King making it his Business to be on the defensive till the Queen should arrive with an Army to his assistance p. 58. and when her Army was come with other Necssaries of War the King was in the hopefullest Condition of the whole Four Years for so long the contest was in dispute and had there not been Neglect Treachery or both amongst his Councils either of State or War he had unnestled the Rebels at London and put a final End to any further Blood-shed but what in due course of Law such Villanies deser'vd In relating how the Earl of Essex took Reading it must not be omitted that Sir Arthur Ashton a Papist was Governour therof to which I shall add that Sir Arthur had been brought up a Soldier in Foreign Wars a Person of good Experience who as soon as he found we were running into his Bloody Profession proffer'd his Service to the King more than once who as often reply'd that the Faction had brought such a Slander upon him in reference to those of his Perswasion it would much prejudice his Cause to imploy him at length he came to the King and shewed him a Letter wherein Essex profferd him a Command in the Parliament Army and told his Majesty plainly that he was a Soldier of Fortune and that if he could not be entertained on the one side he would betake himself to the other and by this Means he became Governour of Reading for the Parliament as they had several Papists in their Service so 't was nothing but a vile Interest made them reject the rest force them into the King's Quarters that they might have the benefit of their Estates and the King the Odium of their Company In the mean while I would gladly know whether a Loyal Papist be not a better Man ay and Christian too than a Rebel Protestant to be sure Ludlow and his Gang agreed with them in the most exploded and pernicious Doctrine was ever laid to their Charge and what but few of them and that very clandestinely have maintain'd viz. that of Deposing and Murdering Kings for which Reason I look upon him as a baser Man than Fryar Iacob or Ravillac and the whole set of Regicides the most abominable Assembly that ever met since the Scribes and Pharisees preferr'd Barabbas to be sure they brought upon the Reformation the greatest Reproach Hell its self could suggest and yet for ought I see not only the Reproach but the Practice is like to continue Though Essex was Master of the Field in Spring the King had the Command all Summer his Forces making so great a Progress in the West as to take Exeter Bristol and many other considerable places give a total defeat to Sir Will. Waller at Devizes and so clear'd all those Parts from any Enemy in a Body as indeed they had none at London hereupon it was debated in several Councils of War and private Cabals whether was best to march directly thither or to stay and take Glocester first the only place of any considerable Strength which remain'd to the Enemy in those Parts the general Vogue went for the March and very considerable Reasons urg'd for it both Essex's and Waller's Armies were crumbled away the City of London in Mutiny an Insurrection in Kent for the King the Lords voting a Treaty and the Commons in dismal Frights On the other side it was urg'd how ill it would look to leave such a place behind them that 't was ill situated and not well fortified or provided with Men so that a few Days would certainly make the King Master thereof long before the Enemy could get a Recruit much less March so far to relieve it Of this Perswasion was Prince Rupert and most of the Sword-men which made some suspect they fear'd the War would be done too soon and were the more confirm'd therein for that the Siege was carryed on at such a slow rate so that after a whole Month of precious time lost and Essex appearing unexpectedly with a considerable Army they were forc'd to raise the Siege I have been told a Passage much credited by honest Gentlemen in those times that a little before the King made that fatal halt a certain Peer finding Essex very pensive in the Lords Lobby ask'd him how Affairs went He reply'd very ill and they must be all ruin'd unless the King could be induc'd to lie down before Glocester which he hop'd by one Engine to bring about what or who that Engine was the World is yet to learn but that there were too many such about his Majesty appear'd in most undertakings he engag'd in Neither was the Battle upon their Retreat at Newberry so advantagiously manag'd as it might have been for the Royal Army having happily got Possession of the Town and consequently stood in their way to London should have been wholly upon the Defensive so plac'd their Artillery and lin'd the Hedges that the difficulty should have been on the Enemy's side to force their Passage which they must either have done or starv'd for to my certain information in the Village where they were oblig'd to stop two Miles West of the Town they had neither Bread nor Drink not somuch as Water it having been a dry Season the Ponds were little else than Puddle the Springs low and the few Wells so soon drain'd as several Officers did proffer a handful of Money for a Pint of clear Water so that it must be right down Grinning Honour as Hudibras terms it which put the Cavaliers upon attacquing them in their thick Hedges or otherwise coming within reach of their Cannon which let alone they must have try'd to Eat yet at this rate Things were carryed till having lost a great many Noble and Brave Gentlemen and their Ammunition almost Spent they withdrew into the Town and set the Enemy a free return more than they expected or to be sure deserv'd Our Author ends this Year with bringing in the Scots and relates how prettily Sir Henry Vane trick'd them In removing the last and greatest difficulty about some doubtful Words in the Covenant which was to be taken by both Nations concerning the Preservation of the King's Person and reducing the Doctrine and Discipline of both Churches to the Pattern of the best Reformed For which Sir H. found an expedient by adding to the first Clause In preservation of the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject And to the second According to the Word of God p. 79 and by this Evasion look'd upon themselves as oblig'd by neither but left free to Murther their King and use the Covenant as it deserv'd He saith likewise that for their the Scots Encouragement the Lords and Commons sentenc'd and caus'd Execution upon William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy Which nevertheless was not till that time Twelve-month however done it was and perhaps thought a very Christian act by such as had nothing thereof And here to put his Murthers together we are
in mind of what Plutarch relates concerning the peoples Prejudice against Metiochus Metiochus is Captain Metiochus is Surveyor Metiochus bakes the Bread c. evil day to Metiochus So crys Ludlow the Clergy advise the King the Clergy raise the Forces the Clergy pay the Army c. evil day to the Clergy whereas the only Clergyman of our Nation whom the King consulted was Bishop Laud and they that write most in vindication of Hamilton give him a very honourable Character as to whatsoever he advised in those unhappy affairs although neither he nor any of his Majesty's Faithful Loyal Subjects of either Kingdom were satisfied with those unreasonable condescentions he was wheedled into for that it was most visibly apparent the more he yielded the more insolently they persisted in further demands being so far from setting one step forward as to stand back with the greater Obstinacy and consider what was further to be insisted upon in defiance of all Honour Right and Law for as Ludlow relates The King by Commission impowered the Marquess of Hamilton to treat them into a Submission consenting to the suppression of the Liturgy High-Commission Court and Articles of Perth but the Scots insisting upon the Abolition of Episcopacy and the King refusing his consent to it they did it themselves in an Assembly held at Glasco This is a general account and which is very much and rare True but there were several Circumstances in the management thereof very considerable As first they that understood and wish'd best to the King and Kingdoms interest thought Hamilton a very improper person to be employ'd in that affair for that several of his nighest Relations were chief of the Covenant party his Mother more especially so great a Heroine as to ride with Pistols at her saddle Bow and defie both God and the King in defence of so good a cause Secondly there were several other prejudices against him which whether true or false made many honest men move with the less vigor because they expected no good Event from whatsoever he engag'd in and this was most unhappily confirmed by the Concessions he cajol'd the King into as to the Liturgy High Commission c. For after a long and fruitless Treaty with the Covenanters at Edinburgh attended with three several journeys to the English Court instead of Treating them into a Submission as Ludlow words it they Treated the King obtaining all to that time their most insolent demands What is alledg'd in his defence That he knew the Kings condition how unable he was or hard it would be to bring an Army into the Field is no ways valid for he was then as able as afterwards and delays were rather to their advantage than his and since all men of observation concluded the Scots would never give off without blows the Punctilio of first Aggressor was nonsence they never stood upon it when it would serve their turn and that their so grosly abused Sovereign should not take the best opportunity of chastising them is against all Rules of Reason and Policy whatsosoever but to speak freely the King 's great tenderness and regard to those his natural and Native Subjects as he termed them was so unfortunately misplac'd upon the most ungrateful set of people that ever trod upon God's Earth to his and their own ruine as well as all others concerned with them But if Hamilton impos'd upon the King by cajoling him into the most groundless concessions ever any Prince yielded to so doubtless the Covenanters impos'd altogether as much upon him for whether there was any correspondence between them or not as to this particular which for ought I can find remains still in the dark he could not but rationally presume it would be an eternal obligation to procure in one single Declaration a full grant of whatever all their Supplications Remonstrances Protestations c. had hitherto demanded and so indeed the Lords of the Council took it subscribing a Letter of acknowledgment to his Majesty in one of the most Rhetorical Flights I have generally met with owning that such acts of Clemency could not proceed from any Prince saving him who is the lively image of the great God Author of all Goodness Which how the most and most considerable of them kept afterwards would be unhappy to observe The Covenanters on the other side resolved to act without a vizard which they had some time before thrown quite away and for fear the People should cool and forbear assisting in the designed Rebellion repair'd to the Cross at Edinburgh erected a Scaffold under it where a great number of Earls Lords Gentlemen and others mounted with Swords in their hands and Hats on their Heads having that worthy wight Archibald Johnson who never fail'd in any villainy tho as property to Oliver Cromwell and a member in the Committee of safety to read the most Impudent Ignorant Treasonable ay and Blasphemous Protestation that ever was penn'd to make good which last charge it is there expresly affirm'd that their Covenant was seal'd from Heaven and approv'd thence by rare and undeniable Evidences whereas it looks more like a Combination from Hell the undoubted forge of all Faction Sedition and Schism Nevertheless they did not think fit to break out into open Rebellion till they had got the Blessing of their Assembly to the meeting whereof the King had likewise condescended It hath somewhat of affinity with our Convocation only in imitation of Geneva was divided into several Classes and from a Provincial choice sent up to a General These at the beginning of the Reformation play'd Rex and Pope all in one would controul and Over-rule whatever Civil Determinations they dislik'd command the King to discharge such a Minister of State otherways they would proceed to Excommunication and when once upon a time he had engag'd the Magistrates of Edinburgh to entertain the French Embassadours with which Crown he design'd to enter into Ancient Amity the little Class of that City Preachers proclaimed a Fast to be kept the same day on which three of them severaly preach'd one after another without intermisson Thundering out Curses against the Magistrates and other Noble men who attended the Embassadors Neither stay'd ther Folly here saith my Author but pursuel the Magistrates with the censures of the Church and with much difficulty were kept from Excommunication These insolencies by degrees King Iames put a Check to and for 60 years last past such assemblies were regularly summon'd in Subordination to their Bishop but now they were resolv'd to have all thrown open again and to be the surer of a Party brought the lay Elders to Vote in the Choice of their Commissioners that the sober and honest part of the Clergy which were numerous might not over Balance them in short never was any Election carry'd on with so much partiallity and confusion which continu'd all the time of their Session till the Commissioners patience was so highly
attribute to a Belief and full Perswasion of the Iustice of the Undertaking whereas I cry Careat successibus opto Nevertheless it shall be acknowledged that this little Success turn'd infinitely to their advantage for having got possession of Newcastle where the King had a Magazine they extended their Quarters as far as Durham with a corner of Yorkshire after miserably harassing all places where they came those four Counties of Northumberland Cumberland Westmorland and Durham with the forementioned corner of Yorkshire far from the largest or richest in England were Sess'd at a Contribution of 850 l. per Diem which I fancy was more than Cromwell could make of their whole Kingdom when he by the Just Judgment of Heaven had brought them into the same circumstances nay which is more made an absolute Conquest And this I presume is the foundation of Ludlow's blunder which hath something of approach to truth but he abhors to come close up to it that upon the King 's calling his great Council at York they advis'd a Cessation of Arms and to Summon a Parliament which to the great trouble of the Clergy and other Incendiaries for they must be flung at he promis'd to do assuring the Scots of the payment of twenty thousand pounds a month to maintain their Army till the pleasure of the Parliament should be known p. 11. How careful is this Good man of the Parliaments pleasure and free of the Kings condescention whereas impartially speaking they had carv'd themselves the forementioned Contribution and moreover seiz'd the total of all Estates belonging to Papists Prelates Incendiaries c. in brief of all the Loyal honest Gentlemen throughout that District of their new Usurpation Afterwards indeed when the Treaty was at Rippon the English Commissioners requir'd their demands as to the Subsistence of their Army whereto they modestly return'd answer 40000 l. per. mensem should content them for the present and for their losses they would afterward give a particular estimate This so much alarm'd the Commissioners and other Lords when the demand was sent to the King at York that one noble Peer made a motion to Fortifie that City and imploy that 40000 l. to maintain his Majesty's Army rather than an Enemy's hereupon the Scotch came down to 30000 l. which they own'd to be less than the 850 l. per. diem considering they had the time past the benefit of Custome a Provision of Coals and Proportion of Forage In the end it was agreed That with a Provision of Coals and Forage they should be satisfy'd and take no more than the 850 l. per diem of the four forementioned Counties under which abominable slavery those poor people continued a whole twelvemonth for the King having by unwearied importunity been forc'd upon a Parliament and remitted the whole management of these their Dear Brethrens concerns to them they so dextrously improv'd the advantage as to keep them here at the Nations expence till they had got the same unreasonable concessions from him as the others had done made him Sacrifice his Friends debase his Prerogative and by Enacting an indissoluable Session gave them an opportunity of playing the like game without any thing more of their assistance Now then 't was thought high time to dismiss them but the greatest matter was to bring that about turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur c. they paid themselves at coming in but we must pay even for that again before they would set one step back and withall at so unreasonable arate according to their demands as all the Gold in England tho' never more plenty would not make a Bridge to carry them over Tweed To give a short Specimen there being several Demands agreed to by Treaty at Rippon wherein the Scotch were to have satisfaction the Sixth was That they desire from the Iustice and kindness of England Reparation concerning the losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustain'd and the vast charges they have been put unto by reason of the late troubles According to which Article they were required now upon departure to bring in a full Account of their Charges which they enlarged to the full Sum of Five hundred and Fourteen thousand One hundred and Twenty Eight pound nine shillings c. abating the odd pence out of kindness whereto was added for what losses their Nation the Nobility and Gentry had sustain'd Two hundred and Twenty One thousand pounds and the neglect of their Fortunes Two hundred and twenty thousand pounds besides the 850 l. per. diem exhausted from the Northern Counties with other the most inexpressible Insolencies and Exactions ever any people groan'd under A surprising Sum but cunning Chapmen know that a high demand at first will oblige any Purchaser for shame to bid somewhat like a Gentleman and accordingly it happened here the whole matter being adjusted for that lusty Sum of 300000 l. part whereof was paid down and the rest secur'd by the Publick Faith of the two Houses and more punctually discharged than any here borrowed upon that Credit If any be farther Inquisitive as to the Total of the whole Expence I find a Report made in the House of Lords that amounted to one Million one hundred Thousand pounds the most chargeable remedy this Nation to that day was ever acquainted with and prov'd much worse than any Disease we then labour'd under besides that itch of Rebellion we from them contracted which hath cost a hundred times more than they carry'd off and for ought I see may be doubled before we attain a perfect cure Well now they are gone and the King followed them which Ludlow tells us the Parliament endeavour'd to disswade him from or at least to defer to a fitter opportunity he refused to hearken to them under pretence that the Affairs of that Kingdom necessarily required his presence but in truth his great business was to leave no means unattempted to take off that Nation from their Adherence to the parliament of England p. 17. 'T is probable he might hope so to be sure the Parliament feared it and had reason so to do if it had been possible to oblige such a Generation of men for he gratified them in every demand confirm'd all their Rebellious Innovations into Legal Constitutions advanc'd the leading Covenanters into the highest Places of Honour and Profit amongst whom their General Lesly was made an Earl whereupon with Hands lift up to Heaven he wished they might rot if ever he acted more against so gude a King Yet this very man within two years after led a Scotch Army to the Parliaments assistance and by the reputation of their name and number rather than any considerable Action gave such a diversion to that gude Kings Forces as nothing conduced more to his ruin And when no longer able to keep the Field he betook himself to those his Native Subjects for Protection How barbarously they use and how basely they sold him need not be here
Army in prejudice to theirs which caus'd Commissary Wilmot who with some others was a Member of the House to tell them upon a Paper the Scots had presented to get Mony design'd for our Army that if Papers could procure Money he doubted not but the English Officers would soon do the same Neither were their Resentments less upon the King 's than their own account that after so many complyances and too great condescention they should still press forward to the overturning of all whereupon they entred into a confederacy obliging themselves by an Oath of secrecy to Petition the King and Parliament upon these Four Heads For Money for the Army not to Disband before the Scots To preserve Bishops Votes and Functions To settle the King's Revenue Which being shown to and approv'd by the King he sign'd all which appears both from Mr. Percy 's letter to the Earl of Northumberland his Brother that they resolved to act nothing which should infringe the Subjects Liberty or be prejudicial to the Laws As likewise from the foremention'd Manuscript of the Earl of Manchester which gives the same account And could Ludlow or any of his Partisans imagin there should be no Men of Courage and Resolution left in the Nation or that having Swords by their Sides they should keep their Hands in their Pockets and see Votes and Ordinances do more mischief than all the Gunpowder of a seven Years Campain and since the Parliament were resolv'd upon a War 't is Pity these Gentlemen parted with their Forces Had they come up and cut Ten or Twenty the lowdest Throats in the House it might have sav'd the effusion of a great deal more and much better Blood and preserv'd both King and Kingdom from Ruin To shew farther that the Parliament was always in danger the King continually plotting against them they never against him our Author tells us how a great number of loose debauch'd Fellows repair'd to Whitehall where a constant Table was provided and many Gentlemen of the Inns of Court tamper'd with to assist him in his Design and how briskly he took up one for speaking against the Fellows at Westminster who upon this fright desir'd leave to provide themselves a Guard and that the Militia might be at their disposing p. 21. To turn a Story or frame a Lie so as to make it serve their own turns hath been all along observ'd the peculiar Talent of our Commonwealth Men and of the whole Party Ludlow had most right to the Whetstone That the Fellow should be so impudent to charge the King with raising Tumults or threatning Force when all the World knows it was the chief Engine the Parliament had to carry on all their mischievous Enterprises and when any thing stuck with him or the Lords a Rabble of 5 or 6000 were immediately summon'd out of the City to affright and threaten all that would not comply according to their Desire and in their passage by Whitehall did the same to the King till their Insolencies grew so intolerable as he was forc'd to leave that and Parliament at once for which they had the confidence to charge him and yet would take no care he might be secure with them and this occasion'd what Ludlow relates Several Gentlemen about Town more especially at the Inns of Court were asham'd to see Majesty so scandalously affronted proffer'd their service for the security of Whitehall his Majesty and Family which was kindly accepted and some little Entertainment made for them from whence this vile Fellow rais'd his great Story And since he hath given me this just provocation it will be here very proper to give some small account of those many violences from the insults and tumults of the Rabble how necessary the Faction found them and thereupon what Encouragement they had The Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford went on very slowly in the House of Lords and 't is probable but for the Menaces of the Mob had never pass'd whereof 5 or 6000 came up to Westminster fill'd the Palace-Yard posted themselves at all the Entrances to the Parliament House and stopped every Coach crying Iustice and Execution which upon a Sign given was repeated with such an hideous Noise as to create Amazement in the greatest Constancy Such Lords as they knew were averse to Humour them they threatned most severely and had the Impudence to add if they had not the Leiutenant's Life they would have the King 's whereof his Majesty complained by Message to the Lords they to the Commons and there it stuck For sometime after when they trudg'd away to cry no Bishops as Hudibras hath it and the Lords complained in a Conference with the Commons of their horrible Insolency Mr. Pim their chief Setter cry'd God forbid we should proceed to dishearten People from obtaining their just Rights and the rest of that cursed Cabal secretly whisper'd they must not discourage their Friends this being a time to make use of them which vile Abettings made them so Impudent as to threaten White-hall too and declare as they pass'd by there should be no Porters Lodg but they would come to speak to the King without Control and at their own discretion And when presently after there was another descent of the same Rout and some Opposition made upon their Attempt upon White-hall Gate till the Sheriffs of London and Middelsex with what Guard they could draw together seiz'd and committed some of them the Commons immediately posted up Mr. Hollis to the Lords complaining 't was a Violation of the Liberty of the Subject and an affront to the Parliament and so the Good Boys must be discharg'd 'T were too tedious to relate the several Insults of this kind both King and Lords were forc'd to put up the Commons underhand giving them all Encouragement imaginable and had their Setters in the City to be ready on the first Intimation whereof Dr. Cornelius Burges a Lecturing Beautifeu was chief seconded by a Lay Brother one Ven the Captain Tom of those Times the Dr. as he led up these Doughty Champions was wont to look back and cry These are my Ban-dogs I can set them on and I can take them off again by which means saith my Author four parts in five of the Lords and two parts in three of the Commons were frighted out of the House to leave the Faction absolute Masters thereof All these before unheard of Affronts to Majesty and Government our faithful Recorder of Memoirs takes no Notice of but a few honest Loyal Gentlemen asham'd to see such abominable Insults and therefore coming to defend if occasion serv'd their abused ay and threatned Prince must pass for a Plot upon the Parliament and they forsooth must have a Guard With like veracity he relates the Kingston Plot too where the Lord Digby with Colonel Lunsford in a Coach and Six and three or four Footmen attending pass'd for a Body of 500 Horse with many such like extravagant Rumors
was his to their care an exact Moral of what the Wolves propounded that if the Sheep would put away their Dogs they would be very careful of their Preservation and though the Proposal did not take yet the Design was carryed on and the Nation most abominably worryed the just Judgment of Heaven giving way to the cursed credulity of an infatuated People who could take none but Wolves for their Protectors As I have already declar'd to be no further concern'd in this dismal Scene of Blood and Slaughter than the Memory and Honour of our Royal Martyr is concern'd so I must further add that whatever Relations our Author makes as to any particular Battle or other considerable war-like Action is so Lame Partial and False as the Diurnals of those times which nevertheless ly'd most abominably on each side may pass for Authentick History in comparison with him But then for his own dear Self as to the Defence of Warder Castle and other little Atchievements in Willshire and elsewhere in which too generally his rashness brought him by the Lee the account he gives is so vain and fulsome trivial and tedious that 't is hard to resolve whether he makes the greater Discovery of his Pride or Folly to be sure they are both very transcendent The Vindicator of Ol. Cr. exposes him very briskly for those many impertinent Panigyricks upon himself and will have it a plain Demonstration of the Narrowness of his Soul and the Lowness of his Genius and I fancy he might have added the Insolency of his Temper To confirm what I said of a lame and partial Account of Things his Relation of that first Battle at Edge-Hill is a full Testimony where this Man of Iron owns himself at a loss from his Troop at the beginning and tells little but his own wanderings up and down to find them Yet by all means the Victory must be theirs and there was a great Defect somewhere the Fight was not renew'd next Day whereas such as were in it had enough the Day before and he intimates as much by saying that Prince Rupert taking advantage of the Disorder our own Horse had put the Foot into press'd upon them with such Fury that he put them to Flight And then adds If the time which he spent in pursuing them too far and plundering the Waggons had been employ'd in taking such Advantages as offer'd themselves in the Place where the Fight was it might have prov'd more serviceable to the carrying on the Enemies Designs p. 50. Which is very modestly express'd because to the King's prejudice otherwise he might have said had not the Prince been guilty of that gross oversight Neglect or Rashness for 't was all in one that Day had in great Probability put an end to the Dispute the Army had never return'd to their Masters at Westminster nor our Author any occasion to trouble the World with the impertinency of his Memoirs for to speak-freely yet nothing but Truth the Princes indescretions of that Kind his great Courage and little Conduct in whatsoever Battles he engag'd in conduc'd more to the discomfiture of the King 's just Cause than all the Rebel Forces or whatever other Arm of Flesh appear'd against him as may be further on observ'd However that their Advantage was not considerable appears from what he further adds that the Army return'd to London not like Men that had obtained a Victory but as if they had been beaten p. 52. which is a shrewd Circumstance that they were so and to that he joyns another every way as considerable upon the King 's advance with part of his Army to Maydenhead or there abouts for it was really Colebrook and those seven Miles were a considerable Addition to his approach the Parliament sent to him to assure him their earnest Desire to prevent the effusion of more Blood and to procure a right understanding between his Majesty and them A certain Omen they were not much transporteed with the Victory this being the first last time they began a Motion for Peace He goes on The King profess'd in his Answer to desire nothing more upon which they thought themselves secure whereas the next Day he took the Advantage of a Mist and March'd within half a Mile of Brandford before discover'd c. p. 53. and beat off what Forces were there though he tells us they made a brave Defence This coming by way of surprise he calls Treachery and all the Round-heads about Town made a loud Clamor upon the King's forfeiture of his Royal Word whereas upon enquiry all the Trick and Treachery was on their side for as they propounded no Cessation of Arms in their Petition so the King had News brought that Essex was drawing his Forces and Ordinance out of London towards him so that without seizing Brandford their Forces at Windsor Kingston and Acton might have hemm'd him in and his Army depriv'd both of Moveing or Subsisting So that after a tedious Paper Scuffle upon the Matter the Parliament were forc'd to own That they gave direction to the Earl of Essex to draw the Army out of London and that part of it was at Brandford whilst the Committee was with the King and conscious to themselves of a just exception cautiously add That they sent a Messenger to know whether his Majesty intended forbearance of Hostility but he found them in fight and could not pass Brandford So that having kept up the Ferment among their City Gulls by the foremention'd Slander which our impudent Author calls the treacherous Design of the late Expedition they again sent Propositions to Oxford being the same in effect with those delivered at York but they found no better Reception than the others had done p. 56. Neither did they expect otherwise or indeed desire considering the insolency of their Demands which the King tells them in his Answer Had he not given up all the Faculties of his Soul to an earnest endeavour of Peace and Reconciliation c. he could not but resent their heavy Charges and not suffer the Reproaches cast upon him The whole procedure of that Treaty may be seen in Whitlock's Memoirs who treats the King like a Gentleman and speaks Truth where himself was concern'd for neither of which this our Brute hath the least Regard nay seems wilfully to defy both I must not here omit what that scribling Fellow K. Ch. No Saint nor Martyr alledges That he took a most Bloody and Treacherous Advantage of the Parliament's Army near Colebrook whilst he was under Treaty at Uxbridge with them p. 4. whereas the Treaty at Uxbridge was more than Two Years after Would the present Age be content with such licentious Impudence to Characterise and expose them in the next In this Year 43 our Governor of Warder Castle before he falls upon his great Charge and weighty Atchievements there gives a cursory Relation of what pass'd in other Parts In the Spring he saith our Army was Master of the Field The
much of their Duty and Respect and his Council at Oxford either gon to make their Peace or in such Confusion as not able to advise him the Rebel Army being just ready to Besiege that his chief Garrison he was forc'd to make a Vertue of Necessity and once more try the Sincerity of his Antient and Native Subjects the Scots CHAP. IV. Of the King in Custody of the Scots and English THE King 's being withdrawn from Oxon and not known whither gon made a mighty Disturbance amongst the Grandees at Westminster Ludlow tells us they suspected he might design to come to London to raise a Party against them publishing an Ordinance that whosoever should harbour or conceal the King's Person should be Proceeded against as a Traytor to the Common-wealth p. 176 By what Law this I beseech you The truth of it is the Expences and other Mischiefs by the War had made the City so sensible of their former Infatuations that 't was generally believ'd had the King appear'd amongst them the Rabble as well as more sensible Part of Men would have endeavour'd their utmost to set him upon his Throne but 't is easier to pull down than build up to make than retrieve Alterations as appear'd afterward when the Army so tamely rid them But in few Days they were freed from that Suspicion though not more surpris'd at his Loss than to find him in the Scotch Hands who would be sure to make the best of so good a Prise There had been no small Contrasts between them and their English Brethren before who finding the fighting Work nigh over were desirous to be quit of some of their own Forces much more of such troublesome and chargable Hirelings The Scots on the other Side as Ludlow tells us repeated their Instances for a Consideration of the Articles of Religion contained in the Covenant to give a speedy Peace to his Majesty to pay them near two hundred thousand Pounds which they pretended to be due for their Arrears and make a just Estimate of the Losses they had sustain'd by Land and Sea c. which they computed at more than the former Sum p. 174 He goes on to relate how the Parliament thought it not convenient to comply with the King's Propositions demanded an exact Account of what was due to them and requir'd that they would withdraw their Garrisons from such Places as they possest in England Some differences he saith likewise there were with the Scotch Commissioners about the King 's Concern in the Militia their intermedling with the Government of England the Education of the King's Children the disbanding the Army and an Act of Oblivion in which Matters the Parliament would not have the Scots to interpose and by degrees the Debates grew so warm as there being found in those Demands of the Scots some Expressions very much reflecting upon the Parliament the two Houses declared them to be Injurious and Scandalous and order'd them to be Burnt by the Hands of the Common Hang-Man p. 175 During these Controversies the Scotch Army continu'd in the Northern Parts upon free Quarter at an abominable rate harressing the Poor People to the utmost Extremity till after some Month's Time Matters being accommodated a little for the present upon the Advance of 30000. l. with Shooes Stockings and other Necessaries they were prevail'd upon to Besiege Newark at which Leaguer the King came to them just as Articles of Surrender were agreed upon and so the more at leisure to march off with him to Newcastle for 't is false what Ludlow affirms that the King soon after his Arrival in the Scots Quarters gave Order for the Delivery of Newark into their Hands the Articles were agreed upon before the King came thither or his Friends in the Garrison dreamt thereof however it happen'd very Opportunely for the Scots to march off with their Royal Purchase and prevent the Clamors from their Brethren at Westminster who as Ludlow tells us forthwith sent an Order to their Commissioners in the Scots Army to demand the Person of the King judging it unreasonable that the Scots being in their Pay should dispose of him otherwise than by their Order resolving further that he should be Conducted to Warwick Castle and the next Day commanded their Army to advance in Order to hinder the Conjunction of the King's Forces with the Scots p. 176 Whereof doubtless they were sore affraid 't is pity they were not hurt the Scots by that one Act might have expiated all their former Perfidy but to expect that had been to wash a Blackamore so Blessed a good was not to be thought of from those accustomed so much to the worst of Evils Rebellion and Sacriledge and therefore 't is probable it gave them some ease to hear that though Levens the Scotch General had march'd with the King to New-Castle he had by Proclamation forbidden his Forces to have any Communication with the King's Party and thereupon only order'd that the Scots should keep him for the English Parliament and so they did but must pay a round Sum of Mony before they should have him We are next to see what Entertainment the King had among the Scots who though they pretended to be much surpris'd as Ludlow tells us yet afterwards it appear'd that this Resolution had been Communicated to them before p. 116. The Truth of it is Montrevil a French Embassador or Agent in the Scotch Camp had adjusted the Matter with Levens and other General Officers who engag'd to secure him and as many of his Party as should seek for Shelter with them and to stand to him with their Lives and Fortunes Yet in that excellent Meditation his Majesty penn'd upon this Occasion 't is own'd a forc'd Push where Necessity was his Counsellor in an Adventure upon their Loyalty who first began his Troubles for which Reason he studied to fortify his Mind so as not to offer up his Soul's Liberty or make his Conscience their Captive but no less conform his Words to his inward Dictates now than if they had been as the Words of a King ought to be amongst Loyal Subjects full of Power And Good Prince he was soon put to his Tryal for though the Committee of Estates at Edingburgh upon the first Notice of his being in their Hands sent Commissioners with great Expressions of their Duty and good Intentions protesting how dear the Preservation of his Sacred Person and his just Power and Greatness should ever be to them yet their Actions immediately spake the contrary as if all were intended with the tacit Condition of a Covenant Clog and such harsh Usage as might bring or force him thereto for within few Days the King call'd both the chief Officers of the Army and the Commissioners sent out of Scotland and in presence of Monsieur de Montrevil did Expostulate That whereas he did come to their Army upon the Assurances Monsieur Montrevil had given him that he should be safe in his Person Honor
Prosecutions this might have done something towards an Expiation and put away the Guilt of Innocent Blood amongst us by neglect whereof to return the Text upon Ludlow and his Party 't is to be feared the Land still continues defiled therewith And next to this of Blood-guiltiness give me leave to add my Suspition that we have another deep Arrear for their gross Abuse and Profanation of Scripture whereof our Author hath given an exact Specimen in the two foremention'd Texts although he is very sparing in comparison with his Fellow-Rebels especially the violent Pulpit-Drivers who studied nothing so much as to pervert it and that not only to their own but the whole Nations destruction Curse ye Meroz c. did more Mischief than all the Trumpets in the Army and made as loud a Noise and their numberless Fast-Sermons were but a wresting so many Texts to Sedition and Treason In the same manner likewise they manag'd Controversies All Church-Government must be fram'd according to the new-fangled Conceits of their Geneva Rabbies though the continued Sense and Practice of Antiquity speak the quite contrary And because the Doctrine of Obedience is so expresly laid down in 13th to the Romans and elsewhere they hammer'd out this Impudent Evasion that the Apostles deliver'd what the Circumstances they lay under forc'd them unto not having Strength to make Opposition otherwise might have been as very Rebels as themselves In the mean while the AEquivocal Sense of our English word Power was thought to give them so great a Latitude as they might submit to whatever came uppermost and if you urg'd them with the different Acceptations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original 't was Heathen Greek to them the Language of the Beast and ought not to restrain the Liberty of their perverse Spirits neither are such Prejudices altogether laid aside but seem rather to be assum'd afresh too many of our present Divines being very backward to consider those two Words themselves or attend to the Information of others and yet a very nice Case depends thereupon But commend me to our Modern Commonwealth's Men who finding with how ill Success their Predecessors made use of Scripture have taken a much shorter Cut set up for Theists or Atheists and thereby supersede all Authority from thence What he relates as to the Treaty in the Isle of Wight is a barefac'd discovery of their Design that having got the King there with the Parliament and City under their Lash they were now resolv'd to kill and take Possession his Majesty therefore is no more caress'd by the Army Sir Barkly's cold Entertainment from the Officers at Windsor was a full discovery of what they all along had in purpose Yet since he takes no Notice of the King's Deportment in that grand Affair but represents their Jealousies of him according to the Guilt of their own just Deservings I shall take leave to observe that never any Prince strugled with so many different and violent Interests as this good Man at that Treaty nor deported himself with greater Honor Iudgment and Discretion The Presbyterian Iunto in the House tho sensible of that deplorable Condition they had brought both King and Kingdom into yet stood so stifly upon their first Propositions as their Commissioners were not allow'd to recede one Ace from them The Scotch likewise stood by rather to serve themselves than him and observe how they should next play their Game for now every Eye could discover whatever Protestations they made Mony and Covenant was the only Diana they contended for The Independent Party in the House tho out-Voted as to the Treaty yet were able to start so many Scruples Restrictions and Delays as might baffle much sincerer Intentions than appear'd in their Opponents Yet contrary to all their Expectations the King in his own Person manag'd the whole Debate with such incredible Prudence found out such Temperaments for their harshest Demands and made such Concessions with a reserve both of Honor and Conscience as astonish'd them all and wrought a full Conviction in such as had any Reserve even of Humanity left in their Breasts One Passage I must needs relate from our Author whereby we may guess at his and all his Complices Ingenuity he saith when some Commissioners who had been with the King pleaded in the House for a Concurrence with him c. p. 268. Sir Henry Vane oppos'd it and inveigh'd against the King in his Reasons against it concluding that if they should accept of these Terms without consent of the Army it would prove but a Feather in their Caps And yet this base Fellow Vane perswaded the King at the Isle of Wight not to be too prodigal of his Concessions that he had already yielded more than 't was fit for him to give or them to ask and undertook to make it evident to the whole World How could any Prince or indeed other Person of a steady Virtue and undesigning Integrity deal with such Proteus's as these Quo teneam nodo What Hold can be laid on them What escape from so damn'd a Perfidy All which his Majesty at that time fully discover'd that tho' some were of a sensible Complyance yet those of most Power were most obstinate intended nothing less than Peace nor could they more than his Destruction The breaking off that Treaty by the Army their Force upon his Majesty there bringing him from thence to London with the Hellish Pageantry of his Tryal was insult enough for our Author 's bloody Mind to relate Matter of Fact in Common with others and is too Melancholy a Subject for me to repeat Only what he saith as to Bishop Iuxton must be all his own and probably invented to be reveng'd on him and the King because his Majesty he saith and I believe truly refused such Ministers as their Court of Injustice had appointed to attend him amongst whom that unhallowed Buffoon Peters was one and the rest had been all most violent Fire-brands of Rebellion and therein of his Murder At last therefore tho' with some Reluctancy and I doubt not but with Ludlow's Negative it was granted that Bishop Iuxton should be permitted to attend his King and Master in this his Translation from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown and though doubtless it was with unexpressable Regret as to the manner of his Departure that he was put upon these holy Offices yet that he should declare himself altogether unprepar'd or complain for want of warning as having nothing ready is a true Piece of Fanatick Wit that is a snarling Reflection without any Truth at the Bottom or Ingenuity in the Expression as no Man approv'd himself more Eminent both for Parts and Integrity than this worthy Prelate in those several Publick Trusts Ecclesiastical and Civil committed to his Care so his Piety and exact Understanding in all Religious Rites qualified him for the most devout Performance of all holy Duties With like Rudeness and