Neither were indeed these latter proceedings attempted till after that by several tricks and devices as naming Sheriffs fit to serve turns and imposing such Representatives on the Borough Towns as would be byass'd to betray their Country besides a violent seizure of the Country Lords likely to oppose the Court had got a Parliament to their minds that would do their own business not the Nations and prefer the private gain of some few before the publick benefit of the whole Common-wealth What sort of Parliament this was and how fairly things were carried we may inform our selves out of Stow's Annals where we find it upon Record in the twenty first year of this King how that all of a suddain in the midst of a great calm and outward serenity the King caus'd the principals of the party thought most opposite to Court designes to be feiz'd on and imprison'd and among the rest his own Uncle as Chief so unsecure is Kindred and Alliance among Kings and Princes tells the Commons by Proclamation that their apprehension was founded on new Transgressions not old Crimes though these afterwards were the great offences laid to their charge procures their Indictment at Nottingham suborns several Nobles to impeach them in the next Parliament Assembles many Malefactors of the County of Chester in the nature of a Guard and then summons the Parliament Thither came the Nobles with an Armed Retinue for fear of the King such Knights are chosen Prolocutors as are described to be void of all manner of goodness as in whom nought was to be found but a natural Covetuousness unsatiable Ambition Intollerable Pride and Hatred of the truth and the Clergy upon pain of losing their Temporalties injoyn'd to chose them a Common Proctor who thereupon appointed Sir Henry Percy Steward of the Kings Houshold to assent in their Names to all things done in the Parliament How then things were likely to be ordered in the two Houses 't is no hard matter for us to guess especially when we remember that the Annalist tells us the Parliament House was compass'd about with four thousand of the Kings Archers who seem to have been ready prepar'd on all occasions for an Onset and once more particularly mistaking the noise usually made at the Parliament's Men coming out of the House for a Tumultous Broil and Contention with their Bows bent Arrows fitted and drawing they were upon the point of shooting to the terrour of all present till the Kings coming rectified their mistake and pacified them To tell of recalling of Pardons disannulling of Charters making void of Commissions revoking former Judgments impeaching arraigning condemning and actually punishing the opposite Party some with loss of Estates Lives and all others with forfeitures of all worldly Goods and perpetual irrevocable imprisonment I esteem a needless labour Suffice it therefore to remark how sollicitous the Court was at this juncture to render their own Party as Saints and the others as most guilty Criminals to take off the contesting Lords as disloyal Traytors and restore in the Eye of the Law the Reputation of Courtiers formerly condemn'd in the eleventh year of this King as if they had been the honestest and loyallest Subjects in the Nation and undo as much as in them lay what ever was then done in the Parliament that wrought wonders not withstanding that in many things they imitated that Assembly when they thought it for their peculiar advantage as in Lords Appellants Oaths to make all the Judgments Ordinances and Statutes unrepealable and Excommunication of the Breakers or Impugners of them but in others far out did it as in revoking all Pardons pleaded by the opposite Lords under the notion of being unlawfully made or so by the King granted unto them as not to be against himself and excusing those equally guilty of the same actions because look'd on at that time as useful Instruments in carrying on the Court Intreagues viz. suppressing the principal Assertors of Liberty and Property in passing a general Pardon with the Exception of fifty Persons not express'd by name whereby any one at pleasure might be made liable to censure as one of the Persons excepted if thought a Favourer of the contrary side and conserring the whole Power of the Parliament upon certain Lords and Commons fully to answer all Bills and wholly to determine all other matters mov'd in Parliament and not determined with all their Dependants as mischievous a President as Sylla's Proscription though 't is hoped not as practicable besides the prejudging and confining of Parliament Debates by the Judges Opinions That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first dâ—termined that it is Treason in them that do it Such being the Acts of this Assembly and the consequences of the Courts present success in taking off the Heads of the other Party who durst at every turn contest therewith in behalf of those freeborn English Twins Liberty and Property under which the Nation with silent murmurs languished and lamented when they so soon after the end of this Parliament at Shrewsbury and the Kings Progress into the West saw no less than seventeen Counties in East England indicted by the Kings command and as a grievous offence laid to their charge that they had been against him with the Duke of Glocester Earls of Arundel and Warwick the late Principals amongst the contesting Lords but now secur'd fast enough the two first under the undissolvable Bonds of Death the other under the Chains of a perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man and several honourable Persons sent to induce the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to make a Submission by Writing seal'd with their own Hands acknowledging themselves Traytors to the King though they never offended him in Word or Deed Besides the compelling all the Religious Gentlemen and Commons to set their Seals to Blank-Charters that they might be oppress'd severally or all at once at pleasure some being made to pay a thousand Marks some a thousand Pounds And an Order issued out through every Shire in England that all Gentlemen and Men of Substance should be sworn firmly to maintain according to their power all the Statutes Articles and Constitutions ordained in the last Parliament We may easily conclude the Court thought the Citizens of London were not over much in love with these enslaving Statutes unaccustomed Oaths insnaring Blanks and inforc'd Submissions and suspected them ready enough upon occasion to oppose and withstand these manifest encroachments of Antinomian Prerogative upon the Liberty of the Subject and strive to strike off these Fetters and Shackles of Slavery upon the next opportunity before they were thorowly rivetted by Time and Prescription and therefore esteemed it their wisest Course to begin with them first by the usual Method of Indictments while they had the Reins of Government in their own hands and so consequently power enough to manage the Law as they themselves pleased to
of the Realm so much by Conqueâ—â— as on Conditions accordingly here 's mentiâ—â— made of one Grant The Occasion of Stephen's coming to the Crowâ— contrary to his own former Oath swore to Kiâ—â— Henry and in prejudice to Maud's Claim is Râ—corded by one Author to have been the Oath one Hugh Bâ—got sometime King Henry's Stewarâ— who swore that the Late King in his presence little before his Death chose this Stephen for 〈◊〉 Heir by reason that he had received some discoâ—tent at his Daughters hands Whereunto the 〈◊〉 giving easy Credence admitted him King 〈◊〉 Favour of the Londoners did doubtless at thâ— time conduâ—â— not a little to his advantage in pâ—â—ferring him an able Man before a weak Womaâ— For Stow's Annals inform us That he was receivâ—â— by the Londoners when he had been repulsed at â—ther Places certainly it redounded to his 〈◊〉 Benefit afterwards as hath been related before Another Addition of Strength might be his not imposing heavy Taxes upon the People which it may be increased their Love to him and made so many side with him As indeed we find upon his first Admission that he sware among other things before the Lords at Oxford to forgive his People the Tax of Danegelt Neither do I read of any Taxes that he raised upon the Commons It is affirmed positively in the Câ—llâ—ction of Wonders and Remarkable Passages that he raised none with which Stow likewise agrees So that a King 's needless laying of many heavy and grievous Taxes upon his People occasions him to lose much of their Love and his forbearing it when he hath Power in his hands unites his Subjects Hearts the faster to him But instead of Taxes we read of this Kings permission given to his Lords to build Castles or Fortresses upon their own Grounds Many whereof we find pulled down in the next King's time they having been the occasion of many Miseries in the Land and the ready means to foment Civil Wars therein which generally brings greater Damages to the Commonâ—lty than a few Impositions and Taxes can be presumed to do This King Stephen was twice Crowned but for what cause or for what intent is not so easily known whether it was that he thought his Imprisonment had diminished somewhat of his Royalty or else thinking by a second Coronation to â—lude the Force of the Oath made at the first I find not delivered Certain it is soon after my Author tells of his taking away a Castle from the Earl of Chester who before had appeared against him on Maud's side with a very considerable Strength but had been afterwards reconciled to the King But what is much more considerable we read not long after of the King 's new danger and ill Success and of his Party being weaken'd particularly by the loss of London For Duke Henry after King coming into England with a great Army after some small Success gets up to London and wins the Tower as much by Policy and fair Promiâ—es saith my Author as by Strength Then he had Opportunity enough to caress the Câ—tizens being so near them and it may be he got not the Tower without their Consert if not by their Affistance Hereby we find that he retrieved what his Mother's Haughtiness before had lost and so having got the City's Affection and Power he was in a fair way to obtain his Desires as he did not long after For we quickly read of Mediators and Treaties of Peace between these two Competitors which took Effect at last though the Interest and Policy of some hindered it for a time In Conclusion the King was fain to consent to the adopting the Duke his Heir so that he might Reign during his Life Which justly to perform the King being sworn with his Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the next place we hear of their riding up to London as if to bind the bargain it was requisite to ask the consent of that Honourable City whose Favour seems to have been of so great weight in those unsettled Times as to turn the Scales twice once in the King's behalf and erewhile on the Dukâ—'s Such was their Influence such their Power as to pull down and set up in a manner whom the Citizens pleased Happy was this Agreement to the Land by settling peace therein as beneficial likewise was it to the Duke it being a fair Step to the Throne whereon we find him mounted within a little time For not long after this Accord we hear of the King's Death Whether the Troubles of his Mind or Diseases of his Body brought him to his End vexation for the disappointment of his Designs in being after a sort compelled to adopt his Competitor his Enemy for his Son and Heir or Grief for the loss of London's Favour which helped to effect so great a Turn in his Affairs I shall not determine It might be one it might be the other or neither or all conjoyned that became the occasional Causes so to phrase it of his Death I like not to be very positive where I am not very certain Stephen's Death making thus way for Henry to ascend the English Throne he became one of the â—reatest Kings that ever ruled this Land for the Largeness and Extent of his Territories if we reckon the Inheritance he enjoyed from his Father the Land he held by the Title of his Mother the Dowry he had with his Wife and what he obâ—ained by the Success of his Arms Yet notwithâ—tanding all this he lived not free from Troubles â—nd intestine Broils which sprung much out of his â—wn Bowels So that the Glory of his Youth beâ—an somewhat to be eclipsed by the Misfortunes of â—is elder Years He Crowned his eldest Son liâ—ing King sometime before the middle of his â—eign to the end as one Author affirms that he â—ight have full Power and Authority to rule this â—and and People while his Father was busied in â—ther Countrys where some of his Lands lay This â—ight be one Reason but the King having learnt 〈◊〉 experience to his Mother's Loss and his own â—ost how easy it was for Stephen to attempt and â—ain the Crown being present on the Spot while â—â—e right Heir was far distant in the vacancy of the â—hrone may be supposed in his intent to have designed the hinderance of such an Intrusion for the future by Crowning the next Heir King while he himself lived I read that Stephen had some such design to have Crowned his Son King in his own days as he declared at a Parliament called at London An. Reg. 17 to have fixt the Crown the surer to his Posterity But the Bâ—shops refused the Deed Which I do not find they did so much out of Conscience or in Favour to Mâ—â—d's Title as by the Command forsooth of the Pope who in those days was very apt to be clapping his Fingers into almost everâ— ones Pye where he thought any good pickinâ— might be had This King Henry got but little by Crowning
For the Londoners being enraged at the Dukes threats and their fury increased against him for that in the Parliament the Duke being President a motion had been made in the Kings name over whom at that time 't is well known how great an ascendant the Duke had that there should be no more Major of London according to the Ancient Custom but a Captain appointed over it and the Marshal of England might therein arrest Offenders as in other places so that 't was in the Military Officers that the Duke seems to have plac'd most of his Trust and Confidence as doubtless his Creatures and Favourites in esse aut posse with many other things manifestly contrary to the City's Liberties at the encouragement of the Lord Fitzwalter who claim'd to be their Standard Bearer by inheritance they put themselves in Arms and acted with such an excess of rage and violence that had it not been for their own Bishop who pacified them for the time the Duke and his great favourite Piercy had that day saith the book lost their lives But they having timely notice fled from the people and applied themselves for safety to the young Prince and his Mother who undertook the business and sent to the Londoners to make peace with the Duke so kind and gracious was the good Princess as to mediate in his behalf who desir'd in his heart to dispossess her own Son of his right To her Messenger Answer was return'd by the Citizens that for her honour they would perform her Commands but as to what concern'd the Duke injunctions were laid on them to will him that he should suffer the Bishop of Winchester to come to his answer and to be try'd by his Peers and also permit Peter de la More Speaker of the last Parliament then by the Duke's means imprison'd to answer for himself after the Custom of the Law and as for the third they said they would account a Traitor wheresoever he should be found So run the words in Stow which being to the Duke reported he became not a little troubled and not without reason in my opinion at the Citizen's Answer and their indignation conceiv'd against him since that he interpreted what they had spoken of a Traytor to be meant by them of himself though as to that particular he denied himself to be one He had been mad I should have thought or foolish if he had presently confess'd and own'd the imputation However from the Citizens message and the Dukes interpretation thereof 't is easie to conclude how little they lov'd him and he soon found it to his trouble and vexation Jealousies and suspicions generally go a great way among the common people and are almost as prevalent as proofs especially when there is a great man in the Case whom they dare not openly accuse and impeach and cannot try for lack of safety and a good opportunity and he himself is not very willing to put himself upon a fair trial and thereby wipe-off all aspersions in the common legal way of his Country All his Tergiversations do foment rather than diminish the Heats of the people who have but the more opportunity and occasion to think and will commonly too think scurvily the less they have to act The rough Message the Londoners sent the Duke we have heard but that was not all They would away to the King too and acquaint him with the late proceedings And so accordingly upon a Councel held thereabouts they sent some of their chief Citizens either to justifie saith the Annalist or excuse what had hapned Long were these a suing to come to the Kings prescnce the Duke keeps them back For they might be apt to â—o tell Tales or at least remove the prepossessions wherewith the Duke and his party doubt-less had fill'd the credulous King's Head The Duke would fain have stopt their entrance and put them off but they would not be so serv'd The Duke tells them that the King was very ill at ease and his sickness might be encreast if he were mov'd to anger by their Speech A fine excuse but 't would not pass The Londoners were resolved on 't They were not come to encrease but mitigate his grief and their Commission from their fellow Citizens they sayd was not to be Communicated to any but to their Liege Lord the King himself They were for no Proxies Advocates nor Attorney-Generals of the Dukes providing They would be their own Spokesmen Well then at last after much ado they gain access and shew the King what had been published in Parliament as his Will against their Liberties and priviledges They excus'd likewise themselves of some of the Commonalties behaviour in the late Commotion as being the effect of some ill men among the rabble whereto they were neither privy nor consenting whereupon the King a little cheer'd up with their coming answer'd that he would not the diminishing of their Liberties No he was rather ready if need were to augment them neither did any such Resolutions ever come out of his Mouth and therefore willed them not to fear but to return and appease the Citizens and to keep them in Peace The Dukes faction would have made use of the Kings Name and Authority to deprive the City of her Charter of Liberties and endeavour'd to perswade the Parliament Men that it was the Kings good Will and pleasure to have it so but upon the Citizens application to the King they hear an other tale the King own'd no such thing never any such thing came out of his Mouth he tells them expresly Set a mark here Observe likewise the conseqâ—ence of the Citizens coming to the King he was alittle cheer'd somewhat better in mind possibly when he heard the truth of the matter Before perhaps he had heard strange tales of seditious meetings Insurrections Riots Tumults and the like as if none were for keeping the Kings Peace but the good Dukes good party such stories had they buz'd iâ— the ears of this weak old infirm sickly King and he as ready to believe all till disproved by the different Relations of as Credible witnesses To hear one side only and stop ones ears to the others defence is not only a manifest sign of extream partiality but also the ready way to be impos'd â—pon by the deceit of lying Tongues and to be kept always from the knowledge of the truth where those near us think it their interest to have â—t so About the time of the late uproar it 's said that â—he Duke's arms were hang'd up revers'd in sign â—f Treason in the principal streets of the City â—â—ch was the hatred the Londoners had conceived â—gainst him but 't was in those days as unknown â—ho did it as 't is at this time uncertain who cut â—e Picture of his Royal Highness the Duke of 〈◊〉 the other day at Guild-hal Whether there â—ere any Proclamations with promises of reâ—ard emitted to find out the Author and Actor â—f that deed I
know not of a certainty as not â—â—ding it mention'd in the History Possibly there â—ere none or at least they prov'd very ineffectual â—hich I the rather conclude because that when 〈◊〉 had made malitious Rhymes upon the Duke 〈◊〉 fastned them up in divers parts of the City â—â—other remedy was found out against them but haply as inefficacious viz. a Sentence of Excommunication at the Dukes request to the Bishops pronounced against them publickly by the Bishop of Bangor the Aldermen of the City assisting him To be Excommunicated did carry somewhat of terror with it in England in those Popish times among the vulgar and might probably again should Providence for our offences ever suffer Popery to be brought back into the Land but among Protestants and knowing understanding men Excommunication upon every slight account and trifling pretext is of little value esteem or regard and no more dreaded perhaps by some than 't was by Rablais when he beg'd it as a great boon of the Pope because the poor Country Woman thought her Faggot Excommunicated when she could not make it burn Besides these Indignities put upon the Duke at London in at and after the aforesaid Tumult of the Common people we are told also that all such as wore the Dukes Sign or Colours were fain to hide them conveying them into their bosoms so great a feaâ— and dread had seiz'd upon their Spirits Whether these Colours were Parsons Black True Blew Flourishing Green Orange Tawny or Blood Red the Historian hath not so far gratified us aâ— punctually to set down in his Relation of theâ—â— transactions But if I might have leave to pasâ— my Verdict herein I should be apt to conjecturâ— them to have been at least for the most part 〈◊〉 by the Red-letter'd people What sad Prognosticks may we think our Almanack-makers aâ— star-gazers then gave of the times when the saw England so likely to fall into such Feuds Factionâ— and disorders as those of the Guelphs and Gibelineâ— But one good turn 't is that Astrogolers Prognostications use commonly to be like the Popish Oracles old Almanacks soon out of date The City could much sooner influence the Nation than they could make the Stars influence the City in favour of the Dukes cause How the Citizens of London oppos'd the Duke we have seen but he is resolved it seems to shew his bitter resentments upon the next opportunity and accordingly after the Duke had obtain'd his desires of the two Houses of Parliament viz. A Poll-Bill or Tax of all the heads in the whole Realm he caused the King to send for the Major Aldermen and Sheriffs of London who soon came before him then very ill at ease as they were ordered into his Chamber of Presence where after the usual Ceremonies over past a certain Knight of the Court endeavoured by his Ciceronian Rhetorick and the Eloquence of his Oration to perswade the Citizens to confess their great and hainous offences against the King â—nd Duke and to submit themselves to their Mercy See here the Kings Name must be brought â—n right or wrong or else the Dukes cause and â—retensions would signify little But the Londoners were not so to be caught For they answered they had not Conspired against the Duke neiâ—her had there been any shameful thing spoken or done against him that they did know of or conâ—ent unto which they were ready to prove before their Soveraign Lord the King and the Duke â—imself The folly of the Common people they â—ffirm'd they could not stay and therefore requestâ—d of the King that he would not punish those â—hat were innocent and ignorant of the Fact but withal promised the Duke for Reverence of the King observe this that they would endeavour to bring in the Common people and compel them by Law to make due satisfaction and more said they we are not able to do for the Duke that may be to his Honour Not able to do more why What would his faction have had them to have done Was his favour to have been purchas'd at no less a price than an intire Resignation of all they had Bodies and Souls Lives Liberties and Estates at Discretion Must they have deny'd their senses and their reason too in charging themselves with what they neither sayd nor did felt heard nor understood to avoid Scandala Magnatum's and the Arbitrary Finâ—â— of byass'd Juries Leave we such Terms of accommodation to the insulting power and Pride oâ— Prelatical Consciences to impose upon their underling Curates Such is the continued cause of difference between the Molinists and Jansenists in France while one side fairly offers to disallow certain displeasing Propositions either by themselves or as Jansenius's if shewn to them in hiâ— works and the other party as pertinaciously insists upon their rejecting them as his becausâ— the Pope hath so condemned them Glad we may easily suppose the Londoners were when dismiss'd upon their aforesaid Answerâ— But it seems the Court was not yet satisfied 〈◊〉 afterwards we read of the Kings sending them 〈◊〉 Command secretly to call all the Citizens together and having made a Wax Candle with thâ— Dukes Arms in it to carry it solemnly in Procession to Saint Pauls there to burn continually 〈◊〉 the Cities charges which was accordingly performed by the chiefest and richest of the Citizens the meaner commonalty disdaining to be present at such a procession and therefore with indignation departing home when they heard the business and knew the occasion of their being call'd together But neither did this condescention of the greatest give the Duke content he threatned them look't upon it as a reproach and took it in great scorn that they had offer'd thus his Arms in a Wax Taper while he was alive and in good health notwithstanding they affirm'd they had expresly done that which his Father the King had Commanded them and would have done any thing that might have pleased him i. e. in reason For peace and quietness sake possibly and out of respect to the Kings Majesty they would not have refus'd the trouble of putting forth a few honorary Proclamations nor denied him the Complement of a volley or two of Holla's and Huzza's if that would have pleas'd But this did not answer the Dukes Expectations nor satisfie his Ambitious desires they knew he sayd his mind and were not ignorant how to make satisfaction Ay there 't was He would have us sayd the troubled Citizens amongst themselves Proclaim him King but this shall never be done and so they parted worse friends than they were before So much ado was there with one proud haughty Duke most injuriously aspiring to the Crown to the prejudice of his better belov'd Nephew whose claim title and right had been sometime before if I mistake not in my reckoning settled expresly by the Parliament or at least he had been declar'd by his Grand-Father his Heir and Lawful Successor Yet this the Ambitious Uncle thought probably easily to have evaded and
Stones So great a value did this high-flown Duke set upon his grace and favour till the Citizens of this honourable City by their power and prudence had brought down his haughty spirit a Peg or two lower and that visibly too For we don't find him as ambitious as he still continued so openly aspiring to Englands Crown for the future how successfully soever his Son made a Rape thereon at the end of this Princes Reign under the pretence of I know not what hidden right accruing to him from his Mother We read indeed I confess in Cotton's Abridgment of the Records that in the seventeenth of this King the Earl of Arundel laid several things to the Dukes charge as not honourable for the King to suffer in him nor fit for him to do being a Subject as that he went Arm in Arm with the King and his Men wear the same Livery the Kings did which seems to shew much of Arrogancy and Ambition to say no more besides some other Objections but herein he was so far justified by the King himself that the Earl was ordered to crave the Dukes Pardon in full Parliament in a certain form of words appointed him In Stows Annals also we meet with an Accusation brought against him in the seventh of this Kings Reign tending to prove his intent and design suddainly to oppress the King and take upon himself the Kingdom but it seems little notice was taken of it by the King himself who was to have lost most had it been attempted Successfully and doubtless as little believ'd otherwise surely the Schedule containing the time place and other Circumstances had not been presently delivered into the Dukes hands nor the accuser committed at his request to the charge of his near Kinsman nor the occasion of his violent Death so little inquired into afterwards The Duke was not so powerful nor so great a Terror but the City was as well able still to deal with him and his whole party and make as vigorous opposition as ever in defence of their Soveraign Lord the King if occasion should have offered it self This we have reason to believe was known in those days to all the Nation much more to the Duke himself from former experience who therefore may be suppos'd not any more to have aspir'd openly whatever secret fires of Ambition lay hidden within his breast whether or no he design'd and attempted ought by unseen Plots and Conspiracies I leave to the Judicious Reader to believe or not as he pleases without speaking to or for in the case Besides the decree of an over-ruling Providence Common equity in siding with what was reputed the juster title natural humanity in defending the young and weak and a well grounded affection to the Prince for his Father and Grand-Fathers sake one the famous Black Prince the other the Glorious Edward the third their King and Sovereign we may conclude the generality of the Citizens had the greater aversion to the Duke and his faction because he was a known favourer of Wickliff and his Doctrines whether on a good account or only out of any Ambitious Design I shall not determine in this place and so look't upon perhaps as little better than another Juliâ—n the Apostate For we are to know that Londons Religion and consequently the Nations was at that time Popish and the generality of the People in Town and Country Romes Votaries who had Wickliffs Doctrine in as great detestation then under the Notion of Heresy as we Protestants have it now in esteem under the Seal and assurance of Truth As indeed for many of the ages past from our ever-blessed Saviours Birth through which I have drawn the thread of this discourse and under the succeeding Kings for above an hundred years Popery continued the National Religion under the power and prevalency of which perswasion was the body of the Citizens bred up who prov'd so famous in their Generations for their powerful influence on the grand concerns of the Nation in every considerable turn and change of the times before the Reformation And when England was made happy with this blessed alteration the Cities Power Strength and Esteem remain'd the same in effect as ever the change of her Religion introducing no change therein unless for the better she encreasing proportionably in every age in Wealth Riches and Honour as the Nation grew stronger and stronger And still continues as visibly conspicuous under Protestantism as before under the Romish Faith a thing easy to be demonstrated in due time and place How influential the Cities actions were upon the Nations affairs and her Love advantagious to the Orphan Prince in securing his Claim Right and Title to the Crown in his Grand-Fathers life time and setling him quietly on the Throne at his Death in spight of all the opposition the deep designs and daring Spirit of his Aspiring Uncle John of Gaunt and his faction could make when they had got the reigns of publick Government into their own hands through the Old Kings Connivance hath been the subject of several of the aforegoing pages The next thing of course falling under present consideration is to observe how this Honourable City of London behav'd her self after she had lent her â—ssistance to raise this Young Prince from the â—eanness of a Subject to the Royal Dignity and Grandeur of a King under the Name of Richard the Second what place she held in his affections â—nd of what esteem in the eyes of all the rest of â—he people But where shall I begin and when â—hall I end Sooner may I be wearied with readâ—ng and tir'd with writing than fail of matter â—o exercise my Pen so copious is my Subject and â—o full of Variety For in my searches into the Histories of this Kings Reign I find it plain to a â—emonstration that the City carried a great sway â—mongst all Ranks and Degrees from the Prince â—o the Subject from the King the Supream to â—is subordinate Magistrates and Ministers and was highly Honour'd Rever'd and Respected â—mong the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty â—f the Land both in the calm of peace and the â—oisterous storms of civil distractions I begin first with the Honourable House of Commons the known representative of the Commons of England and concerning them obâ—erve out of Sir Robert Cotton's exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower revis'd by William Prynne Esq that in the first Parliament of this King in his first year among other Petitions of the Commons there is to be found one particular division under the Title of Petitions for the City of London wherein the House of Commons become express Petitioners so great was the Cities influence over their Debates and so high a respect had they for her to the King for many considerable Grants in favour of the Citizens and to them very advantagious and beneficial As that all their Liberties may be confirm'd with a Non obstante That they attend upon no Commandment
wind and turn it about to their interests and bend it to their own irregular Desires and Designs since that they lik'd not to have them confin'd within the limits and bounds thereof This manner of acting however by the by appears to me the most beaten Path to Destruction and the high way to the Actors unavoidable Ruin and I think I have reason History and Experience all on my side This the City seems well to have understood and therefore with Prudence chose rather to yield to the times for a season than presently to strive against the running stream and immediately to fall a rowing against high wind and Tide but as soon as ever the flowing waters began to Ebb and the tide was a turning the City Barge struck in with the returning waves and assisted to steer the Ship of the Common-wealth to a quite different Haven from that whither the Court was furiously driving her before And then for the most favourable of the Citizens to shew themselves but faint Regardless friends was far less beneficial to the desolate forsaken King than for others of them to appear earnest Enemies in so critical a Juncture was disadvantagious to this unfortunate Prince as he may well be term'd either for having none but ill Councellors and faithless Trencher-friends about him and hearkning so much to their pernitious and destructive advice or else for the defect of his Judgment in not discerning between their private self ends and his own special and particular interest viz. Impartiality in doing Justice to all States and Persons from the highest to the lowest squaring all his own actions by the known Rules of the Law of the Land to the pleasing of his people not by the compass of other mens unstable fancies and anomalous Plat-forms to the loss of his Subjects love and affection and the unhappy fate that attended him upon this his ill conduct when he was violently thrown out of the Chair of State into a profound Abyss of miseries and infelicities and irrecoverably cast out of a Regal Throne into an unavoidable Prison between which and his grave he had but few steps to make For we are to know that as in the tuming of fortunes wheel the spoke that is got upermost presently begins to decline and so runs downwards till it comes to be the under-most of all or like as Sysiphus stone forc'd up e'en almost to the very top of the Hill presently tumbles down again to the bottom with a swiftness and violence not to be stop't by the strength of art or nature so this Prince arriv'd in a manner to the heigth of his desires by the Caprice of fortune or rather by the over-ruling power of a superior Being was suddenly and unexpectedly beyond Recovery hurl'd down from the Grandeur of a Potent King into the lowest Station among Men the Confinement of a Prison and that too occasion'd by the very same way and means whereby he thought to have secur'd to himself amore fixt and setled enjoyment of his greatness as comes now of course to be shewn in manner following After the suppression of the opposite Party under the shadow of Law and Justice diffention happening between the two Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford both then great at Court to the mutual accusation of each other the King greedily lays hold on the opportunity and instead of permitting them according to the Custom of those times where clear proofs were wanting to make good their accusations by the Sword in a single Combat as had been also before appointed unadvisedly banishes them both the Land the first for ever and the latter for a term of years with this hard measure into the bargain that they should not sue for a release of their Judgments on pain of Treason whereby he made both his Enemies and the latter so much the more dangerous the nearer he stood Related to the Crown and the more inveterate in that the King had procur'd the Letters Pattents before granted him to sue by Attorney for Lands descended to him to be revok'd by Assent of Parliament and declar'd to be against Law and had afterwards upon his Father John of Gaunts death violently seis'd on all his Estate whereto Hereford was Heir Then amidst the murmurs of the People for misgovernment and ill guidance of the Realm away goes the King for Ireland with a puissant Army when he thought he had left all things secure in England by the advantage he had made of the last Parliament by engrossing whatever he pleased into his own hands by the tricks found out to raise Money of the Subject by Blanks c. and the Subsidy he had gain'd in Parliament during his Life upon the continuance whereof without molestation he openly declar'd his general Pardon should stand and no otherwise and managed his Arms therewith success enough but ill news out of England that the Duke of Hereford by his Fathers death Duke of Lancaster was landed in England under colour of claiming his Inheritance and rais'd people as he went alarm'd him and bad advice afterwards which detain'd him longer than his promise in Ireland so loath were his Counsellors to spare his company under the shelter of whose Person and presence lay their greatest hopes of protection quite ruin'd him For coming over and finding the Army gone away which the Earl of Salisbâ—ry had rais'd against his coming and had newly voluntarily disbanded it self upon the Kings tarrying too long behind the Earl in Ireland his courage fail'd him and he trusting more to flight than fighting the treachery of his Principal Officers deceiv'd him and he himself also by soothing words and faiâ— promises was decoy'd into the Duke of Lancaster's hands who soon secur'd him fast enough withoâ—â— any intent to let him loose again in haste Now the King is in hold let us see how the Citizens behav'd themselves in this great Turn and Change of the Times They had in this Kings Nonage in his Grandfathers dayes appear'd the undaunted Assertors of his Right and Title and in the beginning of his Reign contributed much to his Security and Settlement on the THRONE But a new Generation being sprang up in Twenty Years space and their old Services at last so ill requited by new attempts on their Liberties by Inditements and blank-Charters instead of standing up with their Lives and Fortunes in the Kings Defence and Vindication they openly devoted themselves to anothers Service and became the known Favourers of that Party which assisted to Depose this unhappy Prince and set up in His Room the Duke of Lancaster under the Name and Title of Henry the Fourth As is provable both from Statute-Law viz. the Act made in the First of this New King to be seen in the Statute-Book Cap. 15. An. 1. H. 4. Where we find express mention of the good and lawful behaviour of the Mayor Sheriffs and Aldermen and all the Commonalty of the same City of London towards him and Stow's general Chronicle
Law to the Destruction of the Duke of Glâ—ucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewscury For that the King against his Promise procured the Duke of Ireland sundry Rebells about Cheshire where diverse Murders by him were committed For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at the Solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Gloucester and sent him to Callice there to be choked and murdered beheading the Earle of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham For that the Kings Retinue and rout gathered out of Cheshire about the apprehension of those Nobles committed diverse Murders Rapes and other Fellonies besides refusing to pay for their Victuals For that the King condemned the Nobles aforesaid for divers rodes made within the Realm contrary to his open Proclamation For that the King doubly Fined Men for their Pardons For that the King to oppress his whole subjects procured in his last Parliament that the Power thereof was committed to certain Persons For that the King being sworn to Minister right did notwithstanding enact in the last Parliament that no mediation should be made for the Duke of Lancaster contrary to his said Oath For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other forraign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Popes Excommunication on such as brake the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm For that the King banished the Duke of Lancaster for 10 years without any Cause as the same King openly affirmed For that the King unlawfully revoked the Letters Patents made to the said Duke of Lancaster in An. 21. For that the King contrary to the Laws and will of the Justices suffered Sheriffs to continue longer than one year and placed such therein as were unfit For that the King repayed not to his Subjects debts of them borrowed For that the King in the time of Truce and Peace exacted great Subsidies and wasted the same about frivilous matters For that the King refused to execute the Laws Saying that the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast For that the King by procuring by Statutes that he might be free as any of his Progenitors did under colour thereof subvert Laws according to his Will For that the King procured Knights of the Shires to be made to serve his own will For that the King enforced Sheriffs to be Sworn to execute all Commandemens under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Signet contrary to their accustomed Oaths For that the King to wrack mony from his Subjects procured 17 several Shires to submit themselves to his Grace whereby great sums of mony were Levied For that the King being Sworn to observe the Liberties of the Church notwithstanding at his Voyage into Ireland enforced diverse Religious Persons to give Horse Armour and Carts For that the Justices for their good Councel given to the King were with evil Countenance and threats rewarded For that the King of his own Will in passing into Ireland carried with him the Treasures Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the Kings own Coffers from all hazard and for that the same King cancelled and razed sundry Records For that the King by writing to Forreign Princes and to his own Subjects is reputed universally a most variable and dissembling man For that the King would commonly say among the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture For that the King suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Marshal-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm For that the Subjects being only bound by their Allegiance were yet driven to take certain New Oaths for serving the folly of the King For that the King by his private Letters would charge the Ecclesiastical Ministers in any new Canonical matter to stay contrary to his Oath For that the King by force in his Parliament banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury without any good Ground For that the King by his last Will passed under the Great Seal and Privy Signet gave unto his Successors certain Money and Treasure upon Condition to perform all the Acts and Orders in the last Parliament which being ungodly and unlawful he meant as ungodlily to dy in For that the King in the 11th of his Reign in his Chappel in the Manour of Langley in the presence of the Duke of Lancaster and Yorke and others received the Sacrament of the Lords Body that he would never impeach the Duke of Gloucester his Uncle for any thing before done and yet to the Contrary procured him to be murdered For that the King most fraudulently and untruely against his own Oath Banished the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and wasted his Goods in which Article in private Conference between the said Arch Bishop the King in a manner prophesied and doubted that the like would happen of himself and thereupon shewed a special Token to the Arch Bishop That if he sent the same at any time that the Arch Bishop should look that the King would come to him These were the Imputations laid to his charge and that they were then thought true or at least not contradicted is self-Evident all seeming highly desirous of a Change and few dispos'd to espouse the depos'd Kings Cause and Interest so furious and violent was the Current of the Times as to bear away well nigh all before it That Parliament being so full of the new Kings Favourers and so empty of the old Kings true and cordial Friends that I remember to have read of but one viz. the Loyal Bishop of Carlisle who after a little Demur of a few dayes time upon a Motion made in Parliament about the disposal of King Richard stood up boldly and undauntedly for his old Lord and Master in the midst of his professed and declared Enemies and known Deserters His Speech as a rare Example of Fidelity giving us the very Quintessence of Loyalty I shall venture to set down out of Sir Richard Bakers Chronicle with the Consequents as follows My Lords The Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein there are two Points chiefly to be considered The First whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of his Throne The Second whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First How can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force And who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But suppose he be sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason For what Conquest without Arms And can a Subject take Arms