same was very expedient did each man singly by himself and in Common with the People unanimously Admit the said Cession and Renunciation After which Admission it was then and there publickly declared that besides such Cession and Renunciation so as aforesaid admitted It would be very expedient and profitable to the Kingdom for the removing of all Scruples and taking away sinister suspitions That very many Crimes and Defects by the said King about the ill Governance of his Kingdom very often committed reduced into writing by way of Articles by reason of which as himself affirmed in the Cession by him made he was deservedly to be deposed should be publickly read and declared to the People And so the greatest part of the said Articles were then and there read through The Tenour of all which Articles is such But yet in the Roll before the Articles there are first these words Here followeth the form of the Oath used and accustomed to be taken by the Kings of England at their Coronation which the Archbishop of Canterbury hath used to require and receive from the said Kings as in the Book of the Pontifical Archbishops and Bishops more fully is contained Which Oath Richard the Second after the Conquest of England did take at his Coronation and the same was administred by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the very same Oath the King afterwards repeated as in the Rolls of the Chancery may more fully be found of Record Thou shall keep to the Church of God and People Intire Peace and Concord in God according to thy power The King shall answer I will keep them Thou shalt in all thy Judgements cause to be done equal and right Justice and discretion in mercy and in Truth according to thy power He shall answer I will do so Thou dost grant the just Laws and Customes as shall be held and dost promise the same shall by thee be protected and for the Honour of God Corroborated quas vulgus elegerit which the People shall chuse to the utmost of thy power He shall answer I do so grant and promise To the aforesaid Questions such others are added as shall be just and all things being so pronounced the King by his own Oath on the Altar before all the Assembly Confirms and Promises that he will 〈◊〉 and observe the same Then follow THE OBJECTIONS or ARTICLES Against the King touching his Deposition IMprimis It is objected against King Richard that whereas by reason of his ill Government viz. His giving away the Goods and Possessions belonging to his Crown and that to Persons unworthy and his indiscreet squandering the same away otherwise adn to that end imposing without cause Collections and other grievous burthens on his People more than they were able to bear and also innumerable other Evils by his assent and Command perpetrated there were by the whole Parliament certain Prelates and others Temporal Lords Elected and Assigned who might with all their power and at their own Charges faithfully labour about the just Government of the Realm Yet the King causing a Conventicle to be held by him with his accomplices the said Lords as well Spiritual as Temporal so occupied about the safety and profit of the Kingdom did propose to impeach of High Treason and did violently draw the Judges of the Kingdom for fear of Death and Corporal Tortures to such his wicked purpose most vigorously striving to destroy the said Lords II. Item The said King lately at Shrâ—wsbury caused several and the greater part of the Judges to come before him and his Favourites privatly in a Chamber and by Menaces and Various Terrors as such affrightments as might fall even upon men of constant Resolutions did induce cause and compel them severally to answer certain Questions there propounded on the behalf of the King concerning the Laws of his Kingdom besides and against their will and otherwise than they would have answered had they been at Liberty and unforced By colour of which answers the said King purposed to have proceeded afterwards to the destruction of Thomas Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and VVarwick and other Lords against whose deeds and behaviour the said King was much incensed chiefly because they desired the said King to be under good Guidance But Providence withstanding it by the resistance and power of the said Lords the King was not able to bring such his design to effect III. Item When the Lords Temporal defending themselves had withstood his malice and fraud and the said King had prefix'd a day for holding his Parliament to do them and other Inhabitants of the Realm Justice in that behalf and the said Temporal Lords were quietly and peaceably gone home and at Rest in their houses in hope and confidence of the said Parliament the King secretly sent the Duke of Ireland with his Letters and Standard towards Chester and there gathered multitudes in Arms and caused them to rise against the said Lords the Nobles of the Kingdom and Servants of the State publickly erecting his Standard against the Peace which he had Sworn to keep From whence slaughters of men Captivities Dissentions and other infinite mischiefs did ensue throughout the whole Kingdom By which Act he became Guilty of Perjury IV. Item Although the said King had in full Parliament and by the assent thereof Pardoned the said Duke of Glocester and Earls of Arundel and Warwick and all their Assistants and others all offences and had for many years shown Signs of Peace and Love to the said Duke and Earls and to the rest appeared with a pleasant and benign Countenance Yet the said King always and continually bearing Gall in his Heart did at last taking an Opportunity cause the said Duke of Glocester the Uncle of him the said King and also the Son of Edward late King of England of happy memory and Constable of England then humbly going to meet the said King in solemn Procession and the said Earls of Arundel and Wâ—â—â—ick to be taken and Arrested and him the said Duke out of the Kingdom of England to the Town of Callice did cause to be led and there imprisoned and under the Custody of the Earl of Nottingham and of the Appellors of the said Duke detained and without answer or any lawful process whatsoever did inhumanely and cruelly cause to be suffocated strangled and murdered And the Earl of Arundel though he pleaded as well the General Pardon as a Pardon afterwards to him specially granted and desired justice to be done him yet in his Parliament encompassed with armed men and innumerable Archers of the People by him gathered to that purpose by Pressing did damnably cause to be Beheaded And the Earl of Warwick and Lord Cobham did commit to perpetual Imprisonment wickedly and against Justice and the Laws of his Kingdom and his express Oath confiscating their Lands and Tenements as well Fee-simple as Fee-tail from them and their Heirs and giving the same to their Appellors V.
or in lieu thereof great Sums of Money in the said Letters expressed By which manner of Writing he forced many of such Religious out of fear to fulfil his Will and Command whereby they were heavily impoverisht and opprest in manifest derogation of Ecclesiastical Liberty by which Pretext the said King Richard did incur Perjury XXIII Item In most of the great Royal Councils when the Lords of the Realm the Judges and others being charg'd that they would faithfully Council the King in Matters relating to his State and that of his Kingdom The said Lords Justices and others very often in giving Counsel according to their best Discretion have been by the King suddenly and so fiercely chidden and reproved that they have not dared to speak the Truth in giving their Advice for the State of the King and Kingdom XXIV Item The Treasures Crowns Reliques and other Jewels viz. The Goods of the Kingdom which time out of mind have been Reposited in the Treasury of the Kingdom for the Honour of the King and preservation of his Kingdom against any sudden Event or Exigency the said King Going out of his Kingdom into Ireland did take away and caused the same to be carried with him without the consent of the States of the Kingdom Whereby this Kingdom had been vastly impoverisht if God by the retaking of the said Goods against the said Kings Will had not otherwise provided And furthermore the said King did cause the Rolls of Records touching the State and Government of his Kingdom uo be destroyed and rased to the great prejudice of his People and disinheriting the Crown of the said Kingdom And all this as 't is probably believed in favour and support of his evil Governance XXV Item The said King was wont as it were perpetually to be so variable and dissembling in his Words and Writings and so contrary to himself and especially in writing to the Pope and to Kings and other Lords out of the Kingdom and within it and also to others his Subjects that no man living that knew his Conditions could or would confide in him nay he was reputed so unfaithful and unconstant that it became scandalous not only to his own person but also to the whole Kingdom and especially amongst Foreigners of all the World that came to know the same XXVI Item Although The Land and Tenements the Goods and Chattels of every Freeman by the Laws of the Realm used from all time heretofore ought not to be taken from him unless they be forfeited Yet the said King purposing and longing to weaken such Laws in the pretence of very many Lords and others of the commonalty of the Kingdom hath frequently said and affirmed That the Life of every one of his Svbjects and his Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels are his the said Kings at his will and pleasure without any forfeiture Which is utterly against the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom aforesaid XXVII Item Although it was Fnacted and Ordained and is hitherto Confirmed That no Freeman shall be taken c. nor any way destroyed and that the King shall not pass nor send any to pass upon him but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land Yet by the Will Command and Order of the said King very many of his Liege People being maliciously accused for having publickly or secretly said something that might tend to the disyraise scandal or disgrace of the person of the said King have been taken and Imprisoned and brought before the Constable and Marshal of England in the Court Military in which Court the said Liege People being accused would not be admitted to make any other Answer than that they were no way guilty and would justifie the same and defend themselves by their Bodies and not otherwise notwithstanding their Appellors were young men stout and lusty and those so accused antient and impotent maim'd or infirm Whereby not only destruction of the Lords and grandees of the Kingdom but also of all and singular persons of the Commonalty of the same may probably ensue Since therefore the said King hath wilfully acted contrary to such a Statute of his Kingdom 't is not to be doubted but he hath thereby incurred the Crime of Perjury XXVIII Item Although the People of the Realm of England by vertue of their Leigeance are fully enough bound to their King and the said King by the Laws and Customs of his Kingdom is enabled to Correct and punish his People if in any kind they Transgress yet the said King desiring to trample on and too much oppress his People that he might the more freely execute and follow the Humour of his foolish and unlawful Will by his Letters to all the Counties of his Kingdom did Injoyn and Command That all his Subjects as well Spiritual as Tempâ—ral should make certain Oaths in general which were too grievous to them and which might probably cause the final destruction of his People and that they should confirm such their Oaths under their Letters and Seals To which Royal Command the People of his Kingdom did submit and pay Obedience that they might not incur his Indignation or Displeasure and also for fear of Death XXIX Item When Parties contending in the Ecclesiastical Court in Causes meerly Ecclesiastical and Spiritual had endeavoured to obtain from the Chancellor of England Prohibitions to hinder the lawful Process in the said Courts and the said Chancellor had justly refused to grant the same yet the said King by Letters under his Signet has frequently prohibited the Ecclesiastical judges to proceed in such Causes thereby evilly infringing the Liberties of the Câ—urch in the Grand Charter approved to the Conservation whereof he was sworn and damnably incurring Perjury and the Sentence of Excommunication against such Violators thereof by the Holy Fathers pronouâ—ced XXX Item The said King without any reasonable or lawful cause whatsoever or any other process of Law did in his Parliament encompass'd in warlike manner by armed men adjudge Thomas of Arundel Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England his Spiritual Father absenting himself by the Treacherous Counsell of the said King to Banishment against the Laws of his Kingdom so by him sworn to as aforesaid XXXI Item By inspection of the Testament of the said King Sealed with the Great and Privy Seal and also with his Signet among other things there is contained this clause or Article Item we will that the residue of our Gold the true debts of our House-hold Chamber and Wardrobe being paid for payment whereof we bequeath Twenty Thousand Marks reserving to our Executors Five or Six Thousand Marks which wee will by them to be expended towards the more plentiful maintainance of the Lepers and Chaplains to celebrate before them by us founded at Westminster and Bâ—rmondeseye shall remain to our Successor provided alwaies that he approve ratify and confirm and hold and cause to be holden and firmly observed all and singular
Item At the same time that the King in his Parliament caused the Duke of Glocester and Earls of Arundel and Warwick to be adjudged that he might more freely exercise his Cruelty upon them and accomplish his injurious will in other matters he gathered to himself a great multitude of Malefactors of the County of Chester of whom some passing with the King through the Kingdom as well within the Kings Pallace as without did cruelly kill the Liege Subjects of the Kingdom and some they beat and wounded and did plunder the Goods of the People and refuse to pay for their Victuals and did Ravish and Violate their Wives and other Women and though their were grievous Complaints of such their excesses brought to the hearing of the said King Yet the said King did not regard to cause Justice to be done or any Remedy thereuponâ— but did favour the said Troops in such their evil doings trusting in them and their Guard against all others of his Kingdom for which cause the faithful People of his Kingdom had great matter of Commotion and Indignation VI. Item Although the said King by his writs caused Proclamation to be made throughout the whole Kingdom that he had caused his Uncle the Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick to be taken and Arrested not for any Assemblings or Troopings by them formerly made within the Kingdom of England but for very many Extortions Oppressions and other things by them afterwards done and perpetrated against his Royalty and Kingly Majesty And that it was not his Intention that any of the Family of the said Duke and Earls or of their followers at the time of such Assembling and Trooping should for that occasion be molested or aggrieved Yet the said King at last in his Parliament did not Impeach the said Lords for Extortions Oppressions or any such matters but for the Assemblings and Troopings aforesaid did adjudge them to Death and very many of the Family of the said Lords and others who were following them at the time of such their Assembling and Trooping he did for fear of Death force to make Fine and Ransom as Traytors or Rebels to the great destruction of a great Number of his People And so he did subtily fraudulently and maliciously deceive the said Lords and their familiars and the People of his Kingdom VII Item After very many of those Persons so making Fine and Ransom had obtained of the King his Letters Patent of full Pardon in the Premises they could not reap any Commodity by such Letters of Pardon till they had made new Fine and Ransoms for saving of their Life whereby very many were Impoverished which was a great Derogation and dishonour to the Name and State of a King VIII Item In the Last Parliament held at Shrewsbury the said King purposing to oppress his People subtily procured and caused it to be granted that the power of the Parliament by the consent of the States of his Kingdom shall remain in certain Persons to determine after the dissolution of the Parliament certain Petitions in the said Parliament exhibited but then not dispatched By Colour of which grant the Persons so deputed proceeded to other things generally touching that Parliament And this with the will of the King in Derogation of the state of Parliament the great dammage of the whole Kingdom and pernitious Example And that they might seem to have some Colour and Authority for such their doings the King called the Parliament Rolls to be altered and blotted at his pleasure against the Effect of the said Grant IX Item Notwithstanding the said King in his Coronation had sworn that in all his Judgments he would cause to be done equal and right Justice and discretion in mercy and truth according to his power Yet the said King rigorously without all mercy did amongst other things Ordain under grievous penalties that none should sue for any favour or intercede with the said King for Henry Duke of Lancaster being Banished whereby the said King did act against the Bond of Charity rashly violating his Oath aforesaid X. Item Although the Crown of the Kingdom of England and the Rights of the said Crown and that Kingdom it self have in all time past been so free that our Lord the Pope nor any other without the Kingdom ought to concern himself about the same Yet the aforesaid King for the Corroboration of such his erroneous statutes did make supplication to our Lord the Pope that he would confirm the statutes ordained his last Parliament whereupon our Lord the King obtained the Apostolick Letters in which grievous Censures are denounced against any that should presume in any thing to act contrary to the said statutes all which are well known to tend against the Crown and Royal dignity and against the Statutes and Liberties of the said Kingdom XI Item Although the Lord Henry now Duke of Lancaster by the Kings Command had preferred his Bill touching the State and Honour of the King against the Duke of Norfolk and the same had duely prosecuted so that according to the Kings Order he had exhibited himself in all Points prepared for the Combate And the said King had declared that the said Duke of Lancaster had honourably performed his Devoir as much as in him lay and this by a Decree publickly Proclaimed before all the people Assembled at the said Combate Yet the said King without any Legal Reason whatsoever did cause and command the said Duke to be Banisht for ten Years against all Justice and Laws and Customs of his Kingdom and the Law of War in that behalf thereby damnably incurring Perjury XII Item After the said King had graciously granted by his Letters Patents to the Lord Henry now Duke of Lancaster that in his absence whilst he was banisht his General Attorneys might prosecute for Livery to him to be made of all manner of Inheritances or Successions belonging unto him and that his Homage should be respited paying a certain reasonable Fine he injuriously did revoke the said Letters Patent against the Laws of the Land thereby incurring the Crime of Perjury XIII Item Notwithstanding that it was Enacted that every Year the Officers of the King with his Justices and others of the Kings Council should choose Sheriffs for all the Counties of England and name them to our Lord the King according as to their Discretion and Conscience should seem expedient for the good and utility of the Kingdom the said King hath caused persons to be made Sheriffs not so nominated or elected but other according to the Capricio's of his pleasure sometimes his Favourites or Creatures and sometimes such as he knew would not oppose his humour for his own and others private advantage to the great grievance of his People and against the Laws of his Kingdom thereby notoriously incurring Perjury XIV Item At such time as the aforesaid King requested and had of very many Lords and others of his Kingdom divers Sums
the Statutes Ordinances and Judgments made given and render'd in our Parliament begun at Westminster the 17th day of the Month September in the one and Twentieth Year of our Reign and in the same Parliament continued at Shrewsbury and there holden and also all the Ordinances Judgments and Establishments the 16th day of September in the 22th Year of our Reign at Coventry and afterwards at Westminster the 18th day of March in the Year aforesaid by the Authority of the said Parliament And likewise all other Ordinances and Judgments which shall hereafter happen to be made by Authority of the said Parliament But otherwise if our said Successor shall refuse to do the Premises which we do not believe Then we will that Thomas Duke of Surry Edward Duke d' Auamale John Duke of Exeter and William le Scrope Earl of Wiltshire paying first the Debts of our Houshould our Chamber and our Wardâ—obe and reserving Five or Six Thousand Marks as abovesaid shall have and hold all the said Residue above mentioned for to support and defend the said Statutes Establishments Ordinances and Judgments to their utmost power even unto Death if it be necessary Upon all which and every part we do hereby charge and burden their Consciences as they will answer in the day of Judgment By which Article it may evidently enough appear That the said King did obstinately strive to maintain and desend those Statutes and Ordinances which are erroneous and unjust and repugnant to all Law and Reason And this not only during his Life but after his Death too neither regarding the Peril of his own Soul nor yet the utter destruction of his said Kingdom or Leige People XXXII Item in the 11th Year of the said King Richard he the said King in the Chappel of his Mannor of Langley in the presence of the Dukes of Lancaster and York and very many other Lords desiring as it hath appeared that is Uncle the Duke of Glocester then there present should fully confide in the Good will of him the said King did voluntarily and of his own accord swear before the venerable Sacrament of the Lords Body there placed upon the Altar that thenceforwards he would never endammage trouble or grieve him the said Duke of Glocester for any of his deeds which are said to have been committed against the Person of him the said King But did cheerfully and totally forgive him all his offence if any were Yet afterwards notwithstanding such Oath the said King did horribly and cruelly cause the said Duke to be murdered for such the before pretended offences thereby incurring the Guilt of damnable Perjury XXXIII Item After one of the Knigots of the Shires of the said Kingdom having a voice in Parliament had Impeached the said Lord Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury upon certain defaults committed against the Kings Majesty as was untruely suggested And the said Archbishop presently then and there offered himself ready to answer the matters charged upon him and desired that he might be thereunto admitted by the King not doubting as he said but he shall be able sufficiently to shew his Innocence Yet the said King contriving by all the ways and means he could to oppress the said Bishop of Canterbury and ruin his Estate as the Event of the matter has declared speaking graciously and with a cheerfull countenance of the said Archbishop from his Royal Seat did advise and very earnestly request him that at that time he would hold his Peace and expect a better and more fit time to make his defence which day being passed the said King from day to day for Five days or more did fraudulently and treacherously deceive the said Archbishop counselling him and perswading him that he would not come to the Parliament but wait at home without any fear because as the said King faithfully did promise him there should not in his absence any loss or prejudice be done or happen to him Notwithstanding all which the said King in his Parliament aforesaid did in the mean time adjudge the said Archbishop to be banished during the Kings pleasure though absent and never any way called to answer and without any resaonable cause whatsoever and also voluntarily against the Laws of the Kingdom and all Justice Confiscated all his Goods whereby he likewise became Guilty of Perjury But furthermore the said King being willing to Palliate his Malice and Subtilty by flattering discourses which he oft-times had with the said Arch-bishop did endeavour to clear himself of such injury done and make as if it were the doings of others insomuch that the Arch-bishop discoursing with the King and with the Duke of Nâ—rfolk and other Lords and great men of the Kingdom And happening to say by way of Lamenting his own Condition That he was not the first that had suffered Banishment nor should he be the last For he thought in a short time the Duke of Norfolk and other Lords would follow him and confidently aâ—erred to the King That all the Rigour of these Proceedings would finally be returned back on his own Head To which the said King as astonished incontinently replied that he verily thought it might so happen and that he himself might and indeed ought to be expell'd his Kingdom by his Leige People And further the King said that if the same should happen He would convey himself to the same place where the said Archbishop should be And that the Archbishop might the rather Credit his words He shewed him a certain great Jewel Mâ—nile a Brooch or Tablet Curiously formed underneath the skirt of his outward â—estment Intimating for certain to the said Archbishop that when ever he should send that Jewel for a Token he would not delay to come thither where the said Arch-bishop should be resident And that the said Arch-bishop might more confide in him the said King sent to him advising him that he should Privately send all his Jewels and other things of value belonging to his Chappel unto him the said King For the safe keeping thereof lest by colour of the before mentioned Judgment any one should wrongfully seize the same Which under the greatest confidence in the World being done the said King caused him to reposite the said Goods in certain Coffers and the said Coffers to be locked up and sealed by one of the Archbishops Clerks and keeping the said Coffers by him returned the Keys thereof by the said Clerk to the Archbishop Yet afterwards unknown to the said Archbishop caused the said Coffers to be broken open and disposed of the goods therein at his will and pleasure Furthermore the said King faithfully promised the said Archbishop that if he would but repair to the Port of Hampton in order to go out of the Realm he would at least by the Intercession of the Queen get him Recalled And if it should happen that he the said Archbishop should go out of the Realm he should without fail return into England before Easter next following nor should
just is the Divine Nemesis not only in revenging ill actions but causing the punishment to be attended with such circumstances as may make the world take notice of it The Duke of Hereford took his leave of the King at Eltham behaving himself so respectfully that his Majesty was there pleased to declare he would abate 4 Years of his Exilement yet could not that pacify the Murmurs of the people who could not be perswaded that there was any cause for his being Banisht at all Exclaiming that it was against the Law of Arms the custome of the Realm and all Justice that he should be Exil'd who had so honourably offered to mantain his Appeal according to the Law of the Field He directed his course from England to Paris where he was nobly received by the French King and found such favour in that Court That he was offered in Marriage the only Daughter of the Duke of Berry the said Kings Uncle But King Richard having notice thereof used means to stop the prosecution of that Treaty He had not been gone many Months but his Father the Duke of Lancaster pays Nature her Debt his Death perhaps being hastened by those Impressions of grief which this disgrace of his Son might occasion on his Spirits The Character given this Duke by Historians speaks him a man well advised and wary an approver of safe Councils with reason rather than Fortunate Exploits with hazzard One that was neither negligent nor ambitiously tender of Glory and therefore deported himself towards the King his Nephew in terms honourable and respective enough for a moderate Prince and yet not so plausible as an uncollected greatness and the depravity of the Court might desire whereby little happened unto him Extraordinary either in Prejudice or Preferment By his Death the Dutchy of Lancaster did lineally descend to his Eldest Son the said Duke of Hereford But as the Nature of Man is very Prone to hate those whom he hath injured the King forthwith seizes all the Lands and Goods of the deceased Duke endeavoured to perpetuate the Banishment of the Young Duke and revoked the Letters Patent he had granted and consented unto for enabling the said Dukes Attornies to sue out his Ouster Le Main and Livery of those Lands which during his Exile should descend to him his Homage being formerly concluded upon to be Respited at a reasonable Fine And all this without any Crime alleadged that we can hear of against the Father whereby he should have forfeited his Estate or new Provocation given by the Son whereby a Cloud might arise for his being deprived of it This severity could not but enrage the Duke who was already sufficiently discontented at his Banishment nor were the People sparing to Exclaim where they durst against these proceedings as unjust and thence to contract first a Pity and afterwards an high esteem for this Exil'd Noble-man who though not the Immediate Heir presumptive to the Crown for Edmund Mortimer Earl of March was therein before him the Right having by Parliament the common Arbitrator in that case in those daies been formerly declared to be in his Father as being Son of Phillipa the Daughter of Lionel the Third Son of King Edward the Third whereas the late Duke of Lancaster was but the Fourth Son of that King Yet being so near it and thus exasperated they thought he might step over that Obstacle Si jus violandum Regni causâ violandum est They knew him to be an active Prince and of great Courage and therefore generally fixt their Eyes on him as the man that must be their deliverer from those grievances and pressures under which they lay gasping And indeed their condition could not but be very uneasie for the King having got rid of two of his Uncles viz. Glocester and Lancaster one murdred the other naturally deceased and the Third which was York either in disdain for the Indignity offered to his Nephew Hereford or in distrust of his own safety being retired with his Son the Duke of Albemarle to his House at Langley look't upon himself as absolutely Hors de Page free from any Controul with which their unwelcome gravity was wont somtimes to check his irregular Appetite and therefore now took a greater Liberty than before to disoblige and harass his People For thus we find the condition of those times described That the King abandoned himself to sloth and lay plunged in the soft but destructive Charms of pleasure by whose example the Nobility too much gave themselves up to Ease and Luxury whereby Cowardice and Effeminacy crept in and Shipwrack was made both of Manhood and Reputation The chief Affairs of State had long been Bias'd by private respects which made the Nation decline as well in Riches as Honour and all things being out of due Motion the Common-weal seem'd not so much by degrees as with a main Course and at once precipating into inevitable Ruine The Northern parts by frequent losses almost consumed by the Scots who had taken several important Posts and defaced all the Countrey with Slaughter and Devastations Towards the South the Merchant Ships were daily surprized by the French who likewise frequently pillaged the Sea-coasts And of the Kings Hereditary Dominions in France many strong holds were lost by negligence or sold by ill advise and Treachery Forces sometimes were often pretended to be sent over for their defence but so scatteringly at such unseasonable times so ill accommodated or under such indiscreet conduct that they were occasions rather of loss than help Affairs were managed by such as neither Nature had design'd nor Education prepared nor Experience qualified for Politicians but corrupt or ignorant Ministers by flatteries and base Arts swai'd in the Kings affections and disposed of all things at their pleasure keeping him as it were beseiged from any better advise The profits and revenues of the Crown nay the whole Kingdome was let to farm the King making himself only ◠Landlord and challenging no greater priviledge by his Reign than a dissolute and uncontroled Life Great Sums of Money were by new-found and unwonted means every day rather extorted from than voluntarily granted by the subject whereof no advantage accrew'd to the Kingdom only private pleasures were maintain'd at an extravagant Rate and unworthy Favourites advanced To these the King was so excessively Liberal that he was forced to borrow begg and extort in many places to supply this vain lavish humour undoing many without cause to Inrich a few without desert Over and above the Tenths and Fifteenths and such usual Taxes which were many times gathered double in one Year strange Impositions were devised and put in practise sometimes exacting 12d per poll of every Subject 6s 8d of every Priest and Religious Person great Sums drawn from the People under the favourable Term of Benevolence and so much borrowed upon Privy-Seals that no Man of Ability could escape his Loan though very seldom any repayment was made And to add to