Lorrain Forces from their Service and imployed them to reduce Ireland knowing that the winning that was the most probable way for the obtaining of England and promising in recompence to make that Duke Duke of Ireland but they thought he only aimed at their disappointment upon the account of which misinterpretations of his peaceable design in his endeavours to reconcile them he was forced to retire for some time to St. Germans his Mother being scarce able to stay at the Louvre for the unreasonable and causless clamours of the mistaken multitude but when their heat and fury was over he returned thither again where he staid for some time longer in great esteem with that Court until the subtle Cardinal began under-hand to make a Peace with Cromwel and when he could not by all the means he used prevent its taking effect he retired toward Germany knowing that the issue of it would be a fair complementing of him out of their Dominions and banishing of him out of his very exile Upon his arrival in Germany he is entertained by the Elector of Cologn and during his stay in that Court he had an interview with the Queen of Sweden whom as the Report went he was to have married had he not disliked her light and Frenchified Deportment In the interview he thank'd her for all those civilities which she had for his sake shewed to any of his Friends and particularly to Montross to which she replied their own and his worth deserved no less There was present at this interview the King 's two Brothers the Dukes of York and Glocester the latter whereof was sent for by him from Paris upon information that his Mother had a design to put him into the Jesuits Colledge and breed him up in the Popish Religion to which he was always an irreconcileable Enemy and therefore would not permit his Brother to be brought up in it And so pregnant an instance of his intire love to and resolution to defend the Protestant Religion profess'd in the Church of England was his proceedings in this Affair even in those days when there was so little hopes to see it ever restored again that I think it worthy of a perpetual remembrance and therefore shall here insert the chief circumstances relating to it Having designed to take the Duke of Glocester with him into Germany he was prevail'd upon by the Queen to leave him with her at Paris promising that she would not permit any force to be put upon him for the prevailing with him to change his Religion but that he should be attended by those Protestant Servants which himself had placed about him and have free liberty to resort to the Publick Service of the Church of England at the King's Chappel which was then at Sir Richard Brown's house whom he left as his Resident in Paris But not long after his departure the Duke under pretence of weaning him from the company of some young French Gallants who being in the same Academy were grown into a more familiar conversation with him than was thought convenient was removed to Abbot Mountague's house at his Abby near Pontoise and after he had been there a few days Mr. Lovel who was his Tutor going to Paris for one day only upon business designedly contrived as was suspected by the Abbot during his absence he was vehemently press'd by the Abbot with all the strongest Motives Spiritual or Temporal that he thought might prevail upon him to turn Roman Catholick and having no Protestant near him at that time to advise withal but Mr. Griffin of his Bed-Chamber a Gentleman about his own age both of them not being able to make much more than Thirty he doubted not but to prevail But notwithstanding the greenness of his years such was his zeal for his Religion that after having made ingenious Replies to all the Abbots Arguments he told him that he very much admired how he durst make that attempt upon him knowing that the Queen had engaged her word to the King that no change of his Religion should be endeavoured And telling him that for his own part he was resolved not to incurr the King's displeasure by neglecting to observe his Royal Command whereby he expresly forbid him to listen to any Arguments which should be used with him for the change of his Religion And that as to the specious Pretences of making him a Cardinal or procuring of him to be advanced to the English Throne he did with indignation and contempt deride and reject them complaining withal of his being disingeniously dealt with by his being thus assaulted in the absence of his Tutor whom the King had placed over him and who he believed could easily refute the strongest of his Arguments Which upon his return he did so fully that it was thought convenient to remove the Duke back again to Paris where he was permitted to resort to the King's Chappel and enjoy the free exercise of his Religion for the present though it was not long that he did so for after some little time the Queen own'd the attempt done on him to be with her own approbation declaring that she could not but endeavour notwithstanding her Promise to the King that he should not be forced to have her Son shewed the right way to Heaven and to have that way proposed to him which she thought most requisite for the guiding him thereunto And that she might notwithstanding that repulse prevail upon him by degrees his Protestant Tutor was put from him and himself hurried out of Paris in great hast thereby to deprive him of the assistance of any Protestant and conveyed to Mr. Croft's house but under the care of Abbot Mountague none of his Servants but Griffin being permitted to attend him The News whereof did deeply affect all the Loyal Protestant Exiles then in Paris but especially the Lord Hatton who understanding how violently that young Prince was persecuted for his Religion he consulted with that famous Confessor for the Church of England Dr. Cousins then Dean of Peterborough and Chaplain to his Majesty and since the King's Restauration Bishop of Durham who thereupon drew up what Arguments and Instructions he thought convenient to fortifie the Duke in that violent assault And knowing how strictly he was guarded from the access of any Protestant he being by his Lady related to the Abbot went to give him a visit but his design was soon guessed at and tho' he obtain'd for that time access to the Duke yet he was so carefully watch'd that it was not without much difficulty that he unperceived conveyed to him the Instructions that he had prepared for him and was forced for the future to vary his stratagems to procure farther Advices to be from time to time delivered to him And so narrowly was the Duke eyed by the Popish Spies set over him and the Priests who were uncessantly torturing of him with their pressures to change his Religion that he had no opportunity to peruse any of
spoiled but left her Wealthy and Rich. Her Prelates He restored to their Ancient Rights and Dignities and filled Her Converts with Joy and Gladness His Religion and Piety He did not like most Princes make Religion an Artifice of State only but accounted it the Glory and Comfort of his Life His Soul in His private Devotion soared so high that he seemed to be wholly swallowed up with the Contemplation of the Holiness and Majesty of the God whom he adored and with whom he would plead in Prayer so earnestly and with such Affection as tho he were resolved to take no denial And one of the Presbyterian Ministers who attended the Commissioners sent over by the Parliament at Breda passing accidentally by when he was private in his Closet he was so astonished at the Ardency and Zeal wherewith he offered up his Sacrifices of Prayer and Praises to Almighty God that he suddenly clapt his hand upon his Heart and with a kind of Emotion of Spirit cried out to those that were with him We are not worthy of such a King And that which was the perfection of all his piety and zeal proceeded not so much from a desire to seem Religious as from a solemn Dedication of his great Soul to the Honour and Glory of his God by whom alone he knew Kings reign and Princes decree Justice Accounting himself like Theodosius the Emperor more happy in being a servant of Christ than in his being King of great Brittain and Ireland He was from his Infancy Eduducated in the Protestant Religion and Instructed by the Royal Martyr in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England And yet he was not a Protestant so much by Education as Choice as appeared by his constant adhering to the Church of England in the time of his unhappy Exile when he was absolutely free to have profess'd what Religion he pleased and had so many Temptations from the baseness and villany of his own Subjects and the kindness of those Popish Princes by whom he was entertained and from whose Assistance he expected relief against the unjust Oppression of those that had Vsurp'd his Throne to embrace the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And the reason why he so strenuously endeavoured to promote and maintain an Vniformity in Religion through all his Dominions was not so much to Justifie his own Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Causes as thereby to strengthen the Protestant Interest knowing that the safety of England consisted chiefly in the Vnion of her Inhabitants So that his knowledg in the sacred Mysteries of Religion was the Crown and Glory of all his other Perfections and the great end and design whereat He aimed in all his other Studies was the improving them to the Glory of God and the increasing in Himself the knowledg of more sublime and heavenly things wherein He so much excelled that He might have said with King David I am wiser than all my Teachers Knowing likewise that nothing obstructed the growth of Piety and the power of Godliness more than the wasting those parts and spending that time in disputing about Forms which ought wholly to be employed in promoting Holiness of Life and Sincerity of Heart He had during his Exile visited the Courts and Travelled through the Countrys of the three greatest and most Potent Monarchs of Christendom His Travels viz. Germany France and Spain and had by his Observation made himself Master of what was excellent and worth learning in their Forms and Methods of Government and exactly inform'd himself what were the Excellencies and what the defects of each of them And to the Admiration of those who had the Happiness to converse with him had by that means obtained an universal insight into all the great and weighty Affairs of Europe and understood by what Principles they were first moved and by what Counsels and to what ends they vvere aftervvards carried on vvhich tho he chiefly learned from themselves yet vvhat he gathered from them all in General vvas strange and surprizing to every one of them in particular who greatly wondred at the Comprehensiveness of his Knowledg So that as he had by right of Nature a Power of Empire over the Bodies of one Part of Europe He might seem by a Natural and acquired right to claim an Vniversal Monarchy over the Intellectual Powers the Minds and Wills of Mankind in all the Parts of it besides He understood Spanish and Italian and spake and wrote French correctedly was well versed in Ancient and Modern History and had read the choicest Pieces of Politicks and Divinity and understood the fundamental Laws of England so well His skill in Arts and Sciences that he could readily answer the most difficult Queries and resolve the greatest Mysteries and Critical Niceties that were at any time started about them and had his mind so well furnished with the knowledg of Nature and the Reasons of Things that He comprehended almost all kind of Arts which contributed any Thing either to the Delight or Service of Mankind He understood the truest and best Method for Building of Ships and could better than those who pretended themselves the greatest Crafts-masters therein direct the making them far more useful both for Strength and Sailing than any which had been formerly built and was as well acquainted with Rigging and Fitting forth a Fleet for Sea He had great Skill in Guns knew all that belonged to their casting and could tell upon first view whether they were mounted to do Execution or not He was a great Lover of stately Buildings and several Curious Edifices were either built or repaired by Him But his greatest Cost and Care in that kind was laid out in Windsor-Castle which he took more delight in than in any other of His Palaces Nor were His Buildings all for Pomp but some for Charity witness that Curious and Stately Fabrick of Chelsey-Colledg for the Entertainment of decayed Soldiers He understood Navigation Astronomy and all the parts of the Mathematicks to such a Degree that he is supposed to have attained a greater Perfection therein than any Prince ever did before Him and took so much delight in those Pleasant and Useful Studies that he endeavoured as much as possible the promoting them in others Witness His Worthy Gift to the Hospital of Christ-Church for the Annual breeding up a certain Number of the most Ingenuous of their Children in the Mathematical Studies and the Liberal Rewards which were frequently bestowed by Him upon Ingenious Men that had any way contributed toward the making those Studies more easie and delightful or had been imployed by him in any thing relating thereunto His Recreations for the most part were very stirring and such as tended to the making his Body more Robust and strong His Recreations and maintaining it in Health which he enjoyed to as great a degree as any Prince in the World ever did such as Riding Hunting Fishing Tennis and the like He loved Walking extreamly
those Papers sent him so that he was constrained to deliver them to Griffin who in the Night as he lay in his Bed-Chamber acquainted him what the scope and tendency of them was by the advantage whereof through the assistance of almighty God he did so resolutely withstand all the violent shocks of his Persecutors that they thereupon resolved not only to remove Griffin but to shut up the Duke in the Jesuits Colledge The King being informed of all those Proceedings immediately used all possible endeavours for his relief and sent an expostulatory Letter to the Queen his Mother and laid his Commands on all the most eminent of his Protestant Subjects there to be to the utmost of their power aiding and assisting to him in that great Distress and sending another Letter likewise to the Duke himself which was attempted some days before he was removed to the Jesuits Colledge to be delivered to him by Sir George Ratcliff but though he was admitted to his presence yet he could find no opportunity to deliver him the Letter with privacy therefore left it with Griffin to be conveyed to him In which Letter he reminded him of the strict Command that he had left with him at his departure to continue firm in his Religion as also the vanity of their Motives the emptiness of their Promises together with the last Charge of their dead Father which he solemnly gave him with the entail of his Blessing annex'd thereunto telling him withal that if he suffered himself to be perverted in his Religion by any inticements whatsoever or put himself into the Jesuits Colledge he had then the last Letter that ever he should receive from him and must never look to see his Face again As soon as the young Duke had with an unexpressible joy received this Letter he first with all possible hast transcribed a Copy of it and and sent it immediately to the Queen begging her leave to repair to Paris both upon the account of those Commands of the King and the Duke of York's being then returned from the French Army But the Queen unwilling to desist from the prosecuting what she had began sent him word she could not cease wishing his so great and eternal good as to change his Religion would be to which she would not force him but yet advised him however to hearken to what the Abbot should farther deliver to him which was that he should at least be willing to go to the Jesuits Colledge where he should have as much liberty in all things as himself could desire It being still their resolution to have forced him thither if he refused had it not been prevented by the arrival of the Duke of Ormond whom the King dispatch'd thither from Germany with Letters and Instructions for the rescuing of him from his Popish adversaries and had he staid but four days longer before his arrival at Paris he had come too late in regard the Duke had certainly been within that time shut up in the Colledge from whence there had been no possibility of retrieving him For the French Court had so zealously espoused that Affair that he found himself necessitated to make use of all the Prudence and Policy he was Master of before he could accomplish the business that he came about but finding that it was not altogether too late he so effectually pursued those Instructions he received from the King that he procured the Duke's return to Paris and liberty to enjoy the free Exercise of his Religion But no sooner did he come to the French Court to pay his respects to the Queen but the Queen-Mother of France and Cardinal Mazarine press'd him with all the Allurements imaginable to turn Roman Catholick telling him that they look'd upon him as a Child of France and that it was for his advantage and the opportunity they should thereby have of doing him the greater good that induced them to move him thereunto adding that since his Father was dead he ought to obey his Mother's Commands in all things To which observing the King's Instructions not to engage in any Dispute with them he replied only in general terms That he resolved to obey his Mother as much as any Son could or ought to do and thereby dissengaged himself from any farther pursuit at that time But all the allurements of the French Court and the utmost severities used toward him by his Mother were not able in the least to shake his firmness in his Religion which the Queen with great indignation perceiving some few days after took him apart and having first with all the sweetness imaginable declared to him how great and tender those affections she had for him were and how much it grieved her that very love it self should compel her to proceed toward him with some seeming severity She told him that for his ease sake she would shorten the time of his Tryal and therefore proposing to him all the good she aimed at in that design the duty he owed her and the disability of the King to maintain him she commanded him immediately to withdraw into his Lodgings and there give one hearing more to Abbot Mountague and after having sequestred himself for a while from all manner of diversion to ponder seriously upon what she and he said to him and that night either bring or send her a full and final answer Whereupon the Duke taking the advantage of the little interim of clearing the Room sent Griffin to the Marquess of Ormond desiring him to repair to him immediately that he might advise with him how he ought to deport himself as occasion should serve in that intended privacy with his Mother and the Abbot But Griffin not presently finding the Marquess the Abbot was there before him who having expaciated upon what the Queen had but briefly hinted he prest the Duke for his final answer which he refused to give 'till he had first consulted with the Marquess whereupon the Abbot for the present withdrew desiring to be sent for so soon as he was come telling him that if it were not in an hours time he would return again whether sent for or not But it was not long after his being withdrawn that the Marquess came and the Duke having acquainted him with their Proposals and demanded his advice and directions therein was quickly resolved what answer to make but having been so long harrassed was desirous to take a little breath and therefore neglected to send presently to the Abbot and went out of his Lodging into the Court to divert himself but no sooner was he gone than the Abbot came and missing him sought up and down the Court for him and having at last found him severely rebuked him for neglecting his Mothers command and his instructions which was seriously to ponderate what he had said 〈◊〉 for neglecting to send for him according to appointment Well Sir said the Duke I have seriously considered of all that hath been said to me and my final answer
of Kelkhampton in Cornwell a living of about three hundred pound per Annum which he had freely bestowed on him without any other design therein than only to oblige him to serve his King and Country whenever he had occasion to employ him in any thing that might tend to both their Good having even then an eye to the General in Scotland to whom he was Brother which contrivance the King very well approved of and left the whole management of the business to his secresie and discretion Whereupon he sent for Monk out of Cornwelâ— and having first obliged him to secresie accquainted him with the Kings Commission to treat with his Brother the General and his design of sending him into Scotland to manage that treaty on the Kings behalf and gave him a Commission according to the Kings directions to offer his Brother in case he would undertake that commendable and glorious work of restoring the King to his Crown and Dignity leave to set down his own conditions and assure him that the King had promised upon his Royal word to perform them Monk being fraught with hopes and instructions willingly undertook the happy Embassy embarquing himself immediately for Scotland and having a prosperous gale arrived in a few days at Leith and from thence to Dulkeith where his Brother the General resided And that he might remove all suspition of the design of his coming from those about the General he pretended that the intent of his voyage was only to fetch away his Daughter Mary who at that time lived there in the Generals Family in order to the bestowing her in marriage to her advantage hoping that his Brother would make some conâ—iderable addition to her Fortune But the General being at his first arrival engaged in business could not entertain him himself and therefore sent him under the conduct of an highland Foot-Boy to his Chaplains Chamber which was Dr. Price who received him with that Courtesie that became him in regard of his relation to his Master and so soon as he had made him sit down began to enquire what news he had brought from England about Sir George Booth and the rest of those loyal Gentlemen that were engaged with him to whom Monk made such replies as were suitable to his several questions and then having been assured before he left England of the Dr's faithfulness and loyalty he adventured to acquaint him with the design of his coming thither at that time and desired his directions how he might to be with the greatest advantage to the Kings affairs break that business and open his message from Sir John to the General who thereupon told him that his Brother would expect to be satisfied of his Secresie as well as of his Fidelity before he would engage himself in such a hazardous affair as that was since it was necessary that a business of that importance should sleep in as few Breasts as possible and he might put himself the General and his whole negotiation into a very great hazard should he rely too much upon the Characters given him in England of the secret loyalty of any persons amongst them advising him therefore to make no more such rude and unadvised communications of his Embassy and to acquaint his Brother with his having related it to him assuring â—him for his encouragement that he verily believed that his Brother would willingly embrace any fair overture for the redeeming of his Country from the slavery of the Army His Wife who had always a great love and veneration for the King having prepared him to appear in his behalf when the first opportunity should offer it self and the Soldiers who troubled not their heads much about Religion and abbetting of parties but only fought for their pay having a general love and esteem for him as looking upon him to be a good Soldier and a discreet Commander under whom they might safely engage he might at any time make himself a good party amongst them when he should judge it fit and safe to apppear Mr. Monk having in the Evening an oppportunity to keep private with his Brother acquainted him with the end of his coming and the encouragement proposed by Sir John if he would undertake the work assuring him that he had seen the Kings Commission directed to Sir John for the impowring of him to make those offers wherein he promised upon the word of a King to perform them Which upon mature deliberation he highly approved of and the more because he understood that the Presbyterians and the Lord Fairfax would be engaged with him with whom he ever after maintained a private correspondence and therefore from that time took up a resolution to endeavour his Masters Restauration relying upon the Faith and Integrity of Sir John Greenvile and confiding in the Kings Word as much as if he had actually received a Commission from him for he soon after told his Chaplain that he was resolved to Commission the whole Scatch Nation against the English Parliament and Army rather than suffer himself to be taken or displaced by them although he had at time no other authority to do it by then that airy commission conveyed unto him by word of mouth from Sir John Greenvile who had it in writing from the King And the happy success of that resolution was a great demonstration of the Kings extraordinary prudence and discretion in pitching upon Monk as the fittest person to bring about that blessed and glorious revolution and the wisdom of Sir John Greenvile in employing his Brother rather than any other Person to manage that great and weighty Intreague And being informed that there was a supplication presented to the Rump by Lambert in the name of the Army under his command for the bringing those to punishment who had been actually engaged in or offered any assistance to Booth's Conspiracy and for appointing a General over all their Forces in the three Kingdoms which inquisition had it been made and a sequestration past upon it accrding to their expectation would have yielded them more Wealth then all the former sales of Crown and Church Lands He began to conclude with himself that he should have a fairer opportunity to put his resolutions in practice then he could have reasonably expected for he easily foresaw what was the design and intent of that supplication and was so well pleased with it that he pleasantly told his Chaplain that he perceived he should shortly have a better Game to play than he lookt for when he first engaged himself in the design and that he knew Lambert to be of such a restless and aspiring temper that he would not long suffer the Rump to sit in quiet at Westminster And therefore that he might the better make preparations for his future designs he immediately dispatcht away his Brother to London in character of an Envoy to assure the Rump of his faithfulness and fidelity to them and that he was resolved to stand firm to their Interest
it on certain factious persons unknown to them which they desire Mr. Withins Steward of that Court to represent in their Names to the King which he accordingly did and received the Honour of Knighthood as a Reward of his Loyalty After which several such like addresses were directed from many of the Counties and that from Norfolk had a farther acknowledgment of their humble thanks to the King for calling home the Duke And the Lord Shandois having been elected by the Turky Company to go Embassador to Constantinople and desiring the Kings approbation the King 〈◊〉 him that having been concerned in promoting petitions which were â—â—rogatory to his Prerogative and tended to sedition he could not think him fit for his Favour whereupon he humbly acknowledged his fault to the King in Council protesting â—â—at he had been misled and drawn into it by being perswaded it was for his Mâ—jesties Service but being now better informed he abhorred and disowned all such Practices and humbly begging his Pardon he as freely obtained it Upon the 18th of May so great a Storm of Hail fell in London and the adjacent parts that the like had not been seen in many Years before the Stones being of an extraordinary bigness and very hard till they had lain a while many of them being as large as Pullets Eggs. One which I saw measured was somewhat more than Nine Inches about several Rooks in the Temple Garden being beaten down and killed with them and the Glass of many Sky-lights battered and broken to pieces And now the Parliament which had been several times this Summer prorogued met on the 21st of October according to â—he King's Declaration to them at their meeting in April to whom he declared in a Speech to both Houses That he had during that long prorogation made Alliances with Holland and Spain and desired money of them for the relieving Tangier the defence whereof had very much exhausted his Treasure and advising them not to meddle with the Succession of the Crown but proceed to the discovery of the Plot and the Trial of the Lords The Commons having chosen Mr. Williams a Barrester of Grays Inn and Recorder of Chester for their Speaker to convince the World that the King had not without Reason deferred their sitting so long and that neither he nor the Nation would have been losers if they had not sate then fell to purging their house expelling Sir Robert Can a Burgess for Bristol for having said there was no other Plot but a Presbyterian one and Sir Francis Withins for having declared himself an Abhorrer of the late tumultuous Petitions for the Parliaments sitting The former was committed by them to the Tower and both ordered to receive their Censure on their knees from the Speaker Several other Members were likewise declared guilty of the same Offence with Sir Francis Withins And not content with punishing their own Members they take notice of others who were without their Walls amongst whom Sir George Jeffries Recorder of London one of the King's Serjeants at Law and Chief Justice of Chester became the Object of their displeasure and was Voted a Betrayer of the Subjects Rights and an Address was made to the King to remove him from all publick Affairs and Impeachments Voted and drawn up against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir William Scrogs Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir Thomas Jones one of the puisny Judges of that Court and Sir Richard Weston one of the Barons of the Exchequer for several pretended misdemeanors that of Sir Francis North being the advising and drawing up of the Proclamation against Petitions But not contenting themselves to deal with Subjects they proceeded next to a matter of a far greater concern For on the 11th of November notwithstanding the King's desire at their opening That they would not meddle with the Succession a Bill past in the House of Commons intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York from inheriting the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Territories thereunto belonging which notwithstanding all the opposition made against it by the unbiassed and Judicious Loyalists who tho their Reasons were strongest yet their number were fewest was carried up to the Peers by the Lord Russel attended by almost all the Commons who gave a Hum at the delivery of it The Lords having ordered it upon their departure to be read put it to the Vote whether it should be read a second time which being carried in the Affirmative by Two Voices only after the second reading it was debated till Eleven a Clock at night the King being present all the while and then thrown out of the House by a Majority of about Thirty Voices in which number were all the Bishops then present to shew how careful the Prelacy is to promote Monarchy Soon after the Parliament proceeded to the Trial of William Lord Viscount Stafford which began in Westminster-Hall on Tuesday the 30th of November and the Impeachment and Evidence upon the same were managed by a Committee of the Commons and the Witnesses against him were Oates Turberville and Dugdale The Lord Chancellor Finch was created Lord High Steward for the solemnity of his Trial which lasted a whole week and being found Guilty by the Majority of Four and Twenty Voices he received Sentence on the 17th of December and on the 29th of that Month was beheaded on Tower-Hill protesting his Innocency with his last breath as all those had done who died for the Plot before him Some were so bold as to question the King's power to dispence with the Rigor of the Sentence and the unhappy Lord Russel was said to be one of them During these publick Transactions a large and prodigious flame of Light appeared in the West The Star from which the Blaze proceeded was but small and when first discovered seemed to be not much above the Horizon but every night after appeared somewhat higher in the beginning of the night and consequently set later its lustre and magnitude decreasing by degrees Whether this finger of the Almighty so visibly seen in the Heavens portended good or bad Events to the World in general or England in particular is a matter too mysterious for me to unfold and therefore shall I leave it till made more plain by the Effects which will be the best Commentatary thereon The King finding the Commons taken up with other business without taking the least care of providing him Money for the supplying his pressing wants and the relieving Tangier then besieged by the Emperor of Morocco recommended the matter more seriously to them in his Speech on the 15th of December But all the Answer he could obtain from them was an Address complaining of several pretended Grievances and refusing all supplies of Money for the Relief of Tangier or any other use unless he would pass a Bill for the Exclusion of the Duke and to enable all Protestants to associate
in a matter of that concern without his Fathers privity advice and free consent and therefore before he could satisfie the Honourable House he desired a Pass might be granted to the L Capel to go to the King at Oxford to take his Advice and hearken to his Royal Pleasure and make some overtures to him in order to a Peace He desired likewise the assistance of the Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Armagh whose deportment toward the Publick was so moderate and inoffensive that even Jealousie it self entertained not the least suspicion of him But through the ill Influence some persons had on Publick Councils there was nothing done in either of those particulars althô when Providence was pleased to deprive him of Civil Comfort and Secular Attendants it had been but charity to have supplied him with some faithful good and able Chaplain by whose Piety Learning and Prayers he might be the better enabled to sustain the want of all other Enjoyments But they not only refused to gratifie him in that reasonable Request but also by an Ordinance barr'd him from all future converse with such Loyal Attendants as would otherwise have willingly waited on him there to deceive the tediousness of that Solitude so that those who would now adventure to repair to him or supply their unhappy absence by the civil correspondence of a Letter were to die without mercy During his abode there he spent a day or two in viewing the Isle of Gernsey the only remainder of our Rights to Normandy to try if peradventure the persons or the place would furnish him with the knowledge of any thing whereof he was a Stranger before and which he might observe for the future benefit of his Kingdom For as he afterward wrote to the Lord Mayor and Common-Council of London he neglected not any Maritime observations which might be useful to English Traffick the slands commodiousness for Shipping Trade from the Eastern parts to the West in the middle way between St. Malo's and the River Seine the capaciousness of its Harbour together with the smaller Islands Alderneley Lerke and Sarnia After this he betook himself to France to visit his Mother in that Court where he was received with all imaginable demonstrations of Joy where after having received his Mothers Blessing and the Complements of that Court he retired with her to the Louvre But his active disposition rendring him soon weary of a tedious and easie Retirement he desired leave of his Mother to go with the Duke of Orleans into the Field that Summer in the Head of a French Army which then marcht into Flanders against the Spaniards The Queen wrote to the King to know his pleasure about it but he absolutely refused it accounting it beneath the Princes of Great Britain to serve any as those who understood better how to command than be commanded in a Field having formerly had Kings and Emperours in pay under them in regard that our homebred miseries afforded Employment so agreeable with his active spirit that he thought he ought not to spare himself for any dangerous engagements in Foreign Quarrels and therefore advised him to expect Instructions from him how to dispose of himself more to his Kings his Fathers his own and Countreys Service Whereupon in obedience to his Royal Fathers command he quitted his own wishes and waited for farther directions from the King During which time the varieties of Airs he had passed through distempered his tender body brought upon him an Aguish â—ever which continued some weeks until by the goodness of God the care of his Loyal Attendants and the skill of his Physicians he was recovered to so good a temper as to attend his Fathers Affairs according to those Instructions he received from him in an inclosed Commission which was then sent him to be Generalissimo of all the Loyal Forces which had survived those late unhappy defects that declared to the World that good and ill success are no infallible demonstrations of Innocence or Guilt since there is a just man that perisheth in his Righteousness and the wicked sometime prosper in their wickedness The Kingdom of Scotland tender of his Safety Honour Conscience humbly move his Father not to suffer him who was their present hope and their future happiness to be exposed in his younger years to such Foreign Temptations and Dangers as might have those unhappy Influences upon these Kingdoms that the Child unborn might rue for since Princes are so publick that within the Fate of their own single persons are involved the concerns of whole Nations Rex est publica pars major meliorque mei Whereupon the King wrote to him to wait upon his Mother and obey her dutifully in all things Religion only excepted and that he should not stir any whither without his particular directions But not satisfied therewith they write to him themselves by their Committee of Estates to invite him thither protesting that none of the present Calamities except his Fathers distress and restraint afflicted them so much as his absence and seeing their Forces had at first entred England to do their duty to Religion his Majesty and himself they humbly desired his Highness to honour and countenance their Pious and Loyal Endeavours with his gracious presence and Royal Person for whose Safety Honour and Freedom they engaged the publick Faith of that Kingdom which Invitation was signed by Craford and Lindsey But he had learned by too sad experience what faithless Trustees they were of Princes persons and thought it dangerous for the Son to trust himself with those who had betrayed his Father Liberty being so much the desire of all men that it is not reason Princes should hazard Captivity since all free-born Souls embrace a Freedom though it be but to wander like forlorn Exiles in a strange Land rather than a Restraint upon their Persons their Judgments and their Consciences within the Precincts of their own Palaces wherefore he intended to wait with patience till Providence might find out some way for his return to his own Country with more Safety and Honour and sent the Earl of Lauderdale back with this Answer to the States of Scotland That their Civility which might well become the best Subjects should upon the first opportunity have that return from him which might become the best of Princes And in the mean time in pursuance of those Instructions he had received from his Father he negotiated his Affairs in the French Court where by his Mothers assistance he prevailed for some thousands of pounds to be advanced by that Court toward the furtherance of his Majesties Affairs in Ireland as an Earnest of greater Assistance to be afforded hereafter Some remainders of his Cornish Forces now geting to a head and others upon order Marching to him out of Ireland he met them in the Isle of Jersey with such Forces as he had procured beyond the Seas where he possest himself of some Vessels which lay in
have you begin the best Government you can attain to is to be subject to his Word and Spirit swaying in your heart Your Glory will be the advancement of God's Glory in the maintenance of true Religion and of the Churches good and in the dispensation of Civil Justice and Honour for the publick good Piety will make you prosperous or at least not miserable whereby in the loss of all you save a Soul to which as to a Creature I see all these black Lines of Affliction drawn This Cup we tast is God's Physick having that in healthfulness in wants and pleasure I would have you above all well grounded in your Religion according to the best Profession of the Church of England which I wish may be judiciously your Religion sealed by your Judgment and Reason persevering iâ— it as the nearest to the Word of Goâ— for Doctrine and the Primitive Examples for Government with such amendment as I elsewhere expressed and often offered but in vain A fixation for Relâ—gion is necessary for your Souls and Kingdoms Peace The Devil of Rebellion can turn himself into such an Angel of Reformation and the Old Serpent can pretend such New Lights that when some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop their mouth with the name and noise of Religion When Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal so that you must be settled or you shall never want Temptations to destroy you and yours Men are so good at putting the best of Princes for the worst of Designs especially when Novelty prevails much attended with Zeal for Religion and 't is a good way to hide their own Deformities by severe censures upon other mens Opinions and Actions Abet no publick Faction against your own and the Churches settled judgment least the advantage you gain in some Mens Hearts who are prone to be of their Kings Religion be lost in others who think themselves and their professions first dispised and then Persecuted by you Either calmly remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or order it so in point of power that you need not fear or flatter any else you are undone so quickly will the Serpent devour the Dove There is less Loyalty Justice or Humanity in none than in Religious Rebels whose Ambitious Policies march under the Colours of Piety with security and applause You may hear from them Jacobs Voice but you shall feel they have Esaus Hands The Presbyterian Faction in England while compliant with publick order was inconsiderable in Church and Sâ—ate When discontents drove Men to sideing as ill humors fall to the disaffected part so did all that affected Novelty adhere to that side as the most remarkable note of difference then in point of Religion all lesser Factions until time and success had discovered to them their several advantages being officious Servants to Presbytery What may seem at first but an hand-breadth in Religion by Seditious Spirits as by strong Winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heavens and therefore must be suppressed or reformed Next to your care for Religion take care for Justice according to the settled Laws of these Kingdoms which by an admirable temperament give very much to the Subject and yet reserve enough for any King who owns his People as Subjects and not as Slaves Never charge your Head with such a Crown as may oppress the whole Body that it cannot return any strength honour or safety to the head Your Prerogative is best exercised in remitting rather than exacting the just Vigour of the Laws I hope you will never think it safe for a King to gratify any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the publick interest and the good of the Community My Counsel and charge to you is that if it please God to restore you you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my troubles that you may avoid them Never repose so much upon any Mans single fidelity and distraction in managing affairs of Religion and Justice as to create in your self or others a diffidence of your own judgment which will prove more faithful to your own and the Kingdoms interest than any Mans. Exasperate no Faction by the asperity of any Mans Passions or humors employed by you about differences in lesser matters wherein a charitable toleration dissipates that strength whom rougher opposition fortifieth provided the differences amount not to an insolent opposition of Laws and Governments our Religion Established as to the essentials of them Always keep up solid Piety and those fundamental Truths which mend both the hearts and lives of men with impartial Favour and Justice Take heed that outward Circumstances of Religion devour not all the Encouragements of Learning Industry and Piety but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all men as you find for their real goodness both in abilities and fidelity worthy or capable of them This will give you the hearts of the best and most too who though they be not good themselves yet are glad to see the severer ways of Virtue at any time sweetned with Temporal Rewards Time will dissipate all Faction when the roughâ— Designs of some men shall discover themselves which were at first wrapt up under the smooth pretences of Religion Reformation and Liberty For as the Wolf is not less cruel so he will be more justly hated when he shall appear no better than a Wolf under Sheeps clothing And as for the secluded Train of the vulgar who in their simplicity follow those disguises my charge and counsel to you is That as you need no palliations for any Designs so you study really to exceed in true and constant demonstrations of Goodness Piety and Virtue toward the People even those men that make the greatest noise and ostentation of Religion So you shall neither fear any detection as they do who have but the face and mask of goodness nor shall you frustrate the just expectation of your People who cannot in reason promise themselves so much good from any Subjects Novelty as from the goodness of their King And when Factions are by God's Mercy and your Virtue dissipated the abused vulgar will then learn that none are greater Oppressors of their Estates Liberties and Consciences than those men that entitle themselves the Patrons and Vindicators of them only under that pretence to usurp Power over them Let no passion therefore betray you to any study of revenge upon those whose own sense and folly will sufficiently punish in due time But as soon as the Forked Arrows of Factious Emulations is drawn out use all Princely Arts and Clemency to heal the Wounds that the smart of the Cure may not equal the smart of the Heart Where-ever it shall be desired and accepted offer Indempnity to so great a latitude as may include all that can but suspect themselves to be any way
thereunto is I am resolved to continue firm in my Religion Then replied the Abbot I am commanded from the Queen your Mother to tell you that she charges you to see her face no more At which dismal expression the Duke being not a little moved begged with great earnestness that he might be permitted at least to implore her parting blessing till he could in time prevail for her pardon but could not obtain it though he indeavoured it again the next morning being Sunday before she went to her Devotions by the intercession of his Brother the Duke of York who did with great tenderness compassionate his condition and with great earnestness move on his behalf But the Queen proved inexorable not only to him but to all others who spoke on his behalf nor would she intimate her pleasure to him by any other Person than the Abbot who solicited him again aggravating the peril of his Mothers displeasure and advising him at that instant being the most proper time as she was going to Mass at her Monastery to apply himself to her assuring him that she had those Proposals to make to him which would set his heart at rest though he said he could not name them To which the Duke replied if it were so I could apply my self to her well enough for my heart can have no rest except in the free exercise of my Religion but I fear her Propositions will not I am sure yours never tended to give me any ease or quiet at which very instant the Queen passed by in her Coach toward her Nunnery whereupon the Duke approached toward her and attempted to begg her Blessing but was with great indignation rejected Whereat shewing himself very much discomposed the Abbot came up to him demanding what it was her Majesty had said to him that had put him into so great disorder to which he briskly replied what she said I may thank you for Sir and therefore it is but reason that what my Mother said to me I should say to you Be sure I see your face no more and so turned about and left him whereupon the Abbot calling after him said Whither are you going good Sir To whom looking over his shoulder he answered to Church whither he immediately repaired with a sad and dejected countenance which did much abate the joy of the Congregation who were much pleased to see him accompany his Brother the Duke of York thither but they partook with him in his sorrow when they understood that after Sermon he was to seek where to get a Dinner for which he must send to the Cooks or fast for there was a very strict Prohibition given to all the Officers in his Mothers Court that they should not furnish him with any Provisions or necessaries That night after Evening Prayer he had hopes to enjoy one moment of satisfaction by conversing with his Sister the Princess Henrietta afterward Dutchess of Orleans during his Mothers absence but as soon as the young Princess heard the news of his designed adventure she was so frighted into shrieks and tears that she cryed out Oh God my Brother Oh me my Mother What I am undone for ever What shall I do Which as soon as the Duke heard he retired not being willing his dear Sister should by her kindness to him purchase her Mothers displeasure In this disconsolate condition he went to his Lodging when it was nine a Clock at night his Groom came to know what he should do with his Horses for the Queens Comptroller was come to him with a charge to remove them instantly whereupon the Groom pleaded it was then too late and that on the morrow it would be time enough but the Comptroller replied he should then be put out of his place e'er the morning The next day the Sheets were taken off his Bed finding therefore that he could not be permitted to stay at the Palace-Royal he thought until he could provide necessaries for his Journey into Germany to retire to the House of Mr. Crofts afterward Lord Crofts near Paris whereof the Queen hearing she check'd Mr. Crofts for being willing to receive him with which he acquainted the Duke but submits however to his pleasure In this strait the Duke betook himself to the advice of that faithful Servant to his Family and zealous Protestant the Lord Hatton by whose judicious instructions he had received much satisfaction in this his distressed condition who so soon as the Duke had made known to him that he was not only turned out of his Mothers House but that all persons who had any dependency upon her were forbidden to receive or assist him his Lordship told him if his Highness would please to honour his House with his presence he should there be received with all the dutiful regard that could be paid to him by so ancient and faithfully devoted Servant of his Royal Family And with an Entertainment as suitable to his Quality as the remains of that Fortune he had spent in his Father's Service would afford But this the Duke out of great modesty at first declined alledging the great hazard which he knew he would thereby run of having his Estate again sequestred in England as well as by incurring the displeasure of the French Court endanger his being exil'd that Kingdom for his kindness to him as he had been that of England for his Service to his Father and perhaps be endangered in his person too by the fury of the Rabble who might peradventure be animated by some enraged Papist for thus disappointing them of making a Proselyte of him as they boasted they had done and given Publick Thanks for it in diverse of their Churches But his Lordship assur'd him that as he had hitherto spent the greatest part of his Life and Fortune in the Service of his Royal Family and the defence of the Protestant Religion so he would willingly sacrifice the remainder of both on so honourable an occasion as that with which hearty invitation he was so pleas'd that he took no farther thoughts whither to go but concluded to remain with him Being thus gone from the Palace-Royal the Queen-Mother of France came immediately thither to try once more if she could prevail with him to change his Religion and as soon as she came sent her Son the Duke of Anjou to visit him who return'd with the News that he was not to be found but as soon as it was known where he was she sent the Marquess of Plessis to perswade him to comply with his Mother's advice For the effecting whereof he exercised all his Parts and Elocution with the greatest earnestness and affirming that since the death of his Father the Queen his Mother had sole Power and Authority over him disputing whether the King his Brother as his Sovereign had an equal right to dispose of him And the Discourse growing somewhat publick the Marquess of Ormond and the Lord Hatton who were then likewise present arguing in the Duke's
defence the French Marquess finding himself over-match'd by their Reasons in great passion return'd without the success suspected at the Palace-Royal where the French Queen stayed very late till he came back whose Report when both Queen 's heard they were then so fully satisfied in the Duke's firmness to his Religion that after that time no considerable attempt was made on him altho' he continued for near two Months there being nobly entertained all that time by the Lord Hatton until through his and the Marquess of Ormond's interest Necessaries were provided for his going into Germany to the King From the interview of the Queen of Sweden which was held at a small Village near Frankford at the same time when the Fair was there he returned with great satisfaction to Cologn where he was welcomed with all imaginable demonstrations of Joy by the Magistrates and the whole City where he had not staid long before the Duke of York came to him being complemented away from France upon the conclusion of the Treaty with Cromwel notwithstanding his incomparable worth discovered in the Court and in the Camp where he behaved himself so well that the Duke of Longueville was willing to have match'd his Daughter to him altho' he was in exile and the Marshal Turein commended him in the time of his sickness to the French King as the fittest person to be Commander in chief of all his Forces And so desirable was his company â—â—ong all Princes that Don Lewis de 〈◊〉 and Don John of Austria mighâ—y importun'd him to come over to â—â—em in Flanders which invitation he â—â—cepted of and he repaired thither 〈◊〉 to promote his own cause and 〈◊〉 King of Spains affairs in order â—â—reunto he commanded all his â—â—glish Scotch and Irish Subjects in those â—â—rts to be listed for his Service which â—â—ounted to about three or four thouâ—â—â—d besides the two Regiments of 〈◊〉 and Glocester and maintained a â—â—â—nstant correspondence with his â—â—iends in England which Cromwel susâ—â—cted but had no certain knowledge â—â—ereof having now no Mannings in the â—â—ngs Court to betray his Majesties seâ—â—ets wherefore he contrived a Plot â—o which by his Emissaries he ensnaâ—â—d the reverend Dr. Huet Sir Henry 〈◊〉 and others and had them tryed â—â—fore a High Court of Justice and â—â—ndemned and executed for that preâ—â—ded Conspiracy But though he â—as represented to the City by Cromwel 〈◊〉 be twenty thousand strong when he â—as acquainting them with the pretenâ—â—nded Plot against him yet he was not able to attempt any thing upon 〈◊〉 own account in regard his Forces weâ—â— but inconsiderable for number 〈◊〉 therefore he joyned them with tâ—â— Spaniards and at one attempt to 〈◊〉 the Siege of Dunkirk were defeate and almost all slain being deserted 〈◊〉 the Spaniards who were not able to eâ—dure the hot charge that Cromwels Sâ—â—diers gave them notwithstanding 〈◊〉 endeavours of the undaunted York 〈◊〉 rally them who did Wondâ—â— with his own Regiment putting 〈◊〉 whole French and English Army oâ— to a disorder and twice to a stand 〈◊〉 his own Guard only and some 〈◊〉 remnant of his overthrown Forces 〈◊〉 which defeat the Kings whole desiâ—â— being disappointed he betook himâ—â— from his Arms to his Prayers and aâ—pealed from Earth to Heaven Hoâ—ever he still remained in Flanders 〈◊〉 kept his Court in Bruges about 〈◊〉 Leagues from Brussels About this 〈◊〉 Cromwel being resolved to continue 〈◊〉 Protectorship in his own Family 〈◊〉 the matter so that his Parliamâ—â—â— should earnestly Petition solemnly â—â—vise him to name his Successor 〈◊〉 was the thing he chiefly desired notwithstanding all his former Oaths and Protestations against suffering the Nation to be rul'd by any single Person which when the King heard he said to a Person of quality who was then by him that Cromwell had certainly lay'd the best Foundation that a short and troublesom reign could possibly admit of at once to deprive him of his just and rightful Dominions and to settle his own Posterity in his unjust and usurpt Authority And when he receiv'd the news of his death he shew'd an admirable calmness and serenity of Spirit Reason Religion and Discretion having such a powerful command over his passions that though it seem'd in all probability to be a considerable step toward his Restauration in regard his most implacable as well as successful Enemy was now gone yet he did not discover any extraordinary symptoms of Joy But as that great alteration in England did change all the publick Councels of Europe in general so did it likewise somewhat alter his for he now set up new negotiations in most of the forraign Courts that so he might not be wanting to himself whilst there were the most hopeful designs that had ever yet been on foot in England for the promoting his Journeys The new Protector being look't upon as one weary of that power which was then desolv'd upon him in regard he knew himself to have as little ability to manage it as he had right to enjoy it and was suppos'd not to have that implacable aversation to the Royal Family which his Father had always discover'd However it was not long before the Army thrust him from his Throne and set up the Rump again which his Father had pull'd down after which there were so many alterations and new forms of Government that it is almost impossible to give the World a particular account of them every Week almost producing some new Model or other and there springing up some new Heads of that Hydra-Common-Wealth The King was not in the mean time idle but laid out all his Interest and Policy for the promoting his designs and the procuring such supplies as might encourage those Loyal Subjects that incessantly endeavour'd by his Restauration to restore their Native Countrey from the Paws of those Lions into which it was fallen and themselves to the Glorious Liberty of being â—â—bject to so great and good a Prince 〈◊〉 although Holland offered fairly 〈◊〉 some Princes with the Emperor of â—â—rmany began now to pity forlorn â—â—d exiled Majesty especially dwelling 〈◊〉 a Prince of that worth as he was acâ—â—unted to be by all those who had 〈◊〉 happiness to know him yet the â—â—eatest hope and expectation from any 〈◊〉 those Forraign Affairs was the peace â—â—at was then mediating by the Pope beâ—â—een the two Kingdoms of France and â—â—ain managed by the two great Faâ—â—urites of each Kingdom the Cardiâ—â—l Mazarine and the Count de Olivarez â—â—on the Borders of St. Jean de Luz â—hich if it succeed must in all probaâ—â—lity prove advantageous to his affairs 〈◊〉 regard both Crowns could not upon â—â—e conclusion of peace between them â—estow their Forces upon any service â—â—at would render more to their honour â—â—an that of endeavouring his Restauâ—â—tion although he rather desired to â—mploy their Interest than their Arms 〈◊〉 intended to let England know what â—â—ey might do for him rather then to â—ake them feel the effects of any
Protestant Successor and limit the Authority of the former if any such should be by providing that all Church-preferments should be conferred on Pious and Learned Protestants That the Parliament which should happen to be in being at his own Death or if none the last that sate should thereupon assemble without any new Summons or Election That during the Reign of any Popish Successor no Privy Councellor or Judg of the Common Law or Chancery should be put in or displaced but by consent of Parliament That none should be Justices of Peace but Protestants and that the Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants of Counties and Officers in the Navy should not be put in nor removed but by the Authority of Parliament Telling them he conceived it hard to invent any other Restraint to be put on a Popish Successor Yet if any thing did occur to their Wisdom whereby their Religion and Liberties might be better secured he was ready to consent to it Whereupon the Commons after they had several times adjourned the consideration of this Speech on the 11th of May resolved That they would stand by His Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes And that if he should come by any violent Death which they prayed God to avert they would revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists According to which Vote an Address was drawn up and presented by them to the King with this Variation in the form of words We shall be ready to revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty which words were neither exprest nor intimated in their Vote altho absolutely necessary and essential to the Justice of their designed Revenge And without taking the least notice of the Resolution exprest in his Speech Not to suffer any alteration in the Descent to the Throne brought in a Bill to disable his Royal Highness to inherit the Imperial Crown of England which being put to the Vote was carried in the Affirmative by One and Twenty Voices but being prorogued soon after it proceeded no further In the mean while the Two Houses were very earnest in debating the methods whereby they should bring the Lords in the Tower to their Trials And Danby being demanded at the Bar of the Lords House Whether he would rely on and abide by the Plea of his Pardon returned for answer That having been advised by his Council his Pardon was good in Law he would insist upon his Plea and requested his Council might be heard And the Lords acquainting the Commons with his desire instead of granting it they in the Names of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament and all the Commons of England demanded Judgment against him upon the Impeachment affirming his Pardon to be illegal and void However the Lords appointed him a day to argue his Plea and ordered the Five Lords to be tried the Week after and an Address to be made to the King for the appointing a Lord Steward for their Trials But the Commons not satisfied with their proceedings desired a Committee of both Houses might consider of the most proper methods of proceeding upon Impeachments according to the usage of Parliament but the Lords refused it as contrary to the known Rules and Orders of their House which ever was and ought to be tender in matters relating to their Judicature Whereupon the Commons resolved That no Commoner should presume to maintain the Validity of the Pardon pleaded by Danby without the leave of that House And that the persons so doing should be accounted Betrayers of the Liberties of the Commons of England Upon which the Lords to take away all occasion of disgust between the Two Houses receded from their former resolution and appointed a Committee to treat with them but a difference arising in that joynt Committee about the Bishops Right to be present at Trials in capital cases the Lords affirming they might stay till the Court proceeded to the Vote of Guilty or Not Guilty and the Commons denying it the Bishops endeavour'd to find out a Medium which might satisfie both and therefore desired leave of the Lords to withdraw themselves from the Trials with liberty of entring their usual protestations But this not satisfying the Commons they resolved not to proceed to the Trial of the Five Lords before Judgment given on Danby's Pardon and to insist upon the Bishops having no Right of Voting in capital Offences which made the King who saw that these heats took up their whole time and prevented their entring upon such Debates as more nearly concerned them and would have conduced more toward the setling of the Nation thought it best to prorogue them in hopes that in their next meeting their Debates might be more happy and unanimous About this time the Faction ran higher in Scotland and boiled into an open Râ—bellion which took its first beginning from the barbarous Murder of Dr. Sharp Archbishop of St. Andrews and Primate of that Kindom on the 3d of May 1679. by a company of inveâ—â—â—ate Covenanters as he was travelling from Edenborough to his own Residence who had born him an immorâ—al hatred because having formerly been one of their Party he had revolted as they termed his honest Reformation But appeared more visible toward the latter end of that Month in the Western parts of Scotland when a party of Rebels well mounted and armed coming to Rugland proclaimed the Covenant burnt the following Acts of Parliament viz. Those which concerned the King's Supremacy the Eâ—â—â—blishment of Episcopacy the appointing the Anniversary of the 29th of May and the Recissory Act by which all the Mock-Laws made in the late Anarchy were repealed And publisht an insolent Declaration full of Treason and stuft with the very Spirit and Quintescence of Rebellion inviting others to joyn with them which the Covenanters commonly there called WHIGS from whence the Name was afterward brought into England and applied to all the Dissenting Party accepted of and flockt so fast to them that their Army increased daily to such a considerable number that they became formidable Whereupon the King hastned away the Duke of Monmouth as his Generalissimo to suppress them which with the Assistance of the Loyal Gentry and Herritors of that Nation he easily performed in one Battel at Bothwell-Bridg For having forced his passage over the Bridg and seized the only piece of Cannon they had they fled toward Hamilton-Park And altho they afterward rallied again and Faced about upon the advantage of a rising ground yet so soon as the Cannon began to play on them they all fled in disorder and confusion Robert Hamilton who was their chief Commander being one of the first There were many of the Rebels kill'd in the place and several hundreds taken Prisoners whereof some few were Executed The King who was willing to try all means to please and satisfie his people fearing the Animosities of that Parliament were too great to admit of a Reconciliation and would prevent their doing any
own Prerogative and his Peoples Properties by the just Dimension of his Laws so that Justice was impartially administred throughout his whole Reign unless where himself was party and there he would rather lose his own Cause than have his Subjects seem oppressed nor was there ever known so few Executions in so long a Reign And truly when we especially for the first Eighteen Years after the Interregnum consider his great Mercy to Traytors it looks as if he design'd not to spare himself provided he could but people again or at least keep as full as possibly a Nation which had been so monstrously emptied of men by a long unnatural and sanguinary War For he was ever unwilling to inflict the least Severities upon his offending Subjects unless when necessity of State or the nature of the Crime did bind the hand of Mercy and render Severity absolutely necessary rather for the publick than his own Secuirty He always professed to love and seek Peace and prefer it before the Troubles and Hazards of War wherein he was like Solomon rather than David and imitated our Blessed Saviour who stiles himself the Prince of Peace ever bearing it in his Princely mind that when Christ came into the World Peace was sang by the Holy Angels and when he made his Exit Peace was the Legacy he bequeathed Nor can it be imagined That his desire of Peace was the effect of softness or fear for he was both Active and Valiant but he had a Conduct peculiar to himself in bringing about his Purposes His peaceable disposition and accomplishing his designs by the most easie and gentle means and would do that by Peace which others could not perform by War and effect more by shewing his Sword than others could do by using it He knew the way to preserve and obtain Peace was sometimes to pretend an inclination to embrace War and therefore would when provok'd make offers of the latter till he had mended the Conditions of the former By which means he was more absolutely and with far less charge to his Subjects the Arbitrator of Europe than any of his Predecessors had ever been and could at his Pleasure dispence War and Peace where and to whom he pleas'd which makes it the greater Wonder That He who was so great a Lover of Peace should be so successful in War for his Arms were always fortunate nor did he ever after his Restauration know what a miscarriage meant The Two Rebellions in Scotland were ended by Victory as if raised industriously to encrease the Fame of his Arms which after so long an interval of Peace wanted exercising and in his Wars with Holland France Spain and Denmark he was always sued to for peace before he granted it and the French King did ever fear his Threatnings more than other Princes performances In the exercising his Sovereignty he consulted his own Judgment rather than other mens Affections or Interests and always reserv'd the disposal of his Royal Favours to his own Will and Pleasure and to avoid the fate of too many Princes who are ruled by their Favourites and Govern'd by those whom they themselves have raised he never admitted any of his Nobles to so familiar an intimacy with him His care to maintain the Prerogatives of the Crown as to give others occasion to account them his Favourites For altho he had many Noblemen about him whom he greatly loved and upon whose Advice and Counsel he much rely'd as Clarendon Buckingham Lauderdale Danby and others yet none of them could be properly called his Favourites as Gaveston and Spencer were the Favourites of Edward the Second or the Duke of Norfolk of Richard the Second And altho he would frequently acquaint his Parliaments with his Intentions and require their advice and assistance for the executing of them yet he would not endure they should be too positive or peremptory therein accounting that too great an Invasion of his Prerogative and would tell them The Right of making and managing War and Peace was invested in Him and if they thought he would depart from any part of that Right they would find themselves mistaken for having the Reins of Government in his own hands he would have the same care to maintain them there as he would have to preserve his own Person His Prudence and Conduct in managing the great Affairs of his Kingdom was so admirable and successful that it is rather to be wondred at than believed and he made so many good and wholsome Laws every one whereof was grounded upon the most searching Maxims of State for the Welfare and security of His Subjects and the maintaining the prerogatives of the Crown as no Age before him could ever boast of which begot in all men the greater Awe and Veneration of him and yet there is nothing more certain than that his Reputation was as great if not greater abroad than at home His Prudence and Conduct tho perhaps not so well grounded for Forreigners could not see at that distance the passages of Affairs nor discern by what Secret Councils he always attained his own ends and disappointed the Expectation of his Enemies abroad and the Factions at Home and were therefore forced to make their Judgment upon the Issues and Success of them No Prince ever had a Wiser Council than He and yet no Prince ever needed it less for he was Himself a Counsellor to his Council and was able to direct those of whom he asked advice For he was as well skilled in the Art of Kingship as His Royal Grandfather was wont to term it and had as great an insight into and understood as well the best Rules and Methods of Government as any Prince that ever sway'd a Scepter which rendred him more capable of exercising his Kingly Office to the greatest advantage of Himself his Kingdom and the Protestant Religion and enabled Him to govern His Subjects for so long a Tract of Time with so much exactness that by his Wise and Prudent Management he so poized all jarring and different Interests as to preserve the publick Peace and Tranquility of his Kingdom to the very last Minute of His Life notwithstanding the many restless Attempts of unruly and designing Men to disturb it and left things in so good a posture at his Death that his most Illustrious Brother and Royal and Lawful Successor ascended his Imperial Throne with as much Facility and Applause as any of his Predecessors He loved so well to see his Subjects thrive that he coveted not so much to fill his Exchequer as to reign over a Rich and Wealthy People and thought Money as well bestowed when laid up in their Coffers as when it filled his own He was Religious toward God as well as just towards man and took care to promote the Interest of the Church as well as the State At His Restoration he found the Church involved in Trouble but left her possessed of Peace he found her robbed and