probability of Return whereby he became so much at ease in his own thoughts that being upon the wing again he thought himself not only Master of himself but of every body else and now despising all after-claps he seized upon all the Dukes Estate to his own use which as it look'd like a Revenge now he was dead that might have past for a piece of Justice if he had been living so it gave many cause to pity the Duke his Son who otherwise could have been well enough content never to have seen him more Neither was this the worst on 't but apprehending from what the King did to him what possibly he might do to any of them they made his particular suffering the ground of their Publick Resentment which Hereford took upon the first bound and made that good use of it that when he came after to claim the Crown that it appear'd the best colour of Right he had was from this wrong whereof yet the King was no way sensible who as I said before despising all dangers at home directed all his Caution to those abroad only taking with him young Henry of Monmouth the Duke of Hereford's and since his Fathers Death Duke of Lancaster's Son and Heir into Ireland whither he went to suppress some Rebels This however it seem'd to be an occasion of Glory which the Bravery of his Youth could not suffer him to pretermit whilst those petty Kings who were eye witnesses of his disproportionate Power taught their undisciplin'd People Obedience by the Example of their own Submission yet it prov'd an empty Affectation and so much more fatal in the Consequence by how much it was scarce possible to conceal much less recover his Error till the Exil'd Duke of Lancaster took his advantage of it who finding him out of his Circle return'd into England with that speed as if he had been afraid lest Fortune should change her mind before he could change his condition Great was the concourse of People that congratulated his Arrival neither was their confluence less considerable for Quality then Number the Archbishop of Canterbury banish'd for being one of the Confederates with the Duke of Gloucester the Earls of Northumberland Westmoreland Darby and Warwick the Lords Willoughby Ross Darcy Beaumont and divers others besides Knights and Esquires of great Repute in their Countries who offer'd to serve him with their Lives and Fortunes and as they mov'd they increas'd so fast that the Duke of York left Regent during the Kings absence thought it convenient to attend him at Berclay Castle and from thence to Bristow where the first Tragedy began for there finding the Earl of Wiltshire the Lord High Treasurer with Sir Henry Ewin Sir Henry Bussy both men of great note of the Kings party they arraign'd them there for misgoverning of the King and having smote off their Heads proceeded to imprison the Bishop of Norwich Sir William Elmeham Sir Walter Burleigh and divers others upon the same account setting up a direct Tyranny which continued six Weeks before the King by reason of contrary winds heard any thing of it Upon the first notice given him he made a shew of being so little concern'd at it that he declar'd he would not stir out of Dublin till all things fitting for his Royal Equipage were made ready but understanding afterward that they had seiz'd several of his Castles he sent over the Earl of Salisbury to make ready an Army against his landing promising to follow him in six dayes after but the Wind or rather his Mind changing the Earls Forces believing he might be dead disbanded again and left their unfortunate General to himself Eighteen dayes after this the King arriv'd who finding how things stood for they had taken off the Heads of several of his chief Councellors imprison'd the principallest of his Friends and gotten the possession of many of his strong Forts and Castles his Heart so fail'd him on the sudden that he immediately gave Command to the Army that was with him to Disband and so degenerate were his Fears that when he could not prevail with them to quit him for they all resolv'd to dye in his Defence and being mov'd with no less Pity then Duty to see him so dejected solemnly vow'd never to leave him he most wretchedly gave them the Temptation to break their Faith by leaving them first withdrawing himself by night unknown to Conway Castle where he understood the Earl of Salisbury was But as a King can no more hide himself then the Sun which however eclipsed cannot be lost so it was not long ere the Duke of Hereford found him out and drawing his Forces to Chester sent from thence the Earl of Northumberland to assure him of his Faith and Homage upon Condition he would call a free Parliament and there permit Justice to be done to him Here Fortune seems to have made one stand more to give him time if possible to recover himself but he instead of giving an Answer worthy the Dignity of a King did what was indeed unworthy a Private man begging of the Earl to interpose with the Duke for him that he might only have an honorable Allowance to lead a private life deposing himself unexpectedly before t'other could have the time and opportunity however he might have the thought to do it solemnly The notice hereof did not a little surprize the Duke when he heard of it who doubting least there was something more in it then he perceiv'd wisely kept himself within the bounds of seeming Obedience and treated his Majesty with all imaginable respect till they arrived at London then under pretence of securing him he lodg'd him in the Tower where he made him the Instrument of his own destruction by calling a Parliament that had no other business but to arraign his Government and impeach him and accordingly Articles were drawn up against him which shew how small a matter turns the Scale when Power is put into the Ballance against Justice The chief of them were as followeth 1. That he had been very profuse a very grievous Crime in a King so young 2. That he had put some to death that conspired to depose him 3. That he had borrowed more money then he was well able to pay the first King that ever lost his Crown for being in Debt and yet was not to be said he was altogether a Bankrupt that had in his Coffers when he dyed the value of Seven hundred thousand pounds 4. That he said the Law was in his Breast and Head and perhaps the Lawyers would have made it good if they durst who have given it for an Axiome of the Law that the King is Caput Principium Finis Justitiae 5. That he chang'd Knights and Burgesses of Parliament at his pleasure by making those Peers of the Realm whom he thought worthy the honour 6. That he said the Lives and Goods of his Subjects were under his power which shews what confidence he had in their
the Fifth and the French King he was stopt before he Landed by the Duke of Gloucester and divers of the chief Nobility who coming into the very water with their Swords drawn in their hands stay'd his Boat and suffered him not to Land till he had declared Nil se contra Regis Superioritatem praetexere So likewise when (n) Sir Hen. Wotton State Observations 208. Baldwin the Greek Emperour came hither to pray aid of Henry the Third being beaten out of his Country the King sent him a Check instead of a Complement for Landing in his Territories before he had leave given him so to do being Jealous least it might be thought that he had pretended to something as an Emperour that might be Interpreted Superiority he himself being Monarcha in Regno suo as we find in the old Lawyer Baldus and descended from Ancestors that had the Imperial Stile of (o) See the Charter of the Abby of Malmesbury MCCCCLXXIV Rex Regum not only in respect of their having (p) Beauchampe King of the Isle of Wight The Kings of Man c. Kings to their Subjects but in regard to their enjoyment of all those fundamental rights which make up the whole Systeme of Supream power by the Feudists indifferently term'd Jura Regalia and Jura summi Imperii by the Civilians Sacra Sacrorum by our own Lawyers sometimes Prerotiva sometimes (q) As being so Inseparable that they cannot be dissolved by any humane power Inseparabilia which that they may be the better understood I shall consider them as I find them (r) Clapmarus lib. 1. de Arean Imper Cap 11. divided into ten parts reducing those ten like the Decalogue of old into two General Heads of Power i. e. Leges Ponere Legibus Solutum esse 20. For the First The Kings of this Isle have ever been the Lawgivers it is to be understood that however the Kings of this Isle have been pleas'd for the better and more equal Administration of Justice to Indulge the three Estates of the Kingdom who were heretofore call'd their Great Council but since the Parliament with the priviledg of making enlarging diminishing abrogating repealing and reviving all Laws and Ordinances relating to all Matters whether Ecclesiastick Capital Criminal Common Civil or Maritime yet it must be understood after all that neither houses of Parliament now both joyn'd together have in themselves no power as of themselves to do any thing without him much less (s) That is not only to be understood to his Dis nherison but the Diminution of his Prerogative Cook 4. Part. Institut fol. 25. against him no more than the body can make use of any of its members longer than it is actuated by the Soul For from him they have their life and motion Vt Caput principium finis as the Lawyers express it is he that gives them their Inchoation Continuation and Dissolution 'T is true that each Law receives its form Ex traduce Parliamenti that is as our vulgar Statutes express it by advice and consent of the Lords and Commons who sit with the resemblance of so many Kings but they find but the grosser substance or the material part 't is the Royal Assent that Quickens and puts the Soul Spirit and Power into it A Roy's avisero only much more A Roy ne veult makes all their Conceptions abortive when he pleases So that they can be but the Law-makers but the King only is the Law-giver and therefore Stiled in the old Books The Life of the Law and The Fountain of Justice The Kings of this Isle how far above Law 21. This prerogative I speak it out of a great States-mans observation consists in this not that Kings need not observe their Laws for that were a Brutal Tyranny insupportable in the most barbarous States but that they may change them And therefore St. Augustine made that a reason why the Emperours of old were not Subject to their own Laws because saith he they might make new when they pleas'd Now if the King of England should exceed the bounds of his own Laws which if it were lawful were no way convenient for him it being that becomes the wisdome of Princes saith Cicero to consider not how much they may do but what they ought to do in which sense (t) Senec. de cons lat cap. 6. Seneca is to be understood when he said that divers things were not lawful for the Emperour himself who might do all which he pleased It might be rather said in that Case as Grotius excellently distinguishes that he did not rightly then that he went beyond his right The Restraint by his Coronation Oath being like a Silken Coard that may be stretch'd without breaking upon any extraordinary force and violence offer'd as we see it happens upon the discovery and for the prevention of any publick mischief or Inconvenience Where our Kings have De proprio Jure suspended the Laws for a time that is until by advice with his Parliaments he might formally alter or totally repeal them Add to this that every Custom which is a Branch of the Common Law is void Si exultat se in Prerogativam Regis which I suppose is to be understood of the lesser Concerns of his Prerogative in points of Pre-eminence relating to civil Actions or Priviledges personal for as the Learned in the Laws tell us no Sale of his Goods alters his Propriety no Occupancy bars his Entry into his own Lands no Laches in point of time prejudices him as it does private men Again in doubtful cases say they Semper presumitur pro Rege No Estopel binds him nor Judgments final in Writs of Right These and many more such as these there are which we may call Minima Inseparabilia but in all cases where his Prerogative in point of Government is prejudic'd there our great Gownmen hold that he cannot be restrain'd no not by an Act of Parliament nor is he to be restrain'd as I take it in lesser cases unless named And to this it was questionless that the Sage Bracton and the Learned Plowden had respect when the one said the King was above Law to'ther that he was not bound by Law and if it were not so there would be no power left in him to grant any special Charter that in its proper nature is no other than a Dispensation with the positive Laws which can be understood to be binding to the King no otherwise than according to the natural Rule of Order as they are essential to the support of his Government In which Case Kings like good Husbands may be said to be Subjectis suis Subjectos mov'd by a Principle of Affection that voluntarily limits it self according to Rules of Prudence which upon all Emergencies of State on extraordinary occasions are wrested or broken as he himself only sees cause there being a necessity upon which the common safety depends that at such times Princes should be
little disordered by it but those since who have found the benefit of having the Laws mysterious and less intelligible have little cause to decry him for it unless for this cause that they are never pleas'd with any fighting King In fine he strain'd not the Prerogative so high but his Son Henry the First let it down again as low when he restored to the People their ancient freedom of General Assemblies or rather permitted them a kind of share with himself in the Government by instituting a form of Convention so much nobler then any thing they had been acquainted with in elder timety in that the Peerage sate as so many Kings parting stakes with Soveraigns if what * Who was Lord Chief Justice to his Grandson Hen. 3. Bracton tells us be true who saith there were many things which by law the King could not do without them and some things which legally they might do without him which those that have read upon the Statute of Magna Charta can best explain This was not therefore improperly call'd the Parliament in respect of the Freedom of parlying after another fashion then had been permitted to their Ancestors in former Meetings which being Ex more or as they were wont to phrase it of Custome Grace during all the time of the Saxon Kings we cannot imagine their Debates to be much less restrained then themselves who attending in the Kings Palace like the Lords of the Councel at this day having had the honour to give their Opinions in any point of State submitted the final Judgment and determination to the Kings will and pleasure And whereas then the Commoners were wholly left out of all Consultations unless with the Learned Lambert we may think them included in the word Barones which seems to have been as equivocal a term heretofore in England as that of Laird yet in Scotland they now were made partakers of the like priviledge of voting as the Lords so that in Henry the Third his time to look no further backward we find them call'd by the yet continued stile of Knights Citizens and Burgesses to consult together with the Lords pro Pace asseverandâ firmandâ c. as the †lib. St. Alban f. 207. 4 H. 3. Record expresses it neither sate they when they met as Cyphers to those great Figures For when Pope Alexander the Fourth would have revoked the Sentence of Banishment past upon his proud Legate Adomare Bishop of Winchester for that he was not as he alledged subject to lay Censure they took upon them to give their Answer by themselves and it was a bold one That though the King and Lords should be willing to revoke it ‖ Vt pat Chart. orâ—g sub sigil de Mountford Vic. tot Communitat Rot. Parl. 42 Hen. 3. Communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nullatenus sustineret How far their Priviledges were afterward confirmed and enlarged by several Kings successively but more particularly by that most excellent Prince Henry the Fifth who first allowed * 2 Hen. 5. The Petition of Right and permitted it to be entred in their Journals as the Great Standard of Liberty is not unknown from which time it hath been esteemed the second Great Charter of England whereby we were manumitted into that degree of Freedom as no Subjects in the world enjoy the like with like security from the fear of future bondage For as no man can be made lyable to the payment of any more or other Taxes then what himself layes upon himself by his representatives in that great Pan-Anglio call'd the Parliament so all the Kings of England since that time have been pleas'd to accept the Aids given by them even for the necessary support of the Government as so many Freewill-Offerings And well it is that they esteem them free since they are not obtained without a kind of Composition I might say obligation to give good Laws for good mony wherein the performance on the Princes part alwaies precedes that on the Peoples But there is yet something further then all this that renders the Norman Conquest so much more considerable then either that of the Romans Saxons or Danes by how much it spread its wings over the Seas into those goodly Provinces of the South never known to the English before thereby not only giving them Title to keep their Swords from rusting as long as they had any Arms to draw them forth but the Advantage therewithal of a mutual Conversation with a civiliz'd People who introduced so happy a Change in Laws and Language in Habits and Humours in Manners and Temperature that not only their rough I might say rude Natures no way inclin'd before to any kind of Gaiety admitted of smoother Fashions and quicker Motions but their dull Phlegmatick Complexions pale and wan by the continued use of dozing dreggy Liquor Ale became as ruddy as the Wine they drank which having more of Spirit and Fire then that other heavy composition sublimated their Courage and Wit and render'd them more lofty and eloquent both in Action and Language the last being before so asperous harsh and gutteral that an hours discourse together would have indanger'd the skin of their throats but being softned by the French and Latine Accents it became so gentle and smooth that as a Modern Master of Elocution hath observ'd 't is now so soft and pleasing that Lord Faulkland Prefat to Sands his Translation of the Psalms those From whom the unknown Tongue conceals the Sence Ev'n in the sound must find an Eloquence From the Normans likewise we had that honourable distinction of Sirnames which however they borrowed in the first place from the French who as Du Tillet tells us were about the year 1000 much delighted with the humour of Soubriquets * Vid Buck. Vit. Rich. 3. or giving one another Nic-names as we commonly call them insomuch that two of the very chiefest Houses amongst them the Capets and the Plantaginets had no other rise for their Names were continued no where with that certainty and order as amongst us here to the great renown and honour of our Families whose Nobility if it exceed not the date of the Norman Conquest may yet without any disparagement compare with any of those who call themselves the unconquer'd Nations of the World It being space long enough considering the vicissitude of time and power of Chance to antiquate the glory of great States much more of private Families and few there are that have attain'd to that Age. For however Honour like old Age magnifies its reverence by multiplying its years yet it is to be considered that there are visible decayes attend Veneration and it may so fall out that Names as well as Men may out-live themselves while the glory of a Family by over-length of time being less known may be the more suspected to have been but imaginary as some who exceeding the common bounds of certainty do pretend to justifie
Conclusion from so bad a Beginning by making way for some Protestant Lady of that Country that might advance the Reformation begun by him there he vext the Question a long while and finding that the Pope over-aw'd by the Emperour durst not consent to a Divorce he to scandalize him the more set forth by many learned Arguments the unlawfulness of the Marriage and so nettled King Henry that the Pope doubting the effects of his Impatience propos'd by way of Expedient though but faintly to Gregory Cassalis the English Resident then at Rome that he would permit him ut aliam duceret Uxorem which in plain English was That if the King pleased he would allow him to have two Wives at once Now whether it were that the King doubted his power and thought he could not make good what he promised for that he could not make that Marriage out which he had already to be either lawful or unlawful so as to relieve him or dismiss it Or whether he had as is more probable a clear Sentiment of the Popes slight Opinion of him in making so unusual not to say unlawful a Proposal to him is not certain but certain it is he never forgave the Affront till by vertue of his own proper power he had divorced himself from his Authority which the Cardinal labouring to uphold by his Legatine power out of hope of being himself Pope nor only lost himself in the attempt but drew all he Clergy who took part with him into a Premunire Of whose Error his wise Servant Cromwel took the advantage making his Masters fall the occasion of his own rising by whom the thoroughly humbled Convocation weâ—e perswaded to petition the King for their pardon under the Title and Stile of Ecclesiae Cleri Anglicani Protector supremum Caput which rais'd a greater dispute upon the Supremacy not long after then was before upon the point of Divorce For the Bishop of Rochester who by reason of his great learning and sanctity of Life was a leading man refusing to subscribe the aforesaid Petition unless some words might be added by way of explanation of the Kings Supremacy Cromwel took the Defence thereof upon himself and by advice with Bishop Cranmer there were many Arguments brought to justifie the same both from the Authority of Kingship in general de Communi Jure by vertue of that Divine Law that has given the stile of a Royal Priesthood to all anointed Kings and to which by a parallel Case the Pope himself did not long after give more then a seeming allowance For Clement the Seventh at the interview of Marselles when he was urged by some that desired Reformation and prest for the liberty of receiving the Sacrament in both kinds by an Argument taken from the custome of the Kings of France who alwayes received both Elements he answered That it was a peculiar priviledge by which Kings were differenced from other men as being anointed with the Unction of Priesthood as likewise from the particular Prerogative of the Kings of this Isle de proprio Jure or by the Common Law of this Land which was of ancienter date then any Prescription made by the Pope having been ratified by the Sanction of several Acts of Parliament that had declar'd all Spiritual Jurisdiction to be inherent in the Crown This Doctrine of his wanted not its Use for the King had this immediate benefit of the Dispute to be restored to the Annates and First-fruits of the Bishopricks and now the Bond of his Holiness 's Authority being thus loosed one priviledge dropt out after another till at length they not only divested him of the profit but of the honour of his Fatherhood forbidding any to call him any more * Anciently written Pa. Pa. i. e. Pater Patriarcharum Papa or Pater for that there could be but one Lord and Father but only Bishop of Rome These Annates as they were some of the principal Flowers of the Triple Crown and could not well be pluck'd off without defacing the Sacred Tyara so the whole Conclave took such an alarm at the loss of them that apprehending no less then a total defection to follow they most peremptorily cited the King himself to appear at Rome under pain of Excommunication This was thought to be so unreasonable an Indignity offered to his Majesty in respect it was neither convenient for him to abandon his Kingdom by going so far in Person nor any way decent to trust the Secrets of his Conscience to a pragmatical Proctor that the Parliament who were conven'd to consider of the matter thought it but necessary to put a stop to all Appeals to be made out of the Realm under the penalty of Premunire and pray'd his Majesty without more ado to appoint a Court of Delegates here at home to determine the Cause Upon which the Marriage being not long after declared void Cromwell hastned on the Match with the Lady Anne Bulloigne but the Court of Rome judging the first Marriage good and the last void anathematiz'd all that were assistant in the Divorce and to shew how much they were incens'd by the precipitation of their Sentence they concluded it in one only which by the usual Form could not be finish'd in less then three Consistories This began that Fiery tryal which followed not long after wherein we may say his Holiness himself prov'd to be the very first Martyr dying immediately after the pronunciation of that great Curse as one blasted by the Lightning of his own Thunder whereby the Church Universal being without a Head The Reformists here took that opportunity to provide for their own by declaring the King Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England for the support of which Dignity they vested in the Crown the First-fruits of all Benefices as they had before of all Bishopricks Dignities and Offices whatever spiritual Setting forth in what manner Bishops Suffragans should be nominated and appointed and what their Priviledges and Authorities should be In defence of which their proceedings the King himself wrote an excellent Book or at least it pass'd for his De Potestate Christianorum Regum in suis Ecclesiis contra Pontificis Tyrannidem c. But there were many however and those of no small note who continued so obstinate in their Popish Principles that they could neither be moved by his Pen nor his Penalties to submit chusing rather to part with their Blood then their Blessing And whether they were real or mistaken Martyrs or not rather Sufferers then Martyrs I will not take upon me to say it being as hard for others to judge them as for themselves to judge the thing they died for Truth and Treason being in those dayes Qualities so like one another that they were scarcely to be discern'd as appears by the nice Cases of those two I think the most eminent persons of all that were so unhappy as to suffer for setting up the Papal above the Regal Authority the
absolute and that no less perhaps for the Subjects sake than their own (t) Plin. vit Trajan Nil majus à te Subjecti animo factum est quam quod Imperari Coepisti and the learned Grotius gives the genuine reason for it in his Treatise of Soveraignty because saith he as no man can be limited but by something superiour to him Seven Imperial Rights Inherent in the Kings of this Isle so no man can be superiour to himself But in respect that I find Seven general Topicks of absolute Soveraignty agreed by all the Feudists We will examine the Prerogative of the Kings of this Isle with relation to each of those Particulars apart 1. Census nummorum 22. The first I take to be that unlimited power of giving the form weight allay and value to all Moneys which as it hath been always and in all Nations esteem'd a Prerogative purely Imperial so it hath been as antient in use here as the knowledg of Money it self and so uncontrolled that we find some of our Kings I speak it not to their honour since the abasement of Coin is certainly an abasing of Majesty as betraying a necessity that shews a defect in Government have impos'd upon us Copper others Tinn and (u) Hen. 8. at Bulloigne One once Leather Money making it as currant as Silver or Gold neither have any of our Kings at any time Communicated this Priviledg to any of their Subjects though some of them have had the Title of King conferr'd on them but have kept that power in their own hands as one of the great Inseparabilia not to be parted with Whereas the Kings of France who have been more prest and less provident in that point have thereby given occasion to those Allodiarii that enjoy'd that priviledg to esteem themselves as indeed they were absolute and free Princes stiling themselves accordingly Dei gratia to publish they own'd no Subjection 2. Jus Vectigalium 23. The Second Prerogative stil'd Jus Vectigalium which I take to be that (w) Seld. Dissertat ad Flet. 478. 479. Jus Caesarium first brought in by the great Lawyer Papinian Temp. Imp. Severi is diversly understood sometimes comprehending all those Duties which the antient Feudists place under the heads of Angariae and Parangariae by some extended to Plaustrorum Navium praestationes by others to those Jurafisci under which our Civilians comprehend almost all kind of Impositions and Services Pecuniary and Personal Under all or either of these considerations we find the Kings of this Isle as well entituled as any other Princes of the World both De facto and de Jure whereof there needs no other proof in the time of our primitive Kings the Britains than the Impresses on their Coins stamping sometimes an Oxe or Sheep sometimes a Blade of Corn other while Instruments of Husbandry or perhaps an Armed man or Chariot and Horses denoting as the skilful in that Science tell us the several Tributes and services to which those Moneys had respect or for which they were paid Then passing by the Romans we find amongst the Saxons the next to them this Prerogative exercis'd by several Names as first by that of (x) Fitzherbert Nat. Brev. 226. Thol or Tol a Tax pro libertate vendendi emendi Secondly by the names of Bordland Drofland Burland and Drinkland Names given according to the several Natures of the Duty they related to being generally call'd in Cromton's Translation of Canutus's Laws Firmae adjutorium that held all the Danes time and was by the Normans comprehended under the common name of (y) Mat. Paris Edw. 1. Cap 35. Ed. 3. H. 4. H. 5. Curialitas The Common Lawyers have taken it in several Senses when it respects Releif for War they term it (z) 25 Ed. 1. Aides when it is related to a civil supply they stile it Loane-money which however latter times have familiarly call'd Benevolence yet we find by the Stat. of the twentieth of Hen. the Sixth The King demanded it in right of his Soveraignty and by Law and accordingly appointed Commissioners for gathering it who extorted it with Penalties so in the seventeenth of the said King the same was demanded upon pain of Imprisonment and Confiscation of Goods 'T is true that Statute of H. 6. seems to be branded by a Repeal in the third of Queen Mary But that Law that Repeal'd it being afterwards it self Repealed the King seems now in Remitter to his antient Right a Right so antient that it suffers more perhaps by its Antiquity than any unreasonableness in the thing 24. Touching that call'd Jus Comitiorum I need say nothing 3. Jus Comitiorum it being so well known that no man can be an officer of this Realm that holds not of the King whether it be Jure Magistratus or per Deputationem either as being Commission'd by a Writ or by Patent from him Et sine Warranto Jurisdictionem non habent saith Bracton neither can any of them so much as appoint a Substitute under him but is bound to Officiate propria Persona the Justice in Eyre only excepted and that by a particular Statute for Reasons therein express'd So that by consequence the King must have also in him that 4. Jus Armorum 25. Jus Armorum which our Lawyers call the defence of the Force of Arms and all other force against the peace of the Kingdom which the Civil Law brings under those two heads Bellum decernere Foedera inire This is so inherent a right in our Kings that it seems to have been always lodg'd in Scrinio Pectoris in the Shrine of his own breast as appears by the practice of all Times but it may suffice to look no further back than that Address of the Parliament to King (a) In the fifty fourth year of that King Edward the Third where they humbly beseech him to enter into League with the Duke of Brabant and those Addresses in the eighteenth and fourty fifth year of the said King which I should have first mention'd in the first whereof they desire him to break the peace with Flanders in the other to declare against the Easterlings So in the fiftieth year of the said King praying some alteration of the Articles of peace made with the Hollanders The Kings answer was he would do what seem'd meet to himself The same Answer was given in Terminis by Richard the Second his Grand-Son on the like occasion So by Henry the Fourth in the second year of his reign Henry the sixth in the II. of his upon Petitions against Merchants Strangers that related to Violations of a Peace concluded And as by the Julian Law Lib. 3. it was deem'd Capital for any man without leave of the Emperour to take upon him to denounce War so it is declared Trayterous by our Law and void in it self if any Subject shall presume to do the like without the Kings Commission
himself of Northumberland Godfrid his younger Brother held Mercia but King Athelstan fell upon both and took from the last his Life from the first his Kingdom which was recovered again not long after by his Son VI. date of accession 946 ANLAFF the Second thereupon esteem'd the third King of the Northumbers His reign was not long for his Subjects weary of continual wars set him besides the Saddle to make way for VII date of accession 950 ERIC the Third or as some call him IRING Son of Harold the Grandson of Gurmo King of Denmark recommended to them by Milcolmb King of Scots but he being elected King of Sweden the Northumbers submitted to Edgar the younger Brother or next in succession to Edwyn and from that time it continued a Member of the English Crown till about the year 980 when VIII date of accession 980 ANLAFF the Third understanding they were affected to his Nation arriv'd with a fresh Supply and making his Claim was admitted King but being over prest the Title came to IX date of accession 1013 SWAIN King of Denmark who made this his first step to the Engâ—ish Throne into which as he was mounting death seiz'd on him and kept the Room empty for his Son Knute DANES Absolute Kings OF ENGLAND I. date of accession 1017 KNUTE was deservedly surnam'd the Great as being the very greatest and most absolute King that ever England or Denmark knew those of the Roman Line only excepted for he was King of England Scotland Ireland Denmark Norway Sweden and Lord of a great part of Poland all Saxony some part and not a little of Brandenburgh Bremen Pomerania and the adjacent Countries most of them not to say all besides Denmark and Norway reduc'd under his Obedience by the valour of the English only upon his death Denmark and Norway fell to his Son Hardycanute the rest as Sweden c. devolv'd upon the right Heirs whilst England was usurp'd by his Natural Son II. date of accession 1036 HAROLD surnam'd Harfager or Golden Locks who being the Elder and having the advantage to be upon the place entred as the first Occupant thereby disappointing his legitimate Brother III. date of accession 1041 KNUTE surnam'd the Hardy design'd by his Father to be the next Successor to him as bearing his Name though upon tryal it appear'd he had the least part of his Nature for he had not the Courage to come over and make any claim as long as Harold liv'd and after his death he drown'd himself in a Land-flood of Wine losing all the Glory his Predecessors had gotten by wading through a sea of blood which made the way to his Throne so slippery that those English that came after him could never find firm footing But upon the very first Encounter with the Norman caught such a Fall that could never recover themselves again This Gurmo came out of Ireland I take it in the second year of King Elfrid not without a confident hope of making good his Predecessors Conquest which had cost already so much blood as made his desire of Rule look like a necessity of Revenge the Monarchy of Denmark it self being put if I may so say into a Palsie or trembling Fit by the loss of the Spirits it had wasted here So that he came with this advantage which those before him had not That the Cause seem'd now to be his Countries more then his own who therefore bore him up with two notable props Esketel and Amon men of great Conduct and known Courage the one of which he plac'd as Vice-Roy in Northumberland t'other in Mercia And having before expelled Burthred the Saxon he fixed himself in East-Anglia as being nearer to correspond with Denmark and most commodious to receive Reâ—ruits Upon his first advance against King Elfrid Fortune appear'd so much a Neuter that either seem'd afraid of other and striking under line preferr'd a dissembled Friendship before down-right Hostility And to shew how much the edge of their Courage was rebated they mutually accorded to divide the Land betwixt them Gurmo was to be Lord of the North and East Elfrid to hold the South and West part of the Isle The politick Dane after this suffered himself to become what the English would have him to be a Christian to the intent that he might be what he would have himself to be absolute changing his Pagan name of Gurmo into that of Athelstan which being of all others the most grateful to the Saxons he render'd himself by that Condescension so acceptable to the whole Nation that they consented to his Marriage with the fam'd Princess Thyra King Elfrids vertuous Sister by whom he had Issue Harold Blaatand that liv'd to be King of Denmark after himself and another Knute whom he left in Ireland to make good the Acquests of the first Gurmo there a Prince of so great hopes and so belov'd by him that the knowledge of his death being slain at the Siege of Dublin gave him his own for he no sooner apprehended the tidings thereof by the sight of his Queens being in mourning but he fell into such a violent fit of Grief as left him not till he left the World whereby the Crown of Denmark fell to his Son Harold the Title and Possession of East-Anglia with its Appurtenances he bequeath'd to his Brother Eric who having perform'd the first Act of Security to himself in having taken an Oath of Allegiance of all his Subjects suffer'd them to perform the last Act of Piety towards him in giving him all the Rites of an honourable Interment at Haddon in Suffolk which place it seems he purposed to make the Burial place of all the East-Anglian Kings But this Ambition of his beginning where it should have ended with a design of assuring to himself more honour after he was dead then he was able to make good whiles he was living ended as soon as it began as will appear by his Story following Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Upon which his Queen frighted with the horrour of their Inhumanity fled back to her Brother Athelstan to seek from his Power Justice Protection and Revenge whiles Anlaff took upon him to be King The Equality of Power as well as of Ambition ripen'd the Factions on both sides very fast by the heat of their Contest But before they came to Maturity there was a Parliament conven'd at Oxford that took the matter into consideration where the Lords fearing that the Question if delay'd might be decided by Swords and not by Words out of a deep sence of the lingring Calamities of a new War all the wounds of the old being not yet cured or at least not so well but that the Scars were yet fresh in many of their Faces they declar'd for the King in possession but with such a wary form of Submission as shew'd they did it rather out of regard to themselves then him whereupon Goodwin produced the deceased Kings Will in opposition to theirs but the
the Earl of Bolloigne the Kings Brother in law whose Harbingers being kill'd in the Scuffle the King commanded Goodwin as Lord Lieutenant of that County to do Justice on the Offenders but he deny'd returning this popular Answer That it was against his Conscience to execute his Country-men unheard upon the complaint of Strangers This coldness of his rais'd such a sudden heat in the Common People that there wanted nothing to set the whole Kingdom in a Flame but to tell them their Liberties were in danger and that there was no body durst assert them but the Earl Goodwin King Edward perceiving his design and doubting least it might bring him himself into suspition with his People being upon the matter a Stranger as having been alwayes brought up in Normandy he resolv'd to question him in open Parliament and accordingly he summon'd him and his Sons to give their attendance but they refusing to appear both sides armed London was divided in the Quarrel for the King possessed all on this side the Thames the Earl all on the other side next Kent But such is the terrour of Guilt that the Night before the Battel was to be fought the Rebels quit their General and by that commendable Treachery forc'd him to quit the Realm who taking shipping at Greenwich fled away as fast by water as his Complices did by Land The King upon this turn was so changed in his humour incensed at this their gross contumacy that he grew extreamly cholerick and peevish discharging his Anger with that violence upon all the Earls Friends that it recoil'd back upon the spotless Queen her self whom in the transport of his Passion he accus'd of a * Incontinency Crime which if she had been guilty of himself could not have been Innocent having as he was not ashamed afterwards to confess never perform'd the Duty of a Husband to her under which pretended Jealousie she was forced to suffer a years Imprisonment in a Cloyster partaking patiently the Pennance of those who were under a Vow never to know any man only to satisfie him who had before vowed never to know any woman This Indignity offer'd to the Innocent Daughter in whom saith Ingulphus there was no fault but that she was a Rose of that prickly stock did so stimulate the guilty Father for whose sake she suffer'd that he meditated nothing but the extreamest Revenge and by frequent Piracies so disturb'd all Trade that the King finding that the popular were on his side was glad to compound with him for his quiet upon his own tearms yielding to the banishment of all Strangers which Concession did his business but undid the Kingdoms For as it made way for his Son to be as he design'd him a King so it was the fatal occasion of that unexpected Invasion of the Normans abetted by the Earl of Bolloigne that had the first affront given him which not long after not only overwhelm'd the particular honour of his own Family but the glory of the whole English Nation by a Conquest so universal and sudden as if the Strangers they banish'd had gone out of the Country for no other end but to fetch in more However Heaven suffered not him to see either the fruit or punishment of his dark purposes it so falling out that whilst he design'd to have devour'd the whole Kingdom he was himself choak'd with a small morsel of Bread that went the wrong way down and by his death put such a full point to all great Actions as shews that either he did all that was done then or the King did not long survive him whose Reign being nothing else but a Commentary upon that Earl's Ambition 't is no marvel that his Fame began where t'others ended being sounded upon Opinion rather then Action whilst his Magnanimity was interpreted Patience and his Patience judg'd the Effect of Wisdom But they that duly examine the whole course of his life will find that the active part of it declar'd him scarce a good man the passive certainly not a good King and however the Clergy who were well brib'd extoll'd his Chastity and Piety yet 't is evident that the first was not without manifest wrong to his Wife whom not to use was the highest abuse the last with no less Ingratitude towards his Mother whom upon like suspicion he put to such a kind of Purgation as might have condemn'd the greatest Innocence causing her to pass the * To go over 9 red hot Houghshares bare-footed blinded laid at uncertain distances either of which if she touch'd she was hold guilty Ordeale or Fiery Tryal then in fashion But this unkindness to them is the less when compar'd with that to himself in the total disregard of all Posterity affecting more to be a Benefactor to then a Father of his Country as believing Religious Houses more lasting Monuments then Religious Children whereby it came to pass that for want of Issue of his own Body he was fain to leave the Succession to one that was both a Child and a Stranger little knowing and less known to the English as not having so much of the Language as might serve to demand or declare his Right when he was to recover it nor so much Spirit or Judgment as to shew himself sensible of the Injury when he was afterwards put besides it A fit adopted Successor for such a Sacerdoting King of whom if I should give an impartial Character I must say that he was rather cold then chast rather superstitious then religious fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch indeed so sottish that as 't is reported of Vitellius he would have forgotten he was born a Prince if others had not put him in mind of it So that 't is no marvel considering either his own weakness or his that was to have come after him that his Steward Harold by having only the rule of his Houshold should take upon him as he did to rule the Kingdom and he thought the fittest man however half a Dane to support the English Monarchy HAROLD date of accession 1065 AS there is no temptation so powerful as that which arises from the knowledge of a mans Power so there is no Consideration of that force as to make a man quit his Ambition that thinks he hath merited a Crown Harold having resolv'd to be a King tarries not till the People made him so but to take the charge of Injustice off from them boldly steps into the Throne the better to out-face his Rivals from thence who being no less then three two on a pretended and one with a real Right he conceiv'd they must justle one another before they could come at him The pretenders were Swain King of Denmark whose claim was as the undoubted Heir of the last Knute and William Duke of Normandy that set up a Title by Gift and Conveyance from the last King Edward But of these the first was ingaged in a War with the Swede the last imbroyl'd in
as often as any advantage was offer'd to him during the Barons War playing fast and loose sometimes as an Enemy otherwhile as a Friend as it made for his turn and having it alwayes in his Power by being in Conjunction with Scotland without which he had been inconsiderable to disturb the Peace of England at his pleasure never neglected any occasion where he might gain Repute to himself or booty for his People Upon him therefore he fastened the first Domestick War he had entring his Country like Jove in a storm with Lightning and Thunder the Terrour whereof was so resistless that that poor Prince was forc'd to accept whatsoever terms he would put upon him to obtain a temporary Peace without any other hope or comfort then what he deriv'd from the mental reservation he had of breaking it again as soon as he return'd whereunto he was not long after tempted by the delusion of a mistaken Prophesie of that false Prophet Merlin who having foretold that he should be crown'd with the Diadem of Brute fatally heightened his Ambition to the utter destruction both of himself and Country with whom his innocent Brother the last of that Race partaking in life and death concluded the Glory of the ancient British Empire which by a kind of Miracle had held out so many hundred years without the help of Shipping Allyance or Confederation with any Forreign Princes by the side of so many potent Kings their next Neighbours who from the time of the first entrance of the English suffer'd them not to enjoy any quiet though they vouchsafed them sometimes Peace Wales being thus totally reduced by the irrecoverable fall of Llewellen and David the last of their Princes that were ever able to make resistance and those ignorant People made thereby happier then they wish'd themselves to be by being partakers of the same Law and Liberty with those that conquer'd them he setled that Title on his eldest Son and so passed over into France to spend as many years abroad in Peace as he had done before in War in which time he renew'd his League with that Crown accommodated the Differences betwixt the Crowns of Scicily and Arragon and shew'd himself so excellent an Arbitrator that when the right of the Crown of Scotland upon his return home came to be disputed with Six some say Ten Competitors after the death of Alexander the Third the Umpirage was given to him who ordered the matter so wisely that he kept off the final Decision of the main Question as many years as there were Rivals put in for it deferring Judgment till all but two only were disputed out of their Pretensions These were Baliol and Bruce the first descended from the elder Daughter of the right Heir the last from the Son of the younger who having as 't was thought the weaker Title but the most Friends King Edward privately offered him the Crown upon Condition of doing Homage and Fealty to him for it the greatness of his Mind which bespoke him to be a King before he was one suffer'd him not to accept the terms whereupon King Edward makes the same Proposition to Baliol who better content it seems with the outside of Majesty accepted the Condition But see the Curse of ill-got Glory shewing himself satisfied with so little he was thought unworthy of any being so abhor'd of his People for it that upon the first occasion they had to quarrel with his Justice as who should say they would wound him with his own Weapon they appeal'd to King Edward who thereupon summon'd him to appear in England and was so rigid to him upon his appearance he would permit none else to plead his Cause but compell'd him in open Parliament to answer for himself as well as he could This being an Indignity so much beneath the sufferance of any private Person much more a King sunk so deep into his Breast that meditating nothing after but Revenge as soon as he return'd home securing himself first by a League and Allyance with the King of France to whose Brothers Daughter he married his Son he renounced his Allegiance and defied King Edward's Power no less then he did his Justice This begat a War betwixt the two Nations that continued much longer then themselves being held up by alternate Successes near three hundred years a longer dated difference perhaps then is to be found in any other Story of the World that Rancor which the Sword bred increasing continually by the desire of Revenge till the one side was almost wholly wasted t'other wholly wearied Baliol the same time King Edward required him to do Homage for Scotland here prevailed with the French King to require the like from him for his Territories there this began the Quarrel that the Division by which King Edward which may seem strange parting his Greatness made it appear much greater whilst himself advanc'd against Baliol and sent his Brother the Earl of Lancaster to answer the King of France Baliol finding himself overmatch'd as well as over-reach'd renew'd his Homage in hopes to preserve his Honour But King Edward resolving to bind him with stronger Fetters then Oaths sent him Prisoner into England whereby those of that Country wanting not only a Head but a Heart to make any further resistance he turn'd his Fury upon the King of France hastning over what Forces he could to continue that War till himself could follow after But Fortune being preingaged on the other side disposed that whole Affair to so many mistakes that nothing answered Expectation and which was worse the Fame of his Male-Adventures spirited a private person worthy a greater * Wallis Name then he had to rise in Scotland who rallying together as many as durst by scorning Misery adventure upon it defied all the Forces of England so fortunately that he was once very near the redeeming his despairing Country-men and had he had less Vertue might possibly have had more success For scorning to take the Crown when he had won it a Modesty not less fatal to the whole Nation then himself by leaving room for Ambition he made way for King Edward to Re-enter the second time who by one single Battel but fought with redoubled Courage made himself once more Lord of that miserable Kingdom all the principal Opposers Wallis only excepted crowding in upon Summons to swear Fealty the third time to him This had been an easie Pennance had they not together with their Faith resigned up their Laws and Liberties and that so servilely that King Edward himself judging them unworthy to be continued any longer a Nation was perswaded to take from them all the Records and Monuments whereby their Ancestors had recommended any of Glory to their Imitation Amongst other of the Regalia's then lost was that famous Marble Stone now lodg'd in Westminster-Abby wherein their Kings were crown'd in which as the Vulgar were perswaded the Fate of their Country lay for that there was an ancient Prophesie
being to advise at the price of his own Head the Arch bishop of York like a man of great Faith was of Opinion to sight them with such present Strength as the King had trusting to the Justice of the Cause the Dukes of Ireland and Suffolk men of Action but wanting the means were for delivering up Calais to the French King to purchase his Assistance But the Majority of Voices coming from such men whose Fears made them rather wise then honest were for appeasing the Enemy with fair promises till there were a fit opportunity to suppress them the first Proposal was thought very hazardous the second much more besides there was such a bitterness in the Pill that no preparation could make the King to swallow it who not knowing what effect it might have when it was done utterly rejected it upon which they secretly withdrew that gave the Counsel and left him to himself Whereupon the Lords Regent found an opportunity to be admitted to a Parley with him who producing to him Letters from the King of France which they had intercepted pursuant to the Design of bringing in a Forreign Enemy they mov'd him no less by shame then dread of the Consequence to consent to the calling another Parliament Upon the day of the Convention the King came not to the House being infinitely troubled in his mind at News he had just then received of the Earl of Derby's Intercepting the Duke of Ireland who being gone as far as Chester in order to his passing into that Kingdom was set upon by the said Earl and totally defeated who hardly escaping fled into the Low-countries where not long after he dyed The Lords heightened with this Success sent a very harsh Message to him letting him know that they attended him there and if he would not come to the House according to promise they would chuse another King that should hearken to their faithful advice This though it were in effect no other but to tell him they would depose him without his consent if he would not come and consent to be depos'd yet having no Retreat from it but down a steep Precipice he chose rather to compâ—y and put himself under the mercy of Providence then under the uncertainty of their Mercy Upon his first appearance they presented him with a black Roll of those whom he call'd his Friends they his Enemies some to be prescrib'd some to be imprison'd and others banish'd and in this last List there were not only Lords but Ladies found Delinquents Some were accus'd of imbeziling his Treasure others of purloyning his Affection all for robbing him of his Honour whereupon some were to be try'd for their Lives others for their Fortunes and all for their Liberties but in respect of their other great Affairs which were in order to what followed they referred it to the succeeding Parliament not unfitly call'd the Parliament that wrought wonders which contrary to all other Parliaments that used to swear Obedience to the King requir'd an Oath of him himself to observe such Rules and Orders as they should prescribe to him Here now we have this unfortunate Prince brought to the last year of his Rule though not of his Reign beginning then to enter into his Wardship as he call'd it when he thought he was just got out of it All power was put into the hands of the Dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester who managed all Treaties abroad concluded War and Peace as they thought fit and were indeed absolute in every point but the Command of their own Passions and uncontroulable by any but themselves The Duke of Lancaster having now digested the Kingdom in his thoughts procures the Dutchy of Acquitaine to be setled on him as an earnest of what was to follow being the Inheritance of the Crown and descended on the King from Prince Edward his Father and having married up the King to a Child of eight years old by whom 't was impossible he could have Issue with a Portion that scarce defraid the Charge of the Solemnity he secur'd his own Pretensions by Legitimating three of his Bastard Sons in case his lawful Issue should fail The Duke of Gloucester had the same Ambition in his heart as well as the same Blood in his Veins but Nature having put a disadvantage upon him by placing him so far behind being the sixth Son of King Edward the Third he was forc'd to gratifie his Envy instead of his Ambition and rest content with the hopes of doing his Brother a Mischief when time serv'd without any great probability of doing himself good Accordingly he made a Faction who conspir'd with him to seize the King his two Brothers Lancaster and York and to put them all up in Prison and after to execute divers Lords whom he thought to be more his Enemies then their Friends but the end of his Treason being to be himself betray'd by those he made use of Lancaster came thereby to stand single like a great Tree which being at its full height spread his Limbs the wider and grew to be so conspicuous that the succeeding Parliament desired to shelter themselves under the shadow of his power hereupon he reduced the number of the thirteen Regents to seven only which being all his Confidents he with them concluded aforehand all Affairs of moment and directed how they should pass in Parliament An Example not less mischievous to the Kingdom then the King so that now there wanted no more to make him the Soveraign but the putting on the Crown But see the uncertainty of humane Glory Having just finished the great work of his Usurpation an unexpected blow from that invisible hand that turns about the great Wheel of Causes broke the frame of his projection in pieces His Son Henry Duke of Hereford accused by the Duke of Norfolk of Treason was forc'd to purge himself by the Tryal of Combat a Law that might condemn but never acquit him since it was only possible to discharge himself of the danger but never of the suspition of the Crime This being urg'd so far that they were both brought into the List there was no way left to avoid the uncertainty of the Fight but banishment of both wherein though the Duke of Lancaster got the favour to make the Exile of his Son but temporary when the others was perpetual yet the affront that Fortune seem'd to give him by this accidental Disgrace came so near his heart that his Son had no sooner taken leave of his Country but he bid adieu to the World and so left the King once more Hors de page Thus Time and Fortune seem to have conspir'd in vindicating the wrongs of this abused Prince ridding him at once of those two great Corrivals in Power whose Authority had so far outweighed his that they kept him in the condition of a Minor till they had made the People believe him insufficient for Government the one being remov'd beyond all possibility the other beyond all
Loyalty and good Affections 7. That he order'd an Impeachment against those Lords that took upon them the Government by Authority of Parliament Indeavouring to reduce those under the Law that had so apparently broken through all Law 8. That in the management of that Affair he consulted with all the Judges Whereas it had been fitter perhaps to have consulted with all the Sword-men of his Kingdom 9. That he caus'd his Uncle Gloucester to be made away privately at Calais When he found he had not power to take him off publickly at home 10. That he took off the Earl of Arundel 's Head notwithstanding a Charter of Pardon given him but a little before Finding that he continued to abuse his Favour by carrying on the old Conspiracy 11. That he defended himself with Force When the Lords assail'd him with Force 12. That though he had made Proclamation that the Lords whom he Arrested were not Arrested for any Crime of Treason yet when he was better inform'd by his Councel he laid Treason to their Charge and prov'd it 13. That he grievously Fined those that took part with the Lords against him Which being paid out of the Estates forfeited to him was a great Discouragement to all honest men that should ever have a mind to turn Rebels afterwards 14. That when he went over into Ireland he carried with him the Plate and Jewels of the Kingdom Without asking any body leave that he might appear as like a King there as he did here which could not but be very displeasing to them that would have him like one no where Upon these scarce grievous Articles he was depos'd or rather he depos'd himself for the Duke who had laid the Foundation of his Hypocrisie lower then to fear any under-mining refusing by the Example of his Grandfather to accept the Crown unless he would tender it to him he became so humble not only to do so but which was yet viler made it his Suit to the Usurper to accept of it from his hand and as it were brib'd him with the Signet on his own Finger which he deliver'd as a Seal to ratifie his voluntary Resignation Strange Metamorphosis When the Lion instead of indeavouring to take that noble Revenge which makes all the Herd to tremble as often as they see him offended crouches and fawns like a Dog on him that beat him Who was not tempted to quit his Allegiance that saw their King thus turn Traytor to himself making good the dismal Presage of that River which but a little before to the amazement of all men turn'd its natural Course and left the Channel dry forgetting the miserable Example of his Great-grand-father who hoping to save his Life by not strugling for it lost it with more horror and less pity Who knows not that the Prisons of Princes are their Graves from whence they ne're return till the general Resurrection The Usurper could not sleep at all after the Resignation till the depos'd King slept his last the Wrong that he had done him beating a continual Alarm upon his Conscience neither could he eat his meat with alacrity but sighing as he sate at Table bemoan'd his having no Friend so faithful or rather so faithless as to deliver him from his Fears leaving those about him to guess what he meant And no sooner did these Thoughts of his take vent but a ready Paracide taking his Cue to be the Executioner of his black purpose hasted unbidden to the place where the Captive King was and tim'd his Treason so near to that of his Order as to take him off just as he was at meat assailing him with eight Ruffians arm'd with Holberts four of which this wretched King kill'd before he sunk and possibly had deliver'd himself from the rest had not their Captain Paracide Sir Pierce Exon whose Name for Infamy sake must never be forgotten come behind him and beat out his Brains with a Pole-Axe Thus fell Richard the Second as his Great-grand-father Edward the Second and both as unhappily as their Ancestors William and Henry the Second long before neither of whom dyed a dry death the first being kill'd by his own Servant t'other by his own Sons And whether there was any thing fatal in that Number I know not but so it was that the Seconds of those Kings amongst the Danes were not much more fortunate Eric the Second Anlaff the Second and Canute the Second all came as well as those amongst the Normans to untimely Ends the first being butcher'd by the hands of his own Sons the second kill'd upon a mistake by one of his own Domesticks and the last made as it were Felo de se having drunk himself so dead that he fell down with the Cup at his Nose And as amongst the Normans and Danes so 't is observable amongst the English Monarchs that Edward the Second thereupon surnam'd th◠Martyr was murther'd by his Mother in Law and Ethelred the Second though he dyed not a violent scarce dyed a timely death being perfectly worn out with continual Troubles whilst he found himself unable to recover the Consumption either of his Body or his Estate However none of these were yet so unfortunate as this King who being so unwilling and unfit to dye yet contributed most to his own Death HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE And 't is observable that he claim'd in the name of the Father not of his Father for thereby hung a Tale his own Father being but the fourth Son whereas King Richard's Father was the first Son of Edward the Third Secondly he claim'd in the name of the Son forgetting whose Son he put by for King Richard deriv'd himself from Edward the First the eldest Son of Henry the Third he but from Edmond Earl of Lancaster the second Son of that Henry the Third Lastly he claim'd in the Name of the Holy Ghost smothering that check of Conscience which he was afterwards forc'd to reveal when he came to give up the Ghost But this we may the less wonder at if we consider that 't was in a time when the Devil was seen in the likeness of a Frier as our Histories tells us and therefore an Usurper might as well appear in the likeness of a Saint although he had no more Morality then what * Lib. 1. Tacitus observ'd in the Emperor Galba whom he describes to be Magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus Such was his power that no man contradicted him Heaven having decreed that he should contradict himself for at the same time he made out his Title by Descent he acknowledged that he came in by Conquest assuring the People that every one should enjoy his own as freely as in times of Lawful Succession they are his own words but when he came to treat with Forreign Princes that were as well vers'd in the nature of Politick Treacheries as himself he pretended then to be chosen by the unanimous Consent and
Election of the People to whom that he might appear restor'd as by Divine Providence he appointed the day of his Coronation to be upon the very same day wherein the year before he had been Banished and to hold up the Cheat he was anointed with an Oyl which as 't was pretended was deliver'd to his Father together with this Prophesie That all the Kings that receiv'd their Chrisme from it should be Champions of the Church which as the Legend holds forth coming by chance to the hands of King Richard as he was going for Ireland he would have been anointed therewith had not the Arch-bishop of Canterbury disswaded him from it as not being lawful to be anointed twice however he was resolv'd to intitle himself self so far to the vertue of it as to stile himself Defensor Fidei The only man that withstood this Kings Usurpation and would not be perswaded to swim down the Stream with the rest of the Time-serving Nobility was the bold Bishop of Carlisle who having so frankly discharged himself upon the occasion of Debating in Parliament what should be done with King Richard for as yet they had not taken away his Life though they had taken his Crown and by a Speech as eloquent as pious shew'd what was the Complexion and Face of those Jugling Times and what was expected from what was done and what was done upon the found of the present Expectations I have thought it a respect due to the honour of his singular Merit to set it down expresly as he spoke it to the end the Reader may judge whether he had not Reason enough to justifie his Passion and pity 't was he had not power enough to justifie that Reason when combining with others of the same Judgment to Restore his true Soveraign he gloriously lost himself in the Attempt and with himself the unfortunate King he would have saved The words of his Speech were as followeth 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 do it for the King is Head of the Parliament and can the Body pull down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and so may the King resign It is true but of what Force is that that is done by Force and who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be lawfully 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 against his lawful Soveraign and not be Treason if so then whoever Arms against him successfully does it rightfully and what hope of Peace at this rate If you say by Election of 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 Earl of Lancaster as descended from Edmund Crouchback the elder Son of Henry the Third put by the Crown for deformity of Body for who knows not the falseness of this Allegation seeing it is a thing notorious that this Edmund was neither the elder Son nor yet Crook-backt though call'd so for some other Reason but a goodly Personage and without any Deformity and your selves cannot forget a thing so lately done * * The Earl of March who it was that in the fourth year of King Richard was declar'd by Parliament to be Heir of the Crown in case King Richard should die without Issue but why then is not that Claim made good because that Inter Arma silent Leges what disputing of Titles against the stream of Power But howsoever 't is extream Injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allowed to make his Defence and what can we Subjects expect when our King is thus abus'd My Lords I have spoken this at this time that you may consider of it before it is too late for as yet 't is in your power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done Those last words express'd a Zeal that seem'd to have something of the same effect as that of Lightning which is said to melt the Sword without so much as singeing the Scabard For however no body that heard him appeard to be warm by what he said yet a secret Fire was shot into many of their Breasts that after it came to be thorowly kindled in their Consciences could not be extinguish'd no not with Blood so that they continued their Resentments not for their own Lives only but intail'd the Quarrel upon their Posterity even untill the House of Clarence recover'd their Right in the third Generation after Now as a Clergy-man first declar'd against this King so a Clergy-man first Ingaged against him without considering his holy Unction which made him the great Champion of the Church for however the Church-men are willing that others should belive their Miracles themselves do not this was the politick Abbot of Westminster a great Book-states-man who invited several of the Chief Nobility into a Combination to take away his Life so that Killing no Murther is no Modern Tenet and admitting what he suspected only there might be some reason for it for who would not dispatch an Enemy to God the King and the Church one that therefore had unduly made himself King that he might rob the great King of Kings of his due the ground of this Jealousie was upon certain words utter'd in the Abbots hearing whilst he was Duke of Hereford viz. That Princes had too little and Clergy-men too much upon which he concluded he would be a Persecutor of the Church rather then a Patron Neither it seems was the Abbot only of that Opinion but the Nation in general otherwise the House of Commons would not as they did afterward frame a Bill for setling the Church Lands in the Crown as believing it would be an acceptable Oblation to him Upon which this Abbot and the Bishop before nam'd and five Temporal Lords to wit the Dukes of Exeter Surry and Albemarle and the two Earls of Salisbury and Gloucester with many Knights and Gentlemen their Friends complotted to dispatch him at a publick Just or Tournament to be held at Oxford where they hop'd coming arm'd as the fashion was upon such Occasions they might as easily take him off as the Roman Senate did Caesar neither indeed was the Plot ill laid had not the same Power that set him up protected him against all their Machinations diverting the Destiny upon themselves by such a strange and unexpected discovery as shews that Secresie in Treason signifies nothing unless it could be hid from the All-seeing Eye of
Person and each of these whilst they stood as free Agents and counterpoiz'd each others Greatness kept the Scale â—even maintaining by the Sword what was got by the Sword But after the King came to be declar'd Major and at his own dispose having not the Judgment to conceal his own Weakness much less to controul their Potency Faction and Ambition broke in upon the Government and made such a Rupture in the Reputation of their former Successes that the French King back'd by many Seconds who yet were not so much his Friends as Enemies to the English took that advantage to reinforce his Credit and press'd so hard upon them that all the well-built Frame of their Fortune crack'd from top to bottom However there were three fatal Breaches made in it before all fell to pieces The first Flaw was occasion'd by the Rupture betwixt the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Burgundy who divided about a meer Punctillio of Honour who should first come to the place where they had appointed to treat of the Differences betwixt them The Duke of Bedford thought the other ought to attend his coming in respect he was Regent of France t'other thought he ought rather to expect him it being in his own Dominions where he was absolute Soveraign upon which they parted the Duke of Burgundy lest the English and the Duke of Bedford not long after the World And this unhappy King became so much the greater Sufferer by how much the reparation of that loss prov'd more fatal then the loss it self for as it was as difficult as necessary to find out a good Successor to that great Trust so he was not a little opprest by the Importunity of two Competitors who being men of like Anger and Ambition caus'd a more fatal Breach then the former These were the Dukes of Somerset and York the first Grandson to John of Gaunt and Grandfather to Henry the Seventh the last yet greater in respect of his Descent from Lyonel Duke of Clarence being Head of the White-rose Faction both equal in Blood and Merit either too Great to be displeas'd much more too Ambitious to be pleas'd In this Contest the Duke of York got the Ball and from his Success concluded 't was possible as he did afterward to get the Scepter too being by the Mothers side the right Heir to Richard the Second but the Duke of Somerset resolving to revenge his loss by the hazard of loosing the whole gave him so many Interruptions in his Dispatch of that great Charge that before he could arrive in France the Parisians had shuck off their Yoke and by their Example the Revolt became so general that even the Normans themselves ever before firm to the English were upon the point also of changing their Allegiance The third and most fatal Breach was that betwixt the Uncle and Nephew the Cardinal Beauford and the Duke of Gloucester The Duke charg'd the Cardinal with Affectation of Pre-eminence even to the Derogation of the Kings Prerogative and Contempt of his Laws the Cardinal not finding Matter to recriminate so Personally upon him himself accus'd his other self to wit his Wife to be a Sorceress and one that by Witchcraft attempted to take away the Kings Life Which whether it were true or no was so well managed that her pretended Crime was in effect made his for by the help of the Queen to whom the King had been espoused by advice of the Cardinal and the Marquiss after made Duke of Suffolk his Creature against the advice of this good Duke for so the People call'd him they prevail'd with the weak King first to exclude him the Councel after to deprive him of all Commands and lastly to take away his Life too not foreseeing so improvident was their Malice that as long as he liv'd his Primogeniture being descended from the Fourth Son of Edward the Third would have kept back the Duke of York's Claim that came from the Fifth Son For his Death gave the first Occasion of beginning that desperate War betwixt the two alike cruel Houses of York and Lancaster who so wasted themselves by Alternate Successes like Plants which cut in the Spring bleed themselves to death that they left no Issue to inherit their dear-bought Titles and were thereby necessitated for the same Reason to unite in the last as they divided in the first place to wit to entail that fatal Glory upon their Posterity which they found to wither do what they could as the Roses they gave for their Cognizances which by being so often cut down came at last to be over-topt by the Thistle of Scotland The Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk being the two principal Councellors that govern'd the Queen who govern'd the King and managed the whole Prosecution of the Duke of Gloucester The People after the Death of the Cardinal who did not long Survive the Execution of that good Duke for so they commonly call'd him fixt their Mark of Evil Councellors and prest so hard for their amoval from the King that the Queen was forc'd as commonly it falls out in such Cases to let go her hold and leave them to shift for themselves The last was the first fell into their Hands who attempting to fly their Fury being Impeached in Parliament was taken at Sea and Executed according to the Popular way of Justice without Ceremony or Sentence by chopping off his Head on the side of a Boat The Duke of Somerset being more above their reach one Mortimer whom for that end the Duke of York allow'd the honour to be reputed of his kindred better known by the name of Jack Cade alias Captain Mend-all undertakes to bring him to a Bay and backt with a multitude inraged with the sence of their just Complaints arriv'd to that power as to possess himself of London where he took off the head of the Kings Chamberlain and grew so terrible that the King himself was constraâ—ned to retire and give place but before he could reach the Duke of Somerset he fell himself Whereupon the Duke of York was forced to take off his Vizard and own the Justice of his Complaint barefac'd who having an Army ready to second them prevail'd so far with the Parliament as to get the Duke twice arrested but finding him to be still releas'd as soon as they were up who therefore were dissolv'd to the end that he might be discharg'd he advanced towards London to do himself as he said and the Kingdome Right But before he could pass St. Albans the King met him and gave him Battel wherein the unfortunate Duke of Somerset gave the last Testimony of his Loyalty to the King in the loss of his Life and the unhappy King the last Test of his Affection to him by the loss of his Liberty being forced to render himself a Prisoner to the Victor who was so modest as not to declare his Title to the Crown but contented himself to be by the good favour of the
Countries having given him the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem before of the first of which the Pope either envying or fearing the Emperour's Greatness had made the French King some Assurance purposely to ingage him thereby in a War that might weaken them both Great Preparations were made by either Party to secure themselves both with Arms and Alliances the Emperor leaving all his Dominions on this side to his Son whilst himself retires into Spain to alarm the French on the other side and by his Vicinity to Italy whose petty Princes he suspected not to be firm to his Interest makes himself as terrible to his Neighbours as his Enemies But whilst this great design was in Prospect only King Philip was suddenly called home by a Brute that his Queen was with Child the Joy whereof was so universal that it is strange to tell how much it transported the whole Kingdom raising them by the hopes of a young Prince to a degree of seeming Infatuation for they not only mock'd God Almighty in the Church with causeless Thanksgivings but troubled the King and Queen every hour in Court withâ—s groundless Petitions for Places of Attendance on the unborn Child and so far did the Delirium prevail to delude even the Parliament themselves with extravagant apprehensions of their future happiness by the enjoyment of such a Prince who however he were like to be Lord of the greatest part of Christendom would yet in all probability make England the Seat of his Empire that they humbly besought the King in case the Queen should dye in Travel that he would be pleas'd to take upon him the rule and government of the Child and Kingdome such ado have great Princes to be born as well as to dye in quiet But this mistaken Embryo proving at length to be nothing else but a Mis-conception whereof she could not be delivered so as to make way for any better Conception turning to such a fleshy inform Substance as Physitians call a Mole and we vulgarly English a Moon-Calf it put King Philip so ouâ— of Countenance that he tarried not a Month here after her time of Reckoning was our but passing into Flanders put it out of his head since he could not put it out of her belly by beginning a War with France whereto he had a good ground upon the account of the Five years Truce being broken that had been made but a little before The Queen to requite him for her late Miscarriage broke with her People and resolving not to stand Neuter whilst her Husband was ingaged found occasion to make the French Aggressors upon the Crown of England Whereupon the Earl of Pembroke was sent over with Ten thousand Horse and Four thousand Foot who joyning with the Kings Forces which were Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse before they came they all of them sate down before St Quintins a Town of great importance which the French in vain indeavouring to succour lost Twenty five thousand upon the place Amongst whom were divers of the greatest Quality as John of Bourbon Duke of Anguin the Dukes of Monpensier and Longevile the Viscount Turein c. the Lord Chadenier the Mareschal St. Andrew the Rhinegrave the Constable Mount Morency and his Son Brother to Count Lodowick Gonzaga Brother to the Duke of Mantova the Admiral Coligny and his Brother with divers other Lords of no less eminence who being all taken with the Town made it look like the beginning of a War which every Body judged could not end till the Rupture reach'd to the middle of France The report of this Victory gave great matter of rejoycing to every Body but most especially to the Queen her self yet could it not divert that Melancholy occasioned by the conceit of her Misconception which brought her into a Distemper that not long after kill'd her by her Physicians mistaking her Malady who giving her improper Medicines without regard to the over-cooling of her Liver which it seems is the mischief attends those Moles found not their error till she was so far gone into that desperate kind of Dropsie which they call Ascites that there was no help for her now That which added to her Distemper was an over-nice resentment of the Popes displeasure who offended at her breach with the French punish'd her as Princes use to be by whipping their Favourites with taking away the Legatine Power from her beloved Minister Cardinal Pool to whom as she had ever a great regard so she opin'd that the disgrace put upon a Man of so great Authority and Credit who had been so active in the Conversion of the Nation would as indeed it did not only reflect something on her honour but hazard much the reputation of the Catholick Cause whiles the Roman Religion was not so fully establish'd as she design'd it should and the Enemies of the Church no less dangerous to that of her State This gave her great trouble of Mind and that trouble being heightened by the absence of her beloved Husband brought her into a burning Feaver that foretold a death that might have proved a living one had it not been hastned by the news of the revolt of Calais which being lost in less then six dayes time after it had continued English above Two hundred years came so near her heart that drying up all her Blood brought her under such a fix'd sadness as left her not till she left the World Now to say truth she had great reason to resent the loss for as it was the only Key left to let her into France so it was no small over-sight to hang it by her side with so slender a String as she did there being not above Five hundred Souldiers in it when it was attach'd which were much too few to defend a place of that Importance where there was a kind of necessity to keep the Gates alwayes open HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it Which however it seem'd an obscure and uncertain Solution so baffled all her Adversaries that the Priests themselves who hop'd with like Success to have soil'd her as the First Temptor did the First Woman upon the First great Question of Take and Eat found themselves left in the dark to grope after her meaning as well as they could whilst she shut her self up from further Pressures within the Closet of her own private Sense But as Wisdom is perhaps the only Vertue that is distrustful of it self so to shew how little Confidence she had in the strength of her own Abilities she made it her first business to fortifie her self with able Counsellors In the choice of whom her Affections gave place to her Judgment as her Fears to her Foresight admitting divers of her Sisters great Ministers who having been privy to all the Secrets of State were like sharp
should be but short were easily drawn into many desperate Conspiracies which ending with the Forfeiture of their own brought her Life and Government into continual Jeopardy The next great thing that feâ—l under her Consideration was the point of Marriage and Singularity For it being doubtful in what state the Kingdom would be left if the Queen of Scots Title should ever take place who besides that she was an avow'd Papist had married the French Kings Son who in her Right bore the Arms and Title of England as well as of Scotland it was told her she would not shew her self a true Mother of her Country without she consented to make her self a Mother of Children Whereunto King Philip of Spain as soon as he heard of Queen Mary his Wives death gave her a fair Invitation by his Ambassador the Conde Feria whom he sent over publickly â—o Congratulate her as a Queen but privately to Court her as a Mistress assuring her that he much rather desired to have her to be his Wife then his Sister and as the Report of her being Successor to his Queen had much allay'd the grief he conceiv'd for her death so he said 't was his desire she should take place in his Bed as well as in his Throne that so by giving her self to him she might requite the kindness shew'd by him when he gave her to her self after her Sister left her exposed to the malice and power of her Enemies In fine he omitted no Arguments to gain his end that might be rais'd from the Consideration of her Gratitude or his own Greatness But she being naturally Inflexible not to say as some have said Impenetrable lest it to her Councel to return this grave Answer for her That she could not consent to have him of all men for a Husband without as great reflection on her Mother as her self since it could not be more lawful for two Sisters to marry the same Husband then for two Brothers to marry the same Wife Secondly That she could not consent to a Match that was like to prove so unfortunate as this would be if without Issue and yet so much more unfortunate with it in respect her Kingdom of England must by the same Obligation become subject to Spain as she to him Thirdly That nothing could more conduce to the Establishing that Authority which had been so industriously abolish'd by her Father and Brother of blessed Memory and conscientiously rejected by her self Fourthly That it could neither be satisfactory to her self or Subjects to have such a King to her Husband whose greatest Concerns being necessarily abroad could neither regard her nor them as he ought much less as they desired This Denial though it seem'd reasonable enough yet King Philip inferring that she dislik'd his Person rather then his Proposal very temperately recommended his Suit to his more youthful Kinsman Charles Duke of Austria second Son to the Emperour Ferdinand who was Rival'd by Eric eldest Son of Gustavus King of Sweden as he by Adolph Duke of Holst Uncle to Frederick III. King of Denmark But neither of these being more successful then his most Catholick Majesty the whole Parliament became Suiters to her to think of Posterity and to eternize her Memory not so much by a Successor like her self as by one descended from her self Which serious address she answer'd with a Jest telling them she was married already And shewing them a Ring on her Finger the same she had received at her Coronation told them it was the Pledge of Love and Faith given her by her dear Spouse the Kingdom of England which words she delivered with such an odd kind of Pleasantness that all the Wise men amongst them thought she made Fools of them and the Fools thought themselves made so much wiser by it as to understand her meaning to be that she would not look abroad for a Husband but take one of her own Subjects Amongst the rest thus mistaken was Leicester himself who having the vanity to believe he might be the man obstructed his own preferment when he was propos'd as a fitting Husband for the Queen of Scots The Catholick King however he had been rejected hoping that the Catholick Religion might find better acceptation continued his Frâ—endship a long time after his Courtship was ended being so respectful to the Nation not to say to the Queen her self that he would make no accord with the French at the Treaty of Cambray without the restoration of Calais to the English But when he understood how far the Queen had proceeded in point of Reformation how she had as resolutely refus'd to be the Popes Daughter as to be his Wife how she had disallow'd the Councel of Trent and set up a Synod of her own at London he not only left her as slightly as she left him but made such a Conclusion with the French as gave her more cause of Jealousie being not his Wife then she could possibly have had if he had been her Husband For marrying the Lady Isabella eldest Daughter to that King it was suspected that the two Crowns might thereupon unite against England upon the account of the Queen of Scots her Claim who being the Daulphins Wife and the next in Succession after Queen Elizabeth or as some will have it in Right before her as being the undoubted Heir of the Lady Margaret eldest Daughter of Henry the Seventh was therefore the only Person in the World to whom she could never be reconciled holding her self oblig'd by the Impulse of Nature Honour and Religion to oppose her as after she did to the death wherein perhaps there was no less of Envy then Reason of State being as much offended with her Perfections as her Pretensions For that t'other was a Lady that equall'd her in all surmounted her in some and was inferiour to her in no respects but Fortune only This as it prov'd a Feud that puzled that Age to unriddle the meaning of it charging all the Misunderstanding betwixt them upon the despite of Fate only which to speak Impartially was never more unkind not to say unjust all Circumstances of the Story considered to any Soveraign Princess in the World then to that poor Queen so it was the wonder of this till we saw by the no less fatal Example of that Queens Grandson our late Soveraign how the best of Princes may fall under the power of the worst of men For it was Flattery and Feminine Disdain questionless that first divided them beyond what the difference of Nation Interest or Religion could have done which heightning their mutual Jealousies insensibly ingag'd them before they were aware in such a Game of Wit and Faction as brought all that either had at last to stake and made them so wary in their Play on both sides that the Set ended not as long as the one liv'd or the other reign'd The Queen of Scots had the advantage of Queen Elizabeth by the Kings in her Stock the Kings of
which were likewise confirm'd by Act of Parliament the great Lords having as yet heard nothing of any Commission of Surrendries which was that great Rock of Offence against which his Successor King Charles the First did so unluckily dash himself to pieces Due care being thus taken for Establishment of Truth and Order in the Church the next great Work was to establish quiet in the State that Righteousness and Peace might kiss each other which he judged to be a consideration not less necessary then prudent the active Government of his Predecessor Queen Elizabeth who led all the brave men in her time to hard duty having tired out almost a l the stirring Spirits of the Nation However though it did ease it did not generally please the People the humor of Fighting being not so wholly spent but that it broke out afterward to worse purpose it being in our Fate as has been observ'd by some Melancholy States-men that whenever we are long kept from quarrelling with others we are apt to quarrel with one another But that which discontented the Men of Mars most was to see the Faction of the Gown-men pricking up and wholly predominant Upon this lower Orb as in the Skie Aleyn Vit. H. 7. Sol constantly is nearest Mercury Neither did he take part with them so much out of the pleasure he had in Books as out of an aversness to Arms whereunto he seem'd to have such an Antipathy that by his good will he did not care to see any Sword-man within his Palace whereby the Court came by degrees to loose two points of its ancient Lustre one in the Exercise of Tilting which was an Entertainment that added much to the Grandeur and Magnificence of the late Queen and King Henry her Father the other in the choice of the Gentlemen Pentioners an Order which being set up by the Wisdom of her Grand-father Henry the Seventh a Prince of severe Gravity she was so fond of and so curious in ordering the state of their attendance that none could attain to that honour all her time but who were men of very good Quality and yet more goodly Stature who by their graceful Personage might set forth the place as she design'd the place should set forth them so that in time it became a kind of Nursery for Officers and Men of Command who were sent abroad into France and the Low-Countries to learn the Art of cutting Throats if need were and so return'd again But this King it seems being taken with no such armed Pomp neglected it so far that some of the ruffling Gallants about the Town began to speak of it with more freedom then became their Duty or Discretion taxing him downright with Pusillanimity and causless fears saying that he trifled away more money in insignificant Embassies and Negotiations for a dishonorable Peace then would have maintain'd an honorable War But he having before shut up the Gates of Janus all his talk was as we commonly say without Doors for he esteem'd it honour enough that he had conquer'd himself according to that of the Poet Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit Moenia Peace he had at home without his seeking for it O Neil the great Disturber of his Predecessors quiet being presented to him as a Prisoner by the Lord Mountjoy as soon almost as he came in which gave him the occasion to begin with the settlement of Ireland first by giving the possession of the whole Province of Ulster O Neil's Country and the sink of Rebellion to the Citizens of London who thereupon setled two Colonies there the one at Derry every since call'd London-derry t'other at Colraine which they stor'd with Four hundred Artizans whilst the King for the better supplying them with Souldiers erected a new Order of Knighthood call'd Baronets from their taking place next the Sons of Barons each of which was ingaged to lay down as much money at the Sealing of his Patent as would maintain thirty Foot Souldiers one whole year at the rate of Eight pence a day a piece which came to twenty shillings a day And the Complement of these Knights being Two hundred there was a compleat Establishment of Three thousand Souldiers without any further noise to be ready for his Service whenever he had occasion to make use of them Now in order to the having Peace abroad there needed no more but to renew the Leagues he had made before with the Princes his Neighbours under another stile The great Question was Whether he should accept of the Olive-branch from the King of Spain with whom his Predecessor had so long contended for the Laurel and upon debating the whole matter besides the motives of the Half-peace already made with him whilst he was King of Scotland and the whole benefit of Trade that he was like to have as he was King of England the certainty of setting the Catholick and the most Christian Kings together by the Ears the uncertainty of being able to raise monies to maintain a War so easily as Queen Elizabeth did who had the knack of borrowing money which serv'd her to as good purpose as if it had been given the Parliament being for the most part the Pay-masters there were many Reasons of State some whereof were not fit to be publish'd perhaps not to be understood which induced him to call in the Letters of Mart and conclude that League which how acceptable it was to both Kings may be guess'd by the mutual Caressings of each other with extraordinary Embassies and Presents and the more then ordinary Ratification of the Articles of Peace but how far the People were content to have any Friendship with the Catholick King it is easie to guess especially after the discovery of that Catholick Plot commonly call'd the Gun-powder Treason which as it was contriv'd in a hotter place then Spain so it was hatch'd up in Darkness never to partake of the Light but when it was to be all Light and to give such a terrible blow as was at once to Extinguish the Light the Hope and the Glory of this Nation This the All-seeing Eye of Providence which pierces thorow the dark Womb of Conspiracy and blasts the Embrio of Treason before it can be form'd miraculously detected to the amazement of all Mankind no body imagining there could be such danger by Fire so near unto the Water the meaning of it being so little understood even after it was discovered that neither could the Lord Monteagle who receiv'd the first notice in a Letter writ in an unknown hand tell to what Friend he owed his Preservation nor any one else guess from what Enemy they were to expect their destruction till the King himself by inspiration rather then instinct yet admonish'd perhaps by the subversion of that House wherein his Father was murther'd apprehended by the word Blow what the Element must be that was to be so subtil in its Execution as that they who were hurt for
to both yet neither was so tortur'd between the Consideration of what was safe and what was Just that it appear'd in bringing the Earl they had brought him to Tryal and put him into such an Agony as shook the very Foundations of the Government And this Hesitation of his prov'd to be the Groundwork of three the most Important Jealousies that ever troubled any State the Parliament thereupon declaring themselves dissatisfied in the Security of their Religion Proprieties and Priviledges to the clearing whereof they made not long after three as strange Proposals 1. For the Extirpation of Bishops 2. The Establishment of a Triennial Parliament 3. The Delivery of the Militia into their Disposal This Contumacy of theirs taking its rise from the Confidence they had in their Brethren the Scots who all this while continued in Arms upon the Borders for want of money to disband them eating like a Fistula Insensibly into the Bowels of the Kingdom he made it his first care to cure that Malady wherein he proceeded with that great judgment and skill that in paying them off the Parliament gave the Money but he the Satisfaction having thereby so far recover'd the good Opinion of those People however they came to be perverted afterward that as soon as he arriv'd in their Country whither he went in Person presently after the Peace was concluded they gave him two notable Instances of their Duty and Submission The first Publick in reviving that good old Law there which made it Treason for any to Leavy Arms without the Kings Leave and Commission The second Private in the discovery of the five Members here that had been the principal Engineers to draw them into England But whilst he was busie in quenching the Incendiations of Scotland behold a more dreadful Fire breaks out in Ireland the Matter whereof was so prepaâ—'d that there appear'd very little or no smoak of Suspition till it was all in a Flame and which made it more terrible was That the Rebels pretended to take their Rule from the English as their President from the Scots in defending their Religion Proprieties and Liberties by Arms all which being as they said undermined not knowing how soon the Blow might be given they thought it justifiable enough to prevent what they could not withstand Now to prove that their Religion was in danger they urg'd the Preparatory Votes and Menaces of the House of Commons in England and for the proof of the Impairing their Liberty and Proprieties they referr'd to the Remonstrances of those in Scotland who made it the first motive of their rising that they were like to be reduced to the slavish Condition of Ireland in being brought under the Form of a Province and subjected to the insupportable Tyranny of a * The placing a President ov r the Councel of State being the Ground of that Fear Lord Lieutenant And now to add a Varnish to this Colour they declar'd for Preservation of the Kings Rights as well as their own swearing to oppose with Life Power and Estate all such as should directly or indirectly indeavour to Suppress the Royal Prerogative of the King his Heirs and Successors or do any †Referring to the Proceedings of the Parliament in England who had but a little before taken away the Tonnage Poundage the Sâ—ipmoney Court of Wards High Commission-Court and were earnestly contesting for the Militia c. Act or Acts contrary to the Royal Government This Declaration of theirs was written with a Pen of Iron in Letters of Blood as believing that no Rebels in the World had more to say for themselves then they at least that they had much more matter of Justification then either the Scots or English could pretend to who justified themselves by seigning only to suspect what t'other really suffer'd under Neither perhaps had the World so condemned them all Circumstances considered had there not appear'd a Self-condemnation within themseâ—ves by counterfeiting a * Whiâ—h that it might be the more authent câ— they take off an old Seal from an Absolâ—te Patent to Farâ—ham-Abby which they annex'd to it Commission from the King to justifie this their Arming falsly bragging that the Queen was with them and that the King would very shortly come to them Which as it was a base and abject piece of Policy that lost them more Credit when it was detected then it got them Repute while it was believ'd so it was malitious towards the King to that degree with respect to the Condition he was then in that it cannot otherwise be thought but that having murther'd so many of his Protestant Subjects they had a mind to murther him too The Consequences of that great Suspition it brought upon him being such as he could never recover the disadvantages it fastned on him till he fell finally under the power of those Sons of Belial who destroyed him for no other Reason but to destroy Monarchy it self So that he was not much mistaken who confidently averred It was the Papists brought him to the block the Presbyterians that tuck'd up his hair and the Fanatick that cut off his head Whereof he himself was so sensible that the very last words he us'd as if to shew he alike abhorr'd either of them was to profess He dyed a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as he found it left him by his Father foreseeing that he should suffer more by Reproach then by the Axe After which he resigned himself to the fatal stroke with that cheerfulness as shew'd he believ'd by removing that Scandal only he should get a greater Victory over his Enemies when he was dead then ever they got over him whilst he was alive The ill news of Ireland drew him with all imaginable haste out of Scotland But before he could come to the Consideration of that great Affair he was prevented by the Parliaments renewing their old Complaints who found a slight occasion of quarrel to introduce other matters that they knew would widen the Difference beyond all reconciliation for his Majesty having taken publick notice of a Bill that was depending in the House whereby he thought his Prerogative pinch'd to which therefore he offer'd a Provisional Clause with a Salvo Jure to himself and the people to prevent all Disputes at the passing of it they interpreted this to be so high a violation of their Priviledge that they pray'd to have the Informers brought in to condign punishment Seconding that Petition with a Remonstrance against all those whose Affection or Interest they thought might be serviceable to him under a new coyn'd name of Malignants which they ranged into three Classes 1. Jesuited Papists 2. Corrupted Clergy-men and Bishops 3. Interested Counsellors and Courtiers concluding thereupon 1. That no Bishops should have any Votes in Parliament 2. That no People should be imploy'd about him but such as they could confide in 3. That none of the Lands forfeited by the Irish Rebels should be
Discouragements Whilst those of the Royal Party impatient to see the King so much less then he should be thought it as necessary as just to attempt the making him something more then ever he had been but straining the Sinew-shrunk Prerogative beyond its wonted height disjoynted the whole Frame of Government and broke those Ligaments of Command and Obedience whereby Prince and People are bound up together Unhappy King to whom the love and hatred of his People was alike fatal who whilst himself was thus unhappily ingaged against himself was sure to be the Loser which side soever was the Gainer and so much the more miserable by how much even Victory it self must at once weary and wast him but great was his Prudence as great his Patience And next the Power of making Tempests cease Walleri Was in this Storm to have so calm a Peace Behold now the great Soveraign of the Seas expos'd as it were upon a small Raft to the raging of the People as a Shipwrackt Pilot to that of the Sea without any hope but what was next despair to recover some desolate Rock or Isle where he might rest himself in the melancholy expectation of being deliver'd as it were by Miracle So he being drove first from London to York from thence having in vain tryed to touch at Hull passed on to Nottingham where he set up his Standard but not his rest from thence he marched to Leicester so towards Wales and having a while refreshed himself at Shrewsbury after divers tossings and deviations fix'd at last at Oxford the famous Seat of the Muses ill Guards to a distressed King and perhaps no great Assistants to those about him who were to live by their Wits Here he continued near three years acting the part of a General rather then a King his Prerogative being so pinion'd and his Power so circumscrib'd that as none of his own People paid him Homage where he could not come to force it so the Neighbour States of the United Netherlands though they disown'd not a Confederation with him made so little shew of having any regard to his Amity as if it were Evidence enough of their being his Friends that they did not declare themselves his Enemies Only the Complemental State of France sent over a glorious * Prince liurcourt Ambassador who under the pretence of Mediating a Peace was really a Spy for continuing the War The only fast Friend he had was his helpless Uncle the King of Denmark who was so over-match'd by the Swede all that time that he could give little or no assistance to him During his abode here he did as much as the necessity of his streightned Condition would permit convening another Parliament there to Counter those at Westminster least it should be thought there was a Charm in the name where there appear'd no less then One hundred and forty Knights and Gentlemen in the lower House and in the upper House Twenty four Lords Nineteen Earls Two Marquesses and Two Dukes besides the Lord Treasurer the Lord Keeper the Duke of York and the Prince of Wales who if they were not equal in number as some think they were were much more considerable in quality then that other Parliament at London But being a Body without Sinews they sate as so many Images of Authority or if with decency we may say it like Legislators in Effigie Those at Westminster having in this the better of them that they had got into their hands that pledge of extraordinary Power the Dominion of the Sea which was a sufficient Caution for that by Land †Cic. ad Artic. lib. 10. Epist 7. Nam qui Mare teneat eum necesse est Rerum potiri This brought in Wealth that brought in Men the Men brought in Towns and Provinces under their Subjection so that we find they had an intire Association of divers whole Counties when the King could assure himself of no more then what he made Title to by his Sword Even Yorkshire it self the first County that he made tryal of entring almost as soon as he was gone out of it into Articles of Neutrality But notwithstanding all the disadvantages he had by want of Men and Money of Means and Credit yet we see he brought the Ballance of the War to that even poise that it rested at last upon the Success of one single Battel to turn the Scale either way for had they been beaten at Naseby where they got the day they had been as undoubtedly ruin'd as he was by loosing it which Battel being the last ended as Edge-hill did that was the first with that sinister Fortune to have the left Wings on each side routed by those of the right But the advantage the * So those who served the Parliament were call'd from the shortness of their hair as it was generally worn generally worn amongst those of the Puritan party Round-heads had in this was that they had not forgot the disadvantage of the former Fight but early quitting their pursuit return'd time enough to relieve their distressed Foot and so by their Wisdom recover'd that fatal advantage which the †The Kings Party were so call'd because those that appear'd first on his side were most of them Gentlemen on Horse-back Cavaliers lost by their Courage who pursuing their half-got Victory too far lost the whole unexpectedly In this Battel as in that the Royal Standard was taken and as the King lost his General then so he lost himself acting the Generals part now his Power crumbling away so fast after the loss of this Day for in less then four Months time twenty of his chief Garrisons surrendred General Goring was routed at Lamport the Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale near Sherborn which we know caus'd a more unlucky Rout after at Newark the Lord Wentworth was surpriz'd ar Bovy-tracy the Lord Hopton routed at Torrington the Lord Ashly at Stow upon the Wold that he was never able to repair the Breaches made daily upon him but was forc'd to quit his faultring Friends and cast himself into the hands of his fawning Enemies the Scots who having kept all this while hovering at a distance like Eagles that follow Armies for prey expecting what might be the Issue whilst the English were so busie in cutting one anothers Throats were resolv'd to let him know what value they put upon him and accordingly gave notice to the Parliament of his being with them which begot a hot dispute betwixt them for a while to whom of right the Royal Prisoner belonged till in the end it concluded with redeeming the good King by a good Sum who taught them thus to betray him by first betraying himself the failure of their Faith being grounded upon that of his own who had he kept upon the Wing as one observes whilst his Party was beating in the Covert might possibly have retreiv'd the Quarrey and by retiring into some place of present safety recover'd himself
when he was so seemingly lost by the help of the same Invisible Hand that after led his Son thorow many greater dangers and brought him home safe beyond all hope but stooping to this low Pitch to subject himself to those who had so much despis'd all Subjection they thought it a Complement to him to estimate him at so high a rate as that of their Arrears Had he cast himself upon the Parliament in the first place 't is possible by letting go his hold so unexpectedly as he did he might have given them the Fall when they were so hard tugging with him it being more then probable that the long abus'd People finding how he not only sought Peace but pursu'd it might have been mov'd to have indeavour'd his Restoration as tumultuously as they did his Dethronation restoring his Dignity as disorderly as they took it from him which how much the Hogen Mogens of Westminster dreaded appears by the surprize upon them when a little before his giving himself up to the Scots it was bruted that he was conceal'd in London But as in great Storms great Pilots are forc'd when they can no longer bear Sail to let the Vessel drive and take its chance so he being no longer able to Stem the Tide after having done all that could be hop'd for from Prudence was fain to commit himself to Providence and follow it without Light or Compass thorow many dark Dispensations and fantastick Changes the result of their Inconstancy Inhumanity and Impiety from whom he was afterward to expect his doom Trust makes us our own Traytors nor could he Alâ—yn Vit. H. 7. Be sav'd by Faith but Infidelity Having now lost his Authority from the time he lost his Liberty as the last was the occasion of ending the first Civil War so the first was the cause of beginning a second For now all the Doggs fell together by the Ears over the Marybone The Army quarrelled with the Parliament they with one another the Commons differed from the Lords the Scots divided as much from the English the Presbyterians from the Independants Great was the Dissention amongst the Brethren and all for Place Power or Profit for either of which the King appearing to be the best Pawn the Army took him from the Parliament Commissioners to secure him in their own Custody which was so ill resented by the ruling Members that all their Consultations were about disbanding them Upon which the Army drew up a Charge and disbanded Eleven of them the first * The now Lord Hollis whereof was the first of those Five Members impeached by the King who were so little able to trifle with them as they did with him that they were fain not only to quit the House but the Kingdom After this the Army sent up a †The A mies Representation An. 1647. Representation as they call'd it to the two Houses propâ—sing 1. To purge out all those that ought not to sit there meaning all the Presbyterian Party 2. To disable those who had shew'd themselves disaffected to the Army that they might do no mischief meaning those who had voted with the Eleven Secluded Members 3. To settle a determinate Period for their Sitting intending to have all rul'd by the Sword 4. To give Accompt of the vast Sums they had received during the War intending the Overplus to be divided amongst themselves This so incouraged the Independent Party that they voted in favour of the Army to take the Militia of the City of London out of the Citizens hands who were for the most part of the Presbyterian Faction Upon which a Party of Apprentices came down and making the grand Representatives Prisoners in their own House did as I may say ram their Vote down their Throats making them not only retract it but Vote the Militia back again to the City Hereupon they call'd for Aid to the Army and the apprehensions of what Effects their coming up might have divided the Common-Councel of London as much as the last Riot had those of Westminster so that the General easily entred at the breach and possess'd himself of the Strength of the City Now as Maggots are ingendred by warmth out of Corruption so by the heat of these corrupted Factions there was kindled a Generation of Vermin call'd Agitators which were like the Locusts that rose out of the smoak of the bottomless Pit mentioned in the Revelations c. 9. v. 3. to whom sayes the Text was given power like as the Scorpions of the Earth have power who not liking that the King should continue so near as Hampton-Court found an expedient to fright him from thence by muttering something like an intended Assassination the discovery whereof they knew would quickly be brought to him and tempt him to make a private Escape knowing well that they had him as a Bird in a string and could take him again when they pleas'd which Counsel if it had been rejected by him 't is probable he had been murther'd in good earnest but he flying thereupon to the Isle of Wight where he was secur'd by their fast Friend the * Hamen Governour there they thought they might adventure to treat with him at that distance Accordingly they consented that the Parliament should tender him these four modest Propositions following to be reduced into Acts. 1. That it should be lawful for the Parliament to order and dispose the Militia as they pleas'd for the future without his consent and Treason for any to assemble in Arms above the number of Thirty without Commission from them 2. That the Houses should sit at what time they pleas'd and adjourn their sitting to what place they pleas'd and meet at their own pleasure and discretion for ever after 3. That all Oaths Interdictions and Declarations set forth in Publick by the King against either House should be accompted and declared void 4. That all whom the King had dignified with any Titles from the time himself departed with the Great Seal should be degraded of their Honour Which the Scotch Commissioners we must remember it to their Honour thought so derogatory to that of the Kings and contrary to former Ingagements that they follow'd after the Parliament Commissioners with a kind of State Hue and Cry and protested against them I hope it was not all a Juggle for they had been undone doubtless if the King had sign'd them but it took effect as they desired The King refused them and thereby gave them as they would have it thought just cause to refuse him Whereupon they pass'd that never to be forgotten Vote of Non-Addresses After which the Agitators vanish'd and the Committee of Darby-house took place which consisting most of Officers were now the Plenipotentiaries of the Kingdom And near the same time the Power of England was thus given up to them they had the Resignation made of that of Ireland too The King being now civilly dead and one would think buried the Prisons of Princes proving
as himself observ'd for the most part their Graves the Vote of Non-Addresses being as Earth flung upon him Fortune cruelly brings him to Life again by the Cordial of unexpected hopes heightned by the Zeal of several Counties declaring for him Divers Lords in Arms again at Land and his own Son with others at Sea these incouraged by the Revolt of several Towns those by the coming in of several Ships so that there were no less then Two thousand in Arms for him at Sea with Twenty good Ships and not so litt e as Ten thousand at Land with Horses Arms and Ammunition suitable And which was yet more considerable the Grand * Call'd The Committee of Danger Committee of State in Scotland whose very name carried Danger in it allarm'd them by sending the Propositions following 1. To bring the King to London or some of his Houses near with Freedom and Safety 2. To disband the Army 3. To punish those that had deteined him in Obscurity 4. To restore the Secluded Members 5. To establish the Presbyterian Government and suppress Sectaries And that they might yet appear more like a Committee of Danger they sent a formidable Army under the Conduct of Duke Hamilton to make good their Demands and to give their Nation the Honour of being the last as they were the first in Arms in this unhappy War The terror of these formidable Preparations incourag'd by several Petitions out of the City and Country moved the affrighted Parliament to consent to a Personal Treaty whilst the Army was busie in disputing the Points with the Sword and accordingly they recalâ—'d the Vote of Non-Addresses and sent their Commissioners to wait on the King at the Isle of Wight where he argued so like a Divine with the Divines so like a Lawyer with the Lawyers so like a States-man with their Matchiavillians that they went all away fully satisfied in their belief of his Wisdom Piety and Justice and upon the publishing his Conditions the Houses voted him to be in Honour Freedom and Safety according to the Laws Here seem'd to be nothing wanting now but a Sword in his hand to have once more disputed it with the Sword-men too and then possibly he might have saved himself and the despairing Nation But just as every man was making ready to bring in his Peace-Offering in Confidence that the King and Parliament were fully agreed the inraged Army returning home from the Conquest of all those that had oppos'd them doubly dyed with Blood and Treason alike Enemies to Peace and Reason broke down the great Chain of Order which binds even the Divels themselves and first seizing on him next on them sent no less then Forty of their principal Members to Hell a Place purposely made their Prison not so much for any conveniency of Reception or nearness of Scituation as the Uncoughness of the Name that by the conceipt of being typically damn'd they might bring them into despair and tempt some of them as after they did to become their own Executioners Ninety more they turn'd quite out of the House and appointed a day for turning out all the rest In the mean time they publish'd a Modification which to make the more acceptable they term'd The Agreement of the People by which the number of the Representatives of the Nation was reduc'd to Three hundred half which were to have power to make a Law and during the Intervals of Sessions a Councel of State was to govern This Model was put into the hands of those Members of their own Faction who besides the Confirmation thereof had Instructions given them for passing six other Votes 1. For renewing that of Non-Addresses 2. For annulling the Treaty and Concessions at the Isle of Wight 3. For bringing the King to publick Justice to answer with his own all the Blood shed in the War 4. For summoning in his two Sons the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York to render themselves by a day certain to give satisfaction on their parts otherwise to stand exil'd as Traytors to their Country 5. For doing publick Justice upon all the Kings Partakers 6. For paying off all their own Arrears forthwith How obedient Slaves this Rump of a House were to these their own Servants who could not find in their Heart to pay the least respect to their natural Prince appears by the Sequel For immediately they gave them or rather permitted them to give themselves above Sixty thousand pounds and voted that the General should take care to secure the King and the Councel of war to draw up a Charge of High Treason against him Lord Faulâ—land Behold the frailty of all humane things How soon great Kingdoms fall much sooner Kings This as it was an Insolence beyond all hope of pardon so nothing could justifie it but such a Violation of all sacred and humane Rights as must not only out-do all Example but out-face all Divinity and Majesty at once by erecting that High Court of Justice as they call'd it to try him as a Rebel against himself Preparatory whereunto they made Proclamation at Westminster-hall Cheapside and the Old Exchange that all that had any thing to say against him should come in at the prefix'd time and be heard And for the greater solemnity of their intended Paricide the Law was silenced that is the Tearm put off for fourteen dayes in order to the better formalizing the disorder that was to follow And now having brought the Royal Prisoner to their Judgment Seat they proceed to arraign him with not unlike Impudence and Impiety to that of the Rascal Jews when they brought the King of Kings to Tryal whom as they charg'd to be a Perverter so these charg'd him with being a Subverter of his People both Prisoners being in this alike Guilty that eithers Crime was the owning himself to be a King which as the Jews could not indure then so neither could these now Their King thought not fit to give any Answer to his Accusers this King preparing to give sitting Answers could not be heard But he had this satisfaction to hear Pontius Bradshaw the President by whom he was to be condemn'd condemn himself first and all his Fellow Paricides by a Reply to him not less absurd then observable For his Majesty reasoning upon the unreasonableness of not being suffer'd to speak for himself said Where is there in all the World that Court in which no Place is left for Reason to which t'other unwittingly reply'd Sir you shall find that this very Court is such an one Nay then retorted the King in vain will my Subjects expect Justice from you who stop your Ears to your King ready to plead his Cause Thus they strangled him before they beheaded him and designing to murther his Soul if possible as well as his Body added to their Denial of Justice so many Contumelies Indignities and Affronts as were enough to have tempted him to despair had not his Faith been as strong
next Parliament declared Protector only and so moderate as to permit his two great Supporters the Earl of Salisbury then Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Warwick Captain of Callice to share with him for a while in the power who making up a kind of Triumvirate for the time being placed and displaced whom they pleased Upon which the King foreseeing the evil Consequences was moved with a condescention beneath his Majesty to offer an Accommodation which not taking effect both sides prepared to begin the War afresh which ended not with themselves The principal Persons for Quality Power and Interest that stuck to the King were the young Duke of Somerset the Dukes of Exeter and Buckingham the Earls of Oxford Northumberland Shrewsbury Pembroke Ormond and Wiltshire the Lords Clifford Gray Egremount Dacres Beaumont Scales Awdley Wells c. who having muster'd all the Forces they could make incamped near Northampton Thither came the Earl of March Son and Heir to the Duke of York his Father being then in Ireland to give them Battel assisted by the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of Warwick Salisbury Huntington Devon Essex Kent Lincoln c. all men of great Name and Power with whom were the Lords Faulconbridge Scroop Stamford Stanley c. and so fierce was the Encounter betwixt them that in less then two hours above ten thousand men lost their Lives amongst whom the principal on the Kings side were the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lords Egremount and Beaumont the unfortunate King being made Prisoner the second time who by the Earl of Warwick was conveighed to the Tower Upon which the Queen taking with her the Prince and the young Duke of Somerset fled The rumour of which Victory brought the Duke of York over who laying aside all disguises in the next Parliament call'd for that purpose pâ—aced himself on the Throne and with great Assurance laid open his claim to the Crown as Son and Heir to the Lady Anne Daughter and Heir to Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son and Heir of Philippa sole Daughter and Heir of Lyonel Duke of Clarence third Son of Edward the Third and elder Brother to John of Gaunt Father of Henry the Fourth who was Grandfather to him that as he said now untruly stiled himself King by the Name of Henry the Sixth This though it was no feign'd Title but known to all the Lords yet such was their prudence that they left the King de facto to enjoy his Royalty during his Life and declar'd t'other only Heir apparent with this Caution for the Peace of the Kingdom That if King Henry 's Friends should attempt the disanulling of that that then the Duke should have the present Possession But this nothing daunted the Queen who having raised eighteen thousand men in Scotland resolv'd to urge Fortune once more and accordingly they met the Yorkists at Wakefield where to mock her with a present Victory Fortune gave her the Duke of York's Life who vainly had stil'd himself Protector of the Kingdom being not able it seems to protect himself but pity it was he could not save his innocent Son the Earl of Rutland a hopeful Youth of not above Twelve years old who being brought into the Army only to see fashions was inhumanly murther'd by the Lord Clifford kneeling upon his knees and begging for his life that angry Lord making him a Sacrifice as he said to appease the injured Ghost of his Father murther'd by t'others Father which Cruelty was fully and suddenly repaid by the Earl of March who in the Battel at Mortimer's Cross slew three thousand eight hundred of the Lancastrian Forces and having put the Earl of Ormond to slight cut off the head of Owen Tuthor who had married King Henry's Mother which it seems did not so weaken or dishearten them but that they recover'd themselves and took their full revenge at the Battel of Barnet-heath where the Queen was again Victorious But such was the activity of the Earl of March that before she could recover London he came up to her and passing by entred the City in Triumph before her whereby he had so far the Start in point of Opinion that he was forthwith elected King by the Name of Edward the Fourth leaving King Henry so much more miserable in that he lost not his Life with his Majesty But herein consisted his happiness That he was the only Prince perhaps of the World that never distinguish'd betwixt Adversity and Prosperity being so intent upon his Devotion as to think nothing Adversity that did not interrupt that Nature having rather fitted him for a Priest then a King and perhaps rather for a Sacrifice then a Priest that he might not otherwise dye then as a Martyr that had lived all his time so like a Confessor HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE The sudden end of these his Competitors gave K. Edward as sudden an end to all his Troubles though not to his Wars For having setled peace at home he was provok'd to take Revenge upon his Enemies abroad falling first upon the King of France after upon the King of Scots but they thinking themselves as unable to grapple with him as two Foxes with the Lion bought their Peace and avoided the ill Consequences of his Fury till Death the common Foe of Mankind made him turn another way forcing him to end the Race of his Fortune as he began it like the Great Augustus Caesar who at the same Age succeeded his slaughter'd Predecessor and by a like Fate was disappointed of his intended Successor HON · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE This was as much as Humane Policy could do but in vain doth he strive to preserve what Heaven had decreed to overthrow Having by his Will declar'd his ambitious Brother Gloucester Protector of both the Children he was resolv'd to let this act the part of King and no King no longer then till his Tyranny could support it self by its own Authority who having to do with the Mother a weak Woman for to her from whom they received their Lives was these helpless Princes to owe their Deaths he had that respect to her Frailty as to keep time with her slow pac'd fears in deferring his intended Paracide till she that was their Nurse thought it fit time to bring them to bed Unhappy Youths to whom the Tenderness of their Mother must prove no less fatal than the Cruelty of their Uncle Had she in the first place Insisted upon the keeping them herself as what fitter Guardian then their own Mother or had she not in the last place Rashly consented to the taking off that Guard which her Husband had so providently placed about them or had at least suffer'd the King to have continued for a while longer at that distance he was when his Father dyed where by his Education and Acquaintance he might have as well secured the Peoples Faith as he was secur'd by