free Trumpet sending into England with the Prince Don Mendosa de Alcorcana to our King to congratulate the Princes happy Voyage into Spain and his safe return into England And from thence he had instructions to go into Flanders Germany and Italy to make known to all Princes and Potentates Allies to the King of Spain how neer the Treaty of Marriage betwixt the Prince of England and the Infanta of Spain was to be consummated And the Polonian Ambassadour at Madrid that solicited to have the Infanta for the Prince of Poland when he saw such preparations for the Match with England fainted in his Hopes and returned home For as soon as the Dispensation came from the new Pope which was in the Beginning of December Bonefires were made throughout all Spain for joy and the great Ordnance every where thundred out the noise of it The ninth of the month was prefixt for the Mariage day a Tarras being erected betwixt the Court and the next Church almost a quarter of a mile in length covered with Tapestry for the more magnificence and all things appointed in the highest State for so great a Solemnity Presents were providing in the Court of Spain for Our King and Prince the Infantas family to take into England was setled and established She had used her best skill among the Sweets of Spain as one of the Principal of them to cloth her Lord and Husband with some suits of perfumed Amber leather some imbroidered with Pearl and some with gold she had practiced long the English tongue to make it natural by the help of her two Iesuit Tutors Wadsworth and Boniface and began to draw the letters which she intended to have written the day of her Espousals to the Prince her Husband and the King her Father-in-law Her journeyinto England being resolved on about the Beginning of March In this State and perfection were the affairs of Spain when Our King's commands like a Cloud overshadowed the Brightness of them For Bristol had now Order to declare positively to the King of Spain that without the Restitution of the Palatinate and the Electoral Dignity the Treaty should proceed no further Four Messengers viz. Mr. Killigrew Gresly Wood and Davies followed each other at the heels which raised such a dust of Discontentment among the people at Madrid that as some report they wished they had broken their necks by the way so highly were the Commonalty of Spain affected with the Match And if they felt the Influence of this cloudy Message what did the Lady Infanta and the King do The one to lose her Lover the other to lose his Honour She whose Heart was affected and He who found himself affronted But his answer to Bristol was The Palatinate was none of his to give and the Electorate was in the Power of another but if the Emperor and the Duke of Bavaria would not yield to reason he would Arm himself on our King's part against them But this would not satisfie fair Promises having now lost their Virtue and the King of Spain discerning a Breach towards by this Various Motion sent to the Earl of Bristol to demand no more Audience of him to deliver no more Letters to the Infanta and gave command that none should call her hereafter Princess of England This was the end of seven years Treaty Wherein the King of England a King of Peace in spight of all the Spanish Armadoes got the Victory and Spain for many years did not receive so great an overthrow Yet they were paid in their own Coin For at the first and in the highest Progress of the Treaty when Our King was so eager for the Match in all likelyhood they never intended it But the Prince's Presence gaining much with both Sexes his Journey into Spain being esteemed among them so glorious an action and the hopes they had now by this Marriage to propagate the Catholick Cause finding the Prince as they thought something inclined that way better digested their first intentions and brought it to the state from whence it declined The Duke of Buckingham by the insinuation of a long converse having brought the Prince up to his own Humor taught him to look back to the Beauty he had seen in France which was neerer to him that he might remember the Spanish no more now esloigned from him But the Treaty with Spain must be first dissolved to give a tincture of Honor to a proceeding with the other and nothing but a Parliament shall do that which thâ—y had fore-determined For a Parliament taking away the cause which was a Treaty of Peace were best able to make good the effect which would be a War that must follow it Therefore a Parliament was summoned to meet the 12 th of February but a sad accident intervened which made it to be deferred for some few daies That morning the Parliament was to begin the King missed the Duke of Richmond's attendance who being a constant observer of him at all times the King as it were wanted one of his Limbs to support the Grandure of Majesty at the first solemn meeting of a Parliament and calling for him with earnestness a Messenger was dispatched to his Lodgings in Hast where the King's Commands and the Messenger Importunity made the Dutchess his wife somewhat unwillingly go to the Duke's Bed-side to awake him who drawing the Curtain found him dead in his Bed The suddenness of the affright struck her with so much Consternation that she was scarce sensible of the Horror of it and it was carried with that violence to the King that he would not adorn himself that day to ride in his Glories to the Parliament but put it off to the nineteenth of February following dedicating some part of that time to the Memory of his dead Servant who might serve as a fore-runner to the King and an Emblem to all his People That in the dark caverns of Man's Body Death often lurkes which no Humane Prudence or Providence is able to discover For the Dutchess to some of her intimates confessed afterwards that She found the effects of his full Veines that night that he was found dead the next Morning The portraiture of the illustreous Princesse Frances Duchess of Richmond and Lenox daughter of Thomas LD. Howard of Bindon sonne of Thomas Duke of Norfok. whose mother was Elisabeth daughter of Edward Duke of Buckingham Anno 1623. When She was Countess of Hertford and found admirers about her She would often discourse of her two Grand-Fathers the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham recounting the time since one of her Grand-Fathers did this the other did that But if the Earl her Husband came in presence she would quickly desist for when he found her in those Exaltations to take her down he would say Frank Frank How long is it since thou wert Married to Prannel which would damp the Wings of her Spirit and make her look after her feet as well as gawdy Plumes One
cannot be asserted being above our Sphere yet as Mathematicians do propose to themselves imaginary Circles for the several motions in the Heavens and though there be none discovered yet they find the effects of what they apprehend So the sudden stopping of Monsons Tryal put strange imaginations into mens heads and those seconded by Reports too high for private discovery their operation only falling under the common notion But the Lord Chief Justice was blamed for flying out of his way that having enough to prosecute the business he would grasp after more till he lost all For this Crime was thought second to none but the Gunpowder-plot that would have blown up all indeed at a blow a merciful cruelty this would have done the same by degrees a lingring but as sure a way one by one might have been culled out till all opposers had been removed Besides the other Plot was scandalous to Rome making Popery odious this was scandalous to the Gospel ever since the first Nullity The Devil could not have invented a more mischievous practice to Church and State William Seymour Marquis and Earle of Hartford and Baron Beauchamp GRAUE PONDUS ILLA MAXIMA NOBILITAS PREMIT Anno 1619. And now the Temples of Ianus being shut Warlike Abilliaments grew rusty and Bellona put on Masking-attire for Scotland bought her Peace at a good rate and Ireland found the fruits of hers growing up to her hand Those Irish that had great Estates though rude enough the King suppled and tamed with Honours and they that had little were content calmly to suck in what they had and battel'd by it so that they wanted nothing but moderation to make them happy These Halcion days shined round about us The influence of our Kings peaceable mind had almost an universal operation Spains ambition was contented to be bounded by the Pirene Hills and the Atlantick Ocean sucking in the fruits of Italy and Sicily and hoarding up the Treasures of the Indies willingly singing a Requiem to the Netherlands France wanting Exercise surfeited with diseases at home which by fits broke out into Tumors among themselves The Germans swelled into a Dropsie of Voluptuousness by Plenty and the sweets of Peace Politick Bodies are like Natural Full feeding contracts gross humors which will have vent Only such Exercise as may refine and keep the spirits active and digest the grosser and fulginous matter strengthens the Nerves of a Kingdom or Republick Nothing now but bravery and feasting the Parents of Debauchery and Riot flourished among us There is no Theam for History when men spill more drink than blood when plots and contrivances for Lust acted in dark corners are more practised than Stratagems in War and when the Stages with silken Pageants and Poppets that slacken the sinews are more frequented than those Theaters of Honor where Industry brawns and hardens the Arms Peace is a great Blessing if it bring not a Curse with it but War is more happy in its effects than it especially if it takes away the distemper that grows by long surfets without destroying the Body But since these buskind ornaments are wanting we must imbellish our Discourses with such passages as paced up and down in the sock of Peace There had been in Prince Henries time a Treaty of Marriage betwixt him and a Daughter of Spain which took no effect Our King was real in his intentions not willing to have his Sons Beams to display themselves but in a Royal Horizon The Spanish policy clouded the business with delays whether from the old grudg that was betwixt Queen Katharine and Henry the eighth or the difference between the Nations in Religion But the Spanish Courtesie being loth directly and point blank to tell our King he liked not the Conjunction went with a slow-paced Gravity such as he thought befitted the Civility of Princes and gave a little light to hope that it might be accomplished But Salisbury and others that managed those great affairs then did at this chink discover that their formalities were but Spanish Complements which like the air that gave them being soon vanished away After this our Kings thoughts cast about how he might provide a fit match for Prince Charles who shined in the same sphere of Honor that his Brother left for a better but not so much inlightned with the peoples love being less active and splendid and that I may not call it sullenness more reserved The German Dames were discoursed on where his Sister shined in her Glory as being of the same Religion and more suitable in Christian Policy but they were in a manner Subjects to the Emperor and that would give an allay to the Super-elementary extraction of Kings which should be of a higher Origine to amuse and that they might be the more admired by their people and therefore not so fitting in State-Policy And seeing there were small hopes expected from Spain a Daughter to Henry the great late King of France was aimed at and Sir Thomas Edmonds our Kings Lieger Ambassador had long before this time made his little addresses superficially and founded the Chanel but he met some Rocks and Remoras in the way so that he could not discover clearly their intentions and the King was loth to express himself plainly lest he should receive an affront And now sending as he thought it civilly necessary an Extraordinary Ambassador to congratulate the King of France his Marriage with Anna the Infanta of Spain he thought it good policy to take this occasion to make a stricter scrutiny whether there were any ground to rest upon for matching his Son And who is fitter for that employment being only for Courtship and Bravery than the Lord Hayes a Gentleman whose Composition of mind tended that way He was born in Scotland where bravery was in no superfluity bred up in France where he could not have it in extravagancy but he found it in England and made it his vanity The King had a large hand and he had a large heart and though he were no great Favourite ever yet he was never but in favour He with a great Train of young Noblemen and other Courtiers of eminency suited themselves with all those ornaments that could give lustre to so dazelling an appearance as Love and the Congratulation of it carried with it All the study was who should be most glorious and he had the happiest fancy whose invention could express something Novel neat and unusual that others might admire So that Huntingtons Prophecy was fulfilled here when speaking of the time of the Scots Conquest of England he said Multimoda variatione vestium indumentorum designaretur I remember I saw one of the Lord Ambassadors Suits and pardon me that I take notice of such petty things the Cloak and Hose were made of very fine white Beaver imbroidered richly all over with Gold and Silver the Cloak almost to the Cape within and without having no lining but imbroidery The
Scorns and Contempts were put upon the King and in him on the Whole Nation And now the Treaty goes on amain The Lord Digby is sent into Spain extraordinary Ambassador To relate the manner of whose entertainment after his arrival there it may not be impertinent for by it may be discovered the Course-grain of Spanish civility and how much our Ambassador went against the hair then though happily the way may be smother now He landed at St. Andero in Biscay a poor Maritime Town where the people for the most part go all barefoot and there his Lordship had the patience to stay a Fortnight expecting the Court civilities which were then upon remove from Madrid to Lerma being part of the way to St. Andero without any intention to meet his Lordship When his expectations were tired with attending their Formalities he sent his Secretary Simon Digby to Madrid to be a Solicitor to the Duke of Lerma who then bore the sway that he might have his first Audience at Lerma And after some waiting time though he had Our King's Agent Mr. Cottington for his Assistant he was returned with a Spanish shrug That the King would by no means admit of his desire because he knew the Ambassador came about business and he went to Lerma only for pleasure This was a Rub in his Lordship's way and being impatient till it were removed he sent again to Court a second Petition which was to be presented with all the power Cottington could make and his importunity got the upper hand of the Spanish Resolution though much against their minds that he might come to Lerma for which his Lordship was so elevated in his spirits that he pleased himself in an endeavouring way to express That the King of Spain would not have done this favour to any Ambassador but the King of England's nor to any that our King should have sent but himself And it may be partly true for none it is hoped would have begg'd it so shamefully as he did for there was no business to be expected that must be turned into feasting and jollity and if he had not hunted after the King of Spain for the favour they would have let Don Iuvan as they called him dance attendance at Madrid till all their Sports at Lerma had been finished For all his Train many of them Knights and Gentlemen of good quality murmured to see him so sleighted by the Spaniard that being known to be a whole month in the Countrey he had not the least message or civility from the Court which extraordinary miscarriage would have put any but an Extraordinary Ambassador out of countenance But his Lordship made Bonne mine and pleased himself with the great favours he should receive at Lerma and so came forward to Burgos which is within twenty English miles of Lerma And though the Court had been a Fortnight at Lerma yet there was no more news of his Reception at Burgos than if he had been still at St. Andero And now his Lordship fearing they would wholly neglect him thought it his best course to send Cottington who met him at Burgos to Lerma to learn what their pleasure was to do with him who returning brought word that the next day he should have advice what Order would be taken And accordingly one of the Duke of Lerma's Secretaries sent a poor fellow with a Letter that the next day being Sunday there should be two Coaches sent to bring his Lordship on Tuesday following to Villa Manza a Village a mile short of Lerma where his Lodgings should be ready and the King's Harbingers attending to prepare all things with Diligence This gave new life to his Lordship's spirits the Coaches came according to the time and to Villa Manza they went every man furnished in his best accoutrements hoping to see the Count that night But they only found a pitiful poor ragged Village where enquiring for the Lord Ambassador's house the honest Country people told them surely they were mistaken they knew of no house nor Harbinger nor what they meant being as much amazed at the strange questions of the English as they had cause to be at their strange Entertainment The English romed up and down the Town and could discover no house fit for the Ambassador to go into so that he was forced to sit in the Coach and sent Walsingham Greisley in all haste to Lerma to know how he should be disposed of Greisley returned and told the Ambassador They were all so busie in seeing a Play that he could not come to speak with any man that understood any thing relating to his Lordship Which so distracted him that he began to doubt whether Villa Manza were the place and it begot a new Scrutiny but the Scruple was quickly removed by finding Villa Manza in the Letter in very legible characters And now he could no longer dissemble like an Ambassador but supplying with impatience what he wanted in Authority commanded the Coachmen in a very hasty manner to drive back to Burgos which they very punctually refused whereupon his Lordship leapt out of the Coach and in a great Choller mounted on Horseback crying to his Company Away The Coachmen seeing him resolute and fearing to lose their Reward told his Lordship They would venture a Chiding to do him service which dismounted him again and he entered the Coach but before the wheels turned about his mind changed and by some little whispering advice of Cottington's he now determined to tarry there all night So that after sitting still four hours in a Coach he made a worse choice entring into a poor Cottage where bare walls and want of such sitting furniture as helps Nature's weariness might tell his Lordship that the Commons of England stand on a better foundation than wooden shoes Yet the Owner of this house welcomed his Lordship with as much gravity as if it had been a well provided Castle so that there was little pleasure to be taken to hear one so over-furnished with words that had such empty rooms Francis Cottington Lord Cottington of Hannorth Mr of the Court of Wards Chancellour of the Exchequer The next morning Cottington went to Court betimes where he spake with the Duke of Lerma representing to him the disorder that had been at Villa manza whereat the Duke seemed highly offended with the Officers and as he was in his heat in comes the Harbinger who being questioned for this miscarriage told the Duke before Cottington's face that the Ambassador expected two or three Grandees should be sent to receive him which failing in he grew so cholerick that when he came to do his service he threatned to throw him out at the Window The Duke perhaps glad of the occasion gave by way of Diversion good ear to the fellow's words and putting on the severest Countenance told Cottington He did not think that so great a Councellor as Don Iuan would have so miscarried with passion as to menace and affront the King's Officer
Letter which happily he might think would quicken the Pope to dispatch the Dispensation when he should find so little cause for Delayes by his closing so nearly with him Which whether out of Policy or Real intention cannot be asserted but the Letter was thus MOst Holy Father I received the Dispatch from your Holiness with great content and with that Respect which the Piety and care wherewith your Holiness writes doth require It was an unspeakable pleasure to me to read the Generous Exploits of the King 's my Predecessors to whose Memory Posterity hath not given those praises and Elogies of Honour that were due to them I do believe that your Holiness hath set their Example before my Eyes to the end that I might imitate them in all my Actions for in truth they have often exposed their Estates and Liâ—es for the Exaltation of the Holy Chair And the â—ouâ—â—ge with which they have assaulted the Enemies of the Cross of Iesus Christ hath not been less then the Care and thought which I have to the end that the Peace and Intelligence which hath hitherto been wanting in Christendom might be bound with a bond of true concord for like as the common Enemy of Peace watcheth alwayes to put Hatred and Dissention between Christian Princes so I believe that the Glory of God requires that we should endeavour to unite them And I do not esteem it a greater Honour to be descended from so great Princes then to imitate them in the Zeal of their Piety In which it helps me very much to have known the Mind and Will of our Thrice Honoured Lord and Father and the Holy Intentions of his Catholick Majesty to give a happy Concurrence to so laudable a Design For it grieves him extreamly to see the great Evil that grows from the Division of Christian Princes which the Wisdom of your Holiness foresaw when it judged the Marriage which you pleased to design between the Infanta of Spain and my self to be necessary to procure so great a good For 't is very certain that I shall never be so extreamly affectionate to any thing in the World as to endeavour allyance with a Prince that hath the same apprehension of the true Religion with my self Therefore I intreat your Holiness to believe that I have been alwayes far from encouraging Novelties or to be a Partisan of any faction against the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion But on the contrary I have sought all occassions to take away the suspicion that might rest upon me and that I will imploy my self for the Time to come to have but one Religion and one Faith seeing that we all believe in One Jesus Christ. Having resolved in my self to spare nothing that I may have in the World and to suffer all manner of Discommodities even to the hazarding of my estate and life for a thing so pleasing unto God It rests only that I thank your Holiness for the permission which you have been pleased to afford me and that I may pray God to give you a blessed Health here and his Glory after so much travel which your Holiness takes within his Church Signed CHARLES STUART It may well be a Quere Whether this profession of the Prince in suffering all discommodities even to the Hazarding of Estate and Life did not rest upon him at his Death as may be said hereafter But there is a long Race for him to run before he come to that End It seems he had either a good Will to write this Letter or a bad Council to indite it or both conjoyned that were as careful to please the Pope as they were hopeful it would never come to see the light till the flame of it would be too visible For if the Prince intended Really when he had power to introduce Popery into England this Letter in a bloody colour too apparently would have been discovered and if his intentions were formal and only to close with the Pope for his present accommodation how black would every Character of this letter look to the Roman Rubrick and what a Tincture of Scandal would it leave upon the true Religion for Fallere fallentem may be a fit Motto for a bad man not a good Christian so that whatsoever his Intentions were the Act was evill And I could suspect it is a forged Letter but that it hath been asserted by so many Authors both at home and abroad The Pope finding by this letter and some other private intimations the Princes good affections to the Roman See thought it high time to dally no longer but to draw him altogether with the Cords of Love therefore he dispatches the Dispensation to his Nuntio at Madrid six months after the Prince's arrival there with a little Bob at the Tail of it yet to amuse them Which was That the King of Great Britain and the Prince should give Caution to perform what was stipulated between them and the King of Spain especially in those Articles which were in favour of the Roman Catholicks in England and other his Majestie 's Dominions Requiring at least some Soveraign Catholick Prince should engage for them by oath This made some little demur for being sent into England the King answered That he could give no other Caution but his own and the Princes Royal Words and Oaths Confirmed by his Council of State and Exemplified under the great Seal of England But this would not satisfie Therefore the King of Spain undertook it and it was thought a Spanish Device That by undertaking such an engagement he might not only the more endear himself to the King of Great Britain and to the Prince his Brother but have a more colourable pretext to make War against England if the Roman Catholicks there had not full satisfaction and freedom according to the Articles and the King of Spain knowing or assureing himself that no Catholick Prince would take such an Oath offered himself to satisfie the Pope And a Committee of Ecclesiasticks in Spain were appointed to debate the Case in Relation to the King's conscience whether he might take such an Oath for them and they being doubtless resolved on it before concluded Affirmatively And that if the King of Great Britain and Prince should fail in the performance of these Capitulations the King of Spain might save his Oath by vindicating the Breach thereof upon them with his Sword And now this Monster-difficulty being overcome by the Spanish Bravery the very same time Articles that our King and Prince had signed as are before related were sent into England for our King and his privy Council to swear to and there was not a Rub left for either party to stumble at But whilst these things were in motion in Spain they were much regretted and badly resented in England The Spirit almost of the whole Nation being averse to this Union which made many vent their Passion by their Pens as well as their tongues Amongst the rest the Archbishop of
Canterbury knowing that a Toleration was to be admitted though he stood tottering in the King's Favour and had the Badg of a Puritan clapt upon him thought it better to discharge his Conscience though he hazarded all rather than be silent in such a Cause where the Glory of God and the Good of the Kingdom were so higly concerned Therefore he writes this letter to the King May it please your Majesty I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my Silence I have neglected the Duty of the Place it hath pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in And now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my Duty to your Majesty And therefore I beseech your Majesty give me leave freely to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do with me what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you Sir take into your consideration what the Act is next what the consequence may be By your Act you labour to set up that most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How Hateful will it be to God and grievous unto your good Subjects the true Professors of the Gospel that your Majesty who hath often disputed and learnedly written against those wicked Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those Doctrines which your Pen hath told the World and your Conscience tels your Self are Superstitious Idolatrous and Detestable Add hereunto what you have done in sending the Prince into Spain without the consent of your Council the Privity and Approbation of your People And though Sir you have a large Interest in the Prince as the Son of your Flesh yet hath the people a greater as the Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty their Eyes are fixed and Welfare depends And so tenderly is his going apprehended as believe it Sir however his return may be safe yet the drawers of him to that Action so dangerous to himself to desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestioned and unpunished Besides this Toleration which you endeavour to set up by Proclamation cannot be done without a Parliament unless your Majesty would let your Subjects see That you will take unto your self a liberty to throw down the Laws of the Land at your Pleasure What dreadful Consequence these things may draw after them I beseech your Majesty to consider And above all lest by this Toleration and discontinuance of the true profession of the Gospel whereby God hath blessed us and under which this Kingdom hath for many years flourished your Majesty do not draw upon the Kingdom in general and your Self in particular God's heavy Wrath and Indignation Thus in discharge of my Duty towards God to your Majesty and the place of my Calling I have taken humble Boldness to deliver my Conscience And now Sir do with me what you please Thus did our Solomon in his latter time though he had fought with the Beasts at Ephesus as one saith of him incline a little too much to the Beast Yet he made his tale so good to the Archbishop of Canterbury what reservations soever he had that he wrought upon the good old man afterwards in the Conclusion of the work to set his Hand as a Witness to the Articles And his desires were so heightned to the Heats of Spain which boyl'd him to such a Distemper that he would listen to nothing and almost yield to any thing rather than not to enjoy his own Humour Divers of his intimate Council affecting Popery were not slack to urge him to a Toleration and many Arguments were used inciting to it As that Catholicks were the King 's best and most peaceable Subjects the Puritans being the only Sticklers and the greatest Disturbers of the Royal peace trenching too boldly upon the Prerogative and striving to lessen the Kingly power But if the King had occasion to make use of the Catholicks he should find them more faithful to him than those that are ever contesting with him And why should not Catholicks with as much safety be permitted in England as the Protestants are in France That their Religion was full of Love and Charity where they could enjoy it with freedom and where Charity layes the Foundation the upper Building must needs be spiritual But these Arguments were answered and many reasons alledged against them proving the Nature of the Protestant Religion to be Compatible with the Nature of the Politick Laws of any State of what Religion soever Because it teacheth that the Government of any State whether Monarchial or Aristocratical is Supream within it self and not subordinate to any power without so that the Knot of Allegiance thereunto is so firmly tied that no Humane power can unloose or dissolve it Whereas on the contrary the Roman Religion acknowledging a Supremacy in another above that power which swayeth the State whereof they are Members must consequently hold that one stroke of that Supreme power is able to unsinew and cut in sunder all the Bonds which ty them to the Subordinate and Dependent Authority And therefore can ill accord with the Allegiance which Subjects owe to a Prince of their own Religion which makes Papists intolerable in a Protestant Common-wealth For what Faith can a Prince or People expect from them whose Tenet is That no Faith is to be held with Hereticks That the Protestants in France had merited better there than the Papists had done in England the one by their Loyalties to their lawful King having ransomed that Kingdom with their Bloods in the Pangs of her desperate Agonies from the Yoak of an Usurper within and the Tyranny of a Forain Scepter without The other seeking to write their Disloyalties in the Heart-Blood of the Princes and best Subjects of this Kingdom That the Number and Quality of the Professors of these different Religions in either Kingdom is to be observed For in France the Number of the Protestants were so great that a Toleration did not make them but found them a Considerable Party so strong as they could not have been suppressed without endangering the Kingdom But a Toleration in England would not find but form the Papists to be a considerable party witness their encrease by this late Connivency a thing which ought mainly to be avoided For the distraction of a State into several powerfull parties is alwaies weakning and often proveth the utter ruine thereof These thing were laid open to the King but all were waved by the King of Spain's Offering His engagement to the Pope by oath That he and the Prince his son should observe and keep the Articles stipulated betwixt them did exceedingly affect him And the Articles now coming to close up all they were ingrossed with a long preamble Declaring to all the World the much desired Union betwixt him and the King of Spain by the marriage of his son to
Doublet was Cloth of Gold imbroidered so thick that it could not be discerned and a white Beaver-hat suitable Brim-full of imbroidery both above and below This is presented as an Essay for one of the meanest he wore so that if this Relation should last longer than his old cloaths the Reader might well think it a Romance favouring rather of Fancy than Reality But this kind of Vanity had been long active in England For the last Parliament it was moved by some well-affected to Reformation of the Abuses of excess in Apparel that there might be a Regulation of this kind of Gallantry to the distinguishing of men one from another For it was said some of means Fortunes wore Garments fitter for Princes than Subjects and many Gentry of antient descent had wasted and impoverished themselves and their Posterities with this extravagancy so that it was very requisite to give some stop to this redundant humor To which was answered That if those of mean Fortunes went so richly attired and came not honestly by their ornaments they would be quickly found out and there were good Laws enough for such Transgressors But as there is no perpetuity of Being on Earth so there is a continual vicissitude and revolution in all sublunary things some are advanced and some decline God pulleth down one and setteth up another If any Noble or antiently descended Family will be so mad and foolish to beggar themselves and their Posterities with this or any other excess 't is very probable that some man of more wisdom and merit will injoy that which the other hath so idlely and prodigally mispent for to set such limitations will damp the spirits of Industry So the motion was declined But to return to the Lord Hayes Thus accoutred and accomplished he went into France and a day for Audience being prefixed all the argument and dispute betwixt him and his gallant Train which took up some time was how they should go to the Court Coaches like Curtains would eclipse their splendor riding on horsback in Boots would make them look like Travellers not Courtiers and not having all Foot-cloaths it would be an unsuitable mixture Those that brought rich trappings for their Horses were willing to have them seen so it was concluded for the Foot-cloth and those that have none to their bitter cost must furnish themselves This preparation begot expectation and that filled all the Windows Balcones and Streets of Paris as they passed with a multitude of Spectators Six Trumpeters and two Marshals in Tawny Velvet Liveries compleatly Suited laced all over with Gold richly and closely laid led the way the Ambassador followed with a great Train of Pages and Footmen in the same rich Livery incircling his Horse and the rest of his Retinue according to their Qualities and Degrees in as much bravery as they could devise or procure followed in couples to the wonderment of the beholders And some said how truly I cannot assert the Ambassadors Horse was shod with Silver-shooes lightly tackt on and when he came to a place where Persons or Beauties of eminency were his very Horse prancing and curveting in humble reverence flung his shooes away which the greedy understanders scrambled for and he was content to be gazed on and admired till a Farrier or rather the Argentier in one of his rich Liveries among his train of Footmen out of a Tawny Velvet bag took others and tackt them on which lasted till he came to the next troop of Grandies And thus with much ado he reached the Louure All Complements and outward Ceremonies of State being performed the Lord Ambassador made his business known by more private addresses which in appearance was well resented but indeed not intended and came to no effect For the Duke of Savoy had anticipated the young Ladies affection for the Prince of Pâ—emont his Son The Savoyan Agents bringing more Gold in their hands than on their backs had so smoothed the way that not only those about the Princess but the great ones themselves were made workers for him After the Ambassador had been feasted magnificently with all his gallant Train in several places to shew the Grandure of France he came over into England and practised it here making many times upon several occasions such stupendious Feasts and heaped Banquets as if all the Creatures had contributed to his excess I know not what limits or bounds are set to the glories of Princes Courts or Nobles minds We see the Sea it self and all his tributary Rivers do ebb and flow but if they swell so high to overflow that Bank that Reason hath prescribed to keep them in what Inundations of sad mischief follow Experience shews CHRISTINE DE FRANCE DVCHESSE DE SAVOYE Balt. Moncornet ex CAROLVS EMANVEL DVC DE SAVOYE ET PRINCE DE PIEDMONT Therefore to humble him more he is brought on his knees at the Council Table and three other Ingredients added to the Dose of a more active operation First He is charged That when he was the Kings Attorney in the beginning of his Reign he concealed a Statute of twelve thousand pounds due to the King from the late Lord Chancellor Hatton wherein he deceived the trust reposed in him Secondly That he uttered words of very high contempt as he sate in the seat of Iustice saying the Common Law of England would be overthrown and the light of it obscured reflecting upon the King And thirdly His uncivil and indiscreet carriage before His Majesty being assisted by his Privy Council and Judges in the Case of Commendams The last he contest and humbly craved his Majesties Pardon The other two he palliated with some colourable excuses which were not so well set off but they left such a tincture behind that he was commanded to a private life And to expiate the Kings anger he was injoyned in that leisurely retirement to review his Books of Reports which the King was informed had many extravagant opinions published for positive and good Law which must be corrected and brought to his Majesty to be perused But the Title of the Books wherein he stiles himself Lord Chief Iustice of England was to be expunged being but Lord Chief Iustice of the Kings Bench. And at his departure from the Council Table where he humbly acknowledged his Majesties mercy and their Lordships justice the Lord Treasurer gave him a wipe for suffering his Coachman to ride bare before him in the streets which fault he strove to cover by telling his Lordship his Coachman did it for his own ease But not long after the Lord Treasurer came under his lash in the Star-Chamber and he requited him for it Vera Effigies Viri clariss EDOARDI COKE Equitis aurati nuper Capitalis Iusticiarij ad Placita coram Rege tenenda assignati R White sculpsit Truly he was a Man of excellent parts but not without his frailties for as he was a Storehouse and Magazine of the Common Law for the present times
the Peace of the Land and had opposed himself against the wholsom advice of divers Princes Lords and excellent Persons aswel without as within the Land and that he had injured some of their mightiest Allies by his secret practices namely by calumniating the King of Great Britain as though he had been the Author of these troubles in the Low-Countries For that he had kindled the fire of Dissention in the Provinces had raised Souldiers in the Diocess of Utrecht had disreputed his Excellency as much as lay in his power had revealed the secrets of the Council and had received Presents and Gifts from Foreign Princes Finally for that by his Machinations and Plots new States have been erected in the State new Governments against the Government and new Unions and Alliances against the ancient Union to the general perturbation as well of Policy as of Religion to the exhausting of the Treasures of the Land to the jealousie and dislike not only of the Confederates but of the Natives of the Country who by this means were brought into danger that they were like to fall into final ruine He was born in Amersford descended from the Antient Family of Olden Bernevelt in his Fortune a private Gentleman but by his Industry Travels and Studies at home and abroad he made himself capable of managing the highest affairs which he did almost for forty years together He was five times Extraordinary Ambassador into England and France had been in the Field with the Princes of Orange and the Army as one of the States thirty two several Leaguers nothing was acted without his Advice Indeed he was the Tongue and Genius of the State But whether Ambition now in his old Age mounted him to grapple with the Prince for power or whether that wild and frantick fancy that men often brand their spirits with and call it Conscience but is nothing but pertinacy in opinion impt the wings of his Affections we cannot discover being only the secret Companions of his own Breast and let them dye with him But thus he ended in the seventy first year of his Age. He lived to see that which he had so much opposed a National Synod held at Dort whither our King sent Doctor George Carlton Bishop of Landaff Doctor Ioseph Hall Dean of Worcester Doctor Iohn Davenant Professor Regius in Cambridge and Master of Queens College and Doctor Samuel Ward Regent of Sidney College in Cambridge Divines of great Reputation sound Learning and well-grounded Faith Where they met with divers Divines from Switzerland and Germany besides the Natives of the Netherlands who altogether in a full Synod quashed as much as in them lay the Arminian Opinions and though they could not utterly extirpate the roots of the Heresie yet they laid them so low that they never broke out there since into exuberant branches though some of the Fibrae the small veins left behind much tainted our Nation as shall be expressed hereafter And now the Heavens declare the Glory of God A mighty blazing Comet appears in Libra whose bearded Beams covered the Virgin Sign it began on Wednesday morning the 18th of November this year and vanished away on Wednesday the 16th of December following making in 28 days motion its Circumgiration over most Parts of the known World extending its radiant locks by the observation of Astronomers sometimes 45 Degrees in length And as our Doctor Bambridge observed towards the Declination of it about the 11th of December it past over London in the morning and so hasted more Northwards even as far as the Orcades VERA EFFIGIES R.DI IN CHRISTO PATRIS GEORGII CARLETON EPISC.PI CICESTRIENSIS GEORGIUS CARLETONVS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Age tu solus regai cor Orbis cor Sol est regai cor tu Pateriut Sol Orbe â—at reg sui seripta meant 〈◊〉 Si cor principum 〈…〉 Anglie reite Per 〈…〉 Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus Aether they make not their Course in Vain These Apparitions do always portend some horrid Events here below and are Messengers of mischief to poor Mortals The Divine Wisdom pointing to us what we should do to prevent these threatned dangers that we may have our lives for a prey It appears first in Libra the Emblem of Iustice and streams over the Virgin Astrea which as the Poet saith was last of all the Virtues left the Earth Ultima Coelestum terras Astrea reliquit We must by this Admonition from Heaven learn to do justly and it is for injustice that these sad Omens threaten us What miserable Effects of War Ruine and Devastation in most parts of the known World followed at the heels of this stupendious Harbinger is obvious to all and so far as relates to us may be declared God willing in the Progress of this History but I hope the operation and power of it is almost at an end for it began in Germany took France and Spain in the way and past over England to the Orcades and so vanished as Bainbridge relates in the Description of it Fol. 7. Fulgura non semper nec semper praelia durant let 's count it almost past For War like lightning doth not always last The first remarkable Accident that happened in England after this Prodigious Forerunner was the death of Queen Anne who died of a Dropsie at Hampton-Court and thence brought to her Palace in the Strand for the more triumphant glory of her Obsequies The Common People who naturally admire their Princes placing them in a Region above ordinary Mortals thought this great Light in Heaven was sent as a Flambeau to her Funeral their dark minds not discovering while this Blaze was burning the fire of War that broke out in Bohemia wherein many thousands perished She was in her great Condition a good Woman not tempted from that height she stood on to embroyl her spirit much with things below her as some busy-bodies do only giving her self content in her own House with such Recreations as might not make Time tedious to her And though great Persons Actions are often pried into and made Envies mark yet nothing could be fixt upon her that left any great impression but that she may have engraven upon her Monument a Character of Virtue About this time Henry Earl of Northumberland who had been a Prisoner in the Tower ever since the Powder plot a long Recluse was set at liberty The Cause of his Confinement was upon a Sentence in Star-Chamber for nourishing in his House Thomas Piercy his Kinsman who was one of the Complotters of the Treason And though nothing could be proved against the Earl to endanger his life yet upon the presumpâ—â—on of his knowledge of it he was fined in thirty thousand pounds and imprisoned in the Tower He was married to Dorothy eldest Daughter to Walter Earl of Essex by whom hâ— had a Nâ—ble yet surviving Issue two Sâ—ns and tâ—o Daughters Algernon now Earl of Northumberland and Henry both in
these Times young Dorothy the eldest Daugâ—teâ— married Robert Viscount Lisle after the death of his Father Eâ—â—l of Leicester by whom he had a numerous Issue like Clive branches aâ—out his Table The younger Daughter Lucy a Lady of â—â—â—ompâ—rable Beauty solemnized in the Poâ—â—s oâ—â—he most exquiâ—â—e Witsâ—f â—f her time married the Lord Hayes now made Viâ—count Doncaster against hâ—r Father's will â—ho aimed at higher â—xtractiâ—â—â— during his Imprisonment which the old Earâ—'s stubborn spirit not brooking would never give hâ—r any thing And Doncaster whose affection was abâ—ve money â—etting only a valuationâ—pon â—pon his much-admired Bride strove to make himselâ— meritorious and prevailed so with the King for his Fâ—ther-in 〈◊〉 that he got his Release But the old Earl would hâ—rdly be drawn to take a Release from his hand so that when he had liberty he restrained himself and with much importunity was wrought upon by such as knew the distempers of his body might best qualifie those of his mind peâ—â—uading him â—oâ—â—ome indisposition to make a journey to the Bath â—hich was one special motive to accept of his Son-in-laâ—'s respects HONORATISSâ—â—â—â— Dê° HENRICVS PERCEY COMâ—â—â—â— NORTHVMBERIANâ—… If Art could shewe the Spirit in the Face And in dead Sines expresse a Liuing Grace You might though wanting an Inscription sweare That this the shadowe of a PERCY were For when the Noblest Romane worthies Liud Though greater Fame their Fortunes have atcheiud No brauer Spiritts did in ROME command Then were the PERCYS of NORTHVMBERIAND But now War breaks in upon us following that blazing Fore-runner the House of Austria like Pyrrhus and Lysander extending their Dominions no further than the Sword could reach having long seat hered their Nests with the Eagles plumes grew formidable to the Princes and States of Germany And because they found the Popes had shrewdly plumed some of their Predecessors till they had wrested most parts of Italy from the Empire they were content to maintain their Grandure by the Popes power and to ingratiate themselves the more became great Persecutors of the Reformed Religion A little before this time Ferdinand Uncles Son to Matthias the Emperor was Crowned King of Bohemia with this Reservation that he should not exercise the Power of a King as long as the old Emperor lived This kind of Crowning of Kings one in the life of another was the great Chain that link by link held the Empire and the two Kingdoms of Hungaria and Bohemia together in the Austrian Family so that the State of either Kingdom could not or durst not put forth their Strength to shake them asunder The Emperor kept his Court at Vienna King Ferdinand at Gretz in Stiria so that the Government of Bohemia rested in such Counsellors as the Emperor Matthias left there for the management of Publick Affairs These Counsellors and Ministers with the Archbishop of Prague broke out about this time not only to demolish the Protestant Churches but by the help of the Iesuits their bitter Enemies strove to undermine the Religion it self The Protestant States and Nobles of the Country summoning an Assembly to redress their Grievances were opposed by some of them Emperor's Ministers of State the very day of their meeting which exasperated them to such a height of Passion being backt by some Forces they brought with them for their Security that they threw Slabata the Emperor's chief Justice Smesansius one of the Council of State and Fabricius a pragmatical Secretary from a high Window in the Castle down into the Court though some of them took little hurt and lived as reports go to this time This rash Action the Bohemians strive to palliate by Apologies to the Emperor but withal strengthned themselves making Leavies both of Horse and Foot the better to secure their own Peace and banishing those Firebrands the Iesuits out of Prague whose malicious and distemper'd Zeal first kindled the Flame The Emperor hearing of these mischiefs raises an Army under the command of Count Bucquoy and the Protestant States finding the Emperor exasperated raise two Armies one commanded by Count Thurne the other by Count Mansfeldt some bickrings past betwixt the Imperial Army and the Bohemians some Towns taken on both sides and in the heat of this stir the old Emperor dies Ferdinand King of Hungary and Bohemia and adopted heir of old Matthias meeting after summons at Frankford with the three Electors of Mentz Collen and Trevers and only with the Representatives of the other three Electors The Church carried it for him and he was chosen King of the Romans The States of Bohemia disclaimed the election as invalid because he could not be an Elector himself as King of Bohemia for that he had never been actually in possession of the Crown And though their dissent could not lessen Ferdinand's Election to the Empire yet they protested by oath never to acknowledge him for their King These eruptions made a noise all over Christendom and most knowing men looked on this heavenly Torch the late Comet as fit fuel to give fire to such a train Our King fearing the clap would fall heavy upon the Protestant party sent the Viscount Doncaster extraordinary Ambassador to mediate a Reconciliation betwixt the Emperor and the Bohemians But the asperity and bitterness was too great to find an allay by his sweet and candid Complements being sitter for the bosoms of Lovers than the armed breasts of Uprores and Tumults LOTHARIVS PAR LA GRACE DE DIEV ARCHEVESQVE DE TREVES B. Moucorneâ— excudit Our King that looked upon his own condition through the Optique of the peoples mutable and unstable affection would by no means countenance such a Precedent as should give them power to dispose of an established Royal dignity at their pleasure and upon every change of humor for so he might shake his own foundation which made the Barons addresses crude and nauseous to his Appetite till time had a little digested them And then he dispatched two Ambassadors into Bohemia One was Sir Richard Weston who was afterwards Lord high Treasurer of England and left to his posterity the Earldom of Portland a man of a haughty spirit yet knew how by suppling it to make his way to the height he arrived at For his Religion gave place to his Policy and mounted him till he became one of the great grievances of the Kingdom The other was Sir Edward Conwey a man of a grosser temper bred a Soldier being Governor of Bril when England gave over her interest in the cautionary Towns who was after made a Viscount and Secretary of State a rough impollished peice for such an imployment But the King that wanted not his Abilities would often make himself merry with his imperfect scrouls in writing and hacking expressions in reading so that he would break into laughter and say in a facetious way Had ever man such a Secretary that can neither Write nor Read These two were suited for the imployment happily upon
the Ears of the Princes of the Union quailed their courage made them look back into their own condition and having not so much faith as to depend upon our King for assistance before the Spring they submitted themselves to the Emperor leaving the almost-ruined Palatinate as a Prey to an insulting Enemy the English only giving Spirits to the Vital parts of it conveyed by the Conduct of those Instruments Vere Herbert and Burrowes Men fitter to command Armies than to be confined within the Walls of Towns Benssheim Grundtriss vnd Entwurff etlicher ohrt der ChurPfaltz vnd wie die Spanier nach etliche treffeÌ„ endtlich gar dar auss geschaleÌ„ word Mansfeldt only that was rejected and slighted by Anhalt makes good his fidelity by bearing up against the power of the Emperor not that he was able to grapple with his whole Force but being an active spritely man and having a nimble moving Army of fourteen or fifteen thousand men he did harasse the Countries force Contribution from the Cities and when any greater power came against him he got from them into another Country and harrowed that to their perpetual vexation So that he was as goads in their sides and thorns in their eyes And thus he continued in despight of the Emperor and the Duke of Bavaria for almost two years after till they were constrained to purchase their peace of him at a dear rate to which Mansfeldt was also inforced not finding assistance nor Supplies to support him As soon as the Princes in the Palatinate were retired to their Quarters before the great loss at Prague came to their knowledge the Earl of Essex with a Convoy of Horse to Swibruken passed into Lorain and through France posted for England to solicit the King to send those Regiments promised and other Supplies if possible that the English there and the whole Countrey might not be exposed to ruine But when he came into England he found the Court Air of another temper and not as he left it for it was much more inclined to the Spanish Meridian And though Gondemar the King of Spain's Ambassador at the departure of one of his Agents into Spain facetiously bad him commend him to the Sun for he had seen none here a long while yet we had the Spanish influence hot among us the King himself warmed with it then what will not the Court be The King and his Ministers of State had several ends and drive different designs His was for the matching of his Son with some great Princess aiming at no other glory though he debased himself to purchase it For presently after he received a Denial in France he sent to Sir Iohn Digby his Leidger Ambassador in Spain to treat of a Marriage betwixt the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria Sister to that King which was in 1617. No blood but blood Royal can be a propitiatory Offering for his Son yet the best Sacrifice is an humble spirit No matter what Religion what Piety that is not the Question When Kings have earthly aims without consideration of God God looks to his own Glory without respect of man The little foundation of hope they built upon at that time was now raised to a formal building by the cunning practices of Gondemar who assured the King it was his Master's real intention the Prince should marry the Infanta And he wished the King his Master had all the Palatinate in his power to present it as a donative to the Prince with his fair Mistris The King that now heard all was lost in Bohemia saw little possibility of injoying the Palatinate quietly but by the Treaty of a Marriage was lulled asleep with Gondemar's windy promises which Sir Iohn Digby seconded being lately made Vice-Chamberlain to the King Baron of Sherborn and a great manager of the affairs at Court Sir Walter Aston being sent Leidger Ambassador into Spain for the general correspondence And the King anchoring his hopes upon these shallow promises made himself unable to prevent the Tempest of War that fell on the Palatinate tying up his own hands and suffering none to quench the Fire that devoured his Childrens Patrimony WILLIAM HERBERT Earl of PEMBROKE c It was thought the Papists did much contribute to Gondemar's liberaliâ—y for they began to flourish in the Kingdom he having procured many Immunities for them and they used all their industry to further the Match hoping that if the Prince did not adhere to Rome yet his Offspring might and at present looked for little less than a Toleration No stubborn piece of either Sex stood in Gondemar's way but he had an Engin to remove them or screw them up to him None that complied with him but found the effects of his friendship many Iesuits fared the better for his intercession he releasing numbers among the rest one Bauldwin an arch-Priest accused to have had a hand in the Gunpowder-Treason and had been seven years in the Tower a man of a dangerous and mischievous spirit who was after his release made Rector of the Iesuits College at St. Omers By his Artifices and Negotiations having been time enough Ambassador in England to gain credit with the King he got Sir Robert Mansel the Vice-Admiral to go into the Mediterranean sea with a Fleet of Ships to fight against the Turks at Algier who were grown too strong and formidable for the Spaniard most of the King of Spain's Gallions attending the Indian Trade as Convoys for his Treasures which he wanted to supply his Armies and he transported Ordnance and other Warlike Provisions to furnish the Spanish Arsenals even while the Armies of Spain were battering the English in the Palatinate so open were the King's ears to him so deaf to others For Sir Robert Nanton one of his Secretaries a Gentleman of known honesty and integrity shewed but a little dislike of those proceedings and he was commanded from Court and Conwey was put in his place And Gondemar had as free access to the King as any Courtier of them all Buckingham excepted and the King took delight to talk with him for he was full of Conceits and would speak false Latin a purpose in his merry fits to please the King telling the King plainly He spoke Latin like a Pedant but I speak it like a Gentleman And he wrought himself so by subtilty into the King's good affections that he did not only work his own will but the King 's into a belief that the Treaties in agitation were though slow real and effectual So easily may wise men be drawn to those things their desires with violence tend to And he cast out his Baits not only for men but if he found an Atalanta whose tongue went nimbler than her feet he would throw out his golden Balls to catch them also And in these times there were some Ladies pretending to be Wits as they called them or had fair Neices or Daughters which drew great Resort to