Holland and having commanded the Prince to attend him against his returne at Greenwich the Prince had beene surpriz'd and brought to London had not the King come a little before Thence he removed to Yorke where hee kept his Court all the Sommer But to returne to London the very next day after their Majesties departure the Countrey about especially Bucking hamshire being incited by the Citie and Parliament came in great swarmes and joyning with the London mechanicks they ruffled up and downe the streets and kept such a racket making the fearfullest riot that ever I believe was heard of in Parliament time so those Members which formerly were fled into the Citie were brought to the House in a kinde of triumph being garded by land and water in warlike manner by these Champions After this sundry troopes of Horse came from all the shires neare adjoyning to the Parliament and Buckingham men were the first who while they expressed their love to their Knight forgot their sworne oath to their King and instead of feathers they carried a Printed Pretestation in their hats as the Londoners had done a little before upon the Pikes point Per. This kept a foule noise beyond Sea I remember so that upon the Rialto in Venice it was sung up and downe that a Midsommer Moon though it was then midst of Winter did raigne amongst the English and you must thinke that it hath made the Venetian to shrinke in his shoulders and to looke but il favourably upon us since wee 'l have none of his currans But Sir I heard much of that Protestation I pray what was the substance of it Pat. It was penn'd and injoyn'd by the Parliament for every one to take and it consisted of many parts the first was to maintaine the true Protestant religion against all Popish innovations which word Popish as some think was scrued in of purpose for a loop-hole to let in any other innovation the second was to maintaine the Prerogative and honour of the King then the power and priviledge of Parliaments and lastly the propriety and liberty of the Subject for the two first parts of this Protestation the people up and downe seemed to have uttrly forgotten them and continue so still as if their consciences had beene tyed only to the two last and never was there a poore people so besotted never was reason and common sense so baffled in any part of the world And now will I goe to attend his Majestie at Yorke where as I told you before being loth to part with his Sword though he had half parted with his Scepter before by denying the Parliament an indefinite time to dispose of the Militia alleadging that as the Word so the thing was new He sends forth his Commissions of Array according to the old law of England which declares it to be the undoubted right and Royall Signiory of the King to arme or disarme any Subject The Parliament sends out clean counter-mands for executing the said Militia so by this clashing twixt the Commission of Array and the Militia the first flash of this odious unnaturall war may be said to break out The pulse of the Parliament beat's yet higher they send an Admirall to the sea not onely without but expresly against the Kings speciall command They had taken unto them a Military gard from the Citie for their protection without his Majesties consent who by the advice of the Lord Keeper and others had offered them a very strong gard of Constables and other Officers to attend them which the laws usually allow yet the raising of that gard in Yorkshire for the safegard of his Majesties person was interpreted to be levying of warre against the Parliament and so made a sufficient ground for them to raise an Armie to appoint a Generall with whom they made publike Declarations to live and die And they assumed power to conferre a new appellation of honour upon him as if any could conferre honour but the King And this Army was to be maintained out of the next contribution of all sorts of people so a great masse of money and plate was brought into the Guild-Hall the Semstresse brought in her silver Thimble the Chamber maid her Bodkin the Cook his Spoones and the Uintner his Bowles and every one something to the advancement of so good a worke as to wage war directly against the Sacred person of their Soveraigne and to put the whole Countrey into a combustion Per. Surely it is impossible that a rationall Christian people should grow so simple and sottish as to be so far transported without some colourable cause therefore I pray tell me what that might be Patr. The cause is made specious enough and varnished over wonderfull cunningly The people are made to believe they are in danger and a prevention of that danger is promised and by these plausible wayes the understanding is wrought upon and an affection to the cause is usher'd in by aggravation of this danger as one would draw a thred through a needles eye This huge Bug-bear Danger was like a monster of many heads the two chiefest were these That there was a plot to let in the Pope And to cast the civil Government into a French frame It is incredible to thinke how the Pulpits up and down London did ring of this by brain-sicke Lecturers of whom some were come from New England others were pick'd out of purpose and sent for from their own flocke in the Countrey to possesse or rather to poyson the hearts of the Londoners to puzzle their intellectuals and to intoxicate their braines by their powerfull gifts It was punishable to preach of Peace or of Caesars right but the common subiect of the Pulpit was either Blasphemie against God Disobedience against the King or Incitements to Sedition Good Lord what windy frothy stuffe came from these fanaticke braines These Phrenetici Nebulones for King James gives them no better Character in his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} who may be said to be mad out of too much ignorance who neverthelesse are come to that height of prophanenesse and pride that they presume to father all their Doctrines all their non-sence raptures and ravings upon the holy Spirit Nor did the Pulpit onely helpe to kindle this fire but the Presse also did contribute much fewell What base scurrilous Pamphlets were cried up and down the streets and dispersed in the Countrey What palpable and horrid lyes were daily printed How they multiplied in every corner in such plentie that one might say there was a superfaetation of lyes which continue unto this day One while the King of Denmarke was comming over from the Sound another while the king of France had an huge Armie about Calais design'd for England another while there was an Armie of Irish Rebels comming over with the privitie of the King another while a plot was cried up and down to burne London another while there were subterranean invisible Troopes mustered under
first tumult that happened this Parliament whereof so many followed after their example being not onely conniv'd at but backed by Authoritie for there were prohibitions sent from the Parliament to hinder all processe against some of them These Myrmidons as they termed themselves were ready at a watch-word so that one might say there was a kinde of discipline in disorder Peregr Were there any troubled for delivering their Votes in the Houses I thought that freedom of opinion and speech were one of the prime Priviledges of that great Nationall Senate Patr. Yes Those that were the Minions of the House before became now the subjects of popular malice and distraction because against the dictamen of their consciences they would not vote the Earle of Strafford to death and renounce their owne judgements and captivate it to the sense of others yet they stood firme to their first grounds that hee was a delinquent in a high nature and incapable ever to beare o ffice in any of his Majesties dominions Per. I perceive Sir by your speeches that one of the chiefest causes of these combustions may be imputed to the Citie of London which may be called the Metropolis of all these evils and I little wonder at it for it hath beene alwayes incident to all great Townes when they grow rich and populous to fall into acts of insolence and to spurne at government where so many pots so many braines are a boyling there must needs be a great deale of froth but let her looke to her self for Majestie hath long armes and may reach her at last But the truth is that London beares no proportion with the size of this Island for either one should be larger or the other lesse London may be well compared to the liver of a cramm'd Italian goose whose fatning emacerates the rest of the whole body and makes it grow leane and languish and she may well be termed a goose now more than ever for her feathers are pluck'd apace but now that you have done with the Earle of Strafford what is become of all the rest who were committed Pat. They are still in durance and have continued so these two yeares and upward yet are not proceeded against nor brought to their answer to this very day though al theCourts of Justice have been open ever since Many hundreds more of the best sort of Subjects have beene suddenly clapt up and no cause at all mentioned in many of their commitments and new Prisons made of purpose for them where they may be said to be buried alive and so forgotten as if there were no such men in the world and how this can stand with Magna Charta with the Petition of Right to vindicate which there was so much paines taken the last Parliament let any man of a sane judgement determine Yet one of the Judges who hath an empeachment of high treason still lying Dormant against him though he be not Rectus in curia himselfe is suffered to sit as Judge upon the highest tribunall of England whereas another for a pretended misdemeanour onely is barr'd from sitting there Others who were at first cryed up and branded to be the most infamous projectors and Monopolizâ—s of the land are not only got loose but crept into favour and made use of Per. Hath the House of Commons power to commit any but their owne members without Conference with the Lords Or hath any Order or Ordinance of one of the Houses singly or of both conjunctly to enjoyne a virtuall binding power of generall obedience without the Royall consent Pat. The power of Parliament when King Peeres and Commons which is the whole Kingdome digested into one volume is indefinite but what either of both Houses can do of themselves singly or joyntly without the King who is the life of the Law I dare not determine especially when a visible faction reignes amongst them tantas componere lites nonopis est nostroe But for mine owne opinion I think it is as impossible for them to make a Law without the King as it was for Paracelsas to make a man without coition either for abolishment of old or establishment of new Lawes The results of Parliament without the Royall consent are as matches without fire And it is an incontroulable principle that the old Law must be our guide till new be made nor is any Act of the Subject justifiable but what is warrantable by the old But to proceed in the true discovery of these Domestick scistures my Lord of Strafford being gone we hop'd faire weather would follow He who was the cause of the tempest being throwne over-boord but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker Yet the Scots were dismist having had Fidlers fare meat drinke and money for eleven long moneths together So his Majestie went to Scotland where the Parliment there did but aske and have any thing though it be the unquestionable prerogative of Majestie to grant or denie Petitions and to satisfie his conscience before any Councell But during his sojourne there this formidable hideous Rebellion broke out in Ireland which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd yet the Scene was never so Tragicall and bloody as now for the Barbarismes that have been committed there have been fo sanguinarie and monstrously salvage that I thinke posterity will hold them hyperbolicall The Irish themselves affirm there concurr'd causes to kindle this fire One was the taking off Straffords head who aw'd them more then any Deputy ever did and that one of his Accusations should be to have used the Papists there too favourably Secondly the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the Papists here in England Lastly the stopping of that Regiment of Irish who was promised by his Majesties Royall word and letter to the King of Spaine who relying upon that imployment rather than to beg steale or sterve turned Rebels And that which hath aggravated the rebellion all this while and heightned much the spirit of the Irish is the introduction of the Scot whom they hate in perfection above all people els and the designe spoken of in our Parliament to make an absolute Conquest and Nationall Eradication of them which hath made them to make vertue of necessity and to be valiant against their wills Per. Indeed I heard that Act of staying the Irish Regiment considering how the Marquesses de Valada and Malvezzi and Don Alonso de Cardenas who were all three Ambassadours here for the King of Spaine at that time having by relyance upon the sacred word and letter of a King imprested money and provided shipping for their transport and been at above 10000. Crowns charges I say this act was very much censured abroad to the dishonor of his Majesty and our reproch Patr. I am very sorry to heare it Well Sir His Majesty by his presence having setled Scotland was at his returne to London received with much joy and exultation but though he was brought in with
a Hosanna at one end of the Towne he found a Crucifige at the other For at Westminster there was a Remonstrance fram'd a worke of many weeks and voted in the dead of night when most of the moderate and well-thoughted Members were retired to their rest wherein with as much industry and artifice as could be the least moat in government was exposed to publike view from the first day of his Majesties inauguration to that very houre Which Remonstrance as it did no good to the publike but fill peoples heads with doubts and their hearts with gall and retard the procedure of all businesse besides so you may wel think it could expect but cold entertainment with his Majesty who hoped his great Councell according to their often deep protestations had done something for his welcome home that might have made him the best beloved King that ever was amongst his people Per. 'T is true there is no Government upon earth made up of men but is subject to corruption there is no Court of Judicature so cleane but some cobwebs may gather in it unlesse an Act of Parliament could be made to free and exempt men from infirmities and errour It cannot be denyed but Scotland might have something to complaine of though I thinke least of any and so leapt first into the poole to bee cured and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well knowne England also no doubt might have some grievances which his Majestie freely offered not only to redresse for the present but to free her of all feares for the future from falling into relapses of that kinde but to redresse grievances by Armes by plunging the whole Countrey into an intestine warre this makes the remedy worse then the malady it is as if one would goe about to cure a sick body by breaking his head or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose it is as mad a trick as his was who set the whol house a fire to roast his egs But truly Sir in my opinion his Majesty at his returne from Scotland might have justly expected some Acts of compliance and gratitude from his Parliament considering what unparalleld Acts of Grace he had passed before Pat. His Majesty did not rest there but complyed further with them by condeseending to an Act for putting down the Star-Chamber-Court the High Commission the Court of Honour nay he was contented his owne Privie Councell should be regulated and his Forrests bounded not according to ancient Prerogative but late custome nay further he passed a Bill for the unvoting and utter exclusion of the Spirituall Lords from the Parliament for ever whereby it cannot be denyed but by the casheering of twenty five votes at a clap and by excluding the Recusant Lords besides who subsist most by his grace hee did not a little enervate his owne prerogative Adde hereunto that having placed two worthy Gentlemen Lieutenants of the Tower he removed them both one after another and was content to put in one of their Election And lastly he trusted them with his greatest strength of all with his Navie Royall and called home that knowing Knight who had the guard of the narrow Seas so many yeares Per. Truly Sir I never remember to have heard or read of such notable Acts of grace and confidence from any King but would not all this suffice Pat. No But they demanded all the Land Souldiery and military strength of the Kingdome to be disposed of by them and to be put into what posture and in what Equipage and under what Commanders they pleas'd And this was the first thing his Majesty ever denyed them yet he would have granted them this also for a limited time but that would not serve the turn Hereupon his Majestie grew a little sensible how they inch'd every day more and more upon his royall prerogatives and intending to go to his Town of Hull to see his Magazine he was in an hostile manner kept out Canons mounted Pistols cockt and leveld at him But whether that Knight did this out of his fidelitie to the Parliament or out of an apprehension of fear that some about the King being mov'd with the barbarousnesse of the action would have pistol'd him I will not determine Peregr I have read of divers affronts of this kinde that were offer'd to the French Kings Rochel shut her gates more than once against Henry the great and for the King now regnant they did not onely shut him out of many of his Townes but upon the gates of some of them they writ in legible Characters Roy sans Foy Ville sans peur A faithlesse King a fearlesse Town Yet in the greatest heat of those Warres there was never any Town refus'd to let in her King provided he came attended onely with his own train and besides other people abroad I heard the Scoi's Nation did abhor that Act at Hull But I pray Sir go on Patr. His Majestie being thus shut out of one Town he might justly suspect that an attempt might be made to shut him in in some other therefore he made a motion to the Yorke shire Gentlemen to have a guard for the preservation of His Person which was done accordingly But I am come too forward I must go backe and tell you how the King was driven from Westminster When his Majestie was returned from Scotland he retir'd to Hampton Court whence upon the Lord Maior's and the Cities humble sollicitation he came backe to White-hall to keep his Christmas But when the Bill against Bishops was in agitation which businesse lasted near upon 10 weekes a crue of bold sturdie Mechanicks and Mariners came from the Citie and ruffled before White-hall and Westminster-hall and would have violated the Abbie of Westminster so that for many nights a Court of guard was forced to be kept in the bodie of that Church the chiefest Sanctuarie of the Kingdom Moreover His Maiestie having impeached some of the Members of both Houses of high Treason and being denied to have them delivered up he went himselfe to the Lower House to demand them assuring the House they should have as fair and legall a triall as ever men had But as it pleased God they were not there but retir'd to London for refuge the Londoners grew starke wilde thereupon and notice being sent to all the adjacent Counties this Act of the Kings though it wanted no precedents of former times was aggravated in the highest degree that possibly could be Hence you may easily inferre what small security his Majesty had at White-hall and what indignities hee might have exposed himselfe unto by that which had passed already from the Rabble who had vilified and cryed tush at his Proclamations and disgorg'd other rebellious speeches with impunity therefore hee retired to Hampton Court as we read our Saviour withdrew himselfe once from the multitude thence to Windsor Castle whence accompanying her Majestie with his eldest daughter to the sea side for
reproach But truly Sir what you have related touching the Pulpit and the Presse transformes me into wonder and I should want Faith to believe it did you not speake it upon your knowledge but the English when they fall to worke upon a new humour use to overdo all people Patr. You have not yet the tith of what I could give you you would little think that Coachmen and Feltmakers and Weavers were permitted to preach up and downe without controlement and vent their venome against Church and State to cry down our Hierarchie and Liturgie by most base and reviling speeches Per. Touching your Lyturgie I have heard it censured abroad by the rigidest Calvinists of Geneva and Dort yet I never heard any other Character given of it but that it is a most Pious Pathetick and perfect piece of devotion both for the matter and forme of it which I have beene a little curious to observe It begins with some choise passages of holy Scripture and a previous Declaration or Monitory to excite us to the worke in hand The first addresse we make to God is by an humble and joynt Confession which is applyable to any conscience and comprehends in it all kind of sins Then followeth a pronuntiation of Gods promises and pronesse to pardon and absolve us Wee goe on to the Lords Prayer which having beene dictated by our Saviour himselfe we often use and is as Amber throwne in amongst our Frankincense to make the Sacrifice more precious and pleasing unto God Then we proceed to some choice Psalmes and other portions of holy Scripture taken out of the old and new testament Then we fall to the Symbole of saith where of we make a solemne joynt confession in such a posture as shews a readinesse and resolution in us to defend it and so to the Letany wherein the poore penitent peccant soule may be said to breath out her self into the bosome of her Saviour by tender ejaculations by panting groanes and eviscerated ingeminations and there is no sinne no temptation whatsoever that humane frailtie is subject unto but you shall finde a deliverance from it there it is so full of Christian charity that there is no condition of people but are remembred and prayed for there Then we proceed by holy alternatif interlocutions whereby we heare our selves speak as well as the minister to some effectuall short prayers because in long prayers the minde is subject to wander as some Zelots now a dayes use to bring their Hearers into a Wildernesse by their Prayers and into a Labyrinth by their Sermons Then goe we on to the Decalogue and if it be in a Cathedrall there is time enough for the Hearer to examine himselfe while the Musicke playes where and when he broke any of Gods holy Commandements and ask particular forgivenesse accordingly Then after other choice portions of Scripture and passages relating to our Redemption and endearing unto us the merits of it with a more particular Confession of our Faith we are dismissed with a Benediction so that this Lyturgie may be called an Instrument of many strings whereon the sighing soule sends up various notes unto heaven It is a posie made up of divers flowers to make it the more fragrant in the nostrills of God Now touching your Bishops I never knew yet any Protestant Church but could be content to have them had they meanes to maintaine the Dignitie which the Churches of France with others have not in regard the Reformation began first among the people not at Court as here it did in England For unlesse there be some Supervisers of Gods house endowed with eminent authoritie to check the fond fancies and quench the false fatuous fires of every private spirit and unlesse it be such an authoritie that may draw unto it a holy kinde of awe and obedience what can be expected but confusion and Atheisme You know what became of the Israelites when the wonted reverence to the Ark and the Ephod and the Priest began to languish amongst them For the braine of man is like a garden which unlesse it be senced about with a wall or hedge is subject you know to be annoyed by all kinde of beasts which will be ready to runne into it so the braine unlesse it be restrain'd and bounded in holy things by rules of Canonicall authority a thousand wilde opinions and extravagant fancies will hourely rush into it nor was there ever any field so subject to produce Cockle and Darnell as the braine is rank and ready to bring forth tares of Scisme and Heresie of a thousand sorts unlesse after the first culture the sickle of Authority be applyed to grub up all such noisome weeds Pat. Yet this most ancient dignitie of Bishops is traduced and vilified by every shallow-pated petty Clerke and not so much out of a true zeale as out of envie that they are not the like And touching our Lyturgie whereof you have beene pleas'd to give so exact a Character people are come to that height of impiety that in some places it hath beene drowned in other places burnt in some places torn in peeces to serve for the basest uses nay it hath beene preached publikely in Pulpit That it is a peece forged in the divels shop and yet the impious foule mouthd Babbler never was so much as questioned for it Nor did the Church only eccho with these blasphemies but the Presse was as pregnant to produce every day some Monster either against Ecclesiasticall or Secular government I am ashamed to tell you how some bold Pamphleters in a discourse of a sheet or two would presume to question to dispute of and determine the extent of Monarchik jurisdiction what sturdie doubts what saucie Quaeries they put what odd frivolous distinctions they fram'd That the King though he was Gods Anointed yet he was mans appointed That he had the commanding not the disposing power That he was set to rule over not to over rule the people That he was King by humane choice not by divine Charter That he was not King by the grace of God so much as by the suffrage of the people That he was a Creature and production of the Parliament That he had no implicite trust nor peculiar propertie in any thing That populus est potior Rege That Grex lege lex est Rege potentior That the King was singulis major universis minor whereas a successive Monarch Uno minor est love Sometimes they would bring instances from the States of Holland sometimes from the Republike of Venice and apply them to Absolute and Independant Royaltie But I finde that the discourse and Inferences of these Grand Statists were bottomed upon foure false foundations viz. That the King of whom they speake must be either a Minor an Idiot an insufferable tyrant or that the Kingdome they mean is Elective None of all which is appliable either to our most gracious and excellently quallified King or to his renowned Kingdom which hath been
his father of so fresh and famous Memorie had left him and to which he had been sworne at his Coronation they put themselves in Armes and rais'd Forces to beat down the Mitre with the Sword if the Scepter would not do it To the frontiers they came with a great Armie not halfe so great as was bruited pretending they came as Petitioners though they brought their Petition upon their Pikes point Some of the great ones about the King grew cold in the action and what a Pacification was then shuffled up and how a Parliament was called thereupon in Scotland with other passages is a fitter subject for a storie than a discourse Peregr I could have wish'd two things that either his Majestie had given them battail then having the flower of his Nobilitie and Gentrie with him who I understood came with all chearfulnesse and promptitude to attend him or else that after the said Pacification his Majestie had shaken off all jealousies and with a royall freedom and a commanding confidence gone amongst them to hansell their new Parliament House at Edenburgh for it is probable it had averted those showers and cataracts of miseries which have fallen upon us since but I pray Sir proceed Patr. As they say There is no winde but blowes some bodie good so it was thought this Northerne Cloud did England some advantage for a Parliament was summon'd hereupon a Parliament do I call it It was rather an Embryo of a Parliament an Ephemeran of 20 dayes In this sitting his Majestie declared unto both Houses the indignities he had received by his Scotch Subjects and therefore purpos'd a supply to be made of 12 Subsidies to suppresse that Rebellion and in lieu thereof he was willing to forbear and utterly abolish the Ship money which he had reason to thinke legall at first being advised thereunto by Noy his Attourney Generall who had such a mighty repute in the Law yet he would not rest there but he advised further with his learned Councell who concurred in opinion with Noy nor would he rest there also but he had the approbation of all the Iudges singly and afterwards the major part of all the Twelve joyntly upon a Demurre This was enough to induce his conscience to hold it legall all this while it was clearly proved that the monies levied this way were employed to no other but the intended service The guarding of the narrow Seas and not onely for that but to preserve his right of Dominion in them being the fairest flower of his Crown which was not onely discoursed of abroad but began to be questioned and touching danger how could England be but in apparent dangers considering how all her next neighbours were in actuall hostilitie which made huge Fleets of Men of War both French Dunkerkers Hamburgers and Hollanders to sail ever and anon in her Channels and hard before her royall Chambers nor came there one penny of that publike Contribution to his private Coffers but he added much of his own Demeanes for the maintenance of a Royall Fleet every Sommer yet he was ready to passe any Bill for the utter abolishing of the said Ship money and for redressing of any other grievances provided they would enable him to suppresse this Scots Rebellion some say the House was inclinable to comply with his Majesties demands but as the ill spirit would have it that Parliament was suddenly broke up and I would that they who gave that Counsell had been in Arabia or beyond the Line in their way to Madagascar who neverthelesse have got to be in high request with this present Parliament His Majestie being reduced to these streights and resenting still the insolence of the Scot proposed the businesse to his Privie Councell who suddenly made up a considerable and most noble sum for his present supply whereunto divers of his domesticke Servants and Officers did contribute Amongst others who were active herein the Earle of Strafford bestirr'd himselfe notably and having got a Parliament to be called in Ireland he went over and with incredible celeritie raised 8000 men who procured money of the Parliament to maintain them and got over those angry Seas again in the compasse of lesse than six weekes You may infer hence to what an exact uncontrollable obedience he had reduced that Kingdom as to bring about so great a worke with such a suddennesse and facilitie An Armie was also raised here which marched to the North and there fed upon the Kings pay a whole Sommer The Scot was not idle all this while but having punctuall intelligence of every thing that passed at Court as farre as what was debated in the Cabinet Counsell and spoken in the Bed-chamber and herein amongst many others he had infinite advantage of us He armed also and preferring to make England the stage of the War rather than his own Countrey and to invade rather than to be invaded He got over the Tweed and found the passage open and as it were made for him all the way till he came to the Tine and though there was a considerable Armie of Horse and Foot at Newcastle yet they never offered so much as to face him all the while At Newburgh indeed there was a small skirmish but the English Foot would not fight so Newcastle gates flew open to the Scot without any resistance at all where it is thought he had more friends than foes and who were their friends for this Invasion I hope Time and the Tribunall of Justice will one day discover His Majestie being then at Yorke summoned all his Nobles to appear to advise with them in this exigence Commissioners were appointed on both sides who met at Rippon and how the hearts and courage of some of the English Barons did boil within them to be brought to so disadvantageous a Treatie with the Scot you may well imagine So the Treatie began which the Scot would not conforme himselfe unto unlesse he were made first Rectus in Curia and the Proclamation wherein he was declared Traitour revoked alleadging it would be dishonourable for his Majestie to treat with Rebels This Treatie was adâ—ourned to London where this present Parliament was summoned which was one of the chiefest errands of the Scot as some thinke And thus farre by these sad and short degrees have I faithfully led you along to know the true Originals of our calamities Peregr Truly Sir I must tell you that to my knowledge these unhappy traverses with Scotland have made the English suffer abroad very much in point of Nationall honour therefore I wonder much that all this while there is none set a worke to make a solid Apologie for England in some communicable Language either in French or Latin to rectifie the world into the truth of the thing and to vindicate her how she was bought and sold in this Expedition considering what a partie the Scot had here and how his comming in was rather an Invitation than an Invasion and I believe if
it had been in many parts of the world besides some of the Commanders had gone to the pot Patr. It is the practise of some States I know to make sacrifice of some eminent minister for publike mistakes but to follow the thred of of my Discourse The Parliament being sate His Majestie told them That he was resolved to cast himselfe wholly upon the affection and fidelitie of his People whereof they were the Representative Bodie therefore He wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that were made by this unfortunate War and that the two Armies one domestique the other forreigne which were gnawing the very bowels of the Kingdom might be dismissed Touching grievances of any kinde and what State was there ever so pure but some corruption might creep into it He was very ready to redresse them concerning the Ship-money He was willing to passe a Bill for the utter abolition of it and to establish the propertie of the Subject therefore he wished them not to spend too much time about that And for Monopolies he desired to have a list of them and he would damne them all in one Proclamation Touching ill Counsellours either in Westminster Hall or White Hall either in Church or State he was resolved to protect none therefore he wished that all jealousies and mis-understandings might vanish This with sundry other straines of princely grace he delivered unto them but withall he told them that they should be very cautious how they shook the frame of Government too farre in regard it was like a Watch which being put asunder can never be made up again if the least pin be left out So there were great hopes of a Calme after that cold Northerne Storme and that we should be suddenly rid of the Scot but that was least intended untill some Designes were brought about The Earle of Strafford the Archbishop of Canterbury the Iudges and divers Monopolists are clapt up and you know who took a timely flight to the other side of the sea and in lieu of these the Bishop of Lineolne is enlarged Bastwick Burton and Prynne are brought into London with a kinde of Hosanna His Majestie gave way to all this and to comply further with them he took as it were into his bosome I mean he admitted to his Privie Counsell those Parliament Lords who were held the greatest Zelots amongst them that they might be witnesses of his secretest actions and to one of them He gave one of the considerablest Offices of the Kingdom by the resignation of another most deserving Lord upon whom they could never fasten misdemeanour yet this great new Officer will come neither to the same Oratorie Chappell or Church to joyne in Prayer with his Royall Master nor communicate with him in any publike exercise of devotion and may not this be called a true Recusancie To another he gave one of the prime and most reposefull Offices about his own person at Court and thereby he might be said to have given a Staffe to beat himselfe Moreover partly to give his Subjects an Evidence how firmely he was rooted in his Religion and how much he desired the strengthening of it abroad the Treatie of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter and the young Prince of Orange Hereunto may be added as a speciall Argument of compliance and grace the passing of the Bill for a Trienniall Parliament and lastly which is the greatest evidence that possibly can be imagined of that reall trust and confidence he reposed in them He passed the Act of Continuance Peregr Touching the Trienniall Parliament there come some wholesome fruit out of it for it will keep all Officers in awe and excite the Nobilitie and young Gentrie of the Kingdom to studie and understand the Government of the Land and be able to sit and serve their Countrey in this great Senate but for this Act of Continuance I understand it not Parliaments are good Physicke but ill meat they say abroad that England is turned hereby from a Monarchie to a Democracie to a perpetuall kinde of Dictatorship and whereas in former times there was an Heptarchie of seven Kings in her They say now she hath seventy times seven But in lieu of these unparallell'd Acts of grace and trust to the Parliament what did the Parliament for the King all this while Patr. They promised specially upon the passing of the last Act That they would make him the most glorious the best beloved and richest King that ever reigned in England and this they did with deep protestings and asseverations But there intervened an ill favoured accident which did much hurt viz. A Discourse for truly I thinke it was no more which some green heads held to bring up the Northerne Armie to checke the Puritan partie and the rabble of the Citie This kept a mighty noise and you know who fled upon it and much use was made of it to make that Cloud of Jealousie which was but of the breadth of an hand before to appear as big as a mountain Yet his Maiestie continued still in passing Acts of Grace and complying with them in every thing He put over unto them the Earle of Strafford who after a long costly Triall wherein he carried himselfe with as much acutenesse dexteritie and eloquence as humane brain could be capable of for his defence he was condemned to the Scaffold and so made a sacrifice to the Scot who stayed chiefly for his head which besides those vast summes of money was given him to boot Peregr Touching the Earle of Strafford 't is true he was full of abilitie elocution and confidence and understood the Lawes of England as well as any yet there were two things I heard wherein his wisdom was questioned first that having a charge readie against his chiefest Accusers yet he suffered them to have the prioritie of sute which if he had got he had thereby made them Parties and so incapable to be produced against him Secondly that during the time of his Triall he applied not himselfe with that compliance to his Iury as well as to his Iudges for he was observed to comply onely with the Lords and not with the House of Commons Patr. Howsoever as some say his Death was resolved upon si non per viam Iustitiae saltem per viam expedientiae which appeares in regard the proceedings against him are by a clause in the Act not to be produced for a leading case or example to future ages and inferiour Courts I blush to tell you how much the rabble of the Citie thirsted after his bloud how they were suffer'd to strut up and down the streets before the Royall Court and the Parliament it selfe with impunitie they cried out that if the Common Law fail'd club Law should knocke him down and their insolencie came to that height that the names of those Lords that would not doom him to death should be given them to fix upon posts up and down and this was the
alwayes reputed an ancient successive Monarchie governed by one supreme undeposeable and independent Head having the Dignitie the Royall State and Power of an Imperiall Crown and being responsible to none but to God Almightie and his own conscience for his actions and unto whom a Bodie Politicke compacted of Prelates Peeres and all degrees of people is naturally subject but this is a theme of that transcendencie that it requires a serious and solid Tractat rather than such a slender Discourse as this to handle But I pray excuse me Sir that I have stept aside thus from the Road of my main narration I told you before how the clashing 'twixt the Commission of Array and the Militia put all things in disarray throughout the whole Kingdom The Parliament as they had taken the first Militarie guard so they began to arme first and was it not high time then for his Majestie to do something think you yet he assayed by all wayes imaginable to prevent a War and to conquer by a passive fortitude by cunctation and longanimitie How many overtures for an accommodation did he make How many Proclamations of Pardon How many elaborate Declarations breathing nothing but clemencie sweetnesse and truth did drop from his own imperious invincible pen which will remain upon Record unto all Ages as so many Monuments to his eternall glorie Yet some ill spirit stept still in between his Grace and the abused Subject for by the peremptorie Order of Parliament O monstrous thing the said Proclamations of Grace and other his Majesties Declarations were prohibited to be read fearing that the strength and truth of them would have had a virtue to unblinde or rather unbewitch for Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft the poor besotted people What deep Protestations and holy Vowes did he reiterate that the main of his Designes was to preserve the true Procestant Religion the known Lawes of the Land and the just Priviledges of Parliament How often did he dehort and wooe the Citie of London his Imperial Chamber from such violent courses so that she may justly be upbraided with the same words as the Prince of peace upbraided Jerusalem withall London London How often would I have gathered thee as an hen doth her chickens under her wings yet thou wouldest not How often did He descend to acknowledge the manner of demanding the one and five Members in his publike Remonstrances And if there was an errour in his proceedings how oft did he desire his Great Councell to direct him in a course how to go on in the Empeachment which they never did but would reserve the priviledge to themselves to be Judge and Partie Peregr Can your Parliament protect high Treason I am sure the character of an Ambassadour cannot which the late French Ambassadour who for his time play'd his Cards more cunningly than ever Count Gondomer did knew well and therefore as I heard some French men say he got letters of Revocation before his designed time But it seemes strange to me that the King who is the Protectour of the Law and Fountain of Justice cannot have the benefit of the Law Himselfe which the meanest of his Vassals can claim by right of inheritance 't is strange I say that the Law should be a dead letter to him who is the Life of the Law but that for omission of some puntillio in the forme of the Processe the charge of high Treason should be so slightly wav'd speçially Treason of so universall concernmen◠that it may be call'd a complication of many Treasons for if in every petty State it be high Treason to treat onely with any Forraigne Power without the privitie of the Prince it must needs be Treason of an higher nature actually to bring them in and hereof I could alleadge you many pregnant instances antient and moderne but that I do not desire to interrupt you in your Relation Patr. The Parliament as I told you before armed apace it was not fitting then his Majestie should sit idle therefore he summons those Nobles and others who had an immediate relation unto him by office or service to attend him at Yorke according to their particular obligation and Oath but it seemes the Parliament assumed power to dispence with those Oathes and excuse their attendance which dispensation prevailed with some tender consciences yet the Great Seal posted to Court and after it most of the Nobles of the Land and the flower of the Gentrie with many of the prime Members of the Commons House so that were it not for the locall priviledge the Parliament for number of Members might be said to be ever since about the King These Nobles and Gentlemen resenting his Majesties case and what practices there were on foot to alter the Government both of Church and State not onely advised his Majestie to a royall War for defence of his Crown and Dignitie but contributed very cheerfully and have stood constant to the worke ever since Peregr They have good reason for it for the securitie of the Nobilitie and Gentrie depends upon the strength of the Crown otherwise popular Government would rush in like a torrent upon them But surely those Nobles and those Parliament Gentlemen and others some of whom I understand were reputed the wisest and best weigh'd men for experience and parts thorowout the whole Kingdom and were cried up in other Parliaments to be the most zealous Patriots for the proprietie and freedom of the Subject would never have stucke so firmely to His Majestie had they not known the bottome of his Designes that it was farre from his thoughts to bring in the Pope or French Government for thereby they should have betrayed their own posteritie and made their children slaves Patr. To my knowledge these Nobles and Gentlemen are still the very same as they were in former Parliaments wherein they were so cried up for the truest lovers of their Countrey and best Common-wealths men yet now they are branded and Voted to be Seducers and Traitors because according to their Oathes and consciences they adhere to the King their Master and Liege-Lord for maintenance of that Religion they were baptized and bred in Those most Orthodox and painfull Divines which till the Parliament began were accounted the precisest sort of Protestants are now cried down for Papists though they continue still the very same men both for opinions and preaching and are no more Papists than I am a Pytbagorean In fine a true English Protestant is put now in the same scale with a Papist and made Synonyma's And truly these unhappy Schismatickes could not devise how to cast a greater infamie upon the English Protestant than they have done of late by these monstrous imputations they would fasten upon him such opinions which never entred into his thoughts they would know ones heart better than himselfe and so would be greater Kardiognostickes than God Almightie But to draw to a Conclusion the Parliaments Armie multiplied apace in London the Kings but
slowly in the North so that when he displayed his Royall Standard at Nottingham his Forces were not any thing considerable so that if the Parliaments Generall had then advanced towards him from Northamptou he had put him to a very great strait they encreased something at Derby and Stafford but when hee was come to Shrewsbury the Welch-men came running downe the mountaines in such multitudes that their example did much animate the English so that his Army in lesse than a moneth that the Court continued in Shrewesbury came to neere upon twenty thousand Horse and Foot nor was it a small advantage to his Majesties affaires that the Nephew-Princes came over so opportunely The first encounter Prince Rupert had with the Parliaments forces was at Worcester where he defeated the flower of their Cavalrie and gave them a smart blow At Shrewsbury his Majestie tooke a resolution to march with his whole Armie towards London but after seven dayes march he understood the Parliaments forces were within six miles side long of him and so many miles he went out of his road to find them out and face them Upon a Sunday morning he was himself betimes on Edge-Hill where the Enemies Colours plainly appear'd in the vale before Keinton it was past two in the after-noon before all his Infantery could get to the bottom who upon sight of the Enemies Colours ran as merrily down the hil as if they had gone to a morris-dance So his Majestie himselfe being Generalissimo gave command the great Ordnance should flie for a defiance so the battell began which lasted above three houres and as some French and Dutch Commanders told me they never remembred to have seene a more furious fight for the time in all the German warres Prince Rupert pursued the Enemies Horse like a whirle-winde neere upon three miles and had there beene day enough when he came back to the infanterie in all probabilitie a totall defeat had beene given them So that the same accident may bee said to fall out here as happened in that famous battell at Lewis in Henry the thirds time where the Prince of Wales afterwards Edward the first was so eager and went so far by excesse of courage from the body of the Army in pursuance of the Londoners His Majestie to his deserved and never-dying glory comported himself like another Caesar all the while by riding about and encouraging the Souldiers by exposing his person often to the reach of a Musket-buller and lying in the field all that bleake night in his Coach Notwithstanding that many lying pamphlets were purposely printed here to make the world believe that he had retired himselfe all the time of the fight what partiall Reports were made in the Guild-hall to the Londoners and by what persons I am ashamed to tell you But that his Majestie was victorious that day a day which I never thought to have seene in England there be many convincing arguments to prove it for besides the great odds of men which fell on their side and Cannons they lost some of their Ordnance were naild by the Kings Troopes the next morning after in the very face of their armie Moreover the King advanced forward the next day to his former road and tooke Banbury presently after but the Parliamenteers went backwards and so from that day to this His Majestie continueth Master of the field 'T is true that in some places as at Farnham Winchester and Chichester they have prevailed since but no considerable part of the Royall Army was there to make opposition and I blush to tell you how unworthily the Law of Armes was violated in all those places Perig Good Lord how can the soules of those men that were in the Parliaments Army at Keinton Battell dispense with the Oaths of Supremacie and Alleageance besides the Protestation you speak of they have taken to preserve the Person honour and prerogative of the King when they thus actually bandy against his Person and appeare in battell with all the engines of hostility against him Pat. I would be loth to exchange consciences with them and boggle so with God Almighty but these men by a new kind of Metaphysick have found out a way to abstract the Person of the King from his Office to make his Soveraigntie a kinde of Platonick Idea hovering in the aire while they visibly attempt to asiail and destroy his person and Progeny by small and great shot and seek him out amongst his Life Guard with fire and sword yet they give out they fight not only not against him but for him and that their army is more loyall to him than his owne who they say fight only for the name King though they have his person really amongst them commanding and directing Thus they make him a strange kind of Amphibium they make him in one instant a King and no King of the same Individuum a power which the Casuists affirm God Almighty never assumd to himself to do any thing that implys a contradiction Pereg. Noble Sir you make my heart to pant within me by the Pathetick relation you have beene pleased to make mee of these ruthfull times But one thing seemes to me to be no lesse than a miracle how his Majestie hath beene able to subsist all this while considering the infinite advantages the adverse partie hath had of him for they have all the tenable places and townes of strength both by Land and Sea They have the Navie Royall they have all the Ammunition and Armes of the Crowne they have all the imposts and Customes Poundage and Tonnage which they levie contrary to their former Protestation before the Bill be passed they have the Exchequer at their devotion and all the Revenue of the King Queene and Prince and lastly they have the Citie of London which may be called a Magazin of money and Men where there is a ready supply and superfluitie of all things that may feed clothe or make men gay to put them in heart and resolution Truly considering all these advantages with divers others on their side and the disadvantages on the Kings it turnes me into a lump of astonishment how his Majestie could beare up all this while and keepe together so many Armies and be still master of the field Pat. I confesse Sir it is a just subject for wonderment and we must ascribe it principally to God Almighty who is the protectour of his Anointed for his hand hath manifestly appear'd in the conduct of his affaires He hath beene the Pilot who hath sate at the helme ever since this storme began and will doubtlesse continue to steere his course till he waft him to safe harbour againe Adde hereunto that his Majestie for his owne part hath beene wonderfully stirring and indefatigable both for his body and minde and what notable things Her Majestie hath done and what she hath suffered is fitter for a Chronicle then such a simple Discourse Hereunto may be added besides that his Majestie hath
three parts of foure of the Pceres and prime Gentry of the Kingdome firme unto him and they will venture hard before they will come under a popular government and corporations or let in Knox or Calvin to undermine this Church and State Pereg. Truly Sir amongst other Countries I extreamely longed to see England and am no sooner come but I am surfetted of her alreadie I doubt the old prophecie touching this Island is come now to be verified That the Churchman was the Lawer is and the Souldier shall be I am afraid the English have seene their best dayes for I finde a generall kind of infatuation a totall Eclipse of reason amongst most of them and commonly a generall infatuation precedes the perdition of a people like a fish that putrifieth first in the head They say abroad T is the Scots turne now to be a great Nation Therefore I will trusse up my baggage and over againe after I have enjoied you some daies and received your commands Patr. Dear Sir If you seriously resolve to crosse the Seas again so soon I may chance bear you companie for as you have since the short time of your sojourne here judiciously observed a nationall defection of reason in the people of this Island which makes her so active in her own ruine so by longer experience and by infallible Symptomes I finde a strange kinde of Vertigo to have seized upon her which I fear will turne to the falling Sicknesse or such a Phrensie that will make her to dash out her own braines Nor are her miseries I fear come yet to the full It is the method of the Almightie when he pleases to punish a people to begin with roddes to go on with scourges and if they will not do he hath Scorpions for them therefore I will breathe anywhere sooner than here for what securitie or contentment can one receive in that Countrey where Religion and Justice the two grand Doriqne Columnes which support every State are fallen down which makes all conditions of men all professions and Trades to go here daily to utter ruine The Church man growes every day more despicable as if he had no propertie in any thing nor is there any way left him to recover his Tithe but by costly troublesome sutes The Civilian a brave learned profession hath already made his last Will and the Common Lawyers case is little better the Courtier cannot get his Pension the Gentleman cannot recover his rents but either they are sequestred by an high hand of unexampted power or else the poor Tenant is so heavily assess'd or plundered that he is disabled to pay them in all kinde of Commerce both domesticke and forraigne visibly decayes and fals more and more into the hands of strangers to the no small dishonour of the wisedome of this Nation nor can the Tradesman recover his debts Parliamentary Protections continue still in such numbers so that it is a greater Priviledge now to be a Footman to the meanest of the Lower House than to be of the Kings Bed-Chamber Prentises run away from their Masters and against their fathers intent turne Souldiers and for money which is the soul of Trade I believe since the beginning of this Parliament above one halfe of the Treasure of the Kingdom is either conveyed to the other side of the Sea or buried under ground whence it must be new digg'd up again Moreover all things are here grown Arbitrary yet that word took off the Earle of Straffords head Religion Law and Alleageance is grown Arbitrary nor dares the Iudge upon the Tribunall according to his Oath do justice but he is over-awed by Ordinance or else the least intimation of the sense of the Lower House is sufficient to enjoyne him the contrary so that now more than ever it may be said here Terras Astraa reliquit Peace also hath rov'd up and down this Island and cannot get a place to lay her head on she hoped to have had entertainment in Yorkshire by the agreement of the best Gentlemen in the Country but an Ordinance of Parliament beat her out of doores then she thought to rest in Cheshire and by a solemne Covenant she was promised to be preserved there the principall Agents of that Covenant having protested every one upon the word of a Gentleman and as they did desire to prosper both themselves their tenants and friends should strictly observe it but the like Ordinance of Parliament battered down that Agreement Then she thought to take footing in the West and first in Dorsetshire then in Cornwall and Devonshire and by the holy tie of the blessed Sacrament she was promised to be preserved there but another Ordinance of Parliament is pursuing her to dispense with the Commissioners of the said Agreement for their Oathes Lastly his Majestie is mainly endeavouring to bring her in again thorowout the whole Land but the furious phrenetique Schismatickes will have none of her for as one of them besides a thousand instances more preach'd in one of the most populous Congregations about the Citie It were better that London streets ran with bloud and that dead carkasses were piled up as high as the battlements of Pauls than peace should be now brought in And now that Peace is shut out Learning is upon point of despair her Colledges are become Courts of guard and Mars lieth in Mercuries bed Honour also with her Court lieth in the dust the Cobler may confront the Knight the Boor the Baron and there is no Judiciall way of satisfaction which makes Monarchie fear she hath no long time of abode here Publike faith also though she had but newly set up for her selfe is suddenly become Bankrupt and how could she choose for more of the Kingdomes Treasure hath been spent within these thirty moneths than was spent in four-score yeares before but she hopes to piece up her selfe again by the ruines of the Church but let her take heed of that for those goods have been fatall to many thousand families in this Kingdom yet she thinkes much that those publike summes which were given to suppresse one Rebellion in Ireland should be imployed to maintain another Rebellion in England And lastly me thinkes I see Religion in torne ragged weeds and with slubber'd eyes sitting upon Weeping Crosse and wringing her hands to see her chiefest Temple Pauls Church where God Almightie was us'd to be serv'd constantly thrice a day and was the Rendezvouz as it were the Mother Church standing open to receive all commers and strangers to be now shut up and made onely a thorow-fare for Porters to see those scaffolds the expence of so many thousand pounds to lie a rotting to see her chiefest lights like to be extinguished to see her famous learned Divines dragg'd to prison and utterly depriv'd of the benefit of the Common Law their inheritance Me thinkes I say I see Religion packing up and preparing to leave this Island quite crying out that this is a Countrey fitter for
Atheists than Christians to live in for God Almightie is here made the greatest Malignant in regard his House is plunder'd more than any There is no Court left to reforme Heresie no Court to punish any Church Officer and to make him attend his Cure no Court to punish Fornication Adulterie or Incest Me thinkes I hear Her crie out against these her Grand Reformers or Refiners rather that they have put division 'twixt all degrees of persons They have put division 'twixt husband and wife 'twixt mother and childe the son seekes his fathers bloud in open field one brother seekes to cut the others throat they have put division 'twixt Master and Servant 'twixt Land-lord and Tenant nay they have a long time put a sea of separation 'twixt King and Queen and they labour more and more to put division 'twixt the Head and the Members 'twixt his Majestie and his politicall Spouse his Kingdom and lastly they have plung'd one of the flourishingst Kingdomes of Europe in a War without end for though a Peace may be plaster'd over for the time I fear it wil be but like a fire cover'd with ashes which will break out again as long as these fierie Schismatickes have any strength in this Island so that all the premisses considered if Turke or Tartar or all the infernall spirits and Cacodaemons of Hell had broken in amongst us they could not have done poor England more mischiefe Sir I pray excuse this homely imperfect relation I have a thousand things more to impart unto you when we may breathe freer aire for here we are come to that slaverie that one is in danger to have his very thoughts plundered therefore if you please to accept of my companie I will over with you by Gods helpe as soon as it may stand with your conveniencie but you must not discover me to be an Englishman abroad for so I may be jear'd at and kickt in the streets I will go under another name and am fix'd in this resolution never to breathe English aire again untill the King recovers his Scepter and the People their Senses A Letter writ by Sergeant-Major KIRLE to a Friend at Windsor Sir YOu were pleased to command a constant account from me as the onely requitall you would receive for admitting me an Officer in the Parliament Armie and though divers things have come from us which have been either doubted or contradicted and seem to have no other credit than the Close Committee yet what I am now about to tell you shall run none of those dangers but that with a great deal of confidence you may report both in publique to the House and in private â—o my friends that I am now at Oxford nor shall your wonder last long for by that time I have declared upon what grounds at first I undertook that service and upon what reasons I have since deserted it I shall without doubt where there is Charitie or Reason free my selfe from the imputation of dishonour and undeceive others that are as I was seduced About the time these distempers began here I returned from serving the Swede in Germanie and the States of Holland in both which Countries I cannot without vanitie say I did nothing to the dishonour of mine own as this absence made me ignorant of the condition of the Kingdom so it rendred me more inclinable to receive an imployment from the Parliament for though neither my youth nor this profession are curious after the affaires of State yet so common were the grievances in that unhappy conjuncture of time when I went abroad that I retain'd the same impressions in me at my comming home especially when I saw the complaints remain but did not know that the Causes were taken away thus possessed with prejudice it was no hard thing for me to believe that the pretences of War in themso specious and the imployment therein to be full of Honour Justice and Pietie and that there needed not the importunitie of my nearest friends or an argument from the necessitie their former severitie had cast upon me nor an invitation from your selfe to seek for the preferferment you speedily procured me How I behaved my selse while I was of your mind and in that service will be best judged by those that know that from a Lieutenant I was soone preferred to be Captaine of a Troop raised to my hand and shortly after to be Sergeant-Major to the Earle of Stamfords Regiment of Horse what prisoners I took what contribution I brought in what places and Townes I secured appeares by the testimony given of me and the thankes I received from you It is not therefore necessity has made me leave you to goe to the King from whom you have taken not only His revenues which should give Him bread but the benevolences as far as in you lies of His people that should maintaine His Army It is not ambition to forsake a certaine benefit for an uncertaine imployment and in justice as doubtfull a pardon it is not malice for any particular neglect or injury for I must confesse no man received greater kindnesse from his superiour Officers or more ample thankes from your selves then I have done no civill humane respect but a perfect discoverie of those false lights that have hitherto misled me and the deepe apprehension of the horrour which attends the persevering in such errours I must confesse though you would little thinke it that Master Sedgwicke Chaplaine to that Regiment first opened my eyes and moved me to that reflection upon my self which set me since in the right way not by his perswasions or conversion for I can assure you you may still confide in him but by the Spirit not that pretended to of meeknesse and peace but of fury and madnesse he revealed the mystery of this war and in his inspired rage brake the shell Religion safety of the King Libertie and proprietie and shewed us the kernell Atheisme Anarchie Arbitrary government and confusion what was meant else by his sawcie and impertinent talking to God Almightie whom he seemed rather to command than intreat what was meant else by his traducing the King and cursing him while he seemed to pray for him and presently with a tone as gentle as his language magnifie the Worthies the Estates assembled in Parliament what was meant else by incouraging violence and sharing in things plundered nor had one man given me a just prejudice of the cause but that I saw the whole lump of these pseudo clergie seasoned with the same leaven who hate and so instruct the people an innocent ceremony but thirst after blood who abhorre learning and Bishops but adore ignorance and division who while they are severe and therein they doe well against drunkennesse and adultery they make robbery rebellion sacriledge and murder become vertues because they are in order to effect their designes and truly I had not trusted my eares if the same and much more had not beene confirmed by my