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
was altogether uncertain and knowing that by his late Preparations and Alliances he had provoked a mighty and a warlike King he thought it convenient to provide for his own security if the worst should happen by keeping up his Army and continuing his Fleet at Sea especially since that was the most probable means to make the French King account it his interest to hasten the Peace and procure to himself the more advantagious Terms therein telling his Parliament which met soon after That although they would peradventure account the Peace he was endeavouring to procure as ill a bargain as War because it cost them Money yet if they seriously considered that Flanders might have perhaps been lost by that time he believed they would give much greater Sums than all the Charge he he had been at amounted to rather than the single Town of Ostend should be in the French King's hands and Forty or Fifty of his Ships of War in so good a Haven over against the Rivers mouth adding That he could not but be very well pleased to understand the Reputation he had gained abroad by having in so short a time rais'd so great an Army and fitted out so brave a Fleet and hoped that they were so too since it so much redounded to the Honour of the English Nation desiring them therefore if they had any respect to their own Welfare and the Peace of Europe or were willing he should pass any part of his Life in quiet and all the rest in confidence and quietness with them and other future Parliaments to take care for the maintaining Peace and Union at home and the setling the same Revenue he had the Christmass before some of it being then fallen off upon him for Life and add 300000 l. per Annum thereunto to enable him to maintain the Navy and Ord'nance and keep his Word with the Prince of Orange in the payment of 40000 l. as his Nieces Portion the first Payment whereof was then become due and demanded by that Prince But the French King notwithstanding the Cessation of Arms endeavouring to enlarge his Conquests and possess himself of several considerable Towns he resolved to prevent him and therefore commanded the Duke of Monmouth who was at that time General of all his Land Forces and the Earl of Ossery to joyn the Prince of Orange and attempt the beating of him from the Siege of Mons which was then very much straitned by him and would in all probability have been lost within a few days The French who lay encamp'd between two Woods the right Wing posted at St. Dennis and their left at Mamoy St. Pierre with such advantage that besides the Woods there was only a Precipice led to them which made them almost inaccessable thought themselves secure but the Cannon playing briskly upon St. Dennis and the valiant English commanded by the Earl of Ossery falâ—ing on with their accustomed Courage and Fury soon forced the Abbey and compell'd the French posted there to fly in great disorder to their main body many of them being slain in the dispute which was very hot And the Duke of Luxenburgh who was Commander there as the French King's General notwithstanding he had upon their first approach on a presumption that he lay encamp'd in a place which was impregnable laught at and derided the vain Attempt as he imagined of forcing his Camp finding he had now to do with the resolute English and not the timerous Spaniards or wary Germans dislodg'd in great confusion leaving his slain and many wounded Men behind and the Tents standing as they were to the Plunder of his victorious Enemies whereby the relieving of Mons a work thought little less then impossible was easily performed and the French King disappointed of his hopes And had that succeess been followed and improv'd the French King would in all probability have been reduced to great extremities and have been glad to have accepted of Peace upon any Conditions he could have gotten but the Peace which he had upon the march of the English hastily concluded a few days before at Nemeguen put a stop to all farther hostilities Things being brought to this happy conclusion abroad new Stirs and Commotions begin to appear at home For one Titus Oates who had receiv'd Education Orders in the Church of England and was afterward seemingly or God knows how reconcil'd to the Church of Rome going first into Flanders and then into Spain ingratiated himself with the Jesuits and Priests in those parts with a design as he afterward pretended to discover what they were plotting against England returning about this time inform'd the King of a Plot carried on by the Jesuits and others of the Roman Catholick Religion against his Person and Life the Protestant Religion and the Government of the Kingdom And that his Information might appear the more plausible and be the more readily believed he named divers Persons of Quality engaged in the Design and what Instruments had been provided for his Assassination affirming that when he was once taken off the remaining part of the Work was to have been carried on by Arms Foreign Assistance and such other Expedients as they should have judged necessary for the success of their Enterprise Whether there was any truth at all in this Relation or how much there was or whether the King at all believed it is none of my business to determine since I design as an Historian only to relate matter of Fact but certain it is that many Troubles and Combustions were occasioned thereby and several great and threatning Mischiefs have since fallen so thick upon these Kingdoms that one hath ever trod upon the heels of another Upon this Information the Privy-Councel sate twice a day to consider and examin that Plot and Sir George Wakeman one of the Queen's Physicians Mr. Coleman the Dutchess of York's Secretary Mr. Langhorn of the Temple and several others were committed close Prisoners and the Lords Bellassis Powis Peters Arundel of Warder Castlemain and Stafford were secured in the Tower And the Parliament sitting soon after the King told them in his Speech That he had been informed of a Design against his Person carried on by the Papists whereof he should forbear to give his opinion lest he should seem to say too much or too little but would leave the matter wholly to the decision of the Law without prejudging the persons accused But the strict inquiry into that Matter having discovered many unwarrantable Practices of theirs he thought he had reason to look to ' em Altho' this Plot in all the parts of it was a complication of Mysteries yet the greatest mystery of all seems to be the business of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey who being a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and a severe enemy to the Papists as was generally supposed took the Depositions of Oates and Tongue and was soon after found dead in a Ditch not far from Hampsted with his Sword run through
proper to give You under My Hand that I expect this compliance from You and desire it may be assoon as conveniently You can You may easily believe with what trouble I write this to You there being nothing I am more sensible of than the constant kindness You have ever had for Me I hope you are as just to Me to be assured that no absence nor any thing else can ever change me from being truly and kindly Yours and their advantage Telling them moreover that since his Neighbours were making Naval Preparations he thought it necessary still to maintain a Fleet at Sea and that it highly concerned them to provide a constant establishment for the Navy And concluding his Speech with his earnest desires to have that Parliament prove a Healing one assuring them that it was his constant resolution to defend with his Life the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdom and that he expected in so doing to be by them defended from the Calumny as well as danger of those worst of Men who endeavoured to render both Him and his Government odious to his People Advising them likewise by his Chancellor the Earl of Nottingham not to suffer their Zeal to out-run their Discretion lest by being too far transported with the fears of Popery they over-did their business and by neglecting the opportunities of making sober and lasting Provisions against it render themselves the unhappy occasion of making their own Counsels abortive The Commons as soon as they were returned to their House made choice of Mr. Seymour for their Speaker whom they lookt upon as the fittest Person for that employment in regard he had officiated therein in the former Parliament but the King refusing to admit him they chose Serjeant Gregory And to convince the World that they were Leavened with the same Principles and resolved to thwart the King's Designs for setling the Nations as much as the former had done begun where they ended ordering a Committee to inquire into the manner how Danby had sued out his Pardon which was granted him by the King to secure the Earl for whom he had a particular affection having always found him faithful to his Interest from all fear of Punishment for any pretended Crimes supposing as well he might that they would not dispute his Power of Pardoning since it was by the Law invested on him as one of the chiefest Jewels of his Crown But finding upon search that the Pardon was not entred after its passing at the Secretaries Office in any other Office 'till it came to the Lord Chancellor and so dispatcht in a private manner They Resolve upon an Address to the King to represent to his Majesty the illegality and the dangerous consequence of granting Pardons to any Persons who lay under an Impeachment of the Commons and desired the Lords that he might be sequestred from their House and put into safe Custody who accordingly ordered the Usher of the Black Rod to take him which he had done had he not absented himself Whereupon a Bill was ordered to be brought in to Command his surrendring himself by a certain day or in default thereof to stand attainted And the Lords having in the mean while pass'd a Bill for Banishing and disabling of him and sent it down to the Commons for their concurrence it was rejected as a Censure too favourable and a Vote pass'd for an Address to the King that he would not permit him to reside in any of his Pallaces of White-Hall Somerset-House or St. James's and another Address to be made for a Proclamation to apprehend him and forbid all the King's Subjects to harbour or conceal him In the mean while the Bill of Attainder was highly canvassed at several conferences between the two Houses 'till at length the Earl saved them the labour of passing a Bill for his Attainder by surrendring himself to the Usher of the Black-Rod The Lords in the Tower were at their first Imprisonment found Guilty upon special â—â—dictments by the Grand Jury of Middlesex before special Commissioners sitting at Westminster But that way of proceeding being for some Reasons waved they were severally impeacht by the Commons and their Impeachment carried up to the Peers by Five Members of the House of Commons to which they gave in their Answers in person all but Bellafis who being ill of the Gout sent his in writing The King to content the Faction if possible on the 2d of April declared his pleasure to dissolve his Privy Council with which they had shewed themselves displeased and constitute a new one which for the time to come should consist of Thirty persons Fifteen whereof were to be certain viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London the Lord Chancellor one of the Chief Justices the Admiral the Master of the Ordinance the Treasurer the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Privy Seal the Master of the Horse the Lord Steward the Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold the Groom of the Stool and the Two Secretaries And the rest to be Elective at his pleasure Ten out of the Nobility and Five Commoners besides such Princes of the Blood as should be at Court A Lord President and a Secretary of Scotland And according to that new Model as many of them as were in Court met the next morning in the Council-Chamber and were sworn Privy Councellors The King going the same day to the Parliament acquainted the Two Houses with what he had done and assured them he was resolved in all weighty and important Affairs next to his great Council in Parliament to be advised by that Privy Council And it being his custom as it had been his Fathers before him to take off some hot Spirits whose Parts and Abilities he judged might be improved to his own and the Publicks advantage by promoting them to some Place or Office of Trust or otherwise winning them to his Friendship unless they were such whose Natures corrupted by their designs had rendred obstinate and implacable as the Earl of Shaftsbury afterward appeared to be he for the most part chose the other Fifteen which were to compleat his Council out of their number and made Shaftsbury Lord President of it The Parliament resolving to hasten the Trial of the Lords Danby and Bellaasis appeared in person at the Bar of the Lords House where the former put in his Plea and the other his Answer And the next day Stafford Arundel and Powis appeared there likewise and having retracted their former Pleas which appeared insufficient to the Commons they put in their further Answers And the King commanding the Commons to attend him in the House of Lords renewed the Assurances he had formerly given them of his being ready to assent to any Laws they should provide for the security of the Protestant Religion so that the Descent of the Crown in the Right Line were not thereby defeated And that he was willing a provision should be made to distinguish a Popish from a
themselves for the security of the Protestant Religion which Address he answered by a message to the Commons wherein he let them know That he had received their Address with all the disposition they could wish to comply with their reasonable desires but upon perusal of it he was sorry to see their thoughts so fixt on the Bill of Exclusion as to determine all other Remedies for the suppressing of it to be ineffectual telling them That he was confirmed in his Opinion against the Bill by the Judgment of the Lords in their rejecting it advising them to consider of all other means for preservation of the Protestant Religion to which they should have no Reason to doubt his concurrence and urging them again to make some speedy provision for the preservation of Tangier Upon the consideration of which Speech they were so far from complying with his reasonable desires that they Resolved as the Opinion of the House That there was no security for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the well Constituted and Established Government of this Kingdom without the Bill of Exclusion and that to rely upon any other Remedy were insufficient and dangerous That till such a Bill was past they could give the King no supply without danger to his Person hazard to the Protestant Religion and unfaithfulness to those by whom they were trusted And that all persons who advised him in that Message to insist upon an Opinion against the Exclusion-Bill had given him pernicious Counsel and were promoters of Popery and Enemies both to him and the Kingdom naming Hallifax Worcester Clarendon Feversham and Laurence Hide Esq against whom they Voted an Address to the King to remove them from all Offices of honour and profit and from his Councils and presence forever Voting moreover 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 But their presumption running so high the King resolved by a Prorogation to give them time to cool themselves which he did on the Monday following being the 10th of July when he past Two Bills one about Irish Cattel and the other for burying in Woollen the latter whereof proved very advantageous to the Nation by the advance of Wool which is accounted the most staple Commodity of this Kingdom The Commons by some means or other were informed of the King's design of proroguing them and therefore so soon as they were set that morning the very first thing they did was to thunder out their Threatning Votes 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 to France And in a Common-Council assembled bout Two or Three days after in London a Petition was ordered to be drawn up and presented to the King wherein they set forth That the Parliaâ—â—â—t having convicted One of the Poâ—ish Lords and being about to convict the other Four and having impeacht the Chief Justice and being about to impeach other Judges and all in order to the preservation of his Life c. they were much surprised to see it prorogued in the height of their business and that their only hope was its being done with a design to bring such Affairs about again as were necessary to the setling the Nation Praying that they might therefore sit at the day appointed and so continue till they had effected the great Affairs before them But before the 20th of January arrived to which they had been prorogued the King declared them dissolved by Proclamation and intimated his pleasure to call another to sit on the 24th of March at Oxford After which a Petition was delivered him by Essex and some others of the popular Lords for the altering his Resolution for the Parliaments sitting at Oxford upon pretence That neither himself nor they could be in safety there but would be daily exposed to the Swords of the Papists and their Adherents whereby their Liberty of Speech would be destroyed and the Validity of their Acts and Proceedings left disputable Urging likewise the straitness of the place which they affirmed was altogether unfit for the entertaining such a concourse of persons as now followed every Parliament And that the Witnesses which were to give Evidence upon the Commons Impeachment were unable to bear the charges of that Journey and unwilling to trust themselves under the protection of a Parliament which was it self under the power of Guards and Soldiers praying it might therefore sit at Westminster The Parliament which met at Oxford was for the most part made up oâ— Old Members which were chosen again for the same places for which they had served before And contrary to the ancient custom of their Treating thâ— Country the Country now in many places Treated them or at least every man bore his own charges Abouâ— Eight days before their sitting the King having appointed certain Companies of Foot and several Troops of Horse to keep Guard in the Mews during his absence removed to Oxford where he was received and presented by the Mayor and Body of that City at the East-Gate and from thence attended with great Acclamations and all other demonstrations of Joy and was the next day waited on and complemented by the body of the University who presented him with a large Oxford-Bible and the Queen with the Cuts belonging to the History and Antiquity of the Vniversity both richly bound Most of the Members as well Commons as Lords went thither attended with a numerous Train of Friends At the opening of the Sessions the King told them That the unwarrantable proceedings of the last House of Commons was the only Reason why he had dissolved them And that â—s he would never use Arbitrary Government himself so he was Resolved never to suffer it in others That whosoever should calmly consider the proceedings in the last Parliament might perhaps wonder at his patience so long rather than that he grew weary at last That it was as much his interest and care as theirs to preserve the Liberty of the Subject since the Crown could not be safe when that was in danger And that neither Liberty nor Property could long subsist when the just Prerogatives of the Crown were invaded or the Honour of the Government brought low and into disreputation Assuring them That he had called them so soon to shew that the Irregularities of Parliaments should never make him out of love with them And that he thought the just care they ought to have of Religion should not be so managed and improved into unnecessary Fears as to be made a pretence for changing the Foundation of the Government and therefore hoped
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
in a matter of that concern without his Fathers privity advice and free consent and therefore before he could satisfie the Honourable House he desired a Pass might be granted to the L Capel to go to the King at Oxford to take his Advice and hearken to his Royal Pleasure and make some overtures to him in order to a Peace He desired likewise the assistance of the Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Armagh whose deportment toward the Publick was so moderate and inoffensive that even Jealousie it self entertained not the least suspicion of him But through the ill Influence some persons had on Publick Councils there was nothing done in either of those particulars althô when Providence was pleased to deprive him of Civil Comfort and Secular Attendants it had been but charity to have supplied him with some faithful good and able Chaplain by whose Piety Learning and Prayers he might be the better enabled to sustain the want of all other Enjoyments But they not only refused to gratifie him in that reasonable Request but also by an Ordinance barr'd him from all future converse with such Loyal Attendants as would otherwise have willingly waited on him there to deceive the tediousness of that Solitude so that those who would now adventure to repair to him or supply their unhappy absence by the civil correspondence of a Letter were to die without mercy During his abode there he spent a day or two in viewing the Isle of Gernsey the only remainder of our Rights to Normandy to try if peradventure the persons or the place would furnish him with the knowledge of any thing whereof he was a Stranger before and which he might observe for the future benefit of his Kingdom For as he afterward wrote to the Lord Mayor and Common-Council of London he neglected not any Maritime observations which might be useful to English Traffick the slands commodiousness for Shipping Trade from the Eastern parts to the West in the middle way between St. Malo's and the River Seine the capaciousness of its Harbour together with the smaller Islands Alderneley Lerke and Sarnia After this he betook himself to France to visit his Mother in that Court where he was received with all imaginable demonstrations of Joy where after having received his Mothers Blessing and the Complements of that Court he retired with her to the Louvre But his active disposition rendring him soon weary of a tedious and easie Retirement he desired leave of his Mother to go with the Duke of Orleans into the Field that Summer in the Head of a French Army which then marcht into Flanders against the Spaniards The Queen wrote to the King to know his pleasure about it but he absolutely refused it accounting it beneath the Princes of Great Britain to serve any as those who understood better how to command than be commanded in a Field having formerly had Kings and Emperours in pay under them in regard that our homebred miseries afforded Employment so agreeable with his active spirit that he thought he ought not to spare himself for any dangerous engagements in Foreign Quarrels and therefore advised him to expect Instructions from him how to dispose of himself more to his Kings his Fathers his own and Countreys Service Whereupon in obedience to his Royal Fathers command he quitted his own wishes and waited for farther directions from the King During which time the varieties of Airs he had passed through distempered his tender body brought upon him an Aguish â—ever which continued some weeks until by the goodness of God the care of his Loyal Attendants and the skill of his Physicians he was recovered to so good a temper as to attend his Fathers Affairs according to those Instructions he received from him in an inclosed Commission which was then sent him to be Generalissimo of all the Loyal Forces which had survived those late unhappy defects that declared to the World that good and ill success are no infallible demonstrations of Innocence or Guilt since there is a just man that perisheth in his Righteousness and the wicked sometime prosper in their wickedness The Kingdom of Scotland tender of his Safety Honour Conscience humbly move his Father not to suffer him who was their present hope and their future happiness to be exposed in his younger years to such Foreign Temptations and Dangers as might have those unhappy Influences upon these Kingdoms that the Child unborn might rue for since Princes are so publick that within the Fate of their own single persons are involved the concerns of whole Nations Rex est publica pars major meliorque mei Whereupon the King wrote to him to wait upon his Mother and obey her dutifully in all things Religion only excepted and that he should not stir any whither without his particular directions But not satisfied therewith they write to him themselves by their Committee of Estates to invite him thither protesting that none of the present Calamities except his Fathers distress and restraint afflicted them so much as his absence and seeing their Forces had at first entred England to do their duty to Religion his Majesty and himself they humbly desired his Highness to honour and countenance their Pious and Loyal Endeavours with his gracious presence and Royal Person for whose Safety Honour and Freedom they engaged the publick Faith of that Kingdom which Invitation was signed by Craford and Lindsey But he had learned by too sad experience what faithless Trustees they were of Princes persons and thought it dangerous for the Son to trust himself with those who had betrayed his Father Liberty being so much the desire of all men that it is not reason Princes should hazard Captivity since all free-born Souls embrace a Freedom though it be but to wander like forlorn Exiles in a strange Land rather than a Restraint upon their Persons their Judgments and their Consciences within the Precincts of their own Palaces wherefore he intended to wait with patience till Providence might find out some way for his return to his own Country with more Safety and Honour and sent the Earl of Lauderdale back with this Answer to the States of Scotland That their Civility which might well become the best Subjects should upon the first opportunity have that return from him which might become the best of Princes And in the mean time in pursuance of those Instructions he had received from his Father he negotiated his Affairs in the French Court where by his Mothers assistance he prevailed for some thousands of pounds to be advanced by that Court toward the furtherance of his Majesties Affairs in Ireland as an Earnest of greater Assistance to be afforded hereafter Some remainders of his Cornish Forces now geting to a head and others upon order Marching to him out of Ireland he met them in the Isle of Jersey with such Forces as he had procured beyond the Seas where he possest himself of some Vessels which lay in
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
was he altogether void of Assistance from England being underhand supplied with some Moneys by his Loyal Friends from thence But Scotland was more entirely at his Devotion who having shewed their sad Resentment of his Fathers Death by observing a Publick Fast on that occasion on the 19th of February and chearfully promoted his Succession by the Estates of Parliament there assembled a Proclamation was issued out for the solemn proclaiming and declaring him to be their lawful King and Governour which was as follows His late Majesty being contrary to the consent and protestation of this Kingdom removed by violent Death we the Estates of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland do unanimously in Recognition of his Just Rights proclaim his Eldest Son Prince Charles by the Providence of God and undoubted Succession King of Great Britain France and Ireland whom we are bound by the National and Solemn League and Covenant to obey maintain and defend with our Lives and Goods against all his Enemies But before he be admitted to the exercise of his Royal Power he shall give satisfaction to these Kingdoms touching the Security of Religion the Vnity oâ— the two Kingdoms and the Good and Peace of this Kingdom according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant God save the King Which Proclamation was for the better assuring the truth of their designed Allegiance to the Crown made in a most solemn manner at Edinburgh Cross which was hung with Tapestry all the Parliament-Lords attending there in their Robes and the Chancellor himself reading the said Proclamation and reciting the Murder of his late Majesty to the King at Arms the night being concluded with all usual demonstrations of Joy and Gladness Which being over they sent an Expostulatory Letter to those at Westminster to give them an Account of their proceedings and require their concurrence therewith In answer whereunto they received Letters stuft with flattery and protestations of Amity and Friendship if they would desist from acting any farther therein and acquiesce and concur with their proceedings in England But they knowing that their Countrys Honour had been lost by the same Traiterous proffers refused to hearken to their overtures protesting in their messages directed to Lenthal the Speaker that they would not enter into any Treaty with them nor own them unless they were a free Parliament consisting of both houses without any force upon or seclusion of their members Wherefore having hereby made the English Parliament implacably their Enemies they endeavor to assure his Majesty to be their Friend ordring Joseph Douglas to repair forthwith to him at the Hague and acquaint him with what they had done and were preparing to do And presently after sent several Commissioners to treat with him about his repairing to them and entring upon the exercise of his Kingly Office Whereupon their Commissioners at London having sent a peremptory Paper to the Juncto withdrew themselves privately from London intending to pass by Sea for Scotland but were intercepted at Graves-end and by a Guard conveyed thither by Land an Envoy going likewise with them to the Scottish Parliament to know if they would justifie the aforesaid Paper who beginning now to be more than ever enraged against the Rump dismist him without any Answer but prepared themselves for defence intending to levy 17000 Foot and 6000 Horse against the return of their Commissioners who landing about the middle of the Summer though they did not bring with them a confirmation of the Agreement yet gave certain hopes of it by a Treaty presently to be commenced the King offering to perform whatsoever his Father had promised for the settlement of Presbytery Upon which Encouragement the Lord Liberton was presently dispatcht to wait upon the King who was then preparing for his return from the Hague through Flanders into France which he did on June 15 in company with his Sister and her Husband the Prince of Orange in their Coach and came early to Rotterdam where he was received by the Bâ—rghers in their Arms and saluted in his passing the Gates with the Artillery Ringing of Bells and all other signs of Joy and Honour and Noblely treated by them From whence he went to Dort where he was received in the same manner and then to Breda and then to Antwerp where by order of the Arch-Duke of Austria he was met and entertained with all possible state and splendor being presented likewise with a rich Chariot with eight Horses suitable thereunto and particularly welcomed by his former Tutor the Marquess of Newcastle who had then fixt his Residence there out of respect to the great Civility which he received from that People who had made him Excise-free and given him several other Immunities and Priviledges And from thence conducted to Brussels where he was as royally entertained with as much grandeur as if he had been the King of Spain himself And the King did afterward acknowledge that Entertainment for the most sumptuous and magnificent and to have in it the most pleasing variety of any that he ever met withal during the whole time of his Exile Which Amplitudes were observed throughout his whole passage For at his departure thence the Duke of Lorrayn gave him the like Entertainment and conducted him on his way toward France where in Compaign the French King accompanied with the most and choicest of his Nobility did receive and welcom him with all the Testimonies of Affection and Honour that became such a Prince and afterward conveyed him in State to St. Germains where the Queen his Mother then resided So that although he was banisht from his Throne yet he wanted not a Kingdom all men whereever he came being so taken with his Virtues that they seemed willing to become his Subjects Nor was his Court much inferiour in numbers and splendor to those of other Princes who were in the actual possession of their Crowns Toward the maintenance whereof his Aunt the Dutchess of Savoy assigned him fifty thousand Crowns per Annum several others contributing likewise thereunto according to their abilities He was very much solicited about this time by the Scottish Commissioners to repair to that Kingdom but finding that the Conditions upon which they were willing to admit him were such as he could not in honour accept of especially the parting with Montross he resolved to steer another course and therefore grants a Commission to Montross to Levy what Forces he could beyond the Sea and with them go and joyn the Lord Seworth Major Straughan and others who had got to Head for the King without the Kirk in the North of Scotland But they being routed before he came by Lisley and himself not long after his Arrival defeated by a Party of the Kirks Forces and taken Prisoner most ignominiously hanged at Edinburgh he was as it were forced by the necessity of his Affairs to comply with their demands which was so much the easier done in regard that about that time
Rights which none but such Monsters as themselves would unjustly detain from so great and so good a Prince Wherefore being deeply sensible of their danger they prepare for War but whether it should be Offensive or Defensive was yet a question among them But at last considering that if there must be a War it had ever been a Maxim among the greatest Politicians that it was most prudent to make the Enemies Country the Seat of it They resolved upon an Offensive War hoping that Scotland would quickly be weary of maintaining two Armies since it had so much ado to keep one And that since they were informed their Levies went on flowly they thought that their Forces which were already on Foot might easily go and surprize them before they lookt for them or were half ready to entertain them In order whereunto Cromwel being called out of Ireland was in great state made Captain General of all their Forces raised or to be raised in England Scotland and Ireland The Lord Fairfax who had in him some sparks of Loyalty waving at once that Employment and his own Commission not as some imagine to avoid the hazard of that Expedition for he was one that never turned his back upon danger but because he was unwilling any longer to be subservient to those base and vile Designs which he now began to abhor Whilst these preparations were making in England the King removed from the Hague to Diep in Normandy and from thence to Scheveling from whence after a dangerous Storm and narrow escape of some English Vessels which lay in wait for him he arrived safe at the Spey in the North of Scotland which the Parliament being informed of they sent some Lords to receive and attend him from thence to Edinburgh where he is received by the Parliament and Committee of Estates and Kirk with infinite expressions of Fidelity and Affection the common people like so many Echoes to their Superiors and the whole City sounding nothing but Vive le Roy. But Cromwel being advanced with his Army into Scotland and having been successful in some smaller Encounters and given them a total overthrow at Dunbar they found themselves in a sad and perplexed condition having not only the Enemy raging in the bowels of that Kingdom but being extreamly divided also amongst themselves wherefore they now thought it high time to unite among themselves In order whereunto a general meeting was appointed at St. Johnstons which should consist of King Lords and Commons and the Assembly of the Ministers in which Assembly several Lords formerly in favour with the Kirk were admitted to Commands in the Army and a Liberty to sit in Parliament as Hamilton Lauderdale and others And Major General Massey formerly Governour of Glocester for the Parliament but afterward reconciled to the King was admitted to a Command in the Army And as the perfection of all the Kings Coronation was there resolved upon so that now their wounds began to heal and their breaches to be made up again and it was generally hoped that these Clouds of Division being blown over a serene Sky would immediately follow and the Sun of Prosperity shine on their future proceedings The Parliament of Scotland in pursuance of those resolutions at St. Johnstons having dissolved themselves in order to the Kings Coronation it was performed on the first of January at Schone in as Solemn and Splendid manner as the exigency of the time could bear his Majesty with a great Train of his Nobles and others went first to the Kirk where a Sermon was Preacht by a Scotch Minister whose name was Duglass upon those words then they brought out the Kings Son and put upon him the Crown and gave him the Testimony and made him King and Jehojadah and his Son Anointed him saying God save the King 2 Chron. 23 11. Joined to these words and Jehojadah made a Covenant between all the People and between the King that they should be the Lords People v. 16. Which Sermon being ended he was conducted from his Chair of State which was placed in the Kirk to that erected for his Coronation by the Lord High Constable and the Earl Marshal where being placed he was Proclaimed King by Herald King at Arms and then clad with a Robe of State by the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward After which sitting he consented to the National Covenant the Solemn League Covenant Directory and the Catechisms and promised upon his Royal word to perform them so far as he understood them to be agreeable to the Word of God in his own Family in his Kingdom of Scotland and in all his other Dominions as soon as it should please God to restore him thereunto Which being done the Coronation Oath was next read which was Enacted in the first Parliament of King James and is as follows That His Majesty shall maintain that Religion Discipline and Worship that is most agreeable to the Word of God to the best Patrons of Reformation and is against all Heresy Schism Idolatry Superstition and Prophaneness that he should govern the Kingdom by Law and Equity and that he should maintain the just Rights of the Crown and Priviledges of the People After the reading of which Oath he declared with an audible Voice that he did promise in the name of the great God who Lives for ever that he would to the uttermost of his Power endeavour to do the things contained in that Oath Which done Herald King at Arms went to the four corners of the Stage and demanded of the People four times whether they were willing that Charles the Second Son and Heir of Charles the First should be King over them to which the People answered Long live King Charles God Save the King Then the Marquess of Argile Presented him with the Royal Scepter the Earl of Eglington put on the Spurs the Lord High Constable set the Crown upon his Head and the Earl Marshal having unsheathed the Sword put it into his hand to defend the Faith withal which having held a while he delivered it to the Earl of Glencarn to be carried before him Then the Nobility Gentry and Commons of the Kingdom did as in the presence of the Great God that Lives for ever swear Allegiance Fealty and Obedience to him as to their Liege and Soveraign Lord and the whole Ceremony was concluded by an Exhortation of the Minister to his Majesty to the Nobility to the Clergy and to the Commons the sum and substance whereof was in reference to the Covenant which they then lookt upon as the Center from which every Line both of Soveraignty and the Subjects Duty was to be drawn in their respective Circumstances And for a power to perform what he then exhorted them to the assistance of God is invoked by prayer who being Alpha and Omega they made him the first with whom they began and the last with whom they finished So soon as the Crown was set upon his Head he made a
short but pithy Speech to the People telling them that he did esteem the Affections of his good People more than the Crowns of many Kingdoms and should be ready by God's Assistance to bestow his Life for their defence wishing to live no longer than he saw Religion and that Kingdom to flourish in all Happiness with many other expressions of like Love and Affection toward them The Ceremonies of the Coronation being ended and a plentiful Entertainment prepared he sate down at one Table and the Lords at another many Caresses and Testimonies of Joy reciprocally passing between them And Dinner being ended they all returned to St. Johnstons in the same Order and Pomp as they came from thence to Schoneâ— Bonfires Ringing of Bells and the loud Acclamations of the People were sufficient demonstrations of the Publick Joy which the Scots were filled withall and the great expectations they had of Happiness and Felicity under the Influence of his mild and easie Government Having now obtained the actual possession of one of his Kingdoms and being reconciled to that Parliament he was not in the least daunted by the late Miscarriages but as if he had been encouraged by his former Unhappiness and raised in mind like Anteus by his Fall he proceeded to the raising of such an Army as might then have been rather wisht for by the Affectionate than expected by the Reasonable And indeed such was the Confluence of Faithful Subjects that continually resorted to him and were resolved to carry on and if possible maintain an endangered and an endangering Cause against the most successful and hitherto prevailing Interest that he was in a little time Master of a greater Army in the Field than either his own hope or his Enemies guilty fear could suspect Wherefore he bravely appears himself in the management of his own Affairs as Generalissimo of that Army which consisted of two and twenty thousand fighting Men. Nor was his care less employed about his Garrisons than it was about those Forces he had in the Field knowing that it was prudence to provide for a Retreat though he expected a Conquest and not neglect the providing a Refuge in the worst of Dangers whilst according to Reason he need to think of nothing but Safety in the best of Victories Wherefore to hasten the work for every minute of delay was then fatal and cherish the dejected Vulgar who were now somewhat discouraged by lying under the burden of a double Army with the honour and pleasure of his gracious presence He took a progress to view the most considerable of them and see them well fortified and furnisht with all necessary Provisions encouraging the Engineers by his Bounty and directing and guiding them by his Skill But those vast Preparations were too formidable to his Enemies for them to suffer 'em to go on without an Attempt at least to hinder and defeat them Wherefore before the Levies were well compleated Cromwel makes hard toward him thinking each minute tedious that past without some Action But the King prudently declined joyning Battel with him until he might if possible draw him who had a greedy desire of Fighting into some disadvantage which he was in a probability of doing soon after For Cromwel having commanded two Regiments to pass over into a narrrow Island hoping thereby to intercept his passage he sent against them five or six Regiments under the Command of Major General Brown who had certainly cut them all in pieces had not Cromwel hastened thither with a supply in the very last minute of opportunity whereby he rescued his own Forces and beat back Brown although not without a considerable loss on both sides And being flusht with those successful beginnings pursued his Advantage and transporting his Army over Fife marcht immediately unto St. Johnstons which he took almost upon the first Summons Whereupon the King who was not able to beat them back thought it high time to look about him And since Cromwel that successful Rebel had now gained all on the other side Fife took the Earl of Eglington Prisoner possest himself of St. Johnstons and grew every day more powerful he resolved with all imaginable speed to advance into England expecting that the Justice and Equity of his Cause together with the long Tyranny exercised over them by the Juncto would incite his English Subjects to return to their Allegiance and joyn with him against theirs as well as his Enemies And knowing by experience that the Scots always exprest their Valour better in other Countries than at home in their own whereupon Cromwel re-crosses Frith and sends Lambert with a select Party of Horse and Dragoons to fall upon the King's Reer himself following presently after with the Body of his Army The King entred England by the way of Carlisle the Royal Army marching through the Country with that Civility and exact Obedience to Military Discipline that as some affirm the Country was not damaged six-pence by them But whether it were that their former Villanies had left such a deep impression in the hearts of the People or that they were now dull'd and besotted with Slavery and with Issachar's Ass were content to couch under their Burdens or that they were over-awed by an Armed Power which is the most probable few or none came in to his Assistance save only the Lord Howard's Son of Escrick with one Troop of Horse notwithstanding his earnest Invitation The Juncto at Westminster hearing of the King's March were exceedingly terrified therewith and presently raised all the Countries against him and declared it High Treason for any to assist him either with Men or Money But the Earl of Darby who was always Loyal both to him and his Father not fearing their Bug-Bear Threatning brought him a supply of Two hundred and fifty Foot and Sixty Horse out of the Isle of Man He met with no opposition till he came at Warrington in Lancashire where some considerable Forces of the Parliament were ready to cut down that Bridge and dispute his Passage But the Scots falling on them before they were aware prevented the breaking down of the Bridge and by their Valour forced their way over the Planks and put the Adversary to such a confused Retreat that had it been pursued as himself would have had it but was opposed by Lesly it might have proved the Conquest of all England and that unhappy and miserable War might thereby have been ended much sooner than it was From thence he marched toward Worcester in such excellent Order and with so little Damage to the Country that it lookt more like a Progress with his Nobles than a March with an Army which was a great demonstration of the powerful Influence of his goodness and care which could so easily frame Rudeness it self to so smooth and even a temper and form an unruly Camp into a well managed and orderly Court In his way to Worcester he summoned Shrewsbury by a Letter directed to Collonel Mackworth
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
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