be writ but upon his seal'd paper with sundry other exactions yet his subjects are still as obedient and awful unto him they are as conformable and quiet as if he were the most vertuous and victorious Prince that ever was and this they do principally for their own advantage for if ther were another Governour set up it would inevitably hurle the whole Countrey into combustion and tumults besides they are taught that as in choice of Wives so the Rule holds in Governments Seldome comes a better Touching the Originals of Government and ruling power questionless the first among Mankind was that Naturall power of the Father over his Children and that Despotical domestique surintendence of a Master of a house over his Family But the World multiplying to such a Masse of peeple they found that a confused equality and a loose unbridled way of living like â—…rute animals to be so inconvenient that they chose one person to protect and govern not so much out of love to the â—…erson as for their own conveniency and advantage that they might live more regularly and be secur'd from rapine and opâ—…ression As also that justice might be administted and every one enjoy his own without fear and danger such Governâ—…urs had a power invested accordingly in â—…hem also as to appoint subservient able Miâ—…isters under them to help to bear the â—…urden Concerning the kinds of Government â—…ll Polititians agree that Monarchall is the best and noblest sort of sway having the neerest analogy with that of Heaven viz. A supreme power in one single person God Almighty is the God of Unity as well as of Entity and all things that have an Entity do naturally propend to Unity Unity is as necessary for a well being as Entity is for a Being for nothing conduceth more to order tranquillity and quietude nor is any strength so operative as the united The fist is stronger then the hand though it be nothing but the hand viz. The fingers united by contraction The Republick of Venice which is accounted the most Eagle-ey'd and lastingst State in the World foâ—… she hath continued a pure Virgin and shin'd within her watry Orb nere upon thirteen Ages is the fittest to give the World advice herein for if ever any have brought policy to be a Science which consists of certitudes this State is Shee who is grown aâ—… dexterous in ruling men as in rowing of 〈◊〉 Gally But whereas the vulgar opinion is that the common peeple there have a sharâ—… in the Government 't is nothing so for he Great Counsel which is the maine hing whereon the Republick turns is composeâ—… onely of Gentlemen who are capable bâ—… their birth to sit there having passed twenty five years of age To which purpose they must bring a publick Testimonial that they are descended of a Patrician or noble Family But to return to the main matter this sage Republick who may prescribe rules of Policy to all Mankind having tryed at first to Govern by Consuls and Tribunes for som years she found it at last a great inconvenience or deformity rather to have two heads upon one body Therefore She did set up one Soveraign Prince and in the Records of Venice the resons are yet extant which induc'd her thereunto whereof one of the remarkablest was this We have observed that in this vast University of the World all Bodies according to their several Natures have multiplicity of Motions yet they receive vertue and vigour but from one which is the Sun All causes derive their Originals from one supreme cause we see that in one Creture there are many differing Members and Faculties which have various functions yet they are all guided by one soul c. The Island of Great Britain hath bin alwaies a Royal Isle from her first creation and Infancy She may be said to have worn a Crown in her Cradle and though She had so many revolutions and changes of Masters yet She continued still Royal nor is there any species of Government that suits better either with the quality of the Countrey and Genius of the Inhabitants or relates more directly to all the ancient Lawes Constitutions and Customs of the Land then Monarchal which any one that is conversant in the Old Records can justifie Britannia ab initio mundi semper Regia regimen illius simile illi caelorum Concerning the many sorts of Trustâ—… which were put in the Supreme Governor of this Land for ther must be an implicite and unavoidable necessary Trust reposed in every Soveraign Magistrate the power of the Sword was the chiefest and it was agreeable to Holy Scripture he shold have it where we know 't is said The King beareth not the Sword in vain The Lawes of England did ever allow it to be the inalienable prerogative of the Soveraign Prince nor was it ever known humbly under favour that any other power whatsoever managing conjunctly or singly did ever pretend to the power of the publick Sword or have the Militia invested in them but this ever remained intire and untransferrible in the person of the Ruler in chief whose chiefest instrument to govern by is the Sword without which Crownes Scepters Globes and Maces are but bables It is that Instrument which causeth tru obedience makes him a Dread Soveraign and to be feared at home and abroad Now 't is a Maxime in policy that ther can be no tru obedience without Fear The Crown and Scepter draw only a loose kind of voluntary love and opinion from the people but 't is the sword that draws Reverence and awe which two are the chiefest ingredients of Allegeance it being a principle that the best Government is made of Fear and Love viz. when by Fear Love is drawn as threed through the eye of a Needle The surest Obedience and Loyalty is caused thus for Fear being the wakefullest of our passions works more powerfully in us and predominates over all the rest primus in orbe Deus fecit Timor To raise up a Soveraign Magistrate without giving him the power of the sword is to set one up to rule a metall'd Horse without a Bridle A chief Ruler without a Sword may be said to be like that Logg of Wood which Iupiter threw down among the Froggs to be their King as it is in the Fable Moreover One of the chiefest glories of a Nation is to have their Supreme Governor to be esteem'd and redouted abroad as well as at Home And what Forren Nation will do either of these to the King of England if he be Armless and without a Sword who will give any respect oâ—… precedence to his Ambassadors and Ministers of State The Sword also is the prime Instrument of publick protection therefore that King who hath not the power of the Sword must have another Title given Him the Protector of his peeple Now in a Successive hereditary Kingdom as England is known and acknowledged to be by all Parties now in opposition There are
three things which are inalienable from the Person of the King They are 1. The Crowne 2. The Scepter 3. The Sword The one He is to carry on His Head the other in His Hand and the third at His Side and they may be termed all three the ensignes or peculiar instruments of a King by the first He Reignes by the second He makes Lawes by the third He Defends them and the two first are but bables without the last as was formerly spoken 1. Touching the Crown or royal Diadem of England ther is none whether Presbyterian Independent Protestant or others now in action but confess that it descends by a right hereditary Line though through divers Races and som of them Conquerours upon the Head of Charles the first now Regnant 't is His own by inherent birth-right and nature by Gods Law and the Law of the Land and these Parliament-men at their first sitting did agnize subjection unto Him accordingly and recognize Him for their Soveraign Liege Lord Nay the Roman Catholick denies not this for though there were Bulls sent to dispense with the English Subjects for their allegiance to Queen Elizabeth yet the Pope did this against Her as he took Her for a Heretick not an Usurpresse though he knew well enough that She had bin declared Illegitimate by the Act of an English Parliament This Imperial Crown of England is adorned and deckd with many fair Flowers which are called royal Prerogatives and they are of such a transcendent nature that they are unforfeitable individual and untransferrable to any other The King can only summon and dissolve Parliaments The King can only Pardon for when He is Crowned He is sworn to rule in Mercy as well as in Justice The King can only Coyn Money and enhance or decry the value of it The power of electing Officers of State of Justices of Peace and Assize is in the King He can only grant soveraign Commissions The King can only wage War and make Out-landish Leagues The King may make all the Courts of Justice ambulatory with His Person as they were used of old 't is tru the Court of Common Pleas must be sedentary in som certain place for such a time but that expired 't is removeable at His pleasure The King can only employ Ambassadours and Treat with forraign States c. These with other royal Prerogatives which I shall touch hereafter are those rare and wholsom flowers wherewith the Crown of England is embellished nor can they stick any where else but in the Crown and all confess the Crown is as much the King 's as any private man's Cap is his own 2. The second regall Instrument is the Scepter which may be called an inseparable companion or a necessary appendix to the Crown this invests the King with the sole Authority of making Lawes for before His confirmation all results and determinations of Parliament are but Bills or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are but abortive things and meer Embryos nay they have no life at all in them till the King puts breath and vigour into them and the ancient custome was for the King to touch them with His Scepter then they are Lawes and have a vertue in them to impose an obligation of universall obedience upon all sorts of people It being an undeniable maxime That nothing can be generally binding without the King 's royall assent nor doth the Law of England take notice of any thing without it This being done they are ever after styl'd the Kings Lawes and the Judges are said to deliver the King's judgments which agrees with the holy text The King by judgment shall stablish the Land nay the Law presumes the King to be alwaies the sole Judge Paramount and Lord chief Justice of England for he whom He pleaseth to depute for His chiefest Justice is but styl'd Lord chief Iustice of the Rings â—…ench not Lord chief Justice of England which title is peculiar to the King Himself and observable it is that whereas He grants Commissions and Patents to the Lord Chancellour who is no other then Keeper of His Conscience and to all other Judges He names the Chief Justice of his own Bench by a short Writ only containing two or three lines which run thus Regina Iohanni Popham militi salutem Sciatis quod constitutmus vos justiciarium nostrum Capitalem ad placita coram nobis terminandum durante beneplacito nostro Teste c. Now though the King be liable to the Laws and is contented to be within their verge because they are chiefly His own productions yet He is still their Protector Moderator and Soveraigne which attributes are incommunicable to any other conjunctly or separately Thus the King with His Scepter and by the mature advice of His two Houses of Parl. which are His highest Councel and Court hath the sole power of making Laws other Courts of judicature doe but expound them and distribute them by His appointment they have but Iuris dati dictionem or declarationem and herein I meane for the Exposition of the Lawes the twelve Iudges are to be believed before the whole Kingdom besides They are as the Areopagites in Athens the chief Presidents in France and Spaine in an extraordinary Iunta as the Cape-Syndiques in the Rota's of Rome and the Republique of Venice whose judgments in point of interpreting Lawes are incontroulable and preferred before the opinion of the whole Senate whence they received their being and who hath still power to repeal them though not to expound them In France they have a Law maxime Arrest donné en Rebbe rouge est irrevocable which is a Scarlet Sentence is irrevocable meaning when all the Judges are met in their Robes and the Client against whom the Cause goes may chafe and chomp upon the bit and say what he will for the space of twenty foure howers against his Judges but if ever after he traduces them he is punishable It is no otherwise here where every ignorant peevish Client every puny Barister specially if he become a Member of the House will be ready to arraign and vie knowledge with all the reverend Judges in the Land whose judgement in points of Law shold be onely tripodicall and sterling so that he may be truly call'd a just King and to rule according to Law who rules according to the opinion of his Judges therefore under favour I do not see how his Majesty for his part could be call'd injust when he leavied the Ship-money considering he had the Judges for it I now take the Sword in hand which is the third Instrument of a King and which this short discours chiefly points at it is as well as the two first incommunicable and inalienable from his Person nothing concernes his honor more both at home and abroad the Crown and the Scepter are but unweildy and impotent naked indefensible things without it There 's none so simple as to think there 's meant hereby an ordinary single sword
as Prince For the Parlement-men afterwards made themselfs Land-Lords of the whole Kingdom it hath bin usual for them to thrust any out of his freehold to take his bed from under him and his shirt from off his very back The King being kept thus out of one of his Townes might suspect that he might be driven out of another therfore 't was time for him to look to the preservation of his Person and the Country came in voluntarily unto him by thousands to that purpose but he made choice of a few only to be his gard as the Parlementeers had done a good while before for themselfs But now they went otherwise to work for they fell a levying listing and arming men by whole Regiments and Brigades till they had a very considerable Army afoot before the King had one Musqueteer or Trooper on his side yet these men are so notoriously impudent as to make the King the first Aggressor of the war and to lay upon Him all the bloud that was split to this day wherein the Devil himself cannot be more shamelesse The Parliamenteers having an army of foot and horse thus in perfect Equipage 't was high time for the King to look to himself therefore he was forced to display his royal Standard and draw his sword quite out Thus a cruel and most cruentous civil war began which lasted near upon four years without intermission wherein there happen'd more batta les sieges and skirmishes then passed in the Nether-lands in fourscore years and herein the Englishmen may be said to get som credit abroad in the world that they have the same bloud running in their veines though not the same braines in their sculls which their Ancestors had who were observed to be the activest people in the field impatient of delay and most desirous of battaile then any Nation But it was one of the greatest miracles that ever happen'd in this Land how the King was able to subsist so long against the Parlamenteers considering the multiplicity of infinite advantages they had of him by water and land for they had the Scot the Sea and the City on their side touching the first he rushed in as an Auxiliary with above 20000. Horse and Foot compleatly furnish d both with small and great ammunition and Arms well cloth'd and money'd For the second they had all the Kings ships well appointed which are held to be the greatest security of the Island both for defence and offence for every one of them is accounted one of the moving Castles of the Kingdom besides they had all the other standing stone-Castles Forts and tenable places to boot Concerning the last viz. the City therein they had all the wealth bravery and prime ammunition of England this being the only Magazin of men and money Now if the K. had had but one of these on his side he had in all probability crush'd them to nothing yet did he bear up strangely against them a long time and might have done longer had he kept the campane and not spent the spirits of his men before Townes had he not made a disadvantagious election of som Commanders in chief and lastly had he not had close Traitors within dores as well as open Rebels without for his very Cabinet Councel and Bed-Chamber were not free of such vermin and herein the Parlementeers spent unknown sums and were very prodigal of the Kingdoms money The King after many traverses of war being reduced to a great strait by crosse successes and Counsels rather then to fall into the hands of the Parlementeers withdrew himself in a Serving-mans disguise to the Scots army as his last randevous and this plot was manag'd by the French Agent then residing here A man wold think that that Nation wold have deem'd it an eternal honour unto them to have their own King and Countrey-man throw himself thus into their armes and to repose such a singular trust in them upon such an Extremity but they corresponded not so well with him as he expected for though at first when the Parlamenteers sollicited their dear Brethren for a delivery of the Kings person unto them their note was then if any forein petty Prince had so put himself upon them they could not with honour deliver him much less their own native King yet they made a sacrifice of him at last for 800000. Crownes wherupon Bellieure the French Ambassador being convoyed by a Troop of horse from the King towards London to such a stand in lieu of larges to the souldiers he drew out an half Crown piece and ask'd them how many pence that was they answered 30. He replyed for so much did Iudas betray his Master and so he departed And now that in the cours of this Historical Narration I have touch'd upon France your Eminence may please to understand that nothing almost could tend more to the advantage of that K. then these commotions in England considering that he was embark'd in an actuall war with the House of Austria and that this Iland did do Spain some good offices among other by transport of his treasure to Dunkerk in English bottomes whereunto this King gave way and sometimes in his own Galeons which sav'd the Spaniard neer upon 20. in the hundred then if he had sent it by way of Genoa so that som think though France made semblance to resent the sad condition of her Neighbour and thereupon sent the Prince of Harcour and the foresaid Monsieur Bellieure to compose matters yet she never really intended it as being against her present interest and engagements yet the world thinks it much that she shold publiquely receive an Agent from these Parlamenteeres and that the French Nobility who were us'd to be the gallantest men in the world to vindicate the quarrels of distressed Ladies are not more sensible of the outrages that have bin offer'd a daughter of France specially of Henry the greats But to resume the threed of my Narration the King and with him one may say England also being thus bought and sold the Parlamenteers insteed of bringing him to Westminster which had put a Period to all distempers toss'd him up and downe to private houses and kept the former Army still afoot And truly I think there was never Prince so abus'd or poor peeple so baffled and no peeple but a purblind besotted peeple wold have suffred themselves to be so baffled for notwithstanding that no Enemy appeer'd in any corner of the Kingdome yet above 20000. Tagaroones have bin kept together ever since to grind the faces of the poor and exhaust the very vitall spirits of town and Countrey and keep them all in a perfect slavery Had the Parlament-men when the Scots were gone brought their King in a generous and frank way as had well becom'd Englishmen to sit among them and trusted to him which of necessity they must do at last as they had gain d more honor far in the world abroad so they had gain'd more
yet all this while there was not matter enough for an insurrection nor to dispose the peoples hearts to a mutiny until by the policy as some affiâ—…med of the said discontented party the English Lyturgie was sent thither this by the inâ—…itement of those fiery pulpiteers was cryed up to be the greatest I doll that possibly could be brought into their Kerke insomuch that when it was first offer'd to be read the woman and baâ—…er sort of mechaniks threw stooles and stones at the Bishops heads and were ready to tear them in peeces And here began the storm 〈◊〉 Majesty having notice hereof sent a most gracious proclamation signifying that whereas he had recommended that Book to be practis'd amongst them wherein he himself served God Almighty twice a day he did it out of a pious endeavour to breed an uniformity of publick Divine service in all his dominions specially in that his native Kingdom But since it had produced such dangerous effects he was contented to revoke it absolutely for it was never his purpose to press the practise of the said book upon the consciences of any he did onely commend not absolutely command the use of it Therefore he exhorted and required that every one unto whom it had given any scandal shold return to his pristine obedience and serve God as formerly offering herewith a gracious pardon and to passe an Act of Amnestia for an abolition of all faults passed Peregrin And would not this suffice In naturall motions we find that the cause being taken away the effect ceaseth and will not this hold in civil Actions Patricius No this wold not serve the turn but 〈◊〉 was a further reach in it and for an inch to take an ell you know the Scots since 〈◊〉 single Lion came to quarter with our three are much elevated in their spirits more respected emploied and trusted abroad they are heightned in their resolutions and aims and will questionless be daily more and more You have heard of a Mine that reach'd from our exchequer to Edenburgh And I beleeve you have not forgot Boccolinies balance that was shewed us in Italie wherein Lorenzo de Medici weighed all the states of Christendom and throwing in England amongst the rest you know how much he made her to weigh less by this addition The former Proclamation I say and Pardon would not suffice but they took opportunity to fish in those troubled waters and vent their spleen further by an utter extirpation of Episcopacy and by trampling the mitre under their feet hoping to have som of the birds plumes being pluckâ—… to feather their own nests And they brought their work about Good Lord what a deal of dirt was presently thrown into the Bishops faces by every Rurall pettie Clerk what infamous ballads were sung what a thick clowd of Epidemical hatred hung suddenly over them so far that a dog with black and white spots was called a Bishop amongst them up and down the streets The chiefest contrivers of this up-roare â—…inding their design to go on so well and perceiving the whole Country so eagerly bent against Bishops and what artifices and suggestions were us'd to render them so odious is incredible but finding withall his Majestie unwilling to alter the government his father of so fresh and famous memory had left him and to which he had bin sworn at his Coronation they put themselves in arms and rais'd forces to beat down the mitre with the sword if the scepter would not do it To the frontiers they came with a great Army not half so great as was bruted pretending they came as Petitioners though they brought their Petition upon the pikes point Some of the great ones about the King grew cold in the action And what a pacification was then shuffled up and how a Parliament was called thereupon in Scotland with other passages is a fitter subject for a story then a discourse Peregrin I could have wished two things that either His Majesty had given them battail then having the flower of his Nobility and Gentry with him who I understood came with all cheerfulnesse and pomptitude to attend him or else that after the said pacification His Majestie had shaken off all jealousies and with a royall freedom and a commanding confidence gone amongst them to hancell their new Parliament House at Edenburgh for it is probable it had averted those showers and cataracts of â—…miseries which have fallen â—…pon us since but I pray Sir proceed Patricius As they say there is no wind but blows some-body good so it was thought this Northern clowd did England some advantage for a Parliament was summond hereupon a Parliament do I call it it was rather an Embryo of a Parliament an Ephemeran of 20 days In this sitting His Majesty declared unto both Houses the indignities he had received by His Scotch Subjects and therefore propos'd a supply to be made of twelve subsidies to suppress that Rebellion and in lieu thereof he was willing to forbear and utterly to abolish the Ship-money which he had reason to think legall at first being advised thereunto by Noy his Attorney Generall who had such a mighty repute in the Law yet he would not rest ther but he advised further with his learned Councell who concurred in opinion with Noy Nor wold he rest ther also but he had the approbation of all the Iudges singly and afterwards of nine of the twelve jointly upon a demur This was enough to induce his conscience to hold it legall all this while It was clearly proved that the moneys levied this way were employed to no other but the intended service the garding of the narrow Seas and not onely for that but to preserve his right of Dominion in them being the fairest flower of his Crown which was not onely discoursed of abroad but began to be questioned by the French Cardinall And touching danger how could England be but in apparant dangers consideriâ—…g how all her next neighbours were in actuall hostility which made huge fleets of men of war both French Dunkerkers Hamburgers and Hollanders to sail and flaunt ever and anon in her Channells and hard before her royall Chambers nor came ther one penny of that publick contribution to his privat coffers but he added much of his own demeans for the maintenance of a royal fleet every sommer yet he was ready to passe any Bill for the utter abolishing of the said Ship-money and for redressing of aâ—…y other grievances provided they wold enable him to suppress this Scots Rebellion some say the House was inclinable to comply with his Majesties demands but as the ill spirit wold have it that Parliament was suddenly brok up and I wold they who gave that Counsel had bin then in Arabia or beyond the Line in their way to Madagascar who neverthelesse have got to be in high request with this present Parliament Among others old Sir Harry Vane was one who when the House seem'd willing to give six
subsidies and the King inclinable to take them The said Vane being the Secretary of State stood up and said His Majesty expected no less then twelve which words did so incense and discompose the House that they drew after them that unhappy dissolution His Majesty being reduced to these straits and resenting still the insolence of the Scot proposed the busines to His Privy Councell who suddenly made up a considerable and most noble summe for his present supply whereunto divers of his domestick servants and Officers did contribut Amongst others who were active herein the Earl of Strafford bestir'd himself notably and having got a Parliament to be call'd in Ireland he went over and with incredible celeritie raised 8000. men who procured money of that Parliament to maintain them and got over those angry Seas again in the compasse of lesse then six weeks You may infer hence to what an exact uncontrollable obedience he had reduced that Kingdom as to bring about so great a work with such a suddennes and facilitie An armie was also raised here which marched to the North and there fed upon the Kings pay a whole Summer The Scot was not idle all this while but having punctuall intelligence of every thing that passed at Court as farre as what was debated in the Cabinet Councel and spoken in the bed-chamber and herein amongst many others the Scot had infinite advantage of us He armed also and preferring to make England the stage of the warre rather then his own countrey and to invade rather then to be invaded He got over the Tweed and found the passage open and as it were made for him all the way till hee came to the Tine and though there was a considerable army of horse and foot at Newcastle yet they never offered so much as to face him all the while At Newburgh indeed there was a small skirmish but the English foot would not fight so Newcastle gates flew open to the Scot without any resistance at all where it is thought he had more friends then foes and who were their friends besides for this invasion I hope Time and the Tribunall of Justice will one day discover His Majesty being then at York summoned all his Nobles to appear to advise with them in this exigence Commissioners were appointed on both sides who met at Rippon and how the hearts and courage of some of the English Barons did boil within them to be brought to so disadvantageous a Treatie with the Scot you may well imagin So the Treatie began which the Scot wold not conform himself to do unless he were first unrebell d and made Rectus in Curia and the Proclamation wherein he was declared Traitour revoked alledging it wold be dishonorable for His Majesty to treat with rebels This treaty was adjourned to London where this present Parliament was summoned which was one of the chiefest errands of the Scoâ—… as some think And thus far by these sad and short degrees have I faithfully led you along to know the tru Originals of our calamities Peregrin Truly Sir I must tell you that to my knowledg these unhappy traverses with Scotland have made the English suffer abroad very much in point of National honour Therefore I wonder much that all this while ther is none set a work to make a solid Apologie for England in some communicable language either in French or Latin to rectifie the world in the truth of the thing and to vindicat her how she was bought and sold in this expedition considering what a party the Scot had here and how his comming in was rather an Invitation then an Invasion and I beleeve if it had bin in many parts of the world besides some of the Commanders had gone to the pot Patricius It is the practise of some States I know to make sacrifice of some eminent Minister for publick mistakes but to follow the thred of my Discourse The Parliament being sate His Majesty told them that he was resolved to cast himself wholly upon the affection and fidelity of his people whereof they were the Representative body Therfore he wished them to go roundly on to close up the ruptures that were made by this infortunat war and that the two armies one domestick the other forrain which were gnawing the very bowels of the Kingdom might be dismissed Touching grievances of any kind and what State was ther ever so pure but some corruption might creep into it He was very ready to redresse them concerning the Ship-money he was willing to pass a Bâ—…ll for the utter abolition of it and to establish the property of the subject therefore he wished them not to spend too much time about that And for Monopolies he desired to have a list of them and he wold damn them all in one Proclamation Touching ill Counsellours either in Westminster-Hall or White-Hall either in Church or State he was resolved to protect none Therefore he wished that all jealousies and misunderstandings might vanish This with sundry other strains of Princely grace he delivered unto them but withall he told them that they shold be very cautious how they shook the fram of an ancient Government too far in regard it was like a Watch which being put asunder can never be made up again if the least pin be left out So ther were great hopes of a calm after that cold Northern storm had so blustered and that we shold be suddenly rid of the Scot but that was least intended untill som designs were brought about The Earl of Strafford the Archbishop of Canterbury the Iudges and divers Monopolists are clapt up and you know who took a timely flight Lord Finch to the other side of the Sea And in lieu of these the Bishop of Lincoln is enlarged Bastwick Burton and Prynn are brought into London with a kind of Hosanna His Majesty gave way to all this and to comply further with them he took as it were into his bosom I mean he admitted to his Privy Councell those Parliament Lords who were held the greatest Zelots amongst them that they might be witnesses of his secret'st actions and to one of them the Lord Say he gave one of the considerablest Offices of the Kingdom by the resignation of another most deserving Lord upon whom they could never fasten the least misdemeanour yet this great new Officer wold come neither to the same Oratory Chappell or Church to joyn in prayer with his Royall Master nor communicat with him in any publick exercise of devotion and may not this be called a tru Recusancie To another he gave one of the prime and most reposefull Offices about his own Person at Court The Earl of Essex and thereby he might be said to have given a Staff to beat himself Moreover partly to give his Subjects an Evidence how firmly he was rooted in his Religion and how much he desired the strenthning of it abroad The treaty of marriage went on 'twixt his eldest daughter and the young
cryed up and branded to be the most infamous Projectors and Monopolizers of the land as Hamilton Holland c. are not only at liberty but crept into favour and made use of Peregrin Hath the house of Commons power to commit any but their own Members without conference with the Lords Or hath any Order or Ordinance of one of the Houses singly or of both conjunctly power to enjoin a virtual binding generall obedience without the Royal consent Patricius The power of Parliament when King Peers and Commons which is the whole Kingdom digested as it were into one volum is indefinit but what either of both Houses can do of themselves singly or joyntly without the King who is the life of the Law especially when a visible faction reigns amongst them I will not determin tantas componere lites non opis est nostrae But for my own opinion I think it is as impossible for them to make a Law without the King as it was for Paracelsus to make a human creture without coition of both sexes The results of Parliament without the Royall consent are as matches without fire And it is an incontroulable principle that the old Law must be our guide till new be made nor is any Act of the Subject justifiable but what is warranted by the old But to proceed in the tru discovery of these Domestick scissures my Lord of Stafford being gone we hop'd fair weather wold follow He who was the cause of the tempest as they pretended being thrown over-board but unluckie mists of jealousie grew thicker and thicker Yet the Scots were dismist having had Fidlers fare meat drink and money for eleven long moneths together So His Majesty went to Scotland where the Parliament ther did but ask and have any thing though it be the unquestionable Prerogative of Majesty to grant or deny Petitions and to satisfie his conscience before any Councell whatsoever But during his sojourn ther this formidable hideous Rebellion brok out in Ireland which though it may be said to be but an old play newly reviv'd yet the Scene was never so Tragicall and bloody as now for the Barbarismes that have bin committed ther have bin so sanguinary and monstrously savage that I think posterity will hold them hyperbolicall â—…when History relates them The Irish themselves affirm ther concurr'd divers causes to kindle this fire One was the taking off of Strafforâ—…s head who awd them more then any Deputy ever did and that one of his Accusations shold be to have used the Papists ther too favourably Secondly the rigorous proceedings and intended courses against the Roman Catholiques here in England Lastly the stopping of that Regiment of Irish who was promised by His Majesties Royall Word and Letter to the King of Spain who relying upon that employment rather then to beg steal or starve turned Rebels And that which hath agravated the Rebellion all this while and heightned much the spirit of the Irish was the introduction of the Scot whom they hate in perfection above all people els And intended lastly the design spoken of in our Parliament to make an absolute Conquest and Nationall Eradication of them which hath made them to make vertue of necessity and to be valiant against their wills Peregrin Indeed I heard that Act of staying the Irish Regiment considering how the Marquesses de Velada and Malvezzi and Don Alonso de Cardenas who were all three Ambassadours here for the King of Spain at that time having by reliance upon the sacred Word and Letter of a King imprested money and provided shipping for their transport and bin at above 10000. Crowns charges I say this Act was very much censured abroad to the dishonour of His Majesty and our reproach Patricius I am very sorry to hear it Well Sir His Majesty by His presence having setled Scotland was at his return to London received with much joy and exultation but though he was brought in with a Hosanna at one end of the Town he found a Crucifige at the other For at Westminster ther was a Remonstrance fram'd a work of many weeks and voted in the dead of night when most of the moderat and well-thoughted Members were retired to their rest wherein with as much aggravation and artifice as could be the least moat in Government was exposed to publick view from the first day of His Majesties Inauguratâ—…on to that very hour Which Remonstrance as it did no good to the Publick but fill peoples heads with doubts their hearts with gall and retard the procedure of all businesse besides so you may well think it could expect but cold entertainment with His Majesty who hoped his great Councel according to their often deep protestations had done something for his welcom home that might have made him the best beloved King that ever 〈◊〉 amongst his people Peregrin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ther is no Government upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up of mâ—…n but is subject to corruption there is no Court of judicature so cleane but some cobwebs may gather in it unlesse an Act of Parliament could be made to free and exempt men from all infirmities and errour It cannot be denied but Scotland might have something to complaine of though I think least of any and so leapt first into the pooll to be cur'd and what she fish'd besides in those troubled waters 't is too well known England also no doubt might have some grievances which his Majestie freely offered not onely to redresse for the present but to free her of all feares for the future from falling into relapses of that kinde but to redresse grievances by Armes by plunging the whole countrey into an intestine warre this makes the remedy worse then the malady it is as if one would go about to cure a sick body by breaking his head or let him blood by giving him a dash on the nose it is as mad a tricke as his was who set the whole House a fire to roast his egs But truly Sir in my opinion his Majesty at his return from Scotland might have justly expected some acts of compliance and gratitude from his Parliament considering what unparallel'd acts of grace he had pass'd before Patricius His Majesty did not rest there but complied further with them by condescending to an act for putting down the star-chamber Court the high Commission the Court of honour nay he was contented his own Privy Councell should be regulated and his forests bounded not according to ancient Prerogative but late custome nay further he pass'd a Bill for the unvoting and utter exclusion of the Spirituall Lords from the Parliament for ever whereby it cannot be denied but by the casheering of 25 votes at a clap and by excluding the Recusant Lords besides who subsist most by his grace he did not a little enervat his own prerogative Adde hereunto that having placed two worthy Gentlemen Biron and Lunsford Lieutenants of the Tower he remov'd them both one after the other and was content to put in
one of their Election And lastly he trusted them with his greatest strength of all with his Navie Royall and call'd home Pennington who had the guard of the narrow Seas so many yeares Peregrin Truly Sir I never remember to have heard or read of such notable acts of grace and confidence from any King but would not all this suffice Patricius No But they demanded all the Land Souldiery and military strength of the Kingdome to be disposed of by them and to be put into what posture and in what Equipage and under what Commanders they pleas'd And this was the first thing his Majesty ever denyed them yet he would have granted them this also for a limited time but that would not serve the turn Hereupon his Majesty grew a little sensible how they inch'd every day more and more upon his Royall Prerogatives And intending to go to his Town of Hull to see his Magazin which he had bought with his own money with his ordinary train he was in a hostile manner kept out Canons mounted Pistols cockt and leveld at him But whether that unlucky Knight Hotham did this out of his fidelity to the Parl. or out of an apprehension of feare that some about the King being mov'd with the barbarousnesse of the action would have pistold him I will not determine Peregrin I have read of divers affronts of this kinde that were offerd to the French Kings Rochell shut her gates more than once against Henry the Great and for the King now regnant they did not only shut him out of many of his Towns but upon the gates of some of them they writ in legible Characters Roy san Foy ville sans peur a faithlesse King a fearlesse Towne Yet in the greatest heat of those warres there was never any Towne refus'd to let in her King provided he came attended onely with his own traine and besides other people abroad I heard the Scot's nation did abhor that Act at Hull But I pray Sir go on Patricius His Majesty being thus shut out of one Towne he might justly suspect that an attempt might be made to shut him in in some other Therefore he made a motion to the Yorke-shire Gentlemen to have a gard for the preservation of his Person which was done accordingly But I am come to forward I must go backe and tell you how the King was driven from Westminster When His Majesty was return'd from Scotland he retir'd to Hampton Court whence upon the Lord Majors and the Cities humble solliciâ—…ation he came back to White-hal to keep his Christmas But when the Bill against Bishops was in agitation which businesse â—…asted neer upon ten weekes a crue of bold â—…turdie mechanicks and mariners came â—…rom the Citie and ruffled before White-hall and Westminster-hall and would have violated the Abby of Westminster so that for many â—…ights a Court of gard was forced to be kept â—…n the body of that Church the chiefest Sanctuary of the Kingdom Moreover His Majesty having impeached some of the Members of both Houses of High Treason and being denied to have them delivered up he went himself to the Lower House to demand them assuring the House they should have as faire and legall a triall as ever men had But as it pleas'd God they were not there but retir'd to London for refuge The Londoners grew starke wilde thereupon and notice being sent to all the adjacent Counties this act of the Kings though it wanted no precedents of former times was aggravated in the highest degree that possibly could be Hence you may easily inferre what small securitie his Majesty had at White-hall and what indignities he might have exposed himself unto by that which had pass'd already from the Rabble who had vilified and cried tush at his proclamations and disgorg'd other rebellious speeches with impunity therefore he retird to Hampton Court as we read our Saviour withdrew himselfe once from the multitude thence to Windsor Castle whence accompanying her Majesty with his eldest daughter to the sea side for Holland and having commanded the Prince to attend him against his return at Greenwich the Prince had been surpriz'd and brought to London had not the King come a little before Thence he removed to Yorke where he kept his Court all the Sommer But to returne to London the very next day after their Majesties departure the Countrey about especially Buckinghamshire being incited by the Câ—…tie and Parliament came in great swarmes and joyning with the London mechanicks they ruffled up and down the streets and kept such a racket making the fearfull'st riot that ever I beleeve was heard of in Parliament time so those Members which formerly were fled into the Citie were brought to the House in a kind of triumph being garded by land and water in warlike manner by these Champions After this sundry troops of horse came from all the shires near adjoyning to â—…he Parliament and Buckingham men were â—…he first who while they express'd their â—…ve to Hamden their Knight forgot their â—…worn oath to their King and in stead of feathers they carried a printed Protestation in â—…heir hats as the Londoners had done a litâ—…le before upon the Pikes point Peregrin This kept a foul noise beyond Sea I reâ—…ember so that upon the Rialto in Venice â—…t was sung up and down that a Midsummer Moon though it was then midst of Winter did raign amongst the English and you must â—…hink that it hath made the Venetian to â—…hrink in his shoulders and to look but ill-favouredly upon us since wee 'l have none of his currans But Sir I heard much of that Protestation I pray what was the substance of it Patricius It was penn'd and enjoyn'd by the Parâ—…iament for every one to take and it consisted of many parts the first was to maintain the tru Potestant Religion against all Popish innovations which word Popish as som think was scrued in of purpose for a loop hole to let in any other innovation the second was to maintain the Prerogative anâ—… Honour of the King then the power and priviledge of Parliament and lastly the Propriety and Liberty of the subject for threâ—… parts of this Protestation the people up anâ—… down seem'd to have utterly forgotteâ—… them and continue so still as if their consciences had bin tied only to the third viz the priviledge of Parliament and never was ther a poor people so besotted never waâ—… reason and common sence so baffled in anâ—… part of the world And now will I go to attend His Majesty at York where as I told you before being loth to part with his Sword though he had half parted with his Scepter before by denying the Parliament an indefinite time to dispose of the Militia alleadging that as the Word so the thing was new He sends forth his Commissions of Array according to the old Law of England which declares iâ—… to be the undoubted Right and Royall Signorie of the King to arm or disarm any
afford you som satisfaction and enlighten you more in the Irish affaires The allegeance I owe to Truth was the Midwife that brought it forth and I make bold to make choice of you for my Gossip because I am From the prison of the Fleet 3. Nonas April is 1643. Your true servant I. H. Mercurius Hibernicus THere is not any thing since these ugly warrs begun whereof there hath been more advantage made to traduce and blemish His Majesties actions or to alienate and imbitter the affections of his people towards Him to incite them to armes and enharden them in the quarrell than of the Irish affaires whether one cast his eyes upon the beginning and proceedure of that warre which some by a most monstrous impudence would patronize upon their Majesties or upon the late Cessation and the transport of Auxiliaries since from thence There are some that in broken peeces have written of all three but not in one entire discourse as this is nor hath any hitherto hit upon those reasons and inferences that shall be displayed herein But he who adventures to judge of affaires of State specially of traverses of warre as of Pacifications of Truces Suspensions of Armes Parlies and such like must well observe the quality of the times the successe and circumstance of matters past the posture and pressure of things present and upon the Place the inducement or enforcement of causes the gaining of time the necessity of preventing greater mischiefes whereunto true policy Prometheus like hath alwaies an eye with other advantages The late Cessation of Armes in Ireland was an affaire of this nature a true Act of State and of as high a consequence as could be Which Cessation is now become the Common Subject of every mans discourse or rather the discourse of every common Subject all the three Kingdomes over And not onely the subject of their discourse but of their censure also nor of their censure onely but of their reproach and obloquy For the World is come now to that passe that the Foot must judge the Head the very Cobler must pry into the Cabinet Counsels of his King nay the Distaffe is ready ever and anon to arraign the Scepter Spinstresses are become States-women and every peasan turned politician such a fond irregular humour reignes generally of late yeers amongst the English Nation Now the Designe of this small discourse though the Subject require a farre greater volume is to vindicate His Majesties most pious intentions in condescending to this late suspension of Arms in His Kingdome of Ireland and to make it appeare to any rationall ingenious capacity not pre-occupied or purblinded with passion that there was more of honour and necessity more of prudence and piety in the said Cessation than there was either in the Pacification or Peace that was made with the Scot. But to proceed herein the more methodically I will lay downe first The reall and true radicall causes of the late two-yeers Irish Insurrection Secondly the course His Majesty used to suppresse it Lastly those indispensable impulsive reasons and invincible necessity which enforced His Majesty to condescend to a Cessation Touching the grounds of the said Insurrection we may remember when His Majesty out of a pious designe as His late Majesty also had to settle an Uniformitie of serving God in all his three Kingdomes sent our Liturgie to his Subjects of Scotland some of that Nation made such an advantage hereof that though it was a thing only recommended not commanded or pressed upon them and so cald in suddenly againe by a most gracious Proclamation accompanied with a generall pardon Yet they would not rest there but they would take the opportunity hereby to demolish Bishops and the whole Hierarchy of the Church which was no grievance at all till then To which end they put themselves in actuall Armes and obtained at last what they listed which they had not dared to have done had they not been sure to have as good friends in England as they had in Scotland as Lesly himself confessed to Sir William Berkley at Newcastle for some of the chiefest Inconformists here had not onely intelligence with them but had been of their Cabinet-counsels in moulding the Plot though some would cast this war upon the French Cardinall to vindicate the invasion we made upon his Masters dominions in the Isle of Rets as also for some advantage the English use to do the Spâ—…niard in transporting his Treasure to Dunkerk with other offices Others wold cast it upon the Iesuit that he shold project it first to â—…orce His Mâ—…jesty to have recourse to his Roman Catholick Subjects for aid that so they might by such Supererogatory service ingratiate themselves the more into his favour The Irish hearing how well their next Neighbouâ—…s had sped by way of Arms it filled them full of thoughts and apprehensions of fear and jealousie that the Scot wold prove more powerful hereby and consequently more able to do them hurt and to attempâ—… waies to restrain them of that connivency which they were allowed in point of Religion Now ther is no Nation upon earth that the Irish hate in that perfection and with a greater Antipathy than the Scot or from whom they conceive greater danger For wheras they have an old prophesie amongst them which one shall hear up and down in every mouth That the day will come when the Irish shall weep upon English mens graves They fear that this prophesie will be verified and fulfilled in the Scot above any other Nation Moreover the Irish entred into consideration that They also had sundry grievances and grounds of complaint both touching their estates and consciences which they pretended to be far greater than those of the Scots For they fell to think that if the Scot was suffered to introduce a new Religion it was reason they shold not be so pinched in the exercise of their old which they glory never to have altered And for temporall matters wherin the Scot had no grievance at all to speak of the new plantations which had bin lately afoot to be made in Conaught and other places the concealed lands and defective titles which were daily found out the new customs which were imposed and the incapacity they had to any preferment or Office in Church and State with other things they conceived these to be grievances of a far greater nature and that deserved redresse much more than any the Scot had To this end they sent over Commissioners to attend this Parliament in England with certain Propositions but those Commissioners were dismissed hence with a short and unsavoury answer which bred worse bloud in the Nation than was formerly gathered and this with that leading case of the Scot may be said to be the first incitements that made them rise In the couâ—…se of humane actions we daily find it to be a tru rule Exempla movent Examples move and make strong impressions upon the fancy precepts are not so
their croaking 't is to make him a King of clouts or as the Spaniard hath it Rey de Havas a Bean King such as we use to choose in sport at Twelfnight But my hopes are that the two present Houses of Parliament for now they may be call'd so because they begin to parley with their King will be more tender of the honour of their Soveraign Liege Lord which together with all his Rights and Dignities by severall solemn Oaths aud by their own binding instruments of Protestation and Covenant not yet revok'd they are sworne to maintaine and that they will demand nothing of him which may favour of Aspertè or force but what may hold water hereafter But now touching the Militia or Sword of the Kingdom I think under favour the King cannot transfer it to any other for that were to desert the protection of his people which is point blank against his Coronation Oath and his Office What forren Prince or State will send either Ambassador Resident or Agent to him when they understand his Sword is taken from him What reformed forein Church will acknowledg Him Defendor of the Faith when they hear of this Nay they who wish England no good will will go near to paint him out as not long since another King was with a fair velvet Scabbard a specious golden hilt and chape but the blade within was of wood I hope that they who sway now will make better use of their successes Many of them know 't is as difficult a thing to use a victory well as to get one ther is as much prudence requir'd in the one as prowesse in the other they will be wiser sure then turn it to the dishonor of their King it being a certain rule that the glory of a Nation all the world over depends upon the glory of their King and if he be any way obscur'd the whole Kingdom is under an eclipse I have observed that among other characters of gallantry which forein Writers appropriat to the English Nation one is that they use to be most zealous to preserve the Honor of their King I trust that they who are now up will return to the steps of their Progenitors both in this particular and divers other that their successes may serve to sweeten and moderat things and suppress the popular Sword which still rages And it had bin heartily wished that a suspension of Arms had preceded this Treaty which useth to be the ordinary fore-runner and a necessary antecedent to all Treaties for while acts of hostility continue som ill-favour'd newes may intervene which may imbitter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor can it be expected that the proceedings will go on with that candor and confidence while the old rancor is still in action 't is impossible a sore shold heal till the inflamation be taken away To cast water into a wound instead of oyle is not the way to cure it or to cast oyle upon a fire instead of water is not the way to quench it poor England hath had a consuming fire within her bowels many years she is also mortally wounded in all her members that she is still in a high Fever which hath made her rave and speak idle a long time and 't is like to turn to a Hectic if not timely prevented I pray God she may have no occasion to make use of the same complaint as Alexander the Great made when he was expiring his last Perii turba Medicorum too many Physitians have undon me To conclude in a word ther is but one only way under favor to put a period to all these fearful confusions it is to put the great Master-wheel in order and in its due place again and then all the inferior wheels will move regularly let the King be restor'd and ev'ry one will come to his own all interests will be satisfied all things quickly rectified till this be done 't is as absurd to attempt the setling of peace as if one shold go about to set a Watch by the gnomen of an horizontall Diall when the Sun is in a cloud I. H. AN ITALIAN PROSPECTIVE Through which GREAT BRITAIN Without any MULTIPLYING ART May cleerly See Her present DANGER And foresee Her future DESTRUCTION If not timely prevented Perditio tua ex Te Anglia Paraenesis Angliae O England specially thou besotted City of London if Thou be'st not quite past cure or grown careless and desperat of thy self if the least spark of Grace or ray of Reson be yet remaining in Thee be warn'd be warn'd by this stranger who having felt thy pulse and cast thy water very exactly discovers in Thee symptoms of inevitable Ruine if thou holdst on this cours Divers of thy own children oftentimes admonish'd Thee with tears in their eyes and terror in their hearts to recollect thy self and return to thy old road of obedience to thy Soverain Prince But They have bin little regarded Let a Foreiners advice then take place and make som impressions in Thee to prevent thy utter destruction From the prison of the Fleet 2. Aug. 1647. I. H. AN ACCOUNT OF THE Deplorable and Desperat condition THAT ENGLAND stands in Sent from LONDON Anno 1647. To the LORD FRANCISCO BARBERINI Cardinal of the most holy Apostolick See and Protector of the English Nation at his Palaces in Rome MY last to your Eminence was but short in regard I had been but a short time in this Countrey I have now made a longer sojourn here and taken a leisurely information of all matters therefore I shall give your Eminence an account proportionably For by conversation with the most indifferent and intelligenc'd men and by communication with the Ambassadors here resident I have taken some paines to pump out the truth of things and penetrat the Interest of all parties And truly I find that That angry star which hath lowr'd so long upon Europe in generall hath been as predominant and cast as direfull aspects upon this poor Iland as it hath done upon any other part Truly my Lord in all probability this peeple have pass'd the Meridian of their happinesse and begin to decline extreamly as well in Repute abroad as also in the common notions of Religion and indeed in the ordinary faculty of Reason I think verily the Ill Spirit never reign'd so much in any corner of the earth by those inhumane aud horrid things that I have observ'd among them Nor is it a petty Spirit but one of the greatest Cacodâ—…mons that thus drives them on and makes them so active in the pursuance of their own perdition To deduce matters from their Originall Your Eminency may please to understand that this King at his accesse to the Crown had deep debts to pay both of His Fathers and his own he was left ingaged in a fresh warre with Spain and had another presently after which France and both at one time but he came off well enough of those Afterwards never any Countrey flourished in that envied
beams reverberate never so strongly and dwell never so long upon the myry lake of Maeotis the black turf'd moores of Holland the aguish woose of Kent and Essex or any other place be it never so dirty Though Spaine be a hot Countrey yet one may passe and repasse through the very Center of it and never be Sun-burnt if he carry with him a Bongrace and such a one His Majesty had Well after his Majesties arrivall to Madrid the treaty of Marriage went on still though he told them at his first comming that he came not thither like an Ambassador to treat of a Marriage but as a Prince to fetch home a Wife and in regard they were of different Religions it could not be done without a dispensation from the Pope and the Pope would grant none unlesse some Capitulations were stipulated in favour of the Romish Catholikes in England the same in substance were agreed on with France Well when the dispensation came which was negotiated solely by the King of Spains Ministers because His Majesty would have as little to do as might be with Rome Pope Gregory the fifteenth who died a little after sent His Majesty a Letter which was delivered by the Nuncio whereof an answer was sent a while after Which Letters were imprinted and exposed to the view of the world because His Majesty would not have people whisper that the businesse was carried in a clandestine manner And truly besides this I do not know of any Letter or Message or Complement that ever pass'd twixt His Majesty and the Pope afore or after some addresses peradventure might be made to the Cardinalls to whom the drawing of those matrimoniall dispatches was referred to quicken the work but this was only by way of civil negotiation Now touching that responsory Letter from His Majesty it was no other than a Complement in the severest interpretation and such formalities passe 'twixt the Crown of England the great Turke the Mogor and divers Heathen Princes The Pope writ first and no man can deny but by all morall rules and in common humane civility His Majesty was bound to answer it specially considering how punctual they are in those Countries to correspond in this kind how exact they are repaying visits with the performance of such Ceremonies And had this compliance bin omitted it might have made very ill impressions as the posture of things stood then for it had prejudiced the great work in hand I mean the Match which was then in the heat and height of agitation His Majesties person was ther engaged besides and so it was no time to give the least offence They that are never so little vers'd in businesse abroad do know that ther must be addresses compliances and formalities of this nature us'd in the carriage of matters of State as this great businesse was wheron the eyes of all Christendom were so greedily fix'd A businesse which was like to bring with it such an universal good as the restitution of the Palatinat the quenching of those hideous fires in Germany and the establishing of a peace throughout all the Christian World I hope none will take offence that in this particular which comes within the compasse of my knowledg being upon the Stage when his Scene was acted I do this right to the King my Master in displaying the Truth and putting her forth in her own colours a rare thing in these days TOuching the Vocall Forrest an Allegorical Discourse that goes abroad under my name a good while before the beginning of this Parlement which this Gentleman cites and that very faithfully I understand ther be som that mutter at certain passages therin by putting ill glosses upon the Text and taking with the left hand what I offer with the right Nor is it a wonder for trees which ly open and stand exposed to all weathers to be nipt But I desire this favour which in common justice I am sure in the Court of Chancery cannot be denyed me it being the priviledge of every Author and a received maxime through the World Cujus est condere ejus est interpretari I say I crave this favour to have leave to expound my own Text and I doubt not then but to rectifie any one in his opinion of me and that in lieu of the Plums which I give him from those Trees he will not throw the stones at me Moreover I desire those that are over criticall Censuâ—…ers of that peece to know that as in Divinity it is a rule Scriptur a parabolica non est argumentativa so it is in all other kind of knowledg Parables wherof that Discourse is composed though pressed never so hard prove nothing Theâ—… is another Rule also That Parables must be gently used like a Nurses breast which if you presse too hard you shall have bloud in stead of milk But as the Author of the Vocall Forrest thinks he hath done neither his Countrey nor the Common wealth of Learning any prejudice therby That maiden fancy having received so good entertainment and respect abroad as to be translated into divers Languages and to gain the publick approbation of som famous Universities So he makes this humble protest unto all the World that though the designe of that Discourse was partly Satyricall which peradventure induc'd the Author to shrowd it of purpose under the shadowes of trees and where should Satyres be but amongst Trees yet it never entred into his imagination to let fall from him the least thing that might give any offence to the High and Honourable Court of Parlement whereof he had the honour to be once a Member and hopes he may be thought worthy again And were he guilty of such an offence or piacle rather he thinks he shold never forgive himself though he were appointed his own Judge If ther occur any passages therin that may admit a hard construction let the Reader observe That the Author doth not positively assert or passe a judgement on any thing in that Discourse which consists principally of concise cursory narrations of the choisest Occurrences and Criticismes of State according as the pulse of time did beat then And matters of State as all other sublunary things are subject to alterations contingencies and change which makes the opinions and minds of men vary accordingly I will conclude with this modest request to that Gentleman of the long Robe That having unpassionately perus'd what I have written in this small Discourse in penning wherof my conscience guided my quill all along as well as my hand he wold please to be so charitable and just as to reverse that harsh sentence upon me To be no Friend to Parlements and a Malignant A GLANCE UPON THE I LE of WIGHT AND Upon the unparallell'd Concessions of GRACE HIS MAJESTY pass'd in that Trety c. Concluding with the horrid Murther committed afterwards upon His Sacred Person Cui dabit partes scelus expiant Iupiter A GLANCE UPON THE I LE of WIGHT OR AN
Swed as I had good intelligence could upbraid one of your Ambassadors that are now there that He had not washed his hands clean since they had been embrued in His Princes bloud The time that I sojourned in England I was curious to read your Annals and to make some inspections into your Laws and Method of Government as also into the Genius of the peeple and I find there is no species of Government that suits better with the nature of the Inhabitants the quality of the Clime and relates more directly to the civil Constitutions Laws and Customs of the Land then Monarchal The I le of Great Britain hath been alwaies a Royall Island from her very Creation from her Infancy she may be said to have worn a Crown in her Cradle and although she had four or five Revolutions and changes of Masters yet she still continued Royal whereunto alludes a saying that I observed in your old Records Britannia ab initio mundi semper fuit Regia Regimen Illiuâ—… simile illi caelorum Great Britain hath been from the beginning of the World Royall and Her Government like that of the Heavens Therefore all these premises being weighed in the balance of true judgement you shall do well and wisely to recollect your selfs and call in your hopefull young King whose Title your consciences do acknowledge to be unquestionable otherwise it is not onely improbable but impossible for England to be Her self again and to be setled in any stable Government which may reach to posterity you may wind up your wits as high as you can you may consult with your first second and third thoughts but will never be able to settle a fixed Government you will be still at a losse your Debates will be like a skeyn of ravell'd threed you will be in a labyrinth of confusions and the end of one will be still the beginning of another To conclude the current and concurrent opinion of all Ministers of State here both Forren and Florentine is that if you do not make a timely application to your King you will have all the Princes of Christendom about your ears and what a sad calamitous Country what an Aceldama will England be then Therefore if there be a true Patriot and publick soul amongst you if there be ever any drops of true English bloud running in your veins or the least spark of nationall fire and affections glowing in your bosoms toward your own dear Country prevent these imminent dangers and invite your King by discreet and moderate proposals The gallant Samnit General could tell the Romans who had over powred them that if they gave them easie and gentle capitulations they would perform them but if they would tye them to too high and strict terms they would observe them no longer then they cold have opportunity to break them Touching the affairs of Italy we are like to have a general blessed peace this side the Alpes and Lombardy who hath been so pittifully harass'd a long time and hath had her face so often scratch'd is in a fair way to recover her former beauty Signor Giovanni Palavicino and D. Lorenzo Minuccio convey their most affectionate respects unto you and so doth Your Entire and Faithfull Servant Florence this 12th of March 1659. Ther are divers other large Peeces tending to the same Subject which shall be published in the second Tome FINIS Finch c. Mechanicks Mariners 〈◊〉 Straâ—… Bishops Scoâ—… M. Hert. E. South E. Westm. E. Worce E. Dover Wales Digbies E. Pemb. E Waâ—…w Arondelle Her Majesty M. Hamilt Scot. Plut. The Scot. The Irish. England
subject The Parliament sends out clean countermands for executing the said Militia so by this clashing 'twixt the Commission of Array and the Militia the first flash of this odious unnaturall war may be said to break out The pulse of the Parliament beats yet higher they send an Admirall to the Sea the Earl of Warwick not only without but expresly against the Kings special command They had taken unto them a Military gard from the City for their protection without His Majesties consent who by the advice of the Lord Keeper and others had offered them a very strong gard of Constables and other Officers to attend them which the Law usually allows yet the raising of that gard in York-shire for the safegard of His Majesties person was interpreted to be leavying of war against the Parliament and so made a sufficient ground for them to raise an Army to appoint a Generall the Earl of Essex with whom they made publick Declarations to live and die And they assumed power to confer a new Appellation of honour upon him Excellency as if any could confer Honour but the King And this Army was to be maintain'd out of the mixt conâ—…ribution of all sorts of people so a great masse of money and plate was brought into the Guild hall the Semstresse brought in her silver Thimble the Chamber-maid her Bodkin the Cook his Spoons and the Vintner his Bowles and every one somthing to the advancement of so good a work as to wage war directly against the Sacred person of their Soverain and put the whole Countrey into a combustion Peregrin Surely it is impossible that a rationall Christian people shold grow so simple and sottish as to be so far transported without some colourable cause therfore I pray tell me what that might be Patricius The cause is made specious enough and varnished over wonderfull cunningly The people are made to believe they are in danger and a prevention of that danger is promised and by these plausible ways the understanding is wrought upon and an affection to the cause is usher'd in by aggravation of this danger as one wold draw a thred through a needles eye This huge Bugbear Danger was like a monster of many heads the two chiefest were these That ther was a plot to let in the Pope And to 〈◊〉 the civil Government into a French frame It is incredible to think how the Pulpits up and down London did ring of this by brainsick Lecturers of whom som were come from New-England others were pick'd out of purpose and sent for from their own flock in the Countrey to possesse or rather to poison the hearts of the Londoners to puzzle their intellectualls and to intoxicat their brains by their powerfull gifts It was punishable to preach of Peace or of Caesars Right but the common subject of the pulpit was either blasphemy against God disobedience against the King or incitements to sedition Good Lord what windy frothy stuff came from these fanatick brains These Phrenetici Nebulones for King Iames gives them no better Character in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who may be said to be mad out of too much ignorance not knowledg who neverthelesse are come to that height of prophaness and pride that they presume to father all their doctrines all their non-sense raptures and ravings upon the holy Spirit Nor did the Pulpit only help to kindle this fire but the Presse also did contribute much stubble What base scurrilous Pamphlets were cryed up and down the streets and dispersed in the 〈◊〉 What palpable and horrid lies were daily printed How they multiplied in every corner in such plenty that one might say tâ—…er was a superfaetation of lies which continue unto this day One while the King of Denmark was comming over from the Sound Another while the King of France had a huge Army about Calais design'd for England Another while ther was an Army of Irish Rebels comming over with the privity of the King Another while a plot was cryed up and down to burn London Another while ther were subterranean invisible troups at Ragland Castle mustered under ground in Wales and thousands of Papists armed in Lancashire and divers reports of this nature were daily blown up and though the Authors of them were worthlesse and mean futilous persons yet the reports themselves had that credit as to be entertain'd and canvas'd in the High Court of Parliament But these false rumors produc'd one politick effect and it was the end indeed for which they were dispers'd they did intimidat and fill the peoples hearts with fears and dispose of them to up roars and so to part with money Peregrin I know ther be sundry sorts of Fears ther are Conscientious Fears and ther are â—…annick Fears ther are Pusillanimous Fears and ther are Politick Fears The first sort of Fear proceeds from guilt of Conscience which turns often to Phreâ—…cy The second sort of Fear may be call'd a kind of Chymera 't is som sudden surprizall or Consternation arising from an unknown cause Pusillanimous Fear makes a mountain of a mole-hill and proceeds from poverty of spirit and want of courage and is a passion of abject and degenerous minds and may be call'd Cowardise and this Fear is always accompanied with jealousie Politick fear is a created forg'd Fear wrought in another to bring som design about And as we find the Astronomers the comparison is too good do imagin such and such shapes and circles in the Heavens as the Zodiak Equinoctiall Colures Zones and Topiques with others though ther be no such things really in nature to make their conclusions good So the Polititian doth often devise and invent false imaginary Fears to make his proceedings more plausible amongst the silly vulgar and therby to compasse his ends And as the Sun useth to appear far bigger to us in the morning then at noon when he is exalted to his Meridian and the reason the Philosophers use to give is the interposition of the vapours which are commonly in the lower Region through which we look upon him as we find a piece of silver look bigger in a bucket of water then elsewhere so the Polititian uses to cast strange mists of Fear and fogs of jealousie before the simple peoples eyes to make the danger seem bigger But truly Sir this is one of the basest kinds of policy nor can I believe ther be any such Polititians amongst the Cabalists of your Parliament who pretend to be so busie about Gods work a Glorious Reformation for you know ther is a good Text for it that God needeth not the wicked man he abominats to be beholding to liers to bring about his purposes But I pray Sir deal freely with me do you imamagin ther was a design to bring in the Massâ—… again Patricius The Masse You may say ther was a plot to bring in Mahomet as soon to bring in the Alchoran or Talmud as soon For I dare pawn my soul the King is as