Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	edward_n	henry_n	king_n	7,763	5	4.5773	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B21412	The vindication, or, The parallel of the French Holy-League and the English League and Covenant turn'd into a seditious libell against the King and His Royal Highness by Thomas Hunt and the authors of the Reflections upon the pretended parallel in the play called The Duke of Guise / written by Mr. Dryden.	Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1683 (1683)	Wing D2398	39,244	65

by his Claret He has often call'd me an Atheist in Print I would believe more charitably of him and that he only goes the broad way because the other is too narrow for him He may see by this I do not delight to meddle with his course of Life and his Immoralities though I have a long Bead-roll of them I have hitherto contented my self with the Ridiculous part of him which is enough in all conscience to employ one man even without the story of his late fall at the Old Devil where he broke no Ribbs because the hardness of the Stairs cou'd reach no Bones and for my part I do not wonder how he came to fall for I have always known him heavy the Miracle is how he got up again I have heard of a Sea-Captain as fat as he who to scape Arrests would lay himself flat upon the ground and let the Bayliffs carry him to Prison if they cou'd If a Messenger or two nay we may put in three or four should come he has friendly Advertisement how to scape them But to leave him who is not worth any further consideration now I have done laughing at him Wou'd every man knew his own Tallent and that they who are only born for drinking wou'd let both Poetry and Prose alone I am weary with traceing the Absurdities and Mistakes of our great Lawyer some of which indeed are wilful as where he calls the Trimmers the more moderate sort of Tories It seems those Polliticians are odious to both sides for neither own them to be theirs We know them and so does he too in his Conscience to be secret Whigs if they are any thing But now the designs of Whiggism are openly discover'd they tack about to save a Stake that is they will not be villains to their own ruine While the Government was to be destroyed and there was probability of compassing it no men were so violent as they but since their Fortunes are in hazard by the Law and their Places at Court by the Kings displeasure they pull in their horns and talk more peaceably in order I suppose to their vehemence on the right side if they were to be believ'd For in laying of Colours they observe a Medium Black and white are too far distant to be plac'd directly by one another without some shadowings to soften their contrarieties 'T is Mariana I think but am not certain that makes the following relation and let the noble Family of Trimmers read their own Fortune in it Don Pedro King of Castile Sirnam'd the Cruel who had been restor'd by the Valour of our Edward the Black Prince was finally dispossess'd by Don Henry the Bastard and he enjoyed the Kingdom quietly till his Death which when he felt approaching he call'd his Son to him and gave him this his last Counsel I have said he gain'd this Kingdon which I leave you by the Sword for the Right of Inheritance was in Don Pedro but the favour of the People who hated my Brother for his Tyranny was to me instead of Title You are now to be the Peaceable Possessor of of what I have unjustly gotten and your Subjects are compos'd of these three sorts of men One Party espous'd my Brothers Quarrel which was the undoubted Lawful Cause those though they were my Enemies were men of Principle and Honour cherish them and exalt them into Places of trust about you for in them you may confide safely who priz'd their Fidelity above their Fortune Another sort are they who fought my Cause against Don Pedro to those you are indeed oblig'd because of the accidental good they did me for they intended only their private Benefit and help'd to raise me that I might afterwards promote them You may continue them in their Offices if you please but trust them no farther than you are forc'd for what they did was against their Conscience But there is a third sort which during the whole Wars were Neuters let them be crusht on all occasions for their business was only their own Security They had neither Courage enough to ingage on my Side nor Conscience enough to help their Lawful Soveraign therefore let them be made Examples as the worst sort of interessed men which certainly are Enemies to both and would be profitable to neither I have only a dark remembrance of this Story and have not the Spanish Author by me but I think I am not much mistaken in the main of it and whether true or false the Counsel given I am sure is such as ought in common prudence to be practis'd against Trimmers whether the Lawful or Vnlawful Cause prevail Loyal men may justly be displeas'd with this Party not for their Moderation as Mr. Hunt insinuates but because under that Masque of seeming mildness there lies hidden either a deep treachery or at best an interressed lukewarmness But he runs riot into almost treasonable Expressions as if Trimmers were hated because they are not perfectly wicked or perfectly deceiv'd of the Catiline make bold and without understanding that can adhaere to men that publickly profess Murthers and applaud the design By all which villanous names he opprobriously calls His Majesties most loyal Subjects as if Men must be perfectly wicked who endeavour to support a lawful Government or perfectly deceiv'd who on no occasion dare take up arms against their Soveraign as if acknowledging the right of Succession and resolving to maintain it in the Line were to be in a Catiline Conspiracy and at last which is ridiculous enough after so much serious Treason as if to clap the Duke of Guise were to adhaere to men that publickly profess Murthers and applaud the design of the Assassinating Poets But together with his Villanies pray let his incohaerences be observ'd He commends the Trimmers at least tacitly excuses them for men of some moderation and this in opposition to the instruments of wickedness of the Catiline-make that are resolute and forward and without consideration But he forgets all this in the next twenty lines for there he gives them their own and tells them roundly in internecino bello medii pro hostibus habentur Neutral men are Traytors and assist by their indifferency to the destruction of the Government The plain English of his meaning is this while matters are only in dispute and in machination he is contented they shou'd be moderate but when once the Faction can bring about a Civil War then they are Traytors if they declare not openly for them But it is not he says the Duke of Guise who is to be assassinated a turbulent wicked and haughty Courtier but an innocent and gentle Prince By his favour our Duke of Guise was neither Innocent nor Gentle nor a Prince of the Blood Royal though he pretended to descend from Charlemaign and a Genealogy was printed to that purpose for which the Author was punish'd as he deserv'd witness Davila and the Journals of Henry the Third where the Story is

have mistaken too and call'd him Julian the Apostle I suppose I need not push this Point any further where the Parallel was intended I am certain it will reach But a larger account of the Proceedings in the City may be expected from a better hand and I have no reason to forestall it In the mean time because there has been no Actual Rebellion the Faction triumph in their Loyalty which if it were out of Principle all our divisions would soon be ended and we the happy People which God and the Constitution of our Government have put us in condition to be but so long as they take it for a Maxim that the King is but an Officer in Trust that the People or their Representatives are superiour to him Judges of Miscarriages and have power of Revocation 't is a plain case that when ever they please they may take up arms and according to Their Doctrine lawfully too Let them joyntly renounce this one opinion as in Conscience and Law they are bound to do because both Scripture and Acts of Parliament oblige them to it and we will then thank their Obedience for our quiet whereas now we are only beholding to them for their Fear The miseries of the last War are yet too fresh in all mens memory and they are not Rebels only because they have been so too lately An Author of theirs has told us roundly the West-Country Proverb Chad eat more Cheese and chad it Their Stomach is as good as ever it was but the mischief on 't is they are either Muzled or want their Teeth If there were as many Fanatiques now in England as there were Christians in the Empire when Julian reign'd I doubt we should not find them much enclin'd to passive obedience and Curse ye Meroz wou'd be oftner preach'd upon than Give to Caesar except in the sense Mr. Hunt means it Having clearly shown wherein the Parallel consisted which no man can mistake who does not wilfully I need not justifie my self in what concerns the sacred Person of his Majesty Neither the French History nor our own could have supplied me nor Plutarch himself were he now alive could have found a Greek or Roman to have compared to him in that eminent vertue of his Clemency even his enemies must acknowledge it to be Superlative because they live by it Far be it from flattery if I say that there is nothing under Heaven which can furnish me with a Parallel and that in his Mercy he is of all men the Truest Image of his Maker Henry the Third was a Prince of a mix'd Character he had as an old Historian says of another Magnas virtutes nec minora vitia but amongst those vertues I do not find his forgiving qualities to be much celebrated That he was deeply engag'd in the bloody Massacre of St. Bartholomew is notoriously known and if the relation printed in the Memoires of Villeroy be true he confesses there that the Admiral having brought him and the Queen Mother into suspition with his Brother then reigning for endeavouring to lessen his Authority and draw it to themselves he first design'd his Accusers death by Maurevel who shot him with a Carabine but fail'd to kill him after which he push'd on the King to that dreadful Revenge which immediately succeeded 'T is true the Provocations were high there had been reiterated Rebellions but a Peace was now concluded it was solemnly Sworn to by both Parties and as great an assurance of Safety given to the Protestants as the Word of a King and Publick Instruments could make it Therefore the Punishment was execrable and it pleas'd God if we may dare to judge of his secret Providence to cut off that King in the very flower of his Youth to blast his Successor in his Undertakings to raise against him the Duke of Guise the Complotter and Executioner of that inhumane Action who by the Divine Justice fell afterwards into the same snare which he had laid for others and finally to dye a violent Death himself murder'd by a Priest an Enthusiast of his own Religion From these Premisses let it be concluded if reasonably it can that we could draw a Parallel where the lines were so diametrically opposite We were indeed obliged by the Laws of Poetry to cast into Shadows the vices of this Prince for an Excellent Critique has lately told us that when a KING is nam'd a HEROE is suppos'd 'T is a reverence due to Majesty to make the Vertues as conspicuous and the Vices as obscure as we can possibly And this we own we have either perform'd or at least endeavour'd But if we were more favourable to that Character than the exactness of History would allow we have been far from diminishing a Greater by drawing it into comparison You may see through the whole conduct of the Play a King naturally severe and a resolution carried on to revenge himself to the uttermost on the Rebellious Conspirators That this was sometimes shaken by reasons of policy and pity is confess'd but it always return'd with greater force and ended at last in the ruine of his Enemies In the mean time we cannot but observe the wonderful Loyalty on the other Side that the Play was to be stopp'd because the King was represented May we have many such proofs of their Duty and respect but there was no occasion for them here 'T is to be suppos'd that his Majesty himself was made acquainted with this objection if he were so he was the supream and only Judg of it and then the Event justifies us If it were inspected only by those whom he commanded 't is hard if his own Officers and Servants should not see as much ill in it as other men and be as willing to prevent it especially when there was no sollicitation us'd to have it acted 'T is known that noble person to whom it was referr'd is a severe Critique on good Sense Decency and Morality and I can assure the World that the Rules of Horace are more familiar to him than they are to me He remembers too well that the vetus Comaedia was banish'd from the Athenian Theatre for its too much licence in representing persons and would never have pardon'd it in this or any Play What opinion Henry the Third had of his Successor is evident from the words he spoke upon his Death-bed He exhorted the Nobility says Davila to acknowledge the King of Navarre to whom the Kingdom of right belong'd and that they should not stick at the difference of Religion for both the King of Navarre a man of a sincere noble nature would in the end return into the bosom of the Church and the Pope being better inform'd would receive him into his favour to prevent the ruine of the whole Kingdom I hope I shall not need in this Quotation to defend my self as if it were my opinion that the Pope has any right to dispose of Kingdoms my meaning is evident that the