Bishops Dispensations only but Mandates also And those Bishops have been fined at the Kings Bench and elsewhere that absented themselves from Councils in Parliament without the King 's special leave and licence first obtained Thirdly When they are forbidden interesse to be present the meaning is not in the very Canons themselves that they should go out of the room but only that they should not be present to add Authority Help and Advice to any Sentence pronounced against a particular or individual Person in cause of Blood or mutilation If he be present auctorizando consilium opem vel operam dando then he contracts an irregularity and no otherwise saith our Linwood out of Innocentius And the Canon reacheth no further than to him that shall pronounce Sentence of Death or Mutilation upon a particular Person For Prelates that are of Counsel with the King in Parliament or otherwise being demanded the Law in such and such a Case without naming any individuum may answer generaliter loquendo That Treason is to be punisht with Death and a Counterseiter of the King's Coin Hostien lib. 2. eap de fals monet allowed by John Montague de Collatione Parliamentorum In Tracta Doctor Vol. 10. p. 121. Fourthly These Canons are not in force in England to bind the King's Subjects for several Reasons First Because they are against his Majesty's Prerogative as you may see it clearly in the Articles of Clarendon and the Writ of Summons and therefore abolished 25 H. 8. c. 8. It is his Majesty's Prerogative declar'd at Clarendon that all such Ecclesiastical Peers as hold of him by Barony should assist in the King's Judicatures until the very actual pronouncing of a Sentence of Blood And this holds from Henry the First down to the latter end of Queen Elizabeth who imployed Archbishop Whitgist as a Commissioner upon the Life of the Earl of Essex to keep him in Custody and to examine him after that Commotion in London And to say that this Canon is confirm'd by Common Law is a merry Tale there being nothing in the Common Law that tends that way Secondly It hath been voted in the House of Commons in this very Session of Parliament That no Canons since the Conquest either introduced from Rome by Legatine Power or made in our Synods had in any Age nor yet have at this present any power to bind the Subjects of this Realm unless they be confirmed by Act of Parliament Now these Canons which inhibit the Presence of Church-men in Cause that concerns Life and Member were never confirm'd by any but seem to be impeach't by divers and sundry Acts of Parliament Thirdly The whole House of Peers have this very Session despised and set aside this Canon Law which some of the young Lords cry up again in the same Session and in the very same Cause to take away the Votes of the Bishops in the Case of the Earl of Strafford For by the same Canon Law that forbids Clergy-men to Sentence they of that Coat are more strictly inhibited to give no Testimony in Causes of Blood Nee ettam potest esse test is vel tabellio in causâ Sanguinis Linw. part 2. sol 146. For no Man co-operates more in a Sentence of Death than the Witnesses upon whose Attestation the Sentence is chiefly past Lopez pract crim c. 98. distl 21. and yet have the Lords admitted as Witnesses produced by the House of Commons against the Earl of Strafford the Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh with the Bishop of London which Lords command now all Bishops to withdraw in the agitation of the self same Case Bishops it seems may be Witnesses to kill ont-right but may not sit in the Discussion of the Cause to help in case of Innocency a distressed Nobleman Whereas the very Gothish Bishops who first invented this Exclusion of Prelates from such Judicatures allow them to Vote as long as there is any hope left of clearing the Party or gaining of Pardon 4. Conc. Tol. Can. 31. And by the beginning of that Canon observe the use in Spain in that Age Anno 633. as touching this Doctrine Saepe principes contra quoslibet majestatis obnoxios Sacerdotibus negotia sua committunt Binnius 4. Tom. Can. Edit ult p. 592. Lastly In the Case of Archbishop Abbot all the great Civilians and Judges of the Land as Dr. Steward Sir H. Martin the Lord Chief Justice Hobart and Judge Doderidge which two last were very well versed in the Canon Law delivered positively when my self at first opposed them That all Irregularities introduced by Canons upon Ecclesiastical Persons concerning matters of Blood were taken away by the Reformation of the Church of England and were repugnant to the Statute 25 II. 8. as restraining the King 's most just Prerogative to imploy his own Subjects in such Functions and Offices as his Predecessors had done and to allow them those Priviledges and Recreations as by the Laws and Customs of this Realm they had formerly enjoy'd notwithstanding the Decree de Clerico venatore or the Constitution nae Clerici Saeculare c. or any other in that kind 150. The only Objection which appears upon any Learning or Record against the Clergies Voting in this Kingdom in Causes of Blood are two or three Protestations entred by the Bishops among the Records of the upper House of Parliament and some few Passages in the Law-Books relating thereunto The Protestation the Lords now principally stand upon is that of William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury 11 Rich. 2. inserted in the Book of Priviledges which Mr. Selden collected for the Lords of the upper House In the Margin whereof that passage out of R. Hovenden about which we spake before about Clergy-mens agitation of Judgments of Blood is unluckily inserted and for want of due consideration and some suspicion of partial carriage in the Bishops in the case of the Earl of Strafford hath been eagerly pressed upon the Bishops by some of the Lords in such an unusual and unaccustomed manner that if I my self offering to speak to this Objection had not voluntarily withdrawn the rest of the Bishops and I had been without hearing voted out of the House in the agitation of a Splinter of that Cause of the Earl of Strafford's which came not near any matter of Blood An act never done before in that honourable House and ready to be executed suddenly without the least consideration of the merit of the Cause The only words insisted upon in the Protestation of Courtney's are these Because in this present Parliament certain matters are agitated whereat it is not lawsul for us according to the Prescript of holy Canons to be present And by and by after they say These matters are such in the which Nec possumus nec debemus interesse This is the Protestation most stood upon That of Archbishop Arundel 21 Rich. 2. is not so full and ample as this of Courtney's For the Bishops going forth left their Proxies with the
Lay-Lords and consequently continued present in Judicature in the eye and construction of the Law Therefore I apply my Answers to Courtney's Protestation principally which are divers and fit to be weighed and ponder'd First I do observe that Bishops did never protest or withdraw in Causes of Blood but only under the unsteddy Reign of Richard the Second Never before nor after the time of that unfortunate King to this present Parliament for ought appears in Record or History And that one Swallow should make us such a Spring and one Omission should create a Law or Custom against so many Actions of the English Prelates under so many Kings before so many Kings and Queens after that young Prince seems to me a strange Doctrine especially when I consider that by the Rules of the Civil and Common Law a Protestation dies with the death of him that makes it or is regularly vacated and disannulled Per contrarium actum subsequentem protestationem by any one subsequent act varying from the tenour of the said Protestation Regul Juris Bap. Nicol. part 2. Now that you may know how the Prelates carried themselves in this point and actually voted in Causes of Treason and sometimes to Blood before Richard the Second I refer me to what I cited before out of Mr. Selden and he out of Stephanides concerning Becket condemned by his Peers Ecclesiastical and Temporal 15 H. 2. Archbishop Stratford acquitted of High Treason in Parliament by four Prelates four Earls and four Barons under Edward the Third Antiq. Britan. p. 223. There was 4 Ed. 3. Roger de Mortimer Berisford Travers and others adjudged Traitors by Bishops as well as other Peers 16 Ed. 3. Thomas de Berkely was acquitted of Treason in pleno Parliamento And especially I refer my self to Roll 21 Rich. 2. Num. 10. which averrs That Judgments and Ordinances in the time of that King's Progenitors had been avoided by the absence of the Clergy which makes the Commons there to pray that the Prelates would make a Procurator by whom they might in all Judgments of Blood be at the least legally if they durst not be bodily present in such Judicatures And for the practice since the Reign of Rich. II. be it observed that in the fifth of Hen IV. the Commons thank the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for their good and rightful Judgment in freeing the Earl of Northumberland from Treason 3 Hen. 5. The Commons pray a Confirmation of the Judgment given upon the E. of Cambridge by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 5 H. 5. Sir J. Oldcastle is attainted of Treason and Heresie by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 28 H. 6. The Duke of Suffolk is charged with Treason before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 31 H. 6. The Earl of Devon in like sort and so down to the Earl of Bristol's Case 22 Maii 1626. ten Bishops are joyned with ten Earls and ten Barons in the disquisition and agitation of that supposed Treason I leave it therefore to any indifferent Judgment Whether these Protestations made all under one Kings Reign dying with the Parties that made them can void a Right and Custom grounded on a continual Practice to the contrary in all other Tryals that have been since the Conquest to this present Parliament 151. Secondly It is fitting we know the nature of a Protestation which some may mistake Protestatio est animi nostri declaratio juris acquirendi vel conservandi vel damnum depellendi causâ facta saith Spiegle Calvin and all the Civilians No Protestation is made by any man in his Wits to destroy his own Right and much less another mans but to acquire or preserve some Right or to avoid and put off some Wrong that was like to happen to the Party or Parties that make the Protestation As here in Courtney's Protestation the Prelates in the first place conceive a Right and Power they had voluntarily to absent themselves while some matters were treated of at that time in the House of Lords which by the Canon-Law the Breach whereof the Popes of Rome did vindicate in those times with far more Severity than they did the Transgressions of the Law of God they were not suffer'd to be present at not for want of Right to be there in all Causes but for fear of Papal Censures In the next place they did preserve their former Right as Peers which they still had though voluntarily absenting themselves More solito interessendi considerandi tyactandi ordinandi definiendi all things without exception acted and executed in that Parliament And in the last place they protest against any loss of right of being or voting in Parliament that could befall them for this voluntary absenting of themselves at this time And where in all this Protestation is there one word to prejudice their Successors or to authorize any Peer to command his fellow-Peer called thither by the same Writ of Summons that himself is and by more ancient Prescription to withdraw and go out from this Common-Council of the Kingdom Thirdly We do not certainly know what these matters were whereat Archbishop Courtney conceived the Prelates neither could nor ought to be present These matters are left in loose and general words in that Protestation Some conceive indeed it was at the Condemnation of Tressilian Brambre L. Beauchamp and others Ant. Brit. p. 286. But the Notes of Privileges belonging to the Lords collected by Mr. Selden do with more reason a great deal assign this going forth of the Prelates to be occasion'd by certain Appeals of Treason preferred in that Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester against Alexander Archbishop of York whom the Popish Canons of those Times as you know exempted as a sacred person from the cognizance of King or Parliament and therefore the rest of the Bishops as the Squares went then neither could nor ought to be present and Parties to break the Exemptions Immunities and Privileges of that great Prelate But the Earl of Strafford is not the Archbishop but the President of York and to challenge any such Exemptions and Immunities at this time from the cognizance of King and Parliament amounts to little less than Treason Therefore this Protestation is very unseasonably urged to thrust out any Protestant Prelate from voting in Parliament Lastly In the Civil and Canon-Law for the Law of this Land knoweth it not a Protestation is but a Testation or witnessing before-hand of a man 's own Mind or Opinion whereby they that protest provide to save and presorve their own Right for the time to come It concludes no more bende themselves no Stranger to the Act no Successor but if it be admitted sticks as inherent in the singular and individual person until either the Party dyes or the Protestation be drawn and revoked Therefore what is a Protestation made by Will. Courtney to Will. Laud Or by Tho. Arundel to bind Tho. Morton And what one Rule in the common-Common-Law of the Land in the Journaâ—-Books or
in the Records of the Tower can be produced to exclude the Lords Spiritual from sitting and voting in Causes of Blood Sometimes by the great Favour of the King Lords and Commons not otherwise they were permitted to absent themselves never before now commanded by the Lay-Lords to forbear their Votes in any Cause that was agitated in Parliament So our Law Books say That the Prelates by the canon-Canon-Law may make a Procurator in Parliament when a Peer is to be tryed Which is enough to shew their Right thereunto This is to be seen 10 Edw. IV. f. 6. placit 17. And That it is only the canon-Canon-Law that inhibits them to vote in Sanguinary Causes Stamford Pleas of the Crown f. 59. And saith Stamford the Canon-Law is a distinct and separated notion and not grown in his Age to any such Usance or Custom as made it Common-Law or the Law of the Land 152. Coming now to an end it moves me little what some object That many worthy Fathers of this Church-reformed and Bishop Andrews among the rest did forbear to vote in Causes of Blood and voluntarily retired out of the House if such things came in question nor did offer to enter any Protestation I do not doubt but they had pious Affections in it though they did not fully ponder what they did I have heard that a main Reason was that of the Record and Statute of 11 Rich. II. That it is the honesty of that Calling not to intermeddle in matters of Blood Now the French word Honesty signifies Decency and Comeliness As though it were a butcherly and a loathsom matter to be a Judge or to do Right upon a Malefactor to Death or loss of Members But this is an imaginary Decency never known in Nature or Scripture as I said before but begotten by Tradition in the dark Foggs and Mists of Popery Such an Honesty of the Clergy it was to have a shaven Crown to depend on the Pope to plead Exemptions and to resuse to answer for Felonies in the King's Courts All these were esteemed in those days the Honesty of the Clergy And such an Honesty it was in the Prelates of England in the loose Reign of Rich. II to absent themselves when they listed from the Aslembly of the Estate contrary to the King's Command in the Writ of Summons and to the Duties of their places as Peers of Parliament Yet they had more insight into what they did than some of our Bishops for they never offer'd to retire themselves in those days before their Protestation was benignly received and suffer'd to be enter'd upon the Parliament-Roll by the King the Lords and the House of Commons I know those excellent men that are with God proposed other Scruples to themselves they doubted not of the Legality or Comeliness for an Ecclesiastical Peer of the Kingdom of England to vote in a Judgment of Blood they did it continually in passing all Appeals and Attainders in Parliament but it startled them because it is not the practice of Prelates in other parts of the Christian Church so to do and thought it better to avoid Scandal and the Talk of other Nations That there being in the High Court of Parliament and Star-chamber Judges enough beside them they might without any prejudice to their King and Country forbear voting in those Judicatures somewhat the rather because all our Bishops in England are Divines and Preachers of the Gospel and consequently to be employ'd in Mercy rather than in Judgment who never touch upon the sharpness of the Law unless it be to prepare mens Hearts to relish and receive the comfort of the Gospel Let the Piety then and the Good-meaning of those grave Fathers be praised but I say they forgot their Duty to the Writ of the King's Summons and the use and weight of their Place And now to close I protest without vaunting I cannot perceive how this can be answer'd which I have digested together And if so many Bishops cannot obtain their Right which is so clear on their side God send the Earl of Strafford better Justice who is but a single Peer 153. Blame not my Book that there is so much of this Argument I hope the Ignorant will not read it at all but let a knowing man read it again and when he hath better observ'd it he will think it short Some History-spoilers have detracted from our Bishop that though he pleaded much in Parliament to his own Peril in the behalf of E. Strafford yet he wrought upon the King to consent to give way to his beheading Says our Arch-Poet Spencer lib. 3. Can. 1. st 10. Great hazard were it and Adventure fond To lose long-gotten Honour with one evil Hand But he shall lose no Honour in this for first as Nazian Or. 27 rejects them that had raised an ill Report of him whom he praised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can you prove that they were sound in their mind that said so if any will believe it from such authors a good man hath lost his thanks Ego quod bené fec◠malè feci quia amor mutavit locum Plautus That which was well done is ill done because it is not lovingly requited Hear all and judge equally Both the Houses of Lords and Commons by most Voices found the Earl guilty of Treason they made the greater Quire but those few that absolved him sung better The King interceded by himself by the Prince his Son to save him craved it with Cap in Hand Being founder'd in his Power he could go no further the Subjects denied their Soveraign the Life of one Man so Strafford must be cast away Opimii calamitas turpitudo Po. Rom. non judicium fuit Cic. pro Plancio Whose Calamity is the shame of English Justice His Majesty for divers days could not find in his Heart to set his Hand to the Warrant for Execution for Conscience dresseth it self by its own light And I would he had been as constant to his own Judgment in other things that we might remember it to his Honour as Capitolinus testifies for Maximus Non aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit The fate of it was that the Parliament would not grant Mercy to the Earl and would have Justice from the King according to their Sentence whether he would or no They threaten and were as good as their Word to sit idle and do nothing for publick Safety and Settlement the whole Realm being in distraction till the Stroke was struck All the Palace-Yard and Hall were daily full of Mutineers and Outcries His Majesty's Person was in danger the roguy Off-scum in the Streets of Westminster talk'd so loud that there was cause to dread it Though there is nothing more formidable than to fear any thing more than God yet the most eminent Lords of the Council perswaded His Majesty to make no longer resistance Placeat quodcunque necesse est Lucan lib. 4. Not he but Necessity should be guilty of it If he did
Ruin of a Kingdom as little Children are more afraid of a Vizard than of the Fire therefore they stroke them with fair words when they meet them O Indignity An quae Turpia cerdoni Volesos Brutumque decebunt Juven Sat. 8. That which was base in Coblers was it not worse in Lords and Knights and Squires and such as assumed to be the Princes of the Land No Senators that intended to rule a People did ever endure the like Let M. AEmilius the Consul speak for the State of Rome Livy lib. 39. Majores nostri ne vos quidem nisi cum aut vexillo in arce posito comitiorum causâ exercitus positus esset aut plebi Concilium tribuni edixissent aut aliqui ex magistratibus and concionem vocassent temerè coire voluerint ubi legitimum rectorem multitudini censerent esse debere They that boulster up such Insurrections as these their own Guards upon a new Quarrel may knock them on the Head Cum tot populis stipatus eas in tot populis vix una fides Sen Hercul furens But these Wat Tylers and Round-Robins being driven or persuaded out of White-hall there was a buzz among them to take their way to Westminster-Abby some said Let us pluck down the Organs Some cried Let us deface the Monuments that is prophane the Tombs and Burying-places of Kings and Queens This was carried with all speed to the Archbishop the Dean who made fast the Doors whi◠they found shut against them and when they would have forced them they were beaten off with Stones from the top of the Leads the Archbishop all this while maintaining the Abby in his own person with a few more for fear they should seize upon the Regalia which were in that place under his Custody The Spight of the Mutineers was most against him yet his Followers could not entreat him to go aside as the Disciples restrained Paul from rushing into an Uproar Act. 19.30 but he stood to it as Cesius Quintius in Livy lib. 3. Unus impetus tribunitios popularesque procellas sustinebat After an hours dispute when the Multitude had been well pelted from aloft a few of the Archbishops Train opened a Door and rush'd out with Swords drawn and drove them before them like fearful Hares They were already past their Duty but short of their Malice and every day made Battery on all the Bishops as they came to Parliament forcing their Coaches back tearing their Garments menacing if they came any more What Times could be worse None says Tully upon M. Antony's Violence upon the Senate Phil. Or. 13. Caesare dominante venicbamus in Senatum si non liberè tamen tutò What Aid did the Lords afford to quell these Affronts Why let Softhenes be beaten before the Judgment-seat Gallio cares for none of these things Act. 18.17 The Bishops were God's Ministers and let him defend them as Tyberius to that way in Tacitus Deorum injuriae Diis curae sunt The remissness of our Parliament Lords Optimates non Optimi shewed the same Indifferency O ye religious Kings that would govern with Peace how are ye able These foul and unremediable Uproars tell you that the only Imperatorian Art is to be furnish'd with a good Army and to know how to order it 168. So great a Hurry continuing wherein all things were turned the wrong side upward there was such an apparent Mischief co-incident that whatsoever did pass in the Lords House during their constrained absence was null and invalid for if any one person in either House be repelled by force and be denied Freedom to give his Vote that Nicety is a Bar to the whole Proceeding of the Parliament as some write that comment subtilly upon Parliamentary Privileges Not as if the Speaker did ever sit in his Chair when none were absent or that one Vote is like to sway a Cause yet sometimes it comes to so near a scrutiny but this Judgment is made of it That it may so fall out and doth often that one Member put the case the person forced out may propose such Reasons to the House as that all resolve into his Opinion This great Prejudice concurring by repelling the Bishops tumultuously from taking their Places in the Lords House York called his Brethren together to set their Hands to a Petition and Protestation made to His Majesty and the Lords Temporal and put it into the L. Keeper Littleton's Hand yet not to be read till His Majesty by the Bishop's Invitation should fit with the Peers in the House and then to read it in the King and the Lords audience and not before The L. Keeper unadvisedly I hope it was no worse produceth the Petition c. before the King was made acquainted with it which made a Project well contrived break out into a Thunder-clap of Mischief which rash or bad dealing in the Lord-Keeper York could not suspect And he that drives much business shall be cross'd in some for want of Luck though he be never so prudent Nulli fortuna tam dedita est ut multa tentanti ubique respondeat Sen. lib. 1. de irâ c. 3. That Protestation follows here whose like and almost same York had found in the Records of the Tower which he studied there till his Eye-sight was much the worse for it To the KING 's Most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Peers now assembled in Parliament The humble Petition and Protestation of all the Bishops and Prelates now called by His Majesty's Writs to attend the Parliament and now present about London and Westminster for that Service THat whereas the Petitioners are called up by several and respective Writs and under great Penalties to attend in Parliament and have a clear and indubitate Right to vote in Bills and other matters whatsoever debateable in Parliament by the ancient Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm and ought to be protected by Your Majesty quietly to attend and prosecute that great Service They humbly remonstrate and protest before God Your Majesty and the noble Lords and Peers now assembled in Parliament that as they have an indubitate Right to Sit and Vote in the House of the Lords so are they if they may be protected from Force and Violence most ready and willing to perform their Duties accordingly And that they do abominate all Actions or Opinions tending to Popery and the maintenance thereof as also all Propension and Inclination to any malignant Party or any other Side or Party whatsoever to the which their own Reasons and Consciences shall not move them to adhere But whereas they have been at several times violently menaced affronted and assaulted by multitudes of People in their coming to perform their Services in that Honourable House and lately chased away and put in danger of their Lives and can find no Redress or Protection upon sundry Complaints made to both Houses in these particulars They likewise humbly protest before your Majesty and the noble House of Peers
Cook in his Jurisdiction of Courts looks no higher than 28. of Edw. 3. This Lord Keeper cites a Precedent out of his own Search of Records of a Baron Fin'd and Imprison'd by it in the 16th of Edw. 2. as it is quoted Cabal P. 58. Of what standing it was before for the Evidence doth not run as if then it were newly born to me is uncertain For the Dignity that famous Judge I mentioned lifts up his Style that it is the most honourable Court our Parliament excepted that is in the Christian World Jurisdic P. 65. The Citations of it are to cause to appear Coram Rege Concilio for the King in Judgment of Law is always in the Court when it fits and King James did twice in Person give Sentence in it The Lords and others of the Privy Council with the two Chief Justices or two other Justices or Barons of the Exchequer in their Absence are standing Judges of that Court. For in Matters of Right and Law some of the Judges are always presum'd to be of the King's Counsel The other Lords of Parliament who are properly De magno Concilio Regis are only in Proximâ poteentiâ of this Council and are actually Assessors when they are specially called These Grandees of the Realm who cannot fit to hear a Cause under the Number of Eight at the least ennoble this Court with their Presence and Wisdom to the Admiration of Foreign Nations and to the great Satisfaction of our selves for none can think himself too great to be Try'd for his Misdemeanors before a Convention of such Illustrious Senators And as Livy says Nihil tam aequandae libertati prodest quà m potentissimum quemque posse causam dicere As touching the Benefit that the Star-Chamber did bring thus that Atlas of the Law the Lord Cook Et cujus pars magna fuit says in the same Place That the right Institution and ancient Orders thereof being observed it keepeth all England in Quiet Which he maintains by two Reasons First Seeing the Proceeding according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm cannot by one Rule of Law suffice to punish in every Case the Enormity of some great and horrible Crimes this Court dealeth with them to the end the Medicine may be according to the Disease and the Punishment according to the Offence Secondly To curb Oppression and Exorbitancies of great Men whom inferior Judges and Jurors though they should not would in respect of their Greatness be afraid to offend Indeed in every Society of Men there will be some Bashawes who presume that there are many Rules of Law from which they should be exempted Aristotle writes it as it were by Feeling not by Guess Polit. 4. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that were at the Top among the Greeks nor would be rul'd nor would be taught to be rul'd Therefore this Court profest the right Art of Justice to teach the Greatest as well as the Meanest the due Construction of Good Behaviour I may justly say that it was a Sea most proper for Whale-Fishing little Busses might cast out Nets for Smelts and Herring So says the great Lawyer Ordinary Offences which may sufficiently be punished by the Proceeding of the Common Laws this Court leaveth to the ordinary Courts of Justice Ne dignitas hujus Curiae vilesceret 96. Accordingly the Lord Keeper Williams having Ascended by his Office to be the first Star in the Constellation to illuminate that Court he was very Nice I might say prudent to measure the Size of Complaints that were preferred to it whether they were knots fit for such Axes A number of contentious Squabbles he made the Attorney's Pocket up again which might better be compounded at home by Country Justices It was not meet that the Flower of the Nobility should be call'd together to determine upon Trifles Such long Wing'd Hawks were not to be cast off to fly after Field-Fares The Causes which he designed to hear were Grave and Weighty wherein it concern'd some to be made Examples for Grievous Defamations Perjuries Riots Extortions and the like Upon which Occasions his Speeches were much heeded and taken by divers in Ciphers which are extent to this day in their Paper Cabinets To which I Appeal that they were neither long nor Virulent For though he had Scope on those Ocasions to give his Auditors more then a Tast of his Eloquence which was clear sententious fraught with Sacred and Moral Allusions yet he detested nothing more then to insult upon the Offendor with girds of Wit He foresaw that Insolencies and Oppressions are publick provocations to bury a Court in it's own Shame And what could exasperate more then when an unfortunate man hath run into a Fault to shew him no humane Respect Nay to make him pass through the two malignant Signs of the Zodiaque Sagitary and Scorpio That is to wound him first with Arrows of sharp-pointed Words and then to Sting him with a Scorpiack censure Indeed if there be an extreme in shewing too much mercy I cannot Absolve the Lord Keeper For many I confess censur'd him for want of deeper censures said he was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners to all delinquents and rather their Patron then their Judge 〈◊〉 was so oftentimes when he scented Malice in the Prosecution It was so sometimes when he laid his Finger upon the Pulse of humane Frailty Brethren if a Man be overtaken in a Fault we which are Spiritual Restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering thy self least thou also be Tempted Galat. 6.1 Pliny the younger had been faulted that he had excus'd some more then they deserv'd Whereupon he Writes to Septitius lib. 7. Ep. Quid mihi invident felicissimum Errorem Ut enim non sint tales quales à me praedicantur ego tamen Beatus quod mihi videntur Which is to this meaning Why do you grudg me this Error they are not so good as I accounted them but I am happy in my Candor that I account them better then they are But first he never condemn'd an Offender to be Branded to be Scourg'd to have his Ears cut Though that Court hath proceeded to such censure in time old enough to make Prescription yet my Lörd Cook adviseth it should be done sparingly upon this Reason Quod Arbitrio judicis relinquitur non facile trahit ad effusionem Sanguinis They that judge by the light of Arbitrary Wisdom should seldom give their sentence to spill Blood He would never do it and declin'd it with this plausible avoidance as the Arch-Bishop Whitgift and Bancroft and the Bishop of Winton the Learned Andrews had done before him that the Canons of Councils had forbidden Bishops to Act any thing to the drawing of blood in a judicial Form Once I call to mind he dispens'd with himself and the manner was pretty One Floud a Railing Libelling Varlet bred in the Seminaries beyond Seas had vented Contumelies bitterer then Gall against many
Keeper did not unforesee how far this Cord might be drawn And that those Discontents which were but Vapours in common talk might thicken into a Thunder-Clap in an ensuing Parliament Which though it assembled not in 14 Months after yet this Prometheus had learn'd his Lesson That Safety is easiest purchas'd by Prevention An Instrument that is strung may be us'd upon a little warning Having thus studied the Welfare of the Duke he spake to him to this effect My Lord YOur Mother is departed out of the Bosom of the Church of England into whose Confession of Faith she was Baptiz'd a strong Schism in any to go away from that Society of Christians among whom they cannot demonstrate but Salvation may be had I would we could bring her Home so soon that it might not be seen she had ever wandered For it is a favourable Judgment among Divines Hormisda in Epist ad Anastasium Imperatorem Propè ab Innocentiâ non recedit qui ad eam sine tarditate revertit He seems almost not to have faln from Innocency that returns into it without delay But my Care I cannot dissemble it is more for your self Your Integrity My Lord is wounded through your Mothers Apostasie Perhaps you hear not of it For I believe it is late before any Truth meets you that is offensive It is one of the greatest Miseries of Greatness which Pollio imputes to Gallienus Nemo ei vera nec in bonis nec in malis nuntiat But it is time to let your Lordship know That the Mouth of Clamour is opened that now the Recusants have a Potent Advocate to plead for their Immunity which will increase their Number When this is banded in the High and Popular Court by Tribunitial Orators what a Dust it will raise I have touch'd a Sore with my Finger I am furnish'd with an Emplaster to lay upon it which I presume will Lenifie Only measure not the Size of Good Counsel by the Last of Success My Lord Your Mother must be invited or provoked to hear Debates between Learned Men speaking to those Points of Controversie that have staggered her Let her Ladiship bring her Champions with her Entertain her with many of these Conferences Let them be solemn as can be devised the King himself being ever present at the Disputes and the Conslux of great Persons as thick as the Place will permit Let your Lordships Industry and Earnestness be Conspicuous to catch at every Twig of Advantage much more to give Applause to every solid Reason which may bring your Mother home to a sound Mind again If her Ladiship recover of her Unstableness by these Applications you have won a Soul very precious to you and will raise your self up into the Fame of a Sincere Protestant But if the Light within her be Darkness and that she frustrate all hopes of her Reparation the Notice of your Lordships Pious Endeavours will fill the Kingdom with a good Report and will smell to every good Nostril like a sweet Savour My Lord Courage I set my rest upon 't that this Counsel will not deceive because you will labour your Mothers Conversion not as a Stratagem of Counterfeacance but upon my Knowledge from the very Mind of your Heart The Conferences went presently to work His Majesty singularly versed in Polemical Theology was Superintendent The Champion in whose Sufficiency the Lady most affied was Fisher the Jesuit With whom Dr. Francis White then Dean of Carlile first encountred and gave him Foil after Foil as the Colloquy did let the World know most impartially publish'd But Female Weakness was not evinced by Manly Performance The Logick of the Serpent had strong force upon Eve and that Infirmity is descended upon her Daughters Another Meeting was prepared wherein the Lord Keeper entred the Lists with Fisher because he had advised to those Disputes he was willing to be Active as well as Consultative As the old Rule would have Precept and Example to go Hand in Hand Cum dixit quid faciendum sit probat faciendo He had observ'd when he was an Auditor at the former Conflict that if divers of the Jesuits Postulata were yielded to him datis non concessis that the Church of England repurging it self from the super-injected Errors of the Church of Rome would stand inculpable So he labour'd to evidence if unnecessary Strifes were discreetly waved what little was wanting to a Conclusive Unity Ut quae non licuit per omnia ex necessariis partibus allegentur as the Emperor Justin wrote to Pope Hormisda The King did greatly commend his Charitable and Pacificatory handling of Controversies which gentle usage though it put the Jesuit out of his ordinary trot yet he fell into a shuffling pace and carried away the Lady behind him The Lord Keeper exposed not his part in Print as Fulgentius says of Frier Paul That he writ nothing with Intention to publish it unless Necessity constrein'd him The third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that contended with the Jesuit both for the Palm of Victory and to bring Eye-Salve to the dim-sighted Lady was Dr. Laud then Bishop of St. David's who galled Fisher with great Acuteness Which the false Loiolite traduced and made slight in his Reports Whereupon the Bishop for his just Vindication Corroborated all that he had delivered with very strong Enlargement paying his Adversary both with the Principal and Interest and divers Years after finish'd it with an Auctarium which hath rendred it a Master-Piece in Divinity But all this labour was spent in vain as to the Countess's part and she left to be numbred among those of whom Christ foretold that they loved Darkness more than Light Qui scis an prudens huc se dejecerit Atque Servari nelit Horat. Art Poet. Yet on my Lord her Sons part that which was desir'd was Atchieved He had appeared in the Field an Antagonist to her Revolt whom he Honour'd and Observ'd with the most of Filial Duty So she was less Valued ever after and sent from the Court for her Obstinacy But he was Blazed abroad for the Red-Cross-Knight that was Unàs Champion against Archimago Yet it was not Printed to be Read and Judg'd of till the Parliament Sate which was now call'd 179. And lest the precedents of the King's Writs should be lost as his Houses and Revenues are embezel'd here follows the Copy of the Summons directed to the Lord Keeper under the Signet James Rex TRusty and well beloved Counsellor we Greet you well Whereas we are Resolv'd to hold a Parliament at our Palace of Westminster the Twelfth day of February next ensuing These are to Will and require you forthwith upon the Receipt hereof to Issue forth Our Writs of Summons to all the Peers of our Kingdom And also all other usual Writs for the Electing of such Knights Citizens and Burgesses as are to serve therein And withal to issue out all usual Writs for the Summoning of the Clergy of both Provinces
being Resolute to out Face envy and as secure as a former prosperous Life could make him to suspect no Ignominy or Infelicity 180. The week that stayed the Parliament being over it met as it were in the Temple of Concord Common presagements seldom fail It came so welcom to all Men that they rejoyced for it according to the Joy of Harvest The Solemnity began with a Sermon in the Abby of Westminster made by Dr. Carew Bishop of Exon. Even Idolaters did not omit to enter upon any great Work without some Ceremony of Religion Omnia levius casura rebus Divinis procuratis Tull. l. 2. de divin The Bishops Theme upon which he raised his Exhortations very prudently was out of the Words of dying Jacob to the Head of one of the Tribes Gen. 49.13 Zabulon shall dwell at the Haven of the Sea c. From which he Preach'd and Pray'd earnestly it might be considered Zabulon juxta mare positus aliorum videt naufragia sed ipse salvus est How Zabulon might thank God that he saw Wars abroad and none at home and that he saw many Shipwrack'd at Sea while he was safe in his Haven But the Stream of Opinion was then against his Doctrine For we think every thing good whose Evil we have not felt Immediately from thence the Train removed to the Higher House where the King being set under his State the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Assistants of the Court Attending his Royal person and the Lower House being admitted to the Audience of that which was to be said his Majesty Feasted them with a Speech then which nothing could be apter for the Subject or more Eloquent for the matter All the helps of that Faculty were extreamly perfect in him abounding in Wit by Nature in Art by Education in Wisdom by Experience Mr. George Herbert being Praelector in the Rhetorique School in Cambridg anno 1618. Pass'd by those fluent Orators that Domineered in the Pulpits of Athens and Rome and insisted to Read upon an Oration of King James which he Analysed shew'd the concinnity of the Parts the propriety of the Phrase the height and Power of it to move Affections the Style utterly unknown to the Ancients who could not conceive what Kingly Eloquence was in respect of which those noted Demagogi were but Hirelings and Triobulary Rhetoricians The Speech which was had at the opening of this Parliament doth commend Mr. Herbet for his Censure Which yet I Engross not here for the Reader that is Conversant in Books will find it often Printed The Sum of it was to ask Advice of the Lords and Commons what was fittest to be done for Advancement of Religion and the good of the Common Wealth how the Treaty of the Princes Match would agree with these and the good of the Children of the Palatine for restoring them to that which they had lost As the whole Contexture was a right Purple Robe that became Majesty so there were three Golden Nails or Studs in it which even dazled the Eye with their Splendor In the First he touchld modestly that his Reign had not been unhappy to us But says he You have found the Fruits of my Government if you consider the Peace which my Kingdoms Enjoy in the midst of the Miseries our Neighbours are afflicted with And though I cannot say my Government hath been without Error yet I can avouch before God and his Angels never King Govern'd with a more pure sincerity and Incorrupt Heart In the Second he Purgeth himself from the Detraction of a false Rumor Jealousies says He Are of a strange Depth but let them be far from you It hath been Talked of my Remissness in maintenance of Religion and Suspicion of a Toleration But as God shall Judg me I never thought or meant it nor ever in Word Exprest any thing that Savour'd of it It is true That at times best known to my self I did not so fully put those Laws in Execution but did Wink and Connive at some things which must have hindred more weighty Affairs Yet I never in all my Treaties agreed to any thing to the overthrow and disagreeing of these Laws For as it is a good Horsman's Part not always to use the Spur ot keep strict the Reins but sometimes to spare the Spur and to hold the Reins more slackly so it is the part of a wise King and my Age and Experience have inform'd me sometimes to quicken the Laws with strict Execution and at other times upon just occasion to be more Remiss Thirdly The Shells of a Cockle could not lye closer and evener to one another then these last last words clasp'd with the Parliament God is my Judg and I speak it as a Christian King never any wayfaring men in the Burning Dry and Sandy Deserts more Thirsted for water to quench his Thirst then I Thirst and Long for the Happy Success of this Parliament that the good Issue of this may expiate and acquit the Fruitless Issue of the former The King having spread this Banquet to the Tast of their Judgments the Lord Keeper pro formâ set on the Grace Cup as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen all YOU have heard his Majesties Speech and find the extraordinary Confidence his Majesty reposeth in the Wisdom and loving Affections of this present Parliament You do hot expect I am sure any Repetition or reiteration of the same A Lacedemonian being invited to hear a Man that could counterfeit very well the Notes of a Nightingale put him off with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have heard the Nightingale her self And why should you now be troubled with the Croaking of a Chancellor that have heard the loving Expressions of a most Eloquent King And indeed for me to gloss upon his Majesties Speech were nothing else then as it is in the Satyr Annulum aureum ferreis Stellis ferruminare to Enamel a Ring of pure Gold with Stars of Iren. I know his Majesties Grave and weighty Sentences have left as Aâ—schines Orations were wont to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Prick or Sting in the Hearts and Minds of all the Hearers It is not fit that with my Rude Fumbling I should unsettle or discompose his Elegancies For as Pliny Observes of Nerva That when he had Adopted the Emperor Trajan he was taken away forthwith and never did any Publick Act after it Ne post illud Divinum immortale factum aliquid mortale faceret Least after so Transcendent and Divine an Act he should commit any thing might relish of Mortality So is it fit that the Judicious Ears of these Noble Hearers be no further troubled this day Ne quid post illud Divinum immortale dictum mâ—rtale audirent I will only put you in mind of your Ancient and laudable Custom to Elect one to be your Common Mouth or Speaker And whom his Majesty Assigns unto you for his Liking and Presentation Mr. Secretary will declare 181. So
Prince his Heir and the whole Flower of the Realm with that Infernal Powder-Plot Not reveal it said I Yes more it was hatch'd in their Brain and confirm'd with their Blessing If Clanculary Confession was cast out of the Church of Constantinople for one Mans Lust What just cause have we to gagg it for forty Mens Treason I would have him hang'd for his Wit that should invent a way to discharge a Pistol that might give no Report Now let me forfeit my Credit if wise Men will not say That Conspiracies buzzed into the Ear and imposed never to be detected upon the deepest Obligations of Faith Church-Love Merit c. are far more dangerous than Powder and Shot that kill and crack not Would you in good earnest have us Repeal our Laws of Correction against such dangerous Flambeaux Were not that to break down our Walls and to let in the fatal Horse with his Belly-full of Enemies If they plead that there is no such danger in them now Let them tell it to deaf Men. We know and can demonstrate that the most of Contrivances against our State have been whetted upon the Grind-stone of Confession Our Sages that made the Laws to blow away the Locusts into their own Red-Sea have given us a taste of their Malice in the Preface of the Statute Eliz. 27. That they came into the Land to work the Ruine Desolation and Destruction of the whole Realm Therefore marvel not if some have lost their Lives that have tempted the Rigour of those Laws Neither doth it move us that our Fugitives thereupon have sprinkled their Calenders with new Martyrs What if Jeroboam's Priests had pass'd their own Bounds and come to Jerusalem where it is likely they would have been cut off for Enemies and Rebels should their Names have been crowded into the Catalogue of the good Prophets that were stoned by Tyrants Beshrew your Superiours beyond Seas that Conjure up such Spirits to come into our Circle It grieves us God knows our Hearts to Execute our Laws upon one ot two in Seven Years for a Terror to others But Prudence is a safer Virtue then Pity And it is far better our Adversaries should be obnoxious to our Tribunal then we to theirs by the Thraldom of our Nation which is the drift of those unnatural Emissaries And if the Venetians that are under the Obedience of your Church have banish'd some of that Stamp and irrevocably out of their Territories Nay if your selves in France did sometimes Expel the same Faction accept it favorably from us who will never be under that Obedience if we Banish all 227. Hold out your Great Courtesie my Lord to a few Words more The Answering of an Objection or two will not stay you long And before I conclude I will deal you a good Game to make your Lordship a Saver if you will follow Suit You please your self Sir because you ask no more Liberty for your sacrifical Priests in our Land then the Reformed Ministers enjoy with you in France But the Comparison doth not consist of equal Terms The Protestants receive a benefit of some Toleration in your Realm to stop the mischief of Civil Wars and to settle a firm Peace among your selves It is the Reason which your Wisest and most candid Historian Thuanus doth often give and Mounsieur Bodin before him p. 588. Reip. Ferenda ea Religio est quam sine interitu reip auferre non potest If you did not so you would pull up much of your own Wheat with that which you call Tares But such a Toleration in this Kingdom would not only disturb Peace but with great Probability dissolve it In the next place you urge that such a memorable Favour might be done to gratifie the sweet Madam our intended Princess upon the Marriage O my Lord you are driven by Blind Mariners upon a Rock If this could be Granted by the King which you contend for and wereeffected Sweet Lady she would be brought in the Curses of this Nation and would Repent the day that she drew the Offence of the whole Land upon her Head Let me say on the Husbands Part what your Country-man Ausonius says for the Wife Saepe in conjugiis fit noxia si nimia est dos If the Prince should make a Joynter to his Wife out of the Tears and Sorrows of the People it were the worst bargain that ever he made His Majesties Consort of Happy Memory Queen Ann did not altogether concord with our Church Indeed the Diversity between us and the Lutherans among whom she was bred is as little as between Scarlet and Crimson The Colours are almost of the same Dip. But she carried it so prudently that she gave no notice of any dissention Neither ever did demand to have a Chaplain about her of the Lutheran Ordination This were a Precedent for the most Illustrious Madam to follow rather to procure the love of the generality then of a few Male-contents from whom you your self my Lord will have Cause to draw off when I tell you all They deal not with your Lordship sincerely They thrust your whole hand into the Fire and will not touch a Coal with one of their own Fingers They that incite and stir these Motions behind the Curtain dare not upon pain of their Lives ask it in Parliament where they know the Power Rests and no where beside to ratifie the Grant And when they Solicite your Lordship to obtain these indulgences for them in the Court they know you beat the wrong Bush Upon my Faith the Bird is not there Noli amabo verberare Lapidem ne perdas manum Plaut in Curcul Knock not your Fingers against a Stone to Grate them Perchance my Lord you think I have pinch'd you all this while with a streit Boot which you can neither get on nor off Your Lordship shall not depart from me with little Ease if Truth and plain dealing will purchase me to be called your Friend None can Repeal our Laws but his Majesty with the Votes of the three Estates as you term them the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the people And to dispense with the Execution of a Law absolutely and unrestreinedly is as much as to Repeal it which if the King should assay it were null in Law and in Revenge of it in the next Parliament it would be faster bound and perchance the Rigour of it increased But Favour and Mercy may be shewn Praeter sententiam legis in some exempted Cases and to some particular persons Clemency against the Capital Sentence of the Laws is the Kings Prerogative the Life of his Subject when it is forfeit to him he may choose whether he will take the forfeiture Every Varlet says Seneca may kill a Citizen against the Law but then he turns to the Emperor Servare nemo praeter te c. None but the Supreme Majesty can save a Life against the Law Work upon that my Lord and it were a good days work to
that he might not faint The most that was disliked in the Letter was that it warn'd the Secretary that he was like to hear himself nam'd among the Grievances of the ensuing Parliament Wherein he did not fail It was no hard thing to Prognostick such a Tempest from the hollow murmuring of the Winds abroad There was not such a Watch-man about the Court as the Keeper was to espy Discontents in the dark nor any one that had so many Eyes abroad in every corner of the Realm What hurt was it Nay Why was it not call'd a Courtesie to awaken a Friend pursued by danger out of prudent Collections Says a wise Senator Tul. Act. 7. in Verrem Judex esse bonus non potest qui suspicione certâ non movetur He is no sound judge of Rumors that gleans not up a certain Conclusion out of strong Suspicions 6. To speak forward After the Queen had been receiv'd with much lustre of Pomp and Courtship which had been more if a very pestilentious Season in London and far and wide had not frown'd upon publick Resorts and full Solemnities a Parliament began Stay a while and hear that in a little which concerns much that followed This is the highest and supereminent Court of our Kings The University of the whole Realm where the Graduates of Honour the Learned in the Laws and the best Practicers of Knowledge and Experience in the Land do meet Horreum sapientiae or the full Chorus where the Minds of many are gather'd into one Wisdom And yet in five Parliaments which this King call'd there was distance and disorder in them all between him and his People Amabile est praeesse civibus sed placere difficile as Symmachus to his Lord Theodosius Our Sovereign had not the Art to please or rather his Subjects had not the Will to be pleased And we all see by the Event that God was displeas'd upon it If he had won them or they had won him neither had been losers Pliny's Fable or Story of the Two Goats Lib. 8. c. 50. Suits the Case The Two Goats met upona narrow Bridge the one laid down his Body for the other to go over him or both had been thrust into the River In the Application who had done best to have yielded is too mysterious to determine Both or either had done well But now we see and shall feel it I believe it is not Love nor Sweetness nor Sufferance that keeps a Nation within the straits of due Obedience it must be Power that needs not to entreat The Scepter can no more than propound the Sword will carry it This Truth was once little worn but now it is upon our backs and we are like to wear it so long till we are all Thread-bare Thucyd. lib. 2. says of Theseus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theseus govern'd Athens being as potent as wise His Wisdom taught the Athenians to keep a good pace but Awe and Potency did bridle and compel them to suffer their Rider or else they would have thrown him King Charles knew how to govern as well as Theseus But he was not so stout I am sure not so strong His Condition in the present stood thus When he was Prince he was the Messenger and the Mediator from the Parliament to extort a War against Spain from his Father Of which Design he was but the Lieutenant before is now become the Captain He sets the Action on foot and calls for Contribution to raise and pay an Army Instead of satisfaction in Subsidies two alone granted towards the charge of the great Funeral past and the Coronation to come they call for Reformation in Government One lifts up a Grievance and another a Grievance and still the Cry continues and multiplies As they spake with many Tongues so I would they could have taken up Serpents and felt no harm The plain Sense of it is those subtile Men of the lower House put the young King upon the push of Necessity and then took advantage of the Time and that Necessity They had cast his Affairs into want of Money and he must yield all that they demanded or else get no Money without which the War could not go on Here was the Foundation laid of all the Discontents that followed A capite primùm computrescit piscis says the Proverb If they had answer'd with that Confidence and Love as was invited from them England had not sat in sorrow as at this day And I will as soon die as retract these words that all Affairs might have been in a most flourishing Estate if the People in that or in any Parliament had been as good as the King Optimos gubernatores hand mediocriter etiam manus remigum juvat Symmach p. 128. The Pilot spends his breath in vain if the Oar-men will not strike a stroke A good Head can do nothing without their Hands If I should hold yet that this King was to be blam'd in nothing I should speak too highly of Humane Nature They that pass through much business cannot choose but incur Errors which will fall under Censure yet it were better under Pardon The most that aggrieved the Council of Parliament was that the King's Concessions for the good of the People came not off chearfully He wanted a way indeed to give a Gift and to make it thank-worthy in the manner of bestowing A small Exception when one grave Sentence from his Mouth did mean more reality than a great deal of Volubility with sweetness and smiling to which I confess they had been fortunately used But when all is done as the Poets say The Muses sing sweeter than the Syrens and a sullen something is better than a gracious nothing 7. And these are instead of Contents For the Chapter that is the business of the Capitol follows The Parliament began and the whole Assembly stood before the King So there was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Job 1.6 but there was another thrust in among them What his Majesty spake than is printed more then once It was not much but enough it was not long but there wanted nothing Good Seed it was yet it came not up well although it was water'd with two showers of Eloquence by the Lord-Keeper the first directed to the Lords and Commons the other to Sir Thomas Crew the Speaker Which will tell the Reader more Truth than is yet come abroad whom I would have to remember Baronius's Caution in his Epistle to the first Tome of his Annals Nihil periculosius est in historiâ quà m cuivis scribeâ—â— in quâcunqae re fidem habere But hear what the King willed to be publish'd to his Parliament by the Mouth of his great Officer My Lords and Gentlemen all YOU have heard his Majesty's Speech though short yet Full and Princely and rightly Imperatorious as Tacitus said of Galbas Neither must we account that Speaker to be short Qui materiae immoratur that keeps himself
an actual King you also shall be known by advancing his nay your Enterterprize to be a valiant faithful and obedient People And now you are directed to choose your Speaker and present him to his Majesty Which was Sir Thomas Crew so well tryed for his worth in the Precedent Parliament that he was elected again in this To whose Oration the next day the Lord-Keeper answer'd as followeth Mr. Speaker YOU have endeavour'd to excuse yourself from this place of great Trust But I perceive by his most Excellent Majesty that I was not much amiss when I took you to be in the same Case that Evathlus was to Protagoras as Gellius reports it Lib. 5. c. 11. That is sure to be denied and to lose your Cause whether you argued strongly or faintly St. Paul was called Mercurius by the Lycaonians because he was the chief Speaker Acts 14.12 But to whom shall I liken you Truly to nothing but to yourself who have spoken more too learnedly and pithily the manner whereof hath confuted the Matter and your Rhetorick hath spoil'd your Logick For no Man that hath heard you speak can believe your unfitness to be a Speaker His Majesty therefore doth applaud and confirm your Election and commands me to return an Answer to some parts of that you have delivered Which though it was as all great and excellent Bodies are observ'd to be round and sphaerical in the Composition without a nook or a corner for a Man to lay hold upon yet as some late Mathematicians have born us in hand that they can find Quadraturam circ uli some corners in a Circle so for Method and Memory's sake Aut inveniam aut faciam where I do not find you must give me leave to make some parts and to run them over briefly distinctly and orderly You have said somewhat concerning yourself somewhat concerning the last Parliament somewhat of the Primus motor and Divine Intelligence which enliv'd the same somewhat of his Majesty's Entrance upon his Government and that in five several Respects First in respect of the Way which is by Parliament Secondly in respect of his Blood as the Son of Nobles Thirdly in respect to Succession to so worthy a Father Fourthly in respect of our Hopes of a rare and religious Government And Lastly in respect of his great Delivery in his famous Journey by Sea and Land Somewhat also you have said of our Religion as much recommended unto the King and much prosperous and profitable to the People Somewhat of the ancient common-Common-Law somewhat of cherishing our Friends abroad Somewhat of abating our Foes at home Somewhat of the Four Petitions presented to all Kings Immunity of Persons Liberty of Speech readiness of Access and benign Interpretation the four corner Stones which bear up the Structure of the House of Parliament I shall from his most Excellent Majesty make answer to these things according to your Sense and with my Method as they lie in order 11. First for your self you say little but you do much in yielding thus to his Majesty's Pleasure You offer'd a Sacrifice before the Sacrifice of your Lips an excuse from this Service and that was refused Now you offer up Obedience and that is amply accepted For Obedience is better than Sacrifice Quod felix faustumque sit a most happy Concatenation to open a Parliament when the Hearts of the People are in the Hands of the King and the Heart of the King in the Hand of God Secondly for the last Parliament it was happy indeed so accompted by our late so esteemed by our present Sovereign so denominated by the Effects which it produced For therein as you well observe those male-sida foedera and unfaithful Treatises were dissolv'd the King and his People indissolubly united the Flowers of the Crown a little pruned but with the Love of the Subjects better scented and perfumed Lastly if not more Bills of Grace yet surely more Bills from pure Grace passed and were enacted than in that Session of Magna Charta Gratia enim non est gratia si non sit gratis data And surely as Pliny said of Nerva Debebatur maximo operi haec veneratio ut novissimum sit autorque ejus statim consecraretur It became a Prince who was now ready to be Sainted in Heaven to close in that manner his Government here on Earth For I could never learn in all my Reading any other way for King or Subject than this one by the Kingdom of Grace to pass along to the Kingdom of Glory Thirdly for the part the King our Master bore in the late Parliament surely he was Actus primus the very proper Soul of that Politick Body Tota in toto tota in quâlibet parte now in the Committees as in the Members by and by with the Lords as in the Heart anon with the King his Father as in the Head of the Body and every where the principal Author of Life Motion and Resolution So that we may say to our now Sovereign as the Romans did by their Orator to the Emperor Trajan that he is no stranger to our Assembly Meminit quae optare quae sit queri solitus he cannot forget the Desires of the Commons nor the â—ishes of the upper House of Parliament Fourthly your five Circumstances for so I number them of his Majesty's Entrance into his Reign are very well noted and observ'd 1. That he begins it with a Parliament It is a sign indeed of his Love to that way Those Actions of Men are most pure and sincere Quae singendi non habent tempus that are done in such haste as admits no Fiction His Majesty was scarce proclaimed when the Writs went out and before the Solemnities of his Coronation behold him present in the midst of his People 2. That he comes into it with the Blood of Nobles Yes Mr. Speaker Deus est in utroque parente No King in Europe that breaths this day can shew so fair and so Royal a Pedigree 3. That by his Succession he hath sweetned much our loss of his Father A great and a glorious Act indeed And such an act as I will be bold to say in his Majesty's hearing could never have been done by any King not by himself had he been the Son of his Body only and not withal of his Mind and Vertues Herein indeed he equals his Father Neque enim de Caesaris actis Ullum majus opus quà m quòd Pater extitit hujus 4. For our hopes they have good cause God make us thankful to him for the same to sore high and to expect a King that shall exceed Hezekias in Policy of State for our Master I hope will never discover the Secrets of his Dominion to Foreigners and Strangers and equal him at the least in the Advancement of Religion You heard his Profession the last day His God above him his People under him his Heart within him and his Kindred about him must enflame his Zeal to this
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
into the bottom of the Sea and fetch up Sponges so The Righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger Job 17.9 68. Neither did it deject the Bishop to be made a Gazing-stock by Disparagements The King's Coronation and his second Parliament began together at Candlemas and he was warned by Letter to serve at neither A Coronation being usually accompanied with a General Pardon should have cast a Frown upon none Yet his Place was not granted him to do his Homage among the Spiritual Lords nor to assist the Archbishop at the Sacred Parts of that high Solemnity as Dean of Westminster It is arbitrary and at the King's Pleasure to range that Royal Ceremony as he likes best to follow former Presidents or wave them to intrust what Ministers he likes in the Management except some Tenure or old Charter give admittance to some persons without exception Otherwise in the very principal performance says venerable Saravia De Christ Obed. p. 139. Ab Episcopo traditur corona quod potest furi à proceribus But the Dean of the Collegiate Church of Westminster did attend as a specal Officer at the Coronation of K. James after the manner of Deacon to the Archbishop of Canterbury it was Dr. Andrews which could not be granted him by Prescription for there was no Dean nor any such Dignity in the Church at the Coronation of Q. Elizabeth But upon the new Foundation Anno 3. of that Queen the Dean was intrusted with the Custody of K. Edward's Crown and the other Regalia and Decorum was kept thereupon to give him a great Employment of Assistance on that day Yet the Regalia were kept in a strong place of that Church long before For I find in Baron anno 1060. par II. That Pope Nicholas the Second gave a Charter to that Abby Ut sit repositorium regalium insignium What a busie Fisher was this that would have an Oar or a Net rather in every Boat Could not the Kings of England without him appoint the fittest place for the Custody of the Ornaments of their Imperial Majesties He that was so kind to dispose who should keep the Crown did mean That the King should not wear it without his Leave and Courtesie And let it be his Fault to be impertinent and to meddle with the keeping of Royal Treasure that did not concern him What is their Crime that have carried them quite away both Crown and Scepter and Robes from their ancient Sacrary I would that had been all This was wont to be the Mark of him that opposeth and exalts himself above all that is called GOD Dixi Dii est is 2 Thess 2.4 But what 's the matter that I have almost lost my self in this Loss I was about to tell that Bishop Williams must not wait in the Honourable Place of the Dean at the Coronation but in a Complement he was sent to Name one of the Twelve Prebendaries to serve in his room This was devised to fret him and to catch a Wasp in a Water-trap Bishop Laud was a Prebendary at this time and the Substitute intended at Court to act in the Coronation If Lincoln should Name him he had been laugh'd at for preferring the man that thrust himself by And if he did not Name him and no other he had been check'd for inscribing one of a lesser Order in the Church before a Bishop to so great a Service But his Wit saved him from either Inconvenience He sent the Names of his Twelve Brethren to the King resigning it up to His Majesty to elect whom he pleased A Submission which Climacus would call Sepulchrum voluntatis a dead Obedience without a sensible Concurrence And he stirred no more either by Challenge or Petition to do that eminent Office of the Deanery in his own Person but says in his Letter to the King That he submitted to that Sequestration for so he calls it It is wise to sit down when a man can trouble no Body but himself if he moves Especially I affect the Lesson which Erasmus gives in an Epistle p. 222. Pulchrius est aliquando modestia quam cansâ superare It is handsomer sometimes to excel in Modesty than to win a Cause 69. Other Reasons sway'd this circumspect man to carry it with no such Indifferency that he was not called to the Parliament But to do Honour to the King and to save his own Right nay the common Right of Peers he took a middle way between Crouching and Contumacy He call'd it His Majesty's Gracious Pleasure and was in earnest that he esteem'd it so to spare his Presence at the Parliament but he expostulated to have a Writ of Summons denied to no Prisoners no nor condemned Peers in the late Reign of his blessed Father Cab. p. 118. that accordingly he might make a Proxy which he could not do the Writ not receiv'd And he struggled till he had it in his own way and entrusted it with the Lord Andrews Bishop of Winchester it being the last Parliament wherein that famous Servant of God sate and the last year of his Life But the Mr. W. Sanders tells us p. 143. of his Annals of King Charles That Lincoln at this time continued not a Peer but a Prelate in Parliament Res memoranda novis Annalibus atque recenti historiâ Juven Sat. 2. This is a pitiful matter for what Bishop of Lincoln could be a Prelate in those days and not a Peer Is it his meaning that he did not sit among the Peers Nor did he sit among the Prelates in Convocation but by Proxy he sate in both places as Peer and Prelate A Letter sent from him to the King and dated March 12. will clear this matter and greater things or else it had not been publish'd 'T is large and confident searing the Duke's Greatness no more than the Statuary Work of a vast Colossus But as Portius Latro says in Sallust Gravissimi sunt morsus irritatae necessitat is 'T is no marvel if Necessity break good Manners which will break through Stone Walls says the Proverb And much Provocations attends not much whom it displeaseth The Letter follows Most Mighty and Dread Soveraign IT becometh me of all the rest of your Subjects having been so infinitely obliged to Your Majesty to cast my self down at your Feet and oppose no Interpretation Your Majesty shall be pleased to make of any of my Actions whatsoever Howbeit before the receipt of my Lord Keeper's Letter that I had carried my absence from the Parliament with as much Humility and Respect to Your Majesty as ever Subject of England did towards his Soveraign The delivery of my Proxy to the first Bishop Your Majesty named I excused mannerly to Your Majesty but with a private Reason to my Lord Keeper not to be replied against The second Lord Bishop is directly uncapable of that part of my Proxy which concerneth the House of Convocation These two Lords now named
the first settling of our Church in the Queens days Morning Prayer stopt at the end of the three Collects after the Apostle's Creed then the People had leisure before the Litany began either to retire or to betake them to private Prayers In this Interspace some Communicants had time to give in their Names to the Curate this is plain in that first Order for a publick Fast anno 5 Eliz. the words are After the Morning Prayer ended the Minister shall exhort the People assembled to give themselves in their private Prayers and Meditations for which purpose a Pause shall be made of one quarter of an hour and more by the discretion of the Curate during which time as good silence shall be kept as may be That done the Lâ—tany is to be read c. Now after the pause of scarce a minute made by this digression let the main scope of the King 's Fast indicted in July be remembred that great Humiliation with Fasting and extraordinary Prayer should be joyn'd together to avert the Peril of a Spanish Invasion therefore that we on the defensive should be ready with our Bodies and Purses to avert the Fury of our Enemies Though the Land was admonish'd of this in a religious way yet they condescended to part with Money very hardly They did only hear of an Enemy but they saw their Coyn collected from them Well did Tully write lib. 3. Ep. 24. Nulla remedia tam saciunt dolorem quae vulneribus adhibentur quà m quae maximè salutarta Say it was a Wound to our great Charter to call for Contribution without a Parliamentary way yet it was not the worse for the Wound that the Injection was sharp that cur'd it What we lost in the Privilege of Liberty it was presum'd we got in Safety 72. But the most did want that charitable Presumption and paid the irregular Levy with their Hand and not with their Heart A Prince that grieves his Subjects with a sconcing Tribute takes up Moneys at a dear Interest who should not live extempore but upon premeditation to act to day what shall be safe and honourable for ever Grotius is very political in a Passage to be found in his Proleg De jure belli pacis Qui jus civile pervertit utilitatis praesentis causâ id convellit quo ipsius posteritatis suae perpetuae utilitates continentur The People are unpleas'd upon this Levy and the Ink of a Remonstrance could not kill the Tettar A third Parliament is called to justifie the King's Act from Necessity in the face of the Kingdom It was determin'd by some about His Majesty that our Bishop should not sit in it The great Favourite knew his Discontents were encreased the Bishoprick of Winchester had been void and conferr'd upon another Archbishop Abbot removed for some months to Ford in Kent is brought to Lambeth to the Court to the Parliament Lincoln not only wanted these Sweetnings but was tir'd with defailance of Promises and defied with Threatnings so it was thought best to keep him out of the Parliament against all Right rather than suffer one with the Powers of his Parts to argue and vote against exorbitant Persons and Causes The Bishop stood upon his Place as a Spiritual Lord and resolv'd to let his Right be infring'd no longer Utrumne est tempus aliquod quo in Senatum venire turpe sit says Cicero pro domo ad Pontif. It can be no shame to come into the Senate it is a Disgrace to be kept out Therefore yielding all Obedience to Soveraignty unto the utmost of that which was due he disputed the Right of his Order so stoutly that he came to the House and continued in it to the last which he obtained the more resolutely because he look'd upon the King's Affairs with a desire to help him The L. K. Coventry had order to stop him by a Letter if he could which the other answered in these words R. H. and my very good Lord I Have received your Lordships Letter of the 17. of February but this day being the 25. of the same and although I could not desire more comfortable News from your Lordship than Leave of Absence from that Parliament in which my presence may be suspecled either by the King which my Innocency will not suffer me to believe or by any other near unto His Majesty yet being the Right of a Peer in this Kingdom that never convicled imprison'd or question'd for any Offence is not withstanding now against a second Parliament kept from his lawful and indubitable Right of sitting in that House and may be for any Comfort he doth receive from your Lordship intended to be debarr'd for ever from the same I must crave some time to resolve by the best Counsels God shall give me whether I shall obey your Lordship's Letter though mentioning His Majesty's Pleasure before mine own Right which by the Law of GOD and Man I may in all Humility maintain Especially His Majesty's Writ and Royal Proclamation of a far later date do either of them imply as your Lordship best knoweth an authentical Command I do know that of my Obedience to my Gracious Soveraign as of late I have found small acceptance so could I never find any limit or bottom And therefore I beseech your Lordship to make this no Question of the Act but of this Object only of my Duty and Submission But if I find I may without prejudice absent my self I will deal clearly with you my noble Lord in the second point I do refuse with all humble Duty and Vassalage unto His Majesty reserv'd to appoint for my Proctor the Bishop proposed And so I humbly take my leave The Courtiers knew not what would follow upon this Answer but a Course was follow'd by the Bishop as in the like Case before to cut a way between two Extreams Inter abruptam contumaciam deforme obsequium For the Parliament newly sitting the L. Keeper being demanded by John Earl of Clare whether this Bishop had a Writ sent to him and that being affirm'd the Peers call'd for his Assistance and without more ado the Parliament beginning March 17. he came to it before the end of that Month breaking the Restraint upon him not by attempt of his own Will but because it was the Pleasure of the Lords and as soon as he came he was quickly set a work for the upper House appointing to meet together at the Holy Communion Apr. 6. 1628. he preach'd the Sermon at that Solemn Occasion the Text being Gal. 6.14 and at the next Session he preacht again by their Lordship's order at a Fast kept on Ash-Wednesday Feb. 18. 1628. in the same Church upon Job 42.12 entituled Perseverantia Sanctorum Both these Sermons were printed by their Lordships direction two pieces so full of Learning and Piety that they were fitter for a longer perusal than for the short time wherein they were utter'd 73. At this great and high Assembly our
Hall to be printed to which he hath no more Right than Sir Ro. H had to Charing-cross Thirdly My Breviate shall only tell you and no more who they were in great Place that trod this man down by oppression and false ways whose Pictures are drawn out at length in the larger Frame 'T is too much the Recreation of the common man to stick longest in that Page wherein he reads Invectives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So engrafted it is in us to listen unto Contumelies as unto Musick But I will not feed my Guests with such Acorns It is enough for a Warning to others that God did quickly bring the day which he had called and they were made like him Lam. 1.21 Or worse that opprest the Bishop for the abuse of Fiduciary Power will never pass long unpunish'd 108. Every Effect is best known in its Cause that 's the best ground for a beginning It is apparent that much Anger was seeded and thrust out of one bitter Root The chief Counsellors of K. James and of his Cabinet that devised with their Master how to compass the Spanish Match and took no joy in the Failing pleased their old Master but lost the Prince his Son alienated from them by Buckingham after he had returned home Richmond Hamilton Belfast lived not long after Middlesex and Bristol the first blown down the other shaken by Impeachments in Parliament and both laid aside Arundel sent to the Tower and there had continued but for the clamour of the Peers in the Upper House for nothing but for marrying his eldest Son to a Daughter of the House of Lenox How then could Lincoln escape who was K. James's right hand in all Dispatches about that Treaty Nothing was unassay'd to scourge him because he knew more Secrets than any man and shewed most Stomach to defend himself Sir A. Wel. beyond his wont tells Truth in this p. 174. That his Ruine was determined not upon any known Crime but upon Circumstances and upon Examinations to pick out Faults committed in his whole life-time And the blow was given after nine years had been spent upon one matter to frame a Censure out of it Majora animalia diutiùs visceribus parentum continentur Quint. lib. II. The Whelps and Cubbs of great Beasts are long in the Womb before they be brought forth It came about anno 1628. that the Bishop had suspended Burden and Allen the one a Surrogate to Sir J. Lamb the other a Proctor in his Court both of Leicestershire for doing Injustice and being vexatious both to Clergy and Laity Ut non Compositus meliùs cum Bytho Baccius They petition'd and clamour'd to be restored but as Budaeus says proverbially of a Land-leaper that makes himself a Cripple and cries out for help Tolleeum qui non novit De Asse p. 104. Let him pity him that doth not know him So Burden and Allen were too well known to get any Favour At last Sir J. Lamb a Creature of dark Practices and Dr. Sibthorp undertook for them and propounded it to the Bishop at his Table when their Hand was with him in the Dish But when they would ingratiate them for their good Parts as Mr. Hooker said of Ithacius that there was nothing commendable in him but his Zeal against the Priscillianists so these had nothing to brag of in their Brace of Greyhounds but that they were the swiftest of their kind to chase the Puritans The Bishop told them Dr. Morrison and Mr. Pregian Register of Lincoln and Leicester being present That men of erroneous but tender Consciences would never be reduced by such as were scandalous for Bribes and Taverns and other bad haunts how that Severity against that Party was not seasonable at that time for he had lately conferred with the King and that His Majesty had condescended to give them some forbearance though not openly profess'd to get his ends out of some Members of Parliament who were leading men and more easie to be brought about by holding a gentle hand over the Ministers of their Faction Here 's the sum of all This was the King's mind And how could it be follow'd but by being revealed to some that were in Office If there be any blame in this let him that said it cry out as Philotas did Curt. lib. 6. Fides veri consilii periculosa libertas vos me decepistis vos quae sentiebam ne reticerem impulistis Patt to the Bishop's case to a word This was carried to Bissham in the Progress where Bishop Laud attended and by him exaggerated to the King that his secret Counsels were abused The Historian Sanderson taking it out of another I suppose who wrote the Reign of K. Charles hath fancied an Accusation that was never dreamt of p. 220. That the Bishop's Wit and Will tempted him to talk disloyally of the King and a Bill put in against him for it A Woodcock 's Bill but no such Bill was put in Star-chamber Nullum decuit haec scribere nisi quem constat optasse Sym. Ep. p. 129. He that wrote so would have had it so Piety forbid that a Bishop should violate the sacred Honour of his Prince with a disloyal word Yet how moderately did Q. Elizabeth speak of Sir J. Perrott's Offence in that kind Camden anno 1592. quoting the Saying of Theodosius Si quis Imperatori maledixerit si ex levitate contemnendum si ex insaniá miserandum si ab injuriâ remittendum But Aurelian went further that he might not hear of such Complaints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanxit ne audirentur qui deferebant malè locutos de principibus Carion l. 3. c. 61. It was a generosity in those heroical men which Shimei and Railers at Kings did not deserve but Lincoln was not touch'd with the lightest suspicion of this Fault O but His Majesty's Counsels were revealed and expiable Crime in the adverse Bishop's Construction Kings Counsels may be of that reach and choice that to blab them abroad may touch his Life that did it Upon such great points of State Bodin moves a Question De Repub. p. 386. An poena capitis statuenda sit iis qui principis arcana divulgant Augustus told a Secret to one of the â—abii that he would bring Agrippa home again from Mitylene Fabius told this to his Wife and she to Livia who disaffected Agrippa and it cost Fabius his Life as Salmasius enlargeth it in his Preface to Solinus Plutarch hath wrote more upon it Lib. de Cur. Aud. how dangerous it is to know the Privacies of Potentates lest they should be vented in rashness So that Philippides asking Lysimachus what he should give him says Lysimachus any thing but a Secret But the thing communicated to our Bishop was but petty in comparison and no Secret neither not imparted at the Council-Table but in Conference in the time of Parliament as to a Peer of the House lock'd up with no Seal of Silence but to
that prosecutes for the King and so it was appointed to be taken out When this expunging was confirm'd and the Attorney General had made his Replication upon the Demur the Bishop knowing not how to wear the Yoke of a base Spirit any longer and full of the Courage that God had inspired into him Appeals from these intolerable Grievances to the High Court of Parliament in this Rejoynder That the Defendant doth and will 〈◊〉 maintain and justifie his Answers and all the matters and things therein contained to be true and certain and sufficient in the Law And that nothing thereof ought to be expunged which is necessary and pertinent to his Defence And in case any part so pertinent and necessary for his Defence under colour of scandal to a third person who may clear his Credit if he be innocent and be repaired with Costs be expunged and he and all others in the like case be left remediless in the Law The Defendant having no other Remedy left in a Defence against a Suit commenced against him in the King's Name doth humbly Appeal unto the High Court of Parliament when it shall be next Assembled humbly protesting against any Sentence as void and null which shall pass against him in the mean time for and because of the want of his just and necessary defence so taken away and expunged Much was added in this Appeal to defie Kilvert who had boasted to prosecute the Bishop to his degradation and the Bishop in the said Appeal disavows that the Court of Star-chamber had ever degraded or appointed to be degraded or ever will degrade or appoint to be degraded any Bishop or other Lord and Peer of the Parliament or take away their Freehold in point of Means Profit or Honour c. This Appeal was filed in the Office enter'd in the Clerks Books and Copies thereof were signed by the usual Officer although Sir William Pennyman Clerk of the Star-chamber took it off the File and blotted it out of the Books Sir William was ever of a laudable behaviour but durst not say them nay that thrust him upon this Rashness Who did not gaze at this Appeal as if it had been a Blazing-star Who did not discourse of it How did they who club together for News and trial of their Wits spend their Judgments upon it Some thought that excess of Wrongs done to the Bishop had distemper'd him to fall upon a course of Confusion to himself In plain words being bitten by so many mad Dogs they thought he bit again as if he had been mad Whereas he never did any thing with a more sober mind Insanire me â—iunt ultro cum ipsi insaniant Plaut in Menaech Some replied Let the danger be what it will the President tended to a Publick Good Audendum est aliquid singulis aut pereundum universis For are we not all Passengers as well as he in the same bottom And may we not be swallowed up in the same Shipwrack if our Pilots look no better to their Duty They that were acquainted with the best Pleaders thought to have most Light from them and askt if the Act did not exceed the Duty of a Subject And would it not leave the Author to the fury of the Court to be torn in pieces with a Censure Nay surely said the Gown-men there is no violation of Duty to His Majesty in appealing to his Parliament for he submits to the King who is the Head of the Body Or at the most it is Provocatio à Philippo dormiente ad Philippum vigilantem from K. Charles misinformed in Star-chamber to K. Charles among his best Assistants the three States of the Nation And for the minacy of a Censure do if they dare A Parliament will repair him when it sits and canonize their own Martyr Both they that lik'd and dislik'd the Appeal confest that the corruption of his Judges compell'd him to it Should Kilvert notoriously detected be suffer'd to escape by cancelling all that brought his Conspiracies to light Infixo aculeo fugere in the Adagy Strike in his Sting and fly away like a Wasp Suffer this and at this one dealing of the Game the Bishop's whole state had been lost of Fortunes Liberty and Honour Neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur Praemia sed Turni de vitâ sanguine certant Discretion was to give place to Courage in this case Baronius tells us of Theodoret. ann 446. n. 27. That being incensed at the Tyranny of a Shark in Office that had seized upon all he had Uranius Bishop of Emesa advised him to make no words of it but to sit still by the loss Theodoret answers him bravely Non solùm prudentia sed fortitudo virtus est Fortitude is a Virtue as well as Prudence and is as laudable in her own turn and occasion Put the case to a Physician when he thinks there is no hope of a Patient what will he do The ancient Rule was Nescio an in extremis aliquid tentare medicina sit certè nihil tentare perditio est To give the sick man Physic is against Art but to give him nothing is to cast him away wilfully Here is Lincoln's condition who being denied the Justice of that Court had nothing to fly to in that Extremity but this Appeal with which he did so hough the Sinews of the Bill that from that day forward it never hopt after him 128. Because some did not stick to say that the Bishop might thank himself for his incessant Troubles that he did not take Conditions of Peace that were offered to him it must be presented here that Conditions indeed were tender'd such as Naash offer'd the Israelites to thrust out their right Eyes 1 Sam. 11.2 or as the Samnites released Sp. Posthumious and a Roman Legion overthrown at Caudis with slavish Ignominy But these were worse Ultra Caudinas speravit vulnera furcas Luca. lib. 2. The Bishop lying in Prison and sustaining the heavy weight of the first Censure July 11. 1637. he press'd the L. Coventry to move His Majesty for some mitigation of the Fine and to stop the violent levying of it since it stood in no proportion with the Charges of the Bill or the Presidents of the Court. Hereupon His Majesty tells the L. Keeper he would admit of no such motion but by the Mediation of the Queen The Bishop is glad of the News and could call to mind that in greater matters than this Princely Ladies had the Honour to make the Accord which the greatest Statesmen had attempted in vain as Madam Lovise Mother of K. Francis the First and Madam Margaret Aunt to Charles the Fifth Regent of the Low Countries made up that Peace between the Emperor and the King which other Mediators had given over for desperate Our Queen endeavour'd a Message of Clemency but that Honour was denied her The Earl of Dorset writes in her Name to the Bishop That all she could obtain of the King
to be re-examin'd after Issue joyn'd in case they recover'd A particular Charge being laid before you when the House of Commons is a Party and the Charge of so high a nature as Treason I shall not advise this Honourable House to use any Chiquancery or Pettisoggery with this great Representation of the Kingdom but admit them forthwith to examine their own Members yet with this Caution To hew the Names two days before they be produced to the Sollicitor of the Defendant that he may have notice of the persons But the House press for Secrecy in the Examination Well they are safe enough while they are in the Lord's hands who have Urim and Thummim perfect Knowledge and perfect Integrity and therefore nothing can be suspected Are not they surer than other Officers In ordinary Commissions out of Star-Chamber my Lord Ellsmore would not allow that any Clerks should be used to prevent Futility and Evaporation saying That the best Commissioner in England was not too good to be the King's Clerk Secondly I am as'kt about the Examination of the Peers and the Assistants of this House upon Oath There is no question to be made about the Assistants they are no Peers of this Kingdom but whether Peers may be produced as Witnesses and testifie upon Oath A question not sit to be now handled and impossible to be resolved out of the Rolls of the Parliament because the Peers give their Testimony both in this Court and others either way And I am confident a Peers Averment against his Fellow Peer cannot be refused either way especially in case of Treason For a Peer judgeth his Peer worthy of Death upon his Honour and therefore may witness against him upon his Honour In this Court and almost in this Case in Alze Pierce her Case 1 Rich. 2. Num. 21. Lord Roger Beauchamp swears upon the Holy Evangelists The Lord of Lancaster King of Castile and Leon is examin'd but not sworn Nay both ways have been declar'd in this House to be all one Your Lordships declaring that you did not bound limit or terminate your Assertion with your Honour but mount it and relate it up unto God that gave you your Honour and yielded your selves perjur'd if you falsisied in swearing upon Honour which is just the very same as if you sware upon the Holy Evangelists To swear upon Honour and rest there were Idolatry But to swear upon Honour with a Report and Relation to God who bestowed it upon your Lordships as a special Favour and Grace is as Christian an Oath as any in the World For new Scruples in the manner as to touch the Book to look on the Book to hold up a Finger or Hand to Heaven are Ceremonies which the House of Commons little regards but leaves them to us And the Lord of Strafford is so wise that he will never question the Honour of his Peers And why should we trouble our selves about the circumstance but leave each Lord called to testisie to call God as a Witness to his Assertion in which of these two manners it shall please his Lordship Not the Book not the Honour but the Invocation of God to bear witness to the Assertion makes the Oath 144. I am put to it by your Lordships to speak in the third place about the examination of Privy Councillors Here needs no distinction between Peers and Assistants This is part of a Privy Councillor's Oath That he shall keep secret all matters committed and revealed to him or that shall be treated of in Council 2. If any Treaty touch his fellow-Councillor he shall not reveal it unto him till the King or Council shall require it I collect now that matters of Fact he may reveal without violation of his Oath and that he may be examin'd of matters revealed unto him that were treated of in Council if they were not treated of in Council when he was present That a Privy-Councillor for all his Oath may be examin'd concerning Words Advices or Opinions of another Privy-Councillor otherwise given than in Council That Bed-chamber and Gallery Discourse is nothing to the Council-Table Private Entertainers of the King when the Counsellors attend at the Door are not to pass for Counsellors Ear-wiggs and Whisperers are no Counsellors but detracters from Counsellors If they advise the Destruction of the King the State or the Laws of the Realm there is nothing in the Oath to protect such an Ear-worm but he may be appeached For matters which touch another fellow-Councillor or matters committed otherwise to him or which shall be treated of in Council these are not to be concealed from all forts of men but from private men only not from the King not from the Council both those are in the Oath nor from the Parliament That Privy-Councillots may be examin'd by Command of the Parliament for things treated in Council 2. for things revealed unto them secretly from the King in his Bed-chamber 3. and especially for ear-wigging and treating with the King in private after things already settled in Council The Case of Alze Pierce 1 Rich. II. num 41. clears all these Doubts And it is the Case also of a Deputy of Ireland William of Windsor Lord-Deputy misbehaved himself in Ireland the Council directs Sir Nicholas Dagworth to go thither and to enquire into his Actions Windsor makes means to Alze Pierce to keep off this man under pretence of Enmity betwixt them This Shunamite that lay in David's Bosom prevails with the King to stay Sir N. Dagworth the Council-Order notwithstanding The Lords in Parliament question her for this act as having drawn with it the Ruin of the State in Ireland She pleads not guilty Issue is joyned The Lords produce inter alios John Duke of Lancaster upon his Honor and Roger Beauchamp Lord Chamberlain upon the Evangelists Alze produceth of her part the Steward and Comptroller of the Houshold All these four were Privy-Counsellors they depose all of them nothing else but matters treated of in Council and opposed by Alze Pierce treating with the King out of Council So that if this Record be true this Case is cleared Privy-Councillors may not be forced by ordinary Courts of Justice to reveal things treated of in Council but may be produced upon Oath and Honour to reveal such Secrets by the King the Council or the Parliament especially in detestation of Statewhisperers and Ear-wiggs yea though they had taken no Oath at all Yet God forbid a Privy-Counsellor should witness against his Fellow for publickly venting the freedom of his Judgment at the Board who is bound to advise faithfully not wisely as I do here this day Should any man be accused for an Error of Judgment O God defend peradventure my Error hath set all the rest of the Council straight Errores antiquorum venerari oportet si illi non errassent minùs ipse providissem otherwise you would take away all Freedom of Debates nay almost of very Thoughts If I knew any man
Members an ordinary Punishment of the Goths and Vandals who then lived in Spain but never heard of here with us of many years before the Reign of Hen. II and therefore not sitly pressed to drive Bishops from sitting as Peers in the case of the Earl of Strafford who is not to be sentenc'd to any mutilation of Members True it is that in the Council it self being the Eleventh Council of Toledo Can. 6. they are forbidden Quod morte plectendum sit sententiâ propria judicare to sentence in any Cause that is to be punish'd with Death Whereas in the Fourth Council of Toledo Can. 31 under Sisinandus not long before held anno 633 it is said That the Kings do oftentimes commit to Priests and Bishops their Judicature Contra quoscunque Majestatis obnoxios against all Treasons howbeit they are directed not to obey their King in this particular unless they have him bound by Oath to pardon the Party in case they shall find reason to mediate for him And thus the Canon-Law went in Spain but no where else in Christendom in that Age. 148. But these Bishops at Westm travelled not so far as Toledo to fetch in this Canon into their Synod but took it out of Gratian then in vogue for he lived in the time of Hen. Beu-clerk Grandfather to this Hen. II. who in the second part of his Decrees Cap. de Clericis saith thus Clericis in sacris ordinibus constitutis ex concil Tolet. Judicium sanguinis agitaro non licet And so this Canon was fetch'd from Spain into these other parts of Europe above four hundred years after the first making thereof upon this occasion Pope Gregory the Seventh otherwise called Hildebrand who lived in the time of William the Conqueror having so many deadly Quarrels against Hen. IV. Emperor of Germany to make his part good and strong laid the first ground which his Successors in their Canons closely pursued to draw the Bishops and other great Prelates of Germany France England and Spain from their Lay-Soveraigns and Leige-Lords to depend wholly upon him and so by colour and pretence of Ecclesiastical Immunities withdrew them from the Services of their Princes in War and in Peace and particularly from exercising all Places of Judicature in the Civil Courts of Princes to the which Offices they were by their Breeding and Education more enabled than the martial Lay-Lords of that rough Age and by their Fiefs and Baronies which they held from Kings and Emperors particularly bound and obliged And therefore you shall find that whereas the Bishops of this Island before the Conquest did still joyn with the Thanes Aldermen and Lay-Lords in the making and executing of all Laws whatsoever touching deprivation of Life and mutilation of Members Yet soon after when the Norman and English Prelates Lanfrank Anselm Becket and the rest began to trade with Rome and as Legati nati to wed the Laws and Canons cried up in Rome and to plant them here in England they withdrew by little and little our Prelates from these Employments and Dependencies upon the Kings of England and under the colour of Exemptions and Church-Immunities erected in this Land an Ecclesiastical Estate and Monarchy depending wholly upon the Pope inhibiting them to exercise secular Employments or to sit with the rest of the Peers in Judicatures of Life and Members otherwise than as they list themselves and hence principally did arise those great heats between our Rufus and Anselm which Eadmer speaks of and those ancient Customs of this Kingdom which Hen. II. pressed upon Becket in the Articles of Clarendon that the Prelates ought to be present in the King's Courts c. Which Pope Alexander a notable Boutefeu of those times in the Church of God did tolerate though not approve of as he apostyles that Article with his own Hand to be shewn to this day in the M. S. extant in the Vatican Library And although I shall not deny but the Popes did plead Scripture for this Inhibition as they did for all things else and allude unto that place 2 Tim. 3.4 which they backed with one of the Canons of the Apostles as they call them the seventh in number Yet it is clear their main Authority is fetch'd from this obscure Synod of Toledo where eighteen Bishops only were convened under Bamba the Goth who of a Plowman was made a King and of a King a Cloyster'd Monk as you may see in the History of Rodericus Santius par 2. c. 32. This is all the goodly Ground that either Gratian in his Decrees or Innocent III in the Decretals or Roger Hoveden in his History alledges against the Ecclesiastical Peers their sitting as Judges in Causes of Blood to wit this famous Gothish Council of Toledo The first that planted this Canon here in England was Stephen Langton a Cardinal the Pope's Creature as his Holiness was pleased to stile him in his Bull and thrust upon the See of Canterbury by a Papal Provision where he continued in Rebellion against his Soveraign as long as King John lived This Archbishop under colour of Ecclesiastical Immunity for so this Canon is marshall'd by Linwood at Osney near Oxford did ordain Ne quis Clericus beneficiatus vol in sacris Ordinibus constitutus praesumat interesse ubi judicium sanguinis tractatur vel exerceatur And this is the first Canon broach'd in this Kingdom to this effect that of Othobone being subsequent in time and a meer Foreign or Legantine Constitution See it at large in Linwood Constit lib. 3. ad sinem And by vertue of a Branch of this very Constitution the now Archbishop two years since sined the Bishop of Gloucester in the High-Commission because he had given way in time of Pestilence only that a Sessions a Judgment of Blood might be kept in a sacred place which was likewise inhibited in this Canon But this admits of a multitude of Answers First 149. Quod haec dictio Clericus ex vi verbi non comprehendit Episcopum Linwood lib. 3. de locat is conductis Secondly the irregularity incurr'd by Judicature in Causes of Blood is only Jure positivo and therefore dispensable by the Pope saith Covarruvias in Clemen si furiosus p. 2. com 5. n. 1. and here in England is dispens'd with in Bishops by the King who in his Writs or Summons to the Parliament commands the Lords Spiritual without any exception of Causes of Blood to joyn in all Matters and Consultations whatsoever with the Temporal Peers of the Kingdom their Summons being unto them a sufficient Dispensation so to do And Othobon himself inhibiting other Clerks to use these Secular Judicatures hath a Salvo to preserve the Priviledges of our Lord the King whereby he may use any of their Services in that kind when he shall see cause Tit. ne Clerici Juris saec exerceant And Linwood upon that Text doth instance in the Clerks of the Chancery and others Nor are these Writs that summon the
the body v. 20. but now are they many Members yet but one Body v. 21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head unto the feet I have no need of you So far our brave Speaker and all this is exscribed faithfully out of his own Copy Let another take his room and let him that is wisest perform it better The Success was that he laid the Bill asleep for five months for I confess that by over-sight I have not kept the just order of time for it should have been referred to the middle of May before the King went into Scotland and was in a trance by the charm of this Eloquence till November after which shews how like he was to Athanasius Nazian in Orat. pro codem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanasius was an Adamant not to be broken with violent blows and a Load-stone to draw them to him that were of a contrary Opinion Now mark the Partiality upon which the Speaker much insisted That the Lords would grant Interest to noble Persons in Holy Orders to act in Secular Affairs but to none beside As Grotius fits it with a passage Annal. p. 5. Castellani quantumcunque usurpent ipsi libertatem in aliis non serunt The Castilians are great encroachers upon liberty for themselves but will not tollerate it in any beside To the main Cause I yield that that was easie to be defended on the Clergies part as learned Saravia shews de Christian Obed. p. 169. not only from Moses's Law but from the Custom general of the most orderly among the Heathen Gaulish Druids Persian Magi Egyptian Heirophants and so forth by induction from all places to make it amount even to a natural Law that Priests were no where excluded from honourable Imployments in Secular Affairs I will appose two Quotations for it and very remarkable The first from the Judgment of the Scottish Presbytery R. Spotswood Hist p. 299. 449. That they contended for that Priviledge that some Ministers should give Voice in Parliament in the behalf of the Church And some to assist the King in Parliament in Council and out of Council Doth the Wind blow so from the North The other taken from Ludo. Molin Paraen c 4. And he no well-willer to our Hierarchy in that Book least of all to their Consistories Deus Pastori Evangelico non detrahit jus potestatem Magistraturae nec magistratum prohibet ministerio si ad utrumque factus comparatus est But this Bill that went no further when it was first set on foot in May began to enlarge its strides and mend its Pace in the end of Autumn Either because this fiery Parliament saw that Confusion begun must be carried on with acting greater or because the King was suspected that he tamper'd with the Scots and they framed an Injury from his Neglect to leave them so long or how it was that their thoughts were whiâ—'d about with the Wheel of swift Perswasions themselves knew best but their Spleen began to shew it self with stronger fits than ever against the Clergy who were never safe so long as the Bill we have heard of was not cancell'd For the Spanish Proverb tells us That Apple is in great danger that sticks upon the prickles of an Hedge-hogg But if the Sum of the Bill had been right cast the now most noble Marquess of Dorchester and more noble because most learned told his Peers May 21. Which of your Lordships can say he shall continue a Member of this House when at one blow six and twenty are cut off This was sooth nay Sooth-saying and Prophesying but it was not attended 167. When all ways had been tried to pass this Bill of Dishonour upon the Clergy chiefly the Bishops and it hung in the House of the Lords the event methinks is like that which we read I Kings 22. v. 21. There came forth a Spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade them And the Lord said Wherewith And he said I will go forth and I will be a Spirit of clamour and tumult in the mouth of all the People And the Lord said Thou shalt perswade them and prevail also Go forth and do so There had been an unruly and obsteperous concourse of the People in the Earl of Strafford's Case But a Sedition broke forth about Christmas that was ten times more mad Ludum jocumque dices fuisse illum alterum prout hujus rabies quae dabit Terent. Eunuch which took heat upon this occasion The King came to the House of Commons to demand five of their Members to Justice upon impeachment of Treason His Majesty it seems was too forward to threaten such persons with the Sword of Justice when he wanted the Buckler of Safety How far those five were guilty I have nothing to say because plain Force would not let them come to a Tryal But if they were innocent why did they not suffer their Practices to see the Light It had been more to their Honour to be cleared by the Law than to be protected against the Law And that Cause must needs be suspected which could not put on a good outside I am sure the King suffer'd extreamly for their sakes All Sectaries and desperate Varlets in City and Suburbs flock'd by thousands to the Parliament Diogenes was ask'd What was to be seen at the Olympick Sports where he had been Says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. in Vit. Much People but few Men. But here were no Men but all Beasts who promised one another Impunity by their full body of Rebels and where there is no fear of Revenge there is little Conscience of Offence Quicquid multis peccatur inultum est Lucan The Rake-hells were chaffed to so high a degree of Acrimony that they pressed through the Court-gates and their Tongues were so lavish that they talk'd Treason so loud that the King and Queen did hear them Let the five Members be as honest as they would make them I am certain these were Traytors that begirt the King's House where his Person was with Hostility by Land and Water He that speaks of them without detestation allows them and makes way for the like Sometimes they called out for Religion sometimes for Justice Ex isto ore religionis verbum excidere aut clabi potest as Tully of Clodius pro Dom. Was the sacred term of Religion sit to come out of their Mouths Did it become them to speak of Justice Sarah cried out to Abraham The Lord judge between me and thee when her self was in the fault Gen. 16.5 Every Tinker and Tapster call'd for Justice and would let the King have none who is the Fountain of it What did the great Parliament in the mean while Give Freedom to their Rage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Friends in their ragged rows were too many to be childden they were more afraid of them than of the
brave Men as ever march't upon English Ground If there were somewhat of the Libertine among them there was nothing but the Hypocrite among the Enemy whose Sacriledges Robberies and Spoils I defer alittle to spread open and the Foxes skin shall never be able to cover all the Lion Few Soldiers in the heat of their Blood in their Hunger and Watchings in their Necessities and revengeful Executions make perfect Saints To have castra simillima regi as Statius hath it was to be wish't more than hoped for As for the Nobles Commanders Knights and Gentry and many Scholars that jeoparded their Lives in that Service I wish their due Honour may be set forth in a long-liv'd History to which I will lend that of Curtius lib. 4. Fatebimur regem talibus ministris illos tanto rege fuisse dignissimos His Majesty's Council the best Peerage of three Nations that could never leave him had more true Piety in their hearts than their Pharisees would dissemble To continue their Allegiance to death had more of Heaven in it than was in all their simpering Preciseness For Religion and Loyalty are like the Wax and Wiek making one Taper between them to shine before God and Man but for all that they would bring the King away from his evil Council and take him to themselves the very Pink of the faithful I must not say but it it is a mannerly Expression if any thing be wrong to remove it from the Soveraign and to charge them with it who did execute the Order David though he knew Saul's bitterness yet is willing to impute his Persecutions to Saul's Servants 1 Sam. 26.19 If they be the children of men that have stirred thee up against me cursed be they of the Lord. There will ever be such Sycophants in a Court that will whisper corrupt talk endeavouring that none should get the start of them in the Royal Favour but must all prudent Senators be cast off and supprest if some Ear-wiggs peradventure had got into credit Let the Shepherd put away his Dogs and the Wolf will ask no more Let the King once forfeit his Friends to an ignoble Trial and he shall never see days of Comfort and Security again Did he ever protect any Servant from the Trial of the Law That would not suffice our Judges in Parliament but he must leave them to the Votes of an Arbitrary Censure Then a wife man had better pay half his Estate for a Fine than be a Privadoe to the King in his nearest Employments And most miserable is he that must not choose those whom he will trust but have his Officers of greatest Dispatches thrust upon him by Compulsion King Richard the Second had Counsellers and Guardians empowered to retrench him in his Government whose Arrogancy when his great Spirit shook off it is known what it cost him Never think to see a King's House so purged of undeserving persons that none of them will creep into that trust they deserve not Budaeus gave over that hope Lib. 5. de Asse p. 110. Ita est reip nostrae status ut clitella generosis equis instrataque speciosa imponantur asinis The best Steeds sometimes shall carry the Panniers and Jades and Asses be covered with the Foot-cloth There was never man so wise that did not love some Simpletons whom you may call Fools Nor never Prince so absolute but did stamp some Honours upon base Mettal Non est nostrum aestimare quem supra caeteros quibus causis extollas says a good States-man in Tacitus And our excellent Camden shifts in this answer for Queen Elizabeths sake whose Affections were so strong to Robert Earl of Leicester that he knew not whether it were a Synastria a Star which reigned at both their Births that made him a Gratioso to so brave a Lady Make any unlikely answer rather than defie a King with an Army to pluck his best betrusted from him Thuamus is an Author to be delighted in whose observation it is Lib. 11. That Maurice of Saxony made his Apology for raising War against Charles the Fifth that he intended no offence to Caesar but to divorce him from Alva and Granval his evil Counsellors A Stale and thread-bear Cheat and yet the Devil to this day cannot find out a better Take away those whom they call Evil Counsellors place as good or better in their room it is not impossible it were a marvel if they did eat a bushel of Salt in Court and not be scowled upon with Envy as much as they that did forego them Let any Tree grow tall in favour and the Shrubs will complain that it drops upon the underwood A great disheartning it is to our Grandees to see so many of worth and clear integrity ruin'd by a publick hatred which made Pausanias pity Demosthenes and the chief Burgesses of Athens in Att. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A great Actor in the Affairs of the Commonwealth feldom goes to his Grave with Honour and Peace I am not of their Spirit then that would remove the King's Counsel from him but some are of my mind that in many great Dispatches they did heartily wish that the King himself had been removed from his Council For he was more happy when he took the way which he spun out of his own Brain than when he alter'd his Opinion to follow the Judgment of his Counsellors But it was his humble temper to like that wisdom in others which was greater in himself 183. It is not too late to unblind some of the People provided they beware of them that spit Holy Water as other Jugglers have a slight to spit fire The Pope's Cruciada drew thousands of Soldiers to adventure into the Holy War and our cunning Popelings made their Muster exceed by carrying the Figure of Religion in their Colours Therefore it is good to take off this great Charm that bewitcht the heedless into Rebellion Which Inchantment was a common cry That Religion lay a bleeding reform the Church either now or never This is the time to pull up Popery and Prelacy and Fortune is an Hand-maid to no Mistress but Occasion Therefore let the faithful live and die together for God's Cause and Christ's Kingdom Pack away Bishops Liturgy Courts Ecclesiastical Canons Crosses Organ Musick Ceremonies Change for every thing for any thing Seraque terrisici cecinerunt omnia vates Aen. 5. Survey all this calmly They that undertake to alter so much at once is it likely they will mend it all at once for the better A better Head-piece than theirs gives them a wiser Principle Synes de provid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things may admit a general change of a sudden for the worst but not for the better Then to clap Religion into a quarrel is a formal foolery that every Child can look through it Ex cupiditate quisque suorum religionem velut pedissequam habet Leo. Ep. 23. Now look back into King Edward the Sixth's days who those
smile and said nothing Darius destinatus sorti suae etiam nullius salubris consilii patiens Yet that Darius was the best of all the Persian Kings from Cyrus and for want of heed to the best Counsels lost all Our King was wise among wise men of the first magnitude full of constant and great Vertues all of them Pearls of a clear water but had not the luck to hit the right when he came to particulars Yet I have heard some that were about him at Oxford protest that he hath said in their hearing I would some would do me the good Service to bring Cromwel to me alive or dead All good Subjects were bigg with that wish when it was too late Curt. lib. 8. Male humanis ingeniis natura consuluit quod plerunque non futura sed transact a perpendimus It is a sore Punishment upon Man's Understanding that the Fillar of Fire is behind it and the cloudy Pillar before it The Fire lets it see the Harm that is done that we may repent and bewail it but the Cloud doth darken it before that oft-times it hath no forecast to prevent it Which is all one as if a Knife should cut better with the Back than with the Edge 199. Much Prayer and Fasting were indicted and observ'd at this time in Oxford A mighty Expectation was raised what the Parliament would bring forth which opened there But what Parliament shall we call it The same that was summon'd to meet at Westminster Nov. 3. 1640 The same For they were the Members of them two Houses neither called by new Writs or new chosen but the best of the old Stock summon'd hither by the King to take to themselves their Right to be the High Court of Parliament But the Parliament continued still at Westminster and can one Body be in two places Habent hoc publicae necessitates ut impossibilia plerumque persuadeant Quintil. lib. 6. c. 3. This was a Knot not easily to be unty'd but a Scruple to distract the best Gown-men that had the soundest Judgment in the Laws Nothing but high Necessity could resolve the Riddle such a Necessity as could find no other way to save the King and his Kingdoms That Necessity compelled to stride over the seeming Absurdity to have one politick Body not one natural in two places They that sate at Westminster were a Parliament by the force of an unhappy Statute pass'd to them two years before They that sate at Oxford were the same Parliament removed thither because they could not discharge their Trust with their fellow-Members nor abide in Conscience to hear the King's Honour traduced daily therefore the Common Safety which they had undertaken as Members of Parliament compelled them to such a way as was without President because no Subjects had ever so much endanger'd the Crown of the King and the Weal-publick New Injuries require new Remedies And we may learn much from a Passage in Quintilian lib. 7. Tot saeculis nullam repertam esse causam quae sit tota alteri similis The Members therefore of these two Houses took their places in the fair Schools of the University Sir Richard Lain Lord-Keeper of the Great-Seal being Speaker in the House of the Lords and Serjeant Sampson Evers in the House of Commons An appearance there was beyond imagination of the Peers and best Gentry The words of the Oratour will set it out gracefully Philip. 3. Talis Senatorum dignitas multitudo fuit ut magnâ excusatione iis opus sit qui talie in castra non venerunt The King was marvelously pleased with the frequency of so many couragious persons whom he knew not well how to protect least of all to reward them As the same Author writes it of Tarquin driven out of Rome lib. de amicit Se intellexisse quos fidos amicos habuisset quosque insidos cum jam neutris gratiam referre possit So the good King knew not Sheep from Goats Loyal from rebellious till he was neither in condition to chastise the one or advance the other After great Consult in Parliament when the best Oratours had been fully heard it was unanimously resolved that this Share of Parliament should send a Message to the other Share with Leave obtained from their General the Earl of Essex for His Majesty's Safety to come to London for suspension of Arms to fill up the House at Westminster with one Body all Affronts on both sides to be obliterated and Conditions for Amity for the future and the Publick Good to be propounded All which was uncivilly rejected and nothing granted but to stand to the mercy of an insolent Clutter Of the King's Parliament which had agreed in a most reasonable Message though proudly scorn'd some voted in the warmth of their Courage that the Part at Westminster was an illegal and trayterous Convention Some slaked the Flame with cool Arguments That they were very bad Members and greatly abused their Trust yet they kept their Places by the consent of both Houses and the Royal Consent had pass'd it into an Act That this course would emperil the validity of all Parliaments past and to come That the Blame would fall upon the King principally whose confirmation of their continuance to hold out this Session was not revocable Princeps ad contractum tenetur ut privatus cum maximè in eo requiritur bona sides Duckius de Jure p. 44. That the King's Forces were thin ill arm'd ill paid and it behoved not them that were low to use high words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AEschyl They that are declin'd must encline to Moderation The resolute Members answer'd It was true an Act of Parliament cannot be revoked but by a Parliament What did they make of this Body of Lords and Commons met at Oxford They would draw a Bill and offer it to the King to repeal that stale Association The King had ratified their Bill for continuation of a Session but a Promise holds not if such a Mischief break out upon it as the Promiser cannot with Conscience and Safety hold Faith with them It is a Maxim in the most ancient Laws of the World Omnia debent idem esse quae suerant cum promitterem ut promittentis fidem teneas Senec. de ben lib. 4. c. 35. The Success of the Enemy was not so prosperous as it was given out and seared but were they ten times stronger they would not abate them a jot of the Impeachment of Traytors The more Violence they did use to shake off that name the more it would cleave to them But let the times grow worse Sors ubi pessima rerum Sub pedibus timor est Metamor lib. 15. And our last Breath shall be in Cicero's words Phil. 7. Dicam quod dignum est Senatore homine Romano moriamur Death is not so formidable as to submit to Rebels Which of these two Opposites did argue best let Solomon judge if he were alive in which mind I dismiss it
satisfaction who will judge of good Works by Visions and not by Dreams I will cast up in a true Audite other Deeds of no small reckoning conducing greatly to the Welfare of that College Church and Liberty wherein Piety and Beneficence were Relucent in despight of Jealousies First that God might be praised with a chearful Noise in his Sanctuary he procured the sweetest Music both for the Organ and for the Voices of all Parts 〈◊〉 was heard in an English Quire In those days that Abby and Jerusalem-Chamber where he gave Entertainment to his Friends were the Volaries of the choicest Singers that the Land had bred The greatest Masters of that delightful Faculty frequented him above all others and were never nice to serve him And some of the most Famous yet living will confess he was never nice to reward them a Lover could not court his Mistress with more prodigal effusion of Gifts With the same Generosity and strong propension of mind to enlarge the Boundaries of Learning he converted a wast Room scituate in the East side of the Cloysters into Plato's Portico into a goodly Librarary model'd it into decent Shape furnished it with Desks and Chains accoutred it with all Utensils and slored it with a vast Number of Learned Volumes For which use he lighted most fortunately upon the Study of that Learned Gentleman Mr. Baker of Highgate who in a long and industrious Life had Collected into his own possession the best Authors in all Sciences in their best Editions which being bought at 500 l. a cheap Peny worth for such precious War were removed into this Store-House When he received Thanks from all the professors of Learning in and about London far beyond his expectation because they had free admirtance to such Hony from the Flowers of such a Garden as they wanted before it compell'd him to unlock his Cabinet of Jewels and bring forth his choicest Manuscripts A Right Noble Gift in all the Books he gave to this Serapaeum but especially the Parchments Some good Authors were confer'd by other Benefactors but the richest Fruit was shaken from the Boughs of this one Tree which will keep Green in an unfading Memory in despite of the Tempest of Iniquity As Pliny the younger wrote in an Epistle upon the Death of his Son quatenus nobis denegatur diu vivere relinquamus aliquid quo nos vixisse testemur so this Work will bear Witness to Posterity that he liv'd and that he liv'd beneficently I borrow that assurance from honour'd Mr. Selden in his Epistle before the History of Eadmerus Dedicated to the Founder of this Library to whom he writes in these Words Egregius peritissimusque literarum censor fautor indulgentissimus audis verè es Quippe qui Doctrinam suo merito indies cupientissimus honestas Et sumptuosam in struendis publico usui Bibliothecis operam impendis Praemium ita studiosis armarium etiam sine exemplo solicitus parandi Yet what an ill requital did these unthankful times make him when they removed that worthy Scholar the Bibliothecary whom he had placed Mr. Richard Gouland whom he pick'd out above all men for that Office being inferiour to none in the knowledg of good Authors Superiour to any for Fidelity and Diligence of so mortified a Life that he could scandalize none but with Innocency and Piety nor offend any but by Meekness and Inoffensiveness Such times such Fruits for as Antoninus the Emperor says lib. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is mad that looks for Figgs upon the Tree in Winter I cannot end with the Erection of this Library I have but almost done For this Dean gratified the College with many other Benefits When he came to look into the State of the House he found it in a Debt of 300 l. by the Hospitality of the Table It had then a Brotherhood of most worthy Prebendaries Moumford Sutton Laud Caesar Robinson Dorrel Fox King Newel and the rest but ancient frugal Diet was laid aside in all places and the prizes of Provisions in less than fifteen years were doubled in all Markets By which enhancements the Debt was contracted and by him discharg'd Not long after to the Number of the forty Scholars the Alumni of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation anno 1560. he added four more distinguish'd from the rest in their Habit of Violet Colour'd Gowns for whose maintenance he purchased Lands These were Adopted Children and in this divers from the Natural Children that the place to which they are removed when they deserve it by their Learning is St. John's College in Cambridge of whom more hereafter And in those days when good Turns were received with the Right Hand Cabal pag. 69. it was Esteemed among the praises of a Stout and Vigilant Dean that whereas a great Limb of the Liberties of the City was threatned to be cut off by the Encroachments of the higher Power of the Lord Steward of the Kings Houshold and the Knight Marshal with his Tip-Staves he stood up against them with a wife and a confident Spirit and would take no composition to let them share in those Priviledges which by right they never had but preserv'd the Charter of his place in its entire Jurisdiction and laudable Immunities 57 As the place was most Fortunate in him so it come now to be shewn that he was most Fortunate in that place That which was the Lodging of a Dean became in the current of one year the House of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and the 〈…〉 lace of the Bishop of Lincoln Ab eo Magistratu alium post alium sibi peperit semperque in potestatibus eo modo agitabat ut amplioris quà m gerebat dignns haberetur Words as fit for this Man as Salust made them for C. Marius The Occasion of his sudden Rising was wondred at because known to few And they that were busie in the search did not find it albeit it had done him Credit that received the Honour Works that deserve well deserve the better when they are wrapt up in Silence till Prudence chooseth the best time to disclose them When the Apostles had seen the Glory of our Lord Transfigur'd in the Mount they were commanded Secrecy to Tell the Vision to no Man till the Son of Man was Risen from the Dead Math. 17.9 Let discretion then be my Warrant to give some State-Occurrencies liberty to go abroad which were confined upon good Reason to the Kings Cabinet in their Minority Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille tempus est ipsum temporis Jul. Seal On Jan. 30. 1620. the King met with the Lords and Commons in the High Court of Parliament The like Assembly convened anno 1613. had given unkindness to the King so that Parliaments had been disused for seven years The unkindness so deeply taken was chiefly from hence that the greatest part of the House of Commons gave willing Audience to those Zealots who would admit no business into Treaty
till they had made their passionate Complaints That Popery was suffered to increase without Care and Controlement His Majesty knowing it to be a scandalous Untruth which blemished him in the good Opinion of his People and the contrary so well known at home and abroad that himself with his own Pen had cut the Head of that Superstition to the admiration of all the World Yet the Clamour being more stoutly than wisely maintain'd by the Undertakers it reached to this prejudice or rather mischief that the King bethought him that all their Grievances and they were many were as groundless as this and that the Proponents were not to be consulted with for the Publick Weal and so Dissolv'd them Generally the Grave and Moderate Gentry throughout the Realm dislike those hot Distempers which wrought so high in the House of Commons Yet were not satisfied with their abrupt Recess Such Physick is too Violent for the Body and naught for the Head For the Unruly shall less offend in their House than when they go home and exaggerate Reports of Misgovernment among their Neighbours And that Monarch sooths himself in Error that thinks he will close up the Wound of such a Breach with a Lip-Salve of a Protestation or by some Declaration that he will Redress Grievances by himself and by his Judges without troubling his Lord and Commons For it is ingrafted into the people not to account any thing for Reformation unless the Workmen whom themselves have chosen do mend the decays of the great Building 58 It is much that a King of great Experience and so full a Soul did discern this no sooner at last he came to it And after seven years Pause he was desirous to try the good Temper of another Parliament It was high time for many Respects Let not two among many be forgotten First he lacked Mony and being so profuse in Gifts he had lacked sooner it the Custom-House had not supported the Exchequer In ten years he had not he Received one Subsidy a very long time to live like a Shell-Fish upon his own Moisture without any publick Supply which truly he deserv'd as much or above his Predecessors For the Kingdom since his Reign began was Luxuriant in Gold and Silver far above the scant of our Fathers that liv'd before us Only the King wanted who bred all the Plenty It was dry upon the Fleece only and there was Dew on all the ground Jud. 6.40 Besides those Princes should be chearfully supplied whose Wisdom procures us safety and quiet by Treaties rather than by Effusion of Blood For as Or sins says well lib. 5. Hist Tributum pretium pacis est What is Tribute but a Debt duly paid to Princes for enjoyment of Peace Secondly and far above Mony the King desired to close with his people in such a strein of mutual good liking as might give him high Reputation in all Countries wherein he did negotiate by his Ministers A course that hath a long Span of forecast in it For a good Correspondence with all the Heads of the people is a Sign of the general Love of the Realm And a King that is beloved at home will be dreaded abroad The House of Austria to whom he had sent often for the Restitution of the Palatinat which they had invaded was so great in its own Opinion that where they Treated nothing came from them but that which was fastidious and insolent As at this time the King of Spain would deign to grant Peace to the States of the United Provinces not unless upon conditions unsupportable which were these four First to acknowledge him for their Patron and Protector Secondly To recal their Fleets and Merchants out of the East and West Indies surrendring what they had in either unto him and to Trade in those Parts no more Thirdly To permit the Roman Catholics free use of Religion in all their Provinces with Churches and maintenance Fourthly To open the Channel of free Navigation between Zealand and Antworp They that would demand no less for their Friendship where they had not one Foot of possession were like to vex them with more lofty Bravadoes and Grandiloquence in whose Territories their Armies had been most prosperous through breach of Promises Therefore our King was provident to fill himself with his just dimensions like the Praepotent Monarch of Great Britain fortified with the Concord and Affections of his Parliament that by his Ambassadors employ'd to prevent the Fears the Miseries and Oppressions of War he might not beg but demand He might not crave but postulate his Childrens Inheritance 59. I could not spare these Premises for the Illustration of the sequel The Parliament began to sit whose bearing was dutiful to the King but quick and minatory against some vile persons who had spoil'd the people by illegal oppressions These were Canker-worms Harpies Projectors who between the easiness of the Lord Marquess to procure and the readiness of the Lord Chancellor Bacon to comply had obtain'd Patent Commissions for latent Knaveries which Exorbitancies being countenanc'd in the Court were grown too strong for any Justice but the Parliaments to root them up There the Appeals of the vexed Subject were heard more like to Out-cries than Complaints which fell thick upon Sir Gyles Mompesson and Sir Francis Michel for Fines and Levies raised upon Inns and Ale-houses Arbitrary impositions and a President dangerous to spread even to Shops and Ware-houses Others remonstrated against a pack of Cheaters who procured the Monopoly of Gold-thread which with their spinning was palpably corrupted and embased These Gilt Flies were the bolder because Sir Edward Villers half Brother to the Lord Marquess was in their Indenture of Association though not Named in their Patent A Gentleman both Religious and true hearted to good ways who was ensnared by crafty Merchants and so far excus'd that after strict enquiry when this Adulterate Ware came to the Test it appear'd that he knew not of the Juggling of the Patentees who drew on grievances with Threads of Vanity and Scandal upon the Chief Government with Cords of Iniquity Together with these Vermin and much more than these the Lord Chancellor was question'd and without pity to his Excellent Parts the Castle of Munera as I borrow it from Mr. Spenser's Divine Wit must be quite defaced Monopolies and Briberies were beaten upon the Anvile every Day almost every Hour The obnoxious that were brought to the Bar of Justice with a multitude that feared to be in as ill condition saw no way for safety but to Poyson the King with an ill Opinion of the Parliament that it might evaporate into a Nullity They terrifie the Lord Marquess that the Grants of these things which are now Bastardized by the Knights and Burgesses nay by the Lords that envy him were begotten by his Favour and Credit That the Arrow of Vengeance is grazed near to himself which is shot at his Brother That it was time to look about him for at
the opening of that Session it was much Noted that the King had said before all the Members Spare none where you find just Cause to punish And if the two Houses should sit a year what good could be expected from them but two or three Subsidies That it were less danger for the King to gather such a Sum or greater by his Prerogative though it be out of the way than to wait for the exhibition of a little Mony which will cost Dishonour and the Ruin of his most Loyal and Faithful Servants 60. O what a Tempting Fiend is self-preservation These Mormo's and ill shap'd Jealousies hatch'd in Hell and prompted by the Father of mischief disquieted the King but Rob'd my Lord of Buckingham of all peace of Mind till the Dean of Westminster his good Genius conjur'd them down whose Wisdom luckily consulted gave him this Advice as I find it in a Breviate of his own hand Writing That the Parliament in all that it had hitherto undertaken had deserv'd praise as well for their dutiful demeanor to the King as for their Justice to his people His Majesties just and gracious Prerogative was untouch'd The Grievances of all that were Wronged with indifferency were Received which they must sift or betray the Trust of their Country which sent them The former Parliament was very Tart if not undutiful what then Shall we be fearful to put our hands into cold Water because we have been Scalded with hot There 's no Colour to quarrel at this general Assembly of the Kingdom for Tracing delinquents to their Form For it is their proper Work And the King hath very Nobly encourag'd them to it in his Speech that in the first day he made before them nay even proffering to have the blemishes of his Government Reformed by them for his own Words must literally bear that meaning as you well remember them if I may know my Errors I will Reform them But your Lordship is Jealous if the Parliament continue Embodied in this Vigour of your own safety or at least of your Reputation least your Name should be used and he brought to the Bandy Follow this Parliament in their undertakings and you may prevent it Swim with the Tide and you cannot be Drown'd They will seek your favour if you do not start from them to help them to settle the public Frame as they are contriving it Trust me and your other Servants that have some Credit with the most Active Members to keep you clear from the strife of Tongues But if you assist to break up this Parliament being now in pursuit of Justice only to save some Cormorants who have devoured that which must be regorged you will pluck up a Sluce which will over-whelm your self The King will find it a great disservice before one year expire The Storm will gather and burst out into a greater Tempest in all insequent Meetings For succeeding Parliaments will never be Friends with those with whom the former fell out This is Negative Counsel I will now spread Affirmative Proposals before your Honour which I have studied and consider'd Delay not one day before you give your Brother Sir Edward a Commission for an Embassage to some of the Princes of Germany or the North-Lands and dispatch him over the Seas before he be mist Those empty Fellows Sir G. Mompesson and Sir Fr. Michel let them be made Victims to the publick Wrath. It strikes even with that Advice which was given to Caesar in Salust when the people expected that some should be Examples of impartial Justice Lucius Posthumins Marcus Fauonius mihi videntur quâ—si magnae navis supervacua onera esse Si quid adversi coortâ—m est de illis pstissumon sactura sit quia pretii minimi sunt Let Lord Posthumius and M. Fauonius be thrown over board in the Storm for there are no Wares in the Ship that may better be spared Nay my Sentence is cast all Monopolies and Patents of griping projections into the Dead Sea after them I have search'd the Signet Office and have Collected almost forty which I have hung in one Bracelet and are fit for Revocation Damn all these by one Proclamation that the World may see that the King who is the Pilot that sits at the Helm is ready to play the pump to eject such Filth as grew Noysom in the Nostrils of his people And your Lordship must needs partake in the Applause for though it is known that these Vermin haunted your Chamber and is much Whisper'd that they set up Trade with some little Licence from your Honour yet when none shall appear more forward than your self to crush them the Discourse will come about that these Devices which take ill were stoln from you by Mis-representation when you were but New blossom'd in Court whose Deformities being Discover'd you love not your own Mistakings but are the most forward to re-call them 61. Before I proceed though Anger be an Enemy to Counsel I confess I cannot refrain to be angry O hearken not to Rhehoboams Ear-Wigs drive them away to the Gibbet which they deserve that would incite the King to Collections of Aid without concurrence of his Parliament God bless us from those Scorpions which certainly would beget a popular Rage An English mans Tribute comes not from the King's Exaction but by the peoples free Oblation out of the Mouth of their Representatives Indeed our Ancient Kings from the beginning did not receive but impose Subsidies When the Saxon Monarchs wanted Relief for repairing Castles Bridges or Military Expeditions they Levied it at their will upon the Shires as we may learn by some Names the only Remainder of those Old times Burg-boot Brig-boot Hen-fan Here-geld Horn-geld Danegeld Terms that meet us every where in our Ancient Chronicles The Normans you may Swear lost nothing that came in by wonted Signory but exacted as they saw Cause as William the Conqueror de Unaquâque hidâ sex solidos cepit imposed Six Shillings on every plowed Land saith Mathew Paris And William Rusus had his Auxilium non lege statutum an Aid without an Act of Parliament as Hoveden in the Life of Henry the Second And in this manner the Norman Race supplied themselves as they needed until King John's Reign who in his great Charter bound himself and his Successors to Collect no Aid nisi per commune concilium regni as it is in Matthew Paris With this agrees the Old Statute of 51 Henry the Third de tallagio non concedendo that Subsidies should not be Levied without the consent of Parliament Which being confirmed also in the 25 of Edward the First hath been inviolably observ'd by all the good and peaceable Kings of England to this very day And God forbid that any other Course should be Attempted For this Liberty was settled on the Subject with such Imprecations upon the Infringers that if they should remove these great Land-Marks they must look for Vengeance as if Entail'd by publick
Vows on them and their Posterity These were the Deans Instructions which the Lord Marquess received with as much Thankfulness as he could express and requited his Adviser with this Complement that he would use no other Counsellor hereafter to pluck him out of his plunges for he had delivered him from Fear and Folly and had Restor'd him both to a light Heart and a safe Conscience To the King they go together forthwith with these Notes of honest Settlement whom they found accompanied in his Chamber with the Prince and in serious Discourse together upon the same perplexities Buckingham craves leave That the Dean might be heard upon those particulars which he had brought in Writing which the King Mark'd with Patience and Pleasure And whatsoever seem'd contentious or doubtful to the King 's piercing Wit the Dean improved it to the greater liking by the Solidity of his Answers Whereupon the King resolv'd to keep close to every Syllable of those Directions Sir Edward Villiars was sent abroad and return'd not till September following Michel and Mompesson received their censure with a Salvo that Mompesson's Lady not guilty of his Crimes should be preserv'd in her Honour And before the Month of March expir'd Thirty seven Monopolies with other sharking Prouleries were decry'd in one Proclamation which return'd a Thousand praises and Ten Thousand good prayers upon the Sovereign Out of this Bud the Deans Advancement very shortly spread out into a blown Flower For the King upon this Tryal of his Wisdom either call'd him to him or call'd for his Judgment in Writing in all that he deliberated to Act or permit in this Session of Parliament in his most private and closest consultations The more he founded his Judgment the deeper it appear'd so that his Worth was Valued at no less than to be taken nearer to be a Counsellor upon all Occasions The Parliament wearied with long sittings and great pains was content against the Feast of Easter to take Relaxation and was Prorogued from the 27 of March to the 18 of April The Marquess had an Eye in it upon the Lord Chancellor to try if time would mitigate the displeasure which in both Houses was strong against him But the leisure of three Weeks multiplied a pile of New Suggestions against him and nothing was presaged more certain than his downfal which came to Ripeness on the third of May. On that day the Patent of his Office with the Great Seal was taken from him which Seal was deliver'd to Four Commissioners the Lord Treasurer Mountagu Duke of Lenox Lord Steward of the King's Houshold William Earl of Pembroke Lord Chamberlain to the King and Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry with whom it rested till the 10th of July following In the mean time Sir James Leigh Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench was Commissioned to be Speaker in the Upper House and Sir Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls was Authorized with certain Judges in equal power with him to hear dispatch and decree all Causes in the Court of Chancery 62 The Competitors for the Office of the Great Seal were many Sir James Leigh before mention'd a Widower and upon Marriage with a Lady of the Buckingham Family Sir Henry Hobart Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chancellor to the Prince a Step to the Higher Chancellorship and as fit as any man for his Learning and Integrity which of these it was uncertain but one of these was expected And verily a fitter Choice could not be made than out of the pre-eminent Professors of the Common Laws but that all Kings affect to do somewhat which is extraordinary to shew the liberty of their power The Earl of Arundel was thought upon a Master of Reason and of a great Fortune For it was remembred upon the Death of Lord Chancellor Bromly anno 1587 That Queen Elizabeth designed a Peer of the Realm for his Successor Edward Earl of Rutland whose Merit for such a place is favour'd by Mr. Cambden because he was Juris scientiâ omni politiori literaturâ ornatissimus and if his Death much bewailed had not prevented the Great Seal had been born before him But the likeliest to get up and I may say he had his Foot in the Stirrup was Sir Lionel Cranfield Married in the kindred that brought Dignity to their Husbands a man of no vulgar head-piece yet scarce sprinkled with the Latin Tongue He was then Master of the Court of Wards and did speak to the Causes that were brought before him quaintly and evenly There seemed to be no Let to put him in Possession of the great vacant Office but that the Lord Marquess set on by the King was upon enquiry how profitable in a just way it might be to the Dignitary and whether certain Branches of Emolument were natural to it which by the endeavour of no small ones were near to Lopping Sir Lionel besought the Marquess to be sudden and to Advise upon those things with the Dean of Westminster a found man and a ready who did not wont to clap the Shackles of delay upon a business He being spoken to to draw up in Writing what he thought of those Cases return'd an Answer speedily on the Tenth of May with the best advantage he could foresee to the promotion of the Master of the Wards Yet it fell out cross unto him that the Dean woing for another utterly beyond expectation sped for himself The Paper which he sent to the Marquess hath his own Words as they follow My most Noble Lord ALthó the more I Examine my self the more unable I am made to my own Judgment to wade through any part of that great Employment which your Honour vouchsafed to confer with me about yet because I was bred under the place and that I am credibly inform'd my True and Noble Friend the Master of the Wards is willing to accept it and if it be so I hope your Lordship will incline that way I do crave leave to acquaint your Honour by way of prevention with secret underminings which will utterly overthrow all that Office and make it beggerly and contemptible The lawful Revenue of that Office stands thus or not much above at any time In Fines certain 1300 l. per annum or thereabout In Fines Casual 1250 l. or thereabout In greater Writs 140 l. for impost of Wine 100 l. in all 2790. and these are all the true means of that great Office Now I am credibly inform'd that the Lord Treasurer begins to Entitle the King to to the casual Fines and the greater Writs which is a full Moiety of the profits of the place not so much to Enrich the King as to draw Grist to his own Mill and to wind from the Chancellor the donation of the Cursitors places The preventing the Lord Treasurers in these Cases made Queen Elizabeth ever Resolve suddenly upon the disposing of the Great Seal Likewise they are very busie in the House of Commons and I saw a Bill which
Ulpian did not stick to say of all the grave Senators that sate upon the Bench to decide Right from Wrong Nos meritò juris sacerdotes à quòdam dicti sumus siquidem sanctissima res est civilis sapientia This Heathen was pleased to have them styled Priests of the Law because the Wisdom of Civil Judicature was an holy Thing Much more it agrees in a Chancellor who directs that part which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle says Eth. 5. the mitigating of public Justice when it breaths Intemperate Rigour Happy are the People who are governed by full and exact Laws which make them liable as little as may be to the Errors and Passions of Arbitrary Moderation Yet because a Law is a General Rule and that it is not possible that a General Rule should provide sufficiently to satisfie all particular Cases therefore as the same Philosopher said again Polit. 3. Let the Laws have the chief Power yet sometimes let one or more Judges have the Power of the Laws which in effect is the merciful Voice of God to mollifie the Strictness and Inconveniencies of the Voice of Man And we living in a Christian State how can that be incongruous nay any way unseemly in his Person that is an Ambassador of Christ 67. It was said also that he was illiterate in the knowledge of the Laws being bred up in other Studies and very unprepared to discharge this Function But it was quickly unsaid as soon as the Court had trial of his Abilities There have been others besides Peter Gallaudes that have been capacious of all Sciences and Learning of whom Turnebus Advers l. 2. c. 1. Omnium rerum capax natura quam it a facile regebat versabat ut quicquid ageret unum illud curae habere tractaréque putaretur So this man had a mind of such a Glebe by the felicity of Nature and so manured that it could bring forth a plentiful Crop whatsoever Seed or Grain was cast into it and whatsoever he addicted himself to convey into the Store-house of his Brain he was never long at suck but had it with much more speed then other men Though he was never a Practitioner in the course of the Law yet he had been an hard Student in the Tenures Reports and other Compilements of that Profession But no marvel if others were diffident of him for he was very diffident of himself Therefore he humbly besought the King he might be a Temporary Lord-Keeper nay a Probationer and no more as it is divulged in the Cabal p. 56. and of the rest of that in a sitter place Nay he besought that His Majesties free and unlook'd-for Election might bear the blame of his Infirmities as Gregory the Great wrote to Mauritius the Emperor when he did in a manner enforce Gregory to be Bishop of Rome Lib. 1. Ep. 5. Necesse est ut omnes culpas meas negligentias non mihi sed tuae pietati populus deputet qui virtutis Ministerium infirmo commisit The Chancellorship of England is not a Chariot for every Scholar to get up and ride in it Saving this one perhaps it would take a long day to find another Our Laws are the Wisdom of many Ages consisting of a world of Customs Maxims intricate Decisions which are Responsa prudentum Tully could never have boasted if he had lived among us Si mihi vehementer occupato stomachum moverint triduo me jurisconsultum profitebor Orat. pro Mar. If the Advocates of Rome anger'd him though he were full of business he would pass for a Lawyer in 3 days He is altogether deceived that thinks he is fit for the Exercise of our Judicature because he is a great Rabbi in some Academical Authors for this hath little or no Copulation with our Encyclopaidy of Arts and Sciences Quintilian might judge right upon the Branches of Oratory and Philosophy Omnes Disciplinas inter se conjunctionem rerum communionem habere But our Law is a Plant that grows alone and is not entwined into the Hedge of other Professions yet the small insight that some have into deep Matters cause them to think that it is no insuperable Task for an unexpert man to be the chief Arbiter in a Court of Equity Bring Reason and Conscience with you the good stock of Nature and the thing is done Aequitas optimo cuique notissima est is a trivial Saying A very good man cannot be ignorant of Equity And who knows not that extreme Right is extream Injury But they that look no further then so are short-sighted For there is no strein of Wisdom more sublime then upon all Complaints to measure the just distance between Law and Equity because in this high Place it is not Equity at Lust and Pleasure that is moved for but Equity according to Decrees and Precedents foregoing as the Dew-beaters have trod the way for those that come after them What was more Absolute then the Power of the Pretorian Courts in Rome Yet they were confined by the Cornelian Law to give Sentence Ex edictis perpetuis to come as near as might be to the Perpetual Edicts of former Pretors And wherefore Of that Budaeus informs us Ne juris dicendi ratio arburaria praetoribus esset pro eorum libidine subinde mutabilis In Pandec p. 205. To keep Justice to certâ—in and stable Rules for every man will more readily know how to find his own when he trusts to that Light which burns constantly in one Socket This is to keep the Keeper from Extravagancies of his own Fancies and Affections and to hold him really to Conscience and Conscience as it is in Queen Elizabeth's Motto is Semper eadâ—m It is ever the same No all this doth adorn and amplisie the great Wisdom of the Dean that being made the Pilot in the chief Ship of the Political Navy a Pilot that had never been a Mariner in any Service of that Vessel before yet in all Causes that ever he heard he never made an improsperous Voyage For from his first setting forth to his last Expedition the most Envious did never upbraid him with Weakness or scantiness of Knowledge Neither King James King Charles nor any Parliament which gave due Hearing to the frowardness of some Complaints did ever appoint that any of his Orders should be retexed Which is not a Pillar of Honour but a Pyramid Fulgentius hath Recorded the like upon the Wonder of his Age Father Paul of Venice that being Provincial of his Order and hearing many Causes none of the Judgments that he gave which were innumerable were ever Repealed upon Instance made to higher Judgment Neither do I find that any of his Fraternity did maunder that the Frier was a Strippling but 28 years old and therefore but a Novice to make a Provincial who is a Judge and a Ruler over his Fellows He had better Luck in that then our Dean who was 39 years old when he atchieved this
which he had in a Monastery called Becc in Normandy and that Hospitality kept him when he fled out of England and all the Revenues of his Mitre failed him Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winton and Lord-Chancellor held the Mastership of Trinity-hall to his Dying-day and though he gave forty better Preferments to others he would never leave his Interest in it and did not conceal the Cause but said often If all his Palaces were blown down by Iniquity he would creep honestly into that Shell They that will not be wise by these Examples Ia Teâ— I will send them to School to a Fable in Plautus Cogitato mus pusillus quà m sit sapiens bestia AEtatem qui uni cubili nunquam committit suam Qui si unum ostium obsideatur aliud perfagium quaerit So in the upshot he said Walgrave was but a Mouse-hole yet it would be a pretty Fortification to Entertain him if he had no other Home to resort to He was not the only Prophet of that which is fallen out in these dismal Days many such Divinations flash'd from others who saw the Hills of the Robbers afar off who have now devoured the Heritage of Jacob and say they are not Guilty and they that have sold us and bought us say Blessed be the Lord for we are rich Zech. 11.5 74. Whom I leave to a Day of Account having an Account to give my self how Prosperous the Lord-Keeper was in the King's Affections at this time to whom His Majesty measured out his accumulated Gifts not by the Bushel or by the Coome but by the Barn-full It was much he had compacted his own Portion to such advantage but it was not all for being warm in Favour he got the Royal Grant for the Advancement of four more who are worthy to be named He spake and sped for Dr. Davenant to be made Bishop of Salisbury who had plowed that I may allude to Elisha 1 King 19.19 with twelve yoke of Oxen and was now with the twelfth when this Mantle was cast upon him Twelve years he had been Public Reader in Divinity in Cambridge and had adorn'd the Place with much Learning as no Professor in Europe did better deserve to receive the Labourer's Peny at the twelfth Hour of the Day Beside what a Pillar he was in the Synod of Dort is to be read in the Judgment of the Britain Divines inserted among the public Acts his Part being the best in that Work and that Work being far the best in the Compilements of that Synod The Bishopric of Exon being also then void it came into the Lord-Keeper's head to gratifie a brace of worthy Divines if he could attain it his old Friends who had been both bred in the House of Wisdom with the Lord-Chancellor Egerton Dr. Carew who had been his Chaplain a man of great Reason and polish'd Eloquence and Dr. Dunn who had been his Secretary a Laureat Wit neither was it possible that a vulgar Soul should dwell in such promising Features The Success was quickly decided for these two prevailed by the Lord-Keeper's Commendation against all Pretenders the Bishopric of Exeter was conferred upon Dr. Carew and Dr. Dunn succeeded him in his Deanery of St. Paul's The See of St. David's did then want a Bishop but not Competitors The Principal was Dr. Laud a Learned Man and a Lover of Learning He had fasten'd on the Lord Marquess to be his Mediator whom he had made sure by great Observances But the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had so opposed him and represented him with suspicion in my judgment improbably grounded of Unsoundness in Religion that the Lord Marquess was at a stand and could not get the Royal Assent to that Promotion His Lordship as his Intimates know was not wont to let a Suit fall which he had undertaken in this he was the stiffer because the Arch-Bishop's Contest in the King's Presence was sour and supercilious Therefore he resolved to play his Game in another hand and conjures the Lord-Keeper to commend Dr. Laud strenuously and importunately to the King 's good Opinion to fear no Offence neither to desist for a little Storm Accordingly he watch'd when the King's Assections were most still and pacisicous and besought His Majesty to think considerately of his Chaplain the Doctor who had deserved well when he was a young Man in his Zeal against the Millenary Petition And for his incorruption in Religion let his Sermons plead for him in the Royal Hearing of which no Man could judge better then so great a Scholar as His Majesty 75. Well says the King I perceive whose Attorney you are Stenny hath set you on You have pleaded the Man a good Protestant and I believe it Neither did that stick in my Breast when I stopt his Promotion But was there not a certain Lady that forsook her Husband and married a Lord that was her Paramour Who knit that Knot Shall I make a man a Prelate one of the Angels of my Church who hath a flagrant Crime upon him Sir says the Lord-Keeper very boldly you are a good Master but who dare serve you if you will not pardon one Fault though of a scandalous Size to him that is heartily Penitent for it I pawn my Faith to you that he is heartily Penitent and there is no other Blot that hath fullied his good Name Vellcius said enough to justifie Murena that had committed but one Fault Sine hòc facinore potuit videri probus You press well says the King and I hear you with patience neither will I revive a Trespass any more which Repentance hath mortified and buried And because I see I shall not be rid of you unless I tell you my unpublish'd Cogitations the plain Truth is that I keep Laud back from all Place of Rule and Authority because I find he hath a restless Spirit and cannot see when Matters are well but loves to toss and change and to bring Things to a pitch of Reformation stoating in his own Brain which may endanger the steadfastness of that which is in a good pass God be praised I speak not at random he hath made himself known to me to be such a one For when three years since I had obtained of the Assembly of Perth to consent to Five Articles of Order and Decency in correspondence with this Church of England I gave them Promise by Attestation of Faith made that I would try their Obedience no further anent Ecclesiastic Affairs nor put them cut of their own way which Custom had made pleasing unto them with any new Encroachments Spotswood p. 543. Marquess Hamilton the King's Commissioner in the last Parliament that ever he kept in Scotland having Ratified the Five Articles of Perth by Aâ—â— of Parliament assured the People that His Majesty in his days should not press any more Change on Alterations in matters of that kind without their Consent Yet this man hâ—th pressed me to invite them to a nearer conjunction with the
it that the Impulsive of it was the supposed Irregularity which was then reviv'd but because he would not Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorp's which the King sent to him by Mr. W. Murry of the Bed-chamber for his Hand to the Printing which he denied saying There was some Doctrine in the Sermon which was contrary to his Judgment I write I confess by hear-say but I heard it from his own mouth and have it in a Manuscript under his own Hand It had been a wild thing to rake up the Irregularity again out of the Embers since in the interim he had Consecrated many Prelates nay since he had Consecrated the Elements of Christ's Supper at the King's Coronation and set the Crown upon His Majesties Head And not long after he returned from Foord to a Parliament Summon'd to begin March 17. 1627. he Consecrated that Learned Divine Mr. Richard Montagu Promoted to the See of Chichester at Croydon Aug. 24. 1628. Yet that great Scholar had Presented his studied Papers for the Irregularity to the Lord-Keeper more then any man But now he was satisfied to be Consecrated by the whilom Irregular supposed And at the same time Dr. Laud then Bishop of London was Assistant with the Arch-Bishop to impose Hands Such Changes there are in Human Judgments 80. Perhaps I may be thought Irregular my self that I have knit the Election and Consecration of the Bishop of Lincoln to the long Series and Discussion of this famous Case I crave Pardon if I want one Now I step back to the Lord-Keeper who before the end of June was a Keeper of more then he desired the Earl of Southampton one of his dearest Friends on Earth being committed a Prisoner to his Custody A worthy Lord and of a gallant Freedom yet such as less then Kings do not like In the Session of Parliament which was then newly ended he was interpreted to exceed in some words against the Royal Prerogative a Stone of Offence that lay in many men's ways Beside he had Rebuk'd the Lord Marquess of Buckingham with some Passion and Acrimony for speaking often to the same thing in the House and out of Order Therefore he was Confined but with as much Gentleness as could be devised rather to a Nurse then a Jaylor But the Lord-Keeper though he lik'd his Guest yet he preferred his Liberty before that Liking and never gave over till he had got his Enlargement discharged him from the Attendance of Sir William Parkhust who as a Spy was sent to wait upon him at Tichfield that he might be lest only to the Custody of his own good Angel as he writes Cabal p. 59. Likewise in Tenderness to the Earl's Wealth and Honour he kept him from an Information in Star-chamber which was threatned and buoy'd him up at last to the King's Favour so as he might rather expect new Additions then suspect the least Diminution from his Gracious Majesty Though all this came purely from his Love and Industry yet of all that was obtained he would take nothing to himself but directed the Earl to cast his Eye upon my Lord of Buckingham Of whose extraordinary Goodness says he your Lordship and my self are remarkabe Reflections the one of his Sweetness in forgetting Wrongs the other of his Forwardness in conserring Court sies These Passages occur in the Printed Bundle But there is a Letter the Publisher of the former did not meet with it dated two days before Jul. 19. written to the Lord Marquess in behalf of that Honourable Earl and likewise of Mr. J. Selden my great Friend while he lived who was clap'd up at the same time because being a Member of the House of Commons in that Parliament he had preferred the danger of telling Truth before the safety of Silence Thus for them both together he Solicites My most Noble Lord WHat true Applause and Admiration the King and your Honour have gained for that gracious and most Christian-like Remorse shewed the E. of Southampton a Delinquent by his own Confession I refer to the Relation of others lest I might be suspected to amplifie any thing which my self had propounded The Earl if he be a Christian or a moral honest Man will endeavour to regain His Majesty's further Favour by more observance and to requite your unexpressible Goodness towards him by all true and hearty Friendship both which he deeply Vows and Protests Now poor Mr. Selden flies to the same Altar of Mercy and humbly Petitioneth your Lordship's Mediation and Furtherance He and the World take knowledge of that Favour your Lordship hath ever offorded my motions and my self without the motion of any and so draweth me along to Entreat for him The which I do the more boldly because by his Letter inclosed he hath utterly denied that ever he gave the least Approbation of that Power of Judicature lately usurped by the House of Commons My Lord The man hath excellent Parts which may be diverted from an Affectation of Applause of idle People to do some good and useful Service to His Majesty He is but young and this is the first Offence that ever he committed against the King I presume therefore to leave him to your Lordship's Mercy and Charity These soft words mollified Anger and Mr. Selden was Released by the next Pacquet that came from the Court in progress If the Stoics had been wise men truly the Lord-Keeper had been none for they pronounced with their Master Zeno in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That wise Men are not Pitiful But insooth there was never a greater Stickler then he to bring Afflicted Ones out of Durance and Misery when he could effect it by Power and Favour none that lent their hand more readily to raise up those that were cast down But if a Gentleman of Mr. Selden's merit were under the peril of Vindicative Justice he would stretch his whole Interest and cast his own Robe as it were to save him When he had brought him to Liberty he stay'd not there He perceived his Fortune in those days was not equal to his Learning therefore he conferred the Registership of the College of Westminster upon him not meaning to hinder his Growth with a Garment that was too little for him but he procured a Chapman that gave him 400 l. for his Right in the Place A Courtesie which Mr. Selden did never expect from the Giver and was repaid with more Duty and Love then the Giver could ever have expected from Mr. Selden And although that singular good Scholar Mr. Montagu did never agree with Mr. Selden as their Adverse and Polemical Writings about the Right of Tithes do evidence yet the Lord-Keeper made them both agree in his Favour and Patronage Which Mr. Montagu hath proclaimed abroad in his Treatise of Invocation of Saints Licensed for the Press with his Lordship 's own Hand in Right as he was his Visitor in the Colleges of Windsor and Eaton His Words may be found in the Epistle Dedicatory
to that Treatise as follow Let the World take notice if it may concern any your Honour is be unto whom next unto His most Sacred Majesty my most Gracious Sovereign and Master I owe more then to all the World beside Professing unseignedly in the word of a Priest Fâ—cisti ut vivam moriar ingratus 81. The Lord-Keeper being so great a Dealer in the Golden Trade of Mercy and so successful he followed his Fortune and tried the King and the Lord Marquess further in the behalf of some whom their dear Friends had given over in Despair to the Destiny of Restraint And those were of the Nobles For he carried a great regard to their Birth and Honour and knew it was good for his own safety to deserve well of those high-born Families The East of Nerthumberland had been a Prisoner in the Tewer above 15 years His Confidents had not Considence and a good Heart I say not to Petition but to dispute with the King how ripe the Earl was for Clemency and Liberty 〈◊〉 Majesty was very merciful but must be rubb'd with a Fomentation of hi◠〈◊〉 Oyl to make him more supple This dextrous Statesman infuseth into 〈…〉 how to compass the Design with what Insinuations and Argum◠〈…〉 were improved with the Earl's demulcing and well-languag'd Phrases And when it came to strong Debate the Lord-Keeper got the better of the King in Reason So the Physic wrought as well as could be wish'd and on the 18th of July the Earl of Northumberland came out of the Tower the Great Ordnance going off to give him a joyful Valediction Who turned his Thoughts to consider the Work of God that a Stranger had wrought 〈◊〉 Comfort for him in his old Age whose Face he had ne 〈…〉 never purchased by any Benefit nor courted so much as by the meâ—age of a Salutation Which his Lordship compared to St. Peter's Deliverance by the Angel of God Acts 12. when Peter knew not who it was that came to help him Though not in order of Time yet in likeness of Condition the Earl of Oxford's Case is to be ranked in the same File It was in April in the year following that he was sent to the Tower betrayed by a false Brother for rash Words which heat of Wine cast up at a merry meeting His Lordship's Enemies were great and many whom he had provoked yet after he had acquainted the Lord-Keeper with the long Sadness of his Restraint in a large Letter which is preserved he wrought the Earl's Peace and Releasment conducted him to the King's Chamber to spend an hour in Conference with His Majesty from whence a good Liking was begot on both sides Whom thereupon that Earl took for his trusty and wisest Friend using his Counsel principally how to Husband his Estate and how to employ his Person in some Honourable Service at Sea that the Dissoluteness of his Hangers-on in the City might not sink him at Land The Lord-Keeper did as much for the Earl of Somerset in Christmas-time before bringing him by his mediation out of the House of Sorrow wherein he had continued above five years that he might take fresh Air and enjoy the comfort of a free Life which was affected by him to gratisie the splendid and spreading Family of the Howards And they were all well pleased with him as were the greatest part of the Grandees except the Earl of Arundel for a Distast taken of which the Lord-Keeper need not be ashamed 82. Within Six Weeks after he was settled in that Office the Earls Secretary brought two Patents to be Sealed the one to bestow a Pension of 2000 l. per annum upon his Lord out of the Exchequer which was low mow'n and not sit to bear such a Crop beside the Parliament which was to meet again in the Winter could not choose but take Notice what over-bountiful Issues were made out of the Royal Revenue to a Lord that was the best Landed of all his Peers Yet the Seal was put to with a dry assent because there was no stopping of a Free River With this Patent came another to confer the Honour of the Great Marshal of England upon the same Noble Personage The Contents of it had scarce any Limits of Power much exceeding the streit Boundaries of Law and Custom The Lord Keeper searching into the Precedents of former Patents when the same Honour was conser'd found a great inequality and doubted for good Cause that this was a device to lay his unfitness for his great place Naked to the World if he swallowed this Pill But nothing tended more to the praise of his great Judgment with His Majesty He writes to my Lord of Buckingham to acquaint the King that he thought His Majesty intended to give to greater Power than the Lords Commissioners had who dispatch'd Affairs belonging to that Office joyntly before him and that all Patents refer to the Copy of the immediate Predecessors who were the Earls of Essex Shrewsbury and Duke of Somerset but my Lord leap'd them over and claim'd as much as the Howards and Mowbries Dukes of Norfolk did hold which will enlarge his Authority beyond the former by many Dimensions There is much more than this in the Cabal of Letters p. 63. And much more than I meet there in his own private Papers The King was much satisfied with the Prudence and Courage of the Man that he had rather display these Errors than commit them for fear of a mighty Frown so the Earls Counsel were appointed to attend the Lord Keeper who joyning their hands together examin'd the Obliquities of the Patent and alter'd them What would have follow'd if it had pass'd entire in the first Draught For being so much corrected and Castrated yet the proceedings of the Court of Honour were a Grievance to the People not to be supported The Decrees of it were most uncertain most Arbitrary most Imperious Nor was there any Seat of Judgment in the Land wherein Justice was brought a bed with such hard Labour Now I invite the Reader if he please to turn to the 139 pag. of Sir An. Wel. Pamphlet and let him score a Mark for his Remembrance at these Lines That Williams was brought in for this Design to clap the Great Seal through his Ignorance in the Laws to such things that none that understood the danger by knowing the Laws would venter upon This Knight when he is in a Course of Malice is never out of his Way but like an egregious Bugiard here he is quite out of the Truth For the New Lord Keeper walk'd so Circumspectly that he seem'd to fear an Ambush from every Grant that was to pass for the use of encroaching Courtiers if any thing were Ambiguous or Dangerous he was not asham'd to call for Counsel If any thing were prest against Rule he was inexorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. He kept constant to Justice in its Flat Square I could be Luxuriant in instances nothing is
easier then to observe two which are in Print already But Twelve days after he was sworn Lord Keeper Mr. Secretary Calvert wrote to him and used the King's Name and to make all the stronger the Spanish Ambassadors Mediation was not wanting to deliver one Rockweed a Papist out of the Fleet. Not a jot the sooner for all this but he excuseth his Rigor to the Lord Marquess Cabal p. 62. That he would not insame himself in the beginning to break his Rules so foully which he was Resolv'd to keep straight against ah Men whatsoever Another of the same Stamp pag. 65. One Beeston had been committed from the Power of the High Court of Chancery loathing this Captivity he besought this New Officer to be Releas'd and was denied he Cries out for Mercy to the King Roars out that the Parliament might hear him follows the Lord Bucking with his Clamors who advised the Keeper to consider upon it It is a Maxim indeed in Old Colwnella lib. 6. c. 2. pervicax contumacia plerumque saevientem fatigat c. Boisterous Importunity thinks to fare better then modest Innocency but he gave the Lord Marquess this Answer My Noble Lord. Decrees once made must be put in Execution Else I will confess this Court to be the greatest Imposture and Grievance in the Kingdom The Damned in Hell do never cease repining at the Justice of God Nor the Prisoners in the Fleet at the Decrees in Chancery In the which Hell of Prisoners this one for Amiquity and Obstinacy may pass for a Lucifer I neither know him nor his Cause but as long as he stands in Contempt he is not like to have any more Liberty A Lion may be judg'd by these two Claws of his Pounce 83. And now I have past over these exordial Marks of his Demeanour and sufficiency before the Term began Upon the first day of it when he was to take his Place in Court he declined the Attendance of his great Friends who offered as the manner was to bring him to his first settling with the Pomp of an nauguration But he set out Early in the Morning with the Company of the Judges and some few more and passing through the Cloysters into the Abby he carried them with him into the Chappel of Henry the Seventh where he Prayed on his Knees silently but very Devoutly as might be seen by his Gesture almost a quarter of an hour then Rising up chearfully he was Conducted with no other Train to a Mighty Confluence that expected him in the Hall whom from the Bench of the Court of Chancery he Greeted with this Speech MY Lords and Gentlemen all I would to God my former Course of life had so qualified me for this Great Place wherein by the Will of God and the special Favour of the King I am for a time to bestow my self that I might have fallen to my Business without any farther Preface or Salutation Especially considering that as the Orator observes Id ipsum dicere nunquam sit non ineptum nisi cum est necessarium This kind of Orationing hath ever a Tincture of levity if it be not occasion'd by some urgent Necessity For my own part I am as far from Affecting this Speech as I was from the Ambition of this Place But having found by private Experience that sudden and unexpected Eruptions put all the World into a Gaze and Wonderment I thought it most convenient to break the Ice with this short Deliberation which I will limit to these two Heads my Calling and my Carriage in this Place of Judicature 84. For my Calling unto this Office it was as most here present cannot but know not the Cause but the Effect of a Resolution in the State to Change or Reduce the Governour of this Court from a Professor of our municipal Laws to some one of the Nobility Gentry or Clergy of this Kingdom Of such a Conclusion of State quae aliquando incognita semper justa as I dare not take upon me to discover the Cause so I hope I shall not endure the Envy Peradventure the managing of this Court of Equity doth Recipere magis minus and is as soon diverted with too much as too little Law Surely those Worthy Lords which to their Eternal Fame for the most part of an hundred years Govern'd and Honour'd this Noble Court as they Equall'd many of their own Profession in the knowledge of the Laws so did they excel the most of all other Professions in Learning Wisdom Gravity and mature Experience In such a Case it were but Poor Philosophy to restrain those Effects to the former which were produced and brought forth by those latter Endowments Examine them all and you shall find them in their several Ages to have the Commendation of the Compleatest Men but not of the deepest Lawyers I except only that mirror of our Age and Glory of his Profession my Reverend Master who was as Eminent in the Universal as any other one of them all in his choicest particular Sparguntur in omnes Uno hoc mista fluunt quae divisa beatos efficiunt conjuncta tenet Again it may be the continual Practise of the strict Law without a special mixture of other knowledge makes a Man unapt and undisposed for a Court of Equity Juris Consultus ipse per se nihil nisi leguleius quidam cautus acutus as M. Crassus was wont to define him They are and that cannot be otherwise of the same Profession with the Rhetories at Rome as much used to defend the Wrong as to Protect and Maintain the most upright Cause And if any of them should prove corrupt he carries about him armatam nequitiam that skill and Cunning to palliate the same that that mis-sentence which pronounced by a plain and understanding Man would appear most Gross and Palpable by their Colours Quotations and Wrenches of the Law would be made to pass for Current and Specious Some will add hereunto the Boldness and Confidence which their former Clients will take upon them when as St. Austin speaks in another Case They find That Man to be their Judg who but the other day was their hired Advocate Marie that depraedandi Memoria as St. Jerom calls it That promness to take Mony as accustom'd to Fees is but a Base and Scandalous Aspersion and as incident to the Divine if he want the Fear of God as to the common Lawyer or most Sordid Artizan But that that former Breeding and Education in the strictness of Law might without good Care and Integrity somewhat indispose a Practiser thereof for the Rule and Government of a Court of Equity I Learned long ago from Plinius Secundus a most Excellent Lawyer in his time and a Man of singular Rank in the Roman Estate for in his 2 3 and 6 Epist Making Comparison between the Scholastici as he calls them which were Gentlemen of the better sort bred up privately in feigned pleadings and Schools of Eloquence for the
their Generation Sir J. Davies Sir Ron. Crâ—w Sir T. Coventry Sir R. Hâ—ath Sir J. Walter Serjeant Fâ—nch Serjeant Richardson Serjeant Astly Sir Hâ—n Finch Mr. T. Crew Mr. W. Nâ—â— Mr. A. Pâ—nâ— Mr. J. Glanvil Mr. J. Finch Mr. E. Littleton Mr. D. Jenkyn Mr. J. Baâ—kes Mr. E. Hâ—rbâ—rt Mr. T. Gardner Mr. T. Hâ—dly Mr. Egr. Thin Mr. R. Mason The Chief among them that did deserve to Fight next the Standard my Memory perhaps is not Trusty enough after the space of 30 years to remember all those Worthies are fill'd in the Margent like a Row of Cedars and are set down in those Titles which they carried then which most of them by their Deserts did far out-grow But these contributed all they could to his Credit with as much Observance with as great Reverence with as full Applause and Praise as could be required from ingenious Gentlemen towards one that was a Stranger to their Studies whose acceptance no doubt was a Whetstone to his Industry In the first Term that he came abroad into Westminster-Hall a Parliament sate in it's second Session wherein by Command from the King he spake to both Houses Of which Speech thus my Lord of Buckingham in a Letter to him dated Novemb. 24. I know not how the Upper House of Parliament approve your Lordships Speech But I am sure he that call d them together and as I think can best judge of it is so taken with it that he saith it is the best that ever he heard in Parliament and the nearest to his Majesties meaning which beside the contentment it hath given to his Majesty hath much comforted me in his choice of your Lordship who in all things doth so well Answer his expectation This is laid aside by some negligence the more is the pity that it cannot he found But here are two credible Witnesses how well he could open the great Affairs of the Kingdom for the best of Orators gave this Rule to Brutus Nâ—m disertus esse potest in eo quod nesciat no man can speak well to that which he doth not understand At this time I find in safe Records how advisedly he carried himself in the House of Peers upon the starting of two particulars The Priviledg of the Nobility was discuss'd and ready to be determin'd finally by the more Active part that they should take no Oath save only by their Honour which through his Intercession was laid aside for these Reasons That the Word of God allows of no Swearing for the finding out of Truths and deciding of Controversies but by an Invocation of the Name of God Quod confirmatur per cortius confirmatur and it is God's Glory that his Name and no other should be accounted more certain then any thing in the World In all Controversies the last Appeal is to him and to none beside because there is none above him The last Appeal is ever to the highest therefore we make no further Inquisition for Truth after our furthest provocation to the Lord in Heaven In Assertory Oaths we Swear That thereby we may put an End to contentious Causes And it is not Man's but God's Honour to end them who is the God of Peace and that maketh men to be of one mind Moreover our best consulting Divines collect that the Ground of an Oath builds upon his holy Name because He is most True and cannot Deceive likewise because he is Omniscient and cannot be ignorant and therefore to be the only due Witness for all contentious matters where there is no other Witness The Honour of the Peerage is a very Estimable Prerogative but a Creature to Swear is to put our Soul upon a Religious Action And shall a Creature be the Object of Religious Worship God forbid shall a Creature be brought in as the Witness of all Truth Or shall it be Raised up as the Judge which avengeth all falsehood There is none but God that is privy to all Truth And Vengeance belongs to none but him that can cast both Body and Soul into Everlasting Fire He added that singularities are ever to be suspected and challeng'd any man to shew the contrary that no other Oath but In the Name of God was used in Solemn Tryals at that day in any part of Christendom And he bad them look to themselves at home how prejudicial it would prove to all Courts of Justice and how unwillingly the Gentry and lower condition'd people of the Land would be brought unto it How loth they would be to refer their Free-hold their Meum and Tuum to the protestation of Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If it be stood upon that in the highest Criminal Causes of Life and Death their Lordships vouched their Honour only to Guilty or not Guilty it might receive this Satisfaction If a Peer be produced as a Witness against another Peer before the Lord High Steward he lays his hand upon the Book and takes his Oath No man can be cast by the deposition of a Witness that is not Sworn But when the Peers bring their Verdict into the same Court against a Peer they lay not their Hand upon the Book but upon their Breast which is a Sign that their vouchment by their Honour in that Tryal is not an Oath Indeed it is not For their Lordships utter it not Via juramenti but Via Comparationis That is they do not Swear by their Honour but pronounce comparatively that as sure as they are Honourable they find the Prisoner Guilty or not Guilty Like to that frequent expression in Scripture As thy Soul Liveth it is thus and thus The living Soul comes not in as an Oath but as a Comparison As who should say As sure as your Soul lives or as sure as Pharaoh lives I affirm the Truth Thus far he contended and to general Satisfaction It was much that in his Novitiatship in that house he durst contradict such mighty ones in so tender a Cause But a Wise man commends the Wisest of Heathen men Socrates for that Gallant Freedom 1 Tusâ—ul adhibuit liberam contumaciam à magnitudine animi inductam non à Superbiâ 'T is Pride that makes men obstinate in their Errors But magnanimity makes them confident in the Truth 91. In the same morning while this Debate continued very long he had another Pass with a Master-Fencer For the question being canvas'd throughly concerning Oaths an Aged Bishop very infirm in health excus'd himself if he could not stay so long whereupon some Lords who bore a grudge to that Apostolical Order cried out they might all go home if they would and not contented with that Vilipendency grew higher in their demand and would have this contempt against the Prelates inserted in their Journal Book The Earl of Essex press'd it more passionately then the rest who wanted Theological Advice about the strict Obligation of Oaths as much as any Christian which appear'd by his Attempts and Practice about twenty years after But nothing
would now quiet his eager Spirit but to put it to the question whether the Lordships were not content to open their Doors wide and to let all the Bishops out if they would The Lord Keeper Replied with a prudent Animosity That if he were Commanded he would put it to the Question but to the King and not to the House of Peers For their Lordships as well Spiritual as Temporal were call'd by the King 's Writ to sit and abide there till the same Power dissolv'd them And for my Lords Temporal they had no Power to License themselves much less to Authorize others to depart from the Parliament With which Words of irrefragable Wisdom that Spirit was conjur'd down as soon as it was rais'd But when the House was swept and made clean it returned again in our dismal Days with seven other Spirits worse than it self The Motion was then in the Infancy and we heard no more of it till it was grown to be a Giant and dispossessed our Reverend Fathers of their ancient Possession and Primigenious Right by Club-Law Let my Apostrophe plead with our Nobles in no Man's Words but Cicero's to Cataline In vastitate omnium tuas possessiones sacrosanctas futuras putas Could your Lordships imagine to limit Gun-Powder and Wild-Fire to blow up one half of the Foundation and to spair the other half When the Pillars of the Church were pluckt down could the Pillars of the State be strong enough to support the Roof of their own Dignity They should have thought upon it when they pill'd the Bark off the Tree that the Tree would flourish no more but quickly come to that Sentence Cut it down Why cumbereth it the Ground 92. Our Forefathers when they met in Parliament were wont to auspicate their great Counsels with some remarkable Favour of Priviledge or Liberality conferr'd upon the Church And because the Prelates and their Clergy were more concern'd than any in the Benefit of the Statutes made before the Art of Printing was found out they were committed to the Custody of their Religious Mansions The Reward of those Patriots was like their Work and God did shew he was in the midst of them They began in Piety they proceeded in Prudence they acted marvelously to the Maintainance of the Publick Weal and they Concluded in Joy and Concord But since Parliaments of latter Editions have gone quite another way to hearken to Tribunitial Orators that defamed the Ministry to encourage Projectors that would disseize them of their Patrimony when the Nobles from whom better was expected wax'd weary of them who were Twins born in the same Political Administration Samnium in Samnio We may look for England in England and find nothing but New England How are we fallen from our ancient Happiness How Diseased are we grown with the Running Gout of Factions How often have those great Assemblies been cut off unkindly on both sides before their Consultations were mellow and fit for Digestion We look for much and it came to little Was it not because the Lord did blow it away Hag. 1.9 It is not good to be busie in the Search of Uncertainties that are not pleasing yet they that will not trouble themselves to consider this Reason may find divers Irritations to Jars in the Causes below but I believe they will not reduce them better to the Cause of Causes from above From hence came Fierceness and Trouble upon this Session and God sent evil Angels among them Psal 78.49 For the House of Commons seem'd to the King to step out of their Way from the Bills they were preparing into the Closet of his Majesty's Counsels which put him to make Answer to them in a Stile that became his Soveraignty The King's Son-in-Law taking upon him the Title of King of Bohemia sore against the Father-in Law 's Mind the Emperor being in lawful Possession of that Kingdom over-run the greatest part of the Palatinate with some Regiments of Old Soldiers whereof the most were Spanish under the Conduct of Marquess Spinola Our King received the Injury no less than as a deep Wound gash'd into his own Body And all true English Hearts which did not smell of the Roman Wash were greatly provoked with the Indignity Prince and People were alike affected to maintain the Palsgrave in his Inheritance but several Ways They that are of one Mind are not always of one Passion The King assay'd to stop the Fury of the Imperialists by Treaty The Votes of the bigger Number of the House of Commons propounds nothing but War with Spain and this they could not do but in Civility they must first break off the Treaty of Marriage then in Proposition between the King 's dearest Son and the Infanta Maria. Neither of which pleased his Majesty in the Matter and but little in the Form that his Subjects should meddle in those high Points which he esteemed no less than the Jewels of his Crown before he had commended them to be malleated upon their Anvil The Matter that the Match with the Spanish Princess should be intended no more was dis-relishable because he esteemed her Nation above any other to be full of Honour in their Friendship and their Friendship very profitable for the enriching of Trade The Lady her self was highly famed for Virtue Wisdom and Beauty The Noble House of which she came had ever afforded fortunate Wives to the Kings of this Land and gracious with the People Her Retinue of her own Natives should be small and her Portion greater than ever was given with a Daughter of Spain And in the League that should run along with it the Redintegration of the Prince Elector in the Emperors Favor whom he had offended should be included Therefore his Majesty wrote thus to the Parliament We are so far engaged in the Match that we cannot in Honour go back except the King of Spain perform not such things as we expect at his Hands Some were not satisfied of which more in a larger Process that our Prince should marry a Wise of the Pontifician Religion For as Man's Soul contracts Sin as soon as it toucheth the Body so their severe and suspicious Thoughts were as consident as if they had been the Lustre of Prophetick Light that a Protestant could not but be corrupted with a Popish Wedlock Therefore the King took in hand to cure that Melancholy Fit of Superstitious Fear with this Passage that he sent in his Message at the same time If the Match shall not prove a Furtherance to Religion I am not worthy to be your King A well-spirited Clause and agreeable to Holy Assurance that Truth is more like to win than lose Could the Light of such a Gospel as we profess be eclips'd with the Interposition of a single Marriage A faint hearted Soldier coming near in his March to an Ambush unawares Plut vit Pelop. Cry'd out to his Leader Pelopidas Incidimus in hostes We are fallen among the Enemy No Man says his
this Rate he must buy the Soldiers Pay or be Scandaliz'd in the Army to the endangering of a Mutiny that he would yield nothing to save them from Starving who had jeoparded their Lives for him and his Children All this praemised I cannot dive into his Nature as some do that knew no more than I to say he was no Man of Courage but out of the Pith of his Arguments I can collect he was a Commander of Reason Happy those that liv'd under his Scepter who could say Claudian land Stil Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnes Quod cuncti gens una sumus Plutarch compares Romulus and Numa that the former did all he could to train the People to Fight Numa did his best to suppress Wars Non ob ignavia sed innocentiae causa not out of Timorousness but of Harmlesness This is he that they say had the Goddess Aegeria to his Dry-Nurse whereas Romulus had a Wolf to his Wet-Nurse So I will define it in the Peroration that it was Harmlesness and Innocency that taught King James not to leave his Kingdom naked to the Storms of War and disrobed of the Mantle of Peace 94. Now to go on If the Matter debated about breaking of the Match and Proclaiming War with Spain had not disgusted the Modus Procedendi or Form how the Commons took in hand would have given less Displeasure But to keep them from hunting after such Royal Game his Majesty confines them into their own Purlues Not to meddle says he with any thing concerning our Government or deep Matters of State and namely not to deal with our dearest Son's Match with the Daughter of Spain nor to touch the Honour of that King or any other our Friends and Confederates And also not to meddle with any man's Particulars which have their due Motion in any Our Courts of Justice To which they Answer That they acknowledge it belonged to his Majesty alone to resolve of Peace and War and of the Marriage of the most Noble Prince his Son Nor did they assume to themselves any Power to determine of any Part thereof but to demonstrate those things to his Majesty which they were not assured could otherwise come so fully and clearly to his Knowledge which are mannerly but plain Shifts In the L'enocoy they rise higher That his Majesty did seem to abridge them of the ancient Liberty of Parliament for Freedom of Speech an Inheritance received from their Ancestors The Apple of Contention at last grew only upon the Stalk of those Words The King rejoyns unto it thus Although We cannot allow of the Stile calling it your ancient and undoubted Inheritance but could rather have wished that ye had said that your Priviledges were derived from the Grace and Permission of our Ancestors and Us for most of them grew from Precedents which shews rather a Toleration than inheritance Yet We are pleas'd to give you Our Royal Assurance that as long as you shall continue your selves within the Limits of your Duty We shall be as careful to maintain and preserve your Lawful Liberties and Priviledges as ever any of Our Predecessors were nay as to preserve Our own Royal Prerogative Had Queen Elizabeth sent such Lines to any of the Parliaments called in her Blessed Reign her Name had been advanc'd for a gracious and a renowned Lady It was this if not alone yet chiefly that made her Government more Popular at Home and Glorious Abroad than the Kings her Successors for they wanted nothing of Piety Wisdom and Justice that she never encountred with Harsh Gainsaying Tumultuous Parliaments But what Requital had King James sot his gentle Words perfum'd with sweet Gums Why they begat another Remonstrance full of strong Contestation That the Liberties Franchizes Priviledges and Jurisdictions of Parliament are the ancient and undoubted Birth-right and Inheritance of the Subjects of England and so forth along with every Note above Ela. Yet that no Diversion might be made nor Cessation of weightier Business for this the Lord Keeper writes to the Lord Marquess Decemb. Cabal p. 65. 16. in these Words His Majesty infers that the Priviledges of Parliament are but Graces and Favours of former Kings Most true for where were the Commons before Harry the First gave them Authority to meet in Parliament They claim those things to be their Inheritance and natural Birth-Right Both these Assertions if men were peaceably disposed and affected the Dispatch of the common Business might easily be reconciled Those Priviledges were originally the Favors of Princes and are now inherent in their Persons in their Politick Body His Majesty may be pleased to qualifie that Passage with some mild and noble Exposition This wise Letter cuts the Controversie by a Thred And this Office to mitigate that Passage Sir Humphry May performed singularly to his Praise yet nothing to Success Hereupon on the 21st of December this Session was Prorogued till February the 8th but utterly Dissolved by Proclamation Jan. 7. Surely every good man wish'd that the King and they had embrac'd at Parting Plutarch in the Life of Dion tells of a small Error in Nature which hapned in Syracusa That a Sow Farrow'd and her Pigs had no Ears That the Sooth-Sayers portended to Dionysius the Governor a great Mischief upon it that the People would be Disobedient and hear nothing that was Commanded There cannot be a more ominous Presage of Evil to come than when the Magistrate hath lost the Happiness of a persuasive Tongue and the People of a listning and obedient Ear. 95. An Evill befall that Archimago that Fiend of Mischief that set Variance between the Head and the Body The Lord Keeper who saw about him and before him understood who would have the worst of it in the End For the next Parliament is not weakned in its Power or Priviledges by the Dissolution of the Former but a King grows-less than himself if he depart asunder from that publick Assembly in a Paroxism or sharp Fit as Paul and Barnabas went one from another Acts 15.39 Therefore he read nothing so much to his Majesty as to study it next to his Faith in Christ how to close with the Desires of that High Court when it assembled again that it might be like a Mixture of Roses and Wood-binds in a sweet Entwinement And for his Part he was willing to serve him in it rather than in any thing to be unto him as the Black Palmer was to the Fairy Knight in Mr. Spencer's Moral Poem to guide his Adventure from all distemperate Eruptions Which was put home And let it rest a while till time brought it on that he was the Days-man of Success For now I remove him into his Place in Star-Chamber a Court though buried now yet not to be forgotten Cambden who kept the Nobleness of his Country from Oblivion says of it Curia camâ—rae sâ—llatae si vetustatem spectemus est antiquissâ—ma Si dignitatem honoratissima For the Antiquity the Lord
find by his own Confession remaining in some Schedules that he was beholding to Lord Egerton's Directions to fill up the Worth of that Place which were these First To open his sincere and intimate Mind in all Advice which is indeed to give Counsel and not Words For he that speaks against his Conscience to please the King gives him a dry Flower to smell to Secondly Whatsoever was propos'd to examine primarily if it were just For he that dare make bold with God for Reasons of State is not to be trusted by Man There can be no Reason against Right Velleius says that Cato the Heathen was of that Opinion Cui id solum visum est rationem habere quod haberet justitiam 2. If it were for the Honour of the King for Crown-wisdom must not be soil'd with the Dust of Baseness but aim at Glory 3. If it were profitable as well for the Ages to come as for the present Use for present Occasions are mortal but a Kingdom is immortal If it hit not every Joynt of Just Honourable and Profitable he voted to lay it aside He kept other Rules at the Table but more dispensable As to mature great Matters with slow Deliberation at least to give them a second Hearing after himself and his Colleagues had laid their Heads upon their Pillows Next he called upon the King to follow the beaten Tract of former Precedents For new ways are visibly the Reproach of ancient Wisdom and run the Hazard of Repentance New Stars have appeard and vanish'd the ancient Asterisms remain there 's not an old Star missing Likewise it was his modest but frequent Motion that Counsels should not be whispered by one or two in a Corner but delivered openly at the Board by the sworn Ministers For what avails it when a Globe of Senators have press'd sound Judgment if some for their own Ends shall overthrow it who have made Blastus their Friend in Agrippa's Chamber Act. 12. The Lord Cooke's Jurisdiction of Courts Pag. 57. gives it for a special Note of his own Observation when he was a Privy Counselsellor that when a thing upon Debate and Deliberation is well resolv'd at the Council-Table the Change thereof upon some private Information is neither safe nor honourable As Seneca says Lib. 2. de Benif Vota homines parciùs faccrent si palam facienda essint If all Prayers were made in the Hearing of a publick Assembly many that are mumbled in Private wou'd be omitted for Shame So if all Counsels offer'd to Princes were spread out before many Witnesses Ear-Wiggs that buzz what they think fit in the retir'd Closet durst not infect the Royal Audience with pernicious Glozing for fear of Scandal or Punishment Well did the Best of our Poets of this Century decipher a Corrupt Court in his Under-woods Pag. 227 When scarce we hear a publick Voice alive But whisper'd Counsels and these only thrive Lastly He deprecated continually and obtained that private Causes should be distinguished from Publick that Actions of Meum and Tuum should be repulsed from the Council-Board and kept within the Channel of the Common-Law But to run along with the Complacemia of the Multitude with that which was most cry'd up in the Town by our Gallants at Taverns and Ordinaries he defy'd it utterly Populo super â—canea est calliditas says Salust The Peoples Heads are not lin'd with the Knowledge of the Kingdoms Government 't is above their Perimeter When they obey they are in their Wits when they prescribe they are mad Excellently King James in one of his Speeches Who can have Wisdom to judge of things of that Nature arcana imperii but such as are daily acquainted with the Particulars of Treaties and the variable and fixed Connexion of Affairs of State together with the Knowledge of the secret Ways Ends and Intention of Princes in their several Negotiations Otherwise small Mistakings in Matters of this Nature may produce worse Effects than can be imagined He gave this Warning very sagely to his People what Warning he received from his faithful Servant the Lord Keeper shall be the Close of this Subject His Majesty being careful to set his House within himself in good Order against he came to the Holy Communion on the Eve before he sent for this Bishop as his Chaplain to confer with him about Sacred Preparation for that Heavenly Feast who took Opportunity when the King's Conscience was most tender and humble to shew him the way of a good King as well as of a good Christian in these Points First To call Parliaments often to affect them to accord with them To which Proposal he fully won his Majesty's Heart Secondly To allow his Subjects the Liberty and Right of the Laws without entrenching by his Prerogative which he attended to with much Patience and repented he had not lookt into that Counsel sooner Thirdly To contract his great Expences and to give with that Moderation that the Prince his Son and his succeeding Posterity might give as well as He. In short to contrive how to live upon his own Revenue or very near it that he might ask but little by way of Subsidy and he should be sure to have the more given him But of all the three Motions there was the least Hope to make him hear of that Ear. For though he would talk of Parsimony as much as any yet he was lavish and could keep no Bounds in Spending As Paterculus observes of an Emperor that wrote to the Senate Triumphum appararent quà m minimo sumtu sed quantus alias nunquam fuisset To be a great Saver and a great Spender is hard to be reconciled for it toucheth the Hem of a Contradiction But since the Benefit of that Counsel would not rest upon the Head of the King the Honesty of it returned again to him that gave it 98. Who had the Abilities of two Men in one Breast and filled up the Industry of two Persons in one Body He satisfied the King's Affairs in the Civil Theatre and performed the Bishops Part in the Church of Christ As 〈◊〉 and Jehojada were great Judges in the Land and ministred before the Lord to their Linnen Ephods The Custody of the Great Seal would not admit him so long as he kept it to visit his Diocess himself but though he was not upon the Soil of the Vineyard he was in the Tower of it to over-look the Vine-Dressors Though he was absent in his Body he was present in the Care and Watchfulness of his Spirit and as our Saviour said of the Woman that poured her precious Spikenard upon him Quod potuit fecit Marc. 14.8 So I doubt not but God did accept it from him that he did what he could He heard often from those whom he had surrogated and appointed in Office to give him Information and was so assiduous to enquire after all Occurrences in those many Parochial Towns that were under his Pastoral Power that he would be very
did now Imprison and Execute the Rigour of his Laws against the Roman Catholics I must deal plainly with your Lordship our Viperious Country-men the English Jesuits in France to frustrate those pious endeavours of his Majesty had many Months before this Favour granted retorted that Argument upon us by Writing a most malicious Book which I have seen and read over to the French King Inciting him and the three Estates to put all those Statutes in Execution against the Protestants in those parts which are here Enacted and as they falsly inform'd severely Executed upon the Papists I would therefore see the most subtle State-monger in the World chalk out away for 〈◊〉 Majesty to mediate for Grace and Favour for the Protestants by Executing at this 〈◊〉 the Severity of his Laws upon the Papists And that this Favour should 〈…〉 Toleration is a most dull and yet a most devilish misconstruction A Toleration looks forward to the time to come This favour backward to the Offences past If any Papist now set at Liberty shall offend the Laws again the Justices may Nay must recomm◠him and leave Favour and Mercy to the King to whom they properly belong Nay let those two Writs directed to the Judges be as diligently perused by these rash Censurers as they were by those Grave and Learned Men to whom his Majesty referred the Penning of the same and they shall find that these Papists are not otherwise out of Prison then with their Shackles about their Heels sufficient sureties and good recognizances to present themselves again at the next Assizes As therefore that Lacedaemonian opposed the Oracle of Apollo by asking his Opinion of the Bird which he grasp'd in his hand whether it were alive or dead So it is a matter yet controverted and undecided whether these Papists clos'd up and grasp'd in the Bands of the Law be still in Prison or at Liberty Their own demeanour and the success of his Majesties Negotiations are the Oracles that must decide the same If the Lay-Papists do wax insolent with this Mercy insulting upon the Protestants and Translating this favour from the Person to the cause I am verily of Opinion that his Majesty will remand them to their former State and Condition and renew his Writ no more But if they shall use these Graces modestly by admitting conference with Learned Preachers demeaning of themselves Neighbourly and Peaceably praying for his Majesty and the prosperous success of his Pious Endeavours and Relieving him bountifully which they are as well able to do as any other of his Subjects if he shall be forced and constrained to take his Sword in Hand Then it cannot be denied but our Master is a Prince that hath as one said plus humanitatis poene quam hominis And will at that time leave to be merciful when he leaves to be himself In the the mean while this Argument fetch'd from the Devils Topics which concludes a concreto ad abstractum from a favour done to the English Papists that the King favoureth the Popish Religion is such a Composition of Folly and Malice as is little deserved by that Gracious Prince who by Word Writing Exercise of Religion Acts of Parliament late Directions for Catechising and Preaching and all Professions and Endeavours in the World hath demonstrated himself so Resolved a Protestant God by his Holy Spirit open the Eyes of the People that these Airy Representations of ungrounded Fancies set aside they may clearly discern and see how by the Goodness of God and the Wisdom of their King this Island of all the Countries in Europe is the sole Nest of Peace and True Religion And the Inhabitants thereof unhappy only in this one thing that they never look up up to Heaven to give God Thanks for so great an Happiness Lastly for mine own Letter to the Judges which did only declare not operate the Favour it was either mispenned or much mis-construed It recited four kinds of Recusants only capable of his Majesties Clemency Not so much to include these as to exclude many other Crimes bearing among the Papists the Name of Recusanties as using the Function of a Romish Priest seducing the King's Liege people from the Religion established Scandalizing and Aspersing our King Church State or present Government All which Offences being outward practises and no secret Motions of the Conscience are adjudged by the Laws of England to be meerly Civil and Political and excluded by my Letter from the benefit of those Writs which the bearer was imployed to deliver unto my Lords the Judges And thus I have given your Lordship a plain Accompt of the Carriage of this business and that the more suddenly that your Lordship might perceive it is no Aurea Fabula or prepared Fable but a bare Narration which I have sent unto your Lordship I beseech your Lordship to let his Majesty know that the Letters to the Justices of the Peace concerning those four Heads recommended by his Majesty shall be sent away as fast as they can be exscribed I will not trouble your Lordship more at this time c. Your Lordships I. L. C. S. 105. The Letter as it exceeds in length so it excells in Judgment Yet thrusting into the midst of the Throng to part the Fray he got a knock himself For because he was principally employ'd by his Office to distribute the King's Favours to some of the adverse Sect he was Traduc'd for a Well-willer to the Church of Rome nay so far by a ranting fellow about the Town that he was near to receive a chief promotion from that Court no less than a Cardinals Hat At the first Bruit of this Rumor the Scandal was told him and one Sadler the Author discover'd which he despis'd to prosecute and pass'd it by with this moderation ' That the Reporters saw the Oar under Water and thought it was ' Crooked but he that had it in his hand knew that it was whole and streight An admirable Similitude to reconcile contraries to a good meaning for the Eye were not right if the Oar under Water did not seem broken to it And the Judgment were not right if it had not a contrary Opinion So the people that are upon the Shore judge one way for they look upon things beneath the Water But States-men judge another who work at the Oar or guide the Bark The Error of the former is tolerable the Sense of the other is Magisterial and unquestionable So great were this Lord's disaffections to that corrupt and unfound Church that he watch'd their Ministers more narrowly then any Counsellor when they shot beyond the Mark of his Majesties late indulgences It was ever the unlucky diligence of those that were Proctors to agitate the Recusants Cause to importune his Majesty for those things which they did not hope to obtain but the very offer of them with their Arts and Graceless Carriage would make the Council Table odious contribute much to embitter the Subjects
of the King Now for your own private I make no question but I may say of you my Lord as one said of Coccius Nerva Foelicior longè quà m cum foelicissimus That you were greater a great deal in your own Contentment than now that you have worthily attained to all this Greatness But as in this World of Things every Element forsakes his Natural Disposition so as we many times see the Earth and Water evaporating upward and the Fire and Air darting downward ad conservationem universi as Philosophy speaks to preserve and maintain the common course So in this World of Men private Must give way to publick Respects Now if it be expected that I should say any thing for your Lordships Direction in this Great Office your Lordships Wisdom and my Ignorance will plead pardon though I omit it I will only say one word and that shall be the same which Pliny said to one Maximus appointed Questor that is Treasurer for Achaia Memenisse oportet Ossicii titulum Remember but your Name and you shall do well enough Your Lordship is appointed Lord Treasurer Take such Order in his Majesties Exchequer that your Lordship do not bear this Denomination and Title in vain and your Lordship shall be worthily honour'd for the happiest Subject in this Kingdom And surely as your Lordship hath the Prayers so you have the Hopes of all good Men that Si Pergama dextrâ defendi poterant If any Man living can improve the Kings Revenue with Skill and Diligence you are that good Husband And so I wish your Lordship as much Joy of your Place as the King and the State do conceive of your Lordship This was the Perfume which was cast upon the new Treasurer in his Robes of Instalment The King was pleased much in his Advancement For his Majesty had proved him with Questions and found that he was well studied in his Lands Customs in all the Profits of the Crown in Stating of Accompts And in the general Opinion the White-Staff was as fit for his Hand as if it been made for it The most that could be objected was that he was true to the King but gripple for himself A good Steward for the Exchequer but sower and unrelishing in Dispatch A better Treasurer than a Courtier There was nothing in appearance but Sun-shine and warm Affections between him and the Lord Keeper The Lord Treasurer I know well had cross'd the other in one or two Suits which had been beneficial to him and not drawn a Denier out of the Kings Purse He dealt so with every Man therefore the Sufferer gave little sign of Grievance It was not his Case alone Another Pick in which they agreed not I cannot say disagreed was about a Brood of Pullein which were never hatcht The last Parliament being dissolv'd it was well thought of by some of the Lords of the Council-Board to sweeten the ill relish which it had in some Palats with a Pardon of Grace that might extend to a fair Latitude for the ease of those that were question'd for old Debts and Duties to the Crown for concealed Wardships and not suing out Liveries and such charges of the like kind which put those that were secure in their Improvidence to a great deal of trouble and disanimated their best Friends for fear of such blind Claps to be their Executors When the Lord Keeper had brought this Pardon so near to his Birth that the Atturney-General was sent for to draw it up the Lord Treasurer mov'd That such as took out this Pardon should pay their Fees which are accustomed in that kind to such Officers as he should appoint that the Advantage might enrich the King and that himself might have that share which the Lord Chancellour us'd to have who put the Seal to those Pardon 's This was heard with a dry laughter and denied him But from thenceforth he struggled to correct the lusty Wine of the Pardon with so much Water that there was no comfort in it and falling short of that Grace which was expected was debated no more The Lord Keeper having obtein'd a good Report for the Conception of the Pardon and the Lord Treasurer a great deal of Envy for the Abortion it curdled in his Stomach into Choler and Mischief And wherefore was he angry with his Brother Abel Look what St. John answers 1 Epist Chap. 3. Vers 12. He endeavoured first to make a Faction in Court against the Lord Keeper and it would not hit because he had no Credit with the Great Ones Then he falls to Pen and Paper and spatters a little Foam draws up Ten What-do-you-call-Um's some of them are neither Charges of Misdemeanour nor Objections which were meant for Accusations but are most pitiful failings entramell'd with Fictions and Ignorance They are extant in the Cabal Pag. 72. which the Lord Keeper puts away as quietly as the Wind blows off the Thistle-Down Pusheth his Adversary down with his little Finger yet insults not upon his Weakness As Pliny writes to Sabin Lib. 9. Ep. Tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum irae causa justissima est It was very laudable to be so mild when there was just cause given to be more angry Yet he complain'd by Letters to the Lord Marquiss as if he were sensible of the despite and unto him was very loud in his own Justification From whom he got no more remedy but that his Adversary was not believ'd And was will'd to consider that he dealt with one whose ill Manners would not pay him Satisfaction for an Injury Unto which the Lord Keeper rejoyn'd to the Lord Marquiss His Majesties Justice and your Lordships Love are Anchors strong enough for a Mind more tost than mine is to ride at Yet pardon me my Noble Lord upon this Consideration if I exceed a little in Passion the Natural Effect of Honesty and Innocency A Church-man and a Woman have no greater Idol under Heav'n than their Good Name And they cannot Fight nor with Credit Scold and least of all Recriminate to Protect and Defend the same The only Revenge left them is to grieve and complain Then he concludes Whom I will either Challenge before his Majesty to make good his Suggestions or else which I hold the greater Valour and which I wanted I confess before this Check of your Lordships go on in my course and scorn all these base and unworthy Scandals as your Lordship shall direct me What need more be said In the space of a Month they wrangled themselves into very good Friends and the Lord Keeper was Gossip to the next Child that was born to the Treasurer As Nazianzen says of Athanasius Encom p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was the Condition of two kinds of Stones in his Nature that are much commended He was an Adamant to them that smote him found and firm and would never break But a Loadstone to draw them to him that discorded with him though they were as hard as
of great Tentation Tuta me mediâ vehat vita decurrens viâ Sence in Ad. 118. I have touch'd upon the very Thread where the Lord Marquesâ—s Friendship began to unravel I have shewn how blameless the Lord Keeper was and that the Offence on his Part was undeclinable Yet I will not smother with partiality what I have heard the Countess Mother say upon it That the Lord Keeper had great Cause sometimes to recede from those Courses which her Son propounded that she never heard him different but that his Counsels were wise and well-grounded ever tending to the Marquess's Honour Safety and Prosperity but that he stirr'd her Son to Offence with Reprehensions that were too bold and vehement I heed this the more because it was usual with the Lord Keeper to be very angry with his best Friends when they would not hearken to their own Good Pardon him that Fault and it will be hard to find another in him as Onuphrius says of P. Pius the Fifth for his Cholerick Moods Hoc uno excepto vitio non erat in illo quod quisquam possit reprehendere And if the Testimony of that Lady be true it is but one and a most domestick Witness I do not shuffle it over as if his Meanor to the Lord Marquess were not a little culpable It was not enough to have Justice of his Side without Discretion Good Counsel is Friendly but it must be mannerly St. Châ—ysostom though a Free and a very hot man himself preach'd thus at Antioch Hom. 27. That some Inflammation will not be touch'd no not with a soft Finger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words as soft as Lint must be us'd to some Ears who disdain to be dealt withal as Equals Let me joyn Ric. Victor to him enforcing the like from David's Playing on the Harp when Saul was moved When stubborn Opposition will vex some great Men into Fury Dignum est ut elocutionis nostrae tranquilitate quasi citharae dulcedine ad salutem revocentur Use them tenderly and play as it were a Lesson upon the Harp to flatter them into Attention and Tranquility This is enough to reprehend a few stout Words but the Lord Keeper for all the Frown of the Lord Marquess staid upon him carry'd as true a Heart toward him and all his Allies as exuberant in Gratitude as ever liv'd in Fâ—esh He never wrote to him no not when he was quite forsaken but he refresh'd the Benefits he had receiv'd from him in his Memory He never commanded him but he obeyed in all which was to be justified No Danger impending over his Lordship but he was ready to run an honest Hazard with him even to the laying down of his Life In his Absence when a Friend is best tried when his Lordship was in Spain far from the King and giving no little Distast there by his Bearing then he smooth'd his Errors to his Majesty and kept him from Precipitation knowing that he had threatned to bring about his own Ruine Yet in strict Justice a Founder loseth his Right of Interest that would destroy or debauch his Foundation As Amber and Pearl are turned to mean Druggs and Dust when the Chymists hath drawn their Elixir out of them At this stop I can resolve one Question which many have ask'd me whence the Occasion sprung which transformed Bishop Laud from a Person so much obliged Eighteen Months before to the Lord Keeper to the sharpest Enemy As soon as ever the Bishop saw his Advancer was under the Anger of the Lord Marquess he would never acknowledge him more but shunn'd him as the old Romans in their Superstition walk'd a loof from that Soil which was blasted with Thunder It was an Opportunity snatch'd to pluck him back that was got so far before him Hold him down that he might not rise and then he promised himself the best Preeminence in the Church for he saw no other Rival As Velleius says of Pompey That he was very quiet till he suspected some Senator that thrust up to be his Equal Civis in tagá nisi ubi ' vereretur ne quem haberet parem modestissimus But will a good Christian say did so much Hatred grow up from no other Seed From no other that ever appear'd and look upon the World and marvel not at it for it is frequently seen that those Enemies which are most causless are most implacable which our Divines draw out of this that no Reason is express'd by Moses why the Devil tempted our first Parents and sought their Fall The like was noted by the gravest Counsellor of our Kingdom the Lord Burleigh who condoled when he heard the Condemnation of Sir John Perrot with these Words Odium quo injustius eò acrius Ill Will is most vehement when it is most unjust Cambden Eliz. An. 1592. But when himself was not harm'd a jot would he be so unkind to his Benefactor Phoed. Act. 1. Se. 3. What says a long Tongu'd Fellow In Plautus mortuus est qui suit qui vivus est He that was was lost He dreamt his Benefactor was defunct there was Life in my Lord of Buckingham and it was good Cunning to jog along with his Motions I am confident to give this Satisfaction to the Question above For the Lord Keeper did often protest upon his Hope in Christ that he knew no other Reason of their Parting Reader say nothing to it but hear what Solomon says Proverbs 18. ver â— according to the Septuagint and the Vulgar Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occasiones querit qui vult recedere ab amico omni tempore erit exprobrabilis 119. These Enmies were blowing at the Forge three years well nigh before the Ingeneers could frame a Bar to lift him off the Hinges of his Dignity for he was fast lock'd and bolted into the Royal Favour He bore up with that Authority that he could not be check'd with Violence and Occasions grew fast upon his Majesty to use his Sufficiency and Fidelity For though he was a King of profound Art yet he was not so fortunate in that Advice which he took to send his dear Son the Prince with the Lord Marquess into Spain Feb. 17 1022. So soon as those Travellers had left the King with his little Court at New-Market the King found himself at more Leisure and Freedom in the Absence of the Lord Marquess to study the Calling of a Comfortable and Concordious Parliament wherein the Subject might reap Justice and the Crown Honour And Occasion concluded for it that since the Prince like a Resolute and Noble Wooer had trusted himself to the King of Spain's Faith in the Court of Madrid whether his Adventure sped or not sped he must be welcomed Home with a Parliament The King prepared for the Conception of that Publick Meeting that it might fall to its proper Work without Diversions He conceiv'd there was no Error more fatal to good Dispatch than that some Members took
Cause It is the Author of the Observations upon H. L. his History of the Reign of King Charles pag. 137. He hath not bestowed his Name upon his Reader but he hath a Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Homer Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I ought not to put him to the first Question of our Catechism Quo nomine vocaris For good Writers nay Sacred Pen-Men do not always Inscribe their Names upon their Books Scholars do invariably Father the Work and some of them say they have it from the Printer upon one that hath Wrote and Publish'd much favoring of Industry and Learning And they give Reasons which will come into the Sequel though a great while deferr'd why he blotts the good Name of King James Why he grates so often upon the mild Nature and matchless Patience of King Charles And if Fame have taken the right Sow by the Ear it is one that had provok'd the then Bishop of Lincoln in Print with great Acrimony Twenty years ago and that Anger flames out in him now as hot as ever Panthera domari nescia non semper saeuit Yet when that Bishop came out of the Tower and this Adversary sought him for Peace and Love because the Bishop was then able to do him a Displeasure he found him easie to be Reconciled What should move this Man to forget that Pacification so truly observ'd on the Bishops part who was the greater and the offended Party Naturale est odisse quem laeseris And Malice is like one of the Tour Things Prov. 30.15 That never say it is enough 'T is Degenerous for the Living to Trample upon the Dead but very Impious that he that was once a Christian nay a Christian Priest should never cease to be an Enemy The Words with which he wounds the Spanish Match through his side though otherwise he is one that witheth it had succeeded are these That that Bishop being in Power and Place at C◠the time of King James made himself the Head of the Popish Faction because he thought the Match with Spain which was then in Treaty would bring not only a Connivance to that Religion but a Toleration of it And who more like to be in Favour if that Match went on than such as were most zealous in doing Good Offices to the Catholick Cause Here 's a Knot of Catter-Pillars wrapt in a thin Cobweb so easie it will be to sweep them of The accused Person was always free of Conference Let any now living say that heard him often Discourse of the adverse Church if he did not constantly open himself not for a Gainsayer only but for a Stiff Defier of their Corrupt Doctrines although he was ever pitiful for Relaxation of their Penalties And would that Party cleave unto him for their greatest Encourager Encouragement was the least their Head could give them Beside the Thing is a Chimaera I never knew any Head of the Popish Faction in this Kingdom Others and Bishops in Rank above him have been traduced in that Name but who durst own that Office especially in the end of King James his Reign when every year almost was begirt with a Parliament and every Parliament procreated an inquisitive Committee for Matters of Religion What Mist did he walk in that neither Parliament nor Committees did detect him for Head or Patron or Undertaker call it what you will of the Pseudo-Catholick Cause could nothing but the goggle Eye of Malice discover him 135. Perhaps the Contemplation of the Spanish Match might embolden him so this Author would have us think It could not it did not take a little in the highest Topicks to both It could not For as the Anteceding Parliament was much taken with King James's Words That if the Match should not prove a fartherance to our Religion he were not Worthy to be our King so this his Majesties near Counsellor knew his meaning of which he often discours'd that when the Holy-Days of the Great Wedding were over his Majesty would deceive the Jealousies of his Subjects and be a more vigorous Defender of the Cause of the True Faith than ever And Judge the Bishop by his own Words in his Sermon Preach'd at the Funerals of that Good King that his Majesty charg'd his Son though he Married the Person of that Kings Sister never to Marry her Religion I said likewise he did not Look back to the first Letters he dispatch'd into Spain but much more let every Reader enjoy the Feature of his own Piety and Wisdom which he put into the Kings Hand to have his liking while his Majesties Dear Son was in Spain to Cure popular Discontents and sickly Suspicions which had come forth with Authority in October following if the long Treaty had not Set in a Cloud The Original Draught of his Contrivances yet remaining is thus Verbation That when the Marriage was Consummated and the Royal Bride received in England His Majesty should Publish his Gracious Declaration as followeth First To assure his Subjects throughout his three Kingdoms that there is not one word in all the Treaty of the Marriage in prejudice of our own Religion Secondly To Engage himself upon his Kingly Word to do no more for the Roman-Catholics upon the Marriage than already he did sometime voluntarily Grant out of Mercy and Goodness and uncontroulably may do in disposing of his own Mulcts and Penalties Thirdly That our Religion will be much Honoured in the Opinion of the World that the Catholic King is content to match with us nor can he Persecute with Fire and Sword such as profess no other Religion than his Brother-in-Law doth Fourthly That His Majesty shall forthwith advance strict Rules for the Confirmation of our Religion both in Heart and in the outward Profession 1. Common-Prayer to be duly performed in all Churches and Chappels Wednesdays and Fridays and two of every Family required to be present 2. Every Saturday after Common-Prayer Catechising of Children to be constantly observed 3. Confirmation called Bishopping to be carefully executed by the Bishop both in the General Visitations of his Diocese and every Six months in his own House or Palace 4. That Private Prayers shall no Day be omitted in the Family of him that is of the Degree of an Esquire else not to be so named or reputed 5. All Ladies and all Women in general to be Exhorted to bestow two hours at the least every Day in Prayer and Devotion 6. All our Churches to be Repaired and outwardly well Adorned and comely Plate to be bought for the Communion-Table 7. Dispensations for Pluralities of Livings to be granted to none upon any Qualification but Doctors and Batchelors in Divinity at the least and of them to such as are very Learned Men. 8. Bishops to encourage Public Lectures in Market-Towns of such Neighbouring Ministers as be Learned and Conformable 9. A Library of Divinity-Books to be Erected in every Shire-Town for the help of the poorer Ministers and Leave shall be
dissipatur Especially a contumely cleaves the faster when he that is clean from the Defamation in one Person hath deserv'd it in others for as Octa. Minutius says Oftentimes there is some likelihood in a Lye and not unseldom some unlikelihood in a Truth 143. Other Errors and many were charg'd upon the Duke and a broad back will not bear them all Yet casting not an Eye upon the Earl of Bristol's Papers which he produced in Parliament a Lap full of them and no less Their chief purpose was to cast an Odium upon him that he heightned the Spaniards at first to ask worse Conditions in Religion then were formerly Treated on These were Recriminations wherein no man no not the Wise Earl of Bristol is like to keep a Charitable Moderation Because his Miscarriages had been ript up by the Duke before what followed but that wawardness which St Austin confess'd to be sometime in himself Si deprehensus Arguerer saevire magis quà m caedere libebat Cofess lib. 1. c. ult But such as were no parties in Contestation with my Lord of Buckingham blame him that he was very rash in managing business turning about Councils in all haste upon the Wheel of Fancy but keeping no Motion of Order or Measure which none could endure worse then that Nation with whom he Treated who are the most Superstitious under Heaven to keep that Politick Rule Bona Consilia morâ valescere Tacit. Hist l. 4. They said also That he was Offensive to the Crown of Spain in taunting Comparisons and an open derider of their Magniloquent Phrases and Garb of stateliness which must be an intended provocation for he was as well studied in blandishments and the Art of Behaviour as any Courtier in Europe They repined that he thrust himself into such a Room at their Masks and Interludes as were proper to their King our Prince and the Train Royal and was not contented with that Honour which was given to the Major Domo or prime Subject of Spain as if he were not satisfied to be Received as a less Star but as a Parelius with his Highness And whatsoever the grudge was they vented it craftily in that Quarrel that he did many things against the Honour and Reverence due to the Prince as one hath pick'd up and offered it to King James Cab. p. 221. That he was over Familiar in Talk and in Terms with his Highness Yet David so near the Crown call'd himself a dead Dog or a Flea in respect of Saul Nor is it omitted that he was sometime cover'd when the Prince was bare sometime sitting when the Prince stood capering a lost in sudden Fits and Chirping the Ends of Sonnets which was not Unmannerliness he was better bred but inconsiderateness which will creep upon him who was too much dandled upon the Lap of Fortune Or as Budaeus better Expresseth it Sap. Pand. p. 331. Mirablandimenta genuit Aulici victus ratio quibus praestantissima virtus saepè consopita connivere visa est And truly his Breeding in Budaeus his own Country did him some prejudice in that kind For the French Mode is bold Light and Airy That which we call rudeness with them is freedom good Metal brave assurance And that which we and the Castilians call Gravity or Modesty with them is reputed Sneaking want of Spirit Sheepishness But between frets of Spight and Fits of Levity the Duke put the Treaty so far out of Tune that the Lovers were disappointed of their expected Epithalamium So that the Spaniards made it one of their Refranes or Proverbs If the Prince had come alone without the Duke he had never return'd alone without the brave Castilian Virgin they might say so freely for I heard himself say no less in the Banqueting House at a Conference with the Lords and Commons anno 1624. When he endear'd himself to the Hearers That the Stout and Resolute way wherein he went had overturn'd the Marriage and did Arrogate the Thanks of all things to himself that were acceptable and popular So be it yet that which Canoniz'd him with the people then was afterward made an Evidence against him Cab. p. 227. To lay a Dram of Excuse against a Pound of Error this is to be Alledged that Olivares and Count Montes-claros were ill Advis'd to spurn a young Lion as if he had been a Puppy-Whelp For as soon as they saw the Duke soare so high in his Opinions and when Bristol spake to mitigate him disaccount of him contemptibly as if he had nothing to do this Brace of Grandees call'd it in Question what Creature could have more Power in that Action then an Embassador that laid the first Stone of it that had ample Letters of Credence under the King's Broad-Seal with the Confirmation of the Privy-Council of England which was more then my Lord of Buckingham brought with him The Headship of the Treaty was in the Prince and they bended to it Extolling his Wisdom as Capitolinus doth Gordianus the Elder Moribus it a moderatus ut nihil possis dicere quod nimiè fecit The next place they deemed to the Earl of Bristol upon the Reason premised though he declin'd it And should Buckingham be degraded to be the third in Place who held the Highest Place in Honour and the Supremacy both in the King 's and the Princes Favour Ausonius in Paneg. ad Gratian. tells a Story That Alexander the Great Reading those Verses in Homer that Agamemnon was Nam'd by the Common Souldiers to Fight the Duel with Hector after Aiax and Diomedes clapt out an Oath saying Occiderem eum qui me tertium nominasset I would have cut his Throat that should have Named two before me Truly Buckingham had so much Bravery in him that he would take the third Place in as great Dudgeon as Alexander 144. The grave Earl of Bristol was passive in this Quarrel and sunk it in Silence with his best Dexterity So he did allay all other Heats which the Duke's Passion raised against him if his Letter to the Lord Keeper be of Canonical Faith Cab. P. 21. knowing how undecent and scandalous a thing it is for the Ministers of Princes to run different ways in a strange Court But the Envy of all Miscarriages was cast upon his Lordship by that mighty Adversary and by a greater than he That he was wholly Spaniolized which could not be unless he were a Pensioner to that State That he sided with Olivarez in all Consults That he professed a Neutrality and more in all Propositions for the Advancement of the Popish Religion That he never Pleaded for the Restitution of the Palatinate but only pitied it with the Spanish Shrug That he did not so timely unmask the Spanish Councils to the Kings Advantage as he might and ought to have done That he entangled the Prince in Delays to keep him from returning Home For these and other the like which will follow in the great Report made in the next Parliament a Noise was made
that his Lordship should be offered up to Justice as a publick Sacrifice But they that contest for his Innocency observe that he was let loose to depart in Quiet when he should have been brought to the Horns of the Altar And when the Bill drawn up against him was put into Sir Robert Philip's Hand an active and a gracious Member of the House to manage it to his Ruine Sir Robert writes to the Duke Cab. P. 265. If Bristol frame a probable satisfactory Answer to any Charge will it not rather serve to declare his Innocency than to prepare his Condemnation Your Grace may consult with your self whither you may not desist with Honour upon having him further questioned Afterward when his Master King James was dead and when he was at the Stake I may say like to be worried in Parliament by his Accusers he writes thus confidently to the Lord Conway Cab. P. 20. As for the Pardon Jacob. 21. I should renounce it but that I know the justest and most cautious Man living may through Ignorance or Omission offend the Laws So that as a Subject I shall not disclaim any Benefit which cometh in general as it doth usually to all other Subjects in the Kingdom But as for any Crime in particular that may entrench upon my Employments in point of Loyalty and Fidelity I know my Innocency to be such that I am confident I shall not need that Pardon A. Gallius li. 12. c. 7. Take the Earl's Case Pro and Con it is very dubious therefore I will deal with it as the manner of the Areopagites was in such Perplexities adjourn it to be heard an hundred Years hence I say not He but They were the Proprophets of Baal that troubled our Israel Our Corner-miching Priests with the Bloomesberry-Birds their Disciples and other hot spirited Recusants cut out the Way with the Complaints of their no-grievous Sufferings which involved us in Distractions Rome and Madrid were full of them and they conjured Pope Gregory and the Catholick King to wind in their Safety and Immunity in the Articles of the Match as behoved a Father and a Friend If they had sate still and let the Business go adrist with the Tide it had been better for them They that force their Fruits to be Ripe do but hast them to be rotten Qui spretis quae tarda cum securitate prematura vel cum exitio properant Tacit. Annal. lib. 3. The Word of the King and Prince would not serve them that they would be gracious to all of their Sect that lived modestly and inoffensively to deserve their Clemency But they must have publick Instruments for it and Acts of Parliament if they could be gotten to debauch his Majesty in the Love of his People For as the Lord Keeper writes very prudently to the Duke Cab. P. 105. The Bent of the English Catholicks is not to procure Ease and Quietness to themselves but Scandals against their neighbouring Protestants and Discontents against the King and State Rhetorical Campian avows it in an Oration made at Doway Note this Apostrophe of his to our Kingdom As far as it concerns our Society we all dispersed in great Numbers through the World have made a League and Holy Solemn Oath that as long as any of us are alive all our Care and Industry all our Deliberations and Councils shall never cease to trouble your Calm and Safety Yet when our pragmatical Bosom-Enemies had wearied themselves with Solicitations the Earl of Nitsdale a main Prop of their Cause confest It may be Assurance sufficient to all Catholicks who have the Sense to consider that it must be our Master's and the Prince's gracious Disposition that must be our Safety more than either Word or Writ Thus he to the Duke Cab. P. 250. But while the Recusant Petitioners had caused all Affairs with us and Abroad to be obnoxious to Inflammation the Lord Keeper like a right Lapidary cuts a Diamond with a Diamond and useth Sir Tobâ— Mâ— is it not a Paradox the busiest Agent in that Cause to Manifest both in the Palace at Rome and in the Court at Madrid that the Petitioners grasp at more Favours than they could hold either with the Peace of this Kingdom or with the Laws of it which would endanger them to forfeit all that Connivance which they had gained before Give him his Due he rode with great Celerity to those remote Places and did his Work to the Proof and to his great Praise Sâ—stus est at mihi infidelis non est As Plautus in Trinummo The Lord Keeper failed not to put Gold in his Pocket but he paid him chiefly out of his Father's Purse That most Reverend Arch-Bishop of York his Father being highly distasted with Sir Toby's Revolt from the Protestant Religion made a Vow to Dis-inherit him and to leave him nothing The Lord Keeper plied the Arch-Bishop with sweet and pleasant Letters which he loved and with some Mediators in Yorkshire not to infringe his Vow for he did not ask him so much as to name him in his last Wiâ—l and Testament but to furnish him with Three thousand Pounds while he lived and the Sum was paid to his Son to a Peny How Sir Toby beâ— himself in the wisest Counsel which I think was given to the King of Spain may be read Cab. P. 25â— importuning his Majesty not to entangle the Prince with the Voâ—o of the Theologos to which he could not submit himself with Honour but to accept of those large Conditions for Catholicks which my Lord the King and the Prince have condescended to that so the Prince may have some foot of Ground upon which he may stand without Breach of Honour to comply with the incomparable Affection which he beareth to the Infanta This is sure that Sir Toby's Industry was well taken because he did what he could And he that employed him held him ever after to be a Person of Trust in any thing which he promised to do 145. Very consonant to the grand Particulars of the Praemises are the Contents of two Letters both dispatcht in June from the Lord Keeper to the Duke's Grace That which bears the former Date June 15 and yet unpublished lays out Errors advisedly and mannerly under the Heads of trivial Reports and furnisheth the Duke with Counsel for all Exigencies of Advantage especially diseloseth the King's Opinion if the Worst should come It is long but I could not pare it and not mar it Thus it is May it please your Grace IF ever I had as God knoweth I never had any extraordinary Contentment in the Fortunes of this World I have now good Cause offered me to redouble the same by that exceeding Love and Affection which every Man in his private Letter to others doth take Notice that your Grace doth bear and continually express to your poor Servant Nor is your Love incentred to me only in your own Breast but full of Operation having procured to me a good
he desired Leave from his Father that he might assay to depart from Madrid as secretly as he came thither Quando optima Dido Nesciat tantos rumpi non speret amores Aeneid 4. The Lord Keeper indeed had emboldned the Prince in February before to that Course but the King thought the Motion was not so seasonable at that time For his Highness was attended in Spain with a great Houshold of Followers and God knows whither the Sheep would be scattered or into what Pin-sold they should be thrust if the shepherd were gone And his Majesty still dreamt of of winning the Game and profest he saw no such Difficulties but that Patience after a while would overcome Perversness Howsoever it would be inglorious for the Prince of Wales to run away from the Frown of the Spaniards But least the Safety of so dear a Person should seem to be slighted or his Welcome Home retarded the Lord Keeper besought the King upon his Knees that his Majesty would write his Fatherly and Affectionate Letters to require his Son's Return giving them no Date but leaving that to be inserted when Business was crown'd with Opportunity This Counsel hit the Pin right and was followed and by God's Will who hath the Hearts of Kings and Princes in his Hand it pleased on this side and beyound the Seas 147. Great was the Expectation what the Month of July would bring forth as well in England as in Spain My Lord Duke had thrust himself into the greatest Employment that was in Europe when at first he had no Ground now no Mind to accomplish it A sorry Apprehension taken from Mr. Endi Porter carried him forth in all hast to make up the Match but there were others who desired his Grace to gratifie them with Concealment for their Good-will that sent Instructions into Spain to adjure him to do his utmost to prevent the Espousals Their Reasons were the two principal Places of Divine and Humane Wisdom God's Glory and his own Safety For God's Sake to keep our Orthodox Religion from the Admixture of that Superstition which threatned against the Soundness of it And no Corrosive so good to eat out the Corruption of Romish Rottenness creeping on as to give the Spaniard the Dodg and to leave the Daughter of Spain behind To his own Safety this Counsel was contributed These who made it their Study and were appointed to it to maintain the Grandeur of his Lordship met frequently at Wallingford-house to promote the Work Who had observed that some Impressions were gotten into the King's Mind and they knew by whom that his Majesty was resolved to be a Lover of Parliaments that he would close very graciously with the next that was called nor was there Likelihood that any private Man's Incolumity though it were his Grace himself should cause an unkind Breach between him and his People Therefore the Cabinet-men at Wallingford-House set upon it to consider what Exploit this Lord should commence to be the Darling of the Commons and as it were to re-publicate his Lordship and to be precious to those who had the Vogue to be the chief Lovers of their Country Between the Flint and the Steel this Spark was struck out that all other Attempts would be in vain unless the Treaty for the great Marriage were quasht and that the Breach of it should fall notoriously upon the Lord Buckingham's Industry For it was not to the Tast of the English if you will number them and not weigh them fearing some Incommodation to the Protestant Religion These Jonadabs 2 Sam. 13.3 the Subtle Friends of beauteous Absalom drew the Duke out of the King's High-way into the By-path of Popularity The Spaniards also stir'd up his Fire to struggle and appear against them For as the Earl of Bristol writes Cab. P. 20. He was very little beholding to them for their good Opinion Withal he was so head-strong that all the Ministers of our King that were joyned with him could not hold him in He had too much Superiority to think them his Fellow Servants that were so indeed And having nothing in his Tast but the Pickle of those new Counsels which his Governing Friends in England insus'd into him he pluckt down in a few Weeks which the other Part had been raising up in eight Years Centum doctúm hominum concilia sola devincit Dea Fortuna Plaut Pseud Act. 2. This unfortunate Accident did both contravene and over-match the Counsels of a hundred wise Men. A fatal thing it hath been always to Monarchs to be most deceived where they have trusted most Nay If they had all the Eyes of Argos their chiefest Confidents are able to abuse them on the blind Side Therefore the Observator is most injurious that puts a low Esteem upon King James's Wisdom P. 14. That he was over-witted and made use of to other Mens ends by almost all that undertook him So he may put the Fool upon Solomon who was cousen'd in Jeroboam whom he made Ruler over all the Charge of the House of Joseph 1 King 11.28 A Solomon may be mistaken in a Jeroboam and like his seeming Faithfulness and Sufficiency to the Undoing of his Posterity Little did the old King expect that the Man of his Right-hand whom he had made so strong for his own Service upon all Occasions would forget the Trust of his Gracious Master and listen to the Voice of Hirelings Which of the Members of my Partition will make the Duke excusable in point of Honour and Conscience Did he do it for the best to the King Did he think the Spanish Alliance would be fruitful in nothing but Miseries and that it would be a thankful Office to lurch the King in his Expectation of it Evil befall such double Diligence Perhaps it may be shifted off with the Name of a good Intent when it tampers with a Branch or Circumstance of an Injoyment but when it raiseth up the very Body of Instructions 't is no more competent with Obedience than Light with Darkness The Heathen would not brook it that had a grain of Philosophy in their Disposition that a Minister should alter the Mandates of his Superior upon Supposes to the better Ne benè consulta Religione mandati soluta corrumperentur Gell. lib. 1. c. 13. They thought that those Services which wanted the Religion of Obedience let their Aim be never so honest would prove improsperous Or did this great Lord do it for the best to himself I believe it If the Hope of the Match died away he lookt to get the Love of the most in England but if it were made up he lookt for many Enemies for he had lost the Love of the best in Spain Sir Wal. Aston foresaw wisely that there was no fear but that the Princely Lovers might joyn Hands in Sacred Wedlock if that Fear of the Duke could be removed So he writes Cab. P. 32. Would your Grace would commit it to my Charge to inform the
came thither privily out of Love he scorn'd to steal away privily out of Fear But when he heard that some were set in ambush to interrupt his Return he bore it Heroically and without strife of Passion because he knew no Remedy to help it and wrote to the King his Father to be couragious in the sufferance with these Lines That if his Majesty should receive any Intelligence that he was deteined in that State as a Prisoner he would be pleased for his sake never to think of him more as a Son but to reflect with all Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Sister and the safety of his own Kingdoms That Family and those Children with whom King Philip held less Amity than with the English secur'd us afterwards from those fears But for other things the Grandees of the Consulto till their heat had vapoured out stood upon such Terms as had no Equity or Moderation For when Sir Fr. Cottington return'd with our Kings Oath plighted to the annexed Conditions for the ease of the Roman Catholicks the Spaniards made no Remonstrance of Joy says the Prince in his Report or of an ordinary liking to it Therefore the Lord Keeper observing that they had an insatiate and hydropical Malady that the more they gulpt down the more they thirsted he tried if they would take this Julip as he prepared it in his Letter to the Duke of Buckingham July 21. May it please your Grace I Have Received yours of the 8 of Julyby the Lord Andover and heartily thank your Grace for the News though not so compleatly good as we desir'd yet better then for many days together I expected beside the hope I retain it may still be better His Majesty and the Lords have taken the Oaths and the Laws against the Roman Catholicks are actually suspended as upon my Credit and Honesty they were a good while before Now July August September and a piece of October are left for a further Probation This being so what good will it do that Wise and Great Estate to Publish to all Christiandom their diffidence of so just a Prince especially being Sworn and Deposed Your Grace knoweth very well I would the State of Spain knew as much that all our Proceedings against Recusants is at our Assises which are holden at this instant and do not return again till after the first of March So as all the probate of the suspension of the Laws against them betwixt this and the first of March will be seen and discerned by the last of our August For between that and the first of March there can be no Trial at all I know if this were understood in that place it were unanswerable For the Proceedings in the King's-Bench which only can be objected are altogether depending upon Indictments at the Assises so that the Spring once stopt as now it is these Rivers grow Dry and run no more This will mollifie all Stubborness which is Resolv'd to stoop to Reason c. Here 's a Remonstrance then which nothing could be more placid or more solid upon which I look as upon Thaboren in Parthia as Justin describes it lib. 41. Cuius loci ea conditio est ut neque munitius quicquam neque amoenius esse possit Just at this time the Days of Trouble look'd darker and darker in Spain The Prince disgusted to Treat with a People that ask'd much and granted little and Wire-drew Counsels into Vexatious length resolv'd to take his leave and shew'd the King of Spain his Fathers Royal and Indispensable Pleasure that no Proffer should interpose but that he should hasten him for which his Navy did attend him upon the Coast of Biscay That it was no fault of his that he must depart when the Treaty was so imperfect but in them that made it a Justitium or Intermission of all Proceedings because upon the Death of the Pope the Court of Rome was not open Olivarez to divert his Highness made Two Propositions First That the Prince would come in to the Conditions as they came formerly from Rome or to stay till new ones might be agreed upon and Ratified at Rome Hoc illud cornucopiae est ubi in est quicquid volo says Pseudolus in Plautus Grant the Conde to make his Reference to Rome and you grant him all That 's the Goats-Horn or Jugglers Box out of which he can fetch any thing with a sleight The Prince answer'd him very gravely for one so young as he made the Report at St. James's The first motion he had declin'd before neither had he chang'd his Judgment nor should they find him a Shechem to pass over into a New Religion for a Wife Gen. 34. The other Motion he accepted this way He would go for England to perfect the Articles there and let them do the like at Rome Olivarez admired at his Reply but took it up with this Answer That to be gone so soon and nothing Model'd to the Content of any side would be a Breach therefore he humbly besought his Highness to stay but Twenty Days and he swore by all the Saints of Heaven then he was sure it would be a Marriage The Duke of Buckingham standing by said It is well but it might have been as well Seven years ago Which put the Conde to a great Anger and in his Anger made him Fome out a Secret That there was no Match intended Seven Months ago and says he I will fetch that out of my Desk that shall assure you of it So he produced a Letter written to one Don Baltasar with King Philip III. his own Hand as he Vowed The Prince was allowed to Read it then as much as he would but not to take a Copy all this was declared to the next Parliament in the Banquetting-House His Highness with Sir Wal. Aston better Skill'd in the Castilian Language Translated the Letter as their Memories would bear it away and kept it for a Monument This is the Letter which I think Mr. Prinn was the first that divulged out of the Lord Cottington's Papers which he had Ransack'd Whether it were a true Letter of King Philip's lies upon Olivarez Credit it never came out of his Custody or whether the Prince and Sir W. Aston mist nothing of the right Sense of it through Frailty of Memory when they came to Recollect the Sum of it in private is not yet decided Salomon alluding to the Contradictions that are in some Mens Parables says They are like the Legs of the Lame that are not equal Prov. 26.7 Let the best Bone-setter in the Hundred set these Legs even if he can An Authentical Notary in Spain Conde Olivarez shews it under Black and White that Philip the Father of the Infanta who died Anno 1621 held our King in Hopes but never intended to give his Daughter to the Prince of Wales Hear the Evidence of the other side His Highness Remembred the Parliament That Sir Wal. Aston was struck Mute at the Reading of
for Legal Notions When the Lord Keeper had done with the Living he began with the Dead and scrupled how their Dead should be Interr'd so as to give no offence nor be obnoxious to be offended The Resolution was brought to him that sent it That their Burials should be in their private Houses as secret as might be and without any sign of Manifestation but Notice to be given to the Parish-Clerk of their departure 164. Never was Man so entangled in an Els-lock all this while that could not be unravell'd as Marquiss Inoiosa till he publish'd his Choler in all sorts of Impatiency The Reader may take in so small a matter by the way that the Writer of these Passages said to the Lord Keeper That the Marquiss was the most surly unpleasing Man that ever came to his House His Lordship answer'd They were his Manners by Nature But he had been so vain to profess That he came an Enemy to us into England and for this Dowty Cause His Father was a Page to King Philip the Second while he lived here with Queen Mary and was discourteously used in our Court perhaps by the Pages Which was a Quarrel of Seventy Years old and bearing date before the Marquiss was born Which will cause a Passage of Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily to be remembred who had robb'd and spoil'd some of the Islands under the Protection of Athens and when the Injury was expostulated he told them Their Countryman Ulysses had used the Sicilians worse 700 Years before as he believ'd it to be very true in Homer This Ambassador was a restless Man and held the Lord Keeper so close to turn and plow up the fallow of this Business that he would not give him the Jubilee of a Day to rest Yet the time do what he could had run at waste from the 20th of July to the end of August Then and no sooner the Frames of the Pardon and Dispensation were contriv'd and dispatch'd Yet the Mill would not go with this Water The Ambassadors call'd for more That two general Commands should be issued forth under the Great Seal the first to all the Judges and Justices of Peace the other to all Bishops Chancellors and Commissaries not to execute any Statute made against the Papists Hereupon the Spanish Faction was suspected that they had no hopes to bring some secret Drifts to pass but by raising a general hatred against our Government The Lord Keeper repulsed the Motion and wrote to the King being at Aldershot That whatsoever Instance the Ambassador makes to the contrary there was no reason why his Majesties Wisdom should give place to them He propounded That a private Warrant might be directed to himself to will him to write to the respective Magistrates fore-nam'd to acquaint them with the Graces which his Majesty had past for Recusants in that Exigence and to suspend their Proceeding till they heard further For as the Civilians say Cessant extraordinaria ubi ordinariis est locus Thus he contriv'd it that the King as much as might be should escape the Offence and let the Rumour light upon his private Letters For which he never put the King to stand between the People and his Errour nor besought him to excuse it to the next Parliament But as Mamertinus in Paneg. said of his own Consulship Non modò nullum popularium deprecatus sum sed ne te quidem Imperator quem orare praeclarum cui preces adhibere plenissimum dignitatis est Yet lest the Ambassador should complain of him to the Prince in Spain he writes to the Duke Cab. P. 8. Aug. 30. THat he had prevailed with the Lords to stop that vast and general Prohibition and gave in three Days Conference such Reasons to the two Ambassadors although it is no easie matter to satisfie the Capriciousness of the latter of them that they were both content it should rest till the Infanta had been six Months in England For to forbid Judges against their Oath and Justices of Peace sworn likewise not to execute the Law of the Land is a thing unprecedented in this Kingdom Durus sermo a harsh and bitter Pill to be digested upon a suddain and without some Preparation But to grant a Pardon even for a thing that is malum in se and a Dispensation with Poenal Statutes in the profit whereof the King only is interested is usual full of Precedents and Examples And yet this latter only serves to the Safety the former but to the Glory and Insolency of the Papists and the magnifying the service of the Ambassadors too dearly purchas'd with the endangering of a Tumult in three Kingdoms His Majesty useth to speak to his Judges and Justices of Peace by his Chancellor or Keeper as your Grace well knoweth And I can signifie his Majesties Pleasure unto them with less Noise and Danger which I mean to do hereafter if the Ambassador shall press it to that effect unless your Grace shall from his Highness or your own Judgment direct otherwise That whereas his Majesty being at this time to Mediate for Favour to many Protestants in Foreign Parts with the Princes of another Religion and to sweeten the Entertainment of the Princess into this Kingdom who is yet a Roman Catholick doth hold the Mitigation of the Rigour of those Laws made against Recusants to be a necessary Inducement to both those Purposes and hath therefore issued forth some Pardons of Grace and Favour to such Roman Catholicks of whose Fidelity to the State he rests assur'd That therefore you the Lord Bishops Judges and Justices each of those to be written to by themselves do take Notice of his Majesties Pardon and Dispensation with all such Poenal Laws and demean your selves accordingly This is the lively Character of him that wrote it Policy mixt with Innocency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Nazianzen Cunning enough yet not divided from Conscience For Wit when it is not sheathed as it were in the fear of God will cut like a sharp Razor 165. All his Art would be requir'd to reconcile two things That the Ambassador should be put off no longer for so the King had now commanded by Dispatches from both the Secretaries And that he would finish nothing till he had heard either his Highness or the Duke's Opinion upon the Proceeding The general Pardon and the Dispensation were both sealed So he began But kept them by him and would not open the least Window to let either Dove or Raven fly abroad The King being return'd to Windsor signification was given that none of the Lords should come to him till he sent for them and was ready for Matters of moment No Superstructure could go on very fast when that Stone was laid From Windsor Sept. 5. Sir G. Calvert writes to him My very good Lord His Majesty being resolv'd to extend his Gracious Favour to the Roman Catholicks signifies his Pleasure That your Lordship should direct your Letter to the Bishops Judges
Palatinate The Prince making earnest obtestation for it K. Philip Engaged the Honour of a King upon it That he would intermit neither fair means nor soul means with the Emperor that it might be resigned into his Hand and then should be bestowed as a Gift upon the Marriage Hereupon his Highness seemed to depart well satisfied Yet having removed no further then from St. Lorenzo to St. Andreas Expostulates to have the Palatinate surendred to the Right owner and the Espousals to be procrastinated till it was done the King of Spain tells our Messenger He would do all he had promised upon the last Agreement and for his Life he could do no more So the Earl of Bristol remembers it to the Prince Cab. p. 25. They go on chearfully and confidently and I conceive will punctually perform all that they have Capitulated with you The Prince knew well where he was now when all their Capitulations were held to be Star-shootings Flashes and Meteors without the Bird in the Hand Plato hath a Crotchet lib. 8. de leg to shew the Citizens of his imagin'd Common-Wealth what they should do to escape all or the most Suits in Law that trouble men with Charge and Delays Marry says he Trust no Man without ready Mony in Buying and Bargaining wherein if you fail you shall have no Action to recover your Debt This Platonick dealing with which the Spaniards Challeng'd us was a New Erection of Justice by which the Marriage was consum'd into no Marriage but into a Platonick Love Whether the Prince were at Freedom having said and done so much at the Escurial to break off upon his own Conditions is such a Knot as I cannot find the Ends of it Therefore whether we came off clear or were sullied with some Dishonour is too intricate to be decided In a Report made to the Parliament hereafter the Lord Keeper being called unto it stretch'd his Learning to prove That any Man might lawfully Revoke his Procuration but he came not up to the Top of the Question whether it be Justifiable to Revoke the Obligation of Faith and Honour Aliud est jura spectare aliud justitiam Cicer. pro Balbo Conscience is a plain dealing Piece of Honesty though the Laws have many quirks Mr. Sander hath look'd commendably into this Treaty in this matter he is brief saying no more p. 552. But e're our Prince departed from that King Promises were made each to other to make Espousals ten days after the next Dispensation was brought Promises trasht in with Restrictions are absolute Debts Let your yea be yea says our Saviour to his Disciples And Learned Grotius says That the most of the Disciples Converted to him were of the Sect of the Essens of whom Josephus Writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Negligent Men kept not their Oath so strictly as they kept their Word Ar. Wilson most spiteful against the Match and as spiteful against the breaking it flies high p. 253. That the Prince had not Power to re-call his Proxy having tied up his Hands That he Sealed the Proxy at the Escurial and Swore to perform the Marriage The Earl of Bristol who knew the most of any English man goes far Cab. P. 23. That his Majesty and the Prince stand engaged for it as far as Princes can be But much more in his Letter dated Novem. 1. first Read by the Clerk of the Parliament at the Report which the Lord Keeper made to the House of Peers That the Prince had engaged his Faith and Power not to retract the Procuration Yet after all these hear one that was ever Honest and understood himself The Prince when he came to take his Fathers Blessing at Royston Octob. 6. protested says the Lord Keeper in his Report That he came from Spain an absolute Free man but with one Limitation the Restitution of the Palatinate then he was bound in Honour to go on with the Deposories All which I believe to be most true Yet the Scales still hanging upon the Beam of the Palatinate this Question Resolv'd will turn them whether the Agreement between the other King and our Prince was that K. Philip should precise restore the Palatinate or to conditionate do his utmost to endeavour it 171. Perhaps I am too Curious to hunt this Scent too far Yet I find no remorse in my self to have prest Conscience and Honour the Urim and Thummim with which the Noblest whom God hath made should consult in all things It was commonly said That mis-understandings fomented by the Duke of Buckingham which had a small Relation to the principal business disturb'd all Who was not skill'd in the Duty of a publick Minister that is to contemn all considerations concerning himself that might hinder his Majesties Ends as Sir W. Aston wrote to him As Illustrius the Pythag. said of Stilpo that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made up well for a private man and no further so the duke was a gallant lord to have the king's ear in private suits but not to have the king's trust in foreign dispatches being ever in custom to carry all with violence before him some may be great by chance but never wise it is admired to this day that his lordship should have such a command over the princes affections that he could so quickly make his highness forget such an incomparable beauty with whom he was so passionately enamour'd and she with him so Bristol Cab. p. 26. The World supposoth you infinitely Esteem her for her person and questionless for her Vertue and setled Affections to your Highness deserves you better then all the Women in the World Mr. Clarke likewise a man whom the Duke had Raised up for his own Use Writes to his Grace cab p. 307. The Infanta's Preparation for the Disposoria was great but greater her sorrow good Lady to see it deferr'd She had Studied our Language our Habit our Behaviour every thing but our Religion to make her self English She talk'd continually to her Attendants of the Prince and of her Voyage in the Spring What could the Duke say to blot the Image of such a person out of his Highness Heart This is strange to those that knew not his Highness who had a Quality to his Lives End I will call it Humility it is somewhat like it but it is not it to be easily perswaded out of his own Knowledg and Judgment by some whom he permitted to have Power upon him who had not the half of his intellectuals But for this Trick the Wag was Merry with the Duke who writes to K. James Cab. p. 223. In this his Highness coming off from Spain the Duke hath Advis'd him to no worse then he did himself For how many hath he abus'd and cozen'd with Promise of Marriage by his Grace in Court and Power with your Majesty If afterward things had been carried in a full Stream of Luck perhaps this Breach would not have been call'd a Fault Principally because the Wedlock that
All-Saints and the Fifth of November at White-Hall being wont to shew his Presence at those Solemnities Against Christmas he drew towards the City and no sooner Some better Offers were expected from Spain by that time or more certain Discoveries be found out of Carriage on both sides for hitherto all was received upon second hand Faith Therefore his Majesty was no sooner at White-Hall but he commissioned a Select Council to consider two things Whither the King of Spain had not been real to the last to satisfie the Desire of the Prince about the Marriage and whither in the Treaty for the Restitution of the Palatinate he had violated the League between the two Kingdoms as to deserve an open War to be proclaimed against him The Lord Keeper was one of the Junto but so far against his Mind that he wished before a Friend or two in private that a Fever in his Sick Bed might excuse him The Duke of Buckingham was mortally Anti-Spanish and his Anger was headed with Steel He assayed the Lord Keeper to hale him to his Judgment as an Eddy doth a small Boat and would have used him to the King to incline his Majesty to renounce Amity with that Nation but he found him as inflexible as a dried Bough He vowed to his Grace as he should have God to be his Protector that he would suffer all the Obliquy of the World before he would be drawn to the least Ingratitude against his Lordship Cab. P. 89. But when the King asked his Judgment he must be true and faithful Which was to say to do the Duke a Pleasure he cared not to deserve ill of himself but he would not deserve ill of the King which gave no Satisfaction Oh! How better is a poor Man's Liberty than the golden Servitude of a great Officer Must I lose my Patron unless I lose my Judgment Can there not be a true Heart where there is not Sameness of Opinion What a Structure is Advancement which hangs in the Air and consists upon no solid Foundation That great Lord desied the Keeper to his Face and in the hearing of many threatned to sink him because he could not board him And as Fulbertus said of Queen Constantia Cui satis creditur dum mala promittit Baron Annal. 12 28. com 12. If he promised an ill turn he would be sure to pay it if he could Once upon a time he could have done as much as that came to with half a Word to the King Now as his Lordship conceived his Strength lay among the Anakims and the self-will'd man plotted to sacrifice his old Friend to the Parliament the Intelligence came from the Venetian Embassador to appease the Dislike of Immunities which were none at all exercised towards the Roman Catholicks Yet there his Lordship faired and found it as hard to suppress him as to drown a Swan There is an Electuary which Physicians give to comfort the Heart called Pasta rogia the Lord Keeper was fed Lusty with this Royal Paste The King had wrought him so apt to his own Plight that the Power of a mighty Favorite could not wrest him from the Sanctuary of his Love Ye still his Danger was that the Duke thought out of Disdain more than Envy that he wore too many Copies of his Majesty's Favour He took nothing more Scornsully than what the King spake to the Earl of Carlisle in a Fit of Melancholly That if he had sent Williams into Spain with his Son he had kept Hearts-ease and Honour both which he lack'd at that time So it was thought to be next to an Affront that the first time the Lord Keeper came into the King's Presence after his Highness's Return into England which was a little before Christmas his Majesty looking intently upon him said thus to the Prince Charles There 's the Man that makes us keep a merry Christmas His Highness looking as if he understood not his Father Why 't is he says the King that laboured more dextrously than all my Servants beside to bring you safe hither to keep Christmas with me and I hope you are sensible of it Another Act of the King's Goodness drew a greater Frown upon him That in those Holy-days his Majesty of his own Accord no Solicitation preceding caused an Act of Council to be entred into the Book of that Honorable Table that an Arch-Bishoprick and he named York should be conserred upon him in the next Vacancy For which the Lord Keeper most humbly thanked his Majesty that he was pleased to think of him when his Majesty knew best that he thought not of himself Yet my Lord Duke resented it ill as if he climbed without his Hand to lift him up Arch-Bishop Mathew understanding how his Place was designed took occasion to be pleasant upon it It was a Felicity which Nature had given him to make old Age comfortable with a light Heart Non ille rigoris Ingratas laudes nec nubem srontis amabat Sil. lib. 8. But that much beloved Prelate sending his Proxy to the Lord Keeper against the following Parliament wrote to this Purpose That he was not a little troubled in former times to hear that the Bishop of London Doctor Mountain a decay'd Man and certainly near to the Grave should look to be his Successor For either himself must die before three years expired or that Bishop's Hopes would be all amort who must come suddenly to the See or not at all But it pleased and revived him that his Lordship was most likely to take his Place after him for he was young and healthful and might stay the Term of twenty Years and take his Turn time enough at the end of that Stage Then he shuts up his Letter As the Psalmist begins so I end Dixi Custodiam I love you Lordship well but I will keep you out of this Seat as long as I can 175. Now let the Collections of the last Antecedency be observed and there is not to be found in them why the Lord Keeper should forfeit a Dram in the Benevolence of his great Friend They are the Party-coloured Coat with which Jacob appareâ—â—ed him and which himself put not out to making But in the Select Council which met to resolve the two foregoing Questions he was active as any man If he come not off well in that let him be condemned To the first matter in proposal the Lords agreed that the Prince came Home with great and happy Renown because he had resisted so many and so strong Temptations to pervert him in Religion and that the Lord of Buckingham's Assistance was praise worthy in excess who held him steady and counter-work'd all Underminers They conceived that the Proceeding of the Spaniards to the most were generous in some things rather subtle than ingenuous as there is no Pomegranate but hath some rotten Kernels and that in all they were so tedious that it was able to provoke the Meekness of Moses though he had not a Drachm of
Choler in his Complexion Yet that it could not appear but that the Marriage on King Philip's part was very sincerely meant in all the Treaty most clearly when his Highness took his Farewell most openly since his Departure Wherein the Earl of Bristol had much wronged that great Monarch giving him a Bastle insupportable For when the Power of Revocation or rather Repression of the Proxy was peremptorily in his Lordship's hand he did not acquaint the King of Spain to stop him from erecting a Gallery turned by the Earl's Negligence into a Gullery in the open Streets covered with the richest Tapestry and set forth with all other Circumstances of Wealth and State to conduct the Infanta in open View and with most magnificent Solemnity to the Deposorios when by the Instruments and Commissions the Earl had lately received he knew these augustious Preparations would be ridiculously disappointed which was a Despight that a Gentleman not to say an Embassador should have prevented For the Disgrace was so far blown abroad with Derision that it was the News of Gazette's over all Europe The Intention of that Nation to give the Infanta in Marriage to the Prince being not controverted Yet his Highness protesting on his part that he was free unless the Palatinate were surrendred they were all satisfy'd with it his Word was Justice to them and that which was in his own Breast must alone direct him how to use his Freedom This Question dispatched was upon a blown Rose the next was upon a Bramble The Lord Duke was so zealous say it was for the Palsgrave's Sake that he voted the King of Spain to be desied with open War till amends were made to the illustrious Prince Elector for the Wrongs he sustained The Lords appointed for the Conference that apprehended it otherwise were the Keeper Treasurer Duke of Richmond Marquess Hamilton Earl of Arundâ—l Lord Carow Lord Belfast who could not say that the King of Spain had done the part of a Friend for the Recovery of the Palatinate as he had profess'd nor yet could they find that he had acted the Part of an Enemy declaredly as was objected Their Judgment was the Girts of Peace were slack but not broken This is couched in the Admonitions of an Ignote unto King James Cab. p. 278. The Conference or Treaty about the Palatinate was taken from the Council of State a Society of most prudent Men only for this Cause that almost every one of them had with one Consent approved the Propositions of the most Catholick King and did not find in it any Cause of dissolving the Treaty And a little beneath The Duke fled from the Council of State and disclaimed it for a Parliament by way of an Appeal Most true that scarce any in all the Consulto did vote to my Lord Duke's Satissaction which made him rise up and chase against them from Room to Room as a Hen that hath lost her Brood and clucks up and down when she hath none to follow her The next time he saw the Lord Belfast he asked him with Disdain Are you turned too and so flung from him Cab. p. 243. To which the Lord Belfast answered honestly in a short Letter That he would conform himself in all things to the Will and good Pleasure of the King his Master The greatest Grudge was against the Lord Keeper who seldom spake but all Opinions ran into his one as they did at this time and the Duke presumed that his Sentence should never vary from his own Mind An hard Injunction and all the Favour on Earth is too dear to be bought at such a Price But he declared that he saw no Expediency for War upon the Grounds communicated For upon whom should we fall says he either upon the Emperor or the King of Spain The Emperor had in a fort offered our King his Son-in-Law's Country again for a great Sum in Recompence of Disbursments but where was the Money to be had Yet it might be cheaper bought than conquered before a War were ended For the King of Spain he saw no Cause to assault him with Arms He had held us indeed in a long Treaty to our Loss but he held nothing from us and was more likely to continue the State of things in a possibility of Accommodation because he disliked the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition and had rather stop the Enlargement of his Territories The King was glad that some maintained his Judgment and would not consent wantonly to raise him from the Down Bed of his long admired Peace Neither did he refrain to speak very hardly of that Servant whom he loved best that agitated to compel him to draw the Sword one of the great Plagues of God His Censure upon him was bitter Cab. P. 92. but fit to be cast over-board in silence 176. A King of Peace is not only sittest to build Temples but is the Temple of God Such a one doth foresee how long how far how dangerously the Fire of War will burn before he put a Torch to kindle it And as every Bishop ought to have a care of the Universal Church so every King ought to have a care of all Humane Society It is not such a thing to raise War in these Days as it was in Abraham's Muster his Servants in one Day and rescue Lot from his Enemies the next Nor such as it was with the old Romans make a Summers Laâ—rt in Vit. before he laid down his Office The Charge in our Age which usually for many Years doth oppress the People will hardly countervail if GOD should send it the Gladness of a Victory Nor is all fear over when a War is ended But as Solon says Lacrt. in Vit. Great Commanders when they have done their Work abroad and are return'd with Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do more Mischief by their Factions to their Country than they did against their Enemies And whosever scape well the poor Church is like to suffer two ways First as Camden says Eliz. Ann. 1583. Schismatica pravitas semper bello ardente maxime luxuriat Schismatical Pravity will grow up under the Licentiousness of War Some profane Buff-Coats will Authorize such Incendiaries Secondly For some Hundreds of Years by-past in Christendom I cannot find but where Wars have been protracted the Churchman's Revenue hath been in danger to pay the Soldiers If this affect not those that will not think that there is such a Sin as Sacrilege yet all acknowledge that there is such a Virtue as Humane Compassion Then they that would awake drouzy Peace as they call it with the Noise of the Drum and the prancing of Horses in the Street let them before they design their War describe before their Consciences the heaps of slaughter'd Carkasses which will come after That the Land which is before tâ—en shaâ—I look like the Garden of the Lord and that which is behind them like Burning and Brimstone For all this will they tempt God and be the Foes of
the first Day shut up And Saturday following the 21st of that Month was but a day of Formality to the Parliament yet material to this History because the Lord Keeper had the greatest share about the Work of it who is my Scope and this Parliament no further then as he is concern'd in the Actions and Occurrencies of it On that day the King Sitting under his State in the Lords House incircled with the Senatorian Worthies of the higher and lower Order the Commons Presented Sir Tho. Crew Serjeant at Law for their Speaker As the Knights and Burgesses were Chosen for the publick Service out of the best of the Kingdom so this Gentleman was Chosen for this Place out of the best of them He was warm in the Care of Religion and a Chief among them that were popular in the Defence of it A great lover of the Laws of the Land and the Liberties of the People Of a stay'd Temper sound in Judgment ready in Language And though every Man it is suppos'd hath some equals in his good Parts he had few or no Superiors This was the Character which the Lord Keeper gave of him to the King whereupon he was pointed out to this Honorable Task Yet with all this Furnishment out of a Custom which Modesty had observ'd Sir Thomas Deprecated the Burthen as Moses did when the was to be sent to Pharoah O my Lord I am not Eloquent send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send Exod. 4.13 And he humbly besought the Royal Favour to Command a new and a better Choice for so weighty a Charge Whereupon the Lord Keeper going from his Seat to His Majesty and Conferring with Him upon his Knee after a short time returned to his Place and spake as followeth Mr. Speaker I Am Charg'd to deliver unto you that no Man is to be excus'd from this Service that can make so good an Excuse as you have done His Majesty doth observe that in you which Gorgias the Philosopher did in Plato Quod in Oratoribus irridendis ipse esse Orator summus videbatur That in Discoursing against Orators he shewed himself the greatest Orator of them all So fares it in this Appeal of yours unto the Throne of His Sacred Majesty Descendis ut Ascendas te ad sidera tollit humus By falling down in your own Conceipt you are mounted higher in the Opinion of all others By your own excusing to be a Speaker you shew what a Worthy Speaker you are like to be The Truth is His Majesty doth not only approve but highly Commend the Judgment of the House of Commons in your Election And Quod felix faustumque sit for an Omen and good luck to all the ensuing Proceedings of that Honorable Assembly he doth Crown this first Action of theirs with that Exivit verbum ex ore Regis that old Parliamentary Approbation Le Roy le Veult Then Sir Thomas Crew Bowing down to the Supream Pleasure which could not be declin'd offred up his first Fruits for about the time of half an Hour in a way between Remonstrance and Petition smoothly and submissively yet with that Freedom and Fair-Dealing as became the Trust committed to him He could not wish more Attention than he had from the King who heard him favorably to the end For the Dispatch of that Work presently the Lord Keeper went to His Majesty who Conferr'd together secretly that none else heard and after a quarter of an hour or better the L. Keeper return'd to his Place and answer'd the Speakers Peroration in His Majesties Name Which Answer will enough supply what was said by them both for it contains all the solid parts of Mr. Speakers Harangues Mr. Speaker 182. HIs Majesty hath heard your Speech with no more Patience then Approbation You have not cast up the same to any General Heads no more will I. And it were pity to pull down a Frame that peradventure cannot be set up again in so fair a Symmetry and Proportion Yet as the Mathematicians teach that in the most flowing and continued Line a Man may imagine continual Stops and Points so in this round and voluble Body of your Speech I may observe for Methods sake some distinct and articulated Members Somewhat you have said concerning your self somewhat concerning the King somewhat concerning Acts of Parliament whereof some are yet to be framed in the Womb and others ready to drop into their Graves somewhat of the Aberrations of former Assemblies somewhat of the Common Laws in general somewhat of the ordinary supply of Princes somewhat and very worthily for the increase of True Religion somewhat of the regaining of that of our Allies somewhat of preserving our own Estate and somewhat of the never sufficiently commended Reformation of Ireland These I observed for your material Heads The formal were those Four usual Petitions For Privileges to come unto the House For liberty of Speech when you are in the House For Access to His Majesty for the informing of the House And for a fair Interpretation of your Proceedings when you shall leave the House I shall from His Majesty make Answer to these Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 step by step as they lie in order First For your self the King hath not only stretched out His Scepter but lifted up his Voice with Ahasuerus Quae est Petitiae tua dabitur tibi He hath granted all that you have desired and assureth you by me of His Special Grace and Favour from the beginning to the end of your present Employment Secondly Concerning the King it may not be doubted but Gods Blessing of us and our Blessing of God for his Royal Generation his quiet Coronation his peaceable Administration his Miraculous Preservation in this very Place and this our most comfortable Pledge of his future Succession ibunt in saecula shall flow unto Posterity and be the Hymns and Anthems of Ages to come Thirdly For those Statutes of Learning which were here framed 32 Henr. 8. which you call Parliamentum Doctum And those Statutes of Charity 39 of the late Queen which you Term Parliamentum Pium The Devout Parliament And those Statutes of Grace digested and prepared in the last Convention which His Majesty would have had been Gratiosum Parliamentum The Gracious Parliament And 〈◊〉 That large Pardon you expect this time which may make this Assembly Munificum Parliamentum The Bountiful Parliament The King gives you full Assurance of His Princely Resolution to do what shall be fitting and convenient to keep Life in the one and to bring Life to the other so as you do scitè obstetricari play the Midwives in them both as you ought to do Fourthly For the Abortion of some late Parliaments from the which His Majesty is most free a Parliament Nullity as you Tâ—rm it is a strange Chimaera a word of a Monstrous Compesition I never heard of the like in all my Life unless it be once in the new Creed Credo
Ecclesiam Romano-Catholicam Parliaments naturally begat Entities and the want of Parliaments produceth Nullities Surely God and the King are must averse to such Parliaments Mark Gods Parliament the first Parliament in the World wherein the Three Persons in Trinity are consulting together Faciamus Hominem and you shall find it was to beget Entities Therefore God is scarce present in that Consultation that brings forth Nullities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher begins his Ethicks Every Consultation is for some Good some End some Entitie and most opposite to an Abortion or Nullity And therefore you may applaud those former Laws of Learning Piety Grace and Bounty which you handled before In my Opinion Mr. Speaker you have kept the good Wine and the best Law of them all till now which is Solon's Law Lex Oblivionis A Law of Forgetfulness That by His Majesties Grace and Favour freely offer'd unto us the last day all the Memory of these Unfortunate Abortions may be Buried in the River Lethe and never be had in any further Remembrance I will put you in Mind of a Story which Tully relates out of Thucydides and leave the Application to this Honourable Auditory When the Thebans having gâ—t the better of the Lacedaemonians Erected a Brazen Trophy for that Victory they were complain'd of apud Amphictyonas that is before the common Council of Greece Eo quod aeternum inimicitiarum Monumentum Graecos de Graecis Statuere non oportuit Because it was most unfit that between Greek and Greek there should remain any Record of perpetual Enmity Fifthly For the Common Law of England if we regard the Meridian for which it is Erected it is a Law as was said of those of Lycurgus Disciplinae Convenientissimae of a most apt and convenient Frame and His Majesty hath ever so approved of it Nay He is so precisely affected and disposed in this kind that as Paterculus writes of Cato Id solum ei visum est rationem habere quod haberet Justitiam He could never allow of any Devise or Project how plausible soever that was not justifiable at the Common Law 183. Sixthly For the Supply of Princes in this Kingdom His Majesty makes no Question but that by Parliament and Subsidy is the most Comfortable to the King and most Favorable to the Subject It Comforts the King as issuing from the Heart and it Easeth the Subject as brought by the Hands not of one or two but of all the People That which you call Benevolence or Good Will brings unto His Majesty neither so much Good nor so much Will as the other support And therefore the Kings of this Land though it hath been accepted by most of them have made of Benevolence but Anchoram Sacram a help at a dead lift when Parliaments being great Bodies and of slow Motions could not soon be Assembled nor Subsidies issuing from the Purses of Particulars be so suddenly Collected And it is very well known with what Reluctancy His Majesty was drawn to shoot out this Anchor never Assenting thereunto until he was in a manner forced by those intolerable Provocations from without and those general Invitations from whithin the Kingdom Remember therefore that good Lady in whose Defence the Money was spent that inimitable Pattern once of Majesty but now of Patience to the Christian World and you will say no Man can be found of that Malevolence as to find fault with this one Benevolence Seventhly His Majesty Returns you most hearty Thanks for your Care and Zeal of the True Religion And is much Rejoyced to hear That this Lower House as it is now Compos'd is such another Place as Tully describes the Town of Enna Non Domus sed fanum ubi quot Cives tot Sacerdotes It is no vulgar House but as Originally a Sacred Chappel wherein are Assembled in regard of their Zeal and Devotion look how many Men so many Church-Men And his Majesty gives you full assurance that he nothing so much Regards the Airy State or Glory of this Life as he doth that inestimable Jewel of our Religion which is to remain his only Ornament after this Life If there be any Scandals to the contrary not given but taken for want of due Information his Majesty wisheth as Aphonso the Wise King of Aragon did Omnes populares suos reges fuisse That every one of his People had been a King for then they might soon understand and be as soon satisfied with the Reasons of Estate His Majesty hath never spared the Execution of any Law but for the Execution of a greater Law to wit Salus Reip. the Good the Peace and Safety of the Church and Common Wealth And you know that is the ultimus finis all the rest are but fines sub fine For as the Orator well Observes Nemo Leges legum causâ salvas esse vult sed Reipublicae We do not desire the Observing of our Laws for the written Laws but for the Common-Wealths sake And for those Statutes made for the preservation of Religion they are all as you heard last day from that Oracle of Truth and Knowledg in full force and in Free Execution Nor were ever intended to be connived with in the least Syllable but for the further propagation of the same Religion What knowest thou O Man if thou shalt save thy Wife was a Text that gave no Offence in St. Paul'stime Remember the King's Simile which indeed is God's Simile Zach. 6. Kingdoms are like to Horses Kings resemble the Riders the Laws the Spurs and the Reins by which Horsemanship is managed A good Rider carries always a sure but not always a Stiff Hand But if Agar grow insolent by those Favours then in Gods Name out with the Bond-woman and her Sons For his Majesty is fully Resolv'd That as long as Life remains in his Body and the Crown upon his Head the Sons of the Bond-woman shall never be Heirs in this Island with the Sons of the Free-woman And our Royal Master gives us his Chaplains free leave to put him in mind of that of Synesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is still careful of the Good of Kings and Kings cannot be too careful of the Good and Service of God In the Eighth place his Majesty exceedingly comforted with the just Feeling and Resentment you express against the Usurpation of that invading Enemy who hath expell'd our most sweet Princess from her Jointure and her Olive Branches from their Rightful Inheritance Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor Surely if the Rule be true Attollit vires in milite causa That a good Cause makes good Souldiers it is no such impossibility to regain the Palatinate You say Sir Cato was positively of Opinion Carthaginem evertendam That whatever became of other designs Carthage must be overthrown And you are of Opinion and so are all good Men besides Palatinatum reglutinandum That the Palatinate must be Glued again to the Right Owner and pluck'd out of
their Clutches that by Arms or cunning Treaties do Usurp it But the way and Manner in Discovering the Couchant Enemy in preserving that handful of our Friends in laying down some Course of Diversion and the like you do most wisely and modestly refer to the proper Oracle His Majesties Wisdom and Deep Counsel Yea but I must tell you Mr. Speaker Vinci in amore turpissimum the King cannot endure to be outvyed by his People in Love and Courtesies What you in Duty do refer to him his Majesty in Confidence of your Wisdom and Loving Assections returns upon You. You say you would have the King betake him to sound Counsel You are his Counsel Consilium magnum his Main and Principal Counsel It is very true That since the begining of Harry the 8th the Kings of England have reserved those Matters to their own Conisance and Resolution But it is as true that from Harry the First until that Harry the Last our Kings have in every one of those Questions Repaired to and received Advice of their Parliaments Id verum quod primum Our Master means to follow the former Precedents His Majesty Commands me to yield unto you Hearty Thanks for your just Resentments of his Sufferings in this Cause and to tell you withall that because the main of the Expedition is to be born by the Persons and Purses of the People whom you do represent He is pleased to accept of the Advice of the House of Commons concerning the finding out of this secret Enemy the re-inforcing of our remaining Friends and by what kind of Diversion we shall begin the Enterprize And God the Holy Ghost be present with you in all your Consultations 184. In the Ninth Place That Well of Wood our Navy Royal wherewith you well observed this whole Island to be most strongly fortified we must all attribute the well Rigging and good Condition of it to the great Cost Care and Providence of his Sacred Majesty Hic tot sustinuit hic tanta negotia solus And yet as that Carver that beautified the Temple of Diana although he wrought upon other Mens Charges was suffered notwithstanding to engrave his own Name in some eminent Places of the Building So surely can it be denied by Envy it self but that most Noble Lord who is now a compleat Master in his Art and hath spent his seven years Studies in the Beautifying of the Navy should have a glorious Name enstamped thereupon though in a sitting Distance from his Lord and Master whose Princely Majesty A longe sequitur vestigia semper adorans Lastly For the Reformation of Ireland this I am bidden to deliver Pliny commending the Emperor Trajan to the utmost reach of Eloquence says That the most laudable and most remarkable Point in all his happy Government was That his Care was not consined to Italy alone but Instar solis like the Beams and Influence of the Sun it shed it self to many other Countries Surely his Majesty's Providence is of a large Extent for where the Sun scarce darteth his Beams his Majesty hath shined most gloriously by the Execution of wholsome Laws engrafting Civility and Planting true Religion And let this be our Soveraign's Comfort that though this poor Kingdom though never so reformed shall add very little to his Crown of Temporal Majesty here on Earth it will be an Occasion of an immense Access to his Crown of Glory hereafter in Heaven And now for your four Petitions Mr. Speaker his Majesty grants them all in one Word What Priviledge Liberty Access or fair Interpretation was ever yielded to the Members of that House his Majesty grants them to the Knights and Burgesses now assembled fully and freely without the least Jealousie Qualification or Suspicion I will only add a Memorandum out of Valerius Maximus to cut an even Thred between King and People Quid Cato sine Libertate Quid libertas sine Catone What is Wisdom without Liberty to shew it And what is Liberty without Wisdom to use it 185. Hitherto the King spake to the People by the Lord Keeper's Mouth and then the House rose All rejoyced that such gracious Concessions were returned to Mr. Speaker's Motions which were the Beam that held up the insequent Counsels till the Roof was covered with Agreement And it took the more that it was inlaid with such Mosaick Work not to the Eye but to the Ear by a perfect Orator It was the greatest and the knowingest Auditory that this Kingdom or perhaps the World afforded whose general Applause he carried away to as much as Modesty could desire Isocrates extolling the famous Acts of Evagoras before the full Celebrity of the Athenians exulted that Evagoras was approved by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose good Opinion was more honorable to him than all the Earths beside It was a happy sight at that time to see the Patriots of both Houses depart with Hands held up to God and with Smiles in their Looks that you might think they said one to another as the Princes of the Congregation and the Heads of the Thousands of Israel said to the Children of Reuben and Gad c. This day we perceive that the Lord is among us Jos 22.31 The Lord Keeper was summoned in three days after to a fresh Business and a larger Task than the former So fine a Tongue was sure not to want Work The Lords and Commons were brought into the Banqueting-House at White-Hall Feb. 24. where the Duke of Buckingham spake unto them leading them into the Maeanders of the Spanish Treatise and lead them out of them by the Clew of his own Diligence as he spared not to give himself the Honour of it For this time he was the Alcibiades that pleased the Common-wealth His Zeal and unremovable Pertinacy not to cope with the Spaniard in any Proposition unless the Prince Elector might be brought into his own Land again with an honorable Post liminium did enter inwardly and into the Marrow of all pitiful Affections But when he unfolded how strong the Prince was to the Principles of the right Faith and how attendant and dutious himself was to see that no Emissaries should poyson his Highness's Heart the general Suffrage was that the Prince had march'd valiantly like a Captain of Holy Truth and that the Duke deserved a great Name as a Lieutenant that maintained the Cause of God under him For it was ever easie to strike the good People of England half blind with the Dazling of Religion So much did the Parliament thirst for the Report of this Narration that it was imposed on the Lord Keeper to make it the next day All that might be done was that he took him to his Memory and to his Pen and drew up three Sheets of Paper upon it in a fast and scarce legible Hand He must proceed by the Pattern My Lord Duke's Oration was the only part of Speech he must follow and like a wise Man whatsoever he thought he must make
That if his Majesty should receive any intelligence that he was deteined in that State as a Prisoner he would be pleased for his sake never to think of him more as a Son but to reflect with all his Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Sister and upon the safety of his own Kingdoms Sic omnes unus amores vicit amor patriae And so far to the Supplements I must now explicate their Lordships Opinion who having by the Command of his Majesty taken into their Mature Considerations the whole Narration made by the Prince his Highness and my Lord Duke to both Houses in this place and all the Letters and Dispatches read unto them to corroborate the same And Lastly these Supplements and Additions recited before are of opinion upon the whole Bulk of the matter that his Majesty cannot rely upon or maintain any longer either of both these Treaties concerning the Match with Spain or the Restitution of the Palatinate with the safety of his Religion his Honour his Estate or the Weal and Estate of his Grand-Children And his Highness together with their Lordships are desirous to know whether you Gentlemen the Knights Burgesses and Citizens of the House of Commons do concur with their Lordships in this their Opinion which they ever referred to this further Conference with your Honourable House 192. As Plutarch said of the Laconick Apothegms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Clean and Sound Timber with the Bark taken off So the Reader may observe in these Reports that the Matter is Heart of Oak the Style clear from Obscurity and disbark'd quite from superduity But regarding the Auditors and their Affections at that Season nothing could be more proper for he spake to their Content as if he had been within them with Sweet and Piercing Expressions resembled in the Harp and the Quiver of Arrows with which the Heathen Trimm'd up Apollo their Deity of Graceful Speech They that detract from such Worth would be glad it were their own as says our compleat Poet upon the like A good Man 's Envied by such as would For all their Spight be like him if they could But this beginning presaged good Luck to the ensuing Counsels debated in that Session This is called to this day the Blessed Parliament and so Posterity will take it from us Says Tully very well 3. Philip. Magna vis est magnum numen unum idem consentient is senatus A full Senate Head and Members consenting in one carries a Majestick and Oraculous Authority with it This is the Confirmation of it when the people brought before the King the Fruits of their Wisdom which they had Studied And the King did ratifie him chearfully with the Wisdom of his Power They opened their Purse to him and which was more beneficial to them then if they had spared a little Mony he let fall some Flowers off his Crown that they might gather them up which indeed was no more then desluvium pennarum the Molting of some Feathers after which the Eagle would Fly the better He opened his Ear to them in all their Petitions and they listned as much to him and gave their Ear-Rings to Jacob Gen. 35.4 So the King and the Subject became perfect Unisons And as God doth knit his own Glory and the Salvation of mankind together so the King did imitate God and Married his Honour with the welfare of the Kingdom Who is it that reads the Statutes 21 Jacobi and doth not admire them The Peers took it to be their greatest Nobility to look well to the Publick And the other House did light upon the True Companion of Wisdom Sâ—data Tranquillitas a Calm Tranquility as Rivers are deepest where they Foam least And all the Land had cause of rejoycing that the House of Commons was never better Replenish'd in Man's Memory with Knights and Burgesses of rare Parts and Tempers especially the Gown-men of the Inns of Courts who were extoli'd for Knowledge and political Prudence as no Age had afforded a better Pack And I give the Lord Keeper his Right and no more knowing his Traces perfectly at that time that he labour'd as for Life to keep an Harmony between the King and this Parliament to suck out his Majesties assent to all their Proceedings that he might shew himself as good as he was great Which I think was the greatest certainly the happiest part of Honour that ever the Lord Keeper Merited How he mitigated Discontents and softned refractoriness how he obliged the leading Voices with benefits how he kept the Prerogative of the Supreme Power and the Extravagancies of pretended Liberty on the other side from Encroachments the Wise only knew but they that knew it not were the better for it and that he was chiefly us'd in Consultation for compiling those wholesom Laws which had their double Resining and Clarifying from Lords and Commons In all likelihood prosperous success might be expected from this Parliament because it was Pious and Pious because it was a strict preserver of the Holy Patrimony Allotted to God Quae 〈…〉 erunt quam quibus Deus praestitit auxilium says Ansonius to the Emperor 〈◊〉 What Counsels are more compleat then those that are help'd by God Nay What Councels can be more compleat then theirs that defend the Right of God As worser times would let the Clergy keep nothing so those times by their good Will would let them part with nothing Let the Trial be observ'd as the Case follows 193. The Duke of Buckingham lack'd a dwelling according to the Port of his Title and to receive a very populous Family It must be near to Whitehal and it must be spacious None could be found so fit as the Arch-Bishop of York his House It was nigh to Charing-Cross and he came little to it The Duke us'd the Lord Keeper to move Arch-Bishop Mathew for his Consent and to make the Bargain between them causing him to make prosser of such Lands in the County of York as should be equivalent or better then the House Garden and Tenements belonging to the Arch-Bishop's Place For nothing was intended but Exchange with considerable Advantage to him and his Successors And that was sure as touch because the House was to be past by Act of Parliament to the Kings Majesty So the Duke had made it his humble Request and drew on the King hardly to make a Chop with those Demeasnes to which the Name of God and his Christ were made the Feoffees in the first Donation for the use of that Tribe which peculiarly serves him in Sacred Offices Yet with instance and much Suit the King was wrought to it for the Duke's sake As M. Antony said to his Confident Septimius Quod Concupiscas tu videris quod concupieris certè habebis Tul. 5. Philip. So this Beloved Minion should be Wise to see what he ask'd for his Master had no Power to say him nay His Majesty was most Nice and Cautious to make the Composition
not in God's Harvest The antient Christians that desaced Idols of Silver and Gold would Purse none of the Metal for fear of giving Scandal to the Heathen Stilico demolished some such Images and he and his Wife were found to wear the Ornaments that had belonged to them for which they were cry'd out upon says Baronius An. 389. c. 57. Quia apud antiquae probitatis Christianos nefas erat in Idola grassari ut in usum privatum aliquid verteretur ut appareat pietate nos ista destruere non avaritiâ A very wise and a pious Course for an avaricious Zeal is a poysoned Cordial And few will captivate their Understanding to edifie by a Sacrilegious Reformer I hope Loosers may have Leave to breath out their Sorrows especially for Sion's sake However I beseech God to preserve his Ark among us though the Pot of Manna be lost to bless the pure Doctrine and the Sacraments of the Gospel to all to whom they belong that the Infant be not rob'd of the one nor such as are of grown Age of the other Then as the Earth is the Lords in all its Fulness so the true Church is Christ's in all its Penury and Emptiness And this is enough to let the Reader see what was intended to be made good before that a most Church-loving was a most happy Parliament 195. Yet no feast was ever so bountiful but some went away unsatisfied and no Court was ever so Righteous upon Earth but some Appellants thought they were prejudiced If any man had Cause to complain of the Justice of this Parliament it was the Lord Treasurer Cranfield About whose Tryal if I should ask as the Pharises did about Divorces Is it lawful to censure a principal Officer for eve-Cause I must say as Christ answered them From the Beginning it was not so A Parliament is a Judge among Gods a Terror to Magistrates that are a Terror to any but to them that deserve Evil the only or the best Inquisitor into the Ways of them that Rule in high Places that he that stands may take heed least he fall But if it grow common if every Session make it their Work or their Recreation to hunt such Game down and root up Cedars that might have stood without Offence Moderation will be desired and the Prudent will think it is not fit many a Week should be lost anent the providing of good Laws when a Month or two pass over in bringing a white Staff or some such Grandee to the Stake to be baited by Informers The Lord Treasurer had some Petitions preferred against him in March which at first he laugh'd at and thought to scorn them down with Unguiltiness For who regards the first Grudgings of a Sickness Yet none perish sooner than they that are not provident against the first beginning of an Evil. The Petitioners were countenanced because he whose Harm they sought was one that was not beloved 'T is true he was surly and of hard Access But be it remembred he sate in his great Places not to be popular and get Affections but to be Just and to Husband the Revenue of the Crown with Prudence But subtle Knavery is like to be longer unquestioned than rough-cast Innocency He was charged with Corruption and sordid Bribery all the while many Sages contended that the Proofs came not home to a full Discovery One press'd it close that he gave him Five hundred Pound to break well through a long Suit in the Court of Wards To which the Treasurer answered That the Money was paid him for a Place in the Custom-House for which the Complainant had often moved him which his Secretaries and other Witnesses made good and that upon the Payment of that Sum one of the Six and thirty Portions in the Custom-House was reserved for him Albeit the weight of this suspected Bribe not a Bur hanging upon his Gown beside press'd him down in the Conclusion This was not to turn Foxes into Fleas a Bed as H. Grotius doth in his Notes upon the Canticles but it is to turn Fleas into Foxes or rather Flea-bites into the mortal Spots of the Pestilence Whether the Treasurer had great Faults it is uncertain and waits Report but 't is sure he had great Adversaries The Duke of Buckingham and all his Party appeared against him Whereupon Sir A. Wel. the most virulent Defamer of the Lord Treasurer writes That a small Accusation as his was would serve to turn him out of his Honor whom the Duke did then oppose But why did his Grace heave at his Cousin by Marriage 't is very dark It seems the Courtiers had no Mind to let us know it For as Lampridius Notes in Vit. Alex. Sev. Secreta omnia in aulâ esse cupiunt ut soli aliquid scire videantur It is perhaps that the Treasurer would have brought a Darling Mr. Arthur Bret his Countess's Brother into the King's Favour in the great Lord's Absence Or that he grudg'd that the Treasury was exhausted in vast Issues by the late Journey into Spain and denied some Supplies Or that he dealt too plainly at the Council-Table in giving no kind Ear to his Cousin's Relations of his Doings at Madrid having not the Art to catch his Affections in the Springes of Flattery But down the Duke cast him as me-seems being not aware how every man hath so many Relations that he that destroys one Enemy makes himself ten more Or as I heard another say long ago much better upon it that my Lord of Buckingham did never undo any of his Enemies but he ruin'd many of his Friends And in this Lord 's Overthrown the Prince abetted him was Privy to the Undertakings of his Adversaries and accompassed Suffrages to Condemn him The bitter Welden P. 168. could not resâ—ain to Comment upon it That the Prince discerned so much Juggling in the Parliament in Cranfield's Case that it was not much to be wondred at being come to be King that he did not affect them King James being all that time of this Storm not at Newmarket as our late Mistakers say but at Greenwich was so sad that a trusty Servant and an able should be thus handled forced from him and quipt every day with ignominious Taunts that the kind Correspondencies between him and the Parliament began to have a Cloud over them He courted many to take side with his Treasurer and prevailed little because the most did love to warm themselves in the Light of the Rising Sun He tutored his Son the Prince that he should not take part with a Faction in either House but so reserve himself that both Sides might seek him and chiefly to take heed how he bandied to pluck down a Peer of the Realm by the Arm of the Lower House for the Lords were the Hedge between himself and the People and a Breach made in that Hedge might in time perhaps lay himself open But the Duke had thrust on the Prince so far that he could not retreat
concur to propugn him And in fine this great complaint produc'd but small Effect towards that for which it was so vigorously follow'd The close of all is the best part of the Story The Lady Darcy ever impotent in her Passions and the more in this Case because she could not endure the Calling and hated the Honour of a Bishop was even distracted with Anger that she was cross'd in her will whom the L. Keeper mitigated with such Sweetness and Generosity that she came out of her froward Mood and confess'd she had had no cause to be his Enemy In the instance whilst the Cause was hot in Agitation he sent to her Ladyship to let her know That if she would accept of the Living from him and in his Right he would dispose of Dr. Grant in some other Place and present her Clerk Mr. Glover But her Ladyship would not hearken her thoughts were too high for the cause was depending she hop'd to obtain it with Dr. Grant's Ejection and his Patrons Ruin After all was cleared against her and she found her self at a loss of her expectation the Lord Keeper sent to her upon the Old Terms That if she would submit to have right done her in the right way and take the presentation from him let her send the Man to him for whom she had contended in vain and it should be effected which she accepted of very gladly when necessity had taught her Wisdom and a milder Temper In all this his Lordship shew'd that he had no particular Spleen against the Lady not the least aim to oppress her with his Power but his Scope was to preserve the Jurisdiction of his Court in which he was ever stiff and unvanquishable and when that was acknowledg'd it was an Heroick Spirit in him to pass by a most violent prosecution as if it had never concern'd it It was an Object sit to prove all the dimensions of Christian forgiveness For what more true then that of Pliny to Sabinianus as I have cited it before Ep. lib. 9. Tune praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum â—rae causa justissima est What more Charitable then not only not to return Offence for Offence but to make a beneficent Requital For he found that Yoke of Christ easie to him which is so heavy to others Do good to them that despitefully entreat you Matth. 5.45 201. Let all now be drawn up into a Word no Garland could look more fresh upon a Magistrates Head then this that being narrowly look'd into by the Eyes of all the Kngdom nothing was amiss nothing out of Frame in all his Carriage which Credit stuck so close to him in the next Parliament in which he still kept the Great Seal That not so much as a Dog did open his Mouth against him Judith 11.19 Nor was awak'd out of security with the least Whisper of a Grievance Yet I am as ready to say it as another that to be acquit from having done no ill is a Testimony of harmless not of fruitful Honesty I admire Coriolanus for that Elogy in Halicarn Vix inter virtutes numeravit innocentiam He scarce reckon'd Innocency for a Virtue Innocency is none of the Artillery of Virtue with which it tries and shews it's strength but only a privy Coat to keep a Man from being Wounded I bring him forth therefore from this shade into the light of Action in an instance wherein he did so well that it will break forth that he had a Wit which was such a sudden Architect of Devises so apt in a pleasant cunning so full of Pit-falls to catch the Bird he would snare yet not to hurt it as never a Head-piece in this Nation could overtake him in that ingenuity And the success suited with the Stratagem Fortune favouring it to the help of his best Friends the continuation of a Happy Parliament and the enlightning of his Majesty who was stricken far into Melancholly by a persidious contrivance and illegitimate born in an ill day in the Spanish Embassadors House which Family was vext to the Gall because their Nation was curried in Parliament and most of all that the Match the Treaty and Friendship with them were handled there as the Prince and Duke had set them on with sharp and declamatory disdeigns Therefore they cast about to infect the King with an ill opinion of the Proceedings and the persons and like desperate men they look'd for Redress from Malice and safety from Confusion Nothing did put them by their Piots so long as that they had not the freedom to speak with his Majesty and could never get an Audience in the Absence of Buckingham So that Sir W. Aston writes That it was complain'd in Spain that Marq. Inoiosa hath lately advertis'd hither that he hath several times desir'd to have private Audience with his Majesty and hath not been able to procure any but what your Grace assists at Cab. p. â—â— But after this Parliament had fate seven Weeks and toused their matters sufficiently that Marquess with Don Carlo de Colonna came adventurously to White-Hall and out-reach'd the Spies that watch'd them For while Don Carlo held the Prince and Duke with earnest Discourse Inoiosa put a Paper into the King's Hand and made a sign with a Wink of his Eye that his Majesty would thrust it into his Pocket which was done and not discern'd Nothing can be more broken and imperfect or more corrupt in time and other circumstances then what is Entred into the Cabal p. â—7 and p. 90. out of this Paper There was a worse Pad in the Straw then is there discover'd or else Inoiosa that juggled the Paper into the Kings Hand had not been so roundly check'd by the Lords of the Privy Counsel And if for his part he put no more into the Paper then to procure his Secretary private Access to the King to tell Tales it would not have been disputed whether he should be devested of the Privileges of an Embassador or whether the Speakers of both Houses then sitting should call him to an Account But he that is confest in the Cabal to be the Pioneer that blew up the Mine and found out the Plot hath lest a Note of the particulars in the Paper so Tragical and Scandalous that certainly the Spanish Don would never have stufft it with them Si unquam jub legum ac judiciorum potestatem se casurum putasset as Tully said of Verres Act. 7. If he had ever dreamt to be Confronted for them and brought Face to Face First He terâ—isies the King that he was not nor could be acquainted with the Passages either of the Parliament or of his own Court for he was kept from all faithful Servants that would inform him by the Ministers of the Prince and Duke and that he was a Prisoner as much as King John of France in England or King Francis and Madrid and could not be spoken with but before such as watch'd him Secondly That there was a
strong and violent Machination in hand which had turn'd the Prince a most Obedient Son before to a quite contrary Course to his Majesties Intentions Thirdly That the Counsel began last Summer at Madrid but was lately ripen'd and resolv'd in England to restrain his Majesty from the Exercise of the Government of his three Kingdoms and that the Prince and the Duke had design'd such Commissioners under themselves as should intend great Affairs and the Publick Good Fourthly That this should be effected by beginning of a War and keeping some Troops and Companies on Foot in this Land whereby to constrein His Majesty to yield to any thing chiefly being brought into Streits for want of Monies to pay Souldiers Fifthly That the Prince and Duke inclosing his Majesty from the said Embassador and other of his own Loyal People that they might not come near him in private did Argue in them a fear and distrust of a good Conscience Sixthly That the Emissaries of the Duke had brought his Majesty into Contempt with the Potent Men of the Realm traducing him for slothful and unactive for addiction to an inglorious Peace while the inheritance of his Daughter and her Children are in the Hands of his Foes and that this appear'd by a Letter which the Duke had writ into Holland and they had intercepted Seventhly That his Majesties Honour Nay his Crown and Safety did depend upon a sudden Dissolution of the Parliament Eighthly They Loaded the Duke with sundry misdemeanors in Spain and his violent Opposition of the Match Ninthly That the Duke had divulged the King's Secrets and the close Designs between his Majesty and their Master K. Philip about the States of Holland and their Provinces and labour'd to put his Majesty out of the good Opinion of the Hollanders Tenthly That the Duke was guilty of most corrupt dealing with the Embassadors of divers Princes Eleventhly That all things were carried on in the Parliament with a headlong Violence and that the Duke was the Cause of it who courted them only that were of troubled Humours Twelfthly That such Bitterness and Ignominies were vented against the King of Spain in Parliament as was utterly against all good Manners and the Honour of the English Nation Thirteenthly Is a flat Contradiction to the Precedents wherein they made the Prince privy to dangerous things yet in this they say That the Puritans of whom the Duke was Head did wish they could bring it about that the Succession of the Kingdom might come to the Prince Palatine and his Children in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Thus lay the Notes of the Lord Keeper This is the Dirt which the Swallows or rather unclean Birds pickt up and made their Nest of it And this is not all But that which remains shall be burnt in the Fire Latere semper patere quod latuit diu Saepè eruentis veritas patuit malo Senec. in Aedipo In a Postscript the Paper prayed the King That Don Francisco Carondelet Secretary to Marquess Inoiosa might be brought to the King when the Prince and Duke were sitting in the Upper House to satisfie such doubts as the King might Raise which was perform'd by the Earl of Kelly who watch'd a fit Season for Francisco at one time and for Padre Maestro the Jesuit at another time who told their Errand so spitefully that the King was much troubled at their Relations 202. He that says U. Sanderson P. 562. that not a day past but that he was present and acquainted with all the Transaction of these pernicious Delators to the end should have said he knew it at the end when the Monster was brought to light then his History indeed will justifie it self that it did not startle the King But his Majesty's Sorrow increased while it was smothered and Fear set in apace till a wise Remonstrance resisted it And it was no Wonder that he was abused a while and dim sighted with a Character of Jealousie For the Parliament was about to land him in a new World to begin and maintain a War who thought that scarce any Mischief was so great as was worth a War to mend it Wherein the Prince did deviate from him as likewise in Affection to the Spanish Alliance but otherwise promised nothing but Sweetness and Obedience He stuck at the Duke most of all whom he defended in part to one of the Spanish Ministers yet at the same time complained that he had noted a turbulent Spirit in him of late and knew not how to mitigate it Thus casting up the Sum he doubted it might come to his own Turn to pay the Reckoning The Setters on expected that their Pill could not choose but have a most violent Operation And it wrought so far that his Majesty's Countenance fell suddenly that he mused much in Silence that he entertained the Prince and Duke with mystical and broken Speeches From whence they gathered all was not right and questing for Intelligence they both heard that the Spanish Secretary and the Jesuit Maestro had been with him and understood that some in the Ambassador's House had vaunted that they had netled the Duke and that a Train would take Fire shortly to blow up the Parliament While his Majesty was gnawn with this Perplexity he prepared for Windsor to shift Ground for some better Ease in this Unrest and took Coach at St. James's-House-Gate in the end of April being Saterday Afternoon He received his Son into the Coach and sound a slight Errand to leave Buckingham behind as he was putting his Foot in the Boot which brought Tears from him and an humble Prayer that his Majesty would let him know what could be laid to his Charge to offend so gracious a Master and vowed it by the Name of his Saviour to purge it or confess it The King did not satisfie him in it it seems the time of Detection in his deep Judgment was not come and he had charged all that were privy to the Occasion to be very secret Cab. P. 77. But he breathed out this Disgust That he was the Unhappiest alive to be forsaken of them that were dearest to him which was uttered and received with Tears from his own Eyes as well as the Prince's and Duke's whom he left behind and made hast with his Son for Windsor The Lord Keeper spared not for Cost to purchase the most certain Intelligence of those that were his feed Pensioners of every hours Occurrencies at Court and was wont to say That no man could be a Statesman without a great deal of Money Of this which had hapned his Scout related presently what he could see for he heard little Which News were no sooner brought but he sought out the Duke at Wallingford-House and had much ado to be admitted to him in his sad Retirement Whom he found laid upon a Couch in that immoveable Posture that he would neither rise up nor speak though he was invited to it twice or thrice by courteous Questions The Lord Keeper
dare Swear it was he that bolted the Flower and made it up into this Paist Sir says the Prince I was precluded by my Promise not to Reveal him but I never promis'd to tell a Lye for him Your Majesty hath hit the Man And God do him good for it says the King I need not tell you both what you owe him for this Service and he hath done himself this Right with me that I discern his sufficiency more and more All this the Prince Related at his next Meeting to the Lord Keeper This passage so memorable hath pluck'd on a Prolix Narration for divers Reasons It was a secret manag'd between few persons though the greatest and likely to be buried for ever unless it rise from the Dust where it was smother'd upon this occasion It will expound to inquisitive Men why after this time the old King never retrieved the Spanish Match as if suddenly it were sunk and set beneath the Horizon of his Thoughts it demonstrates why in a year after being the First of King Charles there was such Willingness in the young King and such Readiness in the Duke to Rigg a great Navy and to send it with Defiance of Hostility to Cales for though the Grandee Inoiosa received a sharp Rebuke here to vex his Gorge and suddenly pack'd up his portable Gods and went to his own Country in a Fume yet he received no Disfavour or Frown upon it from the Court of Spain Nihil nefas est malitiae It tells you what a Stone of Offence was laid before the King able to make him to Dissolve the Parliament just upon the Expectation of a happy Winding up if the Lord Keeper had not removed the Jealousie away which is one of the best Offices of a Christian for it is God's own Attribute in the Prophets to be a Repairer of Breaches Lastly His Wit was in Conjunction with the Safety of his great Friend the Duke Et vincente Odenato triumphavit Gallienus says Pollio The Keeper had Content enough that the Duke triumphed over those Foes whom he had vanquished for him 206. Soon as those Hobgoblins which haunted the King to fright him were frighted away themselves and the Magicians which conjured them up were rendered odious his Majesty was never in a better Mood to please his Subjects and the Subjects in Parliament never from that day to this in so dutiful a Frame to please their Soveraign Fatebimur regem talibus ministris illos tanto rege fuisse dignissimos Curt. l. 4. As Alexander deserved such brave Commanders under him so they deserved to be commanded by so brave a Prince as Alexander Their long Counsels which had been weather bound came to a quiet Road and their Vessel was lighted of those Statutes which are of immortal Memory The wise Men of those times ask'd for good Laws with Moderation for Moderation had not yet out-liv'd the Peoples Palate and they were brought forth with Joy and Gladness And that which was gotten with Peace and Joy will out-last that were it ten times more which is extorted in a Hurly-burly There were no Rents no Divisions among the Members much less did the Stronger Part spurn out the Weaker The Voices went all one way as a Field of Wheat is bended that 's blown with a gentle Gale One and all And God did not let a general Concurrence pass without a general Blessing Sic viritim laboraverunt quasi summa res singulorum manibus teneretur Nazar Paneg. The Laws devised were confirmed in Clusters by the Royal Authority And though one of them about the strict Keeping of the Sabbath was then stop'd the Name of Sabbath being unsatisfactory to the King's Mind yet Amends were made that the Kingdom had a Sabbath granted it from many Suits and Unquietnesses That which Crowned all was the Pardon the most general that ever was granted which was the sooner got because the Pillars of the Common-wealth had discharged their publick Trust without Offence The next Session of this Parliament was appointed in April following and this Session shut up with the End of June The Lord Keeper was not a little joy'd with the sweet Close of it for which he had gained a noble Report Praeter laudem nullius avarus Horat. Ar. Poet. And after three years Experience having now spent so much time in the High Court of Chancery his Sufficiency was not only competent but as great as might be required in a compleat Judge He was one of them in whom Knowledge grew faster upon him than his Years As Tully praised Octavius Cesar Ex quo judicari potest virtutis esse quà m aetatis cursum celeriorem Philip 8. In eminent Persons Virtue runs on swifter than Age. And it is a Slander whereof late Writers are very rank in all Kinds which one hath publish'd that this Man's Successor the Lord Coventry reversed many of his Decrees and corrected his Errors I do not blame Lawyers if they would have us believe that none is fit for the Office of Chancellor but one of their own Profession But let them plead their own Learning and able Parts without traducing the Gifts of them that are excellently seen in Theological Cases of Conscience and singularly rare in natural Solertiousness Lord Coventry was a renowned Magistrate and his Honour was the Honour of the Times wherein he liv'd the vast Compass of that Knowledge wherein he was always bred and his strong Judgment in searching into those Causes did transcend his Predecessor yet not to obscure him as if he were wanting in that which was required to his Place A good Carpenter knows how to frame a House as well as the Geometer that surveyed the Escurial Let me quote a couple of Witnesses what they asserted herein and they are rightly produced as God the great Witness of all things knows The Duke of Buckingham in the beginning of the next Term at Michaelmas perswaded the Lord Chief Justice Hobart either to deliver it to the King with his own Mouth or to set it under his Hand that Lord Williams was not sit for the Keeper's Place because of his Inabilities and Ignorance and that he would undertake thereupon to cast the Complained out and himself should succeed him My Lord says Reverend Hobart somewhat might have been said at the first but he should do the Lord Keeper great Wrong that said so now After this Grave and Learned Lord I bring forth Mr. G Evelin one of the Six Clerks and in his time the best Head-piece of the Office who delighted to divulge it as many yet living know that Lord Keeper Williams had the most towring sublime Wit that he ever heard speak magnified his Decrees as hitting the White in all Causes and never missing That Lord Coventry did seldom after any thing he had setled before him but upon new Presumptions and spake of him always in Court with due Praise and Justification of his Transactions He that hath insinuated the contrary aiming to
the most Guilty of their own Ruine that ever was heard of in any History And now let a Man of more Authority Judgment and Experience than the Observator speak upon the Wisdom of my Lord the King It is the most Reverend Spotswood in his last Page He was the Solomon of his Age admired for his wise Government and for his Knowledge of all manner of Learning for his Wisdom Moderation Love of Justice for his Patience and Piety which shined above all his other Vertues and is witnessed in his Learned Works he left to Posterity his Name shall never be forgotten but remain in Honour so long as the World indureth We that have had the Honour and Happiness many times to hear him discourse of the most weighty Matters as well of Policy as of Divinity now that he is gone must comfort our selves with the Remembrance of those Excellencies and reckon it not the least Part of our Happiness to have lived in his Days It is well that King James passeth for a Solomon with that Holy Bishop and wise Counsellor Now that I may decline an over-weening Opinion of any mortal Man Nazianzen minds me very well Orat. in laud. Athenas that among God's Worthies he commends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solomon in some things not in all No Man ruled the least Principality so well much less three Kingdoms with Isles adjacent and remote but the Modest and Impartial might have required somewhat to be amended in the Administration for it is true what Pliny says in his Paneg. Nemo extitit cujus virtutes nullo vitiorum confinio laederâ—mur If small Motes be discerned by piercing Eyes yet such Minutes are easily covered over with egregious and heroical Vertues And the hard Heart of Sir An. W. softned into this Confession at last Take him all together and not in pieces such a King I wish this Kingdom have never any worse on the Condition not any better 234. I have borrowed thus much Room to set up a little Obelisk for King James out of that which is only intended to the Memorials of his Lord Keeper which Servant of that King's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he had any Sense of it would be willing to lend that and more to his good Master With whose Death the Day of the Servant's Prosperity shut up and a Night of long and troublesome Adversity followed Which if I can compass in my Old Age and decay'd Health to bring into a Frame for the Reader to behold he may say as Socrates did of Antisthenes in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that two Athenians would not make up one so Noble as Antisthenes And two Men would never have discharged those two Parts so well as this one Man performed them Which Representation may meet with some perchance that will not be favourable to it whom I wish to take heed of the Character which Theophrastus gives of an impure Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will lengthen it thus he acts his own Part ill that Hisseth at him that deserves to be applauded FINIS A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF JOHN WILLIAMS D.D. Who sometimes Held the PLACES of LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL OF ENGLAND Lord Bishop of LINCOLN AND Lord Arch Bishop of YORK Written by JOHN HACKETT Late Lord Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield PART II. Isocrates ad Evagoram pag. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salust de Caio Caesari In te praeter caeteras artem unam egregiè mirabilem comperi semper tibi majorem in adversis quà m in secundis rebus auimum esse pag. 171. LONDON Printed for Samuel Lowndes over-against the Exchange in the Strand MDCXCIII A MEMORIAL Offer'd to the Great Deservings OF JOHN WILLIAMS D.D. Who sometimes Held the Places of the LORD-KEEPER of the GREAT-SEAL of England c. PART II. CAmerarius Writing the Life of Melanchthon Paragraph 1. the Darling of the Champions of the Reformed Religion divided his Work into two Parts and gave no reason for it but because he would make his Web of a new piece after the Death of Luther It is the Pattern which I set before me to make a new Exordium as he did upon the Subject which I handle after the Death of King James Especially since I must take his Shadow whom my Pens draws forth no more by a Noon-tide Light but by an Evening declension Manilias His Prosperity or shall I say his Honours and Court-Favours were now in their Tropick Cum lucem vincere noctes incipiunt But Vertue is not Fortune's Servant He rose with great Light and he set with as great Brightness as he rose And as Paterculus writes of Mithridates I may refer it to him Aliâ—uando fortunâ semper animo maximus He was once high in Fortune but always strong in Courage and great in Worth 'T is common to see a Stock ingrafted with two forts of Fruits The Almighty Planter shews greater differences when he pleaseth in Moral than in Natural Plantations As he ordain'd the Noble Williams to become two contrary Parts as well as any Man had perform'd them in five Ages before him keeping the golden Mean in the Tryals of the Right-hand and of the Lest being neither corrupted with the Advancements nor the Persecutions of the Times As Paul and Barnabas were neither transported with the Honours which the Lycaonians did intend nor deterr'd with the Stones which they cast at them Acts 14. But the latter is most to be remarked For if this Lord-keeper had not drest himself with Vertue when he was clad in Honour nor rendred a sweet Air in every Close when the Diapason of Peace Wealth and the King's Love were all in tune he had abus'd Fortune which had given him his pay in hand Nec tam meruit gloriam quà m effugit flagitium as Pliny hath it But to stand upright when he was dismounted to cross his Crosses with Generosity and Patience to pass through a hot Furnace of Afflictions which was heated with all kind of Malice and no smell of Fire to remain upon him Dan. 3. v. 27. this deserves to be Canonized and will keep green in the Memory of more Ages than one From the Forty third Year of his Life to the full term of his Sixty eighth Year trouble upon trouble mischief after mischief had him in chase and yet the Huntsmen those Salvaggi could never blow the Death of this well-breath'd Hart. Fifteen Years the pursuit came from them that made use of the Frown of the King When they were a fault But when were they otherwise One Woe was past but there came two Woes or rather a thousand after it Apoc. 9.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament of Destruction or of absolute Reprobation Sine praeviso peccato which spared none supprest him opprest him and he was under that Sufferance ten Years Was not the Ship well built Were not the Ribs of it heart of Oak which endured a Storm of twenty five Years and in that
long time never enjoy'd a calm Sea He was made for such a Tryal which was sanctified by Gospel-Promises giving unto just Men assurance of vigour to endure them Every one pittieth himself everyone covets Ease and Prosperity which is more Childish than Manly And a Design that is commonly mistaken Adversity out of doubt is best for us all because we would not carve it out to our selves but God chooseth it for us and he chooseth better for us than we can for ourselves By his Providence some Mens Sorrows are greater than others and few had a deeper Cup to drink than this Prelate But every Man's Calamity is fittest for himself trust the Divine appointment for that And if all Adversities of several Men were laid in several heaps a wise Man would take up his own and carry them home upon his Shoulders Hâ—rmolaus Barbarus in an Epistle to Maximilian King of the Romans Polit. Epis p. 447. distinguisheth between Happiness and Greatness Secundae res felicem Magnum faciunt adversae But if he that is beset round with distresses bear them to the Estimation of good Men to appear great in them then is he happy as well as great Which is to be demonstrated in the Subject that I write of as followeth 2. King Charles began his Reign Mart. 27. 1625. The next day he sent for the Lord-Keeper to his Court at St. James's who found his Majesty and the Lord-Duke busied in many Cares The King spake first of setling his Houshold among whom the Keeper commended two out of his own Family to be preserr'd but it was past over without an Answer only his Domestick Chaplain was taken into ordinary Service for whom he had made no suit But to begin the well-ordering of the new Court he was appointed to give the Oath to the Lords of the Privy-Council Sir Humphrey May taken into the Number a very wise States man and no more of a new Call Then likewise order was given for the Funerals of the deceased King and the Keeper chosen to Preach on the occasion of which enough is said already by a convenient Anticipation The Coronation was spoken of though the time was not determin'd Yet the King told the Keeper he must provide a Sermon for that likewise but he that bespoke him was of another mind before the Day of the Solemnization was ripe That which was much insisted upon at this Consult was a Parliament His Majesty being so forward to have it sit that he did both propound and dispute it to have no Writs go forth to call a new one but to continue the same which had met in one Session in his blessed Father's days and prorogued to another against that Spring The Lord-Keeper shewed That the old Parliament determined with his death that call'd it in his own Name and gave it Authority to meet Since necessity requir'd a new Choice the King's Will was That Writs should be dispatcht from the Chancery forthwith and not a day to be lost The Keeper craved to be heard and said it was usual in times before that the King's Servants and trustiest Friends did deal with the Countries Cities and Boroughs where they were known to procure a Promise for their Elections before the precise time of an insequent Parliament was publisht and that the same Forecast would be good at that time which would not speed if the Summons were divulged before they lookt about them The King answer'd It was high time to have Subsidies granted for the maintaining of a War with the King of Spain and the Fleet must go forth for that purpose in the Summer The Keeper said little again lest Fidelity should endanger a Suspicion of Malice and he little dreamt that the Almanack of the new Year or new Reign was so soon calculated for the Longitude of a War and the Latitude of vast Sums of Money to pay the Service Yet he replied in a few words but with so cold a consent that the King turned away and gave him leave to be gone He that was not chearful to say good Luck have you with that Expedition was not thought worthy to have an Oar in the great Barque which was launching out and making ready for the King's Marriage with the sweet Lady of France Yet who but he to treat with Embassadors of that Nation and on that Score in his old Master's time Among all the Cares that came into Consideration that day in the sulness of business this had the start and was hastned the same Morning with Posts and Pacquets Cupid's Wings could not possibly fly faster Yet his Majesty spake nothing of it to this able Counsellor although the Rumor of it in a Week was heard from Thames to Twede And the Duke began to hold no Conference with him neither from that day did he call for this Abiathar and say Bring hither the Ephod to ask Counsel of the Lord. Evident Tokens to make any Man see what would come after that was far less than a Prophet Which this wife Man past over and seem'd to observe nothing that was ominous or unfriendly But as Lord Mornay says in his Answer about the Conference at Fountain-bleau when Henry of France the 4th forbad him coming to the Louver Specto eclipsin expecto intrepidus securus quid illa secum vehat So the Lord-Keeper was better acquainted with Heaven than to be troubled at an Eclipse which is an accident prodigious to none but to a Fool but familiar to a Philosopher And he had learnt in the Morals by heart that the way to lose Honour is to be too careful to keep it 3. While the great Assairs did run thus the Keeper went close to his Book as much as publick business would allow to frame a Sermon against the Obsequies of blessed James He did not conceive that the Counsels which he gave to the King on the second day of his Reign were so ill taken as he heard not long after He that speaks with the trust of a Counsellor and which is more with the Tongue of a Bishop should be priviledged to be plain and faithful without offence As St. Ambrose mindeth Theodosius Ep. 29. Non est imperiale libertatem dicendi negare neque sacerdotale quid sentias non dicere But News knockt at his Study-door two days after that my Lord-Duke threatned before many that attended to turn him out of his Office And the French Ambassadors were not the last that gave him warning of it These Rumors he lookt upon with his Eyes open and saw the approaching of a Downfal and so little dissembled it that he warn'd some of his Followers secretly who were in best account with him to procure dependance upon some other Master for his Service e're long would not be worthy of them It were to small purpose to enquire why the Duke's Grace did so hastily press the Ruine of one that had been his old Friend and Creature It was his game and he lov'd it I
true Religion Et pater Aeneas avunculus excitat Hector Lastly for his great delivery by Sea and Land which so filled our Mouths with Laughter and our Tongues with Joy it shew'd him betimes a Child of King James and withal a Child of God and being so Nolite tangere no Evil might touch him As God was with Moses so he was and will be with him non deseret aut derelinquet he will never fail him nor forsake him To the which Prayer all we his representative Kingdom will never fail to say Amen 12. What you said of the true Religion is most apparently true that it hath been very piously charged upon our King and hitherto full of Blessings upon our Kingdom For the first his Majesty well remembers what I ill forgot in another occasion that the last Blessing of all his Father gave him and I think upon a Motion of mine was with a Recommendation of his Religion and of his People to his special Care Love and Protection And I nothing doubt but that Blessing shall so bless him that he shall see Jerusalem in Prosperity all his Life long And for the effect of our Religion it hath hitherto produced in this Kingdom a very Kingdom of Heaven not only after this Life but even in this Life for the space of sixty Seven Years wherein it hath been most constantly professed All that time Peace hath been within our Walls and plenteousness within our Palaces Non fecit sic omni nationi God hath not dealt so with many nor with any Nation in Europe that I know or read of Sixthly what you recommended to the King concerning the Laws of the Land the King hath already in private and doth now in publick recommend to his Judges and by them to the Professors and Students of the Laws to wit that they would spend their time as their Fore-fathers did in the ancient Common-Laws of the Kingdom and not altogether as the Complaint hath been of late in Statutes new Cases and modern Abridgments In the former Studies you meet with Reason created by God in the latter with Opinion only invented by Men. Here you find peradventure some strong Conclusions but upon weak Grounds and Premises there you learn strong Premises that can never produce a weak Conclusion In a word to borrow the Simile of St. Basil there like Ulysses you Court Penelope herself here like the foolish Wooers but her Hand-maids only Seventhly that just Resentment you express of the Dishonour of our Nation in that hostile Acquisition and Detension of the Palatinate you cannot imagine Mr. Speaker how much it contents his most Excellent Majesty Now he finds indeed his People to be lively Members of this Politick Body because they sympathize so seelingly with the grievous Pains and Troubles of their Head And surely he is no true Part but an Excrescency or dead Flesh upon the outside of the State that is not sensible of his Majesty's Sufferings in those Affairs God forbid against all these Professions this Kingdom should prove to a People so allied either a Meroz as you term it for Inhumanity or an Aegypt for Infidelity or a whit inferior to Caesar himself to aid and relieve them You heard the full Measure of the King's Resolution the last day Ire oportet vivere non oportet He doth not desire to live otherwise than in Glory and Reputation And so he cannot live you know it well enough till somewhat be vigorously effected in that great business of the Palatinate Eightly for the abandoning of those Sons of Bichri the Priest and Jesuits his Majesty returns you this Answer As he doth approve your Zeal and Devotion herein and acknowledgeth that of St. Ambrose to be true Quod in religionem committitur in omnium vertitur injuriam that the meanest Subject in this Kingdom hath a great right and Interest in the Religion so being appointed by and under God Custos utriusque tabulae the Guardian and Keeper of both the Tables he desires you to trust him whose Zeal was never yet questioned or suspected with the ways and means to propagate the same Yet in this Petition of yours his most Excellent Majesty doth absolutely grant the Effect and the Matter that is to be most careful of our Religion or which you more desire to improve and better the Form and Manner But as St. Austin saith of God himself Non tribuit aliquando quod volumus ut quod malimus attribuat Lastly for your four ordinary Petitions for Immunity of Persons liberty of Speech readiness of Access benign Interpretation his most Excellent Majesty grants them all and will have them limited by no other bounds than your own Wisdom Modesty and good Discrietion So his Majesty bids God Speed the Plow 13. I look upon him that spake so well for the King two days together as Antiquarius did upon the L. Picus Mirandula Ratio oratio cum ipso ex côdem utero natae videantur Ep. 279. Here 's strong Mettle and a keen Edge able to cleave the hardest Knot Here 's Reason to convince Judgment with store of Eloquence to delight the Affections Which could not be past over without this censure for it is an ill thrift to be parsimonious in the praise of that which is very good The King reposed much upon the Success of this Meeting because his Mind was so well deliver'd and so strongly put on The Cause of the War was made the Kingdoms The Counsel that began it was the Parliaments and were they not bound to find the Succours As our Poet Mr. Johnson says upon Prince Henry's Barriers He doth but scourge himself his Sword that draws Without a Purse a Counsel and a Cause But the Registers of all Ages I believe will not shew a Man in whom Vertue was more perpetually unfortunate than in this King The Influence of those ill Stars that reigned over all his Reign began thus soon The Parliament was told as if a Dictator had been nominated for this War that all must be consulted and executed together that the present Sacrifice must be eaten in haste like the Lord's first Passover for in that juncture slow help was no help Yet in five Weeks so long they sat at Westminster there was not an Arrow to any purpose shot towards that Mark. These were they that thrust his Majesty upon a War to the mortifying of his Father's part and now his Enemies were awak'd with the Alarum they let him shift for himself Being told enough that there must be Gold as well as Iron to play this Game and that a good Purse made a good Army they gave him such discouragement that they dropt no more than two Mites into the Corban An incredible disproportion between what was found and what was lookt for and suitable to a Passage in an Italian Comedy where a Guest complains of his ill Entertainment at a Miser's Table that there was not enough to make a good Supper nor scarce
enough to make a good Salad 14. Yet the hardest Remedy had been the best Patience For by the second Week in July the Plague was in its rage about London and Westminster The Members of both Houses were half slunk home and they that staid it out wisht every hour the Session were ended The King was in a mervellous strait neither knew how to hold them nor to let them go His mind was much upon it to try them though not there yet some where else for an augmentation of Supply Whose excuse was the same which the Queen of Carthage made to Aeneas Lib. 1. Aen. Res dura novitas regni me talia cogunt Moliri His Majesty thought change of Air would do good and proposed to some of his Council at Hampton-Court July 10. to adjourn to Oxford against the first of August A Proposition mainly favour'd by the Lord-Duke so that he grinn'd at the Lord-Keeper all the while he disswaded it But take away liberty from Speech and take away Bitterness from Wormwood nay take away Spirit from Wine Yet he went on and spake to these two Heads that it was not another place but another time that must speed the Work First the Infection of the Pestilence had overspread the whole Land that no Man that travell'd from his own home knew where to lodge in safety that the Lords and Gentlemen would be so distasted to be carried abroad in such a Mortal time that it is likely when they came together they would Vote out of discontent and displeasure that his Majesty was ill counsell'd to give Offences though small ones in the bud of his Reign Quae nulli magis evitandae sunt quà m juveni Principi cujus gratia cum aetate debet adolescere as Symmachus Lib. 1. Ep. writes to his Master Theodosius Secondly the Parliament hath given two Subsidies at Westminster though they remove to Oxford it is yet the same Session and if they alledge it is not the use of the House to give twice in a Session though I wish heartily they would yet how shall we plead them out of their Custom if they be so stiff to maintain it It is not fit for the Reputation of the King to fall upon a probable hazard of a denial The Duke who had heard this with impatience said That publick Necessity might sway more than one Man's Jealousie Hereupon the Keeper besought that he might commit a few words to the King's Ear in private which was granted And he acquainted his Majesty That the Lord-Duke had Enemies in the House of Commons who had contrived Complaints had made them ready to be preferr'd and would spend the time at Oxford about them And what folly it were to continue a Session that had no other aim but to bring the Duke upon the Stage But if your Majesty think that this is like a Hectick quickly known but hardly cur'd My humble Motion is that this Malady or Malice call it which you will may sleep till after Christmas There is no time lost in whetting the Sythe well For I hope to give such account by that time by undertaking with the chief Sticklers that they shall supersede from their Bitterness against your great Servant and that Passage to your weighty Councils shall be made smooth and peaceable And why do you conceal this from Buckingham says the King Good Lord Sir says the Keeper fain I would begin at that end but he will not hear me with moderation Which was rightly foreseen Erasmus in an Epistle to one Gonel asks How a good turn can be worse bestowed than upon ungrateful Men Yes says he Magis perit quod praestatur non intelligentibus 'T is worse placed upon them that will not understand Because it was the mishap of this Man to give the first notice of that Storm that was a gathering the Duke as in defiance bid him and his Confederates do their worst and besought that the Parliament might be continued to confront that Faction though he lookt upon himself in that innocency that he presum'd they durst not question him Here began the Downfall of the Lord-Keeper mistrusted to set that Wheel a going whose Motion he discover'd and offer'd to put a Spoke into it But Truth faileth And he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a Prey Isa 59.15 And here began the Troubles of mighty Buckingham who would not gain six Months time which might have made Mischiefs mellow and rot But to shew the Greatness of his Power he made haste to destroy himself being in one Character too like to Pope Julius the Second Nunquam ab eo ad quod ingenio feroci impellebatur recedendum putavit He would never retreat from that to which the Violence of his Passions hurried him 16. He had his Will and August the 1st the Session continued at Oxford Of which place it may be said as Cassiodor did of Athens Aëris puritate peruncta lucidissimos sensus ad contemplationem felici largitate praeparavit But it appears by experience it hath been more renown'd for good Wits than for good Parliaments The Commons sat in the Divinity-School who for the most part begin with a Grievance about increase of Popery And on the first Morning no sooner had the Speaker taken his place but a Western Knight enlargeth the Sense of his Sorrow that he had seen a Pardon for six Priests bearing Test July 12. Whereas but the day before it when they were to part from Westminster the Lord-Keeper had promis'd in the King's Name before them all that the Rigor of the Laws against Priests should not be deluded Many of the Members were sore offended and veyed who should blame it most What! their Hope 's blasted in one Night What the King 's Promise so early broken Nunquam major spes est quà m in bonorum Principum sponsione Symmachus Ep. to Theodos Lib. 1. But for a Lord-Keeper that brought the King's Message and knew it best and for a Bishop to set the Seal to such a Warrant for him to do that wrong to Religion it was enormous But for his part he was secure enough Indeed it was a Pit-fall set to crush him but it fell upon another God had given him Wisdom to know the Violence of Winds and the Reasonings of Men Wisd 7.20 The Warrant was twice brought to him but he would not pass it Mr. Bembo a Servant to the Clerk of the Crown confest before the House that he brought the Writ to be sealed but it was stopt Mr. Devike Servant to Sir Edward Conway confest he brought it from his Master but it could not speed It was my Lord Buckingham's hard Hap to move the King to command the Warrant to be Sealed in his sight at Hampton-Court the Sunday following which being evidenced the Vote of the Commons turn'd about to clear the Keeper and to commend him which did him hurt at Woodstock the Court was there to please the Parliament which had not pleas'd the King
An Error like to that of Adrians in Spartianus Non admisit Terentium Gentianum est eò vehementiùs quod à Senatu diligi eum videret But the Commons while they were in heat ask'd a Conference with the Lords Afternoon in Christ's-Church-Hall where Sir Edward Coke opened the Complaint sharply against Secretary Conway and like an Orator did slide away with a short Animadversion upon the Duke It was not so well for his Grace that the noise of the Grievance had entred into both Houses Arcus cum sunt duplices pluviam nuntiant says Pliny Lib. 2. N. H. c. 59. If our Rain-bow multiply another by its Reflection it prognosticks a Shower And the Storm burst out in the lower Region when he was rather declam'd against as I would call it than accus'd because the Gentlemen that did prosecute contain'd themselves in generals The most upon which insistance was made was that he held the most and the most important Offices of Trust and Honour by Sea and Land Though it was foolish and superstitious in the Heathen Romans to think it was not for the Majesty of their Common-wealth to serve but one God Majestatem imperii non decuisse ut unus tantùm Deus colatur Tull. Orat. pro Flacco Yet it were to be desir'd if it might be dutifully obtain'd that one Subject should not possess all those Places which require the Sufficiency of many to discharge them Much to this purpose is that of the Lord Herbert Harry 8. p. 318. That it was a great Error that such a multitude of Offices was invested in Woolsey as it drew Envy upon the Cardinal so it derogated not a little from the Regal Authority while one Man alone seems to comprehend all The King may be satisfied to settle the Choice of his high Promotions in one Minion so will never the People And the Advanced is sure to be shaken for his height and to be malign'd for over-dropping He that sees a Stone-wall swelling looks every day when it will fall And one Stalk is not strong enough to hold a cluster of Titles hanging at it Salmasius hath a Note upon the first Book of Solinus That if a Man grow so fast that it exceeds the usual way of Nature he will fall into sickness His Instance is in the Son of Euthymenes that grew three Cubits in three Years Et immoderatis aegritudinum suppliciis compensasse praecipitem incrementi celeritatem But what Grandee will believe this Because there is more in our corrupt Nature that will obey Ambition than Wisdom 16. Yet to speak to the other side Might not this have been forborn to be objected by the Parliament to this great Lord at this time When his Head and his Hands were wholly taken up to prepare that War which was their own Creature He was at their Plough he was under their Yoke if it were well remembred Now Grotius marks well from the old Law Deut. 21.3 That Beasts that had been put to labour might not be sacrificed Elisha's Act was hasty and singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he quotes it out of Chaeremon They were priviledged by the Work in which they had been profitable Nay could it be objected as a Fault at any time I say as a Fault for I plead not for the Convenience What Pharisee would be so corrupt to ask Master who sinned This Man or his Parent that he was made a Duke as Lord Admiral a Master of the Horse c. No Inch of Sin is in ten Cubits of Honour that are lawfully conferr'd But there is a Fault for which Budaeus knew no direct Name Lib. 2. Pandec fol. 10. Cum milites Imperatori infensi vincere nolunt Let it be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he when Souldiers will lose a Victory wilfully because they are discontented at their General All was tending much this way at Oxford The great Expedition in hand and the Fleet ready at Plimouth lost its season the Souldiers and Sailors dishearten'd for want of Pay yet not the Supply of a Subsidy could be drawn to give courage to the Onset because the Generalissimo that manag'd the Voyage had lost their Favour Numbers there were some Friends some Flatterers that brought Fuel to the Fire to enflame the Duke against these Dealings The Lord-Keeper was not sought to Yet came and offer'd himself to confer about it And certainly all that knew him would say no Man could pluck the Grass better to know where the Wind sat no Man could spie sooner from whence a Mischief did rise I 'll begin thus My Lord I come to you unsent for and I fear to displease you Yet because your Grace made me I must and will serve you though you are one that will destroy that which you made Let me perish Yet I deserv'd to perish ten times if I were not as earnest as any Friend your Grace hath to save you from perishing The Sword is the Cause of a Wound but the Buckler is in fault if it do not defend the Body You have brought the Two Houses hither my Lord against my Counsel My Suspicion is confirm'd that your Grace would suffer for it What 's now to be done but wind up a Session quickly The occasion is for you because two Colledges in the University and eight Houses in the City are visited with the Plague Let the Members be promis'd fairly and friendly that they shall meet again after Christmas Requite their Injuries done unto you with benefits and not revenge For no Man that is wise will shew himself angry with the People of England I have more to say but no more than I have said to your Grace above a Year past at White-hall Confer one or two of your great Places upon your fastest Friends so shall you go less in Envy and not less in Power Great Necessities will excuse hard Proposals and horrid Counsels St. Austin says it was a Punick Proverb in his Country Ut habeas quietum tempus perde aliquid At the Close of this Session declare your self to be the forwardst to serve the King and Common-wealth and to give the Parliament satisfaction Fear them not when they meet again in the same Body whose ill Affections I expect to mitigate but if they proceed trust me with your Cause when it is transmitted to the House of Lords and I will lay my Life upon it to preserve you from Sentence or the least Dishonour This is my Advice my Lord. If you like it not Truth in the end will find an Advocate to defend it The Duke replied no more but I will look whom I trust to and flung out of the Chamber with Minaces in his Countenance Yet the other did not think he had play'd the Game ill though he lost his Stake by it Dangerous Faithfulness is honester than cunning Silence And once more he was bold to wrestle with this Potentate in high Favour before he fell The Commons of this Parliament was censur'd at Woodstock
for spiteful and seditious therefore not fit to continue but to be dissolv'd Which Resolution being brought to the Clerk of the Crown to dissolve them on the 12th of August the Keeper did never so bestir him since he was born as to turn the Tide with Reasons with Supplications with Tears imploring his Majesty to remember a time when in his hearing his blessed Father had charg'd him to call Parliaments often and continue them though their rashness sometimes did offend him that in his own Experience he never got good by falling out with them But chiefly Sir says he let it never be said that you have not kept good Correspondence with your first Parliament Do not disseminate so much unkindness through all the Counties and Boroughs of your Realm The Love of the People is the Palladium of your Crown Continue this Assembly to another Session and expect alteration for the better If you do not so the next swarm will come out of the same Hive To this the Lords of the Council did almost all concur but it wanted Buckingham's Suffrage who was secure that the King's Judgment would follow him against all the Table So this first Parliament was blasted Et radicis vitium in fructibus nascentibus ostenditur The Root fail'd and the Fruit was unsavory in all the Branches that grew up after it I would the Builders had laid a better corner Stone then the Lord had not smote the great House with Breaches and the little House with Clefts Amos 6.11 Yet I would the King's Aequanimity had suffered it to stand that Concord might have cemented the Hearts of all the Nation to his Government It is a Trivial but a dangerous Oversight Senec. lib 3. de prâ Initia morborum quis curat Providence is not sensible of a little harm when it begins and when the increase is felt the Evil is incurable 17. Now the time came that as the Parliament had chased the Duke so the Duke chased the Keeper Torva Leaena Lupum sequitur Lupus ipse Capellam Was it for Michaias's Crime he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil 1 Kings 22.8 His Fidelity would not let him conceal it Or did his Grace doubt him for under-dealing He could never prove it And he that can leave to be a Friend for Suspicion is justly suspected that he was never a Friend What shall we say to such Men as would fall out and are angry when they cannot find a justifiable occasion This was the Misfortune like Caelius the Orator in Seneca Lib. 3. de irâ c. 8. meeting with one that observ'd him in all that he said and longing for a Quarrel says Caelius Dic aliquid contra me ut duo simus The Keeper could not be provok'd to give the Duke the least jostle All 's one when Power contests there 's no safety for Innocency great Men can maintain their Violence by some colour of Right So the Accusation broke out that this Man had fomented Suggestions against my Lord of Buckingham among the chief Tribunes of the Parliament Wherein the King was satisfied to the contrary while he staid at Woodstock by an Apology that follows drawn up hastily in an hour into short Heads Yet it stuck in the Credulity of those that were remote from the Scene and saw not the Part acted Therefore I believe that some intelligent Man might tell so much to the Observator p. 36. Yet he knows that for an intelligent Man to judge upon Report is worse than to take Judgment of a sick Man's Distemper only by his Water And as intelligent a Man as the Observator himself may have the Infirmity which Longinus imputes to Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 censorious of others partial to himself and insensible of his own Errors But let truth break forth by a Paper which the Lord-Keeper put into the King's Hand Aug. 14. which discloseth all Judex ipse sui totum se explorat ad unguem Ausonius REASONS to satisfie your most excellent Majesty concerning my Carriage all this last Parliament 18. First negatively That I did nothing disserviceably to your Majesty or the Duke For first I never spake at Oxford with any of the stirring Men as was untruly suggested to your Majesty excepting once with Philips with the Privity and for the Service of the Duke And with Wentworth at his first coming to Town and before his coming to the House Who promised and I do verily believe he perform'd it to carry himself advantageously to your Majesty's Service and not to joyn with any that should sly upon my Lord Duke The rest are all Strangers to me and I never spake with any one of them concerning any Parliamentary matters Secondly I did cross the popular way more than any of the Council which I durst not have done if I had intended to run along with them 1. In advising your Majesty knowing how you were engaged to the Queen to reserve to yourself the Execution of the Laws against Recusants at least-wise for a time as at Rycott 2. In maintaining this Advice afterward before the Council at Oxford 3. In lingring and staying the Bill against Recusants 4. In direct Opposition to the Lord Saye in staying the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage which was the Darling of the Active part in the House of Commons Had I intended to run any way with the People I had been a Mad-man to have appear'd in any of these Affirmatively I offer'd my poor Service to your Majesty for the executing of any Directions should be given me in private First I waited upon your Majesty three or four times before your Journey to Dover to know if you would give me any private Directions but received none 2. I waited upon your Majesty and the Duke three several times while the Parliament sat at Westminster and my Answer was still you had nothing to say to me 3. I waited to know if your Majesty had ought to command me privately at Windsor at Bissam at Ricott towards the Oxford Sitting and was ever answer'd as before 4. I did the like to my Lord-Duke at Oxford desiring his Lordship to send me his Commands by any trusty Servant and I would serve him to the utmost of my Power from time to time His Grace said he would send but never sent to me So that if I had any Power in either House I had much the less at this time by reason of the Paucity of the Lawyers who were in the Circuit what use could I make of it without Directions And to tell the plain truth I durst do nothing for fear of offending the Duke otherwise than by Direction Only 't is known that they that were for giving of Subsidies repaired to me as often as to any other Lord who can witness of my Care both in Matters of Subsidies and the Business of my Lord-Duke Rationally it was unsafe for me to stickle at this time without Countenance and
Commons which your Majesly was pleas'd most graciously to intimate unto me at Woodstock for which Goodness I am oblig'd to serve you faithfully and industriously as long as I live and am able and to pray for you when I can do no more as I remonstrated before so I vow again to Almighty God I never spake directly or indirectly to above three of them in my Life nor to any one of them that one time to Philips excepted with the Privity and as I hoped for the Service of my Lord-Duke during the Continuance of the Sitting at Oxford Were it otherwise it were impossible in a Family of Sixty Persons as mine was to have it conceal'd I add farther That if it can be proved that I let fall the least word to any Person of the one or other House opposite to any known or revealed end of your Majesties I am content to remain guilty of whatever the Malice or Suspicion of any Man shall suggest against me Secondly If I have offended your Majesty in that bumble Motion I made at Christ-Church that your Majesty would say in your Speech unto the Parliament that in your Actions of Importance and in the Dispositions of what Sums of Monies your People should bestow upon you you would take the Advice of a settled and a constant Council I do humbly submit my self to your Royal Judgment therein and do beg your gracious Pardon for any thing I said amiss in matter or manner But I take God in Heaven to witness I had no aim at all to draw your Majesty to asperse thereby either the times past for that was now past all Counsel or the time present for your Majesty is but entred into your Reign Or to admonish your Majesty for I take God to witness I held it no ways necessary but did and do believe it is your absolute Resolution to govern by Council And much less was it to make you go less in your Power For many Kings in Parliament have said as much Se actumoâ— majora negotia per assensum Magnatum de Conciliis who intended not to turn Dukes of Venice but as they proved indeed great and mighty Monarchs at home and abroad But my only aim was as I shall answer it at the last day to save my Lord of Buckingham from those Invectives in this kind which I saw falling upon hiâ—â— and to dispose the Commons by that Clause of your Majesty's Speech to a short and a giving Session If I had not been free herein from all Sinister ends I had never dealt so earnestly with my Lord-Duke the night before that he himself would be pleased to move it to your Majesty Lastly what Protestation I have made for your Majesty I do now before God and you make the like for my Lord-Duke's Service a Person so much and so deservedly favour'd by your Majesty that I have not run any way at all with any Person of the one or the other House for the stirring fometâ—ing or countenancing of any Accusation Aspersion or other disservice whatsoever against his Lordship either in the first or the second Access of this last sitting Nor have I ever wish'd his Grace any more hurt than to my own Soul from that very hour your Majesty's most blessed Father sent me unto his Grace at Royston to this very instant And this I avow to be true as I desire to find Favour from God and my King I write unto your Majesty under these Protestations to give your Majesty only not any Man else all fitting satisfaction to whose Goodness I confess my self unexpressibly bound Les me not I beseech your Majesty in point of Justice lose your Favour upon groundless Suspicious of other Mâ—n who may themselves hereafter be better informed But let me stand or fall upon year Majesty own Knowledge derived from the Information of indifferent and dis-interossed Persons upon which I will most willingly and thankfully repose my part in your Favour and mine own Happiness In Confidence whereof I cast my self at your Majesty's Feet c. 23. This came to Salisbury and was shewn to my Lord-Duke which put his Cabinet to meet together again And 't was a notable Shift which came into their Heads and wrought upon the King's Judgment as that which had likelihood of Reason Which was thus that as the Keeper had been complain'd of so he should be charg'd home with his own Words nay with his own Letters But none durst accuse him till he was out of his Greatness Upon the Expiration of that the Proofs should be brought in who coming about the first Week in October to Salisbury and hearing this told such as were desired to carry it to the King and the great Lord that he would not sly the Tilt nor start from any colour of Accusation That the World would see how preposterous it was first to punish and then to bring to Judgment Multis minatur qui uni facit injuriam The wrong that was done to one Man would affright all others with that Oppression What Lord or Gentleman in England that had Place and Means would think himself safe upon the Example of such Proceedings From the hour that the Keeper committed this Message to trusty Friends to deliver it the Gorgen's Head had a Veil drawn before it and it never confronted him either at the Council-Table or in any Court of Justice but was laid still for ever Yet was not a jot the better for it The Suspicion was smother'd and yet liv'd and wrought as much to his prejudice as if he had been tried before the Court of Areopagites and convicted by their Verdict Only this Happiness did live with him and doth survive him that such as have no Interest in it but the discovery of Truth do see it was Crimen sine accusatore Sententia sine Concilio damnatio sine defensione Tul. Act. 7. in Verrem He that was degraded without hearing Tryal Proof Witness Judges is overthrown by Calumny not by Accusation For Accusation admits a fair and a legal Process Calumny is believed without a Contestation After this it was not long before some quick Eye espied a way to execute the King's Resolution for divesting the Party of his honourable Place but with such Moderation as would load him with no impeachment of his Service but barely recalling the Great-Seal from his Custody because it was committed to him at first upon triennial Trust and no longer Which was no unwonted Revocation says the great and learned Luminary of Records Sir Henry Spelman in his Glossary upon the word Cancellarius Non perpetuus olim fuit honor sed triennalis vel quadriennalis This device struck the Tally for all Debts and Claims and left the loser a more light Heart though he parted with a heavy Purse For he took his farewel without the least Charge of Trespass or Miscarriage he was cast down but fell not in the Dirt. Sua vulnera ridet Germanam comitata fidem as Pruden
Lord Protector and the rest of the Council which are printed in the Book of Martyrs In the Injunctions of King Edward in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth And especially in that Act of Parliament still in force which enables the King from time to time to add what Ceremonies and Decencies he shall hold sitting for the awful and reverend as well administring as receiving of this heavenly Sacrament And be not afraid to be accounted herein too too diligent and ceremonious For we know that in Mysteries of this high Nature Ceremonies wait close upon the Substances They may as well say and peradventure will ere long that an Action of this kind may be done without a Priest as without a troublesome solemn Ceremony Gerson in his Sermon de Coenâ Domini saith Spiritualia sine temporalibus diu esse non posse that things Spiritual would wax cold without things temporal was a Proverb cried up by the worst of the Prelates but I am sure that in these high Mysteries Spiritualia sine temporalibus esse non posse that the Spiritual Graces not essentially for want of any Vertue in them but accidentally by reason of such Weakness and Imperfection in us will fail of their Operations without temporal Ceremonies is the Doctrine not of the worst but of the best both of the Greek and Latin Fathers 57. Fourthly You that are the Seers of Israel must see into the Lives and Manners of your People Which is the sooner done if you look well to your own For it is most true on this case what Gerson saith Vox operum fortiùs sonat quà m vox verborum the sound of your Sermon strikes nothing so shrill in the Ears of your Parish as the sound of your Life and Conversation Take heed therefore you do not Linguâ struere manu destruere as St. Bern. speaks build with the Tongue and pull down with the Hand For the Woman's Frump which Gerson often cited writes of runs as well in English as in other Languages who being demanded Si sermo factus esset if the Sermon was done answered the Sermon was ended but it was not done Dictus quidem est sermo sed non factus It was said by rote but it was not done Dicunt emm hic sacerdotes non faciunt For the Priests with them us'd only to say but seldom to do or to perform their Sermons Fifthly If you be those Seers the Canons require you must see to your Peoples peace quietness and good agreeing That your Neighbours do not spend their Bodies their Minds their Estates and Childrens Bread in brabbles quarrelling and Law-suiting Truly I am afraid that Church-men in England have much to answer for the Calamities of the Laity in this kind Yet have you one by one by the Pole as it were in the Presence of God and your Mother the Church promised the Bishop better things at your Ordinations to wit that you would as much as lay in you maintain Peace and Quietness among all Christian People and especially among those that were committed to your Charge your Friends and Neighbours of the Parish And I shall not need to strain my Logick to let you see how properly and essentially this civil part of a Justice of Peace is woven into the Duty of every Pastour and Minister For without this Peace-making you may preach indeed but in effect to no Parish or Congregation Because Country-men distracted with Law-suits receive little good by you And being sometime in the midst of the Church are as though they were not there Let them say what they will it is too true that in saying the Lord's Prayer after you they pray for Forgiveness without forgiving and too often God knows hear your Sermons with little heed or listning For the poor Souls all that while the Hour-glass runs have Manum in Aetolis animum in Cleopidis as it is said of one in Plutarch they have their Eye it may be upon the Preacher but their Mind upon their Attorney Proctor or Sollicitor Yea but you are most of you learned Men and can undeceive your People from these Phantasies You can shew them out of School-men Quodlibets and Casuists that Men may go to Law and yet be in charity And I must be bold to tell you back again that People will be People for all your distinctions and unless you can perswade them to be in Charity without Law for all your School-men Quodlibets and Casuists the poor Swains will be as they were in Law without charity To conclude this Point where Brother goes to Law with Brother and Neighbour with Neighbour about Matters of small moment I dare not say as St. Paul doth that there is not a wise Man but I will be so bold as to suspect that in that unhappy Town there is scarce a wise and conscientious Minister Lastly If you be Seers of Christ's Flock do as Jacob did that thriving Shepherd look well to your Sheep when they are in conceiving What Colour and Tincture you give them in that hint you shall know them by it for many Years after Never look that that Man should profit at a Sermon whom you never season'd in his Principles of Christianity A Sermon saith St. Cyril is a good thing but not so condition'd as a Catechism Some Lessons forgotten in the one are but loose Stones in a Wall which may be fasten'd again upon a second opportunity but Ignorance in those Principles is a certain great Stone mis-lay'd in the Foundation which hazards the ruine of the whole Building And again says that Father the erecting of a Christian is like the planting of a Tree if you give it not Earth and rooting at the first you can never repair it with watering and pruning Catechism as St. Basil calls it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preparing Colours wherein you must dip the People without the which for all your Sermons you shall never find them Purple in grain but pale and wan as long as they live as ill-grounded Colours use to do ever and anon staining fading and decaying I will conclude this Point with an Observation of that grave Divine Jo. Gerson in a Sermon of his which I find also in a little Book of Peter de Aliaco De reformatione ecclesiae Ecclesiae reformatio debet inchoari à parvulis If ever you will reform this Church of Men you must begin with that Church of Children And this is all that I shall say unto you in general my good Brethren of the Clergy 58. For you my honest Friends and Neighbours of the Laity I shall say nothing to you of any Particulars whereunto you are to answer by reason of your Offices but transfer you wholly in that respect to those Articles which you have already receiv'd But by way of general Exhortation I am by the ancient Forms of Visitations in this kind to recommend unto you for your Souls good two principal Instructions the one in point of Belief the
was on this side of despicable Baseness But because being sent to for his Opinion both by his Grace's Mother and his mostsollicitous Friends he had faithfully express That he did not like the ways wherein he magnified himself to serve the King Who did not foresee the Envy that his Magniloquence bred ranting it sometimes That he would make His Majesty the greatest Monarch in Europe I doubt not but his Head did work about it and was so noble that he would have died to effect it And some that fawned upon him with all obsequiousness did seem to admire him in it as the Earl of Holland among others such are the Contents of his Letters Cab. p. 297. I hope nothing shall light upon your Lordship but what you deserve the which to my knowledge is of more Value and Esteem than any man in the World could or ever can merit from this Kingdom The Bishop that would not concur to destroy him by misguidance of Flattery who had been Copartner with King James in his Preferments sung quite to another Tune He liked not his Preparations against Cales but presaged a dishonourable Return and prest that Maxim home to divert him from it That a King must make himself sure in the Love of his own People at home before he bid War abroad to such a rich and mighty Nation Next the second Parliament being summoned and this Bishop demanded what was best for the Duke's abearing in it he resolv'd it to those Friends that ask'd it His best way will be not to come near it for it will be impossible for him to close with this Parliament who contrary to my Advice offended the former and broke it up Let him remove himself by some great Embassage till the first Session be ended into Germany if he will as far as Vienna if he dare trust the King of Spain's greatest Friend and nearest Ally This was disrelish'd for they of E. Buck. Counsel rather than send him so far from the King would hazard him in the Parliament in which they thought they were strong enough by the Party they had made to keep him from all Offence as well in his Honour as in his Person The Bishop persisted to remove them from their Confidence for nothing is more fallacious than such Expectation Many that are bespoken and promise fair are quite alter'd when they are mingled with their fellow-Judges in the House As Matchiavel says it was a Florentine Proverb Populus alurm animum in foro alium in Senatu habet De Rep. lib. 1. c. 47. All that he said followed as right as ever Lucas Guaricus drew up a Scheme of Predictions for that Parliament discharged such a Volley of Complaints against his Lordship that the Votes of the Declinators could not be heard for the noise And his Grace pluck'd hard for Peace and Popularity with the Commons but could not encounter them But what a struggling he kept with his hard Destiny to be enflamed the more against the much abused Bishop because his Predictions were so prophetical A good Chaplain would have told him that God's Wisdom is seen by his Fore-warnings and his Goodness in giving them Nor was it Justice to account him a Foe because he was wiser than an ordinary Friend But who had the worst of it in the end Or rather who had the worst of it from the very beginning Miserior est qui suscipit in se scelus quà m qui alterius facinus subire cogitur Tul. Phil. II. He is more miserable that doth a Wrong than he that suffers it Yet by the Mediation of wise men the Duke continued not full two years more in this Uncharitableness for he promised at a secret Meeting two months before he died to repossess the Bishop in Favour and design'd a time for the open profession of it so that the Sun of his Life did not go down in Wrath And God did appear in it who will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal 103. v 9. 66. Of all men Bishop Laud was the Party whose Enmity was most tedious and most spightful against his great Benefactor Lincoln He batter'd him with old and new Contrivances fifteen years His very Dreams were not without them as they are enrolled in his Memorials drawn out with his own Hand I will touch that Fault that great Fault with a gentle Hand because of that Good which was in him because in other things I believe for my part he was better than he was commonly thought because his Death did extinguish a great deal of Envy I meet with him in his worst Action that ever he did and cannot shun it If I should draw him in purposely to defame him now he is at rest I were more sacrilegious than if I rob'd his Tomb. Qui cineres atque ossa perempti insequitur Virg. Let it be the Character of a Miscreant But his Part is in every Act and Scene of a Tragical Persecution of 15 years Hoc etiam ipsi culpabunt mali Plautus in Bacchid Perhaps it began from an Emulation to keep him back who was only like to be Bishop Laud's Competitor for the greatest Place of our Church Had it gone no further it might be cenfur'd moderately for a common Temptation No wonder if the Seal and the Sword-fish never swim quietly in the same Channel But to discontinue Brotherly Love upon that score to throw it aside to further all pernicious means tending to the Infamy and Ruin of his imagin'd Rival it is past Excuse and can bear no Apology O how many are in Safety of Conscience that should not be so For he that loveth not his Brother much more he that hateth him abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.14 That opinion which my self and many have of his Sincerity appearing not in a little and the Proofs of his Bitterness being so evident in this Cause it deserves a little Direction to take away suspense of Judgment Experience one of the plainest Teachers doth demonstrate that some Drift or Delight may creep so far into the Heart of him that fears God that he will not look upon the Deformity of it as he should to think it a Sin Which I take to be the reason of Polygamy in the Patriarchs and the best Kings of Juda. Most of all an evil thing may soon be attempted when we think we may do it without hazarding our Salvation and we dare yet do more when we have no Fear to be answerable to the Justice of Men. Spalat says lib. 4. Ecc. Reip c. 7. par 13. That John Bishop of Constantinople that assumed to himself the Title of Universal Bishop or Patriarch was a good man given greatly to Alms and Fasting but too much addicted to advance the Title of his See which made a plausible Prelate seem to be Antichrist to Gregory the Great Pick out of this to the present Subject what a Provocation it was to the ambitious Spirit of Bishop Laud a man of many
Parliament and had stood up to defend him where there was openly such defiance of Enmity between them he had been censur'd by all Judgment for double-mindedness or sawning And as Lanfrank charged one of his Predecessors Remigius Bishop of Lincoln Quod officio emerat Episcopatum So the World would have censur'd this Prelate that he kept his Place by Service Simony as Mr. Fuller calls it And with what Safety and Liberty he could appear let one Passage demonstrate The Duke demanded that the Attorney-General might plead for him in the House of Peers against the Charge transmitted by the Commons which was opposed because the Attorney was one of the King 's Learned Council and sworn to plead in Causes concerning the King and not against them And the King is supposed to be ever present in the noble Senate of the Lords It was rejoyn'd That His Majesty would dispense with the Attorney's Oath It came to be a Case of Conscience and was referr'd to the Bishop's Learning Some of them judged for the Duke that this was not an Assertory-Oath which admits no alteration but a Promissory-Oath from which Promise the King if he pleas'd might release his Learned Counsel Bishop Felton a devout man and one that feared God very learned and a most Apostolical Overseer of the Clergy whom he governed argued That some Promissory-Oaths indeed might be relaxed if great cause did occur yet not without great cause lest the Obligation of so sacred a thing as an Oath should be wantonly slighted And in this Oath which the Attorney had taken it was dangerous to absolve him from it lest bad Example should be given to dispense with any Subject that had sworn faithful Service to the Crown for which plain Honesty he was wounded with a sharp Rebuke And the reverend Author told me this with Tears Yet the Archb. Abbot said as much and went farther for whom Budaeus would stand up a great Scholar and a Statesman De Asse lib. 3. fol. 102. Neque turpe esse credo cos homines observare quibus apud Principem gratiâ slagrare contigit si non cosdem apud populum ordines infamiâ invidiâ slagrare videamus As who would say it is Duty to love a Favourite for the King's sake and it is Duty to desert him when he becomes a publick Scandal For no man will be happy to stick to him who is so unhappy to become a common Hatred All that Parliament was a long Discontent of eighteen weeks and brought forth nothing but a Tympany of swelling Faction and abrupt Dissolution whereby the King saved that great Lord who lost His Majesty in some expeditions Honour abroad and the love of his People at home This was another Fire-brand kindled after the former at Oxford to burn down the Royal House and the most piously composed Church of England For a wife Oratour says it is Isocr Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 243. The cause of an Evil must not be ascribed to things that concur just at the breaking out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the forerunning Mischiefs which were soaking long to ripen the Distempers Well was it for Lincoln that he had no hand in this Fray for as the Voyagers to Greenland say When the Whale-fishing begins it is better to be on the Shore and look on E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem than to be employed in the Ships to strike them and hale them to Land 71. Say then that he neither did harm nor receive any by being shut out of this turbulent Parliament Yet his Advice had been worth the asking because of the Plunges that His Majesty was put to upon the Dissolution but he heard of no Call to such a purpose For no man looks on a Dyal in a cloudy day when the Sun shines not on it God's Mercy was in it for he sate safer at home than he could have done at the Council-Board at this time where much Wisdom was tryed to help the King's Necessities out of the Peoples Purses by a Commandatory Loan and with the least Scandal that might be for not to run into some Offence was unavoidable Pindar the Poet was call'd out of his House to speak with some Friend in the Street Castor and Pollux says the Tale-teller searce was his Foot over the Threshold when the Building sunk and all that were within perish'd Thus upon a time the least Shelter gave the most Safety as did the lesser Honour procure this man the more Peace But as Camillus in Livy thrust out of Rome and retired to Ardea prayed that they that had cashier'd him might have no need of him so this forlorn Statesman would have been satisfied to have his place at the Council-Table supplied by others if the King's Affairs had not wanted him at this instant when he suddenly slid down from his former value in the love of this People The Bishops most likely it came from them advised His Majesty first to fly to God and to bid a publick Fast first at Court then over all the Land about the fifth of July Bish Laud whose Sermon was printed preach'd before the King upon the 21st Verse of the 17th Chapter of St. Matthew This kind goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting The Preface of the Book and the Exhortation publish'd to the observing that solemn Fast stirred up all good Christians to entreat God not to take Vengeance on the Murmurings of the People to keep their Spirits in Unity to divert the plague of immoderate Rain like to corrupt the Fruits of the Harvest and chiefly to preserve us from the Bloody Wars that Spain intended against us Intended says the Book for depredation of Merchants Ships was the worst they had done us Let the Reader gather this by the way That a publick Fast had not been indicted before by the Supreme Authority upon the Alarums of our Enemies Preparations In Eighty eight an Order came out call'd A Form of Prayer necessary for the present Time and State to be used on Wednesdays and Fridays that is certain Collects to be added to the Common Prayer Yet no Fast was bidden saving thus far That Preachers in their Sermons and Exhortations should move the People to Abstinence and Moderation in their Dyet to the end they might be more able to relieve the Poor c. The first Form to be used in Common Prayer with an Order of publick Fast for every Wednesday in the week for a time was set out by Queen Elizabeths special Command in Aug. 1563. when the Plague called The Plague of New-haven was rise in London In which Book is a passage to illustrate our Common-Prayer-Book for the first Rubrick prefixt to the Order for the Holy Communion That so many as intend to be Partakers of the Holy Communion should signifie their Names to the Curate over night or else in the morning either before the beginning of Common Prayer or immediately after That immediately after means that in
Bishop is censured for over-doing his part in Popularity yet only by such as will calumniate all that act not according to their mind Some things were offer'd at him which might have transported him to that excess for the Van-curriers of my L. Duke's Militia had prepar'd Petitions to disorder him in a light Skirmish but were never preferr'd Since no Fault could be charg'd upon him when he delivered up the Seal to the King Malignants had small encouragement to slander his Footsteps before a Parliament To borrow Pliny's Similitude lib. 28. c. 2. A scorpione aliquando percussi nunquam postea à crabronibus vespis apibusque feriuntur He that happens to be stung of a Scorpion and escapes it the smaller Insecta of Hornets Wasps and Bees will never trouble him Beside in Equity they could not have blamed him to be sure to himself since that Lord that preferr'd him and that Bishop whom himself had preferr'd did push with all their Violence against him Yet his Good bearing between the King's Power and the Subjects Rights the great Transaction of the high Court at this time needed no such Answers Though he was earnest yet he was advised in all his Actions and constant as any man living to his general Maxims Tua omnia gest a inter se congruunt omnia sunt uná forma percussa says Casaubon to K. Henry the Fourth before his Edition of Polybius So the Bishop never varied whether in favour or out of favour in his Counsels to the King to hang the Quarrel even upon the Beam of Justice between him and the Common-wealth As it was his Saying to K. James so he went on with the like to K. Charles Rule by your Laws and you are a Compleat Monarch your People are both sensibly and willingly beneath you If you start aside from your Laws they will be as sawcy with your Actions as if they were above you The Fence of the great Charter was lately thrown down by taking a Loan by Commissioners without a Statute to authorize it And says the Remonstrance of Decemb. 15 1641. Divers Gentlemen were imprisoned for refusing to pay it whereby many of them contracted such Sicknesses as cost them their Lives p. 10. When the Body of the Lords and Commons were at work to redintegrate the empailment of the Laws if the Bishop had not appeared that the King would return to walk upon the known and trodden Cawsey of the Laws he had forsaken himself and left the nearest way to do him Service His care was that no Dishonour should be cast upon His Majesty's Government nor Censure upon the Commissioners of the Loan his Ministers and yet to remove the publick Evils of the State To mend them would bring a Reformation to be blush'd at not to mend them a continued Confusion to be griev'd at The Bishop had the Praise from the Wisest that his Dexterity was eminent above any of the Peers to please all parties that would be pleas'd with Reason He distinguish'd the Marches of the two great Claims the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Liberties of the People and pleaded for the King to make him gracious to all as it is in his Sermon on the Fast p. 55. That he was a man as like Vertue it self as could be pattern'd in Flesh and Blood and justified him for good Intentions in all his Proceedings The Errors that were to come to pass he named them to be Errors for what Government was ever so streight that had no crookedness With this Cunning Demetrius appeared for his Father Philip of Macedon before the Roman Senate Justin lib. 32. The Senate accused his Father for violation of the last Articles of Peace to which Demetrius said nothing but blush'd Et veniam patri Philippo non jure defensionis sed patrocinio pudoris obtinuit And how unreasonable was it that the emulous Bishop who did upon all occasions derogate from this man blamed this person to the King for doing no more good to his Cause whereas himself did him no good at all Like to Critias in Xenophon and his Dealings against Theramenes lib. 2. Hist says Theramenes I labour to reconcile divided Factions and he calls me a Slipper to fit the right Foot and the left because I set my self to please all sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What shall I call him that pleaseth no side that can do a pleasure to no side They that were present at all Debates did discern that no Service could be done to the Crown without a mixture of Moderation A dram of such Wisdom was worth a pound of Flattery For as one says wittily A besmeared Dog doth but dirty him upon whom he fawns 74. When the Commons fell roundly to sist the exacting of the Loan the Ill-will gotten by it touch'd none so near as the Clergy So ill was it taken that their Pulpits had advanc'd it and that some had preach'd a great deal of Crown Divinity as they call'd it And they were not long to seek for one that should be made an Example for it But to make that which was like to be by consequent less offensive they unanimously voted a Gist of five Subsidies before the King's Servants had spoke a word unto it A Taste of Loyalty and Generosity that willing Supplies should rather come from a sense of the King's Wants than be begged Straitway they called Dr. Maynwaring the King's Chaplain before them for preaching but rather for printing two Sermons deliver'd before the King the one at Oatland's the other at Alderton in the Progress in July neither of them at St. Giles in the Fields as Mr. W. S. might have found in the Title Page of them both These being in print no Witnesses needed to be deposed the Doctrine was above the Deck sufficiently discover'd The Sermons both preach'd upon one Text Eccles 8.2 are confessedly learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein Art and Wit have gone about to make true Principles beget false Conclusions It was not well done to hazard the dangerous Doctrine in them for the Learning sake to the view of the World for not the Seeds of a good Melon but the good Seeds of a Melon should be preserved to be planted No notice was taken of the King 's Special Command to publish these Tractates but severing the Author by himself he is design'd to be censur'd as Keepers beat Whelps before their Lions to make them gentler And the Charge is brought up to the Lords That the Sermons were scandalous feditious and against the good Government of this Kingdom The Reverend Bishops one and all left him undefended Yet that was not enough to correct the Envy which the Clergy did undergo upon it so the Bishop of Lincoln stood up and gave reprehension to some Points of both his Sermons in this manner In the former of these Sermons pag. 2. Dr. Maynwaring begins his Work upon the Loom with these Threads That of all Relations the first and original is between the
of God and because all that he is and hath is God's cannot render what he owes unto God in equality of Justice And all that he speaks of a Father in regard of his Children between whom Justice in one Acception doth not intercede he borrows out of Suarez Suarez out of Cajetan Cajetan out of Aquinas 2 vol. qu. 57. art 4. not art 8. as he misquotes him But he adds The King out of his own Brain who is but a metaphorical Father Benevolentiâ animo pater est naturâ rex pater non est says Saravia lib. 2. c. 12. without the Authority of his Authors nay flatly contrary to Aquinas in that place for he allows that Justice and Law may be stated between Father and Son Says he As the Son is somewhat of the Father and the Servant of the Master Justum non est inter illos per commensurationem ad Alterum sed in quantum uterque est homo aliquo modo est inter eos justitia He goes on That beside Father and Son Master and Servant there are other degrees and diversities of Persons to be sound in an Estate as Priests Citizens Souldiers c. that have an immediate relation to the Common-wealth and Prince thereof and therefore towards these Justum est secundum perfectam rationem justitiae So Suarez lib. 5. de leg c. 18. Some will say that Tribute is not due by way of Justice but by way of Obedience Hoc planè falsum est contra omnes Doctores qui satentur hanc obligationem solvendi tributa ubi intervenit esse justuiám And which is more than the Judgment of meer Man it is St. Paul's Rom. 13.7 For this cause pay your tribute render therefore to every man that which is his due Redditio sui cuique is the very definition of Justice And he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice to intercede between Fathers and their Children Ephes 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this is just This is the first Observation how he falsifieth his Learning The next is this That his end to bring us to the case of Creatures and Children towards the King is to take away all Propriety as it appears clearly by what he must draw out of his own Authors Suarez ubi supra Man cannot render to God his due by way of Justice Quia quicquid est vel habet totum est Dei Apply it with Dr. Maynwaring to the King Whatsoever the Subject is or hath is all the King 's by way of Property Aquinas in the place before Quod est filii est patris ideo non est propriè justitia patris ad filium Apply it to the King Justice doth not interceed between the King and his People because what is the Peoples is the King 's This is the Venom of this new Doctrine that by making us the King's Creatures and in the state of Minors or Children to take away all our Propriety Which would leave us nothing of our own and lead us but that God hath given us just and gracious Princes into Slavery As when the Jews were under a meer Vassalage their Levites their Churchmen complain to God The Kings of Assyria have dominion over our bodies and over our cattel at their pleasure Nehem. 9.37 Thus far the Bishop making very even parts between all that were concern'd in the Question And because the Chaplain's Doctrine had drawn up a Flood-gate through which a Deluge of Anger and Mischief gush'd out His Majesty left him to the Censure of his Judges No Wonder if one of the best of Kings did that Honour to his Senate which one of the worst of Emperors did to that at Rome Magistratibus liberam jurisdictionem sine interpellatione concessit says Suetonius of Caligula Neither had it been Wisdom to save one Delinquent with the loss of a Parliament Lurentius Medices gave better Counsel than so to his Son Peter Magis universitatis quà m seorsùm cujusque rationem habeto Polit. lib. 4. Ep. p. 162. Yet Dr. Maynwaring lost nothing at this lift his Liberty was presently granted him by the King his Fine remitted the Income of one Benefice sequestred for three years put all into his own Purse and was received in all his ordinary attendance again at Court with the Preferments of the Deanry of Worcester and after of the Bishoprick of St. Davids so willing was the King to forget that Clause in his Sentence past by the Lords which did forbid it 76. No man else suffering for so common a Grievance it made a glad Court at Whitehall The Parliament used their best Counsels and Discretions at the same time to secure their Lives Livelihoods and Liberties from such arbitrary Thraldom thereafter Nunquam fida est potentia ubi nimia est We must live under the Powers which God hath set over us but are loth that any man should have too much Power Sir Ed. Coke made the motion which will keep his noble Memory alive to sue to the King by Petition the most ancient and humble Address of Parliaments that His Majesty would give his People Assurance of their Rights by Assent in Parliament as he useth to pass other Acts viz. That none should be compell'd to any charge of Tax or Benevolence without agreement of Lords and Commons nor any Freeman be imprison'd but by the Law of the Land with some such other-like which are enter'd into many Authors The Duke of Buck. was forward to stop this Petition in the House where he sate for which the Commons having not yet meddled with him resolved to give him an ill Farewel before their parting Neither did he recover his old Lustre nor carry any great sway among the Peers since his dishonourable Expedition to Rhe for evil Successes are not easily forgotten though prosperous ones vanish in the warmth of their Fruition And not only that Duke and the Lord Privy-Seal with other great and able Officers did repulse this motion with all main but the King 's learned Council were admitted to plead their Exceptions against it Six weeks were spent in these Delays and Hope deserred made their hearts sick Prov. 13.12 and their Heads jealous who follow'd the cause that there was no good meaning to relieve their Oppressions At last the difficulty was overcome the Petitioners had one Answer from the King and look'd for a fuller and had it in the end So much sooner had been so much better as our Poet Johnson writes to Sir E. Sackvile of some mens Good-turns They are so long a coming and so hard When any Deed is forc'd the Grace is marr'd The Subjects ask'd for nothing now which was not their own but for Assurance to keep their own which had it been done with a Smile benignly and cheerfully and without any casting about to evade it it had been done Princely It is not impossible to find an honest Rule in Matchiavel for this is his Beneficia
Lives to be liable and disposable by this Soveraign Power and not turn England into the case of Turky And if you affirm that a man may be taken and imprison'd by a Soveraign Power wherewith a King is trusted beside the Law exprest in the Statute why should you not grant as well the Law being one and the same that a man may be put out of his Lands and Tenements disinherited and put to death by this Soveraign Power without being brought to answer by due process of Law I conceive this Reason may be more fortified but will never be answer'd and satisfied Bore one hole into this Law and all the good thereof will run out of it Next I shew that nothing was ever attempted against the Magna Charta without great Envy and Grudging Now since a man's Liberty is a thing that Nature most desires and which the Law doth exceedingly favour the 29th Chapter of that Charter says Nullus liber homo imprisonetur nisi per legem terrae What word can there be against these words Why it was said here with Resolution and Confidence That Lex terrae is to be expounded of Actions of the King 's Privy Council done at the Council-Table without further Process of Law But did ever any Judge of this Land give that interpretation of Lex terrae in Magnâ Chartâ Indeed a great learned Lord in this House did openly say That all Courts of Jurisdiction in this Land establish'd and authorised by the King may be said to be Lex terrae Which is granted by me although it was denied by implication by the resolution of the House of Commons But then the Question still remains whether the Council-Table at Whitehall be a forum contentiosum a Court of Jurisdiction I ever granted they may commit to Prison juxta legem terrae as they are Justices of Peace and of other legal Capacities And I grant it also that they may do it praeter legem terrae as they are great Counsellors of State and so to provide where the Laws are defective ne quid detrimenti respub capiat Secondly It was much prest that my L. Egerton did expound this Lex terrae to be Lex regis which must mean somewhat in his Post-nati pag. 33. I have read the Book and it is palpably mistaken That great Lord saith only this That the Common-Law hath many Names secundùm subjectam materiam according to the variety of Objects it handles When it respects the Church it is called Lex Ecclesiae Anglicanae When it respects the Crown Lex Coronae and sometime Lex Regia When it respects the common Subject it is called Lex Terrae Is not this his plain meaning It must be so by his instance p. 36. That the cases of the Crown are the Female to inherit the eldest Son to be preferr'd no respect of Half-blood no disability of the King's Person by Infancy If his Lordship should mean otherwise his Authorities would fail him Regist fol. 61. the word Lex Regia is not nam'd that 's my Lord's Inference but the Title is Ad jura Regia that is certain Briefs concerning the King's Kights opposite to Jura Papalia or Canonica all of them in matters ecclesiastical as Advousons Presentations Quare-impedits c. all pleaded in Westminster-hall things never heard of in the King 's dwelling Court since the fixing of the Courts of Justice Thus much for the Authorities Now the reason offer'd out of them which will never be answer'd is this By the Lex Terrae in Magna Charta a man may be not only imprison'd but withal outlaw'd destroy'd try'd and condemn'd but a man cannot be outlaw'd destroy'd try'd and condemn'd by any Order of the Lords of the Council therefore the Orders of the Lords of the Council are not Lex Terrae At this and upon other occasions the Bishop spake to this matter till the Petition was most graciously consented to by the King in all the Branches of it and was more attended to upon the Experience of his Knowledge and Wisdom than at least any of his Order And as Theocritus says of his principal Shepherd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From that day Daphnis was accounted the Chief of his Calling which filled the Court with the Report But some men are in danger to be traduced with too much Praise 79. One thing struck in unhappily which made this Session rise without a good close in the shutting up it was a Remonstrance presented to the King by the House of Commons of many Complaints the most offensive being those that were personal against two Bishops that were about the King and against the L. Duke That his excessive Power and abuse of that Power was the cause of all Evils and Dangers among us Though this came very cross to the King's Affections yet the worst word that he gave to the Remonstrance was That no wise man would justifie it How many Kings of England had treated both Houses more sharply upon less provocation Yet now the chief Tribunes spake their Discontents aloud That they had given a bountiful Levy of five Subsidies and were called Fools for their labour The Gift was large the Manner the Allegiance the Willingness were better than the Gift yet might not His Majesty touch mildly upon a Fault without such a scandalous Paraphrase The Galatians would have pulled out their own Eyes to do Paul good yet he spared them not for it but upon Errors crept into the Doctrine of their Faith he called them foolish Galatians The sowrest Leaven not seen in the Remonstrance but hid in the House was That some seditious Tongues did blab their meaning to cut off the payment of Tonnage and Poundage by the concession of the Petition of Right against which His Majesty spake and declar'd That his Predecessors had quietly enjoy'd those Payments by the Royal Prerogative which both Houses did protest to leave inviolable That the Grant of the Petition did meet with Grievances said to entrench upon the Liberty and Property of the People to give them assurance of quiet from paying Taxes or Loans without Order of Parliament To go further it was not his Meaning nor their Demand The Bishop of Lincoln appeared very much to concur with the King's Interpretation and was very zealous to have had an Act past for it before the Parliament was prorogued Nay he forbore not to chide his Friends in the lower House whose Metal he found to be churlish and hard to be wrought upon Ut erat generosae indolis nihil frigidè nihil languidè agebat as Clementius says of renowned Salmasius in his Life p. 61. But the Bishop's Motion was laid by and with no good meaning Yet since it was seen that his Endeavours were real to have wound up the Bottom at that time without that scurvy knot in it he had the Favour to kiss the King's Hand and to have Words both with His Majesty and with the Duke in private O hard Destiny this he had
worse to answer for I will depart with this mournful matter adding only that the Duke being taken away our Bishop never desisted to do Observance and such Help as he could to his desolate Kindred and Family which the Countess of Denby his Sister would often confess to me and speak of it to his great honour At this time presently upon the dismal Tydings he dispatch'd a most melting Letter to the Countess his Grace's Mother whose Answer to his begins thus My Lord IT is true Nobleness that makes you remember so distressed a Creature as I am and to continue a true Friend in harder Fortunes You give me many Reasons of Comfort for which I kindly thank you for I have need of them all The rest is long and very choicely endited under her own Hand which I pass over more willingly because her Ladiships revolting to the Romish Religion was none of the least causes that brought her Unfortunate Son into the distaste of the People Pace tuâ fari haec liceat Rhamnusia Diva Catullus 81. The Duke being now at rest in his Grave it was conceived this Good at least would come of it that the next Session of Parliament would be very quiet which began on the 20th of January Yet they that thought the Ship was lightned of Jonas saw the Storm encreased Let them that will know the occasion of a wide Breach read it in the Histories and Life of King Charles especially in His Majesty's Declaration to all his loving Subjects printed 1628. wherein the intelligent shall find that the Commons were rather stubborn than stiff rather violent than eager against the King's Affairs and that the King was so provok'd with the heat of one morning that he would not allow a day nor an hour to let them cool again but dismist them with Menaces and thrust them away from him with such displeasure that in twelve years he sent out no Writs to call another Parliament It is too late to wish it had been better then it is not too late to give Warning that it may be better hereafter Who did best or worst many will take the liberty to determine as their addictions carry them to loyal Duty or popular Liberty I judge neither so high above me in their potential Orbs but relate what the Prudent did observe upon their Passages This was the Bishop of Lincoln's Opinion who wept the ruine of the State and was able to see through the present to the future that it was ill in the People to offend so good a King and unhappy for the King to close again no sooner with a bad People The open face of both these shall be seen The Commons were no sooner come together but like Ajax's Rhetorick in the Poet Proh Jupiter inquit they were as hot as an Oven in their exordium and spake loudly That the Petition of Right was not maintain'd because Tonnage and Poundage were taken and Merchants Goods distrein'd for non-payment a Revenue not due to the Crown till pass'd by Bill The King's Council shew'd Presidents that it had been taken in a provisional way before the Parliament had granted it but that His Majesty did desire to receive it by the Grant of his People and pray'd a Bill might confirm it to remove this Block out of the way in which all Controversies would be sopited Hereupon it was promis'd it should be considered and the framing of a Bill be referr'd to a Committee yet they drew back their Hand till they had gather'd a Particular of things distasted in the Ecclesiastical and Civil Government An Affectation which Appius Claudius discover'd in the Tribunes Liv. dec 1. lib. 5. Qui semper aegri aliquid in Rep. esse volunt ut sit ad cujus curationem à vobis adhibeantur Which the King hath put into English Declar. p. 25. Like Empericks that strive to make new Work and to have some Diseases on foot to keep themselves in request Their Inspections about Religion were not only troublesome to make the Bill stick in the Committee the only means to keep all quiet but so inauspicious that I fear God was not near Arminianism was complained of that it was openly maintain'd not suiting with the Articles of the Churches of England and Ireland A strange Spell which raised up the Spirit that it would conjure down As they that mark the encrease of Nile can tell at what day it will begin to overflow so they that watcht the encrease of Arminianism say considently that from this year the Tyde of it began to come in Then they complain'd that the Bishops of London and Winton prevail'd to advance those to great Preferments that spread those Errors while the orthodox part was deprest and under inglorious disdain Never was this verified by a clear and notorious distinction till this Challenge was made That all Preferments were cast on that side Then it began to be palpable that there was no other way to fly over other mens Heads in the Church but with those Wings And here the forlorn part might say to the Parliament as Balak said to Balaam What hast then done unto me I took thee to curse mine Enemies and behold thou hast blest them all together Numb 23.11 Thirdly They did regret at the obtruding of some Ceremonies which waxed in more request and authority upon that opposition as some Flowers open the more when the Wind blows strongest upon them I believe such Remorse as was in Joseph's Brethren would make some of them say We saw the arguish of the King when he besought us and would not hear therefore this Distress is come upon us that all our Counsels are improsperous The prosecution of Civil Grievances miscarried as much and as wise men guess'd because Sir John Ellict stood up to manage them Few lead on to remove the publick Evils of a State without some special feelings and ends of their own Nor was it any better now so far as an action may be known by vulgar passes and every bodies Discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Menander High Probability is the second degree of Truth Sir J. Elliot of the West and Sir Tho. Wentworth of the North both in the prime of their Age and Wits both conspicuous for able Speakers clasht so often in the House and cudgel'd one another with such strong Contradictions that it grew from an Emulation between them to an Enmity The L. Treasurer Weston pick'd out the Northern Cock Sir Thomas to make him the King's Creature and set him upon the first step of his rising which was Wormwood in the taste of Elliot who revenged himself upon the King in the Bill of Tonnage and then fell upon the Treasurer and declaimed against him That he was the Author of all the Evils under which the Kingdom was opprest Some body must bear that Burden as the Duke had done yet this Lord was not like to be the man who had been in his great Place but about six months
unless he could conjure and work Miracles in a trice The Bishop of Lincoln who had Spies abroad in many private Conferences inform'd the L. Weston before who was his Adversary what Coals he was blowing at the Forge and proffer'd himself to bring Sir J. Elliot to him to be reconciled and to be his Servant for which Sir T. Wentworth spleen'd the Bishop for offering to bring his Rival into favour but L. Weston took it as a Courtesie as long as he lived and bade the Bishop look for more Favour from the King than it was his luck to find for the Treasurer was noted to be a Servant to his Master of great use and diligence but a Friend to his Friends of small assistance Now when great Affairs did run upon the Wheels of these private Grudges what was like to become of the Publick Weal To be overturn'd in the hurry 82. For such a Dust was rais'd about the Bill of Tonnage c. that the way could not be seen for that Cloud to come to a quiet end Long Speeches full of hydropical swellings took up the time to delay it Of which Aristotle gives warning to all Political Governments Polit. lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that nothing overthrows them so soon as the petulancy of their Orators Let impartial Posterity sit in the Chair of Judgment and examine these things The Lords unanimously dissented from the Commons lookt sadly at the slowing of the Bill at the quarrels against the Accomptants of the Custom-house Insomuch that the King told their Lordships That he took as much content in their dutiful demeanour as he was justly distasted with the proceeding of the others And what bred all this Anger was it a new Project alas no but an ancient Supply of some hundred years old never grudg'd at but cheerfully granted for the Safety of the narrow Seas Quod à principio beneficium suit usu atque aetate fit debitum says Sym. ep p. 58. That which was free Gift at first being constantly given Custom makes it a Debt The King's Actions were strongly warranted with the wisdom of former Ages for the Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage was not granted to Edward the Fourth by Parliament till the end of the third year of his Reign yet answer'd to him from the first year And to say more all Kings and Queens enjoy'd it from the day of the precedent Princes Death before ever a Parliament sat and the legitimate receiving it was never question'd And yet now the Commons pleaded That until the King would put himself out of all the Right of it the Subject stood not in sit case to grant it Decl. p. 28. That is shut himself out of Doors and stay till God knows when they let him in again And wherefore was the Petition objected which was granted to secure all men in their Property for the Subject's Right not for the King 's wrong They that were reasonable and thankful men will allow him to interpret his own meaning which was not to take from his Liege people what he should not but not to give from himself what he would not As eloquent Lysias says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mind of them that judge by a Law must be the same with his mind that made the Law 'T is all the right in the World His Majesty was willing to take this Payment as the Gift of the Parliament would thankfully embrace it with that Formality But it were folly to let them polish his Revenue and file away the best part of it They knew he could not want this Stock as well to guard the Kingdom as to support his own Dignity Take heed they thrust not upon that Necessity which loving Compliance might avoid Omnia quae reipub salutaria sunt legitima justa habentur Tull. Philip. 12. To render good for evil and to bring them all within one Circle of Love and Clemency a gracious and general Pardon was appointed by the King to be drawn up which past the House of Lords but the Gentlemen beneath did not so much as read it Yet no Innocency is so safe which may not desire to be lookt upon with the Eye of Mercy Some of the Members did want it after their Dissolution Which straightway follow'd upon shutting their Door against the King's Messengers and holding the Speaker by violence from obeying his Majesty's Order to leave the House So dying Lamps expire with enlarged Flames This was unwonted and no honour to so wise a Senate if the Rule of the Orators be true Quae potest esse homini major poena à Diis immortalibus furore dementiâ Dehosparus Our Bishop was wont to say That Queen Elizabeth 's Parliaments were most tractable which sate but a short time ended before they were acquainted with one another Interests and had not learned to Combine Which makes me allude it to Theophrastus Date Tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The young Trees bare Dates without Stones but the older they grow so much the harder is the Stone that is in them Wo is to us this Rupture was not a Date-stone but a Mill-stone whose Consequences have grounded us to Dust Which the King 's troubled Spirit did divine Will you hear the Swan sing his own Dirge Cantator funeris ipse su◠Declar. p. 41. All this is done to abate the powers of our Crown and to bring our Government to obloquy that in the end all things may be over-whelmed with Anarchy and Confusion Prophetical or rather Oraculous for Miseries are sometimes foreseen never prevented by the Dictates of Oracles 83. Look now in the procedure upon the way that the King chose to go in with an Eye of Reverence but with an Eye of Reason The Bishop of Lincoln moved the Lord Weston to carry his mind to the King much after this sort That the Parliament might meet again for all this and that there might be a Conference between them and the Lords to debate upon Differences He hoped that their own House would give a check if not a censure to some that had exceeded in such a rude and unparliamentary uprore that they would in no long space of time be ashamed of their own work and make amends with submission Neat that run about as if they were mad in the Pastures stroke them and they will come of themselves to the Milk pale Fury wasteth as Patience lasteth He would not pray for them if their sin were a sin unto death whereof they could not repent Pliny can tell us of an Image in Chios Cuyus vultum intrantes tristem exeuntes exhilaratum vident Lib. 3. Nat. Hist cap. 5. It seem'd to frown on those that came in to behold it and to smile upon them when they departed To shew what variety may fall out in the first and last Experiment of Human Affairs God alone knows what the event of this Counsel might have been The King would not know it for he would not use it Kings have
another Sentiment of Wrongs then common People Yet one Rulo is as good for them as for their Vassals to let Counsels mellow and to grow unto a taste by leisure waiting for time and opportunity are such advantages as tire out the spirits of others till we have melted their metal As every sweet thing mixt with Oil will keep its odour the longer so Deliberations the longer they are compounded with Patience in the end they will be the sweeter The King says for himself Declar. p. 40. He would have expected longer if there had been any hope in them to return to their duty It is as the Spanish Proverb says A crooked Cucumber will never grow straight But are all crooked What was in his heroick Mind to think that no Parliament would be right for ever after which appeared because he summoned none in twelve years nor then but when extremity forc't him When did he expect a better Generation that despaired of all for so many years This was to fall out with a whole Nation But says Cyrus to Cyaxares in the Cipher of an absolute King Lib. 5. Cyr. P. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a great fault in a Ruler to be at odds with all his Subjects He may have his will by taking all Empire into his own hands but with no good will of others The last Tarquin rob'd the Senate of their power omnia in domo regiâ privatim tractabantur Mach. Resp lib. 3. cap. 5. for which Brutus and his party take up Arms till they prosper'd in their sin In more recent memory H. Grotius writes Hist Belg. lib. 1. p. 7. That the disusing of the Assemblies of the States by Philip the Second was the beginning of the Revolt of the Netherlands Discontents that fell in should not abolish Courts fundamental for the Maintainance of Justice We have had most corrupt general Councils for some Ages in the Church therefore shall we never hope to obtain a good one Well did Warsovius speak in his Oration to Stephen King of Polonia Millies licet homo defraudetur ab homine utique hominem cum homine vivere debere Though we have been cheated over and over we must trade again with men It is to be prais'd and admir'd that while Parliaments were laid asleep so long we could not say that we wanted Justice Peace and Plenty much less the true worship of God But for want of that politick Court the People thought they were under a new shaped Monarchy like to an Arbitrary Government which lost the King their Affections more then he could lose them by a seditious Parliament For better to endure frowardness then hatred As Suetotonius says of Caesar De ampliando imperio plura majora indies cogitabat so great Ones both Male and Female carried such Tales out of the Bed-chamber that a more absolute Empire was intended then England had known since the Norman Line All that the King 's incomparable Vertues could plead for him would not satisfie for that Suspicion Men love themselves and like a good Governour better then a Godly Our Bolton writes That not a year of Nero ' s Reign but was stained with some foul fact of manners but the Senators finding content in his Government he was redeem'd into their sufferance and the tolerable Opinion of the People Faults of an impious Life oppress not the Subjects but oblique ways of Government gall them Holy King Charles was full of constant and great Vertues all of them Pearls of a clear water but he did not study to oblige the Generality to gratifie to insinuate nay to go down so low as to slatter them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. lib. 5. cap. 3. That is some are of rare worth take them single and alone that fall short of that persection in those things which they do that relate to others Our King would not buy Applause so cheap as with Blandishments and Courtesie He would not dissemble with the Nobles that had offended him and win them in with Art to recover them He would not purchase the People with fineness of words but purpos'd a more real satisfaction Yea a few drops of water infused into Wine makes it not cease to be Wine nor do a few drops of Cunning â—â—er the Essence of Honesty A King of a most nice Conscience shall still â—â—â—â—in the Servant of God and yet by the verdict of wise men he should be the Servant of the People The Duke of Millain the King of Naples about our Grandfathers days lost their Principalities for not woing their Citizens and espousing their hearts strongly to them The Scepter of the old Latin Princes was a Lituus an Ensign of Majesty crooked at the stronger end because a little bending Policy is necessary in a Magistrate Which Xenophon makes to be the Opinion of his exact Cyrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 8. That sometime he must couzin the Multitude into good frame and quiet obedience So might our Josiah have done with good success and sincerity of heart preserv'd Such as saw to what he was inclin'd made him abhorrent the more from Parliaments by remembring them with all disadvantage of flirts and contumelies And what did they in it but piss into the common Well from whence all the Neighbourhood drew water John Major pleading for the Authority of a General Council breaks off and says he knew that many more would plead very stiffly for the Pope Quia Concilium rarò congregatur nec dat dignitates Ecclesiasticas Councils met seldom and gave no Preferments as the Pope did So Flatterers and Ambitious Persons stuck to the surer side and desired the King would forget Parliaments and act all himself for the King could promote them so could not a Parliament But in fine to say a very little upon the whole case as St. Austin is quoted by Gratian for this Sentence That it is too great an attempt for Church Discipline to excommunicate a Nation of People so it was no fit Punishment to exterminate or lay aside the Parliaments of a Nation No Parliament for twelve years and too much Parliament for twelve years put all out of order 84. Which Court formidable to Opposers being like a Bow so long unbent some eminent ones that abused the greatness of their power and some ignoble ones that lived upon the impurity of secure Times seared not the Arrows of its Jurisdiction nor to come under account for their Actions at that Tribunal Says Quintilian lib 12. Quaedam animalia in angustiis mobilia in campo deprehenduntur Some Creatures can shift in their own holes but are snapt up easily in the open Fields So such as could do mischief in their Court had no hope to escape in so publick Examination The Bishop of Lincoln felt it who fell into troubles not for want of Innocence but for want of a Parliament to keep him from Malef icence The cause of his uncessant Molestations for twelve years would
makes of his Master's Court. That it was a Divine Priviledge of the Kings of France that they had the gift of healing and could cure the Stromosi by the touch of their hand Si dedisset providentia ut consilia publica auspicatò inirentur and if they could thrust away flattery and false clamours with their hand it would be the happiest Government in Europe Lib. 2. Pandec fol. 36. This Commission sitting the Bishop of Lincoln's Adversaries thought they had him sure and had found his Laire presuming they could ripen some Trespasses of his in that kind for a Sentence in the Star-Chamber Jungant ur tum gryphes equis c. that had been strange to catch him in an over-sight about the Mammon of Iniquity For the Elogy which Grotius gives Lib. 1. Hist Belg. to William of Nassau was as much this Bishop's as it was that great Prince's Crudelitas avaritia nullo ab ingenio longiùs abfuere But what cannot great Men bring about when there are no Parliaments to overlook them As Tully says of Brutus Philip. 12. Multis in rebus ipse sibi Senatus suit All must be as Brutus will if Brutus will be as absolute as if himself were a Parliament Who but Mr. Ratcliff the King's Attorney for York and we know the Orestes to whom this Pylades was so dear was instructed to prepare a Bill to be put into the Star-Chamber against the Bishop who had laid his ear to the ground to hark after the digging of the Mine and knew the Substance of it before the Draught was fully penn'd Such as are so fortunate in their Discoveries and have intelligence of all Practices against them are the Moral of those fabulous People that are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Tongue some of a strange plantation that could cover all their body with their Ears The charges upon which mr Ratcliff was devising an Information were two the one about the Fees of the Clerk of the Hamper which is according to Sir H. Spelman's Glossary Sport a grandior cui inferuntur pecuniae è sigillatione diplomatum brevium chartarum regiarum proveniâ—ntes which were as good as fixt before he came to be Lord Keeper The other was about Fees in the Episcopal Registry at Lincoln presented for undue in the persons of some Officers but without reflection on the Bishop whom one thing puzzled for he knew not whether there were a Mystery or Madness in it A Prelate or twain were consulted about this Bill of extorted Fees and they bid it good speed which was no less than to pull an old House upon their own heads for the Sums according to the Tables of their own Registries were the same or greater Did they think he would not plead it Communis culpae cur reus unus agor Proper l. 2. el. 10. Did they conceive but he would declare his Cause was theirs and theirs was his Or would they blow up themselves upon their own Deck to blow up him As Justin shews how desperate the Boeotians were in their malice against the Phocians lib. 8. Baeotii tanto odio Phocensium ardentes ut perire ipsi quà m non perdere eos praeoptarent Better had it been for the Reverend Fathers of Holy Orders rather to strengthen than to weaken one another for the Kite might come O holy Lord he came to soon who would make but one Morsel of them altogether 92. But before any Suit could begin the Bishop represented the Case in a Letter to the King May it please your most excellent Majesty BEing much wounded by a pinching and uneven Report drawn up by some Officer of your Majesties Commissioners for the Fees and presented unto your Majesty Jul. 1630. though but very lately come to my knowledge without any touch of the full and satisfying Answer which I had given some three weeks before unto the Lords Commissioners and to others in that behalf Although I am content as Men of My Calling ought to be to pass with the rest of the World through good report and bad yet I am not able to endure that impression which the said Relation may peradventure have wrought in your Majesties breast against me a Bishop that hath serv'd your Father in so near a place while be lived and closed his Eyes when he died and remains still in the number of your poor Chaplains free from the least suspicion of such sordid Avarice as might cause him to spot his Rocheâ— with the exaction of so mean a Sum as 20 l. a year which is the utmost of that pretended Extorsion The Charges prest upon me with many Words but no Matter at all are two The first concerning an Order for Increasing the Clerk of the Hamper's Fees 19 Jac. The second about Fees for Institutions and Resignations taken by the Bishop of Lincoln My Answer for the Clerk of the Hampers Fees consists of these Heads 1. That the King may justly and legally increase the Fees of all Offices in his own immediate donation not limited by Act of Parliament and hath ever been done so which was granted by all the Lords 2. His late Majesty before my coming to the Seal had referr'd the suggestions of the Clerk of the Hamper for this increase of Fees unto those four great Lords who had the Seal in their custody and that their Lordships by their report did allow the same and returned a Certificate unto his Majesty of all the Species wherein the Fees were to be increased which was confessed by two of their Lordships then present 3. This Certificate was recommended to me both by word of mouth from his Majesty and by direction upon a Petition subscribed to my Remembrance by the Secretary of State which Petition the Commissioners might call for from the Clerk of the Hamper who had it for the instructing of his Council and fortifying his Evidence 4. Upon my doubting of the form how this might be done by Law and President the King's Council learned to wit the Attorny and Sergeant did not in the Clerk of the Hanpers only but in the King's behalf satisfie the Court fully in both those particulars which is express in the Order 5. That thereupon the Court being assisted with one or two Judges without examining the Suggestions which the Court supposed to be sufficiently done by the former Referrees the Order was made which Order for the ease of the Subjects doth retrench and cut short very much of the Fees allowed by the former Certificate 6. For Orders made in the High Court of Chancery the Judge for that time being doth not conceive that he is responsable to any Power under Heaven beside the King himself And this was the effect of my Answer concerning that Order for encreasing the Fees of the Clerk of the Hanper My Answer concerning the Fees in the Diocess of Lincolnis wholly omitted in the Report as though I had been only called before the Commissioners but for form and it was to this effect
incommoda si cui dolor major accesserit as Sidonius setcheth it out of Hippocrates p. 163. When such Wounds are made in our Body little Scratches should be insensible 104. The same Author hath listed up the Quarrel again which was fallen about the Place of the Holy Table I would it stood in any place of the House of God so it might be used but it is extreamly disused Was there ever such a negligence among Christians before Sometimes the Pope hath interdicted the Churches of a Nation for a year or more the greater was his Sin But I will make Affidavit that some Parishes among us have been interdicted from the Lord's Supper by the Hirelings that teach them from anno 1642. to anno 1659. and this Famine of the holy Bread is like to continue among them Is this a Season to renew what past anno 1637. between the Bishop and him how the Table should stand Deficilis est exitus veterum jurgiorum Sym. Ep. p. 17. I speak as well assured that the Dr. hath been often since that time prostrate at that sacred Banquet why then doth he break out into old Grudges for their Quidlibets First the Bishop did desire to satisfie his Reader where the holy Table should stand when the Communion Service was celebrated Secondly where it should continue when that pious work was over For the first he durst not decide it but as the Liturgy hath it To stand in the body of the Church or Chancel in the Communion-time where Morning and Evening-Prayer be appointed to be said And as the Advertisements state it That Common-Prayer the Communion being the supereminent part be said or sung decently and distinctly in such place as the Ordinary shall think meet for the largeness and straightness of the Church and Quire so that the People may be most edisied And as Canon 82 doth enjoyn When the Holy Communion is to be administred it shall be placed in so good sort within the Church or Chancel as thereby the Minister may be more conveniently heard of the Communicants in his Prayer and Ministration and that they may conveniently and in more number communicate with the Minister And therefore the Bishop sums it up Ep. p. 59. That this Liberty for a convenient place of Church or Chancel is left to the Judgment of the Ordinary and that the King in his Princely Order about St. Gregory's Church did leave it to the Law to the Communion book to the Canon and Diocesan The Law refers to Salus populi to the edifying of the People which was never respected under Popery for their Mass was mutter'd at high Altars far remote from the Auditory Which Harding maintains H. T. p. 204. That they never meant the People should understand any more than what they could guess by dumb Shews and outward Ceremonies In old Liturgies it appears that not only the Clerks but where a Church had no more than one Clerk to officiate the People made answer in Versicles and Suffrages an excellent way to keep them in godly action of which Privilege and Comfort they have been robb'd in corrupt times Erasmus says p. 216. of his Ep. That King Harry 8. defended that no Prayer was to be expected from the People Praeteream quae ment is cogitatione Deum alloquitur And that is it which is intended in Cardinal Pool's Articles of his Visitation anno 1556. Whether the People be contemplative in holy Prayer But we have not so learned Christ whose Communion is so order'd that all that are present may hear and be edisied every one say the Confession of Sins after him that pronounceth it every one professes as he is invited to lift up his Heart unto the Lord. Let the Table stand so commodiously for the benesit of Receivers when it is employ'd and it is not here or there whether the Minister stand at the North side as the Church in terminis directs it or at the North end as Altar-contrivers contend for it So we are told that the Table stands and unremovably under the East Window in the King's Chappel And says the Doctor Antid p. 41. That which is wisely and religiously done in the Chappel-Royal why should it not give Law to Parish-Churches The King's Chappel I should say was but my Heart will not let me is a sacred Oratory of great regard and ancient mention Constantine the Great had one portable with him in his Camp In Charles the Great 's time the Chappel of his Palace is samous Luitprandus King of the Lombards had one in his Palace Baron anno 744. p. 23. And in the Reign of our William Conquestor we read out of his Mouth Mea Dominica Capella Selden Eadm p. 165. Such Chapels if like to our King 's in all his Courts were of no great dimension the holy Board could not stand no where inconveniently in them but that all might hear therefore one constant site was most decent for it where it deserv'd the highest Room it being the Fabrick on which the principal Service Evangelical is solemniz'd The Bishop p. 182. remembers out of Suarez that Altars in Oratories and Chappels among them who are the Mint-masters of Ceremonies are not agreeable in situation to the Altars in Churches Therefore private Chappels nay even the Kings cannot be the Directories for all places because very often Parish Chancels being but a few strides broad and long cannot contain the multitude of all the People that come to take the Holy Mysteries And when the Belfrey is between the Chancel and the Nave of the Church as at Carshalton in Surrey the Minister can neither be heard nor seen unless he officiate in the Church where all may enjoy the Exhortations behold the Consecration and joyn in Prayer Therefore the Bishop answers prudently H. T. p. 34. It is not His Majesty's Chappel but his Laws Rubricks Canons Proclamations which we are to follow in outward Ceremonies 105. Neither can the Opponent appeal to Rubrick and Canons but he betakes him to an Order wherein the King's Majesty was present at the Council-Table Nov. 3. 1633. This is quoted at length Antid p. 62. and in some of his latter Works for approving the Table to be removed from the middle of the Chancel to the upper end and there to be placed Altar-wise If the King had intended that the like should be observed in all Parochial Churches the Question had been decided against the Bishop's Letter Nec turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere esset nefas as Tigranes says of Pompey Velle lib. 1. The Bishop subscribes p. 163. That the addition of any more Ceremonies than are prescribed in our Book is referred to the person of the King by Act of Parliament The Contention remains whether that Order of His Majesty with his Council hath influence upon other places beside the particular of St. Gregory which occasion'd it The Dr. himself says no such matter directly but Antid p. 36. The King did not command but
North gave our Bishop a breathing time from his Troubles And when the Articles of Pacification made at Berwick were burnt in London true or uncorrupted I dispute not I that report this was the first that carried the Tidings to the Tower and I call God to witness the Bishop presently broke out into these words I am right sorry for the King who is like to be forsaken by his Subjects at home but far more by all Kings and Princes abroad who do not love him But for the Archbishop says he he had best not meddle with me for all the Friends he can make will be too few to save himself A fatal fore-sight of all impending and ensuing Mischiefs But do you not hope Sir said I that such Concussions as you fear to come to pass will give you your Peace and Liberty Possibly they will says he But no honest man shall be the better for a Scotch Reformation wherein the Hare-brains among us are engaged with them Which is like that of Rutilius deported in Banishment to Mytelene one comforted him with hope of Civil Wars and then all that were banish'd should return to Rome says Rutilius Quid tibi mali feci ut mibi pejorem reditum quà m exitum sperares That which did precipitate the common Fortune and made all things worse and worse was the King's very sudden dissolving the Parliament met in Apr. 1640. His Majesty had been forewarned by a worthy Counsellor and a dying man against that Error in the Christmas before Cujus mortem dolor omnium celebrem fecit Sym. Ep. p. 11. It was L. Keeper Coventry who made but one Request with his last Breath to the King and sent it by Mr. James Maxwel of the Bed-Chamber That His Majesty would take all Distasts from the Parliament summoned against April with patience and suffer it to sit without an unkind dissolution But the Barking of the living Dogs was sooner heard than the Groaning of a dying Lyon for that Parliament ended in a few days in its Infancy and in its Innocency but the Grief for it will never end The next came on Novemb. 3. with all Animosities that could be infused out of Scotch and English Distempers The Bishop of Lincoln Petitions the King by the Queens Mediation that he might be set at liberty and have his Writ as a Peer to sit in Parliament which was opposed by the L. Finch then Custos sigilli magni and Archbishop Laud as appears by a Letter written to Sir Richard Winn Octob. 3. in these words 130. Good Cousin WITH my hearty Thanks remembred for all your great however unfortunate care of me and my Affairs Though you would not let me know any thing that might be any Grief or Discomfort to me yet I hear it of other Hands That I am eternally bound to the Queens Majesty and bound to remain her Vassal as long as I live And that I owe much to some other great Lords of His Majâ—â—ty's Council And that his Grace by my Lord Keeper's bold and much-mistaken Information to His Majesty that the Parliament cannot examine Errors and Oppressions in such an arbitrary Court as the Star-chamber is doth keep off His Majesty from using his Clemency towards me or permitting me to employ my best Endeavours to serve him My Lords Grace and Secretary Windebank have good reason to wish me out of the Parliament and out of the World too if they conceive I have no other business there than to complain against them And so hath the Lord Keeper and Sir J. Lamb. If her gracious Majesty whom than willingly offend I will rather dye will be pleased to set aside the Relations those two Personages have towards Her Majesty and set her poor Servant at liberty to take his course for Redress for those intolerable Concussions they have used against him And that I do not speak herein beside my Books I pray you and your Friends to peruse the bundle of Papers I send you which I desire you to return to me c. Through the Perswasion of those about the King whom the Letter discovers Lincoln was like to lye by it and to be shut out of Mercy by an irreversible Decree But the Lords of the Upper House after they had look'd about them a while on Nov. 16. sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower to deliver him to then Officer of the Black Rod who conducted him to the Parliament and their Lordships gave him his Place among his Brethren in the Bishops-Bench The King did soon hear of his Carriage that he neither complain'd nor so much as glanced at his Persecutors As a true Lover of his Country said Cic. Ep. Fam. lib. 10. Non me impedient privatae offensiones quò minùs pro Reip salute etiam cura inimicis consentiam His Majesty heard more That he was his faithful Minister and Stable to stand for him in all motions and did not refrain to fall sharply upon those Lords to whom he owed his Releasement for not speaking dutifully of His Majesty and of his Actions with Reverence Upon it the King sent for him and had conference with him alone till after midnight and made him some amends for the Evils past by commanding all Orders filed and kept in any Court or Registry upon the former Hearings and Dependencies against him to be slighted cancell'd crazed that no Monument or Memorial of them might remain So Aâ—m Probus tells us what Reparation was made to Alcibiades after he was brought home to Athens from his Exile Pilae in quibus devotio scripta fuit contra Alcibiadem in mare praecipitatae post quà m à Spartá revocatus est To quote a nearer Example When Constantine let Athanasius return again to his See at Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. ad Solit. Vit. p. 823. All that was engross'd against Athanasius he commanded the Memory of it to be rid out of the way and all of it to be blotted out Look for such another Instance in Symmachus Ep. p. 127. of him that was thrice honour'd in being reinvested in those Honours from which he was degraded Majus quiddam est honorem restituere quam dedisse c. For Fortune may confer but only Judgment restores to Honour I am come to the end of those Suits with which our Bishop was overwhelmed and still made Defendant against the King Let Posterity observe how he was censur'd and grievously but for two things tampering with Witnesses never known before to be a fault in the Realm of England and for being suspected to have received two Letters in Cyphers of a mystical sence and as slight regard Being accused for divulging the King's Counsels and for Subornation of Witnesses he broke the neck of those Bills Being questioned for his Book in the High-Commission Court he wound himself out of the Labyrinth of all their Articles From an Hodg-potch of new Informations in Star-chamber he deliver'd himself by adventuring to appeal from that Court to the
Parliament and in that Parliament to which he appealed he sits a Member and Peer and sees all Papers of Record against him torn and burnt to Ashes Ut advertas feliciter faclum reum quem sic videas absolutum Sym. Ep. 87. Be the Conclusion those words of Ezek. c. 17. v. 24. All the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree have exalted the low true have dried up the green tree and have made the dry tree to flourish Which the great Poet had rather ascribe to a blind Goddess in his Poetical License Aen. 12. Multos alterna revisens Lusit in solidum rursus fortuna locavit 131. A Prisoner whose Liberty I much long'd for is released but out of Limbo into Hell Can the worst word be had enough for those fatal days Now being come with him as far as the Door of the Parliament into which he entred upon the Call of the Lords I turned away for no little time and interrupted my self for above two years from writing any more not out of Sloth but Disdain To part with him till his last day was against my purpose and to keep him company in those boisterous times wherein a Senate of rigid men was dangerous I was at such a stay as Alexander in the dry Country of the Susitans Pigebat consistere progredi Curt. lib. 7. It was contrary to the Project of my Work to stop and as contrary to my Mind to go forward in the Hurricane of an intemperate Rebellion But it is resolved to look over somewhat of one of the most bloody Tragedies that ever was performed on the Earth rather than omit his part who was so loyal in his Actings and so magnanimous in his Sufferings And this may be done with the less unwillingness from one Passage that will recreate the Writer and the Reader that the chief Engineers that wrought the Thunderbolts at the Forge and laid the foundation of all ensuing Mischief lived to see themselves thrust out of their Den by a Brewers Drayman with his tatter'd Regiment a Passage to be kept for ever upon the Engravings of Memory and would not be pleasant but burdensome to know it and not to publish it As Archytas of Tarentum said If a man were lifted up among the Stars to know their order and motion the knowledge of it so admirable would be ingrate unto him unless he met with some to whom he might relate it So I am full of this to tell it to Posterity That the pittiful handful of Lords Temporal and now Temporary that adhered not to the King and cashiered the Lords Spiritual out of their Society for their immovable Fidelity were dismounted for ever from their own Privilege and Honour and might pawn their Parliament-Robes if they pleased And the remainder of the Commons after Pride's Purge was so despicable that every Tongue was so audacious to give them the nick-name of the Posteriors of a Beast and they put it up lest angry Wits should paste a greater Scorn upon them As Cas Severus satisfied himself with the Downfal of his Adversary Vivo quo vivere libeat Asprenatem reum video Quintil. lib. II. So this one Scene hath a good Catastrophe in the cruel Interlude That the small but most spightful part of this continuing Parliament held up their Tail though not their Hand at the Bar and went out it self in such a stink in the Snuff that all cry sie at it that have their Nostrils opened So my Mind is collected again and my Heart at some Peace in it self to see the Honour of Heavenly Justice settled so far 132. And to Preface no more and no less could be said A Parliament was sitting when our Bishop had his Liberty which held in its Fragments twelve years and six months Nay when the stub of the Members were baffled and spurn'd out of the House by the Russian Cromwell these Bankrupts opened their Shop once again and by a post limintum recover'd their places so that we reckon nineteen years from their first Call to their last Suppression Umbra serotina A shadow is longest at Evening when the Sun is ready to set And our Sun went down quickly when this shadow was so far extended But there is a better similitude for it in Pliny Nat. Hist lib. 2. cap. 14. A Serpent was taken at the River Bagrada of 120 foot long and the skin says he was hung up in the Capitol as long as such stuff could endure Mark this a Serpent the longest that ever was heard of the skin kept when it was mortified and preserved in the Senate-house Who can miss to apply it A Serpentine brood of Men none ever lasting so long in that High Court withered away to a skin or Skeleton all were right if they had been hung up in the Capitol This Serpent was young and the worst it could do was to hiss when Lincoln was brought in to sit with his fellow Bishops He had not been many hours there when he was amazed to see divers composed of new and strong Passions instigated to boldness by Scotch Confederacy heightned up by the Petitions and Mutinies of City and Country and preach't into disorder by Presbyterian Divines For a muffled Zeal for Religion hath a finger in all Combustions And as one says Multitudo vana superstitione capta meliùs vatibus quà m ducibus suis paret Curt. lib. 3. Church-men are the most dangerous Instruments to turn Male-contents into Sword-men who being prepossest with an ill opinion of the Times will quickly humble their Judgment under the Conscience of their Ministers But what Credit can it be to our Bishop for such Peers to take him into their number by their peremptory Vote None if he had answer'd their expectation Yet his chief Friends were as faithful and noble-hearted as ever sate upon the Benches of the House And it is no good thrist to cast out Gold-filings with the dust as if all were dust These must be sever'd from the rest to their immortal praise It is as true that he was sought for by some of the rest who had only an eye to the North-Star of their own Anti-monarchical Interest For he that was ordinarily read in man might know this able Prelate was to be left out that had so general an insight into all Affairs and Motions of State As Zeno prais'd Ismenias his Musick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he could play well upon all Instruments But when the disloyal Part hoped that a Man of a great Spirit and so much injur'd would revenge himself upon the Causes of his Troubles and Pipe after their Tune they were overshot to imagine it Though he is bound to be most true that is most trusted yet no man was bound to be true to them whom his Majesty as appears by his Writ trusted with his most concerning and weighty Counsels and were false to him that gave them Capacity to treat upon them
plausible and may run well with the close of Beza's Epigram in Parodie Quod tu fecisti sit licet ingens At quod non saceres hoâ— ego miror opus 134. But the Injuries done to private Man were Trifâ—les to the great Affairs that were in hand His Majesty's Affairs which were in great decadence took him up wholly and how could he be safe A good Subject cannot make any difference between the King's Fortunes and his own A full Declaration of the Storms that were rais'd concerns not this piece It was apparent that the Scotch were at one end of the Fray in the North and the Presbyterians about London at the other end in the South both confederate to root up cast down syndicate controul and do what they lust and let them have their own will it would scarce content them Our wise Church-man knew that he that fears the worst prevents it soonest Therefore he did not lose a minute to try all his Arts if he could quench the flame amongst the heady Scots whose common sort were like their Preachers Tumidi magis animi quà m magni as Casaubon notes it in the Atherians Lib. 1. Athen. cap. 20. rather of a swelling than a noble Spirit Their own polite Historian says more Dromond Jam. 5. p. 161. That Hepburn Prior of St. Andrews the Oracle of the Duke of Albany told him That he must remember that the People whom he did command for he was Regent were ever fierce mutinously proud and know not how to obey unless the Sword were drawn What hope then of their Submission when they had framed Covenants Articles gathered a Convention no less in Power no less in Name than a Parliament without their Prince's leave and became Assailants to maintain that and what they would have more with the Sword Let all Ages remember that this sprung from no other occasion but that the King invited them to prayer in publick in such a Form of Liturgy as himself used putting no greater burden upon their Conscience than upon his own The Peccatulum was that there wanted a little in mode and usual way to commend the Book unto them Perhaps the Error went a little further that King James his Promise was not observ'd as the Reverend Spotswood doth not conceal it p. 542. That the Lord Hamilton King James his Commissioner having ratified the Articles of Perth by Act of Parliament assured the People that his Majesly in his days should never press any more change and alteration in matters of that kind without their consent Admit this Promise calculated for the days of King James was obliging as far as the Meridian of King Charles yet nothing was presented to them against true Doctrine or Divine Worship for all the Learning of their Universities could never make the matter of the Liturgy odious And let it be disputed That the Book was not authoritative without the publick Vote and Consent of the Nation in some Representative Yet if a Prince so pious so admirable in his Ethicks did tread one inch awry in his Politicks must the Cannon be brought into the Field and be planted against him to subvert his Power at Home and to dishonour him abroad was it ever heard that upon so little a Storm Seamen would cut Cabble and Mast and throw their Cargo over-board when there was no fear to shipwrack any thing but Fidelity and Allegiance God was pleased to deprive us of Contentment and Peace for our own wickedness or Civil Discords that lasted near as long as the Peloponnesian War had never risen from so slender an occasion The merciful and soft-hearted King could have set his Horse-feet upon their Necks in his first Expedition which stopt at Barwick if he had not been more desirous of Quietness than Honour and Victory I guess whom Dromond means in the Character of Jam. 3. p. 118. That it is allowable in men that have not much to do to be taken with admiration of Watches Clocks Dials Automates Pictures Statues But the Art of Princes is to give Laws and govern their People with wisdom in Peace and glory in War to spare the humble and prostrate the proud Happy had it been if his Majesty had followed valiant Counsel to have made himself compleat Conquerour of those Malapert Rebels when they first saw his face in the North. But the Terms of Pacification which they got in one year served them to gather an Army and to come with Colours display'd into England the next year which was the periodical year of the King's Glory the Churches Prosperity the Common Laws Authority and the Subjects Liberty Threescore and eighteen years before when England and Scotland were never at better League Abr. Hartwell passeth this Vote in his Reginâ literatâ more like a Prophet than a Poet Nostráque non iterùm Saxo se vertat in arva Non Gallus sed nec prior utrôque Scotus 135. And what could Lesly have done then with a few untrain'd unarmed Jockeys if we had been true among our selves The Earl of Southampton spake heroically like a Peer of an ancient Honour That the Bishop of Durham with his Servants a few Millers and Plowmen were wont to beat those Rovers over the Tweed again without raising an Army If the People had not imprudently chosen such into our Parliament as were fittest to gratifie the Scots day had soon cleared up and Northern Mists dispersed But our foolish heart was darkned and any Scourge was welcome that would chastise the present Government we thought we could not be worse when we could scarce be better We greedily took this Scotch Physick when we were not sick but knew not what it was to be in health An Ounce of common Sense might have warned us That a Kingdom may consist with private mens Calamities but private mens Fortunes cannot consist with the ruin of a Kingdom The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil. Many in England thought they sat at a hard Rent because of Ship-money and would fire the House wherein their own Wealth was laid up rather than pay their Landlord such a petty Tribute as was not mist in times of Plenty but in short time their Corn and Plate went away at one swoop when their stock was low The exacting of Ship-money all thought it not illegal but so many did as made it a number equivalent to all And a Camel will bear no more weight than was first laid upon him Nec plus instituto onere recipit Plin. lib. 8. cap. 18. This disorder'd the Beast and being backt with some thousands of Rebels march't on as far as Durham made him ready to cast his Rider The Royal part was at a stand and could go no further than this Question What shall we do As Livy says of the Romans catch't in an Ambush at Caudis Intuentes alii alios cum alterum quisque compotem magis mentis ac consilii ducerent In such a Perplexity every man asks his Fellow What 's best
the Scottish Army Hami angulares quà m directi mucrones tenaciùs infiguntur Macrob. lib. 7. c. 3. A Sword cuts deep but a Hook sticks in the Flesh when it hath made a Wound He replies That any Government undisturb'd and enjoying Eighty years of Peace cannot but contract accidental Abuses remaining sound in its Essentials The Sun doth win certain Minutes and Seconds in the year which in long tract of time breed great Alterations The longer the Body hath been in Health the harder to be cured when a Disease overtakes it But whether they were Insolencies or Grievances that did distaste them they should be remedied The King was ready to lance every Sore and to let out the Corruption only keep up the Places of the Bishops Deans and other Dignitaries among which themselves men of great Godliness and Learning did deserve a share and should be remembred They need not be taught that the Church the Building of Christ must not be built like a Barn all upon one Floor but must be framed with gradual Subordinations There is a Babel in plucking down as well as in raising up And for the Revenues bestowed upon our Maintenance painful Preachers deserv'd them as well as the best Practisers in other Professions and knew how to use them There were plenty of such Blame not all for the Sloth or Errors of a few Cur omnium fit culpa paucorum scelus Sen. Hippol. This part brought on a Proposition for a regulated Episcopacy I cannot vaunt that the Bishop made his Party good with them in that for the meaning of the Proponent spread out at the breadth was to joyn the Presbytery with the Bishop in all acts of Ordination and Jurisdiction to give him the first Room and the first Voice but no more his Suffragans and Coadjutors in the Consistory being more in number and every of them equal in Power should leave him for a Cypher Then regulate Episcopacy is the same with demolish it for turn a Light downward and it will extinguish it self Take such a Bishop and measure him not with an Ell but a Span and he is Paterculus non Pater a titular Chairman Beza's Moderator for life Cartwright's President How often hath this Mockery of Government been obtruded and rejected But the Mortar will still favour of the Garlick that was stampt in it before 137. The power of the Presbyterians was so great in Tumults and concourse of base People that their Conclusions were strong though their Premisses were weak to blunt the power of ancient Episcopacy Nam quae est ista nova stulta sapientia novitatem quaerere in visceribus antiquitatis Optat. lib. 6. Yet in all this Lincoln was their Days-man and gave them considerate Answers but he did wind them off and would spin the Webb no further with them when he perceived they aimed more at a regulated Crown than a regulated Mitre Just as Pausanius says of the Messenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they would change their Kings into Regents of a new name subject to the People and answerable for their Faults So these would make our King as subject to their Elderships as a Stadt-holder in the Netherlands as to have no Government in Church-Affairs as their King I mean their Christian King to be liable to their Censures to execute their Verdicts without disputing the Justice of them Their politick Aphorisms are far more dangerous That His Majesty is not the highest Power in his Realms That he hath not absolute Soveraignty That a Parliament sitting is co-ordinate with him in it He may have the Title of only Supreme yet a Senate have an essential part without the Name The Soveraignty was mixt and distributed into the Hands of King Lords and Commons Though a Nation war against a King and they on the Merit of the Cause have the worser side yet may he not war against the Publick Good on that account nor any help him in such a War When a man's Possession of the Crown doth cease to be the means of the Publick Good it is then his Duty to resign and no Injury to be deprived of it Though the Power of the Militia be expresly given to the King it shall not be his alone unless it be exprest it shall not be in others Do not these Aphorisms suit horribly well with the 13th to the Romans How could God have sealed the King's Safety and Commission with a plainer Text and a stronger Warrant Shall these crooked Rules obliquate those loyal Maxims which are so strait in St. Paul These are Junius Brutus's Theorems or worse which are top-heavy and will fall with their own weight into Hell Worthy Lincoln heard the Presbyterian Encroachments upon all other points with a civil welcome but when such Divinity not fit for English Subjects was pieced unto them he would brook no more Addresses The Cony-skin is easily pluckt off from the Body but it slicks at the Head O what a Flood-gate have they drawn up with these disloyal Tenents through which a Deluge of War and Mischief hath burst out Should I tell them that they have boasted that their Discipline did never prevail in a State but in spight of the Princes of the place They know it is true and that Parsons Fisher and other Jesuites have told them of it Saepius olim religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta quoth Lucretius This was Olim a good while since But Grotius says of the modern sort of these Ministers and some Popish Priests Per quos communis hujus seculi pest is in utrasque partes vulgata est Hist p. 57. Which made a Marshal of France desirous of his Countrys Peace wish That every Minister had a Priests Head in his Belly that they might be rid of them both The Devil wanted not the cunning to jostle Heathen Princes out of their Rights by Stratagems of Religion Cleomenes taught the Delphick Oracle how to cast Demaratus out of his Kingdom So Pausan in Lacon It was an easier thing than for Savanarola a Preacher of Christ to preach the Florentines out of an Optimacy into a Popular Government The Citizens burnt him afterwards at a Stake in their Streets they should have fir'd him in his Pulpit I must charge it on our Presbyterians that their Thunder-clapps of Rebellious Doctrine hurried our three Kingdoms into a most bloody War 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Plant comes from him that sowed the Seed With which Similitude Cicero arrests M. Anton. Ut in seminibus causa est stirpium arborum sic hujus luctuosissimi belli causa Tu Fuisti Phil. 2. But what care these men to plead guilty to this Bill For a Bell-weather of their Flock writes I dare not repent of it nor forbear the same if it were to do again in the same state of things Holy Commonw p. 486. What hope have we of Good from such Zealots What Comfort ever to have Peace when the greatest
a Belly-god From the first breaking out of the Plot against the Earl they committed him as a Traytor to the Black Rod who for any thing of Treason or like to Treason might go bare-fac'd through the World and never be asham'd For in the end of all long after his Commitment they had no proof towards that Crime but a Paper brought out of old Sir H. Vane's Cabinet by his naughty Son Crudelis pater est magis an puer improbus ille What were other Misdemeanors to Treason Sift any man that hath been long in a great Office and if his Enemies may be permitted to accuse him see if he can escape a black Bill which will found to his peril and disgrace amplified with the Rhetorick of Malice So Plutarch defends the gallant Roman Fabius Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to offend at all in great matters is more than a man can do Let me speak of his Judges with reverence It was a Parliament which is more able to prepare Laws to pass where all are concern'd than to sit upon a Trial where one Subject is concern'd Wise and Weak have the same Right to Judge therefore Pliny the younger spared not to censure the Conscript-Fathers of the Roman Senate lib. 2. Ep. In publico concilio nihil est tam inaequale quam aequalitas quia cum sit impar prudentia par omnium jus est Those that are no Body when they are singled and stand alone must pass for Oracles when they vote with others in the House Like the Vanity of Astrologers as Salmasius taxeth them Chym. p. 795. Singula sidera vix pro numinibus habent Composita offigiata potentum numinum instar habere voluerunt The vertue of such and such a Star is not reckon'd in their Art but put it into a Constellation that Figure cast into a Globe of Stars they hold to be propitions in-flowing into the Life and Death of Men. There were some in this Parliament that out of their Birth and Education were carried to noble Attempts who would not concurr to the Ruin of great Wentworth but their Names were posted for it by Ruffians as Enemies to the State And this was never look'd into for a breach of Privilege An Indignity will never be forgotten till Truth hath left to breathe And it was to no purpose to reason it soberly with so violent Opposites Decernente ferocissimo quoque non sententiis sed clamore strepitu Liv. lib. 20. Their Blood was warmed with the greatness of their number and confidence in the People Beside says the rare Author in his Essay of Faction it is often seen that a few that are stiff will tire out a greater number that are more moderate What odds then was on their side that exceeded in quantity and stiffness Yet every thing that is stiff is not streight But here the bloody part were the Godly in their own Language they and no others All that came from them was pretended to be for Reformation and common Safety but as different in event as Numbers that are even and odd Hypocrisie dwells next door to Virtue but never comes into its Neighbor's House What Justice was that which was thrown by for ever which plaid its part so ill that the very Actors hiss'd it off the Stage and provided by their own Vote that it should be seen no more Quintil. lib. 7. hath this upon the Pleadings of his time Tot saeculis nullam repertam esse causam quae sit tota alterisimilis No Cause was ever pleaded that was the same with any that went before in all points and circumstances But how say you to this Cause when it was enacted by Statute That no Cause should be like it for the time to come Sir Rob. Dallington notes the Subtlety of the Pope in these words That he never challengeth a Power till he be able to maintain it no more did this High Court and then that he never approves a Mischief till it be done So did not this Court that would not approve their own Mischief when it was done They were not asham'd before and when they shed innocent Blood but after Quos cum nihil refert pudet ubi pudendum est deserit illos pudor Plaut in Bacch Finally no Evidence can have more light than this That they knew not how to make their Justice passable because before they began they found so many Knots and Scruples how to enter into a Trial. When they had resolved on a way the King would have crost them Discreet men were afraid lest Opposition should make them worse Lincoln is consulted approves the King's Zeal to use all expedient means to rescue his faithful Servant but thought it would do hurt to check what the Parliament had devised for a legal procedure He that seeks a thing the wrong way goes so far backward In all Contests of Power the King is ever thought to do wrong The King's Greatness made too much contemptible already must beware to take a foyl at this time Mary Queen of Scotland Mother to James the third who was deem'd worthy the Character of Livia the Empress Ulysses stolata Ulysses in a Petticoat Calig in Sueton. gave this Counfel to her Son on her Death-bed Suffer not your Prerogative to come in question but fore-seeing the danger rather give way to all that in reason is demanded of you Drum p. 79. With these Considerations the Bishop proceeds to deliver his Opinion as followeth to the Lords 143. The first Question which your Lordships have called upon me to resolve is Whether the House of Commons may examine some of the Members of their House before a Committee of your Lordships There is no question of the thing but of the time Regularly they ought not to do it yet but ought first to put in a Specifial Charge and the Reus or Defendant first be call'd to his Answer Then and not before Witnesses ought to be produced This is the regular Course If the Charge be not Specifial it may be demurred unto and need not be answer'd at all We have all this in the Acts of the Apostles cap. 25. Festus brought brought forth Paul to be examin'd before Agrippa that he might have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 27. some certain matter to lay to his charge so as he might not slip away from it Therefore a general and uncertain matter will not serve the turn For otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 28. it seem'd to Festus void of all reason to send a Prisoner to Rome and no Charge go along with him They are call'd there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 particular Criminations This is the regular way before your Witnesses are used The Star-Chamber goes a little further beside the Rule For in the King's Cause upon Affidavit of Sickness to prevent Mortality and as it were de benè esse some Witnesses have been admitted to Examination before any Answer put in or Issue joyned Though these Witnesses were
would witness against me for my Council-Table Opinion I would say to him as Gallus did to Tyberius Caesar Good Sir speak you first for I may mistake and you may witness against me for it in the next Parliament Some did make Laws with Ropes about their Necks What Must men give their Counsel as it were with Ropes about their Necks Solomon says When thou comest to a rich man's table put a knife to thy Throat But what 's here When we give Judgment as we are able among the Lords of the Council must we put an Ax to our Necks Beware of such Traps pittying the case of human Weakness 145. The fourth Question is thus comprized Whether some Members of the House of Commons may be present at the Examination Judicially they cannot the Judicature is in your Lordships but whether organically and ministerially is the Scruple to be satisfied I will be brief in my Conceptions what is against the claim of the House of Commons and what is for them This is not for them That 50 Edw. 3. one Love was a Witness in Lord John Nevile's Case Love denied what he had confest before two Knights Members of the Lower House The House of Commons send them to the Lords to confront Love which they did and Love was thereupon committed Now their being here was only to confront not to assist the Lords either judicially or ministerially Many things make for them why they may be there ministerially at least First Originally both Houses were together and so the Commons heard all Examinations Considerent inter se Modus ten Pl. and sate so till Anno 6 Edw. 3. by Mr. Elsing's Collections which are not over-authentick Secondly After that time they have all the House of Commons been present when Witnesses were sworn here Anno 5 Hen. IV. Rot. 11. swears his Fealty before the Lords and Commons and two or three days after by the same Oath and before the same persons clears the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of York from a Suspicion of Treason laid to their charge The Commons were by and heard all this The third Reason is Mr. Attorny-General if this Lord were arraigned of Treason as I pray God bless him from deserving it would be by and observe his Defence and such Witnesses as he should produce for himself and would no doubt bring Counter proofs Sur le Champ and upon the sudden against the same if he were able The House of Commons is in this case the King's Attorny who make and maintain the charge So far out of brief Notes for take them to be no other you have a strong Judgment pass'd upon four Questions Says Tully in his Brutus of Caesar's Eloquence Tabulam benè pictam collocat in bono lumine He draws his Picture well and hangs it out to be well seen So here 's a Piece well drawn and placed in the light of Perspicuity His next Argument is very long but of that use to the Reader that he shall not sind so much Learning in any Author on that Theme that I know a Scholar would not want it They that fostered deadly Enmities against E. Strafford laboured to remove the Bishops from the hearing of his Cause This Bishop and his Brethren minding to him all the Pity and Help they could shew him the Opposites began to vote them out of Doors and would not admit them in the Right of Peers in this Cause because it was upon Life and Blood Lincoln maintains that the Lords did them Injury and that Bishops in England may and ought to vote in causâ sanguinis That they were never inhibited by the Law of this Land never by the Peers of the Land before this time That their voluntary forbearance in some Centuries of the Ages before proceeded from their Fears of the Canons of the Court of Rome and by the special Leave of the King and both Houses who were graciously pleased to allow of their Protestations for their Indemnity as Church-men when the King and Parliament might have rejected their Protestations if they had pleas'd And much he insisted upon it that the opponent Lords grounded their Judgment upon the corrupt Canons of the Church of Rome Indeed I find in my own Papers that the Monks of Canterbury complain'd against Hubert their Archbishop to the Pope for sitting upon Tryals of Life and Blood They could not complain that he went against the Laws and Customs of England but their Appeal was to the Pope's Justice and it was more tolerable for Monks to rake in the Rubbish of the Roman Courts than for English Barons And say in sooth must not Divines of the Reformed Church meddle in Cause of Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amph. Would they be laugh'd at for this Hypocrisie or abhorr'd For who more forward to thrust into the Troops of the late War than the Ministers whom they countenanc'd Have I not seen them prance about the Streets in London with Pistols in their Holsters and Swords by their sides And so for Edg-hill and Newberry c. Could they rush into so many Fights and be clear from cause of Blood Nay the Pontisical part make but a Mockery of this Canon for anno 1633 a Book was printed in Paris sill'd with a Catalogue of Cardinals Bishops and Priests who had been brave Warriours most of them Leaders in the Field the Author a Sycophant aimed to please Cardinal Richlieu and a Fig for the Canons Reason Canons Parliamentary Privileges nay Religion are to corrupt men as they like them for their own ends Now hear how this Bishop did wage his Arguments for the affirmative 146. It is to be held for a good Cause against which nothing of moment can be alledg'd such is this concerning the Right of Bishops to vote in causâ sanguinis First It is not prohibitum quia malum not any way evil in it self no more than it is an evil thing in it self to do Justice Secondly It was in use from the Law of Nature when the eldest of the Family was King Priest and Prophet Thirdly It was in use under Moses's Law and so continued in the Priests and Levites down to Annas and Caiaphas and after Christ's death till the Temple was destroyed as appears by the scourging of the Apostles by the stoning of Stephen and commanding St. Paul to be smitten on the Mouth Fourthly It was in use in the persons of the Apostles themselves as in that Judgment given upon Ananias and Saphira in the delivery up to Satan as most of the ancient Fathers expound that Censure to be a corporal Vexation And generally in all the Word of God there is no one Text that literally inhibits Church-men more than Lay-men to use this kind of Judicature For that Precept to be no striker 1 Tim. 3.3 is no more to be appropriated to a Bishop distinct from the rest of Christian men than that which is added not to be given to Wine that is immoderately taken Proceed we
to Practice and Use in our own Country Why it was in use in this Island before the Romans entred the same when the Druids gave all the Sentences in Causes of Blood Si coedes facâ—e pâ—as constituunt Caesar Bel. Gai. li. 6. And see Mr. Selden's Epinomis c. 2. Nor is it like that the Romans when they were our Masters should forbid it in Priests whose Pontifical College after they had entertain'd the twelve Tables meddled in all matters of this kind Strabo Geogr. lib. 4. And it is as unlike that the Christian Religion excluded Bishops in this Island from Secular Judicatures since King Lucius is directed to take out his Laws for the regulating of his Kingdom by the Advice of his Council ex utráque pagina the Old and New Testament which could not be done in that Age without the help of his Bishops See Sir H. Spelman's Councils p. 34. Ann. Dom. 185. And how the great Prelates among the ancient Britains were wholly employ'd in these kind of secular agitations you may see in the Ecclesiastical Laws of Howel Dha set forth by Sir H. Spelman pag. 408. anno 940. And a little before this Howel Dha lived K. Aetheljtan in the second Chapter of whose Ecclesiastical Laws we have it peremptorily set down Hinc debent Episcopi cum Saeculi Judicibus interesse judiciis and particularly in all Judgments of the Ordeals which no man that understands the word can make any doubt to have been extended to Mutilation and Death Sir H. S. Counc p. 405. ann 928. And that the Bishops joyned alwaies with the secular Lords in all Judicatory Laws and Acts under the whole reign of the Saxons and Danes in this Island we may see by those Saxon-Danish Laws or rather Capitularies which among the French and Germans do signifie a mixture of Laws made by the Prince the Bishops and the Barons to rule both Church and Common-wealth set forth by Mr. Lambert anno 1568. See particularly the ninth Chapter of St. Edward's Laws De his qui ad judicium sorri vel aquae judicati sunt fol. 128. And thus it continued in this Kingdom long after the Conquest to wit in Henry Beu-clerk's time after whose Reign it began to be a little limited and restrained for at Clarendon anno 1164 8 Calend. Febr. 11 Henr. 21 a general Record is agreed upon by that King 's Special Command of all the Customs and Liberties of this Kingdom ever since Hen. the First the King's Grandfather as you may see in Matth. Paris p. 96 of the first Edition where among other Customs agreed upon this is one Archbishops and Bishops and all other persons of this Kingdom which hold of the King in capite are to enjoy their Possessions of the King as a Barony and by reason thereof are to answer before the Judges and Officers of the King and to observe and perform all the King's Customs And just as the rest of the Barons ought for it was a Duty required of them as the King now by his Summons doth from us to be present in the Judgments of the King's Courts together with the rest of the Barons until such time as they shall there proceed to the mangling of Members or Sentence of Death 147. Observe that there is a diversity of reading in the last words for Matth. Paris a young Monk that lived long after reads this Custom thus Quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem Which may be wrested to the first agitation of any Charge tending that way but Quadrilogus a Book written in that very Age and the original Copy of the Articles of Clarendon which Becket sent to Rome extant at this day in the Vatican Library and out of which Baronius in his Annals anno 1164 transcribes it reads the Custom thus Usque perveniatur in judicio ad diminutionem membrorum c. which leaves the Bishops to sit there until the Judgment come to be pronounced amounting to Death or Mutilation of Members And as this was agreed to be the Custom so was it the Practice also after that 11th year to wit in the 15th year of Henry the Second at what time the Lay-Peers are so far from requiring the Bishops to withdraw that they endeavour to force them alone to hear and determine a matter of Treason in the person of Becket Stephanides is my Author for this who was a Chaplain and Follower of that Archbishop The Barons say saith that Author You Bishops ought to pronounce Sentence upon your selves we are Laicks you are Church-men as Becket is you are his fellow-Priests and fellow-Bishops To whom some one of the Bishops replied This belongs to you my Lords rather than to us for this is no ecclesiastical but a secular Judicature We sit not here as Bishops but as Barons Nos Barones vos Barones hic Pares sumus And in vain it is that you should labour to find any difference at all in our Order or Calling See this Manuscript cited by Mr. Selden Titles of Honour 2 Edit p. 705. And thus the Custom continued till the 21st year of the same King Henry II. at what time that Provincial Synod was kept at Westminster by the Archbishop of Canterbury and some few of his Suffragans which Roger Hoveden mentions in his History p. 543. And it seems Gervasius Dorobernensis which is a Manuscript I have not seen The quoting of this Monk in the Margin of that Collection of Privileges which Mr. Selden by command had made for the Upper House of Parliament is the only ground of stirring up this Question against the Bishops at this present intended by Mr. Selden for a Privilege to the Bishops not for a Privilege to the Lay Peers to be pressed against the Bishops The Canon runs thus It is not lawful for such as are constituted in Holy Orders Judicium sanguinis agitare to put in execution Judgment of Blood and therefore we forbid that they shall either in their own persons execute any such mutilation of Members or sentence them to be so acted by others And if any such person shall do any such thing he shall be deprived of the Office and Place of his Order and Function We do likewise sorbid under the peril of Excommunication that no Priest be a secular Sheriff or Provost Now this is no Canon made in England much less confirmed by Common Law or assented to by all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury or by any one of the Province of York but transcribed as appears by Hovenden's Margin out of a Council of Toledo which in the time that Council is supposed to be held was the least Kingdom in Spain and not so big as York-shire and consequently improper to regulate all the World and especially this remote Kingdom of England Beside as this poor Monk sets it down it doth inhibit Church-men from being Hang-men rather than from being Judges to condemn men to be thus mutilated and mangled in their
refuse to concurr with the Parliament nay if he took more time to deliberate upon it it would be worse for the Earl and he would come to a more unhappy Death for an Hellish Contrivance was resolved upon just as in St. Paul's case Acts 23.15 the Zealots that had vowed Paul's death laid the Plot with the Priests and Elders to signisie to the Captain to bring him down to enquire somewhat more perfectly concerning him and ere ever he came near they would fall upon him The condemn'd Earl when he heard of this was no longer fond of Lise but sent word to the King that he was well prepared for his End and would not his gracious Majest y should disquiet himself to save a ruin'd Vessel that must sink A valiant Message and sit for so great a Spirit Loginus notes acutely that when Ajax was to combat with Hector he begg'd some things of such Gods as he call'd upon but to escape with life was not in his Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was beneath a Graecian Heroe to desire Life It being therefore to no purpose to dispute what was the best Remedy to save this Lord when there was none at all the House of Lords nominate four Prelates to go to His Majesty to propound how the Tenderness of his Conscience might safely wade through this insuperable dissiculty these were L. Primate Usher with the Bishops Morton Williams Potter There was none of those four but would have gone through Fire and Water as we say to save the Party which being now a thing beyond Wit and Power they state the Question thus to the King sure I am of the Truth because I had it from the three former Whether as His Majesty refers his own Judgment to his Judges in whose Person they act in Court of Oyer Kings-bench Assize and in Cause of Life and Death and it lies on them if an innocent man suffer so why may not His Majesty satisfie his Conscience in the present matter that since competent Judges in Law had awarded that they found Guilt of Treason in the Earl that he may susser that Judgment to stand though in his private mind he was not satisfied that the Lord Strafford was criminous for that juggling and corrupt dealing which he suspected in the Proofs at the Tryal and let the Blame lye upon them who sate upon the Tribunal of Life and Death The four Bishops were all for the ashrmative and the Earl took it so little in ill part that Reverend Armagh pray'd with him preach'd to him gave him his last Viaticum and was with him on the Scassoid as a Ghostly Father till his Head was severed from his Body 154. Indeed His Majesty in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth seem to represent it as if he did not approve what he received from the four Bishops at that Consultation And I will leave such good men to his Censure rather than contradict any thing in that most pious most ravishing Book which deserves as much as Tully said of Crassus in his Brutus Ipsum melius potuisse scribere alium ut arbitror neminem Perhaps the King could have wrote better but I think no man else in the three Kingdoms What a venomous Spirit is in that Serpent Milton that black-mouth'd Zoilus that blows his Vipers Breath upon those immortal Devotions from the beginning to the end This is he that wrote with all Irreverence against the Fathers of our Church and shew'd as little Duty to his Father that begat him The same that wrote for the Pharisees That it was lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause and against Christ for not allowing Divorces The same O horrid that desended the lawfulness of the greatest Crime that ever was committed to put our thrice-excellent King to death A petty School-boy Scribler that durst graple in such a Cause with the Prince of the learned men of his Age Salmasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eunapius says of Ammonius Plutarch's Scholar in Aegypt the Delight the Musick of all Knowledge who would have scorn'd to drop a Pen-full of Ink against so base an Adversary but to maintain the Honour of so good a King whose Merit he adorns with this Praise p. 237. Con. Milt De quo si quis dixerit omnia bona vix pro suis meritis satis illum ornaret Get thee behind me Milton thou savourest not the things that be of Truth and Loyalty but of Pride Bitterness and Falshood There will be a time though such a Shimei a dead Dog in Abishai's Phrase escape for a while yet he and the Enemies of my Lord the King will fall into the Hands of the Avenger of Blood And that Book the Picture of King Charles's innocent Soul which he hath blemish'd with vile Reproaches will be the Vade Mecum of godly persons and be always about them like a Guardian Angel It is no marvel if this Canker-worm Milton is more lavish in his Writings than any man to justifie the beheading of Strafford whom good men pray'd for alive and pitied him dead So did the four Bishops that I may digress no longer who pour'd the best Oyl they could into the King's Conscience to give him Peace within himself when the main Cause was desperate and common Fury would compel him in the end to sacrifice this Earl to the Parliament Things will give better Counsel to men than men to things But a Collector of Notes W. Sa. hath a sling at the Bishop of Lincoln his quill hits him but hurts him no more than if it were a Shuttle-cock with four Feathers Forsooth when those four Bishops were parting from the King he put a Paper into His Majesty's Hand and that could be nothing else but an Inflammatory of Reasons more than were heard in publick left the King should cool and not set his Hand to the fatal Warrant This Author was once in the right p. 154. of his own Book That it becomes an Historian in dubious Relations to admit the most Christian and Charitable Pessumè it is optimè herclè dicitis Plaut in Pen. But this Case needs no Favour The Paper which that Bishop put into the King's Hands as he told me the next morning was an humble Advice to His Majesty why he should not give the Parliament an indesinite time to sit till both Houses consented to their own dissolution Was not this faithful Counsel For what could the King see in them who had been so outragious already to stand out the trial of their wavering Faith Trust should make men true Says Livy lib. 22. Vult sibi quisque credi habita fides ipsam plerumque fidem obligat But a number of these men cared not for moral Principles they were all for the Scriptures and they read them by new Lights The King had too much Faith and they had no Good Works What magnanimous Prince would bow so low to give the Keys of Government to so many Male-contents
and to stand to their Courtesie when they would resign them again Nec missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo Hor. Art Poet. It could be for no small time that they itch'd to hold the Reins and having govern'd so long they would never be brought to obey The Fox in the Fable crept into a Granary of Corn and staid till his Belly was so full that he could not get out It is a wise Note of Spartianus upon Did. Julianus Reprchensus in eo praecipuè quod ques rogere auctoritate suâ debuit praesules sibi ipse fecit When the prudent Augustus saw he could not shake off a standing Senate he saw no way but to divide the Provinces of the Empire between him and them and to take the worst half the remotest to himself But did the King think to escape so well with an indissoluble Parliament Balsack writes prophanely That the World ought not to end until the French King's Race should fail And it proved by this concession to continue the two Houses to sit as long as they would that the Glory of the Crown should fail before they would endure their old Stump to be rooted up When a Swarm of luxurious men that made love to Penelope wasted Ulysses's Substance in his absence Homer breaks out Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no King henceforth be gracious and kind for he shall fare as ill as the worst So let no King suppose to oblige his Subjects with the greatest Trust that was ever committed to men for he shall speed the worse for his considence in them The Bishop of Lincoln but two days before ask'd the King If his wise Father would have suffer'd such a thing to be demanded much left have granted it And Whether it would be possible for his truest Lieges to do him Service any more So bold he was and ply'd his good Master to the last with new Motives to dehort him from it I know not what ill Star scouled upon so good a King to listen to no good Counsel in that point There was one that thrust him on whose Advices were more loving than lucky And on a Sunday May 9. he signed the indefinite continuance of the Parliament as it is commonly voiced and Strafford's Execution with the same drop of Ink. A sad Subject and as I found it so I leave it 155. Wisdom and Reason were not wanting in that noble King Fortune was Darius called Codomann was the best of all the Kings of the Porsian Race from Cyrus downward to himself yet under him the Persian Monarchy was ruined and fell to the Macedonians Destinatus sorti suae jam nullius salubris consilii patiens says the Historian Curt. lib. 5. It cuts my Heart to say that this agrees to a far better Monarch than himself King Charles makes ready in the Summer for a Journey into Scotland hoping to bring over the Seditious there to love him with Sweetness and Caresses by Bounties as he was able by Honours bestow'd on some by Promises and by the gracious Interview of his presence for we owe Affection naturally to them that offer us Love Or if all this wrought not he was so oversway'd with Disdain to be near to Westminster where his Person his Justice his Court or his Clergy were slander'd every hour that he would ride far enough from the strife of Tongues and not be near the Furnace where the steam was so hot I heard one of his Bed-chamber say That nothing made him remove so far from his Court and Council as the tediousness of Intelligence brought to him every minute with variety of Glosses and Opinions upon it As Adrian the Emperor said in his last Sickness that he had too many Physicians about him to be cured so our King thought he had too many Counsellors at London to take distinct Advice Walk in the Spring-Garden in May and what Bird can you listen to particularly when there is not a Bough but hath a Bird upon it that warbles his own Note There is pleasure in that But those that press'd so thick upon the King came with some ill Augury Seraque fatidici cecinerunt omnia vates AEn lib. 5. Howsoever Home is homely says the Country Adagy and this Journey to Scotland was not begun in a good day There was never any Parliament like it which now fate that bewrayed openly so many foolish Fears raked up in the cold Embers of Distrust and Guiltiness Quae pueri in tenebris pavitant sing untque futurâ Therefore a Jealousie was straightway in their Heads that this Journey could not be good for them Why What can a King do to be good for himself and pernicious to his People Well said the Persians Xen. lib. 8. Cyr. paed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cyrus can undertake nothing and make it good for himself alone and not for us But upon their Jealousie they resolve to give the King such a Welcome home as should offend him O Hypocrites that seem to be afraid of the King when none had more cause than he to be afraid of them Watchful Lincoln had dived into the Secrets of the Masters of the private Assembly Hannibali omnia hostium non secus ac sua nota sunt Liv. lib. 22. Every man knows his own mind a wise man like Hannibal will know his Enemies if he can The Bishop coming to the King besought His Majesty that for his sake he would put off his Scotch Journey to another season His written Notes in my keeping are long and impersect the sum is thus He besought His Majesty to consider that the Scotts were Sear-boughs not to be bent whatsoever he said to them they would reveal it to their Cronies at Westminster for there was a Trade and Exchange that ran currently among them Some of them and not the meanest make it a slight thing to be persidious and will laugh at it when they are derected They have distinctions for it from their Kirk which straddle so wide that flat Contraries Yea and Nay Truth and Lyes may run between them K. James the Fourth had the knack of such Devices who having made a strong League of Peace with Harry VIII and yet invaded England with an Army remember it was at Flodden-Field Drummond p 142. said He did not break his League with England but departed from it The Bishop pray'd the King to remember that those Lowns had been in Hubbubs and Covenants and Arms two years together could they be converted of a sudden without a Miracle Integrum non est ad virtutem semel reliclam remigrare Cic. Lelius It will be a long time before Rebels find their Fidelity again when they have lost it They have shew'd their Despight so lately that it is too soon to offer them Courtesie they know in what condition your Majesty is and they will not take it for Kindness but Fear Keep near to the Parliament all the Work is within those Walls win them man by man inch
Malt that cost most so you reckon their fitness to preach upon the score of their Gifts but Where is their Calling Where is their Ordination Cooks or Butchers have a Gift to dress a Beast yet God would admit none but Priests to make ready his Sacrifice And if you mean by Gifts Learning and Knowledge I am perswaded if these your Chaplains had them they would give them away again if they could Learning is that which they decry as a mark of the Beast Qui omnes sui similes esse cupiunt ut privata eâ—runt inscitia sub câ—mmuni delitescat says Erasmus I spend too much time to pull down a Sconce of Sand I have no more to answer to but to them that bid me speak well of these and pity them because they are ignorant and mean well I report that of Bernard to it Ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant They are willingly ignorant that they may be wilfully factious And through what Loop-hole doth their Good-meaning appear In Railings or Blasphemies I will never impute a Good meaning unto them so long as I see no such thing in their Fruits unless God shall say so at the last day God grant to this Parliament a Good-meaning to reform these Abuses and to act it with their Wisdom and Power for I have heard some say that Hell is full of them that had nothing but good purposes This which the Bishop did then deliver I may call his visiting of the Parliament and you have both what he acted in his Diocess and what he spake at a Conference of both Houfes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I may borrow it out of Nazian upon another Athanasius He exceeded the most eloquent in Eloquence and the most active in Practice For all this good Warning our great Commanders in the Belly of the Trojan Horse mended nothing Nay in about a year and half after this they sequestred the choicest Divines of the Kingdom from their Livings and many of these Mechanicks supplied their places At Wimbleton not far from me a Warrener propounded to Thomas Earl of Exeter That he should have a Burrough of Rabbets of what colour he pleased Let them be all white skinned says that good Earl The Undertaker killed up all the rest and fold them away but the white lair and left not enough to serve the Earl's Table The application runs full upon a worthy Clergy who were destroy'd to make room for white-skinn'd Pole-cats that came in with a strike and so will go out 158. But the King is come home again who could not work the Scots to his own plight or obtain any thing from that ungovern'd Nation Here he found his Bishops design'd to Undoing and the Parliament would sit his Patience out till it was effected An unlimited Concession Utinam promissa liceret non dare Metam lib. 2. forfeits the Giver himself to those that have received the Privilege from him The Houses stand not upon Reasons but Legislative Votes Reasons no God wot As Camerar says of sorry Writers in vt Melan. Miseri homines mendicant argumenta nam si mercarentur profectò meliora afferrent They beg the Cause for if they purchas'd it with Arguments they would bring better If they have no other Proofs there were many in the Pack that could fetch them from Inspiration Or obtrude a Point of Conscience and then there is no disputing for it cannot live no more than a longing Woman if it have not all it gapes for They ask it for a great-bellied Conscience to which in Humanity you must deny nothing His Majesty was mainly afflicted both that an unseasonable Bar was devising against all the Clergy to intermeddle in any secular Affairs especially that the Bishops Places of which they were so anciently possest in Parliament were heaved at which came near to the lessening or worse of his own Royalty He knew they were joyned in such a couplement as the removing of the one endanger'd the other Grotius says it was the Judgment of a wife and mighty Prince Charles the Fifth Caesari persuasum conculcatâ sacerdotum reverentiá ne ipsi quidem mansurum obsequium Annal. p. 11. What did persuade the Emperor to think so Not because his Clergies Revenues are at his devotion to help him more than other mens or that they were learned and able to dispute his Right and Title with his Enemies or that their Interest did legally keep his Throne from tottering but because commonly the King and the Prelates have the same Enemies and the Constitution of them both is much at one for he that thinks a Bishop is too much a Potentate over the Ministry is yellow with Disdain against Superiority and is prepared to conceive that a free Monarch is too glorious a Creature over the People The King therefore exprest his Patronage as much as he could to that Holy Order and exalted some worthy men to Bishopricks in vacant Places and among others translated the Bishop of Lincoln to be Archbishop of the Province of York This is that man whose Life was so full of Variety Quod consul toties exulque ex exule consul says Manilius of Marius He was advanced to great Honours very young half of his Pomps cut off within five years lay four years current in the Tower sequestred of all and very near to be deprived of all and of a sudden recovers his Liberty and a higher Place than ever That of Patercu upon the City of Capua is very like or the same Mirum est tam maturè tantam urbem crevisse floruisse â—ccidisse resurrexisse His Sufferings his great Name and Worth his Service done daily at that time for the King and Church did deservedly prefer him before divers that were of great merit So Synesius said of Antonius Ep. 68. that was chosen when many were in nomination for a Bishoprick and all worthy of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It gave him great Reputation to be accounted better than them that were very good And for a Surplusage the King granted him to hold the Deanry of Westminster in Commendam for three years that he might not be displaced out of his House while he attended at that great Meeting His Majesty expecting it would not live above three years but it had as many Lives as a Cat and lasted longer And York after twice three months never saw his Deanry more This Parliament meaning to sit till the Day of Doom wanted to their full Power and Pleasure to be rid of their Company whom they liked not which the Commons could not effect for their part till they held out the Gorgon's Head of the Covenant The Lords would not stay so long but prepared a Bill and read it to reject the Bishops from being Spiritual Peers of the Upper House But what Pincers will they pluck them out withal First with the Resorts Petitions and Ragings of the People What the People that seditious Beast Cupidum novarum rerum ctio quieti
hope to comprehend all that I shall say or any man else can materially touch upon in this Bill The first is the Rise or Motive of this Bill which is the Duty of men in Holy Orders for the words are Persons in Holy Orders ought not to intermeddle c. And this Duty of Ministers may be taken in this place two several ways either for their Duty in point of Divinity or for their Duty in point of Convenience which we commonly call Policy In regard of either of these Duties it may be conceived that men in Holy Orders ought not to intermeddle in Sacred Affairs c. and this is the Motive Rise and Ground of this Bill The second point are the persons concerned in the Bill which are Archbishops Bishops Parsons Vicars and all other in Holy Orders The third point contains the things inhibited from this time forward to such persons by this Bill and they are of several sorts and natures First Freeholds and Rights of such persons as their Suffrages Votes and Legislative Power in Parliament Secondly Matters of Princely Favours as to sit in Star-chamber to be call'd to the Council-board to be Justices of the Peace c. Thirdly Matters of a mixt and concrete nature that seem to be both Freeholds and Favours of former Princes as the Charters of some of the Bishops and some of the ancient Cathedrals are conceived to be And these are all the matters or things inhibited from those persons in Holy Orders by this present Bill The fourth point is the manner of this Inhibition which is of a double nature first of a severe Penalty and secondly under Cain's Mark an eternalkind of Disability and Incapacity laid upon them from enjoying hereafter any of those Freeholds Rights Favours or Charters of former Princes and that which is the heaviest point of all without killing of Abel or any Crime laid to their Charge more than that in the beginning of the Bill it is said roundly and in the style of Lacedaemon That they ought not to intermeddle in Secular Affairs The fifth point is a Salvo for the two Universities but none for the Bishop of Durham nor for the Bishop of Ely not for the Dean of Westminster their next Neighbour who is establish'd in his Government by an especial Act of Parliament that of the 27 of Queen Elizabeth The sixth and last point is a Salvo for Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Barons or Peers of this Kingdom that either may be or are such by Descent Which Clause I hope in God will prove not only a Salvo to those honourable persons whereof if we of the Clergy were but so happy as to have any competent number of our Coat Quot Thebarum portae vel divit is ostia Nili this Bill surely had perish'd in the Womb and never come to the Birth but I hope that this Clause will prove this Bill a felo de se and a Murtherer of it self and intended for a Salvo to noble Ministers only prove a Salvo for all other Ministers that be not so happy as to be nobly born because the very poor Minister for ought we find in Scripture or common Reason is no more tyed to serve God in his Vocationâ— than these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and nobly-born Ministers are And therefore I hope those noble Ministers will deal so nobly as to pull their Brethren the poor Ministers out of the Thorns and Bryars of this Bill And these are all the true Heads and Contents of this Bill And among these six Heads your Lordships shall be sure to find me and I shall expect to sind your Lordships in the whole Tract of this Committee And now with your Lordships honourable Leave and Patience I will run them over almost as briefly as I have pointed and pricked them down 160. For the first the Rise and Motive of this Bill which is the Duty of Men in Holy Orders not to intermeddle with Secular Affairs must either rise from a point of Divinity or from a point of Conveniency or Policy And I hope in God it will not appear to your Lordships that there is any Ground either of Divinity or Policy to inhibit men in Orders so modestly to intermeddle with Secular Affairs as that the measure of intermeddling in such Affairs shall not hinder nor obstruct the Duties of their Calling They ought not so to intermeddle in Secular Affairs as to neglect their Ministry no more ought Lay-men neither for they have a Calling and Vocation wherein they are to walk as Ministers have they have Wife and Children and Families to care for and they are not to neglect these to live upon Warrants and Recognizances to become a kind of Sir Francis Michel or a Justus nimis as Solomon calls it Eccles 7.16 That place 2 Tim. 2.4 No man that warrs entangles himself with the affairs of this life will be found to be applied by all good Interpreters to Lay-men as well as Church-men and under favour nothing at all to this purpose Besides that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth point at a man that is so wholly taken up with the Affairs of this Life that he utterly neglects the Offices and Duties of a Christian man And so I leave that place as uncapable of any other Exposition nor ever otherwise interpreted but by Popes Legates and Canonists that make a Nose or Wax of every place of Scripture they touch upon But that men in Holy Orders ought not in a moderate manner together with the Duties of their Calling to help and assist in the Government of the Common-wealth if they be thereunto lawfully called by the Soveraign Prince can never be proved by any good Divinity for in the Law of Natâ—e before the Deluge and a long time after it is a point that no man will deny me That the Eldest of the Family was both the Priest and the Magistrate Then the People were taken out of Aegypt by Moses and Aaron Moses and Aaron among his Priests as it is in the Psalm Then there was a Form of a Common-wealth setch'd from Heaven indeed and planted upon the Earth and judiciary Laws dictated for the regulating of the same Nor do I much care though some men shall say That persons in Holy Orders ought not to intermeddle in Secular Affairs when that Great God of Heaven and Earth doth appoint them to intermeddle with all the principal Affairs of that estate witness the exorbitant Power of the High-Priest in Secular Matters the Sanhedrim the 23 the Judges of the Gate which were most of them Priests and Levites And the Church-men of that Estate were not all Butchers and Slaughter-men for they had their Tabernacle their Synagogues their Prayers Preaching and other Exercises of Piety In a word we have Divinius but they had operosius ministerium as St Austin speaketh Our Ministry takes up more of our Thoughts but theirs took up more of their Labour and Industry Nor is it any matter that
that saving unto themselves all their Rights and Interests of Sitting and Voting in the House at other times they dare not Sit or Vote in the House of Peers until your Majesty shall further secure them from all Affronts Indignities and Dangers in the Premisses Lastly Whereas their Fears are not built upon Phantasies and Conceipts but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie men of good Resolutions and much Constancy They do in all duty and humility protest before your Majesty and the Peers of the most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which in their absence since the 27th of this Instant-month of Decemb. 1641 have already passed As likewise against all such as shall hereafter pass in that most Honourable House during the time of their forced and violent absence from the said most Honourable House Not denying but if their absenting of themselves were wilful and voluntary that most Honourable House might proceed in all the Premisses their Absence or this Protestation notwithstanding And humbly beseeching your most Excellent Majesty to command the Clerk of that House of Peers to enter this Petition and Protestation amongst his Records They will ever pray to God to bless and preserve c. Subscribed by Joh. Eborac Tho. Dunelm Ro. Cov. and Lich. Jos Norwicen Joh. Asaphensis Gul. Bath Wellen. Geo. Hereford Rob. Oxen. Matth. Elien Godfr Glocestr Job Petroburg Maur. Landoven 169. Hear and admire ye Ages to come what became of this Protestation drawn up by as many Bishops as have often made a whole Provincial Council They were all call'd by the Temporal Lords to the Bar and from the Bar sent away to the Tower Nonne fuit satius tristes formidinis iras Atque superba pati fastidia A rude World when it was safer to do a Wrong than to complain of it The People commit the Trespass and the Sufferers are punish'd for their Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. lib. 9. A Proverb agreeing to the drunken Feasts of the Greeks If the Cook dress the Meat ill the Minstrils are beaten That day it broke forth that the largest part of the Lords were fermentated with an Anti-episcopal Sourness If they had loved that Order they would never have doomed them to a Prison and late at night in bitter Frost and Snow upon no other Charge but that they presented their Mind in a most humble Paper to go abroad in safety Ubi amor condimentum inerit quidvis placiturum spero Plaut in Casin Love hath a most gentle hand when it comes to touch where it loves Here was no sign of any silial respect to their Spiritual Fathers Nothing was offer'd to the Peers but the Substance was Reason the Style lowly the Practice ancient yet upon their pleasure without debate of the Cause the Bishops are pack'd away the same night to keep their Christmas in Durance and Sorrow And when this was blown abroad O how the Trunch-men of the Uproar did fleer and make merry with it But the Disciples of the Church of England took it very heavily not for any thing the good Bishops had done but for that they suffer'd for a Prisoner is not a Name of Infamy but Calamity Poena damnati non peccati Cic. pro Dom. Estque pati poenam quà m meruisse minùs Ovid. lib. 1. de Pont. Nothing can be more equal than to lay the Objections the Lords made and York's Answers for the Protestation together as they go from Hand to Hand to this day in Town and City And let the Children judge what their Fathers did if they read this hereafter Obj. 1. That the Petition is false the Lords did not sit in Fear as my Lord of Worcester Winchester London Nor was it the Petition of all the Bishops about London and Westminster not of Winchester London Rochester Worcester 〈◊〉 If this were true yet were it not Treason against any Canon or Statute-Law but the Fact is otherwise First the Fear complained against is not for the time of their Sitting in the House but for the time of their coming unto and going from the said House and it is easie to prove they were then in Fear Secondly They know best whether they were in Fear or no who subscribed or agreed to the Petition And my Lord of Winchester agreed in it as much as the rest and instanced in the cause of his Fear his chasing to Lambeth Thirdly For the other part of the Objection the Bishop of London was then at Fulham Rochester in Kent Worcester at Oxford nor doth the Title of the Petition comprehend them as not being about London and Westminster Winchester did agree thereunto and came thither to subscribe and it was resolved his Name should have been called for ere ever it was to be solemnly preferred to the King which was never intended to be but when the King sate in the Upper House of the Lords which the Bishops intended to pray His Majesty to do And this appears by the Superscription of the Petition Obj. 2. The nulling of all Laws to be made at this time that the Kingdom of Ireland was in jeopardy was a conspiring with the Rebels to destroy that Kingdom and so amounted to Treason or a high Misdemeanour 〈◊〉 1. A Protestation annulleth no Law but so far as the Law shall extend to the Parties protesting Nor so far but in case that the Parties protesting shall afterward judicially prove their right to annull that Law So that it was impossible any Protestation of the Bishops should actually intend to hinder the Relief of Ireland 2 The Relief of Ireland by 10000 Scots and 10000 English was voted and concluded long before this Protestation and all the Particulars of that great business referr'd to a Committee of both Houses and the Bishops unanimously assented thereto So that the Relief of Ireland comes not within the Date and Circumscription of this Protestation And the Bishops call God to witness they never conceived one Thought that way 3. The Bishops protested against no Laws or Orders at all to be annulled absolutely and for all the time of this Session of Parliament simply but for that space of time only wherein they should be forcibly and violently kept from the said Parliament by those rude and unruly People So that as soon as the King and the Lords did quiet their passage unto Parliament which the Lords did do before this Petition was read in Parliament and that any of the Bishops were present there the Protestation was directly null and of none effect so as indeed the Protestation was void and dead in Law before the L. Keeper brought the Petition in question into the House because the Bishop of Winchester and some others had even then quiet access unto that Honourable House And the Bishops conceived the Protestation void in such a case and do most humbly wave and revoke the same and humbly desire both
Houses to accept thereof Obj. 3. They desire the King to command the Clerk of the House of Peers to enter this their Petition and Protestation among his Records which derogates from the Rights of Parliament As though the King could be his Command make a Record of Parliament 〈◊〉 It is to be conceived that the Bishops never intended that this Petition as may appear by the Directory thereof should be preferred to the King in any other place but in the Upper House of Parliament And it will appear among the Records of that most Honourable House 11 Rich. II. num 9. that the King in that House hath commanded the like Protestation of the Bishops to be enrolled which made the Bishops use that Phrase Howbeit beside the King's Command the Assent of the Peers and Commons have still concurred and the Bishops never conceived it otherwise which made them presume that no matter of their Protestation could possibly amount to any higher Crime than that of Error or Mistake considering that it was still to be admitted or rejected by the King with the Assent of the Peers and Commons Here the Answer ends in this brief compass Let all the Council in the Land plead against it and shew where it is not sound and satisfactory Yet the Bishops desire no other reparation for their false Imprisonment but Liberty and Safety to Vote in that House to which they were called by the King 's Writ Sidonius speaks in pity of Eutropia lib. 6. ep 2. Victoriam computat si post dammum non litiget And these innocent men would not hold it for Justice done unto them if after so much Wrong sustained the Contention might be ended 170. Every subsequent Action of that Parliament did castrate their Hope Day utter'd unto Day how they meant to dissolve that Primitive and Apostolick Order piece by piece And what shall we have next The very Kingdom of Christ set up in the Church if you will believe them As Pisistratus would perswade the Athenians that he changed not their Laws but reduced them to those that were in Solon's time by which Trick he made them his Slaves Laert. in Vit. Sol. Is it possible that men could have the face to pretend more ancient Rulers in Christ's Church than Bishops The method of Sacrilege was first to pluck the Spiritual Lords out of the House and to disable all the Clergy from intermedling in Secular Affairs The Bill is read and easily pass'd now the Bishops were not in place to hear it and dispute it The Plaintiff pleads the Cause at Westminster what can the Defendant say to it in the Tower Proceed my good Lords he that runs alone by himself must needs be foremost This was worse than if a young Heir were sent to travel by his Guardian and the Guardian pulls down his House fells his Woods leaseth out his Lands when he is not in the way to look to it But where were those Earls and Barons that sided with the Bishops before Shrunk absent or silent They that are wise Leave falling Buildings fly to them that rise Or as Plautus in Stych as neat in his Comick Phrase as Johnson Si labant res lassae itidem amici collabascunt But the King's part is yet to come The Parliament makes ready a Bill the King only makes it a Law So he did this and it was the last I think that ever he signed Why he did it is a thing not well known and wants more manifestation Necessity was in it say they that would look no further Nulla necessitas excusat quae potest non esse necessitas Tertul. Exh. ad Cast c. 7. The most said That nothing was more plausible than this to get the Peoples Favour Or that the Houses had sate long like to continue longer and must have Wages for their Work because they are no Hirelings they will chuse and take and this Boon they will have or the King shall have no Help from them It would ill become a Royal Spirit to plead he was compelled by Fear else His Majesty might have revoked this Act upon that Challenge As Sir Nic. Throgmorton surpassing most of his Age for Wit and Experience assured Mary Queen of Scots shut up in the hold of Loquelevin Cessionem in carcere extortam qui justus est metus planè irritam esse Cambd. Eliz. ann 1569. Yet Fear had not so much stroke in this as the Perswasions of one whom His Majesty loved above all the World The King foresaw he was not like to get any thing from this Parliament but a Civil War he would not begin it but on their part he heard their Hammers already at the Forge Et clandestinis turgentia fraudibus arma Manil. lib. 1. He being most tender to provide for the Safety of his Queen went with her to Dover to convey her into France not that she desired to turn her Back to Danger or refused to partake of all Hazards with her Lord and Husband for she was resolute in that as Theogena the Wife of Agathocles Justin lib. 20. Nubendo ei non prosperae tantùm fed omnis fortunae iniisse societatem But because His Majesty knew himself that he should be more couragious if his dear Consort were out of the reach of his Enemies Being at Dover the Queen would not part with the King to Ship-board till he signed this Bill being brought to believe by all protestation of Faith from Sir John Culpepper who attended there for that Dispatch that the Lords and Commons would press His Majesty to no more Bills of that unpleasing nature So the King snatch'd greedily at a Flower of a fair Offer and though he trusted few of the men at Westminster yet in outward shew he would seem to trust them all the more because the Queen had such Confidence in them How Culpepper instilled this into the Queen and how she prevailed York is my Author and could not deceive me for he told me in the Tower That the King had sacrificed the Clergy to this Parliament by the Artifices contrived at Dover a day before the News were brought to London Then they fell to Bells and Bonfires and prophaned the Name of God that He had heard them whose Glory was not in their Thoughts from the beginning to the end A Day-labourer lifts up his Ax towards Heaven but strikes his Mattock into the Earth And all the Evil that the Earth breeds was in their Mind when they seemed to look up to God That which is of God must have its Foundation in Humility its binding fast in Obedience its rising in Justice and its continuance in Peace So begins the Misery and Fall of the Bishops Synesius hath lent us words fit to express jump in the same Case Ep. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Bishops were expulsed meerly by Slander nothing being demonstrated to lay any Crimes against them And verily God was gracious to them What should they have done as it
memory and they may repent it when they want us Now what banding here was on every side to ruin the greatest Saint that ever ruled our Nation God was in them that came about him with their homage in such a time of hazard Magna negotia magnis adjutoribus egent Paterc And I am sure the Metropolitan of York was none of the meanest of David's Worthies for Plot and Direction He was fit for the Service and obliged to assist it For as Scipio Nasica very well No good man is a private man most of all if the weal publick needs him 172. But the King's Condition at York was not in such strength and readiness as it deserved though the brave and resolute Spirits about him thought not so They perswaded themselves that the very Name of a King would supply the want of Power and that they were on the right side as sure as God's Word could warrant them Causáque valent causamque tuentibus armis Ut puto vincemus Luca. l. 8. For all that the Parliament had made better preparation for a War First A most deluded People made to believe that his Majesty had gathered a Popish Army to change Religion Quod sibi probare non possunt id persuadere aliis conantur Cic. pro Rose Com. But upon this false Fame their great Preacher St. Marshall tells them pag. 6. of his Letter That they may secure their Religion against their King with a good Conscience Next they had the Nerves of War all the Money of London at their command and which was the worst of all Infelicities they had cheated his Majesty of his Navy and seized on his Magazines It was not sit that the King should stay out their Provocations and when they had soaled then see what was in their Belly Dubia pro veris solent Timere Reges Sen. Oedi. And it was not reasonable to abide their Courtesie who had voted for Delinquents all that did Service to their Lord and Master They did all they could to disturb the tranquillity of a Soul most excellently composed and to tire him out of his Principles He held out the first Olive-branch and sought Peace from them by a most gracious Message who in right should have begun But as Lasicius notes of the sullen-proud Russians Ni prior ipse salutaveris non salutaberis Theol. Mosc p. 64. They salute none that do not first uncover and salute them It was not once or twice that his Majesty sent but he persisted yet all in vain to draw a dutiful Answer from them And what 's more tedious than to cast all day and not to throw a good Chance Since nothing would serve them but to rally the Sons of the Earth the Titans of their Tumults and to fill up an Army with them the King retired into his deep Thoughts what was best to be done Hic magnus sedet AEneas secúmque volutat Eventus belli varios Aen. l. 10. A Prince of so much Religion and Mercy was not to learn That it was sit to be slow in an Enterprize of so high a nature For Kingdoms in their Channels safely run But rudely overflowing are undone says our English Horace It is Marcianus his Maxim in Zonaras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A King must never fly to Arms if a noble nay if a tolerable Peace may be had Yet again he did not forget that a prosperous Wind might blow away a Storm that was gathering before the Shower fell upon him Fest inandum antequà m cresceret invalida conjuratio paucorum Tacit. Hist l. 1. Be sudden before a Conjuration strengthen it self and give it no day And Pliny brings it for the Advice of Apollo's Oracle Biduo citiùs messem potiùs facere quam biduo seriùs Lib. 18. c. 3. Begin Harvest two days too soon rather than two days too late Alluding not to the Rural but the Politick Harvest Another and a good Genius too would say to the contrary What! will you embroil the Land in a Civil War Every Life that is slain in it on either side is the King's damage And the blood of Christians shed in rebellion is poured on the Devil's Altar Every Field and Town and Castle that 's spoil'd is the Kings loss who hath the dominion of all the Earth that serves him though not the Property His Majesty knew the worth and good Governance of many in his List Pacisque boni bellique ministri Aen. l. 11. But who could promise for so many hot Bloods as were upon the place that they would not rob and ransack the Innocent and make the Army odious by too much Cruelty upon the Nocent All are not a King's Friends that follow him so do Flies the smell of strong Drink but they that will maintain his Honour with Obedience as well as his Quarrel with Manhood If the Headstronger should be more in number Such an If is enough to discourage any one to be the Captain of a Civil War Nam in civilibus bellis plus militibus quà m Duci licet Tacit. Hist lib. 2. Their Commander dare not displease them so much he fears Revolt or Treachery And his Majesty's great Wildom could not like it that his Cavaliers were too consident and Secure Contemnendis quà m cavendis hostibus aptiores Idem Hist l. 4. No man could perswade them that there was either number wit skill or valour among the Rebels But says a Master of Military Art Veget. l. 3. Ille difficile vincitur qui de suis adversarii copiis rectè potest judicare It was safer for the Royal Battalion to know that the Enemy multiplied fast and pleased divers by laying themselves forth abroad to to all shew of Sobriety and Holiness though sincere Honesty had no Charge of them And Despair will make Chicken-hearted Souldiers couragious They that had drawn their Sword against their Soveraign must throw away the Scabbard They must purple their hands with slaughter in the Field or be hang'd in Ignominy What would they do to break all the Bands of the Law in sunder the King's Name and Authority which would not allow them their Book to save them These things might be so deliberated in the King's Camp or Cabinet I cannot definitely say it For after the Archbishop departed from Westminster to the North I never saw him more to confer with him from whom before I learnt all things in effect that I knew But as Tully writes L. de Senec. of L. Maximus Illud divinavi quod jam evenit illo extincto fore unde discerem neminem After I mist him who was wont to tell me not barely what was done but the reasons the fitness or incommodities of it I have heard somewhat but I understand little And I make as much moan for the want of him as St. Basil did for Martinlan Ep. 379. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What skills it to hear many Discourse one after another when this one had gathered as much Experience and Wisdom as them all
But the tidings came from the most interested in both Armies That none was more active than this great Prelate to keep Yorkshire in obedience to the King to reduce them that were perverted none more assiduous in the Consultations of War with the Gentry to raise Money Men and Horse for the Army This was hung up in Picture in the Hall and Change And let them do their worst in those peny Tables Sint modo carminibus non onerata malis as Passeratius deprecates all bad Epitaphs let them make good Verses to their Pictures or let their Poets hang up for Company But let this go together with his Loyalty that there was not one man that served him as Lord-Keeper or Bishop but either served or suffered in the King's Cause except a brace whom Kilvert had long before perverted They that were affected to the sin of the Parliament saw so much opposition in him and fierceness to bring them on their knees that the same unhappy ones vowed his death and were near to execution who first refisted his Majesty at Hull quae prima malorum Causa fuit belloque animos incendit agrestes Aen. l. 7. Which is worth a story to observe that these Professors of the new Discipline made no scruple to break down God's double Defence Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm 173. King Charles his coming to York was not a Progress of Delight but an Escape from his Palace of West minster for the Alarums of continual Mutinies which he could not stand out with safety As great a blemish to the Parliament that provided no better for him as the flight of Harry the Third of France was to the Guisians on the Sunday which is still called by them Dominica dolearis when they would have block't him up with Piles of Wine-Casks in the Louver to keep him fast for stirring His Majesty's first care was and ought to be to have some Hold of good Defence for Retreat if Blood-hounds sought him And happy was that Fortress of which he should make Election for so good a Service All places are patent to a Monarch that are under his Laws and Scepter though he were a Tyrant Then what inferiour Officer would not be glad to give the Keys of his Government upon his Knees to as great a Saint as Josiah Tribonius writes well to that matter in an Epistle to Tully of Caesar Lib. 12. Ep. Fam. Eum quem necesse erat diligere qualiscunque esset talem habemus ut libenter quoque diligamus And certainly he that should repulse the King in his first design must both be his first and his greatest Enemy Initia ferè dare formam negotiis Thuan. An. 1558. The first Success gives Spirit to an Army and Honour to their Chief Which the solid man Tacitus teacheth Hist lib. 2. Ut initia belli provenissent famam in caetero fore And if the first Expedition be unfortunate it is as ominous as a sinister hour at the birth of a Child when an Astrologer Calculates a Nativity So unauspicious it was that his Majesty did stumble I may say at the Threshold when he came out of Doors He goes to Hull where he had stowed up Shot Powder Arms in his Magazine The Gates are kept shut the Walls manned Sir John Hotham and his Son capitulate that they keep it for the Parliament Dirarum nidis domus opportuna volucrum Aen. 8. A strong Cage it was to keep these unclean Birds from the Royal Eagle Great Ordnance great Provision great Wealth were within No man would have sealed up a Box so fast if it had been empty Yet the Hothams were so kind that they offer'd Entrance to his Majesty's Person with a few of his unarmed Servants which was no better than to receive him to be their Prisoner Intempestiva benevolentia mhil à simultate differt says Politian Ep. p. 26. Nothing is more hateful than a malicious Courtesie But they look't to be born out in all they did by the strength of their great Masters and had cast it up that when Crimes are carried in a happy strain of Luck they lose their Infamy that shame seldom or never follows victory The Names of Delinquent or Traitor never scar'd them Haec acies victum factura nocentem est Silius He must be the Delinquent that is at the Conquerour's Mercy Unlucky Town of Hull for thy Commanders sakes Perhaps some other Garrisons would have been as bad as it if they had been tried Perhaps so But no Dunghil smells ill till you stir it Hull had the opportunity to be renown'd if it had yielded to be the King's Harbour Now her Infamy is like that of the Village of the Samaritans which would not receive the Lord Christ Luke 9.52 I do not condemn all that were within her Walls who could not help this Insolency but with groans and tears if they durst do that I will plead for such as I know there were such as Isocrates did for the Plataâ—ks forced by the Thebans to do unkindness to their Friends the Athentans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Theban constrained their Bodies but their Hearts were with you Their Lecturers were the Corrupters of that Corporation who had preach't the People from Charitable to Censorious from neighbourly Love to Faction from Subjects to Rebels from Sheep to Swine Quá magis viá irrepunt vitia quà m publicá Prin. l. 36. c. 2. If you would have some great harm done imploy those who are heard so often in publick and they shall do a mischief sooner than all the Brotherhood of the Guild beside Absalom sent Spies throughout all the Tribes of Ifrael saying as soon as ye hear the sound of the Trumpet ye shall say Absalom reigns in Hebron 1 Sam. 15.10 Spies says Grotius upon the place and in all the Tribes Some of these must be Levites for none but they dwelt among all the Tribes Genus hominum ad turbandas res maxime idoneum ubi suis indulgent affectibus These are they that will sooner rail against me for this observation then leave off their girdings at the Civil State and keep close to that matter only which Christ hath taught them in his Gospel Their bald Rhetorick sit for great Ears and gross Brainâ— made the King wait attendance two hours at their Gate and had his Commands nay his Prayers despised O that a King should give the stoop to such as these Meumque Objeci caput supplex ad limina veni Aen. 8. So great a heart in another Prince would not have turn'd away without Choler and Fire flashing upon them But he was a Soveraign over all his Passions and opened not his mouth Nullius hominis quà m sui simillimus as was said of Picus Mirandula He had no pattern of a meer Man before him and none that saw him for a Pattern was ever like him for Patience So let Cerberus that kept the Gates of Hull keep them still It is a greater honour
a Writer Gisbert Voetius of Utrecht learned indeed but bitter minded against our King and the old Settlement of our Church this man the Assembly of Divines did easily gain unto them and for their Interest he states a Question Disput tom 2. p. 852. How Subjects may quell their King and pull him down by force of A◠Which is intended for our English Case cut out into as many Exceptions almost as there he words in the Thesis and all the Particulars wrongly applied to our ungodly Distempers His Hammer strikes thus upon the Forge Primo quaestio est an à Proceribus Statibus Ordinibus Magistratibus Superioribus Infericribus qui pro ratione regiminis publicâ auctoritate instructi sunt palea 2. Regi Principi limitato conditionato palea 3. In extremo necessitatis casu palea 4. Post omnia frustra tentata palea 5. Secundum leges pacta fundamentalia principatus palea 6. Defensivè armis resisti palea 7. Ut respub ab interitu conservari possit palea First When had our Peers our Magistrates superiour and inferiour Power to bring His Majesty by Fear or Force into Order Never 2. When was his Empire limited or made conditional otherwise than to charge his Conscience before God to keep his Laws Never 3. Were we brought by ill administration to the brink of extream Necessity No such thing 4. Or were all dutiful means tryed to obtain the King's Consent to honest Demands Widest of all from Truth 5. Or have we Pactions sundamental between the King and People to constrain him to concur with their Proposals 'T is a meer Chimera 6. Did the Parliament wage the defensive part of the War Quite mistaken 7. Was there no other way but by such a rout of Russians to keep our native Country from Ruin Nay was it in the least danger of Ruin Not at all not till these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Club-Lawyers silled the whole Land with Blood and Burning What cutting and carving hath this Dutch Workman made to bring us to worship the Idol of Rebellion And when all is said we know that an Idol is nothing in the World 1 Cor. 3.4 and as it follows there is no other God but one and none but that one God above the King against whose punitive Justice and none beside K. David offended 178. Many things were alledged to commence and continue this fatal War Quae prima querar Quae summa gemam Pariter cuncta deslere juvat Sen. Her Fur. One thing made a loud cry far and wide That His Majesty had left his Parliament and that the Members fate in great danger This was a Scandal taken which did raise such Enemies whom nothing else could have tempted from their Loyalty He lest his Parliament yes but consider it intelligently not till he had granted as much as was abundant for our Liberty Peace and Welfare not till he had yielded up more Branches of his Soveraignty and Revenue than all his Predecessors had granted in 300 years before not till he had trusted them to spend out that Parliament at their own leisure and yet they would trust him with nothing An Affront of deep Indignity Dare they not trust him that never broke with them And I have heard his nearest Servants say That no man could ever challenge him of the least Lye But as Probus said of Epaminondas Adeò veritatis diligens ut ne joco quidem mentiretur Was it square dealing to protest against him that would pay them all due Debt if they would let him I am sure when he left them he left a great many traces of Fame and Glory a great many Benefits of Obligation behind him And this Case will prove the same or much like to the Objection of the Pontificians They say we made a Schism in departing from the Church of Rome We say that the Schism was on their part for they that give the Cause for which it is necessary to abandon Communion they are the Authors of the Schism We continued in the Fellowship of Christ's Church and retreated from the Errors of an incorrigible corrupted part and from the Affrightments and Censures of them that were turned our open Enemies Say over the same to this Parliament and it will be the King's Apology They made the Schism that offer'd him Bills unfit to be pass'd with Clamoring Menacing and undutiful Violence which he must sign or fly far enough Sed qui mali sensu aut metu extorquere assensum velit eo ipso ostendit se argument is diffidere Grot. lib. 6. de Christi Relig. They made the Schism that used his Royal Name with Irreverence a King must not be contented with mediocrity of Respect but their Manners were gross and Plebeian They made the Schism that heard the highest Indignities against his Crown with Patience when Sir Harry Ludlow spake Treason and was not question'd To cut off a great deal they received his ample Concessions with no Thanks and degreed to further Demands and more unreasonable that fill'd the Palace the Hall their Stairs their Doors with such as forbore not to bring in doubt the Safety of his Sacred Person When so many were chased to such a barbarous Boldness what wise man would stand it out and not prevent it What security hath the Earthen Pitcher against an Iron Pot He that fears the worst prevents it soonest 179. The High Court of Parliament one House or both under the Saxon Monarchs or in a few Descents after was created to assist the King to be his great Council When he pleased he call'd it when he pleased he dismiss'd it In succession of days none fate there before he had taken an Oath to bear true Ligance to him and his Heirs and to defend His Majesty against all Perils and Assaults Never was it intended to obtrude upon him with force to compel him to take out his Lesson which they taught him as in a Pedagogy but to propound and advise with due distance and humility Introducta in alicujus utilitatem in ejus laesionem verti non debent if I may believe the Civil Law That which was instituted for the Soveraigns benefit in common sence must not be elevated above him to unthrone him A right Parl. is the Mind of many gathered into one Wisdom this look't rather like the petulancy of many breaking out into one frowardness The form that gives essence to every thing was gone when they that silled the places of Counsellors would transcend and give Law to Majesty If yet they dare criminate him upon Schism tell them that Christ came to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel yet when they took up stones to stone him he went away through the midst of them There is King Charles his Pattern Wherefore then did they hunt after him in warlike Terrour as if they would fetch him in by Proclamation of Rebellion Had he seen the Tyde ebb but an inch I should guess by the
sweetness of his Patience that he would have tarried with them and hop'd for better But moderate men did see no likelyhood And why should a gracious Prince imbrier himself any longer in Thorns and do no good but leave his Wooll behind him There are a sort of People in Gusman's Hospital that when a Friend stays long whom they had waited for look often out of the Window to spy him as if he would come the sooner for that impertinency Plautus hath drawn it up elegantly in his Stychus Si quem hominem expectant eum solent provisere Qui herclè illâ causâ nihilo citiùs veniet Would you have a wife King one of this ridiculous Hospitals And it was not wisdom only but heroick Magnanimity that he would not seem to deserve any thing by those Favours in passing their ill-fram'd Bills which he verily thought would be pluck't up by the Roots when the Day of the Lord should come to redeem us Matter so corrupt and the manner so compulsory must needs fall to the ground upon review in sober Times Quae in pace latae sunt leges bellum abrogat quae in Bello pax It is Livies Else cast it into this Answer His Majesty discern'd that he himself had marred both Houses and he would do them no more harm to concur with them in their Excess of Disobedience and Profaneness For what made them stretch themselves beyond their Power but the King's Act which gave them liberty to sit beyond lawful measure A Session sitting long grows sour and stale and is like to Theophrastus's Date-tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When it is young the Fruit it bears is without a stone in it but if it grow long a Date-stone is so hard that it will break good Teeth to crack it So this Convention being durable against Dissolution wax't very corrupt surly and tyrannical There were worthy Men among them some very learned in the Laws other Gentlemen well experienced in the Nature of the People of whom some were tired out and gone and much that remained was Lumber and Luggage tumbled together in a waste Room which brought up at last their final farewel and expulsion so generally applauded as Ballads and Pasquils did testifie Behold Sidonius his Judgment Lib. 1. Ep. 7. upon Arvandus a great Officer in his days Non eum aliquando cecidisse sed tamdiu stetisse plus miror qui primam praefecturam gubernavit cum maximâ popularitate sequentem cum maximâ populatione So our imperious Masters were flatter'd at first for Popularity and hated in the end for Depopulation And to put a signal Remark of Disgrace upon them it is not forgotten before they were carried out of their House like empty Casks with a Brewers sling 180. Some Pieces of Apology are patch't into this old Garment which in my Judgment make the Rent worse When things were gone so far out of Order it was a hard thing for a man to speak truth to himself Hear them howsoever for sometimes there is likelyhood in that which is a lye and sometimes Truth in that which is unlikely It is not amiss to alledge that the Authority of Parliaments hath been venerable from times of old but it is most certain that the Majesty Royal was evermore venerable For the King is God's Representative and the most part of their Patriots but the Representatives of the People But they would teach us That the Judgment of the whole Land speaks in the mouth of their Parliament I cannot be their Disciple in that I am sure their sense was not the sense of thousand thousands abroad and the Parliament indeed supplies our Political Capacity but they do not carry with them our Personal Wisdoms Says another Were we not frank of our Loyalty when we promis'd we would make his Majesty a great King This Spot at first made a shew of a good Card but to their shame I rejoyn there was a great disparity between the Promises and the Sequels Antisthenes so Laertius came to see Plato being sick just after his Physick had wrought Says Antisthenes I see your Choler in the Bason but not your Pride so every plain man might read the slattery of the Promise but not find the fraud They make him a great King It was God that made him a King and in that Title made him great Inde potestas illi unde spiritus Tertul. Apol. And by what sign did it appear they would make him great or what did they not do to make him a great Underling To give him Law to subject him to their Votes is the greatness of a Tympany which swells and kills The Sophistry in which they gloried most was extracted out of the Jesuits Learning That they were faithful to the Regal Office which remained in the two Houses albeit his departure but contrary to this man in his personal Errors and if they obey in his Kingly Capacity and Legal Commands against his Person they obey himself All this beside words is a subtle nothing For what is himself but his Person Shall we against all Logick make Authority the Subject and the Person enforcing it a have Accident It sounds very like the Parodox of Transubstantiation where◠〈◊〉 qualit â— of Bread and Wine are feigned to subsist without the Inherence of a substance With these Metaphysicks and Abstractions they were not Legal but Personal Traitors If an Undersheriff had arrested Harry Martin for Debt and pleaded that he did not imprison his Membership but his Martin ship would the Committee for Priviledges be sob'd off with that distinction Learnedly â—aravia de ob Christ p. 51. Eundem hominem partiri Jurisconsulti nesciunt ut idem homo sibi imperet parâ—at Whatsoever a man's relations be they are so conjoyned to the Suppositum that you cannot treat with him partly in honour partly in dishonour as in terms of opposition And sometime there is not so much as a notional Difference between Imperial and Personal Respect St. Paul instructs the Christians at Rome That every Soul should be subject to the higher Powers The higher Power under which they lived was the meer Power and Will of Caesar bridled in by no Law Pliny in his Panâ—g speaks it openly to Trajan Ipse te legibus subjecisri Caesar quas nemo Principi scripsit This was too much For Kings should not Rule without limitation of Laws as Claudian to Honortus Primus jussa capi tune observantior aequi Fit populus But if they fail who shall judge them but God To obey the King is God's Law to obey our Laws is the Ordinance of Man therefore the Bodies and Estates of the Subjects are obnoxious to the Common Laws and the King to nothing but his Conscience It is God only that avengeth the violation of Conscience it is above the Judgment of Men. But I return to St. Paul There was no distinction then in the Roman Empire between a Legal and Personal Capacity yet Let every Soul be
subject to the higher Powers Put them together for you cannot put them asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be the Power in the abstract the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for st Peter was not mistaken puts it into the concrete and the Duty required is That every Power be subject to that Power which is higher than it self This distinction which I have erased being too learned for every Shop-keeper and Headborough to understand they fell to this plain Expression That they were in danger of the King's Forces and gathered such Souldiers as they ' could make ready to defend themselves And they that suffer more than Nature can bear will be compelled to do more than Duty can justifie It is the word of the Hellenists Ecclus 4.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a capricious man thinks all his Imaginations to be Certainties These that fly to the excuse of a Defensive War are such For can this be perswaded to any man when all England did see so many Brigades provided for the Service of the Earl of Essex when the King had not Two hundred about him and those disposed in no Military Titles or Orders And says his Majesty at the hour of his Death Read the dates of their Proclamations and mine they are in print and let every eye be judge from whom the first Alarum unto War proceeded A Defence is to avoid Blows not to give them and is it a Defence to parsue another from place to place Then a Falcon is upon the Defence that 〈◊〉 after a Pheasant But they never spoke truer than when this Conseâ—â— came out That they made themselves strong to bring the King under their power for they were beaâ—y afraid and durst not trust him They were safe for the present not secure for the future having a Conscience of Guilt which trembled in them knowing that their Manners were the just occasion of all the Evil that could be done unto them Yet who brought them into this strait Says Porc. Latro in Salust Serae sunt hominum lamentationes quae suo vitio desidiâque contigerunt The style of good Christians was wont to be Let them that have failed in the first duty of Innocency lay hold of the next duty of Repentance If they have offended let them crave Mercy through Christ and not command it with the violence of the Devil If they will not trust the King's Mercy because they have provoked him so far whose Fault is it but their own if they become Rebels He that dares not trust the Sea and will not traffick whose fault is it but his own if he prove a Beggar O they dealt with a King that knew it was no time for Vengeance but for Pardon Howsoever the gate of his heart was wide open for Penitents at all times If Cicero had said more to Caesar it would not have transcended King Charles his Clemency Nemo nunquam te placavit inimicus qui ullas residisse in te simultatis reliquias senserit Pro Deiot. I have sifted the dreadful War advanced by this Parliament with truth impartial there needs no falshood to make their Practices seem worse than they were The Van of their Army was Treason their Main Body Rebellion their Rear Murder So I found them and so I leave them 181. Sufficient is delivered to silence the Excuse of the Parliament that a just Fear put Swords into their hands to defend themselves An Ethnick must submit to this Rule which I will quote the second time Nulla necessitas excusat quae potest non esse necessit as Tertul. exhort ad castitatem c. 24. and a Christian hath learnt this Rule That nothing is more formidable than to fear any thing more than God They provoked a King to his face in a Civil War than whom no Prince did better deserve the Purse the Prowess the Persons of his Subjects to help him on both to Safeguard and Victory He failed in both through that which Budaeus in one word calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum populus Imperatori infensus vincere nolit Lib. 2. Pand. fol. 10. The common Peoples love to him I conses was cold and lazy They had not studied him and the great Graces of his unspotted Life Qui exemplo potuit esse his quos nos habemus in exemplo I borrow it for him out of Sidonius He might have been an Example to those who were held the best Examples of the Times he lived in But they fretted at some improsperous Expeditions which his Ministers had made into Spain France and Germany and look't downward upon those dishonourable Actions not upward upon his Vertues So he lost them For evil Successes are not ordinarily forgotten though prosperous ones vanish in the warmth of their fruition No doubt but he had framed his Imagination to things of great entertainment for the good of his Nephew in the Palatinate and the Protestants at Rochel But who can foresee what Chance the Dye of War will cast Centum doctum hominum consilia sola baec devincit Dea Fortuna Plaut in Pseud An Heathen could go no further but we understand more And though foreign Enterprizes miscarried there was great Prosperity at home Wealth Trade Peace Plenty all Professions floarithing But did he follow Polybius his Counsel to Scipio AEmilianus never to go abroad but to oblige some before he return'd it being the chief happines of a Prince to get Frineds Truly he did many Acts of Liberality with a look that did not take much and with a blind hand He was not made to set his Face cheerfully nor to attract with delightful Expressions Whereas Heyward nicks it right in his Hen. 4. That the Multitude are more strongly drawn by unprositable Courtesies than by churlish Benefits But our King's Motto might have been drawn from Illustrius the Pythagoraean in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act great things but promise little which was the right temper of this dispassionate Philosophical Man who cared not for Opinion but would please himself in that which was just though it were displeasing to others and delighted to live much to himself and his own thoughts As if says a late Pen he had rather been guest at than known You shall read nothing more apt to excuse him than that of Cicero to Cato Ep. l. 15. Ea studiosè secutus sum ete quibus vera gloria nasci possit ipsam quidem gloriam per se nunquam putavi expetendam 182. The same Parliament did for a while so much acknowledge his Vertues that they would have praised him into a Fool. For these were their words That they know him to be good of himself and therefore did strive per force to fetch him from a debauched Army and evil Counsellors Wo be to him whose Head is bucketed with Waters of a scalding Bath These Flowers of Flattery that would wither before to morrow were they worth the prince of a Crown The King's Army consisted of as valiant and
to make a competent Judge for the lawfulness of their War For is it not most impious to prove a Cause not till after the Victory and to have no Inducement that they sought for the right till all was done Experience is stronger than twenty Reasons against it As Paterculus said of one good man Lusius Drusus Meliore in omma ingenio quà m fortuná usus so let there be thousands of such in a body their Innocency may be greater than their Fortune The fallacy of Success is to be exploded out of the Morals of Justice neither can such a contingent Medium produce a demonstrative Conclusion It was bravely pleaded by the Rhodians in an Oration before the Roman Senate Liv. lib. 35. You Romans were wont to account your Wars prosperous Non tam exitu eorum quòd vincat is quà m principiis quod non sine causâ suscipiat is I may say hic rhodus hic saltas And this is sapience to list them who admire Success among those whom Fortune favours 190. Neither were the vain-glorious content to pride it upon Success and to stamp it upon their Money God with us but sharpned their presumption against the King's Friends with Insultations and Revilings that they were unregenerate such as walked after the flesh forsaken of God and appointed to slaughter Bitter untrue uncharitable Such as knew not his Majesty's faithful Soldiers thought vilely of them such as faw their daily diligence at Common-Prayer their sidelity for their Lord and King their preparation for death their adventuring their Estates and Bodies in all hard Service without pay nay without necessary Subsistence did deservedly magnisie the Grace of God that was in them Yet we do not justifie all Some scores of them might have been spared who were driven into the King's Quarters by the Oppression of the Parliament and came to save themselves more than to defend the King and it was a common observation at Oxford that excepting the great Counsellors and the Clergy they that sought least liv'd worst Yet the loosest of these kept their Oath of Allegiance which comes nearer to a Saint than any Rebel of a good outside Qui nesciret in armis Quam magnum crimen virtus civilibus esset Luc. l. 6. But did they never read of an holy Commander forced to take Arms in a good Cause and guarded from his Enemies by Persons of an homely Character David is the Captain the Heir to the Crown of Israel and Judah by God's Election his Cause to escape the Tyranny of Saul not to bid him War And what were his Soldiers 1 Sam. 22.2 Every one that was in distress discontented in debt of a bitter soul gathered themselves to David and he became a Captain over them There were sins very reproveable in either of our adverse Armies put them thus into a comparison Which did most offend God Noah's planting a Vine and being drunk or the building of the Tower of Babel The Casuists have an Answer at their fingers ends That drunkenness corrupted the world but ambition confounded it And is not confusion of a whole Realm more pernicious than corruption in a part But how willingly did the sober Army allow cherish and make wealthy their Chaplain Peters Is there such another spotted Leopard in all the King's Quarters as Catulus said of Nonius What a deal of dung doth that Cart carry Have they no better excuse for themselves than a pandanni Plauti trinum Scelest us est at mihi infidelis non est or than Xenoph. makes for the Athenians in his Oration upon their Republick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Athenians a baseness in them loved those that were fit and useful for them though they were wicked men Yet it was not the Riot of the King's Army that caused it to be improsperous that was reported where nothing was examin'd and weighed but out of spight believed as it was rumor'd It was partly neglect of Duties for want of pay But chiefly Presumption that their cause was clearly loyal and lawful that the name of the King was more than thirty thousand that the Subjects of England did never suffer the Crown in fine to be opprest that they would fight for it though it hung upon an Heythorn-Hedge They forgot that the English were new cast and turn'd into another People by scottish sawciness and contempt of Soveraignty This Presumption kept the King's Forces sleeping when their Enemies were waking and what is Presumption but Hope run out of its Wits The Rebels were well paid well provided of all Ammunition mightily courted by their Chiestains as Tertullian could say de Praes c. 41. Nunquam 〈◊〉 proficitur quà m in castris rebellium ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est Again none are so adventurous as they that dare not be Cowards for fear of hanging The Law was behind the Parliamentarians sight or hang. Despair will inspire a faint heart as a skilful Author notes it Vegetius l. 3. Clausis in desperatione crescit audacia cum spei nihil est sumit arma formido These are the Difficulties through which the King was to pass and could not which is no dishonour to his Goodness or Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. No man need to be ashamed that he cannot do all things And never wonder if the Counsels of men well contrived be frustrated by the secret Counsels of God which an Ethnick expresseth in the style of his Religion Destinata salubriter omni ratione potentior fortuna discussit Curt. l. 3. To clear up this more would they that so much adore their Idol Success would they have confest from their heart their own Cause to be wrong if the King had beaten them I believe the God of this World hath darkned them so much that such a Confession cannot be gotten out of them The Weavers of Kidderminster must not be brought to such a sight of their sin that is they must never repent if they be true Disciples of Mr. Baxter's Doctrine The best of Orators was the greatest of Dissemblers in his Plea for Ligarius before Caesar Tully had been a violent Pompeian but the whole Empire after the Pharsalian Field being turn'd Caesarean says the fine-spoken man Nunc certè melior ea causa judicanda est quam etiam Dii adjuverunt Yet so much dissonancy there was between his Tongue and his Heart that he triumpht in the murder of Caesar the only Roman that exceeded all their Race in nobleness and was next to Tully in eloquence Boast not therefore in Success which is an advantage to make Insidels proud but the abstruse ways of God's Providence which setteth up one and pulleth down another as he pleaseth should make us Christians humble 191. For all this if the wise men of Goat-ham will appeal to Success to Success let the matter be referr'd and then every eye may see what was the Summum bonum the chief aim and drift of the rebellious Enterprise Wealth and Spoil So
Humanity Grotius who best could do it hath sweetly translated such a Contemplation out of Euripides Lib. 2. de Bel. Pa. Cap. 24. Co. 4. Quod si in Comitiis funera ante oculos forent Furiata bello non pâ—risset Graecia Some will adventure to say more that every Sheba that sounded the first Trumpet to Battail hath been unlucky in his own Person So Sir W. Aston to the Duke Cab. P. 37. The most prosperous War hath misfortune enough in it to make the Author of it unhappy Else Isocrates was mistaken who lived to be an old and a Prophetical Orator among the Athenians Orat. de Pace says he Your Humour Athenians is well known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you like them best that incite you to War Yet I wonder if old Men do not remember and young Men have not heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we never receiv'd hurt by listning to them that exhorted us to preserve our Peace but the Counsels of others have brought Dishonour and put us to Shifts and Calamities 177. I would these Notions might be read considerately when any rash Spirit shall attempt to open Janus's Temple after it hath been long shut Yet wo be to the Vicar that should have read this Homily to my Lord Duke The Lord Keeper's Name was in his black Book of Remembrance for it till his Lordship did not only cross him but blot him out Revenge is the effect of smother'd Anger as Flame is but lighted Smoak The Scene wherein an Argument of a kind of Tragedy is couch'd upon it is in the Lord Duke's Secretaries Letter Cab. Pag. 86. challenging the Lord Keeper That at the select Council he had run a course opposite to his Lordship and by consequent to sill up the Crime dangerous to the Kingdom prejudicious to the cause of Religion That the two last times they met in Council the Duke found that he took his Kue from the Kings Mind just as other Men did and joyn'd with them in their Opinions whose aim was to tax his Proceedings in the managing of the Prince's Business How imperious is this And how all that follows it like the roaring of a Lyon And for no more offence but because he would not condemn the King of Spain out of the proof of his Grace's Mouth and ammerce him with an implacable War wherein an Hundred Thousand Lives might be spilt for a Quarrel begun between himself and Olivarez which was not worth a bloody Nose Certainly the Lord Keeper could not be afraid of the Duke being so much alienated for any hurt that could come of it at the present I was not in his Heart to espy whether he look'd forward upon another Age in the next Reign One thing I am conscious of that he courted no Man but him with supple Submission being unwilling to nothing more than that the World should observe him dissever'd from his Promoter though he were innocent as to making a breach or the least thought of Opposition The best part he could act was to protest how much and how unseignedly he was that Lords in a most Pathetical Vow as it is to be found Cab. P. 89. Let this Paper bear Record against me at the great Parliament of all if I be not in my Heart and Soul your Graces most faithful and most constant poor Friend and Servant Somewhat also may be pick'd out of that Letter by a sharp Censure as if he had sought the Duke with Phrases too low and too Petitionary And I am my self within a little of that Opinion But this was ever a venial Fault at Court where it was usual for Men in Place to drink down such hot Affronts as would scald their Throats that could not endure the Vassallage which was tied to Ambition The best Apology is That a Thankful Man looks for leave chuse you whether you will grant it for he will take it to lay himself under the Feet of his Benefactor to be reconciled to him I learn it from Tully pleading for himself against Lateranensis Orat pro Plancio Nimis magnum beneficium Plancii exaggero Quare verò me tuo arbitratu non meo gratum esse oportet Lateranensis says I do too much extol the Favours which I have received from Plancius As if it were not Reason that I should be Grateful by my own Acknowledgment and not by his Opinion In short that the Duke might be the better aslur'd of the reading of so able a Minister in the Parliament at Hand the Prince with his never-failing Sweetness made up this Gap between them but with a loose Pale Yet leave should have been given where leave was look'd for The Lord Keeper did not give the Duke content in this select Junto no more did the Duke give content to the King In the same Measure that he did mete it was measured unto him 178. Look back about a Twelve-month and a story will drop in where the Duke did hearken to the Party with more content That which was acted a Year ago is in season to be produced now because it was publish'd upon Consideration against the Parliament that sate now Those dangerous and busie Flies which the Roman Seminaries send abroad had buzzed about the Countess of Buckingham had blown upon and infected her She was Mother to the great Favourite but in Religion become a Stepmother She doated upon him extreamly as the Glory of her Womb Yet by turning her Coat so wantonly when the Eyes of all the Kingdom were upon her Family she could not have wrought him a worse turn if she had studied a mischief against him Many marvelled what rumbled in her Conscience at that time For from a Maid to an Old Madam she had not every ones good Word for practice of Piety And she suffered Censure to the last that she lest the Company of Sir Tho. Compton her Husband It hath been so with many others But why should a Libertine that cares not to live after the way of the Gospel pretend to seek Satisfaction more than ordinary about the true Doctrine of The Gospel They that have Beams in their own Eyes unsanctified Manners beyond the most why should they cavil at Moats in the Eye of the Reformed Religion Let them answer it to Him alone who hath Power to judge them But divers that had sense of a Godly Fear as they pitied the Revolt of this Lady so they dreaded the Consequents that did hang upon her Power and Opportunity Ar. Wilson complains P. 275. That the Countess of Buckingham was the Cynosura that all the Papists steered by I believe it was above her Ability to bear the weight of that Metaphor The common Jealousie was that the Duke would be ring-streaked with spots of Popery by resorting to his Mothers Trough Nay there was a trivial Gradation in Vulgar Mouths which reach'd higher That the Mother had a great Influence upon her Son the Son upon the King and the King upon the People The Lord