April ensuing and pleasantly bad him expect the Labourers peny as soon as they that had serv'd him longer But the Bishop of Winchester made a proposition before his Majesty for another employment and both could not consist together that whereas the Arch-Bishop of Spalato a Proselyte much welcom'd at that time was design'd to be present at Cambridge commencement in the next July that he might behold the University in the fairest Trim and hear the disputation the best being ever provided for that appearance that Mr. Williams might be reserv'd unto that time for a double Service to answer publickly in Divinity for the Degree of Doctor the fittest to be the Days-man before that Learned Prelate and likewise give him Hospitality such as a great Guest deserv'd so it was order'd and so it was perform'd Some men are right Learned yet with all that worth steal out of the World unknown because it was their ill hap never to be brought upon a Theatre of manifestation And some are as Valiant as the best and yet are never praised for it because they were never invited into the Field to shew it So Velleius speaks for Seianus that he never Triumph'd nou merito sed materiâ adipiscendi triumphalia defectus est he deserv'd it but the matter of a Triumph never fell in his way There are others whom not only deliberate Advice but every casualty and contingence puts forward to be Aspectabiles it conducts them likely where they may best be viewed and their full Stature seen upon the advantage of a Rising I fall into this contemplation because an Object is before me wherein I may aptly Exemplify Dr. Williams his Title for which he stood in the Act an 1617. cull'd not out gaudy Seasons for vain Glory that cannot be suspected because he took all his Academical degrees in their just year But he above that disposeth all things provided those Co-incidencies of great Resort and Celebrity such as Arch-Bishop Spalato's Presence at this Commencement to make his Worthiness be known the further The Theses which he defended in the Vespers and were imposed upon him by the over-ruling Power of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of the Consistory it is their Right and Custom were these 1. Supremus Magistratus nou est Excommunicabilis 2. Subductio calicis est mutilatio Sacramenti Sacerdotii It was well for the Doctor that he was a right Stag well breath'd and had a fair Head with all his Rights for I never heard a Respondent better hunted in all my time that I was a Commorant in Cambridge The Opponents were the Princes of their Tribes Men of Renown in their Generation Dr. Richardson the first Dr. Branthwait Dr. Ward Dr. Collins Dr. Alabaster Dr. Goad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who did Honour the University that day to the admiration of Mr. Antonie de Dominis with the utmost of their Learning Every Argument they pressed was a Ramm to throw down the Bulwarks of the Cause and yet it totter'd not neither did the Answerer give ground Such a Disputation was worthy to be heard which was carried with equal Praise of the Assailants and Defendants As Plutarch lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says of Moral Precepts that they require a good Speaker and a good Hearer with mutual Diligence as a Game at Tennis is well play'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Stroke is serv'd well and the Service taken well 39. That I may mix some Profit to the Reader in this Relation I will let him know upon what Rules and Reasons the Respondent proceeded in the first Cause for the Conviction of all Gainsayers both of the Pontifician part and of the heady Consistories of some Reformed Churches The Pontifician Rubbish he removed away as a Dunghil of unsavoury Filth fit to be cast out of the Lord's Vine-yard either because the Popes medled so far beyond their own Bounds attempting to send out Effulminations against Christian Kings in all Countries upon Arrogation of an Universal bishoprick which hath the Plenitude of all Jurisdiction in it self alone to which they have exalted themselves without Christ's Warrant and Seal or because by the Declaratory Sentence of their Excommunications they inflict the highest Temporal Indignities upon Kings that can be imagin'd As inhibiting their Courts of Justice to proceed any further till he that sits in the Throne shall receive Absolution from their Grace Absolving their Subjects from obligation of all Service and Fidelity Deposing them from their Government and exposing their Lives to Assassinate For though they do not say that such Effects should necessarily go along with Excommunication yet they maintain That if the Pope see cause such Tragical Punishments may be annex'd unto it Far wide from the Truth For it is evident that an Excommunicated Person can be deprived of nothing by the Church but that which is enjoyed through the Ministry of the Church and its Priviledges but how can he be dispossess'd of that which he holds by Civil and Natural Right which are not dependant upon Spiritual Relations And as it is expedient to chip away these hard Crusts of Error so neither is the Crum to be digested which likes the Palates of some who are devoted to the Presbyterian Discipline A King is not obnoxious to be interdicted or deprived of the Sacraments by their Aldermen who can shew no more for the Proof of such Officers with whom they Organize a Church then the Pope can for his unlimited Jurisdiction Nor is it to be suffered that they should deny a Christian King to be a Church-Officer properly and by right of his Crown over Christian Subjects as Christians whose Causes can never be separated by their Metaphysical Abstractions before distinct supreme Rulers that are co-ordinate but that there will be endless Jarrs in their several Entrenchments and God is not the God of Confusion Should he that is next under God in all Causes be subject to the Courts of his Liege-People and Homagers He is their common Parent and the only Mandat how to bear our selves to our Father is to Honour him But what can make him more vile before the People then to thrust him out of the Communion of Saints Moreover the greater Excommunication includes in it the Horror of Anathematizing or a Curse but Curse not the King no not in thy thought Eccles 10.20 Neither would God give a constant Power to any which were in vain and could not sting Vanum est quod fine suo destuuitur But it is vain to interdict a King over whom there is no external Power appointed to bring him into order by Violence and Coercion if he will not be Interdicted In every Policy there must be a Supreme that can be Judged of none for else the Process between Party and Party would be Circular or rather Infinite These Aphorisms and abundance more flowed from the Doctor Respondent in the warmth of Disputation Above all his Answer was highly applauded which he gave to Dr.
the Letter for upon the Death of the late King of Spain being sent from his Master our Soveraign to the King of Spain that now is to understand his Mind upon the Treaty of Marriage he receiv'd this Chearful Answer That he was sorry he had not the Honour to begin it but now he would pursue it with all Alacrity The Earl of Bristol is another Witness Cab. p. 27. I insisted that Two Millions for the Portion were by the last King settled and agreed with me That this King had undertaken to pursue the Business as it was left by his Father and to make Good whatsoever he had promised Thereupon I desired that the Original Papers and Consultoes of the last King might be seen which very honestly by the Secretary Cirica were produced and appeared to be such that I dare say there was not any Man that saw them that doubteth of the last Kings real Intention of making the Match So I leave these Contradictions to blush at the sight of one another But to me Olivarez his Fidelity is the Leg that halts For as Tully said of Roscius the Comoedians Adversary Quod sibi probare non possit id persuadere alteri conatur he could never persuade that vigorously to another which he disbelieved himself It is a tedious thing to be tied to Treat with one that cares not for his own Honour nor regards his Modesty with whom he Treats I mean that same Person that Bashaw of King Philip the Conde Duke who entramel'd as many Devices as his Pate could bring together to raise a Dust and made Demands meerly to satisfie his own Pride that he might boast he had ask'd them though his discretion taught him that he could never obtain them When Sir Fr. Cottington return'd to Madrid with the great Article procur'd to suspend the Penal Statutes of England in favour of Recusants he presented it to the Conde and expected as the Casttlian Phrase is Las Albricias a reward for bringing of good News the Conde stoop'd not so low as to give Thanks but having perused the Paper told Sir Francis it would be expected the Prince should Negotiate a plain Toleration for the Protestants that endured that which was in his Hand would patiently endure more Sir Francis Answered him with the Old Simile That his Lordship was no good Musician for he would peg the Minikin so high till it crack'd Concerning his Attemptings upon the Prince my supply is out of private Letters that came from Friend to Friend The Conde had Oblig'd his Honour to his Highness when he came First to the Court of Spain never to meddle with him about his Religion He kept not his promise but solicited his Highness that as he lov'd his Soul he would return to England a Catholic in his Sense Well my Lord says the Prince You have broken your Word with me but I will not break my Faith with God Another time he besought his Highness to afford his Company at a Solemn Mass No Sir says the Prince I will do no ill nor the suspicion of it Once more this Idern told his Highness that he would accomplish all that he could desire from the Crown of Spain if he would profess himself a Son of the Roman Church he should not only carry home the bravest Lady for Beauty Birth and Vertue that was but be made as great a King in Riches and Power as was in Europe But as the Prophet says Isa 63.5 Excandiscentia mea fulcivit me my Fury it upheld me so the Prince was heated at the Offer and gave this provocation to him that had provok'd him that it was such a another Rhadomontade as the Devil made to Christ All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and Worship me Next to matters of Religion the stiffest thing that was tugg'd for in this Month was about the Restitution of the Palatinate The Secretary of the Elector came to Madrid with Letters to the Duke about it which were not first imparted to the King his Father-in-Law But all that shall be drawn up into one Process in the Transactions of August 155. But in all Disputes for Sacred or secular Matters the Ministers of our King were the more Naked and Unarm'd when they came to the push of the Spanish Subtleties because they kept not the correspondence with themselves If my Lord of Buckingham could have fashion'd his mind to draw the same yoke with the Earl of Bristol who was most conversant upon the place and best knew the Arts of that Nation success had been more Fortunate But those Civil Discords were the Cause of many disorders and incivilities Therefore the King imposed on the Lord Keeper to use his Pen once more to reconcile them which he did not fail to do the very next day which was his Majesties Remove to begin the Western Progress July 22. May it please your Grace I would not be troublesom with this Second Letter but chiefly to let your Grace know that you never stood in your Life more uprightly in his Majesties Favour then at this instant and that I shall need to pour out no other Prayers unto God but for the continuation of the same For Gods sake Write to my Lord Hamilton and acquaint his Lordship with some Passages of your Affairs For my self I shall be content to Rove and guess at them And I hope your Grace will be pleased to pardon this Excursion that is my running this second or third time into business which I am told but cannot by any means believe it hath already drawn your Grace's Offence against me It is a most Humble Zealous and earnest Petition to your Grace to Seal up and really confirm that agreement and reconciliation which to the great Contentment of all your Friends but the Regret of some among us you have made with the Earl of Bristol What I wrote formerly might be ill placed and offend your Grace but all proceeded from as true and sincere a Heart unto your Grace as you left behind you in all this Kingdom But the renewing of it now again hath a Root from a higher Power who hath observ'd your Grace his Favour so abounding towards me and my acknowledgments so far as my poor ability permitteth so returned to your Grace that he was pleased to say unto me this Morning upon this Theme That he knew you would regard any Representation that I should recommend unto you In good Faith his Majesty is more then Zealous not only of fair Terms of Friendship but of a near Alliance formerly spoken of between your Grace and that Earl Of whose Sufficiencies and Abilities I perceive His Majesty to retein an extraordinary good Opinion which in all Humility I thus leave to your Lordships Wisdom and Consideration The Earl of Bristol had heard how the Lord Keeper had ventur'd to make this Pacification and writes to him Cab. p. 20. That the Friendship of the Duke was a thing he did
concur to propugn him And in fine this great complaint produc'd but small Effect towards that for which it was so vigorously follow'd The close of all is the best part of the Story The Lady Darcy ever impotent in her Passions and the more in this Case because she could not endure the Calling and hated the Honour of a Bishop was even distracted with Anger that she was cross'd in her will whom the L. Keeper mitigated with such Sweetness and Generosity that she came out of her froward Mood and confess'd she had had no cause to be his Enemy In the instance whilst the Cause was hot in Agitation he sent to her Ladyship to let her know That if she would accept of the Living from him and in his Right he would dispose of Dr. Grant in some other Place and present her Clerk Mr. Glover But her Ladyship would not hearken her thoughts were too high for the cause was depending she hop'd to obtain it with Dr. Grant's Ejection and his Patrons Ruin After all was cleared against her and she found her self at a loss of her expectation the Lord Keeper sent to her upon the Old Terms That if she would submit to have right done her in the right way and take the presentation from him let her send the Man to him for whom she had contended in vain and it should be effected which she accepted of very gladly when necessity had taught her Wisdom and a milder Temper In all this his Lordship shew'd that he had no particular Spleen against the Lady not the least aim to oppress her with his Power but his Scope was to preserve the Jurisdiction of his Court in which he was ever stiff and unvanquishable and when that was acknowledg'd it was an Heroick Spirit in him to pass by a most violent prosecution as if it had never concern'd it It was an Object sit to prove all the dimensions of Christian forgiveness For what more true then that of Pliny to Sabinianus as I have cited it before Ep. lib. 9. Tune praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum â—rae causa justissima est What more Charitable then not only not to return Offence for Offence but to make a beneficent Requital For he found that Yoke of Christ easie to him which is so heavy to others Do good to them that despitefully entreat you Matth. 5.45 201. Let all now be drawn up into a Word no Garland could look more fresh upon a Magistrates Head then this that being narrowly look'd into by the Eyes of all the Kngdom nothing was amiss nothing out of Frame in all his Carriage which Credit stuck so close to him in the next Parliament in which he still kept the Great Seal That not so much as a Dog did open his Mouth against him Judith 11.19 Nor was awak'd out of security with the least Whisper of a Grievance Yet I am as ready to say it as another that to be acquit from having done no ill is a Testimony of harmless not of fruitful Honesty I admire Coriolanus for that Elogy in Halicarn Vix inter virtutes numeravit innocentiam He scarce reckon'd Innocency for a Virtue Innocency is none of the Artillery of Virtue with which it tries and shews it's strength but only a privy Coat to keep a Man from being Wounded I bring him forth therefore from this shade into the light of Action in an instance wherein he did so well that it will break forth that he had a Wit which was such a sudden Architect of Devises so apt in a pleasant cunning so full of Pit-falls to catch the Bird he would snare yet not to hurt it as never a Head-piece in this Nation could overtake him in that ingenuity And the success suited with the Stratagem Fortune favouring it to the help of his best Friends the continuation of a Happy Parliament and the enlightning of his Majesty who was stricken far into Melancholly by a persidious contrivance and illegitimate born in an ill day in the Spanish Embassadors House which Family was vext to the Gall because their Nation was curried in Parliament and most of all that the Match the Treaty and Friendship with them were handled there as the Prince and Duke had set them on with sharp and declamatory disdeigns Therefore they cast about to infect the King with an ill opinion of the Proceedings and the persons and like desperate men they look'd for Redress from Malice and safety from Confusion Nothing did put them by their Piots so long as that they had not the freedom to speak with his Majesty and could never get an Audience in the Absence of Buckingham So that Sir W. Aston writes That it was complain'd in Spain that Marq. Inoiosa hath lately advertis'd hither that he hath several times desir'd to have private Audience with his Majesty and hath not been able to procure any but what your Grace assists at Cab. p. â—â— But after this Parliament had fate seven Weeks and toused their matters sufficiently that Marquess with Don Carlo de Colonna came adventurously to White-Hall and out-reach'd the Spies that watch'd them For while Don Carlo held the Prince and Duke with earnest Discourse Inoiosa put a Paper into the King's Hand and made a sign with a Wink of his Eye that his Majesty would thrust it into his Pocket which was done and not discern'd Nothing can be more broken and imperfect or more corrupt in time and other circumstances then what is Entred into the Cabal p. â—7 and p. 90. out of this Paper There was a worse Pad in the Straw then is there discover'd or else Inoiosa that juggled the Paper into the Kings Hand had not been so roundly check'd by the Lords of the Privy Counsel And if for his part he put no more into the Paper then to procure his Secretary private Access to the King to tell Tales it would not have been disputed whether he should be devested of the Privileges of an Embassador or whether the Speakers of both Houses then sitting should call him to an Account But he that is confest in the Cabal to be the Pioneer that blew up the Mine and found out the Plot hath lest a Note of the particulars in the Paper so Tragical and Scandalous that certainly the Spanish Don would never have stufft it with them Si unquam jub legum ac judiciorum potestatem se casurum putasset as Tully said of Verres Act. 7. If he had ever dreamt to be Confronted for them and brought Face to Face First He terâ—isies the King that he was not nor could be acquainted with the Passages either of the Parliament or of his own Court for he was kept from all faithful Servants that would inform him by the Ministers of the Prince and Duke and that he was a Prisoner as much as King John of France in England or King Francis and Madrid and could not be spoken with but before such as watch'd him Secondly That there was a
the first settling of our Church in the Queens days Morning Prayer stopt at the end of the three Collects after the Apostle's Creed then the People had leisure before the Litany began either to retire or to betake them to private Prayers In this Interspace some Communicants had time to give in their Names to the Curate this is plain in that first Order for a publick Fast anno 5 Eliz. the words are After the Morning Prayer ended the Minister shall exhort the People assembled to give themselves in their private Prayers and Meditations for which purpose a Pause shall be made of one quarter of an hour and more by the discretion of the Curate during which time as good silence shall be kept as may be That done the Lâ—tany is to be read c. Now after the pause of scarce a minute made by this digression let the main scope of the King 's Fast indicted in July be remembred that great Humiliation with Fasting and extraordinary Prayer should be joyn'd together to avert the Peril of a Spanish Invasion therefore that we on the defensive should be ready with our Bodies and Purses to avert the Fury of our Enemies Though the Land was admonish'd of this in a religious way yet they condescended to part with Money very hardly They did only hear of an Enemy but they saw their Coyn collected from them Well did Tully write lib. 3. Ep. 24. Nulla remedia tam saciunt dolorem quae vulneribus adhibentur quà m quae maximè salutarta Say it was a Wound to our great Charter to call for Contribution without a Parliamentary way yet it was not the worse for the Wound that the Injection was sharp that cur'd it What we lost in the Privilege of Liberty it was presum'd we got in Safety 72. But the most did want that charitable Presumption and paid the irregular Levy with their Hand and not with their Heart A Prince that grieves his Subjects with a sconcing Tribute takes up Moneys at a dear Interest who should not live extempore but upon premeditation to act to day what shall be safe and honourable for ever Grotius is very political in a Passage to be found in his Proleg De jure belli pacis Qui jus civile pervertit utilitatis praesentis causâ id convellit quo ipsius posteritatis suae perpetuae utilitates continentur The People are unpleas'd upon this Levy and the Ink of a Remonstrance could not kill the Tettar A third Parliament is called to justifie the King's Act from Necessity in the face of the Kingdom It was determin'd by some about His Majesty that our Bishop should not sit in it The great Favourite knew his Discontents were encreased the Bishoprick of Winchester had been void and conferr'd upon another Archbishop Abbot removed for some months to Ford in Kent is brought to Lambeth to the Court to the Parliament Lincoln not only wanted these Sweetnings but was tir'd with defailance of Promises and defied with Threatnings so it was thought best to keep him out of the Parliament against all Right rather than suffer one with the Powers of his Parts to argue and vote against exorbitant Persons and Causes The Bishop stood upon his Place as a Spiritual Lord and resolv'd to let his Right be infring'd no longer Utrumne est tempus aliquod quo in Senatum venire turpe sit says Cicero pro domo ad Pontif. It can be no shame to come into the Senate it is a Disgrace to be kept out Therefore yielding all Obedience to Soveraignty unto the utmost of that which was due he disputed the Right of his Order so stoutly that he came to the House and continued in it to the last which he obtained the more resolutely because he look'd upon the King's Affairs with a desire to help him The L. K. Coventry had order to stop him by a Letter if he could which the other answered in these words R. H. and my very good Lord I Have received your Lordships Letter of the 17. of February but this day being the 25. of the same and although I could not desire more comfortable News from your Lordship than Leave of Absence from that Parliament in which my presence may be suspecled either by the King which my Innocency will not suffer me to believe or by any other near unto His Majesty yet being the Right of a Peer in this Kingdom that never convicled imprison'd or question'd for any Offence is not withstanding now against a second Parliament kept from his lawful and indubitable Right of sitting in that House and may be for any Comfort he doth receive from your Lordship intended to be debarr'd for ever from the same I must crave some time to resolve by the best Counsels God shall give me whether I shall obey your Lordship's Letter though mentioning His Majesty's Pleasure before mine own Right which by the Law of GOD and Man I may in all Humility maintain Especially His Majesty's Writ and Royal Proclamation of a far later date do either of them imply as your Lordship best knoweth an authentical Command I do know that of my Obedience to my Gracious Soveraign as of late I have found small acceptance so could I never find any limit or bottom And therefore I beseech your Lordship to make this no Question of the Act but of this Object only of my Duty and Submission But if I find I may without prejudice absent my self I will deal clearly with you my noble Lord in the second point I do refuse with all humble Duty and Vassalage unto His Majesty reserv'd to appoint for my Proctor the Bishop proposed And so I humbly take my leave The Courtiers knew not what would follow upon this Answer but a Course was follow'd by the Bishop as in the like Case before to cut a way between two Extreams Inter abruptam contumaciam deforme obsequium For the Parliament newly sitting the L. Keeper being demanded by John Earl of Clare whether this Bishop had a Writ sent to him and that being affirm'd the Peers call'd for his Assistance and without more ado the Parliament beginning March 17. he came to it before the end of that Month breaking the Restraint upon him not by attempt of his own Will but because it was the Pleasure of the Lords and as soon as he came he was quickly set a work for the upper House appointing to meet together at the Holy Communion Apr. 6. 1628. he preach'd the Sermon at that Solemn Occasion the Text being Gal. 6.14 and at the next Session he preacht again by their Lordship's order at a Fast kept on Ash-Wednesday Feb. 18. 1628. in the same Church upon Job 42.12 entituled Perseverantia Sanctorum Both these Sermons were printed by their Lordships direction two pieces so full of Learning and Piety that they were fitter for a longer perusal than for the short time wherein they were utter'd 73. At this great and high Assembly our
Vows on them and their Posterity These were the Deans Instructions which the Lord Marquess received with as much Thankfulness as he could express and requited his Adviser with this Complement that he would use no other Counsellor hereafter to pluck him out of his plunges for he had delivered him from Fear and Folly and had Restor'd him both to a light Heart and a safe Conscience To the King they go together forthwith with these Notes of honest Settlement whom they found accompanied in his Chamber with the Prince and in serious Discourse together upon the same perplexities Buckingham craves leave That the Dean might be heard upon those particulars which he had brought in Writing which the King Mark'd with Patience and Pleasure And whatsoever seem'd contentious or doubtful to the King 's piercing Wit the Dean improved it to the greater liking by the Solidity of his Answers Whereupon the King resolv'd to keep close to every Syllable of those Directions Sir Edward Villiars was sent abroad and return'd not till September following Michel and Mompesson received their censure with a Salvo that Mompesson's Lady not guilty of his Crimes should be preserv'd in her Honour And before the Month of March expir'd Thirty seven Monopolies with other sharking Prouleries were decry'd in one Proclamation which return'd a Thousand praises and Ten Thousand good prayers upon the Sovereign Out of this Bud the Deans Advancement very shortly spread out into a blown Flower For the King upon this Tryal of his Wisdom either call'd him to him or call'd for his Judgment in Writing in all that he deliberated to Act or permit in this Session of Parliament in his most private and closest consultations The more he founded his Judgment the deeper it appear'd so that his Worth was Valued at no less than to be taken nearer to be a Counsellor upon all Occasions The Parliament wearied with long sittings and great pains was content against the Feast of Easter to take Relaxation and was Prorogued from the 27 of March to the 18 of April The Marquess had an Eye in it upon the Lord Chancellor to try if time would mitigate the displeasure which in both Houses was strong against him But the leisure of three Weeks multiplied a pile of New Suggestions against him and nothing was presaged more certain than his downfal which came to Ripeness on the third of May. On that day the Patent of his Office with the Great Seal was taken from him which Seal was deliver'd to Four Commissioners the Lord Treasurer Mountagu Duke of Lenox Lord Steward of the King's Houshold William Earl of Pembroke Lord Chamberlain to the King and Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry with whom it rested till the 10th of July following In the mean time Sir James Leigh Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench was Commissioned to be Speaker in the Upper House and Sir Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls was Authorized with certain Judges in equal power with him to hear dispatch and decree all Causes in the Court of Chancery 62 The Competitors for the Office of the Great Seal were many Sir James Leigh before mention'd a Widower and upon Marriage with a Lady of the Buckingham Family Sir Henry Hobart Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Chancellor to the Prince a Step to the Higher Chancellorship and as fit as any man for his Learning and Integrity which of these it was uncertain but one of these was expected And verily a fitter Choice could not be made than out of the pre-eminent Professors of the Common Laws but that all Kings affect to do somewhat which is extraordinary to shew the liberty of their power The Earl of Arundel was thought upon a Master of Reason and of a great Fortune For it was remembred upon the Death of Lord Chancellor Bromly anno 1587 That Queen Elizabeth designed a Peer of the Realm for his Successor Edward Earl of Rutland whose Merit for such a place is favour'd by Mr. Cambden because he was Juris scientiâ omni politiori literaturâ ornatissimus and if his Death much bewailed had not prevented the Great Seal had been born before him But the likeliest to get up and I may say he had his Foot in the Stirrup was Sir Lionel Cranfield Married in the kindred that brought Dignity to their Husbands a man of no vulgar head-piece yet scarce sprinkled with the Latin Tongue He was then Master of the Court of Wards and did speak to the Causes that were brought before him quaintly and evenly There seemed to be no Let to put him in Possession of the great vacant Office but that the Lord Marquess set on by the King was upon enquiry how profitable in a just way it might be to the Dignitary and whether certain Branches of Emolument were natural to it which by the endeavour of no small ones were near to Lopping Sir Lionel besought the Marquess to be sudden and to Advise upon those things with the Dean of Westminster a found man and a ready who did not wont to clap the Shackles of delay upon a business He being spoken to to draw up in Writing what he thought of those Cases return'd an Answer speedily on the Tenth of May with the best advantage he could foresee to the promotion of the Master of the Wards Yet it fell out cross unto him that the Dean woing for another utterly beyond expectation sped for himself The Paper which he sent to the Marquess hath his own Words as they follow My most Noble Lord ALthó the more I Examine my self the more unable I am made to my own Judgment to wade through any part of that great Employment which your Honour vouchsafed to confer with me about yet because I was bred under the place and that I am credibly inform'd my True and Noble Friend the Master of the Wards is willing to accept it and if it be so I hope your Lordship will incline that way I do crave leave to acquaint your Honour by way of prevention with secret underminings which will utterly overthrow all that Office and make it beggerly and contemptible The lawful Revenue of that Office stands thus or not much above at any time In Fines certain 1300 l. per annum or thereabout In Fines Casual 1250 l. or thereabout In greater Writs 140 l. for impost of Wine 100 l. in all 2790. and these are all the true means of that great Office Now I am credibly inform'd that the Lord Treasurer begins to Entitle the King to to the casual Fines and the greater Writs which is a full Moiety of the profits of the place not so much to Enrich the King as to draw Grist to his own Mill and to wind from the Chancellor the donation of the Cursitors places The preventing the Lord Treasurers in these Cases made Queen Elizabeth ever Resolve suddenly upon the disposing of the Great Seal Likewise they are very busie in the House of Commons and I saw a Bill which
For confirmation of it I will anticipate how he was breath'd till he was almost out of breath with a violent but short Sickness upon the end of the first Term that he appeared in Chancery It was the Term of Michaelmas and in the November of it the Parliament sate again in which he attended in the Office of Speaker in the Lords House With these concur'd a spiny and difficult Treaty between our Merchants and the Agents of the United-Provinces for the most savage Insolencies committed at Amboyna a Treaty wherein he was the Chief Commissioner and the sharpest against those Thieves and Murderers Which Treaty took up three Afternoons constantly in every week while it continued to hear that Cause In the Court of Chancery beside the ordinary Work several Causes and of a reaching number were referred in the preceding Session of Parliament to the succeeding Lord Keeper to review the Orders of the Predecessor displaced Into this vast Sea of Business he launch'd forth all at once Hereupon my self and half an hundred more have seen his Industry that he was compel'd to sit by Candle-light in the Court two hours before day and there to remain till between eight and nine that the Prince being come to the Lords House sent for him to take his Place there to Propound and Report the Questions of that Honourable House till past twelve every day not seldom till past one After a short Repast at home he returned to hear the Causes in Chancery which he could not dispatch in the morning Or if he did attend at Council in Whitehall he came back toward evening and followed his Employment in Chancery till eight at night and later Then on the neck of this when he came home he perused such Papers as were brought to him by his Secretaries And after that though far in the night prepared himself for so much as concerned him to have in readiness for the Lords House in the morning In this overwhelming hurry of Troubles of such divers sorts and compositions what time come could he borrow for necessary Refreshment or the Repose of his wearied Body night or day And as the good King pick'd him out for this Task because He foresaw that none would outdo him in Diligence so He prefer'd him to be Great in Place because He knew he was great in Courage The Supporters on the Steps of Salomon's Throne were not Sheep but Lions The way to be Just is to be Inflexible the way to be Inflexible is to be Stout casting all thoughts of Fears and Favours under feet No man by natural complexion could be better engrained for it I will take it up from one that had no mind to say the best of him Mr. Art Wil. p. 196. He was of a comely and stately Presence and that animated with a great Mind made him appear very proud to the vulgar Eye Quaedam videntur non sunt So far was his Heart from Pride that he never thought himself the finer for the Trappings of Fortune Yet so far from baseness that he knew the Bench he sate upon and would not be made despicable in the Eyes of the World much less be brought about to serve great Men's turns and stretch the Causes of the Court according to the Contents of their Letters and Messages which were no better in a rude Phrase then to be a Pandar to their Lust to let them deflower Justice Therefore in the same Leaf says Ar. Wil. again The height of his Spirit made him odious to them that raised him happily because they could not attain to those Ends by him which they required of him The height of his Spirit made him speak freely and counsel faithfully and decree justly though that Lord to whom he had espoused his greatest Devotion were concerned in the Opposition Which was rectitude and magnitude of Mind as Tully in his Brutus makes Atticus decipher Caesar Splendidam miniméque veteratoriam dicendi rationem tenet voce motu formâ etiam magnifieâ generosâ quodammodò His Person his Gesture his Eloquence were magnificent and generous whose wont it was to reduce his chief Friends to Reason not craftily and timidly but with a noble and sublime Sincerity 65. Among the Qualities of a good Judge there is one remaining and fit to bring up the Rear which the King look'd upon as verily to be presaged in his new Officer an Hand clean from corruption and taking Gifts which blind the Eyes of the Wise and pervert the Words of the Righteous Deut. 16.19 'T was loudly exclaimed and the King was ashamed to have so far mistaken the Persons that there were sucking Horse-Leeches in great places Things not to be valued at Money were saleable and what could not Gold procure As Meander writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Friends and Judges and Witnesses you may have them for a Price nay such as sit in the place of God will serve you for such Wages The wise King having little prevailed by Monitions and Menaces against this fordid Filthiness cast his Liking upon a Man whom He might least suspect for Gripleness and Bribery The likeliest indeed of all others to shake this Viper from his hand and to be armed with a Breast-plate of Integrity against the Mammon of Iniquity for he was far more ready to give then to take to oblige then to be beholding Magis illud laborare ut illi quamplurimi debeant as Salust of Jugurtha He was well descended of a fortunate and ancient Lineage and had made his progress to Advancements by Steps of Credit a good Bridle against base Deviations What then made an an unsavoury Historian call him Country Pedant A Reproach with which H. L. doth flirt at him in his History of King Charles a scornful Untruth So I shake off this Bar and return to the Reverend Dean who was in a Function of Holy Calling next to God Among them I know all have not been incorrupt the Sons of Samuel turned aside after Lucre and took Bribes and perverted Judgment 1 Sam. 8.3 But commonly I trust they do not forget what a Scandal it is if God's Stewards turn the Devils Rent-Gatherers He was also unmarried and so unconcerned in the natural Impulsion of Avarice to provide for Wife and Children Our old moral Men touched often upon this String that Justice is a Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesiod and therefore fit to be committed to the trust of a Virgin Magistrate He was never fullied with Suspicion that he loved Presents no not so much as Gratuidad di Guantes as the Spaniards Phrase is but to go higher they are living that know what Sums of Value have been brought to his Secretaries such as might have swayed a man that was not Impregnable and with how much Solicitousness they have been requested to throw them at his Feet for Favours already received which no man durst undertake as knowing assuredly it would displace the Broker and be his Ruine And
easier then to observe two which are in Print already But Twelve days after he was sworn Lord Keeper Mr. Secretary Calvert wrote to him and used the King's Name and to make all the stronger the Spanish Ambassadors Mediation was not wanting to deliver one Rockweed a Papist out of the Fleet. Not a jot the sooner for all this but he excuseth his Rigor to the Lord Marquess Cabal p. 62. That he would not insame himself in the beginning to break his Rules so foully which he was Resolv'd to keep straight against ah Men whatsoever Another of the same Stamp pag. 65. One Beeston had been committed from the Power of the High Court of Chancery loathing this Captivity he besought this New Officer to be Releas'd and was denied he Cries out for Mercy to the King Roars out that the Parliament might hear him follows the Lord Bucking with his Clamors who advised the Keeper to consider upon it It is a Maxim indeed in Old Colwnella lib. 6. c. 2. pervicax contumacia plerumque saevientem fatigat c. Boisterous Importunity thinks to fare better then modest Innocency but he gave the Lord Marquess this Answer My Noble Lord. Decrees once made must be put in Execution Else I will confess this Court to be the greatest Imposture and Grievance in the Kingdom The Damned in Hell do never cease repining at the Justice of God Nor the Prisoners in the Fleet at the Decrees in Chancery In the which Hell of Prisoners this one for Amiquity and Obstinacy may pass for a Lucifer I neither know him nor his Cause but as long as he stands in Contempt he is not like to have any more Liberty A Lion may be judg'd by these two Claws of his Pounce 83. And now I have past over these exordial Marks of his Demeanour and sufficiency before the Term began Upon the first day of it when he was to take his Place in Court he declined the Attendance of his great Friends who offered as the manner was to bring him to his first settling with the Pomp of an nauguration But he set out Early in the Morning with the Company of the Judges and some few more and passing through the Cloysters into the Abby he carried them with him into the Chappel of Henry the Seventh where he Prayed on his Knees silently but very Devoutly as might be seen by his Gesture almost a quarter of an hour then Rising up chearfully he was Conducted with no other Train to a Mighty Confluence that expected him in the Hall whom from the Bench of the Court of Chancery he Greeted with this Speech MY Lords and Gentlemen all I would to God my former Course of life had so qualified me for this Great Place wherein by the Will of God and the special Favour of the King I am for a time to bestow my self that I might have fallen to my Business without any farther Preface or Salutation Especially considering that as the Orator observes Id ipsum dicere nunquam sit non ineptum nisi cum est necessarium This kind of Orationing hath ever a Tincture of levity if it be not occasion'd by some urgent Necessity For my own part I am as far from Affecting this Speech as I was from the Ambition of this Place But having found by private Experience that sudden and unexpected Eruptions put all the World into a Gaze and Wonderment I thought it most convenient to break the Ice with this short Deliberation which I will limit to these two Heads my Calling and my Carriage in this Place of Judicature 84. For my Calling unto this Office it was as most here present cannot but know not the Cause but the Effect of a Resolution in the State to Change or Reduce the Governour of this Court from a Professor of our municipal Laws to some one of the Nobility Gentry or Clergy of this Kingdom Of such a Conclusion of State quae aliquando incognita semper justa as I dare not take upon me to discover the Cause so I hope I shall not endure the Envy Peradventure the managing of this Court of Equity doth Recipere magis minus and is as soon diverted with too much as too little Law Surely those Worthy Lords which to their Eternal Fame for the most part of an hundred years Govern'd and Honour'd this Noble Court as they Equall'd many of their own Profession in the knowledge of the Laws so did they excel the most of all other Professions in Learning Wisdom Gravity and mature Experience In such a Case it were but Poor Philosophy to restrain those Effects to the former which were produced and brought forth by those latter Endowments Examine them all and you shall find them in their several Ages to have the Commendation of the Compleatest Men but not of the deepest Lawyers I except only that mirror of our Age and Glory of his Profession my Reverend Master who was as Eminent in the Universal as any other one of them all in his choicest particular Sparguntur in omnes Uno hoc mista fluunt quae divisa beatos efficiunt conjuncta tenet Again it may be the continual Practise of the strict Law without a special mixture of other knowledge makes a Man unapt and undisposed for a Court of Equity Juris Consultus ipse per se nihil nisi leguleius quidam cautus acutus as M. Crassus was wont to define him They are and that cannot be otherwise of the same Profession with the Rhetories at Rome as much used to defend the Wrong as to Protect and Maintain the most upright Cause And if any of them should prove corrupt he carries about him armatam nequitiam that skill and Cunning to palliate the same that that mis-sentence which pronounced by a plain and understanding Man would appear most Gross and Palpable by their Colours Quotations and Wrenches of the Law would be made to pass for Current and Specious Some will add hereunto the Boldness and Confidence which their former Clients will take upon them when as St. Austin speaks in another Case They find That Man to be their Judg who but the other day was their hired Advocate Marie that depraedandi Memoria as St. Jerom calls it That promness to take Mony as accustom'd to Fees is but a Base and Scandalous Aspersion and as incident to the Divine if he want the Fear of God as to the common Lawyer or most Sordid Artizan But that that former Breeding and Education in the strictness of Law might without good Care and Integrity somewhat indispose a Practiser thereof for the Rule and Government of a Court of Equity I Learned long ago from Plinius Secundus a most Excellent Lawyer in his time and a Man of singular Rank in the Roman Estate for in his 2 3 and 6 Epist Making Comparison between the Scholastici as he calls them which were Gentlemen of the better sort bred up privately in feigned pleadings and Schools of Eloquence for the
were cut off too soon that delay would bring them to a more considerate Ripeness Sic vero dificiente crimine laidem ipsam in vituperium vertit invidia says Tully but he is sufficiently prais'd who is disprais'd for nothing but his Vertues Dispatch was a Vertue in him And all his Sails were fill'd with a good Wind to make riddance in his Voyage He was no Lingerer by Nature and kindly warmth is quick in digestion Our time is but a Span long but he that doth much in a short Life products his Mortality To this he had such a Velocity of mind that out of a few Words discreetly spoken he could apprehend the Strength and Sirrup of that which would follow This is that Ingeny which is so much commended 4. Tuseul Multarum rerum brevi tempore percussio such a Wit is ever upon an Hill and fees the Champain round about him And it was most contrary to his incorruptness to prolong an hearing as Felix did Act. 24.26 Till Mony purchas'd a convenient Season He never was Accus'd of it Quod nemo novit poene non fit as Apuleius says 10. Metam 'T was never known therefore 't was never done is a Moral and a Charitable inference Guess his great Spirit from this Essay and how he Coveted no Man's Silver or Gold that when he was in his lowest Want and Misery in the Tower Sequestred of all he had yet he Refus'd the offers of his Friends with this Reason that he knew not how to take from any but a King There is another Rub in the way sometimes Court Messages and Potentates Letters for alass in many Causes there are great Betters that are no Gamesters But he had a Spell against that Inchantment an invincible Courage against Enmity and Envy I will truly Translate Mamertinus his Qualities upon him of which he boasted in the Panegyric for his Consulship Animi magm adversus pecuniam liberi adversus offensas constantis adversus invidiam Those Magnificoes that were Undertakers for perdue Causes gave him over quickly for a stubborn Man that would go his own Pace and make no Halt for their sakes that sate in the Gallery of great ones above him As Cicarella says of Sixtus Quintus in his Addition to Platina In ore omnium erat nunc tempus Sixti est it is not as it was these are Pope Sixtus's days No Man now can work a Reprieve for a Malefactor So this Magistrate was passive to many Solicitations but strenuously Resolv'd to be Active for none for whatsoever Cause was brought before him he could instantly discern the true Face from the Vizard and whether the Counsel did not endeavour rather to shut it up then to open it It askt him a little time to Learn as it were the use of the Compass how to Sail into the Vast Ocean ef Pleadings and not to creep always by the Shore To follow the Pleaders in their own method and to speak to them in their own Dialect nay to reduce them from starting out and to Rectifie every Sprain and Dislocation See what a Globe of Light there is in natural Reason which is the same in every Man but when it takes well and riseth to perfection it is call'd Wisdom in a few 90. The Terms of the Common Law as in all other Professions and Sciences seem Barbarous to the Vulgar Ear and had need to be familiariz'd with pre-acquaintance which being the Primar of that Rational Learning he had inur'd himself to it long before and was nothing to seek in it Yet one of the Bar thought to put a Trick upon his Fresh-man-ship and trouled out a Motion crammed like a Granada with obsolete Words Coins of far fetch'd Antiquity which had been long disus'd worse then Sir Thomas Mores Averia de Wethernham among the Masters of Paris In these misty and recondit Phrases he thought to leave the New Judge feeling after him in the Dark and to make him blush that he could not Answer to such mystical Terms as he had Conjur'd up But he dealt with a Wit that was never entangl'd in a Bramble Bush for with a serious Face he Answer'd him in a cluster of most crabbed Notions pick'd up out of Metaphysics and Logic as Categorematical and Syncategorematical and a deal of such drumming stuff that the Motioner being Foil'd at his own Weapon and well Laugh'd at in the Court went home with this New Lesson That he that Tempts a Wise man in Jest shall make himself a Fool in Earnest Among many Gown-men at the Bar this was but one and that one proved a solid Pleader and sound at the hands of a more reconcileable man more than common Favour who procur'd him Knighthood and did send him his help in another Capacity Ten Years after to advance his Fortunes To proceed his Judgment could not be dazzled with Dark and Exotic Words they were proper to the matters in Hand The difficulty that he did most contend with was against Intrigues and immethodical Pleadings so that he had much to do to force the Councel to gather up their Discourses more closely and to hold them to the Point in Hand checking Excursions and impertinent Ramblings with the Rebuke of Authority though it seem'd a little Brackish to some Palates With a little Experience he gather'd up such Ripeness of Judgment and so sharp-sighted a knowledg that upon the opening of a Bill he could readily direct the Pleaders to that which was the Issue between the Plaintiff and Defendant and constrein them to speak to nothing but the very Weight of the Cause from the Resolution whereof the whole business did attend it's dispatch So true it is which Nepos delivers in the Life of Atticus Facile existimari potest Prudentiam esse quandam Divinati nem Prudence is a kind of Divination let it Tast a little and it can guess at all It needs not to have all the Windows opened when it can see Light enough through a Chink On the Judges part it is not Patience but Weakness not to abridge Prolixity of Words that he may come the sooner to the Truth And on the Advocates part 't is Affectation to seem more careful of his cause then he is when he speaks more then he needs Thus the Lord Keeper behav'd himself constantly and indifferently towards every Bill and Answer using the same method the same diligence the same Application of his great Gifts to all Causes following the Council which Q. Cicero gave to his Brother de Petiti Consul It a paratus ad dicendum venito quasi in singulis caulis Judicium de omni ingenio futurum sit so he carried himself as if he his whole sufficiency were to be Tried upon every Decree he made I shall say much I think enough to his Approbation that in the Tryal of two Terms the Councei at the Bar were greatly contented with him The Primipili or Vantguard of them were such as fil'd up their place with great Glory in
Clergy of England as being neither Parsons Vicars nor Curates be Licenced henceforward in the Court of Faculties only with a Fiat from the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and a Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And that such as transgress any one of these Directions be suspended by the Lord Bishop of the Diocess or in his Default by the Lord Arch-Bishop of the Province Ab officio beneficio for a Year and a Day untill his Majesty by the Advice of the next Convocation shall prescribe some further Punishment 102. These Orders were well brought fourth but Success was the Step-Mother Destinata salubriter omni ratione potentior fortuna discussit Curtius lib. 5o. Crossness and Sturdiness took best with the Vulgar and he was counted but a Cockney that stood in awe of his Rulers No marvel if some were brought to no State of Health or toward any Temper of Convalesence with these Mandates Nothing is so hardly bridled as the Tongue saith St. James especially of a mis-guided Conscience when their Bladder if full of Wind the least Prick of a Thorn will give it eruption A Fool traveleth with a Word as a Woman in Labour of a Child Ecclus. 19.11 Restraint is not a Medicine to cure epidemical Diseases for Sin becomes more sinful by the Occasion of the Law Diliguntur immodice sola quae non licent says one of the Exteriors Quintil. decl 1a. The less we should the more we would Curb Cholerical Humours and you press out Bitterness as it is incident to those that are strait-lac'd to have sower Breaths The Scottish Brethren were acquainted by common Intercourse with these Directions that had netled the aggrieved Pulpitarians And they says Reverend Spotswood P. 543. accuse them to be a Discharge of Preaching at least a Confining of Preachers to certain Points of Doctrine which they call Limiting of the Spirit of God But the Wiser Sort judged them both necessary and profitable considering the Indiscretion of divers of that sort who to make Ostentation of their Learning or to gain the Applause of the Popular would be medling with Controversies they scarce understood and with Matters exceeding the Capacity of the People But what a Pudder does some make for not stinting the Spirit or Liberty of Prophecying as others call it They know not what they ask Such an indefinite Licence is like the Philosopher's Materia Prima a monstrous Passive Subject without Form A Quid libet which is next to nothing Indeed it is a large Charter to pluck down and never to build up Every Man may sling a Stone where he will and let it light as Luck carries it But how can the House of God be built unless the Builders be appointed to set up the Frame with Order and Agreement among themselves according to the Pattern which was shewn in the Mount Try it first in Humane Affairs and see how it will sadge with them before we proceed to Heavenly Dissolve the publick Mint let every Man Coin what Money he will and observe if ever we can make a Marchandable Payment Their Confusion is as like to this as a Cherry to a Cherry Give their Spirit as much Scope as they ask Let them Coin what Doctrine they will with the Minting-Irons of their own Brain They may pay themselves with their own Money but will it pass with others for Starling Will it go for current Divinity To meet them home Suppose this Priviledge were allow'd yet every good Spirit will limit it self to lawful Subjection Yet these would not Then what Remedy in earnest none was try'd It is the height of Infelicity to be incurable As Pliny in his Natural History said of Laws made against Luxury in Rome which would not be kept down therefore the Senators left to make Laws against it Frustra interdicta quae vetucrant cernentes nullas potiùs quam irritas esse Leges maluerunt 103. Neither were uncharitable Suspicions like to mend For the Unsatisfied that sung so far out of Tune had another Ditty for their Prick-Song The King's Letters were directed to the Lord Keeper to be Copy'd out and sent forth to the Judges and Justices to afford some Relaxation of our Penal Laws to some but not all Popish Recusants Which made sundry Ministers interpose very harshly and in the Prophet Malachy's Stile Chap. 2. Ver. 13. To cover the Altar of God with Tears and Weeping and Crying but the Lord regarded not the Offering neither received it with Good-will at their Hands What could this mean as they conjectured but the highest Umbrage to the Reformed Religion and â—at Toerâ—ion of Popery Leave it at that cross way that they knew not whither this Project will turn Nay Should they not hope for the best Event of the Meaning A King is like to have an ill Audit when every one that walks in the Streets will reckon upon his Councels with their own casting Counters It is fit in sundry Occurrences for a Prince to disguise his Actions and not to discover the way in which he treads But many times the Wisdom of our Rulers betrays them to more Hatred than their Follies because Idiots presume that their own Follies are Wisdom Plaurus displays these impertinent Inquisitors very well in Trinummo Quod quisque habet in animo aut habiturus est sciunt Quod in aurem Rex Reginae dixerit sciunt Quae neque futura neque facta sunt illi sciunt Yet these Fault-sinders were not jear'd out of their Melancholly though they deserv'd no better but were gravely admonished by his Majesty Vivâ voce in these Words I understand that I am blamed for not executing the Laws made against the Papists But ye should know that a King and his Laws are not unfuly compared to a Rider and his Horse The Spur is sometime to be used but not always The Bridle is sometime to be held in at other times to be let loose as the Rider finds Cause Just so a King is not at all times to put in Execution the Rigor of his Laws but he must for a time and upon just Grounds dispense with the same As I protest to have done in the present Case and to have conniv'd only for a time upon just Cause howbeit not known to 〈◊〉 If a Man for the Favour shew'd to a Priest or Papist will judge me to be inclining that way he wrongs me exceedingly My Words and Writings and Actions have sufficiently 〈◊〉 what my Resolution is in all Matters of Religion That Cause not known to 〈…〉 in part unfolded by that grave Father Spotswood where I quoted him 〈◊〉 Says he The Better and Wiser Sort of his Country-men who considered 〈…〉 Estate of things gave a far other Judgment thereof than the Discontented 〈…〉 then our King was treating with the French King for Peace to the Protestants of France and with the King of Spain for withdrawing his Forces from the Palatinate At which time it was no way fitting that
dare Swear it was he that bolted the Flower and made it up into this Paist Sir says the Prince I was precluded by my Promise not to Reveal him but I never promis'd to tell a Lye for him Your Majesty hath hit the Man And God do him good for it says the King I need not tell you both what you owe him for this Service and he hath done himself this Right with me that I discern his sufficiency more and more All this the Prince Related at his next Meeting to the Lord Keeper This passage so memorable hath pluck'd on a Prolix Narration for divers Reasons It was a secret manag'd between few persons though the greatest and likely to be buried for ever unless it rise from the Dust where it was smother'd upon this occasion It will expound to inquisitive Men why after this time the old King never retrieved the Spanish Match as if suddenly it were sunk and set beneath the Horizon of his Thoughts it demonstrates why in a year after being the First of King Charles there was such Willingness in the young King and such Readiness in the Duke to Rigg a great Navy and to send it with Defiance of Hostility to Cales for though the Grandee Inoiosa received a sharp Rebuke here to vex his Gorge and suddenly pack'd up his portable Gods and went to his own Country in a Fume yet he received no Disfavour or Frown upon it from the Court of Spain Nihil nefas est malitiae It tells you what a Stone of Offence was laid before the King able to make him to Dissolve the Parliament just upon the Expectation of a happy Winding up if the Lord Keeper had not removed the Jealousie away which is one of the best Offices of a Christian for it is God's own Attribute in the Prophets to be a Repairer of Breaches Lastly His Wit was in Conjunction with the Safety of his great Friend the Duke Et vincente Odenato triumphavit Gallienus says Pollio The Keeper had Content enough that the Duke triumphed over those Foes whom he had vanquished for him 206. Soon as those Hobgoblins which haunted the King to fright him were frighted away themselves and the Magicians which conjured them up were rendered odious his Majesty was never in a better Mood to please his Subjects and the Subjects in Parliament never from that day to this in so dutiful a Frame to please their Soveraign Fatebimur regem talibus ministris illos tanto rege fuisse dignissimos Curt. l. 4. As Alexander deserved such brave Commanders under him so they deserved to be commanded by so brave a Prince as Alexander Their long Counsels which had been weather bound came to a quiet Road and their Vessel was lighted of those Statutes which are of immortal Memory The wise Men of those times ask'd for good Laws with Moderation for Moderation had not yet out-liv'd the Peoples Palate and they were brought forth with Joy and Gladness And that which was gotten with Peace and Joy will out-last that were it ten times more which is extorted in a Hurly-burly There were no Rents no Divisions among the Members much less did the Stronger Part spurn out the Weaker The Voices went all one way as a Field of Wheat is bended that 's blown with a gentle Gale One and all And God did not let a general Concurrence pass without a general Blessing Sic viritim laboraverunt quasi summa res singulorum manibus teneretur Nazar Paneg. The Laws devised were confirmed in Clusters by the Royal Authority And though one of them about the strict Keeping of the Sabbath was then stop'd the Name of Sabbath being unsatisfactory to the King's Mind yet Amends were made that the Kingdom had a Sabbath granted it from many Suits and Unquietnesses That which Crowned all was the Pardon the most general that ever was granted which was the sooner got because the Pillars of the Common-wealth had discharged their publick Trust without Offence The next Session of this Parliament was appointed in April following and this Session shut up with the End of June The Lord Keeper was not a little joy'd with the sweet Close of it for which he had gained a noble Report Praeter laudem nullius avarus Horat. Ar. Poet. And after three years Experience having now spent so much time in the High Court of Chancery his Sufficiency was not only competent but as great as might be required in a compleat Judge He was one of them in whom Knowledge grew faster upon him than his Years As Tully praised Octavius Cesar Ex quo judicari potest virtutis esse quà m aetatis cursum celeriorem Philip 8. In eminent Persons Virtue runs on swifter than Age. And it is a Slander whereof late Writers are very rank in all Kinds which one hath publish'd that this Man's Successor the Lord Coventry reversed many of his Decrees and corrected his Errors I do not blame Lawyers if they would have us believe that none is fit for the Office of Chancellor but one of their own Profession But let them plead their own Learning and able Parts without traducing the Gifts of them that are excellently seen in Theological Cases of Conscience and singularly rare in natural Solertiousness Lord Coventry was a renowned Magistrate and his Honour was the Honour of the Times wherein he liv'd the vast Compass of that Knowledge wherein he was always bred and his strong Judgment in searching into those Causes did transcend his Predecessor yet not to obscure him as if he were wanting in that which was required to his Place A good Carpenter knows how to frame a House as well as the Geometer that surveyed the Escurial Let me quote a couple of Witnesses what they asserted herein and they are rightly produced as God the great Witness of all things knows The Duke of Buckingham in the beginning of the next Term at Michaelmas perswaded the Lord Chief Justice Hobart either to deliver it to the King with his own Mouth or to set it under his Hand that Lord Williams was not sit for the Keeper's Place because of his Inabilities and Ignorance and that he would undertake thereupon to cast the Complained out and himself should succeed him My Lord says Reverend Hobart somewhat might have been said at the first but he should do the Lord Keeper great Wrong that said so now After this Grave and Learned Lord I bring forth Mr. G Evelin one of the Six Clerks and in his time the best Head-piece of the Office who delighted to divulge it as many yet living know that Lord Keeper Williams had the most towring sublime Wit that he ever heard speak magnified his Decrees as hitting the White in all Causes and never missing That Lord Coventry did seldom after any thing he had setled before him but upon new Presumptions and spake of him always in Court with due Praise and Justification of his Transactions He that hath insinuated the contrary aiming to
Wherein the Lord Keeper interceded with the Duke to the incurring a mighty Anger as may be seen by the Letters of Decem. 24. and Jan. 4. Cab. p. 99. If Threatings had been mortal Shot he had Perisht for he never had such a Chiding before but he kept his Ground because he held the fairer side of the Quarrel Dr. Meriton the Dean of York was lately Dead and much Deplor'd For he was an Ornament to the Church My Lord Duke entreated by great ones named a Successor that had no Seasoning or Tast of Matter in him one Dr. Scot But a Doctor Inter Doctores Bullatos for he never stood in the Commencement to approve himself beside too many Faults to be ript up I have known a Scholar in Cambridge so bad a Rider that no Man for Love or Price would furnish him with a Horse I would have thought no Man would have furnisht such a Scholar as this with a Deanery chiefly of York It came about strangely Scot was a Prodigal Gamster and had lost upon the Ticket to a Noble Person far more then he was worth Which Debt his Creditor knew not how to recover but by Thrusting him aided with my Lord Dukes Power into this Rich Preferment The Casuists among all the Species of Simony never Dream'd of this which may be called Simonia Aleatoria when a Gamester is Installed into a goodly Dignity to make him capable to pay the Scores of that which he had lost with a bad Hand And yet the Man Died in the Kings-Bench and was not Solvent The Lord Keeper intending to put of Dr. Scot from this place besought for the remove of those most worthy Divines Dr. White or Dr. Hall or to Collate it upon Dr. Warner the most Charitable and very Prudent Bishop of Rochester But he was so terrified for giving this good Counsel that he writes now he knew his Graces Resolution he would alter his Opinion and would be careful in giving the least Cause of Jealousie in that kind again Yet it is a received Maxime Defuturos eos qui suaderent si suasisse sit periculum Curt. l. 3. Certainly with others this might work to his Esteem but nothing to his Prejudice And I dare confidently avouch what I knowingly speak that I may use the Words of my industrious Friend Mr. T. F. in his Church History That the Solicitation for Dr. Theodore Price about Two Months after was not the first motive of a Breach between the Keeper and the Duke the day-light clears that without dusky conjectures no nor any Process to more unkindness then was before which was indeed grown too high The Case is quickly Unfolded Dr. Price was Country Man Kinsman and great Acquaintance of the Lord Keepers By whose procurement he was sent a Commissioner into Ireland two years before with Mr. Justice Jones Sir T. Crew Sir James Perrot and others to rectifie Grievances in Church and Civil State that were complain'd In Executing which Commission he came of with Praise and with Encouragement from His Majesty that he should not fail of Recompence for his Well-doing Much about the time that the Prince return'd out of Spain the Bishoprick of Asaph soll void the County of Merioneth where Dr. Price was Born being in the Diocess The Lord Keeper attempted to get that Bishoprick for Dr. Price But the Prince since the time that by his Patent he was styled Prince of Wales had Claimed the Bishopricks of that Principality for his own Chaplains So Dr. Melburn and Dr. Carlton were preferr'd to St. Davids and Landaff And Asaph was now Conferr'd upon Dr. Hanmer his Highness's Chaplain that well deserv'd it A little before King James's Death Dr. Hampton Primate of Armach as stout a Prelate and as good a Governor as the See had ever enjoy'd Died in a good old Age. Whereupon the Keeper interposed for Dr. Price to Succeed him But the Eminent Learning of Dr. Usher for who could match him all in all in Europe carried it from his Rival Dr. Price was very Rational and a Divine among those of the first Note according to the small skill of my Perceivance And his Hearers did testifie as much that were present at his Latin Sermon and his Lectures pro gradu in Oxford But because he had never Preach'd so much as one Sermon before the King and had left to do his calling in the Pulpit for many years it would not be admitted that he should Ascend to the Primacy of Armach no nor so much as succeed Dr. Usher in the Bishoprick of Meth. To which Objection his Kinsman that stickled for his Preferment could give no good Answer and drew of with so much ease upon it that the Reverend Dr. Usher had no cause to Regret at the Lord Keeper for an Adversary Neither did Dr. Price ever shew him Love after that day and the Church of England then or sooner lost the Doctors Heart 214. It is certain that all Grants at the Court went with the Current of my Lord Dukes Favour None had Power to oppose it nor the King the Will For he Rul'd all his Majesties Designs I may not say his Affections Yet the L. Keeper declin'd him sometimes in the Dispatches of his Office upon great and just Cause Whereupon the King would say in his pleasant Manners That he was a stout Man that durst do more than himself For since his Highness's return out of Spain if any Offices were procur'd in State of Reversion or any Advouzons of Church Dignities he interpos'd and stopt the Patents as Injurious to the Prince to whose Donation they ought to belong in just time and preserv'd them for him that all such Rewards might come entire and undefloured to his Patronage Wherein his Highness maintain'd his Stiffness for that foresight did procure that his own Beneficence should be unprevented And he carried that Respect to the Dukes Honour nay to his Safety for notice was taken of it that he would not admit his Messages in the Hearing of Causes no not when his chief Servants attended openly in Court to Countenance those Messages to carry him a-wry and to oppress the Poorest and whose Faces he had never seen with the least wrong Judicii tenax suit neque aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit as Capitolinus makes it a good Note of Maximus He would believe his own Judgment and his own Ears what they heard out of Depositions and not the Representation of his best Friends that came from partial Suggestions Such Demands as are too heavy to ascend let them fall down in pieces or they will break him at the last that gives them his Hand to lift them up In this only he would not stoop to his Grace but pleas'd himself that he did displease him And being threatned his best Mitigation was That perhaps it was not safe for him to deny so great a Lord yet it was safest for his Lordship to be Denied It was well return'd For no Arrand was so privily conveyed
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
mediate for him And was it not likely he would think who had procured him his first Rochet well fringed with good Commendums But what Suspicion to find a thankful Man did bring Lincoln into this Error 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Pindar Old kindness is fast asleep and Men are forgetful This Hand return'd him nothing from his Majesty but Denials and Despairs as if he had lighted upon one of the Genethliaci or Figure-Casters that never portend a good Horoscope to any or as I may better set it down in Gassendus's Complaint De Pareliis p. 309. Ita praeposteri sumus ut nunquam captemus bona omina A good word from so gracious an Agent would have cleared any man who made Lincoln's Fidelity more suspected to his Royal Master Bishop Laud knew him how strong he was in his Intellectuals how fit to manage Civil and Church Affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Tully translates it out of Aratus Huic non una modo caput ornans stella relucet He thought it a disparagement to have a Parage with any of his Rank and out of Emulation did dry his Substance that it might not flow so fast into Charitable Works Therefore as the Oratour wrote to Atticus Qui mihi pennas inciderunt nolunt easdem renasci so he kept the Feathers of the other short that they might not grow again to fly before him Lincoln took it not a whit to heart because he foresaw it I have heard him say Though I did as much for him as I could when he wanted me yet I knew he would fail if ever I wanted him What remedy but the Cause which had rotted three years in the Dung must now be made ripe a Mischief which had lyen like a Match kindled to give fire to a Train of Powder long after So it came to be sifted by the great Abilities of Mr. William Noy Attorney General a Man of Cynical behaviour but of an honest heart to his Friends and Clients and both together did become him This famous Lawyer profest a great averseness from dealing in this Cause for he wanted a Ground to plead upon The Defendant maintains that he had opened no Counsels of the Kings but what he spake to Lamb and Sibthorp was Parliamentary Communication Let the Peers and Commons look to it it concerns them all that their Priviledges be maintain'd to be unquestionable for those things which past from one to another at that season who by the Writ that Summons them do meet as Counsellors for great Affairs concerning the Church and Commonwealth And by this very Demurrer Mr. Selden about two years before had quash't a Bill which was preferr'd in the Star-Chamber against him in a like Accusation Neither contemn the Inconvenience because the storm fell upon one Bishop and no more The whole Tree was as good as unfastned when one Bough was shaken It is a good Caution in Arist 5. Polit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is all assumed to say The Danger is not great that lights upon one or two Particulars when by that Entrance it will break in upon the whole Kind Be it known therefore that this Bill was kept under Hatches and never came to hearing For which way could the Council stir to plead upon it As great a Pleader as ever lived Demosthenes gives us this Rule Olynth .. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Foundation of an House and the Keel of a Ship must be laid strong and firm so should the Foundations of all Actions But in this charge let Wit and Learning turn it self every way there was no Bottom to build upon Therefore Mr. Noy after two years grew weary of it and slackned the Prosecution He died untimely for our Bishop's good who acknowledgeth it under his Hand That he dealt fairly with him not reckoning by his Maundings and rough Language which came from him to please the supervising Prelate But Lincoln never felt harm from him whose Finger he cut but with the back of his Knife Therefore I pronounce him innocent of this Man's ruin upon the reason that Ulysses spared Terpiades Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He sung such Songs as the riotous Suitors of Penelope would have him by constraint and necessity 112. Who have we next to play this Game but notorious Kilvert and for the same reason that God gave why Phocas was made Emperour of the World because there was not a worse Hem Si quid rectè curatum velis huic mandes oportet A Man branded long before in a Parliament for Perjury a Knight of the Post as we call it A Name which some learned Scholar gave at first to such Catives For Casaubon in his Theophrastus shews out of Pausanias in his Atticks that perjur'd Men were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that usually stood about the Panathenaick Race-posts called Adrettum to be hired to give a Testimony whether it were right or wrong Here 's one that wore that Badge and our Bishop writes more and Truth in all That in scorn of Justice for many years he lived from his own Wife a vertuous and well-born Gentlewoman whom he had stol'n away from her Parents and lived in open Adultery with another Man's Wife one Mr. Bines hard by White-hall and begot divers Bastards upon her Body besides his other Debaucheries and Infamies of all kinds This Man as himself avouched was found out and employed by Archbishop Laud by this time he is in that Throne by Secretary Windebank and Sir J. Lamb to prosecute the Cause against the Bishop without entring him as a Prosecutor upon Record as he ought to have done and was assured he should advance his Fortunes thereby which was truly perform'd This Fellow interloping into the Prosecution of the Cause disturb'd it in every point of the due Proceeding left not one Rule or Practice of the Court unbroken menacing and intimidating Witnesses Clerks Registers Examiners Judges and the Lord keeper himself One that would undertake any Office to serve Greatness and would preserve their Favour that kept him upon any Conditions who lack't not such Wisdom as St. James abhors c. 3. v. 15. which is earthly sensual devillish whose Description I cut off with that which Cutzen the Jesuit said of Illyricus from his own Opinion about Original Sin Cujus vel substantia peccatum est a vitiated Leper in his whole Substance O evil World that the Vices of such a Creature should make free way for him to be gracious instead of Vertues how much do Powers and Dominions dishonour themselves when it is not close but openly seen that such Instruments have their Countenance nay their Recompence Budaeus lib. 1. de As f. 15. spared not a great one in France for that Error Immemor personae quam gerebat quod virtuti debebatur illiberali obsequio dandum esse censuit While Kilvert ranted it and bore down all Justice before him there was not an honest Man either that acted in this matter or only look't
First That it was utterly against the Practice of the Court from the Foundation of it to fall upon a new Charge started out of a former before the first had been heard 2. That advantage was taken to undo any man living to gather new Impeachments out of the Books after the publication of the precedent Cause 3. That for all that was offer'd to the Court complaint had been openly made by Counsel and not disproved That it rose from the Prosecutors mis-leading and menacing of Witnesses whom Terrour and Imprisonment would not suffer to be constant to themselves Like as Eusebius reports lib. 6. Praepar Ervang c. 1. that when one importun'd the Oracle for an Answer and threatned if he staid any longer the Oracle told him Retine vim istam falsa enim dicam si coges Use no violence for I must tell a lye if you do Lastly The Bishop pleaded with Animosity quid enim loqueretur Achilles Ovid. Met. 13. that their Lordships ought to take such a Charge into Cognisance for Tampering had never been noted for Criminal Action before any Judgment in the Land which is not a Colour but a Maxime of Law which appears by that which is since publish 't by the Lord Cook in Jurisdiction of Courts c. 5. How that Court dealeth not with any offence which is not Malum in se against the Common Law or Malum prohibitum against some Statute And that Novelties without warrant of Praesidents are not to be allowed Assume now out of the Premises that no Example could be found that the censorious magnificence of the Star-Chamber had ever tamper'd with such a peccatulum as tampering Alteration in the forms of a Court beget the Corruption of the Substance Who ever read that a Bench of Honourable Judges came into hatred so long as it kept close to the ways of their wise and venerable Predecessors But says Symmachus in Ep. p. 14. Si adjiciantur insolita forsan consueta cessabunt When the People are over-lay'd with new Discipline perhaps the old Seats of Justice may crack in pieces The Lord Keeper knew Justice and loved it and did not obscurely signifie that he thought the Demur was reasonable which had almost removed him And he found by one occurrence that the Bishop's Case was to be severed from other mens For whereas a Proclamation came forth in October 1636. that because a Plague was begun in London and Westminster therefore all Pleas and Suits in Law should be suspended till Hillary Term was opened and the Bishop claimed the Priviledge that all things might be respited about his Cause branched out into ten Heads till that season The Proclamation indeed is full and clear on your side says the Lord Keeper but I have special directions that you shall have no benefit thereof And I tell you as a Friend if you rely upon the Proclamation your imprisonment is aimed at As if there were one Rule of Justice for all the Subjects in the Land and another for this Bishop who took his qu. from this Caveat to attend his Business and he did it with the more confidence that in seven years his Adversaries had got no ground of him as Grotius writes of the Spaniards siege at Haâ—rlem being seven months about it Annal. Belg. p. 42. Visi sunt vinci posse qui tam lentè vicerant 118. Of which none that look't into the Cause despair'd till the Scale was overturn'd by the weight of a most rigorous Censure The Charge in debate without any favour to the Defendant is thus comprised Anno 1634. when Kilvert wanted Water to turn his Mill Sir John Mounson and Dr. Farmery Chancellour of Lincoln offer'd themselves to debauch the Credit of Pregion the Bishop's Witness who both expected to have gained and did gain almost as much as Kilvert by the Avenues of the Cause To bring their Contrivance about a Bastard is laid to Pregion to be begotten of the Body of Elizabeth Hodgson and that he bribed her to lay it upon another Father The Bishop was to defend the Credit of his Witness and had to do with Matters and Persons in this Point wherein himself was altogether a Stranger He suspected ill dealing from Sir J. Mounson the great Stickler because he knew he hated Pregion for casting a Scandal upon his Lady as vertuous a Gentlewoman as the Country had in which Cause the Bishop had caused Pregion to give Satisfaction long before Then he had more assurance of Pregions Innocency because he was clear'd of this Bastard in a Sessions held at Lincoln in May Car. 9. and whereas it came again into debate at the Sessions 3 Octob. following and it was given out that an Order was past to find Pregion guilty the Bishop was certified that the Order was not drawn up in open Court and that it was inserted in many places with Farmeries hand And Thomas Lund being present at the Sessions asserted That it was not consented to by the Justices but drawn out of Sir J. Mounson's pocket He had Letters from Knights of far greater Estates than Sir John who likewise testified the same and from Mr. Richardson the Clerk of the Peace who refused to enter that Order and that it was excepted against in open Sessions by Mr. Sanderson a Counsellor of the Laws and by the greater part of the Bench as utterly illegal So that afterward being tried at the King's Bench for the illegality of it it was damned by all the four Judges Yet more to detect the Corruption of that Order at the next Sessions held in May the Justices discharged Pregion and laid the base Child upon one Booth a Recusant a Kinsman of Sir J. Mounson's which Judgment was so inerrable that it was proved by three Witnesses That upon the very day that the Bishop was sentenced Booth himself confest in the hearing of those Witnesses that Pregion had nothing to do with that baggage Woman but that he the said Booth at such a time and place did get her with Child and that Kilvert whom he cursed bitterly had promised him half the Fine to charge the Child upon Pregion and had not performed it and did vainly brag that Kilvert had brought him to kiss the King's hand This was detected when the sad day was over Et instaurant dolorem sera solatia Sym. p. 86. But the Objection lay not only upon the getting of the Child but how that Pregion or rather the Bishop had carried themselves to entangle the Witnesses that had sworn against Pregion which was the main Charge of the Information and the colour for the heavy Sentence The Bishop being authorized from the Star-Chamber to uphold the Credit of his Witness he found the Depositions of Lund Wetheral Alice Smith and Anne Tubb to press upon Pregion Grande doloris Ingenium est miserisque venit solertia rebus Metam lib. 6. So he did light upon a course which was inoffensive to extricate Pregion for his own safety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Xeno Ath. Resp 'T is pardonable for every man to help himself Nor was it an indirect way no not a jot for there was neither Perjury nor Contradiction found between the first and second Depositions of the Parties And what the Bishop did was by the advice of the best Counsel in England to draw up some few Interrogatories to be put to the four Witnesses only to interpret and not to vary from or to substract or contradict what they had deposed before For the words being ambiguous in themselves might be taken in one sense to Defame in another fence not at all to touch upon the credit of Pregion It was agreed that Pregion offer'd money to A. Tubb and Alice Smith to procure Eliz. Hodgson to lay the base Child upon another man this they had sworn this the Bishop never endeavoured to impeach But an interrogatory is drawn up and offer'd to them whether El. Hodgson was dealt with to lay it upon the right Father which was a just and lawful motion or upon some other whether he had been the Father or no. They both answer That Pregion sollicited her to lay it upon another that was the true Father And this variation is all the Offence that is none at all in that particular And in that right meaning Sir J. Wray Sir J. Bolls and Richardson the Clerk of the Peace did receive it in the Sessions This Practice so little as it is is the grand Objection all beside comes not to so much as a filip on the Forehead For instance one Ward swears that he heard a Servant of the Bishop C. Powel offer Alice Smith Monies to take an Oath of his framing but Alice swears directly it was not so Powel swears he offer'd and paid her Money to bear her Charges as a Witness which is fit and lawful Nec ist a benignitas adimenda est quae liberalitatem magis significat quà m largitionem Cic. pro Murenâ T. Lund takes his Oath That Pregion told him that he never had touch'd El Hodgson but twice Being demanded hereof more strictly in his examination in the Star-chamber he swears That Pregion did not say to him that he touch'd her carnally nor did he know what he meant by touching Is there either substraction or contradiction in this or any more than a plain interpretation Lastly Wetheral had deposed That he was entreated by Pregion not to be at the Sessions He stands to it but adds that he was not bound to be there nor summoned He had deposed That Pregion spake to him to swear to no more than the Court should ask him What harm was there in that Caution Being examined in Star-chamber he swears That Pregion tempted him to nothing by Bribes or Reward but that he told him if he were sworn to tell the whole Truth he would not conceal it Only one Witness George Walker layeth it on the Bishop how Powel and Richard Owen entreated him in the Bishop's Name to speak with Witheral upon these matters which though it include no ill yet Owen and Powel depose They were never employed by the Bishop to deal with G. Walker upon such an Errand So the Bishop is cleared in every Information by sufficient Oaths of such against whose Faith there was no exception How easie a Province had the Defendant's Counsel to crumble these Impeachments into Dust and to blow them into the Eyes of the Impeachers Verba innocenti reperire facilè est Curt. lib. 6. Yet the Oratory of the Court by pre-instructions did turn them into filthy Crimes As Irenaeus says in the beginning of his Work That out of the same Jewels which being handsomly put together make the Image of a Prince being taken asunder you may contrive them into the Shape of a Monster 119. Could it be expected that such Driblets or rather Phantoms of Under-dealing with Witnesses should hold the Court ten days hearing in the long Vacation after Trinity-Term What leisure was taken to bolt out to exaggerate to wrack to distort to make an Elephant of a Fly which I may justly pour forth in the words of Tully for his Client Quintius de fortunis omnibus deturbandus est Potentes diserti nobiles omnes advocandi Adhibenda vis est veritati minae intentantur pericula intenduntur formidines opponuntur But here were worse things which the Oratour had never cause to complain of under the Roman Laws All the Depositions of the main Witnesses for the Bishop were deleted not fairly by a Hearing in open Court where their Lordships might every one have consider'd of it but were spunged out by that Judge in his private Chamber who was the bane of the Cause from the beginning to the end and forsooth because they were impertinent Scandals against Kilvert and others that had deposed for the King Only the Bishop was allowed to put in a cross Bill when it was too late after he was first ruin'd in his Honour Fortunes and Liberty and then lest to seek a Remedy against a Companion not worth a Groat And who was ever used like this Defendant since the Star-chamber sate that when his Cause was so far proceeded as to be heard in three sittings that two new Affidavits should be brought in by Kilvert which struck to the very substance of the Cause to which no Answer could be given because they were new matters quite out of the Books obtruded long after publication yet from thenceforth produced every day which seduced divers of the noble Lords and no doubt many of the Hearers as though they had been Depositions in that Cause which were not so but Materials of another information and in their due time were fully cleared and disproved When was it known before that in every of the ten days that the Cause was in debate a Closet-meeting was held at Greenwich the Lords sent for to it one by one the Proofs there repeated to them and their Votes bespoken Which was no better than when Junius Marius in Tacitus bespake the Emperor Claudius to impart his private Commentaries unto him Per quos nosceret quisque quem accusandum poposcisset And between the full hearing and sentencing the Cause the Lords were well told a Passage That a noble Personage had offered Ten thousand pounds to compound for the Bishop's Peace which is true that the Duke of Richmond did it when he saw how the Game went in the Cabinet Which was the very reason that induced their Lordships to lay such an immense Fine upon a Fault conceiv'd that was never sentenc'd in any Kingdom or State before Yet all this did not suffice but in that morning of the day when the Cause was sentenc'd it was first debated in an inner Chamber so long till many hundreds waited for their coming forth till high noon wherein Agreement was concluded by all Parties before they sate There and then it was that the Archbishop press'd for the degradation of his Brother Bishop and his deportation God knows whither Now
would witness against me for my Council-Table Opinion I would say to him as Gallus did to Tyberius Caesar Good Sir speak you first for I may mistake and you may witness against me for it in the next Parliament Some did make Laws with Ropes about their Necks What Must men give their Counsel as it were with Ropes about their Necks Solomon says When thou comest to a rich man's table put a knife to thy Throat But what 's here When we give Judgment as we are able among the Lords of the Council must we put an Ax to our Necks Beware of such Traps pittying the case of human Weakness 145. The fourth Question is thus comprized Whether some Members of the House of Commons may be present at the Examination Judicially they cannot the Judicature is in your Lordships but whether organically and ministerially is the Scruple to be satisfied I will be brief in my Conceptions what is against the claim of the House of Commons and what is for them This is not for them That 50 Edw. 3. one Love was a Witness in Lord John Nevile's Case Love denied what he had confest before two Knights Members of the Lower House The House of Commons send them to the Lords to confront Love which they did and Love was thereupon committed Now their being here was only to confront not to assist the Lords either judicially or ministerially Many things make for them why they may be there ministerially at least First Originally both Houses were together and so the Commons heard all Examinations Considerent inter se Modus ten Pl. and sate so till Anno 6 Edw. 3. by Mr. Elsing's Collections which are not over-authentick Secondly After that time they have all the House of Commons been present when Witnesses were sworn here Anno 5 Hen. IV. Rot. 11. swears his Fealty before the Lords and Commons and two or three days after by the same Oath and before the same persons clears the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of York from a Suspicion of Treason laid to their charge The Commons were by and heard all this The third Reason is Mr. Attorny-General if this Lord were arraigned of Treason as I pray God bless him from deserving it would be by and observe his Defence and such Witnesses as he should produce for himself and would no doubt bring Counter proofs Sur le Champ and upon the sudden against the same if he were able The House of Commons is in this case the King's Attorny who make and maintain the charge So far out of brief Notes for take them to be no other you have a strong Judgment pass'd upon four Questions Says Tully in his Brutus of Caesar's Eloquence Tabulam benè pictam collocat in bono lumine He draws his Picture well and hangs it out to be well seen So here 's a Piece well drawn and placed in the light of Perspicuity His next Argument is very long but of that use to the Reader that he shall not sind so much Learning in any Author on that Theme that I know a Scholar would not want it They that fostered deadly Enmities against E. Strafford laboured to remove the Bishops from the hearing of his Cause This Bishop and his Brethren minding to him all the Pity and Help they could shew him the Opposites began to vote them out of Doors and would not admit them in the Right of Peers in this Cause because it was upon Life and Blood Lincoln maintains that the Lords did them Injury and that Bishops in England may and ought to vote in causâ sanguinis That they were never inhibited by the Law of this Land never by the Peers of the Land before this time That their voluntary forbearance in some Centuries of the Ages before proceeded from their Fears of the Canons of the Court of Rome and by the special Leave of the King and both Houses who were graciously pleased to allow of their Protestations for their Indemnity as Church-men when the King and Parliament might have rejected their Protestations if they had pleas'd And much he insisted upon it that the opponent Lords grounded their Judgment upon the corrupt Canons of the Church of Rome Indeed I find in my own Papers that the Monks of Canterbury complain'd against Hubert their Archbishop to the Pope for sitting upon Tryals of Life and Blood They could not complain that he went against the Laws and Customs of England but their Appeal was to the Pope's Justice and it was more tolerable for Monks to rake in the Rubbish of the Roman Courts than for English Barons And say in sooth must not Divines of the Reformed Church meddle in Cause of Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amph. Would they be laugh'd at for this Hypocrisie or abhorr'd For who more forward to thrust into the Troops of the late War than the Ministers whom they countenanc'd Have I not seen them prance about the Streets in London with Pistols in their Holsters and Swords by their sides And so for Edg-hill and Newberry c. Could they rush into so many Fights and be clear from cause of Blood Nay the Pontisical part make but a Mockery of this Canon for anno 1633 a Book was printed in Paris sill'd with a Catalogue of Cardinals Bishops and Priests who had been brave Warriours most of them Leaders in the Field the Author a Sycophant aimed to please Cardinal Richlieu and a Fig for the Canons Reason Canons Parliamentary Privileges nay Religion are to corrupt men as they like them for their own ends Now hear how this Bishop did wage his Arguments for the affirmative 146. It is to be held for a good Cause against which nothing of moment can be alledg'd such is this concerning the Right of Bishops to vote in causâ sanguinis First It is not prohibitum quia malum not any way evil in it self no more than it is an evil thing in it self to do Justice Secondly It was in use from the Law of Nature when the eldest of the Family was King Priest and Prophet Thirdly It was in use under Moses's Law and so continued in the Priests and Levites down to Annas and Caiaphas and after Christ's death till the Temple was destroyed as appears by the scourging of the Apostles by the stoning of Stephen and commanding St. Paul to be smitten on the Mouth Fourthly It was in use in the persons of the Apostles themselves as in that Judgment given upon Ananias and Saphira in the delivery up to Satan as most of the ancient Fathers expound that Censure to be a corporal Vexation And generally in all the Word of God there is no one Text that literally inhibits Church-men more than Lay-men to use this kind of Judicature For that Precept to be no striker 1 Tim. 3.3 is no more to be appropriated to a Bishop distinct from the rest of Christian men than that which is added not to be given to Wine that is immoderately taken Proceed we
For read him what he was indeed out of the Description which Tacitus gives lib. 16. Annal. circa finem to P. Egnatius Client to Soranus the famous Senator Cliens hic Sorani autoritatem Stoicae sectae praeferebat habitu ore ad exprimendam imaginem honesti exercitus caeterùm animo perfidiosus subdolus Yet this Stoical Gravity did not long conceal him but that his needless Vexations of harmless People his cutting Fees his Briberies and other Muck of the same Dunghil made an out-cry and put the King 's good People to seek a Remedy by preferring Articles against him at the Assizes where he was charg'd home with an Alphabet of Misdemeanors He pleaded to the general that he was so much despited because he had look'd more narrowly into the Disobedience of the Paritans then formerly had been used My Opinion is that such Physicians of no value Job 13.4 may cast the Water of such sick Distempers but will never heal them Infamous Judges may correct them they will never rectifie them For he that is fallen into a Moral Turpitude is soon convinc'd in his own Mind but he that is misguided by darkness of Understanding thinks that he doth right to his own Conscience by going wrong and is never so well reclaim'd as when he is mildly rebuk'd by them whose open Integrity and Pity justifie them that they walk as Children of the Light But for the Particulars which laid down so many Oppressions at the Official's door they were not Dust which would be brush'd away with the Fox Tail but Dirt that stuck to him till the Dean his Mediator obtain'd from the Judges a Reference to himself and some others for further Examination By which sly Diversion some of his Charges were laid aside by Composition all of them by delay and delusion After this what should be the End of it I know not without it were to make him look big and superciliously upon his Prosecutors the Dean engaged his Friends at Cambridge my self was one that was solicited from him to sublimate the Official with the Degree of a Doctor wherein he had one Repulse in the Regent-House such an ill relish his Name had but he was carried out in a second day's Scrutiny But for all his Doctorship he was not out of the Brakes he was but Tapisht as Hunters call it The stirring Spirits of the the subtle Air of Northamptonshire prefer'd their Articles afresh against him to the House of Commons assembled in Parliament an 1620. Wedges enough to cleave a bigger Log then Dr. Lamb and yet he was no little one but Saginati corporis bellua as Curtius says of Dioxippus the Pugil Well nay indeed ill his Friend that was too sure to such a branded Man now become the Dean of a College near to the Parliament finds the Articles in the hand of the Chair-man of the Committee appointed to sift the Complaints it was Sir Edward Sackvil afterward the brave-spoken Earl of Dorset with whom he wrought to abortive the Bill before it came to the Birth and so he set Dagon upon his Feet again who was fallen with his face upon the ground 1 Sam. 5.4 but the palms of his Hands were never cut off for so long as he lived he could take a Bribe I blush to remember that the Dean did not only set him up again as well as ever he stood before but raised him higher For he wrote to a great Lord in Court the Letter is among my Papers to procure him the Honour of Knighthood which was obtained And when his Enemies laboured to cut his Comb he got the Spurs 'T was pleasantly spoken by Sir Ed. Montagu since that Pious and Loyal Lord Montagu of Boughton when a cluster came about him to ask Counsel and Assistance for a third Petition against Sir John Lamb says Sir Edward If we tamper the third time his great Friend that hath already made him a Doctor and a Knight I fear will make him a Baron I have thus much to say for the Dean his friend whose very Entrails I knew that he was strongly espoused to love where he had loved and 't was hard to remove his Affections when good Pretences had gained them Chiefly he was of a most compassionate Tenderness and could not endure to see any Man's Ruine if he could help it And though Offences were as legible as a Dominical Letter he would excuse any thing that was capable of an Excuse as far as Wit and Mercy could contrive it But if a little Confession were wrung out it cut down many Faults to make him see as it were a Glade of Repentance in a Grove of Sins and did ever hope for better Fruits upon easie and formal Promises Let Quintilian help me out a little more in his sixth Declam Si angustus saltem detur accessus per quem intrare humanit as possit vera clementia occasione contenta est Yet David's Rule is better then all this Be not merciful to them that offend of malicious wickedness Psal 59.5 And our God is so merciful that whosoever adds a dram beyond his Pattern it must be reckoned for foolish and hurtful Lenity Certainly God was not pleased that the Dean would save a Man whom He meant to destroy 1 King 20.42 And though it slept Unpunished about 12 Years yet in the end the Lord awaken'd it with a Mischief through the treachery of that Man whom himself had protected 45. That which I have hitherto pass'd over was but his low and shrubbish Fortune compared with that Access which the Providence of God in short time after did cast upon him Which Providence is Religiously appeal'd to in all things yet without any check to Reason and Experience to trace it in its Manifestations The Omni-regency of Divine Providence is the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden of the World the Strings of whose Root are secretly interwoven with all Works and Motions But the Sons of Adam are not content unless they taste of the Tree of Knowledge and have a Lust as far as Curiosity can pry to learn how God doth put the Issue of his Wisdom into outward and Instrumental Causes I am ready therefore to shew what Men will seek the Occasions which were in the way and who was Lord of the Ascendant when God did raise up this his Servant that he might set him with Princes even with the Princes of his People Psal 113.8 His Abilities were worthy of a great Place none so Emulous or so Envious that denied it Neither was there any Church-man in his time so likely to purchase a great Place with those Abilities He that will will read Budaeus his Epistle to his Notations upon the Pandects shall find this Character of Mons Peganay Chancellor of France Cujus ea vis fuisse ingenii at que animi cernitur ut quocunque loco natus esset in quodcunque tempus incidisset fortunam ipse sibi facturus videretur A Word as fit
for him that kept the Seal of England as for him that kept the Seal of France In what Kingdom soever he had been born in what Age soever he had lived he would have shared with them that had a considerable part of Honour and Dignity Certainly he was embued with that Wit and Spirit that he need not lag after the Train of Preferment unless he would And I dare not say he would For they that are sanguine and of a stirring temper which was his Complexion love to take the right hand I must be thus far bold because I write not of an Angel or a Soul among the Beati but of a Man consisting of Humane Desires and Passions And he that describes an ingenious active Man without some addition to Honour and Greatness makes him not Laudable but Prodigious And I will as soon believe it as I will the Alcoran that the Angel Gabriel took out all the black Core of Original Frailty from the Heart of Mahomet Experience teacheth us more then strict Rules that Virtue which is forward to thrust it self into practise nay into danger for the public Good will never discharge it chearfully without a Ticket from hope of some Amplification Salust in the Oration De republicâ ordinandâ spake pleasingly and truly to Caesar Ubi gloriam dempseris ipsa per se virtus amara atque aspera est 46. Now he whom I insist upon being a Subject thus fit for Impression his good Master King James was as ready to put the Stamp upon him He never met with any before no not the Lord Egerton much less with any after that loved him like King James at the full rate of his worth That King's Table was a trial of Wits The reading of some Books before him was very frequent while he was at his Repast Otherwise he collected Knowledge by variety of Questions which he carved out to the capacity of his understanding Writers Methought his hunting Humour was not off so long as his Courtiers I mean the Learned stood about him at his Board He was ever in chase after some disputable Doubts which he would wind and turn about with the most stabbing Objections that ever I heard And was as pleasant and fellow-like in all those Discourses as with his Huntsmen in the Field They that in many such genial and convival Conferences were ripe and weighty in their Answers were indubiously designed to some Place of Credit and Profit Wherein he followed the Emperor Adrian as Spartianus remembers it Omnes professores honoravit divites fecit licet eos quaestionibus semper agitaverit But among them all with whom King James communed was found none like Daniel c. 1. v. 19. His Majesty gave his Ear more Graciously to this Chaplain and directed his Speech to him when he was at hand oftner then to any that crowded near to harken to the Wisdom of that Salomon He had all those Endowments mightily at command which are behoved in a Scholar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle 3º Top. terms them unto Extemporary Colloquies Ingenium in numerato habuit as Quintil. l. 6. said of a ready Man he had all his Learning in ready Money and could spend it at an hour as well as at a day's warning There was not a greater Master of Perspicuity and elucidate Distinctions which look'd the better in his English that ran sweet upon his Tongue especially being set out with a graceful Facetiousness that hit the joint of the Matter For his Wit and his Judgment never parted If the King lead him quite out of the rode of Verbal Learning and talk'd to him of real and gobernative Wisdom he pleas'd his Majesty most of all because his Answers discover'd that he loved to see through the present to the future Chiefly since he would be bold not only to argue but to quarrel against Innovations For though he was never addicted to his own Opinions no not among his Inferiors with that pertinacious Obligation for better for worse yet neither his best Friends nor the higher Powers could ever get him pleas'd with new Crotchets either in Church or State His constant Rule was That old Imperfections were safer then new Experiments To which purpose a Saying of his was famous in Court The manner how it came in was thus A great Servant to the King press'd for a change of that which was well enough already and commended his Design by this Note That it would be an easier way for the People Sir says Dr. Williams a Bed is an easie Repose but it is not wholsom to lie upon a new Tick and new-driven Feathers All these Passages the King consider'd from time to time Multa viri virtus animo c. And was glad he had a Servant to be raised up of whom He thought as Cicero did of Demetrius Valerius lib. 3. de Leg. Et doctrinae studus regendà civitate Princeps That he was a full Scholar fit for the Sacred and for the Civil Gown In a word one of the stronger Cattle Gen. 30.41 and designed for a Bell-weather in Jacob's Flock 47. The King was the Fountain of Honour indeed but there was a pre-eminent Pipe through which all Graces flowing from him were derived I pray the Reader to consider the sweetness of this King's Nature for I ascribe it to that cause that from the time he was 14 Years old and no more that is when the Lord Aubigny came into Scotland out of France to visit him even then he began and with that Noble Personage to clasp some one Gratioso in the Embraces of his great Love above all others who was unto him as a Parelius that is when the Sun finds a Cloud so fit to be illustrated by his Beams that it looks almost like another Sun At this time upon which my Pen drops the Marquess of Buckingham was the Parelius He could open the Sluce of Honour to whom and shut it against whom he pleased This Lord was our English Alcibtades for Beauty Civility Bounty and for Fortitude wanted nothing of Man enough says Art Wils p. 223. who favours all Republicans and never speaks well of Regians it is his own distinctions if he can possibly avoid it The Marquess by Sweetness as much as by Greatness by Courtesie as well as by Power pluck'd a world of Suitors to him especially by his generous and franc Usage For he did as many Favours to the King's Servants and Subjects freely and nobly that is without the sordid Fee of Gifts and Presents as ever any did that ruled the King's Affections Some of the most honoured Ladies of his Blood have told me That there was a Chopping-taker in his Family that was least suspected but his Lordship's Hands were clean and his Eyes could not look into every dark corner Dr. William was aware that this was the Man by whom the King delighted to impart his Bounties Aemilio dabitur quicquid petit Juv. Sat. 7. The Doctor had crept
to that Treatise as follow Let the World take notice if it may concern any your Honour is be unto whom next unto His most Sacred Majesty my most Gracious Sovereign and Master I owe more then to all the World beside Professing unseignedly in the word of a Priest Fâ—cisti ut vivam moriar ingratus 81. The Lord-Keeper being so great a Dealer in the Golden Trade of Mercy and so successful he followed his Fortune and tried the King and the Lord Marquess further in the behalf of some whom their dear Friends had given over in Despair to the Destiny of Restraint And those were of the Nobles For he carried a great regard to their Birth and Honour and knew it was good for his own safety to deserve well of those high-born Families The East of Nerthumberland had been a Prisoner in the Tewer above 15 years His Confidents had not Considence and a good Heart I say not to Petition but to dispute with the King how ripe the Earl was for Clemency and Liberty 〈◊〉 Majesty was very merciful but must be rubb'd with a Fomentation of hi◠〈◊〉 Oyl to make him more supple This dextrous Statesman infuseth into 〈…〉 how to compass the Design with what Insinuations and Argum◠〈…〉 were improved with the Earl's demulcing and well-languag'd Phrases And when it came to strong Debate the Lord-Keeper got the better of the King in Reason So the Physic wrought as well as could be wish'd and on the 18th of July the Earl of Northumberland came out of the Tower the Great Ordnance going off to give him a joyful Valediction Who turned his Thoughts to consider the Work of God that a Stranger had wrought 〈◊〉 Comfort for him in his old Age whose Face he had ne 〈…〉 never purchased by any Benefit nor courted so much as by the meâ—age of a Salutation Which his Lordship compared to St. Peter's Deliverance by the Angel of God Acts 12. when Peter knew not who it was that came to help him Though not in order of Time yet in likeness of Condition the Earl of Oxford's Case is to be ranked in the same File It was in April in the year following that he was sent to the Tower betrayed by a false Brother for rash Words which heat of Wine cast up at a merry meeting His Lordship's Enemies were great and many whom he had provoked yet after he had acquainted the Lord-Keeper with the long Sadness of his Restraint in a large Letter which is preserved he wrought the Earl's Peace and Releasment conducted him to the King's Chamber to spend an hour in Conference with His Majesty from whence a good Liking was begot on both sides Whom thereupon that Earl took for his trusty and wisest Friend using his Counsel principally how to Husband his Estate and how to employ his Person in some Honourable Service at Sea that the Dissoluteness of his Hangers-on in the City might not sink him at Land The Lord-Keeper did as much for the Earl of Somerset in Christmas-time before bringing him by his mediation out of the House of Sorrow wherein he had continued above five years that he might take fresh Air and enjoy the comfort of a free Life which was affected by him to gratisie the splendid and spreading Family of the Howards And they were all well pleased with him as were the greatest part of the Grandees except the Earl of Arundel for a Distast taken of which the Lord-Keeper need not be ashamed 82. Within Six Weeks after he was settled in that Office the Earls Secretary brought two Patents to be Sealed the one to bestow a Pension of 2000 l. per annum upon his Lord out of the Exchequer which was low mow'n and not sit to bear such a Crop beside the Parliament which was to meet again in the Winter could not choose but take Notice what over-bountiful Issues were made out of the Royal Revenue to a Lord that was the best Landed of all his Peers Yet the Seal was put to with a dry assent because there was no stopping of a Free River With this Patent came another to confer the Honour of the Great Marshal of England upon the same Noble Personage The Contents of it had scarce any Limits of Power much exceeding the streit Boundaries of Law and Custom The Lord Keeper searching into the Precedents of former Patents when the same Honour was conser'd found a great inequality and doubted for good Cause that this was a device to lay his unfitness for his great place Naked to the World if he swallowed this Pill But nothing tended more to the praise of his great Judgment with His Majesty He writes to my Lord of Buckingham to acquaint the King that he thought His Majesty intended to give to greater Power than the Lords Commissioners had who dispatch'd Affairs belonging to that Office joyntly before him and that all Patents refer to the Copy of the immediate Predecessors who were the Earls of Essex Shrewsbury and Duke of Somerset but my Lord leap'd them over and claim'd as much as the Howards and Mowbries Dukes of Norfolk did hold which will enlarge his Authority beyond the former by many Dimensions There is much more than this in the Cabal of Letters p. 63. And much more than I meet there in his own private Papers The King was much satisfied with the Prudence and Courage of the Man that he had rather display these Errors than commit them for fear of a mighty Frown so the Earls Counsel were appointed to attend the Lord Keeper who joyning their hands together examin'd the Obliquities of the Patent and alter'd them What would have follow'd if it had pass'd entire in the first Draught For being so much corrected and Castrated yet the proceedings of the Court of Honour were a Grievance to the People not to be supported The Decrees of it were most uncertain most Arbitrary most Imperious Nor was there any Seat of Judgment in the Land wherein Justice was brought a bed with such hard Labour Now I invite the Reader if he please to turn to the 139 pag. of Sir An. Wel. Pamphlet and let him score a Mark for his Remembrance at these Lines That Williams was brought in for this Design to clap the Great Seal through his Ignorance in the Laws to such things that none that understood the danger by knowing the Laws would venter upon This Knight when he is in a Course of Malice is never out of his Way but like an egregious Bugiard here he is quite out of the Truth For the New Lord Keeper walk'd so Circumspectly that he seem'd to fear an Ambush from every Grant that was to pass for the use of encroaching Courtiers if any thing were Ambiguous or Dangerous he was not asham'd to call for Counsel If any thing were prest against Rule he was inexorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. He kept constant to Justice in its Flat Square I could be Luxuriant in instances nothing is
and Decrees of my Predecessors I would be loth to succeed any man as Metellus did Caius Verres Cuius omnia erant ejusmodi ut totam Verris Praeturam retexere videretur Whose Carriage saith Tully was a meer Penclopes Web and untwisting of all the Acts of Verres ' s Pretorship Upon New matter I cannot avoid the re-viewing of a Cause but I will ever expect the forbearing of Persons so as the Ashes of the Dead may be hereafter spared and the Dust of the Living no further Raked Fourthly I will be as cautelous as I can in referring of Causes which I hold of the same Nature of a By-way Motion For one Reference that Spurs on a Cause there are ten that bridle it in and hold it from hearing This is that which Bias calls the backward forwarding of a Cause for as the Historian speaks Quod procedere non potest recedit Fifthly I profess before hand this Court shall be no Sanctuary for Undiscreet and Desperate Sureties It is a Ground of the Common Law That a man shall make no Advantage of his own Follies and Laches When the Mony is to be borrowed the Surety is the first in the Intention and therefore if it be not paid let him a God's Name be the first in Execution Lastly I will follow the Rules of this Court in all Circumstances as near as I can And considering that as Pliny speaks Stultissimum est adimitandum non optima quaeque proponere It were a great Folly to make Choice of any other then the very best for Imitation I will propound my Old Master for my Pattern and Precedent in all things Beseeching Almighty God so to direct me That while I hold this place I may follow him by a True and Constant imitation And if I prove Unfit and Unable for the same That I may not play the Mountebank so in this Place as to Abuse the King and the State but follow the same most Worthy Lord in his Chearful and Voluntary Resignation Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori 88. This he deliver'd thus much and I took Councel with my self not to Abbreviate it For it is so Compact and Pithy That he that likes a little must like it all Plutarch gives a Rule for Sanity to him that Eats a Tortoise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eat it up all or not a whit for a Modicum will Gripe the Belly He that fills himself with a great deal shall procure a Cleansing Evacuation So the Speech of a Great Orator is Instructive when it is entire Pinch it in with an Epitome you mangle the meaning and avile the Eloquence From Words he fell to Practise Industry I think was his Recreation for certain he had not a drop of Lazy Blood in his Veins He fill'd up every hour of the Day and a good part of the Night with the dispatch of some public and necessary business And though as a Counsellor of State and both as a Peer and Speaker in Parliament he had many diversions yet none of the work in Chancery was diminish'd which Attendance grew so light and familiar to him that in a little while it seem'd to be no more a burthen to him then the Water is to the Fishes under which they Swim He would not excuse himself a day for any the most lawful pretence he would not impart himself to the Star-Chamber or Parliament when it sate before he had spent two hours or more among the Pleaders Two or three Afternoons he Allotted every Week to hear Peremptories By which unequall'd diligence commonly he dispatch'd five or six Causes in a morning according to the quality or measure of the Points that came to be debated He did not only labour Six Days but as it follows in the Commandment He did all that he had to do For of all the Causes that were usually set down for hearing he never left any of them unheard at the End of the Term which was both an especial Ease and Comfort to the Subject and a full Testimony of his labour and ability to expedite so many Knotty and Spacious Causes that came before him in as little time as the Clients could expect The Survey of an whole year will give better satisfaction then every Term a part by it self Whereupon he Writes thus to the Lord Marquess July 10. 1622. In this Place I have now serv'd His Majesty one whole Year diligently and honestly But to my Hearts Grief by Reason of my Rawness and Inexperience very unprofitably Yet if his Majesty will Examine the Regâ—ers there will be found more Causes finally Ended this one Year then in all the Seven Years preceding How well ended I confess ingeniously I know not His Majesty and your Lordship who no doubt have Received some Complaints though in your Love 〈…〉 from me are in that the most competent Judges A Testimony of Great Labour and not more Copious then Clear For the Registry could not I ye Thus Joseph in his faithful Service under King Pharaoh gather'd in as much in one Year as was wont to be Reap'd in Seven And truly it becomes him that he was not confident but mistrustful of himself least some Waspish and Vexatious men had attempted to lay open some Errors to his Superiors which should escape him in fixing so many Planetary Causes But there was I had almost said none Yet then I had forgotten Sir John Bourcher who complain'd to both Houses of Parliament that his matters in debate were for ever shut up in a Decree before his Counsel was ready having some Allegations which expected more time to be Ripen'd still more time The business of this Knight was Arbitrated with consent by the Chief Baron Jac. 7. That Arbitration he would not stand to It was Decreed in full hearing by the Lord Elsmore Jac. 10. This did not please him Yet it was Order'd to the same Effect by the Lord Bacon Jac. 17. And after this the same Decree was confirm'd by the Lord William's Jac. 19. Having the consent of Justice Hutton Justice Chamberlain and the Master of the Rolls with an hundred Pounds advantage more then was given him before And was not this Suit come to Adultage for Tryal after Seventeen Years Vexation in it first and last If a Suitor shall have Power to define when his Cause is sufficiently heard a Fidler would not undertake the Office of a Judge Sir John durst not have presum'd to this Boldness but that he was encourag'd by his Father-in-Law the Lord Sheffeild who was a Scholar a Judicious Lord and of great Experience that knew well enough the Futility of this Appeal for it was discharg'd with a general Rebuke But the Spirits usually beat with an un even Pulse when they stirr too much in pity to our own Relations 89. Some others there were I yet remember it of the coarsest Retainers to Court who liv'd by picking up Crumbs that fell from Stale Bread these Whisper'd their Discontents that Causes
their Generation Sir J. Davies Sir Ron. Crâ—w Sir T. Coventry Sir R. Hâ—ath Sir J. Walter Serjeant Fâ—nch Serjeant Richardson Serjeant Astly Sir Hâ—n Finch Mr. T. Crew Mr. W. Nâ—â— Mr. A. Pâ—nâ— Mr. J. Glanvil Mr. J. Finch Mr. E. Littleton Mr. D. Jenkyn Mr. J. Baâ—kes Mr. E. Hâ—rbâ—rt Mr. T. Gardner Mr. T. Hâ—dly Mr. Egr. Thin Mr. R. Mason The Chief among them that did deserve to Fight next the Standard my Memory perhaps is not Trusty enough after the space of 30 years to remember all those Worthies are fill'd in the Margent like a Row of Cedars and are set down in those Titles which they carried then which most of them by their Deserts did far out-grow But these contributed all they could to his Credit with as much Observance with as great Reverence with as full Applause and Praise as could be required from ingenious Gentlemen towards one that was a Stranger to their Studies whose acceptance no doubt was a Whetstone to his Industry In the first Term that he came abroad into Westminster-Hall a Parliament sate in it's second Session wherein by Command from the King he spake to both Houses Of which Speech thus my Lord of Buckingham in a Letter to him dated Novemb. 24. I know not how the Upper House of Parliament approve your Lordships Speech But I am sure he that call d them together and as I think can best judge of it is so taken with it that he saith it is the best that ever he heard in Parliament and the nearest to his Majesties meaning which beside the contentment it hath given to his Majesty hath much comforted me in his choice of your Lordship who in all things doth so well Answer his expectation This is laid aside by some negligence the more is the pity that it cannot he found But here are two credible Witnesses how well he could open the great Affairs of the Kingdom for the best of Orators gave this Rule to Brutus Nâ—m disertus esse potest in eo quod nesciat no man can speak well to that which he doth not understand At this time I find in safe Records how advisedly he carried himself in the House of Peers upon the starting of two particulars The Priviledg of the Nobility was discuss'd and ready to be determin'd finally by the more Active part that they should take no Oath save only by their Honour which through his Intercession was laid aside for these Reasons That the Word of God allows of no Swearing for the finding out of Truths and deciding of Controversies but by an Invocation of the Name of God Quod confirmatur per cortius confirmatur and it is God's Glory that his Name and no other should be accounted more certain then any thing in the World In all Controversies the last Appeal is to him and to none beside because there is none above him The last Appeal is ever to the highest therefore we make no further Inquisition for Truth after our furthest provocation to the Lord in Heaven In Assertory Oaths we Swear That thereby we may put an End to contentious Causes And it is not Man's but God's Honour to end them who is the God of Peace and that maketh men to be of one mind Moreover our best consulting Divines collect that the Ground of an Oath builds upon his holy Name because He is most True and cannot Deceive likewise because he is Omniscient and cannot be ignorant and therefore to be the only due Witness for all contentious matters where there is no other Witness The Honour of the Peerage is a very Estimable Prerogative but a Creature to Swear is to put our Soul upon a Religious Action And shall a Creature be the Object of Religious Worship God forbid shall a Creature be brought in as the Witness of all Truth Or shall it be Raised up as the Judge which avengeth all falsehood There is none but God that is privy to all Truth And Vengeance belongs to none but him that can cast both Body and Soul into Everlasting Fire He added that singularities are ever to be suspected and challeng'd any man to shew the contrary that no other Oath but In the Name of God was used in Solemn Tryals at that day in any part of Christendom And he bad them look to themselves at home how prejudicial it would prove to all Courts of Justice and how unwillingly the Gentry and lower condition'd people of the Land would be brought unto it How loth they would be to refer their Free-hold their Meum and Tuum to the protestation of Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If it be stood upon that in the highest Criminal Causes of Life and Death their Lordships vouched their Honour only to Guilty or not Guilty it might receive this Satisfaction If a Peer be produced as a Witness against another Peer before the Lord High Steward he lays his hand upon the Book and takes his Oath No man can be cast by the deposition of a Witness that is not Sworn But when the Peers bring their Verdict into the same Court against a Peer they lay not their Hand upon the Book but upon their Breast which is a Sign that their vouchment by their Honour in that Tryal is not an Oath Indeed it is not For their Lordships utter it not Via juramenti but Via Comparationis That is they do not Swear by their Honour but pronounce comparatively that as sure as they are Honourable they find the Prisoner Guilty or not Guilty Like to that frequent expression in Scripture As thy Soul Liveth it is thus and thus The living Soul comes not in as an Oath but as a Comparison As who should say As sure as your Soul lives or as sure as Pharaoh lives I affirm the Truth Thus far he contended and to general Satisfaction It was much that in his Novitiatship in that house he durst contradict such mighty ones in so tender a Cause But a Wise man commends the Wisest of Heathen men Socrates for that Gallant Freedom 1 Tusâ—ul adhibuit liberam contumaciam à magnitudine animi inductam non à Superbiâ 'T is Pride that makes men obstinate in their Errors But magnanimity makes them confident in the Truth 91. In the same morning while this Debate continued very long he had another Pass with a Master-Fencer For the question being canvas'd throughly concerning Oaths an Aged Bishop very infirm in health excus'd himself if he could not stay so long whereupon some Lords who bore a grudge to that Apostolical Order cried out they might all go home if they would and not contented with that Vilipendency grew higher in their demand and would have this contempt against the Prelates inserted in their Journal Book The Earl of Essex press'd it more passionately then the rest who wanted Theological Advice about the strict Obligation of Oaths as much as any Christian which appear'd by his Attempts and Practice about twenty years after But nothing
Cook in his Jurisdiction of Courts looks no higher than 28. of Edw. 3. This Lord Keeper cites a Precedent out of his own Search of Records of a Baron Fin'd and Imprison'd by it in the 16th of Edw. 2. as it is quoted Cabal P. 58. Of what standing it was before for the Evidence doth not run as if then it were newly born to me is uncertain For the Dignity that famous Judge I mentioned lifts up his Style that it is the most honourable Court our Parliament excepted that is in the Christian World Jurisdic P. 65. The Citations of it are to cause to appear Coram Rege Concilio for the King in Judgment of Law is always in the Court when it fits and King James did twice in Person give Sentence in it The Lords and others of the Privy Council with the two Chief Justices or two other Justices or Barons of the Exchequer in their Absence are standing Judges of that Court. For in Matters of Right and Law some of the Judges are always presum'd to be of the King's Counsel The other Lords of Parliament who are properly De magno Concilio Regis are only in Proximâ poteentiâ of this Council and are actually Assessors when they are specially called These Grandees of the Realm who cannot fit to hear a Cause under the Number of Eight at the least ennoble this Court with their Presence and Wisdom to the Admiration of Foreign Nations and to the great Satisfaction of our selves for none can think himself too great to be Try'd for his Misdemeanors before a Convention of such Illustrious Senators And as Livy says Nihil tam aequandae libertati prodest quà m potentissimum quemque posse causam dicere As touching the Benefit that the Star-Chamber did bring thus that Atlas of the Law the Lord Cook Et cujus pars magna fuit says in the same Place That the right Institution and ancient Orders thereof being observed it keepeth all England in Quiet Which he maintains by two Reasons First Seeing the Proceeding according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm cannot by one Rule of Law suffice to punish in every Case the Enormity of some great and horrible Crimes this Court dealeth with them to the end the Medicine may be according to the Disease and the Punishment according to the Offence Secondly To curb Oppression and Exorbitancies of great Men whom inferior Judges and Jurors though they should not would in respect of their Greatness be afraid to offend Indeed in every Society of Men there will be some Bashawes who presume that there are many Rules of Law from which they should be exempted Aristotle writes it as it were by Feeling not by Guess Polit. 4. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that were at the Top among the Greeks nor would be rul'd nor would be taught to be rul'd Therefore this Court profest the right Art of Justice to teach the Greatest as well as the Meanest the due Construction of Good Behaviour I may justly say that it was a Sea most proper for Whale-Fishing little Busses might cast out Nets for Smelts and Herring So says the great Lawyer Ordinary Offences which may sufficiently be punished by the Proceeding of the Common Laws this Court leaveth to the ordinary Courts of Justice Ne dignitas hujus Curiae vilesceret 96. Accordingly the Lord Keeper Williams having Ascended by his Office to be the first Star in the Constellation to illuminate that Court he was very Nice I might say prudent to measure the Size of Complaints that were preferred to it whether they were knots fit for such Axes A number of contentious Squabbles he made the Attorney's Pocket up again which might better be compounded at home by Country Justices It was not meet that the Flower of the Nobility should be call'd together to determine upon Trifles Such long Wing'd Hawks were not to be cast off to fly after Field-Fares The Causes which he designed to hear were Grave and Weighty wherein it concern'd some to be made Examples for Grievous Defamations Perjuries Riots Extortions and the like Upon which Occasions his Speeches were much heeded and taken by divers in Ciphers which are extent to this day in their Paper Cabinets To which I Appeal that they were neither long nor Virulent For though he had Scope on those Ocasions to give his Auditors more then a Tast of his Eloquence which was clear sententious fraught with Sacred and Moral Allusions yet he detested nothing more then to insult upon the Offendor with girds of Wit He foresaw that Insolencies and Oppressions are publick provocations to bury a Court in it's own Shame And what could exasperate more then when an unfortunate man hath run into a Fault to shew him no humane Respect Nay to make him pass through the two malignant Signs of the Zodiaque Sagitary and Scorpio That is to wound him first with Arrows of sharp-pointed Words and then to Sting him with a Scorpiack censure Indeed if there be an extreme in shewing too much mercy I cannot Absolve the Lord Keeper For many I confess censur'd him for want of deeper censures said he was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners to all delinquents and rather their Patron then their Judge 〈◊〉 was so oftentimes when he scented Malice in the Prosecution It was so sometimes when he laid his Finger upon the Pulse of humane Frailty Brethren if a Man be overtaken in a Fault we which are Spiritual Restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering thy self least thou also be Tempted Galat. 6.1 Pliny the younger had been faulted that he had excus'd some more then they deserv'd Whereupon he Writes to Septitius lib. 7. Ep. Quid mihi invident felicissimum Errorem Ut enim non sint tales quales à me praedicantur ego tamen Beatus quod mihi videntur Which is to this meaning Why do you grudg me this Error they are not so good as I accounted them but I am happy in my Candor that I account them better then they are But first he never condemn'd an Offender to be Branded to be Scourg'd to have his Ears cut Though that Court hath proceeded to such censure in time old enough to make Prescription yet my Lörd Cook adviseth it should be done sparingly upon this Reason Quod Arbitrio judicis relinquitur non facile trahit ad effusionem Sanguinis They that judge by the light of Arbitrary Wisdom should seldom give their sentence to spill Blood He would never do it and declin'd it with this plausible avoidance as the Arch-Bishop Whitgift and Bancroft and the Bishop of Winton the Learned Andrews had done before him that the Canons of Councils had forbidden Bishops to Act any thing to the drawing of blood in a judicial Form Once I call to mind he dispens'd with himself and the manner was pretty One Floud a Railing Libelling Varlet bred in the Seminaries beyond Seas had vented Contumelies bitterer then Gall against many
gained divers Beneficed Men to conform who had stumbled at that Straw that the Lord Keeper could do no less then compound the Troubles of so Learned and Industrious a Divine And I aver it upon the Faith of a good Witness that after this Bishop Harsnet acknowledged that he was as useful a man to assist him in his Government as was in all his Diocese Another Rank for whose sake the Lord Keeper suffer'd were scarce an handful not above three or four in all the wide Bishoprick of Lincoln who did not oppose but by ill Education seldom used the appointed Ceremonies Of whom when he was certified by his Commissaries and Officials he sent for them and confer'd with them with much Meekness sometime remitted them to argue with his Chaplain If all this stirred them not he commended them to his Old Collegiate Dr. Sibbs or Dr. Gouch Who knew the scruples of these mens Hearts and how to bring them about the best of any about the City of London If all these labour'd in vain he protracted the hearing of their Causes de die in diem that time might mollisie their refractory Apprehensions But had it not been better said some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stop the mouth of the unruly Tit. 1.11 I Answer Their mouth was slept in St. Paul's meaning Estius hath begun the distinction and it is easily made up Alind est silontium indicere quod est imperamis Alind ad metas saciturnitatis reduccre quod est docte redarguentis They were not imperiously commanded to be silent but enough was spoken wifely to their Face to put their Folly to silence Men that are found in their Morals and in Minutes imperfect in their Intellectuals are best reclaimed when they are mignarized and strok'd gently Seldom any thing but severity will make them Anti-practise For then they grow desperate Facundus Dominus quosdam aâ—fugam cogit quosdam ad mortem says Seneca And they are like to convert more with their sufferings then with their Doctrine He that is openly punish'd whatsoever he hath done he shall find Condolement But I will spend no more Words to wipe away this stur of Puritanism it needs not a laborious Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Proverb is in Athenaeus Let Lubbars Talk of it over a Winter Fire when they Droll out Tales 107. Yet I want not matter how to wash out this spot of Jealousie by great Actions In this year 1622 he began to expend a great Sum upon St. John's College the Nurse of his hopeful breeding A right stampt Puritan is not a Founder but a Demolisher of good Works He laid the platform of his Beneficence on this Wife Four Scholars he Added to the 40 Alumni in the College of Westminster For their Advancement he provided and endowed four Scholarships in St. John's College upon their Maturity and Vacancy of those places to be Translated to them Two Fellowships he Newly Erected in that House into which only out of those four the best were to be chosen Withal he purchas'd the Patronage of four Rich Benefices to receive those Scholars and Fellows of his Foundation upon the Death or other Cessation of the Incumbents But the Chief Minerval which he bestowed upon that Society was the Structure of a most goodly Library the best in that kind in all Cambridge And as he had pick'd up the best Authors in all Learning and in all plenty for his own use so he bequeathed them all to this fair Repository This was Episcopal indeed to issue out his Wealth as the Lord brought it in in such ways This is the Purse that Mr. H. L. says he Ran away withal after he had departed with the Great Seal wherein we see how far the Portion of over-flowing wast which 〈◊〉 from Great Ones and is spilt if it were sav'd and well bestow'd would 〈◊〉 the Land with all sort of Monumental Bravery What a good Steward he was for his Master Christ Jesus's Houshold and how provident to put none into part of the Care but such as were Obedient to Civil and Sacred Rulers appears most in his happy choice of those upon whom he confer'd the livings that fell into his Patronage They were ever pick'd out of the best Learned the best Qualified the most Cordially affected to our most Godly Liturgy and to the Government of the Prelates Within these Apostatizing times wherein so many have departed from them without Cause I cannot remember any of his preferring but kept their Traces and to their best Power never run out of the Ring I have a short Story to tell and then I leave this Subject Among the poor distressed Protestants in Bohemia many of them were Braziers by their Occupation These sent sent some messengers from them with a Petition to his Majesty that they might Transplant a Colony into England London especially Men Wives Children and their full Families Signifying that they would bring with them to the Value of two hundred Thousand Pounds in Coin and Materials of their Trade That their Substance and Labour should be subject to all Customs and Taxes for the King's profit They desired to live in a Body of their own Nation and to serve Christ Jesus in that Church Discipline which they brought with them from Bohemia Though they had inclin'd his Majesty to admit them being a great Swarm of People and bringing Wax and Honey along yet the Lord Keeper diverted it from the Example of the Dutch and French that were setled among us These brought commodious Manufacture into the Realm but they brought a Discipline with it according to the Allowance of their Patent which was a Suffocation to the Temperate Crisis of our own Church Government Which Peril of Distemper would be increased by the Access of the Bohemick Congregation A great Forecast to keep our Hierarchy found from the Contagion of Foreigners and he was more Religious to keep the Church of England in its Sabbath and Holy Rest than to help out the Neighbours Ox that was fallen into the Pit Yet I have somewhat to alledge in the Behalf of the Bohemians I have in my little Library a Book printed 1633 eleven years after the Lord Keeper appear'd against their Petition called Ratio Disciplinae ordinisque Ecclesiastici in unitate sratrum Bohemorum Their Platform in that Piece comes so near to the old Protestant Church of England above all the Reformed that for my part I wish we had had their Company This is sufficient I am sure against those Opposite and Self-overthrowing Aspersions Let them do their worst there is one Metal that will never be the worse for them of whose Property this Lord partak'd It is Gold of which Pliny writes Lib. 33. N. H. c. 3. that nothing makes it more precious Quam contra salis aceti succos domitores rerum constantia The Spirits of Salt and Vinegar the most biting and sowrest Reproaches cannot hurt it with their Tartness That which corrodes all
he had dazled the World with that false Light he never pleas'd his Judges that had secretly tried the Constitution of his Conscience Sir Edward Sackvile who shortly succeeded his Brother Richard in the Earldom of Dorset was at Rome Ann. 1624. and had Welcom given him with much Civility in the English College so far that he presum'd to ask rather out of Curiosity than Love to see this Prisoner de Dominis Mr. T. Fitz-herbert the Rector did him the Observance to go with him to the Jayl He found him shut up in a Ground-Chamber narrow and dark for it look'd upon a great Wall which was as near unto it as the breadth of three spaces Some slight forms being pass'd over which use to be in all Visits says Sir Edward My Lord of Spalato you have a dark Lodging It was not so with you in England There you had at Windsor as good a Prospect by Land as was in all the Country And at the Savoy you had the best Prospect upon the Water that was in all the City I have forgot those things says the Bishop here I can best Contemplate the Kingdom of Heav'n Sir Edward taking Mr. Fitz-Herbert aside into the next Room Sir says he tell me honestly Do you think this Man is employ'd in the Contemplation of Heav'n Says the Father Rector I think nothing less for he was a Male-content Knave when he fled from us a Railing Knave while he liv'd with you and a Motley parti-colour'd Knave now he is come again This is the Relation which that Honourable Person made Ann. 1625. which I heard him utter in the hearing of no mean Ones 113. But by this time Spalat was dead either by his fair Death or by private strangling Gallo-Belgicus that first sent the News abroad knew not whither But he knew what became of his Body that it was burnt at the same place in Rome where Hereticks do end their Pain It is a Process of Justice which is usual with their Inquisition to shew such abhorrence to Hereticks that were so in their sense to call them to account though they be dead and rotten First They are so Histrionical in their Ceremonies as if they made a Sport of Barbarousness that they cite the dead Men three several Days to appear or any that will answer for them but happy they if they do not appear then their Carkasses or Bones are brought forth and burnt in the common Market with a Ban of Execration The latest that were used so among us were Reverend Bucer and Fagius at Cambridge Anno 1556. And Dr. Scot Bishop of Chester one of Cardinal Pole's Visitors defended it before the University Haud mirum videri debeat si in mortem quoque ista inquisitis extendatur Bucer Scrip. Angl. p. 925. Sic postulare sacros Canones p. 923. This is their Soverity from which the Dead are not free Now by the Blaze of that Bonfire in which De Dominis his Trunk was consum'd we may read an Heretick in Fiery Characters I mean as he was entred into the black Book of the Roman Slaughter-House He lived and died with General Councils in his Pate with Wind-Mills of Union to concord Rome and England England and Rome Germany with them both and all other Sister-Churches with the rest without asking leave of the Tridentine Council This was his Piaculary Heresie For as Aâ—orius writes Tom. 1. Moral Lib. 8. Cap. 9. Not only he that denies an Article of the Roman Creed but he that doubts of any such Article is an Heretick and so to be presented to Criminal Judgment Si quem in foro exteriori l gitime allegata proâ—ata probaverint in rebus Fidci scienter voluntarie dubitasse arbitrer cum ut v re propriè haeretiâ—um puniendum Therefore if Spalat had return'd a Penitent in their Construction and imbodied himself into that Church as only true and Apostolical he could not have suffered in his Offals and Carkass as an Heretick So the same Azorius confesseth Lib. 8. Cap. 14. And Alphonsus à Castro is angry with Bernard of Lutzenburg for holding the contrary Lib. 1. Cap. 9. Quis unquam docuit eum esse dicendum haereticum qui errorem sic tenuit ut monitus conviclus non crubuerit palinodiam cantare This was the success of the variable Behaviour of M. Antonius de Dominis De Domims in the plural says Dr. Crakanthorp for he could serve two Masters or twenty if they would all pay him Wages He had an Hearing as it is mention'd before in our High Commission To countenance the Audience of so great a Cause the Lord Keeper gave attendance at it I began at that end of his Troubles and having footed all the Maze am come out at the other 114. Johosaphat distinguisheth between the Lord's Matters and the King's Affairs 2 Chron. 19.12 So do I in the Subject before me I have given some Says of his Church-Wisdom in the former Paragraph I go on to set the Sublimity of his State-Wisdom in the latter I must look back to a small Service which he did perform in Michaelmas-Term 1621. for as much as the Conjunction of some things which rais'd a Dust in the Year following are sit to go together Upon the solemn Day when the Lord Cranfield then Master of the Wards and immediately created Earl of Middlesex took his Place as Lord Treasurer in the Exchequer-Chamber the Lord Keeper gave him his Oath and saluted his Admission with a short Speech following My Lord You are called to serve his Majesty in the Place of a Lord Treasurer by the most Honourable and most Ancient Call in this Realm the delivery of a Staff to let you know that you are now become one of the surest Staffs or Stays that our great Master relies upon in all this Kingdom And these Staffs Princes must lean upon being such Gods as die like Mon and such Masters as are neither omni-sufficient nor independent For St. Austin writing upon that place of the Psalm I have said unto the Lord Thou art my God my Goâ—ds are nothing unto thee observes that God only is the Master that needs no reference to his Servant All other Masters and Servants are proper Relatives and have a mutual Reciprocation and Dependence Eges tu Domino tuo ut det panem Eget te Dominus tuus ut adjuves labore As the Servant wants a Master to maintain him so the Master wants a Servant to assist him For the present supplying of this want in his Majesty I will say as the Historian did of the Election of Tiberius Non quaerendus quem eligeret sed eligendus qui emineret The King was not now to think of one whom he should choose but to choose one who was most eminent For as Claudian said of Ruffinus Taciti suffragia vulgi Vel jam contulerant quicquid mox addidit Aula You were stated in this Place by the Votes of the People before you understood the Pleasure
of the King Now for your own private I make no question but I may say of you my Lord as one said of Coccius Nerva Foelicior longè quà m cum foelicissimus That you were greater a great deal in your own Contentment than now that you have worthily attained to all this Greatness But as in this World of Things every Element forsakes his Natural Disposition so as we many times see the Earth and Water evaporating upward and the Fire and Air darting downward ad conservationem universi as Philosophy speaks to preserve and maintain the common course So in this World of Men private Must give way to publick Respects Now if it be expected that I should say any thing for your Lordships Direction in this Great Office your Lordships Wisdom and my Ignorance will plead pardon though I omit it I will only say one word and that shall be the same which Pliny said to one Maximus appointed Questor that is Treasurer for Achaia Memenisse oportet Ossicii titulum Remember but your Name and you shall do well enough Your Lordship is appointed Lord Treasurer Take such Order in his Majesties Exchequer that your Lordship do not bear this Denomination and Title in vain and your Lordship shall be worthily honour'd for the happiest Subject in this Kingdom And surely as your Lordship hath the Prayers so you have the Hopes of all good Men that Si Pergama dextrâ defendi poterant If any Man living can improve the Kings Revenue with Skill and Diligence you are that good Husband And so I wish your Lordship as much Joy of your Place as the King and the State do conceive of your Lordship This was the Perfume which was cast upon the new Treasurer in his Robes of Instalment The King was pleased much in his Advancement For his Majesty had proved him with Questions and found that he was well studied in his Lands Customs in all the Profits of the Crown in Stating of Accompts And in the general Opinion the White-Staff was as fit for his Hand as if it been made for it The most that could be objected was that he was true to the King but gripple for himself A good Steward for the Exchequer but sower and unrelishing in Dispatch A better Treasurer than a Courtier There was nothing in appearance but Sun-shine and warm Affections between him and the Lord Keeper The Lord Treasurer I know well had cross'd the other in one or two Suits which had been beneficial to him and not drawn a Denier out of the Kings Purse He dealt so with every Man therefore the Sufferer gave little sign of Grievance It was not his Case alone Another Pick in which they agreed not I cannot say disagreed was about a Brood of Pullein which were never hatcht The last Parliament being dissolv'd it was well thought of by some of the Lords of the Council-Board to sweeten the ill relish which it had in some Palats with a Pardon of Grace that might extend to a fair Latitude for the ease of those that were question'd for old Debts and Duties to the Crown for concealed Wardships and not suing out Liveries and such charges of the like kind which put those that were secure in their Improvidence to a great deal of trouble and disanimated their best Friends for fear of such blind Claps to be their Executors When the Lord Keeper had brought this Pardon so near to his Birth that the Atturney-General was sent for to draw it up the Lord Treasurer mov'd That such as took out this Pardon should pay their Fees which are accustomed in that kind to such Officers as he should appoint that the Advantage might enrich the King and that himself might have that share which the Lord Chancellour us'd to have who put the Seal to those Pardon 's This was heard with a dry laughter and denied him But from thenceforth he struggled to correct the lusty Wine of the Pardon with so much Water that there was no comfort in it and falling short of that Grace which was expected was debated no more The Lord Keeper having obtein'd a good Report for the Conception of the Pardon and the Lord Treasurer a great deal of Envy for the Abortion it curdled in his Stomach into Choler and Mischief And wherefore was he angry with his Brother Abel Look what St. John answers 1 Epist Chap. 3. Vers 12. He endeavoured first to make a Faction in Court against the Lord Keeper and it would not hit because he had no Credit with the Great Ones Then he falls to Pen and Paper and spatters a little Foam draws up Ten What-do-you-call-Um's some of them are neither Charges of Misdemeanour nor Objections which were meant for Accusations but are most pitiful failings entramell'd with Fictions and Ignorance They are extant in the Cabal Pag. 72. which the Lord Keeper puts away as quietly as the Wind blows off the Thistle-Down Pusheth his Adversary down with his little Finger yet insults not upon his Weakness As Pliny writes to Sabin Lib. 9. Ep. Tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus cum irae causa justissima est It was very laudable to be so mild when there was just cause given to be more angry Yet he complain'd by Letters to the Lord Marquiss as if he were sensible of the despite and unto him was very loud in his own Justification From whom he got no more remedy but that his Adversary was not believ'd And was will'd to consider that he dealt with one whose ill Manners would not pay him Satisfaction for an Injury Unto which the Lord Keeper rejoyn'd to the Lord Marquiss His Majesties Justice and your Lordships Love are Anchors strong enough for a Mind more tost than mine is to ride at Yet pardon me my Noble Lord upon this Consideration if I exceed a little in Passion the Natural Effect of Honesty and Innocency A Church-man and a Woman have no greater Idol under Heav'n than their Good Name And they cannot Fight nor with Credit Scold and least of all Recriminate to Protect and Defend the same The only Revenge left them is to grieve and complain Then he concludes Whom I will either Challenge before his Majesty to make good his Suggestions or else which I hold the greater Valour and which I wanted I confess before this Check of your Lordships go on in my course and scorn all these base and unworthy Scandals as your Lordship shall direct me What need more be said In the space of a Month they wrangled themselves into very good Friends and the Lord Keeper was Gossip to the next Child that was born to the Treasurer As Nazianzen says of Athanasius Encom p. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was the Condition of two kinds of Stones in his Nature that are much commended He was an Adamant to them that smote him found and firm and would never break But a Loadstone to draw them to him that discorded with him though they were as hard as
notoriously known to all the World Yet have I most willingly observed in all Orders upon Petitions these Cautions following which I received from Your Majesty First To order nothing in this kind without Notice given to the adverse Part and Oath made thereof Secondly To reverse correct or alter no one Syllable of any Decree or Order pronounced in Court upon Counsel heard on both Sides Thirdly To alter no Possession unless it be in pursuance to a former Decree or Order pronunced in open Court or to save by a Sequestration to indifferent Hands some Bona peritura which commonly be a Tithe or a Crop of Hay or Corn which are ready to be carried away by force by unresponsal Men and will not stay for a Decree in Court Now I humbly crave Your Majesty's Opinion whither I may go on this way as ancient as the Court for easing Your Majesty's Subjects with these Cautions and Limitations the Clamor of the Lawyers and Ignorance of some Men Qui me per ornamenta feriunt notwithstanding For although no Party grieved doth or indeed can complain against these Dispatches and that in the corruptest Times it was never heard that any Bribes have been taken for Answers upon Petitions Yet what Reason have I to over-toil my self in easing the Purse of the Subjects if it be objected as a Crime against me and be not a Service acceptable to Your Majesty and the Realms I have eased my self there three days in this kind but am so oppressed with the Clamor of poor People who come for ordinary Dispatches that I am enforced to prevent their Complaint by this humble Repraesentation unto Your Majesty I most humbly therefore crave Your Majesty's Directions deny'd to none of Your Servants that desire them to be signified unto me by the Lord Admiral at his Lordship's best Conveniency 117. Thus much perhaps is too much but that as Alexander said in Curtius Satius est purgatos esse quà m suspectos 'T is better to clear an Error imputed than to be suspected The King stood to him as he did always and sent him a gracious Message It was his Conscience he dispenced in that Court and he had his Approbation in all he had heard of Truly I believe his Majesty's Love wrought that Ableness in him to make him more than else he would have been Neither did the Lord Marquess see any Reason but to justifie his Integrity and Diligence Yet before Michaelmas Term was spent An. 1622 that great Lord dropt some Words that he was not altogether pleas'd with the Lord Keeper's Observance and look'd upon him with a stranger Countenance than before so as from that time the Lord Keeper failed but with an half Wind in that mighty Lord's Favour which he hid most prudently and shew'd not the least appearance that he was faln into that dislike As Macrobius commends Pisistratus Lib. 7. c. 1. whose Children secretly made Head against him Yet Pisistratus dissembled strangely that all was well between them that the City of Athens might not practise upon their Enmity So it was covered as artificially from Court and City that these two Luminaries were near to Opposition The first Man that was like to know it from the Lord Marquess was the Bishop of St. Davids for about this time he stiles himself Confessor to his Lordship in Mr. Prinn's Publications And within the compass of this Time he says he dreamt that the Lord Keeper was dead that he went by and saw his Grave a making And how doth he expound this Vision which he saw in his Sleep but that he was dead in my Lord of Buckingham's Affections Some are like to ask what it was that did the ill Office to shake the Stedfastness of their Friendship That will break out hereafter But the Quarrel began that some Decrees had been made in Chancery for whose better Speed my Lord Marquess had undertaken An Undertaker he was without Confinement of Importunity There was not a Cause of moment but as soon as it came to Publication one of the Parties brought Letters from this mighty Peer and the Lord Keeper's Patron For the Lord Marquess was of a kind Mature in Courtesie more luxuriant than was fit in his Place not willing to deny a Suit but prone to gratifie all Strangers chiefly if any of his Kindred brought them in their Hand and was far more apt to believe them that askt him a Favour than those that would perswade him it was not to be granted These that haunted him without shame to have their Suits recommended to great Officers made him quickly weary of his faithful Ministers that could not justly satisfie him I had mentioned none but that I am beholding to the Cabal to fall upon one the worst of twenty Sir John Michel P. 84. of whose Unreasonableness the Lord Keeper writes thus God is my Wuness I have never deny'd cither Justice or Favour which was to be justified to this man or any other that had the least Relation to your good and most Noble Mother And I hope your Lordship is perswaded thereof Budaeus P. 67. Upon the Pandects writes offensively upon the medling of such Lady Advocates Why may not Women be our Magistrates and govern us if they think to govern them that are our Magistrates But he complains with more Impatience against the Courtiers of Paris P. 188. Quotusquisque est qui modo in aulâ interiore sit alicujus nominis qui non se dignum censeat propter quem leges constitutiones quamvis gravi sanctione munitae violari debeant which makes the Place of a Judge a Burthen that cannot be supported For as no Artist can make the Year run even by the Course of Sun and Moon so no Justice can run even between the imperious Directions of a Favourite and the Conscience of a just Man The Lord Marquess had used his Power to assist the Lord Keeper in his Lifting up but good Turns are not to be counted a Servile Bond to impose as much as shall be obtruded to be done with a Blind-fold Readiness For no man in Earth is all in all a Servant but to God Gratitude may exact much but Innocency is free from paying a Tribute And 't is pity they should ever have the Ability to do Benefits who over-lay their good Turns and would not have those to whom they have been gracious persevere in Integrity Yet many do so far value their own Kindness that they think for their good Works Sake they have bought God's Part in us which if it be substracted none are so ready to dismount a Man as they that did promote him It is observ'd before me by Aurelius Victor in the Lite of Nerva Qui cum se merreri omnia praesumant si quicquam non extorserint atrociores sunt ipsis hostibus Therefore let a private Man be content and take sweet Sleeps He holds his Conscience in no Tenure but of God He that is out of great Place is out
of the Gravest and Greatest Pleaders who were ripe for Dignity And a Call of Serjeants was splendidly solemnized for Number Thirteen for Quality of the best Reputation May 6 1623 Who on that Day made their Appearance before Lord Keeper sitting in the High Court of Chancery who congratulated their Adoption unto that Title of Serjeancy with this Oration AS upon many other Occasions so likewise upon this present in hand I could wish there sate in this Place a man of more Gravity and Experience than can be expected from me to deliver unto you those Counsels and Directions which all your Predecessors have successively received at this Bar. Yet among many Wants I find one singular Comfort that as I am of the least Ability to give so you are of the least Need to receive Instructions of all the Calls of Serjeants that any Man now alive can bring to his Remembrance You are either all or the far greater Number of you most Learned most Honest and well accomplish'd Gentlemen Lest therefore my Modesty or your Integrity might suffer therein I will not be tedious in this kind of Exhortation but like those Mercuries or High-way-Statues in Greece I will only point out those fair Ways which my self I confess have never trodden In the beginning for my Preface be assured that your Thankfulness shall be recommended to his Majesty who hath honoured you with this high Degree making your Learning only and your Integrity His Praevenient and all other Respects whatsoever but subsequent and following Causes of his Gracious Pleasure towards you Turning my Speech next to your selves I will observe mine own common Exordium which hitherto I have used to all those whom I have saluted with a few words when they were Installed in their Dignities and I have it from the manner of the old Romans Meminisse oportet Ossicii Tâ—lum Remember the Title of your Degree and it will afford you sufficient Matter of Admonition You are call'd Servientes ad Legem Sergeants at the Law Verba bractrata Words very malleable and extensive and such as contein more Lessons than they do Syllables 122. The word Sergeant no doubt is Originally a Stranger born though now for many Years denizon'd among us It came over at the first from France and is handled as a French word by Stephen Pasquier in his Eighth Book of Recherches and the Nineteenth Chapter They that are too luxuriant in Etymologies are sometimes barren in Judgment as I will shew upon the Conjectures of this Name For they are not call'd Sergeants quasi Caesariens some of Caesars Officers as the great Guiacius thinks Nor Sergents qu isi Serregens because they laid hold on Men as inferiour Ministers But Sergiens in the old French is as much as Serviens saith Pasquier a Servant or an Attendant As Sergens de Dicu the Servants of God in the old History of St. Dennis Sergens Disciples de la Sanchitè Servants or Disciples of his Holiness the Pope in the Life of St. Begue And Sergens d'Amour Servants of Love in the Romance of the Rose a Book well known in our Country because of the Translator thereof Geoffry Chaucer And therefore as Pasquier thinks that those inferiour Officers are called Sergeans that is Servants because at the first Bailiffs or Stewards employ'd their own Servants in such Summons So this more honourable Appellation of Sergeant at Law hath received it Denomination because at the first when the Laws were no more than a few plain Customs When as the Year-Books had not yet swelled When the Cases were not so diversified When so many Distinctions were not Coined and Minted When the Volumes of the Laws through our Misdeeds and Wiliness were not so multiplied Men employ'd their own Servants to tender their Complaints unto the Judges and to bring them home again a plain and present Remedy But afterward Multitude of Shifts begetting Multitudes of Laws and Multitudes of Laws Difficulties of Interpretations especially where the Sword had engraven them in strange Languages as those induced by the Saxons Danes and Normans into this Island the State was enforced to design and select some learned Men to prepare the Causes of the Client for the Sentence of the Judge and the Sentence of the Judge for the Causes of the Client who though never so Enobled by their Birth and Education yet because they succeeded in those places of Servants were also call'd Servientes Sergeants or Servants Great Titles have grown up from small Originals as Dux Comes Baro and others and so hath this which is Enobled by the affix unto it a Sergeant at Law 123. Though you are not the Rulers of Causes and Masters upon the Bench yet it is your Pre-eminence that you are the chief Servants at the Bar In the Houshold of our Dread Sovereign the Chief in every Office who Commands the lower Ministers is advanced to be called the Sergeant of his Place as Sergeants of the Counting-House Carriages Wine-Cellar Larder with many others In like manner your Name is a Name of Reverence though you are styled Servants For you are the Principal of all that practise in the Courts of Law Servants that is Officers preferr'd above all Ranks of Pleaders For every thing must be Ruled by a Gradual Subordination You are next in the Train to my Lords the Judges And some of your File not seldom employ'd to be Judges Itinerant But you are all constantly promoted to be Contubernales Commensales You have your Lodgings in the same Houses and keep your Table and Diet with those Pillars of the Law who therefore call you and love you as their Brethren Fortescue in his sixth Book De laudibus Legum Angliae Cap. 50. compares your Dignities with the chief Degrees of the Academies And there is no Argument that proves the Nobleness of the one but it is as strong and militant for the other I will touch upon the Reasons as they are set down in Junius his Book De Academiâ and apply them in order to this purpose First This Degree is as a Caveat to the whole State and Commonwealth that by it they may know whom to employ and whom not to employ in their weighty Causes and Consultations And so doth Fortescue appropriate Omnia Realia Placiata all the Real Actions and Pleadings of his time to the Sergeants only Secondly As St. Paul saith to the Corinthians Epistola nostra vos estis You are our Letter or Epistle So may we the Judges in our several Places say unto the Sergeants Epistela nostra vos estis You are by reason of your Degrees our Letters of Recommendation unto the Kings Majesty for his Choice and Election for the Judges of the Kingdom Because as Fortescue also truly observes no Man though never so Learned can be chosen into that eminent Place Nisi statu gradu Servientis ad Legem fuerit insignitus Thirdly and lastly This Degree of Honour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of
〈…〉 unsel being present keeping my Intention from my Chancellor himself from whom I never kept any of my weightiest Business Because if I had made him of my Counsel in that purpose he had been blamed for putting the same into my Head which had not been his Duty For it becometh no Subject to give his Prince Advice in such Matters In this Story it appears that the Father-King trod the way to his Son to undergo such an Audacious Journey in the pursuance of his Love Quid non effraeno captus amore Audeat Ovid. Then that he Persisted in his Principles of Secrecy for a generous End that he might not draw his Chief and Best Servants whom he loved most into a Snare of Guiltiness 127. Let Provision be made to the most that could be for the safety of all others yet Sir Ant. W. in his Court and Character of K. James hath one Exception That the King set this Wheel on Running to destroy Buckingham for the hatred which he had long bore him and would not think it ill to loose his Son so Buckingham might be lost also Pag. 149. O Horrid But the best is the Foundation is Rotten For Buckingham as all Men about the King would Testifie was in as high Favour at that time as any Subject was ever with his Sovereign But when Sir A. to make out the Proof he lays it upon Sir H. Yelverton displaced from the Office of Attorney General to the King and committed to the Tower 't was he that assured the Marquess that the King hated him more than any man Living pag. 159. Sir Harry was Unfortunate but too honest a Man to sow Discord between the King and his principal Peer and Attendant Now mark upon what Bottom the Contriver of this Tale doth wind his Forgery Sir W. Balfore at the time of his Lieutenancy of the Tower brought the Marquess at Midnight to Sir H. Yelverton's Chamber being then his close Prisoner Where Sir William heard those Passages and a great deal more between them And by one or other who came to the knowledge of it but this Sir Anthony O Wicked Servant to thy good Master O fowl Bird that defilest the Nest wherein thâ—u wert hatch'd and well fledg'd Thou art catch'd in thine own Lime for thou never couldst have Conserence with Sir W. Balfore or Sir H. Yelverton about such a matter For Learned Yelverton was never Prisoner to Valiant Balfore Sir Allen Apsley was Lieutenant all the time of that worthy man's restraint And Sir W. Balfore was not preferr'd to that Office of great Trust in more than four years after Sir Harry had obtain'd his Liberty when Knaves will turn Fools it is not amiss to be merry with them And I will fit Sir Anthony with a Jest out of Illustrius the Pythagorean p. 23. One Daphidas came to the Pythian Deity to beseech his Oracleship to tell him when he should find a Gelding of his that was gone astray You shall find him very shortly says Apollo's Minister I thank you for your good News says Daphidas but I have neither lost a Horse nor have a Horse to loose So I turn Sir Anthony over to the Committee of Oracles and proceed After the Princes Out Leap the King lingred at New-market till the time was nigh that every day Tidings were expected of his safe Arrival in Spain that he might shew himself to the Lords at White-hall with better Confidence which he did March 30. being the first day that the Lord Keeper spake with the King about his dear Sons Planetary Absence No sooner had he made most humble sign of his Majesties Welcome by Kissing his Hand but the King Laugh'd out this Question to him Whether he thought this Knight-Errant Pilgrimage would be lucky to win the Spanish Lady and to convey her shortly into England Sir says the Lord Keeper If my Lord Marquess will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares and Remember he is the Favourite of Spain Or if Olivares will shew Honourable Civility to my Lord Marquess Remembring he is a Favourite of England the Woing may be Prosperous But if my Lord Marquess should forget where he is and not stoop to Olivares or if Olivares forgetting what Guest he hath Received with the Prince bear himself haughtily and like a Castilian Grandee to my Lord Marquess the Provocation may be Dangerous to Cross your Majesties good Intentions And I pray God that either one or both of them do not run into that Errour The King drew a Smile at the Answer but bit his Lip at the presage Discourse being Enlarg'd between them the King perceiv'd that his Counsellor had other Fears and that his Brain teemed with Jealousies of very hard Encounters which he knock'd upon softly that his Majesty might discern them and not seem to apprehend them Only thus far the King proceeded to ask him If he had wrote to his Son and to the Lord Marquess clearly and upon what Guard they should stand Yes Sir says he for that purpose I have dispatch'd some Packets Then continue says the King to help me and themin those difficulties with your best Powers and Abilities and serve me faithfully in this motion which like the highest Orbe carries all my Raccolta's my Counsels at the present and my prospects upon the Future with it and I will never part with you The Cause which made His Majesty so solicitous made the Lord Keeper need no Provocation to diligence He was before hand And upon the 25 of February by a Currier that was at Madrid almost as soon as the Prince he wrote two Letters following to his Highness and to the Lord Marquess A Letter to the Prince May it please your Highness 128 ALthough Prayer is all the Service That at this time either I the most obliged or any other the wisest of your Servants can perform unto you yet I Humbly beseech your Higness to pardon true Affections that cannot stay there but will be expressing of it self though peradventure neither wisely nor discreetly The Comick Writer held these two scarce competent Amare sapere And to exclude all shew of discretion I presume to write this First Letter of mine to your Highness without so much as excribing or taking a Copy of the same this opportunity admitting no leisure at all to do the one or the other Your Journey is generally reputed the depth of your danger which in my Fears and Representations your Arrival should be You are in a strange State for ought we know uninvited business being scarce prepared subject to be staid upon many and contrary pretenses made a Plot for all the Wisdom of Spain and Rome for all the contemplations of that State and that Religion to work upon And peradventure the detaining of Your Highness his Person may serve their turn as amply as their Marriage at least wise for this time and the Exploits of the ensuing Summer I write not this to fright you who have Testified to all the
Cause It is the Author of the Observations upon H. L. his History of the Reign of King Charles pag. 137. He hath not bestowed his Name upon his Reader but he hath a Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Homer Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I ought not to put him to the first Question of our Catechism Quo nomine vocaris For good Writers nay Sacred Pen-Men do not always Inscribe their Names upon their Books Scholars do invariably Father the Work and some of them say they have it from the Printer upon one that hath Wrote and Publish'd much favoring of Industry and Learning And they give Reasons which will come into the Sequel though a great while deferr'd why he blotts the good Name of King James Why he grates so often upon the mild Nature and matchless Patience of King Charles And if Fame have taken the right Sow by the Ear it is one that had provok'd the then Bishop of Lincoln in Print with great Acrimony Twenty years ago and that Anger flames out in him now as hot as ever Panthera domari nescia non semper saeuit Yet when that Bishop came out of the Tower and this Adversary sought him for Peace and Love because the Bishop was then able to do him a Displeasure he found him easie to be Reconciled What should move this Man to forget that Pacification so truly observ'd on the Bishops part who was the greater and the offended Party Naturale est odisse quem laeseris And Malice is like one of the Tour Things Prov. 30.15 That never say it is enough 'T is Degenerous for the Living to Trample upon the Dead but very Impious that he that was once a Christian nay a Christian Priest should never cease to be an Enemy The Words with which he wounds the Spanish Match through his side though otherwise he is one that witheth it had succeeded are these That that Bishop being in Power and Place at C◠the time of King James made himself the Head of the Popish Faction because he thought the Match with Spain which was then in Treaty would bring not only a Connivance to that Religion but a Toleration of it And who more like to be in Favour if that Match went on than such as were most zealous in doing Good Offices to the Catholick Cause Here 's a Knot of Catter-Pillars wrapt in a thin Cobweb so easie it will be to sweep them of The accused Person was always free of Conference Let any now living say that heard him often Discourse of the adverse Church if he did not constantly open himself not for a Gainsayer only but for a Stiff Defier of their Corrupt Doctrines although he was ever pitiful for Relaxation of their Penalties And would that Party cleave unto him for their greatest Encourager Encouragement was the least their Head could give them Beside the Thing is a Chimaera I never knew any Head of the Popish Faction in this Kingdom Others and Bishops in Rank above him have been traduced in that Name but who durst own that Office especially in the end of King James his Reign when every year almost was begirt with a Parliament and every Parliament procreated an inquisitive Committee for Matters of Religion What Mist did he walk in that neither Parliament nor Committees did detect him for Head or Patron or Undertaker call it what you will of the Pseudo-Catholick Cause could nothing but the goggle Eye of Malice discover him 135. Perhaps the Contemplation of the Spanish Match might embolden him so this Author would have us think It could not it did not take a little in the highest Topicks to both It could not For as the Anteceding Parliament was much taken with King James's Words That if the Match should not prove a fartherance to our Religion he were not Worthy to be our King so this his Majesties near Counsellor knew his meaning of which he often discours'd that when the Holy-Days of the Great Wedding were over his Majesty would deceive the Jealousies of his Subjects and be a more vigorous Defender of the Cause of the True Faith than ever And Judge the Bishop by his own Words in his Sermon Preach'd at the Funerals of that Good King that his Majesty charg'd his Son though he Married the Person of that Kings Sister never to Marry her Religion I said likewise he did not Look back to the first Letters he dispatch'd into Spain but much more let every Reader enjoy the Feature of his own Piety and Wisdom which he put into the Kings Hand to have his liking while his Majesties Dear Son was in Spain to Cure popular Discontents and sickly Suspicions which had come forth with Authority in October following if the long Treaty had not Set in a Cloud The Original Draught of his Contrivances yet remaining is thus Verbation That when the Marriage was Consummated and the Royal Bride received in England His Majesty should Publish his Gracious Declaration as followeth First To assure his Subjects throughout his three Kingdoms that there is not one word in all the Treaty of the Marriage in prejudice of our own Religion Secondly To Engage himself upon his Kingly Word to do no more for the Roman-Catholics upon the Marriage than already he did sometime voluntarily Grant out of Mercy and Goodness and uncontroulably may do in disposing of his own Mulcts and Penalties Thirdly That our Religion will be much Honoured in the Opinion of the World that the Catholic King is content to match with us nor can he Persecute with Fire and Sword such as profess no other Religion than his Brother-in-Law doth Fourthly That His Majesty shall forthwith advance strict Rules for the Confirmation of our Religion both in Heart and in the outward Profession 1. Common-Prayer to be duly performed in all Churches and Chappels Wednesdays and Fridays and two of every Family required to be present 2. Every Saturday after Common-Prayer Catechising of Children to be constantly observed 3. Confirmation called Bishopping to be carefully executed by the Bishop both in the General Visitations of his Diocese and every Six months in his own House or Palace 4. That Private Prayers shall no Day be omitted in the Family of him that is of the Degree of an Esquire else not to be so named or reputed 5. All Ladies and all Women in general to be Exhorted to bestow two hours at the least every Day in Prayer and Devotion 6. All our Churches to be Repaired and outwardly well Adorned and comely Plate to be bought for the Communion-Table 7. Dispensations for Pluralities of Livings to be granted to none upon any Qualification but Doctors and Batchelors in Divinity at the least and of them to such as are very Learned Men. 8. Bishops to encourage Public Lectures in Market-Towns of such Neighbouring Ministers as be Learned and Conformable 9. A Library of Divinity-Books to be Erected in every Shire-Town for the help of the poorer Ministers and Leave shall be
that his Lordship should be offered up to Justice as a publick Sacrifice But they that contest for his Innocency observe that he was let loose to depart in Quiet when he should have been brought to the Horns of the Altar And when the Bill drawn up against him was put into Sir Robert Philip's Hand an active and a gracious Member of the House to manage it to his Ruine Sir Robert writes to the Duke Cab. P. 265. If Bristol frame a probable satisfactory Answer to any Charge will it not rather serve to declare his Innocency than to prepare his Condemnation Your Grace may consult with your self whither you may not desist with Honour upon having him further questioned Afterward when his Master King James was dead and when he was at the Stake I may say like to be worried in Parliament by his Accusers he writes thus confidently to the Lord Conway Cab. P. 20. As for the Pardon Jacob. 21. I should renounce it but that I know the justest and most cautious Man living may through Ignorance or Omission offend the Laws So that as a Subject I shall not disclaim any Benefit which cometh in general as it doth usually to all other Subjects in the Kingdom But as for any Crime in particular that may entrench upon my Employments in point of Loyalty and Fidelity I know my Innocency to be such that I am confident I shall not need that Pardon A. Gallius li. 12. c. 7. Take the Earl's Case Pro and Con it is very dubious therefore I will deal with it as the manner of the Areopagites was in such Perplexities adjourn it to be heard an hundred Years hence I say not He but They were the Proprophets of Baal that troubled our Israel Our Corner-miching Priests with the Bloomesberry-Birds their Disciples and other hot spirited Recusants cut out the Way with the Complaints of their no-grievous Sufferings which involved us in Distractions Rome and Madrid were full of them and they conjured Pope Gregory and the Catholick King to wind in their Safety and Immunity in the Articles of the Match as behoved a Father and a Friend If they had sate still and let the Business go adrist with the Tide it had been better for them They that force their Fruits to be Ripe do but hast them to be rotten Qui spretis quae tarda cum securitate prematura vel cum exitio properant Tacit. Annal. lib. 3. The Word of the King and Prince would not serve them that they would be gracious to all of their Sect that lived modestly and inoffensively to deserve their Clemency But they must have publick Instruments for it and Acts of Parliament if they could be gotten to debauch his Majesty in the Love of his People For as the Lord Keeper writes very prudently to the Duke Cab. P. 105. The Bent of the English Catholicks is not to procure Ease and Quietness to themselves but Scandals against their neighbouring Protestants and Discontents against the King and State Rhetorical Campian avows it in an Oration made at Doway Note this Apostrophe of his to our Kingdom As far as it concerns our Society we all dispersed in great Numbers through the World have made a League and Holy Solemn Oath that as long as any of us are alive all our Care and Industry all our Deliberations and Councils shall never cease to trouble your Calm and Safety Yet when our pragmatical Bosom-Enemies had wearied themselves with Solicitations the Earl of Nitsdale a main Prop of their Cause confest It may be Assurance sufficient to all Catholicks who have the Sense to consider that it must be our Master's and the Prince's gracious Disposition that must be our Safety more than either Word or Writ Thus he to the Duke Cab. P. 250. But while the Recusant Petitioners had caused all Affairs with us and Abroad to be obnoxious to Inflammation the Lord Keeper like a right Lapidary cuts a Diamond with a Diamond and useth Sir Tobâ— Mâ— is it not a Paradox the busiest Agent in that Cause to Manifest both in the Palace at Rome and in the Court at Madrid that the Petitioners grasp at more Favours than they could hold either with the Peace of this Kingdom or with the Laws of it which would endanger them to forfeit all that Connivance which they had gained before Give him his Due he rode with great Celerity to those remote Places and did his Work to the Proof and to his great Praise Sâ—stus est at mihi infidelis non est As Plautus in Trinummo The Lord Keeper failed not to put Gold in his Pocket but he paid him chiefly out of his Father's Purse That most Reverend Arch-Bishop of York his Father being highly distasted with Sir Toby's Revolt from the Protestant Religion made a Vow to Dis-inherit him and to leave him nothing The Lord Keeper plied the Arch-Bishop with sweet and pleasant Letters which he loved and with some Mediators in Yorkshire not to infringe his Vow for he did not ask him so much as to name him in his last Wiâ—l and Testament but to furnish him with Three thousand Pounds while he lived and the Sum was paid to his Son to a Peny How Sir Toby beâ— himself in the wisest Counsel which I think was given to the King of Spain may be read Cab. P. 25â— importuning his Majesty not to entangle the Prince with the Voâ—o of the Theologos to which he could not submit himself with Honour but to accept of those large Conditions for Catholicks which my Lord the King and the Prince have condescended to that so the Prince may have some foot of Ground upon which he may stand without Breach of Honour to comply with the incomparable Affection which he beareth to the Infanta This is sure that Sir Toby's Industry was well taken because he did what he could And he that employed him held him ever after to be a Person of Trust in any thing which he promised to do 145. Very consonant to the grand Particulars of the Praemises are the Contents of two Letters both dispatcht in June from the Lord Keeper to the Duke's Grace That which bears the former Date June 15 and yet unpublished lays out Errors advisedly and mannerly under the Heads of trivial Reports and furnisheth the Duke with Counsel for all Exigencies of Advantage especially diseloseth the King's Opinion if the Worst should come It is long but I could not pare it and not mar it Thus it is May it please your Grace IF ever I had as God knoweth I never had any extraordinary Contentment in the Fortunes of this World I have now good Cause offered me to redouble the same by that exceeding Love and Affection which every Man in his private Letter to others doth take Notice that your Grace doth bear and continually express to your poor Servant Nor is your Love incentred to me only in your own Breast but full of Operation having procured to me a good
unto him He complains further of want of Expedition in the Letters to be written by your Lordship to those principal Officers to whom it pertains for the Suspension of all Trouble and Molestation to the Roman Catholicks his Majesty's Subjects in matter of their Conscience His Majesty marvails not a little that the Pardon and Dispensation are so long delayed before they be delivered and the Letters so long before they are written His Majesty being troubled and offended that Cause should be taken upon these Delays by the Embassador to call into Jealousie his Majesty's Roundness and Integrity in Proceeding In all which Points his Majesty now prays you to give all possible Expedition that his Majesty may be no more soiled with the Jealousies and Suspitions of the Embassador nor importuned with their Requests for those things so entirely resolved on Albeit this Letter is so strict and mandatory the Lord Keeper presumed on the King's Goodness to write a Remonstrance to Mr. Secretary Conway flat against the Mandate with sundry Reasons to shew the high Expedience that the Instruments demanded should not yet be delivered To the which on the 9th of September Mr. Secretary sends back word Right Honorable I Have represented yours of the 18th to his Majesty who interprets your Intentions very well and cannot but think it good Counsel and a discreet Course had the State of the Business been now entire But as Promises have been past the Truth of a King must be preferred before all other Circumstances and within three Days you must not fail to deliver the Exemplification of the Pardon and Dispensation with the Coppy of the Letters c. Two Days after see the Hand of God September 21 a Post brought Intelligence that the Prince was departed with fair Correspondencies from the Court of Spain was certainly long before that time on Shipboard and would weigh Anchor as soon as Wind and Weather served him So in good Manners all Solicitations were hush'd and attended his Highness's Pleasure against he came into England These are the Performances of the Lord Keeper upon the Immunities which the Papists contended for to be derived to them by the Prince's Marriage with the Daughter of Spain Whither any States-man could have contrived them better I leave it to be considered by the Senators of the Colledge of Wisdom in my Lord Bacon's new Atlantis If it be possible for any to disprove these excellent Excogitations of Prudence with his Censure he will force me to say in this Lord's Behalf what Tully did for the Pontiss of old Rome Orat. pro resp Aurus Satis superque prudentes sunt qui illorum prudentiam non dicam assâ—qui sed quanta fuerit perspicere possint The Collection of all the precedent Passages were gathered by that Lord himself and stitched up into one Book every Leaf being signed with the Hands of Sir George Calvert and Sir Edward Conway principal Secretaries to his Majesty If it be asked to what end was that provided it was to shew he had a Brest-Plate as well as an Head-Piece It was to defend his Integrity against any Storm that dark Days might raise about the Spanish Matters It was a gathering thick when my Lord of Buckingham caused Mr. Packer his Secretary to write a Letter of Defiance to him Cab. P. 87. wherein every Penful of Ink is stronger than a Drop of Vicriol Take a Line of it That in the Spanish Negotiation he had been dangerous to his Country prejudicious to the Cause of Religion which he above all others should have laboured to uphold But rip up all his Actions turn the Linings outward shew any Stain-Spot in his Fidelity in his Innocency chiefly in his Maintainance of the Reformed Religion Therefore he met the Lord Duke couragiously Pag. 89. I do not in the least beg or desire from your Grace any Defence of me if it shall appear I betray'd my King or my Religion in Favour of the Papist or did them any real Respect at all beside ordinary Complement Therefore I appeal to all Posterity who shall read this Memorial how a Minister in his Office and intrusted with the whole weight of such a ticklish Negotiation could come off better with more Honour with lâ—ss Prejudice Photius in his Biblioth says of Saluslius the Cynick that he was a worthy Man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He had listed himself into that Sect of Philosophy which was carved out or exposed to Reproach and Contumiâ—y So this noble Councellor was as Harmless as he was Wise as Honest as he was Active But the Business which he underwent for his great Master and the Prince was Planet-struck with an ill Opinion of many and could look for no Thanks but from a few that were the Wisest 167. Especially most circumspect and diligent Endeavours if superior Providence hath decreed to make them barren shall not be pitied as they deserve but be insulted upon because they cannot reach their End The best Angler that is we commonly think he fish'd ill if he catch'd nothing Inde plaerumque eadâ—m sacta modò diligentiae modò vanitatis modò libertatis modò furor is nomen accipiunt Plin. lib. 6. Ep. Lucky Success makes a Fool seem wise and a wise man that is unfortunate shall be called a Fool. It is a hard Task to dig into the Mines of Poâ—icy when Event shall be the Measure both of Reward and Praise Yet all this must be endured after his Highness took his Leave of Spain the Donna Hâ—rmesa left behind the Stock of Love spent and in a while the Credit of it protested Our King was not ill disposed to the News that is Son made preparation to come Home The People began to be churlish that he staid so long And his Majesty look'd for no Good from that Part of the World while our Duke was in it He found that so long as he was so remote from his Tutorship he was heady a Novice in carrying Business and very offensive to the Crown of Spain The Prince was desirous to make haste from them that would make no better haste and could no longer endure the Pace of a dull Spanish Mule As a weary Traveiler's Inn seems still to go further from him so his Highness had attended long for a sweet Repose in Wedlock till it made him impatient and think that every Consuito cast him further back from the Fruition of his Joys The Junto of the Spanish States-men were very magisterial and would not bate an Inch but that every thing should be timed to a day as they designed it These were the Links of the Chain by which they pluck all Power to themselves First A Disposorios or Contract must go before the Marriage For that 's a Rule from which their Church doth never vary unless good Order be broken by clandestine Marriages To the Contract they could not go on in this Case till the Dispensation from the new Pope gave Authority for it That came to
being Eleven of them in the Tower Wisheech Newgate and no more This Favour had many Reasons to speak for it First To let all those who were inquisitive about the Event of his Highness Journey take notice that there was yet life in the Treaty by the motion of this Pulse Secondly To gratifie the most obnoxious of that Religion for requital of the Entertainment his Highness had among them Thirdly In Retaliation for the Prisoners that were set at Liberty in Spain to Congratulate the Princes welcom Fourthly That his Highness might keep his Word with those of that way who had done him good Offices abroad to whom he had said Cab. p. 251. That though the Marriage were broken his Catholick Subjects should not fare the worse for it Therefore hear what Mr. Secretary Conway Writes to the Lord Keeper October 7. Right Honorable HIs Majesty calling to Mind His promise to the Spanish Ambassadors for giving Liberty to the Priests requires your Lordship to prepare the Ordinance for their Liberty and to put it in Execution the rest of the Pardons being suspended till the Solemnizing the Marriage And His Majesty would that you should signifie so much to the Ambassadors in your own Person to acquaint them with His Mindfulness And then that your Lordship will be pleased to move the Ambassadors as giving them a good opportunity to do an acceptable Work that they would move for the Releasement of Dr. Whiting from Imprisonment who for his Sermon Preach'd at Hampton-Court stands committed but His Majesty will have him remain suspended from Preaching untill His further Pleasure be known Now for the Letters which his Majesty was made to believe were dispersed to the Magistrates Spiritual and Temporal about the Suspension of the Laws because his Majesty was disobeyed in it the Lord Keeper after he had seen the Inclination of the Court in three or four days wrote to the Secretary who knew all the Passages to put the Duke upon it to acquaint the King with the Naked Truth and fore-speak Displeasure Upon which Mr. Secretary Conway returns this Octob. 11. from Royston Right Honorable SO soon as I received your Letter with the like Observation that I will use in all your Command I took the Duke of Buckingham just as he was going to the King and had no more time with him but to tell him that Point touching your Wise and Moderate Retention of the Letters to the Bishops and Justices The Duke prepared the King so well as His Majesty gave me order to signifie to you that those Letters should still be retained unless some Complaints should make change of Counsels or the Accomplishment on the other side equal that of ours and occasion another step forward That Wise and Moderate way of your Lordships will ever get you Estimation and Ease I am glad to see how brave a Friend you have of the Duke And I know your Lordship will give me leave to make you as glad as my self that absence hath made no change towards my Lord Duke in the Kings Favour but his return if it be possible hath multiplied it And the Prince and He are for Communications of Counsels Deliberations and Resolutions as if they were but One. The King requir'd but one Thing more of the Lord Keeper that as he had addulced all Things very well to his Mind so the Ministers of the King of Spain might not Grudge that their Teeth were set on Edge with sower Grapes which he did effect most Artificially albeit the Ambassadors by his means had lost many Suits and more Labour as the Secretary was willed to acknowledge from Hinchingbrooke Octob. 25. Right Honorable I Delivered to his Majesty the good Temper you left the Embassadors in which gave his Majesty Contentment and moved his Thanks to you Your Humane and Noble Usage you may be sure will best beseem your Lordship and please others And when there is any Cause for you to take another Form on you be confident you shall have seasonable Knowledge For my Lord Duke hath as well a Noble Care of you as Confidence in you and Affection to you of which I am assured though a mean Witness So much was contrived and a great deal more to keep the Treaty from an utter dissociation till the next Parliament sate For the Coppy of the Memorials given January 19 by Sir Wal. Aston to the King of Spain professeth That because the Faculty for the Use of the Procuration expired at Christmas the King my Master that you may know the sound Intentions of his Proceedings with the good End to which it aims hath renewed the Powers and deferred the delivery of them only to give time for the Accomplishment and setling that which hath been promised for the satisfying his Expectations Cab. P. 39. Neither did the Spaniards return the Jewels which the Prince had presented at the Shrine of Love till the end of February at which Surrendry and not before the golden Cord was broken Nothing is more sure than that the Prince's Heart was removed from the Desire of that Marriage after the Duke had brought him away from the Object of that Delightful and Ravishing Beauty But all the while the King had his Head full of Thoughts brooding upon two things like the Twins that struggled in the Womb of Rebeckah the Consummation of the Marriage and the Patrimony of his Son-in-Law to be regained with the Dignity Electoral His Wisdom hovered between them both like the Sun at his Noonday Height Metâ distans aequalis utraque He knew he should be disvalued to the wounding of all Good Opinion if he did not engrast that Alliance into his Stem which he had sought with so much Expence of Time and Cost to strengthen and aggrandize his Posterity And he knew he should loose Honour with all the Potentates of Europe beside other Mischiefs if nothing were done for re-possessing the Palatinate Yet in sine he sate down and it cleast his Heart that he affected neither As a Canker eats quickly into soft and sappy Wood so an Error was gotten into his gentle Nature the same that Spartianus says had crept into Didius Julianus Reprehensus in eo praecipue quos regere authoritate sud debuit regendae reipub praesules sibi ipse fecit He submitted himself to be ruled by some whom he should have awed with Authority but he wanted Courage to bow them to his own Bent. A Prince that preserves not the Rights of his Dignity and the Majesty of his Throne is a Servant to some but therein a Friend to none least of all to himself 174. But he did so little bear up with an Imperatorian Resolution against the Method of their Ways who thrust his Counsels out of Doors that the Flies suck'd him where he was gall'd and he never rub'd them off He continued at Newmarket as in an Infirmary for he forgot his Recreations of Hunting and Hawking yet could not be drawn to keep the Feasts of
Choler in his Complexion Yet that it could not appear but that the Marriage on King Philip's part was very sincerely meant in all the Treaty most clearly when his Highness took his Farewell most openly since his Departure Wherein the Earl of Bristol had much wronged that great Monarch giving him a Bastle insupportable For when the Power of Revocation or rather Repression of the Proxy was peremptorily in his Lordship's hand he did not acquaint the King of Spain to stop him from erecting a Gallery turned by the Earl's Negligence into a Gullery in the open Streets covered with the richest Tapestry and set forth with all other Circumstances of Wealth and State to conduct the Infanta in open View and with most magnificent Solemnity to the Deposorios when by the Instruments and Commissions the Earl had lately received he knew these augustious Preparations would be ridiculously disappointed which was a Despight that a Gentleman not to say an Embassador should have prevented For the Disgrace was so far blown abroad with Derision that it was the News of Gazette's over all Europe The Intention of that Nation to give the Infanta in Marriage to the Prince being not controverted Yet his Highness protesting on his part that he was free unless the Palatinate were surrendred they were all satisfy'd with it his Word was Justice to them and that which was in his own Breast must alone direct him how to use his Freedom This Question dispatched was upon a blown Rose the next was upon a Bramble The Lord Duke was so zealous say it was for the Palsgrave's Sake that he voted the King of Spain to be desied with open War till amends were made to the illustrious Prince Elector for the Wrongs he sustained The Lords appointed for the Conference that apprehended it otherwise were the Keeper Treasurer Duke of Richmond Marquess Hamilton Earl of Arundâ—l Lord Carow Lord Belfast who could not say that the King of Spain had done the part of a Friend for the Recovery of the Palatinate as he had profess'd nor yet could they find that he had acted the Part of an Enemy declaredly as was objected Their Judgment was the Girts of Peace were slack but not broken This is couched in the Admonitions of an Ignote unto King James Cab. p. 278. The Conference or Treaty about the Palatinate was taken from the Council of State a Society of most prudent Men only for this Cause that almost every one of them had with one Consent approved the Propositions of the most Catholick King and did not find in it any Cause of dissolving the Treaty And a little beneath The Duke fled from the Council of State and disclaimed it for a Parliament by way of an Appeal Most true that scarce any in all the Consulto did vote to my Lord Duke's Satissaction which made him rise up and chase against them from Room to Room as a Hen that hath lost her Brood and clucks up and down when she hath none to follow her The next time he saw the Lord Belfast he asked him with Disdain Are you turned too and so flung from him Cab. p. 243. To which the Lord Belfast answered honestly in a short Letter That he would conform himself in all things to the Will and good Pleasure of the King his Master The greatest Grudge was against the Lord Keeper who seldom spake but all Opinions ran into his one as they did at this time and the Duke presumed that his Sentence should never vary from his own Mind An hard Injunction and all the Favour on Earth is too dear to be bought at such a Price But he declared that he saw no Expediency for War upon the Grounds communicated For upon whom should we fall says he either upon the Emperor or the King of Spain The Emperor had in a fort offered our King his Son-in-Law's Country again for a great Sum in Recompence of Disbursments but where was the Money to be had Yet it might be cheaper bought than conquered before a War were ended For the King of Spain he saw no Cause to assault him with Arms He had held us indeed in a long Treaty to our Loss but he held nothing from us and was more likely to continue the State of things in a possibility of Accommodation because he disliked the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition and had rather stop the Enlargement of his Territories The King was glad that some maintained his Judgment and would not consent wantonly to raise him from the Down Bed of his long admired Peace Neither did he refrain to speak very hardly of that Servant whom he loved best that agitated to compel him to draw the Sword one of the great Plagues of God His Censure upon him was bitter Cab. P. 92. but fit to be cast over-board in silence 176. A King of Peace is not only sittest to build Temples but is the Temple of God Such a one doth foresee how long how far how dangerously the Fire of War will burn before he put a Torch to kindle it And as every Bishop ought to have a care of the Universal Church so every King ought to have a care of all Humane Society It is not such a thing to raise War in these Days as it was in Abraham's Muster his Servants in one Day and rescue Lot from his Enemies the next Nor such as it was with the old Romans make a Summers Laâ—rt in Vit. before he laid down his Office The Charge in our Age which usually for many Years doth oppress the People will hardly countervail if GOD should send it the Gladness of a Victory Nor is all fear over when a War is ended But as Solon says Lacrt. in Vit. Great Commanders when they have done their Work abroad and are return'd with Honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do more Mischief by their Factions to their Country than they did against their Enemies And whosever scape well the poor Church is like to suffer two ways First as Camden says Eliz. Ann. 1583. Schismatica pravitas semper bello ardente maxime luxuriat Schismatical Pravity will grow up under the Licentiousness of War Some profane Buff-Coats will Authorize such Incendiaries Secondly For some Hundreds of Years by-past in Christendom I cannot find but where Wars have been protracted the Churchman's Revenue hath been in danger to pay the Soldiers If this affect not those that will not think that there is such a Sin as Sacrilege yet all acknowledge that there is such a Virtue as Humane Compassion Then they that would awake drouzy Peace as they call it with the Noise of the Drum and the prancing of Horses in the Street let them before they design their War describe before their Consciences the heaps of slaughter'd Carkasses which will come after That the Land which is before tâ—en shaâ—I look like the Garden of the Lord and that which is behind them like Burning and Brimstone For all this will they tempt God and be the Foes of
their Clutches that by Arms or cunning Treaties do Usurp it But the way and Manner in Discovering the Couchant Enemy in preserving that handful of our Friends in laying down some Course of Diversion and the like you do most wisely and modestly refer to the proper Oracle His Majesties Wisdom and Deep Counsel Yea but I must tell you Mr. Speaker Vinci in amore turpissimum the King cannot endure to be outvyed by his People in Love and Courtesies What you in Duty do refer to him his Majesty in Confidence of your Wisdom and Loving Assections returns upon You. You say you would have the King betake him to sound Counsel You are his Counsel Consilium magnum his Main and Principal Counsel It is very true That since the begining of Harry the 8th the Kings of England have reserved those Matters to their own Conisance and Resolution But it is as true that from Harry the First until that Harry the Last our Kings have in every one of those Questions Repaired to and received Advice of their Parliaments Id verum quod primum Our Master means to follow the former Precedents His Majesty Commands me to yield unto you Hearty Thanks for your just Resentments of his Sufferings in this Cause and to tell you withall that because the main of the Expedition is to be born by the Persons and Purses of the People whom you do represent He is pleased to accept of the Advice of the House of Commons concerning the finding out of this secret Enemy the re-inforcing of our remaining Friends and by what kind of Diversion we shall begin the Enterprize And God the Holy Ghost be present with you in all your Consultations 184. In the Ninth Place That Well of Wood our Navy Royal wherewith you well observed this whole Island to be most strongly fortified we must all attribute the well Rigging and good Condition of it to the great Cost Care and Providence of his Sacred Majesty Hic tot sustinuit hic tanta negotia solus And yet as that Carver that beautified the Temple of Diana although he wrought upon other Mens Charges was suffered notwithstanding to engrave his own Name in some eminent Places of the Building So surely can it be denied by Envy it self but that most Noble Lord who is now a compleat Master in his Art and hath spent his seven years Studies in the Beautifying of the Navy should have a glorious Name enstamped thereupon though in a sitting Distance from his Lord and Master whose Princely Majesty A longe sequitur vestigia semper adorans Lastly For the Reformation of Ireland this I am bidden to deliver Pliny commending the Emperor Trajan to the utmost reach of Eloquence says That the most laudable and most remarkable Point in all his happy Government was That his Care was not consined to Italy alone but Instar solis like the Beams and Influence of the Sun it shed it self to many other Countries Surely his Majesty's Providence is of a large Extent for where the Sun scarce darteth his Beams his Majesty hath shined most gloriously by the Execution of wholsome Laws engrafting Civility and Planting true Religion And let this be our Soveraign's Comfort that though this poor Kingdom though never so reformed shall add very little to his Crown of Temporal Majesty here on Earth it will be an Occasion of an immense Access to his Crown of Glory hereafter in Heaven And now for your four Petitions Mr. Speaker his Majesty grants them all in one Word What Priviledge Liberty Access or fair Interpretation was ever yielded to the Members of that House his Majesty grants them to the Knights and Burgesses now assembled fully and freely without the least Jealousie Qualification or Suspicion I will only add a Memorandum out of Valerius Maximus to cut an even Thred between King and People Quid Cato sine Libertate Quid libertas sine Catone What is Wisdom without Liberty to shew it And what is Liberty without Wisdom to use it 185. Hitherto the King spake to the People by the Lord Keeper's Mouth and then the House rose All rejoyced that such gracious Concessions were returned to Mr. Speaker's Motions which were the Beam that held up the insequent Counsels till the Roof was covered with Agreement And it took the more that it was inlaid with such Mosaick Work not to the Eye but to the Ear by a perfect Orator It was the greatest and the knowingest Auditory that this Kingdom or perhaps the World afforded whose general Applause he carried away to as much as Modesty could desire Isocrates extolling the famous Acts of Evagoras before the full Celebrity of the Athenians exulted that Evagoras was approved by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose good Opinion was more honorable to him than all the Earths beside It was a happy sight at that time to see the Patriots of both Houses depart with Hands held up to God and with Smiles in their Looks that you might think they said one to another as the Princes of the Congregation and the Heads of the Thousands of Israel said to the Children of Reuben and Gad c. This day we perceive that the Lord is among us Jos 22.31 The Lord Keeper was summoned in three days after to a fresh Business and a larger Task than the former So fine a Tongue was sure not to want Work The Lords and Commons were brought into the Banqueting-House at White-Hall Feb. 24. where the Duke of Buckingham spake unto them leading them into the Maeanders of the Spanish Treatise and lead them out of them by the Clew of his own Diligence as he spared not to give himself the Honour of it For this time he was the Alcibiades that pleased the Common-wealth His Zeal and unremovable Pertinacy not to cope with the Spaniard in any Proposition unless the Prince Elector might be brought into his own Land again with an honorable Post liminium did enter inwardly and into the Marrow of all pitiful Affections But when he unfolded how strong the Prince was to the Principles of the right Faith and how attendant and dutious himself was to see that no Emissaries should poyson his Highness's Heart the general Suffrage was that the Prince had march'd valiantly like a Captain of Holy Truth and that the Duke deserved a great Name as a Lieutenant that maintained the Cause of God under him For it was ever easie to strike the good People of England half blind with the Dazling of Religion So much did the Parliament thirst for the Report of this Narration that it was imposed on the Lord Keeper to make it the next day All that might be done was that he took him to his Memory and to his Pen and drew up three Sheets of Paper upon it in a fast and scarce legible Hand He must proceed by the Pattern My Lord Duke's Oration was the only part of Speech he must follow and like a wise Man whatsoever he thought he must make
Honour and Safety could not approve 187. After this says the Reporter my Lord Duke hath informed you of the Dispensation the Whirly-Gig of the Dispensation which run round from Pope to Pope and never could be said to settle And though an orbicular Motion is fittest for the Spheres of Heaven yet a circular Motion which is ever beginning and never ending is stark naught for dispatch of Affairs on Earth Both the Dispensation and the Labour of the Junto of Divines upon it and their Fumbling Fingers were never fit to tye a Love-Knot Nay the Conde Duke brake out into such a Chase against their Theologues that he said the Devil put it into his Head to commit the Matter to their Learning So that it seems the Resolution of the Divines came quite contrary to the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost The next thing says he reported out of his Grace's Digestions was the Loathing that the Prince did take at the Length of the Treaty as well as the Matter but chiefly at that In the Matter that he was offered the present Conducting of the Lady into England so he would sell his Soul for the Favour and be a Client to Saints and Images to beg a Blessing of them upon his Marriage And whereas his Highness had travelled into so far a Country as well to relieve a Sister and her Posterity as to fetch a Wife he was at such a loss about the Loss of his Sister's Inheritance that the Spanish Council would fasten upon nothing to content him Hereupon his Highness declared himself plainly to the Conde in these Words Look to it Sir for without this you must not conclude of either Marriage or Friendship For I must go to my Father and acquaint him with your Resolution Here the Lord Keeper grew warm and besought their Lordships to observe how constant his Highness remained to the principal Ground of all the Restitution of the Palatinate which was the Hinge upon which all his subsequent Actions did move Look to it for neither Marriage nor Friendship can be made without the Restitution of that Dominion Which Protestation effecting little good his Highness look'd homeward But his Purposes and Preparations for his Return were often slackned But because the King of Spain expected a Betrothing with his Sister before his going away the Conde Duke revived the Treaty for the Restitution of the Paltz And after Conference with the Emperors Ambassadors there was projected a Restitution of the Country to the Son upon a Condition of a Marriage with the Emperors second Daughter which the Prince entertained But then the stabbing Condition comes after That for his Religion he must first be bred in the Emperors Court at which his Highness stopt his Ears But for the Electorate it was a thing in Nubibus out of their Power and it seems out of their Affections for they would not be drawn to meddle in it And whereas they had once made a chearful Proffer To assist us with the Arms if the Emperor did not keep his Word to put the Prince Palatine into his own again Now they slew back and confest the Emperor had been inconstant and did not deal well with them but if he would beat and buffet them they would not promise to employ a Leavy of Forces against the House of Austria 188. Now says the Voice of the Reporter since his Highness could prevail for nothing to come on well his wisest Project was to take care that himself might come off well For which there is not one of your Lordships I presume but would have given much and done much And it cost you nothing but the Perturbation of some Suspicions and Fears I say Fear was the worst you susser'd For Religion God be thanked suffer'd not at all though it was greatly mistrusted There the Lord Keeper delighted their Expectations in that which they listned after how the Kings Ministers and himself principally for he shrunk not in his Head did proceed from time to time in the last Summer about the Pardon and Dispensation about which the Spanish Ambassadors struggled for the Recusants sake In Contemplation whereof the Prince had a free and friendly Dismission yet not a Joint of Religion sprained nor a Law actually dislocated But as a Wound that is cured by a Weapon Salve sine contactu so the Law was never touch'd only the Point and Edge of the Weapon a little anointed and by the Operation of it our Noble Prince past the Pikes of Danger and is come Home to his Fathers House from a far Land without a Pater peccavi GOD be thanked he neither sinned against Heaven nor against his Father nor against you nor against the Laws or Religion for which we have cause to offer up a great Thanksgiving to GOD because there is not a spot in the Sacrifice He goes on then as the Tract of my Lord the Duke did lead him and enters into a large Field to rip up that which had been told them before how near the Prince and the Infanta were drawn together where the Marriage staid and upon what Conditions they parted Which though it had been many Years in Destination as we were credulous and do not yet lay down our Faith yet if Conde Olivarez may be trusted until they had seen the Gallantry of the Prince and his Deservings being daily now in their Eyes they held us with fair Words before but Performance till then was never meant Which he made good at least to his own Opinion by two Letters the first bears date Nov. 5. 1622. it was the late King of Spain's as the Conde said read over six times by his Highness and Sir Walter Aston and presently out of their Memories for they were not permitted to excribe it set down in Writing and I hope says the Lord Keeper when you consider the Notary you will hold it authentical The second Letter is written with Olivarez his own Hand Novemb. 8. 1623. Translated by the Prince himself very neatly and exactly Let the Clerk read them both These declare the Resolution of the Spanish Court at least in my Opinion that the great Conde's Heart was not with us till the Prince lodg'd in their Palace and sate in Council with them himself the last Summer But by that opportunity their Eyes were opened and they perceiv'd that their Lady whom they magnifie so much could never make a more happy Wife than with so brave a Husband So that no doubt the Desposorios and perhaps the Nuptials had been past by this time with mutual liking if the scandal of invading the Palatinate had been removed out of the way This the Duke's Grace says the Lord Reporter hath impartially spread out holding a just Balance in his Hand And most prudently knowing that he spake in the hearing of the wisest in the Kingdom and most faithfully for as Valerian said of Posthumius in the History of Pollio if Posthumius deceive us Sciatis nusquam gentium reperiri qui
That if his Majesty should receive any intelligence that he was deteined in that State as a Prisoner he would be pleased for his sake never to think of him more as a Son but to reflect with all his Royal Thoughts upon the good of his Sister and upon the safety of his own Kingdoms Sic omnes unus amores vicit amor patriae And so far to the Supplements I must now explicate their Lordships Opinion who having by the Command of his Majesty taken into their Mature Considerations the whole Narration made by the Prince his Highness and my Lord Duke to both Houses in this place and all the Letters and Dispatches read unto them to corroborate the same And Lastly these Supplements and Additions recited before are of opinion upon the whole Bulk of the matter that his Majesty cannot rely upon or maintain any longer either of both these Treaties concerning the Match with Spain or the Restitution of the Palatinate with the safety of his Religion his Honour his Estate or the Weal and Estate of his Grand-Children And his Highness together with their Lordships are desirous to know whether you Gentlemen the Knights Burgesses and Citizens of the House of Commons do concur with their Lordships in this their Opinion which they ever referred to this further Conference with your Honourable House 192. As Plutarch said of the Laconick Apothegms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Clean and Sound Timber with the Bark taken off So the Reader may observe in these Reports that the Matter is Heart of Oak the Style clear from Obscurity and disbark'd quite from superduity But regarding the Auditors and their Affections at that Season nothing could be more proper for he spake to their Content as if he had been within them with Sweet and Piercing Expressions resembled in the Harp and the Quiver of Arrows with which the Heathen Trimm'd up Apollo their Deity of Graceful Speech They that detract from such Worth would be glad it were their own as says our compleat Poet upon the like A good Man 's Envied by such as would For all their Spight be like him if they could But this beginning presaged good Luck to the ensuing Counsels debated in that Session This is called to this day the Blessed Parliament and so Posterity will take it from us Says Tully very well 3. Philip. Magna vis est magnum numen unum idem consentient is senatus A full Senate Head and Members consenting in one carries a Majestick and Oraculous Authority with it This is the Confirmation of it when the people brought before the King the Fruits of their Wisdom which they had Studied And the King did ratifie him chearfully with the Wisdom of his Power They opened their Purse to him and which was more beneficial to them then if they had spared a little Mony he let fall some Flowers off his Crown that they might gather them up which indeed was no more then desluvium pennarum the Molting of some Feathers after which the Eagle would Fly the better He opened his Ear to them in all their Petitions and they listned as much to him and gave their Ear-Rings to Jacob Gen. 35.4 So the King and the Subject became perfect Unisons And as God doth knit his own Glory and the Salvation of mankind together so the King did imitate God and Married his Honour with the welfare of the Kingdom Who is it that reads the Statutes 21 Jacobi and doth not admire them The Peers took it to be their greatest Nobility to look well to the Publick And the other House did light upon the True Companion of Wisdom Sâ—data Tranquillitas a Calm Tranquility as Rivers are deepest where they Foam least And all the Land had cause of rejoycing that the House of Commons was never better Replenish'd in Man's Memory with Knights and Burgesses of rare Parts and Tempers especially the Gown-men of the Inns of Courts who were extoli'd for Knowledge and political Prudence as no Age had afforded a better Pack And I give the Lord Keeper his Right and no more knowing his Traces perfectly at that time that he labour'd as for Life to keep an Harmony between the King and this Parliament to suck out his Majesties assent to all their Proceedings that he might shew himself as good as he was great Which I think was the greatest certainly the happiest part of Honour that ever the Lord Keeper Merited How he mitigated Discontents and softned refractoriness how he obliged the leading Voices with benefits how he kept the Prerogative of the Supreme Power and the Extravagancies of pretended Liberty on the other side from Encroachments the Wise only knew but they that knew it not were the better for it and that he was chiefly us'd in Consultation for compiling those wholesom Laws which had their double Resining and Clarifying from Lords and Commons In all likelihood prosperous success might be expected from this Parliament because it was Pious and Pious because it was a strict preserver of the Holy Patrimony Allotted to God Quae 〈…〉 erunt quam quibus Deus praestitit auxilium says Ansonius to the Emperor 〈◊〉 What Counsels are more compleat then those that are help'd by God Nay What Councels can be more compleat then theirs that defend the Right of God As worser times would let the Clergy keep nothing so those times by their good Will would let them part with nothing Let the Trial be observ'd as the Case follows 193. The Duke of Buckingham lack'd a dwelling according to the Port of his Title and to receive a very populous Family It must be near to Whitehal and it must be spacious None could be found so fit as the Arch-Bishop of York his House It was nigh to Charing-Cross and he came little to it The Duke us'd the Lord Keeper to move Arch-Bishop Mathew for his Consent and to make the Bargain between them causing him to make prosser of such Lands in the County of York as should be equivalent or better then the House Garden and Tenements belonging to the Arch-Bishop's Place For nothing was intended but Exchange with considerable Advantage to him and his Successors And that was sure as touch because the House was to be past by Act of Parliament to the Kings Majesty So the Duke had made it his humble Request and drew on the King hardly to make a Chop with those Demeasnes to which the Name of God and his Christ were made the Feoffees in the first Donation for the use of that Tribe which peculiarly serves him in Sacred Offices Yet with instance and much Suit the King was wrought to it for the Duke's sake As M. Antony said to his Confident Septimius Quod Concupiscas tu videris quod concupieris certè habebis Tul. 5. Philip. So this Beloved Minion should be Wise to see what he ask'd for his Master had no Power to say him nay His Majesty was most Nice and Cautious to make the Composition
not in God's Harvest The antient Christians that desaced Idols of Silver and Gold would Purse none of the Metal for fear of giving Scandal to the Heathen Stilico demolished some such Images and he and his Wife were found to wear the Ornaments that had belonged to them for which they were cry'd out upon says Baronius An. 389. c. 57. Quia apud antiquae probitatis Christianos nefas erat in Idola grassari ut in usum privatum aliquid verteretur ut appareat pietate nos ista destruere non avaritiâ A very wise and a pious Course for an avaricious Zeal is a poysoned Cordial And few will captivate their Understanding to edifie by a Sacrilegious Reformer I hope Loosers may have Leave to breath out their Sorrows especially for Sion's sake However I beseech God to preserve his Ark among us though the Pot of Manna be lost to bless the pure Doctrine and the Sacraments of the Gospel to all to whom they belong that the Infant be not rob'd of the one nor such as are of grown Age of the other Then as the Earth is the Lords in all its Fulness so the true Church is Christ's in all its Penury and Emptiness And this is enough to let the Reader see what was intended to be made good before that a most Church-loving was a most happy Parliament 195. Yet no feast was ever so bountiful but some went away unsatisfied and no Court was ever so Righteous upon Earth but some Appellants thought they were prejudiced If any man had Cause to complain of the Justice of this Parliament it was the Lord Treasurer Cranfield About whose Tryal if I should ask as the Pharises did about Divorces Is it lawful to censure a principal Officer for eve-Cause I must say as Christ answered them From the Beginning it was not so A Parliament is a Judge among Gods a Terror to Magistrates that are a Terror to any but to them that deserve Evil the only or the best Inquisitor into the Ways of them that Rule in high Places that he that stands may take heed least he fall But if it grow common if every Session make it their Work or their Recreation to hunt such Game down and root up Cedars that might have stood without Offence Moderation will be desired and the Prudent will think it is not fit many a Week should be lost anent the providing of good Laws when a Month or two pass over in bringing a white Staff or some such Grandee to the Stake to be baited by Informers The Lord Treasurer had some Petitions preferred against him in March which at first he laugh'd at and thought to scorn them down with Unguiltiness For who regards the first Grudgings of a Sickness Yet none perish sooner than they that are not provident against the first beginning of an Evil. The Petitioners were countenanced because he whose Harm they sought was one that was not beloved 'T is true he was surly and of hard Access But be it remembred he sate in his great Places not to be popular and get Affections but to be Just and to Husband the Revenue of the Crown with Prudence But subtle Knavery is like to be longer unquestioned than rough-cast Innocency He was charged with Corruption and sordid Bribery all the while many Sages contended that the Proofs came not home to a full Discovery One press'd it close that he gave him Five hundred Pound to break well through a long Suit in the Court of Wards To which the Treasurer answered That the Money was paid him for a Place in the Custom-House for which the Complainant had often moved him which his Secretaries and other Witnesses made good and that upon the Payment of that Sum one of the Six and thirty Portions in the Custom-House was reserved for him Albeit the weight of this suspected Bribe not a Bur hanging upon his Gown beside press'd him down in the Conclusion This was not to turn Foxes into Fleas a Bed as H. Grotius doth in his Notes upon the Canticles but it is to turn Fleas into Foxes or rather Flea-bites into the mortal Spots of the Pestilence Whether the Treasurer had great Faults it is uncertain and waits Report but 't is sure he had great Adversaries The Duke of Buckingham and all his Party appeared against him Whereupon Sir A. Wel. the most virulent Defamer of the Lord Treasurer writes That a small Accusation as his was would serve to turn him out of his Honor whom the Duke did then oppose But why did his Grace heave at his Cousin by Marriage 't is very dark It seems the Courtiers had no Mind to let us know it For as Lampridius Notes in Vit. Alex. Sev. Secreta omnia in aulâ esse cupiunt ut soli aliquid scire videantur It is perhaps that the Treasurer would have brought a Darling Mr. Arthur Bret his Countess's Brother into the King's Favour in the great Lord's Absence Or that he grudg'd that the Treasury was exhausted in vast Issues by the late Journey into Spain and denied some Supplies Or that he dealt too plainly at the Council-Table in giving no kind Ear to his Cousin's Relations of his Doings at Madrid having not the Art to catch his Affections in the Springes of Flattery But down the Duke cast him as me-seems being not aware how every man hath so many Relations that he that destroys one Enemy makes himself ten more Or as I heard another say long ago much better upon it that my Lord of Buckingham did never undo any of his Enemies but he ruin'd many of his Friends And in this Lord 's Overthrown the Prince abetted him was Privy to the Undertakings of his Adversaries and accompassed Suffrages to Condemn him The bitter Welden P. 168. could not resâ—ain to Comment upon it That the Prince discerned so much Juggling in the Parliament in Cranfield's Case that it was not much to be wondred at being come to be King that he did not affect them King James being all that time of this Storm not at Newmarket as our late Mistakers say but at Greenwich was so sad that a trusty Servant and an able should be thus handled forced from him and quipt every day with ignominious Taunts that the kind Correspondencies between him and the Parliament began to have a Cloud over them He courted many to take side with his Treasurer and prevailed little because the most did love to warm themselves in the Light of the Rising Sun He tutored his Son the Prince that he should not take part with a Faction in either House but so reserve himself that both Sides might seek him and chiefly to take heed how he bandied to pluck down a Peer of the Realm by the Arm of the Lower House for the Lords were the Hedge between himself and the People and a Breach made in that Hedge might in time perhaps lay himself open But the Duke had thrust on the Prince so far that he could not retreat
else the Treasurer had been rescued by the Power and Justice of his Royal Master His Majesty perceived that the Actions of this unfortunate Man rack'd with the strictest Enquiries were not Sins going over the Head scarce reaching to the Ankles and why should he suffer him to sink under the Waves of Envy Therefore he sent for the Lord Keeper to Greenwich and gave him his Sense That he would not make his Treasurer a publick Sacrifice Sir says the Lord Keeper I have attempted among my surest Friends to bring him off fairly All shrink and refuse me only the stout and prudent Lord Hollis adventured upon the Frowns of the Prince and Duke and gave his Reasons why Middlesex to him appeared an Innocent I were mad if for my part I should not wish him to escape this Tempest and be safe under the Harbor of Your Majesty's Clemency Suam quisque fortunam in consilio habet quando de alienâ deliberat Curt. lib. 5. When I deliberate upon him I think of my self 'T is his Fortune to day 't is mine to morrow The Arrow that hits him is within an Handful of me Yet Sir I must deal faithfully Your Son the Prince is the main Champion that encounters the Treasurer whom if you save you foil your Son For though Matters are carried by the whole Vote of Parliament and are driven on by the Duke yet they that walk in Westminster-Hall call this the Prince's Undertaking whom you will blast in his Bud to the Opinion of all your Subjects if you suffer not your old and perhaps innocent Servant to be pluck'd from the Sanctuary of Your Mercy Necessity must excuse you from Inconstancy or Cruelty In the Close of this Speech the Kings Reason was convinced that he must use this Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Treasurer suffered the Dishonour or rather the Calamity of a Censure Himself was so comforted to his dying Hour as the engraved Posie spake his Thoughts in his great Chamber at Copt-Hall in Essex Quae venit immeritò paena dolenda venit And I spake with few when it was recent that were contented with it except the Members of the House who would not dislike their own Action 196. Popular Favor continued a while with the Duke and now he was St. George on Horseback let the Dragon take heed that stood in his Way The Earl of Middlesex was removed and he that presided over the great Accounts did now stand for a Cipher The Lord Keeper perceived his turn was next although he wanted not fair Words and fair Semblance from the Contriver But an Ambush is more dangerous than a pitch'd Battel because it is hid unless the Leader look about him in his March and search every Hedge by Vant-curriers as he did A vigilant Man will not sleep with both Eyes when he suspects Danger Cauto circumspectu vita quae variis casibus subjacet est munienda Apul. instam lib. 11. The Keeper knew he had deserved no ill yet he trusted not to that for he knew likewise how a Judge that hears many Causes must condemn many and offend many And if Justice should shrink in to decline Offences what were it so like unto as to one in the Fable that would feed upon nothing but Spoon-meat because he would not wear out his Teeth He was not ignorant of the laudable or at least the durable Custom of the Commons to countenance all Prosecutors and to file the Medly of all Complaints Therefore this Prometheus kept a careful Watch to repulse Embroilments as much as he could for though he had a sound Bark yet none but a phrantick Pilate would be willing to be toss'd in a Storm And he had been an ill Keeper if he had not been wary to keep himself to which I may fitly apply the Orators Words Philip 12. Qui mulâ—â—rum Custodem se profitetur eum sapientes sui primum capitis aiunt Custodem esse oportere He had made the Prince his fast Friend before who was so ingenious that when he had promised Fidelity there was no fear that he would start chiefly because he sought to lay hold on his Highness upon no other Conditions than to mortifie those spiteful accusations if any such hapned with his Frown that durst not stand the Breath of Truth Concerning the Duke he was not so silly to look any longer upon himself as growing on the former Root of his Favour yet he was not so rude to expostulate with him according to the Merit of his Unkindness and provoke him further but as it occurs Cab. P. 80. He tells his Lordship That Suspicions of his Displeasure transported him not a Jot further than to look about him how to defend himself that he begg'd Assurance of his Grace's former Love yet not in the least desire to crave the Patronage of any corrupt or unjust act of his that should be objected against him in Parliament nor to take Refuge to him in any Cause or Clamor otherwise than according to Justice and fair Proceeding A sufficient Number of other Friends were made already to him by his Wisdom and Deservings whom he never requested as he had no need of it to make a Side for him but to be intentive to disclose such Winding Insinuations which are apt to twine about some weak Understandings This Forecast made him stand unmoveable and unaffrighted when Petitions and Remonstrances of Perdue-Causes were entred against him They came about him like Bees and were extinct like Fire among the Thorns And what were they that made a Noise with their Grievances Itane nihil fortunam puduit si minus accusatae innocentiae at accusantium wilitatis Boeth de consol 'T is a shame that Innocency should be accused but what Remedy shall it have against base and beggerly Accusers against the very Kennel of the Fleet and other Goals against such whose Suits would admit of no good Order and their Forwardness of no bad I knew a Plaintif and Desendant Morgan and Bouglar that complained one as much as the other of the same Decree to the Parliament and at the Hearing of the Cause one of the Counsel protested that Two hundred and twelve Commissions References and Orders had past upon it After a while a Bundle of those frivolous Objections being read and examined were cast out of Doors and the House in the Afternoon being put into a general Committee Seven and thirty of those Paper-Kites slew away that same day and were never heard of more Some of the Members would have repaired the Lord Keeper and asked him what he would have done to his Adversaries Nothing says he for by this time they have all fretted themselves into Patience and some of them perhaps into Repentance Which proved even so For many of them came privily to be admitted to his Favour condemned their own scandalous Petitions and laid it upon a great Name that they were encouraged to bring them in whom he
Curses That Generation of male-contents to whose Love an Evil Counsellor woed him was ever false and untrusty not suspected but known ever since the Faction was first rock'd in the Cradle to be tied by no Benefits Importunate Suitors and ever craving And having sped think their Cause and their Deservings have paid Thanks sufficient to their Patron And look what Colours the King our Master hath laid upon them and they are in Oyl which will not be got out in his Instructions to his Prince Henry where upon bitter Experience he tells him That he was more faithfully served by the Highlanders Then what a Merchant have you got of this spiteful Minister who would have you to commit your Stock to their Managing who would bring you Hatred for Love and Infamy for Honour But if your Grace conceive that I am hitherto rather upon the Invective than the Proof I will step into another Point and clear it against all Contradiction That if your Grace appear in distracting the Church-Lands from their holy and rightful use your Endeavours shall be cried down in Parliament not to terrifie you that your Adversaries will increase and batter you with this great Shot that you attempted to dissolve the Settlement of Church and Laws You lose your self says the Duke in Generalities Make it out to me in particular if you can with all your Cunning what should lead you to say That the Motion you pick at should find repulse and baffle in the House of Commons I know not how you Bishops may struggle but I am much deluded if a great part of the Knights and Burgesses would not be glad to see this Alteration The Lord Keeper had a List of their Names in readiness a Scrowle which he always carried about with him which he pluck'd out and pray'd his Grace he might give him a Cypher of the Inclinations either of the most or of the Bell-weathers And having entred a little into that tedious Work the Duke snatch'd the Scrowle out of his Hand and running it over with his Eye said no more but I find abundance of Lawyers among them Yes Sir says the Keeper most of them Men of Learning and Renown in their Profession I think by my continual Negotiating with them I know their Addictions in Religion whether they stand right or which way they bend I will not prejudge the Speaker and one or two more God knows their Hearts But for the rest I know they will be strong for the supportance of the Cathedral Chapters Is it so said his Grace And what do you think of Sir Edward Coke Marry says the Keeper no Friend to an old Friend In the 39 of Queen Elizabeth when he was Atturney-General he Damm'd a Patent surreptitiously gotten before his time by those Lime-Hounds employ'd for Concealments by which they went far to swallow up the greatest part of the Demeasns of the Bishop of Norwich revived the Right of those Religious Possessions by his own Industry and Prosecution and for the most part at his own Charge and rested not till for more Security after the Patent was overthrown he had confirm'd those Lands to the Bishop by an Act of Parliament Therefore I would we had no worse Strings to our Bow than Sir Edward Coke But whom doth your Grace name next Nay says the Duke you are come to me my Lord in a lucky Hour I was never further than in an Equipoise about this Project Now I have done with it 'T is still-born and let it be interr'd without Christian Burial My Good Lord says the Lord Keeper I thank God for it And I would all the Kingdom knew as well as I do how soon your good Nature is brought to a right Understanding 212. Both did well The one prest his Doctrine home the other caught it up quickly like a good Disciple The best refuge to come out of an Errour is undelaying Repentance And as Curtius speaks for Alexander Lib. 10. Bona ejus Naturae sunt vitia temporum So I am sure the times put the Duke upon these Shifts and not his own Inclination If he had not been cleansed from those pernicious Infusions what a Sin had he drawn upon himself What Folly Worse then Ahab's that would cut down a poor Neighbors Vineyard to set Pot-Herbs But this were to root up God's Vineyard to succour a War that is to set Thorns and Thistles in the Room They that care not to be good will think how to be wife Yet did they ever think of that that make away the Inheritance of God's Holy Tribe in an Out-sale 'T is an unthrifty Sin And in Twenty Years or in half the time the Sacrilegious themselves will find that the common Purse of the State is the poorer by the Bargain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says an Heathen and to the purpose Athenae Lib. 6. Cap. 20. Prudent Men will continue the Oblations of their Forefathers Piety They were ever readier to supply the publick need in the Custody of the Church than in the Maws of Cormorants But where was he that taught the Duke so well VVhere was he you will say in the hour of darkness when the Thief came in and the Troop of Robbers spoiled without Hos Chap. 7. Vers 8. VVhen all that had been given to God in a Thousand Years by them that had the Godliest and the largest Hearts melted like Wax before the Fire of Hell To the Friends of Sion and to them that lament her waste places I return thus to them and to their Question Every one that wore a Mitre and a Linnen Ephod before the Lord was driven out of that place where Wickedness was Enacted as a Law He that was Couragious among the the Mighty did flee away naked in that Day Amos 2.16 But what if he had been in the Throng He might as well have commended a Beauty to a Blind Man or the smell of Nard to him that hath no Nostril as to have contested with them not to divide the Prey whose Ears God had not opened Multum refert in quae cujusque tempora Virtus inciderit Plin. N.H. Lib. 7. Cap. 28. Virtue is beholding to Good Times to act its part in as well as Good Times are beholding to Virtue Our most Laureat Poet Spenser Lib. 1. Cant. 3. tells of a sturdy Thief Kirkrapine Who all he got he did bestow To the Daughter of Corcea blind and slow And fed her fat with Feasts of Off'rings And Plenty which in all the Land did grow To meet with him and give him his hire Una had a fierce Servant for her Guard that attended her a Lyon who tore the Church-robber to pieces And what is meant by Una's Lyon That 's not hard to guess at But rather what 's become of Una's Lyon The Poet says afterward that Sans-Loy a Paynim-Knight had slain him Belike none is left now to defie Kirkrapine 213. Also some Care is to be taken against them that are unworthily promoted in the Church
Neither do I blame them for bestowing a generous and liberal Part of their own upon themselves I should rebuke the contrary Nonne est manifest a phrenesis Ut locuples moriaris egentis vivere fato But let them be thankful for their Store and not attempt by Murmerings and Outcries to make the Goverment odious under which they prosper as if the Chief Shepherd of the People had not shorn a Lock of Wooll from their Backs but devoured them But what if they had been diminished to a visible Share of their Substance No worse Man than a Pope Gregory the First hath given us that Counsel Lib. 3. Ep. 26. To Januarius Bishop of Calaris in Sardinia Si quis rusticus tantae fucrit perfidiae obstinationis inventus ut ad Dominum venire minimè consentiat tanto pensionis onere gravandus est ut ipsà exactionis sure poená compellatur ad reclitudinem festinare But we are guilty of none of Gregories Exactions And let not your Friends my Lord think they walk in a Mist as if the King and his Ministers of State did not know what Sums they effund by dangerous Conduit-Pipes both to the Impoverishing of their own Substance and the exhausting of the Kingdom First The Priests that jog about from Shire to Shire from House to House are great Grinders I know how costly they are to their Disciples who are like those in a facetious Author Hâ—minâ—â—s câ—itellarii magni sunt oneris quicquid impâ—niâ— vehunt Plautus Mâ—stella I know they pay the Charges of the Priests Journey to and fro to the utmost Penny their Fraught by Ship hither their Horses and Convoys by Land their Entertainment cut deep Obits Dirges Masses are not said for nothing Then in every Family where they are received they disperse Books for Meditations and Holy Exercises for which they are paid hee sold more than the Value And above all those indefinite Sums imposed for Satisfaction by the Will of the Confessor are the strongest Purgation My Lord the Priest's little Finger is thicker than the King's Loins What they pay by Virtue of our Laws so remiâ—sly exacted is but like an honorary Present to a Lord in Chief but what they pay to their Ghostly Fathers by their own Canonical Customs is above a Rent of Vassalage And all this while the over-flowing Tide of their Expences is but coming in I am not but now at the high Water-Mark King Philip the Second of Spain founded two Colledges for Jesuits of this Nation at Sevil and Valledolid and he gave a Competency to their maintainance but their Well-wishers in England reach forth such Liberality to them as makes them flourish above their Foundation Who but the same Benefactors supply the Seminaries of their Country-men in Artois and Flanders Gregory the Thirteenth gave little more than bare Walls to the English Colledge at Rome Yet they are able to keep Festival Days with Bounty and relieve Strangers wit Hospitality so long as their Treasurers receive plump Contributions from England let them be once stopt and their Kitchin Fire will go out And now be Judge your self Sir if these Men as you supposed were cut so low with the Sickle that their Lives were irksome and that they had scarce Stabble to maintain them 222. Hitherto I have proved that we have been just in our Duties towards Men as Men and as we are accountable to the second Table of the Law Your Pontificians though esloigned from us in the Way of God's Worship yet their Persons are our Neighbours therefore we do not forget them in the Debentures of our Love I grant it before a Challenge be made that I have performed little unless I can justifie our Piety in the Survey of the first Table And to make it perspicuous and intelligible I will fall into your Lordship's Method according to my best Remembrance Consider Sir that the Compâ—ainants for whose Sakes this Ball of Contention is tost to and fro are they that live among us yet profess Obedience to another Church This we reckon to be a Disease and a sore one The Care of their Souls belongs to the Supream Magistrate who is to provide for all that are under his Allegiance that they may lead Godly as well as quiet Lives He would cure the Ill Affected by his own Physicians The Patients very confident that they can choose best for themselvs will listen to none but such as the Magistrate no less strong in Confidence than they foredooms that by their Applications both such as are unsound will be past Hope of Recovery and some that are sound will fall away by Contagion Both of these being fixed upon the respective Perswasions of their Minds Which of them should yield with least Offence and most Reason I speak as to external Compliance Surely a publick Conscience ought to be more scrupulous than a private The Supream Ruler is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he permits that which his Heart condems his Sin is compleatly voluntary If the Inferior and the Subjected yearns for Instructions and Helps in Religion which under great Forfeiture are prohibited to them they cast their Burden upon Necessity and he is very rigorous that will not say they are excusable The loudest Bell of the Petitioners Grievances and that which is furthest hard is that they are Men in Danger of Shipwrack for want of Pâ—ots their own Priests to whose Oversight they commit the Care of their Souls are kept from them and cannot with Comfort and Confidence light their Knowledge from any other Lamps Conscience reclaims it and if they are blind yet blind Men must not be iâ— entreated for their Blindness but be led by the Hand My Noble Lord Villoclare This Complaint above all that can be said beside is apt to work upon Affections to compassionate the Breathings of a Soul which protests it languisheth for want of due Means to know God and to worship him But Affections and the most tender of them which is piâ—y have no Taste in them till they be seasoned with the Salt of Prudence The Simple believeth every Word but the Prudent looketh well to his going Prov. 14.15 Conscience is offered and set out as it were for a Lan horn upon the Pharos of this Motion But your Lordship so excellent a States-man knows none better that the greatest Cheats that are put upon the World are in the good Names of Love and Conscience Who hath the Power to hurt so soon as he that would be believed that he loves and doth not And who so dangerous to overthrow Peace as he that pleads that Conscience is the only Cause of his Discontents and Disobedience He that baits his Hook with Niceness of Conscience may catch What my Lord Gudgions but not a Salmon for the Delusion is stale I must enter further into the Closet of this Objection What Out-cries are these that if their own Priests be restrained from them their Souls shall perish for lack of Knowledge They
have seen a Manuscript of Arch-Bishop Abbots stating the Reason of his own Relegation to Ford in Kent the Papers were written with his own Hand to my knowledge wherein he paints the Fickleness of the great Duke to set up and pluck down with these Lines First He wanted not Suggestors to make the worst of all Mens Actions whom they could misreport Secondly He loved not that any Man should stick too long in a Place of Greatness He hit the Nail in that For this Keeper continued the longest in a great Office of any that he had lifted up and did live to use them Which proceeded not from his Grace's Constancy but from the good-liking of the old King But as Symmachus said of Polemio Lib. 2. Ep. 14. Sic amicis utitur quasi sloribus tam diu gratis quà m diu recentibus So my young Lord chang'd his Friends as Men do Flowers he lik'd a Scent no longer than it was fresh Indeed he lookt from his Vassals for more than they could do and hurried to make tryal of those that would do more Thirdly says the Arch-bishop again He stood upon such fickle Terms that he feared his own Shadow and desperately adventur'd upon many things for his own Preservation Too true for by this time he had lost the People in whose good Opinion he thought he stood for the space of Nine Months Alas he had a slight fastning in them for he never got their Love further than his Hatred to Spain procur'd it And that was spent out upon an exacter Information of his bearing at Madrid This was the Jealousie which gave the Lord-Keeper the deadly Stoccada who would not abuse his own Knowledge so far to extol my Lord for his Spanish Transactions which broke the Peace the Credit the Heart of his King and his Patron never to be requited Therefore that he was fallen in less than a Year from the abundance of a great Esteem he thought he might thank the Keeper whose down-right Honesty gave the Example More may be said but once more shall suffice the Duke had attempted with King James that which he threatned now but his Majesty that then was did not allow of it and charged them both to unite and to work friendly together for his Service But that mighty Lord waited the opportunity to root up the Tree which he had gone about to unfasten For commonly the offended Person is an Eye-fore to him that did offend him And such as have done great wrongs are afraid of those whom they have provok'd and can never after affie in them So it was among the Rules of Michael Hospitalius the best of the Chancellors of France and yet in a Pet cashiered from keeping the Great-Seal as Thuanus remembers it Anno. 1568. Principum documentum esse ut iis nunquam serio reconcilientur quos temerè offenderint This as it is related was our Duke's Temper And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities All that he could do to help himself was not by preventing but by retarding a Mischief For though with the Stoick's Fate was inevitable Yet Servius says in 8. Lib. Aen. that his great Poet thought it might be deferr'd though not avoided Two things stuck to the Keeper like Sorrows and gave him all the unrest that he had First He wish'd that his deposing might have come from any hand but his Patrons that raised him before whom he would fall rather than wrestle with him as an Enemy Secondly He had read much to teach him and seen the Proof of it that when Princes call back their Honours more Misery ensues But as yet he stood his ground and did become his Place as well as ever 4. He never made use so much of his whole stock of Worth and Wisdom as in matter of Religion which appears before in the Mazes wherein he led the Spanish Embassador with whom he shisted so cunningly that they could obtain nothing for the Toleration of Popish Recusants but Delays and Expectations from time to time Neither could the Monsieurs squeeze any more out of him against the Ratification of the French Marriage as appears in a bare Fortnight before K. James died witness the Letter written to the Duke March 13. 1624. Cabal p. 105. If your Grace shall hear the Embassador complain of the Judges in their Charges of their receiving Indictments your Grace may answer that those Charges are but Orations of course opening all the Penal Laws And the Indictments being presented by the Country cannot be refused by the Judges But the Judges are ordered to execute nothing actually against the Recusants nor will they do it during the Negotiation And your Grace may put him in mind that the Lord-Keeper doth every day when his the Embassadors Secretary calls upon him grant forth Writs to remove all the Persons Indicted in the Country into the Kings-Bench out of the Power and Reaches of the Justices of Peace And that being there the King may and doth release them at his Pleasure In all this there is no bar against the common Course of Law but Mercy reserv'd to the Royal Pleasure Now what cause had my Lord Duke to defie him by his Secretary Cab. p. 87. That his Courses were dangerous to his Country and prejudicial to the Cause of true Religion Forsooth because he proffer'd a Gap to be opened to the Immunities of the Papists in a desperate Plunge to bring the Prince home safe out of Spain where he stuck fast for want of such a Favour to be shewn to those Complainants Which was a liberal Concession in Promise but no Date set nor observ'd for the Expedition of it And so all that Indulgence which hung in nubibus and never dropt down is frankly granted now and he is commanded by this Warrant that follows to signifie to all Officers to suspend the Laws which are grievous to the Romish Profession dated 1 Car. May the first Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of our dear Brother the most Christian King to grant unto our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any way may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion and every matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these presents Authorize and Require you That immediately upon the receipt hereof you do give Warrant Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as unto all others our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritual as Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be sorborn all and all manner of Proceedings against our said
An Error like to that of Adrians in Spartianus Non admisit Terentium Gentianum est eò vehementiùs quod à Senatu diligi eum videret But the Commons while they were in heat ask'd a Conference with the Lords Afternoon in Christ's-Church-Hall where Sir Edward Coke opened the Complaint sharply against Secretary Conway and like an Orator did slide away with a short Animadversion upon the Duke It was not so well for his Grace that the noise of the Grievance had entred into both Houses Arcus cum sunt duplices pluviam nuntiant says Pliny Lib. 2. N. H. c. 59. If our Rain-bow multiply another by its Reflection it prognosticks a Shower And the Storm burst out in the lower Region when he was rather declam'd against as I would call it than accus'd because the Gentlemen that did prosecute contain'd themselves in generals The most upon which insistance was made was that he held the most and the most important Offices of Trust and Honour by Sea and Land Though it was foolish and superstitious in the Heathen Romans to think it was not for the Majesty of their Common-wealth to serve but one God Majestatem imperii non decuisse ut unus tantùm Deus colatur Tull. Orat. pro Flacco Yet it were to be desir'd if it might be dutifully obtain'd that one Subject should not possess all those Places which require the Sufficiency of many to discharge them Much to this purpose is that of the Lord Herbert Harry 8. p. 318. That it was a great Error that such a multitude of Offices was invested in Woolsey as it drew Envy upon the Cardinal so it derogated not a little from the Regal Authority while one Man alone seems to comprehend all The King may be satisfied to settle the Choice of his high Promotions in one Minion so will never the People And the Advanced is sure to be shaken for his height and to be malign'd for over-dropping He that sees a Stone-wall swelling looks every day when it will fall And one Stalk is not strong enough to hold a cluster of Titles hanging at it Salmasius hath a Note upon the first Book of Solinus That if a Man grow so fast that it exceeds the usual way of Nature he will fall into sickness His Instance is in the Son of Euthymenes that grew three Cubits in three Years Et immoderatis aegritudinum suppliciis compensasse praecipitem incrementi celeritatem But what Grandee will believe this Because there is more in our corrupt Nature that will obey Ambition than Wisdom 16. Yet to speak to the other side Might not this have been forborn to be objected by the Parliament to this great Lord at this time When his Head and his Hands were wholly taken up to prepare that War which was their own Creature He was at their Plough he was under their Yoke if it were well remembred Now Grotius marks well from the old Law Deut. 21.3 That Beasts that had been put to labour might not be sacrificed Elisha's Act was hasty and singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he quotes it out of Chaeremon They were priviledged by the Work in which they had been profitable Nay could it be objected as a Fault at any time I say as a Fault for I plead not for the Convenience What Pharisee would be so corrupt to ask Master who sinned This Man or his Parent that he was made a Duke as Lord Admiral a Master of the Horse c. No Inch of Sin is in ten Cubits of Honour that are lawfully conferr'd But there is a Fault for which Budaeus knew no direct Name Lib. 2. Pandec fol. 10. Cum milites Imperatori infensi vincere nolunt Let it be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says he when Souldiers will lose a Victory wilfully because they are discontented at their General All was tending much this way at Oxford The great Expedition in hand and the Fleet ready at Plimouth lost its season the Souldiers and Sailors dishearten'd for want of Pay yet not the Supply of a Subsidy could be drawn to give courage to the Onset because the Generalissimo that manag'd the Voyage had lost their Favour Numbers there were some Friends some Flatterers that brought Fuel to the Fire to enflame the Duke against these Dealings The Lord-Keeper was not sought to Yet came and offer'd himself to confer about it And certainly all that knew him would say no Man could pluck the Grass better to know where the Wind sat no Man could spie sooner from whence a Mischief did rise I 'll begin thus My Lord I come to you unsent for and I fear to displease you Yet because your Grace made me I must and will serve you though you are one that will destroy that which you made Let me perish Yet I deserv'd to perish ten times if I were not as earnest as any Friend your Grace hath to save you from perishing The Sword is the Cause of a Wound but the Buckler is in fault if it do not defend the Body You have brought the Two Houses hither my Lord against my Counsel My Suspicion is confirm'd that your Grace would suffer for it What 's now to be done but wind up a Session quickly The occasion is for you because two Colledges in the University and eight Houses in the City are visited with the Plague Let the Members be promis'd fairly and friendly that they shall meet again after Christmas Requite their Injuries done unto you with benefits and not revenge For no Man that is wise will shew himself angry with the People of England I have more to say but no more than I have said to your Grace above a Year past at White-hall Confer one or two of your great Places upon your fastest Friends so shall you go less in Envy and not less in Power Great Necessities will excuse hard Proposals and horrid Counsels St. Austin says it was a Punick Proverb in his Country Ut habeas quietum tempus perde aliquid At the Close of this Session declare your self to be the forwardst to serve the King and Common-wealth and to give the Parliament satisfaction Fear them not when they meet again in the same Body whose ill Affections I expect to mitigate but if they proceed trust me with your Cause when it is transmitted to the House of Lords and I will lay my Life upon it to preserve you from Sentence or the least Dishonour This is my Advice my Lord. If you like it not Truth in the end will find an Advocate to defend it The Duke replied no more but I will look whom I trust to and flung out of the Chamber with Minaces in his Countenance Yet the other did not think he had play'd the Game ill though he lost his Stake by it Dangerous Faithfulness is honester than cunning Silence And once more he was bold to wrestle with this Potentate in high Favour before he fell The Commons of this Parliament was censur'd at Woodstock
4. the two great Masters of the Roman Learning It is not certain whither they be extant in the Remains that are publish'd and to be seen at this day I meddle with nothing which their Messengers collected in Asia and Greece to furnish their Capitol with new Oracles I look on no other than those eight Books of Sibylline Prophesies with the Fragments annexed set out by Opsopaeus and others and stand first in the Third Volume of the Greek Bibliotheca Patrum I look I say upon no more and move no more than one Question upon them Whether all that is in them nay whether any part of them was penned by Prophetesses living among the Gentiles and living before the coming of Christ Jesus in the Flesh What I resolve in it I branch into seven Conclusions First That some part of these Oracles which we have in our Use and Possession were endited before the Incarnation of our Lord and in some Verses where Christ is foretold that he should come and reign upon the Earth together with the Dissipation of Idolatry and other Heathenish Rites For albeit in those Passages they had not Credit with some in Eusebius's time and in St. Austin's time the Prophesies of others that were not Jews concerning Christ were thought to be forg'd by Christians Ci. Dei Lib. 18. c. 47. Yet I cannot incline to that Diffidence for this reason Eusebius says they were quoted by Clemens known to Peter and Paul either in an Epistle lost or lost out of that Epistle which is now come to light Likewise by Justin Martyr bordering upon the Times of the Apostles And they quoted them as attesting to the Honour of our Christian Cause Therefore somewhat of the Evangelical relish was in them ante-nated and in being before the Gospels were written Secondly Antiquity hath voiced it that Women were the Authors of them which none hath contradicted The Wits of that Sex have excell'd in Odes and Madrigals In holy Hymns also As Deborah and Barac are named Jud. 5. but first Deborah for chanting that Triumphal Song which hath as much Art and Dithyrambical Loftiness in it as is in any Syrick Poetry Greek or Latin And if we had more of Miriam's Song Exod. 15.21 it would not come behind them And God did open great Secrets by such Instruments as his Hand-maids who ever did his wonders by weakest means and provok'd the World to attend to such Conveyance as was strange and to which they were not wonted Thirdly They were Gentiles the Jews never owned them and it is already proved that they lived before the Disciples were call'd Christians at Antioch The very learned Bishop Montague should have look'd to it in his 3 Cap. of Acts and Monuments how he disputed that they were all Gentiles and casts about that the first and chief lived in the Days of Abraham It could not be Satan that provok'd them to utter such â—olywords for then his Kingdom had been divided against It self to have received her Instructions from Sem when as there was no distinction of Jew and Gentile I would bring them nearer to the times of Grace upon this thought that as some note of the Jews that after their return from Babylon about Five Hundred Years before Christ's Nativity they were in Limine Ecclesiae as it were in the Porch of the Church and saw into the Mystery of Salvation more clearly for the generality of the People than before yet no Prophet was among them So the nearer the time drew that the day spring from on high did visit us the more did Divinations abound among the Heathens to prepare them for that Blessing as it may be enlarged from the Magi of the East that came to visit our Saviour Fourthly I leave these Prophetesses to God that knows the Heart whether they had the Spirit of Belief and of the Knowledge of that they utter'd That is whether they were impulled like Balaam Saul and Caiaphas to vent that which they could not keep in or whether they were inspired like Esaias and the Prophets of the Lord. There is no History how she or more shee s lived or what end they made which were the means and none else to decide it Fifthly Take the Sibylline Oracles in a lump so as now they are deliver'd to us and they have a great of deal of Addition and Fraudulency in them The Interlinings of a Christian Pen are as manifest as the Sun at Noon-day Quò apertiora sunt cò mihi suspectiora I consent to Casaubon Num. 17. Exercit. Is this Prophetical or the Paraphrase of the Gospel that Christ should be baptized in Jordan and a Dove descend upon him that he should feed Five Thousand with Five Loaves and Two Fishes and Twelve Baskets of the Fragments should remain The very Words of St. John put into Hexameters What Prophet in the O.T. did ever collate Types and Antitypes together Yet in these Poems ye may find that Moses lifting up his Hands when the People fought with Amaleck did figure the Arms of Christ stretch'd out upon the Cross What a World of open and direct Passages Gabriel by name saluting the Blessed Virgin the Star appearing the Shepherds greeted by Angels as they kept watch over their Flocks by Night A very Breviate of some Chapters in the N.T. Nor could they be of any other Profession than Christian that betray themselves that Nero would persecute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our part which contends with the Heathen But in the Fragments all is discover'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We of the holy and heavenly Off-spring of Christ The learned Bishop thinks to bear this down with a fieri Potest God might make one or more of these speak clearer than Moses or any Prophet But with favour he hath not done his Work that makes a Conjecture possible but that makes it probable Which the best Wit alive is not able to do in this case Sixthly The time when these additional Verses were thrust into the Sibylline writings appears to me to be about the Year 170. For Lib. 5. Every one of the Caesars is describ'd by a Numeral Letter the first of his Name from Julius the Dictator to Adrian whose Name is opened from the Adriatick Sea Some small Intimation of each Antoninus follows But then all that comes after is shuffled up nothing clear nothing particular not a glance made at a succeeding Emperor I have heard good Antiquaries discourse that our British Prophecies ascribed to Merlin were the Fruit of some Writer in the Days of Henry the Second Merlin the Fay supposed to be a Wizard contemporary to King Arthur lived Seven Hundred Years before But this Pseudo-Merlin handles many great Occurrences punctually and explicitely to the days of Henry the Second In all that follows are Tragelaphi Satyrs and Griffins Cocks and Bulls The Fortune-teller casts Figures but names no Person in the Sequel So these interloping Verses discover themselves to be the … e of some that
Parliament and had stood up to defend him where there was openly such defiance of Enmity between them he had been censur'd by all Judgment for double-mindedness or sawning And as Lanfrank charged one of his Predecessors Remigius Bishop of Lincoln Quod officio emerat Episcopatum So the World would have censur'd this Prelate that he kept his Place by Service Simony as Mr. Fuller calls it And with what Safety and Liberty he could appear let one Passage demonstrate The Duke demanded that the Attorney-General might plead for him in the House of Peers against the Charge transmitted by the Commons which was opposed because the Attorney was one of the King 's Learned Council and sworn to plead in Causes concerning the King and not against them And the King is supposed to be ever present in the noble Senate of the Lords It was rejoyn'd That His Majesty would dispense with the Attorney's Oath It came to be a Case of Conscience and was referr'd to the Bishop's Learning Some of them judged for the Duke that this was not an Assertory-Oath which admits no alteration but a Promissory-Oath from which Promise the King if he pleas'd might release his Learned Counsel Bishop Felton a devout man and one that feared God very learned and a most Apostolical Overseer of the Clergy whom he governed argued That some Promissory-Oaths indeed might be relaxed if great cause did occur yet not without great cause lest the Obligation of so sacred a thing as an Oath should be wantonly slighted And in this Oath which the Attorney had taken it was dangerous to absolve him from it lest bad Example should be given to dispense with any Subject that had sworn faithful Service to the Crown for which plain Honesty he was wounded with a sharp Rebuke And the reverend Author told me this with Tears Yet the Archb. Abbot said as much and went farther for whom Budaeus would stand up a great Scholar and a Statesman De Asse lib. 3. fol. 102. Neque turpe esse credo cos homines observare quibus apud Principem gratiâ slagrare contigit si non cosdem apud populum ordines infamiâ invidiâ slagrare videamus As who would say it is Duty to love a Favourite for the King's sake and it is Duty to desert him when he becomes a publick Scandal For no man will be happy to stick to him who is so unhappy to become a common Hatred All that Parliament was a long Discontent of eighteen weeks and brought forth nothing but a Tympany of swelling Faction and abrupt Dissolution whereby the King saved that great Lord who lost His Majesty in some expeditions Honour abroad and the love of his People at home This was another Fire-brand kindled after the former at Oxford to burn down the Royal House and the most piously composed Church of England For a wife Oratour says it is Isocr Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 243. The cause of an Evil must not be ascribed to things that concur just at the breaking out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the forerunning Mischiefs which were soaking long to ripen the Distempers Well was it for Lincoln that he had no hand in this Fray for as the Voyagers to Greenland say When the Whale-fishing begins it is better to be on the Shore and look on E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem than to be employed in the Ships to strike them and hale them to Land 71. Say then that he neither did harm nor receive any by being shut out of this turbulent Parliament Yet his Advice had been worth the asking because of the Plunges that His Majesty was put to upon the Dissolution but he heard of no Call to such a purpose For no man looks on a Dyal in a cloudy day when the Sun shines not on it God's Mercy was in it for he sate safer at home than he could have done at the Council-Board at this time where much Wisdom was tryed to help the King's Necessities out of the Peoples Purses by a Commandatory Loan and with the least Scandal that might be for not to run into some Offence was unavoidable Pindar the Poet was call'd out of his House to speak with some Friend in the Street Castor and Pollux says the Tale-teller searce was his Foot over the Threshold when the Building sunk and all that were within perish'd Thus upon a time the least Shelter gave the most Safety as did the lesser Honour procure this man the more Peace But as Camillus in Livy thrust out of Rome and retired to Ardea prayed that they that had cashier'd him might have no need of him so this forlorn Statesman would have been satisfied to have his place at the Council-Table supplied by others if the King's Affairs had not wanted him at this instant when he suddenly slid down from his former value in the love of this People The Bishops most likely it came from them advised His Majesty first to fly to God and to bid a publick Fast first at Court then over all the Land about the fifth of July Bish Laud whose Sermon was printed preach'd before the King upon the 21st Verse of the 17th Chapter of St. Matthew This kind goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting The Preface of the Book and the Exhortation publish'd to the observing that solemn Fast stirred up all good Christians to entreat God not to take Vengeance on the Murmurings of the People to keep their Spirits in Unity to divert the plague of immoderate Rain like to corrupt the Fruits of the Harvest and chiefly to preserve us from the Bloody Wars that Spain intended against us Intended says the Book for depredation of Merchants Ships was the worst they had done us Let the Reader gather this by the way That a publick Fast had not been indicted before by the Supreme Authority upon the Alarums of our Enemies Preparations In Eighty eight an Order came out call'd A Form of Prayer necessary for the present Time and State to be used on Wednesdays and Fridays that is certain Collects to be added to the Common Prayer Yet no Fast was bidden saving thus far That Preachers in their Sermons and Exhortations should move the People to Abstinence and Moderation in their Dyet to the end they might be more able to relieve the Poor c. The first Form to be used in Common Prayer with an Order of publick Fast for every Wednesday in the week for a time was set out by Queen Elizabeths special Command in Aug. 1563. when the Plague called The Plague of New-haven was rise in London In which Book is a passage to illustrate our Common-Prayer-Book for the first Rubrick prefixt to the Order for the Holy Communion That so many as intend to be Partakers of the Holy Communion should signifie their Names to the Curate over night or else in the morning either before the beginning of Common Prayer or immediately after That immediately after means that in
of God and because all that he is and hath is God's cannot render what he owes unto God in equality of Justice And all that he speaks of a Father in regard of his Children between whom Justice in one Acception doth not intercede he borrows out of Suarez Suarez out of Cajetan Cajetan out of Aquinas 2 vol. qu. 57. art 4. not art 8. as he misquotes him But he adds The King out of his own Brain who is but a metaphorical Father Benevolentiâ animo pater est naturâ rex pater non est says Saravia lib. 2. c. 12. without the Authority of his Authors nay flatly contrary to Aquinas in that place for he allows that Justice and Law may be stated between Father and Son Says he As the Son is somewhat of the Father and the Servant of the Master Justum non est inter illos per commensurationem ad Alterum sed in quantum uterque est homo aliquo modo est inter eos justitia He goes on That beside Father and Son Master and Servant there are other degrees and diversities of Persons to be sound in an Estate as Priests Citizens Souldiers c. that have an immediate relation to the Common-wealth and Prince thereof and therefore towards these Justum est secundum perfectam rationem justitiae So Suarez lib. 5. de leg c. 18. Some will say that Tribute is not due by way of Justice but by way of Obedience Hoc planè falsum est contra omnes Doctores qui satentur hanc obligationem solvendi tributa ubi intervenit esse justuiám And which is more than the Judgment of meer Man it is St. Paul's Rom. 13.7 For this cause pay your tribute render therefore to every man that which is his due Redditio sui cuique is the very definition of Justice And he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justice to intercede between Fathers and their Children Ephes 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this is just This is the first Observation how he falsifieth his Learning The next is this That his end to bring us to the case of Creatures and Children towards the King is to take away all Propriety as it appears clearly by what he must draw out of his own Authors Suarez ubi supra Man cannot render to God his due by way of Justice Quia quicquid est vel habet totum est Dei Apply it with Dr. Maynwaring to the King Whatsoever the Subject is or hath is all the King 's by way of Property Aquinas in the place before Quod est filii est patris ideo non est propriè justitia patris ad filium Apply it to the King Justice doth not interceed between the King and his People because what is the Peoples is the King 's This is the Venom of this new Doctrine that by making us the King's Creatures and in the state of Minors or Children to take away all our Propriety Which would leave us nothing of our own and lead us but that God hath given us just and gracious Princes into Slavery As when the Jews were under a meer Vassalage their Levites their Churchmen complain to God The Kings of Assyria have dominion over our bodies and over our cattel at their pleasure Nehem. 9.37 Thus far the Bishop making very even parts between all that were concern'd in the Question And because the Chaplain's Doctrine had drawn up a Flood-gate through which a Deluge of Anger and Mischief gush'd out His Majesty left him to the Censure of his Judges No Wonder if one of the best of Kings did that Honour to his Senate which one of the worst of Emperors did to that at Rome Magistratibus liberam jurisdictionem sine interpellatione concessit says Suetonius of Caligula Neither had it been Wisdom to save one Delinquent with the loss of a Parliament Lurentius Medices gave better Counsel than so to his Son Peter Magis universitatis quà m seorsùm cujusque rationem habeto Polit. lib. 4. Ep. p. 162. Yet Dr. Maynwaring lost nothing at this lift his Liberty was presently granted him by the King his Fine remitted the Income of one Benefice sequestred for three years put all into his own Purse and was received in all his ordinary attendance again at Court with the Preferments of the Deanry of Worcester and after of the Bishoprick of St. Davids so willing was the King to forget that Clause in his Sentence past by the Lords which did forbid it 76. No man else suffering for so common a Grievance it made a glad Court at Whitehall The Parliament used their best Counsels and Discretions at the same time to secure their Lives Livelihoods and Liberties from such arbitrary Thraldom thereafter Nunquam fida est potentia ubi nimia est We must live under the Powers which God hath set over us but are loth that any man should have too much Power Sir Ed. Coke made the motion which will keep his noble Memory alive to sue to the King by Petition the most ancient and humble Address of Parliaments that His Majesty would give his People Assurance of their Rights by Assent in Parliament as he useth to pass other Acts viz. That none should be compell'd to any charge of Tax or Benevolence without agreement of Lords and Commons nor any Freeman be imprison'd but by the Law of the Land with some such other-like which are enter'd into many Authors The Duke of Buck. was forward to stop this Petition in the House where he sate for which the Commons having not yet meddled with him resolved to give him an ill Farewel before their parting Neither did he recover his old Lustre nor carry any great sway among the Peers since his dishonourable Expedition to Rhe for evil Successes are not easily forgotten though prosperous ones vanish in the warmth of their Fruition And not only that Duke and the Lord Privy-Seal with other great and able Officers did repulse this motion with all main but the King 's learned Council were admitted to plead their Exceptions against it Six weeks were spent in these Delays and Hope deserred made their hearts sick Prov. 13.12 and their Heads jealous who follow'd the cause that there was no good meaning to relieve their Oppressions At last the difficulty was overcome the Petitioners had one Answer from the King and look'd for a fuller and had it in the end So much sooner had been so much better as our Poet Johnson writes to Sir E. Sackvile of some mens Good-turns They are so long a coming and so hard When any Deed is forc'd the Grace is marr'd The Subjects ask'd for nothing now which was not their own but for Assurance to keep their own which had it been done with a Smile benignly and cheerfully and without any casting about to evade it it had been done Princely It is not impossible to find an honest Rule in Matchiavel for this is his Beneficia
illa quibus conciliatur plebis animus cò usque ne differantur donec ea praestare cogi videantur Passing right is Sir J. Haward's Hist of H. IV. p. 4. says he The Multitude are more strongly drawn by unprofitable Courtesies than by churlish Benefits Among those that argued for this Petition de Droit I shall remember what past from two eminent Prelates Archbishop Abbot offer'd his own Case to be consider'd banish'd from his own Houses of Croydon and Lambeth confin'd to a moorish Mansion-place of Foord to kill him debarr'd from the management of his Jurisdiction and no cause given for it to that time harder measure than ever was done to him in his Pedagogy for no Scholar was ever corrected till his Fault was told him But he had fuller'd the Lash in a Message brought by the Secretary and no cause pretended for it And what Light of Safety could be seen under such dark Justice The Bishop of Lincoln likewise promoted the Petition but he was a great Stickler for an Addition that it might come to the King's Hands with a mannerly Clause That as they desir'd to preserve their own Liberties so they had regard to leave entire that Power wherewith His Majesty was entrusted for the Protection of his People which the Commons disrelish'd and caused to be cancell'd This caused the Bishop to be suspected at first as if he had been sprinkled with some Court-holy-water which was nothing so but a due Consideration flowing from his own Breast that somewhat might be inserted to bear witness to the Grandeur of Majesty A Passage in Xenophon commends such unbespoken Service lib. 8. Cyrip says he Hystaspus would do all that Cyrus bade but Chrysantus would do all which he thought was good for Cyrus before he bade him 77. In the Debate of this great matter among the Lords this Bishop hath left under his own Pen what he deliver'd partly in glossing upon a Letter which His Majesty under the Signet sent to the House May the 12th partly in contesting with the chief Speakers that quarrel'd at the Petition As to the former First the King says That his Predecessors had never given Leave to the free Debates of the highest Points of Prerogative Royal. The Bishop answered The Prerogative Royal should not be debated at all otherwise than it is every Term in Westminster-hall Secondly the Letter objects What if some Discovery nearly concerning Matters of State and Government be made May not the King and his Council commit the Party in question without cause shewn For then Detection will dangerously come forth before due time Resp No matter of State or Government would be destroyed or defeated if the Cause be exprest in general terms And no danger can likely ensue if in three Terms the Matter be prepared to be brought to Trial. Ob. 3. May not some Cause be such as the Judges have no Capacity of Judicature or Rules of Law to direct or guide their Judgment Resp What can those things be which neither the Kings-bench nor Star-chamber can meet them Obj. 4. Is it not enough that we declare our Royal Will and Resolution to be which God willing we will constantly keep not to go beyond a just Rule and Moderation in any thing which shall be contrary to our Laws and Customs And that neither we nor our Council shall or will at any time hereafter commit or command to Prison for any other cause than doth concern the State the Publick Good and Safety of our People Resp Not the Council-Table but the appointed Judges must determine what are Laws and Customs and what is contrary to them And this gracious Concession is too indefinite to make us depend upon that broad Expression of Just Rule and Moderation Especially be it mark'd That all the Causes in the Kingdom may be said to concern either the State the Publick Good or the Safety of the King and People This under Favour is abundantly irresolute and signifies nothing obtain'd Obj. 5. In all Causes hereafter of this nature which shall happen we shall upon the humble Petition of the Party or Signification of our Judges unto us readily and really express the true cause of the Commitment so as with Conveniency and Safety it be fit to be disolosed And that in all Causes of ordinary Jurisdiction our Judges shall proceed to the delivery or bailment of the Prisoner according to the known and ordinary Rules of this Land and according to the Statutes of Magna Charta and those six Statutes insisted on which we intend not to abrogate or weaken according to the true intention thereof Resp To disclose the cause of Imprisonment except Conveniency and Safety do hinder are ambiguous words and may suffice to hold a man fast for coming forth And if all Causes be not of ordinary Jurisdiction as I hope they are who shall judge which be the extraordinary Causes We are lost again in that Uncertainty So likewise for the Intention of Magna Charta and the six Statutes who shall judge of the true Intention of them That being arbitrary we are still in nubibus for any assurance of legal Liberty So the Concessions of His Majesty's Letter were waved as unsatisfactory 78. And the Bishop went on to shew that the Contents of the Petition were suitable to the ancient Laws of the Realm ever claimed and pleaded expedient for the Subject and no less honourable for the King which made him a King of Men and not of Beasts of brave-spirited Freemen and not of broken-hearted Peasants The Statute in 28 Edw. 3. is as clear for it as the day at Noon-tide That no man of what state or condition soever shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor taken nor imprison'd nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due process of Law I know one Lord replied to this lately That the Law was wholsom for the good of private men and sometime it might be as wholsom for the Publick Weal that the Soveraign Power should commit to Custody some private man the cause not being shew'd in Law upon more beneficial occasion than a private man's legal Liberty And though the Hand of Power should seem to be hard upon that one person a Benefit might redound to many First be it consider'd if no Law shall be fixt and inviolable but that which will prevent all Inconveniencies we must take Laws from God alone and not from men Then be it observ'd that to bring the exception of a Soveraign Power beside the Laws in Cases determined in the Laws takes away all Laws when the King is pleas'd to use and put forth this Soveraign Power wherewith he is trusted and makes the Government purely arbitrary and at the Will of the King So shall this Reason of State eat up and devour the Reason of Laws Shew me he that can how the affirmation of a Soveraign Power working beside the Law insisted upon shall not bring our Goods and our
discover himself though I should conceal him by an open affectation to be known his Enemy I mean Bishop Laud. Could he so soon forget him that first made him a Bishop and in twelve years could he not forget an Injury I know of none if the other had trespass'd against him The undoing of his Brother and Colleague in dignity did so run in his mind that it was never out of his dreams to be seen in the Notes drawn with his own hand in Mr. Prinn's Breviate He dream't the Lord Keeper was dead Octob. 23. 1623. that is being interpreted in the Duke's Affections June 14. 1626. He dream't the Bishop of Lincoln came he knew not with whom with Iron Chains but returning freed from them he leapt upon an Horse and departed neither could he overtake him March 17. 1627. Sir G. Wright whisper'd in his Ear in his sleep that he was the cause that Lincoln was not admitted again into Favour in the Court Jul. 13. 1633. He dreamt at Anderwick that this Bishop came and offer'd to sit above him at the Council Table Tibul. lib. 3. Elâ—g Quae Deus in melius â—rudelia somnia vertat that the Earl of Holland came and placed him there Some hearken to Dreams which themselves caused to be dream't says the Prophet Jeremiah cap. 29. v. 8. Sabini quod volunt solent somntare says the Adagy The Sabines dream what they would have But for this Vision at Anwick it was not what my Lord wish't but what he feared Let Babie be frighted with such Visors Ecquid ait vani terremur imagine visus says the Preacher Eccl. 5.3 A Dream cometh through the multitude of Business That which the Fancy is troubled with most in the Day it rencounters in the Night yet without any deliberation of Reason and therefore must be most groundless to collect an observation from it of any act that hath an intellectual touch in it I except the infusions of Prophetical Inspiration which commonly who can suppose he hath attained without Enthusiastical Presumption Juggling Astrologers that will fly at any game for profit and credit held the People in a Dream how they could interpret Dreams which would hit and which not by the Planet as Salmâ—sius says Clymact p. 789. that it was Hephestions prosession to unfold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in what nights of every Moon they will happen to be true But he that records his Dreams as if he weigh'd a thing so light in the Balance of Observation his Wits are built upon Fairy Ground and needs no other Astrology to deceive him but his own Superstition Isaiah says That which shall come to nothing shall be as the dream of a night vision c. 29.7 Ens siclum a Toy of no Entity that hath no place in a Predicament The greater is their Sin that make it some part of a Quarrel if they dream that another was ominous to their Life or Honour As Plutarch relates in Dion's Life how Dionysius the elder dreamt that one Marsyas had killed him which made him take opportunity to kill Marsyas to prevent it I am certain it was for no Good-will that the Bishop of Lincoln was notch'd so often upon the Tally of ill-boding Dreams God did promise that old men should dream Dreams of holy revelation Act. 2.17 But these came from the old man which is corrupt Eph. 4.22 who had Art and Part as the Scottish Indictment runs in all our Bishops Persecutions After my L. Bishop Laud had begun to go a sharer with the Duke to suppress him he knew not how to sound a Retreat and desist like to Pope Julius the Second in his Character Nunquam ab eo ad quod ingenio feroci impellebatur recedendum putavit Match Prin. c. 26. Whatsoever he set himself about though unpleasing and dangerous he never look'd back to Repentance and it was beyond his Sufferance to let a parallel Line side with him but he saw if he did not cut this man down he was like to grow to as much heighth of Glory as himself Beside being dazled with too much Light of Royal Favour he did not see that he needed to make Friends least of all to fear an Enemy Whether he had little or sufficient insight into Government is disputable but he knew how to govern the King Like Anaximander the Soothsayer to Alexander the Great Cui credulitatem suam rex addixerat Alexander believ'd any thing that Anaximander told him Curt. lib. 7. Mediators were not wanting that endeavour'd a renewing of Friendship between these two Prelates which the Haughtiness or perhaps the Dissidence of Bishop Laud would not accept a Symptom of Policy more than of Christian Grace not to trust a reconciled Enemy Which is not approved by a good Heathen Tul. Ep. lib. 3. Ep. 37. Si quis est qui neminem in gratiam putat redire posse non is nostram persidiam arguit sed indicat suam He that will not trust is not to be trusted 85. Many did suspect that there was small hope to unite these because the one was hard Wax the other soft Bishop Laud would not connive at the Puritans nor seek them with fair Entreaties but went on to suppress the Ring-leaders or to make them fly the Kingdom Bishop Williams perceived that this made the Faction grow more violent to triumph against Justice as if it were Persecution that the cutting of some great Boughs made the Under woods grow the faster His way to mitigate them was to turn them about with the fallacy of Meekness If they came to him they had courteous Hospitality if they ask'd his Counsel in Suits of Law he gave them all assistance if some Ceremonies would go down with them he waited till their queasie Stomachs would digest the rest he thought it no dishonest thing if he might win his weak Brethren to shift a Point of the Compass when the Winds blew overthwart and to fetch them in not always by a streight course but sometimes by Obliquity Another Disunison was this Bishop Laud was not only a great Patron of them that maintain Arminius or as they would have it Melancthon's Doctrin but a great discountenancer of the opposite part And since he shook the Box they were but Duices and Trays in all Church-Preferments The Indraught of this Partiality wax'd into a new Faction never known before he sate at the Stern The King's Declaration pag. 21. speaks not a little to it that Bishop Montague's Book did open the way to those Schisms and Divisions which since have ensued in the Church Some both then and at this day are so alien'd from the Followers of Calvin as they call them that the Samaritans were not more strange to the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They will not shake Hands with a dissenting Dogmatist This our prudent Bishop did both dislike and despise as a very causeless Breach maintain'd by them Qui eruditionem discordiâ metiuntur as Aventine says of the Schoolmen Annal. lib.
1. That the Certificate from the Country layeth nothing to my charge 2. That I never gave Direction for receiving of any Fees but took those only which were deliver'd to me by the Register 3. That I conceived the Fees of Lincoln Diocess to be much lower than of any other in England which the L. Wentworth seemed to confess to be so 4. That if the Register did receive 23 s. 4 d. of every Clerk instituted for the Bishop's Fee it was no more than the Table allow'd 5. That the Fees question'd were received by my four immediate Predecessors Bishops Mountain Neale Barlow Chaderton Which four Bishops take up a space of time which extends beyond the Table of Fees And the L. Wentworth said he believed as much and promised to report it 6. My L. of Winchester is able to assure as much that these are the ancient Fees of the Diocess and that I believe my â—â— of London who was beneficed and dignified in this Diocess and hath twice or thrice paid the said Fees in his own person can and I doubt not will be ready to testifie as much 7. That for mine own part and mine own time I was ready to lay all my Fees being God wot a most contemptible Sum at your Majesties Feet to be disposed of as your Majesty pleased Nor had I ever in my Life toucht one Penny of the same but given it away from time to time to mend my Servants Entertainment 8. That the 135 th Canon mentioned by the Commissioners refers the examination of all Fees in question not settled by Acts of Parliament to the Archbishop only and the Cognizance ecclesiastical who is the only proper Judge of these Questions Therefore I humbly beseech your Majesty that I may not be drawn to contest with my Soveraign in a Suit of Law of so mean and miserable a Charge as this is but rather if those two reverend Prelates shall not be able to satisfie your Majesty you will be pleased to hear me your self or transmit the Cause to the Lords of the Council or where it is only proper to be heard to the Archbishop of the Province and that Mr. Attorny-General may stay the Prosecution elsewhere which I shall embrace with all humble Duty and Thankfulness c. Which reference to the Archbishop was granted who did authorize the receiving of those Fees for the present De benè esse only And after Sir H. Martin and others had examin'd the Tables Registries and Witnesses of Credit and Experience for the Antiquity of the same upon their Report the several Fees were ascertain'd by his Grace's Subscription for the time to come So true is that of Euripides in Supplic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that was low in Favour got the better of him that was great in Power in a good Cause 93. Remember that in this petitionary Letter the Bishop calls himself the King's Chaplain but not his Counsellor for about a year by-gone the King had commanded that his Name should be expunged and not remain in the Catalogue of those honourable persons And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David 1 Sam. 22.24 Yet so it was decreed he must not challenge the Privilege nor keep the Ceremony of the Name and more he had not in four years before No worse an Author than Sir E. Coke tells us in Jurisd of Courts p. 54. By force of his Oath and Custom of the Realm he that is a Privy Councillor is still so without any Patent or Grant during the life of the King that made choice of him But before whom can this be tryed And who shall decide it It will scarce come within the Law and when a King will hold the Conclusion he will be too hard for any man in Logick Let the Masters of the Republick contend about it whose Counsellors have changed as fast as the quarters of the year Surely His Majesty shewed himself much offended in this action yet it is better for a King not to give than to take away which Xenophon put into Cyrus's Mouth lib. 7. C. Paid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It imprints more Offence in a man's Mind to be deprived of that he had than to be pretermitted in some Kindness which he never had Since it was no better the Bishop thought he might ask a noble Friend in Good-manners it was the Earl of Holland what had kindled the King's Anger that he would not allow him the empty Title of a Counsellor The Earl answer'd him home and ingenuously That he must expect worse than this because he was such a Champion for the Petition of Right and that there was no room at the Table for those that would abide it Which was like the Fortune oâ— Poplicola Honoris sui culmen insregit ut libertatem civitatis crigeret Symma p. 3. He forfeited his Honour to maintain the Laws which being not maintained the People are not only Losers but a Kingdom will look like a Tabernacle taken down whose Pins are unfastened and the Cords of it broken To gall our Bishop with assiduous recurrent Umbrages for Pismires wear out Flints with passing to and fro upon them the Christening of Prince Charles being celebrated in the Chappel of St. James's House Jun. 27. 1630. and all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about London being invited thither to make the Splendour eminent the Bishop of Lincoln only was left out and not admitted to joyn in Prayer and Joy with that Noble Congregation The more sharp Diseases suffer not the lesser to be perceived yet this Omission light as it might seem did twinge him even to outward demonstrance of Dejectedness that in so good a day wherein the Clemency of the King should have run at waste to all men that then he should be separated from his Countenance and this Solemnity But says he in one respect it was well for I would not have said Amen to Bishop Laud 's Prayer which he conceived for the Royal Infant and was commended to all Parish-Churches in that passage Double his Father's Graces O Lord upon him if it be possible No Supplication could be better than to crave encrease of Grace for that Noble Branch for when a Prince is very good God is a Guest in a human Body But to put in a Supposal whether the Holy Ghost could double those Gifts to the Child which he had given to his Father and to confine the Goodness and Almightiness of the Lord it was three-piled Flattery and loathsome Divinity Let Cartwright and all his Part shew such an Exception against any line in our Common-Prayer and I will confess they have some Excuse for their Non-subscription To carry on mine own Work When it was known what small esteem His Majesty had of this Bishop it raised him up the more Adversaries who catcht at every thing that was next and turn'd it to a Weapon to strike him of which Sir Robert Osborn High-Sheriff of Huntingtonshire
Hall to be printed to which he hath no more Right than Sir Ro. H had to Charing-cross Thirdly My Breviate shall only tell you and no more who they were in great Place that trod this man down by oppression and false ways whose Pictures are drawn out at length in the larger Frame 'T is too much the Recreation of the common man to stick longest in that Page wherein he reads Invectives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So engrafted it is in us to listen unto Contumelies as unto Musick But I will not feed my Guests with such Acorns It is enough for a Warning to others that God did quickly bring the day which he had called and they were made like him Lam. 1.21 Or worse that opprest the Bishop for the abuse of Fiduciary Power will never pass long unpunish'd 108. Every Effect is best known in its Cause that 's the best ground for a beginning It is apparent that much Anger was seeded and thrust out of one bitter Root The chief Counsellors of K. James and of his Cabinet that devised with their Master how to compass the Spanish Match and took no joy in the Failing pleased their old Master but lost the Prince his Son alienated from them by Buckingham after he had returned home Richmond Hamilton Belfast lived not long after Middlesex and Bristol the first blown down the other shaken by Impeachments in Parliament and both laid aside Arundel sent to the Tower and there had continued but for the clamour of the Peers in the Upper House for nothing but for marrying his eldest Son to a Daughter of the House of Lenox How then could Lincoln escape who was K. James's right hand in all Dispatches about that Treaty Nothing was unassay'd to scourge him because he knew more Secrets than any man and shewed most Stomach to defend himself Sir A. Wel. beyond his wont tells Truth in this p. 174. That his Ruine was determined not upon any known Crime but upon Circumstances and upon Examinations to pick out Faults committed in his whole life-time And the blow was given after nine years had been spent upon one matter to frame a Censure out of it Majora animalia diutiùs visceribus parentum continentur Quint. lib. II. The Whelps and Cubbs of great Beasts are long in the Womb before they be brought forth It came about anno 1628. that the Bishop had suspended Burden and Allen the one a Surrogate to Sir J. Lamb the other a Proctor in his Court both of Leicestershire for doing Injustice and being vexatious both to Clergy and Laity Ut non Compositus meliùs cum Bytho Baccius They petition'd and clamour'd to be restored but as Budaeus says proverbially of a Land-leaper that makes himself a Cripple and cries out for help Tolleeum qui non novit De Asse p. 104. Let him pity him that doth not know him So Burden and Allen were too well known to get any Favour At last Sir J. Lamb a Creature of dark Practices and Dr. Sibthorp undertook for them and propounded it to the Bishop at his Table when their Hand was with him in the Dish But when they would ingratiate them for their good Parts as Mr. Hooker said of Ithacius that there was nothing commendable in him but his Zeal against the Priscillianists so these had nothing to brag of in their Brace of Greyhounds but that they were the swiftest of their kind to chase the Puritans The Bishop told them Dr. Morrison and Mr. Pregian Register of Lincoln and Leicester being present That men of erroneous but tender Consciences would never be reduced by such as were scandalous for Bribes and Taverns and other bad haunts how that Severity against that Party was not seasonable at that time for he had lately conferred with the King and that His Majesty had condescended to give them some forbearance though not openly profess'd to get his ends out of some Members of Parliament who were leading men and more easie to be brought about by holding a gentle hand over the Ministers of their Faction Here 's the sum of all This was the King's mind And how could it be follow'd but by being revealed to some that were in Office If there be any blame in this let him that said it cry out as Philotas did Curt. lib. 6. Fides veri consilii periculosa libertas vos me decepistis vos quae sentiebam ne reticerem impulistis Patt to the Bishop's case to a word This was carried to Bissham in the Progress where Bishop Laud attended and by him exaggerated to the King that his secret Counsels were abused The Historian Sanderson taking it out of another I suppose who wrote the Reign of K. Charles hath fancied an Accusation that was never dreamt of p. 220. That the Bishop's Wit and Will tempted him to talk disloyally of the King and a Bill put in against him for it A Woodcock 's Bill but no such Bill was put in Star-chamber Nullum decuit haec scribere nisi quem constat optasse Sym. Ep. p. 129. He that wrote so would have had it so Piety forbid that a Bishop should violate the sacred Honour of his Prince with a disloyal word Yet how moderately did Q. Elizabeth speak of Sir J. Perrott's Offence in that kind Camden anno 1592. quoting the Saying of Theodosius Si quis Imperatori maledixerit si ex levitate contemnendum si ex insaniá miserandum si ab injuriâ remittendum But Aurelian went further that he might not hear of such Complaints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanxit ne audirentur qui deferebant malè locutos de principibus Carion l. 3. c. 61. It was a generosity in those heroical men which Shimei and Railers at Kings did not deserve but Lincoln was not touch'd with the lightest suspicion of this Fault O but His Majesty's Counsels were revealed and expiable Crime in the adverse Bishop's Construction Kings Counsels may be of that reach and choice that to blab them abroad may touch his Life that did it Upon such great points of State Bodin moves a Question De Repub. p. 386. An poena capitis statuenda sit iis qui principis arcana divulgant Augustus told a Secret to one of the â—abii that he would bring Agrippa home again from Mitylene Fabius told this to his Wife and she to Livia who disaffected Agrippa and it cost Fabius his Life as Salmasius enlargeth it in his Preface to Solinus Plutarch hath wrote more upon it Lib. de Cur. Aud. how dangerous it is to know the Privacies of Potentates lest they should be vented in rashness So that Philippides asking Lysimachus what he should give him says Lysimachus any thing but a Secret But the thing communicated to our Bishop was but petty in comparison and no Secret neither not imparted at the Council-Table but in Conference in the time of Parliament as to a Peer of the House lock'd up with no Seal of Silence but to
on whose silent consent the Bishop had not to awaken the King that he would look upon these Courses that cried abroad to the amazement of his Subjects All wish it done and the Bishop did not fear to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Theodorets stout Divinity Ep. 21. Under the hand of God there is no remedy but patience suffering under the hand of Man the best Remedy is Courage So he stept forward to his Majesty with the confidence of this Petition To the King 's most Excellent Majesty c. THat if your Majesty be not pleased to accept as yet of his humble Submission for his Peace your Majesty would graciously vouchsafe not to interrupt but to permit the Petitioner to proceed according to the ordinary Rules and Course of the Court of Star-Chamber against Kilvert the Sollicitor for his manifold Falshoods and Injuries in the Prosecution of this Cause particularly first for menacing and frighting your Petitioners Witnesses 2. For publickly defaming this Petitioner to be your Enemy averring that neither he nor any of his did know what the name of a King meant 3. For offering to sell the Prosecution of your Majesties Cause against this Petitioner for Money and because this Petitioner refused to tamper with him in that kind for procuring base People to make false and aspersing Affidavits to incense your Majesty and that Court against your Petitioner 4. For menacing the Judges that should report and certifie any thing for your Petitioner 5. For not sparing to tax most falsly your most Sacred Majesty with pressing upon the Lords the Sentencing of your Petitioner All which the Petitioner will clearly prove and pray to God c. So strong an Accusation upon such foul Heads was fit to be sifted especially upon the last Branch For grant it was a lye here 's a false Report raised against the King's Honour If it were true what more criminal than to impart such Secrets of his Majesty 's to his Gossips at a Tavern where they flew abroad But some may more safely steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge The Bishop could get no leave to call this shameless Mate to an answer From that day Kilvert was free from Righteousness and might do any thing Ipse sibi Lex est quà fert cunque voluntas Praecipitat vires Manil. lib. 5. He that hath no Conscience and need to fear nothing will turn a Monster So true is that of Livy Dec. 1. lib. 4. Hominem improbum non accusari tutius est quà m absolvi 'T is safer to have a nocent Person never accus'd than to have him discharg'd for an Innocent 113. For all this the Defendant thought he had said so much against the Prosecutor that he should never appear in Court again But as Calvin said of Bucer Ep. 30. Qui sibi est optimè conscius securior est quam utile sit Yet he proved against him as foul a prank as ever was committed That he got Warren the Examiner to the Fountain Tavern near to Shoe-Lane Kilvert's daily Rendezvouz from whence the Bishop got continual and sure intelligence and fetch 't out of him contrary to his express Oath the Depositions which the Defendants Witnesses had made an heinous wrong to be done before Publication which coming to light Warren fled away from his Office and never appeared more But whether could he run from God's Vengeance Omnia quidem Deo plena sunt nec ullus perfidis tutus est locus Sym. p. 54. Kilvert stood to it as if the sin were not his that drew the Examiner to Perjury and no notice was taken of that constant Rule which the Casuists took from Tertullian de Bapt. c. 11. Semper is dicitur facere cui praemmistratur The Sin was Ahab's that purchast a Field of Blood by the Oath of the Sons of Belial Let Religion look to this for that Court would not nothing would lace it in it was so wide in the waste From this exorbitancy from this and nothing else sprung the Iliad of wrongs which the Bishop endured for Kilvert finding by Warren's disclosures that the Depositions for the Defendant were material and some of the Witnesses to be Learned men that had deposed upon Notes and Remembrances he turned himself into all shapes to crack their Credit At first he made an Affidavit of slight pretended Abuses which were over-ruled against him Whereupon he vapour'd in the hearing of the Register and divers others That he cared not what Orders the Lords made in Court for he would go to Greenwich and cause them all to be changed It was the most scornful Defiance that ever was given to the Honour and Justice of the Star-Chamber as the Bishop's Counsel prest it home Every one expected the Ruin of the Prosecutor yet the Lords perceiving up-upon the Archbishop's Motion that it was not safe to punish him it past over with a slight Submission One presaged the Ruin of the Athenian State because Rats had eaten up the Books of Plato's Commonwealth And might not a man that had no more Prophecy than Prudence foresee the Ruin of this Court when such a Rat-catcher did despise their Authority telling them he could fetch Orders to sweep away theirs from such Powers Quae nec tutò narrantur nec tutò audiuntur Seneca de Tranquil Sir Robert Heath Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was but one of the Lords Assessors yet as just and sufficient as any of his order and the Indignity done to him was as if done to all Who made his own Complaint That Kilvert threatned to procure him to be turn'd out of his place for his forwardness Yet this also was slubber'd over with a little acknowledgment of Rashness So much were those honourable Persons now no longer themselves fearing that Severity which they perceived impending upon them As Pliny bewails the Roman Senate in his Panegyrick Vidimus curiam sed curiam trepidam elinguem cum dicere quid velles periculosum quod nolles miserum esset It was become like Ezekiel's Vine-tree c. 15. v. 3. you could not make a Pin out of it to hang a good Order upon it that was equal and generous Beshrew the Varlet that kept his word which he was not wont to do for Sir Robert Heath was displaced and for no Misdemeanour proved But it was to bring in a Successor who was more forward to undo Lincoln than ever the Lord Heath was to preserve him A man of choice parts which yet he shewed not in this Cause which cannot be smother'd without defacing the truth which Posterity must not want Desipiunt qui faeces ob vâ—ni nobilitatem absorbent The Dregs of the best Wine are but Dregs and must be spit out as distastful his Lordship's part cannot be spared in this Tragedy yet it shall be short because I will leave him to those Figures that live in the House of Memory 114. The main Bill against the Defendant being not like to
hold the quarrel broke out into a collateral Point the weighing of the Credit of Jo. Pregion a man that had enjoyed two Oâ—lices of great account for divers years and was never questioned before this time in his Reputation So the Siege of Troy was forgot and the Battel was drawn out on both sides to get or to recover the Body of Patroclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Il. Ï. The Bishop could not defend his first Cause without the Testimony of Pregion which made him diligent to keep his good Name from being stained and the Adversaries were as resolute to Impeach him looking to spring up a new Information from the Defence of the old Matter This tugg held eighteen Months to the Bishop's Vexation and Cost having spent as much upon it as would have founded an Hospital to keep twenty poor People The Archbishop took occasion upon the spinning out of so much time to blame the Defendant for Traverses and Delays a Course which the wisdom of Treasurer Weston had put into him and if it were bad to fly with his Grace's leave was it not worse to Persecute Baronius justifies the Christians that made escape from Heathen Tyrants with a good reason An. 205. p. 12. Qui non fugit cum potest adjuvat ejus iniquitatem qui persequitur The Exceptions against Pregion were referred to the Lord Chief Justice Richardson and Lord Chief Baron Damport which charged Pregion that he endeavour'd to lay a Bastard-Child of his own begetting upon another The two Judge having heard all that could be alledged pro and con disallowed the Exception and an order being drawn up for it when the Lord Richardson was about to sign it Kilvert most imperiously charg'd him not to do it till he had heard from the King The Judge whose Coat had been sing'd at the Court before stopt his Hand but delivered a Copy of the Certificate to the Bishop's Sollicitor and avowing he would maintain it that is to say if he durst but fear shook his Conscience out of him The Lord Damport would not vary from himself and charg'd his Brother Richardson freely with Inconstancy Of which Disagreement the Star-Chamber having notice added to these three more the Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Judge Jones and Judge Vernon These sitting together in the Lord Richardson's Lodgings Kilvert brought in Secretary Windebank among them though neither Referree nor Witness nor Party in the Cause who argued the Business an hour and half against the Bishop's Witness and perform'd it weakly for all men are not call'd to knowledge with their places as Isâ—crates would have us believe in his Areopag Oration that the Office of an Areopagite transform'd a man Ut tanquam loci genio afflatus ex ingenio suo migraret Budaeus in 1. lib. Pand. p. 283. The Secretary having done his part and shewn what was expected from White-hall departed The five Judges drew up a Certificate signed it and assured the Bishop all in general and one by one it should not be changed So said the L. F. among the rest but he sup't a Promise into his mouth and spit it out again This predominant Judge like a Falcon upon her stretches took home the Certificate with him and the Bishop with him who staid at his House till almost midnight because the Lord F. would not give him the Order till Kilvert had carried it to the Court to shew it to some body This was not fair for to be just and honest is so forcible that it should be done extempore not an hour should be borrowed to advise upon it Yet the Judge solemnly protested That he would dye rather than recede from it it being the sense and under the Hand of all his Brethren The Bishop being in a withdrawing Chamber read over the Order so often that by the benefit of a good memory he got it by heart verbatim and so departed to Bugden against Christmas-day About the midst of the Holy-days he heard by a good Hand that the Certificate was alter'd and all that Matter inserted which had been rejected by the Judges He came up in all haste to London and finding Judge Jones ask't him if these things were so Yes says he 't is true all is chang'd from white to black and your Friend the L. F. hath done all this A Friend he might call him if merit might have purchast him for whom the Bishop had done more than for any pleader in England when he was in great place Quae potest esse jucunditas sublatis amicitiis quae porrò amicitia potest esse inter ingratos The Bishop charging this Alteration upon the Judge to his Face he replyed Quod scripsi scripsi and would not hear Mr. Herbert the Defendant's Counsel who told the Judge with some passion That there was more matter for Examination of Witnesses couched in the new Certificate than was in all the Cause But the Bishop demanded calmly of that Lord that had alter'd all What he meant to use an old Acquaintance in that unheard of manner He answer'd and said the same to others He had been soundly chidden by his Majesty and would not destroy himself for any man's sake This Judge was worthy of greater Honours and did affect them Haud sanè aequo animo in secundo se sustinens gradu Curt. lib. 4. and not long after he got the Garland by being the most active of all his Rank to bring about the King's Undertakings chiefly against this forlorn Defendant but held not the place one full year From whence a Scholar may Contemplate upon those two Verses of Homer Il. Ï. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whom God doth honour if with him you war The quarrel 's Gods your ruin is not far 115. By this time Kilvert put in Courage with these Stratagems is ready to proceed to examination of Witnesses Let me shew how he is armed like Pliny's Ichneumon lib. 8. Nat. Hist Mergit se limo saepiùs siccatque sole mox ubi plurimis eodem modo se coriis loricavit in dimicationem pergit He dips himself often in Mudd and every time crusts it hard in the Sun and being covered with this dirty Harnass he falls to fight with his Enemy All will run even in the application The Bishop is forced at an intolerable expence to tumble in person with his Lawyers and Sollicitors from place to place over six or seven Counties of the Kingdom The first Abuse done unto him in this course was to deny him several Commissions to dispatch his Troubles about the Witnesses which was never denied to any Subject before and to force him to take an Examiner of the Court whether he would or no. 2ly Every Defendant being allow'd to chuse which Examiner he likes best by the practice of that Court the Bishop pitch'd upon an ancient and experienc'd Clerk yet could not enjoy him for in conference with Kilvert he had said That in this Service he must be an indifferent
and give ear to nothing So you have the first and the last part of the Presbyterians Actings with the other Divines whom the Lords appointed for a Sub-committee There may well be a Suspicion when their Deeds do make a Confession that they would prevail by Force when they could not by Argument And thus began the downfal of Episcopacy which was never heard never suffer'd to plead at the Bar of the Parliament in its own Cause but as one says pertinently It was smother'd in a Crowd 141. Anatomists observe that the thinnest Membrane is that which covers the Brain that no weight might stop it from production of Notions and Phancies Certainly it was so in our Bishop's Head-piece who was consulted every day in weighty Affairs and had a Task at this time concurrent with all that went before to look to the Case of the noble but unfortunate Earl of Strafford A Charge of great Crimes was hastily drawn up against him that he had been a Tyrant in Ireland and stirred up His Majesty to raise an Army to oppress his Subjects in England and Scotland Haec passim Dea soeda virum diffudit in ora AEn 4. These were the Fictions of Fame and no more but made the People cast about distrustful and disloyal Doubts The Earl a man of great Wit and Courage knew not whether the King and all his Friends could save him In a rebellious nation wrath is set on fire Ecclus 16.6 And to the shame of Subjects bewitch'd with the new Spirit of that Bedlam rage neither the King nor his Justice could protect any man Too well do I remember that of Justin lib. 30. Nec quisquam in regno suo minùs quà m rex ipse poterat Some say of the French luke-warm in Religion that they kneel but with one Knee at Mass a great number in our rigid Parliament would not do so much the locking Joynt of their Knee was too stiff to bend at all Rebellion is a foul word yet they blush'd not at the deed who were ashamed of the Title Then the Scots were resolved not to disband till this brave Lord was headless Who hath seen a Hedge hog rouled up into a Ball The whole lump is Prickles do but touch it and you hurt your Hand Convolvuntur in modum pilae ne quid possit comprehendt praeter aculeos Plin l. 8. c. 37. So Lessly and his Tykes were bloody and imperious fastned with much confidence in one body Who could remove them Nay who could touch them or go about to mollitie them and get no harm Then the Tumults of Sectaries Corner-creepers and debauch'd Hang-by's that beset the dutiful Lord and Commons with Poniards and Clubbs were worse than an Army far off These call'd for Justice that is for the Life of the Earl What had they to do with Justice which if it might have fate upon the Bench and tryed them every Mothers Son of them had been condemned to the Gallows But it was safer to sit still with Prudence than to rush on with Courage Plus animi est inferenti periculum quà m propulsanti Liv. lib. 38. The Affailant that comes to do a Mischief puts on desperately and is fiercer than the Defendant And there is no equal temperature or counterpoise of Power against the strong Ingredient of a Multitude I will not say but many of this Scum invited themselves unbidden to do a Mischief but there was a Leader a Presbyter Pulpiteer that bespoke them into the Uproar from Shop to Shop Lucius Sergius signifer seditionis concitator tabernariorum Cic. pro dom ad Pont. I need not a Lime-hound to draw after him that was the chief Burgess of the Burrough who gathered this vain People to a head that had no Head Silly Mechanicks Horum simplicitas miserabilis his furor ipse Dat veniam Juven Sat. 2. But what will he answer that knew his Master's Will and ran headlong against it Now here 's the Streight of the Earl of Strafford expos'd to the greatest popular Rage that ever was known All that his good Angel could whisper into him in Prison was to trust to God and a righteous Defence But whereon should he bottom his Defence He could not upon the known Law which is the Merastone to limit and define all Causes for Life Limb Liberty or Living He must stand to a Tryal whether parcels of petty Offences will make an accumulative Felony and be arraigned upon a notion of Treason which could be wrested out of no Statute nor be parallel'd with any President The Treason was rather in them that call'd such things Treason to which no English Subject was liable by his Birth-right In populo scelus est abundant cuncta furore Man lib. 2. The Law was too much his Friend to bring him before the face of it Anocent man fears the Law an innocent man fears Malice and Envy O vitae tuta facultas Pauperis angustique laris O munera nondum Intellecla Luc. lib. 5. O the security and sound sleeps of a private Life If this Earl had not climb'd as high as the Weather-cock of Honours Spire he had not known the Horror of a Precipice Isocrates would never meddle with a publick Office says the Author of his Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Athenians were so spightful at their Magistrates that he would not trust them Demasthenes was employed in great Places and died untimely by a Poyson which he had confected for an evil time Says Pausan upon it in Atti. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is entrusted to govern the people when he hath serv'd their turn seldom dyes fortunately But this is the man whose Troubles gave the Bishop occasion to shew his Abilities in two points First About the circumstance of the examination of the Cause Secondly About the Judges of the Cause that is Whether Bishops might be such in causâ sanguinis There is much of it I confess but the Learning will recompence the length And I shall not blemish his Reputation to say of him what the Orator said of L. Aquilius Orat. pro Caecinnâ Cujus tantum est ingenium ita prompta fides ut quicquid haurias purum liquidúmque haurire censeas 142. Before I draw up to the Bishop's Reports there is more to be premised as That there was much ado to score out the Hearing of Strafford with a straight Line and a Form to give some satisfaction as a Child is often set upon its Legs before it can go His Adversaries toss'd it about many ways and manag'd it chiefly by two persons Mr. St. John the King's Sollicitor one that did very bad Service to the King his Master and the Church his Mother yet of able parts therefore I will write the Inscription of his Tomb-stone on the wrong side and turn it downward to the Earth The other was John Pym Homo ex argillâ luto factus Epicuraeo as Tully said of Piso that is in Christian English a painted Sepulchre
Members an ordinary Punishment of the Goths and Vandals who then lived in Spain but never heard of here with us of many years before the Reign of Hen. II and therefore not sitly pressed to drive Bishops from sitting as Peers in the case of the Earl of Strafford who is not to be sentenc'd to any mutilation of Members True it is that in the Council it self being the Eleventh Council of Toledo Can. 6. they are forbidden Quod morte plectendum sit sententiâ propria judicare to sentence in any Cause that is to be punish'd with Death Whereas in the Fourth Council of Toledo Can. 31 under Sisinandus not long before held anno 633 it is said That the Kings do oftentimes commit to Priests and Bishops their Judicature Contra quoscunque Majestatis obnoxios against all Treasons howbeit they are directed not to obey their King in this particular unless they have him bound by Oath to pardon the Party in case they shall find reason to mediate for him And thus the Canon-Law went in Spain but no where else in Christendom in that Age. 148. But these Bishops at Westm travelled not so far as Toledo to fetch in this Canon into their Synod but took it out of Gratian then in vogue for he lived in the time of Hen. Beu-clerk Grandfather to this Hen. II. who in the second part of his Decrees Cap. de Clericis saith thus Clericis in sacris ordinibus constitutis ex concil Tolet. Judicium sanguinis agitaro non licet And so this Canon was fetch'd from Spain into these other parts of Europe above four hundred years after the first making thereof upon this occasion Pope Gregory the Seventh otherwise called Hildebrand who lived in the time of William the Conqueror having so many deadly Quarrels against Hen. IV. Emperor of Germany to make his part good and strong laid the first ground which his Successors in their Canons closely pursued to draw the Bishops and other great Prelates of Germany France England and Spain from their Lay-Soveraigns and Leige-Lords to depend wholly upon him and so by colour and pretence of Ecclesiastical Immunities withdrew them from the Services of their Princes in War and in Peace and particularly from exercising all Places of Judicature in the Civil Courts of Princes to the which Offices they were by their Breeding and Education more enabled than the martial Lay-Lords of that rough Age and by their Fiefs and Baronies which they held from Kings and Emperors particularly bound and obliged And therefore you shall find that whereas the Bishops of this Island before the Conquest did still joyn with the Thanes Aldermen and Lay-Lords in the making and executing of all Laws whatsoever touching deprivation of Life and mutilation of Members Yet soon after when the Norman and English Prelates Lanfrank Anselm Becket and the rest began to trade with Rome and as Legati nati to wed the Laws and Canons cried up in Rome and to plant them here in England they withdrew by little and little our Prelates from these Employments and Dependencies upon the Kings of England and under the colour of Exemptions and Church-Immunities erected in this Land an Ecclesiastical Estate and Monarchy depending wholly upon the Pope inhibiting them to exercise secular Employments or to sit with the rest of the Peers in Judicatures of Life and Members otherwise than as they list themselves and hence principally did arise those great heats between our Rufus and Anselm which Eadmer speaks of and those ancient Customs of this Kingdom which Hen. II. pressed upon Becket in the Articles of Clarendon that the Prelates ought to be present in the King's Courts c. Which Pope Alexander a notable Boutefeu of those times in the Church of God did tolerate though not approve of as he apostyles that Article with his own Hand to be shewn to this day in the M. S. extant in the Vatican Library And although I shall not deny but the Popes did plead Scripture for this Inhibition as they did for all things else and allude unto that place 2 Tim. 3.4 which they backed with one of the Canons of the Apostles as they call them the seventh in number Yet it is clear their main Authority is fetch'd from this obscure Synod of Toledo where eighteen Bishops only were convened under Bamba the Goth who of a Plowman was made a King and of a King a Cloyster'd Monk as you may see in the History of Rodericus Santius par 2. c. 32. This is all the goodly Ground that either Gratian in his Decrees or Innocent III in the Decretals or Roger Hoveden in his History alledges against the Ecclesiastical Peers their sitting as Judges in Causes of Blood to wit this famous Gothish Council of Toledo The first that planted this Canon here in England was Stephen Langton a Cardinal the Pope's Creature as his Holiness was pleased to stile him in his Bull and thrust upon the See of Canterbury by a Papal Provision where he continued in Rebellion against his Soveraign as long as King John lived This Archbishop under colour of Ecclesiastical Immunity for so this Canon is marshall'd by Linwood at Osney near Oxford did ordain Ne quis Clericus beneficiatus vol in sacris Ordinibus constitutus praesumat interesse ubi judicium sanguinis tractatur vel exerceatur And this is the first Canon broach'd in this Kingdom to this effect that of Othobone being subsequent in time and a meer Foreign or Legantine Constitution See it at large in Linwood Constit lib. 3. ad sinem And by vertue of a Branch of this very Constitution the now Archbishop two years since sined the Bishop of Gloucester in the High-Commission because he had given way in time of Pestilence only that a Sessions a Judgment of Blood might be kept in a sacred place which was likewise inhibited in this Canon But this admits of a multitude of Answers First 149. Quod haec dictio Clericus ex vi verbi non comprehendit Episcopum Linwood lib. 3. de locat is conductis Secondly the irregularity incurr'd by Judicature in Causes of Blood is only Jure positivo and therefore dispensable by the Pope saith Covarruvias in Clemen si furiosus p. 2. com 5. n. 1. and here in England is dispens'd with in Bishops by the King who in his Writs or Summons to the Parliament commands the Lords Spiritual without any exception of Causes of Blood to joyn in all Matters and Consultations whatsoever with the Temporal Peers of the Kingdom their Summons being unto them a sufficient Dispensation so to do And Othobon himself inhibiting other Clerks to use these Secular Judicatures hath a Salvo to preserve the Priviledges of our Lord the King whereby he may use any of their Services in that kind when he shall see cause Tit. ne Clerici Juris saec exerceant And Linwood upon that Text doth instance in the Clerks of the Chancery and others Nor are these Writs that summon the
Bishops Dispensations only but Mandates also And those Bishops have been fined at the Kings Bench and elsewhere that absented themselves from Councils in Parliament without the King 's special leave and licence first obtained Thirdly When they are forbidden interesse to be present the meaning is not in the very Canons themselves that they should go out of the room but only that they should not be present to add Authority Help and Advice to any Sentence pronounced against a particular or individual Person in cause of Blood or mutilation If he be present auctorizando consilium opem vel operam dando then he contracts an irregularity and no otherwise saith our Linwood out of Innocentius And the Canon reacheth no further than to him that shall pronounce Sentence of Death or Mutilation upon a particular Person For Prelates that are of Counsel with the King in Parliament or otherwise being demanded the Law in such and such a Case without naming any individuum may answer generaliter loquendo That Treason is to be punisht with Death and a Counterseiter of the King's Coin Hostien lib. 2. eap de fals monet allowed by John Montague de Collatione Parliamentorum In Tracta Doctor Vol. 10. p. 121. Fourthly These Canons are not in force in England to bind the King's Subjects for several Reasons First Because they are against his Majesty's Prerogative as you may see it clearly in the Articles of Clarendon and the Writ of Summons and therefore abolished 25 H. 8. c. 8. It is his Majesty's Prerogative declar'd at Clarendon that all such Ecclesiastical Peers as hold of him by Barony should assist in the King's Judicatures until the very actual pronouncing of a Sentence of Blood And this holds from Henry the First down to the latter end of Queen Elizabeth who imployed Archbishop Whitgist as a Commissioner upon the Life of the Earl of Essex to keep him in Custody and to examine him after that Commotion in London And to say that this Canon is confirm'd by Common Law is a merry Tale there being nothing in the Common Law that tends that way Secondly It hath been voted in the House of Commons in this very Session of Parliament That no Canons since the Conquest either introduced from Rome by Legatine Power or made in our Synods had in any Age nor yet have at this present any power to bind the Subjects of this Realm unless they be confirmed by Act of Parliament Now these Canons which inhibit the Presence of Church-men in Cause that concerns Life and Member were never confirm'd by any but seem to be impeach't by divers and sundry Acts of Parliament Thirdly The whole House of Peers have this very Session despised and set aside this Canon Law which some of the young Lords cry up again in the same Session and in the very same Cause to take away the Votes of the Bishops in the Case of the Earl of Strafford For by the same Canon Law that forbids Clergy-men to Sentence they of that Coat are more strictly inhibited to give no Testimony in Causes of Blood Nee ettam potest esse test is vel tabellio in causâ Sanguinis Linw. part 2. sol 146. For no Man co-operates more in a Sentence of Death than the Witnesses upon whose Attestation the Sentence is chiefly past Lopez pract crim c. 98. distl 21. and yet have the Lords admitted as Witnesses produced by the House of Commons against the Earl of Strafford the Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh with the Bishop of London which Lords command now all Bishops to withdraw in the agitation of the self same Case Bishops it seems may be Witnesses to kill ont-right but may not sit in the Discussion of the Cause to help in case of Innocency a distressed Nobleman Whereas the very Gothish Bishops who first invented this Exclusion of Prelates from such Judicatures allow them to Vote as long as there is any hope left of clearing the Party or gaining of Pardon 4. Conc. Tol. Can. 31. And by the beginning of that Canon observe the use in Spain in that Age Anno 633. as touching this Doctrine Saepe principes contra quoslibet majestatis obnoxios Sacerdotibus negotia sua committunt Binnius 4. Tom. Can. Edit ult p. 592. Lastly In the Case of Archbishop Abbot all the great Civilians and Judges of the Land as Dr. Steward Sir H. Martin the Lord Chief Justice Hobart and Judge Doderidge which two last were very well versed in the Canon Law delivered positively when my self at first opposed them That all Irregularities introduced by Canons upon Ecclesiastical Persons concerning matters of Blood were taken away by the Reformation of the Church of England and were repugnant to the Statute 25 II. 8. as restraining the King 's most just Prerogative to imploy his own Subjects in such Functions and Offices as his Predecessors had done and to allow them those Priviledges and Recreations as by the Laws and Customs of this Realm they had formerly enjoy'd notwithstanding the Decree de Clerico venatore or the Constitution nae Clerici Saeculare c. or any other in that kind 150. The only Objection which appears upon any Learning or Record against the Clergies Voting in this Kingdom in Causes of Blood are two or three Protestations entred by the Bishops among the Records of the upper House of Parliament and some few Passages in the Law-Books relating thereunto The Protestation the Lords now principally stand upon is that of William Courtney Archbishop of Canterbury 11 Rich. 2. inserted in the Book of Priviledges which Mr. Selden collected for the Lords of the upper House In the Margin whereof that passage out of R. Hovenden about which we spake before about Clergy-mens agitation of Judgments of Blood is unluckily inserted and for want of due consideration and some suspicion of partial carriage in the Bishops in the case of the Earl of Strafford hath been eagerly pressed upon the Bishops by some of the Lords in such an unusual and unaccustomed manner that if I my self offering to speak to this Objection had not voluntarily withdrawn the rest of the Bishops and I had been without hearing voted out of the House in the agitation of a Splinter of that Cause of the Earl of Strafford's which came not near any matter of Blood An act never done before in that honourable House and ready to be executed suddenly without the least consideration of the merit of the Cause The only words insisted upon in the Protestation of Courtney's are these Because in this present Parliament certain matters are agitated whereat it is not lawsul for us according to the Prescript of holy Canons to be present And by and by after they say These matters are such in the which Nec possumus nec debemus interesse This is the Protestation most stood upon That of Archbishop Arundel 21 Rich. 2. is not so full and ample as this of Courtney's For the Bishops going forth left their Proxies with the
Lay-Lords and consequently continued present in Judicature in the eye and construction of the Law Therefore I apply my Answers to Courtney's Protestation principally which are divers and fit to be weighed and ponder'd First I do observe that Bishops did never protest or withdraw in Causes of Blood but only under the unsteddy Reign of Richard the Second Never before nor after the time of that unfortunate King to this present Parliament for ought appears in Record or History And that one Swallow should make us such a Spring and one Omission should create a Law or Custom against so many Actions of the English Prelates under so many Kings before so many Kings and Queens after that young Prince seems to me a strange Doctrine especially when I consider that by the Rules of the Civil and Common Law a Protestation dies with the death of him that makes it or is regularly vacated and disannulled Per contrarium actum subsequentem protestationem by any one subsequent act varying from the tenour of the said Protestation Regul Juris Bap. Nicol. part 2. Now that you may know how the Prelates carried themselves in this point and actually voted in Causes of Treason and sometimes to Blood before Richard the Second I refer me to what I cited before out of Mr. Selden and he out of Stephanides concerning Becket condemned by his Peers Ecclesiastical and Temporal 15 H. 2. Archbishop Stratford acquitted of High Treason in Parliament by four Prelates four Earls and four Barons under Edward the Third Antiq. Britan. p. 223. There was 4 Ed. 3. Roger de Mortimer Berisford Travers and others adjudged Traitors by Bishops as well as other Peers 16 Ed. 3. Thomas de Berkely was acquitted of Treason in pleno Parliamento And especially I refer my self to Roll 21 Rich. 2. Num. 10. which averrs That Judgments and Ordinances in the time of that King's Progenitors had been avoided by the absence of the Clergy which makes the Commons there to pray that the Prelates would make a Procurator by whom they might in all Judgments of Blood be at the least legally if they durst not be bodily present in such Judicatures And for the practice since the Reign of Rich. II. be it observed that in the fifth of Hen IV. the Commons thank the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for their good and rightful Judgment in freeing the Earl of Northumberland from Treason 3 Hen. 5. The Commons pray a Confirmation of the Judgment given upon the E. of Cambridge by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 5 H. 5. Sir J. Oldcastle is attainted of Treason and Heresie by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 28 H. 6. The Duke of Suffolk is charged with Treason before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 31 H. 6. The Earl of Devon in like sort and so down to the Earl of Bristol's Case 22 Maii 1626. ten Bishops are joyned with ten Earls and ten Barons in the disquisition and agitation of that supposed Treason I leave it therefore to any indifferent Judgment Whether these Protestations made all under one Kings Reign dying with the Parties that made them can void a Right and Custom grounded on a continual Practice to the contrary in all other Tryals that have been since the Conquest to this present Parliament 151. Secondly It is fitting we know the nature of a Protestation which some may mistake Protestatio est animi nostri declaratio juris acquirendi vel conservandi vel damnum depellendi causâ facta saith Spiegle Calvin and all the Civilians No Protestation is made by any man in his Wits to destroy his own Right and much less another mans but to acquire or preserve some Right or to avoid and put off some Wrong that was like to happen to the Party or Parties that make the Protestation As here in Courtney's Protestation the Prelates in the first place conceive a Right and Power they had voluntarily to absent themselves while some matters were treated of at that time in the House of Lords which by the Canon-Law the Breach whereof the Popes of Rome did vindicate in those times with far more Severity than they did the Transgressions of the Law of God they were not suffer'd to be present at not for want of Right to be there in all Causes but for fear of Papal Censures In the next place they did preserve their former Right as Peers which they still had though voluntarily absenting themselves More solito interessendi considerandi tyactandi ordinandi definiendi all things without exception acted and executed in that Parliament And in the last place they protest against any loss of right of being or voting in Parliament that could befall them for this voluntary absenting of themselves at this time And where in all this Protestation is there one word to prejudice their Successors or to authorize any Peer to command his fellow-Peer called thither by the same Writ of Summons that himself is and by more ancient Prescription to withdraw and go out from this Common-Council of the Kingdom Thirdly We do not certainly know what these matters were whereat Archbishop Courtney conceived the Prelates neither could nor ought to be present These matters are left in loose and general words in that Protestation Some conceive indeed it was at the Condemnation of Tressilian Brambre L. Beauchamp and others Ant. Brit. p. 286. But the Notes of Privileges belonging to the Lords collected by Mr. Selden do with more reason a great deal assign this going forth of the Prelates to be occasion'd by certain Appeals of Treason preferred in that Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester against Alexander Archbishop of York whom the Popish Canons of those Times as you know exempted as a sacred person from the cognizance of King or Parliament and therefore the rest of the Bishops as the Squares went then neither could nor ought to be present and Parties to break the Exemptions Immunities and Privileges of that great Prelate But the Earl of Strafford is not the Archbishop but the President of York and to challenge any such Exemptions and Immunities at this time from the cognizance of King and Parliament amounts to little less than Treason Therefore this Protestation is very unseasonably urged to thrust out any Protestant Prelate from voting in Parliament Lastly In the Civil and Canon-Law for the Law of this Land knoweth it not a Protestation is but a Testation or witnessing before-hand of a man 's own Mind or Opinion whereby they that protest provide to save and presorve their own Right for the time to come It concludes no more bende themselves no Stranger to the Act no Successor but if it be admitted sticks as inherent in the singular and individual person until either the Party dyes or the Protestation be drawn and revoked Therefore what is a Protestation made by Will. Courtney to Will. Laud Or by Tho. Arundel to bind Tho. Morton And what one Rule in the Common-Law of the Land in the Journaâ—-Books or
in the Records of the Tower can be produced to exclude the Lords Spiritual from sitting and voting in Causes of Blood Sometimes by the great Favour of the King Lords and Commons not otherwise they were permitted to absent themselves never before now commanded by the Lay-Lords to forbear their Votes in any Cause that was agitated in Parliament So our Law Books say That the Prelates by the Canon-Law may make a Procurator in Parliament when a Peer is to be tryed Which is enough to shew their Right thereunto This is to be seen 10 Edw. IV. f. 6. placit 17. And That it is only the Canon-Law that inhibits them to vote in Sanguinary Causes Stamford Pleas of the Crown f. 59. And saith Stamford the Canon-Law is a distinct and separated notion and not grown in his Age to any such Usance or Custom as made it Common-Law or the Law of the Land 152. Coming now to an end it moves me little what some object That many worthy Fathers of this Church-reformed and Bishop Andrews among the rest did forbear to vote in Causes of Blood and voluntarily retired out of the House if such things came in question nor did offer to enter any Protestation I do not doubt but they had pious Affections in it though they did not fully ponder what they did I have heard that a main Reason was that of the Record and Statute of 11 Rich. II. That it is the honesty of that Calling not to intermeddle in matters of Blood Now the French word Honesty signifies Decency and Comeliness As though it were a butcherly and a loathsom matter to be a Judge or to do Right upon a Malefactor to Death or loss of Members But this is an imaginary Decency never known in Nature or Scripture as I said before but begotten by Tradition in the dark Foggs and Mists of Popery Such an Honesty of the Clergy it was to have a shaven Crown to depend on the Pope to plead Exemptions and to resuse to answer for Felonies in the King's Courts All these were esteemed in those days the Honesty of the Clergy And such an Honesty it was in the Prelates of England in the loose Reign of Rich. II to absent themselves when they listed from the Aslembly of the Estate contrary to the King's Command in the Writ of Summons and to the Duties of their places as Peers of Parliament Yet they had more insight into what they did than some of our Bishops for they never offer'd to retire themselves in those days before their Protestation was benignly received and suffer'd to be enter'd upon the Parliament-Roll by the King the Lords and the House of Commons I know those excellent men that are with God proposed other Scruples to themselves they doubted not of the Legality or Comeliness for an Ecclesiastical Peer of the Kingdom of England to vote in a Judgment of Blood they did it continually in passing all Appeals and Attainders in Parliament but it startled them because it is not the practice of Prelates in other parts of the Christian Church so to do and thought it better to avoid Scandal and the Talk of other Nations That there being in the High Court of Parliament and Star-chamber Judges enough beside them they might without any prejudice to their King and Country forbear voting in those Judicatures somewhat the rather because all our Bishops in England are Divines and Preachers of the Gospel and consequently to be employ'd in Mercy rather than in Judgment who never touch upon the sharpness of the Law unless it be to prepare mens Hearts to relish and receive the comfort of the Gospel Let the Piety then and the Good-meaning of those grave Fathers be praised but I say they forgot their Duty to the Writ of the King's Summons and the use and weight of their Place And now to close I protest without vaunting I cannot perceive how this can be answer'd which I have digested together And if so many Bishops cannot obtain their Right which is so clear on their side God send the Earl of Strafford better Justice who is but a single Peer 153. Blame not my Book that there is so much of this Argument I hope the Ignorant will not read it at all but let a knowing man read it again and when he hath better observ'd it he will think it short Some History-spoilers have detracted from our Bishop that though he pleaded much in Parliament to his own Peril in the behalf of E. Strafford yet he wrought upon the King to consent to give way to his beheading Says our Arch-Poet Spencer lib. 3. Can. 1. st 10. Great hazard were it and Adventure fond To lose long-gotten Honour with one evil Hand But he shall lose no Honour in this for first as Nazian Or. 27 rejects them that had raised an ill Report of him whom he praised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can you prove that they were sound in their mind that said so if any will believe it from such authors a good man hath lost his thanks Ego quod bené fec◠malè feci quia amor mutavit locum Plautus That which was well done is ill done because it is not lovingly requited Hear all and judge equally Both the Houses of Lords and Commons by most Voices found the Earl guilty of Treason they made the greater Quire but those few that absolved him sung better The King interceded by himself by the Prince his Son to save him craved it with Cap in Hand Being founder'd in his Power he could go no further the Subjects denied their Soveraign the Life of one Man so Strafford must be cast away Opimii calamitas turpitudo Po. Rom. non judicium fuit Cic. pro Plancio Whose Calamity is the shame of English Justice His Majesty for divers days could not find in his Heart to set his Hand to the Warrant for Execution for Conscience dresseth it self by its own light And I would he had been as constant to his own Judgment in other things that we might remember it to his Honour as Capitolinus testifies for Maximus Non aliis potiùs quà m sibi credidit The fate of it was that the Parliament would not grant Mercy to the Earl and would have Justice from the King according to their Sentence whether he would or no They threaten and were as good as their Word to sit idle and do nothing for publick Safety and Settlement the whole Realm being in distraction till the Stroke was struck All the Palace-Yard and Hall were daily full of Mutineers and Outcries His Majesty's Person was in danger the roguy Off-scum in the Streets of Westminster talk'd so loud that there was cause to dread it Though there is nothing more formidable than to fear any thing more than God yet the most eminent Lords of the Council perswaded His Majesty to make no longer resistance Placeat quodcunque necesse est Lucan lib. 4. Not he but Necessity should be guilty of it If he did
adversum Salust p. 109. Sic est vulgus ex veritate pauca ex opinione multa judicat Cic. pro Dom. And Grotius proves out of the Caesarean Law in Matt. 27.23 That when Pilate enclined to hear the People who would have Christ condemned he acted contrary to Caesar's Law Vanas populi veces non audiendar Imperatores pronunciarunt O those of the right Heroical Race were dead and gone who would not have endured to be directed by the Off-scourings of their greatest Enemies Nec bellua tetrior ulla est Quam vulgi rabies in libera colla frement is Claud. in Eutrop. The other catch of the Pincers was their Lordships Legislative Vote and their odds in number above the Bishops if you counted men by Noses Power should be a divine thing this was only Strength as Aristotle says 2 Rhet. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Tully hath put in good sence and good words pro Quinc Arbitrantur sine injuriâ potentiam levem atque inopem esse Some think it is not Power unless they make us feel that it can do an Injury Now methinks their Lordships should have mark'd that their House was alter'd in its Visage very much when the Bishops sate no longer with them And Hippocrates says That sick man will not recover whose Face is so much changed that it is drawn into another fashion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And did the Lay-Peers look to last long when the Aspect of their House was so metamorphos'd It is a vulgar Error If you pluck up a Mandrake you will dye at the Groan of it Though it be but a Fable let them remember it that are for Extirpation and ware them whose turn is next Take away one Leg from a Trevit it may make a scurvy Stool to sit on but it is no longer a Trevit And take away the third Estate of Bishops be it nominal or real a Convention it may be but I doubt whether it be a Parliament And as a bungling Painter said of a Beast he had not drawn well It would not make a good Lyon but he could turn it into a good Calf There was a time when the whole Academy of Philosophers was banish'd out of Athens but they were soon miss'd and he was well fined that was their Enemy Sequenti anno revocati multa 5 talentorum Sophocli Archonti indita Moeur fort Att. p. 65. But for them that thrust the Bishops out of their ancient Right the Injury avenged it self upon them for it was not long when the Commons served the Temporal Lords in the same kind Nec longum laetabere te quoque fata prospectant paria AEn lib. 10. They were not only thrust out but an Engagement like a Padlock clapt upon the Door to keep them out for ever and to their great dishonour the other House made to resemble the Peers of the Land Duxit Sacerdotes inglorios Optimates supplantat Mark their Sympathy in the words of the vulgar Latin Job 12.19 Which retribution measure for measure the Bishops did neither wish nor rejoice in but committed their Innocency to be justified by the Holy God Seek no other reason why they had so many Enemies but because Christianity was mightily faln among us both as to the credenda and the agenda A mighty part had a Religion I mean equivocally called so that was a Picture looking equally upon all Sects that pass'd by it and as indifferent as Gusman â—s Father that being taken by the Pirates of Argiers for quietness sake and as one that had not the Spirit of Contradiction renounced Christ and turned Turk But when the Cause of the Bishops for other Immunities and to keep their undoubted Right and Place in the Lords House was in the hottest dispute Sentence ready to be call'd for and like the last bidding for a thing at the Port-sale York at a Committee of the Lords stands up for his Brethren Murique urbis sunt pectore in uno Sil. lib. 7 and delivers him in the long Harangue that follows 159. I shall desire as much Water or Time of your H. Lordships as your Lordships can well afford in a Committee because all I intend to speak in this business must be to your Lordships only as resolved for mine own part to make hereafter no Remonstrance at all to His most excellent Majesty for these several Reasons First That I have had occasion of late to know that our Soveraign whom God bless and preserve is I will not say above other Princes but above all Christian men that ever I knew or heard of a man of a most upright dainty and scrupulous Conscience and afraid to look upon some Actions which other Princes abroad do usually swallow up and devour I know for I have the Monuments in my own custody what Oath or rather Oaths His Majesty hath taken at his Coronation to preserve all the Rights and Liberties of the Church of England and you know very well that Churchmen are never sparing in their Rituals and Ceremonials to amplisie and swell out the Oaths of Princes in that kind Your Lordships then know right well that he is sworn at that time to observe punctually the Laws of King Edward the first Law whereof as you may see in Lambert's Saxon Laws is to preserve entirely the Peace the Possessions and the Rights and Privileges of the Church And truly I shall never put my Master's Conscience that I find resenting and punctilious when it is bound up with Oaths and Protestations to swallow such Gudgeons as to sill it self with these Doubts and Scruples My second Reason is That if His Majesty were free from all these Oaths and Protestations I duâ—t not without some fair Invitation from himself advise His Majesty to run Shocks and Oppositions against the Votes of both these great Houses of Parliament Lastly If I were secretly invited to move His Majesty to advise upon the passing of this Bill yet speaking mine own Heart and Sence and not binding any of my Brethren in this Opinion if I found the major part of this House to pass this Bill without much qualification I should never have the boldness nor desire to sit any more in any judicial place in this most honourable House And therefore my H. Lordships here I have sixt my Areopagus and dernier Resort being not like to make any further Appeal which makes me humbly desire your Patience to speak for some longer time than I have accustomed in a Committee in which length notwithstanding I hope to use a great deal of brevity some length in the whole and much shortness in every particular Head which I mean so to distinguish and beat out that not only your Lordships but the Lords my Brethren may enlarge themselves upon all the particulars which neither my Abilities of Body can perform nor doth my Intention nor Purpose aim at at this time I will therefore cast this whole Bill into six several Heads wherein I
that saving unto themselves all their Rights and Interests of Sitting and Voting in the House at other times they dare not Sit or Vote in the House of Peers until your Majesty shall further secure them from all Affronts Indignities and Dangers in the Premisses Lastly Whereas their Fears are not built upon Phantasies and Conceipts but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie men of good Resolutions and much Constancy They do in all duty and humility protest before your Majesty and the Peers of the most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which in their absence since the 27th of this Instant-month of Decemb. 1641 have already passed As likewise against all such as shall hereafter pass in that most Honourable House during the time of their forced and violent absence from the said most Honourable House Not denying but if their absenting of themselves were wilful and voluntary that most Honourable House might proceed in all the Premisses their Absence or this Protestation notwithstanding And humbly beseeching your most Excellent Majesty to command the Clerk of that House of Peers to enter this Petition and Protestation amongst his Records They will ever pray to God to bless and preserve c. Subscribed by Joh. Eborac Tho. Dunelm Ro. Cov. and Lich. Jos Norwicen Joh. Asaphensis Gul. Bath Wellen. Geo. Hereford Rob. Oxen. Matth. Elien Godfr Glocestr Job Petroburg Maur. Landoven 169. Hear and admire ye Ages to come what became of this Protestation drawn up by as many Bishops as have often made a whole Provincial Council They were all call'd by the Temporal Lords to the Bar and from the Bar sent away to the Tower Nonne fuit satius tristes formidinis iras Atque superba pati fastidia A rude World when it was safer to do a Wrong than to complain of it The People commit the Trespass and the Sufferers are punish'd for their Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. lib. 9. A Proverb agreeing to the drunken Feasts of the Greeks If the Cook dress the Meat ill the Minstrils are beaten That day it broke forth that the largest part of the Lords were fermentated with an Anti-episcopal Sourness If they had loved that Order they would never have doomed them to a Prison and late at night in bitter Frost and Snow upon no other Charge but that they presented their Mind in a most humble Paper to go abroad in safety Ubi amor condimentum inerit quidvis placiturum spero Plaut in Casin Love hath a most gentle hand when it comes to touch where it loves Here was no sign of any silial respect to their Spiritual Fathers Nothing was offer'd to the Peers but the Substance was Reason the Style lowly the Practice ancient yet upon their pleasure without debate of the Cause the Bishops are pack'd away the same night to keep their Christmas in Durance and Sorrow And when this was blown abroad O how the Trunch-men of the Uproar did fleer and make merry with it But the Disciples of the Church of England took it very heavily not for any thing the good Bishops had done but for that they suffer'd for a Prisoner is not a Name of Infamy but Calamity Poena damnati non peccati Cic. pro Dom. Estque pati poenam quà m meruisse minùs Ovid. lib. 1. de Pont. Nothing can be more equal than to lay the Objections the Lords made and York's Answers for the Protestation together as they go from Hand to Hand to this day in Town and City And let the Children judge what their Fathers did if they read this hereafter Obj. 1. That the Petition is false the Lords did not sit in Fear as my Lord of Worcester Winchester London Nor was it the Petition of all the Bishops about London and Westminster not of Winchester London Rochester Worcester 〈◊〉 If this were true yet were it not Treason against any Canon or Statute-Law but the Fact is otherwise First the Fear complained against is not for the time of their Sitting in the House but for the time of their coming unto and going from the said House and it is easie to prove they were then in Fear Secondly They know best whether they were in Fear or no who subscribed or agreed to the Petition And my Lord of Winchester agreed in it as much as the rest and instanced in the cause of his Fear his chasing to Lambeth Thirdly For the other part of the Objection the Bishop of London was then at Fulham Rochester in Kent Worcester at Oxford nor doth the Title of the Petition comprehend them as not being about London and Westminster Winchester did agree thereunto and came thither to subscribe and it was resolved his Name should have been called for ere ever it was to be solemnly preferred to the King which was never intended to be but when the King sate in the Upper House of the Lords which the Bishops intended to pray His Majesty to do And this appears by the Superscription of the Petition Obj. 2. The nulling of all Laws to be made at this time that the Kingdom of Ireland was in jeopardy was a conspiring with the Rebels to destroy that Kingdom and so amounted to Treason or a high Misdemeanour 〈◊〉 1. A Protestation annulleth no Law but so far as the Law shall extend to the Parties protesting Nor so far but in case that the Parties protesting shall afterward judicially prove their right to annull that Law So that it was impossible any Protestation of the Bishops should actually intend to hinder the Relief of Ireland 2 The Relief of Ireland by 10000 Scots and 10000 English was voted and concluded long before this Protestation and all the Particulars of that great business referr'd to a Committee of both Houses and the Bishops unanimously assented thereto So that the Relief of Ireland comes not within the Date and Circumscription of this Protestation And the Bishops call God to witness they never conceived one Thought that way 3. The Bishops protested against no Laws or Orders at all to be annulled absolutely and for all the time of this Session of Parliament simply but for that space of time only wherein they should be forcibly and violently kept from the said Parliament by those rude and unruly People So that as soon as the King and the Lords did quiet their passage unto Parliament which the Lords did do before this Petition was read in Parliament and that any of the Bishops were present there the Protestation was directly null and of none effect so as indeed the Protestation was void and dead in Law before the L. Keeper brought the Petition in question into the House because the Bishop of Winchester and some others had even then quiet access unto that Honourable House And the Bishops conceived the Protestation void in such a case and do most humbly wave and revoke the same and humbly desire both
Houses to accept thereof Obj. 3. They desire the King to command the Clerk of the House of Peers to enter this their Petition and Protestation among his Records which derogates from the Rights of Parliament As though the King could be his Command make a Record of Parliament 〈◊〉 It is to be conceived that the Bishops never intended that this Petition as may appear by the Directory thereof should be preferred to the King in any other place but in the Upper House of Parliament And it will appear among the Records of that most Honourable House 11 Rich. II. num 9. that the King in that House hath commanded the like Protestation of the Bishops to be enrolled which made the Bishops use that Phrase Howbeit beside the King's Command the Assent of the Peers and Commons have still concurred and the Bishops never conceived it otherwise which made them presume that no matter of their Protestation could possibly amount to any higher Crime than that of Error or Mistake considering that it was still to be admitted or rejected by the King with the Assent of the Peers and Commons Here the Answer ends in this brief compass Let all the Council in the Land plead against it and shew where it is not sound and satisfactory Yet the Bishops desire no other reparation for their false Imprisonment but Liberty and Safety to Vote in that House to which they were called by the King 's Writ Sidonius speaks in pity of Eutropia lib. 6. ep 2. Victoriam computat si post dammum non litiget And these innocent men would not hold it for Justice done unto them if after so much Wrong sustained the Contention might be ended 170. Every subsequent Action of that Parliament did castrate their Hope Day utter'd unto Day how they meant to dissolve that Primitive and Apostolick Order piece by piece And what shall we have next The very Kingdom of Christ set up in the Church if you will believe them As Pisistratus would perswade the Athenians that he changed not their Laws but reduced them to those that were in Solon's time by which Trick he made them his Slaves Laert. in Vit. Sol. Is it possible that men could have the face to pretend more ancient Rulers in Christ's Church than Bishops The method of Sacrilege was first to pluck the Spiritual Lords out of the House and to disable all the Clergy from intermedling in Secular Affairs The Bill is read and easily pass'd now the Bishops were not in place to hear it and dispute it The Plaintiff pleads the Cause at Westminster what can the Defendant say to it in the Tower Proceed my good Lords he that runs alone by himself must needs be foremost This was worse than if a young Heir were sent to travel by his Guardian and the Guardian pulls down his House fells his Woods leaseth out his Lands when he is not in the way to look to it But where were those Earls and Barons that sided with the Bishops before Shrunk absent or silent They that are wise Leave falling Buildings fly to them that rise Or as Plautus in Stych as neat in his Comick Phrase as Johnson Si labant res lassae itidem amici collabascunt But the King's part is yet to come The Parliament makes ready a Bill the King only makes it a Law So he did this and it was the last I think that ever he signed Why he did it is a thing not well known and wants more manifestation Necessity was in it say they that would look no further Nulla necessitas excusat quae potest non esse necessitas Tertul. Exh. ad Cast c. 7. The most said That nothing was more plausible than this to get the Peoples Favour Or that the Houses had sate long like to continue longer and must have Wages for their Work because they are no Hirelings they will chuse and take and this Boon they will have or the King shall have no Help from them It would ill become a Royal Spirit to plead he was compelled by Fear else His Majesty might have revoked this Act upon that Challenge As Sir Nic. Throgmorton surpassing most of his Age for Wit and Experience assured Mary Queen of Scots shut up in the hold of Loquelevin Cessionem in carcere extortam qui justus est metus planè irritam esse Cambd. Eliz. ann 1569. Yet Fear had not so much stroke in this as the Perswasions of one whom His Majesty loved above all the World The King foresaw he was not like to get any thing from this Parliament but a Civil War he would not begin it but on their part he heard their Hammers already at the Forge Et clandestinis turgentia fraudibus arma Manil. lib. 1. He being most tender to provide for the Safety of his Queen went with her to Dover to convey her into France not that she desired to turn her Back to Danger or refused to partake of all Hazards with her Lord and Husband for she was resolute in that as Theogena the Wife of Agathocles Justin lib. 20. Nubendo ei non prosperae tantùm fed omnis fortunae iniisse societatem But because His Majesty knew himself that he should be more couragious if his dear Consort were out of the reach of his Enemies Being at Dover the Queen would not part with the King to Ship-board till he signed this Bill being brought to believe by all protestation of Faith from Sir John Culpepper who attended there for that Dispatch that the Lords and Commons would press His Majesty to no more Bills of that unpleasing nature So the King snatch'd greedily at a Flower of a fair Offer and though he trusted few of the men at Westminster yet in outward shew he would seem to trust them all the more because the Queen had such Confidence in them How Culpepper instilled this into the Queen and how she prevailed York is my Author and could not deceive me for he told me in the Tower That the King had sacrificed the Clergy to this Parliament by the Artifices contrived at Dover a day before the News were brought to London Then they fell to Bells and Bonfires and prophaned the Name of God that He had heard them whose Glory was not in their Thoughts from the beginning to the end A Day-labourer lifts up his Ax towards Heaven but strikes his Mattock into the Earth And all the Evil that the Earth breeds was in their Mind when they seemed to look up to God That which is of God must have its Foundation in Humility its binding fast in Obedience its rising in Justice and its continuance in Peace So begins the Misery and Fall of the Bishops Synesius hath lent us words fit to express jump in the same Case Ep. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Bishops were expulsed meerly by Slander nothing being demonstrated to lay any Crimes against them And verily God was gracious to them What should they have done as it
and so it did for certain in Adam the first Father and first King Yet grant them their asking here is an Instance to silence them All the Creatures were made before Man yet God gave him the Dominion to govern them that were created before and after him It is to no more purpose to cavil That the King is made for the good of the People Is that which is appointed for the good of another the less for that Cause Quite contrary 't is therefore the greater So is a Preceptor and Shepherd the one above the Scholars the other above the Flock Saravia distinguisheth skilfully de Obed. p. 228. Quod est propter aliud si benesicium ab co accipit minus esl si dat majus est They stretch their Wit further and say That the King gives his Oath to his Subjects to mamtam them in their known Laws It well befits him So God gave an Oath to Abraham and David Quare juramentum praes itum Inseriori non ei subjicn Superiorem says the same Author As for the matter of the Oath to keep the Laws it puts him not under the Wrath of Men if he do not keep them but under the Wrath of God A King is to keep the Laws of Nations with other Princes yet is not subject to them God defend us from making Experiments what would come to pass if the choice of a Governor or Governors were referred to the thousands and millions of England Beware a Heptarchy again beware an Hecatontarchy Things give better Counsel to men than men to things Look behind enquire into Histories what bloody meetings the World hath known upon such ambitious bandings between Gogs and Magog's Parties An quae per totam res atrocissima Lesbon Non audita tibi est Metam l. 2. Is it forgotten how they have lifted up their Friends in a Fit and straightway pluck'd them down in a Fury As the Greek Emperor said to a Bishop Ego te Furne condidi ego te destruam For as Painters delight in Pieces not being made but in their making so the Hare-brain'd Multitude run on to a Choice with Greediness and when it is pass'd they loath it with Fickleness The Conclusion shall be That this Stratagem to unthrone a King by the pretended inherent Right of the People can come to no conclusion For if there were occasion for all Cities Counties Burroughs Hamblets to come to try that Right who shall warn them that the opportunity is ripe to require their concurrence Who shall summon them Why A. rather than B Who shall propound Upon what place shall they meet Who shall preserve Order and Peace For every Hog when you drive them must have a String about his own Leg. Who shall umpire and stop Outrages Such there will be Saevitque animis ignobile vulgus An hundred impossible Dissiculties may be added to these and he that can rowl them up all into Sence deserves the Philosopher's Stone for his Labour To divert the vulgar fort from meddling with things improper to and so much above them Budaeus remembers me how to call them to such a Choice as is fitter for them lib. 1. de As In Pervigilio Epiphamae regnum ad sesquiboram lusu sabae sortiuntur Let them chuse the King of the Bean on Twelsth-night and be merry with the Cake-bread 189. The best of Kings had some that fell off from him after the fust and second year of the War when they saw his Enemies had got ground in some Skirmishes and Sieges and were possest of the best part of his Navies surrendred to them by a false Faitour This was a colour for their Rhetoricians to impute Righteousness to the fortunate Part. And their Orders for Thanksgivings boast of it that God did own their Cause because of the Victories which had besall'n them But Wisdom dresseth her self by her own Light and minds not the shadow of Success for after the first dark Cloud that comes it can be seen no more It is not strange that Self-lovers are so wary and rash Springolds so sond to like that which is most lucky Thucyd. l. 1. notes it upon the variable turnings of the Peloponnesian Wars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men cannot leave but they will bend their Fancies to the Casualties of Events Nay says Matth. de Prin. c. 25. There is no living for us without that Tropical Humour Si tempora mutant ur statim perit qui in agendo rationem non mutat But all such Errours shall be reversed and the mistakes consuted before a Tribunal Eternal Impartial which will deceive none Go not about then to try right and wrong as they are bandied among us No man knows either Love or Hatred by all that is before them All things come alike to all There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Eccles 9.2 If you Judge the merit of a Cause or the integrity of a Man by prosperous Chance Epicurus will have a strong tentation to say Is there a God whose wisdom sees and governs all things Dionysius when he had rob'd a Temple and failed away merrily with his Booties scost at it Videt is amici quà m bona à Diis immortalibus navigatio sacrilegis datur Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 3. Such a Scandal another of the voluptuary Sect took at a Courtezan that had forsworn her self and look't more amiably after it Obligasti Perfidum diris caput enitescis Pulchrior multo juvenumque prodis Publica cura Horat. Od. l. 4. We that are bred under holy Discipline know that it will be the worse for thee hereafter for their Torments will appear more bitter in the next World because they felt nothing but pleasure in this The ways of God are past finding out He permits that Evil which he hates and he Corrects that Good which he loves This is the Trial of Faith Quicquid imponitur molit All that is brought to her Mill she will grind it into fine slour of Thanksgiving and Patience and is afsured That as a Ball mounts higher when it is thrown to the ground so a good Cause when it is beaten will rebound higher to Heaven Otherwise says Manilius l. 5. Si sorte accesserit impetus ausis Improbitas fiet virtus If Sin get the better at hand-blows Vertue shall hold up its hand at the Bar and be condemned for Vice Joshuah's discomfit at Ai Josiah's at Megiddo the hundred Victories that the Saracens have had against the Christians tell us how they that sight the Lord's Battels are not priviledged from turning their Backs to their Enemies It is an acute passage of S. Ambrose in an Epistle to Valentinian That the Heathen had no reason to beast that the Idols whom they worshipt were true Gods and gave them â—icleries for if the Romans prevailed where were the Carthaginian Gods to help them if the Carthaginians triumpht where were the Roman Gods when they were beaten Success will neither serve Christians nor Heathen
Service and Affairs And in that respect as well as your common interest and duty we command your suitable compliance which we assure you shall be looked upon by us as a fresh acceptable Testimony of your Affections to Us and our Cause and preserved in our Royal remembrance with the rest of your Merits against the time when it may please God to enable Us to reflect thereon for your good Thus far his Majesty to make way for the Lord Byron a gallant Person a great Wit a Scholar very Stout full of Honour and Courtesie yet favour'd the English Interest above the Welsh in those Counties which did not take And the Dye of War run so false that he lost the Cast to one who had not the Ames-Ace of Valour in him Neither did the scatter'd Forces of those distressed Parts ever set them another Stake Prince Rupert observing the Royal Directions wrote largely as followeth May 16. 1644. To all Governours and Officers to all Sheriffs Commissioners of the Array or Peace all Vice-Admirals or Captains of Ships in the three Counties WHereas I understand by his Majesty's Letters unto me lately directed that the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of York by reason of his great Experience and Imployments in the Affairs of this Kingdom as well under my Grandfather of famous memory as under his Majesty that now is hath been intrusted in the three Counties c. from the first beginning of these Troubles and gives his best Advice in Matters of Importance which have relation to the King's Service and the Peace and safe keeping of those Counties from all Invasions by Sea or Land And that he hath discharged that Trust reposed in him faithfully and successfully during the time of his abode in those parts My will and pleasure is That according to his Majesty's intimation to me you and every one of you in all matters of importance and moment touching or concerning his Majesty's or my Service under his Majesty in those Counties as also in all Matters of Questions Doubts and Variances which may fall out either among your selves or between your selves and the several Counties wherein you govern or command shall from time to come consult and advise with the said most Reverend Father in God and follow such his Advices and Counsels in the Premisses which shall be grounded upon the Laws of the Land or the pressing Necessities of these times and agreeing with our Directions and future Instructions from time to time RUPERT Nothing was wanting of Royal and Princely care to preserve the Archbishop in Conway-Castle yet all would not serve There was none whom Envy did more strive to hold down upon all occasions which his great Deservings brought upon him So true is that of Synesius de provid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue doth not quench Envy but rather kindle it One violent Person unframed all good Order who would submit to no Authority a hot Man for he was ever dry and he did not conceal it for he was always drinking 198. That Affront waited more leisure to break forth and suffered him to take a long and a tedious Journey in Winter to Oxford in obedience to these Lines which he received from his Majesty Decemb. 16. 1644. CHARLES R. WE having had frequent experience of your good Affection and Ability to serve us and having occasion at this time to make use of them here We have thought fit and do by these Presents require you to repair hither to Us to Oxon with all convenient expedition Desiring you to come as throughly informed as you can of the true condition of Our Affairs c. Presently he set forward though the ways were much beset and came in January with the first to the King for he had many things to represent and was not in his Element when he was consined in private Walls He took up his Lodging with the Provost of Queens-Colledge Dr. Christopher Potter a Master in Divinity and a Doctor of Piety He was received in the Court with much Grace where he saw his stay must be short For that City could not long receive so many Nobles and Gentry as came to make a Session of Parliament neither could so many of the King 's principal Friends be spared from their Countries Being then a good Husband of his time and having private Audience with his Majesty he gave him that Counsel to which Wisdom and Allegiance led him as Thraseas Paetus the famous Senator said Suum esse non aliam quà m optimam sententiam dicere One passage is fit to see the light which had much of prudence in it and too much of prophesie He desir'd his Majesty to be informed by him and to keep it among Advices of weight That Cromwel taken into the Rebels Army by his Cousin Hambden was the most dangerous Enemy that his Majesty had For though he were at that time of mean rank and use among them yet he would climb higher I knew him says he at Bugden but never knew his Religion He was a common Spokes-man for Sectaries and maintained their part with stubbornness He never discoursed as if he were pleased with your Majesty and your great Officers indeed he loves none that are more than his Equals Your Majesty did him but Justice in repulsing a Petition put up by him against Sir Thomas Steward of the Isle of Ely but he takes them all for his Enemies that would not let him undo his best Friend and above all that live I think he is Injuriarum persequentissimus as Porcius Latro said of Catiline He talks openly that it is sit some should act more vigorously against your Forces and bring your Person into the power of the Parliament He cannot give a good word of his General the Earl of Essex because he says the Earl is but half an Enemy to your Majesty and hath done you more favour than harm His Fortunes are broken that it is impossible for him to subsist much less to be what be aspires to but by your Majesty's Bounty or by the Ruin of us all and a common Confusion as one said Lentulus salvâ Repub. salvus esse non potuit Paterc In short every Beast hath some evil properties but Cromwel hath the properties of all evil Beasts My humble motion is that either you would win him to you by the Promises of fair Treatment or catch him by some stratagem and cut him short Now if it shall be objected Who reports this saving the Archbishop himself to magnifie his own parts that he was so excellent in fore-sight and as Ajax slighted his Rival Sua narret Ulysses Quae sine teste gerit I satisfie it thus His Servants and they that daily listned to his Discourses have heard it come from him long before the accident of saddest experience how some of them would live to see when Cromwel would bear down all other Powers before him and set up himself The King received it with a
Horse for he sate in Scarlet and had power to take peace from the earth that men should kill one another and there was given to him a great sword to cut off the Lord 's Anointed his dear Servant Rev. 6.4 208. These with the Cubbs of the same Litter shed the Royal Blood upon a Scaffold openly for no Fault God knows but as Beda reports of K. Sigebert slain by two Ruffians who render'd this Cause for it That his Meekness had made many Malefactors and his Goodness had undone the Kingdom O unheard of Immanity above Mariana and all Jesuitical Positions Quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa Nomen á nullo posuit natura metallo Juven Sat. 13. O Sons and Daughters of Jerusalem droul out an Elegy for good King Josias Tristius lacrymis Simonidaeis Catullus O most facinorous Fact next above that of the Priests that to poyson the Emperor Henry the Seventh forbore not to poyson their own God in the Sacrament O ruthless Monsters that could stop their Ears at the Prayers of so many Nobles male and female that kneeled unto them to spare their Soveraign who would never have been moved if the People had wept Blood O day of wailment to all that are yet unborn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes Ep. 58. As apt as ever words did light in my way It was the day that they crucified Christ upon the Cross again O ye Kings of the Earth wherefore do ye not revenge it When Bessus kill'd Darius Justin puts you in mind Communis Regum omnium est causa lib. 13. every Monarch in Europe was wounded with that stroke If those Royal persons will not regard it to whom should the Crown of England make its moan Let the words of Tully be mark'd Act. 7. in Verrem Si in aliquâ desertissimâ solitudine ad saxa scopulos haec conqueri vellem tamen omnia muta inanima tantâ ac tam indignâ rerum atrocitate commoverentur But wherefore do we quarrel the remissness of Princes abroad Since there is not among our selves that hath the Courage of a gallant man to meet with Cromwel who jetts up and down and strike him to the Heart and expire upon the Murderer since the Law cannot punish him for so confess'd a Treason is not the Equity and Vigour of the Law in every one that can attach him Si quis eum qui plebiscito sacer sit occiderit homicida non est That 's Law with Budaeus lib. 2. Pand. fol. 28. Private Revenge is infamous and unlawful but he is actually condemn'd that hath killed the supreme Magistrate and every man is a Magistrate to cut off that Malefactor when there is no Magistrate or Bench of Justice sitting to try the Traytor But it is our Shame that every one wisheth that were done by another's Hand which he dare not for fear do himself Metellus Macedonicus was dragged to Prison by Catinius Labeo Tribune of the People Says Pliny lib. 7. c. 44. Indignationis dolori accedit inter tot Metellos tam sceleratam Catinii audaciam semper fuisse inultam The Cattive Cannibal Cromwel lives and is mighty cockers his Genius and abounds in Luxury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss 1. Here Cyclops drink Wine says Ulysses since you have eaten so much Man's-flesh Says the learned Dr. Duport Ironicè moraliter dictum ut somno vinoque conscientiam sopiat qui homicidium commisit But our Cyclops will never be able to cast his Conscience into a sound Sleep the Furies of Hell will often lash him and awake him Nero was the Murtherer of his Mother Agrippina and though afterward he drowned himself in all sort of Pleasure he could not avoid the Torment of heavy Remembrance So Sueton. par 24. Neque tamen sceleris conscientiam quanquam militum senatus populi acclamationibus confirmaretur aut statim aut unquam postea serre potuit Had Zimri Peace that slew his Master Richard the Third seemed to see many Devils haling him and tormenting him the night before he was slain in Bosworth Field Pol. Virg. Hist p. 25. The same continual Excruciation must be in the Breast of brazen-fac'd Bradshaw God will run him into Phrenzy with the sight of his Sins as our Acts and Monuments record That Judge Morgan fell mad after he had pass'd Sentence of Death upon Lady Jane and cried out Take away the Lady Jane from me and died in that Horror But whither am I carried Silence in such a Subject before me would condemn me and Writing enrageth me Our Criticks blame Euripides that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too long in his Bewailings I could not contract Laments into a less compass upon the most deplored end of a thrice-honour'd King a most pious Saint a patient and a crowned Martyr of whom our Prelate Williams preacheth in a Fast-Sermon p. 55. That he was as like Virtue it self as could be pattern'd in Flesh and Blood What Velleius writes of Aemilianus is too much for a man but scarce any one came nearer it than this man Qui nihil in vitâ nisi laude dignum aut fecit aut dixit aut sensit But I will challenge to King Martyr Charles what a Christian Historian writes of a very Christian King of ours Malmsb. lib. 1. c. 4. It is King Kenwolf to whom Beda dedicates his Ecclesiastical History Nihil quod livor dignè carperet unquam admisit And let his Death be bewailed his Memory be resresh'd with glorious Praises and immortal Fame to the Worlds end 209. The Thread of his Life so dismally cut off who was the Darling of all that were holy and fear'd God who was the Breath of our Nostrils as Naz. writ to Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are more my Breath than the Air I breathe in This the heaviest Judgment of God that could befall us turn'd all England into such a Mourning as no Relation can describe or Fancy imagine Tears burst out Groanings bellowed forth Hearts melted like Wax few but forgat to eat their Bread Melancholy struck abundance dumb the saddest Event was that Frenzies seized on some and sudden Death on many It pierced the Archbishop's Heart with so sharp a point that Sorrow run him down the Hill with that violence that he never stay'd till he came to the bottom and died As soon as this Blow was given many conceived Despairs and are big with it yet that the Slavery under which the three Nations are fallen is irrecoverable till the last and terrible day of the Lord. In which doleful Sadness Lord Primate Usher I am witness of it continued to his End We English are observ'd to be too credulous of vain Prophecies such as are Father'd upon Merlin and no better Authors I remember an old Scotch man called Mony-penny if it were his right Name taught me this Rhime when I was Fourteen years old After Six is One And after One is None But Hey-ho and Weal-a-day To the day of