Londoners and by what persons W. and Strode I am ashamed to tell you But that His Majesty was victorious that day a day which I never thought to have seen in England ther be many convincing arguments to prove it for besides the great odds of men which fell on their side and Cannons they lost som of their Ordnance were nayl'd by the Kings Troops the next morning after in the very face of their Army Moreover the King advanc'd forward the next day to his former road and took Banbury presently after but the Parliamenteers went backwards and so from that day to this His Majesty continueth Master of the field 'T is tru that in som places as at Farnham Winchester and Chichester they have prevail'd since but no considerable part of the Royall Army was ther to make opposition and I blush to tell you how unworthily the Law of Armes was violated in all those places Peregrin Good Lord how can the souls of those men that were in the Parliaments Army at Keinton Battell dispense with the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegeance besides the Protestation you speak of they had taken to preserve the Person Honour and Prerogative of the King when they thus actually bandy against his Person and appear in battel with all the engines of hostility against him Patricius I wold be loth to exchange consciences with them and prevaricate so palpably with God Almighty Touching the Cavaliers they may be said to comply with their duties both towards God and their King according to the Oaths you mention Moreover ther was a strong Act of Parliament for their security which was never as much as questioned or controverted much lesse suspended or repeal'd But always stood and yet stands in as full validity and force as it was the first day it was Enacted and as much binding to an universall obedience which Act runs thus 13. Octobris Anno undecimo Henrici Septimi Anno Dom. 1496 IT is Ordained Enacted and Established by the King Our Soverain Lord by the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That from henceforth no manner of person or persons whatsoever he or they be that attend upon the King and Soverain Lord of this Land for the time being in his person and do him tru and faithfull service of Allegiance in the same or be he in other places by his Commandment in his wars within this Land or without That for the said Deed and tru duty of Allegiance he or they be in no wise Convict or attaint of High Treason nor of other offences for that cause by Act of Parliament or otherwise by any processe of Law whereby he or any of them shall lose or forfeit Life Lands Tenements Rents Possessions Hereditaments Goods Chattels or any other things But to be for that Deed and Service utterly discharged of any Vexation Trouble or loss And if any Act or Acts or other processe of the Law hereafter therupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this Ordinance That then that Act or Acts or other processe of the Law whatsoever they shall be stand and utterly void Provided alwayes that no person or persons shall take any benefit or advantage by this Act which shall hereafter decline their said Allegiance Peregrin This is as plain and fair as can be for securing both the Person and Conscience of the Cavalier but was ther ever any Act or Oath or any thing like an Oath that oblig'd Englishmen to be tru unto or fight for the Parliament Patricius Never any but these men by a new kind of Metaphysicks have found out a way to abstract the Person of the King from his Office to make his Soveraigntie a kind of Platonick Idea hovering in the aire while they visibly attempt to assaile and destroy his Person and Progeny by small and great shot and seek him out amongst his life-Gard with fire and sword yet they give out they fight not only not against him but for him and that their army is more loyall unto him than his owne who they say fight only for the name King though they have his person really amongst them commanding and directing Thus they make Him a strange kind of Amphibium they make in one instant a King and no King of the same Individuum a power which the Casuists affirme God Almighty never assumed to himself to doe any thing that implies a contradiction Peregrin Noble Sir you make my heart to pant within me by the Pathetick relation you have been pleas'd to make mee of these â—…uthfull times But one thing seems to me to be no lesse then a miracle how his Majestie hath beene able to subsist all this while considering the infinite advantages the averse partie hath had of him for they have all the tenable places and townes of strength both by land and sea They have the Navie royall they have all the Amunition and Armes of the Crown they have all the Imposts and Customs Poundage and Tonnage which they levie contrary to their former Protestation before the Bill be pass'd They have the Exchequer at their devotion and all the Revenue of the King Queen and Prince and lastly they have the citie of London which may be eall'd a Magazin of money and men where there is a ready supplie and superfluitie of all things that may seed clothe or make men gay to put them in heart and resolution Truely considering all these advantages with divers others on their side and the disadvantages on the Kings it turnes me into a lump of astonishment how his Majestie could beare up all this while and keep together so many Armies and be still master of the Field Patricius I confesse Sir it is a just subject for wonderment and we must ascribe it principally to God Almightie who is the Protectour of his Anointed for his hand hath manifestly appear'd in the conduct of his affaires Hee hath been the Pilot who hath sate at the helme ever sâ—…nce this storme began and will we hope continue to steer his course till he waft him to safe harbour againe Adde hereunto that his Majesty for his own part hath beene wonderfully stirring and indefatigable both for his body and minde And what notable things HER Majesty hath done and what she hath suffered is fitter for Chronicle then such a simple Discourse Hereunto may be added besides that his Majestie hath three parts of foure of the Peeres and Prime Gentrie of the Kingdom firme unto him and they will venture hard before they will come under a popular government and mechanicall corporations or let in Knox or Calvin to undermine this Church and bring in their bawdy stool of Repentance Peregrin Truely Sir amongst other Countreys I extreamly long'd to see England and I am no sooner come but I am surfeited of her already I doubt the old Prophecie touching this Island is come now to be verified
cryed up and branded to be the most infamous Projectors and Monopolizers of the land as Hamilton Holland c. are not only at liberty but crept into favour and made use of Peregrin Hath the house of Commons power to commit any but their own Members without conference with the Lords Or hath any Order or Ordinance of one of the Houses singly or of both conjunctly power to enjoin a virtual binding generall obedience without the Royal consent Patricius The power of Parliament when King Peers and Commons which is the whole Kingdom digested as it were into one volum is indefinit but what either of both Houses can do of themselves singly or joyntly without the King who is the life of the Law especially when a visible faction reigns amongst them I will not determin tantas componere lites non opis est nostrae But for my own opinion I think it is as impossible for them to make a Law without the King as it was for Paracelsus to make a human creture without coition of both sexes The results of Parliament without the Royall consent are as matches without fire And it is an incontroulable principle that the old Law must be our guide till new be made nor is any Act of the Subject justifiable but what is warranted by the old But to proceed in the tru discovery of these Domestick scissures my Lord of Stafford being gone we hop'd fair weather wold follow He who was the cause of the tempest as they pretended being thrown over-board but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker Yet the Scots were dismist having had Fidlers fare meat drink and money for eleven long moneths together So His Majesty went to Scotland where the Parliament ther did but ask and have any thing though it be the unquestionable Prerogative of Majesty to grant or deny Petitions and to satisfie his conscience before any Councell whatsoever But during his sojourn ther this formidable hideous Rebellion brok out in Ireland which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd yet the Scene was never so Tragicall and bloody as now for the Barbarismes that have bin committed ther have bin so sanguinary and monstrously savage that I think posterity will hold them hyperbolicall â—…when History relates them The Irish themselves affirm ther concurr'd divers causes to kindle this fire One was the taking off of Strafforâ—…s head who awd them more then any Deputy ever did and that one of his Accusations shold be to have used the Papists ther too favourably Secondly the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the Roman Catholiques here in England Lastly the stopping of that Regiment of Irish who was promised by His Majesties Royall Word and Letter to the King of Spain who relying upon that employment rather then to beg steal or starve turned Rebels And that which hath agravated the Rebellion all this while and heightned much the spirit of the Irish was the introduction of the Scot whom they hate in perfection above all people els And intended lastly the design spoken of in our Parliament to make an absolute Conquest and Nationall Eradication of them which hath made them to make vertue of necessity and to be valiant against their wills Peregrin Indeed I heard that Act of staying the Irish Regiment considering how the Marquesses de Velada and Malvezzi and Don Alonso de Cardenas who were all three Ambassadours here for the King of Spain at that time having by reliance upon the sacred Word and Letter of a King imprested money and provided shipping for their transport and bin at above 10000. Crowns charges I say this Act was very much censured abroad to the dishonour of His Majesty and our reproach Patricius I am very sorry to hear it Well Sir His Majesty by His presence having setled Scotland was at his return to London received with much joy and exultation but though he was brought in with a Hosanna at one end of the Town he found a Crucifige at the other For at Westminster ther was a Remonstrance fram'd a work of many weeks and voted in the dead of night when most of the moderat and well-thoughted Members were retired to their rest wherein with as much aggravation and artifice as could be the least moat in Government was exposed to publick view from the first day of His Majesties Inauguratâ—…on to that very hour Which Remonstrance as it did no good to the Publick but fill peoples heads with doubts their hearts with gall and retard the procedure of all businesse besides so you may well think it could expect but cold entertainment with His Majesty who hoped his great Councel according to their often deep protestations had done something for his welcom home that might have made him the best beloved King that ever 〈◊〉 amongst his people Peregrin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ther is no Government upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up of mâ—…n but is subject to corruption there is no Court of judicature so cleane but some cobwebs may gather in it unlesse an Act of Parliament could be made to free and exempt men from all infirmities and errour It cannot be denied but Scotland might have something to complaine of though I think least of any and so leapt first into the pooll to be cur'd and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well known England also no doubt might have some grievances which his Majestie freely offered not onely to redresse for the present but to free her of all feares for the future from falling into relapses of that kinde but to redresse grievances by Armes by plunging the whole countrey into an intestine warre this makes the remedy worse then the malady it is as if one would go about to cure a sick body by breaking his head or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose it is as mad a tricke as his was who set the whole House a fire to roast his egs But truly Sir in my opinion his Majesty at his return from Scotland might have justly expected some acts of compliance and gratitude from his Parliament considering what unparallel'd acts of grace he had pass'd before Patricius His Majesty did not rest there but complied further with them by condescending to an act for putting down the star-chamber Court the high Commission the Court of honour nay he was contented his own Privy Councell should be regulated and his forests bounded not according to ancient Prerogative but late custome nay further he pass'd a Bill for the unvoting and utter exclusion of the Spirituall Lords from the Parliament for ever whereby it cannot be denied but by the casheering of 25 votes at a clap and by excluding the Recusant Lords besides who subsist most by his grace he did not a little enervat his own prerogative Adde hereunto that having placed two worthy Gentlemen Biron and Lunsford Lieutenants of the Tower he remov'd them both one after the other and was content to put in
Ship toss'd up and down in distresse of wind and weather by a furious tempest which the more she tugs and wrastles with the foamie waves of the angry Ocean the more the fury of the storme encreaseth and puts her in danger of shipwrack and you must needs thinke Sir it would move compassion in any heart to behold a poore Ship in such a desperate case specially when all his kindred friends and fortunes yea his Religion the most precious Treasure of all are aboard of her and upon point of sinking Alas I can contribute nothing now to my poor countrey but my prayers and teares that it would please God to allay this tempest and cast over board those that are the true causers of it and bring the people to the right use of Reason againe It was well observed by you Sir That there is a Nationall kinde of indisposition and obliquity of mind that rageth now amongst our people and I feare it will be long ere they returne to their old English temper to that rare loyalty and love which they were used to shew to their Soveraigne for all the Principles of Monarchie are quite lost amongst us those ancient and sacret flowers of the English Diadem are trampled under foot nay matters are come to that horrid confusion that not onely the Prerogative of the crown but the foundamentall Priviledge of the free-born subject is utterly overthrowne by those whose Predecessors were used to be the main supporters of it so that our King is necessitated to put himself in Armes for the preservation not only of his own Regall rights but of Magna Charta it self which was neuer so invaded and violated in any age by such causlesse tyrannicall imprisonments by such unexampled destructive taxes by stopping the ordinary processes in Law and awing all the Courts of Justice by unheard-of forced oaths and Associations and a thousand other acts which neither President Book-case or Statute can warrant whereof if the King had done but the twentieth part he had been cryed up to be the greatest Tyrant that ever was Peregrin Sir I am an Alien and so can speak with more freedom of your Countrey The short time that I did eate my bread there I felt the pulse of the people with as much judgement as I could and I find that this very word Parliament is become a kind of Idoll amongst them they doe as it were pin their salvation upon 't it is held blasphemie to speake against it The old English Maxime was The King can do no wrong another Nominative case is now stept in That the Parliament can do no wrong nor the King receive any And whereas ther was used to be but one Defender of the Faith ther are now started up amongst you I cannot tell how many hundreds of them And as in the sacred profession of Priest-hood we hold or at least wise shold hold That after the Imposition of hands the Minister is inspired with the Holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner for the enabling of him to exercise that Divine Function so the English are grown to such a fond conceit of their Parliament Members that as soon as any is chosen by the confus'd cry of the Common people to sit within the walls of that House an inerring spirit a spirit of infallibility presently entereth into him so that he is therby become like the Pope a Canon animatus though som of them may haply be such flat and simple animals that they are as fit to be Counsellours as Caligula's Horse was to be Consull as the Historian tells us Patricius Touching Parliament ther breaths not a Subject under Englands Crown who hath a higher esteem of it then I it makes that dainty mixture in our Government of Monarchy Optimacie and Democracy betwixt whom though ther be a kind of co ordination of power during the sitting of Parliament yet the two last which are composed of Peers and People have no power but what is derived from the first which may be called the soul that animates them and by whose authority they meet consult and depart They come there to propose not to impose Lawes they come not to make Lawes by the sword they must not be like Draco's Lawes written in bloud Their King calls them thither to be his Counsellors not Controllers and the Office of Counsell is to advise not to inforce they come thither to intreat not to treat with their Liege Lord they come to throw their Petitions at his feet that so they may find a way up to his hearâ—… 'T is tru I have read of high things that our Parliament have done but 't was either during the nonage and minority of our Kings when they were under protectorship or when they were absent in a forrain war or in time of confusion when ther were competitors of the bloud-royall for the Crown and when the number of both Houses was compleat and individed but I never read of any Parliament that did arrogate to it self such a power Paramount such a Superlative superintendence as to check the Prerogative of their Soverain to question his negative voice to passe things not only without but expresly against his advice and royall command I never heard of Parliament that wold have their King being come to the Meridian of his age to transmit his intellectualls and whole faculty of reason to them I find som Parliaments have bin so modest and moderat Now moderation is the Rudder that shold steer the course of all great Councells that they have declined the agitation and cognizance of som state affaires humbly transferring them to their Soverain and his privy Counsell a Parliament man then held it to be the adaequat object of his duty to study the welfare to redresse the grievances and supply the defects of that particular place for which he served The Members then us'd to move in their own Inferior sphere and us'd not to be transported by any Eccentric motions And so they thought to have complyed with the Obligation and discharged the consciences of honest Patriots without soaring above their reach and roving at random to treat of universals much lesse to bring Religion to their bar or prie into the Arcana Imperti the cognizance of the one belonging to the King and his intern Counsell of State the other to Divines who according to the Etymologie of the word use to be still conversant in the exercise of speculation of holy and heavenly things Peregrin I am clearly of your opinion in these two particulars for secrecy being the soul of policy matters of State shold be communicated but to few and touching Religion I cannot see how it may quadrat with the calling and be homogeneous to the profession of Lay-men to determine matters of Divinity who out of their incapacity and unaptnesse to the work being not pares negotio and being carryed away by a wild kind of Conscience without Science like a Ship without a Helm fall upon dangerous quick-sands
Court at Bartholmew-Fair ther being all the essentiall parts of a true Parliament wanting in this as fairnesse of elections freedome of speech fulnesse of Members nor have they any head at all besides they have broken all the fundamental rules and Priviledges of Parliament and dishonoured that high Court more then any thing else They have ravish'd Magna Charta which they are sworn to maintain taken away our birth-right therby and transgressed all the laws of heaven and earth Lastly they have most perjuriously betrayed the trust the King reposed in them and no lesse the trust their Country reposed in them so that if reason and law were now in date by the breach of their Priviledges and by betraying the said double trust that is put in them they have dissolved themselves ipso facto I cannot tell how many thousand times notwithstanding that monstrous grant of the Kings that fatall act of continuance And truly my Lord I am not to this day satisfied of the legality though I am satisfied of the forciblenesse of that Act whether it was in his Majesties power to passe it or no for the law ever presupposeth these clauses in all concessions of Grace in all Patents Charters and Grants whatsoever the King passeth Salvo jure regio salvo jure coronae To conclude as I presume to give your Lordship these humble cautions and advice in particular so I offer it to all other of your rank office order and Relations who have souls to save and who by solemn indispensable Oaths have ingaged themseves to be tru and loyall to the Person of King Charls Touching his political capacity it is a fancy which hath bin exploded in all other Parliaments except in that mad infamous Parliament wher it was first hatched That which bears upon Record the name of Insanum Parliamentum to all posterity but many Acts have passed since that it shold be high and horrible Treason to separat or distinguish the Person of the King from His Power I believe as I said before this distinction will not serve their turn at the dreadful Bar of divine justice in the other world indeed that Rule of the Pagans makes for them Si Iusjurandum violandum est Tyrannis causâ violandum est If an Oath be any way violable 't is to get a Kingdom We find by woful experience that according to this maxime they have made themselves all Kings by violation of so many Oaths They have monopoliz'd the whole power and wealth of the Kingdom in their own hands they cut shuffle deal and turn up what trump they please being Judges and parties in every thing My Lord he who presents these humble advertisments to your Lordship is one who is inclin'd to the Parliament of Engl. in as high a degree of affection as possibly a free-born Subject can be One besides who wisheth your Lordships good with the preservation of your safety and honour more really then he whom you intrust with your secretest affaires or the White Iew of the Upper House who hath infused such pernicious principles into you moreover one who hath some drops of bloud running in his veins which may claim kindred with your Lordship and lastly he is one who would kiss your feet in lieu of your hands if your Lordship wold be so sensible of the most desperat case of your poor Country as to employ the interests the opinion and power you have to restore the King your Master by English waies rather then a hungry forrein people who are like to bring nothing but destruction in the van confusion in the rear and rapine in the middle shold have the honour of so glorious a work So humbly hoping your Lordship will not take with the left hand what I offer with the right I rest From the Prison of the Fleet 3. Septembris 1644. Your Lordships truly devoted Servant I. H. HIS Late MAJESTIES Royal DECLARATION OR MANIFESTO TO ALL FORREIN PRINCES AND STATES Touching his constancy in the Protestant Religion Being traduced abroad by some Malicious and lying Agents That He was wavering therin and upon the high road of returning to Rome Printed in the Year 1661. TO THE Unbiass'd REDER IT may be said that mischief in one particular hath somthing of Vertue in it which is That the Contrivers and Instruments thereof are still stirring and watchfull They are commonly more pragmaticall and fuller of Devices then those sober-minded men who while they go on still in the plaine road of Reason having the King and knowne Lawes to justifie and protect them hold themselfs secure enough and so think no hurt Iudas eyes were open to betray his Master while the rest of his fellow-servants were quietly asleep The Members at Westminster were men of the first gang for their Mischievous braines were alwayes at work how to compasse their ends And one of their prime policies in order thereunto was to cast asspersions on their King thereby to alienat the affections and fidelity of his peeple from him â—…notwithstanding that besides their pubâ—…ick Declarations they made new Oaths and protestations whereby they swore to make Him the best belov'd King that ever was Nor did this Diabolicall malice terminat only within the bounds of his own Dominions but it extended to infect other Princes and States of the Reformed Churches abroad to make Him suspected in his Religion that he was branling in his belief and upon the high way to Rome To which purpose they sent missives and clandestine Emissaries to divers places beyond the Seas whereof forren Authors make mention in their writings At that time when this was in the height of action the passage from London to Oxford where the King kept then his Court was so narrowly blockd up that a fly could scarce passe some Ladies of honor being search'd in an unseemly and barbarous manner whereupon the penner of the following Declaration finding his Royal master to be so grosly traduced made his Duty to go beyond all presumptions by causing the sayd Declaration to be printed and publish'd in Latin French and English whereof great numbers were sent beyond the seas to France Holland Germany Suisserland Denmark Swethland and to the English plantations abroad to vindicat his Majesty in this point which produc'd very happy and advantagious effects for Salmtisius and other forrin writers of great esteem speake of it in their printed works The Declaration was as followeth CAROLUS Singulari Omnipotentis Dei providentia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor c. Universis et singulis qui praesens hoc scriptum ceu protestationem inspexerint potissimum Reformatae Religionis cultoribus cujuscunque sint gentis gradus aut conditionis salutem c. CUM ad aures nostras non ita pridem fama pervenerit sinistros quosdam rumores literasque politica vel perniciosa potiùs quorundam industriâ sparsas esse nonnullis protestantium ecclesiis in exteris partibus emissas nobis
every foure and twenty houres I am also the Fountaine of Heate and Light which though I use to dispence and diffuse in equall proportions through the whole Universe yet there is difference 'twixt objects a Castle hath more of my light then a Cottage and the Cedar hath more of me then the Shrub according to the common axiom Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipâ—…entis But touching the Moon the second great Luminary I would have you know that she is dearest unto mee therefore let none repine that I cherish her with my beams and confer more light on her then any other Touching the malignant Planets or any other Star of what magnitude soever that moves not in a regular motion or hath run any excentrick exorbitant course or that would have made me to move out of the Zodiak I put them over unto you that upon due legall examination and proof they may be unspher'd or extinguished But I would have this done with moderation I would have you to keep as neer as you can between the Tropiques and temperate Zones I would have things reduced to their true Principles I wold have things reformed not ruin'd I would have the spirit of malice and lying the spirit of partiality and injustice the spirit of tyranny and rigour the base spirit of feare and jealousie to be farre from this glorious Syderean Synod I would have all private interests reflecting upon revenge or profit to be utterly banished hence Moreover I would not have you to make grievances where no grievances are or dangers where no dangers are I would have no creation of dangers I would have you to husband time as parsimoniously as you can lest by keeping too long together and amusing the world with such tedious hopes of redress of grievances you prove your self the greatest grievance at last and so from Starrs become Comets Lastly I would have you be cautious how you tamper with my Soveraign power and chop Logicke with mee in that point you know what became of Him who once presumed to meddle with my Chariot Hereupon the whole Host of Heaven being constellated thus into one great Body fell into a serious deliberation of things and Apollo himself continued his presence and sate often amongst them in his full lustre but in the meane time whilest they were in the midst of their consultations many odde Aspects Oppositions and Conjunctions hapned between them for some of the Sporades but specially those mongrel small vulgar stars which make up the Galaxia the milkie way in Heaven gather in a tumultuous disorderly manner about the body of Apollo and commit many strange insolencies which caused Apollo taking young Phosphorus the Morning-Star with him to retire himself and in a just indignation to withdraw his Light from the Synod so all began to be involv'd in a strange kind of confusion and obscurity they groaped in the dark not knowing which way to move or what course to take all things went Cancer-like retrograde because the Sun detained his wonted light and irradiations from them MORALL Such as the Sun is in the Firmament a Monarch is in his Kingdom for as the Wisest of men saith In the light of the Kings Countenance ther is life and I believe that to be the Morall of this Astrean Fable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR The Great Councell of BIRDS UPon a time the Birds met in Councell for redresse of som extravagancies that had flown unto the volatill Empire Nor was it the first time that Birds met thus for the Phrygian Fabler tells us of divers meetings of theirs And after him we read that Apollonius Thyaneus undertook the interpretation of their language and to be their Drogoman They thus assembled in one Great Covie by the call of the Eagle their unquestioned hereditary King and by vertue of his Royal Authority complaints were brought that divers Cormorants and Harpies with other Birds of prey had got in amongst them who did much annoy and invade the publick liberty sundry other Birds were questioned which caused some to take a timely flight into another aire As they were thus consulting for advancement of the common good many Rooks Horn-Owles and Sea-Gulls flock'd together and â—…luttered about the place they were assembled in where they kept a hideous noise and committed many outrages and nothing cold satisfie them but the Griffons head which was therfore chopt off and offered up as a sacrifice to make them leave their chattering and to appease their fury for the time They fell foul afterwards upon the Pies who were used to be much reverenced and to sit upon the highest pearch in that great Assembly they called them I dolatrous and inauspitious Birds they hated their mix'd colour repined at their long train they tore their white feathers and were ready to peck out their very eyes they did what they could to put them in Owles feathers as the poor Sheep was in the Woolfs skin to make them the more hated and to be star'd and hooted at whersoever they passed The Pies being thus scar'd presented a Petition to the royall Eagle and to this his great Counsell that they might be secured to repaire safely thither to sit and consult according to the ancient Lawes of the Volatill Empire continued so many ages without controllment or question in which Petition they inserted a Protest or Caveat that no publique act shold passe in the interim This Supplication both for matter and form was excepted against and cryed up to be high Treason specially that indefinite Protest they had made that no Act whatsoever shold be of any validity without them which was alledged to derogate from the High Law-making power of that Great Counsell and tended to retard and disturb the great Affaires which were then in agitation so the poor Pies as if by that Petition they had like the Black-bird voided Lime to catch themselves according to the Proverb Turdus cacat sibi malum were suddenly hurryed away into a Cage and after ten long Moneths canvassing of the point they were unpearch'd and rendered for ever uncapable to be Members of that Court they were struck dumb and voice-less and suddenly as it were blown up away thence though without any force of powder as once was plotted aginst them But this was done when a thin number of the adverse Birds had kept still together and stuck close against them and also after that the Bill concerning them had bin once ejected which they humbly conceived by the ancient order of that Court could not be re-admitted in the same Session They Petitioned from the place they were cooped in that for heavens sake for the honour of that noble Counsell for Truth and Justice sake they â—…eing as free-born Denisons of the aiery Region as any other Volatills whatsoever their charge might be perfected that so they might be brought to a legall triall and not forced to languish in such captivity They pleaded to have
upon his affections then I beleeve they will ever do hereafter But to proceed the King having bin a good while prisoner to the Parlement the Army snatch'd him away from them and som of the chiefest Commanders having pawn'd their soules unto him to restore him speedily in lieu thereof they tumbled him up and down to sundry places till they juggled him at last to that small Ile where now he is surrounded with a gard of strange faces and if happly he beginns to take delight in any of those faces he is quickly taken out of his sight These harsh usages hath made him become all gray and oregrown with hair so that he lookes rather like som Silvan Satyr then a Soverain Prince And truly my Lord the meanest slave in St. Marks gallies or the abjects Captif in Algier bannier is not so miserable as he in divers kinds for they have the comfort of their wifes children and frends they can convey and receive Letters send Messengers upon their errands and have privat discours with any all which is denied to the King of great Britain nay the young Princes his children are not permitted as much as to ask him blessing in a letter In so much that if he were not a great King of his passions and had a heart cast in on extraordinary Mould these pressures and those base aspersions that have bin publiquely cast upon him by the Parlement it self had bin enough to have sent him out of the world e're this and indeed 't is the main thing they drive at to torture his braine and tear his very heart strings if they could so that whereas this foolish ignorant peeple speak such horrid things of our Inquisition truly my Lord 't is a most gentle way of proceeding being compar'd to this Kings persecutions As the King himselfe is thus in quality of a captif so are all his Subjects becom perfect slaves they have fool'd themselfs into a worse slavery then Iew or Greek under the Ottomans for they know the bottom of their servitude by paying so many Sultanesses for every head but here people are put to endless unknown tyrannical Taxes besides plundering and Accize which two words and the practise of them with storming of Towns they have learnt of their pure Brethren of Holland and for plundrings these Parliamenteer-Saints think they may robb any that adheres not to them as lawfully as the Iewes did the Egyptians 'T is an unsommable masse of money these Reformers have squandred in few years whereof they have often promis'd and solemnly voted a publick account to satisfie the Kingdom but as in a hundred things more so in this precious particular they have dispens'd with their Votes they have consumed more treasure with pretence to purge one Kingdom then might have served to have purchas'd two more as I am credibly told then all the Kings of England spent of the public stock since the Saxon Conquest Thus have they not only begger'd the whole Island but they have hurld it into the most fearfull st Chaos of confusion that ever poor Countrey was in they have torn in pieces the reines of all Government trampled upon all Lawes of heaven and earth and violated the very Dictamens of nature by making Mothers to betray their Sons and the Sons their Fathers but specially that Great Charter which is the Pandect of all the Laws and Liberties of the free-born Subject which at their admission to the House they are solemnly sworn to maintain is torn in flitters besides those severall Oaths they forg'd themselfs as the Protestation and Covenant where they voluntarily swear to maintain the Kings Honour and Rights together with the established Laws of the Land c. Now I am told that all Acts of Parlement here are Lawes and they carry that Majesty with them that no power can suspend or repeal them but the same power that made them which is the King sitting in full Parlement these mongrell Polititians have bin so notoriously impudent as to make an inferiour Ordinance of theirs to do it which is point-blanck against the very fundamentals of this Government and their own Oaths which makes me think that there was never such a perjur'd pack of wretches upon earth never such Monsters of mankind Yet this simple infatuated peeple have a Saint-like opinion of these Monsters this foolish Citie gards them daily with Horse and Foot whereby she may be sayd to kisse the very stones that are thrown at her and the hand whence they came which a dogg would not do But she falls to recollect her self now that shee begins to be pinch'd in Trade and that her Mint is starv'd yet the leading'st men in her Common-Councell care not much for it in regard most of them have left traffiquing abroad finding it a more easie and gainefull way of trading at home by purchasing Crown or Church lands plunder'd goods and debts upon the Publick Faith with Soldiers debenters thus the Saints of this Iland turne godlinesse into gaine Truly my Lord I give the English for a lost Nation if they continue long thus never was ther a more palpable oblaesion of the brain and a more visible decay of Reason in any race of men It is a sore judgment from heaven that a people shold not be more sensible how they are become slaves to Rebells and those most of them the scumm of the Nation which is the basest of miseries how they suffer them to tyrannize by a meer arbitrary extrajudicial power o're their very souls and bodies o're their very lifs and livelihoods how their former freedom is turn'd to fetters Molehills into Mountains of grievances Ship-money into Accize Justice into Tyranny For nothing hath bin and is daily so common amongst them as imprisonment without charge and a charge without an accuser condemnation without apparance and forfeitures without conviction To speak a little more of the King if all the infernal fiends had ligu'd against him they could not have design'd or disgorged more malice They wold have laid to his charge his Fathers death as arrand a lie as ever was forg'd in hell they wold make him fore-know the insurrection in Ireland wheras the Spanish Ambassador here and his Confessor who is a very reverend Irish-man told me that he knew no more of it then the grand Mogor did they charge him with all the bloud of this civil war wheras they and their instruments were the first kindlers of it and that first prohibited trade and shut him out of his own Town They have intercepted and printed his privat Letters to his Queen and Hers to him Oh barbarous basenesse but therin they did him a pleasure though the intent was malitious their aim in all things being to envenom the hearts of his people towards him and this was to render him a glorious and well-belov'd Prince as likewise for making him rich all which they had vow'd to do upon passing the Act of Continuance But now they have made
a rough account of a rambling Noctivagation up and down the world I may boldly say that neither Sir Iohn Mandevile or Coryat himself travell'd more in so short a time whence you see what nimble Postillions the Animal Spirits are and with what incredible celerity the imagination can crosse the Line cut the Tropiques and pass to the other Hemisphere of the world which shews that humane souls have somthing in them of the Almighty that their faculties have a kind of ubiquitary freedom though the body be never so under restraint as the Authors is They erre as much who think all Dreams false As They who think Them alwayes tru In the prison of the Fleet 3. Idus Decembris 1645. I. H. A VINDICATION OF HIS MAJESTY Touching a Letter He writ to Rome from the Court of Spain in Answer to a Letter which Pope Gregory the 15th had sent Him upon passing the Dispensation for concluding the Match with the Iâ—…fanta Which Letter Mr. Pryn mention's in his Book call'd the Popish Royal Favorit wherby the World is apt to beleeve that His Majesty had Inclinations to Popeâ—…y Ther goe's also herewith A clearing of som Aspersions that the said Mr. Pryn cast's upon the Author hereof in the same Pamphlet viz. That he was a Malignant and no friend to Parlements WHERBY He takes occasion to speak somthing of the first Rise And also of the Duty as well as the Authority of Parlements To my worthily honor'd friend Sir W. S. Knight SIR I Have many thanks to give you for the Book you pleased to send me called the Popish Royal Favorite and according to your advice which I value in a high degree I did put pen to paper and somthing you may see I have done though in a poor pamphleting way to clear my self of those aspersions that seem to be cast upon His Majesty But truly Sir I was never so unfit for such a task all my Papers Manuscripts and Notes having bin long since seized upon and kept from me Adde hereunto that besides this long pressure and languishment of close restraint the sense wherof I find hath much stupified my spirits it pleased God to visit me lately with a dangerous fit of sickness a high burning fever with the new disease wherof my Body as well as my Mind is yet somwhat crazie so that take all afflictions together I may truly say I have passed the Ordeal the fiery Tryal But it hath pleased God to reprieve me to see better daies I hope for out of this fatal black Cloud which now ore-sets this poor Island I hope ther will break a glorious Sun-shine of peace and firm happinesse To effect which had I a Jury a grand-Jury of lives I wold sacrifice them all and triumph in the oblation So I most affectionately kiss your hands and rest Your faithfull though afflicted Servant From the Prison of the Fleet. I. H. The Pre-eminence and Duty OF PARLEMENT Sectio Prima I Am a Free-born Subject of the Realm of England wherby I claim as my native Inheritance an undoubted right propriety and portion in the Laws of the Land And this distinguisheth me from a slave I claim likewise protection from my Soverain Prince who as He is my Liege Lord is obliged to protect me and I being one of His Liege peeple am obliged to obey Him by way of Reciprocation I claim also an interest and common right in the High National Court of Parlement and in the power the priviledges and jurisdiction therof which I put in equal ballance with the Laws in regard it is the fountain whence they spring and this I hold also to be a principall part of my Birth-right which Great Councell I honour respect value and love in as high a degree as can be as being the Bulwark of our liberties the main boundary and bank which keeps us from slavery from the inundations of tyrannicall Rule and unbounded Will-government And I hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensable obedience to conform and submit my self to whatsoever shall be transacted concluded and constituted by its authority in Church or State with the Royal assent whether it be by making enlarging altering diminishing disanulling repealing or reviving of any Law Statute Act or Ordinance whatsoever either touching matters Ecclesiastical civil common capital criminall martial maritime municipall or any other of all which the transcendent and uncontrollable jurisdiction of that Court is capable to take cognizance Amongst the three things which the Athenian Captain thank'd the gods for one was That he was born a Grecian and not a Barbarian For such was the vanity of the Greeks and after them of the Romans in the flourish of their Monarchy to arrogat all civility to themselves and to terme all the world besides Barbarians so I may say to rejoyce that I was born a vassall to the Crown of England that I was born under so well-moulded and tempered a Government which endows the subject with such Liberties and infranchisements that bear up his naturall courage and keep him still in heart such Liberties that fence and secure him eternally from the gripes and tallons of Tyranny And all this may be imputed to the Authority and wisedome of this High Court of Parlement wherein there is such a rare co-ordination of power though the Soveraignty remain still entire and untransferrable in the person of the Prince there is such a wholsom mixture 'twixt Monarchy Optimacy and Democracy 'twixt Prince Peers and Commonalty during the time of consultation that of so many distinct parts by a rare co-operation and unanimity they make but one Body Politick like that sheaâ—…e of arrows in the Emblem one entire concentricall peece the King being still the Head and the results of their deliberations but as so many harmonious diapasons arising from different strings And what greater immunity and happinesse can there be to a Peeple than to be liable to no Laws but what they make themselves to be subject to no contribution assessement or any pecuniary erogations whatsoever but what they Vote and voluntarily yeeld unto themselves For in this compacted Politick Body there be all degrees of peeple represented both the Mechanick Tradesman Merchant and Yeoman have their inclusive Vote as well as the Gentry in the persons of their Trustees their Knights and Burgesses in passing of all things Nor is this Soveraign Surintendent Councell an Epitome of this Kingdom only but it may be said to have a representation of the whole Universe as I heard a fluent well-worded Knight deliver the last Parliameut who compared the beautifull composure of that High Court to the great work of God the World it self The King is as the Sun the Nobles the fixed Stars the Itineant judges and other Officers that go upon Messages 'twixt both Houses to the Planets the Clergy to the Element of fire the Commons to the solid Body of Earth and the rest of the Elements And to pursue this comparison a little
INQUISITION AFTER TRUTH WHo vindicats Truth doth a good office not onely to his own Country but to all Mankind It is the scope of this short discourse viz. to make som researches after Truth and to rectifie the world accordingly in point of opinion specially touching the first Author and Aggressor of the late ugly war in England which brought with it such an inundation of bloud and so did let in so huge a torrent of mischiefs to rush upon us Ther be many and they not only Presbyterians and Independents but Cavaliers also who think that the King had taken the guilt of all this bloud upon himself in regard of that Concession he passed in the preamble of the late Treaty at the Isle of Wight The aim of this Paper is to clear that point but in so temperat a way that I hope 't will give no cause of exception much lesse of offence to any the bloud that 's sought after here shall not be mingled with gaule much lesse with any venom at all We know ther is no Principle either in Divinity Law or Philosophy but may be wrested to a wrong sense ther is no truth so demonstrative and clear but may be subject to cavillations no Tenet so plain but perverse inferences may be drawn out of it such a fate befell that preambular Concession His Majesty passed at the Transactions of the late Treaty in that he acknowledg'd therin that the two Houses of Parlement were necessitated to undertake a war in their own just and lawful defence c. and that therfore all Oaths Declarations or other public Instruments against the Houses of Parlement or any for adhering to them c. be declared null suppressed and forbidden 'T is true His Majesty passed this grant but with this weighty consideration as it had reference to two ends First to smoothen and facilitate things thereby to open a passage and pave the way to a happy peace which this poor Iland did so thirst after having bin so long glutted with civil blood Secondly that it might conduce to the further security and the indemnifying of the two Houses of Parlement with all their instruments assistants and adherents and so rid them of all jealousies and fear of future dangers which still lodg'd within them Now touching the expressions and words of this Grant they were not his own nor did he give order for the dictating or penning thereof the King was not the Author of them but an Assentor only unto them nor was He or his Party accus'd or as much as mentioned in any of them to draw the least guilt upon themselves Besides He pass'd them as he doth all Lawes and Acts of Parlement which in case of absence another may do for him in his politic capacity therfore they cannot prejudice his person any way I am loth to say that he condescended to this Grant Cum strict a novacula supra When the razor was as it were at his throat when ther was an Army of about thirty thousand effectif Horse and Foot that were in motion against him when his Person had continued under a black long lingring restraint and dangerous menacing Petitions and Papers daily obâ—…ruded against him Moreover His Majesty pass'd this Concession with these two provisos and reservations First that it should be of no vertu or validity at all till the whole Treaty were intirely consummated Secondly that he might when he pleas'd inlarge and cleer the truth with the reservednesse of his meaning herein by public Declaration Now the Treaty being confusedly huddled up without discussing or as much as receiving any Proposition from himself as was capitulated and reciprocall proposalls are of the essence of all Treaties it could neither bind him or turne any way to his disadvantage Therfore under favour ther was too much hast us'd by the Parlement to draw that hipothetick or provisional Concession to the form of an Act so suddenly after in the very heat of the Treaty without His Majesties knowledg or the least intimation of his pleasure Add hereunto that this Grant was but a meer preambular Proposition 't was not of the essence of the Treaty it self And as the Philosophers and Schoolemen tell us there is no valid proof can be drawn out of Proemes Introductions or Corollaries in any science but out of the positive assertions and body of the Text which is only argument-proof so in the Constitutions and Laws of England as also in all accusations and charges forerunning prefaces preambles which commonly weak causes want most are not pleadable and though they use to be first in place like gentlemen-Ushers yet are they last in dignity as also in framing nor had they ever the force of Laws but may be term'd their attendants to make way for them Besides ther 's not a syllable in this preface which repeals or connives at any former Law of the Land therefore those Laws that so strictly inhibit English Subjects to raise armes against their Liege Lord the King and those Lawes è contrario which exempt from all dangers penalties or molestation any Subject that adheres to the person of the King in any cause or buarrell whatsoever are still in force Furthermore this introductory Concession of the Kings wherein he is contented to declare That the two Houses were necessitated to take Armes for their defence may be said to have relation to the necessity à parte pòst not à parte antè self-defence is the universall Law of Nature and it extends to all other cretures as well as to the Rationall As the fluent Roman Orator in that sentence of his which is accounted among the Critiques the excellentest that ever drop'd from Cicero Est enim haec non scripta sed nata Lex quam non didicimus accepimus legimus verum ex natura ipsa arripuimus hausimus expressimus ad quam non docti sed facti non instituti sed imbuti sumâ—…s ut si vita nostra in c. For this meaning self-defence is not a written but a Law born with us A Law which we have not learnt receiv'd or read but that which we have suck'd drawn forth and wrung out of the very brests of Nature her self A Law to which we are not taught but made unto wherwith we are not instructed but indued withall that if our lifes be in jeopardy c. we may repel force by force Therfore when the House of Parliament had drawn upon them a necessity of self defence And I could have wish'd it had bin against any other but their own Soverain Prince His Majesty was contented to acknowledge that necessity As for example A man of war meets with a Marchant man at Sea he makes towards him and assaults him The Marchant man having a good stout vessell under him and resolute generous Seamen bears up against him gives him a whole broad-side and shoots him 'twixt wind and water so there happens a furious fight betwixt them which being ended the
Marchant cannot deny but that the man of war though the first Assailant was necessitated to fight and that justly in his own defence which necessity he drew upon himself and so was excusable à posteriori not à priori As the Civilians speak of a clandestine marriage Fieri non debuit sed factum valet It ought not to have been but being done 't is valid wherunto relates another saying Multa sunt quae non nisi per acta approbantur Ther are many things which are not allowable til they are pass'd The Kings of France have had sundry civil wars They have had many bloudy encounters and clashes with their Subjects specially the last King Lewis the thirteenth which turn'd all at last to his advantage Among other Treaties in that of Loudun he was by force of Article to publish an Edict Dont lequel le Roy approuvoit tout le passé comme ayant esté fait pour son service c. Wherin the King approv'd of all that wâ—…s pass'd as done for his service c. and these concessions and extenuations are usuall at the close of most civil wars but ther was never any further advantage made of them then to make the adverse party more capable of grace and pardon as also to enable them to bear up against the brunt of Laws and secure them more firmly from all after-claps They were pass'd in order to an Act of Abolition to a generall pardon and consequently to a re-establishment of Peace now Peace and War we know are like Water and Ice they engender one another But I do not remember to have read either in the French History or any other that such Royal Concessions at the period of any intestin war were ever wrung so hard as to draw any inference from them to cast therby the guilt of bloud or indeed the least stain of dishonour upon the King For Royal Indulgences and grants of this nature are like nurses breasts if you presse them gently ther will milk come forth if you wring them too hard you will draw forth bloud in lieu of milk And I have observed that the conclusion of such Treaties in France both parties wold hugg and mutually embrace one another in a gallant way of national humanity all rancor all plundrings sequestration and imprisonment wold cease nor wold any be prosecuted much lesse made away afterwards in cold bloud Touching the Comencer of this monstrous war of ours the world knows too well that the first man of bloud was Blew-cap who shew'd Subjects the way how to present their King with Petitions upon the Pikes point and what visible judgements have fallen upon him since by such confusions of discord and pestilence at home and irreparable dishonour abroad let the world judge The Irish took his rise from him and wheras it hath bin often suggested that His Majesty had foreknowledge therof among a world of convincing arguments which may clear him in this particular the Lord Maguair upon the ladder and another upon the Scaffold when they were ready to breath their last and to appear before the Tribunall of heaven did absolutely acquit the King and that spontaneously of their own accord being unsought unto but only out of a love to truth and discharge of a good conscience but touching those cruentous Irish wars in regard ther was nothing wherof more advantage was made against His late Majesty to imbitter and poyson the hearts of his Subjects against him then that Rebellion I will take leave to wind up the main causes of them upon a small bottom as was spoken elsewhere 1. They who kept intelligence and complyed with the Scot in his first and second insurrection 2. They who dismiss'd the first Irish Commissioners who came of purpose to attend our Parlement with som grievances with such a short unpolitic harsh answer 3. They who took off Straffords head which had it stood on that Rebellion had never been and afterwards retarded the dispatch of the Earl of Leicester from going over to be Lord-Lievtenant 4. Lastly they who hindred part of that disbanded Army of 8000 men rais'd there by the Earl of Strafford which His Majesty in regard they were souldiers of fortune and loose casheer'd men to prevent the mischiefs that might befall that Kingdome by their insolencies had promised the two Spanish Ambassadors the Marquesses of Veloda and Malvezzi then resident in this Court which souldiers rise up first of any and put fire to the tumult to find somthing to do They I say who did all this may be justly said to have bin the tru causes of that horrid Insurrection in Ireland and consequently 't is easie to judge upon the account of whose souls must be laid the bloud of those hundred and odd thousand poor Christians who perished in that war and had it bin possible to have brought o're their bodies unputrified to England and to have cast them at the lower House door and in the presence of som Members which are now either secluded or gone to give an account in another world I believe their noses wold have gush'd out with bloud for discovery of the tru murtherers Touching this last fire-brand of war which was thrown into England who they were that kindled it first the consciences of those indifferent and unbiassed men are sittest to be judges who have bin curious to observe with impartial eyes the carriage of things from the beginning I confesse 't was a fatal unfortunat thing that the King shold put such a distance 'twixt his Person and his Parlement but a more fatal and barbarous thing it was that he should be driven away from it that there should be a desperate designe to surprize His Person that Ven with his Myrmidons and Bourges with his Bandogs for so they calld the riffraff of the City they brought along with them should rabble him away with above four parts in five of the Lords and near upon two parts in three of the Commons Yet 't is fit it should be remembred what reiterated Messages His Majesty sent from time to time afterward That he was alwaies ready to return provided there might be a course taken to secure his Person with those Peers and other who were rioted away from the Houses 'T is fit it should be remembred that there was not the least motion of war at all till Hotham kept His Majesty out of His own Town Kingston upon Hull for the Name whereof shew'd whose Town it was where being attended by a few of His meniall Servants he came onely to visit her having peaceably sent the Duke of York and the Palsgrave thither the day before which act of Hotham's by shutting the gates against him was voted warrantable by the House of Commons and it may be call'd the first thunderbolt of War 'T is fit it should be remembred that a while after there was a compleate Army of 16000. effectif Horse and Foot inrolled in and about London to fetch him to his
Parliament by force and remove ill Counsellours from about him long before he put up his Royal Standard and the Generall then nam'd was to live and die with them and very observable it is how that Generalls Father was executed for a Traytor for but attempting such a thing upon Queen Elizabeth I mean to remove ill Counsellors from about her by force 'T is also to be observed that the same Army which was rais'd to bring him to his Parliament was continued to a clean contrary end two years afterwards to keep him from his Parliament 'T is fit it should be remembred who interdicted Trade first and brought in Forraigners to help them and whose Commissions of War were neere upon two moneths date before the Kings 'T is fit it should be remembred how His Majesty in all His Declarations and publick Instruments made alwaies deep Protestations that 't was not against his Parliament he raised Armes but against some seditious Members against whom he had onely desired the common benefit of the Law but could not obtain it 'T is fit to remember that after any good successes and advantages of his he still Courted both Parliament and City to an Accommodation how upon the Treaty at Uxbridge with much importunity for the generall advantage and comfort of his peeple and to prepare matters more fitly for a peace he desired there might be freedom of Trade from Town to Town and a Cessation of all Acts of Hostility for the time that the inflammation being allayed the wound might be curâ—…d the sooner all which was denyed him 'T is fit to remember how a Noble Lord The Earl of Southampton at that time told the Parliaments Commissioners in His Majesties Name at the most unhappy rupture of the said Treaty That when he was at the highest he would be ready to treat with them and fight them when he was at the lowest 'T is fit the present Army should remember how often both in their Proposalls and publick Declarations they have inform'd the world and deeply protested that their principall aime was to restore His Majesty to honour freedom and safety whereunto they were formerly bound both by their own Protestation and Covenant that the two Commanders in chief pawn'd unto him their soules thereupon Let them remember that since he was first snatch'd away to the custody of the Army by Cromwells plot who said that if they had the Person of the King in their power they had the Parliament in their pockets I say being kept by the Army He never displeas'd them in the least particular but in all his Overtures for Peace and in all his Propositions he had regard still that the Army should be satisfied let it be remembred that to settle a blessed Peace to preserve his Subjects from rapine and ruine and to give contentment to his Parliament He did in effect freely part with His Sword Scepter and Crown and ev'ry thing that was proprietary to him Let it be remembred with what an admired temper with what prudence and constancy with what moderation and mansuetude he comported himself since his deep afflictions insomuch that those Commissioners and others who resorted unto him and had had their hearts so averse unto him before return'd his Converts crying him up to be one of the sanctifiedst persons upon earth and will not the bloud of such a Prince cry loud for vengeance Bloud is a crying sin but that of Kings Cryes loudest for revenge and ruine brings Let it be remembred that though there be some Precedents of deposing Kings in his Kingdom and elsewhere when there was a competition for the right Title to the Crown by some other of the bloud Royall yet 't is a thing not onely unsampled but unheard of in any age that a King of England whose Title was without the least scruple should be summon'd and arraign'd tryed condemned and executed in His own Kingdom by His own Subjects and by the name of their own King to whom they had sworn Alleagiance The meanest Student that hath but tasted the Laws of the Land can tell you that it is an unquestionable fundamentall Maxime The King can do no wrong because he acts by the mediation of his Agents and Ministers he heares with other mens eares he sees with other mens eyes he consults with other mens braines he executes with other mens hands and judges with other mens consciences therefore his Officers Counsellors or favorites are punishable not He and I know not one yet whom he hath spar'd but sacrificed to Justice The Crown of England is of so coruscant and pure a mettall that it cannot receive the least taint or blemish and if there were any before in the person of the Prince it takes them all away and makes him to be Rectus in curia This as in many others may be exemplified in Henry the Seventh and the late Queen Elizabeth when she first came to the Crown 't was mention'd in Parlement that the attainder might be taken off him under which he lay all the time he liv'd an Exile in France it was then by the whole house of Parlement resolv'd upon the question that it was unnecessary because the Crown purg'd all So likewise when Queen Elizabeth was brought as it were from the Scaffold to the Throne though she was under a former attainder yet 't was thought superfluous to take it off for the Crown washeth away all spots and darteth such a brightnesse such resplendent beams of Majesty that quite dispell all former clouds so that put case King Iames died a violent death and his Son had been accessary to it which is as base a lie as ever the devil belch'd out yet his accesse to the Crown had purged all This businesse about the playster which was applyed to King Iames was sifted and winnow'd as narrowly as possibly a thing could be in former Parlements yet when it was exhibited as an Article against the Duke of Buckingham 't was term'd but a presumption or misdemeanure of a high nature And 't is strange that these new accusers shold make that a parricide in the King which was found but a presumption in the Duke who in case it had been so must needs have been the chiefest Accessary And as the ancient Crown and Royall Diadem of England is made of such pure allay and cast in so dainty a mould that it can receive no taint or contract the least speck of enormity and foulenesse in it self so it doth endow the person of the Prince that weares it with such high Prerogatives that it exempts him from all sorts of publique blemishes from all Attainders Empeachments Summons Arraignments and Tryalls nor is there or ever was any Law or Precedent in this Land to lay any Crime or capitall charge against him though touching civill matters touching propertie of meum and tuum he may be impleaded by the meanest vassall that hath sworn fealty to him as the Subjects of France and Spaine may against