of the Irish Rebels arrived in England filling all places with the sad complaints of their Cruelties whereupon the Parliament earnestly press'd the King to proclaim them Rebels but could not obtain it to be done till many weeks and then but forty of those Proclamations were Printed and not above half of them Published which was the more observ'd and resented by reason of the different treatment the Scotch had met with who no sooner appear'd in a much better cause but they were forthwith declared Rebels in every Parish Church within the Kingdom p. 19. A very plausible story but for want of one thing and that is Truth whereof it hath not the least Syllable For first the Parliament never press'd the King for a Proclamation Secondly the Fourty Proclamations printed were not for this Kingdom but Ireland So that Thirdly there could be no ground of resentment upon the Scotch account but by such pick-thank fellows as Ludlow and his Party In short the matter of Fact stands exactly thus The Parliament as they were very inquisitive to catch at every thing which might give them an advantage against the Court having underhand information that a Warrant was sent to the Printer for the foremention'd Proclamations to be forthwith provided open'd very loud upon it Why so few Why no sooner c. The Printer was summon'd the Warrant produc'd and a mighty bustle made as generally the cry is greatest where the least Wool In the midst of which heats the Secretary of State gave this account of the matter that the Proclamations were printed at the Request of the Lords Iustices and Privy-Council in Ireland who desir'd to have twenty sign'd by his Majesty's own hand and no more who nevertheless order'd forty and sent them accordingly I do not remember the cause was given to the Parliament why so sign'd But 't is probable to invalidate that forg'd Commission whereto they had fix'd the Kings Broad-Seal granted to a private person upon a Title of Land Otherwise there had been Proclamations several from the first day the Rebellion broke out in Ireland the only place where requisite But why not in England as well as against the Scotch as our Author insinuates whereto I reply First the Scotch had seiz'd upon at leastwise assum'd the Administration of the whole Civil Power so that no Proclamation could come out against them there Secondly they had too many abettors in England who encourag'd them to begin and were resolv'd to follow the first opportunity So that thirdly the Proclamation must come from hence or not at all and was equally requisite against both What he adds farther of the Scotch being the much better Cause is only the private opinion of a fellow Rebel they were both so bad as upon an impartial scanning it would puzzle their Infernal Patron to tell which was worst Having had the confidence to averr two such impudent falshoods as aforementioned 't is strange how he comes to mince the matter so much as to the third and tell us the Rebels in Ireland pretended a Commission from the K. for what they did and his Abstract the Defence gives indeed a Copy therefore but withal goes no farther than that it was said to be given by the King to his Catholick Subjects in Ireland p. 14. Whereas there was no one Slander more confidently thrown abroad than that and continued longer nay I have met with several Fanaticks within these few years who still take it for an undoubted truth and what they have so long entertain'd nothing but the final Iudgment can make them renounce Once for all therefore to silence this Infamous Calumny we must know the Commonalty of the Native Irish having liv'd a long time in Peace and Amity with the English were not without some Reverence to that Government and so could not in plain and direct terms be easily led into an avowed Rebellion against their King whereupon their leaders Phelim Oneil c. were forced to perswade them that they took up Arms for the King and the Defence of his Lawful Prerogative against the Puritanical Parliament in England who had invaded it in many parts and that what they did was by his Majesty's Approbation and Authority And to gain the greater Credit to that Fiction they produc'd a Commission whereto the Broad-Seal taken from a private grant was affix'd as aforesaid which made it no difficult matter to perswade rude and unexperienced people to believe it real all which in a short time was clearly detected as well by several Irish Rebels taken Prisoners as English Protestants who escap'd their fury particularly Dr. Maxwell a Reverend Scotch Divine against which Nation they were not so Savagely cruel as the English in his Examination and Deposition upon Oath at Dublin which was sent too into England declar'd That he whilst their Prisoner expostulated with them for abusing the King in so gross a manner To whom they reply'd That in all Wars Rumors and Lyes serv'd many times to as good purpose as Arms and that they wou'd not disclaim any advantage But to silence for ever that horrid Scandal of his Majesty's Commission we have an unexceptionable Evidence and Proof which will not only clear him but render our Author Ludlow were there nothing else against him a much worse Man than the bloody'st Wretch in the whole Irish Rebellion In the Year 52 our English Regicides having very nigh compleated their Conquest Erected what they termed an High-Court of Iustice in Ireland to hear and determine all Murthers and Massacres of any Protestant English or other Person or Persons whatsoever within that Nation where amongst many others the Iustice and Mercy of Heaven had reserv'd Sir Phelim Oneil to receive his deserved Doom at whose Arraignment Sentence and Execution another Reverend Divine one Dr. Ker since Dean of Ardagh by God's great good Providence was present and makes a full Deposition thereof As where the Court was kept what Iudges sat what Witnesses sworn the many Murthers and Robberies prov'd c. After which he comes to this material Evidence as to the present matter That one of the Iudges whose name he had forgot Examined Sir Phelim about a Commission he should have had from Charles Stewart as the Iudge thought fit to term late King for levying the said War he was charg'd with Sir Phelim made Answer he never had any such Commission whereupon it was prov'd in Court by the Testimony of one Ioseph Traverse and others that Sir Phelim had such a Commission and did in the beginning of the Rebellion shew the same unto the said Ioseph and several others then in Court. Upon which Sir Phelim confess'd that when he surpriz'd the Castle of Charlemont and the Lord Caulfield that he ordered one Mr. Harrison a Witness there and another Gentleman to cut off the Kings Broad-Seal from a Patent of the said Lords they then found in Charlemont and affixt it to a Commission Sir Phelim had ordered to
Spirits unguarded spoil'd of any other restraint than that All-Seeing Eye which hath too little influence upon the rest of Mankind On the other side their declining Fortune constantly runs into extreams or if they go to the Grave in Peace their Ashes are certainly Arraign'd for whatever the Importunity of Dependents Distraction of Counsels Exigency of Affairs or Iniquity of the Times forc'd them upon And herein no History affords a more deplorable Instance than that of our Royal and Blessed Martyr who having run a Course of the most inhuman Treatments ever offered to Crown'd Head since that of Thorns was worn and then universally acquitted not only by the Grand Inquest of the Nation but by all others who had the least Sense of Honour Truth or Virtue in their Souls hath now of late been Murther'd afresh his Memory so despitefully Assaulted and the many Old Calumnies and Reproaches so maliciously Reviv'd as if there had been nothing done or said in his Vindication Could they alledge any thing de Novo it might give a fresh Gloss to their Bafled Cause but their Malice did so fully disgorge it self at first as they can only New Chew the same Coleworts take down and Vomit up again those Villanous Defamations which have been as often answer'd as urg'd and perhaps had not been urg'd again did they not hope the Licentiousness of the Age which God forbid would bear them out and enable them to crush any one who should dare to reply He who to the best of my Observation first brake the Ice upon this unworthy Subject was one Roger Coke Esq in Two Volumes which he calls Detections of the four last Reigns a Title of great sound and cannot but raise an Expectation in every inquisitive Reader of some great Discoveries some deep Mysteries of State or Mischievous Intrigues the World hath not hitherto been acquainted with Whereas I defie any of his Abettors for he is gone to his proper Place to produce one single Passage which hath not been alledg'd and reply'd to before and as often reply'd to as alledg'd An Abridgment of all the Libels and all the Lyes since the coming in of King Iames the first had been a more agreeable Title for though Rushworth's Collections and the Life of Lord Keeper Williams are mostly cited by him Authors too too partial yet there is not one Roguy Pamphlet from Sr. A. W.'s Court of King Iames to Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak in reference to the first Volume only which hath not afforded Materials for this ill-natur'd Malicious Work neither could any one expect otherwise who knew the Man and his Conversation being of an haughty positive Humour with all the other ill Qualities of his Grandfather the great Lord Chief Iustice Coke and perhaps too by Natural descent without any of the good Indeed he seem'd to be the Caput Mortuum of that high Spirit so dull and insipid as Spight it self could not raise him for 't is thought he wrote those bitter Invectives against the Royal Family to be reveng'd on King Iames the first for deposing his Grandfather although 't is well known his Arbitrary and Insolent deportment in that great Trust made it absolutely necessary but engaging in the popular Cause afterward that expiated for all In short the Whole of all what he calls a History is of as loose a Contexture as our Capitation Stuff and of as Course a Composition scare giving a good Word to any Person or any Party He declares a suspition of offending the Commonwealth's Men and yet obliges them with one continued Libel against Monarchy whereunto he was too well qualified by the predominancy of a Swelling Spleen and Overflowing Gall with other unhappy Circumstances both as to Temper and Condition so that had they not been thus Vented 't is to be feared he might with Iudas have burst asunder Yet this Uncouth Piece because False and foul Mouth'd took to Admiration among the several Factions insomuch as in two Years time no less than three Impressions were wrought off indeed they had not been gratified with any thing of that kind for several Years before and such perverse Dispositions like Men in Fevers will greedily swallow whatever allays the present Drought of their Minds tho' it promotes the Distemper and hastens their Ruin And upon this account is there such Care taken of a fresh supply so that an Undesigning Integrity cannot but be concern'd for the next Age which generally gives the best account of that which preceded how it will be able to Cull out the Truth from those Numberless Volumes of Lyes and Forgeries which every Commonwealth Bigot and Mercenary Pen is free to impose upon the World According to what I mention'd of a fresh Supply some Months since these Memoirs of Ludlow came forth and are altogether as much in Vogue as the Detections were at first tho' as to the Libelling part upon our Royal Martyr it discovers nothing but the same inveterate Spight and repeated Untruths set forth in another Method and different Appearance wherein that Spirit of Calumny and Delusion which possesses every Individual throughout their several Tribes knowing how much they delight in variety does most readily gratify them finding it the readiest means to secure their complyance in the grossest Impositions and falsest Slanders Whilst I am Writing this there are two Pamphlets more come to my Hand in comparison whereof the Two former may pass for Candid Modest Writers Their Titles are A Defence of the Parliament of 1640. and the People of England against King Charles I. And King Charles I. no such Saint or Martyr as commonly Reputed both which without doubt were design'd for the last Effort of Fanatick Effrontie and thought to give as fatal a stroke to the Martyr's Reputation as the Ax did to his Life and if the rudest Language that ever was Pen'd and the impudentest Lies that ever were Told could be any ways Effectual thereunto their work is throughly done for there is not one Sentence in both these Libels but must come under both those Characters Milton had Wit and Stile to flourish off his malicious Reproaches but here is such Billinsgate stuff as never burthen'd the Press till our Salamanca Graduate led the Van and if he wrote as is commonly reported by a Club these doubtless came from the same Fraternity Their Stile their Sense and Good Manners exactly accord and so do their Temper and Complection all of the same Metal true Monumental Brass and 't is great pity they are not every one severally Erected without any Pedestals to support them However I will not so positively place it here as to exclude their Counterpart that Club of Calves-Heads at the other end of Town 'T is in the mean while an unhappy Consideration and never thought consistent with any well ordered Government that every impudent profligate Wretch should assume a Liberty of Arraigning at Pleasure all Orders and Degrees of Men both Living and Dead even
of Queen Elizabeth who though she indulg'd Liberty of Speech to her Members yet if any dar'd to open or so much as quetch against her Prerogative or fall upon any Debates which did not properly come within their Sphere she never spar'd to express the height of her Resentment whereof take this single Instance One Morris a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Dutchy offer'd a Bill ready drawn for Retrenching the Ecclesiastical Courts into much narrower Bounds with several such like Alterations wherewith his busy Head was pregnant Of this the Queen having present Notice sends for Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons afterwards Lord Chief Iustice and a violent Beautifeu in these three Parliaments of King Charles by whom she order'd this Message to the House viz. That it was wholly in her Power to Call to Determine to Assent or Dissent to any thing done in Parliament that the calling of this was only that the Majesty of God might be the more Religiously observ'd by compelling with some sharpe Laws such as neglect that Service and that the Safety of her Majesty's Person and the Realm might be provided for that it was not meant they should meddle with Matters of State or Causes Ecclesiastical that she wondered any should attempt a thing so contrary to her Commandment and that she was highly offended at it And finally that it was her pleasure no Bill touching any Matters of State or for Reformation of Matters Ecclesiastical should be there Exhibited On the delivery of which Morris is said to have been seiz'd on in the House by a Sergeant at Arms however seiz'd upon he was and committed Prisoner kept for some Years in Tutbury Castle discharg'd from his Office in the Dutchy and disabled from any Practice in his Prosession as a Common Lawyer What would Ludlow have done had he been a Member in those happy Times Here at home either Tutbury or Tyburn would have been his Fate and if got abroad 't is a question whether Swisserland it self could have secur'd him from the long Arm of that great Virago CHAP. IV. Not any just Ground for Complaint of Grievances NEither had they better Authority for the several Grievances they made such a Noise about hunting after them with all the Earnestness imaginable receiving none so kindly as those who brought them Information of fresh Game though generally it proved a Brake-bush instead of a Hare That Disparity printed in Sir Henry Wotton's Remains between the Elizabeth's time and the Duke of Buckingham was sometime after discovered to be the first Essay of a Younger but much abler Pen the Person who writ it making as great a Figure during all the Troubles of Charles the I. and II. as any whatsoever and upon the Restauration was advanc'd according to his great Merits and Sufferings This Ingenious little Piece to make good the Disparity undertaken observes how great an Advantage the Earl had from the Temper of the Age and easy Good Natur'd disposition all People were then in 'T was saith he an ingenious uninquisitive Time when all the Passions and Affections of the People were lapp'd up in such an innocent and humble Obedience that there was never the least Contestations nor Capitulations with the Queen nor though she frequently consulted with her Subjects any further Reasons urg'd of her Actions than her own Will When there were any Grievances they but Reverendly convey'd them to her Notice and left the Time and Order of the rest to her Princely Discretion Once they were more importunate and formal in pursuing the Complaints of the Purveyors for Provision which without doubt was a crying and an heavy Oppression The Queen sent them Word they all thought themselves wise enough to reform the Misdemeanors of their own Families and whisht they had so good an Opinion of her as to trust her with her Servants too I do not find that the Secretary who delivered this Message received any Reproach or Check or that they proceeded any further in the Inquisition On the other side that of the Duke of Buckingham's Favour with King Iames and Charles the I. He tells us was a busy querulous froward Time so much degenerated from the Purity of the former that the People under pretences of Reformation with some Petulant Discourses of Liberty which their great Impostors scattered amongst them like false Glasses to multiply their Fears began Abditos Principis Sensus quid occultius parat exquirere extended their enquiries even to the Chamber and private Actions of the King himself forgetting that Truth of the Poet Nusquam libertas gratior extat quam sub Rege pio 'T was strange to see how Men afflicted themselves to find out Calamities and Mischiefs whilst they borrowed the Name of some great Persons to scandalize the State they lived in A general disorder throughout the whole Body of the Commonwealth nay the Vital Parts perishing the Laws violated by the Judges Religion prophan'd by the Prelates Heresies crept into the Church and countenanced All which they themselves must rectify without being beholden to the King or consulting the Clergy And give me leave to add proving there was any Truth in those Allegations they made such a Noise about Thus far that Great Man who hints likewise at the most probable Causes which might produce that Frenzy this World of ours was then got into As 1 st The heat of young Heads who are ever more forward to reform others than themselves 2 dly The Disappointments some of longer standings met with in reference to their own Advancement But more especially in the 3 d. place The Revolution of Time which had made them unconcern'd in the Loyal Fears that govern'd sixty Years since and the Nation too happy in that Spirit and Condition Unless more sensible of it and thankful for it From which stupid Humour it was that such as cry'd Fire most with the same Breath blew the Coals and would never give over till they had set all in a Flame One of these Grievous Cries was Tunnage and Poundage about which we have already mention'd his Majesty's just Resentments but withall his too great Condescention in hopes to give them Satisfaction So far beneath our self to use his own Words As we are confident never any of our Predecessors did the like nor was the like ever required or expected from them Notwithstanding which they continued their Proceedings and as the King goes on We endured long with much patience both these and sundry other strange and exorbitant Incroachments and Usurpations such as were never before attempted in that House Roger Coke is also very hot upon this Scent and gives a History thereof out of his Grandfather's Institutes so far as to serve his turn yet withall is forc'd to own that they had been continued to all the Kings and Queens since Edward the 4 th so that passing an Act was only Matter of Form for if Prescription long continued Custom be Common Law
in mind of what Plutarch relates concerning the peoples Prejudice against Metiochus Metiochus is Captain Metiochus is Surveyor Metiochus bakes the Bread c. evil day to Metiochus So crys Ludlow the Clergy advise the King the Clergy raise the Forces the Clergy pay the Army c. evil day to the Clergy whereas the only Clergyman of our Nation whom the King consulted was Bishop Laud and they that write most in vindication of Hamilton give him a very honourable Character as to whatsoever he advised in those unhappy affairs although neither he nor any of his Majesty's Faithful Loyal Subjects of either Kingdom were satisfied with those unreasonable condescentions he was wheedled into for that it was most visibly apparent the more he yielded the more insolently they persisted in further demands being so far from setting one step forward as to stand back with the greater Obstinacy and consider what was further to be insisted upon in defiance of all Honour Right and Law for as Ludlow relates The King by Commission impowered the Marquess of Hamilton to treat them into a Submission consenting to the suppression of the Liturgy High-Commission Court and Articles of Perth but the Scots insisting upon the Abolition of Episcopacy and the King refusing his consent to it they did it themselves in an Assembly held at Glasco This is a general account and which is very much and rare True but there were several Circumstances in the management thereof very considerable As first they that understood and wish'd best to the King and Kingdoms interest thought Hamilton a very improper person to be employ'd in that affair for that several of his nighest Relations were chief of the Covenant party his Mother more especially so great a Heroine as to ride with Pistols at her saddle Bow and defie both God and the King in defence of so good a cause Secondly there were several other prejudices against him which whether true or false made many honest men move with the less vigor because they expected no good Event from whatsoever he engag'd in and this was most unhappily confirmed by the Concessions he cajol'd the King into as to the Liturgy High Commission c. For after a long and fruitless Treaty with the Covenanters at Edinburgh attended with three several journeys to the English Court instead of Treating them into a Submission as Ludlow words it they Treated the King obtaining all to that time their most insolent demands What is alledg'd in his defence That he knew the Kings condition how unable he was or hard it would be to bring an Army into the Field is no ways valid for he was then as able as afterwards and delays were rather to their advantage than his and since all men of observation concluded the Scots would never give off without blows the Punctilio of first Aggressor was nonsence they never stood upon it when it would serve their turn and that their so grosly abused Sovereign should not take the best opportunity of chastising them is against all Rules of Reason and Policy whatsosoever but to speak freely the King 's great tenderness and regard to those his natural and Native Subjects as he termed them was so unfortunately misplac'd upon the most ungrateful set of people that ever trod upon God's Earth to his and their own ruine as well as all others concerned with them But if Hamilton impos'd upon the King by cajoling him into the most groundless concessions ever any Prince yielded to so doubtless the Covenanters impos'd altogether as much upon him for whether there was any correspondence between them or not as to this particular which for ought I can find remains still in the dark he could not but rationally presume it would be an eternal obligation to procure in one single Declaration a full grant of whatever all their Supplications Remonstrances Protestations c. had hitherto demanded and so indeed the Lords of the Council took it subscribing a Letter of acknowledgment to his Majesty in one of the most Rhetorical Flights I have generally met with owning that such acts of Clemency could not proceed from any Prince saving him who is the lively image of the great God Author of all Goodness Which how the most and most considerable of them kept afterwards would be unhappy to observe The Covenanters on the other side resolved to act without a vizard which they had some time before thrown quite away and for fear the People should cool and forbear assisting in the designed Rebellion repair'd to the Cross at Edinburgh erected a Scaffold under it where a great number of Earls Lords Gentlemen and others mounted with Swords in their hands and Hats on their Heads having that worthy wight Archibald Johnson who never fail'd in any villainy tho as property to Oliver Cromwell and a member in the Committee of safety to read the most Impudent Ignorant Treasonable ay and Blasphemous Protestation that ever was penn'd to make good which last charge it is there expresly affirm'd that their Covenant was seal'd from Heaven and approv'd thence by rare and undeniable Evidences whereas it looks more like a Combination from Hell the undoubted forge of all Faction Sedition and Schism Nevertheless they did not think fit to break out into open Rebellion till they had got the Blessing of their Assembly to the meeting whereof the King had likewise condescended It hath somewhat of affinity with our Convocation only in imitation of Geneva was divided into several Classes and from a Provincial choice sent up to a General These at the beginning of the Reformation play'd Rex and Pope all in one would controul and Over-rule whatever Civil Determinations they dislik'd command the King to discharge such a Minister of State otherways they would proceed to Excommunication and when once upon a time he had engag'd the Magistrates of Edinburgh to entertain the French Embassadours with which Crown he design'd to enter into Ancient Amity the little Class of that City Preachers proclaimed a Fast to be kept the same day on which three of them severaly preach'd one after another without intermisson Thundering out Curses against the Magistrates and other Noble men who attended the Embassadors Neither stay'd ther Folly here saith my Author but pursuel the Magistrates with the censures of the Church and with much difficulty were kept from Excommunication These insolencies by degrees King Iames put a Check to and for 60 years last past such assemblies were regularly summon'd in Subordination to their Bishop but now they were resolv'd to have all thrown open again and to be the surer of a Party brought the lay Elders to Vote in the Choice of their Commissioners that the sober and honest part of the Clergy which were numerous might not over Balance them in short never was any Election carry'd on with so much partiallity and confusion which continu'd all the time of their Session till the Commissioners patience was so highly
was his to their care an exact Moral of what the Wolves propounded that if the Sheep would put away their Dogs they would be very careful of their Preservation and though the Proposal did not take yet the Design was carryed on and the Nation most abominably worryed the just Judgment of Heaven giving way to the cursed credulity of an infatuated People who could take none but Wolves for their Protectors As I have already declar'd to be no further concern'd in this dismal Scene of Blood and Slaughter than the Memory and Honour of our Royal Martyr is concern'd so I must further add that whatever Relations our Author makes as to any particular Battle or other considerable war-like Action is so Lame Partial and False as the Diurnals of those times which nevertheless ly'd most abominably on each side may pass for Authentick History in comparison with him But then for his own dear Self as to the Defence of Warder Castle and other little Atchievements in Willshire and elsewhere in which too generally his rashness brought him by the Lee the account he gives is so vain and fulsome trivial and tedious that 't is hard to resolve whether he makes the greater Discovery of his Pride or Folly to be sure they are both very transcendent The Vindicator of Ol. Cr. exposes him very briskly for those many impertinent Panigyricks upon himself and will have it a plain Demonstration of the Narrowness of his Soul and the Lowness of his Genius and I fancy he might have added the Insolency of his Temper To confirm what I said of a lame and partial Account of Things his Relation of that first Battle at Edge-Hill is a full Testimony where this Man of Iron owns himself at a loss from his Troop at the beginning and tells little but his own wanderings up and down to find them Yet by all means the Victory must be theirs and there was a great Defect somewhere the Fight was not renew'd next Day whereas such as were in it had enough the Day before and he intimates as much by saying that Prince Rupert taking advantage of the Disorder our own Horse had put the Foot into press'd upon them with such Fury that he put them to Flight And then adds If the time which he spent in pursuing them too far and plundering the Waggons had been employ'd in taking such Advantages as offer'd themselves in the Place where the Fight was it might have prov'd more serviceable to the carrying on the Enemies Designs p. 50. Which is very modestly express'd because to the King's prejudice otherwise he might have said had not the Prince been guilty of that gross oversight Neglect or Rashness for 't was all in one that Day had in great Probability put an end to the Dispute the Army had never return'd to their Masters at Westminster nor our Author any occasion to trouble the World with the impertinency of his Memoirs for to speak-freely yet nothing but Truth the Princes indescretions of that Kind his great Courage and little Conduct in whatsoever Battles he engag'd in conduc'd more to the discomfiture of the King 's just Cause than all the Rebel Forces or whatever other Arm of Flesh appear'd against him as may be further on observ'd However that their Advantage was not considerable appears from what he further adds that the Army return'd to London not like Men that had obtained a Victory but as if they had been beaten p. 52. which is a shrewd Circumstance that they were so and to that he joyns another every way as considerable upon the King 's advance with part of his Army to Maydenhead or there abouts for it was really Colebrook and those seven Miles were a considerable Addition to his approach the Parliament sent to him to assure him their earnest Desire to prevent the effusion of more Blood and to procure a right understanding between his Majesty and them A certain Omen they were not much transporteed with the Victory this being the first last time they began a Motion for Peace He goes on The King profess'd in his Answer to desire nothing more upon which they thought themselves secure whereas the next Day he took the Advantage of a Mist and March'd within half a Mile of Brandford before discover'd c. p. 53. and beat off what Forces were there though he tells us they made a brave Defence This coming by way of surprise he calls Treachery and all the Round-heads about Town made a loud Clamor upon the King's forfeiture of his Royal Word whereas upon enquiry all the Trick and Treachery was on their side for as they propounded no Cessation of Arms in their Petition so the King had News brought that Essex was drawing his Forces and Ordinance out of London towards him so that without seizing Brandford their Forces at Windsor Kingston and Acton might have hemm'd him in and his Army depriv'd both of Moveing or Subsisting So that after a tedious Paper Scuffle upon the Matter the Parliament were forc'd to own That they gave direction to the Earl of Essex to draw the Army out of London and that part of it was at Brandford whilst the Committee was with the King and conscious to themselves of a just exception cautiously add That they sent a Messenger to know whether his Majesty intended forbearance of Hostility but he found them in fight and could not pass Brandford So that having kept up the Ferment among their City Gulls by the foremention'd Slander which our impudent Author calls the treacherous Design of the late Expedition they again sent Propositions to Oxford being the same in effect with those delivered at York but they found no better Reception than the others had done p. 56. Neither did they expect otherwise or indeed desire considering the insolency of their Demands which the King tells them in his Answer Had he not given up all the Faculties of his Soul to an earnest endeavour of Peace and Reconciliation c. he could not but resent their heavy Charges and not suffer the Reproaches cast upon him The whole procedure of that Treaty may be seen in Whitlock's Memoirs who treats the King like a Gentleman and speaks Truth where himself was concern'd for neither of which this our Brute hath the least Regard nay seems wilfully to defy both I must not here omit what that scribling Fellow K. Ch. No Saint nor Martyr alledges That he took a most Bloody and Treacherous Advantage of the Parliament's Army near Colebrook whilst he was under Treaty at Uxbridge with them p. 4. whereas the Treaty at Uxbridge was more than Two Years after Would the present Age be content with such licentious Impudence to Characterise and expose them in the next In this Year 43 our Governor of Warder Castle before he falls upon his great Charge and weighty Atchievements there gives a cursory Relation of what pass'd in other Parts In the Spring he saith our Army was Master of the Field The
King making it his Business to be on the defensive till the Queen should arrive with an Army to his assistance p. 58. and when her Army was come with other Necssaries of War the King was in the hopefullest Condition of the whole Four Years for so long the contest was in dispute and had there not been Neglect Treachery or both amongst his Councils either of State or War he had unnestled the Rebels at London and put a final End to any further Blood-shed but what in due course of Law such Villanies deser'vd In relating how the Earl of Essex took Reading it must not be omitted that Sir Arthur Ashton a Papist was Governour therof to which I shall add that Sir Arthur had been brought up a Soldier in Foreign Wars a Person of good Experience who as soon as he found we were running into his Bloody Profession proffer'd his Service to the King more than once who as often reply'd that the Faction had brought such a Slander upon him in reference to those of his Perswasion it would much prejudice his Cause to imploy him at length he came to the King and shewed him a Letter wherein Essex profferd him a Command in the Parliament Army and told his Majesty plainly that he was a Soldier of Fortune and that if he could not be entertained on the one side he would betake himself to the other and by this Means he became Governour of Reading for the Parliament as they had several Papists in their Service so 't was nothing but a vile Interest made them reject the rest force them into the King's Quarters that they might have the benefit of their Estates and the King the Odium of their Company In the mean while I would gladly know whether a Loyal Papist be not a better Man ay and Christian too than a Rebel Protestant to be sure Ludlow and his Gang agreed with them in the most exploded and pernicious Doctrine was ever laid to their Charge and what but few of them and that very clandestinely have maintain'd viz. that of Deposing and Murdering Kings for which Reason I look upon him as a baser Man than Fryar Iacob or Ravillac and the whole set of Regicides the most abominable Assembly that ever met since the Scribes and Pharisees preferr'd Barabbas to be sure they brought upon the Reformation the greatest Reproach Hell its self could suggest and yet for ought I see not only the Reproach but the Practice is like to continue Though Essex was Master of the Field in Spring the King had the Command all Summer his Forces making so great a Progress in the West as to take Exeter Bristol and many other considerable places give a total defeat to Sir Will. Waller at Devizes and so clear'd all those Parts from any Enemy in a Body as indeed they had none at London hereupon it was debated in several Councils of War and private Cabals whether was best to march directly thither or to stay and take Glocester first the only place of any considerable Strength which remain'd to the Enemy in those Parts the general Vogue went for the March and very considerable Reasons urg'd for it both Essex's and Waller's Armies were crumbled away the City of London in Mutiny an Insurrection in Kent for the King the Lords voting a Treaty and the Commons in dismal Frights On the other side it was urg'd how ill it would look to leave such a place behind them that 't was ill situated and not well fortified or provided with Men so that a few Days would certainly make the King Master thereof long before the Enemy could get a Recruit much less March so far to relieve it Of this Perswasion was Prince Rupert and most of the Sword-men which made some suspect they fear'd the War would be done too soon and were the more confirm'd therein for that the Siege was carryed on at such a slow rate so that after a whole Month of precious time lost and Essex appearing unexpectedly with a considerable Army they were forc'd to raise the Siege I have been told a Passage much credited by honest Gentlemen in those times that a little before the King made that fatal halt a certain Peer finding Essex very pensive in the Lords Lobby ask'd him how Affairs went He reply'd very ill and they must be all ruin'd unless the King could be induc'd to lie down before Glocester which he hop'd by one Engine to bring about what or who that Engine was the World is yet to learn but that there were too many such about his Majesty appear'd in most undertakings he engag'd in Neither was the Battle upon their Retreat at Newberry so advantagiously manag'd as it might have been for the Royal Army having happily got Possession of the Town and consequently stood in their way to London should have been wholly upon the Defensive so plac'd their Artillery and lin'd the Hedges that the difficulty should have been on the Enemy's side to force their Passage which they must either have done or starv'd for to my certain information in the Village where they were oblig'd to stop two Miles West of the Town they had neither Bread nor Drink not somuch as Water it having been a dry Season the Ponds were little else than Puddle the Springs low and the few Wells so soon drain'd as several Officers did proffer a handful of Money for a Pint of clear Water so that it must be right down Grinning Honour as Hudibras terms it which put the Cavaliers upon attacquing them in their thick Hedges or otherwise coming within reach of their Cannon which let alone they must have try'd to Eat yet at this rate Things were carryed till having lost a great many Noble and Brave Gentlemen and their Ammunition almost Spent they withdrew into the Town and set the Enemy a free return more than they expected or to be sure deserv'd Our Author ends this Year with bringing in the Scots and relates how prettily Sir Henry Vane trick'd them In removing the last and greatest difficulty about some doubtful Words in the Covenant which was to be taken by both Nations concerning the Preservation of the King's Person and reducing the Doctrine and Discipline of both Churches to the Pattern of the best Reformed For which Sir H. found an expedient by adding to the first Clause In preservation of the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject And to the second According to the Word of God p. 79 and by this Evasion look'd upon themselves as oblig'd by neither but left free to Murther their King and use the Covenant as it deserv'd He saith likewise that for their the Scots Encouragement the Lords and Commons sentenc'd and caus'd Execution upon William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy Which nevertheless was not till that time Twelve-month however done it was and perhaps thought a very Christian act by such as had nothing thereof And here to put his Murthers together we are
these Remains of his should be Printed and Publickly Sold cry'd up by the whole Party for an extraordinary Piece and swallow'd as such by our many superficial Readers who take what comes fresh from the Press and every New Author are brought over to his Opinion looks very daring as if they were not without great hopes of having their Good Old Cause new Bottom'd and the Rump once more set uppermost All which the Prefacer does more than intimate by giving so great a Deference to his Author and the Cause he engag'd in as if such alone made the Service of their Country the principal care of their Lives and all Government Arbritrary but in their Hands pag. 4. And to excite your Commiseration he adds that when Charles the 2d was permitted to Act his part this Gentleman who had gone through innumerable Hazards for the Liberty of England was stripp'd of his Estate and under the Odious Name of Traytor forc'd to Abandon his Native Country p. 6. Such Language as this we were forc'd to bear with when they had got the Power into their own Hands but sure we are not yet come to 48 or 59. when a company of profligate Villains the Scum and Scorn of Mankind with an Army of Ianisaries to their Assistance took such Care of England's Liberty as to make all Honest Men Slaves and Loyal Men Traytors and whoever is so easy as to believe there is one Syllable of Truth in this Prefaoer's Harangues and flourishes I wish so that others might not suffer with them they were some time under that sort of Free-Government for their better Information That this his Commonwealth-Champion was sent for to recover Ireland out of the Hands of those Papists is a Secret not known before and I fancy they that did it had rather it should have continued so or be quite forgotten than the Reception he found here To be sure the Business was done without him and if this his Admirer would have been so ingenuous as to tell what those Worthy Gentlemen in the House of Commons said when they express'd their Indignation at his Return 't would have been as well worth transmitting to Posterity as any Remarks upon that Conjuncture p. 7. Neither is it at all for his Reputation that his Family was Antient and had an Estate which plac'd him in the first Rank of Gentlemen p. 4. The English Gentry were the main support of the Royal Cause and stood by their oppressed Prince with an Unparallell'd Bravery considering the Necessities they both labour'd under Some indeed were drawn to the contrary Party by mistake or misinformation and left them in due time others persever'd too long but when it came to the Arraignmemt and Murther of the King it was their utmost and universal Detestation this well descended Gentleman had few other Associates in that Horrid Act than Draymen Coblers Tinkers c. the very Refuse of Mechanicks as well as Mankind especially as to the Army Officers who were the chief promoters thereof whilst our doughty Members whatever they thought of themselves serv'd no otherwise than as their Tools and Properties and so indeed were they Cromwell's though much regretted by them when he lay'd aside his Vizard and assum'd all to himself Since therefore this Author of theirs so basely degenerated from most others of his Quality as to become not only Rebel but Regicide I shall have so little regard for his Descent as to give him the bare Name of Ludlow Whether he writ all these Memoirs or more than these is not of moment to enquire The Vindicator of Oliver Cromwell tells us when Blood went to him at Geneva in order to engage him in New Disturbances he found him writing of a History and thought he might be much more proper for that than the Command of General which his Admirers here design'd him the other 's quick and penetrating Judgment soon discovering his blind side and that only his being of the Party gave him the Reputation of Parts And accordingly that Vindicator has as mean an Opinion of his History as the other of his Generalship And so must every one else who regards either Sense or Truth Although 't is likewise said these two Volumes are but the Abridgment of many more Reams foul'd upon this Subject which his Party and Printer thought fit to lick into somthing of Form contract and perhaps alter too as might best serve the present Design of promoting the Good Old Cause As to my particular undertaking the Vindication of our Royal Martyr I doubt not but to satisfy every impartial Reader that he writes not one Syllable of Truth yet withal is such a Common-place Recorder of Falshoods as to mention nothing but those Old Calumnies and Slanders which indeed serv'd the Faction's turn when first started and misled the Credulous Rabble but have been long since detected and evinc'd by the Clearest Demonstration any matter of Fact is capable of for the same Cheat never last's long Truth certainly prevails in the End Upon which account all such as take these indirect Courses must necessarily be qualified with a quick Invention be sure to have a New Trick at hand as soon as the Old is discovered that the Parties impos'd upon may have no leisure to reflect or otherwise discover the Iuggle And by this Artifice more especially were our 41 Confusions commenc'd and carry'd on about which time a Spirit of Calumny and detraction of Evil Speaking Lying and Slandering seem'd to be let loose as Satan in the Revelations to deceive the Nation and persecute all therein who would not worship that Gog and Magog they were going to set up with this Spirit I say our many Pulpit Beautifews and Lay Demagogues were so cursedly possest as nothing Sacred or Civil could escape their Obloquy or restrain the Madness of the People from believing their forg'd Reports or prosecuting their Rebellious Designs 't is inconceivable the Delusions they impos'd upon them the Contradictions they made them swallow till it became so habitual to the whole Party as every little Mechanick and Blew Apron'd Brother would as naturally tell a Lye for the good of the Cause as the Sale of their Wares and if discovered be as far from Shame as the Devil from a Blush Afterwards indeed the Evil Spirit was for some time conjur'd down confin'd to the Dark Cell of its own Melancholy thoughts and sad regret for disappointed Mischiefs but of late 't is broke forth again and rages most violently prevails to astonishment upon a Reinfatuated Age for from thence more especially it must proceed that Men should have so soon forgot not only God's Mercies but their own Miseries too Among the many other Allays which an impartial Judgment will find to abate much the envied Happiness of Princes 't is none of the least that during their full Gales of Prosperity they are beset with Flatterers instead of Friends their Impunity is their danger and Superiority to Laws leaves their
to the Sacred Ashes of the best Man and most abused Prince that ever sat upon a Throne May not the Great God who Iudgeth right upon defect of all Earthly Powers in doing Iustice to injur'd Innocence and oppressed Virtue be hereby provok'd to Arise and Defend his own Cause Remember the Rebukes his Servants have whereby their Enemies take occasion to blaspheme his Name and slander the Footsteps of his Anointed A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr CHARLES I. PART I. CHAP. I. The Commonwealth Party could never agree upon any one Model OUR Author begins his Memoirs with the Ruin of his Cause the Roasting of the Rump which doubtless was a great disappointment very much to his prejudice and therefore in reference to his own dear Self we will grant he had Reason to complain That having seen our Cause betray'd and the most solemn Promises that could be made to the Asserters of it openly Violated I departed from my Native Country c. Now because this Cause of his is so much magnified throughout both his Volumes as the only Means of securing the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People whereas the Office of a King was Burdensom and Dangerous the House of Peers useless upon which account both ought to be Abolished and the Government settled in the way of a Common-wealth the two first Votes they made after their Execrable Parricide it will I hope be thought no improper digression to examin the Rise of this excellent Model how it came first in Power How it behav'd it self whilst so and what became of it in the end In order whereunto we must know that the Violent and Numerous Faction in that fatal long Parliament of Forty were all of one piece so long as the King was able to bear up and most implacable against all such Loyal Faithful Members as adher'd unto him some of which they turn'd out of the House and forc'd many others to withdraw as well for the security of their Persons as in Obedience to their Consciences which oblig'd them to stand by their injur'd Prince so that in Ianuary 43 the King assembled at Oxon a greater Number of Lords and Commons then sat at Westminster although the latter supply'd themselves with a sort of Cattle call'd Recruiters from such Corporations and Burroughs as were within their Quarters where they might be sure of confiding Men who would not fail to carry on the Work as they had begun But divine Vengeance designing further to scourge us with our own Rod though it gave Success to their rebellious Arms yet withal so divided them amongst themselves as they that expected most had least of the Spoil whilst the Bear and the Wolf the Presbyterian and Independent contended one cunning Fox ran off with the Prey for as soon as the Royal Cause was vanquish'd those two Iunto's fell into implacable Enmities in the House and because the Independent was smallest in Number they supply'd that Defect by the Army which had been so modell'd by Cromwell as to be all of their own Leven and undertook their Quarrel so effectually as to bring a Charge against eleven of the most leading Members on the other Side who thereupon were forc'd to absent themselves some of them for their better Security beyond the Seas But this Purge would not do there must be a stronger Dose to remove the tough Presbyterian Humour which was accordingly prescrib'd for the other Iunto finding themselves still out-voted ran away to the Army and carry'd their Speaker with them making a sad Complaint that their elder Brethren of the other Faction were obstinate and refractory and would not let them have their Wills in going thorough-stitch to the Ruin of King and Kingdom at leastwise would not let it go their own Way and therefore begg'd their Assistance in the Accomplishment of so good a Work whereupon they strait-way march'd up to Westminster fill'd both the Palace Yards with Soldiers and set double Files through the Hall up to the Doors of both Houses looking scornfully upon the Members which had sat in the Absence of their Speaker and threatned to pull them forth by the Ears if they did not give speedy Satisfaction so that at present they carried all before them However the Army or rather their Managers Cromwell and Ireton seem'd herein to mis-time their Design the whole Nation was allarm'd at these extravagant Proceedings that the King should be so barbarously confin'd the Parliament forc'd now they seem'd somewhat dispos'd to an Accommodation and all things controll'd by the Arbitrary Licentiousness of a Military Rabble even to a Vote of no more Addresses to the King Which first proceeded from their Motion without Doors to their Creatures within this made several Counties petition and then rise in Arms some who had been Commanders for the Parliament in Wales endeavoured to retrieve their Country from those Mischiefs their Mistakes had brought upon it And Scotland actually declaring against their Brethren's Abuse of the King provided an Army to invade them This made our Men of the Sword postpone for the present their State-Reformation and fall to their proper Calling Fairfax undertook such loyal Gentlemen and Parties in Kent and Essex as had engag'd to free their Country from an Army of Mamaluks and shut them up in Colchester whilst Cromwell's veterane Forces found a ready Conquest of the Welsh and the Scotch under such ill Conduct as if they came on purpose to acquaint him how easie it was for a Man of Resolution and good Management to subdue and enslave their Nation In the mean time whilst this kind of second War was on foot the whole Kingdom besides those concern'd in the foremention'd Engagements began to reflect what a miserable Condition they had brought themselves into The City petition the Parliament for a personal Treaty with the King they accordingly vote in their secluded Members repeal that of no Addresses and agree to a Treaty at the Isle of Wight which nevertheless met with so many Obstacles and Delays from the adverse Iunto as the Army had finish'd their Business before the Treaty could be brought to a Conclusion and were so incens'd thereat as they came up in a Rage to London took Quarters at and about Whitehall fell the second Time to reform the House whereof they actually seiz'd and committed 41 Members denyed Entrance to above 160 more besides about 40 or 50 who voluntarily withdrew to avoid their Violence so that the whole was now reduc'd to between 40 or 50 such profligate Wretches both as to Life and Principle that they would stick at no Villany the Bashaws their Masters thought fit to put upon them And this is the true Origin of what is commonly call'd the Rump of the long Parliament the End whereof is so much condol'd by our Author although it might as properly have been call'd the Excrement to be sure their Actions will make our Nation stink in the Nostrils of all good Men to
generally been all the World over and in all Ages where a Kingdom was look'd upon no otherwise than a larger Family from whence at first they all came and the Master thereof as the Pater Patriae the common Father of the Country and when otherwise the Children have been oftner to blame than the Parent though when the Breach was once made nothing could be more natural than for both Sides to run into Extreams Farther yet we should consider all earthly Powers and every Individual under them are subordinate to the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe who in a secret and wonderful manner arbitrates and controuls all humane Undertakings according to the infinite Wisdom of his own unsearchable Will and when provok'd to high Displeasure by some enormous National Crimes hath been then observ'd more especially to interpose and give a People over to such cursed Infatuations as to violate all Rules of common Discretion as well as Duty and precipitate their own Ruin whereof farther on we may have too sad Occasion to make Application And however towards the End of the last Century and Beginning of this several Parts of Europe were mad upon this Republican Humour and many amongst us are so foolish as still to continue the Freak yet I have sometimes thought with my self from the few Instances we have in History of this kind of Government and them them that were mostly founded upon the Ruin of Monarchies continued all the Time of their being in perpetual Disorders and Convulsions of State till at last they resolv'd into a Monarchy again This I say hath made me think that they all took their Beginning from the foremention'd Displeasure of the Almighty for inverting that Oeconomy wherein he had plac'd the World and maugre all their Conceits and Oppositions would have it so continue For the Great King of Heaven is jealous both of his Honour and Prerogative and when a few fancyful Novellists will dare to set up the Right of their Sovereign Lords the People in Opposition to his Ordinances and eternal Establishments the Decision may be easily foreseen if with Reverence duly attended his infinite Wisdom and Patience so wonderfully operating and in so secret a manner upon their hard and impenitent Hearts as to make themselves the Instruments of his Wrath and Vengeance And from the same Power and secret Will it is that the Parties themselves are so little sensible of the Iudgment as to maintain their Opinion with more Earnestness than ever and so may continue without Controul for having withal the Command of Legions no wise Philosopher will dare to dispute his best against them However God is not mocked and so they will find at last But then secondly If we consider this in Hypothesi and bring it home to our own Case we shall find a very black Account for after all their Noise and Clamors the little Finger of this Upstart Commonwealth prov'd heavier to the whole Nation than the Loyns of the most rigid Monarch that ever sate upon the Throne Nay 't is farther certain by most dear bought Experience that there was more Arbitrary Power and illegal Commitments exorbitant Taxes Rapine and Plunder Sequestrations and Sacrilege with whatever else could be most Unjust and Tyrannical voted and put in practice during the twenty Years Usurpation of the several Iunto's than by all the Crowned Heads ay and their Favorites too to take off all Allegations of that kind since the Conquest I might add since the Creation did our Histories reach so far 'T is modestly express'd by our Author that notwithstanding their other Helps the Charge at Sea and Land was so great as they were forc'd to lay a Land-Tax of 120000 l. per Mensem Which notwithstanding if we may believe him the People pay'd very freely Now let us examin a little what these other Helps were They had seiz'd not only upon all the Crown but Church-Lands and dispos'd of them at Pleasure They had the free Contributions of the City Dames and all others well affected as far as their Quarters extended even to the poor Country Wenches Bodkins and Thymbles They had the Sequestration of all the Loyal Nobility and Gentry whose Estates they dispos'd of amongst themselves to several 1000 l. per Annum They had rais'd the Customs much higher than ever they were in the King's Time And in humble Imitation of their Brethren the Dutch retrench'd the Excesses of Good Fellowship by an Excise which the Nation was never acquainted withal before and now must never be without Besides 25 th Parts Decimations with numberless other Ways of squeezing the People who notwithstanding must think all too little for that happy Liberty this Free State had brought them into One thing farther I must observe in Reference to the Land-Tax that as it was collected according to the Lunary or as the Term then went Military Months so they would not rest there but were so good at Multiplication as to repeat that Monthly Assessment sixteen or seventeen times in a Year Whereas the Sum which two or three of these Months amounted to was as much as was ever given to or expected by any King before and would have made Charles I. the happyest Prince and continued us the easiest People under Heaven Can we be pityed to have it brought to more Millions than that made 100000 ls and a Necessity of continuing the same So fatal a thing it is not to take the Man's Advice but instead of that Fear to God and Honour to the King which he recommends be medling with such as are given to change the most troublesome Generation of Men any Nation was ever plagu'd withal for whatever Improvements our Royal Societies may make as to Natural Knowledg Oso's in Politicks or Religion are most intollerable their Chymical Heads will never forbear trying Experiments till both evaporate in Smoak and Confusion Had Sir T.'s Alphonso the Wise liv'd in these mutable Times to those four Old Things he gave so great a Preference there doubtless had been added a fifth and that is Old Government CHAP. III. King James and Charles I. design'd nothing of Arbitrary Power IN Confirmation of what I said That Arbitrary Power is the Grand Topick of the Faction Our Author Ludlow begins his spiteful Charge there Those who make any Enquiry into King Iames's Reign will find that tho his Inclinations were strongly bent to render himself Absolute yet he chose rather to carry on that Design by Fraud than Violence But King Charles having taken a nearer View of Despotick Government in his Iourny to France and Spain tempted with the glittering Shew and imaginary Pleasures of that empty Pageantry Immediately after his Ascent to the Throne pull'd off the Mask and openly discovered his Intentions to make the Crown absolute and Independent pag. 1 2. Audacter Calumniari goes a great way in any bad Cause To be sure this Calumny hath been so frequently urg'd so constantly inculcated as several worthy Gentlemen otherwise
well affected to Monarchy in general as well as the Memory of those two Princes are yet prone to suspect they might have some Inclinations that way and for their Satisfaction more especially it is I give them and my self this Trouble To shew therefore how little Ground there was or is for this Suspicion King Iames call'd Parliaments as often as any Prince ever did and courted them as much perhaps more than was requisite considering the Temper they were of And so did his Son at first as Ludlow owns 'T is true he call'd some in the first Years of his Reign But then makes this malicious Reflection The People soon perceiv'd he did it rather to empty their Purses than redress their Grievances The Truth of it is there was such a Spirit of Innovation and Faction got abroad such groundless Suspicions and Distrusts every where not only whisper'd but openly proclaim'd throughout the Nation as 't is equally unaccountable how Men should have the Confidence to forge such gross Untruths and the People suffer themselves to be so absurdly impos'd upon Altho as to this latter nothing can seem incredible to such as observ'd what a Fright the whole Nation was abus'd into the other Day as if between two and three thousand Irish for that was their utmost Number could fire all their Habitations and cut all their Throats Yet by such Artifices as these altogether as groundless and improbable the People were kept up in a continual Ferment so foolishly prejudic'd and so freakishly peevish as no Reason could be heard nor Truth prevail upon them whereunto both the foremention'd Kings were too forward to appeal and too condescending in giving an Account of themselves and Actions by frequent Proclamations Declarations c. considering they had to do with the most petulant malicious Generation ever any Age or Climate produc'd As to the present Charge of affecting Arbitrary Power I cannot but remark in the first place the different Method these two Kings are suppos'd to propound in order to bring about the same King Iames by Fraud King Charles by Force As to the former whatever King-Craft he pretended to every discerning Eye hath all along discovered him to be the most open easie Prince this Nation ever had studied nothing but his People's Peace and therein his own Quiet the Enjoyment of himself Such a bold I may say desperate Undertaking must have a Prince that is active daring and resolute of a subtile Head and hollow Heart understanding all the Arts of Dissimulation and Wheadle so as to fool the People out of their Mony and therewith maintain an Army to support his Usurpation with many such like bad Qualities as opposite to Iames's Temper and Genius as one Pole to the other For to speak freely he laboured under the contrary Extream wanted Courage to exert his just Rights stoop'd Majesty too low would expostulate and reason where he ought to have commanded which blind Side the Faction in his several Parliaments once finding out grew wresty thereupon would neither lead nor drive but their own Pace and Way What I remark in the second Place is the Inducement our Author assigns of King Charles's attempting the same by Violence the nearer View of a Despotick Power in his Iourny to France and Spain What will not a Republican's Rebel Spite catch hold of His Iourny was not in but thorough France which he consummated in ten or twelve Days and riding Post had great Opportunities of being taken with Glittering Shews and Imaginary Pleasures c. And his Business in Spain was of another Nature and took up so much Time as he had little Leisure to make Observations and less Reason to be enamour'd with any thing there observ'd to be sure upon Enquiry he could not but find that the several Courts or Councils there have as great a Restraint upon the Crown as our Parliaments have here though they are a sober wise Nation and seldom or never found to extend their Privileges beyond Right and Reason I shall not reflect upon the Prudence and Policy of that Design only observe it was hard for a young Amorous Prince to attend the tedious Delays of old Statesmen wherewith having been so long kept in Suspence this Adventure was thought the only Expedient for a final Issue Desperate enough which notwithstanding he manag'd so dexterously as to weather all Difficulties and come off with Honour and Safety contrary to the Expectation of the whole World I cannot forbear to mention the Account Rushworth gives of his Deportment there The Prince for his part had gain'd an universal Love and was reported by all to be a truly noble discreet well deserving Prince His grave Comportment suited with the very Genius of that Nation and he carryed it from the first to the last with the greatest Affability Gravity Constancy and at his Farewel with unparallell'd Bounty Yet this excellent Prince we murder'd and forc'd his Sons to travel for Security of their Lives and if during that Royal Exile they depended chiefly upon Papists for their Subsistence and observ'd how a Neighbour Prince weathering the like Storm from his three Estates as their Father met with for all Rebellions do not prosper as in England took the Government solely into his own Hand I say if upon these Obligations and Observations they return'd home less affected to the Protestant Religion and our Old Establishments of civil Government than could be wish'd Who can we blame but our selves Upon the Prince's Return home and making a Report to his Father what slippery Statesmen the Spaniards were especially as to his Sister 's Concerns King Iames at the earnest Request of the Parliament brake off that Match who engaging him in a War for Recovery of the Palatinate promis'd all the Assistance could be desired which was soon after by his Father's Death devolv'd upon King Charles and a Parliament thereupon summon'd de novo whom he bespake with all Affection and Tenderness imaginable acquainting them how The Eyes of all Europe were upon that his first Attempt and what a Blemish it would be to sustain a Foyl Hereupon a Supply was voted which serv'd the present turn and that was all For in the next Session which was at Oxon that unquiet Spirit which had been so troublesome most part of his Father's Reign began to let him see what little Hope there was of better Terms from them Immediately those old Cavils of Grievances evil Counsellers and what not were brought upon the Carpet and of these the first insisted upon was the Increase of Recusants the Growth of Popery which was presented in a Petition shewing the principal Causes of their Increase and properest Remedies to suppress them whereunto his Majesty gave an Answer so full and satisfactory that all undesigning Members were abundantly satisfied therewith and resolv'd to acquiesce therein and fell immediately upon a Supply which the adverse Party unable to oppose seemingly comply'd likewise but with a Back Blow
Admonition could move no Reasons or Perswasions prevail when the Time was so far spent that they had put an impossibility upon themselves to perform their Promise whereof they esteemed all Gracious Messages to them to be but Interruptions His Majesty upon mature Advisement dissolv'd them This is the Account the King himself gives in his Declaration of their unkind Dealing and his too just Provocation for that Act otherways would they have comply'd with him in those his urgent Necessities there should have been no Obstruction upon the Duke's Account they might have gon on with their Articles and been certainly Baffled as to that of King Iames's Death and perhaps most of the rest But I must not break off here without my promis'd Remark upon the Defence who by adding another most Impossible Story renders that aforemention'd yet more Improbable There are few will believe because he brings none That for many Reasons it was concluded King Charles had no small share in that abominable Act of Poysoning his own Father King James I. But to add and that Good Man Prince Henry his Son is such a Stretch as nothing but one by a Halter can keep pace with and they deserve to go together That Prince Henry was thought to have something of foul Play Sir W's Libel does insinuate but no Man of Sense or History ever believed a Syllable thereof and that Answer Intituled Aulicus Coquinariae clearly makes appear it was right down Libel that is absolutely false and as there was no ground to place it where Sir A's Baseness design'd so for this unthinking Blockhead to transfer it upon that poor innocent Child his Brother let the most prejudic'd Fanatick judge when told that at Henry's Death this his younger Brother was not Twelve Years Old having been all along of a weak unhealthy Constitution liv'd a Studious retir'd Life with very little Conversation but that of Books and Tutors which was indeed of great Advantage to his future Accomplishments but kept him then from making any Figure at Court or entring upon any Intrigue there which the most Active Princes of that Age have seldom been known to engage in much less to carry on such an Unnatural Enterprize Yet doubtless this is as true as the other and whoever for the Time to come relate either may the same Fate attend them as did Horace's Planus a Lying Cheat not to be believ'd when they speak Truth tho their Lives depend thereupon Nulla fides damnis verisque doloribus adsit Roger Coke hath another the prettyest Maggotty Reason to prove King Iames could not dye a Natural Death because all the five James 's his Predecessors in Scotland were carryed off otherwise I will not concern my self with what was done in Scotland but dare be the Courts Compurgator for all of that Family which have dy'd since it came into England although none have gon off without some such ill-natur'd and ill-grounded Suggestion I wish I could say as much for the Parliament or rather a Rump of it which out-did whatever hath been done in Scotland or any where else upon the Face of the whole Earth And further to provoke Divine Vengeance we have got a Generation of Villains which at this Hour dare to justify it and no Notice taken thereof Nay these eager Blood-hounds are so delighted with that sort of Game as when they cannot come at it themselves will needs have it done by others for so it was confidently mutter'd of the last which went off by Death and if God curse us with continuing this Set of Men will pass for an Authentick Story 50 or 60 Years hence it was enough at present to found it in a Whisper especially since the Physicians and amongst them Dr. L a great Confident of theirs declar'd that upon inspecting the Brain there was so clear Evidence of an Apoplexy as 't was impossible to think of any other Cause However there is nothing Extraordinary in all this besides the grosseness of the Fiction there are few Historians relate the Death of Princes without something of a real or imaginary Force But to bury them alive by Supposititious Births is altogether Modern an Advance of this present Age with how much Interest or Honour the next may Judge CHAP. XIII His Government before the Rebellion THese be the most tho' not all for all it is impossible to Enumerate and therefore let it be all the most considerable Exceptions false Clamors and frontless Cavils wherewith the wide-mouth'd Factions blackned the King and Trumpetted up Rebellion into which dismal and bloody Scene before we enter Let us take a general View of his Government during the Twelve Years Interstitium or if you will Interregnum of Parliaments for they were never quiet till Supream and then least of all where we shall find this true Father of his Country so tenderly Provident for a crooked and perverse Generation Nurtur'd them up in so much Peace and Plenty such a continued Affluence of all Things requisite to Humane Welfare as never any Nation enjoy'd a greater and very few have equall'd them therein That he Hated or had any Prejudice against Parliaments is so far from being True as if there were any Mistake it appear'd rather at First on the other Side he Caress'd them a little too much To be sure it was by his Inducement the Duke of Bucks made that Narrative relating to the Spanish Match and Treaty to both Houses of Parliament in Iames's Last whereto as occasion serv'd he gave his Attestation which so pleas'd their Popular aspiring Humour as the Duke was then the Whitest Boy and his Master the Hopefullest Prince in the World And he doubtless intended to have gon on in that Sincere plain-dealing Way represented Things as they really were and expected they should have met him half Way in all reasonable Returns But his more Experienc'd Father understood better told them both how short-liv'd such Caresses would be as they should find too soon Which immediately upon his coming to the Crown most Prophetically fell out in his first Parliament where making a small Complement of Two Subsidies they return'd to their Old Vomit Evil Counsellors Grievances and the like must be the only Subject of Debate after which they made so strict a Search as such another Set of Busy Men according to the Latin Adage would for a Knot in a Bulrush yet hereupon the Breach so gradually widned Three several Parliaments as to part at last in a final Separation Whereunto after all is say'd never Prince had greater or juster Provocation Nevertheless I cannot find in his Proclamation set out upon the last Dissolution or any where else that it was declared Criminal for the People to speak any more of Parliaments as Ludlow with his usual Impudence affirms p. 2. The King as I say'd finding the Factions so prevalent in all Elections as it was impossible to get a Parliament would either hearken to Reason or Act with Temper