of some of these Particulars they insisted upon the Bishops power of Confirmation which they would have every Minister capable of in his own Parish They disputed against the Cross in Baptism the Ring in Marriage the Surplice the Oath ex officio and other things that stuck with them which they hoped to get all purged away because the King was of a Northern constitution where no such things were practised not yet having felt the Kings pulse whom the Southern Air of the Bishops breaths had so wrought upon that He himself answers most of their Demands Sometimes gently applying Lenitives where he found Ingenuity for he was Learned and Eloquent other times Corrosives telling them these Oppositions proceeded more from stubborness in Opinion than tenderness of Conscience and so betwixt his Arguments and Kingly Authority menaced them to a Conformity which proved a way of Silencing them for the present and some of them were content to acquiesce for the future and the King managed this Discourse with such power which they expected not from him and therefore more danted at That Whitgift Arch. Bishop of Canterbury though a holy grave and pious man highly pleased with it with a sugred bait which Princes are apt enough to swallow said He was verily perswaded that the King spake by the Spirit of God This Conference was on the fourteenth of Ianuary and this good man expired the nine and twentieth of February following in David's fulness of days leaving a Name like a sweet perfume behind him And Bancroft a sturdy piece succeeded him but not with the same Spirit for what Whitgift strove to do by Sweetness and Gentleness Bancroft did persevere in with Rigour and Severity Thus the Bishops having gotten the Victory strove to maintain it and though not on the suddain yet by degrees they press so hard upon the Non-conformists whom they held under the yoke of a Law that many of them are forced to seek Foreign Refuge They prevailed not only for themselves here but by their means not long after the King looked back into Scotland and put the Keys there again into the Bishops hands unlocking the passage to the enjoyment of their Temporal Estates which swel'd them so high that in his Sons time the Women of Scotland pulled them out of their tottering seats On the other side the late Conspiracy of Cobham and Grey had so chilled the Kings blood that he begins to take notice of the swarms of Priests that flockt into the Kingdom For though the Conspirators were of several Religions yet in their correspondence with Foreign Princes Religion was the pretence For in every alteration of Kingdoms few are so modest but they will throw in the Hook of their vain Hopes thinking to get something in the troubled Stream The Iesuits were not slack coming with the Seal of the Fisher in spreading their Nets but a Proclamation broke through them The King being contented to let them alone till they came too near him willing to comply rather than exasperate the safety of his own person made him look to the safety of Religion and to secure both He found this the best Remedy Declaring to all the World the cause of this Restriction VINVIT QVI PATITVR OBIIT ANNO AETATIS SVAE 73 Having after some time spent in setling the Politick affairs of this Realm of late bestowed no small labour in composing certain Differences We found among Our Clergy about Rites and Ceremonies heretofore established in this Church of England and reduced the same to such an order and form as We doubt not but every spirit that is led only with piety and not with humour should be therein satisfied It appeared unto Us in debating these Matters that a greater Contagion to Our Religion than could proceed from these light differences was eminent by persons common Enemies to them both namely the great numbers of Priests both Seminaries and Iesuits abounding in this Realm as well of such as were here before Our coming to the Crown as of such as have resorted hither since using their Functions and Professions with greater liberty than heretofore they durst have done partly upon a vain confidence of some Innovation in matters of Religion to be done by Us which We never intended nor gave any man cause to suspect and partly from the assurance of Our general Pardon granted according to the Custom of Our Progenitors at Our Coronation for offences past in the days of the late Queen which Pardon 's many of the said Priests have procured under Our Great Seal and holding themselves thereby free from danger of the Laws do with great audacity exercise all offices of their Profession both saying Masses and perswading Our Subjects from the Religion established reconciling them to the Church of Rome and by consequence seducing them from their Duty and Obedience to Us. Wherefore We hold Our self obliged both in Consequence and Wisdom to use all good means to keep Our Subjects from being affected with superstitious Opinions which are not only pernicious to their own souls but the ready way to corrupt their Duty and Allegiance which cannot be any way so safely performed as by keeping from them the Instruments of that infection which are Priests of all sorts ordained in Foreign parts by Authority prohibited by the Laws of the Land concerning whom therefore We have thought fit to publish to all Our Subjects this open Declaration of Our pleasure c. Willing and Commanding all manner of Iesuits Seminaries and other Priests whatsoever having Ordination from any Authority by the Laws of this Realm prohibited to take notice that Our pleasure is that they do before the nineteenth of March next depart forth of Our Realm and Dominions And to that purpose it shall be lawful for all Officers of Our Ports to suffer the said Priests to depart into Foreign parts between this and said nineteenth day of March Admonishing and assuring all such Iesuits Seminaries and Priests of what sort soever that if any of them after the said time shall be taken within this Realm or any of Our Dominions or departing now upon this Our pleasure signified shall hereafter return into this Our Realm or any of Our Dominions again they shall be left to the penalty of the Laws here being in force concerning them without hope of any favour or remission from Us c. Which though perhaps it may appear to some a great severity towards that sort of Our Subjects yet doubt We not when it shall be considered with indifferent judgment what cause hath moved Us to use this Providence all men will justifie Us therein For to whom is it unknown into what peril Our Person was like to be drawn and Our Realm unto Confusion not many Months since by Conspiracy First conceived by persons of that sort Which when other Princes shall duly observe We assure Our selves they will no way conceive that this alteration proceedeth from any change of disposition but out of
but what is their great Errand to get Money If they touch upon miscarriage in Government it disparages him to his people for now the inside of his Copses are well grown again If upon Religion he knows well enough how to order that if the Treaty with Spain goes on And for the affairs of State he seems to imply as if there were some hidden and secret Art in those Mysteries of King-craft that the Parliaments apprehension cannot reach For who can have wisdom saith he to judge of things CAESAR BORGIA VALENtiorum Dux Cum pater ad summos Romae esset vectus honores Borgaei toto Praesulvt orbe foret Purpuraei donat gnato huic insigne galèri Quod tamen hoc tantum respuit ille decus Cum ferabella sequi mallet Veneremâ— nefandam Et sratrâ—m è â—ediâ— tolleret suum of that Nature but those that are traded in them Every man in his Profession So the Priests by their old Oracles did strive to keep the World in ignorance as the Romish Factors do now Whereas the true way of Treaties is with Christian not Machiavelian policy This we require this answer we expect you shall have this Retribution from Us. If you go about to cozen and cheat Us by delays and spin out time for ends such Syrens must not be listened after Every State must stand upon the foundation of its own Reason and Power and not build Castles of paper Hopes upon deceitful promises unless there be such redundant Causes of dependency upon them as it is impossible to subsist without them It was observed by Comines that in all Treaties betwixt the English and the French the English ever had the worst but in all Wars and Conflicts the English had the better intimating that Subtilâ—y may deceive but plain down-right Honesty is best and will prevail Falsness is fit for such spirits as Pope Alexander or his Nephew Caesar Borgia Scipio though a Heathen in his pactions with Spain and Carthage scorned it and the old Roman Senate were so Gallant as to rebuke Lucius Marcius their Ambassador and General because in the managing of his Wars and Treaties with Perseus King of Macedon he went about by subtilties to circumvent him And now an Ambassador as one saith lyes abroad Reipublicae causa for the good of his Countrey which tends rather to the hurt of it But now they find that the King would only make Merchandize of the Common-wealth yet Merchants look for their Money again with advantage and therefore their Counsel in disposing it may be well spared But the Parliament it they raise Money from the People which is never to be repayed there is good reason they should know not only to what purpose it is levied but how prudently and sitly laid out otherwise as the King tells them in the comparison of the Robber though in relation to his Prerogative if they should be summoned to levy Money of the people without consideration of what it is for or how it shall be disposed for the good of the Kingdom they may very well say and protest That they meant not to take it from them so that is not to rob them of it But the King's necessities must come under the Common Emergencies which he would not have known and what will one Subsidy without fifteens do The Protestants want in the Palatinate so doth he in England But he had lately a great assistance from his People never King of England found greater love as he saith of himself yet he wants still and would have supply for it under the notion of a War They must consider what Money is fit what Foot what Horse necessary but they must not know for what All that they can imagine is that the King wants Money for his Favourite Buckingham and his kindred to furnish them against Christmas for feasting gaming and bravery the three main pillars of the Times licentiousness raised up to a stupendious and excessive height or to send out his Ambassadors or help his indigent and expensive Courtiers and then the Wars are ended for Want is a great War But if the good of the Kingdom the establishment of Religion the happiness of the King and his Posterity be not fit Themes for them to discourse of why are they called The late Queen whose memory will be for ever famous by the King 's own relation liked the Parliaments Petition well when they humbly besought her to marry because they did not prescribe her place and person but left that to her Election if they had done otherwise She would have thought it presumption in them The King thinks it presumption in the Parliament humbly to beseech him for the good of Religion to permit his Son to marry with a Protestant Princess if they had fixt upon place or person he would have thought it High Treason So many degrees high was the King's spirit mounted above a Woman's to humble Subjects and so many degrees lower then Hers was his Spirit to daring Enemies Some of these things were publickly discoursed of among them in the House and other-some muttered and talkt of in private for full breasts will find vent but the main business that the Commons insisted on was the King's incroachment upon their Liberties debarring them freedom of speech in Parliament which was a Natural Reasonable and uncontroul'd immunity as long as they kept themselves within the limits of their duty which the House was to be the sole judge of And who can tax any particular Member with miscarriages that way that the house hath not Censured hitherto for now the heat is but new broke in among them and this liberty of speech stuck most with them for if any man should speak any thing to displease the King though it tended never so much to the good of the Kingdom it might be termed insolent behaviour and be liable to punishment after Parliament if not then as the King threatens in his Letter which carried such a Terror and over-awing with it that they resolved to give over all business left they should offend Which the King hearing of writes again to his Secretary Calvert and the Speaker to take off the edge of those sharp expressions he used in his Letters thinking to cool the heat among them But before this heat was in the House of Commons the Lords began to consider how cheap they were made by the multitude of Irish and Scotch Earls and Viscounts the King had accumulated not the Natives of those Kingdoms but private English Gentlemen who had procured and assumed those Titles to perch above the English Baronry to their great regret and dishonour And after some debate and canvassing in it they resolved That though they could not debar the King from making such swarms of Nobles with Outlandish Titles yet they would let him know what prejudice it was to them and if it produced no other good effect the King might at least see they took offence and
so spacious that her said Servants and Family may enter and stay therein In which there shall be an ordinary and publique door for them and another inward door by which the Infanta may have a passage into the said Chappel where she and others as above said may be present at Divine Offices 9. That the Chappel Church and Oratory may be beautified with decent Ornaments of Altar and other things necessary for Divine Service which is to be celebrated in them according to the custom of the Ho. Ro. Church and that it shall be lawful for the said Servants and others to go to the said Chappel and Church at all hours as to them shall seem expedient 10. That the care and custody of the said Chappel and Church shall be committed to such as the Lady Infanta shall appoint to whom it shall be lawful to appoint Keepers that no body may enter into them to do any undecent thing 11. That to the administration of the Sacraments and to serve in Chappel and Church aforesaid there shall be so many Priests and Assistants as to the Infanta shall seem fit and the election of them shall belong to the Lady Infanta and the Catholike King her Brother Provided that they be none of the Vassals of the King of Great Britain and if they be his will and consent is to be first obtained 12. That there be one Superiour Minister or Bishop with necessary Authority upon all occasions which shall happen belonging to Religion and for want of a Bishop that his Vicar may have his Authority and jurisdiction 13. That this Bishop or Superiour Minister may correct amend or chastize all Roman Catholiks who shall offend and shall exercise upon them all Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical and moreover also the Lady Infanta shall have power to put them out of her service when soever it shall seem expedient to her 13. That it may be lawful for the Lady Infanta and her Servants to procure from Rome Dispensations Indulgences Jubilees and all Graces as shall seem fit to their Religion and Consciences and to get and make use of any Catholike Books whatsoever 15. That the Servants of the Family of the Lady Infanta who shall come into England shall take the Oath of Allegiance to the King of Great Britain provided that there be no clause therein which shall be contrary to their Consciences and the Roman Catholike Religion and if they happen to be Vassals to the King of Great Britain they shall take the same Oath that the Spaniard doth 16. That the Laws which are or shall be in England against Religion shall not take hold of the said Servants And onely the foresaid Superiour Ecclesiastical Catholike may proceed against Ecclesiastical persons as hath been accustomed by Catholikes And if any Secular Judge shall apprehend any Ecclesiastical Person for any offence he shall forthwith cause him to be delivered to the aforesaid Superiour Ecclesiastick who shall proceed against him according to the Canon-Law 17. That the Lawes made against Catholikes in England or in any other Kingdom of the King of Great Britain shall not extend to the Children of this Marriage and though they be Catholikes they shall not lose the Right of Succession to the Kingdom and Dominions of Great Britain 18. That the Nurses which shall give suck to the Children of the Lady Infanta whether they be of the Kingdom of Great Britain or of any other Nation whatsoever shall be chosen by the Lady Infanta as she pleaseth and shall be accounted of her Family and enjoy the priviledges thereof 19. That the Bishop Ecclesiastical Persons and Religious of the Family of the Lady Infanta shall wear the Vestment and Habit of his dignity profession and Religion after the custom of Rome 20. For security that the said Matrimony be not dissolved for any cause whatsoever The King of Great Britain and Prince Charles are equally to pass the Word and Honour of a King and moreover that they will perform whatsoever shall be propounded by the Catholike King for further confirmation if it may be done decently and fitly 21. That the Sons and Daughters which shall be born of this Marriage shall be brought up in the company of the most Excellent Infanta at least until the Age of Ten years and shall freely enjoy the Right of Succession to the Kingdoms as aforesaid 22. That whensoever any place of either Man-servant or Maid-servant which the Lady Infanta shall bring with her nominated by the Catholike King her Brother shall happen to be void whether by death or by other Cause or accident all the said Servants of her Family are to be supplied by the Catholike King as aforesaid 23. For security that whatsoever is Capitulated may be fulfilled The King of Great Britain and Prince Charles are to be bound by Oath and all the King's Council shall Confirm the said Treaty under their hands Moreover the said King and Prince are to give their Faiths in the Word of a King to endeavour if possible that whatsoever is Capitulated may be established by Parliament 24. That conformable to this Treaty all these things proposed are to be allowed and approved of by the Pope that he may give an Apostolical Benediction and a Dispensation necessary to effect the Marriage But though our King and Prince subscribed these Articles as they were sent to them by the Earl of Bristol in this manner Hos supra memoratos Articulos omnes ac singulos approbamus et quicquid in iis ex nostra parte seu nostro nomine conventum est ratum atque gratum habemus approving and expressing them to be very acceptable unto them And after they had wrought the King to sign these large immunities to the Papists viz. Quod Regnorum suorum Romano Catholici persecutionem nullam patientur molestiáve officientur Religionis suae causa vel ob exercitium illorum ejusdem sacramentorum modò iis utantur absque scandalo quod intelligi debet inter privatos parietes nec juramentis aut sub alio praetextu qualicunque ordinem Religionis spectante vexabuntur That the Roman Catholikes should not be interrupted in the exercise of their Religion doing it privately without Scandal nor be vext with any oaths in order to the same What rested but a closing of both Parties Yet all would not do for the Spaniard never intended the Match at all as is evident by a Letter of the King of Spain's written to his Favourite the Conde of Olivares dated the Fifth of November 1622. found among the Lord Cottington's Papers THe King my Father declared at his Death That his intent never was to marry my Sister the Infanta Donna Maria with the Prince of Wales which your Unkle Don Baltazer understood and so treated this Match ever with intention to delay it notwithstanding it is now so far advanced that considering all the aversness of the Infanta to it it is time to seek some means to divert the Treaty
had not Breeding suitable to his Grandeur which took off the edge of his invitation whose subtile Eye by Converse might have pryed through those fictitious out-sides to discover more then did appear MARY DE MEDICIS Upon Saturday the sixth of March they arrived at Madrid The Prince and Marquess came thither one day before Cottington and the others to make the less noise in appearances They lighted at the Earl of Bristol's House in the evening and the Marquess brought in the Portmantua but his Master staid without with the Guide till he had prepared a way for Privacy The Earl of Bristol was astonished at the sight but after he had collected himself his Diligence attended his Duty and the Prince wanted nothing but Counsel how to order himself which they took time till the next day towards the Evening to deliberate on All that morning the Town was filled with Rumours of the arrival of some great Prince and though the King of Spain had intimation by his Letters yet he kept all private till the Prince exprest himself which was done that Evening For Buckingham and Bristol went to the Court and had private Audience of the King who sent his Grand favourite Olivares back with them to congratulate the Princes coming who let the Prince know how Happy the King his Master was in the Injoyment of him there and what addition of Grandure his presence would contribute to the Court of Spain and that the obligation was so great that he deserved to have the Infanta thrown into his Armes All this while kneeling kissing his Hands and embracing his Thigh the Huge and swelling expressions of Spanish Humility And from him he went to the Marquess of Buckingham telling him That now the Prince of England was in Spain his Master and he would divide the World betwixt them with other Rodomontado fancies And after he was gone about ten of the Clock that night the King of Spain came in a close Coach to Visit the Prince who having intimation of his coming such secret Hints among Princes being suitable invitements he met him in the way and there they spent some time in those sweet yet formal Caresses and Imbraces that are incidents to the Interviews of great Princes though their Hearts and Tongues do seldom accord Gondemar in consort was not without his Strain of Complement for he told the Prince upon a Visit next day that he had strange news to tell him which was That an Englishman was sworn a privy Councellour to the King of Spain meaning himself who he said was an Englishman in Heart and had lately received that Honour CRUX FIDEI COTIâ— CULA All that the Spanish Court could do was heightned into Gallantry and Civilities to the Prince yet he saw not his fair Mistris but at an undiscerning distance and in transitu as she came from Church But after all these Splendid and glorious out-side Ceremonies of Entertainment were grown a little old the Prince began to mind the Business he came about and desired a more intimate access to his Beloved Infanta which Olivares promised from day to day to accomplish but still delayed and at length when unperformed promises were heightned into Shame he plainly confessed That it was agreed by the King and his Council that he might not see her as a Lover till the Dispensation came for it would give scandal to admit him before yet not to starve him quite in his Desires but to keep him short that he should not surfeit he had now and then Access to her as a Prince in a publike way the King of Spain being always present and the Earl of Bristol Interpreter so that nothing could be spoken but those little superficial Compliments that served as Baits rather to nibble on than satisfie But these small Repasts kept up the Appetite And now the Glories of the English Court left the Northern Sun declining to the West and came to see the Sun rising in Spain The Marquess of Buckingham's new Title of Duke came to him also that he might be in the highest Rank among the Spanish Grandees to beard the proudest of them which afterwards he did And the Viscount Doncaster lately made Earl of Carlile came in all his Glories of which two it was observed by knowing Men That Buckingham came into Spain of the Spanish Faction and returned into England of the French Faction Carlile came into Spain of the French Faction and returned into England of the Spanish thus varying the Scene by fits and acting their parts as the present fancy moved them The Lord Kensington Captain of the Guard to our King came also to see the Prince so did the Earl of Denbigh Edward Son and Heir to the now Earl of Manchester The Viscount Mandevill the Viscount Rochford and divers others of the Nobility And the Prince was so circled with a Splendid Retinue of his own people that it might be said Spain's Pallace But together with these specious Entertainments there were underworking Hopes to have the Prince turn Papist for in intervenient Discourses Olivares and others would press him with all the Arguments the Court had instructed them in to a conversion intimating how smooth a path it would make to the Infanta's affections for when he that was to be Lord of her Heart and the best friend she had would be an Enemy to her Religion it could be but a great Obstacle to her Love And when the Danger of it was proposed to them as likely to bring a Rebellion in the Nation if their Prince should be perverted they promised to assist him with an Army against such rebellious people But if he would not admit of a present and suddain alteration publikely yet that he would be so indulgent when the Infanta came into England as to listen to her in Matters of Religion which the Prince promised to do Nay his own familiar friend Bristol as it was Articled against him afterwards by Buckingham did strive with a gentle hand to allure him that way as bringing with it an addition to the Grandure of the King 's of England that none of them could ever do great things that were not of that Religion Thus was the Prince beset and Time ran away in Discourses The Dispensation being purposely delayed for some at that time in the Spanish Court said it was come and sent back again to Rome being too forward and active that it might have more weight put upon it and then it would not make so much haste for now it came too soon to dispatch their worke For the subtily considered that Time and continual dropping might leave those impressions upon the Prince's spirit that Dispatches cannot effect Therefore they made new Queries and clapt new Remora's upon the Articles that being tangled in Disputations betwixt England and Spain and in controversies of Religion betwixt the Prince and some of their cunning Sophisters which they set a work that before the way could be
Canterbury knowing that a Toleration was to be admitted though he stood tottering in the King's Favour and had the Badg of a Puritan clapt upon him thought it better to discharge his Conscience though he hazarded all rather than be silent in such a Cause where the Glory of God and the Good of the Kingdom were so higly concerned Therefore he writes this letter to the King May it please your Majesty I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my Silence I have neglected the Duty of the Place it hath pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in And now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my Duty to your Majesty And therefore I beseech your Majesty give me leave freely to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do with me what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you Sir take into your consideration what the Act is next what the consequence may be By your Act you labour to set up that most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How Hateful will it be to God and grievous unto your good Subjects the true Professors of the Gospel that your Majesty who hath often disputed and learnedly written against those wicked Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those Doctrines which your Pen hath told the World and your Conscience tels your Self are Superstitious Idolatrous and Detestable Add hereunto what you have done in sending the Prince into Spain without the consent of your Council the Privity and Approbation of your People And though Sir you have a large Interest in the Prince as the Son of your Flesh yet hath the people a greater as the Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty their Eyes are fixed and Welfare depends And so tenderly is his going apprehended as believe it Sir however his return may be safe yet the drawers of him to that Action so dangerous to himself to desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestioned and unpunished Besides this Toleration which you endeavour to set up by Proclamation cannot be done without a Parliament unless your Majesty would let your Subjects see That you will take unto your self a liberty to throw down the Laws of the Land at your Pleasure What dreadful Consequence these things may draw after them I beseech your Majesty to consider And above all lest by this Toleration and discontinuance of the true profession of the Gospel whereby God hath blessed us and under which this Kingdom hath for many years flourished your Majesty do not draw upon the Kingdom in general and your Self in particular God's heavy Wrath and Indignation Thus in discharge of my Duty towards God to your Majesty and the place of my Calling I have taken humble Boldness to deliver my Conscience And now Sir do with me what you please Thus did our Solomon in his latter time though he had fought with the Beasts at Ephesus as one saith of him incline a little too much to the Beast Yet he made his tale so good to the Archbishop of Canterbury what reservations soever he had that he wrought upon the good old man afterwards in the Conclusion of the work to set his Hand as a Witness to the Articles And his desires were so heightned to the Heats of Spain which boyl'd him to such a Distemper that he would listen to nothing and almost yield to any thing rather than not to enjoy his own Humour Divers of his intimate Council affecting Popery were not slack to urge him to a Toleration and many Arguments were used inciting to it As that Catholicks were the King 's best and most peaceable Subjects the Puritans being the only Sticklers and the greatest Disturbers of the Royal peace trenching too boldly upon the Prerogative and striving to lessen the Kingly power But if the King had occasion to make use of the Catholicks he should find them more faithful to him than those that are ever contesting with him And why should not Catholicks with as much safety be permitted in England as the Protestants are in France That their Religion was full of Love and Charity where they could enjoy it with freedom and where Charity layes the Foundation the upper Building must needs be spiritual But these Arguments were answered and many reasons alledged against them proving the Nature of the Protestant Religion to be Compatible with the Nature of the Politick Laws of any State of what Religion soever Because it teacheth that the Government of any State whether Monarchial or Aristocratical is Supream within it self and not subordinate to any power without so that the Knot of Allegiance thereunto is so firmly tied that no Humane power can unloose or dissolve it Whereas on the contrary the Roman Religion acknowledging a Supremacy in another above that power which swayeth the State whereof they are Members must consequently hold that one stroke of that Supreme power is able to unsinew and cut in sunder all the Bonds which ty them to the Subordinate and Dependent Authority And therefore can ill accord with the Allegiance which Subjects owe to a Prince of their own Religion which makes Papists intolerable in a Protestant Common-wealth For what Faith can a Prince or People expect from them whose Tenet is That no Faith is to be held with Hereticks That the Protestants in France had merited better there than the Papists had done in England the one by their Loyalties to their lawful King having ransomed that Kingdom with their Bloods in the Pangs of her desperate Agonies from the Yoak of an Usurper within and the Tyranny of a Forain Scepter without The other seeking to write their Disloyalties in the Heart-Blood of the Princes and best Subjects of this Kingdom That the Number and Quality of the Professors of these different Religions in either Kingdom is to be observed For in France the Number of the Protestants were so great that a Toleration did not make them but found them a Considerable Party so strong as they could not have been suppressed without endangering the Kingdom But a Toleration in England would not find but form the Papists to be a considerable party witness their encrease by this late Connivency a thing which ought mainly to be avoided For the distraction of a State into several powerfull parties is alwaies weakning and often proveth the utter ruine thereof These thing were laid open to the King but all were waved by the King of Spain's Offering His engagement to the Pope by oath That he and the Prince his son should observe and keep the Articles stipulated betwixt them did exceedingly affect him And the Articles now coming to close up all they were ingrossed with a long preamble Declaring to all the World the much desired Union betwixt him and the King of Spain by the marriage of his son to
defeat for the space of 2 years 143. and constrains him and the Duke of Bavaria to purchase their peace at a dear rate ib. comes into Brabant 216. his Souldiers mutiny by the way 217. comes into England 283. Forces raised for him ib. his design ruined ib. Masks in great esteâ—m 53 King of Spain intends not to conclude the Match betwixt the Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain 116 Match between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain treated of 143. who of the Nobility favourers thereof and who not 144 Match with Spain concluded in England 238. as likewise in Spain 247. Marriage Preparations in Spain for it 255. yet the Treaty dissolved Match with France thought of 257 A Treaty of Marriage with France 276 Michael and Mompesson questioned 155. their offence ibid. Mompesson flies Michael censured 158 Monjoy created Earl of Devonshire 6 Monson arraigned but his Trial laid aside 89 Lord Monteagle the Discoverer of the Powder-Treason rewarded 32 Montague Lord Treasurer 148. made Lord Treasurer Viscount Mandevile and Earl of Manchester afterwards Lord Privy Seal 149 N New-England describ'd 75. when first planted and by whom ib. Noblemen created 6 7 Nobility Petition the King 187 Northampton made Lord Privy Seal 43 He and Rochester plot Overburie's death why 66. assists the Countess of Essex in suing out a Divorce 67. engages the Lieutenant of the Tower in poysoning Overbury 70. reviles Overbury after his death 73. touched at heart and dies 74 Northumberland with others committed to the Tower 33. why 130. his marriage and Issue ib. is released out of Prison by intercession of his Son-in-law Viscount Doncaster ib. hardly drawn to take a Release from his hand ib. Rides through London in a Coach drawn by Eight horses ib. O Oath of Allegiance 51 Prince of Orange made Knight of the Garter 64. Death of Maurice Prince of Orange 286. Different carriage of two Princes of Orange ib. Overbury a great assistant of Viscount Rochester 66. opposes his marriage with the Countess of Essex ibid. Rochester and Northampton plot his death ibid. is betray'd by Rochester how 67. committed to the Tower ibid. Mistriss Turner imployed to poison him 70. Weston and Franklin imployed by her therein ib. the Lieutenant of the Tower like ingaged therein ibid. The poison set a work but the operation retarded and by what means 71. Overbury writes to Somerset 72. is betrayed by the Lieutenant of the Tower 73. dies and is scandaliz'd after death by Northampton ibid. Oxford gallantly accompanied goes to the Palatinate 136. his character 161. is committed to the Tower 191. his death 286. P Parliament declines the Union with Scotland 41 Parliament undertaken by Somerset 77. dissolved ibid. Parliament called An. 1620. 150. complies with the King 153 Parties in Parliament 161. Parliament adjourned 164. re-assembled 165. their Petition to the King 174. dissolved by Proclamation 190. Parliament summon'd An. 1623. 257. advises the King to break off the Treaâ—y with Spain 265. their Declaration 269. Petition against Recusants 272. a Catalogue of them taken notice of by it 276 Prince Elector Palatine comes into England 62. is made Knight of the Gartâ—r 64. married to the Lady Elizabeth ib. with whom he returns home 65. is Elected and Crowned King of Bohemia 132. sâ—nds to our King to excuse the suddenness of the acceptation of that Kingdom ib. is proscribed ib. is overcome in his General the Prince of Anbalt 141. Flies with his Queen ib. is censured ib. loss of his Son ib. His Character 142 March of the English into the Palatinate 136. Restitution of the Palatinate demanded by the Lord Digby 154 Piety of the Lord Mayor 106 Prince Henry installed Knight of the Garter 6. created Prince of Wales 52. slights the Countess of Essex 56 his death 62. and funeral 63 Prince of Spain his disaster 62 Prince Charles his Journey into Spain 225. His Attendants ib. He and Buckingham disguise themselves and change their names 225. questioned by the Mayor of Dover 225. pass through France where they have a view of the Princess Henrietta Mariâ— 226. Arrive at Madrid 227. The Prince rides in State to Court 228. His Royal Entertainment 129 Many of the English Nobility flock thither unto him 229. The Spaniards strive to pervert the Prince 229. So doth the Pope by his Letter 231. The Prince's Answer 233. A Dispensation thereupon dispatched to Madrid 235. Articles sworn to by the Prince the Match is concluded in Spain 247. New delaies sought out by the Spaniards 248. The Prince takes a resolution to return home 249. but takes a solemn Oath to solemnize the Marriage 251. After Gifts and Preseots on both sides leaves Madrid and comes to the Esourial ibid. The Description of it 252. The Prince is Feasted there 253. The King and Prince's Complements at parting 253. The Prince in danger by a Tempest 254 Proclamation against Jesuits 51. for uniformity in Religion 11. against New Buildings 48. Proclamation against talking sets peoples tongues a work 190 Protestant Religion in danger 171 Protestants in France providentially relieved by one that hated their Religion 247 Q Queen of Scots translated to Westminster 71 Queen Ann opposes Somerset why 78. Her Death her Character 129 R Rawleigh his Treason 4. his West-Indian Voyage 112. his Design discovered to Gondemar 113. The King by Gondemar incens'd against him 115. He is committed to the Tower 116. beheaded 117. His Character and description ibid. Recusants confin'd to their houses 51 Reformation in the Church fought after 7 Four Regiments sent into Holland 280 Duke of Richmond dies suddenly 257 Dutchess of Richmond her legend 258 Rochester rules all after the death of Prince Henry and Salisbury 65. with Northampton plots Overburie's death 66 S Earl of Salisbury made Lord Treasurer 43. not pleased with Rochester's greatness 91. Obstructs Five thousand pound given him by the King ibid. Lord Sanquir murders Turner a Fencer 59. for which he is hanged 60 Duke of Saxony executes the Imperial Ban 135 Satyrical Sermon 152 Say and Seal his Character 161 Sermon against Ceremonies 11 Somerset devises to get Money 76. undertakes a Parliament 80. opposed by the Queen 78 80. begins to decline 80. The King deserts him ib. He and his Countess seized 81. and Arraigned 82 Somerset's description in his life The Countess in her death 83 Southampton released out of the Tower 4. Restored to the right of Blood and Inheritance 6. His Character 161. Committed 191. He and his Son dies 284 King's Speech to the Parliament Anno 1603. 13. In the Star-Chamber 100. To the Parliament An. 1620. 153. Second Speech to the Lords 155. To the Parliament An. 1623. 259. Bacon's Speech in Star-Chamber 84 Spencer his Character 162. He and Arundel quarrel 163 Spinola forms an Army in Flanders 135. Strives to intercept the English in their March towards the Palatinate 137. Besieges Berghen ap Zome 216. Raises his Siege 218. Besieges Breda 280 Book of Sports
to amuse than inform the Understanding But Elegancies in expression though I am not able to reach them my self I admire in others especially if they run in a smooth Chanel and keep that mediocrity that they overflow not the bank But while I am pleading for Mediocrity I find my self in a Labyrinth betwixt too little Pamphlets our Kings Court and his Kitchen and I know not by what Clue to avoid it They are like two extremes Scylla and Charybdis therefore to pass by and not be indangered by them I will shape my Course in the middle betwixt both and Truth shall be my Gale For I protest without passion I lean to no Faction or side but set down plainly what my Conscience and Knowledg dictates to me Nor do I intend to asperse Noble Families Where is there one as that famous Orator the Lord Verulam said that like a fair Pomegronate hath not some corrupted Cornel And may not that be pickt out from the rest but it must taint them all And how can Truth be known but by the good savour it leaves behind For a good Name is like a precious Oyntment Never any thing of History should be left to Posterity if men may not be spoken of when they are dead And if their Actions be genuinely related there will be an intermixture of Good and Bad professedly allowed according to the good or ill Comportment of the person presented though as I said tenderly to be dealt with for Man is of no Angelical nature But it is easie to daub over the foulest Deformities and make them appear Beautiful For as Ulpian said of the Laws of his time so I say of Historical Relations Nulla veritas ita diserte ulla de re cavere potest ut malitios a calliditas locum fraudi non inveniat But this stirring of the Waters is only to make the Truth less perspicuous when time shall settle them all things will appear clearly Records and publick Actions within Memory cannot sink though the Dregs and muddy water thrown in to trouble them may But I will steer steady and avoid them both hoping to arrive at some happy Port if I can pass the Shallows of Ignorance or Rocks of Prejudice that lie in the Way The Authors PICTURE drawn by Himself AS others print their Pictures I will place My Mind in Frontispiece plain as my Face And every Line that is here drawn shall be To pencil out my Souls Physiognomy Which on a Radiant height is fixt My Brow Frowns not for these Miscarriages below Vnless I mean to limit and confine Th' Almighty Wisdom to conceits of mine Yet have no envious Eyes against the Crown Nor did I strive to pull the Mitre down Both may be good But when Heads swell men say The rest of the poor Members pine away Like Ricket-Bodies upwards over-grown Which is no wholsome Constitution The grave mild Presbyter I could admit And am no Foe to th' Independent yet For I have levell'd my intents to be Subservient unto Reason's Soveraignty And none of these State-Passions e'r shall rise Within my Brain to rule and tyrannize For by Truth 's sacred Lamp which I admire My Zeal is kindled not Fanatick fire But I 'll avoid those vapours whose swoln spight And foaming Poyson would put out this light Vain Fuellers they think who doth not know it Their light 's above't because their walk 's below it Such blazing Lights like Exhalations climb Then fall and their best matter proves but slime For where conceited Goodness finds no want Their Holiness becomes Luxuriant Now my great trouble is that I have shown Other mens faults with so many of my own And all my care shall be to shake off quite The Old Mans load for him whose burthen's light And grow to a full stature till I be Form'd like to Christ or Christ be form'd in me Such Pieces are Grav'n by a Hand Divine For which I 'l give my God this Heart of mine Contemnit linguas vita probanda malas UERA EFIGIES PRUDENTISSIMAE PRINCIPIS ELIZABETHAE ANGLIAE FRANCIAE ET HIBE REGINAE ETc ELIZABETHA REGINA Lo heare her Type who was of Late Spains foile faiths shield queene of state In briefe of women neere was seene So great a Prince so good a queene Are to be sould bi ROger Daniell at the angell in lumbard streete THE LIFE REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST KING OF Great Britain THE various hand of Time began now to sheath the Sword of War that had been long disputing the Controversie which Religion and Policy that Princes mix together had for many years so fiercely maintained The wearing out of that old but glorious and most happy Piece of Soveraignty the late Queen bating the Spanish Violence and ending with the Irish-Rebellion and submission of Tirone as if the old Genius of Iron-handed-War were departed and a New one Crowned with a Palm of Peace had taken possession of the English Nation Iames the sixth King of Scotland was proclaimed King of England For though Princes that find here a Mortal Felicity love not the noise of a Successor in their life-time yet they are willing for the Peace of their people to have One when they can hear no more of it That which the Queen could not indure from others She was well pleased to express her self and bequeath in her last Will as a Legacy to this then Happy Nation He was thirty six years of Age when he came to the Crown How dangerous the passage had been from his very Infancy to his Middle Age is not only written in many Histories but the untamed and untractable Spirits of most of that Nation are a sufficient Witness and Record The wise Queen found many petty Titles but none of that Power any other Hand that should have reacht for the Crown might a caught a Cloud of Confusion and those Supporters and Props that held up her Greatness loth to submit to Equals made Scaffolds to his Triumphs In the Wane or last Quarter of the late Queen the Court Motions tended by an Oblique Aspect towards this Northern Star and some of her great Council in her Presence would glance at the King of Scots as her Successor which would make her break into Passion saying Was this imputed to Essex as a Crime and is it less in you Yea Cecil himself held his Correspondencies which he was once like to be trapt in For the Queen taking the Air upon Black-Heath by Greenwich a Post summoned her to enquire from what Quarter his business came and hearing from Scotland She staid her Coach to receive the Pacquet but the Secretary Sir Robert Cecil being in the Coach with Her fearful that some of his secret Conveyances might be discovered having an active Wit calls for a knife suddainly to open it lest put offs and delays might beget Suspition and when he came to cut it he told the Queen it looked and smelt ill-favouredly coming out of many nasty Budgets and
as it partakes more or less of Faith so it inclines more or less to Fancy Wavering and unstable minds are not only blown about with the wind of every opinion but pride and discontent conjoyned often though of different operations are engins sufficient to shake the foundation though never so firmly setled Some men turn over the leaf of Conscience and change a good Religion for a worse some the leaf of Policy leaving an evil Religion for a better but these kind of spirits will not be brought under by fasting and prayer unless it be by him that can discover the heart of hypocrisie though in as variable a capacity as the countenance These times gave examples of both these humours some that went from us to Rome and some that came from Rome to us Among the rest one of eminency Marcus Antonius de Dominis Arch-Bishop of Spalato a man old and corpulent unfit for Travel being almost at his journies end by Nature came into England with as little Grace Here he preaches rails and writes against Rome extolling the Protestant Religion till he came to be Dean of Windsor and Master of the Savoy which some few years he enjoyed Then whether he had higher hopes homewards or the humour and fancy altering like a wandring Star he goes Retrograde placing himself again in the Roman Calendar but he is made to reckon at Rome by the Gregorian account And though he thought himself in a full Conjunction with the Stars there of the greatest Magnitude having publickly recanted and as bitterly reproached the Protestant Doctrine there as he had exalted it here yet the Inquisition had so strong an influence upon him that it hindred the operation of it for he died in Prison and they buried him both like a new Heretick and an old Emperor committing his Body to the Flames Such honour have all such Saints For they hold it as a Maxim That that foundation is never again to be built upon that was once of a tottering temper M. ANT. DE DOMINIS COM. PAL ARCHIEP SPALAT DALM ET CROAT PRIMAS NICOLAS DE LHOSPITAL MARQVIS de Vitry et d'Arc Comte de Chasteauuillain premier Mareschal de France Chler des Ordres du Roy. Gouuerneur de Meaux Lieutenâ— guaÌ„l eu Brie Gou â—ur pourle Roy en seâ— pais et armâ—es de Prouence Fils de Louis de lhospital Seigr. de Vitry et de Francoise de Brichanteau Fut longtemps Cap. ne des gardes du Corps du feu Roy Louis 13 qui sén seruitvtilenv pour estoufer la naissance dime querre Ciuile eu la pâ—rsoue du M. dAncre qui diuisoittous les Francois Arachantileâ—ma iiis decet ambitieux fauory les pretextes aux malcontens Cêt incomparable coup deiustice de graud Priuce marquera a iamais quÃl estoit diumem inspire pour le salut de son Estat et le repos de ses sujetâ— sÃnous faisons reflection surnos miseres presentes Mr de Vitry fut rescompensépar S.M. du bastou de M. al de France en 1617. et conduit pompeusem au Palais le iour de sa reception Le Roy le fit aussi en 1619 son GnaÌ„l d'Armée contre les Princes retirez en Champagne lan 1622 il fut laissé au blocus de la Rochelle auec le feu Conte de SoÃssons Comandant l'armee du Roy et donna les premiers aduis pour la construction de lÃmportant fort Louis Il fit encore paroistre son courage et sa bonne conduitte par la prise de forte place de Royan Bref et dans la paix et dans la guerre il sést tousiours monstre inesbranlable au seruice du Roy. Son Zele a lavraye Religionâ—â— ' ay ant pas moins paru que sa ualeur dans les Combats Il fute estaby Gouuer â—ur de Provence en 1632 ou l contibua de ses soms pour lataque des Isles de S. t Honorat en suitte dequoy il ressenlit un reuers de la Fortune parsa prison dans la Basti I le dóu il ne sortit qu èn 1642 apres la mort du Card.al de Richelieu Il mourut de Maladie le 2â— Septembre 1644 ayant laisse plusieurs enfans de Dame Lucresse Bouhyer sa feâ—e quilespousa en 1617 alors Veufue du Marquis de Noirmoutier son Corps â—ist a Chastenuuillain FRANCOIS DE BOVRBON PRINCE DE CONTY And to conclude the first Lewis the 13. finding his Mothers power swell so high as to threaten a deluge of Noble Blood for the preservation of a Mechanick Florentine and willing to be rid of a Governess who eclips'd his Glory commanded Monsieur De Vitry Captain of his Guard to seize on the Marquess at his first access to Court The Marquess being then in his Government in Normandy placing and displacing Officers for his greater security hearing there were new Whisperers admitted to the King came to the Court in a full career with a ruffling Retinue at his heels thinking to remove all Obstacles in his way but there he met the great One Death waiting for him that his policy and high-flying thoughts never minded For he had no sooner entred the Gates of the Louure but De Vitry arrested him and seeing him step back upon his arrest as it were to lay hold on his Sword he kill'd him instantly with a Pistol The noise whereof put the whole Court into an uproar The King approved the Fact the Queen lamented it but she must mourn no longer in the Court therefore removed thence with a small Train to practice her Italian Artifices as she afterwards did to the disturbance of most parts of Christendom The poor Marquess rested not in death for though he was privately buried that night yet the rage and malice of the People lighted them to his Grave the next day and tearing him thence and tying his naked body to an Asses tail drew him through the Streets of Paris and hanged him by the heels upon a Gibbet on the new Bridg where they cut off flakes of his Body to send as Presents to their Friends And when they had satiated themselves thus they took down the mangled Carcass and made another Progress through the City till wearied with their Delight they strove â—o burn the Body to be rid of it but the fire being not so active as their malice they threw the tattered bones into the River so that their Rage pulled him out of the Earth hung him in the Air burnt him in the Fire and left him in the Water And as they thought to leave no memory of him pulled down his house to the ground which was afterwards ratified by publick justice and his Wife was condemned by the same and burned for a Witch And to make their names the more odious their very birth-places were ripped up and they were both found to proceed from the dunghils of Florence Thus ended this sad Tragedy which serves as Lights and Sea-marks of Mortality to
these Times young Dorothy the eldest Daugâ—teâ— married Robert Viscount Lisle after the death of his Father Eâ—â—l of Leicester by whom he had a numerous Issue like Clive branches aâ—out his Table The younger Daughter Lucy a Lady of â—â—â—ompâ—rable Beauty solemnized in the Poâ—â—s oâ—â—he most exquiâ—â—e Witsâ—f â—f her time married the Lord Hayes now made Viâ—count Doncaster against hâ—r Father's will â—ho aimed at higher â—xtractiâ—â—â— during his Imprisonment which the old Earâ—'s stubborn spirit not brooking would never give hâ—r any thing And Doncaster whose affection was abâ—ve money â—etting only a valuationâ—pon â—pon his much-admired Bride strove to make himselâ— meritorious and prevailed so with the King for his Fâ—ther-in 〈◊〉 that he got his Release But the old Earl would hâ—rdly be drawn to take a Release from his hand so that when he had liberty he restrained himself and with much importunity was wrought upon by such as knew the distempers of his body might best qualifie those of his mind peâ—â—uading him â—oâ—â—ome indisposition to make a journey to the Bath â—hich was one special motive to accept of his Son-in-laâ—'s respects HONORATISSâ—â—â—â— Dê° HENRICVS PERCEY COMâ—â—â—â— NORTHVMBERIANâ—… If Art could shewe the Spirit in the Face And in dead Sines expresse a Liuing Grace You might though wanting an Inscription sweare That this the shadowe of a PERCY were For when the Noblest Romane worthies Liud Though greater Fame their Fortunes have atcheiud No brauer Spiritts did in ROME command Then were the PERCYS of NORTHVMBERIAND But now War breaks in upon us following that blazing Fore-runner the House of Austria like Pyrrhus and Lysander extending their Dominions no further than the Sword could reach having long seat hered their Nests with the Eagles plumes grew formidable to the Princes and States of Germany And because they found the Popes had shrewdly plumed some of their Predecessors till they had wrested most parts of Italy from the Empire they were content to maintain their Grandure by the Popes power and to ingratiate themselves the more became great Persecutors of the Reformed Religion A little before this time Ferdinand Uncles Son to Matthias the Emperor was Crowned King of Bohemia with this Reservation that he should not exercise the Power of a King as long as the old Emperor lived This kind of Crowning of Kings one in the life of another was the great Chain that link by link held the Empire and the two Kingdoms of Hungaria and Bohemia together in the Austrian Family so that the State of either Kingdom could not or durst not put forth their Strength to shake them asunder The Emperor kept his Court at Vienna King Ferdinand at Gretz in Stiria so that the Government of Bohemia rested in such Counsellors as the Emperor Matthias left there for the management of Publick Affairs These Counsellors and Ministers with the Archbishop of Prague broke out about this time not only to demolish the Protestant Churches but by the help of the Iesuits their bitter Enemies strove to undermine the Religion it self The Protestant States and Nobles of the Country summoning an Assembly to redress their Grievances were opposed by some of them Emperor's Ministers of State the very day of their meeting which exasperated them to such a height of Passion being backt by some Forces they brought with them for their Security that they threw Slabata the Emperor's chief Justice Smesansius one of the Council of State and Fabricius a pragmatical Secretary from a high Window in the Castle down into the Court though some of them took little hurt and lived as reports go to this time This rash Action the Bohemians strive to palliate by Apologies to the Emperor but withal strengthned themselves making Leavies both of Horse and Foot the better to secure their own Peace and banishing those Firebrands the Iesuits out of Prague whose malicious and distemper'd Zeal first kindled the Flame The Emperor hearing of these mischiefs raises an Army under the command of Count Bucquoy and the Protestant States finding the Emperor exasperated raise two Armies one commanded by Count Thurne the other by Count Mansfeldt some bickrings past betwixt the Imperial Army and the Bohemians some Towns taken on both sides and in the heat of this stir the old Emperor dies Ferdinand King of Hungary and Bohemia and adopted heir of old Matthias meeting after summons at Frankford with the three Electors of Mentz Collen and Trevers and only with the Representatives of the other three Electors The Church carried it for him and he was chosen King of the Romans The States of Bohemia disclaimed the election as invalid because he could not be an Elector himself as King of Bohemia for that he had never been actually in possession of the Crown And though their dissent could not lessen Ferdinand's Election to the Empire yet they protested by oath never to acknowledge him for their King These eruptions made a noise all over Christendom and most knowing men looked on this heavenly Torch the late Comet as fit fuel to give fire to such a train Our King fearing the clap would fall heavy upon the Protestant party sent the Viscount Doncaster extraordinary Ambassador to mediate a Reconciliation betwixt the Emperor and the Bohemians But the asperity and bitterness was too great to find an allay by his sweet and candid Complements being sitter for the bosoms of Lovers than the armed breasts of Uprores and Tumults LOTHARIVS PAR LA GRACE DE DIEV ARCHEVESQVE DE TREVES B. Moucorneâ— excudit Our King that looked upon his own condition through the Optique of the peoples mutable and unstable affection would by no means countenance such a Precedent as should give them power to dispose of an established Royal dignity at their pleasure and upon every change of humor for so he might shake his own foundation which made the Barons addresses crude and nauseous to his Appetite till time had a little digested them And then he dispatched two Ambassadors into Bohemia One was Sir Richard Weston who was afterwards Lord high Treasurer of England and left to his posterity the Earldom of Portland a man of a haughty spirit yet knew how by suppling it to make his way to the height he arrived at For his Religion gave place to his Policy and mounted him till he became one of the great grievances of the Kingdom The other was Sir Edward Conwey a man of a grosser temper bred a Soldier being Governor of Bril when England gave over her interest in the cautionary Towns who was after made a Viscount and Secretary of State a rough impollished peice for such an imployment But the King that wanted not his Abilities would often make himself merry with his imperfect scrouls in writing and hacking expressions in reading so that he would break into laughter and say in a facetious way Had ever man such a Secretary that can neither Write nor Read These two were suited for the imployment happily upon
by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either adversary especially where the Auditory is Suspected to be tainted with the One or the other infection 6. Lastly that the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of the Kingdom whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for this former remissness be more wary and choice in their licensing of Preachers and revoke all Grants made to any Chancellor Official or Commissary to pass Licences in this kind And that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdom of England a new Body severed from the ancient Clergy as being neither Parsons Vicars nor Curates be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties but only from a Recommendation of the Party from the Bishop of the Diocess under his hand and seal with a Fiat from the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury a Confirmation under the great Seal of England And that such as do transgress any one of these Directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocess or in his default by the Arch-Bishop of the Province ab officio beneficio for a Year and a Day until his Majesty by the advice of the next Convocation shall prescribe some further punishment The Directions the Archbishop recommended to his several Diocesans that they might be put in execution with caution And then may be observed that the King's affections tended to the peaceable comportment of his people that both Papist and Puritan might have a quiet being which preponderation of His puts them in Aequi-librio nay the Papist was in the prime Scale But this new thing called a Lecturer he could by no means endure unless he past through all the Briers of his several Courts to the Broad Seal which was a kind of pungent Ordeal Tryal to which he must put his Teste me ipso and then it was Orthodox so that though Lecturers were not absolutely forbidden yet the charge and trouble to come to it made the way inaccessible Preachers by an Order of Star-chamber in Heaven were first licensed with an Ite praedicate before Henry the Eighth's time and certainly they have a great Seal from thence for what they do Therefore it behoves them to take heed what they say left that Spirit they receive Directions from bind them not up But this Animosity of the King 's against Puritans was thought to be fomented by the Papists whose Agent Bishop Laud was suspected to be though in Religion he had a Motley form by himself and would never as a Priest told me plainly in Flanders bring his neck under the obedience of the Roman Yoak though he might stickle for the grandure of the Clergy And now he began to be Buckingham's Confessor as he expresseth in his own Notes and wore the Court Livery though the King had a sufficient character of him and was pleased with Asseveration to protest his incentive Spirit should be kept under that the flame should not break out by any Preferment from him But that was now forgotten and he crept so into favour that he was thought to be the Bellows that blew these Fires For the Papists used all the Artifices they could to make a breach between the King and his People that they might enter at the same for their own Ends which to accomplish they slily close with the chief ministers of State to put the King upon all his Projects and Monopolies displeasing to the people that they might the more Alienate their Affections from him Sowing their seeds of Division also betwixt Puritan and Protestant so that like the second Commandment they quite exclude the Protestant For all those were Puritans with this high-grown-Arminian-popish party that held in judgment the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches or in practice live according to the Doctrine publickly taught in the Church of England And they attribute the name of Protestant 1. To such Papists as either out of policy or by popish indulgence hold outward Communion with the Church of England 2. To such Protestants as were either tainted with or inclinable to their opinions 3. To indifferent Men who imbrace always that Religion that shall be commanded by Authority Or 4. To such Neutrals as care for no Religion but such as stands with their own liking so that they allow the Church of England the Refuse both of their Religion and Ours Then they strive to make a Division of Regians and Republicans The Regians are the great Dependents upon the Crown both in Church and State who swell up the Prerogative preaching and distilling into the King the Almightiness of his power That all that the People hath is the King 's and that it is by his mercy they have a bare empty Being And this hoisting up of the King they knew would stir up the Republicans to oppose him in his Designs by which they pinch as the King thinks his Prerogative feeding a strife betwixt Law and Prerogative whereby they escape the Dint of both and hope the fire they kindle will break out at last to consume their Adversaries That these things were acted and fomented by Papists was very probable for they were great Sticklers about the Court and Council-Table But it was too apparent that some of the Clergy to make their way the smoother to their wished end began so to adore the King that he could not be named but more reverence was done to it than to the Name of God And the Iudges in their itinerant Circuits the more to enslave the people to Obedience being to speak of the King would give him such Sacred and Oraculous Titles as if their advancement to higher places must necessarily be laid upon the foundation of the peoples debasement On the other side The well affected to Religion that knew no other inclination than the Dictates of their own Reason experiences of former times and the constant practices of the Romanists for propagating their own designs did by their writings and discourses strive to warm the King 's cold temper and put fresh spirits into his chilled veins shewing the Tyranny of the incroaching Monarchy of the House of Austria who was Rome's great Factor and how just and secure the opposing of such a growing power will be That no Sword is so sharp nor Arm 's so strong as those that are cemented with true Religion The security of Conscience grounded upon the Word of Truth being not only a Bulwark to defend but the best Engin to oppose Idolatry and Ambition Thus stood the Kingdom divided in it self But as the King strove after this Rupture betwixt him and the Parliament to settle things at home and keep his people in obedience so he was as active abroad to keep up his own Reputation For he made a full account to salve up all these miscarriages by the intended Match with Spain that his people might see he could discern further into the intrinsical matters of State than they and so make the
well cleared on both sides their Design which was the Prince's Perversion might mature and ripen For the Earl of Bristol confessed afterwards That it was a general received Opinion in the Spanish Court that the Prince came thither with intention to be a Roman Catholike And Gondemar pressed Bristol not to hinder so pious a work assuring him they had the Duke of Buckingham's assistance therein And it was evident enough their hopes were great by the Pope's letter to the Bishop of Conchen Inquisitor general in Spain Wherein he excites him not to slip the Opportunity providence had put into his hand of extending his Piety to the outtermost Nations The Prince of England being now in the Court of Spain that glorious Temple as it were that hath been a Bulwark to the Pontifical Authority and an Academy for propogation of Religion he desires he may not stay there in vain but that some of the impressions of the Piety of so many Catholick Kings as have lived there may be imprinted on him that he may be won with all sweetness as many of his noble Ancestors have been who have submitted their Crowned heads and Imperiall power to the Roman Obedience And to his glorious Victory and Eternal GREGORIVS XV alexander Luaouisuis Bononien creat die 9. Februarâ— an 1621. Sedit an 2. me â—s S. Obâ—t die 8. Iulij an 1623 Vac Triumph of Celestial Beatitudes the Treasures of Kings and Legions of Souldiers cannot contribute but the Weapons of Light that must come from Heaven whose Splendor inlightning the Prince's Eyes shall dazleâ— his Errors and establish his mind in meekness And he charges the Bishop and all his Fraternity to use the best strength and industry they can to this purpose So that the Prince was continually laid at by the insinuating Orations of cunning Iesuits the fained and cousening Miracles of reclused Holiness the Splendid and Specious Solemnities of their Formal Processions the rare and admirable Pictures of their reputed Saints besides many other painted devices and subtle Artifices brooded among them And the Pope used all the Rhetorick of his Cabalistical Consistory and Holy Chair to charm him to his Obedience as may be seen by this Letter which he writ to him himself MOst Noble Prince Health and Light of Divine Grace For asmuch as Great Britain hath always been fruitful in Vertues and Men of Merit having filled the one and the other World with the Glory of Her Renown She doth also very often attract the thoughts of the Holy Apostolical Chair to the consideration of her praises And indeed the Church was but then in her Infancy when the King of Kings did choose her for his Inheritance and so affectionately that it is thought the Roman Eagles prevailed not so much as the Banner of the Cross. Besides that many of her Kings instructed in the Knowledg of the true Salvation have preferred the Cross before the Royal Scepter and the Discipline of Religion before Covetousness leaving Examples of Piety to other Nations and to the Ages yet to come so as having Merited the principal and chief Places of Blessedness in Heaven they have obtained on Earth the Triumphant Ornaments of true Holiness And although now the State of the English Church be altered yet we see the Court of Great Britain adorned and furnished with Moral Vertues which might serve to support the Charity that We bear unto Her and be an Ornament to the name of Christianity if withal She could have for her defence and Protection the Orthodox and Catholike Truth Wherefore by how much the Glory of your most Noble Father and the apprehension of your Royal Disposition delights Us with so much more Zeal We desire that the Gates of the Heavenly Kingdom might be opened unto you and that you might purchase to your self the Love of the Universal Church Moreover it being Certain that Gregory the Great of most blessed Memory hath introduced to the English people and taught their Kings the law of the Gospel and the respect to Apostolical Authority We as inferior to him in Holiness and Virtue but equal in Name and Degree of Dignity it is very reasonable that We following his blessed Steps should endeavour the Salvation of those Provinces especially at this time when your Happy Design most Noble Prince elevates Us to the Hope of an extraordinary advantage And as you have taken a Iourney into Spain to the Catholike King with desire to allye your Self to the House of Austria so We do commend your Design and indeed do testifie openly in this present Business That you are he that takes principal Care of our Prelacy For seeing that you desire to take in Marriage the Daughter of Spain We may easily from thence conjecture That the ancient seeds of Christian Piety which have so happily flourished in the Hearts of the Kings of Great Britain May God prospering them revive again in your Soul And indeed it is not to be believed that he that loves such an alliance should hate the Catholike Religion and delight to oppress the Holy Chair To that purpose We have commanded to make continually most humble Prayers to the Father of Lights That he would be pleased to put you as a fair Flower of Christendom and the onely Hope of Great Britain in possession of that most noble Heritage that your Ancestors have purchased for you to defend the Authority of the Soveraign High Priest and to sight against the Monsters of Heresie Remember the dayes of old enquire of your Fathers and they will tell you the Way that leads to Heaven and what way Temporal Princes have taken to gain an Eternal Kingdom Behold the Gates of Heaven opened the most holy Kings of England who came from England to Rome accompanied with Angels did come to Honour and do Homage to the Lord of Lords and to the Prince of the Apostles in the Apostolical Chair their Actions and Examples being as so many Voices of God speaking and exhorting you to follow the course of the Lives of those to whose Empire you shall one day attain Great Brittaine is thy Birth right but the Earth Liâ—e then and conquer till victorious warre stoopes to the Vertues which exceede thy Birth Make thy Rule endles as thy Vertues are This Letter of the Pope's expresses not only the sleek and smooth waies that Soul-merchant takes to purchase his Proselytes but the end he proposes to himself which is to bring them under the Roman Obedience otherwise whatsoever they do or profess is Heresie And to build up the Towers of this great Babel the name of the most High God is brought down among them and used as a Master Builder Every Profession layes that name as a Foundation though the Superstructure be but straw and stubble of Hypocrisie which a whirl-wind shall scatter and the time is coming that her Lovers shall be destroyed and fiery-cloven tongues shall confound their Language The Prince was not slack in answering this
Pyrenes had bounded it towards Spain And the French Activity being loath to be cooped up thought it better to endure a little inconvenience at home than so much prejudice abroad and therefore to oppose Him they closed with the Protestants And what was it brought them in Obedience The re-edifying of their ruined Temples the restoring and maintaining their banished Ministers and Security in their Religion and Consciences So that it was not their Rebellion that was cause of the War but the War made against their Religion caused it to be called a Rebellion Thus when all other means failed their worst enemies though much against their wills proved to be their best Friends But to return to the Spanish Treaty all this while in Agitation As soon as the Articles Our King had sealed and sworn to observe were come into Spain and the Prince had ratified and comfirmed them and had sworn to another Article there wherein he ties up his own hands and gave leave to Satan and all his complices to buffet him which was To permit at all times that any should freely propose to him the Arguments of the Catholick Religion without giving any impediment and that he would never directly nor indirectly permit any to speak to the Infanta against the same the two Kingdoms of England and Spain as it were shook hands to the Agreement Preparations were made in England to entertain the Infanta a new Church built up at Saint Iames the Prince's house the Foundation stone with much Ceremony laid by Don Carlos a Coloma the Spanish Ambassadour for the publick exercise of her Religion Her very Shadows are courted in every Corner Painters being set a work to take the Height and Dimensions of this new Star that was to rise in the North before it appeared Such as hoped to flourish by her influence grew up to exuberancy what would they do then when they found the effects of it Why be drowned in their own redundancy For the Moderate Spirit did foresee what bad Omens this Apparition did threaten On the other side in Spain the Substance is as much courted as the Shadow is here with the Title of Princess of England her Maiden Restraints are taken off and she may come abroad to publick Meetings where now their Eyes may prattle loving Stories though the great Courtier Olivares gave it no better Title than The Prince watches the Infanta as a Cat doth a Mouse too gross 〈◊〉 Expression for a Master of those Ceremonies And in fine there was such an Union betwixt the two Crowns that it might well be said Philip and Iacob made one Holy-day But this closing betwixt England and Spain made the breach the wider in the House of the Palatine the Restitution of the Palatinate and the Electorate to the Queen of Bohemia and her Children being waved in the Treaty and a great sum of Money proposed as a Dowry which was also lessen'd after the first Proposition and some part of it promised to be sent with Her in Iewels which as one said might be Counterfeit as the rest of their Actions yet Our King accepted of all so eager was He and greedy of the Match that no Obstacle could stand in his way which he did not remove But there was some under-hand promise that the Infanta among the Courte-Complements should work that feat in presenting the Restorative of that Dignity and Country for a break-fast to ingratiate her Self with the Prince her Husband and as a pawn of her good Will and Affection to the English Nation And these Promises with the Spanish stamp were taken in England for current Payment so that all things tended to a Conclusion But time in Spain came too swift upon them they were willing the Infanta should winter there but knew not well how to delay the Prince longer And as they were in this plunge ruminating upon and striving to find out some new Remora to help them Pope Gregory the fifteenth that had granted the Dispensation dies and then their Subtilties flew upon that accident to make-the Dispensation invalid yet with a Reserve to keep up our Prince's Spirit that it should be no hinderance to the Match for the new Pope would instantly do it if not it should be dispatched by the Dean of the Cardinals and the King of Spain assured the Prince That if he would stay till Christmas the Marriage should be really celebrated then These delayes coming one on the neck of another and the Duke of Buckingham having taken some disgust 〈◊〉 Spain presented all things to our King in the worst habit he could put upon them For there had been some jarrs betwixt him and Olivares Two great Favourites though of different Kingdoms could not well squat in one form Olivares hunted Buckingham so close that he had almost caught him in his own Burrow but instead of his Game he incountered some Vermin which darkness could not distinguish who bit him shreudly and whether it were by this Common Hunt I know not but I am sure it was by the Common-Cry that he was so displeased with the Spanish for it that he afterwards much inclined to the French I acknowledge the Gravity and Dignity of History should not appear in such Metaphorical Habiliments but that we now live in an Age where Truth is forced to shroud her self in such Attire lest she should have imprinted on her face a Mark of Malice against Greatness which if it be not ballanced with Goodness and Piety is but an empty and frothy Title But it was said this Tetrical Humour made Buckingham dislike all the Spanish proceedings and just in the nick when it was on him the Queen of Bohemia by a private message gave him some intimation that She and her Children were to be thought on inviting him to be a Witnesse to the Christning of one of them which came fit to his acceptation not so much out of affection to the one Party as in opposition to the other And what disrelished with him gave an ill Savour to Our King who having cause enough to dislike the Spanish delates and finding the Hearts of the People bent against the Match and some neer him as the Duke of Lenox made Duke of Richmond when Buckingham had his Title that the Scots might still precede the English and the Marquess Hamilton made Earl of Cambridge to intitle him a Peer the last Parliament a man of a gallant and stately presence one whom the King much listened to and others having as little affection to it The hopes of a Daughter of France left to give life yet to a Royal Race did bate something of Our King 's keen edge so that he wrote to Buckingham That he could not expect after so long a stay in Spain and so little done that they had any cordial intention to perfect the Treaty and therefore conjured him to bring his Son back with all speed but if his Sonnes youthful follies should tye him to a