by him for a constant Memorial The Life of GEORGE VILLERS Duke of Buckingham TAll Cedars are shaken with the wind when the humble shrub rests secure Envy strikes not at the lowly person her aim is evermore at the tallest How vain then is that man who enjoying the quiet of a retired life ambitiously hunts after honour How few Favorites go to the grave in peace Histories make mention and this Age can testify this truth will be too sadly instanced in the late Lord Duke of Buckingham who from the mean estate of a private Gentleman being raised to the highest pitch of honour a subject could be capable of came at last to an untimely end His first rise began at the Earl of Somersets fall one upon whom King James had heaped many great favours for from the degree of a Knight he was first made Viscount Rochester next sworn a Privy Councellour then created Earl of Somerset and last of all made Lord Chamberlane But this serene Sky of favour was soon over-shadowed with Clouds by the Earls undeserving for having married the Lady Frances Howard Daughter to Thomas Earl of Suffolk and not long before divorced from the Earl of Essex the unfortunate Knight Sir Thomas Overbury for speaking against the match was by their procurement committed to the Tower and not long after poysoned as I have more at large treated of in his Life for which fact both the Lady and Earl were arraigned and condemned yet through the Kings great clemency had their lives spared but were for ever banisht his presence This great Favorite being thus disgusted King James who would not long be without an alter idem or Bosom-friend took into special regard as I have intimated Master George Villers a Gentleman of a good extraction but a younger Brother and finding him susceptible and of good form moulded him Platonically to his own Idea And that he might be a fit companion for a King raised him in honour next to himself yet not all at once but by degrees making him first a Knight and Gentleman of his Bed-chamber soon after a Viscount and Master of the Horse a while after erected Earl of Buckingham then Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral King James having thus hardened and pollished him about ten years in the School of observance for so a Court is and in the furnace of tryal about himself for he was a King that could peruse men as well as books he made him the Associate of his Heir Apparent together with the Lord Cottington an adjunct of singular experience and trust in forreign travel and in a business of love and of no equal hazard enough to kindle affection even between the distantest conditions so as by various and inward conversation abroad besides that before and after at home with the most constant and best natured Prince bana si sua nocint that ever any Nation enjoyed this Duke which last title was conferred on him in Spain now becomes seized of reiterated favour as it were by descent though the condition of that state commonly be no more then a tenancy at will or at most for the life of the first Lord and rarely transmitted it being a kinde of wonder to see favour hereditary yet in him it proved far otherwise as one writes The King loves you you him both love the same You love the King he you both Buck-in-game Of sport the King loves game of game the Buck Of all men you why you why see your luck And although it be ever the perpetual lot of those who are of choicest admission into Princes favours to feel as strong stroaks of envy and ill will from beneath as they do beams of grace and favour from above the Princes love procuring the peoples hate this Duke contrarily found their affection so great towards him that in open Parliament the generality honoured him with no lesser acclamation then the preserver of his Countrey But what odde turns are in the passions of men and how little time continue their affections may appear in this those very men in a Parliament holden the first year of King Charles accusing him as the onely cause of all bad events which happened in the Common-Wealth drew up a charge of thirteen Articles against him the Prologue whereof expressing the prodigious greatness of this Duke the influence of whose power this ensuing Letter of Sir Henry Wottons doth sufficiently express My most noble Lord When like that impotent man in the Gospel I had lain long by the Pools side while many were healed and none would throw me in it pleased your Lordship first of all to pitty my infirmities and to put me into some hope of subsisting hereafter therefore I most justly and humbly acknowledge all my ability and reputation from your favour you have given me incouragement you have valued my poor indeavours with the King you have redeemed me from ridiculousness who have served so long without any mark of favour by which arguments being already and ever bound to be yours till either life or honesty shall leave me I am the bolder to beseech your Lordship to perfect your own work and to draw his Majesty to the settling of some things that depend betwixt Sir Julius Caesar and me in that reasonable form which I humbly present to your Lordship by my Nephew likewise your obliged servant being my self by a late indisposition confined to my Chamber but in all estates such as I am Your Lordships Henry Wootton But to return where I left to the preface of his Titles as I finde them copied in the Parliaments Declaration against him For the speedy redress of the great evils and mischiefs and of the chief causes of those great evils and mischiefs which this Kingdom of England now grievously suffereth and of late years hath suffered and to the honour and fafety of our Sovereign Lord the King and of his Crown and Dignities and to the good and welfare of his People the Commons in this present Parliament by the authority of our said Sovereign Lord the King assembled do by this their Bill shew and declare against George Duke Marquess and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villers Barron of Whaddon Great Admiral of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and of the Principality of Wales and of the Dominions and Islands of the same of the Town of Calais and of the Marches of the same and of Normandy Gascoigne and Guyen General Governour of the Seas and ships of the said Kingdoms Lieutenant General Admiral Captain General and Governour of his Majesties Royal Fleet and Army lately set forth Master of the Horses of our Sovereign Lord the King Lord Warden Chancellour and Admiral of the Cinque-Ports and of the members thereof Constable of Dover Castle Justice in Eyre of all Forrests and Chases on this side Trent Constable of the Castle of Windsor Lieutenant of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire Steward and Bayliff of Westminster Gentleman of his Majesties
at that time was sitting in the Parliament House but alarum'd with the noise of the great guns he speedeth down his coming putting a stand to the Kings Forces who then were upon point of Victory There were slain on the Parliaments side Serjeant Major Quarles a man of eminent parts who left behinde him one onely Daughter named Esther since married to Master William Holgate of Saffron Walden a deserving Gentleman whose love to learning and learned men hath made his name famous to all posterity Captain Lilburne with some others were taken prisoners the winter then drawing on apace both Armies retired to their Winer quarters The next Spring Essex sets forth with his Army layes Siege to Reading to relieve which the King Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice advanced with a great Army but being worsted at Causham-Bridge the Town was surrendered to the Earl of Essex Presently after the taking of Reading the Parliament side began to decline on a sudden a contageous sickness seized on the Earl of Essex Souldiers the Marquess of New Castle was grown very powerful in the North and Sir William Waller defeated in the West Bristol being delivered up to the King so that had he with his Army come up the next way to London it was thought he would have found but little opposition Glocester onely held out against him The King unwilling to leave any Town behinde him layes Siege thereunto to the raising whereof the Army being not in a capacity of themselves the Train Bands of London assented to this expedition who raised the Siege and not long after gave the Kings Forces Battel at Newbery this was a long and bloody fight nor had either of the parties much cause to boast On the Kings side were slain the Earl of Carnarvan the Earl of Sunderland the Lord Faulkland Collonel Morgan Lieutenant Colonel Fielding Mr. Strode and other eminent persons On the Parliament side was slain Colonel Tucker Captain George Massey Captain Hunt and others The Earl of Essex with the Trained Bands returned to London where he had solemn thanks given him by the Parliament And now the Winter coming on he had the leisure for a while to refresh himself and to make new provisions for War against the ensuing Spring which being come he marches with his Army from London Sir William Waller at some distance marching with him after a while he sits down before Oxford where the King then was who fearing a Siege about midnight did take Horse attended with certain Troops who carried some Foot mounted behinde them and came to Witney five miles from Burford whither also Essex followed him Prince Maurice who had long laid Siege to Lyme upon his approach towards those parts he raises it The strong Town of Weymouth it surrendered unto him yea all the Countries round about came in unto him and the Garrisons opened their Gates at the first sound of his Trumpet At Chard within the compass of twelve miles came four thousand men unto him protesting to live and to dye in the cause of the Parliament as their friends at Dorchester did before them Barnstable revolteth to him Sir Richard Grenvile is beaten and Taunton Castle taken by his forces soon after he possesses himself of Mount Stanford Plimpton Salt-Ash and divers other small Garrisons from thence he advanceth towards Tavestock where he took Sir Richard Grenviles house and in it two pieces of Canon eight hundred Arms a great quantity of rich Furniture and three thousand pound in Money and Plate He marches into Cornwal forcing his passage over at Newbridge with the loss of a hundred and fifty of his enemies about Listethel he encountred Sir Richard Grenvile whom he overthrew immediately upon this Bodmin Tadcaster and Foy stoop unto him But the King who all this while was not idle understanding of his advance into Cornwal resolved to march after him for he found that his Army did daily encrease The presence of a Prince by a secret attraction for the most part prevailing upon the affections of the people Essex hereupon sends to the Parliament for Recruits but before he could receive any supply the King had so cooped up his Army that his Horse had no room for forrage in this strait he calleth a Councel of War wherein it was concluded that three thousand Horse under the command of Sir William Belfore should attempt to break through the main body of the Kings forces which accordingly was put in execution necessity whetting their valours so that with some loss they got through and came safely to Plymouth But the Foot having not that swift means of escape were forced to yield themselves The Earl made his escape by Sea attended with the Lord Roberts and taking shipping at Foy landed at Plymouth sick both in body and minde Thus on a sudden was all undone which he with much pains and hazard had been long a doing so uncertain is the chance of War that he who now rideth triumphantly in the Chariot of Victory may ere long become the Object of his enemies mercy Soon after followed the new moddeling of the Army wherein all those Commanders who were Members of either House of Parliament were called home Essex hereupon surrendered up his Commission Sir Thomas Fairfax being made General in his stead after which time he continually sate in the House of Peers until the time of his death which was on the 14. of September 1646. and 56. year of his age His Funeral was solemnized with great state a Monument being erected for him in Westminster Abbey which a mad villain most uncivilly defaced The Life of Sir CHARLES LUCAS SO much pitty is owing from posterity to the unfortunate Loyalist Sir Charles Lucas that should I omit to render him his due honours I might be taxed of partiality at least to have fallen short of what the Title of this Volume promises he being one whose Learning and Valour hath made him amongst others eminent of the English Nation I shall not need to spend much time in setting forth the stem from whence this illustrious Ciens sprung he who hath not heard of the Family of the Lucas's knows nothing of Gentility yet had no honour accrew'd to him from his famous Progenitors it were honour enough to him to be Brother to that nobly accomplished and deservingly honoured the Plato of this age the Lord Lucas a Gentleman singularly gifted in all suitable elements of worth as also to Sir Gervas Lucas a valiant Commander sometimes Governour of Belvoir Castle For his Education it was generous having his youth sufficiently seasoned in principles of knowledge both Humane and Divine to which joyning his Manhood and Discipline in the Field he had scarce his equal He was a person accompanied with a resolute spirit of an active disposition and a suitable discretion to mannage it strict in his commands without a supercillious severity free in his rewards to persons of desert and quality in his society he was affable and pleasant in
molested or disquieted concerning the same or for refusal thereof 2. And that no free-man be taken and imprisoned or be disseised of his free-hold or liberty or his free customs or be out-lawed or exiled but by the lawful judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land 3. And that your Majesty would be pleased to remove the Souldiers and Marriners now billetted in divers Counties and that your people may not be so burthened in time to come 4. That the late Commissions for proceeding by Marshal Law may be revoked and annulled and that hereafter no Commission of like nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever to be executed lest by colour of them any of your Majesties Subjects be destroyed and put to death contrary to Law and the Franchises of the Land All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent Majesty as their Rights and Liberties according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and that your Majesty would also vouchsafe to declare that all awards doings or proceedings to the prejudice of your People shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence and example Never writes a late Author of the History of the Reign of King Charles did arbritary power since Monarcy first founded so submittere faces so vail its Scepter never did the Prerogative descend so much from perch to popular lure as by this concession a concession able to give satisfaction ever so supererogation for what was amiss in all the Kings by-past government Much hoped it was that this Parliament would have had a happy conclusion but what Gregory Nazienzen complained of Councels That he never saw any one end well King Charles might with as much verity have pronounced as to his content of Parliaments not any one he summoned having had any termination other then disgustful to him for no sooner was the Petition of Right granted but the Parliament resolved upon a large Remonstrance to the King wherein they ripped up many grievances of the Kingdom accusing the Duke of Buckingham his excessive power and abuse of that power the principal cause of all those evils and dangers to which the King returned a smart answer wherewith the Commons being displeased fell down right upon another Remonstrance against Tonnage and Poundage Whereupon the King unwilling to hear of any more Remonstrances of that nature prorogued the Parliament unto October 20. During this Session the Earl of Denbigh with fifty Sail of Ships attempted the relief of Rochel but prevailing nothing a third Fleet was prepared ready whereof the Duke of Buckingham was to have the Command but being ready to embarque he was stabbed with a knife by Felton a discontented person of which as also of his unfortunate proceedings at the Isle of Rhe I refer my Reader to his foregoing Life The Duke being dead the charge of the Fleet was committed to the Earl of Lindsey a Gentleman of a gallant resolution but before his coming the Town was so blocked up by Land and barred up by Sea that it was almost unapproachable yet many gallant attempts were made by the Earl bringing up his Ships to the very mouth of the Bar but being ready to enter the pass the winde whisked about into an opposite Point which drove them dangerously foul one upon another whereupon the Rochellers hopeless of relief opened their Gates submitting themselves to the Kings mercy which was granted them The Famine and War having made such havock amongst them that of twenty two thousand souls but four thousand were left October the 20. being come the Parliament was prorogued to January the 20. following at which time they met who begun where they last left with Tonnage and Poundage for complaints came in thick and three-fold against the Customers for taking and distraining Merchants goods Great stickling was betwixt the King and Parliament concerning this business the King claiming it as a Prerogative belonging to the Crown they denying it as an infringement of the Petition of Right After much debating and high words on both sides the dissolution of the Parliament put a period to the contest Not long after by mediation of the Seignory of Venice a Peace was concluded between France and England Spain also hampred with wars and want of money made overtures of a Peace which at last was concluded and published with more then ordinary Solemnity These Wars with France and Spain had so emptied the Exchequer that the King was forced to make use of his Prerogative for a supply which was by summoning all persons who had Estates of forty pounds per annum to receive the Order of Knighthood formerly practised by several Kings though now a long disuse had made it a novelty Many of the Countrey Hobs who had gotten an estate liable to a Fine took it first as a jeast and thereupon made no appearance but their purses afterwards paid for it in good earnest This project alone bringing in to the Exchequer no less then a hundred thousand pound May the 29. 1630. the Queen was delivered of a Son who was baptized by the name of Charles having two years before miscarried of a son of the same name who lived not above an hour which occasioned Randolphs Muse thus to express her self Thy first birth Mary was unto a Tomb And sad Lucina did not aid thy womb To Heaven thou then wert fruitful now to earth Thou canst give Saints as well as Kings a birth It was now seven years and better since Charles was crowned King of England Scotland his Native Countrey had a Crown also to bestow upon him and the King adjudged it worth the going for for though saith one it conferreth no one dram of solid and real grandure to the Throne yet ceremoniated as it is with such formalities it representeth it self a serious vanity There attended him this journey the Earls of Northumberland Arundel Pembroke Southampton Salisbury Carlile Holland Monmouth and New Castle the Bishop of London Lord Treasurer Secretary Cook Vice Chamberlain with many other Gentlemen of quality June 18. 1633. he was crowned with great Solemnity at Edinburgh and having visited Ealkland Sterling and some other eminent places he returned back again into England Thus he was crowned by a Nation that afterwards snatcht it from his Royal Temples The King at his return found his Exchequer near empty whereupon he consults with his Attorney Noy for a way how to supply it he searching old Records being a man very studious that way findes an ancient precedent of raising a Tax for setting forth a Navy in case of danger to which purpose a Writ was issued out to the seveaal Counties in England for the raising of money sufficient for the setting forth of forty seven ships at which the Commons grumbled as an illegal Tax contrary unto the Petition of Right The King for his better satisfaction demands the opinion of the Judges who all of them under their hands confirmed the Legality thereof yet were not the
Isle of Wight for a certain Letter was left on the Table whereby the King was advertised the there were some that laid wait for his life whereupon being frighted he privily fled from Hampton Court leaving a Letter behinde him written with his own hand to the Commissioners to be by them communicated to both Houses of Parliament in which Letter after he had discoursed somewhat about Captivity and the sweetness of Liberty he ended in these following words Now as I cannot deny but that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before mine eyes And I can sinde no better way to express this my profession I know not what a wiser man may do then by desiring and urging that all chief interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction as for example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to consent ought in my judgement to enjoy the liberty of their consciences and have an act of Oblivion or Indempnity which should extend to the rest of all my Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindered from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let me be heard with freedom honour and safety and I shall instantly break through this cloud of retirement and shew my self ready to be Pater Patriae Charles Rex The King had not been long in the Isle of Wight but he sends a Letter of great length to the Parliament in which he delivered his sense and opinion concerning the abolition of Episcopacy he disputed out of the dictates of his conscience much and gave touches also of other matters of all which he hoped that he should satisfie the Parliament with his reasons if he might personally treat with them therefore he earnestly desired to be admitted with honour freedom and safety to treat personally at London the Commissioners of Scotland with great vehemence also pressed that this desire of the King might be granted But the Parliament pretending tumults and innovations that might arise by the Kings coming to London which as they said was then full of Malignants sent down four Propositions to him to Sign which being done he should be admitted to a personal Treaty The four were these 1. That a Bill be passed into an act by his Majesty for settling of the Militia of the Kingdom 2. That a Bil be passed for his Majesties calling in of all Declarations Oaths and Proclamations against the Parliament and those who have adhered to them 3. For passing an Act that those Lords who were made after the great Seal was carried to Oxford may be made uncapable of sitting in the House of Peers ever after 4. That power may be given to the two Houses of Parliament to adjorn as the two Houses of Parliament should think fit The Commissioners of Scotland would seem in no wise to give their consent that these four Bills should be sent to the King before he treated at London therefore in a very long Declaration they protested against it the King likewise denyed to Sign them when they were sent unto him Upon which denyal a Declaration and Votes passed both Houses of Parliament in this manner The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament after many addresses to his Majesty for the preventing and ending this unnatural War raised by him against the Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent four Bills to his Majesty which did contain onely matter of safety and security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the composure of other differences to a personal Treaty with his Majesty and having received an absolute negative do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in the enjoyment of the Laws and Liberties thereof and in order thereunto and that the Houses may receive no delay nor interruptions in so great and necessary a work they have taken their resolutions and passed these Votes following viz. Resolved c. by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that no application or address to be made to the King by any person whatsoever without leave of both Houses Resolved c. by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that the person or persons that shall make breach of this order shall incur the penalty of High Treason Resolved c. That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will receive no more any message from the King and do enjoyn that no person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or any other person To these Votes of Parliament the Army declared their consent and approbation and that they would live and dye in defence of the House of Commons but the people though before they were enraged against the King now seeing their errours resolved to plead his Cause Petitions upon Petitions are presented for a personal Treaty with the King for the disbanding of the Army and for the removal of all other grievances Langhorn Powel and Poyer three eminent Commanders who had done many and great services for the Parliament now declare themselves for the King and with an Army of 8000. men fortifie Pembroke and Chepstow Castles Sir Thomas Glemham in the North seizes upon Carlisle and Sir Marmaduke Langdale upon Barwick and fortified it the strong Castle also of Pomfret was then taken by the Royalists and the Governour stain Against these Sir Thomas Fairfax was marching Northwards but far greater dangers detained him in the South for the Kentish men not far from Gravesend were gotten together into an Army with whom were above twenty Knights Esquires and Gentlemen of the Countrey and amongst them divers Commanders formerly of the Kings Armies upon the approach of the Parliaments Army some two thousand of them march to Maidstone which they resolved to make good against the Army Fairfax after the dispute of some passages breaks up to them and assaults the Town with a great deal of boldness they on the other side defend themselves with unspeakable courage at last the Kentish men are overcome 200. being slain and about 1400. taken prisoners But the Earl of Norwich with about 3500. with much ado kept together and got over the River Thames into Essex whereupon Sir Charles Lucas raises what strength he could possible in that County to whom joyned the Lord Capel the Lord Loughborough Sir George Lisle Sir Bernard Gascoigne Sir William Compton with many more Gentlemen and Souldiers and having first taken the Committee-men at Chelmesford they marched to Colchester a Town of great Antiquity but the people heretofore accounted no great friends to Monarchy nor the Town of that strength to withstand so enraged
Homero eruditus ille Italus dixit Hic ille est cujus de gurgite facro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores The deservingly honoured Sir Philip Sidney in his defence of Poesy thus writeth of him Chaucer undoubtedly did excellently in his Troylus and Crescid of whom truly I know not whether to marvail more either that he in that misty time could see so clearly or that we in this clear age walk so stumblingly after him And Doctor Heylin in his elabourate Description of the World ranketh him in the first place of our chiefest Poets Seeing therefore that both old and new Writers have carried this reverend conceit of him and openly declared the same by writing let us conclude with Horace in the eighth Ode of his fourth Book Dignum Laude causa vet at mori Gower and Chaucer were both of the Inner Temple Mr. Buckley a learned Gentlemen of those times gives an account of a Record he read in the same Inner Temple wherein Geofery Chaucer no friend to the covetous and leacherous Cleargy-men of those times was fined two shillings for beating of a Franciscan Frier in Fleet-street a considerable sum money was so scarce in those dayes I intended to have presented the world with the lives of three more of the most eminent of our modern Poets viz. Mr. Edmond Spenser Michael Drayton Esquire and Mr. Benjamin Johnson not that I could thereby imagine to add unto their fames they having built themselves everlasting Monuments in their never dying Works but out of a desire to imitate forreign writers who have ever done their Worthies that right I have not been wanting of a most diligent inquiry but as yet I cannot meet with any of their friends and honorers that are able to render me so full and happy an account of them as that I might have registred them in this volumne to Posterity The Life of HENRY the Fifth HEnry the fifth was born at Monmouth in Wales 1388. Of whom several Authors write that he was the most dissolute Prince but all agree that he was afterwards the most Martial King that England ever bred For during his Father Henry the Fourths Reign his chief associates were men of evil fame wicked life dissolute carriage Robbers and Thieves by whose instigation he struck the Lord Chief Justice of England for which offence he was imprisoned and dismissed of the Presidentship of the Kings Council With these Fratres in malo he committed many insolent pranks but having attained unto the Crown he summoned these his companions before him and instead of preferring them as they expected he banisht them for ever from his presence yet least they should pretend want of maintenance to be a cause of their taking ill courses he gave to every one of them competent means whereby to subsist Having thus reformed himself his next care was to reform his Kingdom and to this end he assembleth a Parliament as best able to informe him for his more discreet grievances of his Subjects and best able to counsel him for their redress In this Parliament was a Bill preferred by the Commons against the Cleargy whose Temporalities they affirmed would maintain fifteen Earls fifteen hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Esquires an hundred Alms-Houses more then before and unto the Kings Coffers twenty thousand pounds by year The Cleargy nettled with the Commons Bill being loath to have their Estates looked into as men who were fuller of goods then of goodness exceeding in riches more then in righteousness and preaching for Gold more then for God to divert the Kings minde another way by the mouth of Chicholy Archbishop of Canterbury propound the recovering of his Rights in France Henry as he affected nothing more then true glory so in nothing more then in Warlike action condescends to the motion sends Ambassadours to the French King to surrender him his Land threatning Fire and Sword upon his refusal but a Crown though accompanied with a great many troubles is not so easily parted withall yet the French King propounds him fair if he would desist from his intended War though the Dolphin in derision sent him a tun of Paris Balls as fitter for him to exercise then to attempt the recovery of the French Crown which King Henry took in such scorn that he swore it should not be long ere he would send such London Balls amongst them that should beat down their houses upon their heads And to make good his promise he raises an Army of 6000. Spears and 24000. Foot besides Engineers and Labourers but being about to put forth to Sea a treason was discovered against his person plotted by Richard Earl of Cambriage Henry Scroop Lord Treasurer and Thomas Gray Earl of Northamberland These men for a million of Gold were procured by the French Agents to kill the King but were discovered by Edmond Earl of March whom they would have drawn into the same Conspiracy Upon their examination they confessed the Treason as likewise the receipt of the money and were for the same immediately put to death For as Mr. Charles Allen writes Man and Money a mutual falshood show Man makes false money Money makes man so This execution done and the winde blowing fair he puts forth to Sea accompanied with his two Brothers the Dukes of Clarence and Glocester his Uncles the Duke of York and Earl of Dorset the Earls of Kent Cornwall and Huntington with many other Lords Barons and men at Arms and on our Lady-Eve landeth at Caen in Normandy where falling devoutly upon his knees desired Gods assistance to recover his right making Proclamation That no man upon pain of death should rob any Church or offer violence to any that were found unarmed From thence with his Army he marcheth to Harflew which after a few dayes was surrendred unto him where he leaveth Sir John Falstaffe with fifteen hundred men and takes his way towards Callis through the Counties of Caux and Eu. Charles the sixth was then King of France a weak brain-sick King his Nobles divided and the whole Court swarming with Factions yet the common enemy endangering all they unite in Counsell and agree the English should be fought with ere they got to Callis wherefore to impede his process they brake down the Bridges plashed the Woods intrenched the wayes struck stakes in Fords and conveyed all victual out of the Countreys thorow which he should go Then having raised a mighty Army they sent Montjoy the French King at Arms to defie him and to let him know he should be fougt with King Henry notwithstanding his Souldiers were faint and weary having spent their provisions some twelve dayes before being forced in the mean time to feed upon nuts roots and berries and drink onely water yet accepted the Challenge and rewarded the Herald for his message then passing the River of Soam he came to a Village called Agen-Court encamping from the French Hoast not above two hundred and fifty paces Their power saith Paradin
universal grievance of your people 7. The great grief of your Subjects by long intermission of Parliaments and the late and former dissolution of such as have been called without the happy effects which otherwise they might have produced For remedy whereof and prevention of the dangers that may arise to your Royal Person and to the whole State they do in all humility and faithfulness beseech your most excellent Majesty that you would be pleased to summon a Parliament within some convenient time whereby the causes of these and other great Grievances which your people lye under may be taken away and the Authours and Councellors of them may be brought to such legal trial and condign punishment as the nature of their several offences shall require And that the present War may be composed by your Majesties wisdom without blood in such manner as may conduce to the honour and safety of your Majesties person the comfort of your people and the uniting of both your Realms against the common enemy of the reformed Religion And your Majesties Petitioners shall ever pray c. Concluded the 28. of August 1640. Francis Bedford Robert Essex Mulgrave Say Seal Edward Howard William Hartford Warwick Bullingbrooke Mandevile Brooke Pagett This Petition being seconded by another from the Scots to the same effect the King the twenty fourth day of the same moneth assembled the Lords together at York where it was concluded that a Parliament should be summoned to convene November the third next ensuing in the mean time a cessation of Arms was concluded between both Nations whereupon the King and Lords posted to London Tuesday November the third according to pre-appointment the Parliament assembled no sooner were they set but Petitions came thronging in from all Counties of the Kingdom craving redress of the late general exorbitancies both in Church and State many who were in prison were ordered to be set at liberty as Pryn Bastwick and Burton and the Bishop of Lincolne and many who were at liberty were ordered to be sent to prison as Sir William Beecher the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury Secretary Windebank and the Lord Keeper Finch who was forced to flye the Land Ship-money was voted down the late Cannons damn'd Peace is concluded with Scotland and three hundred thousand pound allowed them for reparations This was summarily the first actings of the Parliament which gave much content to many people especially the Londoners who to the number of 15000. Petition for the abolishing of Episcopacy it self Indeed some few of the Cleargy at this time as at all others were corrupt in their lives many of them being vicious even to scandal yea many of those who pretended much purity in their conversations were most covetous and deceitful in their dealings besides their pride was intollerable insomuch that a great one amongst them was heard to say He hoped to live to see the day when a Minister should be as good a man as any upstart Jack Gentleman in England Well therefore might it it be said of the Priests of our times what Gildas sirnamed the wise wrote of the Priests of his time Sacerdotes habet Britannia sed insipientes quam plurimos Ministros sed impudentes clericos sed raptores subdeles c. Great Brittain hath Priests indeed but silly ones Ministers of Gods word very many but impudent a Cleargy but given up to greedy rapine c. Yet let none mistake me I write not thus to perswade any to an ill opinion of the Ministry for though our Church had cause to grieve for the blemishes of many yet might she glory in the ornaments of more so that Episcopacy received not at this time the fatal blow but was onely mutilated in her former glory the House of Commons voting that no Bishop shall have any vote in Parliament nor any Judicial power in the Star Chamber nor bear any sway in Temporal Affairs and that no Cleargy-man shall be in Commission of the Peace The Parliament having thus set bounds to the exorbitant power of the Cleargy they next fell upon the Tryal of the Deputy of Ireland who as you heard not long before was committed prisoner to the Tower this man at first was a great stickler against the Prerogative until allured by Court preferment he turned Royalist Westminster Hall was the place assigned for his Tryal the Earl of Arundel being Lord High Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable the Articles charged against him being very many are too long to recite I having more at large in their place inserted them in his Life The sum of them were for ruling Ireland and the North of England in an arbitrary way against the Laws for retaining the Kings revenue without account for encreasing and encouraging Popery for maliciously striving to stir up and continue enmity betwixt England and Scotland and for labouring to subvert Parliaments and incense the King against them yet notwithstanding this high charge the Earl by his answers so cleared himself that the King told the Lords he was not satisfied in Conscience to Condemn him of high Treason but acknowledged his misdemeanours to be very great at last wearied with the clamours of the people the Earl also by a letter desiring the same he granted a Commission to four Lords to Sign the Bill for his Execution which Execution was accordingly performed on Tower-hill May 10. 1641. Thus dyed this unhappy Earl a sacrifice to the Scots revenge cut off as it was thought not so much for what he had done as for fear of what he afterwards might do a man of the rarest parts and deepest judgement of any English man of our late times The same day fatal to the King he Signed the Bill for the Deputy of Irelands death he also Signed the Bill for a trienial or perpetual Parliament which should not be dissolved without consent of both Houses some say Duke Hamilton counselled him to it others say it was the Queen whoever it was it was his ruine for the Parliament now fearless of a dissolution began to act in an higher way then before being fortified with a strong guard of Souldiers whereof the Earl of Essex was Captain they without the Kings leave or knowledge appoint an extraordinary Assembly in the City that should mannage all weighty and great occurrences and to weaken his Majesty the more or rather to satisfie the insolence of the people they cast twelve Bishops into Prison because they went about to maintain their priviledge by the publick Charter The King moved with this accused five of the lower House and one of the upper House of high Treason their names were the Lord Viscount Mandevil Mr. Pym Mr. Hampden Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Hollis and Mr. Strowd This action of the Kings was by the Parliament adjudged a great breach of their Priviledges certainly it much encreased the differences between them and left scarce any possibility of reconcilement This small river of
upon the Coast of France as they were returning homewards from the Venetian service richly laden being all men of War of considerable burthens Soon after so great their feud was that the Navies engaged in another Fight at a place called the Kentish Knock wherein the Dutch were again defeated eleven of their men of War set upon four of the English in the Straights took the Phenix Frigot and much damaged the other In a short space after another Sea Engagement ensued on the Back-side of Goodwin Sands wherein the English were worsted four ships taken and a considerable loss of men The greatest fight of all was near the Isle of Wight and Portland wherein the Dutch received a great overthrow fifty Merchants being taken nine men of War above two thousand slain and fifteen hundred taken Prisoners But this great Victory soon after received a check the English Fleet in the Levant Seas being again worsted by the Dutch with the loss of divers ships and men But leaving off these Sea Affairs for a time let us come to General Cromwel from whom I have already been enforced to digress who pretending for the better accomplishing of his own designs the dilatory proceedings pernicious and arbitrary actings in the Parliament to perpetuate their Session to be very dangerous and enthrall the Nation this train of his he knew would take well with the people who were great adorers of the name of liberty and desirous of change he therefore resolved to put a period to the Parliament and accordingly accompanied by the chief Officers of the Army he entered the House and having declared his intentions some by force some through fear and others not without a great deal of reluctancy and murmuring departed the House To set a fair gloss upon what he had done and to give some satisfaction to the people he publishes a Declaration the substance whereof followeth That after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a peace and England to perfect quiet whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their labour blood and treasure and to settle a due liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things whereunto they were obliged by their duty engagements and those great and wonderful things God hath wrought for them But they made so little progress therein that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land who thereupon applied themselves to the Army expecting redress by their means who though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority agreed that such Officers as were Members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amiss in the Common-wealth and in settling it upon a foundation of Justice and Righteousness which being done it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations But finding the contrary they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August 1652. which produced no considerable effects nor was any such progress made therein as might imply their real Intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for but rather an averseness to the things themselves with much bitterness and opposition to the people of God and his spirit acting in them insomuch that the godly party in Parliament were rendred of no further use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party for effecting their desires of perpetuating themselves in the supream Government For obviating these evils the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same but such endeavours proving ineffectual it became evident that this Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others the non-attendance of many would never answer those ends which God his people and the whole Nation expected from them But that this cause which God had so greatly blessed must needs languish under their hands and by degrees be lost and the lives liberties and comforts of his people be delivered into their enemies hands All which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation as well as by the Army it seemed a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God to consider of some effectual means whereby to establish righteousness and Peace in these Nations And after much debate it was judged necessary that the Supream Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons fearing God and of approved integrity for a time as the most hopeful way to countenance all Gods people reform the Law and administer Justice impartially hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments that so the Government might be settled upon a right Basis without hazard to this glorious cause or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same And being still resolved to use all means possibly to avoid extraordinary courses we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament to give us a conference with whom we plainly debated the necessity and justness of our Proposals The which found no acceptance but instead thereof it was offered that the way was to continue still this Parliament as being that from which we might probably expect all good things This being vehemently insisted on did much confirm us in our apprehensions That not any love to a Representative but the making use thereof to recruit and so to perpetuate themselves was their aim in the Act they had then under consideration For preventing the consummating whereof and all the sad and evil consequences which upon the grounds aforesaid must have ensued and whereby at one blow the interest of all honest men and of this glorious Cause had been endangered to be laid in the dust and these Nations embroyled in new troubles at a time when our enemies abroad are watching all advantages against and some of them actually engaged in War with us we have been necessitated though with much reluctancy to put an end to this Parliament This Declaration was seconded by another for settling a Councel of State to give some satisfaction to the people what Government they intended which Declaration for the Readers further satisfaction take as followeth Whereas the Parliament being dissolved persons of approved fidelity and honesty are according to the late Declaration of the 22. of April last to be called from the several parts of this Commonwealth to the Supream Authority and although effectual proceedings are and have been had for perfecting those Resolutions yet some convenient time being required for the assembling of those persons it hath been found necessary for preventing the mischiefs and inconveniences which may arise in the mean while to the publick Affairs that a Councel of State be constituted to take care of and intend the peace safety and present mannagement of the Affairs of this Commonwealth which being settled accordingly the same is hereby