strong and violent Machination in hand which had turn'd the Prince a most Obedient Son before to a quite contrary Course to his Majesties Intentions Thirdly That the Counsel began last Summer at Madrid but was lately ripen'd and resolv'd in England to restrain his Majesty from the Exercise of the Government of his three Kingdoms and that the Prince and the Duke had design'd such Commissioners under themselves as should intend great Affairs and the Publick Good Fourthly That this should be effected by beginning of a War and keeping some Troops and Companies on Foot in this Land whereby to constrein His Majesty to yield to any thing chiefly being brought into Streits for want of Monies to pay Souldiers Fifthly That the Prince and Duke inclosing his Majesty from the said Embassador and other of his own Loyal People that they might not come near him in private did Argue in them a fear and distrust of a good Conscience Sixthly That the Emissaries of the Duke had brought his Majesty into Contempt with the Potent Men of the Realm traducing him for slothful and unactive for addiction to an inglorious Peace while the inheritance of his Daughter and her Children are in the Hands of his Foes and that this appear'd by a Letter which the Duke had writ into Holland and they had intercepted Seventhly That his Majesties Honour Nay his Crown and Safety did depend upon a sudden Dissolution of the Parliament Eighthly They Loaded the Duke with sundry misdemeanors in Spain and his violent Opposition of the Match Ninthly That the Duke had divulged the King's Secrets and the close Designs between his Majesty and their Master K. Philip about the States of Holland and their Provinces and labour'd to put his Majesty out of the good Opinion of the Hollanders Tenthly That the Duke was guilty of most corrupt dealing with the Embassadors of divers Princes Eleventhly That all things were carried on in the Parliament with a headlong Violence and that the Duke was the Cause of it who courted them only that were of troubled Humours Twelfthly That such Bitterness and Ignominies were vented against the King of Spain in Parliament as was utterly against all good Manners and the Honour of the English Nation Thirteenthly Is a flat Contradiction to the Precedents wherein they made the Prince privy to dangerous things yet in this they say That the Puritans of whom the Duke was Head did wish they could bring it about that the Succession of the Kingdom might come to the Prince Palatine and his Children in Right of the Lady Elizabeth Thus lay the Notes of the Lord Keeper This is the Dirt which the Swallows or rather unclean Birds pickt up and made their Nest of it And this is not all But that which remains shall be burnt in the Fire Latere semper patere quod latuit diu Saepè eruentis veritas patuit malo Senec. in Aedipo In a Postscript the Paper prayed the King That Don Francisco Carondelet Secretary to Marquess Inoiosa might be brought to the King when the Prince and Duke were sitting in the Upper House to satisfie such doubts as the King might Raise which was perform'd by the Earl of Kelly who watch'd a fit Season for Francisco at one time and for Padre Maestro the Jesuit at another time who told their Errand so spitefully that the King was much troubled at their Relations 202. He that says U. Sanderson P. 562. that not a day past but that he was present and acquainted with all the Transaction of these pernicious Delators to the end should have said he knew it at the end when the Monster was brought to light then his History indeed will justifie it self that it did not startle the King But his Majesty's Sorrow increased while it was smothered and Fear set in apace till a wise Remonstrance resisted it And it was no Wonder that he was abused a while and dim sighted with a Character of Jealousie For the Parliament was about to land him in a new World to begin and maintain a War who thought that scarce any Mischief was so great as was worth a War to mend it Wherein the Prince did deviate from him as likewise in Affection to the Spanish Alliance but otherwise promised nothing but Sweetness and Obedience He stuck at the Duke most of all whom he defended in part to one of the Spanish Ministers yet at the same time complained that he had noted a turbulent Spirit in him of late and knew not how to mitigate it Thus casting up the Sum he doubted it might come to his own Turn to pay the Reckoning The Setters on expected that their Pill could not choose but have a most violent Operation And it wrought so far that his Majesty's Countenance fell suddenly that he mused much in Silence that he entertained the Prince and Duke with mystical and broken Speeches From whence they gathered all was not right and questing for Intelligence they both heard that the Spanish Secretary and the Jesuit Maestro had been with him and understood that some in the Ambassador's House had vaunted that they had netled the Duke and that a Train would take Fire shortly to blow up the Parliament While his Majesty was gnawn with this Perplexity he prepared for Windsor to shift Ground for some better Ease in this Unrest and took Coach at St. James's-House-Gate in the end of April being Saterday Afternoon He received his Son into the Coach and sound a slight Errand to leave Buckingham behind as he was putting his Foot in the Boot which brought Tears from him and an humble Prayer that his Majesty would let him know what could be laid to his Charge to offend so gracious a Master and vowed it by the Name of his Saviour to purge it or confess it The King did not satisfie him in it it seems the time of Detection in his deep Judgment was not come and he had charged all that were privy to the Occasion to be very secret Cab. P. 77. But he breathed out this Disgust That he was the Unhappiest alive to be forsaken of them that were dearest to him which was uttered and received with Tears from his own Eyes as well as the Prince's and Duke's whom he left behind and made hast with his Son for Windsor The Lord Keeper spared not for Cost to purchase the most certain Intelligence of those that were his feed Pensioners of every hours Occurrencies at Court and was wont to say That no man could be a Statesman without a great deal of Money Of this which had hapned his Scout related presently what he could see for he heard little Which News were no sooner brought but he sought out the Duke at Wallingford-House and had much ado to be admitted to him in his sad Retirement Whom he found laid upon a Couch in that immoveable Posture that he would neither rise up nor speak though he was invited to it twice or thrice by courteous Questions The Lord Keeper
Wherein the Lord Keeper interceded with the Duke to the incurring a mighty Anger as may be seen by the Letters of Decem. 24. and Jan. 4. Cab. p. 99. If Threatings had been mortal Shot he had Perisht for he never had such a Chiding before but he kept his Ground because he held the fairer side of the Quarrel Dr. Meriton the Dean of York was lately Dead and much Deplor'd For he was an Ornament to the Church My Lord Duke entreated by great ones named a Successor that had no Seasoning or Tast of Matter in him one Dr. Scot But a Doctor Inter Doctores Bullatos for he never stood in the Commencement to approve himself beside too many Faults to be ript up I have known a Scholar in Cambridge so bad a Rider that no Man for Love or Price would furnish him with a Horse I would have thought no Man would have furnisht such a Scholar as this with a Deanery chiefly of York It came about strangely Scot was a Prodigal Gamster and had lost upon the Ticket to a Noble Person far more then he was worth Which Debt his Creditor knew not how to recover but by Thrusting him aided with my Lord Dukes Power into this Rich Preferment The Casuists among all the Species of Simony never Dream'd of this which may be called Simonia Aleatoria when a Gamester is Installed into a goodly Dignity to make him capable to pay the Scores of that which he had lost with a bad Hand And yet the Man Died in the Kings-Bench and was not Solvent The Lord Keeper intending to put of Dr. Scot from this place besought for the remove of those most worthy Divines Dr. White or Dr. Hall or to Collate it upon Dr. Warner the most Charitable and very Prudent Bishop of Rochester But he was so terrified for giving this good Counsel that he writes now he knew his Graces Resolution he would alter his Opinion and would be careful in giving the least Cause of Jealousie in that kind again Yet it is a received Maxime Defuturos eos qui suaderent si suasisse sit periculum Curt. l. 3. Certainly with others this might work to his Esteem but nothing to his Prejudice And I dare confidently avouch what I knowingly speak that I may use the Words of my industrious Friend Mr. T. F. in his Church History That the Solicitation for Dr. Theodore Price about Two Months after was not the first motive of a Breach between the Keeper and the Duke the day-light clears that without dusky conjectures no nor any Process to more unkindness then was before which was indeed grown too high The Case is quickly Unfolded Dr. Price was Country Man Kinsman and great Acquaintance of the Lord Keepers By whose procurement he was sent a Commissioner into Ireland two years before with Mr. Justice Jones Sir T. Crew Sir James Perrot and others to rectifie Grievances in Church and Civil State that were complain'd In Executing which Commission he came of with Praise and with Encouragement from His Majesty that he should not fail of Recompence for his Well-doing Much about the time that the Prince return'd out of Spain the Bishoprick of Asaph soll void the County of Merioneth where Dr. Price was Born being in the Diocess The Lord Keeper attempted to get that Bishoprick for Dr. Price But the Prince since the time that by his Patent he was styled Prince of Wales had Claimed the Bishopricks of that Principality for his own Chaplains So Dr. Melburn and Dr. Carlton were preferr'd to St. Davids and Landaff And Asaph was now Conferr'd upon Dr. Hanmer his Highness's Chaplain that well deserv'd it A little before King James's Death Dr. Hampton Primate of Armach as stout a Prelate and as good a Governor as the See had ever enjoy'd Died in a good old Age. Whereupon the Keeper interposed for Dr. Price to Succeed him But the Eminent Learning of Dr. Usher for who could match him all in all in Europe carried it from his Rival Dr. Price was very Rational and a Divine among those of the first Note according to the small skill of my Perceivance And his Hearers did testifie as much that were present at his Latin Sermon and his Lectures pro gradu in Oxford But because he had never Preach'd so much as one Sermon before the King and had left to do his calling in the Pulpit for many years it would not be admitted that he should Ascend to the Primacy of Armach no nor so much as succeed Dr. Usher in the Bishoprick of Meth. To which Objection his Kinsman that stickled for his Preferment could give no good Answer and drew of with so much ease upon it that the Reverend Dr. Usher had no cause to Regret at the Lord Keeper for an Adversary Neither did Dr. Price ever shew him Love after that day and the Church of England then or sooner lost the Doctors Heart 214. It is certain that all Grants at the Court went with the Current of my Lord Dukes Favour None had Power to oppose it nor the King the Will For he Rul'd all his Majesties Designs I may not say his Affections Yet the L. Keeper declin'd him sometimes in the Dispatches of his Office upon great and just Cause Whereupon the King would say in his pleasant Manners That he was a stout Man that durst do more than himself For since his Highness's return out of Spain if any Offices were procur'd in State of Reversion or any Advouzons of Church Dignities he interpos'd and stopt the Patents as Injurious to the Prince to whose Donation they ought to belong in just time and preserv'd them for him that all such Rewards might come entire and undefloured to his Patronage Wherein his Highness maintain'd his Stiffness for that foresight did procure that his own Beneficence should be unprevented And he carried that Respect to the Dukes Honour nay to his Safety for notice was taken of it that he would not admit his Messages in the Hearing of Causes no not when his chief Servants attended openly in Court to Countenance those Messages to carry him a-wry and to oppress the Poorest and whose Faces he had never seen with the least wrong Judicii tenax suit neque aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit as Capitolinus makes it a good Note of Maximus He would believe his own Judgment and his own Ears what they heard out of Depositions and not the Representation of his best Friends that came from partial Suggestions Such Demands as are too heavy to ascend let them fall down in pieces or they will break him at the last that gives them his Hand to lift them up In this only he would not stoop to his Grace but pleas'd himself that he did displease him And being threatned his best Mitigation was That perhaps it was not safe for him to deny so great a Lord yet it was safest for his Lordship to be Denied It was well return'd For no Arrand was so privily conveyed
Parliament and had stood up to defend him where there was openly such defiance of Enmity between them he had been censur'd by all Judgment for double-mindedness or sawning And as Lanfrank charged one of his Predecessors Remigius Bishop of Lincoln Quod officio emerat Episcopatum So the World would have censur'd this Prelate that he kept his Place by Service Simony as Mr. Fuller calls it And with what Safety and Liberty he could appear let one Passage demonstrate The Duke demanded that the Attorney-General might plead for him in the House of Peers against the Charge transmitted by the Commons which was opposed because the Attorney was one of the King 's Learned Council and sworn to plead in Causes concerning the King and not against them And the King is supposed to be ever present in the noble Senate of the Lords It was rejoyn'd That His Majesty would dispense with the Attorney's Oath It came to be a Case of Conscience and was referr'd to the Bishop's Learning Some of them judged for the Duke that this was not an Assertory-Oath which admits no alteration but a Promissory-Oath from which Promise the King if he pleas'd might release his Learned Counsel Bishop Felton a devout man and one that feared God very learned and a most Apostolical Overseer of the Clergy whom he governed argued That some Promissory-Oaths indeed might be relaxed if great cause did occur yet not without great cause lest the Obligation of so sacred a thing as an Oath should be wantonly slighted And in this Oath which the Attorney had taken it was dangerous to absolve him from it lest bad Example should be given to dispense with any Subject that had sworn faithful Service to the Crown for which plain Honesty he was wounded with a sharp Rebuke And the reverend Author told me this with Tears Yet the Archb. Abbot said as much and went farther for whom Budaeus would stand up a great Scholar and a Statesman De Asse lib. 3. fol. 102. Neque turpe esse credo cos homines observare quibus apud Principem gratiâ slagrare contigit si non cosdem apud populum ordines infamiâ invidiâ slagrare videamus As who would say it is Duty to love a Favourite for the King's sake and it is Duty to desert him when he becomes a publick Scandal For no man will be happy to stick to him who is so unhappy to become a common Hatred All that Parliament was a long Discontent of eighteen weeks and brought forth nothing but a Tympany of swelling Faction and abrupt Dissolution whereby the King saved that great Lord who lost His Majesty in some expeditions Honour abroad and the love of his People at home This was another Fire-brand kindled after the former at Oxford to burn down the Royal House and the most piously composed Church of England For a wife Oratour says it is Isocr Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 243. The cause of an Evil must not be ascribed to things that concur just at the breaking out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the forerunning Mischiefs which were soaking long to ripen the Distempers Well was it for Lincoln that he had no hand in this Fray for as the Voyagers to Greenland say When the Whale-fishing begins it is better to be on the Shore and look on E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem than to be employed in the Ships to strike them and hale them to Land 71. Say then that he neither did harm nor receive any by being shut out of this turbulent Parliament Yet his Advice had been worth the asking because of the Plunges that His Majesty was put to upon the Dissolution but he heard of no Call to such a purpose For no man looks on a Dyal in a cloudy day when the Sun shines not on it God's Mercy was in it for he sate safer at home than he could have done at the Council-Board at this time where much Wisdom was tryed to help the King's Necessities out of the Peoples Purses by a Commandatory Loan and with the least Scandal that might be for not to run into some Offence was unavoidable Pindar the Poet was call'd out of his House to speak with some Friend in the Street Castor and Pollux says the Tale-teller searce was his Foot over the Threshold when the Building sunk and all that were within perish'd Thus upon a time the least Shelter gave the most Safety as did the lesser Honour procure this man the more Peace But as Camillus in Livy thrust out of Rome and retired to Ardea prayed that they that had cashier'd him might have no need of him so this forlorn Statesman would have been satisfied to have his place at the Council-Table supplied by others if the King's Affairs had not wanted him at this instant when he suddenly slid down from his former value in the love of this People The Bishops most likely it came from them advised His Majesty first to fly to God and to bid a publick Fast first at Court then over all the Land about the fifth of July Bish Laud whose Sermon was printed preach'd before the King upon the 21st Verse of the 17th Chapter of St. Matthew This kind goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting The Preface of the Book and the Exhortation publish'd to the observing that solemn Fast stirred up all good Christians to entreat God not to take Vengeance on the Murmurings of the People to keep their Spirits in Unity to divert the plague of immoderate Rain like to corrupt the Fruits of the Harvest and chiefly to preserve us from the Bloody Wars that Spain intended against us Intended says the Book for depredation of Merchants Ships was the worst they had done us Let the Reader gather this by the way That a publick Fast had not been indicted before by the Supreme Authority upon the Alarums of our Enemies Preparations In Eighty eight an Order came out call'd A Form of Prayer necessary for the present Time and State to be used on Wednesdays and Fridays that is certain Collects to be added to the Common Prayer Yet no Fast was bidden saving thus far That Preachers in their Sermons and Exhortations should move the People to Abstinence and Moderation in their Dyet to the end they might be more able to relieve the Poor c. The first Form to be used in Common Prayer with an Order of publick Fast for every Wednesday in the week for a time was set out by Queen Elizabeths special Command in Aug. 1563. when the Plague called The Plague of New-haven was rise in London In which Book is a passage to illustrate our Common-Prayer-Book for the first Rubrick prefixt to the Order for the Holy Communion That so many as intend to be Partakers of the Holy Communion should signifie their Names to the Curate over night or else in the morning either before the beginning of Common Prayer or immediately after That immediately after means that in
of God and because all that he is and hath is God's cannot render what he owes unto God in equality of Justice And all that he speaks of a Father in regard of his Children between whom Justice in one Acception doth not intercede he borrows out of Suarez Suarez out of Cajetan Cajetan out of Aquinas 2 vol. qu. 57. art 4. not art 8. as he misquotes him But he adds The King out of his own Brain who is but a metaphorical Father Benevolentiâ animo pater est naturâ rex pater non est says Saravia lib. 2. c. 12. without the Authority of his Authors nay flatly contrary to Aquinas in that place for he allows that Justice and Law may be stated between Father and Son Says he As the Son is somewhat of the Father and the Servant of the Master Justum non est inter illos per commensurationem ad Alterum sed in quantum uterque est homo aliquo modo est inter eos justitia He goes on That beside Father and Son Master and Servant there are other degrees and diversities of Persons to be sound in an Estate as Priests Citizens Souldiers c. that have an immediate relation to the Common-wealth and Prince thereof and therefore towards these Justum est secundum perfectam rationem justitiae So Suarez lib. 5. de leg c. 18. Some will say that Tribute is not due by way of Justice but by way of Obedience Hoc planè falsum est contra omnes Doctores qui satentur hanc obligationem solvendi tributa ubi intervenit esse justuiám And which is more than the Judgment of meer Man it is St. Paul's Rom. 13.7 For this cause pay your tribute render therefore to every man that which is his due Redditio sui cuique is the very definition of Justice And he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice to intercede between Fathers and their Children Ephes 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this is just This is the first Observation how he falsifieth his Learning The next is this That his end to bring us to the case of Creatures and Children towards the King is to take away all Propriety as it appears clearly by what he must draw out of his own Authors Suarez ubi supra Man cannot render to God his due by way of Justice Quia quicquid est vel habet totum est Dei Apply it with Dr. Maynwaring to the King Whatsoever the Subject is or hath is all the King 's by way of Property Aquinas in the place before Quod est filii est patris ideo non est propriè justitia patris ad filium Apply it to the King Justice doth not interceed between the King and his People because what is the Peoples is the King 's This is the Venom of this new Doctrine that by making us the King's Creatures and in the state of Minors or Children to take away all our Propriety Which would leave us nothing of our own and lead us but that God hath given us just and gracious Princes into Slavery As when the Jews were under a meer Vassalage their Levites their Churchmen complain to God The Kings of Assyria have dominion over our bodies and over our cattel at their pleasure Nehem. 9.37 Thus far the Bishop making very even parts between all that were concern'd in the Question And because the Chaplain's Doctrine had drawn up a Flood-gate through which a Deluge of Anger and Mischief gush'd out His Majesty left him to the Censure of his Judges No Wonder if one of the best of Kings did that Honour to his Senate which one of the worst of Emperors did to that at Rome Magistratibus liberam jurisdictionem sine interpellatione concessit says Suetonius of Caligula Neither had it been Wisdom to save one Delinquent with the loss of a Parliament Lurentius Medices gave better Counsel than so to his Son Peter Magis universitatis quà m seorsùm cujusque rationem habeto Polit. lib. 4. Ep. p. 162. Yet Dr. Maynwaring lost nothing at this lift his Liberty was presently granted him by the King his Fine remitted the Income of one Benefice sequestred for three years put all into his own Purse and was received in all his ordinary attendance again at Court with the Preferments of the Deanry of Worcester and after of the Bishoprick of St. Davids so willing was the King to forget that Clause in his Sentence past by the Lords which did forbid it 76. No man else suffering for so common a Grievance it made a glad Court at Whitehall The Parliament used their best Counsels and Discretions at the same time to secure their Lives Livelihoods and Liberties from such arbitrary Thraldom thereafter Nunquam fida est potentia ubi nimia est We must live under the Powers which God hath set over us but are loth that any man should have too much Power Sir Ed. Coke made the motion which will keep his noble Memory alive to sue to the King by Petition the most ancient and humble Address of Parliaments that His Majesty would give his People Assurance of their Rights by Assent in Parliament as he useth to pass other Acts viz. That none should be compell'd to any charge of Tax or Benevolence without agreement of Lords and Commons nor any Freeman be imprison'd but by the Law of the Land with some such other-like which are enter'd into many Authors The Duke of Buck. was forward to stop this Petition in the House where he sate for which the Commons having not yet meddled with him resolved to give him an ill Farewel before their parting Neither did he recover his old Lustre nor carry any great sway among the Peers since his dishonourable Expedition to Rhe for evil Successes are not easily forgotten though prosperous ones vanish in the warmth of their Fruition And not only that Duke and the Lord Privy-Seal with other great and able Officers did repulse this motion with all main but the King 's learned Council were admitted to plead their Exceptions against it Six weeks were spent in these Delays and Hope deserred made their hearts sick Prov. 13.12 and their Heads jealous who follow'd the cause that there was no good meaning to relieve their Oppressions At last the difficulty was overcome the Petitioners had one Answer from the King and look'd for a fuller and had it in the end So much sooner had been so much better as our Poet Johnson writes to Sir E. Sackvile of some mens Good-turns They are so long a coming and so hard When any Deed is forc'd the Grace is marr'd The Subjects ask'd for nothing now which was not their own but for Assurance to keep their own which had it been done with a Smile benignly and cheerfully and without any casting about to evade it it had been done Princely It is not impossible to find an honest Rule in Matchiavel for this is his Beneficia
Lives to be liable and disposable by this Soveraign Power and not turn England into the case of Turky And if you affirm that a man may be taken and imprison'd by a Soveraign Power wherewith a King is trusted beside the Law exprest in the Statute why should you not grant as well the Law being one and the same that a man may be put out of his Lands and Tenements disinherited and put to death by this Soveraign Power without being brought to answer by due process of Law I conceive this Reason may be more fortified but will never be answer'd and satisfied Bore one hole into this Law and all the good thereof will run out of it Next I shew that nothing was ever attempted against the Magna Charta without great Envy and Grudging Now since a man's Liberty is a thing that Nature most desires and which the Law doth exceedingly favour the 29th Chapter of that Charter says Nullus liber homo imprisonetur nisi per legem terrae What word can there be against these words Why it was said here with Resolution and Confidence That Lex terrae is to be expounded of Actions of the King 's Privy Council done at the Council-Table without further Process of Law But did ever any Judge of this Land give that interpretation of Lex terrae in Magnâ Chartâ Indeed a great learned Lord in this House did openly say That all Courts of Jurisdiction in this Land establish'd and authorised by the King may be said to be Lex terrae Which is granted by me although it was denied by implication by the resolution of the House of Commons But then the Question still remains whether the Council-Table at Whitehall be a forum contentiosum a Court of Jurisdiction I ever granted they may commit to Prison juxta legem terrae as they are Justices of Peace and of other legal Capacities And I grant it also that they may do it praeter legem terrae as they are great Counsellors of State and so to provide where the Laws are defective ne quid detrimenti respub capiat Secondly It was much prest that my L. Egerton did expound this Lex terrae to be Lex regis which must mean somewhat in his Post-nati pag. 33. I have read the Book and it is palpably mistaken That great Lord saith only this That the Common-Law hath many Names secundùm subjectam materiam according to the variety of Objects it handles When it respects the Church it is called Lex Ecclesiae Anglicanae When it respects the Crown Lex Coronae and sometime Lex Regia When it respects the common Subject it is called Lex Terrae Is not this his plain meaning It must be so by his instance p. 36. That the cases of the Crown are the Female to inherit the eldest Son to be preferr'd no respect of Half-blood no disability of the King's Person by Infancy If his Lordship should mean otherwise his Authorities would fail him Regist fol. 61. the word Lex Regia is not nam'd that 's my Lord's Inference but the Title is Ad jura Regia that is certain Briefs concerning the King's Kights opposite to Jura Papalia or Canonica all of them in matters ecclesiastical as Advousons Presentations Quare-impedits c. all pleaded in Westminster-hall things never heard of in the King 's dwelling Court since the fixing of the Courts of Justice Thus much for the Authorities Now the reason offer'd out of them which will never be answer'd is this By the Lex Terrae in Magna Charta a man may be not only imprison'd but withal outlaw'd destroy'd try'd and condemn'd but a man cannot be outlaw'd destroy'd try'd and condemn'd by any Order of the Lords of the Council therefore the Orders of the Lords of the Council are not Lex Terrae At this and upon other occasions the Bishop spake to this matter till the Petition was most graciously consented to by the King in all the Branches of it and was more attended to upon the Experience of his Knowledge and Wisdom than at least any of his Order And as Theocritus says of his principal Shepherd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From that day Daphnis was accounted the Chief of his Calling which filled the Court with the Report But some men are in danger to be traduced with too much Praise 79. One thing struck in unhappily which made this Session rise without a good close in the shutting up it was a Remonstrance presented to the King by the House of Commons of many Complaints the most offensive being those that were personal against two Bishops that were about the King and against the L. Duke That his excessive Power and abuse of that Power was the cause of all Evils and Dangers among us Though this came very cross to the King's Affections yet the worst word that he gave to the Remonstrance was That no wise man would justifie it How many Kings of England had treated both Houses more sharply upon less provocation Yet now the chief Tribunes spake their Discontents aloud That they had given a bountiful Levy of five Subsidies and were called Fools for their labour The Gift was large the Manner the Allegiance the Willingness were better than the Gift yet might not His Majesty touch mildly upon a Fault without such a scandalous Paraphrase The Galatians would have pulled out their own Eyes to do Paul good yet he spared them not for it but upon Errors crept into the Doctrine of their Faith he called them foolish Galatians The sowrest Leaven not seen in the Remonstrance but hid in the House was That some seditious Tongues did blab their meaning to cut off the payment of Tonnage and Poundage by the concession of the Petition of Right against which His Majesty spake and declar'd That his Predecessors had quietly enjoy'd those Payments by the Royal Prerogative which both Houses did protest to leave inviolable That the Grant of the Petition did meet with Grievances said to entrench upon the Liberty and Property of the People to give them assurance of quiet from paying Taxes or Loans without Order of Parliament To go further it was not his Meaning nor their Demand The Bishop of Lincoln appeared very much to concur with the King's Interpretation and was very zealous to have had an Act past for it before the Parliament was prorogued Nay he forbore not to chide his Friends in the lower House whose Metal he found to be churlish and hard to be wrought upon Ut erat generosae indolis nihil frigidè nihil languidè agebat as Clementius says of renowned Salmasius in his Life p. 61. But the Bishop's Motion was laid by and with no good meaning Yet since it was seen that his Endeavours were real to have wound up the Bottom at that time without that scurvy knot in it he had the Favour to kiss the King's Hand and to have Words both with His Majesty and with the Duke in private O hard Destiny this he had
Lay-Lords and consequently continued present in Judicature in the eye and construction of the Law Therefore I apply my Answers to Courtney's Protestation principally which are divers and fit to be weighed and ponder'd First I do observe that Bishops did never protest or withdraw in Causes of Blood but only under the unsteddy Reign of Richard the Second Never before nor after the time of that unfortunate King to this present Parliament for ought appears in Record or History And that one Swallow should make us such a Spring and one Omission should create a Law or Custom against so many Actions of the English Prelates under so many Kings before so many Kings and Queens after that young Prince seems to me a strange Doctrine especially when I consider that by the Rules of the Civil and Common Law a Protestation dies with the death of him that makes it or is regularly vacated and disannulled Per contrarium actum subsequentem protestationem by any one subsequent act varying from the tenour of the said Protestation Regul Juris Bap. Nicol. part 2. Now that you may know how the Prelates carried themselves in this point and actually voted in Causes of Treason and sometimes to Blood before Richard the Second I refer me to what I cited before out of Mr. Selden and he out of Stephanides concerning Becket condemned by his Peers Ecclesiastical and Temporal 15 H. 2. Archbishop Stratford acquitted of High Treason in Parliament by four Prelates four Earls and four Barons under Edward the Third Antiq. Britan. p. 223. There was 4 Ed. 3. Roger de Mortimer Berisford Travers and others adjudged Traitors by Bishops as well as other Peers 16 Ed. 3. Thomas de Berkely was acquitted of Treason in pleno Parliamento And especially I refer my self to Roll 21 Rich. 2. Num. 10. which averrs That Judgments and Ordinances in the time of that King's Progenitors had been avoided by the absence of the Clergy which makes the Commons there to pray that the Prelates would make a Procurator by whom they might in all Judgments of Blood be at the least legally if they durst not be bodily present in such Judicatures And for the practice since the Reign of Rich. II. be it observed that in the fifth of Hen IV. the Commons thank the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for their good and rightful Judgment in freeing the Earl of Northumberland from Treason 3 Hen. 5. The Commons pray a Confirmation of the Judgment given upon the E. of Cambridge by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 5 H. 5. Sir J. Oldcastle is attainted of Treason and Heresie by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 28 H. 6. The Duke of Suffolk is charged with Treason before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 31 H. 6. The Earl of Devon in like sort and so down to the Earl of Bristol's Case 22 Maii 1626. ten Bishops are joyned with ten Earls and ten Barons in the disquisition and agitation of that supposed Treason I leave it therefore to any indifferent Judgment Whether these Protestations made all under one Kings Reign dying with the Parties that made them can void a Right and Custom grounded on a continual Practice to the contrary in all other Tryals that have been since the Conquest to this present Parliament 151. Secondly It is fitting we know the nature of a Protestation which some may mistake Protestatio est animi nostri declaratio juris acquirendi vel conservandi vel damnum depellendi causâ facta saith Spiegle Calvin and all the Civilians No Protestation is made by any man in his Wits to destroy his own Right and much less another mans but to acquire or preserve some Right or to avoid and put off some Wrong that was like to happen to the Party or Parties that make the Protestation As here in Courtney's Protestation the Prelates in the first place conceive a Right and Power they had voluntarily to absent themselves while some matters were treated of at that time in the House of Lords which by the Canon-Law the Breach whereof the Popes of Rome did vindicate in those times with far more Severity than they did the Transgressions of the Law of God they were not suffer'd to be present at not for want of Right to be there in all Causes but for fear of Papal Censures In the next place they did preserve their former Right as Peers which they still had though voluntarily absenting themselves More solito interessendi considerandi tyactandi ordinandi definiendi all things without exception acted and executed in that Parliament And in the last place they protest against any loss of right of being or voting in Parliament that could befall them for this voluntary absenting of themselves at this time And where in all this Protestation is there one word to prejudice their Successors or to authorize any Peer to command his fellow-Peer called thither by the same Writ of Summons that himself is and by more ancient Prescription to withdraw and go out from this Common-Council of the Kingdom Thirdly We do not certainly know what these matters were whereat Archbishop Courtney conceived the Prelates neither could nor ought to be present These matters are left in loose and general words in that Protestation Some conceive indeed it was at the Condemnation of Tressilian Brambre L. Beauchamp and others Ant. Brit. p. 286. But the Notes of Privileges belonging to the Lords collected by Mr. Selden do with more reason a great deal assign this going forth of the Prelates to be occasion'd by certain Appeals of Treason preferred in that Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester against Alexander Archbishop of York whom the Popish Canons of those Times as you know exempted as a sacred person from the cognizance of King or Parliament and therefore the rest of the Bishops as the Squares went then neither could nor ought to be present and Parties to break the Exemptions Immunities and Privileges of that great Prelate But the Earl of Strafford is not the Archbishop but the President of York and to challenge any such Exemptions and Immunities at this time from the cognizance of King and Parliament amounts to little less than Treason Therefore this Protestation is very unseasonably urged to thrust out any Protestant Prelate from voting in Parliament Lastly In the Civil and Canon-Law for the Law of this Land knoweth it not a Protestation is but a Testation or witnessing before-hand of a man 's own Mind or Opinion whereby they that protest provide to save and presorve their own Right for the time to come It concludes no more bende themselves no Stranger to the Act no Successor but if it be admitted sticks as inherent in the singular and individual person until either the Party dyes or the Protestation be drawn and revoked Therefore what is a Protestation made by Will. Courtney to Will. Laud Or by Tho. Arundel to bind Tho. Morton And what one Rule in the Common-Law of the Land in the Journaâ—-Books or
my power to advertise you of all Particulars though it would be very useful to me I end c. If one should say to this That young Heads hope for the best upon all Expectations because Experience hath not taught them to Distrust I take it up and Answer That there was nothing then in appearance to be distrusted no not the Remora of the Pontifical Dispensation when it should come with all its Trinkets about it The Prince had excellently prevented it For as it was Reported before the Lords and Commons in our ensuing Parliament 1624. his Highness did utterly refuse to Treat with the King of Spain or his Council until he was assured he might go on with the Marriage if he satisfied them to his Power and Conscience in all Particulars to be Debated without respect to any orders that should come from Rome This was granted to his Highness before he would sit in Consultation which caused the Lord Marquess unto that time to bear up with chearfulness 137. The month of May coming in with its Verdue his Lordship had a Garland sent him the most eminent Title of a Duke to shew says the Lord-Keeper in his Dispatch May 2. That His Majesty is most constant and in some degrees more enslamed in his Affections to your Grace than formerly and which is better than all unaffectedly to remunerate your Diligence in the great Negotiation and that being the Princes right hand by the Trust you are in your Honour might be no less than the Conde Duke Olivares the Great Privado of King Philip. It may be 't is so small a Circumstance that I have not searched about it that the Patent came with the Ships that carried the Prince's Servants into Spain to attend his Highness who went with the King's Order and their own great Desire a most specious Train of them to visit their dear Master and to serve him in all Offices of his Family Among these two were his Highness's Chaplains who were sent over to Officiate to him and his Court in the Worship of God These were Dr. Maw and Dr. Wrenn both of prime Note for Learning and Discretion very Learned to defend their own Religion and very Discreet to give no wilful Offence to the opposite part in a Foreign Dominion The Spanish liked not their company yet they took it not so ill for they could not but expect them as that there was not one Romish Catholic declared for such a one among all his Highness's Attendants Cabal p. 15. Tully states the Proverb in the Feminine Sex Lib. 5. ad Att. Ep. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As you would say Such as Diana her self such are her Nymphs about her But it is better paralell'd in King David's Person He that walketh with a perfect heart he shall serve me Psal 101.6 These were the Chorus of the Scene that sung in Tune with the chief Actor and seconded his Part with their Symplasma as it is called by ancient Musicians in their adherence to sincere Religion Yet some of these brought Instructions with them to the Duke of Buckingham from his secret Intelligencers which not only disturbed all posteriour Treaties but made the Prince return for England with the Willow Wreath Because the King and they that were faithful to his meaning knew not of it till July next after let it squat till then and it that order be started up In this place it sufficeth to glance at it that the Duke was cunningly dealt with and underhand by some whom he had lest behind to be as it were the Life-Guard of his Safety who were to send him notice of common Talk or secret Whispers that might concern him These perswaded him to set the Match back by degrees and in the end to overturn it That this was the desire of most Voices in England And his Grace must look to stand by the love of the People as well as of the King Or if he could not prevail in that let him be sure to joyn the Restitution of the Palatinate with the Marriage in the Capitulations or the Unsatisfaction which all would take that pitied the King's Daughter and her Children would undo him Upon these and their subtile Arts Sir W. Ashton Reflects in this Passage Cabal p. 32. I believe that your Grace hath represented to you many Reasons shewing how much it concerns you to break the Match with all the force you have This was the Junto at London that had done his Grace this Office and had guilded their Councils over with flourishing Reasons That these would procure him a stable continuance in Power and Sublimity with everlasting Applause Well every thing that is sweet is not wholsom Cael. Rhodoginus says lib. 23. c. 25. That at Trevisond in Pontus the Honey that Bees make in Box-Trees breeds Madness if it be eaten So I mean that the Urgencies of those Undertakes who pretended so far to the Duke's Prosperity were no better than Rhodoginus his Box-Tree Honey-Combs Yet after they had given the Qu now began the Duke to irritate the Spaniard to shut out or to slight the Earl of Bristow in all Councels to pour Vinegar into every Point of Debate to fling away abruptly and to threaten the Prince's Departure These boistrous Moods were not the way to succour the Prince's Cause for Favour cannot be forc'd from great Spirits by offering Indignities And the Temper of the Business in hand was utterly mistaken For they were not met at a Diet to make Articles of Peace and War but to Woo a fair Lady whose Consent is to be sought with no Language but that which runs sweet upon the Tongue As Q. Cicero wrote to his Brother de Peti Consul Opus est magnopere Blanditiâ Quae etiamsi vitiosa turpis sit in caeterâ vitá tam in Petitione est necessaria All Suitors are ty'd to be fair spoken but chiefly Lovers 138. No doubt but at this time in the Prime of May the Duke with such such others as the Prince did take into his Council sate close to consider upon the Overtures that came with the Dispensation For all thought that was the Furnace to make or to mar the Wedding-Ring and it asked Skill and Diligence to cast it well It is a Gibe which an Heathen puts upon an Amorose that wasts his whole time in Dalliance upon his Mistress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Love is an idle Man's Business But there was Business enough beside Courtship and Visits which came thick to keep this Love from being idle The Dispatches that were sent from Spain to employ those that were in Commission here to direct the great Negotiation were many First The Dispensation came to the King from the Prince his Son May 2. But it came to scanning a good while after as will appear by this Letter of the Lord Keepers to the Duke dated May 9. May it please your Grace IT is my Fortune and I thank God for it to be ever rendring
Humanity Grotius who best could do it hath sweetly translated such a Contemplation out of Euripides Lib. 2. de Bel. Pa. Cap. 24. Co. 4. Quod si in Comitiis funera ante oculos forent Furiata bello non pâ—risset Graecia Some will adventure to say more that every Sheba that sounded the first Trumpet to Battail hath been unlucky in his own Person So Sir W. Aston to the Duke Cab. P. 37. The most prosperous War hath misfortune enough in it to make the Author of it unhappy Else Isocrates was mistaken who lived to be an old and a Prophetical Orator among the Athenians Orat. de Pace says he Your Humour Athenians is well known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you like them best that incite you to War Yet I wonder if old Men do not remember and young Men have not heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we never receiv'd hurt by listning to them that exhorted us to preserve our Peace but the Counsels of others have brought Dishonour and put us to Shifts and Calamities 177. I would these Notions might be read considerately when any rash Spirit shall attempt to open Janus's Temple after it hath been long shut Yet wo be to the Vicar that should have read this Homily to my Lord Duke The Lord Keeper's Name was in his black Book of Remembrance for it till his Lordship did not only cross him but blot him out Revenge is the effect of smother'd Anger as Flame is but lighted Smoak The Scene wherein an Argument of a kind of Tragedy is couch'd upon it is in the Lord Duke's Secretaries Letter Cab. Pag. 86. challenging the Lord Keeper That at the select Council he had run a course opposite to his Lordship and by consequent to sill up the Crime dangerous to the Kingdom prejudicious to the cause of Religion That the two last times they met in Council the Duke found that he took his Kue from the Kings Mind just as other Men did and joyn'd with them in their Opinions whose aim was to tax his Proceedings in the managing of the Prince's Business How imperious is this And how all that follows it like the roaring of a Lyon And for no more offence but because he would not condemn the King of Spain out of the proof of his Grace's Mouth and ammerce him with an implacable War wherein an Hundred Thousand Lives might be spilt for a Quarrel begun between himself and Olivarez which was not worth a bloody Nose Certainly the Lord Keeper could not be afraid of the Duke being so much alienated for any hurt that could come of it at the present I was not in his Heart to espy whether he look'd forward upon another Age in the next Reign One thing I am conscious of that he courted no Man but him with supple Submission being unwilling to nothing more than that the World should observe him dissever'd from his Promoter though he were innocent as to making a breach or the least thought of Opposition The best part he could act was to protest how much and how unseignedly he was that Lords in a most Pathetical Vow as it is to be found Cab. P. 89. Let this Paper bear Record against me at the great Parliament of all if I be not in my Heart and Soul your Graces most faithful and most constant poor Friend and Servant Somewhat also may be pick'd out of that Letter by a sharp Censure as if he had sought the Duke with Phrases too low and too Petitionary And I am my self within a little of that Opinion But this was ever a venial Fault at Court where it was usual for Men in Place to drink down such hot Affronts as would scald their Throats that could not endure the Vassallage which was tied to Ambition The best Apology is That a Thankful Man looks for leave chuse you whether you will grant it for he will take it to lay himself under the Feet of his Benefactor to be reconciled to him I learn it from Tully pleading for himself against Lateranensis Orat pro Plancio Nimis magnum beneficium Plancii exaggero Quare verò me tuo arbitratu non meo gratum esse oportet Lateranensis says I do too much extol the Favours which I have received from Plancius As if it were not Reason that I should be Grateful by my own Acknowledgment and not by his Opinion In short that the Duke might be the better aslur'd of the reading of so able a Minister in the Parliament at Hand the Prince with his never-failing Sweetness made up this Gap between them but with a loose Pale Yet leave should have been given where leave was look'd for The Lord Keeper did not give the Duke content in this select Junto no more did the Duke give content to the King In the same Measure that he did mete it was measured unto him 178. Look back about a Twelve-month and a story will drop in where the Duke did hearken to the Party with more content That which was acted a Year ago is in season to be produced now because it was publish'd upon Consideration against the Parliament that sate now Those dangerous and busie Flies which the Roman Seminaries send abroad had buzzed about the Countess of Buckingham had blown upon and infected her She was Mother to the great Favourite but in Religion become a Stepmother She doated upon him extreamly as the Glory of her Womb Yet by turning her Coat so wantonly when the Eyes of all the Kingdom were upon her Family she could not have wrought him a worse turn if she had studied a mischief against him Many marvelled what rumbled in her Conscience at that time For from a Maid to an Old Madam she had not every ones good Word for practice of Piety And she suffered Censure to the last that she lest the Company of Sir Tho. Compton her Husband It hath been so with many others But why should a Libertine that cares not to live after the way of the Gospel pretend to seek Satisfaction more than ordinary about the true Doctrine of The Gospel They that have Beams in their own Eyes unsanctified Manners beyond the most why should they cavil at Moats in the Eye of the Reformed Religion Let them answer it to Him alone who hath Power to judge them But divers that had sense of a Godly Fear as they pitied the Revolt of this Lady so they dreaded the Consequents that did hang upon her Power and Opportunity Ar. Wilson complains P. 275. That the Countess of Buckingham was the Cynosura that all the Papists steered by I believe it was above her Ability to bear the weight of that Metaphor The common Jealousie was that the Duke would be ring-streaked with spots of Popery by resorting to his Mothers Trough Nay there was a trivial Gradation in Vulgar Mouths which reach'd higher That the Mother had a great Influence upon her Son the Son upon the King and the King upon the People The Lord
their Clutches that by Arms or cunning Treaties do Usurp it But the way and Manner in Discovering the Couchant Enemy in preserving that handful of our Friends in laying down some Course of Diversion and the like you do most wisely and modestly refer to the proper Oracle His Majesties Wisdom and Deep Counsel Yea but I must tell you Mr. Speaker Vinci in amore turpissimum the King cannot endure to be outvyed by his People in Love and Courtesies What you in Duty do refer to him his Majesty in Confidence of your Wisdom and Loving Assections returns upon You. You say you would have the King betake him to sound Counsel You are his Counsel Consilium magnum his Main and Principal Counsel It is very true That since the begining of Harry the 8th the Kings of England have reserved those Matters to their own Conisance and Resolution But it is as true that from Harry the First until that Harry the Last our Kings have in every one of those Questions Repaired to and received Advice of their Parliaments Id verum quod primum Our Master means to follow the former Precedents His Majesty Commands me to yield unto you Hearty Thanks for your just Resentments of his Sufferings in this Cause and to tell you withall that because the main of the Expedition is to be born by the Persons and Purses of the People whom you do represent He is pleased to accept of the Advice of the House of Commons concerning the finding out of this secret Enemy the re-inforcing of our remaining Friends and by what kind of Diversion we shall begin the Enterprize And God the Holy Ghost be present with you in all your Consultations 184. In the Ninth Place That Well of Wood our Navy Royal wherewith you well observed this whole Island to be most strongly fortified we must all attribute the well Rigging and good Condition of it to the great Cost Care and Providence of his Sacred Majesty Hic tot sustinuit hic tanta negotia solus And yet as that Carver that beautified the Temple of Diana although he wrought upon other Mens Charges was suffered notwithstanding to engrave his own Name in some eminent Places of the Building So surely can it be denied by Envy it self but that most Noble Lord who is now a compleat Master in his Art and hath spent his seven years Studies in the Beautifying of the Navy should have a glorious Name enstamped thereupon though in a sitting Distance from his Lord and Master whose Princely Majesty A longe sequitur vestigia semper adorans Lastly For the Reformation of Ireland this I am bidden to deliver Pliny commending the Emperor Trajan to the utmost reach of Eloquence says That the most laudable and most remarkable Point in all his happy Government was That his Care was not consined to Italy alone but Instar solis like the Beams and Influence of the Sun it shed it self to many other Countries Surely his Majesty's Providence is of a large Extent for where the Sun scarce darteth his Beams his Majesty hath shined most gloriously by the Execution of wholsome Laws engrafting Civility and Planting true Religion And let this be our Soveraign's Comfort that though this poor Kingdom though never so reformed shall add very little to his Crown of Temporal Majesty here on Earth it will be an Occasion of an immense Access to his Crown of Glory hereafter in Heaven And now for your four Petitions Mr. Speaker his Majesty grants them all in one Word What Priviledge Liberty Access or fair Interpretation was ever yielded to the Members of that House his Majesty grants them to the Knights and Burgesses now assembled fully and freely without the least Jealousie Qualification or Suspicion I will only add a Memorandum out of Valerius Maximus to cut an even Thred between King and People Quid Cato sine Libertate Quid libertas sine Catone What is Wisdom without Liberty to shew it And what is Liberty without Wisdom to use it 185. Hitherto the King spake to the People by the Lord Keeper's Mouth and then the House rose All rejoyced that such gracious Concessions were returned to Mr. Speaker's Motions which were the Beam that held up the insequent Counsels till the Roof was covered with Agreement And it took the more that it was inlaid with such Mosaick Work not to the Eye but to the Ear by a perfect Orator It was the greatest and the knowingest Auditory that this Kingdom or perhaps the World afforded whose general Applause he carried away to as much as Modesty could desire Isocrates extolling the famous Acts of Evagoras before the full Celebrity of the Athenians exulted that Evagoras was approved by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose good Opinion was more honorable to him than all the Earths beside It was a happy sight at that time to see the Patriots of both Houses depart with Hands held up to God and with Smiles in their Looks that you might think they said one to another as the Princes of the Congregation and the Heads of the Thousands of Israel said to the Children of Reuben and Gad c. This day we perceive that the Lord is among us Jos 22.31 The Lord Keeper was summoned in three days after to a fresh Business and a larger Task than the former So fine a Tongue was sure not to want Work The Lords and Commons were brought into the Banqueting-House at White-Hall Feb. 24. where the Duke of Buckingham spake unto them leading them into the Maeanders of the Spanish Treatise and lead them out of them by the Clew of his own Diligence as he spared not to give himself the Honour of it For this time he was the Alcibiades that pleased the Common-wealth His Zeal and unremovable Pertinacy not to cope with the Spaniard in any Proposition unless the Prince Elector might be brought into his own Land again with an honorable Post liminium did enter inwardly and into the Marrow of all pitiful Affections But when he unfolded how strong the Prince was to the Principles of the right Faith and how attendant and dutious himself was to see that no Emissaries should poyson his Highness's Heart the general Suffrage was that the Prince had march'd valiantly like a Captain of Holy Truth and that the Duke deserved a great Name as a Lieutenant that maintained the Cause of God under him For it was ever easie to strike the good People of England half blind with the Dazling of Religion So much did the Parliament thirst for the Report of this Narration that it was imposed on the Lord Keeper to make it the next day All that might be done was that he took him to his Memory and to his Pen and drew up three Sheets of Paper upon it in a fast and scarce legible Hand He must proceed by the Pattern My Lord Duke's Oration was the only part of Speech he must follow and like a wise Man whatsoever he thought he must make
Considerations of Delay aside I humbly desire your Grace that no Universal Alteration may be made of the Tenure of the Crown Lands And First Because the Money got thereby will not be much and will instantly be gone Secondly The Infamy in Chronicles will be eternal upon our most gracious Master Thirdly The Prince cannot cordially assent thereunto or if he do it is impossible his Wisdom considered but that hereafter he should repent him and much abhor the Authors and Actors of this Counsel Lastly If the Prince should be of the same Mind with his Father yet their Successors will have good Pretences to prosecute everlastingly the Names and Posterities of all such Advisers In this It may be seen that it is common with Projectors to Angle for Wit and catch Folly to spread their Nets for a Draught and to drag up nothing but Weeds and Mud. What Brokerly Bargain was here about to be made How unsuiting to the King of Great Britain fitter for a poor Merchant that was sunk to sell all he had and fly his Country What! depart with all to make two or three merry Years of it Is it not like the Man that burnt his House in a cold Winter which should shelter his Head for ever to warm his Hands Would those Vermine that did eat up the Wealth of the Court expose their Master to that Tyranny to have him live wholly upon the Common Spoils when he had made away his own Substance and was driven to that Necessity And were they not worthy to be thought upon that should live in the next Generation Our Fore-Fathers were good Stewards and treasured up for their Children and shall we undo Posterity before they are born and spend their Part as well as our own as if we wish'd the World might die with us One good Heathen was worthy twenty such Christians in Zeal to the eternal flourishing of a Common-wealth Says Tully in the Mouth of his Laelius Non minori mihi curae est qualis post mortem Respub futura sit quà m qualis est hodie Those that were not publick Spirits but contrary to the succeeding Glory of this Monarchy the Lord Keeper could not brook but as he had got Honour by being Wise and Faithful so he was resolved to be Wise and Faithful though he lost his Honour 209. The next Design made this sick Man hasten to come out of his Chamber a Letter would not suffice to oppose it There is no Script of it remaining in the Cabal nor in any other Pamphlet that I have read It was a Mischief not better prevented than concealed from the World that it was prevented But the Relation of the Lord Keeper to him that heard it of him when it was fresh and in motion hath been preserved in the Desk and comes forth now to publick Knowledge Rem tibi auctorem dabo as Plautus says whereby the Men of these times may see how the Sale of Church-Lands was plotted before they were swept away with an Ordinance and that Earnest was offered for them long ago Dr. Preston the Master of Emanuel Colledge entred far into such a Proposition a shrewd wise Man a very Learned and of esteemed Piety but zealous for a new Discipline and given to Change When I see good Parts not always well used or a worthy Scholar not well affected to the Church that begat him in Christ and nursed him up I cannot but remember a Tale in Baronius Ann. 513. com 27. thoug I care not for believing it That Theodorus Bishop of Seleucia was much in love with the strict Life and Piety of a Monk a Syrian by Nation that cared not for the Communion of the Church at which Theodorus was scandalized that so vertuous a Man should incline to be a Schismatick till God satisfied him in a Vision for says he Vidi columbam super caput ejus stantem fuliginosam squalidam he saw the Holy Ghost come upon him but in the Shape of a rusty sooty coloured Dove But before the Artifice of Dr. Preston be display'd Judgment must pass how the great Duke was prepared to be wrought upon When all men talkt jocundly upon the next Session of Parliament appointed for April they that were watchful for the Duke's Safety saw Cause to fear least the Predestination of that Session might turn to be his Grace's Reprobation The King his Master was too Politick to seem weary of him now become the most affected of his Son but half an Eye might discern he was not fond of him The Earl of Bristol who had seen much Abroad and knew much at Home was charged in his Absence from his Mouth with great Errors that he had deluded the King with Hopes of a Marriage from Spain never intended and with Crimes that he had if not Counselled the Prince to alter his Religion yet to temporize as if he held it in a slip Knot and could pass it easily from him if his Highness might win the Garland he came for The Earl in his Replication defied the Duke and vowed to charge upon his Head that in his Expedition to Spain he had done the worst Service and the highest Wrongs that a Subject could do to a Soveraign His Majesty umpir'd between both with that fatal Indifferency that he would hear Buckingham against Bristol and Bristol against Buckingham before the two houses in due time And his manner of Justice was not unknown that he would shelter no man against the General and Concluded Sentence of a Parliament Antoninus was a wise Emperor that never stood out against the Common Vote of the Senate and never varied from that Saying says Capitolinus Aequum est ut ego tot ac talium amicorum consilium sequar quà m ut tot tales amici mei unius voluntatem sequantur And if the King should shrink from him the Peers and Commons were like to receive him unkindly His Greatness though it wained with the Father it increased with the Son and was like to flourish ever by this latter Spring but the more it grew the worse it was lik'd He was the Top-sail of the Nobility and in Power and Trust of Offices far above all the Nobility Whither the Lords maligned this because they did not share or whither they conceived it dangerous to the State their own Hearts knew best One thing is sure that many of them did not palliate their Dis-relish but girded at it upon all Occasions It was come to pass that he only turned the Key to all that were let in to the King or Prince And his multiformous Places compell'd such a swarm of Suitors to hum about him that the Train that continually jogged after him look'd like the Stream of a Blazing Star fatal and ominous Therefore it was studied by the wisest of those that were upheld by his Grace and resorted most unto him that either his Lordship must hope in a War and that speedily and be flush of Money to be prodigal among the
have seen a Manuscript of Arch-Bishop Abbots stating the Reason of his own Relegation to Ford in Kent the Papers were written with his own Hand to my knowledge wherein he paints the Fickleness of the great Duke to set up and pluck down with these Lines First He wanted not Suggestors to make the worst of all Mens Actions whom they could misreport Secondly He loved not that any Man should stick too long in a Place of Greatness He hit the Nail in that For this Keeper continued the longest in a great Office of any that he had lifted up and did live to use them Which proceeded not from his Grace's Constancy but from the good-liking of the old King But as Symmachus said of Polemio Lib. 2. Ep. 14. Sic amicis utitur quasi sloribus tam diu gratis quà m diu recentibus So my young Lord chang'd his Friends as Men do Flowers he lik'd a Scent no longer than it was fresh Indeed he lookt from his Vassals for more than they could do and hurried to make tryal of those that would do more Thirdly says the Arch-bishop again He stood upon such fickle Terms that he feared his own Shadow and desperately adventur'd upon many things for his own Preservation Too true for by this time he had lost the People in whose good Opinion he thought he stood for the space of Nine Months Alas he had a slight fastning in them for he never got their Love further than his Hatred to Spain procur'd it And that was spent out upon an exacter Information of his bearing at Madrid This was the Jealousie which gave the Lord-Keeper the deadly Stoccada who would not abuse his own Knowledge so far to extol my Lord for his Spanish Transactions which broke the Peace the Credit the Heart of his King and his Patron never to be requited Therefore that he was fallen in less than a Year from the abundance of a great Esteem he thought he might thank the Keeper whose down-right Honesty gave the Example More may be said but once more shall suffice the Duke had attempted with King James that which he threatned now but his Majesty that then was did not allow of it and charged them both to unite and to work friendly together for his Service But that mighty Lord waited the opportunity to root up the Tree which he had gone about to unfasten For commonly the offended Person is an Eye-fore to him that did offend him And such as have done great wrongs are afraid of those whom they have provok'd and can never after affie in them So it was among the Rules of Michael Hospitalius the best of the Chancellors of France and yet in a Pet cashiered from keeping the Great-Seal as Thuanus remembers it Anno. 1568. Principum documentum esse ut iis nunquam serio reconcilientur quos temerè offenderint This as it is related was our Duke's Temper And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities All that he could do to help himself was not by preventing but by retarding a Mischief For though with the Stoick's Fate was inevitable Yet Servius says in 8. Lib. Aen. that his great Poet thought it might be deferr'd though not avoided Two things stuck to the Keeper like Sorrows and gave him all the unrest that he had First He wish'd that his deposing might have come from any hand but his Patrons that raised him before whom he would fall rather than wrestle with him as an Enemy Secondly He had read much to teach him and seen the Proof of it that when Princes call back their Honours more Misery ensues But as yet he stood his ground and did become his Place as well as ever 4. He never made use so much of his whole stock of Worth and Wisdom as in matter of Religion which appears before in the Mazes wherein he led the Spanish Embassador with whom he shisted so cunningly that they could obtain nothing for the Toleration of Popish Recusants but Delays and Expectations from time to time Neither could the Monsieurs squeeze any more out of him against the Ratification of the French Marriage as appears in a bare Fortnight before K. James died witness the Letter written to the Duke March 13. 1624. Cabal p. 105. If your Grace shall hear the Embassador complain of the Judges in their Charges of their receiving Indictments your Grace may answer that those Charges are but Orations of course opening all the Penal Laws And the Indictments being presented by the Country cannot be refused by the Judges But the Judges are ordered to execute nothing actually against the Recusants nor will they do it during the Negotiation And your Grace may put him in mind that the Lord-Keeper doth every day when his the Embassadors Secretary calls upon him grant forth Writs to remove all the Persons Indicted in the Country into the Kings-Bench out of the Power and Reaches of the Justices of Peace And that being there the King may and doth release them at his Pleasure In all this there is no bar against the common Course of Law but Mercy reserv'd to the Royal Pleasure Now what cause had my Lord Duke to defie him by his Secretary Cab. p. 87. That his Courses were dangerous to his Country and prejudicial to the Cause of true Religion Forsooth because he proffer'd a Gap to be opened to the Immunities of the Papists in a desperate Plunge to bring the Prince home safe out of Spain where he stuck fast for want of such a Favour to be shewn to those Complainants Which was a liberal Concession in Promise but no Date set nor observ'd for the Expedition of it And so all that Indulgence which hung in nubibus and never dropt down is frankly granted now and he is commanded by this Warrant that follows to signifie to all Officers to suspend the Laws which are grievous to the Romish Profession dated 1 Car. May the first Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of our dear Brother the most Christian King to grant unto our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any way may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion and every matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these presents Authorize and Require you That immediately upon the receipt hereof you do give Warrant Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as unto all others our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritual as Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be sorborn all and all manner of Proceedings against our said
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My lord-Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
long sought and now the Words which past between the King and him in Conference were the Seed of all his Troubles in the Star-Chamber for the King conjuring him to deliver his Opinion how he might win the Love of the Commons and be popular among them the Bishop answered readily That the Puritans were many and main Sticklers if His Majesty would please to direct his Ministers by his secret Appointment to shew some Connivance and Indulgence to their Party he might possibly mollifie them and bend their Stubbornness though he did not promise that they would be trusty very long to any Government The King said He must needs like the Counsel for he had thought of it before and would use it Two months after the Bishop regulated his own Courts at Leicester with some such Condescentions and told Sir J. Lamb and Dr. Sibthorp the reason that it was not only his own but the Royal Pleasure These two Pick-thanks carried these words to Bishop Laud and he to the King being then at Bisham The Resolution was That upon the Depositions of these two no Saints in my Almanack a Bill should be drawn up in the Star-chamber against the Bishop for revealing the King's Counsels being a sworn Counsellor But that he was sentenc'd because his Tongue betrayed him into Speeches that entrencht upon Loyalty as the Historian H. L. says p. 152. upon whose Trust W. S. writes the same is utterly mistaken upon the word of Holy Faith and let all Ear-witnesses of the Cause and Eye-witnesses of the Records judge between us Nor do I say that the Bill of disclosing the King's Counsels held Water for it was laid aside There the Troubles began and did run through Motions Meanders and Alterations till ending at last in tampering with Witnesses as will be shewn in due place 80. To make this seem a Jubilee to our Bishop wherein all Bonds of Malevolence should be cancell'd he had a very courteous Interview with the L. Duke nothing of Unkindness repeated between them his Grace had the Bishop's Consent with a little asking that he would be his Grace's faithful Servant in the next Session of Parliament and was allow'd to hold up a seeming Enmity and his own Popular Estimation that he might the sooner do the Work Blessed be God that they parted then in perfect Charity for they never met again the horrid Assassine J. Felton frustrated whatever might have followed a mean despicable unsuspected Enemy Sed nihil tam firmum est cui non sit periculum ab invalido says Curtius lib. 7. What Strength is there in a Cedar since every weak Arm can cut it down And though I am perswaded none but the Devil and this melancholy Miscreant were in the Plot yet in foro Dei many were guilty of this Blood that rejoiced it was spilt Tully confest of himself that he was as much a Murderer of Caesar as Brutus and Cassius 2 Philip. Quid interest utrum voluerim fieri an gaudeam factum So did God see that Thousands were guilty of this Sin which made the whole Land Nocent for the violent death of an Innocent for every one is innocent in right of his Life till the Law hath tryed him Felton's Impulsive was impious from the allegation of the late Remonstrance that the Duke was the principal cause of our Evils and Dangers As the Commons had no power to take his life away so they never intended it but to remove him from the King if it were possible I will be bold to censure the Romans that many things were uncivil in their Laws barbarous in their Valour and odious in their Justice Let this be the Instance out of Budaeus lib. 2. Pandec c. 28. Si quis eum qui plebiscito sacer sit occiderit homicida non est As if every man had the power of a Magistrate to cut off him whom the People had devoved A Maxim for the Sons of Cadmus or for the Sons of Romulus not for the Sons of God Be they Jesuites Anabaptists or of whatsoever Race of new Zealots they have not learnt so much good Divinity as is in Aristotle 3 Erh. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No Pretence can justifie Manslaughter no End or Intention can excuse it Was it so lately enacted in Parliament that no Freeman should be imprison'd without due course of Law and did Hell break loose at the other end to make it meritorious or popular to kill without Law For such another Outrage had pass'd but two months before upon the Body of one Lamb in the day-light and in the Skirts of the City beaten cruelly to Death by a scum of Vagabonds being no Conjurer for certain though the Fry fell upon him for that suspicion but a notorious Impostor a Fortune-teller and an employ'd Bawd two Qualities that commonly make up one pair of Scissors to cut Purses as was evident by his Books Papers Schemes Pictures Figures Glasses the Utensils of his Trade found in his Lodgings near the Horse-ferry in Westminster But that he was a Creature of the Duke's and commended to him by Bishop Williams the Historian is strangely out again It is possible an Ear-dropper might hear such things talk'd at Cock-pits and Dancing-schools miserable Intelligence to thrust into an History This Lamb living in the Verge of the Deanry was once admitted to speak with this Bishop and as soon as he began to impeach some of the Bishop's Acquaintance for Falshood he was bidden be gone for a meddling Knave and a Sower of Dissentions and had Warning to come near him no more And for the Duke his domestick Creatures have avowed to me that Lamb was so little their Lord's Creature that they were ready to take an Oath of Credulity that the Duke never saw him I would all the Tales that got his Grace Ill will had been as false as this That which did undo him was chiefly that which made him the immoderate Favour of two Kings and not moderately used as many a Ship is lost that 's overset with too much Sail. After Thirteen years triumphing in Grace and Gallantry one Stab dispatch'd him So Symmachus speaks of the sad Catastrophe of such a mighty man Fortunae diu lenocinantis perfidus finis quem ultimâ sui parte ut scorpius percussit lib. 2. ep 13. Great Felicities not seldom go out suddenly in a Flash like a Silk-worm that dyes in three months after it is quicken'd God would have us look after better things when we behold the sudden and prodigious Eclipses of Human Glory and brought to pass like Buckingham's by vile and wicked Instruments A foreign Writer gives very hard words to our whole Nation upon it that we are savage and frentick in our Fury And will he say as ill of the Kingdom of Israel for Joab's sake that murder'd Abner It might be replied to him That the Loyalty of his Nation is besmeared with the Blood of two Kings of France deadly wounded with a Knife But that we have