against his lawful Soveraign and not be Treason If you say by Election of the State you speak not reason for what Power hath the State to Elect while any is Living that hath Right to Succeed But such a Successor is not the Duke of Lancaster as descended from Edmund Crouchback the Elder Son of King Edward the Third though put by the Crown for deformity of his Body for who knows not the falseness of this Allegation Seeing it is a thing Notorious that this Edmund was neither the Elder Brother nor yet Crook-Back't though called so from some other reason but a goodly Personage and without any deformity And your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done who it was that in the Fourth Year of King Richard was declared by Parliament to be Heir to the Crown in case King Richard should dye without Issue But why then is not that Claim made Because silent Leges inter Arma What dispuâ—â—ng of Titles against the stream of Power But however it iâ— extream Injustice that King Richard should be condemn'd without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence And now My Lords I have spoken thus at this time that you may consider of it before it be too late for as yet it is in your Power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Much to this Purpose was the Bishop's Speech but to as little purpose as if he had gone about to call back Yesterday The Matter was too far gone and scarce a Person there present that had not a Hope of either a private or publick Benefit by that which was done Yet against this Speech of the Bishop there was neither protesting nor excepting It passed in the House as but one Man's Opinion And as for the King it was neither fit he should use much Severity against any Member of that Parliament which had so lately shewed so much Indulgence towards him nor indeed safe to be too hot in his Punishment when he was yet scarce warm in his Government Yet for a warning to use their Liberty of Speech with more Moderation hereafter the Bishop was Arrested by the Marshal and Committed to Prison in the Abby of St. Albans but afterwards without further Censure set at Liberty till upon a Conspiracy of Lords wherein he was a Party he was Condemned to Dye though through Extremity of Grief he prevented Execution Thus far the Chronicle King Henry is now got into the Throne Richard being thrust into a Prison and afterwards into his Grave and yet I don't find him so secure and well settled but that he had many 〈◊〉 Enemies ever and anon to Contest with and 〈◊〉 a few secret disguis'd Ones to fear and suspect with so many prickly Thorns was his new-gotten Crown lin'd Therefore we have little reason to believe he would ever wilfully disoblidge that City whose Power and Strength he so well knew The Mummery design'd by some discontented Lords to be acted upon him at Twelfthtide at Windsor in the First of his Reign The Battle fought between him and Sir Henry Hotspur at Shrewsbury in the Third The Rising about York in the Sixth And the Battle of Bramâ—am Moore in the Eighth besides several other secret Attempts and Conspiracies were as so many Admonitions to him to Fortify himself what be could with the Citizens love and affection as his surest earthly Bulwark and Defence next to his prosperous Success in the aforesaid Contests which prevented the discontented from coming near enough to London to attempt the raising there of new Broils and Commotions to disturb his Repose and the Cities Peace if he had any Evil-willers therein capable of receiving ill Impressions As perhaps he had but few there such Care he took to oblidge them and scarce any occasion given to breed Murmurs and Complaints among them For He who meerly at the Commons request in the Fifth of his Reign remov'd Four of his Menial Servants out of his House when he openly declar'd in Parliament he then knew no cause thereof but only for that they were hated of the People and so often gratified his House of Commons in their Petitions about his prime and principal Officers and privy Councellors must needs be thought more ready to encrease the Number of his Friends than to make himself more Enemies especially in a City of such 〈◊〉 Riches Power and Strength as London was 〈◊〉 known to be beyond denial dispute or contradiction The City flourished under this King in the Renovation of old the Guildhall of London and the Erecting of new publick Structures the Conduit upon Cornhil and the Stocks-Market-House was famous abroad for the abundance of her Traffique and number of her Traders and increas'd at home in Repute and Renown by the prevailing of her Mayor and Commonalty in their Contest with the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Lords and Knights about pulling up the Wares in Thames over which by their Charter they claim'd a large Power as Conservators of that their beloved River besides the many grounds and reasons the King had to Glory in his confidence of the Love and Loyalty of her Citizens and rejoyce in the continuance of their Affection to him and his Family As is evident from the timely Advertisement the Mayor brought him in the First of his Reign of the Conspiracy of the discontented Lords who under the colour of Christmas Pastimes as Mumming c. design'd Treacherously to have Slain him to the forcing him very seasonably as incredulous as he was before into a belief of the reality of the Plot and accompanied him the same Night from Windsor to London whereby he purchas'd to himself Security disappointed the Conspirators and got time and opportunity to punish the Plotters And may also be inferr'd from the successful care the Mayor Sheriffs and other Citizens took in stilling the midnight difference happening in Eastcheap on Midsomer-Eve in the Twelfth of his Reign when two of his younâ—â—â— Sons Sup't there late at Night and might 〈◊〉 have been greatly indanger'd had the 〈◊〉 lasted any time These are Instances I 〈◊〉 expresly mention'd in History and who knows â—ow many more there might be that were never so â—uch taken Notice of by the Writers of that Age â—s to be carefully transmitted to Posterity by their 〈◊〉 Peradventure there were many more Evidenâ—â—s But I will not so much insist upon an Argument â—hat is but barely possible and probable nor with â—â—lly and impertinence enough stay to beg the â—oint of the Reader upon an uncertain surmise and â—â—njecture Though it would be as absurd in him 〈◊〉 affirm That all things ever done in the World 〈◊〉 the Invention of Letters have been commitâ—â—d to Paper as it would be monstrously Ridiculous 〈◊〉 to pretend to have seen and read all things remarkable that ever were Wrote of this Honourable City and her praise-worthy Actions 'T is enough for my weakness and inability if I can tolerably make out what I have here design'd concerning
Neither were indeed these latter proceedings attempted till after that by several tricks and devices as naming Sheriffs fit to serve turns and imposing such Representatives on the Borough Towns as would be byass'd to betray their Country besides a violent seizure of the Country Lords likely to oppose the Court had got a Parliament to their minds that would do their own business not the Nations and prefer the private gain of some few before the publick benefit of the whole Common-wealth What sort of Parliament this was and how fairly things were carried we may inform our selves out of Stow's Annals where we find it upon Record in the twenty first year of this King how that all of a suddain in the midst of a great calm and outward serenity the King caus'd the principals of the party thought most opposite to Court designes to be feiz'd on and imprison'd and among the rest his own Uncle as Chief so unsecure is Kindred and Alliance among Kings and Princes tells the Commons by Proclamation that their apprehension was founded on new Transgressions not old Crimes though these afterwards were the great offences laid to their charge procures their Indictment at Nottingham suborns several Nobles to impeach them in the next Parliament Assembles many Malefactors of the County of Chester in the nature of a Guard and then summons the Parliament Thither came the Nobles with an Armed Retinue for fear of the King such Knights are chosen Prolocutors as are described to be void of all manner of goodness as in whom nought was to be found but a natural Covetuousness unsatiable Ambition Intollerable Pride and Hatred of the truth and the Clergy upon pain of losing their Temporalties injoyn'd to chose them a Common Proctor who thereupon appointed Sir Henry Percy Steward of the Kings Houshold to assent in their Names to all things done in the Parliament How then things were likely to be ordered in the two Houses 't is no hard matter for us to guess especially when we remember that the Annalist tells us the Parliament House was compass'd about with four thousand of the Kings Archers who seem to have been ready prepar'd on all occasions for an Onset and once more particularly mistaking the noise usually made at the Parliament's Men coming out of the House for a Tumultous Broil and Contention with their Bows bent Arrows fitted and drawing they were upon the point of shooting to the terrour of all present till the Kings coming rectified their mistake and pacified them To tell of recalling of Pardons disannulling of Charters making void of Commissions revoking former Judgments impeaching arraigning condemning and actually punishing the opposite Party some with loss of Estates Lives and all others with forfeitures of all worldly Goods and perpetual irrevocable imprisonment I esteem a needless labour Suffice it therefore to remark how sollicitous the Court was at this juncture to render their own Party as Saints and the others as most guilty Criminals to take off the contesting Lords as disloyal Traytors and restore in the Eye of the Law the Reputation of Courtiers formerly condemn'd in the eleventh year of this King as if they had been the honestest and loyallest Subjects in the Nation and undo as much as in them lay what ever was then done in the Parliament that wrought wonders not withstanding that in many things they imitated that Assembly when they thought it for their peculiar advantage as in Lords Appellants Oaths to make all the Judgments Ordinances and Statutes unrepealable and Excommunication of the Breakers or Impugners of them but in others far out did it as in revoking all Pardons pleaded by the opposite Lords under the notion of being unlawfully made or so by the King granted unto them as not to be against himself and excusing those equally guilty of the same actions because look'd on at that time as useful Instruments in carrying on the Court Intreagues viz. suppressing the principal Assertors of Liberty and Property in passing a general Pardon with the Exception of fifty Persons not express'd by name whereby any one at pleasure might be made liable to censure as one of the Persons excepted if thought a Favourer of the contrary side and conserring the whole Power of the Parliament upon certain Lords and Commons fully to answer all Bills and wholly to determine all other matters mov'd in Parliament and not determined with all their Dependants as mischievous a President as Sylla's Proscription though 't is hoped not as practicable besides the prejudging and confining of Parliament Debates by the Judges Opinions That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first dâ—termined that it is Treason in them that do it Such being the Acts of this Assembly and the consequences of the Courts present success in taking off the Heads of the other Party who durst at every turn contest therewith in behalf of those freeborn English Twins Liberty and Property under which the Nation with silent murmurs languished and lamented when they so soon after the end of this Parliament at Shrewsbury and the Kings Progress into the West saw no less than seventeen Counties in East England indicted by the Kings command and as a grievous offence laid to their charge that they had been against him with the Duke of Glocester Earls of Arundel and Warwick the late Principals amongst the contesting Lords but now secur'd fast enough the two first under the undissolvable Bonds of Death the other under the Chains of a perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and several honourable Persons sent to induce the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to make a Submission by Writing seal'd with their own Hands acknowledging themselves Traytors to the King though they never offended him in Word or Deed Besides the compelling all the Religious Gentlemen and Commons to set their Seals to Blank-Charters that they might be oppress'd severally or all at once at pleasure some being made to pay a thousand Marks some a thousand Pounds And an Order issued out through every Shire in England that all Gentlemen and Men of Substance should be sworn firmly to maintain according to their power all the Statutes Articles and Constitutions ordained in the last Parliament We may easily conclude the Court thought the Citizens of London were not over much in love with these enslaving Statutes unaccustomed Oaths insnaring Blanks and inforc'd Submissions and suspected them ready enough upon occasion to oppose and withstand these manifest encroachments of Antinomian Prerogative upon the Liberty of the Subject and strive to strike off these Fetters and Shackles of Slavery upon the next opportunity before they were thorowly rivetted by Time and Prescription and therefore esteemed it their wisest Course to begin with them first by the usual Method of Indictments while they had the Reins of Government in their own hands and so consequently power enough to manage the Law as they themselves pleased to
Law to the Destruction of the Duke of Glâ—ucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewscury For that the King against his Promise procured the Duke of Ireland sundry Rebells about Cheshire where diverse Murders by him were committed For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at the Solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Gloucester and sent him to Callice there to be choked and murdered beheading the Earle of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham For that the Kings Retinue and rout gathered out of Cheshire about the apprehension of those Nobles committed diverse Murders Rapes and other Fellonies besides refusing to pay for their Victuals For that the King condemned the Nobles aforesaid for divers rodes made within the Realm contrary to his open Proclamation For that the King doubly Fined Men for their Pardons For that the King to oppress his whole subjects procured in his last Parliament that the Power thereof was committed to certain Persons For that the King being sworn to Minister right did notwithstanding enact in the last Parliament that no mediation should be made for the Duke of Lancaster contrary to his said Oath For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other forraign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Popes Excommunication on such as brake the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm For that the King banished the Duke of Lancaster for 10 years without any Cause as the same King openly affirmed For that the King unlawfully revoked the Letters Patents made to the said Duke of Lancaster in An. 21. For that the King contrary to the Laws and will of the Justices suffered Sheriffs to continue longer than one year and placed such therein as were unfit For that the King repayed not to his Subjects debts of them borrowed For that the King in the time of Truce and Peace exacted great Subsidies and wasted the same about frivilous matters For that the King refused to execute the Laws Saying that the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast For that the King by procuring by Statutes that he might be free as any of his Progenitors did under colour thereof subvert Laws according to his Will For that the King procured Knights of the Shires to be made to serve his own will For that the King enforced Sheriffs to be Sworn to execute all Commandemens under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Signet contrary to their accustomed Oaths For that the King to wrack mony from his Subjects procured 17 several Shires to submit themselves to his Grace whereby great sums of mony were Levied For that the King being Sworn to observe the Liberties of the Church notwithstanding at his Voyage into Ireland enforced diverse Religious Persons to give Horse Armour and Carts For that the Justices for their good Councel given to the King were with evil Countenance and threats rewarded For that the King of his own Will in passing into Ireland carried with him the Treasures Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the Kings own Coffers from all hazard and for that the same King cancelled and razed sundry Records For that the King by writing to Forreign Princes and to his own Subjects is reputed universally a most variable and dissembling man For that the King would commonly say among the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture For that the King suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Marshal-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm For that the Subjects being only bound by their Allegiance were yet driven to take certain New Oaths for serving the folly of the King For that the King by his private Letters would charge the Ecclesiastical Ministers in any new Canonical matter to stay contrary to his Oath For that the King by force in his Parliament banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury without any good Ground For that the King by his last Will passed under the Great Seal and Privy Signet gave unto his Successors certain Money and Treasure upon Condition to perform all the Acts and Orders in the last Parliament which being ungodly and unlawful he meant as ungodlily to dy in For that the King in the 11th of his Reign in his Chappel in the Manour of Langley in the presence of the Duke of Lancaster and Yorke and others received the Sacrament of the Lords Body that he would never impeach the Duke of Gloucester his Uncle for any thing before done and yet to the Contrary procured him to be murdered For that the King most fraudulently and untruely against his own Oath Banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and wasted his Goods in which Article in private Conference between the said Arch Bishop the King in a manner prophesied and doubted that the like would happen of himself and thereupon shewed a special Token to the Arch Bishop That if he sent the same at any time that the Arch Bishop should look that the King would come to him These were the Imputations laid to his charge and that they were then thought true or at least not contradicted is self-Evident all seeming highly desirous of a Change and few dispos'd to espouse the depos'd Kings Cause and Interest so furious and violent was the Current of the Times as to bear away well nigh all before it That Parliament being so full of the new Kings Favourers and so empty of the old Kings true and cordial Friends that I remember to have read of but one viz. the Loyal Bishop of Carlisle who after a little Demur of a few dayes time upon a Motion made in Parliament about the disposal of King Richard stood up boldly and undauntedly for his old Lord and Master in the midst of his professed and declared Enemies and known Deserters His Speech as a rare Example of Fidelity giving us the very Quintessence of Loyalty I shall venture to set down out of Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle with the Consequents as follows My Lords The Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered The First whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take Arms
dearly belov'd Liberties when they might with greater ease and as effectually gently walk them down as a certain Person is said to have express'd it on a much later Occasion The City petition'd and address'd and she was follow'd by the Country She waited a while with patience and the secluded Members that were chosen in forty and from forty eight kept out of the house till fifty nine for almost twelve years space were restor'd in peace and quietness though under some few Obligations And so there was again the face of a House of Commons Being restor'd they dissolv'd themselves in a short time after to make way for another assâ—mbly call'd a Parliament though some thought in thâ—se times that the Parliament of Forty had been dissolv'd long before by his late Majesties death and so might haply think this a needless Ceremony It being most certain that that Parliament ow'd its beginning to the Kings Writ although its continuance was thought to depend on the continuing Act as long as the King liv'd Yet notwithstanding the House of Commons had actually dissolv'd themselves and it was become the receiv'd opinion that the Parliament of Forty was in Law dissolv'd before upon the old Kings death the next Assembly Stylo Communi Parliament would not barely stick to either of these ways but thought good likewise themselves by vertue of their Authority to declare that Parliament of Forty dissolv'd Whether or no they thought that the bare Act of a single house of Commons without King and Lords could not in Law be took for a formal Repeal of the former continuing Act made by King Lords and Commons joyntly and so rejected it as really insignificant in its self though made use of for the time and out of a Cautious foresight dreaded some ill consequences attending the receiv'd opinion of the long Parliaments being dissolv'd by the Kings death whether or no the continuing Act were formally repeal'd by as good Authority as made it lest thence in time no body knows when occasion might be taken to argue that if a Kings death repeals one unlimited Act it may likewise on the same ground vacate all by him made and so by affirming the same of all other Princes since the first William a foundation might be laid for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power when evil minded Pretenders are absolute enough to attempt it with hopes of Impunity I pretend not to determine For I remember my self to be a Relater of matters of Fact not a Reader of Law Cases Therefore I proceed to acquaint the Reader that that Assembly though call'd without the Kings Writ yet by his Majesty afterwards most Graciously own'd and acknowledg'd for a Parliament thought it fitting and convenient to declare and enact that the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster the third day of November in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the Late King Charles of blessed Memory is fully dissolved and determined They are the words of the Act to be seen in the Statute-book Cap. 1. 12 Car. 2. This was the Assembly that blessed us with his Majesties actual Restauration towards which there had been made so many steps a little before by the Loyal Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of the Land and the Worthy Citizens of this Honourable City Whose publick Reception and Triumphant Cavalcade through the City of London to White hill was very remarkable for the splendid appearance of the Citizens to conduct him the Gallantry shewn by them on so acceptable a Solemnity and the many demonstrations of joy and gladness they gave him worthy themselves and that glorious day which they had so long expected and contributed so much of their assistance to hasten For which I have a passage or two more to produce besides what hath been already brought For the first out of the supplement to Baker I quote his Majesties most Gracious Letter To his Trusty and well belov'd the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London wherein he Honourably acknowledges the publick and frequent Manifestations of their affections to him and the Encouragement and good Example â—hey gave the Nation to assert the Ancient Government and thereupon concludes with large Promises of Extraordinary kindness to this his Native City to the Renewal of their Charter Confirmation of all priviledges granted by his Predecessors and the adding of new favours to advance the Trade Wealth and Honour thereof The next is a Commemoration of the Cities Joyful Resentment of this Letter and the Kings Declaration enclos'd in it as it was was express'd by the Grateful Duty of the Common-Council who immediately upon the reading of them ordered a Present of Ten thousand Pounds to be made to His Majesty and a thousand pounds to each of his Brothers And likewise deputed several of the Aldermen and worthy Citizens to attend upon His Majesty from the City with a Presentment of their most Dutiful acknowledgments for his Clemency and Goodness towards them So desirous were they to give him the greatest demonstrations of their affection and Loyalty before his Return and Judiciously Wise as well as Loyal to set all parts of the Nation a good Example to imitate in a ready manifestation of their Duty and Allegiance to him after his Return Neither in this would they be behind hand with any of them all For the City of London as being the first the richest and most Honourable and the Seat of Kings for many ages might Judge it self oblig'd as the Supplementer insinuates in point of duty and Reputation to exceed all the rest in the Glory of their performances towards their Soveraign But whatever the Citizens did think of the Obligation on either side certain enough it is that the reiterated expressions of their Loyalty to the King were Honourable and Meritorious to the highest degree For to the splendor of their former Preparations at his first Reception and Triumphal Entrance they added the cost of a most magnificent Entertainment at Guild-hal for that very purpose richly beautified and adorned whither the King his two Brothers the Lords of the Privy Council the two Houses of Parliament and the chief Officers of State were conducted July the fifth 1660. in great Pomp by the Lord Mayor and the Grandees of the City and treated in a Royal manner with the choicest of Delicacies with excellent Musick and whatever else could be thought on or delightful for so Illustrious an Assembly As if the Citizens thought it not enough to entertain the King but for his sake were resolv'd to put themselves to the charge of gratifying others for their Loyalty Where 's now the Man can bring me a parallel hereto General Monk appear'd and London concur'd and then the House of Commons of the Parliament of forty is immediately reviv'd a face of the Ancient Government restor'd a new Parliamentary Assembly call'd the King sent for home to enjoy his Fathers Throne and most peaceably settled therein without the noise of War or
know not of a certainty as not â—â—ding it mention'd in the History Possibly there â—ere none or at least they prov'd very ineffectual â—hich I the rather conclude because that when 〈◊〉 had made malitious Rhymes upon the Duke 〈◊〉 fastned them up in divers parts of the City â—â—other remedy was found out against them but haply as inefficacious viz. a Sentence of Excommunication at the Dukes request to the Bishops pronounced against them publickly by the Bishop of Bangor the Aldermen of the City assisting him To be Excommunicated did carry somewhat of terror with it in England in those Popish times among the vulgar and might probably again should Providence for our offences ever suffer Popery to be brought back into the Land but among Protestants and knowing understanding men Excommunication upon every slight account and trifling pretext is of little value esteem or regard and no more dreaded perhaps by some than 't was by Rablais when he beg'd it as a great boon of the Pope because the poor Country Woman thought her Faggot Excommunicated when she could not make it burn Besides these Indignities put upon the Duke at London in at and after the aforesaid Tumult of the Common people we are told also that all such as wore the Dukes Sign or Colours were fain to hide them conveying them into their bosoms so great a feaâ— and dread had seiz'd upon their Spirits Whether these Colours were Parsons Black True Blew Flourishing Green Orange Tawny or Blood Red the Historian hath not so far gratified us aâ— punctually to set down in his Relation of theâ—â— transactions But if I might have leave to pasâ— my Verdict herein I should be apt to conjecturâ— them to have been at least for the most part 〈◊〉 by the Red-letter'd people What sad Prognosticks may we think our Almanack-makers aâ— star-gazers then gave of the times when the saw England so likely to fall into such Feuds Factionâ— and disorders as those of the Guelphs and Gibelineâ— But one good turn 't is that Astrogolers Prognostications use commonly to be like the Popish Oracles old Almanacks soon out of date The City could much sooner influence the Nation than they could make the Stars influence the City in favour of the Dukes cause How the Citizens of London oppos'd the Duke we have seen but he is resolved it seems to shew his bitter resentments upon the next opportunity and accordingly after the Duke had obtain'd his desires of the two Houses of Parliament viz. A Poll-Bill or Tax of all the heads in the whole Realm he caused the King to send for the Major Aldermen and Sheriffs of London who soon came before him then very ill at ease as they were ordered into his Chamber of Presence where after the usual Ceremonies over past a certain Knight of the Court endeavoured by his Ciceronian Rhetorick and the Eloquence of his Oration to perswade the Citizens to confess their great and hainous offences against the King â—nd Duke and to submit themselves to their Mercy See here the Kings Name must be brought â—n right or wrong or else the Dukes cause and â—retensions would signify little But the Londoners were not so to be caught For they answered they had not Conspired against the Duke neiâ—her had there been any shameful thing spoken or done against him that they did know of or conâ—ent unto which they were ready to prove before their Soveraign Lord the King and the Duke â—imself The folly of the Common people they â—ffirm'd they could not stay and therefore requestâ—d of the King that he would not punish those â—hat were innocent and ignorant of the Fact but withal promised the Duke for Reverence of the King observe this that they would endeavour to bring in the Common people and compel them by Law to make due satisfaction and more said they we are not able to do for the Duke that may be to his Honour Not able to do more why What would his faction have had them to have done Was his favour to have been purchas'd at no less a price than an intire Resignation of all they had Bodies and Souls Lives Liberties and Estates at Discretion Must they have deny'd their senses and their reason too in charging themselves with what they neither sayd nor did felt heard nor understood to avoid Scandala Magnatum's and the Arbitrary Finâ—â— of byass'd Juries Leave we such Terms of accommodation to the insulting power and Pride oâ— Prelatical Consciences to impose upon their underling Curates Such is the continued cause of difference between the Molinists and Jansenists in France while one side fairly offers to disallow certain displeasing Propositions either by themselves or as Jansenius's if shewn to them in hiâ— works and the other party as pertinaciously insists upon their rejecting them as his becausâ— the Pope hath so condemned them Glad we may easily suppose the Londoners were when dismiss'd upon their aforesaid Answerâ— But it seems the Court was not yet satisfied 〈◊〉 afterwards we read of the Kings sending them 〈◊〉 Command secretly to call all the Citizens together and having made a Wax Candle with thâ— Dukes Arms in it to carry it solemnly in Procession to Saint Pauls there to burn continually 〈◊〉 the Cities charges which was accordingly performed by the chiefest and richest of the Citizens the meaner commonalty disdaining to be present at such a procession and therefore with indignation departing home when they heard the business and knew the occasion of their being call'd together But neither did this condescention of the greatest give the Duke content he threatned them look't upon it as a reproach and took it in great scorn that they had offer'd thus his Arms in a Wax Taper while he was alive and in good health notwithstanding they affirm'd they had expresly done that which his Father the King had Commanded them and would have done any thing that might have pleased him i. e. in reason For peace and quietness sake possibly and out of respect to the Kings Majesty they would not have refus'd the trouble of putting forth a few honorary Proclamations nor denied him the Complement of a volley or two of Holla's and Huzza's if that would have pleas'd But this did not answer the Dukes Expectations nor satisfie his Ambitious desires they knew he sayd his mind and were not ignorant how to make satisfaction Ay there 't was He would have us sayd the troubled Citizens amongst themselves Proclaim him King but this shall never be done and so they parted worse friends than they were before So much ado was there with one proud haughty Duke most injuriously aspiring to the Crown to the prejudice of his better belov'd Nephew whose claim title and right had been sometime before if I mistake not in my reckoning settled expresly by the Parliament or at least he had been declar'd by his Grand-Father his Heir and Lawful Successor Yet this the Ambitious Uncle thought probably easily to have evaded and
Stones So great a value did this high-flown Duke set upon his grace and favour till the Citizens of this honourable City by their power and prudence had brought down his haughty spirit a Peg or two lower and that visibly too For we don't find him as ambitious as he still continued so openly aspiring to Englands Crown for the future how successfully soever his Son made a Rape thereon at the end of this Princes Reign under the pretence of I know not what hidden right accruing to him from his Mother We read indeed I confess in Cotton's Abridgment of the Records that in the seventeenth of this King the Earl of Arundel laid several things to the Dukes charge as not honourable for the King to suffer in him nor fit for him to do being a Subject as that he went Arm in Arm with the King and his Men wear the same Livery the Kings did which seems to shew much of Arrogancy and Ambition to say no more besides some other Objections but herein he was so far justified by the King himself that the Earl was ordered to crave the Dukes Pardon in full Parliament in a certain form of words appointed him In Stows Annals also we meet with an Accusation brought against him in the seventh of this Kings Reign tending to prove his intent and design suddainly to oppress the King and take upon himself the Kingdom but it seems little notice was taken of it by the King himself who was to have lost most had it been attempted Successfully and doubtless as little believ'd otherwise surely the Schedule containing the time place and other Circumstances had not been presently delivered into the Dukes hands nor the accuser committed at his request to the charge of his near Kinsman nor the occasion of his violent Death so little inquired into afterwards The Duke was not so powerful nor so great a Terror but the City was as well able still to deal with him and his whole party and make as vigorous opposition as ever in defence of their Soveraign Lord the King if occasion should have offered it self This we have reason to believe was known in those days to all the Nation much more to the Duke himself from former experience who therefore may be suppos'd not any more to have aspir'd openly whatever secret fires of Ambition lay hidden within his breast whether or no he design'd and attempted ought by unseen Plots and Conspiracies I leave to the Judicious Reader to believe or not as he pleases without speaking to or for in the case Besides the decree of an over-ruling Providence Common equity in siding with what was reputed the juster title natural humanity in defending the young and weak and a well grounded affection to the Prince for his Father and Grand-Fathers sake one the famous Black Prince the other the Glorious Edward the third their King and Sovereign we may conclude the generality of the Citizens had the greater aversion to the Duke and his faction because he was a known favourer of Wickliff and his Doctrines whether on a good account or only out of any Ambitious Design I shall not determine in this place and so look't upon perhaps as little better than another Juliâ—n the Apostate For we are to know that Londons Religion and consequently the Nations was at that time Popish and the generality of the People in Town and Country Romes Votaries who had Wickliffs Doctrine in as great detestation then under the Notion of Heresy as we Protestants have it now in esteem under the Seal and assurance of Truth As indeed for many of the ages past from our ever-blessed Saviours Birth through which I have drawn the thread of this discourse and under the succeeding Kings for above an hundred years Popery continued the National Religion under the power and prevalency of which perswasion was the body of the Citizens bred up who prov'd so famous in their Generations for their powerful influence on the grand concerns of the Nation in every considerable turn and change of the times before the Reformation And when England was made happy with this blessed alteration the Cities Power Strength and Esteem remain'd the same in effect as ever the change of her Religion introducing no change therein unless for the better she encreasing proportionably in every age in Wealth Riches and Honour as the Nation grew stronger and stronger And still continues as visibly conspicuous under Protestantism as before under the Romish Faith a thing easy to be demonstrated in due time and place How influential the Cities actions were upon the Nations affairs and her Love advantagious to the Orphan Prince in securing his Claim Right and Title to the Crown in his Grand-Fathers life time and setling him quietly on the Throne at his Death in spight of all the opposition the deep designs and daring Spirit of his Aspiring Uncle John of Gaunt and his faction could make when they had got the reigns of publick Government into their own hands through the Old Kings Connivance hath been the subject of several of the aforegoing pages The next thing of course falling under present consideration is to observe how this Honourable City of London behav'd her self after she had lent her â—ssistance to raise this Young Prince from the â—eanness of a Subject to the Royal Dignity and Grandeur of a King under the Name of Richard the Second what place she held in his affections â—nd of what esteem in the eyes of all the rest of â—he people But where shall I begin and when â—hall I end Sooner may I be wearied with readâ—ng and tir'd with writing than fail of matter â—o exercise my Pen so copious is my Subject and â—o full of Variety For in my searches into the Histories of this Kings Reign I find it plain to a â—emonstration that the City carried a great sway â—mongst all Ranks and Degrees from the Prince â—o the Subject from the King the Supream to â—is subordinate Magistrates and Ministers and was highly Honour'd Rever'd and Respected â—mong the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty â—f the Land both in the calm of peace and the â—oisterous storms of civil distractions I begin first with the Honourable House of Commons the known representative of the Commons of England and concerning them obâ—erve out of Sir Robert Cotton's exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower revis'd by William Prynne Esq that in the first Parliament of this King in his first year among other Petitions of the Commons there is to be found one particular division under the Title of Petitions for the City of London wherein the House of Commons become express Petitioners so great was the Cities influence over their Debates and so high a respect had they for her to the King for many considerable Grants in favour of the Citizens and to them very advantagious and beneficial As that all their Liberties may be confirm'd with a Non obstante That they attend upon no Commandment
of the Secluded Members that procured a free and fuller meeting of the Lords and Commons and soon after the King was recall'd from his forced Exile to the open Exercise of his Royal Power and Authority over these his Three Nations and made his Publick Entrance in the greatest Calm of Peace and Tranquility imaginable Thanks to the Honourable City for concurring so unanimously to the Revival of the remaining part of the Old Parliament which brought forth so Miraculous Effects as to have an Injur'd and Exil'd Prince fully restor'd to his Throne and yet the Glory of the Action not tinctur'd with Blood Such was the Influence of Londons concurrence of Londons Power of Londons Prayers If then the many instances hitherto related being conjoyn'd rise not up to a demonstration as much Mathematical as the subject can bear I know not what will As for the truth of them I defie any one to disprove me who hath but the least grain of sence and reason in him and as much Historical knowledge as may amount to the sixtieth part of a scruple The particular reasons of the Cities Potency have been shewn and the general ground thereof is as plainly evident For how can it otherwise be but that a City endowed with such Royal Grants fortified with so many and so great Priviledges and exalted to the heighth of Grandeur by the vastness of her Trade multitude of her Merchants Wealth and Riches of her Inhabitants Spirit and Courage of her Citizens Stateliness of her Buildings Preheminances of her Antiquity Conveniency of her Scituation and Regular Order of her Government so Ennobled with the highest Courts of Judicature for the Law adorned with numerous Churches for the Gospel and frequented by Strangers from all parts of the habitable World the Receptacle of all Arts and Sciences the Haunt of the Commonalty the Delight of the Gentry the Habitation of the Nobility the Residence of the King and Glory of the whole Nation so pleasant to Admiration and so populous to a Wonder where many Scores if not Hundreds of Thousands can be Raised and Armed in a few Hours Warning How I say can it otherwise be but that such a City must needs highly influence over-rule and over-awe the Counsels of the Nation and turn the Inclinations of the People whithersoever she please For Nature generally uses the common ordinary means and methods and I do not see that the All-powerful God of Nature often diverts her Course or works Wonders and Miracles in every Age and Season Now that London is such a City I appeal to History and Experience for my Witnesses These are the Observations I had to make concerning the Glories of the City of London and the Influences she had upon the grand Concerns of the Nation in that great and famous Contest between the two Houses of Lancaster and York through the most considerable part whereof I have hitherto traced her Actions wherein finding her most triumphant amidst the great variety of the publick Transactions of these times I think it not much material to give so distinct a Relation of her private Affairs though among them I might likewise find many things most worthy of Remak as hastening apace towards the Conclusion of this Treatise that it may not swell into too great a bulk to the Reader 's Discouragement and the wearying out of his Patience I fear already almost tired Wherefore as to what concerns the private Troubles of the City the Tumults Riots and Insurrections sprung up out of her own Bowels in these perilous Times and happily supprest by the Power of her Majestrates and the accidental Casualties happening within her Liberties or else the many Benefits accruing to her by the Care and Vigilance of her chief Officers the good Rule and Order of her Government the strict Observation of her particular Ordinances and putting in Execution her Injunctions Or as to what relates to the external Augmentation of her Honour her Splendor and Renown by the Reparation of her Walls Renovation of her publick Structures founding and erecting of new Fabricks I pass them all over without a more particular mention sending the curious and inquisitive to the Chronicles Baker's especially who hath treated purposely of such remarkables in distinct Sections at the end of the Kings Lives as not so pertinent to my present design tho' in other Kings Reigns I may have here and there touch'd upon some such Remarks And shall direct the Reader with an Instance of the Courage of some bold spirited women of the City having hitherto entertain'd him with the Heroick and Illustrious Acts only of the other Sex The Relation I have out of Stow who places it in the Seventh of King Henry the Sixth Anno 1428. where after mention made of a Parliament Asiembled at Westminster that Year he gives it us in these words In this Parliament there was one Mrs. Stokes with divers other stout Women of London of good reckoning well Apparell'd came openly to the upper-upper-house of Parliament and deliver'd Letters to the Duke of Gloucester and to the Arch-Bishops and to the other Lords there present containing matter of Rebuke and sharp reprehension of the Duke of Gloucester because he would not deliver his Wife Jaqueline out of her grievous Imprisonment being then held Prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy suffering her there to remain so unkindly and for his publick keeping by him another Adultress contrary to the Law of God and the honourable Estate of Matrimony Bold words and bold women For this Duke was then Lord Protector of the Realm and so confequently of great Power Place and Dignity therein But these were Londoners that durst be so couragious as to say to Princes Ye are Wicked and then the wonder is not altogether so great on one hand that they dar'd to reprehend the great ones of the Age and on the other that we still find such Heroical Spirits in the City since they spring from such a Race both by the Fathers side and the Mothers The Roman Historians celebrates the Memory of that Noble Matron who came into open Court and with so undaunted a spirit of boldness pleaded her own Cause to the great amazement of the Senate for the present that they made an Order to forbid the like for the future What Viragoes then were these English Matrons of London that in open Parliament durst reprove the Nobles to their faces and were not afraid to attempt to teach our Senators wisdome wherein they may seem to have out-did that fam'd Roman Matron in that what she did may be thought to have proceeded from self-love and self-defence whereas these with a greater Courage espous'd another Cause an excess of Charity and Humanity and instead of staying for an opportunity of defending their own Interest upon occasion or necessity durst voluntarily make an onset on the more powerful with sharp rebukes for neglecting the distressed and refusing to assist the poor weak and disconsolate So that the Royal
may be the care taken in London to watch and guard the Gates upon the first discovery of the Gun-powder Treason and the great joy and rejoycing manifested therein soon after upon its further detection by filling the Streets with Bonfires and the Solemn Assemblies with publick praises and thanksgiving to the Almighty for the Kings happy Deliverance This Gunpowder Treason so to observe by the way was one of the seven particulars the Intelligencer tells us were sometime since set up in a Table in St. Martins Church at York under this Title Things never to be forgotten by Protestants The other six were The bloody Reign of Queen Mary The many Plots in Queen Elizabeths Reign The Massacre in Ireland in Forty one The horrid Murder of King Charles in One thousand Six hundred and Forty eight The burning of London in One thousand Six hundred and Sixty six And the horrid Popish-plot in One thousand Six hundred and Seventy eight An Inscription that some harmless well meaning persons would have been apt doubtless to have thought very honest in its self and deservedly written in Letters of Gold till an Order came to one of the Church Wardens to take it down or appear at the Spiritual Court to answer the Contempt For 't was above the ordinary Capacity of a Common lay-Protestant to apprehend any thing ill or offensive therein till such wits among the Clergy as had far more sagacious intellects perceived the drift and design thereof and judging it perhaps to be part of the Presbyterian Plot might think fit to have it thrown down that the Vulgar might be no more amus'd with the dreadful remembrance of such things But to return to the Cities Love and Loyalty to King James another remarkable proof thereof may be deduced from the double Guards set in all places about London the Precept issued out by the Lord Mayor to the Wards to raise the Train Bands and the unexpressible distraction of Mens minds upon a flying rumour suddenly spread about the City March 22d somewhat above four Months after the Powder Plot was discovered of the Kings being slain that morning at Oking some twenty Miles from London which occasioned great weeping and waiâ—ing and much lamentation in old and young rich and poor till in three or four hours time all these Clouds were happily dispers'd by better and more certain news brought of the Kings safety and his return to Whitehall thereupon the same afternoon where the peoples hearts were as much raised with joy as before they had been drowned in grief and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to congratulate his Majesty upon the assurance of his continued Health and Security Such were the expressions of the Cities affections let us now see the return of Kindness on the Kings part and his Princely acknowledgment of their singular love and loyalty to him Much doubtless of the Kings mind in this particular may be guessed at from the frequent Visits he made the City but I presume by no one Act of his better known than by his repaying the Citizens of London in the seventh of his Reign the Threescore thousand pounds they had lent Queen Elizabeth three years before her death An Act of the greatest Justice and Equity and whereby likewise he got more love saith the Chronicle than he paid mony This may pass both for an Example of the Kings Goodness and Prudence and an Instance of Londons Power and Esteem since his Majesty thought it good to be at such charges to oblige her For to pay their Predecessors Debts is so rare among Princes that many of them hardly ever pay their own Hitherto have I presented the Reader with variety of passages out of our English Chronicles to demonstrate the Glory Honour and Renown of the City of London and the Courage of her Citizens the Power of her Magistrates the Strength of the Commonalty and the undeniable Influence of the whole Corporation upon the rest of the Kingdom and have given him here and there the words and expressions of private men as so many illustrative Arguments on the Points Wherefore now I shall produce no less than what I account a Royal Testimony in confirmation of the many demonstrative Evidences already brought and that of no less a Prince than his present Majesties Royal Father King Charles the First and out of an Author so little partial to the City that the very name of Peter Heylin and the diligent perusal of Arch-Bishop Lauds Life by him writ may sufficiently convince an indifferent Reader that he was none of Londons greatest Favourers or Admirers since 't was look'd on as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan faction as he is pleased to stile all those he thought contrary to that Party of Men he will needs call the Church of England A Proof therefore out of such an Adversary's mouth as Heylins seems a very convincing Argument when he himself is forced meerly by truth and matter of fact to confess and acknowledge the influence of London on all parts of the Kingdom in that passage where he intimates it to have been generally look't upon as the compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were wont to steer their course and to plead it's practice on all occasions What I conceive to be the Kings Testimony by that writer deliver'd is by him brought in as the reason of his Majesties preferring Laud to the Bishoprick of London viz. For that he was a Man of a more active Spirit than the former Bishop and so fitter to carry on the design of rendring the City conformable to that propos'd Model of Church Government which was intended for the whole Nation and therein therefore principally to be promoted because of the Influence it had by reason of it's wealth and trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the correspondence and conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended This Testimony doubtless is of great authority because proceeding from so Judicious a Prince and related by an Author not to be suppos'd over ready to write any thing in favour of this City to which he seems to have born a very great animosity because the Citizens would not be so thorough-pac'd Episcopal as his Reverend Doctorship would have had them to have been But now methinks it should be of greater prevalency than ever since that King Charles himself before he dyed out of his own experience knew much more of the Cities strength and Power than many of his Predecessors did for some ages before For 't is plain beyond denial dispute or contradiction out of the memory of Man and the everlasting Records of time that in the late Wars between him and his two Houses of Parliament 't was the Cities power and influence that rais'd them to that height of Grandeur which made them so formidable to all the Royal party Whereas without her help and assistance how little able they had been to have long subsisted or
held up their heads above ground is evident from the many supplies they had from London of Men Mony and Arms the frequent applications they made to her on all extremities and the constant endeavours they us'd to cultivate her friendship and preserve her affections But over these Transactions I shall choose rather to cast a vail of silence than industriously endeavour to lay open the bleeding wounds of the Nation in those days as being fully assur'd of the impossibility of guiding my pen so dextrously in delivering the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth as not to subject my self to censure nor incur the anger displeasure and indignation of any one Suffice it then to say that in the long Vacation of Parliaments under King Charles the first such seeds of discontent were sown in City as well as Country that upon the first opportunity they sprung up into bitter herbs and sour fruit and who tasted most thereof I think all the European world knows sufficiently by this time of day But if any in this age is so ignorant as to wonder how it was possible for the two Houses in forty one to bear up against the King without being dismis'd from Westminster by vertue of the Kings Prerogative the usual method of ancient times and the known practice of later days he is to know and understand that his late Majesty had formally pass'd away his grand Power of Prorogations Adjournments and Dissolutions by an Act of Parliament and so put the staff out of his own hands that he could never recover as long as he lived by force nor intreaty An act of Grace this was that is hardly to be parallel'd and yet perhaps it may be likâ—ned to the Statute made in the second of Richard the second of which I have made mention before against abrupt and untimely dismissions only that this is plainer worded and seems enlarged to a further extent Otherwise considering the use that might have been possibly made of the former it might have look't like the same book with additions new Printed in Octavo which before was bound up in decimo sexto Neither of these are to be found in our New Printed Statute books they pretending not to set down all the Antiquated Repeal'd or expir'd Statutes that ever were in being Therefore if any one desires to humour his curiosity he must apply himself to Cottons Abridgment of the Tower Records for the one and search after the other in some of those books that treat of the affairs of the late times Now the Observator in such a case tells us of Scobel and Husbands Collections Upon which so Authentick an Authority as some esteem it if we have recourse to Scobels Collections of the best Edition 't is ten thousand to one but we shall there find the Statute in this manner following Whereas great summs of mony must of necessity he speâ—dily advanced and provided for the relief of His Majesties Armâ— and People in the Northern parts of this Realm and for preventing the imminent danger tâ—â—s Kingdom is in and for supply of other His Majesties present and urgent occasions which cannot be so timely effected as is requisite without Credit for raising the said monies which credit cannot be obtained until such obstacles be first removed as are occasioned by fears jealoâ—sies and apprehensions of divers his Majesties Loyal Subjects that this present Parliament may be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved before Justice shall be duly executed upon Delinquents publick grievances redressed a firm Peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before sufficient provision be made for the repayment of the said monies so to be raised All which the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having duly considered do therefore humbly beseech your most excellent Mâ—jâ—sty that it may be declared and Enacted And be it declared and enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That this present Parliament now Assembled shall not be dissolved unless it be by Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose nor shall be at any time or times during the continuance thereof Prâ—râ—gued or Adjourned unless it be by Act of Parliament to be likewise passed for that purpose And that the House of Peers shall not at any time or times during this present Parliament be Adjourned unless it be by themselves or by their own Order And in like manner that the House of Commons shall not any time or times during this present Parliament be Adjourned unless it be by themselves or by their own order And that all and every thing and things whatsoever done or to be done for the Adjournment Proroguing oâ— Dissolving of this present Parliament contâ—â—ry to this Act shall be utterly void and of none effect This Act in Gâ—neral prov'd the destruction of that branch of the Royal Prâ—rogative which related to calling or dissolving Parliaments and that particular clause in the end that all and every thing and things whatsoever done or to be done for the Adjournment Proroguing or dissolving of this present Parliament contrary to this Act shall be utterly void and of none effect was we may believe from subsequent passages a Plea the wits of the age durst have ventur'd to have stood by against any attempts to discontinue disappoint or frustrate the meeting of the two Houses of Parliament if they had Spiâ—it and Courage enough to have own'd any thing of the Law So that upon a ground work so firm and a foundation so sure the Parliamentarians valued not all the subtile Arts and devices of their Enemies nor stood in â—ear of those Mercuâ—ial Engines Pen Ink and Papâ—r so they could bâ—t defend themselves against those Martial Arguments the bright-shining Sword and the thundring Cannon By vertue of this Clause we may conclude that after the House of Commons was violently depriv'd of many Members thereof the House of Lords wholly put down and that small remainder of a Parliament forc'd out of Doors by Oâ—iver and the Soldiers after two Protectors and several Assemblies that took on them the venerable Name of Parliaments and some of them too chosen by the People part of the Commons House nevertheless again got into power and being once more thrust out by the Army afterwards Recover'd possession and the whole House was in a fair likelyhood to have been fill'd up by the Re-admission of the secluded Members till they to make way for a greater turn did all that lay in the power of a single House to dissolve the Parliament which with us consists of the King and his two Houses Treating now of the late times and having drawn a vail over the Transactions in the last Wars wherein the City was more particularly concern'd though 't is well known that her power and Influence was very considerable in the many turns and changes through which the State
was then hurried I shall not stand to shew how much she was Courted by Oliver and the rest of the Usurping powers on all emergencies and the great care was taken to secure her to their interest and party though both are touch'd upon in the supplement to Bakers Chronicle but passing all over I come now to demonstrate the great influence she had upon the Nation in that remarkable turn of the times which produc'd so unparallel'd a wonder as the peaceable Restauration of an exil'd Prince to his Father's Crown and Kingdom without blood Which to prove I need go no further than the aforesaid supplement where several evidences and convincing circumstances are to be found besides matters of fact already else where related and I doubt not but sufficiently demonstrative These to Marshal in their order I begin first of all with the Citizens discontentedness at the Committee of safety and Fleetwoods doubtfulness of them and proceed to General Monk's Letter sent to the Lord Mayor and Common Council some time after he had declared his Resolution to reduce the Military power under the Civil though principally intending we are since told the Kings Restauration to heigthen their diffâ—rences wherein upon a Declaration of his open intenâ—ions he expresses his Expectation of their Assistance lest it should be too late for them by their own strength to assert their freedom if he miscarried through the want of their timely aid and dishonourable if he succeeded for so Famous a City and so much concern'd that it's Liberties should be asserted without its own help In the next place comes the encouragement the Letter sent from some of the old Council of State privately met at London among whom we find Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper that Fam'd Earl of Shaftsbury a Principal Agent through the whole course of those affairs and an active Instrument in bringing in the King to Monk brought his Officers in Scotland and the reason given thereof viz. That the wisest of them did conclude from these appearances of action at London that their party was encreased in England imagining that otherwise they durst not have so openly acted Then follows the Intelligence he receiv'd when at Coldstream from his Brother Clarges that there were many great differences in London between Fleetwood and the City that the Prentices and several others in favour of him had many Consultations to make disturbances and were framing a Petition to the Lord Mayor and Common Council to press their interposition for the restoring the Parliament and preservation of Magistracy their rising in a Tumultuous manner upon a Proclamation emitted by the Committee of Safety to prohibit all gathering of hands to Petitions and the shutting up of Shops upon Hewson's coming to suppress them the affronts put upon his Soldiers by scornful reproaches and Hissings to that degree that they were asham'd to March and many Officers when they went into the City durst not wear their Swords for fear of the like and which was as material as any that the Lord Mayor and several Aldermâ—n had had many ineffectual Treaties with Fleetwood and the Chief of the Army and Committee of Safety the City deâ—anding the mannagement and conduct of their own Militia and the instant Restauration of the Parliament or the calling another which being refus'd much augmented their discontents These were Preparatives to the resitting of part of the Commons house which soon after was invited to reassume their former power Enter next to General Monk at Morpeth the Sword bearer of London with a very respectful Letter from the Lord Mayor and Common Council After this we hear of Clarges's Advice to Monk to get the Parliament Soldiers remov'd out of London and to march his own men in thither so to be Master of the City with the reason laid down that otherwise he could never expect to do any good for his Country since in all those times it had been experienced that to whatever was done at London where they hâ—d nine or ten thousand men to justifie their actions all the rest of the Regiments submitted Now follow Commissioners from the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of London to the General and their Proposition for the readmission of the sâ—cluded Mâ—mbers that the Parliament might be made full and free Then the discontented carriage of 〈◊〉 City the high debates in the Common Council about the Government and their resolution to pay no publick Taxes till the House were filled up with equal Representatives After this the Generals intercession to those then of the Commons House for a mitigation of their Commands laid on him among other severities to take down Londons Gates and Portcullices for this reason that such sâ—vâ—re acting would highly incense the City and the Compliment of thanks to please the Lord Mayor and Aldermen sent them from the House for their moderation in that time of disorder in the City But to close all with a sutable instance Clarges's Counsel to General Monk to endeavour the speedy recovery of the City's good opinion almost lost by his rough actings therein just before brings up the rear wiâ—h the effectual representation he made him of the ill Consequences of his proceedings in London and the prevalent motives urgent reasons and good grounds laid down by him to back his Advice As that the influence the City had by commerce and other Occasions all over England would quickly diffuse the Infamy of the Fact And all the Cities and Towns would be alarm'd believing if that great City should be made a Village that all their Franchises and Priviledges would be quickly subverted So that he had no way to redeem his Reputation but the very next morning to return into the City with his Army and declare for a free Parliament This Counsel presently followed terminated in a successful event and very happy to King and Kingdom by the Miraculous Restauration of his most gracious Majesty Charles the Second to his Patrimonial inheritance and the Throne of his Father Thus have I muster'd up my Evidences in Rank and File all which conjoyn'd like the old Country-man's rods in the Fable bound up together in one bundle will make doubtless a very convincing Argument of the great power and influence London had upon the Nation in this grand turn of the Times I shall therefore leave it to the Reader to make sutable remarks thereon it being so obvious to an unprejudic'd Person that great was the encouragement General Monk and his Officers receiv'd from London considerable was the hope and confidence he put therein when he undertook so Heroick an Enterprise as the freeing his poor Country from the Tyranical exorbitancies of the unruly Soldiers and thought of marching up thither in Arms with all convenient speed to that end and most highly advantagious to his Designs was the unanimous concurrence of this great honourable and powerful City which was not so furiously rash presently to attempt to run down the encroachers upon their
the cries of the wounded in our streets A Miraculous effect of the Cities influence For what parts of the Land are so inconsiderate to oppose when London is engag'd and resolv'd Former Examples may teach them future wisdom These having been the necessary preparatives in sixty one on Saint Georges day April the 23. comes the Kings Coronation the fairest day except the Preceding in which he made his Cavalcade through London the Nation enjoy'd both before and after if the supplementers Observation be well grounded notwithstanding it began to Thunder and Lighten very smartly towards the end of Dinner time and soon after that another meeting of King Lords and Commons at Westminster whither the Kings Writs had Summoned them to make a New Parliament the former Assembly having been dissolv'd the December before by his Majesties Order and Command How acceptable the Actions of that Assembly were to City and Country hath been hinted before and the concurrence of the King when restor'd was not wanting to Authorize their proceedings yet this new Assembly notwithstanding thinking the manner of it's Assembling not to be drawn into Example and that therewas some defect as to the necessary point of Legality in the Statutes then made or at least desirous to remove all doubts fears and scruples about them would not let several of those Acts pass without being formally ratified and confirm'd anew by it's own Authority And therefore consequently not trusting to the receiv'd opinion of the dissolution of the Parliament of forty by the late Kings Death nor relying on the House of Commons Act to dissolve themselves in fifty nine nor the dissolution of the Lords and Commons in sixty another Declaration was made in the point in these word To the end that no Man bereafter may be misled into any seditious or unquiet demeanor out of an opinion that the Parliament begun and held at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and forty is yet in being which is undoubtedly dissolved and determined and so is hereby Declared and Adjudged to be fully Dissolved and Determined And it was further Enacted by the same Authority That if any Person or Persons at any time after the four and twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty and one shall Malitiously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speaking Express Publish Vtter Declare or affirm that the Parliament begun at Westminster upon the third day of November in the year of our Lâ—rd one thousand six hundred and forty is not yet dissolved or is not yet determined or that it ought to be in being or hath yet any continuance or Existence that then every such Person and Persons so as aforesaid offending shall incur the danger and penalty of a Premunire mentioned in a Statute made in the sixteenth year of the Reign of King Richard the second Thus then were all disputes upon this point effectually stil'd and suppress'd by this Authority and Command of King Lords and Commons and the greatness of the penalty incur'd by the person offending which amounts to no less than to be put out of the Kings Protection and have his Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels forfeited to the King and his Body Attach'd if to be found and brought before the King and his Council there to Answer the premises or that process be made against him by Praemunire facias and if return'd non est inventus than to be Outlaw'd Next I proceed to observe that 't was Petitioning and addressing that prepar'd the way for His Majesties Restauration and therefore doubtless the remembrance thereof should be always grateful and acceptable to the Loyal Such preparatories to great turns and changes being alwaies preferrable to the other rougher methods of drawn Swords and loaded Pistols which are the general effects of Civil Broils and Commotions while these are the rational results of Wisdom and Prudence With the King was that part of the English Clergy likewise restor'd which appropriates to it self the name of the Church of England A Term much gloried in by many as if none but themselves were the constitutive parts thereof and which some now adays pretend freer from Ambiguity than the more general Name of Protestants What we understand by that Term we know very well and are not asham'd thereof Yet by the way I don't think but 't is as lyable to exceptions where Cavils take place as the other title of Protestants so much of late turn'd into ridicule by some few pretenders to wit and sense above the vulgar For if by Church we understand barely an Assembly of Men met together in one place then doubtless without any incongruity it may be applied to many a civil meeting of Men together about their own private concerns If by Church we mean a society of Men conjoyn'd in Spiritual duties or the Ordinances of Divine Worship then I hope it will be no Solecism in common Speech to affirm many of the Dissenters meetings may reasonably lay claim to the Name And if a due Celebration of the Sacraments will make a Church why then may not the Denomination as well belong to some private Conventicles as to the publick Oratories If it should denote only the Association of many distinct Assemblies under the same Ecclesiastical Government what should hinder the Presbiterians from enjoying the Title in those places where they are allowed to exercise their power in Classical Provincial or National Synods Which Power they once exercis'd in England publickly within the Memory of Man But if the Law of the Land makes the difference and the established Government of the Country in Ecclesiastical affairs as with us in England then I am apt to beleive this Expression the Church of England is not without it's Ambiguities and may be a denomination comprehensive of Men of as many different modes and forms as some would fain have us think the word Protestant admits of Heretofore at the first planting of the Gospel in this Isle among the Britains we may call it the British Church When Austin the Monk came in bringing with him the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome and introduc'd them among the converted Saxons then we may term it the Romish Church When the Monks and Fryers like the Frogs in Egypt had over-spread the whole face of the Land then we may give it the Epithite of Monkish In succeeding Generations when Popery was arriv'd to its height we may name it the Popish Church In King Edward the sixth days it may properly be called Reformed Under the Marian Persecution 't was certainly Popish Queen Elizabeth brought back the Reformed Religion under an Episcopal Government and therefore I venture to give it the Name of the Reformed Episcopal Church A little before the late Wars when the Hierarchy was arriv'd at its highest pitch of Pomp and Grandeur by the Laudean principles and practises It was certainly