so like a Cloud that seem'd to threaten any storm and the instability of this World in general is seldom the Contemplation of the Fortunate and Ambitious This made him attempt that which was the highest Testimony of his believ'd Security in lessening the Queens Attandance and Maintenance The Spencers were not satiated with all the late Spoils of the King's Enemies nor with the Sale of his Favours to his Friends Places and Honours were purchas'd as in a common Market and every thing enclos'd or expos'd as they pleased Yet it seem'd all this was not enough or certainly they wou'd not have endeavoured to supply the want by the Queens Prejudice and raise the most probable storm to disturb their prosperous Course For the Queen had been always the great support of the King and the Composer of his difficult Affairs She repair'd those Breaches the Errors of others had made one that still labour'd for Peace and was successful in it It might seem strange that Favourites could find ways to waste as much as would support and supply the Publick and then seek ways as extravagant to get it and yet more strange that a King shou'd be a Party in the dangerous ways that led to his own Ruine and careful to preserve them by the Hazard of himself When Gaveston and the Spencers seem'd forsaken by God and Man they were never by their unfortunate Prince but by him the whole was judged more guilty and less wise than his Favourites In the fatal stream of Fortune the Prosperous and Ambitious think of nothing but Enjoyments detest a sober much more a melancholy Consideration of those strange and sudden Alterations and Changes that this World is subject to but think their Greatness and Prosperity has chain'd up Accidents and that Fortune who had flatter'd them as much as they had done their Prince wou'd always be as obedient as she had been seemingly fond of them Affliction gives Thoughts admittance but the swell'd Minds of the successfully Ambitious seldom endure to think The First Accident that shew'd this Truth was the Troubles that rose in France which grew so high that all the Kings Territories were adjudged forfeited and many places of importance seized The storm was so violent that there was no hopes of becalming this Roughness but by the King 's going in Person to pay his Homage or at least the Queen to mediate with her Brother But the Spencers thought it unsafe to be separated from the King who yet was the only Fence against that Sea of Discontent whose Tide every day appear'd to swell and they that had destroyed all Trust had reason enough to be jealous Such men so constantly guided by pleasing Weaknesses might not perhaps descern the Queen might be a dangerous Instrument to employ that had been so disobliged but commonly those that do injuries are the least apprehensive that they will be remembred or commonly having no fear of those they oppress they never consider the future possibility of Revenge But if they had apprehended danger to themselves in the Queens going yet they chose the less Evil nothing appearing so terrible as parting with the King. Thus the Queen was sent away with an indifferent Train and acted seemingly so well that she brought things to a fair accommodation but upon such Terms as did necessitate the Prince her Son to be sent over to her With him she had what she desired a Foundation to build her Revenge upon which had been long rak'd up in warm Embers which now she began to discover And the beginning of this Fire breaking out was made known to the King by the Bishop of Exeter who secretly withdrew into England but she was stayed by the most powerful Causes Love and Revenge For she that now seem'd free from all Ties to her King and Husband placed her loose Affections upon Roger Mortimer who had lately escaped out of the Tower and from the Oppression of the Spencers She knew England con'd neither be safe to her nor Mortimer whom she valued as her self and therefore resolved to trust any thing rather than her Husband or the Spencers The Queen thus delaying her Obedience to the King in returning to England She and the Prince were declared Enemies to the Kingdom and they and their Adherents banished and at the same time the Queen received Intelligence that there were great Sums offered to have the Prince murthered upon which she withdrew to the Earl of Haynault where she contracted her Son to Philippa Daughter to the Earl and there procures some Forces and Moneys Though her Forces were inconsiderable yet she reasonably depended upon what she shou'd find in England not what she brought For she knew that any thing would be welcome that brought a shew of redeeming them from the Oppressions they suffer'd under With these therefore she ventur'd to Sea and after some Variety of Accidents she landed with her Forces near Harwich where immediately she found all her Conjectures true For many Lords and Bishops repaired to her among them the Two Bishops of Hereford and Lincoln the first not forgetting the particular Wrong and both zealously remembring the Injury the Clergy had received The Queen wanted not a just Complaint to support her unjust Cause and so great were the Discontents that they hurried on almost the whole Nation to support a Double Rebellion in a Woman against her King and Husband and the Pulpit was ready to speak as execrably as others to act The Bishop of Hereford taking for his Text My head aketh raising his revengeful and impious Doctrine upon it That a sick Head was to be taken off and in the Revolutions that attended this unhappy King and Richard the Second the Clergy were always ready to Sanctifie and the Lawyers to make Rebellion Legal The King had now the Clamorous effects of ill Councels calling too loud upon him yet saw no way left to recover or repair the Misfortune those Errors had brought him into Wherever he went he found no Subjects those with their Hearts were lost before but led by as uncertain Councels as his Life was Govern'd He knew not whether to fly but only fled He saw London was unsafe who were all turn'd from Duty to him in Affection to the Queen Nor cou'd he propose any place to himself where he had not reason to expect certain Enemies or worse uncertain Friends After many Motions as various as his former Humors he design'd for the Isle of Lundy and takes with him the Earl of Glocester the Spencers and Robert Baldock that was Chancellor and with some few others takes shipping shewing how Man's Nature waits upon Fortune and changes with it They that before cou'd not be content with so much Plenty and Dominion shew'd now no more Ambition than what a small naked Island cou'd satisfie where Safety was their only Hope and a chosen Prison their Liberty The King had left the Government of the City of London to Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter
a little after the Commons come to receive his Resignation and were seated in a Form ready for the Ceremony The King came out in Mourning and at the sight of a form'd Power ready to take away His sunk down but being recover'd to a miserable Life the Bishop of Hereford deliver'd the Cause of their coming After which Trussell a Lawyer and Speaker of the House of Commons pronounces a Form of renouncing all Allegiance to Edward of Caernarvon to which as most Writers say the King made not the least Answer but turn'd about and went out There were Articles also exhibited against him and his Son with much Ceremony chosen King in Westminster-Hall with the full consent of the People which gave the occasion to the Archbishop of Canterbury to choose for the Subject of his Sermon Vox populi Vox Dei exhorting the People to pray for the King they had chosen Thus the Lawyer found out a Legal Method for the People to deprive their King of Sovereignty and the Divines Consecrated their mighty Power in calling their Voice a Divine Election Philip de Comines in his Third Book takes notice That the Great Earl of Warwick subdu'd England in Eleven days and King Edward the Fourth recover'd it in One and twenty Though these were sudden Revolutions yet the Fortune of them was dispos'd by many Battels but this was as sudden yet without a Blow which shews no Force to be greater than the Power of Injuries and Oppressions For though in Prosperity and the full gust of Power this mighty Force lying as it were in an Ambush in the Vexed Minds of injur'd Subjects is undiscern'd and slighted And the fatal Precedents made by the Errours of others are seldom made use of to our selves yet when it begins to shew it self it seems no wonder that the united Minds of all conclude for themselves But Men are so much their own Flatterers that they believe every thing Permanent they wish to be so and Favourites that cannot submit to share a Common Benefit venture at uncertain Advantages and make it a Principle to depend more upon Men's Fears than Love. By the Mighty and Ambitious Mischiefs and Disturbances are wrought but the Weak and Moderate desire Peace and Quietness The unhappy King was now kept in Confinement with a small allowance that he might be deprived of all things that resembled a Princes Condition and suffer'd now for his unsteady Errors as much perhaps by the wounding reflection of their Memory as by what he endured for them But too late he was taught Truth by Misery and saw the Difference to lose those Friends that cou'd preserve him and keep none but only such as could help to destroy him Princes sometimes believe that the right of Power should preserve them notwithstanding the want of Conscience in the using of it But when their Errors have contracted Enemies and the same Errors raised Accidents enough to give power and opportunity to those Enemies misguided Princes like this unhappy King will find that such with as much want of Conscience will revenge their Wrongs as they shew'd by the Oppression It now appear'd that the Graves of Princes are ever near their Prisons This unhappy one above all things deplored That his Wife whom he had ever loved wou'd not be got to see him But she was now possessed by her passion for Mortimer that all her Duty and Vertue was Sacrific'd and her Husband was now as much her apprehension as aversion Mortimer was as jealous as he could be and never thought himself safe in his Enjoyments while the King liv'd They cou'd be inform'd of the murmuring whispers of their Course of Life and that hard usage of the King proceeded from thence and therefore looked upon the King's Death as their only security His Keepers were therefore changed by the advice of that ready Counsellor of mischief the Bishop of Hereford for Sir Maurice Berkley in whose Custody he was had been tamper'd with and not found ready for the intended Villany he was therefore taken from Henchworth Castle and committed to Sir Thomas Gourney and Sir John Matravers who carry'd him to Corf-Castle a place some write that he always declared an apprehensive aversion to from thence to Bristol from whence upon some suspicion of a Plot for his escape he was convey'd to Berkley Castle where by those barbarous Villains he was wretchedly murthered with a hot Iron thrust through a Pipe up behind into his Bowels which way they thought wou'd perhaps make the least discovery by what Death he died though his Groans and Cryes sufficiently proclaim'd the Violence of it Some write That the Bishop of Hereford by a dark Sentence instigated the Murtherers to hasten the Execution by this Line Edwardum occidere nolite Timere bonum est At once giving them encouragement and concealing an excuse for himself But Ecclesiastical Riddles are dangerous and sometimes their Expositions of Texts have been no other After this horrid Execution the Murderers Gourney and Matravers expected Rewards but found the Queen and Bishop readier rather to threaten and accuse them than to own the Service and were forc'd to fly beyond Sea to seek safety for their loath'd Lives But Gourney after three years was taken and sent to England and by the way had his Head struck off Matravers fled into Germany where in Repentance he had time to wast a miserable Life This King Reigned something above Eighteen years and was murther'd in the 43d year of his Life His Body was carryed to Glocester and there buryed without any Ceremony His Character I will reserve till I join it with Richard the Second since the same Methods and Errors in Government workt the same Effects and both Princes equally unfortunate The Reigns of Edward the Second and Richard the Second to which I am now proceeding may be justly said to be as Mezeray calls the Reign of Henry the Third of France The Reign of Favourites who did enervate all his Vertues and dispos'd him to looseness and carelesness deafen'd and confounded him with Flatteries prompting to observe no Law but his Will while they were the Disposers of all things At which many great Men and others retired discontented and left the Favourite-Ministers at large to pursue their Ambition and with new Inventions to waste and pillage the King's Revenue This Description suits with the beginning of this unfortunate King Richard the Second who after the death of his Grandfather that great Prince Edward the Third succeeded him in the Throne His Father the Famous Black Prince dying in his Father's time who by contrary Methods to what they us'd met as contrary Fortunes The Comeliness and Beauty of his Person exceeding all his Predecessors only seem'd to Entitle him to a Generous Father and as beautiful a Mother But that promising Person which might have become great Actions was turned to Looseness and Pleasures and Flatterers broke in to encourage that dissolute Carelesness which they found wou'd
ill Intention and this unlimited Confidence confirm'd the Opinion of it both betray'd what he design'd both shou'd conceal and by the Extreams taught the fatal Lesson of Jealousie and those perhaps that advis'd the ill Designs wanting power to bring them forth from their own Fears gave Councils contrary to their former Advices in a better Condition For men without Principles are guided by those Opinions that unequal Fears or unsteddy Ambition gives them and receive no Council from even Principles or unshaken Vertue These Mistakes provok'd the Banishment of Gaveston and the King became liable to Perjury whenever they pleased But after he had committed this Error he pursues it with a greater and though he banish'd Gaveston to keep his Oath he violates again by re-calling him and gives him his Neece in Marriage and so much Rules that it justly merited the Censure of wasting the publicâ— Treasure The Barrons enrag'd at this Breach of Faith in the King and to see the Fortune of the Nation thrown into a Stranger 's Hands threaten Force against their Perjur'd Prince and by this means obtain again the Banishment of Gaveston with a Clause of Death if ever he returned Gaveston having not been long in Banishment and finding or at least believing he was not safe abroad thought it less hazardous to trust to the former extravagant Affection of the King than Enemies and Strangers in another Countrey and upon this consideration comes back into England and immediately repairs to him The King according to his expectation receiv'd him with such an Excess of inconsiderate Joy and Kindness that it seem'd as if Gaveston brought always Charms more powerful than any Divine or Hamane Obligation Upon this the Lords again took Arms and petition in the Name of the whole Commonalty That Gaveston may be banish'd The King more fond of Gaveston than sensible of what he had done or of their Force or Petition takes as it were a Flight with him and puts him with Forces into Scarborough-Castle and as Gaveston seem'd to aim at security by weaving the King's Fortunes with his so the King seem'd to make his Fortunes as desperate as Gaveston's by sharing his Condition The Lords eagerly pursu'd him to Scarborough which they besieg'd and took together with Gaveston whom they immediately beheaded Thus this unhappy Prince neglecting his own Faith gave others the Opinion that theirs was discharg'd and the fondness of a Favourite above the People lessen'd their Duty as he lessen'd his Consideration of them and 't is too visible a truth that a Prince who so much resigns himself to Favourites must also resign his Fortune to theirs The Lords swell'd with this Success the usual Effects of Ravish't Power march with an Army towards London where the King then was where Necessity and not Choice seem'd to be the means that a Parliament was call'd where the King complain'd of the Barons who justified their unlawful Actions by the Errors of their Prince and plead Merit for having purchas'd the Banishment of Strangers to quiet the People Thus unsteddy Actions beget wild Arguments and false Pretensions are too much supported by Power However a Composure for the present was made by the Queen the Bishops and the Earl of Glocester who calm'd the Barons into a Temper of asking the King's Pardon and several Articles were agreed on for present satisfaction which seem'd as if the Lords had more Inclinations to Obedience than Rebellion and wanted but the prudent Justice of a Prince to be applied to cure these Wounds that Jealous Discontents had made But the Mischief of former ill Humours and Councils remain'd and began to shew themselves by the dealy of performing what was agreed on which was the Cause that the Earls of Arundel Warwick and Warren refus'd to go with the King against the Scots It seems strange that Vnsteddiness and Injustice Two of the weakest Errors of Mankind shou'd become Rules for Princes to act by which could hardly be possible were they not resign'd to the Councils of others and consequently to their Interests such who cannot by National Methods pursue their Ambitious Designs and protect what they obtain the pursuit of Honour and Riches are seldom limited and putting a Distance between King and People is the only means to keep them remote from Examination and Justice and at least involve their Interest so with his that to question them is to attack his Dignity To foment Differences between the King and others was now acted by little Artifices one Instance of which was the taking away the Earl of Lancaster's Wife by one Richard St. Martin claiming her as his and that he had formerly lain with her and claim'd by her the Two Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury This was an Action that seem'd to shew the Encouragement and Assistance of great Power nor did they that contriv'd it omit their chief aim of having the King thought a Party at once to engage him in their Designs and Animosities and to revenge himself and them by particular Injuries For 't is not to be presum'd that such a man as the Duke of Lancaster could have such a violence committed in his House by an inconsiderable Fellow without great assistance of Force and Power and the Two Earldoms that seems rested in her were Arguments that the Design was to affront the Duke of Lancaster in the Diminution of his Honour and to make an irreconcilable Difference between the King and him who being related to the King and a man of great Quality and Interest might perhaps be an Obstacle to those Designs which were contriving by the new Favourites and it was an improper consideration for such to consider whether the King's Interest and Honour were best served by this but only whether their own Designs were not best pursu'd And now the same Fatal Humour began to shew it self and Hugh Spencer the Younger who Mezeray says had been bred up with him in an unbecoming Familiarity and had absolute Empire over him succeeded Caveston in an almost unlimited Favour and Power The first Difference that this caused appeared at the Siege of Berwick which being near taken by the Scots the King declared to make his Design to make the Younger Spencer Governour of it upon which the Earl of Lancaster withdrew his Forces with whom the Lords presently took Arms and declared the Cause to be for the removing the Spencers the Father being now got into joynt Commission of Favour with his Son who govern'd with as much Insolence and Absoluteness as ever Gaveston had done With these Forces they advance towards the King and boldly demand the Banishment of the Spencers The King not being strong enough at present to oppose them gives a Temperate Answer only seeming averse to punish any but by Form of Law and therefore wou'd not banish them unheard but promises them they shou'd answer to any Charge and swore he wou'd never pardon Offences prov'd This Answer did not yet satisfie the Lords who
Crimes were prepared for the Duke he never committed a Jury of Lords were fix'd and it was not only design'd he shou'd be arrested but his Condemnation was as confidently resolved and concluded These things were not so secretly contriv'd but the Duke of Lancaster had notice of them and privately retir'd or rather fled to Pomfret-Castle where he prepar'd to defend himself and already Discontents grew so high that he wanted not assistance for it and grew so considerable that the Queen-Mother thought it worthy her pains in all respects to endeavour a Composure which she effected assisted by the apprehension of her Son and the Duty which the Duke of Lancaster seem'd yet to retain so that for this time every thing was compos'd unless their Minds which once shaken by indirectness and mistrust are seldom so purely clear'd but that some Seeds of Jealousie lie ready to spring upon the heat of any Difference Without Trust the Traffick amongst Dealers in petty things can never be carried on and much less the Commerce between Prince and Subjects without Credit The King now enter'd upon the assuming the Government into his own Hands and from this time grew liable to his own Errors appearing wholly regardless of all his great Relations and Nobility and only seem'd kind to a fondness of his Chancellor the Duke of Suffolk and the Duke of Ireland and their two subservient Friends the Archbishop of York and Tresilian the Chief Justice they that had now gain'd the possession of the King's Power and Inclination shew'd a great Testimony of their ill use of it by disposing the King against his brave Vncle the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel The King was now wholly possest by these Favourites and in a particular manner by the Chancellor Delapoole whose mean Birth was suitable to his Qualities His Vices so many that he was himself a Grievance and it seem'd a fatal unhappiness that the King's Conscience should be intrusted unto so bad a Keeper but the King was as violent in his Affections as others could be in their Displeasures He seldom regarded what others thought till necessity forced the Consideration These men that both fear'd and hated any men of Honour and Quality that might have Interest to cross their Designs laid hold of an Occassion to be rid of one of the greatest the Duke of Lancaster by assisting him with Forces to conquer Spain which he claim'd in right of his Wife Constance Daughter and Co-heir of Peter who was surnamed the Cruel King of Castile and Leon With very considerable Forces he sail'd for Spain He landed at the Troyne and at Compostella met with the King of Portugal where a Marriage was concluded with his Daughter and after some Incursions made into the Countrey of Castile a Peace and Marriage was also effected between the King of Spain's Eldest Son and Katharine of Lancaster and so resign'd the Title to Spain for a Composition by a sum of Money and a Pension This look't like the feeble Policy of violent and self-interested Counsellors which was applied to Men and not to Things as if the removal of Two or Three that oppos'd their Designs took all the Danger away that attended them As long as there were injured men they must have Enemies and their safety was no way probable but by better Principles and Practices Besides there were other Lords left behind made Popular by the same Errors But they design'd to ruine if they cou'd all that were in their way and after grew very busie in designing to murder the Duke of Glocester every day contriving some ill and by their heavy wickedness loading their King. A little after the Rebellion the King married with Anne the Daughter of the Emperour Charles the Fourth whom he loved passionately for whose sake he refus'd the Daughter of the Duke of Milan who was offer'd him and with her a Dowry much more considerable She liv'd with him Twelve Years but without Issue and died at Sheen by Richmond which great loss made the place ever hated after by the King who in all things shew'd he was a Man of great Affections which are unfortunate Vertues when wrong placed About this time the King declared Roger Mortimer his Heir and Successor who was the Son of Lionel Duke of Clarence Third Son of King Edward the Third who was afterwards killed in Ireland He also created his Uncles Edmund of Langley Duke of York and Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and his Cousin Henry of Bullingbrooke Son and Heir to his Fourth Uncle John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Earl of Derby His Cousin Edward Plantagenet Son and Heir to his Uncle Edmund of Langley he created Earl of Rutland Sir John Holland Earl of Huntington and Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham In the Parliament in which these Creations were made was exhibited a Charge of many Particulars and of very great Natures against Chancellor Delapoole in which one particular was the abusing and cozening the King. But this had only an Audience and no Examination which gave so much offence that an Aid demanded was denied and Reasons given that it was to no purpose to give money when the ill use of it was countenanced This seem'd a wrong Method to ask and be denied and at the same time neither to have Power enough to enforce nor Obligations to obtain but 't was not proper for his Favourites to tell him they doubted success with his Parliament since that were to own such apprehensions sprung from their ambitious Errors But Princes are rightly said to be us'd like froward Children flatter'd and condemn'd never to hear the Truth But the Parliament still pressed the Examination of the Charge and the Necessity of the King's Affairs concurring with their importunity procured what they so warmly desired The Cause was put to selected Noblemen to examine and a Subsidy seem'd the purchase of it which was afterwards granted The Cause then being heard by his Peers the Duke of Glocester and Earl of Arundel being Two of the Judges he was convicted deprived of his Office and Chattels and condemn'd to be executed But all this seem'd rather Arguments of Merit than Causes of Punishment For the King presently after restored him into the former Favour as if he had suffer'd for his sake Thus as Edward the Second received Gaveston from Banishment and his Subjects hate to his Arms and Love so this unfortunate and resembling King received this Earl of Suffolk from Execution and the Prosecution of his Parliament to increas'd Affection and Trust as if Crimes found out and prosecuted by a Parliament had been the Testimonies of Merit and Arguments for a Prince's Fnvour These unsteddy Councils increas'd mistrust in the Subjects who now began to see they were too light to make a Poisure with his Favourites And to confirm their worst apprehensions the Duke of Ireland who had been driven away by the Displeasure that was contracted against him now return'd with
equal Credit and Principles with the Earl of Suffolk to whom also joined the Archbishop of York to strengthen their Power and weaken their King's for they who had influence enough to make a Prince believe their Cause to be his might easily carry him on to revenge these Affronts he now assumed to be his own To this belongs the same Fate that attends indirect unsteddy Counsels they must be maintained by the Ruine or Oppression of those that suffer'd by them and no method taken for the Preservation of any but they that merited the Punishment The Argument that was and must be used to deceive Princes was then enforced by these Favourite-Ministers That the Arrows shot at them were intended against the Prince and 't was but a method of Rebellion to confine a King on whom to confer his Favour and therefore to avoid the Dishonour of a Limited Monarchy he must now use Power and declare his Trust in that only With this flattery they raise their King to a fatal Confidence in that which must in time deceive misguided Princes For perhaps for some time Apprehension and Conscience may preserve a shew of Peace yet at last Errour and Oppression will disturb such a weak-setled Calm The King thus rais'd by Flattery above his Power and sharpned by false Arguments beyond his Nature they proceed seemingly to act his Cause but really to revenge themselves and like the other Favourites in King Edward's Time wrap their Prince's Fall and Hazard and their own together while they are only the King 's Loyal Subjects and the Kingdom his and their own guilty Enemies The Memory of Suffolk's Tryal and Condemnation was the first Cause that incited them against those that were his Judges the Duke of Glocester and others on whose Destruction they first resolved as being the most considerable nor feared his near Relation to the King for they knew their Power was gotten above his Nature or Consideration The first Design was to invite Glocester and others to a Supper in London and there murther them which some write was discover'd by the Duke to Exton the then Mayor of London and so the Mischief was prevented for that time About this time the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham who were engaged with the Duke of Glocester in the Tryal and Censure of the Chancellour Suffolk Commanded the Navy and did so many brave Actions that all mouths were fill'd with just Praises the King 's only excepted to whom Satisfaction did most belong For at their Return they found such a cold Reception from the King that it seem'd they were rather forgiven for Misdemeanours than receiv'd for Merits The strangeness of his Words told too plainly That publick Merit lost its Nature when the Desert was in the Enemies of his Favourites How much more limited is a King by such as inflame him against the Dishonour of it He must neither reward Vertue nor punish Vice his best and bravest Subjects must not be esteem'd nor his worst question'd nor punish'd The Duke of Ireland with as much Arbitrary Power as he perswaded the King to assume put away his Wife the Duke of Glocester's Daughter and marryed a Vintners some say a Joyners Daughter The injur'd Lady often petition'd the King but without success her Injury was done by a Favourite where his Nature was more tyed than to his own Blood Upon no less nourishment can growing Favourites prosper than by their Princes loss of Interest and Honour The Duke of Glocester bore it not so calmy but told the Duke of Ireland plainly he wou'd revenge it who from that time grew more assiduous to contrive the Destruction of the Duke of Glcester but at the present his pretended Journey to Ireland kept all silent which after many delays he seemingly began and was accompanied in great State by the King himself the Earl of Suffolk and the ready Chief Justice Tresilian But this proved only a Journey through Wales and so about to Nottingham where they enter'd in private and black Consultations The first was to destroy the Lords and for that end summon'd the Sheriffs of every County and plainly asked them what they cou'd promise against the Lords if the King should require it Their Answers were for the most part That the People were very much satisfied in their Opinions That the Lords were lovers of their King and Country and therefore durst promise nothing in that matter The Tryal was then made to pack a Parliament by contriving Elections as the King should appoint But this received as cold a return To what a lose Hazard they had now reduced their King to attempt unsuccessfully to break by force or in a Legal way to make the Nation destroy it self The last was without question the most dangerous design force may enslave for little time but slavery by Law is like to endure longer but the People were not then couzen'd enough and indeed it must be the Concurrence of strange Accidents the fairness of an undiscover'd Dissimulation and the Opportunity embraced in the same Moment that must so infatuate the People as to make their Ruin their Choice The last attempt was design'd by surer means the Judges who kept and seem'd to deserve their Places for the Compliance of these were summoned the two Chief Justices Tresilian and Belknap with others and to them were put Queries which might comprehend the safety of the Ministers and the danger of all they pleased beside The Questions were to comprehend so large a Treason that it could not miss to find Traitors for by them resolved the very Constitution of the Nation was Treason The first four Queries concern'd the Duke of Suffolk most particularly and with him all Favourites For the Case was put Whether the Law it self and the Commission for his Tryal did not derogate from the Kings Authority and then how they were to be proceeded with that procured such a Law and how they were to be dealt with that provoked the King to assent to it The Fifth Question What they merited that oppos'd the Kings remitting or releasing Penalties or Debts due to him The sixth seventh eighth and ninth consisted of Questions Whether Parliaments could proceed upon any business but such as the King should propose and limit by Articles And whether the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament might accuse any of the King's Officers without his Leave The Tenth was singly for the Duke of Suffolk Whether the Judgment given in the last Parliament against him were Erroneous and Revocable 'T is improbable that such questions as these shou'd be propos'd to any Persons that had the Names of Justices unless there had been before a received assurance of the Answers they wou'd give Accordingly it appear'd for they returned not any answer doubtingly or modestly but determined all to be Treason and the Offenders worthy the death of Traytors The last Article they resolved with as much clearness viz. That the Proceedings and Judgment against the Duke of Suffolk
from the choice of a retired Condition with this Calmness in all this Storm of Fortune he spoke to the Commissioners beginning with their acknowledging those Errors that his Youth made ill Councellors capable to imprint in him and seem'd only troubled that he had not time allowed to repair those Injuries he had done the Nation knowing now from a clear sight that he was both willing and capable to have performed so happyan Action He now perceiv'd his own Virtues when the Vices of others could no longer hide them And he that could have once been so easily perswaded that he was shot at through his wounded Ministers now saw that 't was from them he receiv'd his Wounds he neither accused any nor complained of any nor valuing a Narrative and Empty Satisfaction but concluded with the choice of losing a Kingdom rather than engage it in Blood and Confusion for his Sake desiring only to enjoy that Peace which he merited for Reserving it for others and was as willing to resign his Title to the Duke of Lancaster as he perceiv'd they were willing to receive it from him After this he read the Instrument that was prepar'd and made two Bishops his Attorneys to declare that his Resignation in Parliament which was done the Monday after and accepted of by the Lords and Commons was Legal but yet this was not thought enough but a heavy Charge in many Articles was exhibited against him The Articles were too far from my purpose and too long to set down but whoever reads them in the Rolls will find them of much weight and as shrewdly compos'd as the Nature of the thing could either bear or require there was not an Injustice or Error omitted the chiefest things contained were those Actions by which his Favourites thought to secure themselves by subjecting all Judges and Sheriffs to his Will thereby to bring within his Power Parliaments and Law and make way to Levy Taxes as he pleased and it was a particular Article That he should say and declare That all Law lay in his Head and Breast These are the Extremities that proceed from the Counsels of such Men who have made themselves incapable to Share or Trust in the Common Good who knowing how little they could expect from the uninterrupted Methods of Law and Justice seek to preserve themselves by the Destruction of that which threatned them And 't were impossible that Princes should involve their own in the desperate Interest of others were they not first blinded from discerning the Ambition of those that hide it under the fierce Zeal for their Absolute Power The Articles which were 29. were owned by the Lords and Commons to be so notorious that they needed no further Examination or Proof And joined with the Consent of the King on whom they were charged It was judged sufficient for Deposing King Richard and Establishing the Duke of Lancaster by the Name of Henry the fourth adding also a far-fetch'd Title from Henry III. to patch up the seeming Justice of such an Action This Title was drawn from Edmund sirnamed Crookback eldest Son of Henry III. and that for his Deformity he was put by the Succession and given to Edward I. and the Duke of Lancaster was next of Blood by the Mothers side to this Edmund But this Edmund was third Son of Henry and not deformed at all but a brave Man in Person and Mind but the next Heir then to the Crown was Edmund Earl of March Son to Roger who was a little before slain in Ireland who seeing the Stream so violent against King Richard wisely retir'd and liv'd with all imaginable Care and Pruduce Thus was a Title invented to support that Power which the Sword had obtain'd And the King who by the Law is said to do no wrong is charg'd with Articles for doing all Thus when Ballances are once hoisted like Childrens play at Weighing the same Weight tosses one another that would of themselves hang equally nor is there any Judicature to compose such violent Disorders in a State for Success will be the Judg and always gives worst Judgment And the Professors of the divine and human Laws have been commonly zealously ready to find wrested Law and Divine Necessity to ratify the Success of the Ambitious On the other side when Princes by false Professions abuse the Good and increase in Power enough to encourage the Bad the eager Hounds they press to run at Head and lead the Cry that 's made by slower paced and more temperate Hunters till at last Fear and Necessity brings most to make up the Noise or by Silence not to interrupt it so that a general Consent seems to contribute to the designed Oppression And the naming a Right to Liberty and Property becomes an Intention of Rebellion The Prince's Will must then be the Law and his Religion the Devotion of all Loyal Subjects then those that have least Principles declare for the greatest Loyalty and by their Zeal and Duty pursue their Interest and Ambition And the search for Absolute Power is made by secret Reserves publick and false Professions Corrupting some and Terrifying others Deceiving many and upon specious Pretences displacing such as appear either suspecting the Designs or not as passionate as the rest in promoting them Yet when the Power is promoted and secur'd as the King was told his was when all Subjects lost their Names and like guilty Slaves signed Blanks as the Testimony of it Then appears what Machiavel describes in those times among the Romans When absolute Power was exercised Riches and Honour especially Virtue grew to be Capital Offences Informers and Calumniators rewarded Servants instigated against their Masters Children against their Parents guilty Men the Accusers and those few that were so unhappy to have no Enemies destroyed by their Friends And all dissembled Cruelties and Oppressions break forth into publick and bare-faced Practice That which before was declared to be the Government must then be call'd the support of it Ill Designs grow by Degrees but when their cherish'd Roots have took a deep and firm hold they are then declared by the mischievous Fruit they put forth Modesty seldom stays with full grown Power and the former Reputation of Men is useless to them In such a Change they must purchase new Characters from new Violences to merit Trust or Safety King Richard having now as far as he could resign'd his Sovereign Power began to find how much he was mistaken with the hopes of enjoying that retir'd Peace which he seem'd willing to change his Crown for Fortune commonly makes haste in the Prosperity or Adversity of Princes and there is a reasonable Cause why neither should be slow for the base Minds of Men hurry them to assist the Successful and help to destroy the Vnfortunate led always more by Fear and Interest than Resolution and Virtue This Truth appear'd in the Condition of this unhappy King whose Title that was left him was first shar'd by his
Enemies and he then convey'd from the Tower of London to Leeds Castle in Kent and from thence to Pomfret Castle in Yorkshire for some little time there seem'd to be paid him some small Respects in the manner of his Attendance but that was but the Counterfeit Treatinf of the Shadow of a King which yet probably made him uneasy who enjoyed the Substantial Power For it is reported by some That King Henry should one day with a deep Sigh Deplore and Lament That neither he nor the Nation had a Friend that would pull up that Root from which Disquiets and Rebellion could only Spring 'T is probable that the Bishop of Carlisle's Oration arguing at that time against the Right of King Richard's being depos'd and the Right of Henry to succeed to the Crown and some Plots and Risings that afterwards happen'd might perhaps hasten the taking away the unfortunate Prince from all his Miseries but whether the King gave particular Orders or Encouragement by such words is uncertain but there never wanted Men barbarous enough to offer cruel Sacrifices to bloody Power and for the hopes of Favour and Reward rather guess what Mischief would be acceptable than stay to be instructed that their Merits might seem to be enlarged by their readiness in Villany Some of these Causes made Sir Peirce Exton with eight other Villains hasten to Pomfret as if he feared he should be depriv'd of the Honour of the Action when he arriv'd the Preface to the intended Cruelty was the forbearance of that Ceremony of Tasting that was usually paid King Richard as he sat at Dinner who demanded the Reason of it He that used to perform it answer'd That Sir Peirce Exton had brought such Orders from King Henry at which the King seem'd so much transported that he Struck at him and call'd him Huzzy of Lancaster at which time Sir Peirce Exton with his bloody Followers entred and shut the Door after him which being perceiv'd by the King he verily guessed their fatal Intentions and seeming less surprized in this great and threatning Danger than in all the former tho lesser Hazards he readily and boldly snatched a Halbert and with a Resolution differing from his former Actions Slew four of the Assassinates and with continued Bravery fought with the rest till the chief Villain Exton got upon a Chair behind him and with a Pole-Ax struck him down where the unfortunate King ended all his Calamities and left the Murderer to endure future Torments For when he returned again expecting great Preferments and Rewards he found himself deceiv'd not only in the hopes of an Addition of Favour but in the Loss of what he had not considering that tho a Man might be Ill enough to wish a Mischief he hardly could be so confidently Bad as publickly to Reward the Doer of it that counterfeit Piece of Justice was probably shewed by the King to seem at least to hate what he wish't by Discountenancing the Actor of the Ill who now began by Discontent to make way for a punishing Conscience which continued him in Torments during his short and miserable Life and left an Infamy to outlive him It is observable that in the two greatest Exigencies of this Prince's Life he appear'd differing from himself one in Resignation of his Crown the other in the Loss of his Life the first he did with a steady Calmness almost above the Temper of a Man the last with a Courage equal to the Bravest in smaller Concerns he seem'd unsteady and amaz'd in these great ones firm and unconcern'd but in these Extremities he was not cloy'd with those Favourites and Ministers that influenc'd him with their Weakness and shook his Mind with their Indirectness making not only their Cause to be his but his Nature theirs This seem'd justified by his Behaviour in these last and greatest Extremities when acting wholly from himself he intitled himself at last to his Father's and Grandfather's the Black Prince's Courage and Virtue and shew'd himself Dying what they never gave him leave to appear Living THE COMPARISON HAving now finished with some Reflections on the chief Accidents in the Reigns of Edward and Richard II. and believing it to be too tedious to take the same Methods with Edward I. and Edward III. I thought it was not improper to Extract their Characters that by the Comparison of them all the reasonable Causes may further appear of the unhappy Condition of the two first and the prosperous Fortunes of the two others which will shew the fatal and mighty Difference in a Prince's using himself and being used by others between the steddiness of a strong Mind and the indirectness of a weak one Edward I. and Edward III. resembled one another Edward and Richard II. were also alike So that their Comparisons may be made as if between Two Persons which will shew the Causes of the mighty Differences that succeeded with them Edward I. and Edward III. came both to the Crown after it had been shaken by the Errors of both their Fathers Henry III. and Henry II. Edward and Richard II. came both to the Crown after it had been setled by the Virtues and Valour of the Father and Grandfather Edward I. and Edward III. Edward I. and Edward III. were both Men Earlier than others and Victorious before others used to attempt Victory So that before they were Kings they shew'd how fit they were to be so Edward and Richard II. never appear'd Men till they were to be so no more They never attempted true Glory and before they were Kings gave little Testimony of their fitness to be so Edward I. and Edward III. were able to Judge yet never unwilling to hear the Judgment of others They were deliberate in resolving but firm in their Resolutions unshaken in Dangers steddy and equal in Safety Their Promises were Mankind's Security and Truth their Wisdom Their great Virtues and Courage made the Nation expect Success from all their Actions Edward and Richard II. never appear'd able to Judge but wholly submitted to the interested Opinion of others They were inconstant in all Conditions in Prosperity bold and violent in Danger fearful and temperate Their Promises were no Security and Dissimulation was their Policy So that from such Methods of Government the Nation could expect no Success or Happiness Edward I. and Edward III. grew fierce by Opposition and gentle by Submission They seldom denied Pardon to those that implor'd it nor suffer'd any abused Mercy unrevenged They were Mighty enough to conquer Enemies and Powerful enough to forgive those they conquer'd They were equally Victorious both to Themselves and Others and those that submitted proved always more fortunate than those that resisted Edward and Richard II. were submissive when oppos'd and fierce when submitted to They always abus'd the Tenderness of others and seldom shew'd any of their own never forgiving where they had opportunity to punish They neither had Power nor Design to conquer Enemies but used both to overcome