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A43206 A chronicle of the late intestine war in the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland with the intervening affairs of treaties and other occurrences relating thereunto : as also the several usurpations, forreign wars, differences and interests depending upon it, to the happy restitution of our sacred soveraign, K. Charles II : in four parts, viz. the commons war, democracie, protectorate, restitution / by James Heath ... ; to which is added a continuation to this present year 1675 : being a brief account of the most memorable transactions in England, Scotland and Ireland, and forreign parts / by J.P. Heath, James, 1629-1664.; Phillips, John. A brief account of the most memorable transactions in England, Scotland and Ireland, and forein parts, from the year 1662 to the year 1675. 1676 (1676) Wing H1321; ESTC R31529 921,693 648

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manner as any of his Ancestors had enjoy'd they also renounc'd that perpetual Edict by which they had oblig'd themselves never to admit of a Stadtholder and discharg'd the Prince of the Oath he had taken never to accept of that Dignity which thing thus begun by a Tumult was afterwards Confirm'd in a full Assembly of the States General There were at this time taken from them by the French several Towns and Forts some of them of great Importance and by the Bishop of Munster six and besides this by the former Maestricht by the latter Groninghen Besiedg'd their Fleet in Port patching up their bruises Yet now the King of England compassionating their Condition and believing those misfortunes might have rendred 'um more humble sent over the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Arlington to try if now at length they would hearken to any Reasonable Terms of Accommodation It was remarkable with what joy and satisfaction they were receiv'd by the People the Men Women and Children joyning in their Acclamations as they pass'd along the Streets God bless the King of England God bless the Prince of Orange and the Devil take the States They passed from Holland through the Prince of Orange's Camp to Vtrecht where they found the King of France who had now reduc'd the whole Province of whom they had their Publick Audience in the Camp thither likewise came the Lord Hallifax sent by the King of England as his Envoy Extraordinary and was after his Audience joyn'd with them in Commission being thus all together they attended the Motion of the Camp in expectation of Plenipotentraries from Holland upon their last Proposition While they are upon Extraordinary Affairs abroad Henry Coventry Esq now return'd from Sweden is made Secretary of State at home in the room of Sir Iohn Trevor deceas'd and the Duke of Richmond Arrives in Sweden Embassador Extraordinary from the Court of England where he afterwards Dy'd Toward the Latter end of this Month the Duke of Buckingham Earl of Arlington and Lord Hallifax Arriv'd at White-Hall having expected fourteen days in the French Camp the return of the Dutch Deputies so that all which they effected at that time was a Promissory Act between the two Kings not to treat or conclude without a Participation and Inclusion of each others Interests which was afterwards form'd into Articles and Ratifi'd and Exchang'd with the French Embassadour at London The King of France had now drawn the Gross of his Army from the Neighbourhood of Amsterdam Marching for Boys-le-d●c and Maestricht both which he left block'd up the first by Turenne the second by Chamille and being satisfi'd at present with the Victorious Progress he had made return'd for Paris Yet the taking of Nimmenghen by Storm wherein were made Prisoners of War 4000 of the best Soldiers which the Dutch had and the appearance of the English Fleet upon the Coast of Holland was occasion enough to continue the Tumults and Insurrections which were now so general that there was scarce a Town in Holland where the people were not Masterless 'T is true the heat of Action began to cool for some time nor did the English Fleet do any thing more considerable but onely keep the Seas besides that they mist the taking of the Dutch East-Indie-Fleet of which there was only this account that the Cambridge and Bristol being upon the Scout had met with the East Indie-Fleet with whom there happen'd a smart Encounter insomuch that the Cambridge was forc'd to ly by to splice her Rigging and that though they both followed 'um again and gave 'um many Broad-sides yet because they could no way separate 'um nor the Bristol could carry out her lower tire they were forc'd to quit the Fight Only one ship too severely chac'd was forc'd to destroy her self This Moneth the Earl of Essex arriv'd in Ireland and having taken the usual Oath had the Sword delivered to him as Lord-Deputy of Ireland in the room of the Lord Berkley In Holland the Prince of Orange being now setled in the Supream Authority did not a little win the favour of the people by endeavouring to call to an account the chief of those who had been their former Leaders Among the rest he Imprisons Ruart Van Putten and his Brother De Wit Van Putten was accus'd of an Intention to have destroyed the Prince of Orange by the assistance of a Barber who was to have receiv'd from him a considerable sum of Money for doing it The Court of Holland upon examination of their Crimes having Condemned both the Brothers to lose all their dignities and employments and ordered 'um to quit the Country as Banish'd men Thereupon De Wit goes to the Prison to fetch away his Brother but the people being incensed that they deserved a greater punishment as they were coming out again forc'd 'um back again broke open the Prison-door hal'd 'um out and thus the Rabble having got 'um into their possession never left till they had beat and trampled 'um to death This not sufficing they dragg'd their dead Bodies about the Streets cut off their Fingers and Ears and then hung 'um up naked by the Heels upon the Gallows such was the miserable end of those two Brothers The first good fortune that befel the Dutch next to that of the escape of their East-Indie Fleet was the defence of Groninghen to which the Bishop of Munster had laid a most furious and close Siege but notwithstanding all his fury after several attacques and the loss of many men was at length forced to break up his Siege and depart having battered and burnt down above two hundred Houses with his Guns and Granadoes The Dutch had no question promised themselves great matters from the Emperour but there was nothing appear'd to give them any hopes till at length a general Treaty was concluded for the publick Security and general Defence of the Empire at Ratisbone which though it prov'd slow as passing three Colledges That of the Electors That of the Princes and That of the Free-Towns yet after this Conclusion the Imperial Forces being upon their march from one side and the Brandenburgher on the other to make a conjunction upon the Frontiers of the Enemy made a very seasonable diversion to give the Netherlander some breathing time so that Turenne was forc'd to draw off to attend their motion toward Leipstadt and the Bishop of Munster thought it convenient to look toward his own Territories for fear of the Brandenburgher So that now the Prince of Orange had some time to look after the Civil affairs and to settle disorders at home which he did by a change of the Magistrates in most of the Towns of the Low Countries wherein he was not a little encouraged by the satisfaction which it gave the generality of the people who now began to b● by little and little better composed in their mindes In England the Parliament
Cromwel and his Complices and out of commiseration to those Noble persons that suffered this persecution who though perhaps the Commonwealth may recover this loss by timely recruits of Literature do no doubt irremediably rue this their violent Revulsion out of that Bosome where they might and ought to have been cherished to a competent vigour enabling them to serve the Commonwealth and their own thus enforced necessities Sed quo vehor By these and the like distempers and pains in every part of it England began now to be Heart-sick and those ambulatory running Humours which spread through the whole mass of the people to Center at last in the Metropolis the City of London which had more successfully broke out but for the opposition it met with from the then Lord Mayor Alderman Warner Pennington's own second a Factious and Seditious person who discountenanced it by the Authority of his place appearing at the first hubbub thereof openly against it The manner was as followeth On the 9 of April being the Lords-day a number of Apprentices as was usual were playing in Moor-fields in the afternoon for the Parliament had abrogated all H●lydays and by a venerable Order had appointed one day in every Month for their Recreation in lieu of those Festivals after much coil and many elaborate Petitions and reference to and reports from Committees of both Houses concerning them which being told to a Company of Trained-Bands then upon the Guards whose Officers were some precise Schismaticks they came into the Fields and commanded them to depart which they refusing or delaying they fired some Pieces at them whereupon the Boys incensed took up Stones and couragiously fell upon them and routed them taking from them their Ensign which in a tumultuous and childish bravery they marched with into the City and being increased with additions like themselves affronted the Mayor and made him hastily retire to his own House for Sanctuary whither they followed him and seized on one of the Drakes he had planted for his defence and thence marched to the several Gates which they likewise secured more especially Ludgate which lay neerest their Enemy the Army who were then quartered at White-Hall and the Mews they guarded with the same Drake The City remaining the rest of that day and night in great terrour and confusion the Rabblé crying out for God and King Charles but no Person of Quality undertaking their Conduct or to bring them into Order and Discipline In the mean while the Army-Guards take the Alarm and conceiving it dangerous to venture into the City by night kept themselves in a readiness for the morning when Sir Thomas Fairfax himself entred by Aldersgate with Horse and Foot who fell a scouring the Streets and driving this unarmed and ungoverned Multitude before them wounding and killing divers innocent persons Men Women and Children in a cruel and hostile manner until they came to Leaden-hall where the Apprentices entred and endeavoured to maintain it But the avenues thereof being found defenceless and themselves not strong enough besides want of necessaries requisite thereunto they wisely and more prudently than any thing they did before slipt away and shifted for themselves few or none falling into the Armies hand but some upon enquiry afterward in the beginning of the Commonwealth were discovered and arrained of High Treason for levying War c. Two of whom a Vintner and a Meal-man Kensey and Matthews were convicted and condemned but by the mediation of Alderman Tichborn one of the best deeds likewise he ever did were reprieved and by the same means at last pardoned and assumed by him for a demonstration of his goodness to be the guard to his person on publike Trayning days This Insurrection or Riot rather was quickly noised to the uttermost parts of the Nation where it was reported and received with great advantage as we usually fancy and credit what we expect to the encouraging of all honest people to rise now and follow this example and redeem and rescue their Religion Laws Lives and Liberties now at stake for neither the several nor united practices of Parliament and Army Presbyterian nor Independents could impose upon them any longer Nor was there an easie belief given to this check of that Tumult but was supposed an Artifice and one of their old Lies with which they stuffed their News-Books since the whole Nation saw how they had irritated the City by their insolent carriage towards them in changing their Militia c. so that it was undoubtable they would embrace and improve the first opportunity Whereupon as the next Scene of this years Tragedy Colonel Laughorn Poyer and Powel who had done notable service for the Parliament in Wales rose in Pembroke-shire and Flint-shire to neer the number of 8000 men They had been by the Council of the Army which was Authorized always by the Parliament ordered to disband as being men of better and surer principles than they durst confide in in order to their subsequent designs which they understanding the drift of refused and flew to their Arms and for the strengthening of their Party Declare for the settlement of the King and Kingdom and gave notice to the Prince who then issued out Commissions as General for his Father of their intentions and present posture having secured ●enby-Castle and the Town and Castle of Pembroke to the same end This sudden and threatning defection put the Juncto at Derby-house to their dumps when another Express brought news that the like effects were to be looked for from North-Wales where Sir Iohn Owen was risen with a Force and had def●ated and taken Prisoner the High-Sheriff that opposed him and that Sir Nicholas Kemish an eminent Cavalier had likewise surprized Chepstow-Castle so tha● all Wales was like to be lost without a blow strucken from the late Conquerors who therefore hastened away Forces to re-establish their Dominion and suppress these dangerous beginnings Over these Colonel Horton was now Commissioned for the reducing those new and old Royalists Cromwel being if occasion should require preparing to second him Horton with the Stafford and Worcester-Forces and part of the Army quartering thereabouts advanceth against Laughorne his whole power consisting of not above 3000 men with whom making more hast than good speed a party thereof being under the Command of Colonel Fleming fell unawares into an Ambuscado and were most of them cut off the rest sheltring themselves in a neighbouring Church were forced to render at discretion which Fleming seeing and despairing that he should be able to answer this oversight at a Council of War or for some other cause laid violent hands upon himself and so dyed Horton no way daunted with this inauspicious entrance marched up and faced the Enemy who shewed themselves upon the hills and places of advantage making their Hubbubs to call the Country to their assistance In their descent whence into more even ground the Parliamentarians
of Peterborough designed for that Command should arrive And for the Queens own Transportation the Royal Charles which brought the King from Holland was sent with this Fleet. In the mean while the Queen of Bohemia the King's Aunt died February 13. aged 66 years having been out of England 49 years and survived all the misfortunes of her Family which almost from the time of her Marriage in 1612. on St. Valentines day on the eve of which she now died had fallen very thick and chiefly and solely upon it She now came to her rest among her Royal Ancestors and Relations whose Glories and Honours she left more flourishing and greater than ever Her Decease was followed with a most violent and Tempestuous Winde February the 18th by which several persons were killed and much damage done in all parts of the three Kingdoms and in Forrain Countries which might give notice that all those Troubles and Calamities this Princess had suffered and by which most parts of Europe were Tempested were quite blown over and she gone to her last Repose A very unfortunate accident happened the same Month The Lord Buckhurst but now mentioned his Brother Mr. Edward Sackvile Sir Henry Bellasis Knight of the Bath Son and Heir to the Lord Bellasis Mr. Bellasis Brother to the Lord Faulconbridge and Mr. Wentworth Son to Sir George accompanying an acquaintance out of Town upon their Return being informed there were High-way men and Thieves in the Road meeting a Tanner and suspecting him for one of them after some resistance made by him killed him for this mischance they were Arraigned at the Kings Bench Bar but by the Iury quitted it not being probable that Persons of their Estates and Quality would set upon a single Person to do him injury but it might happen meerly by a mistake and good intent of freeing the Road. The Parliament had under their consideration the bringing of Lambert and Vane to their Tryal being excepted out of the Act of Oblivion as main Authors and Contrivers of those Troubles in the Rebellion and therefore desired His Majesty that he would be pleased to send for them from their remote Prisons they were in that they might be brought to Tryal that such bold Treasons might not pass with impunity On the other hand that they might testifie their acknowledgments to the Duke of Albemarle of his great merit and services in the Redemption of his Country they by Act now resolved to settle some Mannors and Lands upon him and confirmed the Kings Grants and Patents or what should afterwards by Grants or Patents be conferred on him The Duke of Ormond was likewise presented with the sum of Thirty thousand pounds in Bills of Exchange as a gratuity from the Parliament of Ireland in respect of the Services he had done that Kingdome in the same capacity before where also the Bill of settlement of Lands was the sole Affair in Debate the difficulty about Claims of the English and Irish intricating and perplexing the Bill so that the Dukes presence was very much desired as by whose prudence understanding and competent knowledge together with his equal relation to both Parties that tedious Work could only be accommodated which brings with it the conclusion of the year 1661 the 14 th year of the King Anno Domini 1662. THE beginning of this and the end of the last year was remarkable with a very notable Providence which for the more compact account of it is totally referred hither It hapned that among other the Fugitives for the parricidial Conspiracy in the Death of the King Miles Corbet Colonel Okey and Col. Barkstead which had traversed most parts of Low and some of High Germany where they had for a while resided at the City of Hanow under borrowed names about the beginning of March were returned to Delf in Holland having appointed their Wives to meet them there to understand their Affairs in England but these their Letters being intercepted and opened by the vigilance of Sir George Downing His Majesties Resident at the Hag●e they were all three taken together at Barkstead's and Okey's Lodging just as Corbet after Supper was going home by the Thief-takers and the Marshal of that Town Okey offered a resolute Escape Barkstead denyed himself and desired he might fetch his Cloak in the next Room Corbet as he said having taken Physick that day fell a Purging upwards and downwards in a very strange manner Sir George himself was present at the seizure and had them that Night secured in the common and ordinary Prison and thence conveyed them by the States order on Board the Blackmore Frigot then accidentally at Helve●t-Sluce having only brought over Mr. Armorer sent from the King to the Lords upon special occasions About the end of March they came to Gravesend where Sir Iohn Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower by Warrant from his Majesty with a Guard carried them to the Tower whence on the 16th of April they were brought to the Kings Bench Bar and there demanded what they could say for themselves why they should not die according to Law the Act of Attainder being read to them To which they alledged they were not the same persons mentioned therein whereupon Witnesses being ready were called and a Jury impannelled who gave verdict that they were the same persons and so the Lord Chief Justice Foster proceeded to Sentence which was the same with the former complices and sufferers for that Fact and was Executed on Saturday April the 19 at Tyburn where they with better ends than any of the rest acknowledged their resolved acquiescence under the Kings Government as of God and exhorted others to do so especially Colonel Okey a person that for his valour and other good qualities was pitied by all men for his being so blinded and ensnared in this Crime to his destruction They all pretended no malice to his late Majesty and their mistake of the Parliaments Authority for good and sufficient They were all three Hanged Bowelled and Quartered but his Majesty was graciously pleased out of regard to Colonel Okey's Christian and dutiful carriage to return his Quarters to his Friends to be interred which was done in the Chappel of the Tower by the Rites appointed in the Common-Prayer to prevent the unruly concourse of the Fanaticks who assembled in multitudes to accompany his Corps insomuch that the Sheriffs were forced to disperse them Barkstead's and Corbet's quarters were set upon the Gates the Head of the former upon a Pole on Traytors Gate in the Tower and Corbet's on London-Bridge For this kindeness and civility of the Dutch States the King ordered his Resident to thank them in his Name from which parts several of the Fanaticks that fled thither upon the Kings Restitution about this time travelled into Germany an invitation being published from one of the Princes there for all Nations to come and inhabit with full priviledges and immunities certain waste places of his
and that he did not receive the profits of it But the Emperour denied he knew of his being a Plenipotentiary and that it was not for one of his Subjects to take up Interests contrary to the Interest of his Soveraign and would not hear of his Release During these Treaties the King of France had possess'd himself of a great part of the Palatinate and had put a Garrison into Germerstein of 300 Souldiers yet proffered the Elector if he would stand Neuter to satisfie him for all his Damages and to withdraw his Souldiers out of Gemerstein and put it into the Hands of any Neutral Prince of the Empire which he refus'd upon Caprara's coming to his Succour The Switzers to hinder the King of France from coming into Burgundy offered that Burgundy might stand Neutur proffering themselves security that that Province should punctually observe the Neutrality and that they would guard the Avenues into it against any Forces of the Empire And thus stood Affairs at the end of this year Anno Dom. 1674. PEace being now concluded between the English and the Dutch this Year was not memorable for much at home The first motion of the Court this Moneth was to Windsor where the Earl of Mulgrave was Install'd Knight of the Garter This Moneth also the King by his Embassador the Lord Lockhart offer'd his Mediation between the King of France and the Queen of Spain to compose the differences betwixt them And to the end he might be no way concern'd in their differences by publick Proclamation forbid any of his Subjects to enter into the Service of any forrain Prince He also set forth a Proclamation forbidding the broaching and uttering false and scandalous News as also against any that should talk impertinently of the Government or the Governours In May Sir Lionel Ienkins and Sir Ioseph Williamson return'd to London from Cologne Who were followed into England by the Baron de Reed Van Benninghen and Van Haren Extraordinary Embassadors from the States of Holland In Iune came a strict Proclamation against the Jesuites and Friests Commanding their discovery and apprehension and promising five pounds for every one that should be discovered and taken Toward the beginning of September upon Resignation of the Duke of Buckingham the Duke of M●nmouth was made Chancellor of the University of Cambridge The Ceremony was performed with all its circumstances at Worcester-house in London Not long after the Right Honourable the Earl of St. Albans having resign'd into his Majesty's Hands the Staff of Office of Lord-Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold his Majesty was pleas'd to give it to the Right Honourable the Earl of Arlington in recompence of his long and faithful Services and particularly for having performed to his Majesties satisfaction for the space of twelve years the Offi●e of Principal Secretary of State which his Majesty was pleas'd to con●er at the same time upon the Right Honourable Sir Ioseph Williamson Knight one of the Clerks then of his Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council for his long and faithful service in the said Office under Sir Edward Nicholas and the Earl of Arlington and in his place Philip Lloyd Esq was sworn one of the Clerks of the Privy-Council Upon the 22 of September his Majesty was pleas'd to cause a Proclamation to be published for the further prorogation of the Parliament from the 10 th of November till the 13 th of April ensuing In the beginning of December the Earls of Ossory and Arlington together with the Heer Odike not long before Extraordinary Embassador in England arrived at the Hagne where they went to pay their Respects to the Prince of Orange About the same time was concluded between his Majesties Commissioners and those of the States General of the Vnited Provinces a Treaty Marine for all parts of the World in pursuance of the 8 th and 9 th Articles of the late Treaty of Peace made at Westminster the February before and was after ratifi'd by the States in the beginning of February following Presently after His Majesty having been graciously pleased to Translate the Right Reverend Father in God Dr. Crew Bishop of Oxford and Clerk of the Closet to his Majesty to the Sea of Durham made choice of the Honourable Dr. Compton Brother to the Right Honourable the Earl of Northampton to succeed in his place Toward the middle of December His Majesty having been pleased at his entertainment at Guild-Hall when Sir Robert Viner was newly Lord-Mayor of the City graciously and freely to condescend to the acceptance of the Freedom of London in the Chamberlains Office from the Hands of Sir Thomas Player Chamberlain beyond the Example of any of his Predecessors The said Sir Robert Viner Lord-Mayor thereupon having first obtained his Majesties leave presented his Majesty in the Name of the City with the Copy of the Freedom in a large square Box of Massie Gold the Seal of the Freedom hanging at it enclosed in a Box of Gold set all over with large Diamonds Toward the beginning of Ianuary Her Royal Highness was brought to Bed of a Daughter Christen'd at St. Iames's by the Bishop of Durham by the Name of Catherina Laura the Duke of Monmouth being God-father and the Lady Mary and the Lady Anne God-mothers The Term begining at the latter end of Ianuary Sir Francis North the King's Attorney-General was sworn Lord Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas in the room of Sir Iohn Vaughan deceased In the beginning of February his Majesty caused several Orders and Resolutions concerning Papists to be publish'd That the Conviction of Popish Recusants should be encouraged quickned and made Effectual That no Person of what Condition or Quality soever should presume to say Mass in any part of this Kingdom That all Persons born within His Majesties Dominions being in Orders by Authority deriv'd from the Church of Rome should depart the Kingdom by a short time prefix'd That none of His Majesties Subjects should presume to send their Children to be Educated in any Popish Colledges or Seminaries upon a strict Penalty That none of his Majesties Subjects being Popists or so reputed should presume to come into His Majesties Presence into White Hall St. James's or any place where His Majesties Court should be And Lastly That care should be taken for the suppression of Conventicles Forrein Affairs 1674. The first thing that presented it self of most Importance beyond Sea this Year was that the King of France gave order to quit all his Conquests in the Netherlands belonging to the States of Holland except Maestricht The States also to be rid of so great a trouble as the Bishop of Munsteri makes Peace with him the Baron D' Issola signing the Articles on the behalf of the Emperor The chief Articles whereof were That the Bishop should restore all places taken during the War That the Treaty of Cleves should be punctually observ'd And that the King of
their expert General to boyl and beat their Bed-cords to make Match of it But long they were not surrounded in that untenable place before Prince Maurice the Earl of Carnarvan the Lord Wilmot and Lord Biron with 1500 choyce Horse came to their rescue and presented themselves on the 13 of the same Month by break of day to the Enemies Leaguer and having given a signe to their Friends within fell with much valour on their Enemies and routed them on Round-way-down Which Onset being seconded from the Foot within proved a total rout to the Enemy whose Curassiers under Sir Arthur Hazlerig made some resistance but being once broken became the ruine of the Infantry who presently submitted and had quarter given them Here were slayn 800 besides what fell in the pursuit which was continued ten miles an end with great Fury but then their tired Horses began to lag And so Sir William and Sir Arthur came first to Bristol thence to Farnham and from thence with expedition to London There were taken two Thousand Prisoners four Brass Guns with their Ammunition and Baggage eight and twenty Colours and nine Corners Upon this fortunate day the Queen with the King from Edge-Hill made her joyful Entry into Oxford and not long after the Earl of Lindsey who was taken Prisoner when his Father was killed at Edge-Hill was welcomed to the Court there from his restraint This loss soon reduced Bristol into the Kings hands being delivered by Colonel Fiennes after three days siege to Prince Rupert for which surrender he had like to have lost his head These successes drew the King into the West where Dorchester Portland Weymouth and Melcomb submitted themselves Bidiford Appleford and Barnstable surrendred and after a little dispute before Exeter and some Granadoes thrown in and firing part of the Suburbs the great Sconce being taken in storm that City was delivered to Prince Maurice and Sir Iohn Berkly made Governour We must retrospect a little lest the hurrying of the War carry us from other remarkables The Marquess of New-Castle a little before Fryday Iune 30 obtained a victory over the Lord Fairfax at Adderton-Heath where he routed the Parliamentarians gained their five pieces of Cannon and so amazed them that they fled to Leeds which way was precluded and obstructed then to Bradford in their flight whither he took and killed two thousand while Fairfax hardly escaped to Leeds with the Convoy of one Troop of Horse The next day the said Earl came before Bradford which after the Battering of forty great Shot he took with two thousand more of the same party the next morning with all their Arms and Ammunition Hereupon Hallifax was quitted by the Parliamentarians and Sir Hugh Cholmley took Beverley The Lady Aubigney Wife to that Noble Lord who dyed of his wounds at Edge-Hill had brought to London according to the intelligence and desires of some Citizens of London from the King a Commission of Array the designe whereof was that they should seize into their custody the Kings Children some Members of Parliament the Lord Mayor and Committee of the Militia all the City Outworks and Forts the Tower of London and all the Magazines Then to let in the Kings Army to surprize the City to destroy all opposers and this grounded upon refusal of paying of Taxes imposed without Authority The Plot however came to be discovered and great noise was made about it The principal men were Mr. Edward Waller a Parliament-man who with much ado and great friends came off with the fine of ten thousand pounds Some Lords were suspected to favour the business also Mr. Tompkins Clerk of the Queens Council Mr. Chaloner a Linen-Draper Mr. Hasel Mr. Blinkborn Mr. White and others These were all Arraigned before a Council of War at Guild-Hall where four of the last were sentenced to be hanged and two of them suffered accordingly leaving sad and mournful Widows behind them for their Loyalty and affection to their Soveraign The Parliament now set a Fine of twenty thousand pounds upon Judge Berkley who had been a long time Prisoner for encouraging the designe of Ship-money he is likewise voted incapable of any Office or Dignity in the Commonwealth and to remain in Prison during pleasure By the King it was concluded to set upon Glocester being the only considerable place that held out for the Parliament in the West and lay very inconvenient hindering the intercourse betwixt Wales and the West-Countries In order whereunto his Majesty on the tenth of August came from Oxford in Person before it with a Royal Army while it was hardly imaginable where the Parliament could raise another Army and that done to march for London which proved a Fatal mistake to the King for if he had gone directly for London there was no opposition in readiness against him nor any place to stay him The King being resolved to gain Glocester after Prince Rupert had summoned it at a distance having close begirt it and being displeased that such a forlorn City should stand out against him yet desirous to gain it without blood and loss of time which seemed then precious in his Career of victory sent in this honourable Summons by two Heraulds CHARLES REX OVt of Our tender compassion to Our City of Glocester and that it may not receive any prejudice by Our Army which We cannot prevent if We be compelled to assault it We are therefore personally come before it to require the same and are graciously pleased to let all the Inhabitants of and all other persons within that City as well Souldiers as others know that if they shall immediately submit themselves and deliver this City to Vs We are contented freely and absolutely to pardon every one of them without exception and do assure them on the Word of a King that they nor any of them shall receive the least damage or prejudice by Our Army in their persons and estates but that We will appoint such a Governour and a moderate Garrison to reside there as shall be both for the ease and security of that City and the whole Country But if they shall neglect this offer of Grace and Favour and compel Vs by the power of Our Army to reduce that place which by the help of God We shall easily and shortly be able to do they must thank themselves for all the calamities and miseries which shall befall them To this Message We expect a clear and positive answer within two hours after the publishing hereof and by these presents do give leave to any persons safely to repair to and return from Vs whom that City shall desire to employ unto Vs in that business And We do require all the Officers and Souldiers of Our Army quietly to suffer them to pass accordingly To this Summons an Answer was returned in Writing delivered by Major Pudsey and a Citizen in these Words WE the Inhabitants
Sir William Brereton now commanded in chief as Major-General of those Counties who civilly courted the Lord Byron the Governour to a Surrender laying before him the impossibility of any Army of Forces that could be advanced that way for that the King was beset in all his Garrisons either by close or open Sieges which at last the Noble Lord hearkned unto and upon very honourable Conditions Surrendred it by Articles the 3 of February And thence Sir William went to besiege Litchfield-close which not long after he gayned by the same way of Treaty as will appear in its due place Several other places of lesser concernment without much parley surrendred likewise suspected of bribery or such-like practises which were finely palliated by the necessity that compelled the greater to their rendition The House now upon discharging the Wardship of the heirs male of Sir Christopher Wray a Member of the said House take an occasion to Vote down the Court of Wards and Liveries All the Kings strength in the field except that Army that was pen'd up in Cornwal was now collected under the Command of the Lord Ashley who was marching to joyn his Infantry with the Kings remains of his Cavalry about Farringdon whereabouts Colonel Rainsborough and Fleetwood kept their Post having an eye upon that design of conjunction and Colonel Morgan and Sir William Brereton pursued him in the Rear from Hereford and Worcestershire At Stow in the Would they overtook and set upon him wearied in his Quarters but his men were yet not willing to resigne their swords till after a fair dispute they were over-powred 1500 taken Prisoners with himself and all his Baggage and Ammunition This was the last battel that was fought hac vice for the King in England and which put a period to any further attempts in the field the Royalists being forced to take up in their strong Holds or submit to the Parliament and endeavour a Composition which was the main work but too hastily entred upon as their own sad experience soon informed them And just before this the 14 of March the Lord Hopton accepted of Terms for the disbanding of his Army which was in this manner After this worsting at Torrington and marching back into Cornwal General Fairfax followed him within two days to Launceston where Colonel Basset with 500 men at first made opposition but was compelled to abandon it as likewise Saltash was quitted and Mount Edgecomb offered a Treaty and not far from thence Sir Iames Smith with a strong party fell upon some of the Van of their Army with good success but having notice of Cromwels approach timely withdrew and gave them liberty to possess Bodmin while the Lord Hopton made his head-Quarters at Truro from whence the Prince embarqued and set Sail for the Island of Scilly with the Lord Culpeper and others which occasioned General Fairfax to complement the Lord Hopton to a disbanding as reckoning them by the Princes forsaking them as good as lost Among other terms offered him this to his particular self as being honour from the mouth of an enemy is requisite to be inserted Lastly for your self besides what is imployed to you in common with others you may be assured of such Meditation to the Parliament on your behalf both from my self and others as for one whom for personal worth and many vertues but especially for your care of and moderation towards the Country we honour and esteem above any other of your party whose error supposing you more swayed with principles of Honour and Conscience we most pity and whose happiness so far as is consistant with the publique welfare we should delight in more than in your least suffering In the mean while the Army advanced and neer St. Columbe beat up the Quarters of the Princes Regiment who made a gallant Charge through the enemy and broke their first divisions but fresh supplies coming they drew off in order leaving behind them Major-General Pert a gallant person mortally wounded a Prisoner but so rebated the edge of the enemies courage that they halted a while and part of the Army drew back to Bodmin more resolved for Treaty than Conquest To which place came the Lord Hopton's answer wherein he pretended his understanding of a likelyhood of agreement between the King his Master and the Parliament which he said without any other Treaty would conclude him and desired to be referred thereto but Fairfax urging this Overture to his advantage would allow of no such delays but his Terms he offered being honourable was all he could grant acquainting his Lordship that there was no such probability of Accommodation and indeed his Lordship was greatly mistaken for there was never any such intention before nor after and delays were dangerous in respect of assistance both from the French and Irish which had been promised to be landed for the Kings service in that County Hereupon the Army also advancing a Treaty was concluded on at Tresilian-bridge and a Cessation agreed to and the General thereupon though with much reluctancy of the Lord Hopton made Truro his Head-quarters so that now the Kings Forces had but six miles in bredth being as it were pounded up as Essex before The conclusion of the Treaty was followed by the rendition of St. Mawes Castle The number of the disbanded was nine Brigades the French consisting of three Regiments the Lord Wentworth's of four Sir Iames Smith's of three the Lord Cleveland's of four Major-General Web's of three the Lord Hopton's commanded by Colonel Bevil the Lord Goring's of five and the Princes Regiment consisting of seven hundred and Sir Richard Greenvil's Reformadoes The Conditions were That they should march away with Horse and Arms in number according to their respective qualities more or less as they should chuse to go abroad to Foreign Service or with Passes to go home each Colonel with eight or six horses six or two pair of Pistols and so other inferior Officers respectively the common Troopers to have twenty shillings a man for their Horses which upon ratifying the Agreement being noised many of the Royalists sold their horses before-hand and got spittle-Jades in their stead which upon their disbanding were turned upon their hand The Lord Hopton was allowed fourty Horse and Arms for himself and twelve men the Lord Wentworth twenty five Horse and Arms for himself and eight men These were the most material and in six days performed All the French were presently shipped for their Country by provision made by the General at Plymouth whither he went accompanied by Lieutenant-General Cromwel being welcomed by the discharge of 300 Pieces of Ordnance while the Army retreated back into Devon-shire to make an end of the Siege of Exceter where Sir Hardress Waller had continued during this Cornish Expedition and the Lords Hopton and Wentworth not deigning the Jurisdiction or indeed any favour from their fellow-subjects at Westminster
Successors except by repeal of these Bills but also the making his Concessions guilty of the greatest pressures that can be made upon the Subject as in other particulars so by giving an Arbitrary and unlimited power to the two Houses for ever to raise and levy for Land and Sea-service of what persons without distinction and quality and to what numbers they please and likewise for the payment of the Arrears to levy what monies in such sort and by such ways and means and consequently upon the Estates of whatsoever persons as they shall think fit and appoint which is utterly inconsistent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject and his Majesties Trust in Protecting them so that if the major part of both Houses shall think it necessary to put the rest of the Propositions into Bills his Majesty leaves the world to judge how unsafe it would be for him to Consent thereunto and if not what a strange condition after passing those four Bills his Majesty and all his Subjects would be cast into And here his Majesty thinks it not unfit to wish his two Houses to consider well of the manner of their proceeding That when his Majesty desires a personal Treaty with them for the setling of a Peace they in answer propose the very subject matter of the most essential part thereof to be first granted a thing which will be hardly credible to posterity Wherefore his Majesty Declares That neither the desire of being freed from this tedious and irksome condition of life his Majesty hath so long suffered nor the apprehension of what shall befal him in case his two Houses shall not afford him a personal Treaty shall make him change his Resolution of not-consenting to any Act till the whole be concluded Yet then he intends not onely to give just and reasonable satisfaction in the particulars presented to him but also to make good all other Concessions mentioned in his Message of the 16 of Novemb. last which he thought would have produced better effects than what he finds in the Bills and Propositions now presented unto him And yet his Majesty cannot give over but now again earnestly presseth for a personal Treaty so passionately is he affected with the advantages which Peace will bring to his Majesty and all his Subjects of which he will not at all despair there being no other visible way to obtain a well-grounded Peace However his Majesty is very much at ease within himself for having fulfilled the Offices both of a Christian and a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and Compassionate their fellow-Subjects Miseries Given at Carisbroke-Castle Dec. 28. On the third of Ianuary following this Answer was debated in the House of Commons And first Sir Thomas Wroth had his Cue set by the Faction to run high and to feel the pulse of the House which was uttered in this or the like Expression That Bedlam was appointed for Mad-men and Tophet for Kings That our Kings had carried themselves of late as if they were fit for no place but Bedlam That his Humble Motion should consist of three parts 1. To secure the King and keep him in some close Inland-Castle with Guards 2. To draw up Articles of Impeachment against him 3. To lay him by and settle the Kingdom without him He cared not what Form of Government they set up so it were not by Kings and Devils Then Commissary Ireton seeming to speak the sense of the Army under the notion of many Godly men who had ventured their Lives to subdue their Enemies said after this manner The King had denied Safety and Protection to his People by denying the four Bills That Subjection to him was but in lieu of his Protection to his People this being denied they might well deny any more Subjection to him and settle the Kingdom without him That it was now expected after so long patience they should shew their resolution and not desert those Valiant men who had engaged for them beyond all possibility of Retreat and would never forsake the Parliament unless the Parliament forsook them first After some more debate when the House was ready for the Question Cromwel brought up the Rear and giving an ample Character of the Valour good affections and Godliness of the Army argued That it was now expected the Parliament should Govern and Defend the Kingdom by their own power and resolutions and not teach the people any longer to expect Safety and Government from an Obstinate Man whose heart God had hardned That those men who had defended the Parliament from so many dangers with the expence of their blood would defend them herein with Fidelity and courage against all opposition Teach them not by neglecting your own and the Kingdoms safety in which their own is involved to think themselves betrayed and left hereafter to the Rage and Malice of an irreconcileable Enemy whom they have subdued for your sake and therefore are likely to finde his future Government of them insupportable and fuller of Revenge than Iustice Lest despair teach them to seek their safety by some other means then adhering to you who will not stick to your selves and how destructive such a resolution in them will be to you all I tremble to think and leave you to judge At the latter end of this contrived Speech he laid his Hand upon his Sword that Sword which by his side could not keep him from Trembling when Sir Philip Stapleton some while before baffled him in the House of Commons Now we discover these two Matchiavels avowing in a manner their ends and designes which they had hitherto cloaked by fair pretences to the King and charged upon the Adjutators And henceforward we shall see them using all manner of scelerate practises to promote their Conspiracie This bold Harangue and Menace so far availed them that the Parliament over-awed therewith after a long debate from 9 in the morning till night upon the first of the ensuing Votes the House being divided 141 Yeas to 91 Noes came to these following Resolutions the other three except the last being carried more easily They were prefaced with a short Declaration yet of twelve days deliberation dated the 15 of Ianuary in these words Die Sabbathi 15 Ianuarii 1647. The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament after many Addresses to his Majestie for the preventing and ending this unnatural War raised by him against his Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent four Bills to his Majestie which did contain only matter of safety and security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the composure of all other differences to a personal Treaty with his Majestie and having received an absolute Negative Do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in
hope proving more and more vain so wretchedly stupid were the Londoners they marched into Essex and by the way seized upon the Arms and Ammunition that then lay in the Earl of Warwick's House at Leez as then in open hostility against the Prince and so further into the County until at last they setled in the Town of Colchester Fairfax understanding of this Go-by and their conjunction having dispatcht away Colonel Rich and Colonel Barkstead with their Regiments to reduce and free those Castles which the Kentish-men as aforesaid had taken with all hast passed his Army over at Gravesend to make the quicker pursuit after them having underhand received recruits and supplies both of men and money from Skippon to re-inforce him who every day privately listed men for the Service At Colchester the Lord Capel with some Horse of his own raising met him and a Troop of Veterane Royalists from London who fought their way at Epping with some Army-Horse laid to obstruct all additions from the City by that Road came also entire at the same time just as the Van of Fairfax his Army was Skirmishing at the towns-Towns-end where they so peppered the Enemy that in great confusion he ran to the Body having had an Essay what Sparks he had to deal with Sir George Lisle was made Major-General of the Essex-Forces and the rest of the Army distributed into Regiments and distinct Commands and had their posts and places assigned them The Town was inconsiderable either in it self as being intenible and undefensive nothing but a Brest-work cast up about it and as to the adjacent parts of the County to receive any provisional relief or great Force into it so that there was no hopes of setling or planting in it for in all probability it was not thought possible to hold out a Month to an end nevertheless by their industry courage vigilance and patience it held out three compleatly against a victorious Enemy recruited as aforesaid and assisted with the Forces of the Neighbouring County of Suffolk on whom deservedly the slaughter principally fell for so basely engaging against whom they had promised to joyn with these Essex-Royalists Several attempts were made by Fairfax to take the place by Force and many Sallies were in requital made by the Besieged who both in assayling and defending did great Execution From the beginning to the ending of the Siege scarce a day passed without actions from within at first to fetch in Cattel then to cut Grass which was stained all over with Blood for the Besieged would have it who had now planted some Cannons upon St. Mary's-Steeple whence they cruelly annoyed the Leaguer Insomuch that Fairfax seeing the loss of his men and the courage of the Defendants gave over his resolution of Storming proceeding with his Approaches to begirt them close and fortifying his Camp to starve them and also to fire them out which forced the Besieged to burn the Suburbs that he intended for shelter but he possest the Lord Lucas his House Sir Charles his Brother and ruined it The provision they had in the Town besides what they fought for and brought in afterwards would not suffice for above a Month and all hopes were abandoned of getting in more yet the courageous and generous sufferance of these Loyal Souldiers resolved to undergo all misery rather than yield and so free the Army to march against the Scots who were now entred England upon the same account Their main support was the sauce and relish to their meat good store of Prunes and Plums with which the Town was stored that did a little palate their Hors-flesh to them which they were forced to kill and dress for their victuals a good while before their Surrender there was also some Corn which Sir Charles charitably distributed among the Towns-folk but the Souldiers borrowed it again in their extremity in which we must leave these Noble Gentlemen and take a view of other concurrent endeavours for the King and Kingdom The Fleet which the Parliament had stollen and debauched from their Duty by their first pretences perceiving that indeed they were but such and no more repenting of their past service did to satisfie for their former offences now turn sides and rendred themselves to the Prince now made Captain-General of His Fathers Forces The Parliament had some inkling thereof and therefore had Commissioned Colonel Rainsborough a Sea-man formerly to the Command thereof whom the Loyal Mariners fairly put on Shore having posed him with this Question of engaging for their Soverain and at the same time their former Vice-Admiral Sir William Batten now Knighted by the Prince being disbanded by the Independent Rulers as more honest than they would have him brought some other Ships to His Majesties Obedience With this Naval Force the Prince departed from Holland and came into Yarmouth-Road where it was deliberated whether he should land and attempt the Relief of Colchester There were then in company with Him His Illustrious Brother the Duke of York who in April before had happily escaped from St. Iames's where he● was kept by the Earl of Northumberland his Guardian by the conduct of Colonel Bamfield who was employed therein by the Queen the Duke pretending to play in the dusk of the Evening was disguised in Maiden-habit and landed safely at Dort in Holland Prince Rupert the Earl of Brainford the Lords Hopton Wilmot Willougbby who had deserted the Parliament having been charged imprisoned and affronted by the Army and Culpeper and other Gentlemen but understanding that Colonel Scroop was attending thereabout they concluded it hazardous to venture the reputation of the Princes first Arms upon so well-appointed an Enemy and thereupon weighed Anchor and stood into the Downs The Navy consisted of 20 Ships of War most of the first and second Rate the other Frigats well manned and furnished which anchoring neer the Mouth of the Thames put the City into great fear no Ships possibly going in or out without the Princes permission a Hamborough-bound Ship richly laden being seized on by him In all haste there●ore the Parliament order their old Admiral Robert Rich Earl of Warwick to Equip another Fleet then in the River and to set to Sea hoping by his Authority and influence to reclaim their Revolters or if not upon the coming of more Ships from Portsmouth which accordingly joyned with him to fight the Prince In pursuance of this Command Warwick appears with his Fleet about Quinborough but for all his former indearedness to the Sea-men and their affection his Masters confided in he durst not engage lest a total defection might have ensued for the Mariners were grown sensible how Trade and consequently Navigation was decayed by the long continuance of the War and had more kindness besides for Batten than they had for the Earl which the Prince was sensible of and therefore in civil terms by a Message required him to submit
being delivered to the Clerk of the Court the President ordered it should be read but the King bid him hold Nevertheless being commanded by the President to read it the Clerk begun The Charge being read which for its falshood and Treasonable impudence is purposely omitted as imputing to the King the Blood spilt by his presence in several Fights The President replyed Sir you have heard your Charge read c. The Court expects your Answer King I would know by what power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story than I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publike faith as 't is possible to be had of any people in the World I Treated there with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and Treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclu●ion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Theeves and Robbers by the high ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what and when I know by what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King and what sins you bring upon this Land Think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to Answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust. I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful descent I will not betray it to Answer to a new and unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the people of England of which you are Elected King to answer them King No Sir I deny that President If you acknowledg not the Authority of the Court they must proceed King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for neer these thousand years therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my people than any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will Answer it otherwise I will not Answer it President Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of Answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice King Here is a Gentleman Lieutenant-Colonel Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court I will stand as much for the priviledge of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the Publike faith of the world Let me see a legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will Answer President Sir You have propounded a Question and have been Answered seeing you will not Answer the Court will consider how to proceed in the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this he all the Answer you will give or no King Sir I would desire that you would give me and all the world satisfaction in this let me tell you it is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that duty I owe to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my Body and therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it if you do it by an usurped Authority that will not last long There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to an account satisfie me in that and I will Answer otherwise I betray my Trust and the Liberties of the people and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow that it is as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other ways unlawful Authority and therefore satisfie God and me and all the World in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill President The Court expects you should give them a final Answer their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next if you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Iustice and that 's our present work King Let me tell you if you will shew me what lawful Authority you have I shall be satisfied But what you have hitherto said satisfies no reasonable man President That 's in your apprehension we think it reasonable that are your Iudges King 'T is not my apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it President The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded Two things were remarkable in this days proceedings It is observed That as the Charge was reading against the King the silver head of his staff fell off the which he wondered at and seeing none to take it up he stoop'd for it himself and put it in his pocket The other that the people as the King went out cried aloud and shouted God save the King while the weaker noise of hired and commanded Souldiers cried out Iustice and Execution at Colonel Axtels Threats and Bastinadoes At the High Court of Iustice sitting in Westminster-Hall Monday January 22. 1648. Upon the Kings coming a shout was made Sollicitor May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibit and give into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other High Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar c. My humble Motion to this High Court is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a positive Answer or else the Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice President Sir You may remember at
of the people let all England and the World Iudge King Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended my self with Arms I never took up Arms against the people but for my people and the Laws President The command of the Court must be obeyed no answer will be given to the Charge King Well Sir Then the President ordered the default to be recorded and the contempt of the Court and that no Answer would be given to the Charge And so the King was guarded forth to Sir Robert Cotton's house Then the Court adjourned to the Painted-chamber on Tuesday at twelve a clock and from thence they adjourned again to Westminster-hall at which time all persons concerned were to give their attendance At the High Court of Iustice sitting in Westminster-hall Tuesday January 23. 1648. O yes made Silence commanded The Court called seventy three persons present The King came in with his Guard looking with an austere countenance upon the Court and sate down Cook Sollicitor-General May it please your Lordship my Lord President This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this high Court the Prisoner hath been brought to the Bar before any Issue joyned in the Cause My Lord I did at the first Court Exhibit a Charge against him c. My Lord after this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might press your Lordship upon the whole according to the known Rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an Issuable Plea Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal that as by an implicite Confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more f●vour than the Prisoner at the Bar has done but besides my Lord I shall humbly press your Lordship upon the whole Fact The House of Commons the supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have Declared that it is notorious that the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clear as Crystal and as the Sun that shines at Noon-day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in I have notwithstanding on the People of Englands behalf several Witnesses to produce And there●ore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the ●nnocent Blood that hath been shed the cry whereof is very great for Justice and Judgement and therefore I do humbly pray that speedy Judgement be pronounced against the prisoner at the Bar. President Sir you have heard what is moved by the Counsel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget what Dilatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands You were told that it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supreme and highest Authority of England from which there is no appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of obedience nor did you acknowledge any Authority in them nor the High Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court that they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus Authorized by the Supreme Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Iustice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Iustice take advantage of the delays and proceed to pronounce Iudgement against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you that you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Iustice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether you be Guilty or not Guilty of these Treasons laid to your charge The King after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the people of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not President Sir you have heard the resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told that having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you and your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the Iurisdiction of the Court And to Answer to your Charge Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court at their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is Charged upon you King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of my people The same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to Him and to my people to defend as much as in me lies the antient Laws of the Kingdom therefore until I may ●now that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your f●vo●r I can put in no particular Answer If you will give me time I will then shew you my Reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said B● your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know no● th●re's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was lately in a Treaty up on the publike Faith of the Kingdom that was the known the two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the President interrupted him and said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. King By your favour Sir President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into these discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged
God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my charitie must go further I wish that they may repent for in ●eed they have committed a great sin in that particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their charge And with●● that they may take the way to the Peace of the Kingdom for my charitie commands me not onely to forgive particular men but to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all my soul I see there are some here that will carry it further that they endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and put you in a way First You are out of the way for certainly all the ways you ever had yet as far as I could finde by any thing is in the way of Conquest certainly this is an ill way for Conquest in my Opinion is never just except there be a just and good cause either for matter of wrong or a just Title and then if ye go beyond the first quarrel that ye have that makes it unjust at the end that was just at first for if there be onely matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander That he was a great Robber himself was but a petty Robber And so Sirs I think for the way that you are in you are much out of the way Now Sirs to put you in the way believe it you shall never go right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successor and the people their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to the Scripture which is now out of order And to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but onely this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this When every Opinion is freely heard For the King indeed I will not the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns mine own particular I onely give you a touch of it For the People truly I desire their Libertie and freedom as much as any body whomsoever But I must tell you that their Libertie and their freedom consist in having Government under those Laws by which their lives and theirs may be most their own it is not in having a share in the Government that is nothing pertaining to them A Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until you do that I mean that you put the People into that Libertie as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs it was for this that now I am come hither for if I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws changed according to the Power of the Sword I need not have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your charge that I am the MARTYR of the people In troath Sirs I shall not hold you any longer I will onely say this to you that I could have desired some little time longer because I would have put this what I have said a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God you take those Courses that are best for the good of the Kingdome and your own Salvation Dr. Juxon Will your Majesty though your Majesties affections may be very well known to Religion yet it may be expected that you should say somewhat for the worlds satisfaction King I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it Introath Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good cause and I have a gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax the King said Take heed of the Ax pray take heed of the Ax. Then the King speaking to the Executioner said I shall say but very short prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then the King called to Doctor Iuxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Does my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop Then the King turning to Doctor Iuxon said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side Dr. Juxon There is but one Stage more this Stage is turbulent and troublesome it is a short one But you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from Earth to Heaven and there you will finde a great deal of cordial Ioy and Comfort King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Dr. Juxon You are exchanged from a Temporary to an Eternal Crown a good exchange The King then said to the Executioner Is my hair well Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Doctor Iuxon saying Remember Then the King put off his Doublet and being in his Wast-coat put his Cloak on again then looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Executioner It is fast Sir King When I put my hands out this way stretching them out then After that having said two or three words as he stood to himself with hands and eyes lift up Immediately stooping down he laid his Neck upon the Block and then the Executioner again putting his hair under his Cap the King thinking he had been going to strike said Stay for the Signe Executioner Yes I will and it please your Majesty And after a very little pause the King stretching forth his Hands the Executioner at one Blow severed his Head from his Body The Head being off the Executioner held it up and shewed it to the people which done it was with the Body put in a Coffin covered with Black Velvet for that purpose and conveyed into his Lodgings there And from thence it was carried to his House at Saint Iames's where his Body was Embalmed and put in a Coffin of Lead and laid there a fortnight to be seen by the people and on the Wednesday sevennight his Corps Embalmed and Coffined in
but as it were upon courtesie all his Authority in effect consisting in the awing one Faction with another the best of which he found to be on so uncertain and unsetled terms that you will I doubt not when you reflect upon it easily grant that the Lord-Lieutenant could not in prudence do an act that was likely to give so great and general a distast as indeed to have proceeded against Major-General Purcell would have been to the Confederates amongst whom he had so many alliances and friends and the running away of the rest was so universal a fault that it was hard to discover who deserved punishment most and harder to find a Court of War to censure them During this short residence at Kilkenny his Excellency having taken Order with the Lord Inchiqueen to bring up what Forces he could possibly make and with the Commissioners for the recruiting drawing together and arming their dispersed Forces as soon as could be to the end they might be sent after him he speeds away himself in the Company onely of 20 or 30 Horse towards Trim and Drogheda as the places both neerest the Enemies attempts and likeliest to totter back if not secured in time At Tecroghan a House of Sir Luke Fitzgarretts he makes a stay till those several Bodies that he then expected were come up and upon notice of their coming removes to Trim where he meets with news of Iones his being before Drogheda who soon after upon intelligence that the Lord-Lieutenant was at Trim and supposing his Forces to be greater than indeed they were drew off in the night and returned immediately to Dublin The next day his Excellency went through to Drogheda where a party of the Scotch Horse and Foot under the Command of the Lord of Ards and the Lord Clanbrazill came up unto him but whilst they were consulting what to do they received assurance of Cromwels landing with very considerable Forces Whereupon concluding that Town necessary to be kept to entertain the Enemy before whilst they made up their Army as they hoped to do very considerable and soon enough to come to the Relief of the place of which if they should fail no question was made but after the gaining of time which was then precious they in the Town should be able to make Honourable Conditions for themselves whilst Cromwel is refreshing his own men in Dublin and reducing Iones's There is put into Drogheda a Garrison of 2500 Foot and 300 Horse which was thought sufficient and so having furnisht it with Provisions as well as that short time would give them leave his Excellency commits the charge of that place to Sir Arthur Aston as a person whose Experience Courage and approved Fidelity did worthily deserve the highest Trust. These things thus ordered his Excellency returns to Trim and from thence he dispatched away Colonel Daniel O Neal then Governour of that place with a Commission to set on foot the Treaty again with Owen O Neal if it were possible and to endeavour the reducing of the Vlster-Army even upon any conditions a person esteemed by all best qualified for that employment as well in regard of his singular ability and approved Fidelity to the King as for the great Interest he was supposed to have in his Unkle who managed the business with that dexterity as he won his Unkle to hearken again unto an Agreement whereupon Sir Richard Barnewell and Sir Nicholas Plunkett are sent after to make an absolute conclusion with him though by the way this may not be unworthy of observation that those persons who were formerly most opposite to this Agreement were now become the greatest sticklers to promote it with his Excellency being grown sensible of the imminent and approaching danger that now threatned them Tecroghan is the next Stage his Excellency removes unto here he makes a stand as being the most ●●portune place to draw his Army together in and lying most convenient after that was done to Relieve Drogheda or make any other attempt upon the Enemy Where besides the remains of the Irish Army already somewhat recruited there joyned unto him a good Regiment of the Lord Marquess Clanrickards of above 1000 Foot together with 300 Horse likewise that party of the Scots before mentioned Sir Thomas Armstrong and Colonel Trevors together with what Forces the Lord Inchiqueen could bring out of his Precincts these being got together and daily additions being still expected to the making them up a more considerable Body than they were at Dubllin the Lord-Lieutenant received several advices from Sir Arthur Aston to precipitate nothing for he doubted not of finding Cromwel play a while as certainly he had done had not Colonel Wall 's Regiment after the Enemy had been twice bravely Repulsed upon the unfortunate loss of their Colonel in the third Assault being so happily dismaid as to listen before they had need unto the Enemy offering them Quarter and admitted them in upon these Terms thereby betraying both themselves and all their Fellow-Souldiers to the slaughter For Cromwel being Master of the Town and told by Iones that he had now in his hands the Flower of the Irish Army gave order to have all that were in Arms put to the Sword Where besides the gallant Governour Sir Arthur Aston Sir Edmund Varney whose Name-sake was Standard-bearer to King Charles the first Colonel Warren Colonel Fleming and Colonel Brin Lieutenant-Colonel Finglasse and Major Tempest together with many other excellent Officers and Gentlemen there were Butchered neer 3000 Souldiers and those truly reputed the best that Kingdom afford●d This Massacre at Drogheda having lopt off a principal Limb of the Lord-Lieutenants Army and the loss of that Town letting the Enemy loose caused his Excellency to remove his Army from Castle-Iordan down towards the Counties of Wexford and Kilkenny there not onely to lye secure till General O Neal's Army came up unto them with whom now at last he having been rejected by the Parliament and the Commissioners and whipt to Reason with adversity there was an Agreement made and he submitted to the Kings Authority but also ready to be drawn into either Wexford or Kilkenny as there should be occasion for upon one of those places after the Enemies retreat from Drogheda to Dublin it was concluded they would tall on next For which reason his Excellency for many days Courts the Town of Wexford to take in a Garrison Kilkenny having received one already but they affirming they were able to defend their Town themselves would never be brought to admit of one till the Enemy was at the Walls and then tumultuarily Sir Edmund Butler with neer 1500 men was received in as Governour whom to re-inforce after the Enemy was now set down before it the Lord-Lieutenant comes with new supplies within sight of the Town and had put them in to the infallible preservation of the place if before his Excellencies eyes the Town had not
those overtures of his were not approved of to demand his Pass that he might leave the Kingdom but what he propounded was so plausible that in case Money and Arms could be had in time and in proportion to what he demanded as the infection of Galloway out of which Town chiefly both were to be had made it very difficult they judged it a very likely Expedition Whereupon the Lord Clanrickard desirous to keep so able a Commander as Sir George in the Kingdom furnisheth him with what Money he could at the present and sends him Northwards to lay and prepare the business before promising to do his uttermost endeavours to procure him those supplies of Money Ammunition and Arms by the time appointed as also to bring his Army up as far as Sligo there to countenance Sir George in his undertakings and be ready for any fair occasion that should present it self for the mastering of the Country After four or fiv● days stay at the most his Excellency took his leave and hastened towards Kilkenny obliging the Lord Clanrickard to come after him to be present at a meeting he had appointed there for the procuring of a good understanding between the Clergy the Commissioners and himself and for taking the best order they could for the raising and maintaining an Army against the next Spring But though they met nothing at that time could be done or agreed upon wherefore the Lord Clanrickard returns into Connaght to take order for his Northern Exp●dition which out of the great difficulties of getting his men together arising out of the universal distractions that were then in the Kingdom the hard Season of the year the Pestilence the want of Moneys and Provisions he could not possibly go through with against February which was the time designed nor even then when he did without very great necessities and inconveniencies to himself and his Army though that Noble Person declined no difficulty nor spared no Charge in his Majesties Service This failing in point of time and a great part of the Moneys promised him which nevertheless as things stood no mans industry could have remedied Sir George Monro complained very much of affirming that their opportunity was lost thereby especially now they being come the Army was able to move no further through extreme want of Provision kept from them by foul and contrary weather for which and the residue of the Money together with hopes of an accord between the Lord-Lieutenant and the Commissioners some days were spent in expectation but nothing in the end except onely a Letter from the Lord Ormond summoning the Lord Clanrickard suddainly away his Lordship was forced to leave his Army and the Northern business to the hazard and return back to meet the Lord-Lieutenant and the Commissioners at Loghreogh W●ereupon Sir George Monro believing now the Lord-Lieutenant would leave the Kingdom seeing the divisions amongst the Irish grew daily greater and giving all for lost having received a defeat by Sir Charles Coot where the Earl of Claneboys was taken Prisoner and Colonel Henderson killed with some 800 Private Souldiers and lastly finding the impatience of his own party to treat with the Enemy as he had often before publikely declared he would retires himself to Eniskillin and having made Conditions for himself the remainder of his Party and his Officers that were in Prison gave up that place to the Enemy and departed the Kingdom Very soon after whose retirement the Lord Clanrickard's Army through extremity of want was forced to return from Sligo back towards the County of Galloway Where I will leave it and come back to his Excellency who being left by the Lord Clanrickard lately in Kilkenny after having caused Captain Tickle to be Executed for a designe he had of betraying that Town to Cromwel was by the breach growing daily wider between him and the Kingdom and through the increase of the Sickness now come thither at the joynt request of the Commissioners and Officers induced to remove towards Limerick where being negligently received without the accustomed respect used to the Kings Lieutenant he after a short stay departed thence into the County of Clare Immediately thereupon the Enemy having refreshed his men and encreased his Army with a great accession of old Souldiers that had formerly served under the Lord Inchiqueen and the Lord-Lieutenant takes the field and falls a Summoning Castles and bringing the Country under Contribution wherein he had a general success most of the Castles surrendring upon appearance of a party of Horse except Kiltenan which gave him some resistance His Excellencies Army through the forementioned obstinacy and disobedience of the Towns against receiving Garrisons was so far dispersed that there was no means of drawing them together neither if that were done of drawing them in a Body for the Country was destroyed and wast so that it could not supply him besides during these disagreements between the Lord-Lieutenant the Clergy and the Commissioners there were few or none of the Irish Souldiers if there had been Provisions for them that would obey his Excellencies Orders Of all which Cromwel was well aware and therefore went securely and with confidence to work carrying all before him Amongst other of his successes Ballisanon was sold unto him and Cahir Castle then the dwelling-house of Master Matthews a young youth and half Brother to the Lord-Lieutenant given him contrary to those strict orders left by his Excellency with Master Matthews for the keeping of it who was so conscious of his own misdoing in the Act that he refused upon several summons and invitations to appear before his Lordship and stayed s●●ll in the Enemies quarters to secure himself from his Excellencies indignation But nevertheless this act of Master Matthews is made a ground of new sus●●●●ns and fresh clamours against his Lordship himself by the Irish who all this while run on in their extravagancies intent onely upon their disputes in hand as if there were no such man as Cromwel in the Kingdom insomuch that seeing so many several meetings assigned and so much time spent to so little purpose his Excellency concludes that those people would never be brought into order by him and therefore resolves to withdraw himself from the Government if not to depart the Kingdom and to commit the management of all unto the Marquess of Clanrickard which was the reason of his Lordships being sent for back again from Sligo The Enemy in the mean time having the Castles of Gowran and Laghlin together with the Officers Commanding in them delivered into his hands by the Common-Souldiers sets at last upon Kilkenny whence a while before the Earl of Castlehaven who was now left with chief Command in Lemster was drawn out with his Forces by reason the Sickness raged so leaving Sir Walter Butler and Major Walsh with about 50 Horse and some 400 Foot in the place where a breach being made and the Enemy
and most considerable Towns of the Kingdom still untaken any of which if they be well Garrisoned as questionless now they are will be neer a Summers work to reduce The Forts of Duncannon and Sligo the Castles of Caterlo Athlone Charlemont and Neanagh are not easie purchases the Province of Connaght is still preserved entire by the Lord Clanrickard who will be able to bring 4000 men of his own into the field now that Galloway and his Country is somewhat cleared from the infection of the Plague which begins to rage greatly in the Enemies quarters as Corke Youghall Wexford and Dublin it self Kilkenny Clonmel with several places thereabouts being left desolate with it The County of Clare in Munster brought unto the Lord-Lieutenant at a Rendezvouze at the same time above 2000 men wherewith his Excellency being invited by the Magistrates was ready to march into Limerick to Garrison that place and to make it his residence What Forces the Irish had in Vlster and towards Kerry I have already told you as likewise what Connaght and the County of Clare afforded I must adde that Hugh Mac Phelim had in Wi●klow and towards Wexford hard upon 2000 men and at Waterford General Preston and Hugh O Neal had little less to conclude besides all this the Lord Castlehaven the Lord Dillon and the Bishop of Drummore made account they should draw together a considerable Body in Meath and the rest of Leimster to joyn with the Marquess of Clanrickard towards the relief of Tecroghan then besieged by Colonel Reynolds Thus you may see that provided they be united amongst themselves and that means can be found of keeping them in bodies together there are men enough in Arms yet to dispute the business with an Enemy that is not half their number and whose quarters are pestered likewise with the Plague and Famine as well as theirs especially these having such strengths and fastnesses still in their hands as are almost inaccessible to Cromwels Souldiers Who after having mastered the greatest part of Munster and Leimster their supplies from England coming in but slowly have made bold at last with the people they flattered with before and altered their manner of proceedings taking from them by force what they pleased and violating their protections given making not nice to tell them they suffered them to possess their Estates but during pleasure and till they could have Planters to put into their rooms by which kind of clear dealing they have so lost and made desperate the Natives that lamenting their former too ready compliance with the Enemy they now called for the Lord-Lieutenant again and taking Arms in their hand began to rise in all quarters of the Kingdom so that it is impossible for a greater power than Ireton hath there to attend to the suppression of them all This is the perfect account of the Irish affairs whereby the first Trophees of the English Commonwealth raised themselves to greater Atchievements by a chain of successes but Winter growing on their Army was put into Winter-quarters Cromwel himself to that purpose taking up Youghall lately with Corke wherein were the Lord Inchiqueens Lady and Family revolted by the treachery of the Colonels Gilford Warren and Townsend Colonel Wogan newly defeated in his attempt in Passage-Fort and then taken prisoner by Colonel Zanchy whereupon Prince Rupert with the Constant Reformation the Convertine wherein was Prince Maurice the Swallow where was Sir Iohn Mien and some other Sips set sail from Kingsale where he had continued Blockt up most part of the last Summer by Admiral Popham and betook themselves to the Narrow Seas now that the Parliament had most of that Coast in their possession and sailed for France In the mean while Captain Young had fired the Antilope one of the Kings ships at Helvoet-sluce in Holland and the Guinny-Frigot was mastered and taken neer Scilly the Rendezvouze and Harbour of his Majesties Fleet that did very much hinder and obstruct the Trade at Sea wherein his Majesties Rebels were now principally concerned of which we shall have yet further occasion to speak in the ensuing year The Parliament had in Iune filled up the Benches at Westminster Aske from Clerk of the Crown one of their Beagles at the High Court of Iustice was made one of the Justices of the Vpper so was the Kings Bench newly called and Broughton a Clerk to the same Court had his former Office Puliston and Warberton in the Common-pleas to whom in the place of Judge Phesant Serjeant Atkins was added Colonel Rigby and Thorpe were made Barons of the Exchequer by the last of whom Colonel Morris the late noble Governour of Pomfret and Cornet Blackborne were Condemned and Executed at York on the 18 day of August at which Sessions Thorpe likewise in his Charge to the Grand-Jury magnified the late Actions of the Parliament and justified their Authority and endeavoured to shew its consonancy to the Laws which fine Oration is yet extant in Print About this time after much debate by these Judges and at the instance of the Army the Parliament passed the Act commonly called the Five Pound Act whereby Debtors in Prison upon their Oath that they were not worth five pound were discharged by Vertue whereof most of the Goals in England were emptied and room made for Cavaliers and Royalists of which party Sir Robert Heath the Noble and most Loyal Lord Chief-Justice of England being an excepted person by the Parliament died at Caen in Normandy about the end of August and Sir Kenelm Digby and Master Walter Mountague were ordered to depart the Kingdom as not being within any of the qualifications for Delinquents Composition Thus stood things at home in a Commanding and Authoritative posture we will see next how they fadge abroad and first the Scot their next Neighbours having an Army moving up and down in the North of that Kingdom to suppress the Montrossian Party which appeared in the Isles of Orkney the Marquess then bestirring himself in the Court of the Duke of Holstein for supplies and ready to Embarque having sent a forerunning Declaration wherein he recited the greatness of those condescentions to and that confidence his late Majesty had of them when he put himself into their Hands at Newark both which some wicked persons of that Nation had Trayterously abused even to the Murther of that blessed Prince and thereafter would impose Conditions and Limitations to their present Soveraign and desired all good and honest Subjects who had been misled to appear with him to the vindication of those injuries as well as reproach of the Scotch Nation c. and other Forces quartering about Edenborough had Decreed that no Provision whatsoever should he carried into England and shewed an absolute averseness to any further Treaty or Correspondence with the English but had dispatcht away the Laird of Windram one Master Libberton to the King who after his arrival at Zeland sailed to the King at
several Prayers which ended the Coif was put on His Majesties Head and the Colobium syndonis or Dalmatica then the Super-tunica of cloth of Gold with the Tissue buskins and Sandals of the same then the Spurs were put on by the Peer that carried them then the Arch-bishop took the Kings Sword and laid it on the Communion-Table and after Prayer restored it to the King which was Girt upon him by the Lord great Chamberlain then the Armil was put on next the Mantle or open Pall after which the Lord Arch-bishop took the Crown into his hands and laid it on the Communion-Table Prayed and then set it on the Kings Head whereupon all the Peers put on their Coronets and Caps the Choire singing an Anthem next the Arch-Bishop took the Kings Ring prayed again and put it on the Fourth Finger of the Kings Hand after which his Majesty took off his Sword and offered it up which the Lord great Chamberlain redeemed drew it out and carried it naked before the King Then the Arch-Bishop took the Scepter with the Cross and delivered it into His Majesties right Hand the Rod with the Dove in the left and the King kneeling blessed him which done the King ascended his Throne Royal the Lords Spiritual and Temporal attending him where after Te Deum the King was again Enthroned and then all the Peers did their Homage The Arch-Bishop first who then kissed the Kings left Cheek and after him the other Bishops After their Homage the Peers all together stood round about the King and every one in their order toucht the Crown upon his Head promising their readiness to support it with their power The Coronation being ended the Communion followed which his Majesty having received and offered returned to his Throne till the Communion ended and then went into St. Edwards Chappel there took off his Crown and delivered it to the Lord Bishop of London who laid it upon the Communion-Table which done the King withdrew into a Traverse where the Lord great Chamberlain of England disrobed the King of St. Edward's Robes and delivered them to the Dean of Westminster then His Majesty was newly arrayed with his Robes prepared for that day and came to the Communion-Table in St. Edward's Chappel where the Lord Bishop of London for the Arch-Bishop set the Crown Imperial provided for the King to wear that day upon his Head Then His Majesty took the Scepter and the Rod and the Train set in order before him went up to the Throne and so through the Choyre and body of the Church out at the West-door to the Palace of Westminster The Oathes of Fealty being casually omitted are here subjoyned as they were sworn in order I William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall be True and Faithful and true Faith and Truth bear unto you ou● Soveraign Lord and your Heirs Kings of England and shall and do and truly acknowledge the service of the Land which I claim to hold of You in right of the Church So help me God Then the Duke of York did the same in these Words Garter principal King at Arms attending him in his Ascent to the Throne I James Duke of York become Your Leigeman of Life of Limb and of Earthly Worship and Faith and Truth shall I bear unto You to live and dye against all manner of Folk The Dukes of Buckingham and Albemarle did the same for the Dukes The Marquesses of Worcester and Dorchester for the Marquesses The Earl of Oxford for the Earls Viscount Hereford for the Viscounts And the Lord Audley for the Barons Note that there were Collects and Prayers said upon the putting on of the Regalia as the Armil the Pall the delivery of the Scepter the Sword all according to ancient Form and upon the setting on of the Crown a peculiar Benediction The Bishop of Worcester's Sermon was Preached upon the 28 of Prov. verse 2. Before the King the Peers now according to their Ranks and degrees proceeded to the said Palace and not as they entred the Abbey but with their Coronets on at the upper end whereof there was a Table and Chair of State raised upon an ascent on the South-East-side of the Hall were two Tables placed the first for the Barons of the Cinque Ports the Bishops and Judges the other for the Masters and six Clerks of Chancery at which Table by some mistake or disturbance the Barons dined At the North-East-end the Nobility at one Table and behinde them close to the Wall the Lord-Mayor the Recorder the Aldermen and twelve principal Citizens in the Court of Common-pleas dined the Officers at Arms. Which Tables being served each had in all three Courses and a Banquet the King came in from the inner Court of Wards where he had staid half an hour and sat down and the Duke of York sate at the end of the same Table on the left hand the Earl of Dorset was Sewer and the Earl of Chesterfield his Assistant the Earl of Lincoln was Carver the Dishes were most of them served up by the Knights of the Bath at the second course came in Sir Edward Dymock who by the service of this day as the King's Champion holds his Mannor of Serivelsby in the County of Lincoln as several other services were performed upon the same account particularly Mr. Henry Howard in behalf of his Brother the Duke of Norfolk for a Mannor in Norfolk gave the King a rich right-hand-Glove during the Coronation with which he held the Scepter He was mounted upon a goodly White Courser himself Armed at all points and having staid a while advanced a little further with his two Esquires one bearing a Lance the other a Target and threw down his Gantlet the Earl-Marshal riding on his Left and the Lord High-Constable on his Right hand when York the Herauld read aloud his Challenge which was done the third and last time at the foot of the Ascent where the King dined and his Gantlet by the Herauld returned to him at every of the three times after it had layn a little while the Challenge was in these words If any person of what degree soever High or Low shall deny or gainsay our Soveraign Lord King Charles the second King of England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the Faith c. and Son and Heir to our Soveraign Lord Charles the first the late King deceased to be right Heir to the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England or that he ought not to enjoy the same Here is his Champion who saith that he lyeth and is a false Traytor being ready in person to Combate with him and on this quarrel will adventure his life against him what day soever he shall be appointed Which read aloud the Earl of Pembrook presented the King with a Guilt Cup fill'd with Wine who drank to his Champion and sent him the said Cup by the said Earl which after three Reverences and some steps backward he drunk off and kept it as his Fee
and departed Then Garter Principal King-at-Arms Proclaimed the King thrice with his Title in Latine French and English and at every time at the end cried Largess and the people shouted God save the King then the Lord Mayor Sir Richard Brown presented a Golden Cup and Cover full of Wine which the King drank off and gave it the Lord Mayor for his Fee By that time the third course was carrying in the King called for Water which the Earl of Pembrook assisted by another Earl brought in a Basin and Ewer and the King having washed withdrew to his Barge but before his departure it fell a Thundering Lightning and Raining as if it imitated the noise and fire of the Cannon which played from the Tower and it was observed that they kept time in this loud Musick so that they were distinctly to be heard the Thunder intermitting as if it staid to receive and answer the reciprocated and ecchoed Boation and clashes of the Guns And in all ancient Augury such signes were taken for the most auspicious however the mad remnant of the Rebellion would have it parallell'd to Saul's inauguration never considering the season nor the different occasion and case between the most ancient Kingly Right and descent in Christendom and that a new Title and Government in Iewry which had before the most special presence of God among them All the Kingdom over great rejoycing was made by Feasting and other Shows as Training the several Bands of the Countries with the additional Voluntary Gentry in a new and gallant Cavalry which shewed the resurrection of their former Loyalty in its immutable state of Peace But to proceed to the disclosing the whole lustre of this our present and most delightful Subject omitting the same Triumphs in Scotland and Ireland in the express resemblances of this Magnificence several Honours being conferred both by the Lord-Commissioner his Grace and the Lords-Justices on that Solemnity we will take a full view of all our personal Dignities at home We proceed then to those Magnificences of the King which are in him Honorante not in Honorato After the miserably vulgarly multitude of those evil Counsellors we had been oppress'd with for so many years who had raised themselves to the mysteries of Government by their publick scandals thereof in its former administration following the impious politicks of Absalom we saw an Assembly of Princes met in his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council whose superlative and eminent endowments assisted by their conspicuous Grandeur restored the form of the Brittish Empire such as Pallas gloried to be in the midst of her Heavenly descent such their Noble Extractions and their excellencies in all prudent menage of the Publick accomplished to Her own AUTHENTICAL INSTITUTION of true policy such Pilots whose happy and skilfull hand could guide the tossed Bark of the Kingdom in the darkest Night and the most frightful Tempests when there was neither Sun Moon nor Stars no face of Authority nor Rule no Directions nor Chart to follow in the unexampled case of our late Distractions and without any other Compass than their Piety to God Duty to their Prince and love to their Country by which they confidently steered through all those Shelves Rocks and Sands which imminently threatned its Shipwrack and Destruction Their sacred Names for perpetual Memory and to the Eternal Fame of this their blessed Conduct understanding that by his Majesties call to this sublime eminent dignity their precedent Services were signated and notified to the World as most Religiously and gratefully is due are here transmitted among the rest of his Majesties felicities to inquisitive Posterity The Names of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council HIs Royal Highness the Duke of York Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellor of England Earl of Southampton Lord Treasurer Lord Roberts Lord Privy Seal Duke of Albemarle Earl of Lindsey Lord High-Chamberlai● of England Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of his Majesties Houshould Marquess of Dorchester Earl of Northumberland Earl of Leicester Earl of Berkshire Earl of Portland Earl of Norwich Earl of St. Albans Earl of Sandwich Earl of Anglesey Earl of Carlisle Viscount Say and Seal Lord Wentworth Lord Seymor Chancellour of the Dutchy of Lancaster Lord Hollis Lord Cornwallis Lord Cooper Earl of Lauderdale Lord Berkly Sir George Carteret Sir Charles Compton Secretary Nicholas Secretary Morice To which have been since added Christopher Lord Hatton Rupert Duke of Cumberland the Duke of Buckingham Earl of Middleton a Scotch Lord the Kings Commissioner there From these Glories of the Crown we are next invited to as Illustrious those of Chivalry a medium betwixt War and Peace that there might be nothing that his Majesties Fortunes could not comprehend The most Honourable Order of the Garter Famous for its Martial and Civil Atchievements had been drag'd in the Dirt and trampled under Foot of Plebeian Anarchy and Usurpation when the innocent charm of its Motto H●ni soit qui mal y pense Evil be to him that Evil thinks which had preserved it so many Ages found not veneration nor respect being ridled by that Monster of Rebellion to be a badge and significator of its certain though long-look'd-for Vltion and Avengement in its own dire Retorts and self-punishing Revolutions It is not nor ever will be forgotten how they abased this Royal Ensigne the highest Order of Knighthood in the World when it was derided by the most abject and meanest degree of the People when its True Blue was stained with the Blot of Faintise and imbecility of courage till another Saint George arose to be its Champion Assertor and Restorer of its Renown and Glory Some of these most Honourable Knights survived his Majesties Restitution some he made abroad others he decreed so and they were so de jure having had the Order sent them but the Investiture wanting The rest of these Noble Companions were allied to the Restoration all of them are ranked in the manner as they sate at Windsor April 16. 1662 being St. George his day where after the usual Magnificent Procession His Majesty renewed the usual Solemnities and Grandeurs thereof Himself being there in Person The Fellows and Companions of the most Noble Order of St. GEORGE commonly called the GARTER as they were the 23 of April in the Thirteenth year of King Charles the Second 1661. CHarles the Second King of Great Britain France and Ireland Soveraign of the Order Iames Duke of York the Kings only Brother Charles Lodowick Prince Elector Palatine Frederick William Marquess and Elector of Brandenburgh Rupert Count Palatine of the Rhine and Duke of Cumberland Edward Count Palatine of the Rhine William of Nassau Prince of Orange Barnard Duke of Espernon Charles Prince of Tarante William Cecil Earl of Salisbury Thomas Howard Earl of Berk-shire Algernon Piercy Earl of Northumberland Iames Butler Duke of Ormond George Villiers Duke of Buckingham Thomas Wriothesley Earl of Southampton William Cavendish Marquess of Newcastle George Digby Earl of Bristol
into which Sweden had offer'd to enter as a Principal Then putting them in minde of his vast Expences pas● and necessarily to ensue by the building of Ships and setting out another Navy he desir'd their speedy assistance with Money Lastly he recommended to their care to consider of a course how to beget a better Union of his Protestant Subjects After this Peace with the Dutch ensued the Peace with Spain not only renewing the ancient Friendship but enlarging the Trade and Commerce between both Kingdoms concluded in May last and this Moneth Proclaimed in England Toward the beginning of the Moneth the Count De Dona Embassador Extraordinary from the Crown of Sweden arriv'd at London but before he had concluded his Negotiation died in May following Toward the latter end of the Moneth Sir William Temple Envoy Extraordinary from his Majesty to the States of the Vnited Provinces having exchanged the Ratification of the late concluded League concluded another League concerning Maritime Affairs and having sent it into England for confirmation departed from Holland for Brussels The third of this Moneth was Launch'd that Famous Ship still known by the Name of Charles the Second This Moneth also upon the Petition of the Commons in Parliament a Proclamation was issu'd forth to enforce the Laws against Conventicles and for preserving the Peace of the Nation against unlawful Assemblies Forein Affairs 1667. A Gentleman of Savoy having his Head cut off at Geneva for some Crime committed there the Duke of Savoy did so exceedingly resent their Proceedings which he affirm'd to be both against the last Treaty between that City and him and against the Law of Nations that he was resolv'd to employ his Arms against them The City of Geneva appeal'd to the Switzers who in a Dyet at Baden as well of the Roman-Catholicks as Protestants where were also present the Embassadors of the Emperour and King of Spain unanimously resolv'd to give their Assistance to Geneva The Emperour's Embassador declar'd the like in the Name of his Master who was oblig'd to protect Geneva as an Imperial City being unjustly assaulted by a Prince of the Empire The Spanish Embassador deliver'd himself also in their favour But the main Affair which alarm'd the Princes of Europe was the pretension which the King of France made to the Spanish Netherlands and his great preparations to get the possession of what he laid claim to by force of Arms. Castle-Rodrigo represented to the King of France the scandal which would be given to all the World when they should see him engaged in a War against a Brother of only six years of age and a Regency subordinate to the Laws of a Testator without any form of Justice or demand of satisfaction That he doubted not but the Queen his Mistriss would willingly refer her self to the Princes of the Roman Empire to the Crown of England or the Vnited Provinces And there●ore left it to his consideration how unjust it would be to attempt any Invasion without those Formalities and Interpositions which the Christian Princes had always observed Of this the King of France takes little notice for he thought he had done enough a little before by his Letter to the Queen of Spain wherein he wrote to her that she could not but know the right which the Queen his Wife had to several Territories of the Netherlands which she knowing to be solid had desir'd her Majesty to take particular Cognizance of and do her Justice therein That she in her Answer had not only pretended that she could not upon any consideration of that Affair enter into a discussion thereof but had sent Orders to the Governour of Flanders to administer the Oath of Fidelity to be administred to all the States and People of that Country which being an absolute refusal of doing him Justice had put him upon a necessity of being wanting to his Honour to himself to his Queen and the Dolphin his Son should he not by force of Arms endeavour to obtain that reason which had been denied him The Queen of Spain returns for Answer that the King of France could not be ignorant of the just Rights of the King her Son however that she was willing to enter into an Amicable Treaty wherein the Rights of her Son and Him might be seasonably examin'd so that Justice might take place by the ways and means most proper But the King of France not liking these delays of Words falls into the Spanish Territories in the Netherlands and takes Tournay Doway Bergen St. Winox Courtrich Oudenard and Lille and almost wholly reduces those parts under his Jurisdiction and besides all this he defeats a great part of the Spanish Army under Marcin killing 2000 upon the place and pursuing the rest to the very Walls of Damin On the other side he sends the Duke of Crequi with a Body of 8000 men to secure Alsatia and to prevent any Succours that the Emperour might send And hearing that his Forces were upon their March commanded the Prince of Conde as Generalissimo of that place to send a supply to Crequi to lie in their way Toward the latter end of the Year he fell into Franche Comte where the Prince of Conde took Bessanson Dole Gray Besterans Rochefort and so many other places that by the latter end of February the Conquest of that place was wholly compleated Though the Swedes stood firm to England during the War yet now that the King of England had concluded a Peace with the Dutch they also did the same The chief Conditions of the Treaty were That Swedeland should give up all their pretensions upon account of the Fort Cabo Corso in Guiny and the Ship Christina That the Swedes should give up all their Rights to the East-Indies and neither directly nor indirectly sail into those Coasts upon the account of Trade For which the King of Sweden should receive from the Dutch the sum of 140000 Crowns This Year toward the latter end of May died Pope Alexander the 7 th in the sixty ninth year of his Age and the twelfth of his Papacy In his place after several warm disputes was at length chosen Iulio Rospigliosi of Pistoya Secretary of State to the late Pope deceased He entred upon the Chair in the 71 year of his age by the Name of Clement the ninth As for the Venetian he had his hands full this year the City of Candy being now closely Besieged but though it were with greater numbers Assaulted it was with greater courage all this year defended Nor was Poland free from the Irruptions of the Tartars who had almost defeated the Polish General Sobieskie but that he made a timely Peace with them upon condition of a general Oblivion release of Prisoners on both sides and a sum of Money to be paid them Anno Dom. 1668. TOward the end of March several idle persons in and about the City being got together and abusing the Liberty giv●n 'um by
the Holy-days it being then Easter-week tumultuously took upon 'um to pull down Houses of ill fame about the Suburbs according to former practises though their chief designe was to Steal and Plunder Some mischief they did and more intended had they not been dispers'd by the Guards of Horse The Scandal lay upon the Prentices but afterwards it appear'd otherwise Four of the number that were apprehended were upon Tryal found Guilty and Executed two of their Heads being set upon London-Bridge The twelfth of this Moneth the King went to the House of Lords where he was presented by the House with several Bills the chief whereof was one for the raising of 310000 l. by way of Imposition upon Wines and other Liquors which being pass'd with the rest the Parliament was adjourn'd till the 11 th of August next ensuing The place of Lord Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas being vacant Sir Iohn Vaughan was at the latter end of this Moneth solemnly Sworn Serjeant at Law and being the next day advanc'd to the vacant Dignity aforesaid took his place accordingly in Court. This Moneth arrived News that came then too soon of the burning of the Bridge-Town being the chief place of Trade in the Barbadoes the Fire not only consuming the greatest part of the Houses but also blowing up the Magazine to the great detriment of the publick as well as private persons But as it fares with most convenient Situations all hands going to work it quickly flourished again being above half rebuilt before the latter end of the year His Majesty had his Embassadors of Envoys in most other parts of Christendom only Spain and therefore having first conferr'd the Honour of Knighthood upon Sir William Godolphin hs made choice of him to reside as his Embassador in the Court of the Catholick King sending him away with all convenient speed And to keep a Correspondence with the Grand Signior for the good of the Merchants Sir Daniel Harvey was sent much about the same time Embassador to Constantinople These were no sooner gone but Monsieur Colbert arriv'd at London as Embassador from the King of France At the beginning of this Moneth the Duke of York went for Dover neer which place in a Tent erected for that purpose he took the usual Oath of Warden of the Cinque Ports And to shew that his Majesty was not unmindful of keeping a Watch upon the Proceedings of the Netherlands it was not long after that Sir William Temple now the King's Embassador Extraordinary in Holland made his publick Entry into the Hague and had his Audience of the Deputies of the States It was in August expected the Parliament should have met again but the King by his Proclamation for great and weighty considerations adjourn'd them to the tenth of November ensuing In November upon the Resignation of the Lord Gerrard the Duke of Monmouth receives the Command of the Life-guards of Horse being openly conferrd upon him by the King Some few days after Pietro Mocenigo Embassador from the Republick of Venice made his publick Entry and had Audience of his Majesty And now Mr. Secretary Maurice growing old and ti●'d with State-Affairs craves leave of the King to make a resignation of his most important employment which being consented to by his Majesty Sir Iohn Trevor Knight succeeded him who at the same time taking the usual Oaths of a Privy-Councellor soon after was admitted to take his place at the Council-board Nor was the King less careful of the Church than State this Moneth being famous for the Consecration of that Learned Prelate Dr. Iohn Wilkins Bishop of Chester in the Chappel of Ely-House His Majesty's Navy though considerable had done little else but shew'd its Grandeur all this Summer when on a suddain Sir Thomas Allen being dispatch'd for the Mediterranean appears before Argier where though at first they stood upon their terms yet when they saw him preparing to use force their Stomacks began to come down so that they immediately offer'd a release of all the Captive English which had been taken by them belonging to Tangier They also agreed to the former Peace made between the King of England and them with some additions which were signed by them and Sir Thomas Allen to this effect That all their Captains should be commanded to let all English Vessels pass without damage or molestation upon their shewing English Colours If in any Vessel the English were equal to the Strangers then they should be free if the Strangers exceeded the English then Lawful Prize however if they shew'd an English Pass to be let go That none of their little Frigats with Oars shall stop any Vessel laden with Provisions or Ammunition for Tang●er That they shall not deliver any of their little Frigats with Oars to any of the Salley-men to make use of That if any of their little Vessels intended for Tangier they should take a Pass from the English Consul at Argier From thence he sail'd for Tripoli at whose appearance the King of the place sent out a Brigantine and a Favourite of his to bid him welcome assuring him of his readiness to keep and maintain the ancient Friendship and continue the Articles already agreed on The Parliament who had adjourn'd themselves to the first of March were about the middle of this Moneth by the King's Proclamation Prorogu'd for many weighty and urgent reasons till the tenth of October following The Births of Princes and Princesses oftentimes the subjects of Great Histories are never to be omitted Therefore was this Moneth not a little signalized seeing the Dutchess of York was about the middle thereof deliver'd of a Daughter which was Baptized by the Name of Henrietta by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Duke of Ormond assisting as Godfather the Marchioness of Dorchester and the Countess of Devonshire being honour'd for Godmothers The King in testimonie of his Amity with Spain had sent Sir Edward Sprague as his Envoy to complement the Constable o● Castile upon his Entry upon the Government of the Spanish Netherlands who having perform'd what he had in charge return'd at the latter end of this Moneth That which compleated the double date of this Year was the coming of the Prince of Tuscany to compleat his Travels by a view of England where after he had been magnificently Treated by the King himself both at London and Windsor and in many other Cities and places by several of the Nobility and persons of Quality of this Kingdom he departed for Holland and so to his own Country Forrein Affairs 1668. The Differences at Avignon being compos'd the Citizens sent two Embassadors one on the behalf of the Nobility the other of the Commonalty to Rome who being admitted into the presence of the Pope sware F●alty to him after the usual manner and shew'd their great Satisfaction of the choise which the Pope had made of Cardinal Rospigliosi his Nephew to
which was to have met in October next was upon weighty considerations adjourned till the fourth of February following But in Scotland the Parliament had sate till this very time and had made several Act for the publick good of the Nation among the rest one that gave toward the defraying the King's Expences 864000 l. Sterling About this time also the Duke returning to London from the Fleet put an end to all further expectations of any considerable actions at Sea this year But to return to the French Camp Marshal Turenne upon the approach of the Imperialists and Brandenburghers sends to the Electors and Princes of the Empire to let them know in the King of France's Name That it was not the King's intention to meddle with any thing that belonged to the Empire and that if any of his Troops had entred into it it was the inevitable consequences of the War against the United Provinces and therefore understanding that several Forces were upon their march toward his Conquests to disturb his Possession and to give occasion of jealousie to his Allies he was therefore obliged to pass his Army over the Rhine And as for the Duke of Brandenburgh that the King had frequently requested him not to meddle with a War in which he had no concern And therefore if things went further they were desir'd to take notice that it was once in their power to have preserved the peace of the Empire and their own The Elector of Cologne and Bishop of Munster openly declared at the Dyet against the March of the Imperialists but the rest being for the most part Deputies could make no Reply without larger Commissions But the Duke of Hanover absolutely shew'd his dislike of their March by denying them passage through his Territories But now Sir Edw. Sprague gives us occasion to return to Sea again who being left with a Squadron to keep the Seas went to the Northwards where he spoil'd the Dutch Fishing-trade taking a Buss several Doggers and 350 Prisoners By Land Fortune might have been more kinde to a young General such as was the Prince of Orange in his first attempts but she favour'd him not at all For whereas he thought to have done great things he had still the worst in all his chiefest designes first at Woerden which he thought to have retaken from the French but being encounter'd by the Duke of Luxemburgh was forc'd to retreat with the loss of above 1500 of his men the second time at Charleroy which he had surrounded with the assistance of Count Marci● in order to lay a formal Siege to the place but being assail'd from without by the Sieur Montal and by the Garrison from within he was forc'd to raise his Siege and march off having lost neer 700 of his Souldiers the last in his attacque upon Swart-sluce where his designe again failing above 1600 of the Dutch came short home As for any thing else this year there was little considerable done either by the Prince Turenne or Bournonvile who was now General of the Imperialists in the place of Montecuculi Onely a kinde of Chess-play among the great Commanders and moving of the Armies from place to place as the Commanders saw most for their advantage yet for all that Turenne got ground and advanced as far as Hoxter Returning home we finde some changes of great Officers The Lord-Keeper Bridgeman desirous through Age to resigne his place the Earl of Shaftsbury was in his room made Lord-Chancellor of England and not long after the Commissioners of the Treasury laid aside and Thomas Lord Clifford Controuler made Lord High Treasurer And now the time coming on for opening the Exchequer again the King by another Declaration signified that the same inevitable Necessities still continuing which urg'd him to make the first stop did now compel him to make a second till the first of May ensuing In Holland the Duke of Luxenburgh General for the King of France taking advantage of the Frost with a great body of men advances almost as far as Leyden forces the Dutch from the strong Posts of Bodegrave Newerbrug and Swammerdam and takes them which put the Cities of Leyden and Amsterdam into such a Consternation that the Dutch to defend themselves were forc'd to cut their Dikes and put the Country under Water which caus'd such an Inundation that all the course Goods in Cellars and Ware-houses were utterly spoil'd being forc●d to bring all their Cattle into New Town and to kill great numbers of them meerly for want of Fodder for them But among all these disasters the retaking of Coverden did not a little revive them which they took with little loss the Bishop of Munster having drawn out a considerable part of the Garrison a little before upon some other designe Toward the beginning of December the Duke of Richmond Extraordinary Embassador from the King of England to the Court of Denmark departed this life He had been at Elsenore to dispatch the English Fleet there in a season of much Snow and very excessive Cold whence going aboard the Yarmouth-Frigat toward the Evening he return'd to shore in the ships Pinnace but in his passage was so pierc'd with the extremity of the sharp Air that before he came to the Shore he was insensible of what he did and in that condition being carried to his Calesche expired therein in his passage to Elsenore Upon his death the vacant honour of Knight of the Garter was supplied by the Earl of Southampton who was immediately Elected by the Soveraign and Companions of the Order It was no time to act but to provide for War and therefore the King in order to his preparations for the next Spring for the encouragement of his Seamen puts forth a Proclamation promising to every Seaman that would voluntarily List themselves in a Second Rate a free Largess to the value of six Weeks pay and to every one that would voluntarily List themselves in a Third Rate a free Largess to the value of one Moneths pay And further that their Pay should begin from the very first day of their Listing themselves Toward the latter end of the Year the Parliament the time of Prorogation being expired met again and being summoned to attend the King in the House of Lords the Chancellor by the King's Command acquainted them that by the advancement of Sir Edward Turner to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer the place of Speaker of the House was void and being thereupon directed to choose a new one they returned to the House and elected Sir Iob Charleton In the Afternoon of the same day the King met them again in the Lords House where after he had approved their choice he declared to them the success and charge of the War and his resolutions to carry it on with their assistance for the honour of the Nation which particulars were more largely insisted upon by the Lord Chancellor The