by the Conversion of many of the chiefest Roman Senators began to hearken to the Admonitions of such as taught that Religion here in Britain the Fountain whereof understanding to be at Rome and not knowing of any Ecclesiastical persons in Britain of Authority sufficient to establish here a New Church sent Elvanus of Avallonia and Medwinus of the Province of the Belgae with Letters to St. Eleutherius then sitting in St. Peters Chair desiring from him more perfect Instruction and a greater Authority for setling the common Affairs of Christianity St. Eleutherius together with the same Messengers one of which to wit Elvanus he is said to have consecrated a Bishop sent over to him two Reverend Prelates whose Names were Phaganus and Diruvianus commissionating them not only to instruct and Baptize the King and such others as should embrace the Christian Faith but also to order and establish all Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Kingdom But whereas the King desired that his Messengers might bring with them the Roman Laws according to which he would order the Civil State of his Kingdom the holy Bishop sent him word that those Laws were not necessary for the Constitution of a Christian Common-Weal since that in them many things were established that ought not to be observed by the Professors of Christianity These Messengers being arrived the King his Queen his Sister St. Emerita and his whole Family were washt in the Laver of Baptism whose good Example a great number of his People soon followed A Testimonial of this Conversion is yet remaining in the Library of Sir John Cotton being a Coin of this King bearing his Image his Name LVC and the Sacred Sign of the Cross the common Badge of Christianity This done these four holy Men employd themselves in Preaching the Gospel of CHRIST through all the Provinces of the Kingdom disputing daily with the Druids and by the help of the Kings Authority and Zeal abrogating their abominable Superstitions whose horrid Sacrifices of humane Blood had caused the Romans long since to prohibit them in Gaul and consecrating Priests and Bishops and designing for Episcopal Sees those Places where formerly the chief of the Druids whom by a Title borrowed from the Romans our Historians writing in Latin frequently term Flamines and Archiflamines had their Residence The Names of the Cities that were then in Britain compassed with Walls and fortified with Towers and Gates for each of which a Bishop was intended are as followeth 1. Cair Guintwick now Winwick in Lancashire 2. Cair Mincip Verolam near St. Albans 3. Cair Liqualid now Carlile 4. Cair Meguaid now Meivod in Montgomeryshire 5. Cair Colun now Colchester 6. Cair Ebranc now York 7. Cair Seiont afterwards Cair Custeint near Carnarvon 8. Cair Caradoc in the Borders of Shropshire 9. Cair Grant now Cambridge 10. Cair Maunguid now Manchester in Lancashire 11. Cair Lundein now London 12. Cair Guorthigirn in Radnorshire 13. Cair Ceint now Canterbury 14. Cair Guiragon now Worcester 15. Cair Peris now Portsmouth 16. Cair Daun now Doncaster in Yorkshire 17. Cair-Legio now Westchester 18. Cair Guricon now Warwick 19. Cair Segeint now Silcester in Hampshire 20. Cair-Leon on Usk in Monmouthshire now quite demolished 21. Cair Guent now Winchester 22. Cair Britto now Bristol 23. Cair Lerion now Leicester 24. Cair Draiton now Dragton in Shropshire 25. Cair Pentavelcoit now Ilchester in Somersetshire 26. Cair Urvac now Wroxcester in Shropshire 27. Cair Calemion now Camelet in Somersetshire 28. Cair Lindcoit now Lincoln Three of these were designed to be Metropolitical Cities the Title of Archbishops not being then in use viz. London York and Cairleon upon Vsk the first whereof was York being at that time not only a Colony of the Romans but the Place where the Emperours Palace and Courts of Judicature were kept The first Metropolitan of London was St. Theanus for whom the King built a Church in the place called Cornhil which was consecrated to St. Peter In the Year of CHRIST 186. the holy Prelates Phaganus and Diruvianus going to Rome obtained a Confirmation of all they had done in Britain from St. Eleutherius from whom at their Return hither they presented the King with an hallowed Crown These Holy men being now come back there were more Churches built particularly that of Westminster which which was even from its first Foundation deputed for the Burial of our Kings and that of Winchester to which the King granted great Immunities setling on it ample Revenues and placing therein Monks living according to the Rule delivered by St. Mark the Evangelist Nor was the Devotion of King Lucius content only to build Churches and Monasteries but he erected also Seminaries of Learning of which that of Bangor was most remarkable wherein at the coming of St. Augustin into England there were more than two thousand Monks Christian Religion being thus setled in Britain King Lucius out of his Zeal to propagate the Gospel is said to have relinquished his Crown and passed over into Bavaria and Rhaetia together with his Sister St. Emerita where being Crowned with Martyrdom he was buried at Curia or Chur after whose Death the Romans suffered no more British Kings within their Province St. Phaganus and Diruvianus travelling over the whole Island teaching and baptizing the Inhabitants visited the Isle of Avallonia where they built another Oratory dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul and having established there a Succession of twelve persons in memory of St. Joseph and his Companions are supposed there to have ended their Dayes Anno Domini 191. Persecution under Dioclesian The Christian Faith thus setled in Britain flourished here unmolested by any Persecution till the Year of our Lord 286. when Dioclesian being now in the third year of his Reign took for his Companion in the Empire Marcus Valerius Maximianus These two Emperors the former whereof assumed the Surname Jovius as the other did Herculius designing wholly to extirpate Christianity out of the World raised a more dismal Persecution against the Professors thereof than ever any of their Predecessors had done and this their supereminent Cruelty they extended so far that the Isle of Britain which in former persecuting Emperors times had been exempted from participating with the Sufferings of other Nations was now made a Scene of Blood and the very first Theatre whereon these bloody Emperours began to Act those Tragedies whereat Mankind stood amazed The first that suffered under their cruel Edicts was our glorious Protomartyr St. Albanus who being an Inhabitant of Verulam descended of an illustrious Roman Family and the Emperors Procurator in Britain courteously tho himself yet a Pagan entertained a certain reverend Christian Priest named Amphibalus then newly come from Rome into Britain by whom being converted to the true Faith he lent him at his departure his own Military Cassock woven with Gold that he might the better escape for which being accused before the Judge constituted for that purpose and owning himself
Spiritual Function be from GOD alone yet their Baronies Dignity and Interest in the State and even that external Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they exercise and that legally in their own Names within his Majesties Dominions are from the Grace and Bounty of the Prince Defender of the Faith was as appears by a Charter of King Richard the IId to the University of Oxford anciently given to the Kings of England and therefore not so much conferred upon as confirmed unto King Henry the VIIIth by Pope Leo the Xth. for a Book written against Luther in Defence of some Points of the Roman Faith and since the ejection of that Religion continued in the Crown by Act of Parliament The Title of Grace since appropriated to Archbishops and Dukes was first given to the King about the Time of Henry the IVth as about the Time of Edward the IVth that of High and Mighty Prince since also given to Dukes To Henry the VIIIth was given first Highness since the Stile of all the Princes of the Blood then Majesty and now Most Excellent and Sacred Majesty The King of Great Britain in his publick Instruments and Letters uses as his Predecessors have ever done since the Time of King John Nos We in the Plural Number but before his Time Kings used the Singular Which Custom is still practiced in the Ends of Writs and Patents Teste meipso The Word Syr answering to the Latine Dominus and supposedly the same with Cyr an Abbreviation of the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which prefixt before the Christian Name is given only to Baronets Knights of the Bath and Knights Batchelors is the ordinary Appellation used in speaking to all persons of the better Rank from the King to the Gentleman tho in France the Word Syr or Syre is reserved only for the King as is with us Great Syr. Arms. Arms are Ensigns of Honor born in a Shield for Distinction of Families and descending as Hereditary to Posterity yet not generally fixt unless in the Kings of Europe in Great Britain or France till after the Time of the Holy War about four hundred years ago Our first Christian King and the first Christian King of the whole World Lucius bare Argent a Crosse Gules in the first Quarter a Crosse Patee Azure After the Desertion of this Island by the Romans King Vortigern bare Gules a Crosse Or. Aurelius Ambrosius bare Gules a Griffin Sergreant Or. Vter Pendragon bare Or two Dragons endorsed Vert crowned Gules King Arthur bare Vert a Crosse Argent on the first Quarter Our Lady with her Son in her Arms. Cadwalladar the last King of the Britains bare Azure a Crosse Patee on three parts and fitched on the fourth Or. The Soveraign Ensigns Armorial of the King of Great Britain since the Uniting of the two Crowns of England and Scotland are as followeth In the first place Azure three Flower-de-Lys Or for the Regal Arms of France quartered with the Imperial Ensigns of England which are Gules three Lyons Passant Guardant in pale Or in the second place Or within a double Tressure counter-flowered de Lys a Lyon Rampant Gules for the Royal Arms of Scotland In the third place Azure an Irish Harp Or stringed Argent for the Royal Ensigns of Ireland All within the Garter the chief Ensign of that most Honorable Order above the same an Helmet answerable to his Majesties Soveraign Jurisdiction upon the same a rich Mantle of Cloth of Gold doubled Ermin adorned with an Imperial Crown and surmounted for a Crest by a Lion Passant Gardant Crowned with the like Upon a Compartment placed underneath in the Table whereof is his Majesties Royal Motto Dieu mon Droet stand the Supporters being a Lion Rampant Gardant Or Crowned as the former and an Vnicorn Argent Gorged with a Crown having thereto a Chain affixt passing between his Fore-legs and reflext over his Back Or. The Arms of France are placed first because France is the greater Kingdom and also for that those Arms from their first Bearing have alwayes been the Ensign of a Kingdom whereas the Arms of England were originally of Dukedoms having been brought to England from Normandy and Aquitain by William the Conqueror and Henry the IId and probably likewise that the French might be thereby more easily induced to acknowledge the English Title The Motto Dieu mon Droit GOD and my Right first given by King Richard the Ist to intimate that he held not his Empire of any but of GOD alone was afterwards taken up by Edward the IIId when he first laid Claim to the Crown of France Dominions The Dominions of the King of Great Britain are at this day in possession the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland containing three Kingdoms of large Extent with all the other Isles lying in the British Sea being above four hundred in all great and small some whereof are very considerable together with all the adjacent Seas even to the Shores of the Neighboring Nations As a Mark whereof all Ships of Forreigners have anciently demanded leave to fish and pass in these Seas and do at this day lower their Topsails to all the Kings Ships of War And therefore Children born upon those Seas as it sometimes happens are esteemed natural born Subjects to the King of Great Britain and therefore need no Naturalization as do those that are born out of his Dominions He hath likewise in possession the Isles of Jersey Guernsey Alderney and Sark being Parcel of the ancient Dutchy of Normandy besides the profitable Plantations of New England Virginia Barbados Jamaica Maryland Bermudos Carolina New-York and other places in America with some in the East Indies and upon the Coast of Africa The Strength of the Monarch of Strength Great Britain since the Union of the two Kingdoms has never yet been fully tried the Parliaments of the two last Kings infected with the pestilential Principles of Presbyterianism and Democratism having upon all occasions proved refractory to their Designs and rather catching at all Opportunities of diminishing the Royal Prerogative and augmenting the falsly so called Liberty of the People being to speak truly only a Priviledge to Tyrannize more uncontrollably over their Fellow-Subjects than any wayes endeavoring to support and maintain the Grandeur and Glory of the King and Kingdom insomuch that there was invented a most unnatural Distinction of Subjects into Royalists and Patriots as if any man could shew himself a Lover of his Country by braving and opposing the Father of it whereas the Relation between King and Kingdom is so great that their Wel-being is reciprocal And tho for some time after his Majesties Return the Parliaments of all his three Kingdoms seemed to vy which of them should most readily comply with their Soveraigns Desires and Designs yet the Fanatical and Antimonarchical Faction who ever since his Majesties happy Restauration have been secretly blowing the Coals of Rebellion and by their sly and false
of Nature than to describe the Plenty of an Island It hath indeed such a constant continuance of all sorts of necessary Food that the Famin which so often ravages other Countreys has scarce been felt here these four hundred years The usual and natural drink of the People is Beer Ale Syder Perry and in some places Metheglin or Mede As this Island affords its Inhabitants all necessary Food for the support of their Life so it yields them plenty of Rayment for their defence against the Injuries of the Weather For it produceth especially in the South part called England not only very fine Wooll making excellently lasting and well-conditioned Cloth but also such great abundance thereof as serves not only for the Cloathing of all sorts of People from the highest to the lowest but being manufactured into Cloth and Stuffs is dispersed all over the World but especially into High-Germany Muscovia Turky and Persia to the great benefit of its Inhabitants And as it thus abounds with Wool so hath it Linen made therein inferiour to none for its Goodness nor would it need supply thereof from elsewhere for any use whatever were the people but so industrious as they might be in sowing Flax and Hemp for the producing whereof they want not fitting Ground tho there be at present through their Sloth in neglecting to improve it much Linen imported to the shame and damage of the Nation The Abundance of Cattel here slain furnishes the People with great store of excellent Leather for all sorts of Uses insomuch that the poorest of them were good Leathern Shooes whereas in the neighboring Countries they either wear Wooden Shooes or none at all For building it wants not any requisite Materials being well stored with Timber Iron Brick Tiles Slate Lime Lead Glass and Stone of which our fine Portland Stone is not much inferior to Marble For fewel there is either Wood Sea-Coal or Pit-Coal almost everywhere to be had at reasonable rates and where this is wanting they burn Turfs or Peats For Shipping there is no where better Oak no where such Knee-timber as the Shipwrights call it or Iron to make serviceable Guns For War Journeys and Hunting for Plow Cart and Carriages there is such abundant plenty of Horses that Asses and Mules so frequently made use of in France Italy and Spain are here utterly despised Dogs it hath of all sorts sizes and uses amongst which the English Mastiff deservedly has the first Place from all others in the World a Dog bold and stout as a Lyon and yet when well bred gentle and manageable as a Lamb and therefore of singular use for the Defence of Families against the Attempts of Thieves and House-breakers It produceth likewise besides a mighty quantity of Tynn Lead and Iron some Brass and Copper and hath also Quicksilver Antimony Sulphur Black-Lead Orpiment red and yellow Allom Salt Hops Saffron Liquoris and divers other beneficial Commodities and has several Silver-Mines richer than those of Potosi in the West-Indies whence the King of Spain has most of his Silver those yielding usually but an Ounce and an half of Silver in an hundred Ounces of Oar and these ordinarily six or eight Ounces per Cent. But these Mines lying deep are hard to come unto which in Potosi is otherwise And as if all this were not sufficient it yieldeth Physick likewise to the Inhabitants having in it Hot Baths for the ease of Maims Bruises inward Aches and Paines and abounding in Medicinal Springs And altho there be not much Wine made here at present yet if we shall consider that Vineyards were heretofore common in most of the Southern and middle parts of England we shall easily be induced to attribute this Defect if it be any to the better improvement of our Ground and the cheap and easy Importation of that and other forreign Commodities the Advantages it hath from all parts of the World to take in Trade and Merchandize being so great as abundantly verifies that of the Old Poet Quicquid amat Luxus quicquid desiderat Vsus Ex te proveniet vel aliunde tibi In a word tho this Island is by some Countries in some things excelled yet if we consider the Salubrity of the Air free in a manner from violent Thunder and Lightning unwholsom Serenes and tempestuous Hurricanes and well-stored with Birds and Fowls the Fertility of the Soil rarely subjected to Droughts Inundations or destructive Earthquakes the Fields being laden with Corn the Pastures stockt with Cattel the Forrests Parks of which in England alone there are more than in all Europe besides Warrens and Woods stored with wild Beasts only for Recreation and Food the Amoenity and Utility of its Seas Rivers and Ponds covered with Ships and Boats and abounding with all sorts of Fish its Plenty of Metals and Minerals the strength of its Situation being so walled and guarded with the Ocean so well furnished with excellent Shipping and Sailors and so abounding with commodious Ports and Havens that it is rightly termed The Lady of the Sea we may well be permitted to affirm that for necessary Food and Raiment for pleasant and wholsom Living for Safety and Security it is hardly to be equalled by any Kingdom in the World and needs not fear the Force of any Neighboring Nation but that which over-powering us at Sea shall thereby deprive us of our strongest Bulwark and of an Island make us a Continent Not without reason therefore did an Antient Writer thus cry out Britain Thou art a glorious Isle extolled and renowned among all Nations the Navies of Tharsis cannot be compared with thy Shipping bringing in all precious Commodities of the World The Sea is thy Wall and strong Fortifications do secure thy Ports Chivalry Clergy and Merchandize do flourish in thee The Pisans Genoveses and Venetians do bring thee Saphires and Carbuncles from the East Asia serveth thee with Silk and Purple Africa with Cinamon and Balm Spain with Gold and Germany with Silver Thy Weaver Flanders doth drape Cloth for thee of thine own Wool Cascoign then under the Crown of England Thy Gascoign doth send thee Wine Buck and Doe are plentiful in thy Forests Droves of Cattle and Flocks of Sheep are upon thy Hills All the Perfection of the goodliest Land is in thee Thou hast all the Fowl of the Air. In plenty of Fish thou dost surpass all Regions And albeit thou art not stretched out with large Limits yet bordering Nations cloathed with thy Fleeces do wonder at thee for thy blessed Plenty Thy Swords have been turned into Plow-shares Peace and Religion flourisheth in thee so that thou art a Mirror to all Christian Kingdoms CHAP. III. Of the Inhabitants Of the Laws Religion Manners and Punishments of the Antient Britains Of their Language Stature Diet Attire Recreation Traffick Shipping Coins and Buildings Of their Arms and manner of Fighting Of their Computation of Time BRITAIN being a Country Inhabitants so rich in Commodities so beautiful
occasioned by the supine negligence of the Baker and his servants in whose house it began or by an Hellish combination of malicious Persons there having been executed the April before eight Fanatical Plotters who confest at Tyburn that they had so contrived that Fatal Scene that it could not miscarry their Prediction as to the Fire tho not as to the rest of their intended Tragedy proving true to a day he exposed his Person to a thousand Dangers to rescue it from Destruction breaking open Pipes and Conduits for Water reaching Buckets as nimbly as any of the common people clearing the Streets of the Crouds that hindred the people from carrying away their goods appointing his servants and Guards to conduct them to secure places and in fine for several nights and days with unwearied industry appearing in all parts giving necessary orders to prevent the farther spreading of the Conflagration In requital of which his never to be forgotten Pains and diligence for the suppressing of those Flames some ungrateful and audacious Villains have impudently dared to calumniate him as the Author of that dreadful Fire than which Hell it self cannot forge a falser or blacker Lye In the year 1672 he again in a second War against the Vnited Netherlands commanded the whole English Fleet behaving himself with such gallantry that notwithstanding the many notable disadvantages of wind and tide being at Anchor when set upon and the succeeding Mist he after a long and fierce encounter put the Dutch to flight though with exceeding great peril of his Life having in the heat or the engagement when Refitting would have lost the benefit of his Orders and Action changed Ships oftner than great Generals at Land have done their Horses Insomuch that De Ruiter himself acknowledged His Royal Highness to exceed all the Admirals in Christendom as much by His Bravery as by His Birth In the Year 1678. after the discovery of the Popish Plot some Sons of Belial that they might more freely vent their malice against the Royal Family impudently and falsly calumniated his Royal Highness not only as having publickly profest the Romish Religion which yet is so palpable an Untruth that it needs no Confutation but also though in direct contradiction to the depositions of Oates and Bedlow the chief discoverers the last whereof even at his death acquitted him as the Author of the Plot which yet he was so earnest to have sifted to the Bottom that as the Earl of Danby in his Printed Case tells us It had never been brought upon the Stage but for the Dukes Importunity Yet were these Surmises how ridiculous and groundless soever so cunningly by seditious Boutefeus insinuated into the belief of the giddy Multitude that his Majesty at whom these envenomed Arrows tho seemingly shot at his Brother were directly aimed thought it convenient Because he would not leave the most malicious men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him towards Popish Counsels and that he might thereby discern whether Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom were as truly aimed at by others as they were really intended by himself to deprive himself of the Conversation of his Royal Highness by commanding him to depart the Kingdom To which Command the Duke paying an entire submission and obedience on the third of March 1679. took leave of his Majesty and after a short visit to his Daughter the Princess of Orange in Holland retired with his Family to Bruxels in Flanders Thence his Royal Highness having about the latter end of August following received the unwelcome News that the King his Brother was seized with a fit of sickness hastned over to Windsor to visit him protesting that altho his Loyalty and Fraternal Affection had obliged him to perform this Duty he was ready upon his Majesties first Command not only to return into Flanders but to go to the farthest part of the Earth On the Seventeenth of September He came with His Majesty by the infinite mercy of Heaven recovered from His sickness to London and on the Twenty-eighth of the same Month departed again for Flanders whence returning about the middle of October He took his journey by order of the King on the first of November for Scotland where by his prudent Conduct being by His Majesty constituted High Commissioner of that Kingdom He quieted the dangerous Commotions raised therein by certain furious and factious Zealots and restored it to full peace and Tranquillity Coming into England about the latter end of March 1682 He was by His Majesty then at Newmarket received with the greatest Testimonies of affection imaginable Returning again about the middle of May by Sea towards Scotland to fetch thence his Dutches He was by the singular Providence of Almighty GOD delivered from eminent danger of drowning The Glocester a Third Rate Fregate whereon he was imbarkt by the negligence of the Pilot striking on the sands and sinking under Him His Plate and whatever else was abord being lost several Persons of Quality who accompanied him and of his Servants and Seamen about two hundred Persons whose unparalleld affection and generous Loyalty when there was no hope of safety for themselves with shouts of joy gave thanks to Heaven for the preservation of His Royal Highness being swallowed up by the Waves So sensible were all the Loyal Engglish of the great damage that would have befallen these Kingdoms by the loss of so Heroick a Prince that several parts of this Nation have in their Addresses to the King since the return of their Royal Highnesses not only congratulated the happy deliverance of his only Brother but have also humbly supplicated their Soveraign that he would no more permit him who is next after his sacred Majesty their chief hope and comfort to be separated from his Royal Presence His Royal Highness had for His first VVife ANN eldest Daughter to Edward Late Earl of Clarendon and Lord High Chancellor of England She Dyed at St. Jameses on the one and Thiriteth of April 1671. having made him Father of a numerous Issue whereof are living 1. MARY Born the Thirtieth of April 1662 whose God-Father was Prince Rupert and God-Mothers the Dutchesses of Buckingham and Ormond On the fourth of November 1677. She was by Dr. Henry Compton Bishop of London and Brother to James late Earl of Northampton married to William of Nassaw Prince of Orange 2. ANNE born in February 1664 whose God-Father was Dr. Gilbert Sheldon late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury her God-Mothers being her Sister the young Lady Mary and the Dutches of Monmouth In November 1673 His Royal Highness was by Dr. Nathanael Crew Bishop of Durham and Son to John Lord Crew secondly married to JOSEPHA-MARIA d'Este Daughter of Alphonso the IIId late and Sister to Francis present Duke of Modena her Mother being Laura Martinozza the present Dutchess Dowager By her he hath had several Children of which is living one only Daughter named CHARLOTTA