so much dexterity diligence and vigour as that they had reason to confess that the change of the Pilot and the entire obedience which is rendered to an absolute Captain who hath the sole power in his hands are but ill signs that the Vessel should be therefore the worse guided and conducted And to give you a proof of the truth the Hollanders having at that time a vast number of Merchant-men in their Harbours ready to set Sail durst not hazard them through the Channel although they had a Fleet of ninety Men of War to conduct them But conducted them by North of Scotland to reach the Sound where they met with another great Fleet of their Merchant-men some coming from Russia some from the East-Indies and others from France all which they carryed home into Holland after which hearing that the English Fleet was steered Northward instead of seeking them out and to take the advantage of the English divisions as they had pretended and bragged they amuzed themselves in making several bravadoes in such places where there was neither honour glory nor benefit to be acquired at length they steered towards the Downs where they carried away two or three despicable Barks and sent some volleys of Cannon into Dover their Hearts and their Sails being equally puffed up with these imaginary successes which savouring something of their old Masters Jack Spaniards Rodomontado's they thought they could not better express them then at that time saying That the English Fleet was to be cryed out by the sound of Trumpets and Horns as if she had been lost But the Winde being as unconstant as the Sea it self and as dangerous quickly tacked about to their confusion and the Old Proverb That all the evil comes from the North was made good to their cost and charges For the English Fleet returning on a suddain from the Northward on the twenty eighth of May came into Yarmouth-Road and on the first of June next ensuing being at an Anchor they discovered two Dutch Galliots to which they gave chase till they came up to the body of the Dutch Fleet. But the weather proving over-covered and dusky they could not joyn with them On the third the English being at Anchor near unto the South-point of the Gober descryed the Enemy about two Leagues to Leeward of them being about one hundred Sail of Ships wherefore without loss of time the English weighed and made up to them The engagement began between eleven and twelve at noon and for some hours the fight was sharp untill about six in the evening the enemy bare right way before the winde and so ended that dayes fight On the next morning both Fleets came in sight of each other but there was so little winde stirring that they could not engage each other till twelve at noon when as they fell to it again for good and all and after four hours fight which proved very disadvantagious to the Hollanders they thought it not fitting to contest any longer but to get away as well as they could However a fresh westerly gale arising very opportunely the English being encouraged by their flight bare in so hard amongst them that they took eleven Men of War and two water Hoyes in which fight one thousand five hundred prisoners were taken and six Captains besides which six Holland Men of War were sunk and all the rest of the Dutch Fleet had according to all probability been cut off had not the night happily closed in for them But the darkness growing on and the English finding themselves near the Flats and necessitated to stay and mend their Sails and Rigging which were much shattered and torne about ten at night they came to an Anchor The greatest loss the English sustained was of General Dean one of their Admirals who was taken off by a great shot in the first dayes ingagement and whose death did sufficiently recompence all the Enemies loss he having been a person of reputed Valour and great experience besides which there was one Captain slain and about one hundred and fifty men and two hundred and forty hurt but not one of the English Ships were lost That which greatly encouraged the English and disheartned the Dutch was the arival of General Blake to their aid and succour with sixteen good Men of War very opportunely Now the Dutch by the favour of the night being gotten off and having retired themselves into the Weilings the 〈…〉 and the Texel the English called a Councel of all the Officers to advise on what would be most expedient to be undertaken to improve this Victorie to the best advantage and it was resolved to advance with the whole Fleet as fast as they could to the Weilings as far as they could possibly approach with safety by reason of the Flats and Shelves and in this wise forrage the whole Dutch Coasts till they came to Texel which being accordingly performed and being arrived at the said height they there remained a pretty while taking every day some prizes more or less to the great prejudice of the Dutch whose Ships could neither get in or out of any of their Ports as long as the English continued there Nor could their Men of War unite and come to a head to make a body to come forth Wherefore leaving them to take breath and to recollect their spirits again and so to think of the best means for their Deliverance we will return for England again with our Fleet and see how squares stands there General Cromwel who alwayes made use of more moderation then power in the Rise of his Fortune being unwilling to deprive England of her ancient Liberties and Priviledges resolved together with the chief Officers of his Army to assemble a Parliament To invest them with the power of administring and exercising the Laws and to appoint them as it were Judges of his Councel and Government And the Warrants requisite thereunto were issued out unto such persons as through England Scotland and Ireland were chosen by himself and his Councel to assist in the said Parliament for them to meet in the Councel-Room at White-Hall on the fourth day of the moneth of July in the year of our Lord. 1653. A forme of which said Warrant you have as followeth viz. For asmuch as upon the dissolution of the late Parliament it became necessary that the Peace Safety and good Government of this Commonwealth should be provided for and in Order thereunto diverse persons fearing God and of approved sidelity and honesty are by my self with the advice of my Councel of Officers nominated to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty Affairs is to be Committed And having good assurance of the love to and courage for God and the interest of his Cause and the good people of this Commonwealth I Oliver Cromwel Captain General and Commander in chief of all the Army and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth do hereby Summon and
the first fallings out when at last having severall times past and repast through and through each other General Blake obtained the Victory having sunk one Holland Man of War took another with thirty Guns made a hundred and fifty Prisoners and both the Captains of the said Ships and sent the rest of their Fleet home by weeping Cross to tell the rest of their Butter-box Brethren the success of their rash Attempt The English lost but ten Men in this Fight and had forty wounded and of the whole Fleet the Generals Ship alone was somewhat endamaged in her Masts Sails Tackling and Apparel After which the States of Holland disowned and disavowed this Action and to that purpose sent over two extraordinary Ambassadors into England who represented these Reasons to the Parliament of England therein declaring Viz. That the unhappy Fight betwixt the Fleets of both Common-wealths hapned without their knowledge and contrary to the will and desire of the Lords the States General of the united Provinces taking God to witness of this Truth who knows the hearts of men and that both by Letters and Messages they had continually been assured of the said Lords and States Sincerity That with astonishment and amazement they had received the fatall tydings of so rash an Attempt and Action and that immediatly they entred into Consultation how they might best find out a remedy to soften and excuse this fresh bleeding Wound To which end they had convocated a general Assembly of the Provinces in the which they doubted not God willing to meet with a present remedy to these Troubles whereby not only the Causes of all the evils which might ensue should be removed but also by an interiour Comfort mens Minds might be rectified and brought to a better hope of the Treaty which was on Foot wherein their Lordships laboured daily and in good earnest for the Welfare of both Nations to avoid the further effusion of Christian blood so much desired by the Enemies unto both Nations wherefore they requested and desired most humbly of this honourable Councel by the Pledges of the Liberty and their mutuall concurrence in Religion Not to suffer any thing to be undertaken with too much precipitation and heat which might at length become irrevocable and not to be remedied by vaine Wishes or too late Vows but that without delay they might receive a favourable Answer which they the more earnestly desire since their Lordships the States Ships and Marriners were detained and impeded in their Voyages some by force and others by the Fights at Sea and the rest in the Ports of this Common-Wealth Whereunto the Parliament thus replyed Viz. THat whereas they remember with what continual Demonstrations of Friendship they alwaies Comported themselves towards their Neighbours of the united Provinces ever since the beginning of their Civil Wars having not omitted any thing which might tend to the preservation of a good understanding betwixt them they think it very strange to find how ill the said States have answered these their Civilities and especially by the Acts of Hostilitie which they have lately exercised against this Common-wealths Fleet and having taken the whole into their Consideration as well as the severall Papers presented to the Councel of State by their Ambassadors They do thereon answer That as they are ready to give a favourable interpretation to the expressions contained in the said Papers tending to represent how that the last Fight which hapned lately was without the knowledge and contrary to the intentions of their Masters so likewise when they consider how incomformable and inconsistent with these Thoughts and Discourses the proceedings of their State and the behaviour of their Sea-men hath been in the very midst of a Treaty and in what a manner the said particulars have been Negotiated here by their Ambassador The extraordinary preparations of a 150 Ships without any apparent necessity and the Instructions which were by the said Lords States given to the Sea-men we have but too great cause to believe That the Lords the States General of the united Provinces have a designe to usurp the known right which the English have to the Seas To destroy their Fleets which after God are their Walls and Bulwarks and thereby to expose the Common-wealth to an Invasion according to their own good liking even as they have attempted to do by their last Action whereupon the Parliament do think themselves to be obliged to endeavour by Gods assistance as they shall find occasion for the same to seek the reparation of those Wrongs which they have already received and an assurance for the future against the like which might be attempted against them However with a desire and an intention that things may be composed and put up in an amicable way if it be possible by such waies and means as God by his Providence shall lay open and by such circumstances as may tend to hasten this Designe and may render it more efficacious then any other of the like nature hath not yet been So that this Conference besides many others having not been caple to produce the Agreement and expected Reconciliation the Holland Ambassadors took their leaves of the Parliament by a publick Audience and went their ways And immediatly both these powerful Common-wealths prepared for an open VVar all the Waters of the Ocean being not able to quench their just Indignations and those Forces which they will both engender upon the Surface of the Sea may well and duly represent unto us the Image of the Chaos and the VVars of the Elements General Blake who seemed to have fastned the Saile of Fortune to his most prodigious mast by the glorious appearance of his gallant and resolute Fleet makes Saile towards the Northen Parts and about the Isles of Orkney and seised upon all the Holland Vessels which he found Fishing on that Coast most part of the Fishing Barques he sent away and discharged as unworthy Objects or Ornaments to so stately a Navall Armado but the twelve Holland Men of War which were to convoy and secure them he brought home with him On the other side Sir George Askue remaining in the Channel with another Squadron of Ships to clear and guard the same discovered thirty Saile of Hollanders betwixt Callis and Dover to which he gave Chace and constrained them all for the most part to run a shoare on the Coast of France onely ten excepted which were taken burnt and sunck and in reference to this fatall Rupture there was not a day past wherin Prizes were not made by the English on the Hollander and French who likewise were not as yet well reconciled to the English Thence Sir George Askue set Saile towards the West as well to seek out for the Hollander as to guard those Coasts and to convoy the Merchant-Men which were ready to set Saile from Plimouth through the Channel and being come within seven or eight Leagues of the said Port he had notice given
Besides we may also look upon them as so many seeds sowen to beget those warres which thereon ensued and which were by the late Protector rather by most glorious Treaties whereunto he was sought or by most signal Victories which were obtain'd and brought to a happy period by which the blood of these two Agents so cruelly murdered were retaliated with use But to go on to our History the Treaty of Breda being absolutely concluded and notwithstanding the great Antipathy and animosity between the Royallists and the Presbyterians all their jealousies and grudges were seemingly reconcised so that the Scotch wanted nothing to compleat their design but to enjoy their Kings preserce who immediately coming to the Hague went thence for Schevelinge and embarqued himself for Scotland notwithstanding the dangers and perils of the Sea which were very great and the English Ships which had way-laid him to surprize him As soon as he was landed in Scotland the first thing they propounded unto their King was to take the solemn Oath called the Covenant that burning Torch which the Mother of Paris did see in her frenzies that fatal fire which the Scotch believe descended from Heaven and by which they at their pleasures kindle those warres wherewith they infest England which Covenant as we know was only a superstitious and warlike Prorestation made in the presence of God and Men To maintain the purity of the Religion to preserve the priviledges of Parliament and the people and to re-establish the King in his Ancestors Throne But that which seemed somewhat harsh and rude to this Prince was the terms wherein they caused him to take this Oath quite contrary to Physitians who dip their Pills in Syrrops or Sugar to make them down the glibber yet these Politicians when the whole lay at the stake it seems troubled themselves not much with the wording of the thing for amongst real friends indeed there needs not many complements nor much complacence to be used Therefore the Churches of Scotland made their King swallow this restorative in the following Beverage constraining him to protest That he renounced the sinnes of his Fathers and his own house the Idolatry of his Mothers and that he would adhere unto Gods cause in conformity to the Covenant in the firm establishment of the Church Government as it was expressed in the Directory for that publick worship which is to be rendred to God contained in the Belief and Catechism And this Cup he was forced to drink that he might obtain his Fathers Kingdome which formalities were more then requisite for to establish that Prince in the opinion of the prevailing party which was only then in a condition to help him Howbeit the English knew very well to distinguish between these Artificial fictions and the truth for the Parliament of England being duely informed of the Scots their designs and practises thought it was high time to think of the best means to oppose them and after several consultations upon this businesse it was resolved that the Lord Fairfax should command the Army in chief and with all speed march toward the North of England But he most humbly thanked the Parliament and like unto a second Cincinatus retired himself from the Dictatorship to a Countrey-life excusing himself for not serving them in that Expedition upon his Indisposition at that time The Renown of General Cromwells feats of Arms both as Governour and Conqueror of Ireland admitted of no lesse Proposals then to make him Generalissimo of the Common-wealths Armies in the Lord Fairfax his stead So that he came over again into England whilest his hands were as yet warm and was sent to give a check unto other Enemies in another Climate and under another disguise after he had settled and assured all the Conquests of Ireland and had left the necessary and requisite Orders conducing to a solid peace and establishment of those parts with his sonne-in-Law Henry Ireton so that he returned thence laden with Palms and Laurels as Trophies of his worthy Acts in those parts And scarce was he returned home but he was enforced to march towards those parts whither the glory of Conquering a second Kingdome called upon him Now the Scots who by no means would make any outward shew of the grand designs which they were hatching at the approach of the English Army on their Frontiers seemed to be very much astonished and the whole Countrey took the Allarum moreover the better to colour this their astonishment and seeming surprizal they deputed a Messenger to Sir Arthur Haslerigge as then Governour of Newcastle upon the Borders of England and Scotland to know the reason of that so suddain March of the English Army towards their Frontiers whereunto they joyned several Manifesto's setting forth the Contents of the Leagues and ample Treaties of union between the two Nations and several other particulars which served only to gain time and to make the better preparations to receive their Enemies At the same time of the English Armies advance towards the North the Parliament set forth a Manifest accompanyed by another from the General and chief Officers of the Army whereby both the one and the others declared viz. That the reasons which moved them to this great undertaking was neither the support which they expected from the Arm of flesh nor the consideration or vanity of former successes not the desire they had to compasse any of their own designs But the true assurance they had that their cause was just before God reflecting on the foregoing Revolutions and the successe which had followed them not as the handy-work of Politick men or of Humane force but as the most eminent works of Providence and the power of God thereby to make his good will appear and to shew his pleasure concerning those things which he had decreed in this world That they were obliged not to betray the cause wherein God had so evidently manifested himself after which there was nothing more dear unto them then the preservation of those who feared the Lord and who might greatly suffer either by being mistaken or by not being capable to discern the true tye of a Generall Calamity of which their Christian charity they hoped they had given sufficient proofs at the last time when they were in Scotland with this very Army of which God was pleased to make use for to break in pieces the power of those who oppressed the faithfull in those parts But that the acknowledgements of so signal a favour did but little appear in the Engagement which they had lately made with their new King and that they had not proceeded like unto good Christians in publishing that their Army was but an Army of Sectaries However that they doubted not but that God would give them the grace to forgive them that calumny and to that effect they beseeched him to be so good unto them as to separate the Chaffe from the good Corn concluding in like manner as they
Concernments the Parliament being desirous together with the Kings person to extirpate his Memory and to remove those Objects which might beget tenderness in the people who do alwaies bemoan the misfortunes of those whom before they hated Commanded that his Statues should be flung down whereupon that which stood on the VVest-end of St. Pauls Church in London was cast down and the other which was placed in the old Exchange placing this following Inscription in the Comportment above the same Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus Anno Libertatis Angliae restitutae primo Anno Domini 1648. Januarii 30. In like manner the Aâ—mes of the Crown of England which were placed in the Churches in the Courts of Judiciture and other publick places were taken down And the Common-weath being now as it seemed solidly established some neighbouring States who desired to be in Amity with Her sent their extraordinary Ambassadors over as namely the Hollanders Spain and Portugal and by the following Negociations the issues of the said Embassies will easily appear As to the Spanish Ambassador satisfaction was continually demanded of him for the Murther which was committed on the persons of this Common-wealths Agents at Madrid nor was this State at all satisfied with the Answer thereon returned That the Contestations between the King of Spain and his Clergy on that particular were not as yet reconciled or brought to naissue And as to the Portugal Ambassador great and vast summes being demanded of him for the reimbursement of those Charges which the King his Master had caused the Common-wealth to be at and for the reparation of those damages which the English Merchants had sustained He replyed he had no Orders to make Answer thereunto whereupon he had his Audience of departure and went his way Immediatly after this Common-wealth sent two extraordinary Ambassadors to the States of the united Provinces the Lords Oliver St. Johns and Walter Strickland Personages of a high repute and endowed with exquisite Parts their Train was great ad splendid and their Equipage favoured not a little of the Splendor of their continued Victories They Embarqued in the Downs on the eleventh of March 1651. and the next day toward even they came to an anchor neer Helvoot Slugs but not without some danger on the 13 they made towards Rotterdam in the long-boats and by the way they were met by some of the States Jachts or Barges and being arrived they were by the English Merchants conducted to their publick House where they were most splendidly entertained whither the Spanish Ambassador sent to complement them by one of his Gentlemen to testifie unto them his joy for their happy arrival beseeching them to enter into and joyn with him in a right understanding Two or three dayes after they set forward towards the Hague and by the way were met by the Master of Ceremonies accompanyed with about thirty Coaches and after some reciprocal complements passed and exchanged they were conducted to a stately House which was prepared for them in the Town where having been three dayes treated at the States charges they had audience In which the Lord St. Johns made a most Elegant and learned Speech in English and gave the Copy thereof unto the Lords States both in English and in Dutch the most essential points whereof were as followeth I. That they were sent unto the Lords the High and mighty States of the United Provinces on the behalf of the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England to ciment a firm League and Confederation betwixt the two Common-wealths in case their Lordships thought it fitting notwithstanding the injuries which the English had received from the Holland Nation II. That they desired to renew and confirm the Treaties and Agreements formerly made concerning the Traffique and Commerce betwixt both Nations III. After which they exhibited the advantages which the Hollanders would reap by this said union in regard of the commodious situation of England for the Traffique with the multitude and security of her Havens and of all things which may advance the Commerce and Trade IV. Finally he told them That he wus commanded by the Parliament of England and by the Common-wealth to make known to their Lordships how sencibly they were touched with the Murder which was committed on the person of their Agent Mr. Dorislaus and that they doubted not but their Lordships would use all possible endeavours to discover the Authors of that horrid and unworthy action After which the Lords States being informed that the said Lords Ambassadors followers were daily molested and affronted by the English Royallists and other persons who resided in Holland they caused a Proclamation to be drawn up which they sent unto the Lords Ambassadors to know of them whether it was penned in the due terms according to their good liking whereby on pain of death they prohibited that no man should either by words or deeds offend or molest any of the said Ambassadors followers or retainers Three months time was already elapsed in their Negotiation at a vast expense and with a farre greater patience without that the least satisfaction in the world could be obtained at the hands of Justice for those daily affronts injuries which were put upon the Lords Ambassadors Retinue Servants and the scorns and disgraces offered to their own persons even to such a pitch as that the Common people and Rascality would assemble themselves at the Gates of their house and belch out injurious language and set upon and injure their Servants Now the Parliament being sensible of these wrongs and injuries and seeing the Lords States did not at all answer those kinde proffers and endeavours which were made unto them to beget and fettle a solid and firm alliance and peace betwixt the two Common-wealths save with delayes and shifts purposely to gain time upon the English till they should be able to judge how the face of things would evidence it self in Scotland and which way the Chain would turn there they recalled their Ambassadors Which suddain and unexpected newes extreamly surprised the Hollanders who testified their astonishments thereon to the Lords Ambassadors by more frequent and oftner visitations then formerly and by which they endeavoured to perswade them to beleeve the sincerity of their intentions and how earnestly and ardently they desired the alliance which their Lordships had propounded But all these fair words were not able to stay the Ambassadors who immediately returned into England again to cut out another guesse kinde of work for the Hollanders And that which gave the greater cause of jealousie unto the English and made them believe that the Hollander dealt deceitfully with them was that their Admirall Van Trump lay lurking about the Isle of of Scillie with his Fleet as if he had some design to make himself Master of them But when as the States were demanded the reason of his lying there they replyed that their Admirals being in those parts was only to demand restitution of
and are sensible of the favourable effects which have since been produced However the universal joy which was so evidently to be seen in all their countenances did not hinder but that it was thought fitting for the better satisfaction of the generality and of all men in particular to publish the causes the grounds and reasons of the dissolving of the Parliament which was accordingly ordered by the General and by his Councel consisting of the chief Officers of the Army and was manifested accordingly in a Declaration whereof the following are the chief Heads That after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a degree of peace and England to perfect quiet whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their Labour Blood and Treasure and to settle a due liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things whereunto they were obliged by their duty engagements and those great and wonderful things God had wrought for them But they made so little progress that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land who thereupon applied themselves to the Army expecting redress by their means who though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority agreed that such Officers as were members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amiss in the Common-wealth and in settling it upon a Foundation of Justice and Righteousness which being done it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations But finding the contrary they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August 1652. which produced no considerable effect nor was any such progress made therein as might imploy their real intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for but rather in aversness to the things themselves with much bitterness and aversion to the people of God and his Spirit acting in them insomuch that the Godly party in the Army were rendred of no other use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party for effecting their desires in perpetuating themselves in the supreme Government For the obviating of these evils the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same but such endeavours proving ineffectual it became evident that the Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others and the non-attendance of many would never answer those ends which God his People and the whole Nation expected from them But that this Cause which God had so greatly blessed must need languish under their hands and by degrees be lost and the Lives Liberties and Comforts of his people be delivered into their Enemies hands all which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation as well as by the Army it seemed a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God to consider of some 〈◊〉 means whereby to establish Righteousness and Peace in these Nations And after much debate it was judged necessary That the supreme Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons fearing God and of approved integrity for a time as the most hopeful way to countenance all Gods people reforme the Law and administer Justice impartially hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments that so the Goverment might be settled upon a Right Basis without hazard to this glorious Cause or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same And being still resolved to use all means possible to avoid extraordinary courses we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament to give us a Conference with whom we plainly debated the necessity and justness of our proposals the which found no acceptance but instead thereof it was offered that the way was to continue still this Parliament as being that from which we probably might expect all good things This being vehemently insisted on did much confirme us in our apprehensions that any love to a Representative but the making use thereof to recrute and so to perpetuate themselves was their aim in the Act they had then under consideration For preventing the consumating whereof and all the sad and evil consequences which upon the grounds aforesaid must have ensued and whereby at one blow the interest of all honest men and of this glorious cause had been endangered to be laid in the dust and these Nations embroiled in new troubles at a time when our Enemies abroad are watching all advantages against and some of them actually engaged in War with us we have been necessitated though with much repugnancy to put an end to this Parliament This Declaration and these proceedings of his late Highness then General and of his Councel of Officers of the Army were backed by the consent of the Generals at Sea and by all the Captains of the Fleet and in like manner by all the other Generals and Officers of the Land forces both in Scotland Ireland and the other Territories But least the Magistrates and other publick Ministers of Justice and Policy suprized at this suddain change should chance to swerve from their duties or that other persons should thereby take occasion to foment disturbances prejudicial to the Common-wealth this ensuing Declaration was published Whereas the Parliament being dissolved persons of approved fidelity and honesty are according to the late Declaration of the two and twentieth of April last past to be called from the several parts of this Common-wealth to the supreme authority and although effectual proceedings are and have been had for perfecting those resolutions yet some convenient time being required for the assembling of those persons It hath been found necessary for preventing the mischiefs and inconveniencies which may arise in the mean while to the publick Affairs that a Council of State be constituted to take care of and intend the peace safety and present management of the Affairs of this Common-wealth which being settled accordingly the same is hereby declared and published to the end that all persons may take notice thereof and in their several places and stations demean themselves peaceably giving obedience to the Laws of the Nation as heretofore in the exercise and administration whereof as endeavours shall be used That no oppression or wrong be done to the people so a strict accompt will be required of all such as shall do any thing to endanger the publick peace and quiet upon any presence whatsoever Dated April the thirtieth 1653. subscribed Oliver Cromwel These domestick revolutions did in a manner put a new life into the Dutch again who thought that they would cause some eminent distractions and disturbances as well on the Seas as by Land But they were very much deceived for the Maratine Affairs of these Lands on which either the good or bad fortune of England depended were carryed on with
into the hands of his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart who was by his Highness declared Governour of the same and took possession of it with four English Regiments which compose the Garrison thereof and serve to defend the Fort Mardike and the new Fort Royal begun by the Spaniards on the Channel of Burges and perfected by the English now called Olivers Fort. The Inhabitants of which place are so much taken with the superabundancy of the generosity and goodness of their said Governour his Excellency the Lord Lockhart as that they repent themselves to have so much listned to the Spanish false perswasions and fears which they possessed them with that they should be cruelly and inhumanely treated by the English purposely to make them resist the longer It had been well they had had so much care of their Souls as they perswaded them they had of their Goods and Fortunes But it would be too great a conquest to pretend joyntly to overcome both the Consciences of men and their Town to boot the first is Gods due and the other Caesars And we may observe in Alexander the Great whensoever his Forces became Master sof any place he would alwayes sacrifice to the Gods of the Countrey thereby to gain the Inhabitants hearts and to induce their Gods to become propitious to him Numa Pompilius was a King before he was a Priest and although the Almighty hath imprinted in all men a particular inclination to adore him yet however as concerning the manner of worshipping him Policy alwayes preceded Religion and ever kept the upper hand over her as much as she possibly could King Henry the Fourth of France was a Protestant whilst he had overcome his Enemies but as soon as he was settled in the Throne and that he was to Reign as King he seemingly returned Papist and said That the Kingdome of France and City of Paris was worth a going to Mass But when as superstitious and zealous spirits counselled him to prosecute and pursue the Protestants he answered That so long as they remained faithful and true to him and continued to stand by and serve him as they were wont he would be as much a Father and Protector unto him as unto the rest of his good Subjects These Maximes are general and common and admit of no distinctions save in Schools nor need the Spaniards with all their Hypocrisie and Pious malice to doubt but that France and England understanding each other well enough and that the English themselves are prudent enough to avoid that which may prejudice them and to tollerate whatsoever may advance and further their conquests and beget a love and esteem of their government But to return to our former subject again as we have oft before alledged the joyes of this World are alwayes for the most part mingled with some allayes of sorrow the Almighty being willing to keep us mindful that there are no perfect felicities to be enjoyed here on earth and that its onely in heaven we are to expect an intire and perpetual Contentment and Bliss Wherefore the Laurels of the Victory obtained against the Spaniards and of the taking of the Town of Dunkirk were soon withered and the joyes abated by the interposing of the Cypress-tree which death planted upon the Tomb of the Illustrious and most generous Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to his late Highness who departed this mortal life to a more glorious and eternal one on the sixth day of August this present year a fatal prognostication of a more sensible ensuing loss For even as Branches of trees being cut and lopped in an ill season do first draw away the sap from the tree and afterwards cause the body thereof to dry up and dye In like manner during the declining age of his late Highness an ill season in which men usually do as it were reap all their consolation from the youth and vigor of their Children wherein they seem to ruine by degrees as they draw near to their death it unfortunately fell out that this most illustrious Daughter the true representative and lively Image of her Father the Joy of his Heart the Delight of his Eyes and the Dispenser of his Clemency and Benignity dyed in the flower of her age which struck more to his heart then all the heavy burthens of his Affairs which were onely as a pleasure and pastime to his great Soul So great a power hath Nature over the dispositions of generous Men when the tye of Blood is seconded by love and vertue This generous and noble Lady Elizabeth therefore departed this World in despite of all the skill of Physicians the Prayers of those afflicted persons whom she had relieved and the vows of all kinde of Artists whom she cherished But she dyed an Amazonian-like death despising the Pomps of the Earth and without any grief save to leave an afflicted Father perplex'd at her so sudden being taken away she dyed with those good Lessons in her mouth which she had practised whilest she lived And if there be any comfort left us in her death it is the hope we have That her good Example will raise up the like inclinations in the remainder of her Sisters whom Heaven hath yet left us I shall not at all speak of her Funerals for if I might have been credited all the Muses and their God Apollo should have made her an Epicedium and should have appeared in mourning which should have reached from the top of their Mount Parnassus to the bottom of the valley thereof But if this illustrious Personages death received not the Funeral Rites which all great Wits were bound to pay it at least the Martial men did evidence that the disgrace lay not at their doors but that they ought to reap all the glory since they were not backward to continue to brave and affront dangers in the behalf of an illustrious and glorious Cause wherefore the sad tydings of this noble Personages death touched the gallant English to the heart seeing they were bereaved of their English Pallas and of their Jupiters Daughter they therefore accused the Destinies for intrenching upon their Priviledges and evidenced that it appertained not alone unto them to dispose of the lives of men Their wrath therefore discharged it self on the first Objects which presented themselves to their eyes and the harmless Spaniards were so many Victims offered up to this Amazons shrine and as if Graveling had been her stake they were so eagerly bent to fire the Enemies out of the same as that the Spaniards were constrained to open their gates to give vent to the fire and flame which suffocated them and surrendered themselves to the Conquering French Army to whose share that place fell and by whose force it was solely gained As Physicians do agree that extreme Joy causeth Death as well as excessive Grief so may we likewise say That both these violent Passions united together must needs destroy the strongest person on earth
and that the Conflict which they produce in a Soul is capable to turn the edge of the keenest weapons which are opposed to their resistance and to make the fairest champain Field become a parched barren plat of Ground But what need we to seek external Causes in a Death which brought along such violent ones with it a Cardinal of Richelieu who was one of the best Tempers and Constitutions in the world did fall under the burthen of the Anxieties and Agitations of the Mind The scabbard as the Proverb saith being worn out by the sharpness of the blade must of necessity finde a vent And how could it otherwise chuse that a Man who for the space of ten or twelve years together had opposed himself to all the Injuries both of Time and of War should not at length fall under the activeness of a soul which seldom gave him any rest which governed and directed the Reins of three restive Kingdoms unaccustomed to the noble and famous Trappings of a Military Government and who moreover was to direct and guide the Consciences as well as the Bodies of Men and their Reasons as well as their Wills It had not been considerable had the Interest of England onely required that his Cares had been limitted within the Pales which the Sea prescribes to her Precincts But as the cause of the Disease was from abroad and that from the Closets of the Escurial the Spaniards had imployed their false Piety as well as their Peru Gold to discover and molest the repose of England so fire and flame was to be applied without and it was necessary to penetrate into the very secret causes of the evils The People of the Cities of the Continent were to be disabused and the Soldiery were to be overcome in open field The Mines of Mexico were to be looked into and the extent of that Ambition was to be curtailed which boasts it self both to see the Sun set and rise These were vaste imployments indeed of a large activity to run through these undertakings the fervor of them was scorching and although the Heavens did second these lawful Designes with all its Graces yet it could not without a Miracle and without destroying the secondary Causes hinder the separation of a Soul from a Body which it had so often employed and so efficaciously seconded the grand Affairs both of State and War for the Peace Glory and Tranquillity of three Nations Wherefore Nature it self did witness her grief some two or three dayes before by an extraordinary Tempest and violent gust of weather insomuch that it might have been supposed that her self had been ready to dissolve or that the Master-piece of Nature suffered a violent agitation And as the Death of the Sun of Righteousness was foretold by an Eclipse of the Sun which covered the surface of the whole Earth with Darkness In like manner at the death of the People of Englands Hercules both Force and Nature were let loose to shake the very Elements and by the reuniting of their violence like unto those who are ready to give up the Ghost to leave some marks of an extream dissolution all which is so lively set forth by the quaintest Wit of these times as that I shall not inlarge any further upon this observation but shall onely content my self to repeat unto you his Verses who expresseth it more elegantly and copiously then my rough Prose can possibly reach to Upon the late Storm and his Highness death ensuing the same We must resign Heaven his great soul doth claim In Storms as loud as his immortal fame His dying groans his last breath shakes our Isle And Trees uncut fall for his Funeral Pile About his Palace there broad roots were tost Into the Air so Romulus was lost New Rome in such a tempest mist their King And from obeying fell to worshipping On Aetna's top thus Hercules lay dead With ruin ' Oaks and Pines about him spread Those his last fury from the Mountain rent Our dying Hero from the continent Ravish whole Towns and Forts from Spaniards reft As his last Legacy to Brittain left The Ocean which so long our hopes confin'd Could give no limits to his vaster minde Our bounds inlargement was his latest toil Nor hath he left us Prisoners to our Isle Vnder the Tropick is our Language spoke And port of Flanders hath receiv'd our Yoke From Civil Broyls he did us disingage Found nobler objects for our Martial rage And with wise conduct to his Countrey shew'd Their ancient way of conquering abroad Vngrateful then it were no tears allow To him that gave us peace and Empire too Princes that fear'd him grieve concern'd to see No Pitch of glory from the Grave is free Nature her self took notice of his death And sighing swell'd the Sea with such a breath That to remotest shores her billows rould The approaching fate of their Great Ruler told And truly I had need of all Parnassus his art to sweeten and mollifie the bitterness of this death which causeth my pen to fall to the ground and would cast up my Muse into a pittiful swound did not all the rest of the Muses come to her aid and sprinkle her with some of that divine Water which nourisheth her to make her revive again and to restore her to her strength to announce to posterity the time the day and the manner when and how his late Highness our great Oliver breathed his last After his late Highness had therefore been sick about a fortnight of a Disease which at the beginning was but an Ague on a Friday being the third of September 1658. in the Morning he gave all the signs of a dying person and for whom the Physicians had onely Vows and Prayers in reserve However he remained in that manner till about three of the Clock in the afternoon when as his Soul which had alwayes retained the upper hand of his Body preserved her Empire till the last moment he had alwayes his wits about him and his perfect and intire understanding and continued to deliver those Oracles which were necessary to establish after so great a loss the Peace and Tranquility of England and immediately to repair the ruines which so dangerous a dissolution had threatned the State withall and might cause in the mindes of every particular person His greatest and most important care was to name a Protector to be his successor which he did with Reasons so little savouring of his own interests and worldly concernments as that he testified that being not content to have sacrificed himself for the common good by the shortning of his dayes he was willing to consecrate his Children thereunto by the lading of them with the heavy burden of those weighty mysteries which may well be termed a Royal and Gilt Servitude Which succession was so necessary to the Peace and Tranquility of the State that the Common-wealth and the Elective Kingdoms are constrained to imitate it and the successive
concerning the Government of his Estates and touching the interests of other Princes as without the entring into their Cabinets or partaking of their Counsels he discoursed very pertinently of their Affairs and foretold their several issues and events He likewise was an excellent Phisionomer and having once seriously considered any one he was seldome deceived in the opinion he conceived of him He married into the ancient and noble family of the Bourchers whence the Earls of Essex were descended his marriage bed was blessed with many Children none of which did ever degenerate from the eminent vertues of their most Illustrious Father His eldest son named Ricard hath succeeded him in the Protectorship his younger son named Henry being at this time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland both of them capable to follow their Fathers glorious footsteps and to perfect and crown such hopeful promising though difficult beginnings their Father having as it were divided shared and left by inheritance unto their youth swelling with marvellous hopes that most exquisite Quintessence of two great Talents which he had acquired by his age and by his experience so that the one of his sons may be stiled the Jupiter and the other the Mars of England He had four Daughters all of them Ladies of a most eminent and vertuous disposition The Lady Bridget first married unto the Lord Ireton in his life time Lord Deputy of Ireland a Personage of sublime worth and afterwards espoused unto the Lord Fleetwood sometimes Lord Deputy of Ireland and at present Lieutenant General of all his Highness Forces The Lady Elizabeth his second Daughter married unto the Lord Cleypoll and dyed a little before her Father of whom we shall speak hereafter The third the Lady Mary espoused unto the Lord Viscount Faulconbridge And the youngest the Lady Frances at present widow of the Lord Robert Rich Grandchilde to the late Earl of Warwick Nor did the change of his late Highness Fortunes in the least decline or diminish the tenderness and affection which he ever bare towards the worthy Mother of so numerous and hopeful an issue and that absolute power which he had over all his Dominions never gave him the least desire to captivate any heart save that which God had given him in marriage And that which is the most to be admired at and seems to be the summe of all bliss is that the Almighty lent his late Highness so much life as to see all his Children disposed to the most gallant personages and allied to the most Illustrious Families of England which are as so many props of his Fortune and Fences against the enviers of his Vertue He was an enemy to vain gloriousness ostentation and although he was all as it were fire that is of a passionate constitution yet he had so overcome his passions that he was seldome or never moved but when there was a great cause given so likewise was he more subject to repress and keep in then to give way to his passion The actions of his body denoted those of his minde his actions were in a manner without motion and without any forcings of the body in like manner his minde was not at all agitated nor his expressions precipitated sweetness and tranquillity accompanied his thoughts and his words but when there was occasion to carry a business he expressed himself with so much vigour as gave to understand that he was not easily to be disswaded from the thing he had once resolved In like manner during the whole course of the War he never harboured the least thought of changing of parties And as for Ambition which is the onely passion whereof envy it self seems to accuse him the effects thereof were so inconfiderable and unnecessary unto him nay so unpleasing and unwelcome and which is more he so often refused the pomps delights and grandours which were profered him that all the world must needs confess that where Nature could claim so small an interest the master and directer of Nature must needs have had a great share Wherefore we may aver with a great deal of reason That in case he hath hoorded and laid up Treasures it hath been in the Intrals of the Poor of all Sexes and of all Nations of all Professions and Religions both at home and abroad insomuch that it hath been computed that out of his own private instinct particular Motions and pious Compassion he distributed at least forty thousand pounds a year in Charitable Uses out of his own purse out of such Moneys as the Commonwealth did allow him for his Domestique Expences and for the maintenance of his State and the Dignity of his Person Family and the keeping up the splendour of his Court. And the better to illustrate this matter we shall insert an Essay of two examples of Generosity and Gratitude which are not to be parallel'd save in the persons of Thomas Lord Cromwell his late Highness's predecessor in Henry the Eighth's Reign and in the person of his late Highness Oliver Lord Protector In those glorious dayes when the English young Gentry endeavored to out-vie their elder Brothers by undertaking far and dangerous journies into Forreign parts to acquire glory by feats of Arms and experiencing themselves in the Military Discipline Thomas Cromwel a younger Brother to better his knowledge in Warlike Affairs passed into France and there trailed a Pike accompanying the French Forces into Italy where they were defeated at Gattellion whereupon our English Volantier betook himself to Florence designing to pass thence home again into England but having loft all his equipage and being in a necessitated condition he was enforced to address himself to one Signior Francisco Frescobald an Italian Merchant who corresponded at London and making his case known unto him Frescobald observing something remarkable and a certain promising greatness in the Features Actions and Deportment of Thomas Cromwel who gave an account of himself with so candid an ingenuity and in such terms as beseemed his Birth and the Profession he then was of whereby he gained so much upon Frescobald as inviting him home to his house he caused him to be accommodated with new Linnen and Clothes and other sutable necessaries kindly entertaining him till such time as he testified a desire to return for England when as to compleat his Generosity and Kindeness he gave Mr. Thomas Cromwell a Horse and sixteen Duccats in gold to prosecute his journey homewards In process of time several disasters and Bankrupts befalling Signior Frescobald his Trading and Credit was not a little thereby impaired and reflecting on the Moneys which were due unto him by his Correspondents in England to the value of 15000. Duccats he resolved to pass thither and try whether he could happily procure payment During which interval of time Mr. Thomas Cromwell being a person endowed with a great deal of Courage of a transcendent Wit hardy in his undertakings and a great Politician had by these his good qualities gotten himself
reflect on the loss he had sustained and how requisite it was for Princes and great Potentates to retain near their Persons Men of Knowledge Worth and Fidelity and calling to minde the action and discourse of Williams conceiving that it could not proceed but from a great soul endowed with extraordinary vertues and such a one as might be useful and serviceable to him he sent for him up to Court and commanding him to take the name of Cromwel upon himself unto whom he had testified so much Fidelity and Gratitude he invested him with all the Offices and Charges the late Lord Thomas Cromwel enjoyed near his person and re-instated him again in all his Goods and Lands which had been confiscated so that the Lord Williams assisted in the Kings Councel as his Father in Law the Lord Thomas Cromwel before had done From this Noble Lord Williams alias Cromwel and the Illustrious Daughter of the renowned Lord Thomas Cromwel his late Highness and our present Lord Protector are lineally descended in whom the Almighty hath raised up and ripened those generous vertues of their predecessors and hath elevated and spread their branches as high as their deep roots had taken profound and vigorous Foundations So that to compleat our parallel we may observe by the fruits of this Illustrious Stock from whence his late Highness is descended whether they retained their accustomed Generosity and Clemency which we will not go about to prove by the Military Acts in which they have outvied their Predecessors nor by their Politick and prudent Government of the State in which they have at least equalized them but by their private and domestick actions since the resemblance of Children to their Parents may be more observed by the Features of the Face then by the course of their lives which are subject to vary either by the inconstancy of Fortune or the Communication of other men To come therefore to his late Highness the Lord Protector and signalize his gratitude we shall instance in the person of one Duret a French attendant of his Highness during his General-ship who served him with so much Fidelity and Zeal as that he intrusted him with the managing and conduct of the greatest part of his domestick Affairs alwayes retaining him nigh his person bearing so great an affection towards him and reposing so entire a confidence in him as during his late Highness's great sickness which he had in Scotland and whereof it was thought he would have dyed he would not be served by any one nor receive any nourishment or any thing else that was administred unto him save from the hands of Duret who both day and night continued to watch by his Master tending him with a special care and assiduity not giving himself a Moments rest untill his late Highness had recovered his perfect health which long and continual watches of Duret and the pains he had taken in the administring unto his Master plunged him into a sad fit of sickness during which this faithful servant received all the acknowledgements which his good and zealous services had demerited his late Highness applying all the possible cures he could not onely by his commands but by his personal visits so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him to comfort Duret and to see all things applyed that might conduce to his recovery but Durets hour being come he was content to lay down his life in his Masters service and the Physicians having quite given him over his late Highness would needs render him his last good offices by comforting him at his death by his sensibleness of his good services and the extream zeal and affection he had born to his person which although he could not requite unto him yet his Highness assured him he would manifest his acknowledgements thereof unto his Parents and Kindred Whereunto Duret replyed That the honour he had received in having served so good and great a Master and the glory he reaped in having laid down his life for the preservation of his Highness and of so good and glorious a Cause was extream satisfactory unto him in his death That he had a Mother and a Sister with some Kindred in France who were unworthy his Highness thoughts or reflecting on them however that he remitted them to his Highness gracious consideration And so Duret his good and faithful servant breathed his last In which contract of grief and resolution of acknowledgement his late Highness may be said to have harboured the same thoughts as Henry the Eighth did perswading himself that he had been the Author of Durets death though in a far innocenter way However his late Highness retained all the resentments and sensibleness of the acknowledgements and gratitude expressed by his generous predecessor the Lord Thomas Cromwel towards his dear Friend Frescobald For his late Highness immediately sent over For Durets Mother Sister and two Nephews out of France and would have the whole Family of the Durets to come and establish themselves here in England that he might the better manifest his Love and Gratitude in their persons towards his deceased faithful servant And whereas by reason of the continuance of the Scotch Wars his late Highness was at that time as it were confined to the North he wrote unto her Highness the now Lady Protectoress Dowager his wife that she should receive and use Durets Mother Sister and Allies accordingly as she praised the good offices of his deceased faithful servant to whose cares pains and watchings he owed the preservation of his own life and that she should proportion that kindnes which during his absence she should show unto them unto the love which she bore unto him insomuch that Durets Mother was by her Highness admitted into her own Family and seated at her own Table his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a Maid of Honour to her Highness and his two Nephews were admitted to be her Highnesses Pages whereby the Almighty Crowned Durets good and faithful services towards his Master and his piety and observance towards his Mother and Sister whose onely support he was in his life time with the rich Flowers of Prosperity and with the Fruits of Fortune advancing them as fast as the sad destiny did his precipitated death And no sooner was his late Highness returned into England after the conquest of Scotland and the glorious Victory he had obtained at Worcester full freighted with the resplendency of his noble atchievements but he desired to see Durets Mother Sister and Nephews enquiring how they had been received and treated and whether they were well pleased to be in England and as soon as they appeared in his presence he could not retain his generous tears for the loss of Duret nor could he cease to testifie his inward grief for him comforting the good old Gentlewoman Mrs. Duret by the mouth of his Children who spake French telling her She had not lost her son although dead