Gaunt's elder Brother So that of the Succession of 14 Kings after the Conqueror there were but four viz. Richard the First Edward the First and Second and Richard the Second which succeeded as Heirs to the Conqueror or his Heirs Admit Edward the 4th succeeded right as Heir to Phillippa Daughter of the Duke of Clarence yet if it be true which Richard the 3d says and which is confirmed by the Authority of the Act of Parliament 1 Rich. 3. that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before he married Elizabeth then did not Edward the 5th if it may be called a Succession succeed right nor could Henry the 7th claim any Right to the Crown of England in Right of his Wife Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth But whether it be true or not that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before his Marriage yet Richard the 3d succeeded not as Heir Edward Earl of Warwick the Son of George Duke of Richard's elder Brother being then alive Of all the Kings of England that succeeded the Conqueror Henry the 7th had the least Pretension to any Title to the Crown for tho he were supposed to have been descended from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet it was the Duke's Paramour Katherine Swinford whose Issue by the Duke tho by Act of Parliament they were legitimated to all other purposes yet were not capacitated to succeed to the Crown of England but if the Title of Lancaster had been preferable to that of York and Henry had been of the legitimate Line yet could not he have succeeded as Heir his Mother under whom he claimed being then alive and out-lived her Son Nor did the King's Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th improve his Title to his Succession the Marriage being subsequent to it and before it the Crown by Act of Parliament was entailed upon Henry the 7th and the Heirs of his Body and after Marriage he never used her Name in calling any Parliament or in any Proclamation or the Coin or passing any Act of Parliament and as he reigned without her before Marriage so he did after her Death for he out-lived her tho she left two Sons Arthur and Henry after Henry the Eighth and two Daughters Elizabeth Queen of Scotland and Mary after Queen of France It seems to me that Ferdinand King of Castile and Arragon had the same Opinion which Richard the 3d and the Parliament had that the Issue of Edward the 4th were not legitimate for he would not assent to the Marriage of his Daughter Katherine with Arthur Prince of Wales so long as the Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence lived and there a fine Trick was found out to put the poor Prince to Death for endeavouring to make his Escape out of the Tower with Perkin Warbeck and in him ended the Masculine Line of the Race of the Plantagenets who had governed the English Nation after Stephen to Henry the 7th above 340 Years So that from the Conqueror to Henry the 8th scarce one of four of the Kings of England succeeded in a right Line as Heirs to the Conqueror As the Saxon Dynasty ended in Edward the Confessor and the Norman began in the Conqueror so it seems to me that the Norman ended in Richard the 3d and another of the British was erected in Henry the 7th who was the Son of Edmund of Hadham the Son of Owen Tudor by Katherine Daughter of Charles the 6th of France Wife of Henry the 5th of England and Mother of Henry the 6th So that Henry the 7th's Title to the Crown of France was better than that to the Crown of England for that of England was from a Maternal Ancestor Margaret Countess of Richmond no otherwise related to the Crown of England than descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Paramour Tho I do not find that Henry the 7th or any of his Descendants ever assumed the Sirname of Tudor So that tho the Crown of England neither in the Saxon nor Norman Race of Kings was always Hereditary so neither was the Succession to the Crown elective For in elective Kingdoms after the Death of one King there is an Establishment of the manner of Elections and in the mean time there are Custodes Regni appointed whose Power ceases upon the Election of a King but neither of these were ever heard of in either of the Saxon or Norman Race and tho sometimes it 's said the Kings were chosen as of Edward the Son of Alfred by the Nobles and so of Athelstan and so in the Norman Race Henry the First was said to be chosen for that he promised to abrogate all the Oppressions and Errors brought into the Government by his Father and Brother tho his eldest Brother Robert was then alive and restore the good Laws of Edward the Confessor and Stephen was chosen by the Clergy and Londoners yet this was rather a form of Speaking in those days than any formal Election and the manner differed according to the different Humours of the Times Nor do we read that ever the Parliament meddled with the Succession of the Crown before Henry the Fourth for tho the first Parliament of Edward the Third renounced their Allegiance to Edward the Second and are said to have chosen Edward the Third yet they went no further and such an Election was no more than a Declaration of their Submission as when the Council declared James the Second King But whether the Crown of England was Hereditary in the Saxon and Norman Race it 's evident it was not so in this British Race for as it began in Henry the Seventh so it was entailed by Act of Parment upon him and Heirs of his Body before his Marriage with Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth So the inheritable Right of Edward's Issue and all the Norman Race was barred by this Act. Before we proceed in the Succession of the British Race we 'll take a view of the Genealogy of it John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford had Issue John created Earl of Somerset who had Issue John created Duke of Somerset who had Issue Margaret After the Death of Henry the Fifth Katherine his Wife Sister of Charles the Sixth of France married Owen Tudor a Welch Gentleman who had Issue Edmund of Hadham created Earl of Richmond who married Margaret Daughter and Heir of John Duke of Somerset who had Issue Henry the Seventh Henry the Eighth succeeded his Father without any Contradiction for the Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had destroyed the whole legitimate Lancastrian Line and Richard the Third after the Murder of his Brother Clarence and Death of Edward the Fourth had murdered his two Nephews Edward and Richard Sons of Edward the Fourth and himself was killed in the Fight in Bosworth-fields and after that Henry the Seventh had put Edward Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence to Death none of all
me more than any of his Predecessors and he may believe me that in any thing that shall concern him I will employ not only my Peoples Lives but my own Bravely spoken and like K. James and whosoever of his Subjects Lewis's shall rise against him either Catholicks or others shall find him James a Party for him Lewis 'T is true if he be provoked to infringe his Edicts he shall impart as much as in him lies by Counsel and Advice to prevent the Inconveniencies Who ever expected he should do more or ever did But Venus must not have the only Ascendant in this Treaty for the Cardinal will have Mars to be in Conjunction with her and 't was high time for at this time Monsieur Sobiez had provided a great Fleet of Men of War as Times went then with the French and had entered and surprised the Fort of Blavet in Bretaign and took and carried away six of the French great Men of War out of it and also taken the Isles of Rhe and Oleron which he began to fortify and being absolute Master of the Sea triumphantly with a Fleet of 75 Men of War of all sorts landed a considerable Force at Medoc near Bourdeaux The Court of France was never so alarmed as at this notwithstanding all the King's Victories over the Reformed by Land and therefore the Cardinal threw another Article into the Treaty That King James should lend the French a Fleet of Ships to repress Soubiez and in lieu thereof the French should permit Mansfield who had raised an Army of 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse in England to land at Calais where the French should join him with another Body of Horse and Foot for the Recovery of the Palatinate But see the French Faith and how well Lewis made good his Promise to King James to render him all Offices in his own Person whensoever King James should desire him for at this time the Army being shipt at Dover and put over to Calais where being denied Entrance and having no other Instructions and wanting Provisions they lay neglected at Sea and in this Distress a Pestilence raged among them so that they were forced to sail to Zealand where having no Orders they were denied Landing there and this being the most terrible Season of the Year in December what by Hunger Cold and Pestilence above two thirds of them perished before Leave could be obtained to land them in Holland so that they never did the King of Spain near so much Hurt as they had done in England before they were shipt living upon Plunder and Free-Quarter These were sad Presages of future Happiness from the designed Marriage yet these things no ways discomposed the quiet Repose of our pacifick King so as he might see his only Son married to a Daughter of France was all his Business no matter how The Thirst which God was his Judg and as he was a Christian King he had contracted equal to that of the wayfaring Man in the Desarts of Arabia and in danger of Death for want of Water for the good Success of the Parliament is now asswaged by the granting of three Subsidies and three Fifteenths Here 's no mention of marrying his only Son with the Tears of his only Daughter and he is still ready with the Lives of his Subjects and his own to assist the most High most Excellent and most Puissant Prince his most dear and most beloved Brother Cousin and antient Ally Lewis The Managers of this Treaty were Hay a Scots-man created Earl of Carlisle and the Lord Kensington for the more Honour of it created Earl of Holland two of the King's Favourites of the second Rate but who bare no proportion to the Sagacity Wisdom and Integrity of the Earl of Bristol Bristol was all Heare of Oak and would not bend to Buckingham's Pride and Ambition but they were Willows that were liable to every Nod and Wind of Buckingham's Breath But how comes Buckingham who must have an Oar in every Boat to be absent from this Treaty The Reason was tho he were not wise yet he was jealous lest King James in his Absence should hear Bristol against him as the King had promised as well as he had heard Buckingham against him which was so dangerous a Rock as our Land-Admiral would not venture to run against Notwithstanding all this Haste for consummating this desired Marriage the Thread of the King's Life was spun out before for upon the 27th of March Ann. 1625. he died at Theobalds in the 58th Year of his Age having reigned twenty two Years compleat Having had an Ague the Duke of Buckingham did upon Monday the 21st before when in the Judgment of the Physicians the Ague was in its Declination apply Plaisters to the Wrists and Belly of the King and also did deliver several quantities of Drink to the King tho some of the King's Physicians did disallow thereof and refused to meddle further with the King until the said Plaisters were removed and that the King found himself worse hereupon and that Droughts Raving Fainting and an intermitting Pulse followed hereupon and that the Drink was twice given by the Duke 's own hands and a third time refused and the Physicians to comfort him telling him that this second Impairment was from Cold taken or some other Cause No no said the King it is that which I had from Buckingham I confess this was but a Charge upon the Duke upon the Impeachment of the Commons as you may read in Rushworth fol. 355 356. yet it was next to positive Proof for King Charles rather than this Charge should come to an Issue dissolved the Parliament which was a Failure of Justice tho the Commons had voted him four Subsidies and four Fifteenths before it was passed into an Act. The Character of King James He was the first of that Name King of England and the first King of the whole Isle of Britain and the first King since Henry the first that was born out of the Allegiance to the King of England and was the first at least since Rich. 2. that affected and endeavoured to introduce an Arbitrary Power in England foreign to the Laws and Constitutions of it and in all his Reign was more governed by Flatterres and Favourites than by the Advice of his Parliament or a wise Council His Flatterers and Favourites seldom spake of him but under the Appellation of Most Sacred rarely I think or never before used to any of the Kings of England and of the Solomon of the Age though never were two Kings more unlike unless it were in their Sons Charles and Rehoboam for Solomon died the richest of all the Kings of the World King James the poorest Solomon was inspired above all other Kings with Wisdom and his Proverbs Divine Sentences for Improvement of Vertue and Morality whereas this King's Learning wherein he and his Flatterers so much boasted was a Scandal to his Crown for all his Writings against Bellarmine and
them with Men of War to guard their Fisheries and to do it whether he would or not A Prince that by his dissolute Life and prophane Conversation debauched and effeminated the Genius of the English Nation whereby it became more scandalized for Swearing and Drinking than in any Age before A Prince that broke all the Measures by which Hen. 8. and Queen Elizabeth were the Arbitrators of Christendom A Prince fearful of all his Enemies abroad while he was only great by exercising a Tyrannical Arbitrary Power over his Parliaments and Subjects who could only have made him great abroad and honoured at home whereby he became little beloved at home and suffered the Dutch to redeem their Cautionary Towns upon their own Terms and to dispossess the English at Amboyna and their other Factories in the East-Indies and Africa He only stood still looking on while the French upon the Matter supprest the Reformed in France and suffered Ferdinand the 2d to over-run and near subdue the Protestant Princes in Germany as well as his own Son-in-law And tho he were the 6th of that Name King of Scotland from John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Robert Stuart by his Paramour Elizabeth Moor yet if Sir James Melvil says true that Cardinal Bethoun poisoned James the 5th he was the first of that Name who died a natural Death if he did so for James the first was murdered by his Uncle the Earl of Athol his Grand-father's legitimate Son in his Queen's Arms with eight and twenty Wounds the Queen receiving two to defend him This was in the Year 1436. James the II. was killed by the breaking of a Piece of Cannon while he besieged the Castle of Roxburgh the 3d of Aug. 1460. James the III. having his Army routed by an Army headed by his Son James was killed at Bannoch-Burn by the Lord Gray and Robert Sterling of Ker after Sir Andrew Brothick a Priest had shriven him This was in 1488. James the IV. was killed the 9th of December 1514 at Flowdenfield by the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey and his Body never found and if James the 5th was poisoned then none of these Jameses died a natural Death neither did King James his Mother being put to death Ann. 1587 for conspiring the Death of Queen Elizabeth After the Dissolution of the Spanish Match the King as greedily prosecuted the French and tho he lived not to see it settled yet he saw the Army raised under Count Mansfield for the Recovery of the Palatinate ruined by trusting to the French Faith in this very Treaty When he died he not only left an empty Exchequer but a vast Debt upon the Crown yet was engaged in a foreingn War and the Monies given by the Parliament for carrying it on were squandred away in carrying on the French Treaty and the Nation imbroiled in intestine Feuds and Disorders At his Death he left a Son and Heir and one Daughter Before he died he saw his Son over-ruled by his Favourite against his determinate Will and Pleasure and the Prince's own Honour and Interest which was a great Mortification to him and which he often complained of but had not Courage to redress and so strongly was 〈◊〉 Favourite possessed of his Power over his Son in the King's Life that the Prince little regarded his Father's Precepts or the Counsels of any else after his Death whereby he encreased the Internal Feuds Jealousies and Discords of the Nation which ended in a sad Catastrophe both of the Favourite and the King At the King's Death his Daughter with her Husband and her many Children were driven into Exile and Poverty in the Dominion of the Dutch States where they were more relieved by the States the Prince of Orange and some Bishops and Noblemen of England than by either of the Kings Father or Son A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King CHARLES I. c. BOOK II. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the Dissolution of the Parliament Tertio Car. 'T WAS a strange Reign this As this King's Father's Reign was introduced with a horrible Plague so was this King's with a greater and such as no Records of any Times before mention the like The first 15 Years of his Reign were perfectly French and such as never before were seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King whenas it was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done Baptista Nani in the sixth Book of the History of Venice An. 1625 f. 221 observes That after the Marriage of King Charles with the Daughter of France the Interest of State or rather the Passion of Favourites converted the Bonds of Affection into Causes of Hatred Europe in those times reckoned it amidst its unhappy Destiny that the Government of it fell upon three young Kings yet in the Flower of their Age Princes of great Power desirous of Glory and in Interest contrary but in this alone by Genius agreeing that they committed the Burden of Affairs to the Will of their Ministers for with equal Independency France was governed by Richlieu Spain by Olivares and Great-Britain by Buckingham confounding Affections with Interest as well publick as private Betwixt the Cardinal and Buckingham open Animosities discovered themselves for Causes so much more unadvised as they were more hard to be known When King James died the Nation was rent into four Parties viz. The Prerogative which exalted the King's divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions above his Royal and Legal Will The Country or Legal Party which stood for the Legal Establishment of Church and State and the Puritan and Popish Parties After the Treaties of Marriage between the Prince and the Daughters of Spain and France the Popish and Prerogative Parties joined for carrying on the Court-Designs and were opposed by the Country and Puritan Parties and as the Prerogative and Popish Factions grew more insolent so the Puritan Party gathered Strength and Reputation among the Vulgar or ordinary People insomuch that in Number they became more than all the other three We shall take a better View of this Reign if we look a little back into the former After the Treaty of the Match with Spain was broken off King James was perplext what to do he had neither Money nor Courage to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate and the Wounds which he had given the last Parliament by Imprisoning their Members for advising him to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate were yet fresh and bleeding and yet Buckingham whom he durst not offend not content to satisfy his Spite against Olivares by breaking off the Match was notwithstanding all Difficulties nay Impossibility of Success still pushing on the King to declare War against the King of Spain The King
state they were before he became Emperor yet not subject to further Persecution This was so far from redressing the Factions that they became more bitter against the Orthodox Christians than they were before and the Gentiles countenanced the Hereticks and Schismaticks herein so that in many Places were Tumults and Disorders and many bitter Invectives even against Constantine himself were uttered by them So that the whole Body of the Empire was rent and torn into Parties and Factions and Constantine's time wholly taken up about them to the necessary neglect of the more important Affairs of the Empire To this state did the devilish Pride of these Hereticks and Schismaticks reduce the Roman Empire I say devilish Pride for they were not content to submit as Christ's Servants to obey him in those plain and easily intelligible Precepts of the Gospel but like Lucifer would be wise in understanding our Saviour's glorious Attributes which as they are incomprehensible to Humane Understanding so without invading God's Prerogative which he has not communicated to any Creature no Man ought to enquire into them and this Misery attends all the wild and extravagant Opinions not only of the Christians but of all the Sects of other Philosophers or rather Sophisters about God and his Attributes that being founded in their Fantastick Brains they will submit to no Rule which God requires of Man to determine them and so they continue in endless Contention and Confusion These Hereticks and Schismaticks not content to be Co-partners with our Saviour in his Attributes extended their blasphemous and extravagant Opinions into the Objects of Religion which neither the Jews nor Gentiles ever did a Lie in diametrical Contradiction for Religion is a publick Conjunction of Men in celebrating God's Praises for the publick Blessings they alike received from God whereas these for the Love-sake Opinion of their own Conceits disjoined themselves from celebrating God's Praises for the Benefits they alike received from God as Christians How could the monstrous Opinions of the Marcionists Manichees Novatians Arians Sabellians and Donatists absolve these from joining with their fellow Christians in giving God Thanks for their Conversion to the Christian Faith and for their wonderful Deliverance by Constantine from the Rage and Persecution of Dioclesian Maximinian Maxentius and Maximin This was the Gratitude and Piety which these Men returned to God and Constantine for their Deliverance and if they made things thus bad in Constantine's Reign they made them much worse after his Death for notwithstanding all the pious Endeavours of Constantine to the contrary the Arians above all other Sects had over-spread the Face of the Roman Empire and his Son Constantius became an Arian and not only revoked the Privileges which his Father had conferred upon the Orthodox Christians and preferred the Arians if they were worthy to be called Christians before them but by several Councils at Tyre Antioch and in the East for Constantine divided the Empire between his three Sons Constantine Constantius and Constans and the Eastern Empire was given to Constantius revoked all the Decrees of the Nicâ—â—â— Council Nor was the Empire in a much better Condition in the West for Arianism had over-spread the Western as well as the Eastern Empire and though Constans were not a Persecutor of the Orthodox Christians as his Brother Constantius was yet Liberius the Bishop or if you please the Pope of Rome was an Arian and one Felix became a Competitor with him in his Bishoprick or Papacy In this Hurly-burly stood the Roman Empire after the Death of Constantine wherein Civil and Military Discipline became neglected till the Reign of Julian the Apostate which was but 24 Years after the Death of Constantine Julian who succeeded Constantius put the Case further than the Arians for they would allow our Saviour's Divinity to exist to Eternity though they denied it from Eternity whereas Julian would not allow him to be a Prophet and for the short Time of his Reign he made it his Business to restore Paganism and to that end revoked all the Powers and Privileges Constantine had granted the Christians and granted a general Indulgence to all Sects of the Christians yet recalled all exiled Bishops whether Catholick or Heretick so that there was a Confusion among them in the Execution of their Offices but in all the countenanced the Hereticks against the Orthodox However Julian being a Martial Prince and the Persians having in these Confusions of the Roman Empire made Invasions upon it Julian raised a great Army and marched against Sapores the King of Persia but in this Expedition Julian died having reigned but one Year and eight Months to whom Jovian succeeded who was a zealous Orthodox Emperor but the Gentiles under Julian disliking Jovian and the Christians being in Feuds and Factions Jovian was forced to make an inglorious Peace with Sapores and delivered up the City of Nisibis to him However Jovian restored the Orthodox Christians to the Privileges and Immunities which Constantine had granted them and left the Pagans and Hereticks to themselves But Jovian's short Reign being but seven Months and odd days could perfect no great matter To Jovian Valentinian succeeded who took his Brother Valens to be his Colleague Valentinian was zealously Orthodox and Valens fierce sa an Arian Valentinian granted a general Indulgence of Liberty to Pagans and all sorts of Hereticks but favoured the Orthodox But Valens denied Liberty of Religion to the Orthodox though he granted it to all other Sects and Hereticks and also to the Pagans In the third Year of the Reign of Valentinian and Valens Valentinian made his Son Gratian a Co-partner in the Empire and having reigned 11 Years died leaving his Sons Gratian and Valentinian Emperors but Valens died three Years after him viz. Ann. 378. and no mention is made of his Issue By this time Arianism had over-spread the Face of the Eastern Empire and was so established that the Orthodox Christians were forced to exercise their Religion in obscure Conventicles besides the Vise or West Goths though Arians had over-run Thrace even to the Gates of Constantinople Gratian was Orthodox and in this distracted Estate of the Eastern Empire was sore pressed upon by the Germans in the Western so that he judged his younger Brother Valentinian no ways qualified to restrain the warlike Progress of the Goths or settle the Eastern Empire and therefore chose Theodosius for his Colleague Theodosius was a Spaniard by birth as well as Trajan a most devout and Orthodox Christian and a most valiant and expert Souldier so that as Trajan was the most glorious and august of all the Heathen Emperours so was Theodosius at least after Constantine the most renowned of all the Christian Emperours yet it was his Fate that he should see his Native Country to be the first that fell in the Ruine of the Roman Western Empire Theodosius was made Emperor in the Year 379 and forthwith raised an Imperial Army and marched against
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
in Christendom when he was putting it into an universal War all the Western Princes 〈◊〉 Christendom except King James were engaged in it against the House of Austria but it was so vast as in the Nature of things if Henry had been young as he was in the 57th Year of his Age he could not have lived to have accomplished it at his Death tho he lived but 13 Years after the Treaty of Vervins when he made Peace with Philip the 2d of Spain he had amassed such a Treasure as is incredible if so great an Historian as Messeray did not testify it especially if it be considered that before the Treaty at Vervins France had for forty Years before been imbroiled in a Civil War and with Spain and these Wars being in all the Parts of France France was never before in so poor and feeble a State and Henry himself after the Peace giving himself up to Venery and Gaming above any King of France before him or since Nor can it be imagined from whence such Treasures should arise for there are no Gold nor Silver Mines in France unless it were from the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Swede and Hamburghers drove into France However Henry was addicted to Women and Gaming yet otherwise he excelled all the Kings of the Age not only in Heroick Vertues but in Prudence Constancy and Secrecy in his Designs curious in Enquiry into the Qualities of Men whom he would prefer as Qualities merited and was pleasant and witty in his Conversation and always disposed to take the Impression of good Counsel He left his Son a Prince of weak Constitution both of Body and Mind at ten Years of Age and his Wife an imperious bigotted Italian to the Church of Rome Regent These overthrew all the Methods which Henry had laid for promoting the French Grandure and gave themselves up to be governed by Favourites yet in a different manner from those in England whereby they squandered away all that inestimable Treasure which Henry left in less than half the time Henry had been collecting it and put all France into Tumults and Wars whilst the English patiently submitted to the Exorbitances of King James his Favourites and by Proclamations were forbid to mention them or talk of their Government no not in Parliament And now 't is time to return to England and see what 's doing there If we begin this Year 1612 with January we shall find two Marriages in it to succeed the two Deaths of the two famous Henry's of England and France The first upon the 14th of February being Shrove-Sunday between Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine commonly called the Palsgrave and the Princess Elizabeth the King 's only Daughter and the Triumphs Pageant◠and other Gaieties upon the Thames in the City and Inns of Court far exceeded any before seen in England which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle fol. 1004. so as the Tears for the Death of Prince Henry were overflowed by the excess of Joy for this Marriage However Northampton was not pleased with it nor the Emperor or King of Spain and from the same Causes viz. It would so far advance the Protestant Interest in Germany as to make it more formidable to the Popish Religion and 't is certain for I had it from good Authority that Queen Ann was averse to it and to put the Princess out of conceit of it would usually call her Daughter Goodwife Palsgrave to which the Princess would answer she would rather be the Palsgrave ' s Wife than the greatest Papist Queen in Christendom The Reason of the Queen's Aversion to this Marriage is not said but certain it is that these fading Joys for this Marriage were succeeded by fixt and real Calamities which the King took little Care to prevent and shall never live to see nor his Son after him an end of While the Preparations for solemnizing this Marriage were making a different sort was making for another between the Viscount Rochester and the Countess of Essex and to make the Way to it more passable two Rubs were to be removed one to take off Sir Thomas Overbury the other to procure a Divorce not only a Mensa Toro between the Earl and the Countess but a Nullity whereby the Countess should be free to marry as she pleased and she had agreed upon the Person To remove Sir Thomas it was agreed between the Earl of Northampton Rochester and the Countess that Sir Thomas should be sent Ambassador to the Great Duke or Emperor of Russia so that if Sir Thomas did accept of it he should be far enough out of the way to hinder this Design and if he did not to commit him to the Tower where they would do well enough with him The Business of the Embassy was no sooner propounded to the King but assented to by him and Sir Thomas was not unwilling to undertake it How harsh soever Rochester was to Sir Thomas when he disswaded Rochester from marrying the Countess yet now he becomes instant kind to Sir Thomas and tell him how much he relied upon his Integrity and Parts which in his Absence he should not only want but that thereby Sir Thomas would give Occasion to his Enemies which were many and upon Rochester's account to ruine him when as it would not be in Rochester's Power to prevent it but if Sir Thomas would refuse to undertake this Embassy Rochester would in a short time undertake to reconcile him to the King and Sir Thomas would in the mean time be at hand to assist him with his Counsel upon all Occasions This was all deep Dissimulation which Sir Thomas took to be in good earnest and so Sir Thomas excused his going on this Errand and this was what Rochester desired Hereupon Rochester possest the King that Sir Thomas was not only grown insolent and intolerable to him but to the King by contemning him in refusing to go on this Embassage The King becomes incensed hereat and the more as 't was commonly said Sir Thomas had vented some stinging Sarcasms upon the Court which came to the King 's hearing and so ordered him to be committed to the Tower Northampton and Rochester had prepared the Business so that Sir William Wade was removed from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir Jervis Elvis a Gentleman wholly depending upon them was made Lieutenant of it Upon Sir Thomas his Commitment Sir Jervis Elvis by Order from Northampton and Rochester confines him close Prisoner so that Sir Thomas his Father was not permitted to visit him nor any of his Servants tho one desired he might be confined with his Master The Countess that she might not be behind-hand with Rochester and Northampton had consulted with Mrs. Turner for a fit Instrument to practise what was designed upon Sir Thomas Mrs. Turner's Husband was an Apothecary and had a Servant named Richard Weston who since her Husband's Death was become very poor this Man was agreed by the
as the Marriage of his Daughter with the Elector Palatine was the cause of his calling the last Parliament so the Consequence of this Marriage put him upon the necessity of calling another But because Mr. Rushworth Franklin and all other our Writers at home have either mistaken the Cause or taken it too short we will look into it from abroad Before Ferdinand the first of that Name Emperor of Germany and younger Brother of Charles the 5th the Kingdom of Bohemia was elective and tho they often chose the German Emperors their Kings after the Turks became great in Europe as Charles the 4th Wenceslaus his Son Sigismund and Albert the first of the Family of the House of Austria yet in the Year 1440 they chose Vladislaus King of Hungary who was a Polander to be their King who being slain at the great Battel of Varna against Amurath the 2d 1444 they chose his Son Vladislaus an Infant King of Hungary whose Guardian in his Minority was John Huniades the famous Champion against the Turks After Vladislaus who died without Issue the Bohemians in 1456 chose George Bogebracius After him in 1470 they chose Vladislaus the Son of Casimir King of Poland who had Issue a Son named Lewis and a Daughter named Ann married to Ferdinand Brother of Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany this Vladislaus was likewise chosen King of Hungary and died in the Year 1516. his Son Lewis being then an Infant was chosen King of Bohemia and Hungary and ten Years after viz. 1526 Lewis was overthrown and slain by Solyman the Great Turk at the Fight at Mohatz With Lewis fell the Glory and Majesty of Hungary the Paradise of the World of a sweet and temperate Climate a most healthful Air the Soil exceeding fruitful yet reserving Mines of Gold and Silver in its Bowels abounding with Cattel of a larger size than elsewhere which it supplied Germany Italy and Turkey with watered with the noblest Rivers of Europe the Danube the Drave Save Tibiscus c. as fruitful with Fish as the Land was with Cattel excelling the Countries in manifold and fair built Cities and Towns Hungary at the Death of Lewis from the time when Matthias the Son of the famous Huniades began to reign over them for 70 Years enjoyed perfect Peace within and abroad had the Reputation of the most Warlike Nation and of all other the best Frontier to stop the further Rage of the Turkish Arms in Europe But in this long Peace the People especially the Clergy became excessive rich accompanied with intolerable Pride and all other Vices which accompany Luxury and Ease In this high Conceit of themselves the Clergy especially Tomerius put the King with an Army of 25000 Men only to fight with Solyman with 300000 Turks twelve to one wherein not only the King but also Tomerius and the Flower of all the Nobility of Hungary fell here the Fate of Hungary began but did not end here For Ferdinand having married Lewis his Sister and assisted by his Brother Charles set up for himself to be King of Hungary in right of his Wife which the major part of the Nobility not slain in the Battel of Mohatz refuse to submit to and chose John Sepuce Vaivod of Transilvania to be their King and John being too weak to oppose Ferdinand flies to Solyman for his Assistance so that Hungary which before was the Barrier against the Progress of the Turkish Power in Europe now opens her Gates to let it in however the Turk being engaged in Wars against the Persians Ferdinand prevailed against both and John and Ferdinand came to this Agreement That John should enjoy that part of Hungary whereof he was possest during Life and Ferdinand the whole after his Death Soon after John died leaving the Queen with Child which proved a Son and the Nobility which before chose the Father King now chuse the Son and joining with the Queen call in Solyman for their Assistance who by this Call enters Buda the Regal City of Hungary and turns the Queen and her Son out giving him only the Title of Vaivod of Transilvania Now was Hungary become the Theatre for above 150 Years of all those Calamities which both Civil and Foreign Wars bring upon a Country so that of the most fruitful and best inhabited Kingdom in Europe it became the most desolate and uninhabited the Inhabitants being made use of only to be Slaves either to imperious Souldiers or lazy and idle Clergy-men If Hungary were the Paradise of the World Bohemia was not less of Germany and as an Island is encompassed with Waters so is Bohemia environed with Mountains which like a Garden with Walls encompassed a most rich pleasant and healthful Kingdom and to this Kingdom as well as that of Hungary does Ferdinand lay Claim in right of his Wife and being assisted by his Brother Charles and further from the Assistance of the Turks he forced the Bohemians to submit to his Empire but this was not only during his and his Wife's Life and her Heirs but to his Heirs Male tho he claimed in right of his Wife And herein you must observe That the Bohemians at this time as well as their Ancestors before were Enemies to the Popish Tyranny and Heresies so that Zisca the famous Captain of the Hussites about one hundred Years before in many Battels in Opposition to the Popish Tyranny overthrew the Emperor Sigismond and Ferdinand was a zealous Maintainer of the Popish Supremacy and Usurpations in Religion as well as Tyranny Ferdinand had Issue two Sons Maximilian who succeeded him in the Empire as well as in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary and Charles the first Arch-Duke of Austria Maximilian had Issue Maximilian Rodolph Matthias and Albert Governour and Prince of the Spanish Netherlands with whom King James in the second Year of his Reign made the League before spoken of Rodolph in 1576 succeeded Maximilian in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary as well as in the Empire This Rodolph Helvicus says was a Prince most worthy of all Praise the Refuge of good Learning Ensign of Peace and Clemency and in the Year 1609 granted Liberty of Conscience to the Bohemians and Austrians Rodolph's Brother succeeded him in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Empire in 1614 but Matthias having no Issue and the Issue Male of Maximilian ending in him a Question might arise about the Succession to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia for admitting the Succession were hereditary then by the Laws of Inheritance these Crowns would devolve upon the King of Spain Philip the Third whose Mother Anna was Daughter to Maximilian the Second and therefore to be preferred before Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria descended from Maximilian's younger Brother To prevent this the Popish Party jealous of the Consequences prevail upon or rather forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia to his Cousin Ferdinand a zealous Assertor of the Supremacy of the Church of
Peron of the Papal Power of King-Killing and King-Deposing were only Brawls and Contentions and 〈◊〉 Learning on one side or the other A Power disclaimed by our Saviour when the Devil would have given him it and denied any such Power in this World even when the Jews were ready to crucify him John 18. 36. And as there were no Reasons for these Brawls so was the End of them Arrogance on the Popish Part to impose a foreign Power or Jurisdiction upon the King and Kingdom and as foolish on the King's Part it being exploded by the Nation and under the severest Penalty the asserting such a Power prohibited and how could the King by his Writings further secure himself and the Nation against it But it seems the King was in this more zealous for himself and the Preservation of his Inherent Birth-right to the Crown of England than for the Honour of God and our Saviour against the Pope's Usurpations other ways for in his Speech at the Opening the first Parliament of his Reign he calls the Church of Rome a 〈◊〉 Church and our Mother-Church and if they would lay aside their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrine and some Niceties but names them not he was content to meet them mid-way Does not the Pope exalt himself above God and is Antichrist i◠forbidding the Laity the Cup in the partaking the Sacrament a Christ's last Supper If any Man makes a Question of it I 'll demonstrate it by a better Syllogism than can be made up of Aristotle's Analyticks For whosoever shall forbid what another commands exalts himself above that other But the Pope forbids the Drinking of the Cup at the Sacrament to the Laity who are Christ's Members as well as the Priests And our Saviour commands the Cup with an Emphasis Drink ye All of it Therefore the Pope exalts himself above our Saviour and is Antichrist which was to be demonstrated and this Mutilation makes this the Pope's and not a Sacrament of our Saviour's Institution COROLLARY By the same Reason I say the Pope exalts himself above God in forbidding Marriage to the Priests For Marriage is an Institution of God in Paradise Gen. 2. and commanded by God Gen. 9. 1. and the Pope forbids the Marriage of Priests which St. Paul says is the Doctrine of Devils and it 's worthy Observation that the Pope makes Marriage to be a Sacrament yet denies it to Priests and our Saviour commands the Cup in the Sacrament of his last Supper to be drunk by all yet this is denied the Laity and only allowed to Priests I say Pope Julius the 2d in dispensing with Henry the 8th to marry his Brother Arthur's Wife exalted himself above God For whosoever shall dispense with or allow what another forbids exalts himself above that other But Julius dispensed with Henry's Marriage of his Brother's Wife And God forbids the Marriage of a Man's Brother's Wife Lev. 18. 16. Therefore Julius exalted himself above God which was to be demonstrated It 's true I do not find the Marriage of a Man's Sister's Daughter particularly forbidden by the Levitical Law yet by the 17th verse it is by inference forbidden and is abhorrent to Nature So that when Cambyses asked the Magi if it were not lawful to marry his Sister's Daughter they told him it was not yet like Flatterers they told him he might do what he pleased and Platina I think it is in the Life of Pope Boniface the 5th or Honorius exclaims against the Emperor Heraclius his marrying his Sister's Daughter as an Impiety scarce ever heard of yet three Popes successively dispensed with Philip the 2d Philip the 3d and Philip the 4th Kings of Spain marrying with their own Nieces viz. their Sisters Daughters It were endless to enumerate the Doctrines of the Church of Rome how dishonourable they are to God and his sacred Laws I 'll give Instances only in two 1. Their Invocation of Saints after Death many of which are of their own making thereby attributing to them a concurring Power with God in his Omniscience which is a robbing God of his Honour and if Saints after Death be not Omniscient it were in vain to pray to them The other is dispensing with Mens Promises and their own tho they have bound themselves to the Performance of them by an Oath whereby the Popes render themselves Enemies of Mankind and Humane Society for these are founded in Truth and Mens mutual Performance of their Promises That this for several hundreds of Years hath been practised by the Popes upon those Princes and Subjects whom they please to call Hereticks when the Popes are greater is well known to those conversant in their Histories I 'll give but one Instance of the Liberty the Popes take to themselves herein Upon the Death of Pope Marcellus 2d Ann. 1555. the Cardinals in the Conclave before they proceed to the Election of another Pope mutually swore That whosoever should be chosen should call a Synod in six Years and not make more than 4 Cardinals in two Years after the Election and Paul the 4th was chosed See the Council of Trent Anno 1555. Some small time after this Election Paul entred the Conclave to declare his Intentions of a Promotion of Cardinals and the Cardinal of St. James's pressed to him and put him in mind of his Oath before his Election but the Pope thrust the Cardinal back and told him This was to bind the Pope's Authority that it is an Article of Faith that the Pope cannot be bound much less bind himself that to say otherwise was manifest Heresy from which he did absolve those who spake it because he thought they did not speak obstinately but if any should say the same again he would give Order the Inquisition should proceed And this being spoken in the Conclave was in Cathedra and infallible and never since retracted by him or any other Pope These are the Heresies in the Church of Rome for which Men must be slaughtered and burnt and for not believing them against the Evidence of a Man's Senses to the contrary and against the Nature of a Sacrament That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration is Christ's organical Body and Blood This is that true and Mother-Church which the King would meet mid-way if it would let him and his Inherent Birth-right alone This is that Prince who to prosecute these Brawls and to wallow in sensual Pleasures neglected the foreign and domestick Affairs of his Kingdom only Great in making himself little and not beloved at home and contemptible and dishonoured abroad A Prince who squandred away the sacred Patrimony of the Crown amongst Flatterers and Favourites thereby becoming not able to maintain the Honour of the Nation abroad and neglecting the Encrease and Repair of his Navy-Royal not only rendred the Nation in an unsettled and dangerous Peace at home but notwithstanding the Treaty with the Dutch for Licence to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland suffered
c. and hac vice This was 7 Ric. 2. 4. Sometimes to have Intermission and to vary lest the King should claim them as Duties as 2 s. 18 d. 3 s. 5 Ric. 2. 9 Ric. 2. 10 Ric. 2. 5. 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine and 2 s. 6 d. for Poundage for one Year 11 Ric. 2. 6. 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine and 1 s. for Poundage hac vice 13 Ric. 2. 7. 6 d. for Poundage and 18 d. for Tunnage of Wines for three Years 14 Rich. 2. 8. 8 d. for Poundage and 2 s. for Tunnage of Wine 2 Hen. 4. 9. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine for three Years 4 Hen. 4. 10. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wines for several times upon Condition sometimes for one Year 6 Hen. 4. 11. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wines for four Years 1 Hen. 5. 12. The like Subsidy was granted to Hen. 5. in the third Year of his Reign for Life for carrying on the War against France 13. Tunnage of Wine and Poundage was granted to Edw. 4. for Life with no Retrospect but for time to come 4 Edw. 4. These were continued to all the Kings and Queens of England after Edw. 4. to King Charles 1. but these were of Wines only but these were always granted for the guarding the Seas and of the free good Will of the Subject So that the first Grant of these Duties of Tunnage and Poundage for Life began at Hen. 5. but that was but for that part of his Life for time to come being granted in the third Year of his Reign and so were those in the Reign of Edw. 4. which were granted in the fourth Year of his Reign and Hen. 7. would not take them till they were granted by Parliament and Sir Robert Phillips who was a Member of Parliament Primo Jac. says in his Speech in Parliament Mr. Rushworth mentions it fol. 644. that by reason of the Sickness primo Jac. the Parliament was prorogued and then some were so bold as to demand the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage for which they were questioned in Parliament But after the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage were given to King James and settled by a Book of Rates King James which none of his Predecessors ever did before imposed higher Duties upon several sorts of Merchandise than were granted in Parliament by his own Will and so continued them to his Death and after his Death his Son by his own Will took not only those Duties granted by Parliament but those imposed by his Father neither would he permit the Parliament to sit to establish a Book of Rates but prorogu'd or dissolved them before they could accomplish it And this was the Right he charges the Commons to endeavour to take away by his granting the Petition of Right The King goes on and says This the Right to Tunnage and Poundage alledg'd to be given away by the Commons is so prejudicial to me that I am forced to end this Session some few hours before I meant being unwilling to receive any more Remonstrances to which I must give a harsh Answer And since I see that the House of Commons begins already to make false Constructions of what I granted in your Petition lest it be worse interpreted in the Country I will now make a Declaration concerning the true Intent thereof The King should have declared whether he saw this false Construction of the Commons with his own Eyes or the Eyes of another if with his own Eyes Why does he not declare wherein the Commons made this false Construction of his Grant Or if he saw or heard of this false Construction of the Commons from another the King should have said who told him so Now let us see if the contrary of what the King so injuriously charges the Commons with be not true The Commons say No King of England ever claimed these Customs but by the free Gifts of his Subjects Does the King deny this or shew that ever any King of England claimed them otherways or by any other Right The Commons say His Father raised them to the height they then were without Act of Parliament or free Gift of the People Does the King deny this to be true And that the King continues to take these Customs without any Act of Parliament or Gift of the People Does the King deny this Do not the Commons tell the King That out of their Zeal to his Service and especial Regard to his pressing Occasions they had under Consideration so to frame a Grant of a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage to his Majesty that he might have been the better enabled for the Defence of his Realm and Subjects by being secure from all undue Charges for the Security of Trade the Profit of the King and Strength of the Kingdom Does the King deny this With what Conscience and Justice then does the King say the Commons made false Constructions of his Answer alledging he had given away his Right to the Customs by his Answer to the Petition of Right When or where is any such Allegation in any part of the Remonstrance The Commons say that since the King will not permit them to finish their intended Subsidy they have no Course left without manifold Breach of their Duty to his Majesty and their Country save only to make this humble Declaration That the receiving Tunnage and Poundage and other Impositions not granted by Parliament is a Breach of the Fundamental Liberties of this Kingdom and contrary to your Majesty's Answer to the Petition of Right Does the King shew that it was not the Commons Duty to represent this to him or that the Commons alledged he had any Right to the Duties which he had given away by his Answer to the Petition of Right Now let 's see the King's Declaration of the true Intent of his Answer to the Petition of Right The Profession of both Houses in the time of the Hammering spoke like a King this Petition was no ways to trench upon my Prerogative no more it did saying They had neither Intention or Power is hurt it therefore it must needs be conceived that I have granted to new but only to confirm the antient Liberties of my Subjects Yet to shew the Clearness of my Intentions that I neither repent nor mean to recede from any thing I have promised you I do here declare my self That those things which have been done whereby many have had some Cause to expect the Liberties of the Subject to be trenched upon and indeed was the first and true ground of the Petition shall not hereafter be drawn into Example for your Prejudice and from time to time on the Word of a King ye shall not have the like Cause to complain But as for Tunnage and Poundage it is a thing I cannot want and was â—ever intended by you to ask nor meant by me I am sure to grant Nor did
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
had not cheated both Mazarine and him thereby to be Arbitrator over the French as well as Spaniard when he pleased 6. Cromwel out-vied the best of our Kings in rendring our Laws to the Subject in the English Tongue for tho Edward the Third the most Excellent of our Kings permitted Pleading in the English Tongue yet he went no further whereas Cromwel rendred not only the Pleadings but Practice and Laws themselves into the English Tongue and herein he imitated our Saviour common Justice and the Practice of the most Learned and Civilized Nations I say he imitated our Saviour who after his Ascension wrought his first Miracle by inspiring his Apostles to speak all Languages to teach the Gospel to all Nations in their Native Tongue and by the same reason all Nations ought to be instructed in their Laws in their own Tongue I say this is conformable to common Justice for all Laws ought to be a Priori for where there is no Law there is no Transgression and if Laws be rendred in a Tongue not understood it 's all one to those who understand not the Language as if there had not been Laws The Romans and Grecians who were the most Learned and Civiliz'd of all Nations would never endure a Foreign Word in any of their Laws lest the Subject through Ignorance of it might be unjustly punished when 't was not his fault When Caesar was murder'd in the Senate and the Senators were ready to cut one another's Throats Cicero cried out Let there be an Amnestia and for the future the Power to reside in the Senate And you may read in his second Philippicks the long Apology he makes for suddenly using this Foreign Word in the Senate And Tiberius asked leave of the Senate to use Monopolion because 't was foreign to the Latin And the Romans as well as Grecians not only instructed Youth in their Laws but in all Arts and Sciences in their Mother-Tongue and thereby became the most Learned of all Nations But these good Deeds of Cromwel you 'll soon see will not long out-live him CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Treatise from the Death of Cromwel to the Restoration of King Charles the Second AFter the Death of Cromwel there was some Grumble between the Republican Officers of the Army and Protectorian who should succeed Those said that Cromwel when he was well promised his Son-in-law Fleetwood that he should succeed but these said That tho Cromwel was sick yet he declared his Son Richard his Successor and that this was his last Will And besides Cromwel's Council which by the Instrument of Government had the Power had elected Richard and so Richard was proclaimed Protector in all the publick Places of England Scotland and Ireland Richard thus seated not only the Protectorian but the Officers of the Republican Faction congratulate him and under their Hand-writing promise to be true to him and what Cromwel so industriously obtained from the Mercenary Officers of the Army in England and Scotland to congratulate him in his assuming the Protectorian Dignity and to assist him in it with their Lives and Fortunes is now voluntarily done by numerous Companies of Sycophants from all Parts of the Nation to the number of ninety Congratulatory Addresses which Richard had as little good of as King James II. had from those above thirty Years after When they flatter'd that Prince in those things which tended to the Subversion of the English Constitution both in Church and State But Richard's wandring Joys faded in the Bud For after his Father's Funeral the Pomp whereof undid him the Republican Officers cabal and conspire to depose Richard and exalt Fleetwood and in two respects they say Fleetwood ought to be Protector one that he was truly Godly and an expert Leader and had been tried to be so in many Difficulties The other Cromwel had by his last Will when he was Compos Mentis design'd him his Successor whereas Richard was substituted in a surreptitious manner by the Craft of some of the Council when Cromwel had lost his Senses Lambert after he had been discarded by Cromwel betook himself to Wimbleton-House where he turned Florist and had the fairest Tulips and Gelliâ—â—owers that could be got for Love or Money yet in these outward Pleasures he nourished the Ambition he entertain'd before he was cashier'd by Cromwel And in these Dissensions as Tortoises do upon the approach of the Spring he comes abroad and becomes a prime Ring-leader in the Cabal and in due time shall be the Ruin of them all The first thing they agree upon was to restore the common Souldiers to their former Pay which Cromwel had retrench'd two Pence a day And herein they shew their good Will as Dego did but how to pay the Souldiers they could no more tell than how Dego's Executors should pay his Legacies In this Kindness to the common Souldiers the Officers did not forget themselves and charge the Memory of Cromwel that he ruled over them with a Tyrannical and Despotical Power turning out and putting in Officers by his own Will therefore they petition Richard That for the future no Souldier be turned out of his place without a Council of War nor any Action brought but by Martial Law That no Souldier be tried in any Criminal Case but in a Court-Martial and that the Souldiers have Power to chuse their own General Richard was Head of no Faction as his Brother Fleetwood was nor was his gentle and easy Nature a â—it Match to encounter the intriguing Designs of Lambert or resist the rude Attacks of his Clownish Uncle Desborough and so foresees no Help to be had for his Security but from a Parliament Therefore Richard summons a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the 27th of January 1658 of the Composition made by his Father of this and t'other House this to consist of 400 English 30 Scots and as many Irish This and t'other House met accordingly when this House fell at Variance with t'other House by what Right they sat there Nor did this House agree better with the Scots and Irish sitting there having no Right to sit and vote with the free-born English they being conquer'd Slaves and Creatures of the Protector Nor did the Republican and Protectorian Factions agree better However all agreed to recognize Richard Protector of England Scotland and Ireland yet would not agree to Cromwel's Instrument of Government but inveighed bitterly against it as being extorted from a lame Parliament that was neither â—ull nor free But they recalled Overton who was imprisoned in Jersey by the Arbitrary Will of Cromwel and made an Ordinance against the meeting of the Officers of the Army to hold Consultations till the Parliament should determine Affairs This Ordinance stung the Caballing Officers to the quick so that they resolved to be rid of Richard and his Parliament too but how to do this or where to begin admitted of great Debate For to begin at Richard now the Parliament
Rump who had Intelligence of Lambert's Motion would not tamely be turn'd out but appoint Moss and Morley's Regiments to guard the House yet Lambert upon the 13th of October with a stronger Guard hastens to the Old-Palace-Yard and before the Members came set Guards upon all the Avenues to the House not permitting any Member to enter and sends the Speaker back into the City Now is the Rump's Lethargy from which they were recover'd but five Months and some few Days turned into a Convulsion and the next Fit you 'll see will carry it quite off Instead of the Rump the Officers set up a new thing which they call The Committee of Safety which consisted of 22 whereof Vane Fleetwood and Ludlow were prime Directors Lambert having thus turned out the Rump his Turn shall be next But before we proceed it 's fit to see how things stood in Scotland where at this time all things contrary to the Scotish Temper were in perfect Peace and Quiet and to keep the Scots so the Rump and Cromwel had built four Citadels upon the four principal Passes in Scotland viz. at Leith Aire St. Johnstons and Inverness which bridled the Scots from holding Communication within Land and which cost above 30000 l. being three Regular Fortifications on the North Sea and one upon the West for to relieve the English in case of Land-Sieges or other Accidents After Monk had perfectly subdued Scotland he took Care for constant Supplies out of England for the Payment of his Soldiers whereby he kept them in such regular and severe Discipline that Disorders rarely happen'd among them and hereby Scotland did never before abound in so much Wealth and Trade and to these Monk duly observed all Articles made with the Scots whereby the common sort of Scots enjoyed more Liberty and Wealth than ever before they had under their Lords and Lairds and now no Man durst oppress his poor Tenants and Neighbours He likewise supprest all those Scotish Feuds which before so often raged in Scotland and compelled the Clergy to mind their own Function without meddling with Temporal Affairs So as the Scots never lived so free and happy under their Kings Nobles and Lairds as in that short time they did under Monk's Regency In this State Monk hired the Countess of Bucklough's House about five Miles from Edinburgh which had fine Gardens Orchards and a stately Park walled about belonging to it and here he fell into the Acquaintance of the principal Nobility and Gentry of Scotland and by his Familiarity and Affability with them he gained their Love and Friendship And in this State Cromwel would have found it a hard Task to remove him After Cromwel's Death and that his Son Richard became Protector he caress'd Monk by frequent Letters and great Protestations of Kindness intreating also his Advice and Assistance letting him know that his Father did recommend to him as an especial Command to be chiefly ruled by his Prudence Monk in return answered That he was very remote and could not well tell what to write at such a distance but advised him to call a Parliament which was the Wisdom of the Nation by whom he might be best instructed which Richard did and if he had stood by them it 's thought Monk would have stood by him but Richard spoil'd all by dissolving the Parliament and when the English Army had deposed his Brother Henry by frequent Messages and Letters he invited Monk to appear to give a Check to the mutinous and seditious English Army which now courted Monk as well as he and so did the Rump after they were restored So that in all the Troubles and Alterations in England both England and Ireland too courted Monk who sat still and was quiet in Scotland Lambert's firy Ambition burnt out that Prudence which Cromwel observed in making sure of Monk before he attempted to turn out the Rump which Lambert did not nor so much as made his Design known to Monk The turning out the Rump and erecting a Committee of Safety to govern being Sectaries Republicans and Enemies to Monk which he called Fanaticks he knew no Good was intended him by this Change and therefore resolved not to submit to it But herein Monk proceeded with as much Caution and Prudence as Lambert did in Haste and Folly Here you may see how Ambition and Interest change Mens Actions for herein what Monk allowed in Cromwel he disclaims in Lambert For upon the 18th of October Monk marched with his own Guards from Dalkeith to Edinburgh where his own Regiment of Foot quartered and seized all such Officers as he suspected would not be true to him in his Design and secur'd them and drew his Forces into the Field and gave them an Account of his Resolution To adhere to a Civil Authority and not to follow the English Army in their mad Counsels and Fanatick Courses which was entertained by the Soldiers and generally by the Scots At his Return out of the Field he received an Express from the Governour of Berwick That he feared he should not be able to secure the Town for him almost all the Officers in the Town being Anabaptists Whereupon Monk gave Order for a Troop of Horse to march to Berwick to fetch away the ill-affected Officers and sent also a blank Commission to the Governour to put in what Officers he pleased but it was difficult to get a Troop to march being about 40 Miles from Edinburgh the Days short and Ways deep and bad yet Captain Johnson undertook the Journey and arrived at Berwick but the Night before Colonel Cobbet entered Berwick sent from Lambert whom Johnson seized and sent Cobbet and the suspected Officers Prisoners to Edinburgh 'T was well Monk succeeded so well at Berwick for otherwise he had had a hard Game to play the English Army in Scotland being far off in the more remote Northern and Western Parts of it and Lambert upon his March from London with it may be the bravest Body of Horse in Europe against him and could augment his Foot in his March But if Monk was fortunate in reducing Berwick he was not less unfortunate in endeavouring to reduce Carlisle for having sent Captain Dean upon that Account his whole Troop deserted him and joined with the Garison Besides Monk having sent Letters to many of the Officers in Ireland whom he thought he might confide in and to the Officers in the English Fleet then riding in the Downs they all refused to join with him Hereupon the Sectaries in the English Army grew insolent and drew off from Monk in Discontent whereupon Monk kept back their Pay and bid them seek their Arrears of them to whom they were going which they could not have done in a worse time now the Rump had voted it Treason to raise any Money to pay them these Officers were above 140 and their Arrears Monk kept the better to pay the Officers he could confide in However this could not secure Monk of those Soldiers
Person made Chancellor of Ireland 641. Fitz-harris his Plot against the Dissenters 562 564. Is committed to Newgate but his Discovery prevented 564 588. Is tried and hang'd against the express Votes of the Commons 591. Five-mile-Act against Dissenters 458. Design'd to be reviv'd by the Lords with Remarks thereon 501 502. Flanders overrun by the French 470. Fleetwood made General 408. Is advis'd to bring in the King 415. Foreigners to be naturaliz'd and otherwise encourag'd 556 607 608 674 675. but kept out of our American Trades 660. France how bounded 11 28. It s Grandure owing to the Stuarts 160 480 496 498 651 652. It s Success against Spain 256. Franche County invaded 473. Frederick the Palsgrave marries the Princess Elizabeth 67. Has no Relief from his Father-in-law 93 94 95. Enters Prague with an Army 93. Totally routed and retires into Holland 95. Goes to his Army in Disguise 107. which is routed 108. Takes the Covenant and has a Pension from our Parliament 309. Free Ports 679 680. French routed at Sea by the English 354 378. Look'd on while the English and Dutch fought 492. Beat Spaniards and Dutch at Messina 503. Endeavour a separate Peace with the Dutch 509 511. Their Imperiousness 521. Wheedle the English and Dutch 522 529. French King breaks the Pyrenean Treaty 427 428 471. Expels the English out of S. Christophers 460. Pretends to join the Dutch 461. Breaks his Word with the Irish 472 533. Procures the Triple League to be broke 474 484. Sets out a Fleet against the Dutch 475. Declares War to propagate the Catholick Cause 477. His Perfidiousness c. 484 498 604. His Success and Ravages on the Rhine Netherlands c. 485 487 505 513 524 530. Makes Prize of English Ships 498. Endeavours to break the Confederacy 509. His Promise to the States reflected on 523. Falls upon the Empire without declaring War 650. and the English Factories at Canada 644 650. Impolitick in his Persecution 657 662. G. GLemham Sir Tho. for the King 313 316. Godfrey Sir Edmundbury murder'd 533 534. Goodman Bp of Glocester suspended at Mountague's Instigat 273. Grievances increas'd by Intervals of Parliament 49 61. Grotius for the Arminians 121. His Mare â—iberum answer'd at large 244 252. Gundamor Spanish Ambassador here his Character 98. Guthry Mr. James imprison'd and beheaded 443 444. H. HAmbden refuses to pay Ship-Money 258. Is prosecuted 259. Is routed 298. Hamilton Marquess sent to quiet the Covenanters 264. Marches into England on behalf of the King and is routed 326. Is executed 342. Harman Sir John his great Danger in the Dutch Fight 459 460. Beats the French Fleet in America and reduces Surinam 468. Haslerig Sir Arthur against the Army 409. Hatton Lady refuses to part with Hatton-House 274 275. Hayton Capt. his noble Act against the French at Sea 378. Hemp and Flax 677. Henry IV. of France his Character 28 29 67. His great Design prevented by his Death 29 66 67. Henry Pr. of Wales his memorable Sayings and noble Character 65 66. Suspected to be poison'd and why 66 79. Herbert Sir Edw. sent Ambassador to France is misrepresented but boldly offers to clear himself 96. Hewet Dr. put to Death by Cromwel 403. Hide Lord Chancellor vindicated concerning the Sale of Dunkirk and the Match with Portugal 429 430. His Fall and Character 470. High Court of Justice see Rump Holland privately seeks a Peace with the Rump with their canting Letter to 'em 356 357. Agree to exclude the Pr. of Orange 382. Holmes Sir Rob. falls upon the Smirna-Fleet 478. Colonel his suffering in the West a remarkable Story 621. Hotham Sir John conven'd before the Council 267. Keeps Hull for the Parliament 279 294. but after endeavours to deliver it up to the King 299. for which he and his Son lose their Heads 300. Hubert hang'd for firing the City to prevent a Discovery 462. Hungary commended its Story 89 90. Huntley Marquess loses his Head 316. I. JAmes I. his Arbitrary Act at Newark 35. Prodigal of Proclamations 35 48. Caress'd by all especially the Dutch ib. Glories in his Birth-right c. 34 38 51. Historical Remarks thereon 38 47. His profane Swearing and Drinking 36 71 151. Hates the Puritans and is highly flatter'd by the Bishops 37. His Arbitrary Proclamation at calling his first Parliament 50. Quarrels with the Commons about deciding an Election 52. Le ts the K. of Spain raise Forces in his Dominions 54. Monopolizes the Trade to Spain and Italy 56. Is excessive prodigal to his Favourites 59 62 77. Afraid to demand what 's due from the Dutch 60 71 121. His Ways of raising Money out of Parliament 62 106. Invades the Privileges of Parliament 72. His loathsom way of kissing his Favourites 78. Much impos'd on by the Dutch 80 81. Treats of a Marriage for his Son with the Infanta 86 98 100. Commits all to Villiers 87 98. Is contemn'd by the Dutch 87. by France and Germany 97. by the Spaniards with Lampoons 109. Hates Parliaments 88. Huffs his Parliament in a Letter to the Speaker 99. His long Invective against them 100 102. Annuls the Commons Protestation and dissolves them by an Arbitrary Proclamation 104. Imprisons several Members and the Earl of Southampton 104 105. His Arbitrary Charge to the Judges 105. His fickle and perplex'd State at breaking off his Son's Match 114 115 156. Resolves to fall in with Parliaments 115 125. Pretends no favour for Papists 126 145. His Speech on behalf of Buckingham and doting on him 136 137. His weak Letter to the French King on account of his Son's Match 140 141. His Speech to the Lords of the French Council 145. His Death which seem'd suspicious 147. His Character 106 107 148 152. Could meet Popery half way 148. Charg'd his Son to call Parliaments often 156. James II. while Duke of York engages the Dutch 457 480 481. His two Sons die 468 476. Is propos'd to the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck but married to the Princess of Modena 476 477. His Designs against England in conjunction with France 500 502. The Commons Votes against him 541 557. Is sent Commissioner into Scotland 545 568. His Actions there 570. His Designs against the Earl of Argyle 575 c. His rude Answer to him 585. Has 22000 Scots ready to assist him 604. His Declaration to the Privy-Council on his being King 609 610. which he often broke 610 613 617 620 624. Takes the Customs and Excise before given him 610 614. His unparallel'd Cruelty 613 620 623 638. His vast Revenue 615 617 618. His ridiculous Pardon 622. His Proceedings in Ireland 624 625 632 641. His Favour to the Papists 625 626 632. Gets Judges to declare for his Dispensing Power with Reflections thereon 630 632 642. Grants a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs 633 c. Toleration in Scotland 641. and Liberty of Conscience in England which is descanted on ib. Keeps a standing Army in time of Peace 642 643. Orders his Declaration of
the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit