what is fitting to be done they ought to have no considerable other employment to the intent they may throughly mind that but they may mistake therefore it is convenient they should have certain Articles of Doctrine from which they may not vary in their instructions which ought to be honest and according to reason for such which have other foundations make it doubtfull and oft times produce dangerous consequences from credulous Churchmen Because they are to be sequestred from private trade and gains it is fit they should be publiquely maintained and to the end they might be free from teaching to please the people they ought to be independent on their Parish in their maintenance If it be thought Homilies may serve this turn it ought to be consider'd and may be well replyed that they cannot be made so proper for every particular Congregation and occasion nor are they so naturally and forcibly pronounced as the Words and Notions which are of a mans own conception though those may be good also in their kind For publique mercies received reason tells us it is fit there should be publique acknowledgement of gratitude and to procure general blessings general applications and that such men who best should know the value of them which are they before mentioned are the most proper for these Sacrifices Further they ought to be subordinate to the Prince for the reasons before mentioned and to one another for the more expeditious conveying of orders and inspecting the people and inferiour Clergie by a distribution of that nature which is agreeable to right reason and so to the Law of God and of consequence by Divine right but God knows such is the unhappiness of mankind that if a man looks through the world in divers Ages he may see too many have been chosen by favour some in respect of interest by money because they will serve for little and others because being of ill lives themselves they will the rather pass by reprehension of those persons who promote them and for this very reason the personal vices of the Clergie by men that do not distinguish the office from the person does endanger oft times the very order of Hierarchy for such as these wanting the substance of their calling which is good Preaching and a Regular life set up the formal and ceremonious part of Religion insinuating it for the substance the better to blind and cover their own vitious lives and so create many Hereticks and Atheists the first hunting for Truth in some other or new Religion because they find notorious error in that they are taught and the other suspecting all because they perceive deceipts in some part of it To conclude this in memory to our Mother the Church of England whose constitution is agreeable to what is before mentioned of this nature it may be said she was a branch cut off from the body of the Romane Tree in the time of Henry the 8th and engrafted into the Royal Stock in the days of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory and has flourish'd therein ever since a late Chasme excepted with this Immortal Glory that whereas other Churches have generally occasioned frequent disturbances to the Countries where they have been nourished and some bloody and dreadfull this seeming to have the peculiar mark of being Gods own has never yet been the cause of any the least disquietness to us since the very first Reformation and at this hour none appear to be proceeding from it much less impending If the Prince ought to have a considerable power to compel and perswade the Subjects it follows then that they ought to have but little to resist him in the one or other let the pretences be never so gawdy Further the Laws must have a time wherein to be declared and we see after many Ages some are wanting still so then a question may arise by what Rule a Prince is to Govern when there is a deficiency we say by the Law of Conscience and Reason and necessarily it must be left to the declarations of his own bosome in cases that require expedition and thus it is in England for Equity in it self is the Law of God agreeing to reason and that which is in practice is Gods interpreted from the Princes breast or from such whom he does intrust with his Conscience so our bills in Chancery do conclude that they pray Equitie because the Law has not provided an apt remedy or to that purpose and upon the same reason the King in some cases suspends the Law it self as in Frauds and Paenal Bonds and Estates upon Condition forseited because the Law of England at present made is herein defective and comes not up fully to the Law of God and in all cases of evil it is said the King cannot license malum in se but he may malum prohibitum though he can pardon either committed Again the first possession of a man is a good Title by the Law of Nature until an elder or the Law of Reason which with mankind is to have a preference otherwayes disposes it as is done in Taxes and several other things and all this with much more which for brevities sake I purposely omit is either founded on the Law of Nature or Reason as is said in our books of Law the Law of England is Thus much of the Government 7. COme we now to the number of men requisite in a happy Commonwealth It is necessary they should be many and cannot be too great if the proportion of provisions be not too little for though few men well governed with necessaries convenient may do and heretofore have acted miraculous things yet a greater number equally disciplin'd and of like provision shall do more considerable and wonderfull things in tract of time perhaps upon a contingent accident not well understood from whence it came Fortune may now and then put an Argument to the contrary To come to some Instances which may serve as Arguments Xenephon with a few men made a Retreat that has been of great glory to him through all times even to this day passing many vast Countries against a prodigious number of men but then there was this in it First his Souldiers were provided with good Pikes a sort of Arms of the best use against Horse in a Champion Country of which the Enemy consisted chiefly and in enclosures they could do no considerable harm to Foot which was an accident of Fortune Then the General of the Persians in expectation of out-witting them by political contrivances trifled out the time of burning the Country in their march till they were so near the Confines that they had sufficient maintenance for retreat out of their Dominions after which they met with no considerable Nations and for the most part if not alwayes with tumultuary forces these being generally surprized Caesar with small forces being well disciplined and provided destroyed a great number of Helvetians in his Wars of Gallia who had no good Discipline
or Armes but when he came to meet a greater number than his own forces at least equally furnish'd with necessaries and almost as good Disciplin'd he sustain'd the loss at Dyrrachuum where if it had been well followed a period had been set to his glories But in the end he overcame Pompey by the advantage of his cunning in mixing certain cohorts of Foot with his Horse and then meeting the confident precipitancy of the ungovernable Nobility of Rome against whom he fought Caesar in Spain after meeting with many Romanes of Discipline and Provision somewhat like his own Army under Pompey's Sons he professed he then fought for his life whereas heretofore he had contended for honour Bajazett the Turkish Emperour with a great Army excellent Discipline and well provided made considerable Conquests but when Tamberlaine with an Army greater and Discipline and necessaries at least equal he was not long before he did encage him Scanderbegge did singular exploits with a few choice men but it is observable he found the inconvenience of a small Territory as Epirus was and in the cloze of his years made it his principal care to fortifie himself with alliances by way of Supply to that deficiency We must not deny that where the numbers are great without good Discipline and stores it breeds confusion and hastens destruction as on the other hand an Army or Countrie never did exceed in number such a proportion as was beyond the capacity of good Discipline many great Monarchies of the World and the March of Tamberlaine in exact order are manifest examples and arguments 8. PRovisions are the next thing necessary to make a flourishing Nation they are such as these plenty of Flesh and Corn Iron Brass Wood for Fuel Ship-sides and Masts Hemp Pitch Tarr the materials of Powder if they are not all produceable from the ground that they be not farr off and that there be conveniency of Carriage for them the chief whereof is Water Hence it is that all great Governments have had their Capital Seats in Plentifull Countries which are well stored with convenient Provisions and for what they want have the benefit of water for quick and easie Carriage The Romans were seated on a rich Soyle and not far from the Mediterranean and the Neighbouring Seas places of the most convenient Navigation in this part of the World at those times in respect of the extent thereof and quietness the Mariners Compass not being then invented The Eastern Empire upon the same the Turkish at this day before them the Aegyptian and Carthaginian and few if any great Towns of note are not upon or near good Rivers or the Sea it self It is observable the ground the Romans conquered was chiefly upon the skirts of those Seas through which they could the more commodiously send and receive supplyes and the Emperours were forc'd to withdraw first from the places most remote from the Seas Since the invention of the Mariners Needle there are other more commodious for Navigation and a more proper seat than that is where the Winds and Tides are more stirring since Seamen by the benefit of the Compass can guide themselves in the day without the sight of the Sun or Land-marks and in the Night without benefit of Stars or Fire unless at some special places and times 9. IF the People have a good government are many in number and well provided yet especially till there are good constitutions of Laws if there be not a good election among the Officers those advantages for such time will be rendred the less significant We shall find the same Nation sometime victorious and the World trembling under them and one would think at first sight it proceeded from the nature of the people and in the turn of a hand upon the alteration of a Prince or his affections grow degenerate and effeminate the Government People and Stores still the same and e converso a sluggish People after a time victorious Now seeing Princes act chiefly by their Ministers and Officers and that they have to do generally with all their Neighbours for otherwise it might arise from the condition of some without it cannot arise from any other more considerable cause than the want of good choice In the one Men of Vertue appear uppermost who give an universal reputation to their Country in the other these by degrees are thrust down and such shew themselves who in the management of business bring an ignominious report upon the whole Nation Edward the third in his first time and Henry the fifth of England in his last opur Chronicles make honourable mention of with great admiration of their Valour and Conquests in France and our happiness then at home and with as great sorrow and reflections on their other times and on both their Successors But if men of virtue are chosen who are the spirit and life of a Commonwealth yet we see Fortune now and then will be shewing her self but not oft and so we may the better bear her insolencies But against the apprehensions of men God Almighty will and does those things oft times by his extraordinary providence that seem to differ not only from the course of nature but of reason who of his mercy by devout applications may notwithstanding be appeased 10. AT this day in this part of the World it may be there is not any Nation so near compleat in many of the former particulars as this of England If we compare it with the Low Countries the Crown of England has more Men more Provisions of some sort of its Native production and may have as many of any other better seated the Country of a larger extent add to this that here cannot easily be diversions by a Land Invasion As to their Government sithence it has much of a republique were it not that they fix their thoughts without upon fear of danger the caement of republiques it is likely they would divide and settle on one another the usual fate of such governments as it fell out to Rome in the dayes of Scylla Marius Caesar c. for having overcome a great part of the World and amongst the rest the Carthaginians a powerfull Neighbour they fell to Civil Wars as was foretold by a Senatour and thereupon were advised not utterly to destroy but to leave that Government as an awe upon their State to prevent divisions at home War abroad is the Interest of Republiques the Low Countries to the wonder of Queen Elizabeths dayes thriving like Salamanders in the fire of contention If we compare the King of England with the French it is obvious they have neither so convenient Ports nor are so well seated we lying betwixt them and the North where the greatest stores are for Naval employments adde to this that the form of their government and nature of the people indisposes them to business on the Seas Take this out of Sir Walter Rawleigh as Popaelynire well observeth The Forces of Princes by Sea are
marks of the greatness of an Estate for whosoever commands the Sea commands the Trade whosoever commands the Trade of the World commands the Riches of the World and consequently the World it self If with any other this being an Island in the midst of Trade betwixt the North and South East and West a temperate Clime upon the great waters of the World especially since relief may be received and sent with more certainty upon the invention of the Needle has manifest advantage Some men in certain Nations it must be confessed out of covetousness have in certain times abused the publique Revenue as did the Officers of the Greek Emperour Constantine when Mahomet besieged Constantinople Others out of envy to the glory of great and virtuous Commanders have puzzled business and obstructed necessaries as Hanno did to Hannibal in the course of his Victories against the Romans in Italy Others have been traiterous as was Bessus to Darius his Master in the time that Alexander invaded him And it did fall out to that Hanno the Ball was after toss'd upon African ground and consumed the envious obstructer his Family and Country to the Emperour who having try'd below his Imperial Dignity to ask money at the Doors of his Citizens for the necessary defence of him and them through a perverse and obstinate discontent at the former abuses though they had plenty within them that he was refused and so they perished together And to Bessus who depending on dealing with Alexander upon the ruine of his Prince of whom he had the greatest apprehensions did perish in the design And some heretofore out of arrogance and want of skill have endangered their Country But we must take great heed we be not too apt to think amiss of the actions of a Prince or his Officers which Men are too prone to complain of First because we cannot judge aright of them sithence they are at distance to most and secret to all the hearts of Kings are unsearchable Secondly We know not what they drive at for they rowe one way oft times and look another intending still the publique good Moreover they are but men and may have their failings and we ought to cover and not divulge much less expatiate on their Infirmities as we would not men should do so to us They have their hands full of business so that it is almost impossible but that deficiencies must be Adde to this that male contents do always magnifie the oversights of men in authority and vilifie their good deeds beyond a due proportion and by the reports they spread up and down do give a discolouring to their actions So that for this very reason we must always allow many grains and if it were as bad as it may be sometimes made which without all dispute it is not as all men have their failings so have they oft their poculiar periods wherein they commit them sometimes gaining ground by such stumbles and make the more wary men upon the benefit of their experience 11. THe gradations means and manner how the English Nation came to such a greatness is the subject of the History of England of which the following Book is the first part and this the Sum. At the discovery hereof by Julius Caesar it was divided into a multitude of petty governments exceeding weak for that reason and more liable to the Roman Conquests Under them it continued some hundreds of years in that time designed in the nature of a Treasury out of which they might draw men and wealth for the purposes of the Roman interests On their Exigencies in the Continent they left it weak and subject to all Invaders being disabled by the policies and practises of their late Masters for what they had most apprehensions of they did most carefully endeavour to extinguish which was the power and strength of them whom having subdued they had desire to keep under In this condition habituated also for several Ages to a Slavish temper of mind they were the more easily conquered by the Saxons invited in to assist them upon the fresh affliction of their Northern Neighbours Under them it continued a considerable time divided into seven Nations commonly called the Saxon Heptarchy being then in somewhat better plight to defend themselves than formerly because they were reduced to a fewer number of principalities and were in no subjection the Danish inroads and the consequence thereof for some too considerable time excepted After divers contentions and great fluctuations it all resolved at last into one Monarchy under a West Saxon Prince and then far more considerable While it remained thus the Church of Rome and sereral of the Nobility who had large possessions here from the Roman policy in granting large immunities to some who yeilded to them in their Conquests consequently great interest did frequently perplex the Nation with civil diffention and by that very means principally it became a prey to the Norman Conquerour The same causes remaining the effects did not differ under the succeeding Kings in somuch that those victorious Attempts and Conquests that were made in several places especially in France were frequently distracted and at last utterly extinguisht by our contentions at home In the time of Henry the 4th The policy upon which great men kept and increased their estates beyond a moderate and competent bulk by advantage of a Statute they had gained in the days of Edward the First impowring them to Entayle all was frustrated by an invention at Law which could not be effected before upon divers designs in Parliament the issue of this was a bane to great possessions and consequently to such powers and interests as did frequently mate the Kings and disturb the people of England Henry the 7th followed the blow acting several things levelled to the same purpose and with benefit to them that in those days did not generally think so for by this means they were taken off from inclinations to a common mischief to which they were provok'd by their passions and the urgings of vain and necessitous men and in the calamity whereof they themselves and their Families had the most deplorable shares The Church of Rome together with the Doctrine of Salvation had impress'd in the minds of men an opinion that what is once given to the Church is Sacrilege to take away by which means it likewise having divers other arts to increase they kept their estates and became very formidable to the Kings of England but being undertook by Henry the 8th he tore from them with great severity those large possessions which rendred them dangerous to his interests Queen Elizabeth his Daughter by a long and prudent reign did fix her self and marvellously improve the Interest of this Nation wrapt up inseparably with the truest of the Crown And now did begin to appear the fruits of the Mariners Compass not long before invented the Trade and shiping of the world leaving the calmer and and setling in our more active Seas
wild Beasts and what might be had from Kine and the natural productions of the Earth which were in less degree subject to such Inconveniencies and the Hides were of great advantage for Coverings and several other purposes As to their dwelling Places how vain would it be for any Man to spend a considerable part of his substance in building a House which would be immediatly subject to prostitution by irruptions of an Enemy and Wood is so far from being an Argument of a barbarous People in the sense it is usually receiv'd that we may more truly say it is a considerable and judicious protection for Men and Cattle in a small Territory a little Country being apt to be over-run and spoyl'd in few days where all things generally are uncovered and with small defence But to come to the History Caesar ' s Design to invade Britany JVlius Caesar abounding in the thoughts of Conquest and Glory after he had made considerable atchievements in Gallia and Germany about fifty years before the account used in England fifty four some have said takes upon him a resolution to Invade the Britains moved to it upon expectation of Riches by the plunder of a large and unexhausted Country Money being necessary in great Undertakings and Caesar had then in his mind such as were of no small dimension The Pearles of this Country were in great report in those days amongst the Romans whether by mistake or that there are none here in the latter Ages equalling the former is uncertain But he gave out that the Britains in the Warres of Gallia had assisted the Galls and made that the pretence of his Invasion The notice of Caesar's intentions being come to the Britains several of their States sent Embassadors to him with tender of submission to the Roman Authority and offer Hostages for their security to whom Caesar was courteous commending their resolutions and exhorted them to constancy therein but would not desist his former designs this notwithstanding but sent them away with one Comius whom he had made Prince of the Atrebatij a Person of Judgment and Fidelity with directions to him to manage an Interest amongst the States of Britain according to certain Instructions he had received from Caesar This did not please the Britains so when they came to Land it was resolved to lay him in Irons and effected accordingly with an unanimous resolution contriving to defend themselves like Men against the power of those whose greediness and ambition by submitting they could not satisfie Caesar could not get knowledge to any satisfaction of the People their ways of Fight their Laws Ports or Forces only some superficial Information he had by certain Merchants thereupon he sends Caius Volusenus in a Vessel to make some discovery who return'd after five days disquisition and gave Caesar an account of what he had taken notice of which could not be considerable sithence he did not dare to land because of the Enemy on the Coast prepared to receive him What with Caesar's Warres on the Continent that Summer which he had but newly pass't over and what with his preparing for an Invasion by Sea which must the rather spend him the more time because it was out of his customary way of fighting it fell out that he could not be ready to Ship his Men till neer Winter for this very reason somewhat the more inconvenient to him because he was to pass an Army of Southern Men into a more Northern Climate as also because of his return by Sea for so he must in respect of Winter Provision which was not to be had but in Gallia the Seas being at the following Season more rough and unconstant which an Army is less able to endure because they are in danger of being disperst the confusion of many Naval designs of this nature but notwithstanding Caesar trusting to his wonted fortune was resolved to undertake it and satisfies himself with an apprehension that if he could but make a discovery it might recompence his journey by the advantage he might gain in his preparations for another Summers expedition His Preparations Voyage and Landing THe Galls and Germans being but newly quieted and apt on all occasions especially the first to express their distaste of that subjection with which as yet they had not well been acquainted he thereupon left a great party in Gallia where he had most suspition and in those places whither he intended at his return to arrive and strongly fortified the Port called then Iccius not farre from the now Callis if not the same from whence he did intend to set sayl as he had design'd likewise to come back to it Two Legions of Foot which might each contain about 5000 for they were somewhat uncertain in their number he resolv'd to transport and certain Horse which if they were the proportion that was usually with two Legions might be about a 1000. The Foot lay at the Port before mentioned with whom Caesar was in Person and eighty Ships of burden to carry them over 18 more he intended for the Horse which together with that lesser Fleet were some few Leagues distant and by reason of contrary winds could not come up to him before he was in his passage to the Island with the other part of the Navy He had also with him several Gallies as we may call them or Ships of War to what number is not known During his expectation of the Horse the Wind blowed fair which opportunity not willing to lose he thereupon ships his Foot and weighing Anchor sets sayl somewhat pass't midnight sending to the Horse commands to do the like and follow and comes himself with the best Sailors within view of the Island somewhat before Noon the next Day The Coast where he arrived was unfit to Land his Men on the Rocks hanging over the Sea and consequently of more advantage to the Defenders than Assaylors the rather because the Britains might make great use of their missive Weapons so he casts Anchor and stays till the rest of his Fleet which set sayl with him came up which was two or three hours after Noon when they were neer he sends for his principal Officers aboard him and acquaints them with what Volusenus had discovered telling them further his Intentions to try for a more favourable Shoar and gives them particular Instructions what they should do inculcating to them above all the necessity of being exact in their duties on that unstable Element of the Sea The Wind and Tide serving Him he weighs Anchor and sets Saile again and within a small time comes to a place not far distant where was a plain and open Shore proper to land his Men on about Deale in Kent as is supposed by several Circumstances The Britains who attended Caesar at his Anchor observing his motion send their Horse and Chariots being Lighter of march before hand and follow with their Infantry Caesar had the usual difficulties to encounter with at his landing especially