them to their Duty by force of Arms. Both Houses show'd a Willingness to relieve the King's Wants and offer'd him a considerable Supply but with this Condition That their Grievances may be first redress'd which had swell'd up to a considerable Bulk since the last Dissolution Not only so but the Scots had Friends enough in the Parliament to hinder any great matter to be done against them and the greater part both of Lords and Commons were but little inclin'd to a War of Archbishop Laud's kindling The King being thus disappointed dissolv'd this Parliament as he had done the rest when they had scarce sat a Month and made what shifts he could to raise a new Army against the Scots They upon the other hand being resolv'd not to be behind in their Preparations enter'd into England with a numerous Army compos'd for the most part of Veteran Officers and Troops that had serv'd in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus and taking Berwick and Newcastle push'd their way as far as Durham King Charles came in Person to York and there found himself inviron'd with perplexing Difficulties on all hands The Nobility and Gentry that attended him express'd on all occasions their dislike of the Cause and the War they were engag'd in The Scots stood firm to their ground being flesh'd with Success And the King was follow'd from the South with Petitions from the City of London from several Counties and from a considerable Number of Lords desiring him to call a Parliament as the only effectual Means to quiet the Minds of the People and compose the present War without Bloodshed To extricate himself out of this Labyrinth King Charles summon'd the Great Council of Peers to meet at York to consult what was fit to be done in this Juncture who advis'd him unanimously to enter into a Treaty with the Scots at Rippon and to summon a Parliament to meet at Westminster with both which Advices the King comply'd and immediately issu'd out Writs for a Parliament to sit down in November 1640. and adjourn'd the Treaty with the Scots to London No Age ever produc'd Greater Men than those that sat in this Parliament They had sufficient Abilities and Inclinations to have render'd the â—â—ing and their Countrey happy if England had not been through a Chain of concurring Accidents ripen'd for destruction At their sitting down The Parliament 1641. a Scene of Grievances under which the Nation had long groan'd was laid open and all Topicks made use of to paint them out in liveliest Colours The many Cruelties and Illegal Practices of the Star-Chamber and High-Comission-Court that had alienated Peoples Minds from the Hierarchy were now insisted on to throw down those two Arbitrary Tribunals and with them in some time after the Bishops out of the House of Peers and at length Episcopacy it self out of the Church It was not a few of either House but indeed all the Great Patriots that concurr'd at first to make Enquiry into the Grievances of this Reign Sir Edward Hyde afterwards Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellor of England the Lord Digby the Lord Falkland the Lord Capell Mr. Grimstone who was chosen afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons that brought in King Charles the Second and was Master of the Rolls Mr. Hollis since Lord Hollis all which suffer'd afterwards on the King's side and in general most of those that took the King's part in the succeeding War were the Men that appear'd with the greatest Zeal for the Redress of Grievances and made the sharpest Speeches upon those Subjects The Intentions of those Gentlemen were certainly Noble and Just and tended to the equal advantage of King and People But the Fate of England urg'd on its own Ruin step by step till an open Rupture between the King and Parliament made the Gap too wide ever to be made up again Sir Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford and Dr. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury had too great a share in the Ministry to escape being Censur'd and they were the first that felt the effects of a Popular Hatred These two Gentlemen and Iames Duke of Hamilton first advis'd King Charles to call this Parliament and all Three fell by it though not at the same time The Earl of Strafford was a Gentleman of extraordinary Parts The Fall and Character of the Earl of Strafford a great Orator and yet a greater Statesman He made a considerable Figure in the first Three Parliaments of King Charles and no man appear'd with greater Zeal against Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage and other Taxes illegally impos'd upon the Subject The Court bought him off and preferr'd him to great Honours and Places which lost him his former Friends and made the Breach irreconcilable There had been a long and intimate Friendship betwixt Mr. Pym and him and they had gone hand in hand in every thing in the House of Commons But when Sir Thomas Wentworth was upon making his Peace with the Court he sent to Pym to meet him alone at Greenwich where he began in a set Speech to sound Mr. Pym about the Dangers they were like to run by the Courses they were in and what Advantages they might have if they would but listen to some Offers would probably be made them from the Court Pym understanding his drift stopt him short with this expression You need not use all this Art to tell me that you have a mind to leave us But remember what I tell you You are going to be undone But remember That though you leave us now I will never leave you while your Head is upon your Shoulders He was as good as his word for it was Pym that first accus'd him of High Treason in the House of Commons he carried up his Impeachment to the House of Lords and was the chief Manager of his Tryal and Bill of Attainder There never was a more solemn Trial than that of the Earl of Strafford whether we consider the Accusers or the Person accus'd the Accusation or the Defence As in every thing else so in this more particularly he express'd a wonderful Presence of Mind and a vast Compass of Thought with such nervous and moving Flights of Eloquence as came nothing short of the most celebrated Pieces of Antiquity This did manifestly appear from his summing up the long Answer he made ex tempore to every one of the Articles against him with this Pathetick Conclusion My Lords said he I have troubled you longer than I should have done were it not for the Interest of these dear Pledges a Saint in Heaven hath left me At this word he stopt pointing to his Children that stood by him and dropt some Tears then went on What I forfeit for my self in nothing but that my Indiscretion should extend to my Posterity woundeth me to the very Soul You will pardon my Infirmity something I should have added but am not able therefore let it pass And now my Lords for my self I have been by the Blessing
Yatchts were waiting to Transport some Person of Quality without mentioning who it was or whither bound The Romish Party that manag'd about Court were observ'd to be more than ordinary diligent and busy up and down Whitehall and St. Iames's as if some very important Affair was in agitation and a new and unusual Concern was to be seen on their Countenances Nor was it any wonder for in this suspected Change they were like to be the only Losers and all their teeming Hopes were in a fair way to be disappointed How far the Principles of some of that Party might leave them at liberty to push on their Revenge for this design'd Affront as well as to prevent the Blow that threaten'd them though without the Privacy much less the Consent of the Duke of York is left to the Reader to judge There was a Foreign Minister that some days before the King fell ill order'd his Steward to buy a considerable Parcel of Black Cloth which serv'd him and his Retinue after for Mourning And the late Ambassador Don Pedro Ranquillor made it no Secret that he had a Letter from Flanders the Week before King Charles died that took notice of his Death as the News there But both these might fall out by mere Accident There remains two things more that deserve some Consideration in this matter When his Body was open'd there was not sufficient time given for taking an exact Observation of his Stomach and Bowels which one would think ought chiefly to have been done considering the violent Pains he had there And when a certain Physician seem'd to be more inquisitive than ordinary about the Condition of those Parts he was taken aside and reprov'd for his needless Curiosity In the next place his Body stunk so extremely within a few Hours after his Death notwithstanding the Coldness of the Season that the People about him were extremely offended with the Smell Which is a thing very extraordinary in one of his strong and healthful Constitution and is not a proper Consequent of a mere Apoplectical Distemper There was some Weight laid upon an Accident that fell out at Windsor some Years before his Death For the King drinking more liberally than usual after the Fatigue of Riding he retir'd to the next Room and wrapping himself up in his Cloak fell aslep upon a Couch He was but a little time come back to the Company when a Servant belonging to one of them lay down upon the same Couch in the King's Cloak and was found stabb'd dead with a Ponyard Nor was it ever known how it happen'd but the matter hush'd up and no Enquiry made about it To conclude Dr. Short who was a Man of great Probity and Learning and a Roman-Catholick made no scruple to declare his Opinion to some of his intimate Friends That he believ'd King Charles had foul Play done him And when he came to dye himself express'd some suspicion that he had met with the same Treatment for opening his mind too freely in that Point So much for the Circumstances of King Charles's Death that seem to have an Ill Aspect There are others that seem to destroy all Suspicions of Treachery in the matter As First He had liv'd so fast as might enervate in a great measure the Natural Force of his Constitution and exhaust his Animal Spirits and therefore he might be more subject to an Apoplexy which is a Disease that weakens and locks up these Spirits from performing their usual Functions And though in his later Years he had given himself more up to the Pleasures of Wine than of Women that might rather be the effect of Age than of Choice Next it 's known he had been once or twice attack'd before with Fits that much resembled those of which he afterwards died And yet as the manner of them is told they look rather to have been Convulsive Motions than an Apoplexy seeing they were attended with violent Contorsions of his Face and Convulsions of his whole Body and Limbs This is the more confirm'd by a Passage that happen'd during the Heat of the Popish Plot. King Charles had some secret Matter to manage at that time by the means of a Romish Priest then beyond Sea whom he order'd to be privately sent for And the Gentleman employ'd betwixt the King and him from whom I had the Story was directed to bring him in a Disguise to Whitehall The King and the Priest were a considerable time together alone in the Closet and the Gentleman attended in the next Room At last the Priest came out with all the marks of Fright and Astonishment in his Face and having recover'd himself a little he told the Gentleman That he had run the greatest Risque ever man did for while he was with the King his Majesty was suddenly surpriz'd with a Fit accompanied with violent Convulsions of his Body and Contorsions of his Face which lasted for some Moments and when he was going to call out for help the King held him by force till it was over and then bid him not to be afraid for he had been troubled with the like before the Priest adding what a condition he would have been in considering his Religion and the present Juncture of Affairs if the King had died of that Fit and no body in the Room with him besides himself But leaving this Story to the Credit of the Priest there might be another Natural Cause assign'd for King Charles's falling into such a Fit as that of which he died which is this He had had for some time an Issue in his Leg which run much and consequently must have made a great Revulsion from his Head upon which account it 's probable it was made A few Weeks before his Death he had let it be dried up contrary to the Advice of his Physicians who told him it would prejudice his Health Their Prognostick was partly true in this that there came a painful Tumor upon the place where the Issue had been which prov'd very obstinate and was not thoroughly heal'd up when he died In fine it is agreed on all hands that King Charles express'd no Suspicion of his being poyson'd during all the time of his Sickness Though it must be also observed that his Fits were so violent that he could not speak when they were upon him and show'd an Aversion to speaking during the Intervals And there was not any thing to be seen upon opening his Body that could reasonably be attributed to the force of Poyson Yet to allow these Considerations no more weight than they can well bear this must be acknowledg'd That there are Poysons which affect originally the Animal Spirits and are of so subtle a nature that they leave no concluding Marks upon the Bodies of those they kill Thus Reign'd The Character of King Charles II. and thus Died King Charles the Second a Prince endow'd with all the Qualities that might justly have rendred him the Delight of Mankind and entitled him
Charles Stuart and the whole Line of the late King James and of every other person as a single person pretending to the Government of these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging And that I will by the grace and assistance of Almighty God be true faithful and constant to this Commonwealth against any King single person and House of Peers and every of them and hereunto I subscribe my Name NUMB. XII King James the IId's promising Speech to the Parliament May 30. 1685. My Lords and Gentlemen I Thank you very heartily for the Bill you have presented me this Day and I assure you the Readiness and Chearfulness that hath attended the Dispatch of it is as acceptable to me as the Bill it self After so happy a beginning you may believe I would not call upon you unnecessarily for an extraordinary Supply But when I tell you the Stores of the Navy are extreamly exhausted That the Anticipations upon several Branches of the Revenue are great and burthensome and the Debts of the King my Brother to his Servants and Family are such as deserve Compassion That the Rebellion in Scotland without putting more Weight upon it than it really deserves must oblige me to a considerable Expence extraordinary I am sure such Considerations will move you to give me an Aid to provide for those things wherein the Security the Ease and the Happiness of my Government are so much concern'd But above all I must recommend to you the Care of the Navy the Strength and Glory of this Nation That you will put it into such a Condition as will make us considerable and respected abroad I cannot express my Concerns upon this occasion more suitable to my own Thoughts of it than by assuring you I have a true English Heart as jealous of the Honour of the Nation as you can be And I please my self with the hopes that by God's Blessing and your Assistance I may carry its Reputation yet higher in the World than ever it has been in the time of any of my Ancestors And as I will not call upon you for Supplies but when they are of publick Use and Advantage so I promise you That what you give me upon such Occasions shall be managed with good Husbandry And I will take care it shall be employed to the Uses for which I ask them NUMB. XIII Two Remarkable Letters of a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England relating to King Iames's precedeing Speech Translated from the Originals Paris June 29. 1685. Monsieur THE Copy of his B. M.'s Speech to the Parliament inclos'd in yours of the 9 th Instant S. V. affords sufficient matter of thoughts here It is of a strain that looks quite contrary to what we expected or what you your self in yours of the 11 th of the last Month made us believe it would be The King can scarce believe there is any Change in the Affections of that Prince towards him And yet knows not what to make of that new Manner of expressing himself on so publick an Occasion If he and his Parliament come to a cordial Trust in one another it may probably change all the Measures we have been so long concerting for the Glory of our Monarch and the Establishment of the Catholick Religion For my own part I hope the Accession of a Crown has not lessen'd the Zeal that on all occasions appear'd in him when but Duke of York Nor will the King 's inviolable attachment to the Interest of the Duke in the most difficult Emergents permit him now when King to forget his Obligations and Engagements to him There is better things to be hop'd for from one that has run so great hazards upon the account of his Religion and who has so often express'd his Resentments of the good turns the King did him in his Brother's Life-time Yet it 's fit you take all possible care to search into the Motives and Advisers of this Speech And I am commanded to tell you That this is one of the greatest pieces of Service you can do his Majesty in this Iuncture There are not wanting some here that would attribute it to a Change in the King of England's Inclinations and they pretend to have Hints of it from some about his Person What truth is in this Suggestion you are to spare nothing to find out If the Parliament come once to settle a Revenue upon him such as may put him out of our Reverence your Business there will be the more difficult to manage for doubtless he must have Ambition and likewise a desire to please a Nation who had but an ill opinion of him before And nothing can be more taking with them than a Breach with us It will be strange indeed if in the Death of King Charles France has chang'd for the worse But whatever others fear I must once more confess for my self That I am of the same Opinion I was always of even that we must necessarily gain by the Change Your Bills are sent this Post. Nothing can be more earnestly recommended to you in his Majesty's Name than a narrow Enquiry into this Affair by Monsieur Your most humble Servant The other runs thus Iuly 8. 1694. Monsieur IT 's unlucky that hitherto you have not been able to find out what we are to expect from this Change in England In yours of the 13 th of the last Month S. V. you seem to call in question that King's Inclinations to the Common Cause and you surprize us with your Fears that he may come to forget his Obligations to the King With the same Post we receiv'd better News from a sure Hand yet you are to watch as narrowly as if your Fears were well grounded There is a great matter in dependance with relation to the Edict of Nants which must not be declar'd till that King's Inclinations be fully known And yet there is nothing in the world the King desires more eagerly to see done than it if once it might be done safely Receive inclos'd an Answer to every one of your Queries which make use of as occasion offers Only the last is referr'd to your own discretion it depending entirely upon your own knowledge of the Person If he can be brought in it will be a notable piece of Service Much may be known by enquiring exactly how the Prince of Orange stands in the King's Affections and how the Ministers are affected towards him For the Hollanders in general he seem'd on all occasions neither to love nor fear them nothing has fallen out of late to alter his mind On Friday Monsieur Less comes off who is to show you his Dispatches and you are to act in concert with him I am NUMB. XIV Some Passages out of the Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-Book that was seiz'd about him in the West An ORIGINAL L. Came to me at Eleven at Night from 29. Octob. 13. Told me 29 could never be brought to
continue yet so as to pinion him with Two of their own sort that might out-vote him upon occasion The Administration of Justice and the Laws being in such hands it was no wonder that the poor Protestants in Ireland wish'd rather to have had no Laws at all and be left to their Natural Defence than be cheated into the necessity of submitting to Laws that were executed only to punish and not to protect them Under such Judges the Roman-Catholicks had a glorious time and be their Cause never so unjust they were sure to carry it When the Lord Chancellor did not stick on all occasions and sometimes upon the Bench to declare That the Protestants were all Rogues and that among Forty thousand of them there was not one that was not a Traytor a Rebel and a Villain The Supreme Courts being thus fill'd up it was but reasonable all other Courts should keep pace with them In the Year 1687. there was not a Protestant Sheriff in the whole Kingdom except one and he put in by mistake for another of the same Name that was a Roman-Catholick Some few Protestants were continued in the Commission of the Peace but they were render'd useless and insignificant being over-power'd in every thing by the greater Number of Papists join'd in Commission with them and those for the most part of the very Scum of the People and a great many whose Fathers had been executed for Theft Robbery or Murther The Privy-Council of Ireland is a great part of the Constitution and has considerable Privileges and Power annex'd to it This was likewise so modell'd that the Papists made the Majority and those few that were Protestants chose for the most part to decline appearing at the Board since they could do those of their Religion no service The great Barrier of the Peoples Liberties both in England and Ireland being their Right to chuse their own Representatives in Parliament The Regulating the Corporations in Ireland which being once taken away they become Slaves to the Will of their Prince The Protestants in Ireland finding a necessity of securing this Right in their own hands had procur'd many Corporations to be founded and had built many Corporate Towns upon their own Charges from all which the Roman Catholicks were by their Charters excluded This Barrier was broken through at one stroke by dissolving all the Corporations in the Kingdom upon Quo Warranto's brought into the Exchequer Court and that without so much as the least shadow of Law Hereupon New Charters were granted and fillâ—d up chiefly with Papists and men of desperate or no Fortunes And a Clause was inserted in every one of them which subjected them to the Absolute Will of the King by which it was put in the Power of the chief Governor to turn out and put in whom he pleas'd without showing a Reason or any formal Trial at Law The Protestant Clergy felt upon all occasions the weight of Tyrconnel's Wrath. The Severities against the Protestant Clergy The Priests began to declare openly That the Tythes belong'd to them and forbad their people under the pain of Damnation to pay them to the Protestant Incumbents This past afterwards into an Act of Parliament by which not only all Tythes payable by Papists were given to their own Priests but likewise a way was found out to make the Popish Clergy capable of enjoying the Protestants Tythes Which was thus If a Protestant happen'd to be possess'd of a Bishoprick a Dignity or other Living he might not by this new Act demand any Tythes or Ecclesiastical Dues from any Roman-Catholick and as soon as his Preferment became void by Death Cession or Absence a Popish Bishop or Clergy-man was put into his Place And the Act was so express that there needed no more to oblige all men to repute and deem a man to be a Roman-Catholick Bishop or Dean of any place but the King 's signifying him to be so under his Privy Signet or Sign Manual As soon as any one came to be thus entitled to a Bishoprick Deanry or Living immediately all the Tythes as well of Protestants as Papists became due to him with all the Glebes and Ecclesiastical Dues The only great Nursery of Learning in Ireland 〈…〉 is the Vniversity of Dublin consisting of a Provost Seven Senior and Nine Junior Fellows and Seventy Scholars who are partly maintain'd by a Yearly Salary out of the Exchequer This Salary the Earl of Tyrconnel stopt merely for their not admitting into a vacant Fellowship contrary to their Statutes and Oaths a Vicious Ignorant Person who was a New Convert Nor could he be prevail'd with by any Intercession or Intreaty to remove the Stop by which in effect he dissolv'd the Foundation and shut up the Fountain of Learning and Religion This appear'd more plainly afterwards to have been his Design for it was not thought enough upon King Iames's Arrival to take away their Maintenance but they were further prâ—ceeded against and the Vicepresident 〈◊〉 and Scholars all turn'd out their Furniture Library and Commuâ—â—on-Plate seiz'd and every thing that belong'd to the College and to the private Fellows and Scholars taken away All this was done notwithstanding that when they waited upon King Iames at his first Arrival at Dublin he was pleas'd to promise them That he would preserve them in their Liberties and Properties and rather augment than diminish the Privileges and Immunities that had been granted them by his Predecessors In the House they plac'd a Garison and turn'd the Chappel into a Magazine and the Chambers into Prisons for the Protestants One More a Popish Priest was made Provost and one Mackarty also a Priest was made Library-keeper and the whole design'd for them and their Fraternity One Archbishoprick and several Bishopricks and a great many-other Dignities and Livings of the Church were designedly kept vacant and the Revenues first paid into the Exchequer and afterwards dispos'd of to Titular Bishops and Priests while in the mean time the Cures lay neglected so that it appear'd plainly that the Design was to destroy the Succession of Protestant Clergymen At length things came to that height after King Iames was in Ireland that most of the Churches in and about Dublin were seiz'd upon by the Government and at last Lutterell Governor of Dublin issued out his Order Appendix Numb 22. mention'd in the Appendix Forbidding more than Five Protestants to meet together under pain of Death Being ask'd whether this was design'd to hinder meeting in Churches He answer'd It was design'd to hinder their meeting there as well as in other places And accordingly all the Churches were shut up and all Religious Assemblies through the whole Kingdom forbidden under the pain of Death It were endless to enumerate all the Miseries that Reverend Author mentions The Act of Attainder in Ireland which the Protestants of Ireland suffer'd in the Reign of King Iames But to give a decisive Blow there was an Act of
That the prayers of your Petition are grounded upon such premisses as We must in no wise admit yet notwithstanding we are pleased to give this Answer to you To the first concerning Religion consisting of several branches we say That for the preserving the peace and safety of this Kingdom from the designs of the Popish party we have and will still concur with all the just desires of our people in a Parliamentary way That for the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament We would have you consider that their right is grounded upon the fundamental Law of the Kingdom and constitution of Parliament This we would have you consider but since you desire our concurrence herein in a Parliamentary way we will give no further answer at this time As for the abridging of the inordinate power of the Clergy we conceive that the taking away of the High-Commission Court hath well moderated that but if there continue any Usurpations or Excesses in their Jurisdictions we therein neither have nor will protect them Unto that Clause which concerneth Corruptions as you stile them in Religion in Church-government and in Discipline and the removing of such unnecessary Ceremonies as weak Consciences might cheque at That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in we shall willingly concur in the removal of them That if our Parliament shall advise us to call a National Synod which may duly examine such Ceremonies as give just cause of offence to any we shall take it into consideration and apply our self to give due satisfaction therein But we are very sorry to hear in such general terms Corruption in Religion objected since we are perswaded in our conscience that no Church can be found upon the earth that professeth the true Religion with more purity of Doctrine than the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are joyntly more beautified and free from Superstition than as they are here established by Law which by the grace of God we will with constancy maintain while we live in their Purity and Glory not only against all invasions of Popery but also from the irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatisâ—s wherewith of late this Kingdom and this City abounds to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppression of whom we require your timely aid and active assistance To the second prayer of the Petition concerning the removal and choice of Councellors we know not any of our Council to whom the Character set forth in the Petition can belong That by those whom we had exposed to trial we have already given you sufficient testimony that there is no man so near unto us in place or affection whom we will not leave to the Justice of the Law if you shall bring a particular charge and sufficient proofs against him and of this we do again assure you but in the mean time we wish you to forbear such general aspersions as may reflect upon all our Council since you name none in particular That for the choice of our Councellors and Ministers of State it were to debar us that natural liberty all Freemen have and it is the undoubted right of the Crown of England to call such persons to our Secret Councils to publick employment and our particular service as we shall think fit so we are and ever shall be very careful to make election of such persons in those places of trust as shall have given good testimonies of their abilities and integrity and against whom there can be no just cause of exception whereon reasonably to ground a diffidence and to choices of this nature we assure you that the mediation of the nearest unto us hath always concurred To the third Prayer of your Petition concerning Ireland we understand your desire of not alienating the forfeited Lands thereof to proceed from your much care and love And likewise that it may be a Resolution very fit for us to take but whether it be seasonable to declare Resolutions of that nature before the events of a War be seen that we much doubt of Howsoever we cannot but thank you for this care and your chearful ingagement for the suppression of that Rebellion upon the speedy effecting thereof the glory of God in the Protestant Profession the safety of the British there our honour and that of the Nation so much depends all the Interests of this Kingdom being so involved in that business we cannot but quicken your affections therein and shall desire you to frame your Councils and to give such expedition to the work as the nature thereof and the pressures in point of time requires and whereof you are put in mind by the daily insolence and encrease of those Rebels For Conclusion your promise to apply your selves to such courses as may support our Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home and with Power and Reputation abroad is that which we have ever promised our self botâ— from your Loyalties and Affections and also for what we have already done and shall daily go adding unto for the comfort and happiness of our People His Majesties Declaration to all His loving Subjects Published with the advice of His Privy Council ALthough we do not believe that our House of Commons intended by their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom to put us to any Apology either for our past or present Actions Notwithstanding since they have thought it so very necessary upon their Observation of the present Distemper to publish the same for the satisfaction of all our loving Subjects We have thought it very suitable to the duty of our place with which God hath trusted us to do our part to so good a work in which we shall not think it below our Kingly dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the affections of our meanest Subjects since we are so conscious to our self of such upright Intentions and endeavours and only of such for which we give God thanks for the peace and happiness of our Kingdom in which the prosperity of our Subjects must be included that we wish from our heart that even our most secret thoughts were published to their view and examâ—nation Though we must confess we cannot but be very sorry in this conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many particulars from which we pray no inconveniences may ensue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible expressions And that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of our people Of which we shall only say thus much That as we have not refused to pass any Bill
eaque quibus nunc frueris bona et si post ingens à Te pretiumâ— persolutum Tibi reddita fuerint non à Te coempta arbitrabitur sed quadam Superum prodigentiâ dona data Tibi demum gratulor praestantissime Orator quod tam faustum diem videris in Anglia detuleris in Vrbem Nam de Sapientia Tuâ quâ per eruditissimos libros Haeresim profligasti nihil attinet dicere nihil de Fortitudine quâ Carceres ipsos pro Catholica Religione tuenda non tam pertulisti quà m decorasti nil de Prudentia Nobilitate caeterisque dotibus Tuis Hoc unum universa Tua decora comprehendit quod ad maximum totius Regni negotium hoc est ut splendidissimâ— fungereris apud Innocentium P. M. legatione Iacobus II. Magnae Britanniae Rex maximus Te unum elegit quia unus dignus erat eligi alter eligere The Speech of the Rector of the College of Iesuits to his Excellency Roger Earl of Castlemain SIR YOU must not think this College alone can be mute and if they could their Silence must be a Crime at a Time when this City is filled with Vniversal Ioy upon the News of your Excellency's Arrival and all Places resound the Praises of James the Second and the Obligations the Catholick Church has to that Illustrious Prince I in the Name of this Learned Body do in the first place congratulate thee Innocent in whose Reign this flourishing Imperial Crown is added to the Papal Diadem It is now your Holiness can properly use that Apostolick Expression My Joy and my Crown Heaven has deferr'd this happy Day thus long That so great a Blessing might not be obtained without long and unwearied Prayers and at last effected when Two such Princes as James and Innocent should concur to reign the one in England and the other in Rome What a Support have all Catholick Kings gained by this Accession What an Honour has the Orthodox Faith receiv'd and what a Defence against the Enemies of the Name of Christ The Thunder of his Invincible Fleet will strike greater Terror into the Pyrates of Barbary and the Levant than Storms and Waves can do How highly blest art Thou O Britain Empress of the Ocean once secluded from the Earth now Mistress of the Commerce of the Eastern and Western World What Prosperity may'st thou not hope for under the Reign of so Excellent a Prince Raise thy Hopes Raise thy Courage and banish all unjust and unseasonable Fears I have no Inclination at this time to recount those Disasters and Calamities which England has been the Theatre for above an Age past to the Grief and Astonishment of the rest of the World But if Providence has made these the Steps for James the Second to mount the Throne I can hardly refrain declaring how cheaply thou hast purchased so great a Blessing It is certain their present Happiness will create Envy in succeeding Times and however dear it has cost them Posterity will esteem it more the Bounty and Profusion of Heaven than a Recompence of their Sufferings In the last place I must congratulate your Excellency who has first seen this happy Day at home and has next been the Messenger to bring it hither I shall not here presume to praise your Great Wisdom your Learned Writings against Heresy that steady Courage you have shewn in those many Prisons you have honour'd for your Zeal to the True Religion your prudent Conduct or your other extraordinary Qualities All these are summ'd up in one and your Character is in fine compleated by the Choice your Great Master has made of you to sustain the most considerable Affair of his Kingdom The present Glorious Embassy In which all the World must own Him to be the most competent Iudge and You the fittest Person NUMB. XIX The Answer of the Vice President and Fellows of Magdalen-College Oxon before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Why they could not in Conscience comply with the King's Mandate THE said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answered and said That the said Colledge of St. Mary Magdalen in Oxon is a Body Corporate governed by Local Statutes granted and confirmed to them by His Majesty's Royal Predecessor King Henry the 6th for Him and His Heirs and Successors under the Great Seal of England which are also since confirmed by several other Letters Patents of others of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors under the Great Seal of England That by the said Statutes of the College to the observation of which each Fellow is sworn it is ordered That the Person elected President thereof shall be a Man of good Life and Reputation approved Understanding and good Temper Discreet Provident and Circumspect both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs And at the time of Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said Statutes to take an Oath that they shall nominate none to that office but such as are or have been Fellows of the said Colledge or of New-Colledge in Oxon or if they are not actually Fellows at that time of Election that they be such as have left their Fellowships in their respective Colledges upon credible accounts And when two qualified persons shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all the Fellows to the said Office of President the thirteen Seniors also swear that they will Elect one of them whom in their Consciences they think most proper and sufficient most discreet most useful and best qualified for the Place without any regard to love hatred favour or fear And every Fellow when he is first admitted into his Fellowship in the said Colledge swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Colledge and every thing therein contained so far as does or may concern him according to the plain literal and grammatical sense and meaning thereof and as much as in him lies will cause the same to be kept and observed by others and that he will not procure any Dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oath or any part thereof nor contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which it relates or any of them nor will he endeavour that such Dispensations shall be procured by any other or others publickly or privately directly or indirectly And if it shall happen that any Dispensation of this sort of whatsoever Authority it shall be whether in general or particular or under what form of Words soever it be granted that he will neither make use of it nor in any sort consent thereunto That upon Notice of the Death of Dr. Clark Late President of the said Colledge the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order to the appointing a day for the Election of a new President and the 13th of April was the time prefix'd with power to proâ—ogue the same as they should see cause till the 15th beyond which time they could not statutably defer their Election and in