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
the State and still while we endeavour to reform their abuses they make us the Authors of those mischiefs we study to prevent For the perfecting of the work begun and removing all future impediments we concieve these courses will be very effectual seeing the Religion of the Papists hath such principles as do certainly tend to the destruction and extirpation of all Protestants when they shall have opportunity to effect it It is necessary in the first place to keep them in such condition as that they may not be able to do us any hurt and for avoiding of such connivance and favour as hath heretofore been shewed unto them That his Majesty be pleased to grant a standing Commission to some choice men named in Parliament who may take notice of their increase their counsels and proceedings and use all due means by execution of the Laws to prevent any mischievous designs against the peace and safety of this Kingdom That some good course be taken to discover the counterfeit and false conformity of Papists to the Church by colour whereof Persons very much disaffected to the true Religion have been admitted into place of greatest authority and trust in the Kingdom For the better preservation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom that all illegal grievances and exactions be presented and punished at the Sessions and Assizes and that Judges and Justices be careful to give this in charge to the Grand Jury and both the Sheriff and Justices to be sworn to the due execution of the Petition of Right and other Laws That his Majesty be humbly Petitioned by both Houses to employ such Counsellors Ambassadors and other Ministers in managing his business at home and abroad as the Parliament may have cause to confide in without which we cannot give his Majesty such supplies for support of his own estate nor such assistance to the Protestant party beyond the Sea as is desired It may often fall out that the Commons may have just cause to take exceptions at some men for being Counsellors and yet not charge those men with Crimes for there be grounds of diffidence which lye not in proof there are others which tho they may be proved yet are not legally criminal To be a known favourer of Papists or to have been very forward in defending or counâ—enancing some great offenders questioned in Parliament or to speak contemptuously of either Houses of Parliament or Parliamentary proceedings or such as are Factors or Agents for any Foreign Prince of another Religion such as are justly suspected to get Councellors places â—r any other of trust concerning publick imployments for Money For all these and divers others we may have great reason to be earnest with his Majesty not to put his great Affairs into such hands though we may be unwilling to proceed against them in any legal way of charge or impeachment That all Councellors of State may be sworn to observe those Laws which concern the Subject in his liberty that they may likewise take an Oath not to receive or give Reward or Pension from any Foreign Prince but such as they within some reasonable time discover to the Lords of his Majesties Council and although they should wickedly forswear themselves yet it may herein do good to make them known to be false and perjured to those who imploy them and thereby bring them into as little credit with them as with us That his Majesty may have cause to be in love with good Counsel and good men by shewing him in an humble and dutiful manner how full of advantage it would be to himself to see his own Estate setled in a plentiful condition to support his honour to see his People united in ways of duty to him and endeavours of the publick good to see Happiness Wealth Peace and Safety derived to his own Kingdom and procured to his Allies by the influence of his own power and government That all good courses may be taken to unite the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland to be mutually aiding and assisting one another for the common good of the Island and honour of both To take away all differences amongst our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion and to unite our selves against the common enemies which are the better enabled by our divisions to destroy us all as they hope and have often endeavoured To labour by all offices of friendship to unite the Foreign Churches with us in the same cause and to seek their liberty safety and prosperity as bound thereunto both by charity to them and by wisdom for our own good For by this means our own strength shall be encreased and by a mutual concurrence to the same common end we shall be enabled to procure the good of the whole body of the Protestant Profession If these things may be observed we doubt not but God will crown this Parliament with such success as shall be the beginning and foundation of more honour and happiness to his Majesty than ever yet was enjoyed by any of his Royal Predecessors His Majesties Answer to the Petition which accompanied the Declaration presented to him at Hampton Court Dec. 1. 1641. WE having received from you soon after our Return out of Scotland a long Petition consisting of many desires of great moment together with a Declaration of a very unusual nature annexed thereunto We had taken some time to consider of it as befitted Us in a matter of that consequence being confident that your own reason and regard to Us as well as Our express intimation by our Comptroller to that purpose would have restrained you from the publishing of it till such time as you should have reeceived our Answer to it But much against our expectation finding the contrary that the said Declaration is already abroad in Print by directions from your House as appears by the printed Copy we must let you know that we are very sensible of the disrespect Notwithstanding it is our intention that no failing on your part shall make us fail in ours of giving all due satisfaction to the desires of our People in a Parliamentary way And therefore we send you this Answer to your Petition reserving our self in point of the Declaration which we think unparliamentary and shall take a course to do that which we shall think fit in prudence and honour To the Petition we say that altho there are divers things in the Preamble of it which we are so far from admiting that we profess we cannot at all understand them as Of a wicked and malignant party prevalent in the Government Of some of that party admitted to our Privy Council and to other Employments of trust and nearest to Vs and our Children Of Endeavours to sow among the People false scandals and imputations to blemish and disgrace the proceedings of the Parliament All or any of which did we know of we should be as ready to remedy and punish as you to complain of
regret the Hard Usage which the Protestants meet with in other Countries and wish they were but as well treated there as the Roman-Catholicks are here Before I have done I beg leave to take notice of a Pamphlet that came out last Summer call'd Cursory Remarks upon the Proceedings of the Last Session of Parliament The Gentleman that wrote it had not only the Honesty to publish an Answer to his own Book but in that Answer to insinuate that I was the Author of it All the Use I shall make of this unusual Liberty of the Press is to declare That I have not publish'd any one Paper Pamphlet or Book these Six Years And though I have but little Leisure and yet less Inclination to appear again in Print yet if ever I alter my Resolution and publish any thing hereafter I will certainly put my Name to it as I have done to these Memoirs THE CONTENTS THE Excellencies of the English Constitution and the various Changes that have happen'd in it Page 1 The State of England under Queen Elizabeth 3 Her Character 5 The Character of her Ministers particularly of Walsingham Cecil c. and of the Members of the House of Commons in her time 8 Her Conduct towards Mary Queen of Scots 15 King James the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England under his Reign 19 His Character 20 The Character and Deathof Prince Henry 23 The Character of the Queen of Bohemia and King James's Conduct in the Business of the Palatinate 27 The Fate of Sir Walter Raleigh 28 King James's Conduct in teh Interdict of Venice 34 King Charles the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England at that time 37 The Breach betwixt Archbishop Abbot and Bishop Laud 38 The Rise of King Charles's Troubles and the first and second War with the Scots 41 The meeting of the Parliament November 1640. 45 The Fall and Character of Wentworth Earl of Strafford 47 The Fall and Character of Archbishop Laud 55 The Famous Petition and Remonstrance of the state of the Nation and the King's Answer 61 His coming to the House of Commons in Person to demand the Five Members and the Consequences of it 63 His Leaving the Parliament and the beginning of the Civil Wars and who began it 66 The Treaty of Uxbridge how unsuccesful and the Marquis of Montrose's fatal Letter the Cause 63 The Character and Fall of King Charles the First 74 His Opinion of Defensive Arms in the bisiness of Rochel 79 The Character of his Favourite Buckingham 84 The true Cause of the Scot's coming into England being a forg'd Letter 91 King Charles's design beâ—ore his Death to Resign the Crown And the Army 's to set up the Duke of Gloucester 98 His Consulting the Sortes Virgilianae 100 The Vsurpation and Character of Oliver Cromwell 102 The Restoration of King Charles the Second and the Manner of it with Monk's part in it and the Risk Monk ran in Scotland 114 One of the true Causes of the Fall of Chancellor Clarendon 122 The discovery of the Popish Plot and its Consequences 123 The Bill of Exclusion the design of it and how manag'd 125 The Disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth and the Consequences of it 131 The Protestant Plot and the Effects of it 133 The Death of King Charles the Second and the Suspicions about the Manner of it discuss'd 135 His Character 143 The Reign of King James the Second 148 The Advantages and Examples he might have maâ—e use of 150 His Brother's and Pope Innocent II.'s Advice to him 152 His first Speech to his Privy Council 153 His first Speech to his Parliament 156 His Second Memorable Speech to his Parliament 157 Two Letters from a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England upon the occasion of this Speech 159 Monmouth's Invasion and the Grounds of it 160 Some Passages out of Monmouth's Pocket-Book 166 Monmouth's Character 167 His Letter in his Retirement 169 King James's Speech to the Parliament upon Monmouth's Defeat 171 The Parliament's Address thereupon 173 The Sense of a Foreign Minister of this last Speech 175 The Advances made to the Subversion of the English Constitution 177 King James's Ambassy to Rome and how received 178 The Panegyricks of King James upon that occasion 182 The Manner how King James had been treated by another Pope in his Marriage with the Princess of Modena 187 King James grants a Toleration of Religion 191 He assumes a dispensing Power 194 He sets up an Ecclesiastical Commission 197 The Suspension of the Bishop of London 198 The Proceedings against Magdalen-College 201 His Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience 206 The Affair of the Seven Bishops 208 The Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales 212 A new Parliament design'd and to what end 213 The Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinion about the Penal Laws and Test and how obtain'd 215 The Army Modell'd 220 The Methods us'd in Ireland and Tyrconel's Advancement 222 The Regulating of the Corporations and the Severities against the Protestants 228 The Act of Attainder there 232 The Interest that Foreign States had in England 234 The Emperor's Letter to King James 236 The Interest of the Prince of Orange 237 The bad Circumstances of the House of Orange at the Birth of the Present Prince of Orange now King of England 238 How he came to be Restored in Holland 240 The Desolation of Holland in 1672 242 The Reasons of that Desolation 244 The Difficulty the Prince of Orange had to grapple with 247 The Duke of Luxemburgh's Cruelties at Swammerdam 249 The Affair of Overall's Convocation and how resented by King James 255 His Letter to Dr. Abbot on that Occasion 257 ERRATA PAGE 62. Line 14 15. for the King's Answer to it at its delivery read Answer to them at their delivery MEMOIRS Of the most Material Transactions in England c. THERE is not a Natiâ—n in Europe that from the Constitution of its Government might have promis'd it self a more firm and lasting Repâ—se than England And yet scarce any Kingdom we know upon Earth has suffered so many and various Convulsions As if some malevolent Planet had over-rul'd one of the best of Human Constitutions and by an unaccountable Fatality had render'd ineffectual all the Endeavours of our Ancestors to make themselves and their Posterity happy under a Limited Monarchy A Monarchy in which the Prerogative of the Prince and the Liberty of the People are so equally temper'd that there seems nothing wanting that may tend to the Happiness of either The King of England has the Glory to Rule over a Free People The Excellency of the English Constitution and the People of England that of being subject to a Monarch who by the Laws of the Countrey is invested with as much Power and Greatness as a Wise and Beneficent Prince can reasonably wish for To compleat all the Crown of England has been for many Ages Hereditary and fix'd in
to Confusion was nothing strange Nor was Serjeant Wild's Introduction at the opening of his Charge any thing but what might have been expected at such a time when he told the Lorâ—s That it might be said of the Great Cause of the Archbishop of Canterbury as it was in a like Case Repertum est hodierno die facinus quod nec Poeta fingere nec Histrio sonare nec Mimus imitari potuer it But it was indeed strange and none of the least of this Great Man's Misfortunes That Three Years before he should be declar'd by the House of Commons a Traytor Nemine contradicente at a time when there was not the least Misunderstanding betwixt the King and Parliament being within the first Month after they sat down And which was yet stranger That no body was more severe upon him than some of those that afterwards took the King's Part against the Parliament and were at last the chief Instruments of his Son's Restoration Whoever reads Sir Harbottle Grimstone's Speech upon voting his Impeachment or Pym's upon carrying it up to the Lords will be apt to think That scarce any Age has produc'd a Man whose Actions and Conduct have been more obnoxious to Obloquy or given greater occasion for it There was one Thread that run through his whole Accusation and upon which most of the Articles of his Impeachment turn'd and that was his Inclination to Popery and his design to introduce the Romish Religion Of which his Immortal Book against Fisher and his Declaration at his Death do sufficiently acquit him And yet not Protestants only but even Roman-Catholicks themselves were led into this Mistake otherwise they would not have dar'd to offer one in his Post a Cardinal's Cap as he confesses in his Diary they did twice The Introduction of a great many Pompous Ceremonies into the Church the Licensing some Books that spoke favourably of the Church of Rome and the refusing to License others that were writ against it were the principal Causes of his being thus misrepresented And indeed his Behaviour in some of these matters as likewise in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court can hardly be accounted for and particularly his Theatrical manner of Consecrating a New Church in London Appendix Numb 7. related at length in the Appendix He was certainly in spite of Malice a Man of an elevated Capacity and vast Designs a great Encourager of Learning and Learned Men and spar'd no Pains nor Cost to enrich England with such a Noble Collection of Books and Manuscripts in most Languages as look'd rather like the Bounty of a King than of a Subject As he left behind him many lasting Monuments of his Beneficence to the Learned World so was he in a way to have carry'd it much further if his Misfortunes had not interven'd and depriv'd Learning of so powerful a Benefactor But after all as there is seldom found a Mind so Great but has some Allay so it seems Archbishop Laud notwithstanding his excellent Endowments was not Proof against either the Impression of Dreams or Revenge of Personal Affronts though never so trivial in themselves nor the Person never so mean Of the one witness his taking so particular notice in his Diary of several of his Dreams and of the other his carrying his Resentments so far against Archie the King's Fool for a mere Iest that he had him turn'd out of Court by an Order of Council Which being so unaccountable a piece of Weakness in so great a Man and done at a full Board the King and the Archbishop present the Order is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 8. for a remarkable Instance how far the Greatest of Men may at some times be left without a Guard against Passion To return to King Charles he did every thing that was possible to give satisfaction to the Parliament or could be reasonably expected from a Gracious and Beneficent Prince He pass'd the Bill for Attainting the Earl of Strafford though with reluctancy as believing he deserv'd not such hard measure He took away Monopolies that had been a great Discouragement to Trade He express'd himself to their Contentment in the matters of Loan Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage and other unwarrantable Methods that had been us'd in raising Money and show'd a settled Resolution to comply with them in every thing that might tend to the Ease and Security of the Subject As in the preceding Parliament he had past the Petition of Right so in the beginning of this he had agreed to the Acts for Triennial Parliaments and for abolishing the Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts which had been great Grievances and with Chearfulness pass'd that Act which seem'd inconsistent with his own just Prerogative That that Parliament should not be dissolv'd but by Act of Parliament nor prorogu'd or adjourn'd but by their own Consent The King having upon these Concessions receiv'd the Publick Thanks of Both Houses and the loud Applauses of his People took a Journey for Scotland in August 1641. to settle matters there that requir'd his Presence leaving the Parliament sitting which they continued to do for some time and then adjournâ—d themselves to October following At the King 's going away Affairs had been already settled betwixt the two Kingdoms by an Act of Pacification and both Armies order'd to be disbanded the Scots returning home for that purpose While the King was in Scotland The Irish Rebellion the Irish Rebellion broke out which became a new Bone of Contention between the King and the Parliaments of both Nations He took what Measures were possible in Scotland about suppressing that Rebellion and made what haste he could back to England to concert with the Parliament there what was further to be done towards it leaving the Scots as he said himself a contented People and every thing settled to their mind both in Church and State He return'd to London the latter end of November and was receiv'd with all demonstrations of Affection The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen the Nobility Gentry and Train'd-Bands met him without the City and conducted him in great State with the Acclamations of the People the City-Companies in their Formalities lining the Streets on each side to Guildhall where he was Royally Feasted and after Dinner conducted with the same Pomp to Whitehall What man that had seen a Prince thus receiv'd into his Capital City could have imagin'd that within less than Seven Weeks he should be oblig'd to leave it upon the account of Tumults never to see it again but as a Prisoner brought thither to dye upon a Scaffold Yet this was King Charles's hard Fortune And it 's here I would willingly draw a Veil over the remaining part of his Reign that ended in one of the most dismal Tragedies that ever was acted upon the English Stage His Virtues and Morals deserv'd a better Fate and he suffer'd for the Faults of others rather than Errors of his own The House of Commons had begun some
Restoration yet the bare Name of an English Parliament though but the Shadow of what formerly it was continued to be so Terrible abroad that neither France nor Spain durst venture to give King Charles the least Assistance to regain his Throne but on the contrary were oblig'd to treat him in a manner altogether unworthy of a Crown'd Head As appears by the following Instance at the Treaty of the Pyrenees The Behaviour of the French and Spaniards to K Charles II at 〈◊〉 Treaty of the Pyrences King Charles after having in vain sought a Sanctuary in France was necessitated to throw himself upon the Friendship of Spain He was at Brussels when he receiv'd the News of the Disposition that was in England to Restore him just at the time the Conferenâ—es were to begin between Cardinal Mazarine and Lewis de Haro the Two Plenipotentiaries of France and Spain in order to a General Peace This determin'd King Charles to take Post from Brussels through France to the Place of Treaty that he might in Person represent his Interests to these Two Ministers He judg'd the Spaniards had reason to be Enemies to the then Government in England for not only having taken Dunkirk and Iamaica from them and enterâ—d into a League with Portugal against them but for endeavouring all that was possible to persuade the French to continue the War Upon the other hand it was but reasonable to think that France could not be well pleas'd to see the English Master of such a Frontier Town as Dunkirk or that Mazarine the most Ambitious Man upon Earth would not be willing to raise his own Glory by espousing the Cause of an Exil'd Prince especially when there was so great probability of Success Notwithstanding all these plausible Appearances King Charles made this long Journey to no purpose It 's true Lewis de Haro receiv'd him with all possible Marks of Respect But the Cardinal positively denied him Access All he could be brought to after several Messages from the King was to allow the Duke of Ormond to talk to him upon the Road from St. Iean de Luz to the Place of Treaty as if it had been but an accidental Rencounter Ormond obtain'd nothing of the Cardinal but general and ambiguous Answers Till being press'd he told Ormond plainly That all his Master could do for his Cousin the King of England was to compassionate his Misfortunes as not being in a condition himself to break with the Government of England with which his Affairs oblig'd him to keep a good Correspondence Over and above this Neglect of Mazarine's King Charles had the Mortification to see Ambassador Lockhart receiv'd at the same time with the greatest Pomp and Splendor having the Cardinal's Coaches and Guards sent a day's Journey to receive him and the Cardinal giving him the Right Hand which was a Respect he denied the Ambassadors of Crown'd Heads Nor was Lewis de Haro kinder upon the matter to King Charles notwithstanding all his Civilities for having ask'd the Command of the Army in Flanders which the Prince of Conde was by the Treaty oblig'd to quit Don Lewis refus'd it All which will be a lasting Example to Posterity how little Trust is to be repos'd in Foreign Aid when a Prince comes to need it for recovering his Throne It were the highest Injustice to deny General Monk the greatest share of the Honour in Restoring King Charles II. Monk's part in the Restoration and yet it is a question whether his Design to do it was of so long standing as some have reported It 's probable he had not Thoughts that way till about the time that Richard Cromwell was depriv'd of the Government In which he was afterwards the more confirm'd upon the Army in England's setting up once more for themselves If he had really a form'd Intention at that time to bring back the King it must be confess'd he acted the part of a Politician much better than that of a Christian for he declar'd once again at that time for a Commonwealth without the King a Single Person or House of Lords and formally Renounc'd the Family of the Stuarts All which will appear by a Letter sign'd by him and his Officers to the Parliament upon Richard's Abdication and the Declaration it self Appendix Numb 11. mention'd at length in the Appendix It 's hardly to be imagin'd he had a mind to set up for himself as his Enemies have given out for he could not but see the whole Nation was returning apace to their Ancient Monarchical Principles and therefore he had little else to do but to comply a while with the Times till by declaring for a Free Parliament he pav'd the way for the King's Return It 's certain the People that then assum'd the Supreme Power were jealous of his Intentions and it was within an Ace he escap'd a Trap laid for him just at the time when he was ready to march from Scotland which would have inevitably ruin'd his Design if a mere Accident had not interven'd For Monk keeping his ordinary Residence at Dalkeith some four Miles on this side of Edinburgh the London Packet touch'd constantly there that the General might have his Letters before it reach'd Edinburgh The Committee of Safety being resolv'd to secure Monk dispatch'd secret Orders to Scotland by the ordinary Packet lest an Express might give suspicion and instead of directing the Label for Dalkeith as was usual it was order'd straight for Edinburgh It happenâ—d that one of Monk's Lifeguard met accidentally the Post turning out of the Road that led to Dalkeith and finding he had not touch'd there he brought him back notwithstanding the Label was directed otherwise Monk suspecting something open'd all the Letters that he found directed to the Officers of the Army among which there was one from the Committee of Safety to Colonel Thomas Wilks ordering him to use the most effectual speedy and secret way to secure the Person of General Monk and to send him up to London under a strong Guard in a Frigat that lay in Leith Road and then to take upâ—n him the Command of the Army till further Order Having taken out this and what other Letters he thought fit together with his own from the same Committee full of high Compliments and Expressions of Trust he sent away the Packet as it was directed But having communicated the matter to some of his particular Friends he gave Orders for a General Review of the Army to be made next morning at Edinburgh where he arrested Colonel Wilks and some other Officers he had reason to suspect and sent them Prisoners to the Castle filling up their Commissions with others of his own Creatures Monk in his March through England and after he came to London carried on the Thread of Dissimulation with wonderful dexterity till all things were fully ripe for throwing off the Mask and calling home the King As he was singularly happy in being the Chief Instrument of
to accomplish his Design for what a Parliament it may be would not do he was resolv'd that an Army should and therefore Care was taken to model his Troops as much to that end as the shortness of time would allow The Modelling of the Army Ireland was the inexhaustible Source whence England was to be furnish'd with a Romish Army and an Irish Roman-Catholick was the most welcome Guest at Whitehall They came over in Shoals to take possession of the promis'd Land and had already swallow'd up in their Hopes the best Estates of the Hereticks in England Over and above compleat Regiments of them there was scarce a Troop or Company wherein some of them were not plac'd by express Order from Court Several Protestants that had serv'd well and long were turn'd out to make room for them and Seven considerable Officers were cashier'd in one day merely for refusing to admit them The chief Forts and particularly Portsmouth and Hull the two Keys of England were put into Popish Hands and the Garisons so modell'd that the Majority were Papists To over-awe the Nation and to make Slavery familiar this Army was encamp'd Yearly near London where the only Publick Chappel in the Camp was appointed for the Service of the Romish Church and strict Orders given out That the Soldiers of that Religion should not fail every Sunday and Holiday to repair thither to Mass. As Ireland was remarkable for having furnish'd King Iames with Romish Troops sent into England The Methods us'd in Ireland so was it much more for the bare-fac'd and open Invasions that were made there upon the Liberties and Rights of the Protestants That Kingdom was the most proper Field to ripen their Projects in considering that the Protestants were much out-number'd by the Papists and had been for some Ages the constant Object of their Rancour and Envy which had been more than once express'd in Letters of Blood King Iames did recall the Earl of Clarendon from the Government of Ireland Tyrconnel made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland soon after he was sent thither and appointed the Earl of Tyrconnel to succeed him who was a Gentleman had signaliz'd himself for his Bigotry to the Church of Rome and his Hatred to the Protestants The Roman-Catholick Clergy had recommended him to King Iames for that Post in a Letter mention'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 21. As one that did first espouse and chiefly maintain the Cause of the Catholick Clergy against their many and powerful Enemies for the last Five and twenty Years and was then the only Person under whose Fortitude and Popularity in that Kingdom they durst with chearfulness and assurance own their Loyalty and assert his Majesty's Interest Making it therefore their humble Request That his Majesty would be pleas'd to lodge his Authority in his hands to the Terror of the Factious and Encouragement of his Majesty's faithful Subjects in Ireland promising to receive him with such Acclamations as the long-captiv'd Jews did their Redeemer Mordecai Which Letter show'd they were no less mistaken in their History of the Bible than their Advice to the King for it does not appear by the Story of Mordecai in the Scripture that he was ever sent to the Iews or remov'd from the City of Susa after he came into Favour with Ahasuerus However Tyrconnel fully answer'd the hopes and expectations of the Papists and the fears of the Protestants of Ireland for by the Ministry of this Rigid Man was the Ruin of the Protestant English Interest in that Kingdom in a great measure compleated At King Iames's Accession to the Crown the Army of Ireland consisted of about Seven Thousand Men all Protestants and zealous to the Service These were in a little time all turn'd out and the whole Army made up of Papists most of them the Sons and Descendants or near Relations of those that were Attainted for the Rebellion in 1641 or others that had distinguish'd themselves since that time by their notorious Villanies and implacable Hatred to the English and Protestant Interest Though in King Charles's time The Manner of filling up the Benches in Ireland by the Influence of the Duke of York there had been grounds of Complaint against some of the Judges in Ireland upon the account of their Partiality to the Papists yet when King Iames came to the Crown these very Judges were not thought fit enough for the Work that was design'd It was judg'd necessary to employ the most zealous of the Party those that from Interest and Inclination were the most deeply engag'd to destroy the Protestant Interest and accordingly such were pick'd out to sit in every Court of Justice The Custody of the King's Conscience and Great Seal was given to Sir Alexander Fitton a Person convicted of Forgery not only at Westminster-Hall and at Chester but Fin'd for it by the Lords in Parliament This Man was taken out of Gaol to discharge the Trust of Lord High Chancellor and had no other Qualities to recommend him besides his being a Convert to the Romish Church and a Renegado to his Religion and Countrey To him were added as Masters of Chancery one Stafford a Popish Priest and O Neal the Son of one of the most notorious Murderers in the Massacre 1641. In the Kings Bench care was taken to place one Nugent whose Father had lost his Honour and Estate for being a principal Actor in the same Rebellion This Man who had never made any figure at the Bar was pitch'd upon to judge whether the Outlawries against his Father and Fellow-Rebels ought to be Revers'd and whether the Settlements that were made in Ireland upon these Outlawries ought to stand good The next Court is that of Exchequer from which only of all the Courts in Ireland there lies no Appeal or Writ of Error in England It was thought fit that one Rice a profligate Fellow and noted for nothing but Gaming and a mortal Inveteracy against the Protestants should fill the place of Lord Chief Baron This man was often heard to say before he came to be a Judge That he would drive a Coach and Six Horses through the Act of Settlement And before that Law was actually Repeal'd in King Iames's Parliament he declar'd upon the Bench That it was against Natural Equity and did not oblige It was before him that all the Charters in the Kingdom were damn'd in the space of a Term or two so much was he for dispach A Learned Prelate Dr. King Bishop of Londonderry his State of Ireland under K. Iames. from whose Book all the things that here relate to that Countrey are taken does observe That if this Judge had been left alone it was believ'd in a few Years he would by some Contrivance or another have given away most of the Protestants Estates in Ireland without troubling a Parliament to Attaint them In the Court of Common-Pleas it was though advisable that a Protestant Chief Iustice should
done into English Twelves Lex Parliamentaria or a Treatise of the Law and Custom of the Parliaments of England By G. P. Esq Octavo Memoirs of Denzil Lord Holles Baron of Ifield in Sussex from the Year 1641 to 1648. Octavo The Compleat Horseman discovering the surest Marks of the Beauty Goodness Faults and Imperfections of Horses The Signs and Causes of their Diseases the true Method both of their Preservation and Cure with Reflections on the regular and preposterous use of Bleeding and Purging Also the Art of Shooing with the several kinds of Shooes adapted to the various Defects of bad Feet and the Preservation of good Together with the best Method of breeding Colts backing them and making their Mouths c. By the Sieur de Solleysell Querry to the present French King for his Great Horses and one of the Royal Academy of Paris To which is added A most excellent Supplement of Riding collected from the best Authors With an Alphabetical Catalogue of all the Physical Simples in English French and Latin by Sir William Hope Deputy-Lieutenant of the Castle of Edinburgh Folio The Gentleman's Jockey and approv'd Farrier instructing in the Natures Causes and Cures of all Diseases incident to Horses With an exact and easy Method of breeding buying dieting and otherwise ordering all sorts of Horses as well for common and ordinary use as the Heats and Course With divers other Curiosities Collected by the long Practice Experience and Pains of I. H. Esq Matthew Hodson Mr. Holled Mr. Willis Mr. Robinson Mr. Holden Thomas Empson Mr. Roper Mr. Medcalfe and Nath. Shaw The Eighth Edition with Additions Octavo The Roman History from the building of the City to the perfect Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar containing the Space of 727 Years design'd as well for the understanding of the Roman Authors as the Roman Affairs The Fourth Edition carefully revis'd and much improv'd By Lawrence Echard A. M. of Christ-College in Cambridge Vol. I. Octavo The Roman History from the Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar to the Removal of the Imperial Seat by Constantine the Great containing the Space of 355 Years Vol. II. For the Use of his Highness the Duke of Glocester The Second Edition By Lawrence Echard A. M. Octavo Politica Sacra Civilis Or a Model of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government wherein besides the Positive Doctrine concerning State and Church in general are debated the principal Controversies of the Times concerning the Constitution of the State and Church of England tending to Righteousness Truth and Peace By George Lawson Rector of More in the County of Salop. The Second Edition Octavo An Account of Denmark as it was in the Year 1692. The Third Edition Octavo An Account of Sueden Together with an Extract History of that Kingdom Octavo Of Wisdom Three Books Written Originally in French by the Sieur de Charron With an Account of the Author Made English by George Stanhope D. D. late Fellow of King's-College in Cambridge From the best Edition Corrected and Enlarged by the Author a little before his Death In Two Volumes Octavo A New Voyage to Italy With curious Observations on several other Countries as Germany Switzerland Savoy Geneva Flanders and Holland Together with useful Instructions for those who shall travel thither Done out of French The Second Edition enlarged above one Third and enriched with several New Figures By Maximilian Misson Gent. In Two Volumes Octavo A Compleat Body of Chirurgical Operations containing the whole Practice of Surgery With Observations and Remarks on each Case Amongst which are inserted the several ways of delivering Women in Natural and Unnatural Labours The whole Illustrated with Copper Plates explaining the several Bandages Sutures and divers useful Instruments By M. de lâ— Vanguion M. D. and Intendant of the Royal Hospitals about Paris Faithfully done into English Octavo A Relation of a Voyage made in the Years 1695 1696 1697 on the Coasts of Africa Streights of Magellan Brazil Cayenna and the Antilles by a Squadron of French Men of War under the Command of M. de Gennes By the Sieur Froger Volunteer-Engineer on Board the English Falcon. Illustrated with divers strange Figures drawn to the Life Octavo Travels into divers parts of Europe and Asia undertaken by the French King's Order to discover a new way by Land into China Containing many curious Remarks in Natural Philosophy Geography Hydrography and History Together with a Description of Great Tartary and of the different People who inhabit there By Father Avril of the Order of the Jesuits Done out of French To which is added a Supplement extracted from Hakluit and Purchas giving an Account of several Journeys over Land from Russia Persia and the Mogul's Country to China Together with the Roads and Distances of the Places Twelves A Compendium of Universal History from the Beginning of the World to the Reign of the Emperor Charles the Great Written Originally in Latin by Monsieur Le Clerc Done into English Octavo A Political Essay or Summary Review of the Kings and Government of England since the Norman Conquest By W. P y Esq. Octavo The Art of preserving and restoring Health explaining the Nature and Causes of the Distempers that afflict Mankind Also shewing that every man is or may be his own best Physician To which is added a Treatise of the most Simple and Effectual Remedies for the Diseases of Men and Women Written in French by M. Flamand M. D. and faithfully translated into English Twelves A Defence of the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England Written in Latin by I. Ellis S. T. D. Now done into English To which are added Lambeth Articles Together with the Judgment of Bishop Andrews Dr. Overall and other Eminent and Learned Men upon them Twelves The Present State of Christendom consider'd in Nine Dialogues between 1. The present Pope Alexander VIII and Lewis XIV 2. The Great Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Savoy 3. King Iames II. and the Mareschal de la Feâ—illade 4. The Duke of Lorrain and the Duke of Schonberg 5. The Duke of Lorrain and the Elector Palatine 6. Lewis XIV and the Marquis of Louvois 7. The Advoyer of Berne and the Chief Syndic of Geneva 8. Cardinal Ottoboni and the Duke de Chaulnes 9. The Young Prince Abafti and Count Teckley Done out of French Octavo Bellamira or the Mistress A Comedy As it is Acted by Their Majesties Servants Written by the Honourable Sir Charles Sedley Baronet