usually attributed to his Counsellours with the usual Reflections upon himself But the Misfortunes and what Errors were committed ought truly to be laid at their Doors which they were not ignorant of seeing the Parliament absolutely denied to supply the Necessities of the Crown both at Home and Abroad whereby things often miscarried The Parliament publish their Remonstrance and Money was sometimes raised by extraordinary Ways But the King informed of their Design and not ignorant of the Force of ingenious Calumny had desired them not to emit the said Remonstrance not that he feared the Truth but that he apprehended the Poison of plausible Malice But these modest Men refused to comply in so small a matter with their King which produced an Answer from his Majesty no less just and reasonable to all Men of Sense than that monstrous Libel was fertile of falsity and imposture The Commons to gain Credit to the Terrors wherewith they had exagitated the People and lest they should have the least Suspicion of hazard to the Service of God 1641. Frame the Protestation had in May framed a Protestation and Oath without acquainting the King or House of Lords with it which rendered it ipso facto illegal which was swallowed by most Men none of the Lower House nor scarce any of the Upper refusing it and afterwards imposed upon the whole Kingdom which generally took it without observing the Poison hid under it This Protestation appeared very plausible at first sight promising to defend Religion according to Law and the King according to Religion if it had not administred occasion to those fictitious Bug-bears of Fears and Jealousies or planed and ushered the way to that rebellious Confederation called the Covenant betwixt these perfidious Wretches and their no less perfidious Brethren the Scots The Faction also in process of time explaining this Protestation affirmed their meaning to be That by the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations contrary to the same Doctrine is meant only the publick Doctrine professed in the Church so far as it is opposite to Popery and Popish Innovation and that the said words are not to extend to the maintaining of any Form of Worship Discipline or Government nor of any Rites or Ceremonies of the said Church of England so that upon the Matter it seems manifest that the Hierarchy of Bishops and the Liturgy were plainly designed for Extirpation The other Arts whereby the Bell-weathers of the Faction daily incensed the People were the feigning and then themselves detecting of Plots and Conspiracies and imaginary Designs wherewith they strangely troubled and afrighted the giddy Rabble who by an implicit Credulity believed all that was told them to the prejudice of the King or his Friends whom they stigmatized with the odious Characters of Papists and Malignants Nor was it an Artifice of less Cunning in them to procure Subscriptions from the unthinking Crowd to occasional Petitions of their own framing pretending Grievances and Dangers and demanding Remedies against them as in publick Calamities On the other side the King hitherto patient seeing his Clemency more and more abused by the Contumacy of his Adversaries resolved to punish these Disturbers of the Publick Peace And being informed that some Members of Parliament had private Meeting and Caballing with the Scots who also had countenanced the late Tumults he gave Warrants to seize their Papers and secure their Persons but they being withdrawn he caused One of the Vpper House and Five of the Lower to be accused of High-Treason His Majesty had had Advertisement of their Caballing when he was in Scotland but had forbore them hitherto upon hope that his Indulgence might have laid the Storms these Men had raised but finding the contrary he caused them to be Impeach'd by his Attorney General Sir Ed. Herbert and sent a Sergeant at Arms to demand them of the House which they were so far from complying with that they immediately voted That no Person whatsoever should offer to Arrest or Detain any Member of that House without Order from the House But they had forgot their own Resolves in Sir George Ratcliff's Case who being a Member of the Parliament in Ireland had it determined against him That no Privilege of Parliament there nor here should reach to Protect him in Case of High-Treason The King therefore entring their House in Person The King enters the House of Commons required they should be delivered to the Law The Crimes objected against them were That amongst other Things they had endeavoured to subvert the Laws had invited Foreigners the Scots to Invade the Kingdom that they had raised Tumults and Seditions and had alienated the Subjects Affections from their King But these Traytors having private Notice of the Design against them by one of the * Countess of Carlisle Court Ladies withdrew themselves into Westminster-Hall where hiding themselves that Night they in the Morning fled into the City from whence they in a few Days returned with no less Pomp than Impudence 'T is scarce credible with what Bitterness the seditious calumniating Spirits in the Commons House traduced this Act of the King 's They cryed out Their Privileges were destroyed and that never such Violence had been offered to so great a Court by any of his Predecessors Not considering That there is no Sanctuary for Rebellion which was the present Case and they themselves will hereafter turn out the whole Body of the House During these Traverses the tumultuous Uproars being encouraged by the Puritans grew daily more licentious insomuch that a Preaching Iron-monger dared to throw a Libel intituled To your Tents O Israel into his Majesty's Coach the Multitude bellowing without ceasing Privileges of Parliament Privileges of Parliament The Parliament hereupon transfer their Session into the City their Adjournment being to keep up the Belief that they did not Sit in Safety and to countenance the Attempt upon the Militia which they now were designing where infusing into the People gave them also a false Alarm by their Emissaries who running through the Streets of the City at dead time of the Night cryed terribly A terrible Alarm in the City That the King was coming with an Army of Papists to destroy them which wrought so effectually that the Inhabitants raised with the Horrour of the imaginary Danger took Arms and in an instant got into a Body of no less than Fourty Thousand Men whilst the Women also filled the Streets with Benches Stools Tubs c. to hinder the Passage of the Horse and provided scalding Water to throw upon them The Non-appearance of these Souldiers in the Air could not undeceive the People being kept warm with successive hourly Discoveries of Plots and Dangers so that the Parliament which was returned guarded by great Numbers from London to Westminster as it were in Triumph importuned the King again for Guards and that under the
Parliament he should call Moreover there were some other Malecontents who by reason of their Disaffection had been denied such Titles and Honours as they pretended to at his Majesties Coronation who all joyned together and because there are no Pretences more specious than those of Religion nor more charming Bates to ensnare the Vulgar it was thought most proper to be insisted on Nor was it long before the Depravedness of the times furnished them with Opportunities to manifest their Resentments The pious King was pleased to send the Liturgy and Book of Common-Prayers signed with the Blood of the first Reformers of our Church The King sends the Liturgy into Scotland to the Kirk of Scotland for he desired to unite in the same Opinion in Spirituals those People who were subject to the same Empire in Temporals King JAMES had formerly proposed the same thing to his Countrymen at Aberdeen who willingly assented to it and having framed it there and adapted it to the Church of Scotland it was sent into England where it lay till by the Advice of the Privy Council at Edenburgh and perswasion of some others nearer him though very unseasonably his Majesty returned it to them with Command to have it used in all the Churches and Chapels of Scotland This Advice however laudable was ill timed for the growing Factions took thence an Occasion to rebel and 't is scarce credible with what contumacious Fury the Presbyterians who would sooner sin against Religion its self than its Rites did oppose it crying out that the King introduced Superstition and prophane Forms of Worship into the Church Rumours were also spread abroad by the dissatisfied Nobles before-mentioned who abhorred nothing equal with the Restitution of what they had usurped as also by others of the Cabal who longed for a Change of reducing Scotland into a Province So that the People thinking their Civil as well as Sacred Liberty were in danger became obnoxious to the Artifices of every Faction And this occasioned the Sedition of Edenburgh and the zealous Madness of the Rabble against the Liturgy The Sedition of Edenburgh Jul. 23. 1637. The Dean that officiated as also the Bishop who should have preached had much to do to escape with their Lives their wild Auditors throwing their Books Stools and whatever else their Fury could seize on at their Heads Nor did they stick here for the prime Conspirators who had thus infatuated the lowest of the People and incensed them against the Liturgy engaged them also the better sort now consorting with them in a Covenant under pretext of vindicating their Religion to abolish it and gaping after the Church-Revenues to extirpate the Hierarchy of Bishops Moreover they took up Arms being instigated thereto by the Puritans of England whom they had cajoled with a Declaration as they call'd it to vindicate their Actions and Intentions and renouncing their Duty and Allegiance they seized upon the King's Castles and Revenues for their Use and Support in the War Having raised an Army but distrusting their own Strength they courted Assistance from the French and writing an humble Letter to Lewis XIII of that Name implored the Assistance of a foreign Prince The Scots implore Assistance from the French King Car. Richlieu against their own whom they had so cruelly offended And thus a great Mystery was discovered teaching the World how to extirpate the Religion of Rome by consulting with a Roman Cardinal and by joining Forces with a Catholick Monarch The King had sent Duke Hamilton to allay these Troubles but he acted so remissly that he seemed rather to encourage than suppress their fury which is no wonder if what is reported of him be true that their first Motions had been secretly directed by his Counsels The King therefore incited by the Insolence of his Subjects resolved Mar. 27-1639 The King marches towards Scotland seeing his clemency was neglected to chastise them by force and raising a great Army marches towards Scotland But there was nothing performed in this Expedition worthy such extraordinary Preparations For many both of the Nobility and Gentry would hardly be perswaded to invade Scotland which likewise cooled the Soldiers Nor is it to be wondered at since their chief Officers as Essex who was Lieutenant-General and Holland General of the Horse with others proved afterwards to be the prime Heads of the Rebellion in England They had forgot the Animosities of old betwixt these Neighbour-Nations fearing as had been suggested to them That Scotland being conquered the Forces that served to subdue it might in process of Time be made use of to enslave England But the remoteness of this Project renders it very Chimerical However the King warned by the Perfidy of his own Men Makes Peace was necessitated to consent to a Peace with the Rebels upon no equal Terms Which he the rather did as being sensible That nothing can happen more pernicious to a Prince than Civil Discord But the Scots quickly violated the Peace they had procured for they did not disband according to the Articles of the Treaty but kept all their Officers in pay Neither did they demolish the Fortifications of Leith as they should have done but adding Infidelity to their Rebellion did also publish a Libel entituled Conditions of his Majesty's Treaty with his Subjects of Scotland which for its Falseness by inserting Articles never assented to was burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman The Scots break it and invade England High with their late Success and looking upon the King's Indulgence as an Argument of his Easiness not his Goodness being also instigated to it by the English Puritans they arm a Second Time and sleighting the Sanctions of the Treaty rush into England and unexpectedly possess the Towns of New-Castle and Durham They had sent their Declaration before them intimating That what they undertook was for the Glory of God and that their Arms were onely Defensive and not intended against England but against the Canterbury Faction and to endeavour to unite both Nations in one as to Religion The King seeing his Clemency abused and his Authority prostituted by the Rebels in Scotland and to repress the Insolency of his Subjects who had by Leagues Oaths and the Seisure of his Castles and Forts and the like conspired against him and also that the Decrees of Parliament might not be rescinded by those of the Assembly nor the Three States be mutilated by the abolishing of Episcopacy seriously resolved to vindicate his offended Majesty and reduce his so often Rebelling Subjects to their Duty again The Little Parliament He therefore summon'd a Parliament to meet at London which he had deferred for some Years past to give those boisterous Spirits leasure to cool And now he acquaints them with the Invasion of the Scots and their Indignities towards him and very earnestly demands Moneys of them to carry on the War assuring them that if they would liberally comply with his
being husht up by the Treaty of Breda The Plague did devour our People no more its Poison being extinct And the City lately of Wood was now by the King's Munificence rebuilt of Brick and Stone When one Titus Oates who had had his Education and Orders in the Reformea Church of England being afterwards reconciled to that of Rome passed over first into Flanders and thence into Spain Where under pretence of Religion and his Zeal for it he gained so much Favour with the Priests and Jesuits that he had Opportunities as he pretended to penetrate into their most secret Councils This new Proselyte changing Parties again returned into England where he informs the King of a Design of the Papists against his Life against the Reformed Religion and the present Government And naming several Lords as Bellasis Powis Peters Arundel Castelmain Stafford and other Men of Quality as prime Conspirators in this Treason gained so much Credit with the Parliament that the accused were all imprisoned the Papists commanded to remove Ten Miles from the City and all of them to be cashier'd out of all Employments both Military and Civil The mysterious Death of Godfrey inflamed the Parliaments Credulity to Vote That there was a Plot execrable and Hellish as they termed it Insomuch as the King at their instant Desires past a Bill to disable all Popish Peers or other Members so affected to fit in either Houses of Parliament Offering further to comply with any Expedient they should propose for the Security of the Protestant Religion so as they tended not to impeach the Right of Succession Coleman Ireland Pickering Groves Fenwick Whitebread Langhorn Staley Green Berry and Hill condemned by the Testimony of Oates and others of his Associates solemnly attested their Innocence at their Death Nor did so great Effusion of Blood suffice to remove the Jealousies they had of the Papists so that the Houses of Parliament to whom the King had granted all things for the security of Religion not contented with these Concessions proceeded so far as to press the King to remove the Duke of York from his Presence and Councils To this they added the Imprisonment of his Secretary Williamson without his Knowledge Which did so far irritate his Majesty that he dissolved this Parliament after it had continued Seventeen Years Fanaticism which had lurk'd for some Time under a Protestant Mask and infused its Contagion into the Parliament began now under Pretence of Godliness to appear more openly The King having dissolved the Parliament as is said had summon'd another from which he hoped for more good than he had hitherto experimented And lest the Presence of his Brother might prove any Obstacle he commanded him to retire until the Heat of the Faction did a little cool Which he obeyed without Repugnancy that he might in no wise occasion any the least Dissension betwixt the King his Brother and the Parliament But the King's Indulgence and the Duke's Observance were equally valu'd Nor could all his Concessions with those Limitations not meddle with the Succession or his Prerogatives satisfy their Contumacy year 1679 Nay he had dismissed his Privy Council as being ill look'd upon by the Parliament surrogating others in their rooms not so obnoxious to the Faction making the Earl of Shaftsbury President But all this was to no purpose for the Parliament omitting those Things which they were to have treated of and postponing the King's Demands of Subsidies they again attacked the Duke of York absent then in Flanders the Commons voting his Exclusion from the Succession But the King seeing the contumacious Animosity of the Party and not obscurely perceiving that he himself was aimed at through the Duke's Sides July 10. Octob. 17. dissolving this present Parliament commanded another to convene in October following Whilst these things are in Agitation in England the Tumults in Scotland flew higher Dr. Sharp the Arch-bishop of St. Andrews was most inhumanly murthered in his Coach by a Party of the barbarous Covenanters Which done the Rebellion they designed was by the Concourse of those Multitudes that flockt together suddainly formed into a considerable Army consisting of Sixteen Hundred Horse and above Four Thousand Foot Nor were the Royallists less active the King having sent the Duke of Monmouth thither as General who joying with the Scots Nobility they raised such a Force that fighting the Rebels at Bothwel-Bridge chey defeated them The Slaughter was not great for the Enemies Horse not being prest or pursued by the Connivance if not Command of Monmouth for he himself had other Designs as it afterwards appeared retreated in a Body at least Twelve Miles from the Place they had fought in and separating there dispersed themselves some of the Foot being slain A few of the Prisoners were punished for their improsperous Treason After this the King fell sick of a Fever at Windsor which was so violent that the Physitians despaired of his Recovery Upon News whereof the Duke hastened from Brussels to Court But it seemed otherwise good to the Almighty who was pleased to prolong his Life until he could leave the Kingdom agitated at present with so many Distractions settled and composed to his Successor Being restored to his Health the Joy of it was celebrated by the Universality at least the Good Part of the Nation the City also sending their Lord Mayor and Aldermen with a great Train with Thirty Coaches and a Troop of a Hundred Horse for their Convoy to Windsor to congratulate his Hapyy Recovery But Monmouth however illegitimate blinded with Ambition and not content with those great Honours and Places he enjoyed aspired to the Crown it self inviting and alluring with the Baits of Employments and Rewards some of the most interested to his Party But this caballing was discovered to the King by the Earl of Oxford who abhorring the Treason preferr'd his Loyalty before all the Offers of Ambition and Greatness The King being justly incensed against the Ingratitude and Vanity of the Pretender divested him of all those Dignities and Offices which he enjoyed and banished him the Kingdom Moreover to prevent the Chymerical Delusions which the Report of his being married or contracted to the said Duke's Mother might occasion his Majesty by repeated Declarations publickly emitted as also by Writings under his own Hand declared Vpon the Faith of a Christian and the Word of a King that he never Married nor gave any Contract to any Woman whatsoever but to Queen Katharine his Wife This the King did with so much Solemnity to prevent the Peoples being abused by these false and malitious Reports and lest the Factious might thereby mislead them to disturb the Publick Peace or violate the Rights of Succession Whereby also the vain Pretences of Monmouth and the ridiculous Machinations of the Seditious might be disappointed The Parliament 1679. 1680. which the King had summoned to meet in October being delayed by several Motogatives did not come together before the October
Finally he hoped to live to shew how Zealous he should ever be for his Majesty's Service And could he say but one word in this Letter he would be convinced of it but it was of that Consequence that he durst not do it and therefore he beg'd once more that he might speak with him For then he would be convinced he should ever be his Majesty's most humble and dutiful Monmouth Being brought to the Tower he did not long survive his Misfortunes July 14. 1685. For being Attainted of High-Treason by An Act of Parliament he was beheaded on a Scaffold for that purpose erected on Tower-Hill He had delivered this following Paper before he mounted the last Stage of his Life referring himself to it in all the Discourses he held upon the Scaffold Which I thought fit to subjoyn I Declare that the Title of King was forced upon me and that it was very much contrary to my Opinion when I was Proclaimed For the Satisfaction of the World I do declare that the late King told me he was never Married to my Mother Having said this I hope that the King who is now will not let my Children suffer on this Accompt And to this I put my Hand this 15th day of July 1685. Monmouth His Actions sufficiently declare his Character And his Body being inhumed by Order in the Chappel of the Tower put an End to his Chimerical Principality and this REBELLION FINIS Books Printed for Thomas Newborough at the Golden-Ball in St. Paul's Church-Yard SEveral Chyrurgical Treatises by R. Wiseman Serjeant Surgeon to his Majesty Fol. New Travels of Monsieur Thevenot into the Levant viz. Into Turkey Persia and the East-Indies Fol. A New and Easy Method to the Art of Dialling Containing all Horizontals all upright Reflecting Dyals and Dyals without Centres Nocturnal and upright Declining Dyals without knowing the Declination of the Plane 2. The most natural and easie way of describing the Currelines of the Sun's Declination on any Plane By Thomas Strode Esq Quarto A New History of China containing a Description of the Politick Government Towns Manners and Customs of the People c. Octavo Geographia Vniversalis the Present State of the World giving an account of the several Religions Customs and Riches of each People the Strength and Government of each Policy and State The curious and most remarkable things in every Region c. By the Sieur Duval Geographer to his Majesty Octavo The Muses Farewel to Slavery Or a Collection of Poems Satyrs and Songs By the Eminent Wits of the Nation the Second Edition Octavo Books Printed for and Sold by Luke Meredith at the Angel in Amen-Corner Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick THE Christian's Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the Holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the principal Festivals in memory of our blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition corrected The devout Christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to God Or a Book of Devotions for Families and particular Persons in most of the concerns of human life The Second Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Nonconformist in Octavo Two parts Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth in Two Parts in Octavo new The Glorious Epiphany with the devout Christian's Love to it in Octavo new The Book of Job Paraphras'd in Octavo new The whole Book of Psalms Paraphrased in Octavo Two Volumes The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with Arguments to each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting A Paraphrase upon the Books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon with Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon in 8. The Truth of Christian Religion in Six Books written in Latin by Hugo Grotius and now Translated into English with the Addition of a Seventh Book against the present Roman Church in Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books with directions to them therein In Three Parts A Treatise of Repentance and of Fasting especially of the Lent Fast In Three Parts A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the Daily publick Prayers In Two Parts A Book for Beginners or a Help to Young Communicants that they may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with profit Books written by Jer. Taylor D. D. and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor DVctor Dubitantium or the Rule of Conscience in Five Books in Folio The Great Exemplar or the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus in Folio with Figures suitable to every Story engrav'd in Copper whereunto is added the Lives and Martyrdoms of the Apostles by W. Cave D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Collection of Polemical Discourses addressed against the Enemies of the Church of England both Papists and Fanaticks in large Fol. the Third Edition The Rules and Exercises of holy Living and holy Dying the Eleventh Edition newly Printed in Octavo A Collection of Sermons Fol. The Golden Grove a Choice Manual containing what is to believed practised and desired or prayed for the Prayers being fitted to the several days of the Week also Festival Hymns according to the manner of the Ancient Church Books written by the Reverend J. Goodman D.D. THE Penitent pardoned or a Discourse of the Nature of Sin and the Efficacy of Repentance under the Parable of the Prodigal Son A Winter Evening Conference between Neighbours in Three Parts The Old Religion demonstrated in its Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof A Serious and Compassionate Enquiry into the Causes of the present Neglect and Contempt of the Protestant Religion and Church of England with several seasonable Considerations offered to all English Protestants tending to perswade them to a Compliance with and Conformity to the Religion and Government of this Church as it is Established by the Laws of the Kingdom A Centry of Select Psalms and Portions of the Psalms of David especially those of Praise turn'd into Meter and fitted to the usual Tunes in Parish Churches for the use of the Charter-House London by J. Patrick Preacher there in Octavo new The Sinner impleaded in his own Court wherein are represented the great Discouragements from Sinning which the Sinner receiveth from Sin it self To which is added the signal Diagnostick whereby we are to judge of our own Affections and as well of our present as future State By Tho. Pierce D. D. Dean of Sarum and Domestick Chaplain to King Charles the Second the Fourth Edition in Quarto Go in peace containing some brief Directions for young Ministers in their Visitations of the Sick Useful for the People in their state both of Health and Sickness In Twelves new The Practical Christian in Four Parts Or a Book of Devotions and Meditations Also with Meditations and Psalms upon the Four last things 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Hell 4. Heaven By R. Sherlock D. D. Rector of Winwick Octavo The Life and Death of King Charles the First By R. Perenchief D. D. Octavo Bishop Cozen 's Devotions in Twelves Les Provinciales The Mystery of Jesuitism discovered in certain Letters written upon occasion of the present Differences at Sorbonne between the Jansenists and Molinists displaying the pernicious Maxims of the late Casuists with Additionals in Octavo Bishop Taylor 's Opuscula The measures of Friendship with five Letters to Persons changed and tempted to a change in their Religion To which is now added his moral Demonstration proving that the Religion of Jesus Christ is from God Price bound 1 s. Twelves The Countess of Morton's daily Exercise or a Book of Prayers and Rules how to spend the time in the Service and Pleasure of Almighty God the Thirteenth Edition 24. THE END
admirable Speech which he made in the House upon passing that Fatal Bill The incensed Multitude flew to that height of Violence that amongst other Insolences they did dare to assault the Spanish Ambassador's House upon Pretence of his shelt'ring of Papists and certainly he had run great hazard of being forced if he had not been timely rescued from their Fury by the then Lord Mayor insomuch that he did not doubt to question whether they were a Civilized People or not seeing they so barbarously violated the Law of Nations The Lord's House enforced by the Tumults did also after much Reluctancy assent to the Bill of Attainder not considering that their Authority would sink with the King 's seeing it was not probable that these Men would spoil the Crown to adorn the Nobles But the King himself satisfied of the Innocence of the Prisoner resisted longer slighting the Uproars of the Populace who by Instigation of the Factions perpetually cryed out for Justice Neither did he much value the Opinion of the Judges their Compliance being occasioned by their Fears against whom he also complained That instead of easing him of his Doubts they amused him by their ambiguous Answers The Bishops also who were to satisfie his Scruples in point of Conscience seemed to refer him to the Judges save only that Doctor Juxton the then Bishop of London had told him That he should do nothing against the Dictates of his Conscience upon any Consideration in the World Which he afterwards remembred to the great Honour of that Excellent Prelate Nor did he comply with the Fears of his Friends and Family until overcome not perswaded by the Earl's own Importunity and Letters who desired it out of Hopes his Death might satisfie these Blood-thirsty Men and atone betwixt the King and his People murthered and He then however unwillingly subscribed though by a Candour not to be imitated he did all his Life after as also at his Death blame this too easie Assent even in himself In the mean time he would make one Attempt more in order to which he wrote a Letter to the Lords all with his own Hand which he also sent by his own Son the Prince wherein he desired That seeing he had assented to the Justice of the Parliament his Clemency might also take Place which some affirm was promised before he Signed the Bill but that was but to extort it by any means for now they tell him by a Deputation of Twelve of their House That it could not be done without the extream Peril of the Royal Family lamented by the King He will however solemnize his Obsequies with Tears for when the Archbishop of Armagh gave him an Account of the Exit of this Illustrious Innocent adding That he had never seen so white a Soul restored to its Creator he could not forbear weeping And thus fell this Great Person being then also Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Second to none for Wisdom Loyalty and Greatness of Mind and who as the King affirmed in his Divine Soliloquies was a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State He fell as is said by a Decree à post facto but shall rise again by a Posthume Law upon the Restauration of King Charles the Second he being then by a more Righteous Parliament restored also to the Glories of his Honour and Innocence Nor was it by this Act only that the King contributed to his own Ruine by removing so Excellent a Servant and so firm a Pillar of the State but he also gave his Consent to that of Continuance of this Parliament The Act of Continuance during the Pleasure of both Houses depriving himself by this Fatal Indulgence of one of the Principal Flowers of his Crown which was the Disposal of the Meeting Proroguing and Dissolving of these Conventions at his Pleasure For this signal and unusual Concession of his was abused to that height by these most Ungrateful of Men that they took occasion hence not only to ruine their Benefactor but wholly to subvert the Government which they also effected The Archbishop of Canterbury had been already Impeached and was now close Prisoner in the Tower And seeing he was the Chief Pillar of the Church of England as appears in his Admirable Book against Fisher the Jesuit and he having converted Two and Twenty from the Romish to the Protestant Religion as he asserted in the House of Lords when he was accused there of Popery he was also to be removed For since the Ecclesiastical and Civil Governments were to be extirpated it was thought proper that the Principal Asserters of both should be sacrificed to the Ambition of the English and Scottish Novelists Neither did the Fates of these Great Men suffice to dispel the pretended Fears and Jealousies of the Commons for being elated not satisfied with these unexpected Concessions they only encreased their Appetites and seeing now they were feared and that by the Madness of the People whom they had bewitch'd with an Opinion of their Sanctity there was a way laid open to greater Matters they did not blush to attempt the King 's Royal Person and Family Who though he had granted more to the Petitions of the Parliament than ever any Subjects had demanded he would yet have yielded to more for the Good of his People provided it did not intrench upon his Honour and Conscience But these Concessions did not suffice them who would have all though they did not yet declare so far In the mean time they looked upon what the King had so generously bestowed upon them but as Dues interpreting them to have proceeded from his Necessities not Inclinations so that nothing he could either say or do could gain the Favour of this Ungrateful Faction The King's Concessions After the Death of Strafford his Majesty had denied them nothing that they had not been ashamed to ask The Star-Chamber the Archbishop's Court as also that of the Northern Borders were taken away Other Courts as those of the Stannary and of Ludlow c. were circumscribed in narrower Bounds Monopolies were entirely condemned Ship-Money and those other Maritime Revenues that never Prince had as yet parted with were suppressed To all this a Triennial Parliament lest any should dare to offend for the future and the Continuance of this during the Pleasure of the Two Houses as is already said was unhappily assented unto And further to witness the Candour of his Intentions he admitted several of the most popular of the Faction of his Privy-Council the Lord Say being made Master of the Wards Essex Lord Chamberlain Holland Groom of the Stole Leicester Lieutenant of Ireland and St. John Sollicitor General But what Retribution did they make the King for all these Graces and Indulgences of Favour They gave him no Money nor any Thing else save the empty Promises and Dreams of a Glorious Principality The Scots having
been kept thus long by the Parliament to awe the King and now sufficiently Burthensom to the Kingdom the Parliament having served their Turn of them were to be sent Home The Scots dismissed and are now dismissed having exacted by Contibutions Rapines Spoils Gratuities and Stipend above a Million of Money from the English and their Representatives Posterity will certainly blush when they shall consider the inglorious Actions of their Predecessors in receiving and treating the rebellious and invading Scots as Friends which makes it manifest that their Coming was an Invitation not Invasion Nor would our grave Senators have honoured them with the Title of Dear Brethren or procured an Order to declare them faithful and loyal Subjects having been proclaimed Rebels by the King and that in all the Churches and Chapels upon a Thanksgiving day nor have contributed so largely to their Subsistance but that they had conspired with them and propogated their Councils by the same manner of rebelling For it would have cost less in Money and Honour to have forced them as Enemies out of our Borders than to retain them in England by a sordid Compliance as Friends By allowing them Quarters they impose a Burthen upon the Country which they ease by a Taxation upon the Subject But their Design had always been to keep the. Treasury low and involve the King in Debts which should necessitate him to agree with the Parliament for the ruining of Strafford the Extirpation of Episcopacy and the perpetuating of their own Session About this Time the Armies in England and Ireland were Disbanded the Noise of War ceasing with their Dismission But lest the Irish who had been raised against the Scots to the Number of Eight Thousand should attempt any Commotions the King had given leave to the Spanish and French Ambassadors to transport them for their Masters Service But that was opposed by the Parliament upon the earnest pressing of the Irish Commissioners who having now removed Strafford resolved to add to that Rebellion they had Designed by the Accession of those Common Souldiers The King goes into Scotland The King followed his Countrymen into Scotland where he not only confirmed the Concessions they had extorted in England but graciously conferred upon them whatsoever they demanded of him not considering that degenerate and ungrateful Persons are not to be obliged with any Favours whatsoever Nor was it in England only Oct. 23. 1641. The Irish Rebellion that Discord had displayed her Arts of Faction and Tumult The Irish following the detestable Example of the Scots who had attained by Arms what their Ambition had designed outwent them only in this That they Rebelled more bloodily 'T is strange with what industry so universal and so nefarious a Conspiracy was concealed which was scarce discovered but with the inhumane Slaughter of an Hundred Thousand Persons And it is scarce conceivable that those who were at the Helm of Government should be so negligent or supine as to suffer a Plot of this horrid Nature to gather to a Head and break out to the Infection of the whole Body Politick without any the least Discovery or penetrating into it Especially seeing his Majesty whose Eye was still awake for the Preservation of his People Mar. 16. had Cautioned the Lords Chief-Justices Parsons and Burlace of some dangerous Designs in agitation in Ireland and that Six Months before this fatal Eruption which His Majesty also signified to them he had been acquainted with from his Ambassadors and Agents in Foreign Courts Nor was the Information of Sir William Cole who certified them Twelve Days before it broke out of unusual Resorts and Concourses of suspicious Persons amongst themselves so despicable but that it ought to have been inquired into and such Means and Preparations should in common Prudence have been used as might have checkt any sudden Attempts or Insurrections whatsoever And truly the great Supineness and Security of the English in general did not a little contribute to their Ruine For they could apprehend no Danger considering the perfect Intelligence betwixt them and the Irish cemented by inter-Marriages and all other imaginable Ties of Friendship which seemed the more secure seeing the Catholicks were permitted the private Enjoyment of their Religion and had obtained not onely a considerable Abatement in their Subsidies but many advantageous Redresses from the King's Favour in all their Concerns so that they were at this present in a more flourishing Condition than they had yet enjoyed since their first Subjection In this Security the Irish Army had been disbanded but the Soldiery not disposed of according to the King's Intention and Promises to foreign Embassadors who for want of other Employment proved very assisting to the designed Rebellion by engaging in it But the Irish who had so often and for so many Ages endeavoured to vindicate their Liberty and shake off the heavy Yoke of the English thinking now the Occasion by the Death of Strafford Their Reaesons and the disbanding of the Army he had raised very inviting they eagerly laid hold on it hoping to emancipate themselves from the Slavery they groaned under or at least in Imitation of the Scots acquire by Arms as they had done new Immunities and Privileges But the main thing insisted upon was their Religion which had been derived to them by an immemorial Series of Ancestors and which they always adhered to with inexpressible Bigottry so that observing it to be extreamly persecuted in England and fearing the like Measure at Home it served for the main Pretence of their Rebellion Nor is it absurd to believe but that the Conspirators in England contributed equally to these Tumults as they had done before to the Scottish Commotions since * Clotworthy Pryn Parsons Loftus some of their Party affirmed That the Conversion of the Irish was to be effected with the Sword in one hand and the Bible in the other Ireland could not do well without a Rebellion to the end the Remnant of the Natives might be destroyed They would not leave a Priest in Ireland but extirpate their Superstition and Nation So that it was thought by many that the Irish were forced by the English by these Provocations to take up Arms that they might upon so plausible a pretext be intirely ruined and rooted out as Rebels and Traytors What other Reasons they gave as Oppression Grievances Privileges c. common to all Rebellions may pass as such but that they should pretend to vindicate the King's Prerogative by destroying it is only proper to them and those nefarious Regicides who did so naturally copy them But whatever were the Pretences of the Revolters it is but rational to believe they had never broke out but for the Prospect they had of a Breach which they could not but know from their Committee at London most whereof were Catholicks and many as the Lord Germanston c. prime Actors in the Rebellion betwixt the King and Parliament For they
so many Graces upon them upon his being in Scotland having refused them nothing they had demanded of him that their Parliament taken with so great Indulgence had decreed That if any whosoever should levy Men or take up Arms upon any Pretence whatsoever except by the King 's Express Order he should be guilty of damnable Treason Nay they profess farther upon Oath That in Case the King's Person should at any Time be endangered they would defend his Majesty's Cause and Honour as they were in Duty bound with their Lives and Fortunes When the King was at Edinbrough he had advanced Two very Ingrateful Persons to great Honour Lesley he made an Earl and Hamilton a Duke The First exstasied with the Greatness of the Favour protested solemnly perjured Wretch That he would never bear Arms more against his Majesty And the other if we may believe publick Fame betrayed all his Master's Counsels to his Enemies but perfidiously concealed Theirs though a Privy Counsellor from his King It may not be unworthy Notice to declare what farther happened at the same Time There was a great Noise rumour'd A pretended Conspiracy against Hamilton and Argyle of a Conspiracy against the Lives of Hamilton and Argyle with some others contrived by the Earl of Crawford and his Party This Report however fictitious and imaginary gained such Credit that the King himself was not obscurely reflected upon Which his righteous Soul took in such Scorn that he could not forbear to tell Hamilton when as the Custom is he delivered him his Patent in Parliament whereby he was created Duke That he did not deserve to be suspected by him who could not choose but remember That at that very Time when he was accused to him of High-Treason he suffered him that very Night to lie in his Bed-Chamber After this the Wars growing Hot in England the King advertised his Privy-Council in That Kingdom of the State of his Affairs in This demanding their Advice and Aid who returned an Answer full of Duty and Loyalty but with a Resolution to perform nothing they had promised For the Business being known at London they of Westminster caressed their lately acknowledged Brethren so effectually that they did not scruple to declare That they would act nothing against the Parliament no not in Favour of the King himself which they also perfidiously faithful did perform Nay more these Ungrateful Wretches forgetful of their Honour and Allegiance invade England with a Great Army causing that Fatal Change in the Kings Affairs till then very Prosperous that cost him his Life and them their Liberty to those whose Encrease they had so obstinately pursued The King perceiving how furiously the prevailing Faction did drive on and that it daily received Strength from London resolved to remove the Parliament to Oxford which he did by publick Proclamation where most of the Lords and amongst them the Earls of Holland Bedford and Clare who were lately come in to the King tho' they left him again with the same Levity and near Two Hundred of the Commons met at a Day The rest in Scorn of their Duty continued at Westminster until they were outed thence by their own Servants The first Business that the Parliament at Oxford undertook was to admonish the Scots by Letters That they should not hostilely Invade England it being no less than High-Treason to attempt it But this as also the King's Dissuasory Message was to no purpose Nay they were so rudely impudent that they caused a Letter writ to them and Signed by all the Lords to be Burnt by the Hands of the Common-Hangman The Scots enter England March 1. They therefore Invade England the Year being far spent with Eighteen thousand Foot Two thousand Horse and One thousand Dragoons and passing the River Tine send their Declaration before them pretending That they designed nothing but the Reformation of Religion the King's Honour and the Peace of the Kingdom The King extreamly surprized with this Invasion having been still kept up with a Belief that the Scots would not enter England finding himself deluded committed Duke Hamilton and his Brother Lanerick who were newly posted out of Scotland as afrighted with the News they brought to Prison The former being accused of several other Treasons also Hamilton sent to Pendennis-Castle was afterwards sent to Pendennis-Castle His Brother escaped to London and so to Scotland which he lately abandoned as unsafe whereof he was Secretary though the Court-Signet had been taken from him But to march with the Scots into England where the Parliament had long since seized upon the King's Castles Forts Arms Ships Revenues Treasure Ornaments c. they now to Complement their new Allies urge their impious Covenant so far that the Subject must either forfeit his Faith or Estate But Religion was always pretended and all their Undertakings veiled with the Masque of Godliness They divest her of her Ornaments under pretence of dressing her and with Impious Hands prophane her Monuments transferred to us from our pious Ancestors who sealed the Faith we own with their Bloods Their zealous Fury extends to our Churches destroying whatever was in them either Reverend for Antiquity or to be Esteemed for its Artifice They turn Temples into Stables and the House of Prayer into a Den of sacrilegious Impurity Amongst other Acts and Triumphs of their Reformation they demolished Charing and Cheapside-Crosses eminent for their Beauty and the Artificiousness of their Structure converting the Superstitious Metals they were composed of to their own Use It may not be from the Purpose to relate a Story of ludicrous as well as impudent Boldness Harry Martin H. Martin Inspects the Regalia who had said in the House That the Felicity of the Nation did not consist in the Family of the Stuarts for which he then to palliate the Impudence had been confined was ordered to Survey the Regalia which he did for breaking the Iron Chest wherein they were kept he took out of it the Crown Sceptre and Vestments belonging to Edward the Confessor wherewith the Kings of England had since been always inaugurated saying though falsly with a scornful Laughter There will be no more Vse of these Trifles With the same unmannerly Impudence he caused George Withers a pitiful Poet then present to be dressed in those Royal Vestments who being also Crowned walked at first stately up and down but afterward putting himself into a Thousand Mimick Postures endeavoured to expose those Sacred Ornaments to the Contempt and Derision of the By-standers These afterwards as also the Robes and Plate belonging to the Church were sold Nor could they be perswaded to leave one Silver Cup to be used at the Communion affirming with barbarous Sacrilege That a wooden Dish would serve the Turn Nor is it any wonder That these Sacred Vtensils were thus abused when the Sacred Function of Ministers was so Inhumanely treated of whom a Hundred and Fifteen in the City and Suburbs were for their
Fight at Langport He takes Bridgwater Sherburne and Bristol The King's Travels and Labours The Scots besiege Hereford They quit it The Fight at Rowton-Heath Digby and Langdale defeated in the North. Barclay-Castle the Devizes and Tiverton taken Cromwell takes Winchester and Basing-House by Assault The Fight at Torrington The Prince passes into France The Lord Hopton disbands his Army Distractions at Newark The King returns to Oxford The Lord Ashley defeated Continuation of the Rebellion in Ireland IT is now time to return to the Irish History we have hitherto discontinued with design not to interrupt the English And shall now take the same Liberty to represent this to the Rendition of Dublin to the English in one continued Relation The King had committed the Government of Ireland to the Earl of Leicester a Favourite of the Faction upon a Supposition that that Kingdom would be the better provided for But he observing the backwardness of the Parliament however pressed by frequent Addresses from the Council there and by reiterated Messages from his Majesty nearer had no mind tho' invited to it and entrusted with it to stir or engage himself in so hazardous an Enterprise He therefore lest he might seem wholly to neglect his Province commissioned the Earl of Ormond a Person made up of Honour and Loyalty to be his Lieutenant General in that Kingdom which was likewise approved of by his Sacred Majesty the best Judge of Men and Abilities and who afterwards Honoured his Merit with the Chief Government of the whole Which he performed with so much Courage Constancy and Prudence as will raise him a Trophy of Honour in the Annals of Time Upon his Arrival at Dublin with a Troop of a Hundred Horse well armed having been summoned thither by the Lords-Justices he revived by his Presence the desponding Courage of the City He also immediately proposed in Council the raising of a small Army which might in the Infancy of the Rebellion have suppress'd or else stopt its Progress but they being either not able or not willing and the Reader may believe both as will too visibly appear hereafter the Business was laid aside The Conspirators especially in Vlster where they were most predominant having with the Extremity of Rage and Cruelty drowned slain spoiled stripp'd and ejected infinite Numbers of the poor Protestants made Sir Phelim O Neal their General He was of the House of Tyrone but bred up in Lincoln's-Inn and a Protestant till of late though indeed of no famed Conduct or Courage However he took Dundalk which was surrendred to him and besieged Tredah by Sea and Land Tichburne the Governour doubtful of the Event had demanded and obtained the Grant of Succours from Dublin Six Hundred Foot were sent to him under the Command of Major Roper with a Convoy of Fifty Horse for their Security But they were surprized in a Mist by the Irish and defeated scarce one Hundred of the Foot escaping to Tredah with the Major though the Horse with Weems their Commander brake through and returned back to Dublin It is not conceivable what Courage this Success then great infused into the wavering Irish Those who were content to look on before became hereupon Actors in this Tragedy Nay The Lords of the Pale join with the Rebels the Lords of the Pale who had hitherto stood upon their Guard now upon the uncontrouled Progress of the Rebels and the no Appearance of any considerable Forces from England the Breach there betwixt the King and Parliament daily wid'ning to oppose them they also contrary to the sacred Vows of Duty and Allegiance forfeited both by joining with their Countrymen Nay all the Provinces in the Kingdom broke out into a detestable Rebellion being instigated thereunto by their Priests and Confessors with the Appearance nay Assurance of Liberty and Heaven Besides they had understood that their Country was to be enslaved and their Estates to be divided amongst the English Adventurers to each proportionable to the Money raised by them for the Use of the War Nay further that they not only designed to suppress the Rebellion but the very Religion of the Rebels They therefore now declare That they fight for their Altars for their Subsistance and for their Lives seeing their Countrymen were denied Quarter in England So that their taking up Arms was no Rebellion their extream Peril unavoidably obliging them to it These and the like Arguments obliged all to run to their Natural Defence so that there was no Corner exempt from this dismal Infection And yet it was not so universal but that some of the principal of the Nobility continued to their great Honour unshaken in their Fidelity to the King nor so bloody but that some Marks of Humanity appeared in the very Actors in this Tragedy who sheltered cloathed fed and delivered very many from the Barbarities of their Associates Which ought not to be silenced without Injustice and Ingratitude The Rebels settle a Form of Government And now the Rebels finding their Strength and Numbers considerable institute a Form of a Common-wealth and choosing amongst themselves a Council of the most eminent Persons of the Party gave it the Title of The Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and framing an Oath of Association by which all were bound to obey them assumed the Form of a Regular Government This Senate consisted of Five and Twenty Six out of each Province the Twenty Fifth being Castle-Haven newly escaped from Dublin where he had continued a Prisoner a great while They also made them a Great Seal coined and raised Money erected several Courts of Judicature appointed several Officers of State and amongst other Points of Regality constituted Four Generals of the Four Provinces Preston for Lemster Barry Munster Owen Roe O Neal Vlster Burk Their Four Generals Conaught They had cleared most of the Inland Countries of the English and did really bear all before them until those few English sent over joining with the Protestants at Dublin put a stop to their Carier In the mean Time they put out their Remonstrance where amongst other things they declare That they had taken up Arms for Defence of the roman-catholick-Roman-Catholick-Religion their own Rights and Privileges and the King's Prerogative c. exactly copied afterwards by the Rebel-Parliament in England The Irish had hitherto lived in Amity with the Scots apprehending the Neighbourhood of Scotland and lest they should buckle with Two Enemies at once but finding their Power grow they also fell upon their Quarters using them with no less infamous Barbarities than they had done the English But the Siege of Tredah went but slowly on for tho' they practise all the Arts of Force and Intelligence in the assaulting of it They raise the Siege of Tredah yet upon the Arrival of Sir Simon Harcourt with a strong Regiment out of England despairing of carrying it they quitted it notwithout considerable Loss For the Governour falling in his Rear
with most of his Garrison did such Execution upon them that he pursued them to Dundalk which he also took by Assault forcing O Neal to pass the River for his Security For all this the Enemies by the general Defection of the Nation grew so numerous that they threatned Dublin and filling the Villages and Country round extreamly obstructed their Markets and Commerce by their Cavalcades There were no less than Twenty Thousand reckoned in this Province of Lemster but they wanted Skill and Military Conduct so that they waged War with Numbers not Understanding Whilst the English who were but few and had received no great Assistance out of England did not only oppose but dared to provoke them beating routing killing and destroying them in well-nigh all the Encounters they had with them for being well armed well led and well disciplin'd they easily vanquished so effeminate and so unknowing and Enemy The Cruelty of the English in Ireland But as the Brittish were more brave so they were no less cruel than the Irish revenging the Barbarousness of their Adversaries with equal Inhumanity For they destroyed many Thousands of them ruining with Fire and Sword and pillaging all they met with reducing a well planted most fertile Country into a Solitary Desart whereby they did not only destroy the Natives but created to themselves irreparable Mischief and Desolation by ruining that which they should have subsisted with Hence grew those Wants upon them which they had occasioned and were now forced to combat a stronger Enemy than they had yet encountred as Hunger want of Pay Clothes and all other Nutriments of War Which they had in vain expected from the Parliament its self now Rebellious and so far from assisting them Their Necessities that they themselves seized upon the Money designed for Ireland taking a Hundred Thousand Pounds of it at once and employing those Regiments raised for that Service under the Lord Wharton to fight their own King as they did at Edge-hill in that unnatural Rebellion Seeing this they earnestly petitioned his Majesty for their Discharge or to be transferred to any other Warfare where they might contend with any Enemy but Hunger Ormond makes a Cessation with the Irish The King being thus daily sollicited by the pressing Miseries of his Subjects and seeing no other way to relieve or deliver them commanded the Earl of Ormond to make a Cessation with the Irish for a Year which he did and to send Three Thousand of the Protestant Army into England leaving the Garrison well provided to assist him to oppose the Rebellious Scots who then invaded him This Cessation was variously censured according to the Interest or Inclination of Parties Such who disapproved it cried out against the Transportation of the Soldiery pretending It would expose the Protestants that remained and be of too much Advantage to the Rebels But others more discerning and equal were of Opinion That it is always better to save a Citizen than destroy an Enemy It was the prime Interest of a Prince to preserve himself Ireland was not so formidable but when England was quiet it might be reclaimed by fair Means or by foul There was more Danger from the Puritans who threatned Ruine to Religion and Monarchy The Parliamentarians and Scots-Irish refused to be included in this Truce being supported with Money and Supplies out of England which was denied the Royallists by reason of their unshaken Fidelity to their King which neither the Threats nor Allurements of the now English Rebels could blemish or overcome Ormond now Marquess and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland improved this Cessation with much Prudence and Industry by a continued Treaty into a Peace which being proclaimed at Dublin and Kilkenny Then a. Peace he followed thither with Fourteen Hundred Men where he was received by the Supreme Council with due Respect and State who also surrendred the Government which they had thus long managed into his Hands But this Calm did not last long most of the Chief Towns and Great Officers as Preston and Owen Roe O Neal with others dissenting The Archbishop of Firme the Popes Nuntio not only protested against this Peace but adding the Thunder of Excommunication renewed the War with more violence than ever Ormond ran no small Hazard of being intercepted in his Retreat to Dublin where he was given for lost and therefore received with very extraordinary Joy by the People year 1646 The War had been continued betwixt the Dissenting Brittains and the Irish ever since the Cessation with various Fortune But now thinking that a fair Opportunity did present it self by the Absence of the English Army for the Conquest of the whole Kingdom they join all their Forces together and raised with some late Successes for Owen Roe O Neal had defeated Monroe and his Scots in Vlster slain above Five Hundred of his Men taken Five Field-pieces all his Baggage and Five Thousand Arms they besiege Dublin by Land The Nuntio dissents and besieges Dublin which was also block'd up by the Parliament-Ships now equally Rebels which lay before the Haven The Lord Lieutenant unable to resist so many Enemies and destitute of all hopes of Relief Ormond unable to preserve it delivers it to the English acquainted his Majesty with the present State of Affairs who seeing it impossible to defend the Place commanded him to deliver it rather into the Hands of the Parliamentarians than the Irish An irrefragable Testimony against the black Calumnies of the English Rebels who did not cease to accuse his Majesty of Intelligence with the Irish But it will not seem very strange to Posterity that the Miscreants of the Faction should endeavour to assassinate the Fame of this glorious Sufferer when they had already usurped his Authority and that all the steps they made tended to the martyrizing of his Person 'T is true their Brethren of Ireland pretended That they were owned and authorised by his Majesty and to amuse and engage the silly Crowd shewed them a fictitious Commission with a Great Seal affixed to it belonging to a Patent of the Lord Caulefield which Sir Phelim O Neal took together with the said Lord in the Castle of Charlemont Which he afterwards confessed at his Tryal and being urged further by the Judges to declare Why he did so deceive the People He repsied That no Man could blame him to use all Means whatsoever to promote that Cause he had so far engaged in Although this Sir Phelim had been the principal and bloodiest of all the Rebels yet before Sentence he was offered his Liberty and his Estate if he would prove he had had such a Commission from the King But he generously answered He could not and That he would not further burthen his Conscience by unjust calumniating the King The King vindicated from any Correspondence with the Rebels Being upon the Gallows and ready to be turned off one Peake and another came posting to the Place and crying
returned to Cologn he found his Brother the Duke of Gloucester there lately arrived from France The King had been informed now he had been thrust out of England by the Regicides which they had done to save the Expence of his Maintenance and to Ship-wrack his Religion Besides it was supposed that Cromwell had designed his Removal for that some in his Council had moved his Assumption to the Crown as no ways obnoxious or prejudiced by reason of his Youth as is already mentioned 'T is scarce imaginable with what Constancy he defended his Religion however very young In so much that armed with Instructions from the Lord Hatton and Doctor Cousens he eluded the Assaults of Abbot Montague and the Marquess of Plessis the one employed by the Queen-Regent of France and the other by the Queen of England Neither the charming Pleasures of the French Court nor the Purple Dignities of the Church of Rome nor yet the extream Severities of the Queen his Mother who did not only refuse him his ordinary Sustenance but denied him the Solace of her Benediction were of strength to shake his Faith Which they yet would endeavour to force by shutting him up in the Jesuits Colledge if the King his Brother displeased with these Novelties had not sent the Marquess of Ormond to his Rescue and to bring him to Cologn to him which he did though not without Difficulty But nothing was impossible for this Great Man After this the King went to Franckfort famous for its Marts And in his Progress saluted the Queen Christina of Sweden at Koningsteyn Where after a Reception worthy Two such great Princes and some private Discourses the Duke of Gloucester and his Royal Sister did the same The Marquess of Ormond Earl of Norwich Lord Newburgh and others of His Majesty's Train being also admitted paid that great Princess the Respects due to her Highness The Queen continued her Journey to Insprug where after a splendid Reception from the Arch-Duke she made Public Profession of the Roman Religion The King leaving Franckfort with the universal Acclamations of the People and thundring of their Cannon went to Ments whither he had been invited by that Elector where his Reception was truly Royal. And after three Days Treat parting with the same Magnificence returned to Cologn Nor did his Majesty spend the Time idly whilst the Regicides triumphed in England He had already sent Embassies to all the Princes of Europe to desire their Assistance against his Rebels But with little success though the Cause were Common The French flourishing in Promises made a League with the Regicides The Spaniards though they seemed to grieve at the Murther of the King were yet the first that acknowledged and owned this rising Common-wealth The Grand Seignior corrupted with English Gold delivered Sir Henry Hyde the King's Embassadour at that Court against the Law of Nations into the Hands of the Parricides who Murthered him by cutting off his Head before the Exchange Swedeland was then in an unsetled Condition Portugal unable being attacked both by the Spaniard and Dutch in the Indies Poland was worried with her own Domestick Distractions Denmark was exhausted with the Treasure formerly lent to Charles I. Others indeed restified their good-wills by their Contributions as the Great Duke of Muscovy the Count of Oldenburg the Electors of Mentz and Brandenburg and some other Princes of Germany by the Earl of Rochester's negoriating at Ratisbone But what could this import to make a new and great War Whereas it scarce sufficed to defray the Charges of the Embassies The King then seeing no Hopes of his Restauration from abroad wisely sought a Remedy where the Wound was received from the Benevolence and Loyalty of his Subjects which the Eminence of his Vertues could not in Justice refuse him Neither was he any way wanting to himself but most intent upon all Occasions leaving nothing unattempted whereby he might raise his sinking Affairs He kept constant Correspondence with his Friends in England Caus'd great Disturbances to the Rebels on every side and exposing himself to the Danger did more than once incite the People to arm against the Usurpers He now kept his Court at Bruges in Flanders nearer hand having been invited by the Spaniards repenting their too early Compliments to the Regicides and supplied with 9000 l. per annum which Money was punctually repaid upon His Majesty's Restitution The Duke in the mean Time having recalled all the Kings Subjects in the French Service joyning them with those in the Spanish Low-Countries composed a considerable Body which he commanded with no less Honour than he had done in France although they were well nigh destroyed by the fatal Valour of the English Rebels at Mardike and the Battle of Dunkirk The Duke more illustrious by Misfortunes did not only for some time resist but retard the Progress of the Victors until oppressed by multitudes as is already said he was necessitated to comply with the Fate of the vanquished Cromwell dying soon after however a way seemed thereby to be opened to the Kings Restauration his Majesty received the News of it with remarkable Constancy and Calmness of Mind in no ways insulting though he saw his most Mortal Enemy extinguished in the Person of this Vsurper Cardinal Mazarin however averse to King Charles did at the same time congratulate the Queen his Mother upon the Hopes of her Sons Restauration since he was by the Death of that Tyrant delivered from his most implacable and successful Enemy The sudden Change in England followed by the Deposing of Richard and the Resurrection of the Rump and the other Innovations already mentioned which followed as they augmented the Hopes of the King at Home so they varied the Counsels of Princes abroad Which his Majesty applyed in as much as was possible to his own Use by Negotiations and Embassies But there being now a Treaty in Agitation betwixt France and Spain he would himself be present at it For if a Peace were concluded which was more than probable betwixt these great Princes it was but reasonable to suppose that they might spare some of their numerous Forces to assist an injured King their Ally by Blood and Common Interest And yet the King would rather reduce his Rebel-Subjects to Obedience by the Appearance of his Power than by the Use of his Forces In the mean time accompanied with the Duke of York his Brother and the Marquess of Ormond he hasted Incognito through France having saluted the Queen his Mother at Paris in his way to St. John De Luz where the Great Ministers of the Two Crowns were then in Treaty Don Louis de Haro upon Notice of the Kings Approach went to met and receive him Which he did alighting from his Horse and Embracing and kissing his Knees with as much Honour and Splendour as if he had been his Master the King of Spain The next Day his Majesty was visited by Cardinal Mazarin the other great Plenipotentiary who was
following Nor were their Councils now less violent punishing some of their own Members by expelling them the House and persecuting several of the Judges and others faithful to the King Nor did this suffice For they not only voted but past a Bill which they called An Act to aisable the Duke of York from inheriting the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and all the Territories thereunto belonging But it went no further for being carried up to the Peers by the Lord Russel after a second reading it was thrown out of the House After this Dec. 17. the Lord Viscount Stafford was brought to his Tryal being prosecuted by the Commons upon the Testimonies of Oates Turberville and Dugdale and condemned by the Suffrages of the Peers was beheaded Not were the Commoners thus satisfied They press the Bill of Exclusion a-new and demand Permission for the Protestants to associate themselves for security of the Protestant Religion They declare all other Remedies in sufficient and obnoxious to Dangers And that therefore they could give the King no Supply without Danger to his Person Hazard to the Protestant Religion and Vnfaithfulness to those by whom they were trusted Nay they required That the Lords Hallifax Worcester Clarendon Rochester and Feversham should be removed from all Offices of Honour and Profit and from his Councils and Presence for ever And with the same Breath with unheard of as well Fury as Arrogance Vote That whosoever shall lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the. Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Custom Excise or Hearth-Money should be adjudged to hinder the sitting of Parliaments and should be responsible for the same And when they perceived that the King wearied with such monstrous Insolence designed to Prorogue their Session they had 〈◊〉 vote and denounce That whosoever advised the King to prorogue that Parliament to any other purpose than in order to the passing the Bill of Exclusion should be lookt upon as a Betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England a Promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner of France But Mar. 24. the Parliament being however Prorogued and then Dissolved by Proclamation the King intimated his pleasure to call another which should convene in March following at Oxford as a place less Subject to Faction and Tumults Which so stung the Common Council of London and such Peers as were emancipated to the Party that they endeavoured by Petitions to divert his Majesty from thoughts of so remote a Design upon imaginary reason of Danger and Unfitness praying it might therefore sit at Westminster But to no purpose So that the Parliament met at Oxford composed for the most part of the same Delegates The major Part of the Deputies as also the Fanatick Lords depending upon their numerous Attendants and Friends which they were accompanyed with drove on futiously and neglecting the King's Admonitions who had declared That as he had resolved never to use Arbitrary Government himself so he was resolved never to suffer it in others rage with more Fierceness against the Duke and press the Bill of Exclusion with so much Violence that the King putting a stop to their career immediately dissolved them And it was time seeing they designed not only to retrench his Prerogative but also to seize his Person Upon that Accompt Rouse Hains White College and the Earl of Shaftsbury were committed to Prison Of those College and Shaftsbury were brought to their Tryals But in vain being acquitted by their Juries against the Testimonies and Evidences of irreproachable Witnesses Which was no Wonder the very Coâ—rts of Justice being enslaved to the Faction and acted by their Prescripts So that the King who himself was religious in the equal Distribution of Justice to all Men could not obtain Justice for himself But College being brought before another Tribunal less subjected to the Authority of the Faction received such Punishment as his Treason deserved He had no less offended at Oxford than at London and was try'd and executed there The Fellow was of the Lees of the Rabble a Joyner by Trade vain restless inquisitive and perpetually busie in Affairs that least concerned him But Shaftsbury's Fortune was better who eluding the Publick Justice by a Jury addicted to himself and the Faction and retorting the Danger upon his Accusers triumphed whilst they hardly escaped the Fury of the Rabble And 't was no wonder for this destructive Faction was so prevalent in the City that it had infatuated the People and the Companies of Tradesmen with a reverent Opinion of their Sanctity And spreading wider the Contagion had diffused it self into most of the Provinces of the Kingdom And now all such whose Crimes had rendered them Guilty or Indigence bold such whose Zeal made furious or Ambition lofty joyned themselves to them The same Pretences of Liberty Property and Religion and the same Methods wherewith the Reign of Charles the Martyr had been involved in Blood and Confusion were now again made use of mostly by the same Men cunning restless and implacable to seduce weak and irresolute Persons as also to disturb that Peace which we hitherto enjoyed to the Envy of all Europe By such Instruments the mildest of Governments was branded with the Name of Tyranny The Church of England is traduced and the faithfullest Ministers and Servants to the King and Crown calumniated with Male Administration In the mean Time Schism and Sedition are every where promoted Jealousies and vain Terrors are suggested proditorious Discourses and infamous Libels are scattered about and things abhorring from Christianity are dayly exercised under the genuine Veil of Protestantism Finally the old Opinions and Doctrines of the Democraticks so ruinous to Monarchy are now again countenanced and asserted with the same Fierceness and Confidence as they had been in the late Rebellion With these pickeerings of Rebellion they gradually proceeded to Action Parties are distinguished Names and Signs of Separation are distributed Unlawful Conventicles in despite of the Laws are patronised Tumultuous Banquets and factious Clubs are every where set up Clandestine and seditious Assemblies are frequented Unusual Quantities of Arms are bought up by private Men. Insolent Progresses are made through the Country to the End they might shew how numerous they were spread their Terror about as they moved discover their Party and demonstrate their readiness upon all Occasions Nor were these Caballings unknown to the King who when he saw his Clemency so highly abused by those whom he had pardoned yet greater Offences resolved to chastise them and oppose the severity of Law to their Extravagancies In the Two preceding Years Two Favourers of the Faction being Lord Mayors by Turn had promoted turbulent Fellows to the Magistracy and chief Employments in the City Of these the Two Sheriffs were chief who directed the choice of Jury's at pleasure which gave the licentious Liberty to offend For what durst they not attempt who were
Bog where having lost their Horses and Baggage the Foot dispersed into small Parties whereupon Dunbarton likewise divided the King's Forces to pursue them Argile seeing all lost returned towards Clyde and was fallen upon by two of Greenock's Servants but would not yield firing at them when they called to him He received a Wound in the Head upon which not trusting his Horse he alighted and ran into the Water The Noise brought out a Country-man who ran into the Water after him where he was almost up to the Neck He presented his Pistol to the Country-man but it missed Fire whereupon the Country-man gave him a Wound in the Head which stunn'd him so that he fell and in falling cry'd out Vnfortunate Argile Before he recovered they took him and carried him to their Commander from whence he was brought to Glascow and thence to Edinburgh entering the City with his Hands bound behind him bare-headed with the Hang-man going before him A sad tho deserved Spectacle of unfortunate Disloyalty The Rest of the Rebels being totally defeated Rumbald the Malister who fought desperately was taken and Colonel Ayloff who after he was a Prisoner ript up his own Belly with a Pen-knife but recovered to be hanged in England as the other had been in Scotland his Wounds not permitting his Transport into his own Country June 30. Argile closed the Scene of this Rebellion being beheaded which could not yet expiate for so much Blood and Confusion which he had occasioned by his Ambition and desire of Revenge Nor was Monmouth more successful in England whose Enterprizes being carried on with more Noise and Hopes may require a more particular Relation The Duke of Monmouth having hired a Ship at Amsterdam of Two and Thirty Guns with a Hundred and Fifty Men in it of several Nations and paid for it in Person was by the States General at the Solicitation of the King's Envoy with them ordered to be arrested which notwithstanding got to Sea and in it the Duke of Monmouth and not long after Two small Vessels more upon Accompt of the Rebels With this Fleet 1685. June 11. he sailed Westward and landed at Lime in Dorsetshire about Seven a Clock in the Evening He was accompanied with the Lord G. a Person daring and desparate and about Two Hundred more well appointed all appearing as Officers and each with a Carabine and Two Pistols by his side With this Equipage did this bold Rebel dare to attempt the Crown of England Having possessed himself of the Town he likewise took Possession of an Old neglected Fort in which were Seven Guns And setting up his Standard which was Blew he invited all Men to his Assistance for the Protestant Religion against the Duke of York Nor were there wanting such who abused by his Pretences came in to him his Emissaries being dispatched into the Neighbouring Towns and Villages to incite the People to an open Rebellion against his Majesty Their Numbers being in few Days encreased they sent a Party of Horse and Foot to Bridg. Port where they surprizâ—d some Gentlemen whom they inhumanly murthered as Mr. Strangewayes Coaker and others But the rest getting to their Arms escaped to a Party who maintained a Post not far off whither the Rebels still pursuing them were beaten off with the Loss of Seven of their Men and several Arms and Prisoners which they left behind them The King upon Notice of this Invasion caused Monmouth and all his Accomplices and Companions to be proclaimed Traytors and a Reward of Five Thousand Pounds to any who should bring the said Monmouth in alive or dead Monmouth on the other side dispersed a Declaration fraught with Treason and Imposture against the King under the Title of Duke of York Which upon consideration of the infamous Calumnies it contained was condemned by the Two Houses of Parliament to be publickly burnt by the Hands of the Hang man which was done accordingly The Duke of Albemarle the Day of Monmouth's landing had mustered the Militia of Devonshire whereof he was Lord-Lieutenant and keeping them in a Body he much impeded the Resort of Novellists and Fanaticks to the Enemy And yet it was not safe for him to fight them being scarce secure of his own Men. For the changing Rabble attentive upon Novelties seemed to prefer great Incertainties before their present Enjoyments The Duke of Beaufort on the other side secured Bristol with his Presence and Forces whilst the King's Troops hasten to meet from all Parts The Lord Churchil with his Dragoons came first and disturbed the Rebels with various Skirmishings and was followed by the Earl of Feversham with greater Force who also was appointed General for the Expedition The Duke of Grafton marched to the Rendezvouz with Eighteen Hundred of the Guards whereof he was Colonel And Eighteen Field-Peices with all their Accoutrements weâ—e sent to the Camp under the Convoy of some old Companies of Dunbarton's Regiment To these new Levies were suddainly made of Eight Regiments of Foot and several Troops of Horse Also the Six Regiments of Britains which were in the Service of the Vnited Provinces were recalled Three whereof being Scots were sent against Argile but he being defeated they returned into England On the other side Monmouth having left Lime marched to Taunton an old and obstinate Receptacle of Fanaticism where his numbers encreasing tho no one of Quality came in to him he usurpt the Title of King But the Reign of this Ephemerous Prince was neither propitious nor long What he could not effect under pretence of the Protestant Religion for those who are truely Protestants of the Church of England do detest nothing more than Rebellion he resolved to attempt by assuming the Title of Prince but no less impiously than foolishly For the Chief of his Party hated Monarchy since they could not all be Kings and seemed mainly to contend for a Common-wealth What Argile oppressed by his adverse Fortune did pathetically express in this Case deserves to be mentioned here His Expressions against those of Amsterdam first were That they having made a Collection among Four Hundred of them to set him out had failed in carrying on the Vndertaking But against Monmouth As one who had broke Faith both with God and Man With Man when taking him by the Hand at parting he promised to be in England as soon as he in Scotland and with God in that he had upon the Sacrament declared at Amsterdam that he would never pretend to the Crown Nor must we omit a Saying of Rumbold's at his Execution being moved when he heard that Monmouth had taken upon him to be King for it seems they were all for a Commonwealth We have said he a better than he that is called so already Monmouth left Taunton again accompanied with a Multitude of sorry Fellows scarce half armed for they had left most of their Equipage of War at Lime where the King's Ships seized upon a Pink and a Dogger with Forty