unsettledness of the Times or of mens Minds rather whilst some were led by Conscience others by their Temporal Concerns some out of Love to Reformation and others out of fear of Superstition some again out of desire of Change but most out of dread of Forreign Servitude that the Conclusion of this Match gave beginning to a desperate Rebellion which though at first it seem'd despicable enough being headed by no better a man then Sir Thomas Wyat a private Knight of Kent the Duke of Suffolk who was in the Conspiracy being apprehended almost as soon as he appear'd yet before it could be supprest the wise Match-makers found they had met with their Match in that Rebel who was so fortunate as to rout the Queens General and take all their Ordnance and Ammunition Upon which he march'd up with full Assurance of taking the chief City into which though he brought but sive Ensigns 't is probable he might have carried it had not Heaven taken part against him as usually it doth against Rebels first arming them with Impudence and then disarming them with Fear making the Arch-Traytor a terrible Example of unparallel'd Insolence who whiles he was at large continued bold as a Lion but being once apprehended prov'd so base a Coward that brib'd with the hopes of Life he made himself guilty of a greater Treachery then he was to dye for accusing Edward Earl of Devon and the Princess Elizabeth the Queens Sister to have been privy to his Conspiracy which gain'd Credit not so much from the Suspect of any private Affection betwixt them two although he alleadged they were to be married as from the secret disaffection either of them had he to the King that should be as being his Rival she to the Queen that was as being her Disseisor the two Sisters as little agreeing in point of Right of Succession as their two Mothers in point of Right of Marriage but fain he would have acquitted them when he found he could not be acquitted himself by it for having serv'd their turn of him the Statesmen gave the fatal turn to him However the malitious Chancellor Gardner resolving to take the Truth at the wrong end and believe it as he pleas'd secur'd them in several Prisons till he were at leisure to examine the matter being then deeply ingaged in providing Fire and Faggots for those Learned Hereticks Cranmer Ridley and Latimer c. who were to make a Holocaust preparatory to the Queens Nuptials which having been defer'd by this unexpected Rising was now propos'd in Parliament For the greater confirmation the three States of the Kingdom assenting thereto upon the Conditions following First That King Philip should admit no Stranger into any Office but only Natives Secondly That he should Innovate nothing in the Laws and Customes of the Realm Thirdly That he should not carry the Queen out of the Realm without her consent nor any of her Children without consent of the Councel Fourthly That surviving the Queen he should challenge no Right in the Kingdom but suffer it to descend to the next Heir Fifthly That he should carry away none of the Crown Jewels nor remove any Shipping or Ordnance Sixthly and lastly That he should neither directly nor indirectly intangle the Realm of England with the Wars betwixt Spain and France Upon which Terms 't was hop'd by those affected not the Match that Philip would knock off there being neither Youth or Beauty to tempt him But as the House of Austria did ever prefer their Ambition before their Love so designing the universal Monarchy he thought he made a great step to it by being put in possession of England and so near intituled to France And now the most Catholick King being joyn'd with the Faith defending Queen it cannot be imagin'd but that they must begin with Religion In order to the Regulation whereof Cardinal Pool being first restored again in blood and reputation was sent for over who arm'd with his Legatine Power and a natural Force of Eloquence press'd hard upon the Parliament and shewed them the danger they were in by their late Schism being become as he said Exiles from Heaven and in no capacity to have been ever readmitted had he not brought from Rome the Keys that opened the gates of Life and thereupon he advised them to abrogate those Laws which lay as blocks in their way urging them thereto from the Example of their good King and Queen who he said had resigned their Title of Supream Head to shew themselves true Members of the Mystical Body and had made Restitution of those Lands which had been sacrilegiously taken from the Church by their Predecessor Which Speech of his being very Methodically digested and delivered with great gravity startled many of the Lords who reflected upon their Fore-fathers Devotion to the holy See but those of the lower House having it seems lower thoughts and deeming it a rare Felicity to have shaken off that heavy Yoke that had so long gall'd their Fore-fathers necks did not so readily assent to receive his profer'd Fenediction at so dear a rate as to part with their Lands which having been divided by the Queens father amongst them were by several Settlements and Alienations so translated from one Family to another that without great Inconvenience they could not be sever'd from their Temporal Proprieties However they so far complyed as to agree That the first Fruits and Tenths granted by the Clergy to King Henry Anno 1534 should be remitted But after they came to consider the Poverty of the Treasure the reason of the several Pensions that had been granted in Lieu thereof by the said King to divers Religious Persons that were still living they revok'd their Decree again Upon which the Legate not skilful enough to deal with a Multitude as appear'd afterward by his loosing the papal dignity desisted content it seems with the honour of having prevail'd over the more devout Queen the heat of whose Zeal had so softned her heart that it was fit for any Impression Now as he had a better Faculty in Canvassing of the Feminine Sex which Cardinal Carraffa afterward Pope Paul IV upbraided him withal in the open Conclave so he prevail'd with her to give up all that she had in her own possession who to move others to imitate her piety did it with that detestation of the Sacriledg of her Predecessors that when one of her wise Counsellors yet of the same Religion told her it would be a great Diminution to the Revenues of her Crown she answered piously and as she thought prudently that she had another Crown to look after that she valued a thousand times more then that But while she is thus careful for the eternal King Philip her Husband was no less busie to secure his Temporal Crown In order to which he went over to receive the Blessing of the Emperour his Father then in Flanders who upon his Arrival delivered up to him the possession of the Low
confirm'd by an Allyance with Ethelbert the Proto-Christian who converted his Son III. SIGEBERT that in honour to his Religion made that League perpetual which after his death was broken by his three graceless Sons IV. date of accession 609 SERED SEWARD SIGEBERT Who rul'd together like Brethren in Iniquity persecuting all that were Christians till Ingill the West-Saxon converted but a little before revenged the holy Cause by putting a period to their Triumvirat upon which V. date of accession 623 SIGEBERT Son of the middlemost took place he was surnam'd The Little probability of his little Credit rather then his little Person being so detested by his People that they put by his Son and Brother to admit another of the same Name but of different Temper VI. date of accession 640 SIGEBERT the third Son of Sigebald younger Brother of Sigebert the first who declaring for Christianity was surnam'd The Good and being murther'd during the minority of his Son his Brother VII date of accession 661 SWITHELM succeeded as if to taste of Royalty only falling under the same fate by the same hand and for the same cause by whose death VIII date of accession 663 SIGEHERE the Son of Sigebert the Little assisted by his Uncle Sebba got into the Throne His Successor was IX date of accession 664 SEBBA the Saint on whom Bede fastens that famous Miracle of lengthning the Marble Chest in which his Body was laid which he says was too short by a foot for the Corps till the Body was put into it which who so believes must stretch his Faith as much Successor to him was X. date of accession 694 SIGEHERE the Second one fitter to be a Monk then a Monarch giving up his Scepter for a pair of Beads to his Brother XI date of accession 698 SEOFRID who if he rul'd not with him rul'd very little after him and then came XII date of accession 701 OFFA the Son of Sigehere to succeed who impoverish'd himself by inriching the Church and having quit his Wife to perform a Pilgrimage to Rome tempted her to quit the World and become a Nun whereby either lost the other and both the hopes of any Issue which made well for XIII date of accession 709 SELRED the Son of Sigebert the Good whose old Age was crown'd with an unexpected Succession but he took not so much pleasure in it as to survive it whereby XIV date of accession 740 SUTHRED fill'd up his place who involv'd in the Fate of Baldred King of Kent attacht by the West-Saxons lost this as t'other did that Kingdom whereby it became a Province under the Victorious Egbert IN the midst of the Universal Conflagrations that near about this time began to spread over the Face of the whole Isle the flames whereof were not otherwise to be quench'd but by the blood of the miserable Natives it so â—apned that Essex however nearest to those Countries that first felt the sharpness of the Saxon Swords had the good Fortune to preserve it self untoucht till about the year 527 when Erchenwin landing in Norfolk and taking thence a view of the neighbouring Vales imagin'd there went no more to the taking possession then to enter and make a boâ—d claim But finding the Inhabitants obstinately resolv'd to make their Graves in no other place but where their Bones might mix with those of their Ancestors 't is hard to say Whether his Fury or his Fear prevail'd most with him whilst being ingaged beyond the safety of a Retreat he made his way into the heart of their Country with that precipitate Courage as if he had designed to fly through them into the Provinces beyond which they perceiving like men well acquainted with the violence of such Land Floods made him way to pass into Kent where promising to become a Feodary to that Prince he return'd him with that additional Strength as made him not only Master of this but by uniting Middlesex and a great part of Hertfordshire gave him the honour of setting up a fourth Kingdom call'd that of the East-Sexe which however it was not very great was well fortifi'd with the Ocean on the East the Thames on the South-side the River Coln on the West and the Stour on the North-side and being establish'd by the advantage of a long and peaceable Reign and the reputation of the Allyance he had with the potent King of Kent he was secur'd so far on that side as to put him in condition of securing himself on the other till such time as the East-Angles and the Mercian by the Interposition of their Territories betwixt him and the Common Enemy left him regardless of any further danger but withal so enervated his Successor that being seldome arm'd and never active Fortune grew out of Love with them and never vouchsafed any one of them the honour to be rang'd amongst the Monarchs of the Isle a favour every other House alternately enjoy'd according to the variation or vicissitude of their Successes but however they attained less it appears they aim'd at greater Glory then any of their Neighbours being the second Kingdom that oppenly profess'd Christianity and those that gave it the best entertainment Sacrificing to the Church what others spent in War being repaid with Pardons Benedictions and Indulgences whilst they liv'd and with Shrines Miracles and Canonizations after they were dead Kings in that Age being no less ambitious to be Sainted then Saints in our Age to be made Kings And to say truth they were better Men then Monarchs taking more care of the business of Religion then of State relying more on the Forces of the Kings of Kent with whom they had contracted a perpetual League having been hatch'd under their wings then on their own proper Strength whereby it fell out that they were crush'd with t'others fall and at the same time submitted to the same Fate to be a Province to the West-Saxon So easie it is to conquer those that contribute to their own destruction taking upon them to protect the unfortunate Baldred when they were not able to defend themselves But it is less strange that they fail'd now then that they held out so long their Territories being the very least of the whole Heptarchy and they the laziest of the whole Nation their Majesty being preserv'd by a kind of Antiperistasis lying incompassed with three puissant Neighbours Kent Mercia and West-Sexe who like three great Doggs equally match'd kept this Bone untouch'd betwixt them for two hundred and eighty years in which large portion of time they were preserv'd as by Miracle from the fury of either of them that wanted not appetites to desire nor mouths to devour nor perhaps occasion to urge them to fall upon them but restrain'd by the sense of eithers equal Power they left it to Fortune to give the odds who having declared on the West-Saxon side he run down all at last THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF MERCIA V. I. date of accession 560 CRIDDA the
his Head he resolves once more to venture his own In the mean time those of the Isle of Ely the remainder of Leicester's Party that had held out from the time of his death with incredible courage and patience taking new life and hope from this Revolt make many excursions and spoils to the great charge and vexation of the King and the Publick Neither could the Pope 's Legate prevail with him to come in though upon tearms safe and honourable tendering the Publick Faith of the Kingdom and which was then thought greater that of the Church to them So much were they transported with the Opinion of their Cause or by the falshood of their hopes till this stubbornness of theirs provok'd the King to raise a new Army the Command whereof was given to his Son Edward that prosperous Prince whose Fortune then being not able to resist he had the honour to conclude that War and consequently to put a Period to all his Fathers turmoâ—ls who being shaken at the Root did not long survive the happiness of that tranquillity the end of whose Troubles were the beginning of his own ingaging upon the conclusion of that in a War so much more dangerous by how much more distant the benefit whereof was to be expected only in the other World this was that Undertaking in the Holy Land which separating him from his Father beyond all hope of ever seeing him again gave some occasion to question the old Kings Understanding others his good Nature But as the great concerns of Religion are as much above Reason as that is beyond Sense so we must impute that to the resolute Zeal of the Son which we cannot allow for Devotion in the Father who had he had any thoughts of going into the other World as his great Age might have prompted him to would rather have taken care for a Grave for himself then for so hopeful a Successor who only by seeking Death escap'd it Now whether the ingratitude of the Clergy or the Ambition of the temporal Lords were a greater tryal of his wisdom or Power I know not but the course he took to reduce either to terms of modesty and submission shows the world he had no want of understanding however he was forc't to put up the front of his Lay-peers in order to the facillitating his Revenge upon the other whom he mortified by a strain of State which none of his Ancestors durst venture upon Whilst he not only put them out of his Protection but all men out of theirs denying them not only his favour but his Justice not only the benefit of his ordinary Courts but the priviledg of sitting in that higher Court of Parliament A severity not to give any worse name to it of so acrimonious a nature that it not only expos'd them to all the injuries and affronts triumphant malice and scorn could put upon them but was made more intollerable and grievous by his docking their Revenues as after he did by several * Stat. 3 Edw. 1. cap. 19.33 Stat. cont formum collation Statute Laws amongst which I cannot but take notice though by the By of the particular contempt express'd in that odd Statute aginst †Stat. de Asportatis Religiosorum c. An. 3 cap. 34. ravishment where it is declared Felony to use force to any Lay-Woman and only a trespass to ravish a Nun. Neither was it thought enough to make what abscission he thought fit without their greatness were rendred incapable of any further growth to which intent he cauteriz'd if I may so say the wounds he had given them by that Statute of ‖ An. 3. C. 32. Mort-main which as it was the most fatal of all others to them so it might have prov'd so to himself had he not at the same time he thus disoblig'd them oblig'd the Laity by another suppos'd to be the wisest Law that ever was made to wit that of Westminster the second entituled De Donis Conditionalibus which tending so much to the preservation of particular Families and adding to their greatness no less then their continuance is by some Historians call'd Gentilitium Municipale and had this good effect that it brought the temporal Nobility firmly to adhere to him against the Pope when amongst many others that intituled themselves to the Soveraignty of Scotland a Kingdom too near to be lost for want of putting a claim his Holiness became his Rival and thought to carry it as part of St. Peter's Patrimony This Victory at home which brought the proud Prelates to purchase his Justice at a dearer rate then probably they might have paid for his mercy had their submission been as early as it was afterwards earnest I take to be much greater then all those he had got abroad by how much fortune had no share in it and fame was the least part of his gains extending to give him not long after as great an advantage over the Lay Nobility whom having first discern'd of their Patronage wholly and of their other priviledges in a very great part he did as it were cudgel them into Submission by the authority of his * vid. lib. Assis fol. 141.57 Trail Baston a commission which however it were directed to the Majors Sheriffs Bayliffs Escheators c. and so seem'd to have been aim'd at those of the lower rank onely which were guilty of those Enormities of Champorty Extortion Bribery and intrusion crimes much in fashion in those days yet by a back blow it knockt down several of the great Men who either countenanc'd or comply'd with the offenders and which was more terrible this writ was kept as a Weapon in the Kings hands to use as he saw occasion And to say truth he was so expert at it and indeed at all other points of skill that brought him in any profit that he was too hard at last for the Lawyers themselves those great masters of defence Canvasing his Judges as well as his Bishops when he found both alike rich both alike corrupt Beyond these he could not descend to the consideration of any Criminal save the Jews only for whom perhaps it had been no great Injustice to have taken their Estates if at least he could have been prevail'd with to have spar'd their Lives but as so great Courage as he had would not be without some mixture of Cruelty so 't is the less wonder to see that Cruelty heightened by Covetousness as that Avarice by Ambition the adding to his Treasure by these Exactions being in order to the adding to his Dominions which were not yet so entire as consistent with his safety much less the Glory he aim'd at Wales being then as a Canton of the same Piece divided by a small seam which yet had a Prince of their own blood descended from the antient Stock of the Unconquer'd Britains who it seems had so little sense of the inequality of Power betwixt them that he had given this King great provocations
consequences of which being justly to be suspected he made use of their present apprehensions to renew the Treaty and by his contrivance there came a Letter to the King from Melancthon to whom the King seem'd alwayes to have great regard exhorting him to perfect the Reformation begun as well in the Doctrinal as the Ceremonial part of Worship To which the King by advice of Gardiner gave this Answer That he would make a League with them in honest Causes as he had done with the Duke of Juliers and after that he would treat of an Accord in Religion This being no way satisfactory to them much less to Cromwell who had slatter'd them with hopes of a better Accommodation he cast about another way to compass his end and knowing very well that the King did alwayes prefer his Pleasure before his Revenge as those that mean to take great Fishes bait their Hooks with flesh so he held up the Treaty with the Proposal of a new Match that he believ'd could not but be very acceptable not only in respect of the Kings having been near three Years a Widower but for that it was such as he said would at once anger and curb the Emperor the Popes only Executioner to make good his late Fulmination This was a Daughter to the Duke of Cleve who being a Protestant and Father in Law to the Duke of Saxony and next Neighbour to the Emperors Dominions in the Low Countries there seem'd to be in the Proposal great considerations of State besides that of Riches and Beauty the last being the first thing in the Kings Thoughts wherein Hans Holbin the famous Painter contributed much to the deceiving him which whether it prov'd more unfortunate to her or Cromwell I cannot say but it so fell out that the King disgusting her after he saw her was easily prevail'd with to repudiate her and consequently to reject the Match-maker who having it in his Fate to be undone as he was at first set up by the Smock was sacrificed to the Envy of the People rather then his Masters Displeasure who let them lay the load of his Faults upon him and being a Prince that drew upon all his great Ministers more blame then either they could bear or durst answer he left him to perish under the weight of it And which made his Case more deplorable perhaps then that of most others that felt the weight of his Iron Rod and therefore look'd more like a Judgment from Heaven then Earth was First that he suffer'd him to be condemn'd at the same time all other men by a general and free pardon were indempnified from the same Crimes of which he stood accus'd Secondly in that he died like Phalaris by an Instrument as some say of his own inventing Thirdly and lastly that after having been Vicegerent to the Defender of the Faith he should dye as an Heretick for opposing the Faith after having had the repute of a faithful Servant indeed so faithful that as Cranmer's Letter to the King yet to be seen testifies he cared not whom he displeas'd to serve his Majesty he should dye like one that had merited no favour from him That he who was so vigilant to detect all Treasons in their Embrio should dye like a Traytor himself That he that had no bounds set to his Authority should dye for exceeding his Commission Lastly That he who was the only Master of Requests and gave an answer to all men that made any Addresses to the King should himself dye unheard as well as unpitied But when we consider all this we must conclude the end of some mens Rise is to keep others from Falling Providence oftentimes upholding Justice even by Injustice that so by correcting some men causlesly she may certainly teach all men Caution The King having thus rid himself of his new Wife and his old Servant both submitting to his Will the first with the loss of her Estate and Dignity for instead of being his Queen she was adopted his Sister the last with the loss of both his Estate and Life he found the means to repair the want of the one though he could not of the other by taking to his Bed perhaps with no disparity to his Greatness if there had been none betwixt her own Vertue and Beauty the fair Lady Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk who seems to be born to be a Scourge of the Injustice shew'd to his former Wives whilst her Incontinence under the veil of a clear and most modest behaviour appear'd so notorious that being confessed by her self he himself was forc'd to suffer in the shame with her which he was so sensible of that we find by a Law ex post facto he labour'd to prevent the like for the future And now being as it were weary of Pleasures of that kind this being his fifth Wife that was executed or suffer'd worse his Love gave place once more to his Ambition which he gratified with a new Title or rather the Superfoetation of an old one causing himself to be stiled King of Ireland whereas none of his Predecessors were otherwise stiled then Lords thereof which as it was in the first place intended by him as an additional honour to that Nation rather then to himself so in the last place he did it to prevent James the Fifth of Scotland who had an Invitation from some of the discontented Nobility there to have taken it on him having before affronted him by assuming the Title of Defender of the Faith with the addition only of the word Christian as if there were any other Faith but what was in truth so and because he was resolv'd to quarrel him upon it he sent to require Homage to be paid him for that Kingdom urging that the Kings of that Nation had for many Ages submitted themselves in a qualified Condition of Vassalage under the Kings his Ancestors both before and since the Conquest This begat a War which ended not with the Life of that King being struck to the heart with the melancholy apprehensions of being over-match'd who dying left a young Daughter to succeed whom King Henry thought a fitting Wife for his Son Prince Edward and accordingly afterward in despight of all the tricks of the French Party that then rul'd there he brought it to such a Treaty as amounted to a Contract being under Hands and Seals of both sides But the Scots shewing themselves by their wonted breach of Faith to be true Scots all ended in War wherein though he were victorious yet the main business was nothing advanc'd by the Success there being more done then became a Suiter for Alliance and too little for one pretending to Conquest Hereupon he was forc'd to try the Fortune of another Treaty with the discontented Earl of Lenox who having formerly been set up by the French to be Governour of the young Queen and the Kingdom but deserted by them when he had most need of their aid he was
headless Queens The Lady Anna Buloigne and the Lady Katherine Howard either as far divided in Religion as they were in their Affections Eight dayes and upwards past between the proclaiming of this Queen and the calling her first Parliament during which time the two Religions were publickly permitted with equal Indulgence The Divine Service being so blended with Superstition that as one observes the State of England before her Persecution was not much unlike that of the Jews after theirs who presently upon the Captivity took a mid way between Hebrew and Ashdod on the same day that Mass was sung in the Quire at Westminster the English Service was sung in the Body of the Church And the two Religions if divided Opinions may deserve that Name being thus brought to confront each other no marvel if the Demagogues of each Perswasion justled for Precedence the Protestants being back'd by the present Laws the Papists by the Prerogative these incouraged by the Queens Opinion those by her Promises But as in the close of Day light and darkness contesting for Superiority seem equally match'd till in the end the latter prevails So happen'd it now upon the death of the late King whose Religion being different to that of his Successor the Question was which must take place and become the Religion of the State She her self being not so forward to declare after she came to be Queen as she was before But to palliate the matter in discharge of her Obligations to the Loyal Protestant Gentry of Suffolk and Norfolk that were the first set her up she seem'd content to call a Parliament that might take off the Odium from her making way to it by a general pardon which had so many Exceptions in it as shew'd there would be more found at the Convention And now being fearless of any more danger by Rivals happy in the single possession of her self and Throne there wanted nothing to compleat her felicity save that she knew it not Whereby it fell out so unluckily that she brought upon her self very great hatred and clamor by that whereby most Princes secure the love of their People to them whilst being wholly guided by those of her Councel she submitted her Reason to their Passions who under the pretence of Religion ingaged her in the greatest Persecâ—tion that ever was known under any Christian Government causing her to shed more Blood although she reign'd only five years four months and some odd dayes then was spilt by those two great Tyrants Richard the Third and her own Father putting both together there dying for Religion only not to mention what suffer'd on Civil Accompts no less then Three hundred whereof there was one Arch-bishop four Bishops and twenty one Divines of note But that which made it the more supportable was that however she was prodigal of her Subjects Lives she was yet more sparing of their Livelyhoods For she began with a rare Example in pardoning the very first Subsidy she had and she never had but one more So that putting that which was remitted against that which was received she had upon the matter none at all all her time And yet we find she was in continual Action at home or abroad having alwayes as her Father before her occasion to make use of men at Arms either to defend or inlarge her Dominions For as she was obstinate in the Resolution she had taken of restoring the Popes Authority contrary to the promise she made to those who first set her up being perswaded by the Priests that rul'd there that she had no such way to manifest her Faith as by the breach of it So she cut out so much matter for Rebellion by the Violence she offer'd both to Conscience and Interest that she had little Rest but no Peace all her dayes Now whether it were a natural Distrust of her weakness as she was a Woman or a Feminine Diffidence of her Wisdom as she was a Maid or that in truth she desir'd a help meet for satisfaction of her Affections as well as for support of her Affairs is not otherwise to be judg'd then by the choice she made But so it was that finding she could not stand by her self without a Husband no more then an Adjective without a Substantive she propos'd it as the first thing to her Councel directing them to make choice of such an one for her as might be as fit to give Laws to her as she to them Three there were in Proposal for her Philip Infant of Spain Son to the Emperour Charles the Fifth the old Cardinal Pool and the young Marquiss of Exeter to each of which as there were some Motives to draw her Affections so there were many Arguments to disswade her from them Those that had respect to the settlement of the Kingdom thought Philip the fittest match as being a Puissant King strengthned with many great Allies and who had as great an Enmity to the French the only Enemy England ought to fear as they themselves But against him the first Objection was That he was a Stranger The second That being Native of Spain he probably might by this Match bring England into some danger of Subjection to that Kingdom And lastly That there was somewhat of undecency not to say inequality in respect to his Person for that it seem'd strange that she should be the Wife of the Son now who thirty years before should have been Wife to the Father Those that stood for the Cardinal urg'd his Love to his Country and the Love the Country had for him in respect of his great Sanctimony and Wisdom which rendred him particularly acceptable to the Queen then for his Dignity he was not much inferiour to Kings and by his Mother descended from Kings and for his Age it was more agreeable to that of the Queens then that of either of the other two But the principal end of Marriage being Procreation he fell under an exception not to be answer'd as being a Batchelor of near Sixty four years old and so needed a Nurse rather then a Wife The Youth of the Lord Courtney being a brisk Cavalier and by Birth as well as the best Blood of England and France could make him gave him the preferrence above the Cardinal But some of the Juncto objecting That he lov'd Popularity more then ever he could be brought to love the Queen and that he smell'd too ranck of Lutherism to be her Bed-fellow they carried it by a general Vote against him for King Philip as well to take off all Exceptions by the Disparagement of marrying a Subject as for those seasonable and most Incredible Advantages it brought to England which were express'd in the Instrument of Marriage yet extant whereof there needs no further mention then the addition of the Netherlands and Burgundy to be for ever a Member of the Imperial Crown of this Realm in case there had been any Issue betwixt them All this notwithstanding such was the
Neither is it so in the Case of a particular Person only but if the whole Body of the people of this Nation should take upon them to do the like absque assensu Regis The Judges holding that where a War shall be so declared against any in League with the King without his consent and allowance the League is not thereby broken The like holds in all cases of Confederacies and Combinations which forced the late Rebels in the time of Charles the First to declare this Kingdom a Common-wealth before they could prevail with any Forrain Princes to treat with them and very few did it then Wherefore it is recorded as a wise answer of that Parliament in the Seventeenth of Richard the Second who when that King out of a necessitous compliance with the People offer'd them leave to take into their consideration some concerns of War and Peace Replied It did not become their Duty neither in Truth durst they presume ever to Treat of matters of so Transcendent Concernment No doubt then can there be of that Jus Foecialis 5. Jus Foecialis or right of Legation in directing sending and receiving all Embassies which Curtius calls Jus Regium a Power so Singular and Absolute that as (b) Bod. de Repub. Bodin and (c) In State Christ printed Anno 1657. H. Wotton both men of sufficient Authority affirm divers of our Neighbour Princes who yet call themselves absolute as the Kings of Hungary Poland Denmark Bohemia c. have nothing like it being bound up to consult with their People about all publick concerns before they can make any Conclusion of Peace or War Whereas all Addresses of State are made to Our Kings as I shewed in part before without any Obligation of their parts to communicate any thing to any of the Members of their great Council Privy Council or Common Council much less to either of the Ministers of State whether Secretaries or others however sworn to Secrecy and Trust Nor needs there a more pregnant Instance of the Kings inherent and determinate Prerogative in this point than that verbal Order of King Henry the Eight to the Lord Gray Governour of Bullen who upon a dispute about demolishing a Fort the French were then erecting by the name of Chastilons Garden contrary to the Sence of all the Lords of his Council expressed in Scriptis and which was more the formality of his own Letters confirming their Order did by a verbal Commission only privately whisper'd to him Justifie him in flinging down that Work which was a manifest breach of the Peace with the French and consequently a Capital crime in the Governour had not the same breath that made him forfeit it given him his life again which President as it was very remarkable so it proves that which follows 6. Jus Vitae Necis 26. Jus Vitae Necis that highest power of Life and Death to be only in the King being signaliz'd by the Ceremony of carrying the Sword before him in all publick Processions and is in truth so antient and undoubted a Right of the Crown that upon this Account only we find all the Pleas touching life and member to be call'd by the Lawyers Placita Coronae and all Capital Offences of high treason are termed Crimina Laesae Majestatis in proceeding whereon no Original Writ is necessary as in civil Causes but every Constable as the Kings Deputy may Ex Ossicio without any Process seize on any Murtherer Traytor or Felon and till the Statute of Magna Charta 17 of King John it is manifest that every mans Person was so subjected to the King by his Oath of Allegiance from those words De vita de membro that the (d) Vita Membrasunt in Potestate Regis Bracton l. 1. fol. 6. Cap. 5. Sect. 18. King at his pleasure might Imprison any man without process of Law or giving any cause for it and however the King has been pleas'd to circumscribe himself by Law since for the greater assurance of his Grace to his People yet the Judges have still so far respect to the Kings honour in this particular that upon the Commitment of any person by the Kings Command or by Order of the Lords of his Council they do not take upon them as perhaps by strictness of Law they might to deliver the Person till the Cause be first shewn and then expecting a Declaration of the Kings further pleasure bind him to answer what may be objected in the Kings behalf 7. Jus Rerum Sacrarum 27. The last and highest Prerogative as being purely Spiritual is that Jus Rerum Sacrarum to which no Princes in the World had a fairer Pretence than those here if considered as the only Christian Kings foster'd with the milk of a distinct National Church The Kings of great Britain the only Kings of a distinct national Church that may as properly be called the Sister as those of France Germany and Italy are call'd the Daughters of Rome and therefore the Pope when he naturaliz'd as I may say all the Christian Nations within the bosom of the Church he declared the Emperour to be Filius Major the French King Filius Minor but our King Filius Adoptivus neither matters it much though they prove our Church to be the younger Sister that disparagement if any it be being abundantly recompensed by being as indeed she is the most innocent the most beautiful and perhaps the most fruitful Parent of the two having Matriculated no less than eight Nations now as great almost as her self in the first Ages of Christianity and been the Foster-Mother to as many more in this last and most knowing age The Protestant Religion more properly called the Catholiâ—k Religion than that of Rome whereby the Reformed Religion as it is now vulgarly called to difference it from that of Rome is become as universal as that they call with so much Ostentation Catholick which if confined within the Range of the Church of Rome is not above a (c) Purchas Pilgrim cap. 13. lib. 1. fourth part of Christendom if so be the Computation of our modern Geographers be not mistaken who put Sweden in the Scale against both the Iberia's Italy and Spain and England Denmark and the Hans Towns against France which yet we know is Checquer'd in their Religion having divers Towns of the Reformed Judgment besides those Lesser Congregations in Poictou Gascony Languedoc and Normandy and take out of Germany suppos'd to be the third part of Europe two intire parts the whole being divided into three that at this day are integrally Protestant that is to say in the East Poland Lithuania Livonia Podolia Russia minor with divers Parts of Hungary and Transilvania even to the Euxine Sea in the West the Cantons of Swizzerland the United Provinces with the Grisons and the Republick of Geneva the South and North parts being yet more intirely Protestant and the heart of it every
Majesty which might preserve the Reverence due to it and accordingly he not only purged and prepar'd the great Pagan Temples for the Service and Honour of Religion but erected many particular Seminaries quae Christianae pietatis extitere primordia saith Polidor endowing them at his own proper costs and charges amongst the rest I take that of Bangor to be as the first so perhaps the (q) Containing no less then 300 Monks greatest Monastery that ever was I say not in this Isle only but in any part of the World whose Foundation was layd so deep that none of the Emperors in the Century following who for the most part prov'd bloody Persecutors could undermine it The Religious continuing safe in the peaceful Exercise of their Devotions till the Entrance of those cursed Pagans the Saxons who sacrificed them all in one day But as he was the first Christian so he was unhappily the last King of this Class who dying without Heir or Successor left his Orphan Country not only dispairing of future Liberty but subjected to all the present miseries a dejected people could suffer under the Oppression of a greedy proud and cruel Nation who kept faith with them no longer then till they could find an Opportunity to do otherwise being not content to command their Purses without they dispos'd of their Persons also forcing them to serve in their ambitious Quarrels abroad and to follow the Fortune of their several Factions through all the disadvantages that attended the injustice of their Arms till wasted wearied to that degree as rendred them unable to defend themselves they were necessitated to implore aid from those who under colour of coming as Auxiliaries prov'd of all others the most fatal Enemies taking their Country from them and from their Country its name THE SECOND DYNASTY OF ROMANS OF ROMANS THE Romans as most other Nations were a People mixt Party per Pale half Latins and half Sabins and so equally Incorporated that the one gave name to the place they liv'd in t'other to the People they liv'd with Rome was the name of the City Quirites the appellation of the Citizens Some say the City was in the first place call'd (a) Aug. de Civit Dei Febris after the name of Febra the mother of Mars Others suppose the Antient name to be (b) Solinus Valentia but (c) Pier. Hieroglyph lib. 36. Pierrius affirms from the testimony of Gergithias that the primitive name was Cephalon a Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caput a name saith he occasionally given to it out of respect to a mans head of incredible magnitude that was found at the digging up the foundation of the Capitol or rather Prophetically given as believing it would be the head City of the World There are who affirm it had (d) Erithraeus ind Virg. l. 11. three names the first Soveraign which was that of Romethe the Second Sacred which was (e) Plut. Vit. Romuli calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Floreâ— Anthusa as much as to say Flourishing the third was Secret as having never been publish'd by any man saith (f) Pliny lib. 3. Cap. 5. Pliny but once by Valerius Soranus who for his bold Impiety for so it was then Esteem'd was presently put to death the Romans superstitiously believing as all other Gentiles did at that time that the good fortune of their City was involv'd in the name the discovery whereof by the help of some Charms might be a means to Rob them of their Tutelar Gods and therefore to shew that this name was not so much as to be enquir'd after they made the Image of the Goddess Angerona the presentative of the Genius of their City with a (g) As Mussurius Sabinus Varro and others testifie Muffler on her mouth to shew that she might not speak Something of the same conceit was questionless the cause that Posterity is left at such a loss in seeking after the right name of this Isle of Ours which seems to be rather conceal'd by the Druides than unknown to them when Caesar could neither by flattery or force extort the truth from them Fabius Pictor tells us yet of another name that Rome had to wit Amarillis so call'd from Amaris a Trench to convey water for that after they had Sacrific'd to Vectumnius upon the overflow of the Argean Sea by Tyber the water return'd to his own Chanel and thence by Aquaducts was conveyed to the City Thus it remains uncertain what the Original not to say principal name of this great City was and more uncertain when it took that name Some fetch the Aera thereof Ab A. M. 2389. others looking back to the year 2336. But most of the Vulgar Chronologers go no further than the year 3211. Some will have it call'd Rome from Roma Daughter of Italus King of the Aborigines Others from Romanessa better known by the name of Saturn Some again impute the honour to Romanus Son of Ulisses and Circe and there are who contend for Romus the Son of Ematheon sent by Dyomede from Troy but the Vulgar Tradition favours Romulus which yet Plutarch that wrote his life acknowledges not making him their Patronimick who was by Birth a Bastard and no otherwise a King than by Treachery having laid the foundation of his greatness in the Blood of his Brother and slain his Uncle to make way for his Grand-father Thus these Romans that would be esteem'd the most glorious People in the World had this in Common with the most Barbarous and obscure Nations that they came from such Springs as running under ground were not discoverable in many Ages after their first Rice insomuch that they who would trace their Originals as far as they themselves could wish or their Poets Feign must stop at last at the Non ultra of the utmost bounds of Nature where the rest of the Universe stands equal with them in all points Now as Rome had its Sacred Name so had it also its Sacred Number compâ—ehended in that name which answering to the Influences of those Constellations with which the Genius of their Nation kept Intelligence actuated all their great designs and undertakings For as the Britains were principally if not wholly swaid by the Number Six as all Nations in the World by some one number or another so were they by that of Seven which being of all other most like the Geometrical Square may be said to be the most proper figure of Regulation Seven Letters in the (h) Anthusa Mystical or Sacred name of their City before mention'd as many in that of Romulus their supposed Founder who as Livy tells us alter'd his mind seven times touching the place where he would have it Founded and at last plac'd it upon seven Hills afterwards he divided his Principality into seven Tribes four Local and three National and when he came to distinguish betwixt the Nobility and the Populacy he differenc'd them by seven
an intestine War one with another undermin'd them by Land before they could perfect any great matter by Sea they had not contented themselves as they did with an Insulary glory having laid so good a foundation to an universal Empire and so much more lasting than any that were ever before it by how much they would have had it in their power to have secur'd the obedience of the rest of the World by their ignorance rendring themselves their Masters by a mystery of State not to be resisted because not understood whereof our Kings their Successors now absolute Lords of the Sea have happily made good proof For as a modern Poet hath well observ'd Where ere our Navy spreads her Canvass Wings Homage to th' State and Peace to all she brings French Dutch and Spaniards when our Flags appear Forget their hatred and consent to fear So Jove from Ida did the Hosts survey And when he pleas'd to thunder part the Fray Waller Ships heretofore in Seas like Fishes sped The greatest still upon the smallest fed We on the Deep impose more equal Laws And by that justice do remove the cause Of those rude Tempests which for rapine sent Did too too oft involve the innocent Rendring the Ocean as our Thames is free From both those Fates of Storms and Pitacy Thrice happy People who can fear no force But winged Troops or Pegasean Horse But considering as I said the difficulties they met with before without mentioning the dangers they encountred after they were setled the checks of Fortune whilst they were rising and the counterbuffs of Envy after they were up and mounted to their height whereof as Gildas relates they were forewarned by their Gods who being consulted about the Invasion gave answer that the Land whereto they went should be held by them 300 years half the time to be spent in conquering t'other half in possessing their Conquest which agreed with the measure of their Heptarchy Lastly Considering the fierceness of the Britains of the one side and the fraud of the Danes of the other those perhaps doing them more mischief by Treaties than t'other by admitting no cessation We may conclude with the Poet Nec minor est Virtus quam quarere parta tueri THE ORDER OF THE KINGS OF KENT I. I. date of accession 445 ENGIST having broken in like a Horse for so his Name imports and trampled down all that withstood him made himself King of Kent and by being the first King was worthily esteem'd the first Monarch of the English a Title that during the Heptarchy was appropriated to some one above all the rest of the Kings He reigned 34 years and left his Glory to descend on his second Son II. date of accession 448 OESKE under whose Government the Kentish men thriv'd so well that they were contentedly named from him Eskins III. date of accession 512 OCTA had a longer but less happy Reign wasting 22 years without any memorable act that might render him more renown'd then his Successor IV. date of accession 537 IRMERICK who after 25 years Reign by Stow 's Accompt 29 by Savil's had nothing to boast but that he was the Son of such a Father as Oeske and the Father of such a Son as V. date of accession 562 ETHELBERT the first Christian King of all this Nation and the sixth Monarch of the English men A Prince who was therefore esteem'd great because good but his happiness ended with himself for his impious Son VI. date of accession 617 EDBALD was laid in his Bed as soon as he was laid in his Grave apostatizing from his natural Religion to gratifie his unnatural Lust he had many Sons but the Succession fell to the youngest VII date of accession 641 ERCOMBERT more like his Grandfather then his Father a pious publick spirited Prince he was the first divided Kent into Parishes and commanded the observation of Lent He was not so good but his Sons were as bad VIII date of accession 665 EGBERT the eldest made his way to the Crown by the murther of his two Cosins the right Heirs of Ethelbert and Sons to his Fathers Elder Brother Ermenred who being not able to do themselves right were reveng'd by his younger Brother IX date of accession 677 LOTHAIRE who gave the like measure to his two Sons putting them besides the Succession to admit X. date of accession 686 EDRICK who entred with more Triumph than Joy being within two years after depriv'd both of honour and life by his own Subjects upon which his Brother XI date of accession 693 WIGHFRED assumed the Government being rather admitted then chosen or rather gave himself up to be govern'd by one Swebard who they put over him by whose advice he rul'd not ingloriously 33 years and left his Kingdom to his Sons who alternately succeeded XII date of accession 726 EGBERT the Eldest most like his Father both in Person and Fortune reigned 23 years XIII date of accession 749 ETHELBERT the second reign'd but one year XIV date of accession 760 ALRICK the last of the three and indeed the last of the Royal Lyne did only something that made him more notably unfortunate then the two former in being overcome by the great Mercian Offa whereby the Kingdom became a prey to whosoever could catch it the first whereof that got that advantage was XV. date of accession 794 ETHELBERT the third firnamed Pren who entred in the Vacancy of the first Occupant and being disseized by that Wolfe Kenelwolph the thirteenth King of Mercia he put in one XVI date of accession 797 CUTHRED who enjoyed an undisturb'd possession eight years after whom XVII date of accession 805 BALDRED stept in who being little regarded abroad was less belov'd at home fearing his People might leave him he first left them and flying over the River Thames as soon as Egbert the West-Saxon entred his Territories left all to the Conquerour who without more trouble made this Kingdom and those of the South and East-Sexes an Appenage for his younger Son Athelstan IT is hard to resolve Whether Engist that erected this Kingdom were more beholding to Fortune or his own foresight or whether indeed the folly of Vortigern were not more advantageous to him then either who not trusting the incertain obedience of his own People cast himself upon the faith of this Stranger who in serving of him could have no other design but to serve himself upon him Neither did the frowardness of the Natives contribute less to his Greatness then the folly of their King who not consenting to the Ratification of that little which was promis'd him justifi'd him in the larger Demands he made afterwards when they durst not deny his Experience on the Seas taught him how to Laveer from point to point and shift as he found the wind failing to steer in a direct course but had the Britains kept Faith with him 't is probable he had not broke as he did with them taking that advantage
thought the fittest Person to be tampered with for regaining the Point or at least to keep all quiet there whilst the King assisted by the Emperour with whom he had newly entred into a strict League sought more considerable Glory in the Invasion of France whither he resolved to go again in Person where notwithstanding that King out of dread of his power had summon'd all his Feises and brought together his Arrereban as they call them to oppose him he took the Town of Bulloigne and had undoubtedly inlarged his Conquests to the very Walls of Paris had not the Emperour privately patch'd up a Peace without him Upon notice whereof he thought fit to return home to reinforce the War in Scotland where though he did not much yet 't was more perhaps then was expected at that time For notwithstanding their conjunction with the French who entred upon one side whiles they prest in on the other both setting upon him like two Mastiffs upon a Lion yet he only rowsing himself shook them off again and pursuing them home to their own doors did them so much more mischief then they were able to do to him that they call'd for quarter choosing rather to treat then fight upon which there ensued a Peace the Conditions whereof whoe're examines will find that he knew how to yield as well as how to conquer giving them the reputation of having back their good Town of Bulloigne but they were to pay him for it Eight hundred thousand Crowns and the possession was to be his till the last payment were made And now having as it were tired himself with Victory it was time to retire into the consideration of taking his eternal rest having seen many of his brave men go before him as the valiant Lord Poynings the Hardy Duke of Suffolk his constant Favorite the Noble Lord Ferrers of Chartley the brave Lord Grey c. And it being now the Eight and thirtieth year of his Reign and the Six and fiftieth of his Age labouring under an unusual heaviness of Body and perhaps a greater of Mind having made Peace with all Enemies but the Scots and Pope having dis-joynted the Frame of Religion and drove away most of those that should put it in frame again having by the Severity of his Justice taken off two Queens two Cardinals for Pool stood condemn'd though not apprehended three Dukes Marquisses Earls and Earls Sons twelve Barons and Knights eighteen which could not but irritate much the Temporal Nobility and of Bishops Abbots Priors Monks Priests which as much incenst the Clergy no less then Seventy seven having offended his Roman Catholick Subjects by disowning the See of Rome and his Protestant Subjects by rejecting the Reformation he was brought at last to that unhappy period to leave the Crown to a Child whose condition was like to prove as uncertain under the Government of a Protector as the Kingdom under his which in case of want of Issue of his Body was to descend to his two Sisters successively of whose Legitimacy Religion and Title there were as many scruples before they parted from the Soveraignty as ever their Father conceiv'd in point of State Conscience or Honour before he parted from their Mothers So from the Catastrophe of his whole Story we may bring this remark That as no man could measure his Happiness by his Greatness so neither can they take any scantling of his Greatness by any thing that the World calls Happiness it being very true which the Marquiss of Dorset told him very plainly and not unpleasantly at a time when he was ill dispos'd to hear a Jest and not well prepared to be serious to wit That no man could be truly merry that had above one Wife in his Bed one Friend in his Bosom and one Faith in his Heart HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Now whether his Lady that had been the Wife of a King before did while she was alive put him upon any hopes of being so now for ambitious Men like seal'd Doves mount the higher for being blinded is not certain but certain it is that as soon as she died which was not long after he resum'd the confidence to approach so near the Throne as to Court the Lady Elizabeth the second time now grown a little riper for consent then when he first mov'd the Question to her Neither was it carried so secretly but that his Brother had an insight into the whole practice and at last discover'd the whole Plot but conceal'd his knowledge of it either out of pity or prudence as loath to ruin him with the hazard of losing himself or as doubting perhaps that the Sword of Justice was not long enough to reach him at least not sharp enough to cut thorough the knot of the whole Conspiracy But as Fate never fails undoing the man she has determin'd to destroy and when she falls upon him makes the first stroke at his head so happen'd it in this unhappy Lords case who being unexpectedly undermin'd was blown up by a Train that seems to have taken fire as it were by Lightning from Heaven his Treason being first detected out of the Pulpit and the Protector his Brother so prest by an eloquent Sermon of Bishop Latimer to Impeach him that he being not able to clear him was in some sence obliged to clear himself by a Speech which prov'd as ominous as it was obvious saying at the same time he caus'd him to be apprehended That he would do and suffer Justice And so he did when he sign'd the Warrant for his Execution after the Parliament found him Guilty with his own Hand A singular piece of Self-denial and such as is rarely found in Story there being very few that so much prefer the publick before their own private Interest as not to spare their own flesh and blood However looking so like Revenge it was by most men judg'd unnatural and taking no less from the honour of his Justice then t'other intended to have taken from the Prerogative of his Honour so shuck the frame of his Authority that it broke in pieces presently after and both Factions of Papists and Protestants falling off from him he was expos'd to the cunning of Warwick and the scorn of the Marquiss of Dorset his most unreconcileable Enemies The Papists quit him as believing the Obligation ceas'd by which when he ceas'd by whom they were held in having been true to him no otherwise but for his Brothers sake only The Protestants fail'd him because they doubted he might fail them for how could they think he would give them any Assistance that had given to his own Brother so little Thus when two great Trees grow up together out of one and the same Stock we see that the cutting down of the one commonly indangers the blowing down of the other which remaining single and expos'd to every storm cannot stand unless it have a firm ground as well as a spreading Root Neither
Countries having given him the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem before of the first of which the Pope either envying or fearing the Emperour's Greatness had made the French King some Assurance purposely to ingage him thereby in a War that might weaken them both Great Preparations were made by either Party to secure themselves both with Arms and Alliances the Emperor leaving all his Dominions on this side to his Son whilst himself retires into Spain to alarm the French on the other side and by his Vicinity to Italy whose petty Princes he suspected not to be firm to his Interest makes himself as terrible to his Neighbours as his Enemies But whilst this great design was in Prospect only King Philip was suddenly called home by a Brute that his Queen was with Child the Joy whereof was so universal that it is strange to tell how much it transported the whole Kingdom raising them by the hopes of a young Prince to a degree of seeming Infatuation for they not only mock'd God Almighty in the Church with causeless Thanksgivings but troubled the King and Queen every hour in Court withâ—s groundless Petitions for Places of Attendance on the unborn Child and so far did the Delirium prevail to delude even the Parliament themselves with extravagant apprehensions of their future happiness by the enjoyment of such a Prince who however he were like to be Lord of the greatest part of Christendom would yet in all probability make England the Seat of his Empire that they humbly besought the King in case the Queen should dye in Travel that he would be pleas'd to take upon him the rule and government of the Child and Kingdome such ado have great Princes to be born as well as to dye in quiet But this mistaken Embryo proving at length to be nothing else but a Mis-conception whereof she could not be delivered so as to make way for any better Conception turning to such a fleshy inform Substance as Physitians call a Mole and we vulgarly English a Moon-Calf it put King Philip so ouâ— of Countenance that he tarried not a Month here after her time of Reckoning was our but passing into Flanders put it out of his head since he could not put it out of her belly by beginning a War with France whereto he had a good ground upon the account of the Five years Truce being broken that had been made but a little before The Queen to requite him for her late Miscarriage broke with her People and resolving not to stand Neuter whilst her Husband was ingaged found occasion to make the French Aggressors upon the Crown of England Whereupon the Earl of Pembroke was sent over with Ten thousand Horse and Four thousand Foot who joyning with the Kings Forces which were Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse before they came they all of them sate down before St Quintins a Town of great importance which the French in vain indeavouring to succour lost Twenty five thousand upon the place Amongst whom were divers of the greatest Quality as John of Bourbon Duke of Anguin the Dukes of Monpensier and Longevile the Viscount Turein c. the Lord Chadenier the Mareschal St. Andrew the Rhinegrave the Constable Mount Morency and his Son Brother to Count Lodowick Gonzaga Brother to the Duke of Mantova the Admiral Coligny and his Brother with divers other Lords of no less eminence who being all taken with the Town made it look like the beginning of a War which every Body judged could not end till the Rupture reach'd to the middle of France The report of this Victory gave great matter of rejoycing to every Body but most especially to the Queen her self yet could it not divert that Melancholy occasioned by the conceit of her Misconception which brought her into a Distemper that not long after kill'd her by her Physicians mistaking her Malady who giving her improper Medicines without regard to the over-cooling of her Liver which it seems is the mischief attends those Moles found not their error till she was so far gone into that desperate kind of Dropsie which they call Ascites that there was no help for her now That which added to her Distemper was an over-nice resentment of the Popes displeasure who offended at her breach with the French punish'd her as Princes use to be by whipping their Favourites with taking away the Legatine Power from her beloved Minister Cardinal Pool to whom as she had ever a great regard so she opin'd that the disgrace put upon a Man of so great Authority and Credit who had been so active in the Conversion of the Nation would as indeed it did not only reflect something on her honour but hazard much the reputation of the Catholick Cause whiles the Roman Religion was not so fully establish'd as she design'd it should and the Enemies of the Church no less dangerous to that of her State This gave her great trouble of Mind and that trouble being heightened by the absence of her beloved Husband brought her into a burning Feaver that foretold a death that might have proved a living one had it not been hastned by the news of the revolt of Calais which being lost in less then six dayes time after it had continued English above Two hundred years came so near her heart that drying up all her Blood brought her under such a fix'd sadness as left her not till she left the World Now to say truth she had great reason to resent the loss for as it was the only Key left to let her into France so it was no small over-sight to hang it by her side with so slender a String as she did there being not above Five hundred Souldiers in it when it was attach'd which were much too few to defend a place of that Importance where there was a kind of necessity to keep the Gates alwayes open HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did make it That I believe and take it Which however it seem'd an obscure and uncertain Solution so baffled all her Adversaries that the Priests themselves who hop'd with like Success to have soil'd her as the First Temptor did the First Woman upon the First great Question of Take and Eat found themselves left in the dark to grope after her meaning as well as they could whilst she shut her self up from further Pressures within the Closet of her own private Sense But as Wisdom is perhaps the only Vertue that is distrustful of it self so to shew how little Confidence she had in the strength of her own Abilities she made it her first business to fortifie her self with able Counsellors In the choice of whom her Affections gave place to her Judgment as her Fears to her Foresight admitting divers of her Sisters great Ministers who having been privy to all the Secrets of State were like sharp
Tools that are as dangerous as useful if not skilfully handled Whom therefore she counterpoiz'd with as many of her own Religion to the end that holding the Ballance in her own hand she might turn the Scale as she saw cause Neither was it a thing of small Moment that came first to be weigh'd by her to wit the great Business of Religion The Materials whereof being prepared to her hand by her Brother as the Foundation was laid to his by her Father she resolv'd to proceed in Edification of the Church as Solomon did in building of the Temple with as little noise as might be And accordingly as she conform'd to take her Assumption from the hand of a Popish Bishop who performed all the Ceremonies of her Inauguration More Romano so being crown'd she made choice as I said of such a mix'd Councel as might put her out of all doubt of over-setting the Vessel by loading too much upon any one side and out of all danger of Foundring by steering their Course in too streight a Line cross the Surges of the swelling Tide and because she designed to shew her Moderation as well as her Wisdom she did not put out the Candle-light of Popery all at once but let in the Sun-shine of the Gospel by such degrees that the People might neither be left altogether in the Dark to grope after new Laws nor yet expos'd to be dazled with the two sudden approach of the greater Light refining the Mass with such a temperate heat of Zeal as first took off the Scum only that is the foulest and grossest part of Superstition then proceeded to purge out the thinner Dross of scandalous Matter and in the last place she took away what appear'd superfluous and unnecessary retaining only the sounder part out of which she made up that Form of Service which hath ever since continued to be used in the Church of England Whose ground work she laid upon the Holy Scriptures making up the Superstructure of the Doctrine of the * Nicen. Athanasian and Apostles Creed Three Creeds approv'd and confirm'd by those great Masters of Assemblies in the Four first General Councels worthily esteem'd to be stiled Synodi Firmissimi and explain'd by several of the Orthodox Fathers in the several Ages following to the intent that coâ—â—aining Ecclesiarâ—m â—â—mâ—ium Fidem they might be a Rule without all Exception But whiles she proceeded with this great tendernesâ— in hopes to have pleas'd both Parties she displeas'd either The first being no less griev'd by her Reforming so much then the last by her Reforming no more One would have thought that her Clemency would have silenced the Papish for that she might have purg'd with Fire and Faggot as her Sister did And that her Honesty would have subdued the Protestants who they found heâ— to continue to be Semper Eadem notwithstanding the warm Tempâ—â—tions wherewith the Pope plyed her for a long time offering 1. To take away the Sin of her Father notwithstanding the many injuries donâ— to the Church and confirming all his Alienations 2. To take away the reproach of her Mother by making Null the Sentence of Divorce notwithstanding she never reconciled to the Church 3. To honour the Memory of her Brother so far as to allow the use of the Common-Prayer Book in English recording to his establishment And lastly to indulge this to the honoâ—â— of her own Memory that her Realm should for her sake only which never was offer'd before have the Priviledge to receive the Sacrament in both kinds A well compounded Bait and such as if it had been large enough to have cover'd the Hook might probably have taken any other Woman but as her Conscience forbid her to close with the one so Reason of State permitted not that she should come nearer the other then she did For there was newly started up a Generation of Inlightned men who took upon them to reform her Reformation and make it more Suitable they would not say Conformable to Christs Scepter and Kingdom by rooting out those Representatives of Antichrist the Bishops who they thought to differ no otherwise from the Popish Prelates then Rooks do from Ravens desiring instead of the Hierarchy to set up a Gospel Ministry so they phras'd it that was certain Evangelicks after the example of those Congregational Pastors of Geneva who despising all Order Habit or Title were underpropt or assisted by two Lay-Elders chosen out of the gravest though not the wisest of the People whose Office as one observes like that of the Ears is only to bear themselves upright and hear what the Praetor says without any other Ecclesiastical priviledge pretence or power This projection was under-hand carried on by some squint-eyed Lawyers who having one eye upon the Jurisdiction of the Bishop t'other upon her Prerogative took all occasions to detect the nakedness of her Government and to bespatter it with scurrilous Libels Amongst which there could be nothing more bold and Seditious then those two notorious Books the one intituled The Admonition to the Parliament the other The Defence of that Admonition Not to mention those lewd Pamphlets call'd by the Names of Martyn Marr Prelate Christs Scepter and Kingdome Englands Gulph c. by the Oath Ex Officio was rendred Antichristian and the Oath of Supremacy not lawful but in a qualified sense This giving her sufficient warning to secure the State by fortifying the Church she caused the Arch-bishop Whitguift to cast three Cannons which were so plac'd that Innovation could no way make its approaches to let in any of their Factious Teachers For no man was to be admitted to the Cure of Souls that did not first recognize the Queens Supremacy Secondly submit to the use of the Book of Common-Prayer and Ordination of Bishops and Thirdly to the Articles pass'd at the last Synod at London 1562. and Lastly Declare that they believ'd either of them consonant and agreeable to the word of God However it was no small Interruption that these brain-sick men gave to her intended Reformation and the Mischiefs that attended it were so much more insupportable by how much they proceeded from a Religious Madness that reign'd at that time over all Christendome most of the Neighbour Nations even as far as Italy it self not excepting the very Dominions of the Pope labouring under the same Distemper which was a kind of Spiritual Feaver that caus'd such an Inflammation in their Consciences as could be cured no other wayes but by Blood-letting the very worst of Remedies whereof the King of France made the first experience and no where so much by whose Example the King of Spain afterwards did the like and other Princes imitating them it is since become a common practise This troubled her the more in respect of the advantages taken by the adverse Party the Papists who being more strictly united by these Divisions amongst the Protestants and deluded by the belief of certain groundless Predictions that her Reign
to both yet neither was so tortur'd between the Consideration of what was safe and what was Just that it appear'd in bringing the Earl they had brought him to Tryal and put him into such an Agony as shook the very Foundations of the Government And this Hesitation of his prov'd to be the Groundwork of three the most Important Jealousies that ever troubled any State the Parliament thereupon declaring themselves dissatisfied in the Security of their Religion Proprieties and Priviledges to the clearing whereof they made not long after three as strange Proposals 1. For the Extirpation of Bishops 2. The Establishment of a Triennial Parliament 3. The Delivery of the Militia into their Disposal This Contumacy of theirs taking its rise from the Confidence they had in their Brethren the Scots who all this while continued in Arms upon the Borders for want of money to disband them eating like a Fistula Insensibly into the Bowels of the Kingdom he made it his first care to cure that Malady wherein he proceeded with that great judgment and skill that in paying them off the Parliament gave the Money but he the Satisfaction having thereby so far recover'd the good Opinion of those People however they came to be perverted afterward that as soon as he arriv'd in their Country whither he went in Person presently after the Peace was concluded they gave him two notable Instances of their Duty and Submission The first Publick in reviving that good old Law there which made it Treason for any to Leavy Arms without the Kings Leave and Commission The second Private in the discovery of the five Members here that had been the principal Engineers to draw them into England But whilst he was busie in quenching the Incendiations of Scotland behold a more dreadful Fire breaks out in Ireland the Matter whereof was so prepaâ—'d that there appear'd very little or no smoak of Suspition till it was all in a Flame and which made it more terrible was That the Rebels pretended to take their Rule from the English as their President from the Scots in defending their Religion Proprieties and Liberties by Arms all which being as they said undermined not knowing how soon the Blow might be given they thought it justifiable enough to prevent what they could not withstand Now to prove that their Religion was in danger they urg'd the Preparatory Votes and Menaces of the House of Commons in England and for the proof of the Impairing their Liberty and Proprieties they referr'd to the Remonstrances of those in Scotland who made it the first motive of their rising that they were like to be reduced to the slavish Condition of Ireland in being brought under the Form of a Province and subjected to the insupportable Tyranny of a * The placing a President ov r the Councel of State being the Ground of that Fear Lord Lieutenant And now to add a Varnish to this Colour they declar'd for Preservation of the Kings Rights as well as their own swearing to oppose with Life Power and Estate all such as should directly or indirectly indeavour to Suppress the Royal Prerogative of the King his Heirs and Successors or do any †Referring to the Proceedings of the Parliament in England who had but a little before taken away the Tonnage Poundage the Sâ—ipmoney Court of Wards High Commission-Court and were earnestly contesting for the Militia c. Act or Acts contrary to the Royal Government This Declaration of theirs was written with a Pen of Iron in Letters of Blood as believing that no Rebels in the World had more to say for themselves then they at least that they had much more matter of Justification then either the Scots or English could pretend to who justified themselves by seigning only to suspect what t'other really suffer'd under Neither perhaps had the World so condemned them all Circumstances considered had there not appear'd a Self-condemnation within themseâ—ves by counterfeiting a * Whiâ—h that it might be the more authent câ— they take off an old Seal from an Absolâ—te Patent to Farâ—ham-Abby which they annex'd to it Commission from the King to justifie this their Arming falsly bragging that the Queen was with them and that the King would very shortly come to them Which as it was a base and abject piece of Policy that lost them more Credit when it was detected then it got them Repute while it was believ'd so it was malitious towards the King to that degree with respect to the Condition he was then in that it cannot otherwise be thought but that having murther'd so many of his Protestant Subjects they had a mind to murther him too The Consequences of that great Suspition it brought upon him being such as he could never recover the disadvantages it fastned on him till he fell finally under the power of those Sons of Belial who destroyed him for no other Reason but to destroy Monarchy it self So that he was not much mistaken who confidently averred It was the Papists brought him to the block the Presbyterians that tuck'd up his hair and the Fanatick that cut off his head Whereof he himself was so sensible that the very last words he us'd as if to shew he alike abhorr'd either of them was to profess He dyed a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as he found it left him by his Father foreseeing that he should suffer more by Reproach then by the Axe After which he resigned himself to the fatal stroke with that cheerfulness as shew'd he believ'd by removing that Scandal only he should get a greater Victory over his Enemies when he was dead then ever they got over him whilst he was alive The ill news of Ireland drew him with all imaginable haste out of Scotland But before he could come to the Consideration of that great Affair he was prevented by the Parliaments renewing their old Complaints who found a slight occasion of quarrel to introduce other matters that they knew would widen the Difference beyond all reconciliation for his Majesty having taken publick notice of a Bill that was depending in the House whereby he thought his Prerogative pinch'd to which therefore he offer'd a Provisional Clause with a Salvo Jure to himself and the people to prevent all Disputes at the passing of it they interpreted this to be so high a violation of their Priviledge that they pray'd to have the Informers brought in to condign punishment Seconding that Petition with a Remonstrance against all those whose Affection or Interest they thought might be serviceable to him under a new coyn'd name of Malignants which they ranged into three Classes 1. Jesuited Papists 2. Corrupted Clergy-men and Bishops 3. Interested Counsellors and Courtiers concluding thereupon 1. That no Bishops should have any Votes in Parliament 2. That no People should be imploy'd about him but such as they could confide in 3. That none of the Lands forfeited by the Irish Rebels should be