Example of both Fortunes and of a Mind unchang'd in the greatest change of either A Prince Learned Eloquent Affable Courteous and born for the Good of Mankind his Lot had fallen among a better People One iâ— a word who if he had any fault it was hâ— not timely adverting his Father's dear-bough Experience who thus confesses of himself Where I thought by being gracious at thâ— beginning to win all Men's Hearts to a loving and willing Obedience Basilicen Doron p. 23. I on the contrary found the disorder of the Country anâ— the loss of my Thanks to be all my Reward Which how truly it was verified in this Hâ—â— Son will be the Subject of the ensuing Discourse And so I come to this Accuser and hiâ— Book in the examining which I shall follow his own Method and as he pretends to answer the King make him a suitable Reply and thaâ— also with as much brevity as I can for neither needeth so much Barbarity any Aggravation nor so plentiful an Argument as the Vindication of an oppress'd King any Art to inforâ—â— it But I stay too long in the Porch The King's Meditations are thus Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as the English Title speaks it Thâ— Portraicture of His Sacred Majesty And this Answer of Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Breaker-in-pieces of that Portraicture Which how he has done Sub Judice Lâ—est CHAP. I. Vpon the King's calling his last Parliament THAT saith he which the King lays down here as his first Foundation Milton p. 1. and as it were the Head Stone of his whole Structure That he called this last Parliament not more by others advice and the necessity of his affairs than by his own choice and inclination is to all knowing Men so apparently not true that a more unlucky and inauspicious Sentence and more betokening the downfal of his whole Fabrick hardly could have come into his Mind And a good mannerly beginning A Man may not say to the King What dost thou and yet it seems may tell him Eccles 8.4 He lyes And without proving any thing but throwing it out boldly that somewhat may stick charges the Court Parasites as he calls them with their averseness to Parliaments and that the King never called a Parliament but to supply his Necessities and having supplied those as suddenly and ignominiously dissolv'd it without redressing any one Grievance of the People And broke off the Parliament at his coming to the Crown for no other cause than to protect the Duke of Buckingham against them who had accused him besides other heinous Crimes of no less than poysoning the deceased King his Father In reply to which it is but necessary to take notice of the condition of that time The Parliament had engaged King James in a War with Spain in which the Parliment 1 Car. 1. deserted his Son He had a large Dominion and a flourishing Kingdom left him but as I said a War and an empty Treasury with it beside which King James died in Debt To the City of London One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds Vid. Annals of K. Charles 1 â—in Râ—â— 1. and â—â—r Râ—â—w Câ—ileet 1 Paâ—â— Fâ— 179. besides Interest For Denmark and the Palatinate One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds For his Wardrobe Forty Thousand Pounds Laid out for his Navy Twenty Thousand Pounds For Count Mansfield Twenty Thousand Pounds For the Expence of his Fathers Funeral Forty two Thousand Pounds For the Queen Forty Thousand Pounds And to equip and pay the Navy for the Expedition for the Palatinate Three Hundred Thousand Pounds And what was worse than all this there had follow'd King James out of Scotland a sort of People whom himself calls Puritans very Pests in the Church and Common-weal whom no deserts can oblige Basâ—â—â—n Dorâ—â— p. 31. nor Oaths or Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations the Square of their Conscience These Men had by degrees spread themselves through City and Country and watch'd the People like Hawks so long till they could do any thing with them and sow what they pleas'd as they found them napping Nor wanted there some of the same Kidney here among our selves who under the specious pretences of easing the People had got the command of most of their Purse-strings King James 't is true might have helpt it at first if his Beati Pacisici that is Give Peace in our time O Lord had not been too much in his Light by which means all Remedies in his Son's time came too late and joyn'd with the Disease to the destruction of the Body In this Case what could King Charles the First do Monarchy is more Ancient and Independant than Parliaments and yet their Advice and Assistance makes it more compacted He calls a Parliament in the first Year of his Reign which sate not long And another in his Second in which he lets them know his and the Kingdoms condition and particularly that of the Palatinate Instead of answering which they fall into Debates and Reflections against the Duke of Buckingham and at a Conference of both Houses Vid. The 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 p. 15. â—â— 1. p. 104. the Commons deliver in an Impeachment of thirteen Articles against him the last of which was That the King being sick of an Ague at Theobald's the Duke had given him a Plaister and a Posset-drink without the Advice and Consultation of his Physicians Three days after the King by message to them takes upon himself as having full knowledge of all those transactions to clear the Duke of every one of those Articles Pâ—â—â— Câ—◠〈…〉 However the Duke makes his Defence to the Lords and puts in his Answer and Plea to the Impeachment made against him by the Commons And to the thirteenth Article says That having been recovered himself of an Ague by a Plaister and Posset-drink given him by a Physician of the Earl of Warwick's the King impatiently press'd to have it but was delayed by the Duke who pray'd the King not to make use of it but 〈◊〉 the Advice of his own Physicians nor till it wâ—â— tryed upon one Palmer of the Bed-Chambeâ— then also sick of an Ague which the King said he would do However the Duke being goâ—â— to London the King would have it and 〈◊〉 took it and upon his return hearing a Rumoâ—â— that the Physick had done the King hurt as that it had been administred by him withoâ—â— Advice the Duke acquaints the King with iâ—â— who with much discontent answer'd thus Theâ— are worse than Devils that say it And so having put in his Answer the Duke moves thâ— Lords that the Commons might expedite the Reply Instead of doing which they Petitioâ— the King against Papists and suspected Papist holding Places of Authority and Trust in thâ—â— Kingdom and draw a Remonstrance againâ— the Duke and Tonnage and Poundage
oâ— which that Parliament was dissolv'd by Commission Whereas this Accuser would peâ—swade the World that the King broke off thâ— Parliament for no other cause than to proteâ—â— the Duke against them who had accused him 〈◊〉 no less than the poisoning his Father And trâ—ly I was once wondring why he said nothing touching the Parliament of the third of King Charles till I considered it was in that Parliament that the King past the Petition of Right with Soit Droit sait come il est desire He found it was not for him and therefore resolv'd iâ— should make nothing against him When oâ—â— the contrary he reproaches the King with illegal Actions to get Money least considering iâ— was the Art of that time to reduce the King to Necessity to the end that being forced to extraordinary means he might attract a popular Odium And here also he quarrels at Straws and rather than not want matter he 'll find a Knot in a Bullrush For what other can he make of those Compulsive Knighthoods Milt p. 2. when the King had the Statute of 1 Edw. 2. De militibus to warrant it In like manner for the Ship-money The Dutch in the Year 1634. had encroach'd upon the Royalty of the Northern Seas upon which the King so loath was He to do any thing that might but seem illegal writes to the Judges and demands their Opinions in Writing whether when the good or safety of the Kingdom in general is concern'd the King may not by Writ under the Great Seal command all His Subjects of this Kingdom to furnish a certain number of Ships and Men for such time as the King shall think fit and by Law compel the doing it in case of refusal And whether in such a case he is not the sole Judge both of the danger of the Kingdom and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided V. The case and all the Arguments on both sides Printed in 4 to As also in the said Annals from p. 550. to p. 600. To which every one of the twelve Judges repeating the very Words of the King's Letter subscribed their names in the Affirmative And though J. Hutton and J. Crooke afterwards fell off yet upon arguing the matter by all the Judges in the Exchequer-Chamber in the Case of Mr. Hambden the majority of them gave their Opinions for the Writs on which the Barons gave Judgment Then for Monopolies every thing is not a Monopoly that may be call'd so and therefore because he gives no particular instance either as to them or the King 's seizing Naboth's Vineyard as he calls it Inheritances under the pretence of Forest and Crown-Lands and Corruption and Bribery compounded for I say no more but this that Generals imply nothing and consequently deserve no particular Answer But this I know that in the Parliament of 44 oâ— Queen Elizabeth a Bill was preferr'd for Explanation of the Common Law in certain cases of Letters Patents V. Sir Simon D'ewe's Journal of the Commons 44. Eliz. viz. touching Monopolies and was strongly bandied on both sides Oâ— this the Queen sends them a Message That a she was not conscious to herself she had granted Letters Patents of any thing that was Maluâ— in se V. Townsend ' s Câ—llections 44. Eliz. so when it should appear that she had made any such Grant it should be revok'd or otherwise redressed on which the Common make her an humble Address of Thanks and a Grant of Subsidies and yet I do not find the Queen ever did any thing in it But what the King did as to the Grievances for that was the Word I shall come to shew presently The next thing he trumps up is The King'â— having the second time levied an injurious War against his Native Country Milt p. 3. Scotland a Waâ— saith he condemned and abominated by the wholâ— Kingdom and which the Parliament judged one oâ— their main Grievances Nor without reason for that was a cover'd Dish and had been long before cooking for their own Tooth They knew it would keep cold for another time and the King was not yet become necessitous enough to have it opened at present But to observe the wording it The King levied an unjust War c. As if a King might not defend himself against the Rebellion of his natural Lieges For such and no other was the case here But the Story is thus The King in the Sixteenth of his Reign had call'd another Parliament which opened 13. April 1640. at which time the Scots with an armed Force lay upon the Borders His Majesty by Sir J. Finch Lord Keeper tells them of the Scots Insurrection the Summer before V. Rushw Coll. 16. Car. 1. which he had pass'd by upon their Protestations of their future Loyalty instead of which they had now address'd to the King of France to put themselves under his Protection and causes an intercepted Letter of theirs signed by the heads of those Covenanters one of whom was then in Custody to be publickly read and therefore demands a Supply The Commons consider of it and pay it with complaints Innovation in Religion Grievances against Liberty Property and Privilege of Parliament The King sends several times to the Houses and presses to them the danger of the Scots Army but the question is which shall have the Precedency The Supply or Grievances The Lords are for the former and that the King ought to be first trusted The Commons are so long a tuning their Instrument that the King in despair of any good Musick from 'em dissolves them the Fifth of May following From which our Accuser thus infers that strong Necessities and the very pangs of State Milt p. 3. not his own Choice and Inclination made him call this Monstrum Horrendum Informe Ingens last Parliament which began the third of November 1640. when yet he brings nothing to back his Assertion but the scurrillous Language of the General Voice of the People almost hissing him and his ill-acted Regality off the Stage That it was impossible be should incline to Parliaments who never was perceived to call them but for the greedy hope of a National Bribe his Subsidies and never lov'd fulfill'd or promoted the true end of Parliaments the redress of Grievances of which himself was indeed the Author Not doubting also to call it a natural Sottishness fit to be abused and ridden And if this be the Reverence due to Majesty this the Respect we pay the Vicegerent of God sure Job was mistaken when he says Is it fit to say to a King Thou art Wicked and to Princes Job 34.18 Ye are ungodly The interrogation is in the Affirmative and concludes in the Negative No certainly it is not fit St. Paul checks a bare slip of his Tongue toward the High Priest Acts 25.5 Jude v. 9. Zach. 3.2 and the Arch-Angel in Jude brought not a railing Accusation even against the Devil And yet when
cause them and having all along begg'd the Question as to the first makes the other as a consequence of the former The King saith he having both unwillingly call'd this Parliament and as unwillingly from time to time condescended to their several Acts first tempts the English Army with no less Reward than the Spoil of London to come up and destroy the Parliament But that being discover'd makes the like bait to the Scotch Army with the Addition of four Northern Counties to be made Scottish with Jewels of great value to be given in Pawn the while which they with much Honesty gave notice of to the Parliament Besides this a malignant Party was grown up The Rebellion of Ireland broke out a Conspiracy in Scotland had been made while the King was there against some Chief Members of that Parliament numbers of unknown seditious Persons resorted to the City the King upon his return from Scotland dismisses that Guard the Parliament thought necessary to have about them and appoints another which they discharge the People therefore lest their worthiest and faithful Patriots should want aid came in Multitudes tho' unarm'd to witness their Fidelity to them c. The King sends a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex the King refuses it and the next day comes to the House of Commons and begins to fortifie his Court many are wounded whereof some died and so concludes it was no Tumult Or if it grew to be so the Cause was in the King himself who both by hostile Preparations and an actual assailing the People gave them just cause to defend themselves Which saving the scandal of his wording it is the full substance of his 24th 25th 26th 27th Pages Wherein also how far he has begg'd the Question I appeal to every unbiass'd Reader How willingly the King call'd this Parliament Chap. 1 I have already shewn And why he so unwillingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the willingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford I have not been wanting to it and if he had never condescended to several of the Bills pass'd this Parliament Chap. 2 and since repeal'd he had not with one hand cut off the other But when he calls them their Acts I am to seek what he means The office of the two Houses is Preparative and Consultive but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is the King The passing a Bill is but the granting a Request the two Houses make the Bill but the King makes the Law and 't is the Stamp not the Matter that makes it currant Then for that ridiculous Sham of the Spoil of the City of London c. He might as well have added the blowing up the Thames and drowning the City and altogether as probable unless he had prov'd at least somewhat towards it The Rebellion of Ireland 't is true was broke out and they had gotten Four Hundred Thousand Pounds towards the reducing it but what they did with those Moneys I have shewn before And for the Conspiracy of Scotland c. A malignant Party growing up unknown seditious Persons resorting to the City c. Why added he not the Pope's Marrying thâ— Great Turk's Sister For who besides himself ever heard of this Scottish Conspiracy against any but the King And for that new coinâ— Word Malignant Party if he means the King Friends they had an Act of Parliament foâ— their Warrant 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. but for those unknown Seditioâ—â— Persons 't is somewhat strange methinks 〈◊〉 should call them Seditious and not know wâ—â— they were unless it were in Contradistinction 〈◊〉 his own Party whom all the World visibly faâ— to be such And for the King 's discharging those Guarâ— the Parliament thought necessary c. And thâ—â— discharging those other that he had appointed the. They were legally conven'd by the King'â— Writ and the same Law was a full Security tâ— them But by what Law they could take Guard to themselves without the King's Coâ—sent I think the best of our Lawyers may bâ— yet to learn And when to gratifie their Inclâ—nations the King had appointed them anotheâ— which they discharg'd what was it but to spâ—â— a defiance in his Face For my part I speaâ—â— plain English and let my Reader judge between this our Answerer and me whether his Therefore the People came in Multitudes c. be a suffâ—cient Justification of those Riots The King saith he forbad those Resorts c. and no doubt justly for it was no more thaâ— what the Law had forbidden to his Hand 〈◊〉 call'd them Riots but take it thus Theâ—â— came to the assistance of that Parliament whâ—â—â— were then compassing and imagining to levâ—â— a War against the King the overt act of which was That they did actually levy it I 'll run it no higher Though I have heard it said Fascinus quos inquinat aequat However the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City c. Which because it falls more naturally under the subsequent Matter I leave it till then and in the mean time ask any Man whether from these Premises he has rightly concluded that they were no Tumults or if they grew to be so the cause was in the King himself c. more than as an honest Man fighting with a Thief in defence of his Purse and is kill'd by him may be said to be the cause of his own death And thus Men like Pythagoras's Scholars take things by the wrong Handle whereas if they took it by the right it would be quite another Matter and as near as I can I 'll open the truth of this The Scottish Invasion had been accommodated at Rippon some Months before this Parliament sate nor had the King yet lost the Reverence he had in the Hearts of his People who all stood waiting what this Parliament would do when instead of healing the Breaches they rather widen'd them in falling upon the old Trade of Grievances Popery and Arbitrary Power and that they might the better single him from his Friends and thereby deprive him of such as had either Wisdom Authority or Courage to prevent or oppose their further Designs they first fall upon those that had either Written or Preach'd in defence of those Rights of the Crown they intended to Usurp and arraign his Actions in his Ministers some of which are Imprison'd others fly And on the other hand set at liberty such as had been sentenc'd for Seditious Writing and Preaching against him and bring them to London in Triumph to trâ—â— how the People would be pleas'd with it anâ— consequently how their endeavours to draw thâ—â— Peoples Affections from the King had already succeeded and the general Applause on this occasion gave them no weak assurance of it And now having gotten from the King thâ—â— Eyes of Argus
to say no Answer belongs to it He knew there was none to be given and therefore Magisterially slighted it He holds it also neither wise nor comely that the falling out of Brethren be debated before a Common Enemy and tacitly implies his Reason least the Uncircumcised rejoice But I think I can tell ye a better When Presbytery rode the fore-Horse no one kept up with it more than himself but when he found it began to faulter he was loth to lose Company and jogg'd on with the rest The first leading Men that carried on the War were Presbyterians and their General upon the New-Model was as right as they could wish to have had him And yet he was in the Hands of the Army and that Army in the Hands of his Lieutenant-General Cromwell A grand mistake of theirs in thinking to Settle Presbytery with an Army of Anabaptists Independents Fifth-Monarchy-Men and what not Bone of their Bone and Flesh of their Flesh 't is true but as Mortal Enemies to them as were the Jews to the Samaritans and yet both of them had Abraham to their Father And for Cromwell though no one could say of what Religion he was besides that he ever match'd the Colour that was in Fashion he still protested Obedience and Fidelity to the Parliament and by that Means got his Ends of the King and them And whether our Answerer took it not right judge when he says Some of the former Army touch'd with Envy to be out-done by a New Model and being prevalent in the House of Commons took advantage of Presbyterian and Independant Names and the War being ended thought slightly to have discarded them without their due Pay and the reward of their invincible Valour But they i. e. the Independants who had the Sword yet in their hands disdaining to be made the first Objects of Ingratitude and Oppression after all that Expence of their Blood for Justice and the Common Liberty seiz'd the King their Prisoner whom nothing but their matchâ—ess Deeds had brought so low as to surrender his Person By which we see the Bottom of this Good Old Cause when the only quarrel was about dividing the Spoil And truly when they that once had it could not keep it what had our Answerer to do to gape after them any longer And brings into my Head that Story of the Friars Crucifixus est etiam pro nobis But to go on with the Matter The King is now in the Army's Hands but our Answerer thinks not fit to say a Word to the Distractions in the Two Houses the Army and the City that ensued it but has left it out of his Title And why but that it must not be spoken in Gath when yet every Man here is not a Dweller of Askalon Cromwell found that the Parliament out-carded him as having gotten the King their Prisoner May 4 1646. and put the Militia of London into the Hands of a Committee of Citizens whereof the Lord Mayor for the time being to be One and therefore unless he could give them the Cross-bite and bring the Army to mutiny against their Masters he knew he must expect no better of them than what Essex had found from them To this purpose he and Ireton his Son-in-Law take advantage of a Vote of theirs 25. May 1647. for Disbanding the whole Army excepting Five Thousand Horse and One Thousand Dragoons and some Fire-locks to be kept up for the Safety of the Kingdom and some to be sent for Ireland and spread a Whisper through the Army that the Parliament now they had the King intended to Disband them to cheat them of their Arrears and send them into Ireland to be destroy'd by the Irish And it ran like Wild-fire for the Army were so inrag'd at it that they set up a new Council among themselves of Two Private Soldiers out of every Troop and Foot Company to consult for the Good of the Army and to assist at the Council of War and advise for the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom And these they called Agitators or Adjutators it matters not which for whatever Cromwell who yet stood unsuspected by the Houses had a mind to be done there needed no more but putting it into these Agitators Heads And the Effect of their first Consultation was to take the King from Holmby where upon his being deliver'd up by the Scots Feb. 16. 1646. the Parliament had lodged him with Colonel Graves and bring him to the Army Amongst these there was one Joyce a stubbed bold ignorant Enthusiastick Journey-man Taylor who from the Service of Denys Bond had gone out to the Assistance of the Lord against the Mighty and much about this time made a Cornet of Horse And however the matter was contriv'd for Commission he had none he went off by Night in the Head of a Thousand Horse and having surpriz'd the Parliament-Guards at Holmby early in the Morning importunately demands admittance into the King's Bed-Chamber as from the Army and was hardly prevail'd upon to stay so long as till the King could get up but being come in told his Majesty he was sent by the Lieutenant-General to secure his Person from his Enemies and bring him to the Army On which the King demanding to see his Commission Joyce opens a Window and points to the Body of Horse that stood drawn up on the Side of the Hill before the House An undeniable Argument says his Majesty and so went with him who brought him to the Head-quarters at New-Market Cromwell seems no less surpriz'd at it than the King however since he was among them assur'd him he should have no Cause to repent it and in a seeming passionate Manner promis'd him to restore him to his Right against the Parliament On this the Parliament send to the General to have the King redeliver'd to their Commissioners and this the rather for that the General by his Letters to them had excus'd himself and Cromwell and the Body of the Army as ignorant of the Fact and that the King came away willingly with those Souldiers that brought him And yet instead of giving them an Answer Jun. 23. 1647. the Army send a Charge against Eleven of their Members all active leading Men and require them to appoint a Day to determine this Parliament and in the mean time to suspend the Eleven Members sitting in the House to which last they only answer and say they could not do it by Law till the Particulars of the Charge were produced and were soon replied to with their own Proceedings against the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury The London Militia had been yet in the Cities Hands till Cromwell taking the opportunity of a thin House Jul. 26. 1647. procures the Ordinance of the Fourth of May aforesaid to be revok'd and the Militia put into other Hands more favourable to the Army On which a Rabble of Apprentices and Disbanded Soldiers headed by the Sheriffs under the
about Six Thousand tumultuously flock to Westminster crying Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Which within a day or two they second with a Petition On which the Earl less valuing his Life than the quiet of the Kingdom writes a Letter to the King whereby to set his Conscience at Liberty and by his own Consent prays him to pass the Bill which in a few days after was by Commission to the Earl of Arundel and three other Lords accordingly done with this Proviso That no Judge or Judges c. shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason any other way than they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been had or made A modest Confession and that nothing but an Act of Parliament could affect him Nor unlike that Clause in an Ordinance of the King and Lords for the Banishment c. of the Lady Alice Pierce a Favourite of King Edward the Third's viz. That this Ordinance in this Special Case Mr. Seldâ—n's Privilege of Baronage 71 which may extend to a Thousand other Persons shall in no other case but this be taken in Example However after the Bill was pass'd the King as deeming They will reverence my Son wrote a Letter to the House of Lords with his own Hand and sent it by the Prince of Wales in which he interceeds for that Mercy to the Earl which many Kings would not have scrupled to have given themselves But 't was resolv'd and nothing would do And thus between Accumulative and Constructive Treason nor better prov'd than I have shewn before Sic inclinavit heros caput Taken from Mr. Cleveland Belluae multorum Capitum Merces favoris Scottici praeter pecunias Nec vicit tamen Anglia sed oppressit Or if my Reader had rather have it in English take it from that happy Flight of Sir Richard Fanshaw on that Occasion And so fell Rome herself oppress'd at length By the united World and her own Strength And yet not to leave his Memory in the Dust there is an Act of Parliament that vindicates all I have said in the matter and that is The Act for reversing this Attainder 13 14. Car. 2. c. 29. which says thus That the Bill of Attainder was purposely made to Condemn him upon Accumulative and Constructive Treason none of the said Treasons being Treason apart and so could not be in the whole if they had been prov'd as they were not And the Act further says It was procured by an armed Tumult the names of Fifty nine of the Commons that opposed the Bill posted by the name of Straffordians and sent up to the Peers at a time when a great part of them were absent by reason of those Tumults and many of those present protested against it For which Causes and to the end that Right be done to the Memory of that deceased Earl it was enacted c. That the said Act c. be repeal'd c. And all Records and proceedings of Parliament relating to the said Attainder be cancell'd and taken off the File c. to the intent the same may not be visible in after-Ages or brought in Example to the prejudice of any Person whatever Provided that this Act shall not extend to the future questioning of any Person c. however concern'd in this Business or who had any hand in the Tumults or disorderly procuring the Act aforesaid c. A shrewd suspicion that they thought that Act of Attainder was not so regularly obtain'd as it ought to have been for if it had what needed that Proviso And having duely considered this Act I think the Wonder will cease why the King was so dissatisfied in his Conscience touching the giving his Assent to that Bill of Attainder His Speech on the Scaffold or that the Lord Capel so publickly begg'd forgiveness of God for having given his Consent toward it At least I presume it may startle any Man that from such repeated Calumnies has not yet come to be of our Answerer's Opinion That there may be a Treason against the Commonwealth as well as against the King only A Treason not mention'd in 25 Edw. 3. or in any Statute since saving those of the late Usurper's making inasmuch as no Estate or Estates of the Realm make any thing of themselves but as joyned to their Figure the King And therefore passing the King 's most detested Conspiracy as he calls it against the Parliament and Kingdom by seizing the Tower of London bringing the English Army out of the North c. I leave him and his Stuff together and come to the Third CHAP. III. Vpon His going to the House of Commons I Said ere-while His Majesty might think the Lords would reverence his Son nor was in to be doubted whether the Commons would himself Especially considering the business he went about It was faith the King to demand Justice upon the Five Members whom upon just motives and pregnant grounds I had charged and needed nothing to such Evidence as could have been produced against them save only a free and legal Tryal which was all I desired Which fill'd indifferent Men with Jealousies and Fears yea and many of my Friends resented as a motion rising rather from Passion than Reason See says our Answerer He confesses it to â—an act which most Men whom he calls his Enemies cried shame upon indifferent Men c. as before He himself in one of his Answers to both Houses made profession to be convinc'd that it was a plain breach of their Privilege Yet here like a rottâ— Building newly trimm'd over he represents it speciously and fraudulently to impose upon the simple Reader c. Words insolent enough without adding the rest though it had not been from his Matter if he had told that simple Reader in which Answer of his Majesties he might have found that Profession However for the discovery of the Truth on both sides it may not be amiss to make a few steps backward that considering the occasion we may the better judge of the thing It had been advis'd to the King by the then Privy-Council of Scotland to send the Book of Common-Prayer to be receiv'd and us'd in all Churches of that Kingdom The King's Declaration 1639. which was accordingly order'd And in the Month of July 1637. publickly read in the great Church of Edinburgh The Kirkmen took fire at it nor wanted there some in England to fan the Flame which in a short time got that head that they invade England but finding the design not ripe enough yet they humbly submit and the business is smother'd Whereas had those smoaking Brands been sufficiently quench'd they had not made a greater Eruption the next Year During this time the King had gotten into the matter and calls this Parliament with a real intention of quieting all They begin where the last Parliament