up to this Amazons shrine and as if Graveling had been her stake they were so eagerly bent to fire the Enemies out of the same as that the Spaniards were constrained to open their gates to give vent to the fire and flame which suffocated them and surrendered themselves to the Conquering French Army to whose share that place fell and by whose force it was solely gained As Physicians do agree that extreme Joy causeth Death as well as excessive Grief so may we likewise say That both these violent Passions united together must needs destroy the strongest person on earth
Concernments the Parliament being desirous together with the Kings person to extirpate his Memory and to remove those Objects which might beget tenderness in the people who do alwaies bemoan the misfortunes of those whom before they hated Commanded that his Statues should be flung down whereupon that which stood on the VVest-end of St. Pauls Church in London was cast down and the other which was placed in the old Exchange placing this following Inscription in the Comportment above the same Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus Anno Libertatis Angliae restitutae primo Anno Domini 1648. Januarii 30. In like manner the Aâ—mes of the Crown of England which were placed in the Churches in the Courts of Judiciture and other publick places were taken down And the Common-weath being now as it seemed solidly established some neighbouring States who desired to be in Amity with Her sent their extraordinary Ambassadors over as namely the Hollanders Spain and Portugal and by the following Negociations the issues of the said Embassies will easily appear As to the Spanish Ambassador satisfaction was continually demanded of him for the Murther which was committed on the persons of this Common-wealths Agents at Madrid nor was this State at all satisfied with the Answer thereon returned That the Contestations between the King of Spain and his Clergy on that particular were not as yet reconciled or brought to naissue And as to the Portugal Ambassador great and vast summes being demanded of him for the reimbursement of those Charges which the King his Master had caused the Common-wealth to be at and for the reparation of those damages which the English Merchants had sustained He replyed he had no Orders to make Answer thereunto whereupon he had his Audience of departure and went his way Immediatly after this Common-wealth sent two extraordinary Ambassadors to the States of the united Provinces the Lords Oliver St. Johns and Walter Strickland Personages of a high repute and endowed with exquisite Parts their Train was great ad splendid and their Equipage favoured not a little of the Splendor of their continued Victories They Embarqued in the Downs on the eleventh of March 1651. and the next day toward even they came to an anchor neer Helvoot Slugs but not without some danger on the 13 they made towards Rotterdam in the long-boats and by the way they were met by some of the States Jachts or Barges and being arrived they were by the English Merchants conducted to their publick House where they were most splendidly entertained whither the Spanish Ambassador sent to complement them by one of his Gentlemen to testifie unto them his joy for their happy arrival beseeching them to enter into and joyn with him in a right understanding Two or three dayes after they set forward towards the Hague and by the way were met by the Master of Ceremonies accompanyed with about thirty Coaches and after some reciprocal complements passed and exchanged they were conducted to a stately House which was prepared for them in the Town where having been three dayes treated at the States charges they had audience In which the Lord St. Johns made a most Elegant and learned Speech in English and gave the Copy thereof unto the Lords States both in English and in Dutch the most essential points whereof were as followeth I. That they were sent unto the Lords the High and mighty States of the United Provinces on the behalf of the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England to ciment a firm League and Confederation betwixt the two Common-wealths in case their Lordships thought it fitting notwithstanding the injuries which the English had received from the Holland Nation II. That they desired to renew and confirm the Treaties and Agreements formerly made concerning the Traffique and Commerce betwixt both Nations III. After which they exhibited the advantages which the Hollanders would reap by this said union in regard of the commodious situation of England for the Traffique with the multitude and security of her Havens and of all things which may advance the Commerce and Trade IV. Finally he told them That he wus commanded by the Parliament of England and by the Common-wealth to make known to their Lordships how sencibly they were touched with the Murder which was committed on the person of their Agent Mr. Dorislaus and that they doubted not but their Lordships would use all possible endeavours to discover the Authors of that horrid and unworthy action After which the Lords States being informed that the said Lords Ambassadors followers were daily molested and affronted by the English Royallists and other persons who resided in Holland they caused a Proclamation to be drawn up which they sent unto the Lords Ambassadors to know of them whether it was penned in the due terms according to their good liking whereby on pain of death they prohibited that no man should either by words or deeds offend or molest any of the said Ambassadors followers or retainers Three months time was already elapsed in their Negotiation at a vast expense and with a farre greater patience without that the least satisfaction in the world could be obtained at the hands of Justice for those daily affronts injuries which were put upon the Lords Ambassadors Retinue Servants and the scorns and disgraces offered to their own persons even to such a pitch as that the Common people and Rascality would assemble themselves at the Gates of their house and belch out injurious language and set upon and injure their Servants Now the Parliament being sensible of these wrongs and injuries and seeing the Lords States did not at all answer those kinde proffers and endeavours which were made unto them to beget and fettle a solid and firm alliance and peace betwixt the two Common-wealths save with delayes and shifts purposely to gain time upon the English till they should be able to judge how the face of things would evidence it self in Scotland and which way the Chain would turn there they recalled their Ambassadors Which suddain and unexpected newes extreamly surprised the Hollanders who testified their astonishments thereon to the Lords Ambassadors by more frequent and oftner visitations then formerly and by which they endeavoured to perswade them to beleeve the sincerity of their intentions and how earnestly and ardently they desired the alliance which their Lordships had propounded But all these fair words were not able to stay the Ambassadors who immediately returned into England again to cut out another guesse kinde of work for the Hollanders And that which gave the greater cause of jealousie unto the English and made them believe that the Hollander dealt deceitfully with them was that their Admirall Van Trump lay lurking about the Isle of of Scillie with his Fleet as if he had some design to make himself Master of them But when as the States were demanded the reason of his lying there they replyed that their Admirals being in those parts was only to demand restitution of
some Ships Goods and Merchandises which the Pyrats of those parts had despoiled their Merchants of Which answer though in some measure it satisfied the Parliament yet not so farre as to trust too much therein to the Hollanders and whereby the Parliament was obliged to give order for the suddain reducing of that Island to their obedience Generall Blake being re-inforced by a Squadron of Ships commanded by Sir George Askue which was designed for the reduceing of the Cariba Islands made sail towards Scilly where immediately they set ashoar 300. Sea-men besides the Land-men the Sea-men gave the first onset with a great deal of courage and resolution and the Land-men did second them very well insomuch that they speedily became Masters of the Isles of Tresco and Bryers where they took 150 Prisoners after they had once slain a score of them They found in the place two good Frigats one of 18 Guns and the other of 32. and immediately possessed the best Haven of all these Islands whence the Enemies fled unto St. Maries the strongest of all those Islands but which held not long out afterwards and so they were all reduced It is unnecessary to lose time in the disating upon the strength and conveniencies of those Islands since all what art and nature could possibly allotte unto them is there to be found and so need but look into the Mappes to judge by their very situation of what concernment they are unto England Meanwhile it is worthy admiration that so difficult a Conquest should be attained in so little a space of time with the losse of so few men onely And whereas the Royallists did continue to make good Cornet Castle in the Isle of Guernsey and on a false advise that there were but forty men in the place eighteen of which were also said to be incapable of doing service a resolution was taken to set upon the said Castle and to carry it by surprisall but when the attempt was made there were found to be in the place threescore good men who when the Scaleing Ladders were applyed to the walls and the assault given to the place defended themselves resolutely and endammaged the Assailants in such a manner with Stones and Timber which they cast down upon them as also by their Canon which flanked the wall charged with Case-shot as that they killed divers of the Assailants and constrayned the rest to retire and the greatest dysaster that hapned was that a Vessel or two in which the men retired were sunk by the Canon from the Castle And however this attempt did not succeed yet the English did like couragious men and deserved no lesse prayse then if they had carryed the place About which time one Brown-Bushell was beheaded at London a famous Royallist both by Sea and Land for having deserted the Parliaments Forces and having since committed several Murders and mischievous actions But it is time to return into Scotland and to see in what posture both Armies are there The English who would not remain idle only to keep their Men in action besieged Blackness a considerable place and whence their quarters were continually allarum'd by the Mosse-Troopers who retreated and sheltred themselves in that place Colonel Monk commanded in chief in this Expedition who with but a handfull of men causing a Battery to be raised and having given them some few volleys of Cannon constrained them to yield On the other side all the several dissenting parties amongst the Scots notwithstanding their differences quarrels jealousies and their terrible excommunications did unite themselves altogether by their common interest wherein they concurred to re-establish their King whereunto they were encouraged by severall under hand practises which were carried on here in England and chiefly in Lancashire which was generally to have risen in Arms One of the chief Agents interessed in this businesse by name Mr. Thomas Cook was taken at London who discovered part of the design and more was known by Letters which were found in a Vessel sailing from the Mount of Scotland to the Isle of Man which belonged to the Earl of Darby and who anon will appear more visibly in this businesse as also Mr. Birkenhead was taken being charged with severall Orders and Instructions by which the most hidden and intricate secrets of this conspiracy were discovered These proceedings obliged the Parliament to order a party both of Horse and Foot under the command of Major General Harrison to march towards the North as well to dissipate such raisings as should chance to happen there as to oppose the Enemy should they make an irruption by the way of Carlisle Meanwhile several persons of note were impeached and tryed for having a hand in this Conspiracy The names of the chief are as followeth viz. Mr. Christopher Love Major Alford Major Addams Colonel Barton Mr. Blackmore Mr. Case and Mr. Cauton Doctor Drake Mr. Drake Captain Farre Mr. Gibbons Mr. Haviland and Mr. Jenkins Major Huntington Mr. Jackwell Mr. Jackeson Mr. Walton Mr. Robinson Captain Massey Captain Potter Lieutenant Colonels Jackeson Sowton and Vaughan and several others Two of which number were only put to death being found more guilty then the rest to wit Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons who were both beheaded on Tower-hill And a false report being spread in the principality of Wales that Generall Cromwell was defeated in Scotland and that the Royallists Army was entring England a party began to form it self in those parts but as the cause of the same rising was false so the effect thereof did soon vanish Now the English being resolved to terminate the warre of Scotland caused Vessels to be built to passe over the River and to enter into Fife which began to allarum the Enemies who were on the other side of the water as also those in Brunts-Island Nor were the Scots idle neither but incommodated those quarters of the English which were the most advanced which they effected with the greater advantage being versed and known in the wayes and advances and by this means they slew several English Souldiers as they went out to forrage and to get in Provisions whereby the English were constrained to quit their Out-quarters and having thus ingrossed their Army by the said Garrisons they advanced towards Fife and to that end made their Magazine at Blacknesse but not finding wherewithall in the Countrey to feed their Horse they retarded their March for some few dayes By which time the Scots having compleated their Levies found themselves to be 15000 Foot and 6000 Horse with which Force they marched toward a place called Torwood on this side Sterling whereby they were faced by the English Army but would not ingage in a Battail keeping themselves within their Bogges and other inaccessable places whereupon the English resolved to passe over part of their Army on the other side of the River and Colonel Overton being thereunto ordered did on the 6th of July 1651. passe at
the Thames near London to wit a Whale of a prodigious bigness at least sixty foot and of a proportionable breadth was cast up This great Fish which may be stiled the King of the Sea for his bulk came to do homage to his late Highness and by his Captivity and Death to to let him see he was absolute Master of that terrible Element which had given her a being But let us again return to the Wars in Flanders and let us see how whole Armies and Cities do there submit unto his Highness power as well as the Sea Monsters here Now although taking and keeping of Mardike had been a sufficient warning to the Spaniards to provide the Town of Dunkirk with all necessaries to withstand a Siege however that changed not the English their resolution to attempt it wherefore the United Forces both of France and England under the Command of those two glorious Chieftains his Highness the Martial of Tureine Prince of Quesnoy and his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart besieged the place opened the approaches and with an incredible diligence perfected the Circum volution The Spaniards intending to attempt the relief of the place being the Key of all Flanders and the chief Sea Port assembled all their Forces and made up a considerable Army of sixteen thousand men with a design to have forced the Lines and to have raised the Siege To which intent on the third of June they came in a Body through Fuernes and encamped within an English mile and a half of the Martial Tureines Quarters who being aware of their intent the following night brake up his Camp and having left part of his Forces to make good the Approaches and to guard the Trenches marched all night with fifteen thousand men and ten peeces of cannon to encounter the Enemy to decide in a pitched Battle and an open Field with an equal advantage which party should be victorious The English Foot drawn up into four great Battalions and led on by his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart gave the first on-set upon five great Battalions of the Spanish Foot placed very advantagiously on three high and great Downs feconded by Don John of Austria himself and the best of the Spanish and Condean Forces which they had purposely opposed unto the English conceiving them to have been as yet Novices in the manner of waging War beyond Seas and that for want of Discipline and Conduct they would soon have been routed and disordered But they were suddenly deceived in their expectations and found that they had to deal with persons of courage and resolution who as well in the Military Discipline as in the Art of Courtship became perfect and absolue Masters even during their first years of Apprenticeship wherefore it was not without reason the Ancients did alwayes joyn Mars and Venus together since towards the doing of gallant Actions it is sufficient to be passionate and resolute at the very entering into the Lists of either of these Divinities The English therefore assailing the Spaniards in their advantageous stand as aforesaid in the high Downs did themselves alone severall times charge them and sustained both the burnt of their Horse and Foot without ever being seconded or relieved by the French who were so confident of their Resolution and Valour as that they would not seem to intrench upon their Honour besides that they were loath to change their Stands least thereby they might bring themselves into a disorder and finally forcing the Spaniards to quit their stations they put them to a total rout and confusion In which Charge up the Downs Lieutenant Collonel Fenwick who shewed a great deal of Gallantry in leading on his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockharts Regiment of Blue received his mortal wound by a Musquet bullet through the Body whereof he dyed some few dayes after Divers other persons of quality and note signallized themselves not a little that day at the Head of their respective Regiments as the Honorable Collonel Lillingston Lieutenant Collonel Fleetwood Captain Devaux who led up a Forelorn of three hundred Musquetiers and gave the first Charge upon the Spaniards And of the Voluntiers Collonel Henry Jones who at first charged with Lieutenant Collonel Fenwick on foot afterwards on Horseback when as engaging too far he was taken prisoner but was afterwards exchanged and by his late Highness at his return into England made Knight and Baronet Divers others did gallantly who doubtless will not be forgotten in the English Annals and would be too large to be expressed in this Epitome relating onely to his Highness The Spaniards had at first resolved to have given no English man quarter but the fortune of the day made them glad to seek to the English for quarter themselves and it was well they could have it given them although the English were generous enough to have spared their Lives had not the zeal of overcoming and their resolutions to perfect the Victory taken up all their care and passions Finally the Spanish Foot being totally routed and coming to surrender themselves to the English in whole troops the English mistrusting they had some other intentions and stratagem thereby neither understanding their Language nor designe continued charging them and enforced them to seek quarter elsewhere preferring the gaining of the Victory to their own particular interests and so reaped an intire glory in their despising and rejecting several prisoners of quality who profered themselves to them and for the which they might have had considerable ransoms And in the gaining of those high Downs on which the Spaniards were placed the English behaved themselves with so much gallantry and resolution as that envy and malice raised a report amidst the jealous and their Corivals that it savoured more of a piece of rashness then of a true valour as if Soldiers could possibly with too much zeal and readiness performe those Commands which are given them To be brief the victory wholly declared it self for the English and for the French and the whole Spanish Army was quite discomfited and pursued to the very Gates of Fuernes with the loss of three thousand five hundred men two thousand whereof were killed on the place of Suydcote a Village seated in the Downs between Dunkirk and Fuernes and the rest were taken prisoners and the whole Army dissipated and disordered which defeat having quite disheartned the besieged and depriving them of all hopes of relief besides their Govornour the Marquis De Leda being mortally wounded by two hand Granadoes as he defended the false bray and of which wounds he dyed constrained them to beat a Parley fourteen dayes afterwards and to surrender the place on the fifteenth of July 1658. after the one and twentieth day of the opening of the Approaches And in this manner this famous Sea-port was reduced under the obedience of his late Highness the Lord Protector and was by the French put
The Most excellent Oliver Cromwell Lord Gen ll of Greate Brittay Chancellor of the Vniversity of Oxford L d Cheife Gover r of Ireland ☜ Claude lib de laud Stil Similem Quae protulit Aelus Consilio vel Marle VIRUM THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death Of His most Serene Highness O LIVER Late Lord Protector Wherein from his Cradle to his Tomb are impartially transmitted to Posterity the most weighty Transactions Forreign or Domestique that have happened in his Time either in Matters of Law Proceedings in Parliaments or other Affairs in Church or State By S. Carrington Pax quaeritur Bello London Printed for Nath. Brook at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill 1659. FUIMUS The Right honble Charles Viscount Bruce of Ampthill â—en â— Heir Apparent of Thomas Earl of â—â—â—â—bury Baron Bruce of Whorleton To His most SERENE HIGHNESS RICHARD Lord PROTECTOR OF THE Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging May it please Your Highness AS nothing can be presented to the Potentates of the World of greater value then the Labours of Famous Historiographers who describe to the life the Examples of such Eminent Personages as were transcendent in preceding Ages and may in their Successours beget both Emulation and Experience so shall I not need to apprehend that this History which in all humility I present unto Your Highness will prove unacceptable since therein You may encounter with such a Model of all kinde of Vertues and Perfections as I hope may take a deeper impression in Your Highnesses Breast in regard that it will be found that Art herein is seconded by Nature And whereas I am under the lash of a severe Castigation for my presumption in profering this History to Your Review as I acknowledge when I seriously consider how You have attracted to Your Self that lively Pourtraiture of his Great Soul that You appear the true Embleme both of his Vertues and Majesty May it please Your most Serene Highness I cannot chuse but address this present Oblation as to Your Self so in other Languages to the rest of the Princes and Potentates of the Earth I bequeath it unto posterity very humbly craving the favourable Protection of Your Highnesses Patronage Nor durst I publish so glorious a Work to the World before I had craved Your Highnesses pardon for my Rashness in adventuring to trace those Vigorous Lineaments in the Alexander whom Your Highness so well resembleth and in whom your Highness beareth so great a part Moreover as a sole Apelles could onely be capable of so great an Enterprize so it will be altogether unnecessary for me to endeavour the Description of that Pourtraiture which so evidently is manifested to all the World both in Your Highnesses Person and Actions Wherefore my Lord I must needs confess that Your Highness is the true Original and mine onely relating to the Out-side of so Great and unalterable an Albionist The truth is I finde not in my self ability to express the Real Worth of His Accomplishments and Hardy Features accompanied with that Vivacity and Lustre which secret Mystery lyeth onely in the Hand of that great Master of Nature and Extant in that very Personage whose Simile is hardly this Day to be found in the whole Vniverse except in Your Inimitable Self Nor doth Art or Humane frailty allow so much to be in the Possession of the best men Therefore those who go about to Pourtraict such like Incomparable Personages cannot avoid one of those extremities which Painters run into when they go about to represent the Sun who either place themselves at so great a distance as that they can onely discover an ineffications and feeble Reflections of its Beams or approach so neer unto it as that being dazled with its Resplendency and overcome with its Heat they are bereaved of their Senses and retain onely their Hearts at liberty to adore and admire that powerful Hand which formed so glorious a Creature To the like Non plus am I reduced who rashly ascend to the very summit of the Throne of Honour thence to contemplate his late Highness Person surrounded by so glorious a Resplendency as no eyes are able to behold nor to be comprehended by the mindes of men so that I must needs sink under the burthen and content my self with the Poets Expression Inopem me copia fecit In which extasie all my Senses being surprized my Heart is onely left free to admire and my Tongue to plead Excuses and offer up good Wishes which I most humbly Dedicate and Devote unto Your most Serene Highness Nor could the Heavens have ever established a more fitting Personage to bear a share in or inclination unto this Work then Your Highness as well as to defend it from Envy it self And if so be History be a second Life Your Highness may judge by the black Attempts which threatned Your Glorious Father how this Work will be assailed and how many Enemies its Authour must resolve to enter into the Lists withall their Rage being thereby renewed and augmented by their perceiving that the Tomb hath onely bereaved us of the least part of this Great Heroe And how malicious soever their Envy may appear in such Stories which possibly may be written in Contradiction hereof it will onely publish from Truth it self to the World their inveterate Spleen which can never pierce through the bright Rayes of his Innocent and Glorious Actions Moreover whereas the Divine Providence hath so often and miraculously preserved the first life of his late Highness against the Attempts both of men and monsters Your most Serene Highness is also engaged as well by Imitation as by the Interest of Your Care and Royal Dignity to watch over the Preservation of his second Life which is in Your Highness by so Lawful a Succession as is devolved upon Your Self The Glorious Course whereof I resolve to trace from this very moment that I may the better publish the Illustrious Transactions thereof in five other Languages which during my Travels I have acquired In which also I intend to publish this present History the French being already perfected and fit for the Press His great Soul expecting proportionable Honours to its Dignity and his vaste Minde requiring number less Elegies which may remain as so many living Monuments not to be defaced by Times Violence nor Envy But I press this Subject too home to Your Highness since You bear so great a share therein and my self dare attribute so little of it to my own incapacity of compassing so great an undertaking Wherefore I shall onely hereby endeavour to attract others and to shew them the Borders and Coast of that vaste Sea into which they ought to lanch so that like to a Forelorn Hope I shall onely first mount the Breach and by diverse Languages animate all the Trumpets of Fame to Celebrate the Glory of his late Highness in those parts of the World where I have conversed for
to consult on their Business were seized with a Pannick fear and no one of their Enemies appearing or pursuing them they cryed out that they were betrayed and so betook themselves to their heels some one way some another in a confused manner So likewise did Collonel Lilburn send word out of Northumberland that they were busie in framing of a party there also but that they had dissipated themselves through their own Fears and Jealousies Finally in Yorkeshire Sir Henry Slingsby and Sir Richard Maleverer had also assembled some Forces to have seized the City of York having two Cart-loads of Ammunition with them but they dispersed themselves on their own accompt seeing but little appearance to succeed in their designe Sir Henry Slingsby was taken and Imprisoned and afterwards Beheaded upon another accompt The first party commanded by Wagstaff and Penruddock was defeated by Captain Vnton Crook at a place called South-melton some whereof were killed and others were taken who were Tried and Condemned and those which dyed of note were Mr. Lucas Thorpe Kensey Graves and Penruddock Sir Joseph Wagstaff had the hap to make his escape and to get away Moreover a little afterwards to rid the State of such like Incendiaries and Firebrands the several Prisons and Goals of England were delivered from the Royalists which were detained prisoners on the foregoing accompts who were sent away to the Plantations and Collonies in America In like manner the rest of the other risings before mentioned were quelled and dissipated which both struck a terror in those who had not as yet shewn themselves and restored peace and quietness to the State By this time the subtil Spaniard whose quaint policy doth for the most part hug the prosperous and destroy the miserable and distressed seeing that Fortune did daily more and more incline to favour his late Highness the Lord Protector that his Vigour and Force increased by opposition and that the sole resplendency of his glory dissipated all those fogs and mists which endeavoured to obscure it thought it meet to court England and to endeavour to engage this State in his interests in which was omitted no proffers which a Puissant Monarch could possibly make unto a Prince whose Power was but as it were in the bud and beginning to sprout forth To which purpose the Marquis of Leda arived at London in the quality of an extraordinary Ambassador to his late Highness where he was received with all the Demonstrations of Honour and Pomp. But his late Highness being over-sensible of all those gross injuries which the Spanish Nation for several years together have committed against the English and also against all Europe besides and being not willing to conforme his Maximes with the tyrannical and unjust principles of the Spaniards returned civil and ceremonious Answers to the said Ambassadors Proposals who returned back again very speedily with all sorts of contentment and satisfaction save onely to that which he chiefly expected and most of all insisted upon And England being at that present time in a peaceable posture the Almighty having Crowned his late Highness the Lord protector with several signal Victories and Deliverances of his person from an infinite number of Dangers his Highness thought he could not in a better wise express his acknowledgements for so many mercies then by the imploying of all his Care and Forces to oppose and beat down the Ambition nay I may justly say their Sacraledge and Impiety and Avarice of the Spaniards since it onely belongs to a God to Stile himself the Universal Monarch who at the expence and charge of an hundred thousand Murders and Devastations have rendred themselves Masters of the whole worlds Treasures And withall totally to extripate and root up the profound plots and devices which the Spaniards had long since laid in England to become Masters thereof or at least to breed divisions in it at their own pleasures Nor shall I need to enlarge upon the ambitious and cruel designes of that invincible Armado of Philip the Second which was to have invaded England and to have made it swim in its own Blood nor of those several entreagues and policies which Spain hath hatched in Ireland by assistances of men and monies as also by their several Conspiracies in England abusing of the Religion and blind zeal of some particular persons there I shall onely begin with Gundamore that arch Machiavilian Spanish Ambassador who had gained such a Credit and Power in the Court of England as that when he pleased he could dispose of the Lives of the greatest and best men in the State when he had discovered they were his Masters Enemies I shall onely instance in one that admirable personage Sir Walter Rawleigh who by reason he had undertaken to visit their Treasures in Hispaniola and had Committed some hostillities in those Seas in former time Gundamore never left importuning of King James whom he had in a manner bewitched till he had obtained his death and thus bereaved England of one of the great Politicians and Universallest men that ever this Isle brought forth leaving us a testimony of his vast knowledge and experience to wit his famous History of the World From hence his late Highness resolved to begin his just War against the proud Spaniard and to sacrifice to the memory of this great Captain and one of the most experienced Sea-men of all the World all the Spanish Blood which the valour of the noble English hath so generously by way of retaliation drawn and let out since his late Highness's expedition against them There are some friends with whom a man is forced to break off all friendship because they will be too much our friends that is because they over-act the part of friendship by prying too deep into our Affairs and Designes and by interesting themselves too far into the concernments of those who depend on us as that thereby they steal away their hearts from us and such like friends have the Spaniards been to England who buy their friendships at such cheap rates as that they feed those who side with them onely with imaginary speculations here on earth making them eternally miserable and with specious promises in the world to come which would be obtained at cheaper and more assured rates without the interposing of their Hippocritical and Ambitious trains But to return to our History again his late Highness whose Genius affected the greatest difficulties and the most extraordinary and rarest Designs fix'd his thoughts upon New Spain not to bereave them of their Treasures which are with more ease to be interrupted at their coming home but to revenge all Europe unto whom the Jealous humor of the Spaniards denies Traffique and Commerce into those parts having at all times exercised unheard of Cruelties and horrible Treacheries on such as were driven into those parts accidentally and forcibly by storms and tempests or such as were by themselves under the notion
of friendship and kinde entertainment drawn in thither to trade with them whom they tyed stark naked unto trees placing this Writing on their Breasts Who sent for you hither And in this wise suffered them to be eaten up alive by the Fowls of the Air and the wilde Beasts of the Field And the better to accomplish this Design on the twenty seventh of December 1654 a gallant Fleet manned with brave Sea and Land-men and well furnished with all kinde of Provisions and Ammunitions of War set sail from Portsmouth Road under the Command of the Generals Penn and Venables upon a Design which was not made publick On the first of May 1655. news was brought that they were arrived at the Barbadoes on the twenty eight of January where they had seized eighteen Holland Merchant-men which traffiqued in those parts contrary to the Ordinance of the long Parliament prohibitting the same And by Letters of a fresher date that they set sail from Barbadoes on the thirtieth of March towards Hispaniola Where being arrived by an unfortunate excess of prudence the Commanders not deeming it fit to make a too near descent unto Sancto Domingo in Hispaniola which notwithstanding was deserted by all the Garrison at the very sight and appearance of so considerable a Fleet landed their men somewhat lower that so during the time the Spaniards should come to impead their descent they might have liberty to disimbark all their men and to refresh themselves of the toils of the Sea But this landing so far from the place and deferring of the attempt put a new life and courage into the Spaniards who repossessed their place again imagining that the English being unaccustomed to the excessive Heats of that Climate and the deepness of the Sands would be infinitely tyred in their March and that by the said means they should be able to repulse and withstand them at a very cheap rate which fell out just as the Spaniards had foreseen it for the Climate was so hot and the Sands so deep as that the English after their long march were not able to fight were put to flight and enforced to march back again to their ships not without some difficulty however being seconded by fresh and vallant Sea-men who went on shore to bring them off they got on board again And that their long voyage and course might not prove totally useless and unprofitable they resolved to set upon the Island of Jamaica where they arrived on the tenth of May next ensuing and after a little resistance which was made by the Spaniards they became Masters of the place which they have ever since preserved and kept with a great deal of constancy and glory as we shall see hereafter And that the English valour might be rendred more considerable and formidable to the whole World the Almighty inspired into them that Religious Design to revenge the Christians wrongs and sufferings against the Profanations and Abuses of the Turkish Barbarians and crowned their pious attempt with as holy and glorious a Victory Wherefore General Blake having cast Anchor before Tunnis on the eighteenth of April 1655 sent unto the Dy of the place to demand satisfaction for some English ships which the Pyrats of those parts had carried away and the liberty of the English Slaves they had detained But it was refused with scorn and derision the Turks making this Answer Behold our Castles of Galetta and our Castles and Vessels of Porto Ferino do your worst against them and do not think to brave us with the sight of your great Fleet. Whereupon General Blake being sensible that the Glory of God and the Honour of the English Nation was concerned in the punishing of so great a disdain and to let the Enemies of Christ and Christianism see That they can do all things in and through him their strength and fortress he called a Councel of War rather to implore the Almighties assistance towards the compassing of so glorious a Design then to resolve on the performing it Each one finding himself animated and armed with a more then naturall courage to let those Infidels and all the World see That the English are none of the least zealous in the Concernments of Christ and so joyntly resolved by all means possible to burn nine of their men of War which lay in Porto Ferino which was performed in the manner following The Sea-shore was lined by one hundred and twenty peeces of Cannon and the Port was defended by the Castle on which twenty peeces were mounted besides some other small Forts which were also defended by great Guns and Musquet shot However it was resolved That the Admiral Vice-Admiral and Rere-Admiral should approach within musquet shot of the Castle and there come to an Anchor and incessantly fire upon the Castle and other Forts whilst the rest of the Fleet should second and back the Fire-ships and long Boats which were designed to fire the Ships in the Port. And the Almighty did evidently manifest as well in the hearts of the men as by the blowing of the Winde that he bare a part in this undertaking so favourable was the Winde to the English and so much were their courages animated by his Grace and Spirit therefore in less then four hours time the said nine Ships were burnt down to their very Keels the English for their part losing but five and twenty men which were slain and eight and forty wounded Whereupon the King of Tunis sought to the English for their friendship and restored all the Prisoners for little or nothing amongst which divers Dutch also obtained their liberty amongst the English not being distinguished by the Turks And one of the English Admirals who went ashore to redeem the Captives was highly honoured and treated all which sufficiently recompensed the disdain they harboured against the Valour and Piety of the English Nor had these bold and glorious attempts sufficiently blazed the Vertue and Fortune of our late Protector had they not continually been assailed by intestine Conspiracies which rose one on the back of the other like unto so many Surges of the Sea but which brake themselves in like manner upon a small shelf of Sand on which the finger of God had worked their limits which they durst not exceed Thus on the twelfth of June in the same Year the Lords Willoughby of Parham and Newport Mr. Seamore and Mr. Newport with some others were sent Prisoners to the Tower of London on suspicion of intermedling and assisting in a new Conspiracy But to the end that evil might be repayed with good and that the Sun might be heightned in its heat at the same time that the mists and fogs did thicken to obscure it his Highness sent twelve good men of War well manned with Collonel Humphreys his Regiment to boot and well provided with all necessaries as well to re-inforce the Naval Army as the Land Forces in Jamaica which Fleet set sail on the
reflect on the loss he had sustained and how requisite it was for Princes and great Potentates to retain near their Persons Men of Knowledge Worth and Fidelity and calling to minde the action and discourse of Williams conceiving that it could not proceed but from a great soul endowed with extraordinary vertues and such a one as might be useful and serviceable to him he sent for him up to Court and commanding him to take the name of Cromwel upon himself unto whom he had testified so much Fidelity and Gratitude he invested him with all the Offices and Charges the late Lord Thomas Cromwel enjoyed near his person and re-instated him again in all his Goods and Lands which had been confiscated so that the Lord Williams assisted in the Kings Councel as his Father in Law the Lord Thomas Cromwel before had done From this Noble Lord Williams alias Cromwel and the Illustrious Daughter of the renowned Lord Thomas Cromwel his late Highness and our present Lord Protector are lineally descended in whom the Almighty hath raised up and ripened those generous vertues of their predecessors and hath elevated and spread their branches as high as their deep roots had taken profound and vigorous Foundations So that to compleat our parallel we may observe by the fruits of this Illustrious Stock from whence his late Highness is descended whether they retained their accustomed Generosity and Clemency which we will not go about to prove by the Military Acts in which they have outvied their Predecessors nor by their Politick and prudent Government of the State in which they have at least equalized them but by their private and domestick actions since the resemblance of Children to their Parents may be more observed by the Features of the Face then by the course of their lives which are subject to vary either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Communication of other men To come therefore to his late Highness the Lord Protector and signalize his gratitude we shall instance in the person of one Duret a French attendant of his Highness during his General-ship who served him with so much Fidelity and Zeal as that he intrusted him with the managing and conduct of the greatest part of his domestick Affairs alwayes retaining him nigh his person bearing so great an affection towards him and reposing so entire a confidence in him as during his late Highness's great sickness which he had in Scotland and whereof it was thought he would have dyed he would not be served by any one nor receive any nourishment or any thing else that was administred unto him save from the hands of Duret who both day and night continued to watch by his Master tending him with a special care and assiduity not giving himself a Moments rest untill his late Highness had recovered his perfect health which long and continual watches of Duret and the pains he had taken in the administring unto his Master plunged him into a sad fit of sickness during which this faithful servant received all the acknowledgements which his good and zealous services had demerited his late Highness applying all the possible cures he could not onely by his commands but by his personal visits so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him to comfort Duret and to see all things applyed that might conduce to his recovery but Durets hour being come he was content to lay down his life in his Masters service and the Physicians having quite given him over his late Highness would needs render him his last good offices by comforting him at his death by his sensibleness of his good services and the extream zeal and affection he had born to his person which although he could not requite unto him yet his Highness assured him he would manifest his acknowledgements thereof unto his Parents and Kindred Whereunto Duret replyed That the honour he had received in having served so good and great a Master and the glory he reaped in having laid down his life for the preservation of his Highness and of so good and glorious a Cause was extream satisfactory unto him in his death That he had a Mother and a Sister with some Kindred in France who were unworthy his Highness thoughts or reflecting on them however that he remitted them to his Highness gracious consideration And so Duret his good and faithful servant breathed his last In which contract of grief and resolution of acknowledgement his late Highness may be said to have harboured the same thoughts as Henry the Eighth did perswading himself that he had been the Author of Durets death though in a far innocenter way However his late Highness retained all the resentments and sensibleness of the acknowledgements and gratitude expressed by his generous predecessor the Lord Thomas Cromwel towards his dear Friend Frescobald For his late Highness immediately sent over For Durets Mother Sister and two Nephews out of France and would have the whole Family of the Durets to come and establish themselves here in England that he might the better manifest his Love and Gratitude in their persons towards his deceased faithful servant And whereas by reason of the continuance of the Scotch Wars his late Highness was at that time as it were confined to the North he wrote unto her Highness the now Lady Protectoress Dowager his wife that she should receive and use Durets Mother Sister and Allies accordingly as she praised the good offices of his deceased faithful servant to whose cares pains and watchings he owed the preservation of his own life and that she should proportion that kindnes which during his absence she should show unto them unto the love which she bore unto him insomuch that Durets Mother was by her Highness admitted into her own Family and seated at her own Table his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a Maid of Honour to her Highness and his two Nephews were admitted to be her Highnesses Pages whereby the Almighty Crowned Durets good and faithful services towards his Master and his piety and observance towards his Mother and Sister whose onely support he was in his life time with the rich Flowers of Prosperity and with the Fruits of Fortune advancing them as fast as the sad destiny did his precipitated death And no sooner was his late Highness returned into England after the conquest of Scotland and the glorious Victory he had obtained at Worcester full freighted with the resplendency of his noble atchievements but he desired to see Durets Mother Sister and Nephews enquiring how they had been received and treated and whether they were well pleased to be in England and as soon as they appeared in his presence he could not retain his generous tears for the loss of Duret nor could he cease to testifie his inward grief for him comforting the good old Gentlewoman Mrs. Duret by the mouth of his Children who spake French telling her She had not lost her son although dead