of his death is so variously reported that it is hard to pitch upon that Author on whose credit we may safely rely It is most certain that he did not long Survive his Resignation but being carried to Leeds and from thence to Pomfret soon after a Period was put to his Life and Miseryes together in the three and thirtieth year of his Age. If he did not imitate his Father yet he resembled His Mother and was the Goodliest Person alive His Disposition was good but corrupted by Education his Inclinations prompted him to Vertue but were perverted by Flatterrers and Evil Counsellors Crafty men made Advantage of his Credulity and he was ruined by too strict a Constancy If he had not been deficient to himself his Opposer had not so easily prevail'd his Timidity apeared in not fighting for his Crown his Moderation in the Surrendred of it and his Courage in surviving the Loss THE LIFE and REIGN OF CHARLES the Second IAm now ingaged in a difficult Task divided between Truth and Respect being to describe the Life of a Prince who contrary to the custom of the World was better spoken of while he lived than he has been since his Death His Fame had suffer'd a great diminution by succeeding so admirable a Father had it not recover'd by the prospect of such a Brother who was to be his Successor If in the Lives of former Kings any mistake was committed the Records and Ancient Writers must vouch the Relation and the present Age cannot confute it But to give an Account of a Life so lately ended requires an exactness beyond my Reach wherein the least Trip overthrows the Credit of the Reporter To enumerate the Vertues of a Prince without taking notice of his Failings is but to flatter his memory and deceive Posterity to reckon up his Vices without intermingling the mention of his laudable Actions is but so sully his Fame and deduce no Benefit to the Curiosity of Observers I resolve to tread lightly on his Grave and not press too hard upon the Heels of Truth I may pursue my Topic in recounting the Instances which justly denominate him unfortunate and Note the Errors of his Government without reflection on his Person That he was of extraordinary Parts that he had a quick mercurial Wit a great insight into the liberal Sciences and even the mechanical Arts no man will deny He had a piercing if not a solid Judgment his intellect was comprehensive if not profound His Lenity and Clemency were very conspicuous and recommended him to the Love and Praise of the Spectators yet it so fell out that such egregious Acts of Severity and Injustice were exercised upon all sorts of men as will puzzle Posterity to comprehend the meaning In his time no Man had the Reason to set a Value on himself for any promotion nor no man had cause to despair of a preferment The Cards were daily shuffled and unexpected chance turn'd up the Trump Upon all occasions he profest a great Zeal for the Protestant Religion yet every day that profession lost ground Popery was not allow'd yet it hover'd among us The Frogs did not cover the Land yet the Jesuitical Vermin swarm'd in every Corner Tho' the Papists were not shelter'd by a legal Indemnity yet they grew numerous and confident upon the expectation of an approaching Jublie His Brother and Successour had a mighty Ascendent over his Genius catching at all opportunities to gratifie his Ambition and propagate the Faith while the other indulged himself in pleasure and avoided the fatigue of Government There are so many living Monuments of his Incontinency that if I forbear to mention it I shall render the Truth and Impartiality of my other Remarks suspected It is usual with Kings and Princes to prosecute prohibited Amours but so great was his generosity that he thought it a disparagment to manage a secret Intrigue His Liberality was so extraordinary that he spared not to give a Thousand years purchase for a Moments Fruition He lost the Love of his Friends by too fond a Love of his Brother and by too stiff a Refusal to consent to his Exclusion he endanger'd the Interest of his Family and gave a shock to Monarchy it self The first and greatest misfortune that befell Charles the Second was the Cruel and Ignominious Death of his Father that incomparable Charles the First Sentenced to die and publickly Executed before his own Palace by a Jancto of flagitious men garbled out of a Parliament by the Usurper From his Fathers Martyrdom to his own Restauration was one continued Scene of misery and sorrow In the year 1648 Charles the First was deprived of Life by his Evil Subjests his Friends looking on and not able to prevent it In the year 1660. Charles the Second was brought to the Throne by his Good Subjects his Enemies looking on and not able to hinder it The one an inhumane Action and unparallel'd the other wholly surprising and miraculous In the one no Blood shed but that of the King himself in the other not one Drop of Blood drawn even of the meanest Subject Charles the second was then beyond the Seas and succeeded immediately to the Right of three Kingdoms but did not actually possess them for many years And now behold a King truly unfortunate His Father barbarously destroy'd and he in no capacity to call to account the bloody Actors of that Tragedy three potent Kingdoms usurped by violence and by force detain'd from him and he not able to put in a claim for his Right or contend for the recovery His Enemies insulting in their success abjuring his Title and metamorphosing a glorious Monarchy into an Anarchical Commonwealth His Friends harassed imprison'd plunder'd sequestred executed no man daring to own his Allegiance or capable to contribute advice or aid toward his Restoration Himself a deserted Exile wandring from one Princes Court to another to seek for shelter and subsistence while the subtle machinations of the Usurpers did not more sensibly aggravate and advance his unhappiness than the improsperous Attempts of his loyal Subjects to compass his Restitution In Scotland the Heroick Acts of the most renown'd Marquis of Montross who with an inconsiderable handful of men traversed the Kingdom and performed such Exploits as may justly denominate his History the Moral of a Romance only ended in his destruction while he became a sacrifice to his Enemies implacable malice and a glorious Martyr for Loyalty but with an irreparable detriment to his Masters cause In Ireland the most Noble Duke then Marquis of Ormond was so successful in his Undertakings that he had reduced the whole Kingdom to the obedience of the King except Dublin and London-Derry to the first of which having laid a close Siege and beleagured it with a Royal Camp he was disarry'd by a fatal Sally from the Town his Army totally routed and himself obliged to a hasty and hazardous escape which disaster was follow'd by the Rendition of Drogheda
and many other considerable Towns and after a faint Resistance the whole Kingdom was subjected to the Triumphant Conqueror and the Interest of the King wholly exterminated England was so manacled with the Chains of an armed Power that they could not budge the Royal Party than call'd the Cavaliers were debar'd the liberty of meeting at home or stirring abroad their persons were disarm'd their Houses ransackt and their Estates brought into the unmerciful Inquisition at Goldsmiths Hall in some corners of the Land small Parties started up now and then to exert their Loyalty and manifest their Allegiance and the King was received into the Island of Jersey but by a Fleet sent thither by the Usurping power soon compell'd to forsake it so that these weak struglings like the last efforts of Nature tended only to diminish the number of the Kings Friends and to heighten his Infelicity In the year 1650 the King was invited into Scotland landed there safely received with all the demonstrations of joy and satisfaction and solemnly proclaimed King. But to disturb his Tranquillity and interrupt the calm fruition of his new acquired Soveraignty Cromwell that victorious Rebel who in the space of one year had reduced almost all the Garrisons in Ireland and Caesar-like made a compleat conquest of that Kingdom only by walking through it is dispatcht into Scotland who in July entred that Country with an Army of sixteen thousand men effective the Scots were not idle on their side but form'd an Army consisting of six thousand Horse and Dragoons and fifteen thousand Foot a party of whom attempting to beat up the Enemies Quarters about Musleburgh surprised the Out guards and routed the first Regiment that opposed them but were so warmly received by the rest that the Commander being wounded the whole party was disorder'd and pursu'd to the Army and the whole Camp in danger of a surprisal had not the King himself unexpectedly appear'd in person and stemm'd the Torrent But in September following hapned a fatal decision of the dispute at Dunbar where the Scots Army reinforced to above twenty thousand men and presuming on a certain Victory having inclosed their Enemies beyond a probability of an escape encountred the English Army then decreased to the number of twelve thousand and with much courage and gallantry charged them but the hand of God was in it their whole Army was routed four thousand slain and nine thousand taken Prisoners with the loss of three hundred on the Invaders side After which the Kings Interest in Scotland declined daily the Enemy getting advantage by the Dissention between the Court and the Kirk-party and Cromwel by springing of Mines but more by corrupting the Governour with money had Edinburgh-Castle surrendred to him the taking of which was follow'd with the loss of many more Garrisons Nevertheless the Scots were neither daunted in their Courage nor deficient in their Allegiance but proceeded to the Coronation of the King and he to the calling of a Parliament and having got together a good Body of an Army it was thought best that the King should give Cromwell the slip and make a sudden descent into England leaving him to take his swing and range through Scotland to make this Enterprise the more hopeful the Earl of Darby and many other Loyal persons began to peep out of their Recesses and to use all Expedition to joyn but a malignant Constellation still influenced K. Charles his Affairs some of his Abettors were intercepted some routed and the Earl of Darby discomfited and many Persons of Quality and resolution taken Prisoners At last came on the dismal Ingagement at Worster that critical Arbiter of the Kings cause from whence we may date the depression of the Monarchy the exaltation of Anarchy and Confusion of Governments I take no Pleasure in descanting too long on so unpleasant a Theme in a word the King was defeted his whole Army given up to death or captivity except a very few with whom he made his Escape and after some weeks spent in lurking disguising shifting and un-easy travelling he arrived safe in France The King was now actually devested of his three Kingdoms his Enemies victorious in Possession of his Right and usurping the Regal Authority under the Disguise of other Appellations how soever the grand Apostates from Loyalty dayly crumbled into Factions and Divisions and the Supream Authority frequently changed its Dress and put on a new Face yet all concur'd in the detestation of King-Ship and an abjuring the Family of Stuart To recount the transactions of the Junto at London or the Exploits of their Legions through all the Dominions subjected to the Common wealth of England might prove a tollerable Entertainment for the Reader but I have no Inclination to admire their Policy or cry up the Fame of the Protector My Business is to observe the disastrous Fate of an Exil'd King and there being yet no exact Memoirs transmitted to us of his Forrein Adventures to Sum up his Misfortune in a nine years Banishment by noting how miserably he was abandond ' thurst and kept out from the Possession of England Scotland and Ireland and all the Dominions and Territories belonging to them a Pensioner to Strangers and all Designs of his Friends at home or his Allies abroad frustrated and baffled But when the Almighty Governor of the World had so long scourged the Royal Family as to his wisdom seem'd sufficient and all the Practices of human Strength and Invention were rendred ineffectual in a sudden and unexpected manner without Means without Contrivance without the Success of a Battle or the operation of any Stratagem the Repulican Babel was over turned the King restored and peaceably seated in the Throne of his Ancestors From his Restoration he Reign'd more than twenty four years and I wish I could say happily But not being blest with a legitimate Issue he was continually teas'd with the Incroachments of an impatient Heir Having misapplied his Revenues which were vastly increased beyond all that was given to his predecessors he was by his Necessities induced frequently to call Parliaments and by his evil Councils as often prompted to dissolve them his gentle Disposition inclined him to an universal Indulgence but the malevolent Insinuations of self-interested men misled him to a Connivence at extraordinary Severities The Papists hated him for avowing so much Favor to the Church of England and Dissenters blamed him for a suspected Propension to the Church of Rome His constitution was happy but by his irregular courses he rais'd Batteries against his own Health and he might have lived longer if he had not lived so fast The Indowments of his mind were admirable but his immersion in Pleasures over-shadow'd his Reputation The prolonging of his Life had given an Adjournment to the Mischeifs that quickly assaulted both Church and State but one Sort of Men thought he lived too long whether any hand but his own contributed to the accelarating of his Death I
Numerus Infaustus A SHORT VIEW Of the Unfortunate Reigns OF WILLIAM the Second HENRY the Second EDWARD the Second RICHARD the Second CHARLES the Second JAMES the Second sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges siceâ Morte Tyrrani London Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church yard 1689. LICENSED June 25. 89. J. Frasier TO THE READER MEeting accidentally the other Day with a Passage in Heylins Geography which he sets down in these words p. 225. I will present you with a fatal Observation of the Letter H. as I find it thus versed in Albions England Not superstitiously I speak but H this Letter still Hath been observed ominous to Englands good or ill c. A sudden Conceit darted into my Thoughts from the Remembrance of former Reading that such Kings of England as were the Second of any Name proved very unfortunate Princes both to themselves and to their People Whereupon I consulted the English Chronicles and out of them I have drawn a summary Narration of the Lives and Reigns of Six Kings For the Matter of Fact I have faithfully adher'd to the History and yet I have not transcribed their Method Style or Language The Writing of this was an Entertainment for afew of my idle Hours and perhaps the Reader may be pleased to divert himself for a few Minutes in the Perusal Numerus Infaustus THE LIFE and REIGN OF WILLIAM the Second Nick-Named RVFVS THE First William gain'd England by Conquest and bequeath'd it to the Second by Will. By his Invasion he usurped the Right of his Cosin Edgar and by his Legacy he infringed that of his Heir He put out Harold the unlawful Possessor of the Kingdom and put by Robert his Lawful Successor William the Second of that Name of fewer years than his Brother but of greater Interest in the Inclinations of his Father with hasty Steps ascended the Throne entring the Royal Palace at the wrong Door He indear'd himself to the one by the resemblance of Humours and the roughness of his Temper and over-reach'd the other by the Credulity and Easiness of his Disposition Giving no more deference to the Obligation of Promises than to the Right of Primogeniture His Vows to God his Word to his Brother and his Ingagements to his Subjects were all plighted with a like sincerity and with the same Integrity observ'd and maintain'd He was positive and sturdy and that pass'd for Valour He was crafty and politick and that was reported for Wisdom He was accounted Religious when he pursued his own Temporal Advantages and was reputed prophane when he invaded the priviledges of the Church He was immeasurably covetous only in Order to the being unreasonably profuse and under the pretence of Religion he committed the greatest Acts of Enormity and Impiety His incontinency was not taken notice of because he could not transgress the Vow of Matrimony and tho' in speculations and Disputes he seem'd concern'd for Religion yet by his Actions he appear'd to be a practical Atheist The course of his Life was turbulent and uneasie and the manner of his Death violent and untimely He was no sooner mounted on the Throne but troubles arose to discompose his quiet Robert his Eldest Brother highly resenting this great Injury to be justled out of his Seat by the partiality of his Father and the Incroachment of his Brother began to think of some timely Expedients for the Recovery of his Right and being assisted in his pretensions by several of the Nobility in England as Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent Roger Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury Hugh de-Grandemenil Robert Moubray Earl of Northumberland William Bishop of Durham and divers others of the Clergy and Nobility who raised great forces and possessed themselves of many considerable places the King was constrain'd to compound for his Peace by an assurance of three Thousand Marks per Annum to his Brother during Life and the Reversion of the Crown of England after his decease and by a Solemn promise to restore to the people their Ancient Laws and to indulge them the Liberty of hunting in his Forests By these condescensions he dissipated the present Storm that impended over his Head and gain'd some short Respite from his growing Troubles This Tempest was hardly allay'd in the South but fresh Clouds began to gather in the North. Malcolin King of the Scots thinking it a fit Opportunity to purvey for himself and inlarge his Borders when his Neighbour was imbroyl'd with intestine Commotions makes a sudden and furious incursion into Northumberland over-runs the Country burns and destroys all before him and returns home loaden with the spoils of the Inhabitants without the least hinderance or opposition And tho it was not long before King William was sufficiently revenged on his Invader whom he reduced to the necessity of paying the Ancient Homage due to the Crown and to give assurance of his future fidelity by New stipulations yet such an enterprise could not be accomplished without a vast expence of Treasure and a great loss of Men. The King who was very prodigal of his promises but slow and penurious in the performance neglected the payment of the Composition made with his Brother Robert whereupon he makes his Application to the King of France who presently furnish'd him with considerable supplies by which Assistance he assaulted and took several Towns in Normandy and by his success obliged King William again to raise a powerful Army and to transport them into that Country where tho by his crafty Address he avoided the Effusion of Blood and the consumption of his Forces yet he wasted his Treasure and purchased a Truce with the King of France by the mediation of Mony. And now all things were calm and quiet but not long so the Skie began to be overcast with gloomy exhalations and troubles arose upon an occasion as unusual as unnecessary Malcolin King of the Scots was a generous and magnanimous Prince and being at Peace and full Amity with his Neighbours he undertook the Toyl of a Journy as far as Gloucester to pay a Royal Visit to his Ally and Friend the King of England Who either out of a Humour Pique or Pride would not vouchsafe so much as to see him which Barbarous return to the Civility of the affronted King did so exasperate him that he posted back to his own Country made ready a powerful Army with all Expedition and again infested Northumberland Ravaging thro' the Country without Comptrol and enriching his Followers by the Ruin and desolation of harmless and unconcerned people And tho' in the prosecution of this design he lost his Life and the Life of Edward his Eldest Son and his whole Army intirely Routed and Defeated being drawn into an Ambuscade by Robert Moubray the Kings Lieutenant yet King VVilliam suffer'd a great diminution of his Honour and Fame by so unhospitable a Refusal of a common Respect to his equal in Degree
his actions so that he tamely condescended to seek a Peace at their hands to whom before he scorn'd to vouchsafe the favour of any conditions but when he came to understand that his beloved Son John was in the Conspiracy against him he fell into a fit of fainting and dy'd within four days King Henry was the Author and instrument of his own misfortunes He came to the Crown in peace and quiet but never injoy'd it in content or satisfaction He was an ungrateful Son an indiscreet Father an unnatural Brother an unjust Husband a niggardly Master a fickle Friend a severe Enemy a valiant King but too penurious His Actions were great and renowned but smutted with the tincture of notorious Vices He dealt unjustly with the King of the Scots and to his cruelty extended to his Brother was added a manifest Perjury He made his Son a Rival in his Throne and took many strange Women to be Rivals in his Bed. As his Wife was divorced from her other Husband so was his conjugal love estranged from her His Partiality to his Sons is too manifest while he fondly gave to Henry a share of his Crown and substracted from his other Sons a competent maintenance But these contrary causes produced the same effect his Indulgence to one and his Niggardliness to the rest provoked them all to be Rebels against him His Incontinency is so evident that it supersedes all the misprisions of Jealousie His close Amours with the fair Rosamond were palpably detected by the industrious curiosity of his Queen but his incestuous dalliance with the Spouse of his Son has left an indelible blot upon his memory His carriage toward Thomas Becket while alive speaks him brave and magnanimous but his mean submission to a sordid Penance at the Tomb of that sawcy Prelate discovers plainly that Superstition was predominant in him beyond a sense of true Religion Parsimony which is commendable in men of lower ranks was a vice in him by it he lost the love of his Children and disobliged his Subjects while by Taxes Confiscations Seisure on Bishopricks and Abbies and other avaritious practises he lived poorly only that he might die rich THE LIFE and REIGN OF EDWARD the Second EDWARD of Carnarven was the Eldest Son of Edward the First and succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of England He was in his Person handsome in his Conversation acceptable in his Inclinations not extrémely Vicious continent beyond any of his Predecessors not given to grind his Subjects by hard Taxations or to enrich himself by their Impoverishment He ascended the Throne with the Universal Joy and Acclamations both of the Nobility and the People the way to it was plain and the Seat easy He had the Advantages of an extraordinary Education the example of an Illustrious Father and a Victorious King an early initiation in the Business of State a happy opportunity to understand the Art of Reigning by commanding the Realm and presiding in Parliament during his Fathers absence When he took the Reins of Government into his hands he was neither in his Nonage nor Dotage the Kingdom stood in no need of a Protector because of His Minority nor an Administrator because he was super-annuated He was just ripe for Rule and all circumstances concurr'd to make the Conclusion of his Reign as prosperous as the beginning Notwithstanding all these happy Prcludiums never was there a Prince more unfortunate never was there a Life perplexed with more Disasters or a Death attended with sharper Instances of Misery and Horror being persecuted by his Subjects deserted by his Qeen deposed by the People and inhumanly Murdered by wretched Miscreants He began his Reign with a rude and irreligious contempt of his renowned Fathers Will and dying Commands which as it gave just cause to the Subjects to suspect his Veracity and Constancy so it appear'd an ominous presage of his future Calamities and Desertion by Heaven For whereas his Father had expresly charged him never to recall Pierce Gaveston from Banishment who had been the Pandar to the young Prince's Lusts and the Debaucher of his Youth he immediately sent for him home heaped Honours and Riches upon him and grew scandalously fond of him His Father setled his Quarrel with Scotland upon him by Entayl requiring him to carry his Bones about with him through that Kingdom till he had subdued it but so little Veneration had he for those Glorious Reliques that he neither took them with him in a Military Procession nor regarded their quiet Sepulture but rather to affront them he entred into a Treaty for his own Nuptials before he had solemnized the Funerals of his Father The Old King had obliged him to send his heart to the Holy Land with Sevenscore Knights to prosecute the Holy War and two and thirty Thousand Pounds a mighty Sum in those Days which he had gathered for that Pious use But he not only neglected his Fathers Directions but in plain scorn and despight to his Commands he prodigally squander'd it on that same Gaveston from whose very sight he was precluded by his dying Father I shall not need to divide the History of his Life into several Acts I may recite it as it was in one Scene of Trouble and misfortune The revocation of Peirce Gaveston from perpetual Exile was very displeasing to the People His admission to the highest Honours and Favours about the Court did smartly aggravate their just Resentments but his Pride and Ostentation at the Marriage of the King in France where the Four Kings and Four Queens were seen in all their Pomp besides the King and his Bride yet he was observed to excel them all in Bravery had so sensible an Operation on the Lords of England that when Edward and Isabel expected to be Crown'd in the presence of many Princes and Noble Persons they boldly went to him and briskly told him how haynously he had transgressed his Fathers Will in recalling Gaveston to which since they were Cautioners they would see it performed and unless he would remove Gaveston from Court and Kingdom they would not suffer his Coronotion to proceed King Edward confounded with this stinging Declaration gave them satisfaction and solmnly Swore to do what they desired in the next Parliment and so the Coronation proceeded In the solmnizing whereof the King again provoked the Lords to Discontent adding the honour of carrying St. Edwards Crown before him to the other Titles he had conferred on Gaveston which urged them to enter into Consultation how to contrive some plausible way to restrain the Violence of the Kings Affection which in a short time took affect For Gaveston not content to engross the Kings Favor and dictate his arbitrary Orders through the Kingdom encroached on the honour of the Nobility and placed opprobious Nick-Names upon divers of them who therefore did not only envy him for his undeserved Advancement but mortally hated him for his un-sufferable Insolency It was not long before a Parliment met
have no warrant to make any Asseveration Let the future Writers of History adjust that matter to the clear information of Posterity All I have to say is the News of his Death was published before there was any Report of his Sickness He died of an Apoplexy the Sixth of February 1684 and the whole Body whereof he was the Head was presently seised with convulsive Motions THE REIGN OF JAMES the Second THE Reign of James the Second was so lately begun and by the mercy of God so soon determin'd that every mans Remembrance of it may justly supersede the Trouble of a Repetition There needs no Art nor Arguments to convince the World that he was more unfortunate than all his Predecessors and every impartial Observer will allow that he was the principal Engineer that sapped the Foundations of his own Happiness If he had arrived at the Throne by an indirect Road If he had gain'd it by Conquest and ow'd his Title to the Umpirage of the Sword If he had come in by Intrusion Invasion or Usurpation by Craft or Violence by Force of Arms or the prevalency of Pensions If he had justled out the true Heir or supplanted the lawful Pretender or out-stript his Competitor by the aid of the people or over-topt his Opposers by the Assistance of Foreigners It had been no wonder that the Crown had totter'd on his Head that his Seat had been uneasie and his Government Short lived But when his Title was not disputed when he was saluted King by an Universal Acclamation welcom'd by the Addresses and congratulations of all his Subjects his Revenues settled and augmented his Enemies subdued and his Throne establish'd by a Loyal Parliament and a submissive people his Ruin must necessarily be imputed to himself and all his misfortunes undeniably accounted the Result of his own miscarriage So that while the Histories of all Ages and Nations do abound with Examples of the Strange Cruel False and unnatural Methods used by ambitious men to gain principalities King James must remain single upon Record as the only Person that willfully and industriously dethron'd himself We read of aspiring men who have dissembled changed and comply'd with the fashionable Religion of the Country to insure their possession But it is without president that a Prince quietly settled in his Throne courted by his Neighbours Obey'd by his Subjects without reserve or distrust not grudged nor affronted in the private Exercises of his own perswasion should be so intoxicated by the Fumes of Zeal to attempt the subversion of the general Religion current thro Three Kingdoms establish'd by Parliament and incorporated so into the Laws that the Religion of the Nation is the Law of the Nation and to obtrude upon his Subjects a way of Worship as dissonant from their Humour as repugnant to their Conscience a way exploded by the former Age and detested by this and so forseit his Right to the Imperial Crown of Three opulent Kingdoms upon a fallacious assurance of a Reprisal in Heaven is such a stupendious Act of supererogation as may serve to supply half the Roman Catholick Church with a superfluity of Merit On the Sixth day of February 1684 Charles the Second put off mortality and by his Death revived the Languishing Hopes of the Popish Expectants He departed about Noon and in that very Afternoon James the Second was proclaim'd in London and Westminster by Order of the Council To convince the World that howsoever the Parliament labour'd to Exclude him from Succession by political Ordinances and by a Course of Law yet that Design not being accomplish'd they would not so much as hesitate or demur upon the right of his Inheritance He on the other side saluted them graciously promised to imitate his Brother in his Tenderness to the people Celebrated the Loyal principles of the Church of England and past his Royal Word to take care to defend and support it The Collection of the Customs and the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage which were annexed to the Crown during the Kings Life were continued de bene esse till the Meeting of a Parliament All Men were Quiet and Contented and he was Congratulated with Addresses from all parts of England testifying a ready Obedience to his Commands and devoting their Lives and Fortunes to the defence of his person and the maintenance of his prerogative His Accession to the Crown was Solemnised with great Acclamations of Joy thro' the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Ambasladours from Foreign Princes and States arrived daily presenting their Complements of Condolence for the deceased King and their satisfaction in his Assumption of the Regal power On the Twenty third of April the King and Queen were both Crown'd and at his Coronation he took the accustom'd Oaths to maintain the Laws and the establish'd Religion No King ever Ascended the Throne with less Opposition Disputes or preluminary Cautions none was ever attended with more apparent circumstances of Felicity or had a fairer prospect of becoming Glorious at home and formidable abroad The Parliament of Scotland having prevented him in his wishes and out done all their Predecessours in a redundancy of Zeal and Loyalty A Parliament met also at Westminster to whom the King reiterated his assurance of supporting the Church of England preserving the Government in Church and State as by Law establish'd and a resolution never to invade any Mans property In this very Juncture when the King had so endear'd himself to the Parliament by such Gracious Expressions and they reciprocally Courted him with all dutiful respect the unfortunate Earl of Argyle whose persecution was unparellel'd Attainted for Treason before the Law that made it so was promulgated and condemn'd only for scrupling to take the Test which in a short time after it was a Capital Offence to subscribe Landed in the Highlands of Scotland and set forth a Declaration to justifie his undertaking and to renounce all Allegiance to the present King who immediately communicated the Intelligence he had received to the Parliament and both Houses without delay express'd their Resentment in Raputres of Love and Zeal with protestations to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against all Opposers and particularly the Earl of Argyle and to demonstrate that it was no Complement they presented him with a Bill for settling the Revenues on him for Life and resolved on an extraordinary supply for these incident Occasions While these matters were transacting News came to the King that the Duke of Monmouth was Landed in the West of England an unseasonable Landing for that unhappy Gentleman when the Parliament was Charm'd with the good Words and amused by the great and gracious promises of the King with a small party but every day increasing who presently were proclaim'd Traytors and the King imparting the News to both Houses they forthwith in a transport of Loyalty reassure him that they will stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes against the Duke of
Monmouth and all other his Enemies and with an unusual Expedition they past two Acts to augment his Revenue by a New Imposition on Wine Vineger Tobacco and Sugar and to secure his person an Act of Attainder of the Duke of Monmouth It was morally impossible for such inconsiderable parties to effect their purposes the Parliaments in both Kingdoms were unanimous almost all people relyed on the King's word not doubting but he would continue a Defender of the Faith tho he was not a Professor And so the event proved for within a few days or weeks at most the whole Enterprise came to nothing the forces in each Kingdom were routed and dispersed the Duke and Earl both taken prisoners and both executed on the Scaffold Violent Hurricanes tear Trees out of the Ground but the shaking of small winds make the Tree take deeper Root the quenching of an intestine Rebellion alway sets the Prince some steps higher and depresseth the subject as much The Parliament had now sat long enough to do the Kings Business and the King had Business to do not fit to be intrusted to the Parliament whereupon it was adjourn'd to the fourth of August and from thence to the ninth of November At which time being reassembled the King made the first discovery of his claim to a dispensing Power telling them plainly that he will not want the Services of such men whom he accounted faithful but would imploy them in the Army tho they were not qualified according to the late Tests The Parliament modestly and civilly expostulated this unexpected resolution in an humble Address and proposed an Expedient to moderate the Extremity of the Law purely to gratifie the Desires of their Prince but this did not sound well in the Ears of the Court some other measures must be taken and so the Parliament was Prorogued to the tenth of February and here we may bid them adieu having after several Prorogations been dissolved as a company of inflexible stubborn Protestants who would not tamely comply with the King 's Arbitrary pleasure Several Noblemen and other persons were now indicted and try'd for their Lives some escaped by the merit of their ingenuous Defence some were respited from Execution and some suffer'd Death The Earl of Clarendon was sent Lord Lieutenant into Ireland that the Protestants might be cajol'd into a lavish credulity till matters were ripe for their Destruction An Army of twenty thousand men was rais'd and encamped at Hounslow-Heath because the Militia was not found to be useful and the late Invasions of Monmouth and Argyle were a sufficient warning to the King not to be taken again unprovided But the erecting of a Popish Chappel in the midst of the Camp and the open and daily celebration of the Mass there together with the setting up Convents of Friers and Schools and Seminaries of Jesuits in several places in London the unclean Beasts crossing the Streets and entring their Arkby couples began to startle the people and the Dispatch of the Earl of Castlemain to Rome as an Embassador to the Pope and the entertaining a Nuncio from him gave a mighty Umbrage of offence to all considering men That strict Injunction by Law for every man that exercised any Office to take the Oaths and Test was a great Barricado against the Preferment of Catholick Candidates the Judges must be consulted or rather directed how to apply some Remedy and they to their eternal shame made false Glosses on the Text betray'd the Law the impregnable Fortress of English Property and skrew'd up the Rules of a circumscribed Monarchy to an Absolute and Despotick Government to command without controul and to he obey'd without reserve But the putting a muzzle upon the old Laws to keep them from biting was not enough to carry on the work without introducing some Innovations wherefore a Commission was given to certain persons to order all Ecclesiastical Affairs with an Authority and extent almost unlimited and a Non-obstante to all Rights and Priviledges The first Essay made by this exorbitant Court was on the Bishop of London a person noble by Birth and high in Office reverenced and beloved by all men for his Candor Moderation and many eminent Vertues whom for a frivolous matter without colour of Law or Reason they suspended from his Episcopal Function It was now high time to recall the Earl of Clarendon from the Government of Ireland that the Sword might be put into the Hands of the Earl of Tyrconnel To enumerate the mischiefs that have accrew'd to the Protestants by his Administration would require a Treatise by it self let it suffice to say that in that miserable Kingdom Popery was predominant and bare faced Mass-houses set up in every Town and Village the Corporations changed their Charters condemned all Offices Civil and Military conferr'd on Papists the Act of Settlement which the King had so seriously promised to keep inviolated infringed and eluded and Gentlemen dispossessed of their Estates by erroneous Judgments the Protestants disarm'd and dismounted such as were able to remove forced to fly and such as stay'd behind subjected to all the Insolencies and Barbarities of Slaves vested with Authority To Scotland strict and severe Orders were sent to restrain all Field-Conventicles and in England the Dissenters were indicted fined and imprison'd And yet within a short time after a general Indulgence was publish'd to all Perswasions with a counterfeit saving to the Rights of the Church of England the King being made to believe that since he was secure from any Opposition from the Church of England they lying quietly intrenched under the Blinds of Non-resistance and Passive Obedience if he could but cast a mist before the eyes of the Dissenters and muffle their hands and charm them into a supine security the desired Reformation might proceed gradually without Interruption and after a while the Doors might be open'd and Popery let in with a full Breast But they were grosly mistaken in their Politicks The illegal proceedings against the Bishop of London seconded by the Arbitrary and most unjust persecution of the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and the ejection of the President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledg in Oxford and the intrusion of profest Papists in their rooms open'd the eyes of all sorts and quickly taught the Dissenters what they were to expect whose Toleration was Temporary and precarious when such open Invasions were made on that Church that was firmly establish'd by Law. But unless the Jesuits and Popish Counsellors had been self murderers and conspired to overthrow their own Designs by their imprudent and precipitate actings they had never abused the poor King by such pernicious advice to attack the Church of England in the persons of the Bishops who were the Reverend Fathers of it to lay such a snare before wise and religious men as must endanger their safety or prejudice their Conscience and because they presented an humble Apology by way of Petition a priviledg allow'd to all men by the Laws
having got matter enough against the King at least to justifie their taking up Armes march'd directly to London with forty thousand men and some of them going to the King in the Tower they shew'd him the very Letter which he had writ to the Duke of Ireland to levy an Army for their destruction as also the Letters writ to him by the French King importing a safe Conduct for him to come into France there to do Acts tending to his own dishonour and the prejudice of the Kingdom which being done they civilly retreated upon the Kings promise to come next day to Westminster to concert all matters but the fickle King alter'd his mind before he went to Bed and discover'd his purpose to avoid the meeting next day The Lords being advertis'd of this sent a peremptory message to him That if he did not come according to his promise they would choose another King that should hearken to the faithful Counsel of his Lords The King sensibly touch'd with this sharp message gave them a meeting and they positively insisting that the Traytors so often complain'd of should be removed from the Court he at last with much reluctancy consented to their Desires and so the whole Nest of Vipers was dissipated some expell'd the Court some bound by good Sureties to appear and answer and some committed to Prison When the Parliament met they proceeded roundly the corrupt Judges were arrested in their Seats of Judicature and carried to the Tower for acting contrary to the Agreement made in the preceding Parliament the Duke of Ireland and the rest of that Crew cited to appear and answer to certain Articles of High Treason and for non-appearance banish'd and their Lands and Goods seized to the Kings use Sir Robert Tresilian was hang'd Sir Nicholas Brember beheaded several others executed and the Judges condemned to die and the King obliged by Oath to stand to such order as the Lords should set down Some years after upon a Riot committed in London the King seised on their Liberties and took away their Charter which could not be restored till they paid a Fine of ten thousand pounds I intend a compendious Abstract and not a compleat History therefore I studiously omit the recital of many Transactions and Occurrences coincident with this relation as not having a direct and principal concernment in the Estate and Life of King Richard. Unstable Fortune had the Ascendent over all the Affairs of the poor King and the course of his Reign was imbroiled with a strange Vicissitude of prosperous and adverse Accidents The Duke of Gloucester and other Lords entring into a combination to seise upon the King the Plot was detected and their lives taken away for the assurance of his safety A Parliament was call'd wholly conformable to the Kings will they that opposed him were banish'd confiscated and executed and the whole power of it devolved on a certain select number of Commissioners to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous example to future Times a Pardon was granted to all the Subjects except fifty whose Names not being expressed he kept the Nobility under an awe that if any of them offended him they might come under the notion of exempted persons and thus the King seem'd secure against all mischances But an unforeseen Accident grounded on a very slight occasion produced an extraordinà ry Revolution by which the whole frame of Government was unhinged and that Cloud which at first appear'd but of the bigness of a hand soon overspread the sky and dissolved in a tempestuous shower of Blood. The Duke of Hereford was banish'd the Kingdom for six years and several Persons of Note and Quality either by voluntary withdrawing or a compulsory Exile went beyond the Seas The Duke within a short time was advertis'd that his Father was dead and thereby he became Duke of Lancaster and that King Richard had seised into his hands all the Estate descended to him by his Fathers death And meeting often with the Archbishop of Canterbury then in Exile and mutually lamenting the deplorable condition of England the enormous actions of the King and the Impossibllity of ever reclaiming him they began to enter into Consulation by what means best to get him removed and in the very Nick Solicitations came from several Parts of England to urge the Duke to hasten over and to take the Government upon him promising all ready Assistance to that work The Duke presently grasp'd the Opportunity and without further Deliberation prepared for his Return and with a very few Lords and Gentlemen and about threescore Persons presently put to Sea and landed in York-shire which was no sooner known but several Lords and great Numbers of the Gentry and Common sort flockt into him And tho he was invited to come and take the Government upon him yet he pretended no other cause but to take Possession of the Inheritance descended from his Father and most unjustly seized and detain'd by King Richard. His Forces increased dayly and a mighty Army was got together and all the Kings Castles forthwith surrendred to him many of the Kings Friends were Arrested and some put to death All this while King Richard was in Ireland and for six weeks by reason of contrary Winds had no Notice of the Dukes Landing After which time wasting many daies in a dilatory Preparation he landed in Wales but hearing that all the Castles from the Borders of Scotland and Bristol were delivered up to the Duke of Lancaster that the greatest Part of the Nobility and Commons were joynd with him and his principal Counsellors taken and executed he fell into absolute Despair dismissed his Army bidding every one to shift for himself and the next Night stole away and got to the Castle of Couwey The Duke proceeded on his March and every day some Lords and Gentlemen of account came in to him and having proferred Conditions to the King with which he seem'd to be content he agreed to meet the Duke but upon his Journy was seis'd by an Ambush laid for him and carried to Flint-Castle Thither the Duke came and carri'd the King with him by easie Journeys to London and the next Day lodged him in the Tower. Presently a Parliament was called by the Duke but in the Name of King Richard aad many heynous Crimes laid to his Charge ingrost and sum'd up in three and thirty Articles for which the Parliament adjudg'd him to be deposed from all Kingly Honour and Princely Government thereupon the King by a formal Instrument made a Solemn Resignation of his Crown and Authority making it his Request that the Duke of Lancaster might be his Successor and in token thereof taking the signet from his Finger and puting it upon that of the Dukes Which being reported to the Parliament they approved of it and appointed the Sentence of his Deposition to be publickly proclamed We have followed this most unfortunate Prince to the last Scene of his Life but the manner