obnoxious to the Laws as to remove all Jealousies not out of strict Policy or Necessity but out of Christian Charity and Choice For be confident as I am that the most of all sides that have done amiss have done so not out of malice but through a misapprehension of things And that therefore none will be more Loyal to you than those who sensible of their Errours and our Injuries will feel in their Souls most vehement motives of Repentance and earnest desires to make some reparations for their former defects As Your Quality sets you above any Duel with a Subject so the Nobleness of your Mind must raise you above the meditation of any Revenge upon the many that have offended you The more conscious you shall be to your own Merits upon your People the more prone you will be to expect all Love and Loyalty from them and by inflicting no punishment for former miscarriages you will find more inward complacency in pardoning of one than in punishing a thousand This I write to you not despairing of God's mercy and my Subjects affections towards you both which I hope you will study to deserve yet we cannot merit of God but by his own Mercy If God should see fit to restore me and you after me to those Enjoyments which the Laws should have assigned to us and no Subject without high degree of guilt can divest us of then may I have better opportunity when I shall see you in Peace to let you freely understand the things that belong to God's Glory your own Honour and the Kingdom 's Peace But if you never see my face again and God will have me buried in such a barbarous Imprisonment and Obscurity which the perfecting some mens Designs require where in few mens hearts that love me are permitted to exchange a word or look with me I do require and intreat you as your Father and your King that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against or dissatisfaction from the true Religion establisht in the Church of England which upon trial I find to be the best as Christian and Reformed keeping the middle way between the pompous Superstition of Tyranny and the meaness of Phanatick Anarchy Not but that the draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Discipline some Lines as in very good Figures do peradventure need some sweetning and polishing which might here have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens precipitancy had not violently demanded such rude alterations as would have quite destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole The Scandal of the late Troubles which some may object and urge to you against the Protestant Religion establisht in England is easily answered to them or your own thoughts Duel with a Subject so the Nobleness of your Mind must raise you above the meditation of any Revenge upon the many that have offended you The more conscious you shall be to your own Merits upon your People the more prone you will be to expect all Love and Loyalty from them and by inflicting no punishment for former miscarriages you will find more inward complacency in pardoning of one than in punishing a thousand This I write to you not despairing of God's mercy and my Subjects affections towards you both which I hope you will study to deserve yet we cannot merit of God but by his own Mercy If God should see fit to restore me and you after me to those Enjoyments which the Laws should have assigned to us and no Subject without high degree of guilt can divest us of then may I have better opportunity when I shall see you in Peace to let you freely understand the things that belong to God's Glory your own Honour and the Kingdom 's Peace But if you never see my face again and God will have me buried in such a barbarous Imprisonment and Obscurity which the perfecting some mens Designs require where in few mens hearts that love me are permitted to exchange a word or look with me I do require and intreat you as your Father and your King that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against or dissatisfaction from the true Religion establisht in the Church of England which upon trial I find to be the best as Christian and Reformed keeping the middle way between the pompous Superstition of Tyranny and the meaness of Phanatick Anarchy Not but that the draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Discipline some Lines as in very good Figures do peradventure need some sweetning and polishing which might here have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens precipitancy had not violently demanded such rude alterations as would have quite destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole The Scandal of the late Troubles which some may object and urge to you against the Protestant Religion establisht in England is easily answered to them or your own thoughts in this that scarce any one who has been a beginner or an active prosecutor of this late War against the Church the Laws and me either was or is a true lover embracer or practicer of the Protestant Religion establisht in England which neither gives such Rules nor ever before gave such Examples It 's true some heretofore have had the boldness to present threatning Petitions to their Princes and Parliaments which others of the same Faction but worse Spirits have now put in execution But let no counterfeit and disorderly Zeal abate your value and esteem of true Piety both of them are to be known by their Fruits The sweetness of the Vine and Figg-tree is not to be despised though the Brambles and Thorns should pretend to bear Figgs and Grapes thereby to promote their Rule over the Trees Nor would I have you to entertain any aversation or dislike of Parliaments which in their right Constitution with Freedom and Honour will never injure or diminish your greatness but rather be as the interchanging of Love Loyalty and Confidence between the Prince and his People The sad Effects of the Insolence of popular Dictates and tumultuary Impressions in this Black Parliament will make all Parliaments after this more cautious to preserve that Freedom and Honour which belongs to such Assemblies when they have once shaken off that Yoke of vulgar Encouragement since the Publick Interest consists in the common good of Prince and People Nothing can be more happy for all than in fair grave and honourable ways to contribute their counsels in common enacting all things by publick consent without either Tyranny or Tumults And we must not starve our selves because some men have surfeited of wholsom food If neither I nor you be ever restored to our Rights but God in his severest Justice will punish my Subjects with continuance in their sin and suffer them to be deluded by the prosperity of their wickedness I hope God will give me and
spoiled but left her Wealthy and Rich. Her Prelates He restored to their Ancient Rights and Dignities and filled Her Converts with Joy and Gladness His Religion and Piety He did not like most Princes make Religion an Artifice of State only but accounted it the Glory and Comfort of his Life His Soul in His private Devotion soared so high that he seemed to be wholly swallowed up with the Contemplation of the Holiness and Majesty of the God whom he adored and with whom he would plead in Prayer so earnestly and with such Affection as tho he were resolved to take no denial And one of the Presbyterian Ministers who attended the Commissioners sent over by the Parliament at Breda passing accidentally by when he was private in his Closet he was so astonished at the Ardency and Zeal wherewith he offered up his Sacrifices of Prayer and Praises to Almighty God that he suddenly clapt his hand upon his Heart and with a kind of Emotion of Spirit cried out to those that were with him We are not worthy of such a King And that which was the perfection of all his piety and zeal proceeded not so much from a desire to seem Religious as from a solemn Dedication of his great Soul to the Honour and Glory of his God by whom alone he knew Kings reign and Princes decree Justice Accounting himself like Theodosius the Emperor more happy in being a servant of Christ than in his being King of great Brittain and Ireland He was from his Infancy Eduducated in the Protestant Religion and Instructed by the Royal Martyr in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England And yet he was not a Protestant so much by Education as Choice as appeared by his constant adhering to the Church of England in the time of his unhappy Exile when he was absolutely free to have profess'd what Religion he pleased and had so many Temptations from the baseness and villany of his own Subjects and the kindness of those Popish Princes by whom he was entertained and from whose Assistance he expected relief against the unjust Oppression of those that had Vsurp'd his Throne to embrace the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And the reason why he so strenuously endeavoured to promote and maintain an Vniformity in Religion through all his Dominions was not so much to Justifie his own Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Causes as thereby to strengthen the Protestant Interest knowing that the safety of England consisted chiefly in the Vnion of her Inhabitants So that his knowledg in the sacred Mysteries of Religion was the Crown and Glory of all his other Perfections and the great end and design whereat He aimed in all his other Studies was the improving them to the Glory of God and the increasing in Himself the knowledg of more sublime and heavenly things wherein He so much excelled that He might have said with King David I am wiser than all my Teachers Knowing likewise that nothing obstructed the growth of Piety and the power of Godliness more than the wasting those parts and spending that time in disputing about Forms which ought wholly to be employed in promoting Holiness of Life and Sincerity of Heart He had during his Exile visited the Courts and Travelled through the Countrys of the three greatest and most Potent Monarchs of Christendom His Travels viz. Germany France and Spain and had by his Observation made himself Master of what was excellent and worth learning in their Forms and Methods of Government and exactly inform'd himself what were the Excellencies and what the defects of each of them And to the Admiration of those who had the Happiness to converse with him had by that means obtained an universal insight into all the great and weighty Affairs of Europe and understood by what Principles they were first moved and by what Counsels and to what ends they vvere aftervvards carried on vvhich tho he chiefly learned from themselves yet vvhat he gathered from them all in General vvas strange and surprizing to every one of them in particular who greatly wondred at the Comprehensiveness of his Knowledg So that as he had by right of Nature a Power of Empire over the Bodies of one Part of Europe He might seem by a Natural and acquired right to claim an Vniversal Monarchy over the Intellectual Powers the Minds and Wills of Mankind in all the Parts of it besides He understood Spanish and Italian and spake and wrote French correctedly was well versed in Ancient and Modern History and had read the choicest Pieces of Politicks and Divinity and understood the fundamental Laws of England so well His skill in Arts and Sciences that he could readily answer the most difficult Queries and resolve the greatest Mysteries and Critical Niceties that were at any time started about them and had his mind so well furnished with the knowledg of Nature and the Reasons of Things that He comprehended almost all kind of Arts which contributed any Thing either to the Delight or Service of Mankind He understood the truest and best Method for Building of Ships and could better than those who pretended themselves the greatest Crafts-masters therein direct the making them far more useful both for Strength and Sailing than any which had been formerly built and was as well acquainted with Rigging and Fitting forth a Fleet for Sea He had great Skill in Guns knew all that belonged to their casting and could tell upon first view whether they were mounted to do Execution or not He was a great Lover of stately Buildings and several Curious Edifices were either built or repaired by Him But his greatest Cost and Care in that kind was laid out in Windsor-Castle which he took more delight in than in any other of His Palaces Nor were His Buildings all for Pomp but some for Charity witness that Curious and Stately Fabrick of Chelsey-Colledg for the Entertainment of decayed Soldiers He understood Navigation Astronomy and all the parts of the Mathematicks to such a Degree that he is supposed to have attained a greater Perfection therein than any Prince ever did before Him and took so much delight in those Pleasant and Useful Studies that he endeavoured as much as possible the promoting them in others Witness His Worthy Gift to the Hospital of Christ-Church for the Annual breeding up a certain Number of the most Ingenuous of their Children in the Mathematical Studies and the Liberal Rewards which were frequently bestowed by Him upon Ingenious Men that had any way contributed toward the making those Studies more easie and delightful or had been imployed by him in any thing relating thereunto His Recreations for the most part were very stirring and such as tended to the making his Body more Robust and strong His Recreations and maintaining it in Health which he enjoyed to as great a degree as any Prince in the World ever did such as Riding Hunting Fishing Tennis and the like He loved Walking extreamly
have you begin the best Government you can attain to is to be subject to his Word and Spirit swaying in your heart Your Glory will be the advancement of God's Glory in the maintenance of true Religion and of the Churches good and in the dispensation of Civil Justice and Honour for the publick good Piety will make you prosperous or at least not miserable whereby in the loss of all you save a Soul to which as to a Creature I see all these black Lines of Affliction drawn This Cup we tast is God's Physick having that in healthfulness in wants and pleasure I would have you above all well grounded in your Religion according to the best Profession of the Church of England which I wish may be judiciously your Religion sealed by your Judgment and Reason persevering iâ— it as the nearest to the Word of Goâ— for Doctrine and the Primitive Examples for Government with such amendment as I elsewhere expressed and often offered but in vain A fixation for Relâ—gion is necessary for your Souls and Kingdoms Peace The Devil of Rebellion can turn himself into such an Angel of Reformation and the Old Serpent can pretend such New Lights that when some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop their mouth with the name and noise of Religion When Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal so that you must be settled or you shall never want Temptations to destroy you and yours Men are so good at putting the best of Princes for the worst of Designs especially when Novelty prevails much attended with Zeal for Religion and 't is a good way to hide their own Deformities by severe censures upon other mens Opinions and Actions Abet no publick Faction against your own and the Churches settled judgment least the advantage you gain in some Mens Hearts who are prone to be of their Kings Religion be lost in others who think themselves and their professions first dispised and then Persecuted by you Either calmly remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or order it so in point of power that you need not fear or flatter any else you are undone so quickly will the Serpent devour the Dove There is less Loyalty Justice or Humanity in none than in Religious Rebels whose Ambitious Policies march under the Colours of Piety with security and applause You may hear from them Jacobs Voice but you shall feel they have Esaus Hands The Presbyterian Faction in England while compliant with publick order was inconsiderable in Church and Sâ—ate When discontents drove Men to sideing as ill humors fall to the disaffected part so did all that affected Novelty adhere to that side as the most remarkable note of difference then in point of Religion all lesser Factions until time and success had discovered to them their several advantages being officious Servants to Presbytery What may seem at first but an hand-breadth in Religion by Seditious Spirits as by strong Winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heavens and therefore must be suppressed or reformed Next to your care for Religion take care for Justice according to the settled Laws of these Kingdoms which by an admirable temperament give very much to the Subject and yet reserve enough for any King who owns his People as Subjects and not as Slaves Never charge your Head with such a Crown as may oppress the whole Body that it cannot return any strength honour or safety to the head Your Prerogative is best exercised in remitting rather than exacting the just Vigour of the Laws I hope you will never think it safe for a King to gratify any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the publick interest and the good of the Community My Counsel and charge to you is that if it please God to restore you you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my troubles that you may avoid them Never repose so much upon any Mans single fidelity and distraction in managing affairs of Religion and Justice as to create in your self or others a diffidence of your own judgment which will prove more faithful to your own and the Kingdoms interest than any Mans. Exasperate no Faction by the asperity of any Mans Passions or humors employed by you about differences in lesser matters wherein a charitable toleration dissipates that strength whom rougher opposition fortifieth provided the differences amount not to an insolent opposition of Laws and Governments our Religion Established as to the essentials of them Always keep up solid Piety and those fundamental Truths which mend both the hearts and lives of men with impartial Favour and Justice Take heed that outward Circumstances of Religion devour not all the Encouragements of Learning Industry and Piety but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all men as you find for their real goodness both in abilities and fidelity worthy or capable of them This will give you the hearts of the best and most too who though they be not good themselves yet are glad to see the severer ways of Virtue at any time sweetned with Temporal Rewards Time will dissipate all Faction when the roughâ— Designs of some men shall discover themselves which were at first wrapt up under the smooth pretences of Religion Reformation and Liberty For as the Wolf is not less cruel so he will be more justly hated when he shall appear no better than a Wolf under Sheeps clothing And as for the secluded Train of the vulgar who in their simplicity follow those disguises my charge and counsel to you is That as you need no palliations for any Designs so you study really to exceed in true and constant demonstrations of Goodness Piety and Virtue toward the People even those men that make the greatest noise and ostentation of Religion So you shall neither fear any detection as they do who have but the face and mask of goodness nor shall you frustrate the just expectation of your People who cannot in reason promise themselves so much good from any Subjects Novelty as from the goodness of their King And when Factions are by God's Mercy and your Virtue dissipated the abused vulgar will then learn that none are greater Oppressors of their Estates Liberties and Consciences than those men that entitle themselves the Patrons and Vindicators of them only under that pretence to usurp Power over them Let no passion therefore betray you to any study of revenge upon those whose own sense and folly will sufficiently punish in due time But as soon as the Forked Arrows of Factious Emulations is drawn out use all Princely Arts and Clemency to heal the Wounds that the smart of the Cure may not equal the smart of the Heart Where-ever it shall be desired and accepted offer Indempnity to so great a latitude as may include all that can but suspect themselves to be any way
thereunto is I am resolved to continue firm in my Religion Then replied the Abbot I am commanded from the Queen your Mother to tell you that she charges you to see her face no more At which dismal expression the Duke being not a little moved begged with great earnestness that he might be permitted at least to implore her parting blessing till he could in time prevail for her pardon but could not obtain it though he indeavoured it again the next morning being Sunday before she went to her Devotions by the intercession of his Brother the Duke of York who did with great tenderness compassionate his condition and with great earnestness move on his behalf But the Queen proved inexorable not only to him but to all others who spoke on his behalf nor would she intimate her pleasure to him by any other Person than the Abbot who solicited him again aggravating the peril of his Mothers displeasure and advising him at that instant being the most proper time as she was going to Mass at her Monastery to apply himself to her assuring him that she had those Proposals to make to him which would set his heart at rest though he said he could not name them To which the Duke replied if it were so I could apply my self to her well enough for my heart can have no rest except in the free exercise of my Religion but I fear her Propositions will not I am sure yours never tended to give me any ease or quiet at which very instant the Queen passed by in her Coach toward her Nunnery whereupon the Duke approached toward her and attempted to begg her Blessing but was with great indignation rejected Whereat shewing himself very much discomposed the Abbot came up to him demanding what it was her Majesty had said to him that had put him into so great disorder to which he briskly replied what she said I may thank you for Sir and therefore it is but reason that what my Mother said to me I should say to you Be sure I see your face no more and so turned about and left him whereupon the Abbot calling after him said Whither are you going good Sir To whom looking over his shoulder he answered to Church whither he immediately repaired with a sad and dejected countenance which did much abate the joy of the Congregation who were much pleased to see him accompany his Brother the Duke of York thither but they partook with him in his sorrow when they understood that after Sermon he was to seek where to get a Dinner for which he must send to the Cooks or fast for there was a very strict Prohibition given to all the Officers in his Mothers Court that they should not furnish him with any Provisions or necessaries That night after Evening Prayer he had hopes to enjoy one moment of satisfaction by conversing with his Sister the Princess Henrietta afterward Dutchess of Orleans during his Mothers absence but as soon as the young Princess heard the news of his designed adventure she was so frighted into shrieks and tears that she cryed out Oh God my Brother Oh me my Mother What I am undone for ever What shall I do Which as soon as the Duke heard he retired not being willing his dear Sister should by her kindness to him purchase her Mothers displeasure In this disconsolate condition he went to his Lodging when it was nine a Clock at night his Groom came to know what he should do with his Horses for the Queens Comptroller was come to him with a charge to remove them instantly whereupon the Groom pleaded it was then too late and that on the morrow it would be time enough but the Comptroller replied he should then be put out of his place e'er the morning The next day the Sheets were taken off his Bed finding therefore that he could not be permitted to stay at the Palace-Royal he thought until he could provide necessaries for his Journey into Germany to retire to the House of Mr. Crofts afterward Lord Crofts near Paris whereof the Queen hearing she check'd Mr. Crofts for being willing to receive him with which he acquainted the Duke but submits however to his pleasure In this strait the Duke betook himself to the advice of that faithful Servant to his Family and zealous Protestant the Lord Hatton by whose judicious instructions he had received much satisfaction in this his distressed condition who so soon as the Duke had made known to him that he was not only turned out of his Mothers House but that all persons who had any dependency upon her were forbidden to receive or assist him his Lordship told him if his Highness would please to honour his House with his presence he should there be received with all the dutiful regard that could be paid to him by so ancient and faithfully devoted Servant of his Royal Family And with an Entertainment as suitable to his Quality as the remains of that Fortune he had spent in his Father's Service would afford But this the Duke out of great modesty at first declined alledging the great hazard which he knew he would thereby run of having his Estate again sequestred in England as well as by incurring the displeasure of the French Court endanger his being exil'd that Kingdom for his kindness to him as he had been that of England for his Service to his Father and perhaps be endangered in his person too by the fury of the Rabble who might peradventure be animated by some enraged Papist for thus disappointing them of making a Proselyte of him as they boasted they had done and given Publick Thanks for it in diverse of their Churches But his Lordship assur'd him that as he had hitherto spent the greatest part of his Life and Fortune in the Service of his Royal Family and the defence of the Protestant Religion so he would willingly sacrifice the remainder of both on so honourable an occasion as that with which hearty invitation he was so pleas'd that he took no farther thoughts whither to go but concluded to remain with him Being thus gone from the Palace-Royal the Queen-Mother of France came immediately thither to try once more if she could prevail with him to change his Religion and as soon as she came sent her Son the Duke of Anjou to visit him who return'd with the News that he was not to be found but as soon as it was known where he was she sent the Marquess of Plessis to perswade him to comply with his Mother's advice For the effecting whereof he exercised all his Parts and Elocution with the greatest earnestness and affirming that since the death of his Father the Queen his Mother had sole Power and Authority over him disputing whether the King his Brother as his Sovereign had an equal right to dispose of him And the Discourse growing somewhat publick the Marquess of Ormond and the Lord Hatton who were then likewise present arguing in the Duke's
own Prerogative and his Peoples Properties by the just Dimension of his Laws so that Justice was impartially administred throughout his whole Reign unless where himself was party and there he would rather lose his own Cause than have his Subjects seem oppressed nor was there ever known so few Executions in so long a Reign And truly when we especially for the first Eighteen Years after the Interregnum consider his great Mercy to Traytors it looks as if he design'd not to spare himself provided he could but people again or at least keep as full as possibly a Nation which had been so monstrously emptied of men by a long unnatural and sanguinary War For he was ever unwilling to inflict the least Severities upon his offending Subjects unless when necessity of State or the nature of the Crime did bind the hand of Mercy and render Severity absolutely necessary rather for the publick than his own Secuirty He always professed to love and seek Peace and prefer it before the Troubles and Hazards of War wherein he was like Solomon rather than David and imitated our Blessed Saviour who stiles himself the Prince of Peace ever bearing it in his Princely mind that when Christ came into the World Peace was sang by the Holy Angels and when he made his Exit Peace was the Legacy he bequeathed Nor can it be imagined That his desire of Peace was the effect of softness or fear for he was both Active and Valiant but he had a Conduct peculiar to himself in bringing about his Purposes His peaceable disposition and accomplishing his designs by the most easie and gentle means and would do that by Peace which others could not perform by War and effect more by shewing his Sword than others could do by using it He knew the way to preserve and obtain Peace was sometimes to pretend an inclination to embrace War and therefore would when provok'd make offers of the latter till he had mended the Conditions of the former By which means he was more absolutely and with far less charge to his Subjects the Arbitrator of Europe than any of his Predecessors had ever been and could at his Pleasure dispence War and Peace where and to whom he pleas'd which makes it the greater Wonder That He who was so great a Lover of Peace should be so successful in War for his Arms were always fortunate nor did he ever after his Restauration know what a miscarriage meant The Two Rebellions in Scotland were ended by Victory as if raised industriously to encrease the Fame of his Arms which after so long an interval of Peace wanted exercising and in his Wars with Holland France Spain and Denmark he was always sued to for peace before he granted it and the French King did ever fear his Threatnings more than other Princes performances In the exercising his Sovereignty he consulted his own Judgment rather than other mens Affections or Interests and always reserv'd the disposal of his Royal Favours to his own Will and Pleasure and to avoid the fate of too many Princes who are ruled by their Favourites and Govern'd by those whom they themselves have raised he never admitted any of his Nobles to so familiar an intimacy with him His care to maintain the Prerogatives of the Crown as to give others occasion to account them his Favourites For altho he had many Noblemen about him whom he greatly loved and upon whose Advice and Counsel he much rely'd as Clarendon Buckingham Lauderdale Danby and others yet none of them could be properly called his Favourites as Gaveston and Spencer were the Favourites of Edward the Second or the Duke of Norfolk of Richard the Second And altho he would frequently acquaint his Parliaments with his Intentions and require their advice and assistance for the executing of them yet he would not endure they should be too positive or peremptory therein accounting that too great an Invasion of his Prerogative and would tell them The Right of making and managing War and Peace was invested in Him and if they thought he would depart from any part of that Right they would find themselves mistaken for having the Reins of Government in his own hands he would have the same care to maintain them there as he would have to preserve his own Person His Prudence and Conduct in managing the great Affairs of his Kingdom was so admirable and successful that it is rather to be wondred at than believed and he made so many good and wholsome Laws every one whereof was grounded upon the most searching Maxims of State for the Welfare and security of His Subjects and the maintaining the prerogatives of the Crown as no Age before him could ever boast of which begot in all men the greater Awe and Veneration of him and yet there is nothing more certain than that his Reputation was as great if not greater abroad than at home His Prudence and Conduct tho perhaps not so well grounded for Forreigners could not see at that distance the passages of Affairs nor discern by what Secret Councils he always attained his own ends and disappointed the Expectation of his Enemies abroad and the Factions at Home and were therefore forced to make their Judgment upon the Issues and Success of them No Prince ever had a Wiser Council than He and yet no Prince ever needed it less for he was Himself a Counsellor to his Council and was able to direct those of whom he asked advice For he was as well skilled in the Art of Kingship as His Royal Grandfather was wont to term it and had as great an insight into and understood as well the best Rules and Methods of Government as any Prince that ever sway'd a Scepter which rendred him more capable of exercising his Kingly Office to the greatest advantage of Himself his Kingdom and the Protestant Religion and enabled Him to govern His Subjects for so long a Tract of Time with so much exactness that by his Wise and Prudent Management he so poized all jarring and different Interests as to preserve the publick Peace and Tranquility of his Kingdom to the very last Minute of His Life notwithstanding the many restless Attempts of unruly and designing Men to disturb it and left things in so good a posture at his Death that his most Illustrious Brother and Royal and Lawful Successor ascended his Imperial Throne with as much Facility and Applause as any of his Predecessors He loved so well to see his Subjects thrive that he coveted not so much to fill his Exchequer as to reign over a Rich and Wealthy People and thought Money as well bestowed when laid up in their Coffers as when it filled his own He was Religious toward God as well as just towards man and took care to promote the Interest of the Church as well as the State At His Restoration he found the Church involved in Trouble but left her possessed of Peace he found her robbed and